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Show I Juliet wouldn't permit Ilomco to swear by tlio chnngcful moon. Pro-Eiimnbly Pro-Eiimnbly slio feared It wns made of green clioese, or smenrenso! In Boiuo countries an oath 1b taken upon tho sword. Amorlrnns solemnly swear by the Holy Illble. When In a young and nebulous stato wo wcro prono to swear by "Honest Injun," "Across our heart," or "Hopo to dlo!" hi historic days, howover, there wob oven less of uniformity, and somo of tlio alternatives to Impress tho sworn wcio original. Wo recall an Incident In tho history of Normandy. Tlio English and tho Normans wcro busily engaged at this tlmo making epochs for high school geographies. Tho reporters mid tho historians wero working day and night and having tbelr coffeo brought to them. In n moment'of distraction tho Saxon King Harold permitted William of Normandy to get him hors ilu combat. com-bat. Wllllo tho horso wns on Harold, hill had all tho old bones and relics of tho Norman monasteries collected and placed In a chest. This chest of (iicer antiquities and ghost-remnants wns deposited In tho council chamber cham-ber and covered with a glad robo of gold. Then whllo Wllllo held an ax carelessly, tho quaking Harold was told to got f'n,vn on his marrow bones and swear as ho had never sworn bo-fore. bo-fore. Keeping his eye on tho nx, and mentally measuring Its keenness, Harold sworo to help put tho lid of England on tho crown of William's head. As tho ax camo nearer ho throw prudenco to tho zephyrs and sworo to marry Hill's daughter, Adcla, and sent to his own sister to bo offered In tho holy bonds of matrimony mat-rimony with ono of tho Normandy barons. When bo had exhausted his program pro-gram of promises ho was- asked to stand near tho golden cloth. When tho lid of tho chest was raised and Harold's eyes fell upon tho sacred rcllCG of Normandy's honored dead, tho sanctity of his oaths cut a deep swath in his heart and It was not until a year afterward that ho had tho heart to break them! . In Plutarch's Publlcola Is told tho story of a horrible oath taken by youths engaged to murder tho Roman consuls. Each drank tho blcod and i tasted tho entrails of a man sacri- I Deed for tho purpose j Tho elegance of this will not nppenl ; to thoso of us who have been im- pressed by that beautiful and sentl- ' mental oath found In tho ballad "Oh, . promlso mo!" Is ' As a boy wo understood tho most j - exacting oath to bo that one "which i ', uns writ In bind!" and many a tlmo V- havo wo gono bo far na to prick our f , Jluger with a pin to sccuro tho nccos- ,. ' snry equivalent! I i' n"'- thoso wero tho good old days ! 5 ot yesteryear, several times, and to- ' '"' " ' day tho most solemn oath wo mako k ; Is to our wlfo. Wo swear In all sol- i '- enmity not to bo out later than 1 a. m., 1 m and, strange to say, this oath is gilt-edged. Experience has taught ' i , us to keep It carefully gilded! .' 3 3 5 Wo havo been much umtned at tho ' t atory of tho llttlo Scotch girl who f ,, camo lato to school ono morning. Sho ' ;' explained that a now baby had nrrlv- , vd nt tho homo that morning. , "Ah," said tho teacher, with a smile, "And wasn't your papa pleased r with tho now baby?" B, "No, sir; my father is wa' in Edln- burgh tho noo, an' dlsna ken about it Ujv yet; but It was a g-iM thing ma -m ; wither was at homo, fi n sho had JJL.V. I been nw.V 1 wadna hao ..-ut wat tao h V dao wl't." !jl 1 It is presumed this wee Scotland - lassie, In common with many another : sinnll girl, was told that her llttlo ! brother was left on tlte doorstop in i i a big basket, deposited on tho hearth, ;, via tho chimney, by tho stork, or '' t f donated by somo kind fnlry who had . L I babies to glvo away to thoso who ! t 1 voro good. ' I Whero tho baby comes from Is r usually a mooted question In child- 't , , " hood circles as, Indeed, it Is in bald- f L headed coteries to this day. Gcorgo ! t V Macdouuld says: r- "Whero dlil you come from, b.iby dear? Out of tho Everywhere Into here." 1J ' ' And when thoy arrive, theso bios- 1 r Bonis of Humanity, they are not lj overly productive of admiration from il ' ) tlio little ones who havo preceded L" them. Thoy look moro llko boiled I , v lobsters than "dear, cuto llttlo - brothers," or slsteis. I ! Tlmo works wondrous changes In I ' it tho "kid" howover. Ho weaves his jl V T" meshes of affection about all mem- II bers of tho household, broadening IT their views and Incidentally narrow- 1 ing their sleep. Ho Is always In " drowsy land when: ,R "Wee Wllllo Winkle rlns through tho I jR toun, j M Up stairs unit Joon etnlrs In his nlcht- I Boun, VS Tlrlln' nt the window, cryln' ut tho lock, jl 'Aro tho wtans In their bed? for It's now 5 i)J ten o'clock.' " i IjtfM but, ho Is over awako at 2 In tho fL morning, howl Ins "for fair." 