--- 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: 9 number: 3 published: 1906-01 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* 9, no. 3 (January 1906): 257.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0903unse 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: improvementera0903unse start_page: 257 end_page: 257 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0903unse publication_year: 1906 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 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # In Lighter Mood IN LIGHTER MOOD. "Mama" said a small girl, "If I get married when I grow up will I have a husband like papa?" "Yes, dear," was the answer. "And if I don't get married shall I be an old maid like Aunt Sarah?" "Why, yes, dear, you probably will," replied her mother. The little girl sighed. "Well, no matter what we do," she said, "it's a pretty hard world for us women, isn't it?" An American, touring in the country with an English friend, stopped to point out to him a sign-post, on which some wag had printed this sign : ' 'This way to Squedunk. Those who cannot read apply at the blacksmith's opposite. ' ' The American roared with laughterj but the Englishman looked puzzled. After they had returned home that night the Englishman came into his host's room roaring with laughter. "Ah," he said, "I see the joke now — suppose the blacksmith were out?" Some boy friends of Darwin once plotted a surprise for the great naturalist. Capturing a centipede, they glued onto it a beetle's head, the wings of a butterfly, and the long legs of a grasshopper. Then putting the creature in a box, they took it to Darwin, and asked him what it could be, explaining that they had caught it in the fields. Darwin looked it over carefully. "Did it hum when you caught it?" he asked. "Oh yes, sir," they answered, nudging one another, "it hummed like every. thing," "Then," said the philosopher, "it is a humbug." — Harper's Weekly. "Say, Pat, can you tell me where the Rockefeller building is?" ' 'An' how did yez know me name were Pat?' ' "Guessed it." "Ye' re good at guessin', sor?" "Fine." "Thin guess where th' Rockefeller building is." — Cleveland Leader. A certain editor was visited in his office by a ferocious-looking military gentleman, who exclaimed, excitedly, as he entered : "That notice of my death in your paper today is a lie, sir. I'll horsewhip you in public, sir, if you don't apologize in your next issue." The next day the editor inserted the following apology : "We extremely regret to announce that the paragraph in our issue of yesterday, which stated that Colonel Brimstone was dead, is without foundation." — Harper's Weekly.