The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-01

Y DEAR fellow" said Sher-
 HH lock Holmes, as we sat on
 WI either side of the fire in his
 lodgings at Baker street,
 life is infinitely stranger
 than anything which the
 HI mind of man could invent.
 We would not dare to con-
 ceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand In hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep In at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross purposes, the wonderful chain of events. working through generations, and leading to the most outre results, 1t would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitsble.
 And yet I am not convinced of it" 1 answered '"rhe cases which come to light in the papers are, as rule, bald enough and vulgar enough We have ln our police reports realism pushed to It's extreme limits, and yet the result Is. it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic"
 "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing realistic Afeet' remarked Holmes This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes of the magis- trate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence or the whole matter. Depend upon 1t there Is nothing so unnatural as the common place.
 I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand you thinking so' said l. "Of course, in your position or uh- official adviser and helper to everybody Who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three continents, you are brought m con tact with all that Is strange ana bizarre. But here''--I picked up the morning pa ner from the ground-'let LIS put 1t to practical test Here Is the first heading upon which I come. "A husbands cruel tv to his wife There is half a column of print. but l know without reading IL that 1t is all perfectly familiar to me There Is, of course, the other woman, the drink. the push the blow, the brutse, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could Invent nothing moro crude'
 "Indeed, your example is an unfortu- 
 Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. This Is the Dundas separation case, and, as 1t happens, was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with 1t. The hus- band was a teetotaer, there was no oth- CT woman and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding ID every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which, you will allow, Is not an action likely to occur to the inauguration of the average story teller Take a pinch of snuff, doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your ex- ample"
 He held out his snuff box of old gold, with a great amethyst in the center of the lid It's splendor was in such con- trast to his homely ways and simple life that could not help commenting upon 1t. "Ah" said he, 'I forgot that l had not seen you for some weeks. It is little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance fin the case of the Irene Adler papers.
 And the rlng?" I asked, glancing at remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.
 ''It was from the regning family in Holland, though the matter in which ] served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide 1t even to you, who had been good enough to chronicle one or two of my little problems"
 And have you any on hand just now?' I asked with interest.
 Some ten or twelve. but none which present any feature of interest They are