The age-herald., 1900-10-16
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

Dear Mother" wrote school boy about thirteen years old. who was off at boarding school. He sat at desk in his little room all alone. He had not written home for some time and he thought he ought to write. His sense of filiai obligation was sharpened also by the fact that he needed money. If the truth must be told this was the real reason why he had set himself the incongenial task of writing home. He was not fond of writing. He was tired and sleepy and it was bed time, but he wanted money So he began his letter.
 Dear Mother" he wrote, easily and fluently then his muse deserted him. Ha really had nothing to say. He hestitated to ask for money in the very first sen tence. He racked his brain for something to write. He could think of nothing ex- cept the base ball game of the afternoon; how his team won the game in the eighth by Brown of the other side muffing a ball on third; and how Johnson the night be- fore had been elected president of his society over Green by a close and exciting vote. He did not think these matters would interest the home folk, he thought and thought of something else he could write. The more he thought the less hope he had of ever being able to write his letter. He Was getting sleepy, he must have the money, in despair he wrote: Dear mother, 1 love you. Please send me some money. Your affectionate son, John."
 Now a parent who is not in sympathy with child, and is not interested in hear ing how Brown lost the game in the eighth and how Johnson 'laid 1t over'' Green, is no sort of a parent parent who expects interesting letters from a boy at school is hoping for the impossible. Nothing inter- esting to grown people ever happens at school. If they can't be boys and girls again and recollect the excitement caused by the fight between Henley and Williams in their own school days, or how Margaret Thompson was caught receiving letters from young men, then they will never get any letters from their own children except of the most perfunctory kind, generally ending if not beginning with a request for money.
 "One of the prettiest scenic effects in Birmingham" said a resident, s at the corner of Sixth avenue and Twentieth street. I was going home the other night when I was attracted by the beauty of the scene. The light from the electric light at the corner shining through the trees cast a lace work of shadows on the white walls of the Church of the Advent. The lights inside the church were burning and shining through the stained glass of the window made with the shadows on the walls a picture more like an artistic scene the stage than anything in real life. Overhead the reflection from the furnaces made two roseate clouds one in the east and one in the west So lost was I in the beauty of the scene that instead of my latch key l tried to open the front door with match, and did not discover my mistake until I ignted the match in my efforts to uncok the door. l will also, by way of parenthe- sis, that I was perfectly sober."
 A case was tried in a police court the other day in New York which illustrated how common a thing it is there for men to buy their wives. This is not remarkable when the large foreign populai ion in New York is considered foreigners being more frank and business-like in matrimonial matters than Americans. A man who was a German and a painter, thirty-five years old, bought his wife from her parents for the sum of $12O Having read in the American comic papers some of the moth- er-in-law jokes, he wisely made it a con dition of the sale that the girls parents were to return to their former home in Germany. He married the girl, paid 800 on account, when he discovered that the parents had abandoned their idea of re- turning to Germany; so he refused to pay the remaining $50, pleading failure of con sideration. The parents thereupon had him
 ,,I lot, ,an1 vendors Hen on the girl for the balance of the unpaid purchase money The judge. however decided in favor of the husband although he was only related to the girl by marriage and dissolved the vendors lien by taking bond from the parents to keep the peace.
 Queer things happen in the divorce courts. There is a case on record where a man who had been divorced from his wife promised to marry her again He thought better or Worser of it, however, and refused to marry her whereupon she sued him for preach of promise. There is also now pending in the courts divorce suit where the couple have already been divorced once. The husband deserted his wife and she obtained d divorce on the ground of desertion. One day the ex- wife received a telegram from the ex-hus- band that he would call and see her. He called She did not exclaim or excuse her self or indulge in any undue excitement. He was received as a Prodigal Son. They fell on each others necks and wept. They went into dinner hand in hand like lovers of old. There was a new wooing, another marriage and now there Is another divorce suit. How long this little performance will be kept up cannot be estimated. as the parties do not live in Chicago.
 Then there are the divorce suits that end in tears and kisses. The parties come into court with their respective lawyers, take their seats opposite sides of the court room, and glare at each other In an icy and tragic way. Sometimes the sheriff has to sit between them to prevent actual and open hostilities. A Boxer movement is threat