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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32622-8.txt b/32622-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..665f9f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/32622-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6595 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, +Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7., by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7. + An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks + +Author: Various + +Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge + +Release Date: May 31, 2010 [EBook #32622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS + +An + +ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE + +FOR YOUNG FOLKS. + + +CONDUCTED BY + +MARY MAPES DODGE. + +VOLUME XIII. + +PART II., MAY, 1886, TO OCTOBER, 1886. + +THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK. +F. WARNE & CO., LONDON. + +Copyright, 1886, by THE CENTURY CO. + +THE DE VINNE PRESS. + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS: + +VOLUME XIII. + +PART II. + +SIX MONTHS--MAY, 1886, TO OCTOBER, 1886. + + + + +CONTENTS OF PART II., VOLUME XIII. + + + PAGE. + +ABOUT BREATHING _Hellen Clark Swazey_ 946 + +ADVENTURE AT THE FLUME, OUR. + (Illustrated). _W. L_ 844 + +AMBITIOUS KANGAROO, THE. + Jingle _A. R. Wells_ 853 + +AMUSING THE BABY. + Verses. (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Eva Lovett Carson_ 706 + +ARMY, AN. Verses _A. C_ 757 + +ART AND ARTISTS, STORIES OF. + English Painters. (Illustrated) _Clara Erskine Clement_ 803 + +AUNT DEBORAH'S LESSON. (Illustrated) _G. H. Baskette_ 694 + +AUTUMN TO SPRING. Poem _Edith M. Thomas_ 883 + +BABY'S DIMPLE, THE. Poem _William H. Hayne_ 731 + +BALLAD OF BASE-BALL, A. Verses _I. D_ 774 + +BELATED FAIRY, A. Picture, drawn by Mary A. Lathbury 693 + +BLOSSOM-TIME. Poem _Laura E. Richards_ 518 + +BOAT-BUILDING. (Illustrated) _George J. Manson_ 698 + +BOPEEP. Poem. + (Illustrated by Mary Hallock Foote) _Sydney Dayre_ 756 + +BOYS' CAMP, A. (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) 607 + +BOYS' PARADISE, THE. + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _Elizabeth Balch_ 604 + +BROWNIES AT BASE-BALL, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 943 + +BROWNIES AT LAWN TENNIS, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 857 + +BROWNIES IN THE MENAGERIE, THE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 707 + +BROWNIES ON ROLLER SKATES, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 543 + +BUBBLE BOWLING. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Adelia B. Beard_ 540 + +BUTTERFLY AND THE BEE, THE. Verse _Edith M. Thomas_ 599 + +CAPTAIN JACK'S FOURTH OF JULY KITE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Daniel C. Beard_ 702 + +CARICATURE PLANT, THE. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _.M. A_ 522 + +CHILDREN OF THE SUN, THE. Poem. + (Illustrated) _Arthur Wentworth Eaton_ 770 + +CHILDREN'S EXHIBITION, THE. + (Illustrated by E. J. Meeker) _Charles Barnard_ 916 + +CHILD'S FANCY, A. Poem _Frank Dempster Sherman_ 645 + +CONSIDERATE FARMER JONES. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 843 + +CRAFTY CRAB, THE. JINGLE. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Isabel Frances Bellows_ 845 + +CREW OF THE CAPTAIN'S GIG, THE. + (Illustrated by G. W. Edwards) _Rev. Charles R. Talbot_ 899 + +DAISY-SONG. Verses _Grace Denio Litchfield_ 662 + +DANGEROUS DOG, THE. JINGLE. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _A. R. Wells_ 837 + +DIFFERENCE OF OPINION, A. Verses _Lilian Dynevor Rice_ 679 + +DOG STORIES, ST. NICHOLAS. (Illustrated) 526, 624 + +"DO YOU LIKE BUTTER, BOSSY?" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 791 + +DUEL WITH A STORK, A. Pictures, drawn by Frederick J. Hibbert 754 + +FISHES AND THEIR YOUNG. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _C. F. Holder_ 600 + +FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT. (Illustrated by J. H. Cocks, + Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 655 + +FRESH FROM A DIP IN THE BREAKERS. + Picture, drawn by Mary Hallock Foote 670 + +FROG IN THE SHOE, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by Boz) _Aunt Fanny Barrow_ 791 + +FUN IN HIGH LIFE. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 935 + +GEORGE WASHINGTON. (Illustrated by 505, 590, 663, 758, + H. A. Ogden and others) _Horace E. Scudder_ 838, 908 + +GIRAFFE, THE. (Illustrated) _Gerrish Eldridge_ 768 + +GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS RUN DOWN THE CAPE, THE. + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _E. Vinton Blake_ 494 + +GRANDPAPA ROSEBUSH. Verses. + (Illustrated) _Laura E. Richards_ 583 + +GREAT SPRING-BOARD ACT, THE. Picture, drawn by T. J. Nicholl 677 + +HANDIWORK OF SOME CLEVER SCHOOL-BOYS, THE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _J. Abdon Donnegan_ 547 + +HER PICTURE. Verses. + (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills) _Anna M. Pratt_ 942 + +HIGHLY COLORED. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 869 + +HOW CONRAD LOST HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Walter Bobbett_ 514 + +"HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE?" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 757 + +HURLY-BURLY. Jingle. + (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _Emma Mortimer White_ 871 + +IF. Jingle. (Illustrated) _E. A. B._ 703 + +IN THE GARDEN. Verses. _Bessie Chandler_ 898 + +INVERTED. Jingle. + (Illustrated by W. T. Peters) _John B. Tabb_ 828 + +"IT WAS A FAIR ARTIST NAMED MAY." Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _O. Herford_ 501 + +JAPANESE BABIES. Verses. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Anna C. Vincent_ 948 + +JINGLES. 501, 613, 630, 681, 687, 697, 703, 733, 748, 785, 791, 797, + 828, 837, 845, 853, 949 + +JOLLY OLD KNIGHT, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Oliver Herford_ 748 + +KEEPING THE CREAM OF ONE'S READING. + (Illustrated) _Margaret Meredith_ 537 + +KELP-GATHERERS, THE. 584, 687, 776, + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _J. T. Trowbridge_ 847,929 + +KNICKERBOCKER BOY, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott) _Caroline S. King_ 542 + +LACE-LEAF, A SEARCH FOR THE. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _Alice May_ 518 + +LA FAYETTE. + (Illustrated by F. H. Lungren) _Mrs. Eugenia M. Hodge_ 643 + +LAKE GEORGE CAPSIZE, A. (Illustrated) _Edward Eggleston_ 829 + +LAST CRUISE OF THE "SLUG," THE. + (Illustrated by D. Clinton Peters) _Thomas Edwin Turner_ 671 + +LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott) _M. B. Jordan_ 870 + +LITTLE BOYS WHO LOOKED ALIKE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Malcolm Douglas_ 928 + +LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 502, 564, 646, 734, 822, + (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Frances Hodgson Burnett_ 884 + +LITTLE MISS MABEL. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Daisy Jones_ 613 + +LITTLE SEAMSTRESS, A. Verse. _Mary E. Wilkins_ 733 + +MAN OVERBOARD! + (Illustrated by the Author) _H. A. Johnson_ 775 + +MATTER-OF-FACT CINDERELLA, A. + (Illustrated) _Annie A. Preston_ 860 + +MAY SONG. Poem. (Illustrated + and engrossed by Laura C. Hills) _Laura E. Richards_ 492 + +MONSTER, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Maria I. Hammond_ 732 + +MORNING-GLORIES. Poem. _Laura Ledyard Pope_ 501 + +MORRA. (Illustrated) _Susan Anna Brown_ 846 + +MOTHER'S IDEA. _A. M. Platt_ 613 + +NAN'S REVOLT. (Illustrated 682, 749, 816, + by Jessie Curtis Shepherd) _Rose Lattimore Alling_ 896 + +NED'S BUTTERCUP. Verses. _Bessie Chandler_ 941 + +NEW THEORY, A. Verse. _Bessie Chandler_ 785 + +NEW VIEW OF THE MOON, A. Verses. _Eva Lovett Carson_ 551 + +NO MORE SCHOOL. Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller 571 + +NOTIONAL NIGHTINGALE, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _A. R. Wells_ 748 + +NUMBER ONE. Verses. _Charles R. Talbot_ 705 + +OCTOBER. Poem. (Illustrated) _Susan Hartley_ 890 + +"OH, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Jingle. (Illustrated by E. Sylvester) 869 + +OLD TIME ARMS AND ARMOR. (Illustrated) _E. S. Brooks_ 936 + +ONCE-ON-A-TIME. Poem. _Emily Huntington Miller_ 563 + +ON THE WILLEY-BROOK TRESTLE. + (Illustrated by Henry Sandham) _Willis Boyd Allen_ 764 + +OWL, THE BAT, AND THE BUMBLE-BEE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by De Cost Smith) _Laura E Richards_ 747 + +PERSONALLY CONDUCTED. (Illustrated by E. J. + Meeker and others) _Frank R. Stockton_ + Queen Paris. 572 + +PICTURES. 525, 571, 637, 670, 677, 693, 701, 715, 738, 754, 757, + 791, 798, 843, 856, 869, 935, 947 + +PUSSIES' COATS, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by H. P. Share) _Esther B. Tiffany_ 687 + +PUZZLED BESSIE. Picture, drawn by Albert E. Sterner 947 + +PUZZLED PAPA, A. Verses. _M. L. B. Branch_ 603 + +QUAINT LITTLE MAN, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _A. Brennan_ 949 + +READY FOR BUSINESS; OR, + CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. (Illustrated) _George J. Manson_ + Boat-building. 698 + +RECIPE, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Mary A. Lathbury_ 629 + +REGATTA. A. Game. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Frank Bellew_ 783 + +ROBIN'S RETURN. Poem. _Edith M. Thomas_ 612 + +ROCK-A-BYE. Poem. _Mary N. Prescott_ 535 + +ROCKY MOUNTAIN HERMIT, A. (Illustrated by + J. C. Beard and others) _Alfred Terry Bacon_ 723, 832 + +ROPE YARN SPUN BY AN OLD SAILOR, A. + (Illustrated by the Author) _C. W. Miller_ 786 + +ROYAL FISH, A. (Illustrated by W. L. + Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 739 + +SAD CASE, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by Mary Richardson) _Margaret Vandegrift_ 733 + +SAILOR BOY, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Wallace E. Mather_ 790 + +SALMON: A ROYAL FISH. (Illustrated by W. L. + Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 739 + +SATCHEL, THE. + (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _Tudor Jenks_ 616 + +SEARCH FOR THE LACE-LEAF, A. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _Alice May_ 518 + +SEA-URCHIN, THE. Jingle. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Isabel Frances Bellows_ 785 + +SHAKSPERE WHEN A BOY. + (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons) _Rose Kingsley_ 483 + +SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD, THE. + (Illustrated by J. G. Francis) _C. F. Holder_ 533 + +SOME CURIOUS MARINERS. (Illustrated by + J. C. Beard and J. M. Nugent) _C. F. Holder_ 891 + +SONG OF SUMMER, A. Poem. _Emma C. Dowd_ 671 + +SPRING BEAUTIES. Poem. + (Illustrated by A. Brennan) _Helen Gray Cone_ 513 + +ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES. (Illustrated) + A Clever Little Yellow Dog _John R. Coryell_ 526 + A Dog that Could Count _E. P. Roe_ 529 + A Clever Sheep Dog 530 + A Story of Two Buckets _Charlotte M. Vaile_ 530 + The Left-field of the Lincoln Nine _C. F. Holder_ 624 + A Dog that Could Climb Trees _C. F. Holder_ 626 + A Sociable, Sensible Dog _E. P. Roe_ 626 + A Dog whose Feelings were Hurt _E. P. Roe_ 628 + A Dog that Repaid a Trick 628 + Mephistopheles _Anna Gardner_ 628 + +STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. + English Painters. (Illustrated) _Clara Erskine Clement_ 803 + +TEA-PARTY, A. Verses. (Illustrated + and engrossed by the Author) _Margaret Johnson_ 865 + +TELL-TALE BARN, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Esther B. Tiffany_ 924 + +"THE BIGGEST OF BIRDS." Jingle. + (Illustrated G. R. Halm) _E. E. Sterns_ 703 + +THEORETIC TURTLE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated) _A. R. Wells_ 681 + +"THIS LITTLE PIG WENT TO MARKET." Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller 701 + +"THIS SEAT RESERVED." Picture. 856 + +THREE VELVETY BEES. Verses. + (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford) _M. M. D._ 654 + +TIMOTHY TIMID. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _A. Brennan_ 697 + +TIPPIE AND JIMMIE. + (Illustrated by H. P. Share) _Mary L. French_ 705 + +TODDLEKINS AND TROT. Verses. + (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills) _Anna M. Pratt_ 843 + +TROUT, FLY-FISHING FOR. (Illustrated by + J. H. Cocks, Henry Sandham, E. J. Meeker, + and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 655 + +UNDER THE SNOW. Poem. _Lilian Dynevor Rice_ 815 + +VEGETABLE CLOTHING. + (Illustrated by D. C. Beard) _C. J. Russell_ 523 + +VENETIAN MARQUETRY. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Charles G. Leland_ 866 + +WAITING FOR A COLD WAVE. Picture, drawn by C. Weaver 738 + +WEASEL AND THE ADDER, THE. (Illustrated) _Gerrish Eldridge_ 907 + +WHAT BERTIE SAW IN THE FLOWERS. Poem. + (Illustrated) _L. G. R._ 536 + +WHAT IT WAS. Verses. + (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford) _Malcolm Douglas_ 701 + +WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY. + (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons) _Rose Kingsley_ 483 + +WILD FLOWERS, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Jessie Penniman_ 603 + +WILD HUNTERS. (Illustrated) _John R. Coryell_ 681 + +WINGED SEEDS. Poem. _Helen Gray Cone_ 571 + +WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY! Picture, drawn by R. Blum 525 + +WONDERS OF THE ALPHABET. (Illustrated) _Henry Eckford_ 538, 621, + 677, 771, 854, 925 + +WORK AND PLAY FOR YOUNG FOLK. (Illustrated.) + A Rope Yarn Spun by an Old Sailor. + (Illustrated by the Author) _C. W. Miller_ 786 + Venetian Marquetry. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Charles G. Leland_ 866 + + +DEPARTMENTS. + +FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK. (Illustrated.) + Riddles. _M. M. D._ 630 + "Pretty Painted Bridges" } + "White Sheep, White Sheep" } _E. E. Sterns_ 630 + "On Dormio Hill" } + A Letter from a Little Boy _Ralph Ranlet_ 710 + "Dude" and the Cats 711 + Riddles for Very Little Folk _E. E. Sterns_ 950 + +PLAYS AND MUSIC. + Easter Carol _William E. Ashmall_ 546 + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. (Illustrated.) + + Introduction--"Everything is Lovely, and the Goose Hangs + High"--Girls! To the Rescue!--About Little Lord + Fauntleroy--Fishing for Necklaces--A Suggestion to the + Bottled Fish--The Newspaper Plant (illustrated)--One More + Living Barometer, 552; A Bumble Grumble--Pretty Dusty + Wings--Trees that Rain--Shooting Stars--Coasting in + August--More about Turtles--A Fish that Weaves its Nest--A + Clever Humming-bird (illustrated), 632; Introduction--The + Seventeen-year Locust (illustrated)--The Great Lubber Locust + (illustrated)--The Dog and the Queer Grasshoppers + (illustrated), 712; Introduction--Longfellow's First + Letter--The Water-snake as a Fisherman--More Animal + Weather-Prophets--A Useful Bird with an Aristocratic Name--A + Wise Humming-bird--The Pitcher Plant (illustrated), 792; + Introduction--Poor Lark!--Those Mocking-birds Again--A Living + Island (illustrated)--Wrong Names for Things--Who can Answer + This? 872; Introduction--A Perfectly Quiet Day--How He Proved + It--Walking Without Legs--A Queer Sunshade (illustrated)--A + Queer Jumble--That Dear Little Lord, 952. + + +THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. (Illustrated) 557, 636, 717, 794, 874, 957 + +THE LETTER-BOX. (Illustrated) 554, 634, 714, 796, 876, 954 + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. (Illustrated) 559, 639, 719, 799, 879, 959 + +EDITORIAL NOTES 554, 634 + + +FRONTISPIECES. + + "In Spring-time--When Shakspere was a Boy," by Léon Moran, + facing Title-page of Volume--"A June Morning," by E. C. Held, + facing page 563--"La Fayette and the British Ambassador," by + F. H. Lungren, facing page 643--"The Captain and the + Captain's Mate," by Mary Hallock Foote, facing page 723--"The + Connoisseurs," after a painting by Sir Edwin Landseer, facing + page 803--"Martha Washington," from an unfinished portrait by + Gilbert Stuart, facing page 883. + + + + + + +[Illustration: IN SPRING-TIME--WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY. + +(SEE PAGE 490.)] + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS. + +VOL. XIII. MAY, 1886. NO. 7. + +[Copyright, 1886, by THE CENTURY CO.] + + +When Shakspere was a Boy + +BY ROSE KINGSLEY. + + +On Henley street, in quiet Stratford town, there stands an old +half-timbered house. The panels between the dark beams are of +soft-colored yellow plaster. The windows are filled with little diamond +panes; and in one of the upper rooms they are guarded with fine wire +outside the old glass, which is misty with innumerable names scratched +all over it. Poets and princes, wise men and foolish, have scrawled +their names after a silly fashion, on windows, wall, and ceiling of that +oak-floored room, because, on the 22d of April, 1564, a baby was born +there--the son of John and Mary Shakspere. And on the following +Wednesday, April 26, the baby was carried down to the old church beside +the sleepy Avon and baptized by the name of William. + +Little did John Shakspere and the gossips dream, when the baby William's +name was duly inscribed in the register-book with its corners and clasps +of embossed brass, that he was destined to become England's greatest +poet. Little did they dream, honest folk, that the old market town and +the house on Henley street and the meadows across the river, covered in +that pleasant April month with cowslips and daisies and "lady-smocks all +silver-white," would become sacred ground to hundreds of thousands of +people from all quarters of the globe, who should come, year by year, on +reverent pilgrimage to Shakspere's birthplace. + +The baby grew up as most babies do; and when he was two and a half years +old, a little brother Gilbert was born. As we walk through the streets +to-day, we can fancy the little lads toddling about the town together, +while father John was minding his glove and wool trade at the old house. +John Shakspere, in those early days, was a well-to-do man. He was a +chamberlain of the borough when little Gilbert was born; and in 1568 he +was elected High Bailiff, or Mayor, of Stratford, although he, in +common with many of his fellow-burgesses, could not write his own name. +He had land, too, at Snitterfield, where his father had lived; and his +wife, Mary Arden, was the owner of Ashbies, the farm at Wilmcote, hard +by. + +[Illustration: MARY ARDEN'S HOUSE AT WILMCOTE.] + +But, though the parents were illiterate, they knew the value of a good +education. The Free Grammar School had been refounded a few years before +by Edward VI. And although there is no actual record of his school days, +we may take it as certain that little Will Shakspere was sent to the +Free School when about seven years old, as we know his brother Gilbert +was, a little later. The old Grammar School still stands; and boys still +learn their lessons in the self-same room with the high pitched roof and +oaken beams, where little Will Shakspere studied his "A, B, C-book," and +got his earliest notions of Latin. But during part of Shakspere's school +days the schoolroom was under repair; and boys and master--Walter Roche +by name--migrated for a while to the Guild Chapel next door. And this +was surely in the poet's mind when, in later years, he talked of a +"pedant who keeps a school i' the church." + +All boys learned their Latin then from two well-known books--the +"Accidence" and the "Sententiĉ Pueriles." And that William was no +exception to the rule we may see by translations from the latter in +several of his plays, and by an account, in one of his plays, of Master +Page's examination in the "Accidence." An old desk which came from the +Grammar School and stood there in Shakspere's time is shown at the +birthplace. And when we look at it we wonder what sort of a boy little +William was--whether his future greatness made a mark in any way during +his school days; whether that conical forehead of his stood him in good +stead as he learned his Latin Grammar; whether he was quiet and +studious, or merry and mischievous; whether he hid dormice and apples +and birds' eggs in his desk, and peeped at them during school hours; +whether he got into scrapes and was whipped. Just think of Shakspere +getting a whipping! No doubt he often did. Masters in those days were +not greater, but rather less, respecters of persons than they are now, +and they believed very firmly in the adage which is going out of +fashion, that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. So we may think of +little Will Shakspere coming out of the Grammar School and passing the +old Guild Chapel and the Falcon Inn with two little red fists crammed +into two little red and streaming eyes, and going home to mother Mary in +Henley street to be comforted and coddled and popped down on the settle +in the wide chimney corner, with some dainty, dear to the heart of small +boys who got into trouble three hundred years ago just as they do now. +Let us hope his cake was not like one he describes as "dough on both +sides." + +[Illustration: THE LARGE SCHOOLROOM IN THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL AT +STRATFORD.] + +But I fancy that lessons bore a very small part in Will Shakspere's +education. He certainly never knew much Latin; but he knew all about +country things as only a country-bred boy can know about them. He and +Gilbert must have run many a time to Ashbies, their mother's farm at +Wilmcote, and watched the oxen plowing in the heavy clay fields; and +cried, perhaps, as children do now "as the butcher takes away the calf"; +and played with the shepherd's "bob-tailed cur"; and gossiped with +Christopher Sly, who could tell them all manner of wonderful tales, for +had he not been peddler, card-maker, bear-herd, "and now by present +profession a tinker"? + +They must have listened to their father and their uncle Henry up at the +big farm close to Snitterfield church (where Henry Shakspere lived) as +the two men discussed the price of a yoke of oxen at Stratford or +Warwick fair, or debated whether they should "sow the head-land with +wheat,--with red wheat, Davy,"[A] or grumbled over the "smith's note +for shoeing and plough-irons," or told the latest turn in the quarrel +between "William Visor of Woncot" and "Clement Perkes of the Hill." Very +likely the little hazel-eyed boys took William Visor's part, though they +wisely kept their opinions to themselves, since small boys in that +period were not allowed the liberty of speech they enjoy in these +degenerate times. William Visor was a neighbor of the Ardens, and +possibly a friend of "Marian Hackett, the fat ale-wife of Wincot"; for +Wincot, Woncot, and Wilmcote are all the same place. Or perhaps the +young lads sided with Clement Perkes; for the Hill where he lived at +Weston was known as Cherry Orchard Farm, a name full of tempting +suggestions to little boys. And we know that Shakspere, like many less +wise people, was fond of "ripe red cherries." He mentions them again and +again. He and Gilbert, and their little friends the Sadlers and Harts +and Halls, must have played bob-cherry, as we do now,--drawing up the +stem of the cherry with our tongues, and, with a sudden snap, getting +the round, ripe fruit between our lips,--and then have used the stones +for "cherry-pit"--a child's game that is frequently mentioned by +Shakspere and other old writers, which consisted in pitching +cherry-stones into a small hole. + +[Footnote A: 2d Henry IV., Act 5. Scene 1.] + +[Illustration: THE SCHOOL AND GUILD CHAPEL.] + +Stratford lies just at the beginning of the fruit-growing country, which +stretches right down the Vale of Evesham to Worcester and the Severn; +and little Will Shakspere was well versed in the merits of all kinds of +fruits. There were the plum-trees, that make you think in the +spring-time that a snow-shower has fallen upon a sunny day all over the +Stratford district; while in the autumn the branches are laden with "the +mellow plum." Who can doubt that little Will climbed the damson-tree, +"with danger of my life," as he said later that Simpcox did at his +wife's bidding?[B] In the plays he mentions apples of many sorts--some +of which, though rare or extinct in other parts of England, still grow +about his native place--the bitter-sweetings and leather-coats, the +apple-johns and the pomewaters. Many a time he must have stood with all +the boys of the place watching, as we might do to-day, the cider-making +on some village green, when the heaps of apples, red, green, and yellow, +are brought in barrows and baskets and carts from the orchards, and +ground up into a thick yellow pulp in the crushing-mill turned by a +horse, and that pulp is put into presses from which the clear juice runs +into tubs, while the dry cakes of pulp are carted away to fatten the +pigs. + +[Footnote B: 2d Henry VI., Act 2, Scene 1.] + +There were grapes, too, growing plentifully in Warwickshire in his day; +and "apricocks," "ripe figs, and mulberries," like those with which the +fairies were told to feed Bottom the weaver. Blackberries and the +handsome purple dewberries grew then as now, by the hedges in the +orchards and in the shade of the Weir-brake just below Stratford mill, +where, so says tradition, the scene of the "Midsummer Night's Dream" was +laid. In the Weir-brake, too, and in all the woods about their home, the +Shakspere boys must have gone nutting--that most delightful harvest of +the year, when you bend down "the hazel twig," so "straight and +slender," and fill baskets and pockets with the sweet nuts in their +rough, green husks, and crack them all the way home like so many happy +squirrels. + +[Illustration: THE GUILD COUNCIL-ROOM--NOW THE HEAD-MASTER'S +CLASS-ROOM.] + +All the hedge-rows were full then, as they are to this day, of wild +pear-trees, wild apples, and "crabs," as crab-apples are called in +England. Roasted "crabs" served with hot ale were a favorite Christmas +dish in Shakspere's time. And I doubt not that the boys rejoiced at the +house in Henley street as the time of year came round "when roasted +crabs hiss in the bowl." + +How snug the "house-place" in the old home must have looked with its +roaring fire of logs, on winter evenings, when the two little boys of +nine and seven, and Joan and Anne, the little sisters, huddled up in the +chimney-corner with baby Richard in his cradle, while the mother +prepared hot ale and "roasted crabs" for her gossips. Will, I warrant, +as with twinkling eyes he watched Mrs. Hart or Mrs. Sadler or Mrs. +Hathaway, from Shottery, thought that it was Puck himself, the very +spirit of mischief, who had got into the bowl "in very likeness of a +roasted crab." + +It must have been a recollection of those winter evenings that made +little Will, in later years, write his delightful "Winter Song": + + "When icicles hang by the wall + And Dick the shepherd blows his nail + And Tom bears logs into the hall + And milk comes frozen home in pail, + When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul, + Then nightly sings the staring owl, + Tu-whit; + Tu-who, a merry note, + While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. + + "When all aloud the wind doth blow + And coughing drowns the parson's saw + And birds sit brooding in the snow + And Marian's nose looks red and raw, + When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, + Then nightly sings the staring owl, + Tu-whit; + Tu-who, a merry note, + While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." + +Among the gossips there would be much talk of wonders, appearances, +mysterious occurrences, and charms; and the children listened with all +their ears, you may be sure. Perhaps one of Mistress Shakspere's friends +possessed the power that some people in Warwickshire still are said to +possess, of charming away warts by a touch and some murmured invocation; +or curing toothache and all other aches and pains. There are plenty of +people now who, after your second cup of tea is finished, will take the +cup, twist the grounds around three times, turn it mouth downward in the +saucer, and then, by looking at the tea-leaves which still stick to the +bottom of the cup, will undertake to tell you what is going to +happen--of presents you will receive, or people who are coming to see +you. And many Warwickshire women still believe firmly that +whooping-cough can be charmed away by the patient walking nine times +over running water. + +[Illustration: "THE HEDGE-ROWS WERE FULL, AS THEY ARE TO THIS DAY, OF +WILD APPLES, WILD PEARS, AND 'CRABS.'"] + +The boys' games of those days were much the same as they are to-day. +Each game then, as now, had its regular season in the year. In the +season for marbles, no one would dream of playing anything else. +"Knuckle-hole" is still the favorite game in Warwickshire. The +standing-up game, pitching the taw from a mark scraped across the +ground, is, I am told by competent authorities, rather going out of +fashion; but it is still played. The marble season lasts through the +late winter, much to the distraction of mothers, who have to clean and +mend their sons' nether garments, which are worn with kneeling and +plastered with mud at that time of year. Then comes the spinning-top, +whip-top, and peg-top time. Later again there is tip-cat for the boys, +and hop-scotch for the girls. + +On the corn-bins in the Warwickshire ale-house stables we can still find +the lines rudely cut for "nine men's morris." This, in Shakspere's day, +was a favorite game, and one much in vogue among the shepherd boys in +the summer, who cut a "board" in the short turf and whiled away the long +hours by playing it. Little Will must often have gone to watch his +father play "shovel-board" at the Falcon tavern, in Stratford, on the +board upon which tradition says he himself played, in later life. And at +home, he and his brother must have played "push-pin," an old game which +is still played in remote parts of the country. Two pins are laid on the +table; the players in turn jerk them with their fingers, and he who +throws one pin across the other is allowed to take one of them, while +those who do not succeed have to give a pin. This is the game Shakspere +alludes to in "Love's Labour's Lost," when he says, "And Nestor play at +push-pin with the boys." + +Little Will knew a great deal about sport. All his allusions to sporting +or woodcraft are those of a man who had been familiar with such things +from his childhood. He and Gilbert must have set plenty of "springes, to +catch wood-cocks," and dug out the "earth-delving conies" that swarmed +in the commmonland of Welcombe, those dingles that in later years he +fought so hard to preserve from inclosure. + +[Illustration: BOYS FISHING IN THE AVON--OPPOSITE THE WEIR-BRAKE.] + +They must have fished many a time, as the Stratford boys do to this day, +in the slow waters of the Avon, sitting quietly intent for hours upon +the steep clay bank + + "to see the fish + Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, + And greedily devour the treacherous bait."[C] + +[Footnote C: "Much Ado about Nothing," Act 3, Sc. 1.] + +Then who can doubt that he often watched the hunting of the hare? Each +line in his wonderful description of the hunted hare is written by a +thorough sportsman and a keen observer of nature. How the purblind hare +runs among a flock of sheep or into a rabbit-warren, or "sorteth with a +herd of deer" to throw out "the hot scent-snuffing hounds." How they +pause silent till they have worked "with much ado the cold fault cleanly +out," and then burst into music again. + +Of deer, Shakspere knew much--too much for his own comfort. In his +childhood, there were herds at Fulbrooke,--and when he was older, at +Charlecote, at Grove Park, and at Warwick. And probably there were a few +roe in the wilder parts of the Forest of Arden, which came down within +three miles of Stratford, and covered the whole of the country north of +the Avon, out to Nuneaton and Birmingham. We can fancy how the boys +stole out to watch the Grevilles and Leycesters and Lucys and Verneys on +some great hunting party, and whispered to each other, + + "Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves, + For through this lawnd anon the deer will come." + +But the time of all others in the year that we connect most closely with +Shakspere is the sweet spring-time, when the long cold winter--very long +and very cold among those undrained clay-lands of Warwickshire--had come +to an end. How closely little Will watched for + + "daffodils, + That come before the swallow dares, and take + The winds of March with beauty"; + +and for + + "violets, cowslips, and pale primroses." + +We can fancy the little boys hunting in some sheltered nook in the +Welcombe woods for the first primroses; and climbing up Borden Hill just +beyond Shottery, perhaps with Anne Hathaway from the pretty old house in +the orchards below, to the bank--the only one in the neighborhood,-- + + "where the wild thyme blows, + Where oxlips, and the nodding violet grows"; + +or wandering over the flat sunny meadows along the Avon valley, picking +cowslips, and looking into each tiny yellow bell for the spots in their +gold coats,-- + + "Those be rubies, fairy favors, + In those freckles live their savors,"-- + +as they brought home baskets of the flower-heads for their mother to +make into cowslip wine. + +Spring, in this Stratford country, is exquisite. The woods are carpeted +with primroses and wild hyacinths; while in the "merry month of May" the +nightingale swarms among the hawthorn trees white with blossom. + +On every village green there stood a painted May pole--one is still +standing at Weston, near Stratford; and May-Day is still kept in +Warwickshire with a "May feast" upon old May-Day, the 12th of May. Every +one knows how the prettiest girl in the village was chosen Queen o' the +May, and how all joined in the "Whitsun Morris-dance." + +[Illustration: A BUNCH OF COWSLIPS.] + +Long Marston,--"Dancing Marston," as it has been called ever since +Shakspere's time,--a few miles from Stratford, was famous till within +the memory of man for a troop of Morris-dancers, who went about from +village to village, strangely dressed, to dance at all the feasts. +Shakspere probably had the Marston dancers in his mind when he wrote of +the "three carters, three shepherds, three neat-herds, three +swine-herds," that made themselves all "men of hair," and called +themselves "Saltiers," at the sheep-shearing feast which pretty Perdita +presided over, in "The Winter's Tale." The sheep-shearing feast, which +came when roses were out on the hedges and in the gardens, must have +been a merry and important time for the Shakspere boys. John Shakspere +was, of course, specially interested in the price of a tod of wool, for +wool-stapling was part of his trade. Perhaps William himself was sent by +his mother to buy the groceries for the feast, and stood conning the +list as he makes the clown do, in "The Winter's Tale." + +In the spring-time, too, came the peddler with all his wonders and +treasures: + + "Lawn as white as driven snow; + Cypress black as e'er was crow; + Gloves as sweet as damask roses; + Masks for faces and for noses." + +Those last must have pleased the little boys more than all the rest of +the peddler's goods. And perhaps it was from this very peddler that Will +Shakspere bought the pair of gloves which, after the fashion of the day, +he gave to Anne Hathaway at their betrothal. + +But the great event of the year in the quiet country town was Stratford +"Mop" or statute fair, on the 12th of October. The market-place was +filled, as it is to this day, with clowns and mountebanks, wrestlers, +and rope-dancers at their "rope-tricks." Oxen and sheep were roasted +whole. A roaring trade was driven by quack doctors and dentists. All the +servants in the country came and stood around to be hired, as the +farm-hands and the maids for the farm-houses still do--the carters with +a bit of whipcord in their hats; the shepherds with a lock of wool; the +laborers with a straw. And next day, we need not doubt, there were many +candidates for the town stocks, as there are now for the police court. +There were bear-baitings, too, and bull-baitings--those cruel sports +which have only been abolished in Warwickshire within the last hundred +years. But in Shakspere's day bear-baiting was a popular and refined +amusement. During Queen Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth, in 1575, there +was a great bear-baiting in her honor, of which a curious and most +sickening account still exists. And when Shakspere went to London his +lodgings were close to the bear-garden, or "Bear's College," at +Southwark, whither all London flocked to see the poor beasts tormented +and tortured. + +There was, however, one amusement which, from his earliest years, must +have delighted little Will Shakspere above all others--I mean a visit +from the players. That he inherited his love for the drama from his +father is more than probable; for it was during the year of John +Shakspere's High Bailiffship that plays are first mentioned in the +records at Stratford. According to the custom of the day, when the +players belonging to some great nobleman came to a town, they reported +themselves to the mayor to get a license for playing. If the mayor +liked them, or wished to show respect to their master, he would appoint +them to play their first play before himself and the Council. This was +called the Mayor's Play, every one coming in free, and the mayor giving +the players a reward in money. Between the autumns of 1568 and 1569, + + "The Queen's and the Earl of Worcester's players visited the + town and gave representations before the Council, the former + company receiving nine shillings and the latter twelve pence + for their first performances." + +And there is little reason to doubt that our little Will, then between +five and six years old, was taken to see them by his father, the mayor, +as a little boy named Willis was taken at Gloucester that same year, +being exactly William Shakspere's age; and, standing between his +father's knees, Master Will probably there got his first experience of +the art in which he was to become the master for all ages. We wonder +what that first play was--some quaint, rude drama probably, such as the +one little Willis saw at Gloucester, with plenty of princes and fair +ladies, and demons with painted masks, and the "Herod" in red gloves, of +the "Coventry Mystery" players. + +Not only in Stratford, but in most of the towns roundabout, there are +various records of players giving performances. When little Will was +eleven years old, Queen Elizabeth came on her celebrated visit, in 1575, +to Lord Leycester at Kenilworth; and as all the country flocked to see +the great show, it is probable that the boy and his father were among +the crowds of spectators and saw some of the plays given in the Queen's +honor. + +A year or two later, troubles began to multiply at the house in Henley +street. John Shakspere got into debt. The farm at Ashbies was mortgaged. +His daughter Anne died in 1579; and two years before her death, young +William, then thirteen, was taken from school and apprenticed--some +accounts say to a butcher--or, as seems more probable, to his own +father, to help him in his failing wool-trade. + +For the next five years nothing is known about Will Shakspere. Then we +find him courting Anne Hathaway in the pretty old brick and timbered +cottage at Shottery, its garden all full of roses and rosemary, +"carnations and striped gillyvors." A year or two later, he is stealing +one of Sir Thomas Lucy's deer,--writing a lampoon on the worthy +justice,--and flying to London from his wrath, to hold horses at the +door of the Globe Theater before he joined the Lord Chamberlain's +players, and became known to all posterity as Mr. William Shakspere, +Writer of Plays. + + + + +May Song By Laura E. Richards + + +[Illustration] + + Is there anything new to sing about you, + May, my dear? + Any unhackneyed thing about you, + Pray, my dear? + Anything that has not been sung + Long ago when the world was young, + By silver throat and golden tongue? + Say, my dear! + + So many have said that your eyes are blue, + May, my dear, + It must be a tiresome fact, though true, + May, my dear, + And if I for one, my gracious Queen, + Should boldly assert that your eyes were green, + 'Twould be a relief to you, I ween, + Eh, my dear? + + We know of the touch of your garments fold, + May, my dear, + The daisies come starring with white and gold + The way, my dear. + We know that the painted blossoms all + Come starting up at your gentle call, + By dale and meadow and garden-wall, + May, my dear. + + We know that your birds have the sweetest tune, + May, my dear: + And lovers love best beneath your moon, + They say, my dear. + And I might add that that your perfumed kiss + Is considered productive of highest bliss; + But you must be so tired of hearing this! + Eh, my dear? + + No, I really don't think there's anything fresh, + Or new, my dear. + For the world is small, and available rhymes + Are few, my dear. + So if I say naught about vernal bowers, + And forbear to mention the sunlit showers, + I think I shall make the best use of my powers. + Dont you, my dear? + + And yet I cannot help loving you so, + May, my dear, + That the old words, whether I will or no, + I say, my dear, + And how you are fair, and how you are sweet + My loving lips forever repeat.-- + And is that the reason you pass so fleet? + Ah! stay, my dear! + + + + +THE GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS RUN DOWN THE CAPE. + +BY E. VINTON BLAKE. + + +Tricycles had become an every-day affair in Sherridoc, and since the +formation of the Girls' Club, lady tricyclers were not an extraordinary +sight. So Charlotte, or "Charley" Van Rensselaer, as she was called, and +her brother Starrett excited but little comment as they wheeled swiftly +down Haymarket street, moving noiselessly and easily through the throng +of carriages and other vehicles, until, as the houses grew less frequent +and the pavements stopped altogether, they rolled through the suburbs of +the town and so into the open country, without stay or pause. + +For they were making time. The club itself, thanks to the failure of the +express company to deliver Charley's new "Columbia" when promised, had +several hours' start on the road; and Starrett, like the obliging +brother that he was, had remained behind in order that Charlotte need +not ride alone nor the club be longer delayed by waiting for her. + +Charley Van Rensselaer, her cousin Cornelia, or "Corny" Hadwin, and +their warm friends Mattie Hyde and Arno Cummings, were four bright and +active young girls of from thirteen to sixteen, who composed the Girls' +Tricycle Club. Little by little they had won first the interest and then +the consent of their somewhat conservative parents to this novel but +exhilarating exercise, and having now become expert riders, they were +off for a long run of eighty miles down Cape Cod from Sherridoc City to +Curtin Harbor, where their parents had summer cottages. Faithful and +clever Joe Marston, Mr. Van Rensselaer's colored servant, and an expert +tricycler, had gone ahead with the club as guide and commissary-general, +and Starrett Van Rensselaer, Charley's younger brother, was invited to +accompany them as an escort, on the odd-looking "Royal Mail" he had +borrowed for the trip,--bicycles not being allowed. + +And now the door-yards broaden out and the houses become still more +rambling. There are wide-spreading orchard boughs, and cool woody spaces +here and there between the farms. Now a youngster scampers into the +house shrieking, "Ma, Ma! Oh, come here, Ma! Here's a girl a-ridin' +three wheels at once!" and Charley, looking back, perceives the urchin's +sisters and cousins and aunts peering at her from the door. Starrett too +looks back, and laughs. + +"You'll have to get used to that," he says. + +"I expect to," responds Charley serenely; "but you must remember that +four of these things have gone on before us on this same road and they +must have taken off a little of the novelty." + +Over the brow of Haymarket Hill they go, and the long steep sweep into +the valley of the Owassee lies before them. Charley, with her feet on +the "rest," commences to descend. An amazed cow grazing by the roadside +makes a charge on the singular vehicle, but the girl never flinches, and +with one hand on the steering-bar and the other on the brake she avoids +every stone, every rut, every gully in the road. The irate cow, after +nearly plunging on its nose down the first steep incline, pauses to +recover its senses and then returns slowly up the hill. Starrett waves +it a laughing adieu. "Sensible bovine that," he says; "she knows that a +stern chase is a long chase." + +"My, though!" exclaims delighted Charley, "we're just flying, Starrett! +Aren't we?" + +They are indeed. The bushes whiz past,--the wind sweeps their +faces,--trees, stones, fences flit by like phantoms. Charley feels like +a bird on the wing. Such exhilaration is there in a good tricycle +"coast" downhill! + +But it is not all such pleasure; for, a few miles farther on, they +become acquainted with the other side of the story, as they go toiling +up the long ascent of Comstock Hill, a sandy and winding incline that +leads to the highlands of Fisherville. + +"If it weren't for the sand," said Charley as she pushes her tricycle +before her, "I would test the new 'power-gear' on my 'Columbia' by +riding up Comstock Hill. But, dear me, I believe there are not three +yards of solid earth on this road!" + +"Never mind, we're more than half-way up," said Starrett, consolingly. + +"Do you suppose it's sandy like this near Curtin Harbor?" inquired +Charley. + +"I haven't the least idea," Starrett replied. "If it is, we can branch +off and take the cars at Minot Station." + +"The cars? Why, Starrett Van Rensselaer!" exclaims Charley. "Why, I +wouldn't take the cars--not for anything--unless--well, unless I were +fairly driven to it." + +And now they both draw a long breath, for the crest of Comstock Hill is +won. + +"Look behind you, Starrett," says Charley. "Did you ever see a prettier +picture?" + +Starrett acknowledges he never did. The low-lying valley is green and +fair. The Owassee stretches like a silver ribbon across the picture, and +there is not a human being in sight save these two tricyclers who take +all this summer beauty into their impressible young hearts. + +On they go, through Fisherville and into the open country again. Truly +no grass grows underneath those flashing wheels. The new "Columbia" has +the oil well worked in by this time, and the "Royal Mail," with its +queer one-sided "steerer," seems undisturbed by any ordinary roads. The +freshening wind is behind them; the blue sky, cloud-flecked, above; and +all around, bird-song and the rustle of blowing grass and bending +boughs. + +"This is grand, Charley!" cries Starrett; "so much better than horseback +riding--and I've tried both." + +"You don't tire yourself much more, and you're sure your horse won't run +away with you," Charley assents, whizzing along beside him. "I feel +strong enough for a good long run yet, and we ought to catch up with +them easily, before long." + +The winding, woody road brings them suddenly to a hill-top. To the +right, below, lies a wide expanse of velvety marsh meadow, with its +vivid and variegated tints of green, olive, and reddish-brown, and +occasional intersections of tottering, moss-grown fence; there is a +starry glimmer as of lilies in the frequent pools that give back the +glory of the sun. To the left are seen the dark, still reaches of a lake +that winds in and out in the cool shadow of high woody banks. An old +ice-house stands lonesome and gray on its margin. + +The brother and sister halt on the brow of the hill, to enjoy a view +that may be one of the memories of a lifetime; then the wheels roll +slowly toward the descent. The slope is steep and winding; they do not +"coast" with feet on the rest above the steering-wheel. It is not +desirable to capsize or collide with any up-coming vehicle. So they +glide warily on, with hands on the brakes, until the bottom is reached. +But here a crazy guide-post at a fork in the road misleads them by +pointing in the wrong direction for the Wareham road. But by great good +luck, they strike a shady wood track, full two miles long, which cuts +off five miles from the road they should have traveled, and which, so +Starrett says when he recognizes it, will bring them just so much nearer +the club. Dismounting at last, a pine-covered knoll, with a brook +bubbling below, attracts them; and, seated on the brown pine-needles, +the brother and sister talk over their adventures, and wonder how far +ahead the others may be. Suddenly Starrett, who faces the road, drops +his hands to his side with an exclamation of surprise. + +"What now?" says Charley, looking quickly around, A glance makes her a +partner in Starrett's astonishment; for, over the main road they have +just now regained, come one, two, three, four tricycles, their +glittering spokes flashing in the sun. They see Joe Marston's dusky face +and stalwart figure, and behind him they catch the flutter of garnet and +blue--the colors of the club. Occasionally a head in the procession +turns to look expectantly behind. + +Starrett and Charley keep close in the shade of the pines, restraining a +laugh with difficulty. + +"Here is a good place to stop, Joe," cries Cornelia Hadwin. "It's cool +and shady, and we can see the road. I think they should have caught up +with us by this time. Can anything have happened,--do you suppose?" + +"Dunno, miss," answers Joe with a grave face. But as he dismounts to +wheel his machine up the knoll, he stops short with a sudden smoothing +out of all the perplexed lines from his dark brow. "Hi, dar!" he +exclaims. "Look-a yer, Miss Corney!" + +Cornelia does look, and so do all the rest. There is a perfect chorus of +shrieks and laughter, a babel of voices, a torrent of questions. + +"Oh, we travel, I assure you!" says Starrett. "We took a flying leap and +came in ahead of you." + +"How did it happen? When did you pass us?" These and countless other +questions follow. Then all is explained, and at five o'clock the merry +six are on the road again, rolling along in lively style. + +So, in single file, with Joe in advance, and Starrett bringing up the +rear, the club rides through the main street of Wareham, down the long +slant to the bridge over the Wareham river. The evening mist hangs low +along the stream; the bridge seems to stretch across the rushing tide +and end abruptly in mid-air. The soft, grayish opaque cloud hides the +farther shore from sight. + +There are heads at doors and windows, and people on the street stop to +gaze. At first the girls feel a little abashed at so much attention. But +nobody is discourteous; Joe rides steadily on, and there is nothing to +do but to follow. + +"I suppose we do look queer to them," says Mattie Hyde. + +"Oh, well, you are missionaries, you know," says Starrett assuringly. +"Perhaps your club may be the means of introducing tricycles into many +of the places we shall pass through." + +"That's one of our objects, of course," observes Charley. + +"If girls and women knew what comfort one can take with a tricycle, half +the battle would be won," says Arno Cummings timidly. + +[Illustration: "THE BUSHES WHIZ PAST,--TREES, STONES, FENCES FLIT BY +LIKE PHANTOMS."] + +"It isn't altogether that, Arno," says Charley, who, as the originator +of the club, has her advanced theories to support. "A good many would +like to, but don't really dare. You know that Shakspere says 'Conscience +doth make cowards of us all.' I think that custom makes us cowards, +too." + +"Custom will be on our side, though, by and by," declares Mattie Hyde. +"Doctor Sawyer told Mamma the other day that he would prescribe the +tricycle rather than medicine for many of his patients. He said that the +machines are much used in England, and that they are gaining ground in +this country, though not so rapidly as he could wish." + +But even this knowledge of the healthfulness and desirability of the +tricycle does not make a hard piece of road any easier. After a night's +rest at the hospitable house of an aunt of Mattie Hyde's, the club find +themselves, next day, among the "Sandwiches," as Starrett facetiously +dubs the town of that name which is divided into North, East, South, and +West Sandwich. And there they come upon a wooded tract that sorely taxes +their endurance and presents the most formidable obstacle they have yet +encountered. The sand is impassable; it closes completely over the +wheel-tires, and, after a short space of arduous labor, the club come to +a dismayed standstill. + +"What on earth are we to do?" queries Corny Hadwin in despair. + +No one answers her. The boughs wave softly overhead; the small cloud of +dust their efforts have raised floats slowly away and settles on the +scant herbage underneath the pines. Near at hand sounds the shriek of +the "up" train. They are not far from the railroad. + +"Shall we give it up and take to the train?" Starrett asks, as they +catch the sound of the locomotive. + +"Dear me, we mustn't do that!" exclaims Charley. "Let's dismount and +push the machines a little way. Perhaps the wheeling is better just +ahead." + +But it is not. The ruts are strewn with straw, shavings, and chips; +everything indicates that the woods are extensive, and that others +before them have found the sand a tribulation. + +"Oh, this is the worst of all!" groans Corny. + +"But we'll not give up, nevertheless," declares little Arno Cummings, +developing unexpected grit in the emergency. "I shouldn't like to tell +them at Curtin Harbor that we had to take to the cars to get around a +difficulty." + +Joe mops the perspiration from his dusky brow, and then stops to listen. +A creak, a rumble, and a tramp, tramp are heard behind them. "Dar's +sumfin a-comin!" says Joe. + +The "sumfin" soon appears in sight,--a big, empty, four-horse wagon, +making its unwieldy way in their direction. The same idea occurs to +everybody at once. + +"There! He'll carry us!" + +[Illustration: WITH JOE IN ADVANCE, THE CLUB RIDES THROUGH WAREHAM.] + +Carry them! Of course he will--for a consideration. And almost before +the driver has recovered from his evident astonishment at this vision of +six tricycles in the heart of the Sandwich woods, the riders and their +machines are safely in the big cart, and on their way through the sandy +tract, which, they now learn, is several miles in extent. + +It is impossible for the horses to go faster than a walk for the whole +distance. The sand is a constant clog, and scarcely a breath of air can +penetrate the close piny ranks on either side the narrow road. It is a +slow and somewhat crowded ride, but the club tells stories, sings and +jokes and answers the curious inquiries of their teamster, to whom a +tricycle is a thing unknown till now. But in due time, the young folk +have bidden him good day, and are speeding on toward Barnstable. The air +grows salty, strong, and bracing. + +"It's like a breath of new life," says Starrett; and soon they are +rolling between the long row of grand old trees that line Barnstable's +quiet main street. At the hotel they stop for dinner and a noonday rest. + +It is four in the afternoon when they remount. The lady boarders, who +have taken quite an interest in the young tricyclers, bid them farewell +with all manner of good wishes, and one gray-haired society lady +remarks, "Those girls are sensible; and their mothers are sensible too. +Give young people the delights of nature and the freedom of outdoor +sports, and keep them from late parties, and the whirl of folly and +fashion. I've seen too many young lives warped and twisted and weakened +in the endeavor to 'keep up' in fashionable society. Yes, those girls +are sensible." + +And, wheeling still, by hill and dale, the "sensible" girls and their +escort roll merrily into old Yarmouth, with its broad, shady streets and +big, substantial, old-fashioned houses. Quaint and picturesque indeed it +is, with quiet nooks and corners, breezy streets, time-stained wharves +where lie battered fishing craft and the smarter boats devoted to the +summer visitors who have found out the beauties of the town. Here, too, +Arno Cummings has an uncle, a bluff and breezy old sea-captain, who +gives the whole party a hearty welcome; and at his house, the club spend +two nights and the day between--a day of shade and shine, with the sea +wind blowing everywhere. They explore the old town from end to end. They +come continually upon pictures,--now a broad grassy lane with its +moss-grown fences flanked by rising pastures of brownish grass; now a +long slope ending in a rocky outlook over the blue sea; now a brown +cottage nestled in among trees and hills. And on the second morning +after their arrival, they bid the hospitable Captain Cummings adieu, and +pass, single file, over the great drawbridge across the inlet that cuts +Yarmouth in two, and so spin along through the succession of little +towns which, leaving Yarmouth, almost join together into one. Such are +the "Dennises"--divided as usual into North, East, South and West,--and +the "Harwiches," where at Harwich proper the tricyclers bid farewell to +the railroad which has kept them company at short intervals all the way +down. + +"Six miles to Curtin Harbor." So says the lazy youth at a cross roads +store, and away they spin, while the spires and houses of Harwich +disappear behind the trees. + +And now how the wind blows! And all around the horizon the sky has that +watery appearance that betokens the nearness of the sea. There is a +peculiar, bracing freedom in the wild, salt wind; the very sway of the +brown grass, the swing of the odorous wild pinks that nod in the corners +of old mossy fences have a life and freshness that one misses greatly in +tamer, more settled districts. For now they are plunging bravely into +the long stretch of sand barrens and pine woods that, with only an +occasional house, stretch for many a mile between Harwich and Curtin +Harbor. + +But here, in the afternoon, a sudden shower overtakes them. They can no +longer pick their dainty way by the roadside, but must keep the middle +track or run the risk of upsetting. There is scarce a quarter of a mile +of level ground to be found. The pine woods close in upon them, and when +at the summit of a hill they anxiously look for some other shelter than +the thronging pines, they can see nothing but the long, winding, +lightish streak of road and the endless outlines of monotonous +pine-trees on either side against the dark sky. + +"Six miles to Curtin Harbor!" cries Starrett at last. "That boy's a +fraud. I believe it's sixty." + +"Reckon dey're Cape Cod miles, Mas'r Starrett," says Joe. "Dey say down +yer, yo' know, dat one on 'em 's equal to two ob good trav'lin' in any +uthah part ob de worl'." + +If it were only clear now, coasting merrily down these hills would be +royal fun, but in this state of the weather caution is necessary. A halt +is called for consultation. The six composedly dismount and sit down on +the clumps of "poverty grass," beneath the doubtful shelter of the +pines. + +"Well, now," asks Starrett, "what are we going to do? I know you girls +are tired and drenched; you needn't deny it. And there's no sign of a +house this side of Jericho or Jerusalem." + +Suddenly Charley has an idea. "O girls," she says, "let's camp out, +right here! We're not badly off, for we all have our waterproof cloaks; +but you've all been longing for an adventure, and here's one for a +_finale_. We'll at least make a tent and have supper. It'll be just +splendid!" + +The club vociferously acquiesce. Joe alone, dubious, shakes his head. +But he is outvoted and overruled. + +A quantity of pine boughs are piled, by Joe and Starrett, tent-fashion, +across and around four of the tricycles; a heap of dry leaves, carefully +collected, makes a fragrant couch, whereon the young ladies compose +themselves, wrapped and snugly covered with shawls and capes from the +"luggage-carriers." Lastly Joe spreads the rubber waterproofs securely +over the wheels and boughs, and the young campers are completely +sheltered. + +A rummage in the lunch-boxes and "luggage-carriers" of the six machines +brings to light half a dozen soda crackers, two bananas, six pieces of +gingerbread, a slice of dry cheese, three apples, and--this is Joe's +surprise!--a small can of chicken. + +A chorus of delight greets this last discovery, and Joe is at once +besieged. + +"Now, yo' jes' sot down, ef yo' please, young ladies," says Joe, holding +the can above his head. "I'll 'tend to yo' d'reckly. Yo' jes' gib me de +tings and I'll serve supper in fus'-class style." + +When the chicken,--delicately served on the soda crackers,--the apples, +bananas, and gingerbread are distributed, and the cheese toasted--in a +fashion--at one of the lamps, the merry six leave not a crumb to tell +the tale. It is true that a conscious vacancy still exists in the six +hungry stomachs--such appetites have these young wheelers; but they are +refreshed and no one thinks of complaining. + +The merry meal finished, weariness and the patter of rain incline the +girls to rest, and soon silence falls upon the camp, broken only by the +sighing of the wind among the dark pine boughs, and the occasional chirp +of some sleepy bird. + +Then Starrett, also, wrapped in his waterproof coat, throws himself down +to rest beneath the shelter of a friendly pine close by. + +Joe, left alone as the sentinel, falls to thinking over the situation, +wondering where they are and whether they have missed the right road. +He walks about uneasily and then stands looking up and down the stretch +of road. The tricycle lamp, which he has lighted to dispel the gloom, +casts a yellow gleam over the tent and Starrett's shrouded figure, while +beyond and all around are the pines with their swaying branches and the +long black vistas between. Joe walks back and forth, in the rain, vainly +trying to think in which direction they are to proceed. + +[Illustration: "DE YOUNG GEMMAN AN' I MAKE DIS TENT TO KEEP DE YOUNG +LADIES DRY."] + +He has been wondering thus for perhaps five minutes, when he becomes +aware of a pair of fiery eyes watching him from the shadows. Joe starts. +He does not know what peculiar class of wild beasts inhabits Cape Cod, +but there are the eyes plainly enough. He stops and stands motionless. +The eyes move, come boldly forward, and Joe, now doubly astonished, sees +full in the glare of the tricycle lamp--a big grayish cat! + +And the cat has a nickel-plated collar with a ribbon attached. Joe knows +that even on Cape Cod no wild beasts roam about, in summer storms, with +nickeled and be-ribboned collars, but what can a cat be doing away in +the depths of a pine forest? And then he suddenly concludes that the +cat's home can not be far away. The gray cat comes purring about his +knees. Joe is fond of cats, so he takes it in his arms and fondles its +wet fur, and it proves to be company for him and really helps him to +forget the discomfort of the rain. + +At about seven o'clock in the evening, however, the rain slackens, the +clouds scatter, and rifts of light appear through the trees. And just as +Joe is thinking of rousing the club for another "spin," he hears a +whistle and a heavy step from across the road. Then an old farmer fellow +of about forty-five, in search of a lost cow, comes to an abrupt and +amazed halt at confronting among the pines Joe, the gray cat, Starrett's +recumbent figure, the tent, and the glimmering tricycle wheels. He +stands speechless until Joe's voice breaks the spell. + +"Good-ebenin', sar," says Joe. "Can you tell me if dis is de road to +Curtin Harbor?" + +"Curtin Harbor!" exclaims the farmer, with his eyes still full of mute +amazement. "No, it's not. 'T any rate not the direct one. If you've come +over from Harwich, you've gone two miles out of yer way. You should have +taken the other road, back there by the old school-house." + +"Dar's whar I missed it!" cries Joe, slapping his knee. "I was suah I +did sumfin' wrong somewhar, but I couldn't locate it, to save me! I'se +much obliged." + +"You can cut across to the main road by crossing my field yonder and +going up by the house just beyond----" + +"Hi, den dere is a house over yar!" says Joe. + +"Why, certainly," says the farmer, "not more than forty rods from here." +And when Joe finds how very near he has been to a comfortable farmhouse +he says he feels "like kickin' hisself." + +"But," says the visitor, still eying the camp. "How did it all happen. +Are you traveling on foot?" + +"No, sar; on tricycles," explains Joe, proudly; "we are de Girls' +Tricycle Club, all de way from Sherridoc, wid Mas'r Starrett an' me +along to look arter 'em and see 'em safe down to Curtin Harbor. We los' +de track back yondah, an' de young gemman an' I jes' rig up dis tent for +to keep the young ladies dry an' gib 'em a chance to rest till de shower +was ober." + +The farmer's surprise grows to interest. + +"And so this is a tricycle," he says. "And did the young ladies ride +those things all the way from Sherridoc?" + +"All de way, sar," answers Joe, proudly, "'cept when we wus stuck in de +Sandywiches and had to be carted froo wid a team." + +After the good man's curiosity has been satisfied, and Starrett has +summoned the girls to appear, the worthy farmer strolls off after his +lost cow, first inviting the club to the farm to another supper. One by +one, the girls emerge from their camp, but when they hear how near to a +house they have been during the rain, great is the laughter. + +"I don't care, though," cries Cornelia Hadwin; "we've really had a sort +of a camping-out time, and I'm glad of it." + +After hearing Joe's report, the club determines to push on at once to +Curtin Harbor in the early evening, without accepting the hospitable +invitation to supper at the farmhouse. + +The two miles to the main road are quickly traversed, and before long +the club wheels around a long curve in the road, and the blue expanse of +Curtin Harbor lies beneath them. The clouds are gone by this time; the +rising moon shoots slantwise through a few thin, dissolving folds, and +brings out ripples of gold and silver on the long seas. There seems to +be a breeze that stirs the water to darker ruffles beyond the head-land, +but where the young folk sit on their tricycles, enjoying the beauty of +the scene and the salty damp of the evening air, not a blade of the +coarse, silvery beach-grass stirs; every spire and blade stands in +sheeny silver in the mellow light. + +Below the beach-road branches off a long winding descent to the quiet +cottages which lie in the evening glow, seemingly fast asleep. + +"Now, girls, for a good coast!" cries Starrett. "Here goes!" + +And away indeed he goes, over the brow of the hill, rolling swiftly, and +removing his feet from the pedals as his machine gathers way. Away also +they all fly after him, merry as larks, waking all the echoes of the +shore with their light-hearted shouts and laughter. The tricycle lamps +flash out upon the seaward road, and soon it comes to pass, that as +Charley's wheels whiz flashing into the wide, grassy dooryard of a +certain pleasant little summer abode, a hand lifts the window curtain, +and a voice, with a ring of irrepressible gladness but a great pretense +of gruffness, calls out: + +"Is this my noisy daughter, who has been running wild for a week over +all the roads on Cape Cod?" + +"Oh, Papa!" cries Charley, gleefully, "we've had a perfectly charming +trip!" + +And so says the entire club. And they pass a vote of thanks to Joe for +taking faithful care of them, and to Starrett for his excellent escort +duty. And now when the story of their eighty-mile ride is told, +everybody votes tricycling a wonderfully health-giving and delightful +exercise, and the first long trip of the Girls' Tricycling Club a grand +success. + + + + +MORNING-GLORIES. + +BY LAURA LEDYARD POPE. + + + My neighbor's morning-glories rise + And flutter at her casement; + _My_ morning-glories' lovely eyes + Peep just above the basement. + + And both our morning-glories strew + With loveliness the railing, + And thrust their starry faces through + The vines about the paling. + + But when at last the thrifty sun + A work-day world arouses, + Hers gather up their dainty skirts + And vanish in their houses. + + They draw their silken curtains close, + There's not a soul can find them; + And mine run up the school-house path, + And shut the door behind them! + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + It was a fair Artist named May + If you looked at her sketch she would say, + "It's horrid, I know-- + If you please _wont_ you go, + I'm not in the humor today." + + + + +LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. + +BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. + +[Illustration] + + +CHAPTER VII. + +On the following Sunday morning, Mr. Mordaunt had a large congregation. +Indeed, he could scarcely remember any Sunday on which the church had +been so crowded. People appeared upon the scene who seldom did him the +honor of coming to hear his sermons. There were even people from +Hazelton, which was the next parish. There were hearty, sunburned +farmers, stout, comfortable, apple-cheeked wives in their best bonnets +and most gorgeous shawls, and half a dozen children or so to each +family. The doctor's wife was there, with her four daughters. Mrs. +Kimsey and Mr. Kimsey, who kept the druggist's shop, and made pills, and +did up powders for everybody within ten miles, sat in their pew; Mrs. +Dibble in hers, Miss Smiff, the village dressmaker, and her friend Miss +Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs; the doctor's young man was +present, and the druggist's apprentice; in fact, almost every family on +the county side was represented, in one way or another. + +In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had been +told of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept so busy +attending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of needles or a +ha'p'orth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, that the little +shop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself to death over the +coming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how his small lordship's +rooms had been furnished for him, what expensive toys had been bought, +how there was a beautiful brown pony awaiting him, and a small groom to +attend it, and a little dog-cart, with silver-mounted harness. And she +could tell, too, what all the servants had said when they had caught +glimpses of the child on the night of his arrival; and how every female +below stairs had said it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor pretty +dear from his mother; and had all declared their hearts came into their +mouths when he went alone into the library to see his grandfather, for +"there was no knowing how he'd be treated, and his lordship's temper was +enough to fluster them with old heads on their shoulders, let alone a +child." + +"But if you'll believe me, Mrs. Jennifer, mum," Mrs. Dibble had said, +"fear that child does not know--so Mr. Thomas hisself says; an' set an' +smile he did, an' talked to his lordship as if they'd been friends ever +since his first hour. An' the Earl so took aback, Mr. Thomas says, that +he couldn't do nothing but listen and stare from under his eyebrows. An' +it's Mr. Thomas's opinion, Mrs. Bates, mum, that bad as he is, he was +pleased in his secret soul, an' proud, too; for a handsomer little +fellow, or with better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas says +he'd never wish to see." + +And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend Mr. Mordaunt +had told it at his own dinner table, and the servant who had heard it +had told it in the kitchen, and from there it had spread like wildfire. + +And on market-day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he had been +questioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned too, and in +response had shown to two or three people the note signed "Fauntleroy." + +And so the farmers' wives had found plenty to talk of over their tea and +their shopping, and they had done the subject full justice and made the +most of it. And on Sunday they had either walked to church or had been +driven in their gigs by their husbands, who were perhaps a trifle +curious themselves about the new little lord who was to be in time the +owner of the soil. + +It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he chose to +appear on this first Sunday--it was his whim to present himself in the +huge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side. + +There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lingerers in the +lane that morning. There were groups at the gates and in the porch, and +there had been much discussion as to whether my lord would really appear +or not. When this discussion was at its height, one good woman suddenly +uttered an exclamation. + +"Eh," she said; "that must be the mother, pretty young thing." + +All who heard turned and looked at the slender figure in black coming up +the path. The veil was thrown back from her face and they could see how +fair and sweet it was, and how the bright hair curled as softly as a +child's under the little widow's cap. + +She was not thinking of the people about; she was thinking of Cedric, +and of his visits to her, and his joy over his new pony, on which he had +actually ridden to her door the day before, sitting very straight and +looking very proud and happy. But soon she could not help being +attracted by the fact that she was being looked at and that her arrival +had created some sort of sensation. She first noticed it because an old +woman in a red cloak made a bobbing curtsy to her, and then another did +the same thing and said, "God bless you, my lady!" and one man after +another took off his hat as she passed. For a moment she did not +understand, and then she realized that it was because she was little +Lord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so, and she flushed rather shyly +and smiled and bowed too, and said, "Thank you" in a gentle voice to the +old woman who had blessed her. To a person who had always lived in a +bustling, crowded American city this simple deference was very novel, +and at first just a little embarrassing; but after all, she could not +help liking and being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of which +it seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch into +the church before the great event of the day happened. The carriage from +the Castle, with its handsome horses and tall liveried servants, bowled +around the corner and down the green lane. + +"Here they come!" went from one looker-on to another. + +And then the carriage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and opened the +door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a splendid mop +of bright waving hair, jumped out. + +Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him. + +"He's the Captain over again!" said those of the on-lookers who +remembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!" + +He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas helped +that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could be +imagined. The instant he could help, he put out his hand and offered his +shoulder as if he had been seven feet high. It was plain enough to every +one that however it might be with other people, the Earl of Dorincourt +struck no terror into the breast of his grandson. + +"Just lean on me," they heard him say. "How glad the people are to see +you, and how well they all seem to know you!" + +"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. "They are bowing to +you." + +"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, baring his +bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled eyes on them as he +tried to bow to every one at once. + +"God bless your lordship!" said the curtsying, red-cloaked old woman who +had spoken to his mother; "long life to you!" + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Fauntleroy. And then they went into the church, +and were looked at there, on their way up the aisle to the square, +red-cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy was fairly seated he +made two discoveries which pleased him: the first was that, across the +church where he could look at her, his mother sat and smiled at him; the +second, that at one end of the pew against the wall, knelt two quaint +figures carven in stone, facing each other as they kneeled on either +side of a pillar supporting two stone missals, their pointed hands +folded as if in prayer, their dress very antique and strange. On the +tablet by them was written something of which he could only read the +curious words: + +"Here lyethe ye bodye of Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle of Dorincort +allsoe of Alysone Hildegarde hys wyfe." + +"May I whisper?" inquired his lordship, devoured by curiosity. + +"What is it?" said his grandfather. + +"Who are they?" + +"Some of your ancestors," answered the Earl, "who lived a few hundred +years ago." + +"Perhaps," said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, "perhaps I +got my spelling from them." And then he proceeded to find his place in +the church service. When the music began, he stood up and looked across +at his mother, smiling. He was very fond of music, and his mother and he +often sang together, so he joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet, +high voice rising as clear as the song of a bird. He quite forgot +himself in his pleasure in it. The Earl forgot himself a little too, as +he sat in his curtain-shielded corner of the pew and watched the boy. +Cedric stood with the big psalter open in his hands, singing with all +his childish might, his face a little uplifted, happily; and as he sang, +a long ray of sunshine crept in and, slanting through a golden pane of a +stained glass window, brightened the falling hair about his young head. +His mother, as she looked at him across the church, felt a thrill pass +through her heart, and a prayer rose in it too; a prayer that the pure, +simple happiness of his childish soul might last, and that the strange, +great fortune which had fallen to him might bring no wrong or evil with +it. There were many soft anxious thoughts in her tender heart in those +new days. + +[Illustration: "I'VE A GREAT DEAL TO THANK YOUR LORDSHIP FOR," SAID +HIGGINS. (SEE NEXT PAGE.)] + +"Oh, Ceddie!" she had said to him the evening before, as she hung over +him in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, Ceddie, dear, I wish +for your sake I was very clever and could say a great many wise things! +But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and +then you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may help +many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born. +And that is best of all, Ceddie,--it is better than everything else, +that the world should be a little better because a man has lived--even +ever so little better, dearest." + +And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her words to +his grandfather. + +"And I thought about you when she said that," he ended; "and I told her +that was the way the world was because you had lived, and I was going to +try if I could be like you." + +"And what did she say to that?" asked his lordship, a trifle uneasily. + +"She said that was right, and we must always look for good in people and +try to be like it." + +Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced through the +divided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he looked over +the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw the +fair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and the eyes which were so like +those of the child at his side; but what his thoughts were, and whether +they were hard and bitter, or softened a little, it would have been +hard to discover. + +As they came out of the church, many of those who had attended the +service stood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the gate, a man +who stood with his hat in his hand made a step forward and then +hesitated. He was a middle-aged farmer, with a careworn face. + +"Well, Higgins," said the Earl. + +Fauntleroy turned quickly to look at him. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed; "is it Mr. Higgins?" + +"Yes," answered the Earl dryly; "and I suppose he came to take a look at +his new landlord." + +"Yes, my lord," said the man, his sunburned face reddening. "Mr. Newick +told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me, and I +thought I'd like to say a word of thanks, if I might be allowed." + +Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it was who +had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there looking up just +as one of his own less fortunate children might have done--apparently +not realizing his own importance in the least. + +"I've a great deal to thank your lordship for," he said; "a great deal. +I----" + +"Oh," said Fauntleroy; "I only wrote the letter. It was my grandfather +who did it. But you know how he is about always being good to everybody. +Is Mrs. Higgins well now?" + +Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat startled at +hearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a benevolent +being, full of engaging qualities. + +"I--well, yes, your lordship," he stammered; "the missus is better since +the trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying broke her down." + +"I'm glad of that," said Fauntleroy. "My grandfather was very sorry +about your children having the scarlet fever, and so was I. He has had +children himself. I'm his son's little boy, you know." + +Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it would be +the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl, as it had been +well known that his fatherly affection for his sons had been such that +he had seen them about twice a year, and that when they had been ill, he +had promptly departed for London, because he would not be bored with +doctors and nurses. It was a little trying therefore to his lordship's +nerves to be told, while he looked on, his eyes gleaming from under his +shaggy eyebrows, that he felt an interest in scarlet fever. + +"You see, Higgins," broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile; "you +people have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When +you want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply to +him. Get into the carriage, Fauntleroy." + +And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carriage rolled away down the green +lane, and even when it turned the corner into the high road, the Earl +was still grimly smiling. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +GEORGE WASHINGTON + +[_A Historical Biography._] + +BY HORACE E. SCUDDER. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A VIRGINIA BURGESS. + +Before Washington's marriage, and while he was in camp near Fort +Cumberland, making active preparations for the campaign against Fort +Duquesne, there was an election for members of the Virginia House of +Burgesses. Washington offered himself as candidate to the electors of +Frederic County, in which Winchester, where he had been for the past +three years, was the principal town. His friends were somewhat fearful +that the other candidates, who were on the ground, would have the +advantage over Washington, who was with the army, at a distance; and +they wrote, urging him to come on and look after his interests. Colonel +Bouquet, under whose orders he was, cheerfully gave him leave of +absence, but Washington replied: + +"I had, before Colonel Stephen came to this place, abandoned all +thoughts of attending personally the election at Winchester, choosing +rather to leave the management of that affair to my friends, than be +absent from my regiment, when there is a probability of its being called +to duty. I am much pleased now, that I did so." + +Here was a case where Washington broke his excellent rule of--"If you +want a thing done, do it yourself." If his regiment was to lie idle at +Fort Cumberland, he could easily have galloped to Winchester, and have +been back in a few days; but there was a chance that it might move, and +so he gave up at once all thought of leaving it. Glad enough he was to +have the news confirmed. To lead his men forward, and to have a hand in +the capture of Fort Duquesne, was the first thing--the election must +take care of itself. This was not a bad statement for his friends at +Winchester to make. A man who sticks to his post, and does his duty +without regard to his personal interests, is the very man for a +representative in the legislature. The people of Frederic knew +Washington thoroughly, and though they had sometimes felt his heavy +hand, they gave him a hearty vote, and he was elected a member of the +House of Burgesses. + +This was in 1758, and he continued to serve as a member for the next +fifteen years. There is a story told of his first appearance in the +House. He was something more than a new member; he was the late +Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia army, the foremost man, in a military +way, in the province; he had just returned from the successful +expedition against Fort Duquesne. So the House resolved to welcome him +in a manner becoming so gallant a Virginian, and it passed a vote of +thanks for the distinguished military services he had rendered the +country. The Speaker, Mr. Robinson, rose when Washington came in to take +his seat, and made a little speech of praise and welcome, presenting the +thanks of the House. Every one applauded and waited for the tall colonel +to respond. There he stood, blushing, stammering, confused. He could +give his orders to his men easily enough, and he could even say what was +necessary, to Mrs. Martha Custis; but to address the House of Burgesses +in answer to a vote of thanks--that was another matter! Not a plain word +could he get out. It was a capital answer, and the Speaker interpreted +it to the House. + +"Sit down, Mr. Washington," said he. "Your modesty equals your valor, +and that surpasses the power of any language I possess." + +It was a trying ordeal for the new member, and if speech-making had been +his chief business in the House, he would have made a sorry failure. He +rarely made a speech, and never a long one, but for all that he was a +valuable member, and his re-election at every term showed that the +people understood his value. If there was any work to be done, any +important committee to be appointed, Washington could be counted on, and +his sound judgment, his mature experience, and sense of honor, made his +opinion one which every one respected. He was always on hand, punctual, +and faithful; and qualities of diligence and fidelity in such a place, +when combined with sound judgment and honor, are sure to tell in the +long run. He once gave a piece of advice to a nephew who had also been +elected to the House, and it probably was the result of his own +experience and observation. + +"The only advice I will offer," he said; "if you have a mind to command +the attention of the House, is to speak seldom but on important +subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, +in the former case, make yourself perfect master of the subject. Never +exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with diffidence. A +dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always accompanied +with disgust." + +It was in January, 1759, that Washington took his seat in the House, and +if he made it his rule "to speak seldom but on important subjects," he +had several opportunities to speak before he finally left the Virginia +Legislature for a more important gathering. The first very important +subject was the Stamp Act, in 1765. The British Government had passed an +act requiring the American colonies to place a stamp upon every +newspaper or almanac that was published, upon every marriage +certificate, every will, every deed, and upon other legal papers. These +stamps were to be sold by officers of the crown, and the money obtained +by the sale was to be used to pay British soldiers stationed in America +to enforce the laws made by Parliament. + +The colonies were aflame with indignation. They declared that Parliament +had no right to pass such an act; that the Ministry that proposed it was +about an unlawful business; and that it was adding insult to injury to +send over soldiers to enforce such laws. People, when they meet on the +corner of the street and discuss public matters, are usually much more +outspoken than when they meet in legislatures; but the American +colonists were wont to talk very plainly in their assemblies, and it was +no new thing for the representatives, chosen by the people, to be at +odds with the governor, who represented the British Government. So when +Patrick Henry rose up in the House of Burgesses, with his resolutions +declaring that the Stamp Act was illegal and that the colony of Virginia +had always enjoyed the right of governing itself, as far as taxation +went,--and when he made a flaming speech which threatened the King, +there was great confusion; and though his resolutions were passed, there +was but a bare majority. + +There is no record of what Washington may have said or how he voted on +that occasion, but his letters show that he thought the Stamp Act a very +unwise act on the part of Great Britain, and a piece of oppression. +"That Act," he says, "could be looked upon in no other light by every +person who would view it in its proper colors." But he did not rush into +a passion over it. Instead, he studied it coolly, and before it was +repealed, wrote at some length to his wife's uncle, who was living in +London, his reasons for thinking that the British Ministry would gain +nothing by pressing the Stamp Act and other laws which bore hard on +colonial prosperity; for he held that if they would only see it, the +colonies were as necessary to England as England to the colonies. + +[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY.] + +It is difficult for us to-day to put ourselves in the place of +Washington and other men of his time. Washington was a Virginian, and +was one of the Legislature. He was used to making laws and providing for +the needs of the people of Virginia, but he was accustomed to look +beyond Virginia to England. There the King was, and he was one of the +subjects of the King. The King's officers came to Virginia, and when +Washington saw, as he so often did, a British man-of-war lying in the +river off Mount Vernon, his mind was thrilled with pleasure as he +thought of the power of the empire to which he belonged. He had seen the +British soldiers marching against the French, and he had himself served +under a British general. He had an ardent desire to go to England, to +see London, to see the King and his Court, and Parliament, and the +Courts of Justice, and the great merchants who made the city famous; but +as yet he had been unable to go. + +He had seen but little of the other colonies. He had made a journey to +Boston, and that had given him some acquaintance with men; but wherever +he went, he found people looking eagerly toward England and asking what +the Ministry there would do about fighting the French on the Western +borders. Though he and others might never have seen England, it was the +center of the world to them. He thought of the other colonies not so +much as all parts of one great country on this side of the Atlantic, as +each separately a part of the British Empire. + +After all, however, and most of all, he was a Virginian. In Virginia he +owned land. There was his home, and there his occupation. He was a +farmer, a planter of tobacco and wheat, and it was his business to sell +his products. As for the French, they were enemies of Great Britain, but +they were also very near enemies of Virginia. They were getting +possession of land in Virginia itself--land which Washington owned in +part; and when he was busily engaged in driving them out, he did not +have to stop and think of France, he needed only to think of Fort +Duquesne, a few days' march to the westward. + +When, therefore he found the British Government making laws which made +him pay roundly for sending his tobacco to market, and taxing him as if +there were no Virginia Legislature to say what taxes the people could +and should pay, he began to be restless and dissatisfied. England was a +great way off; Virginia was close at hand. He was loyal to the King and +had fought under the King's officers, but if the King cared nothing for +his loyalty, and only wanted his pence, his loyalty was likely to cool. +His chief resentment, however, was against Parliament. Parliament was +making laws and laying taxes. But what was Parliament? It was a body of +law-makers in England, just as the House of Burgesses was in Virginia. +To be sure, it could pass laws about navigation which concerned all +parts of the British Empire; but, somehow, it made these laws very +profitable to England and very disadvantageous to Virginia. Parliament, +however, had no right to pass such a law as the Stamp Act. That was +making a special law for the American colonies, and taking away a right +which belonged to the colonial assemblies. + +Washington had grown up with an intense love of law, and in this he was +like other American Englishmen. In England there were very few persons +who made the laws, the vast majority had nothing to do but to obey the +laws. Yet it is among the makers of laws that the love of law prevails; +and since in America a great many more Englishmen had to do with +government in colony and in town than in England, there were more who +passionately insisted upon the law being observed. An unlawful act was +to them an outrage. When they said that England was oppressing them, +and making them slaves, they did not mean that they wanted liberty to +do what they pleased, but that they wanted to be governed by just laws, +made by the men who had the right to make laws. And that right belonged +to the legislatures, to which they sent representatives. + +So it was out of his love of law and justice that Washington and others +protested against the Stamp Act; and when the act was repealed, they +threw up their hats and hurrahed, not because they now should not have +to buy and use stamps, but because by repealing the act, Parliament had +as much as said that it was an unlawful act. However, this was an +unwilling admission on the part of Parliament, which repealed the act, +but said at once: "We can tax you if we choose to." + +In fact, Parliament stupidly tried soon after to prove that it had the +right by imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, and painters' colors. But +the people in the colonies were on the alert. They had really been +governing themselves so long that now, when Parliament tried to get the +power away from them, they simply went on using their power. They did +this in two ways; the colonial governments again asserted their rights +in the case, and the people began to form associations, in which they +bound themselves not to buy goods of England until the offensive act was +repealed. This latter was one of the most interesting movements in the +breaking away of the colonies from England. It was a popular movement; +it did not depend upon what this or that colonial assembly might do; it +was perfectly lawful, and so far as it was complete it was effective. +Yet all the while the movement was doing more, and what but a very few +detected; it was binding the scattered people in the colonies together. + +Washington took a great deal of interest in these associations, and +belonged to one himself. He was growing exceedingly impatient of English +misrule, and saw clearly to what it was leading. "At a time," he says, +"when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing +less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary +that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the +liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of +doing it to answer the purpose effectually is the point in question. +That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense +of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms, I would beg +leave to add, should be the last resort. We have already, it is said, +proved the inefficacy of addresses to the throne, and remonstrances to +Parliament. How far, then, their attention to our rights and privileges +is to be awakened or alarmed by starving their trade and manufactures, +remains to be tried." + +He took the lead in forming an association in Virginia, and he kept +scrupulously to his agreement; for when he sent his orders to London, he +was very careful to instruct his correspondents to send him none of the +goods unless the Act of Parliament had meantime been repealed. As the +times grew more exciting, Washington watched events steadily. He took no +step backward, but he moved forward deliberately and with firmness. He +did not allow himself to be carried away by the passions of the time. It +was all very well, some said, to stop buying from England, but let us +stop selling also. They need our tobacco. Suppose we refuse to send it +unless Parliament repeals the Act. Washington stood out against that +except as a final resource, and for the reason which he stated in a +letter: + + "I am convinced, as much as I am of my own existence, that + there is no relief for us but in their distress; and I + think, at least I hope, that there is public virtue enough + left among us to deny ourselves everything but the bare + necessaries of life to accomplish this end. This we have a + right to do, and no power upon earth can compel us to do + otherwise, till it has first reduced us to the most abject + state of slavery. The stopping of our exports would, no + doubt, be a shorter method than the other to effect this + purpose; but if we owe money to Great Britain, nothing but + the last necessity can justify the non-payment of it; and, + therefore, I have great doubts upon this head, and wish to + see the other method first tried, which is legal and will + facilitate these payments." + +That is, by the economy necessarily preached, the people would save +money with which to pay their debts. + +Washington had been at the front both in the House of Burgesses, in his +own county, and among the people generally. He was a member of the +convention called to meet at Williamsburg; and he was appointed by that +convention one of seven delegates to attend the first Continental +Congress at Philadelphia. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. + +Near the end of August, 1774, Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, two of +the delegates from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, rode from +their homes to Mount Vernon and made a short visit. Then, on the last +day of the month, Washington mounted his horse also, and the three +friends started for Philadelphia to attend the congress, which was +called to meet on the 5th of September. Pendleton was a dozen years +older than Washington, and Henry was the youngest of the party. He was +the most fiery in speech, and more than once, in recent conventions, had +carried his hearers away by his bold words. He was the most eloquent +man in the colonies,--of rude appearance, but when once wrought up by +excitement, able to pour out a torrent of words. + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON, PATRICK HENRY, AND EDMUND PENDLETON ON THEIR +WAY TO PHILADELPHIA, AS DELEGATES TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.[D]] + +For my part, I would rather have heard the speech which Washington made +at the convention in Williamsburg in the August before, when he rose up +to read the resolution which he and his neighbors had passed at their +meeting in Fairfax County. The eloquence of a man who is a famous orator +is not quite so convincing as that of a man of action, who rarely +speaks, but who is finally stirred by a great occasion. People were used +to hearing Washington say a few words in a slow, hesitating, deliberate +way; and they knew that he had carefully considered beforehand what +words he should use. But this time he was terribly in earnest, and when +he had read the resolution, he spoke as no one had heard him before. He +was a passionate man who had his anger under control; but when it +occasionally burst out, it was as if a dam to a stream had given way. +And now he was consumed with indignation at the manner in which Great +Britain was treating the colonies. He was ready, he said, to raise a +regiment of a thousand men, pay all their expenses, and lead them to +Boston to drive out the King's soldiers. + +The three men, therefore, must have talked long and earnestly as they +rode to Philadelphia; for the Congress which they were to attend was the +first one to which all the colonies were invited to send delegates. It +was to consider the cause of the whole people, and Virginia was to see +in Massachusetts not a rival colony, but one with which she had common +cause. The last time Washington had gone over the road he had been on an +errand to the King's chief representative in America, the +Commander-in-Chief, Governor Shirley, and one matter which he had held +very much at heart had been his own commission as an officer in His +Majesty's army. He was on a different errand now. Still, like the men +who were most in earnest at that time, he was thinking how the colonies +could secure their rights as colonies, not how they might break away +from England and set up for themselves. + +[Footnote D: The above illustration is reproduced from Irving's "Life of +Washington," by kind permission of Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons.] + +They were five days on the road, and on September the 4th, they +breakfasted near Newcastle, in Delaware, dined at Chester, in +Pennsylvania, and in the evening were in Philadelphia, at the City +Tavern, which stood on Second street, above Walnut street, and was the +meeting-place of most of the delegates. Washington, however, though he +was often at the City Tavern, had his lodging at Dr. Shippen's. The +Congress met the next day at Carpenters' Hall, and was in session for +seven weeks. The first two or three days were especially exciting to the +members. There they were, fifty-one men, from all the colonies save +Georgia, met to consult together--Englishmen who sang "God save the +King," but asked also what right the King had to act as he had done +toward Boston. They did not know one another well at the beginning. +There was no man among them who could be called famous beyond his own +colony, unless it was George Washington. Up to this time the different +colonies had lived so apart from one another, each concerned about its +own affairs, that there had been little opportunity for a man to be +widely known. + +[Illustration: CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA, WHERE THE FIRST +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.] + +So, as they looked at one another at the City Tavern, or at the +Carpenters' Hall when they met, each man was wondering who would take +the lead. Virginia was the largest and most important colony. +Massachusetts had a right to speak, because she had called the +convention, and because it was in Boston that the people were suffering +most from the action of the British Parliament. Perhaps the two most +conspicuous members at first were Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and Samuel +Adams, of Massachusetts; but in the seven weeks of the session, others +showed their good judgment and patriotism. Patrick Henry was asked after +he returned to Virginia whom he considered the greatest man in the +Congress, and he replied: "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of +South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid +information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the +greatest man on the floor." + +Washington carried on the methods which he had always practiced. He +attended the sessions punctually and regularly; he listened to what +others had to say, and gave his own opinion only after he had carefully +formed it. It is an example of the thoroughness with which he made +himself master of every subject, that he used to copy in his own hand +the important papers which were laid before Congress, such as the +petition to the King which was agreed upon. This he would do +deliberately and exactly,--it was like committing the paper to memory. +Besides this, he made abstracts of other papers, stating the substance +of them in a few clear words. + +The greater part of each day was occupied in the Congress, but besides +the regular business, there was a great deal of informal talk among the +members. They were full of the subject, and used to meet to discuss +affairs at dinner, or in knots about the fire at the City Tavern. +Philadelphia was then the most important city in the country, and there +were many men of wide experience living in it. Washington went +everywhere by invitation. He dined with the Chief Justice, with the +Mayor, and with all the notable people. + +In this way he was able to become better acquainted both with the state +of affairs in other colonies and with the way the most intelligent +people were thinking about the difficulties of the time. The first +Continental Congress gave expression to the deliberate judgment of the +colonies upon the acts of Great Britain. It protested against the manner +in which Parliament was treating the colonies. It declared firmly and +solemnly that as British subjects the people of the colonies owed no +allegiance to Parliament, in which they had no representatives; that +their own legislatures alone had the right to lay taxes. But after all, +the great advantage of this first Congress was in the opportunity which +it gave for representatives from the different colonies to become +acquainted with one another, and thus to make all parts of the country +more ready to act together. + +It was only now and then that any one suggested the independence of the +colonies. Washington, like a few others, thought it possible the +colonies might have to arm and resist the unlawful attempt to force +unconstitutional laws upon them; but he did not, at this time, go so far +as to propose a separation from England. He had a friend among the +British officers in Boston, one of his old comrades in the war against +France, a Captain Mackenzie, who wrote to him, complaining of the way +the Boston people were behaving. Captain Mackenzie, very naturally, as +an officer, saw only a troublesome, rebellious lot of people whom it was +the business of the army to put down. Washington wrote earnestly to him, +trying to show him the reason why the people felt as they did, and the +wrong way of looking at the subject which Captain Mackenzie and other +officers had. He expressed his sorrow that fortune should have placed +his friend in a service that was sure to bring down vengeance upon those +engaged in it. He went on: + + "I do not mean by this to insinuate that an officer is not + to discharge his duty, even when chance, not choice, has + placed him in a disagreeable situation; but I conceive, when + you condemn the conduct of the Massachusetts people, you + reason from effects, not causes; otherwise you would not + wonder at a people, who are every day receiving fresh proofs + of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary power, deeply + planned to overturn the laws and constitution of their + country, and to violate the most essential and valuable + rights of mankind, being irritated, and with difficulty + restrained from acts of the greatest violence and + intemperance. For my own part, I confess to you candidly, + that I view things in a very different point of light from + the one in which you seem to consider them; and though you + are taught by venal men ... to believe that the people of + Massachusetts are rebellious, setting up for independency, + and what not, give me leave, my good friend, to tell you, + that you are abused, grossly abused.... Give me leave to + add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not + the wish or interest of that government, or any other upon + this continent, separately or collectively, to set up for + independence; but this you may at the same time rely on, + that none of them will ever submit to the loss of those + valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the + happiness of every free State, and without which, life, + liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure." + +It was with such a belief as this that Washington went back to Mount +Vernon, and while he was occupied with his engrossing private affairs, +busied himself also with organizing and drilling soldiers. Independent +companies were formed all over Virginia, and one after another placed +themselves under his command. Although, by the custom of those +companies, each was independent of the others, yet by choosing the same +commander they virtually made Washington Commander-in-Chief of the +Virginia volunteers. He was the first military man in the colony, and +every one turned to him for advice and instruction. So through the +winter and spring, he was constantly on the move, going to one place +after another to review the companies which had been formed. + +I think that winter and spring of 1775 must have been a somewhat +sorrowful one to George Washington, and that he must have felt as if a +great change were coming in his life. His wife's daughter had died, and +he missed her sadly. Young John Custis had married and gone away to +live. The sound of war was heard on all sides, and among the visitors to +Mount Vernon were some who afterward were to be generals in the American +army. He still rode occasionally after the hounds, but the old days of +fun were gone. George William Fairfax had gone back to England, and the +jolly company at Belvoir was scattered. The house itself there had +caught fire, and burned to the ground. + +But the time for action was at hand. Washington turned from his home and +his fox-hunting to go to Richmond as a delegate to a second Virginia +convention. It was called to hear the reports of the delegates to +Philadelphia and to see what further was to be done. It was clear to +some, and to Washington among them, that the people must be ready for +the worst. They had shown themselves in earnest by all the drill and +training they had been going through as independent companies. Now let +those companies be formed into a real army. It was idle to send any more +petitions to the King. + +"We must fight!" exclaimed Patrick Henry; "I repeat it, sir; we must +fight! An appeal to arms and the God of Hosts is all that is left us!" + +[Illustration: JOHN ADAMS, OF MASSACHUSETTS, WHO PROPOSED WASHINGTON FOR +COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.] + +A committee, of which Washington was one, was appointed to report a plan +for an army of Virginia. + +But when people make up their minds to fight, they know very well, if +they are sensible, that more than half the task before them is to find +means for feeding and clothing not only the troops but the people who +are dependent on the troops. Therefore the convention appointed another +committee, of which Washington also was a member, to devise a plan for +encouraging manufactures, so that the people could do without England. +Heretofore, the Virginians had done scarcely any manufacturing; nearly +everything they needed they had bought from England with tobacco. But if +they were to be at war with England, they must be making ready to +provide for themselves. It was late in the day to do anything; slavery, +though they did not then see it clearly, had made a variety of +industries impossible. However, the people were advised to form +associations to promote the raising of wool, cotton, flax, and hemp, and +to encourage the use of home manufactures. + +Washington was again chosen one of the delegates to the Continental +Congress, for the second Congress had been called to meet at +Philadelphia. He was even readier to go than before. On the day when he +was chosen, he wrote to his brother John Augustine Washington: "It is my +full intention to devote my life and fortune to the cause we are engaged +in, if needful." + +That was at the end of March. The second Continental Congress was to +meet on May 10; and just before Washington left Mount Vernon came the +news of Lexington and Concord. Curiously enough, the Governor of +Virginia had done just what Governor Gage had attempted to do; he had +seized some powder which was stored at Fredericksburg, and placed it for +safety on board a vessel of the British navy. The independent companies +at once met and called upon Washington to take command of them, that +they might compel the Governor to restore the powder. Washington kept +cool. The Governor promised to restore the powder, and Washington +advised the people to wait to see what Congress would do. + +When Congress met, the men who came together were no longer strangers to +one another. They had parted warm friends the previous fall; they had +gone to their several homes and now had come back more determined than +ever, and more united. Every one spoke of Lexington and Concord; and the +Massachusetts men told how large an army had already gathered around +Boston. But it was an army made up not only of Massachusetts men, but of +men from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. It was plain that +there must be some authority over such an army, and the Provincial +Congress of Massachusetts wrote to the Continental Congress at +Philadelphia, advising that body to assume control of all the forces, to +raise a continental army, appoint a commander, and do whatever else was +necessary to prepare for war. There had already been fighting; there was +an army; and it was no longer a war between Massachusetts and Great +Britain. + +I do not know what other delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia came +as soldiers, but there was one tall Virginian present who wore his +military coat; and when the talk fell upon appointing a commander, all +eyes were turned toward him. Every one, however, felt the gravity and +delicacy of the situation. Here was an army adopted by Congress; but it +was a New England army, and if the struggle were to come at Boston, it +was natural that the troops should mainly come from that neighborhood. +The colonies were widely separated; they had not acted much together. +Would it not be better, would it not save ill-feeling, if a New England +man were to command this New England army? + +There were some who thought thus; and besides, there was still a good +deal of difference of opinion as to the course to be pursued. Some were +all ready for independence; others, and perhaps the most, hoped to bring +the British to terms. Parties were rising in Congress; petty jealousies +were showing themselves, when suddenly John Adams, of Massachusetts, +seeing into what perplexities they were drifting, came forward with a +distinct proposition that Congress should adopt the army before Boston +and appoint a commander. He did not name Washington, but described him +as a certain gentleman from Virginia "who could unite the cordial +exertions of all the colonies better than any other person." No one +doubted who was meant, and Washington, confused and agitated, left the +room at once. + +Nothing else was now talked of. The delegates discussed the matter in +groups and small circles, and a few days afterward a Maryland delegate +formally nominated George Washington to be Commander-in-Chief of the +American Army. He was unanimously elected, but the honor of bringing him +distinctly before the Congress belongs to John Adams. It seems now a +very natural thing to do, but really it was something which required +wisdom and courage. When one sums up all Washington's military +experience at this time, it was not great, or such as to point him out +as unmistakably the leader of the American army. There was a general +then in command at Cambridge, who had seen more of war than Washington +had. But Washington was the leading military man in Virginia, and it was +for this reason that John Adams, as a New England man, urged his +election. The Congress had done something to bring the colonies +together; the war was to do more, but probably no single act really had +a more far-reaching significance in making the Union, than the act of +nominating the Virginian Washington by the New England Adams. