Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-01-14
WHOSE UMBRELLA?
= Complex Question of Ownership Prac.
tiCally Put.

t3tdiIy Ful.
i want to put hypothetical question
@ you" said the pretty girl. after the
man had picked out the most comfort
able chair in the room and had seated
himself therein, 1T is as long and as
complicated as some of the questions
propounded by lawyers in criminal trials
but | think you will be able to follcw
its intr;cacies
suppose yen We're a womau-me, for
eN8mple-and suppose two other women
VISITED you the same evening. They
We're strangers To each other aud came
and went separately. Suppose that after
they had gone Won noticed an umbrella
winch had been left. presumably. by one
q Your callers. Suppose the next morn
lng Miss \. telephoned You and asked if
she had left her umbrella al your house;
that she had left il some place. she
couldn't just remember where. hut She
believed IL was at your house Was it,
1ou said It was, and Miss a. said she
would send a boy right around To get
It; 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
INN the umbrella, and then. Il little later
Miss b. came rushing i'll aud asked for
her umbrella, which she had left at your
house the night befure-her umbrella
mmd You. the very one YOU had just
sent To- Miss A.. but which Miss r.
swore she could positively prove to be
herS-you d be IN something Of pickle
by that time, wouldn't you?
We'll. suppose that to clear the mat
ter up You rushed around to Miss As
hoping 10 recover the umbrella. bur
found that both she and the umbrella
had already goue. Nhs2 YOU rushed
around home again to find Miss b. pac
ing up and down your room wondering
what ON earth she should ever do. be
cause it was beginning to rain eats and
dogs and she had dozens of places To
20 that day and would certainly get
soaked to the skin and mayhe catch her
death Of cold because she had no' UNI
hrelia; because you YOU the careless
monster-had given hers away to some
body who hadn't the shadow of right
to it; you'd feel pretty desperate by that
time wouldn't YOU?
w ell, suppose that to relieve the sit
nation still further you offered to replace
Miss Il. 5 umbrella The substitution
wasn't your own umbrella. but one that
another friend had left ut your mousse Il
short while before, Il most excellent UNI
brella. best of silk and n beautiful han
die, much better, no doubt, than the one
Miss b. had lost. Would that be fair?
Would you have a moral right to square
Yourself with one person by giving her
the umbrella that had been left at your
house by somebody elseT'
Right, exclaimed the young man.
why, certainly. An umbrella is com
mon property. The courts have decided
that if Il man leaves an umbrella any
place he has no right to expect ever
to see it again
"Oh, l am so glad murmured the
pretty girl.
but what is the end of all this hypo-
thetical inquisition?' asked the man,
What is it leading mp toI"
oh, nothing" said the girl Lets
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's my umbrel-
lat | left il here the other night,
didn't II"
"You did" said the girl sweetly. 1T
was your umbrella that | took to square
myself with Miss B.''-New York Her
aid