The Washington bee., 1910-11-26
OmcIzilY Idnored.


wreck was a newspaper reporter.
The first victim be saw was a man
whose eyes were in mourning and
whose left arm was in sling. With
his hair full of dirt, one end Of his
shirt collar flying loose and his coat
ripped up the hack, the victim was
sitting on the grass and serenely con-
templating the landscape.
How many people are hurt?' asked
the reporter, hurrying up to him.
Il haven't heard Cf anybody being
hurt, young man." said the other.
How did this wreck happen?"
Il haven't heard of any wreck"
You haven't! Who are you, any.
how?"
81 don't know that it's any Of your
business, but I'm the claim agent of
the road."-Chicago Tribune.
The Musical Gamut.
Guido, a monk Of ArezzO. in Tus-
cany, in 1909 A D. was the inventor
Of the gamma ut" or gamut. and
the six notes ut" ere" mi" ia"
'sol," la These syllables were
taken from the first three verses Of the
hymn Of st. John the Baptist, ut
queant Iaxis," etc. Without the use Of
the gamut a person could not in a lit
tie time become perfect master OF
plain song. Guido says, in d letter
which be wrote, 81 hope they who
come after US will not forget to pray
for US, for we make a perfect master
Of singing in a year or two, whereas
till now a person could scarce attain
this science, even imperfectly, in ten
years" The gamut is the first note,
but OfteneT taken as signifying the
whole scale Of music or series Of
sounds, rising or falling toward acute
ness or gravity from any given pitch
or tone.
The Last Straw.
An Atchison man has been married
five years, and three times a day for
five years, or, TO be exact, 5,475 times,
he has stepped to the dresser to brush
his hair and has had to tip the mirror
back to get a look in. While dressing
for an evening out, his wife would
keep the mirror seeSawing back and
forth, she pulling it out to see how
her clothes hung in the back and the
man pushing it back to adjust his tie
and comb his hair, etc. Finally, in
desperation, he bought a chiffonier for
his own use, but one evening he went
home grouchy and found his chiffonieT
turned around and the mirror tipped
forward; his wife was using them
both. This was too much, and, grab
bing his heavily mounted military
brushes, he slammed one at each mir
rOr, muttered a swear word and dis
ppeared.-Atchison Globe.
The Conjurer Confesses.
That the hand is quicker than the J
eye" is one of those accepted sayings /
invented by some one who knew moth !
ing Of conjuring, or. as is more likely, !
by some cunning cOnjurer who aimed |
still further to hOOdwink a gullible !
public. The fact is that the best con-
juTer seldom makes a rapid motion,
for that attracts attention, even though /
it be not understood. The true artist |
in this line is deliberate in every move |
ment, and il is mainly by his actions !
that he leads his audience to look not !
where they ought. but in an entirely /
different direction. Mr. David Devant, /
who for number Of consecutive years /
n I,E-
genious tricks, has said. The con-
jurer must be an actor. By the ex-
preston OF his face. by his gestures,
by the tone Of his voice-in short, by |
his acting-he must produce his eff |
fects, st. Nicholas.
How Houses Become Haunted. |
Nothing is easier than for a house to /
acquire the reputation of being haunt /
ed, even in the absence Of uncanny |
Dickens shows US the I
children of the street clustering round |
the keyhOle Of the Old Curiosity Shop /
TO look for the ghost" within a few |
hours Of Quilp's removal Of the goods /
and the desertion Of the house. And /
a correspondent used to live in a |
house near the center of a provincial |
town one room Of which was believed |
by some to be haunted solely because |
the iron shutter that closed its win /
dow on the street side was never |
raised The simple explanation was |
that this window was bricked up be- |
hind the shutter to secure privacy for
the ground floor room in question:
drawing room lighted from the gar
den, on the other side.-LOndon ChrOn-
icle
What They Lacked.
There is a certain naval officer of the |
United States who is very much op- |
posed to the use Of profanity by the !
officers under his command Indeed,
he has been known severely to repTi-
mand in private officers on his ships /
heard to address their men in profane
terms.
The following story is told concern
Ing this admiraPs command of a squad
ron engaged in target maneuvers in
Magdaiena bay, Lower California. The
officer observed one day
Fh1r fha man - ~ ho