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +Spring Beauties. + +BY HELEN GRAY CONE. + + + The Puritan Spring Beauties stood freshly clad for church; + A Thrush, white-breasted, o'er them sat singing on his perch. + "Happy be! for fair are ye!" the gentle singer told them. + But presently a buff-coat Bee came booming up to scold them. + "Vanity, oh, vanity! + Young maids, beware of vanity!" + Grumbled out the buff-coat Bee, + Half parson-like, half soldierly. + + The sweet-faced maidens trembled, with pretty, pinky blushes, + Convinced that it was wicked to listen to the Thrushes; + And when, that shady afternoon, I chanced that way to pass, + They hung their little bonnets down and looked into the grass. + All because the buff-coat Bee + Lectured them so solemnly:-- + "Vanity, oh, vanity! + Young maids, beware of vanity!" + +[Illustration] + + + + +HOW CONRAD LOST HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS. + +BY WALTER BOBBETT. + + +Conrad was not a prince, not even a lord; he was only an ordinary boy. +He should have been on his way to school; but, having a talent for doing +nothing, he was wandering about the fields and little strips of +woodland, amusing himself by watching the birds skim through the air. He +had lately been reading a volume of fairy-tales, and as he walked along +he began to wonder whether there really was a bit of truth in any of +them. + +[Illustration: "HE BECKONED TO CONRAD, WHO CROSSED THE STREAM ON A +SLIGHT PLANK BRIDGE."] + +He kept on thinking so intently about it, that he did not notice how +near he was to a little brook, until he found himself almost on the +point of tumbling into the water. This put a stop to his wondering, for +the next moment he stood staring in astonishment, not at the water, but +at a little old man who was sitting on the roots of a large tree that +grew on the opposite bank of the stream. He was dressed in a very +curious fashion. On his head he had a tall steeple-crowned hat, in which +were placed two long peacock's feathers. + +The little old man sat looking very attentively at Conrad, and seemed to +derive a great deal of comfort from a long pipe, which he was enjoying +so energetically that all around him the air was filled with smoke. At +last he beckoned to Conrad, who crossed the stream on a slight plank +bridge, and advanced toward him. + +By that time, Conrad had leaped to the conclusion, in his own mind, that +the very queer-looking old gentleman was an enchanter, and so he had +resolved to be very respectful, to do just as he was bidden, and to wait +very patiently for the little old man to speak first. + +Presently the little old man shifted the pipe for a moment, and asked: + +"What are those books that you are carrying?" + +"They are my school-books," said Conrad; "but I am tired of going to +school, and I wish to go with the fairies!" + +The little old man smiled a benevolent smile, and exclaimed: "Oh!" Then +he shifted his pipe again, and said quickly: + +"Give me the school-books." + +Conrad did so, at once. + +The little old man then opened a spelling-book, and turned to the +fly-leaf. + +"Conrad," said he. + +Conrad started, for he wondered how the little man had learned his name. +He himself had not once mentioned it. He was sure now that the queer +little person was an enchanter. + +"So, Conrad," said the little old man again, "you wish to go to the +fairies, do you? Well, you may go; but you must leave your books with me +until you come back." + +Conrad's attention was now attracted by a raven, which he saw standing +beside the enchanter, and which he had not noticed before. + +Turning to the bird, the enchanter said: "Give me my key." + +The raven hopped from a large key upon which it had been standing, and +taking it in its beak, presented it to its master. + +[Illustration] + +Conrad wished to ask if the raven would bite, and whether it could do +any better trick than carrying a key; but he thought this might be +considered an impertinent question, so he said nothing. + +"Take this key," said the little old man, "and be careful not to lose +it. Walk on until you come to the edge of yonder forest; pass straight +through the wood, and when you arrive at the other side, you will behold +a castle not far distant. You may find it difficult to gain admission; +but you must persevere. As to what will happen afterward, I may not tell +you now. One word more, and then begone; should you ever need my +assistance, blow down the key." + +Conrad was so astonished at all he had seen and heard, that he hardly +knew what to do; but as the little old man pointed in the direction of +the forest, Conrad bade him good-day, and walked away to follow the +orders he had received. + +He kept on until he came to the forest, which he entered. It seemed so +quiet and dark, that he would have been frightened, had he not +remembered that, in case of danger, he could depend on assistance from +the enchanter. + +At last he reached the end of the wood, and about a mile beyond, he saw +the castle with its gilded dome and all its windows shining in the +sunlight. This sight cheered him, and he walked on till he came to the +gateway. He found the great gates wide open; and no one prevented his +entering, as it happened to be a day on which the King received +petitions from those of his subjects who wished to present any. + +He passed on through the large court-yard, key in hand, and instead of +going in at the entrance to the court, he entered a little side door and +ascended a winding stairway. Up he went, higher and higher, till it +seemed as if the stairway would never end, when suddenly he came face to +face with an official who was descending. + +"What business have you here?" asked the officer. + +Conrad could not answer; so the man gently took hold of his ear and led +him down the stairs again, varying the monotony of the long descent by +giving the ear a severe pinch at every seventh step. Out through the +court-yard they passed, the bystanders all cheering and laughing; out of +the gate again; and with one final pinch, the boy was left sobbing on +the roadway. + +Poor Conrad had, indeed, found it difficult to gain admission to the +castle. Drying his tears, however, he began to walk around the outside +of the building, until at last he came to a ladder that was leaning +against a window. + +"The very thing!" said he; "it must have been left here on purpose for +me." + +Up he climbed, slipped in at the window, and dropped quietly to the +floor. + +He found himself in a large hall, through which he walked until he came +to an archway at the farther end. Before the archway hung an embroidered +curtain. Conrad pushed it aside, and entered a richly decorated room, at +the end of which stood a throne. Around it were assembled many nobles, +pages, and guards, who were awaiting the return of the King from +hunting. + +Few of them looked at Conrad. Some seemed to cast a scornful side-glance +at him, and one even told him to go back by the way he had come. Conrad +was not a whit daunted, however, and boldly holding up his key, so that +every one could see it, he walked up to a portly-looking gentleman, who +was dressed in black velvet and who wore a golden chain around his neck. +Conrad asked him what he was to do. The portly gentleman stared at him. +Conrad asked if any of the company were enchanted; "because," said he, +"if they are, I'll disenchant them with my key." + +"Enchanted?" said the gentleman in black. "What do you mean? Why do you +bother me about enchantment?" + +Conrad began to feel a little nervous, and to think that they did not +seem at all like enchanted folk; at least, they did not act like any he +had read about in his books. + +The enchanter had told him that he would meet with difficulties, but, +despite his confidence, he could not help getting very red in the face. +And by this time, all the gentlemen, except the one dressed in black, +were smiling. + +Suddenly, Conrad remembered what the little old man had said about +whistling down the key. Happy thought! He at once rushed up in front of +the portly gentleman with the black velvet suit and the golden chain, +and began to whistle in the key as hard as he could. + +But, at this performance, the nobles all stopped smiling and looked +first at one another, and then at Conrad, with very grave faces; one +even put his hand upon his sword. + +Now, it happened that the gentleman in black velvet was a Grand Duke and +the Prime Minister of the kingdom. At that moment he was thinking over +some important question of state, and the sight of Conrad whistling and +capering in front of him, just as he was settling everything to his own +satisfaction, made him so angry, that he stopped and stared at Conrad, +as if he could have stepped upon him. Conrad kept on whistling, but the +little enchanter did not come. "He must either be ill or very deaf," +thought Conrad, and he was just making up his mind that something was +wrong, when all doubts on the subject were removed by the Grand Duke, +who advanced toward him, picked him up by the collar of his jacket, and, +carrying him to a window, quietly dropped him out. + +[Illustration] + +Poor Conrad was very much shaken by his fall, and for a time was so +dazed that he could hardly realize what had happened. In a little while, +he began to collect his thoughts; but as he picked himself up, he +concluded, notwithstanding the difficulties he had encountered, that he +would try once more to gain admission to the castle. So he arose and +walked toward a door which he saw a few paces distant. + +His key fitted the lock perfectly. He pushed aside a sliding door, +walked in, and passed down a stairway, when he found himself in a dark +cellar. The floor was strewn with boxes and small barrels, over which he +stumbled, breaking some bottles that stood in his way. He began to feel +frightened, so he climbed to the top of a barrel, in order to get a +glimpse of his position and see if he could find his way out to +daylight. Suddenly the barrel-head gave way, and before he had time to +jump off, Conrad fell, up to his knees, in some soft powder. He +struggled to free himself, but only upset the barrel and covered himself +from head to foot with flour or fine meal. At last he called for +assistance; and a door, that he had not noticed until then, opened, and +a girl of about his own age came into the cellar, and asked what was the +matter. + +"I've tumbled into something; please come and help me out," cried +Conrad. + +She hurried to him, and with her aid he at last succeeded in freeing +himself. + +After brushing the dust from his hair and his clothes, he followed +where his new friend led the way, and entered a kitchen, thinking that +without doubt he was now in the presence of an enchanted princess, who +must have been waiting many years for some one to disenchant her. "To be +sure," thought he, "I am not a prince; but then that does not so much +matter; there is no telling but I may be one, some day;" so he decided +to ask the maiden how she had become enchanted. + +"Beautiful Princess," exclaimed he,----and he was just attempting a very +fine speech in the best fairy-story manner, when the young girl laughed, +and told him to be seated, and asked him if he would like to have a pie. +Conrad was astonished by this question from an enchanted princess; but, +without waiting for his reply, the girl walked toward a table on which +stood a number of mince-pies, and, taking up one of them, she placed it +before Conrad. + +That was not the way in which an enchanted princess was supposed to act; +but as Conrad was very hungry, he did not express his surprise, but +turned his attention to the pie. While he was eating, the princess +busied herself with beating some eggs in a large bowl, and before he +knew it, Conrad found that he had eaten all the pie. + +Then they talked about the weather and whatever else they happened to +think of; and at last, Conrad asked her how long she had been enchanted. + +"What!" exclaimed the princess. + +He repeated his question. + +"Why, what do you mean?" said she. + +He was just about explaining, when "tramp, tramp, tramp!"--the noise of +feet was heard coming down the stairs. The princess jumped up, and +cried: + +"Oh, run! Run quickly! I shall be punished if they find that I have +given you a pie!" + +"Oh, no," said Conrad; "do not be frightened! I will protect you from +them. I came to this castle on purpose to rescue you." + +"But I do not want to be rescued!" said she. "Do go, at once!" + +Tramp, tramp! Nearer and nearer came the sound,--almost to the bottom of +the stairs. Conrad felt for his key. + +"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed, "I must have lost my key when I fell into the +barrel! I never noticed that I was without it till now. All is lost! +Adieu, good Princess!" + +"Good-bye," said she; "only go!" + +He jumped upon a table, and climbed out of the window. It was all that +was left for him to do. After he was outside of the building, he turned, +and waving his hand to the princess, begged her to remember him. + +"I will come back to you, if I ever get my key again," he said; "and +then I'll disenchant you." + +At that moment the kitchen door opened, and Conrad saw a great light. It +might have been a bull's-eye lantern, but Conrad was sure that it was a +dragon that was pointing its fiery eye at him. + +"Oh, the poor princess!" said he. "If only I had my key!" + +Then, as the light flashed full at him, he became so frightened that he +turned and ran for the gate as hard as he could. He made his way across +the court-yard much faster than when he had come in, and soon he had +left the castle far behind. The houses began to be farther apart and to +have a more rustic appearance. He heard a cart coming along the road. + +"Please give me a ride!" he cried to the driver. + +"Yes, I will," said the man; "jump in." And Conrad clambered into the +cart. + +"You look tired," said the driver. "Lie down on that blanket and rest +yourself." + +Conrad gladly did as he was told and, feeling much fatigued after his +adventures, he was soon fast asleep. + +He did not awake until he felt himself carried out of the cart, and was +just enough awake to know that all the inmates of his father's house, +together with a few of the neighbors, were crowding about and asking him +where he had been. And that was all he noticed, for the next moment he +was off to sleep again, and was carried upstairs and put to bed. + +He did not feel very well the next morning, so the doctor was called in, +who advised that he should remain in the house for a few days, as he had +a slight fever. + +While at home, he told his aunt what had happened to him; but she only +patted his head, and told him that he must have been dreaming. But this +Conrad refused to believe. + +When he recovered, however, he became a much better boy, more quiet and +attentive to his studies; and it may be mentioned that, whenever any one +told a fairy-tale, he wore a very solemn face, took a back seat, and +said nothing. + +It is not known whether he still believes in fairies; but one thing is +certain--he never saw the little old enchanter again, nor the +school-books that he had left with him. + + + + +BLOSSOM-TIME. + +BY L. E. R. + + + Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees, + Pink and white drifting of petals sweet! + Kiss her and crown her our Lady of Blossoming, + There as she sits on the apple-tree sweet! + + Has she not gathered the summer about her? + See how it laughs from her lips and her eyes! + Think you the sun there would shine on without her? + Nay! 'Tis her smile keeps the gray from the skies! + + Fire of the rose, and snow of the jessamine, + Gold of the lily-dust hid in her hair; + Day holds his breath and Night comes up to look at her, + Leaving their strife for a vision so rare. + + Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees, + Pink and white drifting of petals sweet! + Kiss her, and crown her, and flutter adown her, + And carpet the ground for her dear little feet! + + + + +A SEARCH FOR THE LACE-LEAF. + +BY ALICE MAY. + +[Illustration] + + +Early one morning, a palanquin carried by native bearers, and containing +as passengers Mr. Steedman, an English missionary, and his little son +Harry, was proceeding up the one street of Biforána, a queer little +bamboo village on the island of Madagascar, situated about midway +between Antananarivo, the capital, and the eastern coast. + +Comparatively little is known of Madagascar, although the unsuccessful +attempt of France to obtain possession of it drew interest and attention +to it not many months ago. There are but two larger islands in the +world. As many of you know, it lies some two hundred and fifty miles to +the east of the African coast, is nine hundred and eighty miles long +and two hundred and fifty wide, and is therefore nearly four times as +large as England and Wales combined. + +The Queen of this island kingdom is a young woman with the curious name +of Rasendranovo Ranavalo III. She succeeded to the throne in 1883. She +is a Christian, as is also a large part of the population of her realm; +and there are numerous missionary stations throughout the island. + +Harry Steedman's father was one of these missionaries, and Harry himself +was accustomed to traveling by palanquin, since there are no roads nor +carriages to be found in Madagascar. + +[Illustration: "PASSING A GROVE OF PALMS KNOWN AS THE 'TRAVELER'S +TREE.'"] + +The palanquin was an oblong basket of bamboo, lined with plaited +sheepskin. The ends of the long poles or handles rested upon the +shoulders of four Madagascan bearers, while four others accompanied +these as a relay. Under the palanquin hood of woven palm-cloth, Mr. +Steedman reclined comfortably, while Harry nestled cozily at his feet; +and so, out of the village, and through the swamp of Biforána, the +procession moved until the mire became so thick that the palanquin could +not be carried with ease. As the next best mode of conveyance, the two +passengers were then transferred to the shoulders of two stout natives. + +[Illustration: PALANQUIN TRAVELING BECOMES UNCOMFORTABLE.] + +Mr. Steedman had started upon an expedition in search of the beautiful +lace-leaf plant, or water-yam, of Madagascar, which he was told grew in +the forests beyond Biforána, and which he was very desirous of finding +in its native state. Harry, after urgent solicitation, had been allowed +to accompany his father; but, as he clung to the neck of his swarthy +bearer, the little fellow found that there was not, after all, so much +fun in the trip as he had expected. And later on, when the palanquin, in +which they were soon seated again, was tossed and bumped by the slipping +and stumbling of the bearers as they climbed a very steep hill-side, he +began almost to wish himself at home. + +After passing a grove of the stately palms known as the "traveler's +tree," they found themselves on a path that led to the bank of a river. +They endeavored to ford it, but speedily found that the danger from deep +holes and ugly-looking crocodiles was too great for them to proceed. So +Raheh, the chief bearer, uttered a curious cry, or signal, which soon +brought into view a _làkana_, or canoe, rudely fashioned from a hollow +tree-trunk; and in it a native was paddling rapidly toward them. + +Harry and his father stepped into the rather shaky-looking craft not +without misgivings, but they were soon safely landed on the other +shore. When all had been thus ferried across and the native boatman had +been paid, the party entered the great forest of Alamazaotra, which +covers more than forty miles of wild and mountainous country. + +[Illustration: THE LACE-LEAF OF MADAGASCAR.] + +Their path at once led them through a gorge so narrow that the sides of +the palanquin grazed the rocky walls, and the masses of tangled foliage, +meeting far above their heads, almost entirely obscured the light. The +bearers paused for breath after climbing the steep ascent that led from +this gloomy pass, and Harry and his father exclaimed in wonder at the +strange beauty of the wild tropical forest. + +Gigantic palms upheld around their stately heads a leafy dome closely +interlaced by clinging vines. Long garlands of moss and climbing plants +crossed and recrossed this lofty roof, and from its shadowy arches great +masses of gray moss hung suspended. Here and there among the cool green +and gray tints of leaves and moss some tropical flowers and fruits +gleamed forth in bright flashes of scarlet and gold. + +Myriads of frail wood-blossoms hid their pale heads under the feathery +ferns that clustered about the roots of the trees, and the dead palms +were tenderly shrouded in waxy-leaved climbing vines, their graceful +fallen crowns replaced by masses of green ferns, intermingled with the +faint pink and blue tints of some rare orchid. On every side were little +groves of bamboo,--their light-green fringes contrasting with the darker +fronds of the stately tree-fern. + +Absolute silence reigned throughout this solitude, and Harry began to be +so oppressed by the stillness as to grow fearful of danger. But his +father explained that during the wet season, in which they were +traveling, insect life in these tropical forests is asleep, and Harry +himself knew that there were but few wild animals in Madagascar. Indeed, +with the exception of that curious animal, part fox, part squirrel, and +part monkey, that is peculiar to Madagascar and is called, from its +prowling habits and ghostly appearance, the lemur, or "ghostly visitor," +the great island possesses no large native quadrupeds. The hump-backed +African cattle and the singular fat-tailed sheep, now common throughout +the island, were not originally found in Madagascar, but were taken over +from Africa. + +The bearers of the palanquin clambered on, now over steep and +moss-covered rocks, now crossing sluggish streams on slippery +stepping-stones, or sliding down precipices, until poor Harry was so +rattled and shaken and tossed and tumbled that he declared he didn't +know his head from his heels. + +But, at last, a break occurred in the long stretch of rock and forest, +and as the bearers paused upon a piece of level ground, for a moment's +rest, Raheh suddenly uttered the joyful cry of "_rano!_" (water) and +all, on listening, distinguished the sound of a rushing stream. + +Urged on by Raheh, the bearers pushed ahead, and soon stood upon the +banks of a beautiful river, dashing merrily along over rocks and fallen +trees, until with a leap it disappeared in the shadows of the vast +forest. Upon the farther side was grouped a little village of the clay +huts belonging to the friendly Hovas, and beyond the village stretched +green fields of waving rice. The "Hovas" are the governing race in the +island, and are the most civilized. Their capital city of Antananarivo, +in the center of the island, is a well-built city of over 100,000 +inhabitants. + +A tree had fallen across the stream, with its head resting upon the +opposite bank, and this natural bridge was entirely covered with pink, +blue, and white flowers of the waxy orchid. This beautiful sight, +however, was unnoticed by Harry and his father, for in the water at +their feet was the object of their search, the Lattice or Lace leaf. + +[Illustration: MADAGASCAN DRINKING-CUP FORMED FROM A LEAF OF THE +"TRAVELER'S TREE."] + +The lace-leaf plant, or fresh-water yam as it is sometimes called +because of its potato-shaped or yam-like root, is found in many of the +rivers of Madagascar. The difficulty of obtaining it, however, makes it +a rare plant to Europeans; and when, a few days before, Mr. Steedman had +recognized in some "roasted potatoes," as Harry called the +pleasant-tasting vegetable that one of his boyish Madagascan friends had +given him to eat, the edible root of the lace-leaf plant, the missionary +had determined to make a careful search for the plant so prized by +naturalists. And now at last he had found it, bobbing backward and +forward in a fantastic dance just above the eddying waters of the +beautiful forest river. As soon as they recognized it, both Mr. Steedman +and his son were on the ground in an instant, and bending eagerly above +the clear stream. The water was so pure and limpid that every pebble +could be counted, and in the cool, bright current they saw, to their +delight, a perfect labyrinth of lace-work. Dozens of lace-leaves, green, +gold, olive, and brown, were floating just beneath the surface of the +water. + +"Oh, Papa! did you ever see anything so lovely?" said Harry, excitedly. + +Mr. Steedman could take but a one-sided view of those wonderful leaves, +as one glass from his spectacles had been lost during their rough +journey; but the remaining glass fairly sparkled with satisfaction. + +"Ah, my son, this plant is both lovely and rare. See, the young leaves +are light green and yellow; the older leaves are darker,--shades of +green and olive. A few are even black, and all growing from the same +root. How perfect is every leaf, in spite of its delicate texture! Some +of those larger leaves must be ten or twelve inches long. The strong +midrib in each serves as a support for the fragile threads forming the +meshes on each side." + +Harry now plunged his hand into the lace-like web, half expecting it to +dissolve in his grasp. But no! The wiry little yellow leaf which he +raised from the water, was perfect in form, and a gleam of sunlight, +falling upon the shining meshes, transformed them into threads of +glistening gold. + +He now discovered, as he examined them carefully, that the under +surfaces of the leaves, were glistening with little pearly bubbles of +air. + +[Illustration: RAHEH, THE GUIDE.] + +"Oh, Papa," he cried, joyously holding the glistening meshes aloft, "the +lace-leaves are jeweled!" + +"Yes, Harry," said his father, "those diamond drops are made by the +breathing of the plant." + +Mr. Steedman attempted to detach a root of one of the plants from its +bed of mud, but the little tendrils branching from it on every side held +the root firmly in its place. At last he succeeded in extricating the +little white threads, one by one, and removed the entire plant to the +bank. Its root, which is eaten in Madagascar, was very like the ginger +root, and had a tough, light-brown skin. + +Harry carefully placed the leaves of the plant in his herbarium, while +his father packed the root, with its native soil, in a tin case, +preparatory to sending it to the Botanical Society in London. + +"Harry," he said, as they finished their work, "this plant could be +easily reared in our green-houses--heat and moisture being all that is +required. But nature seems to have jealously surrounded these beautiful +leaves with almost impassable barriers, and the lace-plant is +comparatively unknown. + +"But come, my boy Raheh says '_maly-massandro_' (the sun is dead), and +it will be as long as 'two cookings of rice' (two half hours) before we +can be ferried across to yonder village and secure a place to pass the +night." + +And so, after Raheh had given Harry one last drink from the clear, cool +river, in the odd-looking leaf-cup he carried for the purpose, the tired +but successful lace-leaf hunters crossed over to the Hova village and +were soon fast asleep. + + + + +THE CARICATURE PLANT. + +BY M. A. + + +One of the most remarkable plants in the whole vegetable kingdom is that +known to botanists as the _Justicia Picta_, which has also been well +named "The Caricature Plant." + +At first sight, it appears to be a heavy, large-leafed plant, with +purple blossoms, chiefly remarkable for the light-yellow centers of its +dark-green leaves, which cause them to look as if some acid had been +spilled upon them and taken the color out wherever it had touched. + +As I stood looking at this odd plant and thinking what a sickly, +blighted appearance the queer, yellow stains gave it, I was suddenly +impressed with the fact that the plant was "making faces" at me. Still, +unaccustomed as I was to seeing plants indulge in this strictly human +amusement, I was slow to believe it, and stooped to read the somewhat +illegible inscription on the card below the plant--"_Justicia Picta_, or +'Caricature Plant.'" My first impression was correct then. This curious +shrub had indeed occupied itself in growing up in ridiculous caricatures +of the "human face divine," until it now stood, covered from the topmost +leaf down, with the queerest faces imaginable. Nature had taken to +caricaturing. The flesh-colored profiles stood out in strong relief +against the dark-green of the leaves. + +A discovery of one of these vegetable marks leads to an examination of a +second and a third leaf, until all are scanned as closely and curiously +as the leaves of the comic papers that form the caricature plants of +the literary kingdom. + +What a valuable plant this would be for one of our professional +caricaturists to have growing in his conservatory! When an order was +sent to him for a "speaking likeness" of some unhappy politician, he +could simply visit his _Justicia Picta_ with pencil and paper in hand, +and look over the leaves for a suitable squint, grin, or distorted nose +to sketch from. He could, moreover, affirm with truth that the portrait +was "taken from nature." Cuthbert Collingwood, the celebrated +naturalist, says of the _Justicia Picta_: "One of these plants in the +garden of Gustave Doré would be worth a fortune to him, supplying him +with a never-failing fund of grotesque physiognomies, from which he +might illustrate every serio-comic romance ever written." I have never +heard of the cultivation of the Caricature Plant in this country; but +botanists tell us that it is a hardy shrub. I think we should be glad to +see the funny faces on its leaves. After all the lovely flowers we are +called upon to admire, I am sure that a plant evidently intended to make +us laugh would receive a warm welcome from our young people. + +The Chinese appreciate the Caricature Plant, and in some parts of China +it is quite extensively cultivated. Perhaps some of the funny, grinning +faces on Chinese toys and ornaments are reproductions of the grotesque +features on the leaves of the plant. + +Finally, I must assure any unbelieving readers of ST. NICHOLAS that +neither in this account of a very remarkable plant, nor in the +accompanying illustration, has the writer drawn upon imagination. + +[Illustration: THE CARICATURE PLANT.] + +The _Justicia Picta_ really exists. It is a native of the East Indies, +and is a source of much amusement and curiosity to both botanists and +travelers. + + + + +VEGETABLE CLOTHING. + +BY C. J. RUSSELL. + + +About two hundred years ago the governor of the island of Jamaica, Sir +Thomas Lynch, sent to King Charles II. of England a vegetable necktie, +and a very good necktie it was, although it had grown on a tree and had +not been altered since it was taken from the tree. It was as soft and +white and delicate as lace, and it is not surprising that the King +should have expressed his doubts when he was told that the beautiful +fabric had grown on a tree in almost the exact condition in which he saw +it. It had been stretched a little, and that was all. + +But if King Charles was astonished to learn that neckties grew on trees +in Jamaica, what must have been the feelings of a stranger traveling in +Central America, on being told that mosquito-nets grew on trees in that +country? He had complained to his host that the mosquitoes had nearly +eaten him up the night before, and had been told in response that he +should have a new netting put over his bed. + +Satisfied with this statement, the traveler was turning away, but his +attention was arrested by his host's calmly continuing, "in fact, we are +going to strip a tree anyhow, because there is to be a wedding on the +estate, and we wish to have a dress ready for the bride." + +[Illustration: KING CHARLES'S VEGETABLE NECKTIE.] + +"You don't mean," said the traveler incredulously, "that +mosquito-netting and bridal dresses grow on trees, do you?" + +"That is just what I mean," replied his host. + +"All right," said the stranger, who fancied a joke was being attempted +at his expense, "let me see you gather the fruit and I will believe +you." + +"Certainly," was the answer; "follow the men, and you will see that I +speak the exact truth." + +Still looking for some jest, the stranger followed the two men who were +to pluck the singular fruit, and stood by when they stopped at a rather +small tree, bearing thick, glossy-green leaves, but nothing else which +the utmost effort of the imagination could convert into the netting or +the wedding garments. The tree was about twenty feet high and six inches +in diameter, and its bark looked much like that of a birch-tree. + +"Is this the tree?" asked the stranger. + +"Yes, señor," answered one of the men, with a smile. + +"I don't see the mosquito-netting nor the wedding-dress," said the +stranger, "and I can't see any joke either." + +"If the señor will wait a few minutes he will see all that was promised, +and more too," was the reply. "He will see that this tree can bear not +only mosquito-netting and wedding-dresses, but fish-nets and +neck-scarfs, mourning crape or bridal veils." + +The tree was without more ado cut down. Three strips of bark, each about +six inches wide and eight feet long, were taken from the trunk and +thrown into a stream of water. Then each man took a strip while it was +still in the water, and with the point of his knife separated a thin +layer of the inner bark from one end of the strip. This layer was then +taken in the fingers and gently pulled, whereupon it came away in an +even sheet of the entire width and length of the strip of bark. Twelve +sheets were thus taken from each strip of bark, and thrown into the +water. + +A light broke in upon the stranger's mind. Without a doubt these strips +were to be sewn together into one sheet. The plan seemed a good one and +the fabric thus formed might do, he thought, if no better cloth could be +had. + +The men were not through yet, however, for when each strip of bark had +yielded its twelve sheets, each sheet was taken from the water and +gradually stretched sidewise. The spectator could hardly believe his +eyes. The sheet broadened and broadened until from a close piece of +material six inches wide, it became a filmy cloud of delicate lace, over +three feet in width. The astonished gentleman was forced to confess that +no human-made loom ever turned out lace which could surpass in snowy +whiteness and gossamer-like delicacy that product of nature. + +The natural lace is not so regular in formation as the material called +illusion, so much worn by ladies in summer; but it is as soft and white, +and will bear washing, which is not true of illusion. In Jamaica and +Central America, this wonderful lace is put to all the uses mentioned by +the native to our traveler, and to more uses besides. In fact, among the +poorer people it supplies the place of manufactured cloth, which they +can not afford to buy; and the wealthier classes do not by any means +scorn it for ornamental use. + +Long before the white man found his way to this part of the world, the +Indians had known and used this vegetable cloth; so that what was so new +and wonderful to King Charles and Governor Sir Thomas Lynch was an old +story to the natives. Some time after King Charles received his +vegetable necktie, Sir Hans Sloane, whose art-collection and library +were the foundation of the British Museum, visited Jamaica. He described +the tree fully, and was the first person who told the civilized world +about it. The tree is commonly called the lace-bark tree. Its botanical +name is _Lagetto lintearia_. + + + + +WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY! + +[Illustration: THE PET GREYHOUND RESOLVES INDIGNANTLY THAT THE JAPANESE +"MUST GO!"] + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES. + + +X.--A CLEVER LITTLE YELLOW DOG. + +BY JOHN R. CORYELL. + +One cold winter night, not long ago, I took pity on a poor little +dejected-looking yellow puppy, and invited him into my house. Having +once taken him in, it was quite out of the question to think of turning +him out again. I was not afraid that I might be robbing anybody, for he +was the kind of dog that very few persons care to have. He was +dirty-yellow in color, very lank of body, and he seemed to be made up of +ill-assorted parts of different kinds of dogs. His legs, particularly, +seemed intended for some other dog and acted as if they never would +become reconciled to carrying the queer body to which they were joined. + +I should have preferred a handsome dog, but since I had no choice, I +determined to do my duty by the little outcast, and to give him such an +education that in the beauties of his mind the ugliness of his body +would be overlooked. + +The first thing needed for him was a name; and I tried to think of +something appropriate, but soon gave it up, and in default of a better +title called him Bob. To teach him the name was easy. I merely called +out the word "Bob!" every time I fed him. As it was important that he +should learn to look to me as the source of all his happiness and +instruction, I permitted no one else to feed him. It took him about a +week to learn his name, and to recognize the fact that all the +blandishments he could lavish on the cook would be of no avail, and that +his only hope was in me. + +At the very outset, I had made up my mind that under no circumstances +should he receive angry words or blows. He was a broken-spirited, +affectionate little puppy, and I was resolved that if there was no way +of teaching him except by brutality, he should remain ignorant all his +life. The abject way in which, to this day, he runs from a child makes +me feel sad. I fancy that much of his early life was spent in dodging +stones or snow-balls thrown by boys--not cruel, but thoughtless boys. + +It was necessary to control him, and I quickly discovered an easy way. +He was such a sensitive little fellow that when he once learned to love +me, he seemed to know by the tones of my voice whether I was pleased +with him, and to have me pleased seemed to be the one object of his +life. Therefore, if I saw him doing anything wrong, I had only to say +sharply and firmly, "No, Bob!" and down would go the tail and ears, and +he would slink shame-facedly to his special corner and from there watch +me until I would call him to me and pat his head. + +After a while, a quiet "No, Bob!" would effect the same result. This was +a great victory, and made most of the subsequent teaching merely a +matter of patience. + +The first real lesson was when I undertook to make him sit up. If he had +only known what I wished him to do, he would gladly have done it; but +the words "Sit up!" meant nothing to him. He was almost too willing, for +when I took hold of him to put him into a sitting position, he became as +limp as a wet rag, and seemed to be trying to put himself into a +condition to be twisted into any shape I chose. + +Then I put him into a corner and set him up, saying continually, "Sit +up! Sit up!" I held him up for a while and then took my hand away, but +at once he collapsed as if all the stiffening had suddenly left his +back-bone. Then I showed him a piece of sugar, of which he was very +fond, and immediately he was himself again. Once more, and many times +more, I put him in position in the corner, until at last, seemingly by +accident, he failed to fall over when I took my hand away. I did not tax +his endurance, but at once gave him the sugar. + +It took him about three days to grasp the idea that "sit up!" meant a +special performance, and that to achieve it meant a lump of sugar. Then +I put him through the same process in the middle of the room. He missed +the support of the wall at first, and fell over; whereupon he looked +foolish. One fact was evidently firmly fixed in his mind, however,--the +fact that there was sugar to be had if only he could do as I wished him +to do. All the time that he was struggling for balance, he kept his eye +on the lump of sugar, which I had on the floor beside me. Finally that +lesson was learned, and he could sit up if I would put him in position. +He knew, too, what "sit up!" meant. + +After that, I would not feed him until he had first sat up; but it was a +long time before he gained sufficient confidence in himself to sit up +without help. At first I helped him up by both paws; then I helped by +holding only one paw; then I merely touched one paw; then I only +motioned, as if about to touch the paw; and finally I simply said, "Sit +up!" + +I think Bob reasoned this all out in his own mind and concluded that +there must be some strange and beautiful power in the words "sit up!" +for he could see that whenever he did it, he had something to eat. I am +obliged to confess that Bob loved to eat; and after he had learned to +sit up, he was inclined to perform the feat morning, noon, and night, +and it was, of course, impossible to make him go away without first +giving him a morsel, however small, of food. + +[Illustration: AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS.] + +Lessons in standing up, walking and waltzing followed, and they were all +easily taught. In teaching him anything, I was always careful to +associate the action required of him with certain words. Standing, +walking on his hind legs, and waltzing were always "stand up!" "walk!" +"waltz about!" I never taught him more than one thing at a time, so that +there should be no possibility of his misunderstanding the meaning of +the word or words used. + +In teaching him to stand up, I first made him sit; then by holding a +piece of sugar over his head, I induced him to stand erect,--while I +kept repeating, "Stand up!" "Stand up!" After he had learned this +lesson, I made him first sit, then stand, and then, by going from him +and saying "Walk!" I made him follow me until he understood the +connection between the words and the action, even when I was at the +other end of the room. I taught him to "waltz" by making him go around +and around after a piece of sugar held over his head when he was +standing up. + +To make him go to his corner and lie down, without hurting his feelings, +was difficult. If I said sharply, "Go to your corner and lie down!" he +would go; but he would feel so badly that he could not play for half an +hour. But by repeating the command in gradually softening tones and by +giving him a piece of sugar each time, he eventually learned that he was +not thereby in disgrace. + +Seeing, however, how a sharp word would make his ears and tail droop, I +took advantage of this fact, and whenever he had done wrong I would +always say "Naughty!" a dozen times over, until at last I had only to +whisper "Naughty!"--and down would go those ensigns in a moment. On the +other hand, if I said "Good dog!" he was immediately on the alert, ears +up, head cocked to one side, and tail wagging, ready for any kind of +sport. + +After he had learned to walk, I taught him to go slowly when I said +"like a gentleman!" and quickly when I said "like a schoolboy!" To teach +him these things required patience principally; but I found that to +teach him some things taxed my ingenuity as well. + +I wished him to speak both softly and loudly; but how to make him do it +puzzled me. For Bob seldom barked except when engaged in uproarious +play, and at such times he was not susceptible to instruction. One day, +however, he had been playing with a little rubber ball, running after it +and bringing it to me until I was tired, a condition in which he never +seemed to be. + +To stop the game I put my foot on the ball, and picked up a book to +read. Bob waited a few moments to see what I was going to do, and +finding I was not going to play, tried to push my foot away with his +nose. Failing in that, he pulled with one paw. That also failed, and Bob +was puzzled. He retired a few steps, placed his head between his +forepaws on the floor and looked at me. I pretended not to see him, +curious to know what he would do. He remained perfectly still for nearly +a minute, and then, as if determined to attract my attention somehow, he +barked. + +There was my clew; I gave him the ball at once. In a few moments I again +placed my foot on the ball, and waited until I saw he was about to bark, +when I said, "Shout! Shout!" He barked, and I gave him the ball. I +repeated this several times a day, and day after day, until he learned +to bark whenever he wanted the ball and I said "Shout!" Then I made him +shout for his meals, and finally, he would "shout" whenever I told him +to do so. + +[Illustration: "BOB" JUMPING.] + +To make him speak softly, I took advantage of a fashion he had of +whining when he wished to go into the yard for a frolic. I would go to +the door and say, "Want to go out?" Bob would at once respond by +preparing to rush out the moment the door was opened. Then I would say, +"Speak softly!" and keep repeating the words until he whined. After a +while he would whine the moment I said, "Speak softly!" + +Another thing that I taught him was to fall down and lie motionless when +I said, "Dead!" This I accomplished by taking hold of his forefeet in +one hand and his hindfeet in the other, and suddenly dropping him on his +side on the floor, as I said the word "Dead!" several times. + +At first, Bob thought I was playing some new game with him, and prepared +for a good time, but I had only to say "No!" to him to make him sedate +at once. By this time he had learned that when I repeated a thing +several times, it was because he was to learn something; and the little +fellow really seemed to try to understand what I wished him to do. + +After I had pulled his feet from under him a number of times, and had +made him lie still until I said, "Alive!" I tried tapping a hindfoot and +a forefoot, at the same time saying "Dead!" He was a long time learning +this trick; and several times when I thought he had learned to do it +when I simply tapped his feet, I was obliged to go back and pull his +feet from under him. In time, however, he learned to fall the moment I +touched the side of one hindfoot. From that to motioning at the foot, +and finally, merely saying "Dead!" the progress was quick. To make him +jump up, I always said "Alive!" + +To make him go "lame" was very easy. I tied a long string to one +forefoot, and by saying, "Lame!" and at the same time making him walk, +while I prevented him from putting the tied foot down, he soon learned +to go on three legs. + +One of the funniest things he learned to do was to take his piece of +carpet, shake it well, and put it back in its place. It was through an +accident that I thought of teaching him to do this. I had been +accustomed to shake out his carpet in the yard every morning. One +morning I threw it on the grass to air. In a moment Bob had it in his +mouth and was worrying it, shaking it, and growling. He was playing, but +I saw that I could teach him something, and at once said, "Make your +bed!" By repeating this, morning after morning, he at last learned to +pick up his carpet, carry it out into the yard, shake it, and carry it +back. I could never teach him to lay it down properly, however; he +seemed to think it was as good in a heap as if nicely smoothed out. + +After I had taught Bob a number of tricks, I determined to write a play +for him. I do not believe that any human actor ever had audiences more +appreciative than his, when he performed in his "play." His little +friends were always ready to give him sugar by the handful if I did not +interfere, and Bob was always ready to take all that was offered. The +"play" was nothing more than a simple little story into which were +introduced the words which I used in commanding him to perform his +various tricks. I would repeat the story, and when I came to a word of +command, such as "dead," I would emphasize it so that Bob would at once +do whatever he had been taught to do at the sound of that word. The play +I wrote was about as follows:-- + +"Once upon a time there was a little dog named _Bob_ [here Bob would run +to me, and wait expectantly]. Usually he was a very _good dog_ [wag, +wag, would go his tail], but once in a while he was very _naughty_ [down +would drop ears and tail]. When he was a _good dog_ [happy again], he +would _sit up_ and show any little boy or girl how to behave. At such +times, he would _speak softly_ [prolonged whine], as a polite dog +should, though once in a while he would become excited, and _shout, +shout, shout_ [furious barking], as impolite children are sometimes apt +to do. + +"When a lady entered the room where he was, he would always _stand_ up, +ready to give her his chair if she wished it; or if she preferred to go +into the garden or the street, he would go with her and _walk like a +gentleman_. When he played, however, he could run _like a schoolboy_. +But once he was in the ball-room, he could _waltz about_ as well as the +best dancer there. + +"If any one ever said to him, '_go to your corner and lie down_' he +would do so at once like the well bred dog he was. But he was always +obedient and would come immediately as soon as one said _Bob_. + +"I was very sorry to hear one day that this remarkable dog was _dead_. I +felt so badly that I went to his house, but was pleasantly surprised +when I reached there, to find that he was very much _alive_." + +[Illustration: FETCH BRINGS IN THE PERVERSE COW.] + +What will be the limit of Bob's education I do not know, for he +continues to learn with increasing ease every day. In addition to all +that has been described, he can now, at the proper order of command, +sneeze, catch a piece of meat from his nose at the word "three," jump +over a cane, turn a somersault, and play tag. + + +XI.--A DOG THAT COULD COUNT. + +BY E. P. ROE. + +Old Fetch was a shepherd dog and lived in the Highlands of the Hudson. +His master kept nearly a dozen cows, and they ranged at will among the +hills during the day. When the sun was low in the west, his master would +say to his dog, "Bring the cows home"; and it was because the dog did +this task so well, that he was called Fetch. He would run to a flat rock +and hold his ear down close to it, having learned that he could thus +catch the far-off tinkle of the cow-bells better than in any other way. +If he could not hear them he would range about until he did, and then he +was off like a shot in the direction of the sound. + +One sultry day he departed as usual upon his evening task. From +scattered, shady, and grassy nooks, he at last gathered all the cattle +into a mountain road, leading to the distant barnyard. + +Switching off the flies with their tails, the cows jogged slowly +homeward, the tinkle of their bells gradually becoming more and more +distinct to the milkmaid who was awaiting them. One of the cows was +known to be a little perverse, and on that evening she gave fresh +evidence of willfulness. One part of the road ran through a low, moist +spot bordered by a thicket of black alder, and into this the cow pushed +her way, and stood quietly. The others passed on, followed some distance +in the rear by Fetch. He was panting from his exertions in the hot +evening, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he slowly and languidly +pursued his way. + +Indeed he had quite discarded his usual vigilance, and the perverse cow +took advantage of it. + +As the cows approached the barnyard gate, he quickened his pace, and +hurried forward, as if to say, "I'm here, attending to business." But +his complacency was disturbed as the cows filed through the gate. He +whined a little, and growled a little, attracting his master's +attention. Then he went to the high fence surrounding the yard, and +standing on his hindfeet peered between two of the rails. After looking +at the herd carefully for a time, he started off down the road again on +a full run. His master now observed that one of the cows was missing, +and he sat down on a rock to see what Fetch was going to do about it. +Before very long he heard the furious tinkling of a bell, and soon Fetch +appeared bringing in the perverse cow at a rapid pace, hastening her on +by frequently leaping up and catching her ear in his teeth. The gate was +again thrown open, and the cow, shaking her head from the pain of the +dog's rough reminders, was led through it in a way that she did not soon +forget. Fetch looked after her a moment with the air of one remarking to +himself, "You'll not try that trick again," and then he lay down quietly +to cool off in time for supper. + + +XII.--A CLEVER SHEEP DOG. + +A recent English writer tells the following story of an ingenious +sheep-dog that, when the flock took a wrong road, would turn them back +without worrying them. His owner had hesitated for some time before he +made up his mind to have a dog, as he had often seen dogs ill-use the +poor sheep. But believing that in most cases the dogs' harshness toward +the sheep was due to bad training, and not to their naturally evil +dispositions, he resolved to make trial of one. The dog he procured was +young; and he trained it after his own ideas. He soon found the docile +creature a very useful helper in driving a flock from one pasture to +another. The sheep often took a wrong turn, and then scampered off as +fast as they could go. At such times, most shepherds who had dogs were +accustomed to send the dog after the flock, at the top of its speed. Of +course, it soon overtook them, but the sheep were often much frightened, +and not infrequently hurt by falling down or by rushing against one +another. To prevent this, the shepherd mentioned would order his dog +"Smart" to go to the other side of the hedge, saying, "Now, go ahead, +and bring 'em back!" Smart would promptly obey, and would noiselessly +run along behind the hedge, sometimes even climbing a little slope by +the roadway, whence he could overlook the flock and see just where each +sheep was moving. As soon as Smart, by peeping over or through the +hedge, had satisfied himself that he was ahead of all the sheep, he +would come coolly out of the hedge and bring them back down the lane so +gently as not to cause them the least alarm. Smart never attempted to +get ahead of a flock in the way common to most of the dogs in that +vicinity,--by rushing past them and frightening them; but looking at his +master and wagging his tail, he would cross the hedge, overtake them, +and quietly drive them back into the right road. + + +XIII.--A STORY OF TWO BUCKETS. + +BY CHARLOTTE M. VAILE. + +There they were hanging, one of them out of sight in the cool, deep +water, and the other swinging empty in the sunshine, as Daisy Hadley and +her dog Bruno came up to the well. The little girl and the big dog had +been rambling about all the morning, following the brook through fields +of sunflowers and poppies, or climbing the rocks on the sides of the +mountains; but they were tired and thirsty now, and Daisy looked +wistfully at the empty bucket, wishing she were strong enough to pull it +down and bring the other, full and dripping, up in its place. + +"Bruno," she said reproachfully, "I wish you could draw me some water." +Bruno was a great, shaggy Newfoundland, that had been Daisy's play-mate +ever since she could remember. He was a wonderful dog. Daisy herself +would have told you that there were only a few things he could not do, +but unfortunately managing that well was one of them. So there was no +help for it, and Daisy was turning reluctantly away when she caught +sight of Mr. Paul Gregg, one of the other summer boarders in the Park. + +[Illustration: "A CLEVER SHEEP DOG." (SEE PRECEDING PAGE.)] + +If he had not come up just then, there would have been no story to tell, +and the buckets might have gone up and down in the well to this day +without taking part in any more remarkable event. But he _did_ come up; +and Daisy's face brightened, for they were great friends, though she was +only a little girl in the Kindergarten, and he was a tall young student. +He stopped when Daisy said she wanted some water; and putting down his +botanical box, he began to draw some gloves over his rather soft hands. + +"I don't like this kind of a well at all," said Daisy. "It isn't half as +nice as the one at my grandfather's. _That_ had only one bucket, with a +rope that went 'round and 'round a great roller; and there was a handle +that I could turn myself." + +"This is a very old and respectable kind of a well, though," said Mr. +Gregg, taking hold of the rope. "There must have been such wells as long +ago as Shakspere's time." + +"How do you know?" asked Daisy, who was sure that Shakspere lived a +great while ago, though she could not have told when. + +"Shakspere, you know, Daisy," said Mr. Gregg, "was a great poet who +lived hundreds of years ago, and in a play he wrote, called 'King +Richard II.,' he tells about just such a well as this. Richard was one +of the kings of England, and a very unlucky king he was, though I can't +deny that he brought his troubles on himself, for he was anything but a +wise and prudent ruler. At last his cousin Prince Henry raised a great +army and forced Richard to give up the crown. Poor King Richard did not +show much spirit when his troubles came; but, according to Shakspere, he +made a very neat speech, when his clever cousin Henry told him that he +had decided to become King himself. Among other things, Richard said +that the crown he must give up was + + 'Like a deep well + That owns two buckets filling one another; + The emptier ever dancing in the air, + The other down, unseen, and full of water; + That bucket down, and full of tears, am I, + Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.'" + +While Mr. Gregg was talking, the buckets in the well had changed places. +The one which had swung in the air so lightly at first had gone down out +of sight, and the other had come up ready to be emptied and to take its +place in the sunshine. + +Mr. Gregg paused now as he poured out some of the water. Daisy was +silent too, trying to understand it all. + +"What became of King Richard?" she asked presently. + +"He died in prison," said Mr. Gregg. "Some say his cousin Henry, who +took his place as king, had him put to death; and now," he added, +turning away from the well, "I think that I will see if your mother is +ready to go to dinner with us." + +Then he turned toward the cottage and left Daisy standing by the well. +She had not understood it all, but she felt very sorry for the unhappy +king, and she thought she knew why he said he was like the bucket in the +deep, dark water when he sank under his grief and shame never to see any +more bright days. + +She was leaning on the side of the well, with her hand upon the rope, +thinking very earnestly of it all and trying to catch a glimpse of the +bucket that was hanging there in the dark, when something dreadful +happened. Before she knew it, she had leaned over too far. She lost her +balance and fell over the side of the well. Down, down went the bucket, +more swiftly than it had ever gone before, and with it, but holding +desperately to the rope, went Daisy! There was only time for one +terrible cry--and she was out of sight in the well! + +There was no one there to save her,--Yes, there was Bruno! He heard the +cry. He saw his little friend go down, and with a bark that rang across +to the mountains, he rushed to the well. He leaped frantically against +the low wooden side just as the bucket which had been in the water rose +even with its edge. Somehow he managed to fling his heavy paws on it, +then his whole body, and then, all at once, it was Bruno that was going +down, down, but clinging to the bucket and howling as he went,--and +Daisy was coming up! + +It was only for a minute, therefore, that Daisy was in the water. The +next moment, thanks to the sudden pull at the other end of the rope, she +was rising again; and just as Bruno, loosened his hold of the bucket, +and dropped heavily into the water, Mr. Paul Gregg reached the side of +the well, seized the rope and drew Daisy to the top, gasping, shivering, +and frightened almost to death. + +As soon as Daisy could speak, she said, "Save Bruno!" But they had +already begun to do that, and they did save him, of course. The brave +old fellow was none the worse for his adventure. He dried himself in the +sunshine, and then lay down beside the rocking-chair where Daisy sat +folded in a soft wrap, with vaseline on her blistered hands. + +Daisy was none the worse for it either, in the end; though at first, +when her mother asked her how it happened and she tried to say something +about a "poor king," and "a bucket-full of tears," the poor lady was +afraid the plunge had affected her daughter's mind, and to this day she +is in doubt whether Shakspere or King Henry or Mr. Paul Gregg was +responsible for the accident. + +One thing however, was clear. It was Bruno who had saved her. Had he +really meant to go down with the bucket and rescue her? Daisy never had +a doubt of it herself. For the rest of the season he was the hero of the +Park. The summer guests bought him a silver collar beautifully engraved, +and Mr. Paul Gregg declared that he should propose his name as an +honorary member of the Humane Society. + +But Bruno's head was not turned with all those honors. He rambled +through the fields with Daisy as he had done before, and when she put +her arms around his neck, and said that he should be her dearest friend +forever, he was happier than if his collar had been made of gold, or +than if he had been elected president of the Humane Society. + + + + +THE SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD. + +BY C. F. HOLDER. + + +[Illustration: THE "GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE" RACE, AS SEEN THROUGH A MAGNIFYING +GLASS. (SEE PAGE 535.)] + +In a former number of ST. NICHOLAS the largest circus in the world was +described, and the curious animal actors were shown in many of their +tricks and performances. We now wish to exhibit another circus, the +smallest in the world, the performers in which, numbering several +hundreds, could all be carried about in a cherry-stone--in fact, a +circus of fleas, of such remarkable intelligence that in their various +feats they were quite equal to many of the larger trained animals with +which we are familiar. + +But before showing what the flea can do, let us look at its antecedents. +We know that it is a wingless fly,--a cousin to the house-flies on one +side, and to the crane-flies on the other; and a more knightly-looking +little creature you can not possibly imagine. Under the microscope we +see it covered with a rich polished armor resembling tortoise-shell. The +head is small, and supports two _antennĉ_ or feelers, composed of five +joints, and between these is the proboscis, a terrible affair. Upon +close examination with a powerful glass, what an array of piercing and +cutting blades are seen,--long, narrow, transparent knives, each edge +armed with a double row of glistening points that extend outward and +then are hooked backward! These are known as the mandibles, and fit +closely together, concealing another and smaller blade that has a +similar but single row of points. Besides all this, there are two +cutting-blades; the under edges are as sharp as sharp can be, while the +upper are thick and set with bristles. Do you wonder then that the flea +is so sharp a biter? + +On its armored head are two large eyes; and the entire body is seen to +be made up of a series of elastic armor-like bands wonderfully jointed, +and armed with bristling spines like the steel points on the armor of +olden times. The legs are six in number, jointed in so remarkable a +manner that they can be folded up one within another. When the flea +makes its prodigious leaps, these six legs all unfold at once, hurling +the little fellow high into the air. + +The baby flea is produced from a minute egg that in six days hatches +into a tiny worm. In about ten days, the worm changes into a chrysalis, +and in twelve days more it appears a perfect flea, ready for warfare +upon anything or anybody. + +Who first discovered that the flea was susceptible to education and kind +treatment is not known; but the fact remains that on their small heads +there is a thinking-cap capable of accomplishing great results. In the +selection of fleas for training, however, the same care must be taken as +with human beings, as the greatest difference is found in them. Some are +exceedingly apt scholars, while others never can learn, and so it is +that great numbers of fleas are experimented with before a troupe is +accepted. The Flea Circus here described was exhibited a few years ago +and was composed of about two hundred of the most distinguished and +intelligent fleas in the entire family. + +One of the first lessons taught the flea, is to control its jumping +powers, for if its great leaps should be taken in the middle of a +performance, there would be a sudden ending to the circus. To insure +against such a misfortune, the student flea is first placed in a glass +phial, and encouraged to jump as much as possible. Every leap here made +brings the polished head of the flea against the glass, hurling the +insect back, and throwing it this way and that, until, after a long and +sorry experience, and perhaps many head-aches, it makes up its mind +never to unfold its legs suddenly again. When it has proved this by +refusing to jump in the open air, the first and most important lesson is +complete, and it joins the troupe, and is daily harnessed and trained, +until, finally, it is pronounced ready to go on the stage or in the +ring. + +The famous Flea Circus was placed on an ordinary table, and resembled in +size and shape a common dinner plate. A rim several inches high +encircled the outer edge, and around the circle stood a number of small +wooden boxes--the houses of the performers, and the stables for their +carriages. The signal being given, the audience, consisting of one human +being, would take in hand the large magnifying glass, hold it over the +ring, and the performance would begin. At the word of command from the +director, a very jolly, red-faced old gentleman, armed with a pair of +pincers, a tiny trap-door in one of the wooden houses sprang open and a +number of fleas filed out. They passed around the circle in a dignified +manner, appearing through the glass about as large as wasps or bees. +Each flea had a gold cord about its waist, and this was the grand entry +always seen at the circus. Having completed the circuit, they returned +to their quarters, and the performance proper commenced. Five fleas, +each adorned with a different color, stepped from another house, and +after running about here and there, and being admonished by the +director, ranged themselves in a line, and at the word "go!" started on +a rush around the circle; running into each other, rolling over and +over, and making frantic leaps over one another. Only after half the +course had been gone over, did they move in regular order, and strive +fairly for the goal. In another moment, a large flea would have won the +race had not two laggards almost at the last instant, as if made +reckless by their evident risk of defeat, taken a desperate leap and +landed far beyond the winning-post. Forthwith they were taken up in the +pincers, and placed in solitary confinement in the glass phial, where it +was supposed they had learned not to jump. + +[Illustration: THE DANCE.] + +A dance was next announced and at a signal from the manager there came +tumbling out from the third house probably the most ludicrous band of +performers ever witnessed. Each dancer was in full regalia, like the +ladies who ride the padded horses in the regular circus, their dresses +of tissue paper being ornamented with purple, gold, and red hues. The +glass was placed in position, the spectator looked through it, the +performers were lifted in by the pincers, and the dance began--a mixture +of the Highland-fling, the sailor's hornpipe, and a "regular" +break-down. + +[Illustration: THE HURDLE-RACE.] + +The little creatures bobbed up and down, now on one claw, now on all +six, hopping, leaping, bowing, and scraping, moving forward and back, +bumping into one another, now up, now down, until they seemed utterly +exhausted, and several that had fallen down, and were kept by their +voluminous skirts from getting up, had to be carried off by the aid of +the ever-ready pincers. + +Next came a hurdle-race. Hurdles of thin silver wire were arranged, over +which two fleas were supposed to leap. One, however, was evidently very +lazy or very cunning, as it won the last race by crawling under the +wire. + +A clown flea now appeared in the ring, and crawled about in a comical +manner with a white clown's cap on its diminutive head. A moment later +out came a number of fleas all harnessed with gold wire trappings, and +the several vehicles were taken from the stables. There was a tally-ho +coach, smaller than a very small pea, an Eskimo sled, about a quarter of +an inch long, with wire runners, a trotting sulky, evidently made from +hair or bristles, and other gorgeous equipages. The tally-ho team of +four frantic fleas, evidently fiery steeds, was harnessed to the coach, +and on the top were placed four phlegmatic fleas that had probably been +booked as outsiders, while the insides were two others fleas, which, we +are sorry to say, were obliged to get in through the window, and acted +very much as if they wished to get out again. The other vehicles were +each provided with a steed and rider, and then all were drawn up in a +row. At the word of command, off they started pell-mell! The tally-ho +leaders evidently jumped their traces at first, but finally they were +off with a rush, running over the clown, knocking off his hat, and, for +the moment, creating a dreadful panic. The sled team threw its driver, +and the sulky ran away, the flea trotter actually leaping into the air, +sulky and all. But order was soon restored, and as the track was +arranged on the downhill principle, the racers made rapid time. In two +minutes the circuit was completed, the tally-ho coming in ahead, +without, however, its outside passengers, who were thrown off as the +coach was rounding the curve, and at once crawled into the nearest place +of refuge. + +[Illustration: SIGNOR PULEX IRRITANICI ON THE TIGHT-ROPE.] + +The last act of this wonderful circus was perhaps the best. The manager +arranged the stage by placing two very fine entomological pins about +four inches apart, connecting them by a slender silver wire, and then +announced that Signor _Pulex Irritanici_, the world-renowned tight-rope +performer, would attempt his wonderful feat of dancing upon the wire at +a "dizzy height" (compared to the size of the performer). The Signor was +then brought out in a small bottle of cut-glass; his only ornament was a +little jacket of tissue-paper. When fished out and placed upon the +pin-head, he boldly started out upon the wire over which his little +clawed toes seemed to fit. In the middle, and over the terrific abyss, +he balanced up and down for a second, stood upon his longest legs, and +then moved on, crossing in safety, and thus ending the circus, at least +for that occasion. + + + + +ROCK-A-BYE. + +BY MARY N. PRESCOTT. + + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, upon the tree-top," + To her young the mother-bird sings, + "When the wind's still, the rocking will stop, + And then you may all use your wings." + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, under the eaves," + The swallow croons to her brood, + "Here you are safer, my children, from thieves + Than if I had built in the wood." + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, the river runs deep," + The reed-bird trills to her flock, + "The river stirs only to sing you to sleep, + The wind your green cradle to rock!" + + + + +WHAT BERTIE SAW IN THE FLOWERS. + +BY L. G. R. + +[Illustration] + + + Buttercup! Buttercup! + Hold your shining clusters up! + In each little house of gold, + What is this that I behold? + Twenty soldiers, straight and slim, + Golden-helmeted and prim. + All day long so still they stand, + Never turning head or hand; + No one guesses where they stray + In the moonlight nights of May. + When the fairies are abroad, + These small men keep watch and ward; + Round the fairy ring they pace + All night long, to guard the place; + But when morning comes again, + Back are all the little men. + + + + +KEEPING THE CREAM OF ONE'S READING. + +BY MARGARET MEREDITH. + + +My plan dates from a few delightful weeks which I spent with a girl +friend, long ago. We were devoted to poetry and to reading aloud; and in +that occupation we had the aid of a brilliant, accomplished young woman. +She selected for us from Coleridge, Shelley, and several other authors, +whose entire works she knew we would not care to read, all the specially +fine poems or passages, and these we read and discussed with her over +our fancy-work. It was charming. At last, she suggested that, as I was +soon to go away and leave the books and clippings with which I had been +growing familiar, it would be helpful for me to write down the choicest +bits, and try in that way to keep in some degree what I had gained. This +I did, putting the extracts in a school copy-book which our friend +dubbed "Snippers,"--from an odd seamstress word which she had picked up +by chance. + +Other "snipper" books followed when that one, years after, had been +filled. + +My system is an orderly one. All my books are broad-paged and +wide-lined, thus preventing the cramped and crowded writing which often +makes such books unreadable. When I find anything which strikes me as +worth keeping, I note on a slip of paper, somewhat longer than the book +I am reading, the number of the page and make a perpendicular line +beneath it, with a cross line indicating the relative position of the +sentence which I wish to keep, thus: + +[Illustration: 23] + +If the page is in columns, I make, instead of the single line, a rough +parallelogram, and note within it by square dots the relative positions +of the sentences chosen for preservation, thus: + +[Illustration: 187] + +This slip of paper I use as a book-mark until it is filled or the book +is finished, noting upon it, as indicated, the choicest passages and +their positions on the pages. When I have finished the book I go +carefully over these selected sentences. Many are discarded; the rest go +into my "snippers." Below the first entry and to the right, I place the +name of the book and its author, both heavily underscored; below the +others, the word "Ibid" or "ditto," underscored. At the top of each page +I note the year, and at the head of each batch of extracts the month or +day. + +Paragraphs cut from newspapers, which are worth saving, are pasted as a +fly-leaf to the inner edge of the page, or even slipped under the +binding thread. + +In carrying out my plan I am always content with hasty work,--but I +write plainly, and if possible with ink, as much fingering destroys +pencil-marks. I once tried classifying the extracts, but this scarcely +paid for the trouble. + +I used sometimes to wonder whether these books of selections were of any +real value. But I have grown now to prize them greatly. Many a time I go +to them for a dimly remembered phrase or passage. Sometimes, too, I read +them over, for of course they give me the essence of what I most like +and admire in my reading. A short time since I lent one to a literary +friend, and was surprised to find she enjoyed it so greatly that she was +almost unwilling to give it back. + +I am very glad that I began this practice in my young days. It gives +very little trouble, and that little is a pleasure. + +There is a familiar expression about an "embarrassment of riches." This +is the greatest disappointment I experience with my "snippers." For, +occasionally, a book has too many good things in it to be easily copied, +and then my only relief is to own it and, marking it vol. _X_, add it to +my row of extract-books. + +[Illustration: THE END] + + + + +WONDERS OF THE ALPHABET. + +BY HENRY ECKFORD. + + +THIRD PAPER. + +Perhaps you have never given a thought to the fact that, because you +were born into a nation using an alphabet that came down from the +Phoenicians, you are saved a world of trouble. But consider the Chinese. +If a Chinese boy and an American boy begin to learn their letters at the +same time, each studying his own writing, then by the time the American +is ten years old he has advanced as far in the use of letters as the +Chinese boy will have advanced in the use of his when he is twenty years +old. That is the same as saying that Chinese writing is three or four +times as hard to learn as English. Think of spending the years between +ten and twenty in learning to read! On the other hand, the long +apprenticeship of Chinese and Japanese boys to their letters does them +good in one way. They paint their letters with a brush on soft paper. By +this means they learn very early to be skillful with the brush, which is +one reason why Chinese and Japanese artists are so very dexterous with +their brushes. + +All writing, let it be remembered, must have begun with pictures. It is +largely Chinese writing which has explained how all sorts of letters +were gradually changed from pictures to an alphabet, in which hardly a +single letter tells from what picture it started. The Japanese tongue is +quite different from the Chinese. But the use by the Japanese of signs +employed ages before by the Chinese explains another step in the +progress of language. The writing of the Mexican Indians also helps us +to understand the growth of alphabets. When, ages ago, the Chinese began +to write, they drew little pictures of the things they wished to +represent, as did the Egyptians before them in their picture-writing; +and from picture-writing they made some advance in the direction of +sound-writing, or rebuses. Then the little rebus-pictures were so much +altered that it became very difficult to see what they once meant. + +Now Chinese is a queer language. All its words are only one syllable +long. But the sounds in the Chinese language are not very many, some +four hundred and sixty-five at most, and their written language contains +about eighty thousand pictures, each picture representing a thing or +idea. And these pictures must be committed to memory. This is hard work, +and not even the wisest Chinese professor can learn them all. But now +comes a difficulty. For, of course, where there are so many words and +so few sounds, many different words have to be called by the same sound. +How then are they to tell, when several different things have exactly +the same name which of them is meant? + +[Illustration: REBUS-PICTURES FROM THE OLD CHINESE, SHOWING THE +BEGINNINGS OF PICTURE-WRITING. + +1. A Month. (From a picture of the moon.) 2. The Eye. 3. A Horse. 4. An +Ax. 5. Rain. 6. Face. 7. A Dragon. 8. Bamboo. 9. Rhinoceros. 10. Dawn. +(From the rising sun.)] + +We have such words. For instance, there is Bill, the name of a boy; and +bill, the beak of a bird; there is bill, an old weapon, and bill, a +piece of money; there is bill, an article over which legislatures +debate, and bill, a claim for payment of money; besides bills of +exchange, bills of lading, and so forth. But Chinese is full of such +words of a single syllable, _yen_, for instance, which, like bill, means +many very different things. So they chose a number of little pictures, +and agreed that these should be used as "keys." The Chinese "keys" were +used like the Egyptian "determinative signs," of which I told you. Each +"key" meant that the sign or signs near which it stood belonged to some +large general set of things, like things of the vegetable, mineral, or +animal kingdom, forests, mines, or seas, air, or water, or of persons, +like gods or men. It was like the game called Throwing Light, in which +you guess the article by narrowing down the field until certain what it +is. + +But there Chinese writing stopped short, thousands of years ago. There +it is to-day. There are now two hundred and fourteen of these "keys," +and, by intense application, Chinamen learn to use their method with +surprising quickness and success. + +The Japanese acted toward Chinese writing much as the Phoenicians did +toward Egyptian writing. The Japanese, a very intelligent people, made +what you have learned to know as a syllabary, out of signs taken from +the Chinese symbols. It is called a syllabary, you remember, because +each sign stood in their language for a syllable. They had to do this, +because, while Chinese is all short syllables, Japanese is a language of +much longer words even than ours. They cut down and simplified the +Chinese signs, giving them names of their own. In this way they manage +to write very swiftly. And, while not so clumsy as the Chinese fashion, +the Japanese method is clumsier than is the use of an alphabet. In late +years, a society has been started in Japan to do away altogether with +their old-time writing, and adopt our alphabet. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +Perhaps, by this time, you are beginning to see how very slowly +alphabets have grown, and how hard it has been for human beings to +perfect them. Knowing this, will you not look now with more interest on +written and printed words? When you see letters, will you not reflect +what a history each one has, reaching far back into the remotest past, +where at first all seems dark, and where, when light does come, the very +number and variety of materials perplex the student of alphabets? +Moreover, will you not feel ashamed of people who laugh or sneer at +savage nations who have no sound-writing, no syllabary, no alphabet? It +does not mean that in such races all men are stupid. As a rule it means +simply that the race has not had a fair chance. It has been racked by +wars. Or it has never come in contact peacefully with some nation that +used a method of writing a trifle better than its own, so that the +brighter minds could establish schools of learning. When one nation +conquers another, the higher and cleverer minds among the conquered are +often the first to be destroyed. The best of our Indians of North and +South America seem to have been the first to fall in battle with the +whites, or to have died off because of their cruelty. The reason why the +others, who lived with or near the white settlers, did not readily +borrow our way of writing in their turn, as we had borrowed from the +Romans, the Romans from the Greeks and Phoenicians, and the latter from +the Egyptians, seems to be that our system was too far advanced for +them. But if the first white settlers in Central and South America had +been kind and wise men, instead of coarse and greedy people, they could +have found tribes and nations almost as advanced in their mode of +writing as the Japanese, though not the equals of the Japanese in +architecture and the fine arts. These tribes could have learned our +alphabet if care had been taken to instruct their superior men. It is +certain that the Aztecs, or Mexican Indians, had advanced very far on +the road to a true alphabet. When the cruel Spaniards arrived and upset +their governments, destroyed their temples, massacred, enslaved and then +shamefully neglected them, they had already reached the art of +rebus-writing. The name of the Mexican King, Knife-Snake, or, Itz-Coatl +was written in this way: Itzli means knives, and Coatl, snake. There, in +Fig. 1, is the snake, and on his back are knives made of flint. They +even went farther. The same name, Itz-Coatl, was also written as in Fig. +2. The flint-headed arrow means _Itz_; the jar, called _Comitl_, stands +for _Co_; and the branch, a picture of water in drops, stands for _atl_, +water. And it has been asserted that certain neighbors of the Aztecs or +Mexicans, known as the Maya Indians of Yucatan, who were ancient people +of Central America, left ruins of cities covering square miles of forest +and plain, and had reached nearly if not quite to the invention of an +alphabet of vowels and consonants. But the latest authorities agree that +such a Maya alphabet as the Spaniards reported may have been invented +after the whites arrived. Specimens of Maya writing may be seen in +Washington, at the Smithsonian Institute, on slabs and on paper casts +taken from their idols or statues of kings and priests. It was not by +the Maya system, but by one of rebuses, that the old missionaries wrote +what few books they composed for their unhappy Indian congregations. +Only lately a book composed in picture-writing throughout, was printed +for the Mikmak Indians of Newfoundland. + +In the next paper we will endeavor to trace the road by which our +English alphabet came down from the Phoenicians, that ancient folk of +the palm-tree and the Red Sea, whose alphabet you saw in the first paper +of this series. + + The illustrations of this article are reproduced, by + permission, from a notable French work on ancient + Hieroglyphics by Prof. L. De Rosny, of Paris. + + + + +BUBBLE BOWLING + +BY ADELIA B. BEARD. + + +"Nothing new in bubbles! Every one knows how to blow bubbles!" Of course +they do, and yet, the game I am about to describe is an entirely new and +a very interesting one. + +When the game of Bubble Bowling was played for the first time, it +furnished an evening's entertainment, not only for the children, but for +grown people also; even a well known General and his staff, who graced +the occasion with their presence, joined in the sport, and seemed to +enjoy it equally with their youthful competitors. Loud was the chorus of +"Bravo!" and merry the laugh of exultation when the pretty crystal ball +passed safely through its goal; and sympathy was freely expressed in +many an "Oh!" and "Too bad!" as the wayward bubble rolled gayly off +toward the floor, or, reaching the goal, dashed itself against one of +the stakes and instantly vanished into thin air. + +Bubble parties are delightful, as most children know from experience, +and it is unnecessary, therefore, to give a description of them here. I +propose merely to introduce bubble bowling as a feature in these +entertainments, which will furnish no end of amusement and jollity, and +add increased enjoyment and variety to the programme. + +The game should be played upon a long, narrow table, made simply of a +board five feet long and eighteen inches wide, resting upon ordinary +wooden "horses." On top of the table, and at a distance of twelve inches +from one end, should be fastened in an upright position, two stakes +twelve inches high; the space between the stakes should be eight inches, +which will make each stand four inches from the nearest edge of the +table. When finished, the table must be covered with some sort of woolen +cloth; an old shawl or a breadth of colored flannel will answer the +purpose excellently. Small holes must be cut at the right distance for +the stakes to pass through. The cloth should be allowed to fall over the +edge of the table, and must not be fastened down, as it will sometimes +be necessary to remove it in order to let it dry. It will be found more +convenient, therefore, to use two covers, if they can be provided, as +there can then always be a dry cloth ready to replace the one that has +become too damp. The bubbles are apt to stick when they come upon wet +spots, and the bowling can be carried on in a much more lively manner if +the course is kept dry. Each of the stakes forming the goal should be +wound with bright ribbons of contrasting colors, entwined from the +bottom up, and ending in a bow at the top. This bow can be secured in +place by driving a small, or brass-headed tack through the ribbon into +the top of the stake. If the rough pine legs of the table seem too +unsightly, they can easily be painted. Or a curtain may be made of +bright-colored cretonne,--any other material will do as well, provided +the colors are pleasing,--and tucked around the edge of the table, so as +to fall in folds to the floor. The illustration on this page shows the +top of the table, when ready for the game. + +[Illustration] + +For an impromptu affair, a table can be made by placing a leaf of a +dining-table across the backs of two chairs, and covering it with a +shawl. The stakes can be held in an upright position by sticking them in +the tubes of large spools. This sort of table the children can arrange +themselves, and it answers the purpose very nicely. The other things to +be provided for the game are a large bowl of strong soapsuds, made with +common brown soap, and as many pipes as there are players. + +The prizes for the winners of the game may consist of any trinkets or +small articles that the fancy or taste of the hostess may suggest. +Bubble Bowling can be played in two ways. The first method requires an +even number of players, and these must be divided into two equal +parties. This is easily accomplished by selecting two children for +captains, and allowing each captain to choose, alternately, a recruit +for his party until the ranks are filled, or in other words, until all +the children have been chosen; then, ranked by age, or in any other +manner preferred, they form in line on either side of the table. A pipe +is given to each child by the hostess, and they stand prepared for the +contest. One of the captains first takes his place at the foot of the +table, where he must remain while he is bowling, as a bubble passing +between the stakes is not counted unless blown through the goal from the +end of the table. + +The bowl of soapsuds is placed upon a small stand by the side of the +bowling-table, and the next in rank to the captain, belonging to same +party, dips his pipe into the suds and blows a bubble, not too large, +which he then tosses upon the table in front of the captain, who as +first bowler, stands ready to blow the bubble on its course down through +the goal. Three successive trials are allowed each player; the bubbles +which break before the bowler has started them, are not counted. + +The names of all the players, divided as they are into two parties, are +written down on a slate or paper, and whenever a bubble is sent through +the goal, a mark is set down opposite the name of the successful bowler. + +When the captain has had his three trials, the captain on the other side +becomes bowler, and the next in rank of his own party blows the bubbles +for him. When this captain retires, the member of the opposite party, +ranking next to the captain, takes the bowler's place and is assisted by +the one whose name is next on the list of his own side; after him the +player next to the captain on the other side; and so on until the last +on the list has his turn, when the captain then becomes assistant and +blows the bubbles. + +The number of marks required for either side to win the game, must be +decided by the number of players; if there are twenty,--ten players on +each side,--thirty marks would be a good limit for the winning score. + +When the game has been decided, a prize is given to that member of each +party who has the greatest number of marks against his or her name +showing that he or she has sent the bubble through the goal oftener than +any player on the same side. Or, if preferred, prizes maybe given to +every child belonging to the winning party. + +The other way in which Bubble Bowling may be played is much simpler, and +does not require an even number of players, as no sides are formed. Each +bowler plays for himself, and is allowed five successive trials; if +three bubbles out of the five be blown through the goal, the player is +entitled to a prize. The child acting as assistant becomes the next +bowler, and so on until the last in turn becomes bowler, when the one +who began the game takes the place of assistant. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE KNICKERBOCKER BOY. + + +BY CAROLINE S. KING. + +[Illustration] + + + I. + + I'm a knickerbocker boy! + See my coat and breeches! + Cuffs and collar, pocket too-- + Made with many stitches! + I must have a watch and chain, + A silk umbrella and a cane.-- + No more kilts and skirts for me! + I'm a big boy--don't you see? + + + II. + + Knickerbockers! Knickerbockers! + Give away my other clothes! + Give away my horse with rockers; + I want one that really goes. + Two brisk, prancing goats will do; + But I'd like a wagon too. + No more chairs hitched up for me! + I'm a big boy--don't you see? + + + + +THE BROWNIES ON ROLLER SKATES. + +BY PALMER COX. + + + The Brownies planned at close of day + To reach a town some miles away, + Where roller skating, so 't was said, + Of all amusements kept ahead. + + Said one: "When deeper shadows fall + We'll cross the river, find the hall, + And learn the nature of the sport + Of which we hear such good report." + +[Illustration] + + To reach the bridge that led to town, + With eager steps they hastened down; + But recent rains had caused a rise-- + The stream was now a fearful size; + The bridge was nearly swept away, + Submerged in parts, and wet with spray. + + But when the cunning Brownies get + Their mind on some maneuver set, + Nor wind nor flood, nor frost nor fire + Can ever make the rogues retire. + + Some walked the dripping logs with ease, + While others crept on hands and knees + With movements rather safe than fast, + And inch by inch the danger passed. + + Now, guided by the rumbling sound + That told where skaters circled 'round, + Through dimly lighted streets they flew, + And close about the building drew. + + Without delay the active band, + By spouts and other means at hand, + Of skill and daring furnished proof + And gained possession of the roof; + Then through the skylight viewed the show + Presented by the crowds below. + +[Illustration] + + Said one: "While I survey that floor + I'm filled with longing more and more, + And discontent with me will bide + Till 'round the rink I smoothly glide. + At night I've ridden through the air, + Where bats abide, and owls repair, + + I've rolled in surf of ocean wide, + And coasted down the mountain-side, + And now to sweep around a hall + On roller skates would crown it all." + + "My plans," the leader answer made, + "Are in my mind already laid. + + Within an hour the folk below + Will quit their sport and homeward go; + Then will the time be ripe, indeed, + For us to leave this roof with speed, + And prove how well our toes and heels + We may command when set on wheels." + + When came the closing hour at last, + And people from the rink had passed, + The Brownies hurried down to find + The roller skates they'd left behind. + +[Illustration] + + Then such a scene was there as few + May ever have a chance to view. + Some hardly circled 'round the place, + Before they moved with ease and grace, + And skated freely to and fro, + Upon a single heel or toe. + Some coats were torn beyond repair, + By catches here and clutches there, + When those who felt their faith give way, + Grabbed right and left without delay; + While some who strove a friend to aid, + Upon the floor themselves were laid, + To spread confusion there awhile, + As large and larger grew the pile. + + Some rose with fingers out of joint, + Or black and blue at every point; + And few but felt some portion sore, + From introductions to the floor. + But such mishaps were lost to sight, + Amid the common wild delight,-- + For little fuss do Brownies make + O'er bump or bruise or even break. + + And had that night been long as those + That spread a shade o'er polar snows, + The Brownies would have kept the floor, + And never thought of sash or door. + + But stars at length began to wane, + And dawn came creeping through the pane; + And, much against the will of all, + The rogues were forced to leave the hall. + + + + +EASTER CAROL. + +BY WM. E. ASHMALL. + + + I. Sing a - loud for Christ our King, Our lov - ing Sav - iour dear; + + Let our hap - py voi - ces ring, To all the earth good cheer. + + Al - le - lu - ia! Al - le - lu - ia! Al - le - lu - ia! A - men. + + 2 For He is risen up on high, + From earth and dreary grave; + Christ is risen! is our cry, + He lives again to save. + Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. + + 3 Sing aloud for Christ our King, + For Christ, the Saviour, born; + This carol ever we will sing, + On this, our Easter morn. + Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. + + + + +THE HANDIWORK OF SOME CLEVER SCHOOL-BOYS. + +BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + + +The Fair of the American Institute held annually in New York, is chiefly +a display from the various American trades showing improvement and +advancement; here designers and inventors also present many novelties +and useful inventions for public criticism and judgment. + +One feature of the Fair of 1885 that attracted much attention and +comment, was the novel and unique display of mechanical models designed +and constructed by the boys of the third grade in Grammar-School, No. +57, one of the public schools of New York City. The work exhibited by +these boys is peculiarly interesting and suggestive, and is an +indication of what observant, thoughtful, and intelligent boys can +devise and do when their tastes and natural inclinations are developed. + +The boys' models were made at home, after class-hours, and on odd +holidays during the six months previous to exhibition, and were +primarily intended to illustrate the principles of the six mechanical +powers,--the inclined plane, the lever, the wedge, the pulley, the wheel +and axle, and the screw. When the American Institute Fair opened, an +inclined railway, with its platform and cars; a miniature guillotine, +with ready knife; a dumb-waiter in full working order; a derrick +prepared to raise many weights; a pile-driver with its automatically +dropped weight, the sound of which never failed to attract +attention,--all these, with other models, occupied a space in Machinery +Hall. + +During the morning hours, curtains screened the models; in the afternoon +the youthful exhibitors arrived and took special delight in showing the +working of their designs. The pleasant hours spent there, the praise of +visitors, and the recognition and commendation accorded by the press +will be long remembered by the boys. At the closing of the Fair, the +exhibit was awarded the Medal of Merit. + +The illustrations on pages 548 and 550 show the models exhibited. Figure +1 represents an alcoholic furnace, illustrating the expansion of a brass +rod by heat. A cylinder of tin, fifteen inches in height and five in +diameter, is hinged to a base of wood and arranged so as to tilt to the +left. A lever fifteen inches long opens and closes a damper; this lever +(an umbrella rod) is inserted in a pivoted rod of wood two inches long, +supported in a square frame made of an inch strip of tin bent twice at +right angles and soldered to the cylinder. + +A brass banner rod, seven inches long, also connects with this rod and, +passing through an inch opening, is supported in the flame of an alcohol +lamp and fastened on the opposite side by a tiny brass knob screwed on +the protruding thread of the rod. A small pulley and weight steadies the +motion of the lever. + +The heat of the alcohol flame causes the brass rod to lengthen, and this +in turn moves the lever which opens the damper; and the degree of +expansion is indicated on a paper scale by a straw pointer attached to +the rod of the damper. A coating of copper bronze was given to the +cylinder. This model was made in part by Winfred C. Rhoades. + +Figure 2 shows a forge made by William E. Tappae. A hand-bellows is +mounted on a wooden base about ten by twenty-four inches in size, and is +worked by a lever handle supported in a frame twenty-six inches in +height. The bellows consists of two boards connected by flexible leather +tacked to the edges. The upper board is stationary, and an inch central +opening is covered on the inside by a two-inch flap of chamois fastened +at one point, forming a valve. + +As the handle is pushed up, the air rushes in, and when pulled down, the +valve closes and the compressed air is forced through the metal nozzle +to the glowing coals. The carved-wood anvil was stained black and the +other parts were painted a bright vermilion. + +Figure 3 explains one way of connecting levers, and their uses as a +mechanical aid. The base is four by fifteen inches in size, and the +pillars are respectively six and ten inches in height, and are firmly +mortised and glued into the base. The upper lever is eighteen inches in +length, and connects with the ten-inch lower lever. + +The lead weights, sliding on the narrow edges of the levers, balance +each other, and show how the heavy wagon of coal is balanced in the +office by the weight on the scale-beam. + +A wedge made of oak ten inches in height and five inches in width is +indicated by Figure 4. + +Figure 5 represents a diminutive pile-driver, twenty-eight inches in +length, showing the plan and action of a large machine. + +[Illustration: SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER 14 YEARS +OF AGE. + +DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + +Fig. 1. FURNACE + +Fig. 2. FORGE + +Fig. 3. LEVER SCALES + +Fig. 4. WEDGE + +Fig. 5. PILE DRIVER + +Fig. 6. SCREW PRESS + +Fig. 7. INCLINED RAILWAY] + +The two-pound drop-hammer falls a distance of twenty-two inches in the +grooves of the vertical posts which are mortised and glued into the +base, as are also the oblique braces to which are attached the bobbin, +or axle, and crank, on which the cord is wound that raises the hammer. +This hammer is a flat piece of iron having two pieces of wood, each four +by two and one-half inches in size, cemented to it. A wire hook is +attached just above, and the extended arm of the hook as the weight +nears the top, meets a projecting pin, and slips the weight from the +cord. + +Figure 6 is the model of a wood-press useful in pressing flowers for an +herbarium. The base and pressure board are each ten inches square, the +supports eight inches in height, and a wooden screw connected with the +upper board turns in the cross-piece. This and the models shown in the +drawings numbered 3, 5, and 10 were made by Harry Stoecker. + +Figure 7 represents the model of an inclined railway constructed upon +the plan of the inclined railway actually in use between Hoboken and +Jersey City Heights. A board forty-five inches in length and ten inches +in width connects the terminal platforms of this model. The upper +platform rests on a support thirty-three inches in height; to this +support is attached an axle turned by a crank, on which are wound the +reversed cords which connect with the ascending and descending +platforms. These platforms are mounted on rollers and the cars while in +motion are kept in a horizontal position. This model was constructed by +Everett L. Thompson. + +The same boy constructed also the model shown in Figure 8--a dumb-waiter +with original arrangement of cords and pulleys. The frame is thirty-six +inches in height, eleven inches in width, and five inches in depth. +Inside, a carrier with shelves is raised by a cord passing over four +pulleys, the action of which may be seen through glass slips fitted in +grooves. To the end of a cord is attached a weight which balances the +weight of the carrier and contents. The frame-work was stained a dark +mahogany color, oiled and varnished. + +Figure 9 represents a miniature guillotine as made by David W. Benedict. +It was copied after one brought from France and exhibited at a +well-known museum in New York City. + +The frame is twenty-two inches in height, and the block to which is +fastened the tin blade, falls through the grooves in the posts to the +rest upon which lies the head of the criminal. The cord raising the +block runs over the pulleys, and is wound on the cleat when not in use. +A box beneath receives the head of the imaginary victim as it falls. The +machine with the exception of the blade was painted in bright vermilion +and varnished. + +Figure 10 shows a small derrick constructed after a sketch of one used +in the erection of the Madison Avenue bridge across the Harlem River. A +mast of maple twenty-seven inches in length is mortised into an oak +base, ten by twelve inches in size. A projecting arm, or jib, is +fastened to the mast by a clasp of heavy tin. A cord and pulley keep the +jib at a proper angle with the mast. The weight is hooked to a double +pulley connected with the single pulley near the end of the jib; the +cord, passing over a wheel in the mast and then passing downward, is +wound upon the axle by turning the crank; a toothed wheel and ratchet +stops the weight at the desired height. Neater pulleys than could be +purchased were made by joining two wooden buttons and placing them in a +whittled frame bound with piano-wire. The mast and jib were painted a +dark blue and the base was polished and varnished. + +Figure 11 shows a model of a foundry crane, much admired for its +accuracy of design and finish. It was made by George Chase, of seasoned +maple with iron and brass connections. A swinging jib is pivoted at the +top to a brass plate screwed to the cross-piece of the frame, and turns +on a steel pin fitted to a plate on the base. A carriage travels along +the jib, being kept at the required distance by a cord passing over a +wheel at the end of the jib. A cord attached to the carriage passes over +a pulley connected with the weight, and also over the wheel of the +carriage, to the wheel directing it to the axle, which is turned by a +cog-wheel and pinion taken from an old clock. + +The carrier of the elevator shown in Figure 12 is hoisted by a cord +passing over a small iron pulley fixed to the cross-beam of the grooved +posts, and thence to the spool, or axle turned by a crank. + +A clock-spring attached to a square wooden rosette is shown by Figure +13. + +Figure 14 represents a pump improvised by John B. Cartwright from an old +mincing-machine. + +A handle turns a series of spur-wheels, which in turn give a rapid +motion to a twelve-inch walking-beam. To one end of this walking-beam is +attached a piston-rod, with a soft rubber disk working in a brass +cylinder five inches long and three and a half inches in diameter. Iron +fittings, including two brass valves, one on each side, connect with the +cylinder; an air-chamber is formed with a fitting and cap. The suction +caused by the upward motion of the piston will draw water from a pail or +cup through a rubber tube connected with the end fitting of the +right-hand valve, then through the valve to the cylinder; the downward +motion of the piston causes the water to pass through the left-hand +valve to the receiving vessel, and the air-chamber tends to make the +flow regular. Parts of the machine were painted blue and striped with +gold bronze. + +[Illustration: SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER FOURTEEN +YEARS OF AGE.--DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + +Fig. 8 A DUMB WAITER + +Fig. 9. GUILLOTINE + +Fig. 10. A DERRICK + +Fig. 11. FOUNDRY CRANE + +Fig. 12. BRICK & MORTAR ELEVATOR + +Fig. 13. CLOCK SPRING + +Fig. 14. FORCE PUMP + +Fig. 15. SIMPLE SUN MAGIC LANTERN OR HELIOSTAT. + +Fig. 15.A. + +Fig. 16. ARC ELECTRIC LAMP] + +By the removal of one pane of glass from a window facing south, the +apparatus shown in Figure 15 may be used, like a magic lantern, to +project transparencies, in a darkened room. + +A pine board, fourteen inches square and one inch in thickness, has an +opening in the middle to receive a wooden frame seven inches square, +holding a six-inch cosmorama lens, having a focus of eighteen inches. A +three-inch plano-convex lens having a focus of nine inches, mounted in a +wooden frame, slides along a slit or opening in a board hinged to the +inner side of the board which is cleated to the window. + +A plate-glass mirror, eight by fifteen inches in size, is secured to a +board hinged to a wooden rod, which can be turned from the inside, and +is raised and lowered by a cord winding on a key. The mirror is lowered +and inclined until the sunlight is reflected through the lenses, and +then a circle of intense light, from ten to fifteen feet in diameter +appears on the wall or screen. Both lenses will not cost more than two +dollars, and the apparatus will most impressively illustrate experiments +in light and sound. + +An easily made electric lamp is shown by Figure 16. An Argand chimney is +fastened to a wooden base, with the cement known as "Stratena," and +partly filled with water. A cork coated with paraffine is placed inside +the chimney, and a rod of carbon twelve inches long and one-sixteenth of +an inch in thickness being inserted in the cork, the upward pressure of +the water on the cork causes the end of the carbon rod to come in slight +contact with a thick rod of carbon which is fastened obliquely to a +square piece of wood, cemented near the top of the chimney. A brass chip +fastened to the wood keeps the thin rod of carbon in position, and when +two copper wires connect the carbons with six to ten jars of a +bichromate battery, a light appears where the two carbons meet. As the +thin rod wastes away, the cork rises and keeps the end of the rod +almost in contact with the other carbon point. + +An ambition to creditably make a mechanical contrivance or apparatus is +noticeably characteristic of many boys. The construction of an aquarium, +a sailboat, or a telescope, or some similar object, is of absorbing +interest to such lads; and the making of the electrical apparatus of +straws, sealing-wax, etcetera, once described by Professor Tyndall, has +merely tasked the ingenuity of thinking boys to improve upon the +apparatus. + +Many educators maintain that manual training of a pleasant character, +adapted to the age of the pupils, should form an essential element in +the education of boys and girls, and should be placed on a par with the +regular studies. There is no doubt that such instruction stimulates +ambition and tends to develop taste, skill, and natural invention. At +the same time an insight into mechanical occupations, with some +practical experience in the handling of tools, may assist a boy in +choosing a calling suited to his taste, and better prepare him to enter +some practical industry, if his choice should incline toward such an +occupation. + +A few years ago, manual training in modeling, wood-carving, carpentry, +forge-work, and other branches, was introduced into a technical course +in the College of the City of New York, in East Twenty-third street. +To-day it is one of the most interesting features of the College work, +and is highly appreciated by the students. Private schools in this city, +as also some of the public and private schools of Boston and +Philadelphia, have introduced the workshop into their methods of +instruction, and devote a few hours in each week to practical and manual +labor. + +The models illustrated in this article represent many well spent and +helpful hours of recreation, and other boys may find pleasure and profit +in making similar use of their leisure time and their powers of +handicraft. + + + + +A NEW VIEW OF THE MOON. + +BY EVA LOVETT CARSON. + + + A little boy just two years old, + Or maybe two months older, + Came riding home across the lot, + Perched on his father's shoulder. + + "Look, Oswald! Hold your head up straight! + (Do stop that dreadful drumming!) + See, just above where Mamma stands + A little moon is coming!" + + The baby lifts his round blue eyes; + The moon laughs at their glancing. + To see the wonder of his gaze + 'Most sets the moon a-dancing. + + Frowning, he solved the problem soon; + Indignantly he spoke it: + "Papa, dat's not the big wound moon; + I fink _somebody b'oke it_!" + + + + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. + + +[Illustration] + + Away--ho, away!--Let us off on a quest! + To the North--to the South--to the East--to the West! + To the West, to find where the sunsets go + When the skies are as red as roses a-blow; + To the East, to see whence the mornings come; + To the South, the Summer to track to her home; + To the North, by the gleam of the Polar Star, + And Night's aurora flaming afar, + To seek, in the keen and biting weather, + The lodestone that holds the world together. + +Now and then somebody writes out the very thoughts of the birds; and +then again, others tell me very prettily just what they think ought to +be felt by the tuneful-minded little creatures. Here, for instance, +comes this scrap of verse from my friend Emily A. Braddock that I hope +not only you children, but all of my birds will hear. I don't allude so +much to the sparrows and such stay-at-homes as to my migratory, or +go-away birds. I'm sure they'd be delighted at a poet's way of putting +things. It will give them something to go for. As for myself, I've not +started yet, so we'll proceed to discuss a certain odd saying for which +it seems the world is indebted to one sort of these migratory birds: + + "EVERYTHING IS LOVELY, AND THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH." + +This expression, the Little School-ma'am says, is a corruption of an +old-fashioned saying that originated in the early days of this country. + +As most of you know, wild geese, when they migrate in autumn, form +themselves into lines shaped like the letter V, the leader flying at the +point, the two lines following; and as they sail away, far above the +trees, and beyond all danger from guns--on those cold mornings when the +air is clear, and the sky beautifully blue--they seem full of glee, and +join in a chorus, "_Honk, honk, honk!