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that they cannot read, that statement is not intended to convey the idea that if a book or newspaper be given to them they do not understand the letters or the print in which the reading matter is presented to their eyes. They do. But such letters and such print impress no meaning upon their minds. Anyone can prove this by merely asking them what they have been reading. In nine cases out of ten they "don't know." And if they ever did know, during one unusual moment of brain-activity, they "forget." The thinking faculty is, with them, like a worn-out sieve, through which everything runs easily and drops to waste. The news of the day, be it set forth never so boldly in no matter what startlingly stout headlines, barely excites their interest for more than a second. They may perhaps glance at a couple of newspaper placards and lazily observe, "Russia at it again," but of the ins and outs of policy, the difficulties of Government, the work of nations, they grasp absolutely nothing. Thus it happens that when they are asked their opinion on any such events of the hour as may be making history in the future, they display their utter ignorance in such a frankly stupid fashion that any intelligent enquirer is bound to be stunned by their lack of knowledge, and will perhaps murmur feebly: "Have you not read the news?" to which will come the vague reply: "Oh, yes, I read all the newspapers! But I really don't remember the particulars just now!" What they do remember—these "cultured" persons, (and the more highly they are cultured, the more tenacious appears to be their memory in this respect)—is a divorce case. They always read that carefully over and over