In Lighter Mood

IN LIGHTER MOOD.

In some cities the policemen give an alarm by rapping on the pave- ment. When he isn't walking his beat he is beating his walk. Boston Transcript. * * *

Even a lunatic may not wholly lack the power to reason. This truth appears in a story Life tells of the inspection of an asylum by the trustees. Walking through the grounds, they came upon a party of workmen who were repairing a wall. One of the harmless patients, apparently assisting in the work, was pushing a wheelbarrow along upside down. "My friend," said a kind-hearted trustee, gently, "you should turn your wheelbarrow over." "Not on your life!" replied the patient. "I turned it over yester- day, and they put bricks in it!"

The Youth's Companion vouches for this story: —Few American youths have careers made for them. Those who deplore this fact and shun the stings of self-effort may find tonic in the reply of a western girl to an offer of marriage. A young man of more book-learning than force of character lost the young wife who had toiled to support him, returned to his native town for consolation, and found it.Some months later she, too, passed away, and the sad youth soon appealed to a well-known clergyman for assistance in finding a helpmate. The minister introduced him to a western girl of health and energy, who the next day received a plaintive note from the widower. He declared that the Lord had made great inroads upon his marital affec- tions, and it now seemed to be his will that she should repair the

breaches of his life. The reply, which the clergyman keeps today as one of the choicest specimens of a varied collection, reads simply: "Mend your own breeches."