'TIs said a married man never misses cither of two things In a dork room a carpet tack or a pleco of llmburgcr cheese! Wo subscribe to tho saying. Hut no matter whero tho baby dos como from, wo novor, novcr wUh him back, and, sometime;!, when ho Is recalled (o that bourne from whenco he came, tho siinshlnn of llfo goos away with him and will not return until years havo sanctlflcil tho heart and let tho sunlight percolate ngaln. Happy is tho mother who with Tennyson Ten-nyson say;: "Heat upon mlno, llttlo hurll bent! beatl IJeat upon mine! You nro mine, my sweetl All mine from your pretty blue eyes to your feet. My sweet!" 5 3 5 Avoid It as assiduously as our clu-slvo clu-slvo nature Is able, wo aro bound to bo rich somo dny! Our disposition Is a combatlvo ono, nnd wo havo strenuously strenu-ously avoided oven tho appearance of-riches of-riches but, In our fatigued condition, wo fear a capitulation at no distant date! On every hand, at our very feet, llo opportunities as thick as sturgeon's eggs on n caviar sandwich! Any ono of theso grand openings for a flno young mnn would mako us Mldas-lllto! Tlmo and again wo havo hardened our heart and said, with Jesus on tho mount, "Got theo behind mo, Satan," or words to that affect I nut nil tho whllo our friends nre offering offer-ing us oil stock, gold stock, lead stock, cement Btock, any nnd overy kind of old stock. When wo hesitate they aro prono to look nt us with a grlovcd, forgiving, patronizing nfr, as much ns to say our mental acumen Is deplorably deplor-ably blunted! It wnB only yesterday wo wcro permitted per-mitted to drenm of an Investment of $5,000 which would bring us nu I ileum il-eum o sufficient to drlvo four-in-hand adown tho avenues of life, ttvi observed ob-served of all observers. A man i can not long resist such lurid opportunities. opportuni-ties. Ho Is bound, sooner or later, to accopt tho tide that bears him on to fortuno! Yet we still resist! When sorely tempted to throw aside tho yoko of dependency and rldo astride Into tho effulgent light of luxury, lux-ury, wo suffer. With bated breath and tight-shut eyes wo cry out with pained emotion: "No! No!! A thousand times noil Leave us! Lcavo us poor and worried about our noxt week's meal ticket! ! But lcavo us! ! !" All through llfo wc havo been engaged en-gaged In this battlo against riches that over forced themselves upon us. Wo do not want to bo rich; we dcslro only to be left alone or almost alone with modcrnto circumstances. Wo llko moderate circumstances. Somehow Some-how thoy appeal to us. They give us something to live for. Thoy aro Just uncertain enough about tho ront being paid to mako Ufa worth living for our landlord. Otherwise ho would decay of Inertness. We don't want our landlord land-lord to decay. Ho Is a lenient landlord, land-lord, and his dying might causo us to subsequently move! Every tlmo wo movo somebody Jumps us on tho checkerboard of llfo and wo deprecato moving! If only our frlend3 would lcavo us alono wc could bo happy. "Mnn wants but little horo below," nnd wo can get along swimmingly without being mado rich overy fow dnys! No, wo don't wnnt any oil stock to-day! No gold mines, thank you! No suro things, if you please! No gct-rlch-qulck bonanza. bonan-za. "Plcnso go 'way and let rao sleep," that's all! 3 3 3 Any married man who has moved onco or twice, nnd has had tho advico of tho family and tho neighbors about hanging tho pictures In his happy homo, will fool sorry for President Presi-dent Roosovolt. Do you recall how you wanted to hang that copy of tho Battlo of Marathon Mara-thon nt right angles to tho light In tho front parlor? Your wife Insisted on It being suspended at an opposlto angle, to tho shafts ot Old Sol, and directly in tho vortox of a reflection from a French mirror, in whoso liquid depths might bo seen tho soft colorings ot a group of Slmmond's gracos disporting at tho springs. Can you chaso your momory back to your daughter's blushing confusion over tho prominent wall space you clioso for tho bevy of Venctlnn naiads? And nro you not reminded with vividnosB of tho shocked and pained faco of Deacon Strnwberry's hotter-half at finding you Insistent on tho suspending of an alleged Raphael madonna In full glaro of tho library window? And do you not but why continue? At last you got down oft your step-ladder step-ladder in disgust and told tho "blooming "bloom-ing chumps" to hang their own pictures pic-tures "whero they darned pleased!" Eh? Woll, think ot Roosevelt! Thero wcro about you during this ordeal only thoso who loved you, or who felt an interest In your hnppy home. About Roosevelt, ns ho stnnds on tho ladder with his arms full of pictures, aro thousands of critics, .liberals, con-tructlonlsts, con-tructlonlsts, old maids and crabbed bachelors, women who hnvo declared ropcatedly: "Tho lips that touch liquor shall novcr touch mlno!" and who havo novcr been deceived; men whoso Idena of art nro as warped as a hasswood slab In August sunshine, crafty Individuals, with political in-suricctlous in-suricctlous to kindle, conniving canines ca-nines with troublo to breed, emo-tlonul emo-tlonul chnrnctors with tears to shod, yehow newspaper roportors with Job3 to hold and others! Think! Oh, think, of Roosevelt! Comparo your task with his nnd bo hnppy that you uro Just n plain Ameilcnn citizen and not president ot this great United Stntcs with a iiutv U'hlto Houso nnd u big bunch (i pictures to hang therein! |