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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:34:30 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:34:30 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/27287-0.txt b/27287-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5f84e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/27287-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6926 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Golden Days for Boys and Girls + Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 + +Author: Various + +Editor: James Elverson + +Release Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #27287] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[This e-text comes in three different forms: unicode (UTF-8), Latin-1 +and ascii-7. Use the one that works best on your text reader. + + --If “œ” displays as a single character, and apostrophes and + quotation marks are “curly” or angled, you have the utf-8 version + (best). If any part of this paragraph displays as garbage, try + changing your text reader’s “character set” or “file encoding”. + If that doesn’t work, proceed to: + --In the Latin-1 version, “œ” is two letters, but French words like + “étude” have accents and “æ” is a single letter. Apostrophes and + quotation marks will be straight (“typewriter” form). Again, if you + see any garbage in this paragraph and can’t get it to display + properly, use: + --The ascii-7 or rock-bottom version. All necessary text will still be + there; it just won’t be as pretty. + +Boldface text is shown with *asterisks*. The notation [->] represents +the pointing-finger symbol. + +The layout of the advertising pages is shown after all text, along with +a list of file names for major illustrations. Typographical errors in +the original, whether corrected or not, are listed at the end.] + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + Vol. VIII.--No 25. May 21, 1887. + + GOLDEN DAYS + + For Boys and Girls + + Philadelphia: + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber’s Note: + +Text incorporated into advertising illustrations is shown in +(parentheses); where necessary, a brief description of the +illustration is given in {braces}.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +QUITE UP TO THE TIMES. + +_New Applicant_--Do I know how to use Sapolio? Well, that’s fresh! Do I +look like a girl who don’t know about Sapolio? Am I blind, d’yer think, +or can’t read? Why, the babies on the block know all about Sapolio. What +are ye givin’ me? + +SAPOLIO + +is a solid, handsome cake of House-cleaning Soap, which has no equal for +all scouring purposes, except the laundry. Perhaps you have heard of it +a thousand times without using it once. If you will reverse the position +and use it once you will praise it to others a thousand times. Ask your +grocer for a cake, and try it in your next house-cleaning. + + No. 3. [Copyright, March 1887.] + + +DYKE’S BEARD ELIXIR + +[Illustration: (Before After Before After)] + +For_es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair on bald heads in 20 to 30 days. +Extra Strength. No other remedy 2 or 3 Pkgs. does the work. We will +prove it or forfeit $100.00 Price per Pkg. sealed and postpaid 25c., 3 +for 50 cts., stamps or silver. SMITH MFG. CO., PALATINE, ILLS. + + +$50 WEEKLY + +EASILY EARNED! + +*We want agents* for our celebrated Oil Portrait. *No experience +required!* *4 orders* per day gives the Agent $50 weekly profit! Our +agents report from 4 to 30 daily sales! Send at once for terms and full +particulars. *$2 outfit free!* *SAFFORD ADAMS & CO., 48 Bond St., N.Y.* +[Mention “Golden Days.”] + + +IMPROVED + +HIRES’ ROOT BEER + +25 cents / PACKAGE + +Makes *Five Gallons* of a *delicious*, sparkling temperance beverage. +*Strengthens* and purifies the blood. Its *purity* and delicacy commend +it to all. Sold by druggists and storekeepers everywhere. + + +A ZANZIBAR TIGER COWRY SHELL, 8c. Send stamp for list. Steel & Co., 135 +E. 23d St., New York + + +CURE FOR THE DEAF + +PECK’S PATENT IMPROVED CUSHIONED EAR DRUMS *Perfectly Restore the +Hearing*, and perform the work of the natural drum. Invisible, +comfortable and always in position. All conversation and even whispers +heard distinctly. Send for illustrated book with testimonials, *FREE*. +Address or call on F. HISCOX, *853* Broadway, New York. Mention this +paper. + + +FREE a $2.50 *Gold Ring* to all who will act as our agents. The Journal +Co., Essex, Conn. + + +[Illustration: (THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA COMPANY)] + +GOOD NEWS TO LADIES. + +Greatest inducements ever offered. Now’s your time to get up orders for +our celebrated *Teas* and *Coffees*, and secure a beautiful Gold Band or +Moss Rose China Tea Set, or Handsome Decorated Gold Band Moss Rose +Dinner Set, or Gold Band Moss Decorated Toilet Set. For full particulars +address + + *THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA CO.,* + P.O. Box 289. 31 and 33 Vesey St., New York. + + +AGENTS wanted for Lyman Abbot’s Life of Beecher. The only proper one. +A. GORTON & CO., Philada. + + * * * * * + + Vol. VII “Golden Days” + + NOW READY, + + is a + + MAGNIFICENT BOOK OF 832 PAGES! + +A perfect mine of everything that will interest young people. + + *It is Superbly Illustrated,* + + --CONTAINING-- + +Over 400 Finely-Executed Wood Engravings! + + Making, without question, + + THE MOST ATTRACTIVE BOOK + + Of The Season. + +[->] This volume will be sent to any address, prepaid, on the receipt of +price--$4.00. + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher “GOLDEN DAYS,” Philad’a + + * * * * * + +[->] Advertisements inserted on Second and Third Pages of Cover at 50 +cents per line, and on the Fourth Page at 75 cents per line, agate +measurement). + + * * * * * + +The Best Practical Joke of the Season + +[Illustration: (Ring the Bell)] + +The perfect Electric Bell Button is made to pin on your breast, Fine +ebony finish with white button sure to induce a push, which never fails +to produce a shock with “Hail Columbia,” and variations. *A Full Charge* +of electricity every time. The old joker is told “*That is Good! Ring +the Bell.*” The *Best Selling Article* ever invented. *4760* sold by one +agent in *3* weeks. Sample by Mail *15* cents.; two for *25* cents.; +*14* for *$1.00*. 100 for *$6.00*. Try *$1* worth. Stamps taken. + +Send all orders to World Manuf. Co. 122 Nassau St. New York + + +*EUREKA RECITATIONS* + +NINE NUMBERS NOW READY. + +Each number contains nearly *100 selections* by Mrs. Anna Randall-Diehl, +and bound in 4-color lithograph cover. Mailed for 12 cents each by J. S. +Ogilvie & Co., Publishers, 31 Rose Street, New York. Send for one. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: + (The + READY BINDER + for binding + THREE MONTHS + of the + GOLDEN DAYS + Price, 10 Cents.)] + +*THIS BINDER* is light, strong and handsome, and the weekly issues of +GOLDEN DAYS are held together by it in the convenient form of a book, +which can be kept lying on the reading-table. It is made of two white +wires joined together in the centre, with slides on either end for +pressing the wires together, thus holding the papers together by +pressure without mutilating them. We will furnish the Binder at Ten +Cents apiece, postage prepaid. Address JAMES ELVERSON, + + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: (Perfection Slate Erasor)] + +*We want you as our Agent* to sell the *Perfection Slate Eraser* in +schools. _It is attractive, well-made and indispensable._ Send five +2-cent stamps for sample and particulars. WITTRAM MFG. CO., 525 Front +St., San Francisco, Cal. (*Box 2414.*) + + +[Illustration {knife}] + +*FOR 10 cts. to pay postage &c.*, we will send this Charm Pen-Knife and +five other samples FREE. *Atlantic Works, East River, Conn.* + + +[Illustration {bicycle}] + +*BICYCLES $8 to $150. EASY PAYMENTS.* + +Tricycles, $7.50 up. Standard makes. 2d-hand Wheels handled. Send for +Catalogue. + +GEO. W. ROUSE & SON, 34 G St., Peoria, Ill. + + +[Illustration {ring}] + +1 Stone Ring, 1 Band Ring, 275 Scrap Pictures & Verses, Book of Poems, +Book Flirtations, 40 Agt’s Samples, All 10c. Austin Card Co., New +Haven, Ct + + +[Illustration: (THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUM)] + +*THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUMS* + +are made with patent double acting rods and folding knee rest. Light, +substantial and handsome. Used in the best Bands and Orchestras. +Unequaled for tone, surpass all others in finish and appearance. If +nearest Music dealer does not keep them, write to us for Illustrated +Catalogue. + +*LYON & HEALY, Chicago, Ill.* + + +*PRINTERS* Send stamp for wholesale list of BLANK Cards, 1000 kinds. +Card Co., Montpelier, Vt + + +*SHORTHAND* Writing _thoroughly taught_ *by mail* or personally. +*Situations procured* all pupils when competent. Send for circular. +*W. G. CHAFFEE*, Oswego, N.Y. + + +23 HIDDEN NAME *MOTTO CARDS*, 10c + +Story Book and AGENT’S OUTFIT with each pack. HAMDEN CARD WORKS, Hamden, +Conn + + +[Illustration: (The Gem) {hose reel}] + +REEL, 25 FEET HOSE, NOZZLE AND COUPLINGS, $4.00. + +Sent on receipt of price. + +*Rubber Footballs*, No. 1, *$1.25* each + +Additional sizes to No. 6, 25c. extra. + +[->] *RUBBER GOODS* of all descriptions--Gossamers, Shoes, Boots, etc. + +*ROBERT C. GEDDES*, 316 Market St., Philada., Pa. + + +*CARDS* + +100 Fancy Pictures, all new designs, 30 latest Songs, 50 Elegant Fancy +Patterns, 1 Album, over 60 Colored Transfer Pictures, with our Grand +Premium List all for *10 cts.* BIRD CARD WORKS, MERIDEN, CONN. Autograph +Album, name in gold, *10 cts.* + + +HIGHLY Educated Physician who has traveled much and speaks several +languages, wants to complete a party of youths for travel in Europe. +References exchanged. Address “Æskulap,” (office of) Advocate, 805 +Broadway, N.Y. + + * * * * * + + Children Cry for Pitcher’s Castoria + + * * * * * + +*FOR MALARIA,* + +And malarial diseases so prevalent in the South and West, Ayer’s Pills +have proved peculiarly beneficial. “I have found in Ayer’s Pills, an +invaluable remedy for disorders peculiar to miasmatic localities. Taken +in small and frequent doses, + + *Ayer’s* + +Pills act well on the liver and aid it in throwing off malarial +poisons.”--C. F. Alston, Quitman, Texas. + +Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass. + +*YELLOW FEVER,* + +The terror of the South, has yielded to Ayer’s Pills. James M. Crofut, +of Beaufort, S.C., writes: “During the past three months our city has +been scourged with yellow fever. Many friends and neighbors have been +taken from us. In several cases Ayer’s + + *Pills* + +broke the attack of the fever, and saved the patient’s life. They are an +excellent liver medicine.” + +Sold by all Druggists and Dealers in Medicines. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: (BOYS GIRLS)] + +*LEARN TO TELEGRAPH* + +With the Pocket Telegraph Instrument + +In a few hours. Want an agent in each town. They sell fast. Sample and +alphabet, postpaid, for 13 two-cent stamps, or 6 for $1.00. You can sell +them quick for 25c. each. *PORTVILLE MF’G CO.* limited, Portville, Catt. +Co., N.Y. + + +MORE MONEY THAN EVER + +You thought of can now be made. MALE or FEMALE. Write quick for free +Sample and Terms. BEST selling article ever out. *NATIONAL CO.*, 21 Dey +St., N.Y. + + +*LANGUAGES.* + +*The Meisterschaft System*, by Dr. R. S. ROSENTHAL, is the only +successful method ever devised to learn to speak without a teacher, and +in a few weeks, + +*French*, *German*, *Spanish* or *Italian*. + +Endorsed by leading linguists. Terms, $5.00 for books of either +language. Sample copy, Part I., 25 cents. Liberal terms to Teachers. + +*MEISTERSCHAFT PUBLISHING CO., Boston, Mass.* + + +*100 Choice New Recitations* 13 Songs, Elegant Sample Cards, all for a +2c. stamp. CADIZ CARD CO., CADIZ, O. + + +*SPRING SALE* To reduce our stock of music we will send by mail, +postpaid, the *Beautiful Blue Danube* Waltzes and 60 pieces, full +sheet-music size, including songs, marches, quadrilles (with calls), for +only 20 cents. Satisfaction guaranteed, or money refunded. *WHITE WINGS +& 100 Songs*, words and music, *10c.* W. HATHAWAY, 339 Wash. St., +Boston, Mass. + + +*BROWN’S FRENCH DRESSING.* + +The Original! Beware of Imitations! + +[Illustration {bottle}] + +*AWARDED HIGHEST PRIZE AND ONLY MEDAL* + +PARIS EXPOSITION, 1878. + +Highest Award New Orleans Exposition. + + +[Illustration] + +*PRINTING MADE EASY!* + +With our Economy Outfits. Business men save money doing their own +printing! Fun for the boys! Instructions free. Business Outfits $7.50 +upwards. Card Outfits $2. Catalogue for 2c stamp. Wm. Volkmann & Co., +164 Washington St., Chicago, Ill. + + +[Illustration] + +CAT’S-EYE SCARF-PIN 44 cts + +The Gem Cat’s Eye is so called because it possesses the peculiar ray of +light or glisten seen in a cat’s eye in the dark. I have a limited stock +only, and offer you one for only *44 cts.*, post paid. The same in Ear +Drops, choice, *87 cents*. _Send Stamp for large illustrated catalogue +of Mineral Cabinets, Agate Novelties, Indian Relics, etc. Trade +Supplied._ + +H. H. TAMMEN, 935 16th St., Denver, Col. + + +*100 New Imported Scrap Pictures, 12 Elegant Imported Cards*, 1 Album of +*50* Colored Transfer Pictures and Agt’s Samples for ’87. all for *10c.* +S. STOKES & CO., Meriden, Conn. + + +*DRUNKENNESS* *OR THE LIQUOR HABIT POSITIVELY CURED* in any of its +stages. All desire or craving for stimulants entirely removed. Medicine +can be given without knowledge of the patient, by placing it in coffee, +tea, or articles of food. Cures guaranteed. Send for particulars. +*GOLDEN SPECIFIC CO., 185 Race Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.* + + +How to Make, Your Own *CANDIES*. By an Experienced Confectioner. Book +containing 68 Recipes mailed on receipt of 10 cts. L. SCHWARZ +Confectioner, 68 Fulton St., N.Y. + + +1000 foreign stamps, including Mexico, Jamaica, Dutch E. India, Barbados +& Portugal, 25cts. CHAS. A. TOWNSEND, Akron, O. + + +*PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* and Catalog, 10c. *ALBUMS*, 50c. Agents’ terms +and Catalog, 10c. JOHN NEWHAM, *Box 3694*, N.Y. City. + + +*500 FOREIGN STAMPS*, Australia, etc., 10c.; 105 varieties, 10c. F. P. +Vincent, Chatham, N.Y. + + +STAMPS 106 varieties, 10c.; 1010 mixed, 20c. Putnam Brothers, +Lewiston, Me. + + +*STAMPS* APPROVAL SHEETS. Agents wanted. *E. A. OBORNE. Jamaica, N.Y.* + + +*STAMPS* Agents wanted. 30 per cent. com. on sheets. Keystone Stamp Co., +Box 200, Philad’a, Pa. + + +25 *Foreign Stamps FREE* to every collector. Send your address. _A. E. +Ashfield_, Box 233, Rye, N.Y. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +*A NEW BOOK ON CURVE-PITCHING* + +That so fully explains the Art that + +*Any one with a Little Practice can Master all the Curves* used by the +most noted pitchers. Price, *15* cts. Send for Catalogue. + + A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM + 1492 TO 1885, INCLUSIVE, FOR 10 CENTS. + +A. J. REACH & CO., 23 S. 8th St., Philad’a, Pa. + + +*390* Funny Selections, Scrap Pictures, etc., and nice Sample Cards for +2c. HILL CARD CO., Cadiz, Ohio + + +*THE RED BOOKS.* + +NEW PIECES TO SPEAK IN SCHOOL, + +at Church or Home Entertainments. Elocution. Gesture. Beautifully +Illustrated. 12 different numbers, $1.00. Sample by mail, 10 cts. +*Agents Wanted.* + +*HALL & STEBBINS, 11 Michigan Ave. CHICAGO, ILL.* + + +*CARDS* + +New Sample Book of Hidden Name Cards for a 2c. stamp. STAR CARD CO., +Laceyville, Ohio + + +*WAKE UP* and earn *$70 per month* at home. COSTLY OUTFIT of samples, +a package of goods and full instructions sent for *10c.* to help pay +postage and advertising. + +*H. C. ROWELL & CO., Rutland, Vermont.* + + +*4 U.S. ½ CENTS*, postpaid, 25 cents. Price List free. G. J. BAUER, 73 +Front St., Rochester, N.Y. + + +[Illustration] + +*PRINT YOUR OWN CARDS!* + +Press, $3; Circular size, $8. Press for small newspaper, $25. New Rotary +Jobber, $100. Send 2 stamps for catalogue Presses, Type, cards to +factory, Kelsey & Co. Meriden, Conn + + +*WARNER BRO’S* + + [Illustration: (CELEBRATED CORALINE CORSETS + FLEXIBLE HIPS + NURSING + HEALTH ABDOMINAL CORALINE)] + +*9, MILLION* + +worn during the past six years. + +This marvelous success is due-- + +1st.--To the superiority of Coraline over all other materials, as a +stiffener for Corsets. + +2d.--To the superior quality, shape and workmanship of our Corsets, +combined with their low prices. + +Avoid cheap imitations made of various kinds of cord. None are genuine +unless + +*“DR. WARNER’S CORALINE”* + +is printed on inside of steel cover. + +*FOR SALE BY ALL LEADING MERCHANTS.* + +*WARNER BROTHERS,* + +*359 Broadway. New York City.* + + +*THIS HAMMOCK CHAIR* + +[Illustration] + +May be changed instantly to an automatic floor Chair adjustable to many +reclining positions. Has no equal, and is desirable for + +[Illustration] + +*Library, Steamer, and Invalid Use.* + +Used in hospitals, colleges, families, and wherever + +*COMFORT AND HEALTH* + +are desired at a small cost. Folded compactly, and shipped anywhere. +Circulars, testimonials, and photographs for 2 cts. Price $7 to $15. +LIBERAL DISCOUNTS to agents and dealers. _Mention this Paper._ +*BLAISDELL CHAIR CO., 96 High St., Boston.* + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by +JAMES ELVERSON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at +Washington, D.C.) + + VOL. VIII. + + JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher. + N.W. corner Ninth and Spruce Sts. + + PHILADELPHIA MAY 21, 1887. + + TERMS + $3.00 Per Annum, In Advance. + + No. 25. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + LINDA’S CRAZY QUILT. + + By Fannie Williams. + + +“Oh, dear!” sighed Linda Trafton, turning over the pages of a +closely-written, school-girlish letter, which her brother Fred had +tossed into her lap, on returning from the post office. “I do wish I +could get silk pieces enough to make a crazy quilt. Cousin Dell writes +all about hers, and it must be very pretty.” + +“Crazy quilt! That’s about all I’ve heard for the last six months! +I should think you girls had all gone crazy yourselves!” ejaculated +Fred. + +“Why, Fred!” was Linda’s only answer to this outburst. + +She was a very sweet-tempered little maid, with soft, brown hair and +soft, brown eyes, that matched in color as exactly as eyes and hair +could match, and gave her a look of being--as indeed she was--too gentle +to dispute, or even to argue, with anybody, least of all with Fred, who +was fifteen, and three years her elder, and always took a tone of great +superiority toward his little sister. + +Still, he was a pretty good sort of brother, as brothers go; and, in +Linda’s eyes, he was a prodigy of cleverness. + +So, whenever they happened to differ in opinion, and Fred expressed +himself in this vehement style, she only looked at him in a deprecating +way, and murmured: + +“Why, Fred!” + +“Well, I should like to know,” continued Fred, “what could be more +idiotic than the way you spend your time, you girls, fitting those +ridiculous, catty-cornered pieces of silk together, and working them all +over with bugs and cobwebs and caterpillars, and little boys in Mother +Hubbard dresses! You may well call ’em _crazy_ quilts! I don’t believe +there was ever anything crazier, unless it was the lunatic who first +invented them!” + +“Why, Fred!” said Linda, again. “Now, I think they are too pretty for +anything!” + +“Pretty!” snorted Fred. “They’re made out of the last things that you’d +suppose anybody would ever think of putting into a bed-quilt. I can’t +get a chance to wear a neck-tie half out before somebody wants it. Kate +Graham spoke for my last new one the next day after I bought it. And I +hardly dare to put my hat down, where there’s a girl around, for fear +she’ll capture my hat-band!” + +By this time, Linda was laughing outright. + +“Oh, you are so funny, Fred! But you only just ought to see Kate +Graham’s crazy quilt. I _know_ you couldn’t help calling it lovely. She +has got pieces of ever so many wedding dresses in it; but I don’t know +who would give _me_ any. Aunt Mary never will get married, nor Cousin +Susie, nor our Bridget, unless Pat hurries up with his courting--and +there’s nobody else. Besides, they are all making crazy quilts of their +own. I would start one with papa’s old silk handkerchief and his +Association badge, if I thought I could ever get pieces enough to finish +it; but I don’t see how I could.” + +“Bess Hartley told me that she was going to send off somewhere and get a +lot of pieces that are put up to sell. You get a whole package of +assorted colors for a dollar,” suggested Fred. + +“Oh, that would make it cost too much! Mamma would not let me do that,” +said Linda, shaking her head. “She says it is well enough to use up odd +bits of silk in that way, if one happens to have them; but she doesn’t +think it right to spend money in such a manner, instead of using it for +better purposes--and I don’t suppose it is.” + +“Well, I am sure I don’t know what you are going to do,” was Fred’s +consoling observation. “You’d be as crazy as the rest of the girls if +you began to piece a quilt; and I don’t know but you will go crazy if +you can’t.” + +With which conclusion, Fred walked off whistling, and left Linda to read +her Cousin Dell’s letter over again, and wish that Patrick O’Brien would +propose to Bridget, if he was ever going to, so that she could get +married, and have a new silk dress for her wedding. + +However, Linda was not the girl to fret and worry after things which +were unattainable. + +Fred would have his joke, but she was not going to make herself unhappy +just because she had not the materials for making silk patchwork, as +Dell and the rest of her girl friends were doing. There were plenty of +other pleasures and amusements within her reach, and the one that she +enjoyed most of all came in her way, as it happened, the very next +morning. + +[Illustration: +“OH, MRS. BURBANK! WHAT BEAUTIFUL PIECES!” CRIED LINDA. +“WHERE DID THEY ALL COME FROM?”] + +Her father said to her, as he rose from the table after breakfast: + +“Linda, would you like a ride, my dear? I am going to drive over to East +Berlin, and I will take you along, if you would like to go.” + +“_If_ I would like it! Why, papa, you _know_ there isn’t _anything_ that +I like so much as a good, long ride with you!” cried Linda, dancing with +delight, as she ran off to get ready for the drive. + +For it was indeed a “good long” ride to East Berlin--fifteen miles at +least--and the day was just as fresh and bright and lovely as a day +could be in the fresh and bright and lovely month of May. + +The young grass was emerald green along the country roads, the apple +trees were all in sheets of bloom, hill-sides were fairly blue with +bird-foot violets, and sweet spring flowers were smiling everywhere. + +Linda was so full of happiness that she could scarcely keep from singing +in concert with the birds that trilled and chirped among the trees on +either hand, as the pleasant road led through a piece of woodland. + +But the woods came to an end abruptly where the trees had been cut off, +and where some men with ox-carts were hauling away the long piles of +cord-wood. Then there were fields of plowed ground on each side of the +road, and then a long stretch of rocky hills and old pastures, and +presently some houses came in sight. + +Old, weather-beaten houses they were--a dozen, perhaps, in all. Two or +three had once been painted red, and still displayed some dark and dingy +traces of that color; but most of them were brown, and some had green +moss growing on their broad, sloping roofs--roofs which were two stories +high in front, but came down so low at the back that a lively boy might +reach them from the ground with very little effort, only the place did +not look as if anything so young or so lively as a boy had been seen +there for at least twenty years. + +Still, it was a pleasant place. There were thickets of lilac and +mock-orange bushes around every house, and old-fashioned lilies and +roses growing half-wild along the fences. + +There were flagged walks leading up to all the doors, with borders of +evergreen box, which had once been trim, and still was quaint and +pleasing; there were old gardens, where everything was “all run out,” +but where the bees and birds appeared to find congenial homes; there +were gnarly old apple-trees, with bending, twisted branches that touched +the ground and made the most enticing rustic seats. + +Withal, there was a calm and stillness brooding on the place that filled +one’s fancy with sweet thoughts of olden times and-- + +“Whoo-oo-oop! Hip, hip, pip, hoo-_ray_!” + +“Good _gracious_!” cried Mr. Trafton, starting from his pleasant +reverie, and clutching at the reins which lay loose upon his knee. “Good +gracious! What’s that?” + +“It’s a boy!” said Linda, with a quite disgusted accent. + +Unquestionably, it was a boy--and a boy of the most aggressively modern +type, clad in garments of the very latest cut, from his flannel +yachting-shirt to his canvas “base-ball” shoes--a boy with a look as +well as a voice, which proclaimed him all alive. + +His close-cropped head was bare, and his white straw hat came spinning +over the stone wall and into the middle of the road, as if impelled by +steam-power, before the boy himself scrambled over, giving vent to +another whoop, which would have done credit to a Comanche gone mad. + +The whoop and the hat together were enough to startle almost any horse; +and, although Mr. Trafton’s fine roadster, “Billy,” was pretty well +trained, the combined effect was a little too much for his nerves. He +gave a sidelong leap and started to run. His master checked him sharply, +and veering from the road, he ran the wheels into a deep rut, and over +went the buggy with a crash! + +Linda screamed, as she was pitched headlong into a thicket of sweet-fern +which grew along the roadside; but the bushes broke her fall, and, +beyond the fright and a scratched hand, she received no injury. + +Her father was equally fortunate, and, as Billy had recovered from his +momentary panic and did not run, the accident appeared, at the first +glance, to be nothing serious. + +The boy who had caused it came forward, with a look of trepidation upon +his countenance, exclaiming: + +“I’m awfully sorry, sir; I didn’t mean to frighten your horse. I was +down behind the wall and didn’t see you coming, or I wouldn’t have +thrown my hat so. I was only scaring a squirrel.” + +“He must have been pretty thoroughly scared,” said Mr. Trafton, drily. + +However, the boy’s bright face wore an expression of such honest regret +that he added, with a good-humored accent: + +“Well, well, I was a boy myself once. You must be more careful another +time, my lad.” + +“That I will, sir.” + +And as Mr. Trafton began to raise the overturned buggy, the boy took +hold and helped him. + +On getting the vehicle righted, they found that one wheel was broken so +badly as to need repairs before the journey could be continued, and Mr. +Trafton surveyed the damage with grave concern. + +The boy gave a low whistle, and murmured: + +“Here’s a state of things!” + +“I don’t see what I’m going to do,” remarked the gentleman. “There’s +nobody in this region who could mend that wheel, I suppose?” + +“Oh yes there is!” cried the boy, brightening up. “Doran’s blacksmith +shop is only a little ways down the road; you can get the wheel fixed +there. I’ll go along and hold up this side of the buggy; and I’ll pay +the bill, sir, as I caused the damage.” + +Mr. Trafton looked at him approvingly, but answered: + +“You need not do that, my boy. The bill won’t amount to much; but the +job may take some time--and where can I leave my little girl? I suppose +you would not care to wait in the blacksmith shop, Linda?” + +Before Linda could reply, the boy said, looking at her frankly, and not +at all abashed: + +“She can stay with my grandma while you’re having the wheel fixed. Mrs. +Deacon Burbank is my grandma; she lives right here, sir,” pointing out +the house. + +“And where do you live?” asked Mr. Trafton, who took a liking to Mrs. +Deacon Burbank’s grandson, for all his annoyance at the trouble which +that lively youth had caused him. + +“I’m staying with grandma this summer,” said the boy; “but I live in +Boston when I’m at home. My name is John Burbank.” + +“Well, John, you will have to take Linda to your grandma, for I cannot +leave Billy standing here with this broken buggy.” + +“All right, sir; I’ll be back in a minute, and help you down to +Doran’s.” + +So saying, John Burbank led the way, and Linda followed, to the nearest +of the brown old houses--a big, broad-roofed domicile, with wide, double +doors and narrow windows, and with two great cherry trees in the front +yard, looking like two great drifts of snow, they were so thickly +covered with white blossoms. + +A border of red and yellow tulips, gay daffodils, and “crown imperials,” +edged the narrow walk which led from the front gate around to the side +door, where they were received by a surprised old lady in gold-bowed +spectacles, to whom John presented his companion, with the following +concise account of the accident which occasioned her unexpected +appearance: + +“Grandma, here’s a girl, and her father is out there with his team, and +they’ve just had a break-down, and it was all my doing; but I didn’t +mean to! I scared the horse, hollering at a squirrel. I’ve got to go and +help her father get the buggy down to Doran’s, and she’s going to stay +here till it’s fixed, and her name’s Linda. I don’t know what her other +name is.” + +“Linda Trafton,” supplemented Linda, as the boy paused to catch his +breath. + +“Johnny,” said the old lady, speaking as severely as a stout old lady +with dimples in her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes could be expected +to speak, when addressing her only grandson--“Johnny, I do declare for +’t, you air the worst boy! What under the canopy will you go to cuttin’ +up next? Come right in, my dear,” she said to Linda, “and make yourself +to home. Johnny, you run along and help the gentleman; and tell Mr. +Doran your gran’ther will pay the bill.” + +“Oh, I’m going to pay it myself, grandma, with my own pocket-money, +if the gentleman will let me; but he says he won’t.” + +And Johnny was off before he had done speaking. + +“I declare for ’t,” said his grandmother, “that boy is a regular +Burbank; jest exactly what the deacon used to be at his age--always into +suthin’. I knew the deacon when he wa’n’t any older than Johnny, an’ +I remember jest how he used to act. Take off your things, my dear, and +make yourself to home.” + +She took Linda’s hat and sacque, and carried them into the spare +bed-room, where there was a great “four-poster” bedstead, with +blue-and-white chintz hangings and a blue-and-white spread; and then she +came and sat down by Linda, and asked her a great many questions about +the break-down, and about her father and mother and herself, but she was +such a nice old lady that Linda did not mind her being a little +inquisitive. + +In return, she gave Linda quite a complete history of her own family, +and told her a number of entertaining stories about Johnny and Johnny’s +father, and about the deacon when he was a boy. Finally, she looked at +the queer old clock on the kitchen mantle-shelf, and remarked: + +“It’s time I was gittin’ my dinner over to cook, and I guess I shall +have to leave you to amuse yourself a little while, my dear. You might +go out an’ look ’round the garden, if you want; or maybe you’d ruther go +up in the garret, an’ look at Johnny’s picture-books an’ things. He +likes to stay up there, when it rains so’t he can’t go out.” + +“Oh, I should like that, of all things!” cried Linda, delighted. “I do +love a real old-fashioned garret, with all sorts of old things in it!” + +“Do you now? Well,” said Mrs. Burbank, beaming over the gold-bowed +spectacles, “our garret is full of old truck, an’ you can go up there +an’ rummage ’round all you’ve a min’ to.” + +She opened the door of a narrow staircase, with steep and well-worn +stairs, and told Linda that was the way to the back chamber over the +kitchen, and when she got up there she would see the garret stairs; +and she guessed Linda could find the way up alone. She was pretty hefty +herself, and she didn’t travel up and down stairs any more than she +could help. + +Linda very quickly found her way to the garret, which proved to be +indeed a veritable treasury of “old truck;” and her brown eyes opened +wide with ecstasy as she caught sight of a real, genuine spinning-wheel, +stowed away under the low, sloping roof. + +Then she discovered a smaller wheel, with a motto carved around its rim +in quaint lettering, which Linda studied over a long time before she +made it out--“Eat not the Bread of Idleness.” She learned afterward that +this was a flax-wheel, on which Deacon Burbank’s mother used to spin the +thread to weave her linen sheets. + +Beside the flax-wheel stood a superannuated chest of drawers, with dingy +brass handles, which had once, no doubt, been a fine piece of furniture. + +Then there were broken-down chairs, with straight, stiff backs; queer, +cracked jugs and bottles, and painted teacups with the handles broken +off; and funny old spelling-books and school-readers, all inscribed, +in beautiful handwriting, on their yellow fly-leaves: + + “John Burbank, his book.” + +Linda knew that the John Burbank who had learned his lessons from these +old books must have been the deacon “when he was a boy,” and not her +young friend, Johnny. + +There were several old-fashioned wooden chests among the treasures of +this delightful garret, and Linda hesitated to open them at first; +but finally she called to mind that she had been given permission to +“rummage” as much as she pleased. + +One chest, painted green, stood near the narrow window, which threw a +checkered square of sunshine upon the garret floor, and as Linda raised +the cover she gave a little scream of rapture, for it seemed almost as +if she had found a broken rainbow, there was such a glitter of gay +colors in the sunlight. + +“Oh! _oh!_” she cried, “what lovely, _lovely_ pieces for a crazy quilt!” + +For the old chest was nearly filled with scraps of silk and satin of +every shape and size, from bits not over an inch wide to the large, +three-cornered pieces, of which there seemed to be a great number, left +in cutting trimming-folds “on the bias,” as Linda knew, for she had seen +many such remnants proudly displayed by those of her girl friends who +happened to be in the good graces of Miss Cranshaw, the village +dressmaker. But such brocades and stripes, such “plaid” and “watered” +and “figured” silks, such brilliant shades of color as she found among +the contents of that chest, her eyes had never looked upon before. + +“I wonder if these are pieces of Deacon Burbank’s mother’s dresses?” +thought Linda, as she turned them over, exclaiming, every other minute, +“Oh, how pretty!” or “Oh, what a beauty!” for every new piece that she +took up seemed prettier than the last. “Why, she must have had as many +as Queen Victoria. Why _don’t_ they wear such colors now? Most of the +silk dresses that Miss Cranshaw makes are black, or brown, or +sage-green, or some other sober shade; but these are all so bright. +Oh, what a lovely blue!” + +“It is a handsome piece of silk, ain’t it? That was the dress Miss Polly +Newcome wore to the inaugeration ball at Washington, ’most forty years +ago. They don’t have no such silks in these days.” + +Mrs. Deacon Burbank had mounted the garret stairs with footsteps far +from noiseless, being, as she said, a “hefty” old lady; but Linda had +been too much absorbed to notice her approach until she spoke. + +“Oh, Mrs. Burbank! What beautiful pieces!” cried Linda. “Where did they +all come from?” + +“Why, they come from all ’round, my dear,” said Mrs. Burbank, sitting +down with Linda, beside the green chest. “You see, my girls used to take +in dressmakin’, when they was young, and the pieces kinder gathered an’ +gathered. The girls used to keep the silk pieces separate, thinkin’ they +might do suthin’ with ’em sometime; but they never did. They was always +too busy to do much putterin’ work. So the pieces have laid there ever +sence the girls left home. They all got married, many a long year ago, +my girls. Cecilia went to New York, and Evaline lives down in +Pennsylvaney--she’s got to be quite an old woman herself now; and Nancy +Jane, she’s layin’ in the cemetery over to East Berlin, with her own +little girl buried ’long side of her,” said the old lady, sighing. “But +they used to be called the best dressmakers there was anywhere round +these parts; folks used to come from as far off as Tolland County to +have their nice dresses made by the Burbank girls. Miss Polly Newcome +went to Washington the winter that her father was elected to the Senate. +She was a great beauty, Miss Polly was, an’ they made everything of her +in Washington. But my girls had the makin’ of all her new clothes, ’fore +she went. This was a dress she wore to a grand dinner-party that was +given to her father, Senator Newcome.” + +And the old lady picked out a scrap of marvelous brocade, with +silver-white roses on a wine-colored ground, and smoothed it on her +knee. + +“This was the one she wore to the President’s reception”--selecting a +bit of rose-colored satin, striped with sky-blue velvet; “and this,” +she continued, smoothing out a long strip of changeable silk in green +and ruby tints, “was another dinner dress. Here’s a piece of plaid silk +that was made up for Squire Harney’s wife, when she was goin’ to Europe; +and here’s a piece of Mrs. Doctor Thorne’s dress, that she had made on +purpose to wear to a grand party over in Tolland.” + +This last was a good-sized square of bright yellow silk, with polka-dots +of mazarine blue. + +Linda, looking at the gorgeous fabric with admiring eyes, exclaimed: + +“I never saw such pieces in all my life! They _would_ make the loveliest +crazy quilt!” + +“What kind of a quilt, my dear?” + +“A crazy quilt,” said Linda, laughing. “Haven’t you ever seen one, Mrs. +Burbank? Fred says the person was crazy who first invented them; but I +think they’re just as pretty as they can be. It takes a great many +pieces of silk, though, to make a bed-quilt, and some of the girls only +make sofa-pillows and such things.” + +“Oh, you mean patchwork. The land!” said Mrs. Burbank, “I used to make +silk patchwork more than sixty years ago. It was all the style then, +but I didn’t s’pose they ever done it now.” + +“Oh, yes; it is all the style now,” said Linda, with a smile. + +“Do tell! I want to know if you like to piece patchwork?” said the old +lady, looking over her spectacles at Linda’s girlish face, with its +gentle eyes and frame of soft, brown hair. “I declare for’t, you look +just as my Nancy Jane did when she was your age! If you want them +pieces, child, you can have ’em; I ain’t got any use for ’em, and don’t +s’pose I ever shall have. I’m too old to piece patchwork, myself--my +eyesight ain’t what it used to be.” + +For a moment Linda was speechless with delight, but finally she found +her voice, and cried out: + +“Oh, Mrs. Burbank! All those lovely crazy pieces! Do you really mean to +give them to me?” + +“Of course I do, and I’m real glad to see ye so pleased, my dear. Them +silk pieces have laid in that chest years an’ years, doin’ nobody any +good; an’ they shan’t lay there no longer, if they can make a little +girl so happy.” + +And the good old lady looked happy herself as she opened another chest, +and, taking out an old pillow-case of home-spun linen, began to fill it +with the wondrous “crazy pieces.” + +When she had crowded them all in and tied the bag with a piece of twine, +she said: + +“Now, you can take ’em right along with you, an’ whenever your father +happens to come this way ag’in, he can bring me back the piller-case, +for it was one of Mother Burbank’s, and I shouldn’t want to lose it. +I declare for ’t!” she added, “I forgot all about your father, child, +I got so took up with lookin’ over them pieces. He’s got the buggy +mended, an’ he’s come back after you, so you must come right down. +I want you an’ he should have dinner ’fore you go; it’s all ready.” + +And happy Linda went down to the kitchen, where she found her father and +Johnny, and Deacon Burbank, who had just come home to dinner. + +Mr. Trafton was hungry, and quite willing to take dinner at the +deacon’s, instead of waiting till they arrived at East Berlin. + +They all became very well acquainted in the course of the meal, and Mr. +Trafton promised to bring Linda to see Mrs. Burbank, whenever he came +that way. + +“And I will bring my crazy quilt and show it to you, when I get it done, +Mrs. Burbank,” added Linda. + +Whereupon Johnny spoke up, and said: + +“If you don’t get on with your crazy quilt any faster than my sister +does with hers, you won’t ever get it done!” + +And Linda told him that sounded just like Fred! + +Johnny carried the pillow-case out to the buggy and tucked it under the +seat; and Linda could think of nothing but her crazy pieces all the way +to East Berlin. + +When she got home and showed them to Fred, he declared they were the +jolliest, craziest lot of pieces he had seen yet! + +And when Linda’s quilt was commenced, all the girls went wild over it; +but she laughingly refused to tell them where her pieces came from. + +She made a great mystery of the matter, asserting, in reply to all +inquiries, that hers would be a crazy quilt with a history, and nobody +should know anything about it until the quilt was finished. + +A crazy quilt with a history is no trifling piece of work, and the girls +have not yet heard the story. + + + + +DAVY’S TURN. + +BY FLORENCE B. HALLOWELL. + + +“Never mind! It’ll come my turn some day, and then I’ll pay you boys up; +and you’ll be sorry enough for all the mean things you’ve done to me,” +and Davy Potter stooped to pick up the books which one of a group of a +dozen boys had pushed from his arm. + +The school-house yard was muddy from recent rains, and the books were so +wet and dirty that Davy took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe them +off. + +“What’ll you take for that handkerchief, Dave?” asked Fred Bassett. +“It’s a beauty, and no mistake.” + +There was a loud shout from the other boys, and universal attention was +directed to the little square of faded calico Davy was so industriously +using. + +A hot flush rose to the boy’s thin, freckled face; but he made no reply, +except to mutter under his breath something which the boys could not +catch. + +But there was a bitter, vindictive feeling in his heart as he followed +his persecutors into the school-house. He did not understand why all the +wit--if wit it could be called--should be leveled at him; why he should +be the target for every poisoned arrow, simply because he was poor, ugly +and always at the bottom of his classes. He thought it unjust and cruel, +and longed with all his heart for the time to come when by some real +good luck he would have a chance to “pay the boys up.” + +He knew that if he ever needed assistance in any such work, he could +rely on old Sim Kane to help him; for the old man--a half-witted +creature who earned a miserable livelihood by doing odd jobs of +wood-sawing and cleaning for charitably-disposed people--had good +reason, also, to hate the boys of the Prickett school, and long for +revenge. + +Davy lived with an aunt, who gave him a home as a matter of duty, and +regarded him as a burden and a nuisance, often treating him so unkindly +that he was made very unhappy, and spent as little time with her as +possible. + +He tried honestly to be dutiful and obedient; but he couldn’t help +forgetting occasionally to wipe his feet before entering the kitchen, +and sometimes he let the fire go out, or forgot to feed the chickens. +Then he was severely reprimanded, of course, and told that he was +ungrateful, as well as stupid. + +But in the woods he was free to do as he liked, and there was no one to +scold or find fault with him, and he had many dumb but affectionate +friends there among the squirrels, rabbits and birds. + +So he always took his way to the woods every Saturday as soon as he had +cleaned up the yard about his aunt’s house, filled all the +water-buckets, cut the kindling for the kitchen stove, and attended to +the dozen or more other chores Miss Potter required of him. + +He never shirked the least of them, no matter how anxious he was to get +away; for he had been so frequently told how much he owed to his aunt, +that he believed he could not do too much for her. + +It was while exploring the depths of the woods, one day, that he +discovered the secret retreat of the “Mystic Nine,” a club of nine boys +who disappeared from the village regularly every Saturday morning during +the spring, summer and fall, and remained away until sunset, often +returning with torches to have a street parade after dark, or with a bag +of plump birds for a grand “fry” in the kitchen of some indulgent +mother. + +That they had a hiding-place of some sort, where they held meetings and +ate the generous lunches they carried with them, all the boys outside +the nine felt sure; but none of the Mystics ever answered any questions +concerning it, and threw out vague but impressive warnings as to the +terrible fate that would befall any one whose curiosity led him to seek +to penetrate the secret they guarded so closely. + +Davy stumbled upon it quite by chance. Following the trail of a bird +with a wounded wing, he found himself in a part of the wood he had never +been in before, and came suddenly upon a great pile of brush a dozen +feet high, behind which was the entrance to a deep cave in a rocky +hillside. + +He entered, and found it well furnished with rough blankets, a table, +an oil stove, and many other things necessary to the comfort and +convenience of nine boys. A large window in the roof, which was +carefully covered with brush, afforded a means to obtain light, when +that given by the mouth of the cave did not prove sufficient, or when +bad weather made it necessary to drop the canvas which did duty as a +door. + +Davy, afraid of getting into trouble, kept his discovery to himself, but +he made frequent stolen trips to the cave, and resolved that some day he +would use his knowledge for the purpose of obtaining his revenge. + +He had a vague plan in his head to guide about fifty of the roughest +boys in the village to the cave, and thus give the secret to every one, +and he fully determined to let this be his form of revenge, when, being +called upon to read in class, he was forced to use the wet, soiled +books. + +His thoughts were directed so much to this subject that his lessons were +recited even worse than usual, and as a result he was kept in to study +for an hour after the close of school. + +When he was at last free to go home, and left the school-house, he found +that poor old Sim was in the hands of his enemies. The Mystic Nine had +placed him in his own dilapidated hand-cart, and were wheeling him down +one of the side streets as fast as they could go, shouting and laughing +at his frenzied cries of distress and the ludicrous picture he +presented, as he clung to the side of the cart, the brim of his torn +straw hat flapping in the wind, and an old scarf of bright scarlet silk, +which he cherished as his dearest earthly possession, streaming out +behind. + +Davy felt very sorry for the old man, but did not dare interfere. He +could only wait until the boys, becoming wearied of their sport, ran the +cart into a shallow pond and went off to seek other diversion. + +Old Sim was almost helpless with fright and exhaustion, and when Davy +waded into the pond and pushed the cart out on dry land again, he threw +his arms about the boy’s neck, and clung to him, sobbing and moaning +like a child. + +It was all Davy could do to comfort and quiet him, and to persuade him +to go home, so apprehensive was he that another attack would be made on +him. But Davy finally succeeded in convincing him that there was no +further danger, and the old man went scuffling off to the miserable +shanty he called home. + +The next day was Saturday, and as the weather was clear and bright, Davy +resolved to spend the whole morning in the woods. But his aunt found so +much for him to do that it was nearly noon before he was able to get +away. + +As usual, he divided his lunch with the birds and squirrels, and then +lay down under a tree to read a book he had brought with him. + +But it failed to interest him, and his mind persisted in dwelling upon +the unkindness with which he was so systematically treated, both at home +and at school. + +“I wonder if it will ever be any different?” he thought, as he sprang to +his feet at last. “If I only could get to the head of the grammar class +just once, they might treat me better. But of course there is no use in +thinking of that, for there’s no chance of it.” + +He strolled through the woods, his steps turning unconsciously in the +direction of the secret cave. + +He had almost reached it, when he suddenly became aware of where he was, +and started to retrace his steps, fearing the boys would come out and +discover him there. + +But scarcely had he turned when, to his amazement, he saw old Sim Kane +come rushing toward him from the direction of the cave. + +The old man’s face was pallid with excitement, and he was swinging his +long arms, and muttering and laughing to himself in a way that made +Davy’s blood run cold. + +“Sim! Sim! what’s the matter?” he cried. + +But the old man paid no attention to him, and not pausing to question +him again, but sure there was trouble of some sort at the cave, Davy ran +toward that secret retreat. + +His ears soon told him what the trouble was. The great pile of brush +which concealed the entrance to the cave had been set on fire! + +Terrible was the vengeance which the half-demented old man had taken on +his boyish persecutors. + +Davy, with a loud cry of horror, and forgetting in that awful moment all +his own wrongs, seized a stout branch, and rushed upon the pile of brush +without a moment’s hesitation. + +The entire mouth of the cave was a mass of flame, and it was no easy +matter to scatter the burning brands, so intense was the heat. + +But Davy fought the fire right and left, with a wild energy far beyond +his strength and years, and at last the mouth of the cave was clear, +and the fresh air could enter it again. + +Then, exhausted, faint, and suffering most intense agony from a dozen +terrible burns, the brave boy sank to the ground. + +At first he was scarcely conscious, but presently he became aware that +some one was bending over him, and opening his eyes, he saw Fred +Bassett’s face, so full of pity, admiration and kindness that poor Davy +scarcely recognized it. + +“We didn’t deserve this good turn of you, Davy,” said the boy. “But I +can’t tell you how thankful we are to you. But for you we would have +been suffocated inside of ten minutes. It was that old Sim who set the +fire. We were busy at the back of the cave, making it deeper, and didn’t +know anything about the fire until we heard the old man shout at us from +the window overhead. He was half mad with joy, and was just about to +light the brush on the window. He must have fired the pile in front in +twenty places. There was no use in trying to get out. It was like a wall +of fire. I tell you, we all thought our time had come. It was just +awful.” + +“I’m glad I came when I did,” said Davy, gently. “But I’m afraid you’ll +have to help me home. My feet are so badly burned I don’t believe I can +take a step.” + +“As if we’d let you even think of walking!” exclaimed Fred. “We’ll rig +up a litter in short order.” + +So Davy was carried into the village in state by seven of the boys, +while the two others went on ahead to tell Miss Potter what had happened +and engage the services of a doctor. + +And it was not until his wounds were all dressed, and he was lying +quietly in bed, with Fred Bassett and Tom Harper sitting beside him, +that Davy happened to think that the “turn” for which he had waited so +long had come at last, and he had failed to take the revenge he had so +ardently desired. + +But he never regretted this, for he never had to complain again of +unkind treatment from either his aunt or his schoolmates. For Miss +Potter, in taking care of her young nephew during the three weeks he was +confined to the house, found good qualities of head and heart the +existence of which she had never before even suspected, and she made up +her mind that she had thought Davy a burden because she had never really +understood him. + +As to the boys--well, they made a hero of Davy, and the “Mystic Nine” +became the “Mystic Ten,” by the admission to membership of the shy, +freckled-faced boy who was always at the bottom of his classes. + +And affection and encouragement brightened up Davy’s wits so much that +he ceased before long to occupy that unenviable and lowly position, and +astonished his teacher by his rapid progress. + +No punishment was ever meted out to old Sim; but it is scarcely +necessary to say that the boys were careful to let him severely alone +after that memorable Saturday on which Davy became a hero. + + + + +THE BLIND GIRL AND THE SPRING. + +BY SYDNEY GREY. + + + Yes, it is true that I am blind (it was not always thus), + But oft it comes into my mind how God can comfort us. + For if, of some good gift bereft, we bend before His will, + He ever has a blessing left which should our sorrows still. + This very morn I found it so; scarce had the day begun, + Ere with small, pattering, restless feet that hither swiftly run, + The children came in joyous mood, and shouted, “Spring is here!” + And when they led me through the wood, I knew that she was near. + I felt her breath upon my cheek, and while we walked along, + A thousand times I heard her speak the rustling leaves among, + In tones as though a harp had thrilled beneath an angel’s touch, + And all my soul with rapture filled: yet when I said as much, + The others laughed and whispered low, “Nay, nay, it is the wind!” + To them perhaps it might be so; but, ah! if folks are blind, + They learn in every sound that floats around their pathway dark-- + The breeze, the brook, the glad bird-notes--some hidden voice to mark. + Therefore, when spring begins to don her garments fresh and gay, + Because I cannot look upon her beauty day by day, + Nor see the pointed crocus flame above the garden mold, + Nor watch the snowy tips that frame the daisy’s heart of gold; + Because unto my longing eyes may never be displayed + The changeful glory of the skies, warm shine and soothing shade, + Nor the great sun’s far-reaching rays which crown the day with light, + Nor yet the star-lit purple haze that comes before the night; + She breathes the tender tale to me, in accents clear and plain, + Until I nearly rend the veil and see it all again. + And though I’m blind, I know quite well, when to the woods we go, + The place to find the wild bluebell, and where the lilies blow; + Shy violets tell me, as I pass, their buds are at my feet, + And through the lengthening meadow-grass run murmurs soft and sweet. + Oh! I thank God that He doth bring such daily joy to me, + For even I can welcome spring, like happy girls who see. + + + + +[Illustration] + +How to Make A Canvas Canoe, + +(_Concluded._) + +BY E. T. LITTLEWOOD. + + +The covering is best made of what is known as “crash,” strong and close. +It must be wide enough to go completely under the canoe, and can be had +about 5 ft. wide, which will be quite wide enough. Seven yards of it +will be sufficient. + +To put on the canvas, turn the canoe over. Lay the canvas with the +centre line along the keel. Stretch it well by pulling at each end, and +tack it through the middle at the extreme ends with a few tacks in a +temporary manner. Put in temporary tacks along the gunwale at moderate +intervals, stretching slightly, and endeavor to get rid of all folds. + +Begin in the middle and work toward the ends, and always pull straight +away from the keel, and not along the gunwale. Then put in a second set +of tacks half way between the first set of tacks on one side, pulling +fairly tight. Then, on the other side, put in tacks opposite to the +latter, pulling as tightly as possible. + +The best way to do this is to seize the canvas with a pair of pincers, +so that on pulling you can get the head of the pincers just over the +gunwale, when they can be used as a lever to give an extra pull. A tack +may then be put in on the outside of the gunwale; half-inch galvanized +tacks will do. + +Now remove the temporary set of tacks. To get rid of folds, which will +not occur along the keel, but along the gunwale, keep bisecting the +distance between two consecutive tacks by another tack, so that the +canvas is equally loose on each side of it, always now pulling the +canvas as tightly as possible. + +In this way the folds will disappear, and the canvas be stretched tight +and well-fastened to the gunwale. Leave that portion within a foot of +each end untacked. + +Next cut away all that portion which projects beyond the stem and +stern-post; turn the edges in, and tack along the edges at moderate +distances. + +Bisect these distances, and these again, till you have a very close row +of tacks, as in Fig. 12. Pull fairly tight, but not too tight, and do +not use pincers for this part; quarter-inch tacks will be best. + +The ends may be cut out and put on, lapping the edges over the side, as +shown in Fig. 12, and enough canvas will be left to fill the part along +the sides of the well, into which the canvas should be tacked with a +fine row of tacks, afterward being stretched over the gunwale. The canoe +will now be completely covered in except the well. + +Before putting on the top, however, give the lower part outside a good +coating of boiled linseed-oil. This will be most of it absorbed into the +canvas. The same may be done afterward with the top. + +When this is dry--that is, after two or three days--give another good +coating of the same. Then paint the canoe according to taste. Two coats +for the bottom will be advisable, and paint which will stand water well +should be used. It would be well to paint the framework with one coat +before covering. + +[Illustration] + +Make a stretcher (Fig. 13) for the feet, of half-inch board, and slips +to fit it into (Fig. 10), with stops on the floor. Also, a backboard of +half-inch board, to correspond (Fig. 14). Each piece in the latter may +be 18x4 inches. They should be nailed into two cross-pieces behind, so +as to form a hollow for back, and should be placed two inches apart, +to allow a space for the spine. + +I prefer myself to fit in the backboard by means of stops on the floor +and back of the well, making it keep one position, and that at a +considerable slope, and have not found a swinging backboard so +comfortable as some appear to have done. + +For the paddle, for which I think about 7 feet 6 inches long over all +is a good length, take a light, clean piece of yellow pine, or fir, +1½ x 1¼ inches, not more, and 6 feet long. In the ends of this cut +slots 6 inches long, each to receive two pear-shaped pieces of very +light half-inch plank, 1 foot 3 inches by 8 inches. Nail them through +with copper nails, if possible. The blades should be at right angles +to the thickest direction of the handle. + +Before nailing in, shave down the handle from an oval of 1½ x 1¼ +inches for 2 feet of the middle to an oval of about 1⅛ x ⅞ inches +near the beginning of the blades. + +The handle should have its full thickness at the beginning of the blade, +but should be well tapered off along the blade, so as to be quite thin +at its middle, where it ends. It should have its full breadth across the +breadth of the blade. The blade itself may be shaved off thinner toward +the edges. + +I do not think that for ordinary purposes any strip of copper or tin +need be put round the blade, and the weight is increased by using. + +The great thing about a paddle is that it should be as light as +possible, and, if it appears able to stand it, it may be reduced still +further. It may be painted or varnished, all but two feet in the middle. +I find no rings on the paddles necessary. + +A short strip nailed outside the gunwale in the middle of the canoe is a +good thing; it prevents wear from the paddle, and forms something to +catch hold of in lifting the canoe. + +A short outer keel is also a good thing at each end to prevent wear; but +in making holes for the nails through the canvas into the keel care must +be taken to turn in the edges round each hole, to tack with a close +circle of tacks, and paint well, so as to render the place water-tight. + +An apron is seldom wanted, but may be made of canvas rendered waterproof +with boiled oil, if desired. + +It is well to fasten some inflated bladders in each end, so as to make +the canoe a diminutive lifeboat, in case of an upset or of a hole being +knocked in her. + +The canoe will now be ready for launching. The owner should learn to put +her carefully into the water and take her out by himself--to carry her +on his shoulder. + +Superfluous wood may be cut from the central parts of the shapes, and +also from along the keel toward the ends before covering. The floor +forms a considerable item in the weight, consequently this should be +made no wider or thicker than necessary. In paddling, learn to reach +well forward and back, with a good swing of the body from side to side. + +Such a canoe as described will be found to wear well, and one made by +myself for a friend two years ago is now in use, and quite water-tight. + + + + +HOW THE PARTRIDGE DRUMS. + + +“When I first came to Canada,” says a writer from that locality, +“I found there were various opinions as to the method of making the +sound. One man, who read a great deal, but rarely went into the woods, +said that the sound was produced by the bird’s voice. Some of the +hunters told me that the bird struck its wings on the log, and others +that it struck them together over its back. + +“I did not give much heed to the bookman’s explanation, for all the +woodmen laughed at it. I soon learned to discredit also the idea that +the bird thumped the log with its wings, because whether it stood on a +stump or a stone, a rotten log or solid timber, the sound was always the +same. Lastly, I did not believe that the wings were struck together, +because, when a pigeon or rooster strikes its wings together, the sound +is always a sharp crack. At length, after watching the bird carefully, +I came to the conclusion that it drums by beating the air only. + +“It is not an easy matter to get sight of a partridge when he is +drumming, but I managed to do it by crawling on my hands and knees +toward the bird, lying still while he was quiet, and only moving forward +when he renewed his noisy courtship; for it is only to woo and win his +mate that Sir Ruffled Grouse indulges in these musical exercises. + +“In this way I contrived to come within twenty feet without alarming +him. Through the alder thicket I could just see his shapely form, +strutting about like a turkey cock; then for a moment he stood upright, +with his feathers lying close. + +“Suddenly his wings flashed, and at the same moment I heard the loud +thump. Then for a few seconds he stood looking about as though nothing +had happened; but presently came a second flash and thump, and others +followed at lessening intervals, until at last the serenade rolled a way +like the galloping of horses or the rumbling of distant thunder.” + + + + +FROGS AND TADPOLES. + +BY E. S. + + +It is very interesting in the spring to watch the gradual development of +a frog from the egg, through the tadpole stage of its existence, till at +last it assumes its final form. + +The old frogs emerge from their winter hiding-places in the mud, early +in the spring, and during April their eggs may be found floating on +almost every stagnant pond. + +A group of these eggs in their early stages of development looks like a +mass of clear white jelly, containing numbers of black specks, each of +which is really the germ of the future tadpole. + +In order to watch the development, a group of the eggs should be taken +and put in a shallow vessel of water, which, if kept in the house, +should have a bell-glass, or some other covering, over it, to keep out +the dust. + +The jelly-like mass which envelopes the future tadpole is so clear that +all its changes can be easily watched. + +First the head appears, then a flat tail, and in course of time the +nostrils, mouth and large eyes, till at length the completed tadpole +bursts open its gelatinous covering, and apparently not in the least +embarrassed by its new surroundings, begins swimming briskly about, +looking for something to eat. + +The time occupied in hatching varies in different countries, according +to the climate, from four days to a month. + +The following stages are even more interesting, especially for those who +can take advantage of the transparency of the parts to watch the +circulation of the blood through a microscope. + +The body of the tadpole gradually gets broader, while the tail gets +thinner and thinner, till it finally disappears altogether; but before +that happens, its place has been taken by two hind legs, which first +appear under the skin and then gradually push their way through. + +The fore legs next appear, and so on through all the stages of +development, till in a longer or shorter time, according to the amount +of warmth, light and food it can obtain, the complete frog appears. + +But woe betide the unfortunate tadpole which, first of the shoal, +attains to the dignity of possessing limbs, for so ferocious are the +later ones, and so jealous of their precocious little brother, that they +almost always fall upon him, and not content with killing, never rest +till every morsel of him is eaten. + +And unless several of the tadpoles assume their final change about the +same time, this proceeding is repeated till their numbers are very +considerably diminished, or, as sometimes happens, till only one +survivor is left, who, having helped to eat all his brethren, instead of +meeting with his deserts, is allowed to live on in peace, till some day, +in the course of his walks abroad, he, in his turn, is snapped up as a +delicate morsel by some hungry snake or water-fowl. + +[Illustration] + + + + + BE HONEST AND TRUE. + + By George Birdseye. + + + Be honest and true, boys! + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life. + Both now and forever, + Be this your endeavor, + When wrong with the right is at strife. + + The best and the truest, + Alas! are the fewest; + But be one of these if you can. + In duty ne’er fail; you + Will find ’twill avail you, + And bring its reward when a man. + + Don’t think life plain sailing; + There’s danger of failing, + Though bright seem the future to be; + But honor and labor, + And truth to your neighbor, + Will bear you safe over life’s sea. + + Then up and be doing, + Right only pursuing, + And take your fair part in the strife. + Be honest and true, boys, + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life! + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 22._] + + IN SEARCH of HIMSELF. + + A Tale of Dangerous Adventure. + + BY GEORGE H. COOMER, + + Author Of “Arthur Summers,” Etc. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +RALPH MAKES A FRIEND. + +Ralph had need of all his courage, as he realized what was before him. +In a low, swampy spot, close under a pile of rock and earth, that rose +out of it like a wall, was an animal such as he had never met with until +this moment, although he instinctively guessed what it must be. + +The creature appeared to be in a complete frenzy of rage. It was covered +with mud and water, and with furious motions was trampling down the +long, rank grass which grew about the place. + +“A wild boar!” uttered our young friend to himself, with his heart +leaping to his throat, as his glance took in the sharp back, the high +shoulders, and the immense tusks that curved from the jaws like +cimetars. + +He had seen pictures of such animals, but had never dreamed how +startling the reality would be. + +The boar seemed to direct his fury against the ledge which formed the +boundary of the muddy and grassy place where he was raging about; and +looking a little above the savage brute, Ralph perceived a something +which appeared like a human form in some manner confined among the +rocks. He thought the body looked as if partially under a big stone that +held it down. + +Instantly the thought came to him: + +“It must be that a man has got caught there under a rock, which he has +pulled down upon himself in trying to clamber up.” + +Just as this thought entered his mind, he saw the boar give a fearful +spring and fall back with what seemed a strip of clothing between his +jaws. + +The position of the imprisoned man must be awful, and there was not a +moment to lose. The next spring might be more successful. + +The fierce jaws clashed together with a startling sound, and the huge +head was shaken, as if the frenzy of the monster was increased by the +possession of that bit of rag. + +The prisoner gave another wild cry, and Ralph responded, with all the +strength of his lungs: + +“I’ll help you! I’ll help you!” + +He was too far off for a successful shot, but he hoped by firing to +attract the animal’s attention from the man to himself, and then, in +case of need, he might retreat into some one of the trees among which he +was then standing. + +So, taking the best aim he could, he fired both barrels in quick +succession. But the boar, except by a furious toss of the head and a +single terrible “_Whoosh!_” paid not the slightest attention to him. + +Indeed, the efforts of the animal to reach the intended victim became, +if possible, more frantic than ever; and Ralph guessed that once, at +least, the tusks came in contact with some part of the poor captive’s +body. + +“I can do nothing in this way,” he said to himself. “The man will be +torn in pieces before my eyes. I must make a bold move and take my +chance.” + +Between himself and the scene of danger there was neither rock nor tree, +but only the shallow mud and water, and the rank grass. The venture +would be a desperate one, but nothing less would save the man from a +terrible death. + +[Illustration: +“RALPH’S LEGS WERE KNOCKED FROM UNDER HIM BY THE WEIGHT +OF THE HUGE BODY, SO THAT HE FELL AT FULL LENGTH IN THE MUD.”] + +Ralph had about him shells containing charges of all descriptions, +from fine shot to bullets. Quickly throwing open his breech-loader, he +slipped a ball cartridge into one barrel and a heavy charge of buckshot +into the other. + +Then springing forward, he went splashing across the morass, with the +mud and water almost up to his knees. + +“I am no marksman,” he thought, as he strode rapidly on, “and shall have +to get close to him to hit him; but if he should come at me, I shall +have my second barrel, besides a plenty of shells.” + +There was some reassurance in this thought, especially as he had two of +the spare shells in his hand, ready for use in case of need. + +At a distance of only six rods from the enraged animal, he stopped and +brought up his gun. + +The boar was not still for an instant, but rushing about in its efforts +to get up the rock. He had certainly struck the man, for there was blood +on the rock and on the savage tusks. This probably rendered him all the +more eager. + +“I’ll try the buckshot first,” thought Ralph, “for they’ll scatter a +little, and some of them must hit him.” + +He ranged between the two barrels, and pulled. “Bang!” sounded the +report. “Whoosh!” uttered the boar, stopping short in his efforts +against the rock, and turning his whole attention upon the intruder. +Doubtless he was hit, but perhaps not mortally. + +Ralph’s gun was again at his face. “Bang!” This time the single ball was +sent, but through the smoke of the discharge he saw that the boar was +rushing upon him. + +An interval of six rods, and a wild hog, six feet long, bounding over it +with clashing jaws! How the breech-loader sprang open, and how the two +spare charges went into it! What if Ralph had not held them all ready in +his hand? + +“Bang! bang!” The boar’s head was not three feet from the muzzle as the +second barrel was fired. The monster’s impetus carried him on with a +plunge; and the young hero’s legs were knocked from under him by the +weight of the huge body, so that he fell at full length in the mud. + +For an instant he believed himself lost, and while scrambling to his +feet he expected to feel the sweep of those sword-like tusks. + +But there was no longer any danger; the last discharge had done its work +to perfection, and with his knees bent under him, the boar lay just as +he had plowed into the mire, having not even rolled over. + +Picking up his gun, Ralph hurried to assist the person on the rock, whom +he had already seen to be a negro, and whom he now found to be held down +by a large stone, which lay upon his legs, he having doubtless pulled it +from a position above in his frantic efforts to escape from his pursuer. + +The confined black could not help himself; but Ralph succeeded, without +much difficulty, in relieving him from the heavy weight. + +The stone could not have slipped more than two or three feet, for the +negro was not much injured by it, although it had held him so firmly. +He had the marks of the animal’s tusks on one of his legs; but the wound +was not a dangerous one. Ralph bound his handkerchief around it, and +felt very glad to find that the poor fellow was almost as good as new. + +Finding himself able to walk, and seeming to realize how much he owed to +his young rescuer, the stout negro grasped the boy’s right hand in both +his own, and with tears glistening in his eyes, uttered a number of +rapid sentences, only a few words of which Ralph could understand, but +which were evidently the outpourings of gratitude. + +Still, there was in his manner an appearance of apprehension, as if he +feared that the lad might not be alone. He would glance furtively about, +like one who is expecting an enemy; and it was plain that he was +meditating a retreat. + +Back of the rocks there was dry, firm land; and in this direction he +looked, as if desirous of moving off. + +Ralph recalled the conversation which he had heard the day before about +the runaway slave. + +“This man may be Jumbo himself,” he thought. “I’ll try to make him +understand me.” + +Then, looking kindly in the negro’s face, he said, in Spanish: + +“I think you are Jumbo. I am only a boy, and I am all alone. You are +free; you can go where you will.” + +And he pointed to the deep, free woods. + +Ralph had great difficulty in getting out this amount of Castilian; but +the negro, whose own command of that language seemed to be of the most +meagre description, comprehended his meaning. He took the spirit, if not +the words. + +A grateful expression came over his dark face, and again he clasped the +boy’s hand, with the same flow of mingled African and Spanish upon his +tongue. + +Ralph bade him a kind good-by, and he walked away into the forest, +waving his sable hand with a gesture full of feeling as he disappeared. + +Our young sailor now proceeded to examine the animal he had killed. + +It is said that the timid man is afraid before the danger, the coward +during it, and the brave man after it. Ralph was afraid after it. + +He felt a kind of weakness about the knees, and wondered that he had not +noticed it before. He remembered how the bristles had stood up on the +boar’s back, how the savage jaws had clashed together, and how he had +seen the tusks standing out like long knives as the creature came +straight for him. + +Now how grim the monster looked as he lay in the mud and water, just +where he had dropped dead--not on his side, but with the legs doubled +under him, and the stout, hoggish ears sticking up like ears of corn. + +“The next thing is to find my pony,” thought Ralph. “Let’s see--which +way did I come? Here are my tracks. I must have come out of that thicket +yonder.” + +Then, looking about him, he saw another line of tracks, and, going to +examine it, perceived that it was where the boar had chased the black +man across the morass. Most of the negro’s footprints were lost in those +of the hog. + +Almost at the moment in which Ralph reached his pony, he heard the +report of a gun at some distance, and guessed that Mr. Arthur was coming +in search of him. He answered the signal, and the planter, who had +become anxious for his safety, soon made his appearance. + +“I had begun to be really alarmed about you,” said Mr. Arthur, “and +feared I should have to go back and summon assistance in the search. If +you had not heard my gun, I should have missed you, for I was just about +to turn in the opposite direction.” + +“Oh, I am sorry I have given you all this trouble!” said Ralph. “It is +too bad. But you can’t think what I have killed! I am glad you have +come, so that I can show you.” + +“Why, how wet and muddy you are!” said the planter, “and how your +clothes are torn! For heaven’s sake! where have you been?” + +Ralph related his adventure, and told how the black man had gone into +the forest. + +“I would not have had you take such a risk for all I am worth!” said Mr. +Arthur. “What would your father say if he knew of it?” + +“But the man couldn’t get away, and the boar might have got at him +before I could have had a chance to bring any one else here,” replied +Ralph. + +“Yes, I know; but it was a fearful risk. No doubt the man was the +runaway that I was speaking of to Mr. Osborne. At least, I should judge +so from your description. Osborne would have detained him, of course; +but I am not sorry that you made no such attempt. I should have been +tempted to let him go myself.” + +It was a great relief to Ralph to find that Mr. Arthur took this view of +the matter--a very singular one, he thought, for the owner of five or +six hundred slaves; yet, from what he had seen of his kind friend, he +was not surprised at it. + +The planter was curious to visit the scene of the adventure, and, with +some difficulty, they made their way to the place. + +“Why, Ralph,” he exclaimed, looking at the dead animal, and then at the +surroundings of the spot, “it is fearful! Had I known what you were +about, I should have given you up for lost. Not a tree within twenty +rods of you! Suppose you had failed to kill him? It frightens me to +think of it!” + +Going to the ledge beyond, they saw where the negro had scrambled up +with muddy feet, and where the sharp hoofs of the boar had scratched +long lines on the rock. + +It was easy to see how the large, loose stone, which had prevented the +fugitive’s escape, had slipped from its place as he tried to climb +over it. + +“Well, well,” said Mr. Arthur, “you ought to have one good friend in the +forest, and I guess you have! I don’t think that poor fellow will ever +forget you.” + +Ralph felt that this was pay enough, even though the friend was only a +poor negro, whom he might never see again. + +And now, leaving the huge game where it had fallen, he accompanied the +good planter back to the little village of huts, where Mrs. Arthur and +Camilla were awaiting them in some anxiety. