ille, and this proved so
unequivocally the utility of the telephone that there could no longer be
any question of its success.

The pioneer line, three miles long, cost a few hundred dollars. In less
than thirty years the number of miles of wire has increased to nearly four
million, and thirty thousand persons are regularly employed by the
telephone companies.

Soon after the Somerville demonstration, the tide turned in Bell's favor.
Capital, which had previously fought shy of the talking-machine, rushed
boldly in, and the inventor who had been turned away from office-doors and
denied access to the presence of politicians was offered fabulous prices
for part interest in his company.

Small investors clamored to get their money down, and big capitalists
fought for control of the invention that promised such great things.
Within a few weeks Bell, who couldn't give a half interest in his
invention to Don Cameron, and who couldn't raise a ten-thousand-dollar
loan from Depew, was in a position to turn millions of money away, and
there was no more begging for a few dollars to give the telephone a
try-out.

GRAVE, GAY, AND EPIGRAMMATIC.

THE VILLAGE SMITHY.

=By Horace Seymour Keller.=

No more the roan and chestnut, the pie-bald and the gray
Pound their iron hoofs upon the smithy's floor;
No more the gig and buggy, the buckboard and coupe
Stand broken down and helpless at the door.

He'll pump you full of ether with an auto sorter laugh,
He's fixtures ready-made to mend the fake.
If your tire has collapsed he'll swell it for a half,
With perhaps another dollar for a break.

No more he talks of "hoss" as he stands upon the green
And waits the auto trav'ler on his way.
He's an artist now in wind, and he's happy and serene,
For he's pumping, pumping dollars all the day.

NOT A LENDER.

"Your honor," said a lawyer to the judge, "every man who knows me, knows
that I am incapable of lending my aid to a mean cause."

"That's so," said his opponent, "the gentleman never lends himself to a
mean cause; he always gets cash down."

FISHIN'?

Settin' on a log
An' fishin'
An' watchin' the cork,
An' wishin'.
Jus' settin' round home
An' sighin',
Jus' settin' round home--
An' lyin'.

_New Orleans Times-Democrat._

ABOUT BELLS AND MONEY.

A thousand men can go to work at seven o'clock in the morn