SPEAKING ABOUT stock jokes and the nerve, not to say phenomenal genius, required to get them off repeatedly in a way that preserves a resemblance of freshness and impromptu originality, I suppose that comparatively few of our readers have had the luck or occasion to cross the equator, so as to witness the jolly pranks which the jack tars are prone to indulge in when “crossing the line.”

The first time I witnessed it, I expressed to the captain my unbounded appreciation and admiration of the humor and ready wit of the old salt, who represented King Neptune, as well as the lubbering lout, whose main duty was to he knocked about and soused with buckets of water. I laughed at Neptune's ready reply to the droll conundrum: “What would you do if all the seas were dried up?” And the equally good one: “Why is a man as is lookin’ for the philosopher stone like Neptune?” and the more up-to-date one, “why are washwomen great navigators?”

The captain looked a little quizzical as I complimented the men so lavishly, but I did not realize how green I must have appeared until, many years afterward, I crossed the line on several occasions and heard the same old stock jokes rehearsed, with all the former vigor and freshness!

As I said before, some of our younger folks have not yet crossed the line, so they are given this opportunity to ponder over the two conundrums as propounded by Father Neptune.