---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 7
number: 9
published: 1904-07
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "In Lighter Mood," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 9 (July 1904): 726.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0709unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera0709unse
start_page: 726
end_page: 726
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-07)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0709unse
  publication_year: 1904
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# In Lighter Mood

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"

                              IN    LIGHTER MOOD.

     Chauncy M. Depew is quoted in Harper's Weekly as saying:
     "Whenever 1 hear the accusation that my speeches are too long, I
am reminded of the story told by Horace Porter. It was about an Irish-
man who went into an East Side barber shop to get his hair cut. He
had been imbibing pretty freely, and went to sleep as soon as he got
fairly settled in the chair. The barber, a son of Italy, began his work,
but presently a fight in the street caused him to look around, and in
the act he clipped off the lower part of one of the Irishman's ears.                See-
ing what he had      done, he set         up a terrible howling and awoke his cus-
tomer.
     " 'Phwat's th' matter?' demanded Pat.
       " 'Matter?    Sapriste!        I   cut off part of your ear,'        wailed the
barber.
     " 'An' phwat     if    ye did? he growled.        'It   was too long, anyway.
G'wan wid yer job.'
       Nat Goodwin, the actor, tells a story of an encounter with a lunatic
on a country road, which makes one's hair stand on end:
       "I was playing in Austin, Texas, at the time, and one               day strolled
out along a country road which skirted the river.             I   had walked probably
half a mile, when suddenly a              man scrambled from the bushes near the
water and advanced near toward me.                  I saw at      a glance that he was
crazy.      His clothes were torn, his face flushed, and his eyes glittered
with the fire of insanity.         In one hand he grasped a huge knife.
       "I confess I was dismayed.The lunatic meant mischief, and there
I was without a weapon of any kind to defend myself. There was not a
house or human being aside from the maniac in sight.   There was only
one thing to do, and I did it without loss of time.               I   took to   my heels
and sprinted down the road. The lunatic shrieking with fury, darted
after me.  Before we had gone two hundred yards I knew that I was no
match for him as a runner. Just as I made this discovery I tripped over
a stone and sprawled full length in the dust. The next moment I could
feel the lunatic's hot breath upon          my face. Something touched my shoul-
der.     I thought it was that horrible knife.        It wasn't.      It was the mani-

ac's hand.      Springing to his feet, he darted away and called out airily:
       '"Tag!    You're    it!'"