The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1899-06-15
STORYETTES.

the most uncompromising man and
the most conscientious. He spent
about half his life in prison because
he would say what he thought was
right, regardless of consequences to
himself. In one of the brief intervals
when he was out of prison and when
his popularity ran high,a paper, PHom-
me Libre, was started for him. He was
made the sole responsible head of it.
One day the editor took the paper
up as soon as it came out, and his eye
happened to fall on conspicuous ad,
which read thus:
"The best pills are Us pills"
Blanc called his secretaire de la re-
daction, who was as near to being a
business manager as the paper had,
showed him the ad and said:
"Don't you think we are taking
good deal on ourselves making that
statement ?"
"Why, what do you mean, sir?" the
man asked, puzzled.
"How do you know that Y-'s pills
are better than anybody else's pills?"
demanded Blanc. "Have you taken
them all?'
'No, SIR
"Then what justif cation have we in
attempting to guarantee the superiority
of one kind of pills? ?"
;c q
papers do the same!'
What all papers do is no guide to us.
Let us make no statement that we are
not perfectly sure of it. Let this
statement not appear again"
The ad did not appear again-nor,
for that matter, did any ads appear
very long in the paper. Conducted on
so careful a basis, FHomme Libre
proved too bright and good for human
natures daily food.
But it died beautiful death.-Press
and Printer.
A New York jeweler the other day
than hens egg which was wrapped
up in a common piece of white paper.
Undoing it he showed what appeared
to be yellowish white pebble about
the size of large hickery-nut.
"a mere, trifle," he said, "but worth
nearly 100000
The onlooker was amazed and took
it in his hand. "YOu mean $780," he
suggested.
mo, 100000. 1t is South African
diamond that is still uncut, and there
are about 1872 karats in it. At the rate
of $50 a karat this would make more
than $4,000, but, of course, the larger
stones are more valuable. l suppose
this is the largest diamond ever brought
to this country. The name of the
importer? That's a secret which we
are not allowed to divulge.'
Now that uncut diamonds are free
of duty, the impOrtations are on a
much larger scale than heretofore
The one in question had been consider
ably ground down, but had no polish
or sparkle to suggest that it was a
diamond at all.-St. Paul Globe.
"Most people suppose" said an ex
Californian, "that the vertical row OF
hieroglyphics on a Chinese laundry
check are merely SO many numerals
AS matter of fact, they are nothing
of the kind, but constitute brief anC
spicy description of the individual who
left the bundle IT you will take the
trouble to notice it, you will see thai
the laundryman always goes through
the same programme. He takes the
package, gives you swift, compreheDs
i've glance, and then proceeds to decorate
a slip of rice paper with from two tt
five India ink tracks. What he ha
really written is probably something
like this:
"'Fat foreign devil who resembles
pig: squinty eyes and wart on the left
side of his nose
"You carry around this fiattering pei
portrait, innocently imagining that i
reads No. 41144,' and when you cal
for your wash you will find that tn
Chinaman who receives the ticket Wi
invariably look you over, maxim
mental comparison, before he reache
for the bundle. A Mongolian friend O
mine out in Frisco put me onto tn
scheme, and l took the trouble to as
certain whether he was telling me tn
truth. 1 got laundry slip, copied
with microscopic fidelity, and submit
ted it to several expert native trans
lators. They all agreed that it "a