e damage at?"

She did not know what to say, as she was not certain what amount to put
on it, but at last she replied:

"Perhaps you had better get it done yourself. I will leave it to you."

He, however, naturally refused.

"No, Madame, I cannot do that. Tell me the amount of your claim, that is
all I want to know."

"Well!--I think that--Look here, Monsieur, I do not want to make any
money out of you, so I will tell you what we will do. I will take my
umbrella to the maker, who will re-cover it in good, durable silk, and
I will bring the bill to you. Will that suit you, Monsieur?"

"Perfectly, Madame; we will settle it so. Here is a note for the
cashier, who will repay you whatever it costs you."

He gave Mme. Oreille a slip of paper, who took it, got up and went out,
thanking him, for she was in a hurry to escape lest he should change his
mind.

She went briskly through the streets, looking out for a really good
umbrella-maker, and when she found a shop which appeared to be a first
class one, she went in, and said, confidently:

"I want this umbrella recovered in silk, good silk. Use the very best
and strongest you have; I don't mind what it costs."

MY UNCLE SOSTHENES

My Uncle Sosthenes was a Freethinker, like so many others are, from pure
stupidity; people are very often religious in the same way. The mere
sight of a priest threw him into a violent rage; he shook his fist and
grimaced at him, and touched a piece of iron when the priest's back was
turned, forgetting that the latter action showed a belief after all, the
belief in the evil eye. Now when beliefs are unreasonable one should
have all or none at all. I myself am a Freethinker; I revolt at all the
dogmas which have invented the fear of death, but I feel no anger
towards places of worship, be they Catholic, Apostolic, Roman,
Protestant, Greek, Russian, Buddhist, Jewish, or Mohammedan. I have a
peculiar manner of looking at them and explaining them. A place of
worship represents the homage paid by man to THE UNKNOWN. The more
extended our thoughts and our views become, the more _the unknown_
diminishes, and the more places of worship will decay. I, however, in
the place of church furniture, in the place of pulpits, reading desks,
altars, and so on, would fit them up with telescopes, microscopes, and
electrical machines; that is all.

My uncle and I differed on nearly every point. He was a patriot, while I
was not, for after all patrio