Historical Doubts As To Joan Of Arc

It was in il saloon, nnd they hnd both of them loóked on the beer when it wns i amber, nnd, by some prooess of . rol selection, had phosen the Maid of ! Orlenns as a subject of disoussion. The eider wa convinced of her existence ; the younger one - a Positivist, as it j were - believed thnt she was a Mrs. - or Miss - Harris ; thnt tliere never was no such woman. And thus the ment proceeded : First speaker - ' ' Why don't yon believe tliat such a woman never existed ?" Second speaker - "Becauselneversnw ! her - I never knew anything abont her. " (Doggedly.) " Did yöö ever see your grent-grnndfather?" ' "Yes." (With temporary trhunph. ) i " Did you ever see yonr great-grettgrandfnther ?" "No." " Then how do you know you ever had one?" (Sensation.) " O, that isn't the same thing." " Why isn't it ?" Here Üie seeond speaker is compelled ' to shift his position and snys : " Bnt i Mncaulay says she was a mit. " " A wiiat ;'" " A mit." " O, ii ud did you ever see Macaulay ?" , " No, of course not." " Then how do you know he wasn't a mit himself '?" It was some time before the second speaker was able to rally, so to speak, bnt, having partially dono so, he advanoed another argument : " There never wns any Joan of Air, because it was a moral impossibility for any woman to do the wonderful works she did." (Tliis in a dogmatic tone, which iudioaied that he wnsn't quite sure as to what those same wonderful works were.) Firrt speaker (ioily) - "Did you ever henr teil of (úeen Esther of the Jews ?" "I did that." "And, how when King Holofernes wanted to decoy her and make a deceived womiin of her, she slew him with a hammer and a nail, as it might be me and you, nnd brought victory to the Jews ?" Long silence, broken at last by a friend of the worsted arguer : " O, she wir a regular ould Methusaleh, and tliat's no criterion to go by. " i