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diff --git a/58056-0.txt b/58056-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e114530 --- /dev/null +++ b/58056-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3150 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58056 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] + +Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY. + +VOL. XVII.--NO. 867. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE FEAST OF KING RED COAT. + +ONE OF THE OLD SAILOR'S YARNS. + +BY W. J. HENDERSON, + +AUTHOR OF "SEA-YARNS FOR BOYS," "AFLOAT WITH THE FLAG," ETC. + + +[Illustration] + +It was a morning of yellow fog. The whole world appeared a sheet of +shifting, silent ochre. Up beyond the bluff the sallow outlines of the +houses faded upward into sinuous curves of restless mist. The sands of +the beach looked like a reflection of the fog that wrapped the sea in +its curtain of gold. The old pier jutted out an uncertain brown line +with sparkles of silver along its wet columns, like the flashes of big +guns seen through their own smoke. The swells loomed suddenly out of the +yellow curtain with a quick flash of light along their crests, a curving +of brown shadows in their hollows, and then a plunge into hissing fields +of mellow foam. It was one of those blinding mornings of dead gold, when +the fog hangs low over the earth, and the brilliant sun, shining in a +clear sky above, forces its intolerable glory downward through the mist. +The human eye is helpless on such a day, and seeks vainly for a moment's +relief among the sombre shadows in the crannies of the ground. It was +just the sort of a day to tempt the Old Sailor to sit on the end of the +pier and try to look through the fog. So Henry and George walked down to +the old meeting-place, and there they found him gazing into the water +with a meditative countenance. As usual, he did not look up when he +heard their footsteps, but broke into one of his silent laughs. The +boys, without saying a word, sat down beside him, and presently he +exclaimed: + +"W'ich the same you is great navigators. 'Cos w'y, ye can steer straight +fur this 'ere pier in thick weather without no obserwations wotsomever, +relyin' on dead reckonin' an' general sagaciousness." + +The boys held their peace; and presently their friend spoke again: + +"But that are not so easy fur to do at sea. Leastways ef it was, Cap'n +Philander Montgomery Boggs, of the Al Kamakh an' Kangaroo liner _Queen +O' Spades_, wouldn't 'a' made Wakaufoo w'en he were a-steerin' fur Al +Kamakh, w'ich the same are on the west coast o' Hindoostan, as any one +can tell wot are bin there, an' this 'ere old sailor are him." + +"Won't you please to tell us about that?" asked George. + +"Wot d'ye s'pose I are a-doin'? Singin'?" + +George looked so humble at this rebuke that the Old Sailor burst into +another of his hearty, silent laughs, vainly tried to see through the +fog once again, and then exclaimed: + +"Pickle me in a tin box full o' oil fur a bloomin' sardine ef this here +ain't the werry identical kind o' day wot it happened on. I were in +Calcutter, w'ich the same it ain't no sort o' place at all. I landed +there from a consid'able v'yage, an' had five hundred dollars a-comin' +to me, an' I got 'em, too. So I laid out to have a good time in +Calcutter. I staid there a month, an' at the end o' that interestin' +period I didn't have nothin' left o' my five hundred 'cept a linen +duster an' a black eye." + +"Why, how was that?" exclaimed Henry. + +"My son," said the Old Sailor, solemnly, "that 'ain't got nothin' to do +with this 'ere yarn wot I'm a-tellin' of. An' also it ain't perlite fur +to try fur to switch gentlemen off the course. Now where were I?" + +"In Calcutta, sir," said George, with grave respect. + +"An' not so werry good, too. Bein' as how I were on my beam ends, I made +shift to see as how I could git afloat ag'in. So I walked down to the +docks. Down in the big dry dock I see the _Queen o' Spades_ jess ready +to git out. I axed a few questions, an' I larned that she'd been +undergoin' repairs an' were to sail fur Al Kamakh the next day, with a +scratch crew. I'd bin in Al Kamakh oncet, an' I thort as how, not bein' +a werry pertikler pusson, I'd jess as lief go there ag'in. So I went +aboard the _Queen o' Spades_ an' interjooced myself to Cap'n Philander +Montgomery Boggs. An' he sez to me, sez he, 'Ye jess come right. My +second mate he went ashore yistiddy, an' he never come back, an' now he +can't come back nohow; an' you can have his berth ef you want it.' An' +me wantin' putty much anythin', havin' nothin' to speak on 'ceptin' the +linen duster an' the black eye aforesaid, I took that berth. + +"The next day we got under way. The reg'lar run o' the _Queen o' Spades_ +were from Al Kamakh to Kangaroo, Australey, an' she'd bin a-repairin' at +Calcutter 'cos there weren't no dock big 'nuff to hold her atwixt that +an' London. She were called the _Queen o' Spades_ 'cos she dug so many +holes in the bottom o' Al Kamakh Bay a-goin' in an' out, she drawin' +twenty-seven feet of water, an' the bay havin' only twenty-nine feet in +the channel, an' it weren't much o' a channel at that. Fact is, the Al +Kamakh an' Kangaroo line, owin' to the permisc'ousness o' their steamers +about hittin' ground, were gin'rally knowed as the Overland Route. +Howsumever that 'ain't got nothin' to do with this 'ere yarn wot I'm +a-tellin' yer. Waal, we 'ain't got no such steamers here as them. W'y, +the _Queen o' Spades_ are six hundred and fifty feet long, an' are got +four smoke-stacks, each one hundred feet high, an' big enough around fur +to march a company o' soldiers through in full front. An' they don't +carry only one mast jess fur signalling an' they make twenty-two knots +an hour all the time, 'ceptin' goin' to harbors, w'en they sometimes +don't make no knots at all; 'cos w'y, they're aground. An' the cabins is +all full o' gold an' diamond fancy-work an' stained glass winders till +ye'd think ye was in a palace. They has to have 'em like that 'cos the +most passengers is Indian princes an' rajahs an' bunnias an' jampanis +an' khitmatgars an' things goin' down to Australey to drink the waters +for jungle fever; an' them fellers all has to have a floating palace, or +else they go home an' start a new war with England, an' so Tommy Atkins +has to git killed some more. + +"Waal, we didn't have no heaven-borns aboard w'en we steamed out o' +Calcutter, 'cos the ship'd bin a-repairin', an' were goin' back to Al +Kamakh under a short crew--jess 'nuff to work her around--an' she were +to git her reg'lar people w'en she got there. But she were all +purwisioned, 'cos she were to sail right off from Al Kamakh. So we +hustled her right out to sea an' turned her up to putty nigh twenty +knots right off. Cap'n Philander Montgomery Boggs, sez he to me, sez he, +'We are a-goin' to make a werry fine passidge.' An' him bein' Cap'n o' +the ship an' me second mate, I didn't say nothin', but I were putty +pertickler sure that either him or the clouds in the nor'west was +mistook. It turned out as how it were him. I've noticed that it +gin'rally are that way. Clouds is seldom mistook. They gin'rally knows +w'ether they be goin' fur to rain or blow, while sailor-men sometimes is +out o' their course on that p'int. + +"Waal, we hadn't bin to sea more'n a day w'en it come on to blow from +the nor'west. I dun'no' but I've told ye that I bin to sea a good many +years. Anyhow, I never seed it blow harder. It blowed so hard that the +ship laid right over onto her side, an' then she slid off to leeward so +fast that she couldn't be brought head to the seas. So the Cap'n decided +that he'd have to let her run afore it, w'ich the same he done. An' w'en +she was afore it, the wind would cut the tops off the seas astarn of her +an' send 'em whizzin' over the deck in solid blocks o' flyin' water, an' +they'd fall into the sea ahead o' her an' kick up back waves that rolled +in over the bows jess as if we was a-takin' the seas head on. The water +were three feet deep on deck all the time, an' the crew went about in +the dingy. I 'ain't never seed nothin' like that in all my sper'ence at +sea; but then ye can't most allus gin'rally tell wot'll happen in the +Injun Ocean; 'cos w'y, it ain't no decent, ordinary ocean, but a sort o' +heathen place, fit only fur razor-backs an' piccaroons. + +"Howsumever, there we was a trollopin' off to the south-east at a rate +o' speed that were puffickly disgustin'. The gale blowed itself out in +about eighteen or twenty hours, an' the old man sez he to me, sez he, +'Now I reckon we'd better climb back to where we b'long.' So he puts her +head due nothe. But bless ye! it went an' fell flat calm, an' then sot +in with a yaller fog with sun behind it, jess like this here werry +identical one this mornin'. The Cap'n he were putty mad, and he jess +ordered full speed kep' up, 'coz he sez, sez he, 'I 'ain't got no more +time fur to go buggaluggin' aroun' here,' jess like that, him bein' +Cap'n Philander Montgomery Boggs o' the _Queen o' Spades_. Lookouts was +doubled forrard, o' course, but we hadn't bin runnin' ahead fur more'n +four hour w'en scrape, bump, biff! we was hard an' fast agroun'. The +Cap'n he danced on one leg, an' talked Greek; but there we was. An hour +later the fog lifted, an' wot d'ye think we saw?" + +"Rocks and reefs all around you, with the sea breaking over them!" +exclaimed Henry. + +"Not so werry good," responded the Old Sailor. "The _Queen o' Spades_ +had run plumb straight into a small harbor, sort o' horseshoe shaped, +with a long narrer p'int runnin' out on each side. There she were stuck +fast in the sand, an' a werry consid'able number o' half-nakid savidges +standin' on the shore a-grinnin' an' wavin' spears. Putty soon a big +canoe started out from the shore an' come towards the ship. In the starn +o' her there were a werry tall savidge wearin' a werry big red coat with +one epaulet. Cap'n Philander Montgomery Boggs sez he to me, sez he: +'That are the chief, an' he are a-wearin' the coat o' some English +ossifer wot's bin wracked here.' An' that bein' werry plain fur to see, +I didn't say nothin' at all. Waal, w'en the canoe got close 'nuff we +could see that them was the werry thinnest an' starvedest lookin' lot o' +savidges ever knowed. W'y, their ribs stuck out so their sides looked +like old-fashioned washboards, an' their faces looked like overgrowed +English walnuts. They pulled up the canoe a few yards off an' made signs +that they was hungry, an' they looked it. So the Cap'n, seein' that we +was there thort as how we'd better make friends with 'em, an' he inwited +the King--the feller in the red coat--to come aboard an' git some grub. +The steward sot out a fine lunch in the first-cabin saloon, an' the +Cap'n he showed the King aroun' while it were a-gettin' ready. We soon +found out as how that there King could talk consid'able English, but he +wouldn't tell where he larned it. Waal, I wish you could 'a' seed that +there King eat. The steward put out a lunch for six, an' blow me fur +pickles ef the bloomin' one-epauletted cannibal didn't eat it all, an' +holler fur more. + +"'Give poor savidge puddin',' sez he. + +"'Look a-here, Kingsy,' sez the Cap'n, 'how long is it sence you filled +your hold?' + +"'Werry poor island dis,' sez the King--'werry poor. Eat nuts an' wild +berries. Poor savidge werry hungry.' + +"'Steward,' sez the Cap'n, 'fill him up solid. Give him some o' those +doughnuts ye make fur the babbus in Al Kamakh.' + +"Waal, byme-by the King got 'nuff, an' went ashore. He hadn't bin there +an hour afore we seed a hull regiment o' savidges to work astarn o' the +ship. They was drivin' logs down into the water, an' droppin' big rocks +in an' shovellin' sand. + +"'By the great hook block!' yells the Cap'n, 'they're a-buildin' a +breakwater astarn o' us so's we can't git out o' this 'ere trap!' + +"An' that were wot they was a-doin'. Nex' thing we knowed canoes +commenced fur to come off ag'in, an' the hull of the King's court come +aboard. There was Squilli Gee, keeper o' the Red Coat; Solo Primo, lord +high berry-picker; Effie Tombi, nut-cracker to his Majesty; Toto Poto, +lord high admiral o' the canoe fleet; an' Kala Poobi, secretary o' the +palace. They was mostly joints, ribs, an' cheek-bones, them fellers, an' +all they wanted was a square meal. Squilli Gee informed us most politely +that ef we didn't feed 'em they would fill us full o' holes. So we fed +'em. Them fellers numbered jess thirty, an' they stowed away purwisions +fur a dinner fur a hundred fust-cabin passingers. They went ashore, an' +at six o'clock in the evenin' the King comes off ag'in, bringin' his +wife an' fam'ly. There were jess eight o' his wife, an' the hull o' 'em +weighed about 600 pounds. There was thirty-seven o' his fam'ly, all so +thin that w'en they stood sideways ye couldn't see 'em. One o' 'em fell +through a scupper into the sea, an' he were so thin he couldn't float; +so he were drowned. An' wot d'ye s'pose the bloomin' King sez?" + +"Why, what did he say?" asked George. + +"'Let him go,' sez he; 'I got more on 'em now than I kin feed,' sez he, +jess like that, him bein' a miseraceous savidge, with more ribs 'n a +line-o'-battle ship. Waal, that there fam'ly o' the King's they could +give the court p'ints on eatin'. Howsumever, the Cap'n he sez, sez he: + +"'Steward, fill 'em all up full to the hatches. Byme-bye we'll get the +hull island fed, an' then all on 'em'll go to sleep. Then we kin go an' +knock over that there breakwater, an', ef the tide sarves, mebbe we kin +git out o' this cussed trap.' + +"That sounded all right, but it didn't work no more'n a tramp will. Them +bloomin' savidges wouldn't go to sleep a bit. They kep' right on pilin' +up stuff astarn o' us, an' we knowed that every rock they dumped in were +a-makin' the channel wuss an' wuss. The nex' mornin', bright an' 'arly, +off comes the King an' his blessed court fur breakfast. An' wot d'ye +think?" + +"What?" demanded both boys, eagerly. + +"Them fellers was thinner than they was the day afore! Cap'n Philander +Montgomery Boggs sez he to me, sez he, nothin'. 'Cos why, he were so +knocked aback as he couldn't say any thin' 'ceptin' nothin', w'ich the +same he said. An' I agreed as how there were nothin' else to be said. + +"'Poor savidge werry hungry,' sez the King. 'Give poor savidge +mutton-chop, beefsteak, veal-cutlet, ham an' egg, fried sausidge, liver +an' bacon, quail on toast, poached egg, graham roll, and chocolate.' + +"'Wee-ow-ow!' yelled the court, jumpin' up an' down an' lickin' its +chops. + +"'Look here, Kingsy,' sez the Cap'n, 'how long d'ye think this 'ere are +a-goin' to last?' + +"'Big ship; much grub; eat fur month,' sez the King, sez he. + +"'An' wot'll ye do arter ye eat all we got aboard?' asked the Cap'n. + +"'Oh, poor savidge werry sorry then, werry sorry,' sez the King, sez he, +lookin' fur all the world as ef he was a-goin' to cry; 'but have to eat +sailor then.' + +"'Wee-ow-ow!' sez the court, werry mournful. + +"'May I never see blue water ag'in!" sez the Cap'n. + +"'Werry likely you won't,' sez the King, an' with that he jess blubbered +an' cried like a babby. + +"Waal, them bloomin' beggars eat enough to sink a lighter, an' then they +went ashore an' sent off the fam'ly. The steward he were jess about half +crazy; an' the head cook he really were a ravin' lunatic, an' jess +didn't do nothin' but dance around yellin' orders to cook things. Nex' +day it were the same thing all over ag'in, and nex' day, too. All the +time that one-epauletted King kept his gang a-workin' on that +breakwater, an' inside o' a week it were puffickly certain the _Queen o' +Spades_ were shut up in that bloomin' little harbor fur to stay. Waal, +to make sight o' land at the other side o' this 'ere yarn wot I'm +a-tellin' ye, I'll say that this 'ere sort o' thing kep' a-goin' fur +three weeks, an' then the steward he went to the Cap'n, an' he sez to +he, sez he, 'There ain't more'n another three days' grub aboard.' An' +the Cap'n, sez he, 'Arter dark to-night we'll put that into the boats +an' go to sea, an' leave the _Queen o' Spades_ here till we can send a +gunboat arter her.' Half an hour later the King come aboard ag'in, an' +he were so thin now that the red coat hung around him like a wet rag, +w'ile his blessed court looked like a section o' picket-fence turned up +on end. Them fellers was just wastin' away a-carryin' sich loads o' good +grub. W'en the King see the Cap'n he went up to him with tears in his +eyes, and sez he to he, sez he: + +"'My dear, dear brother, poor savidge see man put food in boat. You go +to go away at night. Don't. My canoes catch you, an' then we eat you all +the sooner.' + +"An' with those words the King commenced cryin' an' shakin' his head, +an' the court set up another wee-ow-owin' like a convoy o' cats in a Noo +Yawk aryway. Waal, we made up our minds we'd got to die, and yet none on +us didn't want to die 'less he were obleeged to." + +The Old Sailor paused as if overcome by his recollections, and George +said, in a suppressed tone, + +"But you didn't die, did you?" + +"My son," answered the Old Sailor, "I ain't no ghost; I'm a peaceable, +hard-workin' sailor-man. An' may I never live to see a four-horned +grampus ag'in ef this 'ere ain't the circumstigious picooliarity o' our +escape. The next mornin' the hull sea an' sky was a sickly green; the +sun were a sort o' greenery-yaller; an' it were dead calm, with a big +swell outside. The Cap'n sez he to me, sez he, 'We're a-goin' to have a +fearful gale or a hearthquake or somethin'.' He hadn't more'n got them +words out o' his mouth w'en we seed the hull island rockin' an' shakin', +an' heerd a termenjous rumblin', like a freight train goin' past. 'Look! +look!' yelled the quartermaster. An' lookin' w'ere he p'inted, we see +astarn o' us a wave fifty feet high rollin' in from the sea. It come +right on over old Kingsy's breakwater, an' pickin' the _Queen o' Spades_ +up as though she were a yaller chip, it carried her right over one o' +the p'ints o' the harbor an' into the deep water outside. + +"'Hooroar!' yells the Cap'n. 