se vacant quarter inch? I
am permanently a wiser man.

"Many Filipino women catch and sell fish for a living."

Amid a world at war, too, how peaceful and soothing is this tabloid
idyl of piscatorial toil!

After the acquisition of this morsel of learning I set diligently to
work on the day's papers, both the morning editions and those
"evening" editions which come to us here by a train leaving the city
early in the afternoon, to see how much erudition I could accumulate
in one sun's span. I think you of the cities will be astonished. I was
myself. In a few weeks I shall read the encyclopaedia advertisements
with scorn instead of longing. For instance, I have learned that "A
new tooth-brush is cylindrical and is revolved against the teeth by a
plunger working through its spirally grooved handle." Obviously, just
the implement for boys interested in motor-cars (as all boys are).
They will play they are grinding valves and run joyously to brush
their teeth.

I have learned that "In the last five years our national and state
lawmaking bodies have passed 62,550 laws." The surprising thing about
this information is that the number is so small!

I have learned that "Russia has ten thousand lepers, taken care of by
twenty-one institutions."

I have acquired these valuable bits of ornithological lore: "The
frigate-bird is capable of getting up a speed of ninety-six miles an
hour with hardly a movement of its wings. The greater part of its life
is spent in the air." "The swallow has a larger mouth in proportion to
its size than any other bird."

I have, from the bottom of a single column, gleaned these three items
of incalculable value: "By harnessing a fly to a tiny wagon an English
scientist found it could draw one hundred and seventy times its own
weight over smooth surfaces."

"Missouri last year produced 195,634 tons of lead, a fairly heavy
output."

"The United States has five hundred and seventeen button-factories."

The New York _Times_ staggers me with this statistical line: "One
Paris motion-picture plant produces an average of three million feet
of films weekly." (This strikes me as a kind of "French
frightfulness.")

The New York _Evening Post_ contributes to my welfare and domestic
comfort this item: "Both an electric range and a refrigerator are
included in a new kitchen cabinet, but are hidden from view by doors
when not in use."

I am certainly a wiser man for knowing that "The Mexican seacoast o