ct. It was, declared Randolph Fitts, a
perfectly just and equable law, and would no doubt ease the minds of
quite a number of people in far-off lands,--if they ever heard of it.

Joe and Matilda had been married nearly two months when, in the thick
of a connubial row, he demanded her passport. He even went so far as to
threaten her with his if she didn't produce it at once. Matilda's
temper was no milder than Joe's. She not only dug up her passport but a
marriage certificate as well, while all he could show was a passport.
It was a very unfortunate contretemps, in view of the fact that they
shortly afterwards kissed and "made up." It so happened that there
were quite a number of witnesses to the flaunting of these damaging
documents, and as Trigger Island was then in the first stages of a
religious upheaval, it was impossible to overlook this definite instance
of iniquity. Despite the recantations of the chagrined couple,--and,
it must be added, the surreptitious disappearance of the incriminating
papers,--the matter was brought before the tribunal of justice. Chief
Justice Malone was equal to the emergency. Indeed, he had been expecting
something of the sort, and was prepared. He ordered both of the
interested parties to bring suit for divorce from their legal spouses,
one for "failure to provide," the other for "desertion," and promptly
granted decrees, service by publication having been obtained through the
medium of the Trigger Island Pioneer, printed monthly by Peter Snipe,
editor and publisher, limited to an edition of one, owing to the
scarcity of paper, and posted conspicuously for all subscribers on the
bulletin board in front of the "government building." Additional spice
was lent to the affair by the surprising reluctance of Joe and Matilda
to re-enter the paradise from which they had been ejected. Apparently
they had had enough of each other. Moreover, they had both "got
religion" and insisted on repenting at leisure, separately and alone.
But people took a very decided stand in the matter. They could repent in
any manner they liked after Matilda's baby was born, but not before. And
so they were married once more, and, strange to relate, lived happily
and contentedly thereafter.

Now, while all this may strike the reader as footless and trivial, it
really has a distinct place in the chronicles of Trigger Island.
If, perforce, the writer has succeeded in treating the situation
facetiously, it should not be a