ched
papers was refused domestic pet rates."'

Miss Kane made a series of curves and angles on her note book and waited
with pencil poised. The head of the department looked at the papers
again.

"Huh! guinea-pigs!" he said. "Probably starved to death by this time!
Add this to that letter: 'Give condition of consignment at present.'"

He tossed the papers on to the stenographer's desk, took his feet from
his own desk and went out to lunch.

When Mike Flannery received the letter he scratched his head.

"Give prisint condition," he repeated thoughtfully. "Now what do thim
clerks be wantin' to know, I wonder! 'Prisint condition, 'is ut? Thim
pigs, praise St. Patrick, do be in good health, so far as I know, but I
niver was no veternairy surgeon to dago pigs. Mebby thim clerks wants
me to call in the pig docther an' have their pulses took. Wan thing I
do know, howiver, which is they've glorious appytites for pigs of their
soize. Ate? They'd ate the brass padlocks off of a barn door I If the
paddy pig, by the same token, ate as hearty as these dago pigs do,
there'd be a famine in Ireland."

To assure himself that his report would be up to date, Flannery went
to the rear of the office and looked into the cage. The pigs had been
transferred to a larger box--a dry goods box.

"Wan, -- two, -- t'ree, -- four, -- five, -- six, -- sivin, -- eight!"
he counted. "Sivin spotted an' wan all black. All well an' hearty an'
all eatin' loike ragin' hippypottymusses. He went back to his desk and
wrote.

"Mr. Morgan, Head of Tariff Department," he wrote. "Why do I say dago
pigs is pigs because they is pigs and will be til you say they ain't
which is what the rule book says stop your jollying me you know it as
well as I do. As to health they are all well and hoping you are the
same. P. S. There are eight now the family increased all good eaters. P.
S. I paid out so far two dollars for cabbage which they like shall I put
in bill for same what?"

Morgan, head of the Tariff Department, when he received this letter,
laughed. He read it again and became serious.

"By George!" he said, "Flannery is right, 'pigs is pigs.' I'll have to
get authority on this thing. Meanwhile, Miss Kane, take this letter:
Agent, Westcote, N. J. Regarding shipment guinea-pigs, File No. A6754.
Rule 83, General Instruction to Agents, clearly states that agents
shall collect from consignee all costs of provender, etc., etc.,
required for live stock while in t