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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59452 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]
+
+Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY.
+
+VOL. XVII.--NO. 884. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A HOME-RUN IN INDIANA.
+
+BY GARRETT NEWKIRK.
+
+
+The men of the block-house fort had eaten breakfast by candle-light, for
+an early start to their work upon the various clearings. The long, rough
+table would be reset later for the women and children. They were a band
+of settlers in the wilderness, who had arrived from Virginia the
+preceding autumn barely in time to build one house for the shelter of
+all. Before another summer should be over each family would possess a
+dwelling of its own, and the beginning of a farm great with the promise
+of future orchards and fields of grain.
+
+The severity of the winter had departed, March was bringing many days of
+brightness, with songs from the earlier birds of spring. It was now the
+hour of dawn, and, far to the east, above where rolled the broad Ohio,
+the sky was rosy with the sun's bright greeting. Across the Big Blue
+River to the west were clouds of morning mist, which made the higher
+hills beyond appear like wooded islands in a rolling sea.
+
+John Martin stood near the block-house, with his long rifle on his arm
+and his axe in hand, ready to start for the home clearing. He was
+twenty-five years old, of medium height and excellent form. There was
+not his equal in the settlement for activity and strength.
+
+By his side stood his wife, a girlish-looking woman yet in her "teens,"
+with her hands clasped upon his shoulder. Her eyes were looking
+earnestly into his, and there was anxiety in her voice as she said:
+
+"I hope, John, you and Stephen are not growing careless about watching
+because no Indians have been seen for many weeks. You know one can never
+tell when they may come, 'like a thief in the night.' Do you keep one on
+guard while the other works, as you used to?"
+
+"Well, no, we haven't lately, to tell the truth, Mary," he replied; "it
+seems like such a waste of time when there's so much to do. We've cut
+away the undergrowth for a good distance round to give us a clear view,
+and we both work and watch the best we can. I've heard the Indians were
+entirely out of powder and lead this spring, and they will not probably
+go on the war-path till they get some. Don't you worry, dear; I don't
+believe there's any danger now. Come on, Stephen," he called, "let's be
+off; it's been daylight half an hour; you can 'most see the sun."
+
+The youth addressed was standing with their mother, a few steps apart,
+and they had been conversing in low tones. He was only fifteen, her
+"baby," and the subject of her special tenderness and care; for he was
+the only one of her children who had no memory of his father, a brave
+soldier of the Revolution, who had come home from Yorktown but to spend
+a year and die.
+
+Though a gray-haired woman of more than fifty years, she was still
+vigorous, and there was rich color in her cheeks. She had thrown a shawl
+over her head and shoulders, and come out as usual "to see the boys
+off."
+
+"Aren't you going to take your rifle with you, son?" she asked of
+Stephen, as he turned to go.
+
+"No, mother; I think not to-day. The fact is, I've carried the gun back
+and forth all winter and never had the least use for it, and it's
+powerful heavy, especially at night after a hard day's work. I reckon
+I'm getting lazy," he added, with an attempt to smile.
+
+The mother sighed, knowing well that "laziness" in this case meant
+weariness; that the lad was doing more than he ought, from a boy's
+ambition to do a man's work.
+
+"All right," she said, gently; "perhaps it's just as well, though I've
+half a notion to go along and stand guard myself. Take good care of this
+boy," she said to John. "I'm afraid he's overworking; you're both so
+ambitious, just like your father."
+
+"Yes, mother," John replied, cheerily, "but it's hard to hold him back;
+you see _he_ takes after father and mother both."
+
+At this they all laughed, and the brothers walked away, followed by the
+gaze of loving eyes till their forms had disappeared among the trees.
+
+At the home clearing the morning passed as usual, with the work of
+felling trees and piling brush. At noon the two ate their "dinner" of
+cold johnny-cake and dried venison by the smouldering coals of a
+brush-heap, whereon they also boiled a pot of water and made "corn
+coffee."
+
+"We can always work better," John had said, "for a little something
+hot;" and they sweetened the "coffee" with maple-sugar made by mother
+and Mary from sap of trees growing near the fort.
+
+After half an hour's rest they cut down a tall tree, which fell
+northward, as Stephen said, "pointing to the fort." They had trimmed
+away the limbs, and Stephen was "topping" the tree--that is, cutting off
+the small end of the trunk to go with the brush for burning. John was
+measuring off the "cuts," when a large buck sprang into the clearing
+from the south, and paused with head erect, looking backward.
+
+To John this seemed a joyful opportunity. The men of the settlement had
+taken little time for hunting during recent weeks, and meat was getting
+scarce. Very quietly, but quickly, he crept along the log to where his
+rifle stood leaning against the stump, while Stephen had as quickly
+dropped from sight behind the brush. The left shoulder of the deer was
+fairly presented at a distance of only fifty yards, and almost instantly
+he gave a bound forward and fell dead, shot through the heart.
+
+Laying down the weapon John started to run to the buck, passing near
+Stephen and saying, "Load the gun, and I'll--" But the look and attitude
+of his brother made him pause. He was gazing intently, not toward the
+deer, but in the direction from which it had come. John turned and
+beheld a startling sight. Stealthily approaching along a little ravine,
+not far away, were a dozen or more savages in war-paint and feathers.
+
+John was a man of quick decision and resolute action. All the meaning of
+the situation flashed upon his mind. They were but two, and outnumbered
+six or eight to one; they had but one gun, that empty, fifty feet
+distant toward the foe. But the way was open to the fort, across the
+clearing and through the woods. Had he been alone, he would have sprung
+to the path in a moment and gained a good start on the savages. But
+Stephen had the unfortunate habit of hesitating in emergencies. Whenever
+startled or surprised he seemed powerless to act, and would stand as one
+dazed. John had to go to him, therefore, take him by the shoulders, turn
+him about, and say,
+
+"Run to the fort!" pushing with the word to get him started. Once going,
+however, he ran like a frightened doe; so hard, indeed, that without the
+restraint and guidance of his brother he would have been exhausted early
+in the race.
+
+The Indians, of course, on finding their approach discovered, sprang
+nimbly to the pursuit, but they had at first to run up hill, and when
+they came to the tree the foremost stopped to examine the gun and
+pouches, and a dispute arose over their possession. This was quickly
+settled by the chief, but every moment gained was precious to the
+fugitives.
+
+Any company of men in danger must needs have a captain, and John was
+born for a commander, whether of two or fifty. He set the pace which he
+believed Stephen could keep to the end, and said:
+
+"Don't look back; I will keep watch on the Indians for us both. We must
+not follow our usual path too closely. If the way is clear we must cut
+short wherever we can."
+
+John had taken note as they ran of several important facts. Only two or
+three of the Indians carried rifles, and they were not among the
+foremost. He believed that, in accordance with the report he had heard,
+the guns were empty.
+
+The Indian who had secured the white man's rifle had stopped to load it,
+and was now far in the rear. It was the evident purpose of the leaders
+to run their victims down and kill them with tomahawk and knife; then,
+if possible, they would surprise the fort, massacre the inmates, and
+carry away the ammunition there to be found.
+
+The reason for their confidence soon became apparent. Stephen,
+notwithstanding his brother's advice, could not avoid now and then
+turning his head for a backward glance, and he it was who first
+recognized in the foremost runner a famous Indian chief named Bigfoot,
+known as the bravest warrior and swiftest runner of the Wyandotte tribe.
+It was reported, also, that he had three brothers, nearly equal to
+himself in swiftness, who usually went with him on his expeditions.
+
+There had not been a doubt in the mind of John about his own ability to
+outrun the Indians. The question from the first had been how to save
+Stephen, and this new discovery made the situation desperate. The boy
+could run very swiftly for a short distance, but he lacked the endurance
+of a fully developed man. In spite of his brother's encouragement his
+steps began to flag. Bigfoot was easily gaining upon them, and three
+others were not far behind him. Soon he came so near that John feared he
+might, by a quick rush, be able to throw his tomahawk with deadly
+effect. He said to Stephen,
+
+"Jump behind the big tree we are coming near, but keep on running."
+
+Dropping behind a pace or two, he followed Stephen's movement in line
+with the tree. The Indian, fearing an assault, halted for a moment, and
+by this they gained several rods. The ruse was repeated two or three
+times, and they were now half-way to the fort.
+
+Here Stephen seemed to be wellnigh exhausted and ready to despair. He
+said to John,
+
+"Run ahead and save yourself. I'm a goner, anyway."
+
+But the other replied:
+
+"I'll not leave you. Don't give up. Keep up your heart and we'll beat
+them yet."
+
+Bigfoot, feeling sure of his prey, had slackened his pace for the others
+to overtake him, and the four together were coming on rapidly. John now
+determined on the only plan which might possibly save them both. He said
+to Stephen:
+
+"We must separate. As we pass the big hickory, do you bear to the right
+while I go to the left. Bigfoot will follow me, and you can outrun the
+others. When you strike the clearing, yell to warn the women. I'll do
+the same. _Go it, now, and do your best!_"
+
+This plan gave the boy new hope, for Bigfoot had been his especial
+terror. As he thought, too, of his mother and sisters, and their danger,
+he sprang forward from the big hickory and ran bravely.
+
+The savages paused a moment, and then, as John had foretold, the big
+Indian took the left course, followed by the swiftest of the others.
+
+Then began the real test between the two runners, red and white, neither
+of whom had ever before found his match. For a time John turned his head
+frequently, keeping watch upon his pursuers, and he soon learned that
+the distance between them, little by little, was shortening. The Indian
+was gaining because he did not look back; his eye was steadily on the
+white man. John Martin thought:
+
+"I must not turn my head, but look steadily forward, and trust my ears
+to measure the space between us. If I find that he is nearing me, I will
+stop and fight; my little knife against his long one and the hatchet."
+
+Now the space does not grow less, and to the Indian, who had expected an
+easy victory, this is maddening. John hears him muttering curses in his
+own language, and they sound musical. Then he calls in broken English,
+
+"White man, stop talk; me no kill."
+
+His only purpose is to secure a moment's pause; but to all appearance
+the other hears not. The Indian leaps and bounds in his rage, but
+nothing can he gain. The long quick steps of the white man have the
+steady movement of an eagle's wing; they flag not, nor does he turn his
+head till he has leaped the fence and given the promised yell. Almost on
+the instant he hears the whiz of a bullet and the crack of Mary's rifle.
+The ball grazes a tree behind which the Indian has suddenly skulked,
+really dodging a shot truly aimed. Then, with a cry of baffled rage, he
+springs into the forest and is seen no more.
+
+When Stephen left his brother's side, he felt that he was put upon his
+mettle as never in his life before. He had recovered his "second wind,"
+the swiftest of the Indians had gone the other way, and he had great
+hope that he could win the race. He _must_ win, for if John should fail,
+who but himself could warn the people of the fort. Left alone, he
+suddenly became cool, calculating, and self-reliant. Before him was a
+bit of thicket. He turned suddenly behind this, as though seeking to
+hide along a ravine which bore away to the right, and as quickly again
+resumed his course. The Indians were deceived, and turned, as they
+supposed, to cut him off, and by this he gained considerably. Then, in
+plain sight, he took a curved path, knowing that across the shorter way
+were many trailing vines and low shrubs. In these the foremost savage
+became entangled, and lost his position in the race. And now the lad had
+only to make a supreme effort, the clearing was in sight; he heard his
+brother's voice, and the report of his sister's rifle. All was well, and
+he would have gone unscathed, but in leaping the fence he tripped and
+fell headlong. As he rose and started forward, the foremost Indian threw
+a tomahawk, the blade of which cut his shoulder, while the handle struck
+his head, stunning him, and he fell again.
+
+The savage, eager to secure a scalp and recover his weapon, sprang over
+the fence, unaware of the risk he was taking, for by this time John had
+given the point of his brother's approach, and the brave mother was on
+the watch. The Indian's feet had but touched the open ground when she
+drew a bead upon him, and as he paused to draw his scalping-knife the
+rifle sent its messenger to his breast. He fell at Stephen's feet,
+mortally wounded, and died in a few moments.
+
+The mother began reloading her piece. "We may need another bullet," she
+said, as she rammed one "home." "Help the boy in, and I'll keep an eye
+on the woods."
+
+But no other foe appeared, and Stephen, whose wounds though bleeding and
+painful were not dangerous, soon was resting on a couch before the fire.
+
+Notwithstanding the excitement he had passed through, he immediately
+fell asleep from utter exhaustion. When at sunset he awoke and saw his
+mother by his side he placed a hand in hers, and there was a world of
+love and admiration in his eyes.
+
+In the mean time the sound of guns had brought the men quickly to the
+fort. John, whose blood was hot, wished to organize a party at once and
+pursue the Indians, but the older and more prudent objected. The mother
+said, "No, that is just what they will expect you to do. They will lead
+you a long and useless chase, or else they will wait for you in ambush.
+We have no lives to spare, and nothing to avenge. We're Christians and
+not savages, and we've every reason to-night to be thankful we're alive.
+I want you to bury the one I shot to save my boy, his scalp on his head
+and his weapons with him. Bury him in a corner of the clearing and put
+up a bit of slab to mark the spot."
+
+Some frowned at this, but it was done as she had said.
+
+Before long the story of this burial in some way reached the savages,
+and was told in many wigwams.
+
+Years afterward an aged squaw came to the fort and asked in broken
+English to be shown the Indian's grave, and when she saw it she bowed
+herself thereon and wept.
+
+
+
+
+THE BISHOP'S DILEMMA.
+
+
+The late Bishop of Argyle and the Isles, in Scotland, Dr. Mackarness,
+was a very large and heavy man, weighing at least 275 pounds.
+
+On one occasion, accompanied by his chaplain, Mr. Chinnery Haldane, he
+was making his way through the mountains to confirm some children in a
+far-away village.
+
+The carriage, drawn by strong and agile mountain ponies, slowly
+ascending through a rocky pass, was suddenly brought to a standstill by
+a fallen tree. The Highland driver did everything in his power to get by
+the obstacle, but finally had to go for assistance. The Bishop and his
+chaplain strolled on.
+
+Now the chaplain wanted to be made a rural dean, and he thought this an
+excellent opportunity to try the Bishop on the subject. The weather was
+fine, the view delightful, the Bishop apparently in a good temper. Why
+not broach this subject so near to his heart? The Bishop heard his
+request, but instead of answering him, stopped and called attention to
+the effect of the sun on the distant mountains. Further hints were met
+in the same way.
+
+The village was now in sight, but an unlooked-for obstacle presented
+itself. The little stream, crossed usually by a picturesque bridge, had
+been so swollen by the rains that the bridge appeared like an island in
+the middle.
+
+Here was a quandary. It might be several hours before the carriage
+arrived, and night was coming on.
+
+"What are we to do?" said the Bishop.
+
+"My lord," replied the chaplain, "if you will get on my back I will
+carry you to the bridge."
+
+The Bishop demurred, spoke of his weight, and the undignified appearance
+he would present. But the chaplain was strong, and finally persuaded
+him. When fairly in the middle he came to a full stop.
+
+"Are you tired, Haldane?" said the Bishop.
+
+"No, my lord, I am not tired; but I wish to speak to you again about
+that rural deanery."
+
+"But, my dear fellow," cried the Bishop, in alarm, "this is no place to
+talk; wait till we get to the other side."
+
+"On the contrary, my lord, I think this is an excellent place to talk,
+for if you refuse me I shall drop you."
+
+The Bishop tried to temporize; but the chaplain was immovable.
+
+"The rural deanery or down you go," was the fiat, and reluctantly the
+Bishop gave the chaplain his promise.
+
+His kept his promise, too, and after the death of Dr. Mackarness that
+same chaplain and rural dean became his successor, and is now Bishop of
+Argyle and the Isles.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS.
+
+HALLOWEEN FAGOTS.
+
+BY EMMA J. GRAY.
+
+
+A heavy farm wagon was lumbering along, raising clouds of dust, as the
+children, each with a bag suspended from his or her arm, hailed the
+driver for a lift. They were so tired, for they had been scouring the
+woods for hours, each striving to see whose bag would be the heaviest
+when they set their faces homeward; and now, as the yellow gold of the
+afternoon sunset was fast deepening into night, and there was yet many a
+weary mile between these Thornton woods and their supper, for which
+everybody had over and again testified that he was "just starving," they
+begged for a ride.
+
+The driver was a middle-aged man, somewhat crippled and bent with toil.
+His shoulders were round, his chest hollow, his hair a mixture of brown
+and gray; but his big honest blue eyes shone with a kindly light, that
+softened the harsh skin as he called "Whoa!" and the children hurriedly
+climbed, some over the wheels, and others by the back and front--any way
+to get in--and a moment later the indulgent if homely man had a
+wagon-load of pleasant company.
+
+"Well done, gals and boys; many's the time I wuz jist as spry, but I
+haven't done it for nigh unto twenty year." And he pointed to the large
+knots on his hands that showed the effect of rheumatism. But his
+misfortunes had not soured him, for he was anxious to learn all about
+the happy day. And they all had a turn in telling him.
+
+And thus it was that he soon learned the nutting party had been planned
+from away back, back as far as last October, and that a gayer set of
+young people he had never seen in all his life than they were when they
+met, luncheon in hand, at the cross-roads that morning. They had taken
+their luncheon, they explained, because they wanted to make a full day
+of it this time.