_" + +Any one who has heard those curiously sounding notes, the Little +School-ma'am says, never could mistake them for anything else. And the +folks on the earth below who heard the birds' wild call, in old times, +realized the happiness of the winged creatures in being so high and +safe. And so it became quite natural, when two persons met each other +under peculiarly favorable circumstances for this or that enterprise, +for them to say: "Everything is lovely and the goose honks high!" + + +GIRLS! TO THE RESCUE! + +Before we leave our dear birds, moreover, I have a special message for +you this month in their behalf: + +"You must not forget, friend Jack," says the Deacon, "to give the boys +and girls, especially the girls, my May-time sermon about the Audubon +Society." + +Forget it? Not I, indeed! Nor would you, if you could have seen the +honest and hearty indignation of the good Deacon and the Little +School-ma'am, as he read to her a printed circular telling all about the +monstrous wrong which the Audubon Society has nobly begun to fight. You +must know, dear girls, that this "monstrous wrong" is the custom of +wearing feathers and skins of birds on your hats and dresses. As I am an +honest Jack, I don't see how girls and their mammas, who, as everybody +knows, are supposed to have hearts more tender than men or boys, could +ever have been induced to follow so abominable a fashion. "Abominable" +is rather a strong word, I suppose; but it is the very one which the +good Deacon used when he read the printed slip. And the Little +School-ma'am--bless her!--actually gave a nod of satisfaction when she +heard it. As for me, no word would be too strong to express my feelings +on the subject. + +But I'll be content now with giving you what the Deacon calls "two plain +facts" about this fashion, and letting them speak for themselves. "You +must know then," says the Deacon, "that a single collector of ornamental +feathers in this country has declared that he handles every year about +_thirty thousand_ bird-skins, almost all of which are used for millinery +purposes; and that another man collected from the shooters in one small +district within four months, about _seventy thousand_ birds! + +"Now, Jack," adds the Deacon, "tell your young hearers to ask themselves +and their parents, whether this slaughter shall continue? The Audubon +Society says 'no!' Its membership is free to every one who is willing to +lend a helping hand to its objects. And its objects are to prevent as +far as possible, first, the killing of any wild birds not used for food; +second, the destruction of nests or eggs of wild birds; and third, the +wearing of feathers as ornaments or trimmings for dress. And certainly +women and girls can do much, in fact everything, for this third object." + +All the older readers of ST. NICHOLAS will remember the army of +bird-defenders which it established years ago. The Deacon says that +there is a call for a new army, and all that you need do to join it, my +girls, is to refuse to wear feathers on your hats or dresses. If all the +women and girls who now follow that cruel fashion would but abandon it, +the needless slaughter of the birds would soon be at an end. + + +ABOUT LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. + + "FELIXSTOW," BRIGHTWOOD (NEAR WASHINGTON). + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I am a little boy just six years + old. I live in the country about six miles from Washington. + I am very much interested in reading "Little Lord + Fauntleroy," because Mrs. Burnett, the lady who wrote it, + was out at our house last spring, and told us the story, and + I want to see if she changed it before she put it in the + book. I tell you, her own little boys, Lionel and Vivian, + are nice fellows to play with! I have a nice pony named Joe, + lots of chickens, a dog, and two cats, but I like digging in + the ground most. I raised a lot of pop-corn last year. + Somebody is writing this for me, but I am telling him what + to write. My little brother Paul bothers me considerably + when I want to make things. + + Good bye, dear Jack; you are a nice fellow. Your friend, + + FELIX RENOUF HOLT. + +"Felix is not alone," says the Little School-ma'am, "in his admiration +for Little Lord Fauntleroy. The children of the Red School House all are +charmed with his lordship, and for myself I consider him one of the very +sweetest and noblest little boys in English literature." + + +FISHING FOR NECKLACES. + +According to my friend, Ernest Ingersoll, a large proportion of the red +coral used by jewelers in making ornaments comes from the Mediterranean +coast of Algeria, where it is gathered chiefly by an ingenious machine. +Nets, the meshes of which are loose, are hung on the bars of a cross, +and dragged at the bottom of the sea among the nooks and crevices of the +rocks. These nets, winding about the branches of the coralline growth, +break off its branches, which adhere to the meshes. When he thinks it is +laden, the fisherman draws the net to the surface and helps himself to +the coral. This is sold in various markets, and afterward worked into +ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, and other pretty articles for girls and +their mammas. + + +A SUGGESTION TO THE BOTTLED FISH. + + READING, MASS., + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I read in the February number about + the bottled fish. I think it is very queer. In "Grimm's + Fairy Tales" there is a story about a fox that crept into a + hole where there was something to eat. After he ate it he + grew so fat that he could not get out, and he stayed there + till the farmer found him and killed him. I suppose it was + the same way with the fish, only he fed on oysters, and as I + think there are no farmers at the bottom of the sea, he + stayed there till he was drawn up. If I had been that fish, + I would have starved myself till I was thin enough to get + out. I have taken St. Nicholas since I was two years old, + and my mamma says she brought me up on it, so you see I have + been well brought up. + + I remain yours truly, + + E. S. K. PACKARD. + + +THE NEWSPAPER PLANT. + +You are to be told in this month's ST. NICHOLAS, I hear, about a curious +"lace-leaf," a "vegetable necktie," and a "caricature plant." If so, +this is a good time for me to show you a curiosity called the newspaper +plant, which the Little School-ma'am described the other day to the +young folk of the Red School House. + +It seems that in certain far-away countries called New Mexico and +Arizona, there are great tracts of desolate desert lands, where the very +hills seem destitute of life and beauty, and where the earth is +shriveled from centuries of terrible heat. And in these desert-tracts +grow a curious, misshapen, grotesque and twisted plant that seems more +like a goblin tree than a real one. + +Of all the trees in the world, you would imagine this to be the most +outcast and worthless--so meager a living does it obtain from the waste +of sand and gravel in which it grows. And yet this goblin tree is now +being sought after and utilized in one of the world's greatest +industries--an industry that affects the daily needs of civilization, +and is of especial importance to every girl and boy who reads the pages +of ST. NICHOLAS. + +Those wise folk, the botanists, call our goblin tree by its odd Indian +name of the "Yucca" palm. + +[Illustration: THE YUCCA PALM.] + +This plant of the desert for a long time was considered valueless. But +not long ago it was discovered that the fiber of the Yucca could be made +into an excellent paper.[E] And now one of the great English dailies, +the London _Telegraph_, is printed upon paper made from this goblin +tree. Indeed, the _Telegraph_ has purchased a large plantation in +Arizona, merely for the purpose of cultivating this tree, and +manufacturing paper from it. So, you see, the Yucca is now a newspaper +plant. + + +ONE MORE LIVING BAROMETER. + + DEAR JACK: As you have told us so much about living + barometers, I want to tell you that I have one. Mine is a + red squirrel. Just before a "cold snap" she will be surly + and sleepy. When she is angry, she will spread her lower + teeth apart. She will play like a kitten. I call her Gipsy, + and she is my chief pet. + + Your constant reader, + + M. M. M. + +[Footnote E: For an article describing the manufacture of paper, see ST. +NICHOLAS for August, 1884, page 808.] + + + + +EDITORIAL NOTES. + + +In a note which accompanied the article in our present number, "When +Shakspere was a Boy," Miss Kingsley desires us to state that she owes +much valuable information about charms (mentioned on page 488), and also +about Shaksperean games and customs, to Mr. Richard Savage, of the +Shakspere Birthplace Museum, Stratford-on-Avon. + + * * * * * + +In his story of "The Great Snow-ball Fight," printed in our March +number, Mr. Barnard showed how some boys put out the fire in the Widow +Lawson's house, by snow-balling it. This may have appeared to some +readers almost impossible, but it was based upon an actual occurrence. +And an instance of that mode of at least preventing a fire, was recorded +in the New York papers of February 11th. It appears in an account of the +burning of the stables of the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, at Hempstead, Long +Island. "No modern appliance for extinguishing fire was at hand," says +one journal, "but there was plenty of snow, and this was banked up about +the adjoining stables, and undoubtedly saved them from being burned. +Whenever sparks from the burning building fell on the adjacent barns, +they were quickly extinguished by well-directed snow-balls thrown upon +them." + + +THE LETTER-BOX. + + CONCORD, N. H. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Lena and I play dolls very often, but the + latest game we play is throwing cards into a hat placed on + the floor about six feet away. Lena put in thirty-two out of + fifty-two. If you have room enough to print this in your + Letter-box, I should like to read it. + + Yours truly, + + RUTH A. M. + +That is a very nice game, Ruth, although six feet seems a long distance +for a small girl to toss the cards. We have seen grown folk try the game +at four feet, and then several of them could not put one in twenty into +the hat; so Lena's score of thirty-two out of fifty-two is a fine one. +The game can be played with any kind of cards, and with sides or by +individuals. The largest number of cards thrown into the hat, either by +one person or by a side, makes the winning score. If played by sides, +not more than twenty cards should be used, and each side should play +five rounds, thus making one hundred the highest possible score for any +player. + + * * * * * + + MIDDLETOWN, CONN. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am anxious to have the March number + come, so that I can see how Little Lord Fauntleroy's + grandfather treats him. That serial story I enjoy very much. + I go to a private girls' school in the morning, and study + German in the afternoon with my mother. + + With much love I am your faithful reader, + + HELEN W. A. + + * * * * * + + PROVIDENCE, R. I. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: This is the first time that I have + written to you. + + I have a funny story to tell about a mouse. My canary bird + used to hang up in our nursery-window on a chain. Sometimes + in the evening or night, we would hear mice running around, + and in the morning we would find that some of the seed was + gone. Mamma thought it was a mouse, but _we_ did not think + so. Papa had been trying to catch them in a trap, but did + not catch many. We then thought that we would try another + way. So Papa took the cage down and put a pail of water on + the chain, and when the little mouse went up the chain, as + he used to do, instead of going in the cage, he went in the + pail of water and was drowned. This is a true story. I am + eleven years old. Good-bye. + + am your constant reader, + + B. G. H. + + * * * * * + + CARRINGTON, DAKOTA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: You do not know me at all, but I know you + and love you so much! When you were brought to me this + morning I almost kissed your bright face for joy. It was + stormy this morning, and I was tired playing with kitty; + besides that I had been waiting so long to read some more + about Little Lord Fauntleroy! He is such a brave, wise + little boy! Will you ask Mrs. Burnett to please not make him + unhappy with his grandfather? Ever since we had our + Christmas entertainment, I have wanted to tell you about it, + but have been too sick to write you. We called it "An + Evening with Mother Goose and the Brownies." Yes,--we had + all the cute little boys in Carrington dressed up like + Brownies. They did mischief very nicely, all quietly in + their stocking-feet. While Mother Goose was singing her + melodies, they came and stole away her goose, and they + pelted Mother Hubbard with paper balls when she sang that + song in the ST. NICHOLAS: "I had an Educated Pug." In the + tableaux, they tripped up Jack and Jill, upset Blue-beard, + stole Jack Horner's plum, overturned the bachelor's + wheelbarrow, little wife and all, let the spider down from a + tree on little Miss Muffett, and tied Bo-peep's sheep-tails + to a tree, and woke her up with their baa's. Then we had + "The House that Jack built," just like it is in the ST. + NICHOLAS, for Nov. 1883. It was just splendid, and so funny; + but when the rat was to come out of "The House that Jack + built," the cat had put his foot on the string and it broke, + so the cat couldn't come out. Then the maiden all forlorn + picked up the rat, threw it at the cat, and everybody just + roared! + + I am nine years old, and my name is, + + THEODORA C. + + * * * * * + + NEW HARTFORD, IOWA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I believe the little girls that take the + ST. NICHOLAS will like to hear about my numerous paper + dolls. I have a whole town of them, and they all have their + names written on their backs. I was so interested in "The + Firm of Big Brain, Little Brain & Co." After I read it, I + kept thinking what my "Big Brain" was telegraphing. Well, my + big brain telegraphs to my hand, that if it writes any more, + the letter will be too long to print. So good-bye. I am + + One of your many friends, + + GRACE C. + + * * * * * + + WOODLAND, CAL. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I think you are the nicest magazine in + the whole world. I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a + beautiful story. It seems so real. Cedric reminds me of my + little cousin Birdie (that is his pet name). One day his + aunt (who is an artist) asked him if he did not want her to + paint him. He said: "I had rather be as I are." He is nearly + four years old. I live on a vineyard of 160 acres. + + Your faithful reader, + + LILLIAN H. + + * * * * * + + FORT ASSINABOINE, MON. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I commenced taking your paper five months + ago, and I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is the best story + I ever read. + + We have plenty of skating here, and fifty ponies to ride. + + Another boy is writing a letter to you too. We live 200 + miles from Helena and we have to go in a stage or wait till + the river opens. + + We only have to go to school in the morning, and we play all + the rest of the day. + + Yours truly, + + S. F. P. + + * * * * * + + BROOKLYN, N. Y., 1886. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I thought that I would send you a letter + at last. I will tell you about our washwoman and me. I have + something the matter with my knee, and so I have to stay in + the house. Well, our washwoman and I were having some fun. I + was at the back parlor window, and the washwoman was down in + the back yard hanging up the clothes, and I got a snow-ball + and threw it at her, and you ought to have seen her! She + looked up and down and could not see anybody, and after a + while she saw me, and then, the way she looked! She said: "I + will give it to you!" + + Yours truly, + + FRANK T. + + * * * * * + + EVERETT, MASS. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for a year and I could + not do without you. Every month you gladden our home with + your beautiful pictures, interesting stories, and pretty + bits of poetry. + + I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a splendid story. I must + not forget to mention the "Brownies." What busy little + workers they are! I have one pet, a beautiful linnet. Her + name is Daisy. She is a very sweet singer. + + I remain, your constant reader, + + MAY F. + + * * * * * + + KINGSTON, INDIANA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do not see many letters from Indiana in + your Letter-box. I would not do without you for ten dollars + a year. + + I like your Natural History. I have several books on Natural + History. + + Last year I wanted you so badly that Papa said I must earn + the money myself. I had enough, lacking fifty cents. We had + an oyster supper here, and papa gave me fifty cents to + spend; so I did without oysters and took you. I am thirteen + years old. + + Yours sincerely, + + ART. R. + + * * * * * + + MT. AUBURN, CINCINNATI, O. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I like your stories very much. I am a boy + seven years old. I do not go to school, but Mamma teaches me + with two little girls. I had a lovely Christmas. I got a + locomotive, a sword, a scarf, a marble game, a rolling-pin, + a box to keep my pens and pencils in, and some cards and + books for Christmas. I think you are the best book I ever + read. This is the first year I began to take you. I like the + "Brownies" best. Tell Mr. Palmer Cox to put "Brownies" in + every ST. NICHOLAS. Please don't forget to print my letter, + for I have written it all myself, and spelled it without any + help. + + I had two kittys, and their names were Mitten and Topsy. We + gave away Mitten and kept Topsy, but after a while we lost + Topsy, and then we found another kitty, but she ran away. I + am sorry they went away, for I love kittys. Good-bye, dear + ST. NICHOLAS, I am so glad it is most time for you to come + again. Please don't forget to print my letter, for I love + you so much! + + Your loving friend, + + RALPH B. R. + + * * * * * + + LEWISBURG, W. VA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have just finished reading the February + number, and I think that "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and + "George Washington" are splendid! I am a little girl ten + years old. Have taken you for four years. + + I have ever so many uncles and aunts. One of my aunts sends + you to me. + + Your loving reader, + + DOTTIE M. + + * * * * * + + WYOMING, DEL. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have never written to you before, but I + love to read the letters others have sent you. You have been + coming to our house nearly three years, and we all look + anxiously for the 26th of the month, when you are due. You + are my own book. I pay for you with money I have earned + myself. My little sister wonders whenever she sees ST. + NICHOLAS what the Brownies are doing in it. Mamma is much + interested in "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and we like it too, + and all the rest of your stories, but especially "The Gilded + Boy of Florence," because we know the man who wrote it and + have heard him preach. He says all he wrote in that story is + true. Good-bye. + + Ever your faithful reader, + + C. LIZZIE B. + + * * * * * + + LONDON, ENGLAND. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am an American girl who left New York + four years ago, during which time I have been a constant + reader of ST. NICHOLAS. My school friends who read English + all want it also. You have been forwarded to me from London + as far as Turkey and Egypt. And so, if you can only spare a + few minutes, I would like to tell you about the pyramids and + the sphinx. + + From Shepherd's Hotel, Cairo, it is a beautiful drive of + seven miles through an archway of large trees by the side of + the Nile. There are several pyramids. The chief one is said + to be 463 feet high, and one would think the top would be + very small; but you will no doubt be surprised to hear that + the Khedive gave a dinner to twenty-four guests upon the top + of a pyramid. The dinner was served in the usual manner by + Arab waiters; the gentlemen walked up, while the ladies were + carried up in chairs. The pyramids are built like + stairs,--one stone on top the other, with only an edge for a + foothold. + + Many tourists try to climb the structure, which is very + fatiguing work. We gave an expert Arab fifty cents to do it + in ten minutes; he went up in six minutes and down in four + minutes. From the pyramid to the sphinx is quite a little + walk through thick sand; and the Sphinx is so big you can + hardly see it all at once. The English soldiers knocked off + some of its right hand and all its nose. It is cut from a + solid rock and looks as black as iron. The Egyptian postage + stamps have pictures of both the pyramid and the sphinx. The + temple dedicated to the sphinx lies in ruins here, but the + remains are very beautiful, being nearly all of alabaster; + and in the cellar they have just discovered an image, which + is so immense they can't get it out from the place where it + has lain so many hundred years. Some time I will write a + letter about the Holy Land, as I lived there two months. I + hope you will print my letter; it is my first attempt, and I + am fourteen years old. Your March number will find me at + Alexandria, for I take the Beyrouth steamer next week. I + hope, dear ST. NICHOLAS, your Egyptian friend has not tired + you, and I also hope this may find a place in your + Letter-box. + + Your loving Egyptian friend, + + MAUD STANLEY F. + + * * * * * + + MOHEGAN LAKE, N. Y. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you this letter, a true story + about a fish-hawk. + + It was in the middle of April, 1883. A man who was rowing on + one of those lakes east of the Highlands, in the northern + part of Westchester County, espied a large fish-hawk sitting + on a dead limb near the water. The man, having his gun with + him, rowed over toward the hawk, and when in range fired at + him flying. The wounded bird fell, hit on the outer joint of + the left wing. With the help of his companion the man + managed to bring him home. In less than a week, the boy of + the house fed him with fish out of his own hands, and the + hawk did not attempt to claw him. One day the boy wanted to + see how many pounds of fish the hawk would eat. He caught + seven suckers weighing a pound and a half each. The hawk ate + six, one after another, and took the seventh, but refused to + eat it until half an hour afterward. What an enormous + appetite he had! Later on in the summer, the boy would take + him to the water to wash. He did it just as a canary does in + his china bath. The boy would take him and put him on the + side of the boat and row him around, and the hawk would sit + there, taking in everything, as well as the summer visitors, + who were taking him in. The hawk was so tame that his keeper + could smooth his head and chuck him under his beak and the + hawk would only flop his wings and whistle when the boy + turned, as though delighted with what the boy did. This + creature measured five feet eleven inches from tip to tip of + the wings, and came to his death in October of the same + year, by getting caught in the string by which he was + fastened, greatly to the sorrow of his keeper who cared for + him. The bird is now stuffed and in a friend's room in New + York City. + + Yours truly, + + S. F. K. E. G. + + * * * * * + + CINCINNATI, O. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I thought I would write to you to say + what so many of the other girls and boys who take you have + already said: "That I love every one of your stories and can + hardly wait until the 25th of the month comes, to read you." + I have taken you two years and would not be without you one + single month. I live in the dirty city of Cincinnati, but I + have a great deal of fun any way. + + We have had two snowstorms this winter, but by the time the + snow has lain on the ground three or four days it is so + black that I actually believe that people who come from the + country would not know it was snow unless they were told. + + I will now close, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing this + letter printed. + + I remain, your constant reader, + + GRACE S. C. + + P. S. I forgot to say I was thirteen years old and have a + brother nine years old, who thinks the ST. NICHOLAS "a + dandy," as he expresses it. + + * * * * * + +MORE ABOUT CURVE-PITCHING. + + LINCOLN CO., NEB. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: The two letters in the February number on + "curve-pitching," I was very glad to see. It was during my + college-days that the "curve" made its appearance, and it + was for some time a matter of much interesting discussion + among us. I was not much of a base-ball man, but I saw a + good deal of curve-pitching, and occasionally threw some + rather wild "curves" myself in an amateurish way. We budding + physicists discussed the why and wherefore of the problem, + but never arrived at any satisfactory solution. The same + explanation which is given in the second letter of your + February number suggested itself to me at the time, and I + was quite satisfied with it until I discovered that it did + not accord with the facts of the case. It is a beautiful + theory, but, like some other theories, it doesn't work. + + According to the theory, as shown by your correspondent, the + ball rotating (as indicated by his diagram which he gives), + against the hands of the watch should curve to the right, + producing the _in_ curve. But the fact is, that a ball so + rotating will curve to the left--the _out_ curve. And a ball + rotating in a contrary direction, _i. e._, so that points on + its forward side are moving to the right, will curve to the + right--the _in_ curve. In both cases the axis of rotation is + vertical, so that the motions of the ball may be well + illustrated by a spinning-top, as is shown in the first + letter by A. D. S. But the case of a rifle-ball in motion + does not seem to me to be parallel with that of a base-ball + under normal conditions. A rifle-ball is given a rotation + about an axis parallel to and coincident with its line of + flight, just as an arrow rotates on its shaft. Now, none of + the curves of a base-ball are produced with the axis of + rotation in this position. In the _in_ and _out_ curves, as + already said, the axis of rotation is vertical; while the + _rise_ and _drop_ are produced by rotating the ball about a + horizontal axis perpendicular to the line of flight. In + _all_ cases the axis of rotation _must_ be at right angles + to the line of flight, and the more accurately this + condition is complied with, the more marked the effect. My + knowledge of the subject is too slight to warrant me in + asserting that the curving of the rifle-ball and that of the + base-ball do not depend on the same principle, but it does + not seem to me that the two are identical, for the above + reasons. + + I have no theory to offer, but trust that among the readers + of ST. NICHOLAS some may be found who have penetrated to the + "true inwardness" of this interesting problem, and will give + us a complete and scientific explanation of it. + + Yours truly, + + H. H. H. + + * * * * * + + BEVERLY, OHIO. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read with considerable interest + the letters in ST. NICHOLAS for February concerning + curve-pitching. I am a boy who takes great interest in + base-ball, and have many times pitched curves. I have seen + persons, and see them yet, who firmly maintain that a ball + cannot be curved, even when they have ocular demonstration + of the fact. But that has nothing to do with what I have to + say. I have studied the diagram of my anonymous friend, and + am convinced that he is exactly wrong. With the following + diagrams I shall show which way a ball curves with a given + rotation, and give my theory of the curve: + + [Illustration] + + Suppose, as in the letter published, the ball moves one + hundred feet per second, and revolves so that the equator + moves around at the same rate. Then, in the first diagram, + the friction at B is greatest, and at D is 0. But instead of + curving as my anonymous friend demonstrates, it will curve + in exactly the _opposite_ direction; namely, in the same + direction in which it rotates. + + I have appended diagram 2, simply to show the curve where + the friction is 0 at B and greatest at D. Then it will curve + as indicated. + + I have a short theory, namely: In the first diagram, the + more rapid movement of B compresses the air on that side, + while at D it is in its normal state. Hence the pressure at + B more than counterbalances that at D, and, as it were, + shoves the ball in the direction of the side D, thus + producing the curve. In the 2d diagram, the letters B and D + interchange in the theory. I would like to hear more about + this subject. + +Very respectfully yours, + +F. C. J. + + * * * * * + + BIRMINGHAM, MICH. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read with great interest the + articles in the October, December, and February numbers, + about curve-pitching. I have had quite a good deal of + experience in the "one,-two,-three,-and-out" line myself, + and have also, for the last two or three years, been able to + make others have the same experience, by putting them out, + in the same way. Therefore, I venture a reply to the + explanation in the February number, backing my statement by + the experience of many eminent curve-pitchers, and also by + the story in the October number of "How Science Won the + Game." + + [Illustration] + + The above diagram is the same as your correspondent uses, + and he asserts that the point B is moving faster than D; + consequently, there is more friction at B, whence B is + retarded more than D, and so the ball will curve toward W in + the path of the dotted line. Now, if he will look in the + story of "How Science Won the Game," where the base-ball + editor shows the boys how to hold and how to throw the ball + to make the different curves, he will find that when he + throws the ball so that it whirls as shown in diagram, it + will curve toward P, a direction entirely opposite from the + one he designates. And any curve-pitcher will tell him the + same. When I first read his explanation, I thought it was + all right, for it looks quite reasonable, but upon second + thoughts, I saw it was wrong, and to make sure, I took a + ball and tried it. The only way I can get around his + explanation (aside from actual fact) is this: The point B, + as he clearly shows, is moving faster than D, and so the + ball, if the friction of the air is taken away, will + naturally curve toward the side D or point P. Now, the + question is, Will the friction of the air be enough greater + on the side B to overcome the difference in the motions of + the two sides? If it is, the ball must move in a straight + line, but as it curves toward the side D, we must conclude + that it is not, and that the friction of the air tends more + to hinder than to help the ball to curve. I really believe + that if it could be tried, a person could make a ball curve + in a vacuum more easily than we can make it curve in the + air. Trusting to hear more upon this subject, I remain, + sincerely yours, + +"A CURVER." + + * * * * * + + FREMONT, NEB. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have never written to you before, but I + think perhaps you will publish this one letter. I hope you + will publish it, as I have never yet had anything of mine + published. + + I like the story entitled, "How Science Won the Game." + Although I am but thirteen years old I think I can pitch a + curve. I go to the Fremont Normal School and like it very + much. + + I am going to have the 1884 and 1885 ST. NICHOLAS bound next + week. I think you have a very entertaining magazine, and I + think the pictures are very nice. I have the magazine for a + Christmas present every year. I have taken ST. NICHOLAS + three years and I hope I may always take it. + + Papa says he doesn't think you will publish this, but I + think you will. + + Yours truly, + + EDDIE H. B. + + * * * * * + + AYER, MASS. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: As so many of your readers have written + to you, I thought I would write too, that I might have the + pleasure of seeing my letter in print. + + I have taken you a year and have fallen greatly in love with + your delightful pages. + + I think "How Science Won the Game" is a lovely story; I felt + much interested in it, for last summer the girls of my age + who lived here got up a base-ball nine. In time, we played + very nicely and enjoyed the fun. The readers of the + Letter-box may think this a funny game for girls to play, + but we liked it and found it very good exercise. + + I am fifteen years old; I have a little dog, his name is + Teddie; he is a very good little dog, but I pity the cat + that gets in his way. + + I like to read "From Bach to Wagner," as I enjoy reading of + different composers. + + Your true reader, + + RUTH F. + + * * * * * + +We heartily thank the young friends whose names here follow, for +pleasant letters received from them: Kate Ethel C., John Myers, Sadie B. +Crane, G. M. F., Jamie H., Walter J. Cohen, Stuart L. Martin, George +Williams, Eddie L. Goodman, Violette T. Haines, Lillie M. Grubbs, Freda +Nicolai, Eva Wilkins, Miriam Ferry, Hortie O'Meara, Anna Ross, Clara +Louise Whitney, Constance and Richard Bigelow, E. R. B., J. H. B., Mary +and Gussie, Jessie Hiltner, Alberta Stout, Willis Dunning, Nellie E. +Stebbins, Marion R. Brown, A. W. Smith, Josie and May, Kate G., Hallie +H. Haines, Johnny B. S., Daisy, Gertie Beidler, Mary M. C., Charles L. +Baldwin, Kitty Clover, Alice Olney, Emil Harrington, Katie M. Cathcart, +Arthur F. B., Agnes Hanks, Elizabeth K. Stewart, Wade W. Thayer, Brooks +Upham, Rosalie, Mamie Eells, Florence Lanty, Frank Dearstyne, Vera +Wheeler, Nellie McN. Suydam, Elizabeth B. Grumball, Ida Cameron, Ethel +Marion Walker, Fawn Evans, Alfa P. Tyrrell, H. and A. V. P., G. P. S., +Clara Moore, F. W. S., Portia, Nellie T., Eva R., Norine, Anna M. +Lister, Blanche E. Ives, Mary Hicks, "Dolly Varden," Nora T. C., Natie +P. Thompson, Daniel McPhail, Mary E. Seavey, Storrs E. E., H. C. J., +Edith B., Kittie E. Fogarty, Frank Carman, Ruth A., C. H. M., Richard D. +Bennett, Anne Grey Millett, Addie Rockwell, Laura Smith, Paula Goetz, +Katie S. Denholm, Carl M. Ruhlen, Thomas McKeone, W. C. T., Marion +Loomis, Alice E. Bogert, Gertrude E. S., Julian Granbery, B. M. S., +Edward P. Irwin, "The Five Friends," T. L., Kate B. Tilley, Irene S. +Duer, Violet Scath, Florence M. Wickes, E. W. B., May Delany, and Bertha +Sweet. + + + + +THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION + +SIXTY-FIRST REPORT. + + +AN ENGRAVED CHARTER FOR FRAMING. + +Our attention has been called to the fact that heretofore we have sent +to our Chapters no charters, or certificates, suitable for framing. + +To remedy this deficiency, we have engaged one of the leading firms of +New-York City to design a very beautiful A. A. Charter, to be handsomely +engraved on bond or parchment paper. The size of the charter will be +about 12 × 18 inches or larger. + +At the top is drawn an open ST. NICHOLAS, showing on one page Prof. +Agassiz's portrait, and on the other, representations of the animal and +vegetable kingdoms. + +Above the magazine is our badge, the Swiss Cross; and below is the +motto, _Per Naturam ad Deum_. Then follows the certificate proper, +handsomely ornamented, bearing the name of the founder of the Chapter, +the name, number, and letter of the same, and signed with the autograph +of the President of the A. A. Of course the first two hundred +impressions--or artist's proofs--are the finest. Many members are so +pleased with them that they wish to secure copies for their individual +possession. + + +THE CLASS IN MINERALOGY. + +None of the courses of study we have ever had the pleasure of offering +to our friends, has had the magnificent success which is attending Prof. +Crosby's class in mineralogy. At this writing no less than eighty-nine +pupils are enrolled, and as Chapters usually take the course through one +representative, this number doubtless means that at the least five +hundred persons are learning how to observe and describe minerals, under +most competent instruction. To each pupil is sent a set of thirty +valuable specimens, and all exercises are corrected and returned for +revision. Geographically, the class extends from Washington Territory to +England. + + +REPORTS OF CHAPTERS. + +We have to begin again this month, as last, by presenting the excellent +reports of dilatory Chapters. A little more promptness hereafter, good +secretaries, if you please! + +37, _Kingsboro, N. Y._ By some mischance, your card notifying me that +our report is due has just come to my notice, and I hasten to write, +fearing our "candlestick may be removed." Last week three of us visited +a gold-mine and brought home specimens of rock from which gold is +obtained, averaging about twenty dollars per ton. The rock is dark, +fine-grained, and resembles lime-stone. It effervesces with acid. We +have here beautiful specimens of the Azoic rocks, and we could make up +named collections to exchange for other specimens.--W. W. Thomas, Box +711. + +112, _So. Boston_. We number ten active and three honorary members. +During the year we have held twenty-two meetings, with an average +attendance of eight. In January we gave an entertainment, and realized +$10.80. In April we endeavored to establish an assembly of the Chapters +in this part of the State, but did not succeed. + +During the year we have studied chemistry, zoölogy, and astronomy. At +one time we visited the Agassiz museum in a body, and learned a great +deal. Having seen now what we can do, I think we shall all study harder +during the coming year.--Geo. L. Whitehouse, 37 Gates street. + + [_Don't be discouraged; we shall have a State Assembly in + Massachusetts before many years._] + +134, _De Pere, Wis._ We have eighteen members. Our room is beginning to +look very nicely. We added five new cases last fall. We have 1600 +geological specimens,--including 1000 fossils,--600 minerals, 50 birds, +500 plants, 400 shells, and 100 ethnological specimens.--A. S. Gilbert. + +153, _Chicago_ (_E_). At the Exposition here last fall, we had two large +cases, one containing minerals, the other fossils, which compared +favorably with any in the building, and did much toward making our +society known to the throng of visitors. We have added new books to our +library at no small expense. Our "Paper" is the latest addition to our +meetings, and contains original articles, clippings, and the letters +received.--Charles T. Mixer. + +164, _Jackson, Mich._ (_B_). We have eight members, and expect more +soon. We all have natural histories of our own. We meet once a week, on +Monday evening. We had a very pleasant field-meeting by Clark's Lake. +All our members are interested.--James C. Wood. + +168, _Buffalo_ (_C_). During the summer there were some excursions, +which brought a number of specimens into the hands of our curator. With +the new year fresh courage has inspired most of us. Our prospects are +quite bright. We still have our standing committees in each department, +and these have a report to make nearly every week. Every two weeks we +have an essay. Our next topic is to be "Forests and their Utility." +Besides this and the reading and discussion of scientific essays, we +have our weekly report on the current scientific news, and notes and +personal observations. Chapter K of this city has joined us, and Chapter +I thinks of following the example of Chapter K.--Sophie Finkenstaedt. + +187, _Albany, N. Y._ (_A_). We have found time for occasional meeting +among the heavy requirements of school-life; and as for myself, I find +our own back-yard a bewildering field for exploration. We have ten +active and eleven honorary members. Our meetings are held alternate +Wednesday evenings at the houses of members, and are always well +attended and interesting. At our next meeting--our second anniversary--a +special programme is to be carried out. We are to debate the comparative +usefulness of astronomy and botany; have an extra number of _The +Naturalist_, our MS. paper; scientific essays, readings and lectures. +Albany A has never been more flourishing.--John P. Gavit. + + +THIRD CENTURY. + +215, _Tioga Centre, N. Y._ We have been steadily progressing in our +department--botany. Last autumn we made asters a specialty, and +succeeded in collecting and analyzing fourteen species and two +varieties. We are now ready to exchange promptly.--Angie Latimer, Sec. + +220, _De Pere, Wis._ (_C._) Chapter C has disbanded. Please scratch our +number out.--Jessie R. Jackson. + + [_But we hope the Chapter will "jump into another bush," so + we can "scratch them in again!"_] + +234, _New York_, (_G_). We have joined Chapter 87, New York (B),--F. W. +Roos, 335 W. 27th street. + +238, _Winterset, Iowa_. One of our charter members is dead; one is in +Oregon; two are away at college; one is in Mississippi. In fact, there +is nothing left of our Chapter. I am sorry, for I think the Association +work is a very great benefit to the members.--Harry C. Wallace. + + [_Our correspondent will remember that by our present rules + even one active member is allowed to maintain the honor, and + retain the number and name of a Chapter once properly + organized. We shall be disappointed if we do not meet him on + the 24th of next August, at Davenport, Iowa, as the + representative of a reorganized and efficient Chapter._] + +246, _Bethlehem, Pa._ We are in a very flourishing condition, and now +have fifteen members. Our cabinet is crowded with specimens, all in good +condition. We occupy a pleasant room rented by the Chapter. We shall +enter the coming season with undiminished enthusiasm for the study of +Nature. + +248, _Richmond, Va._ An informal meeting was held, and twenty-three of +us boys were enrolled as members of a Chapter of the A. A. We elected +our teacher, Miss Jennie Ellett, President. Committees were appointed to +draft by-laws, build cabinets, etc. Instead of forming a new society, +Mrs. Marshall has kindly consented to let us reorganize Chapter +248.--_W. T. Terry_, Sec., 109 E. Grace St. + +252, _Utica, N. Y._ We have a most flourishing Chapter of forty-seven +members. In the past year our school building was enlarged, and a room +was made purposely to hold our treasures. In it is a cabinet overflowing +with minerals, shells, and plants, 3 cases full of _lepidoptera_, a +forty-dollar microscope, and a cabinet, which the boys are trying to +fill with microscopical slides of their own manufacture. We have also an +aquarium 12 x 24 inches, stocked with fish, newts, snails, turtles, +etc., also a bird's egg cabinet that will hold several hundred +specimens, and a Wardia case, 36 x 18 inches, which we are now using for +hatching chrysalids. At our last meeting a cecropia "came out," +measuring over six and a half inches across the wings. Our Chapter is +divided into committees, each committee having a teacher for chairman. +The committees are expected to furnish each week specimens representing +their special branches. Of all the subjects before us the hardest "nut +to crack" was, "What is a sea-bean?" but owing to indomitable +perseverance, it has been most thoroughly cracked. + + [_Please send us the kernel!_] + +Agassiz's birthday was duly celebrated in the woods. Speeches were made, +poems recited, and the rest of the day devoted to a grand specimen-hunt. +It rained hard all day, but that could not quench the fire in this +Chapter, and we returned home loaded down with treasures. We have +shells, mica, and _lepidoptera_ for exchange. The Chapter desires to +express its deepest gratitude to the founder of the A. A. for two +delightful years.--Frances E. Newland, Sec. + + [_Such a delightful report as the one which we have here + condensed, is more than enough to repay one for all the + labor connected with the A. A. The debt of gratitude is on + the other side._] + +254, _Fulton, N. Y._ We have started a library, and are now studying +ornithology. Our membership is reduced to three, but all are +active.--Herbert C. Howe. + + [_If three active-members understand "Reduction Ascending," + they will soon reduce the membership to a dozen or more._] + +256, _Newton, Upper Falls, Mass._ The past year has been one of +gratifying progress. We number twelve. Our meetings are very +interesting, each member giving an account of some object in his branch +of study, often illustrating it by the specimen or describing some book +he has been reading, or relating some recent personal experience. At the +first meeting of each month a paper called _Gatherings_ is read, +composed of original records of personal observations. Wishing to bring +our Chapter and its work to the knowledge of our friends, we have held a +series of socials at the home of one of our members. The first of the +evening we have devoted to talks and essays by the members of the +Chapter, and later we have played games, and amused ourselves in other +ways. We find this plan very beneficial, and have already gained three +new members and a present of books.--Mrs. J. M. H. Smith. + + [_We commend this suggestive report to the earnest attention + of every Chapter._] + +257, _Plantsville, Ct._ We have made large additions to our collections. +Our library also has been enlarged, and we have now nearly 100 volumes. +We decide on the subject for each coming meeting in this way. Each +member writes on a ballot the subject he would prefer. The ballots are +then shaken in a hat, and the one drawn first is our subject. Moreover, +the one whose ballot is successful must furnish a paper on that subject, +and all the others bring short items on the same subject. We closed our +last meeting by a collation, and singing by our glee club.--A. L. Ely, +Box 219. + +260, _Mercer, Pa._ We have not been idle, and have quite a collection. +We think every Chapter should keep a scrap-book for entering reports and +clippings.--Mrs. H. M. Magoffin. + +272, _West Town, N. Y._--Most of us are attending school away from home. +We therefore disband through the winter, and then reorganize for the +summer vacation, and work as much as we can, for we have farm work to do +besides. Still we can study as we work, and we do this. Our minerals are +all labeled and mounted. We have about 200 birds' eggs, some of them +quite rare. We pride ourselves on our insects. I think we have 300, +still am not positive. Our botanical specimens number 200. The work we +have done, though not very great, has done us a great amount of +good.--William Evans, Sec. + + +SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. + + MANCHESTER, VT. + + I am extremely anxious to experiment during the coming + season with the American silk-producing worms, not for the + purpose of producing raw silk, but for other reasons of + scientific and practical interest. I wish to learn the best + books for giving a knowledge of the habits of _Attacus + Cecropia_, _Polyphemus_, and the Promethean moths. I shall + be glad of any information regarding the best places to find + their cocoons. I should like to hear of the experience of + others in finding cocoons, and raising the moths. I have M. + Trouvelot's papers on the subject, Dr. Garlick's letters on + his experiments; also Dr. Stirling's, Prof. Riley's report + on Silk Production No. 11, Packard's "Our Common Insects," + Sir John Lubbock's "Origin and Metamorphosis of Insects." I + should like the addresses of any parties who have cocoons of + the said moths to dispose of; and finally, information + regarding the success or failure of any who may have tried + the experiment of raising the worms. + + Very truly yours, + + C. F. ORVIS. + + [_Mr. Orvis is a member of the A. A., has been for years + engaged in an important manufacturing business, and we trust + may obtain from "those who know," all the information he + desires._] + + +EXCHANGES. + +Two thousand square-cut post-marks, all different, in a neat book; also +1500 duplicates, for best offer in stone implements.--Laurie H. McNeill, +Ch. 902, Mobile, Ala. + +Correspondence with amateur egg-collectors desired. Iowa +preferred.--Oscar Clute, Jr., Iowa City, Iowa. + +American bird-skins and eggs (with data), for English. Also mounted +microscopical pathological specimens. Lists exchanged.--Wm. D. Grier, 49 +Gloucester St., Boston, Mass. + + +NEW CHAPTERS. + +_No._ _Name._ _No. of Members._ _Address._ + +941 Hohokus, N. J. (A) 4 Mrs. R. Van Dien, Jr. +942 Sioux Falls, Dakota (B) 10 Percy Edmison. +943 Sancelito, Cal. (A) 7 A. J. Campbell, Box 31, Marin Co. +944 Buffalo, N. Y. (L) 12 Nathan N. Block, 82 Norris Place. +945 Baltimore, Md. 4 Maurice Straus, 225 Linden Ave. +946 Seneca Falls (B) 5 Wm. Hopper. +947 San Francisco, Cal. (J) 4 Miss Alice J. Ellis, 27 So. Park. +948 Prairie Du Chien, Wis. (A) 7 Chas. Chase, Jr. +949 New York, N. Y. (Z) 4 Fred Stanton, 420 W. 61st St. + + +DISSOLVED. + +863 Providence, R. I. (E) Frederic Gorham. +362 Newport, R. I. (B) 4 Thomas Crosby, Jr. +242 Philadelphia (I) J. F. Stevens. + + +REORGANIZED. + +746 Helena, Montana (A) 8 Kurt Kleinschmidt, Box 292. + 68 Grand Junction, Iowa 2 Miss Sarah I. Smith. +248 Richmond, Va. (A) 23 W. T. Terry, 109 E. Grace St. + +Address all communications for this department to the President of the +A. A., + +MR. HARLAN H. BALLARD, + Principal of Lenox Academy, Lenox, Mass. + + + + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. + + +As THIS number of ST. NICHOLAS goes to press nearly a month earlier than +usual, the names of solvers of March puzzles can not appear until the +issue of the June number. + + +ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE APRIL NUMBER. + + +AN EASTER REBUS. + + Bid folly fly and sin depart; + Keep inviolate your heart; + And Easter lilies, pure and fair, + Will bud and bloom forever there. + + +INVERTED PYRAMID. Across: 1. Depopulated. 2. Nominated. 3. Deluded. 4. +Roses. 5. Ten. 6. D. + + +ST. ANDREW'S CROSS OF DIAMONDS. I. 1. B. 2. Dem(and). 3. Dolor. 4. +Belgium. 5. Moist. 6. Rut. 7. M. II. 1. M. 2. Ham. 3. Huron. 4. Marston. +5. Motor. 6. Nor. 7. N. III 1. M. 2. Tim. 3. Talon. 4. Million. 5. +Moist. 6. Not. 7. N. IV. 1. M. 2. Sam. 3. Sedan. 4. Madison. 5. Mason. +6. Non. 7. N. V. 1. N. 2. Tam. 3. Titus. 4. Natural. 5. Murat. 6. Sat. +7. L. + + +WORD-SQUARES. I. 1. Racer. 2. Agave. 3. Canal. 4. Evade. 5. Relet. II. +1. Cabal. 2. Above. 3. Bobea. 4. Avers. 5. Least. III. 1. Rabid. 2. +Abide. 3. Bison. 4. Idols. 5. Dense. + + +PI. + + Spring, with that nameless pathos in the air + Which dwells with all things fair; + Spring, with her golden suns and silver rain, + Is with us once again. + + +CENTRAL ACROSTIC. Arbor Day. Cross-words: 1. slAin. 2. stRew. 3. saBot. +4. slOop. 5. stRap. 6. seDan. 7. smArt 8. slYly. + + +HOUR-GLASS. Centrals, April fool. Cross-words: 1. TartArean. 2. reaPers. +3. scRew. 4. vIe. 5. L. 6. aFt. 7. foOls. 8. limOsis. 9. inteLlect. + + +MYTHOLOGICAL NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + + I love to go in the capricious days + Of April, and hunt violets. + + +CONNECTED DOUBLE SQUARES. Upper left-hand square, Across: 1. Houp. 2. +Alto. 3. Ties. 4. Host. Upper right-hand square. Across: 1. Pent. 2. +Otoe. 3. Suet. 4. Tile. Lower left-hand square, Across: 1. Host. 2. +Able. 3. Sour. 4. Hern. Lower right-hand square. Across: 1. Tile. 2. +Eden. 3. Read. 4. Naps. + + +BAGATELLE. 1. More haste, less speed. 2. Medicines were not meant to +live on. 3. He who hides can find. 4. Pride goeth before a fall. 5. The +absent party is always faulty. 6. A crowd is not company. 7. Penny wise, +pound foolish. Key-words: haSte, meAnt, hiDes, prIde, paRty, crOwd, +peNny. + +Central letters, sadiron. + + +MOTHER GOOSE PUZZLE. + +[Illustration] + +This puzzle is based upon one of the Mother Goose rhymes. The pictures +represent the last word of the six lines of the verse. What is the +verse? + + +NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + +I am composed of seventy-six letters, and am a quotation from "Love's +Labor Lost." + +My 63-21-58-31 is elevated. My 28-1-42-35 is headstrong. My +72-45-14-62-25 is on every breakfast table. My 2-19-52 is a fashionable +kind of trimming. My 74-40-55-50-22 is a glossy fabric. My 33-9-29-8 was +the nationality of Othello. My 38-68-70-17-12-76 is the name of the +67-3-49-61 of one of Shakspere's most celebrated plays. My 6-43-5-26 is +location. My 13-75-11-46 is mature. My 30-60-47-54-41 is what often +follows a chill. My 53-36-4-24 is a mixture. My 16-39-71-20-66 is used +in bread-making. My 37-73-65-7-23-27-69-18-56-51 is an allurement. My +32-57-10-15-64-44-59-34-48 is a school. + + HAROLD J. HARDING. + + +PI. + + Ta emits a gaftarrn zebree mecos toalfing yb, + Dan gribsn, uyo wkon ton hwy, + A lenegif sa hewn agree wordsc twaai + Freoeb a leapac tage + Meos dronswou gapeant; dan ouy scacer loudw tarts, + Fi form a cheeb's thear + A buel-yede Drady, pepsting froth, soldhu ays, + "Hedlob em! I ma Mya!" + + +CENTRAL ACROSTIC. + +Each of the words described contains the same number of letters; the +central letters, transposed, will spell the name of the heroine of one +of Sir Walter Scott's novels. + +1. Was conspicuous. 2. A hard covering. 3. A citadel. 4. A box for +fruit. 5. To ward off. 6. A sudden fright. + + AVIS. + + +GREEK CROSS. + +[Illustration] + +UPPER SQUARE: 1. To begin. 2. A small drum. 3. Over. 4. Wanders. 5. A +lock of hair. + +LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. A region. 2. A report. 3. Plentiful. 4. Plants of +the cabbage family. 5. A lock of hair. + +CENTRAL SQUARE: 1. A lock of hair. 2. A black bird. 3. To elude. 4. A +plant which grows in wet grounds. 5. To scoff. + +RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. To scoff. 2. Grand. 3. Declined. 4. A mournful +poem. 5. To color anew. + +LOWER SQUARE: 1. To scoff. 2. Mother of pearl. 3. Applause. 4. One of +the Muses. 5. To furnish with a new upper part. + + "HOMER." + +[Illustration] + + +A DECORATION-DAY PUZZLE. + +The words forming this numerical enigma are pictured instead of +described. The answer, consisting of a hundred and one letters, is a +four-line verse by Bayard Taylor. + + +TRIPLE ACROSTIC. + +[Illustration] + +ACROSS: 1. Pertaining to a monarch. 2. Entering without right. 3. +Unmarried women. 4. Unfaithful. Primals, a vapor; centrals, a brown +coating; finals, in a smaller degree. Primals, centrals, and finals +combined, unsuspicious. + + F. L. F. + + +INVERTED PYRAMID. + +ACROSS: 1. Measurement. 2. Consumes. 3. A chemical substance. 4. A +sheltered place. 5. In pyramid. Downward: 1. In pyramid. 2. Two-thirds +of a girl's name. 3. Mankind. 4. Bad. 5. Celebrated. 6. Certain. 7. +Wrath. 8. A bone. 9. In inverted. + + F. L. F. + + +CONNECTED SQUARES. + +[Illustration] + +I. UPPER SQUARE: 1. Pertaining to a certain nymph. 2. A disease peculiar +to children. 3. A dwelling-place. 4. The European blackbird. 5. A charm. + +II. LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. Burned wood. 2. A continued endeavor to gain +possession. 3. The inner part. 4. The lesser white heron. 5. A +pugilistic encounter. + +III. RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. An expression of contempt. 2. A small column +without base or capital. 3. Parts of shoes. 4. To assign. 5. To +squander. + +IV. LOWER SQUARE: 1. A term used in playing with balls. 2. A sacred +vestment. 3. Proper. 4. A fine yellow clay. 5. A measure. + +Centrals, reading downward (eleven letters), an architect who builds +houses. Centrals, reading across, a mechanical contrivance common in +cotton-mills. + + "L. LOS REGNI." + + +FINAL ACROSTIC. + +Each of the words described contains the same number of letters. The +primals will all be of the same letter; the finals will spell a name +famous in history. + +1. A small shell-fish. 2. An emblem. 3. A common plant having a scarlet +blossom. 4. To weaken. 5. A specter. 6. An afternoon nap. 7. A leap. 8. +Unassuming. 9. A violent effort. 10. Irony. 11. A channel. + + "JUVENTUS." + + +WORD-SQUARES IN DIAMONDS. + +[Illustration] + +I. Diamond: 1. In soles. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Satisfies. 4. A +beverage. 5. In soles. Included word-square: 1. To touch lightly. 2. +Consumed. 3. A beverage. + +II. Diamond: 1. In strife. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Much talked of in +railway offices. 4. An inclosure. 5. In strife. Included word-square: 1. +To touch lightly. 2. A verb. 3. An inclosure. + +III. Diamond: 1. In youthful. 2. The cry of a certain animal. 3. A +mythical being. 4. Skill. 5. In youthful. Included word-square: 1. The +cry of a certain animal. 2. Gaseous substance. 3. Skill. + + "ARTHUR PENDENNIS." + + +HOUR-GLASS. + +The central letters, reading downward, spell the name of a very +prominent personage. + +CROSS-WORDS: 1. Pleasing to the taste. 2. A substance similar to +varnish. 3. An imp. 4. The name of a character in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." +5. In decorations. 6. Sick. 7. Resources. 8. To call by the wrong name. +9. Gives too many doses to. + + "D. I. VERSITY." + + +WORD-SQUARE. + +The letters of each of the words described may all be found in the word +NAMER. + +1. A girl's name. 2. Close at hand. 3. A cognomen. 4. Surface. + + "DENZIL ELINOR." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and +Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7. + An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks + +Author: Various + +Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge + +Release Date: May 31, 2010 [EBook #32622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>ST. NICHOLAS</h1> + +<h4>An</h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Illustrated Magazine</span></h4> + +<h2><span class="smcap">For Young Folks.</span></h2> + + +<h4>CONDUCTED BY</h4> + +<h3>MARY MAPES DODGE.</h3> + +<h3>VOLUME XIII.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Part II., May, 1886, to October, 1886.</span></h4> + +<p class="center"> +THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK.<br /> +F. WARNE & CO., LONDON.<br /> +<br /> +Copyright, 1886, by <span class="smcap">The Century Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">The de Vinne Press.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ST. NICHOLAS:</h2> + +<h3>VOLUME XIII.</h3> + +<h3>PART II.</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Six Months—May, 1886, to October, 1886.</span></h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS OF PART II., VOLUME XIII.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>PAGE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">About Breathing</span></td><td align='left'><i>Hellen Clark Swazey</i></td><td align='right'>946</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Adventure at the Flume, Our.</span> (Illustrated).</td><td align='left'><i>W. L</i></td><td align='right'>844</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ambitious Kangaroo, The.</span> Jingle</td><td align='left'><i>A. R. Wells</i></td><td align='right'>853</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Amusing the Baby.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Eva Lovett Carson</i></td><td align='right'>706</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Army, An.</span> Verses</td><td align='left'><i>A. C</i></td><td align='right'>757</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Art and Artists, Stories of.</span> English Painters. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Clara Erskine Clement</i></td><td align='right'>803</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Aunt Deborah's Lesson.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>G. H. Baskette</i></td><td align='right'>694</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Autumn to Spring.</span> Poem</td><td align='left'><i>Edith M. Thomas</i></td><td align='right'>883</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Baby's Dimple, The.</span> Poem</td><td align='left'><i>William H. Hayne</i></td><td align='right'>731</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ballad of Base-ball, A.</span> Verses</td><td align='left'><i>I. D</i></td><td align='right'>774</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Belated Fairy,</span> A. Picture, drawn by Mary A. Lathbury</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>693</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Blossom-time.</span> Poem</td><td align='left'><i>Laura E. Richards</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_518">518</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Boat-building.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>George J. Manson</i></td><td align='right'>698</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bopeep.</span> Poem. (Illustrated by Mary Hallock Foote)</td><td align='left'><i>Sydney Dayre</i></td><td align='right'>756</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Boys' Camp</span>, A. (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers)</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>607</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Boys' Paradise, The.</span> (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers)</td><td align='left'><i>Elizabeth Balch</i></td><td align='right'>604</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Brownies at Base-ball, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Palmer Cox</i></td><td align='right'>943</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Brownies at Lawn Tennis, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Palmer Cox</i></td><td align='right'>857</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Brownies in the Menagerie, The.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Palmer Cox</i></td><td align='right'>707</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Brownies on Roller Skates, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Palmer Cox</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_543">543</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bubble Bowling.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Adelia B. Beard</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_540">540</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Butterfly and the Bee, The.</span> Verse</td><td align='left'><i>Edith M. Thomas</i></td><td align='right'>599</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Captain Jack's Fourth of July Kite.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Daniel C. Beard</i></td><td align='right'>702</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Caricature Plant, The.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard)</td><td align='left'><i>.M. A</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_522">522</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Children of the Sun, The.</span> Poem. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Arthur Wentworth Eaton</i></td><td align='right'>770</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Children's Exhibition, The.</span> (Illustrated by E. J. Meeker)</td><td align='left'><i>Charles Barnard</i></td><td align='right'>916</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Child's Fancy, A.</span> Poem</td><td align='left'><i>Frank Dempster Sherman</i></td><td align='right'>645</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Considerate Farmer Jones.</span> Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>843</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Crafty Crab, The. Jingle.</span> (Illustrated and engrossed by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Isabel Frances Bellows</i></td><td align='right'>845</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Crew of the Captain's Gig, The.</span> (Illustrated by G. W. Edwards)</td><td align='left'><i>Rev. Charles R. Talbot</i></td><td align='right'>899</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Daisy-Song.</span> Verses</td><td align='left'><i>Grace Denio Litchfield</i></td><td align='right'>662</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Dangerous Dog, The. Jingle.</span> (Illustrated and engrossed by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>A. R. Wells</i></td><td align='right'>837</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Difference of Opinion, A.</span> Verses</td><td align='left'><i>Lilian Dynevor Rice</i></td><td align='right'>679</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Dog Stories, St. Nicholas.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_526">526</a>, 624</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">Do You Like Butter, Bossy</span>?" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>791</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Duel With a Stork, A.</span> Pictures, drawn by Frederick J. Hibbert</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>754</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fishes and Their Young.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard)</td><td align='left'><i>C. F. Holder</i></td><td align='right'>600<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fly-fishing for Trout.</span> (Illustrated by J. H. Cocks, Henry Sandham, and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Ripley Hitchcock</i></td><td align='right'>655</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fresh from a Dip in the Breakers.</span> Picture, drawn by Mary Hallock Foote</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>670</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Frog in the Shoe, The.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by Boz)</td><td align='left'><i>Aunt Fanny Barrow</i></td><td align='right'>791</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fun in High Life.</span> Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>935</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">George Washington.</span> (Illustrated by H. A. Ogden and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Horace E. Scudder</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_505">505</a>, 590, 663, 758, 838, 908</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Giraffe, The.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Gerrish Eldridge</i></td><td align='right'>768</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Girls' Tricycle Club and its Run Down the Cape, The.</span> (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers)</td><td align='left'><i>E. Vinton Blake</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_494">494</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Grandpapa Rosebush.</span> Verses. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Laura E. Richards</i></td><td align='right'>583</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Great Spring-board Act, The.</span> Picture, drawn by T. J. Nicholl</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>677</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Handiwork of Some Clever School-boys, The.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>J. Abdon Donnegan</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_547">547</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Her Picture.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills)</td><td align='left'><i>Anna M. Pratt</i></td><td align='right'>942</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Highly Colored.</span> Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>869</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">How Conrad Lost his School-books.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Walter Bobbett</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_514">514</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">How Doth the Little Busy Bee?</span>" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>757</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Hurly-burly.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by L. Hopkins)</td><td align='left'><i>Emma Mortimer White</i></td><td align='right'>871</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">If.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>E. A. B.</i></td><td align='right'>703</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Garden.</span> Verses.</td><td align='left'><i>Bessie Chandler</i></td><td align='right'>898</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Inverted.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by W. T. Peters)</td><td align='left'><i>John B. Tabb</i></td><td align='right'>828</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">It was a Fair Artist Named May.</span>" Jingle. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>O. Herford</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_501">501</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Japanese Babies.</span> Verses. (Illustrated and engrossed by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Anna C. Vincent</i></td><td align='right'>948</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Jingles.</span></td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_501">501</a>, 613, 630, 681, 687, 697, 703, 733, 748, 785, 791, 797, 828, 837, 845, 853, 949</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Jolly Old Knight, The.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Oliver Herford</i></td><td align='right'>748</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Keeping the Cream of One's Reading.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Margaret Meredith</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_537">537</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Kelp-gatherers, The.</span> (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers)</td><td align='left'><i>J. T. Trowbridge</i></td><td align='right'>584, 687, 776, 847,929</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Knickerbocker Boy, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott)</td><td align='left'><i>Caroline S. King</i></td><td align='right'>542</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lace-leaf, a Search for The.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard)</td><td align='left'><i>Alice May</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_518">518</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">La Fayette.</span> (Illustrated by F. H. Lungren)</td><td align='left'><i>Mrs. Eugenia M. Hodge</i></td><td align='right'>643</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lake George Capsize, A.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Edward Eggleston</i></td><td align='right'>829</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Last Cruise of the "Slug," The.</span> (Illustrated by D. Clinton Peters)</td><td align='left'><i>Thomas Edwin Turner</i></td><td align='right'>671</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lesson in Geography, A.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott)</td><td align='left'><i>M. B. Jordan</i></td><td align='right'>870</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Little Boys Who Looked Alike, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Malcolm Douglas</i></td><td align='right'>928</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Little Lord Fauntleroy.</span> (Illustrated by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Frances Hodgson Burnett</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_502">502</a>, 564, 646, 734, 822, 884</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Little Miss Mabel.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Daisy Jones</i></td><td align='right'>613</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Little Seamstress, A.</span> Verse.</td><td align='left'><i>Mary E. Wilkins</i></td><td align='right'>733</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Man Overboard!</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>H. A. Johnson</i></td><td align='right'>775</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Matter-of-fact Cinderella, A.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Annie A. Preston</i></td><td align='right'>860</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">May Song.</span> Poem. (Illustrated and engrossed by Laura C. Hills)</td><td align='left'><i>Laura E. Richards</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_492">492</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Monster, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Maria I. Hammond</i></td><td align='right'>732</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Morning-glories.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Laura Ledyard Pope</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_501">501</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Morra.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Susan Anna Brown</i></td><td align='right'>846</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Mother's Idea.</span></td><td align='left'><i>A. M. Platt</i></td><td align='right'>613</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Nan's Revolt.</span> (Illustrated by Jessie Curtis Shepherd)</td><td align='left'><i>Rose Lattimore Alling</i></td><td align='right'>682, 749, 816, 896</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ned's Buttercup.</span> Verses.</td><td align='left'><i>Bessie Chandler</i></td><td align='right'>941</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">New Theory, A.</span> Verse.</td><td align='left'><i>Bessie Chandler</i></td><td align='right'>785</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">New View of the Moon, A.</span> Verses.</td><td align='left'><i>Eva Lovett Carson</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_551">551</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">No More School.</span> Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>571</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Notional Nightingale, The.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by L. Hopkins)</td><td align='left'><i>A. R. Wells</i></td><td align='right'>748</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Number One.</span> Verses.</td><td align='left'><i>Charles R. Talbot</i></td><td align='right'>705</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">October.</span> Poem. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Susan Hartley</i></td><td align='right'>890</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">Oh, Where are You Going?</span>" Jingle. (Illustrated by E. Sylvester)</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>869<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Old Time Arms and Armor.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>E. S. Brooks</i></td><td align='right'>936</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Once-on-a-time.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Emily Huntington Miller</i></td><td align='right'>563</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">On the Willey-brook Trestle.</span> (Illustrated by Henry Sandham)</td><td align='left'><i>Willis Boyd Allen</i></td><td align='right'>764</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Owl, the Bat, and the Bumble-bee, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by De Cost Smith)</td><td align='left'><i>Laura E Richards</i></td><td align='right'>747</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Personally Conducted.</span> (Illustrated by E. J. Meeker and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Frank R. Stockton</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'> Queen Paris.</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>572</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Pictures.</span></td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_525">525</a>, 571, 637, 670, 677, 693, 701, 715, 738, 754, 757, 791, 798, 843, 856, 869, 935, 947</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Pussies' Coats, The.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by H. P. Share)</td><td align='left'><i>Esther B. Tiffany</i></td><td align='right'>687</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Puzzled Bessie.</span> Picture, drawn by Albert E. Sterner</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>947</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Puzzled Papa, A.</span> Verses.</td><td align='left'><i>M. L. B. Branch</i></td><td align='right'>603</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Quaint Little Man, A.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>A. Brennan</i></td><td align='right'>949</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Ready for Business; or, Choosing an Occupation.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>George J. Manson</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Boat-building.</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>698</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Recipe, A.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Mary A. Lathbury</i></td><td align='right'>629</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Regatta. A.</span> Game. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Frank Bellew</i></td><td align='right'>783</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Robin's Return.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Edith M. Thomas</i></td><td align='right'>612</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rock-a-bye.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Mary N. Prescott</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_535">535</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rocky Mountain Hermit, A.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Alfred Terry Bacon</i></td><td align='right'>723, 832</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rope Yarn Spun by an Old Sailor, A.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>C. W. Miller</i></td><td align='right'>786</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Royal Fish, A.</span> (Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Ripley Hitchcock</i></td><td align='right'>739</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sad Case, A.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by Mary Richardson)</td><td align='left'><i>Margaret Vandegrift</i></td><td align='right'>733</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sailor Boy, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Wallace E. Mather</i></td><td align='right'>790</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Salmon: A Royal Fish.</span> (Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Ripley Hitchcock</i></td><td align='right'>739</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Satchel, The.</span> (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly)</td><td align='left'><i>Tudor Jenks</i></td><td align='right'>616</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Search for the Lace-leaf, A.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard)</td><td align='left'><i>Alice May</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_518">518</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sea-urchin, The.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated and engrossed by R. B. Birch)</td><td align='left'><i>Isabel Frances Bellows</i></td><td align='right'>785</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Shakspere when a Boy.</span> (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons)</td><td align='left'><i>Rose Kingsley</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_483">483</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Smallest Circus in the World, The.</span> (Illustrated by J. G. Francis)</td><td align='left'><i>C. F. Holder</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_533">533</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Some Curious Mariners.</span> (Illustrated by J. C. Beard and J. M. Nugent)</td><td align='left'><i>C. F. Holder</i></td><td align='right'>891</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Song of Summer, A.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Emma C. Dowd</i></td><td align='right'>671</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Spring Beauties.</span> Poem. (Illustrated by A. Brennan)</td><td align='left'><i>Helen Gray Cone</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_513">513</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">St. Nicholas Dog Stories.</span> (Illustrated)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Clever Little Yellow Dog</td><td align='left'><i>John R. Coryell</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_526">526</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Dog that Could Count</td><td align='left'><i>E. P. Roe</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_529">529</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Clever Sheep Dog</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_530">530</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Story of Two Buckets</td><td align='left'><i>Charlotte M. Vaile</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_530">530</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> The Left-field of the Lincoln Nine</td><td align='left'><i>C. F. Holder</i></td><td align='right'>624</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Dog that Could Climb Trees</td><td align='left'><i>C. F. Holder</i></td><td align='right'>626</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Sociable, Sensible Dog</td><td align='left'><i>E. P. Roe</i></td><td align='right'>626</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Dog whose Feelings were Hurt</td><td align='left'><i>E. P. Roe</i></td><td align='right'>628</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Dog that Repaid a Trick</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>628</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Mephistopheles</td><td align='left'><i>Anna Gardner</i></td><td align='right'>628</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Stories of Art and Artists.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> English Painters. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Clara Erskine Clement</i></td><td align='right'>803</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tea-party, A.</span> Verses. (Illustrated and engrossed by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Margaret Johnson</i></td><td align='right'>865</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tell-tale Barn, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Esther B. Tiffany</i></td><td align='right'>924</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">The Biggest of Birds.</span>" Jingle. (Illustrated G. R. Halm)</td><td align='left'><i>E. E. Sterns</i></td><td align='right'>703</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Theoretic Turtle, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>A. R. Wells</i></td><td align='right'>681</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">This Little Pig Went To Market.</span>" Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>701</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">This Seat Reserved.</span>" Picture.</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>856</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Three Velvety Bees.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford)</td><td align='left'><i>M. M. D.</i></td><td align='right'>654</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Timothy Timid.</span> Jingle. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>A. Brennan</i></td><td align='right'>697</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tippie and Jimmie.</span> (Illustrated by H. P. Share)</td><td align='left'><i>Mary L. French</i></td><td align='right'>705</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Toddlekins and Trot.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills)</td><td align='left'><i>Anna M. Pratt</i></td><td align='right'>843</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Trout, Fly-fishing for.</span> (Illustrated by J. H. Cocks, Henry Sandham, E. J. Meeker, and others)</td><td align='left'><i>Ripley Hitchcock</i></td><td align='right'>655<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Under the Snow.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Lilian Dynevor Rice</i></td><td align='right'>815</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Vegetable Clothing.</span> (Illustrated by D. C. Beard)</td><td align='left'><i>C. J. Russell</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_523">523</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Venetian Marquetry.</span> (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Charles G. Leland</i></td><td align='right'>866</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Waiting for a Cold Wave.</span> Picture, drawn by C. Weaver</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>738</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Weasel and the Adder, The.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Gerrish Eldridge</i></td><td align='right'>907</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What Bertie Saw in the Flowers.</span> Poem. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>L. G. R.</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_536">536</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What it Was.</span> Verses. (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford)</td><td align='left'><i>Malcolm Douglas</i></td><td align='right'>701</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">When Shakspere was a Boy.</span> (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons)</td><td align='left'><i>Rose Kingsley</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_483">483</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wild Flowers, The.</span> Verses. (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Jessie Penniman</i></td><td align='right'>603</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wild Hunters.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>John R. Coryell</i></td><td align='right'>681</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Winged Seeds.</span> Poem.</td><td align='left'><i>Helen Gray Cone</i></td><td align='right'>571</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Woe to the Foreign Dolly!</span> Picture, drawn by R. Blum</td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_525">525</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Wonders of the Alphabet.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='left'><i>Henry Eckford</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_538">538</a>, 621, 677, 771, 854, 925</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Work and Play for Young Folk.</span> (Illustrated.)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Rope Yarn Spun by an Old Sailor. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>C. W. Miller</i></td><td align='right'>786</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Venetian Marquetry. (Illustrated by the Author)</td><td align='left'><i>Charles G. Leland</i></td><td align='right'>866</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<h3>DEPARTMENTS.</h3> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">For Very Little Folk.</span> (Illustrated.)</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Riddles.</td><td align='left'><i>M. M. D.</i></td><td align='right'>630</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "Pretty Painted Bridges" }</td><td rowspan="2"><i>E. E. Sterns</i></td><td rowspan="2">630</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "White Sheep, White Sheep" }</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "On Dormio Hill" }</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> A Letter from a Little Boy</td><td align='left'><i>Ralph Ranlet</i></td><td align='right'>710</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> "Dude" and the Cats</td><td align='right'></td><td align='right'>711</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> Riddles for Very Little Folk</td><td align='left'><i>E. E. Sterns</i></td><td align='right'>950</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Plays and Music.</span></h3> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'> Easter Carol</td><td align='left'><i>William E. Ashmall</i></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_546">546</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Jack-in-the-Pulpit.</span> (Illustrated.)</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Introduction—"Everything is Lovely, and the Goose Hangs High"—Girls! To the +Rescue!—About Little Lord Fauntleroy—Fishing for Necklaces—A Suggestion to +the Bottled Fish—The Newspaper Plant (illustrated)—One More Living +Barometer, <a href="#Page_552">552</a>; A Bumble Grumble—Pretty Dusty Wings—Trees that +Rain—Shooting Stars—Coasting in August—More about Turtles—A Fish that +Weaves its Nest—A Clever Humming-bird (illustrated), 632; Introduction—The +Seventeen-year Locust (illustrated)—The Great Lubber Locust +(illustrated)—The Dog and the Queer Grasshoppers (illustrated), 712; +Introduction—Longfellow's First Letter—The Water-snake as a Fisherman—More +Animal Weather-Prophets—A Useful Bird with an Aristocratic Name—A Wise +Humming-bird—The Pitcher Plant (illustrated), 792; Introduction—Poor +Lark!—Those Mocking-birds Again—A Living Island (illustrated)—Wrong Names +for Things—Who can Answer This? 872; Introduction—A Perfectly Quiet Day—How +He Proved It—Walking Without Legs—A Queer Sunshade (illustrated)—A Queer +Jumble—That Dear Little Lord, 952.</p></div> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Agassiz Association.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_557">557</a>, 636, 717, 794, 874, 957</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Letter-box.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_554">554</a>, 634, 714, 796, 876, 954</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Riddle-box.</span> (Illustrated)</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_559">559</a>, 639, 719, 799, 879, 959</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Editorial Notes</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_554">554</a>, 634</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Frontispieces.</span></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In Spring-time—When Shakspere was a Boy," by Léon Moran, facing <a href="#front">Title-page +of Volume</a>—"A June Morning," by E. C. Held, facing page 563—"La Fayette and +the British Ambassador," by F. H. Lungren, facing page 643—"The Captain and +the Captain's Mate," by Mary Hallock Foote, facing page 723—"The +Connoisseurs," after a painting by Sir Edwin Landseer, facing page +803—"Martha Washington," from an unfinished portrait by Gilbert Stuart, +facing page 883.</p></div> + +<p><a name="front" id="front"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"> +<img src="images/illus482.jpg" width="468" height="650" alt="IN SPRING-TIME—WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY. + +(SEE PAGE 490.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">IN SPRING-TIME—WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY.<br /> + +(SEE PAGE 490.)</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span></p> +<h2>ST. NICHOLAS.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Vol. XIII.</span> MAY, 1886. <span class="smcap">No. 7.</span></h3> + +<h4>[Copyright, 1886, by <span class="smcap">The</span> CENTURY CO.]</h4> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus483.jpg" width="650" height="438" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Rose Kingsley.</span></h3> + + +<p>On Henley street, in quiet Stratford town, there stands an old +half-timbered house. The panels between the dark beams are of +soft-colored yellow plaster. The windows are filled with little diamond +panes; and in one of the upper rooms they are guarded with fine wire +outside the old glass, which is misty with innumerable names scratched +all over it. Poets and princes, wise men and foolish, have scrawled +their names after a silly fashion, on windows, wall, and ceiling of that +oak-floored room, because, on the 22d of April, 1564, a baby was born +there—the son of John and Mary Shakspere. And on the following +Wednesday, April 26, the baby was carried down to the old church beside +the sleepy Avon and baptized by the name of William.</p> + +<p>Little did John Shakspere and the gossips dream, when the baby William's +name was duly inscribed in the register-book with its corners and clasps +of embossed brass, that he was destined to become England's greatest +poet. Little did they dream, honest folk, that the old market town and +the house on Henley street and the meadows across the river, covered in +that pleasant April month with cowslips and daisies and "lady-smocks all +silver-white," would become sacred ground to hundreds of thousands of +people from all quarters of the globe, who should come, year by year, on +reverent pilgrimage to Shakspere's birthplace.</p> + +<p>The baby grew up as most babies do; and when he was two and a half years +old, a little brother Gilbert was born. As we walk through the streets +to-day, we can fancy the little lads toddling about the town together, +while father John was minding his glove and wool trade at the old house. +John Shakspere, in those early days, was a well-to-do man. He was a +chamberlain of the borough when little Gilbert was born; and in 1568 he +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span> elected High Bailiff, or Mayor, of Stratford, although he, in +common with many of his fellow-burgesses, could not write his own name. +He had land, too, at Snitterfield, where his father had lived; and his +wife, Mary Arden, was the owner of Ashbies, the farm at Wilmcote, hard +by.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/illus484.jpg" width="550" height="429" alt="MARY ARDEN'S HOUSE AT WILMCOTE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MARY ARDEN'S HOUSE AT WILMCOTE.</span> +</div> + +<p>But, though the parents were illiterate, they knew the value of a good +education. The Free Grammar School had been refounded a few years before +by Edward VI. And although there is no actual record of his school days, +we may take it as certain that little Will Shakspere was sent to the +Free School when about seven years old, as we know his brother Gilbert +was, a little later. The old Grammar School still stands; and boys still +learn their lessons in the self-same room with the high pitched roof and +oaken beams, where little Will Shakspere studied his "A, B, C-book," and +got his earliest notions of Latin. But during part of Shakspere's school +days the schoolroom was under repair; and boys and master—Walter Roche +by name—migrated for a while to the Guild Chapel next door. And this +was surely in the poet's mind when, in later years, he talked of a +"pedant who keeps a school i' the church."</p> + +<p>All boys learned their Latin then from two well-known books—the +"Accidence" and the "Sententiæ Pueriles." And that William was no +exception to the rule we may see by translations from the latter in +several of his plays, and by an account, in one of his plays, of Master +Page's examination in the "Accidence." An old desk which came from the +Grammar School and stood there in Shakspere's time is shown at the +birthplace. And when we look at it we wonder what sort of a boy little +William was—whether his future greatness made a mark in any way during +his school days; whether that conical forehead of his stood him in good +stead as he learned his Latin Grammar; whether he was quiet and +studious, or merry and mischievous; whether he hid dormice and apples +and birds' eggs in his desk, and peeped at them during school hours; +whether he got into scrapes and was whipped. Just think of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> Shakspere +getting a whipping! No doubt he often did. Masters in those days were +not greater, but rather less, respecters of persons than they are now, +and they believed very firmly in the adage which is going out of +fashion, that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. So we may think of +little Will Shakspere coming out of the Grammar School and passing the +old Guild Chapel and the Falcon Inn with two little red fists crammed +into two little red and streaming eyes, and going home to mother Mary in +Henley street to be comforted and coddled and popped down on the settle +in the wide chimney corner, with some dainty, dear to the heart of small +boys who got into trouble three hundred years ago just as they do now. +Let us hope his cake was not like one he describes as "dough on both +sides."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 461px;"> +<img src="images/illus485.jpg" width="461" height="450" alt="THE LARGE SCHOOLROOM IN THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL AT +STRATFORD." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE LARGE SCHOOLROOM IN THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL AT +STRATFORD.</span> +</div> + +<p>But I fancy that lessons bore a very small part in Will Shakspere's +education. He certainly never knew much Latin; but he knew all about +country things as only a country-bred boy can know about them. He and +Gilbert must have run many a time to Ashbies, their mother's farm at +Wilmcote, and watched the oxen plowing in the heavy clay fields; and +cried, perhaps, as children do now "as the butcher takes away the calf"; +and played with the shepherd's "bob-tailed cur"; and gossiped with +Christopher Sly, who could tell them all manner of wonderful tales, for +had he not been peddler, card-maker, bear-herd, "and now by present +profession a tinker"?</p> + +<p>They must have listened to their father and their uncle Henry up at the +big farm close to Snitterfield church (where Henry Shakspere lived) as +the two men discussed the price of a yoke of oxen at Stratford or +Warwick fair, or debated whether they should "sow the head-land with +wheat,—with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> red wheat, Davy,"<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> or grumbled over the "smith's note +for shoeing and plough-irons," or told the latest turn in the quarrel +between "William Visor of Woncot" and "Clement Perkes of the Hill." Very +likely the little hazel-eyed boys took William Visor's part, though they +wisely kept their opinions to themselves, since small boys in that +period were not allowed the liberty of speech they enjoy in these +degenerate times. William Visor was a neighbor of the Ardens, and +possibly a friend of "Marian Hackett, the fat ale-wife of Wincot"; for +Wincot, Woncot, and Wilmcote are all the same place. Or perhaps the +young lads sided with Clement Perkes; for the Hill where he lived at +Weston was known as Cherry Orchard Farm, a name full of tempting +suggestions to little boys. And we know that Shakspere, like many less +wise people, was fond of "ripe red cherries." He mentions them again and +again. He and Gilbert, and their little friends the Sadlers and Harts +and Halls, must have played bob-cherry, as we do now,—drawing up the +stem of the cherry with our tongues, and, with a sudden snap, getting +the round, ripe fruit between our lips,—and then have used the stones +for "cherry-pit"—a child's game that is frequently mentioned by +Shakspere and other old writers, which consisted in pitching +cherry-stones into a small hole.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;"> +<img src="images/illus486.jpg" width="422" height="650" alt="THE SCHOOL AND GUILD CHAPEL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE SCHOOL AND GUILD CHAPEL.</span> +</div> + +<p>Stratford lies just at the beginning of the fruit-growing country, which +stretches right down the Vale of Evesham to Worcester and the Severn; +and little Will Shakspere was well versed in the merits of all kinds of +fruits. There were the plum-trees, that make you think in the +spring-time that a snow-shower has fallen upon a sunny day all over the +Stratford district; while in the autumn the branches are laden with "the +mellow plum." Who can doubt that little Will climbed the damson-tree, +"with danger of my life," as he said later that Simpcox did at his +wife's bidding?<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> In the plays he mentions apples of many sorts—some +of which, though rare or extinct in other parts of England, still grow +about his native place—the bitter-sweetings and leather-coats, the +apple-johns and the pomewaters. Many a time he must have stood with all +the boys of the place watching, as we might do to-day, the cider-making +on some village green, when the heaps of apples, red, green, and yellow, +are brought in barrows and baskets and carts from the orchards, and +ground up into a thick yellow pulp in the crushing-mill turned by a +horse, and that pulp is put into presses from which the clear juice runs +into tubs, while the dry cakes of pulp are carted away to fatten the +pigs.</p> + +<p>There were grapes, too, growing plentifully in Warwickshire in his day; +and "apricocks," "ripe figs, and mulberries," like those with which the +fairies were told to feed Bottom the weaver. Blackberries and the +handsome purple dewberries grew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span> then as now, by the hedges in the +orchards and in the shade of the Weir-brake just below Stratford mill, +where, so says tradition, the scene of the "Midsummer Night's Dream" was +laid. In the Weir-brake, too, and in all the woods about their home, the +Shakspere boys must have gone nutting—that most delightful harvest of +the year, when you bend down "the hazel twig," so "straight and +slender," and fill baskets and pockets with the sweet nuts in their +rough, green husks, and crack them all the way home like so many happy +squirrels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus487.jpg" width="650" height="569" alt="THE GUILD COUNCIL-ROOM—NOW THE HEAD-MASTER'S +CLASS-ROOM." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE GUILD COUNCIL-ROOM—NOW THE HEAD-MASTER'S +CLASS-ROOM.</span> +</div> + +<p>All the hedge-rows were full then, as they are to this day, of wild +pear-trees, wild apples, and "crabs," as crab-apples are called in +England. Roasted "crabs" served with hot ale were a favorite Christmas +dish in Shakspere's time. And I doubt not that the boys rejoiced at the +house in Henley street as the time of year came round "when roasted +crabs hiss in the bowl."</p> + +<p>How snug the "house-place" in the old home must have looked with its +roaring fire of logs, on winter evenings, when the two little boys of +nine and seven, and Joan and Anne, the little sisters, huddled up in the +chimney-corner with baby Richard in his cradle, while the mother +prepared hot ale and "roasted crabs" for her gossips. Will, I warrant, +as with twinkling eyes he watched Mrs. Hart or Mrs. Sadler or Mrs. +Hathaway, from Shottery, thought that it was Puck himself, the very +spirit of mischief, who had got into the bowl "in very likeness of a +roasted crab."</p> + +<p>It must have been a recollection of those winter evenings that made +little Will, in later years, write his delightful "Winter Song":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When icicles hang by the wall<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Dick the shepherd blows his nail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Tom bears logs into the hall<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And milk comes frozen home in pail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then nightly sings the staring owl,<br /></span> +<span class="i24">Tu-whit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tu-who, a merry note,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When all aloud the wind doth blow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And coughing drowns the parson's saw<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And birds sit brooding in the snow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And Marian's nose looks red and raw,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then nightly sings the staring owl,<br /></span> +<span class="i24">Tu-whit;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tu-who, a merry note,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While greasy Joan doth keel the pot."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Among the gossips there would be much talk of wonders, appearances, +mysterious occurrences,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> and charms; and the children listened with all +their ears, you may be sure. Perhaps one of Mistress Shakspere's friends +possessed the power that some people in Warwickshire still are said to +possess, of charming away warts by a touch and some murmured invocation; +or curing toothache and all other aches and pains. There are plenty of +people now who, after your second cup of tea is finished, will take the +cup, twist the grounds around three times, turn it mouth downward in the +saucer, and then, by looking at the tea-leaves which still stick to the +bottom of the cup, will undertake to tell you what is going to +happen—of presents you will receive, or people who are coming to see +you. And many Warwickshire women still believe firmly that +whooping-cough can be charmed away by the patient walking nine times +over running water.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;"> +<img src="images/illus488.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt=""THE HEDGE-ROWS WERE FULL, AS THEY ARE TO THIS DAY, OF +WILD APPLES, WILD PEARS, AND 'CRABS.'"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THE HEDGE-ROWS WERE FULL, AS THEY ARE TO THIS DAY, OF +WILD APPLES, WILD PEARS, AND 'CRABS.'"</span> +</div> + +<p>The boys' games of those days were much the same as they are to-day. +Each game then, as now, had its regular season in the year. In the +season for marbles, no one would dream of playing anything else. +"Knuckle-hole" is still the favorite game in Warwickshire. The +standing-up game, pitching the taw from a mark scraped across the +ground, is, I am told by competent authorities, rather going out of +fashion; but it is still played. The marble season lasts through the +late winter, much to the distraction of mothers, who have to clean and +mend their sons' nether garments, which are worn with kneeling and +plastered with mud at that time of year. Then comes the spinning-top, +whip-top, and peg-top time. Later again there is tip-cat for the boys, +and hop-scotch for the girls.</p> + +<p>On the corn-bins in the Warwickshire ale-house stables we can still find +the lines rudely cut for "nine men's morris." This, in Shakspere's day, +was a favorite game, and one much in vogue among the shepherd boys in +the summer, who cut a "board" in the short turf and whiled away the long +hours by playing it. Little Will must often have gone to watch his +father play "shovel-board" at the Falcon tavern, in Stratford, on the +board upon which tradition says he himself played, in later life. And at +home, he and his brother must have played "push-pin," an old game which +is still played in remote parts of the country. Two pins are laid on the +table; the players in turn jerk them with their fingers, and he who +throws one pin across the other is allowed to take one of them, while +those who do not succeed have to give a pin. This is the game Shakspere +alludes to in "Love's Labour's Lost," when he says, "And Nestor play at +push-pin with the boys."</p> + +<p>Little Will knew a great deal about sport. All his allusions to sporting +or woodcraft are those of a man who had been familiar with such things +from his childhood. He and Gilbert must have set plenty of "springes, to +catch wood-cocks," and dug out the "earth-delving conies" that swarmed +in the commmonland of Welcombe, those dingles that in later years he +fought so hard to preserve from inclosure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 408px;"> +<img src="images/illus489.jpg" width="408" height="450" alt="BOYS FISHING IN THE AVON—OPPOSITE THE WEIR-BRAKE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOYS FISHING IN THE AVON—OPPOSITE THE WEIR-BRAKE.</span> +</div> + +<p>They must have fished many a time, as the Stratford boys do to this day, +in the slow waters of the Avon, sitting quietly intent for hours upon +the steep clay bank</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i24">"to see the fish<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And greedily devour the treacherous bait."<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then who can doubt that he often watched the hunting of the hare? Each +line in his wonderful description of the hunted hare is written by a +thorough sportsman and a keen observer of nature. How the purblind hare +runs among a flock of sheep or into a rabbit-warren, or "sorteth with a +herd of deer" to throw out "the hot scent-snuffing hounds." How they +pause silent till they have worked "with much ado the cold fault cleanly +out," and then burst into music again.</p> + +<p>Of deer, Shakspere knew much—too much for his own comfort. In his +childhood, there were herds at Fulbrooke,—and when he was older, at +Charlecote, at Grove Park, and at Warwick. And probably there were a few +roe in the wilder parts of the Forest of Arden, which came down within +three miles of Stratford, and covered the whole of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span> the country north of +the Avon, out to Nuneaton and Birmingham. We can fancy how the boys +stole out to watch the Grevilles and Leycesters and Lucys and Verneys on +some great hunting party, and whispered to each other,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For through this lawnd anon the deer will come."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But the time of all others in the year that we connect most closely with +Shakspere is the sweet spring-time, when the long cold winter—very long +and very cold among those undrained clay-lands of Warwickshire—had come +to an end. How closely little Will watched for</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i30">"daffodils,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That come before the swallow dares, and take<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The winds of March with beauty";<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and for</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"violets, cowslips, and pale primroses."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We can fancy the little boys hunting in some sheltered nook in the +Welcombe woods for the first primroses; and climbing up Borden Hill just +beyond Shottery, perhaps with Anne Hathaway from the pretty old house in +the orchards below, to the bank—the only one in the neighborhood,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"where the wild thyme blows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where oxlips, and the nodding violet grows";<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>or wandering over the flat sunny meadows along the Avon valley, picking +cowslips, and looking into each tiny yellow bell for the spots in their +gold coats,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Those be rubies, fairy favors,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In those freckles live their savors,"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>as they brought home baskets of the flower-heads for their mother to +make into cowslip wine.</p> + +<p>Spring, in this Stratford country, is exquisite. The woods are carpeted +with primroses and wild hyacinths; while in the "merry month of May" the +nightingale swarms among the hawthorn trees white with blossom.</p> + +<p>On every village green there stood a painted May pole—one is still +standing at Weston, near Stratford; and May-Day is still kept in +Warwickshire with a "May feast" upon old May-Day, the 12th of May. Every +one knows how the prettiest girl in the village was chosen Queen o' the +May, and how all joined in the "Whitsun Morris-dance."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 296px;"> +<img src="images/illus490.jpg" width="296" height="450" alt="A BUNCH OF COWSLIPS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A BUNCH OF COWSLIPS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Long Marston,—"Dancing Marston," as it has been called ever since +Shakspere's time,—a few miles from Stratford, was famous till within +the memory of man for a troop of Morris-dancers, who went about from +village to village, strangely dressed, to dance at all the feasts. +Shakspere probably had the Marston dancers in his mind when he wrote of +the "three carters, three shepherds, three neat-herds, three +swine-herds," that made themselves all "men of hair," and called +themselves "Saltiers," at the sheep-shearing feast which pretty Perdita +presided over, in "The Winter's Tale." The sheep-shearing feast, which +came when roses were out on the hedges and in the gardens, must have +been a merry and important time for the Shakspere boys. John Shakspere +was, of course, specially interested in the price of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span> tod of wool, for +wool-stapling was part of his trade. Perhaps William himself was sent by +his mother to buy the groceries for the feast, and stood conning the +list as he makes the clown do, in "The Winter's Tale."</p> + +<p>In the spring-time, too, came the peddler with all his wonders and +treasures:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Lawn as white as driven snow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cypress black as e'er was crow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gloves as sweet as damask roses;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Masks for faces and for noses."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Those last must have pleased the little boys more than all the rest of +the peddler's goods. And perhaps it was from this very peddler that Will +Shakspere bought the pair of gloves which, after the fashion of the day, +he gave to Anne Hathaway at their betrothal.</p> + +<p>But the great event of the year in the quiet country town was Stratford +"Mop" or statute fair, on the 12th of October. The market-place was +filled, as it is to this day, with clowns and mountebanks, wrestlers, +and rope-dancers at their "rope-tricks." Oxen and sheep were roasted +whole. A roaring trade was driven by quack doctors and dentists. All the +servants in the country came and stood around to be hired, as the +farm-hands and the maids for the farm-houses still do—the carters with +a bit of whipcord in their hats; the shepherds with a lock of wool; the +laborers with a straw. And next day, we need not doubt, there were many +candidates for the town stocks, as there are now for the police court. +There were bear-baitings, too, and bull-baitings—those cruel sports +which have only been abolished in Warwickshire within the last hundred +years. But in Shakspere's day bear-baiting was a popular and refined +amusement. During Queen Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth, in 1575, there +was a great bear-baiting in her honor, of which a curious and most +sickening account still exists. And when Shakspere went to London his +lodgings were close to the bear-garden, or "Bear's College," at +Southwark, whither all London flocked to see the poor beasts tormented +and tortured.