"one A Day."

'Twas the dull month of July in Ann Arbor. No business, no amusement, no exoitement. The fourth was over, and there was nothing to look forward to, except the return of the lite of the town in the fall. About the Cth of the month, ' however, had the people been observing they might have seen indicatiocs of something coming - something which was destined to dispel, in some small part at least, this terrible dullness and lack of activity. What meaning had the sudden change in temperature - the drop of the thermometer down toward the " moderately chilly " ? Or why on the evening of the Cth did the sun set so slowly ? Had we been wise, we might have reoeived the warning, but alas ! we failed to interpret F nature's meaning and retired - to sleep as 1 soundly as if nothing were to happen. But the shock came the next day, in spite of our complacency. The first to receive it was our mail-carrier. He, with no thought of anything unusualin so drowsy a town, went for the supply of mail from the depot. But imagine his surprise, when, nstead of the usual amount, there was something like three times as much. Without thinking of the iesults, he carries it to thepost-offioe, and there it is that the real interest,- if so it cuay be called, - began. Yfith their usual curiosity, thesortTers hasten to untie the bags and look into this matter generally, (is well as to dividual comunications). To their joy the extra mail is postal cards, and these they can read to their heart's content ! Delicious postal cards! Picking up the first oae at hand, they read on it the inystic word? "One a day." Nothing more, nothing less, - except the address on the other side. The first addressee noticed was . " That dreadl'ul man, what awful message ia this to him?" Tremblingly it is laid dowD, and a second picked up only to reveal to them again the same mystic sentence "One a day." And to whorn isthis jrgoing? " To some accomplice, doubtless," is the invvard comrnent. But turning it over causes a different shock to their neryes. It is addressed, Rev. ! And so aLter thorough investigation they find them to be only the eame message to - not a few, - but to nearly everyone in town. No one has been overlooked, for everyone of any importance has one. "At last the law of 'Seive all alike ' is come," think they. When the fi.rst excitement is ever at the post-office, comes the thought to : those there, " Must we the bearers of this terrible message to our people? - ifiiall we not burn the whole dreadful mess? And 'tis then that they discover that the cards bear the postmark, "New i York." A discovery not soothiüg to their I nerves by any means. f A sense of duty soons overcomes any f temptation which might have come to I them at first, and it is a settled thing "they I are to be distritu'ed." This proves no small tavk, as the number is enormous; but at last it is done, and they bhngly await resulta. Almost the first to cali for his mail is a prominent fruit grower of this city. He steps to the window, and is obliged to do more knocking than usual to get someone togive him his mail. Finally a palé faced man hands it to him but does not wait to exchange the usual "good morning." Our friend on the outside starts out of the door, glancing through his letters meanwhile. His eye soon alights on the postal. ''Well, someone must be a little rattle-brained. How aai I to know who it is that wants 'one a day,' or whether they want one quart or one bushei, or whether berries or vegetables. I If they think I want to go around to a j dozen or more people to find out who i this is and what ne or she want?, they are I mistaken." And with this, he thrusts the J troublesome card into his pocket. Soon a prominent Professor comes ín, j-Jaut there is a disappointed look on his ,j countenance as he leaves the office with hig solitary postal. An observer might have heard him muse thus : "Seems to me, wite's time must be pretty much taken up if this is all she can find time to write. From the scarcity of words, I judge she thought she was telegraphing. Must think I am greatly interested in how much it costs her a day. She can't be getting very good board at that price, either." What else he might have said, we do not - know, as by this time he had gotten beyond hearing. But we must not teil only on our fellow-townsmen. A young lady was all amiles as she said almost audibly : "Well, dr Jack must want me to write often, but I am sure I shall have to write less often than that. Gracious, it wculd keep me busy to write him a letter everv day." But still, ehe did not look entirély dis pleased as shetripped up ihe street to look for stationery. In contrast to this pleasing picture is [ the following : Mrs. , a lady not entirély unknown in our community, presented herself at the P. O. window, the next day, and rather stiffly enquired, holding up the card, "what that meant." Afier the youog lady inaide had thoroughly txplained iliat she did not know - anyway u was nothing they had done, she feit easier and lephed, "1 mistrusted it was that woman, ior she owes me a grudge. But," and she i-te at the game time trying to ünd something in her hand-satchel- "I told my husband I'd be enough for her, and 111 send her this," and holding up a fat letter, she hastened to the stamp wiadow. A Fourth ward lady after receiving her card was heard to say to her next door neighbor: "You know I told you about that tramp that came yesterday, and that 1 asked himhoir many he thought I could feed a day ? He now gives me an answer. Won't I be tormented ? " And she showed her the postal the carrier had just brought. Thus did the mystic words affect all ; each interpreted them in his own way. Some supposed, very naturally, that they were brief replies to Communications which they had sent, and often this admirably explained the mystery. For instance, Mrs. W. who had just written her little boy at Whitmore, how many straw hats he thought he would need, thought naturally that this was his answer. Our hotel proprietors who had written to a " Ouide for Hotel Men" for the number of guests they might expect dunng a dull summer like. ttiis, received the postal as a satisfactory answer to their query. Our prominent politicians read this message for them : "In order to get Cleveland elected I must buy off, at least, one Republican a day." One or two college boys who are summering here, remembered a sentence which they had nsed in their last letter home, which was to this effect : "How many lonesome fits do you think a fellow can stand, auyway?" and hearllessly nis father had replied thus - "One a day." These are but few of the many iuterpretations that were put upon the "Üne a day's" that were distributed amone Ann Arbor people - to say nothing of' those whioh were not distributed, for the reason that those to whom they were addressed wou!d not take them, declaring that "no suoh communication belonged to them." Time wore on aad in a few davs came a second card bearing this : "Ater July 10, one a day will do it." And then whatlaughsl Individual commentsceased and general discussions ibllowed. Now every thing was clear. "One a day" was a new novel, or was an "ad" of Patent Medicine ; or, as the ladies claimed, it was a new kind of soap, or yeast. In faot, any number of like explanations were made, but nothing could be certain. Some were sensible enough tosay,"Lst us wait patiently till July 10, and theu all will be clear." VVell, probably neaily every one did wait till July 10, but not patiently. 'Twould be hard or estímate the realamount of impatience dedicated to that period of 3 days Irom July 7th to July lOth. But the decisive moment came at last. "The day dawns bright and clear," and what message did it bring? This - that the Chicago News would be furnished for one cent a day to any who wanted that publication. And the bearers of this message were modest looking dodgers, pasted up on every other tree and fence about the city. And now Ann Arbor is itself once more. It would not be presuming too much perhaps to say in behalf of her people, that should it be necessary to announce in the future any important coming event, we will hope it be made in some other way than by a mysterious, fragmentary tuce on a postal cara.