t is to be supposed, no doubt, that their minds have been so wholly
absorbed by great matters that the smaller, more trivial things of life
have been considered unworthy of their attention. Among men of this
stamp who have suffered in this way was Lessing, a famous German writer
of plays and books of criticism. Lessing discovered at one period of his
life that he was being robbed of his ready money by some person in his
home, and, unable to determine who the culprit was, he put the servants
of his household to a test by leaving a handful of gold upon his
breakfast table one morning.

Meeting a friend he told him what he had done.

"That was risky," said his friend. "How much did you leave there?"

"Dear me!" cried Lessing. "I quite forgot to count."

A BUSINESSLIKE BEGGAR.

They tell a story of an enterprising beggar of Paris who went about with
a sign "I am blind" hung around his neck.

"But you are not blind!" said a man of whom he asked alms.

"I know that," said the beggar. "But the man whose business I bought
was. He used to make ten francs a day on this route with this sign. I
bought him out. Pray help a poor blind man a little, sir."

A CURIOUS DEFINITION.

A great many persons have discussed the question as to what is the true
definition of the word gentleman. The ideas advanced on the subject are
generally entertaining, novel, and of great variety, but there has
probably never been a more singular definition given than that of the
Irishman who was asked his opinion on the subject.

"Sure, sorr," he replied, "a gintleman is a--well, oi should say he was
a mon what ates jam on his mutton, sorr."

A BARBER'S JOKE.

A well-known American clergyman went into a barber shop one morning, and
being somewhat of a joker, said to the barber, "My friend, you may cut
my hair as short as you would like my sermons to be."

The barber immediately got out his razor and proceeded to shave the
doctor's head.

"Hold on!" cried the doctor. "Are you going to take it all off?"

"You told me to, doctor," said the barber. "I don't want any of your
sermons."

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, May 28, 1895, by Various

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