of Ceremonial Dog, and have the Members kneel in front
of him and Salute him as the Exalted Sir Knight.

[Illustration: THE JOINER]

You take a Man who is Plugging along on a Salary, and who has to answer
the 'Phone and wrap up Tea all Day, and let him go out at Night and be
an Exalted Sir, and it helps him to feel that he isn't such a Nine-Spot
after all.

Now this particular Joiner wanted to be up on a carpeted Dais every
blessed Evening, having the Brothers march in front of him and give him
the High Office. His Wife, being unacquainted with the Secrets of the
Lodge Room, was unable to understand why he was so Fascinated with the
Life. She was exceedingly Inquisitive and often tried to Pump him by the
most Artful Methods, but of course he did not dare to Divulge or his
Right Arm would have Withered and his Tongue would have Cleaved to the
Roof of his Mouth, and he would have been an Outcast on the Face of the
Earth, despised by all other Members of the Royal Tararum. Now and then
he Talked in his Sleep, and she caught Expressions in regard to Branding
him on the Other Leg or putting him back into the Coffin, and her
Curiosity was intensified.

One day she read in a Veracious Newspaper that if the Left Hand of a
Sleeping Person be immersed in Tepid Water, then the Sleeper will
truthfully answer any Question that may be asked. She resolved to try it
on her Husband. She was dying to know what they Said and Did at Lodge
Meetings that would keep a Man away from Home so many Nights in the
Week.

That Night after he had come home from the Odd Fellows and passed into
Slumber she crept out and took a Low Advantage of him. She slid his Left
Hand into a bowl of Warm Water without arousing him, and he Gave Up. He
told all the Passwords, the Secret Mottoes, the Oaths, the Meaning of
the Symbols and the Unwritten Work. When he had finished she had a
Notion to Ring for a Night Cab and go Home to her own Family, but her
Better Judgment prevailed. She concluded that she would have to continue
to Live with him, no matter what she Thought of him.

She never dared to tell that she Knew, and he never Suspected. Husband
never guessed why it was that when he started out for an Evening with
the Skeletons and the Candidates she stood back and smiled at him more
in Pity than in Anger.

MORAL: _It's a Good Thing they don't Know_.

_THE_ FABLE _OF THE_ APPREHENSIVE SPARROW _AND_ HER DAILY ESCAPE

Once there was a Proper littl