Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1913-03-29
There Adolphus gasped. Hi,

There Adolphus gasped- His eyes
stared at the neatly typewriter pages
before him. He was electrified The
room swan He paled, he trembIed
A mute horror seized his bewildered
senses, and a cold ominous sweat be
gan to creep down his back. a realiza-
ton 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
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-
Der his lecture verbatim. A hundred
eyes were focused upon him. A sud
den resolve came to him In despera-
ton he called out huskily:
''The subject of my lecture is The
Jokes of the Ancients.' ,,
@Good," sNewl" GIVE US a sam
plel" 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
adept in his line. There were only
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 conyulsed, 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 hilarity.
The jokes were funny, but there
was an added zest to the apprecia-
tiveness of the audience. This was
the solemn, owl1ike 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-
CHE.
With wild whoops the crowd made
a rush for Adolphus as he folded up
his manuscript Four stalwart fellows
gay hurrahs they started from the
room with him.
Gentleman gentlemeni'' repri-
manded a stentorian voice as they
reached the doorway, and the presi-
dent of the college halted the process.
sion.
ITS all right, Prex," declared the
ringleader of the riot. We've elected
him our new professor, and we're 60
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 rollieking college song rang out
from the formidable, clustering mob
bearing Adolphus in triumph from the
scene.
A favorite all around, the young
man was settled for life, and happy
| bridegroom in the bargain, a few
weeks later.
That was not all of it. The humor-
| fst hunted up Adolphus to get back
his manuscript. The one he had ia
ken by mistake he claimed had saved
| the day for him. It's sentiment and
classical tinge had just caught his
audience. 1t gave him a great repu-
| tation for versatility. and the lecture
| bureau had raised his pay. He hired
Adolphus on the spot to write him a
series of lectures in the same vein
and this work resulted in some sub
| stantial pin money for his delighted
| little wife.
Copyright, 1913 by w. c. Chapman.)
/