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE. + +“Oh, how dreadful!” exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of +what had taken place. + +“I am thinking of his mother,” said Mrs. Arthur, “and I am so +thankful--so thankful--that he is safe!” + +Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter. + +“You could have kept the negro, I suppose,” he said, “as you had your +gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you +being a boy.” + +“I didn’t wish to _get him anywhere_,” replied Ralph. “I wished him to +go where he liked.” + +“Of course; it wasn’t your business to catch runaway negroes,” said the +overseer, “and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been +there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?” + +“No, sir; I laid down my gun.” + +“Suppose he had taken it up?” + +“I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he +knew it.” + +“I wouldn’t have trusted him,” remarked the overseer. + +“I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn’t think anything about it. +I wanted to stop his leg from bleeding.” + +“Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed him up?” + +“He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before he +could get away.” + +“Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march for +his old quarters?” + +“I don’t know how that was,” said Ralph; “but the gun lay all the while +where he could have taken it up if he would.” + +“What did you say to him?” + +“I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how grateful +he appeared for what I had done. I hope he has some good place to +stay in.” + +“No danger,” said the overseer; “he has a good enough place for this +climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. I think some of my +negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they +won’t tell.” + +“And do they never run away, too?” asked Ralph. + +“Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested by +the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and sometimes, +when they keep in their hiding-places, I track them out myself.” + +“And do you whip them when you get them back?” + +“Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again.” + +Somehow, Ralph did not like Mr. Osborne; for, besides that it was hard +to help associating him with the cruel office he occupied, there was a +something in him as an individual which repelled the boy’s quick, +intuitive sympathies. Practically he might be better than most +overseers, but how could he be otherwise under a superior like Mr. +Arthur? + +Ralph had brought in the parrots and paroquets that he had shot, for he +had not forgotten them on remounting his pony, and he now took off their +skins in a very artistic manner, leaving the beautiful plumage almost +unruffled, much to the delight of Camilla, who thanked him for his +thoughtfulness of her. + +Upon the journey homeward, the two spotted ponies, keeping close +together, galloped, trotted or walked, according to the fancies of their +riders or the variations of the road, while the horses of the older +people jogged more steadily. + +“I wonder,” said Camilla, “if Jumbo will not often think of you? I know +he will, though--he cannot help it.” + +“I hope he will,” said Ralph; “and I hope, too, that he will not suffer. +Your father does not seem at all anxious to get him back.” + +“Oh, no! papa does not care for his running away. He says that if the +revolution should succeed, the new government would free all the slaves, +and he is willing that this should be done. Somehow, he is a slaveholder +against his will.” + +“Do you like Mr. Osborne?” asked Ralph. + +“Not very well. Papa has a high opinion of him as an overseer, but I do +think that even papa himself is not quite satisfied with all that was +done while we were away in the United States.” + +“The revolutionists appear to ruin a great many sugar plantations,” said +Ralph. “Do you ever feel afraid of being molested?” + +“Yes, mamma and I do, because they sometimes come very near us; but papa +says he does not think there is any danger. They know what his +sentiments are; besides, he is an _Americano_, and they have a great +respect for _los Americanos_.” + +“And isn’t he afraid, then, of the Spanish government?” + +“No; he takes no active part on either side; only his feelings are with +the liberal party. I think papa is not much of a politician.” + +“I know how he feels,” said Ralph; “he is good and kind, and wants +everybody to be free. He is one of the best men I ever saw.” + +“He really is!” exclaimed Camilla, enthusiastically. “He is just as good +as any one _can_ be. And,” she added, with childlike earnestness, “he +likes you ever so much, too.” + +Ralph was perfectly happy upon this ride; and when the party reached +home, it was to be greeted by the unaffected welcome of the negroes, +old and young, who were evidently much attached to their master and his +household. The parrots chattered, and the song-birds sang, while the +odor of the orange blossoms was well in keeping with the rest. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A NEW PROPOSITION. + +Next day the planter and his young guest visited the city, and returned +with Captain Weston. He was thrilled by the story of Ralph’s encounter +with the wild boar. It shocked him to think how narrowly a dreadful +calamity had been escaped, and he all the while attending to his +ordinary duties, in ignorance of the danger. + +“Captain,” said Mr. Arthur, as they sat conversing together after +reaching the plantation, “I have a proposition to make. Why not let +Ralph remain with me till your return from Philadelphia? I may take a +journey or two about the island within the next few weeks, upon +business, and probably he would enjoy going with me. It would give him +an opportunity to see more of Cuba than he is likely to see in any other +way.” + +“I don’t know what his mother would say,” replied the captain. “She +expects me to bring him home, and I am afraid she would be troubled +about it. Besides, I like to have him with me, though I know you would +take every care of him.” + +“I understand your feelings,” said the planter; “but my wife is about +writing to Mrs. Weston concerning the debt of gratitude we owe him; and +should you consent to his remaining, I think her letter will place the +matter in such a light as to remove any objection on his mother’s part.” + +Mrs. Arthur seconded her husband very earnestly. + +“You cannot think how much we would enjoy having him here,” she said. +“He has such a kind, lovable nature, and is so bright and active. I do +hope it may be arranged that he may stay.” + +Captain Weston revolved the matter seriously, and concluded at length +that it should be left to Ralph’s decision. What that decision would be +he could have had very little doubt, as he glanced toward the boy and +girl who were at that moment enjoying a swing under an orange tree of +unusual size, the vibrations of the rope occasionally bringing down some +of the golden fruit. + +Ralph was in ecstasies at the proposition, and Camilla’s bright face +lighted up with a pleasure that she did not try to conceal. + +“Oh, how nice it will be!” she said. “I am so glad you are to remain.” + +A soft flush leaped to her cheeks as she spoke, and her beautiful eyes +expressed an artlessness that was very bewitching. + +So it was settled that Ralph should remain in Cuba during the two months +which would probably elapse before the return of the Cristoval Colon to +Santiago. His mother (for he could not have endured to think of Mrs. +Weston in any other light) would be comforted by the knowledge that he +was in such good hands. And then how much he would have to tell her when +he should go home! + +Captain Weston was greatly pleased with the plantation and its +management. He had seen much of Cuba, but never anything of this kind +which appeared so satisfactory. He walked and rode with the planter, +smoked his cigar with him, and admired his kind treatment of his slaves. + +After a tarry of two days, he returned to the city, accompanied by the +planter and Ralph. + +As the latter mounted the side of the Cristoval Colon, he met a merry +welcome from the tars, some of whom threw out sly innuendoes in their +sailor style about pearls and pearl-divers, but he did not permit their +harmless jokes to annoy him. + +After a pleasant visit, Mr. Arthur returned to the plantation; but Ralph +did not accompany him, as he desired to remain some days with his father +during the vessel’s brief stay in port. + +He was not a boy who was afraid of work, and now, putting on his +everyday rig, he applied himself with a light heart to the duties of the +ship, lying stoutly back upon the slack of the tackle, while the sailors +hoisted the heavy articles of the cargo, or running aloft to loose the +sails for drying after the drenching night dews, and assisting to furl +them at evening. + +“That boy is smart,” old Jack Evans would say to his shipmates. “He is +the best fellow for a captain’s son I ever fell in with; he is always +looking for something to do.” + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +OLD JACK SEES A REMEMBERED FACE. + +One evening, when Ralph went into the forecastle, he found Jack alone +there. The old sailor had just been overhauling his sea-chest, and had +in his hand the baby’s shoe which he had so long carried for good luck. + +“I was just looking at it,” he said, “because to-day I came across the +father of that identical baby. I hadn’t seen him for about sixteen +years, but I knew him in a minute. He was puffing his cigar, just as he +used to do about the decks of the Moro Castle.” + +“What!” exclaimed Ralph, “the very man? Oh, how I wish I had been with +you! Who is he, and where does he live?” + +“That I don’t know,” replied Jack. “Of course, he didn’t know me, and I +hadn’t a very good chance to introduce myself. He was jabbering with a +lot of other Spaniards on a corner, with his _caramba_ and his _como +esta usted_, so that I didn’t feel like going up to him with a yarn +about a baby’s shoe. Which way he went I don’t know, for I had to get +back to the ship.” + +“When was it?” asked Ralph, with great earnestness. + +“It was while I was ashore this noon.” + +“Why didn’t you tell me?” said the boy. “I would have gone right ashore. +But, no--I couldn’t have found him without you. Dear me! I wish I could +have been with you.” + +“Why, my lad, it’s of no consequence,” said Jack. “You seem to think +more of it than I do.” + +“But I want to see him,” replied Ralph. “I wonder if he is about here +every day?” + +“Likely enough,” said Jack. “But I didn’t think you cared anything about +the matter.” + +“Well, I’m thinking of that baby’s shoe,” answered Ralph. “It seems so +queer--the way you got it, and the way you have kept it.” + +“I know that’s odd,” said Jack. “I suppose my keeping it is all +nonsense.” + +“No, it isn’t,” said Ralph. “I don’t think it is, I’m sure.” + +“You believe a little in old shoes, then?” + +“I believe in _that_ shoe, Jack. I mean to go ashore with you, and have +a good look for that man.” + +“But we shouldn’t stand much chance of finding him,” replied Jack. “I’ve +been here in Santiago a number of times, but this is the first time I +have run across him here.” + +Ralph looked anxious and excited; but he saw that Jack felt somewhat +surprised at the interest he took in the matter, and so restrained +himself. + +“After all,” he thought, “it may have nothing to do with _me_. Just a +baby on its passage to the United States. But, then, it was going to +Philadelphia, and it was a boy baby; and I must have been a baby at the +same time. I wonder what Jack would say if he knew what I am +thinking of?” + +It would be strange, he thought, if he were really to get track of +himself in such a way--the first of the tracks being made by that tiny +shoe in Jack’s chest. And then he reflected how improbable it seemed, +when there were so many babies in the world, that he should have been +_that_ baby. + +“I almost hope the thing will never come to light,” he said to himself. +“Perhaps it is better not to know.” + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +IN A MENAGERIE. + + +There is a distinct individuality among tigers, as among ourselves, some +being gentle and tolerably tractable, while others are fierce, morose, +and not to be trusted. + +In Mr. G. Sanger’s menagerie, at Margate, England, there are two +tigresses which are of exactly opposite characters. Both go by the name +of “Bessy,” there being an extraordinary lack of originality in the +nomenclature of animals. + +The difference may be partly owing to the accident of birth, one having +been captured while young, and the other born in a menagerie. + +One might naturally imagine that the latter would be the better tempered +of the two, she never having known the freedom of savage life. But, in +accordance with the invariable rule, the “forest-bred” animal is the +tamer, those which have been born in captivity being always uncertain in +their ways, and not to be trusted. + +Now, “Bessy the First” is forest bred. The head keeper, Walter +Stratford, has the most perfect confidence in her, and can take any +liberties with her. + +After I had paid several visits to the menagerie, I thought that she +began to recognize me, and therefore cultivated her acquaintance. Now, +as soon as I enter the house, Bessy tries to attract my attention, +expects to be patted and stroked, her ears to be pulled, and her nose +rubbed, just as a pet cat would do. + +One day I had an unexpected experience with her. Nearly the whole of the +end of the room is occupied by a huge cage, in which Stratford delights +in putting all sorts of incongruous animals. + +There are several varieties of monkeys, a porcupine, a goat, some +rabbits and guinea-pigs, a few geese and ducks, four cats, +a coati-mondi, two raccoons, a jackal, a little white Pomeranian dog +named Rose, two pigs, and other animals. + +Thinking that the goat would like some fresh grass, I went to the lawn, +gathered a large handful, and brought it to the goat. + +Not a blade of that grass did she get. I had hardly held the grass to +the bars when Rose flew at it, drove the goat away, and literally tore +the grass out of my hands. Three times did I fetch grass before the goat +was allowed to eat a blade of it. Ever since that time I have always +furnished myself with a good supply of grass before visiting these +animals. + +On one occasion I stopped as usual at Bessie’s cage, and noticed that +she stared fixedly at the grass. So I said, jokingly: + +“Why, Bessy, you cannot want grass. However, here it is if you want it.” + +So I put my hand into the cage, and was much surprised by seeing her +gently scrape the grass out of my hand with her huge paw. Then she lay +down, gathered the grass between her paws, and licked up every particle +of it. + +When she had finished it, she looked appealingly in my face as if asking +for another supply; so I brought a fresh handful, the whole of which she +took in the same dainty way. + +Meanwhile Rose was performing the most extraordinary antics at the end +of the room. She had seen me bring in the grass, and naturally imagined +that it was intended for her. What with disappointment, and what with +jealousy, she was simply frantic, barking, yelping, jumping up and down, +scratching at the bars of the cage, and expressing her outraged feelings +in the most ludicrous fashion. Now I always give Bessy her allowance of +grass first, and then take another portion to Rose and the goat. + +It is a rather remarkable fact that the carnivora are much more eager +for the grass than are the deer, camels, antelopes and other vegetable +feeders. + +As to “Bessy the First,” she is so fond of Stratford, and places such +reliance on him, that when she has cubs she will allow him to enter the +cage, take away the cubs and hand them about among the visitors. In +fact, she is quite pleased to see that her offspring attract so much +attention. + +Very different is “Bessy the second.” She never had a very good temper, +but was not considered to be a very dangerous animal, until an event +occurred which completely altered, or, at all events, had an evil +influence upon her character. + +Nearly two years ago, three young lion cubs were in the next cage to +hers. One day she seemed to be seized with a sudden frenzy, smashed the +partition between the cages, flew at the cubs, and killed two of them in +a moment. + +The whole attack was so quick and unexpected that Stratford had only +just time to save the life of the third cub. Since that time she has +been carefully watched, for when once a lion or a tiger has broken +through a cage it is apt to repeat the operation. + +“Bessy the Second” is restless, morose and suspicious, and if any of the +animals make a sudden movement, she starts up, stares at them through +the bars, and often sets up a series of roars, which have the effect of +causing every lion and tiger in the place to roar for sympathy, so that +the noise is deafening. + + + + +STORIES OF DUMB CREATURES. + + +--Says a naturalist: “We came to a large piece of timber, and while +passing through it, I had my first experience with the honey-bird of +South Africa. This curious little bird is, in size and plumage, about +like an English sparrow, and gets his name from the fact that the little +fellow, who is very fond of honey, being unable to obtain it for +himself, will lead men to the places where the wild bees have hidden +their stores of rich, wild honey. Whenever this bird sees a man, he will +fly close to him, hovering around, uttering a twittering sound; then he +will go off in the direction of the place (generally a tree) where the +honey is, flying backward and forward in a zigzag fashion. Then back he +will come, twittering in the same manner, as if to say, ’Come along: +I’ll show you where it is.’ These actions are repeated until the tree is +reached, when the bird will indicate it very plainly by flying to it and +hovering around it. If the distance is great (and sometimes the +honey-bird will lead a person who is willing to follow a distance of ten +miles); he will wait on a tree until the follower comes up, and will +then continue his business of piloting. He is very persistent, and will +do his best to draw any one on; but if the party is not posted about +honey-birds, and refuses to follow, or goes in the wrong direction, the +bird will leave, probably in search of some person who will appreciate +his efforts to provide him with sweetmeats. While the bees are being +smoked out, and the honey taken up, the bird will hover in the vicinity +until the job is done, when of course his reward comes in the shape of a +feast on the fragments that are left. If he knows of other hives, just +as soon as one is disposed of he will lead the way to another, and I +have, since this time, known as many as four trees taken up by a party +in one day. When the honey-bird has shown one tree, if the hunters are +satisfied with that, and refuse to follow him further, he leaves them; +but I have never heard of an instance in which the bird misled any one +in regard to finding honey. It frequently happens, however, that a +honey-bird will lead a person into very dangerous places, and unless the +hunter keeps his eyes about him when following this bird, he may run +right into a lion, a venomous snake, or some other equally undesirable +acquaintance.” + +--A correspondent of a New Orleans paper writes: “Dick was only a big +toad. The boys found him beside the road one day last summer when the +June roses were in bloom, and triumphantly deposited him in one of the +flower-beds, ‘to eat the bugs and things off’n the pinks and pansies and +rosemary; and, besides, you know, mamma, the other boys will throw +stones at him.’ That settled it, and Dick (as they gravely informed me +they had named him) was left to enjoy his flowery home. Occasionally, +when cutting flowers, I noticed the exceeding tameness of the little +creature, and was often assured by the boys, ‘Our Dick is the very best +toad in town.’ However, I noticed nothing uncommon until two or three +weeks after they had brought him home, when I was attracted by their +peals of laughter, and presently heard them calling, ‘Dick, Dick! come, +Dick!’ I slipped out and peeped around the corner of the house, and +beheld a most comical sight--one of the boys down on his knees, holding +out his hands and calling to the toad, which was gravely hopping toward +him, making a peculiar little noise, until he reached the outstretched +hand, into which he hopped and sat contentedly blinking his bright, +bulging eyes. After this I noticed the strange pet more closely, and +found he would always come promptly when his name was called, and seemed +very grateful when presented with a worm or bug. He would come at any +kindly call, but showed greatest preference for eight-year-old, +mischievous Teddy, into whose hand he would always hop, and whom he +would hop around after as long as he would walk around the flower-bed +where Dick made his home, but never beyond its limits. And such pansies, +pinks and other sweet posies I had there!--no cut stem or bitten leaves. +Dick ate all the floral enemies up that ventured there. When the cold +days of autumn came upon us, he left us, and we have seen him no more. +What is the moral of this? Nothing--only that kindness and mercy shown +to even so humble a creature as a toad will bring pleasures and a sure +recompense.” + +--Writing from Tecumseh, Mich., a correspondent sends this: “A few years +ago our house was infested with a large number of rats, which had taken +up their abode in a recess of the cellar that had formerly been used as +a landing-place for a dumb-waiter, but was now filled with odds and ends +of every description. We had endeavored to rid ourselves of these pests, +but all our attempts were in vain, and they held their daily matinees as +usual. On hearing more of a commotion than common, one afternoon, +I softly opened the cellar door, and, to my amazement, saw nine rats, +one of which had mounted a box containing potatoes, while the others +were stretched out in a line leading to their den--the recess before +mentioned. Now comes the most curious part of my story: The rat that +stood on the box of potatoes would push a potato over the edge, then the +rat in line nearest the box would roll the potato to his neighbor, and +so on with each one till the potato was safely stowed away. I watched +them for some time, and, seeing the potatoes disappearing rather +rapidly, I dispersed the earnest workers by a stamp of my foot.” + + + + +PUZZLEDOM. + +NO. CCCLXXVII. + + +Original contributions solicited from _all_. Puzzles containing obsolete +words will be received. Write contributions on one side of the paper, +and apart from all communications. Address “Puzzle Editor,” GOLDEN DAYS, +Philadelphia, Pa. + + +ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLES. + + + No. 1. Calendar. + + No. 2. B E S T O W + E P A U L E + S A C R E D + T U R B I D + O L E I N E + W E D D E D + + No. 3. Wise-acre. + + No. 4. C A L A B O O S E + A N I M A B L E + L I M E R O D + A M E N D E + B A R D S + O B O E + O L D + S E + E + + No. 5. Mark Tapley. + + No. 6. M O C H E S + O T I O S E + C I C U T A + H O U D A H + E S T A T E + S E A H E N + + No. 7. Good-humored. + + No. 8. F A I R S + A B N E T S + I N T A I L S + R E A L L I E D + S T I L E T T O S + S L I T H E R + S E T E E + D O R + S + + No. 9. Byrnehc, Pygmalion, Traddles. + + No. 10. G R A T I S + R E V E S T + A V E N E R + T E N U R E + I S E R I N + S T R E N E + + No. 11. Cover-shame. + + No. 12. + + H U M E C T A T I O N + P O L I A N I T E + B A T T E N S + S E T A E + D O R + O + + +NEW PUZZLES. + + +NO. 1. NUMERICAL. + + When trees and fields _complete_ + Their garbs of green; + When birds and flowers sweet + Again are seen, + And airy zephyrs murmur by, + My 5, 4, 3 and 6 soars high. + + Oh! how I’m in a state + Of agitation, + 6, 1 and 2 I get + An inspiration. + ’Twill be in vain--in vain my lay, + For spring will then have flown away. + +_Villanova, Pa._ VILLANOVA. + + +NO. 2. SQUARE. + +1. The young of the great black-backed gull. 2. To come. 3. Carves. +4. Granters. 5. To entirely destroy (_Obs._) 6. To grow smaller. + + _Rochester, N.Y._ EGERTON. + + +NO. 3. CHARADE. + + _Prime_ not, ye fair ladies, or gentlemen wise. + To disbelieve what for your fortune will prove; + _Next total_, not gold, should select as a prize, + _Three_, friends, to the right, and marry for love. + + _Danville, Va._ ALEDA. + + +NO. 4. PENTAGON. + +1. A letter. 2. The pulp of fruit. 3. A shrub of the genus _Corylus_. +4. The Brazil nut. 5. Deep blue colors. 6. Contrite. 7. A detached +bastion (_Fort._) 8. To admit extension. 9. Rigid. + + _Haverhill, Mass._ PYGMY. + + +NO. 5. MUTATION. + + Like a hawk that pounces on its prey, + Swift as lightning on a summer day, + Through the stillness of the air you came, + Without life, and more--without a name. + Man has called you _whole_--perhaps you are + Dross ejected from some brilliant star! + But methinks the spheres their place will yield + ERE TO TIME your mystery is revealed. + + _Newark, N.J._ DEMOSTHENES. + + +NO. 6. SQUARE. + +1. Gaps. 2. By reason of this. 3. A fleet of vessels. 4. A sort of +flying fish. 5. A title addressed to a lady. 6. The principal gold coin +of ancient Greece. + + _East Brady, Pa._ ST. ELMO. + + +NO. 7. CHARADE. + + Come here, my _second_--lose no time; + _First_ lively, don’t procrastinate; + Although, my _all_, I’ll spare no pains + To render you less obdurate. + + My _all_! Yet truly as a _last_ + I’ve learned to look upon my boy: + Most true it is, ’tis but a _one_ + From sad distrust to life of joy! + + _First_ dame, indeed, I would not be + Held in my _second’s_ inmost thought; + Transmuted by love’s magic power, + My _all_ my _last_ is, without doubt. + + _Woburn, Mass._ GLEN COTTAGE. + + +NO. 8. HALF SQUARE. + +1. Concise. 2. Birds resembling thrushes. 3. A poisonous substance +composed of minute fungi. 4. Forms. 5. Kinds of liquor. 6. An iron chain +(_Obs._) 7. Exists. 8. A letter. + + _Boston, Mass._ PI ETA. + + +NO. 9. NUMERICAL. + + The _whole_ is a thing that drives away harm, + Defined by dear Webster as “a charm;” + My 5, 6, 2, 3, 3 is by the same called “not much;” + My 6, 7, 8, a “vassal,” “subject,” “person,” or such: + My 5, 2, 3, 1 is “taste,” “savor,” or “a sailor;” + My 1, 2, 4, 3 of a coat is oft shortened by a tailor. + + Now I think you have all you require to solve this numerical; + If not, I will tell you the _whole_ relates to nothing clerical. + + _N.Y. city._ ATELLO. + + +NO. 10. SQUARE. + +1. Barley-water. 2. A small particle. 3. A fine white powder or earth, +without taste or smell. 4. A paved way. 5. To convey or transfer. +6. Tidier. + + _Chicago, Ill._ U. REKA. + + +NO. 11. ANAGRAM. + +TOM, THESE MEN CRITICISE COMMON RATES. + + The law’s strong arm and stern decree + Are turned against monopoly; + Justice and equal rights for all + Be ours though the heavens fall! + + _Hazleton, Pa._ P. O. STAGE. + + +NO. 12. INVERTED PYRAMID. + +_Across_: 1. The process of analysis by means of standard solutions +(_Analyt. Chem._) 2. Little tufts. 3. Species of walls made of stiff +clay. 4. To steal (_Obs._) 5. A letter. + +_Down_: 1. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3. To surpass. 4. To impair +seriously. 5. A case in which the relics of saints were kept. 6. To +produce. 7. A pronoun. 8. A bone. 9. A letter. + + _Hoboken, N.J._ JUNIUS. + + +Answers will appear in our next issue; solvers in six weeks. + + +SPECIAL.--GOLDEN DAYS Puzzlers’ Directory for each of the first correct +solutions to Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. + + +SOLVERS. + +Puzzles in “PUZZLEDOM” No. CCCLXXI were correctly solved by E. C. +Lectic, Maud Lynn, Demosthenes, Barnyard, Skye Buckeye, Gemini, Egerton, +H. S. Nut, Jr., Will O’ the Wisp, F. Aitchell, Col. O’ Rado, Dorothy +Doolittle, Grepwic, Cricket, P. O. Stage, Sub Rosa, Fairplay, Alcyo, +Tunie H. S., R. M’Bride, Jo Jo, Khimo, Lorrac, Billy Bluebottle, May Le +Hosmer, O. Pal, Vladimir, F. Arce, Nue Norton, J. H. Mowbray, U. Reka, +Sim Sly, Clarence W. Chapin, Reklaw, Io, Tom B. Stone, Toodlewinks, Jo +Ram, Craftsman, Fly, Alpheus, Chinook, Puzz L., Teddy, Wm. H. Deucker, +Annie Gramme, W. T. Anderson, C. R. Irving, Jr., Bennie Knowels, Monte +Christo, V. G. Ohnja, H. U. T., Alphonzo, B. L. Under, Bryx, J. I. C., +Harry S., Jno. Bopp, Cale and Harry Allen, J. Evans, Alpha Sigma, +Liberty, Brooklyn Boy, Jno. Beck, Howard H. Geiger, Earnest Fleet, +Washingtonian, Annie A. Powell, Dick Ens, C. H. Sweetzer, Panama Derby, +Orpheus, Jno. Fitzgerald, Henn, Reidsville, Mahdea, A. B. Y. Nomis, +H. C. Williams, Mas Ten, Panama Hat, Tidal Wave, Primrose, Geo. W. +Phinney, J. F. Ireland, Laf A. Yette, Freddie Geib, R. O. Chester, A. B. +Williams, Lucrezius Borgers, Lackawanna, Laeno, Whisk, Effie W.McConkey, +C. B. A., Puer and Swamp Angel. + +COMPLETE LIST.--E. C. Lectic. + +The specials were awarded as follows: + + No. 1. Cricket, La Porte, Ind. + No. 3. Clarence W. Chapin, Akron. Ohio. + No. 5. E. C. Lectic. Chicago, Ill. + No. 7. Alcyo, New York city. + No. 9. Jo Ram, New York city. + No. 11. E. C. Lectic, Chicago, Ill. + + * * * * * + +*Golden Days* + +ISSUED WEEKLY + +Our Subscription Price. + +Subscriptions to “GOLDEN DAYS,” $3.00 per annum, $1.50 per six months, +$1.00 per four months, all payable in advance. + +Single numbers, six cents each. We pay postage on all United States and +Canada subscriptions. + + +TO THOSE WHO DESIRE TO GET UP CLUBS. + +If you wish to get up a club for “GOLDEN DAYS,” send us your name, and +we will forward you, _free of charge_, a number of specimen copies of +the paper, so that, with them, you can give your neighborhood a good +canvassing. + + +OUR CLUB RATES. + +For $5 we will send two copies for one year to one address, or each copy +to a separate address. + +For $10 we will send four copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address. + +For $20 we will send eight copies to one address, or each copy to +separate addresses. + +The party who sends us $20 for a club of eight copies (all sent at one +time) will be entitled to a copy for one year FREE. + +Getters-up of clubs of eight copies can afterward add single copies at +$2.50 each. + +Money should be sent to us either by Post Office Order or Registered +Letter, so as to provide as far as possible against its loss by mail. + +All communications, business or otherwise, must be addressed to + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + * * * * * + + [->] _A new Serial Story, entitled_ + + Three Young Silver Kings! + + BY OLIVER OPTIC, + + Will Begin Next Week. + + * * * * * + +NATURE’S SCULPTURE. + +BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE. + + +Perhaps the strangest public work ever suggested by man was that of +Dinocrates, whose scheme was to cut and carve Mount Athos into the form +of a gigantic man, holding in one hand a town, in the other a cup to +receive the drainage of the mountain before it reached the sea. + +His king, Alexander the Great, declined to accept his plan; though, +amused at his extravagant notion, he gave him a permanent place in his +attendance. + +A small village in Northern Italy to a wonderful extent fulfills the +wild dream of the Macedonian architect, the houses being grouped in such +a manner upon a broken eminence of land that from a certain point a +striking resemblance to an upturned human face is outlined. In addition +to a chin, nose and brow, a white chimney lends an eye to the profile, +while a line of bushes at the crown has the appearance of shaggy locks. + +Allowing that a vivid imagination has much to do toward perfecting these +faces of nature’s sculpture, and that a range of hills or coast line +will lend itself to almost any fancy we choose, there are in different +localities stones and cliffs bearing a remarkable resemblance to the +human countenance, individual peculiarity sometimes being easily traced +in these grave omens. + +As the voyager approaches Rio Janeiro, he sees in the distance, +apparently rising from the sea, lonely and majestic, a massive stone +head, with the profile of the Iron Duke of England, the brow, the nose, +the chin, each feature perfect in its outline. + +St. Vincent, of the Cape Verde group, has a huge volcanic rock which +requires no grievous strain of the imagination to transform into the +figure of George Washington in a recumbent position, the profile, the +hair and even the collar frill being reproduced with remarkable +clearness. + +Rising grimly from the whirlpool of waters beating fiercely the rugged +western extremity of Santa Catalina Island, in the West Indies, is an +isolated block of basaltic rock, many feet in height, bearing a marked +likeness of a human face. It is known as “Morgan’s Head,” from a fancied +resemblance to that noted free-booter. + +Among the countless rocks fringing the coast of Norway is one forming a +striking picture of a horse and rider about to plunge into the surf, +fifteen hundred feet below. This gigantic illusion, to the fanciful +minds of the old bards presented the image of Odin as he disappeared +before the advance of Christianity. + +In Iceland, overlooking one of its picturesque valleys, is a bluff +surmounted by a colossal head, covered by a stunted growth looking not +unlike a cap with frills. Before this august image the worshipers of +Odin were wont to bow in serious reverence. + +The rugged coast of England has several of these faces of nature. Off +the Cornish point are seen the Great Lions, and lower down the shore the +Armed Knight. There is also the Old Man, the Old Dame, Duke’s Nose and +Witch’s Head. + +Not the least remarkable of these freaks is the Old Man of the Mountain, +who uprears his gigantic form amid a sea of cliffs and rugged heights, +in the heart of that region known as the “Switzerland of America”--New +Hampshire. + + “What doth thy anxious gaze espy? + An abrupt crag hung from the mountain’s brow! + Look closer; scan that bare, sharp cliff on high; + Aha! the wondrous shape bursts on thee now-- + _A perfect human face_--neck, chin, mouth, nose and brow!” + +A face of granite that alone kept watch and ward over the country long +ere the foot of man pressed its soil. In the grave, philosophical +outlines is traced a resemblance to Franklin’s countenance. At the base +of this singular mountain lies a sparkling sheet of water, called the +“Old Man’s Mirror.” + +More beautiful and wonderful than any of these grave images is the Maid +of the Kaaterskill Falls, in the Catskill Mountains. With the mellow +light of sunset falling obliquely upon the thin layer of water flowing +over a sharp ledge worn and fretted by the continual wear of the current +for ages, rock and spray together making up the illusion, is to be seen +the fairy-like form of an Indian maid, with flowing hair and robes. So +clearly does she appear that the beholder has at first the startling +conception of gazing upon a living being, suspended in the waters. + +Indian tradition says that this maid of the mist was once the beloved of +the Great Spirit; but herself falling in love with a Mohawk brave, she +perished here, fleeing from her angry master. + + + + +MONUMENT PARK. + + +The formations from which this takes its name are among the greatest +curiosities to be seen in Colorado. Pen cannot well describe them. They +consist of a series of curiously shaped natural monuments, which have +been formed from sandstone rock solely by the action of the weather, +a thin strata of iron on the top having protected these particular +pieces and preserved them. + +No accurate estimate can be made of the thousands of years this work of +the elements has been in progress. There are perhaps a hundred of the +peculiar formations of different sizes and shapes, some of which are +really fantastic. + +The Garden of the Gods is also a remarkable freak of Nature, partaking +somewhat more of the grand and imposing. + +It is a secluded spot, hemmed in by great rocks stood up on edge and on +end. They are some of the more marked of the numerous evidences on every +hand here of a grand upheaval some time in the past. + +Imagine tremendous flat rocks, large enough to cover a quarter of an +acre of ground, standing up on edge, 330 feet high, and you will have +some idea of what forms the chief wonder of this garden. + + G. B. G. + + + + +BACKLOGS MADE OF STONE. + + +It will surprise many persons of the present day to be told that the +“backlog” of which we read so much in old-time stories was a large +stone, a porous stone being preferred if possible. This stone was buried +in the ashes, and on top was placed the “back stick.” The back stone in +those primitive times played a very important part in the economy of +early housekeeping. Matches were not then invented. Flint, steel and tow +were the only means of lighting a fire or a lamp. Imagine for a moment +the Bridget of to-day thus engaged, with the thermometer ten degrees +below zero in the kitchen. The stone, together with the ashes with which +it was covered, served to retain fire and heat through the night, and +all that was necessary in the morning was a little kindling and gentle +use of the indispensable bellows, and a fire was as readily made as at +the present day. + + + + +[Illustration] + +MAMIE’S LETTER TO HEAVEN. + +BY J. W. WATSON, AUTHOR OF “BEAUTIFUL SNOW.” + + + An humble room in a tenement house, + Four stories above the street, + Where a scanty fire, a scanty light, + And a scanty larder meet; + A woman sits at her daily toil, + Plying the needle and thread; + Her face is pallid with want and care, + And her hand as heavy as lead. + + There she sits with her weary thought, + While the tears drop full and fast; + There she sits and stitches away, + With her memory in the past; + Beside her, perched on her little stool, + Sits Mamie, a six-year-old, + Who says she is never hungry at all, + And never admits she is cold. + + There she sits and chatters away, + Not seeing her mother’s tears; + “Mamma, ’tis a month since winter came, + And I think to me it appears + That the Lord will never find us out, + If He’s anything to give, + Unless we can, some way, let Him know + The street and the number we live. + + “You see, mamma, last winter He passed, + While papa was sick in bed; + He doesn’t know we are here, mamma, + And He doesn’t know papa is dead; + And so it happened all winter long + We didn’t have anything nice, + And so I think it would only be fair + If He came this winter twice. + + “Do you ’member, mamma, that little, old man + Who gave me the bright, new cent? + Well, it wouldn’t buy much to eat, mamma, + And it would not pay for the rent; + So I bought a sheet of paper, mamma, + And I’ve written a letter in print-- + It’s written to heaven direct, mamma, + And I’ve given Him just a hint. + + “Shall I read it aloud to you, mamma? + Yes! Well, this is what I have said: + ‘Dear Lord, my name is Mamie St. Clair, + And dear, darling papa is dead; + I live forty-four in the street they call Fourth, + And the cold of the winter is here; + My mamma is poor, and I go to school, + And I hope you will send this year. + + “’I hope you will send mamma a new dress + Of something that’s warm and nice, + A paper of flour, some loaves of bread, + And a couple of pounds of rice; + And dear, loving Lord, do, if you feel rich, + You could send her some shoes to wear, + And two or three pounds of beef for soup, + Or anything else you can spare. + + “’I’ve heard my dear mamma say many a time + That a chicken would do her much good, + And so, dear Lord, if chickens is cheap, + A chicken also, if you could; + With three pails of coal, if it isn’t too much, + And some stuff for mamma’s lame knee, + And oh, my dear Lord, pray don’t think me mean, + But a dear little dolly for me.’ + + “That’s all, my dear mamma, and now let me run + And send it to heaven at once, + For if He don’t get it by Christmas time, + He surely will think me a dunce.” + The letter was posted, the letter was scanned, + With numberless grins by the men + Whose duty it was to assort all the waifs + That came from the wonderful pen. + + “Now where’s the dear Lord?” said one of these men; + “That’s me,” said another, quite grave. + “Here’s a letter, then!”--tossing the missive to him, + “And a twopenny stamp you will save.” + The letter was opened, the letter was read, + There were very few tearless eyes; + The reader looked round on the silent group, + And then, with a nod, he cries: + + “Now, boys, there is something in this that I like-- + It’s nature right straight up to win, + And we’ve all of us got to be lords right here-- + So here is my dot to begin.” + The dollars flew down on the table like snow, + They came from the crowd’s great heart, + A letter was written by proxy and signed, + The proposer to play the part. + + And so it came off upon one winter night + That there happened this strange affair; + A tapping came soft at Mamie’s door, + And a very old man stood there; + He was clad from his head to his feet so warm, + And his beard it was long and white. + “Good-even!” he said, as he pushed in a box + Then vanished quite out of their sight. + + They were speechless, and only could stare at the box + Directed to Mamie St. Clair, + From “The Lord in Heaven.” What did it all mean? + And a letter beside was there-- + A letter from heaven read: “Be a good girl, + And never do anything ill; + Love mamma as well as you do to-day.” + And a fifty-dollar bill. + + If I wrote from now till the crack of doom, + I could tell no more than this. + It was all packed down in that wonderful box, + And the dolly--oh, gracious! what bliss! + And in time that letter to heaven direct + Sent many and many a friend, + And perhaps a new papa--who knows?--may be sent + By heaven itself, in the end. + + + + + Striking out for Themselves. + + BY F. H. SWEET. + + +“Reckon we’ll get ’em burned out by Tuesday week, Tom, and be ready for +Pylant’s oranges. Suppose the old fellow will want us to take pay in +town lots, though.” + +“He’ll get left if he does;” and the lad by the fire removed the skillet +of fried bacon from the coals and put the coffee-pot in its place. “I’m +willing to work out a five-acre lot, but don’t want any towns. Say, +Dave, what do you think of the party going to Punta Rassa?” he added, as +he thrust a stick into the bean-pot to see what prospect there was for +an early supper. + +“Well, from what I hear, I fancy there is plenty of good land to be +homesteaded in that section, and if we didn’t have a good job here, I’d +be for joining them. I begin to feel a little anxious to have some land +where we can be starting trees of our own.” + +“Same here; but the land will come in good time, and while we’ve got a +week’s rations of bacon and hominy ahead, I shan’t kick against luck. +But grub’s ready.” + +Both lads fell to with a relish. Beans seemed to be the central dish at +almost every meal, and yet they somehow never seemed to tire of them. + +They had encountered a good many hard knocks since leaving their Western +home, but were evidently none the worse for them. + +Dave Freeman, the son of a hard-working Kansas farmer, had come South to +better his prospects, and with a deep but unexpressed longing to help +the home folks. + +At Flomaton, or Pensacola Junction, as it is now called, he had fallen +in with Tom Byrne, an Indiana boy, and the two had soon become fast +friends. + +By getting occasional jobs along the way, and not infrequently “tramping +it,” they had reached their present quarters, near Panasofkee, in Sumter +County. + +Here they had taken a contract from a “papertown” proprietor to clear +five acres of land for seventy-five dollars. + +This was a low figure, as the ground was full of palmetto roots, and not +only were the trees to be cleared from the land, but all stumps to be +burned out. + +The boys already had been at work over two months, and hoped that +another week would complete the job. On the first, their employer was to +commence gathering his oranges, and they expected several weeks’ +employment with him. + +Although the work of clearing was very hard, the boys were rugged and +hearty, and thoroughly enjoyed their novel surroundings. + +After finishing their beans, they put away the few dishes, and began the +round of their stumps. Here and there one was dying out, and new fuel +had to be piled around it. As one stump burned out, it was dragged from +its hole and placed against the roots of another. + +And so, from one stump to another, adding fuel to this or dragging that +away, their faces covered with soot, and looking more like negroes than +white folks, the boys darted around, shouting gleefully to each other +whenever one of the tall pines burned through and came crashing to the +ground. + +A little to one side, and out of reach of the fires, the boys had built +a little six-by-ten shanty, where they kept their belongings and +occasionally slept. More frequently, however, they slung their hammock +between two pines, near the camp-fire. + +At first, the peculiar roar of the alligators from the swamp near by had +disturbed their rest, but they very soon got accustomed to it, and also +to the startling challenge of a large bat, which is apt to frighten +strangers by its sudden appearance and shrill cry. + +A few days before the boys finished their contract, a party of surveyors +stopped at their shanty to get a drink of water, and to see if they +could get them for a couple of days. + +As the pay offered was good, the boys were glad to accept it, and five +minutes were sufficient to put their few belongings into the shanty and +to nail up the door. + +It took the party some hours to reach their destination, and as soon as +they had partaken of a lunch, they began to survey a site for a new +town. + +The boys had seen a great many “paper towns” since they came to Florida, +but as a rule had taken little interest in them. They were usually +ventures of men who did not have money enough to make their speculations +a success. + +Tom and Dave were put to work carrying chain, and very soon became +interested in the talk of their companions. + +The spot chosen was a very beautiful one--a sloping hillside gradually +narrowing into a strip six or seven hundred yards wide and running +between two of the most picturesque lakes the boys had ever seen. + +[Illustration: +“’WHY, BOYS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?’ TOM LOOKED UP TO MEET +THE KEEN EYES OF THE DOCTOR.”] + +From the talk of the surveyors they learned that a number of them were +railroad men, and that they were endeavoring to buy at nominal figures +all the choice lands along the line of the new road before the settlers +became aware of its value. + +They discussed their plans before the boys without reserve, and it soon +became evident to the latter that the future of this hillside could bear +no comparison with the other paper towns they had seen. A number of very +wealthy men were interested in it, and they proposed to make it the +winter home of themselves and friends. + +“You see, gentlemen,” said one of the men to his companions, as he +pointed across the strip of land to the slope on the other side, “the +road will wind around the lake, across the neck of land, and along the +western side of the lake to the right, and then in almost a bee-line +toward Palatka. Ten years from now, and this hillside for forty miles +will be a succession of orange groves. Near the depot we shall have a +limited number of business lots, while the balance of the land will be +surveyed into large orange grove and villa tracts. It will be specified +in each deed that no cheap buildings shall be erected. It is not a mere +speculation, as there are already a dozen or more men who will begin +elegant residences as soon as the land is surveyed.” + +“Do you know, professor, who owns that point jutting into the lake? +It is a fine building site.” + +The speaker was a tall, sharp-featured man of middle age, whom his +friends addressed as doctor. + +“No,” answered the professor, “but I think a man named Pylant is the +owner, and that the twenty acres beyond belong to a Dutchman in Eustis. +However, we do not wish to make inquiries at present. They saw us when +we came out, and should we go back now and value their land, they will +put on four prices. Our policy is to go back as though we were +disappointed in the land, and by the time we return next week they will +offer it at our own figures. We can probably get it for two to four +dollars an acre. It is thirty miles from any town, and as Pylant got it +from the government, four dollars will be a big price to him.” + +“And in twelve months it will be worth as many hundred,” said the +doctor. + +Tom and Dave looked at each other curiously, and wondered how they would +feel if they owned a few acres on this hillside. + +At the end of the week--for the two days’ work had lengthened into +five--the boys were paid fifteen dollars, and told they would be soon +wanted for several months, should they care to return. + +Everything was found safe at the shanty, and the boys went to work at +the stumps with a will. At the end of the third day, the last root was +reduced to ashes, and then Dave set to work to prepare a supper suitable +for such an occasion. Fried quail (which they had snared), orange slump, +pineapple shortcake, baked beans and a pot of steaming coffee graced the +table (or rather box), while by way of dessert a pillow-case full of +oranges, picked up in a neighboring grove, stood by the side of the +banqueting board. + +Next morning the boys went to see Mr. Pylant. + +“So you’ve cleaned it up, have you?” he exclaimed, as the boys told him +their errand. “I saw last week it was most done. Reckon you’ll want a +little money and the rest in land. Sharp boys! know land is best--goin’ +up, goin’ up all the time.” + +“But if you please, Mr. Pylant, we’d rather have the money,” said Dave, +quietly. + +“Money!” exclaimed the “cracker,” in astonishment. “Why, boys, in one +year there’ll be a city on that land, and you’ll be rich. The lots I let +you have for thirty dollars’ll be worth a fortune.” + +“We don’t want any lots,” replied Dave, decidedly. “We intend to get +some land when we can, but we must have it large enough to put out a +good grove on.” + +“Well, I’ll sell you a five-acre lot near the village for two hundred +dollars, and you can work it out.” + +“Too much,” answered Dave. “We want cheaper land, and are willing to go +a longer distance from town.” + +“But that’s cheap,” expostulated Pylant, who began to fear he would have +to pay out money. “How far would you be willin’ to go for land?” he +added, as another idea seemed to strike him. + +“Not particular, if the land is good and price low.” + +“Then I’ve got the identical place for you,” cried Pylant, his face +brightening; “splendid land, and on a beautiful lake.” + +“How far?” + +Pylant hesitated. + +“Mebbe it’s twenty miles or so,” he at length said, slowly; “but it’s +good, and I’ll let you have it low.” + +“Twenty miles is a long distance from town,” said Dave, dubiously; “but +what’ll you take?” + +Fearing he would lose the sale, Pylant lowered the figures he had +mentally fixed upon, and said, quickly: + +“If you take the twenty acres, you can have it for three dollars and a +half an acre. I reckoned on sellin’ to the party here last week, and I +’lowed to myself I’d ask five dollars. But, somehow, they didn’t seem to +take to it.” + +“Well,” said Dave, slowly, as though hesitating, “I reckon we’ll take +it. Can you fix up the deed now?” + +“Right off!” answered Pylant, quickly, fearing the boys might change +their mind. “Here are the other five dollars I owe you.” + +Ten minutes later, Dave and Tom were the owners of the coveted twenty +acres. + +For the next two weeks the boys worked in the orange grove and added +another thirty-five dollars to their fund. + +Their living cost very little, and they now had nearly fifty dollars +between them. + +Feeling comparatively wealthy, and with the prospect of, perhaps, weeks +of idleness before them, if they remained where they were, the boys +concluded to remove to their new possession. + +Provisions enough to last two months were purchased, and with these, +and with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, axes, and other tools, +the boys set out. + +Although the load was packed and strapped to their backs in the most +convenient manner, it took two days to complete their journey. + +The third was spent in making a camp and looking up the stubs which +marked the boundaries of their twenty acres. + +Like most of the high pine land in Florida, their tract was free from +palmetto, and consequently much easier to clear than the low pine they +had previously been at work upon. + +Four weeks passed, and they had heard nothing from the surveying party. + +Nearly three acres were cleared, and the boys were already calculating +how many orange and lemon trees they would put out. + +One morning, as Tom was digging a hole under the roots of a lofty pine, +preparatory to setting it on fire, he was greeted with a surprised: + +“Why, boys! What are you doing here?” + +And he looked up to meet the keen eyes of the doctor. + +“Clearing up our new purchase,” answered Tom, quietly. + +The doctor’s shrewd face broadened into a smile. + +“I see,” he said, pleasantly. “But how much are we to pay you boys for +outwitting us? I saw Pylant yesterday, and was told that you had the +land. The old man was nearly crazy, when one of us said we would be +willing to go as high as twenty dollars an acre.” + +“I reckon we don’t care to sell at present,” said Dave. “Our twenty +acres wouldn’t make much difference to you, who own as many thousand +around the lakes.” + +The doctor and his friends laughed good-humoredly. + +“That’s right, boys,” said the one called professor; “hold the land for +an advance. It will come sooner than you expect, perhaps. But we shall +want your services for the next three months, to help our surveyors; so +be at our camp in the morning.” + +After this the boys could not complain of loneliness. A few weeks of +surveying outlined the streets and blocks of the new town; a sawmill was +quickly under way; buildings went up rapidly, and here and there were +displayed the new goods of enterprising young merchants. + +The fame of the new town spread through the surrounding country, and +every day brought new arrivals, seeking work; and soon hundreds of axes +could be heard on the hillside, clearing the land and making ready for +the numerous young groves to be put out in the spring. + +Dave and Tom had all the work they could do, and utilized the evenings +and odd moments in burning the trees and stumps on their land. By the +first of February they had five acres cleared and fenced, and ready for +trees. + +Believing the best to be the cheapest, they sent to one of the nurseries +for three hundred and fifty budded trees. They took especial pains in +setting them out, and in due time had as thrifty a young grove as one +could wish to see. + +The trees cost them all the money they had earned and most of what they +had laid aside; but when they looked at their beautiful young grove, +they were more than satisfied. + +Before the end of the year the proposed railroad was built, and its +advent made a tremendous rise in the value of land. + +The boys had had many excellent offers for their land before, but +invariably declined to consider them. As the depot had been built very +near them, they knew their place must advance rapidly. + +However, shortly after the erection of the depot, they received an offer +of seven thousand dollars for the unimproved ten acres, and after a +short consultation, decided to accept it. Dave had not seen his people +for nearly two years, and was anxious to visit them. Tom, who was alone +in the world, was to remain and look after their grove. + +So a few weeks later saw Dave walking up the lane to the old homestead. +Knowing how particular his father was, he was greatly surprised at the +thriftless look of everything. A man was hobbling across the yard as he +approached, and Dave saw with dismay that the haggard face belonged to +his father. + +Their meeting may be imagined, and Dave soon knew of the broken leg and +the long, hard winter following it, with no one to look after things and +unpaid bills accumulating rapidly. + +“A sorry home-coming, my boy,” said his father, with a wan smile. + +But Dave’s story quickly changed the aspect of things. The bills were +paid; pinching want was a thing of the past. + +And then Dave talked and argued until his parents agreed to return with +him and spend the winter in Florida, and give that genial climate a +chance to make his father well and strong again. + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 21._] + + JACK STANWOOD; + + or, + + FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. + + BY JAMES H. SMITH. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +I BREAK JAIL THROUGH NO EFFORTS OF MY OWN. + +I was handed over to the custody of a little man, with big, staring +eyes, and a magnified head of hair that made him look like a gun-swab. +This was Mr. Janks, the jailor. + +He stood looking at me for some moments, swinging a bunch of keys on his +finger, and then said, mournfully, “So, you’ve come, have you?” which +made me think that he must have dreamed of my coming. + +Then he took up a small lamp, and, after examining me from head to foot +as if I were some strange animal, he gave vent to a dismal groan, and +asked me if I was hungry. + +Receiving a negative answer, he groaned again, and beckoned me to follow +him. + +He led the way along a damp and chilly stone corridor, lined with little +iron doors, which I needed no one to tell me belonged to cells, and I +followed him very readily. My previous notions of prison treatment +included the immediate ironing of the culprit to the extent of several +hundredweight, and, finding myself mistaken, my spirits rose +accordingly. + +He stopped before one of the little doors near the end of the corridor, +and, opening it with a large key, ushered me into an apartment about +eight feet square. + +This was my cell. The walls and ceiling were whitewashed, and the only +furniture was an iron bedstead, covered with two coarse, gray blankets. + +Mr. Janks waved his keys around as if to welcome me to this abode, and +then, instead of going out and leaving me to my reflections, he leaned +up against the door and groaned once more. + +“The wickedness of these boys!” he said, passing his hand through his +hair, and apparently addressing the ceiling. “Why do they ever come +here? Why did you come here?” + +I hastened to explain that I did not come of my own accord, and so far +from wishing to be in jail, if he would only have the kindness to open +the door, I would promise him to make my exit, and never return. + +“And so young!” continued Mr. Janks, without paying any attention to my +remarks, and still apostrophizing the ceiling. “But it’s allus the way! +The younger they are, the worse they are!” + +Then he launched forth into a description of the number of bad boys who +had passed through his hands, and endeavored to draw a parallel between +their case and mine, but, I think, with poor success. + +He kept up this monologue for at least ten minutes, while I sat on the +couch and listened with anything but pleasurable emotions. + +At the end of that time he came to a sudden stop, and went out slowly, +groaning dismally. + +When the sound of his footsteps had died away down the corridor, +I surrendered myself to my thoughts. And how I did think! + +What had been all my trouble compared to this? _In prison!_ The thought +was horrifying! + +I felt now that I would not dare return home--for who would not shrink +from me as a malefactor? + +Besides, I was extremely dubious as to my impending fate. I was not +afraid of being convicted of larceny, unless Mary Jane Robinson perjured +herself; but I was desperately afraid of Mr. Barron. + +I knew he took the Lancaster Examiner, and should he see my name in it, +I felt certain he would pounce down on me, and then--well, something +terrible would certainly happen. + +The sky looked very dark and cloudy just then, and you may easily +imagine how bitterly I regretted my foolishness in running away. + +I lay awake for an hour or more thinking in this fashion, and then I +fell into a fitful slumber. + +How long I slept, I don’t know; but when I awoke it was with a strange +feeling that I was not alone--that some one was in the cell with me. + +I was wide awake in an instant, and my heart beat so loudly that I +fancied I could hear it. + +I listened intently, and presently heard a light “pitapat,” as if some +one was walking across the floor; and while I was trying to muster up +courage to call out, there was a sharp click, a flood of light illumined +the cell, and I saw that the intruder was a man. + +He was standing near the opposite wall, and in his hand he held a +lighted wax taper, with the aid of which he was taking a survey of the +room. + +As he turned slowly around, I saw that he was young, rather +good-looking, and well-dressed, and at the same time he saw me. + +He started, and with an exclamation of alarm, dropped the taper. + +In an instant, however, he recovered the taper and himself, and advanced +toward me. + +“Who are you?” he demanded. “And how did you get here?” + +I related, in a few words, who I was and how I came to be incarcerated. + +He laughed lightly when I had finished, and said: + +“I suppose you wonder how _I_ came here. Look!” + +I looked, and saw an aperture in the wall about two feet square. + +“I came through that,” he said, laughing softly at my evident +astonishment. “My cell is on the other side. Now, I am going to escape +from this jail, and I want you to go with me.” + +I know now that his reason was to prevent my giving an alarm; but I +thought then that it was because he took pity on me. + +And I joyfully accepted his offer, although I couldn’t imagine how he +was to manage it, and I made a remark to that effect. + +“Easy enough,” he said. “You have only a lock on your door, while +there’s a dozen bolts on mine. That’s why I dug through, expecting to +find the cell empty. However, it is all right. Take off your shoes.” + +I did so, and then my companion put out the lights, having first opened +the door with what looked like a piece of wire. + +Then he whispered to me to keep hold of his sleeve, step cautiously and +not let my shoes fall, and then we moved out into the corridor, now +black as Egypt. + +My guide also seemed to be in his stocking feet; but where his shoes +were I couldn’t imagine. + +We moved along slowly, but steadily, my guide seeming to know the way, +and presently he opened a door with only a slight creak, and then +whispered in my ear: + +“We are in the lodge. Don’t breathe.” + +Again we moved on and again stopped, and from one or two sharp clicks I +judged him to be trying to open another door. + +Suddenly he drew me forward. I felt a rush of cold air, and the next +instant I was out of jail. + +“Wait!” said my companion. + +And he closed the wicket gate, and locked it noiselessly. + +“If they find the gate open, they’ll smell a rat,” he remarked. “Now +then, my boy, come on.” + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +I BECOME A WANDERER AND FALL INTO LUCK. + +I kept closely by his side, and for half an hour we moved along, keeping +in the shadow of the houses, until we reached the outskirts of the town. + +“Now then,” said my companion, speaking for the first time, “put on your +shoes.” + +I did so, and very glad I was to do it. At the same time he reached down +and drew off his stockings, and then I saw they had been drawn on over +his boots. + +Then he took my hand, and we walked along steadily and swiftly for an +hour, until the lights of Lancaster had faded in the distance, and not +until then did my companion fall into a walk and conversation. + +“What did you say you were in for?” he asked. + +“For nothing,” I answered, promptly. + +This seemed to amuse him greatly. + +“Of course not,” said he, after an outburst of laughter. “I never saw a +prisoner in my life who wasn’t innocent!” + +I attempted to explain, but he wouldn’t listen. + +“No matter--it’s not my business. It was forgery with me--ten years at +the least; and I couldn’t stand that, you know.” + +“Certainly not,” said I, not knowing what else to say. + +Then, by way of turning the conversation, I inquired how he came to be +provided with tools to effect his escape. + +He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, as if he suspected me of some +hidden motive in asking the question, and then, apparently satisfied +with the scrutiny, he informed me that his friends had sent him pies +every day for two weeks past. + +“Pies?” I exclaimed, in open-mouthed wonder. + +“Yes, pies,” he said, gravely. “Don’t you see? Nothing but the crusts. +Inside were keys, saws and a jimmy.” + +“A _jimmy_?” + +“Yes--here it is. That came in four pies.” + +He took from his coat-pocket four pieces of steel, and in an instant +fitted them together into a bar about two feet in length. + +“Not much to look at, is it?” said he; “but it is a crowbar, chisel, +hammer and wrench, all in one. It only took me two nights to cut into +your cell.” + +“And how did you know your way out in the dark?” I asked. + +“Because I came in that way, and I always keep my eyes open. Hello!” + +“What’s the matter?” I asked, in some alarm, as he came to a sudden +halt. + +“Nothing much,” he answered; “only that I must leave you here. I don’t +know where you are going, and I don’t propose to let you know where I am +going. Besides, it is much harder to follow two than one, and there is +no use of us both being captured.” + +“Captured?” I repeated, in dismay. “Do you think the officers will +follow us?” + +“Do I think so? I know they will.” + +I was so terrified that my teeth chattered, at this announcement, and he +noticed it. + +“Don’t get too scared, young one,” he added, consolingly. “They won’t +look for you half as much as they will for me. If you travel right +straight on, and keep out of their clutches for a week, you’ll be safe.” + +“But I haven’t done anything,” I said, tremblingly. + +“Oh, yes you have,” said he, with a laugh. “You have broken jail, and +that means a year at least, if you’re caught.” + +I was so overwhelmed at this dread piece of news that I could only lean +up against a convenient fence and stare at him. + +“Come, come!” he cried, impatiently, “brace up! They haven’t got you +yet. If you go straight through this cornfield you will strike a road +that will take you to Columbia. Good-by!” + +Before I had time to reply, he had plunged into the woods on the right +of the road, and I was left alone. + +I was terribly alarmed, and lost no time in making my way through the +cornfield; and when I found the road, I sped along it at a rapid gait. +Fear lent me wings, and I fancied every bush an officer. + +It was a warm but pleasant night, and the moon was just rising. +I calculated that it must be about midnight, and I determined that I +would put many a mile between me and Lancaster before daybreak. + +So I set off at a dog-trot, and I kept it up until I saw the sun rising +over the eastern hills. + +By that time I must have gone about twenty miles, and I was completely +tired out, and very glad to crawl into the shelter of some neighboring +woods and lie down to rest. + +Before I knew it I was asleep, and I did not awake until late in the +afternoon. + +I was stiff and sore, and at the same time ravenously hungry. The first +two ailments wore away as I started again on my journey, but the latter +increased until I determined to brave anything rather than suffer any +longer. + +The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the road, +with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in the +kitchen. + +“Please, ma’am,” said I. + +“G’way!” said she. “Here, Tige!” + +“Please, ma’am--” + +“G’way, I say! We don’t want no tramps hookin’ everything they kin lay +their hands on!” + +“Please, ma’am,” I persisted, mildly, “I am not a tramp. I want +something to eat”--the woman started to unchain the dog--“for which I am +willing to pay.” + +“Come right in,” said the woman, with a broad smile. “I declare I +couldn’t have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a +person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you +were different from the general run.” + +While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table with +fried ham, potatoes, bread and butter and coffee, and I lost no time in +falling to. I paid a quarter for it when I had finished, and got away as +quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of the men folks, +who might have their suspicions aroused. + +All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to enter +into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for a +week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by that +time I judged myself to be reasonably safe. + +So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my hair +cut, a complete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of rest. + +When I started out again, the next morning, I had recovered my usual +spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as my +money and strength held out. I had twenty-five dollars of the former and +an unlimited supply of the latter. + +All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and +supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, I thought it would be +just as well to camp in the woods again. + +For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my +left, I soon came to a secluded spot, near a ravine or gully, and there +I made myself a bed of dry leaves. + +On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when I +was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware. + +I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it +evidently come from the ravine, I arose and began an investigation. + +Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about fifteen +feet below, a bright light, and the rattling sound again smote my ears. + +By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching hold +of a small sapling, I leaned far over the edge to observe the why and +wherefor. As I did so, I felt the sapling giving away, and I made a +desperate attempt to recover myself. + +It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along +with it. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE. + +The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which came +the light at which I had been gazing. + +I was slightly stunned, but I scrambled to my feet just as a heavy hand +was laid on my collar, and a gruff voice said: + +“Vell! here’s a precious go!” + +I looked up, and saw that the voice and hand belonged to the same +person--a short, stout man, with sallow complexion and glistening black +eyes. His dress was a curious compound of broad, glazed hat and blue +shift of a sailor and the flashy check vest and pantaloons of a peddler. + +“Vere did you come from, anyhow,” he demanded, before I had finished my +survey, “a-busting down on a chap vithout varning, and a smashing of his +pots and kettles?” + +“Pots and kettles?” I repeated, inquiringly. + +For answer he pointed indignantly to the ground, and then I saw what +damage my descent had caused. + +A rusty coffee-pot, a little dish and a skillet were scattered among the +embers of the fire. + +“That’s vot you did,” said he, resentfully. “Here vos I, a-cooking my +supper and a-thinking of just nothink at all, when all of a suddent down +you come, like a cannon-ball, and avay goes everythink! It was werry +aggerwating because it was nearly done.” + +“I assure you, sir,” said I, very contritely, “that I had no intention +of falling on your fire or your supper.” + +Then I explained the cause of my sudden descent, and wound up by +offering to pay for the damage. + +By this time the man had entirely recovered his temper--if he had ever +lost it, which I very much doubt--and smiled kindly. + +“Vell, vell, there ain’t much harm done except putting my supper back +half an hour. Put up your money, my boy, and join me.” + +Then he righted the utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared the +meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task to be +by no means an unusual one. + +Within half an hour, he had made a pot of coffee, a pan of biscuits and +a savory stew, and we were soon discussing this supper very amiably +together. + +After supper he washed out the dishes and utensils in a brook near by, +and lying at full length on the ground, composed himself for a smoke. + +All this time I had been regarding him in silence, but with considerable +curiosity, and I had about made up my mind that he was a gipsy, on his +way to join his tribe, when he startled me by saying, abruptly: + +“Look ’ere!” + +I intimated that I was all attention. + +“Who are you?” he asked, bluntly. + +“Jack Wood,” I answered, promptly, although a trifle nervously. + +“My name is Miles Norris,” he rejoined, after a long pause. “I’m a +wender of physics and knickknacs.” + +“A doctor?” + +“Not exactly,” he replied, rising on his elbow and winking at me +significantly. “I cures people as hasn’t got nothink the matter vith ’em +and thinks they has.” + +This sentence was too deep for me to fathom, and on my intimating as +much, he condescended to explain. + +“I go round the country selling my own medicines, which is Norris’s +Golden Balsam, wot cures all kinds of pains, cuts and bruises, +whatsomedever they may be; fifty cents a bottle, small bottles +twenty-five. Then there’s the Lightning Toothache Drops, wot cures that +hagonizing malady in one second, or money refunded--twenty-five cents a +bottle. And finally, ’ere we ’ave the Great American Tooth Powder, which +makes the blackest teeth vite in less’n no time, and makes the gums +strong and ’elthy--ten cents a box. And each and every purchaser is +presented vith a book containing fifty songs, all new and prime, free +gratis and for nothink! Valk hup, ladies and gentlemen; who’ll ’ave +another bottle?” + +During this recital, Doctor Norris gradually assumed a professional +demeanor, and near the close he rose to his feet, and gesticulated as if +addressing a large audience. + +But at the close he suddenly cooled down, and assuming his recumbent +position, said, listlessly: + +“Now you know me.” + +“Certainly,” said I; “but then I do not see--” + +“I hunderstand,” said he. “You don’t see no Balsam, nor Drops, nor +Powder?” + +“I do not.” + +“And you vonder vere they are?” + +“Yes.” + +“Your surprise is werry natural,” said Doctor Norris, with great +gravity. “I am out of those inwaluable medicines at present, but ven I +get to my laboratory, I shall roll ’em out wholesale.” + +“Then you make them?” + +“In course. I couldn’t trust anybody else.” + +Then, after a pause, he added, slowly: + +“I don’t know but that I might let you into my secrets if-- What did you +say your name was?” + +I repeated my alias, and told my fictitious history. + +“So you ain’t got nothink to do?” + +“Nothing.” + +“How would you like to work for me?” + +“Doing what?” + +“Selling my medicines.” + +“Done!” cried I, joyfully. + +“Hold hup!” said he, quickly. “I ain’t quite certain. Can you patter?” + +“Can I what?” + +“Gab, I mean--talk? Are you good on that?” + +“I think I am,” I answered, modestly. + +“And ’ave you got plenty of cheek?” + +“Oh, yes! Why?” + +“Because you’ll need it. You wouldn’t be afraid to stand hup before a +big crowd and blow away about the Balsam, or the Powder, nor yet the +Drops--hey?” + +I assured him that the prospect did not dismay me in the least. + +My companion then brought the conversation to a conclusion very +summarily. + +“Then, Jack Wood,” said he, “you’re my man!” + +Then he rolled over and went to sleep, and although somewhat astonished +at the suddenness of the doctor’s resolution, I thought his action a +good one, and _I_ rolled over and went to sleep, also. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +TREATS OF MY EXPERIENCE AS A PHYSICIAN--I REACH THE MISSISSIPPI. + +I awoke at sunrise, or rather Doctor Norris awoke me by a vigorous dig +in the ribs with the point of his boot, and told me that breakfast was +ready. I arose at once, washed my face, combed my hair, and then +astonished the doctor by the vigor of my appetite. + +During the meal he confided to me his plans for the future. He had laid +out a route through Butler and Beaver counties to the State line, and +thence through Ohio until winter set in. + +“I make enough in summer to lay hup in winter,” he explained. “It’s an +’ealthy and hinvigorating life, and I like it. I’ve traveled over nearly +all the States between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, ’ave ’ad my +hups and downs, and I wouldn’t change places with a king.” + +I rather doubted whether the doctor knew very much about kings, that he +could afford to speak so positively, but I felt that it would be neither +polite nor prudent to disagree with him. + +“I dare say I shall like the life very well,” I said, quietly. +“But--what am I expected to do?” + +“You’ll be my assistant,” said the doctor, in a lofty voice, as if he +was announcing my appointment to a cabinet position. + +Then he went into details, and explained that I was to assist him in +concocting and selling the wonderful remedies of which he was the +inventor. + +This duty included filling bottles, pasting on labels, carrying his +baggage, making his fires, and several other minor matters which he +could not recall just then. + +“Ve’ll camp out like this most of the time,” he added. “Hotels is +hexpensive, and I never stops at ’em, unless it’s raining or I’m going +to sell in the town. You von’t mind that, vill you?” + +I was more than delighted at the prospect, and I said so. + +“This man,” I told myself, “is evidently a great traveler, and he is +going West. If I stick to him my fortune is made.” + +It did not take the doctor long to pack up his traps, and, dividing them +between us, we journeyed along very agreeably. + +When we arrived in Butler we went to a hotel, and there, in the +seclusion of our room, the doctor manufactured three dozen bottles of +the balsam, as many of the toothache drops and twice as many boxes of +the tooth-powder. + +At this distance of time I cannot recall the ingredients of these justly +celebrated remedies, but I can cheerfully testify to their harmlessness. + +The balsam was composed of two or three simple aromatic oils, the +toothache drops was merely a diluted essence of the oil of cloves, +and the wonderful tooth-powder chalk powdered and scented. + +The labels for the various compounds the doctor carried in his oilcloth +bag, and the bottles, boxes and various ingredients he purchased at the +village drug stores. + +I am almost ashamed to tell you what enormous profits he made on his +sales, and will only mention that he once told me that the bottle and +label formed nine-tenths of the cost of the Golden Balsam, which +retailed at one dollar. + +In these days the street vender of physic is an ordinary sight, but a +quarter of a century ago he was almost unknown outside of the largest +cities. + +After being a month in the company of Doctor Norris I easily understood +why he followed such a life. In the town of Butler two days’ sales +netted him sixty dollars, and he made nearly as much in Beaver. + +He was not always so successful, but, taking one week with another, +I judged that he cleared at least fifty dollars, which was a bank +president’s salary in those days. + +His methods were such as are in use among this class of gentry all the +world over. + +Having prepared his stock in trade, he would gravely walk down the main +street, followed by your humble servant. + +Halting on the most prominent corner, he and I would arrange the boxes +and bottles in attractive pyramids on the top of a box or a barrel, +taking as much time as possible, so as to attract the attention of the +passers-by. + +Having achieved this object, the doctor would mount on a soap-box, so as +to raise himself above the crowd, and begin his harangue. + +He always began gravely, and not until he had made several sales did he +venture on a joke or a witticism, although he had a plentiful stock of +cheap wit, such as crowds delight in. + +Another thing: When he spoke in public he used excellent English, and +the cockney dialect entirely disappeared. He never explained this to me, +but I suppose he was like an actor on the stage when addressing a crowd. + +“Ladies and gentlemen,” he would say, in calm and measured tones, +“Shakespeare has said, ‘Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it!’ and +he was right. Medicinal drugs are pernicious, even when given by a +practiced physician, but when administered by quacks, it is little short +of murder. Now, in my medicines I do not give you strange and deadly +drugs. The articles I use are all known to you” (this was strictly +true), “the mode of preparation only being a secret. No pain, no danger +in their use, absolutely harmless to the smallest child, yet so powerful +that the most deadly ailments yield to their power.” + +Thus the doctor talked on for fifteen minutes, taking the crowd into his +confidence in a learned and fatherly way, until some fellow bashfully +thrust forward a coin, and then the money rolled in. + +The doctor was now in his element; he was witty, he cracked jokes, +he told stories, and even indulged in snatches of song, and he rarely +failed to hold his audience until his stock was exhausted. + +This operation sometimes consumed three or four hours, and sometimes his +eloquence was wasted. But at all times he was cheerful and polite, and +good and bad fortune seemed alike to him. + +I thought then, and I still think, that he was a remarkable man; and I +am sure that he treated me very kindly. He paid me a very liberal salary +of ten dollars a month, and whenever he had an unusually good day, gave +me an extra dollar. + +All of this money I carefully stowed away in my belt for a rainy day, +which I felt sure would come. And my experience did not deceive me. + +After leaving Pennsylvania, we traveled through the small towns of Ohio +until near the middle of December, as it was a very open winter, and it +was nearly Christmas before the cold and snow drove us into winter +quarters in Toledo. + +The doctor intended to treat himself to a three months’ rest, and for +that purpose hired two rooms and kept bachelor’s hall, and invited me to +keep him company. + +I received no wages; but as he was to bear all expenses, I willingly +agreed to the arrangement. + +These three months were absolutely uneventful, and about the first of +April we started out again. + +The doctor had laid out a new route for this season. We traveled across +country by stage to Keokuk, Iowa, intending to travel up the river as +far as St. Paul, and then work eastward thorough Wisconsin and Michigan, +and close the season at Detroit. + +But we never carried out our programme. My cruel fate pursued me--or was +it punishment for my foolishness?--and at Davenport I was once more cast +adrift. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + + INTERNATIONAL LESSON--FOR MAY 29. + + Exodus 14:19-21. Golden Text--Isaiah 43:2. + + Central Subject--THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. + + BY REV. D. P. KIDDER, D.D. + + +INTRODUCTION. + +According to Jewish tradition, it was seven days after the Passover that +the Israelites passed over the Red Sea. + +Before they left they were directed by God to ask (not “borrow,” as it +is in our version) of the Egyptians jewels of silver and gold, and other +articles that would be of service to them. + +It was customary thus on the eve of a journey, or at the close of a term +of service, to ask gifts. The practice corresponded to the asking of +_backshish_, still so common in the East. + +The Egyptians, it seemed, readily and generously granted the request of +the Israelites and supplied them abundantly. Thus, in some slight +measure, they made return for the long years of unrequited service which +the Hebrews had rendered to Egypt’s land and Egypt’s king. + +While the Egyptians were bewailing their dead, the children of Israel, +having finished hurriedly their Passover feast, started on their journey +of escape. Leaving Rameses, the western part of Goshen, they assembled +at Succoth--“place of tents”--so called because it was a camping place +for caravans going east, then and now. They were, perhaps, four days +gathering at this spot, about two millions of people all told. + +The next point which they reached was Etham. This was a district of +country just on the edge of the desert. From this point there were three +routes to Palestine. The Israelites, by divine direction, took the most +southern. + +They were at first surprised at this order of march; but it was the only +safe one for them. The most northern would have taken them right through +the country of the warlike and hostile Philistines, and the middle route +(after passing the great wall which stretched from Pelusium on the +Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez) would have brought them right out +upon the desert. + +Several days had elapsed since the Israelites started on their flight. +Pharaoh already missed them. His important works were brought to a +standstill; there was no one to make or handle bricks, and the loss of +so large and so efficient a body of workers was severely felt. + +A reaction takes place in the mind of the king; he charges himself with +folly in letting the people go, and resolves to pursue them. He learns, +also, that they have not yet got out of the land of Egypt, and he thinks +that by the fact that they have turned south, and not gone directly to +the east, they are confused, and he plans to catch them when they are +hemmed in by the mountains and the sea. + +With six hundred of his swiftest chariots he at once sets out after +them, leaving orders, doubtless, for other chariots as well as foot +soldiers to follow as soon as possible. + +The Israelites were in the greatest alarm; there was no visible means of +escape. They could go no further south, for the mountains were in front +of them; they could not turn to the right for the same reason; the +Egyptians were in their rear, and the Red Sea was before them. They were +in a trap. This is what Pharaoh expected. The strategy on which he had +reckoned (ver. 3) had worked admirably. + + +THE PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. + + “And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed + and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before + their face, and stood behind them: + + “And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of + Israel: and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light + by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the + night.” + +It is singular that this blind king should so soon forget that there was +a God in Israel, and that he was to come into collision again with that +Being who had so often foiled, and finally, in the death of the +first-born, had utterly crushed him. + +But none are so blind or so heedless as the obstinate and the +unbelieving. It will be seen that the battle that is soon to follow will +end as before--in the defeat of Pharaoh, and, as some think, his death. + +We have in this “angel of God” the same being that we have met so often +before, who talked familiarly with Abraham and Jacob. He is the one who +afterward came in the form of the flesh, and is called Christ. + +This time His symbol was a cloud, and at night a pillar of fire. In such +a large host as that of the children of Israel were at this time, it +would be necessary that there be some elevated central object, so that +those of the people scattered widely, in caring for the flocks and other +like services, should not lose the location of the camp. + +Some such arrangement was early found important in caravans crossing the +deserts, so that it was customary to carry a round grate with fire, held +aloft on a pole. The ancient Persians and some other nations carried a +sacred fire in silver altars before their armies. + +At night this cloud over the camp of the Israelites was illumined by +some strong internal fire, so that the host dwelt amid the darkness of +the desert as in a city brightly lighted. It was a marvelous miracle. + +This cloud now changed its position as the Egyptians came near to the +Israelites. It stood between the two hosts. Over the Egyptians it was a +dense fog that cut off all their vision so that they could not tell what +the Israelites were doing, while to the latter it was as though it had +caught and held the rays of the setting sun, and poured a brilliant +glory all over and through their encampment. The Egyptians, thinking +that the rising sun will disperse the fog, wait for morning. + + +THE ISRAELITES ENTER THE RED SEA. + + “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused + the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made + the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. + + “And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry + ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, + and on their left.” + +While the Egyptians were thus waiting, the Israelites were busy; they +were making the best use of their time. They were making their escape by +the way last of all thought possible--even the bottom of the sea! + +The crossing was made in the neighborhood of what are now called the +Bitter Lakes. This was then most probably the head of the Red Sea. + +It was at a time of the year when the tide would help the action of the +wind. If there were shoals or flats at the place where the crossing is +supposed to have occurred, as there are now at Suez, the wind and the +tide clearing a passage there would leave deep water on both sides of +the passage-way, and this most probably is the meaning of the expression +that the waters were a wall to them on either side. + + “They were a defense; not necessarily perpendicular cliffs, as they + were often pictured. God could make the water stand in precipices if + He should so choose, and such a conception is more impressive to the + imagination, but it is certain that the language of the text may + mean simply that the water was a protection on the right and on the + left flanks of the host. Thus, in Nahum 3:8, No (Thebes) is said to + have the sea (the broad Nile) for the rampart and a wall--that is, + a defense, a protection against enemies. It is true that in poetical + passages the waters are said to have stood ’as a heap’ (Exod. 15:8; + Psa. 78:13); but so they are also, in the same style, said to have + been ’congealed in the heart of the sea,’ and the peaks of the + trembling Horeb are said to have ’skipped like rams, and the little + hills like lambs’ (Psa. 114:4). Of course these expressions are not + to be literally and prosaically interpreted.” + +[Illustration] + +The wind thus prevailed all night, to keep the passage open until all +the Israelites had crossed and the pursuing Egyptians had got well into +the sea. + + +THE ENEMY FOLLOW CLOSELY. + + “And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of + the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen. + + “And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto + the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the + cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. + + “And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily; so + that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for + the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” + +Surrounded by darkness and enveloped by the fog, the Egyptians did not +know that they were rushing into the midst of the sea. It is not said +that Pharaoh went in, and yet as the post of the king is usually +represented on the ancient monuments as leading his soldiers--marching +at their head--it may be, as some think, that his chariot led those six +hundred chariots, and that he perished with them. + + “The chariots of Egypt were very famous. According to Diodorus + Siculus, Rameses II had twenty-seven thousand in his army. + The processes of manufacture of chariots and harness are fully + illustrated by existing sculptures, in which also are represented + the chariots used by neighboring nations.”--_Rev. H. W. Phillot._ + +At this point the movements of the Egyptians are very much impeded. +Shortly after midnight, the fog changed into a storm cloud, blazing with +lightning and growling with thunder. This was terrifying to the +Egyptians in the extreme, as they were not accustomed to thunderstorms, +and scarcely ever saw rain. + + “Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder + and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted + upon them; nor was there anything which God sends upon men as + indications of His wrath which did not happen at this + time.”--_Josephus._ + +Psalms 77:15-20 refers to this storm. Although the Israelites went +through dry-shod, the pursuing chariots sank in the mire, were buried in +the sand, and in some cases the wheels were wrenched off, so that the +superstitious Egyptians recognized the fact that the God of Israel was +fighting against them. They therefore began to retreat. In the meantime +the children of Israel had an abundance of time to make good their +escape. + + “Before the captivity, the night (between sunset and sunrise) was + divided by the Israelites into three watches--the first watch, the + middle watch and the morning watch. It appears that the Israelites + had the space of two watches, at least (or eight hours), for + effecting their passage.”--_Murphy._ + + +THE OVERTHROW OF PHARAOH’S HOST. + + “And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, + that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their + chariots and upon their horsemen. + + “And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea + returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the + Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in + the midst of the sea. + + “And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the + horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after + them; there remained not so much as one of them.” + +After the fugitives had safely gained the farther shore, and while the +Egyptians were still struggling in the middle of the passage, through +the gray of the dawn they saw the majestic form of Moses rise upon the +opposite bank. They saw him stretch forth that terrible rod--that rod +which had left so many deep scars upon the fair land of Egypt--and +immediately the wind ceased, its strong pressure was relaxed, the sudden +swell of the tide caught the waters, and they, as if impatient of +restraint, leaped again to their wonted channel, burying the hopeless +and helpless enemy. + + “A sudden cessation of the wind at sunrise, coinciding with a spring + tide (it was full moon), would immediately convert the low, flat + sand-banks, first into a quicksand, and then into a mass of waters, + in a time far less than would suffice for the escape of a single + chariot or horseman loaded with heavy corselet.”--_Canon Cook._ + +The destruction was as complete as it was sudden. Not one escaped. The +disaster was overwhelming, crushing. The Egyptians never again disturbed +the Israelites during all their after wanderings. + + +THIS WAS THE LORD’S DOINGS. + + “But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the + sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on + their left. + + “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the + Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. + + “And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the + Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, + and his servant Moses.” + +There was only one explanation of this event, and that was the Lord +wrought it. There could be no room in the mind of any of the children of +Israel to doubt that God was with them. Repeatedly had they seen their +enemies baffled and discomfited; now they saw them destroyed. What folly +to contend with such a God! Would it be possible for these people thus +delivered ever to doubt God? ever to distrust Him? ever to disobey Him? +It would seem not. + +They had every reason to believe Him, to be grateful to Him, to love and +serve Him devotedly. Without lifting a finger, they, an unarmed people, +with not a soldier in all their ranks, nor a weapon worthy the name, had +triumphed over a chosen detachment of the finest army in the world at +that time, led, too, by a king who was familiar with battles and +accustomed to victories. + +Josephus says that, after the passage of the sea by the Israelites, +a west wind set in, which (assisted by the current) drove the bodies of +the drowned Egyptians to the eastern side of the gulf, where many of +them were cast up upon the shore. In this way, Moses, according to him, +obtained weapons and armor for a considerable number of Israelites. + + + + + WHAT THEY DO WHEN IT RAINS. + + By Carrie Cathcart Day. + + + “Where do you go, + Sweet, happy bird, + When wild winds blow + And storms are heard? + Do you not dread the rushing rain, + And wish the sky was bright again?” + + “Tweet oh! I fly + To nestlings near-- + To hush their cry, + And soothe their fear; + And o’er them all my wings I fold, + To keep them safely from the cold.” + + “Where do you run, + Dear little duck? + Is the rain fun, + And best of luck?” + “Oh, yes! Quack! quack! I swim in glee, + It never pours too hard for me!” + + “Of course, good sheep, + You do not care-- + Out-doors you keep + Through foul and fair; + Your coat is surely thick enough + To shield you from a tempest rough?” + + “Baa! baa! baa! baa! + I let the geese + Have all the wet; + For should my fleece + All soaking get, + ’Twould be too heavy for my play-- + So to my shed I skip away.” + + “Why do you croak + So long and loud, + Queer froggie folk, + When comes a cloud?” + “Cree-crake! cree-crake! + Because our pollywogs, we know, + When ponds are full will nicely grow!” + + “But, bumble-bee, + Your gauzy wings, + It seems to me, + Are flimsy things; + Should they get drenched, ’twould spoil them quite, + And you’d be in a sorry plight!” + + “I crawl beneath + A lily bell-- + A lovely sheath + That suits me well, + And when--buzz! buzz!--the sun I greet, + The roses all are fresh and sweet.” + + “Well, surely you, + My little lad, + Feel very blue + In weather sad? + You mope and fret and whine and frown, + To see the torrents driving down!” + + “Oh, ho! oh, ho! + You do not know; + For _thus_, you see, + My trowsers go + Up to my knee; + I make believe to wade and splash + In puddles nice, with Puss and Dash, + And we pretend the shower pours + As hard _within_ as out of doors!” + + + + +JACK-A-DANDY. + +BY HELEN WHITNEY CLARK. + + +We children had been wishing for a tame crow ever since reading Dickens’ +charming description of his pet raven. There were no ravens where we +lived; but Brother Tom said crows were just as good, and could be taught +to talk, too. + +And one day, when we were playing “Here we go round the mulberry bush” +in the woods near the house, little Ikey, our colored washerwoman’s boy, +came along with a live crow in his hands. + +Of course we were curious to see and examine the wonderful bird, and we +crowded around Ikey, who seemed bewildered at being the object of so +much attention. + +“Where did you get him?” “What you going to do with him?” “How much will +you take for him?” asked Tom, Josie and Fred, in one breath. + +But Ikey only grinned, as he answered each in turn. + +“Got him out of his nest in a post-oak. Dey was more of ’em, but I +couldn’t git ony dis one. I’m a-gwine to raise him if mammy’ll let me. +But I mout sell him, if I git a good chance.” + +The opportunity was not to be lost, and in a very few moments Ikey was +trudging homeward with a handful of coppers and two nickels--all the +change we could raise among us, and we proudly carried our new-found +treasure to the house. + +“Mercy on us!” cried mamma, holding up her hands. “What on earth have +you got there?” + +“A crow,” we told her. “And we’re going to tame him, and teach him to +talk.” + +“Nonsense!” said mamma. “You don’t suppose I’ll have a _crow_ about the +house, to kill the young chickens and eat up the eggs!” + +But we begged and pleaded, till at last she gave her consent to let us +keep it. + +“It’ll be a great torment,” grumbled grandma. “It’s a _young_ bird, +and you’ll have to feed it like a baby.” + +But we did not mind the trouble. Indeed, it was more of an amusement to +us to feed our pet on scraps of meat and bits of bread. It opened its +mouth so wide, and cried “Caw-aw-aw!” in such a satisfactory way. + +Ikey had instructed us as to the manner of feeding. + +“Jess you peck it on de head, an’ it’ll open its mouth like it does fur +de ole birds,” he explained. + +And we found his advice was good. + +We named our pet “Jack-a-Dandy,” and he grew and throve so much that he +was soon able to procure his own food, which consisted of crickets and +other insects. + +He was so tame that we could allow him perfect freedom, without any fear +of his deserting us. + +As he grew older, he used frequently to fly into the top of a tall +post-oak near the front door, from which he would circle around and +around the house, then alight on the ground, and come hopping in the +door, with a cheerful “caw! caw!” as if asserting that there was no +place like home. + +“He’s better than Dick Hardy’s tame squirrel,” Tom used to say, “for +that has to be kept in a cage.” + +“And Bob Rooney’s pet coon has to be fastened by a chain,” said Josie. +“But Jack-a-Dandy is as free as we are.” + +But mamma was not particularly pleased with Jack, and grandma continued +to grumble over his misdemeanors, especially when he would rummage in +her work-basket, and carry off her silver thimble or bright steel +bodkin. + +“He’s a troublesome creature,” she would declare, “and if I had _my_ +way, he’d get his neck wrung.” + +But we kept a good watch on our favorite, to keep him from getting into +mischief. + +We had used our best endeavors to teach him to talk, but he was a poor +scholar, and could not even learn to pronounce his own name. + +Still we loved him, and continued to take his part against his enemies. + +Papa had never said much, one way or the other, about Jack, though he +was not very favorably disposed toward the race of crows. But when the +spring planting was done, he took sides with the opposition. + +“If your tame thief pulls up my corn, I’ll shoot him,” he declared. + +“If he troubles the young chickens, he’ll have to go,” said mamma. + +“If he spoils my garden, I’ll wring his neck,” asserted grandma. + +And, as may be imagined, we suffered considerable anxiety about our pet. + +One day we were eating dinner, while Jack sat perched on the post-oak +near the door. + +Suddenly a terrible commotion occurred in the chicken-yard, caused by a +hawk which had swooped down and seized a young chicken. + +The hen-mother, however, attacked the marauder so furiously that it was +unable to carry off its prey immediately, and before papa could seize +his gun and reach the scene of conflict, Jack-a-Dandy had flown to the +hen’s assistance. + +He attacked the hawk so desperately that it dropped its prey, and a +terrible combat ensued, in which Jack came off the victor. But not +satisfied with this, he pursued the flying enemy a long distance, +attacking him sharply when occasion offered. + +[Illustration: +“BEFORE PAPA COULD SEIZE HIS GUN AND REACH THE SCENE OF CONFLICT, +JACK-A-DANDY HAD FLOWN TO THE HEN’S ASSISTANCE.”] + +You may be sure we had a great many praises and a sumptuous dinner for +our favorite, on his return. + +Hawks had for years been a great pest to poultry raising, and even mamma +espoused Jack’s cause after his successful battle with the rapacious +foe. + +And during Jack’s life, not another chicken was molested by the hawks, +as he kept a vigilant watch, and attacked every one that dared to +venture near the premises. + +He even won the good-will of papa, by keeping rigidly aloof from the +corn-field; but grandma was still fearful lest he might do some damage +to the garden. + +She was very careful of her early vegetables, and the garden-spot was +paled in, to keep the chickens and rabbits from making depredations on +the early lettuce, peas and cabbages. + +But no fence would keep Jack out. Like the wind, he went “wherever he +listeth.” + +Much to our relief, however, he did not offer to molest the vegetables, +but did good service in picking up the insects and cut-worms, which are +usually such a pest about a garden. + +When he fell to devouring the squash-bugs, which were sapping the life +of the “Boston Marrows,” grandma’s last prejudice was overcome, and she +declared that Jack was worth his weight in gold. + +After that, she never went to the garden without calling Jack, who would +give an answering “caw!” and hop gravely after her, or perch on her +shoulder with all the confidence of a privileged favorite. + +As long as he lived, Jack continued to grow in the good opinion of the +household. But, alas! he could not live forever. + +One day he sat drooping on his perch, and refused to be enticed away +from it. He even declined the plump crickets Fred offered him in hopes +of tempting his appetite. + +The next morning he was found dead under his perch. He was mourned +sincerely by the whole family, from grandma down, and we buried him with +great ceremony under his favorite post-oak. + +Tom sodded his grave, Josie planted a “mourning bride” over it, and Fred +put up a shingle for a headstone, with this verse on it, which we all +thought very beautiful: + + “Handy-spandy, Jack-a-Dandy + Loves plum-cake and sugar candy.” + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 15._] + + THE + + YOUNG GAME-WARDEN + + BY HARRY CASTLEMON. + + +CHAPTER XXXI--[CONTINUED]. + +Silas was so completely wrapped up in his own affairs that the boys got +close to him before he was aware of their presence, and it is the +greatest wonder in the world that he did not shoot one of them in his +excitement. + +He was really alarmed; but when he had taken a good look at the +newcomers, in order to make sure of their identity, he laid his gun +across the chair, pushed up his sleeves, and shook both his fists at +Dan. + +“So you thought you would fool your poor old pap this morning, did you, +you little snipe?” he shouted. “Well, you see what you made by it, don’t +you?” + +“I never tried to make a fool of you,” stammered Dan, who had a faint +idea that he understood the situation. “I never in this wide world!” + +“Hush your noise when I tell you I know better,” yelled Silas; and one +would have thought, by the way he acted and looked, that he was very +angry, instead of very much delighted, at the way things had turned out. +“Here you have been and tramped all over them mountings, and never got a +cent for it, while I have made a clean twenty-five hundred dollars, if I +counted it up right on my fingers; and I reckon I did, ’cause your mam +put in a figger to help me now and then.” + +“Why, how did it happen?” exclaimed Joe, who, up to this moment, had not +been able to do anything but stand still and look astonished. + +He knew that his father had captured one of the robbers without help +from any one, and that was more than fifty other men had been able to +do, with all their weary tramping. + +“The way it happened was just this,” said Silas, who could not stand in +one place for a single moment. “Hold on there!” he added, turning +fiercely upon his prisoner, who just then moved uneasily upon the bench, +as if he were trying to find a softer spot to sit on. “I’ve got my eyes +onto you, and you might as--” + +“Why, father, he can’t get away,” Joe interposed. “You’ve got him tied +up too tight. Why don’t you let out that rope a little?” + +“’Cause he’s worth a pile of money--that’s why!” exclaimed Silas; “and I +won’t let the rope out not one inch, nuther. You Joe, keep away from +there.” + +“I really wish you would undo some of this rope,” said the prisoner, +who, like Byron’s Corsair, seemed to be a mild-mannered man. “I have +been tied up ever since two o’clock, and am numb all over. I couldn’t +run a step if I should try.” + +“Don’t you believe a word of that!” exclaimed Silas. “Come away from +there and let that rope be, I tell you.” + +“Say, father,” said Joe, suddenly, “what are you going to do with your +captive? Do you intend to sit up and watch him all night long?” + +“I was just a-studying about that when you come up and scared me,” +replied Silas, dropping the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning +heavily upon the muzzle. + +He never could stand alone for any length of time; he always wanted +something to support him. + +“What do you think I had better do about it? I don’t much like to keep +him here, ’cause-- Why, just look a-here, Joey,” added Silas, moving up +to the door, and pointing to some object inside the cabin. “See them +tools I took away from him?” + +The boys stepped to their father’s side, and saw lying upon the table, +where Silas had placed it, a belt containing a brace of heavy revolvers +and a murderous-looking knife. + +“Now, them’s dangerous,” continued Silas, “and if this feller’s pardner +should happen along--” + +“But he won’t happen along,” interrupted Dan. “Brierly’s squad gobbled +him.” + +The ferryman looked surprised, then disgusted, and finally he turned an +inquiring glance upon Joe, who said that Dan told the truth. + +“You don’t like it, do you?” said the latter, to himself. “It sorter +hurts you to know that there is them in the world that are just as lucky +and smart as you be, don’t it? Yes, that’s what’s the matter with pap. +He don’t want no one else to be as well off as he is.” + +And when Dan said that, he hit the nail fairly on the head. + +“The other robber is not in a condition to attempt a rescue,” said Joe; +“but, all the same, I don’t think you ought to keep this man here all +night. The sheriff is now at Mr. Warren’s house, and it is your duty to +hand the prisoner over to him at once. Be careful how you point those +guns this way.” + +This last remark was called forth by an action on the part of Silas and +Dan that made Joe feel the least bit uncomfortable. + +While the latter was talking, his hands were busy with the rope; and +when the prisoner arose from the bench and stamped his feet to set the +blood in circulation again, his excited and watchful guards at once +covered his head and Joe’s with the muzzles of their guns. + +“Turn those weapons the other way,” repeated Joe, angrily. “You don’t +think this man is foolish enough to try to run off while his hands are +tied, do you? Now, father, how did you happen to catch him?” + +“It was just as easy as falling off a log,” replied Silas, resuming his +seat and resting his double-barrel across his knees. “When you and Dan +went away this morning, I just naturally shouldered my gun, walked up +the road to the foot of the mounting, and set down on a log to wait for +game to come a-running past me, just the same as if I was watching for +deer, you know.” + +This was all true; but there was one thing he did that he forgot to +mention. The only “game” Silas expected to see was Dan Morgan, when he +returned from the mountain at night, and the ferryman was prepared to +give him a warm reception. Before he devoted himself to the task of +holding down that log by the roadside, he took the trouble to cut a long +hickory switch, and to place it beside the log, out of sight. He meant +to give Dan such a thrashing that he would never play any more tricks +upon him. + +“Well, about one o’clock, or a little after, while I was a-setting there +and waiting for the game to come along, I heared a noise in the brush, +and, all on a sudden, out popped this feller. He was running like he’d +been sent for, and that’s why I suspicioned him. Of course I didn’t know +him from Adam, but I asked him would he stop a bit. And he ’lowed he +would, when he seed my gun looking him square in the eye. I brung him +home, and your mam she passed out the clothes-line, and I tied him up.” + +“Where is mother now?” asked Joe. + +“Gone off after more sewing, I reckon,” replied Silas, in a tone which +seemed to say that it was a matter that was not worth talking about. +“She helped me figger up what I would get for catching him, and then she +dug out. I’m worth almost as much as you be now, Joey, and that there +mean Dan, who wouldn’t stay by and help me, he ain’t got a cent. Now +don’t you wish you hadn’t played that trick on me this morning?” + +“Never mind that,” interposed Joe, who did not care to stand by and +listen to an angry altercation which might end in a fight or a foot-race +between his father and Dan. “If we are going to deliver this man to the +sheriff to-night, we had better be moving.” + +“Do you reckon the sheriff will hand over the twenty-five hundred when I +give up the prisoner?” inquired Silas, as the party walked down the bank +toward the flat. + +“Of course he won’t.” + +“What for won’t he?” + +“Because he hasn’t got it with him. Perhaps it was never put into his +hands at all. I haven’t received my share yet.” + +“Then I reckon I’d best hold fast to him till I’m sure of my money,” +said Silas, reflectively. “I guess I won’t take him down to old man +Warren’s to-night.” + +“I guess you will, unless you want to get into trouble with the law,” +said Joe, decidedly. “If you don’t give him up of your own free will, +the sheriff will take him away from you.” + +Silas protested that he couldn’t see any sense in such a law as that, +but he lent his aid in pushing off the flat. + +Dan, who was almost too angry to breathe, had more than half a mind to +stay at home; but his curiosity to hear and see all that was said and +done when the prisoner was turned over to the officers of the law +impelled him to think better of it. When the flat was shoved off, +he jumped in and picked up one of the oars. + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +We have said that Tom Hallet was so anxious to help his unlucky friend +Bob in some way that he joined the very first squad that went out in +search of him. + +The man who had the name of being the leader of it was the sheriff’s +deputy; but the two stalwart young farmers who belonged to his party +were longer of limb than he was, and they pushed ahead at such a rate +that the deputy speedily fell to the rear, and stayed there during the +most of the day. + +“Me and Cyrus have come out to win that there reward,” said one of the +young men, when Tom remonstrated with them for leaving the officer so +far behind, “and we can’t do it by loafing along like that sheriff does. +We’ve got a mortgage to pay off on the farm, and we don’t know any +easier way to raise the money for it than to capture one of them +rogues.” + +But this sanguine young fellow was not the only one who was destined to +have his trouble for his pains; and what made his disappointment and his +brother’s harder to bear was the reflection that if they had left Tom’s +cabin half an hour earlier than they did, they might have succeeded in +earning a portion of the money of which they stood so much in need. + +They were not more than a quarter of a mile away when Brierly’s signal +guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They ran +forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of action +before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were also +disappointed. + +When they came within sight of the successful party, they found the +robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his +weapons. + +“Too late, boys!” exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his +good fortune. “You can’t lay claim to any of our money, if that’s what +brung you up here in such haste.” + +“We don’t care for the money,” panted Tom. “Where’s Bob?” + +“That’s so,” said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon +the prisoner during the whole forenoon. “Where is he? Say, feller, what +have you done with him?” + +“I have not seen him for two hours,” replied the prisoner. “As soon as +we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, and +I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn’t want to keep him +with us for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were +hiding.” + +Just then, the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his +breath, managed to inquire: + +“What have you done with your partners?” + +“There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way,” +answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the +compass. + +Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and watched +the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of +hand-cuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when +Brierly’s party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind them. + +He went as straight to his cabin as he could go, and there he found Bob +Emerson, who was rummaging around in the hope of finding something to +eat. + +“I haven’t had a bite of anything since last night, and you’d better +believe that I am hungry,” said Bob, after he and Tom had greeted each +other as though they had been separated for years. “But I am not a bit +of a hero. I haven’t had an adventure worth the telling.” + +“There’s nothing in there,” said Tom, seeing that his friend was casting +longing eyes toward his game-bag. “I didn’t take much of a lunch with +me, and I was hungry enough to eat it all. Can you stand it until we get +home?” + +“I’ll have to,” replied Bob. “By-the-way, did you ever see that before?” + +As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a soiled and +crumpled letter, which looked as though it might have been through the +war. + +It was the same precious document that he and Tom had left in Silas +Morgan’s wood-pile. + +“One of the robbers gave it to me last night,” continued Bob, in reply +to his companion’s inquiring look. “You will remember that Dan Morgan +lost the letter within a few feet of the log on which he sat when he +read it, and that when he and Silas went back to find it, they were +frightened away by something that dodged into the bushes before they +could get a sight at it, and which they took to be a ghost. Well, it +wasn’t a ghost at all, but one of the thieves, who had been to the Beach +after supplies. He found the letter, and read it. Of course he was +greatly alarmed, and so was his companion; for they couldn’t help +believing that some one had got wind of their hiding-place. They could +hardly believe me when I told them that you and I made that letter up +out of the whole cloth, and that we never dreamed there was any one +living in the gorge.” + +“But we did know it,” said Tom. + +“Of course we did after they frightened us, but not before. They spoke +about that, too. We took them completely by surprise the day we came +down the gorge. We were close upon their camp before they knew it, +and for a minute or two they didn’t know what to do. Then one of them +conceived the idea of making that hideous noise, and when the other saw +how well it worked, he joined in with him.” + +“But didn’t they know that we would be back sooner or later to look into +the matter?” asked Tom. + +“Of course they did, and that was another thing that frightened them. +They saw very plainly that their hiding-place was broken up, and were +making preparations to leave it when Silas and Dan put in their +appearance. The robbers saw and heard them long before they got to the +camp, and the one who found the letter recognized them at once. It was +at his suggestion that that ghost was rigged up.” + +“But they must have known that they could not scare everybody with that +dummy,” observed Tom. + +“To-be-sure they did, and they were in a great hurry to get away from +there; but they needed provisions, and by stopping to get them they fell +into trouble. They took Joe Morgan’s house for a wood-chopper’s cabin, +and while we were robbing them, they were foraging on Joe. I tell you, +Tom, it’s a lucky thing for us that we got out of that gorge when we +did. They were mad enough to shoot us on sight.” + +“I don’t wonder at it,” replied Tom. “It would make most anybody mad to +lose a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and securities, no +matter how he came by them. Where did they catch you? Did they treat you +well?” + +“They treated me well enough,” was Bob’s reply; “but I believe that if +they had not stood in fear of immediate capture, I should have a +different story to tell, if, indeed, I were able to tell any. I told you +nothing but the truth in the postscript I added to their note.” + +“I knew they made you write it, and that you did not express your honest +sentiments when you told us to be in a hurry about giving back that +valise.” + +“I was sure you would understand it: but what could a fellow do with a +cocked revolver flourished before his eyes by a man who was in just the +right humor to use it on him?” + +“He would do as he is told, of course,” answered Tom. “But do you +suppose they thought they could get that valise back by threatening +you?” + +“I don’t know what they thought, for they acted as if they were crazy. +They caught me in less than half an hour after I left you, and it was +through my own fault. I ran on to them before I knew it; and do you +imagine I thought ‘robbers’ once? As true as you live, I didn’t. I took +them for poachers, and told them, very politely, that these grounds were +posted and they couldn’t be allowed to shoot there, when all on a sudden +it popped into my head what I was doing. They saw the start I gave, and +in a second more they had me covered. If I could have got away without +letting them see that I suspected them, they wouldn’t have said a word +to me.” + +“Well, they covered you with their revolvers; then what?” + +“Beyond a doubt, they made a prisoner of me before they thought what +they were doing, and when they came to look at it, they found that they +had got an elephant on their hands. Then they would have been glad to +get rid of me; but they did not see just how they could do it with +safety to themselves, so they made up their minds to use me. + +“At first they thought they would wait and see if anything would come of +the notice they left on the door of the cabin, and then they thought +they wouldn’t--that they would hunt up another hiding-place as soon as +possible; so they ordered me to take them where nobody would ever think +of looking for them. And I could do nothing but obey.” + +“Were you acting as their guide when they released you?” + +Bob replied that he was. + +“Why didn’t you veer around a bit, and lead them toward the railroad?” + +“If I had, I shouldn’t be here now,” answered Bob, significantly. “They +warned me to be careful about that, and they were so well acquainted +with the hills that I was afraid to attempt any tricks. We camped over +on Dungeon Brook last night, and set out again at an early hour this +morning; but before we had been in motion an hour, we found ourselves +cut off from the upper end of the hills, and that was the time they made +up their minds to let me go. They didn’t say so, but still I had an idea +that they didn’t want me around for fear I would make too much noise to +suit them.” + +“I know they were afraid of it,” said Tom. “The robber that Brierly’s +squad captured said so.” + +“Is one of them taken?” exclaimed Bob, who hadn’t heard of it before. +“That’s good news. Where’s the other?” + +“Don’t know. They separated after they let you go, and Brierly captured +one of them. Perhaps we shall hear something about the other one now,” +added Tom, directing his companion’s attention to a large party of men +who were at that moment discovered approaching the cabin. “We went out +in squads of four, and there are a dozen men in that crowd.” + +“But I don’t see any prisoner among them,” said Bob. “They have all got +guns on their shoulders, and that proves that they have not seen +anything of robber number two.” + +As the party came nearer, the boys saw that it was made up of citizens +of Bellville and Hammondsport, who had abandoned the search for the day, +and were now on their way home. + +They were surprised to see Bob Emerson there, safe and sound, and +forthwith desired a full history of the letter which had been the means +of bringing about so remarkable a series of events. + +Bob protested that he was too hungry to talk, but when he saw the +generous supply of bread and meat which one of the men drew from his +haversack, he sat down on a log in front of the cabin and told his +story. + +His auditors declared that the way things had turned out was little +short of wonderful, adding, as they arose to go, that they were coming +out again, bright and early the next morning, to resume the search for +robber number two. They were not going to remain idle at home, they +said, as long as there were twenty-five hundred dollars running around +loose in the woods. + +When the bread and meat were all gone, and the boys were once more +alone, Tom wrote the notice which Joe Morgan found pinned to the door of +the cabin, and then he and Bob set out for Uncle Hallet’s. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Although Silas Morgan had received the most convincing proof that he had +nothing more to fear from the “hant” which had so long occupied all his +waking thoughts and disturbed his dreams at night, he would not have +taken one step toward Mr. Warren’s house before morning, had he not been +urged on by the hope that the sheriff would be ready to pay over his +money as soon as the robber was given up to him. The desire to handle +the reward to which he was entitled was stronger than his fear of the +dark. + +“And what shall I do with them twenty-five hundred after I get ’em, +Joey?” said he. “That’s what’s a-bothering of me now.” + +And it was the very thing that was bothering Joe, also. His father had +always been in the habit of spending his money as fast as he got it, and +the boy fully expected to see this large sum slip through his fingers +without doing the least good to him or anybody else. + +“I’ll tell you what I _wouldn’t_ do with it,” said Joe, after a little +hesitation. “I wouldn’t give Hobson any of it.” + +“You’re right I won’t!” exclaimed Silas. “He’s got more’n his share +already. What be you going to do with yours, when you get it?” + +“I think now that I shall put it in the bank at Hammondsport,” answered +Joe. “It will be safe there, and if I am careful of it, it will last me +until I get through going to school. You don’t want to go to school, but +you might go into business and increase your capital.” + +“That’s it--that’s it, Joey!” exclaimed Silas, who grew enthusiastic at +once. “I never thought of that. But what sort of business? It must be +something easy, ’cause I’ve worked hard enough already.” + +“Mr. Warren says that there is no easy way of making a living,” began +Joe; but his father interrupted him with an exclamation of impatience. + +“What does old man Warren know about it?” he demanded. “He never had to +do a hand’s turn in his life.” + +“But he don’t know what it is to be idle, and he is busy at something +every day,” said Joe. “I’ll tell you what I have often thought I would +do if I had a little money, and I may do it yet, if you don’t decide to +go into it. The new road that is coming through here is bound to bring a +good many people to the Beach, sooner or later. As the trout are nearly +all gone, the guests will have to devote their attention to the bass in +the lake, and consequently there will be a big demand for boats.” + +“So there will!” exclaimed Silas, who saw at once what Joe was trying to +get at. “That’s the business I’ve been looking for, Joey, and it’s an +easy one, too. Of course, I can let all my boats at so much an hour, and +I won’t have nothing to do but sit on the beach and take in my money.” + +“And what’ll I be doing?” inquired Dan, who had not spoken before. + +“You!” cried Silas, who seemed to have forgotten that Dan was one of the +party. “You will keep on chopping cord wood, to pay you for the mean +trick you played on me this morning. You see what you made by it, don’t +you? I reckon you wish you’d stayed by me now, don’t you? How much will +them boats cost me, Joey?” + +“I should think that ten or a dozen skiffs would be enough to begin +with,” answered Joe, “and they will cost you between three and four +hundred dollars; but you would have enough left to rent a piece of +ground of Mr. Warren and put up a snug little house on it.” + +“Then I’ll be a gentleman like the rest of ’em, won’t I?” exclaimed +Silas, gleefully. + +“No, you won’t,” said Dan, to himself. “That bridge ain’t been built +yet, and I don’t reckon Hobson means to have it there. He is going to +bust it up some way or ’nother, and I’m just the man to help him, if +he’ll pay me for it. Everybody is getting rich ’cepting me, and I ain’t +going to be treated this way no longer!” + +Silas was so completely carried away by Joe’s plan for making money +without work that he could think of nothing else. He forgot how +determined and vindictive Dan was, and how easy it would be for him to +place a multitude of obstacles in his way, but Joe didn’t. + +The latter knew well enough that Dan intended to make trouble if he were +left out in the cold, but what could be done for so lazy and unreliable +a fellow as he was? That was the question. + +While Joe was turning it over in his mind, he led the way through Mr. +Warren’s gate and up to the porch, where he found his employer sitting +in company with the sheriff and both Uncle Hallet’s game-wardens. The +deputy was in an upper room, keeping guard over the other prisoner. + +Of course, Tom and Bob, who were greatly surprised as well as delighted +to see Joe and his party, wanted to know just how the capture of robber +number two had been brought about, and while Joe was telling the story, +the sheriff marched the captive into the house and turned him over to +his deputy. + +Then he came back and sat down; but he did not put his hand into his +pocket and pull out the reward, as Silas hoped he would. + +“This has been a good day’s work all around,” said Tom, who was in high +spirits. “The next time there is any detective work to be done in this +county, Bob and I will volunteer to do it. We can catch more criminals +by sitting still and writing letters, than the officers can by bringing +all their skill into play.” + +The sheriff laughed, and said that was the way the thing looked from +where he sat. + +“The fun is all over now,” continued Tom, “and to-morrow we will go to +work in earnest. You will be on hand, of course?” + +Joe replied that he would. + +“By-the-way,” chimed in Bob, “did this robber of yours have a gun of any +description in his hands when he was captured?” + +“No.” + +“Then, Joe, you and I are just that much out of pocket. The guns are +gone up.” + +“What has become of them?” + +“They are out in the hills somewhere,” answered Bob. “When the robbers +made up their minds that they had better let me go, one of them had my +gun and the other had yours; but the robber Brierly captured says that +the weapon impeded his flight, and so he threw it away. Whereabouts he +was in the hills when he got rid of it, he can’t tell. No doubt your gun +was thrown away also, and the chances are not one in a thousand that we +shall ever find them again.” + +While this conversation was going on, Silas Morgan, who stood at the +foot of the steps that led to the porch, kept pulling Joe by the +coat-sleeve, and whispering to him: + +“Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I’m powerful anxious to see +the color of them twenty-five hundred.” + +Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so very +much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy’s notice, that the +officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the conversation, +he said, carelessly: + +“Oh, about the reward, Silas--” + +“That’s the idee,” replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he was +going to get it now. “That’s what I’m here for. You have got the +bugglars in your own hands now, and I don’t reckon you would mind +passing it over, would you?” + +“I?” exclaimed the sheriff. “I haven’t got it. I have never had a cent +of it in my possession.” + +“Then who’s going to give it to me?” demanded Silas, who wondered if the +officer was going to cheat him out of his money. + +“Well, you see, Silas,” said the sheriff, “the reward is conditioned +upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, +and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can’t get your +money until they are sentenced.” + +“And how long will that be?” + +“The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money was +offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry and +things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from +different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a +lump.” + +“That’s the way I want it,” said Silas, who was very much disappointed. +“I’m going into business.” + +“What sort of business?” inquired Mr. Warren. + +“I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach.” + +“Well now, Silas, that’s the most sensible thing I have heard from you +in a long time,” said Mr. Warren. “I’ll rent you a piece of ground big +enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good +shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you +manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living +of it.” + +“Who said anything about Dan?” exclaimed Silas. + +“I did. Of course you can’t ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants +a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He’s a strong +boy, a first-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds +on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who +wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a +day for such work as that.” + +“Well, I won’t do it,” said Silas, promptly. “He’s a lazy, +good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won’t take him into business along +of me.” + +“But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game +law and make an honest living,” said the sheriff. “By-the-way, Silas, +I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble +of going after them.” + +“What setters?” exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of +taking to his heels. “I ain’t got none. I took ’em down to the hotel and +give ’em up.” + +“I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble,” replied +the officer. “I have had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got hold +of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known where +to find the owner. Don’t do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best +policy, every day in the week.” + +“If you will leave your business in my hands, I will attend to it for +you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all,” continued Mr. +Warren. + +And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the +gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, +if he could help it. + +“It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats +this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, +and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at +Hobson’s bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not +paid over to you by the time spring opens, I will advance you enough to +start you in business and build your house. Then I think you had better +give Dan a chance.” + +“So do I,” whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. “Dan has lived by his wits +long enough, and if Silas doesn’t begin to take some interest in him, +the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. I can +see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over Silas as a +whip to make him behave himself.” + +“Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?” asked +Bob. + +“No, I don’t, because he doesn’t know enough to take care of so much +money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that +he will make every cent of it count.” + +Then, aloud, Tom said: + +“Well, Bob, seeing that we’ve got to get up in the morning, we had +better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take +your things back to your cabin.” + +“And I will send up another supply of provisions,” said Mr. Warren. + +Joe thanked his employer, bade him good-night, and led the way out of +the yard. + +For a time he and his party walked along in silence, and then Silas, who +began to have a vague idea that he had been imposed upon in some way, +broke out, fiercely: + +“What did old man Warren mean by saying that if I didn’t get all my +money by the time spring comes, he would advance enough to set me up in +business?” Silas almost shouted. “Looks to me like he’d ’p’inted himself +my guardeen, and that he means to keep a tight grip on them twenty-five +hundred, so’t I can’t spend it to suit myself. That’s what I think he +means to do, dog-gone the luck!” + +Joe thought so, too, and he was glad of it. If that was Mr. Warren’s +intention, Joe’s mother would be likely to reap some benefit from the +reward; otherwise, she would not. + + [TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +EIGHT GOOD RIDDLES. + + +Feet have they, but they walk not--stoves. + +Eyes have they, but they see not--potatoes. + +Teeth have they, but they chew not--saws. + +Noses have they, but they smell not--teapots. + +Mouths have they, but they taste not--rivers. + +Hands have they, but they handle not--Clocks. + +Ears have they, but they hear not--cornstalks. + +Tongues have they, but they talk not--wagons. + + +[Illustration: + +_Teacher_--“I am sorry, William, to have to whip a big boy like you. +It grieves me terribly.” + +_William_--“It don’t grieve you half as much as it does me.”] + + + + +CREAM OF THE COMICS. + + “Brisk as a bee.” + --_Boswell’s Life of Johnson_. + + + --In the drama of life the clerk plays a counter-part. + + --Why is a whisper forbidden in polite society? Because it isn’t +aloud. + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATED TALE.] + + --A tinsmith in the country has a sign which reads: + “Quart measures of all shapes and sizes sold here.” + + --Customer: “Is your bread nice and light?” + Baker’s boy: “Yessum; it only weighs nine ounces to the pound!” + + --“Home, Sweet Home”--a bee-hive. + + --The egotist lives on an I-land. + + --The Bank of England--a fog-bank. + + --“April showers bring forth May flowers.” + Said Flora to her brother Bob: “Robert, dear, what do April showers + bring forth?” + Said Bob: “Umbrellas, of course!” + + --“Don’t you find the people around here very sociable?” asked + Cobwigger of a new neighbor. + “Yes, indeed, I do,” was the hearty response. “Only a moment ago I met + a beggar, and he held out his hand to me.” + + --“Pa,” said little Jimmie, “I was very near going to the head of my + class to-day.” + “How is that, my son?” + “Why, a big word came all the way down to me, and if I could only have + spelled it, I should have gone clear up.” + + --Mamma (coaxingly): “Come, Bobby, take your medicine now, and then + jump into bed!” + Bobby: “I do not want to take my medicine, mamma.” + Father (who knows how to govern children) “Robert, if you don’t take + your medicine at once, you will be put to bed without taking it at + all.” + + --A little girl in Charles Street, Boston, has an old-fashioned doll + which has the following words worked in red silk letters on its + sawdust-stuffed body: + + “Steal not this doll for fear of shame, + For here you see the owner’s name. + + “PRISCILLA ALDEN.” + + --A little grammar found in an old garret in Portsmouth, N.H., has an + illustration representing the difference between the active, passive + and neuter verbs. It is a picture of a father whipping his boy. The + father is active, the boy is passive, and the mother, sitting by + herself on a stool, looking on, but doing nothing, is neuter. + + --“Here, Johnnie, what do you mean by taking Willie’s cake away from + him? Didn’t you have a piece for yourself?” + “Yes; but you told me I always ought to take my little brother’s + part.” + + --Young physician (who has just lost a patient, to old physician): + “Would you advise an autopsy, doctor?” + Old physician: “No; I would advise an inquest.” + + --“Pause!” cries the sire unto the lad, + “Let judgment teach you sense.” + “I will,” he answers, “when I’ve had + Enough experience.” + + --Doctor: “Now, my little man, you take this medicine and I will give + you five cents.” + Young America: “You take it yourself, and I will go you five cents + better.” + + --Mistaking the door, young Mr. Cipher walked into the dentist’s + office instead of the doctor’s. + “Doctor,” he groaned, “I’m in bad shape. My head aches all the time, + and I can’t do anything with it.” + “Yes, yes,” said Doctor Toothaker, cheerfully. “I see; big cavity in + it; must be hollow; you’ll need to have it filled.” + And, seeing his mistake, young Mr. Cipher apologized and went out, + and told it all around as a capital joke on the dentist. + + +[Illustration: JOHNNIE’S FIRST FISHING EXCURSION OF THE SEASON. + + What he caught at the pond. + + What he caught when he got home!] + + + + +OUR LETTER BOX. + + +DECLINED.--A Sad Catastrophe--A Stage-Driver’s Story--My Dog Carlo--The +Children’s Celebration--Flossie’s Letter--The Scotch Yacht +Thistle--Brave Dog Nero and his Friends--Our First Boat Ride--Little +Sam, a Tale of Long Ago--Penny. + +Q. K.--The first fire insurance office in the United States was +established at Boston in 1724; the first life insurance at Philadelphia +in 1812. + +J. E. M. AND R. B. G.--Every requisite for admission to the West Point +Military Academy was fully detailed in No. 12 of the last volume, which +will be mailed to any address upon the receipt of 6 cents. + +OLD READER.--1. The oldest daily newspaper in this country is the North +American and United States Gazette, founded in 1771, and still published +in Philadelphia. 2. There may be some curiosity dealer in your city who +would be willing to purchase the ancient paper in your possession. + +YUM YUM.--Boulak is the port of Cairo, Egypt, being situated on the +right bank of the Nile, one mile northwest of that city, of which it +forms a suburb. A noble museum of antiquities is situated at Boulak, +and the latest additions to its treasures are the mummies described in +No. 22. + +F. E. N.--Level is a term applied to surfaces that are parallel to that +of still water, or perpendicular to the direction of the plumb-line; and +when it is desired to ascertain the altitude of any specified locality, +the level of the ocean’s surface is always taken as the standard from +which such reckoning is made. + +ALEX.--The easiest and most skillful methods of killing setting and +preserving insects were set forth in Nos. 18, 27, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of +Vol. III. The process of making the “killing bottle” is too lengthy to +be reproduced here, but is given in full in the first-mentioned issue, +under the heading “Herme’s Museum.” + +W. B. W.--By closely studying the construction and solution of the +puzzles printed from week to week in this paper, any boy of average +intelligence will have no difficulty in mastering them in a +comparatively short time. A very interesting article on this subject was +presented under the title of “An Instructive Pastime,” in No. 22 of Vol. +VII. + +CLARENCE B.--There is only one source of alcohol--the fermentation of +sugar or other saccharine matter. Sugar is the produce of the vegetable +world. Some plants contain free sugar, and still more contain starch, +which can be converted into sugar. The best vegetable substances, +therefore, for yielding alcohol are those that contain the greatest +abundance of sugar or of starch. + +A SUBSCRIBER, H. C. J. AND S. O. K.--Boys aged from fourteen to eighteen +years are eligible to appointment to the United States Naval Academy at +Annapolis, Md. The limit of age for those enlisting on the government +training ships is from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches +of the service are open to any American youths capable of passing the +physical and mental examinations required of all applicants. + +H. S. W.--The Bible informs us that Tubal-Cain, the son of Lamech and +Zillah, was the “instructor of every artificer in brass and iron,” and +on that account he is considered the first blacksmith of which there is +any record. Respecting the tools used by him there is no mention made by +historians. Jabal, another son of Lamech, “was the father of such as +dwell in tents and of such as have cattle,” and his brother Jubal “of +all such as handle the harp and organ.” + +FRANKLIN SCHOOL.--We prefer to refrain from publishing medical recipes, +such as pimple removers and the like, always advising a consultation +with a first-class physician, who will prescribe some blood-purifying +compound for the relief or cure of the trouble. In our younger days, +a mixture of molasses, cream tartar and sulphur was considered a +sovereign remedy for skin eruptions, and a weak solution of alcohol or +ammonia a most excellent annihilator of “blackheads.” + +HARKINGOPITCHER.--1. The originator of puzzles is not known, nor is it +at all probable that the mystery surrounding their inception will ever +be cleared away. The fabled founder is the Sphinx of Egypt, who, +the mythologists inform us, propounded the first enigma. 2. It is an +invariable custom to notify our readers of the appearance of new serial +stories, and therefore you will receive due notice of those written by +your favorites, when we conclude to publish them. + +THEO. H.--The action of machines used for making ice consists in +evaporating ether, or any similar volatile liquid, in a vacuum, and +again condensing the vapor to liquid, so as to be used afresh. Fifty-two +degrees of cold is thus easily obtained, and the machines used for the +purpose can produce several tons of ice each day in the hottest +countries. Much artificial ice is now made by compressing atmospheric +air, and by this method a freezing temperature is obtained on vessels +employed in carrying fresh meats from distant countries. + +INK BOTTLE.--1. Mineralogists apply the term “pyrites” to a large group +or family of minerals, compounds of metals with sulphur, or with +arsenic, or with both. The name was originally given to the sulphuret of +iron, known as iron pyrites, in consequence of its striking fire with +steel (from the Greek _pyr_, fire), and it was used for kindling powder +in the pans of muskets before gun-flints were introduced. Iron pyrites +is commonly of a bright brass-yellow color, and is found crystallized in +cubes, dodecahedrons and many other forms. It is a very widely diffused +and plentiful mineral, and seems to belong almost equally to all +geological formations. 2. Eagle cents issued in 1858 are of no value to +collectors, because they lack rarity. 3. Your exchange is too trivial. + +J. B. D., of Chicago, kindly informs us that he has been able to get a +slight shock from a telegraph battery in the following manner: “On every +learner’s instrument there are two binding-posts, and to one of them is +joined a wire from the battery; a small file is fastened to the other; +the key is closed, and then the other wire of the battery is taken in +your wet fingers, and, with the other hand, also wet, upon the file, +the wire is run along the surface of the file, and a shock results.” + +WALTER R.--What is known as the registry system is intended to secure to +valuable mail-matter in its transition through the mails the utmost +security within the province of the Post Office Department. The fee on +any registered matter, domestic or foreign, is fixed at ten cents on +each parcel or letter, to be affixed in stamps, in addition to the +postage. The money-order system is intended to promote public +convenience, and to secure safety in the transfer through the mails of +small sums of money. The rates may be ascertained by inquiring at a +local office. + +AN ADMIRER OF G. D.