A day or two after he put his hand in his pocket for one, but they were all gone.

Webster was at first puzzled, but on reflection remembered that he had given them away, one by one, to friends who seemed to appreciate their beauty.
A professor in mathematics in a New England college, a "book-worm," was asked by his wife to bring home some coffee.

"How much will you have ?" asked the merchant.

"Well, I declare, my wife did not say, but I guess a bushel will do." Many a great man has been so absent-minded at times as to seem devoid of common-sense.
"The professor is not at home," said his servant who looked out of a window in the dark and failed to recognize Lessing when the latter knocked at his own door in a fit of absent-mindedness.

"Oh, very well," replied Lessing.