lite!  :··· __   _._4__ _ V
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    THE orinnr.  
.· » A THE WAY IT ALL HAPPENED. it
° It was a serious question, and long and seriously I  
Y pondered over it. I am a professor of mathematics and  
lf, ` astronomy and am generally considered an earnest and Q-
I thoughtful young man, but it was no question of shift- Q
_ L ing stars or the hypothenuse or legs of a triangle which if
, now so engrossed my time and attention. No, it was Q
  I my own legs I was thinkingof; I was considering how I it
should best clothe them; whether I should wear the ,3
’ aged and rather dilapidated suit which had done me 'L
- service in the school-room and out of it for the past six  
ii months, or don the natty spring costume which my `_3
s tailor had just sent home. It was enough to perplex I
. the wisdom of a Solomon. I let my folding bed down  
; and spread the suits out, side by side, as an aid to judg- 1,
` ment; then the only available spot being the coal  
bucket (my room is not the largest), I stood in that to il
get a good view of them. The one was an old friend,  
quite an old friend, in fact alittle too old, for clothes. like L
  people, do not always improve on acquaintance. I was Y
I so familiar with it that I could tell where every button  
_) (of which, by the way, there were no two alike) came  
from, and could repeat the history of each stain and  
* I spot. There were the shiny elbows and baggy knees,  
» and the large dark spot half way down the coat, that 1
. was where one of my pupils, a fair young girl, had, in a ..
spirit of innocent and gleesome sport, hit me with a piece ·
of buttered bread. This last decided me. I could not pr0—
_ pose over the ancient”re1nains of bread and butter. I had
forgotten to state that the cause of my unwonted inter- `
I est in matters of dress was that I had determined to let ~
’ this night settle my fate. I dressed with great care, ·
giving to the selection of my tie, the consideration due a
` matter of such importance, and finally, arrayed in my
glory, I sallied forth. ·
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