to
Arrive. Even in this Beastly Country, where the Imitation Article
usually passes current as the Real Thing, there seems to be some Doubt
as to my Case, seeing that you two Persons have made this Bet.
Concerning the Bet, I fear that I am unable to Decide it. I do not know
What I am."

"I know What you are," said the First Traveler, "but I do not dare to
tell you right here in the Car, because the Pullman Company has a Rule
against the use of such Language."

So they declared the Bet off and went forward and sat in the Day Coach.

MORAL: _Be Something_.

_THE_ FABLE _OF THE_ ADULT GIRL WHO GOT BUSY BEFORE THEY COULD RING
_THE_ BELL _ON_ HER

Once upon a Time there was a Lovely and Deserving Girl named Clara, who
was getting so near Thirty that she didn't want to Talk about it.
Everybody had a Good Word for her. She traveled with the Thoroughbreds,
and was always Among Those Present; so it was hard to understand why she
hadn't Married. Other Girls not as Good-Looking or Accomplished had been
grabbed off while they were Buds. Already some of them were beginning to
act as Chaperons for Clara. They were keeping Tab on Clara's Age, too,
and began to think that she would land on the Bargain Counter, and have
to be satisfied with a Widower who wore a Toupee and dyed his Eyebrows.

Clara was somewhat of a Mind-Reader. She knew that the Friends of her
Youth were predicting a Hard Finish for her, so she decided to Fool
them. And she knew that it Behooved her to Catch On before the Children
started in to call her Auntie.

Now it is not to be inferred that Clara was what the Underwriters call a
Bad Risk. She never had been a Drug on the Market. When she went to a
Hop she did not have to wait for Ladies' Choice in order to swing into
the Mazy. In fact, she had been Engaged now and then, just for Practice,
and she had received Offers from some of the holdover Bachelors who went
around Proposing from Force of Habit. But Clara was not out for any man
who had been Turned Down elsewhere. She wanted the Right Kind, and she
was going to do the Picking herself.

Having made an Inventory of the Possibilities, she selected the
Treasurer of the Shoe Factory, and decided that she could Love him
without Straining herself. He was about her age, and was almost as
good-looking as a Gibson Man, and had A1 Prospects. It would be no Easy
Job to Land him, however, because the Competition was very keen and he
was Wary, trying to be a