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Whether Common or Not
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Contentment.
A king whose storo of worldly wealth .
. Would not suffice to purchase health,
Called in physicians and inquired
, What kind of drugs his case required.
One said ho needed tonics strong;
Another said that this was wrong. '
One said the king's veins should ho bled;
Another said 'twould kill him dead.
At last one wiser than the rest
Said, 'riiro, life has lost Its zest.
Go out and all the wide world scan
And find a well contonted man.
And when he's found require that ho
Shall sell his shirt for gold to thee.
Then wear the shirt a single 'night,
And you will find your health all right."
The king set out upon his quest
And traveled north, south, east an west;
But in hjs search he never ran
Across .a well contented man
Until one day he chanced to spy
A beggar singing, standing by.
"Art thou contonted,' cried the king,
"That thou should idle thus and sing?" u
"Of course I am," replied the man
As smiles across his visago ran.
"I've health and strength and nought to do
As life's sweet journey I pursue.
The world's my home, the ground my bed;,
My cover is the sky o'erhead.
And richest music man e'er heard
Is mine from silver-throated bird.
Contented? Well, none more than I," "'
Was this gay beggarman's reply. ' ' "
"Then sell your shirt to me., I pray,"
The king unto the man did say.
The beggar laughed till his sides did hurt
Anu snoutea, i never owueu u buuu
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Paradoxical.
"Gracious!" exclaimed the citizen as he hast
ily loft tho room where the public, meeting was in
progress. "I never sajv such a speaker in my life.
For such a' small bore ho is tho greatest gusher in
the district.'"
'
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For This HcTolted.
He toiled and pinched to pile up wealth
In divers ways did earn it .
And now some distant relatives .,
' Are hastening to burn it.
Hopeless.
The youth was plainly disconsolate, and in the
goodness of our heart we wanted to comfort him.
"Alas!" he cried; "I can never become great."
Naturally wo asked why.
"Because," he replied, sobbing bitterly, "I was
born in a mansion, and I have never been com
pelled to support a widowed mother and a lot of
littte brothers and sisters."
When we stopped to think we realized that
this was s case where mere words would not avail.
. Premature.
. ."I tried to fly high in all street the other
day."
"How did you succeed?"
"Well, all I've got to say Is, the practical fly
ing machine has not yet been invented."
- The New Time.
"What time Is It?"- queriea Mrs. Staylate,
peering over the balustrade.
"It ish jush 11 'clock, m'dear," replied Mr.
Staylate in his fusel oily tones.
Just then tho now clock struck 2.
"What do you mean by telling me such an un-
The Commoner.
truth?" demanded Mrs. Staylate, and her voice
W3 full of wrath.
Among his friends Mr. Staylate has the repu- ,
tatlon of having a ready wit, and on this occasion
he lived up to his reputation.
"Don't get oxcited, m'dear," he said, soothing
ly. "You mishundershand th' Jock. Thash new
clock new-fashioned clock. It struck one twisb,
m'dear; an' two ones-make 'leven."
The Paperhangjr.
The paperhanger is the man
As we've learned to our sorrow
" 'Who' knows he will not come for weeks,
And promises tomorrow.
Sure Sign.
"I know spring is here now?"
VHow do you know?"
Mr. Titephlst has just allowed; his :wife to buy
her last winter's bonnet."
Naturally. -
"Hello, Billklns! Been over on Wall street
this morning?" . .
"No!"
"Better go over. There's big change in Wall
street since yesterday."
"Well, there ought to be, I left all of mine
there within the last twelve hours."
Modern Definitions.
Confidence is .what you have that the other
fellow trades on.
Luck is what someone else ulways has.
Tariff is the word that covers the act of tak
ing what you have earned to give it to a man who
has a pull.
Option is what the banker uses when he pays
you and what ho refuses to let you use when
you pay him. W. M. M.
Memorial Day.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! The clear notes of the bugle
Call thee no more to the heat of the -fray.
Bright on thy resting place, grave of tho hero,
Bloom the fair flowers of Memorial Day.
Under tho sod which thy life's blood has hallowed;
Under the flag you so long bought to save
Sleep, soldier, sleep! God watches thy slumbers;
A nation pays homage today to the brave.
Soldier in blue who gave life for the Union
Soldier of Southland who fought in the gray
God has decided the right of your struggles
Under one flag you are sleeping- today.
Garlands of laurel and garlands of willow
Strew we today on the graves of our dead.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! For thy warfare is over;
. Rest thee in peace in thy uowcr-strewn bed.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! O'er thy grave in the jungle
Love stands on guard through the long hours of
night;
Honor stands guard through the b,eat of the
noonday-
You who have fought for God and the right.