'Full speed ahead, an' we'll see w'ether +his Royal Red Coat's canoes'll catch us now.' + +"And off went the old _Queen o' Spades_ at twenty knots an hour, and in +two days we was in Al Kamakh." + +"And well out of it," said Henry. + +"I dun'no'," said the Old Sailor; "'cos why, the steam-ship company +wanted to make Cap'n Philander Montgomery Boggs pay fur the grub he fed +the savidges; an' w'en I left they was a-fightin' over it in the courts +yet." + + + + +SONG. + +BY MARIE L. VAN VORST. + + + Show me the place where the white heather grows, + Kind little fairies in bonnets of blue. + Why don't you tell, when they said that you knew? + Nobody knows! + + Show me the place where my little dream goes-- + (I wake in the morning the sky is so blue)-- + They said that you sent it. I thought that you knew. + Nobody knows! + + What have you done with my pretty red rose? + It fell like the down on the thistle I blew. + They said you bewitched it--oh, say, is it true? + Nobody knows! + + + + +THE AMERICAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. + +THE ROSE FESTIVAL. + +BY EMMA J. GRAY + + +Beneath a most capricious sky Mabel stood sedately wondering whether or +not she could wear her white tulle frock this afternoon and not have it +forever ruined, when all in a moment the sun disappeared, the leaves of +the trees rustled, and Mabel's hitherto sedate face saddened dolefully. +Had not her mother happened near there surely would have been a shower +of tears, for she had counted so very much on going to the festival. But +mothers know how to manage, and putting her arm around Mabel's +shoulders, she caressingly said: "Don't cry, whatever you do; wait for +that when you _know_ you cannot go; perhaps this afternoon will just +glisten with sunshine, and then think of all the tears you'll have +wasted! Why, only look here; there are cobwebs in the grass"--and +Mabel's mother stooped to examine, thus making herself quite sure she +was not mistaken--"and you know, dear, what they say, 'that cobwebs in +the grass is a sure sign of a clear day.'" And so it was that Mabel's +tears never really got beyond her eyelashes, and her long doleful face +changed into blushes of sudden delight. + +When the afternoon came, the cobweb test was proved true, for the dew +fogs stole away in line and column, the warm, rich, gladsome sunshine +leaped over hill, lawn, and road, and gave a tint of amber, purple, or +rich red rose, according to the way the trees leaned or their stately +branches swayed and curved. + +The country was the majestic Berkshire section; and Mabel, who had but +just entered her teens, was with her mother visiting her Aunt Lucretia +in her country home. + +[Illustration] + +Aunt Lucretia had no children, and didn't understand them very well, and +Mabel's visit thus far had been rather unsatisfactory. But about two +weeks before she was thrown all in a flutter because of an invitation to +a Rose Festival, given by the daughter of "the richest man in the +place"--so Aunt Lucretia explained, and with a positive shaking of her +head from side to side, continued, "It would be an elegant affair, she +knew, and she was much flattered that her niece had been remembered," +etc. Besides Mabel, her aunt, uncle, and mother had been invited, the +only difference in the character of the invitations being that to hers +were added the rather informal words, "All the young people will +personate favorite roses." And as she would surely be considered among +the young people, and as the Cornelia Cook rose was Mabel's favorite, it +took not a little ingenuity on the part of her mother and aunt to +indicate this rose in her costume. But it was deftly, as also simply, +arranged at last by fastening a bunch of these rose-buds on the top of +each sleeve, edging the waist close to the neck with rose-buds also, and +dropping a few at uncertain distances over the skirt--"as though she'd +been caught in a shower of roses," was her uncle's pleasant criticism. +So that it was no wonder, in consideration of the so far disappointing +visit, dainty apparel, and the prospect of a gay party, that Mabel's +blue eyes had looked anxiously for sunshine through the cloudy sky of +the early morning. + +It was shortly after three o'clock when the impatient Mabel stepped into +the landau that was to convey her aunt, uncle, mother, and herself to +the festival; and the horses, feeling the exhilaration of the charmed +atmosphere, pranced and cantered along so rapidly that the few miles +that lapsed between were soon over, and Mabel was at once bewildered +with beauty and gayety. Already several emptied carriages had their +wheels rolling towards home, while others had gone back of the broadly +grand and altogether captivating gray-stone house to accept the +hospitality of the stables graciously offered to their owners. + +Just as Mabel was ushered into the bower of roses, which was the lawn's +substitute for a reception-room, she overheard some one saying to her +hostess: + + "Queen rose of the rose-bud garden of girls, + Come hither, the dances are done. + In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, + Queen lily and rose in one. + Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, + To the flowers, and be their sun. + The Red Rose cries, 'She is near; she is near!' + And the White Rose weeps, 'She is late!'" + +"All right, papa, I'll come at once;" and then, with a bow, smile, and +hand-clasp for Mabel, she added, "You come with me, for you are a +stranger here, and we will lead the opening dance together." Then +throwing her head back merrily, so that her curls touched her fathers +arm, she laughingly continued: "What a papa--'the dances are _done_!' +They haven't commenced; nor will they until I start them"; and with the +gay raillery which her father so thoroughly understood, added, "I shall +punish you by asking you to help mamma to receive, not only for +yourself, but for me too." + +[Illustration] + +And then, with a winning smile towards the incoming guests, following +close one after the other, and seemingly a perfect prism of color--for +so smart and catchy were their gowns, frocks, and parasols--she tripped +off merrily, holding Mabel's hand tight meanwhile, to where the +musicians were hidden behind the clump of tall snowball bushes, and a +moment later the dances began. + +[Illustration] + +It was a rare sight, a revel of beauty. The older folks watched from +garden chairs, and seats made softly comfortable with the abundance of +mellow-tinted rugs and downy dainty-covered pillows. The boys could only +represent roses by wearing their favorites as boutonnières, but the +girls' frocks, sashes, and broad-brimmed hats were very suggestive, and +marvels of exquisite color. + +All the roses came to the festival--the Austrian in its brilliant +yellow, Jacqueminot in its deep red; even the little Primrose came, +though it was a question as to her right; however, we were not sorry to +see her, for the delicious lilac-colored costume was a pleasing contrast +and a set-off to the others. The hostess personated a Moss-rose Bud. Her +frock was pink tulle over the palest of pink satin. She wore a girdle of +rose-buds, rose-buds around her neck and arms, and her Leghorn hat was +encircled with the same flower. This hat she sometimes wore, but oftener +than otherwise it was suspended from her arm by its pink satin strings, +and in this respect her guests would often copy her. + +During the afternoon the hostess filled her hat full of rose-buds, and +somehow she managed to keep it replenished, notwithstanding that she +gave to each of her older guests a bouquet, repeating while doing so, as +she rapidly walked from one to the other: + + "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may; + Old Time is still a-flying. + And the same flower that smiles to-day + To-morrow will be dying." + +There was a succession of archways on the lawn, built about ten feet +apart--the frames, twelve feet high and six broad at their widest, being +temporary, and only strong enough to support the various vines, mosses, +and rose climbers with which they were covered. Through these arches +various games were given, among them, + +NAMING THE ROSES. + +The musicians played something between a march and a reel, and +immediately each boy signalled out the girl that matched his rose, and +keeping time to the music, they walked through the first arch, and so on +to the second, thus in rotation going through all. It was quite a long +procession, for each couple kept about two feet back of the other. When +all had thus passed through the last arch, they joined hands, thus +forming a circle, and commencing with the first couple, entered the ring +two by two. Two only being in at a time, when they came out the two that +followed them in the march went in, and so on. When in the circle the +boy asked the girl, "Which rose are you?" she answered. "Tell me, and +I'll tell you." Oftener than otherwise his answer was, "I don't know," +though once in a while he made a correct guess. When his answer was +right, he asked the girl the language of her rose; but if he had made a +mistake, he was obliged to leave the girl in the ring and stand under +one of the arches; if the girl could not answer his question, she had to +stand under an arch. If the boy left the ring before inquiring the +roses' language, those forming the ring put the same question, and if +the girl did not properly reply, she had to pay the same penalty as when +not replying to the boy. When both questions were answered correctly, +the boy and girl again joined the hands of the others forming the +circle. When each couple has left the ring the game was concluded. + +Among the rose-buds and their meaning are: White rose-bud, girlhood; red +rose-bud, loveliness; white and red together, unity. + +Another game was, + +FINDING THE HARE. + +The hare was nothing more nor less than a box made in exact copy of a +hare, about six inches long. When opened it was found to be full of +rose-colored and rose-flavored confectionery. + +The company were told that a hare was hidden between two arches, and +whoever found it was the owner. It was a most bewitching sight to see +the merry hunt--such laughing faces, half hidden at times with long +fluffy curls or broad-brimmed hats. + +The florist had taken up a piece of sod, and underneath it, wrapped in +white waxed paper, he laid the hare. When he replaced the sod, the +hare's head was the only part left out, and the grass blades were so +thick and long that it took considerable patience and sharp eyes to +discover it. + +The games closed with a visit to + +THE PROPHETIC ROSE. + +In the first archway was placed a huge rose made of tissue-paper of a +deep red color, the petals being darker at the centre. The guests were +told the darker petals belonged to the boys, and the girls should visit +the rose first. Each girl in turn stepped towards the rose and broke off +a petal. On the reverse side she read her fortune; for delicately pasted +to the rose petal was a white one, and on this the girl's fortune was +written. Everybody read their fortune aloud, for all were as interested +to learn the future of their friends as their own. When the girls had +finished, the boys followed in similar manner. Some of the fortunes +were: + +"Thou drawest a perfect lot." + +"You will be wondrous happy." + +"Mistress of the Manse." + +"A curate--never slack in duty." + +The last dance was the wreath quadrille, at which every one was +presented with a wreath of moss-rose buds. The girls immediately bared +their heads and put theirs on, while the boys hung theirs on their arms. + +The games, dances, and all the merry play stopped at five o'clock, when +under the trees was served a tempting and plentiful refreshment on +tables but just large enough to seat from four to six people. The table +covers were white satin damask bordered with natural roses, some with +red roses, others with pink or yellow, while in the centre of each lay a +solid triangle of roses, the same variety used for bordering. + +Lemonade was served in rose-colored glasses; iced cakes were encircled +with roses; some were left white, but others represented American Beauty +or La France varieties, and the ice-cream and ices were in the prettiest +of rose devices, one favorite being an overturned basket of Mermet +roses. + +When Mabel returned to Aunt Lucretia's she was very tired. "For, only to +think of it, mamma, I was in everything. And wasn't you surprised to see +me lead the dances?" + +"I was glad, for Aunt Lucretia's sake. You were the stranger, and +therefore had special honor." + + + + +[Illustration] + +COMING. + + + Coming soon the long vacation, + When we'll throw our tasks aside, + And on wings the dancing hours + O'er our gleeful heads will glide. + + Coming soon the merry season, + When we need not even look + Oh! for weeks and weeks together + At the inside of a book. + + + + +AN "OLD-FIELD" SCHOOL-GIRL.[1] + +[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 857. + +BY MARION HARLAND. + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Six years had passed since Major Duncombe's sudden death. He was the +most popular man in the county, and beloved by high and low, yet the gap +made by his going was apparently filled. + +Robert, the eldest son, inherited the homestead, and at his marriage, +two years later, his mother went to live with her daughter Eliza, who +had married a Richmond lawyer. By the terms of her father's will Emily +Duncombe received a valuable farm, embracing the house that had been +built for the overseer. + +Robert Duncombe would gladly have retained Mr. Grigsby in his employ, +but the thrifty Scotchman had other views for himself. For years he had +been putting aside money for the purchase of a home for his family, and +a small plantation a few miles back from the river happened to be for +sale about the time Major Duncombe died. Mrs. McLaren advanced a +considerable sum to make up the necessary amount for the purchase. At +the date at which our story reopens the Grigsbys had lived for five +years and a half in the comfortable brick house attached to the Oatley +farm. Perfect June days had come again. Bees were riding the red +clover-tops, and everything that could blossom had burst into bloom as +the birds into song. The great fields of oats, from which the place took +its name, ruffled before the breeze as green billows are rocked and +crisped by sea-winds; the soft blue of the sky was unclouded, and +heaven's own peace was upon the face of the earth. + +Something--and much--of this was in Felicia Grigsby's mind as she rode +dreamily through the familiar scenes the day after she had returned home +"for good." That was the way her father put it, and she echoed it +heartily. Not cheerily as yet. Aunt Jean had joined husband and child in +the world that makes up for the losses and mistakes of this. Flea's new +black dress told that the grief of parting with her best friend was +still fresh in her heart. Mrs. McLaren's property was divided equally +between her brother, her namesake niece, and her nephew David. + +Nobody called him "Dee" now. The diminutive did not suit the stalwart +youth of seventeen who rode beside his sister to-day, and did most of +the talking for the first hour. He was tall for his years, and well knit +together, with a frank face his sister thought handsome. + +"You were disappointed that I didn't go to college," he was saying, "but +I was cut out and made up for a farmer, and nothing else. The smell of a +ploughed field is the sweetest perfume in the world to me. When I see my +crops growing, I feel my soul growing with them. Where will you find +anything in town equal to that, now?" + +They were on the top of a hill overlooking the fertile river-lands +backed by a line of forest. The noble James, full to the brim after the +May rains, glittered in the sun, and made a golden rim for the picture. + +"We have the 'sweet fields,' the 'living green,' and the 'rolling flood' +of the hymn," said Flea, softly. "Our Virginia is a bonnie country. I am +thankful that it is 'my ain countree.' Why, there are the roof and +chimneys of the old house! I did not know they could be seen from here. +How strange it seems that we should be living anywhere else! How much +stranger that Miss Emily should be living there!" + +"The house is twice as big as it used to be," replied David. "That +fellow made it his business forthwith to alter it as much as he could. +You can't make him madder than by speaking of it as 'Grigsby's', or, +worse yet, the 'overseer's house.' It is 'Broadlawn' now, if you please, +and the model place of the neighborhood. But the old name sticks to it, +and all the closer because it frets him. I never speak to him. I cut him +upon principle. I promised myself over six years ago to thrash him as +soon as I got big enough, and I'm on the lookout for an excuse to do +it." + +"When the time comes, give him a lash or two in my name--there's a dear +boy! All the same, he did us a good turn without meaning to. If he had +been half decent with us we might have staid in the Old-Field school for +years. When it and the Old-Field schoolmaster are things of the past +nobody will believe that such abuses existed in a Christian community. I +am sorry for the Tayloe children." + +"Red-heads, all three of them," said David. "With tempers to match, so I +am told. You wouldn't know their mother. She has broken terribly." + +"Who can wonder at it? I'd like to ride around that way, if you don't +mind: by the school-house and the spring, and by what was the Fogg +place, and see the short-cut we used to take coming home from school. +Heigho! How long ago it all seems!" + +She said "Heigho" again, and with a sadder intonation, in crossing the +bridge from which she had been shot. No other picture of the past +haunted her so persistently to-day as the vision of the "Miss Em'ly" of +her childish adoration. They visited the empty school-house, disused for +two years. The shingles were warping and loosening like neglected teeth; +the door hung by one hinge; the steps were rotting into holes. Flea +rode up close to the door and looked into the deserted room. Benches +were gone, and the teacher's desk and chair. She had seen Miss Emily +there but once, yet she recalled more vividly than any other image that +of the pretty girl in her blue riding-habit and cap, and how she had +befriended the forlorn little victim of a tyrant's temper. + +Since the incident of the arbor she had not spoken or thought of Miss +Emily when she could help it. Memories such as those that visited her +now took the sting out of what had happened there, and made her gentler +in judgment. Far down in her heart the old-time tenderness awoke and +stirred. + +"You say she has changed very much?" she puzzled David very much by +asking, as the horses turned in at the branch of the main road leading +to the overseer's house. + +David stared for a moment. + +"Who is 'she'? Oh, you mean Mrs. Tayloe! More than anybody can believe +without seeing her. Maybe we _will_ see her as we go by." + +"I hope not," said Flea, nervously. "I'd rather recollect her as she was +at her best." + +Nevertheless she brought the horse down to a slow walk in passing the +gate; her eyes lingered wistfully upon house and grounds. The dwelling +had been raised to two full stories; it was painted white and had green +blinds; a porch covered with vines ran across the front and two sides. +The turf of the yard was like green velvet, and three little negroes, +two girls and a boy, dressed as for company, were picking up leaves and +twigs about the front steps. + +"Look at that, will you?" exclaimed David. "He is training them to be +house servants. They are scrubbed within an inch of their lives, and put +into their best clothes every morning, and put through a sort of drill +out there. They mustn't speak, unless when spoken to, while they are +there, and if they overlook a single straw or get their clothes dirty +they are whipped. Will you look at the poor little rascals, now?" + +The pickaninnies, the oldest of whom could not have been ten, drew up +into a row, holding each other's hands, and as the riders were opposite +to them, dropped a comical little courtesy all at once. They were as +solemn as owls, and