d the tent in
little two-wheeled carts, standin' up."

"Matilda Starr! 'Tain't no such thing!"

Matilda shrugged her shoulders with an air of finality. "All right," she
returned, with cold sarcasm, "as long as you see it and I didn't."

"'Beauty has been the power of the ages,'" Grandmother continued, taking
refuge once more in _The Household Guardian_. "'Cleopatra and Helen of
Troy changed the map of the world by their imperial loveliness.'"

"I didn't know imps was lovely," Matilda remarked, frowning at the
result of her labours. "I reckon I'll have to set a piece in at the
corner, where it's puckerin'."

"Ain't I always told you that the only way to mend a three-cornered tear
was to set a piece in? Some folks never get old enough to learn
anything. Even Frank's wife would have known better'n that."

[Sidenote: Cleopatra]

"Never mind Frank's wife," returned Matilda, somewhat hurriedly. "Let
her rest in her grave and go on readin' about the lovely imps."

"It doesn't say imps is lovely. It says 'imperial loveliness.'"

"Well, ain't that the same thing?"

"No, it ain't. Imperial means empire."

"Then why ain't it spelled so? Imperial begins with an _i_ and so does
imp, and, accordin' to what I learned when I went to school, empire
begins with an _e_."

There seemed to be no adequate reply to this, so Grandmother went on:
"If Cleopatra's nose had been an inch longer, where would Egypt have
been now?"

"Where 'tis, I reckon," Matilda returned, seeing that an answer was
expected.

"No, it wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know why not, but if it wouldn't have made no difference, the
man that wrote the piece wouldn't have asked about it."

"Well, then, let him answer it himself, as long as he knows."

"'Wars have been fought over beautiful women,'" Grandmother resumed,
"'and will continue to be till the end of time.'"

"What about Egypt?" interrupted Matilda.

"I ain't come to that yet. Let me alone, can't you? 'Every mother should
begin with her child almost from the moment of birth. Projecting ears
can be corrected by the wearing of a simple cap, and a little daily
attention to the nose in the way of gentle pinching with the fingers,
will insure the proper shape. This of course, must be done while the
cartilage is easily pushed into the proper position.'"

[Sidenote: The Paper's Circulation]

"While the what?" Matilda demanded.

"Cart-i-lage. It means before the child has outgrown its buggy.