+
+What a day! What a tramp! What bags of nuts! The boys had climbed trees
+like the veriest of nimble squirrels; ran along the branches too, and
+shook the ripe beauties down, while the girls were anything but quiet
+underneath; and now, simply because it was night, and they were so tired
+and hungry, they had to go home. Otherwise they would have liked the day
+to last a week at the very least, so that they could have a longer run,
+watch out later for the rabbits, woodpeckers, and squirrels, and try and
+find bigger bouquets of red berries and autumn leaves.
+
+It was even confided to this man, before the last one got out of the
+wagon--for he indulgently stopped at the nearest points for all--that
+Robert and Sophie McLaren, who sat near the driver's seat, were to give
+a fagot party on All-Halloween, to which they were all invited, and that
+some of the nuts were to be saved for that particular occasion.
+
+A week later one of the boys, who was studying art, walked along the
+same road. He had been sketching the distant woods, and again met the
+driver of the comfortable though heavy farm wagon. This time the man's
+keen far-sightedness saw him first, and having recognized one of "the
+jolly young'uns," as in telling his wife of his adventure he explained
+was "a fittin' name for 'em," he whipped up his horses the sooner to
+hail the boy, hoping for companionship. And he was not disappointed, for
+the drawing materials had grown heavier with each step. And thus it was
+that the benevolent if curious man heard all about the fagot party.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The boy commenced by explaining the meaning of the word fagot, a bundle
+of twigs; and there were just as many twigs as there were girls and
+boys, "the idea being that we should each draw a twig from the bundle as
+our names were called. And they were all called by the hostess,
+according to the letters of the alphabet. For instance, my name begins
+with A; therefore I had to draw the first twig. Having drawn the twig, I
+put it on the open coal fire, and at once commenced to tell a story. As
+long as the twig lasted I had to talk; but when it was burned up I had
+to stop; and as it burned very fast towards the end, I wound up in a
+jiffy. As soon as I was through, the next name was called, and that
+person did exactly as I did, only told a different story of course."
+
+The story part of the explanation seemed rather mystifying, so the boy
+said, "I'll tell you the story I told, and then perhaps you'll
+understand. The title was 'The Professor.' Place, a boy's room in
+college. Time, an hour before recitation.
+
+"Duty is a grim taskmaster, and sometimes I don't fancy obeying him.
+This was one of the times. I thought, what's the use of algebra,
+anyway?--lots of people have lived and died without even knowing there
+is such a study; so, in the hour allowed for preparation of multiplying
+2a+5c by a-c, and all the rest of the rubbish, I decided to close the
+window-shutters, draw down the shades, light the candles--in fact, make
+believe it was night, and have in all the fellows for an out-and-out
+spread. With this idea I had made preparation; the mince pie was on the
+table, pumpkin pie ditto, a big pitcher of milk, some apples, bananas,
+and hickory nuts; when all of a sudden, just as I was expecting the boys
+to file quietly in, who should I hear tip-toeing along the hall but the
+Professor? My hair almost stood on end, wondering what his next move
+would be, so sure I was that he was sniffing these questionable odors. I
+had but a second to wonder, however, for the door-knob turned and we
+stood face to face. He did not look at all surprised. I drew a long
+breath. Neither of us spoke. He seemed, I thought, to take a certain
+sort of delight in watching me. The longer he watched, the more
+uncomfortable I felt. I thought if there was any way of getting out of
+this! The dreary hopelessness of my situation was appalling. Every
+second seemed an hour, for the cool steel-colored eyes never lifted;
+they seemed to read me through and through.
+
+"After what seemed to me to be an eternity of time he slowly asked,
+'Where are the boys?' And back of him, through the open doorway, I saw
+them stand. They had all come together, hoping in this way the better to
+escape detection; their feet had silently fallen all at the one time,
+for they had practised marching in unison.
+
+"After lingering for my answer he teasingly turned towards them, for
+they were so petrified at the sight of the Professor they stood
+irresolute, and he, quite conscious of the situation, then changed into
+a smiling host, and welcomed them to the feast. He made us all sit down
+and eat until the pie was entirely gone. I never made so uncomfortable a
+meal. I thought I would choke; the food stuck in my throat, and the
+silence, the torturing silence, was agonizing. I tell you, none of us
+fellows ever forgot that meal; it was the heaviest punishment we ever
+endured.
+
+"When we were finished, our host's manner changed. He was again the
+Professor. In clear-cut sarcastic words he stated that in five minutes
+he would be in the algebra room, and would expect particularly well
+prepared papers.
+
+"The remembrance of that feast thrills me yet. Oh, how we recoiled
+before him!" and the boy seemed to tremble and shrink while he talked.
+"Yes, that feast will keenly and uncomfortably thrill me always."
+
+The boy having ended, looked gayly up at the driver, and was surprised
+to see how pained he looked. The man had believed every word, and could
+scarcely understand what was meant when he was told that the story was
+all imagination, that it never really happened, but was only made up to
+tell while his twig burned.
+
+However, the man soon heartily laughed, and then asked, "Wha'd ye play
+next?" And so interested was he in hearing the merry games that he did
+his best to delay his horses so as not to miss too many of them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The first that the boy explained was "The Fortunate Apple." On several
+pieces of wood, thin as paper, write in ink or paint girls' names. Use
+only first names, and, after including all the girls to be invited, make
+up others. Slip each name into an apple. This set will do for the boys;
+make similar ones for the girls. Fill three portable tubs with water,
+and set an even number of apples floating in each tub. Fasten the arms
+of three boys securely back, and cover them entirely with water-proof
+cloaks. Lead each boy to a tub and ask him to repeat distinctly,
+
+  "Witches and wizards and birds of the air,
+  Goblins and brownies, all lend me your care,
+  Now to choose wisely for once and for all,
+  And ever your names in praise loudly I'll call."
+
+Then each boy must put his head down and try to catch in his teeth an
+apple. In it he'll find the name of one of the girls present, and she
+will be his fate. If the name is a strange one, there will even then be
+teasing enough for him. After the boys have all tried the game, then it
+is time for the girls.
+
+Lead a girl up to a tub and blindfold her; lead her around while she
+repeats the rhyme, and with the words "loudly I call," she must bend
+down and try to catch in one hand an apple, or, if she prefers, she may
+try to spear an apple with a fork. If the latter way, only one drop of
+the fork will be allowed. If it sticks far enough in an apple not to
+fall altogether, her fate is sure.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Another game was called "The Three T's," or "The Tumbler Test."
+
+Fill three tumblers with water. One must hold blue water, such as the
+laundress uses for clothes, another must hold soapy water, and another
+clear water, while still another must be empty. These tumblers should
+stand on a table directly before the individual who is to be
+blindfolded. After he is blindfolded, change the position of the
+glasses, placing one where the other one stood, and so on. Then instruct
+the party to dip his fingers into one of the tumblers. Having felt
+around, his fingers are dipped into clear water, and thus he learns that
+he is to marry a beautiful rich girl. Had he dipped into the soapy
+water, it would have meant that he would marry a poor widow; if in the
+blue water, he would be a noted author; if in the empty glass, he would
+die a bachelor. This game is played in the same way with the girls,
+only, of course, changing the sex, as, example, marrying a rich,
+handsome man.
+
+As the boy was now very near home, he had only time to explain one more
+game, called "The Walnut's Fortune."
+
+A quantity of walnuts had been carefully opened in half, and inside each
+one was slipped a narrow piece of paper which predicted the future. The
+nuts were kept from opening by having a small elastic slipped over each.
+The boys' walnuts were put in one basket and the girls' in another, and
+the girls' basket was first offered. As each girl held her hand over the
+basket she repeated,
+
+  "Steady, good fairy, I am wary;
+  Pray let my hand make no mistake;
+  I would only the right nut take."
+
+Then, having put her hand down, she lifted up a nut, removed the
+elastic, and taking out the paper, read her future aloud. Example: "You
+will travel around the world. At the age of twenty-three you will sing
+before two thousand people." And thus the future was predicted in
+similar style for all the players.
+
+But the boy was at his destination, and therefore his new friend and
+himself had to part company, not before the driver said, however, "I'll
+come along arter you some day, fer I can't git over feelin' glad to see
+you ag'in; no knowin' what you'll hev ter tell nex' time."
+
+
+
+
+A FINE OLD CHAP.
+
+
+  I like this kind old sunny soul,
+    Whom nothing can annoy;
+  His pleasant smile is e'er the same,
+    To fill my heart with joy.
+
+  I like his quaint, ungainly shape;
+    I like his big round face.
+  Although he's clumsy through and through,
+    To me he's full of grace.
+
+  Indeed, he's sweet enough to eat--
+    Feet, elbows, legs, and head--
+  This very dear old gentleman,
+    Who's made of gingerbread.
+
+  R. K. MUNKITTRICK.
+
+
+
+
+IN THE OLD HERRICK HOUSE.[1]
+
+[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 879.
+
+BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND.
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+Elizabeth, in the days of Miss Rice's rule, had often thought that the
+most desirable thing in the world would be to go to school. She had
+often watched girls in the street hurrying along with books under their
+arms as the clock was about to strike nine, and they always looked so
+happy, and appeared to have so much to say to one another. That, to
+Elizabeth, was particularly delightful, for she had a friendly nature,
+although her lonely life had made her shy with other children.
+
+And now she was to go to school herself. The summer was over, the Misses
+Herrick had returned to town, and arrangements had been made for
+entering Elizabeth at Mrs. Arnold's school. This decision had cost Miss
+Herrick some thought. It must be a good school educationally which she
+chose for her niece, but it must also be aristocratic. To Miss Herrick's
+mind, suitable acquaintances were more to be desired than "higher
+education."
+
+Mrs. Arnold's school, however, apparently combined these two necessary
+qualifications; and on the morning after her twelfth birthday Elizabeth
+Herrick began her school life.
+
+It was a very awful ordeal at first. She had never before encountered so
+many staring eyes, and when any one chanced to speak to her, it seemed
+as if she should sink through the floor.
+
+The other girls appeared to know one another very well, and had much to
+say after the summer's absence. Elizabeth wondered when there would be
+time for lessons if the scholars all talked so incessantly, but she soon
+found that it was only on the first day of school that so much liberty
+was allowed. The girl who had the desk next to hers enlightened her on
+this point, as well as on various others.
+
+"You are a new girl, aren't you?" she remarked.
+
+"Yes," said Elizabeth; "are you?"
+
+"Oh dear no! I have been here a year." Elizabeth looked at her with
+increased respect. She was a tall girl, with bright brown eyes, and
+curly hair which hung about her face in a dark mass. "I am almost
+fourteen," she continued; "at least, I am thirteen and a half. How old
+are you?"
+
+"I was twelve yesterday."
+
+"And my name is Patsy Wayne Loring--that is, it is really Martha, but
+Martha is such a hateful name I never want to tell it, and I have always
+been called Patsy. What is yours?"
+
+"Elizabeth Herrick."
+
+"Elizabeth! What a terribly long name! What do they call you?"
+
+"They call me Elizabeth," returned her neighbor.
+
+"Goody! I wouldn't let them if I were you. I should be called Bessie, or
+Betty, or Beth, or Elsie. There are lots of nicknames for Elizabeth. I
+think Elsie is a lovely name. But there is Miss Garner! She is very
+strict."
+
+"Doesn't Mrs. Arnold sit in this room?"
+
+"Oh no. This is the Intermediate, and Miss Garner has charge of this.
+Mrs. Arnold is in the Senior, and we hardly ever see her, except when we
+have been especially bad or especially good, and then we are sent in to
+her. I have never been in on the good list. But once, when I fixed a
+jack-in-the-box in Miss Garner's desk so that it popped up at her when
+she opened the desk, the old thing found me out, and sent me down to
+Mrs. Arnold. It was such fun to see her jump! I nearly died laughing."
+
+Elizabeth looked at her new friend with wonder. Would she ever dare to
+do anything so scandalous? And was that what girls did at school?
+
+"That is the new drawing and painting teacher," continued her neighbor;
+"her name is Mrs. Brown. She is awfully nice, the girls say."
+
+"I wish I could take lessons; I love to draw."
+
+"Why don't you? Perhaps you can't afford it. It is extra, and that is
+the reason I don't."
+
+"I don't believe that is the reason. My aunt does not want me to. She
+never will let me draw at home."
+
+"How very funny! But there is Miss Garner ringing the bell, so we shall
+have to stop talking. I shall tell you some more at recess."
+
+[Illustration: WHEN SCHOOL WAS OVER A MAID WAS WAITING TO TAKE ELIZABETH
+HOME.]
+
+When school was over a maid was awaiting Elizabeth to accompany her
+home. Her new friend walked with her part of the way, but her
+destination was much nearer the school than was Elizabeth's, and she
+soon bade her good-by.
+
+"I like you ever so much," were her parting words, "and I am sure we are
+going to be intimate friends. Come early to-morrow, and we shall have
+time to talk a little before school begins. Good-by!"
+
+Elizabeth went home feeling that at last she was like other girls. She
+had a friend of her own. She could scarcely eat her luncheon she was so
+excited, and she longed for dinner-time, that she might recount her
+experiences to her aunts. They were not at home this afternoon.
+
+She looked at her new books, and in a short time had studied her lessons
+for the next day. "It is too good to be true, Julius," she whispered to
+the cat, who sat purring in the window; "I have an intimate friend at
+last."
+
+Fortunately no one dined there that night, so Elizabeth was to come to
+the table, and there were actually a few minutes in the library before
+dinner was announced in which she could be with her aunts.
+
+"School is lovely, Aunt Caroline," said she, "and I have a friend
+already."
+
+"Indeed! What is her name?"
+
+"Patsy Loring."
+
+"Loring? That is not a Philadelphia name; but of course she must be
+quite desirable, or she would not be at Mrs. Arnold's school."
+
+"Her real name is Martha Wayne Loring, but she is always called-- Why,
+what is the matter, Aunt Caroline?"
+
+Miss Herrick's face wore the same look which Elizabeth had seen there
+once or twice before.
+
+"Martha Wayne?" she murmured.
+
+"Why, yes, Aunt Caroline; but she is called Patsy. I was going to tell
+you--"
+
+"Rebecca," said Miss Herrick, in a weak voice, "do you suppose--"
+
+"I think it is highly probable," said Miss Rebecca, briskly. "Martha
+Wayne married a Loring, and went to Boston to live."
+
+"Patsy said they used to live in Boston," put in Elizabeth; "but when
+her father died, they came here."
+
+"Of course it is the same," said Miss Herrick. "Of all things, to have
+her come into our lives again. I always thought that it was partly owing
+to Martha Wayne's influence that--"
+
+She stopped abruptly.
+
+"But, Aunt Caroline, what do you mean? Do you know Patsy? Please tell
+me!"
+
+"I cannot tell you. Do not ask me."
+
+"Oh dear, another mystery!" exclaimed Elizabeth, petulantly. "I do hate
+secrets, and there are so many in this house! There is the closed room,
+and my father staying away, and now when I go to school, and everything
+seems nice and pleasant, and I have a friend at last, you go and make a
+mystery about her."
+
+"Be quiet, Elizabeth. I cannot bear it! Rebecca, what do you think?
+Shall the child continue to go there? Will it do for her to be thrown
+with Martha Wayne's daughter?"
+
+For a moment Elizabeth was speechless with indignation. Then, before her
+aunt Rebecca could reply, she started from her chair.
+
+"Aunt Caroline," she cried, stamping her foot, "you are a horrid old
+thing! I _will_ go there to school. I _will_ be friends with Patsy! You
+won't let me have a thing like other girls! I wish my father would come
+home and take me away from here!" And she ran crying from the room.
+
+"Her frightful temper again," exclaimed Miss Herrick; "and the doctor
+said she must not be excited! What shall we do, Rebecca?"
+
+"You are very foolish to allow yourself to be so agitated. The child
+must go to school, and we cannot prevent her making friends. I wish
+Edward would come home and take her off our hands. But as for keeping
+her from Martha Wayne's daughter, or, in fact, from any one who knew
+Mildred--"
+
+"Rebecca! How often have I asked you never to mention that name? I must
+go now and pacify Elizabeth, or she will make herself ill."
+
+Miss Herrick's face looked drawn and old as she left the room. It was
+some time before Elizabeth could be quieted, but when she went to school
+the next morning it was with the permission to see as much of Patsy
+Loring as she wished.
+
+The two girls were soon fast friends. Patsy came once or twice to Fourth
+Street, but they liked better to meet in her own little house, where the
+rooms were small, and the carpets and furniture were not particularly
+new, but where the sun shone brightly in at the windows, and where there
+was plenty of fun and merrymaking all day long.
+
+"It is all so open here!" said Elizabeth one day.
+
+"What do you mean, my dear?" asked Mrs. Loring, who was sewing by the
+table, while Patsy arranged her paper dolls. It was a rainy afternoon,
+and therefore the dolls were in demand.
+
+"Oh, you have no shut-up rooms and secrets. Our house is full of
+skeletons. It is hateful."
+
+"E-liz-a-beth!" exclaimed Patsy. "What in the world do you mean?"
+
+"Well, how would you like to have a room in the house with a padlock on
+it that you never could go into, and have Aunt Caroline hush you up
+every time you asked about it? I have been there, though," and she
+nodded her head mysteriously.
+
+Patsy left her paper dolls and drew nearer.
+
+"Have you really? Do tell me about it," she said, while Mrs. Loring
+listened attentively.
