penitential method: the good that it does and the taint of justice.
SCEPTER, n. A king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his

authority. It was originally" target="_blank" title="ad.本来；独创地">originally a mace with which the sovereign
admonished his jester and vetoed ministerial measures by breaking the

bones of their proponents.
SCIMETAR, n. A curved sword of exceeding keenness, in the conduct of

which certain Orientals attain a surprising proficiency, as the
incident here related will serve to show. The account is translated

from the Japanese by Shusi Itama, a famous writer of the thirteenth
century.

When the great Gichi-Kuktai was Mikado he condemned to
decapitation Jijiji Ri, a high officer of the Court. Soon after

the hour appointed for performance of the rite what was his
Majesty's surprise to see calmly approaching the throne the man

who should have been at that time ten minutes dead!
"Seventeen hundred impossible dragons!" shouted the enraged

monarch. "Did I not sentence you to stand in the market-place and
have your head struck off by the public executioner at three

o'clock? And is it not now 3:10?"
"Son of a thousand illustrious deities," answered the

condemned minister, "all that you say is so true that the truth is
a lie in comparison. But your heavenly Majesty's sunny and

vitalizing wishes have been pestilently disregarded. With joy I
ran and placed my unworthy body in the market-place. The

executioner appeared with his bare scimetar, ostentatiously
whirled it in air, and then, tapping me lightly upon the neck,

strode away, pelted by the populace, with whom I was ever a
favorite. I am come to pray for justice upon his own dishonorable

and treasonous head."
"To what regiment of executioners does the black-boweled

caitiff belong?" asked the Mikado.
"To the gallant Ninety-eight Hundred and Thirty-seventh -- I

know the man. His name is Sakko-Samshi."
"Let him be brought before me," said the Mikado to an

attendant, and a half-hour later the culprit stood in the
Presence.

"Thou bastard son of a three-legged hunchback without thumbs!"
roared the sovereign -- "why didst thou but lightly tap the neck

that it should have been thy pleasure to sever?"
"Lord of Cranes of Cherry Blooms," replied the executioner,

unmoved, "command him to blow his nose with his fingers."
Being commanded, Jijiji Ri laid hold of his nose and trumpeted

like an elephant, all expecting to see the severed head flung
violently from him. Nothing occurred: the performance prospered

peacefully to the close, without incident.
All eyes were now turned on the executioner, who had grown as

white as the snows on the summit of Fujiama. His legs trembled
and his breath came in gasps of terror.

"Several kinds of spike-tailed brass lions!" he cried; "I am a
ruined and disgraced swordsman! I struck the villain feebly

because in flourishing the scimetar I had accidentally passed it
through my own neck! Father of the Moon, I resign my office."

So saying, he gasped his top-knot, lifted off his head, and
advancing to the throne laid it humbly at the Mikado's feet.

SCRAP-BOOK, n. A book that is commonly edited by a fool. Many
persons of some small distinctioncompile scrap-books containing

whatever they happen to read about themselves or employ others to
collect. One of these egotists was addressed in the lines following,

by Agamemnon Melancthon Peters:
Dear Frank, that scrap-book where you boast

You keep a record true
Of every kind of peppered roast

That's made of you;
Wherein you paste the printed gibes

That revel round your name,
Thinking the laughter of the scribes

Attests your fame;
Where all the pictures you arrange

That comic pencils trace --
Your funny figure and your strange

Semitic face --
Pray lend it me. Wit I have not,

Nor art, but there I'll list
The daily drubbings you'd have got

Had God a fist.
SCRIBBLER, n. A professionalwriter whose views are antagonistic to

one's own.
SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as

distinguished from the false and profanewritings on which all other
faiths are based.

SEAL, n. A mark impressed upon certain kinds of documents to attest
their authenticity and authority. Sometimes it is stamped upon wax,

and attached to the paper, sometimes into the paper itself. Sealing,
in this sense, is a survival of an ancient custom of inscribing

important papers with cabalistic words or signs to give them a magical
efficacy independent of the authority that they represent. In the

British museum are preserved many ancient papers, mostly of a
sacerdotal character, validated by necromantic pentagrams and other

devices, frequently initial letters of words to conjure with; and in
many instances these are attached in the same way that seals are

appended now. As nearly every reasonless and apparently meaningless
custom, rite or observance of modern times had origin in some remote

utility, it is pleasing to note an example of ancient nonsense
evolving in the process of ages into something really useful. Our

word "sincere" is derived from _sine cero_, without wax, but the
learned are not in agreement as to whether this refers to the absence

of the cabalistic signs, or to that of the wax with which letters were
formerly closed from public scrutiny. Either view of the matter will

serve one in immediate need of an hypothesis. The initials L.S.,
commonly appended to signatures of legal documents, mean _locum

sigillis_, the place of the seal, although the seal is no longer used
-- an admirable example of conservatism distinguishing Man from the

beasts that perish. The words _locum sigillis_ are humbly suggested
as a suitable motto for the Pribyloff Islands whenever they shall take

their place as a sovereign State of the American Union.
SEINE, n. A kind of net for effecting an involuntary change of

environment. For fish it is made strong and coarse, but women are
more easily taken with a singularly delicatefabric weighted with

small, cut stones.
The devil casting a seine of lace,

(With precious stones 'twas weighted)
Drew it into the landing place

And its contents calculated.
All souls of women were in that sack --

A draft miraculous, precious!
But ere he could throw it across his back

They'd all escaped through the meshes.
Baruch de Loppis

SELF-ESTEEM, n. An erroneous appraisement.
SELF-EVIDENT, adj. Evident to one's self and to nobody else.

SELFISH, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.
SENATE, n. A body of elderly gentlemen charged with high duties and

misdemeanors.
SERIAL, n. A literary work, usually a story that is not true,

creeping through several issues of a newspaper or magazine.
Frequently appended to each installment is a "synposis of preceding

chapters" for those who have not read them, but a direr need is a
synposis of succeeding chapters for those who do not intend to read

_them_. A synposis of the entire work would be still better.
The late James F. Bowman was writing a serial tale for a weekly

paper in collaboration with a genius whose name has not come down to
us. They wrote, not jointly but alternately, Bowman supplying the

installment for one week, his friend for the next, and so on, world
without end, they hoped. Unfortunately they quarreled, and one Monday

morning when Bowman read the paper to prepare himself for his task, he
found his work cut out for him in a way to surprise and pain him. His

collaborator had embarked every character of the narrative on a ship