THE CONJUGAL THERMOMETER.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3193, 22 September 1881, Page 4

THE CONJUGAL THERMOMETER.

A few months ago two journalists were in conversation at ihe opera. ! he one, M. de X., is a bachelor, the other M. de V., just married. ' Well,' said the one to the other, ' how do you get along in your new condition ? ' ' Ah! my dear X., there is nothing like being married. You cannot imagine how happy I am. When lam at, work my wife is at my side, and at the conclusion of each paragraph I embrace her. Thafc is charming.' ' Now I understand, was the happy retort .of X., ' why your sentences aro so short.'

This conversation quickly spread through Paris. From that time forth tho articles of Y. were consulted by the public as the thermometer of his conjugal felicity. During the two months the prose of Y. was disjointed and epigrammatic in shorter periods than are to be found in the earlier writings of Emile de Girardin. All the women grew jealous of Mme. Y. But gradually the periods elongated, and at last Mme. V. opened the journal edited by M. V., and casting a rapid glance over the article signed with his name, cried : ' What! but a single paragraph in tbe whole article ! Poor woman! a divorce will most assuredly follow.'