--1. Two French scientists, Captain Renard and +M. Tissaudier, have invented a balloon whose motive power is +electricity. The dynamo machine used by them is an intensely +concentrated bichromate battery of one and a half horse-power. It is +very light, weighing but 121¼ pounds. Several successful experimental +trips have been made in this machine, and the inventors claim that by +using all the battery power, they were enabled to navigate against the +wind. They may be over-sanguine, but expect, after making some +improvements in the balloon, to attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty +miles an hour. 2. Constant base-ball practice will harden the hands. +No artificial preparation is used by professionals. + +PARXIE.--John Howard, an Englishman, made on May 8, 1854, the greatest +running long-jump, with weights, 29 feet 7 inches; without weights, the +highest record is 23 feet 3 inches, made by M. W. Ford, August 14, 1886. +Standing long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5½ inches, G. W. Hamilton, +October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10½ inches, M. H. Johnson, +September 4, 1884. Running hop-step-and-jump. 48 feet 8 inches, +T. Burrows, October 18, 1884; standing hop-step-and-jump, with weights, +40 feet 2 inches, D. Anderson, July 24, 1865; without weights, 31 feet +10 inches, Gavin Tait, 1862. These are world’s records. The best +one-mile amateur bicycle record--2.35 2-5--was made by W. A. Rowe, +October 23, 1885. He has beaten this record--2.29 4-5--since he became a +professional. + +H. C. H.--In early days the coining of copper money for New Jersey was +given by law to Walker Mould, Thomas Goodsby and Albion Cox. There were +two mints, one at Elizabethtown and the other at Morristown. These coins +display on their obverse a horse’s head, usually facing right, with a +plow below it, and the legend is “Nova Cæsarea.” The date is placed in +several positions. On the reverse is a shield, with the motto +“E Pluribus Unum” around the border. In ordinary condition, these +coppers are worth from ten to fifty cents. The rarest varieties are +those having the date under the beam, which are worth $100 each: with +the General Washington bust, $150 each; and with “Immunis Columbia, +1786” for obverse, $50. Doubtless the one in your possession is a common +variety. + +GRAPE CITY.--1. The modern express traffic was originated by William F. +Harnden, on March 4, 1839. At first he carried the packages himself from +place to place in a satchel; but his patrons grew in number until he had +to establish an office in each city, with a daily messenger each day. +Previous to this, all such packages had been sent by friends, or by +special messengers. 2. The precise time of the invention of the +telescope, as well as the name of its inventor, is unknown. Prior to the +end of the thirteenth century, glass lenses were in use for the purpose +of assisting the eye in obtaining distinctness of vision. Galileo is +generally credited with being the first who constructed a telescope by +which he was enabled to make many of the great discoveries upon which +the science of astronomy stands for its foundation. 3. By good business +methods you can doubtless build up a trade such as that stated. +4. Inquire at a book store. + +KICKAPOO.--1. At the beginning of the eleventh century it is said that +the Northmen attempted to plant a settlement in the locality known as +Rhode Island. In 1614, Block, the Dutch navigator, explored it, and the +Dutch traders afterward, seeing the marshy estuaries red with +cranberries, called it Roode Eylandt, “red island,” afterward corrupted +into the name it now bears. Roger Williams, a Welsh-Puritan minister, +pastor of a church at Salem, was banished from the colony of +Massachusetts, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, and there, with a +few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in +1636. The place selected by him for settlement he called Providence. +2. The first wife of Julius Cæsar was named Cornelia; the second was +Pompeia, a relative of the noted Pompey; and the third was Calpurnia. +3. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, +and died May 5, 1821, at St. Helena, to which island he had been exiled +after the battle of Waterloo. + +NEMO.--The recipe for making a copying-pad and the ink used thereon was +given in No. 2, vol. V. --E. D. AND AUTHOR. We are fully supplied with +literary material by experienced writers. --SOLOMON C. Acrobats do not +use any artificial preparation to increase their suppleness. Constant +practice is the secret of the agility displayed by them. --W. B. The +construction of a photographic camera was detailed in No. 13, Vol. IV; +while the making of blue prints formed the subject of an article in No. +51, Vol. II. --NINTH AVENUE. Interesting articles on the subject of +electricity have been presented in Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. VI, and 16, Vol. +VII. --SUBSCRIBER. An ingenious, painstaking boy can construct a very +neat æolian harp by following out the directions given in No. 16 of the +fifth volume. --COPPERHEAD. 1. The drawing of the binder shows +considerable ingenuity, and is doubtless novel and useful enough to +warrant patenting. 2. One of the simplest and best forms of the canvas +canoe was illustrated and described in No. 37, Vol. VI. In this and the +previous number another kind is represented. --W. C. H. Any study can be +mastered if the student is persevering and ordinarily intelligent. +--D. P. H. 1. None of the curiosities in your possession are of any +special value. 2. The gold coin will pass at its face value. 3. Nos. 2 +and 18, Vol. II, are out of print. Three dollars per year is the regular +subscription price of GOLDEN DAYS. 4. The magazine is out of print. +--BUCKSKIN BOB. This paper has always been sold by us at a uniform rate +of six cents per copy. --W. M. K. Tan the small skins according to the +directions published in No. 7, Vol. IV. --S. C. Yes. --J. A. W. Place +the matter in the hands of a lawyer. --W. G. W. The addition of a small +quantity of japan dryer to printing ink will make it dry quickly. +--CHESTNUTS. A boy of eleven should confine his reading to more useful +literature than novels, leaving those to be perused at a maturer age. +--COW BOY. There is such a series of juvenile books. Make inquiry at a +book store. --GOLDEN CROSS. A first class bookseller can obtain for you +the books of travels written by Stanley and Livingstone. --MIDDY +(Washington). The length of a ship’s cable is about 720 feet. --B. O. S. +No premium is offered for 1819 quarter-dollars, Hong-Kong coins or +French centimes. + + [->] Several communications have been received which will be + answered next week. + + * * * * * + +UNCONDITIONALLY WARRANTED TO GIVE SATISFACTION! + + [Illustration: WOOD’S PENOGRAPH + THE ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE EXACT SIZE OF PENOGRAPH.] + WOOD’S PENOGRAPH! + +[->] *WOOD’S PENOGRAPH* consists of a first-class DIAMOND-POINTED +FOURTEEN-CARAT gold pen, and the only fountain holder ever constructed +which is _unconditionally warranted to give satisfaction_. It needs no +wiping and no dipping for ink, and it is carried in the pocket always +ready for use on any kind of paper. The Penograph is totally unlike the +McKennon, Livermore, T. Cross, and other Stylographic so-called pens, +which have a rigid point incapable of making shaded lines. Hitherto a +really desirable two-nibbed gold pen and fountain holder has been an +expensive luxury in which comparatively few could indulge. The retail +price of this Penograph is $3. It is warranted to be the _par +excellence_ of all fountain pens, and we place it within easy reach of +every one by the following liberal offer: + +Every Subscriber to GOLDEN DAYS for One Year can have this valuable +Fountain Pen sent to them postpaid by adding to the subscription price +one dollar--in other words, send us $4.00, and we will send postpaid +*Wood’s Penograph* and GOLDEN DAYS for one year. In this way you will be +getting the *Penograph* for one dollar, or one year’s subscription to +GOLDEN DAYS for one dollar, just as you please to look at it. Either way +you get a bargain. [->] The money must be sent direct to this office. + +Address + +JAMES ELVERSON, + +Publisher GOLDEN DAYS, Phila., Pa. + + * * * * * + + JUST THE BOOK FOR STUDENTS. + + *Military Dictionary* + + --and-- + + *GAZETTEER* + + Comprising + +*Ancient and Modern Technical Terms, Historical Accounts of all North +American Indians, as well as Ancient Warlike Tribes. Also, Notices of +Battles from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, with an Appendix +containing the Articles of War.* + + --by-- + + THOMAS WILHELM, + + (_Captain Eighth Infantry._) + + *656 Pages, Bound in Blue Cloth.* + +We have arranged with the publishers for a limited number of this book, +and will send + +*It and “Golden Days” one year on receipt of $3.25.* + +Money must be sent by the subscriber direct to this office--not through +any agent. Address + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher “Golden Days,” + PHILADELPHIA, PA. + + * * * * * + +*OUR PREMIUM KNIFE!* + +[Illustration: {penknife} GOLDEN DAYS] + +Ivory handle, beautifully finished, EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. Made to our +own order, and can *only* be had by subscribing to “GOLDEN DAYS.” + +[->] We will make this Knife *a Present* to any one who sends us THREE +DOLLARS + +*For One Year’s Subscription to “Golden Days.”* + +[->] The money must be sent *direct* to this office. Address + +*JAMES ELVERSON*, Publisher “GOLDEN DAYS,” Phila., Pa. + + +Special Notice.--WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we consider +ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have sent several +thousand Knives and Penographs without one in a thousand being lost. + + * * * * * + +Notices of Exchange. + + +[->] The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning +exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the +reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding +in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging +to write for particulars to the addresses before sending the articles +desired. + +[->] Exchange notices containing offers of or for _shot-guns_, +_air-guns_, _pistols_, _rifles_, _poisons_, _dangerous chemicals_, +_animals_, _odd numbers of papers_, _valueless coins and curiosities_, +_birds’ eggs_, or “offers”, will _not_ be inserted. + +*Exchange Notices conforming with the above rates are inserted free of +charge.* + +L. Boyd, N.E. cor. 18th and Hamilton Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., a set of +boxing gloves and a book by Verne, for a miniature sailboat, 2 feet +long. + +S. A. Chevalier, No. 366 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 49 photo +negatives of notable yachts, buildings, etc., for an electrical outfit, +a cornet, or a banjo. + +J. Hirsch, Box 212, Corpus Christi, Texas, a collection of sea +curiosities for stamps. + +E. T. Warner, 155 S. 5th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Vols. VI, VII (complete) +and VIII (to date) GOLDEN DAYS, and 20 books by Castlemon and Alger, +for other books by Castlemon, Alger, Otis or Ellis. + +L. G. Banks, 92 Maple Ave., 31st Ward, Pittsburg, Pa., a magic lantern +with lens, lamp and 12 views, and “Robinson Crusoe,” for a Model +printing press. + +H. J. West, 1610 Hollins St., Baltimore, Md., a magic lantern with 13 +slides, in a leatherette box, for a pair of 3-pound Indian clubs and a +pair of 3-pound dumb-bells. + +R. F. Baird, 205 Wylie Ave., Pittsburg, Pa., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a +Waterbury watch. + +E. D. Flugel, 134 E. 109th St., N.Y. city, a large bagatelle board with +marbles, for a collection of not less than 300 foreign stamps only. +(City offers only.) + +F. L. Shipley, Box 275, Creston, Ia., Vols. LVII and LVIII “Youth’s +Companion” and Vol. VIII (up to date) GOLDEN DAYS, for a printing press +and outfit. + +H. B. Cochran, 345 N. 12th St., Phila., Pa., a Waterbury watch, a font +of newspaper type, and 2 books, for a book on mineralogy and natural +history or specimens of minerals. + +E. Rudolphy, 389 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. Vol. VII “Harper’s Young +People,” for a photo tripod. + +H. A. Eastman, Box 1080, Keene, N.H., a printing press and 5 fonts of +type, for a telegraph key and sounder. + +J. Tracy, Conneaut, Ohio, a maple-shell snare-drum with ebony sticks, +for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +M. Graham, Grove City, Pa., a magic lantern with 35 slides, a panorama, +a 3x4 printing press with type, a telephone and a cabinet of tricks, +for a telegraph instrument with batteries. + +L. Randall, 1825 Garrison Ave., St. Louis, Mo., a collection of over 300 +foreign and U.S. postage stamps and a collection of postmarks, for a +Waterbury watch. + +W. P. Simpson, Box 773, Jacksonville, Fla., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, a pair +of roller skates and a set of books, for a silver watch or a press and +outfit. + +C. W. Hurst, 1825 Fitzwater St., Phila., Pa., Vols. I, II and III GOLDEN +DAYS, a xylophone, a magic lantern with 24 slides, and a stamp +collection in an album, for the best offer of bicycle sundries. + +T. J. McMahon, 41 Thomas St., N.Y. city, Vols. III, IV and V GOLDEN +DAYS, for best offer of a musical instrument. + +S. M. Johnson, Lock Box 172, Round Rock, Texas, a $25 brass B-flat +cornet with A and B crooks, for a 5x7 self-inking printing press and +material. + +J. Atwell, 10 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse, N.Y., a pair of nickel-plated +extension roller skates and bag, for a banjo. + +G. Frick, 2908 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a 48-inch steel-spoked +rubber-tired bicycle, a watch, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, and “Tom Brown at +Oxford,” for a Star bicycle. + +C. E. Mason, 656 Franklin St., Phila., Pa., an International album +containing stamps and about 5,000 loose ones, a New Rogers scroll saw, +and 2 pairs of nickel-plated ice and roller skates, for a 26-bracket +nickel-rimmed banjo, or a guitar, or photo materials. + +G. Barker, 504 W. 129th St., N.Y. city, 7 books by Castlemon, Kingston +and Dickens, for a violin and instruction book. (City offers preferred.) + +Z. A. Stegmuller, 56 E. 25th St., N.Y. city, a game, a small steam +engine, a silver watch and a gold pen-holder, for a self-inking printing +press with type, or a rowing machine. (City and Brooklyn offers only.) + +J. W. Edwards, 197 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a 16-foot +flat-bottomed skiff with centreboard, sail, oars and oarlocks, for a 46 +or 48-inch rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +J. J. Morrow, 94 Pennsylvania Ave., Allegheny, Pa., a 3-lens microscope +with a few mounted specimens, for Vols. V and VI GOLDEN DAYS. + +C. H. Montayre, 145 W. 11th St., N.Y. city, a self-inking printing press +and full outfit, for a 6x6 canvas tent. (City offers preferred.) + +F. Blake, Lock Haven, Pa., a telegraph outfit, for a $10 watch, or a set +of boxing gloves, or a pair of 12-pound dumb-bells. + +L. H. Reamy, 113 River St., Zanesville, Ohio, a polyopticon, for the +best offer of GOLDEN DAYS prior to Vol. VI. + +C. V. Gibson. Box 1026, Natick, Mass., a 2½ x 4 printing press with +cards, 200 postmarks. 1400 foreign and U.S. stamps, and a pair of +skates, for a flute, a banjo, a violin and bow, or a cornet. + +C. Perry, Ithaca, N.Y., a $25 upright engine, for a scroll saw with +lathe attachment. + +L. M. Geer, Box 663, Corry, Pa., Vols. II, III and IV “Harper’s Young +People,” Vols. XLI, XLII and XLIII “Youth’s Companion,” a magic lantern +with 12 slides, 6 books and 2 pairs of skates, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +G. V. Bacon. 52 Dudley St., Boston, Mass., a Ruby magic lantern, a set +of carving tools, and a set of drawing instruments, for a pair of +fencing foils. + +G. Medina, Room 360, Prod. Ex. Bldg., N.Y. city, a complete $40 camping +outfit, for a ½-nickeled bicycle with ball bearings. + +C. O. Henbest, Marshall, Ill., Vol. V or VI GOLDEN DAYS, or a printing +press, for a collection of stamps. + +F. A. Magee, Maiden, Mass., Vol. IV GOLDEN DAYS, a canvas canoe, +a printing press, 200 stamps, 200 postmarks, a pair of opera glasses, +a magnifying glass and 200 good story papers, for a large press or a +bicycle. + +E. C. Cary, Box 147, N.Y. city, a New Rogers scroll saw with drill, saws +and patterns, a hand-inking 2¼ x 3¼ printing press, with type, ink, +furniture, etc., for a violin and bow, with or without case. + +N. J. Waite, 401 Giddings Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +for any kind of electrical goods. + +J. Clay Collier, Fort Smith, Ark., Vol. V and part of Vol. VII GOLDEN +DAYS, for books by Castlemon or Cooke. + +F. Vansant, 770 St. Peter St., Baltimore, Md., $15 worth of books, for +an 8x8x8 wall tent. + +J. W. Robertson, 1180 Harvard St., Chicago, Ill., a collection of stamps +and 4 books, for a pair of opera glasses or a printing press with type. + +C. A. Lutz, Cane Spring, Ky., Vols. II (a few numbers missing). III, IV, +V, VI (all bound, without covers) and VII (unbound) “Harper’s Young +People,” for volumes of GOLDEN DAYS or telegraphic apparatus. + +G. Moulton, Virginia, Ill., an ebony 13-keyed B-flat clarionet, for a +watch. + +W. R. Clickner, Andover. Kans., a $25 5x8 printing press and outfit, +for a rubber-tired bicycle. + +C. Peck, 71 35th St., Chicago, Ill., 8 books by Reid and others, and a +pair of ice skates, for a Morse telegraph outfit. + +R. Buck, Sea Isle City, N.J., “Ragged Dick Series,” (6 volumes), for a +telegraph key, sounder and outfit. + +F. Schafer, 307 S. 3d St., Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y., a pair of opera glasses +with case, and a fife, for a mandolin, or a banjo with 24 brackets (N.Y. +or Brooklyn offers preferred). + +F. Horton, Westfield, Pa., 2 volumes of “Youth’s Companion,” and a pair +of roller skates, for a banjo. + +W. A. Sherwood, Lutherville, Md., a magic lantern with 12 slides and a +font of job type, for rare foreign and U.S. stamps. + +W. A. Pickering, Box 797, Eureka Springs, Ark., a ¼-horse-power steam +engine, for a nickel-plated B-flat cornet. + +E. H. Gilbert, Lock Box 21, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2 pairs of skates and +“Don Quixote,” for a pair of opera glasses with case. + +L. A. Cox, Verden, Ill., Vols. V, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +R. F. Greene, Box 232, Arkansas City, Kans., Vol. LVIII “Youth’s +Companion” and 2 books, for any bound volume of GOLDEN DAYS except the +sixth. + +H. J. Hendrickson, 214 W. Market St., York, Pa., 950 foreign stamps and +700 foreign and domestic postmarks, for a collection of minerals. + +C. V. B. Gettz, Moore’s, Pa., a $35 gas engine (⅓-horse-power), for +a bicycle (American Challenge preferred). + +H. H. Sellers, 73 Exchange St., Bangor, Me., a 10-keyed ocarina, +a 6-keyed clarionet, 6 books and a stylographic pen, for a cornet. + +C. W. Valentine, Millville, N.J., a volume of “Youth’s Companion,” “Tom +Brown’s School-days” and a bagatelle board, for carpenters’ tools. + +A. Spring, Jr., White Plains, N.Y., a magic lantern with 23 slides, +for Vol. I or II GOLDEN DAYS (bound). + +J. G. Ross, Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., a 12-foot +round-bottomed row-boat with centreboard and oars, for a photographic +outfit, a bicycle or a press. + +J. C. Hubbard, 22 E. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., a hand-inking press +and a collection of curiosities, for type and material, or volumes of +GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fourth. + + * * * * * + +Children Cry for Pitcher’s Castoria. + + * * * * * + +C. A. Wise, Gobleville, Mich., a pair of nickel-plated roller skates and +a guitar, for the best offer of foreign and U.S. stamps. + +H. A. Hammond. Box 276, Peabody, Mass., Vols. V and VI, or VI and VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a fountain or stylographic pen. + +R. A. Weston, W. Mt. Vernon, Me., 300 numbers of “Youth’s Companion,” +Vols. II, III and IV “Harper’s Young People,” Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +3 books, 100 varieties of stamps, a pair of ice skates and a game, for +a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. H. Dunham, 1098 Washington St. (Suite 12), Boston, Mass., a pair of +roller skates, a Holly scroll saw with saws and patterns, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +R. H. Stickney, Valparaiso, Ind., a stereoscope with 16 views, a magic +lantern with views and photographic attachment, a dark lantern and a +book by Kingston, for a 7x9 wall tent. + +B. M. Wilson, 1824 Ridge Ave., Phila., Pa., an International album with +100 stamps, and Vol. V GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +E. S. Harvey, Ridge, Ohio, a hand-inking press with roller, furniture +and a font of type, and a book, for an International stamp album or +stamps. + +J. Meighan, Jr., 386 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., a pair of skates, for a +catcher’s mask. + +C. Bagley, 10 Olive St., Lynn, Mass., a pair of skates, Vols. IV, VI and +VII GOLDEN DAYS and a lot of musical instruments, for a rubber-tired +bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +E. F. Balinger, Mt. Union, Ohio, 2 vols. of GOLDEN DAYS, a pair of +roller skates, a telegraph key and sounder, an Indian bow and arrows, +and some books and magazines, for a cornet with crooks. + +S. L. Taylor, 333 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., a collection of 350 +foreign stamps in an album, 900 traders, a magic lantern with 20 or 30 +slides, and 5 books, for a B-flat cornet, a banjo, or a cork-handled +tennis racquet. + +J. E. Ackerman, Jr., 7 Nassau St., N.Y. city, a nickel-plated bicycle +saddle and bell, for a Duryea saddle (style, A or C). + +F. H. Meyers. 38 Bleecker St., N.Y. city, Vols. IV, V, VI and VII GOLDEN +DAYS, Vol. LIV “Youth’s Companion,” a vol. of “St. Nicholas,” 5 books; +a magic lantern with slides, and 2 games, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. F. Souder. Box 199, Toledo, Ohio, a violin and bow, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +C. W. Howell, 646 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kans., an accordion, +a Waterbury watch, and a puzzle, for a complete telegraph outfit. + +W. T. Cook, Royersford, Pa., 5 books by popular authors for any bound +vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +W. H. Field, 234 Ferry St., Easton, Pa., a Holly scroll saw and a set of +tenpins for a wall or other tent large enough for four persons. + +P. J. McConomy, 38 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa., Vols. I and II (a few +numbers missing) and V and VI (complete) GOLDEN DAYS, for a piccolo with +at least 4 keys. + +O. C. Cornwell, Girard, Kans., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, 8 books, +a pair of skates, 5 games, a set of drawing Instruments, and 500 foreign +and U.S. stamps, for a self-inking printing press, or a silver watch. + +W. Bell, Box 154, Norfolk, Va., Vols. I, II, III, IV and V GOLDEN DAYS, +for a Holly steam engine or a collection of 1500 to 2000 stamps. + +G. E. Montgomery, Westernport, Md., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS and +“Ames’ Mastery of the Pen,” for standard works on physiology and hygiene +or a field glass. + +C. C. Moore, 76 3d Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., a magic lantern with 16 +slides, and a printing press with 2 fonts of type, for an instantaneous +camera and outfit. + +W. Willson, 561 Lorimer St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. N.Y., a magic lantern +with 12 slides for a pair of 9 or 9½ nickel-plated roller skates. + +D. A. Trapp, 113 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, Ky., a collection of over +1200 stamps in an international album for a No. 2 or 3 Baltimorean press +and outfit. + +H. Edwards, 147 E. 114th St., N.Y. city, a magic lantern with 12 slides, +and a hand-inking printing press, without type, for a set of boxing +gloves. + +F. Rowell, Stamford, Conn., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, and some +books, games and stamps, for Indian grammars, or histories of North +American Indians, or Indian relics. + +J. E. Caldwell, Sego, Kans., a $3 piccolo, a set of boxwood chessmen, +and a box of water-color paints, for the best offer of GOLDEN DAYS. + +W. McIntosh, East Smethport, Pa., a 10x14 hand-inking press, with 20 +fonts of type, 2 sticks, galley, leads, etc., for a 50 to 52-inch +bicycle. + +J. H. Cunningham, Room 507 Hamilton Building, Pittsburg, Pa., a pair of +ice skates and “Tom Brown’s School Days” for a learners’ book on +shorthand. + +W. McVeagh. 831 W. 3d St., Williamsport, Pa., a New Rogers scroll saw +for Vol. I or IV GOLDEN DAYS. + + * * * * * + + A LIMITED NUMBER + OF + *Volumes IV, V and VI* + “GOLDEN DAYS,” + Bound in Cloth. + +Price, $4.00 each. + + ADDRESS, + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +*From the Daily News, Genesee, N.Y.* + +We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he +could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the +GOLDEN DAYS, decidedly the most valuable and most interesting pictorial +newspaper we ever saw, not only for the children, but for the entire +family. For the sake of his children we sincerely urge every father to +send to the office for a specimen copy, when he can see for himself the +great value it will be in his family, and he will thank us in his heart +for calling his attention to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, +GOLDEN DAYS, corner and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Penna. + + +OUT OF THE MANY EARNEST AND EMPHATIC ENDORSEMENTS OF “GOLDEN DAYS,” +WE PRINT THE FOLLOWING: + + +*A GOOD OPINION FROM REV. G. E. STROBRIDGE,* + +_Pastor St. John’s M. E. Church, New York city._ + +GOLDEN DAYS has been coming regularly to my house since its first +number. It is always welcome. The children wait with impatience its +weekly arrival, and even interrupt their meals to tear off its wrapper +and scan its attractive pages. It is generously illustrated, and as to +its reading matter, it is bright, breezy, instructive, and, best of all, +pure. The most careful parent may dismiss anxiety while his happy child +is absorbed in its columns. + +A feature that adds to the paper an especial value is a weekly +discussion of the International Sunday-school Lesson. This is given in a +pleasant narrative style by Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., for many years +editor of the Sunday School Advocate, and editor and writer of books for +children. His widely-known name is a sufficient assurance that these +lessons thus conducted will continue to be learned, clear and +interesting. + + +*From the West Philadelphia Press.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--This weekly journal for young people has reached a +circulation that embraces the entire country. Indeed, there is hardly to +be found a village or hamlet in the newest of the States or in our far +Western Territories in which GOLDEN DAYS is not a welcome visitor. The +proprietor and editor, Mr. James Elverson, determined from the first to +make it a journal that should please and at the same time instruct the +young, and he has been completely successful. There is no weekly paper +published in this or the Old World that so covers the field for the +youthful mind as GOLDEN DAYS. There is nothing heavy about it--nothing +prosy or difficult to comprehend in the matter it contains. Its stories +are graphic, entertaining and by the best writers, while each number has +articles especially prepared on subjects of practical interest to boys +and girls by authors whose fame in the arena of natural history, +science, biography and art is national. Add to all these excellencies +and attractions the fact that no impure line or thought ever stains its +pages, and it must be acknowledged that GOLDEN DAYS is pre-eminently +fitted to become the intellectual and pleasant companion of the young in +the American household. + + +*From the Sunday Courier, York, Pa.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys’ and girls’ +periodical published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of “Young America.” Mr. Elverson seems, +in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day with +wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to the +universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents are +concerned, its success should be a matter for general congratulation, +as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding from its pages +everything that could be considered as in any way tending to vitiate the +minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are far superior in +vividness of interest for the little ones to those sensational +publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all who have +children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have struck the +golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere pleasure +to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--“To merit is to insure success” is certainly verified in +the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable _weekly_ for the youth of this great land is now +well-established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved +patronage. Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with +pictures and puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful +knowledge. GOLDEN DAYS is supplanting a poisonous literature, and +performing a wholesome mission in this day, when too much good seed +cannot be sown by the friends of humanity. + + +*From the Congregationalist and Boston Recorder.* + +Among juvenile periodicals, we think GOLDEN DAYS likely to take high +rank for variety, instructiveness, vivacity and freedom from +objectionable characteristics. We have examined several numbers, and it +seems to be well edited and likely to deserve and win popularity. + + +*ANOTHER FROM REV. D. M’CARTNEY,* + +_Pastor Clinton Avenue M. E. Church, Kingston, N.Y._ + +I have examined sample copies of GOLDEN DAYS, and most heartily indorse +it as meeting a felt want. Notwithstanding the large number of papers we +subscribe for now, it looks as if GOLDEN DAYS would have to be added to +the number, as my children are enraptured with it. + + +BISHOP BOWMAN, + +_Of the Methodist Episcopal Church, writes:_ + + ST. LOUIS, Nov. 26, 1880. + +I have examined with great interest several numbers of GOLDEN DAYS, and +am much pleased with them. We greatly need all such publications for our +young people, to save them from the corrupting trash that meets them on +every side. I wish you great success in this worthy Christian +enterprise. + + +*FROM REV. O. C. DICKERSON,* + +_Pastor of Congregational Church, Belleplain, Iowa._ + +ED. GOLDEN DAYS.--All hail! As a sterling friend of the young, your +enterprise wakes loud echoes. + + +*REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,* + +_Pastor of the P. E. Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, says:_ + +From what I have seen of GOLDEN DAYS, it strikes me very favorably. +There is a high tone of morality about it which is calculated to exert a +very wholesome influence on the young people who read it. + + +*From the Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y.* + +A MODEL PAPER.--Two years ago, we informed the readers of the Citizen +that a long-felt want was to be supplied--viz., a paper was to be +printed which would give the young people (boys and girls) plenty of +good reading without corrupting their morals or vitiating their +tastes--in other words, would furnish them with stories which would +gratify their love of adventure without inspiring in them a desire to +imitate impossible heroes, and tempting them to desert their homes in +search of adventures which never occur outside of blood-and-thunder +papers and story books. The paper we allude to--GOLDEN DAYS--promised +this, and we have carefully watched it for two years to see how its +pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be able to state it has +exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it has been constantly +filled with stories and sketches of the most fascinating character, +we have never seen a sentence in it which we could have wished to have +omitted. + + +*From the Episcopal Recorder.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--We commend this as the best of the class of publications +to which it belongs, and as being essentially different from all that +are contemporaneous with it. And if it shall prove to be like Moses’ rod +when turned into a serpent, and swallow up the serpent-rods of all +cunning magicians of evil, and then become a rod of power for working +good in the home, in the school, and wherever youth are found, we shall +rejoice. + + +*From the Christian Register, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is well worthy the examination of parents who wish to +provide their children with a large amount of carefully-prepared +miscellany, at once entertaining, instructive and clean. It is edited +with ability, and shows a quick sympathy with the pleasures of the young +people, and a clear outlook for their welfare. + + +*From the Maryland School Journal.* + +GOLDEN DAYS (Elverson, Philadelphia) has fulfilled its promise, and is +in every respect a suitable weekly paper to put into the hands of young +boys and girls. We have carefully watched each number since the start, +and have seen in it nothing to censure and much to praise. + + +*From the Floyd Co. Advocate, Charles City, Iowa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, of Philadelphia, is a new +first-class paper for boys and girls. Provide them with good, +entertaining reading, and they will grow up good men and women. + + +*From Town Talk, Mansfield, Ohio.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome illustrated and +interesting youth’s paper called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and +such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the +youngsters catch a glimpse of it they will find they need it as a +recreation after study hours. + + +*From The Home and Sunday-School, Dallas, Texas.* + +We can heartily recommend GOLDEN DAYS as one of the purest and most +charming juvenile magazines we have seen. It is wholly free from +corrupting influences--fresh, instructive, and eagerly welcomed by the +boys and girls. Having seen nothing in it to censure and much to praise, +we hope it may have the wide circulation it merits. + + +*From the Christian Advocate, Pittsburg, Pa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS comes to us in a magazine form, making a beautiful and +interesting volume. This journal numbers among its contributors probably +more popular writers of serial stories for youth than any juvenile +publication in the country. + + +*From the Presbyterian Banner, Pittsburg, Pa.* + +A great advance has been made within the last twelve months in a very +important agency for good--the publication of cheap, and, at the same +time, unexceptionable and attractive reading matter. For a long time the +want has been seriously felt for something more than mere denunciation +to overcome the growing evil of the demoralizing literature--cheap and +vile--that has been scattered broadcast over the land. That want has +been measurably supplied, in part, by the publication of standard +English classics, at marvelously low prices, and in part by the issue of +low-priced but superior periodicals, attractive in appearance and +contents, and suitable for both young and old. We invite special +attention to the latest enterprise in the latter department--GOLDEN +DAYS, for boys and girls, James Elverson, publisher, Philadelphia. It is +a handsome juvenile journal, of sixteen pages (over eight hundred a +year), filled with stories, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, puzzles, and +humorous items, making up a total that will delight and at the same time +instruct the boys and girls from eight to eighty. The pictorial +embellishments are unsually fine, and far in advance of the coarse +deformities in the flashy sheets that are displayed on the news-stands +to horrify every refined passer-by. + + +*From the Baltimore Gazette.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys’ and girls’ +periodical, published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of “Young America.” Mr. Elverson, +seems, in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day +with wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to +the universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents +are concerned, its success should be a matter for general +congratulation, as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding +from its pages everything that could be considered as in any way tending +to vitiate the minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are +far superior in vividness of interest for the little ones to those +sensational publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all +who have children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have +struck the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere +pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Methodist, New York.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and +interesting youth’s paper, called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every Christian home for the young folks, for the reading is +wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt +subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it, they will find +they need it as a recreation after study-hours. + + +*From the Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss.* + +A specimen number of GOLDEN DAYS has fallen into our hands. This is a +paper for boys and girls, and, from the cursory examination we have been +enabled to give it, we think it deserving of support. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Illustrations: + +Readers who are unable to use the fully illustrated html version of +this text may wish to view some individual images, located within the +“images” directory of the html file. The major illustrations are: + + Cover pic01.jpg + Linda’s Crazy Quilt pic03_full.jpg + In Search of Himself pic07.jpg + Mamie’s Letter to Heaven pic10b.jpg + Striking out for Themselves pic11.jpg + Jack-A-Dandy pic15.jpg + + +Layout of Advertising Pages: + +inside front: + + +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+ + | Sapolio |“Advertisements| Malaria Yellow Fever | + | | inserted...” | | + | +---------------+ Ayer’s Pills | + +---------------+Practical Joke +---------------+---------------+ + // // // // // + | | Ready Binder | | | + | +---------------+ | | + +---------------+ | Stamps | | + | Vol. VII +---------------+---------------+ | + | “Golden Days” | Pitcher’s Castoria | Hammock Chair | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +inside back: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Wood’s Penograph | | + +---------------+ | (exchanges) | + | Military | | | + | +---------------+---------------+ | + | Dictionary | Our Premium Knife | | + | | | | + +---------------+---------------+---------------+ (exchanges) | + // // // // // + | | (exchanges) | (exchanges) +---------------+ + | (exchanges) +-------------------------------+ Volumes | + | | Pitcher’s Castoria | IV, V and VI | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +back cover (three columns, all Testimonials) + + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +Missing or incorrect punctuation was silently corrected. Typographical +errors in the advertising sections were left unchanged; those in the +main text were corrected. Both are noted here. + + Advertising, Front Section: + For es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair + [_probably “forces”: letter invisible_] + Advertisements inserted ... agate measurement). + [_no opening parenthesis_] + *PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* [_as printed_] + + Linda’s Crazy Quilt + I declare for ’t!” she added [close quote missing] + + In Search of Himself + curved from the jaws like cimetars. [_spelling unchanged_] + + In a Menagerie + I stopped as usual at Bessie’s cage [_elsewhere “Bessy”_] + + Stories of Dumb Creatures + the other boys will throw stones at him.’ [” for ’] + + Jack Stanwood + the street vender of physic [_spelling unchanged_] + + The Young Game-Warden + “It sorter hurts you to know [I sorter] + You have got the bugglars in your own hands now + [_spelling unchanged_] + + Testimonials + The pictorial embellishments are unsually fine + [_spelling unchanged_] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 27287-0.txt or 27287-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/8/27287/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Golden Days for Boys and Girls + Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 + +Author: Various + +Editor: James Elverson + +Release Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #27287] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[This e-text comes in three different forms: unicode (UTF-8), Latin-1 +and ascii-7. Use the one that works best on your text reader. + + --If "oe" displays as a single character, and apostrophes and + quotation marks are "curly" or angled, you have the utf-8 version + (best). If any part of this paragraph displays as garbage, try + changing your text reader's "character set" or "file encoding". + If that doesn't work, proceed to: + --In the Latin-1 version, "oe" is two letters, but French words like + "tude" have accents and "" is a single letter. Apostrophes and + quotation marks will be straight ("typewriter" form). Again, if you + see any garbage in this paragraph and can't get it to display + properly, use: + --The ascii-7 or rock-bottom version. All necessary text will still be + there; it just won't be as pretty. + +Boldface text is shown with *asterisks*. The notation [->] represents +the pointing-finger symbol. + +The layout of the advertising pages is shown after all text, along with +a list of file names for major illustrations. Typographical errors in +the original, whether corrected or not, are listed at the end.] + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + Vol. VIII.--No 25. May 21, 1887. + + GOLDEN DAYS + + For Boys and Girls + + Philadelphia: + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: + +Text incorporated into advertising illustrations is shown in +(parentheses); where necessary, a brief description of the +illustration is given in {braces}.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +QUITE UP TO THE TIMES. + +_New Applicant_--Do I know how to use Sapolio? Well, that's fresh! Do I +look like a girl who don't know about Sapolio? Am I blind, d'yer think, +or can't read? Why, the babies on the block know all about Sapolio. What +are ye givin'me? + +SAPOLIO + +is a solid, handsome cake of House-cleaning Soap, which has no equal for +all scouring purposes, except the laundry. Perhaps you have heard of it +a thousand times without using it once. If you will reverse the position +and use it once you will praise it to others a thousand times. Ask your +grocer for a cake, and try it in your next house-cleaning. + + No. 3. [Copyright, March 1887.] + + +DYKE'S BEARD ELIXIR + +[Illustration: (Before After Before After)] + +For_es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair on bald heads in 20 to 30 days. +Extra Strength. No other remedy 2 or 3 Pkgs. does the work. We will +prove it or forfeit $100.00 Price per Pkg. sealed and postpaid 25c., 3 +for 50 cts., stamps or silver. SMITH MFG. CO., PALATINE, ILLS. + + +$50 WEEKLY + +EASILY EARNED! + +*We want agents* for our celebrated Oil Portrait. *No experience +required!* *4 orders* per day gives the Agent $50 weekly profit! Our +agents report from 4 to 30 daily sales! Send at once for terms and full +particulars. *$2 outfit free!* *SAFFORD ADAMS & CO., 48 Bond St., N.Y.* +[Mention "Golden Days."] + + +IMPROVED + +HIRES' ROOT BEER + +25 cents / PACKAGE + +Makes *Five Gallons* of a *delicious*, sparkling temperance beverage. +*Strengthens* and purifies the blood. Its *purity* and delicacy commend +it to all. Sold by druggists and storekeepers everywhere. + + +A ZANZIBAR TIGER COWRY SHELL, 8c. Send stamp for list. Steel & Co., 135 +E. 23d St., New York + + +CURE FOR THE DEAF + +PECK'S PATENT IMPROVED CUSHIONED EAR DRUMS *Perfectly Restore the +Hearing*, and perform the work of the natural drum. Invisible, +comfortable and always in position. All conversation and even whispers +heard distinctly. Send for illustrated book with testimonials, *FREE*. +Address or call on F. HISCOX, *853* Broadway, New York. Mention this +paper. + + +FREE a $2.50 *Gold Ring* to all who will act as our agents. The Journal +Co., Essex, Conn. + + +[Illustration: (THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA COMPANY)] + +GOOD NEWS TO LADIES. + +Greatest inducements ever offered. Now's your time to get up orders for +our celebrated *Teas* and *Coffees*, and secure a beautiful Gold Band or +Moss Rose China Tea Set, or Handsome Decorated Gold Band Moss Rose +Dinner Set, or Gold Band Moss Decorated Toilet Set. For full particulars +address + + *THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA CO.,* + P.O. Box 289. 31 and 33 Vesey St., New York. + + +AGENTS wanted for Lyman Abbot's Life of Beecher. The only proper one. +A.GORTON & CO., Philada. + + * * * * * + + Vol. VII "Golden Days" + + NOW READY, + + is a + + MAGNIFICENT BOOK OF 832 PAGES! + +A perfect mine of everything that will interest young people. + + *It is Superbly Illustrated,* + + --CONTAINING-- + +Over 400 Finely-Executed Wood Engravings! + + Making, without question, + + THE MOST ATTRACTIVE BOOK + + Of The Season. + +[->] This volume will be sent to any address, prepaid, on the receipt of +price--$4.00. + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Philad'a + + * * * * * + +[->] Advertisements inserted on Second and Third Pages of Cover at 50 +cents per line, and on the Fourth Page at 75 cents per line, agate +measurement). + + * * * * * + +The Best Practical Joke of the Season + +[Illustration: (Ring the Bell)] + +The perfect Electric Bell Button is made to pin on your breast, Fine +ebony finish with white button sure to induce a push, which never fails +to produce a shock with "Hail Columbia," and variations. *AFull Charge* +of electricity every time. The old joker is told "*That is Good! Ring +the Bell.*" The *Best Selling Article* ever invented. *4760* sold by one +agent in *3* weeks. Sample by Mail *15* cents.; two for *25* cents.; +*14* for *$1.00*. 100 for *$6.00*. Try *$1* worth. Stamps taken. + +Send all orders to World Manuf. Co. 122 Nassau St. New York + + +*EUREKA RECITATIONS* + +NINE NUMBERS NOW READY. + +Each number contains nearly *100 selections* by Mrs. Anna Randall-Diehl, +and bound in 4-color lithograph cover. Mailed for 12 cents each by J. S. +Ogilvie & Co., Publishers, 31 Rose Street, New York. Send for one. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: + (The + READY BINDER + for binding + THREE MONTHS + of the + GOLDEN DAYS + Price, 10 Cents.)] + +*THIS BINDER* is light, strong and handsome, and the weekly issues of +GOLDEN DAYS are held together by it in the convenient form of a book, +which can be kept lying on the reading-table. It is made of two white +wires joined together in the centre, with slides on either end for +pressing the wires together, thus holding the papers together by +pressure without mutilating them. We will furnish the Binder at Ten +Cents apiece, postage prepaid. Address JAMES ELVERSON, + + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: (Perfection Slate Erasor)] + +*We want you as our Agent* to sell the *Perfection Slate Eraser* in +schools. _It is attractive, well-made and indispensable._ Send five +2-cent stamps for sample and particulars. WITTRAM MFG. CO., 525 Front +St., San Francisco, Cal. (*Box 2414.*) + + +[Illustration {knife}] + +*FOR 10 cts. to pay postage &c.*, we will send this Charm Pen-Knife and +five other samples FREE. *Atlantic Works, East River, Conn.* + + +[Illustration {bicycle}] + +*BICYCLES $8 to $150. EASY PAYMENTS.* + +Tricycles, $7.50 up. Standard makes. 2d-hand Wheels handled. Send for +Catalogue. + +GEO. W. ROUSE & SON, 34 G St., Peoria, Ill. + + +[Illustration {ring}] + +1 Stone Ring, 1 Band Ring, 275 Scrap Pictures & Verses, Book of Poems, +Book Flirtations, 40 Agt's Samples, All 10c. Austin Card Co., New +Haven,Ct + + +[Illustration: (THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUM)] + +*THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUMS* + +are made with patent double acting rods and folding knee rest. Light, +substantial and handsome. Used in the best Bands and Orchestras. +Unequaled for tone, surpass all others in finish and appearance. If +nearest Music dealer does not keep them, write to us for Illustrated +Catalogue. + +*LYON & HEALY, Chicago, Ill.* + + +*PRINTERS* Send stamp for wholesale list of BLANK Cards, 1000 kinds. +Card Co., Montpelier,Vt + + +*SHORTHAND* Writing _thoroughly taught_ *by mail* or personally. +*Situations procured* all pupils when competent. Send for circular. +*W.G. CHAFFEE*, Oswego, N.Y. + + +23 HIDDEN NAME *MOTTO CARDS*, 10c + +Story Book and AGENT'S OUTFIT with each pack. HAMDEN CARD WORKS, Hamden, +Conn + + +[Illustration: (The Gem) {hose reel}] + +REEL, 25 FEET HOSE, NOZZLE AND COUPLINGS, $4.00. + +Sent on receipt of price. + +*Rubber Footballs*, No. 1, *$1.25* each + +Additional sizes to No. 6, 25c. extra. + +[->] *RUBBER GOODS* of all descriptions--Gossamers, Shoes, Boots, etc. + +*ROBERT C. GEDDES*, 316 Market St., Philada.,Pa. + + +*CARDS* + +100 Fancy Pictures, all new designs, 30 latest Songs, 50 Elegant Fancy +Patterns, 1 Album, over 60 Colored Transfer Pictures, with our Grand +Premium List all for *10 cts.* BIRD CARD WORKS, MERIDEN, CONN. Autograph +Album, name in gold, *10 cts.* + + +HIGHLY Educated Physician who has traveled much and speaks several +languages, wants to complete a party of youths for travel in Europe. +References exchanged. 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COSTLY OUTFIT of samples, +apackage of goods and full instructions sent for *10c.* to help pay +postage and advertising. + +*H. C. ROWELL & CO., Rutland, Vermont.* + + +*4 U.S. CENTS*, postpaid, 25 cents. Price List free. G. J. BAUER, 73 +Front St., Rochester, N.Y. + + +[Illustration] + +*PRINT YOUR OWN CARDS!* + +Press, $3; Circular size, $8. Press for small newspaper, $25. New Rotary +Jobber, $100. Send 2 stamps for catalogue Presses, Type, cards to +factory, Kelsey & Co. Meriden, Conn + + +*WARNER BRO'S* + + [Illustration: (CELEBRATED CORALINE CORSETS + FLEXIBLE HIPS + NURSING + HEALTH ABDOMINAL CORALINE)] + +*9, MILLION* + +worn during the past six years. + +This marvelous success is due-- + +1st.--To the superiority of Coraline over all other materials, as a +stiffener for Corsets. + +2d.--To the superior quality, shape and workmanship of our Corsets, +combined with their low prices. + +Avoid cheap imitations made of various kinds of cord. None are genuine +unless + +*"DR. WARNER'S CORALINE"* + +is printed on inside of steel cover. + +*FOR SALE BY ALL LEADING MERCHANTS.* + +*WARNER BROTHERS,* + +*359 Broadway. New York City.* + + +*THIS HAMMOCK CHAIR* + +[Illustration] + +May be changed instantly to an automatic floor Chair adjustable to many +reclining positions. Has no equal, and is desirable for + +[Illustration] + +*Library, Steamer, and Invalid Use.* + +Used in hospitals, colleges, families, and wherever + +*COMFORT AND HEALTH* + +are desired at a small cost. Folded compactly, and shipped anywhere. +Circulars, testimonials, and photographs for 2 cts. Price $7 to $15. +LIBERAL DISCOUNTS to agents and dealers. _Mention this Paper._ +*BLAISDELL CHAIR CO., 96 High St., Boston.* + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by +JAMES ELVERSON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at +Washington, D.C.) + + VOL. VIII. + + JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher. + N.W. corner Ninth and Spruce Sts. + + PHILADELPHIA MAY 21, 1887. + + TERMS + $3.00 Per Annum, In Advance. + + No. 25. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + LINDA'S CRAZY QUILT. + + By Fannie Williams. + + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Linda Trafton, turning over the pages of a +closely-written, school-girlish letter, which her brother Fred had +tossed into her lap, on returning from the post office. "Ido wish I +could get silk pieces enough to make a crazy quilt. Cousin Dell writes +all about hers, and it must be very pretty." + +"Crazy quilt! That's about all I've heard for the last six months! +Ishould think you girls had all gone crazy yourselves!" ejaculated +Fred. + +"Why, Fred!" was Linda's only answer to this outburst. + +She was a very sweet-tempered little maid, with soft, brown hair and +soft, brown eyes, that matched in color as exactly as eyes and hair +could match, and gave her a look of being--as indeed she was--too gentle +to dispute, or even to argue, with anybody, least of all with Fred, who +was fifteen, and three years her elder, and always took a tone of great +superiority toward his little sister. + +Still, he was a pretty good sort of brother, as brothers go; and, in +Linda's eyes, he was a prodigy of cleverness. + +So, whenever they happened to differ in opinion, and Fred expressed +himself in this vehement style, she only looked at him in a deprecating +way, and murmured: + +"Why, Fred!" + +"Well, I should like to know," continued Fred, "what could be more +idiotic than the way you spend your time, you girls, fitting those +ridiculous, catty-cornered pieces of silk together, and working them all +over with bugs and cobwebs and caterpillars, and little boys in Mother +Hubbard dresses! You may well call 'em _crazy_ quilts! Idon't believe +there was ever anything crazier, unless it was the lunatic who first +invented them!" + +"Why, Fred!" said Linda, again. "Now, I think they are too pretty for +anything!" + +"Pretty!" snorted Fred. "They're made out of the last things that you'd +suppose anybody would ever think of putting into a bed-quilt. Ican't +get a chance to wear a neck-tie half out before somebody wants it. Kate +Graham spoke for my last new one the next day after I bought it. And I +hardly dare to put my hat down, where there's a girl around, for fear +she'll capture my hat-band!" + +By this time, Linda was laughing outright. + +"Oh, you are so funny, Fred! But you only just ought to see Kate +Graham's crazy quilt. I_know_ you couldn't help calling it lovely. She +has got pieces of ever so many wedding dresses in it; but I don't know +who would give _me_ any. Aunt Mary never will get married, nor Cousin +Susie, nor our Bridget, unless Pat hurries up with his courting--and +there's nobody else. Besides, they are all making crazy quilts of their +own. Iwould start one with papa's old silk handkerchief and his +Association badge, if I thought I could ever get pieces enough to finish +it; but I don't see how I could." + +"Bess Hartley told me that she was going to send off somewhere and get a +lot of pieces that are put up to sell. You get a whole package of +assorted colors for a dollar," suggested Fred. + +"Oh, that would make it cost too much! Mamma would not let me do that," +said Linda, shaking her head. "She says it is well enough to use up odd +bits of silk in that way, if one happens to have them; but she doesn't +think it right to spend money in such a manner, instead of using it for +better purposes--and I don't suppose itis." + +"Well, I am sure I don't know what you are going to do," was Fred's +consoling observation. "You'd be as crazy as the rest of the girls if +you began to piece a quilt; and I don't know but you will go crazy if +you can't." + +With which conclusion, Fred walked off whistling, and left Linda to read +her Cousin Dell's letter over again, and wish that Patrick O'Brien would +propose to Bridget, if he was ever going to, so that she could get +married, and have a new silk dress for her wedding. + +However, Linda was not the girl to fret and worry after things which +were unattainable. + +Fred would have his joke, but she was not going to make herself unhappy +just because she had not the materials for making silk patchwork, as +Dell and the rest of her girl friends were doing. There were plenty of +other pleasures and amusements within her reach, and the one that she +enjoyed most of all came in her way, as it happened, the very next +morning. + +[Illustration: +"OH, MRS. BURBANK! WHAT BEAUTIFUL PIECES!" CRIED LINDA. +"WHERE DID THEY ALL COME FROM?"] + +Her father said to her, as he rose from the table after breakfast: + +"Linda, would you like a ride, my dear? Iam going to drive over to East +Berlin, and I will take you along, if you would like togo." + +"_If_ I would like it! Why, papa, you _know_ there isn't _anything_ that +I like so much as a good, long ride with you!" cried Linda, dancing with +delight, as she ran off to get ready for the drive. + +For it was indeed a "good long" ride to East Berlin--fifteen miles at +least--and the day was just as fresh and bright and lovely as a day +could be in the fresh and bright and lovely month of May. + +The young grass was emerald green along the country roads, the apple +trees were all in sheets of bloom, hill-sides were fairly blue with +bird-foot violets, and sweet spring flowers were smiling everywhere. + +Linda was so full of happiness that she could scarcely keep from singing +in concert with the birds that trilled and chirped among the trees on +either hand, as the pleasant road led through a piece of woodland. + +But the woods came to an end abruptly where the trees had been cut off, +and where some men with ox-carts were hauling away the long piles of +cord-wood. Then there were fields of plowed ground on each side of the +road, and then a long stretch of rocky hills and old pastures, and +presently some houses came in sight. + +Old, weather-beaten houses they were--a dozen, perhaps, in all. Two or +three had once been painted red, and still displayed some dark and dingy +traces of that color; but most of them were brown, and some had green +moss growing on their broad, sloping roofs--roofs which were two stories +high in front, but came down so low at the back that a lively boy might +reach them from the ground with very little effort, only the place did +not look as if anything so young or so lively as a boy had been seen +there for at least twenty years. + +Still, it was a pleasant place. There were thickets of lilac and +mock-orange bushes around every house, and old-fashioned lilies and +roses growing half-wild along the fences. + +There were flagged walks leading up to all the doors, with borders of +evergreen box, which had once been trim, and still was quaint and +pleasing; there were old gardens, where everything was "all run out," +but where the bees and birds appeared to find congenial homes; there +were gnarly old apple-trees, with bending, twisted branches that touched +the ground and made the most enticing rustic seats. + +Withal, there was a calm and stillness brooding on the place that filled +one's fancy with sweet thoughts of olden times and-- + +"Whoo-oo-oop! Hip, hip, pip, hoo-_ray_!" + +"Good _gracious_!" cried Mr. Trafton, starting from his pleasant +reverie, and clutching at the reins which lay loose upon his knee. "Good +gracious! What's that?" + +"It's a boy!" said Linda, with a quite disgusted accent. + +Unquestionably, it was a boy--and a boy of the most aggressively modern +type, clad in garments of the very latest cut, from his flannel +yachting-shirt to his canvas "base-ball" shoes--aboy with a look as +well as a voice, which proclaimed him all alive. + +His close-cropped head was bare, and his white straw hat came spinning +over the stone wall and into the middle of the road, as if impelled by +steam-power, before the boy himself scrambled over, giving vent to +another whoop, which would have done credit to a Comanche gone mad. + +The whoop and the hat together were enough to startle almost any horse; +and, although Mr. Trafton's fine roadster, "Billy," was pretty well +trained, the combined effect was a little too much for his nerves. He +gave a sidelong leap and started to run. His master checked him sharply, +and veering from the road, he ran the wheels into a deep rut, and over +went the buggy with a crash! + +Linda screamed, as she was pitched headlong into a thicket of sweet-fern +which grew along the roadside; but the bushes broke her fall, and, +beyond the fright and a scratched hand, she received no injury. + +Her father was equally fortunate, and, as Billy had recovered from his +momentary panic and did not run, the accident appeared, at the first +glance, to be nothing serious. + +The boy who had caused it came forward, with a look of trepidation upon +his countenance, exclaiming: + +"I'm awfully sorry, sir; I didn't mean to frighten your horse. Iwas +down behind the wall and didn't see you coming, or I wouldn't have +thrown my hat so. Iwas only scaring a squirrel." + +"He must have been pretty thoroughly scared," said Mr. Trafton, drily. + +However, the boy's bright face wore an expression of such honest regret +that he added, with a good-humored accent: + +"Well, well, I was a boy myself once. You must be more careful another +time, my lad." + +"That I will, sir." + +And as Mr. Trafton began to raise the overturned buggy, the boy took +hold and helped him. + +On getting the vehicle righted, they found that one wheel was broken so +badly as to need repairs before the journey could be continued, and Mr. +Trafton surveyed the damage with grave concern. + +The boy gave a low whistle, and murmured: + +"Here's a state of things!" + +"I don't see what I'm going to do," remarked the gentleman. "There's +nobody in this region who could mend that wheel, Isuppose?" + +"Oh yes there is!" cried the boy, brightening up. "Doran's blacksmith +shop is only a little ways down the road; you can get the wheel fixed +there. I'll go along and hold up this side of the buggy; and I'll pay +the bill, sir, as I caused the damage." + +Mr. Trafton looked at him approvingly, but answered: + +"You need not do that, my boy. The bill won't amount to much; but the +job may take some time--and where can I leave my little girl? Isuppose +you would not care to wait in the blacksmith shop, Linda?" + +Before Linda could reply, the boy said, looking at her frankly, and not +at all abashed: + +"She can stay with my grandma while you're having the wheel fixed. Mrs. +Deacon Burbank is my grandma; she lives right here, sir," pointing out +the house. + +"And where do you live?" asked Mr. Trafton, who took a liking to Mrs. +Deacon Burbank's grandson, for all his annoyance at the trouble which +that lively youth had caused him. + +"I'm staying with grandma this summer," said the boy; "but I live in +Boston when I'm at home. My name is John Burbank." + +"Well, John, you will have to take Linda to your grandma, for I cannot +leave Billy standing here with this broken buggy." + +"All right, sir; I'll be back in a minute, and help you down to +Doran's." + +So saying, John Burbank led the way, and Linda followed, to the nearest +of the brown old houses--abig, broad-roofed domicile, with wide, double +doors and narrow windows, and with two great cherry trees in the front +yard, looking like two great drifts of snow, they were so thickly +covered with white blossoms. + +A border of red and yellow tulips, gay daffodils, and "crown imperials," +edged the narrow walk which led from the front gate around to the side +door, where they were received by a surprised old lady in gold-bowed +spectacles, to whom John presented his companion, with the following +concise account of the accident which occasioned her unexpected +appearance: + +"Grandma, here's a girl, and her father is out there with his team, and +they've just had a break-down, and it was all my doing; but I didn't +mean to! Iscared the horse, hollering at a squirrel. I've got to go and +help her father get the buggy down to Doran's, and she's going to stay +here till it's fixed, and her name's Linda. Idon't know what her other +nameis." + +"Linda Trafton," supplemented Linda, as the boy paused to catch his +breath. + +"Johnny," said the old lady, speaking as severely as a stout old lady +with dimples in her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes could be expected +to speak, when addressing her only grandson--"Johnny, Ido declare for +'t, you air the worst boy! What under the canopy will you go to cuttin' +up next? Come right in, my dear," she said to Linda, "and make yourself +to home. Johnny, you run along and help the gentleman; and tell Mr. +Doran your gran'ther will pay the bill." + +"Oh, I'm going to pay it myself, grandma, with my own pocket-money, +if the gentleman will let me; but he says he won't." + +And Johnny was off before he had done speaking. + +"I declare for 't," said his grandmother, "that boy is a regular +Burbank; jest exactly what the deacon used to be at his age--always into +suthin'. Iknew the deacon when he wa'n't any older than Johnny, an' +Iremember jest how he used to act. Take off your things, my dear, and +make yourself to home." + +She took Linda's hat and sacque, and carried them into the spare +bed-room, where there was a great "four-poster" bedstead, with +blue-and-white chintz hangings and a blue-and-white spread; and then she +came and sat down by Linda, and asked her a great many questions about +the break-down, and about her father and mother and herself, but she was +such a nice old lady that Linda did not mind her being a little +inquisitive. + +In return, she gave Linda quite a complete history of her own family, +and told her a number of entertaining stories about Johnny and Johnny's +father, and about the deacon when he was a boy. Finally, she looked at +the queer old clock on the kitchen mantle-shelf, and remarked: + +"It's time I was gittin' my dinner over to cook, and I guess I shall +have to leave you to amuse yourself a little while, my dear. You might +go out an' look 'round the garden, if you want; or maybe you'd ruther go +up in the garret, an' look at Johnny's picture-books an' things. He +likes to stay up there, when it rains so't he can't go out." + +"Oh, I should like that, of all things!" cried Linda, delighted. "Ido +love a real old-fashioned garret, with all sorts of old things init!" + +"Do you now? Well," said Mrs. Burbank, beaming over the gold-bowed +spectacles, "our garret is full of old truck, an' you can go up there +an' rummage 'round all you've a min'to." + +She opened the door of a narrow staircase, with steep and well-worn +stairs, and told Linda that was the way to the back chamber over the +kitchen, and when she got up there she would see the garret stairs; +and she guessed Linda could find the way up alone. She was pretty hefty +herself, and she didn't travel up and down stairs any more than she +could help. + +Linda very quickly found her way to the garret, which proved to be +indeed a veritable treasury of "old truck;" and her brown eyes opened +wide with ecstasy as she caught sight of a real, genuine spinning-wheel, +stowed away under the low, sloping roof. + +Then she discovered a smaller wheel, with a motto carved around its rim +in quaint lettering, which Linda studied over a long time before she +made it out--"Eat not the Bread of Idleness." She learned afterward that +this was a flax-wheel, on which Deacon Burbank's mother used to spin the +thread to weave her linen sheets. + +Beside the flax-wheel stood a superannuated chest of drawers, with dingy +brass handles, which had once, no doubt, been a fine piece of furniture. + +Then there were broken-down chairs, with straight, stiff backs; queer, +cracked jugs and bottles, and painted teacups with the handles broken +off; and funny old spelling-books and school-readers, all inscribed, +in beautiful handwriting, on their yellow fly-leaves: + + "John Burbank, his book." + +Linda knew that the John Burbank who had learned his lessons from these +old books must have been the deacon "when he was a boy," and not her +young friend, Johnny. + +There were several old-fashioned wooden chests among the treasures of +this delightful garret, and Linda hesitated to open them at first; +but finally she called to mind that she had been given permission to +"rummage" as much as she pleased. + +One chest, painted green, stood near the narrow window, which threw a +checkered square of sunshine upon the garret floor, and as Linda raised +the cover she gave a little scream of rapture, for it seemed almost as +if she had found a broken rainbow, there was such a glitter of gay +colors in the sunlight. + +"Oh! _oh!