This story is told about ex-Senator J. S. Clark, of Calais, Maine: One
day, while awaiting his turn in a barber-shop in Calais, he was talking
with a friend, and was so deeply interested in the conversation that he
allowed his pipe to go out several times. Each time he would ask Melvin
Noble, a local practical joker, for a match.
About the time he wanted the fifth match, Noble said: "I don't begrudge
you the matches, Jed, but I think it would be cheaper for you to put a
grate in your pipe and burn coal."--_Boston Herald._