The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-01-10
AN ITINERANT JOKE.

Some Confusion After All as to Who IS
 Really the Victim of It.
 This is a true story of transferred
 joke that involved several people in all
 sorts of farce comedy complications. It
 revolves around the Home Products
 Show that was given in Convention hall
 by the Manufacturers association.
 When the committee of the show decid-
 ed to issue a souvenir program the pro- ceeds were donated to the woman's aux
 Hilary. which is correlative organiza-
 tion. The women were to solicit ad- vertisements and this they did. One
 of the features of the program were the
 pictures of the officers of the Manufac- turers' association for which fee was charged. The officers themselves cared | little about having their pictures in the program. but they nearly all con- scented in order to help the women out. One officer of the association was out | of tire city at the time and some of his associates conceived the idea of insert ing in the program picture of the manufacturer that had been taken a quarter of century ago when he was a young chap and the clothes in which he had sat for the picture were the ones in which he had been married |only few days before. This picture was very old fashioned and represented the subject as not quite up to date as regards the fashion even at that time.
 It was, in fact, the sort of picture that
 staid old couples generally relegate to an obscure part of the family album and classify as an uncle who went to sea and was never heard of again.
 The picture was sent around to the office Of the women's auxiliary by the jokers with the instructions to run in the program. This was done.
 Here is the sequel; A week ago the manufacturer returned to town and on his desk was bill for the insertion
 of the picture in the program. He looked up the book and sure enough there was his picture. but oh, how changed Suspecting some joke the manufacturer wrote letter to the women's auxiliary in which he said such an insult had never been perpe- trated on him before. He said that the picture in the book was that of his wife's first husband, and that to ask him to pay for 1t was filling his cup of humiliation. He added: My wife always did love her first husband more than she does me, and now to think that you want me to pay for that pie ture is too much.'
 Having written the letter he hunted up a friend whom he could trust and instructed this friend to spread the re- port that a horrible mistake had been !, ;o1, a,,je, auxiliary got the letter the joke was charged 10 them. They were mortified that so grave a mistake should have been made as to publish a mans wife's | living one, and then to haveoyaooo first husbands picture instead vof the living one--it was too much also The | decided to sift the matter to the | bottom, and they hunted up the letter, them to insert the picture, | and learned that the picture had been sent to the Manufacturers association by way of miserable. blundering joke. |
 Upon receipt of the letter and the bill -he friends began to doubt, and after l consultation it was decided that the wife of one of them should call upon he wife of the manufacturer and as- certain to a certainty if the picture 'eally was that of her first husband |
 Now the manufacturer who bod been ,huckling in his sleeve all this time had posted his wife on the complication, 70 that when the blushing better half # one of the blunfering friends called lpon her to Automatically inquire lbout the picture. Mrs. Manufacturer, with tears in her eyes, admitted that it vas that of her first husband and added hat she wouldn't have cared only she owed him so much better than any of Ter other husbands. That settled it, When the friends learned of this they tood aghast at what they had done. 'he joke was on them.
 After the most earnest consideration he friends came to the conclusion that