there was a mournful air about the whole performance +that kept the young Grigsbys from laughing. + +"I feel more like crying," Flea declared when they were out of hearing. +"It is worse than dancing dogs and trained canaries. I sha'n't get their +patient eyes and their every-day Sunday clothes out of my head for a +week." + +David's reply was checked by the patter of feet behind them. The boy +they had seen was tearing up the road at the top of his speed. + +"Please, ma'am! please, suh!" he panted, "mistes say you mus' please +come back an' see her. She say to tell you marster done gone to de +Cote-house for all day, an' she can' let you go by 'thout seein' her, +'pon no 'count." + +Flea and David exchanged glances and turned their horses about. Mrs. +Tayloe was leaning over the gate, waiting for them. David had said truly +that they would never have known her. The auburn hair was faded to the +color of a half-burned brick, and the gloss was gone; the blue eyes were +sunken, yet seemed larger than of old in the thin face, and gave her the +look of a hunted thing--a look that went to Flea's heart. She sprang +from her horse into arms held eagerly to receive her. + +"Miss Emily! dear Miss Emily!" The words were choked by a gush of +feeling which she tried to cover up with a laugh. "Mrs. Tayloe, I mean!" + +"Don't call me that, child. I wish I could be a girl again--like you!" +holding her at arm's-length and gazing admiringly at the graceful figure +and glowing face. "I saw you go by from the window, but I wouldn't have +known you if your brother hadn't been with you. You've just _got_ to +stay to dinner. There's nobody here to-day to be afraid of. When the +cat's away the mice will play." + +She talked fast in a high, unnatural key. Voice and laugh had few +familiar tones to the listeners. Flea hastened to say that their mother +expected them home to dinner, and that their sister would come down the +river early in the afternoon. + +"She married a Richmond man, didn't she?" ran on the hostess. "_Such_ a +pretty girl as she was! Cecily! go tell your daddy to fix a nice snack +on a waiter, and bring it out here for this lady and gentleman--you +hear? and to be _mighty_ quick about it. Sit down, both of you. It's a +heap pleasanter here than in the house. Mr. Tayloe can't _bear_ to eat +out-of-doors, or I'd _always_ have breakfast and supper on the porch. +It's one of his hundreds of notions, and I _daren't_ have so much as a +biscuit eaten out here when he is at home. He was cut out for an old +maid, and a fussy one at that. The very baby is afraid to cry where he +can hear her. What a goose your pretty sister was to get married!" + +"She doesn't think so," smiled Flea. + +"Wait awhile, and you'll see. That is, if she tells the truth. Most +women don't. I've got to the point where I don't _care_. How +good-looking you are, Flea! Not exactly pretty, but stylish, and that's +better. Beauty doesn't count for _anything_ after a woman is married." + +David had not sat down, and looked so uncomfortable while his hostess +talked that his sister came to his help. + +"You'd like to look at the garden and stable, I know, David. We will +excuse you; but don't be gone long. I can stay but half an hour or so." + +"I'll send for you when the snack comes," cried Mrs. Tayloe after him as +he went down the steps; and to Flea, "Now we can have a comfortable, +confidential chat." + +David had said she had "broken." Flea thought that "frayed" would be the +better word. The high, gay spirits had fled with youth and beauty. Her +temper was quick, her husband's was violent. Their quarrels were the +talk of the neighborhood, and a rumor was gaining ground that the wife +was partially insane. + +Grown-up Flea had never breathed to a living soul one word of what had +happened in the summer-house six years ago. She was as loyal to those +she loved as when the child had refused to tell how she got the scratch +on her cheek. When flushed by heat or exercise a thin white sear, hardly +wider than a hair, still showed the line the shot had taken. It was +distinct now, and Mrs. Tayloe stroked it with a finger which was no +longer plump and soft. + +"I declare you'll carry that scar to your _grave_! What a _game_ little +thing you were! And how _shamefully_ I treated you the last time I saw +you! I was just _crazy_ over that man--the biggest fool that ever lived. +I've paid for it since! Oh, I've _paid_ for it!" + +A scarlet spot flashed out upon each cheek; her voice arose until it +cracked. + +"If I had _only_ listened to you that day, I would have been a happier +and a better woman. Poor, dear papa said I was bewitched, and I _really_ +think I was. Mr. Tayloe has quarrelled with my brothers, and not _one_ +of them ever comes near me. Robert told me once to provoke the man to +strike me, and _then_ my brothers would make the law step in. But there +are the children, you see. I _can't_ disgrace them." + +"Dear Miss Emily," pleaded Flea, her eyes full of tears, "don't talk of +these things. You are not well, and thinking of old times excites you. +Where are the children? I want to see them. They must be a great comfort +to you." + +Mrs. Tayloe shivered at intervals, hysterically. She caught her breath +at every other word. + +"Comfort! They are a part of my _torment_. He will manage them to suit +himself. Do you know that he whipped my little Lizzie when she was only +a _month_ old for crying with the colic? She was the oldest, you know, +and her father said he couldn't begin discipline _too_ early. He whipped +her with a willow switch. My mother told him he was a _brute_, and he +turned her out of the house--the house my father gave me! + +"Set that down on the table here, Hampton, and you, Ned, tell Mr. David +Grigsby that the snack is ready." + +"He never eats between meals," said Flea, taking the chair Mrs. Tayloe +pushed up to the table, "and I ought not; but I am so hungry, and +everything looks so tempting, that I cannot refuse." + +It was a lavish luncheon, and Mrs. Tayloe took a childish delight in +pressing her delicacies upon the visitor. + +"Hampton," she said, after a while, with a touch of her girlish +vivacity, "go get a bottle of that shrub your master makes such a _fuss_ +over. I _must_ have Miss Grigsby taste it. Here is the cupboard key." + +When it was brought she went on with the same feverish gayety: + +"He made it himself four years ago, and he gets stingier and stingier +with it every year. It really is _mighty_ good, though I wouldn't tell +him so to save his life. He'd _kill_ me if he knew I'd touched it." + +"Don't have it opened--please!" begged Flea, checking the hand that held +out the corkscrew to the butler. "I really would rather not drink it. I +don't care for liquor of any kind." + +Mrs. Tayloe shook her hand off with a shriek of laughter. + +"I believe you are _afraid_ of him to this day. Hampton won't tell on +us. It isn't the _first_ secret he and I have kept from our lord and +master. Open it!" to the grinning man. "Now fill two glasses--one for +Miss Grigsby and one for me. Take yours, Flea! I'll give you a toast. +_Single_ blessedness forever, and confusion to all husbands!" + +Her elbow was grasped from behind as she lifted the glass above her +head. Flea had set hers down, untasted, having seen who was coming up +through the hall from the back door. At the same moment David Grigsby +hurried around the corner of the house. He had had a glimpse of Mr. +Tayloe as he rode into the stable-yard by way of a plantation road, and +hoped to reach the porch in season to get his sister away without +encountering him. + +The youth stopped short, confounded by what he saw. The wife tried to +rise from the table, but was held down in her chair by the hand pressed +upon her shoulder. The other hand did not relax the clutch upon her +elbow. The sleeve of her dress had fallen back when she raised the +glass, and David saw the flesh whiten under the cruel fingers. Flea +gathered up her skirt and retreated to the steps, pausing there as if +reluctant to leave her friend in the power of the angry man. His face +literally blackened; his eyes were livid; the sneer that drew the +corners of his mouth upward lifted the lips from strong sharp teeth like +a hound's. + +"So-ho!" he hissed between them. "This is what goes on while I am away!" + +He got no further. David and Flea never agreed in their accounts of what +happened next. The brother thought that the wife's struggle was to free +herself from the savage grip upon her elbow. Flea saw the look of hate +and fear with which the frantic woman dashed glass and liquor into her +husband's face. He did not move so much as to wipe the red streams from +his eyes. He spoke slowly and in deadly calm: "You have been taking a +lesson from your distinguished visitor, have you?" glancing with his +evil smile at the horror-stricken girl. "Let her take one in return from +this!" + +He raised his hand to strike her, but David saw the motion, and bounded +up the steps. + +[Illustration: THE YOUNG FARMER DRAGGED THE MASTER DOWN THE STEPS.] + +The young farmer dragged the master of the house by the collar down the +steps, thence along the gravel walk to the road. A blind instinct of +what was conventional in such cases warned him not to beat a man on his +own premises. Once upon the highway David stayed hand and whip no +longer. Holding the elder and smaller man down upon the ground, he then +and there paid off old and new scores. His whip was new and tough, the +arm that wielded it was lusty. Every lash from David's whip cut through +the light cloth of coat and vest, and cut the shirt into ribbons down to +the skin. + + * * * * * + +Felicia Grigsby was a married woman with a David and a Jean of her own +when she told me the story of her Old-Field school-days. Even then she +was unable to describe without deep emotion the cruel scene I have just +sketched. + +"No," she said, in answer to my exclamation of indignant horror, "his +wife did not leave him even after that. The act of infamous cruelty +seemed to subdue her utterly. I never saw her again. I dared not visit +her, and she never went beyond her yard gate, even to church. It was +said she had fallen into a gentle melancholy. I am thankful, for her +sake, that it was gentle. Her children loved her dearly. I hope they +brought some balm to the wounded spirit. + +"The youngest was ten years old when his mother died. The week after her +burial her husband sold the plantation through a real-estate agent to my +brother David. A month later he left the county and State, and removed +to Louisiana. I hear that he has grown rich there on a sugar plantation. +He says that the climate of Virginia did not agree with him. That was +lucky for him--and for Virginia." + +THE END. + + + + +RICK DALE. + +BY KIRK MUNROE, + +AUTHOR OF "SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES," "THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH," "THE 'MATE' +SERIES," "FLAMINGO FEATHER," ETC. + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +A DESPERATE SITUATION. + + +Of the many trying experiences through which our lads had passed since +their introduction to each other in Victoria, none had presented so many +hopeless features as the present. They were high up on a mighty +mountain, whose terrible wilderness of rock and glacier, precipice and +chasm, limitless snow-field and trackless forest, stretched for weary +leagues in every direction; beyond hope of human aid; only a mouthful of +food between them and starvation; with night so close at hand that +near-by objects were already indistinct in its gathering gloom; without +shelter; inexperienced in wood-craft; and one so badly injured that he +lay moaning on the rocks, incapable of moving. + +As all these details of the situation flashed into Alaric's mind he +became for a moment heart-sick and despairing at its utter hopelessness. +He was so exhausted with the exertions of the day, so unnerved by the +strain and anxiety of the perilous hours just passed, and so faint for +want of nourishment, that it is no wonder his strength was turned into +weakness, or that he could discover no ray of hope through the +all-pervading gloom. + +Suddenly and as clearly as though spoken by his side, came the words: +"Always remember that, as my friend Jalap Coombs says, 'It is never so +dark but what there is a light somewhere.'" The memory of Phil Ryder's +brave face as he uttered that sentence came to our poor lad like a +tonic, and instantly he was resolved to find the light that was shining +for him somewhere. + +With such marvellous quickness does the mind act in an emergency, that +all these thoughts came to Alaric even as he bent anxiously over his +injured friend and began to examine tenderly into the nature of his +hurts. As he lifted the left arm the sufferer uttered a cry of pain, and +its hand hung limp. The other limbs were sound, but Bonny said that +every breath was like a stab. + +"One arm broken, and I'm afraid something gone wrong inside," announced +Alaric at length; "but it might be ever so much worse," he continued, in +as cheerful a tone as he could command. "One of your legs might have +been broken, you know, and then we should be in a fix, for I couldn't +carry you, and we should have to stay right here. Now, though, I am sure +you can walk as far as the timber if you will only try. Of course it +will hurt terribly." + +Very slowly, and with many a stifled cry of acute pain, Bonny gained his +feet. Then, with his right arm about Alaric's neck, and with the latter +stoutly supporting him, the injured lad managed to cross the few hundred +feet intervening between that place and the longed-for shelter. + +Both Bonny's weakness and the darkness, which was now that of night, +prevented their penetrating deep into the timber; but before the +sufferer sank to the ground, declaring that he could not take another +step, they had gone far enough to escape the icy blast that, sweeping +down from the upper snow-fields, had chilled them to the marrow. This +alone was a notable achievement, and already Alaric believed he could +perceive a glimmer of the light he had set out to find. + +Now for a fire, and how grateful they were for M. Filbert's forethought +that had provided each one of his party with plenty of matches! Feeling +about for twigs, and whittling a few shavings with his sheath-knife, +Alaric quickly started a tiny flame, and with its first cheery glow +their situation seemed robbed of half its terrors. An armful of sticks +produced a brave crackling blaze that drove the black forest shadows to +a respectful distance. + +With Bonny's hatchet Alaric next lopped all the branches from the lower +side of a thick-growing hemlock and wove them among those that were +left, so as to form a wind-break. An armful of the same flat boughs, cut +from other trees and strewn on the ground, formed a springy bed on which +to unfold the sleeping-bags, that by rare good fortune had remained +strapped to the lads' shoulders during all their terrible journey from +the summit camp of the night before. + +After making his comrade as comfortable as possible, Alaric hurried away +into the darkness. He was gone so long that Bonny, who did not know the +reason of his absence, began to grow very uneasy before he returned. +When he did reappear, he brought with him a quantity of snow that he had +gone back a quarter of a mile up the dark mountain-side to obtain. He +wanted water, and not hearing or finding any stream, had bethought +himself of snow as a substitute. + +In each of the packs they had so fortunately brought with them was a +handful of tea, for M. Filbert had insisted that all the provisions +should be divided among all the packs as a precaution against just such +an emergency as had arisen. Therefore Alaric now had the materials for a +longed-for and much-needed cup of the stimulating beverage. To make it, +an amount of the precious leaves equal to a teaspoonful was put into one +of their tin cups while snow was melted in the other. As soon as this +came to a boil it was poured over the tea-leaves in cup number one, +which was allowed to stand for two minutes longer in a warm place to +"draw." + +While Bonny slowly sipped this, at the same time munching a handful of +hard biscuit, which, broken into small bits, was all the food they had +left, Alaric boiled another cup of water for himself. + +From all this it will be seen that our one-time helpless and dependent +"Allie" Todd was rapidly learning not only to care for himself under +trying conditions, but for others as well. + +As soon as Bonny had been thus strengthened and thoroughly warmed, +Alaric made a more thorough examination of his injuries than had been +possible out in the cold and darkness where the accident occurred. He +found that the left arm had sustained a simple fracture, fortunately but +little splintered, and also that two ribs on the left side were broken. +For these he could do nothing; but he managed to set the broken arm +after a fashion, bandage it with handkerchiefs torn into strips, and +finally to place it in a case formed of a troughlike section of hemlock +bark, which he hung from Bonny's neck by straps. Then he helped his +patient into one of the sleeping-bags, encouraging him all the while +with hopeful suggestions of what they would do on the morrow. + +After thus making his charge as comfortable as circumstances would +permit, the lad busied himself for another hour in collecting such a +quantity of wood as should insure a good fire until morning. Then, +utterly fagged out, he crept into his own bed, and lay down beside his +friend. + +When he next awoke daylight was already some hours old, the place where +the fire had burned was covered with dead ashes, and Bonny lay patiently +regarding him with wistful eyes. + +"I am so thirsty, Rick," was all he said, though he had lain for hours +wide-awake and parched with fever, but heroically determined that his +wearied comrade should sleep until he woke of his own accord. + +"You poor fellow!" cried Alaric, remorsefully. "Why didn't you wake me +long ago?" + +"I couldn't bear to," replied Bonny; "but now, if you will please get me +a drink." + +Only pausing to light a fresh fire, Alaric hastened away to the distant +snow-bank, returning as speedily as possible with as much of it as their +two tin plates would hold. A handful was given to Bonny to cool his +parched tongue while the remainder was melting. + +So small a quantity of water could be procured at a time by this slow +process that in a very few minutes Alaric found he must go for more +snow. As he went he realized how faint he was for want of food. "I +wonder how much longer I shall be able to hold out?" he asked himself. +"How many more times can I make this trip before my strength is +exhausted?" A mental picture of Bonny begging for water, and he too weak +to fetch it, caused his eyes to fill with tears, and a black despair +again enfolded him. + +At this moment the voice of the previous night came again to him: It is +never so dark but what there's a light somewhere. "Of course there is," +he cried, "and as I found it last night, why shouldn't I to-day?" Even +as the lad spoke he caught its first gleam in the form of a rivulet