uch too busy."

CLERK--"Thank you very much, sir. You are very kind!"

SHYNESS

The late "lan Maclaren" (Dr. John Watson) once told this story on
himself to some friends:

"I was coming over on the steamer to America, when one day I went into
the library to do some literary work. I was very busy and looked so, I
suppose. I had no sooner started to write than a diffident-looking young
man plumped into the chair opposite me, began twirling his cap and
stared at me. I let him sit there. An hour or more passed, and he was
still there, returning my occasional and discouraging glances at him
with a foolish, ingratiating smile. I was inclined to be annoyed. I had
a suspicion that he was a reader of my books, perhaps an admirer--or an
autograph-hunter. He could wait. But at last he rose, and still twirling
his cap, he spoke:

"'Excuse me, Doctor Watson; I'm getting deathly sick in here and I'm
real sorry to disturb you, but I thought you'd like to know that just as
soon as you left her Mrs. Watson fell down the companionway stairs, and
I guess she hurt herself pretty badly.'"

SIGNS

When the late Senator Wolcott first went to Colorado he and his brother
opened a law office at Idaho Springs under the firm name of "Ed. Wolcott
& Bro." Later the partnership was dissolved. The future senator packed
his few assets, including the sign that had hung outside of his office,
upon a burro and started for Georgetown, a mining town farther up in the
hills. Upon his arrival he was greeted by a crowd of miners who
critically surveyed him and his outfit. One of them, looking first at
the sign that hung over the pack, then at Wolcott, and finally at the
donkey, ventured:

"Say, stranger, which of you is Ed?"

"Buck" Kilgore, of Texas, who once kicked open the door of the House of
Representatives when Speaker Reed had all doors locked to prevent the
minority from leaving the floor and thus escaping a vote, was noted for
his indifference to forms and rules. Speaker Reed, annoyed by members
bringing lighted cigars upon the floor of the House just before opening
time, had signs conspicuously posted as follows: "No smoking on the
floor of the House." One day just before convening the House his eagle
eye detected Kilgore nonchalantly puffing away at a fat cigar. Calling a
page, he told him to give his compliments to the gentleman from Texas
and ask him if he had not seen the signs. After a while the page
returned and se