PERIODICALS
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SOFERTERAMONIGO.
gentleman stopped to listen to the tune, played on a hand-organ, which happened to strike his fancy. When the air was finished, he approached the Italian, and asked the name of the music.
"Soferteramonigo!" answered the Italian, showing all his teeth in a smile of appreciation at the compliment to his melodies.
The gentleman walked on, and endeavored for many months to obtain the piece of music with the unpronounceable name. But he never could find it. At last one day he heard it played by an American, and again asked the name of the air he admired.
"Oh, that," said the player, "is an old thing—'Silver Threads among the Gold!'"
IN THE POLO REGIONS.
"I wonder if the little Eskimo boys have any out-of-door games like ours?" said Polly.
"Oh, I guess so," replied Jennie. "They have polo-bears up there, you know."
THE TROUBLE.
"Who ever brought you up, Walter?" demanded his aunt, after some small bit of rudeness on his part.
"Never was brought up," said Walter. "I've been being taken down all my life."
THE FANCIFUL JAP.
"The mirror finds all the defects of my face, And in it I'll look all the day To see if it won't with its mystical grace In a little while take them away."
A TEN-CENT QUEEN.
Imagine a queen travelling around the world on ten cents! It seems preposterous, and yet it is a fact. There is a certain man out West, according to the St. Louis Republic, who will do this for any one who will send him an order, whether it comes from England, China, or any other foreign country, and he says:
"I have frequent demands from all parts of the world. You see, I send these queens as follows: You will notice that there are two little circular compartments in this royal carriage," and he produced a little wooden box, "one in which the queen is kept, and the other for her suite; the little plug in the centre of the box is solidified, candied honey, which will furnish food to the regal party until they arrive at their destination.
"The compartments are covered with a fine wire gauze to prevent the escape of the insects.
"This large one in the first compartment, the one with the delicately shaped long body and beautiful markings, is an Italian queen bee, and she is valued at $10. I have queens valued all the way from $2 to $25.
"The others, in the second compartment, are the suite, or worker bees, that will accompany her on the trip not only for company, but also for the heat they will produce to keep her comfortable on the stormy voyage over the great cold seas.
"After we have the bees safely stowed away in their proper compartments, we switch the little lid around and fasten it with a tiny screw at the ends, and on its top surface the address of the consignee is written, the stamp is affixed, and away goes her majesty, a queen sold into slavery for the trifling sum of $10, and sent to her destination on a ten-cent stamp.
"Bee-culture has grown so rapidly in the United States that there are few farmers now who have not a substantial apiary and who do not net a handsome income each year from the honey the bees yield, and besides the farmer there are thousands of gentlemen and ladies who are apiarists purely from the fascination the hobby affords."
LIGHTS FOR THE FEET.
Genius has given fashionable folks a new plaything with which to amuse themselves. It is in literal obedience to the Biblical injunction regarding a lamp unto the feet, for that is exactly where the new light is to be worn. The Baltimore Herald says:
"It consists of a tiny lantern with sides of very stout glass, mounted upon a stirrup which straddles the foot of the user, a tongue resting on the toe of the foot, and acting as part of the support.
"There are several means of furnishing light for this curious lamp. Electricity and oil are the most common. The former is likely to be the more popular method, as there is no danger of grease leaking out upon the shoe.
"A tiny storage battery has been constructed to furnish light. It is carried in the pocket, and a flexible wire passes from the battery and through the pocket down to the lamp."
"Do you know the lesson?"
"I guess so."
"Well, what's Utopia? Is it a nation?"
"Possibly; a sort of imaginary nation."
"Oh, I see; it's a notion—eh?"