of +clear water that rippled merrily down from the snow only a few yards +from where he stood. Hastening to this, the lad drank long and deeply. + +On lifting his head from the delicious water, he could hardly believe +his eyes as they rested on a solitary bird, that he knew to be a +ptarmigan, crouching beside a bowlder. Hoping against hope and almost +unnerved by anxiety, he flung a stone, and in another minute the bird +was his. "Hurrah for breakfast!" he shouted, as he ran back to Bonny +with his trophy proudly displayed at arm's-length. + +Awkward as Alaric was at the business, he had that heaven-sent bird +stripped of its feathers, cleaned, and spitted over a bed of glowing +coals within ten minutes of the time he had first spied it, and a little +later only its cleanly picked bones remained to tell of its existence. + +Bonny was disinclined to eat, but he drank two cups of hot tea, that +threw him into a perspiration, greatly to Alaric's satisfaction. As he +also seemed drowsy, Alaric encouraged him to sleep, while he should go +in search of more food and assistance, with one or both of which he +promised to return before noon. + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +HOW A SONG SAVED ALARIC'S LIFE. + +When Alaric made that promise he had no more idea of how it was to be +kept than he had of what was to become of Bonny and himself. He only +knew that active exertion of some kind was necessary to keep him from +utter despair. Besides, it was just possible that he might discover and +secure another bird, though not at all probable, as the one on which he +had breakfasted was the first that he had encountered since coming to +the mountain. + +By the time he emerged from the timber the morning clouds had rolled +away, the sun was shining brightly, and the whole vast sweep of gleaming +snow and tumultuous rock, from timber line to distant summit, lay piled +in steep ascent before him. It was a wonderful sight, but as terrible as +it was grand, for in all its awful solitude there was no movement, no +voice, and no sign of life. + +Oppressed by the loneliness of his surroundings, and having no reason +for choosing one direction rather than another, the lad mechanically +turned to the right and began to make his way along a bowlder-strewn +slope, where every now and then he came to the bleached skeletons of +stunted trees, winter-killed, but still standing, and seeming to stretch +imploring arms to their retreating brethren of the forest. + +He had not gone more than a mile when there came something to him that +caused him to halt and glance inquiringly on all sides. At the same time +he lifted his head and sniffed the air eagerly, like a hound on the +scent of game. He was certain that he had smelled smoke. Yes, there it +came again; a whiff so faint as to be almost imperceptible, but the +unmistakable odor of burning wood. + +Facing squarely the breeze that brought it to him, the lad pushed +forward, and a few minutes later stood on the verge of a little mountain +meadow, sun-warmed and rock-walled on all sides save the one by which he +had approached. Here the slope was so gentle that he started down on a +run. He had thus gone but a short distance when he suddenly paused with +his eyes fixed on the ground where he was standing. + +He had been unconsciously following a path, faintly marked and hardly +to be distinguished, but nevertheless one that he felt certain had been +trodden by human feet. The discovery filled him with excitement, and he +bounded forward with redoubled speed. Half-way down the slope, at a +point commanding a lovely view of the flower-strewn valley, the trail +ended at a crystal spring that bubbled from among the roots of a tall +young hemlock. Other trees were grouped near by, and beneath them stood +a rude hut built of poles and boughs, but having a rain-proof roof of +thatch. Before it smouldered a log fire, from which rose the thin column +of smoke that had directed Alaric's attention to the place. + +Filled with exultation and wild with joy over his discovery, the lad +gazed eagerly about for some sign of the proprietor or occupants of this +lonely camp, and at length, seeing no one, he began to shout. Receiving +no response, he entered the hut, and was surprised at the absence of +even the rude comforts common to such a place. There was a heap of white +goat-skins in one corner, and a quantity of meat, either smoked or +dried, hung from a rafter overhead. A kettle and fry-pan lay outside +near the fire, an axe was driven into the trunk of one of the trees, +and, so far as Alaric could see, there was nothing else. But even these +things were enough to indicate that this was a place of at least +temporary human abode, and wherever its proprietor might be, he would +return to it sooner or later. Then, too, Alaric believed it to be the +camp of a white man; for though his knowledge of Indians was limited, it +in no way resembled that of Skookum John. + +"At any rate," he said to himself, "I must try and get Bonny here as +quickly as possible, for he will be a thousand times better off in this +place than where I left him." + +So, with a lighter heart than he had known since his comrade's accident, +Alaric started back over the trail by which he had come. Bonny was awake +and sitting up when he reappeared, and the sufferer's face brightened +wonderfully at the great news of at least one other human being, a camp, +and an abundance of food so near at hand. + +"Do you really think I can get there, though?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Alaric, "I know you can; for, as you said yesterday when +we were looking at that precipice, it is something that must be done. We +can't stay here without either food or shelter, and we don't dare wait +for the owner of that camp to come back and help us move, because he may +stay away several days. I know it is going to hurt you awfully to walk, +but I know too that you'll do it if you only make up your mind to." + +"All right, I'll try it; but, Rick, don't you forget that if I ever get +down from this mountain alive, never again will I climb another." + +As Alaric was doing up the sleeping-bags a familiar-looking baseball +rolled from his, and caught Bonny's eye. + +"If you aren't a queer chap!" he exclaimed. "What ever made you bring +that ball along?" + +"Because," answered the other, "it means so much to me that I hated to +leave it behind, and then I thought perhaps it would be fun to have a +game on the very top of the mountain. When we reached there, though, I +forgot all about it." + +"Yes," said Bonny, grimly, "we did have something else to think of. +Ough! but that hurts." + +This exclamation was called forth by the poor lad's effort to gain his +feet, which he found he was unable to do without assistance. + +Although Alaric carried both packs, and lent Bonny all possible support +besides, that one-mile walk proved the most difficult either of the lads +had ever undertaken. Brave and stout-hearted as Bonny was, he could not +help groaning with every step, and they were obliged to rest so often +that the little journey occupied several hours. At its end both lads +were utterly exhausted, and Bonny was suffering so intensely that he +hardly noticed the place to which he had been brought. The moment he +gained the hut he sank down on its pile of goat-skins with closed eyes, +and so white a face that he seemed about to faint. + +When Alaric was there before he had mended the fire and set on a kettle +of water, with a view to just such an emergency as the present. The +water was still boiling, and so within three minutes he was able to give +his patient a cup of strong tea that greatly revived him. Food was the +next thing to be thought of, and Alaric did not hesitate to appropriate +one of the strips of goat's flesh that hung overhead. Not being quite +sure of the best way to cook this, he cut one portion into small bits, +put these into the kettle with a little water, and set the whole on the +fire to simmer. Another portion he sliced thin and laid in the fry-pan, +which he also set on the fire. Still a third bit he spitted on a long +stick and held close to a bed of coals, where it frizzled with such an +appetizing odor that he could not wait for it to be cooked before +cutting off small bits to sample. They were so good that he went to +offer some to Bonny; but finding the latter still lying with closed +eyes, thought best not to disturb him. So he sat alone and ate all the +frizzled meat, and all that was in the fry-pan, and was still so hungry +that he procured another strip of meat from the hut, and began all over +again. + +They had been nearly two hours in the camp before his ravenous appetite +was fully satisfied, and by that time the contents of the pot had +simmered into a sort of thick broth. At a faint call from Bonny, Alaric +carried some of this to him, and had the satisfaction of seeing him +swallow a whole cupful. Then, as night was again approaching, he helped +his patient into one of the sleeping-bags, which he underlaid with +several goat-skins, and sat by him until he fell into a doze. When this +happened Alaric went softly outside and, to dispel the gathering gloom, +piled logs on the fire until it was in a bright blaze. Sitting a little +to one side, half in light and half in shadow, and having no present +occupation, the lad fell into a deep reverie. How was this strange +adventure to end? Who owned that camp, and why did he not return to it? +What would he think on finding strangers in possession? Had any boy ever +stepped from one life into another so utterly different as suddenly and +completely as he? One year ago at this time he was in France, surrounded +by every luxury that money could procure, carefully guarded from every +form of anxiety, and dependent upon others for everything. Now he was +thankful for the shelter of a hut, and a meal of half-cooked meat +prepared by his own hands. He not only had everything to do for himself, +but had another still more helpless dependent upon him for everything. +Was he any happier then than now? No. He could honestly say that he +preferred his present position, with its health, strength, and glorious +self-reliance, to the one he had resigned. + +Still there had been happy times in that other life. Two years ago, for +instance, when his mother and he had travelled, leisurely through +Germany, halting whenever they chose, and remaining as long as places +interested them. Thoughts of his mother recalled the plaintive little +German folk-song of which she had been so fond. + +_Muss i denn._ Yes, that was it, and involuntarily Alaric began to hum +the air. Then the words began to fit themselves to it, and before he +realized what he was doing he was singing softly: + + "Muss i denn, muss i denn + Zum Städtele 'naus, Städtele 'naus: + Und du mein Schatz bleibst hier--" + +So engrossed was the lad with his thoughts and with trying to recall the +words of the song running in his head that he heard nothing of a soft +footstep that for several minutes had been stealthily approaching the +fire-lit place where he sat. He knew nothing of the wild eyes that, +peering from a haggard face, were fixed upon him with the glare of +madness. He had no suspicion of the brown rifle-barrel that was slowly +raised until he was covered by its deadly aim. But now he had recalled +all the words of his song, and they rang out strong and clear: + + "Muss i denn, muss i denn + Zum Städtele 'naus, Städtele 'naus: + Und du--" + +[Illustration: THE STARTLED LAD SPRANG TO HIS FEET IN TERROR.] + +At that moment there came a great cry from behind him: "Ach, Himmel! Wer +ist denn das!" and the startled lad sprang to his feet in terror. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER. + +BY FRANKLIN MATTHEWS. + + +There would be no sense in having powerful war-ships, enormous cannons, +and hard, tough projectiles to use in them, if we did not have improved +powder to make them all effective. The high-grade powder used in warfare +in these days is known in this country as "brown powder," because of its +color. In Europe such powder has a dozen or more names, generally called +after the men who have invented each kind. There are only two places in +this country where the powder used in our big guns is made. One of them +is the works of the E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company's plant on the +Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, Delaware, and the other is the works +of the California Powder Company, near Santa Cruz, California. In both +of these places the process is secret, and no one except those employed +about the works is supposed to know exactly how "brown powder" is made. + +All powder, whether it is intended for blasting, hunting, +rifle-shooting, or warfare purposes, is made in the same general way, +and so, in telling of a visit I recently made to the Du Pont Works, near +Wilmington, I shall reveal no secrets if I describe the various mills +and processes which practically all powder goes through before it is +finished. Ordinary powder is composed of three ingredients--saltpetre, +sulphur, and charcoal, or nitrate of soda, sulphur, and charcoal. Powder +intended for blasting is generally made with soda; powder intended for +shooting is generally made with saltpetre. It takes a great deal more +than these ingredients, however, to make powder. There must be a lot of +small buildings, generally scattered about a ravine, through which a +stream runs to furnish power to the mills. These mills are for the most +part small, one-story structures, that look at first glance like +tumble-down affairs, out in the woods. Closer examination shows that +they are built for the most part of stone on three sides and wood on the +fourth, and that they all have light wooden roofs. Still closer +examination reveals that the floors are laid with big wooden pegs +instead of nails, and that so far as possible all the machinery they +contain is made of wood. All the shovels and other implements used by +the workmen are of wood, and every man about the place wears shoes with +wooden-pegged soles instead of shoes which have nails. Fancy these +conditions in a beautiful wooded park, running for three miles along the +picturesque Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, and you can imagine +something of the attractive external appearance of the Du Pont Works. + +There is good reason for the use of wood instead of metal in the thirty +or forty buildings which make up this plant. You may not know it, but, +it is said to be a fact that there must be a spark to ignite powder. You +may take a live coal, for example, and drop it into a dish of powder, +and the result will be that the powder will simply burn rapidly. Strike +a spark and let it come in contact with the powder, and there is an +explosion. All powder-mill explosions, with their dreadful losses of +life, are caused by sparks. It is to avoid sparks that wooden-pegged +floors and shoes are required in the mills, and that wooden shovels and +machinery are used. You can see how dangerous metal is about a +powder-making plant when your guide takes a bunch of keys from his +pocket to unlock a mill where the work is done for the day. He inserts +the key in the padlock as slowly and as gently as if he were performing +a most delicate surgical operation, one where life is at stake by the +mere turn of the wrist. He turns the bolt as carefully as if the lock +were made of an egg-shell, which he didn't want to break. Your life and +his really are at stake, and neither he nor you can exercise too much +care. + +[Illustration: THE CHARCOAL-MILL.] + +There are two distinct stages in powder-making. The one is the part that +is not dangerous of itself, and the other is the part that is +dangerous--so dangerous, in fact, that the life of no one engaged in the +work is safe. Still, so thorough are the precautions taken that the +percentage of loss of life at this work is really very small, and one +sees about the Du Pont Works men who have been employed there for thirty +and forty years. The part of the manufacture that is not dangerous +consists of the preparation of the ingredients that compose the powder. +In one of these mills the charcoal is made. For the higher grades of +powder only willow wood is used in making the charcoal. For +blasting-powder almost any wood of good grain is used. The willow is +grown largely on the grounds of the beautiful park, and the smaller +limbs of trees are taken. Willow has an especially fine grain and +texture, and this makes it valuable for powder manufacture. + +In another mill the saltpetre is refined by boiling. The refined product +is dumped into vats, from which it is shovelled into barrels to be +taken to the mixing-house. The saltpetre in the vats is so pure and +white that one might fancy that the roof had opened and an old-fashioned +snow-storm had fallen inside the building, and the men who are +shovelling it up resemble snow-shovellers, except that they are not +bundled up. The sulphur is prepared in another place, and then the +ingredients are taken to the mixing-mill, where they are weighed and +mixed, and there the part of the work that is not dangerous ends. + +[Illustration: THE ROLLING-MILL.] + +Near by the mixing-mill are the rolling-mills. Now we are close to +danger. In the centre of this mill is a big iron saucer, probably six +feet in diameter. The rim of the saucer is about eighteen inches high. +Standing up in the saucer are two wheels. They seem to be about six feet +in diameter also, and their rims about a foot broad. These wheels and +this saucer do the rolling of the powder--that is, they grind the three +substances that compose the powder into a new mixture. The wheels are +swept around and around in the saucer, and they also turn on their own +axes. It is as if they were kept rolling over and over, just as the +wheels of a carriage roll, but also as if some power kept them turning +about constantly in the small circle of this saucer. This mill is where +wooden machinery cannot be used, and of course that makes it a very +dangerous place. + +The mixture of the ingredients of the powder is brought in and dumped +carefully in the saucer. It is spread about smoothly by a workman, who, +after this work is done, goes outside the mill, and does not come back +until the powder is rolled thoroughly. The workman goes to a wheel a few +feet away from the building and turns it very slowly. It starts the +machinery that moves the wheels in the saucer. The greatest danger in +rolling comes at this time. The rolling must be begun in the slowest +possible way. The danger is that there may be a lump in the mixture in +the saucer that will raise one of the wheels as it turns around and then +drop it suddenly in the saucer, causing a spark. If this comes, away +goes your mill and machinery, and possibly the workman's life with them. +There are many of these rolling-mills in the Du Pont plant, because the +owners act on the principle that it is not a good thing to carry all +your eggs in one basket. Rarely is more than 150 pounds of powder rolled +at one time, and it takes from three to eight hours to do the rolling, +according to the grade of powder that is