The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-31
.C, .c.o eco .C.c.c.a.

rec Easter. I went to bed early that
 night and 1t made me proud to see them
 twenty-five hats all in a row, ready for
 my wives to wear the next morning.
 There was no two of them alike. and all | decorated with birds of paradise. and
 tropical flowers, and calico, and buckles
 l had made out of old tin cans. I was | proud, but tired"
 You well might be-" Mrs. Billup as- | sured him.
 And that night" said Eliph Hewitt,
 the house burned down and every hat l was burned. Not hat was there left | for any one of those wives of mine to
 wear the next day; but they took 1t real kindly. They said 1t didn't matter-that | l could mako some more and that they would postpone Easter one week for my | especial benefit. Some women would | have cried and fretted to lose their East CT hats that way, but they didn't. They | just said:-'Put Easter off a week and maze some more hats. and see that you are quick about it. So I started in and made another lot"
 How did they look?" asked Mrs. Bill lup.
 Lovely" said Eliph' Hewitt. "They were all big hats, like that one you have, although not so artistic, and they were the only hats In Timbuctoo; so the other | women were awfuly Jealous. My wives were awfully pleased. l was glad to sec how pleased they were, but was sorry
 enough for 1t afterwards"
 ''Did 1t make trouble with the other women?" asked Mrs. Billup
 "No'm,," said Eliph' Hewitt mot that, | but my wives liked Easter so well that | they told me they were going to have it every Sunday, and that until further mo- , tice l would have twenty-five new Easter | hats ready every Sunday morning. It wasn't proper life for @ university pro- | lessor, but had to do 1t. It was a strain | on my health to create cassowary eggs | every week. I should have broken down | if hadn't had this priceless volume with | me, giving on Page 564, the Guide to Health. so that I was able to cure myself when I felt sick, and on Page s64, the | Five Hundrey Ennobling Thoughts from | the Worlds Greatest Authors to cheer | me when depressed. I got so l could trim 1 hats with my hands, while my eyes were
 readying the Lives of All the Worlds | Great Men. from Adam to Roosevelt | Page 4S7. with the dying words of them i that Is dead. New dying words added as
 fast as they die. In fact, there is nothing | known to man that is not In it's pages, | and the price. neatly bound In cloth, only
 5. s1 down and s1 a month until paid" How long did you have Easter every SVnday?" asked Mrs. Billup
 i "1ts seven dollars and fifty cents if | | Eliph' Hewitt. And l kept that Easter business up for eight years before I was ! able to get away. That is fifty-two East CTS year, and eight years and twenty | five hats an Easter, a sum easily reckoned 1 five hats on Easter. sum easily reckoned | Short Cuts fin Arithmetic, on page 34, which gives quick methods of working all sums, saving the price of the book in that way alone in less than year. the answer being five thousand two hundred hats, 1 no two alike. It was many years be- | fore I was able to look upon an Easter hat without tears for my lost time. and to this day cannot see cassowary egg with any pleasure. A picture of the cas l sowary bird is shown on page 752 of this volume, the other illustrations including
 the steel engraving of President Roose- welt and the allegorical frontispce in three colors. This" he said. handing the book to Mrs. Bllup, lis the picture of | the cassowary bird"
 And how did you ever get away from
 them twenty-five wives?" asked Mrs. ] Billup.