, 1889-04-13
THE WISE SKELETON.
1T SITS IN A WINDOW AND SMILES
AT THE WORLDS VANITIES.

Gtters No Comment OF COMPATIBILITY
hap n Little Short on Flesh and Blood,
but Long on Bones, and Otherwise n
True Philosopher.
"To what base uses we may return,
Horatio," says the gospel of Bacon, &C
cording to Shakespeare.
A man sits in the window of n store
on Wabash avenue, who, IL he would
consent to break the silence he has fallen
into, could utter the same sentiment.
He has experienced all the depths and
shadows of life and now smiles n peren-
NAL smile at all existence.
Summer melts linn into n smile and
winter freezes it on him. He is really
the only Chicago "LHomme quirit."
The slamming door never seems to jar
his nerves, nor do wind gusts puff his
joints into rheumatics; the school girl,
passing, comments or his ugliness in his
presence; the ologue, extractor Of great
thoughts from small cavities, passes,
glances at him and makes u memoran-
dun suggestive of Ezekiel's vision; no
commentator hitherto has explained that
chapter; / may be able to throw some
light on it" sympathy embalmed in per-
fume and guarded by a fierce cane ap-
proaches and discovers, through n glass,
the smiling philosopher. absolutely
abominablel Such n beastly caricature
TO be exhibited in public" Even a boot
black passes comments on him: "Stuck
On yourself, amt you? Grin like it, any
way. Need n shine all the same, cause
you amt polished in your manners"
WATCHING THE HURRYING THRoNd.
All day tho philosopher with nothing
but q smile left on him hears the wisdom
and prattle of all classes.
He still sits in his chair as the gray
pail Of the night falls upon the city, as
the moonlight comes over the lake he
and the man in the moon smile at each
other, though his is the wiser smile of
thet two. The stars come out and wink
at him, but he has peered farther than
their tiny lanterns reveal. He has crossed
the bridge of the milky way and knows
the very keystone of its architecture.
He could write an astronomy that would
answer moro than preachers can ask.
He has hunted with Orion and found the
end of the rainbow. The rage of n comet
he is Indifferent to.
Still in the gray of the morning he
sits in the shop window looking only
into the street. He sees the stirring
clerk lift the shades, planning to gobble
the proprietor after awhile; he sees the
proprietor q little later scheming an
under thrust at other proprietors. Soon
after he sees the incoming tide of hui
manity that is to flow twelve hours, then
ebb, surge and beat higher and ~stronger;
n merciless wave in which some are on
top and others go down and are lost.
His ear discerns the groans of the lost
amid the exultings of tho successful.
Yet he regards the little atom of human
ity that is crushed into paving stone for
another and the proud victor alike, with
q smile. On tho lady who caricatures q
d~romedary and suffers her life to be
choked within six inches of her neck to
be a lady, passing on her way to tell her
dearest friend that the long haired mu-
stefan who refused to play at the ~latter's
musicale is 10 play only at hers, is be-
slowed he same. He moves his tooth
less jaws in attempt to mumble ''vanitas
vanitatum."
Then he looks back into the shop where
he is engaged and where doctors sup
plies are kept. The sight of a little pow
der OF a bit of steel, confidently expected
to regulate the length of human life,
brings another smile. 1t is to him as if
a fish in Mammoth cave should suddenly
flop up md command: Let there be
light"
HE KNOWS THE I'LL PEDDLERs.
lie smiles a~pprovingly at the rapid
growth of science when some physician
comes in and ~recounts "a beautiful oper-
alton, but unfortunately the patient died
at the end" lie himself is an advertise
ment of the climax of medical practice,
and illustrates what the physician means
when he promises to ''bring one through
smiling"
He knows, too, which are tho bread
pellets on the shelves for ladies who
wan to SEQ their doctor but not his med
icine, and which are intended to necessi-
tate n return visit.
And the drugs that carry one to tho
shadowy bourne.
He knows which dental punches fill
up cavities while slyly puncturing others,
and the braces which used once become
indispensable.
At tho same time he sees honest old
DR.. Pillbags tremblingly stumble upon q
discovery that reverses the whole treat
I1enI Oh u ulSelSc anu. IDc bIllle TaulaIeS
through the very suturcs of his Uranium.
Physicians blunders do not at the
same time annoy him. They support
the world. A doctor starts after, q man
soon the undertaken follows; then the
florist; h merchant in mourning goods
and the dressmaker join the procession,
followed by the preacher. The lawyer
brings up the rear with a cavalcade of
probate judges, clerks and executors.
Some private school will soon receive an
addition or two, while society will DO
furnished advertisement in a captivating
%relict's guileless disportings. And all be-
cause of the doctors pill
The bony philosopher knows that the
doctor is the connecting link in human
ity. Unmoved in the midst of the whirl,
to the turbulent and the g~rasping, to tho
idle and frivolous alike, no has tho same
message.
1t was printed 300 years ago across tho
water, above tho skull and crossbones of
n brother in n urembu cathedral and