being made. The workman in +charge will go to the door of the mill from time to time to look in, but +he never steps inside until he has stopped the machinery and the rolling +is done. + +After the powder is rolled it is shovelled up and taken to a press-mill. +It is put into a long wooden trough about two feet high and two feet +broad, and packed between thin plates of aluminum. Pressure is applied +by water-power to one end of the trough, and the powder is squeezed into +thin slabs of hard dry cakes. After all the moisture is squeezed out, +these cakes are removed, and one by one they are slipped down into a +slot between some rollers, where each is broken up into bits that +resemble the small stones that are used in making macadam roads. This +breaking-up process makes a terrific noise, and when one thinks of the +dangerous compound that is being handled, this noise is likely to cause +a feeling of great fear in one who hears it for the first time. At this +stage of the process it is difficult to restrain the impulse to take to +one's heels and run out of hearing of the terrifying sound. + +[Illustration: THE GRAINING-MILL.] + +After the cakes have been broken up into these bits of rough, dirty +stone, the powder is taken to a graining-mill. This is really the most +dangerous part of all the work. One man runs each of these mills. He +cannot start the machinery in motion and go away, like the man who has +charge of a rolling-mill, but he must stay in the place all the time, +and feed the stones to the machinery that crushes them into grains of +various sizes. He shovels the powder into a large hopper, big wooden +wheels go around and around, and the powder passes between zinc rolls +and through sieves of various sizes. It is a grewsome place. The +machinery reminds one of the pictures that we have all seen of some of +the contrivances they used to have in the days of the Inquisition with +which to torture people, and it is hard to keep back a shudder as one +looks at this work. Sometimes there is as much as a ton of powder at one +time in the big hopper of this machine. In one of these mills at the Du +Pont Works you will notice that the stone wall is eight feet thick on +one side. This is on the side next to a press-mill. One side of the +place is entirely of wood. This is toward the creek. The idea is to save +as much property as possible in case of an explosion. + +After the powder is broken up into grains it is taken in bags to another +mill. This is known as a glazing-mill. It is here that the powder is +polished and made shiny. There are several sheet-iron hoppers that +resemble enormous barrels in this place. The powder is dumped into them, +and they are turned over and over. A certain quantity of lamp-black is +put into each barrel, according to the amount of powder each contains, +and the barrel is turned until every grain has received a polish. The +polish simply gives the powder a nice appearance. It adds no strength to +the product, but it helps to keep out moisture, and it prevents the +powder from losing some of its strength in damp weather. Every one knows +how much better a pair of shoes look when they are polished, and how +desirable it is at all times to have one's shoes kept in this condition. +It is for that same reason that a polish is put on the grains of powder. + +When the powder is polished, and separated by means of sieves again into +grains of various sizes, it is ready for packing. It is then run into +tin or wooden kegs, and is ready for storage in a magazine in a remote +part of the grounds. The kegs are made in another part of the grounds, +and painted in various colors, each color indicating the kind of powder +the keg contains. It is then ready for shipment to the places where it +is used. The powder that goes into cartridges for shooting purposes goes +to the factories where cartridges are made, the blasting powder goes to +the men who sell it, and thus it is carted off the place, and the mills +go on making a supply to take its place. + +The government powder is made in a general way in the same manner that +ordinary powder is made. The chemical ingredients are somewhat +different, of course, but it may be said that powder for use in cannons +is simply of a finer grade than ordinary powder. It is what is +technically known as a "slow" powder. That is, it ignites slowly, and +burns more slowly than ordinary powder. Of course to the eye it goes off +in a flash, like ordinary powder, but really it is slow in its explosion +compared with ordinary powder. The object of this is to secure the full +force of the power in the powder, and also to start the projectiles in +cannon very slowly in their terrible journey of destruction. By using a +slow powder there is less strain on the cannons and less danger of their +bursting. There must be as little shock as possible to the cannons, when +they contain such a terrible power as an ordinary charge of powder, and +it is desirable that all of the powder should be used. Hence the need +for "slow" powder. The government powder is packed in small cakes or +prisms, with a little hole through the centre. These prisms look like +the nuts used on the hubs of big wagons. A lot of them are put together +in a package and stowed away in the cannon behind the projectile, and a +spark is used to set the charge off. + +One soon gets used to danger, and in going through a powder plant it is +interesting to watch the men go about their tasks with as little concern +apparently as if they were employed in a flour-mill. It is healthy work, +aside from its danger, and for that reason it would be difficult to find +a sturdier lot of men than those employed at this task. The men saunter +about the place as if they preferred that sort of life to any other. In +their manner there is no indication that they are oppressed by the +possibility that some day they may be blown into bits. Most of them seem +to be what are known as fatalists. One must die sometime, and a powder +explosion provides a speedy and painless exit. They can get no insurance +on their lives, but doubtless they console themselves with the thought +that the percentage of the loss of life is small, much smaller than in +many other kinds of hazardous employment. + +These men may count with reason upon a long life, and a physician is +rarely needed by any of them. They live in comfortable homes in the park +where they are employed, and seem most contented with their lot. The Du +Pont people have fitted up a delightful club-house on the grounds for +their employees, and these find existence in their lot in life so +attractive that they remain in it year after year, a contented and +prosperous set of men. + + + + +A PALM-LEAF FAN. + +BY CAROLINE A. CREEVEY. + + +When ministers preach sermons they take texts. We will make a text out +of a palm-leaf fan. + +Palms do not grow around Brooklyn, where I live; but the children of +North Carolina, and further south, know their straight slim +palmetto-tree, bearing a cluster of large frondlike leaves at the top, +as we know a chestnut-tree. Indeed, one of the Southern States is called +the Palmetto State, and has a palm-tree in its State emblem. + +Small palms may be obtained at a florist's, and are fashionable parlor +ornaments. But in a greenhouse they do not grow very large. In hot +countries they sometimes reach a height of 150 feet. The bud at the top +must not be broken off, else the tree will die; for, unlike Northern +trees, palms do not branch, but continue always to grow straight up. As +the leaves become old, they drop off, leaving curious scars on the +trunk. New leaves grow one at a time from the apex. A maple-tree +branches in all directions, and you may pinch off its buds anywhere +without interrupting its growth. But it is rare to see a palm with even +two branches. Such are called forked palms, referring to old-fashioned +two-tined forks. Another curious thing about a palm is that it has no +bark. My fan-handle is the natural stem of the leaf, and it has never +had more bark than it has now. + +Have you noticed a trunk of a hickory or chestnut tree which has been +sawn straight across? There is a distinct centre, with rings of wood +around it, growing larger and larger, all covered by bark. On such trees +the outside ring of wood forms new every year, and if you can count the +rings you can tell how old the tree is. When the tree is cut lengthwise +into boards, these rings make beautiful grainings. A palm-tree has no +apparent centre, no rings of wood, and no real bark. It is a very +different kind of tree from the chestnut. There is wood, of course, in +the palm trunk, else it would not be stiff enough to stand up so +straight and tall. But the wood is in threads, long and slender, +scattered without order through the trunk. The dots in the end of my +fan-handle are the tips of threads of wood. If you were to see a palm +sawn across you would find hundreds of similar dots. You cannot tell how +old the palm is. The cut end of a cornstalk will show the same kind of +structure, woody dots in soft juicy tissue. Grasses grow in the same +way, and so do orchids, lilies, hyacinths, daffodils, iris, flag-root, +cat's-tails, and many of our pretty spring wild flowers--the yellow +dog-toothed violet, lily-of-the-valley, Solomon's-seal, etc. Our +grains--corn, wheat, oats, rye--are humble but useful members of this +same grand division of _Endogens_. All other trees and herbs which have +bark, wood, and pith, and which when long lived increase by additional +rings of wood under the bark, are _Exogens_. + +Next examine the spread-out part of our fan. Ridges start from a common +centre, where the stem joins the blade, and radiate towards the +circumference. These ridges are the paths for the veins, and all leaves +whose veins run side by side are called _parallel_-veined leaves. A +plantain leaf shows this plainly. A chestnut leaf has an arrangement of +veins like a feather. There is a central _midrib_, from which veins +spring, running across the leaf, joined irregularly with intertwining +_veinlets_. These leaves are _net_-veined, and grow on exogens. The +parallel-veined leaves of endogens often clasp and surround the stem, +the upper leaf growing from within the lower. Even the seed of endogens +grows differently from that of exogens. A grain of corn sends up one +first leaf; so do lilies and grains. A squash seed sends up two first +leaves. The first leaves of a seed are _cotyledons_, and the one-leafed +seed is _mono_cotyledonous, while two-leafed seeds are dicotyledonous. + +Banana-trees are endogens, and produce such abundant fruit in their +native soil that ground which planted in wheat would support two +persons, if planted with bananas would nourish fifty. If you were cast +away on a desert island you would fare better if the trees above you +were endogens than if they were exogens. A grove of bananas and a +cocoanut palm would support you better than chestnuts, hickories, oaks, +and maples. + + + + +JENSEN FALLS OVERBOARD. + +BY OSCAR KING DAVIS. + + +The United States Revenue-cutter _Corwin_ was taking the court officials +from Sitka to Juneau to hold court. There was to be a term to deal with +the seizures of seal-poachers that had been made by the patrol fleet in +the Bering Sea that summer. They were in a hurry, and the _Corwin_ was +doing her best. It was perhaps 4 o'clock in the afternoon of a dismal +dull November day that the revenue-cutter rounded a point in Chatham +Straits, and came plump upon a sleek little Columbia River fishing-sloop +beating down the channel. Something in her trim suggested smugglers to +the officer of the deck. The Captain was below with some of the court +officials when the messenger from the Lieutenant reported. When he got +on deck a quartermaster was already standing by the flag halyards, ready +to send aloft the signal to the sloop to stop, and a boat's crew stood +ready to clear away the dingy. The Captain took in the situation at a +glance, and almost with one breath ordered the signal flown and the boat +cleared away. The men in the little sloop had been watching with eyes of +experience, and as the signal-flags fluttered from her spanker-gaff they +swung their boat up into the wind and dropped the jib. + +On the cutter the men were lowering the dingy, and the Lieutenant stood +by the rail ready to go the moment his boat caught the water. Three +sailor-men were in the boat, two at the fall-ropes and one in the middle +with the oars and cushions. Jensen, the man at the after fall-rope, was +a fine big Swede, broad-shouldered and stalwart. A drizzling rain was +driving down from the mountains that line the Straits, and all the men +were in their oil-skins and sou'westers. Jensen had added a great pair +of rubber boots with long tops that reached up to his hips. The +fall-ropes had begun to slip through the sheaves, and the dingy had +started toward the water, when the eye-bolt at the stern, to which the +lower block of the fall-rope was hooked, broke with a snap like a pistol +crack. Instantly the stern of the boat fell into the water, but quickly +as it fell the sailor-men were quicker. As they heard the snap of the +breaking bolt and felt the boat begin to go out from under their feet, +all three threw up their hands and grasped the wire stay that stretches +between the davits. Two caught it with both hands, but Jensen missed +with his right. The lurch with which the dingy fell had given him a +twisting motion, and as he clung to the stay with his left hand he swung +around until his arm could be twisted no further, and then he let go. + +Instantly there was a tumult on the cutter, but it was not the crew of +the _Corwin_ that made it. The court officials from Sitka and their +wives had come on deck to see the fishing-sloop examined, and the +instant they saw Jensen fall and heard the splash of the water as he +struck, they set up a shout of "Man overboard!" Then they began to throw +things over to the sailor-man, who was rapidly drifting astern. The +first signal to the fishing-sloop had been accompanied by an order to +the engine-room to stop and back, but the _Corwin_ was still under good +headway when Jensen fell. As the dingy struck the water it turned bottom +up, and all the oars and cushions and movable gratings in the bottom +fell out and floated astern with the sailor-man. Added to these things +were a lot of deck-gratings and things slung over by the excited +Sitkans. Half a dozen life-buoys that were thrown over at the first +alarm promptly went to the bottom. They had been cleaned and painted so +many times that not even the heavy salt water would float them. + +At the cry of "Man overboard!" Captain Hooper's orders were short and +sharp. In response to them a boat's crew leaped at the big whaleboat. +Almost in the twinkling of an eye it was in the water, and eight sturdy +fellows were responding with all their might to the bo's'n's +exhortations to "give way." But at the same time another crew had +cleared away the Captain's gig, and the young Lieutenant who was to have +boarded the suspected sloop from the dingy was placidly going about his +errand in the gig. + +It takes a long time to tell it, almost as long, perhaps, as it seemed +to Jensen, but all this really occupied a very few minutes. The people +from Sitka, hanging over the taffrail and wondering if the cutter would +never begin to go astern, saw Jensen go down, and held their breath with +the instant's fear that he had given up. But presently he bobbed up +again, and then one, with a glass, made out that he had taken off his +heavy oil-skin coat. He had his big sou'wester in his teeth, and was +treading water. As he stood up out of the water he lifted one side of +the heavy coat. He caught the air under it, when he dropped the edge of +it again, and the man with the glass could see the coat float by itself. +Then Jensen disappeared under the water again. He was down what seemed +an interminable time, and they thought that surely this time he was gone +for good. But he came up again, and this time he had his long rubber +boots in his left hand. He caught his sou'wester in his teeth again, +and, swimming with his right hand and holding his boots in his left, and +pushing his coat with his brawny chest, he struck out comfortably for +the whaleboat that was rapidly bearing down on him. + +Before it reached him, however, there floated by one of the gratings +that had been flung over after him. They were half a mile or more astern +of the revenue-cutter, and the thick day prevented the nervous watchers +on the _Corwin_ from seeing what happened. But the bo's'n in the +whaleboat saw Jensen grasp one end of the grating with his right hand +and try to crawl up on it. Its buoyancy wasn't enough to stand the +weight of the burly Swede and his heavy boots. His end sank, and the +other end rose out of the water further and further as Jensen scrambled +up. At last, with a smash, it turned end for end, and cracked the plucky +sailor-man a resounding whack on the head. He went down as if he had +been lead, and even the bo's'n in the whaleboat thought it was all up +with him. But Jensen apparently was not born to drown. He was up again +almost as soon as the grating was, and as the whaleboat dashed alongside +he flung his big boots in and crawled over its side, helped by half its +crew. + +Then the whaleboat started back for the _Corwin_, and as it went along +it stopped at intervals, and picked up the oars and cushions and seats +and gratings and things that had been spilled out of the dingy, or flung +over for Jensen. The water was desperately cold. A glacial current sets +down the coast through Chatham Straits, and it was this ice-water that +Jensen had been in for what seemed half an hour, but was really not half +so long. His teeth chattered when he got into the whaleboat, and he +needed something to warm him up. When the whaleboat returned to the +cutter the court officials and their wives crowded along the rail, +expecting to see a half-drowned man lying in the bottom of the boat. +They saw only the boat's crew, and one extra man, not Jensen, standing +up in the stern sheets, beside the bo's'n. + +"Why, where's Jensen?" some one asked Captain Hooper. + +"There he is," said the Captain, "pulling the bow-oar." + +That was Jensen's way of warming up. He scrambled up on deck in his wet +clothes and in his stocking feet, with his coat and rubber boots under +his arm, saluted the Captain, and stood at attention. There was an ugly +cut on his face where the grating had hit him. + +"How did you fall?" asked the Captain. + +"The bolt broke, sir," said Jensen, "and she went down." + +"Go forward and get some dry clothes," ordered the Captain; "and here, +messenger," he added, to his boy, "tell the apothecary to give Jensen +something to warm him up!" + +The Captain turned to one of the Sitkans and said, "He goes overboard +almost every other day just to get warmed up afterwards." + +As the whaleboat was slung in the davits again, the gig came back from +the fishing-sloop. + +"She's apparently all right, sir," reported the Lieutenant. "They say +they are examining the coast, looking for a place to found a colony." + +There was a jingling of bells in the engine-room, and the _Corwin_ +steamed full speed ahead again, hurrying to Juneau. + + + + +[Illustration: From Chum to Chum] + +BY GASTON V. DRAKE. + +XIX.