_" she cried, "what lovely, _lovely_ pieces for a crazy quilt!" + +For the old chest was nearly filled with scraps of silk and satin of +every shape and size, from bits not over an inch wide to the large, +three-cornered pieces, of which there seemed to be a great number, left +in cutting trimming-folds "on the bias," as Linda knew, for she had seen +many such remnants proudly displayed by those of her girl friends who +happened to be in the good graces of Miss Cranshaw, the village +dressmaker. But such brocades and stripes, such "plaid" and "watered" +and "figured" silks, such brilliant shades of color as she found among +the contents of that chest, her eyes had never looked upon before. + +"I wonder if these are pieces of Deacon Burbank's mother's dresses?" +thought Linda, as she turned them over, exclaiming, every other minute, +"Oh, how pretty!" or "Oh, what a beauty!" for every new piece that she +took up seemed prettier than the last. "Why, she must have had as many +as Queen Victoria. Why _don't_ they wear such colors now? Most of the +silk dresses that Miss Cranshaw makes are black, or brown, or +sage-green, or some other sober shade; but these are all so bright. +Oh, what a lovely blue!" + +"It is a handsome piece of silk, ain't it? That was the dress Miss Polly +Newcome wore to the inaugeration ball at Washington, 'most forty years +ago. They don't have no such silks in these days." + +Mrs. Deacon Burbank had mounted the garret stairs with footsteps far +from noiseless, being, as she said, a"hefty" old lady; but Linda had +been too much absorbed to notice her approach until she spoke. + +"Oh, Mrs. Burbank! What beautiful pieces!" cried Linda. "Where did they +all come from?" + +"Why, they come from all 'round, my dear," said Mrs. Burbank, sitting +down with Linda, beside the green chest. "You see, my girls used to take +in dressmakin', when they was young, and the pieces kinder gathered an' +gathered. The girls used to keep the silk pieces separate, thinkin' they +might do suthin' with 'em sometime; but they never did. They was always +too busy to do much putterin' work. So the pieces have laid there ever +sence the girls left home. They all got married, many a long year ago, +my girls. Cecilia went to New York, and Evaline lives down in +Pennsylvaney--she's got to be quite an old woman herself now; and Nancy +Jane, she's layin' in the cemetery over to East Berlin, with her own +little girl buried 'long side of her," said the old lady, sighing. "But +they used to be called the best dressmakers there was anywhere round +these parts; folks used to come from as far off as Tolland County to +have their nice dresses made by the Burbank girls. Miss Polly Newcome +went to Washington the winter that her father was elected to the Senate. +She was a great beauty, Miss Polly was, an' they made everything of her +in Washington. But my girls had the makin' of all her new clothes, 'fore +she went. This was a dress she wore to a grand dinner-party that was +given to her father, Senator Newcome." + +And the old lady picked out a scrap of marvelous brocade, with +silver-white roses on a wine-colored ground, and smoothed it on her +knee. + +"This was the one she wore to the President's reception"--selecting a +bit of rose-colored satin, striped with sky-blue velvet; "and this," +she continued, smoothing out a long strip of changeable silk in green +and ruby tints, "was another dinner dress. Here's a piece of plaid silk +that was made up for Squire Harney's wife, when she was goin' to Europe; +and here's a piece of Mrs. Doctor Thorne's dress, that she had made on +purpose to wear to a grand party over in Tolland." + +This last was a good-sized square of bright yellow silk, with polka-dots +of mazarine blue. + +Linda, looking at the gorgeous fabric with admiring eyes, exclaimed: + +"I never saw such pieces in all my life! They _would_ make the loveliest +crazy quilt!" + +"What kind of a quilt, my dear?" + +"A crazy quilt," said Linda, laughing. "Haven't you ever seen one, Mrs. +Burbank? Fred says the person was crazy who first invented them; but I +think they're just as pretty as they can be. It takes a great many +pieces of silk, though, to make a bed-quilt, and some of the girls only +make sofa-pillows and such things." + +"Oh, you mean patchwork. The land!" said Mrs. Burbank, "Iused to make +silk patchwork more than sixty years ago. It was all the style then, +but I didn't s'pose they ever done it now." + +"Oh, yes; it is all the style now," said Linda, with a smile. + +"Do tell! I want to know if you like to piece patchwork?" said the old +lady, looking over her spectacles at Linda's girlish face, with its +gentle eyes and frame of soft, brown hair. "Ideclare for't, you look +just as my Nancy Jane did when she was your age! If you want them +pieces, child, you can have 'em; Iain't got any use for 'em, and don't +s'pose I ever shall have. I'm too old to piece patchwork, myself--my +eyesight ain't what it used tobe." + +For a moment Linda was speechless with delight, but finally she found +her voice, and cried out: + +"Oh, Mrs. Burbank! All those lovely crazy pieces! Do you really mean to +give them tome?" + +"Of course I do, and I'm real glad to see ye so pleased, my dear. Them +silk pieces have laid in that chest years an' years, doin' nobody any +good; an' they shan't lay there no longer, if they can make a little +girl so happy." + +And the good old lady looked happy herself as she opened another chest, +and, taking out an old pillow-case of home-spun linen, began to fill it +with the wondrous "crazy pieces." + +When she had crowded them all in and tied the bag with a piece of twine, +she said: + +"Now, you can take 'em right along with you, an' whenever your father +happens to come this way ag'in, he can bring me back the piller-case, +for it was one of Mother Burbank's, and I shouldn't want to lose it. +Ideclare for 't!" she added, "Iforgot all about your father, child, +Igot so took up with lookin' over them pieces. He's got the buggy +mended, an' he's come back after you, so you must come right down. +Iwant you an' he should have dinner 'fore you go; it's all ready." + +And happy Linda went down to the kitchen, where she found her father and +Johnny, and Deacon Burbank, who had just come home to dinner. + +Mr. Trafton was hungry, and quite willing to take dinner at the +deacon's, instead of waiting till they arrived at East Berlin. + +They all became very well acquainted in the course of the meal, and Mr. +Trafton promised to bring Linda to see Mrs. Burbank, whenever he came +that way. + +"And I will bring my crazy quilt and show it to you, when I get it done, +Mrs. Burbank," added Linda. + +Whereupon Johnny spoke up, and said: + +"If you don't get on with your crazy quilt any faster than my sister +does with hers, you won't ever get it done!" + +And Linda told him that sounded just like Fred! + +Johnny carried the pillow-case out to the buggy and tucked it under the +seat; and Linda could think of nothing but her crazy pieces all the way +to East Berlin. + +When she got home and showed them to Fred, he declared they were the +jolliest, craziest lot of pieces he had seen yet! + +And when Linda's quilt was commenced, all the girls went wild over it; +but she laughingly refused to tell them where her pieces came from. + +She made a great mystery of the matter, asserting, in reply to all +inquiries, that hers would be a crazy quilt with a history, and nobody +should know anything about it until the quilt was finished. + +A crazy quilt with a history is no trifling piece of work, and the girls +have not yet heard the story. + + + + +DAVY'S TURN. + +BY FLORENCE B. HALLOWELL. + + +"Never mind! It'll come my turn some day, and then I'll pay you boys up; +and you'll be sorry enough for all the mean things you've done to me," +and Davy Potter stooped to pick up the books which one of a group of a +dozen boys had pushed from his arm. + +The school-house yard was muddy from recent rains, and the books were so +wet and dirty that Davy took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe them +off. + +"What'll you take for that handkerchief, Dave?" asked Fred Bassett. +"It's a beauty, and no mistake." + +There was a loud shout from the other boys, and universal attention was +directed to the little square of faded calico Davy was so industriously +using. + +A hot flush rose to the boy's thin, freckled face; but he made no reply, +except to mutter under his breath something which the boys could not +catch. + +But there was a bitter, vindictive feeling in his heart as he followed +his persecutors into the school-house. He did not understand why all the +wit--if wit it could be called--should be leveled at him; why he should +be the target for every poisoned arrow, simply because he was poor, ugly +and always at the bottom of his classes. He thought it unjust and cruel, +and longed with all his heart for the time to come when by some real +good luck he would have a chance to "pay the boysup." + +He knew that if he ever needed assistance in any such work, he could +rely on old Sim Kane to help him; for the old man--ahalf-witted +creature who earned a miserable livelihood by doing odd jobs of +wood-sawing and cleaning for charitably-disposed people--had good +reason, also, to hate the boys of the Prickett school, and long for +revenge. + +Davy lived with an aunt, who gave him a home as a matter of duty, and +regarded him as a burden and a nuisance, often treating him so unkindly +that he was made very unhappy, and spent as little time with her as +possible. + +He tried honestly to be dutiful and obedient; but he couldn't help +forgetting occasionally to wipe his feet before entering the kitchen, +and sometimes he let the fire go out, or forgot to feed the chickens. +Then he was severely reprimanded, of course, and told that he was +ungrateful, as well as stupid. + +But in the woods he was free to do as he liked, and there was no one to +scold or find fault with him, and he had many dumb but affectionate +friends there among the squirrels, rabbits and birds. + +So he always took his way to the woods every Saturday as soon as he had +cleaned up the yard about his aunt's house, filled all the +water-buckets, cut the kindling for the kitchen stove, and attended to +the dozen or more other chores Miss Potter required of him. + +He never shirked the least of them, no matter how anxious he was to get +away; for he had been so frequently told how much he owed to his aunt, +that he believed he could not do too much for her. + +It was while exploring the depths of the woods, one day, that he +discovered the secret retreat of the "Mystic Nine," aclub of nine boys +who disappeared from the village regularly every Saturday morning during +the spring, summer and fall, and remained away until sunset, often +returning with torches to have a street parade after dark, or with a bag +of plump birds for a grand "fry" in the kitchen of some indulgent +mother. + +That they had a hiding-place of some sort, where they held meetings and +ate the generous lunches they carried with them, all the boys outside +the nine felt sure; but none of the Mystics ever answered any questions +concerning it, and threw out vague but impressive warnings as to the +terrible fate that would befall any one whose curiosity led him to seek +to penetrate the secret they guarded so closely. + +Davy stumbled upon it quite by chance. Following the trail of a bird +with a wounded wing, he found himself in a part of the wood he had never +been in before, and came suddenly upon a great pile of brush a dozen +feet high, behind which was the entrance to a deep cave in a rocky +hillside. + +He entered, and found it well furnished with rough blankets, atable, +an oil stove, and many other things necessary to the comfort and +convenience of nine boys. Alarge window in the roof, which was +carefully covered with brush, afforded a means to obtain light, when +that given by the mouth of the cave did not prove sufficient, or when +bad weather made it necessary to drop the canvas which did duty as a +door. + +Davy, afraid of getting into trouble, kept his discovery to himself, but +he made frequent stolen trips to the cave, and resolved that some day he +would use his knowledge for the purpose of obtaining his revenge. + +He had a vague plan in his head to guide about fifty of the roughest +boys in the village to the cave, and thus give the secret to every one, +and he fully determined to let this be his form of revenge, when, being +called upon to read in class, he was forced to use the wet, soiled +books. + +His thoughts were directed so much to this subject that his lessons were +recited even worse than usual, and as a result he was kept in to study +for an hour after the close of school. + +When he was at last free to go home, and left the school-house, he found +that poor old Sim was in the hands of his enemies. The Mystic Nine had +placed him in his own dilapidated hand-cart, and were wheeling him down +one of the side streets as fast as they could go, shouting and laughing +at his frenzied cries of distress and the ludicrous picture he +presented, as he clung to the side of the cart, the brim of his torn +straw hat flapping in the wind, and an old scarf of bright scarlet silk, +which he cherished as his dearest earthly possession, streaming out +behind. + +Davy felt very sorry for the old man, but did not dare interfere. He +could only wait until the boys, becoming wearied of their sport, ran the +cart into a shallow pond and went off to seek other diversion. + +Old Sim was almost helpless with fright and exhaustion, and when Davy +waded into the pond and pushed the cart out on dry land again, he threw +his arms about the boy's neck, and clung to him, sobbing and moaning +like a child. + +It was all Davy could do to comfort and quiet him, and to persuade him +to go home, so apprehensive was he that another attack would be made on +him. But Davy finally succeeded in convincing him that there was no +further danger, and the old man went scuffling off to the miserable +shanty he called home. + +The next day was Saturday, and as the weather was clear and bright, Davy +resolved to spend the whole morning in the woods. But his aunt found so +much for him to do that it was nearly noon before he was able to get +away. + +As usual, he divided his lunch with the birds and squirrels, and then +lay down under a tree to read a book he had brought with him. + +But it failed to interest him, and his mind persisted in dwelling upon +the unkindness with which he was so systematically treated, both at home +and at school. + +"I wonder if it will ever be any different?" he thought, as he sprang to +his feet at last. "If I only could get to the head of the grammar class +just once, they might treat me better. But of course there is no use in +thinking of that, for there's no chance ofit." + +He strolled through the woods, his steps turning unconsciously in the +direction of the secret cave. + +He had almost reached it, when he suddenly became aware of where he was, +and started to retrace his steps, fearing the boys would come out and +discover him there. + +But scarcely had he turned when, to his amazement, he saw old Sim Kane +come rushing toward him from the direction of the cave. + +The old man's face was pallid with excitement, and he was swinging his +long arms, and muttering and laughing to himself in a way that made +Davy's blood run cold. + +"Sim! Sim! what's the matter?" he cried. + +But the old man paid no attention to him, and not pausing to question +him again, but sure there was trouble of some sort at the cave, Davy ran +toward that secret retreat. + +His ears soon told him what the trouble was. The great pile of brush +which concealed the entrance to the cave had been set on fire! + +Terrible was the vengeance which the half-demented old man had taken on +his boyish persecutors. + +Davy, with a loud cry of horror, and forgetting in that awful moment all +his own wrongs, seized a stout branch, and rushed upon the pile of brush +without a moment's hesitation. + +The entire mouth of the cave was a mass of flame, and it was no easy +matter to scatter the burning brands, so intense was the heat. + +But Davy fought the fire right and left, with a wild energy far beyond +his strength and years, and at last the mouth of the cave was clear, +and the fresh air could enter it again. + +Then, exhausted, faint, and suffering most intense agony from a dozen +terrible burns, the brave boy sank to the ground. + +At first he was scarcely conscious, but presently he became aware that +some one was bending over him, and opening his eyes, he saw Fred +Bassett's face, so full of pity, admiration and kindness that poor Davy +scarcely recognizedit. + +"We didn't deserve this good turn of you, Davy," said the boy. "But I +can't tell you how thankful we are to you. But for you we would have +been suffocated inside of ten minutes. It was that old Sim who set the +fire. We were busy at the back of the cave, making it deeper, and didn't +know anything about the fire until we heard the old man shout at us from +the window overhead. He was half mad with joy, and was just about to +light the brush on the window. He must have fired the pile in front in +twenty places. There was no use in trying to get out. It was like a wall +of fire. Itell you, we all thought our time had come. It was just +awful." + +"I'm glad I came when I did," said Davy, gently. "But I'm afraid you'll +have to help me home. My feet areso badly burned I don't believe I can +take a step." + +"As if we'd let you even think of walking!" exclaimed Fred. "We'll rig +up a litter in short order." + +So Davy was carried into the village in state by seven of the boys, +while the two others went on ahead to tell Miss Potter what had happened +and engage the services of a doctor. + +And it was not until his wounds were all dressed, and he was lying +quietly in bed, with Fred Bassett and Tom Harper sitting beside him, +that Davy happened to think that the "turn" for which he had waited so +long had come at last, and he had failed to take the revenge he had so +ardently desired. + +But he never regretted this, for he never had to complain again of +unkind treatment from either his aunt or his schoolmates. For Miss +Potter, in taking care of her young nephew during the three weeks he was +confined to the house, found good qualities of head and heart the +existence of which she had never before even suspected, and she made up +her mind that she had thought Davy a burden because she had never really +understood him. + +As to the boys--well, they made a hero of Davy, and the "Mystic Nine" +became the "Mystic Ten," by the admission to membership of the shy, +freckled-faced boy who was always at the bottom of his classes. + +And affection and encouragement brightened up Davy's wits so much that +he ceased before long to occupy that unenviable and lowly position, and +astonished his teacher by his rapid progress. + +No punishment was ever meted out to old Sim; but it is scarcely +necessary to say that the boys were careful to let him severely alone +after that memorable Saturday on which Davy became a hero. + + + + +THE BLIND GIRL AND THE SPRING. + +BY SYDNEY GREY. + + + Yes, it is true that I am blind (it was not always thus), + But oft it comes into my mind how God can comfortus. + For if, of some good gift bereft, we bend before His will, + He ever has a blessing left which should our sorrows still. + This very morn I found it so; scarce had the day begun, + Ere with small, pattering, restless feet that hither swiftly run, + The children came in joyous mood, and shouted, "Spring is here!" + And when they led me through the wood, I knew that she was near. + I felt her breath upon my cheek, and while we walked along, + A thousand times I heard her speak the rustling leaves among, + In tones as though a harp had thrilled beneath an angel's touch, + And all my soul with rapture filled: yet when I said as much, + The others laughed and whispered low, "Nay, nay, it is the wind!" + To them perhaps it might be so; but, ah! if folks are blind, + They learn in every sound that floats around their pathway dark-- + The breeze, the brook, the glad bird-notes--some hidden voice to mark. + Therefore, when spring begins to don her garments fresh and gay, + Because I cannot look upon her beauty day by day, + Nor see the pointed crocus flame above the garden mold, + Nor watch the snowy tips that frame the daisy's heart of gold; + Because unto my longing eyes may never be displayed + The changeful glory of the skies, warm shine and soothing shade, + Nor the great sun's far-reaching rays which crown the day with light, + Nor yet the star-lit purple haze that comes before the night; + She breathes the tender tale to me, in accents clear and plain, + Until I nearly rend the veil and see it all again. + And though I'm blind, I know quite well, when to the woods wego, + The place to find the wild bluebell, and where the lilies blow; + Shy violets tell me, as I pass, their buds are at my feet, + And through the lengthening meadow-grass run murmurs soft and sweet. + Oh! I thank God that He doth bring such daily joy tome, + For even I can welcome spring, like happy girls who see. + + + + +[Illustration] + +How to Make A Canvas Canoe, + +(_Concluded._) + +BY E. T. LITTLEWOOD. + + +The covering is best made of what is known as "crash," strong and close. +It must be wide enough to go completely under the canoe, and can be had +about 5 ft. wide, which will be quite wide enough. Seven yards of it +will be sufficient. + +To put on the canvas, turn the canoe over. Lay the canvas with the +centre line along the keel. Stretch it well by pulling at each end, and +tack it through the middle at the extreme ends with a few tacks in a +temporary manner. Put in temporary tacks along the gunwale at moderate +intervals, stretching slightly, and endeavor to get rid of all folds. + +Begin in the middle and work toward the ends, and always pull straight +away from the keel, and not along the gunwale. Then put in a second set +of tacks half way between the first set of tacks on one side, pulling +fairly tight. Then, on the other side, put in tacks opposite to the +latter, pulling as tightly as possible. + +The best way to do this is to seize the canvas with a pair of pincers, +so that on pulling you can get the head of the pincers just over the +gunwale, when they can be used as a lever to give an extra pull. Atack +may then be put in on the outside of the gunwale; half-inch galvanized +tacks willdo. + +Now remove the temporary set of tacks. To get rid of folds, which will +not occur along the keel, but along the gunwale, keep bisecting the +distance between two consecutive tacks by another tack, so that the +canvas is equally loose on each side of it, always now pulling the +canvas as tightly as possible. + +In this way the folds will disappear, and the canvas be stretched tight +and well-fastened to the gunwale. Leave that portion within a foot of +each end untacked. + +Next cut away all that portion which projects beyond the stem and +stern-post; turn the edges in, and tack along the edges at moderate +distances. + +Bisect these distances, and these again, till you have a very close row +of tacks, as in Fig. 12. Pull fairly tight, but not too tight, and do +not use pincers for this part; quarter-inch tacks will be best. + +The ends may be cut out and put on, lapping the edges over the side, as +shown in Fig. 12, and enough canvas will be left to fill the part along +the sides of the well, into which the canvas should be tacked with a +fine row of tacks, afterward being stretched over the gunwale. The canoe +will now be completely covered in except the well. + +Before putting on the top, however, give the lower part outside a good +coating of boiled linseed-oil. This will be most of it absorbed into the +canvas. The same may be done afterward with the top. + +When this is dry--that is, after two or three days--give another good +coating of the same. Then paint the canoe according to taste. Two coats +for the bottom will be advisable, and paint which will stand water well +should be used. It would be well to paint the framework with one coat +before covering. + +[Illustration] + +Make a stretcher (Fig. 13) for the feet, of half-inch board, and slips +to fit it into (Fig. 10), with stops on the floor. Also, abackboard of +half-inch board, to correspond (Fig. 14). Each piece in the latter may +be 18x4 inches. They should be nailed into two cross-pieces behind, so +as to form a hollow for back, and should be placed two inches apart, +to allow a space for the spine. + +I prefer myself to fit in the backboard by means of stops on the floor +and back of the well, making it keep one position, and that at a +considerable slope, and have not found a swinging backboard so +comfortable as some appear to have done. + +For the paddle, for which I think about 7 feet 6 inches long over all +is a good length, take a light, clean piece of yellow pine, or fir, +1 x 1 inches, not more, and 6 feet long. In the ends of this cut +slots 6 inches long, each to receive two pear-shaped pieces of very +light half-inch plank, 1 foot 3 inches by 8 inches. Nail them through +with copper nails, if possible. The blades should be at right angles +to the thickest direction of the handle. + +Before nailing in, shave down the handle from an oval of 1 x 1 +inches for 2 feet of the middle to an oval of about 1-1/8 x 7/8 inches +near the beginning of the blades. + +The handle should have its full thickness at the beginning of the blade, +but should be well tapered off along the blade, so as to be quite thin +at its middle, where it ends. It should have its full breadth across the +breadth of the blade. The blade itself may be shaved off thinner toward +the edges. + +I do not think that for ordinary purposes any strip of copper or tin +need be put round the blade, and the weight is increased by using. + +The great thing about a paddle is that it should be as light as +possible, and, if it appears able to stand it, it may be reduced still +further. It may be painted or varnished, all but two feet in the middle. +Ifind no rings on the paddles necessary. + +A short strip nailed outside the gunwale in the middle of the canoe is a +good thing; it prevents wear from the paddle, and forms something to +catch hold of in lifting the canoe. + +A short outer keel is also a good thing at each end to prevent wear; but +in making holes for the nails through the canvas into the keel care must +be taken to turn in the edges round each hole, to tack with a close +circle of tacks, and paint well, so as to render the place water-tight. + +An apron is seldom wanted, but may be made of canvas rendered waterproof +with boiled oil, if desired. + +It is well to fasten some inflated bladders in each end, so as to make +the canoe a diminutive lifeboat, in case of an upset or of a hole being +knocked in her. + +The canoe will now be ready for launching. The owner should learn to put +her carefully into the water and take her out by himself--to carry her +on his shoulder. + +Superfluous wood may be cut from the central parts of the shapes, and +also from along the keel toward the ends before covering. The floor +forms a considerable item in the weight, consequently this should be +made no wider or thicker than necessary. In paddling, learn to reach +well forward and back, with a good swing of the body from side to side. + +Such a canoe as described will be found to wear well, and one made by +myself for a friend two years ago is now in use, and quite water-tight. + + + + +HOW THE PARTRIDGE DRUMS. + + +"When I first came to Canada," says a writer from that locality, +"Ifound there were various opinions as to the method of making the +sound. One man, who read a great deal, but rarely went into the woods, +said that the sound was produced by the bird's voice. Some of the +hunters told me that the bird struck its wings on the log, and others +that it struck them together over its back. + +"I did not give much heed to the bookman's explanation, for all the +woodmen laughed at it. Isoon learned to discredit also the idea that +the bird thumped the log with its wings, because whether it stood on a +stump or a stone, arotten log or solid timber, the sound was always the +same. Lastly, Idid not believe that the wings were struck together, +because, when a pigeon or rooster strikes its wings together, the sound +is always a sharp crack. At length, after watching the bird carefully, +Icame to the conclusion that it drums by beating the air only. + +"It is not an easy matter to get sight of a partridge when he is +drumming, but I managed to do it by crawling on my hands and knees +toward the bird, lying still while he was quiet, and only moving forward +when he renewed his noisy courtship; for it is only to woo and win his +mate that Sir Ruffled Grouse indulges in these musical exercises. + +"In this way I contrived to come within twenty feet without alarming +him. Through the alder thicket I could just see his shapely form, +strutting about like a turkey cock; then for a moment he stood upright, +with his feathers lying close. + +"Suddenly his wings flashed, and at the same moment I heard the loud +thump. Then for a few seconds he stood looking about as though nothing +had happened; but presently came a second flash and thump, and others +followed at lessening intervals, until at last the serenade rolled a way +like the galloping of horses or the rumbling of distant thunder." + + + + +FROGS AND TADPOLES. + +BY E. S. + + +It is very interesting in the spring to watch the gradual development of +a frog from the egg, through the tadpole stage of its existence, till at +last it assumes its final form. + +The old frogs emerge from their winter hiding-places in the mud, early +in the spring, and during April their eggs may be found floating on +almost every stagnant pond. + +A group of these eggs in their early stages of development looks like a +mass of clear white jelly, containing numbers of black specks, each of +which is really the germ of the future tadpole. + +In order to watch the development, a group of the eggs should be taken +and put in a shallow vessel of water, which, if kept in the house, +should have a bell-glass, or some other covering, over it, to keep out +the dust. + +The jelly-like mass which envelopes the future tadpole is so clear that +all its changes can be easily watched. + +First the head appears, then a flat tail, and in course of time the +nostrils, mouth and large eyes, till at length the completed tadpole +bursts open its gelatinous covering, and apparently not in the least +embarrassed by its new surroundings, begins swimming briskly about, +looking for something to eat. + +The time occupied in hatching varies in different countries, according +to the climate, from four days to a month. + +The following stages are even more interesting, especially for those who +can take advantage of the transparency of the parts to watch the +circulation of the blood through a microscope. + +The body of the tadpole gradually gets broader, while the tail gets +thinner and thinner, till it finally disappears altogether; but before +that happens, its place has been taken by two hind legs, which first +appear under the skin and then gradually push their way through. + +The fore legs next appear, and so on through all the stages of +development, till in a longer or shorter time, according to the amount +of warmth, light and food it can obtain, the complete frog appears. + +But woe betide the unfortunate tadpole which, first of the shoal, +attains to the dignity of possessing limbs, for so ferocious are the +later ones, and so jealous of their precocious little brother, that they +almost always fall upon him, and not content with killing, never rest +till every morsel of him is eaten. + +And unless several of the tadpoles assume their final change about the +same time, this proceeding is repeated till their numbers are very +considerably diminished, or, as sometimes happens, till only one +survivor is left, who, having helped to eat all his brethren, instead of +meeting with his deserts, is allowed to live on in peace, till some day, +in the course of his walks abroad, he, in his turn, is snapped up as a +delicate morsel by some hungry snake or water-fowl. + +[Illustration] + + + + + BE HONEST AND TRUE. + + By George Birdseye. + + + Be honest and true, boys! + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life. + Both now and forever, + Be this your endeavor, + When wrong with the right is at strife. + + The best and the truest, + Alas! are the fewest; + But be one of these if you can. + In duty ne'er fail; you + Will find 'twill avail you, + And bring its reward when a man. + + Don't think life plain sailing; + There's danger of failing, + Though bright seem the future to be; + But honor and labor, + And truth to your neighbor, + Will bear you safe over life's sea. + + Then up and be doing, + Right only pursuing, + And take your fair part in the strife. + Be honest and true, boys, + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life! + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 22._] + + IN SEARCH of HIMSELF. + + A Tale of Dangerous Adventure. + + BY GEORGE H. COOMER, + + Author Of "Arthur Summers," Etc. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +RALPH MAKES A FRIEND. + +Ralph had need of all his courage, as he realized what was before him. +In a low, swampy spot, close under a pile of rock and earth, that rose +out of it like a wall, was an animal such as he had never met with until +this moment, although he instinctively guessed what it mustbe. + +The creature appeared to be in a complete frenzy of rage. It was covered +with mud and water, and with furious motions was trampling down the +long, rank grass which grew about the place. + +"A wild boar!" uttered our young friend to himself, with his heart +leaping to his throat, as his glance took in the sharp back, the high +shoulders, and the immense tusks that curved from the jaws like +cimetars. + +He had seen pictures of such animals, but had never dreamed how +startling the reality wouldbe. + +The boar seemed to direct his fury against the ledge which formed the +boundary of the muddy and grassy place where he was raging about; and +looking a little above the savage brute, Ralph perceived a something +which appeared like a human form in some manner confined among the +rocks. He thought the body looked as if partially under a big stone that +held it down. + +Instantly the thought came to him: + +"It must be that a man has got caught there under a rock, which he has +pulled down upon himself in trying to clamberup." + +Just as this thought entered his mind, he saw the boar give a fearful +spring and fall back with what seemed a strip of clothing between his +jaws. + +The position of the imprisoned man must be awful, and there was not a +moment to lose. The next spring might be more successful. + +The fierce jaws clashed together with a startling sound, and the huge +head was shaken, as if the frenzy of the monster was increased by the +possession of that bit of rag. + +The prisoner gave another wild cry, and Ralph responded, with all the +strength of his lungs: + +"I'll help you! I'll help you!" + +He was too far off for a successful shot, but he hoped by firing to +attract the animal's attention from the man to himself, and then, in +case of need, he might retreat into some one of the trees among which he +was then standing. + +So, taking the best aim he could, he fired both barrels in quick +succession. But the boar, except by a furious toss of the head and a +single terrible "_Whoosh!_" paid not the slightest attention to him. + +Indeed, the efforts of the animal to reach the intended victim became, +if possible, more frantic than ever; and Ralph guessed that once, at +least, the tusks came in contact with some part of the poor captive's +body. + +"I can do nothing in this way," he said to himself. "The man will be +torn in pieces before my eyes. Imust make a bold move and take my +chance." + +Between himself and the scene of danger there was neither rock nor tree, +but only the shallow mud and water, and the rank grass. The venture +would be a desperate one, but nothing less would save the man from a +terrible death. + +[Illustration: +"RALPH'S LEGS WERE KNOCKED FROM UNDER HIM BY THE WEIGHT +OF THE HUGE BODY, SO THAT HE FELL AT FULL LENGTH IN THE MUD."] + +Ralph had about him shells containing charges of all descriptions, +from fine shot to bullets. Quickly throwing open his breech-loader, he +slipped a ball cartridge into one barrel and a heavy charge of buckshot +into the other. + +Then springing forward, he went splashing across the morass, with the +mud and water almost up to his knees. + +"I am no marksman," he thought, as he strode rapidly on, "and shall have +to get close to him to hit him; but if he should come at me, Ishall +have my second barrel, besides a plenty of shells." + +There was some reassurance in this thought, especially as he had two of +the spare shells in his hand, ready for use in case of need. + +At a distance of only six rods from the enraged animal, he stopped and +brought up his gun. + +The boar was not still for an instant, but rushing about in its efforts +to get up the rock. He had certainly struck the man, for there was blood +on the rock and on the savage tusks. This probably rendered him all the +more eager. + +"I'll try the buckshot first," thought Ralph, "for they'll scatter a +little, and some of them must hit him." + +He ranged between the two barrels, and pulled. "Bang!" sounded the +report. "Whoosh!" uttered the boar, stopping short in his efforts +against the rock, and turning his whole attention upon the intruder. +Doubtless he was hit, but perhaps not mortally. + +Ralph's gun was again at his face. "Bang!" This time the single ball was +sent, but through the smoke of the discharge he saw that the boar was +rushing upon him. + +An interval of six rods, and a wild hog, six feet long, bounding over it +with clashing jaws! How the breech-loader sprang open, and how the two +spare charges went into it! What if Ralph had not held them all ready in +his hand? + +"Bang! bang!" The boar's head was not three feet from the muzzle as the +second barrel was fired. The monster's impetus carried him on with a +plunge; and the young hero's legs were knocked from under him by the +weight of the huge body, so that he fell at full length in the mud. + +For an instant he believed himself lost, and while scrambling to his +feet he expected to feel the sweep of those sword-like tusks. + +But there was no longer any danger; the last discharge had done its work +to perfection, and with his knees bent under him, the boar lay just as +he had plowed into the mire, having not even rolled over. + +Picking up his gun, Ralph hurried to assist the person on the rock, whom +he had already seen to be a negro, and whom he now found to be held down +by a large stone, which lay upon his legs, he having doubtless pulled it +from a position above in his frantic efforts to escape from his pursuer. + +The confined black could not help himself; but Ralph succeeded, without +much difficulty, in relieving him from the heavy weight. + +The stone could not have slipped more than two or three feet, for the +negro was not much injured by it, although it had held him so firmly. +He had the marks of the animal's tusks on one of his legs; but the wound +was not a dangerous one. Ralph bound his handkerchief around it, and +felt very glad to find that the poor fellow was almost as good as new. + +Finding himself able to walk, and seeming to realize how much he owed to +his young rescuer, the stout negro grasped the boy's right hand in both +his own, and with tears glistening in his eyes, uttered a number of +rapid sentences, only a few words of which Ralph could understand, but +which were evidently the outpourings of gratitude. + +Still, there was in his manner an appearance of apprehension, as if he +feared that the lad might not be alone. He would glance furtively about, +like one who is expecting an enemy; and it was plain that he was +meditating a retreat. + +Back of the rocks there was dry, firm land; and in this direction he +looked, as if desirous of moving off. + +Ralph recalled the conversation which he had heard the day before about +the runaway slave. + +"This man may be Jumbo himself," he thought. "I'll try to make him +understandme." + +Then, looking kindly in the negro's face, he said, in Spanish: + +"I think you are Jumbo. I am only a boy, and I am all alone. You are +free; you can go where you will." + +And he pointed to the deep, free woods. + +Ralph had great difficulty in getting out this amount of Castilian; but +the negro, whose own command of that language seemed to be of the most +meagre description, comprehended his meaning. He took the spirit, if not +the words. + +A grateful expression came over his dark face, and again he clasped the +boy's hand, with the same flow of mingled African and Spanish upon his +tongue. + +Ralph bade him a kind good-by, and he walked away into the forest, +waving his sable hand with a gesture full of feeling as he disappeared. + +Our young sailor now proceeded to examine the animal he had killed. + +It is said that the timid man is afraid before the danger, the coward +during it, and the brave man after it. Ralph was afraid afterit. + +He felt a kind of weakness about the knees, and wondered that he had not +noticed it before. He remembered how the bristles had stood up on the +boar's back, how the savage jaws had clashed together, and how he had +seen the tusks standing out like long knives as the creature came +straight for him. + +Now how grim the monster looked as he lay in the mud and water, just +where he had dropped dead--not on his side, but with the legs doubled +under him, and the stout, hoggish ears sticking up like ears of corn. + +"The next thing is to find my pony," thought Ralph. "Let's see--which +way did I come? Here are my tracks. Imust have come out of that thicket +yonder." + +Then, looking about him, he saw another line of tracks, and, going to +examine it, perceived that it was where the boar had chased the black +man across the morass. Most of the negro's footprints were lost in those +of the hog. + +Almost at the moment in which Ralph reached his pony, he heard the +report of a gun at some distance, and guessed that Mr. Arthur was coming +in search of him. He answered the signal, and the planter, who had +become anxious for his safety, soon made his appearance. + +"I had begun to be really alarmed about you," said Mr. Arthur, "and +feared I should have to go back and summon assistance in the search. If +you had not heard my gun, Ishould have missed you, for I was just about +to turn in the opposite direction." + +"Oh, I am sorry I have given you all this trouble!" said Ralph. "It is +too bad. But you can't think what I have killed! Iam glad you have +come, so that I can show you." + +"Why, how wet and muddy you are!" said the planter, "and how your +clothes are torn! For heaven's sake! where have you been?" + +Ralph related his adventure, and told how the black man had gone into +the forest. + +"I would not have had you take such a risk for all I am worth!" said Mr. +Arthur. "What would your father say if he knew ofit?" + +"But the man couldn't get away, and the boar might have got at him +before I could have had a chance to bring any one else here," replied +Ralph. + +"Yes, I know; but it was a fearful risk. No doubt the man was the +runaway that I was speaking of to Mr. Osborne. At least, Ishould judge +so from your description. Osborne would have detained him, of course; +but I am not sorry that you made no such attempt. Ishould have been +tempted to let him go myself." + +It was a great relief to Ralph to find that Mr. Arthur took this view of +the matter--avery singular one, he thought, for the owner of five or +six hundred slaves; yet, from what he had seen of his kind friend, he +was not surprised atit. + +The planter was curious to visit the scene of the adventure, and, with +some difficulty, they made their way to the place. + +"Why, Ralph," he exclaimed, looking at the dead animal, and then at the +surroundings of the spot, "it is fearful! Had I known what you were +about, Ishould have given you up for lost. Not a tree within twenty +rods of you! Suppose you had failed to kill him? It frightens me to +think ofit!" + +Going to the ledge beyond, they saw where the negro had scrambled up +with muddy feet, and where the sharp hoofs of the boar had scratched +long lines on the rock. + +It was easy to see how the large, loose stone, which had prevented the +fugitive's escape, had slipped from its place as he tried to climb +overit. + +"Well, well," said Mr. Arthur, "you ought to have one good friend in the +forest, and I guess you have! Idon't think that poor fellow will ever +forget you." + +Ralph felt that this was pay enough, even though the friend was only a +poor negro, whom he might never see again. + +And now, leaving the huge game where it had fallen, he accompanied the +good planter back to the little village of huts, where Mrs. Arthur and +Camilla were awaiting them in some anxiety. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE. + +"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of +what had taken place. + +"I am thinking of his mother," said Mrs. Arthur, "and I am so +thankful--so thankful--that he is safe!" + +Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter. + +"You could have kept the negro, I suppose," he said, "as you had your +gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you +being a boy." + +"I didn't wish to _get him anywhere_," replied Ralph. "Iwished him to +go where he liked." + +"Of course; it wasn't your business to catch runaway negroes," said the +overseer, "and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been +there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?" + +"No, sir; I laid down my gun." + +"Suppose he had taken it up?" + +"I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he +knewit." + +"I wouldn't have trusted him," remarked the overseer. + +"I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn't think anything about it. +Iwanted to stop his leg from bleeding." + +"Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed himup?" + +"He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before he +could get away." + +"Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march for +his old quarters?" + +"I don't know how that was," said Ralph; "but the gun lay all the while +where he could have taken it up if he would." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how grateful +he appeared for what I had done. Ihope he has some good place to +stayin." + +"No danger," said the overseer; "he has a good enough place for this +climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. Ithink some of my +negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they +won't tell." + +"And do they never run away, too?" asked Ralph. + +"Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested by +the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and sometimes, +when they keep in their hiding-places, Itrack them out myself." + +"And do you whip them when you get them back?" + +"Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again." + +Somehow, Ralph did not like Mr. Osborne; for, besides that it was hard +to help associating him with the cruel office he occupied, there was a +something in him as an individual which repelled the boy's quick, +intuitive sympathies. Practically he might be better than most +overseers, but how could he be otherwise under a superior like Mr. +Arthur? + +Ralph had brought in the parrots and paroquets that he had shot, for he +had not forgotten them on remounting his pony, and he now took off their +skins in a very artistic manner, leaving the beautiful plumage almost +unruffled, much to the delight of Camilla, who thanked him for his +thoughtfulness of her. + +Upon the journey homeward, the two spotted ponies, keeping close +together, galloped, trotted or walked, according to the fancies of their +riders or the variations of the road, while the horses of the older +people jogged more steadily. + +"I wonder," said Camilla, "if Jumbo will not often think of you? Iknow +he will, though--he cannot helpit." + +"I hope he will," said Ralph; "and I hope, too, that he will not suffer. +Your father does not seem at all anxious to get him back." + +"Oh, no! papa does not care for his running away. He says that if the +revolution should succeed, the new government would free all the slaves, +and he is willing that this should be done. Somehow, he is a slaveholder +against his will." + +"Do you like Mr. Osborne?" asked Ralph. + +"Not very well. Papa has a high opinion of him as an overseer, but I do +think that even papa himself is not quite satisfied with all that was +done while we were away in the United States." + +"The revolutionists appear to ruin a great many sugar plantations," said +Ralph. "Do you ever feel afraid of being molested?" + +"Yes, mamma and I do, because they sometimes come very near us; but papa +says he does not think there is any danger. They know what his +sentiments are; besides, he is an _Americano_, and they have a great +respect for _los Americanos_." + +"And isn't he afraid, then, of the Spanish government?" + +"No; he takes no active part on either side; only his feelings are with +the liberal party. Ithink papa is not much of a politician." + +"I know how he feels," said Ralph; "he is good and kind, and wants +everybody to be free. He is one of the best men I ever saw." + +"He really is!" exclaimed Camilla, enthusiastically. "He is just as good +as any one _can_ be. And," she added, with childlike earnestness, "he +likes you ever so much, too." + +Ralph was perfectly happy upon this ride; and when the party reached +home, it was to be greeted by the unaffected welcome of the negroes, +old and young, who were evidently much attached to their master and his +household. The parrots chattered, and the song-birds sang, while the +odor of the orange blossoms was well in keeping with the rest. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A NEW PROPOSITION. + +Next day the planter and his young guest visited the city, and returned +with Captain Weston. He was thrilled by the story of Ralph's encounter +with the wild boar. It shocked him to think how narrowly a dreadful +calamity had been escaped, and he all the while attending to his +ordinary duties, in ignorance of the danger. + +"Captain," said Mr. Arthur, as they sat conversing together after +reaching the plantation, "Ihave a proposition to make. Why not let +Ralph remain with me till your return from Philadelphia? Imay take a +journey or two about the island within the next few weeks, upon +business, and probably he would enjoy going with me. It would give him +an opportunity to see more of Cuba than he is likely to see in any other +way." + +"I don't know what his mother would say," replied the captain. "She +expects me to bring him home, and I am afraid she would be troubled +about it. Besides, Ilike to have him with me, though I know you would +take every care of him." + +"I understand your feelings," said the planter; "but my wife is about +writing to Mrs. Weston concerning the debt of gratitude we owe him; and +should you consent to his remaining, Ithink her letter will place the +matter in such a light as to remove any objection on his mother's part." + +Mrs. Arthur seconded her husband very earnestly. + +"You cannot think how much we would enjoy having him here," she said. +"He has such a kind, lovable nature, and is so bright and active. Ido +hope it may be arranged that he may stay." + +Captain Weston revolved the matter seriously, and concluded at length +that it should be left to Ralph's decision. What that decision would be +he could have had very little doubt, as he glanced toward the boy and +girl who were at that moment enjoying a swing under an orange tree of +unusual size, the vibrations of the rope occasionally bringing down some +of the golden fruit. + +Ralph was in ecstasies at the proposition, and Camilla's bright face +lighted up with a pleasure that she did not try to conceal. + +"Oh, how nice it will be!" she said. "I am so glad you are to remain." + +A soft flush leaped to her cheeks as she spoke, and her beautiful eyes +expressed an artlessness that was very bewitching. + +So it was settled that Ralph should remain in Cuba during the two months +which would probably elapse before the return of the Cristoval Colon to +Santiago. His mother (for he could not have endured to think of Mrs. +Weston in any other light) would be comforted by the knowledge that he +was in such good hands. And then how much he would have to tell her when +he should go home! + +Captain Weston was greatly pleased with the plantation and its +management. He had seen much of Cuba, but never anything of this kind +which appeared so satisfactory. He walked and rode with the planter, +smoked his cigar with him, and admired his kind treatment of his slaves. + +After a tarry of two days, he returned to the city, accompanied by the +planter and Ralph. + +As the latter mounted the side of the Cristoval Colon, he met a merry +welcome from the tars, some of whom threw out sly innuendoes in their +sailor style about pearls and pearl-divers, but he did not permit their +harmless jokes to annoy him. + +After a pleasant visit, Mr. Arthur returned to the plantation; but Ralph +did not accompany him, as he desired to remain some days with his father +during the vessel's brief stay in port. + +He was not a boy who was afraid of work, and now, putting on his +everyday rig, he applied himself with a light heart to the duties of the +ship, lying stoutly back upon the slack of the tackle, while the sailors +hoisted the heavy articles of the cargo, or running aloft to loose the +sails for drying after the drenching night dews, and assisting to furl +them at evening. + +"That boy is smart," old Jack Evans would say to his shipmates. "He is +the best fellow for a captain's son I ever fell in with; he is always +looking for something todo." + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +OLD JACK SEES A REMEMBERED FACE. + +One evening, when Ralph went into the forecastle, he found Jack alone +there. The old sailor had just been overhauling his sea-chest, and had +in his hand the baby's shoe which he had so long carried for good luck. + +"I was just looking at it," he said, "because to-day I came across the +father of that identical baby. Ihadn't seen him for about sixteen +years, but I knew him in a minute. He was puffing his cigar, just as he +used to do about the decks of the Moro Castle." + +"What!" exclaimed Ralph, "the very man? Oh, how I wish I had been with +you! Who is he, and where does he live?" + +"That I don't know," replied Jack. "Of course, he didn't know me, and I +hadn't a very good chance to introduce myself. He was jabbering with a +lot of other Spaniards on a corner, with his _caramba_ and his _como +esta usted_, so that I didn't feel like going up to him with a yarn +about a baby's shoe. Which way he went I don't know, for I had to get +back to the ship." + +"When was it?" asked Ralph, with great earnestness. + +"It was while I was ashore this noon." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" said the boy. "Iwould have gone right ashore. +But, no--Icouldn't have found him without you. Dear me! Iwish I could +have been with you." + +"Why, my lad, it's of no consequence," said Jack. "You seem to think +more of it than Ido." + +"But I want to see him," replied Ralph. "Iwonder if he is about here +every day?" + +"Likely enough," said Jack. "But I didn't think you cared anything about +the matter." + +"Well, I'm thinking of that baby's shoe," answered Ralph. "It seems so +queer--the way you got it, and the way you have keptit." + +"I know that's odd," said Jack. "I suppose my keeping it is all +nonsense." + +"No, it isn't," said Ralph. "I don't think it is, I'm sure." + +"You believe a little in old shoes, then?" + +"I believe in _that_ shoe, Jack. I mean to go ashore with you, and have +a good look for that man." + +"But we shouldn't stand much chance of finding him," replied Jack. "I've +been here in Santiago a number of times, but this is the first time I +have run across him here." + +Ralph looked anxious and excited; but he saw that Jack felt somewhat +surprised at the interest he took in the matter, and so restrained +himself. + +"After all," he thought, "it may have nothing to do with _me_. Just a +baby on its passage to the United States. But, then, it was going to +Philadelphia, and it was a boy baby; and I must have been a baby at the +same time. Iwonder what Jack would say if he knew what I am +thinkingof?" + +It would be strange, he thought, if he were really to get track of +himself in such a way--the first of the tracks being made by that tiny +shoe in Jack's chest. And then he reflected how improbable it seemed, +when there were so many babies in the world, that he should have been +_that_ baby. + +"I almost hope the thing will never come to light," he said to himself. +"Perhaps it is better not to know." + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +IN A MENAGERIE. + + +There is a distinct individuality among tigers, as among ourselves, some +being gentle and tolerably tractable, while others are fierce, morose, +and not to be trusted. + +In Mr. G. Sanger's menagerie, at Margate, England, there are two +tigresses which are of exactly opposite characters. Both go by the name +of "Bessy," there being an extraordinary lack of originality in the +nomenclature of animals. + +The difference may be partly owing to the accident of birth, one having +been captured while young, and the other born in a menagerie. + +One might naturally imagine that the latter would be the better tempered +of the two, she never having known the freedom of savage life. But, in +accordance with the invariable rule, the "forest-bred" animal is the +tamer, those which have been born in captivity being always uncertain in +their ways, and not to be trusted. + +Now, "Bessy the First" is forest bred. The head keeper, Walter +Stratford, has the most perfect confidence in her, and can take any +liberties with her. + +After I had paid several visits to the menagerie, Ithought that she +began to recognize me, and therefore cultivated her acquaintance. Now, +as soon as I enter the house, Bessy tries to attract my attention, +expects to be patted and stroked, her ears to be pulled, and her nose +rubbed, just as a pet cat woulddo. + +One day I had an unexpected experience with her. Nearly the whole of the +end of the room is occupied by a huge cage, in which Stratford delights +in putting all sorts of incongruous animals. + +There are several varieties of monkeys, aporcupine, agoat, some +rabbits and guinea-pigs, afew geese and ducks, four cats, +acoati-mondi, two raccoons, ajackal, alittle white Pomeranian dog +named Rose, two pigs, and other animals. + +Thinking that the goat would like some fresh grass, Iwent to the lawn, +gathered a large handful, and brought it to the goat. + +Not a blade of that grass did she get. I had hardly held the grass to +the bars when Rose flew at it, drove the goat away, and literally tore +the grass out of my hands. Three times did I fetch grass before the goat +was allowed to eat a blade of it. Ever since that time I have always +furnished myself with a good supply of grass before visiting these +animals. + +On one occasion I stopped as usual at Bessie's cage, and noticed that +she stared fixedly at the grass. So I said, jokingly: + +"Why, Bessy, you cannot want grass. However, here it is if you wantit." + +So I put my hand into the cage, and was much surprised by seeing her +gently scrape the grass out of my hand with her huge paw. Then she lay +down, gathered the grass between her paws, and licked up every particle +ofit. + +When she had finished it, she looked appealingly in my face as if asking +for another supply; so I brought a fresh handful, the whole of which she +took in the same dainty way. + +Meanwhile Rose was performing the most extraordinary antics at the end +of the room. She had seen me bring in the grass, and naturally imagined +that it was intended for her. What with disappointment, and what with +jealousy, she was simply frantic, barking, yelping, jumping up and down, +scratching at the bars of the cage, and expressing her outraged feelings +in the most ludicrous fashion. Now I always give Bessy her allowance of +grass first, and then take another portion to Rose and the goat. + +It is a rather remarkable fact that the carnivora are much more eager +for the grass than are the deer, camels, antelopes and other vegetable +feeders. + +As to "Bessy the First," she is so fond of Stratford, and places such +reliance on him, that when she has cubs she will allow him to enter the +cage, take away the cubs and hand them about among the visitors. In +fact, she is quite pleased to see that her offspring attract so much +attention. + +Very different is "Bessy the second." She never had a very good temper, +but was not considered to be a very dangerous animal, until an event +occurred which completely altered, or, at all events, had an evil +influence upon her character. + +Nearly two years ago, three young lion cubs were in the next cage to +hers. One day she seemed to be seized with a sudden frenzy, smashed the +partition between the cages, flew at the cubs, and killed two of them in +a moment. + +The whole attack was so quick and unexpected that Stratford had only +just time to save the life of the third cub. Since that time she has +been carefully watched, for when once a lion or a tiger has broken +through a cage it is apt to repeat the operation. + +"Bessy the Second" is restless, morose and suspicious, and if any of the +animals make a sudden movement, she starts up, stares at them through +the bars, and often sets up a series of roars, which have the effect of +causing every lion and tiger in the place to roar for sympathy, so that +the noise is deafening. + + + + +STORIES OF DUMB CREATURES. + + +--Says a naturalist: "We came to a large piece of timber, and while +passing through it, Ihad my first experience with the honey-bird of +South Africa. This curious little bird is, in size and plumage, about +like an English sparrow, and gets his name from the fact that the little +fellow, who is very fond of honey, being unable to obtain it for +himself, will lead men to the places where the wild bees have hidden +their stores of rich, wild honey. Whenever this bird sees a man, he will +fly close to him, hovering around, uttering a twittering sound; then he +will go off in the direction of the place (generally a tree) where the +honey is, flying backward and forward in a zigzag fashion. Then back he +will come, twittering in the same manner, as if to say, 'Come along: +I'll show you where it is.' These actions are repeated until the tree is +reached, when the bird will indicate it very plainly by flying to it and +hovering around it. If the distance is great (and sometimes the +honey-bird will lead a person who is willing to follow a distance of ten +miles); he will wait on a tree until the follower comes up, and will +then continue his business of piloting. He is very persistent, and will +do his best to draw any one on; but if the party is not posted about +honey-birds, and refuses to follow, or goes in the wrong direction, the +bird will leave, probably in search of some person who will appreciate +his efforts to provide him with sweetmeats. While the bees are being +smoked out, and the honey taken up, the bird will hover in the vicinity +until the job is done, when of course his reward comes in the shape of a +feast on the fragments that are left. If he knows of other hives, just +as soon as one is disposed of he will lead the way to another, and I +have, since this time, known as many as four trees taken up by a party +in one day. When the honey-bird has shown one tree, if the hunters are +satisfied with that, and refuse to follow him further, he leaves them; +but I have never heard of an instance in which the bird misled any one +in regard to finding honey. It frequently happens, however, that a +honey-bird will lead a person into very dangerous places, and unless the +hunter keeps his eyes about him when following this bird, he may run +right into a lion, avenomous snake, or some other equally undesirable +acquaintance." + +--A correspondent of a New Orleans paper writes: "Dick was only a big +toad. The boys found him beside the road one day last summer when the +June roses were in bloom, and triumphantly deposited him in one of the +flower-beds, 'to eat the bugs and things off'n the pinks and pansies and +rosemary; and, besides, you know, mamma, the other boys will throw +stones at him.' That settled it, and Dick (as they gravely informed me +they had named him) was left to enjoy his flowery home. Occasionally, +when cutting flowers, Inoticed the exceeding tameness of the little +creature, and was often assured by the boys, 'Our Dick is the very best +toad in town.' However, Inoticed nothing uncommon until two or three +weeks after they had brought him home, when I was attracted by their +peals of laughter, and presently heard them calling, 'Dick, Dick! come, +Dick!' Islipped out and peeped around the corner of the house, and +beheld a most comical sight--one of the boys down on his knees, holding +out his hands and calling to the toad, which was gravely hopping toward +him, making a peculiar little noise, until he reached the outstretched +hand, into which he hopped and sat contentedly blinking his bright, +bulging eyes. After this I noticed the strange pet more closely, and +found he would always come promptly when his name was called, and seemed +very grateful when presented with a worm or bug. He would come at any +kindly call, but showed greatest preference for eight-year-old, +mischievous Teddy, into whose hand he would always hop, and whom he +would hop around after as long as he would walk around the flower-bed +where Dick made his home, but never beyond its limits. And such pansies, +pinks and other sweet posies I had there!--no cut stem or bitten leaves. +Dick ate all the floral enemies up that ventured there. When the cold +days of autumn came upon us, he left us, and we have seen him no more. +What is the moral of this? Nothing--only that kindness and mercy shown +to even so humble a creature as a toad will bring pleasures and a sure +recompense." + +--Writing from Tecumseh, Mich., a correspondent sends this: "Afew years +ago our house was infested with a large number of rats, which had taken +up their abode in a recess of the cellar that had formerly been used as +a landing-place for a dumb-waiter, but was now filled with odds and ends +of every description. We had endeavored to rid ourselves of these pests, +but all our attempts were in vain, and they held their daily matinees as +usual. On hearing more of a commotion than common, one afternoon, +Isoftly opened the cellar door, and, to my amazement, saw nine rats, +one of which had mounted a box containing potatoes, while the others +were stretched out in a line leading to their den--the recess before +mentioned. Now comes the most curious part of my story: The rat that +stood on the box of potatoes would push a potato over the edge, then the +rat in line nearest the box would roll the potato to his neighbor, and +so on with each one till the potato was safely stowed away. Iwatched +them for some time, and, seeing the potatoes disappearing rather +rapidly, Idispersed the earnest workers by a stamp of my foot." + + + + +PUZZLEDOM. + +NO. CCCLXXVII. + + +Original contributions solicited from _all_. Puzzles containing obsolete +words will be received. Write contributions on one side of the paper, +and apart from all communications. Address "Puzzle Editor," GOLDEN DAYS, +Philadelphia,Pa. + + +ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLES. + + + No. 1. Calendar. + + No. 2. B E S T O W + E P A U L E + S A C R E D + T U R B I D + O L E I N E + W E D D E D + + No. 3. Wise-acre. + + No. 4. C A L A B O O S E + A N I M A B L E + L I M E R O D + A M E N D E + B A R D S + O B O E + O L D + S E + E + + No. 5. Mark Tapley. + + No. 6. M O C H E S + O T I O S E + C I C U T A + H O U D A H + E S T A T E + S E A H E N + + No. 7. Good-humored. + + No. 8. F A I R S + A B N E T S + I N T A I L S + R E A L L I E D + S T I L E T T O S + S L I T H E R + S E T E E + D O R + S + + No. 9. Byrnehc, Pygmalion, Traddles. + + No. 10. G R A T I S + R E V E S T + A V E N E R + T E N U R E + I S E R I N + S T R E N E + + No. 11. Cover-shame. + + No. 12. + + H U M E C T A T I O N + P O L I A N I T E + B A T T E N S + S E T A E + D O R + O + + +NEW PUZZLES. + + +NO. 1. NUMERICAL. + + When trees and fields _complete_ + Their garbs of green; + When birds and flowers sweet + Again are seen, + And airy zephyrs murmur by, + My 5, 4, 3 and 6 soars high. + + Oh! how I'm in a state + Of agitation, + 6, 1 and 2 I get + An inspiration. + 'Twill be in vain--in vain my lay, + For spring will then have flown away. + +_Villanova, Pa._ VILLANOVA. + + +NO. 2. SQUARE. + +1. The young of the great black-backed gull. 2. To come. 3.Carves. +4.Granters. 5.To entirely destroy (_Obs._) 6.To grow smaller. + + _Rochester, N.Y._ EGERTON. + + +NO. 3. CHARADE. + + _Prime_ not, ye fair ladies, or gentlemen wise. + To disbelieve what for your fortune will prove; + _Next total_, not gold, should select as a prize, + _Three_, friends, to the right, and marry for love. + + _Danville, Va._ ALEDA. + + +NO. 4. PENTAGON. + +1. A letter. 2. The pulp of fruit. 3. A shrub of the genus _Corylus_. +4.The Brazil nut. 5.Deep blue colors. 6.Contrite. 7.A detached +bastion (_Fort._) 8.To admit extension. 9.Rigid. + + _Haverhill, Mass._ PYGMY. + + +NO. 5. MUTATION. + + Like a hawk that pounces on its prey, + Swift as lightning on a summer day, + Through the stillness of the air you came, + Without life, and more--without a name. + Man has called you _whole_--perhaps you are + Dross ejected from some brilliant star! + But methinks the spheres their place will yield + ERE TO TIME your mystery is revealed. + + _Newark, N.J._ DEMOSTHENES. + + +NO. 6. SQUARE. + +1. Gaps. 2. By reason of this. 3. A fleet of vessels. 4.A sort of +flying fish. 5.A title addressed to a lady. 6.The principal gold coin +of ancient Greece. + + _East Brady, Pa._ ST. ELMO. + + +NO. 7. CHARADE. + + Come here, my _second_--lose no time; + _First_ lively, don't procrastinate; + Although, my _all_, I'll spare no pains + To render you less obdurate. + + My _all_! Yet truly as a _last_ + I've learned to look upon my boy: + Most true it is, 'tis but a _one_ + From sad distrust to life of joy! + + _First_ dame, indeed, I would not be + Held in my _second's_ inmost thought; + Transmuted by love's magic power, + My _all_ my _last_ is, without doubt. + + _Woburn, Mass._ GLEN COTTAGE. + + +NO. 8. HALF SQUARE. + +1. Concise. 2. Birds resembling thrushes. 3.A poisonous substance +composed of minute fungi. 4.Forms. 5.Kinds of liquor. 6.An iron chain +(_Obs._) 7.Exists. 8.A letter. + + _Boston, Mass._ PI ETA. + + +NO. 9. NUMERICAL. + + The _whole_ is a thing that drives away harm, + Defined by dear Webster as "a charm;" + My 5, 6, 2, 3, 3 is by the same called "not much;" + My 6, 7, 8, a "vassal," "subject," "person," or such: + My 5, 2, 3, 1 is "taste," "savor," or "a sailor;" + My 1, 2, 4, 3 of a coat is oft shortened by a tailor. + + Now I think you have all you require to solve this numerical; + If not, I will tell you the _whole_ relates to nothing clerical. + + _N.Y. city._ ATELLO. + + +NO. 10. SQUARE. + +1. Barley-water. 2. A small particle. 3. A fine white powder or earth, +without taste or smell. 4.A paved way. 5.To convey or transfer. +6.Tidier. + + _Chicago, Ill._ U. REKA. + + +NO. 11. ANAGRAM. + +TOM, THESE MEN CRITICISE COMMON RATES. + + The law's strong arm and stern decree + Are turned against monopoly; + Justice and equal rights for all + Be ours though the heavens fall! + + _Hazleton, Pa._ P. O. STAGE. + + +NO. 12. INVERTED PYRAMID. + +_Across_: 1. The process of analysis by means of standard solutions +(_Analyt. Chem._) 2.Little tufts. 3.Species of walls made of stiff +clay. 4.To steal (_Obs._) 5.A letter. + +_Down_: 1. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3.To surpass. 4.To impair +seriously. 5.A case in which the relics of saints were kept. 6.To +produce. 7.A pronoun. 8.A bone. 9.A letter. + + _Hoboken, N.J._ JUNIUS. + + +Answers will appear in our next issue; solvers in six weeks. + + +SPECIAL.--GOLDEN DAYS Puzzlers' Directory for each of the first correct +solutions to Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and11. + + +SOLVERS. + +Puzzles in "PUZZLEDOM" No. CCCLXXI were correctly solved by E. C. +Lectic, Maud Lynn, Demosthenes, Barnyard, Skye Buckeye, Gemini, Egerton, +H. S. Nut, Jr., Will O' the Wisp, F. Aitchell, Col. O' Rado, Dorothy +Doolittle, Grepwic, Cricket, P. O. Stage, Sub Rosa, Fairplay, Alcyo, +Tunie H. S., R. M'Bride, Jo Jo, Khimo, Lorrac, Billy Bluebottle, May Le +Hosmer, O. Pal, Vladimir, F. Arce, Nue Norton, J. H. Mowbray, U. Reka, +Sim Sly, Clarence W. Chapin, Reklaw, Io, Tom B. Stone, Toodlewinks, Jo +Ram, Craftsman, Fly, Alpheus, Chinook, Puzz L., Teddy, Wm. H. Deucker, +Annie Gramme, W. T. Anderson, C. R. Irving, Jr., Bennie Knowels, Monte +Christo, V. G. Ohnja, H. U. T., Alphonzo, B. L. Under, Bryx, J. I. C., +Harry S., Jno. Bopp, Cale and Harry Allen, J. Evans, Alpha Sigma, +Liberty, Brooklyn Boy, Jno. Beck, Howard H. Geiger, Earnest Fleet, +Washingtonian, Annie A. Powell, Dick Ens, C. H. Sweetzer, Panama Derby, +Orpheus, Jno. Fitzgerald, Henn, Reidsville, Mahdea, A. B. Y. Nomis, +H.C. Williams, Mas Ten, Panama Hat, Tidal Wave, Primrose, Geo. W. +Phinney, J. F. Ireland, Laf A. Yette, Freddie Geib, R. O. Chester, A.B. +Williams, Lucrezius Borgers, Lackawanna, Laeno, Whisk, Effie W.McConkey, +C. B. A., Puer and Swamp Angel. + +COMPLETE LIST.--E. C. Lectic. + +The specials were awarded as follows: + + No. 1. Cricket, La Porte, Ind. + No. 3. Clarence W. Chapin, Akron. Ohio. + No. 5. E. C. Lectic. Chicago, Ill. + No. 7. Alcyo, New York city. + No. 9. Jo Ram, New York city. + No. 11. E. C. Lectic, Chicago, Ill. + + * * * * * + +*Golden Days* + +ISSUED WEEKLY + +Our Subscription Price. + +Subscriptions to "GOLDEN DAYS," $3.00 per annum, $1.50 per six months, +$1.00 per four months, all payable in advance. + +Single numbers, six cents each. We pay postage on all United States and +Canada subscriptions. + + +TO THOSE WHO DESIRE TO GET UP CLUBS. + +If you wish to get up a club for "GOLDEN DAYS," send us your name, and +we will forward you, _free of charge_, anumber of specimen copies of +the paper, so that, with them, you can give your neighborhood a good +canvassing. + + +OUR CLUB RATES. + +For $5 we will send two copies for one year to one address, or each copy +to a separate address. + +For $10 we will send four copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address. + +For $20 we will send eight copies to one address, or each copy to +separate addresses. + +The party who sends us $20 for a club of eight copies (all sent at one +time) will be entitled to a copy for one year FREE. + +Getters-up of clubs of eight copies can afterward add single copies at +$2.50 each. + +Money should be sent to us either by Post Office Order or Registered +Letter, so as to provide as far as possible against its loss by mail. + +All communications, business or otherwise, must be addressedto + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + * * * * * + + [->] _A new Serial Story, entitled_ + + Three Young Silver Kings! + + BY OLIVER OPTIC, + + Will Begin Next Week. + + * * * * * + +NATURE'S SCULPTURE. + +BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE. + + +Perhaps the strangest public work ever suggested by man was that of +Dinocrates, whose scheme was to cut and carve Mount Athos into the form +of a gigantic man, holding in one hand a town, in the other a cup to +receive the drainage of the mountain before it reached the sea. + +His king, Alexander the Great, declined to accept his plan; though, +amused at his extravagant notion, he gave him a permanent place in his +attendance. + +A small village in Northern Italy to a wonderful extent fulfills the +wild dream of the Macedonian architect, the houses being grouped in such +a manner upon a broken eminence of land that from a certain point a +striking resemblance to an upturned human face is outlined. In addition +to a chin, nose and brow, awhite chimney lends an eye to the profile, +while a line of bushes at the crown has the appearance of shaggy locks. + +Allowing that a vivid imagination has much to do toward perfecting these +faces of nature's sculpture, and that a range of hills or coast line +will lend itself to almost any fancy we choose, there are in different +localities stones and cliffs bearing a remarkable resemblance to the +human countenance, individual peculiarity sometimes being easily traced +in these grave omens. + +As the voyager approaches Rio Janeiro, he sees in the distance, +apparently rising from the sea, lonely and majestic, amassive stone +head, with the profile of the Iron Duke of England, the brow, the nose, +the chin, each feature perfect in its outline. + +St. Vincent, of the Cape Verde group, has a huge volcanic rock which +requires no grievous strain of the imagination to transform into the +figure of George Washington in a recumbent position, the profile, the +hair and even the collar frill being reproduced with remarkable +clearness. + +Rising grimly from the whirlpool of waters beating fiercely the rugged +western extremity of Santa Catalina Island, in the West Indies, is an +isolated block of basaltic rock, many feet in height, bearing a marked +likeness of a human face. It is known as "Morgan's Head," from a fancied +resemblance to that noted free-booter. + +Among the countless rocks fringing the coast of Norway is one forming a +striking picture of a horse and rider about to plunge into the surf, +fifteen hundred feet below. This gigantic illusion, to the fanciful +minds of the old bards presented the image of Odin as he disappeared +before the advance of Christianity. + +In Iceland, overlooking one of its picturesque valleys, is a bluff +surmounted by a colossal head, covered by a stunted growth looking not +unlike a cap with frills. Before this august image the worshipers of +Odin were wont to bow in serious reverence. + +The rugged coast of England has several of these faces of nature. Off +the Cornish point are seen the Great Lions, and lower down the shore the +Armed Knight. There is also the Old Man, the Old Dame, Duke's Nose and +Witch's Head. + +Not the least remarkable of these freaks is the Old Man of the Mountain, +who uprears his gigantic form amid a sea of cliffs and rugged heights, +in the heart of that region known as the "Switzerland of America"--New +Hampshire. + + "What doth thy anxious gaze espy? + An abrupt crag hung from the mountain's brow! + Look closer; scan that bare, sharp cliff on high; + Aha! the wondrous shape bursts on thee now-- + _A perfect human face_--neck, chin, mouth, nose and brow!" + +A face of granite that alone kept watch and ward over the country long +ere the foot of man pressed its soil. In the grave, philosophical +outlines is traced a resemblance to Franklin's countenance. At the base +of this singular mountain lies a sparkling sheet of water, called the +"Old Man's Mirror." + +More beautiful and wonderful than any of these grave images is the Maid +of the Kaaterskill Falls, in the Catskill Mountains. With the mellow +light of sunset falling obliquely upon the thin layer of water flowing +over a sharp ledge worn and fretted by the continual wear of the current +for ages, rock and spray together making up the illusion, is to be seen +the fairy-like form of an Indian maid, with flowing hair and robes. So +clearly does she appear that the beholder has at first the startling +conception of gazing upon a living being, suspended in the waters. + +Indian tradition says that this maid of the mist was once the beloved of +the Great Spirit; but herself falling in love with a Mohawk brave, she +perished here, fleeing from her angry master. + + + + +MONUMENT PARK. + + +The formations from which this takes its name are among the greatest +curiosities to be seen in Colorado. Pen cannot well describe them. They +consist of a series of curiously shaped natural monuments, which have +been formed from sandstone rock solely by the action of the weather, +athin strata of iron on the top having protected these particular +pieces and preserved them. + +No accurate estimate can be made of the thousands of years this work of +the elements has been in progress. There are perhaps a hundred of the +peculiar formations of different sizes and shapes, some of which are +really fantastic. + +The Garden of the Gods is also a remarkable freak of Nature, partaking +somewhat more of the grand and imposing. + +It is a secluded spot, hemmed in by great rocks stood up on edge and on +end. They are some of the more marked of the numerous evidences on every +hand here of a grand upheaval some time in the past. + +Imagine tremendous flat rocks, large enough to cover a quarter of an +acre of ground, standing up on edge, 330 feet high, and you will have +some idea of what forms the chief wonder of this garden. + + G. B. G. + + + + +BACKLOGS MADE OF STONE. + + +It will surprise many persons of the present day to be told that the +"backlog" of which we read so much in old-time stories was a large +stone, aporous stone being preferred if possible. This stone was buried +in the ashes, and on top was placed the "back stick." The back stone in +those primitive times played a very important part in the economy of +early housekeeping. Matches were not then invented. Flint, steel and tow +were the only means of lighting a fire or a lamp. Imagine for a moment +the Bridget of to-day thus engaged, with the thermometer ten degrees +below zero in the kitchen. The stone, together with the ashes with which +it was covered, served to retain fire and heat through the night, and +all that was necessary in the morning was a little kindling and gentle +use of the indispensable bellows, and a fire was as readily made as at +the present day. + + + + +[Illustration] + +MAMIE'S LETTER TO HEAVEN. + +BY J. W. WATSON, AUTHOR OF "BEAUTIFUL SNOW." + + + An humble room in a tenement house, + Four stories above the street, + Where a scanty fire, a scanty light, + And a scanty larder meet; + A woman sits at her daily toil, + Plying the needle and thread; + Her face is pallid with want and care, + And her hand as heavy as lead. + + There she sits with her weary thought, + While the tears drop full and fast; + There she sits and stitches away, + With her memory in the past; + Beside her, perched on her little stool, + Sits Mamie, a six-year-old, + Who says she is never hungry at all, + And never admits she is cold. + + There she sits and chatters away, + Not seeing her mother's tears; + "Mamma, 'tis a month since winter came, + And I think to me it appears + That the Lord will never find us out, + If He's anything to give, + Unless we can, some way, let Him know + The street and the number we live. + + "You see, mamma, last winter He passed, + While papa was sick in bed; + He doesn't know we are here, mamma, + And He doesn't know papa is dead; + And so it happened all winter long + We didn't have anything nice, + And so I think it would only be fair + If He came this winter twice. + + "Do you 'member, mamma, that little, old man + Who gave me the bright, new cent? + Well, it wouldn't buy much to eat, mamma, + And it would not pay for the rent; + So I bought a sheet of paper, mamma, + And I've written a letter in print-- + It's written to heaven direct, mamma, + And I've given Him just a hint. + + "Shall I read it aloud to you, mamma? + Yes! Well, this is what I have said: + 'Dear Lord, my name is Mamie St. Clair, + And dear, darling papa is dead; + I live forty-four in the street they call Fourth, + And the cold of the winter is here; + My mamma is poor, and I go to school, + And I hope you will send this year. + + "'I hope you will send mamma a new dress + Of something that's warm and nice, + A paper of flour, some loaves of bread, + And a couple of pounds of rice; + And dear, loving Lord, do, if you feel rich, + You could send her some shoes to wear, + And two or three pounds of beef for soup, + Or anything else you can spare. + + "'I've heard my dear mamma say many a time + That a chicken would do her much good, + And so, dear Lord, if chickens is cheap, + A chicken also, if you could; + With three pails of coal, if it isn't too much, + And some stuff for mamma's lame knee, + And oh, my dear Lord, pray don't think me mean, + But a dear little dolly for me.' + + "That's all, my dear mamma, and now let me run + And send it to heaven at once, + For if He don't get it by Christmas time, + He surely will think me a dunce." + The letter was posted, the letter was scanned, + With numberless grins by the men + Whose duty it was to assort all the waifs + That came from the wonderful pen. + + "Now where's the dear Lord?" said one of these men; + "That's me," said another, quite grave. + "Here's a letter, then!"