r dinner, there being a
scarcity of chairs on the crowded piazza, the young gentleman took
Willie on his lap.

Then, during a pause in the conversation, little Willie looked up at the
young gentleman and piped:

"Am I as heavy as sister Mabel?"

The late Charles Coghlan was a man of great wit and resource. When he
was living in London, his wife started for an out-of-town visit. For
some reason she found it necessary to return home, and on her way
thither she saw her husband step out of a cab and hand a lady from it.
Mrs. Coghlan confronted the pair. The actor was equal to the situation.

"My dear," he said to his wife, "allow me to present Miss Blank. Mrs.
Coghlan, Miss Blank."

The two bowed coldly while Coghlan quickly added:

"I know you ladies have ever so many things you want to say to each
other, so I will ask to be excused."

He lifted his hat, stepped into the cab, and was whirled away.

The evening callers were chatting gaily with the Kinterbys when a patter
of little feet was heard from the head of the stairs. Mrs. Kinterby
raised her hand, warning the others to silence.

"Hush!" she said, softly. "The children are going to deliver their
'good-night' message. It always gives me a feeling of reverence to hear
them--they are so much nearer the Creator than we are, and they speak
the love that is in their little hearts never so fully as when the dark
has come. Listen!"

There was a moment of tense silence. Then--"Mama," came the message in a
shrill whisper, "Willy found a bedbug!"

"I was in an awkward predicament yesterday morning," said a husband to
another.

"How was that?"

"Why, I came home late, and my wife heard me and said, 'John, what time
is it?' and I said, 'Only twelve, my dear,' and just then that cuckoo
clock of ours sang out three times."

"What did you do?"

"Why, I just had to stand there and cuckoo nine times more."

"Your husband will be all right now," said an English doctor to a woman
whose husband was dangerously ill.

"What do you mean?" demanded the wife. "You told me 'e couldn't live a
fortnight."

"Well, I'm going to cure him, after all," said the doctor. "Surely you
are glad?"

The woman wrinkled her brows.

"Puts me in a bit of an 'ole," she said. "I've bin an' sold all 'is
clothes to pay for 'is funeral."

EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES

"You want more money? Why, my boy, I worked three years for $11 a month
right in this establishment, and now