--FROM BOB TO JACK. + + + GENOA. + +[Illustration] + + DEAR JACK,--Maybe we haven't been travelling! My! Pop met a man in + Geneva and he says going to Venice aren't you? Not much said Pop. + New York's wet enough for me. Then you make a great big error said + the man. It's fine this time of year and anybody that gets as far + into Italy as Genoa without going a little further to see the most + unicorn city in the world doesn't know as much as he thinks he does + and wastes an elegant importunity. So Pop spoke to Ma about it and + Ma said she'd sort of like it and as for Aunt Sarah she was so + pleased she forgot all about the music-boxes and recovered her + health right away, but it's kept us on the jump, and I've seen so + many things I hardly know how to begin telling you about 'em. The + first jump was to Luzerne where we only stayed all night though Pop + was afraid we might have to stay there forever in order to get + money enough to pay our bill. They had a band playing in the office + of the hotel which seemed very nice until the bill came in the next + morning and they'd charged us forty cents apiece, babies and all + for it. Pop said it would have been cheaper for us to have bought + an orchestrion and sat up with it in the Park all night. Next day + we took the corkscrew train and bored our way right through the + Alps, over the St. Gothard railway into Italy, landing at Milan + late in the afternoon, where there isn't much for boys to see, + though Jules says the cathedral collectors think it's bully; and + then we went on to Venice and of all the places yet it's the best. + Talk about going yachting, or sailing across the ocean in a great + big ship--it's all nothing to living in a place like Venice where + you can sit in your parlor at home and still be on the water, with + no motion to make you seasick and no fear that a big wave will come + up to engollop you in its midst. We stayed at a hotel that used to + be a palace and it was palatial--that is, it was in front. All the + parlors were fine, but the bedrooms in the rear wouldn't do for + store-rooms home. These old Dukes that used to live there were + great on parlors, salongs they called them, but when it came bed + time most anything was good enough. + + [Illustration] + + I suppose you know that Venice is built mostly on water--like + American railroads Pop says, though I never saw one of them and I + guess that's what Aunt Sarah calls one of Pops suttle political + whimsies. The houses are held up by spiles that have been driven + down into the mud, and when people want to go anywhere they hire a + gondola and get paddled off to where they want to go. Of course + they haven't any horses and Pop says the only driving they can do + is spile driving. He told Jules to get a team of quiet gentle + spiles that a lady could drive and let me try 'em, but Jules was so + stupid he didn't understand--though he pretended he did and + promised to have 'em at the door at three o'clock, and when three + o'clock came he told Pop he was very sorry but every one in town + had been hired for the season. Jules is smart even if he can't + understand American jokes. + + Venice is a great many years old and used to be managed by men they + called Dodges. They didn't have mares the way we do in our cities + because horses couldn't get along there, but they whacksed very + rich and built magnificent houses and churches and palaces. They + have a great big public square called St. Marks where the bandolins + play every night and it's full of pigeons. + + [Illustration] + + Pigeons are so sacred here that when they have 'em on the bills of + fare at the hotels they call them squab for fear the populace would + rise and tear them limb from limb for eating pigeons. They make + glass in Venice too, smelling bottles and tumblers and chandeliers, + but the best part of the whole thing is the canals. The water isn't + very clean but it's clean enough and I tell you what a boy has a + great advantage over a nurse in a place like Venice. One morning + when Pop and I were getting gondoliered along the Grand Canal we + heard a fearful shrieking in one of the palaces and in a minute we + saw a boy being chased by his nurse. He was only about a foot ahead + and she almost had him when he jumped off the front stoop into the + canal and swam up and down just out of her reach and my, wasn't she + mad! I don't know what she said because she spoke Italian, but I + could guess generally what she meant. Just think of it for a + minute. If you want to go swimming or fishing or boating you can do + it all right in front of your own house. We'd be pretty rich in + America if we could stand on our front door steps and catch all the + dinner we needed. + + [Illustration] + + One great thing for children is to stand in the square and feed the + pigeons I was telling you about. Pop bought me three bags of corn + and the minute I dropped one little kernel of it on the walk about + a hundred pigeons flew down. A lot of 'em roostered on my arms and + one fellow sat on my hat, and then we went inside the cathedral + which is magnificently furnished with things the Venetians used to + steal from the heathen they went out to convert, but they're a + little sore because Napoleon came down and stole a few things from + them. People over here don't like to put the boot on the other leg + any more than they do at home, which Aunt Sarah says shows that + human nature is the same in Italian as it is in English. + + Where they haven't got canals in Venice there are little narrow + streets about three feet wide mostly and you'd have as hard a time + finding your way about through them as Pop would trying to follow + the lines of a sailor suit for a boy of seven through one of Ma's + Bazar patterns. That's what Pop said. He said Venice must have been + laid out after a BAZAR pattern and he asked Ma to go up in a high + tower they have there called the Campanini to get a bird's eye view + of it and see whether it was a bicycle costume or a pignoir they + had in mind when they laid it out. Ma said Pop was flippant and he + said all right my dear, I'll let you find our way home and she + tried it and in ten minutes she had us lost and she turned to Pop + and said I guess you're right about the BAZAR pattern, popper, this + is the worst yet. + + We all wanted to stay there a week but it wasn't possible. A birds + eye view of it was all we had time for and so we left for Genoa + after two days at Venice. To-morrow we sail for Hoboken on the + _Werra_ and my next letter will be from home, when I'll tell you + all about Gibraltar, Genoa, and Hoboken. + + Good-bye BOB. + + P.S. The bandolins came and sang under our window at Venice the + last night and it was very romantic Pop says even if the soprano + did fall into the water reaching up for a ten cent piece Pop had. + + + + +[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] + + +A notable event in interscholastic baseball was the defeat of +Lawrenceville, May 27, on their own grounds, by the St. Paul's nine. The +game was a hard one, and lasted for twelve innings, the final score +being 3-2. As the score indicates, the teams were very evenly matched, +but St. Paul's excelled slightly in team-work, and (Cadwalader being +unavailable for Lawrenceville) was stronger in the box. Hall, the Garden +City pitcher, is a better man than either Arrott or Blake. He showed +himself to be especially strong when he had men on bases. + +[Illustration: W. M. ROBINSON, + +St. Paul's School.] + +In batting, the teams were about equal, in spite of the fact that the +tabulated score credits St. Paul's with ten hits to Lawrenceville's six. +Arthur Robinson, the clever young sprinter who did such remarkable work +at the Long Island Interscholastics, played short-stop in this +Lawrenceville game without an error; he had five difficult chances, and +accepted them all. The out-fielders on the St. Paul's team distinguished +themselves not only in field-work, but also at the bat. This victory, +coupled with the fact that the St. Paul's nine has not been defeated by +any school team for two years, places the Garden City team in the front +rank of scholastic ball-players. + +The Columbia Interscholastic Tennis Tournament, which was played on the +Oval at Williamsbridge, was won by J. M. L. Walton, of the Callisen +School. He met R. D. Little, of Cutler's, in the final round, and took +the match in three straight sets--6-1, 6-2, 6-1. His work was steady +throughout the tournament, and he showed good head-work, especially in +his contest with Little. + +[Illustration: T. R. PELL, + +Winner of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. Tennis Tournament] + +First place in the tournament for the tennis championship of the New +York I.S.A.A. was taken by T. R. Pell, of Berkeley. This tourney was +held on the Berkeley Oval, but no playing of a very high order +developed. Pell won all his matches in straight sets, and defeated +Wenman of Drisler's in the finals--6-3, 6-1, 6-1. In the semi-final +round he met R. D. Little, who lost to Walton in the Columbia +tournament, and disposed of him--6-4, 6-2. + +The winning of the New York I.S.A.A. Tennis Tournament does not entitle +Pell to play at Newport. Walton, however, as the winner of the +Columbia-Interscholastic Championship, has the privilege of representing +this district at the national event, and will no doubt be seen on the +courts at Newport in August. + +[Illustration: Decrow, r.f. Cook, p. Noyes, 1 b. Coy, l.f. + +Fincke, s.s. Camp (Capt.), 3 b. Warner, c. + +McKelvey, 2 b. Parton, c.f. + +HOTCHKISS SCHOOL BASEBALL NINE.] + +The Hotchkiss School baseball Team is rapidly getting into shape, and +promises to be a stronger nine than that which represented the school +last year. Five of the old men are back, and the new material is +developing rapidly. The batting is considerable of an improvement over +last season's. Warner, the catcher, makes a good back-stop, but is not +reliable in his throwing to bases. He is weak too on high fouls, and +somewhat slow; but he makes up for these deficiencies in his batting, +and runs the bases well. + +Cook, in the box, is a new man, and promises to develop into a strong +pitcher. He is liable to be wild at times, but grows steadier at +critical points of the game. He bats well and he runs well. Noyes, at +first, is very strong on high throws, but muffs badly on grounders. His +throwing is only fair, but he handles the stick pretty well. McKelvey, +at second, is a veteran, and is keeping up to his old standard. He still +retains his old fault, however, which is a very bad one, of stepping +back from the ball when he is batting. This is a fatal weakness for a +man who hopes to become a hard hitter. He slides well, but does not run +quite fast enough around the bases. + +Fincke, at short-stop, is a good athlete, and comes from good athletic +stock. He is a cousin of the quarter-back of last year's Yale team, and +he has only recently made a record for himself by winning the Yale +Interscholastic Tennis Tournament. This is his first year on the team. +He throws and fields well, but bats only fairly. He is slow on the +bases, but has the promise of an excellent ball-player. Captain Camp, at +third, is steady both in fielding and in throwing. He bats well, but +would have a better average if he were not constantly trying to make +home runs. He is a good base-runner, but his responsibilities as captain +have somewhat weakened his all-round work. + +Coy, in left field, is another new man who has also done well on the +tennis-court. He is sore on high flies, but unreliable on running +catches. He does not throw well, and his batting is only fair, whereas +his base-running is open to great improvement. Parton is also new to the +team. He is not sure of line drives, and would be an excellent thrower +if he could cultivate accuracy. He is good on the bases. Decrow is +probably the best fielder on the team; he covers more ground than any of +the others, and shows good judgment on flies. He throws better than he +did last year, and his batting is improving, but he needs a good deal of +coaching on base-running and sliding. + +The Fourth Annual Interscholastic Meet of the Illinois high-schools was +held at Champaign on May 16, and the banner went to Rockford H.-S. with +23 points, Englewood High, the favorite, coming second with 21 points. +But as the bicycle-race was protested, and has gone to the L. A. W. for +final decision, Englewood may yet attain the title of champion. + +On account of heavy rains in the morning, the events were postponed +until afternoon, and considering the heavy track, the performances were +very creditable. A dark horse, Machin of Duquoin, took a good many +points away from Englewood in the sprints, and proved a surprise to the +knowing ones. These dashes and the mile run were the most interesting +events of the day, although the quarter-mile afforded a spirited finish. +The field events were fairly well contested, but the wet condition of +the turf hindered the hammer-throwers considerably, and many fouled +repeatedly. + +The list of events is one of the most acrobatic and non-athletic that I +have seen for a long time. It included such events as the high kick, +which must have been an imposing event to watch on an athletic field, +and a hop, step, and jump; the standing broad jump, a quarter-mile +bicycle-race, and a 50-yard dash. Of course there is no special +objection to the last two events in themselves, although they are not +recognized as standards for interscholastic field days in this part of +the country, or in any place where track sports have become thoroughly +systematized. But there is an objection to them when they are put on the +programme to the exclusion of such standard events as the hurdles. + +Some of the performances in the standard events, however, were above the +average. The mile was run in 4 min. 46-2/5 sec.; the 100-yards was taken +by Machin in 10-2/5 sec.; the quarter went to Egbert in 53-1/5 sec.; +Martin ran the 220 in 23-3/5 sec.; and Hutchinson cleared 20 ft. 3 in, +in the broad jump. The score by points follows: Rockford, 23; Englewood, +21; Hyde Park, 11; Duquoin, 10; Chicago English High and Manual +Training, 9; Peoria, 9; West Aurora, 8; Urbana, 8; Canton, 7; East +Aurora, 6; Champaign, 6; Springfield, 5; Mattoon, 5; Chicago Manual +Training, 5; Macomb, 5; Jacksonville, 5; Lake View, 4; Winnetka, 3; +Tuscola, 3; Pekin, 1. + +PHILADELPHIA I. A. L. GAMES, FRANKLIN FIELD, MAY 29, 1896. + + Events. Winners. Performance. + 100-yard dash McClain, Haverford. 10-3/4 sec. + 220-yard dash McClain, Haverford. 25-1/2 " + Half-mile run Little, P. C. 2 m. 12-1/2 " + One-mile run Ross, Haverford. 5 " 46 " + Half-mile walk Evans, P. C. 3 " 53-1/5 " + 120-yard hurdles Marshall, P. C. 18-2/5 " + 220-yard hurdles Marshall, P. C. 30-1/5 " + One-mile bicycle White, G. A. 2 " 58-4/5 " + Running high jump Newbold, De Lancey. 5 ft. 7 in. + Running broad jump McClain, Haverford. 20 " 6 " + Standing broad jump Claflin, Haverford. 9 " 5-3/4 " + Pole vault Hanson, P. C. 9 " 6 " + Putting 16-lb. shot Sayers, Haverford. 32 " 6-1/2 " + + Points. 1sts. 2ds. 3ds. Totals. + Penn Charter 5 8 7 56 + Haverford Grammar School 6 3 3 42 + De Lancey Academy 1 2 2 13 + Germantown Academy 1 1 1 9 + Cheltenham Academy 1 0 0 5 + Episcopal Academy 0 0 1 1 + -- -- -- --- + Total 14 14 14 126 + +The Inter-Academic League of Philadelphia held its field meeting at +Franklin Field on Friday afternoon, May 29, and three of the old records +were lowered. Newbold of De Lancey jumped 5 ft. 7 in., the former record +being 5 ft. 4-1/2 in.; Hanson vaulted 9 ft. 6 in., which is 3-1/2 in. +better than the old figure; and Little of Penn Charter brought the +half-mile figure down from 2 min. 13-1/4 sec. to 2 min. 12-1/2 sec. +Marshall of Penn Charter, the big football-player, took both the hurdle +events, although in neither case was the time particularly good. But for +a big man he is a clever hurdler. + +After the games had been under way a short time the contest narrowed +down to a duel between Penn Charter and the Haverford College +Grammar-School. Penn Charter finally came out ahead by 56 points to 42. +A full record of the day is given in the accompanying table. + +Some of the semi-professional and mercenary athletes among the students +of the New York schools have been talking a great deal in the public +prints of late about how they think amateur athletics should be managed, +and, in private, so far as I am able to find out, they have been doing +all they can to interfere with the success of the National tournament +scheduled for the 20th of this month. It looks now as if these young men +with professional tendencies were going to have some success in +weakening the team which will represent the New York Interscholastic +Association, and if reports are correct, many of the winners of the +recent games at the Berkeley Oval will not appear in the National +tournament, either because they support the opinions that have lately +been so freely expressed in some quarters, or because they are +influenced by the clique above referred to. + +It is amazing that there should be any young men who would condescend +for a moment to support such opinions; and yet there seems to be a +number, and they have the assurance to pose as amateurs! Some even +intimate openly that they do not wish to go into the National games +because there is not enough money in it for them. Of course they do not +use the word "money," or "cash," or "dollars," because they know that +the A. A. U. would get after them, but they are brazen enough to say +that they do not think the medals which are to be offered on this +occasion are of sufficient intrinsic value for them to compete for. + +Perhaps the readers of this Department who do not live in this city, and +do not know how near to professionalism some of our scholastic athletes +here can go, will think that I am exaggerating when I say that many of +them are apparently in sport largely for the intrinsic value of the +medals. Whether it is to pawn them afterward or not I cannot say. But to +show these readers in other cities that I am not exaggerating, let me +quote from an interview published in the New York _Sun_ of May 31. The +_Sun_ is so rarely inaccurate in quoting an individual that we may all +depend upon its accuracy in this case. + +The name of the young man who is quoted in the article is given as Rose +Ambler Curran. He is said to attend the Drisler School. I do not know +whether Mr. Curran has ever done anything himself in athletics; he +certainly is not in any way prominent in interscholastic sport here, and +I do not think that he represents a very large element of the +school-boys of this city. He certainly does not represent the best +element. What he is quoted as having said, and what I think every true +amateur will consider most reprehensible, is this: "The medals which +were offered at the last in-door games" (the games given by the New +Manhattan A. C. at the Madison Square Garden last March) "were of such a +poor