--tossing the missive to him, + "And a twopenny stamp you will save." + The letter was opened, the letter was read, + There were very few tearless eyes; + The reader looked round on the silent group, + And then, with a nod, he cries: + + "Now, boys, there is something in this that I like-- + It's nature right straight up to win, + And we've all of us got to be lords right here-- + So here is my dot to begin." + The dollars flew down on the table like snow, + They came from the crowd's great heart, + A letter was written by proxy and signed, + The proposer to play the part. + + And so it came off upon one winter night + That there happened this strange affair; + A tapping came soft at Mamie's door, + And a very old man stood there; + He was clad from his head to his feet so warm, + And his beard it was long and white. + "Good-even!" he said, as he pushed in a box + Then vanished quite out of their sight. + + They were speechless, and only could stare at the box + Directed to Mamie St. Clair, + From "The Lord in Heaven." What did it all mean? + And a letter beside was there-- + A letter from heaven read: "Be a good girl, + And never do anything ill; + Love mamma as well as you do to-day." + And a fifty-dollar bill. + + If I wrote from now till the crack of doom, + I could tell no more than this. + It was all packed down in that wonderful box, + And the dolly--oh, gracious! what bliss! + And in time that letter to heaven direct + Sent many and many a friend, + And perhaps a new papa--who knows?--may be sent + By heaven itself, in the end. + + + + + Striking out for Themselves. + + BY F. H. SWEET. + + +"Reckon we'll get 'em burned out by Tuesday week, Tom, and be ready for +Pylant's oranges. Suppose the old fellow will want us to take pay in +town lots, though." + +"He'll get left if he does;" and the lad by the fire removed the skillet +of fried bacon from the coals and put the coffee-pot in its place. "I'm +willing to work out a five-acre lot, but don't want any towns. Say, +Dave, what do you think of the party going to Punta Rassa?" he added, as +he thrust a stick into the bean-pot to see what prospect there was for +an early supper. + +"Well, from what I hear, I fancy there is plenty of good land to be +homesteaded in that section, and if we didn't have a good job here, I'd +be for joining them. Ibegin to feel a little anxious to have some land +where we can be starting trees of our own." + +"Same here; but the land will come in good time, and while we've got a +week's rations of bacon and hominy ahead, Ishan't kick against luck. +But grub's ready." + +Both lads fell to with a relish. Beans seemed to be the central dish at +almost every meal, and yet they somehow never seemed to tire of them. + +They had encountered a good many hard knocks since leaving their Western +home, but were evidently none the worse for them. + +Dave Freeman, the son of a hard-working Kansas farmer, had come South to +better his prospects, and with a deep but unexpressed longing to help +the home folks. + +At Flomaton, or Pensacola Junction, as it is now called, he had fallen +in with Tom Byrne, an Indiana boy, and the two had soon become fast +friends. + +By getting occasional jobs along the way, and not infrequently "tramping +it," they had reached their present quarters, near Panasofkee, in Sumter +County. + +Here they had taken a contract from a "papertown" proprietor to clear +five acres of land for seventy-five dollars. + +This was a low figure, as the ground was full of palmetto roots, and not +only were the trees to be cleared from the land, but all stumps to be +burned out. + +The boys already had been at work over two months, and hoped that +another week would complete the job. On the first, their employer was to +commence gathering his oranges, and they expected several weeks' +employment with him. + +Although the work of clearing was very hard, the boys were rugged and +hearty, and thoroughly enjoyed their novel surroundings. + +After finishing their beans, they put away the few dishes, and began the +round of their stumps. Here and there one was dying out, and new fuel +had to be piled around it. As one stump burned out, it was dragged from +its hole and placed against the roots of another. + +And so, from one stump to another, adding fuel to this or dragging that +away, their faces covered with soot, and looking more like negroes than +white folks, the boys darted around, shouting gleefully to each other +whenever one of the tall pines burned through and came crashing to the +ground. + +A little to one side, and out of reach of the fires, the boys had built +a little six-by-ten shanty, where they kept their belongings and +occasionally slept. More frequently, however, they slung their hammock +between two pines, near the camp-fire. + +At first, the peculiar roar of the alligators from the swamp near by had +disturbed their rest, but they very soon got accustomed to it, and also +to the startling challenge of a large bat, which is apt to frighten +strangers by its sudden appearance and shrill cry. + +A few days before the boys finished their contract, aparty of surveyors +stopped at their shanty to get a drink of water, and to see if they +could get them for a couple of days. + +As the pay offered was good, the boys were glad to accept it, and five +minutes were sufficient to put their few belongings into the shanty and +to nail up the door. + +It took the party some hours to reach their destination, and as soon as +they had partaken of a lunch, they began to survey a site for a new +town. + +The boys had seen a great many "paper towns" since they came to Florida, +but as a rule had taken little interest in them. They were usually +ventures of men who did not have money enough to make their speculations +a success. + +Tom and Dave were put to work carrying chain, and very soon became +interested in the talk of their companions. + +The spot chosen was a very beautiful one--asloping hillside gradually +narrowing into a strip six or seven hundred yards wide and running +between two of the most picturesque lakes the boys had ever seen. + +[Illustration: +"'WHY, BOYS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?' TOM LOOKED UP TO MEET +THE KEEN EYES OF THE DOCTOR."] + +From the talk of the surveyors they learned that a number of them were +railroad men, and that they were endeavoring to buy at nominal figures +all the choice lands along the line of the new road before the settlers +became aware of its value. + +They discussed their plans before the boys without reserve, and it soon +became evident to the latter that the future of this hillside could bear +no comparison with the other paper towns they had seen. Anumber of very +wealthy men were interested in it, and they proposed to make it the +winter home of themselves and friends. + +"You see, gentlemen," said one of the men to his companions, as he +pointed across the strip of land to the slope on the other side, "the +road will wind around the lake, across the neck of land, and along the +western side of the lake to the right, and then in almost a bee-line +toward Palatka. Ten years from now, and this hillside for forty miles +will be a succession of orange groves. Near the depot we shall have a +limited number of business lots, while the balance of the land will be +surveyed into large orange grove and villa tracts. It will be specified +in each deed that no cheap buildings shall be erected. It is not a mere +speculation, as there are already a dozen or more men who will begin +elegant residences as soon as the land is surveyed." + +"Do you know, professor, who owns that point jutting into the lake? +It is a fine building site." + +The speaker was a tall, sharp-featured man of middle age, whom his +friends addressed as doctor. + +"No," answered the professor, "but I think a man named Pylant is the +owner, and that the twenty acres beyond belong to a Dutchman in Eustis. +However, we do not wish to make inquiries at present. They saw us when +we came out, and should we go back now and value their land, they will +put on four prices. Our policy is to go back as though we were +disappointed in the land, and by the time we return next week they will +offer it at our own figures. We can probably get it for two to four +dollars an acre. It is thirty miles from any town, and as Pylant got it +from the government, four dollars will be a big price to him." + +"And in twelve months it will be worth as many hundred," said the +doctor. + +Tom and Dave looked at each other curiously, and wondered how they would +feel if they owned a few acres on this hillside. + +At the end of the week--for the two days' work had lengthened into +five--the boys were paid fifteen dollars, and told they would be soon +wanted for several months, should they care to return. + +Everything was found safe at the shanty, and the boys went to work at +the stumps with a will. At the end of the third day, the last root was +reduced to ashes, and then Dave set to work to prepare a supper suitable +for such an occasion. Fried quail (which they had snared), orange slump, +pineapple shortcake, baked beans and a pot of steaming coffee graced the +table (or rather box), while by way of dessert a pillow-case full of +oranges, picked up in a neighboring grove, stood by the side of the +banqueting board. + +Next morning the boys went to see Mr. Pylant. + +"So you've cleaned it up, have you?" he exclaimed, as the boys told him +their errand. "Isaw last week it was most done. Reckon you'll want a +little money and the rest in land. Sharp boys! know land is best--goin' +up, goin' up all the time." + +"But if you please, Mr. Pylant, we'd rather have the money," said Dave, +quietly. + +"Money!" exclaimed the "cracker," in astonishment. "Why, boys, in one +year there'll be a city on that land, and you'll be rich. The lots I let +you have for thirty dollars'll be worth a fortune." + +"We don't want any lots," replied Dave, decidedly. "We intend to get +some land when we can, but we must have it large enough to put out a +good groveon." + +"Well, I'll sell you a five-acre lot near the village for two hundred +dollars, and you can work it out." + +"Too much," answered Dave. "We want cheaper land, and are willing to go +a longer distance from town." + +"But that's cheap," expostulated Pylant, who began to fear he would have +to pay out money. "How far would you be willin' to go for land?" he +added, as another idea seemed to strike him. + +"Not particular, if the land is good and price low." + +"Then I've got the identical place for you," cried Pylant, his face +brightening; "splendid land, and on a beautiful lake." + +"How far?" + +Pylant hesitated. + +"Mebbe it's twenty miles or so," he at length said, slowly; "but it's +good, and I'll let you have it low." + +"Twenty miles is a long distance from town," said Dave, dubiously; "but +what'll you take?" + +Fearing he would lose the sale, Pylant lowered the figures he had +mentally fixed upon, and said, quickly: + +"If you take the twenty acres, you can have it for three dollars and a +half an acre. Ireckoned on sellin' to the party here last week, and I +'lowed to myself I'd ask five dollars. But, somehow, they didn't seem to +take toit." + +"Well," said Dave, slowly, as though hesitating, "Ireckon we'll take +it. Can you fix up the deed now?" + +"Right off!" answered Pylant, quickly, fearing the boys might change +their mind. "Here are the other five dollars I owe you." + +Ten minutes later, Dave and Tom were the owners of the coveted twenty +acres. + +For the next two weeks the boys worked in the orange grove and added +another thirty-five dollars to their fund. + +Their living cost very little, and they now had nearly fifty dollars +between them. + +Feeling comparatively wealthy, and with the prospect of, perhaps, weeks +of idleness before them, if they remained where they were, the boys +concluded to remove to their new possession. + +Provisions enough to last two months were purchased, and with these, +and with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, axes, and other tools, +the boys set out. + +Although the load was packed and strapped to their backs in the most +convenient manner, it took two days to complete their journey. + +The third was spent in making a camp and looking up the stubs which +marked the boundaries of their twenty acres. + +Like most of the high pine land in Florida, their tract was free from +palmetto, and consequently much easier to clear than the low pine they +had previously been at work upon. + +Four weeks passed, and they had heard nothing from the surveying party. + +Nearly three acres were cleared, and the boys were already calculating +how many orange and lemon trees they would put out. + +One morning, as Tom was digging a hole under the roots of a lofty pine, +preparatory to setting it on fire, he was greeted with a surprised: + +"Why, boys! What are you doing here?" + +And he looked up to meet the keen eyes of the doctor. + +"Clearing up our new purchase," answered Tom, quietly. + +The doctor's shrewd face broadened into a smile. + +"I see," he said, pleasantly. "But how much are we to pay you boys for +outwitting us? Isaw Pylant yesterday, and was told that you had the +land. The old man was nearly crazy, when one of us said we would be +willing to go as high as twenty dollars an acre." + +"I reckon we don't care to sell at present," said Dave. "Our twenty +acres wouldn't make much difference to you, who own as many thousand +around the lakes." + +The doctor and his friends laughed good-humoredly. + +"That's right, boys," said the one called professor; "hold the land for +an advance. It will come sooner than you expect, perhaps. But we shall +want your services for the next three months, to help our surveyors; so +be at our camp in the morning." + +After this the boys could not complain of loneliness. Afew weeks of +surveying outlined the streets and blocks of the new town; asawmill was +quickly under way; buildings went up rapidly, and here and there were +displayed the new goods of enterprising young merchants. + +The fame of the new town spread through the surrounding country, and +every day brought new arrivals, seeking work; and soon hundreds of axes +could be heard on the hillside, clearing the land and making ready for +the numerous young groves to be put out in the spring. + +Dave and Tom had all the work they could do, and utilized the evenings +and odd moments in burning the trees and stumps on their land. By the +first of February they had five acres cleared and fenced, and ready for +trees. + +Believing the best to be the cheapest, they sent to one of the nurseries +for three hundred and fifty budded trees. They took especial pains in +setting them out, and in due time had as thrifty a young grove as one +could wish to see. + +The trees cost them all the money they had earned and most of what they +had laid aside; but when they looked at their beautiful young grove, +they were more than satisfied. + +Before the end of the year the proposed railroad was built, and its +advent made a tremendous rise in the value of land. + +The boys had had many excellent offers for their land before, but +invariably declined to consider them. As the depot had been built very +near them, they knew their place must advance rapidly. + +However, shortly after the erection of the depot, they received an offer +of seven thousand dollars for the unimproved ten acres, and after a +short consultation, decided to accept it. Dave had not seen his people +for nearly two years, and was anxious to visit them. Tom, who was alone +in the world, was to remain and look after their grove. + +So a few weeks later saw Dave walking up the lane to the old homestead. +Knowing how particular his father was, he was greatly surprised at the +thriftless look of everything. Aman was hobbling across the yard as he +approached, and Dave saw with dismay that the haggard face belonged to +his father. + +Their meeting may be imagined, and Dave soon knew of the broken leg and +the long, hard winter following it, with no one to look after things and +unpaid bills accumulating rapidly. + +"A sorry home-coming, my boy," said his father, with a wan smile. + +But Dave's story quickly changed the aspect of things. The bills were +paid; pinching want was a thing of the past. + +And then Dave talked and argued until his parents agreed to return with +him and spend the winter in Florida, and give that genial climate a +chance to make his father well and strong again. + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 21._] + + JACK STANWOOD; + + or, + + FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. + + BY JAMES H. SMITH. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +I BREAK JAIL THROUGH NO EFFORTS OF MY OWN. + +I was handed over to the custody of a little man, with big, staring +eyes, and a magnified head of hair that made him look like a gun-swab. +This was Mr. Janks, the jailor. + +He stood looking at me for some moments, swinging a bunch of keys on his +finger, and then said, mournfully, "So, you've come, have you?" which +made me think that he must have dreamed of my coming. + +Then he took up a small lamp, and, after examining me from head to foot +as if I were some strange animal, he gave vent to a dismal groan, and +asked me if I was hungry. + +Receiving a negative answer, he groaned again, and beckoned me to follow +him. + +He led the way along a damp and chilly stone corridor, lined with little +iron doors, which I needed no one to tell me belonged to cells, and I +followed him very readily. My previous notions of prison treatment +included the immediate ironing of the culprit to the extent of several +hundredweight, and, finding myself mistaken, my spirits rose +accordingly. + +He stopped before one of the little doors near the end of the corridor, +and, opening it with a large key, ushered me into an apartment about +eight feet square. + +This was my cell. The walls and ceiling were whitewashed, and the only +furniture was an iron bedstead, covered with two coarse, gray blankets. + +Mr. Janks waved his keys around as if to welcome me to this abode, and +then, instead of going out and leaving me to my reflections, he leaned +up against the door and groaned once more. + +"The wickedness of these boys!" he said, passing his hand through his +hair, and apparently addressing the ceiling. "Why do they ever come +here? Why did you come here?" + +I hastened to explain that I did not come of my own accord, and so far +from wishing to be in jail, if he would only have the kindness to open +the door, Iwould promise him to make my exit, and never return. + +"And so young!" continued Mr. Janks, without paying any attention to my +remarks, and still apostrophizing the ceiling. "But it's allus the way! +The younger they are, the worse they are!" + +Then he launched forth into a description of the number of bad boys who +had passed through his hands, and endeavored to draw a parallel between +their case and mine, but, Ithink, with poor success. + +He kept up this monologue for at least ten minutes, while I sat on the +couch and listened with anything but pleasurable emotions. + +At the end of that time he came to a sudden stop, and went out slowly, +groaning dismally. + +When the sound of his footsteps had died away down the corridor, +Isurrendered myself to my thoughts. And how I did think! + +What had been all my trouble compared to this? _In prison!_ The thought +was horrifying! + +I felt now that I would not dare return home--for who would not shrink +from me as a malefactor? + +Besides, I was extremely dubious as to my impending fate. Iwas not +afraid of being convicted of larceny, unless Mary Jane Robinson perjured +herself; but I was desperately afraid of Mr. Barron. + +I knew he took the Lancaster Examiner, and should he see my name in it, +Ifelt certain he would pounce down on me, and then--well, something +terrible would certainly happen. + +The sky looked very dark and cloudy just then, and you may easily +imagine how bitterly I regretted my foolishness in running away. + +I lay awake for an hour or more thinking in this fashion, and then I +fell into a fitful slumber. + +How long I slept, I don't know; but when I awoke it was with a strange +feeling that I was not alone--that some one was in the cell withme. + +I was wide awake in an instant, and my heart beat so loudly that I +fancied I could hearit. + +I listened intently, and presently heard a light "pitapat," as if some +one was walking across the floor; and while I was trying to muster up +courage to call out, there was a sharp click, aflood of light illumined +the cell, and I saw that the intruder was a man. + +He was standing near the opposite wall, and in his hand he held a +lighted wax taper, with the aid of which he was taking a survey of the +room. + +As he turned slowly around, I saw that he was young, rather +good-looking, and well-dressed, and at the same time he sawme. + +He started, and with an exclamation of alarm, dropped the taper. + +In an instant, however, he recovered the taper and himself, and advanced +towardme. + +"Who are you?" he demanded. "And how did you get here?" + +I related, in a few words, who I was and how I came to be incarcerated. + +He laughed lightly when I had finished, and said: + +"I suppose you wonder how _I_ came here. Look!" + +I looked, and saw an aperture in the wall about two feet square. + +"I came through that," he said, laughing softly at my evident +astonishment. "My cell is on the other side. Now, Iam going to escape +from this jail, and I want you to go withme." + +I know now that his reason was to prevent my giving an alarm; but I +thought then that it was because he took pity onme. + +And I joyfully accepted his offer, although I couldn't imagine how he +was to manage it, and I made a remark to that effect. + +"Easy enough," he said. "You have only a lock on your door, while +there's a dozen bolts on mine. That's why I dug through, expecting to +find the cell empty. However, it is all right. Take off your shoes." + +I did so, and then my companion put out the lights, having first opened +the door with what looked like a piece of wire. + +Then he whispered to me to keep hold of his sleeve, step cautiously and +not let my shoes fall, and then we moved out into the corridor, now +black as Egypt. + +My guide also seemed to be in his stocking feet; but where his shoes +were I couldn't imagine. + +We moved along slowly, but steadily, my guide seeming to know the way, +and presently he opened a door with only a slight creak, and then +whispered in my ear: + +"We are in the lodge. Don't breathe." + +Again we moved on and again stopped, and from one or two sharp clicks I +judged him to be trying to open another door. + +Suddenly he drew me forward. I felt a rush of cold air, and the next +instant I was out of jail. + +"Wait!" said my companion. + +And he closed the wicket gate, and locked it noiselessly. + +"If they find the gate open, they'll smell a rat," he remarked. "Now +then, my boy, comeon." + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +I BECOME A WANDERER AND FALL INTO LUCK. + +I kept closely by his side, and for half an hour we moved along, keeping +in the shadow of the houses, until we reached the outskirts of the town. + +"Now then," said my companion, speaking for the first time, "put on your +shoes." + +I did so, and very glad I was to do it. At the same time he reached down +and drew off his stockings, and then I saw they had been drawn on over +his boots. + +Then he took my hand, and we walked along steadily and swiftly for an +hour, until the lights of Lancaster had faded in the distance, and not +until then did my companion fall into a walk and conversation. + +"What did you say you were in for?" he asked. + +"For nothing," I answered, promptly. + +This seemed to amuse him greatly. + +"Of course not," said he, after an outburst of laughter. "Inever saw a +prisoner in my life who wasn't innocent!" + +I attempted to explain, but he wouldn't listen. + +"No matter--it's not my business. It was forgery with me--ten years at +the least; and I couldn't stand that, you know." + +"Certainly not," said I, not knowing what else to say. + +Then, by way of turning the conversation, Iinquired how he came to be +provided with tools to effect his escape. + +He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, as if he suspected me of some +hidden motive in asking the question, and then, apparently satisfied +with the scrutiny, he informed me that his friends had sent him pies +every day for two weeks past. + +"Pies?" I exclaimed, in open-mouthed wonder. + +"Yes, pies," he said, gravely. "Don't you see? Nothing but the crusts. +Inside were keys, saws and a jimmy." + +"A _jimmy_?" + +"Yes--here it is. That came in four pies." + +He took from his coat-pocket four pieces of steel, and in an instant +fitted them together into a bar about two feet in length. + +"Not much to look at, is it?" said he; "but it is a crowbar, chisel, +hammer and wrench, all in one. It only took me two nights to cut into +your cell." + +"And how did you know your way out in the dark?" Iasked. + +"Because I came in that way, and I always keep my eyes open. Hello!" + +"What's the matter?" I asked, in some alarm, as he came to a sudden +halt. + +"Nothing much," he answered; "only that I must leave you here. Idon't +know where you are going, and I don't propose to let you know where I am +going. Besides, it is much harder to follow two than one, and there is +no use of us both being captured." + +"Captured?" I repeated, in dismay. "Do you think the officers will +followus?" + +"Do I think so? I know they will." + +I was so terrified that my teeth chattered, at this announcement, and he +noticedit. + +"Don't get too scared, young one," he added, consolingly. "They won't +look for you half as much as they will for me. If you travel right +straight on, and keep out of their clutches for a week, you'll be safe." + +"But I haven't done anything," I said, tremblingly. + +"Oh, yes you have," said he, with a laugh. "You have broken jail, and +that means a year at least, if you're caught." + +I was so overwhelmed at this dread piece of news that I could only lean +up against a convenient fence and stare at him. + +"Come, come!" he cried, impatiently, "brace up! They haven't got you +yet. If you go straight through this cornfield you will strike a road +that will take you to Columbia. Good-by!" + +Before I had time to reply, he had plunged into the woods on the right +of the road, and I was left alone. + +I was terribly alarmed, and lost no time in making my way through the +cornfield; and when I found the road, Isped along it at a rapid gait. +Fear lent me wings, and I fancied every bush an officer. + +It was a warm but pleasant night, and the moon was just rising. +Icalculated that it must be about midnight, and I determined that I +would put many a mile between me and Lancaster before daybreak. + +So I set off at a dog-trot, and I kept it up until I saw the sun rising +over the eastern hills. + +By that time I must have gone about twenty miles, and I was completely +tired out, and very glad to crawl into the shelter of some neighboring +woods and lie down to rest. + +Before I knew it I was asleep, and I did not awake until late in the +afternoon. + +I was stiff and sore, and at the same time ravenously hungry. The first +two ailments wore away as I started again on my journey, but the latter +increased until I determined to brave anything rather than suffer any +longer. + +The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the road, +with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in the +kitchen. + +"Please, ma'am," said I. + +"G'way!" said she. "Here, Tige!" + +"Please, ma'am--" + +"G'way, I say! We don't want no tramps hookin' everything they kin lay +their handson!" + +"Please, ma'am," I persisted, mildly, "I am not a tramp. Iwant +something to eat"--the woman started to unchain the dog--"for which I am +willing to pay." + +"Come right in," said the woman, with a broad smile. "Ideclare I +couldn't have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a +person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you +were different from the general run." + +While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table with +fried ham, potatoes, bread and butter and coffee, and I lost no time in +falling to. Ipaid a quarter for it when I had finished, and got away as +quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of the men folks, +who might have their suspicions aroused. + +All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to enter +into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for a +week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by that +time I judged myself to be reasonably safe. + +So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my hair +cut, acomplete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of rest. + +When I started out again, the next morning, Ihad recovered my usual +spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as my +money and strength held out. Ihad twenty-five dollars of the former and +an unlimited supply of the latter. + +All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and +supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, Ithought it would be +just as well to camp in the woods again. + +For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my +left, Isoon came to a secluded spot, near a ravineor gully, and there +I made myself a bed of dry leaves. + +On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when I +was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware. + +I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it +evidently come from the ravine, Iarose and began an investigation. + +Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about fifteen +feet below, abright light, and the rattling sound again smote my ears. + +By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching hold +of a small sapling, Ileaned far over the edge to observe the why and +wherefor. As I did so, Ifelt the sapling giving away, and I made a +desperate attempt to recover myself. + +It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along +withit. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE. + +The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which came +the light at which I had been gazing. + +I was slightly stunned, but I scrambled to my feet just as a heavy hand +was laid on my collar, and a gruff voice said: + +"Vell! here's a precious go!" + +I looked up, and saw that the voice and hand belonged to the same +person--ashort, stout man, with sallow complexion and glistening black +eyes. His dress was a curious compound of broad, glazed hat and blue +shift of a sailor and the flashy check vest and pantaloons of a peddler. + +"Vere did you come from, anyhow," he demanded, before I had finished my +survey, "a-busting down on a chap vithout varning, and a smashing of his +pots and kettles?" + +"Pots and kettles?" I repeated, inquiringly. + +For answer he pointed indignantly to the ground, and then I saw what +damage my descent had caused. + +A rusty coffee-pot, a little dish and a skillet were scattered among the +embers of the fire. + +"That's vot you did," said he, resentfully. "Here vos I, a-cooking my +supper and a-thinking of just nothink at all, when all of a suddent down +you come, like a cannon-ball, and avay goes everythink! It was werry +aggerwating because it was nearly done." + +"I assure you, sir," said I, very contritely, "that I had no intention +of falling on your fire or your supper." + +Then I explained the cause of my sudden descent, and wound up by +offering to pay for the damage. + +By this time the man had entirely recovered his temper--if he had ever +lost it, which I very much doubt--and smiled kindly. + +"Vell, vell, there ain't much harm done except putting my supper back +half an hour. Put up your money, my boy, and joinme." + +Then he righted the utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared the +meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task to be +by no means an unusual one. + +Within half an hour, he had made a pot of coffee, apan of biscuits and +a savory stew, and we were soon discussing this supper very amiably +together. + +After supper he washed out the dishes and utensils in a brook near by, +and lying at full length on the ground, composed himself for a smoke. + +All this time I had been regarding him in silence, but with considerable +curiosity, and I had about made up my mind that he was a gipsy, on his +way to join his tribe, when he startled me by saying, abruptly: + +"Look 'ere!" + +I intimated that I was all attention. + +"Who are you?" he asked, bluntly. + +"Jack Wood," I answered, promptly, although a trifle nervously. + +"My name is Miles Norris," he rejoined, after a long pause. "I'm a +wender of physics and knickknacs." + +"A doctor?" + +"Not exactly," he replied, rising on his elbow and winking at me +significantly. "Icures people as hasn't got nothink the matter vith 'em +and thinks they has." + +This sentence was too deep for me to fathom, and on my intimating as +much, he condescended to explain. + +"I go round the country selling my own medicines, which is Norris's +Golden Balsam, wot cures all kinds of pains, cuts and bruises, +whatsomedever they may be; fifty cents a bottle, small bottles +twenty-five. Then there's the Lightning Toothache Drops, wot cures that +hagonizing malady in one second, or money refunded--twenty-five cents a +bottle. And finally, 'ere we 'ave the Great American Tooth Powder, which +makes the blackest teeth vite in less'n no time, and makes the gums +strong and 'elthy--ten cents a box. And each and every purchaser is +presented vith a book containing fifty songs, all new and prime, free +gratis and for nothink! Valk hup, ladies and gentlemen; who'll 'ave +another bottle?" + +During this recital, Doctor Norris gradually assumed a professional +demeanor, and near the close he rose to his feet, and gesticulated as if +addressing a large audience. + +But at the close he suddenly cooled down, and assuming his recumbent +position, said, listlessly: + +"Now you know me." + +"Certainly," said I; "but then I do not see--" + +"I hunderstand," said he. "You don't see no Balsam, nor Drops, nor +Powder?" + +"I do not." + +"And you vonder vere they are?" + +"Yes." + +"Your surprise is werry natural," said Doctor Norris, with great +gravity. "Iam out of those inwaluable medicines at present, but ven I +get to my laboratory, Ishall roll 'em out wholesale." + +"Then you make them?" + +"In course. I couldn't trust anybody else." + +Then, after a pause, he added, slowly: + +"I don't know but that I might let you into my secrets if-- What did you +say your name was?" + +I repeated my alias, and told my fictitious history. + +"So you ain't got nothink to do?" + +"Nothing." + +"How would you like to work for me?" + +"Doing what?" + +"Selling my medicines." + +"Done!" cried I, joyfully. + +"Hold hup!" said he, quickly. "I ain't quite certain. Can you patter?" + +"Can I what?" + +"Gab, I mean--talk? Are you good on that?" + +"I think I am," I answered, modestly. + +"And 'ave you got plenty of cheek?" + +"Oh, yes! Why?" + +"Because you'll need it. You wouldn't be afraid to stand hup before a +big crowd and blow away about the Balsam, or the Powder, nor yet the +Drops--hey?" + +I assured him that the prospect did not dismay me in the least. + +My companion then brought the conversation to a conclusion very +summarily. + +"Then, Jack Wood," said he, "you're my man!" + +Then he rolled over and went to sleep, and although somewhat astonished +at the suddenness of the doctor's resolution, Ithought his action a +good one, and _I_ rolled over and went to sleep, also. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +TREATS OF MY EXPERIENCE AS A PHYSICIAN--IREACH THE MISSISSIPPI. + +I awoke at sunrise, or rather Doctor Norris awoke me by a vigorous dig +in the ribs with the point of his boot, and told me that breakfast was +ready. Iarose at once, washed my face, combed my hair, and then +astonished the doctor by the vigor of my appetite. + +During the meal he confided to me his plans for the future. He had laid +out a route through Butler and Beaver counties to the State line, and +thence through Ohio until winter setin. + +"I make enough in summer to lay hup in winter," he explained. "It's an +'ealthy and hinvigorating life, and I like it. I've traveled over nearly +all the States between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, 'ave 'ad my +hups and downs, and I wouldn't change places with a king." + +I rather doubted whether the doctor knew very much about kings, that he +could afford to speak so positively, but I felt that it would be neither +polite nor prudent to disagree with him. + +"I dare say I shall like the life very well," Isaid, quietly. +"But--what am I expected todo?" + +"You'll be my assistant," said the doctor, in a lofty voice, as if he +was announcing my appointment to a cabinet position. + +Then he went into details, and explained that I was to assist him in +concocting and selling the wonderful remedies of which he was the +inventor. + +This duty included filling bottles, pasting on labels, carrying his +baggage, making his fires, and several other minor matters which he +could not recall just then. + +"Ve'll camp out like this most of the time," he added. "Hotels is +hexpensive, and I never stops at 'em, unless it's raining or I'm going +to sell in the town. You von't mind that, vill you?" + +I was more than delighted at the prospect, and I saidso. + +"This man," I told myself, "is evidently a great traveler, and he is +going West. If I stick to him my fortune is made." + +It did not take the doctor long to pack up his traps, and, dividing them +between us, we journeyed along very agreeably. + +When we arrived in Butler we went to a hotel, and there, in the +seclusion of our room, the doctor manufactured three dozen bottles of +the balsam, as many of the toothache drops and twice as many boxes of +the tooth-powder. + +At this distance of time I cannot recall the ingredients of these justly +celebrated remedies, but I can cheerfully testify to their harmlessness. + +The balsam was composed of two or three simple aromatic oils, the +toothache drops was merely a diluted essence of the oil of cloves, +and the wonderful tooth-powder chalk powdered and scented. + +The labels for the various compounds the doctor carried in his oilcloth +bag, and the bottles, boxes and various ingredients he purchased at the +village drug stores. + +I am almost ashamed to tell you what enormous profits he made on his +sales, and will only mention that he once told me that the bottle and +label formed nine-tenths of the cost of the Golden Balsam, which +retailed at one dollar. + +In these days the street vender of physic is an ordinary sight, but a +quarter of a century ago he was almost unknown outside of the largest +cities. + +After being a month in the company of Doctor Norris I easily understood +why he followed such a life. In the town of Butler two days' sales +netted him sixty dollars, and he made nearly as much in Beaver. + +He was not always so successful, but, taking one week with another, +Ijudged that he cleared at least fifty dollars, which was a bank +president's salary in those days. + +His methods were such as are in use among this class of gentry all the +world over. + +Having prepared his stock in trade, he would gravely walk down the main +street, followed by your humble servant. + +Halting on the most prominent corner, he and I would arrange the boxes +and bottles in attractive pyramids on the top of a box or a barrel, +taking as much time as possible, so as to attract the attention of the +passers-by. + +Having achieved this object, the doctor would mount on a soap-box, so as +to raise himself above the crowd, and begin his harangue. + +He always began gravely, and not until he had made several sales did he +venture on a joke or a witticism, although he had a plentiful stock of +cheap wit, such as crowds delightin. + +Another thing: When he spoke in public he used excellent English, and +the cockney dialect entirely disappeared. He never explained this to me, +but I suppose he was like an actor on the stage when addressing a crowd. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he would say, in calm and measured tones, +"Shakespeare has said, 'Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it!' and +he was right. Medicinal drugs are pernicious, even when given by a +practiced physician, but when administered by quacks, it is little short +of murder. Now, in my medicines I do not give you strange and deadly +drugs. The articles I use are all known to you" (this was strictly +true), "the mode of preparation only being a secret. No pain, no danger +in their use, absolutely harmless to the smallest child, yet so powerful +that the most deadly ailments yield to their power." + +Thus the doctor talked on for fifteen minutes, taking the crowd into his +confidence in a learned and fatherly way, until some fellow bashfully +thrust forward a coin, and then the money rolledin. + +The doctor was now in his element; he was witty, he cracked jokes, +he told stories, and even indulged in snatches of song, and he rarely +failed to hold his audience until his stock was exhausted. + +This operation sometimes consumed three or four hours, and sometimes his +eloquence was wasted. But at all times he was cheerful and polite, and +good and bad fortune seemed alike to him. + +I thought then, and I still think, that he was a remarkable man; and I +am sure that he treated me very kindly. He paid me a very liberal salary +of ten dollars a month, and whenever he had an unusually good day, gave +me an extra dollar. + +All of this money I carefully stowed away in my belt for a rainy day, +which I felt sure would come. And my experience did not deceiveme. + +After leaving Pennsylvania, we traveled through the small towns of Ohio +until near the middle of December, as it was a very open winter, and it +was nearly Christmas before the cold and snow drove us into winter +quarters in Toledo. + +The doctor intended to treat himself to a three months' rest, and for +that purpose hired two rooms and kept bachelor's hall, and invited me to +keep him company. + +I received no wages; but as he was to bear all expenses, Iwillingly +agreed to the arrangement. + +These three months were absolutely uneventful, and about the first of +April we started out again. + +The doctor had laid out a new route for this season. We traveled across +country by stage to Keokuk, Iowa, intending to travel up the river as +far as St. Paul, and then work eastward thorough Wisconsin and Michigan, +and close the season at Detroit. + +But we never carried out our programme. My cruel fate pursued me--or was +it punishment for my foolishness?--and at Davenport I was once more cast +adrift. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + + INTERNATIONAL LESSON--FOR MAY 29. + + Exodus 14:19-21. Golden Text--Isaiah 43:2. + + Central Subject--THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. + + BY REV. D. P. KIDDER, D.D. + + +INTRODUCTION. + +According to Jewish tradition, it was seven days after the Passover that +the Israelites passed over the Red Sea. + +Before they left they were directed by God to ask (not "borrow," as it +is in our version) of the Egyptians jewels of silver and gold, and other +articles that would be of service to them. + +It was customary thus on the eve of a journey, or at the close of a term +of service, to ask gifts. The practice corresponded to the asking of +_backshish_, still so common in the East. + +The Egyptians, it seemed, readily and generously granted the request of +the Israelites and supplied them abundantly. Thus, in some slight +measure, they made return for the long years of unrequited service which +the Hebrews had rendered to Egypt's land and Egypt's king. + +While the Egyptians were bewailing their dead, the children of Israel, +having finished hurriedly their Passover feast, started on their journey +of escape. Leaving Rameses, the western part of Goshen, they assembled +at Succoth--"place of tents"--so called because it was a camping place +for caravans going east, then and now. They were, perhaps, four days +gathering at this spot, about two millions of people all told. + +The next point which they reached was Etham. This was a district of +country just on the edge of the desert. From this point there were three +routes to Palestine. The Israelites, by divine direction, took the most +southern. + +They were at first surprised at this order of march; but it was the only +safe one for them. The most northern would have taken them right through +the country of the warlike and hostile Philistines, and the middle route +(after passing the great wall which stretched from Pelusium on the +Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez) would have brought them right out +upon the desert. + +Several days had elapsed since the Israelites started on their flight. +Pharaoh already missed them. His important works were brought to a +standstill; there was no one to make or handle bricks, and the loss of +so large and so efficient a body of workers was severely felt. + +A reaction takes place in the mind of the king; he charges himself with +folly in letting the people go, and resolves to pursue them. He learns, +also, that they have not yet got out of the land of Egypt, and he thinks +that by the fact that they have turned south, and not gone directly to +the east, they are confused, and he plans to catch them when they are +hemmed in by the mountains and the sea. + +With six hundred of his swiftest chariots he at once sets out after +them, leaving orders, doubtless, for other chariots as well as foot +soldiers to follow as soon as possible. + +The Israelites were in the greatest alarm; there was no visible means of +escape. They could go no further south, for the mountains were in front +of them; they could not turn to the right for the same reason; the +Egyptians were in their rear, and the Red Sea was before them. They were +in a trap. This is what Pharaoh expected. The strategy on which he had +reckoned (ver.3) had worked admirably. + + +THE PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. + + "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed + and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before + their face, and stood behind them: + + "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of + Israel: and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light + by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the + night." + +It is singular that this blind king should so soon forget that there was +a God in Israel, and that he was to come into collision again with that +Being who had so often foiled, and finally, in the death of the +first-born, had utterly crushed him. + +But none are so blind or so heedless as the obstinate and the +unbelieving. It will be seen that the battle that is soon to follow will +end as before--in the defeat of Pharaoh, and, as some think, his death. + +We have in this "angel of God" the same being that we have met so often +before, who talked familiarly with Abraham and Jacob. He is the one who +afterward came in the form of the flesh, and is called Christ. + +This time His symbol was a cloud, and at night a pillar of fire. In such +a large host as that of the children of Israel were at this time, it +would be necessary that there be some elevated central object, so that +those of the people scattered widely, in caring for the flocks and other +like services, should not lose the location of the camp. + +Some such arrangement was early found important in caravans crossing the +deserts, so that it was customary to carry a round grate with fire, held +aloft on a pole. The ancient Persians and some other nations carried a +sacred fire in silver altars before their armies. + +At night this cloud over the camp of the Israelites was illumined by +some strong internal fire, so that the host dwelt amid the darkness of +the desert as in a city brightly lighted. It was a marvelous miracle. + +This cloud now changed its position as the Egyptians came near to the +Israelites. It stood between the two hosts. Over the Egyptians it was a +dense fog that cut off all their vision so that they could not tell what +the Israelites were doing, while to the latter it was as though it had +caught and held the rays of the setting sun, and poured a brilliant +glory all over and through their encampment. The Egyptians, thinking +that the rising sun will disperse the fog, wait for morning. + + +THE ISRAELITES ENTER THE RED SEA. + + "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused + the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made + the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. + + "And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry + ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, + and on their left." + +While the Egyptians were thus waiting, the Israelites were busy; they +were making the best use of their time. They were making their escape by +the way last of all thought possible--even the bottom of the sea! + +The crossing was made in the neighborhood of what are now called the +Bitter Lakes. This was then most probably the head of the Red Sea. + +It was at a time of the year when the tide would help the action of the +wind. If there were shoals or flats at the place where the crossing is +supposed to have occurred, as there are now at Suez, the wind and the +tide clearing a passage there would leave deep water on both sides of +the passage-way, and this most probably is the meaning of the expression +that the waters were a wall to them on either side. + + "They were a defense; not necessarily perpendicular cliffs, as they + were often pictured. God could make the water stand in precipices if + He should so choose, and such a conception is more impressive to the + imagination, but it is certain that the language of the text may + mean simply that the water was a protection on the right and on the + left flanks of the host. Thus, in Nahum 3:8, No (Thebes) is said to + have the sea (the broad Nile) for the rampart and a wall--that is, + adefense, aprotection against enemies. It is true that in poetical + passages the waters are said to have stood 'as a heap' (Exod. 15:8; + Psa. 78:13); but so they are also, in the same style, said to have + been 'congealed in the heart of the sea,' and the peaks of the + trembling Horeb are said to have 'skipped like rams, and the little + hills like lambs' (Psa. 114:4). Of course these expressions are not + to be literally and prosaically interpreted." + +[Illustration] + +The wind thus prevailed all night, to keep the passage open until all +the Israelites had crossed and the pursuing Egyptians had got well into +the sea. + + +THE ENEMY FOLLOW CLOSELY. + + "And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of + the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. + + "And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto + the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the + cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. + + "And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily; so + that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for + the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians." + +Surrounded by darkness and enveloped by the fog, the Egyptians did not +know that they were rushing into the midst of the sea. It is not said +that Pharaoh went in, and yet as the post of the king is usually +represented on the ancient monuments as leading his soldiers--marching +at their head--it may be, as some think, that his chariot led those six +hundred chariots, and that he perished with them. + + "The chariots of Egypt were very famous. According to Diodorus + Siculus, Rameses II had twenty-seven thousand in his army. + The processes of manufacture of chariots and harness are fully + illustrated by existing sculptures, in which also are represented + the chariots used by neighboring nations."--_Rev. H. W. Phillot._ + +At this point the movements of the Egyptians are very much impeded. +Shortly after midnight, the fog changed intoa storm cloud, blazing with +lightning and growling with thunder. This was terrifying to the +Egyptians in the extreme, as they were not accustomed to thunderstorms, +and scarcely ever saw rain. + + "Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder + and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted + upon them; nor was there anything which God sends upon men as + indications of His wrath which did not happen at this + time."--_Josephus._ + +Psalms 77:15-20 refers to this storm. Although the Israelites went +through dry-shod, the pursuing chariots sank in the mire, were buried in +the sand, and in some cases the wheels were wrenched off, so that the +superstitious Egyptians recognized the fact that the God of Israel was +fighting against them. They therefore began to retreat. In the meantime +the children of Israel had an abundance of time to make good their +escape. + + "Before the captivity, the night (between sunset and sunrise) was + divided by the Israelites into three watches--the first watch, the + middle watch and the morning watch. It appears that the Israelites + had the space of two watches, at least (or eight hours), for + effecting their passage."--_Murphy._ + + +THE OVERTHROW OF PHARAOH'S HOST. + + "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, + that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their + chariots and upon their horsemen. + + "And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea + returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the + Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in + the midst of the sea. + + "And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the + horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after + them; there remained not so much as one of them." + +After the fugitives had safely gained the farther shore, and while the +Egyptians were still struggling in the middle of the passage, through +the gray of the dawn they saw the majestic form of Moses rise upon the +opposite bank. They saw him stretch forth that terrible rod--that rod +which had left so many deep scars upon the fair land of Egypt--and +immediately the wind ceased, its strong pressure was relaxed, the sudden +swell of the tide caught the waters, and they, as if impatient of +restraint, leaped again to their wonted channel, burying the hopeless +and helpless enemy. + + "Asudden cessation of the wind at sunrise, coinciding with a spring + tide (it was full moon), would immediately convert the low, flat + sand-banks, first into a quicksand, and then into a mass of waters, + in a time far less than would suffice for the escape of a single + chariot or horseman loaded with heavy corselet."--_Canon Cook._ + +The destruction was as complete as it was sudden. Not one escaped. The +disaster was overwhelming, crushing. The Egyptians never again disturbed +the Israelites during all their after wanderings. + + +THIS WAS THE LORD'S DOINGS. + + "But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the + sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on + their left. + + "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the + Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. + + "And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the + Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, + and his servant Moses." + +There was only one explanation of this event, and that was the Lord +wrought it. There could be no room in the mind of any of the children of +Israel to doubt that God was with them. Repeatedly had they seen their +enemies baffled and discomfited; now they saw them destroyed. What folly +to contend with such a God! Would it be possible for these people thus +delivered ever to doubt God? ever to distrust Him? ever to disobey Him? +It would seem not. + +They had every reason to believe Him, to be grateful to Him, to love and +serve Him devotedly. Without lifting a finger, they, an unarmed people, +with not a soldier in all their ranks, nor a weapon worthy the name, had +triumphed over a chosen detachment of the finest army in the world at +that time, led, too, by a king who was familiar with battles and +accustomed to victories. + +Josephus says that, after the passage of the sea by the Israelites, +awest wind set in, which (assisted by the current) drove the bodies of +the drowned Egyptians to the eastern side of the gulf, where many of +them were cast up upon the shore. In this way, Moses, according to him, +obtained weapons and armor for a considerable number of Israelites. + + + + + WHAT THEY DO WHEN IT RAINS. + + By Carrie Cathcart Day. + + + "Where do you go, + Sweet, happy bird, + When wild winds blow + And storms are heard? + Do you not dread the rushing rain, + And wish the sky was bright again?" + + "Tweet oh! I fly + To nestlings near-- + To hush their cry, + And soothe their fear; + And o'er them all my wings I fold, + To keep them safely from the cold." + + "Where do you run, + Dear little duck? + Is the rain fun, + And best of luck?" + "Oh, yes! Quack! quack! I swim in glee, + It never pours too hard for me!" + + "Of course, good sheep, + You do not care-- + Out-doors you keep + Through foul and fair; + Your coat is surely thick enough + To shield you from a tempest rough?" + + "Baa! baa! baa! baa! + I let the geese + Have all the wet; + For should my fleece + All soaking get, + 'Twould be too heavy for my play-- + So to my shed I skip away." + + "Why do you croak + So long and loud, + Queer froggie folk, + When comes a cloud?" + "Cree-crake! cree-crake! + Because our pollywogs, we know, + When ponds are full will nicely grow!" + + "But, bumble-bee, + Your gauzy wings, + It seems to me, + Are flimsy things; + Should they get drenched, 'twould spoil them quite, + And you'd be in a sorry plight!" + + "I crawl beneath + A lily bell-- + A lovely sheath + That suits me well, + And when--buzz! buzz!--the sun I greet, + The roses all are fresh and sweet." + + "Well, surely you, + My little lad, + Feel very blue + In weather sad? + You mope and fret and whine and frown, + To see the torrents driving down!" + + "Oh, ho! oh, ho! + You do not know; + For _thus_, you see, + My trowsers go + Up to my knee; + I make believe to wade and splash + In puddles nice, with Puss and Dash, + And we pretend the shower pours + As hard _within_ as out of doors!" + + + + +JACK-A-DANDY. + +BY HELEN WHITNEY CLARK. + + +We children had been wishing for a tame crow ever since reading Dickens' +charming description of his pet raven. There were no ravens where we +lived; but Brother Tom said crows were just as good, and could be taught +to talk, too. + +And one day, when we were playing "Here we go round the mulberry bush" +in the woods near the house, little Ikey, our colored washerwoman's boy, +came along with a live crow in his hands. + +Of course we were curious to see and examine the wonderful bird, and we +crowded around Ikey, who seemed bewildered at being the object of so +much attention. + +"Where did you get him?" "What you going to do with him?" "How much will +you take for him?" asked Tom, Josie and Fred, in one breath. + +But Ikey only grinned, as he answered each in turn. + +"Got him out of his nest in a post-oak. Dey was more of 'em, but I +couldn't git ony dis one. I'm a-gwine to raise him if mammy'll let me. +But I mout sell him, if I git a good chance." + +The opportunity was not to be lost, and in a very few moments Ikey was +trudging homeward with a handful of coppers and two nickels--all the +change we could raise among us, and we proudly carried our new-found +treasure to the house. + +"Mercy on us!" cried mamma, holding up her hands. "What on earth have +you got there?" + +"A crow," we told her. "And we're going to tame him, and teach him to +talk." + +"Nonsense!" said mamma. "You don't suppose I'll have a _crow_ about the +house, to kill the young chickens and eat up the eggs!" + +But we begged and pleaded, till at last she gave her consent to let us +keepit. + +"It'll be a great torment," grumbled grandma. "It's a _young_ bird, +and you'll have to feed it like a baby." + +But we did not mind the trouble. Indeed, it was more of an amusement to +us to feed our pet on scraps of meat and bits of bread. It opened its +mouth so wide, and cried "Caw-aw-aw!" in such a satisfactory way. + +Ikey had instructed us as to the manner of feeding. + +"Jess you peck it on de head, an' it'll open its mouth like it does fur +de ole birds," he explained. + +And we found his advice was good. + +We named our pet "Jack-a-Dandy," and he grew and throve so much that he +was soon able to procure his own food, which consisted of crickets and +other insects. + +He was so tame that we could allow him perfect freedom, without any fear +of his desertingus. + +As he grew older, he used frequently to fly into the top of a tall +post-oak near the front door, from which he would circle around and +around the house, then alight on the ground, and come hopping in the +door, with a cheerful "caw! caw!" as if asserting that there was no +place like home. + +"He's better than Dick Hardy's tame squirrel," Tom used to say, "for +that has to be kept in a cage." + +"And Bob Rooney's pet coon has to be fastened by a chain," said Josie. +"But Jack-a-Dandy is as free as we are." + +But mamma was not particularly pleased with Jack, and grandma continued +to grumble over his misdemeanors, especially when he would rummage in +her work-basket, and carry off her silver thimble or bright steel +bodkin. + +"He's a troublesome creature," she would declare, "and if I had _my_ +way, he'd get his neck wrung." + +But we kept a good watch on our favorite, to keep him from getting into +mischief. + +We had used our best endeavors to teach him to talk, but he was a poor +scholar, and could not even learn to pronounce his own name. + +Still we loved him, and continued to take his part against his enemies. + +Papa had never said much, one way or the other, about Jack, though he +was not very favorably disposed toward the race of crows. But when the +spring planting was done, he took sides with the opposition. + +"If your tame thief pulls up my corn, I'll shoot him," he declared. + +"If he troubles the young chickens, he'll have to go," said mamma. + +"If he spoils my garden, I'll wring his neck," asserted grandma. + +And, as may be imagined, we suffered considerable anxiety about our pet. + +One day we were eating dinner, while Jack sat perched on the post-oak +near the door. + +Suddenly a terrible commotion occurred in the chicken-yard, caused by a +hawk which had swooped down and seized a young chicken. + +The hen-mother, however, attacked the marauder so furiously that it was +unable to carry off its prey immediately, and before papa could seize +his gun and reach the scene of conflict, Jack-a-Dandy had flown to the +hen's assistance. + +He attacked the hawk so desperately that it dropped its prey, and a +terrible combat ensued, in which Jack came off the victor. But not +satisfied with this, he pursued the flying enemy a long distance, +attacking him sharply when occasion offered. + +[Illustration: +"BEFORE PAPA COULD SEIZE HIS GUN AND REACH THE SCENE OF CONFLICT, +JACK-A-DANDY HAD FLOWN TO THE HEN'S ASSISTANCE."] + +You may be sure we had a great many praises and a sumptuous dinner for +our favorite, on his return. + +Hawks had for years been a great pest to poultry raising, and even mamma +espoused Jack's cause after his successful battle with the rapacious +foe. + +And during Jack's life, not another chicken was molested by the hawks, +as he kept a vigilant watch, and attacked every one that dared to +venture near the premises. + +He even won the good-will of papa, by keeping rigidly aloof from the +corn-field; but grandma was still fearful lest he might do some damage +to the garden. + +She was very careful of her early vegetables, and the garden-spot was +paled in, to keep the chickens and rabbits from making depredations on +the early lettuce, peas and cabbages. + +But no fence would keep Jack out. Like the wind, he went "wherever he +listeth." + +Much to our relief, however, he did not offer to molest the vegetables, +but did good service in picking up the insects and cut-worms, which are +usually such a pest about a garden. + +When he fell to devouring the squash-bugs, which were sapping the life +of the "Boston Marrows," grandma's last prejudice was overcome, and she +declared that Jack was worth his weight in gold. + +After that, she never went to the garden without calling Jack, who would +give an answering "caw!" and hop gravely after her, or perch on her +shoulder with all the confidence of a privileged favorite. + +As long as he lived, Jack continued to grow in the good opinion of the +household. But, alas! he could not live forever. + +One day he sat drooping on his perch, and refused to be enticed away +from it. He even declined the plump crickets Fred offered him in hopes +of tempting his appetite. + +The next morning he was found dead under his perch. He was mourned +sincerely by the whole family, from grandma down, and we buried him with +great ceremony under his favorite post-oak. + +Tom sodded his grave, Josie planted a "mourning bride" over it, and Fred +put up a shingle for a headstone, with this verse on it, which we all +thought very beautiful: + + "Handy-spandy, Jack-a-Dandy + Loves plum-cake and sugar candy." + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 15._] + + THE + + YOUNG GAME-WARDEN + + BY HARRY CASTLEMON. + + +CHAPTER XXXI--[CONTINUED]. + +Silas was so completely wrapped up in his own affairs that the boys got +close to him before he was aware of their presence, and it is the +greatest wonder in the world that he did not shoot one of them in his +excitement. + +He was really alarmed; but when he had taken a good look at the +newcomers, in order to make sure of their identity, he laid his gun +across the chair, pushed up his sleeves, and shook both his fists at +Dan. + +"So you thought you would fool your poor old pap this morning, did you, +you little snipe?" he shouted. "Well, you see what you made by it, don't +you?" + +"I never tried to make a fool of you," stammered Dan, who had a faint +idea that he understood the situation. "Inever in this wide world!" + +"Hush your noise when I tell you I know better," yelled Silas; and one +would have thought, by the way he acted and looked, that he was very +angry, instead of very much delighted, at the way things had turned out. +"Here you have been and tramped all over them mountings, and never got a +cent for it, while I have made a clean twenty-five hundred dollars, if I +counted it up right on my fingers; and I reckon I did, 'cause your mam +put in a figger to help me now and then." + +"Why, how did it happen?" exclaimed Joe, who, up to this moment, had not +been able to do anything but stand still and look astonished. + +He knew that his father had captured one of the robbers without help +from any one, and that was more than fifty other men had been able to +do, with all their weary tramping. + +"The way it happened was just this," said Silas, who could not stand in +one place for a single moment. "Hold on there!" he added, turning +fiercely upon his prisoner, who just then moved uneasily upon the bench, +as if he were trying to find a softer spot to sit on. "I've got my eyes +onto you, and you mightas--" + +"Why, father, he can't get away," Joe interposed. "You've got him tied +up too tight. Why don't you let out that rope a little?" + +"'Cause he's worth a pile of money--that's why!" exclaimed Silas; "and I +won't let the rope out not one inch, nuther. You Joe, keep away from +there." + +"I really wish you would undo some of this rope," said the prisoner, +who, like Byron's Corsair, seemed to be a mild-mannered man. "Ihave +been tied up ever since two o'clock, and am numb all over. Icouldn't +run a step if I should try." + +"Don't you believe a word of that!" exclaimed Silas. "Come away from +there and let that rope be, Itell you." + +"Say, father," said Joe, suddenly, "what are you going to do with your +captive? Do you intend to sit up and watch him all night long?" + +"I was just a-studying about that when you come up and scared me," +replied Silas, dropping the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning +heavily upon the muzzle. + +He never could stand alone for any length of time; he always wanted +something to support him. + +"What do you think I had better do about it? Idon't much like to keep +him here, 'cause-- Why, just look a-here, Joey," added Silas, moving up +to the door, and pointing to some object inside the cabin. "See them +tools I took away from him?" + +The boys stepped to their father's side, and saw lying upon the table, +where Silas had placed it, abelt containing a brace of heavy revolvers +and a murderous-looking knife. + +"Now, them's dangerous," continued Silas, "and if this feller's pardner +should happen along--" + +"But he won't happen along," interrupted Dan. "Brierly's squad gobbled +him." + +The ferryman looked surprised, then disgusted, and finally he turned an +inquiring glance upon Joe, who said that Dan told the truth. + +"You don't like it, do you?" said the latter, to himself. "It sorter +hurts you to know that there is them in the world that are just as lucky +and smart as you be, don't it? Yes, that's what's the matter with pap. +He don't want no one else to be as well off as heis." + +And when Dan said that, he hit the nail fairly on the head. + +"The other robber is not in a condition to attempt a rescue," said Joe; +"but, all the same, Idon't think you ought to keep this man here all +night. The sheriff is now at Mr. Warren's house, and it is your duty to +hand the prisoner over to him at once. Be careful how you point those +guns this way." + +This last remark was called forth by an action on the part of Silas and +Dan that made Joe feel the least bit uncomfortable. + +While the latter was talking, his hands were busy with the rope; and +when the prisoner arose from the bench and stamped his feet to set the +blood in circulation again, his excited and watchful guards at once +covered his head and Joe's with the muzzles of their guns. + +"Turn those weapons the other way," repeated Joe, angrily. "You don't +think this man is foolish enough to try to run off while his hands are +tied, do you? Now, father, how did you happen to catch him?" + +"It was just as easy as falling off a log," replied Silas, resuming his +seat and resting his double-barrel across his knees. "When you and Dan +went away this morning, Ijust naturally shouldered my gun, walked up +the road to the foot of the mounting, and set down on a log to wait for +game to come a-running past me, just the same as if I was watching for +deer, you know." + +This was all true; but there was one thing he did that he forgot to +mention. The only "game" Silas expected to see was Dan Morgan, when he +returned from the mountain at night, and the ferryman was prepared to +give him a warm reception. Before he devoted himself to the task of +holding down that log by the roadside, he took the trouble to cut a long +hickory switch, and to place it beside the log, out of sight. He meant +to give Dan such a thrashing that he would never play any more tricks +upon him. + +"Well, about one o'clock, or a little after, while I was a-setting there +and waiting for the game to come along, Iheared a noise in the brush, +and, all on a sudden, out popped this feller. He was running like he'd +been sent for, and that's why I suspicioned him. Of course I didn't know +him from Adam, but I asked him would he stop a bit. And he 'lowed he +would, when he seed my gun looking him square in the eye. Ibrung him +home, and your mam she passed out the clothes-line, and I tied himup." + +"Where is mother now?" asked Joe. + +"Gone off after more sewing, I reckon," replied Silas, in a tone which +seemed to say that it was a matter that was not worth talking about. +"She helped me figger up what I would get for catching him, and then she +dug out. I'm worth almost as much as you be now, Joey, and that there +mean Dan, who wouldn't stay by and help me, he ain't got a cent. Now +don't you wish you hadn't played that trick on me this morning?" + +"Never mind that," interposed Joe, who did not care to stand by and +listen to an angry altercation which might end in a fight or a foot-race +between his father and Dan. "If we are going to deliver this man to the +sheriff to-night, we had better be moving." + +"Do you reckon the sheriff will hand over the twenty-five hundred when I +give up the prisoner?" inquired Silas, as the party walked down the bank +toward the flat. + +"Of course he won't." + +"What for won't he?" + +"Because he hasn't got it with him. Perhaps it was never put into his +hands at all. Ihaven't received my share yet." + +"Then I reckon I'd best hold fast to him till I'm sure of my money," +said Silas, reflectively. "Iguess I won't take him down to old man +Warren's to-night." + +"I guess you will, unless you