The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-09
CAUGHT ON The RUNS

There is confined in the insane ward i'm
the state prison at Anamosa, Iowa. an
old man named John Walker who long
ago served out his sentence. but who. on
account Of his mental condition has not
been released. The one desire Of his
feeble old mind seems to be to secure his
freedom, and he permits no visitor to
leave the institution without first hear
ing his appeal for aid
Not long ago the grand jury of Jones
county was on it's regular tour of inspec-
tion Of the prison, and when it came to
the insane ward, the members were each
one appealed to by John Walker. one of
the men out Of a spirit Of fun pointedly
refused to aid the old man in securing
his release. This was something Of a
surprise as all were ready to humor him
by promising their assistance
Walker, on hearing the juror refuse to
aid him, looked at him for a moment and
then said:
II will remunerate you If you secure
my release"
THAT makes no difference" replied the
juror, for | do not care for money"
you do not care for money!" ex-
claimed the old man. How do you
live2"
II live on my wits" was the reply.
The old man regarded the juror for a
moment or two, and then as ne turned
slowly and helplessly away, muttered in
an undertone, That's just how I got
here
when / was STUDENT in the prepara-
tory department Of W" said Prof.
j at a meeting of college students
one evening, there was a certain pro-
fessor who took 1T upon himself to act
as a spy upon the actions Of the students.
One Of the rules of the Institution re-
I.
lights extnguished at 1890 o'clock The
professor was very careful that this rule
should not be infringed upon and every
night, shortly after that hour arrived,
he would remove his shoes and quietly
creep up the stairs to see if any lights
were burning IF a student was found
sitting up at that unreasonable hour he
was sure to be invited to attend the
next meeting of the faculty and would
be disciplined.
This matter was kept up so long that
finally the boys became tired Of it and
concluded to stop il by plans of their
own devising. One Of them visited a
hardware store and returned to the
school with one Of these little square boxes
that are 50 useful at housekeeping time
AS soon as it became dark the contents
of the box were carefully distributed over
the lower steps Of the stairs. The lights
were all extinguished and the boys took
their place at the top to await develop
ments. At IL o'clock, the door Of the
professors room opened quietly and the
pedagogue appeared in his stocking feet.
Quietly he approached the stairs and
started the ascent.
Just as he stepped upon the first step
he gave forth a terrible yell and sprang
to the second step. His foot came in
contact with some more Of the tacks and
the yel was repeated. He then sat down
on the third step to pull the tacks out
Of his feet.
1T is needless to tell the rest Of the
story, it being sufficient to say that the
boys were not watched any more by that
member Of the faculty who seemed 70
have received a revelation that he was
not fitted for detective work"
The teacher was hearing a recitation
of the primary geography class and was
explaining the variation in the length
Of day and night as the north pole
is approached. The class ~'as listening
with considerable interest. Suddenly one
Of the small boys asked:
What is the length Of the longest Gay
in Alaska?"
1.-TWO months answered the teacher
"Oh, I see now.," responded the urchln'
why they pay SIS a day to woTfinsmen
in the Klondike."