Millions will kneel in deep prayer for the heroes
Giving their lives for humanity's sake,.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! Thou hast died for thy
till God's reveille bida thee awake.
Sleep, soldier,' sleep! The bright flag of tho union
Still proudly floats o'er the land and the sea,
Beacon of hope to tho world's weary peoples
Banner of truth and the flag of the free.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! The flowers of springtime
Strew we today on thy low, narrow bed.
Sleep, soldier, sleep! While the hands of the living
Garland today-all the graves of our dead.
Will M. Maupin, In Omaha World-Herald.
The College-Bred Negro.
The fifth number of the Atlanta University
Publication is a study of the negro as a college
graduate- It bears evidence of extreme care in tho
collection and collaboration, of statistics and. ia
chaiucterized throughout by that scientific fair
ness which should characterize all Inquiries Into
social conditions. The colleges of the United
States have graduated about 2,500 negroes, begin
ning a& far back as 1826. Naturally there were
bu few prior to the civil war, the total number
recorded from 1826 to 1860, inclusive, being but
t.re:icy-six. From 1861 to 1868 therj were twenty
eight and since then there has bean a steady in
crease, as shown by the following table:
1826.. 1 I860.. G 1&74.. 27 1888.. 87
182S. . 1 1863.. 3 1875.. 25 1889.. 85
1844.. 1 1862.. 3 1876.. 37 189(V.. 95
1845.. 1 1863.. 1 1877.. 43 18,-.. 96
1847.. 1 1864., 2 1878.. 37 1892.. 70
1849.. 1 1865.. 5 1879.. 48 .1893.. 137
1850.. 1 1866.. 1 1880.. 50 1894.. 130
1851.. 1 1867.. 4 ' 1881.. 54 1895.. 130
1853.. 3 1868.. 9 1882.. b9 1896.. 104
1855.. 1 1869.. 11 1883.. 74 1897.. 128
1856.. 5 1870.. 2ff 1884.. 64 1898. .14'4
1857.. 1 1871.. 15 1885.100. 1899. .57
1858.. 1 1872.. 26 1886 .94 - - .
-1859.. 1 1873.. 29 '1887.. 90 Total, 2209
Glass not given 122. .
Grand total i ;;2331 ,
Partial report.
Of these the white colleges have graduated 390
and institutions dedicated exclusively 10 the blacka
1941. About 10 per cent of the graduates are wom
en. Over half of these educated negroes are
teachers, one-sixth preachers, another sixth stu
dents and professional men and tho remainder
farmers, artisans and merchants. Four per cent
are. in the government service. Five hundred and
fifty-seven of them own real c;.' nte" valued at $1,
342,862, the average holding per individual being
$2,411, and a very handsome showing it is. The
argument that education spoils the negro finds
little support in these figures.
It may be said, however, that -the negro has
been fortunate in tnat the colleges founded for his
benefit; since tho civil war have been well adapted
in most cases, to his needs. Tney have taught him
to be self-supporting and to imparl: useful knowl
edge in turn. In this respect it may be said, with:
. no disparagement of other institutions, that Booker
T. Washington's Tuskugee Institute in performing
the most practical work of all. It supplies a com
mon school education, with manual training added;
It sends forth mechanics, far; lers ,and teachers.
Its graduates are self-reliant, useful members of
society as a rule and if there are exceptions it
is not the fault of the school, but of the individual.
In their spheres Atlanta, Howard, Shaw, Talla
dega, Fisk, Lincoln and a score more have done a
noble work in the academic line as well as in in
dustrial training. Minneapolis Time
A New Invention.
A dispatch from Stockholm to the Chicago Tri
bune gives an interesting description of a practical
and valuable invention as follows: An employe of
a Stockholm telephone company has invented a
device by which tho telephone user can tell when a
third party is listening to his conversation. The
visible part of the device Is a small metal box with
a glass front. This is attached .o the. wall or desk"
near the telephone instrument. The pressing of a
button connects the "listener detector," as it is
called with the telephone. The intrusion of "cen
tral" is indicated by the illumination of a red
Maltese cross behind the glass of the "detecter,"
which remains lighted up as long as "central" ia
on the wire. The connection of tho operator at
the second exchange with the wire is indicated by
the illumination of a white cross, so that the tele
phone patron can tell not only when and how
long the operator is on tho wire, but alsa which
exchange "cuts in" to ask him whether he ia
through talking or to listen to what he is saying.
Tho device, including its installation, costs less
than $2, and is being put in by a large number of
business houses which use the telephone for trans
acting more or less confidential business.