Some Signs Of Approaching Age

■ A man, apparently slightly past middle life, wbose hair was tinged with gray and noticeably thin on top, sat near me at a theater. As the curtain rose for the flrst time a spectacled man of abcrat the same age entered and occupied the vacant seat between ns. He looked at the other fixedly. The look waa exchanged, and in a second each had the other cordially by the hand. The conversation told that they had been sohoolmates who had not met in many years. "By Jove, Charlie," exclaimed the first, "it does me good to see yon. Yon haven 'tchanged mnch more than I have, and I am not a day older than when we got our diplomas." "I can't quite agreewith yon, Tom," answered the other, "but I don't feel very oíd yet. I see yon still enjoy the theater, and I suppose you have kept np your literary tastes for the past 30 years. " ' ' Thirty years !" repeated Torn. "How the years fly ! Do you remember how they used to drag? Theaters I Well, I do go now and theu, but tho piays and actiog are not what they used to be. As to books, I still read theru, bnt none of the modern trash. Therehasn't been a good book witten for a quarter of a centnry. The new oríes give me the dyspepsia worse than what I eat. Do yon remember the meals we bad on the old Vermont farm? Those were happy days. Thirty years and more ago ! Strange, but I don 't show a sign of age. I wonder where this confounded draft is coming from. I feel neuralgia on top of my headnow." "Torn, old boy," replied the other, "you are deceiving yourself, for you have shown marked signs of approaohing age within three minutes. Your belief that theaters and actors have generated, that new books are below the standard, that childhood cooking was perfection and that time flies so very fast are all indications that yon are on the down hill side of life. The slight draft that you say brings a tinge oí neuralgia to the top of yonr head, where, I notice, the hair is rather thin, wonldn't have been thought of 80 years ago. Then here you are in the very front seat of a theater. No nse denying the signs, Tom. We are getting along and must admit what others plainlysee." - New York Herald. South Dakota employs 2,423 hands In her faetones, with $5,682,748 worth of product.