+
+"I stole the key and went in. Of course I ought not to have done it, but
+it was a whole year ago, and I was such a little thing I didn't know any
+better. I was only eleven then, you know. I went a good many times,
+until Aunt Caroline found me out. It is such a pretty room. If I only
+knew whom it belonged to! Mrs. Loring, I wonder if you know?" turning
+suddenly to Patsy's mother. "You look just as Aunt Caroline does when I
+speak of that room. What is there about that room that makes every one
+look so queer?"
+
+"Why should you think that I know anything about it?" asked Mrs. Loring,
+recovering herself.
+
+"Because I think Aunt Caroline used to know you, for she was so
+excited--at least, she didn't seem to like--well, please excuse me for
+saying it, but Aunt Caroline was so surprised to hear I knew Patsy, and
+at first she said-- I don't believe I can tell you."
+
+Elizabeth came to a full stop. She was too honest to extricate herself
+from the difficulty, and too polite to state the truth.
+
+"Never mind, dear," said Mrs. Loring, quietly, "I knew your aunts when I
+was a girl, it is true. But I cannot tell you about the room. Your aunt
+does not wish you to know, Elizabeth, and therefore you should not try
+to find out."
+
+"I know I shouldn't, but it is so interesting. But I don't care so much
+about it, now that I have Patsy."
+
+When Elizabeth went home that afternoon the old house looked grim and
+deserted. The aunts were out, as usual. She studied her lessons, and
+then sat down with a book by the front window. The rain had ceased, but
+the clouds were still thick and dark, and the room, handsomely furnished
+though it was, looked gloomier even than was its wont. It reminded her
+of the day, a whole year ago, when she wrote the letter to her
+lather--the letter which he had never answered.
+
+Elizabeth's book fell from her hand and she leaned her head drearily
+against the window-pane. A whole year, and still he had not come.
+
+Her attention was suddenly attracted by a figure on the sidewalk. It
+stood still for a moment, and then approached the steps. It was a boy in
+an overcoat, with the collar turned up about his ears, and a hat drawn
+closely down over his face. There was something familiar about that part
+of the face which could be seen, and almost immediately Elizabeth
+recognized him. It was Valentine.
+
+He came up the steps and motioned to her to open the door.
+
+"They are out, aren't they?" he asked, in a whisper.
+
+"Why, Val, where did you come from?" exclaimed Elizabeth, but he
+interrupted her.
+
+"Hush! Don't talk so loud. Are they out?"
+
+"You mean Aunt Caroline and Aunt Rebecca? Yes, they are. But come in,
+Val. Don't stand out there. What is the matter? Have you come to stay?"
+
+"I can't tell you now," he said, coming into the hall. "I am afraid they
+will come home and find me. I want you to hide me."
+
+"Val! How can I, and why do you want to hide?"
+
+"I tell you, never mind now. I will tell you some other time. You must
+hide me."
+
+"But where?"
+
+"In the locked-up room."
+
+Elizabeth was speechless. She could only look at him.
+
+"Come," exclaimed Valentine, impatiently, "don't stand there staring.
+Your eyes look as if they were going to pop out of your head. Let us
+hurry!"
+
+"But, Val, I can't hide you there. I have been forbidden to go near that
+room, and I don't believe I can get the key now. Aunt Caroline keeps it
+in her desk, and her desk is nearly always locked."
+
+"You must hide me there," said Valentine, decidedly, "and we can't stand
+here, or I shall be caught."
+
+He ran up stairs, two steps at a time, and Elizabeth was obliged to
+follow him, though sorely against her will. What could it all mean? Why
+had he come, and why must he not be seen?
+
+He went to the room which he had occupied when he was there a year ago.
+
+"I will wait here," he said, "while you go and try to find the key, and
+if you can't find it, we will pick the lock."
+
+"But why must you hide, Val? Why don't you just stay downstairs and tell
+Aunt Caroline you have come to make us a visit? She won't mind. She is
+not nearly as strict as she used to be, but she would mind dreadfully if
+she were to find you in the locked room."
+
+"She won't find me there; that is, not if you have any sense. Of course
+if you spoil it all, that is a different thing. I wish you were
+Marjorie. She would have understood in a minute. But she will never be
+here again to help me--"
+
+A lump came into Val's throat as he said this, and he was silent for a
+moment. Then he said,
+
+"Well, are you going?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The allusion to Marjorie was too much for Elizabeth. She went down to
+her aunt's room and walked to the desk. She would at least do this for
+Val. Then she would tell him that she could not open the desk, and that
+he must give up the idea.
+
+But what did she see? She rubbed her eyes and looked again. The key of
+the desk was in the lock!
+
+She stood there irresolute. Her conscience told her that she should not
+open it. Her aunt had left the key by an oversight, and she should not
+take advantage of it. On the other hand, Val was waiting for her at the
+top of the stairs. Apparently it was most important that he should be
+hidden; and then--his mention of Marjorie. He had said that Marjorie
+would have done it; that she would have helped him. This decided the
+question in Elizabeth's mind. She would try to atone to Val if she could
+for the loss of his cousin, and perhaps it would have the effect of
+making him care for her, his sister.
+
+She opened the desk, and easily finding the little Chinese cabinet, she
+took out the keys, closed the desk again, and ran up stairs.
+
+It was a whole year since she had entered the closed room. She had not
+been there since she and Val locked the door after the departure of the
+Brady girls, and now together they were opening it again.
+
+"The first thing," said he, "is to give me something to eat. I am as
+hungry as a hunter. And then I will tell you why I came."
+
+Elizabeth ran down to the pantry. There were crackers to be found there,
+and some fresh cake, and there was fruit on the sideboard in the
+dining-room. She filled two plates, and thus laden she hastened up the
+stairs again. Val had opened the blinds and drawn a chair to the window,
+and had made himself completely at home.
+
+"I am mighty glad to get here," he remarked, "and it was the greatest
+piece of luck to have you come to the window. I did not know how I was
+going to get in, for it is very important that no one but you should
+know that I am here. I hung around the corner till I thought I saw the
+aunts' carriage drive off, and then you came and sat at the window."
+
+"But, Val, why can't you be seen, and how long are you going to stay? I
+am sure I cannot hide you long, and I don't know what Aunt Caroline will
+say when she finds it out. I really think she feels worse about this
+room than she ever did."
+
+"Leave it all to me, and do just as I say," returned Valentine, loftily.
+"If you don't go and make a mull of it, she'll never know. And now I
+will tell you why I am here, only first you must promise, on your word
+of honor, that you won't give me away."
+
+"I promise--at least I think I do," said Elizabeth, slowly. "But wait a
+minute, Val. I wish you would let me tell Patsy."
+
+"Who is Patsy?"
+
+"She is my friend--my intimate friend--and she is just lovely, Val. She
+would never tell, and we have promised to tell each other everything. Do
+let me."
+
+"No, you can't; not a word. Girls always have to tell each other such a
+lot. Now if you want to know how I happened to get here you must promise
+not to say a word to her. Will you?"
+
+"Very well," returned Elizabeth, regretfully. "I won't tell her. But,
+Val!"
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I have not promised not to tell Aunt Caroline."
+
+"Aunt Caroline! Why, she is the person of all others that I don't want
+to have know it. What on earth do you mean, Elizabeth?"
+
+The little girl was standing by the dressing-table. For a moment she did
+not speak, and she slowly turned over, one by one, the pile of unopened
+letters which had been lying there so long.
+
+"If I promise not to tell, are you going to explain why you came and all
+about it?" she asked.
+
+"Yes--every word."
+
+"Oh, I do want to know so much! And if I tell Aunt Caroline you are
+here, what will you do?"
+
+"I sha'n't explain a word of it, and I will never have another thing to
+do with you. I shall always think you are the meanest girl in creation,
+and so you will be. I shall just wish you were not my sister. Oh,
+jiminy! why aren't you Marjorie? _She_ would have helped me out."
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+A VIRGINIA CAVALIER.
+
+BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+Very splendid was the ball at the palace that night, and very splendid
+to George's provincial eyes were the assemblies in the great Apollo Room
+at the Raleigh, where the wits and beaux and belles of the colonial
+court assembled. Sir John Peyton was not the only dandy to be met with
+there, although by far the most entertaining. There were many handsome
+and imposing matrons, but George saw none that his mother could not
+outshine in dignity and grace; and many beautiful girls, but none more
+charming than Betty. As communication with his home was easy and
+frequent, he could write long descriptive letters to Ferry Farm, as well
+as to Mount Vernon. Betty became so infatuated with George's accounts of
+the fine people and gay doings at Williamsburg that she wrote George: "I
+wish, dear George, you would not write me any more about the routs and
+assemblies at Williamsburg, for your poor sister's head is so full of
+junkets and capers and the like that she attends to her duties very ill,
+and drops stitches in her knitting, which brings her many reproofs, and
+plays nothing but jigs on the harpsichord, instead of those noble
+compositions of Mr. Handel of which our mother is so fond."
+
+George laughed when he read this. He know, no matter how much Betty's
+little head might be filled with gayeties, she never forgot to do her
+whole duty, and had always time for a kind act or an affectionate word
+to others. But there were more than balls and routs and Governor's
+levees in this visit. George had the opportunity of knowing men
+prominent in colonial matters--statesmen, scholars, lawyers, men of
+affairs; and Lord Fairfax, ever on the alert for his favorite's
+advancement, lost no chance of bringing him to the attention of those in
+power.
+
+Among the persons they met were many officers of the Governor's suite,
+as well as those attached to the ships at Yorktown. George's passion for
+a military life had never died or even languished; but by the exertion
+of a powerful will he had kept it in abeyance until the times were ripe.
+Already were Governor Dinwiddie and his council preparing a scheme of
+defence for the frontier, and Lord Fairfax, with other leading men in
+the colony, were invited to meet the Governor and council to discuss
+these affairs. After attending one of these meetings, the Earl, on
+coming back to his lodgings, said:
+
+"George, after our conference broke up I talked with the Governor
+concerning you and your future, and he promised me, if the plan is
+carried out of dividing the colony into districts, with an
+Inspector-General with the rank of Major for each, that you shall have a
+commission--that is, if you have not given up your wish for a military
+life."
+
+As Lord Fairfax spoke a deep red dyed George's face.
+
+"Thank you, sir," he said. "I never have given up, I never can give up,
+my wish for a military life; and although I did not accept the warrant I
+was given in the navy, it almost broke my heart. But fighting for my
+country is another thing; and if the Governor calls on me for my
+services it would certainly be my duty to respond--and I shall."
+
+After four delightful weeks in Williamsburg they returned to Mount
+Vernon; and George, following his plan for two years past, divided his
+time between Mount Vernon and Ferry Farm until April, when he again
+started for Greenway Court, where Lord Fairfax had preceded him. Again
+he started for the frontier with Gist and Davidson, and again he
+repeated the experiences of the former year almost without the slightest
+variation. But on his return in September to Greenway Court a melancholy
+letter from Laurence Washington awaited him. The doctors had declared a
+sea-voyage the only thing that would restore Laurence's health; and
+passage for Barbadoes had been engaged in the _Sprightly Jane_, a
+commodious merchantman sailing between Alexandria and the West Indies.
+Laurence wrote, saying that George must accompany him, otherwise he
+would not go, to suffer and die, perhaps, among strangers.
+
+Two hours after receiving this letter George was on his way to Mount
+Vernon. The Earl, ever kind, assured him that Gist and Davidson, both
+highly intelligent men, could give him all the information necessary,
+together with George's papers, and, furnished with the best horse in the
+stables at Greenway Court, George set out with a heavy heart. He
+travelled night and day, and reached Mount Vernon a week before the very
+earliest day that he was expected. His brother's pale and emaciated
+countenance, his sister's anxiety, cut George to the heart. All the
+preparations for sailing were made, and the _Sprightly Jane_ only waited
+a fair wind to trip her anchor. George took time to spend one day at
+Ferry Farm. Madam Washington was a woman of great fortitude, except in
+one particular--she trembled at the idea of danger to this best-beloved
+son; but she made no objection to the voyage, which she saw that George
+considered not only his duty but his pleasure to make to oblige the best
+of brothers. But Betty had fortitude even in parting with him. As George
+rode back through the night to Mount Vernon he could not recall a single
+instance in connection with himself in which Betty had considered
+herself or her love for him or the solace of his society; always, her
+first and only thought was for his credit.
+
+"Dear Betty," thought George, as his horse took the road steadily
+through the darkness, "I believe you would inspire the veriest poltroon
+that walks with courage to do his duty."
+
+And Betty was so very pretty and winning and coquettish, and had troops
+of young gentlemen to admire her, at whom George scowled darkly, and
+thought Betty entirely too young for such things. But Betty thought
+differently, and rated George soundly for his overbearing ways in that
+respect. For she was not the least afraid of him, and could talk him
+down with the greatest spirit and emphasis at any time, George being a
+little in awe of Betty's nimble tongue.
+
+Late in September Laurence Washington, with George and his faithful
+body-servant Peter, sailed for Barbadoes. The voyage lasted five weeks,
+and was very tedious. It did more to cure George of his still
+smouldering passion for a sea life than he had thought possible. To a
+young man accustomed to the boundless forests the confinement was
+irksome. He was used to pursue his plans regardless of weather, and the
+lying motionless for days in a dead and depressing calm chafed him
+inexpressibly. Laurence, who bore patiently all the discomforts and
+delays of their position, could not forbear a wan smile when George,
+coming down one day to his cabin, burst forth:
+
+"Brother, you were right to prefer the army to the navy for me. At
+least, let me be where if I walk ten miles I shall be ten miles advanced
+on my way. I have walked ten miles around this vessel, and I am just
+where I started."
+
+On a beautiful autumn morning, under a dazzling sun, they landed at
+Barbadoes. The Governor of the island, hearing that the sick gentleman
+had once been an officer in the British army, immediately called at
+their temporary lodgings and offered every kindness in his power. He
+advised Laurence to take a house in the country near the sea, where the
+air was good. That afternoon they drove out to the house recommended by
+the Governor, and in a few days were comfortably established there.
+
+At first Laurence improved much. He received every attention, and took
+pleasure in the society of the officers of the garrison, who found two
+polished and educated strangers a great resource in their monotonous
+lives. So anxious was one of them--Colonel Clarke--to have them to
+dinner that he very unwisely invited them, without mentioning that a
+member of his family was just recovering from the small-pox.
+
+They knew nothing of it until their return home, when both of them were
+naturally indignant; and George had reason to be, for within nine days
+he was seized with a well-marked case of the terrible disease. In
+anticipation of it, he had made every arrangement, and, having engaged
+an old Barbadian negro, who had had small-pox, for a nurse he shut
+himself up to fight the disease.
+
+His powerful constitution triumphed over it, and in three weeks he was
+well. But never in all his life did he forget the sufferings of those
+dreadful weeks. Utterly unused to illness, he endured agonies of
+restlessness, and was like a caged lion in his wrath and furious
+impatience. The old Barbadian, who had nursed many small-pox patients,
+made him laugh, while in one of his worst moods, by saying, gravely:
+
+"Barbadian nuss small-pox folks forty year. 'Ain't neber see no patient
+so bad like Massa Washington."
+
+A fear haunted him that sometimes made him smile grimly, but,
+nevertheless, gave him some anxious moments. The idea of being horribly
+disfigured for life was bitter to him. He saw no one but the old
+Barbadian, and felt afraid to ask him; and as he said nothing about the
+marks of the disease, there was room to suspect they were bad. George
+had been able to sit up several days before he dared to look in the
+glass. At last one day, nerving himself, he walked steadily to the
+mirror and looked at himself, expecting to see a vision of horror. To
+his amazement and deep relief, there was not a single permanent mark.
+His skin was red, his eyes were hollow and sunken, and he was not by any
+means the handsome young man who had landed on the island four weeks
+before, but he was unmarked. He felt a deep thankfulness in his heart
+when he was thoroughly recovered, though he was distressed to find that
+his brother grew daily weaker.
+
+Christmas amid waving palmettoes and under a tropical sky was dreary to
+the two brothers, and soon after it became plain that the climate was
+doing Laurence no good. One night, calling George to him, he said:
+
+"George, I have determined to leave this island and, with Peter, go to
+Bermuda. But I am homesick and heartsick for those I love, therefore I
+have determined to send you back to the colony for your sister Anne, to
+bring her to me. If I am compelled to be an exile, I will, at least,
+have the comfort of her society, and I do not think it right, at your
+age, to keep you forever tied to a sick man's chair."
+
+George answered, with tears in his eyes, "Whatever you wish, brother,
+shall be done."
+
+It was found that a vessel was sailing for the Potomac in January, and
+on her, with a heart heavier than when he came, George embarked the same
+day that his brother sailed for Bermuda.
+
+Storms instead of calms delayed this return voyage, and it was late in
+February before George reached Mount Vernon. He tried to make the best
+of Laurence's condition in describing it to his sister, but Mrs.
+Washington, with a sad smile, stopped him.
+
+"I know all that your kind heart, George, would make you say; but I know
+also that my husband is very, very ill, and when I go to him now it will
+be never to leave him again."
+
+The _Sprightly Jane_ was to make another voyage in March, and it was
+intended that George and his sister should sail on her; but she was
+delayed below Mount Vernon for two weeks, waiting for a wind. One
+morning late in March, George, looking out of the window on rising to
+see if there were any chance of getting off that day, felt a strong wind
+from the northwest; but as soon as his eyes fell on the river he saw a
+frigate at anchor that had evidently come in during the night. And while
+watching her he saw the Captain's gig shove off with two figures in it
+that wonderfully resembled his brother Laurence and his faithful Peter.
