The age-herald., 1900-11-16
SKETCHES I
 E1 7 LIFE

That love is blind was illustrated by marriage in the Probate office yesterday. The groom was a man about 50. When nine months old he had the misfortune to fall in the fire which destroyed his sight and disfigured his face
 lie came into the Probate office accom- panied by another blind man who was to act as bondsman and best man. The law requires before a marriage license is is- sued that bond be given conditioned that there is no valid reason why the parties should not marry
 The groom and his bondsman- came in led by little boy. It was not cupid, but a. small pickaninny The bride, as perhaps should have been mentioned before. also accompanied the groom and groomsman. She was about 35, rather good-looking. and with good eyesight. The license was duly Issued and the marriage ceremony per formed by Chief Clerk Tarrant
 If love be blind, the blind will now lead the blind
 People who get married at the-eourt house never came back for divorce. Either they are bound together so tight that they can- not get loose, or else it brings luck to be married there. Chief Clerk Tarrant says that he will guarantee that every couple married by him, will-but, as Kiplng says, that is another story.
 
 'The poorer the soil and the thinner the population" said the president of the Loaf CTS Club, while putting more coal in the stove, the greater the population of dogs. No doubt some of you have noticed this in tba people have commented on it, though nave never heard satisfactory explana- ton of the fact. This may account for the expression going to the dogs, for generally this class of people are shiftless and pov- erty-stricken.I have a good deal of sym pathy, however, with a man who is fond of oogs. dog is a pretty good companion, and 1t Is very lonely In the country.
 A friend of mine who lives in town has a brother in the country who Is one of this class of people. He seems to have inherited poverty. He has large family of chil- dren and innumerable dogs. These he achieved My friend some time ago sent him fine COW. He had to take the COW for debt and it occurred to him that it would be very acceptable present for his brother with his many children
 lie got a letter from him thanking him for the cow, and congratulated himself that he had found such an acceptable present.
 Some time after, business took him to the part of the State where his brother lived and he took occasion to make him visit. His brolner John was delighted to see him and they spent pleasant evening talking over old times. The children were all pa- raded to shake hands with Uncle Tom, and even the dogs were called in by John, who expatiated on their different merits. He was particularly enthusiastic over pointer.
 Iom," said he, this is the finest bird dog in this country. If there is a partridge anywhere in the neghborhood he will find hlm. There never was such a dog" He went on extoling the merits of the dog un- til his brother, who was not a sportsman, and who felt blue account of the gen. eral air of poverty, interrupted him by asking about the COW.
 By the way" he said, you didn't give me any milk for supper. How is the COW coming on?"
 ''Tom," said his brother, If you would Just take gun and go out with that dog you wouldn't think about cows''
 But what about the COW? Does she give enough milk for the children?"
 Well, the fact is Tom, it cost so much to feed that COW that I swapped her for this pointer. You see it don't cost much to keen a dog."
 "Yes," said the member who never smiled, some men, as the saying goes, are born poor, and some achieve poverty.-Of this class was Ben Watson. Ben used to own s15,0OO worth of land. Now he's pauper"
 How did that happen?' asked some one.
 Solely from desire to get rich. You see Ben's land was near the city and some real estate agent thought it would be a speculation to buy 1t, and sell 1t out in town lots. Ben knew nothing about town lots, but the profit the real estate man had figured on paper dazzled him. He and the real estate man formed a corporation. The land was conveyed to the corporati the real estate man was president, paid his sal ary out of what lots were sold while Ben waited patiently for dividends. It was the old story of the corporation getting the land"
 What did Ben get?"
 Well, it looks to me as if Ben got left" Kruger, according to the papers, has got as far as Suez his way from the Transvaal to Europe. It seems to be taking Dom Paul as long to smoke his way to Europe as it took Count Won Waldersee to eat his way to China. There seems to be some question as to what will the har- vest be. With the Count it will doughtless be gout and with Kruger it will be the tobac- co heart The old fellow needs to smoke up, for one trembles to think what would happen to him should his pipe go out
 Censorship Removed.
 Manila, November 15.-The censorship