Las Vegas optic., 1913-05-26

! There Adolphus gasped. Ills eyes
stared at the neatly typewritten pages
before him. He was electrified. The
room swan. He paled, he trembled.
A mute horror seized his bewildered
senses, and a cold, ominous sweat be-
gan to creep down his back. A realiza-
tion of his awkward position came to
him fully, as he observed that the
students were staring wonderingly at
him on account of his sudden stop
page Of speech and the prolongation
of his unaccountable silence.
This flashed over Adolphus: the
manuscript before him was not his
own! In his hurry In leaving the train
the humorist had grabbed up the
wrong manuscript roll.
1t was the crucial, critical moment
In the life of Adolphus. He could not
speak extempore, he could not remem-
ber his lecture verbatim. A hundred
eyes were focused upon him. A sud
den resolve came to him. In despera-
tion he called out huskily:
"The subject of my lecture is The
Jokes of the Ancients'"
Good" 'New!" "Give us a sam
ple!' and like eager and urgent calls
filed the air
Adolphus began to read. He had
not proceeded ten lines before he
realized that the humorist was an
odopf II, bie 1ivn rUbo,-o 1rroro cx,J,,
ten basic jokes in the world, he
claimed, and the ancients originated
them all. With exquisite wit and
finish the manuscript expatiated on
these.
AS Adolphus proceeded there were
grim smiles, then outlaws At de-
cided interruption the lecturer looked
up in his mild, astonished way, to
observe the room convulsed, with jolly
men laughing till the tears came into
their eyes. One student was so over
come that he had fallen to the floor
in a spasm of uproarious hiIarity.
The jokes were funny, but there
was an added zest to the apprecia-
tiyeness of the audience This was
the solemn, owl-like seriousness of the
lecturer. To Adolphus it was no fun.
All this was trivial as compared with
his own high literary screed. Besides
that, his province was to instruct, not
to amuse, and the faculty might criti-
cize.
With wild whoops the crowd made
a rush for Adolphus as he folded up
his manuscript. Four stalwart fellows
raised him on their shoulders. Amid
gay hurrahs they started from the
room with him
Gentleman! gentlemen!" repri-
manded stentorian voice as they
reached the doorway, and the presi-
dent of the college halted the process.
sion.
It's all right, Prex," declared the
of the riot. We've elected
him our new professor, and we're go
Ing to give him the honorary degree
in all our fraternal societies By car
rying him three times around the
campus to the tune Of"
A rollicking college song rang out
rom the formidable, clustering mob
bearing Adolphus in triumph from the
scene.
A favorite all around, the young
man was settled for life, and a happy
in the bargain, few
weeks later
That was not ali of it. The humor-
st hunted up Adolphus to get back
lis manuscript. The one he had ta-
zen by mistake he claimed had saved
he day for him. It's sentiment and I
classical tinge had just caught his
audience. 1t gave him great repu-
alton for versatility, and the lecture
'ureau had raised his pay He hired /
Adolphus on the spot to write him I
eries of lectures in the same vein,
md this work resulted in some sub
tantial pin money for his delighted /
title wife.
Copyright, 1913 by W. G. Chapman.)
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SHE tMEn WITH cKEI ETnM