+George jumped into his clothes, and ran down stairs and to the shore to
+make certain, and there in the boat, half supported by his servant, lay
+Laurence, pale and ill beyond description, but with a happy light in his
+weary, suffering eyes. In a few minutes Mrs. Washington came flying
+down, and, with clasped hands and tears streaming down her cheeks,
+awaited her husband on the end of the little wharf. The negroes flocked
+after her, and shouts and cries resounded of, "Howdy, Marse Laurence!
+Bless de Lord, you done come! Hi! yonder is dat ar Peter! Lordy, Peter!"
+
+This joyous welcome, the presence of faces dear and familiar, the sight
+of home, was almost too much happiness for the poor invalid. George
+literally carried Laurence in his strong young arms up to the house,
+while his wife clung to his hand, the old black mammy hung over him,
+blessing "de Lam'" for letting him return to them, and the negroes
+yah-yahed with delight.
+
+"I could not stay away any longer," said Laurence, "and when the ship
+came to Bermuda, and the kind Captain saw how hard it was for me to
+stay, to die among strangers, he invited me to return with him as his
+guest. I thought that you, Anne, and George might already have started
+for Bermuda, but, thanks to the good God, I find you here."
+
+All those who loved Laurence Washington saw that day that his end was
+near, and within three months, with the calmness of the Christian
+soldier, he gave up his life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One gloomy September day, just a year from the time he had set forth
+with his brother on that dreary voyage, George realized that at last he
+was master of Mount Vernon, and the realization was among the most
+painful moments of his life. He returned to the place from Belvoir, the
+home of his sister's father, where he had left her. In vain he had
+pleaded with her to continue at Mount Vernon, for Laurence in his will
+had given it to her during her lifetime. But, gentle and submissive in
+all else, Anne Washington would not and could not return to the home of
+her brief married happiness and the spot connected with the long series
+of crushing griefs that had befallen her.
+
+To all of George's pleadings she had answered:
+
+"No, George. Anywhere on earth to me is better than Mount Vernon. I
+understand what you feel and have not spoken--that you do not wish to
+appear to be master while I am living. But you must. I have no fear that
+you will not give me my share and more of what comes from the estate;
+but I would give it all up rather than go back. My father's house is the
+least painful place to me now."
+
+There was no moving her, and at last she was permitted to have her own
+way.
+
+The servants all crowded around him, and the old mammy, who was promoted
+to be housekeeper, wanted him to take the rooms that had once been his
+brother's; but George would not, and had his belongings placed in the
+little room overlooking the river which had been his from his boyhood.
+This much disgusted Billy, who thought the master of Mount Vernon quite
+too modest. He spent the autumn there, varied by occasional visits to
+Ferry Farm and his sister at Belvoir. He worked hard, for he regarded
+himself as merely his sister's steward, and he determined never to make
+her regret either his brother's or her own generosity to him. He never
+thought Mount Vernon could be so dreary to him. William Fairfax, who was
+then graduated from William and Mary College, came over to see him
+often, but George had not the heart to return even William's visits, so
+it was all on one side. His mother and Betty came to visit him, but
+Madam Washington had upon her hands three growing lads, the eldest a
+tall youth of seventeen, and with the vast cares and responsibilities of
+the mistress of a plantation in those days, she could not be absent for
+long. The only time in which there was any real brightness was once when
+Betty came over and staid a whole month with him. George's affections,
+like his passions, were rooted in the fibre of his being, and he felt
+his brother's death with a depth of sorrow that only those who knew him
+well could understand.
+
+At Christmas he gave all the negroes their usual privileges and
+presents, but closed the house and went to Ferry Farm. In the
+holiday-time his coming gave the greatest joy, and the cloud upon him
+began to lift a little.
+
+Meanwhile he had received his commission as Major and Inspector-General
+of the forces in his district from Governor Dinwiddie, and he entered
+with enthusiasm into his work. He attended the general musters
+diligently at Alexandria, and used all his influence in promoting
+enlistments in the militia. He was then nineteen years old--the youngest
+Major in the colonial service.
+
+He was in constant receipt of letters from Lord Fairfax giving him news
+of affairs on the frontier, which were assuming a menacing aspect. In
+one of these letters Lord Fairfax wrote: "The policy of the English has
+always been to keep on friendly terms with the Six Nations, and the
+good-will of these great and powerful tribes is essential in the coming
+conflict. But they have been tampered with by the French, and the great
+chief lately sent me this message: 'Where are the Indian lands, anyway?
+For the French claim all on one side of the Ohio and the English claim
+all on the other.' By which you will see, my dear George, that in
+diplomacy, as in war, you will find these chiefs no fools. Our honorable
+Governor means well, but I think he will wait until a few men, and
+perhaps women, are scalped before taking any decisive measures. I need
+not say I long to see you. Let not another year pass without your coming
+to Greenway Court."
+
+All during the summer George kept up an active correspondence with the
+Earl, who had special means of finding out the truth. In the early
+autumn he received a very pressing message from the Governor, requiring
+his presence at Williamsburg. George set off immediately, with Billy, as
+usual, in charge of his saddle-bags. These sudden journeys, in which
+George could ride tirelessly night and day, very much disgusted Billy,
+who, as a man, was quite as fond of his ease as when a boy, but he was
+obliged to start on short notice.
+
+They arrived at Williamsburg in the evening, and George immediately sent
+Billy to the palace with a letter notifying the Governor of his arrival.
+In a very little while a letter came back from Governor Dinwiddie asking
+Major Washington's presence at the palace at his very earliest
+convenience.
+
+George had held his commission as Major for more than a year, and at
+twenty-one military titles have a captivating sound. So Major
+Washington, as soon as he had got his supper, changed his
+travelling-suit, and, preceded by Billy with a lantern, picked his way
+through the muddy streets to the palace. Then the door opened, and Major
+Washington was announced.
+
+George's appearance, always striking, was more so from the handsome
+mourning-suit he still wore, although his brother had been dead more
+than a year. It showed off his blond beauty wonderfully well. His
+features had become more marked as he grew older, and although his face
+lacked the regular beauty of his father's, who had been thought the
+handsomest man of his time, there was a piercing expression, an
+indescribable look of dignity and intelligence, in George's countenance,
+which marked him in every company.
+
+The Governor, who was a fussy but well-meaning man, began, as soon as
+the formal greetings were over: "Major Washington, I have work in hand
+for you. I am told by my Lord Fairfax and others that you are the
+fittest person in the colony for the expedition I have in hand. It
+requires the discretion of an old man, but it also requires the
+hardiness and strength of a young man; and you see, therefore, what a
+burden I lay upon you."
+
+George's face turned quite pale at these words. "Sir," he stammered,
+"you ask more of me than I can do. I will give all my time and all my
+mind to my country, but I am afraid, sir--I am very much afraid--that
+you are putting me in a position that I am not capable of filling."
+
+[Illustration: "HERE ARE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS."]
+
+"We must trust some one, Major Washington, and I sent not for you until
+I and my council had fully determined what to do. Here are your
+instructions. You will see that you are directed to set out with a
+suitable escort at once for the Ohio River, and convene all the chiefs
+you can at Logstown. You are to find out exactly how they stand towards
+us. You are then to take such a route as you think judicious to the
+nearest French post, deliver a letter from me, sealed with the great
+seal of the colony, to the French commandant, and demand an answer in
+the name of his Britannic Majesty. You are to find out everything
+possible in regard to the number of French forts, their armament,
+troops, commissariat, and where they are situated; and upon the
+information you bring will depend to a great degree whether there shall
+be war between England and France. When will you be ready to depart?"
+
+"To-morrow morning, sir," answered George.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
+
+BY JAMES BARNES.
+
+
+The first Thomas Macdonough was a Major in the Continental army, and his
+three sons also possessed desires for entering the service of their
+country. The oldest had been a midshipman under Commodore Truxton, but
+being wounded in the action between the _Constellation_ and
+_L'Insurgent_, he had to retire from the navy, owing to the amputation
+of his leg. But his younger brother, Thomas Macdonough, Jun., succeeded
+him, and he has rendered his name and that of Lake Champlain
+inseparable; but his fearlessness and bravery were shown on many
+occasions long before he was ordered to the Lakes.
+
+In 1806 he was First Lieutenant of the _Siren_, a little sloop-of-war in
+the Mediterranean service. On one occasion when Captain Smith, the
+commander of the _Siren_, had gone on shore, young Lieutenant Macdonough
+saw a boat from a British frigate lying in the harbor row up to an
+American brig a short distance off, and afterwards put out again with
+one more man in her than she had originally. This looked suspicious, and
+Macdonough sent to the brig to ascertain the reason, with the result
+that he found that an American had been impressed by the English
+Captain's orders. Macdonough quietly lowered his own boat, and put after
+the heavy cutter, which he soon overhauled. Although he had but four men
+with him, he took the man out of the cutter and brought him on board the
+_Siren_. When the English Captain heard, or rather saw, what had
+occurred--it was right under the bow of his frigate that the affair took
+place--he waxed wroth, and, calling away his gig, he rowed to the
+_Siren_ to demand an explanation.
+
+The following account of the incident is quoted from the life of
+Macdonough in Frost's _Naval Biography_:
+
+"The Englishman desired to know how Macdonough dared to take a man from
+one of his Majesty's boats. The Lieutenant, with great politeness, asked
+him down into the cabin; this he refused, at the same time repeating the
+same demand, with abundance of threats. The Englishman threw out some
+threats that he would take the man by force, and said he would haul the
+frigate alongside the _Siren_ for that purpose. To this Macdonough
+replied that he supposed his ship could sink the _Siren_, but as long as
+she could swim he should keep the man. The English Captain said to
+Macdonough:
+
+"'You are a very young man, and a very indiscreet young man. Suppose I
+had been in the boat--what would you have done?'
+
+"'I would have taken the man or lost my life.'
+
+"'What, sir! would you attempt to stop me, if I were now to attempt to
+impress men from that brig?'
+
+"'I would; and to convince yourself I would, you have only to make the
+attempt.'
+
+"On this the Englishman went on board his ship, and shortly afterwards
+was seen bearing down in her in the direction of the American vessel.
+Macdonough ordered his boat manned and armed, got into her himself, and
+was in readiness for pursuit. The Englishman took a circuit around the
+American brig, and returned again to the frigate. When Captain Smith
+came on board he justified the conduct of Macdonough, and declared his
+intention to protect the American seaman."
+
+Although Macdonough was very young, and his rank but that of a
+Lieutenant, people who knew him were not surprised to hear that he had
+been appointed to take command of the little squadron on Lake Champlain.
+These vessels were built of green pine, and almost without exception
+constructed in a hurried fashion. They had to be of light draught, and
+yet, odd to relate, their general model was the same as that of ships
+that were expected to meet storms and high seas.
+
+Macdonough was just the man for the place; as in the case of Perry, he
+had a superb self-reliance, and was eager to meet the enemy.
+
+Lake Champlain and the country that surrounds it were considered of
+great importance by the English, and, descending from Canada, large
+bodies of troops poured into New York State. But the American government
+had, long before the war was fairly started, recognized the advantage of
+keeping the water communications on the northern frontier. The English
+began to build vessels on the upper part of the lake, and the small
+force of ships belonging to the Americans was increased as fast as
+possible. It was a race to see which could prepare the better fleet in
+the shorter space of time.
+
+In the fall of the year 1814 the English had one fair-sized frigate, the
+_Confiance_, mounting 39 guns; a brig, the _Linnet_; a sloop, _Chubb_,
+and the sloop _Finch_; besides which they possessed thirteen large
+galleys aggregating 18 guns. In all, therefore, the English fleet
+mounted 95 guns. The Americans had the _Saratoga_, sloop-of-war, 26
+guns; the _Eagle_, 20; the _Ticonderoga_, 17; the _Preble_, 7; and ten
+galleys carrying 16 guns; their total armament was nine guns less than
+the British.
+
+By the first week in September Sir George Prevost had organized his
+forces, and started at the head of fourteen thousand men to the
+southward. It was his intention to dislodge General Macomb, who was
+stationed at Plattsburg, where considerable fortifications had been
+erected. A great deal of the militia force had been drawn down the State
+to the city of New York, owing to the fears then entertained that the
+British intended to make an attack upon the city from their fleet. It
+was Sir George's plan to destroy forever the power of the Americans upon
+the lake, and for that reason it was necessary to capture the naval
+force which had been for some time under the command of Macdonough. The
+English leader arranged a plan with Captain Downie, who was at the head
+of the squadron, that simultaneous attacks should be made by water and
+land. At eight o'clock on the morning of September 11 news was brought
+to Lieutenant Macdonough that the enemy was approaching. As his own
+vessels were in a good position to repel the attack, he decided to
+remain at anchor, and await the onslaught in a line formation. In about
+an hour the enemy had come within gunshot distance, and formed a line of
+his own parallel with that of the Americans. There was little or no
+breeze, and consequently small chance for manoeuvring. The _Confiance_
+evidently claimed the honor of exchanging broadsides with the
+_Saratoga_. The _Linnet_ stopped opposite the _Eagle_, and the galleys
+rowed in and began to fire at the _Ticonderoga_ and the _Preble_.
+
+[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.--"SARATOGA" RAKING
+"CONFIANCE."]
+
+Macdonough wrote such a clear and concise account of the action that it
+is best to quote from it:
+
+".... The whole force on both sides became engaged, the _Saratoga_
+suffering much from the heavy fire of the _Confiance_. I could perceive
+at the same time, however, that our fire was very destructive to her.
+The _Ticonderoga_, Lieutenant-Commandant Cassin, gallantly sustained her
+full share of the action. At half past ten the _Eagle_, not being able
+to bring her guns to bear, cut her cable, and anchored in a more
+eligible position, between my ship and the _Ticonderoga_, where she very
+much annoyed the enemy, but unfortunately leaving me exposed to a
+galling fire from the enemy's brig.
+
+"Our guns on the starboard side being nearly all dismounted or
+unmanageable, a stern anchor was let go, the bower-cable cut, and the
+ship winded with a fresh broadside on the enemy's ship, which soon after
+surrendered. Our broadside was then sprung to bear on the brig, which
+struck about fifteen minutes afterwards. The sloop which was opposed to
+the _Eagle_ had struck some time before, and drifted down the line. The
+sloop which was with their galleys had also struck. Three of their
+galleys are said to be sunk; the others pulled off. Our galleys were
+about obeying with alacrity the signal to follow them, when all the
+vessels were reported to me to be in a sinking state. It then became
+necessary to annul the signal to the galleys, and order their men to the
+pumps. I could only look at the enemy's galleys going off in a shattered
+condition; for there was not a mast in either squadron that could stand
+to make sail on. The lower rigging, being nearly all shot away, hung
+down as though it had just been placed over the mastheads.
+
+"The _Saratoga_ had fifty-nine round shot in her hull; the _Confiance_
+one hundred and five. The enemy's shot passed principally just over
+our heads, as there were not twenty whole hammocks in the nettings at
+the close of the action, which lasted, without intermission, two hours
+and twenty minutes.
+
+"The absence and sickness of Lieutenant Raymond Perry left me without
+the assistance of that able officer. Much ought fairly to be attributed
+to him for his great care and attention in disciplining the ship's crew,
+as her First Lieutenant. His place was filled by a gallant young
+officer, Lieutenant Peter Gamble, who, I regret to inform you, was
+killed early in the action."
+
+The English had begun the action as if they never doubted the result
+being to their advantage, and before taking up their positions in the
+line parallel to Macdonough's Downie had sailed upon the waiting fleet
+bows on; thus most of his vessels had been severely raked before they
+were able to return the fire. As soon as Sir George Prevost saw the
+results of the action out on the water, he gave up all idea of conquest,
+and began the retreat that left New York free to breathe again. The
+frontier was saved. The hills and the shores of the lake had been
+crowded with multitudes of farmers, and the two armies encamped on shore
+had stopped their own preparations and fighting to watch.
+
+Sir George Prevost had bombarded the American forts from the opposite
+side of the river Saranac, and a brigade endeavored to ford the river
+with the intention of attacking the rear of General Macomb's position.
+However, they got lost in the woods, and were recalled by a mounted
+messenger just in time to hear the cheers and shouts of victory arise
+from all about them.
+
+In the battle the _Saratoga_ had twenty-eight men killed and twenty-nine
+wounded, more than a quarter of her entire crew; the _Eagle_ lost
+thirteen killed and twenty wounded; the _Ticonderoga_, six killed and
+six wounded; the _Preble_, two killed; and the galleys, three killed and
+three wounded. The _Saratoga_ was hulled fifty-five times, and had
+caught on fire twice from the hot shot fired by the _Confiance_. The
+latter vessel was reported to have lost forty-one killed outright and
+eighty-three wounded. In all, the British loss was eighty-four killed
+and one hundred and ten wounded.
+
+Macdonough received substantial testimonials of gratitude from the
+country at large, the Legislature of New York giving him one thousand
+acres of land, and the State of Vermont two hundred. Besides this, the
+corporations of Albany and New York city made him the present of a
+valuable lot, and from his old command in the Mediterranean he received
+a handsome presentation sword.
