The woman confessed to her crony:
"I'm growing old, and I know it. Nowadays, the policeman never takes me by the arm when he escorts me through the traffic."
ALIBI
The mother called in vain for her young son. Then she searched the ground floor, the first story, the second, and the attic--all in vain.
Finally, she climbed to the trap door in the roof, pushed it open, and cried:
"John Henry, are you out there?"
An answer came clearly:
"No, mother. Have you looked in the cellar?"
AMNESTY
The nurse at the front regarded the wounded soldier with a puzzled frown.
"Your face is perfectly familiar to me," she said, musingly. "But I can't quite place you somehow."
"Let bygones be bygones, mum," the soldier said weakly. "Yes, mum, I was a policeman."
ANATOMY
The little boy, sent to the butcher shop, delivered himself of his message in these words:
"Ma says to send her another ox-tail, please, an' ma says the last one was very nice, an' ma says she wants another off the same ox!"
APPEARANCE
Little Willie came home in a sad state. He had a black eye and numerous scratches and contusions, and his clothes were a sight. His mother was horrified at the spectacle presented by her darling. There were tears in her eyes as she addressed him rebukingly:
"Oh, Willie, Willie! How often have I told you not to play with that naughty Peck boy!"
Little Willie regarded his mother with an expression of deepest disgust.
"Say, ma," he objected, "do I look as if I had been playing with anybody?"
APPEARANCE
The cross-eyed man at the ball bowed with courtly grace, and said:
"May I have the pleasure of this dance?"
Two wallflowers answered as with one voice:
"With pleasure."
APPETITE
The young man applied to the manager of the entertainment museum for employment as a freak, and the following dialogue occurred:
"Who are you?"
"I am Enoch, the egg king."
"What is your specialty?"
"I eat three dozen hen's eggs, two dozen duck eggs, and one dozen goose eggs, at a single setting."
"Do you know our program?"
"What is it?"
"We give four shows every day."
"Oh, yes, I understand that."
"And do you think you can do it?"
"I know I can."
"On Saturdays we give six shows."
"All right."
"On holidays we usually give a performance every hour."
And now, at last, the young man showed signs of doubt.
"In that case, I must have one thing understood before I'd be willing to sign a contract."
"What?"
"No matter what the rush of business is in the show, you've got to give me time to go to the hotel to eat my regular meals."
Daniel Webster was the guest at dinner of a solicitous hostess who insisted rather annoyingly that he was eating nothing at all, that he had no appetite, that he was not making out a meal. Finally, Webster wearied of her hospitable chatter, and addressed her in his most ponderous senatorial manner:
"Madam, permit me to assure you that I sometimes eat more than at other times, but never less."