The times., 1899-12-10
Informal Philosophy.

That clever newspaper man. MIR. George
Ade. has, as newspaper readers know, been
allowing his genius 10 crop out in new
place The author OF pink Marsh, Ar
tie" and Doe Horne" has been making
philosophical reflections on the life Of the
present day. in most informal fashion; and
The result is small buff-covered book
bearing the title Fables in Slang. The
probabilities are thar this little work viii
achieve greater popularity than any OF
its predecessors. it has already gone into
several editions. Save and excepting Mr..
DOoley, nobody mas so cleyerly and sue
cinctly pointed out the faults and foibles Of
The American nature OF today as has this
Gn-de-siecle fabIe-maker.
For example, here is a sketch entitled
'sThe Good Fairy iu which are portrayed
the Efforts Of large lady. without heavy
household responsibilities, TO make life
brighter for her unfortunate fellow-citizens.
Wn5n she carried sunshine into the loWly
places. as Mr.. Ade puts il, she would do
things like this
The Benevolent Lady would go into a House
numbered 1884 with q Marking Brush, and alter
size had sized mp The front room through the
IaIgnettc, she would say. My Good Woman
does your Husband Driukt
.86. ves sir" the Grateful Woman would
reply That j., when he.s working. lie gets a
Dollar Ten"
and what does he do with all MS Money!
the Benevolent Lady would ask.
- think he plays the stock Market, would
be tbs Reply.
Tlen the Benevolent Lady would say: "Whcn
the Unfortunate Man comes Home this Evening
y9u tel him that Kind and autiful Lady called
and asked him pl,asr 10 stop Drinking Except a
Glass % ClaIct al Dinner. and to be sure aud
read Eight or ten Page from the Encyclopedias
krr Tf|.f N.rf. Ff faTT
him 10 be s'He and save His Money. Is That your
Child under tAe Bedy
That's little William J. -
How Many have you:
Eight or Nine-l f0rget Which,
BE sure and dIs-- them iu Sanitary Under
wear; you can gc' il Tor Fgug Dollars Suit"
Some people who have had experience
With what the author calls two hundred
and thirty-fye pounds Of sunshine drift
ing up the street viii recognize the es-
seutal truth OF this little sketch
There is little in Chicago life which has
escaped the sharp eye of this observer of
human nature. His brief treatises deal
with political social, dramatic religious,
philanthroplc. and matrimonial questions
. Some OF them have morals. and some have
2 not and Of those which are thus provided
. there are a few whose ethics are twisted
( 80 tnat 20 sunday school superintendent
would endorse them as morals at all
3 4ulaEs 40 Aoi come Out. III lueSC rabies
as they do in the Sunday school books.
they are arranged more according to ne
plan laid out in the five points of Cal
vinism. There is no Karma in them
They are not theosophica, they are prac-
tical. as practical as soap advertise
meut with sample attached.
The merit Of the various stories is Sc
nearly equal that il is hard TO select any
one as being better than any other one;
but there is a section Of the biography oil
two sketch artists which viii find a warm
spot 3D. the heart of every dramatic edit
or in the country except those who ha.
bitually attend to their duties in evening
garb and delegate The task Of criticsiue
vaudeville 10 their unhappy subordinatCs
This team OF artists moved about the
country under the title Zcroaster anC
ZendaNesta and it started in a circus. Thel
il became convinced OF it's genius ana be
gan, as Mr.. AIDE expresses ii. TO play date.
and combinations. They played these f0
seventeen years During that time thel
made only two important changes. Zoroas
ter changed his whiskers from green L
blue. and al the beginning OF the four
teenth year they bought one new prop
erty. All theatregoers know Zoroaster ant
ZendavCsta The only diff Atty is TO de
eide which of the scores OF such teams ol