Futility

A Thief Risks His Life to Steal Money Where There is None (illustration)

One night a thief broke into the single-room apartment of French novelist Honore de Balzac. Trying to avoid waking Balzac, the intruder quietly picked the lock on the writer’s desk. Suddenly the silence was broken by a sardonic laugh from the bed, where Balzac lay wa …

Man Who Found His Watch in The Sawdust (illustration)

Before refrigerators, people used ice houses to preserve their food. In winter, when lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the ice houses, and covered with sawdust. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an ice house. He searched for it, carefully rak …