An Officer and a Thug


  A CHIEF of Police who had seen an Officer beating a Thug was very 
indignant, and said he must not do so any more on pain of 
dismissal.

  "Don't be too hard on me," said the Officer, smiling; "I was 
beating him with a stuffed club."

  "Nevertheless," persisted the Chief of Police, "it was a liberty 
that must have been very disagreeable, though it may not have hurt.  
Please do not repeat it."

  "But," said the Officer, still smiling, "it was a stuffed Thug."

  In attempting to express his gratification, the Chief of Police 
thrust out his right hand with such violence that his skin was 
ruptured at the arm-pit and a stream of sawdust poured from the 
wound.  He was a stuffed Chief of Police.