+
+
+
+
+An English journalist travelling through the United States relates a
+humorous incident in his experience out West. He was journeying overland
+on horseback, and one day, after a long spell of desolate travel, he
+espied a house on the prairie. He rode up to the doorway and accosted
+the only person around, a long gentleman in boots, these boots seemingly
+trying to reach the sky, they were perched so high above the owner's
+head. They came slowly down at the salutation.
+
+"Howdy do, stranger? Glad ter see yer. This is Boonville," and with a
+sweeping gesture he compassed a landscape of grass and wooden stakes.
+"There's Broadway runnin' down 'tween them stakes, and there's Chicago
+Avenue, St. Louis Avenue, St. Paul Avenue, and all them are streets
+staked off'n it. On the lookout for a buildin' site?"
+
+"No," replied the journalist; "I'm just travelling for pleasure, not for
+investment."
+
+"That's my luck, stranger. Here's this town been er-runnin' full blast
+with all the offices filled, and I can't get a citizen."
+
+"Where's the Mayor?"
+
+"I'm the Mayor."
+
+"Where are the police, judges, and that sort of thing?"
+
+"I'm all that. Yer see, stranger, I'm everything. I elects myself to all
+offices; but it's mighty poor payin' ones I'm er-holdin'."
+
+"How do you manage to get along, then?"
+
+"Don't, stranger; that's the puzzle. Yer see, there's only fifty cents
+in the town treasury, and I've been payin' my rent and taxes with it,
+and collecting my salary as Mayor and all my other offices from it so
+long and it's been handled so much that the town books won't balance any
+more. Yer see, I can't find anything to balance the books with fur the
+wear of the silver off that coin, and I'm out that much. Now, stranger,
+if yer not goin' ter invest, and want ter boom the town er little, yer
+might make up that deficit in the treasury, so's I kin balance them
+books, and make things square for the next Mayor."
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLETRAP."
+
+BY HAYDEN CARRUTH.
+
+IX.
+
+
+The next day was Sunday, so we did not leave the White River camp till
+Monday morning. We found Chadron (pronounced Shadron) an extremely
+lively town in which all of the citizens wore big hats and immense
+jingling Mexican spurs. We had the big hats, but to be in fashion and
+not to attract attention we also got jingling spurs.
+
+"I shall wear 'em all night," said Jack, as he strapped his on. "Only
+dudes take off their spurs when they go to bed, and I'm no dude."
+
+Our next objective point was Rapid City. It was a beautiful morning when
+we turned to the north. The sand had disappeared, and the soil was more
+like asphalt pavement.
+
+"The farmers fire their seed into the ground with six-shooters," said a
+man we fell in with on the road. "Very expensive for powder."
+
+"The soil's what you call gumbo, isn't it?" I said to him.
+
+"Yes. Works better when it's wet. One man can stick a spade into it
+then. Takes two to pull it out, though."
+
+It was not long before we passed the Dakota line, marked by a post and a
+pile of tin cans. Shortly before noon Ollie made a discovery.
+
+"What are those little animals?" he cried. "Oh, I know--prairie-dogs!"
+
+There was a whole town of them right beside the road, with every dog
+sitting on top of the mound that marked his home, and uttering his
+shrill little bark, and marking each bark by a peculiar little jerk of
+his tail.
+
+"How do you know they are prairie-dogs?" asked Jack.
+
+"They had some of them in the park at home," said Ollie. "But last fall
+they all went down in their burrows for the winter, and in the spring
+they didn't come up. Folks said they must have frozen to death."
+
+"Nonsense," said Jack. "They got turned around somehow, and in the
+spring dug down instead of digging up. They may come out in China yet if
+they have good luck."
+
+"I can't hardly swallow _that_," replied Ollie. "But, anyhow, these seem
+to be all right."
+
+There must have been three or four hundred of them, and not for a moment
+did one of them stop barking till Snoozer jumped out of the wagon and
+charged them, when, with one last bark, each one of them shot down his
+hole so quick that it was almost impossible to see him move.
+
+"Now that's just about the sort of game that Snoozer likes," exclaimed
+Jack. "If they were badgers, or even woodchucks, you couldn't drive him
+at them."
+
+"I don't think there is much danger of his getting any of them," said
+Ollie.
+
+We called Snoozer back, and soon one of the little animals cautiously
+put up his head, saw that the coast was clear, gave one bark, and all
+the rest came up, and the concert began as if nothing had happened.
+
+"I suppose that was the mayor of the town that peeped up first," said
+Ollie.
+
+"Yes, or the chief of police," answered Jack.
+
+We camped that night by the bed of a dry creek, and watered the horses
+at a settler's house half a mile away.
+
+"That's the most beautiful place for a stream I ever saw," observed
+Jack. "If a man had a creek and no bed for it to run in, he'd be awfully
+glad to get that."
+
+Tho next day was distinctly a prairie-dog day. We passed dozens of
+their towns, and were seldom out of hearing of their peculiar chirp.
+
+"I wonder," said Ollie, "if the bark makes the tail go, or does the tail
+set off the bark."
+
+"Oh, neither," returned Jack. "They simply check off the barks with
+their tails. There's a National Prairie-Dog Barking Contest going on,
+and they are seeing who can yelp the most in a week. They keep count
+with their tails."
+
+At the little town of Oelrichs we saw a number of Indians, since we were
+again near the reservation. One little girl nine or ten years old must
+have been the daughter of an important personage, since she was dressed
+in most gorgeous clothes, all covered with beads and colored
+porcupine-quill-work. And at last Ollie saw an Indian wearing feathers.
+Three eagle feathers stuck straight up in his hair. He was standing
+outside of a log house looking in the window. By-and-by a young lady
+came to the door of the house, and as we were nearer than anybody else,
+she motioned us to come over.
+
+"I wish," she said, "that you'd please go around and ask Big Bear to go
+away. He keeps looking in the window and bothering the scholars."
+
+We stepped around the corner, and Jack said, "See here, neighbor Big
+Bear, you're impeding the cause of education."
+
+The Indian looked at him stolidly but did not move.
+
+[Illustration: "TEACHER SAYS VAMOOSE."]
+
+"Teacher says vamoose--heap bother pappooses," said Jack.
+
+The Indian grunted and walked away.
+
+"Nothing like understanding the language," boasted Jack, as we went back
+to the wagon.
+
+At noon we camped beside a stream, but thirty feet above it. There was a
+clay bank almost as hard as stone rising perpendicularly from the
+water's edge. With a pail and rope we drew up all the water we needed.
+In the afternoon we got our first sight of the Black Hills, like clouds
+low on the northern horizon. About the same time we struck into the old
+Sidney trail, which, before the railroad had reached nearer points, was
+used in carrying freight to the hills in wagons. In some places it was
+half a mile wide and consisted of a score or more of tracks worn into
+deep ruts. There was a herd of several thousand Texas cattle crossing
+the trail in charge of a dozen men, and we waited and watched them go
+by. Ollie had never seen such a display of horns before.
+
+Shortly after this we came upon the first sage-bush which we had seen.
+It was queer gray stuff, shaped like miniature trees, and had the
+appearance of being able to get along with very little rain.
+
+Toward night we found ourselves winding down among the hills to the
+Cheyenne River. They were strange-looking hills, most of them utterly
+barren on their sides, which were nearly perpendicular, the hard soil
+standing almost as firm as rock. They were ribbed and seamed by the
+rain--in fact, they were not hills at all, properly speaking, but small
+bluffs left by the washing out of the ravines by the rain and melting
+snows. Just as the sun was sinking among the distant hills we came to
+the river. It was shallow, only four or five yards wide, and we easily
+forded it and camped on the other side. The full moon was just rising
+over the eastern hills. There was not a sound to be heard except the
+gentle murmur of the stream and the faint rustle of the leaves on a few
+cottonwood trees. There was plenty of driftwood all around, and after
+supper we built up the largest camp-fire we had ever had. The flame
+leaped up above the wagon-top, and drifted away in a column of sparks
+and smoke, while the three horses stood in the background with their
+heads close together munching their hay, and the four of us (counting
+Snoozer) lay on the ground and blinked at the fire.
+
+"This is what I call the proper thing," remarked Jack, after some time,
+as he rolled over on his blanket and looked at the great round moon.
+
+"Yes," I said, "this will do well enough. But it would be pretty cool
+here if it wasn't for that fire."
+
+"Yes, the nights are getting colder, that's certain. I was just
+wondering if that cover will withstand snow as well as it does rain?"
+
+"Why," said Ollie, "do you think it's going to snow?"
+
+"Not to-night," returned Jack. "But it may before we get out of the
+mountains. The snow comes pretty early up there sometimes. I think I'll
+get inside and share the bed with the rancher after this, and you and
+Snoozer can curl up in the front end of the wagon-box. It would be a
+joke if we got snowed in somewhere, and had to live in the Rattletrap
+till spring."
+
+"I wouldn't care if we could keep warm," said Ollie. "I like living in
+it better than in any house I ever saw."
+
+"I'm afraid it would get a little monotonous along in March," laughed
+Jack. "Though I think myself it's a pretty good place to live.
+Stationary houses begin to seem tame. I hope the trip won't spoil us
+all, and make vagabonds of us for the rest of our lives."
+
+We were reluctant to leave this camp the next morning, but knew that we
+must be moving on. It was but a few miles to the town of Buffalo Gap,
+and we passed through it before noon.
+
+"There are more varmints," cried Ollie, as we were driving through the
+town. They were in a cage in front of a store, and we stopped to see
+them.
+
+"What are they?" one of us asked the man who seemed to own them.
+
+"Bob-cats," he answered, promptly.
+
+"Must be a Buffalo Gap name for wild-cats," said Jack, as we drove on,
+"because that's what they are."
+
+Ollie had gone into a store to buy some cans of fruit, and when he came
+out he looked much bewildered.
+
+[Illustration: "KEEP IT, SONNY; I HAVEN'T GOT ANY CHICKENS."]
+
+"I think," he said, "that that man must be crazy, or something. There
+were thirty cents coming to me in change. He tossed out a quarter and
+said, 'Two bits,' and then a dime and said, 'Short bit--thank you,' and
+closed up the drawer and started off. I didn't want more than was coming
+to me, so I handed out a nickel and said, 'There, that makes it right.'
+The man looked at it, laughed, and pushed it back, and said, 'Keep it,
+sonny; I haven't got any chickens.' Now, I'd like to know what it all
+meant."
+
+We both laughed, and when Jack recovered his composure he said:
+
+"It means simply that we're getting out into the mining country, where
+no coin less than a dime circulates. He didn't happen to have three
+dimes, so the best he could do was to give you either twenty-five or
+thirty-five cents, and he was letting you have the benefit of the
+situation by making it thirty-five. A bit is twelve and a half cents,
+and a short bit ten cents. A two-bit piece is a quarter."
+
+"Yes; but what about his not keeping chickens?"
+
+"Oh, that was simply his humorous way of saying that all coins under a
+dime are fit only for chicken feed."
+
+We camped that night beside the trail near a little log store. "What you
+want to do," said the man in charge, "is to take your horses down there
+behind them trees to park 'em for the night. Good feed down there."
+
+"'To park,'" said Jack, in a low voice. "New and interesting verb. He
+means turn 'em out to grass. We mustn't appear green." Then he said to
+the man:
+
+"Yes, we reckoned we'd park 'em down there to-night."
+
+The next day was the coldest we had experienced, and we were glad to
+walk to keep warm. We were getting among the smaller of the hills, with
+their tops covered with the peculiarly dark pine-trees which give the
+whole range its name. We camped at night under a high bank which
+afforded some protection from the chilly east wind. Now that we were all
+sleeping in the wagon there was no room in it to store the sacks of
+horse feed which we had, and we knew that if we put them outside that
+Old Blacky would eat them up before morning.
+
+"There's nothing to do," said Jack, "but to carry them around up on that
+bank and hang them down with ropes. Leave 'em about twelve feet from the
+bottom and ten feet from the top, and I don't _think_ the Pet can get
+them."
+
+We accordingly did so, and went to bed with the old scoundrel standing
+and looking up at the bags wistfully, though he had just had all that
+any horse needed for supper. But in the morning we found that he had
+clambered up high enough to get hold of the bottom of one of the sacks
+and pull it down and devour fully half of it. He was, as Jack said, "the
+worst horse that ever looked through a collar."
+
+[Illustration: THE RATTLETRAP IN THE STORM.]
+
+But the weather in the morning gave us more concern than did the
+foraging of the ancient Blacky. It was even colder than the night
+before, and the raw east wind was rawer, and with it all there was a
+drizzling rain. It was not a hard rain, but one of the kind that comes
+down in small clinging drops and blows in your face in a fine spray.
+Jack got breakfast in the wagon, and we ate the hot cakes and
+warmed-over grouse with a good relish. Then he loaded in what was left
+of the horse feed, and started.
+
+It was impossible to keep warm even by walking, but we plodded on and
+made the best of it. The road was hilly and stony; but by noon we had
+got beyond the rain, and for the rest of the way it was dry even if
+cold. The hills among which we were winding grew constantly higher, and
+the quantity of pine timber upon their summits greater. Just as dusk was
+beginning to creep down we came around one which might fairly have been
+called a small mountain, and saw Rapid City spread out before us, the
+largest town we had seen since leaving Yankton. We skirted around it,
+and came to camp under another hill and near a big stone quarry a
+half-mile west of town. There was a mill-race just below us, and plenty
+of water. We fed the horses and had supper. There was a road not much
+over a hundred yards in front of our camp, along which, through the
+darkness, we could hear teams and wagons passing.
+
+"I wonder where it goes to?" said Ollie.
+
+"I think it's the great Deadwood trail over which all the supplies are
+drawn to the mines by mule or horse or ox teams," said Jack. "There's no
+railroad, you know, and everything has to go by wagon--goods and
+supplies in, and a great deal of ore out. Let's go over and see."
+
+The moon was not yet risen and the sky was covered with clouds, so it
+was extremely dark. We took along our lantern, but it did not make much
+impression on the darkness. When we reached the road we found that
+everywhere we stepped we went over our shoe-tops in the soft dust. We
+heard a deep strange creaking noise mixed with what sounded like reports
+of a pistol around the bend in the trail. Soon we could make out what
+seemed to be a long herd of cattle winding toward us, with what might
+have been a circus tent swaying about behind them.
+
+"What's coming?" we asked of a boy who was going by.
+
+"Old Henderson," he replied.
+
+"What's he got?"
+
+"Just his outfit."
+
+"But what are all the cattle?"
+
+"His team."
+
+"Not one team?"
+
+"Yes; eleven yoke."
+
+"Twenty-two oxen in one team?"
+
+"Yes; and four wagons."
+
+The head yoke of oxen was now opposite to us, swaying about from side to
+side and switching their tails in the air, but still pressing forward at
+the rate of perhaps a mile and a half or two miles an hour. Far back
+along the procession we could dimly see a man walking in the dust beside
+the last yoke, swinging a long whip which cracked in the air like a
+rifle. Behind rolled and swayed the four great canvas-topped wagons,
+tied behind one another. We watched the strange procession go by. There
+was only one man, without doubt Henderson, grizzled and seemingly sixty
+years old. The wagon wheels were almost as tall as he was, and the tires
+were four inches wide. The last wagon disappeared up the trail in the
+dust and darkness.
+
+"Well," said Jack, "I think when I start out driving at this time of
+night with twenty-two guileless oxen and four ten-ton wagons that I'll
+want to get somewhere pretty badly."
+
+Then we went back to the Rattletrap.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL INTERSCHOLASTIC AMATEUR ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.
+
+[Illustration: C. BURTON COTTING, President.]
+
+[Illustration: HUGH JACKSON, Vice-President.]
+
+[Illustration: J. DEAN TILFORD, Secretary.]
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE P. SMITH, Treasurer.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
+
+
+The papers on the science of football written by Mr. W. H. Lewis, of the
+Harvard Football Team of 1893, which have appeared in the last four
+issues of this Department, have attracted such general interest among
+the football-players of the schools that it has seemed advisable,
+inasmuch as the active football season is not yet in full swing, to add
+a brief supplementary paper on "Training," from the pen of the same
+authority. The advice given here is the result of the best experience,
+and any coach or captain who follows it implicitly may confidently look
+forward to the best results.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Any correct system of training for a team comprises three separate and
+distinct elements--the physical, mental, and moral. An eleven should be
+physically fit to play a hard, fast, and aggressive game from start to
+finish; and it should be mentally fit in the sense that it thoroughly
+knows its own game from beginning to end. Every man should know every
+play, and his place in every play. After being _able_ to play the game
+both physically and mentally, the next and final thing is to _play_ it.
+This brings us to the third element--the moral. By that term is meant
+the spirit of the eleven.
+
+It is not our purpose to deal with the subject of diet. In passing it
+may, however, be said that the proper diet for a man training is any
+plain, wholesome, nourishing food. Highly seasoned foods, sweets, and
+all alcoholic stimulants should be avoided. The value of from eight to
+ten hours of good, sound, refreshing sleep cannot be overestimated. In
+general, one broad, comprehensive rule may be laid down with regard to
+training for athletic contests, and that is this: All training must be
+adequate to the demands of the particular kind of contest to be entered
+into. For light athletic contests, light training; for heavy contests,
+heavy training. The same training requisite for baseball would not be
+sufficient for rowing; nor can training for track athletics be at all
+adequate for football. Different sports make different demands upon the
+physical man. And the training for each must be adapted to meet the
+demands of each.
+
+Football is the most vigorous and hearty of all our athletic sports.
