ACCOMPANIED BY Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, I dropped into Dauber's studio one morning and found that talented young artist putting the finishing touches to a bit of canvas. He welcomed us effusively and exclaimed: “You are just the fellows I want. Here is an odd thing I have just finished for the exhibition, and am so bothered for an appropriate name that I will give a prize for the best suggestion.

”It would be like robbing you to take the money, “said Sherlock,” the piece has its name written all over it, as any one with half an eye can see. It is a sketch from life which you have picked up on your travels. The father has just died, so, if it were not vulgar to pun, I should say the child's loss was apparent. The gay young widow contemplates marrying again, and the child is neglected and objects, and that is where the trouble begins. That, as well as many other points as plain as the nose on your face, are too simple to mention. It would be too commonplace to suggest that the child is crying over spilled milk, for his grief is deeper rooted than that. The only question worth discussing is to tell what the kid is kicking about, so I suggest it be called the half orphan, and for the best answers to that conundrum, it might be interesting to offer some valuable prizes.

The picture carried off the honors of the exhibition of course, and is now quite noted for having brought fame and fortune to the artist. The name “Half-Orphan” in itself was a happy hit. Which the public for some inexplicable reason seems to have interpreted as being singularly appropriate. Although outside of the three persons who were present at the christening, not a living mortal knows why it was so called, the solvers who now carry off the honors of this little competition will unravel one of Sherlock Holmes' characteristic mysteries. Don't miss the point of the query: What is the poor little half orphan kicking about?

2. A Message in a Bottle.

Among the specimens of flotsam and jetsam which the tides and drifting sands cast at times upon the beach, nothing compares in interest with bottled messages, supposed to be the farewell words of shipwrecked humanity, giving a graphic description of the fate which had befallen some long lost and almost forgotten vessel.

Such messages from the sea, in times past have told wonderful tales of shipwreck, privations and narrow escapes in a way that suggested the instabilities of the writers being still alive in Arctic regions or on unknown islands, which, in some instances, have been fully confirmed. In the British collection of such tales as has been officially investigated and authenticated are many proven to he true, which furnish clues to the fate of ships lost hundreds of years ago, showing that the messages cast upon the waves had drifted for centuries in mid-ocean before effecting a landing.

As a rule, the modern style of the paper, to say nothing of the year 1905 shown on a champagne bottle should throw some doubts upon the genuineness of the document, nevertheless, the subject bears such a fascinating charm that the finders will not be influenced by such arguments as might discredit the truth of the wonderful narratives.

Here, for instance, is an oddity presented in puzzle form, assumed to have been written ages ago, and yet in these brief lines it tells so well its story that we can not only compute the probable number of centuries spent in drifting about, but we can tell the name of the writers. So positive are we about these facts that such little things as the name blown in the bottle: the modern style of language, as well as unlikelihood of a shipwrecked mariner taking time to construe his last message in verse, carry no weight whatever. All we have to consider is the paradoxical or unnatural statements of the writer, which from their very unreasonableness furnish “confirmation strong as holy writ;” Now, who wrote it ?

A mighty ship I now command,
With cargo rare from every land.
No goods have I to trade or sell;
Each wind will serve my turn as well;
To neither port nor harbor bound,
My greatest wish to run aground.

3.

What would you call a boy who eats all the green melons he can get?

He is what we call a pains-taking youngster.

What is an eaves-dropper?

An icicle.

Why is a neglected damsel like a fire that has gone out?

Because she has not a spark left.

Why are bells used to call people to church?

Because they have an inspiring influence.

What is that which goes up the hill and down the hill and yet stands still?

The road.

What becomes of the chocolate cake when your only son eats it?

It vanishes into the empty heir (air).

When is a bill like a gun?

When it is presented and discharged.