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one amusement which, from his earliest years, must +have delighted little Will Shakspere above all others—I mean a visit +from the players. That he inherited his love for the drama from his +father is more than probable; for it was during the year of John +Shakspere's High Bailiffship that plays are first mentioned in the +records at Stratford. According to the custom of the day, when the +players belonging to some great nobleman came to a town, they reported +themselves to the mayor to get a license for playing. If the mayor +liked them, or wished to show respect to their master, he would appoint +them to play their first play before himself and the Council. This was +called the Mayor's Play, every one coming in free, and the mayor giving +the players a reward in money. Between the autumns of 1568 and 1569,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Queen's and the Earl of Worcester's players visited the +town and gave representations before the Council, the former +company receiving nine shillings and the latter twelve pence +for their first performances." </p></div> + +<p>And there is little reason to doubt that our little Will, then between +five and six years old, was taken to see them by his father, the mayor, +as a little boy named Willis was taken at Gloucester that same year, +being exactly William Shakspere's age; and, standing between his +father's knees, Master Will probably there got his first experience of +the art in which he was to become the master for all ages. We wonder +what that first play was—some quaint, rude drama probably, such as the +one little Willis saw at Gloucester, with plenty of princes and fair +ladies, and demons with painted masks, and the "Herod" in red gloves, of +the "Coventry Mystery" players.</p> + +<p>Not only in Stratford, but in most of the towns roundabout, there are +various records of players giving performances. When little Will was +eleven years old, Queen Elizabeth came on her celebrated visit, in 1575, +to Lord Leycester at Kenilworth; and as all the country flocked to see +the great show, it is probable that the boy and his father were among +the crowds of spectators and saw some of the plays given in the Queen's +honor.</p> + +<p>A year or two later, troubles began to multiply at the house in Henley +street. John Shakspere got into debt. The farm at Ashbies was mortgaged. +His daughter Anne died in 1579; and two years before her death, young +William, then thirteen, was taken from school and apprenticed—some +accounts say to a butcher—or, as seems more probable, to his own +father, to help him in his failing wool-trade.</p> + +<p>For the next five years nothing is known about Will Shakspere. Then we +find him courting Anne Hathaway in the pretty old brick and timbered +cottage at Shottery, its garden all full of roses and rosemary, +"carnations and striped gillyvors." A year or two later, he is stealing +one of Sir Thomas Lucy's deer,—writing a lampoon on the worthy +justice,—and flying to London from his wrath, to hold horses at the +door of the Globe Theater before he joined the Lord Chamberlain's +players, and became known to all posterity as Mr. William Shakspere, +Writer of Plays.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> 2d Henry IV., Act 5. Scene 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> 2d Henry VI., Act 2, Scene 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> "Much Ado about Nothing," Act 3, Sc. 1.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus493.jpg" width="650" height="915" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus494.jpg" width="650" height="923" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS RUN DOWN THE CAPE.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By E. Vinton Blake.</span></h3> + + +<p>Tricycles had become an every-day affair in Sherridoc, and since the +formation of the Girls' Club, lady tricyclers were not an extraordinary +sight. So Charlotte, or "Charley" Van Rensselaer, as she was called, and +her brother Starrett excited but little comment as they wheeled swiftly +down Haymarket street, moving noiselessly and easily through the throng +of carriages and other vehicles, until, as the houses grew less frequent +and the pavements stopped altogether, they rolled through the suburbs of +the town and so into the open country, without stay or pause.</p> + +<p>For they were making time. The club itself, thanks to the failure of the +express company to deliver Charley's new "Columbia" when promised, had +several hours' start on the road; and Starrett, like the obliging +brother that he was, had remained behind in order that Charlotte need +not ride alone nor the club be longer delayed by waiting for her.</p> + +<p>Charley Van Rensselaer, her cousin Cornelia, or "Corny" Hadwin, and +their warm friends Mattie Hyde and Arno Cummings, were four bright and +active young girls of from thirteen to sixteen, who composed the Girls' +Tricycle Club. Little by little they had won first the interest and then +the consent of their somewhat conservative parents to this novel but +exhilarating exercise, and having now become expert riders, they were +off for a long run of eighty miles down Cape Cod from Sherridoc City to +Curtin Harbor, where their parents had summer cottages. Faithful and +clever Joe Marston, Mr. Van Rensselaer's colored servant, and an expert +tricycler, had gone ahead with the club as guide and commissary-general, +and Starrett Van Rensselaer, Charley's younger brother, was invited to +accompany them as an escort, on the odd-looking "Royal Mail" he had +borrowed for the trip,—bicycles not being allowed.</p> + +<p>And now the door-yards broaden out and the houses become still more +rambling. There are wide-spreading orchard boughs, and cool woody spaces +here and there between the farms. Now a youngster scampers into the +house shrieking, "Ma, Ma! Oh, come here, Ma! Here's a girl a-ridin' +three wheels at once!" and Charley, looking back, perceives the urchin's +sisters and cousins and aunts peering at her from the door. Starrett too +looks back, and laughs.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to get used to that," he says.</p> + +<p>"I expect to," responds Charley serenely; "but you must remember that +four of these things have gone on before us on this same road and they +must have taken off a little of the novelty."</p> + +<p>Over the brow of Haymarket Hill they go, and the long steep sweep into +the valley of the Owassee lies before them. Charley, with her feet on +the "rest," commences to descend. An amazed cow grazing by the roadside +makes a charge on the singular vehicle, but the girl never flinches, and +with one hand on the steering-bar and the other on the brake she avoids +every stone, every rut, every gully in the road. The irate cow, after +nearly plunging on its nose down the first steep incline, pauses to +recover its senses and then returns slowly up the hill. Starrett waves +it a laughing adieu. "Sensible bovine that," he says; "she knows that a +stern chase is a long chase."</p> + +<p>"My, though!" exclaims delighted Charley, "we're just flying, Starrett! +Aren't we?"</p> + +<p>They are indeed. The bushes whiz past,—the wind sweeps their +faces,—trees, stones, fences flit by like phantoms. Charley feels like +a bird on the wing. Such exhilaration is there in a good tricycle +"coast" downhill!</p> + +<p>But it is not all such pleasure; for, a few miles farther on, they +become acquainted with the other side of the story, as they go toiling +up the long ascent of Comstock Hill, a sandy and winding incline that +leads to the highlands of Fisherville.</p> + +<p>"If it weren't for the sand," said Charley as she pushes her tricycle +before her, "I would test the new 'power-gear' on my 'Columbia' by +riding up Comstock Hill. But, dear me, I believe there are not three +yards of solid earth on this road!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, we're more than half-way up," said Starrett, consolingly.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose it's sandy like this near Curtin Harbor?" inquired +Charley.</p> + +<p>"I haven't the least idea," Starrett replied. "If it is, we can branch +off and take the cars at Minot Station."</p> + +<p>"The cars? Why, Starrett Van Rensselaer!" exclaims Charley. "Why, I +wouldn't take the cars—not for anything—unless—well, unless I were +fairly driven to it."</p> + +<p>And now they both draw a long breath, for the crest of Comstock Hill is +won.</p> + +<p>"Look behind you, Starrett," says Charley. "Did you ever see a prettier +picture?"</p> + +<p>Starrett acknowledges he never did. The low-lying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span> valley is green and +fair. The Owassee stretches like a silver ribbon across the picture, and +there is not a human being in sight save these two tricyclers who take +all this summer beauty into their impressible young hearts.</p> + +<p>On they go, through Fisherville and into the open country again. Truly +no grass grows underneath those flashing wheels. The new "Columbia" has +the oil well worked in by this time, and the "Royal Mail," with its +queer one-sided "steerer," seems undisturbed by any ordinary roads. The +freshening wind is behind them; the blue sky, cloud-flecked, above; and +all around, bird-song and the rustle of blowing grass and bending +boughs.</p> + +<p>"This is grand, Charley!" cries Starrett; "so much better than horseback +riding—and I've tried both."</p> + +<p>"You don't tire yourself much more, and you're sure your horse won't run +away with you," Charley assents, whizzing along beside him. "I feel +strong enough for a good long run yet, and we ought to catch up with +them easily, before long."</p> + +<p>The winding, woody road brings them suddenly to a hill-top. To the +right, below, lies a wide expanse of velvety marsh meadow, with its +vivid and variegated tints of green, olive, and reddish-brown, and +occasional intersections of tottering, moss-grown fence; there is a +starry glimmer as of lilies in the frequent pools that give back the +glory of the sun. To the left are seen the dark, still reaches of a lake +that winds in and out in the cool shadow of high woody banks. An old +ice-house stands lonesome and gray on its margin.</p> + +<p>The brother and sister halt on the brow of the hill, to enjoy a view +that may be one of the memories of a lifetime; then the wheels roll +slowly toward the descent. The slope is steep and winding; they do not +"coast" with feet on the rest above the steering-wheel. It is not +desirable to capsize or collide with any up-coming vehicle. So they +glide warily on, with hands on the brakes, until the bottom is reached. +But here a crazy guide-post at a fork in the road misleads them by +pointing in the wrong direction for the Wareham road. But by great good +luck, they strike a shady wood track, full two miles long, which cuts +off five miles from the road they should have traveled, and which, so +Starrett says when he recognizes it, will bring them just so much nearer +the club. Dismounting at last, a pine-covered knoll, with a brook +bubbling below, attracts them; and, seated on the brown pine-needles, +the brother and sister talk over their adventures, and wonder how far +ahead the others may be. Suddenly Starrett, who faces the road, drops +his hands to his side with an exclamation of surprise.</p> + +<p>"What now?" says Charley, looking quickly around, A glance makes her a +partner in Starrett's astonishment; for, over the main road they have +just now regained, come one, two, three, four tricycles, their +glittering spokes flashing in the sun. They see Joe Marston's dusky face +and stalwart figure, and behind him they catch the flutter of garnet and +blue—the colors of the club. Occasionally a head in the procession +turns to look expectantly behind.</p> + +<p>Starrett and Charley keep close in the shade of the pines, restraining a +laugh with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"Here is a good place to stop, Joe," cries Cornelia Hadwin. "It's cool +and shady, and we can see the road. I think they should have caught up +with us by this time. Can anything have happened,—do you suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Dunno, miss," answers Joe with a grave face. But as he dismounts to +wheel his machine up the knoll, he stops short with a sudden smoothing +out of all the perplexed lines from his dark brow. "Hi, dar!" he +exclaims. "Look-a yer, Miss Corney!"</p> + +<p>Cornelia does look, and so do all the rest. There is a perfect chorus of +shrieks and laughter, a babel of voices, a torrent of questions.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we travel, I assure you!" says Starrett. "We took a flying leap and +came in ahead of you."</p> + +<p>"How did it happen? When did you pass us?" These and countless other +questions follow. Then all is explained, and at five o'clock the merry +six are on the road again, rolling along in lively style.</p> + +<p>So, in single file, with Joe in advance, and Starrett bringing up the +rear, the club rides through the main street of Wareham, down the long +slant to the bridge over the Wareham river. The evening mist hangs low +along the stream; the bridge seems to stretch across the rushing tide +and end abruptly in mid-air. The soft, grayish opaque cloud hides the +farther shore from sight.</p> + +<p>There are heads at doors and windows, and people on the street stop to +gaze. At first the girls feel a little abashed at so much attention. But +nobody is discourteous; Joe rides steadily on, and there is nothing to +do but to follow.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we do look queer to them," says Mattie Hyde.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you are missionaries, you know," says Starrett assuringly. +"Perhaps your club may be the means of introducing tricycles into many +of the places we shall pass through."</p> + +<p>"That's one of our objects, of course," observes Charley.</p> + +<p>"If girls and women knew what comfort one can take with a tricycle, half +the battle would be won," says Arno Cummings timidly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus500.jpg" width="650" height="455" alt=""THE BUSHES WHIZ PAST,—TREES, STONES, FENCES FLIT BY +LIKE PHANTOMS."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THE BUSHES WHIZ PAST,—TREES, STONES, FENCES FLIT BY +LIKE PHANTOMS."</span> +</div> + +<p>"It isn't altogether that, Arno," says Charley, who, as the originator +of the club, has her advanced theories to support. "A good many would +like to, but don't really dare. You know that Shakspere says 'Conscience +doth make cowards of us all.' I think that custom makes us cowards, +too."</p> + +<p>"Custom will be on our side, though, by and by," declares Mattie Hyde. +"Doctor Sawyer told Mamma the other day that he would prescribe the +tricycle rather than medicine for many of his patients. He said that the +machines are much used in England, and that they are gaining ground in +this country, though not so rapidly as he could wish."</p> + +<p>But even this knowledge of the healthfulness and desirability of the +tricycle does not make a hard piece of road any easier. After a night's +rest at the hospitable house of an aunt of Mattie Hyde's, the club find +themselves, next day, among the "Sandwiches," as Starrett facetiously +dubs the town of that name which is divided into North, East, South, and +West Sandwich. And there they come upon a wooded tract that sorely taxes +their endurance and presents the most formidable obstacle they have yet +encountered. The sand is impassable; it closes completely over the +wheel-tires, and, after a short space of arduous labor, the club come to +a dismayed standstill.</p> + +<p>"What on earth are we to do?" queries Corny Hadwin in despair.</p> + +<p>No one answers her. The boughs wave softly overhead; the small cloud of +dust their efforts have raised floats slowly away and settles on the +scant herbage underneath the pines. Near at hand sounds the shriek of +the "up" train. They are not far from the railroad.</p> + +<p>"Shall we give it up and take to the train?" Starrett asks, as they +catch the sound of the locomotive.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, we mustn't do that!" exclaims Charley. "Let's dismount and +push the machines a little way. Perhaps the wheeling is better just +ahead."</p> + +<p>But it is not. The ruts are strewn with straw, shavings, and chips; +everything indicates that the woods are extensive, and that others +before them have found the sand a tribulation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is the worst of all!" groans Corny.</p> + +<p>"But we'll not give up, nevertheless," declares little Arno Cummings, +developing unexpected grit in the emergency. "I shouldn't like to tell +them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span> at Curtin Harbor that we had to take to the cars to get around a +difficulty."</p> + +<p>Joe mops the perspiration from his dusky brow, and then stops to listen. +A creak, a rumble, and a tramp, tramp are heard behind them. "Dar's +sumfin a-comin!" says Joe.</p> + +<p>The "sumfin" soon appears in sight,—a big, empty, four-horse wagon, +making its unwieldy way in their direction. The same idea occurs to +everybody at once.</p> + +<p>"There! He'll carry us!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus503.jpg" width="650" height="435" alt="WITH JOE IN ADVANCE, THE CLUB RIDES THROUGH WAREHAM." title="" /> +<span class="caption">WITH JOE IN ADVANCE, THE CLUB RIDES THROUGH WAREHAM.</span> +</div> + +<p>Carry them! Of course he will—for a consideration. And almost before +the driver has recovered from his evident astonishment at this vision of +six tricycles in the heart of the Sandwich woods, the riders and their +machines are safely in the big cart, and on their way through the sandy +tract, which, they now learn, is several miles in extent.</p> + +<p>It is impossible for the horses to go faster than a walk for the whole +distance. The sand is a constant clog, and scarcely a breath of air can +penetrate the close piny ranks on either side the narrow road. It is a +slow and somewhat crowded ride, but the club tells stories, sings and +jokes and answers the curious inquiries of their teamster, to whom a +tricycle is a thing unknown till now. But in due time, the young folk +have bidden him good day, and are speeding on toward Barnstable. The air +grows salty, strong, and bracing.</p> + +<p>"It's like a breath of new life," says Starrett; and soon they are +rolling between the long row of grand old trees that line Barnstable's +quiet main street. At the hotel they stop for dinner and a noonday rest.</p> + +<p>It is four in the afternoon when they remount. The lady boarders, who +have taken quite an interest in the young tricyclers, bid them farewell +with all manner of good wishes, and one gray-haired society lady +remarks, "Those girls are sensible; and their mothers are sensible too. +Give young people the delights of nature and the freedom of outdoor +sports, and keep them from late parties, and the whirl of folly and +fashion. I've seen too many young lives warped and twisted and weakened +in the endeavor to 'keep up' in fashionable society. Yes, those girls +are sensible."</p> + +<p>And, wheeling still, by hill and dale, the "sensible" girls and their +escort roll merrily into old Yarmouth, with its broad, shady streets and +big, substantial, old-fashioned houses. Quaint and picturesque indeed it +is, with quiet nooks and corners, breezy streets, time-stained wharves +where lie battered fishing craft and the smarter boats devoted to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span> the +summer visitors who have found out the beauties of the town. Here, too, +Arno Cummings has an uncle, a bluff and breezy old sea-captain, who +gives the whole party a hearty welcome; and at his house, the club spend +two nights and the day between—a day of shade and shine, with the sea +wind blowing everywhere. They explore the old town from end to end. They +come continually upon pictures,—now a broad grassy lane with its +moss-grown fences flanked by rising pastures of brownish grass; now a +long slope ending in a rocky outlook over the blue sea; now a brown +cottage nestled in among trees and hills. And on the second morning +after their arrival, they bid the hospitable Captain Cummings adieu, and +pass, single file, over the great drawbridge across the inlet that cuts +Yarmouth in two, and so spin along through the succession of little +towns which, leaving Yarmouth, almost join together into one. Such are +the "Dennises"—divided as usual into North, East, South and West,—and +the "Harwiches," where at Harwich proper the tricyclers bid farewell to +the railroad which has kept them company at short intervals all the way +down.</p> + +<p>"Six miles to Curtin Harbor." So says the lazy youth at a cross roads +store, and away they spin, while the spires and houses of Harwich +disappear behind the trees.</p> + +<p>And now how the wind blows! And all around the horizon the sky has that +watery appearance that betokens the nearness of the sea. There is a +peculiar, bracing freedom in the wild, salt wind; the very sway of the +brown grass, the swing of the odorous wild pinks that nod in the corners +of old mossy fences have a life and freshness that one misses greatly in +tamer, more settled districts. For now they are plunging bravely into +the long stretch of sand barrens and pine woods that, with only an +occasional house, stretch for many a mile between Harwich and Curtin +Harbor.</p> + +<p>But here, in the afternoon, a sudden shower overtakes them. They can no +longer pick their dainty way by the roadside, but must keep the middle +track or run the risk of upsetting. There is scarce a quarter of a mile +of level ground to be found. The pine woods close in upon them, and when +at the summit of a hill they anxiously look for some other shelter than +the thronging pines, they can see nothing but the long, winding, +lightish streak of road and the endless outlines of monotonous +pine-trees on either side against the dark sky.</p> + +<p>"Six miles to Curtin Harbor!" cries Starrett at last. "That boy's a +fraud. I believe it's sixty."</p> + +<p>"Reckon dey're Cape Cod miles, Mas'r Starrett," says Joe. "Dey say down +yer, yo' know, dat one on 'em 's equal to two ob good trav'lin' in any +uthah part ob de worl'."</p> + +<p>If it were only clear now, coasting merrily down these hills would be +royal fun, but in this state of the weather caution is necessary. A halt +is called for consultation. The six composedly dismount and sit down on +the clumps of "poverty grass," beneath the doubtful shelter of the +pines.</p> + +<p>"Well, now," asks Starrett, "what are we going to do? I know you girls +are tired and drenched; you needn't deny it. And there's no sign of a +house this side of Jericho or Jerusalem."</p> + +<p>Suddenly Charley has an idea. "O girls," she says, "let's camp out, +right here! We're not badly off, for we all have our waterproof cloaks; +but you've all been longing for an adventure, and here's one for a +<i>finale</i>. We'll at least make a tent and have supper. It'll be just +splendid!"</p> + +<p>The club vociferously acquiesce. Joe alone, dubious, shakes his head. +But he is outvoted and overruled.</p> + +<p>A quantity of pine boughs are piled, by Joe and Starrett, tent-fashion, +across and around four of the tricycles; a heap of dry leaves, carefully +collected, makes a fragrant couch, whereon the young ladies compose +themselves, wrapped and snugly covered with shawls and capes from the +"luggage-carriers." Lastly Joe spreads the rubber waterproofs securely +over the wheels and boughs, and the young campers are completely +sheltered.</p> + +<p>A rummage in the lunch-boxes and "luggage-carriers" of the six machines +brings to light half a dozen soda crackers, two bananas, six pieces of +gingerbread, a slice of dry cheese, three apples, and—this is Joe's +surprise!—a small can of chicken.</p> + +<p>A chorus of delight greets this last discovery, and Joe is at once +besieged.</p> + +<p>"Now, yo' jes' sot down, ef yo' please, young ladies," says Joe, holding +the can above his head. "I'll 'tend to yo' d'reckly. Yo' jes' gib me de +tings and I'll serve supper in fus'-class style."</p> + +<p>When the chicken,—delicately served on the soda crackers,—the apples, +bananas, and gingerbread are distributed, and the cheese toasted—in a +fashion—at one of the lamps, the merry six leave not a crumb to tell +the tale. It is true that a conscious vacancy still exists in the six +hungry stomachs—such appetites have these young wheelers; but they are +refreshed and no one thinks of complaining.</p> + +<p>The merry meal finished, weariness and the patter of rain incline the +girls to rest, and soon silence falls upon the camp, broken only by the +sighing of the wind among the dark pine boughs, and the occasional chirp +of some sleepy bird.</p> + +<p>Then Starrett, also, wrapped in his waterproof coat, throws himself down +to rest beneath the shelter of a friendly pine close by.</p> + +<p>Joe, left alone as the sentinel, falls to thinking over the situation, +wondering where they are and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span> whether they have missed the right road. +He walks about uneasily and then stands looking up and down the stretch +of road. The tricycle lamp, which he has lighted to dispel the gloom, +casts a yellow gleam over the tent and Starrett's shrouded figure, while +beyond and all around are the pines with their swaying branches and the +long black vistas between. Joe walks back and forth, in the rain, vainly +trying to think in which direction they are to proceed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;"> +<img src="images/illus506.jpg" width="398" height="450" alt=""DE YOUNG GEMMAN AN' I MAKE DIS TENT TO KEEP DE YOUNG +LADIES DRY."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"DE YOUNG GEMMAN AN' I MAKE DIS TENT TO KEEP DE YOUNG +LADIES DRY."</span> +</div> + +<p>He has been wondering thus for perhaps five minutes, when he becomes +aware of a pair of fiery eyes watching him from the shadows. Joe starts. +He does not know what peculiar class of wild beasts inhabits Cape Cod, +but there are the eyes plainly enough. He stops and stands motionless. +The eyes move, come boldly forward, and Joe, now doubly astonished, sees +full in the glare of the tricycle lamp—a big grayish cat!</p> + +<p>And the cat has a nickel-plated collar with a ribbon attached. Joe knows +that even on Cape Cod no wild beasts roam about, in summer storms, with +nickeled and be-ribboned collars, but what can a cat be doing away in +the depths of a pine forest? And then he suddenly concludes that the +cat's home can not be far away. The gray cat comes purring about his +knees. Joe is fond of cats, so he takes it in his arms and fondles its +wet fur, and it proves to be company for him and really helps him to +forget the discomfort of the rain.</p> + +<p>At about seven o'clock in the evening, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span> the rain slackens, the +clouds scatter, and rifts of light appear through the trees. And just as +Joe is thinking of rousing the club for another "spin," he hears a +whistle and a heavy step from across the road. Then an old farmer fellow +of about forty-five, in search of a lost cow, comes to an abrupt and +amazed halt at confronting among the pines Joe, the gray cat, Starrett's +recumbent figure, the tent, and the glimmering tricycle wheels. He +stands speechless until Joe's voice breaks the spell.</p> + +<p>"Good-ebenin', sar," says Joe. "Can you tell me if dis is de road to +Curtin Harbor?"</p> + +<p>"Curtin Harbor!" exclaims the farmer, with his eyes still full of mute +amazement. "No, it's not. 'T any rate not the direct one. If you've come +over from Harwich, you've gone two miles out of yer way. You should have +taken the other road, back there by the old school-house."</p> + +<p>"Dar's whar I missed it!" cries Joe, slapping his knee. "I was suah I +did sumfin' wrong somewhar, but I couldn't locate it, to save me! I'se +much obliged."</p> + +<p>"You can cut across to the main road by crossing my field yonder and +going up by the house just beyond——"</p> + +<p>"Hi, den dere is a house over yar!" says Joe.</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly," says the farmer, "not more than forty rods from here." +And when Joe finds how very near he has been to a comfortable farmhouse +he says he feels "like kickin' hisself."</p> + +<p>"But," says the visitor, still eying the camp. "How did it all happen. +Are you traveling on foot?"</p> + +<p>"No, sar; on tricycles," explains Joe, proudly; "we are de Girls' +Tricycle Club, all de way from Sherridoc, wid Mas'r Starrett an' me +along to look arter 'em and see 'em safe down to Curtin Harbor. We los' +de track back yondah, an' de young gemman an' I jes' rig up dis tent for +to keep the young ladies dry an' gib 'em a chance to rest till de shower +was ober."</p> + +<p>The farmer's surprise grows to interest.</p> + +<p>"And so this is a tricycle," he says. "And did the young ladies ride +those things all the way from Sherridoc?"</p> + +<p>"All de way, sar," answers Joe, proudly, "'cept when we wus stuck in de +Sandywiches and had to be carted froo wid a team."</p> + +<p>After the good man's curiosity has been satisfied, and Starrett has +summoned the girls to appear, the worthy farmer strolls off after his +lost cow, first inviting the club to the farm to another supper. One by +one, the girls emerge from their camp, but when they hear how near to a +house they have been during the rain, great is the laughter.</p> + +<p>"I don't care, though," cries Cornelia Hadwin; "we've really had a sort +of a camping-out time, and I'm glad of it."</p> + +<p>After hearing Joe's report, the club determines to push on at once to +Curtin Harbor in the early evening, without accepting the hospitable +invitation to supper at the farmhouse.</p> + +<p>The two miles to the main road are quickly traversed, and before long +the club wheels around a long curve in the road, and the blue expanse of +Curtin Harbor lies beneath them. The clouds are gone by this time; the +rising moon shoots slantwise through a few thin, dissolving folds, and +brings out ripples of gold and silver on the long seas. There seems to +be a breeze that stirs the water to darker ruffles beyond the head-land, +but where the young folk sit on their tricycles, enjoying the beauty of +the scene and the salty damp of the evening air, not a blade of the +coarse, silvery beach-grass stirs; every spire and blade stands in +sheeny silver in the mellow light.</p> + +<p>Below the beach-road branches off a long winding descent to the quiet +cottages which lie in the evening glow, seemingly fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"Now, girls, for a good coast!" cries Starrett. "Here goes!"</p> + +<p>And away indeed he goes, over the brow of the hill, rolling swiftly, and +removing his feet from the pedals as his machine gathers way. Away also +they all fly after him, merry as larks, waking all the echoes of the +shore with their light-hearted shouts and laughter. The tricycle lamps +flash out upon the seaward road, and soon it comes to pass, that as +Charley's wheels whiz flashing into the wide, grassy dooryard of a +certain pleasant little summer abode, a hand lifts the window curtain, +and a voice, with a ring of irrepressible gladness but a great pretense +of gruffness, calls out:</p> + +<p>"Is this my noisy daughter, who has been running wild for a week over +all the roads on Cape Cod?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Papa!" cries Charley, gleefully, "we've had a perfectly charming +trip!"</p> + +<p>And so says the entire club. And they pass a vote of thanks to Joe for +taking faithful care of them, and to Starrett for his excellent escort +duty. And now when the story of their eighty-mile ride is told, +everybody votes tricycling a wonderfully health-giving and delightful +exercise, and the first long trip of the Girls' Tricycling Club a grand +success.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span></p> +<h2>MORNING-GLORIES.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Laura Ledyard Pope.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">My neighbor's morning-glories rise<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And flutter at her casement;<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>My</i> morning-glories' lovely eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Peep just above the basement.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And both our morning-glories strew<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With loveliness the railing,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And thrust their starry faces through<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The vines about the paling.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But when at last the thrifty sun<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A work-day world arouses,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hers gather up their dainty skirts<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And vanish in their houses.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">They draw their silken curtains close,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There's not a soul can find them;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And mine run up the school-house path,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And shut the door behind them!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 515px;"> +<img src="images/illus509.jpg" width="515" height="550" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span></p> +<h2>LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Frances Hodgson Burnett.</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/illus511.jpg" width="475" height="650" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Chapter VII.</span></h3> + +<p>On the following Sunday morning, Mr. Mordaunt had a large congregation. +Indeed, he could scarcely remember any Sunday on which the church had +been so crowded. People appeared upon the scene who seldom did him the +honor of coming to hear his sermons. There were even people from +Hazelton, which was the next parish. There were hearty, sunburned +farmers, stout, comfortable, apple-cheeked wives in their best bonnets +and most gorgeous shawls, and half a dozen children or so to each +family. The doctor's wife was there, with her four daughters. Mrs. +Kimsey and Mr. Kimsey, who kept the druggist's shop, and made pills, and +did up powders for everybody within ten miles, sat in their pew; Mrs. +Dibble in hers, Miss Smiff, the village dressmaker, and her friend Miss +Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs; the doctor's young man was +present, and the druggist's apprentice; in fact, almost every family on +the county side was represented, in one way or another.</p> + +<p>In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had been +told of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept so busy +attending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of needles or a +ha'p'orth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, that the little +shop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself to death over the +coming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how his small lordship's +rooms had been furnished for him, what expensive toys had been bought, +how there was a beautiful brown pony awaiting him, and a small groom to +attend it, and a little dog-cart, with silver-mounted harness. And she +could tell, too, what all the servants had said when they had caught +glimpses of the child on the night of his arrival; and how every female +below stairs had said it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor pretty +dear from his mother; and had all declared their hearts came into their +mouths when he went alone into the library to see his grandfather, for +"there was no knowing how he'd be treated, and his lordship's temper was +enough to fluster them with old heads on their shoulders, let alone a +child."</p> + +<p>"But if you'll believe me, Mrs. Jennifer, mum," Mrs. Dibble had said, +"fear that child does not know—so Mr. Thomas hisself says; an' set an' +smile he did, an' talked to his lordship as if they'd been friends ever +since his first hour. An' the Earl so took aback, Mr. Thomas says, that +he couldn't do nothing but listen and stare from under his eyebrows. An' +it's Mr. Thomas's opinion, Mrs. Bates, mum, that bad as he is, he was +pleased in his secret soul, an' proud, too; for a handsomer little +fellow, or with better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas says +he'd never wish to see."</p> + +<p>And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend Mr. Mordaunt +had told it at his own dinner table, and the servant who had heard it +had told it in the kitchen, and from there it had spread like wildfire.</p> + +<p>And on market-day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he had been +questioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned too, and in +response had shown to two or three people the note signed "Fauntleroy."</p> + +<p>And so the farmers' wives had found plenty to talk of over their tea and +their shopping, and they had done the subject full justice and made the +most of it. And on Sunday they had either walked to church or had been +driven in their gigs by their husbands, who were perhaps a trifle +curious themselves about the new little lord who was to be in time the +owner of the soil.</p> + +<p>It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he chose to +appear on this first Sunday—it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span> was his whim to present himself in the +huge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side.</p> + +<p>There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lingerers in the +lane that morning. There were groups at the gates and in the porch, and +there had been much discussion as to whether my lord would really appear +or not. When this discussion was at its height, one good woman suddenly +uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Eh," she said; "that must be the mother, pretty young thing."</p> + +<p>All who heard turned and looked at the slender figure in black coming up +the path. The veil was thrown back from her face and they could see how +fair and sweet it was, and how the bright hair curled as softly as a +child's under the little widow's cap.</p> + +<p>She was not thinking of the people about; she was thinking of Cedric, +and of his visits to her, and his joy over his new pony, on which he had +actually ridden to her door the day before, sitting very straight and +looking very proud and happy. But soon she could not help being +attracted by the fact that she was being looked at and that her arrival +had created some sort of sensation. She first noticed it because an old +woman in a red cloak made a bobbing curtsy to her, and then another did +the same thing and said, "God bless you, my lady!" and one man after +another took off his hat as she passed. For a moment she did not +understand, and then she realized that it was because she was little +Lord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so, and she flushed rather shyly +and smiled and bowed too, and said, "Thank you" in a gentle voice to the +old woman who had blessed her. To a person who had always lived in a +bustling, crowded American city this simple deference was very novel, +and at first just a little embarrassing; but after all, she could not +help liking and being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of which +it seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch into +the church before the great event of the day happened. The carriage from +the Castle, with its handsome horses and tall liveried servants, bowled +around the corner and down the green lane.</p> + +<p>"Here they come!" went from one looker-on to another.</p> + +<p>And then the carriage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and opened the +door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a splendid mop +of bright waving hair, jumped out.</p> + +<p>Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him.</p> + +<p>"He's the Captain over again!" said those of the on-lookers who +remembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!"</p> + +<p>He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas helped +that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could be +imagined. The instant he could help, he put out his hand and offered his +shoulder as if he had been seven feet high. It was plain enough to every +one that however it might be with other people, the Earl of Dorincourt +struck no terror into the breast of his grandson.</p> + +<p>"Just lean on me," they heard him say. "How glad the people are to see +you, and how well they all seem to know you!"</p> + +<p>"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. "They are bowing to +you."</p> + +<p>"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, baring his +bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled eyes on them as he +tried to bow to every one at once.</p> + +<p>"God bless your lordship!" said the curtsying, red-cloaked old woman who +had spoken to his mother; "long life to you!"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, ma'am," said Fauntleroy. And then they went into the church, +and were looked at there, on their way up the aisle to the square, +red-cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy was fairly seated he +made two discoveries which pleased him: the first was that, across the +church where he could look at her, his mother sat and smiled at him; the +second, that at one end of the pew against the wall, knelt two quaint +figures carven in stone, facing each other as they kneeled on either +side of a pillar supporting two stone missals, their pointed hands +folded as if in prayer, their dress very antique and strange. On the +tablet by them was written something of which he could only read the +curious words:</p> + +<p>"Here lyethe ye bodye of Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle of Dorincort +allsoe of Alysone Hildegarde hys wyfe."</p> + +<p>"May I whisper?" inquired his lordship, devoured by curiosity.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" said his grandfather.</p> + +<p>"Who are they?"</p> + +<p>"Some of your ancestors," answered the Earl, "who lived a few hundred +years ago."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, "perhaps I +got my spelling from them." And then he proceeded to find his place in +the church service. When the music began, he stood up and looked across +at his mother, smiling. He was very fond of music, and his mother and he +often sang together, so he joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet, +high voice rising as clear as the song of a bird. He quite forgot +himself in his pleasure in it. The Earl forgot himself a little too, as +he sat in his curtain-shielded corner of the pew and watched the boy. +Cedric stood with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span> big psalter open in his hands, singing with all +his childish might, his face a little uplifted, happily; and as he sang, +a long ray of sunshine crept in and, slanting through a golden pane of a +stained glass window, brightened the falling hair about his young head. +His mother, as she looked at him across the church, felt a thrill pass +through her heart, and a prayer rose in it too; a prayer that the pure, +simple happiness of his childish soul might last, and that the strange, +great fortune which had fallen to him might bring no wrong or evil with +it. There were many soft anxious thoughts in her tender heart in those +new days.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 579px;"> +<img src="images/illus515.jpg" width="579" height="450" alt=""I'VE A GREAT DEAL TO THANK YOUR LORDSHIP FOR," SAID +HIGGINS. (SEE NEXT PAGE.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"I'VE A GREAT DEAL TO THANK YOUR LORDSHIP FOR," SAID +HIGGINS. (SEE NEXT PAGE.)</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, Ceddie!" she had said to him the evening before, as she hung over +him in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, Ceddie, dear, I wish +for your sake I was very clever and could say a great many wise things! +But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and +then you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may help +many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born. +And that is best of all, Ceddie,—it is better than everything else, +that the world should be a little better because a man has lived—even +ever so little better, dearest."</p> + +<p>And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her words to +his grandfather.</p> + +<p>"And I thought about you when she said that," he ended; "and I told her +that was the way the world was because you had lived, and I was going to +try if I could be like you."</p> + +<p>"And what did she say to that?" asked his lordship, a trifle uneasily.</p> + +<p>"She said that was right, and we must always look for good in people and +try to be like it."</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced through the +divided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he looked over +the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw the +fair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and the eyes which were so like +those of the child at his side; but what his thoughts were, and whether +they were hard and bitter, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span> softened a little, it would have been +hard to discover.</p> + +<p>As they came out of the church, many of those who had attended the +service stood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the gate, a man +who stood with his hat in his hand made a step forward and then +hesitated. He was a middle-aged farmer, with a careworn face.</p> + +<p>"Well, Higgins," said the Earl.</p> + +<p>Fauntleroy turned quickly to look at him.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he exclaimed; "is it Mr. Higgins?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Earl dryly; "and I suppose he came to take a look at +his new landlord."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my lord," said the man, his sunburned face reddening. "Mr. Newick +told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me, and I +thought I'd like to say a word of thanks, if I might be allowed."</p> + +<p>Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it was who +had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there looking up just +as one of his own less fortunate children might have done—apparently +not realizing his own importance in the least.</p> + +<p>"I've a great deal to thank your lordship for," he said; "a great deal. +I——"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Fauntleroy; "I only wrote the letter. It was my grandfather +who did it. But you know how he is about always being good to everybody. +Is Mrs. Higgins well now?"</p> + +<p>Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat startled at +hearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a benevolent +being, full of engaging qualities.</p> + +<p>"I—well, yes, your lordship," he stammered; "the missus is better since +the trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying broke her down."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," said Fauntleroy. "My grandfather was very sorry +about your children having the scarlet fever, and so was I. He has had +children himself. I'm his son's little boy, you know."</p> + +<p>Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it would be +the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl, as it had been +well known that his fatherly affection for his sons had been such that +he had seen them about twice a year, and that when they had been ill, he +had promptly departed for London, because he would not be bored with +doctors and nurses. It was a little trying therefore to his lordship's +nerves to be told, while he looked on, his eyes gleaming from under his +shaggy eyebrows, that he felt an interest in scarlet fever.</p> + +<p>"You see, Higgins," broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile; "you +people have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When +you want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply to +him. Get into the carriage, Fauntleroy."</p> + +<p>And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carriage rolled away down the green +lane, and even when it turned the corner into the high road, the Earl +was still grimly smiling.</p> + +<h4>(<i>To be continued.</i>)</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GEORGE WASHINGTON</h2> + +<h3>[<i>A Historical Biography.</i>]</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Horace E. Scudder.</span></h3> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Chapter XIII.</span></h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Virginia Burgess.</span></h4> + +<p>Before Washington's marriage, and while he was in camp near Fort +Cumberland, making active preparations for the campaign against Fort +Duquesne, there was an election for members of the Virginia House of +Burgesses. Washington offered himself as candidate to the electors of +Frederic County, in which Winchester, where he had been for the past +three years, was the principal town. His friends were somewhat fearful +that the other candidates, who were on the ground, would have the +advantage over Washington, who was with the army, at a distance; and +they wrote, urging him to come on and look after his interests. Colonel +Bouquet, under whose orders he was, cheerfully gave him leave of +absence, but Washington replied:</p> + +<p>"I had, before Colonel Stephen came to this place, abandoned all +thoughts of attending personally the election at Winchester, choosing +rather to leave the management of that affair to my friends, than be +absent from my regiment, when there is a probability of its being called +to duty. I am much pleased now, that I did so."</p> + +<p>Here was a case where Washington broke his excellent rule of—"If you +want a thing done, do it yourself." If his regiment was to lie idle at +Fort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span> Cumberland, he could easily have galloped to Winchester, and have +been back in a few days; but there was a chance that it might move, and +so he gave up at once all thought of leaving it. Glad enough he was to +have the news confirmed. To lead his men forward, and to have a hand in +the capture of Fort Duquesne, was the first thing—the election must +take care of itself. This was not a bad statement for his friends at +Winchester to make. A man who sticks to his post, and does his duty +without regard to his personal interests, is the very man for a +representative in the legislature. The people of Frederic knew +Washington thoroughly, and though they had sometimes felt his heavy +hand, they gave him a hearty vote, and he was elected a member of the +House of Burgesses.</p> + +<p>This was in 1758, and he continued to serve as a member for the next +fifteen years. There is a story told of his first appearance in the +House. He was something more than a new member; he was the late +Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia army, the foremost man, in a military +way, in the province; he had just returned from the successful +expedition against Fort Duquesne. So the House resolved to welcome him +in a manner becoming so gallant a Virginian, and it passed a vote of +thanks for the distinguished military services he had rendered the +country. The Speaker, Mr. Robinson, rose when Washington came in to take +his seat, and made a little speech of praise and welcome, presenting the +thanks of the House. Every one applauded and waited for the tall colonel +to respond. There he stood, blushing, stammering, confused. He could +give his orders to his men easily enough, and he could even say what was +necessary, to Mrs. Martha Custis; but to address the House of Burgesses +in answer to a vote of thanks—that was another matter! Not a plain word +could he get out. It was a capital answer, and the Speaker interpreted +it to the House.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Washington," said he. "Your modesty equals your valor, +and that surpasses the power of any language I possess."</p> + +<p>It was a trying ordeal for the new member, and if speech-making had been +his chief business in the House, he would have made a sorry failure. He +rarely made a speech, and never a long one, but for all that he was a +valuable member, and his re-election at every term showed that the +people understood his value. If there was any work to be done, any +important committee to be appointed, Washington could be counted on, and +his sound judgment, his mature experience, and sense of honor, made his +opinion one which every one respected. He was always on hand, punctual, +and faithful; and qualities of diligence and fidelity in such a place, +when combined with sound judgment and honor, are sure to tell in the +long run. He once gave a piece of advice to a nephew who had also been +elected to the House, and it probably was the result of his own +experience and observation.</p> + +<p>"The only advice I will offer," he said; "if you have a mind to command +the attention of the House, is to speak seldom but on important +subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, +in the former case, make yourself perfect master of the subject. Never +exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with diffidence. A +dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always accompanied +with disgust."</p> + +<p>It was in January, 1759, that Washington took his seat in the House, and +if he made it his rule "to speak seldom but on important subjects," he +had several opportunities to speak before he finally left the Virginia +Legislature for a more important gathering. The first very important +subject was the Stamp Act, in 1765. The British Government had passed an +act requiring the American colonies to place a stamp upon every +newspaper or almanac that was published, upon every marriage +certificate, every will, every deed, and upon other legal papers. These +stamps were to be sold by officers of the crown, and the money obtained +by the sale was to be used to pay British soldiers stationed in America +to enforce the laws made by Parliament.</p> + +<p>The colonies were aflame with indignation. They declared that Parliament +had no right to pass such an act; that the Ministry that proposed it was +about an unlawful business; and that it was adding insult to injury to +send over soldiers to enforce such laws. People, when they meet on the +corner of the street and discuss public matters, are usually much more +outspoken than when they meet in legislatures; but the American +colonists were wont to talk very plainly in their assemblies, and it was +no new thing for the representatives, chosen by the people, to be at +odds with the governor, who represented the British Government. So when +Patrick Henry rose up in the House of Burgesses, with his resolutions +declaring that the Stamp Act was illegal and that the colony of Virginia +had always enjoyed the right of governing itself, as far as taxation +went,—and when he made a flaming speech which threatened the King, +there was great confusion; and though his resolutions were passed, there +was but a bare majority.</p> + +<p>There is no record of what Washington may have said or how he voted on +that occasion, but his letters show that he thought the Stamp Act a very +unwise act on the part of Great Britain, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span> piece of oppression. +"That Act," he says, "could be looked upon in no other light by every +person who would view it in its proper colors." But he did not rush into +a passion over it. Instead, he studied it coolly, and before it was +repealed, wrote at some length to his wife's uncle, who was living in +London, his reasons for thinking that the British Ministry would gain +nothing by pressing the Stamp Act and other laws which bore hard on +colonial prosperity; for he held that if they would only see it, the +colonies were as necessary to England as England to the colonies.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;"> +<img src="images/illus521.jpg" width="423" height="450" alt="PATRICK HENRY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PATRICK HENRY.</span> +</div> + +<p>It is difficult for us to-day to put ourselves in the place of +Washington and other men of his time. Washington was a Virginian, and +was one of the Legislature. He was used to making laws and providing for +the needs of the people of Virginia, but he was accustomed to look +beyond Virginia to England. There the King was, and he was one of the +subjects of the King. The King's officers came to Virginia, and when +Washington saw, as he so often did, a British man-of-war lying in the +river off Mount Vernon, his mind was thrilled with pleasure as he +thought of the power of the empire to which he belonged. He had seen the +British soldiers marching against the French, and he had himself served +under a British general. He had an ardent desire to go to England, to +see London, to see the King and his Court, and Parliament, and the +Courts of Justice, and the great merchants who made the city famous; but +as yet he had been unable to go.</p> + +<p>He had seen but little of the other colonies. He had made a journey to +Boston, and that had given him some acquaintance with men; but wherever +he went, he found people looking eagerly toward England and asking what +the Ministry there would do about fighting the French on the Western +borders. Though he and others might never have seen England, it was the +center of the world to them. He thought of the other colonies not so +much as all parts of one great country on this side of the Atlantic, as +each separately a part of the British Empire.</p> + +<p>After all, however, and most of all, he was a Virginian. In Virginia he +owned land. There was his home, and there his occupation. He was a +farmer, a planter of tobacco and wheat, and it was his business to sell +his products. As for the French, they were enemies of Great Britain, but +they were also very near enemies of Virginia. They were getting +possession of land in Virginia itself—land which Washington owned in +part; and when he was busily engaged in driving them out, he did not +have to stop and think of France, he needed only to think of Fort +Duquesne, a few days' march to the westward.</p> + +<p>When, therefore he found the British Government making laws which made +him pay roundly for sending his tobacco to market, and taxing him as if +there were no Virginia Legislature to say what taxes the people could +and should pay, he began to be restless and dissatisfied. England was a +great way off; Virginia was close at hand. He was loyal to the King and +had fought under the King's officers, but if the King cared nothing for +his loyalty, and only wanted his pence, his loyalty was likely to cool. +His chief resentment, however, was against Parliament. Parliament was +making laws and laying taxes. But what was Parliament? It was a body of +law-makers in England, just as the House of Burgesses was in Virginia. +To be sure, it could pass laws about navigation which concerned all +parts of the British Empire; but, somehow, it made these laws very +profitable to England and very disadvantageous to Virginia. Parliament, +however, had no right to pass such a law as the Stamp Act. That was +making a special law for the American colonies, and taking away a right +which belonged to the colonial assemblies.</p> + +<p>Washington had grown up with an intense love of law, and in this he was +like other American Englishmen. In England there were very few persons +who made the laws, the vast majority had nothing to do but to obey the +laws. Yet it is among the makers of laws that the love of law prevails; +and since in America a great many more Englishmen had to do with +government in colony and in town than in England, there were more who +passionately insisted upon the law being observed. An unlawful act was +to them an outrage. When they said that England was oppressing them, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span> making them slaves, they did not mean that they wanted liberty to +do what they pleased, but that they wanted to be governed by just laws, +made by the men who had the right to make laws. And that right belonged +to the legislatures, to which they sent representatives.</p> + +<p>So it was out of his love of law and justice that Washington and others +protested against the Stamp Act; and when the act was repealed, they +threw up their hats and hurrahed, not because they now should not have +to buy and use stamps, but because by repealing the act, Parliament had +as much as said that it was an unlawful act. However, this was an +unwilling admission on the part of Parliament, which repealed the act, +but said at once: "We can tax you if we choose to."</p> + +<p>In fact, Parliament stupidly tried soon after to prove that it had the +right by imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, and painters' colors. But +the people in the colonies were on the alert. They had really been +governing themselves so long that now, when Parliament tried to get the +power away from them, they simply went on using their power. They did +this in two ways; the colonial governments again asserted their rights +in the case, and the people began to form associations, in which they +bound themselves not to buy goods of England until the offensive act was +repealed. This latter was one of the most interesting movements in the +breaking away of the colonies from England. It was a popular movement; +it did not depend upon what this or that colonial assembly might do; it +was perfectly lawful, and so far as it was complete it was effective. +Yet all the while the movement was doing more, and what but a very few +detected; it was binding the scattered people in the colonies together.</p> + +<p>Washington took a great deal of interest in these associations, and +belonged to one himself. He was growing exceedingly impatient of English +misrule, and saw clearly to what it was leading. "At a time," he says, +"when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing +less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary +that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the +liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of +doing it to answer the purpose effectually is the point in question. +That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense +of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms, I would beg +leave to add, should be the last resort. We have already, it is said, +proved the inefficacy of addresses to the throne, and remonstrances to +Parliament. How far, then, their attention to our rights and privileges +is to be awakened or alarmed by starving their trade and manufactures, +remains to be tried."</p> + +<p>He took the lead in forming an association in Virginia, and he kept +scrupulously to his agreement; for when he sent his orders to London, he +was very careful to instruct his correspondents to send him none of the +goods unless the Act of Parliament had meantime been repealed. As the +times grew more exciting, Washington watched events steadily. He took no +step backward, but he moved forward deliberately and with firmness. He +did not allow himself to be carried away by the passions of the time. It +was all very well, some said, to stop buying from England, but let us +stop selling also. They need our tobacco. Suppose we refuse to send it +unless Parliament repeals the Act. Washington stood out against that +except as a final resource, and for the reason which he stated in a +letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I am convinced, as much as I am of my own existence, that +there is no relief for us but in their distress; and I +think, at least I hope, that there is public virtue enough +left among us to deny ourselves everything but the bare +necessaries of life to accomplish this end. This we have a +right to do, and no power upon earth can compel us to do +otherwise, till it has first reduced us to the most abject +state of slavery. The stopping of our exports would, no +doubt, be a shorter method than the other to effect this +purpose; but if we owe money to Great Britain, nothing but +the last necessity can justify the non-payment of it; and, +therefore, I have great doubts upon this head, and wish to +see the other method first tried, which is legal and will +facilitate these payments." </p></div> + +<p>That is, by the economy necessarily preached, the people would save +money with which to pay their debts.</p> + +<p>Washington had been at the front both in the House of Burgesses, in his +own county, and among the people generally. He was a member of the +convention called to meet at Williamsburg; and he was appointed by that +convention one of seven delegates to attend the first Continental +Congress at Philadelphia.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Chapter XIV.</span></h3> + +<h4>THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.</h4> + +<p>Near the end of August, 1774, Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, two of +the delegates from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, rode from +their homes to Mount Vernon and made a short visit. Then, on the last +day of the month, Washington mounted his horse also, and the three +friends started for Philadelphia to attend the congress, which was +called to meet on the 5th of September. Pendleton was a dozen years +older than Washington, and Henry was the youngest of the party. He was +the most fiery in speech, and more than once, in recent conventions, had +carried his hearers away by his bold words. He was the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span> eloquent +man in the colonies,—of rude appearance, but when once wrought up by +excitement, able to pour out a torrent of words.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 419px;"> +<img src="images/illus525.jpg" width="419" height="450" alt="WASHINGTON, PATRICK HENRY, AND EDMUND PENDLETON ON THEIR +WAY TO PHILADELPHIA, AS DELEGATES TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.[D" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WASHINGTON, PATRICK HENRY, AND EDMUND PENDLETON ON THEIR +WAY TO PHILADELPHIA, AS DELEGATES TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></span> +</div> + +<p>For my part, I would rather have heard the speech which Washington made +at the convention in Williamsburg in the August before, when he rose up +to read the resolution which he and his neighbors had passed at their +meeting in Fairfax County. The eloquence of a man who is a famous orator +is not quite so convincing as that of a man of action, who rarely +speaks, but who is finally stirred by a great occasion. People were used +to hearing Washington say a few words in a slow, hesitating, deliberate +way; and they knew that he had carefully considered beforehand what +words he should use. But this time he was terribly in earnest, and when +he had read the resolution, he spoke as no one had heard him before. He +was a passionate man who had his anger under control; but when it +occasionally burst out, it was as if a dam to a stream had given way. +And now he was consumed with indignation at the manner in which Great +Britain was treating the colonies. He was ready, he said, to raise a +regiment of a thousand men, pay all their expenses, and lead them to +Boston to drive out the King's soldiers.</p> + +<p>The three men, therefore, must have talked long and earnestly as they +rode to Philadelphia; for the Congress which they were to attend was the +first one to which all the colonies were invited to send delegates. It +was to consider the cause of the whole people, and Virginia was to see +in Massachusetts not a rival colony, but one with which she had common +cause. The last time Washington had gone over the road he had been on an +errand to the King's chief representative in America, the +Commander-in-Chief, Governor Shirley, and one matter which he had held +very much at heart had been his own commission as an officer in His +Majesty's army. He was on a different errand now. Still, like the men +who were most in earnest at that time, he was thinking how the colonies +could secure their rights as colonies, not how they might break away +from England and set up for themselves.</p> + +<p>They were five days on the road, and on September the 4th, they +breakfasted near Newcastle, in Delaware, dined at Chester, in +Pennsylvania, and in the evening were in Philadelphia, at the City +Tavern, which stood on Second street, above Walnut street, and was the +meeting-place of most of the delegates. Washington, however, though he +was often at the City Tavern, had his lodging at Dr. Shippen's. The +Congress met the next day at Carpenters' Hall, and was in session for +seven weeks. The first two or three days were especially exciting to the +members. There they were, fifty-one men, from all the colonies save<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span> +Georgia, met to consult together—Englishmen who sang "God save the +King," but asked also what right the King had to act as he had done +toward Boston. They did not know one another well at the beginning. +There was no man among them who could be called famous beyond his own +colony, unless it was George Washington. Up to this time the different +colonies had lived so apart from one another, each concerned about its +own affairs, that there had been little opportunity for a man to be +widely known.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 444px;"> +<img src="images/illus526.jpg" width="444" height="600" alt="CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA, WHERE THE FIRST +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA, WHERE THE FIRST +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.</span> +</div> + +<p>So, as they looked at one another at the City Tavern, or at the +Carpenters' Hall when they met, each man was wondering who would take +the lead. Virginia was the largest and most important colony. +Massachusetts had a right to speak, because she had called the +convention, and because it was in Boston that the people were suffering +most from the action of the British Parliament. Perhaps the two most +conspicuous members at first were Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and Samuel +Adams, of Massachusetts; but in the seven weeks of the session, others +showed their good judgment and patriotism. Patrick Henry was asked after +he returned to Virginia whom he considered the greatest man in the +Congress, and he replied: "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of +South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid +information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the +greatest man on the floor."</p> + +<p>Washington carried on the methods which he had always practiced. He +attended the sessions punctually and regularly; he listened to what +others had to say, and gave his own opinion only after he had carefully +formed it. It is an example of the thoroughness with which he made +himself master of every subject, that he used to copy in his own hand +the important papers which were laid before Congress, such as the +petition to the King which was agreed upon. This he would do +deliberately and exactly,—it was like committing the paper to memory. +Besides this, he made abstracts of other papers, stating the substance +of them in a few clear words.</p> + +<p>The greater part of each day was occupied in the Congress, but besides +the regular business, there was a great deal of informal talk among the +members. They were full of the subject, and used to meet to discuss +affairs at dinner, or in knots about the fire at the City Tavern. +Philadelphia was then the most important city in the country, and there +were many men of wide experience living in it. Washington went +everywhere by invitation. He dined with the Chief Justice, with the +Mayor, and with all the notable people.</p> + +<p>In this way he was able to become better acquainted both with the state +of affairs in other colonies and with the way the most intelligent +people were thinking about the difficulties of the time. The first +Continental Congress gave expression to the deliberate judgment of the +colonies upon the acts of Great Britain. It protested against the manner +in which Parliament was treating the colonies. It declared firmly and +solemnly that as British subjects the people of the colonies owed no +allegiance to Parliament, in which they had no representatives; that +their own legislatures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span> alone had the right to lay taxes. But after all, +the great advantage of this first Congress was in the opportunity which +it gave for representatives from the different colonies to become +acquainted with one another, and thus to make all parts of the country +more ready to act together.</p> + +<p>It was only now and then that any one suggested the independence of the +colonies. Washington, like a few others, thought it possible the +colonies might have to arm and resist the unlawful attempt to force +unconstitutional laws upon them; but he did not, at this time, go so far +as to propose a separation from England. He had a friend among the +British officers in Boston, one of his old comrades in the war against +France, a Captain Mackenzie, who wrote to him, complaining of the way +the Boston people were behaving. Captain Mackenzie, very naturally, as +an officer, saw only a troublesome, rebellious lot of people whom it was +the business of the army to put down. Washington wrote earnestly to him, +trying to show him the reason why the people felt as they did, and the +wrong way of looking at the subject which Captain Mackenzie and other +officers had. He expressed his sorrow that fortune should have placed +his friend in a service that was sure to bring down vengeance upon those +engaged in it. He went on:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I do not mean by this to insinuate that an officer is not +to discharge his duty, even when chance, not choice, has +placed him in a disagreeable situation; but I conceive, when +you condemn the conduct of the Massachusetts people, you +reason from effects, not causes; otherwise you would not +wonder at a people, who are every day receiving fresh proofs +of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary power, deeply +planned to overturn the laws and constitution of their +country, and to violate the most essential and valuable +rights of mankind, being irritated, and with difficulty +restrained from acts of the greatest violence and +intemperance. For my own part, I confess to you candidly, +that I view things in a very different point of light from +the one in which you seem to consider them; and though you +are taught by venal men ... to believe that the people of +Massachusetts are rebellious, setting up for independency, +and what not, give me leave, my good friend, to tell you, +that you are abused, grossly abused.... Give me leave to +add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not +the wish or interest of that government, or any other upon +this continent, separately or collectively, to set up for +independence; but this you may at the same time rely on, +that none of them will ever submit to the loss of those +valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the +happiness of every free State, and without which, life, +liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure." </p></div> + +<p>It was with such a belief as this that Washington went back to Mount +Vernon, and while he was occupied with his engrossing private affairs, +busied himself also with organizing and drilling soldiers. Independent +companies were formed all over Virginia, and one after another placed +themselves under his command. Although, by the custom of those +companies, each was independent of the others, yet by choosing the same +commander they virtually made Washington Commander-in-Chief of the +Virginia volunteers. He was the first military man in the colony, and +every one turned to him for advice and instruction. So through the +winter and spring, he was constantly on the move, going to one place +after another to review the companies which had been formed.</p> + +<p>I think that winter and spring of 1775 must have been a somewhat +sorrowful one to George Washington, and that he must have felt as if a +great change were coming in his life. His wife's daughter had died, and +he missed her sadly. Young John Custis had married and gone away to +live. The sound of war was heard on all sides, and among the visitors to +Mount Vernon were some who afterward were to be generals in the American +army. He still rode occasionally after the hounds, but the old days of +fun were gone. George William Fairfax had gone back to England, and the +jolly company at Belvoir was scattered. The house itself there had +caught fire, and burned to the ground.</p> + +<p>But the time for action was at hand. Washington turned from his home and +his fox-hunting to go to Richmond as a delegate to a second Virginia +convention. It was called to hear the reports of the delegates to +Philadelphia and to see what further was to be done. It was clear to +some, and to Washington among them, that the people must be ready for +the worst. They had shown themselves in earnest by all the drill and +training they had been going through as independent companies. Now let +those companies be formed into a real army. It was idle to send any more +petitions to the King.</p> + +<p>"We must fight!" exclaimed Patrick Henry; "I repeat it, sir; we must +fight! An appeal to arms and the God of Hosts is all that is left us!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 271px;"> +<img src="images/illus528.jpg" width="271" height="350" alt="JOHN ADAMS, OF MASSACHUSETTS, WHO PROPOSED WASHINGTON FOR +COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JOHN ADAMS, OF MASSACHUSETTS, WHO PROPOSED WASHINGTON FOR +COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.</span> +</div> + +<p>A committee, of which Washington was one, was appointed to report a plan +for an army of Virginia.</p> + +<p>But when people make up their minds to fight, they know very well, if +they are sensible, that more than half the task before them is to find +means for feeding and clothing not only the troops but the people who +are dependent on the troops. Therefore the convention appointed another +committee, of which Washington also was a member,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span> to devise a plan for +encouraging manufactures, so that the people could do without England. +Heretofore, the Virginians had done scarcely any manufacturing; nearly +everything they needed they had bought from England with tobacco. But if +they were to be at war with England, they must be making ready to +provide for themselves. It was late in the day to do anything; slavery, +though they did not then see it clearly, had made a variety of +industries impossible. However, the people were advised to form +associations to promote the raising of wool, cotton, flax, and hemp, and +to encourage the use of home manufactures.</p> + +<p>Washington was again chosen one of the delegates to the Continental +Congress, for the second Congress had been called to meet at +Philadelphia. He was even readier to go than before. On the day when he +was chosen, he wrote to his brother John Augustine Washington: "It is my +full intention to devote my life and fortune to the cause we are engaged +in, if needful."</p> + +<p>That was at the end of March. The second Continental Congress was to +meet on May 10; and just before Washington left Mount Vernon came the +news of Lexington and Concord. Curiously enough, the Governor of +Virginia had done just what Governor Gage had attempted to do; he had +seized some powder which was stored at Fredericksburg, and placed it for +safety on board a vessel of the British navy. The independent companies +at once met and called upon Washington to take command of them, that +they might compel the Governor to restore the powder. Washington kept +cool. The Governor promised to restore the powder, and Washington +advised the people to wait to see what Congress would do.</p> + +<p>When Congress met, the men who came together were no longer strangers to +one another. They had parted warm friends the previous fall; they had +gone to their several homes and now had come back more determined than +ever, and more united. Every one spoke of Lexington and Concord; and the +Massachusetts men told how large an army had already gathered around +Boston. But it was an army made up not only of Massachusetts men, but of +men from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. It was plain that +there must be some authority over such an army, and the Provincial +Congress of Massachusetts wrote to the Continental Congress at +Philadelphia, advising that body to assume control of all the forces, to +raise a continental army, appoint a commander, and do whatever else was +necessary to prepare for war. There had already been fighting; there was +an army; and it was no longer a war between Massachusetts and Great +Britain.</p> + +<p>I do not know what other delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia came +as soldiers, but there was one tall Virginian present who wore his +military coat; and when the talk fell upon appointing a commander, all +eyes were turned toward him. Every one, however, felt the gravity and +delicacy of the situation. Here was an army adopted by Congress; but it +was a New England army, and if the struggle were to come at Boston, it +was natural that the troops should mainly come from that neighborhood. +The colonies were widely separated; they had not acted much together. +Would it not be better, would it not save ill-feeling, if a New England +man were to command this New England army?</p> + +<p>There were some who thought thus; and besides, there was still a good +deal of difference of opinion as to the course to be pursued. Some were +all ready for independence; others, and perhaps the most, hoped to bring +the British to terms. Parties were rising in Congress; petty jealousies +were showing themselves, when suddenly John Adams, of Massachusetts, +seeing into what perplexities they were drifting, came forward with a +distinct proposition that Congress should adopt the army before Boston +and appoint a commander. He did not name Washington, but described him +as a certain gentleman from Virginia "who could unite the cordial +exertions of all the colonies better than any other person." No one +doubted who was meant, and Washington, confused and agitated, left the +room at once.</p> + +<p>Nothing else was now talked of. The delegates discussed the matter in +groups and small circles, and a few days afterward a Maryland delegate +formally nominated George Washington to be Commander-in-Chief of the +American Army. He was unanimously elected, but the honor of bringing him +distinctly before the Congress belongs to John Adams. It seems now a +very natural thing to do, but really it was something which required +wisdom and courage. When one sums up all Washington's military +experience at this time, it was not great, or such as to point him out +as unmistakably the leader of the American army. There was a general +then in command at Cambridge, who had seen more of war than Washington +had. But Washington was the leading military man in Virginia, and it was +for this reason that John Adams, as a New England man, urged his +election. The Congress had done something to bring the colonies +together; the war was to do more, but probably no single act really had +a more far-reaching significance in making the Union, than the act of +nominating the Virginian Washington by the New England Adams.</p> + +<h4>(<i>To be continued.</i>)</h4> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> The above illustration is reproduced from Irving's "Life of +Washington," by kind permission of Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus531a.jpg" width="650" height="330" alt="Spring Beauties." title="" /> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Helen Gray Cone.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Puritan Spring Beauties stood freshly clad for church;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A Thrush, white-breasted, o'er them sat singing on his perch.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Happy be! for fair are ye!" the gentle singer told them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But presently a buff-coat Bee came booming up to scold them.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Vanity, oh, vanity!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Young maids, beware of vanity!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grumbled out the buff-coat Bee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Half parson-like, half soldierly.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sweet-faced maidens trembled, with pretty, pinky blushes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Convinced that it was wicked to listen to the Thrushes;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when, that shady afternoon, I chanced that way to pass,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They hung their little bonnets down and looked into the grass.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All because the buff-coat Bee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lectured them so solemnly:—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Vanity, oh, vanity!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Young maids, beware of vanity!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus531b.jpg" width="600" height="377" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span></p> +<h2>HOW CONRAD LOST HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Walter Bobbett.</span></h3> + + +<p>Conrad was not a prince, not even a lord; he was only an ordinary boy. +He should have been on his way to school; but, having a talent for doing +nothing, he was wandering about the fields and little strips of +woodland, amusing himself by watching the birds skim through the air. He +had lately been reading a volume of fairy-tales, and as he walked along +he began to wonder whether there really was a bit of truth in any of +them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus532.jpg" width="600" height="352" alt=""HE BECKONED TO CONRAD, WHO CROSSED THE STREAM ON A +SLIGHT PLANK BRIDGE."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"HE BECKONED TO CONRAD, WHO CROSSED THE STREAM ON A +SLIGHT PLANK BRIDGE."</span> +</div> + +<p>He kept on thinking so intently about it, that he did not notice how +near he was to a little brook, until he found himself almost on the +point of tumbling into the water. This put a stop to his wondering, for +the next moment he stood staring in astonishment, not at the water, but +at a little old man who was sitting on the roots of a large tree that +grew on the opposite bank of the stream. He was dressed in a very +curious fashion. On his head he had a tall steeple-crowned hat, in which +were placed two long peacock's feathers.</p> + +<p>The little old man sat looking very attentively at Conrad, and seemed to +derive a great deal of comfort from a long pipe, which he was enjoying +so energetically that all around him the air was filled with smoke. At +last he beckoned to Conrad, who crossed the stream on a slight plank +bridge, and advanced toward him.</p> + +<p>By that time, Conrad had leaped to the conclusion, in his own mind, that +the very queer-looking old gentleman was an enchanter, and so he had +resolved to be very respectful, to do just as he was bidden, and to wait +very patiently for the little old man to speak first.</p> + +<p>Presently the little old man shifted the pipe for a moment, and asked:</p> + +<p>"What are those books that you are carrying?"</p> + +<p>"They are my school-books," said Conrad; "but I am tired of going to +school, and I wish to go with the fairies!"</p> + +<p>The little old man smiled a benevolent smile, and exclaimed: "Oh!" Then +he shifted his pipe again, and said quickly:</p> + +<p>"Give me the school-books."</p> + +<p>Conrad did so, at once.</p> + +<p>The little old man then opened a spelling-book, and turned to the +fly-leaf.</p> + +<p>"Conrad," said he.</p> + +<p>Conrad started, for he wondered how the little man had learned his name. +He himself had not once mentioned it. He was sure now that the queer +little person was an enchanter.</p> + +<p>"So, Conrad," said the little old man again, "you wish to go to the +fairies, do you? Well, you may go; but you must leave your books with me +until you come back."</p> + +<p>Conrad's attention was now attracted by a raven, which he saw standing +beside the enchanter, and which he had not noticed before.</p> + +<p>Turning to the bird, the enchanter said: "Give me my key."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span></p> + +<p>The raven hopped from a large key upon which it had been standing, and +taking it in its beak, presented it to its master.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/illus533.jpg" width="400" height="252" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Conrad wished to ask if the raven would bite, and whether it could do +any better trick than carrying a key; but he thought this might be +considered an impertinent question, so he said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Take this key," said the little old man, "and be careful not to lose +it. Walk on until you come to the edge of yonder forest; pass straight +through the wood, and when you arrive at the other side, you will behold +a castle not far distant. You may find it difficult to gain admission; +but you must persevere. As to what will happen afterward, I may not tell +you now. One word more, and then begone; should you ever need my +assistance, blow down the key."</p> + +<p>Conrad was so astonished at all he had seen and heard, that he hardly +knew what to do; but as the little old man pointed in the direction of +the forest, Conrad bade him good-day, and walked away to follow the +orders he had received.</p> + +<p>He kept on until he came to the forest, which he entered. It seemed so +quiet and dark, that he would have been frightened, had he not +remembered that, in case of danger, he could depend on assistance from +the enchanter.</p> + +<p>At last he reached the end of the wood, and about a mile beyond, he saw +the castle with its gilded dome and all its windows shining in the +sunlight. This sight cheered him, and he walked on till he came to the +gateway. He found the great gates wide open; and no one prevented his +entering, as it happened to be a day on which the King received +petitions from those of his subjects who wished to present any.</p> + +<p>He passed on through the large court-yard, key in hand, and instead of +going in at the entrance to the court, he entered a little side door and +ascended a winding stairway. Up he went, higher and higher, till it +seemed as if the stairway would never end, when suddenly he came face to +face with an official who was descending.</p> + +<p>"What business have you here?" asked the officer.</p> + +<p>Conrad could not answer; so the man gently took hold of his ear and led +him down the stairs again, varying the monotony of the long descent by +giving the ear a severe pinch at every seventh step. Out through the +court-yard they passed, the bystanders all cheering and laughing; out of +the gate again; and with one final pinch, the boy was left sobbing on +the roadway.</p> + +<p>Poor Conrad had, indeed, found it difficult to gain admission to the +castle. Drying his tears, however, he began to walk around the outside +of the building, until at last he came to a ladder that was leaning +against a window.</p> + +<p>"The very thing!" said he; "it must have been left here on purpose for +me."</p> + +<p>Up he climbed, slipped in at the window, and dropped quietly to the +floor.</p> + +<p>He found himself in a large hall, through which he walked until he came +to an archway at the farther end. Before the archway hung an embroidered +curtain. Conrad pushed it aside, and entered a richly decorated room, at +the end of which stood a throne. Around it were assembled many nobles, +pages, and guards, who were awaiting the return of the King from +hunting.</p> + +<p>Few of them looked at Conrad. Some seemed to cast a scornful side-glance +at him, and one even told him to go back by the way he had come. Conrad +was not a whit daunted, however, and boldly holding up his key, so that +every one could see it, he walked up to a portly-looking gentleman, who +was dressed in black velvet and who wore a golden chain around his neck. +Conrad asked him what he was to do. The portly gentleman stared at him. +Conrad asked if any of the company were enchanted; "because," said he, +"if they are, I'll disenchant them with my key."</p> + +<p>"Enchanted?" said the gentleman in black. "What do you mean? Why do you +bother me about enchantment?"</p> + +<p>Conrad began to feel a little nervous, and to think that they did not +seem at all like enchanted folk; at least, they did not act like any he +had read about in his books.</p> + +<p>The enchanter had told him that he would meet with difficulties, but, +despite his confidence, he could not help getting very red in the face. +And by this time, all the gentlemen, except the one dressed in black, +were smiling.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, Conrad remembered what the little old man had said about +whistling down the key. Happy thought! He at once rushed up in front of +the portly gentleman with the black velvet suit and the golden chain, +and began to whistle in the key as hard as he could.</p> + +<p>But, at this performance, the nobles all stopped smiling and looked +first at one another, and then at Conrad, with very grave faces; one +even put his hand upon his sword.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, it happened that the gentleman in black velvet was a Grand Duke and +the Prime Minister of the kingdom. At that moment he was thinking over +some important question of state, and the sight of Conrad whistling and +capering in front of him, just as he was settling everything to his own +satisfaction, made him so angry, that he stopped and stared at Conrad, +as if he could have stepped upon him. Conrad kept on whistling, but the +little enchanter did not come. "He must either be ill or very deaf," +thought Conrad, and he was just making up his mind that something was +wrong, when all doubts on the subject were removed by the Grand Duke, +who advanced toward him, picked him up by the collar of his jacket, and, +carrying him to a window, quietly dropped him out.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus535.jpg" width="600" height="666" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Poor Conrad was very much shaken by his fall, and for a time was so +dazed that he could hardly realize what had happened. In a little while, +he began to collect his thoughts; but as he picked himself up, he +concluded, notwithstanding the difficulties he had encountered, that he +would try once more to gain admission to the castle. So he arose and +walked toward a door which he saw a few paces distant.</p> + +<p>His key fitted the lock perfectly. He pushed aside a sliding door, +walked in, and passed down a stairway, when he found himself in a dark +cellar. The floor was strewn with boxes and small barrels, over which he +stumbled, breaking some bottles that stood in his way. He began to feel +frightened, so he climbed to the top of a barrel, in order to get a +glimpse of his position and see if he could find his way out to +daylight. Suddenly the barrel-head gave way, and before he had time to +jump off, Conrad fell, up to his knees, in some soft powder. He +struggled to free himself, but only upset the barrel and covered himself +from head to foot with flour or fine meal. At last he called for +assistance; and a door, that he had not noticed until then, opened, and +a girl of about his own age came into the cellar, and asked what was the +matter.</p> + +<p>"I've tumbled into something; please come and help me out," cried +Conrad.</p> + +<p>She hurried to him, and with her aid he at last succeeded in freeing +himself.</p> + +<p>After brushing the dust from his hair and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span> his clothes, he followed +where his new friend led the way, and entered a kitchen, thinking that +without doubt he was now in the presence of an enchanted princess, who +must have been waiting many years for some one to disenchant her. "To be +sure," thought he, "I am not a prince; but then that does not so much +matter; there is no telling but I may be one, some day;" so he decided +to ask the maiden how she had become enchanted.</p> + +<p>"Beautiful Princess," exclaimed he,——and he was just attempting a very +fine speech in the best fairy-story manner, when the young girl laughed, +and told him to be seated, and asked him if he would like to have a pie. +Conrad was astonished by this question from an enchanted princess; but, +without waiting for his reply, the girl walked toward a table on which +stood a number of mince-pies, and, taking up one of them, she placed it +before Conrad.</p> + +<p>That was not the way in which an enchanted princess was supposed to act; +but as Conrad was very hungry, he did not express his surprise, but +turned his attention to the pie. While he was eating, the princess +busied herself with beating some eggs in a large bowl, and before he +knew it, Conrad found that he had eaten all the pie.</p> + +<p>Then they talked about the weather and whatever else they happened to +think of; and at last, Conrad asked her how long she had been enchanted.</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed the princess.</p> + +<p>He repeated his question.</p> + +<p>"Why, what do you mean?" said she.</p> + +<p>He was just about explaining, when "tramp, tramp, tramp!"—the noise of +feet was heard coming down the stairs. The princess jumped up, and +cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, run! Run quickly! I shall be punished if they find that I have +given you a pie!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Conrad; "do not be frightened! I will protect you from +them. I came to this castle on purpose to rescue you."</p> + +<p>"But I do not want to be rescued!" said she. "Do go, at once!"</p> + +<p>Tramp, tramp! Nearer and nearer came the sound,—almost to the bottom of +the stairs. Conrad felt for his key.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed, "I must have lost my key when I fell into the +barrel! I never noticed that I was without it till now. All is lost! +Adieu, good Princess!"</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said she; "only go!"</p> + +<p>He jumped upon a table, and climbed out of the window. It was all that +was left for him to do. After he was outside of the building, he turned, +and waving his hand to the princess, begged her to remember him.</p> + +<p>"I will come back to you, if I ever get my key again," he said; "and +then I'll disenchant you."</p> + +<p>At that moment the kitchen door opened, and Conrad saw a great light. It +might have been a bull's-eye lantern, but Conrad was sure that it was a +dragon that was pointing its fiery eye at him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the poor princess!" said he. "If only I had my key!"</p> + +<p>Then, as the light flashed full at him, he became so frightened that he +turned and ran for the gate as hard as he could. He made his way across +the court-yard much faster than when he had come in, and soon he had +left the castle far behind. The houses began to be farther apart and to +have a more rustic appearance. He heard a cart coming along the road.</p> + +<p>"Please give me a ride!" he cried to the driver.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I will," said the man; "jump in." And Conrad clambered into the +cart.</p> + +<p>"You look tired," said the driver. "Lie down on that blanket and rest +yourself."</p> + +<p>Conrad gladly did as he was told and, feeling much fatigued after his +adventures, he was soon fast asleep.</p> + +<p>He did not awake until he felt himself carried out of the cart, and was +just enough awake to know that all the inmates of his father's house, +together with a few of the neighbors, were crowding about and asking him +where he had been. And that was all he noticed, for the next moment he +was off to sleep again, and was carried upstairs and put to bed.</p> + +<p>He did not feel very well the next morning, so the doctor was called in, +who advised that he should remain in the house for a few days, as he had +a slight fever.</p> + +<p>While at home, he told his aunt what had happened to him; but she only +patted his head, and told him that he must have been dreaming. But this +Conrad refused to believe.</p> + +<p>When he recovered, however, he became a much better boy, more quiet and +attentive to his studies; and it may be mentioned that, whenever any one +told a fairy-tale, he wore a very solemn face, took a back seat, and +said nothing.</p> + +<p>It is not known whether he still believes in fairies; but one thing is +certain—he never saw the little old enchanter again, nor the +school-books that he had left with him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span></p> +<h2>BLOSSOM-TIME.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By L. E. R.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pink and white drifting of petals sweet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kiss her and crown her our Lady of Blossoming,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There as she sits on the apple-tree sweet!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Has she not gathered the summer about her?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See how it laughs from her lips and her eyes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Think you the sun there would shine on without her?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nay! 'Tis her smile keeps the gray from the skies!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fire of the rose, and snow of the jessamine,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gold of the lily-dust hid in her hair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Day holds his breath and Night comes up to look at her,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Leaving their strife for a vision so rare.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pink and white drifting of petals sweet!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kiss her, and crown her, and flutter adown her,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And carpet the ground for her dear little feet!<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A SEARCH FOR THE LACE-LEAF.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Alice May</span>.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/illus538.jpg" width="475" height="400" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p>Early one morning, a palanquin carried by native bearers, and containing +as passengers Mr. Steedman, an English missionary, and his little son +Harry, was proceeding up the one street of Biforána, a queer little +bamboo village on the island of Madagascar, situated about midway +between Antananarivo, the capital, and the eastern coast.</p> + +<p>Comparatively little is known of Madagascar, although the unsuccessful +attempt of France to obtain possession of it drew interest and attention +to it not many months ago. There are but two larger islands in the +world. As many of you know, it lies some two hundred and fifty miles to +the east of the African coast, is nine hundred and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> eighty miles long +and two hundred and fifty wide, and is therefore nearly four times as +large as England and Wales combined.</p> + +<p>The Queen of this island kingdom is a young woman with the curious name +of Rasendranovo Ranavalo III. She succeeded to the throne in 1883. She +is a Christian, as is also a large part of the population of her realm; +and there are numerous missionary stations throughout the island.</p> + +<p>Harry Steedman's father was one of these missionaries, and Harry himself +was accustomed to traveling by palanquin, since there are no roads nor +carriages to be found in Madagascar.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;"> +<img src="images/illus539b.jpg" width="338" height="500" alt=""PASSING A GROVE OF PALMS KNOWN AS THE 'TRAVELER'S +TREE.'"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"PASSING A GROVE OF PALMS KNOWN AS THE 'TRAVELER'S +TREE.'"</span> +</div> + +<p>The palanquin was an oblong basket of bamboo, lined with plaited +sheepskin. The ends of the long poles or handles rested upon the +shoulders of four Madagascan bearers, while four others accompanied +these as a relay. Under the palanquin hood of woven palm-cloth, Mr. +Steedman reclined comfortably, while Harry nestled cozily at his feet; +and so, out of the village, and through the swamp of Biforána, the +procession moved until the mire became so thick that the palanquin could +not be carried with ease. As the next best mode of conveyance, the two +passengers were then transferred to the shoulders of two stout natives.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 437px;"> +<img src="images/illus539a.jpg" width="437" height="400" alt="PALANQUIN TRAVELING BECOMES UNCOMFORTABLE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PALANQUIN TRAVELING BECOMES UNCOMFORTABLE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Steedman had started upon an expedition in search of the beautiful +lace-leaf plant, or water-yam, of Madagascar, which he was told grew in +the forests beyond Biforána, and which he was very desirous of finding +in its native state. Harry, after urgent solicitation, had been allowed +to accompany his father; but, as he clung to the neck of his swarthy +bearer, the little fellow found that there was not, after all, so much +fun in the trip as he had expected. And later on, when the palanquin, in +which they were soon seated again, was tossed and bumped by the slipping +and stumbling of the bearers as they climbed a very steep hill-side, he +began almost to wish himself at home.</p> + +<p>After passing a grove of the stately palms known as the "traveler's +tree," they found themselves on a path that led to the bank of a river. +They endeavored to ford it, but speedily found that the danger from deep +holes and ugly-looking crocodiles was too great for them to proceed. So +Raheh, the chief bearer, uttered a curious cry, or signal, which soon +brought into view a <i>làkana</i>, or canoe, rudely fashioned from a hollow +tree-trunk; and in it a native was paddling rapidly toward them.</p> + +<p>Harry and his father stepped into the rather shaky-looking craft not +without misgivings, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span> they were soon safely landed on the other +shore. When all had been thus ferried across and the native boatman had +been paid, the party entered the great forest of Alamazaotra, which +covers more than forty miles of wild and mountainous country.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 368px;"> +<img src="images/illus540.jpg" width="368" height="450" alt="THE LACE-LEAF OF MADAGASCAR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE LACE-LEAF OF MADAGASCAR.</span> +</div> + +<p>Their path at once led them through a gorge so narrow that the sides of +the palanquin grazed the rocky walls, and the masses of tangled foliage, +meeting far above their heads, almost entirely obscured the light. The +bearers paused for breath after climbing the steep ascent that led from +this gloomy pass, and Harry and his father exclaimed in wonder at the +strange beauty of the wild tropical forest.</p> + +<p>Gigantic palms upheld around their stately heads a leafy dome closely +interlaced by clinging vines. Long garlands of moss and climbing plants +crossed and recrossed this lofty roof, and from its shadowy arches great +masses of gray moss hung suspended. Here and there among the cool green +and gray tints of leaves and moss some tropical flowers and fruits +gleamed forth in bright flashes of scarlet and gold.</p> + +<p>Myriads of frail wood-blossoms hid their pale heads under the feathery +ferns that clustered about the roots of the trees, and the dead palms +were tenderly shrouded in waxy-leaved climbing vines, their graceful +fallen crowns replaced by masses of green ferns, intermingled with the +faint pink and blue tints of some rare orchid. On every side were little +groves of bamboo,—their light-green fringes contrasting with the darker +fronds of the stately tree-fern.</p> + +<p>Absolute silence reigned throughout this solitude, and Harry began to be +so oppressed by the stillness as to grow fearful of danger. But his +father explained that during the wet season, in which they were +traveling, insect life in these tropical forests is asleep, and Harry +himself knew that there were but few wild animals in Madagascar. Indeed, +with the exception of that curious animal, part fox, part squirrel, and +part monkey, that is peculiar to Madagascar and is called, from its +prowling habits and ghostly appearance, the lemur, or "ghostly visitor," +the great island possesses no large native quadrupeds. The hump-backed +African cattle and the singular fat-tailed sheep, now common throughout +the island, were not originally found in Madagascar, but were taken over +from Africa.</p> + +<p>The bearers of the palanquin clambered on, now over steep and +moss-covered rocks, now crossing sluggish streams on slippery +stepping-stones, or sliding down precipices, until poor Harry was so +rattled and shaken and tossed and tumbled that he declared he didn't +know his head from his heels.</p> + +<p>But, at last, a break occurred in the long stretch of rock and forest, +and as the bearers paused upon a piece of level ground, for a moment's +rest, Raheh suddenly uttered the joyful cry of "<i>rano!</i>" (water)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span> and +all, on listening, distinguished the sound of a rushing stream.</p> + +<p>Urged on by Raheh, the bearers pushed ahead, and soon stood upon the +banks of a beautiful river, dashing merrily along over rocks and fallen +trees, until with a leap it disappeared in the shadows of the vast +forest. Upon the farther side was grouped a little village of the clay +huts belonging to the friendly Hovas, and beyond the village stretched +green fields of waving rice. The "Hovas" are the governing race in the +island, and are the most civilized. Their capital city of Antananarivo, +in the center of the island, is a well-built city of over 100,000 +inhabitants.</p> + +<p>A tree had fallen across the stream, with its head resting upon the +opposite bank, and this natural bridge was entirely covered with pink, +blue, and white flowers of the waxy orchid. This beautiful sight, +however, was unnoticed by Harry and his father, for in the water at +their feet was the object of their search, the Lattice or Lace leaf.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus541.jpg" width="500" height="314" alt="MADAGASCAN DRINKING-CUP FORMED FROM A LEAF OF THE +"TRAVELER'S TREE."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">MADAGASCAN DRINKING-CUP FORMED FROM A LEAF OF THE +"TRAVELER'S TREE."</span> +</div> + +<p>The lace-leaf plant, or fresh-water yam as it is sometimes called +because of its potato-shaped or yam-like root, is found in many of the +rivers of Madagascar. The difficulty of obtaining it, however, makes it +a rare plant to Europeans; and when, a few days before, Mr. Steedman had +recognized in some "roasted potatoes," as Harry called the +pleasant-tasting vegetable that one of his boyish Madagascan friends had +given him to eat, the edible root of the lace-leaf plant, the missionary +had determined to make a careful search for the plant so prized by +naturalists. And now at last he had found it, bobbing backward and +forward in a fantastic dance just above the eddying waters of the +beautiful forest river. As soon as they recognized it, both Mr. Steedman +and his son were on the ground in an instant, and bending eagerly above +the clear stream. The water was so pure and limpid that every pebble +could be counted, and in the cool, bright current they saw, to their +delight, a perfect labyrinth of lace-work. Dozens of lace-leaves, green, +gold, olive, and brown, were floating just beneath the surface of the +water.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Papa! did you ever see anything so lovely?" said Harry, excitedly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Steedman could take but a one-sided view of those wonderful leaves, +as one glass from his spectacles had been lost during their rough +journey; but the remaining glass fairly sparkled with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my son, this plant is both lovely and rare. See, the young leaves +are light green and yellow; the older leaves are darker,—shades of +green and olive. A few are even black, and all growing from the same +root. How perfect is every leaf, in spite of its delicate texture! Some +of those larger leaves must be ten or twelve inches long. The strong +midrib in each serves as a support for the fragile threads forming the +meshes on each side."</p> + +<p>Harry now plunged his hand into the lace-like web, half expecting it to +dissolve in his grasp. But no! The wiry little yellow leaf which he +raised from the water, was perfect in form, and a gleam of sunlight, +falling upon the shining meshes, transformed them into threads of +glistening gold.</p> + +<p>He now discovered, as he examined them carefully, that the under +surfaces of the leaves, were glistening with little pearly bubbles of +air.