want to get into trouble with the law," +said Joe, decidedly. "If you don't give him up of your own free will, +the sheriff will take him away from you." + +Silas protested that he couldn't see any sense in such a law as that, +but he lent his aid in pushing off the flat. + +Dan, who was almost too angry to breathe, had more than half a mind to +stay at home; but his curiosity to hear and see all that was said and +done when the prisoner was turned over to the officers of the law +impelled him to think better of it. When the flat was shoved off, +he jumped in and picked up one of the oars. + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +We have said that Tom Hallet was so anxious to help his unlucky friend +Bob in some way that he joined the very first squad that went out in +search of him. + +The man who had the name of being the leader of it was the sheriff's +deputy; but the two stalwart young farmers who belonged to his party +were longer of limb than he was, and they pushed ahead at such a rate +that the deputy speedily fell to the rear, and stayed there during the +most of the day. + +"Me and Cyrus have come out to win that there reward," said one of the +young men, when Tom remonstrated with them for leaving the officer so +far behind, "and we can't do it by loafing along like that sheriff does. +We've got a mortgage to pay off on the farm, and we don't know any +easier way to raise the money for it than to capture one of them +rogues." + +But this sanguine young fellow was not the only one who was destined to +have his trouble for his pains; and what made his disappointment and his +brother's harder to bear was the reflection that if they had left Tom's +cabin half an hour earlier than they did, they might have succeeded in +earning a portion of the money of which they stood so much in need. + +They were not more than a quarter of a mile away when Brierly's signal +guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They ran +forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of action +before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were also +disappointed. + +When they came within sight of the successful party, they found the +robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his +weapons. + +"Too late, boys!" exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his +good fortune. "You can't lay claim to any of our money, if that's what +brung you up here in such haste." + +"We don't care for the money," panted Tom. "Where's Bob?" + +"That's so," said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon +the prisoner during the whole forenoon. "Where is he? Say, feller, what +have you done with him?" + +"I have not seen him for two hours," replied the prisoner. "As soon as +we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, and +I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn't want to keep him +with us for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were +hiding." + +Just then, the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his +breath, managed to inquire: + +"What have you done with your partners?" + +"There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way," +answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the +compass. + +Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and watched +the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of +hand-cuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when +Brierly's party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind them. + +He went as straight to his cabin as he could go, and there he found Bob +Emerson, who was rummaging around in the hope of finding something to +eat. + +"I haven't had a bite of anything since last night, and you'd better +believe that I am hungry," said Bob, after he and Tom had greeted each +other as though they had been separated for years. "But I am not a bit +of a hero. Ihaven't had an adventure worth the telling." + +"There's nothing in there," said Tom, seeing that his friend was casting +longing eyes toward his game-bag. "Ididn't take much of a lunch with +me, and I was hungry enough to eat it all. Can you stand it until we get +home?" + +"I'll have to," replied Bob. "By-the-way, did you ever see that before?" + +As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a soiled and +crumpled letter, which looked as though it might have been through the +war. + +It was the same precious document that he and Tom had left in Silas +Morgan's wood-pile. + +"One of the robbers gave it to me last night," continued Bob, in reply +to his companion's inquiring look. "You will remember that Dan Morgan +lost the letter within a few feet of the log on which he sat when he +read it, and that when he and Silas went back to find it, they were +frightened away by something that dodged into the bushes before they +could get a sight at it, and which they took to be a ghost. Well, it +wasn't a ghost at all, but one of the thieves, who had been to the Beach +after supplies. He found the letter, and read it. Of course he was +greatly alarmed, and so was his companion; for they couldn't help +believing that some one had got wind of their hiding-place. They could +hardly believe me when I told them that you and I made that letter up +out of the whole cloth, and that we never dreamed there was any one +living in the gorge." + +"But we did know it," said Tom. + +"Of course we did after they frightened us, but not before. They spoke +about that, too. We took them completely by surprise the day we came +down the gorge. We were close upon their camp before they knew it, +and for a minute or two they didn't know what to do. Then one of them +conceived the idea of making that hideous noise, and when the other saw +how well it worked, he joined in with him." + +"But didn't they know that we would be back sooner or later to look into +the matter?" asked Tom. + +"Of course they did, and that was another thing that frightened them. +They saw very plainly that their hiding-place was broken up, and were +making preparations to leave it when Silas and Dan put in their +appearance. The robbers saw and heard them long before they got to the +camp, and the one who found the letter recognized them at once. It was +at his suggestion that that ghost was riggedup." + +"But they must have known that they could not scare everybody with that +dummy," observed Tom. + +"To-be-sure they did, and they were in a great hurry to get away from +there; but they needed provisions, and by stopping to get them they fell +into trouble. They took Joe Morgan's house for a wood-chopper's cabin, +and while we were robbing them, they were foraging on Joe. Itell you, +Tom, it's a lucky thing for us that we got out of that gorge when we +did. They were mad enough to shoot us on sight." + +"I don't wonder at it," replied Tom. "It would make most anybody mad to +lose a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and securities, no +matter how he came by them. Where did they catch you? Did they treat you +well?" + +"They treated me well enough," was Bob's reply; "but I believe that if +they had not stood in fear of immediate capture, Ishould have a +different story to tell, if, indeed, Iwere able to tell any. Itold you +nothing but the truth in the postscript I added to their note." + +"I knew they made you write it, and that you did not express your honest +sentiments when you told us to be in a hurry about giving back that +valise." + +"I was sure you would understand it: but what could a fellow do with a +cocked revolver flourished before his eyes by a man who was in just the +right humor to use it on him?" + +"He would do as he is told, of course," answered Tom. "But do you +suppose they thought they could get that valise back by threatening +you?" + +"I don't know what they thought, for they acted as if they were crazy. +They caught me in less than half an hour after I left you, and it was +through my own fault. Iran on to them before I knew it; and do you +imagine I thought 'robbers' once? As true as you live, Ididn't. Itook +them for poachers, and told them, very politely, that these grounds were +posted and they couldn't be allowed to shoot there, when all on a sudden +it popped into my head what I was doing. They saw the start I gave, and +in a second more they had me covered. If I could have got away without +letting them see that I suspected them, they wouldn't have said a word +tome." + +"Well, they covered you with their revolvers; then what?" + +"Beyond a doubt, they made a prisoner of me before they thought what +they were doing, and when they came to look at it, they found that they +had got an elephant on their hands. Then they would have been glad to +get rid of me; but they did not see just how they could do it with +safety to themselves, so they made up their minds to useme. + +"At first they thought they would wait and see if anything would come of +the notice they left on the door of the cabin, and then they thought +they wouldn't--that they would hunt up another hiding-place as soon as +possible; so they ordered me to take them where nobody would ever think +of looking for them. And I could do nothing but obey." + +"Were you acting as their guide when they released you?" + +Bob replied that he was. + +"Why didn't you veer around a bit, and lead them toward the railroad?" + +"If I had, I shouldn't be here now," answered Bob, significantly. "They +warned me to be careful about that, and they were so well acquainted +with the hills that I was afraid to attempt any tricks. We camped over +on Dungeon Brook last night, and set out again at an early hour this +morning; but before we had been in motion an hour, we found ourselves +cut off from the upper end of the hills, and that was the time they made +up their minds to let me go. They didn't say so, but still I had an idea +that they didn't want me around for fear I would make too much noise to +suit them." + +"I know they were afraid of it," said Tom. "The robber that Brierly's +squad captured saidso." + +"Is one of them taken?" exclaimed Bob, who hadn't heard of it before. +"That's good news. Where's the other?" + +"Don't know. They separated after they let you go, and Brierly captured +one of them. Perhaps we shall hear something about the other one now," +added Tom, directing his companion's attention to a large party of men +who were at that moment discovered approaching the cabin. "We went out +in squads of four, and there are a dozen men in that crowd." + +"But I don't see any prisoner among them," said Bob. "They have all got +guns on their shoulders, and that proves that they have not seen +anything of robber number two." + +As the party came nearer, the boys saw that it was made up of citizens +of Bellville and Hammondsport, who had abandoned the search for the day, +and were now on their way home. + +They were surprised to see Bob Emerson there, safe and sound, and +forthwith desired a full history of the letter which had been the means +of bringing about so remarkable a series of events. + +Bob protested that he was too hungry to talk, but when he saw the +generous supply of bread and meat which one of the men drew from his +haversack, he sat down on a log in front of the cabin and told his +story. + +His auditors declared that the way things had turned out was little +short of wonderful, adding, as they arose to go, that they were coming +out again, bright and early the next morning, to resume the search for +robber number two. They were not going to remain idle at home, they +said, as long as there were twenty-five hundred dollars running around +loose in the woods. + +When the bread and meat were all gone, and the boys were once more +alone, Tom wrote the notice which Joe Morgan found pinned to the door of +the cabin, and then he and Bob set out for Uncle Hallet's. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Although Silas Morgan had received the most convincing proof that he had +nothing more to fear from the "hant" which had so long occupied all his +waking thoughts and disturbed his dreams at night, he would not have +taken one step toward Mr. Warren's house before morning, had he not been +urged on by the hope that the sheriff would be ready to pay over his +money as soon as the robber was given up to him. The desire to handle +the reward to which he was entitled was stronger than his fear of the +dark. + +"And what shall I do with them twenty-five hundred after I get 'em, +Joey?" said he. "That's what's a-bothering of me now." + +And it was the very thing that was bothering Joe, also. His father had +always been in the habit of spending his money as fast as he got it, and +the boy fully expected to see this large sum slip through his fingers +without doing the least good to him or anybody else. + +"I'll tell you what I _wouldn't_ do with it," said Joe, after a little +hesitation. "Iwouldn't give Hobson any ofit." + +"You're right I won't!" exclaimed Silas. "He's got more'n his share +already. What be you going to do with yours, when you getit?" + +"I think now that I shall put it in the bank at Hammondsport," answered +Joe. "It will be safe there, and if I am careful of it, it will last me +until I get through going to school. You don't want to go to school, but +you might go into business and increase your capital." + +"That's it--that's it, Joey!" exclaimed Silas, who grew enthusiastic at +once. "Inever thought of that. But what sort of business? It must be +something easy, 'cause I've worked hard enough already." + +"Mr. Warren says that there is no easy way of making a living," began +Joe; but his father interrupted him with an exclamation of impatience. + +"What does old man Warren know about it?" he demanded. "He never had to +do a hand's turn in his life." + +"But he don't know what it is to be idle, and he is busy at something +every day," said Joe. "I'll tell you what I have often thought I would +do if I had a little money, and I may do it yet, if you don't decide to +go into it. The new road that is coming through here is bound to bring a +good many people to the Beach, sooner or later. As the trout are nearly +all gone, the guests will have to devote their attention to the bass in +the lake, and consequently there will be a big demand for boats." + +"So there will!" exclaimed Silas, who saw at once what Joe was trying to +get at. "That's the business I've been looking for, Joey, and it's an +easy one, too. Of course, Ican let all my boats at so much an hour, and +I won't have nothing to do but sit on the beach and take in my money." + +"And what'll I be doing?" inquired Dan, who had not spoken before. + +"You!" cried Silas, who seemed to have forgotten that Dan was one of the +party. "You will keep on chopping cord wood, to pay you for the mean +trick you played on me this morning. You see what you made by it, don't +you? Ireckon you wish you'd stayed by me now, don't you? How much will +them boats cost me, Joey?" + +"I should think that ten or a dozen skiffs would be enough to begin +with," answered Joe, "and they will cost you between three and four +hundred dollars; but you would have enough left to rent a piece of +ground of Mr. Warren and put up a snug little house onit." + +"Then I'll be a gentleman like the rest of 'em, won't I?" exclaimed +Silas, gleefully. + +"No, you won't," said Dan, to himself. "That bridge ain't been built +yet, and I don't reckon Hobson means to have it there. He is going to +bust it up some way or 'nother, and I'm just the man to help him, if +he'll pay me for it. Everybody is getting rich 'cepting me, and I ain't +going to be treated this way no longer!" + +Silas was so completely carried away by Joe's plan for making money +without work that he could think of nothing else. He forgot how +determined and vindictive Dan was, and how easy it would be for him to +place a multitude of obstacles in his way, but Joe didn't. + +The latter knew well enough that Dan intended to make trouble if he were +left out in the cold, but what could be done for so lazy and unreliable +a fellow as he was? That was the question. + +While Joe was turning it over in his mind, he led the way through Mr. +Warren's gate and up to the porch, where he found his employer sitting +in company with the sheriff and both Uncle Hallet's game-wardens. The +deputy was in an upper room, keeping guard over the other prisoner. + +Of course, Tom and Bob, who were greatly surprised as well as delighted +to see Joe and his party, wanted to know just how the capture of robber +number two had been brought about, and while Joe was telling the story, +the sheriff marched the captive into the house and turned him over to +his deputy. + +Then he came back and sat down; but he did not put his hand into his +pocket and pull out the reward, as Silas hoped he would. + +"This has been a good day's work all around," said Tom, who was in high +spirits. "The next time there is any detective work to be done in this +county, Bob and I will volunteer to do it. We can catch more criminals +by sitting still and writing letters, than the officers can by bringing +all their skill into play." + +The sheriff laughed, and said that was the way the thing looked from +where he sat. + +"The fun is all over now," continued Tom, "and to-morrow we will go to +work in earnest. You will be on hand, of course?" + +Joe replied that he would. + +"By-the-way," chimed in Bob, "did this robber of yours have a gun of any +description in his hands when he was captured?" + +"No." + +"Then, Joe, you and I are just that much out of pocket. The guns are +goneup." + +"What has become of them?" + +"They are out in the hills somewhere," answered Bob. "When the robbers +made up their minds that they had better let me go, one of them had my +gun and the other had yours; but the robber Brierly captured says that +the weapon impeded his flight, and so he threw it away. Whereabouts he +was in the hills when he got rid of it, he can't tell. No doubt your gun +was thrown away also, and the chances are not one in a thousand that we +shall ever find them again." + +While this conversation was going on, Silas Morgan, who stood at the +foot of the steps that led to the porch, kept pulling Joe by the +coat-sleeve, and whispering to him: + +"Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I'm powerful anxious to see +the color of them twenty-five hundred." + +Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so very +much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy's notice, that the +officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the conversation, +he said, carelessly: + +"Oh, about the reward, Silas--" + +"That's the idee," replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he was +going to get it now. "That's what I'm here for. You have got the +bugglars in your own hands now, and I don't reckon you would mind +passing it over, would you?" + +"I?" exclaimed the sheriff. "I haven't got it. Ihave never had a cent +of it in my possession." + +"Then who's going to give it to me?" demanded Silas, who wondered if the +officer was going to cheat him out of his money. + +"Well, you see, Silas," said the sheriff, "the reward is conditioned +upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, +and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can't get your +money until they are sentenced." + +"And how long will that be?" + +"The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money was +offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry and +things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from +different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a +lump." + +"That's the way I want it," said Silas, who was very much disappointed. +"I'm going into business." + +"What sort of business?" inquired Mr. Warren. + +"I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach." + +"Well now, Silas, that's the most sensible thing I have heard from you +in a long time," said Mr. Warren. "I'll rent you a piece of ground big +enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good +shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you +manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living +ofit." + +"Who said anything about Dan?" exclaimed Silas. + +"I did. Of course you can't ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants +a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He's a strong +boy, afirst-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds +on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who +wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a +day for such work as that." + +"Well, I won't do it," said Silas, promptly. "He's a lazy, +good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won't take him into business along +ofme." + +"But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game +law and make an honest living," said the sheriff. "By-the-way, Silas, +Iguess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble +of going after them." + +"What setters?" exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of +taking to his heels. "Iain't got none. Itook 'em down to the hotel and +give 'emup." + +"I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble," replied +the officer. "Ihave had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got hold +of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known where +to find the owner. Don't do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best +policy, every day in the week." + +"If you will leave your business in my hands, Iwill attend to it for +you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all," continued Mr. +Warren. + +And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the +gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, +if he could helpit. + +"It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats +this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, +and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at +Hobson's bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not +paid over to you by the time spring opens, Iwill advance you enough to +start you in business and build your house. Then I think you had better +give Dan a chance." + +"So do I," whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. "Dan has lived by his wits +long enough, and if Silas doesn't begin to take some interest in him, +the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. Ican +see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over Silas as a +whip to make him behave himself." + +"Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?" asked +Bob. + +"No, I don't, because he doesn't know enough to take care of so much +money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that +he will make every cent of it count." + +Then, aloud, Tom said: + +"Well, Bob, seeing that we've got to get up in the morning, we had +better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take +your things back to your cabin." + +"And I will send up another supply of provisions," said Mr. Warren. + +Joe thanked his employer, bade him good-night, and led the way out of +the yard. + +For a time he and his party walked along in silence, and then Silas, who +began to have a vague idea that he had been imposed upon in some way, +broke out, fiercely: + +"What did old man Warren mean by saying that if I didn't get all my +money by the time spring comes, he would advance enough to set me up in +business?" Silas almost shouted. "Looks to me like he'd 'p'inted himself +my guardeen, and that he means to keep a tight grip on them twenty-five +hundred, so't I can't spend it to suit myself. That's what I think he +means to do, dog-gone the luck!" + +Joe thought so, too, and he was glad of it. If that was Mr. Warren's +intention, Joe's mother would be likely to reap some benefit from the +reward; otherwise, she would not. + + [TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +EIGHT GOOD RIDDLES. + + +Feet have they, but they walk not--stoves. + +Eyes have they, but they see not--potatoes. + +Teeth have they, but they chew not--saws. + +Noses have they, but they smell not--teapots. + +Mouths have they, but they taste not--rivers. + +Hands have they, but they handle not--Clocks. + +Ears have they, but they hear not--cornstalks. + +Tongues have they, but they talk not--wagons. + + +[Illustration: + +_Teacher_--"I am sorry, William, to have to whip a big boy like you. +It grieves me terribly." + +_William_--"It don't grieve you half as much as it doesme."] + + + + +CREAM OF THE COMICS. + + "Brisk as a bee." + --_Boswell's Life of Johnson_. + + + --In the drama of life the clerk plays a counter-part. + + --Why is a whisper forbidden in polite society? Because it isn't +aloud. + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATED TALE.] + + --A tinsmith in the country has a sign which reads: + "Quart measures of all shapes and sizes sold here." + + --Customer: "Is your bread nice and light?" + Baker's boy: "Yessum; it only weighs nine ounces to the pound!" + + --"Home, Sweet Home"--a bee-hive. + + --The egotist lives on an I-land. + + --The Bank of England--a fog-bank. + + --"April showers bring forth May flowers." + Said Flora to her brother Bob: "Robert, dear, what do April showers + bring forth?" + Said Bob: "Umbrellas, of course!" + + --"Don't you find the people around here very sociable?" asked + Cobwigger of a new neighbor. + "Yes, indeed, I do," was the hearty response. "Only a moment ago I met + a beggar, and he held out his hand tome." + + --"Pa," said little Jimmie, "I was very near going to the head of my + class to-day." + "How is that, my son?" + "Why, a big word came all the way down to me, and if I could only have + spelled it, Ishould have gone clearup." + + --Mamma (coaxingly): "Come, Bobby, take your medicine now, and then + jump into bed!" + Bobby: "I do not want to take my medicine, mamma." + Father (who knows how to govern children) "Robert, if you don't take + your medicine at once, you will be put to bed without taking it at + all." + + --A little girl in Charles Street, Boston, has an old-fashioned doll + which has the following words worked in red silk letters on its + sawdust-stuffed body: + + "Steal not this doll for fear of shame, + For here you see the owner's name. + + "PRISCILLA ALDEN." + + --A little grammar found in an old garret in Portsmouth, N.H., has an + illustration representing the difference between the active, passive + and neuter verbs. It is a picture of a father whipping his boy. The + father is active, the boy is passive, and the mother, sitting by + herself on a stool, looking on, but doing nothing, is neuter. + + --"Here, Johnnie, what do you mean by taking Willie's cake away from + him? Didn't you have a piece for yourself?" + "Yes; but you told me I always ought to take my little brother's + part." + + --Young physician (who has just lost a patient, to old physician): + "Would you advise an autopsy, doctor?" + Old physician: "No; I would advise an inquest." + + --"Pause!" cries the sire unto the lad, + "Let judgment teach you sense." + "I will," he answers, "when I've had + Enough experience." + + --Doctor: "Now, my little man, you take this medicine and I will give + you five cents." + Young America: "You take it yourself, and I will go you five cents + better." + + --Mistaking the door, young Mr. Cipher walked into the dentist's + office instead of the doctor's. + "Doctor," he groaned, "I'm in bad shape. My head aches all the time, + and I can't do anything withit." + "Yes, yes," said Doctor Toothaker, cheerfully. "Isee; big cavity in + it; must be hollow; you'll need to have it filled." + And, seeing his mistake, young Mr. Cipher apologized and went out, + and told it all around as a capital joke on the dentist. + + +[Illustration: JOHNNIE'S FIRST FISHING EXCURSION OF THE SEASON. + + What he caught at the pond. + + What he caught when he got home!] + + + + +OUR LETTER BOX. + + +DECLINED.--A Sad Catastrophe--A Stage-Driver's Story--My Dog Carlo--The +Children's Celebration--Flossie's Letter--The Scotch Yacht +Thistle--Brave Dog Nero and his Friends--Our First Boat Ride--Little +Sam, aTale of Long Ago--Penny. + +Q. K.--The first fire insurance office in the United States was +established at Boston in 1724; the first life insurance at Philadelphia +in 1812. + +J. E. M. AND R. B. G.--Every requisite for admission to the West Point +Military Academy was fully detailed in No. 12 of the last volume, which +will be mailed to any address upon the receipt of 6 cents. + +OLD READER.--1. The oldest daily newspaper in this country is the North +American and United States Gazette, founded in 1771, and still published +in Philadelphia. 2.There may be some curiosity dealer in your city who +would be willing to purchase the ancient paper in your possession. + +YUM YUM.--Boulak is the port of Cairo, Egypt, being situated on the +right bank of the Nile, one mile northwest of that city, of which it +forms a suburb. Anoble museum of antiquities is situated at Boulak, +and the latest additions to its treasures are the mummies described in +No.22. + +F. E. N.--Level is a term applied to surfaces that are parallel to that +of still water, or perpendicular to the direction of the plumb-line; and +when it is desired to ascertain the altitude of any specified locality, +the level of the ocean's surface is always taken as the standard from +which such reckoning is made. + +ALEX.--The easiest and most skillful methods of killing setting and +preserving insects were set forth in Nos. 18, 27, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of +Vol. III. The process of making the "killing bottle" is too lengthy to +be reproduced here, but is given in full in the first-mentioned issue, +under the heading "Herme's Museum." + +W. B. W.--By closely studying the construction and solution of the +puzzles printed from week to week in this paper, any boy of average +intelligence will have no difficulty in mastering them in a +comparatively short time. Avery interesting article on this subject was +presented under the title of "An Instructive Pastime," in No. 22 of Vol. +VII. + +CLARENCE B.--There is only one source of alcohol--the fermentation of +sugar or other saccharine matter. Sugar is the produce of the vegetable +world. Some plants contain free sugar, and still more contain starch, +which can be converted into sugar. The best vegetable substances, +therefore, for yielding alcohol are those that contain the greatest +abundance of sugar or of starch. + +A SUBSCRIBER, H. C. J. AND S. O. K.--Boys aged from fourteen to eighteen +years are eligible to appointment to the United States Naval Academy at +Annapolis, Md. The limit of age for those enlisting on the government +training ships is from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches +of the service are open to any American youths capable of passing the +physical and mental examinations required of all applicants. + +H. S. W.--The Bible informs us that Tubal-Cain, the son of Lamech and +Zillah, was the "instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," and +on that account he is considered the first blacksmith of which there is +any record. Respecting the tools used by him there is no mention made by +historians. Jabal, another son of Lamech, "was the father of such as +dwell in tents and of such as have cattle," and his brother Jubal "of +all such as handle the harp and organ." + +FRANKLIN SCHOOL.--We prefer to refrain from publishing medical recipes, +such as pimple removers and the like, always advising a consultation +with a first-class physician, who will prescribe some blood-purifying +compound for the relief or cure of the trouble. In our younger days, +amixture of molasses, cream tartar and sulphur was considered a +sovereign remedy for skin eruptions, and a weak solution of alcohol or +ammonia a most excellent annihilator of "blackheads." + +HARKINGOPITCHER.--1. The originator of puzzles is not known, nor is it +at all probable that the mystery surrounding their inception will ever +be cleared away. The fabled founder is the Sphinx of Egypt, who, +the mythologists inform us, propounded the first enigma. 2.It is an +invariable custom to notify our readers of the appearance of new serial +stories, and therefore you will receive due notice of those written by +your favorites, when we conclude to publish them. + +THEO. H.--The action of machines used for making ice consists in +evaporating ether, or any similar volatile liquid, in a vacuum, and +again condensing the vapor to liquid, so as to be used afresh. Fifty-two +degrees of cold is thus easily obtained, and the machines used for the +purpose can produce several tons of ice each day in the hottest +countries. Much artificial ice is now made by compressing atmospheric +air, and by this method a freezing temperature is obtained on vessels +employed in carrying fresh meats from distant countries. + +INK BOTTLE.--1. Mineralogists apply the term "pyrites" to a large group +or family of minerals, compounds of metals with sulphur, or with +arsenic, or with both. The name was originally given to the sulphuret of +iron, known as iron pyrites, in consequence of its striking fire with +steel (from the Greek _pyr_, fire), and it was used for kindling powder +in the pans of muskets before gun-flints were introduced. Iron pyrites +is commonly of a bright brass-yellow color, and is found crystallized in +cubes, dodecahedrons and many other forms. It is a very widely diffused +and plentiful mineral, and seems to belong almost equally to all +geological formations. 2.Eagle cents issued in 1858 are of no value to +collectors, because they lack rarity. 3.Your exchange is too trivial. + +J. B. D., of Chicago, kindly informs us that he has been able to get a +slight shock from a telegraph battery in the following manner: "On every +learner's instrument there are two binding-posts, and to one of them is +joined a wire from the battery; asmall file is fastened to the other; +the key is closed, and then the other wire of the battery is taken in +your wet fingers, and, with the other hand, also wet, upon the file, +the wire is run along the surface of the file, and a shock results." + +WALTER R.--What is known as the registry system is intended to secure to +valuable mail-matter in its transition through the mails the utmost +security within the province of the Post Office Department. The fee on +any registered matter, domestic or foreign, is fixed at ten cents on +each parcel or letter, to be affixed in stamps, in addition to the +postage. The money-order system is intended to promote public +convenience, and to secure safety in the transfer through the mails of +small sums of money. The rates may be ascertained by inquiring at a +local office. + +AN ADMIRER OF G. D.--1. Two French scientists, Captain Renard and +M.Tissaudier, have invented a balloon whose motive power is +electricity. The dynamo machine used by them is an intensely +concentrated bichromate battery of one and a half horse-power. It is +very light, weighing but 121 pounds. Several successful experimental +trips have been made in this machine, and the inventors claim that by +using all the battery power, they were enabled to navigate against the +wind. They may be over-sanguine, but expect, after making some +improvements in the balloon, to attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty +miles an hour. 2.Constant base-ball practice will harden the hands. +No artificial preparation is used by professionals. + +PARXIE.--John Howard, an Englishman, made on May 8, 1854, the greatest +running long-jump, with weights, 29 feet 7 inches; without weights, the +highest record is 23 feet 3 inches, made by M.W. Ford, August 14, 1886. +Standing long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5 inches, G. W. Hamilton, +October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10 inches, M.H. Johnson, +September4, 1884. Running hop-step-and-jump. 48 feet 8 inches, +T.Burrows, October 18, 1884; standing hop-step-and-jump, with weights, +40 feet 2 inches, D.Anderson, July 24, 1865; without weights, 31 feet +10 inches, Gavin Tait, 1862. These are world's records. The best +one-mile amateur bicycle record--2.35 2-5--was made by W. A. Rowe, +October 23, 1885. He has beaten this record--2.29 4-5--since he became a +professional. + +H. C. H.--In early days the coining of copper money for New Jersey was +given by law to Walker Mould, Thomas Goodsby and Albion Cox. There were +two mints, one at Elizabethtown and the other at Morristown. These coins +display on their obverse a horse's head, usually facing right, with a +plow below it, and the legend is "Nova Csarea." The date is placed in +several positions. On the reverse is a shield, with the motto +"EPluribus Unum" around the border. In ordinary condition, these +coppers are worth from ten to fifty cents. The rarest varieties are +those having the date under the beam, which are worth $100 each: with +the General Washington bust, $150 each; and with "Immunis Columbia, +1786" for obverse, $50. Doubtless the one in your possession is a common +variety. + +GRAPE CITY.--1. The modern express traffic was originated by William F. +Harnden, on March4, 1839. At first he carried the packages himself from +place to place in a satchel; but his patrons grew in number until he had +to establish an office in each city, with a daily messenger each day. +Previous to this, all such packages had been sent by friends, or by +special messengers. 2.The precise time of the invention of the +telescope, as well as the name of its inventor, is unknown. Prior to the +end of the thirteenth century, glass lenses were in use for the purpose +of assisting the eye in obtaining distinctness of vision. Galileo is +generally credited with being the first who constructed a telescope by +which he was enabled to make many of the great discoveries upon which +the science of astronomy stands for its foundation. 3.By good business +methods you can doubtless build up a trade such as that stated. +4.Inquire at a book store. + +KICKAPOO.--1. At the beginning of the eleventh century it is said that +the Northmen attempted to plant a settlement in the locality known as +Rhode Island. In 1614, Block, the Dutch navigator, explored it, and the +Dutch traders afterward, seeing the marshy estuaries red with +cranberries, called it Roode Eylandt, "red island," afterward corrupted +into the name it now bears. Roger Williams, aWelsh-Puritan minister, +pastor of a church at Salem, was banished from the colony of +Massachusetts, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, and there, with a +few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in +1636. The place selected by him for settlement he called Providence. +2.The first wife of Julius Csar was named Cornelia; the second was +Pompeia, arelative of the noted Pompey; and the third was Calpurnia. +3.Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, +and died May5, 1821, at St. Helena, to which island he had been exiled +after the battle of Waterloo. + +NEMO.--The recipe for making a copying-pad and the ink used thereon was +given in No.2, vol.V. --E.D. AND AUTHOR. We are fully supplied with +literary material by experienced writers. --SOLOMONC. Acrobats do not +use any artificial preparation to increase their suppleness. Constant +practice is the secret of the agility displayed by them. --W.B. The +construction of a photographic camera was detailed in No. 13, Vol. IV; +while the making of blue prints formed the subject of an article in No. +51, Vol. II. --NINTH AVENUE. Interesting articles on the subject of +electricity have been presented in Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. VI, and 16, Vol. +VII. --SUBSCRIBER. An ingenious, painstaking boy can construct a very +neat olian harp by following out the directions given in No. 16 of the +fifth volume. --COPPERHEAD. 1.The drawing of the binder shows +considerable ingenuity, and is doubtless novel and useful enough to +warrant patenting. 2.One of the simplest and best forms of the canvas +canoe was illustrated and described in No. 37, Vol. VI. In this and the +previous number another kind is represented. --W.C.H. Any study can be +mastered if the student is persevering and ordinarily intelligent. +--D.P.H. 1.None of the curiosities in your possession are of any +special value. 2.The gold coin will pass at its face value. 3.Nos. 2 +and 18, Vol. II, are out of print. Three dollars per year is the regular +subscription price of GOLDEN DAYS. 4.The magazine is out of print. +--BUCKSKIN BOB. This paper has always been sold by us at a uniform rate +of six cents per copy. --W. M. K. Tan the small skins according to the +directions published in No.7, Vol. IV. --S.C. Yes. --J.A.W. Place +the matter in the hands of a lawyer. --W.G.W. The addition of a small +quantity of japan dryer to printing ink will make it dry quickly. +--CHESTNUTS. A boy of eleven should confine his reading to more useful +literature than novels, leaving those to be perused at a maturer age. +--COW BOY. There is such a series of juvenile books. Make inquiry at a +book store. --GOLDEN CROSS. A first class bookseller can obtain for you +the books of travels written by Stanley and Livingstone. --MIDDY +(Washington). The length of a ship's cable is about 720 feet. --B.O.S. +No premium is offered for 1819 quarter-dollars, Hong-Kong coins or +French centimes. + + [->] Several communications have been received which will be + answered next week. + + * * * * * + +UNCONDITIONALLY WARRANTED TO GIVE SATISFACTION! + + [Illustration: WOOD'S PENOGRAPH + THE ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE EXACT SIZE OF PENOGRAPH.] + WOOD'S PENOGRAPH! + +[->] *WOOD'S PENOGRAPH* consists of a first-class DIAMOND-POINTED +FOURTEEN-CARAT gold pen, and the only fountain holder ever constructed +which is _unconditionally warranted to give satisfaction_. It needs no +wiping and no dipping for ink, and it is carried in the pocket always +ready for use on any kind of paper. The Penograph is totally unlike the +McKennon, Livermore, T.Cross, and other Stylographic so-called pens, +which have a rigid point incapable of making shaded lines. Hitherto a +really desirable two-nibbed gold pen and fountain holder has been an +expensive luxury in which comparatively few could indulge. The retail +price of this Penograph is $3. It is warranted to be the _par +excellence_ of all fountain pens, and we place it within easy reach of +every one by the following liberal offer: + +Every Subscriber to GOLDEN DAYS for One Year can have this valuable +Fountain Pen sent to them postpaid by adding to the subscription price +one dollar--in other words, send us $4.00, and we will send postpaid +*Wood's Penograph* and GOLDEN DAYS for one year. In this way you will be +getting the *Penograph* for one dollar, or one year's subscription to +GOLDEN DAYS for one dollar, just as you please to look at it. Either way +you get a bargain. [->] The money must be sent direct to this office. + +Address + +JAMES ELVERSON, + +Publisher GOLDEN DAYS, Phila., Pa. + + * * * * * + + JUST THE BOOK FOR STUDENTS. + + *Military Dictionary* + + --and-- + + *GAZETTEER* + + Comprising + +*Ancient and Modern Technical Terms, Historical Accounts of all North +American Indians, as well as Ancient Warlike Tribes. Also, Notices of +Battles from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, with an Appendix +containing the Articles of War.* + + --by-- + + THOMAS WILHELM, + + (_Captain Eighth Infantry._) + + *656 Pages, Bound in Blue Cloth.* + +We have arranged with the publishers for a limited number of this book, +and will send + +*It and "Golden Days" one year on receipt of $3.25.* + +Money must be sent by the subscriber direct to this office--not through +any agent. Address + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher "Golden Days," + PHILADELPHIA, PA. + + * * * * * + +*OUR PREMIUM KNIFE!* + +[Illustration: {penknife} GOLDEN DAYS] + +Ivory handle, beautifully finished, EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. Made to our +own order, and can *only* be had by subscribing to "GOLDEN DAYS." + +[->] We will make this Knife *a Present* to any one who sends us THREE +DOLLARS + +*For One Year's Subscription to "Golden Days."* + +[->] The money must be sent *direct* to this office. Address + +*JAMES ELVERSON*, Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Phila.,Pa. + + +Special Notice.--WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we consider +ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have sent several +thousand Knives and Penographs without one in a thousand being lost. + + * * * * * + +Notices of Exchange. + + +[->] The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning +exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the +reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding +in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging +to write for particulars to the addresses before sending the articles +desired. + +[->] Exchange notices containing offers of or for _shot-guns_, +_air-guns_, _pistols_, _rifles_, _poisons_, _dangerous chemicals_, +_animals_, _odd numbers of papers_, _valueless coins and curiosities_, +_birds' eggs_, or "offers", will _not_ be inserted. + +*Exchange Notices conforming with the above rates are inserted free of +charge.* + +L. Boyd, N.E. cor. 18th and Hamilton Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., aset of +boxing gloves and a book by Verne, for a miniature sailboat, 2feet +long. + +S. A. Chevalier, No. 366 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 49 photo +negatives of notable yachts, buildings, etc., for an electrical outfit, +acornet, or a banjo. + +J. Hirsch, Box 212, Corpus Christi, Texas, acollection of sea +curiosities for stamps. + +E. T. Warner, 155 S. 5th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Vols. VI, VII (complete) +and VIII (to date) GOLDEN DAYS, and 20 books by Castlemon and Alger, +for other books by Castlemon, Alger, Otis or Ellis. + +L. G. Banks, 92 Maple Ave., 31st Ward, Pittsburg, Pa., amagic lantern +with lens, lamp and 12 views, and "Robinson Crusoe," for a Model +printing press. + +H. J. West, 1610 Hollins St., Baltimore, Md., amagic lantern with 13 +slides, in a leatherette box, for a pair of 3-pound Indian clubs and a +pair of 3-pound dumb-bells. + +R. F. Baird, 205 Wylie Ave., Pittsburg, Pa., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a +Waterbury watch. + +E. D. Flugel, 134 E. 109th St., N.Y. city, alarge bagatelle board with +marbles, for a collection of not less than 300 foreign stamps only. +(City offers only.) + +F. L. Shipley, Box 275, Creston, Ia., Vols. LVII and LVIII "Youth's +Companion" and Vol. VIII (up to date) GOLDEN DAYS, for a printing press +and outfit. + +H. B. Cochran, 345 N. 12th St., Phila., Pa., aWaterbury watch, afont +of newspaper type, and 2 books, for a book on mineralogy and natural +history or specimens of minerals. + +E. Rudolphy, 389 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. Vol. VII "Harper's Young +People," for a photo tripod. + +H. A. Eastman, Box 1080, Keene, N.H., a printing press and 5 fonts of +type, for a telegraph key and sounder. + +J. Tracy, Conneaut, Ohio, a maple-shell snare-drum with ebony sticks, +for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +M. Graham, Grove City, Pa., a magic lantern with 35 slides, apanorama, +a3x4 printing press with type, atelephone and a cabinet of tricks, +for a telegraph instrument with batteries. + +L. Randall, 1825 Garrison Ave., St. Louis, Mo., acollection of over 300 +foreign and U.S. postage stamps and a collection of postmarks, for a +Waterbury watch. + +W. P. Simpson, Box 773, Jacksonville, Fla., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, apair +of roller skates and a set of books, for a silver watch or a press and +outfit. + +C. W. Hurst, 1825 Fitzwater St., Phila., Pa., Vols. I, II and III GOLDEN +DAYS, axylophone, amagic lantern with 24 slides, and a stamp +collection in an album, for the best offer of bicycle sundries. + +T. J. McMahon, 41 Thomas St., N.Y. city, Vols. III, IV and V GOLDEN +DAYS, for best offer of a musical instrument. + +S. M. Johnson, Lock Box 172, Round Rock, Texas, a$25 brass B-flat +cornet with A and B crooks, for a 5x7 self-inking printing press and +material. + +J. Atwell, 10 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse, N.Y., apair of nickel-plated +extension roller skates and bag, for a banjo. + +G. Frick, 2908 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a48-inch steel-spoked +rubber-tired bicycle, awatch, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, and "Tom Brown at +Oxford," for a Star bicycle. + +C. E. Mason, 656 Franklin St., Phila., Pa., an International album +containing stamps and about 5,000 loose ones, aNew Rogers scroll saw, +and 2 pairs of nickel-plated ice and roller skates, for a 26-bracket +nickel-rimmed banjo, or a guitar, or photo materials. + +G. Barker, 504 W. 129th St., N.Y. city, 7 books by Castlemon, Kingston +and Dickens, for a violin and instruction book. (City offers preferred.) + +Z. A. Stegmuller, 56 E. 25th St., N.Y. city, agame, asmall steam +engine, asilver watch and a gold pen-holder, for a self-inking printing +press with type, or a rowing machine. (City and Brooklyn offers only.) + +J. W. Edwards, 197 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a16-foot +flat-bottomed skiff with centreboard, sail, oars and oarlocks, for a 46 +or 48-inch rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +J. J. Morrow, 94 Pennsylvania Ave., Allegheny, Pa., a3-lens microscope +with a few mounted specimens, for Vols. Vand VI GOLDEN DAYS. + +C. H. Montayre, 145 W. 11th St., N.Y. city, aself-inking printing press +and full outfit, for a 6x6 canvas tent. (City offers preferred.) + +F. Blake, Lock Haven, Pa., a telegraph outfit, for a $10 watch, or a set +of boxing gloves, or a pair of 12-pound dumb-bells. + +L. H. Reamy, 113 River St., Zanesville, Ohio, apolyopticon, for the +best offer of GOLDEN DAYS prior to Vol.VI. + +C. V. Gibson. Box 1026, Natick, Mass., a 2 x 4 printing press with +cards, 200 postmarks. 1400 foreign and U.S. stamps, and a pair of +skates, for a flute, abanjo, aviolin and bow, or a cornet. + +C. Perry, Ithaca, N.Y., a $25 upright engine, for a scroll saw with +lathe attachment. + +L. M. Geer, Box 663, Corry, Pa., Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young +People," Vols. XLI, XLII and XLIII "Youth's Companion," amagic lantern +with 12 slides, 6 books and 2 pairs of skates, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +G. V. Bacon. 52 Dudley St., Boston, Mass., aRuby magic lantern, aset +of carving tools, and a set of drawing instruments, for a pair of +fencing foils. + +G. Medina, Room 360, Prod. Ex. Bldg., N.Y. city, acomplete $40 camping +outfit, for a -nickeled bicycle with ball bearings. + +C. O. Henbest, Marshall, Ill., Vol. V or VI GOLDEN DAYS, or a printing +press, for a collection of stamps. + +F. A. Magee, Maiden, Mass., Vol. IV GOLDEN DAYS, acanvas canoe, +aprinting press, 200 stamps, 200 postmarks, apair of opera glasses, +amagnifying glass and 200 good story papers, for a large press or a +bicycle. + +E. C. Cary, Box 147, N.Y. city, a New Rogers scroll saw with drill, saws +and patterns, ahand-inking 2 x 3 printing press, with type, ink, +furniture, etc., for a violin and bow, with or without case. + +N. J. Waite, 401 Giddings Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +for any kind of electrical goods. + +J. Clay Collier, Fort Smith, Ark., Vol. Vand part of Vol. VII GOLDEN +DAYS, for books by Castlemon or Cooke. + +F. Vansant, 770 St. Peter St., Baltimore, Md., $15 worth of books, for +an 8x8x8 wall tent. + +J. W. Robertson, 1180 Harvard St., Chicago, Ill., acollection of stamps +and 4 books, for a pair of opera glasses or a printing press with type. + +C. A. Lutz, Cane Spring, Ky., Vols. II (afew numbers missing). III, IV, +V, VI (all bound, without covers) and VII (unbound) "Harper's Young +People," for volumes of GOLDEN DAYS or telegraphic apparatus. + +G. Moulton, Virginia, Ill., an ebony 13-keyed B-flat clarionet, for a +watch. + +W. R. Clickner, Andover. Kans., a $25 5x8 printing press and outfit, +for a rubber-tired bicycle. + +C. Peck, 71 35th St., Chicago, Ill., 8 books by Reid and others, and a +pair of ice skates, for a Morse telegraph outfit. + +R. Buck, Sea Isle City, N.J., "Ragged Dick Series," (6volumes), for a +telegraph key, sounder and outfit. + +F. Schafer, 307 S. 3d St., Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y., apair of opera glasses +with case, and a fife, for a mandolin, or a banjo with 24 brackets (N.Y. +or Brooklyn offers preferred). + +F. Horton, Westfield, Pa., 2 volumes of "Youth's Companion," and a pair +of roller skates, for a banjo. + +W. A. Sherwood, Lutherville, Md., a magic lantern with 12 slides and a +font of job type, for rare foreign and U.S. stamps. + +W. A. Pickering, Box 797, Eureka Springs, Ark., a-horse-power steam +engine, for a nickel-plated B-flat cornet. + +E. H. Gilbert, Lock Box 21, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2 pairs of skates and +"Don Quixote," for a pair of opera glasses with case. + +L. A. Cox, Verden, Ill., Vols. V, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +R. F. Greene, Box 232, Arkansas City, Kans., Vol. LVIII "Youth's +Companion" and 2 books, for any bound volume of GOLDEN DAYS except the +sixth. + +H. J. Hendrickson, 214 W. Market St., York, Pa., 950 foreign stamps and +700 foreign and domestic postmarks, for a collection of minerals. + +C. V. B. Gettz, Moore's, Pa., a $35 gas engine (1/3-horse-power), for +a bicycle (American Challenge preferred). + +H. H. Sellers, 73 Exchange St., Bangor, Me., a10-keyed ocarina, +a6-keyed clarionet, 6 books and a stylographic pen, for a cornet. + +C. W. Valentine, Millville, N.J., a volume of "Youth's Companion," "Tom +Brown's School-days" and a bagatelle board, for carpenters' tools. + +A. Spring, Jr., White Plains, N.Y., a magic lantern with 23 slides, +for Vol. Ior II GOLDEN DAYS (bound). + +J. G. Ross, Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., a12-foot +round-bottomed row-boat with centreboard and oars, for a photographic +outfit, abicycle or a press. + +J. C. Hubbard, 22 E. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., ahand-inking press +and a collection of curiosities, for type and material, or volumes of +GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fourth. + + * * * * * + +Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria. + + * * * * * + +C. A. Wise, Gobleville, Mich., a pair of nickel-plated roller skates and +a guitar, for the best offer of foreign and U.S. stamps. + +H. A. Hammond. Box 276, Peabody, Mass., Vols. Vand VI, or VI and VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a fountain or stylographic pen. + +R. A. Weston, W. Mt. Vernon, Me., 300 numbers of "Youth's Companion," +Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young People," Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +3 books, 100 varieties of stamps, apair of ice skates and a game, for +a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. H. Dunham, 1098 Washington St. (Suite 12), Boston, Mass., apair of +roller skates, aHolly scroll saw with saws and patterns, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +R. H. Stickney, Valparaiso, Ind., a stereoscope with 16 views, amagic +lantern with views and photographic attachment, adark lantern and a +book by Kingston, for a 7x9 wall tent. + +B. M. Wilson, 1824 Ridge Ave., Phila., Pa., an International album with +100 stamps, and Vol. VGOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +E. S. Harvey, Ridge, Ohio, a hand-inking press with roller, furniture +and a font of type, and a book, for an International stamp album or +stamps. + +J. Meighan, Jr., 386 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., apair of skates, for a +catcher's mask. + +C. Bagley, 10 Olive St., Lynn, Mass., a pair of skates, Vols. IV, VI and +VII GOLDEN DAYS and a lot of musical instruments, for a rubber-tired +bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +E. F. Balinger, Mt. Union, Ohio, 2 vols. of GOLDEN DAYS, apair of +roller skates, atelegraph key and sounder, an Indian bow and arrows, +and some books and magazines, for a cornet with crooks. + +S. L. Taylor, 333 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., acollection of 350 +foreign stamps in an album, 900 traders, amagic lantern with 20 or 30 +slides, and 5 books, for a B-flat cornet, abanjo, or a cork-handled +tennis racquet. + +J. E. Ackerman, Jr., 7 Nassau St., N.Y. city, anickel-plated bicycle +saddle and bell, for a Duryea saddle (style, AorC). + +F. H. Meyers. 38 Bleecker St., N.Y. city, Vols. IV, V, VI and VII GOLDEN +DAYS, Vol. LIV "Youth's Companion," avol. of "St. Nicholas," 5 books; +amagic lantern with slides, and 2 games, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. F. Souder. Box 199, Toledo, Ohio, a violin and bow, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +C. W. Howell, 646 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kans., an accordion, +aWaterbury watch, and a puzzle, for a complete telegraph outfit. + +W. T. Cook, Royersford, Pa., 5 books by popular authors for any bound +vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +W. H. Field, 234 Ferry St., Easton, Pa., aHolly scroll saw and a set of +tenpins for a wall or other tent large enough for four persons. + +P. J. McConomy, 38 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa., Vols. Iand II (afew +numbers missing) and V and VI (complete) GOLDEN DAYS, for a piccolo with +at least 4 keys. + +O. C. Cornwell, Girard, Kans., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, 8 books, +apair of skates, 5 games, aset of drawing Instruments, and 500 foreign +and U.S. stamps, for a self-inking printing press, or a silver watch. + +W. Bell, Box 154, Norfolk, Va., Vols. I, II, III, IV and V GOLDEN DAYS, +for a Holly steam engine or a collection of 1500 to 2000 stamps. + +G. E. Montgomery, Westernport, Md., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS and +"Ames' Mastery of the Pen," for standard works on physiology and hygiene +or a field glass. + +C. C. Moore, 76 3d Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., amagic lantern with 16 +slides, and a printing press with 2 fonts of type, for an instantaneous +camera and outfit. + +W. Willson, 561 Lorimer St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. N.Y., amagic lantern +with 12 slides for a pair of 9 or 9 nickel-plated roller skates. + +D. A. Trapp, 113 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, Ky., acollection of over +1200 stamps in an international album for a No. 2 or 3 Baltimorean press +and outfit. + +H. Edwards, 147 E. 114th St., N.Y. city, amagic lantern with 12 slides, +and a hand-inking printing press, without type, for a set of boxing +gloves. + +F. Rowell, Stamford, Conn., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, and some +books, games and stamps, for Indian grammars, or histories of North +American Indians, or Indian relics. + +J. E. Caldwell, Sego, Kans., a $3 piccolo, aset of boxwood chessmen, +and a box of water-color paints, for the best offer of GOLDEN DAYS. + +W. McIntosh, East Smethport, Pa., a 10x14 hand-inking press, with 20 +fonts of type, 2 sticks, galley, leads, etc., for a 50 to 52-inch +bicycle. + +J. H. Cunningham, Room 507 Hamilton Building, Pittsburg, Pa., apair of +ice skates and "Tom Brown's School Days" for a learners' book on +shorthand. + +W. McVeagh. 831 W. 3d St., Williamsport, Pa., aNew Rogers scroll saw +for Vol. Ior IV GOLDEN DAYS. + + * * * * * + + A LIMITED NUMBER + OF + *Volumes IV, V and VI* + "GOLDEN DAYS," + Bound in Cloth. + +Price, $4.00 each. + + ADDRESS, + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +*From the Daily News, Genesee, N.Y.* + +We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he +could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the +GOLDEN DAYS, decidedly the most valuable and most interesting pictorial +newspaper we ever saw, not only for the children, but for the entire +family. For the sake of his children we sincerely urge every father to +send to the office for a specimen copy, when he can see for himself the +great value it will be in his family, and he will thank us in his heart +for calling his attention to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, +GOLDEN DAYS, corner and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Penna. + + +OUT OF THE MANY EARNEST AND EMPHATIC ENDORSEMENTS OF "GOLDEN DAYS," +WE PRINT THE FOLLOWING: + + +*A GOOD OPINION FROM REV. G. E. STROBRIDGE,* + +_Pastor St. John's M. E. Church, New York city._ + +GOLDEN DAYS has been coming regularly to my house since its first +number. It is always welcome. The children wait with impatience its +weekly arrival, and even interrupt their meals to tear off its wrapper +and scan its attractive pages. It is generously illustrated, and as to +its reading matter, it is bright, breezy, instructive, and, best of all, +pure. The most careful parent may dismiss anxiety while his happy child +is absorbed in its columns. + +A feature that adds to the paper an especial value is a weekly +discussion of the International Sunday-school Lesson. This is given in a +pleasant narrative style by Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., for many years +editor of the Sunday School Advocate, and editor and writer of books for +children. His widely-known name is a sufficient assurance that these +lessons thus conducted will continue to be learned, clear and +interesting. + + +*From the West Philadelphia Press.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--This weekly journal for young people has reached a +circulation that embraces the entire country. Indeed, there is hardly to +be found a village or hamlet in the newest of the States or in our far +Western Territories in which GOLDEN DAYS is not a welcome visitor. The +proprietor and editor, Mr. James Elverson, determined from the first to +make it a journal that should please and at the same time instruct the +young, and he has been completely successful. There is no weekly paper +published in this or the Old World that so covers the field for the +youthful mind as GOLDEN DAYS. There is nothing heavy about it--nothing +prosy or difficult to comprehend in the matter it contains. Its stories +are graphic, entertaining and by the best writers, while each number has +articles especially prepared on subjects of practical interest to boys +and girls by authors whose fame in the arena of natural history, +science, biography and art is national. Add to all these excellencies +and attractions the fact that no impure line or thought ever stains its +pages, and it must be acknowledged that GOLDEN DAYS is pre-eminently +fitted to become the intellectual and pleasant companion of the young in +the American household. + + +*From the Sunday Courier, York, Pa.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' +periodical published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson seems, +in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day with +wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to the +universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents are +concerned, its success should be a matter for general congratulation, +as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding from its pages +everything that could be considered as in any way tending to vitiate the +minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are far superior in +vividness of interest for the little ones to those sensational +publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all who have +children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have struck the +golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere pleasure +to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--"To merit is to insure success" is certainly verified in +the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable _weekly_ for the youth of this great land is now +well-established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved +patronage. Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with +pictures and puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful +knowledge. GOLDEN DAYS is supplanting a poisonous literature, and +performing a wholesome mission in this day, when too much good seed +cannot be sown by the friends of humanity. + + +*From the Congregationalist and Boston Recorder.* + +Among juvenile periodicals, we think GOLDEN DAYS likely to take high +rank for variety, instructiveness, vivacity and freedom from +objectionable characteristics. We have examined several numbers, and it +seems to be well edited and likely to deserve and win popularity. + + +*ANOTHER FROM REV. D. M'CARTNEY,* + +_Pastor Clinton Avenue M. E. Church, Kingston, N.Y._ + +I have examined sample copies of GOLDEN DAYS, and most heartily indorse +it as meeting a felt want. Notwithstanding the large number of papers we +subscribe for now, it looks as if GOLDEN DAYS would have to be added to +the number, as my children are enraptured withit. + + +BISHOP BOWMAN, + +_Of the Methodist Episcopal Church, writes:_ + + ST. LOUIS, Nov. 26, 1880. + +I have examined with great interest several numbers of GOLDEN DAYS, and +am much pleased with them. We greatly need all such publications for our +young people, to save them from the corrupting trash that meets them on +every side. Iwish you great success in this worthy Christian +enterprise. + + +*FROM REV. O. C. DICKERSON,* + +_Pastor of Congregational Church, Belleplain, Iowa._ + +ED. GOLDEN DAYS.--All hail! As a sterling friend of the young, your +enterprise wakes loud echoes. + + +*REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,* + +_Pastor of the P. E. Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, says:_ + +From what I have seen of GOLDEN DAYS, it strikes me very favorably. +There is a high tone of morality about it which is calculated to exert a +very wholesome influence on the young people who readit. + + +*From the Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y.* + +A MODEL PAPER.--Two years ago, we informed the readers of the Citizen +that a long-felt want was to be supplied--viz., apaper was to be +printed which would give the young people (boys and girls) plenty of +good reading without corrupting their morals or vitiating their +tastes--in other words, would furnish them with stories which would +gratify their love of adventure without inspiring in them a desire to +imitate impossible heroes, and tempting them to desert their homes in +search of adventures which never occur outside of blood-and-thunder +papers and story books. The paper we allude to--GOLDEN DAYS--promised +this, and we have carefully watched it for two years to see how its +pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be able to state it has +exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it has been constantly +filled with stories and sketches of the most fascinating character, +we have never seen a sentence in it which we could have wished to have +omitted. + + +*From the Episcopal Recorder.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--We commend this as the best of the class of publications +to which it belongs, and as being essentially different from all that +are contemporaneous with it. And if it shall prove to be like Moses' rod +when turned into a serpent, and swallow up the serpent-rods of all +cunning magicians of evil, and then become a rod of power for working +good in the home, in the school, and wherever youth are found, we shall +rejoice. + + +*From the Christian Register, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is well worthy the examination of parents who wish to +provide their children with a large amount of carefully-prepared +miscellany, at once entertaining, instructive and clean. It is edited +with ability, and shows a quick sympathy with the pleasures of the young +people, and a clear outlook for their welfare. + + +*From the Maryland School Journal.* + +GOLDEN DAYS (Elverson, Philadelphia) has fulfilled its promise, and is +in every respect a suitable weekly paper to put into the hands of young +boys and girls. We have carefully watched each number since the start, +and have seen in it nothing to censure and much to praise. + + +*From the Floyd Co. Advocate, Charles City, Iowa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, of Philadelphia, is a new +first-class paper for boys and girls. Provide them with good, +entertaining reading, and they will grow up good men and women. + + +*From Town Talk, Mansfield, Ohio.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome illustrated and +interesting youth's paper called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and +such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the +youngsters catch a glimpse of it they will find they need it as a +recreation after study hours. + + +*From The Home and Sunday-School, Dallas, Texas.* + +We can heartily recommend GOLDEN DAYS as one of the purest and most +charming juvenile magazines we have seen. It is wholly free from +corrupting influences--fresh, instructive, and eagerly welcomed by the +boys and girls. Having seen nothing in it to censure and much to praise, +we hope it may have the wide circulation it merits. + + +*From the Christian Advocate, Pittsburg,Pa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS comes to us in a magazine form, making a beautiful and +interesting volume. This journal numbers among its contributors probably +more popular writers of serial stories for youth than any juvenile +publication in the country. + + +*From the Presbyterian Banner, Pittsburg,Pa.* + +A great advance has been made within the last twelve months in a very +important agency for good--the publication of cheap, and, at the same +time, unexceptionable and attractive reading matter. For a long time the +want has been seriously felt for something more than mere denunciation +to overcome the growing evil of the demoralizing literature--cheap and +vile--that has been scattered broadcast over the land. That want has +been measurably supplied, in part, by the publication of standard +English classics, at marvelously low prices, and in part by the issue of +low-priced but superior periodicals, attractive in appearance and +contents, and suitable for both young and old. We invite special +attention to the latest enterprise in the latter department--GOLDEN +DAYS, for boys and girls, James Elverson, publisher, Philadelphia. It is +a handsome juvenile journal, of sixteen pages (over eight hundred a +year), filled with stories, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, puzzles, and +humorous items, making up a total that will delight and at the same time +instruct the boys and girls from eight to eighty. The pictorial +embellishments are unsually fine, and far in advance of the coarse +deformities in the flashy sheets that are displayed on the news-stands +to horrify every refined passer-by. + + +*From the Baltimore Gazette.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' +periodical, published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson, +seems, in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day +with wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to +the universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents +are concerned, its success should be a matter for general +congratulation, as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding +from its pages everything that could be considered as in any way tending +to vitiate the minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are +far superior in vividness of interest for the little ones to those +sensational publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all +who have children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have +struck the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere +pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Methodist, New York.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and +interesting youth's paper, called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every Christian home for the young folks, for the reading is +wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt +subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it, they will find +they need it as a recreation after study-hours. + + +*From the Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss.* + +A specimen number of GOLDEN DAYS has fallen into our hands. This is a +paper for boys and girls, and, from the cursory examination we have been +enabled to give it, we think it deserving of support. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Illustrations: + +Readers who are unable to use the fully illustrated html version of +this text may wish to view some individual images, located within the +"images" directory of the html file. The major illustrations are: + + Cover pic01.jpg + Linda's Crazy Quilt pic03_full.jpg + In Search of Himself pic07.jpg + Mamie's Letter to Heaven pic10b.jpg + Striking out for Themselves pic11.jpg + Jack-A-Dandy pic15.jpg + + +Layout of Advertising Pages: + +inside front: + + +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+ + | Sapolio |"Advertisements| Malaria Yellow Fever | + | | inserted..." | | + | +---------------+ Ayer's Pills | + +---------------+Practical Joke +---------------+---------------+ + // // // // // + | | Ready Binder | | | + | +---------------+ | | + +---------------+ | Stamps | | + | Vol. VII +---------------+---------------+ | + | "Golden Days" | Pitcher's Castoria | Hammock Chair | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +inside back: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Wood's Penograph | | + +---------------+ | (exchanges) | + | Military | | | + | +---------------+---------------+ | + | Dictionary | Our Premium Knife | | + | | | | + +---------------+---------------+---------------+ (exchanges) | + // // // // // + | | (exchanges) | (exchanges) +---------------+ + | (exchanges) +-------------------------------+ Volumes | + | | Pitcher's Castoria | IV, V and VI | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +back cover (three columns, all Testimonials) + + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +Missing or incorrect punctuation was silently corrected. Typographical +errors in the advertising sections were left unchanged; those in the +main text were corrected. Both are noted here. + + Advertising, Front Section: + For es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair + [_probably "forces": letter invisible_] + Advertisements inserted ... agate measurement). + [_no opening parenthesis_] + *PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* [_as printed_] + + Linda's Crazy Quilt + Ideclare for 't!" she added [close quote missing] + + In Search of Himself + curved from the jaws like cimetars. [_spelling unchanged_] + + In a Menagerie + I stopped as usual at Bessie's cage [_elsewhere "Bessy"_] + + Stories of Dumb Creatures + the other boys will throw stones at him.' [" for '] + + Jack Stanwood + the street vender of physic [_spelling unchanged_] + + The Young Game-Warden + "It sorter hurts you to know [I sorter] + You have got the bugglars in your own hands now + [_spelling unchanged_] + + Testimonials + The pictorial embellishments are unsually fine + [_spelling unchanged_] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 27287-8.txt or 27287-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/8/27287/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Golden Days for Boys and Girls + Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 + +Author: Various + +Editor: James Elverson + +Release Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #27287] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p><a name = "start" id = "start">This text</a> uses utf-8 (unicode) +file encoding. If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph +appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable +fonts. First, make sure that your browser’s “character set” or “file +encoding” is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the +default font.