The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-24
SOME SHORT STORIES.

81. Paul. st. Petersburg and Montreal
nave no monopoly on ice carniyals AL
though these three cities rank in tina
order named in the enthusiasm of their
winter sports-when the first named
mas any winter In which to sport in. It
Is q matter of history, however that in
1913, the inhabitants of London were
aStounded one morning to wake I'D and
md the Thames frozen over. and II
Kept getting thicker until it reached
the almost unprecedented depth of A.
Ioot, Whereupon the citizens determined
to celebrate the unusual occurrence
Booths were built on the ice. and a Fair
was had. Tally-hos ran where lighters
usually puffed up and down stream.
and for weeks the people Of the me-
trcpolis held high carnival ;astr" 9naf
The selection of the Parthenon has
gotten one young ST. Paul newspaper
man into trouble. Young is not strict
~ true here, although the incident re-
Veals signs of sufficient calloWness TO
warrant the expIetive. The writer In
question rather prides himself on be-.
ing compendium Of useful informa-
ton, and when, a few days ago. A.
young woman of his acquaintance
gazed earnestly at him and asked who
this Parthenfa was for whom the
Parthenon was to be built with the
accent purposely put on the second
syllable, the glance he returned could
be d1ssected into the component ex-
preSsions Of superior wisdom, pity
ana. perhaps, q trace Of Scorn Com
descension, however, Is his best fail
ing, probably, so he regaled her forth
with with a dissertation on Grecian at
fairs that was astonishing
"Parthenia,' he said. was the god
dess Of manly sports in Greece. and
the Parthenon was erected on the Aero
polls right next to the amphitheater
where the gladiators fought If I had
a map of Athens, 1 could show YOU
just where the two buildings stood.
You know some times the gladiators
used to kill each other SO before they
went into the arena to battle, they
would go UP into the temple to get
Parthenia's blessing"
The maiden gave him furtive
glance Of gratitude from her fawn eyes.
and with the blandest humility, inquir-
ed:
Why; Mr.: how do you know all
ooh, I worked nine years translating
those Grecian myths into German, and
l never got my money. The firm fail
ed"
Then the young woman, fearing that
tickle memory might have been playing
pranks, looked in the dictionary and
found that that book still insisted that
Minerva, whose hobby was wisdom,
rather than manly sports
1t requires q great deal Of self con-
troll to sit down real hard and undigni-
fledly on a slippery sidewalk and get
up without embelliShing the atmos-
pl1ere with exclamation points Of more
or less staccato rendition and slack
morality. A young man, who is one
of the most promising candidates for
reading clerk of the house Of repre-
sentatives, however, takes the palm
in this respect. He was electioneering
a few days ago when he slipped on an
icy step and dropped on the flag like
a load of-well, brick Convulsed with
laughter, two or three by-standers
picked him up. There was reproach in
his look, but none in his manner as
with the cour-tliness Of dancing mas
ter, he rejoined:
Gentlemen, the pleasure is all mine.'
The treating habit has unique Iimita-
tions, as has been remarked many
times, in and out of print. No one ex-
poets you to join him when he buys his
wife a yard of ribbon, or the baby q
box of blocks or himself a pair of sus-
penders. Neither does one expect when
he goes into a hardware store and buys
a stove, the salesman will invite him to
have a pipe or two ION the house" But
here is a. new one BrealxfaSting in a
Minneapolis restaurant few days ago,
q G l o man was surprised toward
the close of his repast to have the wait
er come UP and say:
Il want you to have piece of mince
pie, on the house We've got new
pastry cook, and she's a peach, seer
Men can't or won't bake pies"
And not only that, but he set up the
pie, ION the house"