ntolerable hour. I bought
two double-barreled echoes in good condition, and he threw in another,
which he said was not salable because it only spoke German. He said,
"She was a perfect polyglot once, but somehow her palate got down."

AN ENCOUNTER WITH AN INTERVIEWER

The nervous, dapper, "peart" young man took the chair I offered him, and
said he was connected with the Daily Thunderstorm, and added:

"Hoping it's no harm, I've come to interview you."

"Come to what?"

"Interview you."

"Ah! I see. Yes--yes. Um! Yes--yes."

I was not feeling bright that morning. Indeed, my powers seemed a bit
under a cloud. However, I went to the bookcase, and when I had been
looking six or seven minutes I found I was obliged to refer to the young
man. I said:--

"How do you spell it?"

"Spell what?"

"Interview."

"Oh, my goodness! what do you want to spell it for?"

"I don't want to spell it; I want to see what it means."

"Well, this is astonishing, I must say. I can tell you what it means, if
you--if you--"

"Oh, all right! That will answer, and much obliged to you, too."

"In, in, ter, ter, inter--"

"Then you spell it with an I?"

"Why certainly!"

"Oh, that is what took me so long."

"Why, my dear sir, what did you propose to spell it with?"

"Well, I--I--hardly know. I had the Unabridged, and I was ciphering
around in the back end, hoping I might tree her among the pictures. But
it's a very old edition."

"Why, my friend, they wouldn't have a picture of it in even the latest
e---- My dear sir, I beg your pardon, I mean no harm in the world, but
you do not look as--as--intelligent as I had expected you would. No
harm--I mean no harm at all."

"Oh, don't mention it! It has often been said, and by people who would
not flatter and who could have no inducement to flatter, that I am quite
remarkable in that way. Yes--yes; they always speak of it with rapture."

"I can easily imagine it. But about this interview. You know it is the
custom, now, to interview any man who has become notorious."

"Indeed, I had not heard of it before. It must be very interesting. What
do you do it with?"

"Ah, well--well--well--this is disheartening. It ought to be done with
a club in some cases; but customarily it consists in the interviewer
asking questions and the interviewed answering them. It is all the rage
now. Will you let me ask you certain questions calculated to bring out
the salient points of your public