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;"> +<img src="images/illus542.jpg" width="307" height="450" alt="RAHEH, THE GUIDE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">RAHEH, THE GUIDE.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, Papa," he cried, joyously holding the glistening meshes aloft, "the +lace-leaves are jeweled!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Harry," said his father, "those diamond drops are made by the +breathing of the plant."</p> + +<p>Mr. Steedman attempted to detach a root of one of the plants from its +bed of mud, but the little tendrils branching from it on every side held +the root firmly in its place. At last he succeeded in extricating the +little white threads, one by one, and removed the entire plant to the +bank. Its root, which is eaten in Madagascar, was very like the ginger +root, and had a tough, light-brown skin.</p> + +<p>Harry carefully placed the leaves of the plant in his herbarium, while +his father packed the root, with its native soil, in a tin case, +preparatory to sending it to the Botanical Society in London.</p> + +<p>"Harry," he said, as they finished their work, "this plant could be +easily reared in our green-houses—heat and moisture being all that is +required. But nature seems to have jealously surrounded these beautiful +leaves with almost impassable barriers, and the lace-plant is +comparatively unknown.</p> + +<p>"But come, my boy Raheh says '<i>maly-massandro</i>' (the sun is dead), and +it will be as long as 'two cookings of rice' (two half hours) before we +can be ferried across to yonder village and secure a place to pass the +night."</p> + +<p>And so, after Raheh had given Harry one last drink from the clear, cool +river, in the odd-looking leaf-cup he carried for the purpose, the tired +but successful lace-leaf hunters crossed over to the Hova village and +were soon fast asleep.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CARICATURE PLANT.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By M. A.</span></h3> + + +<p>One of the most remarkable plants in the whole vegetable kingdom is that +known to botanists as the <i>Justicia Picta</i>, which has also been well +named "The Caricature Plant."</p> + +<p>At first sight, it appears to be a heavy, large-leafed plant, with +purple blossoms, chiefly remarkable for the light-yellow centers of its +dark-green leaves, which cause them to look as if some acid had been +spilled upon them and taken the color out wherever it had touched.</p> + +<p>As I stood looking at this odd plant and thinking what a sickly, +blighted appearance the queer, yellow stains gave it, I was suddenly +impressed with the fact that the plant was "making faces" at me. Still, +unaccustomed as I was to seeing plants indulge in this strictly human +amusement, I was slow to believe it, and stooped to read the somewhat +illegible inscription on the card below the plant—"<i>Justicia Picta</i>, or +'Caricature Plant.'" My first impression was correct then. This curious +shrub had indeed occupied itself in growing up in ridiculous caricatures +of the "human face divine," until it now stood, covered from the topmost +leaf down, with the queerest faces imaginable. Nature had taken to +caricaturing. The flesh-colored profiles stood out in strong relief +against the dark-green of the leaves.</p> + +<p>A discovery of one of these vegetable marks leads to an examination of a +second and a third leaf, until all are scanned as closely and curiously +as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span> leaves of the comic papers that form the caricature plants of +the literary kingdom.</p> + +<p>What a valuable plant this would be for one of our professional +caricaturists to have growing in his conservatory! When an order was +sent to him for a "speaking likeness" of some unhappy politician, he +could simply visit his <i>Justicia Picta</i> with pencil and paper in hand, +and look over the leaves for a suitable squint, grin, or distorted nose +to sketch from. He could, moreover, affirm with truth that the portrait +was "taken from nature." Cuthbert Collingwood, the celebrated +naturalist, says of the <i>Justicia Picta</i>: "One of these plants in the +garden of Gustave Doré would be worth a fortune to him, supplying him +with a never-failing fund of grotesque physiognomies, from which he +might illustrate every serio-comic romance ever written." I have never +heard of the cultivation of the Caricature Plant in this country; but +botanists tell us that it is a hardy shrub. I think we should be glad to +see the funny faces on its leaves. After all the lovely flowers we are +called upon to admire, I am sure that a plant evidently intended to make +us laugh would receive a warm welcome from our young people.</p> + +<p>The Chinese appreciate the Caricature Plant, and in some parts of China +it is quite extensively cultivated. Perhaps some of the funny, grinning +faces on Chinese toys and ornaments are reproductions of the grotesque +features on the leaves of the plant.</p> + +<p>Finally, I must assure any unbelieving readers of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> that +neither in this account of a very remarkable plant, nor in the +accompanying illustration, has the writer drawn upon imagination.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 286px;"> +<img src="images/illus546.jpg" width="286" height="450" alt="THE CARICATURE PLANT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE CARICATURE PLANT.</span> +</div> + +<p>The <i>Justicia Picta</i> really exists. It is a native of the East Indies, +and is a source of much amusement and curiosity to both botanists and +travelers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>VEGETABLE CLOTHING.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">by</span> C. J. RUSSELL.</h3> + + +<p>About two hundred years ago the governor of the island of Jamaica, Sir +Thomas Lynch, sent to King Charles II. of England a vegetable necktie, +and a very good necktie it was, although it had grown on a tree and had +not been altered since it was taken from the tree. It was as soft and +white and delicate as lace, and it is not surprising that the King +should have expressed his doubts when he was told that the beautiful +fabric had grown on a tree in almost the exact condition in which he saw +it. It had been stretched a little, and that was all.</p> + +<p>But if King Charles was astonished to learn that neckties grew on trees +in Jamaica, what must have been the feelings of a stranger traveling in +Central America, on being told that mosquito-nets grew on trees in that +country? He had complained to his host that the mosquitoes had nearly +eaten him up the night before, and had been told in response that he +should have a new netting put over his bed.</p> + +<p>Satisfied with this statement, the traveler was turning away, but his +attention was arrested by his host's calmly continuing, "in fact, we are +going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span> to strip a tree anyhow, because there is to be a wedding on the +estate, and we wish to have a dress ready for the bride."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 292px;"> +<img src="images/illus548.jpg" width="292" height="550" alt="KING CHARLES'S VEGETABLE NECKTIE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">KING CHARLES'S VEGETABLE NECKTIE.</span> +</div> + +<p>"You don't mean," said the traveler incredulously, "that +mosquito-netting and bridal dresses grow on trees, do you?"</p> + +<p>"That is just what I mean," replied his host.</p> + +<p>"All right," said the stranger, who fancied a joke was being attempted +at his expense, "let me see you gather the fruit and I will believe +you."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," was the answer; "follow the men, and you will see that I +speak the exact truth."</p> + +<p>Still looking for some jest, the stranger followed the two men who were +to pluck the singular fruit, and stood by when they stopped at a rather +small tree, bearing thick, glossy-green leaves, but nothing else which +the utmost effort of the imagination could convert into the netting or +the wedding garments. The tree was about twenty feet high and six inches +in diameter, and its bark looked much like that of a birch-tree.</p> + +<p>"Is this the tree?" asked the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Yes, señor," answered one of the men, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I don't see the mosquito-netting nor the wedding-dress," said the +stranger, "and I can't see any joke either."</p> + +<p>"If the señor will wait a few minutes he will see all that was promised, +and more too," was the reply. "He will see that this tree can bear not +only mosquito-netting and wedding-dresses, but fish-nets and +neck-scarfs, mourning crape or bridal veils."</p> + +<p>The tree was without more ado cut down. Three strips of bark, each about +six inches wide and eight feet long, were taken from the trunk and +thrown into a stream of water. Then each man took a strip while it was +still in the water, and with the point of his knife separated a thin +layer of the inner bark from one end of the strip. This layer was then +taken in the fingers and gently pulled, whereupon it came away in an +even sheet of the entire width and length of the strip of bark. Twelve +sheets were thus taken from each strip of bark, and thrown into the +water.</p> + +<p>A light broke in upon the stranger's mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span> Without a doubt these strips +were to be sewn together into one sheet. The plan seemed a good one and +the fabric thus formed might do, he thought, if no better cloth could be +had.</p> + +<p>The men were not through yet, however, for when each strip of bark had +yielded its twelve sheets, each sheet was taken from the water and +gradually stretched sidewise. The spectator could hardly believe his +eyes. The sheet broadened and broadened until from a close piece of +material six inches wide, it became a filmy cloud of delicate lace, over +three feet in width. The astonished gentleman was forced to confess that +no human-made loom ever turned out lace which could surpass in snowy +whiteness and gossamer-like delicacy that product of nature.</p> + +<p>The natural lace is not so regular in formation as the material called +illusion, so much worn by ladies in summer; but it is as soft and white, +and will bear washing, which is not true of illusion. In Jamaica and +Central America, this wonderful lace is put to all the uses mentioned by +the native to our traveler, and to more uses besides. In fact, among the +poorer people it supplies the place of manufactured cloth, which they +can not afford to buy; and the wealthier classes do not by any means +scorn it for ornamental use.</p> + +<p>Long before the white man found his way to this part of the world, the +Indians had known and used this vegetable cloth; so that what was so new +and wonderful to King Charles and Governor Sir Thomas Lynch was an old +story to the natives. Some time after King Charles received his +vegetable necktie, Sir Hans Sloane, whose art-collection and library +were the foundation of the British Museum, visited Jamaica. He described +the tree fully, and was the first person who told the civilized world +about it. The tree is commonly called the lace-bark tree. Its botanical +name is <i>Lagetto lintearia</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY!</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 536px;"> +<img src="images/illus549.jpg" width="536" height="290" alt="THE PET GREYHOUND RESOLVES INDIGNANTLY THAT THE JAPANESE +"MUST GO!"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE PET GREYHOUND RESOLVES INDIGNANTLY THAT THE JAPANESE +"MUST GO!"</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span></p> +<h2>ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES.</h2> + + +<h3>X.—A CLEVER LITTLE YELLOW DOG.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By John R. Coryell.</span></h4> + +<p>One cold winter night, not long ago, I took pity on a poor little +dejected-looking yellow puppy, and invited him into my house. Having +once taken him in, it was quite out of the question to think of turning +him out again. I was not afraid that I might be robbing anybody, for he +was the kind of dog that very few persons care to have. He was +dirty-yellow in color, very lank of body, and he seemed to be made up of +ill-assorted parts of different kinds of dogs. His legs, particularly, +seemed intended for some other dog and acted as if they never would +become reconciled to carrying the queer body to which they were joined.</p> + +<p>I should have preferred a handsome dog, but since I had no choice, I +determined to do my duty by the little outcast, and to give him such an +education that in the beauties of his mind the ugliness of his body +would be overlooked.</p> + +<p>The first thing needed for him was a name; and I tried to think of +something appropriate, but soon gave it up, and in default of a better +title called him Bob. To teach him the name was easy. I merely called +out the word "Bob!" every time I fed him. As it was important that he +should learn to look to me as the source of all his happiness and +instruction, I permitted no one else to feed him. It took him about a +week to learn his name, and to recognize the fact that all the +blandishments he could lavish on the cook would be of no avail, and that +his only hope was in me.</p> + +<p>At the very outset, I had made up my mind that under no circumstances +should he receive angry words or blows. He was a broken-spirited, +affectionate little puppy, and I was resolved that if there was no way +of teaching him except by brutality, he should remain ignorant all his +life. The abject way in which, to this day, he runs from a child makes +me feel sad. I fancy that much of his early life was spent in dodging +stones or snow-balls thrown by boys—not cruel, but thoughtless boys.</p> + +<p>It was necessary to control him, and I quickly discovered an easy way. +He was such a sensitive little fellow that when he once learned to love +me, he seemed to know by the tones of my voice whether I was pleased +with him, and to have me pleased seemed to be the one object of his +life. Therefore, if I saw him doing anything wrong, I had only to say +sharply and firmly, "No, Bob!" and down would go the tail and ears, and +he would slink shame-facedly to his special corner and from there watch +me until I would call him to me and pat his head.</p> + +<p>After a while, a quiet "No, Bob!" would effect the same result. This was +a great victory, and made most of the subsequent teaching merely a +matter of patience.</p> + +<p>The first real lesson was when I undertook to make him sit up. If he had +only known what I wished him to do, he would gladly have done it; but +the words "Sit up!" meant nothing to him. He was almost too willing, for +when I took hold of him to put him into a sitting position, he became as +limp as a wet rag, and seemed to be trying to put himself into a +condition to be twisted into any shape I chose.</p> + +<p>Then I put him into a corner and set him up, saying continually, "Sit +up! Sit up!" I held him up for a while and then took my hand away, but +at once he collapsed as if all the stiffening had suddenly left his +back-bone. Then I showed him a piece of sugar, of which he was very +fond, and immediately he was himself again. Once more, and many times +more, I put him in position in the corner, until at last, seemingly by +accident, he failed to fall over when I took my hand away. I did not tax +his endurance, but at once gave him the sugar.</p> + +<p>It took him about three days to grasp the idea that "sit up!" meant a +special performance, and that to achieve it meant a lump of sugar. Then +I put him through the same process in the middle of the room. He missed +the support of the wall at first, and fell over; whereupon he looked +foolish. One fact was evidently firmly fixed in his mind, however,—the +fact that there was sugar to be had if only he could do as I wished him +to do. All the time that he was struggling for balance, he kept his eye +on the lump of sugar, which I had on the floor beside me. Finally that +lesson was learned, and he could sit up if I would put him in position. +He knew, too, what "sit up!" meant.</p> + +<p>After that, I would not feed him until he had first sat up; but it was a +long time before he gained sufficient confidence in himself to sit up +without help. At first I helped him up by both paws; then I helped by +holding only one paw; then I merely touched one paw; then I only +motioned, as if about to touch the paw; and finally I simply said, "Sit +up!"</p> + +<p>I think Bob reasoned this all out in his own mind and concluded that +there must be some strange and beautiful power in the words "sit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span> up!" +for he could see that whenever he did it, he had something to eat. I am +obliged to confess that Bob loved to eat; and after he had learned to +sit up, he was inclined to perform the feat morning, noon, and night, +and it was, of course, impossible to make him go away without first +giving him a morsel, however small, of food.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 334px;"> +<img src="images/illus553.jpg" width="334" height="550" alt="AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Lessons in standing up, walking and waltzing followed, and they were all +easily taught. In teaching him anything, I was always careful to +associate the action required of him with certain words. Standing, +walking on his hind legs, and waltzing were always "stand up!" "walk!" +"waltz about!" I never taught him more than one thing at a time, so that +there should be no possibility of his misunderstanding the meaning of +the word or words used.</p> + +<p>In teaching him to stand up, I first made him sit; then by holding a +piece of sugar over his head, I induced him to stand erect,—while I +kept repeating, "Stand up!" "Stand up!" After he had learned this +lesson, I made him first sit, then stand, and then, by going from him +and saying "Walk!" I made him follow me until he understood the +connection between the words and the action, even when I was at the +other end of the room. I taught him to "waltz" by making him go around +and around after a piece of sugar held over his head when he was +standing up.</p> + +<p>To make him go to his corner and lie down, without hurting his feelings, +was difficult. If I said sharply, "Go to your corner and lie down!" he +would go; but he would feel so badly that he could not play for half an +hour. But by repeating the command in gradually softening tones and by +giving him a piece of sugar each time, he eventually learned that he was +not thereby in disgrace.</p> + +<p>Seeing, however, how a sharp word would make his ears and tail droop, I +took advantage of this fact, and whenever he had done wrong I would +always say "Naughty!" a dozen times over, until at last I had only to +whisper "Naughty!"—and down would go those ensigns in a moment. On the +other hand, if I said "Good dog!" he was immediately on the alert, ears +up, head cocked to one side, and tail wagging, ready for any kind of +sport.</p> + +<p>After he had learned to walk, I taught him to go slowly when I said +"like a gentleman!" and quickly when I said "like a schoolboy!" To teach +him these things required patience principally; but I found that to +teach him some things taxed my ingenuity as well.</p> + +<p>I wished him to speak both softly and loudly; but how to make him do it +puzzled me. For Bob seldom barked except when engaged in uproarious +play, and at such times he was not susceptible to instruction. One day, +however, he had been playing with a little rubber ball, running after it +and bringing it to me until I was tired, a condition in which he never +seemed to be.</p> + +<p>To stop the game I put my foot on the ball, and picked up a book to +read. Bob waited a few moments to see what I was going to do, and +finding I was not going to play, tried to push my foot away with his +nose. Failing in that, he pulled with one paw. That also failed, and Bob +was puzzled. He retired a few steps, placed his head between his +forepaws on the floor and looked at me. I pretended not to see him, +curious to know what he would do. He remained perfectly still for nearly +a minute, and then, as if determined to attract my attention somehow, he +barked.</p> + +<p>There was my clew; I gave him the ball at once. In a few moments I again +placed my foot on the ball, and waited until I saw he was about to bark, +when I said, "Shout! Shout!" He barked, and I gave him the ball. I +repeated this several times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span> a day, and day after day, until he learned +to bark whenever he wanted the ball and I said "Shout!" Then I made him +shout for his meals, and finally, he would "shout" whenever I told him +to do so.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 349px;"> +<img src="images/illus555.jpg" width="349" height="550" alt=""BOB" JUMPING." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"BOB" JUMPING.</span> +</div> + +<p>To make him speak softly, I took advantage of a fashion he had of +whining when he wished to go into the yard for a frolic. I would go to +the door and say, "Want to go out?" Bob would at once respond by +preparing to rush out the moment the door was opened. Then I would say, +"Speak softly!" and keep repeating the words until he whined. After a +while he would whine the moment I said, "Speak softly!"</p> + +<p>Another thing that I taught him was to fall down and lie motionless when +I said, "Dead!" This I accomplished by taking hold of his forefeet in +one hand and his hindfeet in the other, and suddenly dropping him on his +side on the floor, as I said the word "Dead!" several times.</p> + +<p>At first, Bob thought I was playing some new game with him, and prepared +for a good time, but I had only to say "No!" to him to make him sedate +at once. By this time he had learned that when I repeated a thing +several times, it was because he was to learn something; and the little +fellow really seemed to try to understand what I wished him to do.</p> + +<p>After I had pulled his feet from under him a number of times, and had +made him lie still until I said, "Alive!" I tried tapping a hindfoot and +a forefoot, at the same time saying "Dead!" He was a long time learning +this trick; and several times when I thought he had learned to do it +when I simply tapped his feet, I was obliged to go back and pull his +feet from under him. In time, however, he learned to fall the moment I +touched the side of one hindfoot. From that to motioning at the foot, +and finally, merely saying "Dead!" the progress was quick. To make him +jump up, I always said "Alive!"</p> + +<p>To make him go "lame" was very easy. I tied a long string to one +forefoot, and by saying, "Lame!" and at the same time making him walk, +while I prevented him from putting the tied foot down, he soon learned +to go on three legs.</p> + +<p>One of the funniest things he learned to do was to take his piece of +carpet, shake it well, and put it back in its place. It was through an +accident that I thought of teaching him to do this. I had been +accustomed to shake out his carpet in the yard every morning. One +morning I threw it on the grass to air. In a moment Bob had it in his +mouth and was worrying it, shaking it, and growling. He was playing, but +I saw that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span> I could teach him something, and at once said, "Make your +bed!" By repeating this, morning after morning, he at last learned to +pick up his carpet, carry it out into the yard, shake it, and carry it +back. I could never teach him to lay it down properly, however; he +seemed to think it was as good in a heap as if nicely smoothed out.</p> + +<p>After I had taught Bob a number of tricks, I determined to write a play +for him. I do not believe that any human actor ever had audiences more +appreciative than his, when he performed in his "play." His little +friends were always ready to give him sugar by the handful if I did not +interfere, and Bob was always ready to take all that was offered. The +"play" was nothing more than a simple little story into which were +introduced the words which I used in commanding him to perform his +various tricks. I would repeat the story, and when I came to a word of +command, such as "dead," I would emphasize it so that Bob would at once +do whatever he had been taught to do at the sound of that word. The play +I wrote was about as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time there was a little dog named <i>Bob</i> [here Bob would run +to me, and wait expectantly]. Usually he was a very <i>good dog</i> [wag, +wag, would go his tail], but once in a while he was very <i>naughty</i> [down +would drop ears and tail]. When he was a <i>good dog</i> [happy again], he +would <i>sit up</i> and show any little boy or girl how to behave. At such +times, he would <i>speak softly</i> [prolonged whine], as a polite dog +should, though once in a while he would become excited, and <i>shout, +shout, shout</i> [furious barking], as impolite children are sometimes apt +to do.</p> + +<p>"When a lady entered the room where he was, he would always <i>stand</i> up, +ready to give her his chair if she wished it; or if she preferred to go +into the garden or the street, he would go with her and <i>walk like a +gentleman</i>. When he played, however, he could run <i>like a schoolboy</i>. +But once he was in the ball-room, he could <i>waltz about</i> as well as the +best dancer there.</p> + +<p>"If any one ever said to him, '<i>go to your corner and lie down</i>' he +would do so at once like the well bred dog he was. But he was always +obedient and would come immediately as soon as one said <i>Bob</i>.</p> + +<p>"I was very sorry to hear one day that this remarkable dog was <i>dead</i>. I +felt so badly that I went to his house, but was pleasantly surprised +when I reached there, to find that he was very much <i>alive</i>."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 367px;"> +<img src="images/illus556.jpg" width="367" height="450" alt="FETCH BRINGS IN THE PERVERSE COW." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FETCH BRINGS IN THE PERVERSE COW.</span> +</div> + +<p>What will be the limit of Bob's education I do not know, for he +continues to learn with increasing ease every day. In addition to all +that has been described, he can now, at the proper order of command, +sneeze, catch a piece of meat from his nose at the word "three," jump +over a cane, turn a somersault, and play tag.</p> + + +<h3>XI.—A DOG THAT COULD COUNT.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By E. P. Roe.</span></h4> + +<p>Old Fetch was a shepherd dog and lived in the Highlands of the Hudson. +His master kept nearly a dozen cows, and they ranged at will among the +hills during the day. When the sun was low in the west, his master would +say to his dog, "Bring the cows home"; and it was because the dog did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span> +this task so well, that he was called Fetch. He would run to a flat rock +and hold his ear down close to it, having learned that he could thus +catch the far-off tinkle of the cow-bells better than in any other way. +If he could not hear them he would range about until he did, and then he +was off like a shot in the direction of the sound.</p> + +<p>One sultry day he departed as usual upon his evening task. From +scattered, shady, and grassy nooks, he at last gathered all the cattle +into a mountain road, leading to the distant barnyard.</p> + +<p>Switching off the flies with their tails, the cows jogged slowly +homeward, the tinkle of their bells gradually becoming more and more +distinct to the milkmaid who was awaiting them. One of the cows was +known to be a little perverse, and on that evening she gave fresh +evidence of willfulness. One part of the road ran through a low, moist +spot bordered by a thicket of black alder, and into this the cow pushed +her way, and stood quietly. The others passed on, followed some distance +in the rear by Fetch. He was panting from his exertions in the hot +evening, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he slowly and languidly +pursued his way.</p> + +<p>Indeed he had quite discarded his usual vigilance, and the perverse cow +took advantage of it.</p> + +<p>As the cows approached the barnyard gate, he quickened his pace, and +hurried forward, as if to say, "I'm here, attending to business." But +his complacency was disturbed as the cows filed through the gate. He +whined a little, and growled a little, attracting his master's +attention. Then he went to the high fence surrounding the yard, and +standing on his hindfeet peered between two of the rails. After looking +at the herd carefully for a time, he started off down the road again on +a full run. His master now observed that one of the cows was missing, +and he sat down on a rock to see what Fetch was going to do about it. +Before very long he heard the furious tinkling of a bell, and soon Fetch +appeared bringing in the perverse cow at a rapid pace, hastening her on +by frequently leaping up and catching her ear in his teeth. The gate was +again thrown open, and the cow, shaking her head from the pain of the +dog's rough reminders, was led through it in a way that she did not soon +forget. Fetch looked after her a moment with the air of one remarking to +himself, "You'll not try that trick again," and then he lay down quietly +to cool off in time for supper.</p> + + +<h3>XII.—A CLEVER SHEEP DOG.</h3> + +<p>A recent English writer tells the following story of an ingenious +sheep-dog that, when the flock took a wrong road, would turn them back +without worrying them. His owner had hesitated for some time before he +made up his mind to have a dog, as he had often seen dogs ill-use the +poor sheep. But believing that in most cases the dogs' harshness toward +the sheep was due to bad training, and not to their naturally evil +dispositions, he resolved to make trial of one. The dog he procured was +young; and he trained it after his own ideas. He soon found the docile +creature a very useful helper in driving a flock from one pasture to +another. The sheep often took a wrong turn, and then scampered off as +fast as they could go. At such times, most shepherds who had dogs were +accustomed to send the dog after the flock, at the top of its speed. Of +course, it soon overtook them, but the sheep were often much frightened, +and not infrequently hurt by falling down or by rushing against one +another. To prevent this, the shepherd mentioned would order his dog +"Smart" to go to the other side of the hedge, saying, "Now, go ahead, +and bring 'em back!" Smart would promptly obey, and would noiselessly +run along behind the hedge, sometimes even climbing a little slope by +the roadway, whence he could overlook the flock and see just where each +sheep was moving. As soon as Smart, by peeping over or through the +hedge, had satisfied himself that he was ahead of all the sheep, he +would come coolly out of the hedge and bring them back down the lane so +gently as not to cause them the least alarm. Smart never attempted to +get ahead of a flock in the way common to most of the dogs in that +vicinity,—by rushing past them and frightening them; but looking at his +master and wagging his tail, he would cross the hedge, overtake them, +and quietly drive them back into the right road.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.—A STORY OF TWO BUCKETS.</h3> + +<h4><span class="smcap">By Charlotte M. Vaile.</span></h4> + +<p>There they were hanging, one of them out of sight in the cool, deep +water, and the other swinging empty in the sunshine, as Daisy Hadley and +her dog Bruno came up to the well. The little girl and the big dog had +been rambling about all the morning, following the brook through fields +of sunflowers and poppies, or climbing the rocks on the sides of the +mountains; but they were tired and thirsty now, and Daisy looked +wistfully at the empty bucket, wishing she were strong enough to pull it +down and bring the other, full and dripping, up in its place.</p> + +<p>"Bruno," she said reproachfully, "I wish you could draw me some water." +Bruno was a great, shaggy Newfoundland, that had been Daisy's play-mate +ever since she could remember. He was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span> wonderful dog. Daisy herself +would have told you that there were only a few things he could not do, +but unfortunately managing that well was one of them. So there was no +help for it, and Daisy was turning reluctantly away when she caught +sight of Mr. Paul Gregg, one of the other summer boarders in the Park.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 366px;"> +<img src="images/illus559.jpg" width="366" height="450" alt=""A CLEVER SHEEP DOG." (SEE PRECEDING PAGE.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"A CLEVER SHEEP DOG." (SEE PRECEDING PAGE.)</span> +</div> + +<p>If he had not come up just then, there would have been no story to tell, +and the buckets might have gone up and down in the well to this day +without taking part in any more remarkable event. But he <i>did</i> come up; +and Daisy's face brightened, for they were great friends, though she was +only a little girl in the Kindergarten, and he was a tall young student. +He stopped when Daisy said she wanted some water; and putting down his +botanical box, he began to draw some gloves over his rather soft hands.</p> + +<p>"I don't like this kind of a well at all," said Daisy. "It isn't half as +nice as the one at my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span> grandfather's. <i>That</i> had only one bucket, with a +rope that went 'round and 'round a great roller; and there was a handle +that I could turn myself."</p> + +<p>"This is a very old and respectable kind of a well, though," said Mr. +Gregg, taking hold of the rope. "There must have been such wells as long +ago as Shakspere's time."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Daisy, who was sure that Shakspere lived a +great while ago, though she could not have told when.</p> + +<p>"Shakspere, you know, Daisy," said Mr. Gregg, "was a great poet who +lived hundreds of years ago, and in a play he wrote, called 'King +Richard II.,' he tells about just such a well as this. Richard was one +of the kings of England, and a very unlucky king he was, though I can't +deny that he brought his troubles on himself, for he was anything but a +wise and prudent ruler. At last his cousin Prince Henry raised a great +army and forced Richard to give up the crown. Poor King Richard did not +show much spirit when his troubles came; but, according to Shakspere, he +made a very neat speech, when his clever cousin Henry told him that he +had decided to become King himself. Among other things, Richard said +that the crown he must give up was</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">'Like a deep well<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That owns two buckets filling one another;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The emptier ever dancing in the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The other down, unseen, and full of water;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That bucket down, and full of tears, am I,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>While Mr. Gregg was talking, the buckets in the well had changed places. +The one which had swung in the air so lightly at first had gone down out +of sight, and the other had come up ready to be emptied and to take its +place in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gregg paused now as he poured out some of the water. Daisy was +silent too, trying to understand it all.</p> + +<p>"What became of King Richard?" she asked presently.</p> + +<p>"He died in prison," said Mr. Gregg. "Some say his cousin Henry, who +took his place as king, had him put to death; and now," he added, +turning away from the well, "I think that I will see if your mother is +ready to go to dinner with us."</p> + +<p>Then he turned toward the cottage and left Daisy standing by the well. +She had not understood it all, but she felt very sorry for the unhappy +king, and she thought she knew why he said he was like the bucket in the +deep, dark water when he sank under his grief and shame never to see any +more bright days.</p> + +<p>She was leaning on the side of the well, with her hand upon the rope, +thinking very earnestly of it all and trying to catch a glimpse of the +bucket that was hanging there in the dark, when something dreadful +happened. Before she knew it, she had leaned over too far. She lost her +balance and fell over the side of the well. Down, down went the bucket, +more swiftly than it had ever gone before, and with it, but holding +desperately to the rope, went Daisy! There was only time for one +terrible cry—and she was out of sight in the well!</p> + +<p>There was no one there to save her,—Yes, there was Bruno! He heard the +cry. He saw his little friend go down, and with a bark that rang across +to the mountains, he rushed to the well. He leaped frantically against +the low wooden side just as the bucket which had been in the water rose +even with its edge. Somehow he managed to fling his heavy paws on it, +then his whole body, and then, all at once, it was Bruno that was going +down, down, but clinging to the bucket and howling as he went,—and +Daisy was coming up!</p> + +<p>It was only for a minute, therefore, that Daisy was in the water. The +next moment, thanks to the sudden pull at the other end of the rope, she +was rising again; and just as Bruno, loosened his hold of the bucket, +and dropped heavily into the water, Mr. Paul Gregg reached the side of +the well, seized the rope and drew Daisy to the top, gasping, shivering, +and frightened almost to death.</p> + +<p>As soon as Daisy could speak, she said, "Save Bruno!" But they had +already begun to do that, and they did save him, of course. The brave +old fellow was none the worse for his adventure. He dried himself in the +sunshine, and then lay down beside the rocking-chair where Daisy sat +folded in a soft wrap, with vaseline on her blistered hands.</p> + +<p>Daisy was none the worse for it either, in the end; though at first, +when her mother asked her how it happened and she tried to say something +about a "poor king," and "a bucket-full of tears," the poor lady was +afraid the plunge had affected her daughter's mind, and to this day she +is in doubt whether Shakspere or King Henry or Mr. Paul Gregg was +responsible for the accident.</p> + +<p>One thing however, was clear. It was Bruno who had saved her. Had he +really meant to go down with the bucket and rescue her? Daisy never had +a doubt of it herself. For the rest of the season he was the hero of the +Park. The summer guests bought him a silver collar beautifully engraved, +and Mr. Paul Gregg declared that he should propose his name as an +honorary member of the Humane Society.</p> + +<p>But Bruno's head was not turned with all those honors. He rambled +through the fields with Daisy as he had done before, and when she put +her arms around his neck, and said that he should be her dearest friend +forever, he was happier than if his collar had been made of gold, or +than if he had been elected president of the Humane Society.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By C. F. Holder</span>.</h3> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus562.jpg" width="650" height="324" alt="THE "GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE" RACE, AS SEEN THROUGH A MAGNIFYING +GLASS. (SEE PAGE 535.)" title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE "GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE" RACE, AS SEEN THROUGH A MAGNIFYING +GLASS. (SEE PAGE 535.)</span> +</div> + +<p>In a former number of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> the largest circus in the world was +described, and the curious animal actors were shown in many of their +tricks and performances. We now wish to exhibit another circus, the +smallest in the world, the performers in which, numbering several +hundreds, could all be carried about in a cherry-stone—in fact, a +circus of fleas, of such remarkable intelligence that in their various +feats they were quite equal to many of the larger trained animals with +which we are familiar.</p> + +<p>But before showing what the flea can do, let us look at its antecedents. +We know that it is a wingless fly,—a cousin to the house-flies on one +side, and to the crane-flies on the other; and a more knightly-looking +little creature you can not possibly imagine. Under the microscope we +see it covered with a rich polished armor resembling tortoise-shell. The +head is small, and supports two <i>antennæ</i> or feelers, composed of five +joints, and between these is the proboscis, a terrible affair. Upon +close examination with a powerful glass, what an array of piercing and +cutting blades are seen,—long, narrow, transparent knives, each edge +armed with a double row of glistening points that extend outward and +then are hooked backward! These are known as the mandibles, and fit +closely together, concealing another and smaller blade that has a +similar but single row of points. Besides all this, there are two +cutting-blades; the under edges are as sharp as sharp can be, while the +upper are thick and set with bristles. Do you wonder then that the flea +is so sharp a biter?</p> + +<p>On its armored head are two large eyes; and the entire body is seen to +be made up of a series of elastic armor-like bands wonderfully jointed, +and armed with bristling spines like the steel points on the armor of +olden times. The legs are six in number, jointed in so remarkable a +manner that they can be folded up one within another. When the flea +makes its prodigious leaps, these six legs all unfold at once, hurling +the little fellow high into the air.</p> + +<p>The baby flea is produced from a minute egg that in six days hatches +into a tiny worm. In about ten days, the worm changes into a chrysalis, +and in twelve days more it appears a perfect flea, ready for warfare +upon anything or anybody.</p> + +<p>Who first discovered that the flea was susceptible to education and kind +treatment is not known; but the fact remains that on their small heads +there is a thinking-cap capable of accomplishing great results. In the +selection of fleas for training, however, the same care must be taken as +with human beings, as the greatest difference is found in them. Some are +exceedingly apt scholars, while others never can learn, and so it is +that great numbers of fleas are experimented with before a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span> troupe is +accepted. The Flea Circus here described was exhibited a few years ago +and was composed of about two hundred of the most distinguished and +intelligent fleas in the entire family.</p> + +<p>One of the first lessons taught the flea, is to control its jumping +powers, for if its great leaps should be taken in the middle of a +performance, there would be a sudden ending to the circus. To insure +against such a misfortune, the student flea is first placed in a glass +phial, and encouraged to jump as much as possible. Every leap here made +brings the polished head of the flea against the glass, hurling the +insect back, and throwing it this way and that, until, after a long and +sorry experience, and perhaps many head-aches, it makes up its mind +never to unfold its legs suddenly again. When it has proved this by +refusing to jump in the open air, the first and most important lesson is +complete, and it joins the troupe, and is daily harnessed and trained, +until, finally, it is pronounced ready to go on the stage or in the +ring.</p> + +<p>The famous Flea Circus was placed on an ordinary table, and resembled in +size and shape a common dinner plate. A rim several inches high +encircled the outer edge, and around the circle stood a number of small +wooden boxes—the houses of the performers, and the stables for their +carriages. The signal being given, the audience, consisting of one human +being, would take in hand the large magnifying glass, hold it over the +ring, and the performance would begin. At the word of command from the +director, a very jolly, red-faced old gentleman, armed with a pair of +pincers, a tiny trap-door in one of the wooden houses sprang open and a +number of fleas filed out. They passed around the circle in a dignified +manner, appearing through the glass about as large as wasps or bees. +Each flea had a gold cord about its waist, and this was the grand entry +always seen at the circus. Having completed the circuit, they returned +to their quarters, and the performance proper commenced. Five fleas, +each adorned with a different color, stepped from another house, and +after running about here and there, and being admonished by the +director, ranged themselves in a line, and at the word "go!" started on +a rush around the circle; running into each other, rolling over and +over, and making frantic leaps over one another. Only after half the +course had been gone over, did they move in regular order, and strive +fairly for the goal. In another moment, a large flea would have won the +race had not two laggards almost at the last instant, as if made +reckless by their evident risk of defeat, taken a desperate leap and +landed far beyond the winning-post. Forthwith they were taken up in the +pincers, and placed in solitary confinement in the glass phial, where it +was supposed they had learned not to jump.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 550px;"> +<img src="images/illus563a.jpg" width="550" height="362" alt="THE DANCE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE DANCE.</span> +</div> + +<p>A dance was next announced and at a signal from the manager there came +tumbling out from the third house probably the most ludicrous band of +performers ever witnessed. Each dancer was in full regalia, like the +ladies who ride the padded horses in the regular circus, their dresses +of tissue paper being ornamented with purple, gold, and red hues. The +glass was placed in position, the spectator looked through it, the +performers were lifted in by the pincers, and the dance began—a mixture +of the Highland-fling, the sailor's hornpipe, and a "regular" +break-down.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus563b.jpg" width="600" height="263" alt="THE HURDLE-RACE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE HURDLE-RACE.</span> +</div> + +<p>The little creatures bobbed up and down, now on one claw, now on all +six, hopping, leaping, bowing, and scraping, moving forward and back, +bumping into one another, now up, now down, until they seemed utterly +exhausted, and several that had fallen down, and were kept by their +voluminous skirts from getting up, had to be carried off by the aid of +the ever-ready pincers.</p> + +<p>Next came a hurdle-race. Hurdles of thin silver wire were arranged, over +which two fleas were supposed to leap. One, however, was evidently very +lazy or very cunning, as it won the last race by crawling under the +wire.</p> + +<p>A clown flea now appeared in the ring, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span> crawled about in a comical +manner with a white clown's cap on its diminutive head. A moment later +out came a number of fleas all harnessed with gold wire trappings, and +the several vehicles were taken from the stables. There was a tally-ho +coach, smaller than a very small pea, an Eskimo sled, about a quarter of +an inch long, with wire runners, a trotting sulky, evidently made from +hair or bristles, and other gorgeous equipages. The tally-ho team of +four frantic fleas, evidently fiery steeds, was harnessed to the coach, +and on the top were placed four phlegmatic fleas that had probably been +booked as outsiders, while the insides were two others fleas, which, we +are sorry to say, were obliged to get in through the window, and acted +very much as if they wished to get out again. The other vehicles were +each provided with a steed and rider, and then all were drawn up in a +row. At the word of command, off they started pell-mell! The tally-ho +leaders evidently jumped their traces at first, but finally they were +off with a rush, running over the clown, knocking off his hat, and, for +the moment, creating a dreadful panic. The sled team threw its driver, +and the sulky ran away, the flea trotter actually leaping into the air, +sulky and all. But order was soon restored, and as the track was +arranged on the downhill principle, the racers made rapid time. In two +minutes the circuit was completed, the tally-ho coming in ahead, +without, however, its outside passengers, who were thrown off as the +coach was rounding the curve, and at once crawled into the nearest place +of refuge.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 289px;"> +<img src="images/illus565.jpg" width="289" height="250" alt="SIGNOR PULEX IRRITANICI ON THE TIGHT-ROPE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIGNOR PULEX IRRITANICI ON THE TIGHT-ROPE.</span> +</div> + +<p>The last act of this wonderful circus was perhaps the best. The manager +arranged the stage by placing two very fine entomological pins about +four inches apart, connecting them by a slender silver wire, and then +announced that Signor <i>Pulex Irritanici</i>, the world-renowned tight-rope +performer, would attempt his wonderful feat of dancing upon the wire at +a "dizzy height" (compared to the size of the performer). The Signor was +then brought out in a small bottle of cut-glass; his only ornament was a +little jacket of tissue-paper. When fished out and placed upon the +pin-head, he boldly started out upon the wire over which his little +clawed toes seemed to fit. In the middle, and over the terrific abyss, +he balanced up and down for a second, stood upon his longest legs, and +then moved on, crossing in safety, and thus ending the circus, at least +for that occasion.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ROCK-A-BYE.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Mary N. Prescott.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rock-a-bye, babies, upon the tree-top,"<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To her young the mother-bird sings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"When the wind's still, the rocking will stop,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And then you may all use your wings."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rock-a-bye, babies, under the eaves,"<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The swallow croons to her brood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Here you are safer, my children, from thieves<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Than if I had built in the wood."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rock-a-bye, babies, the river runs deep,"<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The reed-bird trills to her flock,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"The river stirs only to sing you to sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">The wind your green cradle to rock!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[Pg 536]</a></span></p> +<h2>WHAT BERTIE SAW IN THE FLOWERS.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By L. G. R.</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 508px;"> +<img src="images/illus567.jpg" width="508" height="700" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Buttercup! Buttercup!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hold your shining clusters up!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In each little house of gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is this that I behold?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Twenty soldiers, straight and slim,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Golden-helmeted and prim.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All day long so still they stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Never turning head or hand;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No one guesses where they stray<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the moonlight nights of May.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the fairies are abroad,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These small men keep watch and ward;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Round the fairy ring they pace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All night long, to guard the place;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But when morning comes again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Back are all the little men.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[Pg 537]</a></span></p> +<h2>KEEPING THE CREAM OF ONE'S READING.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Margaret Meredith.</span></h3> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/illus568a.jpg" width="87" height="250" alt="M" class="cap" /> + +<p class="cap_1">My plan dates from a few delightful weeks which I spent with a girl +friend, long ago. We were devoted to poetry and to reading aloud; and in +that occupation we had the aid of a brilliant, accomplished young woman. +She selected for us from Coleridge, Shelley, and several other authors, +whose entire works she knew we would not care to read, all the specially +fine poems or passages, and these we read and discussed with her over +our fancy-work. It was charming. At last, she suggested that, as I was +soon to go away and leave the books and clippings with which I had been +growing familiar, it would be helpful for me to write down the choicest +bits, and try in that way to keep in some degree what I had gained. This +I did, putting the extracts in a school copy-book which our friend +dubbed "Snippers,"—from an odd seamstress word which she had picked up +by chance.</p></div> + +<p>Other "snipper" books followed when that one, years after, had been +filled.</p> + +<p>My system is an orderly one. All my books are broad-paged and +wide-lined, thus preventing the cramped and crowded writing which often +makes such books unreadable. When I find anything which strikes me as +worth keeping, I note on a slip of paper, somewhat longer than the book +I am reading, the number of the page and make a perpendicular line +beneath it, with a cross line indicating the relative position of the +sentence which I wish to keep, thus:</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 97px;"> +<img src="images/illus568b.jpg" width="97" height="175" alt="23" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>If the page is in columns, I make, instead of the single line, a rough +parallelogram, and note within it by square dots the relative positions +of the sentences chosen for preservation, thus:</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 155px;"> +<img src="images/illus568c.jpg" width="155" height="250" alt="187" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>This slip of paper I use as a book-mark until it is filled or the book +is finished, noting upon it, as indicated, the choicest passages and +their positions on the pages. When I have finished the book I go +carefully over these selected sentences. Many are discarded; the rest go +into my "snippers." Below the first entry and to the right, I place the +name of the book and its author, both heavily underscored; below the +others, the word "Ibid" or "ditto," underscored. At the top of each page +I note the year, and at the head of each batch of extracts the month or +day.</p> + +<p>Paragraphs cut from newspapers, which are worth saving, are pasted as a +fly-leaf to the inner edge of the page, or even slipped under the +binding thread.</p> + +<p>In carrying out my plan I am always content with hasty work,—but I +write plainly, and if possible with ink, as much fingering destroys +pencil-marks. I once tried classifying the extracts, but this scarcely +paid for the trouble.</p> + +<p>I used sometimes to wonder whether these books of selections were of any +real value. But I have grown now to prize them greatly. Many a time I go +to them for a dimly remembered phrase or passage. Sometimes, too, I read +them over, for of course they give me the essence of what I most like +and admire in my reading. A short time since I lent one to a literary +friend, and was surprised to find she enjoyed it so greatly that she was +almost unwilling to give it back.</p> + +<p>I am very glad that I began this practice in my young days. It gives +very little trouble, and that little is a pleasure.</p> + +<p>There is a familiar expression about an "embarrassment of riches." This +is the greatest disappointment I experience with my "snippers." For, +occasionally, a book has too many good things in it to be easily copied, +and then my only relief is to own it and, marking it vol. <i>X</i>, add it to +my row of extract-books.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 208px;"> +<img src="images/illus568d.jpg" width="208" height="250" alt="THE END" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[Pg 538]</a></span></p> +<h2>WONDERS OF THE ALPHABET.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Henry Eckford.</span></h3> + + +<h4>THIRD PAPER.</h4> + +<p>Perhaps you have never given a thought to the fact that, because you +were born into a nation using an alphabet that came down from the +Phœnicians, you are saved a world of trouble. But consider the +Chinese. If a Chinese boy and an American boy begin to learn their +letters at the same time, each studying his own writing, then by the +time the American is ten years old he has advanced as far in the use of +letters as the Chinese boy will have advanced in the use of his when he +is twenty years old. That is the same as saying that Chinese writing is +three or four times as hard to learn as English. Think of spending the +years between ten and twenty in learning to read! On the other hand, the +long apprenticeship of Chinese and Japanese boys to their letters does +them good in one way. They paint their letters with a brush on soft +paper. By this means they learn very early to be skillful with the +brush, which is one reason why Chinese and Japanese artists are so very +dexterous with their brushes.</p> + +<p>All writing, let it be remembered, must have begun with pictures. It is +largely Chinese writing which has explained how all sorts of letters +were gradually changed from pictures to an alphabet, in which hardly a +single letter tells from what picture it started. The Japanese tongue is +quite different from the Chinese. But the use by the Japanese of signs +employed ages before by the Chinese explains another step in the +progress of language. The writing of the Mexican Indians also helps us +to understand the growth of alphabets. When, ages ago, the Chinese began +to write, they drew little pictures of the things they wished to +represent, as did the Egyptians before them in their picture-writing; +and from picture-writing they made some advance in the direction of +sound-writing, or rebuses. Then the little rebus-pictures were so much +altered that it became very difficult to see what they once meant.</p> + +<p>Now Chinese is a queer language. All its words are only one syllable +long. But the sounds in the Chinese language are not very many, some +four hundred and sixty-five at most, and their written language contains +about eighty thousand pictures, each picture representing a thing or +idea. And these pictures must be committed to memory. This is hard work, +and not even the wisest Chinese professor can learn them all. But now +comes a difficulty. For, of course, where there are so many words and +so few sounds, many different words have to be called by the same sound. +How then are they to tell, when several different things have exactly +the same name which of them is meant?</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 434px;"> +<img src="images/illus571.jpg" width="434" height="550" alt="REBUS-PICTURES FROM THE OLD CHINESE, SHOWING THE +BEGINNINGS OF PICTURE-WRITING." title="" /> +<span class="caption">REBUS-PICTURES FROM THE OLD CHINESE, SHOWING THE +BEGINNINGS OF PICTURE-WRITING.<br /> + +1. A Month. (From a picture of the moon.) 2. The Eye. 3. A Horse. 4. An +Ax. 5. Rain. 6. Face. 7. A Dragon. 8. Bamboo. 9. Rhinoceros. 10. Dawn. +(From the rising sun.)</span> +</div> + +<p>We have such words. For instance, there is Bill, the name of a boy; and +bill, the beak of a bird; there is bill, an old weapon, and bill, a +piece of money; there is bill, an article over which legislatures +debate, and bill, a claim for payment of money; besides bills of +exchange, bills of lading, and so forth. But Chinese is full of such +words of a single syllable, <i>yen</i>, for instance, which, like bill, means +many very different things. So they chose a number of little pictures, +and agreed that these should be used as "keys." The Chinese "keys" were +used like the Egyptian "determinative signs," of which I told you. Each +"key" meant that the sign or signs near which it stood belonged to some +large general set of things, like things of the vegetable, mineral, or +animal kingdom,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[Pg 539]</a></span> forests, mines, or seas, air, or water, or of persons, +like gods or men. It was like the game called Throwing Light, in which +you guess the article by narrowing down the field until certain what it +is.</p> + +<p>But there Chinese writing stopped short, thousands of years ago. There +it is to-day. There are now two hundred and fourteen of these "keys," +and, by intense application, Chinamen learn to use their method with +surprising quickness and success.</p> + +<p>The Japanese acted toward Chinese writing much as the Phœnicians did +toward Egyptian writing. The Japanese, a very intelligent people, made +what you have learned to know as a syllabary, out of signs taken from +the Chinese symbols. It is called a syllabary, you remember, because +each sign stood in their language for a syllable. They had to do this, +because, while Chinese is all short syllables, Japanese is a language of +much longer words even than ours. They cut down and simplified the +Chinese signs, giving them names of their own. In this way they manage +to write very swiftly. And, while not so clumsy as the Chinese fashion, +the Japanese method is clumsier than is the use of an alphabet. In late +years, a society has been started in Japan to do away altogether with +their old-time writing, and adopt our alphabet.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 372px;"> +<img src="images/illus572a.jpg" width="372" height="300" alt="FIG. 1." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 1.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 318px;"> +<img src="images/illus572b.jpg" width="318" height="300" alt="FIG. 2." title="" /> +<span class="caption">FIG. 2.</span> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps, by this time, you are beginning to see how very slowly +alphabets have grown, and how hard it has been for human beings to +perfect them. Knowing this, will you not look now with more interest on +written and printed words? When you see letters, will you not reflect +what a history each one has, reaching far back into the remotest past, +where at first all seems dark, and where, when light does come, the very +number and variety of materials perplex the student of alphabets? +Moreover, will you not feel ashamed of people who laugh or sneer at +savage nations who have no sound-writing, no syllabary, no alphabet? It +does not mean that in such races all men are stupid. As a rule it means +simply that the race has not had a fair chance. It has been racked by +wars. Or it has never come in contact peacefully with some nation that +used a method of writing a trifle better than its own, so that the +brighter minds could establish schools of learning. When one nation +conquers another, the higher and cleverer minds among the conquered are +often the first to be destroyed. The best of our Indians of North and +South America seem to have been the first to fall in battle with the +whites, or to have died off because of their cruelty. The reason why the +others, who lived with or near the white settlers, did not readily +borrow our way of writing in their turn, as we had borrowed from the +Romans, the Romans from the Greeks and Phœnicians, and the latter +from the Egyptians, seems to be that our system was too far advanced for +them. But if the first white settlers in Central and South America had +been kind and wise men, instead of coarse and greedy people, they could +have found tribes and nations almost as advanced in their mode of +writing as the Japanese, though not the equals of the Japanese in +architecture and the fine arts. These tribes could have learned our +alphabet if care had been taken to instruct their superior men. It is +certain that the Aztecs, or Mexican Indians, had advanced very far on +the road to a true alphabet. When the cruel Spaniards arrived and upset +their governments, destroyed their temples, massacred, enslaved and then +shamefully neglected them, they had already reached the art of +rebus-writing. The name of the Mexican King, Knife-Snake, or, Itz-Coatl +was written in this way: Itzli means knives, and Coatl, snake. There, in +Fig. 1, is the snake, and on his back are knives made of flint. They +even went farther. The same name, Itz-Coatl, was also written as in Fig. +2. The flint-headed arrow means <i>Itz</i>; the jar, called <i>Comitl</i>, stands +for <i>Co</i>; and the branch, a picture of water in drops, stands for <i>atl</i>, +water. And it has been asserted that certain neighbors of the Aztecs or +Mexicans, known as the Maya Indians of Yucatan, who were ancient people +of Central America, left ruins of cities covering square miles of forest +and plain, and had reached nearly if not quite to the invention of an +alphabet of vowels and consonants. But the latest authorities agree that +such a Maya alphabet as the Spaniards reported may have been invented +after the whites arrived. Specimens of Maya writing may be seen in +Washington, at the Smithsonian Institute, on slabs and on paper casts +taken from their idols or statues of kings and priests. It was not by +the Maya system, but by one of rebuses, that the old missionaries wrote +what few books they composed for their unhappy Indian congregations. +Only lately a book composed in picture-writing throughout, was printed +for the Mikmak Indians of Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>In the next paper we will endeavor to trace the road by which our +English alphabet came down from the Phœnicians, that ancient folk of +the palm-tree and the Red Sea, whose alphabet you saw in the first paper +of this series.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The illustrations of this article are reproduced, by +permission, from a notable French work on ancient +Hieroglyphics by Prof. L. De Rosny, of Paris. </p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus573.jpg" width="650" height="926" alt="BUBBLE BOWLING" title="" /> +</div> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Adelia B. Beard.</span></h3> + + +<p>"Nothing new in bubbles! Every one knows how to blow bubbles!" Of course +they do, and yet, the game I am about to describe is an entirely new and +a very interesting one.</p> + +<p>When the game of Bubble Bowling was played for the first time, it +furnished an evening's entertainment, not only for the children, but for +grown people also; even a well known General and his staff, who graced +the occasion with their presence, joined in the sport, and seemed to +enjoy it equally with their youthful competitors. Loud was the chorus of +"Bravo!" and merry the laugh of exultation when the pretty crystal ball +passed safely through its goal; and sympathy was freely expressed in +many an "Oh!" and "Too bad!" as the wayward bubble rolled gayly off +toward the floor, or, reaching the goal, dashed itself against one of +the stakes and instantly vanished into thin air.</p> + +<p>Bubble parties are delightful, as most children know from experience, +and it is unnecessary, therefore, to give a description of them here. I +propose merely to introduce bubble bowling as a feature in these +entertainments, which will furnish no end of amusement and jollity, and +add increased enjoyment and variety to the programme.</p> + +<p>The game should be played upon a long, narrow table, made simply of a +board five feet long and eighteen inches wide, resting upon ordinary +wooden "horses." On top of the table, and at a distance of twelve inches +from one end, should be fastened in an upright position, two stakes +twelve inches high; the space between the stakes should be eight inches, +which will make each stand four inches from the nearest edge of the +table. When finished, the table must be covered with some sort of woolen +cloth; an old shawl or a breadth of colored flannel will answer the +purpose excellently. Small holes must be cut at the right distance for +the stakes to pass through. The cloth should be allowed to fall over the +edge of the table, and must not be fastened down, as it will sometimes +be necessary to remove it in order to let it dry. It will be found more +convenient,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span> therefore, to use two covers, if they can be provided, as +there can then always be a dry cloth ready to replace the one that has +become too damp. The bubbles are apt to stick when they come upon wet +spots, and the bowling can be carried on in a much more lively manner if +the course is kept dry. Each of the stakes forming the goal should be +wound with bright ribbons of contrasting colors, entwined from the +bottom up, and ending in a bow at the top. This bow can be secured in +place by driving a small, or brass-headed tack through the ribbon into +the top of the stake. If the rough pine legs of the table seem too +unsightly, they can easily be painted. Or a curtain may be made of +bright-colored cretonne,—any other material will do as well, provided +the colors are pleasing,—and tucked around the edge of the table, so as +to fall in folds to the floor. The illustration on this page shows the +top of the table, when ready for the game.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus574.jpg" width="650" height="425" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>For an impromptu affair, a table can be made by placing a leaf of a +dining-table across the backs of two chairs, and covering it with a +shawl. The stakes can be held in an upright position by sticking them in +the tubes of large spools. This sort of table the children can arrange +themselves, and it answers the purpose very nicely. The other things to +be provided for the game are a large bowl of strong soapsuds, made with +common brown soap, and as many pipes as there are players.</p> + +<p>The prizes for the winners of the game may consist of any trinkets or +small articles that the fancy or taste of the hostess may suggest. +Bubble Bowling can be played in two ways. The first method requires an +even number of players, and these must be divided into two equal +parties. This is easily accomplished by selecting two children for +captains, and allowing each captain to choose, alternately, a recruit +for his party until the ranks are filled, or in other words, until all +the children have been chosen; then, ranked by age, or in any other +manner preferred, they form in line on either side of the table. A pipe +is given to each child by the hostess, and they stand prepared for the +contest. One of the captains first takes his place at the foot of the +table, where he must remain while he is bowling, as a bubble passing +between the stakes is not counted unless blown through the goal from the +end of the table.</p> + +<p>The bowl of soapsuds is placed upon a small stand by the side of the +bowling-table, and the next in rank to the captain, belonging to same +party, dips his pipe into the suds and blows a bubble, not too large, +which he then tosses upon the table in front of the captain, who as +first bowler, stands ready to blow the bubble on its course down through +the goal. Three successive trials are allowed each player; the bubbles +which break before the bowler has started them, are not counted.</p> + +<p>The names of all the players, divided as they are into two parties, are +written down on a slate or paper, and whenever a bubble is sent through +the goal, a mark is set down opposite the name of the successful bowler.</p> + +<p>When the captain has had his three trials, the captain on the other side +becomes bowler, and the next in rank of his own party blows the bubbles +for him. When this captain retires, the member of the opposite party, +ranking next to the captain, takes the bowler's place and is assisted by +the one whose name is next on the list of his own side; after him the +player next to the captain on the other side; and so on until the last +on the list has his turn, when the captain then becomes assistant and +blows the bubbles.</p> + +<p>The number of marks required for either side to win the game, must be +decided by the number of players; if there are twenty,—ten players on +each side,—thirty marks would be a good limit for the winning score.</p> + +<p>When the game has been decided, a prize is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span> given to that member of each +party who has the greatest number of marks against his or her name +showing that he or she has sent the bubble through the goal oftener than +any player on the same side. Or, if preferred, prizes maybe given to +every child belonging to the winning party.</p> + +<p>The other way in which Bubble Bowling may be played is much simpler, and +does not require an even number of players, as no sides are formed. Each +bowler plays for himself, and is allowed five successive trials; if +three bubbles out of the five be blown through the goal, the player is +entitled to a prize. The child acting as assistant becomes the next +bowler, and so on until the last in turn becomes bowler, when the one +who began the game takes the place of assistant.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus575a.jpg" width="650" height="147" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE KNICKERBOCKER BOY.</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Caroline S. King.</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 258px;"> +<img src="images/illus575b.jpg" width="258" height="450" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">I.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I'm a knickerbocker boy!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">See my coat and breeches!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cuffs and collar, pocket too—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Made with many stitches!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must have a watch and chain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A silk umbrella and a cane.—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more kilts and skirts for me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm a big boy—don't you see?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i10">II.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Knickerbockers! Knickerbockers!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Give away my other clothes!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give away my horse with rockers;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I want one that really goes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two brisk, prancing goats will do;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I'd like a wagon too.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No more chairs hitched up for me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm a big boy—don't you see?<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE BROWNIES ON ROLLER SKATES.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Palmer Cox.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Brownies planned at close of day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To reach a town some miles away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where roller skating, so 't was said,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of all amusements kept ahead.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said one: "When deeper shadows fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We'll cross the river, find the hall,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And learn the nature of the sport<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of which we hear such good report."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 472px;"> +<img src="images/illus576.jpg" width="472" height="450" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To reach the bridge that led to town,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With eager steps they hastened down;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But recent rains had caused a rise—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stream was now a fearful size;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The bridge was nearly swept away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Submerged in parts, and wet with spray.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But when the cunning Brownies get<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their mind on some maneuver set,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor wind nor flood, nor frost nor fire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Can ever make the rogues retire.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some walked the dripping logs with ease,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While others crept on hands and knees<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With movements rather safe than fast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And inch by inch the danger passed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now, guided by the rumbling sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That told where skaters circled 'round,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Through dimly lighted streets they flew,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And close about the building drew.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Without delay the active band,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By spouts and other means at hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of skill and daring furnished proof<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And gained possession of the roof;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then through the skylight viewed the show<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Presented by the crowds below.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> +<img src="images/illus577.jpg" width="454" height="450" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Said one: "While I survey that floor<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm filled with longing more and more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And discontent with me will bide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Till 'round the rink I smoothly glide.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At night I've ridden through the air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where bats abide, and owls repair,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I've rolled in surf of ocean wide,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And coasted down the mountain-side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now to sweep around a hall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On roller skates would crown it all."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"My plans," the leader answer made,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Are in my mind already laid.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Within an hour the folk below<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will quit their sport and homeward go;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then will the time be ripe, indeed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For us to leave this roof with speed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And prove how well our toes and heels<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We may command when set on wheels."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When came the closing hour at last,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And people from the rink had passed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Brownies hurried down to find<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The roller skates they'd left behind.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 519px;"> +<img src="images/illus578.jpg" width="519" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then such a scene was there as few<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May ever have a chance to view.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some hardly circled 'round the place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before they moved with ease and grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And skated freely to and fro,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon a single heel or toe.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Some coats were torn beyond repair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By catches here and clutches there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When those who felt their faith give way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Grabbed right and left without delay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">While some who strove a friend to aid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Upon the floor themselves were laid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To spread confusion there awhile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As large and larger grew the pile.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Some rose with fingers out of joint,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or black and blue at every point;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And few but felt some portion sore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From introductions to the floor.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But such mishaps were lost to sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the common wild delight,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For little fuss do Brownies make<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er bump or bruise or even break.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And had that night been long as those<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That spread a shade o'er polar snows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Brownies would have kept the floor,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And never thought of sash or door.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But stars at length began to wane,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dawn came creeping through the pane;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, much against the will of all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The rogues were forced to leave the hall.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EASTER CAROL.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Wm. E. Ashmall.</span></h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/music579b.jpg" width="650" height="190" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/music579a.jpg" width="650" height="206" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/music579c.jpg" width="650" height="200" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">2 For He is risen up on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From earth and dreary grave;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Christ is risen! is our cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He lives again to save.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">3 Sing aloud for Christ our King,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For Christ, the Saviour, born;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This carol ever we will sing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">On this, our Easter morn.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE HANDIWORK OF SOME CLEVER SCHOOL-BOYS.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By J. Abdon Donnegan.</span></h3> + + +<p>The Fair of the American Institute held annually in New York, is chiefly +a display from the various American trades showing improvement and +advancement; here designers and inventors also present many novelties +and useful inventions for public criticism and judgment.</p> + +<p>One feature of the Fair of 1885 that attracted much attention and +comment, was the novel and unique display of mechanical models designed +and constructed by the boys of the third grade in Grammar-School, No. +57, one of the public schools of New York City. The work exhibited by +these boys is peculiarly interesting and suggestive, and is an +indication of what observant, thoughtful, and intelligent boys can +devise and do when their tastes and natural inclinations are developed.</p> + +<p>The boys' models were made at home, after class-hours, and on odd +holidays during the six months previous to exhibition, and were +primarily intended to illustrate the principles of the six mechanical +powers,—the inclined plane, the lever, the wedge, the pulley, the wheel +and axle, and the screw. When the American Institute Fair opened, an +inclined railway, with its platform and cars; a miniature guillotine, +with ready knife; a dumb-waiter in full working order; a derrick +prepared to raise many weights; a pile-driver with its automatically +dropped weight, the sound of which never failed to attract +attention,—all these, with other models, occupied a space in Machinery +Hall.</p> + +<p>During the morning hours, curtains screened the models; in the afternoon +the youthful exhibitors arrived and took special delight in showing the +working of their designs. The pleasant hours spent there, the praise of +visitors, and the recognition and commendation accorded by the press +will be long remembered by the boys. At the closing of the Fair, the +exhibit was awarded the Medal of Merit.</p> + +<p>The illustrations on pages 548 and 550 show the models exhibited. Figure +1 represents an alcoholic furnace, illustrating the expansion of a brass +rod by heat. A cylinder of tin, fifteen inches in height and five in +diameter, is hinged to a base of wood and arranged so as to tilt to the +left. A lever fifteen inches long opens and closes a damper; this lever +(an umbrella rod) is inserted in a pivoted rod of wood two inches long, +supported in a square frame made of an inch strip of tin bent twice at +right angles and soldered to the cylinder.</p> + +<p>A brass banner rod, seven inches long, also connects with this rod and, +passing through an inch opening, is supported in the flame of an alcohol +lamp and fastened on the opposite side by a tiny brass knob screwed on +the protruding thread of the rod. A small pulley and weight steadies the +motion of the lever.</p> + +<p>The heat of the alcohol flame causes the brass rod to lengthen, and this +in turn moves the lever which opens the damper; and the degree of +expansion is indicated on a paper scale by a straw pointer attached to +the rod of the damper. A coating of copper bronze was given to the +cylinder. This model was made in part by Winfred C. Rhoades.</p> + +<p>Figure 2 shows a forge made by William E. Tappae. A hand-bellows is +mounted on a wooden base about ten by twenty-four inches in size, and is +worked by a lever handle supported in a frame twenty-six inches in +height. The bellows consists of two boards connected by flexible leather +tacked to the edges. The upper board is stationary, and an inch central +opening is covered on the inside by a two-inch flap of chamois fastened +at one point, forming a valve.</p> + +<p>As the handle is pushed up, the air rushes in, and when pulled down, the +valve closes and the compressed air is forced through the metal nozzle +to the glowing coals. The carved-wood anvil was stained black and the +other parts were painted a bright vermilion.</p> + +<p>Figure 3 explains one way of connecting levers, and their uses as a +mechanical aid. The base is four by fifteen inches in size, and the +pillars are respectively six and ten inches in height, and are firmly +mortised and glued into the base. The upper lever is eighteen inches in +length, and connects with the ten-inch lower lever.</p> + +<p>The lead weights, sliding on the narrow edges of the levers, balance +each other, and show how the heavy wagon of coal is balanced in the +office by the weight on the scale-beam.</p> + +<p>A wedge made of oak ten inches in height and five inches in width is +indicated by Figure 4.</p> + +<p>Figure 5 represents a diminutive pile-driver, twenty-eight inches in +length, showing the plan and action of a large machine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus583.jpg" width="650" height="956" alt="SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER 14 YEARS +OF AGE. + +DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER 14 YEARS +OF AGE. + +DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span></p> + +<p>The two-pound drop-hammer falls a distance of twenty-two inches in the +grooves of the vertical posts which are mortised and glued into the +base, as are also the oblique braces to which are attached the bobbin, +or axle, and crank, on which the cord is wound that raises the hammer. +This hammer is a flat piece of iron having two pieces of wood, each four +by two and one-half inches in size, cemented to it. A wire hook is +attached just above, and the extended arm of the hook as the weight +nears the top, meets a projecting pin, and slips the weight from the +cord.</p> + +<p>Figure 6 is the model of a wood-press useful in pressing flowers for an +herbarium. The base and pressure board are each ten inches square, the +supports eight inches in height, and a wooden screw connected with the +upper board turns in the cross-piece. This and the models shown in the +drawings numbered 3, 5, and 10 were made by Harry Stœcker.</p> + +<p>Figure 7 represents the model of an inclined railway constructed upon +the plan of the inclined railway actually in use between Hoboken and +Jersey City Heights. A board forty-five inches in length and ten inches +in width connects the terminal platforms of this model. The upper +platform rests on a support thirty-three inches in height; to this +support is attached an axle turned by a crank, on which are wound the +reversed cords which connect with the ascending and descending +platforms. These platforms are mounted on rollers and the cars while in +motion are kept in a horizontal position. This model was constructed by +Everett L. Thompson.</p> + +<p>The same boy constructed also the model shown in Figure 8—a dumb-waiter +with original arrangement of cords and pulleys. The frame is thirty-six +inches in height, eleven inches in width, and five inches in depth. +Inside, a carrier with shelves is raised by a cord passing over four +pulleys, the action of which may be seen through glass slips fitted in +grooves. To the end of a cord is attached a weight which balances the +weight of the carrier and contents. The frame-work was stained a dark +mahogany color, oiled and varnished.</p> + +<p>Figure 9 represents a miniature guillotine as made by David W. Benedict. +It was copied after one brought from France and exhibited at a +well-known museum in New York City.</p> + +<p>The frame is twenty-two inches in height, and the block to which is +fastened the tin blade, falls through the grooves in the posts to the +rest upon which lies the head of the criminal. The cord raising the +block runs over the pulleys, and is wound on the cleat when not in use. +A box beneath receives the head of the imaginary victim as it falls. The +machine with the exception of the blade was painted in bright vermilion +and varnished.</p> + +<p>Figure 10 shows a small derrick constructed after a sketch of one used +in the erection of the Madison Avenue bridge across the Harlem River. A +mast of maple twenty-seven inches in length is mortised into an oak +base, ten by twelve inches in size. A projecting arm, or jib, is +fastened to the mast by a clasp of heavy tin. A cord and pulley keep the +jib at a proper angle with the mast. The weight is hooked to a double +pulley connected with the single pulley near the end of the jib; the +cord, passing over a wheel in the mast and then passing downward, is +wound upon the axle by turning the crank; a toothed wheel and ratchet +stops the weight at the desired height. Neater pulleys than could be +purchased were made by joining two wooden buttons and placing them in a +whittled frame bound with piano-wire. The mast and jib were painted a +dark blue and the base was polished and varnished.</p> + +<p>Figure 11 shows a model of a foundry crane, much admired for its +accuracy of design and finish. It was made by George Chase, of seasoned +maple with iron and brass connections. A swinging jib is pivoted at the +top to a brass plate screwed to the cross-piece of the frame, and turns +on a steel pin fitted to a plate on the base. A carriage travels along +the jib, being kept at the required distance by a cord passing over a +wheel at the end of the jib. A cord attached to the carriage passes over +a pulley connected with the weight, and also over the wheel of the +carriage, to the wheel directing it to the axle, which is turned by a +cog-wheel and pinion taken from an old clock.</p> + +<p>The carrier of the elevator shown in Figure 12 is hoisted by a cord +passing over a small iron pulley fixed to the cross-beam of the grooved +posts, and thence to the spool, or axle turned by a crank.</p> + +<p>A clock-spring attached to a square wooden rosette is shown by Figure +13.</p> + +<p>Figure 14 represents a pump improvised by John B. Cartwright from an old +mincing-machine.</p> + +<p>A handle turns a series of spur-wheels, which in turn give a rapid +motion to a twelve-inch walking-beam. To one end of this walking-beam is +attached a piston-rod, with a soft rubber disk working in a brass +cylinder five inches long and three and a half inches in diameter. Iron +fittings, including two brass valves, one on each side, connect with the +cylinder; an air-chamber is formed with a fitting and cap. The suction +caused by the upward motion of the piston will draw water from a pail or +cup through a rubber tube connected with the end fitting of the +right-hand valve, then through the valve to the cylinder; the downward +motion of the piston causes the water to pass through the left-hand +valve to the receiving vessel, and the air-chamber tends to make the +flow regular. Parts of the machine were painted blue and striped with +gold bronze.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[Pg 550]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus586.jpg" width="650" height="945" alt="SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER FOURTEEN +YEARS OF AGE.—DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER FOURTEEN +YEARS OF AGE.—DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[Pg 551]</a></span></p> + +<p>By the removal of one pane of glass from a window facing south, the +apparatus shown in Figure 15 may be used, like a magic lantern, to +project transparencies, in a darkened room.</p> + +<p>A pine board, fourteen inches square and one inch in thickness, has an +opening in the middle to receive a wooden frame seven inches square, +holding a six-inch cosmorama lens, having a focus of eighteen inches. A +three-inch plano-convex lens having a focus of nine inches, mounted in a +wooden frame, slides along a slit or opening in a board hinged to the +inner side of the board which is cleated to the window.</p> + +<p>A plate-glass mirror, eight by fifteen inches in size, is secured to a +board hinged to a wooden rod, which can be turned from the inside, and +is raised and lowered by a cord winding on a key. The mirror is lowered +and inclined until the sunlight is reflected through the lenses, and +then a circle of intense light, from ten to fifteen feet in diameter +appears on the wall or screen. Both lenses will not cost more than two +dollars, and the apparatus will most impressively illustrate experiments +in light and sound.</p> + +<p>An easily made electric lamp is shown by Figure 16. An Argand chimney is +fastened to a wooden base, with the cement known as "Stratena," and +partly filled with water. A cork coated with paraffine is placed inside +the chimney, and a rod of carbon twelve inches long and one-sixteenth of +an inch in thickness being inserted in the cork, the upward pressure of +the water on the cork causes the end of the carbon rod to come in slight +contact with a thick rod of carbon which is fastened obliquely to a +square piece of wood, cemented near the top of the chimney. A brass chip +fastened to the wood keeps the thin rod of carbon in position, and when +two copper wires connect the carbons with six to ten jars of a +bichromate battery, a light appears where the two carbons meet. As the +thin rod wastes away, the cork rises and keeps the end of the rod +almost in contact with the other carbon point.</p> + +<p>An ambition to creditably make a mechanical contrivance or apparatus is +noticeably characteristic of many boys. The construction of an aquarium, +a sailboat, or a telescope, or some similar object, is of absorbing +interest to such lads; and the making of the electrical apparatus of +straws, sealing-wax, etcetera, once described by Professor Tyndall, has +merely tasked the ingenuity of thinking boys to improve upon the +apparatus.</p> + +<p>Many educators maintain that manual training of a pleasant character, +adapted to the age of the pupils, should form an essential element in +the education of boys and girls, and should be placed on a par with the +regular studies. There is no doubt that such instruction stimulates +ambition and tends to develop taste, skill, and natural invention. At +the same time an insight into mechanical occupations, with some +practical experience in the handling of tools, may assist a boy in +choosing a calling suited to his taste, and better prepare him to enter +some practical industry, if his choice should incline toward such an +occupation.</p> + +<p>A few years ago, manual training in modeling, wood-carving, carpentry, +forge-work, and other branches, was introduced into a technical course +in the College of the City of New York, in East Twenty-third street. +To-day it is one of the most interesting features of the College work, +and is highly appreciated by the students. Private schools in this city, +as also some of the public and private schools of Boston and +Philadelphia, have introduced the workshop into their methods of +instruction, and devote a few hours in each week to practical and manual +labor.</p> + +<p>The models illustrated in this article represent many well spent and +helpful hours of recreation, and other boys may find pleasure and profit +in making similar use of their leisure time and their powers of +handicraft.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A NEW VIEW OF THE MOON.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">By Eva Lovett Carson.</span></h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">A little boy just two years old,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or maybe two months older,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Came riding home across the lot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Perched on his father's shoulder.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Look, Oswald! Hold your head up straight!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">(Do stop that dreadful drumming!)<br /></span> +<span class="i0">See, just above where Mamma stands<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A little moon is coming!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The baby lifts his round blue eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The moon laughs at their glancing.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To see the wonder of his gaze<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'Most sets the moon a-dancing.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Frowning, he solved the problem soon;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Indignantly he spoke it:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Papa, dat's not the big wound moon;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I fink <i>somebody b'oke it</i>!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[Pg 552]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 575px;"> +<img src="images/illus590.jpg" width="575" height="650" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Away—ho, away!—Let us off on a quest!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the North—to the South—to the East—to the West!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the West, to find where the sunsets go<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the skies are as red as roses a-blow;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the East, to see whence the mornings come;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the South, the Summer to track to her home;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the North, by the gleam of the Polar Star,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Night's aurora flaming afar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To seek, in the keen and biting weather,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The lodestone that holds the world together.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now and then somebody writes out the very thoughts of the birds; and +then again, others tell me very prettily just what they think ought to +be felt by the tuneful-minded little creatures. Here, for instance, +comes this scrap of verse from my friend Emily A. Braddock that I hope +not only you children, but all of my birds will hear. I don't allude so +much to the sparrows and such stay-at-homes as to my migratory, or +go-away birds. I'm sure they'd be delighted at a poet's way of putting +things. It will give them something to go for. As for myself, I've not +started yet, so we'll proceed to discuss a certain odd saying for which +it seems the world is indebted to one sort of these migratory birds:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"EVERYTHING IS LOVELY, AND THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This expression, the Little School-ma'am says, is a corruption of an +old-fashioned saying that originated in the early days of this country.</p> + +<p>As most of you know, wild geese, when they migrate in autumn, form +themselves into lines shaped like the letter V, the leader flying at the +point, the two lines following; and as they sail away, far above the +trees, and beyond all danger from guns—on those cold mornings when the +air is clear, and the sky beautifully blue—they seem full of glee, and +join in a chorus, "<i>Honk, honk, honk!</i>"</p> + +<p>Any one who has heard those curiously sounding notes, the Little +School-ma'am says, never could mistake them for anything else. And the +folks on the earth below who heard the birds' wild call, in old times, +realized the happiness of the winged creatures in being so high and +safe. And so it became quite natural, when two persons met each other +under peculiarly favorable circumstances for this or that enterprise, +for them to say: "Everything is lovely and the goose honks high!"</p> + + +<h4>GIRLS! TO THE RESCUE!</h4> + +<p>Before we leave our dear birds, moreover, I have a special message for +you this month in their behalf:</p> + +<p>"You must not forget, friend Jack," says the Deacon, "to give the boys +and girls, especially the girls, my May-time sermon about the Audubon +Society."</p> + +<p>Forget it? Not I, indeed! Nor would you, if you could have seen the +honest and hearty indignation of the good Deacon and the Little +School-ma'am, as he read to her a printed circular telling all about the +monstrous wrong which the Audubon Society has nobly begun to fight. You +must know, dear girls, that this "monstrous wrong" is the custom of +wearing feathers and skins of birds on your hats and dresses. As I am an +honest Jack, I don't see how girls and their mammas, who, as everybody +knows, are supposed to have hearts more tender than men or boys, could +ever have been induced to follow so abominable a fashion. "Abominable" +is rather a strong word, I suppose; but it is the very one which the +good Deacon used when he read the printed slip. And the Little +School-ma'am—bless her!—actually gave a nod of satisfaction when she +heard it. As for me, no word would be too strong to express my feelings +on the subject.</p> + +<p>But I'll be content now with giving you what the Deacon calls "two plain +facts" about this fashion, and letting them speak for themselves. "You +must know then," says the Deacon, "that a single collector of ornamental +feathers in this country has declared that he handles every year about +<i>thirty thousand</i> bird-skins, almost all of which are used for millinery +purposes; and that another man collected from the shooters in one small +district within four months, about <i>seventy thousand</i> birds!</p> + +<p>"Now, Jack," adds the Deacon, "tell your young hearers to ask themselves +and their parents, whether this slaughter shall continue? The Audubon +Society says 'no!' Its membership is free to every one who is willing to +lend a helping hand to its objects. And its objects are to prevent as +far as possible, first, the killing of any wild birds not used for food; +second, the destruction of nests or eggs of wild birds; and third, the +wearing of feathers as ornaments or trimmings for dress. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[Pg 553]</a></span> certainly +women and girls can do much, in fact everything, for this third object."</p> + +<p>All the older readers of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> will remember the army of +bird-defenders which it established years ago. The Deacon says that +there is a call for a new army, and all that you need do to join it, my +girls, is to refuse to wear feathers on your hats or dresses. If all the +women and girls who now follow that cruel fashion would but abandon it, +the needless slaughter of the birds would soon be at an end.</p> + + +<h4>ABOUT LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Felixstow," Brightwood (near Washington).</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit</span>: I am a little boy just six years +old. I live in the country about six miles from Washington. +I am very much interested in reading "Little Lord +Fauntleroy," because Mrs. Burnett, the lady who wrote it, +was out at our house last spring, and told us the story, and +I want to see if she changed it before she put it in the +book. I tell you, her own little boys, Lionel and Vivian, +are nice fellows to play with! I have a nice pony named Joe, +lots of chickens, a dog, and two cats, but I like digging in +the ground most. I raised a lot of pop-corn last year. +Somebody is writing this for me, but I am telling him what +to write. My little brother Paul bothers me considerably +when I want to make things.</p> + +<p>Good bye, dear Jack; you are a nice fellow. Your friend,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Felix Renouf Holt.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p>"Felix is not alone," says the Little School-ma'am, "in his admiration +for Little Lord Fauntleroy. The children of the Red School House all are +charmed with his lordship, and for myself I consider him one of the very +sweetest and noblest little boys in English literature."</p> + + +<h4>FISHING FOR NECKLACES.</h4> + +<p>According to my friend, Ernest Ingersoll, a large proportion of the red +coral used by jewelers in making ornaments comes from the Mediterranean +coast of Algeria, where it is gathered chiefly by an ingenious machine. +Nets, the meshes of which are loose, are hung on the bars of a cross, +and dragged at the bottom of the sea among the nooks and crevices of the +rocks. These nets, winding about the branches of the coralline growth, +break off its branches, which adhere to the meshes. When he thinks it is +laden, the fisherman draws the net to the surface and helps himself to +the coral. This is sold in various markets, and afterward worked into +ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, and other pretty articles for girls and +their mammas.</p> + + +<h4>A SUGGESTION TO THE BOTTLED FISH.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Reading, Mass.</span>, </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit</span>: I read in the February number about +the bottled fish. I think it is very queer. In "Grimm's +Fairy Tales" there is a story about a fox that crept into a +hole where there was something to eat. After he ate it he +grew so fat that he could not get out, and he stayed there +till the farmer found him and killed him. I suppose it was +the same way with the fish, only he fed on oysters, and as I +think there are no farmers at the bottom of the sea, he +stayed there till he was drawn up. If I had been that fish, +I would have starved myself till I was thin enough to get +out. I have taken St. Nicholas since I was two years old, +and my mamma says she brought me up on it, so you see I have +been well brought up.</p> + +<p class="right"> +I remain yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">E. S. K. Packard.</span><br /> +</p></div> + + +<h4>THE NEWSPAPER PLANT.</h4> + +<p>You are to be told in this month's <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>, I hear, about a curious +"lace-leaf," a "vegetable necktie," and a "caricature plant." If so, +this is a good time for me to show you a curiosity called the newspaper +plant, which the Little School-ma'am described the other day to the +young folk of the Red School House.</p> + +<p>It seems that in certain far-away countries called New Mexico and +Arizona, there are great tracts of desolate desert lands, where the very +hills seem destitute of life and beauty, and where the earth is +shriveled from centuries of terrible heat. And in these desert-tracts +grow a curious, misshapen, grotesque and twisted plant that seems more +like a goblin tree than a real one.</p> + +<p>Of all the trees in the world, you would imagine this to be the most +outcast and worthless—so meager a living does it obtain from the waste +of sand and gravel in which it grows. And yet this goblin tree is now +being sought after and utilized in one of the world's greatest +industries—an industry that affects the daily needs of civilization, +and is of especial importance to every girl and boy who reads the pages +of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>.</p> + +<p>Those wise folk, the botanists, call our goblin tree by its odd Indian +name of the "Yucca" palm.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;"> +<img src="images/illus593.jpg" width="320" height="350" alt="THE YUCCA PALM." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE YUCCA PALM.</span> +</div> + +<p>This plant of the desert for a long time was considered valueless. But +not long ago it was discovered that the fiber of the Yucca could be made +into an excellent paper.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> And now one of the great English dailies, +the London <i>Telegraph</i>, is printed upon paper made from this goblin +tree. Indeed, the <i>Telegraph</i> has purchased a large plantation in +Arizona, merely for the purpose of cultivating this tree, and +manufacturing paper from it. So, you see, the Yucca is now a newspaper +plant.</p> + + +<h4>ONE MORE LIVING BAROMETER.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Dear Jack</span>: As you have told us so much about living +barometers, I want to tell you that I have one. Mine is a +red squirrel. Just before a "cold snap" she will be surly +and sleepy. When she is angry, she will spread her lower +teeth apart. She will play like a kitten. I call her Gipsy, +and she is my chief pet.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your constant reader,<br /> +<br /> +M. M. M.<br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> For an article describing the manufacture of paper, see <span class="smcap">St. +Nicholas</span> for August, 1884, page 808.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[Pg 554]</a></span></p> +<h2>EDITORIAL NOTES.</h2> + + +<p>In a note which accompanied the article in our present number, "When +Shakspere was a Boy," Miss Kingsley desires us to state that she owes +much valuable information about charms (mentioned on page 488), and also +about Shaksperean games and customs, to Mr. Richard Savage, of the +Shakspere Birthplace Museum, Stratford-on-Avon.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In his story of "The Great Snow-ball Fight," printed in our March +number, Mr. Barnard showed how some boys put out the fire in the Widow +Lawson's house, by snow-balling it. This may have appeared to some +readers almost impossible, but it was based upon an actual occurrence. +And an instance of that mode of at least preventing a fire, was recorded +in the New York papers of February 11th. It appears in an account of the +burning of the stables of the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, at Hempstead, Long +Island. "No modern appliance for extinguishing fire was at hand," says +one journal, "but there was plenty of snow, and this was banked up about +the adjoining stables, and undoubtedly saved them from being burned. +Whenever sparks from the burning building fell on the adjacent barns, +they were quickly extinguished by well-directed snow-balls thrown upon +them."</p> + + +<h4>THE LETTER-BOX.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Concord, N. H.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: Lena and I play dolls very often, but the +latest game we play is throwing cards into a hat placed on +the floor about six feet away. Lena put in thirty-two out of +fifty-two. If you have room enough to print this in your +Letter-box, I should like to read it.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ruth A. M.