character that many would not have competed had they seen them +before. This is the main reason, as stated by the boys, for what might +be termed their lack of interest in the meet" (the National Meet). + +As a matter of fact, the medals given to the winners at the Madison +Square Garden games were as handsome and appropriate as any I have ever +seen. They were simple. They were laurel wreaths on ribbons--gold +wreaths, silver wreaths, and bronze wreaths. The designs were not such +as would appeal to a pawnbroker, but they were such as would appeal to +any honest boy who takes a pride in his athletic achievements for their +own sake. + +There is nothing ambiguous about Mr. Curran's statement as quoted above. +He says clearly that the money value of the medals at the winter games +was not great enough for a certain class of New York school-boy athletes +to contest for, and that these same individuals are not going to spend +their valuable time and energy in running races for less than a certain +weight of gold or silver. I do not see how much nearer to +professionalism these boys can get without being thrown out body and +baggage from the society of amateurs. It is well if they do keep away +from the National Interscholastic meeting. Such medal-hunters are not +wanted, and the sooner they can be detected by the officers of the +Association and prevented from mingling with the true and sportsman like +element among school-boy athletes, the better will it be for athletics +in this city. + +The New Manhattan Athletic Club, or rather its athletic directors, were +considerably surprised, I know, at the attitude taken by this +semi-professional element among the New York school-boys. It had been +their intention to offer a valuable trophy in the form of a cup, to be +contested for on this occasion, in addition to individual medals, and +they had even gone so far as to consult with the President of the +National Association concerning the order for this cup. But when they +found that their interest in school-boy athletics was apparently +unappreciated, they gave up the idea entirely. + +Fortunately the success or failure of the National Meet does not depend +upon the entries from the New York Association, and we may well rejoice +if a lot of medal-hunters keep away. Strong teams will come down from +Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and there will be representatives +from New Jersey, and probably from other leagues, and the sport will be +good and clean, and the races will not be run with the sole idea of +getting money value in prizes at the end, but for the sake of the honor +of winning on that day--of the glory of sport for sport's sake. + +At the recent Olympian Games the prizes were olive wreaths--plain, +ordinary vegetable growth; worth, say, ten cents a bushel, with perhaps +fifty wreaths to the bushel. And yet those dried branches brought home +from Greece by the American winners are worth more to them than any +yellow metal they can get here. The young men who talk of remaining away +from the National meet, because the weight of the medals is not great +enough to suit their tastes, would do well to reflect on this: there is +a greater object in life than the collecting of medals. + +The New England Interscholastic baseball season is practically closed, +although there are a number of games yet to be played. But Brookline has +won the championship, having played all its scheduled matches, and +having won each of them. In the last game Brookline defeated English +High 6-0. Brookline played excellent ball both in the field and at the +bat, but E.H.-S. was weak all around. Some of the features of the game +were Nettleton's stop of Manning's hard hit in the fifth inning, Wise's +clever throw from centre to third in the eighth, putting out Cronin, and +the heavy hatting of Lewis and Parker. A review of the whole baseball +season will be made in this Department as soon as space enough becomes +available. + + C. S. D., BAYONNE, N.J.--Any interscholastic association composed + of at least two schools may join the National Interscholastic + Association upon applying for membership. The field meeting this + year will be on June 20, and is the first one ever held by the + Association, which was formed only last December. + + THE GRADUATE. + + * * * * * + +ILL-TEMPERED BABIES + +are not desirable in any home. Insufficient nourishment produces ill +temper. Guard against fretful children by feeding nutritious and +digestible food. The Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is the most +successful of all infant foods.--[_Adv._] + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +[Illustration: Hartford Single Tube Tires] + + + + +[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER] + +A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening +strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._ + +ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK. + + + + +Arnold + +Constable & Co + + * * * * * + +Children's Wear. + +_Dimity Dresses,_ + +_Children's Guimpes,_ + +_Piqué Reefers, Mull Caps._ + +Misses' Outing Suits. + +Misses' Shirt Waists. + +Children's + +Hand-Embroidered Underwear. + + * * * * * + +Broadway & 19th st. + +NEW YORK. + + + + +EARN A BICYCLE! + +[Illustration] + +We wish to introduce our Teas, Spices, and Baking Powder. Sell 75 lbs. +to earn a BICYCLE; 50 lbs. for a WALTHAM GOLD WATCH AND CHAIN; 25 lbs. +for a SOLID SILVER WATCH AND CHAIN; 10 lbs. for a beautiful GOLD RING; +50 lbs. for a DECORATED DINNER SET. Express prepaid if cash is sent with +order. Send your full address on postal for Catalogue and Order Blank. + +W. G. BAKER, Springfield, Mass. + + + + +Harper's Catalogue, + +Thoroughly revised, classified, and indexed, will be sent by mail to any +address on receipt of ten cents. + + + + +[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water] + + + + +[Illustration: BICYCLING] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the + Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our + maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the + official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. + Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L. A. W., the + Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership + blanks and information so far as possible. + + +[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers.] + +Continuing the journey from New Haven to Springfield, which was left +last week at Hartford, the rider is advised to take what is called the +East Connecticut River Road: that is, leave Hartford by Main Street, and +four blocks from the City Hall--where, by-the-way, the United States +Hotel gives L. A. W. rates--turn into Morgan Street to the right, and +run over the bridge to East Hartford Street. On reaching East Hartford +keep to the left, and take the long road that runs never more than a +mile away from the Connecticut River. The road is in fairly good +condition, and there are hardly any hills to speak of during the whole +run. The rider, however, is of course advised to use side paths. + +There is another route which may be taken along the west side of the +Connecticut, and which is perhaps the better of the two. To take this, +run out Main Street direct instead of turning right into Morgan Street, +and keep on until Windsor is reached. At the latter town keep to the +right and cross the Farmington River, crossing the railroad, and running +along between it and the Connecticut River until Windsor Locks is +reached. This town is fourteen miles from Hartford. At this point the +Connecticut should be crossed, and starting from Warehouse Point, the +rider should take the road already described, running up the east bank +through Thompsonville towards Springfield. Crossing the +Massachusetts-Connecticut line, he enters upon what is called Long +Meadow Street, runs into Long Meadow, past Long Meadow station, and +finally runs close upon the Connecticut River again at Pecowsic station. +From Pecowsic the run into Springfield to the Massassoit House is easily +found. + +As has already been said in this Department, this is not what may be +called the Springfield route from New York to Boston, and while the +stretch of country from Springfield to Worcester is of course rideable, +it is not a particularly good road, and the country is not to any great +extent picturesque, so that unless the trip is a matter of making the +journey--that is, if it is simply for pleasure--the rider is advised +rather to turn westward than eastward, to ride a day or two in the +Berkshire country, and then take a train or trains for Worcester, +continuing from Worcester to Boston on his wheel. This trip from +Worcester to Boston, and, in fact, from Springfield to Boston, will be +given in the near future in this Department to complete that particular +way of crossing Massachusetts from west to east. + + NOTE.--Map of New York city asphalted streets in No. 809. Map of + route from New York to Tarrytown in No. 810. New York to Stamford, + Connecticut in No. 811. New York to Staten Island in No. 812. New + Jersey from Hoboken to Pine Brook in No. 813. Brooklyn in No. 814. + Brooklyn to Babylon in No. 815. Brooklyn to Northport in No. 816. + Tarrytown to Poughkeepsie in No. 817. Poughkeepsie to Hudson in No. + 818. Hudson to Albany in No. 819. Tottenville to Trenton in No. + 820. Trenton to Philadelphia in No. 821. Philadelphia in No. 822. + Philadelphia-Wissahickon Route in No. 823. Philadelphia to West + Chester in No. 824. Philadelphia to Atlantic City--First Stage in + No. 825; Second Stage in No. 826. Philadelphia to Vineland--First + Stage in No. 827; Second Stage in No. 828. New York to + Boston--Second Stage in No. 829; Third Stage in No. 830; Fourth + Stage in No. 831; Fifth Stage in No. 832; Sixth Stage in No. 833. + Boston to Concord in No. 834. Boston in No. 835. Boston to + Gloucester in No. 836. Boston to Newburyport in No. 837. Boston to + New Bedford in No. 838. Boston to South Framingham in No. 839. + Boston to Nahant in No. 840. Boston to Lowell in No. 841. Boston to + Nantasket Beach in No. 842. Boston Circuit Ride in No. 843. + Philadelphia to Washington--First Stage in No. 844; Second Stage in + No. 845; Third Stage in No. 846; Fourth Stage in No. 847; Fifth + Stage in No. 848. City of Washington in No. 849. City of Albany in + No 854; Albany to Fonda in No. 855; Fonda in Utica in No. 866; + Utica to Syracuse in No. 857; Syracuse to Lyons in No. 858; Lyons + to Rochester in No. 859; Rochester to Batavia in No. 860; Batavia + to Buffalo in No. 861; Poughkeepsie to Newtown in No. 864; Newtown + to Hartford in No. 865; New Haven to Hartford in No. 866. + + + + +[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB] + + Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly + answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to + hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions. + + +SIMPLE CHEMISTRY FOR AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. + +In order to do good photographic work by method rather than by guess, it +is necessary to understand something of the nature of the chemicals used +and their effects. Even a slight knowledge of chemistry enables the +amateur to work understandingly and with far better results. We are +therefore going to give, for the benefit of our Camera Club, a few +papers on chemistry as used in photography, and shall try to make them +so plain and simple that even the youngest member will understand them. + +Chemistry is that science which explains the composition of the +substances which compose the crust of the earth, the atmosphere which +surrounds it, and the water which occupies so much of the earth's +surface. These substances are called chemical elements. A chemical +element is a simple substance containing only one kind of matter, such +as gold, silver, platinum, hydrogen, oxygen, etc. According to the last +report of Mr. F. W. Clark, the chief chemist of the U.S. Geographical +Survey, there are seventy-two known elements. About thirty of these +elements are used in the different processes of photography. + +Each element is represented by a symbol, this symbol being the first +letter or letters of the name of the element. The symbol of hydrogen is +"H"; of oxygen is "O"; of gold, "Au," the first two letters of the word +"Aurum," the Latin name for gold. Each symbol also stands for the weight +of one of its atoms. (An atom is supposed to be the smallest possible +division of a substance.) Hydrogen is the lightest element known, and is +taken as the standard of weight when comparing the weight of other +atoms. The symbol "H" would therefore not only stand for the element +hydrogen, but for its weight, 1, or a unit. An atom of oxygen is sixteen +times as heavy as an atom of hydrogen, and an atom of gold is 196 times +as heavy. + +In making up chemical compounds the chemical elements are combined in +different proportions, which, united, make a new substance. The way in +which these elements combine is always in the same proportion. The +smallest number of atoms which combine to form a new substance is called +a molecule. Take water, for instance, which is composed of hydrogen and +oxygen; it takes two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen to form a +molecule of water. These chemical combinations are expressed or written +by the symbols of the elements of which they are composed, called +chemical formulas. If two or more atoms of an element are used to form a +chemical compound, the number of atoms used is written directly after +the symbol; thus, H_{2}O is the chemical formula for water. + +Two well-known developing agents, pyrogallol--commonly called pyro--and +hydrochinon, are composed of the same chemical elements, carbon, oxygen, +and hydrogen, the only difference in their composition being that a +molecule of pyro contains one more atom of oxygen than the hydrochinon. +The chemical formula for pyro is C_{6}H_{6}O_{3}, and the chemical +formula for hydrochinon is C_{6}H_{6}O_{2}. + +The chemical compounds employed in photography are used in the form of +solutions. A solution is the liquid combination of a liquid and a solid. +A simple solution is one in which the solid is entirely dissolved in the +liquid, leaving the liquid transparent. A saturated solution is a liquid +containing as much of the solid as can be dissolved in it and remain +clear. In making saturated solutions, unless the exact proportions are +known, add the solid to the liquid until there is a deposit of the solid +at the bottom of the vessel containing the solution. The clear liquid +can then be turned off carefully into a bottle. + +A solid dissolves much more quickly if it is first powdered. If one has +no mortar, put the solid inside a piece of muslin, lay it on a board or +stone, and pound with a hammer. When powdered, put the cloth and powder +both into a glass vessel, and turn the liquid over it. When the solid is +dissolved, remove the cloth. Another way in which to dissolve a solid +more rapidly than by mixing it with the liquid is to tie the powder in a +cloth and suspend it in the liquid. + +In making up a formula for developing or toning, etc., be exact in the +measuring and weighing of the ingredients. Even a slight deviation from +the rule sometimes changes the action of the chemicals. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +"All is not + +Columbia + +that Glitters." + +[Illustration] + +Your pleasure and safety depend on knowing what is under enamel and +nickel before you buy a bicycle. + +No question about Columbias. If you are able to pay $100 for a bicycle +why buy any but a Columbia? + +See the Catalogue. Free if you call on the agent. By mail for two 3-cent +stamps + +POPE MFG. CO. + +HARTFORD, CONN. + +Branch Houses and Agencies are almost everywhere. If Columbias are not +properly represented in your vicinity, let us know. + + * * * * * + +All Columbia Bicycles are fitted with + +HARTFORD SINGLE-TUBE TIRES + +UNLESS DUNLOP TIRES ARE ASKED FOR. + +WE KNOW NO TIRES SO GOOD AS HARTFORDS. + + + + +[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water] + + + + +WALTER BAKER & CO., LIMITED. + +Established Dorchester, Mass., 1780. + +Breakfast Cocoa + +[Illustration] + +Always ask for Walter Baker & Co.'s + +Breakfast Cocoa + +Made at + +DORCHESTER, MASS. + +It bears their Trade Mark + +"La Belle Chocolatiere" on every can. + +Beware of Imitations. + + + + +There is + +no + +Substitute + +Every card of the famous DeLONG Hooks and Eyes has on the face and back +the words + +[Illustration] + +_See that_ + +hump? + +RICHARDSON & DELONG BROS., Philadelphia. + +Also makers of the CUPID Hair Pin. + + + + +Postage Stamps, &c. + + + + +$117.50 WORTH OF STAMPS FREE + +to agents selling stamps from my 50% approval sheets. Send at once for +circular and price-list giving full information. + +C. W. Grevning, Morristown, N. J. + + + + +[Illustration] + +100 all dif. Venezuela, Bolivia, etc., only 10c., 200 all dif. Hayti, +Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. List FREE! =C. A. +Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliante Ave., St. Louis, Mo + + + + +1000 Mixed Foreign Stamps, San Marino, etc., 25c.; 101 all dif., China, +etc., 10c.; 10 U.S. Revenues, 10c.; 20 U.S. Revenues, 25c. Ag'ts w'td at +50% com. _Monthly Bulletin_ free. Shaw Stamp & Coin Co., Jackson, Mich. + + + + +=STAMPS!= 100 all dif. Bermuda, etc. Only 10c. Ag'ts w'td at 50% com. List +free. L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis. Mo. + + + + +=10 Rare Stamps free= (postage 2c.). 