3^<^ C C CC. «c CCC g-^ S^Ct:c d CCC <:- 4 C C c <^ •■ c^< «iKCX( C- '^c^ p C C ^ CC dc c ^'■ c^c ^- ^c_ Ccc <3 '• ^: c^^ ^ C t A <5 . % « c: cc< ■ . «r -f '^ C_ -CvC ■ C ccc t. c ^-^ c C c:^ >; ^ C ccc 4 C 1 '«i (41 L c c ^ '^ CC CC « :i Ccc c br'<. " if.'f CI, -C 0-^-" C r c C C C < ^ ^ c CI^ f5.' -V ■ C! c' c d ^ Cc^ C '' C CC c .c < d c C i dl C ' c ^I C C d^ C(€ ^ CC a: < c ^r ^ r ^^^^ ^"- Ccc'C: ^ '- :i CT'C^-cC C-' ^ 34 GOAKS AND TEARS. This month might have had 31 days if anyone had spoken up in time. Will the young men of America permit a red-headed Englishman to \vin the hand of Queen Emma of the Sandwich Islands ? This world would be a sandy desert of lonesomeness if women were not privileged to attend auction sales and pay more for an old bureau than a new chamber set would cost. Sunday schools deserve to flourish and multiply, but when a Rhode Island man has to break his son's ribs to make him attend, somethinsf's wrong somewhere. Just as Mad. — A finely-dressed lady slipped and fell near the post- office yesterday, and the boot-black who assisted her to her feet inquired : ■" Did you break any bones, madam ? " " No I guess not," she replied, ^' but I'm just as mad as if I had broken a dozen of 'em ! " Promoted, — A boy who had served in a Grand River avenue grocery •store for two weeks came home highly elated the other night and told his father he had been promoted. " How ? " asked the old man. "Why, I've been down cellar all the time sorting over potatoes, and now they've raised me upstairs to pick over beans ! " Had a Bet. — An aged colored individual stepped into a store on Woodward Avenue, Saturday, and asked how the thermometer stood. " A hundred and forty-nine degrees below zero ! " replied one of the clerks. "Is dat a fax?" exclaimed the old man; "den I've lost two dollars. I jist made a bet it war a hundred an' fifty ! " Won't Find Him. — An individual who had to step very high to avoid the floor yesterday entered the Central Station, and securing a firm hold of the railing ni front of the desk he inquired of the sergeant, — " H-has anybody f-fouud Charles Ross yet ? " "Not that I've heard of," was the reply. APRIL. 35 " D-do you w-want me to find h-him ? " '"Yes, or I'd like to find him myself." " Well, zur, give me a bouncing old d-drink of whisky and I'll f-find him ! " " Ah ! I see — you are a dead beat and half drunk now," replied the sergeant. " Then you won't give me a d-drink ? " . " No, sir, I won't." " Very well, then," said the man, waving his hand and turning away, " then I w-won't find Charles Ross ! " All the axes and bucksaws found in the ruins of Pompeii are of light ake, as if co little business. make, as if constructed for women's use. Those old ancients knew their Charitable. — Yesterday morning as a blind fiddler was sawing away on the corner of Woodward and Jefferson avenues, a stranger hailing from Ohio halted before him and said, — " Are you blind ?" " Yes, sir. " "Can't see anything?" " Not a thing. " " Not even a house ? " " No, sir. " " Poor man, I'm sorry for you. I don't suppose you make half a dol- lar a day at fiddling, and if you were only down where I live I'd get you a job driving team or working on the cars ! " " What is worse than to have your mother-in-law plump in on to you at this season ?" asks the St. Louis Republican. Nothing, young man, ex- cept to have your father-in-law plump in with her. An American woman, travelling in the Holy Hand, didn't see but one thing to remind her of home, and that was a hog roving in a garden. It made her homesick right away. Hl^^I I! u Fifth Month. MAY. 31 Days. Sunday \ \ \ 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 Monday \ \ 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 Tuesday \ \ 2 \ 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 IVednt'sday \ \ 3I10I17I24I31 Thursday | | 4 | 11 | 18 | 25 | Fj'iday \ \ 5 | 12 | 19 | 26 | Saturday \ \ 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | Centennial now begins. — Whoop ! I earthquake this month — send in your orders early. Alligators down toward New Orleans, and old maids up in Maine, begin to feel hungry for a man. DouBTABiLiTiES. — ist to 2nd — get on your arctic overshoes and furs^ and go out and be Queen of the May. 3d to 7th— Cold in the head. Also, cold in Greenland. Hard weather on the ambitious sunflower. 7th to i6th — Good time to sweep out and make up the beds and get ready for spring. The ivy begins to climb, so do the vagrants brought before His Honor. i6th to 2ist — Daniel Boone was born around here somewhere. Lamp-posts begin to bud out, and the boxes around corner-stores seem endowed with life. The happy birds are now ready to receive sealed proposals for the erection of nests. Right reserved to reject any or all bids. 2istto 31st — Take down your stoves; put 'em up again. Mother- in-law arrives. 