telephone and wondered how she could have known.

"'Yes,' I said, I hear them every day.'

"'Ah!' said the spirit, 'you are mediumistic.'

"I started. 'Is it painful?' I asked, 'or likely to become chronic?'

"The medium sat bolt upright in her chair and rubbed her eyes
violently. 'Your levity has destroyed the conditions,' she said. 'Two
dollars, please.'

"I paid the money, and, in going out, I met a man looking at his watch
in an irritated way.

"'I engaged a sitting for 3 o'clock by telephone,' he said. 'Why have
I been kept waiting half an hour?'

"The medium's jaw dropped with peculiar suddenness and she sat down
heavily in a chair. A sudden revelation came to me.

"'Sir,' I said, addressing the stranger, 'pardon the inquiry, but have
you a Sister Ida and a Brother Charley in spirit life? Do you love two
women--one fair and wealthy, the other poor and dark, but talented?
Does a dark cloud hover over your life and do you hear voices calling
you from afar? Are you sensitive and have you developed the sense of
tou--?'

"'Enough!' cried the man, hoarsely. 'I am convinced--here is your
money,' and he handed me a five-dollar bill.

"'Thanks,' said I, and left them there together."

THE POTENCY OF THE TESTIMONIAL

"Did you ever read the testimonial letters of noted persons?" said the
Observer, thoughtfully, stirring his coffee. "There are many things
which come with fame besides public adulation; they are material
things and have a certain commercial as well as sentimental value,
such as soap and corsets, patent medicines, face powder, vapor baths,
books, cigars, corned beef, fountain pens, and patented trouser
hangers. As soon as a man gets his name in print a few times he is
deluged with samples by every manufacturer in the country. I know an
actor who hasn't bought a cake of toilet soap since he began to play
leading parts. All he's got to do is to write a testimonial for some
new brand, saying he would use no other, and he gets a case; then,
there is a leading lady who once endorsed a certain kind of shoe,
and now she's got a dozen pairs in her trunk, which didn't cost her
a cent.

"Among the personal effects of the late Senator D---- were six dozen
porous plasters and nearly a gross of Casey's Liver Regulator. Whether
the senator's demise was due to his strenuous efforts to deplete this
generous supply has never been made known, but I very much doubt if
the doctor, who attributed his death