The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-10
A HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION.
AS ? Result Of Which the Man Found
Himself Minus an Umbrella.

Il want TO put a hypothetical
question to you" said the girl after
the man had picked ont the most
comfortable chair in the room and
seated himself therein 1T is as long
and complicated as some of the ques-
tions propounded by lawyers in
criminal trials, but / think you will
be able to follow its intricacies.
Suppose you were a woman-me,
for example-and two other women
visited you the same evening. They
were strangers and came and went
separately.
Suppose that after they had gone
you noticed an umbrella which had
been left presumably by one of your
callers. Suppose that the next morn
ing Miss A telephoned you and ask
ed If she had left her umbrella at
your house; that she had left II
some place, she couldn't just remem-
ber where, but she believed it was at
your house. Was it?
You said II was, and Miss A said
she would send boy around to get
IL; that she had just learned that she
would have TO leave the city for quite
a while and would you kindly give
the boy the umbrella?
Suppose the boy came and you
gave him the umbrella, and then a
little later Miss B came rushing in
and asked for her umbrella which
she left at your house the night be-
fore-her umbrella, mind you, the
very one you had just sent TO Miss
A but which Miss could positively
prove to be hers. You'd be in some
thing of a pickle by that time,
wouldn't you?
We'll, suppose that TO clear the
matter uD you rushed around TO
Miss AS, hoping TO recover the UNI
>brella, but found that both Miss A
and the umbrella had already gone.
Then you rushed around home again
and found Miss b pacing up and
down your room wondering what on
earth she should ever do because It
was beginning to rain cats and dogs
and she has dozens of places to 20
that day and would certainly get
soaked to the skin and maybe catch
her death OF cold because she had
no umbrella, because you had given
hers away to somebody who hadn't
the shadow Of right to 1t. You'd
feel pretty desperate by that time,
wouldn't you?
We'll, suppose that TO relieve Tho
situation still further you offered to
replace Miss BIS umbrella The sub
stitution wasn't your own umbrella,
but one that another friend had left
at your house short while before
a most excellent umbrella, best of
silk and beautiful handle; much bet
ter, no doubt, than the one Miss b
had lost
Would that be fair? Would you
have moral right to square yourself
with one person whose umbrella you
had given away by giving her the
umbrella that had been left at your
mouse by somebody else?"
Would it be fair?" exclaimed the
man. why, certainly. An umbrella
Is common property. The courts have
decided that. If man leaves an
umbrella any place he has no right
to expect to see it again"
"Oh, / am so glad!" murmured the
girl
but what Is the end OF all this
Hypothetical inquisition?" asked the
man. What is it leading up to?"
"oh, nothing" said the girl. 81 cts
talk about something else"
They did talk about something else
for three hours. When the man
started home he said:
"Oh, by the way, where is my UNI
brella? | left 1t here the other night
didn't -"
You did" said the girl sweetly
ut was your umbrella with which
squared myself with Miss b. New
York Sun,