5 Japan, all different, 8c. F. JELKE, +516 La Salle Ave., Chicago. + + * * * * * + +The Fatal Letter. + +Here is a letter and a puzzle all in one: + +There was once a detective who had followed a criminal long and far, and +when he thought he had "run him to cover" he found the place empty and +only an open letter lying on the floor. He was overcome with chagrin, +for it had been said of him that "he had never failed to catch his man." +In despair he caught up the letter and read it. On the first reading it +seemed a mere succession of idle village gossip. He read it again, then +sat down, and pondered over the peculiar sentences all the night long. + +His vigil, however, was not in vain, for three hours after dawn the +criminal was behind prison bars. Below is a copy of the "Fatal Letter." +Can you discover the secret message contained therein, the solution of +which led to the arrest of the criminal? Don't be discouraged because +the detective spent a night over it. Perhaps you are even sharper than +the detective. He had no clew. Neither can one be given to you. But this +much may be said, the message is not a haphazard affair, but follows a +distinct plan. + +THE LETTER. + + BELOVED SISTER,--Dwellers of this town have been much excited over + a little affair of recent happening. A servant stole from a rich + woman what she called a ewer; it was brought from over the ocean. + It was of fine porcelain with heavy gilt edges and a calm summer + scene painted on the sides. A man of this town will soon begin + sheep-raising. If that old ewe is saleable send her on. It is the + druggist who wants her; R. Jones is his name. He will marry soon a + girl of this city; his wedding gift is a diamond necklace of + elegant and chaste design. It must have cost every cent of a + thousand dollars. + + The man who lived next door is dead. He took a draught of poison + and only lived two hours after. His wife was once the belle of the + town. She keeps crying, "I'll take poison myself." Yet he was a + poor provider; they had meat only once a month, and their table was + always ill supplied. He was also as meddlesome as a flea and of + very uncertain temper. Quite lately he quarrelled with me because + of my statement concerning a lump of iron ore which he owned. + Answer this soon and don't forget about the old ewe. Ah, another + bit of news. The woman at the candy store has found a dye that has + turned her gray tresses as black as a coal. + + BROTHER TOM. + + * * * * * + +How We Interested Our Chapter. + + A few weeks ago the Allen Chapter, 715, was on the verge of + "breaking up." The writer, who is president and a Founder, thought + long and at last found a way by which he could start an interest + again. It was this. We began to publish a paper called the _Allen + Courier_. Only one copy was made, and that was written. A circuit + was started--_i.e._, a member, after keeping the paper a day, + handed it to the next on the list. In this paper the writer, who is + editor-in-chief, inserted stories written by the members, + clippings, Chapter news, etc., and so started a fresh interest in + the glorious old Allen. At the next meeting all were on hand. + + CLAUDE T. RENO. + ALLENTOWN, PA. + + * * * * * + +For the Natural History Club. + + One day in July, in company with a friend, I crossed a lake near my + home in search of interesting specimens. By chance we came upon the + nesting-place of a colony of water turkeys. These birds are + abundant here, but this is the first time I ever found their nests. + The latter appeared to be several years old and were large + structures, nearly flat on top. It was late for eggs, and young + birds were everywhere. They were covered with white down, and + presented a great contrast to the dark colors of the old birds. + + When the boat approached a tree containing young birds they would + tumble into the water, a distance of ten or more feet, where they + would dive long distances to escape us. The nests were in + cypress-trees growing in two or three feet of water. Sometimes as + many as a dozen nests were in one small tree. Under these trees we + shot two small alligators. Perhaps the alligators knew the birds' + habit of falling into the water. We also found nests of the purple + and Florida gallinule. I would like to belong to a press + association or corresponding Chapter. + + ED. H. CLUTE. + LAKE CITY, FLORIDA. + + * * * * * + +Puzzle to Draw. + + Two angles acute; + A triangle on rails; + Two little serpents + With twists in their tails; + Two spikes with a bar; + A tall headless tack; + Two angles acute + Which are placed back to back; + A part of a circle + Two straight lines to meet; + Two thirds of a cross; + A circle complete; + And lastly two angles. And do you not find + A character loyal, brave, noble, and kind? + + WASHINGTON. + + * * * * * + +Knights in a Far-away Land. + +The Table has two devoted members in distant South Africa. Their names +are George Uhlig and Ernest A. Chaplin. Writing under date of the middle +of February, they say the fruit season is just ended, and that apples +are being barrelled for winter, now coming on. Both attend Gill College, +to which students come from all parts of the colony, and their favorite +games are cricket and football; the former in summer and the latter in +winter. + +One of them remarks that from a perusal of the ROUND TABLE he thinks +baseball must be a good game, and that he would like to see a game--the +"New York's," for example. Both are fond of farm life, of hunting and +fishing. The principal birds are the dove, sparrow, fink, day-breaker, +laughing, and mouse birds. Both young men are stamp-collectors. Their +address is Somerset East, Cape Colony, South Africa. + + * * * * * + +Washington State Salmon. + + In the State of Washington the fish industry comprises a good share + of the business. Salmon are the principal market fish, and are + found in abundance in the waters of Puget Sound and Gray Harbor. + The salmon-fishing season begins in September and closes the 1st of + April. + + In the first part of the season the "silver-side" salmon are alone + caught, and the run is very large. In the latter part the + "steel-head" salmon is the principal catch, the run being far less + than in the former part. The canneries only run during the period + of time when the silver-sides are running. Only Chinamen are + employed in the canneries on Gray Harbor. In the cannery at + Cosmopolis eighty-five Chinamen are employed. + + In the process of canning, the heads of the fish are first cut off, + and the salmon are dressed and washed until perfectly clean. They + are next cut into small pieces by what might be termed a + "gang-chopper," after which they are packed into cans. Every can + has to be weighed. The salmon are put up in one and two pound cans. + The average sliver-side will weigh thirteen pounds, for which the + fishermen are paid thirteen cents apiece, large or small, by the + canneries. + + REUEL M. NIMS, + COSMOPOLIS, WASHINGTON. + + * * * * * + +A Glimpse of Newfoundland. + + The chief fisheries in which the public of St. John's are + interested are the cod, seal, salmon, and herring. These afford + labor to the people of the principal city of Newfoundland. Quite a + few people are engaged in the manufacture of the different kinds of + gear used in taking fish, such as lines, twines, nets, and cordage, + also boats and tackle. The cod season lasts longest. The seal + fishery is the most valuable. Salmon and herring are not much + caught. The principal merchants of St. John's are engaged in + exporting fish. Times are very bad here. + + B. BOWERING. + ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND. + + + + +[Illustration: THE PUDDING STICK] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young + Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the + subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor. + + +The secret of being at ease wherever you are is a very simple one. It is +only this--Do not think about yourself. Bashfulness, awkwardness, and +clumsiness are caused by what we call self-consciousness, and as soon as +we entirely forget ourselves these pass away. A girl who writes to me +complains that she is so tall for her age that she cannot help being +awkward. "The moment I enter a room," she says, "I look about to see if +any other girl is as tall as I am, and I am always the tallest--a +perfect bean-pole. Then I fancy that everybody is sorry for me, and I +cannot fix my attention on anything which is going on. It makes me quite +wretched. What shall I do?" + +In the first place, my dear, your height, if you carry yourself well and +hold your head up, is a great advantage. Far from being a thing to +regret, it is something to be glad of. + +Tall, or short, fat, and dumpy, or thin and pale, let the young girl +never think of this when she meets her friends. Instead, let her try her +very best to make the rest happy. If there is a girl in the room who is +a stranger, or who seems not to be having a pleasant time, single her +out and entertain her. Your hostess will be pleased with this sort of +unobtrusive help, if it is kindly given. + +A summer or two ago I happened to be paying a visit in a country house +where there were a half-dozen young guests. Among them were several +lovely girls from the South. I noticed that these girls had each some +useful social accomplishment. One played very sweetly, and she was +always ready to go to the piano and to play accompaniments for the +violinist of the house party, as well as to give us her dreamy nocturnes +and slow sonorous marches when we asked for them. Another sang, and she +needed no urging when there was a wish to hear songs. Still another +played chess, and lent herself to be partner to any one who wished that +diversion. It was beautiful to watch the sweet unconscious way in which +these girls entertained the rest, never putting themselves forward, but +always to be depended on when it was a question of how to pass an +evening delightfully. + +These are the days of out-door enjoyment, and my girls are playing golf +and tennis, and riding their wheels, and spending some portion of every +day in healthful exercise. Perhaps some of you like work out-of-doors as +well as play, and if there is a garden where you can dig and plant seeds +and watch flowers grow, or you have a poultry-yard with chickens and +hens, or your talent for the practical leads you to raise +vegetables--radishes, pease, and lettuce which grow for you will taste +as no common market vegetables can. Keep in the sunshine, girls. +Sunshine means brightness and bloom for every one of you. + +[Illustration: Signature] + + + + +[Illustration: STAMPS] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin + collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question + on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address + Editor Stamp Department. + + +One mail brought me two letters suggesting the formation of an exchange +society by the readers of the ROUND TABLE. Harold C. Day, Upland Farm, +Harrison, Westchester Co., N. Y., and Willis H. Kerr, Bellevue, Neb., +both say they would like to hear from any one interested. Other +correspondents have suggested the same thing at other times, and asked +my opinion on the plan. I regret to say it is not favorable. I have had +some experience of exchange societies, and have come to the conclusion +that it is feasible only when some capable man is at the head of the +scheme who is willing to give his time and experience to the plan, and +that all sales are for cash only. All the larger societies already have +exchange circuits, and experience shows that common stamps are not +exchanged, and that valuable stamps must always be sent by registered +mail or by express, which is a considerable expense. The Dresden +International Society sends out books of stamps every year worth many +thousands of dollars; the leading society in New York has sent out five +circuits this year, aggregating about $2000 on each circuit. The first +circuit was completed a month ago. Stamps to the value of $1200 were +taken. The second circuit will be about the same. Almost all other +societies have similar plans. + +Their method is quite simple. 1. All members who wish to contribute +stamps for exchange purchase a small blank book from the manager (Price +10c.). 2. These books, filled with stamps, are sent to the manager, and +when he has a sufficient number they are done up in a package and sent +out to the first name on the circuit. 3. This person looks over the +books, picks out what he wants, sends a list of what he has taken to the +manager, with P.O. money-order for the amount. 4. He then sends the +books to the second name on the list, etc. 5. After the books have gone +through the entire list the last man returns them to the manager, who +returns the unsold stamps to their owners, and sends the cash (less +commission) to those members whose stamps were sold. + +Some members buy very little and sell very much, others sell very little +and buy much. Before the books are sent out the manager examines them, +removes counterfeits, etc. Each man who takes out a stamp puts in its +place a "control" stamp with his number on it. These control stamps are +bought of the manager, and he only knows who has sold and who has +bought. + +It is expensive and troublesome. A much better plan is the old-fashioned +one of "swapping" stamps with one's comrades and friends. + + H. B.--Your piece is a "Hard Money" token, not a coin. It has no + money value, but is very interesting. + + L. K. BABCOCK.--See answer to H. B. + + A. ULMER.--The 6c. Hawaii, 1864 issue, is catalogued as worth 25c. + + PHILATUS. + + + + +[Illustration: IVORY SOAP] + +TO BICYCLISTS: + +There is no better chain lubricant than Ivory Soap; it is a cleanly +application and perfect for this use. + +Copyrighted, 1896, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti. + + + + +_The coolness is refreshing; the roots and herbs invigorating; the two +together animating. You get the right combination in HIRES Rootbeer._ + +Made only by The Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia. + +A 25c. package makes 5 gallons. Sold everywhere. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE + +BALTIMOREAN PRINTING-PRESS + +has earned more money for boys than all other presses in the market. +Boys, don't idle away your time when you can buy a self-inking +printing-press, type, and complete outfit for $5.00. Write for +particulars, there is money in it for you. + +THE J. F. W. DORMAN CO., + +Baltimore, Md., U.S.A. + + + + +[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water] + + + + +TWO GOOD BOOKS. + + * * * * * + +TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL. + + Compiled by the Editor of "Interscholastic Sport" in HARPER'S ROUND + TABLE. Illustrated from Instantaneous Photographs. 8vo, Cloth, + Ornamental, $1.25. In "HARPER'S ROUND TABLE Library." + +The young athlete who cannot secure instruction at the hands of a +professional trainer will find this book invaluable. It gives in clear, +terse sentences abundant directions for learning each event at present +contested in intercollegiate and interscholastic meetings.--_Boston +Herald._ + +FOR KING OR COUNTRY. + + A Story of the American Revolution. By JAMES BARNES. Illustrated. + Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.50. + +A fascinating study. It is replete with those Homeric touches which +delight the heart of the healthy boy.... It would be difficult to find a +more fascinating book for the young.--_Philadelphia Bulletin._ + +A capital story for boys, both young and old; full of adventure and +movement, thoroughly patriotic in tone, throwing luminous sidelights +upon the main events of the Revolution.--_Brooklyn Standard-Union._ + + * * * * * + +HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York. + + + + +[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL CANTILEVER.] + + * * * * * + +Some people are never at a loss for an answer, and the colored valet who +got off the following is a good exponent of that class. It seems he was +a lazy rascal, and his master one day remonstrated with him about his +neglect of duty. + +"But, massa, I's am not equal to de occasion as I once wuz." + +"Why, George, what on earth is the matter with you now?" + +"I's got a stitch in my side, sir, dat trubbles me a powerful lot, and +I's not able to do as much as I hab been doin'." + +"A stitch in your side! Oh, come, George, that won't do. Where did you +get such a thing as a stitch in your side?" + +"De oder day, sah. You see, I wuz hemmed in by a crowd." + + * * * * * + +Clara wanted very much to go out in the yard to play. Her big sister +said to her: + +"You mustn't go in the yard. Don't you see that moolly-cow out there? +What do you suppose she would do with her horns if you went close to +her?" + +Clara answered, "I suppose she would blow them." + + * * * * * + +There are many little acts of heroism, displaying rare courage and +presence of mind, performed around us daily that ofttimes pass unnoticed +in a popular sense. It is not so long ago that a certain bright young +fellow was the hero of a deed that escaped the newspapers and, +consequently, the public. It happened in one of our largest cities; and +to tell it as modestly as the hero did, it must be told briefly, so +perhaps it would be best to use his own words. + +"I am very fond of my bicycle," said he, "and ride whenever I chance to +have an opportunity, and I am also very fond of practising all sorts of +stunts on the wheel. I was riding down the avenue that evening, when I +heard the clashing gong of a fire-engine coming through the side street +ahead of me. I felt tempted to push ahead and cross the street before +the engine reached the corner, and as I was momentarily figuring just +what I would do I saw a little girl standing in the middle of the +crossing, clapping her hands in childish glee at the approaching engine. +The people on the sidewalk seemed paralyzed with fright, and stood, in a +sort of fascination, gazing at the child's perilous position. All this I +saw with my first startled look, and unconsciously I pushed the pedals +down hard and rushed at the child. In a second I reached the crossing, +and a few feet off were those three horses tearing along in their mad +gallop, the driver doing his best to pull them in, with but little +success. They were too close on the girl. As I passed the little one I +seized her by the arm, throwing my weight over to the other side of the +wheel as I did so. I felt a stinging sensation in my arm, and heard the +child scream with fright and pain from the fierce grip with which I +grasped her. The velocity with which I was moving, however, accomplished +the purpose, for it dragged the child a number of feet before I came to +a standstill--or rather before I fell off the bicycle. It was a narrow +escape, for those engine horses were very close upon me, and it was +lucky I never thought at the time of the danger of my position, for I +should never have had the courage to carry out my purpose. Several +people took the little one, and I hastened down the avenue before they +got me too. You see stunt-practising comes in handy at times." + + * * * * * + +THE BEAR. + +CARRIE. "Isn't the bear's skin to keep him warm in winter?" + +MAMMA. "Yes, Carrie." + +CARRIE. "Then what does he have to keep him cool in summer?" + + * * * * * + +It is not very often that we hear of the Russian peasant equalling the +Irish peasant in witty sayings, but doubtless those who read the +following retort of a Russian will allow that sometimes they are fully +equal to the Irish, regardless of the wonderful readiness of the Celtic +tongue. + +It seems a peasant, having accumulated a little money, took himself to +town to purchase a new pair of boots. Returning homewards he espied a +luxuriant spot for a siesta, and being tired, lay down for a quiet nap, +which developed into a sound sleep. A conscienceless tramp passing along +the road took note of the peasant's new boots, and also of his own very +poor footgear, and decided an exchange would be beneficial; and +accordingly he stripped the peasant of his new purchase and proceeded on +his way. The driver of a passing wagon, seeing the peasant's legs +stretched part way across the road, yelled for him to "take his legs out +of the way." + +"Legs?" inquired the half-awake peasant, "what legs?" and then rubbing +his eyes, he stared stupidly at his lower limbs. "Drive on," said he; +"those legs ain't mine. Mine had boots on." + + * * * * * + +A MUSICAL QUESTION. + +BOBBY. "Isn't that an ear-trumpet that man over there is using?" + +MAMMA. "It is." + +BOBBY. "And is he working it in connection with his ear-drum?" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, June 9, 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58056 *** |