+When properly played, it is also the most exhausting. It requires the
+quickness and speed of the sprinter, the endurance of the cross-country
+runner, the strength and power of a first-class wrestler; in fact, when
+critically analyzed, football seems to be a sort of composite of many
+sports. As to the proper style of training for an eleven, perhaps no two
+persons have exactly the same ideas. But, in general, there may be said
+to be two schools, the old and the new, or the old style and the new
+system. The old school is one of Herculean labors and Spartan
+discipline. The idea of the old school is physical development and
+bodily discipline. The idea of the new school seems to be that sport is
+simply a recreation. Work as little as possible seems to be the new
+creed. Periods of rest are emphasized rather than periods of work. The
+aim of the new system is to train the men for the final match, to bring
+them to the highest physical condition by the end of the season, which
+sounds rational enough. And if there is only a single important match to
+be played, the system is without doubt best adapted to that end. But the
+theory proceeds from the wrong premises altogether. Every one knows that
+an eleven plays at least two important matches before the end of the
+season, when the demands are just as great as in the final game. The two
+systems may lie fairly well illustrated by the accompanying diagram, for
+the idea of which the writer is indebted to Mr. W. C. Forbes.
+
+[Illustration: CHART OF RELATIVE CONDITIONS IN TRAINING.]
+
+Line A E represents the new school, which aims at the highest physical
+condition at point E. Line A B represents the old school, which aims at
+good physical condition at the end of the second or third week of
+training, and to take the team to E in the same condition.
+
+Take two elevens: No. 1 will use the old system, No. 2 the new system.
+Let the two teams play a match. At the point marked October 1 the
+physical condition will be decidedly in favor of No. 1, and, besides,
+No. 1 will know more football, having played more. The difference in
+physical condition will be the line C G. Let them play November 11: the
+difference in physical condition will be D F. Suppose that No. 2 wins at
+point E, November 21, which is extremely unlikely: No. 1 will have two
+victories to No. 2's one. If the object be to win only the final match,
+it seems that the old system will be far better, as the No. 1 eleven
+must know more football, having played more, and will be in just as good
+condition. It has been urged against the old system that it is
+impossible to carry eleven men from A to E in good condition; that the
+team, as a whole, will come to the final game overtrained. The
+individual may go below the line occasionally, but the team as a whole
+must be better, because the weaker individuals who are unfitted for the
+game will be eliminated early, before the team is made up. The team
+training on line A E, the new system, is just as likely to be
+undertrained, and lose half of its best men before an important match is
+finished.
+
+A team trained under the new system will play with considerable life and
+dash while it lasts, but the team trained under the old system stays,
+and comes in the winner. Let us notice some fallacies of the new system.
+As an argument for less work, the case of athletic teams is often cited,
+where men train very little, and still play very good games. Any
+reasoning by analogy from such cases is absolutely misleading. Men who
+play on athletic teams are for the most part matured men, many of whom
+have played on college teams for years. They would naturally have a
+strength and endurance and knowledge of the game which the youngsters in
+the schools must acquire by hard work and faithful, conscientious
+training. The boys must acquire what the men already have; therefore a
+different and more rigorous system of training is necessary.
+
+The new system believes that an ignorant undertrained man is better than
+an experienced overtrained one. Comparisons are often made with the
+training of crews, prize-fighters, etc. But in such cases the training
+is for only a single contest, while in football the training must be for
+several important matches. Not every practice is a trial, as is urged,
+but only the lesser matches once or twice a week are properly trials;
+and surely in but few sports can any strong objection exist to such
+trials.
+
+Another objection to the old style urged by the new style is the
+likelihood of injuries when men are played so much. That is true and not
+true. In the long-run there must be fewer injuries. The amount and kind
+of work a team should do will perhaps be best considered under mental
+training. The problem in training is really how to do the work necessary
+to learn the game without impairing the physical condition.
+
+By mental training is simply meant the process of learning this game.
+One broad rule may be laid down for learning the game, and that is to
+play it. There may be different methods of teaching men how to play;
+hardly any two coaches or captains will begin the season in just the
+same way. But each captain should have some plan, schedule, or method of
+teaching. The football season covers a period of about eight weeks. The
+game must be taught within that time. Now football is divided, as has
+been said in a preceding paper, into the Individual and the Team. The
+first half of the season, the first four weeks, should be devoted
+primarily to the individual, teaching him the fundamentals, and how to
+play his own position. Assuming that the season begins about the middle
+of September, this work would carry the team until the second week in
+October; the balance of the season would be devoted primarily to the
+team, although it is often impossible to pick the team before the end of
+the third week in October. After this point in the season the individual
+coaching should be done during the intervals or let-ups in the practice,
+or before or after practice. During the period that should be given to
+the team the graduates come around, and the tendency is to neglect the
+team for the individual. The bulk of individual coaching should be done
+in that part of the season in which it should naturally come. So much in
+general. Now a few suggestions to the captain, in settling his work for
+the season, may not be altogether out of place.
+
+First day out, the squad upon going upon the field should form a circle,
+and pass the ball around. The captain and coach should notice each man,
+and see that he can make the simple straight-arm pass correctly, and
+catch the ball properly. Next, let the men line up in pairs, forwards
+with forwards and backs with backs, and try a half-dozen mutual scratch
+starts. The purpose of this exercise is to make the men quick on their
+feet, and to secure quickness and agility. That done, line the men up,
+and have them fall upon the ball. Having them in line instead of in a
+circle, the captain and coach can see that each man is taught how to do
+it correctly. Take a moving ball first--a ball moving from the player.
+Next try a ball moving towards the player from the front. The practice
+on the first day should be short, lasting not more than half an hour,
+and ending with a good brisk run of a distance of a mile and a half.
+
+The second day's practice should last about three-quarters of an hour,
+consisting of catching and passing, falling on the ball, scratch starts,
+two-mile run for the forwards, ten minutes' kicking for the full-back,
+and catching for the half-backs, with the centre man to snap the ball
+and quarter to pass to the man kicking.
+
+On the third day practise one hour--falling on the ball, passing and
+catching, sprinting starts, two-and-a-half-mile run for forwards,
+kicking and catching for backs, centre men snapping the ball and quarter
+passing, two-mile run for the backs.
+
+Fourth day. Practise starting with the ball. The centre man to snap the
+ball back for squads. There should be a good, sharp, hard sprint for
+fifteen yards. The aim is to train the eye so as to divine where the
+ball is going, so as to be able to beat it. Catching punted balls by
+forwards and backs. Arrange these in squads, and have the kicking backs
+punt to them. Begin with the end of the line, and have each man catch a
+punt in turn. They should be taught how to do this properly. Falling on
+the ball, one or two of all the different kinds of balls, and the dead
+ball from a dive in addition. Forwards should be lined up opposite one
+another and taught the theory of blocking. The centre man should snap
+the ball, and one side rush through while the other blocks, and _vice
+versa_. While the forwards are doing this, the backs may be kicking and
+catching. A short run for the whole squad of about two miles.
+
+Work of this general description should be kept up for about ten days.
+In this time the captain should arrange to get in some work on the
+fundamentals each day. It will be impossible to take them all up in one
+day, but some can be taken up one day and some another. They are easily
+forgotten if not brushed up occasionally.
+
+The first three weeks in October should be largely devoted to
+position-playing--picking the team. The captain should do all the
+experimenting within that period. Much straight football may be learned
+in the mean time. In that period, and that alone, should the coach be
+allowed to stop the play to coach the individual. "Wait a minute," can
+be allowed then, but not later. The team should have two practice
+matches a week. These should make no difference in the ordinary
+practice, except perhaps when a pretty strong team is to be played there
+should be a slight let-up in the practice the day before, or no actual
+play at all. On those days there should be plenty of practice at
+signals. All practice matches after the third week in October should be
+of the usual length, two half-hours. The practice game with the second
+eleven should not vary much as to the time of play from the matches. Two
+twenty-five or one thirty and one twenty minute half are not bad.
+
+Toward the end of October the team should begin preparations for the
+final matches, which generally come off the last of that month, and
+little beyond mid-November. Team-play then has the field. The team
+should begin to learn its repertoire of plays, signals, etc. It should
+be taught the theory and practice of offensive and defensive team-work.
+In the odd moments the individual should have all the expert coaching
+possible. The fundamentals must be recurred to occasionally, but
+team-work now holds the boards. It is the most difficult to obtain, and
+requires constant and untiring practice.
+
+The captain should be just as careful not to underwork his men as not to
+overwork them. If an individual is overtrained or off his feet, give him
+rest, but for the team hard work and plenty of it should be the rule.
+There is nothing that helps a man or a team more in the hour of supreme
+test or conflict than the consciousness of having done his or its work
+faithfully and well.
+
+From what has been said of physical training it can be immediately seen
+that football is not a lazy man's game. It is needless to say that it is
+not a coward's game. If a man is afraid of over-exertion or of getting
+hurt, he had better play marbles. A player may have strength in
+abundance, but without sand it profiteth him nothing. High moral courage
+and unconquerable spirit are the prime requisites of a good
+football-player. By moral training, as has been said, is meant the
+mental state, the spirit of the eleven. The spirit of the eleven has to
+do with the execution, and the execution is everything. Formation counts
+for little. It is not the play, but the stuff that is put into it that
+makes it succeed. Without this spirit a team may know all that it is
+possible to know of the game, and may be in perfect physical condition,
+but cannot hope to win. It is one thing to know how to fight; it is
+another to be able to fight; but greater than either or both is the
+fighting spirit.
+
+The whole team, each and every man on it, should enter a contest or
+match imbued with a just sense of the responsibility resting upon him as
+the chosen representative of his school or college. He owes to her the
+very best and all that there is in him. Her honor, her athletic
+prestige, are at stake, and she demands nothing more nor less of her
+sons than that they be retrieved or maintained. Hence the team should go
+upon the field with a _do or die_ spirit, with a determination to win at
+all hazards.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The portraits which appear at the head of these columns are those of the
+officers of the National Interscholastic Athletic Association, who were
+elected after the first annual field-meeting last June. C. B. Cotting,
+the president, is a member of the Newton High-School, and an officer of
+the New England Association. Hugh Jackson, the vice-president, comes
+from the Iowa Association, and is a student of the Cedar Rapids
+High-School. J. D. Tilford, the secretary, has for several years been
+identified with the New York I.S.A.A. as a competent official, and
+attends the De La Salle Institute. G. P. Smith, the treasurer,
+represents the new association in New Jersey, of which he is president;
+he attends the Plainfield High-School.
+
+At a recent meeting of the Connecticut Football Association several
+changes were made in the constitution. Is was decided that nobody should
+be allowed to take part in any games under the management of the League
+who had not been registered at his school before October 1. Furthermore,
+it was decided that no student taking a post-graduate course should be
+allowed to play on any team. There was some discussion about
+establishing an age limit, but so much opposition developed that the
+plan had to be abandoned.
+
+The schedule of games for this fall's championship season was arranged,
+and the first contests will be held October 31. In the Northern
+Division, Hartford Public High-School will play New Britain High-School
+at Hartford, and Norwich Free Academy will play the Connecticut Literary
+Institute at Norwich. On the same day, in the Southern Division, Meriden
+High-School will play Hillhouse High at Meriden, and Bridgeport High
+will play Waterbury High at Bridgeport.
+
+The Bridgeport team will no doubt be very strong again this fall--Smith,
+centre, Wheeler, guard, Goddart, quarter-back, Deforest, half-back, and
+Delaney, tackle, being in school again. The Hartford team is expected to
+develop into a strong eleven as the season grows older, but it was
+defeated, 22-0, by Williston in its opening game a week ago. The Meriden
+High-School has the strongest eleven the school has ever seen. New
+Britain will be very strong, having the full eleven men of last year
+back in school again this fall. Hillhouse, Norwich, Waterbury, and the
+Connecticut Literary Institute are all weak.
+
+The Englewood High-School, of the Cook County League, played a game
+against the Chicago University eleven on September 23, and held the
+'varsity men down to twelve points. The school team played an excellent
+game, and showed some fine defensive work. The University made a goal in
+the first half after twelve minutes of hard play, and they got another
+by a fluke just before time was called. In the second half the
+University men were unable to make any headway against the Englewood
+lads, and time was called with the ball in the middle of the field and
+in Englewood's possession.
+
+Other games of interest that have recently been played in the Cook
+County League were Hyde Park H.-S. against West Aurora H.-S., in which
+the former won, 4-0. The teams were pretty evenly matched, and Pingree
+of Hyde Park made the winning touch-down by a run of thirty yards,
+having secured the ball on a muff by the other side. The North Division
+team played an eleven of graduates, and defeated them, 12-0, but a few
+days later, on the return game, the graduates came out ahead by the same
+score.
+
+     JOHN FRETER, YONKERS, NEW YORK.--If the ball, being kicked, passes
+     the line of scrimmage and is not stopped by an opponent, any one of
+     the kicking side can pick it up and run with it, providing he is on
+     side. Of course, to be on side he must either have been behind the
+     ball when it was kicked, or he must have kicked it himself, or he
+     must have been put on side by the kicker.
+
+     J. D. WILLIAMS.--You will find just the information you want in the
+     chapter on "The Middle Distances," in _Track Athletics in Detail_.
+
+"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL,
+$1.25.
+
+  THE GRADUATE.
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+The first instalment of the advance sheets of the 1897 catalogue has
+been forwarded to those persons who pay $5 for the same. Used U.S.
+stamps have remained stationary in many instances, with small advances
+in others; but unused U.S. have been greatly advanced. I quote a few
+instances, giving the 1896 prices first, the 1897 prices after. These
+prices refer, however, to unused stamps in mint condition, evenly
+centred, original gum, no perforations missing, etc. A slight falling
+off in any of these conditions reduces the value from twenty-five per
+cent. to fifty per cent.
+
+1847 issue--5c., $5 to $7.50. 1851 issue--1c., ordinary type, 35c. to
+50c.; 5c., ordinary type, $3.50 to $5; 10c., $1.25 to $3; 12c., $1.75 to
+$3; 24c., $6 to $7.50; 30c., $7.50 to $12; 90c., $22.50 to $27.50. 1862
+issue--15c., $2.50 to $7.50. 1868 issue (grilled, 11 by 13)--1c., $5 to
+$6.50; 2c., $1.50 to $2.50; 3c., 40c. to $1; 10c., $3.50 to $6; 12c., $3
+to $5; 15c., $20 to $25; grilled, 9 by 13, 2c., 75c. to $1.25; 3c., 25c.
+to 75c.; 5c., $10 to $12; 10c. and 12c., $3 to $5; 15c., $4 to $7.50;
+24c., $12.50 to $15; 30c., $10 to $15; 90c., $35 to $50. 1869
+issue--1c., $1 to $1.50; 2c., 60c. to $1.25; 3c., 25c. to $1; 6c., $3 to
+$4; 10c., $4 to $7; 12c., $2 to $5; 15c., $6 to $7.50; 24c., $16.50 to
+$20; 30c., $15 to $20; 90c., $35 to $40. 1870 issue, grilled, have
+advanced an average of one hundred per cent. The same issue, not
+grilled, printed by the American Bank-Note Company, 1c., 40c. to 50c.;
+3c., 25c. to 40c.; 5c., 75c. to $1.50; 6c., 75c. to $2; 10c., 60c. to
+$1; 15c., reduced from 75c. to 50c.; 30c. remains $2; 90c., increased
+from $4 to $7.50. 1882 issue--5c., Garfield, 20c. to 50c.; 3c.,
+re-engraved, 10c. to 15c.; 6c., re-engraved, 75c. to $1.50; 10c.,
+re-engraved, 40c. to 50c. 1893 Columbian issue has been reduced an
+average of twenty per cent.
+
+     A. T. ADAMS.--There is no U.S. or Colonial cent of 1739. Your coin
+     is probably an English penny worth 2c.
+
+  PHILATUS.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+JOSEPH GILLOTT'S
+
+STEEL PENS
+
+Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F.
+
+And other styles to suit all hands.
+
+THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION]
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+There is an important feature of bicycling which comes, or should come,
+to the attention of every rider about this time of the year; that is,
+the question of a thorough overhauling of the wheel itself. This is of
+the greatest importance, and should be done whether the bicycle appears
+to be in good running order or not. For example, you have been riding a
+wheel in the country, or near the sea-shore, and though you have kept
+the wheel in good running order, the spokes are a little rusty, and the
+bearings must be more or less filled with dust and sand. The rust on the
+spokes not only looks badly, but tends to weaken the wheel. A little
+grit mixed in with the oil and the balls of the bearings is quite enough
+to wear the bearings themselves as well as the balls, and in a short
+time render the wheel practically useless, unless an entirely new set of
+bearings is put in. Even if you have not been in the country, the fact
+that you have used the wheel a little each day, and only wiped off the
+outside of the machine and reoiled the bearings occasionally, is enough
+to prove that the machine should be taken apart before you begin the
+fall and winter season. This particular time, however, of the year
+applies rather to those people who are returning from the country with
+their bicycles, and who are likely to use them to some extent during the
+fall. But it is a good time for any one. If you are somewhat of a
+mechanic yourself, you can take the wheel apart and do the cleaning
+yourself; and in this connection the article on "The Care of the Wheel,"
+published in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for March 31, should be read before
+taking the wheel apart, and kept near by while the work is being done.