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p>That is a very nice game, Ruth, although six feet seems a long distance +for a small girl to toss the cards. We have seen grown folk try the game +at four feet, and then several of them could not put one in twenty into +the hat; so Lena's score of thirty-two out of fifty-two is a fine one. +The game can be played with any kind of cards, and with sides or by +individuals. The largest number of cards thrown into the hat, either by +one person or by a side, makes the winning score. If played by sides, +not more than twenty cards should be used, and each side should play +five rounds, thus making one hundred the highest possible score for any +player.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Middletown, Conn.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I am anxious to have the March number +come, so that I can see how Little Lord Fauntleroy's +grandfather treats him. That serial story I enjoy very much. +I go to a private girls' school in the morning, and study +German in the afternoon with my mother.</p> + +<p class="right">With much love I am your faithful reader,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Helen W. A.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"> <span class="smcap">Providence, R. I.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">DEAR ST. NICHOLAS</span>: This is the first time that I have +written to you.</p> + +<p>I have a funny story to tell about a mouse. My canary bird +used to hang up in our nursery-window on a chain. Sometimes +in the evening or night, we would hear mice running around, +and in the morning we would find that some of the seed was +gone. Mamma thought it was a mouse, but <i>we</i> did not think +so. Papa had been trying to catch them in a trap, but did +not catch many. We then thought that we would try another +way. So Papa took the cage down and put a pail of water on +the chain, and when the little mouse went up the chain, as +he used to do, instead of going in the cage, he went in the +pail of water and was drowned. This is a true story. I am +eleven years old. Good-bye.</p> + +<p class="right"> +am your constant reader,<br /> +<br /> +B. G. H.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Carrington, Dakota.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: You do not know me at all, but I know you +and love you so much! When you were brought to me this +morning I almost kissed your bright face for joy. It was +stormy this morning, and I was tired playing with kitty; +besides that I had been waiting so long to read some more +about Little Lord Fauntleroy! He is such a brave, wise +little boy! Will you ask Mrs. Burnett to please not make him +unhappy with his grandfather? Ever since we had our +Christmas entertainment, I have wanted to tell you about it, +but have been too sick to write you. We called it "An +Evening with Mother Goose and the Brownies." Yes,—we had +all the cute little boys in Carrington dressed up like +Brownies. They did mischief very nicely, all quietly in +their stocking-feet. While Mother Goose was singing her +melodies, they came and stole away her goose, and they +pelted Mother Hubbard with paper balls when she sang that +song in the <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>: "I had an Educated Pug." In the +tableaux, they tripped up Jack and Jill, upset Blue-beard, +stole Jack Horner's plum, overturned the bachelor's +wheelbarrow, little wife and all, let the spider down from a +tree on little Miss Muffett, and tied Bo-peep's sheep-tails +to a tree, and woke her up with their baa's. Then we had +"The House that Jack built," just like it is in the <span class="smcap">St. +Nicholas</span>, for Nov. 1883. It was just splendid, and so funny; +but when the rat was to come out of "The House that Jack +built," the cat had put his foot on the string and it broke, +so the cat couldn't come out. Then the maiden all forlorn +picked up the rat, threw it at the cat, and everybody just +roared!</p> + +<p>I am nine years old, and my name is,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Theodora C.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">New Hartford, Iowa.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I believe the little girls that take the +<span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> will like to hear about my numerous paper +dolls. I have a whole town of them, and they all have their +names written on their backs. I was so interested in "The +Firm of Big Brain, Little Brain & Co." After I read it, I +kept thinking what my "Big Brain" was telegraphing. Well, my +big brain telegraphs to my hand, that if it writes any more, +the letter will be too long to print. So good-bye. I am</p> + +<p class="right"> +One of your many friends,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Grace C.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Woodland, Cal.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I think you are the nicest magazine in +the whole world. I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a +beautiful story. It seems so real. Cedric reminds me of my +little cousin Birdie (that is his pet name). One day his +aunt (who is an artist) asked him if he did not want her to +paint him. He said: "I had rather be as I are." He is nearly +four years old. I live on a vineyard of 160 acres.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your faithful reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Lillian H.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Fort Assinaboine, Mon.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I commenced taking your paper five months +ago, and I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is the best story +I ever read.</p> + +<p>We have plenty of skating here, and fifty ponies to ride.</p> + +<p>Another boy is writing a letter to you too. We live 200 +miles from Helena and we have to go in a stage or wait till +the river opens.</p> + +<p>We only have to go to school in the morning, and we play all +the rest of the day.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +S. F. P.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Brooklyn, N. Y., 1886.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I thought that I would send you a letter +at last. I will tell you about our washwoman and me. I have +something the matter with my knee, and so I have to stay in +the house. Well, our washwoman and I were having some fun. I +was at the back parlor window, and the washwoman was down in +the back yard hanging up the clothes, and I got a snow-ball +and threw it at her, and you ought to have seen her! She +looked up and down and could not see anybody, and after a +while she saw me, and then, the way she looked! She said: "I +will give it to you!"</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Frank T.</span><br /> +</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[Pg 555]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Everett, Mass.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have taken you for a year and I could +not do without you. Every month you gladden our home with +your beautiful pictures, interesting stories, and pretty +bits of poetry.</p> + +<p>I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a splendid story. I must +not forget to mention the "Brownies." What busy little +workers they are! I have one pet, a beautiful linnet. Her +name is Daisy. She is a very sweet singer.</p> + +<p class="right"> +I remain, your constant reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">May F.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Kingston, Indiana.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I do not see many letters from Indiana in +your Letter-box. I would not do without you for ten dollars +a year.</p> + +<p>I like your Natural History. I have several books on Natural +History.</p> + +<p>Last year I wanted you so badly that Papa said I must earn +the money myself. I had enough, lacking fifty cents. We had +an oyster supper here, and papa gave me fifty cents to +spend; so I did without oysters and took you. I am thirteen +years old.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours sincerely,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Art. R.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati, O.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I like your stories very much. I am a boy +seven years old. I do not go to school, but Mamma teaches me +with two little girls. I had a lovely Christmas. I got a +locomotive, a sword, a scarf, a marble game, a rolling-pin, +a box to keep my pens and pencils in, and some cards and +books for Christmas. I think you are the best book I ever +read. This is the first year I began to take you. I like the +"Brownies" best. Tell Mr. Palmer Cox to put "Brownies" in +every <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>. Please don't forget to print my letter, +for I have written it all myself, and spelled it without any +help.</p> + +<p>I had two kittys, and their names were Mitten and Topsy. We +gave away Mitten and kept Topsy, but after a while we lost +Topsy, and then we found another kitty, but she ran away. I +am sorry they went away, for I love kittys. Good-bye, dear +<span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>, I am so glad it is most time for you to come +again. Please don't forget to print my letter, for I love +you so much!</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your loving friend,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ralph B. R.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Lewisburg, W. Va.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have just finished reading the February +number, and I think that "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and +"George Washington" are splendid! I am a little girl ten +years old. Have taken you for four years.</p> + +<p>I have ever so many uncles and aunts. One of my aunts sends +you to me.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your loving reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dottie M.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Wyoming, Del.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have never written to you before, but I +love to read the letters others have sent you. You have been +coming to our house nearly three years, and we all look +anxiously for the 26th of the month, when you are due. You +are my own book. I pay for you with money I have earned +myself. My little sister wonders whenever she sees <span class="smcap">St. +Nicholas</span> what the Brownies are doing in it. Mamma is much +interested in "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and we like it too, +and all the rest of your stories, but especially "The Gilded +Boy of Florence," because we know the man who wrote it and +have heard him preach. He says all he wrote in that story is +true. Good-bye.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Ever your faithful reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. Lizzie B.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">London, England.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I am an American girl who left New York +four years ago, during which time I have been a constant +reader of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>. My school friends who read English +all want it also. You have been forwarded to me from London +as far as Turkey and Egypt. And so, if you can only spare a +few minutes, I would like to tell you about the pyramids and +the sphinx.</p> + +<p>From Shepherd's Hotel, Cairo, it is a beautiful drive of +seven miles through an archway of large trees by the side of +the Nile. There are several pyramids. The chief one is said +to be 463 feet high, and one would think the top would be +very small; but you will no doubt be surprised to hear that +the Khedive gave a dinner to twenty-four guests upon the top +of a pyramid. The dinner was served in the usual manner by +Arab waiters; the gentlemen walked up, while the ladies were +carried up in chairs. The pyramids are built like +stairs,—one stone on top the other, with only an edge for a +foothold.</p> + +<p>Many tourists try to climb the structure, which is very +fatiguing work. We gave an expert Arab fifty cents to do it +in ten minutes; he went up in six minutes and down in four +minutes. From the pyramid to the sphinx is quite a little +walk through thick sand; and the Sphinx is so big you can +hardly see it all at once. The English soldiers knocked off +some of its right hand and all its nose. It is cut from a +solid rock and looks as black as iron. The Egyptian postage +stamps have pictures of both the pyramid and the sphinx. The +temple dedicated to the sphinx lies in ruins here, but the +remains are very beautiful, being nearly all of alabaster; +and in the cellar they have just discovered an image, which +is so immense they can't get it out from the place where it +has lain so many hundred years. Some time I will write a +letter about the Holy Land, as I lived there two months. I +hope you will print my letter; it is my first attempt, and I +am fourteen years old. Your March number will find me at +Alexandria, for I take the Beyrouth steamer next week. I +hope, dear ST. NICHOLAS, your Egyptian friend has not tired +you, and I also hope this may find a place in your +Letter-box.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your loving Egyptian friend,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Maud Stanley F.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mohegan Lake, N. Y.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I send you this letter, a true story +about a fish-hawk.</p> + +<p>It was in the middle of April, 1883. A man who was rowing on +one of those lakes east of the Highlands, in the northern +part of Westchester County, espied a large fish-hawk sitting +on a dead limb near the water. The man, having his gun with +him, rowed over toward the hawk, and when in range fired at +him flying. The wounded bird fell, hit on the outer joint of +the left wing. With the help of his companion the man +managed to bring him home. In less than a week, the boy of +the house fed him with fish out of his own hands, and the +hawk did not attempt to claw him. One day the boy wanted to +see how many pounds of fish the hawk would eat. He caught +seven suckers weighing a pound and a half each. The hawk ate +six, one after another, and took the seventh, but refused to +eat it until half an hour afterward. What an enormous +appetite he had! Later on in the summer, the boy would take +him to the water to wash. He did it just as a canary does in +his china bath. The boy would take him and put him on the +side of the boat and row him around, and the hawk would sit +there, taking in everything, as well as the summer visitors, +who were taking him in. The hawk was so tame that his keeper +could smooth his head and chuck him under his beak and the +hawk would only flop his wings and whistle when the boy +turned, as though delighted with what the boy did. This +creature measured five feet eleven inches from tip to tip of +the wings, and came to his death in October of the same +year, by getting caught in the string by which he was +fastened, greatly to the sorrow of his keeper who cared for +him. The bird is now stuffed and in a friend's room in New +York City.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +S. F. K. E. G.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Cincinnati, O.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I thought I would write to you to say +what so many of the other girls and boys who take you have +already said: "That I love every one of your stories and can +hardly wait until the 25th of the month comes, to read you." +I have taken you two years and would not be without you one +single month. I live in the dirty city of Cincinnati, but I +have a great deal of fun any way.</p> + +<p>We have had two snowstorms this winter, but by the time the +snow has lain on the ground three or four days it is so +black that I actually believe that people who come from the +country would not know it was snow unless they were told.</p> + +<p>I will now close, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing this +letter printed.</p> + +<p class="right"> +I remain, your constant reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Grace S. C.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>P. S. I forgot to say I was thirteen years old and have a +brother nine years old, who thinks the <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> "a +dandy," as he expresses it. </p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">More About Curve-pitching.</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Lincoln Co., Neb.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: The two letters in the February number on +"curve-pitching," I was very glad to see. It was during my +college-days that the "curve" made its appearance, and it +was for some time a matter of much interesting discussion +among us. I was not much of a base-ball man, but I saw a +good deal of curve-pitching, and occasionally threw some +rather wild "curves" myself in an amateurish way. We budding +physicists discussed the why and wherefore of the problem, +but never arrived at any satisfactory solution. The same +explanation which is given in the second letter of your +February number suggested itself to me at the time, and I +was quite satisfied with it until I discovered that it did +not accord with the facts of the case. It is a beautiful +theory, but, like some other theories, it doesn't work.</p> + +<p>According to the theory, as shown by your correspondent, the +ball rotating (as indicated by his diagram which he gives), +against the hands of the watch should curve to the right, +producing the <i>in</i> curve. But the fact is, that a ball so +rotating will curve to the left—the <i>out</i> curve. And a ball +rotating in a contrary direction, <i>i. e.</i>, so that points on +its forward side are moving to the right, will curve to the +right—the <i>in</i> curve. In both cases the axis of rotation is +vertical, so that the motions of the ball may be well +illustrated by a spinning-top, as is shown in the first +letter by A. D. S. But the case of a rifle-ball in motion +does not seem to me to be parallel with that of a base-ball +under normal conditions. A rifle-ball is given a rotation +about an axis parallel to and coincident with its line of +flight, just as an arrow rotates on its shaft. Now, none of +the curves of a base-ball are produced with the axis of +rotation in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[Pg 556]</a></span> position. In the <i>in</i> and <i>out</i> curves, as +already said, the axis of rotation is vertical; while the +<i>rise</i> and <i>drop</i> are produced by rotating the ball about a +horizontal axis perpendicular to the line of flight. In +<i>all</i> cases the axis of rotation <i>must</i> be at right angles +to the line of flight, and the more accurately this +condition is complied with, the more marked the effect. My +knowledge of the subject is too slight to warrant me in +asserting that the curving of the rifle-ball and that of the +base-ball do not depend on the same principle, but it does +not seem to me that the two are identical, for the above +reasons.</p> + +<p>I have no theory to offer, but trust that among the readers +of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> some may be found who have penetrated to the +"true inwardness" of this interesting problem, and will give +us a complete and scientific explanation of it.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +H. H. H.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Beverly, Ohio.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas:</span> I have read with considerable interest +the letters in <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> for February concerning +curve-pitching. I am a boy who takes great interest in +base-ball, and have many times pitched curves. I have seen +persons, and see them yet, who firmly maintain that a ball +cannot be curved, even when they have ocular demonstration +of the fact. But that has nothing to do with what I have to +say. I have studied the diagram of my anonymous friend, and +am convinced that he is exactly wrong. With the following +diagrams I shall show which way a ball curves with a given +rotation, and give my theory of the curve:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/illus599a.jpg" width="450" height="329" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Suppose, as in the letter published, the ball moves one +hundred feet per second, and revolves so that the equator +moves around at the same rate. Then, in the first diagram, +the friction at B is greatest, and at D is 0. But instead of +curving as my anonymous friend demonstrates, it will curve +in exactly the <i>opposite</i> direction; namely, in the same +direction in which it rotates.</p> + +<p>I have appended diagram 2, simply to show the curve where +the friction is 0 at B and greatest at D. Then it will curve +as indicated.</p> + +<p>I have a short theory, namely: In the first diagram, the +more rapid movement of B compresses the air on that side, +while at D it is in its normal state. Hence the pressure at +B more than counterbalances that at D, and, as it were, +shoves the ball in the direction of the side D, thus +producing the curve. In the 2d diagram, the letters B and D +interchange in the theory. I would like to hear more about +this subject.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Very respectfully yours,<br /> +<br /> +F. C. J.<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Birmingham, Mich.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas:</span> I have read with great interest the +articles in the October, December, and February numbers, +about curve-pitching. I have had quite a good deal of +experience in the "one,-two,-three,-and-out" line myself, +and have also, for the last two or three years, been able to +make others have the same experience, by putting them out, +in the same way. Therefore, I venture a reply to the +explanation in the February number, backing my statement by +the experience of many eminent curve-pitchers, and also by +the story in the October number of "How Science Won the +Game."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/illus599b.jpg" width="450" height="138" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>The above diagram is the same as your correspondent uses, +and he asserts that the point B is moving faster than D; +consequently, there is more friction at B, whence B is +retarded more than D, and so the ball will curve toward W in +the path of the dotted line. Now, if he will look in the +story of "How Science Won the Game," where the base-ball +editor shows the boys how to hold and how to throw the ball +to make the different curves, he will find that when he +throws the ball so that it whirls as shown in diagram, it +will curve toward P, a direction entirely opposite from the +one he designates. And any curve-pitcher will tell him the +same. When I first read his explanation, I thought it was +all right, for it looks quite reasonable, but upon second +thoughts, I saw it was wrong, and to make sure, I took a +ball and tried it. The only way I can get around his +explanation (aside from actual fact) is this: The point B, +as he clearly shows, is moving faster than D, and so the +ball, if the friction of the air is taken away, will +naturally curve toward the side D or point P. Now, the +question is, Will the friction of the air be enough greater +on the side B to overcome the difference in the motions of +the two sides? If it is, the ball must move in a straight +line, but as it curves toward the side D, we must conclude +that it is not, and that the friction of the air tends more +to hinder than to help the ball to curve. I really believe +that if it could be tried, a person could make a ball curve +in a vacuum more easily than we can make it curve in the +air. Trusting to hear more upon this subject, I remain, +sincerely yours,</p> + +<p class="right"> +"<span class="smcap">A Curver.</span>"<br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Fremont, Neb.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have never written to you before, but I +think perhaps you will publish this one letter. I hope you +will publish it, as I have never yet had anything of mine +published.</p> + +<p>I like the story entitled, "How Science Won the Game." +Although I am but thirteen years old I think I can pitch a +curve. I go to the Fremont Normal School and like it very +much.</p> + +<p>I am going to have the 1884 and 1885 <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> bound next +week. I think you have a very entertaining magazine, and I +think the pictures are very nice. I have the magazine for a +Christmas present every year. I have taken <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> +three years and I hope I may always take it.</p> + +<p>Papa says he doesn't think you will publish this, but I +think you will.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours truly,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Eddie H. B.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Ayer, Mass.</span> </p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: As so many of your readers have written +to you, I thought I would write too, that I might have the +pleasure of seeing my letter in print.</p> + +<p>I have taken you a year and have fallen greatly in love with +your delightful pages.</p> + +<p>I think "How Science Won the Game" is a lovely story; I felt +much interested in it, for last summer the girls of my age +who lived here got up a base-ball nine. In time, we played +very nicely and enjoyed the fun. The readers of the +Letter-box may think this a funny game for girls to play, +but we liked it and found it very good exercise.</p> + +<p>I am fifteen years old; I have a little dog, his name is +Teddie; he is a very good little dog, but I pity the cat +that gets in his way.</p> + +<p>I like to read "From Bach to Wagner," as I enjoy reading of +different composers.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your true reader,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Ruth F.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We heartily thank the young friends whose names here follow, for +pleasant letters received from them: Kate Ethel C., John Myers, Sadie B. +Crane, G. M. F., Jamie H., Walter J. Cohen, Stuart L. Martin, George +Williams, Eddie L. Goodman, Violette T. Haines, Lillie M. Grubbs, Freda +Nicolai, Eva Wilkins, Miriam Ferry, Hortie O'Meara, Anna Ross, Clara +Louise Whitney, Constance and Richard Bigelow, E. R. B., J. H. B., Mary +and Gussie, Jessie Hiltner, Alberta Stout, Willis Dunning, Nellie E. +Stebbins, Marion R. Brown, A. W. Smith, Josie and May, Kate G., Hallie +H. Haines, Johnny B. S., Daisy, Gertie Beidler, Mary M. C., Charles L. +Baldwin, Kitty Clover, Alice Olney, Emil Harrington, Katie M. Cathcart, +Arthur F. B., Agnes Hanks, Elizabeth K. Stewart, Wade W. Thayer, Brooks +Upham, Rosalie, Mamie Eells, Florence Lanty, Frank Dearstyne, Vera +Wheeler, Nellie McN. Suydam, Elizabeth B. Grumball, Ida Cameron, Ethel +Marion Walker, Fawn Evans, Alfa P. Tyrrell, H. and A. V. P., G. P. S., +Clara Moore, F. W. S., Portia, Nellie T., Eva R., Norine, Anna M. +Lister, Blanche E. Ives, Mary Hicks, "Dolly Varden," Nora T. C., Natie +P. Thompson, Daniel McPhail, Mary E. Seavey, Storrs E. E., H. C. J., +Edith B., Kittie E. Fogarty, Frank Carman, Ruth A., C. H. M., Richard D. +Bennett, Anne Grey Millett, Addie Rockwell, Laura Smith, Paula Goetz, +Katie S. Denholm, Carl M. Ruhlen, Thomas McKeone, W. C. T., Marion +Loomis, Alice E. Bogert, Gertrude E. S., Julian Granbery, B. M. S., +Edward P. Irwin, "The Five Friends," T. L., Kate B. Tilley, Irene S. +Duer, Violet Scath, Florence M. Wickes, E. W. B., May Delany, and Bertha +Sweet.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[Pg 557]</a></span></p> +<img src="images/illus601.jpg" width="650" height="210" alt="THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION + +SIXTY-FIRST REPORT." title="" /> +</div> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">An Engraved Charter for Framing.</span></h4> + +<p>Our attention has been called to the fact that heretofore we have sent +to our Chapters no charters, or certificates, suitable for framing.</p> + +<p>To remedy this deficiency, we have engaged one of the leading firms of +New-York City to design a very beautiful A. A. Charter, to be handsomely +engraved on bond or parchment paper. The size of the charter will be +about 12 × 18 inches or larger.</p> + +<p>At the top is drawn an open <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span>, showing on one page Prof. +Agassiz's portrait, and on the other, representations of the animal and +vegetable kingdoms.</p> + +<p>Above the magazine is our badge, the Swiss Cross; and below is the +motto, <i>Per Naturam ad Deum</i>. Then follows the certificate proper, +handsomely ornamented, bearing the name of the founder of the Chapter, +the name, number, and letter of the same, and signed with the autograph +of the President of the A. A. Of course the first two hundred +impressions—or artist's proofs—are the finest. Many members are so +pleased with them that they wish to secure copies for their individual +possession.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">The Class in Mineralogy.</span></h4> + +<p>None of the courses of study we have ever had the pleasure of offering +to our friends, has had the magnificent success which is attending Prof. +Crosby's class in mineralogy. At this writing no less than eighty-nine +pupils are enrolled, and as Chapters usually take the course through one +representative, this number doubtless means that at the least five +hundred persons are learning how to observe and describe minerals, under +most competent instruction. To each pupil is sent a set of thirty +valuable specimens, and all exercises are corrected and returned for +revision. Geographically, the class extends from Washington Territory to +England.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Reports of Chapters.</span></h4> + +<p>We have to begin again this month, as last, by presenting the excellent +reports of dilatory Chapters. A little more promptness hereafter, good +secretaries, if you please!</p> + +<p>37, <i>Kingsboro, N. Y.</i> By some mischance, your card notifying me that +our report is due has just come to my notice, and I hasten to write, +fearing our "candlestick may be removed." Last week three of us visited +a gold-mine and brought home specimens of rock from which gold is +obtained, averaging about twenty dollars per ton. The rock is dark, +fine-grained, and resembles lime-stone. It effervesces with acid. We +have here beautiful specimens of the Azoic rocks, and we could make up +named collections to exchange for other specimens.—W. W. Thomas, Box +711.</p> + +<p>112, <i>So. Boston</i>. We number ten active and three honorary members. +During the year we have held twenty-two meetings, with an average +attendance of eight. In January we gave an entertainment, and realized +$10.80. In April we endeavored to establish an assembly of the Chapters +in this part of the State, but did not succeed.</p> + +<p>During the year we have studied chemistry, zoölogy, and astronomy. At +one time we visited the Agassiz museum in a body, and learned a great +deal. Having seen now what we can do, I think we shall all study harder +during the coming year.—Geo. L. Whitehouse, 37 Gates street.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Don't be discouraged; we shall have a State Assembly in +Massachusetts before many years.</i>] </p></div> + +<p>134, <i>De Pere, Wis.</i> We have eighteen members. Our room is beginning to +look very nicely. We added five new cases last fall. We have 1600 +geological specimens,—including 1000 fossils,—600 minerals, 50 birds, +500 plants, 400 shells, and 100 ethnological specimens.—A. S. Gilbert.</p> + +<p>153, <i>Chicago</i> (<i>E</i>). At the Exposition here last fall, we had two large +cases, one containing minerals, the other fossils, which compared +favorably with any in the building, and did much toward making our +society known to the throng of visitors. We have added new books to our +library at no small expense. Our "Paper" is the latest addition to our +meetings, and contains original articles, clippings, and the letters +received.—Charles T. Mixer.</p> + +<p>164, <i>Jackson, Mich.</i> (<i>B</i>). We have eight members, and expect more +soon. We all have natural histories of our own. We meet once a week, on +Monday evening. We had a very pleasant field-meeting by Clark's Lake. +All our members are interested.—James C. Wood.</p> + +<p>168, <i>Buffalo</i> (<i>C</i>). During the summer there were some excursions, +which brought a number of specimens into the hands of our curator. With +the new year fresh courage has inspired most of us. Our prospects are +quite bright. We still have our standing committees in each department, +and these have a report to make nearly every week. Every two weeks we +have an essay. Our next topic is to be "Forests and their Utility." +Besides this and the reading and discussion of scientific essays, we +have our weekly report on the current scientific news, and notes and +personal observations. Chapter K of this city has joined us, and Chapter +I thinks of following the example of Chapter K.—Sophie Finkenstaedt.</p> + +<p>187, <i>Albany, N. Y.</i> (<i>A</i>). We have found time for occasional meeting +among the heavy requirements of school-life; and as for myself, I find +our own back-yard a bewildering field for exploration. We have ten +active and eleven honorary members. Our meetings are held alternate +Wednesday evenings at the houses of members, and are always well +attended and interesting. At our next meeting—our second anniversary—a +special programme is to be carried out. We are to debate the comparative +usefulness of astronomy and botany; have an extra number of <i>The +Naturalist</i>, our MS. paper; scientific essays, readings and lectures. +Albany A has never been more flourishing.—John P. Gavit.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Third Century.</span></h4> + +<p>215, <i>Tioga Centre, N. Y.</i> We have been steadily progressing in our +department—botany. Last autumn we made asters a specialty, and +succeeded in collecting and analyzing fourteen species and two +varieties. We are now ready to exchange promptly.—Angie Latimer, Sec.</p> + +<p>220, <i>De Pere, Wis.</i> (<i>C.</i>) Chapter C has disbanded. Please scratch our +number out.—Jessie R. Jackson.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>But we hope the Chapter will "jump into another bush," so +we can "scratch them in again!"</i>] </p></div> + +<p>234, <i>New York</i>, (<i>G</i>). We have joined Chapter 87, New York (B),—F. W. +Roos, 335 W. 27th street.</p> + +<p>238, <i>Winterset, Iowa</i>. One of our charter members is dead; one is in +Oregon; two are away at college; one is in Mississippi. In fact, there +is nothing left of our Chapter. I am sorry, for I think the Association +work is a very great benefit to the members.—Harry C. Wallace.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Our correspondent will remember that by our present rules +even one active member is allowed to maintain the honor, and +retain the number and name of a Chapter once properly +organized. We shall be disappointed if we do not meet him on +the 24th of next August, at Davenport, Iowa, as the +representative of a reorganized and efficient Chapter.</i>] </p></div> + +<p>246, <i>Bethlehem, Pa.</i> We are in a very flourishing condition, and now +have fifteen members. Our cabinet is crowded with specimens, all in good +condition. We occupy a pleasant room rented by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[Pg 558]</a></span> Chapter. We shall +enter the coming season with undiminished enthusiasm for the study of +Nature.</p> + +<p>248, <i>Richmond, Va.</i> An informal meeting was held, and twenty-three of +us boys were enrolled as members of a Chapter of the A. A. We elected +our teacher, Miss Jennie Ellett, President. Committees were appointed to +draft by-laws, build cabinets, etc. Instead of forming a new society, +Mrs. Marshall has kindly consented to let us reorganize Chapter +248.—<i>W. T. Terry</i>, Sec., 109 E. Grace St.</p> + +<p>252, <i>Utica, N. Y.</i> We have a most flourishing Chapter of forty-seven +members. In the past year our school building was enlarged, and a room +was made purposely to hold our treasures. In it is a cabinet overflowing +with minerals, shells, and plants, 3 cases full of <i>lepidoptera</i>, a +forty-dollar microscope, and a cabinet, which the boys are trying to +fill with microscopical slides of their own manufacture. We have also an +aquarium 12 x 24 inches, stocked with fish, newts, snails, turtles, +etc., also a bird's egg cabinet that will hold several hundred +specimens, and a Wardia case, 36 x 18 inches, which we are now using for +hatching chrysalids. At our last meeting a cecropia "came out," +measuring over six and a half inches across the wings. Our Chapter is +divided into committees, each committee having a teacher for chairman. +The committees are expected to furnish each week specimens representing +their special branches. Of all the subjects before us the hardest "nut +to crack" was, "What is a sea-bean?" but owing to indomitable +perseverance, it has been most thoroughly cracked.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Please send us the kernel!</i>] </p></div> + +<p>Agassiz's birthday was duly celebrated in the woods. Speeches were made, +poems recited, and the rest of the day devoted to a grand specimen-hunt. +It rained hard all day, but that could not quench the fire in this +Chapter, and we returned home loaded down with treasures. We have +shells, mica, and <i>lepidoptera</i> for exchange. The Chapter desires to +express its deepest gratitude to the founder of the A. A. for two +delightful years.—Frances E. Newland, Sec.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Such a delightful report as the one which we have here +condensed, is more than enough to repay one for all the +labor connected with the A. A. The debt of gratitude is on +the other side.</i>] </p></div> + +<p>254, <i>Fulton, N. Y.</i> We have started a library, and are now studying +ornithology. Our membership is reduced to three, but all are +active.—Herbert C. Howe.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>If three active-members understand "Reduction Ascending," +they will soon reduce the membership to a dozen or more.</i>] </p></div> + +<p>256, <i>Newton, Upper Falls, Mass.</i> The past year has been one of +gratifying progress. We number twelve. Our meetings are very +interesting, each member giving an account of some object in his branch +of study, often illustrating it by the specimen or describing some book +he has been reading, or relating some recent personal experience. At the +first meeting of each month a paper called <i>Gatherings</i> is read, +composed of original records of personal observations. Wishing to bring +our Chapter and its work to the knowledge of our friends, we have held a +series of socials at the home of one of our members. The first of the +evening we have devoted to talks and essays by the members of the +Chapter, and later we have played games, and amused ourselves in other +ways. We find this plan very beneficial, and have already gained three +new members and a present of books.—Mrs. J. M. H. Smith.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>We commend this suggestive report to the earnest attention +of every Chapter.</i>] </p></div> + +<p>257, <i>Plantsville, Ct.</i> We have made large additions to our collections. +Our library also has been enlarged, and we have now nearly 100 volumes. +We decide on the subject for each coming meeting in this way. Each +member writes on a ballot the subject he would prefer. The ballots are +then shaken in a hat, and the one drawn first is our subject. Moreover, +the one whose ballot is successful must furnish a paper on that subject, +and all the others bring short items on the same subject. We closed our +last meeting by a collation, and singing by our glee club.—A. L. Ely, +Box 219.</p> + +<p>260, <i>Mercer, Pa.</i> We have not been idle, and have quite a collection. +We think every Chapter should keep a scrap-book for entering reports and +clippings.—Mrs. H. M. Magoffin.</p> + +<p>272, <i>West Town, N. Y.</i>—Most of us are attending school away from home. +We therefore disband through the winter, and then reorganize for the +summer vacation, and work as much as we can, for we have farm work to do +besides. Still we can study as we work, and we do this. Our minerals are +all labeled and mounted. We have about 200 birds' eggs, some of them +quite rare. We pride ourselves on our insects. I think we have 300, +still am not positive. Our botanical specimens number 200. The work we +have done, though not very great, has done us a great amount of +good.—William Evans, Sec.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Some Important Questions.</span></h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right"><span class="smcap">Manchester, Vt.</span> </p> + +<p>I am extremely anxious to experiment during the coming +season with the American silk-producing worms, not for the +purpose of producing raw silk, but for other reasons of +scientific and practical interest. I wish to learn the best +books for giving a knowledge of the habits of <i>Attacus +Cecropia</i>, <i>Polyphemus</i>, and the Promethean moths. I shall +be glad of any information regarding the best places to find +their cocoons. I should like to hear of the experience of +others in finding cocoons, and raising the moths. I have M. +Trouvelot's papers on the subject, Dr. Garlick's letters on +his experiments; also Dr. Stirling's, Prof. Riley's report +on Silk Production No. 11, Packard's "Our Common Insects," +Sir John Lubbock's "Origin and Metamorphosis of Insects." I +should like the addresses of any parties who have cocoons of +the said moths to dispose of; and finally, information +regarding the success or failure of any who may have tried +the experiment of raising the worms.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Very truly yours,<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. F. Orvis.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>[<i>Mr. Orvis is a member of the A. A., has been for years +engaged in an important manufacturing business, and we trust +may obtain from "those who know," all the information he +desires.</i>] </p></div> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Exchanges.</span></h4> + +<p>Two thousand square-cut post-marks, all different, in a neat book; also +1500 duplicates, for best offer in stone implements.—Laurie H. McNeill, +Ch. 902, Mobile, Ala.</p> + +<p>Correspondence with amateur egg-collectors desired. Iowa +preferred.—Oscar Clute, Jr., Iowa City, Iowa.</p> + +<p>American bird-skins and eggs (with data), for English. Also mounted +microscopical pathological specimens. Lists exchanged.—Wm. D. Grier, 49 +Gloucester St., Boston, Mass.</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">New Chapters.</span></h4> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'><i>No.</i></td><td align='left'><i>Name.</i></td><td align='left'><i>No. of Members.</i></td><td align='left'><i>Address.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>941</td><td align='left'> Hohokus, N. J. (A)</td><td align='left'>4</td><td align='left'>Mrs. R. Van Dien, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>942</td><td align='left'> Sioux Falls, Dakota (B)</td><td align='left'>10</td><td align='left'>Percy Edmison.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>943</td><td align='left'> Sancelito, Cal. (A)</td><td align='left'>7</td><td align='left'>A. J. Campbell, Box 31, Marin Co.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>944</td><td align='left'> Buffalo, N. Y. (L)</td><td align='left'>12</td><td align='left'>Nathan N. Block, 82 Norris Place.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>945</td><td align='left'> Baltimore, Md.</td><td align='left'>4</td><td align='left'>Maurice Straus, 225 Linden Ave.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>946</td><td align='left'> Seneca Falls (B)</td><td align='left'>5</td><td align='left'>Wm. Hopper.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>947</td><td align='left'> San Francisco, Cal. (J)</td><td align='left'>4</td><td align='left'>Miss Alice J. Ellis, 27 So. Park.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>948</td><td align='left'> Prairie Du Chien, Wis. (A)</td><td align='left'>7</td><td align='left'>Chas. Chase, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>949</td><td align='left'> New York, N. Y. (Z)</td><td align='left'>4</td><td align='left'>Fred Stanton, 420 W. 61st St.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Dissolved.</span></h4> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>863</td><td align='left'>Providence, R. I. (E)</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Frederic Gorham.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>362</td><td align='left'>Newport, R. I. (B)</td><td align='left'>4</td><td align='left'>Thomas Crosby, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>242</td><td align='left'>Philadelphia (I)</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>J. F. Stevens.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Reorganized.</span></h4> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>746</td><td align='left'>Helena, Montana (A)</td><td align='left'>8</td><td align='left'>Kurt Kleinschmidt, Box 292.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>68</td><td align='left'>Grand Junction, Iowa</td><td align='left'>2</td><td align='left'>Miss Sarah I. Smith.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>248</td><td align='left'>Richmond, Va. (A)</td><td align='left'>23</td><td align='left'>W. T. Terry, 109 E. Grace St.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Address all communications for this department to the President of the +A. A.,</p> + +<p class="right"> +<span class="smcap">Mr. Harlan H. Ballard</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Principal of Lenox Academy, Lenox, Mass.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[Pg 559]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE RIDDLE-BOX.</h2> + + +<p>As <span class="smcap">this</span> number of <span class="smcap">St. Nicholas</span> goes to press nearly a month earlier than +usual, the names of solvers of March puzzles can not appear until the +issue of the June number.</p> + + +<h4>ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE APRIL NUMBER.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">An Easter Rebus.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Bid folly fly and sin depart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep inviolate your heart;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Easter lilies, pure and fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will bud and bloom forever there.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Inverted Pyramid.</span> Across: 1. Depopulated. 2. Nominated. 3. Deluded. 4. +Roses. 5. Ten. 6. D.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">St. Andrew's Cross of Diamonds.</span> I. 1. B. 2. Dem(and). 3. Dolor. 4. +Belgium. 5. Moist. 6. Rut. 7. M. II. 1. M. 2. Ham. 3. Huron. 4. Marston. +5. Motor. 6. Nor. 7. N. III 1. M. 2. Tim. 3. Talon. 4. Million. 5. +Moist. 6. Not. 7. N. IV. 1. M. 2. Sam. 3. Sedan. 4. Madison. 5. Mason. +6. Non. 7. N. V. 1. N. 2. Tam. 3. Titus. 4. Natural. 5. Murat. 6. Sat. +7. L.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Word-squares.</span> I. 1. Racer. 2. Agave. 3. Canal. 4. Evade. 5. Relet. II. +1. Cabal. 2. Above. 3. Bobea. 4. Avers. 5. Least. III. 1. Rabid. 2. +Abide. 3. Bison. 4. Idols. 5. Dense.</p> + +<h4>PI.</h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spring, with that nameless pathos in the air<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which dwells with all things fair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spring, with her golden suns and silver rain,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Is with us once again.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Central Acrostic.</span> Arbor Day. Cross-words: 1. slAin. 2. stRew. 3. saBot. +4. slOop. 5. stRap. 6. seDan. 7. smArt 8. slYly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hour-glass.</span> Centrals, April fool. Cross-words: 1. TartArean. 2. reaPers. +3. scRew. 4. vIe. 5. L. 6. aFt. 7. foOls. 8. limOsis. 9. inteLlect.</p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Mythological Numerical Enigma.</span></h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I love to go in the capricious days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of April, and hunt violets.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Connected Double Squares.</span> Upper left-hand square, Across: 1. Houp. 2. +Alto. 3. Ties. 4. Host. Upper right-hand square. Across: 1. Pent. 2. +Otoe. 3. Suet. 4. Tile. Lower left-hand square, Across: 1. Host. 2. +Able. 3. Sour. 4. Hern. Lower right-hand square. Across: 1. Tile. 2. +Eden. 3. Read. 4. Naps.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bagatelle.</span> 1. More haste, less speed. 2. Medicines were not meant to +live on. 3. He who hides can find. 4. Pride goeth before a fall. 5. The +absent party is always faulty. 6. A crowd is not company. 7. Penny wise, +pound foolish. Key-words: haSte, meAnt, hiDes, prIde, paRty, crOwd, +peNny.</p> + +<p>Central letters, sadiron.</p> + + +<h4>MOTHER GOOSE PUZZLE.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 523px;"> +<img src="images/illus607.jpg" width="523" height="650" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>This puzzle is based upon one of the Mother Goose rhymes. The pictures +represent the last word of the six lines of the verse. What is the +verse?</p> + + +<h4>NUMERICAL ENIGMA.</h4> + +<p>I am composed of seventy-six letters, and am a quotation from "Love's +Labor Lost."</p> + +<p>My 63-21-58-31 is elevated. My 28-1-42-35 is headstrong. My +72-45-14-62-25 is on every breakfast table. My 2-19-52 is a fashionable +kind of trimming. My 74-40-55-50-22 is a glossy fabric. My 33-9-29-8 was +the nationality of Othello. My 38-68-70-17-12-76 is the name of the +67-3-49-61 of one of Shakspere's most celebrated plays. My 6-43-5-26 is +location. My 13-75-11-46 is mature. My 30-60-47-54-41 is what often +follows a chill. My 53-36-4-24 is a mixture. My 16-39-71-20-66 is used +in bread-making. My 37-73-65-7-23-27-69-18-56-51 is an allurement. My +32-57-10-15-64-44-59-34-48 is a school.</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="i0">HAROLD J. HARDING.</span></p> + + +<h4>PI.</h4> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ta emits a gaftarrn zebree mecos toalfing yb,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dan gribsn, uyo wkon ton hwy,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lenegif sa hewn agree wordsc twaai<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Freoeb a leapac tage<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Meos dronswou gapeant; dan ouy scacer loudw tarts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fi form a cheeb's thear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A buel-yede Drady, pepsting froth, soldhu ays,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"Hedlob em! I ma Mya!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<h4>CENTRAL ACROSTIC.</h4> + +<p>Each of the words described contains the same number of letters; the +central letters, transposed, will spell the name of the heroine of one +of Sir Walter Scott's novels.</p> + +<p>1. Was conspicuous. 2. A hard covering. 3. A citadel. 4. A box for +fruit. 5. To ward off. 6. A sudden fright.</p> + +<p class="right"> +AVIS. +</p> + + +<h4>GREEK CROSS.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus607b.jpg" width="500" height="437" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Upper Square</span>: 1. To begin. 2. A small drum. 3. Over. 4. Wanders. 5. A +lock of hair.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Left-hand Square</span>: 1. A region. 2. A report. 3. Plentiful. 4. Plants of +the cabbage family. 5. A lock of hair.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Central Square</span>: 1. A lock of hair. 2. A black bird. 3. To elude. 4. A +plant which grows in wet grounds. 5. To scoff.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Right-hand Square</span>: 1. To scoff. 2. Grand. 3. Declined. 4. A mournful +poem. 5. To color anew.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lower Square</span>: 1. To scoff. 2. Mother of pearl. 3. Applause. 4. One of +the Muses. 5. To furnish with a new upper part.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"HOMER."<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[Pg 560]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> +<img src="images/illus608.jpg" width="650" height="362" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<h4>A DECORATION-DAY PUZZLE.</h4> + +<p>The words forming this numerical enigma are pictured instead of +described. The answer, consisting of a hundred and one letters, is a +four-line verse by Bayard Taylor.</p> + + +<h4>TRIPLE ACROSTIC.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus609a.jpg" width="500" height="196" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Across</span>: 1. Pertaining to a monarch. 2. Entering without right. 3. +Unmarried women. 4. Unfaithful. Primals, a vapor; centrals, a brown +coating; finals, in a smaller degree. Primals, centrals, and finals +combined, unsuspicious.</p> + +<p class="right"> +F. L. F.<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>INVERTED PYRAMID.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Across</span>: 1. Measurement. 2. Consumes. 3. A chemical substance. 4. A +sheltered place. 5. In pyramid. Downward: 1. In pyramid. 2. Two-thirds +of a girl's name. 3. Mankind. 4. Bad. 5. Celebrated. 6. Certain. 7. +Wrath. 8. A bone. 9. In inverted.</p> + +<p class="right"> +F. L. F.<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>CONNECTED SQUARES.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus609b.jpg" width="500" height="410" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>I. <span class="smcap">Upper Square</span>: 1. Pertaining to a certain nymph. 2. A disease peculiar +to children. 3. A dwelling-place. 4. The European blackbird. 5. A charm.</p> + +<p>II. <span class="smcap">Left-hand Square</span>: 1. Burned wood. 2. A continued endeavor to gain +possession. 3. The inner part. 4. The lesser white heron. 5. A +pugilistic encounter.</p> + +<p>III. <span class="smcap">Right-hand Square</span>: 1. An expression of contempt. 2. A small column +without base or capital. 3. Parts of shoes. 4. To assign. 5. To +squander.</p> + +<p>IV. <span class="smcap">Lower Square</span>: 1. A term used in playing with balls. 2. A sacred +vestment. 3. Proper. 4. A fine yellow clay. 5. A measure.</p> + +<p>Centrals, reading downward (eleven letters), an architect who builds +houses. Centrals, reading across, a mechanical contrivance common in +cotton-mills.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"L. LOS REGNI."<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>FINAL ACROSTIC.</h4> + +<p>Each of the words described contains the same number of letters. The +primals will all be of the same letter; the finals will spell a name +famous in history.</p> + +<p>1. A small shell-fish. 2. An emblem. 3. A common plant having a scarlet +blossom. 4. To weaken. 5. A specter. 6. An afternoon nap. 7. A leap. 8. +Unassuming. 9. A violent effort. 10. Irony. 11. A channel.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"JUVENTUS."<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>WORD-SQUARES IN DIAMONDS.</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 266px;"> +<img src="images/illus610.jpg" width="266" height="250" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>I. Diamond: 1. In soles. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Satisfies. 4. A +beverage. 5. In soles. Included word-square: 1. To touch lightly. 2. +Consumed. 3. A beverage.</p> + +<p>II. Diamond: 1. In strife. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Much talked of in +railway offices. 4. An inclosure. 5. In strife. Included word-square: 1. +To touch lightly. 2. A verb. 3. An inclosure.</p> + +<p>III. Diamond: 1. In youthful. 2. The cry of a certain animal. 3. A +mythical being. 4. Skill. 5. In youthful. Included word-square: 1. The +cry of a certain animal. 2. Gaseous substance. 3. Skill.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"ARTHUR PENDENNIS."<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>HOUR-GLASS.</h4> + +<p>The central letters, reading downward, spell the name of a very +prominent personage.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cross-words</span>: 1. Pleasing to the taste. 2. A substance similar to +varnish. 3. An imp. 4. The name of a character in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." +5. In decorations. 6. Sick. 7. Resources. 8. To call by the wrong name. +9. Gives too many doses to.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"D. I. VERSITY."<br /> +</p> + + +<h4>WORD-SQUARE.</h4> + +<p>The letters of each of the words described may all be found in the word +<span class="smcap">namer</span>.</p> + +<p>1. A girl's name. 2. Close at hand. 3. A cognomen. 4. Surface.</p> + +<p class="right"> +"DENZIL ELINOR."<br /> +</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and +Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. 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a/32622-h/images/music579c.jpg b/32622-h/images/music579c.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..18ceb23 --- /dev/null +++ b/32622-h/images/music579c.jpg diff --git a/32622.txt b/32622.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a8171c --- /dev/null +++ b/32622.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6595 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, +Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7., by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7. + An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks + +Author: Various + +Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge + +Release Date: May 31, 2010 [EBook #32622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS + +An + +ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE + +FOR YOUNG FOLKS. + + +CONDUCTED BY + +MARY MAPES DODGE. + +VOLUME XIII. + +PART II., MAY, 1886, TO OCTOBER, 1886. + +THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK. +F. WARNE & CO., LONDON. + +Copyright, 1886, by THE CENTURY CO. + +THE DE VINNE PRESS. + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS: + +VOLUME XIII. + +PART II. + +SIX MONTHS--MAY, 1886, TO OCTOBER, 1886. + + + + +CONTENTS OF PART II., VOLUME XIII. + + + PAGE. + +ABOUT BREATHING _Hellen Clark Swazey_ 946 + +ADVENTURE AT THE FLUME, OUR. + (Illustrated). _W. L_ 844 + +AMBITIOUS KANGAROO, THE. + Jingle _A. R. Wells_ 853 + +AMUSING THE BABY. + Verses. (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Eva Lovett Carson_ 706 + +ARMY, AN. Verses _A. C_ 757 + +ART AND ARTISTS, STORIES OF. + English Painters. (Illustrated) _Clara Erskine Clement_ 803 + +AUNT DEBORAH'S LESSON. (Illustrated) _G. H. Baskette_ 694 + +AUTUMN TO SPRING. Poem _Edith M. Thomas_ 883 + +BABY'S DIMPLE, THE. Poem _William H. Hayne_ 731 + +BALLAD OF BASE-BALL, A. Verses _I. D_ 774 + +BELATED FAIRY, A. Picture, drawn by Mary A. Lathbury 693 + +BLOSSOM-TIME. Poem _Laura E. Richards_ 518 + +BOAT-BUILDING. (Illustrated) _George J. Manson_ 698 + +BOPEEP. Poem. + (Illustrated by Mary Hallock Foote) _Sydney Dayre_ 756 + +BOYS' CAMP, A. (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) 607 + +BOYS' PARADISE, THE. + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _Elizabeth Balch_ 604 + +BROWNIES AT BASE-BALL, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 943 + +BROWNIES AT LAWN TENNIS, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 857 + +BROWNIES IN THE MENAGERIE, THE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 707 + +BROWNIES ON ROLLER SKATES, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Palmer Cox_ 543 + +BUBBLE BOWLING. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Adelia B. Beard_ 540 + +BUTTERFLY AND THE BEE, THE. Verse _Edith M. Thomas_ 599 + +CAPTAIN JACK'S FOURTH OF JULY KITE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Daniel C. Beard_ 702 + +CARICATURE PLANT, THE. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _.M. A_ 522 + +CHILDREN OF THE SUN, THE. Poem. + (Illustrated) _Arthur Wentworth Eaton_ 770 + +CHILDREN'S EXHIBITION, THE. + (Illustrated by E. J. Meeker) _Charles Barnard_ 916 + +CHILD'S FANCY, A. Poem _Frank Dempster Sherman_ 645 + +CONSIDERATE FARMER JONES. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 843 + +CRAFTY CRAB, THE. JINGLE. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Isabel Frances Bellows_ 845 + +CREW OF THE CAPTAIN'S GIG, THE. + (Illustrated by G. W. Edwards) _Rev. Charles R. Talbot_ 899 + +DAISY-SONG. Verses _Grace Denio Litchfield_ 662 + +DANGEROUS DOG, THE. JINGLE. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _A. R. Wells_ 837 + +DIFFERENCE OF OPINION, A. Verses _Lilian Dynevor Rice_ 679 + +DOG STORIES, ST. NICHOLAS. (Illustrated) 526, 624 + +"DO YOU LIKE BUTTER, BOSSY?" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 791 + +DUEL WITH A STORK, A. Pictures, drawn by Frederick J. Hibbert 754 + +FISHES AND THEIR YOUNG. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _C. F. Holder_ 600 + +FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT. (Illustrated by J. H. Cocks, + Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 655 + +FRESH FROM A DIP IN THE BREAKERS. + Picture, drawn by Mary Hallock Foote 670 + +FROG IN THE SHOE, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by Boz) _Aunt Fanny Barrow_ 791 + +FUN IN HIGH LIFE. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 935 + +GEORGE WASHINGTON. (Illustrated by 505, 590, 663, 758, + H. A. Ogden and others) _Horace E. Scudder_ 838, 908 + +GIRAFFE, THE. (Illustrated) _Gerrish Eldridge_ 768 + +GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS RUN DOWN THE CAPE, THE. + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _E. Vinton Blake_ 494 + +GRANDPAPA ROSEBUSH. Verses. + (Illustrated) _Laura E. Richards_ 583 + +GREAT SPRING-BOARD ACT, THE. Picture, drawn by T. J. Nicholl 677 + +HANDIWORK OF SOME CLEVER SCHOOL-BOYS, THE. + (Illustrated by the Author) _J. Abdon Donnegan_ 547 + +HER PICTURE. Verses. + (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills) _Anna M. Pratt_ 942 + +HIGHLY COLORED. Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 869 + +HOW CONRAD LOST HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Walter Bobbett_ 514 + +"HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE?" Picture, drawn by Culmer Barnes 757 + +HURLY-BURLY. Jingle. + (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _Emma Mortimer White_ 871 + +IF. Jingle. (Illustrated) _E. A. B._ 703 + +IN THE GARDEN. Verses. _Bessie Chandler_ 898 + +INVERTED. Jingle. + (Illustrated by W. T. Peters) _John B. Tabb_ 828 + +"IT WAS A FAIR ARTIST NAMED MAY." Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _O. Herford_ 501 + +JAPANESE BABIES. Verses. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Anna C. Vincent_ 948 + +JINGLES. 501, 613, 630, 681, 687, 697, 703, 733, 748, 785, 791, 797, + 828, 837, 845, 853, 949 + +JOLLY OLD KNIGHT, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Oliver Herford_ 748 + +KEEPING THE CREAM OF ONE'S READING. + (Illustrated) _Margaret Meredith_ 537 + +KELP-GATHERERS, THE. 584, 687, 776, + (Illustrated by W. A. Rogers) _J. T. Trowbridge_ 847,929 + +KNICKERBOCKER BOY, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott) _Caroline S. King_ 542 + +LACE-LEAF, A SEARCH FOR THE. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _Alice May_ 518 + +LA FAYETTE. + (Illustrated by F. H. Lungren) _Mrs. Eugenia M. Hodge_ 643 + +LAKE GEORGE CAPSIZE, A. (Illustrated) _Edward Eggleston_ 829 + +LAST CRUISE OF THE "SLUG," THE. + (Illustrated by D. Clinton Peters) _Thomas Edwin Turner_ 671 + +LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by Jessie McDermott) _M. B. Jordan_ 870 + +LITTLE BOYS WHO LOOKED ALIKE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Malcolm Douglas_ 928 + +LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 502, 564, 646, 734, 822, + (Illustrated by R. B. Birch) _Frances Hodgson Burnett_ 884 + +LITTLE MISS MABEL. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Daisy Jones_ 613 + +LITTLE SEAMSTRESS, A. Verse. _Mary E. Wilkins_ 733 + +MAN OVERBOARD! + (Illustrated by the Author) _H. A. Johnson_ 775 + +MATTER-OF-FACT CINDERELLA, A. + (Illustrated) _Annie A. Preston_ 860 + +MAY SONG. Poem. (Illustrated + and engrossed by Laura C. Hills) _Laura E. Richards_ 492 + +MONSTER, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Maria I. Hammond_ 732 + +MORNING-GLORIES. Poem. _Laura Ledyard Pope_ 501 + +MORRA. (Illustrated) _Susan Anna Brown_ 846 + +MOTHER'S IDEA. _A. M. Platt_ 613 + +NAN'S REVOLT. (Illustrated 682, 749, 816, + by Jessie Curtis Shepherd) _Rose Lattimore Alling_ 896 + +NED'S BUTTERCUP. Verses. _Bessie Chandler_ 941 + +NEW THEORY, A. Verse. _Bessie Chandler_ 785 + +NEW VIEW OF THE MOON, A. Verses. _Eva Lovett Carson_ 551 + +NO MORE SCHOOL. Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller 571 + +NOTIONAL NIGHTINGALE, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by L. Hopkins) _A. R. Wells_ 748 + +NUMBER ONE. Verses. _Charles R. Talbot_ 705 + +OCTOBER. Poem. (Illustrated) _Susan Hartley_ 890 + +"OH, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" Jingle. (Illustrated by E. Sylvester) 869 + +OLD TIME ARMS AND ARMOR. (Illustrated) _E. S. Brooks_ 936 + +ONCE-ON-A-TIME. Poem. _Emily Huntington Miller_ 563 + +ON THE WILLEY-BROOK TRESTLE. + (Illustrated by Henry Sandham) _Willis Boyd Allen_ 764 + +OWL, THE BAT, AND THE BUMBLE-BEE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by De Cost Smith) _Laura E Richards_ 747 + +PERSONALLY CONDUCTED. (Illustrated by E. J. + Meeker and others) _Frank R. Stockton_ + Queen Paris. 572 + +PICTURES. 525, 571, 637, 670, 677, 693, 701, 715, 738, 754, 757, + 791, 798, 843, 856, 869, 935, 947 + +PUSSIES' COATS, THE. Jingle. + (Illustrated by H. P. Share) _Esther B. Tiffany_ 687 + +PUZZLED BESSIE. Picture, drawn by Albert E. Sterner 947 + +PUZZLED PAPA, A. Verses. _M. L. B. Branch_ 603 + +QUAINT LITTLE MAN, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _A. Brennan_ 949 + +READY FOR BUSINESS; OR, + CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. (Illustrated) _George J. Manson_ + Boat-building. 698 + +RECIPE, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Mary A. Lathbury_ 629 + +REGATTA. A. Game. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Frank Bellew_ 783 + +ROBIN'S RETURN. Poem. _Edith M. Thomas_ 612 + +ROCK-A-BYE. Poem. _Mary N. Prescott_ 535 + +ROCKY MOUNTAIN HERMIT, A. (Illustrated by + J. C. Beard and others) _Alfred Terry Bacon_ 723, 832 + +ROPE YARN SPUN BY AN OLD SAILOR, A. + (Illustrated by the Author) _C. W. Miller_ 786 + +ROYAL FISH, A. (Illustrated by W. L. + Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 739 + +SAD CASE, A. Verses. + (Illustrated by Mary Richardson) _Margaret Vandegrift_ 733 + +SAILOR BOY, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Wallace E. Mather_ 790 + +SALMON: A ROYAL FISH. (Illustrated by W. L. + Sheppard, Henry Sandham, and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 739 + +SATCHEL, THE. + (Illustrated by J. E. Kelly) _Tudor Jenks_ 616 + +SEARCH FOR THE LACE-LEAF, A. + (Illustrated by J. C. Beard) _Alice May_ 518 + +SEA-URCHIN, THE. Jingle. (Illustrated + and engrossed by R. B. Birch) _Isabel Frances Bellows_ 785 + +SHAKSPERE WHEN A BOY. + (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons) _Rose Kingsley_ 483 + +SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD, THE. + (Illustrated by J. G. Francis) _C. F. Holder_ 533 + +SOME CURIOUS MARINERS. (Illustrated by + J. C. Beard and J. M. Nugent) _C. F. Holder_ 891 + +SONG OF SUMMER, A. Poem. _Emma C. Dowd_ 671 + +SPRING BEAUTIES. Poem. + (Illustrated by A. Brennan) _Helen Gray Cone_ 513 + +ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES. (Illustrated) + A Clever Little Yellow Dog _John R. Coryell_ 526 + A Dog that Could Count _E. P. Roe_ 529 + A Clever Sheep Dog 530 + A Story of Two Buckets _Charlotte M. Vaile_ 530 + The Left-field of the Lincoln Nine _C. F. Holder_ 624 + A Dog that Could Climb Trees _C. F. Holder_ 626 + A Sociable, Sensible Dog _E. P. Roe_ 626 + A Dog whose Feelings were Hurt _E. P. Roe_ 628 + A Dog that Repaid a Trick 628 + Mephistopheles _Anna Gardner_ 628 + +STORIES OF ART AND ARTISTS. + English Painters. (Illustrated) _Clara Erskine Clement_ 803 + +TEA-PARTY, A. Verses. (Illustrated + and engrossed by the Author) _Margaret Johnson_ 865 + +TELL-TALE BARN, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Esther B. Tiffany_ 924 + +"THE BIGGEST OF BIRDS." Jingle. + (Illustrated G. R. Halm) _E. E. Sterns_ 703 + +THEORETIC TURTLE, THE. Verses. + (Illustrated) _A. R. Wells_ 681 + +"THIS LITTLE PIG WENT TO MARKET." Picture, drawn by Rose Mueller 701 + +"THIS SEAT RESERVED." Picture. 856 + +THREE VELVETY BEES. Verses. + (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford) _M. M. D._ 654 + +TIMOTHY TIMID. Jingle. + (Illustrated by the Author) _A. Brennan_ 697 + +TIPPIE AND JIMMIE. + (Illustrated by H. P. Share) _Mary L. French_ 705 + +TODDLEKINS AND TROT. Verses. + (Illustrated by Laura C. Hills) _Anna M. Pratt_ 843 + +TROUT, FLY-FISHING FOR. (Illustrated by + J. H. Cocks, Henry Sandham, E. J. Meeker, + and others) _Ripley Hitchcock_ 655 + +UNDER THE SNOW. Poem. _Lilian Dynevor Rice_ 815 + +VEGETABLE CLOTHING. + (Illustrated by D. C. Beard) _C. J. Russell_ 523 + +VENETIAN MARQUETRY. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Charles G. Leland_ 866 + +WAITING FOR A COLD WAVE. Picture, drawn by C. Weaver 738 + +WEASEL AND THE ADDER, THE. (Illustrated) _Gerrish Eldridge_ 907 + +WHAT BERTIE SAW IN THE FLOWERS. Poem. + (Illustrated) _L. G. R._ 536 + +WHAT IT WAS. Verses. + (Illustrated by F. E. Gifford) _Malcolm Douglas_ 701 + +WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY. + (Illustrated by Alfred Parsons) _Rose Kingsley_ 483 + +WILD FLOWERS, THE. Verses. (Illustrated) _Jessie Penniman_ 603 + +WILD HUNTERS. (Illustrated) _John R. Coryell_ 681 + +WINGED SEEDS. Poem. _Helen Gray Cone_ 571 + +WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY! Picture, drawn by R. Blum 525 + +WONDERS OF THE ALPHABET. (Illustrated) _Henry Eckford_ 538, 621, + 677, 771, 854, 925 + +WORK AND PLAY FOR YOUNG FOLK. (Illustrated.) + A Rope Yarn Spun by an Old Sailor. + (Illustrated by the Author) _C. W. Miller_ 786 + Venetian Marquetry. + (Illustrated by the Author) _Charles G. Leland_ 866 + + +DEPARTMENTS. + +FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK. (Illustrated.) + Riddles. _M. M. D._ 630 + "Pretty Painted Bridges" } + "White Sheep, White Sheep" } _E. E. Sterns_ 630 + "On Dormio Hill" } + A Letter from a Little Boy _Ralph Ranlet_ 710 + "Dude" and the Cats 711 + Riddles for Very Little Folk _E. E. Sterns_ 950 + +PLAYS AND MUSIC. + Easter Carol _William E. Ashmall_ 546 + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. (Illustrated.) + + Introduction--"Everything is Lovely, and the Goose Hangs + High"--Girls! To the Rescue!--About Little Lord + Fauntleroy--Fishing for Necklaces--A Suggestion to the + Bottled Fish--The Newspaper Plant (illustrated)--One More + Living Barometer, 552; A Bumble Grumble--Pretty Dusty + Wings--Trees that Rain--Shooting Stars--Coasting in + August--More about Turtles--A Fish that Weaves its Nest--A + Clever Humming-bird (illustrated), 632; Introduction--The + Seventeen-year Locust (illustrated)--The Great Lubber Locust + (illustrated)--The Dog and the Queer Grasshoppers + (illustrated), 712; Introduction--Longfellow's First + Letter--The Water-snake as a Fisherman--More Animal + Weather-Prophets--A Useful Bird with an Aristocratic Name--A + Wise Humming-bird--The Pitcher Plant (illustrated), 792; + Introduction--Poor Lark!--Those Mocking-birds Again--A Living + Island (illustrated)--Wrong Names for Things--Who can Answer + This? 872; Introduction--A Perfectly Quiet Day--How He Proved + It--Walking Without Legs--A Queer Sunshade (illustrated)--A + Queer Jumble--That Dear Little Lord, 952. + + +THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. (Illustrated) 557, 636, 717, 794, 874, 957 + +THE LETTER-BOX. (Illustrated) 554, 634, 714, 796, 876, 954 + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. (Illustrated) 559, 639, 719, 799, 879, 959 + +EDITORIAL NOTES 554, 634 + + +FRONTISPIECES. + + "In Spring-time--When Shakspere was a Boy," by Leon Moran, + facing Title-page of Volume--"A June Morning," by E. C. Held, + facing page 563--"La Fayette and the British Ambassador," by + F. H. Lungren, facing page 643--"The Captain and the + Captain's Mate," by Mary Hallock Foote, facing page 723--"The + Connoisseurs," after a painting by Sir Edwin Landseer, facing + page 803--"Martha Washington," from an unfinished portrait by + Gilbert Stuart, facing page 883. + + + + + + +[Illustration: IN SPRING-TIME--WHEN SHAKSPERE WAS A BOY. + +(SEE PAGE 490.)] + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS. + +VOL. XIII. MAY, 1886. NO. 7. + +[Copyright, 1886, by THE CENTURY CO.] + + +When Shakspere was a Boy + +BY ROSE KINGSLEY. + + +On Henley street, in quiet Stratford town, there stands an old +half-timbered house. The panels between the dark beams are of +soft-colored yellow plaster. The windows are filled with little diamond +panes; and in one of the upper rooms they are guarded with fine wire +outside the old glass, which is misty with innumerable names scratched +all over it. Poets and princes, wise men and foolish, have scrawled +their names after a silly fashion, on windows, wall, and ceiling of that +oak-floored room, because, on the 22d of April, 1564, a baby was born +there--the son of John and Mary Shakspere. And on the following +Wednesday, April 26, the baby was carried down to the old church beside +the sleepy Avon and baptized by the name of William. + +Little did John Shakspere and the gossips dream, when the baby William's +name was duly inscribed in the register-book with its corners and clasps +of embossed brass, that he was destined to become England's greatest +poet. Little did they dream, honest folk, that the old market town and +the house on Henley street and the meadows across the river, covered in +that pleasant April month with cowslips and daisies and "lady-smocks all +silver-white," would become sacred ground to hundreds of thousands of +people from all quarters of the globe, who should come, year by year, on +reverent pilgrimage to Shakspere's birthplace. + +The baby grew up as most babies do; and when he was two and a half years +old, a little brother Gilbert was born. As we walk through the streets +to-day, we can fancy the little lads toddling about the town together, +while father John was minding his glove and wool trade at the old house. +John Shakspere, in those early days, was a well-to-do man. He was a +chamberlain of the borough when little Gilbert was born; and in 1568 he +was elected High Bailiff, or Mayor, of Stratford, although he, in +common with many of his fellow-burgesses, could not write his own name. +He had land, too, at Snitterfield, where his father had lived; and his +wife, Mary Arden, was the owner of Ashbies, the farm at Wilmcote, hard +by. + +[Illustration: MARY ARDEN'S HOUSE AT WILMCOTE.] + +But, though the parents were illiterate, they knew the value of a good +education. The Free Grammar School had been refounded a few years before +by Edward VI. And although there is no actual record of his school days, +we may take it as certain that little Will Shakspere was sent to the +Free School when about seven years old, as we know his brother Gilbert +was, a little later. The old Grammar School still stands; and boys still +learn their lessons in the self-same room with the high pitched roof and +oaken beams, where little Will Shakspere studied his "A, B, C-book," and +got his earliest notions of Latin. But during part of Shakspere's school +days the schoolroom was under repair; and boys and master--Walter Roche +by name--migrated for a while to the Guild Chapel next door. And this +was surely in the poet's mind when, in later years, he talked of a +"pedant who keeps a school i' the church." + +All boys learned their Latin then from two well-known books--the +"Accidence" and the "Sententiae Pueriles." And that William was no +exception to the rule we may see by translations from the latter in +several of his plays, and by an account, in one of his plays, of Master +Page's examination in the "Accidence." An old desk which came from the +Grammar School and stood there in Shakspere's time is shown at the +birthplace. And when we look at it we wonder what sort of a boy little +William was--whether his future greatness made a mark in any way during +his school days; whether that conical forehead of his stood him in good +stead as he learned his Latin Grammar; whether he was quiet and +studious, or merry and mischievous; whether he hid dormice and apples +and birds' eggs in his desk, and peeped at them during school hours; +whether he got into scrapes and was whipped. Just think of Shakspere +getting a whipping! No doubt he often did. Masters in those days were +not greater, but rather less, respecters of persons than they are now, +and they believed very firmly in the adage which is going out of +fashion, that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. So we may think of +little Will Shakspere coming out of the Grammar School and passing the +old Guild Chapel and the Falcon Inn with two little red fists crammed +into two little red and streaming eyes, and going home to mother Mary in +Henley street to be comforted and coddled and popped down on the settle +in the wide chimney corner, with some dainty, dear to the heart of small +boys who got into trouble three hundred years ago just as they do now. +Let us hope his cake was not like one he describes as "dough on both +sides." + +[Illustration: THE LARGE SCHOOLROOM IN THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL AT +STRATFORD.] + +But I fancy that lessons bore a very small part in Will Shakspere's +education. He certainly never knew much Latin; but he knew all about +country things as only a country-bred boy can know about them. He and +Gilbert must have run many a time to Ashbies, their mother's farm at +Wilmcote, and watched the oxen plowing in the heavy clay fields; and +cried, perhaps, as children do now "as the butcher takes away the calf"; +and played with the shepherd's "bob-tailed cur"; and gossiped with +Christopher Sly, who could tell them all manner of wonderful tales, for +had he not been peddler, card-maker, bear-herd, "and now by present +profession a tinker"? + +They must have listened to their father and their uncle Henry up at the +big farm close to Snitterfield church (where Henry Shakspere lived) as +the two men discussed the price of a yoke of oxen at Stratford or +Warwick fair, or debated whether they should "sow the head-land with +wheat,--with red wheat, Davy,"[A] or grumbled over the "smith's note +for shoeing and plough-irons," or told the latest turn in the quarrel +between "William Visor of Woncot" and "Clement Perkes of the Hill." Very +likely the little hazel-eyed boys took William Visor's part, though they +wisely kept their opinions to themselves, since small boys in that +period were not allowed the liberty of speech they enjoy in these +degenerate times. William Visor was a neighbor of the Ardens, and +possibly a friend of "Marian Hackett, the fat ale-wife of Wincot"; for +Wincot, Woncot, and Wilmcote are all the same place. Or perhaps the +young lads sided with Clement Perkes; for the Hill where he lived at +Weston was known as Cherry Orchard Farm, a name full of tempting +suggestions to little boys. And we know that Shakspere, like many less +wise people, was fond of "ripe red cherries." He mentions them again and +again. He and Gilbert, and their little friends the Sadlers and Harts +and Halls, must have played bob-cherry, as we do now,--drawing up the +stem of the cherry with our tongues, and, with a sudden snap, getting +the round, ripe fruit between our lips,--and then have used the stones +for "cherry-pit"--a child's game that is frequently mentioned by +Shakspere and other old writers, which consisted in pitching +cherry-stones into a small hole. + +[Footnote A: 2d Henry IV., Act 5. Scene 1.] + +[Illustration: THE SCHOOL AND GUILD CHAPEL.] + +Stratford lies just at the beginning of the fruit-growing country, which +stretches right down the Vale of Evesham to Worcester and the Severn; +and little Will Shakspere was well versed in the merits of all kinds of +fruits. There were the plum-trees, that make you think in the +spring-time that a snow-shower has fallen upon a sunny day all over the +Stratford district; while in the autumn the branches are laden with "the +mellow plum." Who can doubt that little Will climbed the damson-tree, +"with danger of my life," as he said later that Simpcox did at his +wife's bidding?[B] In the plays he mentions apples of many sorts--some +of which, though rare or extinct in other parts of England, still grow +about his native place--the bitter-sweetings and leather-coats, the +apple-johns and the pomewaters. Many a time he must have stood with all +the boys of the place watching, as we might do to-day, the cider-making +on some village green, when the heaps of apples, red, green, and yellow, +are brought in barrows and baskets and carts from the orchards, and +ground up into a thick yellow pulp in the crushing-mill turned by a +horse, and that pulp is put into presses from which the clear juice runs +into tubs, while the dry cakes of pulp are carted away to fatten the +pigs. + +[Footnote B: 2d Henry VI., Act 2, Scene 1.] + +There were grapes, too, growing plentifully in Warwickshire in his day; +and "apricocks," "ripe figs, and mulberries," like those with which the +fairies were told to feed Bottom the weaver. Blackberries and the +handsome purple dewberries grew then as now, by the hedges in the +orchards and in the shade of the Weir-brake just below Stratford mill, +where, so says tradition, the scene of the "Midsummer Night's Dream" was +laid. In the Weir-brake, too, and in all the woods about their home, the +Shakspere boys must have gone nutting--that most delightful harvest of +the year, when you bend down "the hazel twig," so "straight and +slender," and fill baskets and pockets with the sweet nuts in their +rough, green husks, and crack them all the way home like so many happy +squirrels. + +[Illustration: THE GUILD COUNCIL-ROOM--NOW THE HEAD-MASTER'S +CLASS-ROOM.] + +All the hedge-rows were full then, as they are to this day, of wild +pear-trees, wild apples, and "crabs," as crab-apples are called in +England. Roasted "crabs" served with hot ale were a favorite Christmas +dish in Shakspere's time. And I doubt not that the boys rejoiced at the +house in Henley street as the time of year came round "when roasted +crabs hiss in the bowl." + +How snug the "house-place" in the old home must have looked with its +roaring fire of logs, on winter evenings, when the two little boys of +nine and seven, and Joan and Anne, the little sisters, huddled up in the +chimney-corner with baby Richard in his cradle, while the mother +prepared hot ale and "roasted crabs" for her gossips. Will, I warrant, +as with twinkling eyes he watched Mrs. Hart or Mrs. Sadler or Mrs. +Hathaway, from Shottery, thought that it was Puck himself, the very +spirit of mischief, who had got into the bowl "in very likeness of a +roasted crab." + +It must have been a recollection of those winter evenings that made +little Will, in later years, write his delightful "Winter Song": + + "When icicles hang by the wall + And Dick the shepherd blows his nail + And Tom bears logs into the hall + And milk comes frozen home in pail, + When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul, + Then nightly sings the staring owl, + Tu-whit; + Tu-who, a merry note, + While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. + + "When all aloud the wind doth blow + And coughing drowns the parson's saw + And birds sit brooding in the snow + And Marian's nose looks red and raw, + When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, + Then nightly sings the staring owl, + Tu-whit; + Tu-who, a merry note, + While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." + +Among the gossips there would be much talk of wonders, appearances, +mysterious occurrences, and charms; and the children listened with all +their ears, you may be sure. Perhaps one of Mistress Shakspere's friends +possessed the power that some people in Warwickshire still are said to +possess, of charming away warts by a touch and some murmured invocation; +or curing toothache and all other aches and pains. There are plenty of +people now who, after your second cup of tea is finished, will take the +cup, twist the grounds around three times, turn it mouth downward in the +saucer, and then, by looking at the tea-leaves which still stick to the +bottom of the cup, will undertake to tell you what is going to +happen--of presents you will receive, or people who are coming to see +you. And many Warwickshire women still believe firmly that +whooping-cough can be charmed away by the patient walking nine times +over running water. + +[Illustration: "THE HEDGE-ROWS WERE FULL, AS THEY ARE TO THIS DAY, OF +WILD APPLES, WILD PEARS, AND 'CRABS.'"] + +The boys' games of those days were much the same as they are to-day. +Each game then, as now, had its regular season in the year. In the +season for marbles, no one would dream of playing anything else. +"Knuckle-hole" is still the favorite game in Warwickshire. The +standing-up game, pitching the taw from a mark scraped across the +ground, is, I am told by competent authorities, rather going out of +fashion; but it is still played. The marble season lasts through the +late winter, much to the distraction of mothers, who have to clean and +mend their sons' nether garments, which are worn with kneeling and +plastered with mud at that time of year. Then comes the spinning-top, +whip-top, and peg-top time. Later again there is tip-cat for the boys, +and hop-scotch for the girls. + +On the corn-bins in the Warwickshire ale-house stables we can still find +the lines rudely cut for "nine men's morris." This, in Shakspere's day, +was a favorite game, and one much in vogue among the shepherd boys in +the summer, who cut a "board" in the short turf and whiled away the long +hours by playing it. Little Will must often have gone to watch his +father play "shovel-board" at the Falcon tavern, in Stratford, on the +board upon which tradition says he himself played, in later life. And at +home, he and his brother must have played "push-pin," an old game which +is still played in remote parts of the country. Two pins are laid on the +table; the players in turn jerk them with their fingers, and he who +throws one pin across the other is allowed to take one of them, while +those who do not succeed have to give a pin. This is the game Shakspere +alludes to in "Love's Labour's Lost," when he says, "And Nestor play at +push-pin with the boys." + +Little Will knew a great deal about sport. All his allusions to sporting +or woodcraft are those of a man who had been familiar with such things +from his childhood. He and Gilbert must have set plenty of "springes, to +catch wood-cocks," and dug out the "earth-delving conies" that swarmed +in the commmonland of Welcombe, those dingles that in later years he +fought so hard to preserve from inclosure. + +[Illustration: BOYS FISHING IN THE AVON--OPPOSITE THE WEIR-BRAKE.] + +They must have fished many a time, as the Stratford boys do to this day, +in the slow waters of the Avon, sitting quietly intent for hours upon +the steep clay bank + + "to see the fish + Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, + And greedily devour the treacherous bait."[C] + +[Footnote C: "Much Ado about Nothing," Act 3, Sc. 1.] + +Then who can doubt that he often watched the hunting of the hare? Each +line in his wonderful description of the hunted hare is written by a +thorough sportsman and a keen observer of nature. How the purblind hare +runs among a flock of sheep or into a rabbit-warren, or "sorteth with a +herd of deer" to throw out "the hot scent-snuffing hounds." How they +pause silent till they have worked "with much ado the cold fault cleanly +out," and then burst into music again. + +Of deer, Shakspere knew much--too much for his own comfort. In his +childhood, there were herds at Fulbrooke,--and when he was older, at +Charlecote, at Grove Park, and at Warwick. And probably there were a few +roe in the wilder parts of the Forest of Arden, which came down within +three miles of Stratford, and covered the whole of the country north of +the Avon, out to Nuneaton and Birmingham. We can fancy how the boys +stole out to watch the Grevilles and Leycesters and Lucys and Verneys on +some great hunting party, and whispered to each other, + + "Under this thick-grown brake we'll shroud ourselves, + For through this lawnd anon the deer will come." + +But the time of all others in the year that we connect most closely with +Shakspere is the sweet spring-time, when the long cold winter--very long +and very cold among those undrained clay-lands of Warwickshire--had come +to an end. How closely little Will watched for + + "daffodils, + That come before the swallow dares, and take + The winds of March with beauty"; + +and for + + "violets, cowslips, and pale primroses." + +We can fancy the little boys hunting in some sheltered nook in the +Welcombe woods for the first primroses; and climbing up Borden Hill just +beyond Shottery, perhaps with Anne Hathaway from the pretty old house in +the orchards below, to the bank--the only one in the neighborhood,-- + + "where the wild thyme blows, + Where oxlips, and the nodding violet grows"; + +or wandering over the flat sunny meadows along the Avon valley, picking +cowslips, and looking into each tiny yellow bell for the spots in their +gold coats,-- + + "Those be rubies, fairy favors, + In those freckles live their savors,"-- + +as they brought home baskets of the flower-heads for their mother to +make into cowslip wine. + +Spring, in this Stratford country, is exquisite. The woods are carpeted +with primroses and wild hyacinths; while in the "merry month of May" the +nightingale swarms among the hawthorn trees white with blossom. + +On every village green there stood a painted May pole--one is still +standing at Weston, near Stratford; and May-Day is still kept in +Warwickshire with a "May feast" upon old May-Day, the 12th of May. Every +one knows how the prettiest girl in the village was chosen Queen o' the +May, and how all joined in the "Whitsun Morris-dance." + +[Illustration: A BUNCH OF COWSLIPS.] + +Long Marston,--"Dancing Marston," as it has been called ever since +Shakspere's time,--a few miles from Stratford, was famous till within +the memory of man for a troop of Morris-dancers, who went about from +village to village, strangely dressed, to dance at all the feasts. +Shakspere probably had the Marston dancers in his mind when he wrote of +the "three carters, three shepherds, three neat-herds, three +swine-herds," that made themselves all "men of hair," and called +themselves "Saltiers," at the sheep-shearing feast which pretty Perdita +presided over, in "The Winter's Tale." The sheep-shearing feast, which +came when roses were out on the hedges and in the gardens, must have +been a merry and important time for the Shakspere boys. John Shakspere +was, of course, specially interested in the price of a tod of wool, for +wool-stapling was part of his trade. Perhaps William himself was sent by +his mother to buy the groceries for the feast, and stood conning the +list as he makes the clown do, in "The Winter's Tale." + +In the spring-time, too, came the peddler with all his wonders and +treasures: + + "Lawn as white as driven snow; + Cypress black as e'er was crow; + Gloves as sweet as damask roses; + Masks for faces and for noses." + +Those last must have pleased the little boys more than all the rest of +the peddler's goods. And perhaps it was from this very peddler that Will +Shakspere bought the pair of gloves which, after the fashion of the day, +he gave to Anne Hathaway at their betrothal. + +But the great event of the year in the quiet country town was Stratford +"Mop" or statute fair, on the 12th of October. The market-place was +filled, as it is to this day, with clowns and mountebanks, wrestlers, +and rope-dancers at their "rope-tricks." Oxen and sheep were roasted +whole. A roaring trade was driven by quack doctors and dentists. All the +servants in the country came and stood around to be hired, as the +farm-hands and the maids for the farm-houses still do--the carters with +a bit of whipcord in their hats; the shepherds with a lock of wool; the +laborers with a straw. And next day, we need not doubt, there were many +candidates for the town stocks, as there are now for the police court. +There were bear-baitings, too, and bull-baitings--those cruel sports +which have only been abolished in Warwickshire within the last hundred +years. But in Shakspere's day bear-baiting was a popular and refined +amusement. During Queen Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth, in 1575, there +was a great bear-baiting in her honor, of which a curious and most +sickening account still exists. And when Shakspere went to London his +lodgings were close to the bear-garden, or "Bear's College," at +Southwark, whither all London flocked to see the poor beasts tormented +and tortured. + +There was, however, one amusement which, from his earliest years, must +have delighted little Will Shakspere above all others--I mean a visit +from the players. That he inherited his love for the drama from his +father is more than probable; for it was during the year of John +Shakspere's High Bailiffship that plays are first mentioned in the +records at Stratford. According to the custom of the day, when the +players belonging to some great nobleman came to a town, they reported +themselves to the mayor to get a license for playing. If the mayor +liked them, or wished to show respect to their master, he would appoint +them to play their first play before himself and the Council. This was +called the Mayor's Play, every one coming in free, and the mayor giving +the players a reward in money. Between the autumns of 1568 and 1569, + + "The Queen's and the Earl of Worcester's players visited the + town and gave representations before the Council, the former + company receiving nine shillings and the latter twelve pence + for their first performances." + +And there is little reason to doubt that our little Will, then between +five and six years old, was taken to see them by his father, the mayor, +as a little boy named Willis was taken at Gloucester that same year, +being exactly William Shakspere's age; and, standing between his +father's knees, Master Will probably there got his first experience of +the art in which he was to become the master for all ages. We wonder +what that first play was--some quaint, rude drama probably, such as the +one little Willis saw at Gloucester, with plenty of princes and fair +ladies, and demons with painted masks, and the "Herod" in red gloves, of +the "Coventry Mystery" players. + +Not only in Stratford, but in most of the towns roundabout, there are +various records of players giving performances. When little Will was +eleven years old, Queen Elizabeth came on her celebrated visit, in 1575, +to Lord Leycester at Kenilworth; and as all the country flocked to see +the great show, it is probable that the boy and his father were among +the crowds of spectators and saw some of the plays given in the Queen's +honor. + +A year or two later, troubles began to multiply at the house in Henley +street. John Shakspere got into debt. The farm at Ashbies was mortgaged. +His daughter Anne died in 1579; and two years before her death, young +William, then thirteen, was taken from school and apprenticed--some +accounts say to a butcher--or, as seems more probable, to his own +father, to help him in his failing wool-trade. + +For the next five years nothing is known about Will Shakspere. Then we +find him courting Anne Hathaway in the pretty old brick and timbered +cottage at Shottery, its garden all full of roses and rosemary, +"carnations and striped gillyvors." A year or two later, he is stealing +one of Sir Thomas Lucy's deer,--writing a lampoon on the worthy +justice,--and flying to London from his wrath, to hold horses at the +door of the Globe Theater before he joined the Lord Chamberlain's +players, and became known to all posterity as Mr. William Shakspere, +Writer of Plays. + + + + +May Song By Laura E. Richards + + +[Illustration] + + Is there anything new to sing about you, + May, my dear? + Any unhackneyed thing about you, + Pray, my dear? + Anything that has not been sung + Long ago when the world was young, + By silver throat and golden tongue? + Say, my dear! + + So many have said that your eyes are blue, + May, my dear, + It must be a tiresome fact, though true, + May, my dear, + And if I for one, my gracious Queen, + Should boldly assert that your eyes were green, + 'Twould be a relief to you, I ween, + Eh, my dear? + + We know of the touch of your garments fold, + May, my dear, + The daisies come starring with white and gold + The way, my dear. + We know that the painted blossoms all + Come starting up at your gentle call, + By dale and meadow and garden-wall, + May, my dear. + + We know that your birds have the sweetest tune, + May, my dear: + And lovers love best beneath your moon, + They say, my dear. + And I might add that that your perfumed kiss + Is considered productive of highest bliss; + But you must be so tired of hearing this! + Eh, my dear? + + No, I really don't think there's anything fresh, + Or new, my dear. + For the world is small, and available rhymes + Are few, my dear. + So if I say naught about vernal bowers, + And forbear to mention the sunlit showers, + I think I shall make the best use of my powers. + Dont you, my dear? + + And yet I cannot help loving you so, + May, my dear, + That the old words, whether I will or no, + I say, my dear, + And how you are fair, and how you are sweet + My loving lips forever repeat.-- + And is that the reason you pass so fleet? + Ah! stay, my dear! + + + + +THE GIRLS' TRICYCLE CLUB AND ITS RUN DOWN THE CAPE. + +BY E. VINTON BLAKE. + + +Tricycles had become an every-day affair in Sherridoc, and since the +formation of the Girls' Club, lady tricyclers were not an extraordinary +sight. So Charlotte, or "Charley" Van Rensselaer, as she was called, and +her brother Starrett excited but little comment as they wheeled swiftly +down Haymarket street, moving noiselessly and easily through the throng +of carriages and other vehicles, until, as the houses grew less frequent +and the pavements stopped altogether, they rolled through the suburbs of +the town and so into the open country, without stay or pause. + +For they were making time. The club itself, thanks to the failure of the +express company to deliver Charley's new "Columbia" when promised, had +several hours' start on the road; and Starrett, like the obliging +brother that he was, had remained behind in order that Charlotte need +not ride alone nor the club be longer delayed by waiting for her. + +Charley Van Rensselaer, her cousin Cornelia, or "Corny" Hadwin, and +their warm friends Mattie Hyde and Arno Cummings, were four bright and +active young girls of from thirteen to sixteen, who composed the Girls' +Tricycle Club. Little by little they had won first the interest and then +the consent of their somewhat conservative parents to this novel but +exhilarating exercise, and having now become expert riders, they were +off for a long run of eighty miles down Cape Cod from Sherridoc City to +Curtin Harbor, where their parents had summer cottages. Faithful and +clever Joe Marston, Mr. Van Rensselaer's colored servant, and an expert +tricycler, had gone ahead with the club as guide and commissary-general, +and Starrett Van Rensselaer, Charley's younger brother, was invited to +accompany them as an escort, on the odd-looking "Royal Mail" he had +borrowed for the trip,--bicycles not being allowed. + +And now the door-yards broaden out and the houses become still more +rambling. There are wide-spreading orchard boughs, and cool woody spaces +here and there between the farms. Now a youngster scampers into the +house shrieking, "Ma, Ma! Oh, come here, Ma! Here's a girl a-ridin' +three wheels at once!" and Charley, looking back, perceives the urchin's +sisters and cousins and aunts peering at her from the door. Starrett too +looks back, and laughs. + +"You'll have to get used to that," he says. + +"I expect to," responds Charley serenely; "but you must remember that +four of these things have gone on before us on this same road and they +must have taken off a little of the novelty." + +Over the brow of Haymarket Hill they go, and the long steep sweep into +the valley of the Owassee lies before them. Charley, with her feet on +the "rest," commences to descend. An amazed cow grazing by the roadside +makes a charge on the singular vehicle, but the girl never flinches, and +with one hand on the steering-bar and the other on the brake she avoids +every stone, every rut, every gully in the road. The irate cow, after +nearly plunging on its nose down the first steep incline, pauses to +recover its senses and then returns slowly up the hill. Starrett waves +it a laughing adieu. "Sensible bovine that," he says; "she knows that a +stern chase is a long chase." + +"My, though!" exclaims delighted Charley, "we're just flying, Starrett! +Aren't we?" + +They are indeed. The bushes whiz past,--the wind sweeps their +faces,--trees, stones, fences flit by like phantoms. Charley feels like +a bird on the wing. Such exhilaration is there in a good tricycle +"coast" downhill! + +But it is not all such pleasure; for, a few miles farther on, they +become acquainted with the other side of the story, as they go toiling +up the long ascent of Comstock Hill, a sandy and winding incline that +leads to the highlands of Fisherville. + +"If it weren't for the sand," said Charley as she pushes her tricycle +before her, "I would test the new 'power-gear' on my 'Columbia' by +riding up Comstock Hill. But, dear me, I believe there are not three +yards of solid earth on this road!" + +"Never mind, we're more than half-way up," said Starrett, consolingly. + +"Do you suppose it's sandy like this near Curtin Harbor?" inquired +Charley. + +"I haven't the least idea," Starrett replied. "If it is, we can branch +off and take the cars at Minot Station." + +"The cars? Why, Starrett Van Rensselaer!" exclaims Charley. "Why, I +wouldn't take the cars--not for anything--unless--well, unless I were +fairly driven to it." + +And now they both draw a long breath, for the crest of Comstock Hill is +won. + +"Look behind you, Starrett," says Charley. "Did you ever see a prettier +picture?" + +Starrett acknowledges he never did. The low-lying valley is green and +fair. The Owassee stretches like a silver ribbon across the picture, and +there is not a human being in sight save these two tricyclers who take +all this summer beauty into their impressible young hearts. + +On they go, through Fisherville and into the open country again. Truly +no grass grows underneath those flashing wheels. The new "Columbia" has +the oil well worked in by this time, and the "Royal Mail," with its +queer one-sided "steerer," seems undisturbed by any ordinary roads. The +freshening wind is behind them; the blue sky, cloud-flecked, above; and +all around, bird-song and the rustle of blowing grass and bending +boughs. + +"This is grand, Charley!" cries Starrett; "so much better than horseback +riding--and I've tried both." + +"You don't tire yourself much more, and you're sure your horse won't run +away with you," Charley assents, whizzing along beside him. "I feel +strong enough for a good long run yet, and we ought to catch up with +them easily, before long." + +The winding, woody road brings them suddenly to a hill-top. To the +right, below, lies a wide expanse of velvety marsh meadow, with its +vivid and variegated tints of green, olive, and reddish-brown, and +occasional intersections of tottering, moss-grown fence; there is a +starry glimmer as of lilies in the frequent pools that give back the +glory of the sun. To the left are seen the dark, still reaches of a lake +that winds in and out in the cool shadow of high woody banks. An old +ice-house stands lonesome and gray on its margin. + +The brother and sister halt on the brow of the hill, to enjoy a view +that may be one of the memories of a lifetime; then the wheels roll +slowly toward the descent. The slope is steep and winding; they do not +"coast" with feet on the rest above the steering-wheel. It is not +desirable to capsize or collide with any up-coming vehicle. So they +glide warily on, with hands on the brakes, until the bottom is reached. +But here a crazy guide-post at a fork in the road misleads them by +pointing in the wrong direction for the Wareham road. But by great good +luck, they strike a shady wood track, full two miles long, which cuts +off five miles from the road they should have traveled, and which, so +Starrett says when he recognizes it, will bring them just so much nearer +the club. Dismounting at last, a pine-covered knoll, with a brook +bubbling below, attracts them; and, seated on the brown pine-needles, +the brother and sister talk over their adventures, and wonder how far +ahead the others may be. Suddenly Starrett, who faces the road, drops +his hands to his side with an exclamation of surprise. + +"What now?" says Charley, looking quickly around, A glance makes her a +partner in Starrett's astonishment; for, over the main road they have +just now regained, come one, two, three, four tricycles, their +glittering spokes flashing in the sun. They see Joe Marston's dusky face +and stalwart figure, and behind him they catch the flutter of garnet and +blue--the colors of the club. Occasionally a head in the procession +turns to look expectantly behind. + +Starrett and Charley keep close in the shade of the pines, restraining a +laugh with difficulty. + +"Here is a good place to stop, Joe," cries Cornelia Hadwin. "It's cool +and shady, and we can see the road. I think they should have caught up +with us by this time. Can anything have happened,--do you suppose?" + +"Dunno, miss," answers Joe with a grave face. But as he dismounts to +wheel his machine up the knoll, he stops short with a sudden smoothing +out of all the perplexed lines from his dark brow. "Hi, dar!" he +exclaims. "Look-a yer, Miss Corney!" + +Cornelia does look, and so do all the rest. There is a perfect chorus of +shrieks and laughter, a babel of voices, a torrent of questions. + +"Oh, we travel, I assure you!" says Starrett. "We took a flying leap and +came in ahead of you." + +"How did it happen? When did you pass us?" These and countless other +questions follow. Then all is explained, and at five o'clock the merry +six are on the road again, rolling along in lively style. + +So, in single file, with Joe in advance, and Starrett bringing up the +rear, the club rides through the main street of Wareham, down the long +slant to the bridge over the Wareham river. The evening mist hangs low +along the stream; the bridge seems to stretch across the rushing tide +and end abruptly in mid-air. The soft, grayish opaque cloud hides the +farther shore from sight. + +There are heads at doors and windows, and people on the street stop to +gaze. At first the girls feel a little abashed at so much attention. But +nobody is discourteous; Joe rides steadily on, and there is nothing to +do but to follow. + +"I suppose we do look queer to them," says Mattie Hyde. + +"Oh, well, you are missionaries, you know," says Starrett assuringly. +"Perhaps your club may be the means of introducing tricycles into many +of the places we shall pass through." + +"That's one of our objects, of course," observes Charley. + +"If girls and women knew what comfort one can take with a tricycle, half +the battle would be won," says Arno Cummings timidly. + +[Illustration: "THE BUSHES WHIZ PAST,--TREES, STONES, FENCES FLIT BY +LIKE PHANTOMS."] + +"It isn't altogether that, Arno," says Charley, who, as the originator +of the club, has her advanced theories to support. "A good many would +like to, but don't really dare. You know that Shakspere says 'Conscience +doth make cowards of us all.' I think that custom makes us cowards, +too." + +"Custom will be on our side, though, by and by," declares Mattie Hyde. +"Doctor Sawyer told Mamma the other day that he would prescribe the +tricycle rather than medicine for many of his patients. He said that the +machines are much used in England, and that they are gaining ground in +this country, though not so rapidly as he could wish." + +But even this knowledge of the healthfulness and desirability of the +tricycle does not make a hard piece of road any easier. After a night's +rest at the hospitable house of an aunt of Mattie Hyde's, the club find +themselves, next day, among the "Sandwiches," as Starrett facetiously +dubs the town of that name which is divided into North, East, South, and +West Sandwich. And there they come upon a wooded tract that sorely taxes +their endurance and presents the most formidable obstacle they have yet +encountered. The sand is impassable; it closes completely over the +wheel-tires, and, after a short space of arduous labor, the club come to +a dismayed standstill. + +"What on earth are we to do?" queries Corny Hadwin in despair. + +No one answers her. The boughs wave softly overhead; the small cloud of +dust their efforts have raised floats slowly away and settles on the +scant herbage underneath the pines. Near at hand sounds the shriek of +the "up" train. They are not far from the railroad. + +"Shall we give it up and take to the train?" Starrett asks, as they +catch the sound of the locomotive. + +"Dear me, we mustn't do that!" exclaims Charley. "Let's dismount and +push the machines a little way. Perhaps the wheeling is better just +ahead." + +But it is not. The ruts are strewn with straw, shavings, and chips; +everything indicates that the woods are extensive, and that others +before them have found the sand a tribulation. + +"Oh, this is the worst of all!" groans Corny. + +"But we'll not give up, nevertheless," declares little Arno Cummings, +developing unexpected grit in the emergency. "I shouldn't like to tell +them at Curtin Harbor that we had to take to the cars to get around a +difficulty." + +Joe mops the perspiration from his dusky brow, and then stops to listen. +A creak, a rumble, and a tramp, tramp are heard behind them. "Dar's +sumfin a-comin!" says Joe. + +The "sumfin" soon appears in sight,--a big, empty, four-horse wagon, +making its unwieldy way in their direction. The same idea occurs to +everybody at once. + +"There! He'll carry us!" + +[Illustration: WITH JOE IN ADVANCE, THE CLUB RIDES THROUGH WAREHAM.] + +Carry them! Of course he will--for a consideration. And almost before +the driver has recovered from his evident astonishment at this vision of +six tricycles in the heart of the Sandwich woods, the riders and their +machines are safely in the big cart, and on their way through the sandy +tract, which, they now learn, is several miles in extent. + +It is impossible for the horses to go faster than a walk for the whole +distance. The sand is a constant clog, and scarcely a breath of air can +penetrate the close piny ranks on either side the narrow road. It is a +slow and somewhat crowded ride, but the club tells stories, sings and +jokes and answers the curious inquiries of their teamster, to whom a +tricycle is a thing unknown till now. But in due time, the young folk +have bidden him good day, and are speeding on toward Barnstable. The air +grows salty, strong, and bracing. + +"It's like a breath of new life," says Starrett; and soon they are +rolling between the long row of grand old trees that line Barnstable's +quiet main street. At the hotel they stop for dinner and a noonday rest. + +It is four in the afternoon when they remount. The lady boarders, who +have taken quite an interest in the young tricyclers, bid them farewell +with all manner of good wishes, and one gray-haired society lady +remarks, "Those girls are sensible; and their mothers are sensible too. +Give young people the delights of nature and the freedom of outdoor +sports, and keep them from late parties, and the whirl of folly and +fashion. I've seen too many young lives warped and twisted and weakened +in the endeavor to 'keep up' in fashionable society. Yes, those girls +are sensible." + +And, wheeling still, by hill and dale, the "sensible" girls and their +escort roll merrily into old Yarmouth, with its broad, shady streets and +big, substantial, old-fashioned houses. Quaint and picturesque indeed it +is, with quiet nooks and corners, breezy streets, time-stained wharves +where lie battered fishing craft and the smarter boats devoted to the +summer visitors who have found out the beauties of the town. Here, too, +Arno Cummings has an uncle, a bluff and breezy old sea-captain, who +gives the whole party a hearty welcome; and at his house, the club spend +two nights and the day between--a day of shade and shine, with the sea +wind blowing everywhere. They explore the old town from end to end. They +come continually upon pictures,--now a broad grassy lane with its +moss-grown fences flanked by rising pastures of brownish grass; now a +long slope ending in a rocky outlook over the blue sea; now a brown +cottage nestled in among trees and hills. And on the second morning +after their arrival, they bid the hospitable Captain Cummings adieu, and +pass, single file, over the great drawbridge across the inlet that cuts +Yarmouth in two, and so spin along through the succession of little +towns which, leaving Yarmouth, almost join together into one. Such are +the "Dennises"--divided as usual into North, East, South and West,--and +the "Harwiches," where at Harwich proper the tricyclers bid farewell to +the railroad which has kept them company at short intervals all the way +down. + +"Six miles to Curtin Harbor." So says the lazy youth at a cross roads +store, and away they spin, while the spires and houses of Harwich +disappear behind the trees. + +And now how the wind blows! And all around the horizon the sky has that +watery appearance that betokens the nearness of the sea. There is a +peculiar, bracing freedom in the wild, salt wind; the very sway of the +brown grass, the swing of the odorous wild pinks that nod in the corners +of old mossy fences have a life and freshness that one misses greatly in +tamer, more settled districts. For now they are plunging bravely into +the long stretch of sand barrens and pine woods that, with only an +occasional house, stretch for many a mile between Harwich and Curtin +Harbor. + +But here, in the afternoon, a sudden shower overtakes them. They can no +longer pick their dainty way by the roadside, but must keep the middle +track or run the risk of upsetting. There is scarce a quarter of a mile +of level ground to be found. The pine woods close in upon them, and when +at the summit of a hill they anxiously look for some other shelter than +the thronging pines, they can see nothing but the long, winding, +lightish streak of road and the endless outlines of monotonous +pine-trees on either side against the dark sky. + +"Six miles to Curtin Harbor!" cries Starrett at last. "That boy's a +fraud. I believe it's sixty." + +"Reckon dey're Cape Cod miles, Mas'r Starrett," says Joe. "Dey say down +yer, yo' know, dat one on 'em 's equal to two ob good trav'lin' in any +uthah part ob de worl'." + +If it were only clear now, coasting merrily down these hills would be +royal fun, but in this state of the weather caution is necessary. A halt +is called for consultation. The six composedly dismount and sit down on +the clumps of "poverty grass," beneath the doubtful shelter of the +pines. + +"Well, now," asks Starrett, "what are we going to do? I know you girls +are tired and drenched; you needn't deny it. And there's no sign of a +house this side of Jericho or Jerusalem." + +Suddenly Charley has an idea. "O girls," she says, "let's camp out, +right here! We're not badly off, for we all have our waterproof cloaks; +but you've all been longing for an adventure, and here's one for a +_finale_. We'll at least make a tent and have supper. It'll be just +splendid!" + +The club vociferously acquiesce. Joe alone, dubious, shakes his head. +But he is outvoted and overruled. + +A quantity of pine boughs are piled, by Joe and Starrett, tent-fashion, +across and around four of the tricycles; a heap of dry leaves, carefully +collected, makes a fragrant couch, whereon the young ladies compose +themselves, wrapped and snugly covered with shawls and capes from the +"luggage-carriers." Lastly Joe spreads the rubber waterproofs securely +over the wheels and boughs, and the young campers are completely +sheltered. + +A rummage in the lunch-boxes and "luggage-carriers" of the six machines +brings to light half a dozen soda crackers, two bananas, six pieces of +gingerbread, a slice of dry cheese, three apples, and--this is Joe's +surprise!