278 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



September 



The Man aud HU "V^atch. 



The ruau hiul lest a valuable vatcb. 

 It was a case of pickpocket, he was cer- 

 tain, aud he advertised for its returu, 

 offering the full value of the watch, 

 which was worth more than its intrin- 

 sic value, $150, to hiru, and no ques- 

 tions asked. Kot long after a man ap- 

 peared at his business office, showed 

 him the advertisement, and asked if he 

 was ready to stand by it, and was as 

 sured that he was. "Where is your 

 mcney?" apkcd the visitor. "Here it 

 is," was the arsv.er. "Where is the 

 watch?" Taking the one handed him, 

 the victim of the robbery saw with much 

 delight that it was his own, put it in 

 his pocket and handed over the $150. 

 But he could not resist the temptation 

 to ask one quertiou. "Now, when did 

 you take that watch?" he asked. "Do 

 you remember," said the visitor, 

 "standing on such a day on the corner 

 cf such a street?" "Yes." "You were 

 talking with friends?" "Yes." "And 

 some one came along aud brushed 

 against yon? Well, that was when I 

 took the watch. I brushed against you 

 like this" — illustrating — "and it is very 

 simple. Good day, sir." "Good day." 

 The man's face was alight with pleas- 

 ure at again having his watch and his 

 intelligent curiosity was satisfied. "It 

 is a curious thing," he murmured to 

 himself. "I would not have believed it 

 could have been done." He put his 

 hand to bis watch pocket. There was 

 no watch there. It had been taken a 

 second time. — New York Times. 



Fast Speakers In Congress. 



Fred Irland, one of the expert stenog- 

 raphers of the house, talks interesting- 

 ly regarding the speed with which con- 

 gressmen t;iik. 



"It has been said in the newspapers," 

 remarks Mr. Irland, "that Represent- 

 ative Lewis of W'ashiugtou talks at the 

 rate of 300 words a minute. He does 

 not. No man could speak in the house 

 at that speed and be reported. 1 doubt 

 whether he could be understood. I 

 mean, of course, such words as occur in 

 debates. Of course in taking routine 

 testimony, where frequently recurring 

 phrases, such as 'What is your name?' 

 and 'Where do you live?' are expressed 

 by brief arbitrary signs, a stenographer 

 can write as fast as a man nan think; If; 



IS a very dilierent matter wnen a con- 

 gressman talks. He uses words with 

 man J' syllables. " 



"What is the fastest record in the 

 house?" 



"Representative Johnson of Indiana 

 once talked for I^q hours, when discuss- 

 ing a contested election case, at an av- 

 erage rate of 220 words a minute. That 

 is rapid work. If a man talks 250 words 

 a minute, ht is very swift. I have no- 

 ticed one thing," added Mr. Irland. 

 "The fast talkers slow up after being 

 in the house a little while. The vast- 

 ness of the air space makes its impres- 

 sion upon them, aud they find, too, that 

 they get more iittentiou when they do 

 not talk so iast. " — Washington Post. 



Moving Chimneys. 



Years ago the business of shoring up 

 and moving ordinary sized buildingh 

 was considered somewhat riskj- and 

 was one which only experts were will- 

 ing to undertake. Recently it became 

 desirable to move a chimney, and the 

 idea was suggested that it might be 

 moved intact. Of course it involved 

 some special preparation, but the task 

 Mas successfully accomplished. The 

 chimney was 85 feet high, weighed 100 

 tci's, was 7 feet square at the base and 

 had outer and inner walls 8 inches 

 thick. Its destination led over rough 

 ground, with grades up and down, but 

 the job was completed without accident 

 or damage. There was neither crack nor 

 flaw in the masonry when the chimney 

 was set down on its new foundation. 

 This is the tallest and heaviest chimney 

 that has ever been moved. Another 

 chimney 52 feet high was safely trans- 

 ferred, and these two are, it is believed, 

 the only ones ever taken from one place 

 to another. — New York Ledger. 



Unexpected Prize. 



A traveling circus recently paid a vis- 

 it to Clitheroe, and, as an attraction, 

 offered a prize to the man who could, 

 as the Lancastrians term it, "pull th' 

 ugliest mug," says the London Tele- 

 graph. 



The rules laid do\fN'n were that each 

 person should have three tries. Conse- 

 quently competition ran high. Some Of 

 the contortions were horrible to behold. 

 After all hud done their level best to 

 win the prize the clown, who acted as 