36 MAY. 37 Wanted an Increase. — A wholesale house in Detroit has a colored porter who is much given to exaggeration and downright lying, but being willing and industrious his failing has been overlooked. The other day, however, he lied about the shipment of a box, and the chief clerk called him up and said, — " See here, Tom, you are a great liar. '' " Yes, sah, " respectfully replied the porter. "And the truth is not in you." " No, sah. " " You would rather lie than tell the truth. " " I specks so, sah. " " Well, Thomas, I've concluded not to put up with your pernicious habit any longer. The next time I catch you in a lie you'll have to travel." " Yes, sah." " But I want to know if you intend to reform -r- if you mean to stop lying.?" " I dunno, boss. " " Won't you promise ? " "Well, de fax am, I'm working here at powerful low wages," answered Thomas, scratching his head, " and I don't believe I shall stop lyin' till de cashier performs me dat de wages hez been riz ! " He is there yet on the old salary, and his morals haven't improved any You Can't Always Tell. — It was a handsome looking cottage, and the passer-by would have said to himself that the angel of bliss and the dove of peace swung on the door-knobs and turned handsprings through every room. And yet, yesterday noon a man's voice was heard calling out, — "Jane, oh! Jane — them pertaters hez biled dry! Come in here! blast ye, come in ! " And she was heard replying, — " Git up 'n take the kettle off, you old noodle-head, and don't blast me or I'll break another rib for ye ! " 38 GOAKS AND TEARS. Saving up Lucre. — "There," said a Detroit father to his son, " there are two cents. Start a savings' bank with it to-day, and I'll give you another two cents to-morrow." The boy handled the money awhile, and his countenance was illumin- ated by a sweet smile, as he replied, — " I guess I'll buy gum with the two cents and start the bank on the two cents to-morrow ! " Where Was it? — A boy aged about sixteen stepped into a Griswold street barber-shop Saturday, and took a seat with the remark, — " I guess I'll have this mustache shaved off." The barber shook out the apron, sharpened his razor, mixed the lather, and as he stood beside the chair, he said, — "Well, I'm ready any time you can tell me where the mustache is." Can't be Caught Again. — One of the Chinese washermen on Larned street West, has been in the habit' of begging candy of a grocer's clerk on the same street, and has been a great bore. The other day the clerk filled a gum-drop with cayenne pepper and it was handed to " John " with three or four others. He went home to eat them, and some boys who followed him, heard coughs and yells in the laundry, followed by a fall over a chair, and the Chinaman jumped out-doors, mouth wide open, and sat down where the whistling breeze could blow into it and cool off the young Vesuvius. Getting Even. — The other day an old fellow from Delaware, going West on a Michigan Central train, stepped off the coach as it reached Ypsilanti, and slipping on the icy platform, went flat down and broke a a leg. Everybody sympathized with him in his misfortune, but he waved his hand, and replied, — " It's all right — no one to blame but myself. My old woman was laid up for two years, and now I've got a chance to get even with her. If she don't have to do some tall dusting around and sitting up nights, then my name isn't Jordan ! " MAY. 39 The Man Who Swore Off. — He had been in the habit of taking three or ff)ur " nips " per day, for the last fifteen years, but on New Year's morning he arose and said to his wife, — " Mary Jane Shiner, here I've been squandering a dollar per week for more than a dozen years ! " " But I thought you said a glass now and then aided your digestion," she replied. " All fudge and nonsense," he continued ; " that was only an excuse to satisfy my own conscience. " And I've heard you say that it made you sleep better — helped you to have a clear head," she said. "Nonsense — worst kind of bosh! I've drank up |8oo in the last dozen years, and it hasn't benefited me one cent." " Well 1 " "Well, I'm going to quit. I'm going to commence now. No more drinks for Shiner after this ! " "Good boy — noble husband," she said, patting him on the chin; " now you begin to talk like a Roman — now you are going to test your stamina ! " Shiner felt puffed up with