--a small can of chicken. + +A chorus of delight greets this last discovery, and Joe is at once +besieged. + +"Now, yo' jes' sot down, ef yo' please, young ladies," says Joe, holding +the can above his head. "I'll 'tend to yo' d'reckly. Yo' jes' gib me de +tings and I'll serve supper in fus'-class style." + +When the chicken,--delicately served on the soda crackers,--the apples, +bananas, and gingerbread are distributed, and the cheese toasted--in a +fashion--at one of the lamps, the merry six leave not a crumb to tell +the tale. It is true that a conscious vacancy still exists in the six +hungry stomachs--such appetites have these young wheelers; but they are +refreshed and no one thinks of complaining. + +The merry meal finished, weariness and the patter of rain incline the +girls to rest, and soon silence falls upon the camp, broken only by the +sighing of the wind among the dark pine boughs, and the occasional chirp +of some sleepy bird. + +Then Starrett, also, wrapped in his waterproof coat, throws himself down +to rest beneath the shelter of a friendly pine close by. + +Joe, left alone as the sentinel, falls to thinking over the situation, +wondering where they are and whether they have missed the right road. +He walks about uneasily and then stands looking up and down the stretch +of road. The tricycle lamp, which he has lighted to dispel the gloom, +casts a yellow gleam over the tent and Starrett's shrouded figure, while +beyond and all around are the pines with their swaying branches and the +long black vistas between. Joe walks back and forth, in the rain, vainly +trying to think in which direction they are to proceed. + +[Illustration: "DE YOUNG GEMMAN AN' I MAKE DIS TENT TO KEEP DE YOUNG +LADIES DRY."] + +He has been wondering thus for perhaps five minutes, when he becomes +aware of a pair of fiery eyes watching him from the shadows. Joe starts. +He does not know what peculiar class of wild beasts inhabits Cape Cod, +but there are the eyes plainly enough. He stops and stands motionless. +The eyes move, come boldly forward, and Joe, now doubly astonished, sees +full in the glare of the tricycle lamp--a big grayish cat! + +And the cat has a nickel-plated collar with a ribbon attached. Joe knows +that even on Cape Cod no wild beasts roam about, in summer storms, with +nickeled and be-ribboned collars, but what can a cat be doing away in +the depths of a pine forest? And then he suddenly concludes that the +cat's home can not be far away. The gray cat comes purring about his +knees. Joe is fond of cats, so he takes it in his arms and fondles its +wet fur, and it proves to be company for him and really helps him to +forget the discomfort of the rain. + +At about seven o'clock in the evening, however, the rain slackens, the +clouds scatter, and rifts of light appear through the trees. And just as +Joe is thinking of rousing the club for another "spin," he hears a +whistle and a heavy step from across the road. Then an old farmer fellow +of about forty-five, in search of a lost cow, comes to an abrupt and +amazed halt at confronting among the pines Joe, the gray cat, Starrett's +recumbent figure, the tent, and the glimmering tricycle wheels. He +stands speechless until Joe's voice breaks the spell. + +"Good-ebenin', sar," says Joe. "Can you tell me if dis is de road to +Curtin Harbor?" + +"Curtin Harbor!" exclaims the farmer, with his eyes still full of mute +amazement. "No, it's not. 'T any rate not the direct one. If you've come +over from Harwich, you've gone two miles out of yer way. You should have +taken the other road, back there by the old school-house." + +"Dar's whar I missed it!" cries Joe, slapping his knee. "I was suah I +did sumfin' wrong somewhar, but I couldn't locate it, to save me! I'se +much obliged." + +"You can cut across to the main road by crossing my field yonder and +going up by the house just beyond----" + +"Hi, den dere is a house over yar!" says Joe. + +"Why, certainly," says the farmer, "not more than forty rods from here." +And when Joe finds how very near he has been to a comfortable farmhouse +he says he feels "like kickin' hisself." + +"But," says the visitor, still eying the camp. "How did it all happen. +Are you traveling on foot?" + +"No, sar; on tricycles," explains Joe, proudly; "we are de Girls' +Tricycle Club, all de way from Sherridoc, wid Mas'r Starrett an' me +along to look arter 'em and see 'em safe down to Curtin Harbor. We los' +de track back yondah, an' de young gemman an' I jes' rig up dis tent for +to keep the young ladies dry an' gib 'em a chance to rest till de shower +was ober." + +The farmer's surprise grows to interest. + +"And so this is a tricycle," he says. "And did the young ladies ride +those things all the way from Sherridoc?" + +"All de way, sar," answers Joe, proudly, "'cept when we wus stuck in de +Sandywiches and had to be carted froo wid a team." + +After the good man's curiosity has been satisfied, and Starrett has +summoned the girls to appear, the worthy farmer strolls off after his +lost cow, first inviting the club to the farm to another supper. One by +one, the girls emerge from their camp, but when they hear how near to a +house they have been during the rain, great is the laughter. + +"I don't care, though," cries Cornelia Hadwin; "we've really had a sort +of a camping-out time, and I'm glad of it." + +After hearing Joe's report, the club determines to push on at once to +Curtin Harbor in the early evening, without accepting the hospitable +invitation to supper at the farmhouse. + +The two miles to the main road are quickly traversed, and before long +the club wheels around a long curve in the road, and the blue expanse of +Curtin Harbor lies beneath them. The clouds are gone by this time; the +rising moon shoots slantwise through a few thin, dissolving folds, and +brings out ripples of gold and silver on the long seas. There seems to +be a breeze that stirs the water to darker ruffles beyond the head-land, +but where the young folk sit on their tricycles, enjoying the beauty of +the scene and the salty damp of the evening air, not a blade of the +coarse, silvery beach-grass stirs; every spire and blade stands in +sheeny silver in the mellow light. + +Below the beach-road branches off a long winding descent to the quiet +cottages which lie in the evening glow, seemingly fast asleep. + +"Now, girls, for a good coast!" cries Starrett. "Here goes!" + +And away indeed he goes, over the brow of the hill, rolling swiftly, and +removing his feet from the pedals as his machine gathers way. Away also +they all fly after him, merry as larks, waking all the echoes of the +shore with their light-hearted shouts and laughter. The tricycle lamps +flash out upon the seaward road, and soon it comes to pass, that as +Charley's wheels whiz flashing into the wide, grassy dooryard of a +certain pleasant little summer abode, a hand lifts the window curtain, +and a voice, with a ring of irrepressible gladness but a great pretense +of gruffness, calls out: + +"Is this my noisy daughter, who has been running wild for a week over +all the roads on Cape Cod?" + +"Oh, Papa!" cries Charley, gleefully, "we've had a perfectly charming +trip!" + +And so says the entire club. And they pass a vote of thanks to Joe for +taking faithful care of them, and to Starrett for his excellent escort +duty. And now when the story of their eighty-mile ride is told, +everybody votes tricycling a wonderfully health-giving and delightful +exercise, and the first long trip of the Girls' Tricycling Club a grand +success. + + + + +MORNING-GLORIES. + +BY LAURA LEDYARD POPE. + + + My neighbor's morning-glories rise + And flutter at her casement; + _My_ morning-glories' lovely eyes + Peep just above the basement. + + And both our morning-glories strew + With loveliness the railing, + And thrust their starry faces through + The vines about the paling. + + But when at last the thrifty sun + A work-day world arouses, + Hers gather up their dainty skirts + And vanish in their houses. + + They draw their silken curtains close, + There's not a soul can find them; + And mine run up the school-house path, + And shut the door behind them! + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + It was a fair Artist named May + If you looked at her sketch she would say, + "It's horrid, I know-- + If you please _wont_ you go, + I'm not in the humor today." + + + + +LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. + +BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. + +[Illustration] + + +CHAPTER VII. + +On the following Sunday morning, Mr. Mordaunt had a large congregation. +Indeed, he could scarcely remember any Sunday on which the church had +been so crowded. People appeared upon the scene who seldom did him the +honor of coming to hear his sermons. There were even people from +Hazelton, which was the next parish. There were hearty, sunburned +farmers, stout, comfortable, apple-cheeked wives in their best bonnets +and most gorgeous shawls, and half a dozen children or so to each +family. The doctor's wife was there, with her four daughters. Mrs. +Kimsey and Mr. Kimsey, who kept the druggist's shop, and made pills, and +did up powders for everybody within ten miles, sat in their pew; Mrs. +Dibble in hers, Miss Smiff, the village dressmaker, and her friend Miss +Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs; the doctor's young man was +present, and the druggist's apprentice; in fact, almost every family on +the county side was represented, in one way or another. + +In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had been +told of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept so busy +attending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of needles or a +ha'p'orth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, that the little +shop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself to death over the +coming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how his small lordship's +rooms had been furnished for him, what expensive toys had been bought, +how there was a beautiful brown pony awaiting him, and a small groom to +attend it, and a little dog-cart, with silver-mounted harness. And she +could tell, too, what all the servants had said when they had caught +glimpses of the child on the night of his arrival; and how every female +below stairs had said it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor pretty +dear from his mother; and had all declared their hearts came into their +mouths when he went alone into the library to see his grandfather, for +"there was no knowing how he'd be treated, and his lordship's temper was +enough to fluster them with old heads on their shoulders, let alone a +child." + +"But if you'll believe me, Mrs. Jennifer, mum," Mrs. Dibble had said, +"fear that child does not know--so Mr. Thomas hisself says; an' set an' +smile he did, an' talked to his lordship as if they'd been friends ever +since his first hour. An' the Earl so took aback, Mr. Thomas says, that +he couldn't do nothing but listen and stare from under his eyebrows. An' +it's Mr. Thomas's opinion, Mrs. Bates, mum, that bad as he is, he was +pleased in his secret soul, an' proud, too; for a handsomer little +fellow, or with better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas says +he'd never wish to see." + +And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend Mr. Mordaunt +had told it at his own dinner table, and the servant who had heard it +had told it in the kitchen, and from there it had spread like wildfire. + +And on market-day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he had been +questioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned too, and in +response had shown to two or three people the note signed "Fauntleroy." + +And so the farmers' wives had found plenty to talk of over their tea and +their shopping, and they had done the subject full justice and made the +most of it. And on Sunday they had either walked to church or had been +driven in their gigs by their husbands, who were perhaps a trifle +curious themselves about the new little lord who was to be in time the +owner of the soil. + +It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he chose to +appear on this first Sunday--it was his whim to present himself in the +huge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side. + +There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lingerers in the +lane that morning. There were groups at the gates and in the porch, and +there had been much discussion as to whether my lord would really appear +or not. When this discussion was at its height, one good woman suddenly +uttered an exclamation. + +"Eh," she said; "that must be the mother, pretty young thing." + +All who heard turned and looked at the slender figure in black coming up +the path. The veil was thrown back from her face and they could see how +fair and sweet it was, and how the bright hair curled as softly as a +child's under the little widow's cap. + +She was not thinking of the people about; she was thinking of Cedric, +and of his visits to her, and his joy over his new pony, on which he had +actually ridden to her door the day before, sitting very straight and +looking very proud and happy. But soon she could not help being +attracted by the fact that she was being looked at and that her arrival +had created some sort of sensation. She first noticed it because an old +woman in a red cloak made a bobbing curtsy to her, and then another did +the same thing and said, "God bless you, my lady!" and one man after +another took off his hat as she passed. For a moment she did not +understand, and then she realized that it was because she was little +Lord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so, and she flushed rather shyly +and smiled and bowed too, and said, "Thank you" in a gentle voice to the +old woman who had blessed her. To a person who had always lived in a +bustling, crowded American city this simple deference was very novel, +and at first just a little embarrassing; but after all, she could not +help liking and being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of which +it seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch into +the church before the great event of the day happened. The carriage from +the Castle, with its handsome horses and tall liveried servants, bowled +around the corner and down the green lane. + +"Here they come!" went from one looker-on to another. + +And then the carriage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and opened the +door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a splendid mop +of bright waving hair, jumped out. + +Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him. + +"He's the Captain over again!" said those of the on-lookers who +remembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!" + +He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas helped +that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could be +imagined. The instant he could help, he put out his hand and offered his +shoulder as if he had been seven feet high. It was plain enough to every +one that however it might be with other people, the Earl of Dorincourt +struck no terror into the breast of his grandson. + +"Just lean on me," they heard him say. "How glad the people are to see +you, and how well they all seem to know you!" + +"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. "They are bowing to +you." + +"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, baring his +bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled eyes on them as he +tried to bow to every one at once. + +"God bless your lordship!" said the curtsying, red-cloaked old woman who +had spoken to his mother; "long life to you!" + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Fauntleroy. And then they went into the church, +and were looked at there, on their way up the aisle to the square, +red-cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy was fairly seated he +made two discoveries which pleased him: the first was that, across the +church where he could look at her, his mother sat and smiled at him; the +second, that at one end of the pew against the wall, knelt two quaint +figures carven in stone, facing each other as they kneeled on either +side of a pillar supporting two stone missals, their pointed hands +folded as if in prayer, their dress very antique and strange. On the +tablet by them was written something of which he could only read the +curious words: + +"Here lyethe ye bodye of Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle of Dorincort +allsoe of Alysone Hildegarde hys wyfe." + +"May I whisper?" inquired his lordship, devoured by curiosity. + +"What is it?" said his grandfather. + +"Who are they?" + +"Some of your ancestors," answered the Earl, "who lived a few hundred +years ago." + +"Perhaps," said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, "perhaps I +got my spelling from them." And then he proceeded to find his place in +the church service. When the music began, he stood up and looked across +at his mother, smiling. He was very fond of music, and his mother and he +often sang together, so he joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet, +high voice rising as clear as the song of a bird. He quite forgot +himself in his pleasure in it. The Earl forgot himself a little too, as +he sat in his curtain-shielded corner of the pew and watched the boy. +Cedric stood with the big psalter open in his hands, singing with all +his childish might, his face a little uplifted, happily; and as he sang, +a long ray of sunshine crept in and, slanting through a golden pane of a +stained glass window, brightened the falling hair about his young head. +His mother, as she looked at him across the church, felt a thrill pass +through her heart, and a prayer rose in it too; a prayer that the pure, +simple happiness of his childish soul might last, and that the strange, +great fortune which had fallen to him might bring no wrong or evil with +it. There were many soft anxious thoughts in her tender heart in those +new days. + +[Illustration: "I'VE A GREAT DEAL TO THANK YOUR LORDSHIP FOR," SAID +HIGGINS. (SEE NEXT PAGE.)] + +"Oh, Ceddie!" she had said to him the evening before, as she hung over +him in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, Ceddie, dear, I wish +for your sake I was very clever and could say a great many wise things! +But only be good, dear, only be brave, only be kind and true always, and +then you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may help +many, and the big world may be better because my little child was born. +And that is best of all, Ceddie,--it is better than everything else, +that the world should be a little better because a man has lived--even +ever so little better, dearest." + +And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her words to +his grandfather. + +"And I thought about you when she said that," he ended; "and I told her +that was the way the world was because you had lived, and I was going to +try if I could be like you." + +"And what did she say to that?" asked his lordship, a trifle uneasily. + +"She said that was right, and we must always look for good in people and +try to be like it." + +Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced through the +divided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he looked over +the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw the +fair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and the eyes which were so like +those of the child at his side; but what his thoughts were, and whether +they were hard and bitter, or softened a little, it would have been +hard to discover. + +As they came out of the church, many of those who had attended the +service stood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the gate, a man +who stood with his hat in his hand made a step forward and then +hesitated. He was a middle-aged farmer, with a careworn face. + +"Well, Higgins," said the Earl. + +Fauntleroy turned quickly to look at him. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed; "is it Mr. Higgins?" + +"Yes," answered the Earl dryly; "and I suppose he came to take a look at +his new landlord." + +"Yes, my lord," said the man, his sunburned face reddening. "Mr. Newick +told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me, and I +thought I'd like to say a word of thanks, if I might be allowed." + +Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it was who +had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there looking up just +as one of his own less fortunate children might have done--apparently +not realizing his own importance in the least. + +"I've a great deal to thank your lordship for," he said; "a great deal. +I----" + +"Oh," said Fauntleroy; "I only wrote the letter. It was my grandfather +who did it. But you know how he is about always being good to everybody. +Is Mrs. Higgins well now?" + +Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat startled at +hearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a benevolent +being, full of engaging qualities. + +"I--well, yes, your lordship," he stammered; "the missus is better since +the trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying broke her down." + +"I'm glad of that," said Fauntleroy. "My grandfather was very sorry +about your children having the scarlet fever, and so was I. He has had +children himself. I'm his son's little boy, you know." + +Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it would be +the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl, as it had been +well known that his fatherly affection for his sons had been such that +he had seen them about twice a year, and that when they had been ill, he +had promptly departed for London, because he would not be bored with +doctors and nurses. It was a little trying therefore to his lordship's +nerves to be told, while he looked on, his eyes gleaming from under his +shaggy eyebrows, that he felt an interest in scarlet fever. + +"You see, Higgins," broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile; "you +people have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When +you want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply to +him. Get into the carriage, Fauntleroy." + +And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carriage rolled away down the green +lane, and even when it turned the corner into the high road, the Earl +was still grimly smiling. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +GEORGE WASHINGTON + +[_A Historical Biography._] + +BY HORACE E. SCUDDER. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A VIRGINIA BURGESS. + +Before Washington's marriage, and while he was in camp near Fort +Cumberland, making active preparations for the campaign against Fort +Duquesne, there was an election for members of the Virginia House of +Burgesses. Washington offered himself as candidate to the electors of +Frederic County, in which Winchester, where he had been for the past +three years, was the principal town. His friends were somewhat fearful +that the other candidates, who were on the ground, would have the +advantage over Washington, who was with the army, at a distance; and +they wrote, urging him to come on and look after his interests. Colonel +Bouquet, under whose orders he was, cheerfully gave him leave of +absence, but Washington replied: + +"I had, before Colonel Stephen came to this place, abandoned all +thoughts of attending personally the election at Winchester, choosing +rather to leave the management of that affair to my friends, than be +absent from my regiment, when there is a probability of its being called +to duty. I am much pleased now, that I did so." + +Here was a case where Washington broke his excellent rule of--"If you +want a thing done, do it yourself." If his regiment was to lie idle at +Fort Cumberland, he could easily have galloped to Winchester, and have +been back in a few days; but there was a chance that it might move, and +so he gave up at once all thought of leaving it. Glad enough he was to +have the news confirmed. To lead his men forward, and to have a hand in +the capture of Fort Duquesne, was the first thing--the election must +take care of itself. This was not a bad statement for his friends at +Winchester to make. A man who sticks to his post, and does his duty +without regard to his personal interests, is the very man for a +representative in the legislature. The people of Frederic knew +Washington thoroughly, and though they had sometimes felt his heavy +hand, they gave him a hearty vote, and he was elected a member of the +House of Burgesses. + +This was in 1758, and he continued to serve as a member for the next +fifteen years. There is a story told of his first appearance in the +House. He was something more than a new member; he was the late +Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia army, the foremost man, in a military +way, in the province; he had just returned from the successful +expedition against Fort Duquesne. So the House resolved to welcome him +in a manner becoming so gallant a Virginian, and it passed a vote of +thanks for the distinguished military services he had rendered the +country. The Speaker, Mr. Robinson, rose when Washington came in to take +his seat, and made a little speech of praise and welcome, presenting the +thanks of the House. Every one applauded and waited for the tall colonel +to respond. There he stood, blushing, stammering, confused. He could +give his orders to his men easily enough, and he could even say what was +necessary, to Mrs. Martha Custis; but to address the House of Burgesses +in answer to a vote of thanks--that was another matter! Not a plain word +could he get out. It was a capital answer, and the Speaker interpreted +it to the House. + +"Sit down, Mr. Washington," said he. "Your modesty equals your valor, +and that surpasses the power of any language I possess." + +It was a trying ordeal for the new member, and if speech-making had been +his chief business in the House, he would have made a sorry failure. He +rarely made a speech, and never a long one, but for all that he was a +valuable member, and his re-election at every term showed that the +people understood his value. If there was any work to be done, any +important committee to be appointed, Washington could be counted on, and +his sound judgment, his mature experience, and sense of honor, made his +opinion one which every one respected. He was always on hand, punctual, +and faithful; and qualities of diligence and fidelity in such a place, +when combined with sound judgment and honor, are sure to tell in the +long run. He once gave a piece of advice to a nephew who had also been +elected to the House, and it probably was the result of his own +experience and observation. + +"The only advice I will offer," he said; "if you have a mind to command +the attention of the House, is to speak seldom but on important +subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, +in the former case, make yourself perfect master of the subject. Never +exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with diffidence. A +dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always accompanied +with disgust." + +It was in January, 1759, that Washington took his seat in the House, and +if he made it his rule "to speak seldom but on important subjects," he +had several opportunities to speak before he finally left the Virginia +Legislature for a more important gathering. The first very important +subject was the Stamp Act, in 1765. The British Government had passed an +act requiring the American colonies to place a stamp upon every +newspaper or almanac that was published, upon every marriage +certificate, every will, every deed, and upon other legal papers. These +stamps were to be sold by officers of the crown, and the money obtained +by the sale was to be used to pay British soldiers stationed in America +to enforce the laws made by Parliament. + +The colonies were aflame with indignation. They declared that Parliament +had no right to pass such an act; that the Ministry that proposed it was +about an unlawful business; and that it was adding insult to injury to +send over soldiers to enforce such laws. People, when they meet on the +corner of the street and discuss public matters, are usually much more +outspoken than when they meet in legislatures; but the American +colonists were wont to talk very plainly in their assemblies, and it was +no new thing for the representatives, chosen by the people, to be at +odds with the governor, who represented the British Government. So when +Patrick Henry rose up in the House of Burgesses, with his resolutions +declaring that the Stamp Act was illegal and that the colony of Virginia +had always enjoyed the right of governing itself, as far as taxation +went,--and when he made a flaming speech which threatened the King, +there was great confusion; and though his resolutions were passed, there +was but a bare majority. + +There is no record of what Washington may have said or how he voted on +that occasion, but his letters show that he thought the Stamp Act a very +unwise act on the part of Great Britain, and a piece of oppression. +"That Act," he says, "could be looked upon in no other light by every +person who would view it in its proper colors." But he did not rush into +a passion over it. Instead, he studied it coolly, and before it was +repealed, wrote at some length to his wife's uncle, who was living in +London, his reasons for thinking that the British Ministry would gain +nothing by pressing the Stamp Act and other laws which bore hard on +colonial prosperity; for he held that if they would only see it, the +colonies were as necessary to England as England to the colonies. + +[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY.] + +It is difficult for us to-day to put ourselves in the place of +Washington and other men of his time. Washington was a Virginian, and +was one of the Legislature. He was used to making laws and providing for +the needs of the people of Virginia, but he was accustomed to look +beyond Virginia to England. There the King was, and he was one of the +subjects of the King. The King's officers came to Virginia, and when +Washington saw, as he so often did, a British man-of-war lying in the +river off Mount Vernon, his mind was thrilled with pleasure as he +thought of the power of the empire to which he belonged. He had seen the +British soldiers marching against the French, and he had himself served +under a British general. He had an ardent desire to go to England, to +see London, to see the King and his Court, and Parliament, and the +Courts of Justice, and the great merchants who made the city famous; but +as yet he had been unable to go. + +He had seen but little of the other colonies. He had made a journey to +Boston, and that had given him some acquaintance with men; but wherever +he went, he found people looking eagerly toward England and asking what +the Ministry there would do about fighting the French on the Western +borders. Though he and others might never have seen England, it was the +center of the world to them. He thought of the other colonies not so +much as all parts of one great country on this side of the Atlantic, as +each separately a part of the British Empire. + +After all, however, and most of all, he was a Virginian. In Virginia he +owned land. There was his home, and there his occupation. He was a +farmer, a planter of tobacco and wheat, and it was his business to sell +his products. As for the French, they were enemies of Great Britain, but +they were also very near enemies of Virginia. They were getting +possession of land in Virginia itself--land which Washington owned in +part; and when he was busily engaged in driving them out, he did not +have to stop and think of France, he needed only to think of Fort +Duquesne, a few days' march to the westward. + +When, therefore he found the British Government making laws which made +him pay roundly for sending his tobacco to market, and taxing him as if +there were no Virginia Legislature to say what taxes the people could +and should pay, he began to be restless and dissatisfied. England was a +great way off; Virginia was close at hand. He was loyal to the King and +had fought under the King's officers, but if the King cared nothing for +his loyalty, and only wanted his pence, his loyalty was likely to cool. +His chief resentment, however, was against Parliament. Parliament was +making laws and laying taxes. But what was Parliament? It was a body of +law-makers in England, just as the House of Burgesses was in Virginia. +To be sure, it could pass laws about navigation which concerned all +parts of the British Empire; but, somehow, it made these laws very +profitable to England and very disadvantageous to Virginia. Parliament, +however, had no right to pass such a law as the Stamp Act. That was +making a special law for the American colonies, and taking away a right +which belonged to the colonial assemblies. + +Washington had grown up with an intense love of law, and in this he was +like other American Englishmen. In England there were very few persons +who made the laws, the vast majority had nothing to do but to obey the +laws. Yet it is among the makers of laws that the love of law prevails; +and since in America a great many more Englishmen had to do with +government in colony and in town than in England, there were more who +passionately insisted upon the law being observed. An unlawful act was +to them an outrage. When they said that England was oppressing them, +and making them slaves, they did not mean that they wanted liberty to +do what they pleased, but that they wanted to be governed by just laws, +made by the men who had the right to make laws. And that right belonged +to the legislatures, to which they sent representatives. + +So it was out of his love of law and justice that Washington and others +protested against the Stamp Act; and when the act was repealed, they +threw up their hats and hurrahed, not because they now should not have +to buy and use stamps, but because by repealing the act, Parliament had +as much as said that it was an unlawful act. However, this was an +unwilling admission on the part of Parliament, which repealed the act, +but said at once: "We can tax you if we choose to." + +In fact, Parliament stupidly tried soon after to prove that it had the +right by imposing duties on tea, paper, glass, and painters' colors. But +the people in the colonies were on the alert. They had really been +governing themselves so long that now, when Parliament tried to get the +power away from them, they simply went on using their power. They did +this in two ways; the colonial governments again asserted their rights +in the case, and the people began to form associations, in which they +bound themselves not to buy goods of England until the offensive act was +repealed. This latter was one of the most interesting movements in the +breaking away of the colonies from England. It was a popular movement; +it did not depend upon what this or that colonial assembly might do; it +was perfectly lawful, and so far as it was complete it was effective. +Yet all the while the movement was doing more, and what but a very few +detected; it was binding the scattered people in the colonies together. + +Washington took a great deal of interest in these associations, and +belonged to one himself. He was growing exceedingly impatient of English +misrule, and saw clearly to what it was leading. "At a time," he says, +"when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing +less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary +that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the +liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of +doing it to answer the purpose effectually is the point in question. +That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense +of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms, I would beg +leave to add, should be the last resort. We have already, it is said, +proved the inefficacy of addresses to the throne, and remonstrances to +Parliament. How far, then, their attention to our rights and privileges +is to be awakened or alarmed by starving their trade and manufactures, +remains to be tried." + +He took the lead in forming an association in Virginia, and he kept +scrupulously to his agreement; for when he sent his orders to London, he +was very careful to instruct his correspondents to send him none of the +goods unless the Act of Parliament had meantime been repealed. As the +times grew more exciting, Washington watched events steadily. He took no +step backward, but he moved forward deliberately and with firmness. He +did not allow himself to be carried away by the passions of the time. It +was all very well, some said, to stop buying from England, but let us +stop selling also. They need our tobacco. Suppose we refuse to send it +unless Parliament repeals the Act. Washington stood out against that +except as a final resource, and for the reason which he stated in a +letter: + + "I am convinced, as much as I am of my own existence, that + there is no relief for us but in their distress; and I + think, at least I hope, that there is public virtue enough + left among us to deny ourselves everything but the bare + necessaries of life to accomplish this end. This we have a + right to do, and no power upon earth can compel us to do + otherwise, till it has first reduced us to the most abject + state of slavery. The stopping of our exports would, no + doubt, be a shorter method than the other to effect this + purpose; but if we owe money to Great Britain, nothing but + the last necessity can justify the non-payment of it; and, + therefore, I have great doubts upon this head, and wish to + see the other method first tried, which is legal and will + facilitate these payments." + +That is, by the economy necessarily preached, the people would save +money with which to pay their debts. + +Washington had been at the front both in the House of Burgesses, in his +own county, and among the people generally. He was a member of the +convention called to meet at Williamsburg; and he was appointed by that +convention one of seven delegates to attend the first Continental +Congress at Philadelphia. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. + +Near the end of August, 1774, Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, two of +the delegates from Virginia to the first Continental Congress, rode from +their homes to Mount Vernon and made a short visit. Then, on the last +day of the month, Washington mounted his horse also, and the three +friends started for Philadelphia to attend the congress, which was +called to meet on the 5th of September. Pendleton was a dozen years +older than Washington, and Henry was the youngest of the party. He was +the most fiery in speech, and more than once, in recent conventions, had +carried his hearers away by his bold words. He was the most eloquent +man in the colonies,--of rude appearance, but when once wrought up by +excitement, able to pour out a torrent of words. + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON, PATRICK HENRY, AND EDMUND PENDLETON ON THEIR +WAY TO PHILADELPHIA, AS DELEGATES TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.[D]] + +For my part, I would rather have heard the speech which Washington made +at the convention in Williamsburg in the August before, when he rose up +to read the resolution which he and his neighbors had passed at their +meeting in Fairfax County. The eloquence of a man who is a famous orator +is not quite so convincing as that of a man of action, who rarely +speaks, but who is finally stirred by a great occasion. People were used +to hearing Washington say a few words in a slow, hesitating, deliberate +way; and they knew that he had carefully considered beforehand what +words he should use. But this time he was terribly in earnest, and when +he had read the resolution, he spoke as no one had heard him before. He +was a passionate man who had his anger under control; but when it +occasionally burst out, it was as if a dam to a stream had given way. +And now he was consumed with indignation at the manner in which Great +Britain was treating the colonies. He was ready, he said, to raise a +regiment of a thousand men, pay all their expenses, and lead them to +Boston to drive out the King's soldiers. + +The three men, therefore, must have talked long and earnestly as they +rode to Philadelphia; for the Congress which they were to attend was the +first one to which all the colonies were invited to send delegates. It +was to consider the cause of the whole people, and Virginia was to see +in Massachusetts not a rival colony, but one with which she had common +cause. The last time Washington had gone over the road he had been on an +errand to the King's chief representative in America, the +Commander-in-Chief, Governor Shirley, and one matter which he had held +very much at heart had been his own commission as an officer in His +Majesty's army. He was on a different errand now. Still, like the men +who were most in earnest at that time, he was thinking how the colonies +could secure their rights as colonies, not how they might break away +from England and set up for themselves. + +[Footnote D: The above illustration is reproduced from Irving's "Life of +Washington," by kind permission of Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons.] + +They were five days on the road, and on September the 4th, they +breakfasted near Newcastle, in Delaware, dined at Chester, in +Pennsylvania, and in the evening were in Philadelphia, at the City +Tavern, which stood on Second street, above Walnut street, and was the +meeting-place of most of the delegates. Washington, however, though he +was often at the City Tavern, had his lodging at Dr. Shippen's. The +Congress met the next day at Carpenters' Hall, and was in session for +seven weeks. The first two or three days were especially exciting to the +members. There they were, fifty-one men, from all the colonies save +Georgia, met to consult together--Englishmen who sang "God save the +King," but asked also what right the King had to act as he had done +toward Boston. They did not know one another well at the beginning. +There was no man among them who could be called famous beyond his own +colony, unless it was George Washington. Up to this time the different +colonies had lived so apart from one another, each concerned about its +own affairs, that there had been little opportunity for a man to be +widely known. + +[Illustration: CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA, WHERE THE FIRST +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.] + +So, as they looked at one another at the City Tavern, or at the +Carpenters' Hall when they met, each man was wondering who would take +the lead. Virginia was the largest and most important colony. +Massachusetts had a right to speak, because she had called the +convention, and because it was in Boston that the people were suffering +most from the action of the British Parliament. Perhaps the two most +conspicuous members at first were Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and Samuel +Adams, of Massachusetts; but in the seven weeks of the session, others +showed their good judgment and patriotism. Patrick Henry was asked after +he returned to Virginia whom he considered the greatest man in the +Congress, and he replied: "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of +South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid +information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the +greatest man on the floor." + +Washington carried on the methods which he had always practiced. He +attended the sessions punctually and regularly; he listened to what +others had to say, and gave his own opinion only after he had carefully +formed it. It is an example of the thoroughness with which he made +himself master of every subject, that he used to copy in his own hand +the important papers which were laid before Congress, such as the +petition to the King which was agreed upon. This he would do +deliberately and exactly,--it was like committing the paper to memory. +Besides this, he made abstracts of other papers, stating the substance +of them in a few clear words. + +The greater part of each day was occupied in the Congress, but besides +the regular business, there was a great deal of informal talk among the +members. They were full of the subject, and used to meet to discuss +affairs at dinner, or in knots about the fire at the City Tavern. +Philadelphia was then the most important city in the country, and there +were many men of wide experience living in it. Washington went +everywhere by invitation. He dined with the Chief Justice, with the +Mayor, and with all the notable people. + +In this way he was able to become better acquainted both with the state +of affairs in other colonies and with the way the most intelligent +people were thinking about the difficulties of the time. The first +Continental Congress gave expression to the deliberate judgment of the +colonies upon the acts of Great Britain. It protested against the manner +in which Parliament was treating the colonies. It declared firmly and +solemnly that as British subjects the people of the colonies owed no +allegiance to Parliament, in which they had no representatives; that +their own legislatures alone had the right to lay taxes. But after all, +the great advantage of this first Congress was in the opportunity which +it gave for representatives from the different colonies to become +acquainted with one another, and thus to make all parts of the country +more ready to act together. + +It was only now and then that any one suggested the independence of the +colonies. Washington, like a few others, thought it possible the +colonies might have to arm and resist the unlawful attempt to force +unconstitutional laws upon them; but he did not, at this time, go so far +as to propose a separation from England. He had a friend among the +British officers in Boston, one of his old comrades in the war against +France, a Captain Mackenzie, who wrote to him, complaining of the way +the Boston people were behaving. Captain Mackenzie, very naturally, as +an officer, saw only a troublesome, rebellious lot of people whom it was +the business of the army to put down. Washington wrote earnestly to him, +trying to show him the reason why the people felt as they did, and the +wrong way of looking at the subject which Captain Mackenzie and other +officers had. He expressed his sorrow that fortune should have placed +his friend in a service that was sure to bring down vengeance upon those +engaged in it. He went on: + + "I do not mean by this to insinuate that an officer is not + to discharge his duty, even when chance, not choice, has + placed him in a disagreeable situation; but I conceive, when + you condemn the conduct of the Massachusetts people, you + reason from effects, not causes; otherwise you would not + wonder at a people, who are every day receiving fresh proofs + of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary power, deeply + planned to overturn the laws and constitution of their + country, and to violate the most essential and valuable + rights of mankind, being irritated, and with difficulty + restrained from acts of the greatest violence and + intemperance. For my own part, I confess to you candidly, + that I view things in a very different point of light from + the one in which you seem to consider them; and though you + are taught by venal men ... to believe that the people of + Massachusetts are rebellious, setting up for independency, + and what not, give me leave, my good friend, to tell you, + that you are abused, grossly abused.... Give me leave to + add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not + the wish or interest of that government, or any other upon + this continent, separately or collectively, to set up for + independence; but this you may at the same time rely on, + that none of them will ever submit to the loss of those + valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the + happiness of every free State, and without which, life, + liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure." + +It was with such a belief as this that Washington went back to Mount +Vernon, and while he was occupied with his engrossing private affairs, +busied himself also with organizing and drilling soldiers. Independent +companies were formed all over Virginia, and one after another placed +themselves under his command. Although, by the custom of those +companies, each was independent of the others, yet by choosing the same +commander they virtually made Washington Commander-in-Chief of the +Virginia volunteers. He was the first military man in the colony, and +every one turned to him for advice and instruction. So through the +winter and spring, he was constantly on the move, going to one place +after another to review the companies which had been formed. + +I think that winter and spring of 1775 must have been a somewhat +sorrowful one to George Washington, and that he must have felt as if a +great change were coming in his life. His wife's daughter had died, and +he missed her sadly. Young John Custis had married and gone away to +live. The sound of war was heard on all sides, and among the visitors to +Mount Vernon were some who afterward were to be generals in the American +army. He still rode occasionally after the hounds, but the old days of +fun were gone. George William Fairfax had gone back to England, and the +jolly company at Belvoir was scattered. The house itself there had +caught fire, and burned to the ground. + +But the time for action was at hand. Washington turned from his home and +his fox-hunting to go to Richmond as a delegate to a second Virginia +convention. It was called to hear the reports of the delegates to +Philadelphia and to see what further was to be done. It was clear to +some, and to Washington among them, that the people must be ready for +the worst. They had shown themselves in earnest by all the drill and +training they had been going through as independent companies. Now let +those companies be formed into a real army. It was idle to send any more +petitions to the King. + +"We must fight!" exclaimed Patrick Henry; "I repeat it, sir; we must +fight! An appeal to arms and the God of Hosts is all that is left us!" + +[Illustration: JOHN ADAMS, OF MASSACHUSETTS, WHO PROPOSED WASHINGTON FOR +COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.] + +A committee, of which Washington was one, was appointed to report a plan +for an army of Virginia. + +But when people make up their minds to fight, they know very well, if +they are sensible, that more than half the task before them is to find +means for feeding and clothing not only the troops but the people who +are dependent on the troops. Therefore the convention appointed another +committee, of which Washington also was a member, to devise a plan for +encouraging manufactures, so that the people could do without England. +Heretofore, the Virginians had done scarcely any manufacturing; nearly +everything they needed they had bought from England with tobacco. But if +they were to be at war with England, they must be making ready to +provide for themselves. It was late in the day to do anything; slavery, +though they did not then see it clearly, had made a variety of +industries impossible. However, the people were advised to form +associations to promote the raising of wool, cotton, flax, and hemp, and +to encourage the use of home manufactures. + +Washington was again chosen one of the delegates to the Continental +Congress, for the second Congress had been called to meet at +Philadelphia. He was even readier to go than before. On the day when he +was chosen, he wrote to his brother John Augustine Washington: "It is my +full intention to devote my life and fortune to the cause we are engaged +in, if needful." + +That was at the end of March. The second Continental Congress was to +meet on May 10; and just before Washington left Mount Vernon came the +news of Lexington and Concord. Curiously enough, the Governor of +Virginia had done just what Governor Gage had attempted to do; he had +seized some powder which was stored at Fredericksburg, and placed it for +safety on board a vessel of the British navy. The independent companies +at once met and called upon Washington to take command of them, that +they might compel the Governor to restore the powder. Washington kept +cool. The Governor promised to restore the powder, and Washington +advised the people to wait to see what Congress would do. + +When Congress met, the men who came together were no longer strangers to +one another. They had parted warm friends the previous fall; they had +gone to their several homes and now had come back more determined than +ever, and more united. Every one spoke of Lexington and Concord; and the +Massachusetts men told how large an army had already gathered around +Boston. But it was an army made up not only of Massachusetts men, but of +men from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. It was plain that +there must be some authority over such an army, and the Provincial +Congress of Massachusetts wrote to the Continental Congress at +Philadelphia, advising that body to assume control of all the forces, to +raise a continental army, appoint a commander, and do whatever else was +necessary to prepare for war. There had already been fighting; there was +an army; and it was no longer a war between Massachusetts and Great +Britain. + +I do not know what other delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia came +as soldiers, but there was one tall Virginian present who wore his +military coat; and when the talk fell upon appointing a commander, all +eyes were turned toward him. Every one, however, felt the gravity and +delicacy of the situation. Here was an army adopted by Congress; but it +was a New England army, and if the struggle were to come at Boston, it +was natural that the troops should mainly come from that neighborhood. +The colonies were widely separated; they had not acted much together. +Would it not be better, would it not save ill-feeling, if a New England +man were to command this New England army? + +There were some who thought thus; and besides, there was still a good +deal of difference of opinion as to the course to be pursued. Some were +all ready for independence; others, and perhaps the most, hoped to bring +the British to terms. Parties were rising in Congress; petty jealousies +were showing themselves, when suddenly John Adams, of Massachusetts, +seeing into what perplexities they were drifting, came forward with a +distinct proposition that Congress should adopt the army before Boston +and appoint a commander. He did not name Washington, but described him +as a certain gentleman from Virginia "who could unite the cordial +exertions of all the colonies better than any other person." No one +doubted who was meant, and Washington, confused and agitated, left the +room at once. + +Nothing else was now talked of. The delegates discussed the matter in +groups and small circles, and a few days afterward a Maryland delegate +formally nominated George Washington to be Commander-in-Chief of the +American Army. He was unanimously elected, but the honor of bringing him +distinctly before the Congress belongs to John Adams. It seems now a +very natural thing to do, but really it was something which required +wisdom and courage. When one sums up all Washington's military +experience at this time, it was not great, or such as to point him out +as unmistakably the leader of the American army. There was a general +then in command at Cambridge, who had seen more of war than Washington +had. But Washington was the leading military man in Virginia, and it was +for this reason that John Adams, as a New England man, urged his +election. The Congress had done something to bring the colonies +together; the war was to do more, but probably no single act really had +a more far-reaching significance in making the Union, than the act of +nominating the Virginian Washington by the New England Adams. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +Spring Beauties. + +BY HELEN GRAY CONE. + + + The Puritan Spring Beauties stood freshly clad for church; + A Thrush, white-breasted, o'er them sat singing on his perch. + "Happy be! for fair are ye!" the gentle singer told them. + But presently a buff-coat Bee came booming up to scold them. + "Vanity, oh, vanity! + Young maids, beware of vanity!" + Grumbled out the buff-coat Bee, + Half parson-like, half soldierly. + + The sweet-faced maidens trembled, with pretty, pinky blushes, + Convinced that it was wicked to listen to the Thrushes; + And when, that shady afternoon, I chanced that way to pass, + They hung their little bonnets down and looked into the grass. + All because the buff-coat Bee + Lectured them so solemnly:-- + "Vanity, oh, vanity! + Young maids, beware of vanity!" + +[Illustration] + + + + +HOW CONRAD LOST HIS SCHOOL-BOOKS. + +BY WALTER BOBBETT. + + +Conrad was not a prince, not even a lord; he was only an ordinary boy. +He should have been on his way to school; but, having a talent for doing +nothing, he was wandering about the fields and little strips of +woodland, amusing himself by watching the birds skim through the air. He +had lately been reading a volume of fairy-tales, and as he walked along +he began to wonder whether there really was a bit of truth in any of +them. + +[Illustration: "HE BECKONED TO CONRAD, WHO CROSSED THE STREAM ON A +SLIGHT PLANK BRIDGE."] + +He kept on thinking so intently about it, that he did not notice how +near he was to a little brook, until he found himself almost on the +point of tumbling into the water. This put a stop to his wondering, for +the next moment he stood staring in astonishment, not at the water, but +at a little old man who was sitting on the roots of a large tree that +grew on the opposite bank of the stream. He was dressed in a very +curious fashion. On his head he had a tall steeple-crowned hat, in which +were placed two long peacock's feathers. + +The little old man sat looking very attentively at Conrad, and seemed to +derive a great deal of comfort from a long pipe, which he was enjoying +so energetically that all around him the air was filled with smoke. At +last he beckoned to Conrad, who crossed the stream on a slight plank +bridge, and advanced toward him. + +By that time, Conrad had leaped to the conclusion, in his own mind, that +the very queer-looking old gentleman was an enchanter, and so he had +resolved to be very respectful, to do just as he was bidden, and to wait +very patiently for the little old man to speak first. + +Presently the little old man shifted the pipe for a moment, and asked: + +"What are those books that you are carrying?" + +"They are my school-books," said Conrad; "but I am tired of going to +school, and I wish to go with the fairies!" + +The little old man smiled a benevolent smile, and exclaimed: "Oh!" Then +he shifted his pipe again, and said quickly: + +"Give me the school-books." + +Conrad did so, at once. + +The little old man then opened a spelling-book, and turned to the +fly-leaf. + +"Conrad," said he. + +Conrad started, for he wondered how the little man had learned his name. +He himself had not once mentioned it. He was sure now that the queer +little person was an enchanter. + +"So, Conrad," said the little old man again, "you wish to go to the +fairies, do you? Well, you may go; but you must leave your books with me +until you come back." + +Conrad's attention was now attracted by a raven, which he saw standing +beside the enchanter, and which he had not noticed before. + +Turning to the bird, the enchanter said: "Give me my key." + +The raven hopped from a large key upon which it had been standing, and +taking it in its beak, presented it to its master. + +[Illustration] + +Conrad wished to ask if the raven would bite, and whether it could do +any better trick than carrying a key; but he thought this might be +considered an impertinent question, so he said nothing. + +"Take this key," said the little old man, "and be careful not to lose +it. Walk on until you come to the edge of yonder forest; pass straight +through the wood, and when you arrive at the other side, you will behold +a castle not far distant. You may find it difficult to gain admission; +but you must persevere. As to what will happen afterward, I may not tell +you now. One word more, and then begone; should you ever need my +assistance, blow down the key." + +Conrad was so astonished at all he had seen and heard, that he hardly +knew what to do; but as the little old man pointed in the direction of +the forest, Conrad bade him good-day, and walked away to follow the +orders he had received. + +He kept on until he came to the forest, which he entered. It seemed so +quiet and dark, that he would have been frightened, had he not +remembered that, in case of danger, he could depend on assistance from +the enchanter. + +At last he reached the end of the wood, and about a mile beyond, he saw +the castle with its gilded dome and all its windows shining in the +sunlight. This sight cheered him, and he walked on till he came to the +gateway. He found the great gates wide open; and no one prevented his +entering, as it happened to be a day on which the King received +petitions from those of his subjects who wished to present any. + +He passed on through the large court-yard, key in hand, and instead of +going in at the entrance to the court, he entered a little side door and +ascended a winding stairway. Up he went, higher and higher, till it +seemed as if the stairway would never end, when suddenly he came face to +face with an official who was descending. + +"What business have you here?" asked the officer. + +Conrad could not answer; so the man gently took hold of his ear and led +him down the stairs again, varying the monotony of the long descent by +giving the ear a severe pinch at every seventh step. Out through the +court-yard they passed, the bystanders all cheering and laughing; out of +the gate again; and with one final pinch, the boy was left sobbing on +the roadway. + +Poor Conrad had, indeed, found it difficult to gain admission to the +castle. Drying his tears, however, he began to walk around the outside +of the building, until at last he came to a ladder that was leaning +against a window. + +"The very thing!" said he; "it must have been left here on purpose for +me." + +Up he climbed, slipped in at the window, and dropped quietly to the +floor. + +He found himself in a large hall, through which he walked until he came +to an archway at the farther end. Before the archway hung an embroidered +curtain. Conrad pushed it aside, and entered a richly decorated room, at +the end of which stood a throne. Around it were assembled many nobles, +pages, and guards, who were awaiting the return of the King from +hunting. + +Few of them looked at Conrad. Some seemed to cast a scornful side-glance +at him, and one even told him to go back by the way he had come. Conrad +was not a whit daunted, however, and boldly holding up his key, so that +every one could see it, he walked up to a portly-looking gentleman, who +was dressed in black velvet and who wore a golden chain around his neck. +Conrad asked him what he was to do. The portly gentleman stared at him. +Conrad asked if any of the company were enchanted; "because," said he, +"if they are, I'll disenchant them with my key." + +"Enchanted?" said the gentleman in black. "What do you mean? Why do you +bother me about enchantment?" + +Conrad began to feel a little nervous, and to think that they did not +seem at all like enchanted folk; at least, they did not act like any he +had read about in his books. + +The enchanter had told him that he would meet with difficulties, but, +despite his confidence, he could not help getting very red in the face. +And by this time, all the gentlemen, except the one dressed in black, +were smiling. + +Suddenly, Conrad remembered what the little old man had said about +whistling down the key. Happy thought! He at once rushed up in front of +the portly gentleman with the black velvet suit and the golden chain, +and began to whistle in the key as hard as he could. + +But, at this performance, the nobles all stopped smiling and looked +first at one another, and then at Conrad, with very grave faces; one +even put his hand upon his sword. + +Now, it happened that the gentleman in black velvet was a Grand Duke and +the Prime Minister of the kingdom. At that moment he was thinking over +some important question of state, and the sight of Conrad whistling and +capering in front of him, just as he was settling everything to his own +satisfaction, made him so angry, that he stopped and stared at Conrad, +as if he could have stepped upon him. Conrad kept on whistling, but the +little enchanter did not come. "He must either be ill or very deaf," +thought Conrad, and he was just making up his mind that something was +wrong, when all doubts on the subject were removed by the Grand Duke, +who advanced toward him, picked him up by the collar of his jacket, and, +carrying him to a window, quietly dropped him out. + +[Illustration] + +Poor Conrad was very much shaken by his fall, and for a time was so +dazed that he could hardly realize what had happened. In a little while, +he began to collect his thoughts; but as he picked himself up, he +concluded, notwithstanding the difficulties he had encountered, that he +would try once more to gain admission to the castle. So he arose and +walked toward a door which he saw a few paces distant. + +His key fitted the lock perfectly. He pushed aside a sliding door, +walked in, and passed down a stairway, when he found himself in a dark +cellar. The floor was strewn with boxes and small barrels, over which he +stumbled, breaking some bottles that stood in his way. He began to feel +frightened, so he climbed to the top of a barrel, in order to get a +glimpse of his position and see if he could find his way out to +daylight. Suddenly the barrel-head gave way, and before he had time to +jump off, Conrad fell, up to his knees, in some soft powder. He +struggled to free himself, but only upset the barrel and covered himself +from head to foot with flour or fine meal. At last he called for +assistance; and a door, that he had not noticed until then, opened, and +a girl of about his own age came into the cellar, and asked what was the +matter. + +"I've tumbled into something; please come and help me out," cried +Conrad. + +She hurried to him, and with her aid he at last succeeded in freeing +himself. + +After brushing the dust from his hair and his clothes, he followed +where his new friend led the way, and entered a kitchen, thinking that +without doubt he was now in the presence of an enchanted princess, who +must have been waiting many years for some one to disenchant her. "To be +sure," thought he, "I am not a prince; but then that does not so much +matter; there is no telling but I may be one, some day;" so he decided +to ask the maiden how she had become enchanted. + +"Beautiful Princess," exclaimed he,----and he was just attempting a very +fine speech in the best fairy-story manner, when the young girl laughed, +and told him to be seated, and asked him if he would like to have a pie. +Conrad was astonished by this question from an enchanted princess; but, +without waiting for his reply, the girl walked toward a table on which +stood a number of mince-pies, and, taking up one of them, she placed it +before Conrad. + +That was not the way in which an enchanted princess was supposed to act; +but as Conrad was very hungry, he did not express his surprise, but +turned his attention to the pie. While he was eating, the princess +busied herself with beating some eggs in a large bowl, and before he +knew it, Conrad found that he had eaten all the pie. + +Then they talked about the weather and whatever else they happened to +think of; and at last, Conrad asked her how long she had been enchanted. + +"What!" exclaimed the princess. + +He repeated his question. + +"Why, what do you mean?" said she. + +He was just about explaining, when "tramp, tramp, tramp!"--the noise of +feet was heard coming down the stairs. The princess jumped up, and +cried: + +"Oh, run! Run quickly! I shall be punished if they find that I have +given you a pie!" + +"Oh, no," said Conrad; "do not be frightened! I will protect you from +them. I came to this castle on purpose to rescue you." + +"But I do not want to be rescued!" said she. "Do go, at once!" + +Tramp, tramp! Nearer and nearer came the sound,--almost to the bottom of +the stairs. Conrad felt for his key. + +"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed, "I must have lost my key when I fell into the +barrel! I never noticed that I was without it till now. All is lost! +Adieu, good Princess!" + +"Good-bye," said she; "only go!" + +He jumped upon a table, and climbed out of the window. It was all that +was left for him to do. After he was outside of the building, he turned, +and waving his hand to the princess, begged her to remember him. + +"I will come back to you, if I ever get my key again," he said; "and +then I'll disenchant you." + +At that moment the kitchen door opened, and Conrad saw a great light. It +might have been a bull's-eye lantern, but Conrad was sure that it was a +dragon that was pointing its fiery eye at him. + +"Oh, the poor princess!" said he. "If only I had my key!" + +Then, as the light flashed full at him, he became so frightened that he +turned and ran for the gate as hard as he could. He made his way across +the court-yard much faster than when he had come in, and soon he had +left the castle far behind. The houses began to be farther apart and to +have a more rustic appearance. He heard a cart coming along the road. + +"Please give me a ride!" he cried to the driver. + +"Yes, I will," said the man; "jump in." And Conrad clambered into the +cart. + +"You look tired," said the driver. "Lie down on that blanket and rest +yourself." + +Conrad gladly did as he was told and, feeling much fatigued after his +adventures, he was soon fast asleep. + +He did not awake until he felt himself carried out of the cart, and was +just enough awake to know that all the inmates of his father's house, +together with a few of the neighbors, were crowding about and asking him +where he had been. And that was all he noticed, for the next moment he +was off to sleep again, and was carried upstairs and put to bed. + +He did not feel very well the next morning, so the doctor was called in, +who advised that he should remain in the house for a few days, as he had +a slight fever. + +While at home, he told his aunt what had happened to him; but she only +patted his head, and told him that he must have been dreaming. But this +Conrad refused to believe. + +When he recovered, however, he became a much better boy, more quiet and +attentive to his studies; and it may be mentioned that, whenever any one +told a fairy-tale, he wore a very solemn face, took a back seat, and +said nothing. + +It is not known whether he still believes in fairies; but one thing is +certain--he never saw the little old enchanter again, nor the +school-books that he had left with him. + + + + +BLOSSOM-TIME. + +BY L. E. R. + + + Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees, + Pink and white drifting of petals sweet! + Kiss her and crown her our Lady of Blossoming, + There as she sits on the apple-tree sweet! + + Has she not gathered the summer about her? + See how it laughs from her lips and her eyes! + Think you the sun there would shine on without her? + Nay! 'Tis her smile keeps the gray from the skies! + + Fire of the rose, and snow of the jessamine, + Gold of the lily-dust hid in her hair; + Day holds his breath and Night comes up to look at her, + Leaving their strife for a vision so rare. + + Snow, snow, down from the apple-trees, + Pink and white drifting of petals sweet! + Kiss her, and crown her, and flutter adown her, + And carpet the ground for her dear little feet! + + + + +A SEARCH FOR THE LACE-LEAF. + +BY ALICE MAY. + +[Illustration] + + +Early one morning, a palanquin carried by native bearers, and containing +as passengers Mr. Steedman, an English missionary, and his little son +Harry, was proceeding up the one street of Biforana, a queer little +bamboo village on the island of Madagascar, situated about midway +between Antananarivo, the capital, and the eastern coast. + +Comparatively little is known of Madagascar, although the unsuccessful +attempt of France to obtain possession of it drew interest and attention +to it not many months ago. There are but two larger islands in the +world. As many of you know, it lies some two hundred and fifty miles to +the east of the African coast, is nine hundred and eighty miles long +and two hundred and fifty wide, and is therefore nearly four times as +large as England and Wales combined. + +The Queen of this island kingdom is a young woman with the curious name +of Rasendranovo Ranavalo III. She succeeded to the throne in 1883. She +is a Christian, as is also a large part of the population of her realm; +and there are numerous missionary stations throughout the island. + +Harry Steedman's father was one of these missionaries, and Harry himself +was accustomed to traveling by palanquin, since there are no roads nor +carriages to be found in Madagascar. + +[Illustration: "PASSING A GROVE OF PALMS KNOWN AS THE 'TRAVELER'S +TREE.'"] + +The palanquin was an oblong basket of bamboo, lined with plaited +sheepskin. The ends of the long poles or handles rested upon the +shoulders of four Madagascan bearers, while four others accompanied +these as a relay. Under the palanquin hood of woven palm-cloth, Mr. +Steedman reclined comfortably, while Harry nestled cozily at his feet; +and so, out of the village, and through the swamp of Biforana, the +procession moved until the mire became so thick that the palanquin could +not be carried with ease. As the next best mode of conveyance, the two +passengers were then transferred to the shoulders of two stout natives. + +[Illustration: PALANQUIN TRAVELING BECOMES UNCOMFORTABLE.] + +Mr. Steedman had started upon an expedition in search of the beautiful +lace-leaf plant, or water-yam, of Madagascar, which he was told grew in +the forests beyond Biforana, and which he was very desirous of finding +in its native state. Harry, after urgent solicitation, had been allowed +to accompany his father; but, as he clung to the neck of his swarthy +bearer, the little fellow found that there was not, after all, so much +fun in the trip as he had expected. And later on, when the palanquin, in +which they were soon seated again, was tossed and bumped by the slipping +and stumbling of the bearers as they climbed a very steep hill-side, he +began almost to wish himself at home. + +After passing a grove of the stately palms known as the "traveler's +tree," they found themselves on a path that led to the bank of a river. +They endeavored to ford it, but speedily found that the danger from deep +holes and ugly-looking crocodiles was too great for them to proceed. So +Raheh, the chief bearer, uttered a curious cry, or signal, which soon +brought into view a _lakana_, or canoe, rudely fashioned from a hollow +tree-trunk; and in it a native was paddling rapidly toward them. + +Harry and his father stepped into the rather shaky-looking craft not +without misgivings, but they were soon safely landed on the other +shore. When all had been thus ferried across and the native boatman had +been paid, the party entered the great forest of Alamazaotra, which +covers more than forty miles of wild and mountainous country. + +[Illustration: THE LACE-LEAF OF MADAGASCAR.] + +Their path at once led them through a gorge so narrow that the sides of +the palanquin grazed the rocky walls, and the masses of tangled foliage, +meeting far above their heads, almost entirely obscured the light. The +bearers paused for breath after climbing the steep ascent that led from +this gloomy pass, and Harry and his father exclaimed in wonder at the +strange beauty of the wild tropical forest. + +Gigantic palms upheld around their stately heads a leafy dome closely +interlaced by clinging vines. Long garlands of moss and climbing plants +crossed and recrossed this lofty roof, and from its shadowy arches great +masses of gray moss hung suspended. Here and there among the cool green +and gray tints of leaves and moss some tropical flowers and fruits +gleamed forth in bright flashes of scarlet and gold. + +Myriads of frail wood-blossoms hid their pale heads under the feathery +ferns that clustered about the roots of the trees, and the dead palms +were tenderly shrouded in waxy-leaved climbing vines, their graceful +fallen crowns replaced by masses of green ferns, intermingled with the +faint pink and blue tints of some rare orchid. On every side were little +groves of bamboo,--their light-green fringes contrasting with the darker +fronds of the stately tree-fern. + +Absolute silence reigned throughout this solitude, and Harry began to be +so oppressed by the stillness as to grow fearful of danger. But his +father explained that during the wet season, in which they were +traveling, insect life in these tropical forests is asleep, and Harry +himself knew that there were but few wild animals in Madagascar. Indeed, +with the exception of that curious animal, part fox, part squirrel, and +part monkey, that is peculiar to Madagascar and is called, from its +prowling habits and ghostly appearance, the lemur, or "ghostly visitor," +the great island possesses no large native quadrupeds. The hump-backed +African cattle and the singular fat-tailed sheep, now common throughout +the island, were not originally found in Madagascar, but were taken over +from Africa. + +The bearers of the palanquin clambered on, now over steep and +moss-covered rocks, now crossing sluggish streams on slippery +stepping-stones, or sliding down precipices, until poor Harry was so +rattled and shaken and tossed and tumbled that he declared he didn't +know his head from his heels. + +But, at last, a break occurred in the long stretch of rock and forest, +and as the bearers paused upon a piece of level ground, for a moment's +rest, Raheh suddenly uttered the joyful cry of "_rano!_" (water) and +all, on listening, distinguished the sound of a rushing stream. + +Urged on by Raheh, the bearers pushed ahead, and soon stood upon the +banks of a beautiful river, dashing merrily along over rocks and fallen +trees, until with a leap it disappeared in the shadows of the vast +forest. Upon the farther side was grouped a little village of the clay +huts belonging to the friendly Hovas, and beyond the village stretched +green fields of waving rice. The "Hovas" are the governing race in the +island, and are the most civilized. Their capital city of Antananarivo, +in the center of the island, is a well-built city of over 100,000 +inhabitants. + +A tree had fallen across the stream, with its head resting upon the +opposite bank, and this natural bridge was entirely covered with pink, +blue, and white flowers of the waxy orchid. This beautiful sight, +however, was unnoticed by Harry and his father, for in the water at +their feet was the object of their search, the Lattice or Lace leaf. + +[Illustration: MADAGASCAN DRINKING-CUP FORMED FROM A LEAF OF THE +"TRAVELER'S TREE."] + +The lace-leaf plant, or fresh-water yam as it is sometimes called +because of its potato-shaped or yam-like root, is found in many of the +rivers of Madagascar. The difficulty of obtaining it, however, makes it +a rare plant to Europeans; and when, a few days before, Mr. Steedman had +recognized in some "roasted potatoes," as Harry called the +pleasant-tasting vegetable that one of his boyish Madagascan friends had +given him to eat, the edible root of the lace-leaf plant, the missionary +had determined to make a careful search for the plant so prized by +naturalists. And now at last he had found it, bobbing backward and +forward in a fantastic dance just above the eddying waters of the +beautiful forest river. As soon as they recognized it, both Mr. Steedman +and his son were on the ground in an instant, and bending eagerly above +the clear stream. The water was so pure and limpid that every pebble +could be counted, and in the cool, bright current they saw, to their +delight, a perfect labyrinth of lace-work. Dozens of lace-leaves, green, +gold, olive, and brown, were floating just beneath the surface of the +water. + +"Oh, Papa! did you ever see anything so lovely?" said Harry, excitedly. + +Mr. Steedman could take but a one-sided view of those wonderful leaves, +as one glass from his spectacles had been lost during their rough +journey; but the remaining glass fairly sparkled with satisfaction. + +"Ah, my son, this plant is both lovely and rare. See, the young leaves +are light green and yellow; the older leaves are darker,--shades of +green and olive. A few are even black, and all growing from the same +root. How perfect is every leaf, in spite of its delicate texture! Some +of those larger leaves must be ten or twelve inches long. The strong +midrib in each serves as a support for the fragile threads forming the +meshes on each side." + +Harry now plunged his hand into the lace-like web, half expecting it to +dissolve in his grasp. But no! The wiry little yellow leaf which he +raised from the water, was perfect in form, and a gleam of sunlight, +falling upon the shining meshes, transformed them into threads of +glistening gold. + +He now discovered, as he examined them carefully, that the under +surfaces of the leaves, were glistening with little pearly bubbles of +air. + +[Illustration: RAHEH, THE GUIDE.] + +"Oh, Papa," he cried, joyously holding the glistening meshes aloft, "the +lace-leaves are jeweled!" + +"Yes, Harry," said his father, "those diamond drops are made by the +breathing of the plant." + +Mr. Steedman attempted to detach a root of one of the plants from its +bed of mud, but the little tendrils branching from it on every side held +the root firmly in its place. At last he succeeded in extricating the +little white threads, one by one, and removed the entire plant to the +bank. Its root, which is eaten in Madagascar, was very like the ginger +root, and had a tough, light-brown skin. + +Harry carefully placed the leaves of the plant in his herbarium, while +his father packed the root, with its native soil, in a tin case, +preparatory to sending it to the Botanical Society in London. + +"Harry," he said, as they finished their work, "this plant could be +easily reared in our green-houses--heat and moisture being all that is +required. But nature seems to have jealously surrounded these beautiful +leaves with almost impassable barriers, and the lace-plant is +comparatively unknown. + +"But come, my boy Raheh says '_maly-massandro_' (the sun is dead), and +it will be as long as 'two cookings of rice' (two half hours) before we +can be ferried across to yonder village and secure a place to pass the +night." + +And so, after Raheh had given Harry one last drink from the clear, cool +river, in the odd-looking leaf-cup he carried for the purpose, the tired +but successful lace-leaf hunters crossed over to the Hova village and +were soon fast asleep. + + + + +THE CARICATURE PLANT. + +BY M. A. + + +One of the most remarkable plants in the whole vegetable kingdom is that +known to botanists as the _Justicia Picta_, which has also been well +named "The Caricature Plant." + +At first sight, it appears to be a heavy, large-leafed plant, with +purple blossoms, chiefly remarkable for the light-yellow centers of its +dark-green leaves, which cause them to look as if some acid had been +spilled upon them and taken the color out wherever it had touched. + +As I stood looking at this odd plant and thinking what a sickly, +blighted appearance the queer, yellow stains gave it, I was suddenly +impressed with the fact that the plant was "making faces" at me. Still, +unaccustomed as I was to seeing plants indulge in this strictly human +amusement, I was slow to believe it, and stooped to read the somewhat +illegible inscription on the card below the plant--"_Justicia Picta_, or +'Caricature Plant.'" My first impression was correct then. This curious +shrub had indeed occupied itself in growing up in ridiculous caricatures +of the "human face divine," until it now stood, covered from the topmost +leaf down, with the queerest faces imaginable. Nature had taken to +caricaturing. The flesh-colored profiles stood out in strong relief +against the dark-green of the leaves. + +A discovery of one of these vegetable marks leads to an examination of a +second and a third leaf, until all are scanned as closely and curiously +as the leaves of the comic papers that form the caricature plants of +the literary kingdom. + +What a valuable plant this would be for one of our professional +caricaturists to have growing in his conservatory! When an order was +sent to him for a "speaking likeness" of some unhappy politician, he +could simply visit his _Justicia Picta_ with pencil and paper in hand, +and look over the leaves for a suitable squint, grin, or distorted nose +to sketch from. He could, moreover, affirm with truth that the portrait +was "taken from nature." Cuthbert Collingwood, the celebrated +naturalist, says of the _Justicia Picta_: "One of these plants in the +garden of Gustave Dore would be worth a fortune to him, supplying him +with a never-failing fund of grotesque physiognomies, from which he +might illustrate every serio-comic romance ever written." I have never +heard of the cultivation of the Caricature Plant in this country; but +botanists tell us that it is a hardy shrub. I think we should be glad to +see the funny faces on its leaves. After all the lovely flowers we are +called upon to admire, I am sure that a plant evidently intended to make +us laugh would receive a warm welcome from our young people. + +The Chinese appreciate the Caricature Plant, and in some parts of China +it is quite extensively cultivated. Perhaps some of the funny, grinning +faces on Chinese toys and ornaments are reproductions of the grotesque +features on the leaves of the plant. + +Finally, I must assure any unbelieving readers of ST. NICHOLAS that +neither in this account of a very remarkable plant, nor in the +accompanying illustration, has the writer drawn upon imagination. + +[Illustration: THE CARICATURE PLANT.] + +The _Justicia Picta_ really exists. It is a native of the East Indies, +and is a source of much amusement and curiosity to both botanists and +travelers. + + + + +VEGETABLE CLOTHING. + +BY C. J. RUSSELL. + + +About two hundred years ago the governor of the island of Jamaica, Sir +Thomas Lynch, sent to King Charles II. of England a vegetable necktie, +and a very good necktie it was, although it had grown on a tree and had +not been altered since it was taken from the tree. It was as soft and +white and delicate as lace, and it is not surprising that the King +should have expressed his doubts when he was told that the beautiful +fabric had grown on a tree in almost the exact condition in which he saw +it. It had been stretched a little, and that was all. + +But if King Charles was astonished to learn that neckties grew on trees +in Jamaica, what must have been the feelings of a stranger traveling in +Central America, on being told that mosquito-nets grew on trees in that +country? He had complained to his host that the mosquitoes had nearly +eaten him up the night before, and had been told in response that he +should have a new netting put over his bed. + +Satisfied with this statement, the traveler was turning away, but his +attention was arrested by his host's calmly continuing, "in fact, we are +going to strip a tree anyhow, because there is to be a wedding on the +estate, and we wish to have a dress ready for the bride." + +[Illustration: KING CHARLES'S VEGETABLE NECKTIE.] + +"You don't mean," said the traveler incredulously, "that +mosquito-netting and bridal dresses grow on trees, do you?" + +"That is just what I mean," replied his host. + +"All right," said the stranger, who fancied a joke was being attempted +at his expense, "let me see you gather the fruit and I will believe +you." + +"Certainly," was the answer; "follow the men, and you will see that I +speak the exact truth." + +Still looking for some jest, the stranger followed the two men who were +to pluck the singular fruit, and stood by when they stopped at a rather +small tree, bearing thick, glossy-green leaves, but nothing else which +the utmost effort of the imagination could convert into the netting or +the wedding garments. The tree was about twenty feet high and six inches +in diameter, and its bark looked much like that of a birch-tree. + +"Is this the tree?" asked the stranger. + +"Yes, senor," answered one of the men, with a smile. + +"I don't see the mosquito-netting nor the wedding-dress," said the +stranger, "and I can't see any joke either." + +"If the senor will wait a few minutes he will see all that was promised, +and more too," was the reply. "He will see that this tree can bear not +only mosquito-netting and wedding-dresses, but fish-nets and +neck-scarfs, mourning crape or bridal veils." + +The tree was without more ado cut down. Three strips of bark, each about +six inches wide and eight feet long, were taken from the trunk and +thrown into a stream of water. Then each man took a strip while it was +still in the water, and with the point of his knife separated a thin +layer of the inner bark from one end of the strip. This layer was then +taken in the fingers and gently pulled, whereupon it came away in an +even sheet of the entire width and length of the strip of bark. Twelve +sheets were thus taken from each strip of bark, and thrown into the +water. + +A light broke in upon the stranger's mind. Without a doubt these strips +were to be sewn together into one sheet. The plan seemed a good one and +the fabric thus formed might do, he thought, if no better cloth could be +had. + +The men were not through yet, however, for when each strip of bark had +yielded its twelve sheets, each sheet was taken from the water and +gradually stretched sidewise. The spectator could hardly believe his +eyes. The sheet broadened and broadened until from a close piece of +material six inches wide, it became a filmy cloud of delicate lace, over +three feet in width. The astonished gentleman was forced to confess that +no human-made loom ever turned out lace which could surpass in snowy +whiteness and gossamer-like delicacy that product of nature. + +The natural lace is not so regular in formation as the material called +illusion, so much worn by ladies in summer; but it is as soft and white, +and will bear washing, which is not true of illusion. In Jamaica and +Central America, this wonderful lace is put to all the uses mentioned by +the native to our traveler, and to more uses besides. In fact, among the +poorer people it supplies the place of manufactured cloth, which they +can not afford to buy; and the wealthier classes do not by any means +scorn it for ornamental use. + +Long before the white man found his way to this part of the world, the +Indians had known and used this vegetable cloth; so that what was so new +and wonderful to King Charles and Governor Sir Thomas Lynch was an old +story to the natives. Some time after King Charles received his +vegetable necktie, Sir Hans Sloane, whose art-collection and library +were the foundation of the British Museum, visited Jamaica. He described +the tree fully, and was the first person who told the civilized world +about it. The tree is commonly called the lace-bark tree. Its botanical +name is _Lagetto lintearia_. + + + + +WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY! + +[Illustration: THE PET GREYHOUND RESOLVES INDIGNANTLY THAT THE JAPANESE +"MUST GO!"] + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES. + + +X.--A CLEVER LITTLE YELLOW DOG. + +BY JOHN R. CORYELL. + +One cold winter night, not long ago, I took pity on a poor little +dejected-looking yellow puppy, and invited him into my house. Having +once taken him in, it was quite out of the question to think of turning +him out again. I was not afraid that I might be robbing anybody, for he +was the kind of dog that very few persons care to have. He was +dirty-yellow in color, very lank of body, and he seemed to be made up of +ill-assorted parts of different kinds of dogs. His legs, particularly, +seemed intended for some other dog and acted as if they never would +become reconciled to carrying the queer body to which they were joined. + +I should have preferred a handsome dog, but since I had no choice, I +determined to do my duty by the little outcast, and to give him such an +education that in the beauties of his mind the ugliness of his body +would be overlooked. + +The first thing needed for him was a name; and I tried to think of +something appropriate, but soon gave it up, and in default of a better +title called him Bob. To teach him the name was easy. I merely called +out the word "Bob!" every time I fed him. As it was important that he +should learn to look to me as the source of all his happiness and +instruction, I permitted no one else to feed him. It took him about a +week to learn his name, and to recognize the fact that all the +blandishments he could lavish on the cook would be of no avail, and that +his only hope was in me. + +At the very outset, I had made up my mind that under no circumstances +should he receive angry words or blows. He was a broken-spirited, +affectionate little puppy, and I was resolved that if there was no way +of teaching him except by brutality, he should remain ignorant all his +life. The abject way in which, to this day, he runs from a child makes +me feel sad. I fancy that much of his early life was spent in dodging +stones or snow-balls thrown by boys--not cruel, but thoughtless boys. + +It was necessary to control him, and I quickly discovered an easy way. +He was such a sensitive little fellow that when he once learned to love +me, he seemed to know by the tones of my voice whether I was pleased +with him, and to have me pleased seemed to be the one object of his +life. Therefore, if I saw him doing anything wrong, I had only to say +sharply and firmly, "No, Bob!" and down would go the tail and ears, and +he would slink shame-facedly to his special corner and from there watch +me until I would call him to me and pat his head. + +After a while, a quiet "No, Bob!" would effect the same result. This was +a great victory, and made most of the subsequent teaching merely a +matter of patience. + +The first real lesson was when I undertook to make him sit up. If he had +only known what I wished him to do, he would gladly have done it; but +the words "Sit up!" meant nothing to him. He was almost too willing, for +when I took hold of him to put him into a sitting position, he became as +limp as a wet rag, and seemed to be trying to put himself into a +condition to be twisted into any shape I chose. + +Then I put him into a corner and set him up, saying continually, "Sit +up! Sit up!" I held him up for a while and then took my hand away, but +at once he collapsed as if all the stiffening had suddenly left his +back-bone. Then I showed him a piece of sugar, of which he was very +fond, and immediately he was himself again. Once more, and many times +more, I put him in position in the corner, until at last, seemingly by +accident, he failed to fall over when I took my hand away. I did not tax +his endurance, but at once gave him the sugar. + +It took him about three days to grasp the idea that "sit up!" meant a +special performance, and that to achieve it meant a lump of sugar. Then +I put him through the same process in the middle of the room. He missed +the support of the wall at first, and fell over; whereupon he looked +foolish. One fact was evidently firmly fixed in his mind, however,--the +fact that there was sugar to be had if only he could do as I wished him +to do. All the time that he was struggling for balance, he kept his eye +on the lump of sugar, which I had on the floor beside me. Finally that +lesson was learned, and he could sit up if I would put him in position. +He knew, too, what "sit up!" meant. + +After that, I would not feed him until he had first sat up; but it was a +long time before he gained sufficient confidence in himself to sit up +without help. At first I helped him up by both paws; then I helped by +holding only one paw; then I merely touched one paw; then I only +motioned, as if about to touch the paw; and finally I simply said, "Sit +up!" + +I think Bob reasoned this all out in his own mind and concluded that +there must be some strange and beautiful power in the words "sit up!" +for he could see that whenever he did it, he had something to eat. I am +obliged to confess that Bob loved to eat; and after he had learned to +sit up, he was inclined to perform the feat morning, noon, and night, +and it was, of course, impossible to make him go away without first +giving him a morsel, however small, of food. + +[Illustration: AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS.] + +Lessons in standing up, walking and waltzing followed, and they were all +easily taught. In teaching him anything, I was always careful to +associate the action required of him with certain words. Standing, +walking on his hind legs, and waltzing were always "stand up!" "walk!" +"waltz about!" I never taught him more than one thing at a time, so that +there should be no possibility of his misunderstanding the meaning of +the word or words used. + +In teaching him to stand up, I first made him sit; then by holding a +piece of sugar over his head, I induced him to stand erect,--while I +kept repeating, "Stand up!" "Stand up!" After he had learned this +lesson, I made him first sit, then stand, and then, by going from him +and saying "Walk!" I made him follow me until he understood the +connection between the words and the action, even when I was at the +other end of the room. I taught him to "waltz" by making him go around +and around after a piece of sugar held over his head when he was +standing up. + +To make him go to his corner and lie down, without hurting his feelings, +was difficult. If I said sharply, "Go to your corner and lie down!" he +would go; but he would feel so badly that he could not play for half an +hour. But by repeating the command in gradually softening tones and by +giving him a piece of sugar each time, he eventually learned that he was +not thereby in disgrace. + +Seeing, however, how a sharp word would make his ears and tail droop, I +took advantage of this fact, and whenever he had done wrong I would +always say "Naughty!" a dozen times over, until at last I had only to +whisper "Naughty!"--and down would go those ensigns in a moment. On the +other hand, if I said "Good dog!" he was immediately on the alert, ears +up, head cocked to one side, and tail wagging, ready for any kind of +sport. + +After he had learned to walk, I taught him to go slowly when I said +"like a gentleman!" and quickly when I said "like a schoolboy!" To teach +him these things required patience principally; but I found that to +teach him some things taxed my ingenuity as well. + +I wished him to speak both softly and loudly; but how to make him do it +puzzled me. For Bob seldom barked except when engaged in uproarious +play, and at such times he was not susceptible to instruction. One day, +however, he had been playing with a little rubber ball, running after it +and bringing it to me until I was tired, a condition in which he never +seemed to be. + +To stop the game I put my foot on the ball, and picked up a book to +read. Bob waited a few moments to see what I was going to do, and +finding I was not going to play, tried to push my foot away with his +nose. Failing in that, he pulled with one paw. That also failed, and Bob +was puzzled. He retired a few steps, placed his head between his +forepaws on the floor and looked at me. I pretended not to see him, +curious to know what he would do. He remained perfectly still for nearly +a minute, and then, as if determined to attract my attention somehow, he +barked. + +There was my clew; I gave him the ball at once. In a few moments I again +placed my foot on the ball, and waited until I saw he was about to bark, +when I said, "Shout! Shout!" He barked, and I gave him the ball. I +repeated this several times a day, and day after day, until he learned +to bark whenever he wanted the ball and I said "Shout!" Then I made him +shout for his meals, and finally, he would "shout" whenever I told him +to do so. + +[Illustration: "BOB" JUMPING.] + +To make him speak softly, I took advantage of a fashion he had of +whining when he wished to go into the yard for a frolic. I would go to +the door and say, "Want to go out?" Bob would at once respond by +preparing to rush out the moment the door was opened. Then I would say, +"Speak softly!" and keep repeating the words until he whined. After a +while he would whine the moment I said, "Speak softly!" + +Another thing that I taught him was to fall down and lie motionless when +I said, "Dead!" This I accomplished by taking hold of his forefeet in +one hand and his hindfeet in the other, and suddenly dropping him on his +side on the floor, as I said the word "Dead!" several times. + +At first, Bob thought I was playing some new game with him, and prepared +for a good time, but I had only to say "No!" to him to make him sedate +at once. By this time he had learned that when I repeated a thing +several times, it was because he was to learn something; and the little +fellow really seemed to try to understand what I wished him to do. + +After I had pulled his feet from under him a number of times, and had +made him lie still until I said, "Alive!" I tried tapping a hindfoot and +a forefoot, at the same time saying "Dead!" He was a long time learning +this trick; and several times when I thought he had learned to do it +when I simply tapped his feet, I was obliged to go back and pull his +feet from under him. In time, however, he learned to fall the moment I +touched the side of one hindfoot. From that to motioning at the foot, +and finally, merely saying "Dead!" the progress was quick. To make him +jump up, I always said "Alive!" + +To make him go "lame" was very easy. I tied a long string to one +forefoot, and by saying, "Lame!" and at the same time making him walk, +while I prevented him from putting the tied foot down, he soon learned +to go on three legs. + +One of the funniest things he learned to do was to take his piece of +carpet, shake it well, and put it back in its place. It was through an +accident that I thought of teaching him to do this. I had been +accustomed to shake out his carpet in the yard every morning. One +morning I threw it on the grass to air. In a moment Bob had it in his +mouth and was worrying it, shaking it, and growling. He was playing, but +I saw that I could teach him something, and at once said, "Make your +bed!" By repeating this, morning after morning, he at last learned to +pick up his carpet, carry it out into the yard, shake it, and carry it +back. I could never teach him to lay it down properly, however; he +seemed to think it was as good in a heap as if nicely smoothed out. + +After I had taught Bob a number of tricks, I determined to write a play +for him. I do not believe that any human actor ever had audiences more +appreciative than his, when he performed in his "play." His little +friends were always ready to give him sugar by the handful if I did not +interfere, and Bob was always ready to take all that was offered. The +"play" was nothing more than a simple little story into which were +introduced the words which I used in commanding him to perform his +various tricks. I would repeat the story, and when I came to a word of +command, such as "dead," I would emphasize it so that Bob would at once +do whatever he had been taught to do at the sound of that word. The play +I wrote was about as follows:-- + +"Once upon a time there was a little dog named _Bob_ [here Bob would run +to me, and wait expectantly]. Usually he was a very _good dog_ [wag, +wag, would go his tail], but once in a while he was very _naughty_ [down +would drop ears and tail]. When he was a _good dog_ [happy again], he +would _sit up_ and show any little boy or girl how to behave. At such +times, he would _speak softly_ [prolonged whine], as a polite dog +should, though once in a while he would become excited, and _shout, +shout, shout_ [furious barking], as impolite children are sometimes apt +to do. + +"When a lady entered the room where he was, he would always _stand_ up, +ready to give her his chair if she wished it; or if she preferred to go +into the garden or the street, he would go with her and _walk like a +gentleman_. When he played, however, he could run _like a schoolboy_. +But once he was in the ball-room, he could _waltz about_ as well as the +best dancer there. + +"If any one ever said to him, '_go to your corner and lie down_' he +would do so at once like the well bred dog he was. But he was always +obedient and would come immediately as soon as one said _Bob_. + +"I was very sorry to hear one day that this remarkable dog was _dead_. I +felt so badly that I went to his house, but was pleasantly surprised +when I reached there, to find that he was very much _alive_." + +[Illustration: FETCH BRINGS IN THE PERVERSE COW.] + +What will be the limit of Bob's education I do not know, for he +continues to learn with increasing ease every day. In addition to all +that has been described, he can now, at the proper order of command, +sneeze, catch a piece of meat from his nose at the word "three," jump +over a cane, turn a somersault, and play tag. + + +XI.--A DOG THAT COULD COUNT. + +BY E. P. ROE. + +Old Fetch was a shepherd dog and lived in the Highlands of the Hudson. +His master kept nearly a dozen cows, and they ranged at will among the +hills during the day. When the sun was low in the west, his master would +say to his dog, "Bring the cows home"; and it was because the dog did +this task so well, that he was called Fetch. He would run to a flat rock +and hold his ear down close to it, having learned that he could thus +catch the far-off tinkle of the cow-bells better than in any other way. +If he could not hear them he would range about until he did, and then he +was off like a shot in the direction of the sound. + +One sultry day he departed as usual upon his evening task. From +scattered, shady, and grassy nooks, he at last gathered all the cattle +into a mountain road, leading to the distant barnyard. + +Switching off the flies with their tails, the cows jogged slowly +homeward, the tinkle of their bells gradually becoming more and more +distinct to the milkmaid who was awaiting them. One of the cows was +known to be a little perverse, and on that evening she gave fresh +evidence of willfulness. One part of the road ran through a low, moist +spot bordered by a thicket of black alder, and into this the cow pushed +her way, and stood quietly. The others passed on, followed some distance +in the rear by Fetch. He was panting from his exertions in the hot +evening, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he slowly and languidly +pursued his way. + +Indeed he had quite discarded his usual vigilance, and the perverse cow +took advantage of it. + +As the cows approached the barnyard gate, he quickened his pace, and +hurried forward, as if to say, "I'm here, attending to business." But +his complacency was disturbed as the cows filed through the gate. He +whined a little, and growled a little, attracting his master's +attention. Then he went to the high fence surrounding the yard, and +standing on his hindfeet peered between two of the rails. After looking +at the herd carefully for a time, he started off down the road again on +a full run. His master now observed that one of the cows was missing, +and he sat down on a rock to see what Fetch was going to do about it. +Before very long he heard the furious tinkling of a bell, and soon Fetch +appeared bringing in the perverse cow at a rapid pace, hastening her on +by frequently leaping up and catching her ear in his teeth. The gate was +again thrown open, and the cow, shaking her head from the pain of the +dog's rough reminders, was led through it in a way that she did not soon +forget. Fetch looked after her a moment with the air of one remarking to +himself, "You'll not try that trick again," and then he lay down quietly +to cool off in time for supper. + + +XII.--A CLEVER SHEEP DOG. + +A recent English writer tells the following story of an ingenious +sheep-dog that, when the flock took a wrong road, would turn them back +without worrying them. His owner had hesitated for some time before he +made up his mind to have a dog, as he had often seen dogs ill-use the +poor sheep. But believing that in most cases the dogs' harshness toward +the sheep was due to bad training, and not to their naturally evil +dispositions, he resolved to make trial of one. The dog he procured was +young; and he trained it after his own ideas. He soon found the docile +creature a very useful helper in driving a flock from one pasture to +another. The sheep often took a wrong turn, and then scampered off as +fast as they could go. At such times, most shepherds who had dogs were +accustomed to send the dog after the flock, at the top of its speed. Of +course, it soon overtook them, but the sheep were often much frightened, +and not infrequently hurt by falling down or by rushing against one +another. To prevent this, the shepherd mentioned would order his dog +"Smart" to go to the other side of the hedge, saying, "Now, go ahead, +and bring 'em back!" Smart would promptly obey, and would noiselessly +run along behind the hedge, sometimes even climbing a little slope by +the roadway, whence he could overlook the flock and see just where each +sheep was moving. As soon as Smart, by peeping over or through the +hedge, had satisfied himself that he was ahead of all the sheep, he +would come coolly out of the hedge and bring them back down the lane so +gently as not to cause them the least alarm. Smart never attempted to +get ahead of a flock in the way common to most of the dogs in that +vicinity,--by rushing past them and frightening them; but looking at his +master and wagging his tail, he would cross the hedge, overtake them, +and quietly drive them back into the right road. + + +XIII.