+
+An extra caution, however, should be given to all those who take their
+bicycles apart--and that is, take the utmost care of the little balls;
+for if one of these, for instance, is lost from one side of the front
+wheel-bearings, the wheel may run easily enough for a time, but the
+strain on the others and on the walls of the bearing will soon wear
+both. If any of these do happen to lose themselves (and it is very
+probable that they will), the wisest plan is to go at once to the maker
+of your bicycle and purchase enough extra balls to make up the required
+number. To a great many people, however, the cheapest method for
+overhauling bicycles is to take them to the manufacturer and request him
+to go over every part of the wheel--clean it, polish it, and replace any
+weak point, straighten any bent cranks, supply nuts that are gone, and
+in every way renovate the wheel--which, by-the-way, he can do far better
+than any amateur. If the wheel is not yet a year old, the average
+manufacturer will do this without charge, but in any case a few dollars
+is all that a maker requires. The point of this renovation is evident.
+If the wheel is thus examined twice a year--in the fall and the
+spring--any little irregularity which may be wearing away vital parts of
+the machine can and will be corrected; whereas many a fault in a bicycle
+is not perceptible to the average rider until the injury has actually
+been done, when an entirely new part is necessary; and the larger the
+number of replaced or new parts, the less stable and firm is the
+bicycle. It therefore pays to have this renovation done twice a year,
+whether the wheel appears to need it or not.
+
+
+
+
+An Irishman took his watch to a jeweller's to have it repaired. The
+jeweller, after examining it, said the mending would amount to eight
+dollars, and he asked if the man was willing to pay that much.
+
+"Sure," answered Pat, "if you're willing to take the watch in part
+payment."
+
+
+
+
+A FEW DON'TS FOR BICYCLE BEGINNERS.
+
+
+I.--Don't pay any attention to people who tell you that the best bicycle
+path for beginners can be made out of fifty or sixty mattresses set end
+to end and running in a circle. It may be pleasanter, when taking a
+header, to land on a mattress than on a macadamized road, but it is a
+curious fact in bicycling that the softest road is the hardest to ride
+on.
+
+II.--Don't try to make a century run within two days of your first
+lesson. If, however, you are too ambitious to follow this rule, purchase
+a high-gear cyclometer which will register a mile for every ten feet you
+travel. And, speaking of cyclometers, don't forget that people who call
+them cycloramas are apt to be set down as wanting in intelligence.
+
+III.--Don't think, if you are learning to ride on the sea-shore, that
+because your wheels have rubber tires on they won't get wet if the waves
+dash up over them. The worst mistake any one ever made in bicycling was
+that of the small boy who thought the rubber tires were put on the
+wheels to keep them dry, just as rubber overshoes were put on his feet
+to keep them from getting wet.
+
+IV.--Don't try coasting down joggly hills. Get out of your father's
+library the copy of Dr. Holmes's poem which tells of the wonderful
+"one-hoss shay," which suddenly went completely to pieces one day. What
+has happened to a one-horse chaise might very easily happen to a
+bicycle, particularly on a joggly hill. Nothing will loosen bolts and
+screws more quickly than joggles, and if it should happen some morning
+that while you were coasting down a hill full of thank-you-marms your
+wheel should suddenly come apart in every bolt and bar, you would go
+sailing through the air like a cannon-ball just from the cannon's mouth,
+and alighting finally on the ground, while not at all difficult, might
+prove painful. Be careful, then, to keep your feet on the pedals while
+going down a hill of this character.
+
+V.--Don't try fancy riding until you have studied the art of bicycling
+for at least a week. One young man who ignored this rule, and tried to
+ride his wheel side-saddle-wise at the end of his third lesson, left a
+goodly half of his left ear on the road-side as a result, while a small
+youth of our acquaintance, who tried to ride backwards on the afternoon
+of his fourth day of study, got into a dispute with a picket-fence,
+which tore his clothes, and made the back of his neck look as if seven
+hundred mosquitoes had lunched there.
+
+VI.--Don't be absent-minded when riding. One of the rules of good
+playing in the game of golf is, "keep your eye on the ball." An equally
+good rule in riding your wheel is, "keep your mind on the wheel." The
+writer of these hints, while riding in the mountains during his first
+year of wheeling, got thinking of something else, and the first thing he
+knew, instead of being out wheeling, he was in swimming in a very cold
+and wet mountain lake.
+
+VII.--Don't forget the rule of the road. This is a very old rule, but it
+cannot be too often repeated. Not more than two weeks ago the writer saw
+a young woman out riding on her wheel who had forgotten the rule of the
+road, and she was met by another young woman who was absent-minded in
+violation of our rule numbered six. They met very forcibly, and the
+result was that both of them not only had to buy new wheels, but the
+spring bonnets of both of them were irretrievably ruined.
+
+VIII.--Don't mount with a jump, but slip lightly into the saddle. A
+gentleman weighing two hundred and twenty-three pounds leaped into the
+saddle of his wheel one day not long ago, and as a result the upper bar
+was bent into the shape of a hair-pin, the hind wheel was changed in its
+shape to that of an oval, and the pneumatic tire of the front wheel
+burst with such force that for a moment the gentleman thought somebody
+had fired a gun at him.
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+TONING OF SILVER PRINTS.
+
+The color of the silver print when it is taken from the printing-frame
+is not very pleasing, and if it is fixed in this state it assumes a
+yellowish-brown or bricky hue which is quite inartistic. To change this
+color to a more agreeable shade it must be subjected to the chemical
+treatment called toning--a process which the early photographers called
+"coloring."
+
+The theory of toning is that one metal is substituted for another, and
+in the toning of silver prints with gold the gold is substituted for the
+silver. Silver and gold have a great affinity for each other, and in the
+toning of the silver prints the gold is deposited on the print somewhat
+after the manner of plating metals.
+
+It is a well-known fact that finely divided gold is of many shades of
+color, from a rich red to a deep blue. The combination of the red of the
+silver subchloride in the print with the deep blue of the gold gives
+beautiful purplish, sepia, and black tones.
+
+The gold for toning is first made into chloride of gold. This chloride
+of gold is dissolved in water, and then the solution is rendered neutral
+by adding acetate or bicarbonate of soda.
+
+"Gold is reduced to a metallic state from a neutral or alkaline
+solution." This toning-bath, therefore, contains a deposit of metallic
+gold, which is ready to be precipitated by any reducing agent with which
+it may be brought in contact. Now the action of light on the paper
+coated with the silver salts has changed the salts into a gold-reducing
+agent. When the silver print is placed in the gold toning-bath, this
+sub-salts of silver immediately decomposes the gold salt, and attracts
+the gold to itself, and it is deposited in a fine powder on the unfixed
+print, changing the reddish color to brown or black. The unaltered
+silver chloride on the paper--the portion of the print which has not
+been exposed to the light--contains no reducing power, so the white
+portions of the print remain unchanged.
+
+The chemical action of the alkali on the chloride of gold is to separate
+the chlorine from the gold. The alkali unites with the chlorine, and
+sets it free from the gold. It forms with the hydrogen in the water a
+new chemical combination called sodium-trichlor-acetate and hydrochloric
+acid. The former is harmless to the print, but if there is not enough of
+the alkali in the solution to neutralize (render harmless) the
+hydrochloric acid, or, in other words, to liberate and absorb all the
+chlorine, the chlorine immediately reattacks the silver and stops the
+action of the gold. The result is a weak flat print. If the prints do
+not tone, the bath is too acid, and more of the alkali must be added. In
+order to test a bath to find out whether it is neutral, take a piece of
+blue litmus-paper and dip it in the bath; if it is acid it will turn the
+paper red. Add more of the alkali, until enough has been added to turn
+the paper which has been turned red back to its original blue color. A
+piece of red litmus-paper when dipped in the toning-bath will turn blue
+if the bath is too alkaline, but if the bath is neutral the paper will
+remain red.
+
+Every silver print toned with gold contains four parts of silver to one
+of gold, the quantity of both being very small. One grain of gold will
+tone a sheet of paper.
+
+There is a great deal of waste in the silver used in photography, there
+being thirty-three times as much silver used as remains after the
+picture is finished.
+
+Silver prints may be toned with platinum, and this method is often used
+as a substitute for gold toning, the tones obtained being very pleasing
+in color, and quite as permanent as the gold tones.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT JOHN H. CHAMBERLAIN, 6 Franklin Avenue, Dayton, O., asks
+     why films are given a glycerine bath, and if the bath can be
+     dispensed with; what will remove the spot of glycerine from a
+     negative caused by the glycerine flowing to the edge and partly
+     drying. Sir John says he is a regular reader of the Camera Club
+     column, and would like to form a Chapter, and asks those of our
+     amateurs who are interested in the plan to please send him their
+     names. The reason for using a glycerine bath is to prevent the film
+     from curling when it is dry. The bath can be dispensed with, but
+     the film rolls up so tightly that it is hard to make it stay flat
+     while placing it in the printing-frame. Use 1/2 oz. of glycerine to
+     16 oz. of water, and there will be no trouble with the film being
+     sticky. A little alcohol applied gently with a soft cloth or brush
+     will remove the glycerine from the negative.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT JAMES MAYNARD, JUN., asks if the bottle containing the
+     sensitizing-solution for plain salted paper should be wrapped in
+     non-actinic paper; what camera, lens, plate, and developer Max
+     Miner used for the picture "Sweeping a Sliding-place"; what is the
+     price of Whatman's paper. The sensitizing solution should be
+     wrapped in non-actinic paper, or else kept in a dark place. Max
+     Miner writes as follows in regard to the picture "Sweeping a
+     Sliding-place": "The camera which I used is the Universal, made by
+     the Rochester Optical Co.; the lens is a Morrison R. R., 8-1/2-inch
+     focus, designed for a 6-1/2 by 8-1/2 plate. The camera was a 5 by
+     7. The plates which I have always used are made by the Blake
+     Dry-plate Co., North Adams, Mass. They are rapid, and always give
+     uniformly good results. I have the best success in developing with
+     pyro, potash, or soda, though I like the eikonogen two-solution
+     developer nearly as well. I never have trouble with pyro stains, as
+     I use an alum bath before fixing. The paper used is lithium, toned
+     and fixed in a separate bath." A large sheet of Whatman's paper may
+     be bought for fifteen cents.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT JOHN MILLS asks how to make a picture in a pin-hole
+     camera without using plates--if some kind of paper cannot be used.
+     The formula for preparing paper for negatives is too long to be
+     given in the column space devoted to answers to queries. The
+     process will be described later in the columns of the Camera Club.
+     If you have access to a public library, consult a cyclopædia of
+     photography, which will give a formula for making paper negatives.
+     Try a piece of bromade-paper, making an exposure of about fifteen
+     seconds, if in a bright sunshine.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT HUBBARD MARSH asks what makes the solio prints stick to
+     the glass when they are squeegeed to it for burnishing; a
+     preparation for coating the glass for burnishing; and a good
+     toning-bath. The reason why prints stick to the glass is because
+     the film is soluble, and is apt to soften in warm weather. A very
+     glossy surface can be imparted to prints by washing the glass or
+     ferrotype plate to remove all grease and dirt, then pour on a few
+     drops of a solution made of 1 oz. of benzine and 10 grs. of
+     paraffine. Rub dry with a clean cloth and polish with a piece of
+     chamois or soft cloth. For toning-solution formula see No. 825.
+
+     E. H. C. asks if, in photographic contests where no pictures are
+     accepted under 4 by 5, pictures taken on a 4-by-5 plate, and the
+     prints trimmed so as to come a little under this size, would be
+     accepted. Yes, if not trimmed too much.
+
+
+
+
+There is a good story told of the well-known actor Frédéric Lemaitre.
+One of his weak points was his pride, and he expected the attachés of
+the theatre in which he played to show as great interest in his
+performance on the fiftieth night as the audience who were seeing him
+for the first time. For some time, to his infinite rage and disgust, one
+of the musicians had been in the habit of taking out a newspaper and
+perusing its contents during one of his best scenes, when his acting
+would hold the audience spellbound. He finally forbade this man to read
+his paper during the performance. The musician refused to submit to the
+demand, and Lemaitre, when he heard of the refusal, grew mad with rage,
+and stormed around in great manner. The offender happened to cross the
+stage while Lemaitre was in his bad humor, and the actor, catching sight
+of him, cried out, in angry tones:
+
+"You, sir; is it you who has the audacity to read in my great scene,
+especially when I have forbidden it?"
+
+"I!" mildly replied the musician. "What a mistake you are making!
+Monsieur, you have been misinformed: I am in the habit of going to sleep
+during that scene."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SICKNESS AMONG CHILDREN
+
+is prevalent at all seasons of the year, but can be avoided largely when
+they are properly cared for. _Infant Health_ is the title of a valuable
+pamphlet accessible to all who will send address to the New York
+Condensed Milk Company, N. Y. City.--[_Adv._]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If you wish to earn a bicycle the advertisement of W. G. Baker, of
+Springfield, Mass., which appears on page 1203, will interest you. His
+store in Springfield is noted for the fine teas, spices, and baking
+powder which it sends out both by express and freight to all parts of
+the United States. A boy by going about among his friends and selling a
+mixed order of 75 lbs. can secure a good boy's bicycle, or a woman by
+selling 175 lbs. can secure a lady's high-grade wheel. If you feel
+interested write for catalogue and full particulars, which will be sent
+on application.--[_Adv._]
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+Postage Stamps, &c.
+
+
+
+
+STAMPS
+
+Start a collection. Greatest fun on earth. Best monthly paper (12 nos.)
+and 100 stamps, all different kinds, 15c.
+
+STAMPS PUBLISHING CO., 87 Nassau St., New York.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STAMPS]
+
+100, all dif., & fine =STAMP ALBUM=, only 10c.; 200, all dif., Hayti,
+Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Agents wanted at 50 per cent. com. List FREE!
+=C. A. Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliant Ave., St. Louis, Mo.
+
+
+
+
+AGENTS
+
+who sell from our approval sheets get good premiums.
+
+PENN STAMP CO., Wind Gap, Pa.
+
+
+
+
+10
+
+=RARE STAMPS FREE.= Send 2c. stamp.
+
+F. E. THORP, Norwich, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+AN old collection of 525 stamps for sale for $3.
+
+KEUTGEN, 102 Fulton St., N. Y
+
+
+
+
+=COLONIAL POSTAGE STAMPS.= 22 varieties, 10 cents, post free. Address
+HENRY P. DAY, Peoria, Illinois.
+
+
+
+
+4c.
+
+Unused Columbian 6c.; 50 var. 6c.
+
+P. S. Chapman, Box 151, Bridgeport, Ct.
+
+
+
+
+STAMPS
+
+=10= stamps and large list =FREE!=
+
+L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo.
+
+
+
+
+PLAYS
+
+Dialogues, Speakers for School, Club and Parlor. Catalogue free.
+
+T. S. DENISON, Publisher, Chicago, Ill.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+About Naval Schools.
+
+
+Bert Cunnington, who lives in Arkansas, Reed Kohl, a New York city
+member, and Fred P. Jackson, who lives in a Baltimore suburb, ask about
+_St. Mary's_ school-ship and naval apprentices. All get the various
+naval schools well confused. That they do so is no great wonder, since
+the provisions governing them are new, and have recently been changed.
+We will try to make these naval matters clear. In the first place, the
+United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, is a school where men are
+trained to become officers in our navy. Indeed, entrance to the academy
+is at the same time entrance to our navy--naval cadet, and so on up,
+without leaving the United States service at graduation.
+
+Entrance to this academy is had only through members of
+Congress--through the member from your district, Mr. Jackson.
+Representatives Baker, Rusk, and Cowen represent Baltimore.
+
+Only one cadet from each district may be at the academy at a time. You
+must wait for a vacancy. Residents of other districts must address their
+member of Congress, or the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, who will
+give information about vacancies. The President of the United States has
+ten appointments--not annually, but may keep ten cadets at the academy.
+These cadetships are usually assigned to sons of naval officers. The
+Annapolis Academy was removed to Newport, R. I., for a time during the
+civil war. That is why, possibly, you get the naval apprenticeship
+school at Newport and the naval academy confused.
+
+Naval apprenticeships have nothing whatever to do with the Annapolis
+Academy. They are enlistments for young men above fifteen and not above
+eighteen years of age, who may remain in the navy till they are
+twenty-one. These boys must have the full consent of parents or
+guardians, be of good character--for apprenticeships are not to reform
+bad characters--be sound of body, and be able to read and write English.
+Having been sworn in, they are sent on board naval vessels, where they
+are given the elements of a common-school education and taught naval
+seamanship. That is, they knot, splice, hitch, and bend rope; sew
+canvas; head, reef, and furl sail; learn the use of the various gear in
+standing and running rigging; become acquainted with the terms for the
+different parts of the ship; practise military tactics, broadside
+exercise, rifle drill; and learn how to fire the great guns, to row, and
+to swim.
+
+Apprentices are enlisted as "third-class boys," and receive $9.50 a
+month. There is no condition from what part of the United Slates they
+come. They receive their board free. Their clothing is provided by the
+paymaster of the ship to which they are assigned and charged against
+their pay. There is a possible promotion to $11.50 a month. These
+apprentices never become line-officers, but may rise only to
+warrant-officer, gunner, or boat-swain. Warrant-officers are retired at
+sixty-two, as are other officers, and receive thereafter a fair
+proportion of their duty pay as an annuity. Apprenticeship recruiting
+stations are at New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Address
+"Recruiting Station for Naval Apprentices, Navy-yard," and add the city
+and State.
