A Boston physician tells of the case of a ten-year-old boy, who, by reason of an attack of fever, became deaf.  The physician could afford the lad but little relief, so the boy applied himself to the task of learning the deaf-and-dumb alphabet.  The other members of his family, too, acquired a working knowledge of the alphabet, in order that they might converse with the unfortunate youngster.

During the course of the next few months, however, Tommy’s hearing suddenly returned to him, assisted no doubt by a slight operation performed by the physician.

Every one was, of course, delighted, particularly the boy’s mother, who one day exclaimed: 

“Oh, Tommy, isn’t it delightful to talk to and hear us again?”

“Yes,” assented Tommy, but with a degree of hesitation; “but here we’ve all learned the sign language, and we can’t find any more use for it!”

WEALTH

If you want to make a living you have to work for it, while if you want to get rich you must go about it in some other way.

The traditional fool and his money are lucky ever to have got together in the first place.—­Puck.

He that is proud of riches is a fool.  For if he be exalted above his neighbors because he hath more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold mine!—­Jeremy Taylor.

WEATHER

“How did you find the weather in London?” asked the friend of the returned traveler.

“You don’t have to find the weather in London,” replied the traveler.  “It bumps into you at every corner.”

An American and a Scotsman were discussing the cold experienced in winter in the North of Scotland.

“Why, it’s nothing at all compared to the cold we have in the States,” said the American.  “I can recollect one winter when a sheep, jumping from a hillock into a field, became suddenly frozen on the way, and stuck in the air like a mass of ice.”

“But, man,” exclaimed the Scotsman, “the law of gravity wouldn’t allow that.”

“I know that,” replied the tale-pitcher.  “But the law of gravity was frozen, too!”

Two commercial travelers, one from London and one from New York, were discussing the weather in their respective countries.

The Englishman said that English weather had one great fault—­its sudden changes.

“A person may take a walk one day,” he said, “attired in a light summer suit, and still feel quite warm.  Next day he needs an overcoat.”

“That’s nothing,” said the American.  “My two friends, Johnson and Jones, were once having an argument.  There were eight or nine inches of snow on the ground.  The argument got heated, and Johnson picked up a snowball and threw it at Jones from a distance of not more than five yards.  During the transit of that snowball, believe me or not, as you like, the weather changed and became hot and summer like, and Jones, instead of being hit with a snowball, was—­er—­scalded with hot water!”