snake, which run by clockwork inside, and
which were very natural indeed. The idea is to let them run at the
candidate for initiation to see if he will flinch. When the snake ran at
the girl she kept her nerve all right, but when the rat tried to run
up her trousers leg she grabbed her imaginary skirts in both hands and
jumped onto a refrigerator that was standing near, (which is used in
the work of the fourth degree) and screamed bloody murder. The girl is
a member of the order, however, and there is no help for it. This affair
may open the eyes of members of secret societies and cause them to
investigate. One lodge here, we understand, takes precaution against the
admission of women by examining carefully the feet of applicants. If the
feet are cold enough to freeze ice cream the candidate is black-balled.

THE TELESCOPE FISH-POLE CANE.

There is one thing we want to set our face against and try and break up,
and that is the habit of young and middle aged persons going fishing on
Sunday, when going on the Summer excursions to the country. The devil,
or some other inventor, has originated a walking-stick that looks as
innocent as a Sunday school teacher, but within it is a roaring lion, in
the shape of a fish-pole. We have watched young fellows, and know their
tricks. Sunday morning they say to their parents that they have agreed
to go over on the West Side and attend early mass with a companion, just
to hear the exquisite music, and, by the way, they may not be home to
dinner. And they go from that home, with their new cane, looking as
pious as though they were passing the collection plate. When they get
around the corner they whoop it up for the depot, and shortly they
are steaming out into the country. They have a lot of angleworms in an
envelope in their vest pockets, and a restaurant colored man, who has
been seen the night before, meets them at the depot and hands them a
basket of sandwiches with a bottle sticking out.

Arriving at the summer resort, they go to the bank of the lake and take
a boat ride, and when well out in the lake they begin to unbosom the
cane. Taking a plug out of the end of it, they pull out a dingus and
three joints of fish-pole come out, and they tie a line on the end, put
an angle worm on the hook, and catch fish. That is the kind of "mass"
they are attending.

At night the train comes back to town, and the sunburnt young men, with
their noses peeled, hand a basket to the waitin