“There’s one trouble, though,” went on Dunk, and he carefully examined his simple suspender attachment as if in fear of losing it. “With the increasing number of autos, and the decrease in horses, there is bound to be a corresponding decrease in horseshoe nails. That’s a principle of economics which I am going to bring to the attention of Professor Shandy. He likes to lecture on such cute little topics as that. He might call it qlBachelor’s future depends on the ratio of increase of automobiles.’”
“I see!” exclaimed Andy with a chuckle. “Just as Darwin, or one of those evolutionists proved that the clover crop depended on old maids.”
“How do you make that out?” asked Dunk.
“I guess you’ve forgotten your evolution. Don’t you remember? Darwin found that certain kinds of clover depended for growth and fertilization on humble bees, which alone can spread the pollen. Humble bees can’t exist in a region where there are many field mice, for the mice eat the honey, nests and even the humble bees themselves.
“Now, of course you know that the more cats there are in a neighborhood the less field mice there are, so if you find a place where cats are plentiful you’ll find plenty of humble bees which aren’t killed off by the mice, since the mice are killed off by the cats. So Darwin proved that the clover crop, in a certain section, was in direct proportion to the number of cats.”
“But what about old maids?”
“Oh, I believe it was Huxley who went Darwin one better, come to think of it. Huxley said it was well known that the more old maids there were the more cats there were. So in a district well supplied with old maids there’d be plenty of cats, and in consequence plenty of clover.”
“Say, are you crazy, or am I?” asked Dunk, with a wondering look at his friend. “This thing is getting me woozy! What did we start to talk about, anyhow?”
“Horseshoe nails.”
“And now we’re at old maids. Good-night! Come on out and walk about a bit. The fresh air will do us good, and maybe we’ll sleep.”