--A STORY OF TWO BUCKETS. + +BY CHARLOTTE M. VAILE. + +There they were hanging, one of them out of sight in the cool, deep +water, and the other swinging empty in the sunshine, as Daisy Hadley and +her dog Bruno came up to the well. The little girl and the big dog had +been rambling about all the morning, following the brook through fields +of sunflowers and poppies, or climbing the rocks on the sides of the +mountains; but they were tired and thirsty now, and Daisy looked +wistfully at the empty bucket, wishing she were strong enough to pull it +down and bring the other, full and dripping, up in its place. + +"Bruno," she said reproachfully, "I wish you could draw me some water." +Bruno was a great, shaggy Newfoundland, that had been Daisy's play-mate +ever since she could remember. He was a wonderful dog. Daisy herself +would have told you that there were only a few things he could not do, +but unfortunately managing that well was one of them. So there was no +help for it, and Daisy was turning reluctantly away when she caught +sight of Mr. Paul Gregg, one of the other summer boarders in the Park. + +[Illustration: "A CLEVER SHEEP DOG." (SEE PRECEDING PAGE.)] + +If he had not come up just then, there would have been no story to tell, +and the buckets might have gone up and down in the well to this day +without taking part in any more remarkable event. But he _did_ come up; +and Daisy's face brightened, for they were great friends, though she was +only a little girl in the Kindergarten, and he was a tall young student. +He stopped when Daisy said she wanted some water; and putting down his +botanical box, he began to draw some gloves over his rather soft hands. + +"I don't like this kind of a well at all," said Daisy. "It isn't half as +nice as the one at my grandfather's. _That_ had only one bucket, with a +rope that went 'round and 'round a great roller; and there was a handle +that I could turn myself." + +"This is a very old and respectable kind of a well, though," said Mr. +Gregg, taking hold of the rope. "There must have been such wells as long +ago as Shakspere's time." + +"How do you know?" asked Daisy, who was sure that Shakspere lived a +great while ago, though she could not have told when. + +"Shakspere, you know, Daisy," said Mr. Gregg, "was a great poet who +lived hundreds of years ago, and in a play he wrote, called 'King +Richard II.,' he tells about just such a well as this. Richard was one +of the kings of England, and a very unlucky king he was, though I can't +deny that he brought his troubles on himself, for he was anything but a +wise and prudent ruler. At last his cousin Prince Henry raised a great +army and forced Richard to give up the crown. Poor King Richard did not +show much spirit when his troubles came; but, according to Shakspere, he +made a very neat speech, when his clever cousin Henry told him that he +had decided to become King himself. Among other things, Richard said +that the crown he must give up was + + 'Like a deep well + That owns two buckets filling one another; + The emptier ever dancing in the air, + The other down, unseen, and full of water; + That bucket down, and full of tears, am I, + Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.'" + +While Mr. Gregg was talking, the buckets in the well had changed places. +The one which had swung in the air so lightly at first had gone down out +of sight, and the other had come up ready to be emptied and to take its +place in the sunshine. + +Mr. Gregg paused now as he poured out some of the water. Daisy was +silent too, trying to understand it all. + +"What became of King Richard?" she asked presently. + +"He died in prison," said Mr. Gregg. "Some say his cousin Henry, who +took his place as king, had him put to death; and now," he added, +turning away from the well, "I think that I will see if your mother is +ready to go to dinner with us." + +Then he turned toward the cottage and left Daisy standing by the well. +She had not understood it all, but she felt very sorry for the unhappy +king, and she thought she knew why he said he was like the bucket in the +deep, dark water when he sank under his grief and shame never to see any +more bright days. + +She was leaning on the side of the well, with her hand upon the rope, +thinking very earnestly of it all and trying to catch a glimpse of the +bucket that was hanging there in the dark, when something dreadful +happened. Before she knew it, she had leaned over too far. She lost her +balance and fell over the side of the well. Down, down went the bucket, +more swiftly than it had ever gone before, and with it, but holding +desperately to the rope, went Daisy! There was only time for one +terrible cry--and she was out of sight in the well! + +There was no one there to save her,--Yes, there was Bruno! He heard the +cry. He saw his little friend go down, and with a bark that rang across +to the mountains, he rushed to the well. He leaped frantically against +the low wooden side just as the bucket which had been in the water rose +even with its edge. Somehow he managed to fling his heavy paws on it, +then his whole body, and then, all at once, it was Bruno that was going +down, down, but clinging to the bucket and howling as he went,--and +Daisy was coming up! + +It was only for a minute, therefore, that Daisy was in the water. The +next moment, thanks to the sudden pull at the other end of the rope, she +was rising again; and just as Bruno, loosened his hold of the bucket, +and dropped heavily into the water, Mr. Paul Gregg reached the side of +the well, seized the rope and drew Daisy to the top, gasping, shivering, +and frightened almost to death. + +As soon as Daisy could speak, she said, "Save Bruno!" But they had +already begun to do that, and they did save him, of course. The brave +old fellow was none the worse for his adventure. He dried himself in the +sunshine, and then lay down beside the rocking-chair where Daisy sat +folded in a soft wrap, with vaseline on her blistered hands. + +Daisy was none the worse for it either, in the end; though at first, +when her mother asked her how it happened and she tried to say something +about a "poor king," and "a bucket-full of tears," the poor lady was +afraid the plunge had affected her daughter's mind, and to this day she +is in doubt whether Shakspere or King Henry or Mr. Paul Gregg was +responsible for the accident. + +One thing however, was clear. It was Bruno who had saved her. Had he +really meant to go down with the bucket and rescue her? Daisy never had +a doubt of it herself. For the rest of the season he was the hero of the +Park. The summer guests bought him a silver collar beautifully engraved, +and Mr. Paul Gregg declared that he should propose his name as an +honorary member of the Humane Society. + +But Bruno's head was not turned with all those honors. He rambled +through the fields with Daisy as he had done before, and when she put +her arms around his neck, and said that he should be her dearest friend +forever, he was happier than if his collar had been made of gold, or +than if he had been elected president of the Humane Society. + + + + +THE SMALLEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD. + +BY C. F. HOLDER. + + +[Illustration: THE "GO-AS-YOU-PLEASE" RACE, AS SEEN THROUGH A MAGNIFYING +GLASS. (SEE PAGE 535.)] + +In a former number of ST. NICHOLAS the largest circus in the world was +described, and the curious animal actors were shown in many of their +tricks and performances. We now wish to exhibit another circus, the +smallest in the world, the performers in which, numbering several +hundreds, could all be carried about in a cherry-stone--in fact, a +circus of fleas, of such remarkable intelligence that in their various +feats they were quite equal to many of the larger trained animals with +which we are familiar. + +But before showing what the flea can do, let us look at its antecedents. +We know that it is a wingless fly,--a cousin to the house-flies on one +side, and to the crane-flies on the other; and a more knightly-looking +little creature you can not possibly imagine. Under the microscope we +see it covered with a rich polished armor resembling tortoise-shell. The +head is small, and supports two _antennae_ or feelers, composed of five +joints, and between these is the proboscis, a terrible affair. Upon +close examination with a powerful glass, what an array of piercing and +cutting blades are seen,--long, narrow, transparent knives, each edge +armed with a double row of glistening points that extend outward and +then are hooked backward! These are known as the mandibles, and fit +closely together, concealing another and smaller blade that has a +similar but single row of points. Besides all this, there are two +cutting-blades; the under edges are as sharp as sharp can be, while the +upper are thick and set with bristles. Do you wonder then that the flea +is so sharp a biter? + +On its armored head are two large eyes; and the entire body is seen to +be made up of a series of elastic armor-like bands wonderfully jointed, +and armed with bristling spines like the steel points on the armor of +olden times. The legs are six in number, jointed in so remarkable a +manner that they can be folded up one within another. When the flea +makes its prodigious leaps, these six legs all unfold at once, hurling +the little fellow high into the air. + +The baby flea is produced from a minute egg that in six days hatches +into a tiny worm. In about ten days, the worm changes into a chrysalis, +and in twelve days more it appears a perfect flea, ready for warfare +upon anything or anybody. + +Who first discovered that the flea was susceptible to education and kind +treatment is not known; but the fact remains that on their small heads +there is a thinking-cap capable of accomplishing great results. In the +selection of fleas for training, however, the same care must be taken as +with human beings, as the greatest difference is found in them. Some are +exceedingly apt scholars, while others never can learn, and so it is +that great numbers of fleas are experimented with before a troupe is +accepted. The Flea Circus here described was exhibited a few years ago +and was composed of about two hundred of the most distinguished and +intelligent fleas in the entire family. + +One of the first lessons taught the flea, is to control its jumping +powers, for if its great leaps should be taken in the middle of a +performance, there would be a sudden ending to the circus. To insure +against such a misfortune, the student flea is first placed in a glass +phial, and encouraged to jump as much as possible. Every leap here made +brings the polished head of the flea against the glass, hurling the +insect back, and throwing it this way and that, until, after a long and +sorry experience, and perhaps many head-aches, it makes up its mind +never to unfold its legs suddenly again. When it has proved this by +refusing to jump in the open air, the first and most important lesson is +complete, and it joins the troupe, and is daily harnessed and trained, +until, finally, it is pronounced ready to go on the stage or in the +ring. + +The famous Flea Circus was placed on an ordinary table, and resembled in +size and shape a common dinner plate. A rim several inches high +encircled the outer edge, and around the circle stood a number of small +wooden boxes--the houses of the performers, and the stables for their +carriages. The signal being given, the audience, consisting of one human +being, would take in hand the large magnifying glass, hold it over the +ring, and the performance would begin. At the word of command from the +director, a very jolly, red-faced old gentleman, armed with a pair of +pincers, a tiny trap-door in one of the wooden houses sprang open and a +number of fleas filed out. They passed around the circle in a dignified +manner, appearing through the glass about as large as wasps or bees. +Each flea had a gold cord about its waist, and this was the grand entry +always seen at the circus. Having completed the circuit, they returned +to their quarters, and the performance proper commenced. Five fleas, +each adorned with a different color, stepped from another house, and +after running about here and there, and being admonished by the +director, ranged themselves in a line, and at the word "go!" started on +a rush around the circle; running into each other, rolling over and +over, and making frantic leaps over one another. Only after half the +course had been gone over, did they move in regular order, and strive +fairly for the goal. In another moment, a large flea would have won the +race had not two laggards almost at the last instant, as if made +reckless by their evident risk of defeat, taken a desperate leap and +landed far beyond the winning-post. Forthwith they were taken up in the +pincers, and placed in solitary confinement in the glass phial, where it +was supposed they had learned not to jump. + +[Illustration: THE DANCE.] + +A dance was next announced and at a signal from the manager there came +tumbling out from the third house probably the most ludicrous band of +performers ever witnessed. Each dancer was in full regalia, like the +ladies who ride the padded horses in the regular circus, their dresses +of tissue paper being ornamented with purple, gold, and red hues. The +glass was placed in position, the spectator looked through it, the +performers were lifted in by the pincers, and the dance began--a mixture +of the Highland-fling, the sailor's hornpipe, and a "regular" +break-down. + +[Illustration: THE HURDLE-RACE.] + +The little creatures bobbed up and down, now on one claw, now on all +six, hopping, leaping, bowing, and scraping, moving forward and back, +bumping into one another, now up, now down, until they seemed utterly +exhausted, and several that had fallen down, and were kept by their +voluminous skirts from getting up, had to be carried off by the aid of +the ever-ready pincers. + +Next came a hurdle-race. Hurdles of thin silver wire were arranged, over +which two fleas were supposed to leap. One, however, was evidently very +lazy or very cunning, as it won the last race by crawling under the +wire. + +A clown flea now appeared in the ring, and crawled about in a comical +manner with a white clown's cap on its diminutive head. A moment later +out came a number of fleas all harnessed with gold wire trappings, and +the several vehicles were taken from the stables. There was a tally-ho +coach, smaller than a very small pea, an Eskimo sled, about a quarter of +an inch long, with wire runners, a trotting sulky, evidently made from +hair or bristles, and other gorgeous equipages. The tally-ho team of +four frantic fleas, evidently fiery steeds, was harnessed to the coach, +and on the top were placed four phlegmatic fleas that had probably been +booked as outsiders, while the insides were two others fleas, which, we +are sorry to say, were obliged to get in through the window, and acted +very much as if they wished to get out again. The other vehicles were +each provided with a steed and rider, and then all were drawn up in a +row. At the word of command, off they started pell-mell! The tally-ho +leaders evidently jumped their traces at first, but finally they were +off with a rush, running over the clown, knocking off his hat, and, for +the moment, creating a dreadful panic. The sled team threw its driver, +and the sulky ran away, the flea trotter actually leaping into the air, +sulky and all. But order was soon restored, and as the track was +arranged on the downhill principle, the racers made rapid time. In two +minutes the circuit was completed, the tally-ho coming in ahead, +without, however, its outside passengers, who were thrown off as the +coach was rounding the curve, and at once crawled into the nearest place +of refuge. + +[Illustration: SIGNOR PULEX IRRITANICI ON THE TIGHT-ROPE.] + +The last act of this wonderful circus was perhaps the best. The manager +arranged the stage by placing two very fine entomological pins about +four inches apart, connecting them by a slender silver wire, and then +announced that Signor _Pulex Irritanici_, the world-renowned tight-rope +performer, would attempt his wonderful feat of dancing upon the wire at +a "dizzy height" (compared to the size of the performer). The Signor was +then brought out in a small bottle of cut-glass; his only ornament was a +little jacket of tissue-paper. When fished out and placed upon the +pin-head, he boldly started out upon the wire over which his little +clawed toes seemed to fit. In the middle, and over the terrific abyss, +he balanced up and down for a second, stood upon his longest legs, and +then moved on, crossing in safety, and thus ending the circus, at least +for that occasion. + + + + +ROCK-A-BYE. + +BY MARY N. PRESCOTT. + + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, upon the tree-top," + To her young the mother-bird sings, + "When the wind's still, the rocking will stop, + And then you may all use your wings." + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, under the eaves," + The swallow croons to her brood, + "Here you are safer, my children, from thieves + Than if I had built in the wood." + + "Rock-a-bye, babies, the river runs deep," + The reed-bird trills to her flock, + "The river stirs only to sing you to sleep, + The wind your green cradle to rock!" + + + + +WHAT BERTIE SAW IN THE FLOWERS. + +BY L. G. R. + +[Illustration] + + + Buttercup! Buttercup! + Hold your shining clusters up! + In each little house of gold, + What is this that I behold? + Twenty soldiers, straight and slim, + Golden-helmeted and prim. + All day long so still they stand, + Never turning head or hand; + No one guesses where they stray + In the moonlight nights of May. + When the fairies are abroad, + These small men keep watch and ward; + Round the fairy ring they pace + All night long, to guard the place; + But when morning comes again, + Back are all the little men. + + + + +KEEPING THE CREAM OF ONE'S READING. + +BY MARGARET MEREDITH. + + +My plan dates from a few delightful weeks which I spent with a girl +friend, long ago. We were devoted to poetry and to reading aloud; and in +that occupation we had the aid of a brilliant, accomplished young woman. +She selected for us from Coleridge, Shelley, and several other authors, +whose entire works she knew we would not care to read, all the specially +fine poems or passages, and these we read and discussed with her over +our fancy-work. It was charming. At last, she suggested that, as I was +soon to go away and leave the books and clippings with which I had been +growing familiar, it would be helpful for me to write down the choicest +bits, and try in that way to keep in some degree what I had gained. This +I did, putting the extracts in a school copy-book which our friend +dubbed "Snippers,"--from an odd seamstress word which she had picked up +by chance. + +Other "snipper" books followed when that one, years after, had been +filled. + +My system is an orderly one. All my books are broad-paged and +wide-lined, thus preventing the cramped and crowded writing which often +makes such books unreadable. When I find anything which strikes me as +worth keeping, I note on a slip of paper, somewhat longer than the book +I am reading, the number of the page and make a perpendicular line +beneath it, with a cross line indicating the relative position of the +sentence which I wish to keep, thus: + +[Illustration: 23] + +If the page is in columns, I make, instead of the single line, a rough +parallelogram, and note within it by square dots the relative positions +of the sentences chosen for preservation, thus: + +[Illustration: 187] + +This slip of paper I use as a book-mark until it is filled or the book +is finished, noting upon it, as indicated, the choicest passages and +their positions on the pages. When I have finished the book I go +carefully over these selected sentences. Many are discarded; the rest go +into my "snippers." Below the first entry and to the right, I place the +name of the book and its author, both heavily underscored; below the +others, the word "Ibid" or "ditto," underscored. At the top of each page +I note the year, and at the head of each batch of extracts the month or +day. + +Paragraphs cut from newspapers, which are worth saving, are pasted as a +fly-leaf to the inner edge of the page, or even slipped under the +binding thread. + +In carrying out my plan I am always content with hasty work,--but I +write plainly, and if possible with ink, as much fingering destroys +pencil-marks. I once tried classifying the extracts, but this scarcely +paid for the trouble. + +I used sometimes to wonder whether these books of selections were of any +real value. But I have grown now to prize them greatly. Many a time I go +to them for a dimly remembered phrase or passage. Sometimes, too, I read +them over, for of course they give me the essence of what I most like +and admire in my reading. A short time since I lent one to a literary +friend, and was surprised to find she enjoyed it so greatly that she was +almost unwilling to give it back. + +I am very glad that I began this practice in my young days. It gives +very little trouble, and that little is a pleasure. + +There is a familiar expression about an "embarrassment of riches." This +is the greatest disappointment I experience with my "snippers." For, +occasionally, a book has too many good things in it to be easily copied, +and then my only relief is to own it and, marking it vol. _X_, add it to +my row of extract-books. + +[Illustration: THE END] + + + + +WONDERS OF THE ALPHABET. + +BY HENRY ECKFORD. + + +THIRD PAPER. + +Perhaps you have never given a thought to the fact that, because you +were born into a nation using an alphabet that came down from the +Phoenicians, you are saved a world of trouble. But consider the Chinese. +If a Chinese boy and an American boy begin to learn their letters at the +same time, each studying his own writing, then by the time the American +is ten years old he has advanced as far in the use of letters as the +Chinese boy will have advanced in the use of his when he is twenty years +old. That is the same as saying that Chinese writing is three or four +times as hard to learn as English. Think of spending the years between +ten and twenty in learning to read! On the other hand, the long +apprenticeship of Chinese and Japanese boys to their letters does them +good in one way. They paint their letters with a brush on soft paper. By +this means they learn very early to be skillful with the brush, which is +one reason why Chinese and Japanese artists are so very dexterous with +their brushes. + +All writing, let it be remembered, must have begun with pictures. It is +largely Chinese writing which has explained how all sorts of letters +were gradually changed from pictures to an alphabet, in which hardly a +single letter tells from what picture it started. The Japanese tongue is +quite different from the Chinese. But the use by the Japanese of signs +employed ages before by the Chinese explains another step in the +progress of language. The writing of the Mexican Indians also helps us +to understand the growth of alphabets. When, ages ago, the Chinese began +to write, they drew little pictures of the things they wished to +represent, as did the Egyptians before them in their picture-writing; +and from picture-writing they made some advance in the direction of +sound-writing, or rebuses. Then the little rebus-pictures were so much +altered that it became very difficult to see what they once meant. + +Now Chinese is a queer language. All its words are only one syllable +long. But the sounds in the Chinese language are not very many, some +four hundred and sixty-five at most, and their written language contains +about eighty thousand pictures, each picture representing a thing or +idea. And these pictures must be committed to memory. This is hard work, +and not even the wisest Chinese professor can learn them all. But now +comes a difficulty. For, of course, where there are so many words and +so few sounds, many different words have to be called by the same sound. +How then are they to tell, when several different things have exactly +the same name which of them is meant? + +[Illustration: REBUS-PICTURES FROM THE OLD CHINESE, SHOWING THE +BEGINNINGS OF PICTURE-WRITING. + +1. A Month. (From a picture of the moon.) 2. The Eye. 3. A Horse. 4. An +Ax. 5. Rain. 6. Face. 7. A Dragon. 8. Bamboo. 9. Rhinoceros. 10. Dawn. +(From the rising sun.)] + +We have such words. For instance, there is Bill, the name of a boy; and +bill, the beak of a bird; there is bill, an old weapon, and bill, a +piece of money; there is bill, an article over which legislatures +debate, and bill, a claim for payment of money; besides bills of +exchange, bills of lading, and so forth. But Chinese is full of such +words of a single syllable, _yen_, for instance, which, like bill, means +many very different things. So they chose a number of little pictures, +and agreed that these should be used as "keys." The Chinese "keys" were +used like the Egyptian "determinative signs," of which I told you. Each +"key" meant that the sign or signs near which it stood belonged to some +large general set of things, like things of the vegetable, mineral, or +animal kingdom, forests, mines, or seas, air, or water, or of persons, +like gods or men. It was like the game called Throwing Light, in which +you guess the article by narrowing down the field until certain what it +is. + +But there Chinese writing stopped short, thousands of years ago. There +it is to-day. There are now two hundred and fourteen of these "keys," +and, by intense application, Chinamen learn to use their method with +surprising quickness and success. + +The Japanese acted toward Chinese writing much as the Phoenicians did +toward Egyptian writing. The Japanese, a very intelligent people, made +what you have learned to know as a syllabary, out of signs taken from +the Chinese symbols. It is called a syllabary, you remember, because +each sign stood in their language for a syllable. They had to do this, +because, while Chinese is all short syllables, Japanese is a language of +much longer words even than ours. They cut down and simplified the +Chinese signs, giving them names of their own. In this way they manage +to write very swiftly. And, while not so clumsy as the Chinese fashion, +the Japanese method is clumsier than is the use of an alphabet. In late +years, a society has been started in Japan to do away altogether with +their old-time writing, and adopt our alphabet. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +Perhaps, by this time, you are beginning to see how very slowly +alphabets have grown, and how hard it has been for human beings to +perfect them. Knowing this, will you not look now with more interest on +written and printed words? When you see letters, will you not reflect +what a history each one has, reaching far back into the remotest past, +where at first all seems dark, and where, when light does come, the very +number and variety of materials perplex the student of alphabets? +Moreover, will you not feel ashamed of people who laugh or sneer at +savage nations who have no sound-writing, no syllabary, no alphabet? It +does not mean that in such races all men are stupid. As a rule it means +simply that the race has not had a fair chance. It has been racked by +wars. Or it has never come in contact peacefully with some nation that +used a method of writing a trifle better than its own, so that the +brighter minds could establish schools of learning. When one nation +conquers another, the higher and cleverer minds among the conquered are +often the first to be destroyed. The best of our Indians of North and +South America seem to have been the first to fall in battle with the +whites, or to have died off because of their cruelty. The reason why the +others, who lived with or near the white settlers, did not readily +borrow our way of writing in their turn, as we had borrowed from the +Romans, the Romans from the Greeks and Phoenicians, and the latter from +the Egyptians, seems to be that our system was too far advanced for +them. But if the first white settlers in Central and South America had +been kind and wise men, instead of coarse and greedy people, they could +have found tribes and nations almost as advanced in their mode of +writing as the Japanese, though not the equals of the Japanese in +architecture and the fine arts. These tribes could have learned our +alphabet if care had been taken to instruct their superior men. It is +certain that the Aztecs, or Mexican Indians, had advanced very far on +the road to a true alphabet. When the cruel Spaniards arrived and upset +their governments, destroyed their temples, massacred, enslaved and then +shamefully neglected them, they had already reached the art of +rebus-writing. The name of the Mexican King, Knife-Snake, or, Itz-Coatl +was written in this way: Itzli means knives, and Coatl, snake. There, in +Fig. 1, is the snake, and on his back are knives made of flint. They +even went farther. The same name, Itz-Coatl, was also written as in Fig. +2. The flint-headed arrow means _Itz_; the jar, called _Comitl_, stands +for _Co_; and the branch, a picture of water in drops, stands for _atl_, +water. And it has been asserted that certain neighbors of the Aztecs or +Mexicans, known as the Maya Indians of Yucatan, who were ancient people +of Central America, left ruins of cities covering square miles of forest +and plain, and had reached nearly if not quite to the invention of an +alphabet of vowels and consonants. But the latest authorities agree that +such a Maya alphabet as the Spaniards reported may have been invented +after the whites arrived. Specimens of Maya writing may be seen in +Washington, at the Smithsonian Institute, on slabs and on paper casts +taken from their idols or statues of kings and priests. It was not by +the Maya system, but by one of rebuses, that the old missionaries wrote +what few books they composed for their unhappy Indian congregations. +Only lately a book composed in picture-writing throughout, was printed +for the Mikmak Indians of Newfoundland. + +In the next paper we will endeavor to trace the road by which our +English alphabet came down from the Phoenicians, that ancient folk of +the palm-tree and the Red Sea, whose alphabet you saw in the first paper +of this series. + + The illustrations of this article are reproduced, by + permission, from a notable French work on ancient + Hieroglyphics by Prof. L. De Rosny, of Paris. + + + + +BUBBLE BOWLING + +BY ADELIA B. BEARD. + + +"Nothing new in bubbles! Every one knows how to blow bubbles!" Of course +they do, and yet, the game I am about to describe is an entirely new and +a very interesting one. + +When the game of Bubble Bowling was played for the first time, it +furnished an evening's entertainment, not only for the children, but for +grown people also; even a well known General and his staff, who graced +the occasion with their presence, joined in the sport, and seemed to +enjoy it equally with their youthful competitors. Loud was the chorus of +"Bravo!" and merry the laugh of exultation when the pretty crystal ball +passed safely through its goal; and sympathy was freely expressed in +many an "Oh!" and "Too bad!" as the wayward bubble rolled gayly off +toward the floor, or, reaching the goal, dashed itself against one of +the stakes and instantly vanished into thin air. + +Bubble parties are delightful, as most children know from experience, +and it is unnecessary, therefore, to give a description of them here. I +propose merely to introduce bubble bowling as a feature in these +entertainments, which will furnish no end of amusement and jollity, and +add increased enjoyment and variety to the programme. + +The game should be played upon a long, narrow table, made simply of a +board five feet long and eighteen inches wide, resting upon ordinary +wooden "horses." On top of the table, and at a distance of twelve inches +from one end, should be fastened in an upright position, two stakes +twelve inches high; the space between the stakes should be eight inches, +which will make each stand four inches from the nearest edge of the +table. When finished, the table must be covered with some sort of woolen +cloth; an old shawl or a breadth of colored flannel will answer the +purpose excellently. Small holes must be cut at the right distance for +the stakes to pass through. The cloth should be allowed to fall over the +edge of the table, and must not be fastened down, as it will sometimes +be necessary to remove it in order to let it dry. It will be found more +convenient, therefore, to use two covers, if they can be provided, as +there can then always be a dry cloth ready to replace the one that has +become too damp. The bubbles are apt to stick when they come upon wet +spots, and the bowling can be carried on in a much more lively manner if +the course is kept dry. Each of the stakes forming the goal should be +wound with bright ribbons of contrasting colors, entwined from the +bottom up, and ending in a bow at the top. This bow can be secured in +place by driving a small, or brass-headed tack through the ribbon into +the top of the stake. If the rough pine legs of the table seem too +unsightly, they can easily be painted. Or a curtain may be made of +bright-colored cretonne,--any other material will do as well, provided +the colors are pleasing,--and tucked around the edge of the table, so as +to fall in folds to the floor. The illustration on this page shows the +top of the table, when ready for the game. + +[Illustration] + +For an impromptu affair, a table can be made by placing a leaf of a +dining-table across the backs of two chairs, and covering it with a +shawl. The stakes can be held in an upright position by sticking them in +the tubes of large spools. This sort of table the children can arrange +themselves, and it answers the purpose very nicely. The other things to +be provided for the game are a large bowl of strong soapsuds, made with +common brown soap, and as many pipes as there are players. + +The prizes for the winners of the game may consist of any trinkets or +small articles that the fancy or taste of the hostess may suggest. +Bubble Bowling can be played in two ways. The first method requires an +even number of players, and these must be divided into two equal +parties. This is easily accomplished by selecting two children for +captains, and allowing each captain to choose, alternately, a recruit +for his party until the ranks are filled, or in other words, until all +the children have been chosen; then, ranked by age, or in any other +manner preferred, they form in line on either side of the table. A pipe +is given to each child by the hostess, and they stand prepared for the +contest. One of the captains first takes his place at the foot of the +table, where he must remain while he is bowling, as a bubble passing +between the stakes is not counted unless blown through the goal from the +end of the table. + +The bowl of soapsuds is placed upon a small stand by the side of the +bowling-table, and the next in rank to the captain, belonging to same +party, dips his pipe into the suds and blows a bubble, not too large, +which he then tosses upon the table in front of the captain, who as +first bowler, stands ready to blow the bubble on its course down through +the goal. Three successive trials are allowed each player; the bubbles +which break before the bowler has started them, are not counted. + +The names of all the players, divided as they are into two parties, are +written down on a slate or paper, and whenever a bubble is sent through +the goal, a mark is set down opposite the name of the successful bowler. + +When the captain has had his three trials, the captain on the other side +becomes bowler, and the next in rank of his own party blows the bubbles +for him. When this captain retires, the member of the opposite party, +ranking next to the captain, takes the bowler's place and is assisted by +the one whose name is next on the list of his own side; after him the +player next to the captain on the other side; and so on until the last +on the list has his turn, when the captain then becomes assistant and +blows the bubbles. + +The number of marks required for either side to win the game, must be +decided by the number of players; if there are twenty,--ten players on +each side,--thirty marks would be a good limit for the winning score. + +When the game has been decided, a prize is given to that member of each +party who has the greatest number of marks against his or her name +showing that he or she has sent the bubble through the goal oftener than +any player on the same side. Or, if preferred, prizes maybe given to +every child belonging to the winning party. + +The other way in which Bubble Bowling may be played is much simpler, and +does not require an even number of players, as no sides are formed. Each +bowler plays for himself, and is allowed five successive trials; if +three bubbles out of the five be blown through the goal, the player is +entitled to a prize. The child acting as assistant becomes the next +bowler, and so on until the last in turn becomes bowler, when the one +who began the game takes the place of assistant. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE KNICKERBOCKER BOY. + + +BY CAROLINE S. KING. + +[Illustration] + + + I. + + I'm a knickerbocker boy! + See my coat and breeches! + Cuffs and collar, pocket too-- + Made with many stitches! + I must have a watch and chain, + A silk umbrella and a cane.-- + No more kilts and skirts for me! + I'm a big boy--don't you see? + + + II. + + Knickerbockers! Knickerbockers! + Give away my other clothes! + Give away my horse with rockers; + I want one that really goes. + Two brisk, prancing goats will do; + But I'd like a wagon too. + No more chairs hitched up for me! + I'm a big boy--don't you see? + + + + +THE BROWNIES ON ROLLER SKATES. + +BY PALMER COX. + + + The Brownies planned at close of day + To reach a town some miles away, + Where roller skating, so 't was said, + Of all amusements kept ahead. + + Said one: "When deeper shadows fall + We'll cross the river, find the hall, + And learn the nature of the sport + Of which we hear such good report." + +[Illustration] + + To reach the bridge that led to town, + With eager steps they hastened down; + But recent rains had caused a rise-- + The stream was now a fearful size; + The bridge was nearly swept away, + Submerged in parts, and wet with spray. + + But when the cunning Brownies get + Their mind on some maneuver set, + Nor wind nor flood, nor frost nor fire + Can ever make the rogues retire. + + Some walked the dripping logs with ease, + While others crept on hands and knees + With movements rather safe than fast, + And inch by inch the danger passed. + + Now, guided by the rumbling sound + That told where skaters circled 'round, + Through dimly lighted streets they flew, + And close about the building drew. + + Without delay the active band, + By spouts and other means at hand, + Of skill and daring furnished proof + And gained possession of the roof; + Then through the skylight viewed the show + Presented by the crowds below. + +[Illustration] + + Said one: "While I survey that floor + I'm filled with longing more and more, + And discontent with me will bide + Till 'round the rink I smoothly glide. + At night I've ridden through the air, + Where bats abide, and owls repair, + + I've rolled in surf of ocean wide, + And coasted down the mountain-side, + And now to sweep around a hall + On roller skates would crown it all." + + "My plans," the leader answer made, + "Are in my mind already laid. + + Within an hour the folk below + Will quit their sport and homeward go; + Then will the time be ripe, indeed, + For us to leave this roof with speed, + And prove how well our toes and heels + We may command when set on wheels." + + When came the closing hour at last, + And people from the rink had passed, + The Brownies hurried down to find + The roller skates they'd left behind. + +[Illustration] + + Then such a scene was there as few + May ever have a chance to view. + Some hardly circled 'round the place, + Before they moved with ease and grace, + And skated freely to and fro, + Upon a single heel or toe. + Some coats were torn beyond repair, + By catches here and clutches there, + When those who felt their faith give way, + Grabbed right and left without delay; + While some who strove a friend to aid, + Upon the floor themselves were laid, + To spread confusion there awhile, + As large and larger grew the pile. + + Some rose with fingers out of joint, + Or black and blue at every point; + And few but felt some portion sore, + From introductions to the floor. + But such mishaps were lost to sight, + Amid the common wild delight,-- + For little fuss do Brownies make + O'er bump or bruise or even break. + + And had that night been long as those + That spread a shade o'er polar snows, + The Brownies would have kept the floor, + And never thought of sash or door. + + But stars at length began to wane, + And dawn came creeping through the pane; + And, much against the will of all, + The rogues were forced to leave the hall. + + + + +EASTER CAROL. + +BY WM. E. ASHMALL. + + + I. Sing a - loud for Christ our King, Our lov - ing Sav - iour dear; + + Let our hap - py voi - ces ring, To all the earth good cheer. + + Al - le - lu - ia! Al - le - lu - ia! Al - le - lu - ia! A - men. + + 2 For He is risen up on high, + From earth and dreary grave; + Christ is risen! is our cry, + He lives again to save. + Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. + + 3 Sing aloud for Christ our King, + For Christ, the Saviour, born; + This carol ever we will sing, + On this, our Easter morn. + Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen. + + + + +THE HANDIWORK OF SOME CLEVER SCHOOL-BOYS. + +BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + + +The Fair of the American Institute held annually in New York, is chiefly +a display from the various American trades showing improvement and +advancement; here designers and inventors also present many novelties +and useful inventions for public criticism and judgment. + +One feature of the Fair of 1885 that attracted much attention and +comment, was the novel and unique display of mechanical models designed +and constructed by the boys of the third grade in Grammar-School, No. +57, one of the public schools of New York City. The work exhibited by +these boys is peculiarly interesting and suggestive, and is an +indication of what observant, thoughtful, and intelligent boys can +devise and do when their tastes and natural inclinations are developed. + +The boys' models were made at home, after class-hours, and on odd +holidays during the six months previous to exhibition, and were +primarily intended to illustrate the principles of the six mechanical +powers,--the inclined plane, the lever, the wedge, the pulley, the wheel +and axle, and the screw. When the American Institute Fair opened, an +inclined railway, with its platform and cars; a miniature guillotine, +with ready knife; a dumb-waiter in full working order; a derrick +prepared to raise many weights; a pile-driver with its automatically +dropped weight, the sound of which never failed to attract +attention,--all these, with other models, occupied a space in Machinery +Hall. + +During the morning hours, curtains screened the models; in the afternoon +the youthful exhibitors arrived and took special delight in showing the +working of their designs. The pleasant hours spent there, the praise of +visitors, and the recognition and commendation accorded by the press +will be long remembered by the boys. At the closing of the Fair, the +exhibit was awarded the Medal of Merit. + +The illustrations on pages 548 and 550 show the models exhibited. Figure +1 represents an alcoholic furnace, illustrating the expansion of a brass +rod by heat. A cylinder of tin, fifteen inches in height and five in +diameter, is hinged to a base of wood and arranged so as to tilt to the +left. A lever fifteen inches long opens and closes a damper; this lever +(an umbrella rod) is inserted in a pivoted rod of wood two inches long, +supported in a square frame made of an inch strip of tin bent twice at +right angles and soldered to the cylinder. + +A brass banner rod, seven inches long, also connects with this rod and, +passing through an inch opening, is supported in the flame of an alcohol +lamp and fastened on the opposite side by a tiny brass knob screwed on +the protruding thread of the rod. A small pulley and weight steadies the +motion of the lever. + +The heat of the alcohol flame causes the brass rod to lengthen, and this +in turn moves the lever which opens the damper; and the degree of +expansion is indicated on a paper scale by a straw pointer attached to +the rod of the damper. A coating of copper bronze was given to the +cylinder. This model was made in part by Winfred C. Rhoades. + +Figure 2 shows a forge made by William E. Tappae. A hand-bellows is +mounted on a wooden base about ten by twenty-four inches in size, and is +worked by a lever handle supported in a frame twenty-six inches in +height. The bellows consists of two boards connected by flexible leather +tacked to the edges. The upper board is stationary, and an inch central +opening is covered on the inside by a two-inch flap of chamois fastened +at one point, forming a valve. + +As the handle is pushed up, the air rushes in, and when pulled down, the +valve closes and the compressed air is forced through the metal nozzle +to the glowing coals. The carved-wood anvil was stained black and the +other parts were painted a bright vermilion. + +Figure 3 explains one way of connecting levers, and their uses as a +mechanical aid. The base is four by fifteen inches in size, and the +pillars are respectively six and ten inches in height, and are firmly +mortised and glued into the base. The upper lever is eighteen inches in +length, and connects with the ten-inch lower lever. + +The lead weights, sliding on the narrow edges of the levers, balance +each other, and show how the heavy wagon of coal is balanced in the +office by the weight on the scale-beam. + +A wedge made of oak ten inches in height and five inches in width is +indicated by Figure 4. + +Figure 5 represents a diminutive pile-driver, twenty-eight inches in +length, showing the plan and action of a large machine. + +[Illustration: SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER 14 YEARS +OF AGE. + +DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + +Fig. 1. FURNACE + +Fig. 2. FORGE + +Fig. 3. LEVER SCALES + +Fig. 4. WEDGE + +Fig. 5. PILE DRIVER + +Fig. 6. SCREW PRESS + +Fig. 7. INCLINED RAILWAY] + +The two-pound drop-hammer falls a distance of twenty-two inches in the +grooves of the vertical posts which are mortised and glued into the +base, as are also the oblique braces to which are attached the bobbin, +or axle, and crank, on which the cord is wound that raises the hammer. +This hammer is a flat piece of iron having two pieces of wood, each four +by two and one-half inches in size, cemented to it. A wire hook is +attached just above, and the extended arm of the hook as the weight +nears the top, meets a projecting pin, and slips the weight from the +cord. + +Figure 6 is the model of a wood-press useful in pressing flowers for an +herbarium. The base and pressure board are each ten inches square, the +supports eight inches in height, and a wooden screw connected with the +upper board turns in the cross-piece. This and the models shown in the +drawings numbered 3, 5, and 10 were made by Harry Stoecker. + +Figure 7 represents the model of an inclined railway constructed upon +the plan of the inclined railway actually in use between Hoboken and +Jersey City Heights. A board forty-five inches in length and ten inches +in width connects the terminal platforms of this model. The upper +platform rests on a support thirty-three inches in height; to this +support is attached an axle turned by a crank, on which are wound the +reversed cords which connect with the ascending and descending +platforms. These platforms are mounted on rollers and the cars while in +motion are kept in a horizontal position. This model was constructed by +Everett L. Thompson. + +The same boy constructed also the model shown in Figure 8--a dumb-waiter +with original arrangement of cords and pulleys. The frame is thirty-six +inches in height, eleven inches in width, and five inches in depth. +Inside, a carrier with shelves is raised by a cord passing over four +pulleys, the action of which may be seen through glass slips fitted in +grooves. To the end of a cord is attached a weight which balances the +weight of the carrier and contents. The frame-work was stained a dark +mahogany color, oiled and varnished. + +Figure 9 represents a miniature guillotine as made by David W. Benedict. +It was copied after one brought from France and exhibited at a +well-known museum in New York City. + +The frame is twenty-two inches in height, and the block to which is +fastened the tin blade, falls through the grooves in the posts to the +rest upon which lies the head of the criminal. The cord raising the +block runs over the pulleys, and is wound on the cleat when not in use. +A box beneath receives the head of the imaginary victim as it falls. The +machine with the exception of the blade was painted in bright vermilion +and varnished. + +Figure 10 shows a small derrick constructed after a sketch of one used +in the erection of the Madison Avenue bridge across the Harlem River. A +mast of maple twenty-seven inches in length is mortised into an oak +base, ten by twelve inches in size. A projecting arm, or jib, is +fastened to the mast by a clasp of heavy tin. A cord and pulley keep the +jib at a proper angle with the mast. The weight is hooked to a double +pulley connected with the single pulley near the end of the jib; the +cord, passing over a wheel in the mast and then passing downward, is +wound upon the axle by turning the crank; a toothed wheel and ratchet +stops the weight at the desired height. Neater pulleys than could be +purchased were made by joining two wooden buttons and placing them in a +whittled frame bound with piano-wire. The mast and jib were painted a +dark blue and the base was polished and varnished. + +Figure 11 shows a model of a foundry crane, much admired for its +accuracy of design and finish. It was made by George Chase, of seasoned +maple with iron and brass connections. A swinging jib is pivoted at the +top to a brass plate screwed to the cross-piece of the frame, and turns +on a steel pin fitted to a plate on the base. A carriage travels along +the jib, being kept at the required distance by a cord passing over a +wheel at the end of the jib. A cord attached to the carriage passes over +a pulley connected with the weight, and also over the wheel of the +carriage, to the wheel directing it to the axle, which is turned by a +cog-wheel and pinion taken from an old clock. + +The carrier of the elevator shown in Figure 12 is hoisted by a cord +passing over a small iron pulley fixed to the cross-beam of the grooved +posts, and thence to the spool, or axle turned by a crank. + +A clock-spring attached to a square wooden rosette is shown by Figure +13. + +Figure 14 represents a pump improvised by John B. Cartwright from an old +mincing-machine. + +A handle turns a series of spur-wheels, which in turn give a rapid +motion to a twelve-inch walking-beam. To one end of this walking-beam is +attached a piston-rod, with a soft rubber disk working in a brass +cylinder five inches long and three and a half inches in diameter. Iron +fittings, including two brass valves, one on each side, connect with the +cylinder; an air-chamber is formed with a fitting and cap. The suction +caused by the upward motion of the piston will draw water from a pail or +cup through a rubber tube connected with the end fitting of the +right-hand valve, then through the valve to the cylinder; the downward +motion of the piston causes the water to pass through the left-hand +valve to the receiving vessel, and the air-chamber tends to make the +flow regular. Parts of the machine were painted blue and striped with +gold bronze. + +[Illustration: SIMPLE MECHANICAL APPARATUS MADE BY BOYS UNDER FOURTEEN +YEARS OF AGE.--DRAWN BY J. ABDON DONNEGAN. + +Fig. 8 A DUMB WAITER + +Fig. 9. GUILLOTINE + +Fig. 10. A DERRICK + +Fig. 11. FOUNDRY CRANE + +Fig. 12. BRICK & MORTAR ELEVATOR + +Fig. 13. CLOCK SPRING + +Fig. 14. FORCE PUMP + +Fig. 15. SIMPLE SUN MAGIC LANTERN OR HELIOSTAT. + +Fig. 15.A. + +Fig. 16. ARC ELECTRIC LAMP] + +By the removal of one pane of glass from a window facing south, the +apparatus shown in Figure 15 may be used, like a magic lantern, to +project transparencies, in a darkened room. + +A pine board, fourteen inches square and one inch in thickness, has an +opening in the middle to receive a wooden frame seven inches square, +holding a six-inch cosmorama lens, having a focus of eighteen inches. A +three-inch plano-convex lens having a focus of nine inches, mounted in a +wooden frame, slides along a slit or opening in a board hinged to the +inner side of the board which is cleated to the window. + +A plate-glass mirror, eight by fifteen inches in size, is secured to a +board hinged to a wooden rod, which can be turned from the inside, and +is raised and lowered by a cord winding on a key. The mirror is lowered +and inclined until the sunlight is reflected through the lenses, and +then a circle of intense light, from ten to fifteen feet in diameter +appears on the wall or screen. Both lenses will not cost more than two +dollars, and the apparatus will most impressively illustrate experiments +in light and sound. + +An easily made electric lamp is shown by Figure 16. An Argand chimney is +fastened to a wooden base, with the cement known as "Stratena," and +partly filled with water. A cork coated with paraffine is placed inside +the chimney, and a rod of carbon twelve inches long and one-sixteenth of +an inch in thickness being inserted in the cork, the upward pressure of +the water on the cork causes the end of the carbon rod to come in slight +contact with a thick rod of carbon which is fastened obliquely to a +square piece of wood, cemented near the top of the chimney. A brass chip +fastened to the wood keeps the thin rod of carbon in position, and when +two copper wires connect the carbons with six to ten jars of a +bichromate battery, a light appears where the two carbons meet. As the +thin rod wastes away, the cork rises and keeps the end of the rod +almost in contact with the other carbon point. + +An ambition to creditably make a mechanical contrivance or apparatus is +noticeably characteristic of many boys. The construction of an aquarium, +a sailboat, or a telescope, or some similar object, is of absorbing +interest to such lads; and the making of the electrical apparatus of +straws, sealing-wax, etcetera, once described by Professor Tyndall, has +merely tasked the ingenuity of thinking boys to improve upon the +apparatus. + +Many educators maintain that manual training of a pleasant character, +adapted to the age of the pupils, should form an essential element in +the education of boys and girls, and should be placed on a par with the +regular studies. There is no doubt that such instruction stimulates +ambition and tends to develop taste, skill, and natural invention. At +the same time an insight into mechanical occupations, with some +practical experience in the handling of tools, may assist a boy in +choosing a calling suited to his taste, and better prepare him to enter +some practical industry, if his choice should incline toward such an +occupation. + +A few years ago, manual training in modeling, wood-carving, carpentry, +forge-work, and other branches, was introduced into a technical course +in the College of the City of New York, in East Twenty-third street. +To-day it is one of the most interesting features of the College work, +and is highly appreciated by the students. Private schools in this city, +as also some of the public and private schools of Boston and +Philadelphia, have introduced the workshop into their methods of +instruction, and devote a few hours in each week to practical and manual +labor. + +The models illustrated in this article represent many well spent and +helpful hours of recreation, and other boys may find pleasure and profit +in making similar use of their leisure time and their powers of +handicraft. + + + + +A NEW VIEW OF THE MOON. + +BY EVA LOVETT CARSON. + + + A little boy just two years old, + Or maybe two months older, + Came riding home across the lot, + Perched on his father's shoulder. + + "Look, Oswald! Hold your head up straight! + (Do stop that dreadful drumming!) + See, just above where Mamma stands + A little moon is coming!" + + The baby lifts his round blue eyes; + The moon laughs at their glancing. + To see the wonder of his gaze + 'Most sets the moon a-dancing. + + Frowning, he solved the problem soon; + Indignantly he spoke it: + "Papa, dat's not the big wound moon; + I fink _somebody b'oke it_!" + + + + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. + + +[Illustration] + + Away--ho, away!--Let us off on a quest! + To the North--to the South--to the East--to the West! + To the West, to find where the sunsets go + When the skies are as red as roses a-blow; + To the East, to see whence the mornings come; + To the South, the Summer to track to her home; + To the North, by the gleam of the Polar Star, + And Night's aurora flaming afar, + To seek, in the keen and biting weather, + The lodestone that holds the world together. + +Now and then somebody writes out the very thoughts of the birds; and +then again, others tell me very prettily just what they think ought to +be felt by the tuneful-minded little creatures. Here, for instance, +comes this scrap of verse from my friend Emily A. Braddock that I hope +not only you children, but all of my birds will hear. I don't allude so +much to the sparrows and such stay-at-homes as to my migratory, or +go-away birds. I'm sure they'd be delighted at a poet's way of putting +things. It will give them something to go for. As for myself, I've not +started yet, so we'll proceed to discuss a certain odd saying for which +it seems the world is indebted to one sort of these migratory birds: + + "EVERYTHING IS LOVELY, AND THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH." + +This expression, the Little School-ma'am says, is a corruption of an +old-fashioned saying that originated in the early days of this country. + +As most of you know, wild geese, when they migrate in autumn, form +themselves into lines shaped like the letter V, the leader flying at the +point, the two lines following; and as they sail away, far above the +trees, and beyond all danger from guns--on those cold mornings when the +air is clear, and the sky beautifully blue--they seem full of glee, and +join in a chorus, "_Honk, honk, honk!_" + +Any one who has heard those curiously sounding notes, the Little +School-ma'am says, never could mistake them for anything else. And the +folks on the earth below who heard the birds' wild call, in old times, +realized the happiness of the winged creatures in being so high and +safe. And so it became quite natural, when two persons met each other +under peculiarly favorable circumstances for this or that enterprise, +for them to say: "Everything is lovely and the goose honks high!" + + +GIRLS! TO THE RESCUE! + +Before we leave our dear birds, moreover, I have a special message for +you this month in their behalf: + +"You must not forget, friend Jack," says the Deacon, "to give the boys +and girls, especially the girls, my May-time sermon about the Audubon +Society." + +Forget it? Not I, indeed! Nor would you, if you could have seen the +honest and hearty indignation of the good Deacon and the Little +School-ma'am, as he read to her a printed circular telling all about the +monstrous wrong which the Audubon Society has nobly begun to fight. You +must know, dear girls, that this "monstrous wrong" is the custom of +wearing feathers and skins of birds on your hats and dresses. As I am an +honest Jack, I don't see how girls and their mammas, who, as everybody +knows, are supposed to have hearts more tender than men or boys, could +ever have been induced to follow so abominable a fashion. "Abominable" +is rather a strong word, I suppose; but it is the very one which the +good Deacon used when he read the printed slip. And the Little +School-ma'am--bless her!--actually gave a nod of satisfaction when she +heard it. As for me, no word would be too strong to express my feelings +on the subject. + +But I'll be content now with giving you what the Deacon calls "two plain +facts" about this fashion, and letting them speak for themselves. "You +must know then," says the Deacon, "that a single collector of ornamental +feathers in this country has declared that he handles every year about +_thirty thousand_ bird-skins, almost all of which are used for millinery +purposes; and that another man collected from the shooters in one small +district within four months, about _seventy thousand_ birds! + +"Now, Jack," adds the Deacon, "tell your young hearers to ask themselves +and their parents, whether this slaughter shall continue? The Audubon +Society says 'no!' Its membership is free to every one who is willing to +lend a helping hand to its objects. And its objects are to prevent as +far as possible, first, the killing of any wild birds not used for food; +second, the destruction of nests or eggs of wild birds; and third, the +wearing of feathers as ornaments or trimmings for dress. And certainly +women and girls can do much, in fact everything, for this third object." + +All the older readers of ST. NICHOLAS will remember the army of +bird-defenders which it established years ago. The Deacon says that +there is a call for a new army, and all that you need do to join it, my +girls, is to refuse to wear feathers on your hats or dresses. If all the +women and girls who now follow that cruel fashion would but abandon it, +the needless slaughter of the birds would soon be at an end. + + +ABOUT LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. + + "FELIXSTOW," BRIGHTWOOD (NEAR WASHINGTON). + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I am a little boy just six years + old. I live in the country about six miles from Washington. + I am very much interested in reading "Little Lord + Fauntleroy," because Mrs. Burnett, the lady who wrote it, + was out at our house last spring, and told us the story, and + I want to see if she changed it before she put it in the + book. I tell you, her own little boys, Lionel and Vivian, + are nice fellows to play with! I have a nice pony named Joe, + lots of chickens, a dog, and two cats, but I like digging in + the ground most. I raised a lot of pop-corn last year. + Somebody is writing this for me, but I am telling him what + to write. My little brother Paul bothers me considerably + when I want to make things. + + Good bye, dear Jack; you are a nice fellow. Your friend, + + FELIX RENOUF HOLT. + +"Felix is not alone," says the Little School-ma'am, "in his admiration +for Little Lord Fauntleroy. The children of the Red School House all are +charmed with his lordship, and for myself I consider him one of the very +sweetest and noblest little boys in English literature." + + +FISHING FOR NECKLACES. + +According to my friend, Ernest Ingersoll, a large proportion of the red +coral used by jewelers in making ornaments comes from the Mediterranean +coast of Algeria, where it is gathered chiefly by an ingenious machine. +Nets, the meshes of which are loose, are hung on the bars of a cross, +and dragged at the bottom of the sea among the nooks and crevices of the +rocks. These nets, winding about the branches of the coralline growth, +break off its branches, which adhere to the meshes. When he thinks it is +laden, the fisherman draws the net to the surface and helps himself to +the coral. This is sold in various markets, and afterward worked into +ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, and other pretty articles for girls and +their mammas. + + +A SUGGESTION TO THE BOTTLED FISH. + + READING, MASS., + + DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I read in the February number about + the bottled fish. I think it is very queer. In "Grimm's + Fairy Tales" there is a story about a fox that crept into a + hole where there was something to eat. After he ate it he + grew so fat that he could not get out, and he stayed there + till the farmer found him and killed him. I suppose it was + the same way with the fish, only he fed on oysters, and as I + think there are no farmers at the bottom of the sea, he + stayed there till he was drawn up. If I had been that fish, + I would have starved myself till I was thin enough to get + out. I have taken St. Nicholas since I was two years old, + and my mamma says she brought me up on it, so you see I have + been well brought up. + + I remain yours truly, + + E. S. K. PACKARD. + + +THE NEWSPAPER PLANT. + +You are to be told in this month's ST. NICHOLAS, I hear, about a curious +"lace-leaf," a "vegetable necktie," and a "caricature plant." If so, +this is a good time for me to show you a curiosity called the newspaper +plant, which the Little School-ma'am described the other day to the +young folk of the Red School House. + +It seems that in certain far-away countries called New Mexico and +Arizona, there are great tracts of desolate desert lands, where the very +hills seem destitute of life and beauty, and where the earth is +shriveled from centuries of terrible heat. And in these desert-tracts +grow a curious, misshapen, grotesque and twisted plant that seems more +like a goblin tree than a real one. + +Of all the trees in the world, you would imagine this to be the most +outcast and worthless--so meager a living does it obtain from the waste +of sand and gravel in which it grows. And yet this goblin tree is now +being sought after and utilized in one of the world's greatest +industries--an industry that affects the daily needs of civilization, +and is of especial importance to every girl and boy who reads the pages +of ST. NICHOLAS. + +Those wise folk, the botanists, call our goblin tree by its odd Indian +name of the "Yucca" palm. + +[Illustration: THE YUCCA PALM.] + +This plant of the desert for a long time was considered valueless. But +not long ago it was discovered that the fiber of the Yucca could be made +into an excellent paper.[E] And now one of the great English dailies, +the London _Telegraph_, is printed upon paper made from this goblin +tree. Indeed, the _Telegraph_ has purchased a large plantation in +Arizona, merely for the purpose of cultivating this tree, and +manufacturing paper from it. So, you see, the Yucca is now a newspaper +plant. + + +ONE MORE LIVING BAROMETER. + + DEAR JACK: As you have told us so much about living + barometers, I want to tell you that I have one. Mine is a + red squirrel. Just before a "cold snap" she will be surly + and sleepy. When she is angry, she will spread her lower + teeth apart. She will play like a kitten. I call her Gipsy, + and she is my chief pet. + + Your constant reader, + + M. M. M. + +[Footnote E: For an article describing the manufacture of paper, see ST. +NICHOLAS for August, 1884, page 808.] + + + + +EDITORIAL NOTES. + + +In a note which accompanied the article in our present number, "When +Shakspere was a Boy," Miss Kingsley desires us to state that she owes +much valuable information about charms (mentioned on page 488), and also +about Shaksperean games and customs, to Mr. Richard Savage, of the +Shakspere Birthplace Museum, Stratford-on-Avon. + + * * * * * + +In his story of "The Great Snow-ball Fight," printed in our March +number, Mr. Barnard showed how some boys put out the fire in the Widow +Lawson's house, by snow-balling it. This may have appeared to some +readers almost impossible, but it was based upon an actual occurrence. +And an instance of that mode of at least preventing a fire, was recorded +in the New York papers of February 11th. It appears in an account of the +burning of the stables of the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, at Hempstead, Long +Island. "No modern appliance for extinguishing fire was at hand," says +one journal, "but there was plenty of snow, and this was banked up about +the adjoining stables, and undoubtedly saved them from being burned. +Whenever sparks from the burning building fell on the adjacent barns, +they were quickly extinguished by well-directed snow-balls thrown upon +them." + + +THE LETTER-BOX. + + CONCORD, N. H. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Lena and I play dolls very often, but the + latest game we play is throwing cards into a hat placed on + the floor about six feet away. Lena put in thirty-two out of + fifty-two. If you have room enough to print this in your + Letter-box, I should like to read it. + + Yours truly, + + RUTH A. M. + +That is a very nice game, Ruth, although six feet seems a long distance +for a small girl to toss the cards. We have seen grown folk try the game +at four feet, and then several of them could not put one in twenty into +the hat; so Lena's score of thirty-two out of fifty-two is a fine one. +The game can be played with any kind of cards, and with sides or by +individuals. The largest number of cards thrown into the hat, either by +one person or by a side, makes the winning score. If played by sides, +not more than twenty cards should be used, and each side should play +five rounds, thus making one hundred the highest possible score for any +player. + + * * * * * + + MIDDLETOWN, CONN. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am anxious to have the March number + come, so that I can see how Little Lord Fauntleroy's + grandfather treats him. That serial story I enjoy very much. + I go to a private girls' school in the morning, and study + German in the afternoon with my mother. + + With much love I am your faithful reader, + + HELEN W. A. + + * * * * * + + PROVIDENCE, R. I. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: This is the first time that I have + written to you. + + I have a funny story to tell about a mouse. My canary bird + used to hang up in our nursery-window on a chain. Sometimes + in the evening or night, we would hear mice running around, + and in the morning we would find that some of the seed was + gone. Mamma thought it was a mouse, but _we_ did not think + so. Papa had been trying to catch them in a trap, but did + not catch many. We then thought that we would try another + way. So Papa took the cage down and put a pail of water on + the chain, and when the little mouse went up the chain, as + he used to do, instead of going in the cage, he went in the + pail of water and was drowned. This is a true story. I am + eleven years old. Good-bye. + + am your constant reader, + + B. G. H. + + * * * * * + + CARRINGTON, DAKOTA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: You do not know me at all, but I know you + and love you so much! When you were brought to me this + morning I almost kissed your bright face for joy. It was + stormy this morning, and I was tired playing with kitty; + besides that I had been waiting so long to read some more + about Little Lord Fauntleroy! He is such a brave, wise + little boy! Will you ask Mrs. Burnett to please not make him + unhappy with his grandfather? Ever since we had our + Christmas entertainment, I have wanted to tell you about it, + but have been too sick to write you. We called it "An + Evening with Mother Goose and the Brownies." Yes,--we had + all the cute little boys in Carrington dressed up like + Brownies. They did mischief very nicely, all quietly in + their stocking-feet. While Mother Goose was singing her + melodies, they came and stole away her goose, and they + pelted Mother Hubbard with paper balls when she sang that + song in the ST. NICHOLAS: "I had an Educated Pug." In the + tableaux, they tripped up Jack and Jill, upset Blue-beard, + stole Jack Horner's plum, overturned the bachelor's + wheelbarrow, little wife and all, let the spider down from a + tree on little Miss Muffett, and tied Bo-peep's sheep-tails + to a tree, and woke her up with their baa's. Then we had + "The House that Jack built," just like it is in the ST. + NICHOLAS, for Nov. 1883. It was just splendid, and so funny; + but when the rat was to come out of "The House that Jack + built," the cat had put his foot on the string and it broke, + so the cat couldn't come out. Then the maiden all forlorn + picked up the rat, threw it at the cat, and everybody just + roared! + + I am nine years old, and my name is, + + THEODORA C. + + * * * * * + + NEW HARTFORD, IOWA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I believe the little girls that take the + ST. NICHOLAS will like to hear about my numerous paper + dolls. I have a whole town of them, and they all have their + names written on their backs. I was so interested in "The + Firm of Big Brain, Little Brain & Co." After I read it, I + kept thinking what my "Big Brain" was telegraphing. Well, my + big brain telegraphs to my hand, that if it writes any more, + the letter will be too long to print. So good-bye. I am + + One of your many friends, + + GRACE C. + + * * * * * + + WOODLAND, CAL. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I think you are the nicest magazine in + the whole world. I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a + beautiful story. It seems so real. Cedric reminds me of my + little cousin Birdie (that is his pet name). One day his + aunt (who is an artist) asked him if he did not want her to + paint him. He said: "I had rather be as I are." He is nearly + four years old. I live on a vineyard of 160 acres. + + Your faithful reader, + + LILLIAN H. + + * * * * * + + FORT ASSINABOINE, MON. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I commenced taking your paper five months + ago, and I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is the best story + I ever read. + + We have plenty of skating here, and fifty ponies to ride. + + Another boy is writing a letter to you too. We live 200 + miles from Helena and we have to go in a stage or wait till + the river opens. + + We only have to go to school in the morning, and we play all + the rest of the day. + + Yours truly, + + S. F. P. + + * * * * * + + BROOKLYN, N. Y., 1886. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I thought that I would send you a letter + at last. I will tell you about our washwoman and me. I have + something the matter with my knee, and so I have to stay in + the house. Well, our washwoman and I were having some fun. I + was at the back parlor window, and the washwoman was down in + the back yard hanging up the clothes, and I got a snow-ball + and threw it at her, and you ought to have seen her! She + looked up and down and could not see anybody, and after a + while she saw me, and then, the way she looked! She said: "I + will give it to you!" + + Yours truly, + + FRANK T. + + * * * * * + + EVERETT, MASS. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for a year and I could + not do without you. Every month you gladden our home with + your beautiful pictures, interesting stories, and pretty + bits of poetry. + + I think "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is a splendid story. I must + not forget to mention the "Brownies." What busy little + workers they are! I have one pet, a beautiful linnet. Her + name is Daisy. She is a very sweet singer. + + I remain, your constant reader, + + MAY F. + + * * * * * + + KINGSTON, INDIANA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do not see many letters from Indiana in + your Letter-box. I would not do without you for ten dollars + a year. + + I like your Natural History. I have several books on Natural + History. + + Last year I wanted you so badly that Papa said I must earn + the money myself. I had enough, lacking fifty cents. We had + an oyster supper here, and papa gave me fifty cents to + spend; so I did without oysters and took you. I am thirteen + years old. + + Yours sincerely, + + ART. R. + + * * * * * + + MT. AUBURN, CINCINNATI, O. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I like your stories very much. I am a boy + seven years old. I do not go to school, but Mamma teaches me + with two little girls. I had a lovely Christmas. I got a + locomotive, a sword, a scarf, a marble game, a rolling-pin, + a box to keep my pens and pencils in, and some cards and + books for Christmas. I think you are the best book I ever + read. This is the first year I began to take you. I like the + "Brownies" best. Tell Mr. Palmer Cox to put "Brownies" in + every ST. NICHOLAS. Please don't forget to print my letter, + for I have written it all myself, and spelled it without any + help. + + I had two kittys, and their names were Mitten and Topsy. We + gave away Mitten and kept Topsy, but after a while we lost + Topsy, and then we found another kitty, but she ran away. I + am sorry they went away, for I love kittys. Good-bye, dear + ST. NICHOLAS, I am so glad it is most time for you to come + again. Please don't forget to print my letter, for I love + you so much! + + Your loving friend, + + RALPH B. R. + + * * * * * + + LEWISBURG, W. VA. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have just finished reading the February + number, and I think that "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and + "George Washington" are splendid! I am a little girl ten + years old. Have taken you for four years. + + I have ever so many uncles and aunts. One of my aunts sends + you to me. + + Your loving reader, + + DOTTIE M. + + * * * * * + + WYOMING, DEL. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have never written to you before, but I + love to read the letters others have sent you. You have been + coming to our house nearly three years, and we all look + anxiously for the 26th of the month, when you are due. You + are my own book. I pay for you with money I have earned + myself. My little sister wonders whenever she sees ST. + NICHOLAS what the Brownies are doing in it. Mamma is much + interested in "Little Lord Fauntleroy," and we like it too, + and all the rest of your stories, but especially "The Gilded + Boy of Florence," because we know the man who wrote it and + have heard him preach. He says all he wrote in that story is + true. Good-bye. + + Ever your faithful reader, + + C. LIZZIE B. + + * * * * * + + LONDON, ENGLAND. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am an American girl who left New York + four years ago, during which time I have been a constant + reader of ST. NICHOLAS. My school friends who read English + all want it also. You have been forwarded to me from London + as far as Turkey and Egypt. And so, if you can only spare a + few minutes, I would like to tell you about the pyramids and + the sphinx. + + From Shepherd's Hotel, Cairo, it is a beautiful drive of + seven miles through an archway of large trees by the side of + the Nile. There are several pyramids. The chief one is said + to be 463 feet high, and one would think the top would be + very small; but you will no doubt be surprised to hear that + the Khedive gave a dinner to twenty-four guests upon the top + of a pyramid. The dinner was served in the usual manner by + Arab waiters; the gentlemen walked up, while the ladies were + carried up in chairs. The pyramids are built like + stairs,--one stone on top the other, with only an edge for a + foothold. + + Many tourists try to climb the structure, which is very + fatiguing work. We gave an expert Arab fifty cents to do it + in ten minutes; he went up in six minutes and down in four + minutes. From the pyramid to the sphinx is quite a little + walk through thick sand; and the Sphinx is so big you can + hardly see it all at once. The English soldiers knocked off + some of its right hand and all its nose. It is cut from a + solid rock and looks as black as iron. The Egyptian postage + stamps have pictures of both the pyramid and the sphinx. The + temple dedicated to the sphinx lies in ruins here, but the + remains are very beautiful, being nearly all of alabaster; + and in the cellar they have just discovered an image, which + is so immense they can't get it out from the place where it + has lain so many hundred years. Some time I will write a + letter about the Holy Land, as I lived there two months. I + hope you will print my letter; it is my first attempt, and I + am fourteen years old. Your March number will find me at + Alexandria, for I take the Beyrouth steamer next week. I + hope, dear ST. NICHOLAS, your Egyptian friend has not tired + you, and I also hope this may find a place in your + Letter-box. + + Your loving Egyptian friend, + + MAUD STANLEY F. + + * * * * * + + MOHEGAN LAKE, N. Y. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you this letter, a true story + about a fish-hawk. + + It was in the middle of April, 1883. A man who was rowing on + one of those lakes east of the Highlands, in the northern + part of Westchester County, espied a large fish-hawk sitting + on a dead limb near the water. The man, having his gun with + him, rowed over toward the hawk, and when in range fired at + him flying. The wounded bird fell, hit on the outer joint of + the left wing. With the help of his companion the man + managed to bring him home. In less than a week, the boy of + the house fed him with fish out of his own hands, and the + hawk did not attempt to claw him. One day the boy wanted to + see how many pounds of fish the hawk would eat. He caught + seven suckers weighing a pound and a half each. The hawk ate + six, one after another, and took the seventh, but refused to + eat it until half an hour afterward. What an enormous + appetite he had! Later on in the summer, the boy would take + him to the water to wash. He did it just as a canary does in + his china bath. The boy would take him and put him on the + side of the boat and row him around, and the hawk would sit + there, taking in everything, as well as the summer visitors, + who were taking him in. The hawk was so tame that his keeper + could smooth his head and chuck him under his beak and the + hawk would only flop his wings and whistle when the boy + turned, as though delighted with what the boy did. This + creature measured five feet eleven inches from tip to tip of + the wings, and came to his death in October of the same + year, by getting caught in the string by which he was + fastened, greatly to the sorrow of his keeper who cared for + him. The bird is now stuffed and in a friend's room in New + York City. + + Yours truly, + + S. F. K. E. G. + + * * * * * + + CINCINNATI, O. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I thought I would write to you to say + what so many of the other girls and boys who take you have + already said: "That I love every one of your stories and can + hardly wait until the 25th of the month comes, to read you." + I have taken you two years and would not be without you one + single month. I live in the dirty city of Cincinnati, but I + have a great deal of fun any way. + + We have had two snowstorms this winter, but by the time the + snow has lain on the ground three or four days it is so + black that I actually believe that people who come from the + country would not know it was snow unless they were told. + + I will now close, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing this + letter printed. + + I remain, your constant reader, + + GRACE S. C. + + P. S. I forgot to say I was thirteen years old and have a + brother nine years old, who thinks the ST. NICHOLAS "a + dandy," as he expresses it. + + * * * * * + +MORE ABOUT CURVE-PITCHING. + + LINCOLN CO., NEB. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: The two letters in the February number on + "curve-pitching," I was very glad to see. It was during my + college-days that the "curve" made its appearance, and it + was for some time a matter of much interesting discussion + among us. I was not much of a base-ball man, but I saw a + good deal of curve-pitching, and occasionally threw some + rather wild "curves" myself in an amateurish way. We budding + physicists discussed the why and wherefore of the problem, + but never arrived at any satisfactory solution. The same + explanation which is given in the second letter of your + February number suggested itself to me at the time, and I + was quite satisfied with it until I discovered that it did + not accord with the facts of the case. It is a beautiful + theory, but, like some other theories, it doesn't work. + + According to the theory, as shown by your correspondent, the + ball rotating (as indicated by his diagram which he gives), + against the hands of the watch should curve to the right, + producing the _in_ curve. But the fact is, that a ball so + rotating will curve to the left--the _out_ curve. And a ball + rotating in a contrary direction, _i. e._, so that points on + its forward side are moving to the right, will curve to the + right--the _in_ curve. In both cases the axis of rotation is + vertical, so that the motions of the ball may be well + illustrated by a spinning-top, as is shown in the first + letter by A. D. S. But the case of a rifle-ball in motion + does not seem to me to be parallel with that of a base-ball + under normal conditions. A rifle-ball is given a rotation + about an axis parallel to and coincident with its line of + flight, just as an arrow rotates on its shaft. Now, none of + the curves of a base-ball are produced with the axis of + rotation in this position. In the _in_ and _out_ curves, as + already said, the axis of rotation is vertical; while the + _rise_ and _drop_ are produced by rotating the ball about a + horizontal axis perpendicular to the line of flight. In + _all_ cases the axis of rotation _must_ be at right angles + to the line of flight, and the more accurately this + condition is complied with, the more marked the effect. My + knowledge of the subject is too slight to warrant me in + asserting that the curving of the rifle-ball and that of the + base-ball do not depend on the same principle, but it does + not seem to me that the two are identical, for the above + reasons. + + I have no theory to offer, but trust that among the readers + of ST. NICHOLAS some may be found who have penetrated to the + "true inwardness" of this interesting problem, and will give + us a complete and scientific explanation of it. + + Yours truly, + + H. H. H. + + * * * * * + + BEVERLY, OHIO. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read with considerable interest + the letters in ST. NICHOLAS for February concerning + curve-pitching. I am a boy who takes great interest in + base-ball, and have many times pitched curves. I have seen + persons, and see them yet, who firmly maintain that a ball + cannot be curved, even when they have ocular demonstration + of the fact. But that has nothing to do with what I have to + say. I have studied the diagram of my anonymous friend, and + am convinced that he is exactly wrong. With the following + diagrams I shall show which way a ball curves with a given + rotation, and give my theory of the curve: + + [Illustration] + + Suppose, as in the letter published, the ball moves one + hundred feet per second, and revolves so that the equator + moves around at the same rate. Then, in the first diagram, + the friction at B is greatest, and at D is 0. But instead of + curving as my anonymous friend demonstrates, it will curve + in exactly the _opposite_ direction; namely, in the same + direction in which it rotates. + + I have appended diagram 2, simply to show the curve where + the friction is 0 at B and greatest at D. Then it will curve + as indicated. + + I have a short theory, namely: In the first diagram, the + more rapid movement of B compresses the air on that side, + while at D it is in its normal state. Hence the pressure at + B more than counterbalances that at D, and, as it were, + shoves the ball in the direction of the side D, thus + producing the curve. In the 2d diagram, the letters B and D + interchange in the theory. I would like to hear more about + this subject. + +Very respectfully yours, + +F. C. J. + + * * * * * + + BIRMINGHAM, MICH. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read with great interest the + articles in the October, December, and February numbers, + about curve-pitching. I have had quite a good deal of + experience in the "one,-two,-three,-and-out" line myself, + and have also, for the last two or three years, been able to + make others have the same experience, by putting them out, + in the same way. Therefore, I venture a reply to the + explanation in the February number, backing my statement by + the experience of many eminent curve-pitchers, and also by + the story in the October number of "How Science Won the + Game." + + [Illustration] + + The above diagram is the same as your correspondent uses, + and he asserts that the point B is moving faster than D; + consequently, there is more friction at B, whence B is + retarded more than D, and so the ball will curve toward W in + the path of the dotted line. Now, if he will look in the + story of "How Science Won the Game," where the base-ball + editor shows the boys how to hold and how to throw the ball + to make the different curves, he will find that when he + throws the ball so that it whirls as shown in diagram, it + will curve toward P, a direction entirely opposite from the + one he designates. And any curve-pitcher will tell him the + same. When I first read his explanation, I thought it was + all right, for it looks quite reasonable, but upon second + thoughts, I saw it was wrong, and to make sure, I took a + ball and tried it. The only way I can get around his + explanation (aside from actual fact) is this: The point B, + as he clearly shows, is moving faster than D, and so the + ball, if the friction of the air is taken away, will + naturally curve toward the side D or point P. Now, the + question is, Will the friction of the air be enough greater + on the side B to overcome the difference in the motions of + the two sides? If it is, the ball must move in a straight + line, but as it curves toward the side D, we must conclude + that it is not, and that the friction of the air tends more + to hinder than to help the ball to curve. I really believe + that if it could be tried, a person could make a ball curve + in a vacuum more easily than we can make it curve in the + air. Trusting to hear more upon this subject, I remain, + sincerely yours, + +"A CURVER." + + * * * * * + + FREMONT, NEB. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have never written to you before, but I + think perhaps you will publish this one letter. I hope you + will publish it, as I have never yet had anything of mine + published. + + I like the story entitled, "How Science Won the Game." + Although I am but thirteen years old I think I can pitch a + curve. I go to the Fremont Normal School and like it very + much. + + I am going to have the 1884 and 1885 ST. NICHOLAS bound next + week. I think you have a very entertaining magazine, and I + think the pictures are very nice. I have the magazine for a + Christmas present every year. I have taken ST. NICHOLAS + three years and I hope I may always take it. + + Papa says he doesn't think you will publish this, but I + think you will. + + Yours truly, + + EDDIE H. B. + + * * * * * + + AYER, MASS. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: As so many of your readers have written + to you, I thought I would write too, that I might have the + pleasure of seeing my letter in print. + + I have taken you a year and have fallen greatly in love with + your delightful pages. + + I think "How Science Won the Game" is a lovely story; I felt + much interested in it, for last summer the girls of my age + who lived here got up a base-ball nine. In time, we played + very nicely and enjoyed the fun. The readers of the + Letter-box may think this a funny game for girls to play, + but we liked it and found it very good exercise. + + I am fifteen years old; I have a little dog, his name is + Teddie; he is a very good little dog, but I pity the cat + that gets in his way. + + I like to read "From Bach to Wagner," as I enjoy reading of + different composers. + + Your true reader, + + RUTH F. + + * * * * * + +We heartily thank the young friends whose names here follow, for +pleasant letters received from them: Kate Ethel C., John Myers, Sadie B. +Crane, G. M. F., Jamie H., Walter J. Cohen, Stuart L. Martin, George +Williams, Eddie L. Goodman, Violette T. Haines, Lillie M. Grubbs, Freda +Nicolai, Eva Wilkins, Miriam Ferry, Hortie O'Meara, Anna Ross, Clara +Louise Whitney, Constance and Richard Bigelow, E. R. B., J. H. B., Mary +and Gussie, Jessie Hiltner, Alberta Stout, Willis Dunning, Nellie E. +Stebbins, Marion R. Brown, A. W. Smith, Josie and May, Kate G., Hallie +H. Haines, Johnny B. S., Daisy, Gertie Beidler, Mary M. C., Charles L. +Baldwin, Kitty Clover, Alice Olney, Emil Harrington, Katie M. Cathcart, +Arthur F. B., Agnes Hanks, Elizabeth K. Stewart, Wade W. Thayer, Brooks +Upham, Rosalie, Mamie Eells, Florence Lanty, Frank Dearstyne, Vera +Wheeler, Nellie McN. Suydam, Elizabeth B. Grumball, Ida Cameron, Ethel +Marion Walker, Fawn Evans, Alfa P. Tyrrell, H. and A. V. P., G. P. S., +Clara Moore, F. W. S., Portia, Nellie T., Eva R., Norine, Anna M. +Lister, Blanche E. Ives, Mary Hicks, "Dolly Varden," Nora T. C., Natie +P. Thompson, Daniel McPhail, Mary E. Seavey, Storrs E. E., H. C. J., +Edith B., Kittie E. Fogarty, Frank Carman, Ruth A., C. H. M., Richard D. +Bennett, Anne Grey Millett, Addie Rockwell, Laura Smith, Paula Goetz, +Katie S. Denholm, Carl M. Ruhlen, Thomas McKeone, W. C. T., Marion +Loomis, Alice E. Bogert, Gertrude E. S., Julian Granbery, B. M. S., +Edward P. Irwin, "The Five Friends," T. L., Kate B. Tilley, Irene S. +Duer, Violet Scath, Florence M. Wickes, E. W. B., May Delany, and Bertha +Sweet. + + + + +THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION + +SIXTY-FIRST REPORT. + + +AN ENGRAVED CHARTER FOR FRAMING. + +Our attention has been called to the fact that heretofore we have sent +to our Chapters no charters, or certificates, suitable for framing. + +To remedy this deficiency, we have engaged one of the leading firms of +New-York City to design a very beautiful A. A. Charter, to be handsomely +engraved on bond or parchment paper. The size of the charter will be +about 12 x 18 inches or larger. + +At the top is drawn an open ST. NICHOLAS, showing on one page Prof. +Agassiz's portrait, and on the other, representations of the animal and +vegetable kingdoms. + +Above the magazine is our badge, the Swiss Cross; and below is the +motto, _Per Naturam ad Deum_. Then follows the certificate proper, +handsomely ornamented, bearing the name of the founder of the Chapter, +the name, number, and letter of the same, and signed with the autograph +of the President of the A. A. Of course the first two hundred +impressions--or artist's proofs--are the finest. Many members are so +pleased with them that they wish to secure copies for their individual +possession. + + +THE CLASS IN MINERALOGY. + +None of the courses of study we have ever had the pleasure of offering +to our friends, has had the magnificent success which is attending Prof. +Crosby's class in mineralogy. At this writing no less than eighty-nine +pupils are enrolled, and as Chapters usually take the course through one +representative, this number doubtless means that at the least five +hundred persons are learning how to observe and describe minerals, under +most competent instruction. To each pupil is sent a set of thirty +valuable specimens, and all exercises are corrected and returned for +revision. Geographically, the class extends from Washington Territory to +England. + + +REPORTS OF CHAPTERS. + +We have to begin again this month, as last, by presenting the excellent +reports of dilatory Chapters. A little more promptness hereafter, good +secretaries, if you please! + +37, _Kingsboro, N. Y._ By some mischance, your card notifying me that +our report is due has just come to my notice, and I hasten to write, +fearing our "candlestick may be removed." Last week three of us visited +a gold-mine and brought home specimens of rock from which gold is +obtained, averaging about twenty dollars per ton. The rock is dark, +fine-grained, and resembles lime-stone. It effervesces with acid. We +have here beautiful specimens of the Azoic rocks, and we could make up +named collections to exchange for other specimens.--W. W. Thomas, Box +711. + +112, _So. Boston_. We number ten active and three honorary members. +During the year we have held twenty-two meetings, with an average +attendance of eight. In January we gave an entertainment, and realized +$10.80. In April we endeavored to establish an assembly of the Chapters +in this part of the State, but did not succeed. + +During the year we have studied chemistry, zooelogy, and astronomy. At +one time we visited the Agassiz museum in a body, and learned a great +deal. Having seen now what we can do, I think we shall all study harder +during the coming year.--Geo. L. Whitehouse, 37 Gates street. + + [_Don't be discouraged; we shall have a State Assembly in + Massachusetts before many years._] + +134, _De Pere, Wis._ We have eighteen members. Our room is beginning to +look very nicely. We added five new cases last fall. We have 1600 +geological specimens,--including 1000 fossils,--600 minerals, 50 birds, +500 plants, 400 shells, and 100 ethnological specimens.--A. S. Gilbert. + +153, _Chicago_ (_E_). At the Exposition here last fall, we had two large +cases, one containing minerals, the other fossils, which compared +favorably with any in the building, and did much toward making our +society known to the throng of visitors. We have added new books to our +library at no small expense. Our "Paper" is the latest addition to our +meetings, and contains original articles, clippings, and the letters +received.--Charles T. Mixer. + +164, _Jackson, Mich._ (_B_). We have eight members, and expect more +soon. We all have natural histories of our own. We meet once a week, on +Monday evening. We had a very pleasant field-meeting by Clark's Lake. +All our members are interested.--James C. Wood. + +168, _Buffalo_ (_C_). During the summer there were some excursions, +which brought a number of specimens into the hands of our curator. With +the new year fresh courage has inspired most of us. Our prospects are +quite bright. We still have our standing committees in each department, +and these have a report to make nearly every week. Every two weeks we +have an essay. Our next topic is to be "Forests and their Utility." +Besides this and the reading and discussion of scientific essays, we +have our weekly report on the current scientific news, and notes and +personal observations. Chapter K of this city has joined us, and Chapter +I thinks of following the example of Chapter K.--Sophie Finkenstaedt. + +187, _Albany, N. Y._ (_A_). We have found time for occasional meeting +among the heavy requirements of school-life; and as for myself, I find +our own back-yard a bewildering field for exploration. We have ten +active and eleven honorary members. Our meetings are held alternate +Wednesday evenings at the houses of members, and are always well +attended and interesting. At our next meeting--our second anniversary--a +special programme is to be carried out. We are to debate the comparative +usefulness of astronomy and botany; have an extra number of _The +Naturalist_, our MS. paper; scientific essays, readings and lectures. +Albany A has never been more flourishing.--John P. Gavit. + + +THIRD CENTURY. + +215, _Tioga Centre, N. Y._ We have been steadily progressing in our +department--botany. Last autumn we made asters a specialty, and +succeeded in collecting and analyzing fourteen species and two +varieties. We are now ready to exchange promptly.--Angie Latimer, Sec. + +220, _De Pere, Wis._ (_C._) Chapter C has disbanded. Please scratch our +number out.--Jessie R. Jackson. + + [_But we hope the Chapter will "jump into another bush," so + we can "scratch them in again!"_] + +234, _New York_, (_G_). We have joined Chapter 87, New York (B),--F. W. +Roos, 335 W. 27th street. + +238, _Winterset, Iowa_. One of our charter members is dead; one is in +Oregon; two are away at college; one is in Mississippi. In fact, there +is nothing left of our Chapter. I am sorry, for I think the Association +work is a very great benefit to the members.--Harry C. Wallace. + + [_Our correspondent will remember that by our present rules + even one active member is allowed to maintain the honor, and + retain the number and name of a Chapter once properly + organized. We shall be disappointed if we do not meet him on + the 24th of next August, at Davenport, Iowa, as the + representative of a reorganized and efficient Chapter._] + +246, _Bethlehem, Pa._ We are in a very flourishing condition, and now +have fifteen members. Our cabinet is crowded with specimens, all in good +condition. We occupy a pleasant room rented by the Chapter. We shall +enter the coming season with undiminished enthusiasm for the study of +Nature. + +248, _Richmond, Va._ An informal meeting was held, and twenty-three of +us boys were enrolled as members of a Chapter of the A. A. We elected +our teacher, Miss Jennie Ellett, President. Committees were appointed to +draft by-laws, build cabinets, etc. Instead of forming a new society, +Mrs. Marshall has kindly consented to let us reorganize Chapter +248.--_W. T. Terry_, Sec., 109 E. Grace St. + +252, _Utica, N. Y._ We have a most flourishing Chapter of forty-seven +members. In the past year our school building was enlarged, and a room +was made purposely to hold our treasures. In it is a cabinet overflowing +with minerals, shells, and plants, 3 cases full of _lepidoptera_, a +forty-dollar microscope, and a cabinet, which the boys are trying to +fill with microscopical slides of their own manufacture. We have also an +aquarium 12 x 24 inches, stocked with fish, newts, snails, turtles, +etc., also a bird's egg cabinet that will hold several hundred +specimens, and a Wardia case, 36 x 18 inches, which we are now using for +hatching chrysalids. At our last meeting a cecropia "came out," +measuring over six and a half inches across the wings. Our Chapter is +divided into committees, each committee having a teacher for chairman. +The committees are expected to furnish each week specimens representing +their special branches. Of all the subjects before us the hardest "nut +to crack" was, "What is a sea-bean?" but owing to indomitable +perseverance, it has been most thoroughly cracked. + + [_Please send us the kernel!_] + +Agassiz's birthday was duly celebrated in the woods. Speeches were made, +poems recited, and the rest of the day devoted to a grand specimen-hunt. +It rained hard all day, but that could not quench the fire in this +Chapter, and we returned home loaded down with treasures. We have +shells, mica, and _lepidoptera_ for exchange. The Chapter desires to +express its deepest gratitude to the founder of the A. A. for two +delightful years.--Frances E. Newland, Sec. + + [_Such a delightful report as the one which we have here + condensed, is more than enough to repay one for all the + labor connected with the A. A. The debt of gratitude is on + the other side._] + +254, _Fulton, N. Y._ We have started a library, and are now studying +ornithology. Our membership is reduced to three, but all are +active.--Herbert C. Howe. + + [_If three active-members understand "Reduction Ascending," + they will soon reduce the membership to a dozen or more._] + +256, _Newton, Upper Falls, Mass._ The past year has been one of +gratifying progress. We number twelve. Our meetings are very +interesting, each member giving an account of some object in his branch +of study, often illustrating it by the specimen or describing some book +he has been reading, or relating some recent personal experience. At the +first meeting of each month a paper called _Gatherings_ is read, +composed of original records of personal observations. Wishing to bring +our Chapter and its work to the knowledge of our friends, we have held a +series of socials at the home of one of our members. The first of the +evening we have devoted to talks and essays by the members of the +Chapter, and later we have played games, and amused ourselves in other +ways. We find this plan very beneficial, and have already gained three +new members and a present of books.--Mrs. J. M. H. Smith. + + [_We commend this suggestive report to the earnest attention + of every Chapter._] + +257, _Plantsville, Ct._ We have made large additions to our collections. +Our library also has been enlarged, and we have now nearly 100 volumes. +We decide on the subject for each coming meeting in this way. Each +member writes on a ballot the subject he would prefer. The ballots are +then shaken in a hat, and the one drawn first is our subject. Moreover, +the one whose ballot is successful must furnish a paper on that subject, +and all the others bring short items on the same subject. We closed our +last meeting by a collation, and singing by our glee club.--A. L. Ely, +Box 219. + +260, _Mercer, Pa._ We have not been idle, and have quite a collection. +We think every Chapter should keep a scrap-book for entering reports and +clippings.--Mrs. H. M. Magoffin. + +272, _West Town, N. Y._--Most of us are attending school away from home. +We therefore disband through the winter, and then reorganize for the +summer vacation, and work as much as we can, for we have farm work to do +besides. Still we can study as we work, and we do this. Our minerals are +all labeled and mounted. We have about 200 birds' eggs, some of them +quite rare. We pride ourselves on our insects. I think we have 300, +still am not positive. Our botanical specimens number 200. The work we +have done, though not very great, has done us a great amount of +good.--William Evans, Sec. + + +SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. + + MANCHESTER, VT. + + I am extremely anxious to experiment during the coming + season with the American silk-producing worms, not for the + purpose of producing raw silk, but for other reasons of + scientific and practical interest. I wish to learn the best + books for giving a knowledge of the habits of _Attacus + Cecropia_, _Polyphemus_, and the Promethean moths. I shall + be glad of any information regarding the best places to find + their cocoons. I should like to hear of the experience of + others in finding cocoons, and raising the moths. I have M. + Trouvelot's papers on the subject, Dr. Garlick's letters on + his experiments; also Dr. Stirling's, Prof. Riley's report + on Silk Production No. 11, Packard's "Our Common Insects," + Sir John Lubbock's "Origin and Metamorphosis of Insects." I + should like the addresses of any parties who have cocoons of + the said moths to dispose of; and finally, information + regarding the success or failure of any who may have tried + the experiment of raising the worms. + + Very truly yours, + + C. F. ORVIS. + + [_Mr. Orvis is a member of the A. A., has been for years + engaged in an important manufacturing business, and we trust + may obtain from "those who know," all the information he + desires._] + + +EXCHANGES. + +Two thousand square-cut post-marks, all different, in a neat book; also +1500 duplicates, for best offer in stone implements.--Laurie H. McNeill, +Ch. 902, Mobile, Ala. + +Correspondence with amateur egg-collectors desired. Iowa +preferred.--Oscar Clute, Jr., Iowa City, Iowa. + +American bird-skins and eggs (with data), for English. Also mounted +microscopical pathological specimens. Lists exchanged.--Wm. D. Grier, 49 +Gloucester St., Boston, Mass. + + +NEW CHAPTERS. + +_No._ _Name._ _No. of Members._ _Address._ + +941 Hohokus, N. J. (A) 4 Mrs. R. Van Dien, Jr. +942 Sioux Falls, Dakota (B) 10 Percy Edmison. +943 Sancelito, Cal. (A) 7 A. J. Campbell, Box 31, Marin Co. +944 Buffalo, N. Y. (L) 12 Nathan N. Block, 82 Norris Place. +945 Baltimore, Md. 4 Maurice Straus, 225 Linden Ave. +946 Seneca Falls (B) 5 Wm. Hopper. +947 San Francisco, Cal. (J) 4 Miss Alice J. Ellis, 27 So. Park. +948 Prairie Du Chien, Wis. (A) 7 Chas. Chase, Jr. +949 New York, N. Y. (Z) 4 Fred Stanton, 420 W. 61st St. + + +DISSOLVED. + +863 Providence, R. I. (E) Frederic Gorham. +362 Newport, R. I. (B) 4 Thomas Crosby, Jr. +242 Philadelphia (I) J. F. Stevens. + + +REORGANIZED. + +746 Helena, Montana (A) 8 Kurt Kleinschmidt, Box 292. + 68 Grand Junction, Iowa 2 Miss Sarah I. Smith. +248 Richmond, Va. (A) 23 W. T. Terry, 109 E. Grace St. + +Address all communications for this department to the President of the +A. A., + +MR. HARLAN H. BALLARD, + Principal of Lenox Academy, Lenox, Mass. + + + + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. + + +As THIS number of ST. NICHOLAS goes to press nearly a month earlier than +usual, the names of solvers of March puzzles can not appear until the +issue of the June number. + + +ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE APRIL NUMBER. + + +AN EASTER REBUS. + + Bid folly fly and sin depart; + Keep inviolate your heart; + And Easter lilies, pure and fair, + Will bud and bloom forever there. + + +INVERTED PYRAMID. Across: 1. Depopulated. 2. Nominated. 3. Deluded. 4. +Roses. 5. Ten. 6. D. + + +ST. ANDREW'S CROSS OF DIAMONDS. I. 1. B. 2. Dem(and). 3. Dolor. 4. +Belgium. 5. Moist. 6. Rut. 7. M. II. 1. M. 2. Ham. 3. Huron. 4. Marston. +5. Motor. 6. Nor. 7. N. III 1. M. 2. Tim. 3. Talon. 4. Million. 5. +Moist. 6. Not. 7. N. IV. 1. M. 2. Sam. 3. Sedan. 4. Madison. 5. Mason. +6. Non. 7. N. V. 1. N. 2. Tam. 3. Titus. 4. Natural. 5. Murat. 6. Sat. +7. L. + + +WORD-SQUARES. I. 1. Racer. 2. Agave. 3. Canal. 4. Evade. 5. Relet. II. +1. Cabal. 2. Above. 3. Bobea. 4. Avers. 5. Least. III. 1. Rabid. 2. +Abide. 3. Bison. 4. Idols. 5. Dense. + + +PI. + + Spring, with that nameless pathos in the air + Which dwells with all things fair; + Spring, with her golden suns and silver rain, + Is with us once again. + + +CENTRAL ACROSTIC. Arbor Day. Cross-words: 1. slAin. 2. stRew. 3. saBot. +4. slOop. 5. stRap. 6. seDan. 7. smArt 8. slYly. + + +HOUR-GLASS. Centrals, April fool. Cross-words: 1. TartArean. 2. reaPers. +3. scRew. 4. vIe. 5. L. 6. aFt. 7. foOls. 8. limOsis. 9. inteLlect. + + +MYTHOLOGICAL NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + + I love to go in the capricious days + Of April, and hunt violets. + + +CONNECTED DOUBLE SQUARES. Upper left-hand square, Across: 1. Houp. 2. +Alto. 3. Ties. 4. Host. Upper right-hand square. Across: 1. Pent. 2. +Otoe. 3. Suet. 4. Tile. Lower left-hand square, Across: 1. Host. 2. +Able. 3. Sour. 4. Hern. Lower right-hand square. Across: 1. Tile. 2. +Eden. 3. Read. 4. Naps. + + +BAGATELLE. 1. More haste, less speed. 2. Medicines were not meant to +live on. 3. He who hides can find. 4. Pride goeth before a fall. 5. The +absent party is always faulty. 6. A crowd is not company. 7. Penny wise, +pound foolish. Key-words: haSte, meAnt, hiDes, prIde, paRty, crOwd, +peNny. + +Central letters, sadiron. + + +MOTHER GOOSE PUZZLE. + +[Illustration] + +This puzzle is based upon one of the Mother Goose rhymes. The pictures +represent the last word of the six lines of the verse. What is the +verse? + + +NUMERICAL ENIGMA. + +I am composed of seventy-six letters, and am a quotation from "Love's +Labor Lost." + +My 63-21-58-31 is elevated. My 28-1-42-35 is headstrong. My +72-45-14-62-25 is on every breakfast table. My 2-19-52 is a fashionable +kind of trimming. My 74-40-55-50-22 is a glossy fabric. My 33-9-29-8 was +the nationality of Othello. My 38-68-70-17-12-76 is the name of the +67-3-49-61 of one of Shakspere's most celebrated plays. My 6-43-5-26 is +location. My 13-75-11-46 is mature. My 30-60-47-54-41 is what often +follows a chill. My 53-36-4-24 is a mixture. My 16-39-71-20-66 is used +in bread-making. My 37-73-65-7-23-27-69-18-56-51 is an allurement. My +32-57-10-15-64-44-59-34-48 is a school. + + HAROLD J. HARDING. + + +PI. + + Ta emits a gaftarrn zebree mecos toalfing yb, + Dan gribsn, uyo wkon ton hwy, + A lenegif sa hewn agree wordsc twaai + Freoeb a leapac tage + Meos dronswou gapeant; dan ouy scacer loudw tarts, + Fi form a cheeb's thear + A buel-yede Drady, pepsting froth, soldhu ays, + "Hedlob em! I ma Mya!" + + +CENTRAL ACROSTIC. + +Each of the words described contains the same number of letters; the +central letters, transposed, will spell the name of the heroine of one +of Sir Walter Scott's novels. + +1. Was conspicuous. 2. A hard covering. 3. A citadel. 4. A box for +fruit. 5. To ward off. 6. A sudden fright. + + AVIS. + + +GREEK CROSS. + +[Illustration] + +UPPER SQUARE: 1. To begin. 2. A small drum. 3. Over. 4. Wanders. 5. A +lock of hair. + +LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. A region. 2. A report. 3. Plentiful. 4. Plants of +the cabbage family. 5. A lock of hair. + +CENTRAL SQUARE: 1. A lock of hair. 2. A black bird. 3. To elude. 4. A +plant which grows in wet grounds. 5. To scoff. + +RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. To scoff. 2. Grand. 3. Declined. 4. A mournful +poem. 5. To color anew. + +LOWER SQUARE: 1. To scoff. 2. Mother of pearl. 3. Applause. 4. One of +the Muses. 5. To furnish with a new upper part. + + "HOMER." + +[Illustration] + + +A DECORATION-DAY PUZZLE. + +The words forming this numerical enigma are pictured instead of +described. The answer, consisting of a hundred and one letters, is a +four-line verse by Bayard Taylor. + + +TRIPLE ACROSTIC. + +[Illustration] + +ACROSS: 1. Pertaining to a monarch. 2. Entering without right. 3. +Unmarried women. 4. Unfaithful. Primals, a vapor; centrals, a brown +coating; finals, in a smaller degree. Primals, centrals, and finals +combined, unsuspicious. + + F. L. F. + + +INVERTED PYRAMID. + +ACROSS: 1. Measurement. 2. Consumes. 3. A chemical substance. 4. A +sheltered place. 5. In pyramid. Downward: 1. In pyramid. 2. Two-thirds +of a girl's name. 3. Mankind. 4. Bad. 5. Celebrated. 6. Certain. 7. +Wrath. 8. A bone. 9. In inverted. + + F. L. F. + + +CONNECTED SQUARES. + +[Illustration] + +I. UPPER SQUARE: 1. Pertaining to a certain nymph. 2. A disease peculiar +to children. 3. A dwelling-place. 4. The European blackbird. 5. A charm. + +II. LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. Burned wood. 2. A continued endeavor to gain +possession. 3. The inner part. 4. The lesser white heron. 5. A +pugilistic encounter. + +III. RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. An expression of contempt. 2. A small column +without base or capital. 3. Parts of shoes. 4. To assign. 5. To +squander. + +IV. LOWER SQUARE: 1. A term used in playing with balls. 2. A sacred +vestment. 3. Proper. 4. A fine yellow clay. 5. A measure. + +Centrals, reading downward (eleven letters), an architect who builds +houses. Centrals, reading across, a mechanical contrivance common in +cotton-mills. + + "L. LOS REGNI." + + +FINAL ACROSTIC. + +Each of the words described contains the same number of letters. The +primals will all be of the same letter; the finals will spell a name +famous in history. + +1. A small shell-fish. 2. An emblem. 3. A common plant having a scarlet +blossom. 4. To weaken. 5. A specter. 6. An afternoon nap. 7. A leap. 8. +Unassuming. 9. A violent effort. 10. Irony. 11. A channel. + + "JUVENTUS." + + +WORD-SQUARES IN DIAMONDS. + +[Illustration] + +I. Diamond: 1. In soles. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Satisfies. 4. A +beverage. 5. In soles. Included word-square: 1. To touch lightly. 2. +Consumed. 3. A beverage. + +II. Diamond: 1. In strife. 2. To touch lightly. 3. Much talked of in +railway offices. 4. An inclosure. 5. In strife. Included word-square: 1. +To touch lightly. 2. A verb. 3. An inclosure. + +III. Diamond: 1. In youthful. 2. The cry of a certain animal. 3. A +mythical being. 4. Skill. 5. In youthful. Included word-square: 1. The +cry of a certain animal. 2. Gaseous substance. 3. Skill. + + "ARTHUR PENDENNIS." + + +HOUR-GLASS. + +The central letters, reading downward, spell the name of a very +prominent personage. + +CROSS-WORDS: 1. Pleasing to the taste. 2. A substance similar to +varnish. 3. An imp. 4. The name of a character in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." +5. In decorations. 6. Sick. 7. Resources. 8. To call by the wrong name. +9. Gives too many doses to. + + "D. I. VERSITY." + + +WORD-SQUARE. + +The letters of each of the words described may all be found in the word +NAMER. + +1. A girl's name. 2. Close at hand. 3. A cognomen. 4. Surface. + + "DENZIL ELINOR." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and +Girls, Vol. 8, May 1886, No. 7., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + +***** This file should be named 32622.txt or 32622.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/2/32622/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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