pride for an hour or two, and then began to feel a goneness along down his throat. He drank water, cold coffee ancj milk, and got through with the day ; although when he went to bed he dreamed that he was a flask of brandy and that a member of Congress was carrying him in his coat-tail pocket. At midnight he awoke with his thumb in his mouth, just on the point of taking a ten cent drink, and at daylight he inquired of his wife whether it was the year 1875 or 1876. That forenoon while he sat in his office, a meek-looking stranger entered, took a paper from his pocket, and said that he was soliciting aid for the Kansas grasshopper sufferers. " Grasshoppers be hanged ! " exclaimed Shiner. " The next fraud who comes in here will get his neck broken ! " His. chief clerk spoke to him about ordering some goods, and he whirled afound and said he wouldn't order another dollar's worth of 40 GOAKS AND TEARS. goods in ten years. A young man called to secure a place, and Shiner threw the coal-stove shaker and hit him on the ear. When he went to dinner he flattered himself a little that he had suc- ceeded in curbing his inclination to drink, and his wife patted him on the shoulder and whispered, — " Samuel, you have got more stamina in you than the Czar of Rus- sia ! " Going down town again, he entered a saloon and asked the saloon- keeper if he honestly thought that a moderate amount of brandy would affect the health. The saloon-keeper was sure it wouldn't. The bottles looked good to Shiner, and there was a pleasant smell as he leaned over the bar. When he reached his office he kicked a chair over, hoisted a spittoon across the room, and sat down and dated a letter 1877. ^ ^^^Y called to have him subscribe something for a new Sunday-school, and he bristled up and yelled, — " No, sir, not a red ! Sunday-schools are killing the interests of this country ! " After about an hour he went out and asked a doctor if three drinks of gin per day would hurt any one. The doctor thought not, if they were light drinks. Returning to the office. Shiner hunted up an old brandy bottle, and sat and held it for a long time, and wondered how they were made, and then threw it into the coal-box and went out on the street and asked a life-insurance agent if two or three drinks a day would hurt a man. " Of course they wouldn't," replied the agent. Going home to supper, Shiner asked three more men, and they all replied, "No." When he reached home, he said the biscuits weren't fit for cannibals, gave the girl warning to leave, and called his wife's brother, who was there on a visit, a hump-backed, wilful liar. When Shiner went down town in the evening he asked three more doctors if a little brandy was hurtful. Then he went into a saloon and asked for some pop. He was a good while in drinking it, and then he asked to look at the label on a brandy-bottle. When he had read it he MAY. 41 looked to see if the cork was in very tight, and asked the saloon-keeper if he thought brandy would hurt any one. When Shiner reached home that hight he threw his wallet at his wife, told the hired girl that she might stay there 5,000 years, begged his wife's brother's pardon, and, as he turned a handspring in the parlor, he broke out with — ** So, farewell, Mary Ann, You must do the best you can." Shiner was tight. HE ACCEPTS. The following correspondence has passed between the Centennial Committee of Invitation and Red Cloud the noted Indian Chief : — Philadelphia, October, 1875. Mister R. C. Dear Si? : — We shall be pleased to have you exhibit your scalp-lock at the Centennial some time in May next. Will your professional duties permit you to leave home at that time ? Very truly Out West, October, 1875. White Men. 5/W .• — Heap glad! Red Cloud big Injun! Owns 14 squaws, and 2 hoss ! Me be there ! Bring 200 scalps along ! Ugh ! R. C. CHINESE TIME. The Chinese have a curious but very remarkable method of keeping time. If a Chinaman borrows five dollars of you and agrees to return it in three days you can't catch sight of him for three weeks. If you borrow five dollars of him and agree to return it in three weeks he calls at the end of three days and demands his cash. ,^'rm-iMryfy'.::^'nB^. Sixth Month. .JUNE. 30 Days. Sunday \ \ 4 | u | 18 | 2^ | Mom/ay \ \ .S | 12 | 19 | 26 | Tuesday \ \ 6 | 13 | 20 | 27 | Wednesday \ \ 7|i4|2i|28| Thursday \ 1 | 8 | 15 | 22 | 29 | I'Viday \ 2 | 9 | 16 | 23 | 30 | Saturday | 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | ( ( Begin to save money now for the Fourth of July. SKfMMERHORN" was born in this month. 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