“Why, Tom,” yawned the little woman, “how early you are this morning!”

“Yes, my dear,” replied Tom, stifling a groan, “I’ve got to go to Montreal for the firm today.”

And replacing his footgear the wretched man dragged his aching limbs out again into the cold and heartless streets.

A philanthropic New York woman was entertaining, in the spacious grounds of her suburban residence, a large number of East-Side children.  On her rounds of hospitality she was impressed with one strikingly beautiful little girl.  She could not have been more than nine years old, but her coal-black eyes flashed with intelligence.  The hostess introduced herself and began a conversation.

“Does what you see here today please you?” she asked.  The child eyed her host in silence.

“Talk away,” said the lady.  “Don’t be afraid.”

“Tell me,” then said the child, “how many children have you got?”

Astonished at the question, the lady hesitated for a moment, and then entered into the fun of the situation.

“Ten,” she replied.

“Dear me,” answered the child, “that is a very large family, I hope you are careful and look after them.  Do you keep them all clean?”

“Well, I do my best.”

“And is your husband at work?”

“My husband does not do any kind of work.  He never has.”

“That is very dreadful,” replied the little girl earnestly, “but I hope you keep out of debt.”

The game had gone too far for Lady Bountiful’s enjoyment of it.

“You are a very rude and impertinent child,” she burst out, “to speak like that, and to me.”

The child became apologetic.  “I’m sure I didn’t mean to be, ma’am,” she explained.  “But mother told me before I came that I was to be sure to speak to you like a lady, and when any ladies call on us, they always ask us those questions.”

A gentleman who had married his cook was giving a dinner party and between the courses the good lady sat with her hands spread on the tablecloth.

Suddenly the burr of conversation ceased and in the silence that followed a young man on the right of his hostess said, pleasantly: 

“Awful pause!”

“Yes, they may be,” said the old-time cook, with heightened color; “and yours would be like them if you had done half my work.”

His relatives telephoned to the nearest florist’s.  The ribbon must be extra wide, with “Rest in Peace” on both sides, and if there was room, “We Shall Meet in Heaven.”

The florist was away and his new assistant handled the job.  There was a sensation when the flowers turned up at the funeral.  The ribbon was extra wide, indeed, and on it was the inscription: 

“Rest in peace on both sides, and, if there is room, we shall meet in heaven.”

See also Bluffing.

EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES