n as to how he was going to come out:

"We were fishing one time on the Grand Banks for--er--for--"

"Whales," somebody suggested.

"No," said the Justice, "we were baiting with whales."

"Lo, Jim! Fishin'?"

"Naw; drowning worms."

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries: "Doubtless
God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did"; and so
(if I might be judge), God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent
recreation than angling.--_Izaak Walton_.

FLATS

"Hello, Tom, old man, got your new flat fitted up yet?"

"Not quite," answered the friend. "Say, do you know where I can buy a
folding toothbrush?"

She hadn't told her mother yet of their first quarrel, but she took
refuge in a flood of tears.

"Before we were married you said you'd lay down your life for me," she
sobbed.

"I know it," he returned solemnly; "but this confounded flat is so tiny
that there's no place to lay anything down."

FLATTERY

With a sigh she laid down the magazine article upon Daniel O'Connell.
"The day of great men," she said, "is gone forever."

"But the day of beautiful women is not," he responded.

She smiled and blushed. "I was only joking," she explained, hurriedly.

MAGISTRATE (about to commit for trial)--"You certainly effected the
robbery in a remarkably ingenious way; in fact, with quite exceptional
cunning."

PRISONER--"Now, yer honor, no flattery, please; no flattery, I begs
yer."

OLD MAID--"But why should a great strong man like you be found begging?"

WAYFARER--"Dear lady, it is the only profession I know in which a
gentleman can address a beautiful woman without an introduction."

William ---- was said to be the ugliest, though the most lovable, man in
Louisiana. On returning to the plantation after a short absence, his
brother said:

"Willie, I met in New Orleans a Mrs. Forrester who is a great admirer of
yours. She said, though, that it wasn't so much the brillancy of your
mental attainments as your marvelous physical and facial beauty which
charmed and delighted her."

"Edmund," cried William earnestly, "that is a wicked lie, but tell it to
me again!"

"You seem to be an able-bodied man. You ought to be strong enough to
work."

"I know, mum. And you seem to be beautiful enough to go on the stage,
but evidently you prefer the simple life."

After that speech he got a square meal and no reference to the woodpile.

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