Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1899 — He Did Not Say It. [ARTICLE]

He Did Not Say It.

Everybody knows the man who is careful never to say “No” abruptly in answer to a question. “No” is a hard word, but one may sometimes be made ridiculous by a reluctance to utter it. A certain man who bad this habit was once met by two ladies who had been discussiing the peculiarity, and one of them said that she was positive she could make him say, “Oh, no,” flatly. So she addressed him thus: “Let me see, Mr. Smith, you are a widower, are you not?” “As much a widower, madam,” he answered, with a polite inclination of his head, “as it is possible for a man to be who was never married.” The lady had to own herself beaten. —Youth’s Companion.