+
+Wholly distinct from either of the foregoing are the various
+school-ships. These are not owned by the national government, but by
+cities, and are under the control of the boards of education. The
+_Saratoga_ is located at Philadelphia, and the _St. Mary's_ at New York.
+Address "Executive Committee, Nautical School." To join the _St. Mary's_
+applicants must be residents of the city of New York. They must also be
+of good character, and between sixteen and twenty years of age; $30 is
+required as an entrance fee, and a large number of personal necessities,
+as clothing, thread, needles, etc. The course covers two years of two
+terms each, with two summer cruises. The _St. Mary's_ spends part of the
+year at the foot of Twenty-eighth Street, East River, New York, a part
+in Long Island Sound, and the cruises are usually to the coast of Europe
+and Mediterranean ports.
+
+Rules governing the _Saratoga_ are similar to those governing the _St.
+Mary's_. Graduates of these nautical schools look about them for
+positions just as do graduates of other schools. The New York Board of
+Education say: "The passage of the 'Postal Subsidy Bill,' requiring all
+vessels receiving such subsidy to be officered by Americans, and to
+carry a cadet for each 1000 tons burden, enables graduates of this
+school to obtain a situation upon graduation, where the education
+obtained at this school will be of great advantage to them. Graduates of
+this school, with few exceptions, are competent to navigate a vessel,
+understanding thoroughly dead-reckoning, and how to find the latitude
+and longitude by the sun, moon, planets, or stars; they are also taught
+the duties of seamen, they have practice in handling a sailing vessel,
+in steering, heaving the lead, in handling boats, both under oars and
+sails, the rule of the road, and in fact everything that may assist in
+their advancement in the profession they have chosen."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A Distinct Difference.
+
+The following story is told of the late Professor S----, the great
+teacher of German at the University of Pennsylvania, and a man of much
+hard and blunt sense. A man having a son whom he had reared in a most
+superficial way called on the professor, whom he knew slightly, and
+asked how much it would cost to give his son an education. The
+professor, looking intently at the son, who accompanied his father, and
+who was attired in uncomfortably big cuffs, high collar, and gave forth
+an aroma of up-to-date perfume, blandly observed:
+
+"I can't say. But you can send him through college for about $2000."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cruel, but Facetious.
+
+When employees are discharged from the service of a firm or company they
+generally receive from such employers brief letters stating when
+employment is to cease. But the head of a great theatrical concern once
+took a quite different course in discharging his actors and singers. His
+season had been unprofitable, but he took a little of his remaining
+money and paid the way of his entire troupe to West Point. The members
+of said troupe were Europeans. After luncheon he arose, and in the
+blandest manner possible said:
+
+"Ladies and Gentlemen,--Mark the beauties of America, the greatest,
+grandest, and most wonderful country in the world. Behold the noble
+Hudson before us; observe these magnificent mountains; consider
+everything well. For, by my word, you will never see them again at the
+expense of Messrs. Blank and Company."
+
+Of course sorrow closed the day's outing, but the actors and singers had
+no alternative than to engage steamer passages to Europe--which they
+did.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Through Historic Country on a Bike.
+
+     One cool, sunny day in the beginning of this month we took a
+     fifty-one-mile bicycle trip out of the city. At the start our road
+     lay along the extreme west of the city, and soon the new Harlem
+     Ship-canal came into view. We halted on the bridge which spans it
+     to watch a diver at work--quite a novel sight; then went on toward
+     Yonkers. Yonkers passed, we took the open road for Dobbs Ferry. At
+     the latter place we were informed that our road, Broadway, was
+     first opened in 1844 under the name of Edgar's Lane.
+
+     Back of the road, under tall shady trees, stands Washington's
+     headquarters. A monument in front relates that here the French
+     allies under Rochambeau first joined our General and his forces;
+     also that here Washington planned the Yorktown campaign which
+     successfully terminated the Revolution; and that directly opposite,
+     on the river, an English sloop fired seventeen guns in honor of
+     Washington--the first official acknowledgment of our nation on the
+     part of the mother-country.
+
+     From Dobbs Ferry to Irvington the road is lined with handsome
+     suburban residences, and leads through a pretty bit of country.
+     Four miles more, and Tarrytown is reached. In Tarrytown we saw a
+     monument over the spot where Major André was captured in 1780. The
+     shaft of the monument was dedicated in 1853. One side bears a
+     relief picture in bronze of the capture; while another side has
+     carved on it a eulogy of the three brave citizens of Westchester
+     County who rescued their country from "imminent peril." The
+     remainder of the stone, which is capped by a heroic figure of a
+     Revolutionary soldier, was erected in 1880 by the Society of the
+     Sons of the Revolution.
+
+     Directly north of Tarrytown there is a bridge. Crossing it, a sharp
+     turn of the road brought us to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. We spent
+     some time examining the inscriptions on some of the stones. The
+     lower portion of the cemetery is evidently the oldest, for here
+     repose the ashes of many who died at the close of the last century
+     and the beginning of this. Sleepy Hollow lies on a hill. At the
+     top, in the centre of the family plot, is buried the "American
+     Goldsmith," whose pen made the region where he now rests famous.
+     His grave is simplicity itself, the headstone which covers it
+     bearing merely the inscription, "Washington Irving, born April 3,
+     1783, died November 28, 1859."
+
+  SIMON THEODORE STERN.
+  NEW YORK CITY.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Questions and Answers.
+
+Music.--The only place to which we can refer you is the United States
+Marine Recruiting-office, 109 West Street, New York. That office wants
+boys from fourteen to sixteen to learn music. Apply for conditions.
+"Gold Fever" asks about gold-prospecting, especially in Alaska. The
+occupation has many risks, and only the hardiest of persons, not alone
+in body, but in determination and cheerfulness, ought to undertake it.
+The Alaskan field is well to the north--in the Yukon country, which is
+near the arctic circle. It is cold there. But perhaps the worst
+discomfort is mosquitoes. An odd pest for that climate, yes. But they
+abound there as they do in few other regions. A recent prospector says,
+"When a man goes up one of the creeks he must envelop his head in a
+mosquito-frame of cheese-cloth--their bills go through netting like a
+knife through tissue-paper--must wear gloves, and tie his trousers and
+shirt sleeves closely about his ankles and wrists." Mining is a lottery,
+and the young man ought to think not twice only, but a dozen times
+before undertaking it.
+
+George J. Smith asks.--"Will you kindly tell me the names of artists who
+teach pen-drawing and illustrating? When does the annual contest for
+prizes begin?" Many artists take students, if such students possess
+native talent. They require students to come to their studios, though
+some of them have classes at art-schools. Apply to Irving R. Wiles,
+Charles Broughton, or Clifford Carleton. Their addresses may be had in
+the directory. Of course they charge for lesson-giving. And we do not
+say that these gentlemen will now take pupils. Why not join the classes
+at the Art Students' League? Round Table contests are announced, usually
+late in October. See one of the issues of this paper for them. It is not
+likely there will be an illustration contest unless there proves to be a
+good prize story to make a picture for. In almost no other way, save
+that of giving all contestants the same thing to illustrate, can
+conditions fair to all be made. Full information will be published in
+the Table later.
+
+Frank S. Teal.--We know of no place to procure the Table button or pin
+save through this office, and we have none in stock. David A. Hill.--So
+great has been the growth of the Good Will institution that a building
+suitable to house its industrial school should cost, on the ground of
+present and future need, $10,000 at least. This sum is quite beyond the
+power of the Table to give. When, three years ago, the Good Will work
+began, the size of the Institution did not demand a building costing
+one-half that sum. The Table thought to raise $3000. It raised about
+$1600, when the situation developed as above outlined--a situation in
+which all of us, as friends of Good Will Farm and its work in behalf of
+poor boys, greatly rejoice. The money raised by the Table is to be, by
+vote of the founders, turned over to the trustees of Good Will, to be
+invested in a Round Table Fund, and the income used to help such boys as
+the trustees think most deserving of aid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another Mother and Man.
+
+The truth of the adage about the hand that rules the world being the one
+that rocks the cradle is again exemplified, but this time not in the
+world of statesmanship, but in that of science. Nikola Tesla, who ranks
+with Edison in electrical invention, was, as a boy in Montenegro, full
+of mischief, and also under the guidance of a remarkable woman--his
+mother. He once went by himself to a chapel in the hills back of his
+native town, and managed to get himself locked in it at night. A search
+was made for him, but there was no clew until, clear and sharp on the
+night air, rang out the tones of the chapel bell. Nikola was cold,
+nervous, and hungry when found.
+
+On another occasion, when up to some boyish pranks, his mother suddenly
+appeared on the scene. He was so startled that he fell into a kettle of
+fresh milk, spoiling the milk and his clothes at the same time.
+
+Like many other men who have become famous along one line of usefulness,
+young Tesla was started in life at another line. His father wanted him
+educated for the Church, but his mother encouraged his scientific
+tastes, and finally had her way. She was a woman of unusual ability,
+force of character, and ingenuity. This last characteristic was
+developed in her embroidery, which was of artistic and original designs,
+and made her famous all through the part of Montenegro in which she
+lived. To his mother's love and influence Tesla attributes much of his
+manhood's success.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Natural-History Bit from West Australia.
+
+     Some time ago you asked for descriptions of wild flowers and
+     fruits: I live in West Australia, so far north that we have flowers
+     in our yard every month in the year. This past winter, during July
+     especially, we had very cold weather for this part of Australia,
+     yet our sarsaparilla grew well. It is of a lovely deep purple, and
+     its flowers sometimes wholly cover a stiff stem eighteen inches
+     long. In summer we have a flower called kangaroo's claw. It grows
+     slowly, and has only one flower. Its slender stem looks like red
+     plush. The flower resembles a man's hand held out to shake with
+     you. The "fingers" are green, and, odd to say, there is always a
+     pale green spot at the tips, that look like finger-nails.
+
+     We have a queer tree. It has pale green leaves, with prickly under
+     leaves, and a cream flower that smells like Daphne. But the oddest
+     thing about it is the fruit, which looks like luscious pears, but
+     which is nothing but wood. Not a few people here send the fruit to
+     their friends living in England, who use it to fool people with.
+     The latter, if they do not know the fruit, can easily be induced to
+     sit down with knife and plate to eat it. There is also here a Zamia
+     palm. It looks like a huge pineapple, with a top like a close fern.
+     The sprouts shoot up through the centre like two smaller
+     pineapples. When the palm is opened one can scrape off from the
+     inside very delicate wool, which country folks often use for beds
+     in place of feathers. Cattle sometimes get hold of the wool and eat
+     it, and it is most injurious to them. If the mails permitted, I
+     would like to send you some of this wool.
+
+  ALICIA SHAW.
+  PRESTON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+That Electric-light Outfit.
+
+Mr. H. C. Durston was interested, as doubtless many others were, in "A
+Small Electric-light Outfit," and he writes, "Can you tell me if, by
+increasing the size or number of battery cells, I can get power enough
+to run a ten-candle-power lamp?" Increase the number, not the size. Yes.
+"Where can I get the small lamp mentioned, and what is its life?" Apply
+to the Standard Electric Lamp Company, 248 West Twenty-third Street, New
+York. Following are the claimed life: 1/2-candle power, one watt, no
+life guaranteed; 1/2-candle power, two watt, 100 to 200 hours;
+1/2-candle power, three watt, 600 hours; and 1/2-candle power, four
+watt, indefinitely.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ivory Soap]
+
+There is only one soap that is kept by all grocers, that is Ivory Soap.
+
+THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI.
+
+
+
+
+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 to
+Dept. I
+
+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]
+
+
+
+
+A NEW BOOK BY
+
+KIRK MONROE
+
+=RICK DALE.= A Story of the Northwest Coast, Illustrated by W. A. ROGERS.
+Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+     A story of the adventures of two boys thrown by circumstances into
+     the company of Indians, smugglers, and northwestern loggers. They
+     have many thrilling escapes from such unpleasant companions, and
+     the story is full of important information concerning our
+     northwestern States.
+
+_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
+
+=Snow-Shoes and Sledges.--The Fur-Seal's Tooth.--Raftmates.--Canoemates.--
+Campmates.--Dorymates.= Each one volume.
+Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+=Wakulla.--The Flamingo Feather.--Derrick Sterling.--Chrystal, Jack &
+Co., and Delta Bixby.= Illustrated. Square 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 each.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NEW EDITION OF
+
+CAMP'S AMERICAN
+
+FOOTBALL
+
+=AMERICAN FOOTBALL.= By WALTER CAMP. New and Enlarged Edition. 16mo,
+Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     The progress of the sport of football in this country, and a
+     corresponding growth of inquiry as to the methods adopted by
+     experienced teams, have prompted the publication of an enlarged
+     edition of this book. Should any of the suggestions herein
+     contained conduce to the further popularity of the game, the object
+     of the writer will be attained.--_Author's Preface._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE EDUCATED PIG AND THE PLUM-TREE.
+
+
+A little pink pig with a curly tail once lived with his brothers and
+sisters behind a great red barn. He was brighter than the rest, and soon
+learned that of the apples brought to their pen the yellow ones were
+sweet, the red ones hard and pithy, and the green ones so sour that they
+made him squeal.
+
+One day a travelling showman passed that way, and was so pleased with
+the pig that he invited him to join his menagerie. A beautiful sky-blue
+cage with gold trimmings was placed at his disposal, and he pricked up
+his ears and tossed his head with pride as he strutted behind the gilded
+bars, and thought of his brothers and sisters squealing and scrambling
+over their trough of swill. But a hideous hyena lived in the cage next
+to his, and snarled and yowled till poor piggy was in a perfect chill
+from fright. On the other side an idiotic five-footed calf blaated from
+morning till night. Indeed, one could not blame the poor thing, for he
+had to stand very straight and still, or his many feet would get
+themselves so tangled he could never tell which ones to use first if he
+wanted to go to the right or to the left.
+
+But piggy's life was not a happy one. He longed for the open barn-yard
+and his bed of fresh sweet hay. He studied hard and learned his lessons
+well, but the wiser he grew the more he felt that a circus was no place
+for a pig to live. So, at the very first chance, under the tent slipped
+piggy, and across the fields he trotted as fast as he could go. Along a
+dusty country road he went till a most delicious odor of ripe June
+apples tickled his nostrils. Under and over and between the cruel barbed
+wires he tried in vain to squeeze his plump little body.
+
+But soon he spied a spreading plum-tree right in the middle of his path.
+Its branches hung heavy with ripe yellow fruit, and eagerly he rooted in
+the tall wet grass. But was ever such a thoughtless tree? Not a plum had
+it dropped in the night for hungry, homeless pigs. Sweeter smelled the
+fruit and hungrier grew the pig. His little bias eyes blinked with tears
+as he looked up at the luscious yellow load. Softly he rubbed himself
+against the trunk and asked so gently, so humbly, for just a taste, that
+nothing but a hard-hearted scaly barked tree could have refused. But
+never a leaf stirred. Every plum clung selfishly to its twig, and piggy
+could have cried with vexation. Surely plums were made for pigs! Why
+could he not have his share? Angrily he flung himself at the base of the
+tree, but he was not as heavy as before he became a circus pig, and
+nothing was hurt but his back. This was too much. Was he to be lamed and
+bruised by a scrubby old tree just because he admired its fruit? In a
+rage he took a running start, and struck the tree head first a fearful
+blow. But, blinded, he staggered back, and nothing but stars came
+floating down. Hurt, angry, he threw himself upon the ground. Sharp keen
+darts of hunger stabbed him in the side. He drooped his ears, and
+thought to himself of what use were his training and education if he
+were now more helpless than the monkeys of the show or the squirrels of
+the forest? He looked at his bony little hoofs and wished they were
+claws; at his short stiff legs, and remembered the nimble little
+barn-yard kitties. Sorrowfully he glanced at the tree. An ugly gnarly
+knot grinned at him like a hideous face. Its ear and mouth seemed
+twisted into one. A thought came to the pig, and creeping close to the
+side of the tree, he said softly to himself, "I wonder if this orchard
+belongs to yonder farm?" The tree kept very still. "For," said the pig,
+"it seems a shame, but I heard the farmer say to the hired man, 'John,
+go over to-morrow and cut down that scrubby old plum-tree in the path.
+It is no good; chop it up for fire-wood. The plums are not fit for a pig
+to eat.'" A mighty fear seized the tree as it heard the dreadful words.
+It quivered and shook in every limb, and plums pelted poor piggy till he
+squealed and squirmed with the pain. In vain he dodged and cried
+"Enough!" but the plums continued to fall till nothing was left on the
+tree but the joke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GOVERNESS. "Now, if I should take ten apples and put them in the basket,
+and then take three more, and then five more, and put them in--what
+would that be?"
+
+MADGE. "Addition!"
+
+GOVERNESS. "Well, if I should give Madge eight apples, and Tom six
+apples, and Jack two apples--what would that be?"
+
+JACK. "That would not be fair!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+OVERHEARD IN THE COUNTRY.
+
+"Bzzz!--bzzz!--bzzz!" said the Bee.
+
+"Hoh!" said the Ant. "Bzzz! What a queer combination! It doesn't spell
+anything."
+
+"Well, who said it did?" retorted the Bee. "I never pretended to be a
+Spelling Bee."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WILLIE'S GAME.
+
+"Willie, you mustn't mock people when they speak. It's very impolite."
+
+"I didn't mean to be impolite, mamma. I was just playing I was the
+echo."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, October 6, 1896, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59452 ***