Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-30
THE CHAFFZNG DISH

pointment. We watched her narrowly,
from day to day; and from day to day she
grew weaker. The literary morsels were all
untouched. Then, one day. reading in
Father O'Conor's book, we came across
the famous quotation from the medieval
Mentzelius in which he says that the book
worm is fond of singing-that che carols
like very chanticleer." Again we thought
we were on the right track. Perhaps we
had not given the poor mite chance to
raise her voice. We laid an attentive and
reverent ear to her prison, and surely
enough, there was faint shrill sound. So
tiny, indeed, that it could hardly be called
a sound, rather mere evaporation of the
ether, but unmistakable in character. 1t
was a sneeze. Did Georgiana suffer from
hay fever?
WTE PLACED minute sponge of eucalyp-
w tus oil near her box, and again some
days passed. Being rather busy 1--WE con-
fess it with shame) we allowed a pile of
unanswered letters to sift over her lodging.
Then, last Saturday we looked at her again.
She lay stiff and chill among her pathetic
paper scraps. How pale she was! We
had only moment, for we were rushing for
train; but we saw plainly that the object
we RaZeu upon WIS HI obvious corpse.
Curled stif1y, with the unconscious pathos Of
death, her remains were a blow to our
spirit. Whether she were Attagenus pellio
or not (according to the descriptions in
Father O'Conor's book she might have
been AttGgenus pellfo or Anobrum pertinap),
she seemed to have passed over. We ran
for our train sorrowing, meditating a re-
QUEEN which would begin something like
this;
Georgiana Is dead, Is deddi
No more 4oiM she burroto her dainty head
Through q fine italian quarto--
No more her necE toiH haze oriok
By ohetoitg through Webster's Dick,
Her appetite, so catholic,
Is VanQuished By II Morto.
GeoroianG has oroaked has crooked
No more her passion toiH be provoked
By first edition Tarean-
No more she'll n,astioating 90
Through a monksoript of Boooaooio;
This Attagends PeIio-
Thus far we had proceeded with our Ia
ment (having been halted by the difficulty Of
finding a rhyme for Tarzan) when we got
to the Office this morning. Hoping for in
spiration, we looked in the coffin. Judge
our surprise to find new and very lively
Georgiana bustling about among the shreds
| of paper. And when we examined more
closely, we found that what. we had taken
| for poor Georgiana's corpse, was her for
mer skin, an empty shell, which she had
cast aside by merely splitting it at the neck.
| I'VE knew then for certain, what we had
| only jocularly surmised before, that Geor-
giana was lady, for her one piece gar
| ment buttoned down the back.) And thers
she was, radiant in a new and lovely
brown suiting, little smaller than before,
but very full of zeal. We laid our ear to
| the box, and we feel sure that she is an
! Italian bookworm for 1t seemed to us that
! we heard her say "Evviva D'Annunzio ~
! AS to that we cannot be certain; but the
rest of our tale is as true as true, and
we can show Georgiana's cast eff summer
suit to any caller who doubts us. Alta :
worm, Georgiana!
We learn from the much respected New
Il York Sun that the railway strike in Eng
land has caused "A complete stqppsge from
John G. Groats house to Lands End"
Or, as we might put it over here, from
George w. Canada's summer cottage to thu
Gulf.
The league of nations has been reported
lynched so often, and then cut down whilt
It was still breathing, that we are In
elined to think it win survive.
SOCRATES.