</p> + +<p>Typographical errors have been marked in the text with <ins class = +"correction" title = "like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. In general, +errors in the main text were corrected, while errors in the advertising +and editorial content were noted but left unchanged. Missing or +incorrect punctuation was silently corrected.</p> +</div> + +<!-- png 01 --> + +<a name = "titlepage" id = "titlepage"> </a> + +<table style = "width: 515px;" +summary = "Golden Days for boys and girls"> +<tr> +<td>Vol. VIII.—No 25.</td> +<td class = "right">May 21, 1887.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "background" colspan = "2" +style = "height: 577px; background-image: url(images/pic01.jpg);"> +<p style = "height: 490px;"> </p> +<p class = "floatleft" style = "width: 240px; height: 4em;"> </p> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "tiny">PHILADELPHIA</span><br> +JAMES ELVERSON<br> +<span class = "tiny">PUBLISHER</span> +</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<table class = "toc" summary = "contents"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<p class = "center"><a name = "contents" id = "contents"> +<b>Contents</b> (added by transcriber)</a></p></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> +<p><a href = "#advertising_2">Advertising</a> (inside front cover)</p> +<p><a href = "#linda">Linda’s Crazy Quilt</a></p> +<p><a href = "#davy">Davy’s Turn</a></p> +<p><a href = "#blind">The Blind Girl and the Spring</a></p> +<p><a href = "#canoe">How to Make A Canvas Canoe</a></p> +<p><a href = "#partridge">How the Partridge Drums</a></p> +<p><a href = "#frogs">Frogs and Tadpoles</a></p> +<p><a href = "#honest">Be Honest and True</a></p> +<p><a href = "#search">In Search of Himself</a></p> +<p><a href = "#menagerie">In A Menagerie</a></p> +<p><a href = "#creatures">Stories of Dumb Creatures</a></p> +<p><a href = "#puzzledom">Puzzledom</a></p> +<p><a href = "#circulation"><i>Subscribing to Golden Days</i></a></p> +<p><a href = "#sculpture">Nature’s Sculpture</a></p> +<p><a href = "#monument">Monument Park</a></p> +<p><a href = "#backlogs">Backlogs Made of Stone</a></p> +</td> +<td> +<p><a href = "#mamie">Mamie’s Letter To Heaven</a></p> +<p><a href = "#striking">Striking out for Themselves</a></p> +<p><a href = "#jack_ocean">Jack Stanwood; or, From Ocean to +Ocean</a></p> +<p><a href = "#lesson">International Lesson: The Passage Of The Red +Sea</a></p> +<p><a href = "#rains">What They Do When It Rains</a></p> +<p><a href = "#jackadandy">Jack-A-Dandy</a></p> +<p><a href = "#warden">The Young Game-Warden</a></p> +<p><a href = "#riddles">Eight Good Riddles</a></p> +<p><a href = "#comics">Cream of the Comics</a></p> +<p><a href = "#letters">Our Letter Box</a></p> +<p><a href = "#exchange">Notices of Exchange</a> (inside back cover)</p> +<p><a href = "#advertising_19">Advertising</a> (inside back cover)</p> +<p><a href = "#testimonials_20">Testimonials</a> (back cover)</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<!-- png 02 --> +<a name = "advertising_2" id = "advertising_2"> </a> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/thumb02.png" width = "376" height = "513" +alt = "image of advertising page showing all four columns"> +</p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +Depending on your browser settings and font choices, one column may +come out longer than the other.</p> + +<table class = "ads" summary = "columns 1 and 2 of inside front page"> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> + +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/ad2a.png" width = "95%" alt = "see text"> +</p> + +<p class = "center sans boldf">QUITE UP TO THE TIMES.</p> + +<p><i>New Applicant</i>—Do I know how to use Sapolio? Well, that’s +fresh! Do I look like a girl who don’t know about Sapolio? Am I blind, +d’yer think, or can’t read? Why, the babies on the block know all about +Sapolio. What are ye givin’ me?</p> + +<p class = "center"><span class = "size2">SAPOLIO</span></p> + +<p>is a solid, handsome cake of House-cleaning Soap, which has no equal +for all scouring purposes, except the laundry. Perhaps you have heard of +it a thousand times without using it once. If you will reverse the +position and use it once you will praise it to others a thousand times. +Ask your grocer for a cake, and try it in your next house-cleaning.</p> + +<p class = "right">No. 3. [Copyright, March 1887.]</p> + +<p class = "top center"> +<b>DYKE’S BEARD ELIXIR</b></p> + +<p><img src = "images/ad2b.png" width = "151" height = "43" +align = "left" alt = "Before After Before After"> +<ins class = "correction" title = "letter invisible: probably ‘Forces’">For es</ins> heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair on bald +heads in 20 to 30 days. Extra Strength. No other remedy 2 or 3 Pkgs. +does the work. We will prove it or forfeit $100.00 Price per Pkg. sealed +and postpaid 25c., 3 for 50 cts., stamps or silver. SMITH MFG. CO., +PALATINE, ILLS.</p> + +<p class = "top"><span class = "size2"> +$50 WEEKLY</span> +<span class = "adright">EASILY EARNED!</span></p> + +<p class = "allclear"> +<b>We want agents</b> for our celebrated Oil Portrait. <b>No experience +required! 4 orders</b> per day gives the Agent $50 weekly profit! Our +agents report from 4 to 30 daily sales! Send at once for terms and full +particulars. <b>$2 outfit free! SAFFORD ADAMS & CO., 48 Bond St., +N.Y.</b> [Mention “Golden Days.”]</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<img src = "images/ad2bb.png" width = "95%" +alt = "IMPROVED / HIRES’ ROOT BEER / 25 cents PACKAGE"></p> + +<p>Makes <span class = "sans boldf">Five Gallons</span> of a <span class += "sans boldf">delicious</span>, sparkling temperance beverage. <span +class = "sans boldf">Strengthens</span> and purifies the blood. Its +<span class = "sans boldf">purity</span> and delicacy commend it to all. +Sold by druggists and storekeepers everywhere.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3">A</span> +ZANZIBAR TIGER COWRY SHELL, 8c. Send stamp for list. Steel & Co., +135 E. 23d St., New York</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft sans boldf size3">CURE</span> +<span class = "sans boldf">FOR THE</span> +<span class = "adright sans boldf size3">DEAF</span></p> + +<p class = "allclear"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Peck’s Patent Improved Cushioned Ear +Drums</span> <b>Perfectly Restore the Hearing</b>, and perform the work +of the natural drum. Invisible, comfortable and always in position. All +conversation and even whispers heard distinctly. Send for illustrated +book with testimonials, <b>FREE</b>. Address or call on F. HISCOX, <span +class = "sans boldf">853</span> Broadway, New York. Mention this +paper.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2">FREE</span> +a $2.50 <b>Gold Ring</b> to all who will act as our agents. The Journal +Co., Essex, Conn.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2c.png" width = "113" height = "100" +align = "left" alt = "THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA COMPANY" +title = "THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA COMPANY"> +<span class = "sans boldf size1">GOOD NEWS +TO <u>LADIES</u>.</span> +Greatest inducements ever offered. Now’s your time to get up orders for +our celebrated <b>Teas</b> and <b>Coffees</b>, and secure a beautiful +Gold Band or Moss Rose China Tea Set, or Handsome Decorated Gold Band +Moss Rose Dinner Set, or Gold Band Moss Decorated Toilet Set. For full +particulars address</p> + +<p class = "center"><b>THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA CO.,</b><br> +P.O. Box 289. 31 and 33 Vesey St., New York.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3">A</span>GENTS wanted for Lyman Abbot’s Life +of Beecher. The only proper one. A. GORTON & CO., Philada.</p> + +<div class = "center"> +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "sans size3">Vol. VII “Golden Days”</span></p> + +<p><span class = "sans boldf size1">NOW READY,</span></p> + +<p>IS A</p> + +<p><span class = "size1">MAGNIFICENT BOOK OF 832 PAGES!</span></p> + +<p>A perfect mine of everything that will interest young people.</p> + +<p><span class = "sans boldf">It is Superbly Illustrated,</span></p> + +<p><span class = "size_1">—CONTAINING—</span></p> + +<p><span class = "sans">Over 400 Finely-Executed Wood +Engravings!</span></p> + +<p>Making, without question,</p> + +<p><span class = "sans size1">THE MOST ATTRACTIVE BOOK</span></p> + +<p><span class = "size_1">OF THE SEASON.</span></p> +</div> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> This volume will be sent to any address, prepaid, on the +receipt of price—$4.00.</p> + +<p class = "right">JAMES ELVERSON,<br> +Publisher “<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>,” Philad’a</p> + +</td> +<td> + +<!-- png 03 --> +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> <b>Advertisements inserted on Second and Third Pages of Cover +at 50 cents per line, and on the Fourth Page at 75 cents per line, agate +measurement<ins class = "correction" title = "opening ( missing">).</ins></b></p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<img src = "images/ad2d.png" width = "95%" +alt = "The Best Practical Joke of the Season / Ring the Bell" +title = "The Best Practical Joke of the Season / Ring the Bell"></p> + +<p>The perfect Electric Bell Button is made to pin on your breast, Fine +ebony finish with white button sure to induce a push, which never fails +to produce a shock with “Hail Columbia,” and variations. <b>A Full +Charge</b> of electricity every time. The old joker is told “<b>That is +Good! Ring the Bell.</b>” The <b>Best Selling Article</b> ever invented. +<span class = "sans">4760</span> sold by one agent in <span class = +"sans">3</span> weeks. Sample by Mail <span class = "sans">15</span> +cents.; two for <span class = "sans">25</span> cents.; <span class = +"sans">14</span> for <span class = "sans">$1.00</span>. 100 for <span +class = "sans">$6.00</span>. Try <span class = "sans">$1</span> worth. +Stamps taken.</p> + +<p>Send all orders to <span class = "size1">World Manuf. Co. 122 Nassau +St. New York</span></p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "sans boldf size2">EUREKA RECITATIONS</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<b>NINE NUMBERS NOW READY.</b></p> + +<p>Each number contains nearly <b>100 selections</b> by Mrs. Anna +Randall-Diehl, and bound in 4-color lithograph cover. Mailed for 12 +cents each by J. S. Ogilvie & Co., Publishers, 31 Rose Street, New +York. Send for one.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<b>THIS BINDER</b> is light, strong and handsome, and the weekly issues +of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> are held together by it +in the convenient form of a book, which can be kept lying on the +reading-table. It is made of two white wires joined together in the +centre, with slides on either end for pressing the wires together, thus +holding the papers together by pressure without mutilating them. We will +furnish the Binder at Ten Cents apiece, postage prepaid.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/ad2e.png" width = "212" height = "265" +alt = "THE READY BINDER {F}OR BINDING THREE MONTHS OF THE GOLDEN DAYS/ Price 10 Cents." +title = "THE READY BINDER {F}OR BINDING THREE MONTHS OF THE GOLDEN DAYS/ Price 10 Cents."></p> + +<p class = "right"> +Address JAMES ELVERSON,<br> +Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2f.png" width = "92" height = "68" +align = "left" alt = "eraser"> +<b>We want you as our Agent</b> to sell the <b>Perfection Slate +Eraser</b> in schools. <i>It is attractive, well-made and +indispensable.</i> Send five 2-cent stamps for sample and particulars. +WITTRAM MFG. CO., 525 Front St., San Francisco, Cal. (<b>Box +2414.</b>)</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2g.png" width = "177" height = "17" +align = "right" alt = "penknife"> +<b>FOR 10 cts. to pay postage &c.</b>, we will send this Charm +Pen-Knife and five other samples FREE. <b>Atlantic Works, East River, +Conn.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2h.png" width = "49" height = "52" align = "left" +alt = "bicycle"> +<span class = "sans"><span class = "size2">BICYCLES $8</span> +to $150. EASY PAYMENTS.</span></p> + +<p>Tricycles, $7.50 up. Standard makes. 2d-hand Wheels handled. Send for +Catalogue.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<b>GEO. W. ROUSE & SON, 34 G St., Peoria, Ill.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2i.png" width = "68" height = "28" +align = "left" alt = "ring"> +1 Stone Ring, 1 Band Ring, 275 Scrap Pictures & Verses, Book of +Poems, Book Flirtations, 40 Agt’s Samples, All 10c. Austin Card Co., New +Haven, Ct</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "sans">THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUMS</span></p> + +<p>are made with patent double acting rods and folding knee rest. +<img src = "images/ad2j.png" width = "133" height = "122" +align = "left" alt = "drum"> +Light, substantial and handsome. Used in the best Bands and Orchestras. +Unequaled for tone, surpass all others in finish and appearance. If +nearest Music dealer does not keep them, write to us for Illustrated +Catalogue.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans boldf">LYON & HEALY, Chicago, Ill.</span></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft sans size1">PRINTERS</span> +Send stamp for wholesale list of BLANK Cards, 1000 kinds. Card Co., +Montpelier, Vt</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft sans boldf size2">SHORTHAND</span> +Writing <i>thoroughly taught</i> <span class = "sans boldf">by +mail</span> or personally. <span class = "sans boldf">Situations +procured</span> all pupils when competent. Send for circular. <span +class = "sans boldf">W. G. CHAFFEE</span>, Oswego, N.Y.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft sans size3">23</span> +<span class = "adright size2">10c</span> +HIDDEN NAME <b>MOTTO CARDS</b>, +Story Book and AGENT’S OUTFIT with each pack. <span class = +"smallcaps">Hamden Card Works</span>, Hamden, Conn</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<img src = "images/ad2k.png" width = "83" height = "126" +align = "left" alt = "hose reel"> +REEL, 25 FEET HOSE, NOZZLE AND COUPLINGS, $4.00.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +Sent on receipt of price.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<b>Rubber Footballs</b>, No. 1, <b>$1.25</b> each</p> + +<p class = "center"> +Additional sizes to No. 6, 25c. extra.</p> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> <b>RUBBER GOODS</b> of all descriptions—Gossamers, Shoes, +Boots, etc.</p> + +<p class = "right"> +<b>ROBERT C. GEDDES</b>,<br> +316 Market St., Philada., Pa.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft sans boldf size3">CARDS</span> +100 Fancy Pictures, all new designs, 30 latest Songs, 50 Elegant Fancy +Patterns, 1 Album, over 60 Colored Transfer Pictures, with our Grand +Premium List all for <b>10 cts.</b> BIRD CARD WORKS, MERIDEN, CONN. +Autograph Album, name in gold, <b>10 cts.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3">H</span>IGHLY Educated Physician who has +traveled much and speaks several languages, wants to complete a party of +youths for travel in Europe. References exchanged. Address “Æskulap,” +(office of) Advocate, 805 Broadway, N.Y.</p> + +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf"> +Children Cry for Pitcher’s Castoria</span></p> +</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<!-- png 04 --> + + +<a name = "advertising_2a" id = "advertising_2a"> </a> + +<table class = "ads" summary = "columns 3 and 4 of inside front page"> +<tr> +<td class = "plainbottom" width = "50%"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size2 sans">FOR MALARIA,</span></p> + +<p class = "larger">And malarial diseases so prevalent in the South and +West, Ayer’s Pills have proved peculiarly beneficial. “I have found +in Ayer’s Pills, an invaluable remedy for disorders peculiar to +miasmatic localities. Taken in small and frequent doses,</p> +</td> +<td class = "plainbottom"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size2 sans">YELLOW FEVER,</span></p> + +<p class = "larger">The terror of the South, has yielded to Ayer’s +Pills. James M. Crofut, of Beaufort, S.C., writes: “During the past +three months our city has been scourged with yellow fever. Many friends +and neighbors have been taken from us. In several cases Ayer’s</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "plaintop"> +<p class = "right"><span class = "size3 boldf +extended">Ayer’s</span></p> + +<p class = "larger">Pills act well on the liver and aid it in throwing +off malarial poisons.”—C. F. Alston, Quitman, Texas.</p> + +<p class = "larger">Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, +Mass.</p> +</td> +<td class = "plaintop"> +<p><span class = "size3 boldf extended">Pills</span></p> + +<p class = "larger">broke the attack of the fever, and saved the +patient’s life. They are an excellent liver medicine.”</p> + +<p class = "larger">Sold by all Druggists and Dealers in Medicines.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<!-- png 05 --> +<tr> +<td> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "adleft sans boldf size3 border"> +BOYS<br> +GIRLS</span> +<span class = "sans">LEARN TO</span><br> +<span class = "size2 sans">TELEGRAPH</span><br> +<b>With the Pocket Telegraph Instrument</b></p> + +<p>In a few hours. Want an agent in each town. They sell fast. Sample +and alphabet, postpaid, for 13 two-cent stamps, or 6 for $1.00. You can +sell them quick for 25c. each. <span class = "sans">PORTVILLE MF’G +CO.</span> limited, Portville, Catt. Co., N.Y.</p> + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1">MORE MONEY THAN EVER</span></p> + +<p>You thought of can now be made. MALE or FEMALE. Write quick for free +Sample and Terms. BEST selling article ever out. <b>NATIONAL CO.</b>, 21 +Dey St., N.Y.</p> + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf">LANGUAGES.</span></p> + +<p><b>The Meisterschaft System</b>, by Dr. R. S. <span class = +"smallcaps">Rosenthal</span>, is the only successful method ever devised +to learn to speak without a teacher, and in a few weeks,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans boldf">French, German, Spanish</span> or <span class += "sans boldf">Italian</span>.</p> + +<p>Endorsed by leading linguists. Terms, $5.00 for books of either +language. Sample copy, Part I., 25 cents. Liberal terms to Teachers.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans">MEISTERSCHAFT PUBLISHING CO., Boston, +Mass.</span></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 sans">100</span> +<span class = "size1 sans">Choice New Recitations</span> +13 Songs, Elegant Sample Cards, all for a 2c. stamp. CADIZ CARD CO., +<span class = "smallcaps">CADIZ, O.</span></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 sans">SPRING SALE</span> +To reduce our stock of music we will send by mail, postpaid, the +<b>Beautiful Blue Danube</b> Waltzes and 60 pieces, full sheet-music +size, including songs, marches, quadrilles (with calls), for only 20 +cents. Satisfaction guaranteed, or money refunded. <b>WHITE WINGS & +100 Songs</b>, words and music, <b>10c.</b> W. HATHAWAY, 339 Wash. St., +Boston, Mass.</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1 sans">BROWN’S FRENCH DRESSING.</span><br> +<b>The Original! Beware of Imitations!</b><br> +<span class = "sans">AWARDED HIGHEST PRIZE<br> +AND ONLY MEDAL</span><br> +<img src = "images/ad2l.png" width = "95%" alt = "bottle"><br> +<b>PARIS EXPOSITION, 1878.<br> +Highest Award New Orleans Exposition.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf">PRINTING MADE EASY!</span></p> + +<p><img src = "images/ad2m.png" width = "77" height = "70" +align = "left" alt = "printing press"> +With our Economy Outfits. Business men save money doing their own +printing! Fun for the boys! Instructions free. Business Outfits $7.50 +upwards. Card Outfits $2. Catalogue for 2c stamp. Wm. Volkmann & +Co., 164 Washington St., Chicago, Ill.</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<img src = "images/ad2n.png" width = "95%" +alt = "CAT’S-EYE SCARF-PIN 44 cts"></p> + +<p>The Gem Cat’s Eye is so called because it possesses the peculiar ray +of light or glisten seen in a cat’s eye in the dark. I have a +limited stock only, and offer you one for only <b>44 cts.</b>, post +paid. The same in Ear Drops, choice, <b>87 cents</b>. <i>Send Stamp for +large illustrated catalogue of Mineral Cabinets, Agate Novelties, Indian +Relics, etc. Trade Supplied.</i></p> + +<p><b>H. H. TAMMEN, 935 16th St., Denver, Col.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 sans boldf">100</span> +<b>New Imported Scrap Pictures, 12 Elegant Imported Cards</b>, 1 Album +of <b>50</b> Colored Transfer Pictures and Agt’s Samples for ’87. all +for <b>10c.</b> S. STOKES & CO., Meriden, Conn.</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1 sans">DRUNKENNESS</span> +<b>OR THE LIQUOR HABIT POSITIVELY CURED</b></p> + +<p>in any of its stages. All desire or craving for stimulants entirely +removed. Medicine can be given without knowledge of the patient, by +placing it in coffee, tea, or articles of food. Cures guaranteed. Send +for particulars. <b>GOLDEN SPECIFIC CO., 185 Race Street, Cincinnati, +Ohio.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +How to Make, Your Own<br> +<span class = "adright size3 sans boldf">CANDIES.</span> +By an Experienced Confectioner. Book containing 68 Recipes mailed on +receipt of 10 cts. L. SCHWARZ Confectioner, 68 Fulton St., N.Y.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 boldf">1000</span> +foreign stamps, including Mexico, Jamaica, Dutch E. India, Barbados +& Portugal, 25cts. <span class = "smallcaps">Chas. A. +Townsend</span>, Akron, O.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<ins class = "correction" title = "spellings unchanged"><span class = +"adleft size3 boldf">P</span><b>AKET</b> of <b>FOREN STAMPS</b></ins> +and Catalog, 10c. <b>ALBUMS</b>, 50c. Agents’ terms and Catalog, 10c. +JOHN NEWHAM, <b>Box 3694</b>, N.Y. City.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 boldf">500</span> +<b>FOREIGN STAMPS</b>, Australia, etc., 10c.; 105 varieties, 10c. F. P. +Vincent, Chatham, N.Y.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 boldf">STAMPS</span> +106 varieties, 10c.; 1010 mixed, 20c. Putnam Brothers, +Lewiston, Me.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2 sans boldf">STAMPS</span> +APPROVAL SHEETS. Agents wanted. <b>E. A. OBORNE. Jamaica, N.Y.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2 sans boldf">STAMPS</span> +Agents wanted. 30 per cent. com. on sheets. Keystone Stamp Co., Box 200, +Philad’a, Pa.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3">25</span> +<b>Foreign Stamps FREE</b> to every collector. Send your address. <i>A. +E. Ashfield</i>, Box 233, Rye, N.Y.</p> +</td> + +<!-- png 06 --> +<td> +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/ad2o.png" width = "95%" alt = "hand holding ball"><br> +<span class = "size1 sans">A NEW BOOK ON CURVE-PITCHING</span><br> +That so fully explains the Art that<br> +<b>Any one with a Little Practice can Master all the Curves</b> used by +the most noted pitchers. Price, <b>15</b> cts. Send for Catalogue.<br> +<span class = "size_1">A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1492 +TO 1885, INCLUSIVE, FOR 10 CENTS.</span><br> +A. J. REACH & CO., 23 S. 8th St., Philad’a, Pa.</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2 sans boldf">390</span> +Funny Selections, Scrap Pictures, etc., and nice Sample Cards for 2c. +<span class = "smallcaps">Hill Card Co.</span>, Cadiz, Ohio</p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "adleft sans boldf border">THE<br> +<span class = "size2">RED</span><br> +BOOKS.</span> +NEW PIECES TO SPEAK IN SCHOOL,</p> + +<p>at Church or Home Entertainments. Elocution. Gesture. Beautifully +Illustrated. 12 different numbers, $1.00. Sample by mail, 10 cts. +<b>Agents Wanted.</b><br> +<span class = "smallcaps sans">Hall & Stebbins, 11 michigan ave. +Chicago, Ill.</span></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2 sans boldf">CARDS</span> +New Sample Book of Hidden Name Cards for a 2c. stamp. STAR CARD CO., +Laceyville, Ohio</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size3 sans boldf">WAKE</span> +<b>UP</b> and earn <b>$70 per month</b> at home. <span class = +"smallcaps">Costly Outfit</span> of samples, a package of goods and +full instructions sent for <b>10c.</b> to help pay postage and +advertising.<br> +<b>H. C. ROWELL & CO., Rutland, Vermont.</b></p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<span class = "adleft size2 boldf">4</span> +<b>U.S. ½ CENTS</b>, postpaid, 25 cents. Price List free. G. J. BAUER, +73 Front St., Rochester, N.Y.</p> + +<p class = "top center"> +<img src = "images/ad2p.png" width = "66" height = "55" +align = "left" alt = "printing press"> +<span class = "size2 sans">PRINT YOUR OWN CARDS!</span></p> + +<p>Press, $3; Circular size, $8. Press for small newspaper, $25. New +Rotary Jobber, $100. Send 2 stamps for catalogue Presses, Type, cards to +factory, Kelsey & Co. Meriden, Conn</p> + + +<p class = "top"> +<img src = "images/ad2q.png" width = "60%" align = "left" +alt = "CELEBRATED CORALINE CORSETS" +title = "CELEBRATED CORALINE CORSETS"> +<span class = "sans boldf">9, MILLION</span><br> +worn during the past six years.<br> +This marvelous success is due—<br> +1st.—To the superiority of Coraline over all other materials, as a +stiffener for Corsets.<br> +2d.—To the superior quality, shape and workmanship of our Corsets, +combined with their low prices.<br> +Avoid cheap imitations made of various kinds of cord. None are genuine +unless</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans boldf">“DR. WARNER’S CORALINE”</span></p> + +<p>is printed on inside of steel cover.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1 sans">FOR SALE BY ALL LEADING +MERCHANTS.</span><br> +<b>WARNER BROTHERS,</b><br> +<span class = "sans boldf">359 Broadway. New York City.</span></p> + + +<p class = "top center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf">THIS HAMMOCK CHAIR</span></p> +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/ad2r.png" width = "95" height = "115" +align = "left" alt = "chair"> +<img src = "images/ad2s.png" width = "135" height = "101" +align = "right" alt = "chair"></p> + +<p class = "allclear"> +May be changed instantly to an automatic floor Chair adjustable to many reclining positions. Has no equal, and is desirable for</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1 boldf">Library, Steamer, and Invalid +Use.</span><br> +Used in hospitals, colleges, families, and wherever<br> +<span class = "size2 sans boldf">COMFORT AND HEALTH</span></p> + +<p>are desired at a small cost. Folded compactly, and shipped anywhere. +Circulars, testimonials, and photographs for 2 cts. Price $7 to $15. +LIBERAL DISCOUNTS to agents and dealers. <i>Mention this Paper.</i> +<b>BLAISDELL CHAIR CO.</b>, 96 High St., Boston.</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<!-- png 07 --> +<span class = "pagenum">385</span> +<a name = "masthead" id = "masthead"> </a> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/masthead.jpg" width = "561" height = "192" +alt = "masthead" title = "GOLDEN DAYS for Boys and Girls"></p> + +<p class = "tiny"> +(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by <span class += "smallcaps">James Elverson</span>, in the Office of the Librarian of +Congress, at Washington, D.C.)</p> + +<table class = "masthead" summary = "masthead"> +<tr> +<td class = "size1"> +<span class = "smallcaps">VOL. VIII.</span></td> +<td class = "tiny">JAMES ELVERSON,<br> +Publisher.</td> +<td class = "tiny"> +N. W. corner <span class = "smallcaps">Ninth</span><br> +and <span class = "smallcaps">Spruce Sts.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "size1" colspan = "3"> +PHILADELPHIA MAY 21, 1887.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class = "tiny">TERMS</td> +<td class = "tiny"> +<span class = "smallcaps">$3.00 Per Annum,<br> +In Advance.</span></td> +<td class = "size1">No. 25.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<!-- png 08 --> +<span class = "pagenum">385a</span> +<a name = "linda" id = "linda"> </a> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">Linda’s Crazy Quilt.</h1> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY FANNIE WILLIAMS.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>“Oh, dear!” sighed Linda Trafton, turning over the pages of a +closely-written, school-girlish letter, which her brother Fred had +tossed into her lap, on returning from the post office. “I do wish +I could get silk pieces enough to make a crazy quilt. Cousin Dell writes +all about hers, and it must be very pretty.”</p> + +<p>“Crazy quilt! That’s about all I’ve heard for the last six months! +I should think you girls had all gone crazy yourselves!” ejaculated +Fred.</p> + +<p>“Why, Fred!” was Linda’s only answer to this outburst.</p> + +<p>She was a very sweet-tempered little maid, with soft, brown hair and +soft, brown eyes, that matched in color as exactly as eyes and hair +could match, and gave her a look of being—as indeed she +was—too gentle to dispute, or even to argue, with anybody, least +of all with Fred, who was fifteen, and three years her elder, and always +took a tone of great superiority toward his little sister.</p> + +<p>Still, he was a pretty good sort of brother, as brothers go; and, in +Linda’s eyes, he was a prodigy of cleverness.</p> + +<p>So, whenever they happened to differ in opinion, and Fred expressed +himself in this vehement style, she only looked at him in a deprecating +way, and murmured:</p> + +<p>“Why, Fred!”</p> + +<p>“Well, I should like to know,” continued Fred, “what could be more +idiotic than the way you spend your time, you girls, fitting those +ridiculous, catty-cornered pieces of silk together, and working them all +over with bugs and cobwebs and caterpillars, and little boys in Mother +Hubbard dresses! You may well call ’em <i>crazy</i> quilts! I don’t +believe there was ever anything crazier, unless it was the lunatic who +first invented them!”</p> + +<p>“Why, Fred!” said Linda, again. “Now, I think they are too pretty for +anything!”</p> + +<p>“Pretty!” snorted Fred. “They’re made out of the last things that +you’d suppose anybody would ever think of putting into a bed-quilt. +I can’t get a chance to wear a neck-tie half out before somebody +wants it. Kate Graham spoke for my last new one the next day after I +bought it. And I hardly dare to put my hat down, where there’s a girl +around, for fear she’ll capture my hat-band!”</p> + +<p>By this time, Linda was laughing outright.</p> + +<p>“Oh, you are so funny, Fred! But you only just ought to see Kate +Graham’s crazy quilt. I <i>know</i> you couldn’t help calling it +lovely. She has got pieces of ever so many wedding dresses in it; but I +don’t know who would give <i>me</i> any. Aunt Mary never will get +married, nor Cousin Susie, nor our Bridget, unless Pat hurries up with +his courting—and there’s nobody else. Besides, they are all making +<!-- png 09 --> +<span class = "pagenum">385b</span> +crazy quilts of their own. I would start one with papa’s old silk +handkerchief and his Association badge, if I thought I could ever get +pieces enough to finish it; but I don’t see how I could.”</p> + +<p>“Bess Hartley told me that she was going to send off somewhere and +get a lot of pieces that are put up to sell. You get a whole package of +assorted colors for a dollar,” suggested Fred.</p> + +<p>“Oh, that would make it cost too much! Mamma would not let me do +that,” said Linda, shaking her head. “She says it is well enough to use +up odd bits of silk in that way, if one happens to have them; but she +doesn’t think it right to spend money in such a manner, instead of using +it for better purposes—and I don’t suppose it is.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I am sure I don’t know what you are going to do,” was Fred’s +consoling observation. “You’d be as crazy as the rest of the girls if +you began to piece a quilt; and I don’t know but you will go crazy if +you can’t.”</p> + +<p>With which conclusion, Fred walked off +<span class = "pagenum">385c</span> +whistling, and left Linda to read her Cousin Dell’s letter over again, +and wish that Patrick O’Brien would propose to Bridget, if he was ever +going to, so that she could get married, and have a new silk dress for +her wedding.</p> + +<p>However, Linda was not the girl to fret and worry after things which +were unattainable.</p> + +<p>Fred would have his joke, but she was not going to make herself +unhappy just because she had not the materials for making silk +patchwork, as Dell and the rest of her girl friends were doing. There +were plenty of other pleasures and amusements within her reach, and the +one that she enjoyed most of all came in her way, as it happened, the +very next morning.</p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic03a.jpg" width = "144" height = "77" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic03b.jpg" width = "420" height = "212" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic03c.jpg" width = "508" height = "302" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption float" style = "width: 500px;"> +“OH, MRS. BURBANK! WHAT BEAUTIFUL PIECES!” CRIED LINDA. “WHERE DID THEY +ALL COME FROM?”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">385d</span> +<p>Her father said to her, as he rose from the table after +breakfast:</p> + +<p>“Linda, would you like a ride, my dear? I am going to drive over +to East Berlin, and I will take you along, if you would like +to go.”</p> + +<p>“<i>If</i> I would like it! Why, papa, you <i>know</i> +there isn’t <i>anything</i> that I like so much as a good, long ride +with you!” cried Linda, dancing with delight, as she ran off to get +ready for the drive.</p> + +<p>For it was indeed a “good long” ride to East +Berlin—fifteen miles at least—and +<!-- png 10 --> +<span class = "pagenum">386a</span> +the day was just as fresh and bright and lovely as a day could be in the +fresh and bright and lovely month of May.</p> + +<p>The young grass was emerald green along the country roads, the apple +trees were all in sheets of bloom, hill-sides were fairly blue with +bird-foot violets, and sweet spring flowers were smiling everywhere.</p> + +<p>Linda was so full of happiness that she could scarcely keep from +singing in concert with the birds that trilled and chirped among the +trees on either hand, as the pleasant road led through a piece of +woodland.</p> + +<p>But the woods came to an end abruptly where the trees had been cut +off, and where some men with ox-carts were hauling away the long piles +of cord-wood. Then there were fields of plowed ground on each side of +the road, and then a long stretch of rocky hills and old pastures, and +presently some houses came in sight.</p> + +<p>Old, weather-beaten houses they were—a dozen, perhaps, in all. +Two or three had once been painted red, and still displayed some dark +and dingy traces of that color; but most of them were brown, and some +had green moss growing on their broad, sloping roofs—roofs which +were two stories high in front, but came down so low at the back that a +lively boy might reach them from the ground with very little effort, +only the place did not look as if anything so young or so lively as a +boy had been seen there for at least twenty years.</p> + +<p>Still, it was a pleasant place. There were thickets of lilac and +mock-orange bushes around every house, and old-fashioned lilies and +roses growing half-wild along the fences.</p> + +<p>There were flagged walks leading up to all the doors, with borders of +evergreen box, which had once been trim, and still was quaint and +pleasing; there were old gardens, where everything was “all run out,” +but where the bees and birds appeared to find congenial homes; there +were gnarly old apple-trees, with bending, twisted branches that touched +the ground and made the most enticing rustic seats.</p> + +<p>Withal, there was a calm and stillness brooding on the place that +filled one’s fancy with sweet thoughts of olden times and—</p> + +<p>“Whoo-oo-oop! Hip, hip, pip, hoo-<i>ray</i>!”</p> + +<p>“Good <i>gracious</i>!” cried Mr. Trafton, starting from his pleasant +reverie, and clutching at the reins which lay loose upon his knee. “Good +gracious! What’s that?”</p> + +<p>“It’s a boy!” said Linda, with a quite disgusted accent.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably, it was a boy—and a boy of the most aggressively +modern type, clad in garments of the very latest cut, from his flannel +yachting-shirt to his canvas “base-ball” shoes—a boy with a +look as well as a voice, which proclaimed him all alive.</p> + +<p>His close-cropped head was bare, and his white straw hat came +spinning over the stone wall and into the middle of the road, as if +impelled by steam-power, before the boy himself scrambled over, giving +vent to another whoop, which would have done credit to a Comanche gone +mad.</p> + +<p>The whoop and the hat together were enough to startle almost any +horse; and, although Mr. Trafton’s fine roadster, “Billy,” was pretty +well trained, the combined effect was a little too much for his nerves. +He gave a sidelong leap and started to run. His master checked him +sharply, and veering from the road, he ran the wheels into a deep rut, +and over went the buggy with a crash!</p> + +<p>Linda screamed, as she was pitched headlong into a thicket of +sweet-fern which grew along the roadside; but the bushes broke her fall, +and, beyond the fright and a scratched hand, she received no injury.</p> + +<p>Her father was equally fortunate, and, as Billy had recovered from +his momentary panic and did not run, the accident appeared, at the first +glance, to be nothing serious.</p> + +<p>The boy who had caused it came forward, with a look of trepidation +upon his countenance, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>“I’m awfully sorry, sir; I didn’t mean to frighten your horse. +I was down behind the wall and didn’t see you coming, or I wouldn’t +have thrown my hat so. I was only scaring a squirrel.”</p> + +<p>“He must have been pretty thoroughly scared,” said Mr. Trafton, +drily.</p> + +<p>However, the boy’s bright face wore an expression of such honest +regret that he added, with a good-humored accent:</p> + +<!-- png 11 --> +<span class = "pagenum">386b</span> +<p>“Well, well, I was a boy myself once. You must be more careful +another time, my lad.”</p> + +<p>“That I will, sir.”</p> + +<p>And as Mr. Trafton began to raise the overturned buggy, the boy took +hold and helped him.</p> + +<p>On getting the vehicle righted, they found that one wheel was broken +so badly as to need repairs before the journey could be continued, and +Mr. Trafton surveyed the damage with grave concern.</p> + +<p>The boy gave a low whistle, and murmured:</p> + +<p>“Here’s a state of things!”</p> + +<p>“I don’t see what I’m going to do,” remarked the gentleman. “There’s +nobody in this region who could mend that wheel, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes there is!” cried the boy, brightening up. “Doran’s blacksmith +shop is only a little ways down the road; you can get the wheel fixed +there. I’ll go along and hold up this side of the buggy; and I’ll pay +the bill, sir, as I caused the damage.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Trafton looked at him approvingly, but answered:</p> + +<p>“You need not do that, my boy. The bill won’t amount to much; but the +job may take some time—and where can I leave my little girl? +I suppose you would not care to wait in the blacksmith shop, +Linda?”</p> + +<p>Before Linda could reply, the boy said, looking at her frankly, and +not at all abashed:</p> + +<p>“She can stay with my grandma while you’re having the wheel fixed. +Mrs. Deacon Burbank is my grandma; she lives right here, sir,” pointing +out the house.</p> + +<p>“And where do you live?” asked Mr. Trafton, who took a liking to Mrs. +Deacon Burbank’s grandson, for all his annoyance at the trouble which +that lively youth had caused him.</p> + +<p>“I’m staying with grandma this summer,” said the boy; “but I live in +Boston when I’m at home. My name is John Burbank.”</p> + +<p>“Well, John, you will have to take Linda to your grandma, for I +cannot leave Billy standing here with this broken buggy.”</p> + +<p>“All right, sir; I’ll be back in a minute, and help you down to +Doran’s.”</p> + +<p>So saying, John Burbank led the way, and Linda followed, to the +nearest of the brown old houses—a big, broad-roofed domicile, +with wide, double doors and narrow windows, and with two great cherry +trees in the front yard, looking like two great drifts of snow, they +were so thickly covered with white blossoms.</p> + +<p>A border of red and yellow tulips, gay daffodils, and “crown +imperials,” edged the narrow walk which led from the front gate around +to the side door, where they were received by a surprised old lady in +gold-bowed spectacles, to whom John presented his companion, with the +following concise account of the accident which occasioned her +unexpected appearance:</p> + +<p>“Grandma, here’s a girl, and her father is out there with his team, +and they’ve just had a break-down, and it was all my doing; but I didn’t +mean to! I scared the horse, hollering at a squirrel. I’ve got to +go and help her father get the buggy down to Doran’s, and she’s going to +stay here till it’s fixed, and her name’s Linda. I don’t know what +her other name is.”</p> + +<p>“Linda Trafton,” supplemented Linda, as the boy paused to catch his +breath.</p> + +<p>“Johnny,” said the old lady, speaking as severely as a stout old lady +with dimples in her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes could be expected +to speak, when addressing her only grandson—“Johnny, I do +declare for ’t, you air the worst boy! What under the canopy will you go +to cuttin’ up next? Come right in, my dear,” she said to Linda, “and +make yourself to home. Johnny, you run along and help the gentleman; and +tell Mr. Doran your gran’ther will pay the bill.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’m going to pay it myself, grandma, with my own pocket-money, +if the gentleman will let me; but he says he won’t.”</p> + +<p>And Johnny was off before he had done speaking.</p> + +<p>“I declare for ’t,” said his grandmother, “that boy is a regular +Burbank; jest exactly what the deacon used to be at his age—always +into suthin’. I knew the deacon when he wa’n’t any older than +Johnny, an’ I remember jest how he used to act. Take off your +things, my dear, and make yourself to home.”</p> + +<p>She took Linda’s hat and sacque, and +<!-- png 12 --> +<span class = "pagenum">386c</span> +carried them into the spare bed-room, where there was a great +“four-poster” bedstead, with blue-and-white chintz hangings and a +blue-and-white spread; and then she came and sat down by Linda, and +asked her a great many questions about the break-down, and about her +father and mother and herself, but she was such a nice old lady that +Linda did not mind her being a little inquisitive.</p> + +<p>In return, she gave Linda quite a complete history of her own family, +and told her a number of entertaining stories about Johnny and Johnny’s +father, and about the deacon when he was a boy. Finally, she looked at +the queer old clock on the kitchen mantle-shelf, and remarked:</p> + +<p>“It’s time I was gittin’ my dinner over to cook, and I guess I shall +have to leave you to amuse yourself a little while, my dear. You might +go out an’ look ’round the garden, if you want; or maybe you’d ruther go +up in the garret, an’ look at Johnny’s picture-books an’ things. He +likes to stay up there, when it rains so’t he can’t go out.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I should like that, of all things!” cried Linda, delighted. +“I do love a real old-fashioned garret, with all sorts of old +things in it!”</p> + +<p>“Do you now? Well,” said Mrs. Burbank, beaming over the gold-bowed +spectacles, “our garret is full of old truck, an’ you can go up there +an’ rummage ’round all you’ve a min’ to.”</p> + +<p>She opened the door of a narrow staircase, with steep and well-worn +stairs, and told Linda that was the way to the back chamber over the +kitchen, and when she got up there she would see the garret stairs; and +she guessed Linda could find the way up alone. She was pretty hefty +herself, and she didn’t travel up and down stairs any more than she +could help.</p> + +<p>Linda very quickly found her way to the garret, which proved to be +indeed a veritable treasury of “old truck;” and her brown eyes opened +wide with ecstasy as she caught sight of a real, genuine spinning-wheel, +stowed away under the low, sloping roof.</p> + +<p>Then she discovered a smaller wheel, with a motto carved around its +rim in quaint lettering, which Linda studied over a long time before she +made it out—“Eat not the Bread of Idleness.” She learned afterward +that this was a flax-wheel, on which Deacon Burbank’s mother used to +spin the thread to weave her linen sheets.</p> + +<p>Beside the flax-wheel stood a superannuated chest of drawers, with +dingy brass handles, which had once, no doubt, been a fine piece of +furniture.</p> + +<p>Then there were broken-down chairs, with straight, stiff backs; +queer, cracked jugs and bottles, and painted teacups with the handles +broken off; and funny old spelling-books and school-readers, all +inscribed, in beautiful handwriting, on their yellow fly-leaves:</p> + +<p class = "center">“John Burbank, his book.”</p> + +<p>Linda knew that the John Burbank who had learned his lessons from +these old books must have been the deacon “when he was a boy,” and not +her young friend, Johnny.</p> + +<p>There were several old-fashioned wooden chests among the treasures of +this delightful garret, and Linda hesitated to open them at first; but +finally she called to mind that she had been given permission to +“rummage” as much as she pleased.</p> + +<p>One chest, painted green, stood near the narrow window, which threw a +checkered square of sunshine upon the garret floor, and as Linda raised +the cover she gave a little scream of rapture, for it seemed almost as +if she had found a broken rainbow, there was such a glitter of gay +colors in the sunlight.</p> + +<p>“Oh! <i>oh!</i>” she cried, “what lovely, <i>lovely</i> pieces for a +crazy quilt!”</p> + +<p>For the old chest was nearly filled with scraps of silk and satin of +every shape and size, from bits not over an inch wide to the large, +three-cornered pieces, of which there seemed to be a great number, left +in cutting trimming-folds “on the bias,” as Linda knew, for she had seen +many such remnants proudly displayed by those of her girl friends who +happened to be in the good graces of Miss Cranshaw, the village +dressmaker. But such brocades and stripes, such “plaid” and “watered” +and “figured” silks, such brilliant shades of color as she found among +the contents of that chest, her eyes had never looked upon before.</p> + +<p>“I wonder if these are pieces of Deacon Burbank’s mother’s dresses?” +thought +<!-- png 13 --> +<span class = "pagenum">386d</span> +Linda, as she turned them over, exclaiming, every other minute, “Oh, how +pretty!” or “Oh, what a beauty!” for every new piece that she took up +seemed prettier than the last. “Why, she must have had as many as Queen +Victoria. Why <i>don’t</i> they wear such colors now? Most of the silk +dresses that Miss Cranshaw makes are black, or brown, or sage-green, or +some other sober shade; but these are all so bright. Oh, what a lovely +blue!”</p> + +<p>“It is a handsome piece of silk, ain’t it? That was the dress Miss +Polly Newcome wore to the inaugeration ball at Washington, ’most forty +years ago. They don’t have no such silks in these days.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Deacon Burbank had mounted the garret stairs with footsteps far +from noiseless, being, as she said, a “hefty” old lady; but Linda +had been too much absorbed to notice her approach until she spoke.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Mrs. Burbank! What beautiful pieces!” cried Linda. “Where did +they all come from?”</p> + +<p>“Why, they come from all ’round, my dear,” said Mrs. Burbank, sitting +down with Linda, beside the green chest. “You see, my girls used to take +in dressmakin’, when they was young, and the pieces kinder gathered an’ +gathered. The girls used to keep the silk pieces separate, thinkin’ they +might do suthin’ with ’em sometime; but they never did. They was always +too busy to do much putterin’ work. So the pieces have laid there ever +sence the girls left home. They all got married, many a long year ago, +my girls. Cecilia went to New York, and Evaline lives down in +Pennsylvaney—she’s got to be quite an old woman herself now; and +Nancy Jane, she’s layin’ in the cemetery over to East Berlin, with her +own little girl buried ’long side of her,” said the old lady, sighing. +“But they used to be called the best dressmakers there was anywhere +round these parts; folks used to come from as far off as Tolland County +to have their nice dresses made by the Burbank girls. Miss Polly Newcome +went to Washington the winter that her father was elected to the Senate. +She was a great beauty, Miss Polly was, an’ they made everything of her +in Washington. But my girls had the makin’ of all her new clothes, ’fore +she went. This was a dress she wore to a grand dinner-party that was +given to her father, Senator Newcome.”</p> + +<p>And the old lady picked out a scrap of marvelous brocade, with +silver-white roses on a wine-colored ground, and smoothed it on her +knee.</p> + +<p>“This was the one she wore to the President’s +reception”—selecting a bit of rose-colored satin, striped with +sky-blue velvet; “and this,” she continued, smoothing out a long strip +of changeable silk in green and ruby tints, “was another dinner dress. +Here’s a piece of plaid silk that was made up for Squire Harney’s wife, +when she was goin’ to Europe; and here’s a piece of Mrs. Doctor Thorne’s +dress, that she had made on purpose to wear to a grand party over in +Tolland.”</p> + +<p>This last was a good-sized square of bright yellow silk, with +polka-dots of mazarine blue.</p> + +<p>Linda, looking at the gorgeous fabric with admiring eyes, +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“I never saw such pieces in all my life! They <i>would</i> make the +loveliest crazy quilt!”</p> + +<p>“What kind of a quilt, my dear?”</p> + +<p>“A crazy quilt,” said Linda, laughing. “Haven’t you ever seen one, +Mrs. Burbank? Fred says the person was crazy who first invented them; +but I think they’re just as pretty as they can be. It takes a great many +pieces of silk, though, to make a bed-quilt, and some of the girls only +make sofa-pillows and such things.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you mean patchwork. The land!” said Mrs. Burbank, “I used +to make silk patchwork more than sixty years ago. It was all the style +then, but I didn’t s’pose they ever done it now.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes; it is all the style now,” said Linda, with a smile.</p> + +<p>“Do tell! I want to know if you like to piece patchwork?” said the +old lady, looking over her spectacles at Linda’s girlish face, with its +gentle eyes and frame of soft, brown hair. “I declare for’t, you +look just as my Nancy Jane did when she was your age! If you want them +pieces, child, you can have ’em; I ain’t got any use for ’em, and +don’t s’pose I ever shall have. I’m too old to piece patchwork, +myself—my eyesight ain’t what it used to be.”</p> + +<p>For a moment Linda was speechless with delight, but finally she found +her voice, and cried out:</p> + +<!-- png 14 --> +<span class = "pagenum">387a</span> +<p>“Oh, Mrs. Burbank! All those lovely crazy pieces! Do you really mean +to give them to me?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I do, and I’m real glad to see ye so pleased, my dear. +Them silk pieces have laid in that chest years an’ years, doin’ nobody +any good; an’ they shan’t lay there no longer, if they can make a little +girl so happy.”</p> + +<p>And the good old lady looked happy herself as she opened another +chest, and, taking out an old pillow-case of home-spun linen, began to +fill it with the wondrous “crazy pieces.”</p> + +<p>When she had crowded them all in and tied the bag with a piece of +twine, she said:</p> + +<p>“Now, you can take ’em right along with you, an’ whenever your father +happens to come this way ag’in, he can bring me back the piller-case, +for it was one of Mother Burbank’s, and I shouldn’t want to lose it. +I declare for ’t<ins class = "correction" title = "close quote missing">!”</ins> she added, “I forgot all about your father, +child, I got so took up with lookin’ over them pieces. He’s got the +buggy mended, an’ he’s come back after you, so you must come right down. +I want you an’ he should have dinner ’fore you go; it’s all +ready.”</p> + +<p>And happy Linda went down to the kitchen, where she found her father +and Johnny, and Deacon Burbank, who had just come home to dinner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trafton was hungry, and quite willing to take dinner at the +deacon’s, instead of waiting till they arrived at East Berlin.</p> + +<p>They all became very well acquainted in the course of the meal, and +Mr. Trafton promised to bring Linda to see Mrs. Burbank, whenever he +came that way.</p> + +<p>“And I will bring my crazy quilt and show it to you, when I get it +done, Mrs. Burbank,” added Linda.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Johnny spoke up, and said:</p> + +<p>“If you don’t get on with your crazy quilt any faster than my sister +does with hers, you won’t ever get it done!”</p> + +<p>And Linda told him that sounded just like Fred!</p> + +<p>Johnny carried the pillow-case out to the buggy and tucked it under +the seat; and Linda could think of nothing but her crazy pieces all the +way to East Berlin.</p> + +<p>When she got home and showed them to Fred, he declared they were the +jolliest, craziest lot of pieces he had seen yet!</p> + +<p>And when Linda’s quilt was commenced, all the girls went wild over +it; but she laughingly refused to tell them where her pieces came +from.</p> + +<p>She made a great mystery of the matter, asserting, in reply to all +inquiries, that hers would be a crazy quilt with a history, and nobody +should know anything about it until the quilt was finished.</p> + +<p>A crazy quilt with a history is no trifling piece of work, and the +girls have not yet heard the story.</p> + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "davy" id = "davy"> </a></p> + +<h2>DAVY’S TURN.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY FLORENCE B. HALLOWELL.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>“Never mind! It’ll come my turn some day, and then I’ll pay you boys +up; and you’ll be sorry enough for all the mean things you’ve done to +me,” and Davy Potter stooped to pick up the books which one of a group +of a dozen boys had pushed from his arm.</p> + +<p>The school-house yard was muddy from recent rains, and the books were +so wet and dirty that Davy took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe them +off.</p> + +<p>“What’ll you take for that handkerchief, Dave?” asked Fred Bassett. +“It’s a beauty, and no mistake.”</p> + +<p>There was a loud shout from the other boys, and universal attention +was directed to the little square of faded calico Davy was so +industriously using.</p> + +<p>A hot flush rose to the boy’s thin, freckled face; but he made no +reply, except to mutter under his breath something which the boys could +not catch.</p> + +<p>But there was a bitter, vindictive feeling in his heart as he +followed his persecutors into the school-house. He did not understand +why all the wit—if wit it could be called—should be leveled +at him; why he should be the target for every poisoned arrow, simply +because he was poor, ugly and always at the bottom of his classes. He +thought it unjust and cruel, and longed with all his heart for the time +to come when by some real good luck he would have a chance to “pay the +boys up.”</p> + +<!-- png 15 --> +<span class = "pagenum">387b</span> +<p>He knew that if he ever needed assistance in any such work, he could +rely on old Sim Kane to help him; for the old +man—a half-witted creature who earned a miserable livelihood +by doing odd jobs of wood-sawing and cleaning for charitably-disposed +people—had good reason, also, to hate the boys of the Prickett +school, and long for revenge.</p> + +<p>Davy lived with an aunt, who gave him a home as a matter of duty, and +regarded him as a burden and a nuisance, often treating him so unkindly +that he was made very unhappy, and spent as little time with her as +possible.</p> + +<p>He tried honestly to be dutiful and obedient; but he couldn’t help +forgetting occasionally to wipe his feet before entering the kitchen, +and sometimes he let the fire go out, or forgot to feed the chickens. +Then he was severely reprimanded, of course, and told that he was +ungrateful, as well as stupid.</p> + +<p>But in the woods he was free to do as he liked, and there was no one +to scold or find fault with him, and he had many dumb but affectionate +friends there among the squirrels, rabbits and birds.</p> + +<p>So he always took his way to the woods every Saturday as soon as he +had cleaned up the yard about his aunt’s house, filled all the +water-buckets, cut the kindling for the kitchen stove, and attended to +the dozen or more other chores Miss Potter required of him.</p> + +<p>He never shirked the least of them, no matter how anxious he was to +get away; for he had been so frequently told how much he owed to his +aunt, that he believed he could not do too much for her.</p> + +<p>It was while exploring the depths of the woods, one day, that he +discovered the secret retreat of the “Mystic Nine,” a club of nine +boys who disappeared from the village regularly every Saturday morning +during the spring, summer and fall, and remained away until sunset, +often returning with torches to have a street parade after dark, or with +a bag of plump birds for a grand “fry” in the kitchen of some indulgent +mother.</p> + +<p>That they had a hiding-place of some sort, where they held meetings +and ate the generous lunches they carried with them, all the boys +outside the nine felt sure; but none of the Mystics ever answered any +questions concerning it, and threw out vague but impressive warnings as +to the terrible fate that would befall any one whose curiosity led him +to seek to penetrate the secret they guarded so closely.</p> + +<p>Davy stumbled upon it quite by chance. Following the trail of a bird +with a wounded wing, he found himself in a part of the wood he had never +been in before, and came suddenly upon a great pile of brush a dozen +feet high, behind which was the entrance to a deep cave in a rocky +hillside.</p> + +<p>He entered, and found it well furnished with rough blankets, +a table, an oil stove, and many other things necessary to the +comfort and convenience of nine boys. A large window in the roof, +which was carefully covered with brush, afforded a means to obtain +light, when that given by the mouth of the cave did not prove +sufficient, or when bad weather made it necessary to drop the canvas +which did duty as a door.</p> + +<p>Davy, afraid of getting into trouble, kept his discovery to himself, +but he made frequent stolen trips to the cave, and resolved that some +day he would use his knowledge for the purpose of obtaining his +revenge.</p> + +<p>He had a vague plan in his head to guide about fifty of the roughest +boys in the village to the cave, and thus give the secret to every one, +and he fully determined to let this be his form of revenge, when, being +called upon to read in class, he was forced to use the wet, soiled +books.</p> + +<p>His thoughts were directed so much to this subject that his lessons +were recited even worse than usual, and as a result he was kept in to +study for an hour after the close of school.</p> + +<p>When he was at last free to go home, and left the school-house, he +found that poor old Sim was in the hands of his enemies. The Mystic Nine +had placed him in his own dilapidated hand-cart, and were wheeling him +down one of the side streets as fast as they could go, shouting and +laughing at his frenzied cries of distress and the ludicrous picture he +presented, as he clung to the side of the cart, the brim of his torn +straw hat flapping in the wind, and an old scarf of bright scarlet silk, +which he cherished as his dearest earthly possession, streaming out +behind.</p> + +<p>Davy felt very sorry for the old man, +<!-- png 16 --> +<span class = "pagenum">387c</span> +but did not dare interfere. He could only wait until the boys, becoming +wearied of their sport, ran the cart into a shallow pond and went off to +seek other diversion.</p> + +<p>Old Sim was almost helpless with fright and exhaustion, and when Davy +waded into the pond and pushed the cart out on dry land again, he threw +his arms about the boy’s neck, and clung to him, sobbing and moaning +like a child.</p> + +<p>It was all Davy could do to comfort and quiet him, and to persuade +him to go home, so apprehensive was he that another attack would be made +on him. But Davy finally succeeded in convincing him that there was no +further danger, and the old man went scuffling off to the miserable +shanty he called home.</p> + +<p>The next day was Saturday, and as the weather was clear and bright, +Davy resolved to spend the whole morning in the woods. But his aunt +found so much for him to do that it was nearly noon before he was able +to get away.</p> + +<p>As usual, he divided his lunch with the birds and squirrels, and then +lay down under a tree to read a book he had brought with him.</p> + +<p>But it failed to interest him, and his mind persisted in dwelling +upon the unkindness with which he was so systematically treated, both at +home and at school.</p> + +<p>“I wonder if it will ever be any different?” he thought, as he sprang +to his feet at last. “If I only could get to the head of the grammar +class just once, they might treat me better. But of course there is no +use in thinking of that, for there’s no chance of it.”</p> + +<p>He strolled through the woods, his steps turning unconsciously in the +direction of the secret cave.</p> + +<p>He had almost reached it, when he suddenly became aware of where he +was, and started to retrace his steps, fearing the boys would come out +and discover him there.</p> + +<p>But scarcely had he turned when, to his amazement, he saw old Sim +Kane come rushing toward him from the direction of the cave.</p> + +<p>The old man’s face was pallid with excitement, and he was swinging +his long arms, and muttering and laughing to himself in a way that made +Davy’s blood run cold.</p> + +<p>“Sim! Sim! what’s the matter?” he cried.</p> + +<p>But the old man paid no attention to him, and not pausing to question +him again, but sure there was trouble of some sort at the cave, Davy ran +toward that secret retreat.</p> + +<p>His ears soon told him what the trouble was. The great pile of brush +which concealed the entrance to the cave had been set on fire!</p> + +<p>Terrible was the vengeance which the half-demented old man had taken +on his boyish persecutors.</p> + +<p>Davy, with a loud cry of horror, and forgetting in that awful moment +all his own wrongs, seized a stout branch, and rushed upon the pile of +brush without a moment’s hesitation.</p> + +<p>The entire mouth of the cave was a mass of flame, and it was no easy +matter to scatter the burning brands, so intense was the heat.</p> + +<p>But Davy fought the fire right and left, with a wild energy far +beyond his strength and years, and at last the mouth of the cave was +clear, and the fresh air could enter it again.</p> + +<p>Then, exhausted, faint, and suffering most intense agony from a dozen +terrible burns, the brave boy sank to the ground.</p> + +<p>At first he was scarcely conscious, but presently he became aware +that some one was bending over him, and opening his eyes, he saw Fred +Bassett’s face, so full of pity, admiration and kindness that poor Davy +scarcely recognized it.</p> + +<p>“We didn’t deserve this good turn of you, Davy,” said the boy. “But I +can’t tell you how thankful we are to you. But for you we would have +been suffocated inside of ten minutes. It was that old Sim who set the +fire. We were busy at the back of the cave, making it deeper, and didn’t +know anything about the fire until we heard the old man shout at us from +the window overhead. He was half mad with joy, and was just about to +light the brush on the window. He must have fired the pile in front in +twenty places. There was no use in trying to get out. It was like a wall +of fire. I tell you, we all thought our time had come. It was just +awful.”</p> + +<p>“I’m glad I came when I did,” said Davy, gently. “But I’m afraid +you’ll have to help me home. My feet are so +<!-- png 17 --> +<span class = "pagenum">387d</span> +badly burned I don’t believe I can take a step.”</p> + +<p>“As if we’d let you even think of walking!” exclaimed Fred. “We’ll +rig up a litter in short order.”</p> + +<p>So Davy was carried into the village in state by seven of the boys, +while the two others went on ahead to tell Miss Potter what had happened +and engage the services of a doctor.</p> + +<p>And it was not until his wounds were all dressed, and he was lying +quietly in bed, with Fred Bassett and Tom Harper sitting beside him, +that Davy happened to think that the “turn” for which he had waited so +long had come at last, and he had failed to take the revenge he had so +ardently desired.</p> + +<p>But he never regretted this, for he never had to complain again of +unkind treatment from either his aunt or his schoolmates. For Miss +Potter, in taking care of her young nephew during the three weeks he was +confined to the house, found good qualities of head and heart the +existence of which she had never before even suspected, and she made up +her mind that she had thought Davy a burden because she had never really +understood him.</p> + +<p>As to the boys—well, they made a hero of Davy, and the “Mystic +Nine” became the “Mystic Ten,” by the admission to membership of the +shy, freckled-faced boy who was always at the bottom of his classes.</p> + +<p>And affection and encouragement brightened up Davy’s wits so much +that he ceased before long to occupy that unenviable and lowly position, +and astonished his teacher by his rapid progress.</p> + +<p>No punishment was ever meted out to old Sim; but it is scarcely +necessary to say that the boys were careful to let him severely alone +after that memorable Saturday on which Davy became a hero.</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "blind" id = "blind"> </a></p> + +<h2>THE BLIND GIRL AND THE SPRING.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY SYDNEY GREY.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Yes, it is true that I am blind (it was not always thus),</p> +<p>But oft it comes into my mind how God can comfort us.</p> +<p>For if, of some good gift bereft, we bend before His will,</p> +<p>He ever has a blessing left which should our sorrows still.</p> +<p>This very morn I found it so; scarce had the day begun,</p> +<p>Ere with small, pattering, restless feet that hither swiftly run,</p> +<p>The children came in joyous mood, and shouted, “Spring is here!”</p> +<p>And when they led me through the wood, I knew that she was near.</p> +<p>I felt her breath upon my cheek, and while we walked along,</p> +<p>A thousand times I heard her speak the rustling leaves among,</p> +<p>In tones as though a harp had thrilled beneath an angel’s touch,</p> +<p>And all my soul with rapture filled: yet when I said as much,</p> +<p>The others laughed and whispered low, “Nay, nay, it is the wind!”</p> +<p>To them perhaps it might be so; but, ah! if folks are blind,</p> +<p>They learn in every sound that floats around their pathway +dark—</p> +<p>The breeze, the brook, the glad bird-notes—some hidden voice to +mark.</p> +<p>Therefore, when spring begins to don her garments fresh and gay,</p> +<p>Because I cannot look upon her beauty day by day,</p> +<p>Nor see the pointed crocus flame above the garden mold,</p> +<p>Nor watch the snowy tips that frame the daisy’s heart of gold;</p> +<p>Because unto my longing eyes may never be displayed</p> +<p>The changeful glory of the skies, warm shine and soothing shade,</p> +<p>Nor the great sun’s far-reaching rays which crown the day with +light,</p> +<p>Nor yet the star-lit purple haze that comes before the night;</p> +<p>She breathes the tender tale to me, in accents clear and plain,</p> +<p>Until I nearly rend the veil and see it all again.</p> +<p>And though I’m blind, I know quite well, when to the woods +we go,</p> +<p>The place to find the wild bluebell, and where the lilies blow;</p> +<p>Shy violets tell me, as I pass, their buds are at my feet,</p> +<p>And through the lengthening meadow-grass run murmurs soft and +sweet.</p> +<p>Oh! I thank God that He doth bring such daily joy to me,</p> +<p>For even I can welcome spring, like happy girls who see.</p> +</div> + + + +<!-- png 18 --> +<span class = "pagenum">388a</span> +<a name = "canoe" id = "canoe"> </a> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic06a.jpg" width = "422" height = "341" +alt = "canoe with sail"></p> + +<h2 class = "sans">How to Make A Canvas Canoe,</h2> + +<p class = "center">(<i>Concluded.</i>)</p> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY E. T. LITTLEWOOD.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>The covering is best made of what is known as “crash,” strong and +close. It must be wide enough to go completely under the canoe, and can +be had about 5 ft. wide, which will be quite wide enough. Seven yards of +it will be sufficient.</p> + +<p>To put on the canvas, turn the canoe over. Lay the canvas with the +centre line along the keel. Stretch it well by pulling at each end, and +tack it through the middle at the extreme ends with a few tacks in a +temporary manner. Put in temporary tacks along the gunwale at moderate +intervals, stretching slightly, and endeavor to get rid of all +folds.</p> + +<p>Begin in the middle and work toward the ends, and always pull +straight away from the keel, and not along the gunwale. Then put in a +second set of tacks half way between the first set of tacks on one side, +pulling fairly tight. Then, on the other side, put in tacks opposite to +the latter, pulling as tightly as possible.</p> + +<p>The best way to do this is to seize the canvas with a pair of +pincers, so that on pulling you can get the head of the pincers just +over the gunwale, when they can be used as a lever to give an extra +pull. A tack may then be put in on the outside of the gunwale; +half-inch galvanized tacks will do.</p> + +<p>Now remove the temporary set of tacks. To get rid of folds, which +will not occur along the keel, but along the gunwale, keep bisecting the +distance between two consecutive tacks by another tack, so that the +canvas is equally loose on each side of it, always now pulling the +canvas as tightly as possible.</p> + +<p>In this way the folds will disappear, and the canvas be stretched +tight and well-fastened to the gunwale. Leave that portion within a foot +of each end untacked.</p> + +<p>Next cut away all that portion which projects beyond the stem and +stern-post; turn the edges in, and tack along the edges at moderate +distances.</p> + +<p>Bisect these distances, and these again, till you have a very close +row of tacks, as in Fig. 12. Pull fairly tight, but not too tight, and +do not use pincers for this part; quarter-inch tacks will be best.</p> + +<p>The ends may be cut out and put on, lapping the edges over the side, +as shown in Fig. 12, and enough canvas will be left to fill the part +along the sides of the well, +<span class = "pagenum">388b</span> +into which the canvas should be tacked with a fine row of tacks, +afterward being stretched over the gunwale. The canoe will now be +completely covered in except the well.</p> + +<p>Before putting on the top, however, give the lower part outside a +good coating of boiled linseed-oil. This will be most of it absorbed +into the canvas. The same may be done afterward with the top.</p> + +<p>When this is dry—that is, after two or three days—give +another good coating of the same. Then paint the canoe according to +taste. Two coats for the bottom will be advisable, and paint which will +stand water well should be used. It would be well to paint the framework +with one coat before covering.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic06_all.png" width = "500" height = "304" +alt = "see text"></p> + +<p>Make a stretcher (Fig. 13) for the feet, of half-inch board, and +slips to fit it into (Fig. 10), with stops on the floor. Also, +a backboard of half-inch board, to correspond (Fig. 14). Each piece +in the latter may be 18x4 inches. They should be nailed into two +cross-pieces behind, so as to form a hollow for back, and should be +placed two inches apart, to allow a space for the spine.</p> + +<p>I prefer myself to fit in the backboard by means of stops on the +floor and back of the well, making it keep one position, and that at a +considerable slope, and have not found a swinging backboard so +comfortable as some appear to have done.</p> + +<p>For the paddle, for which I think about 7 feet 6 inches long over all +is a good length, take a light, clean piece of yellow pine, or fir, +1½x1¼ inches, not more, and 6 feet long. In the ends of this cut slots 6 +inches long, each to receive two pear-shaped pieces of very light +half-inch plank, 1 foot 3 inches by 8 inches. Nail them through with +copper nails, if possible. The blades should be at right angles to the +thickest direction of the handle.</p> + +<p>Before nailing in, shave down the handle from an oval of 1½x1¼ inches +for 2 feet of the middle to an oval of about 1⅛x⅞ inches near the +beginning of the blades.</p> + +<p>The handle should have its full thickness at the beginning of the +blade, but should be well tapered off along the +<span class = "pagenum">388c</span> +blade, so as to be quite thin at its middle, where it ends. It should +have its full breadth across the breadth of the blade. The blade itself +may be shaved off thinner toward the edges.</p> + +<p>I do not think that for ordinary purposes any strip of copper or tin +need be put round the blade, and the weight is increased by using.</p> + +<p>The great thing about a paddle is that it should be as light as +possible, and, if it appears able to stand it, it may be reduced still +further. It may be painted or varnished, all but two feet in the middle. +I find no rings on the paddles necessary.</p> + +<p>A short strip nailed outside the gunwale in the middle of the canoe +is a good thing; it prevents wear from the paddle, and forms something +to catch hold of in lifting the canoe.</p> + +<p>A short outer keel is also a good thing at each end to prevent wear; +but in making holes for the nails through the canvas into the keel care +must be taken to turn in the edges round each hole, to tack with a close +circle of tacks, and paint well, so as to render the place +water-tight.</p> + +<p>An apron is seldom wanted, but may be made of canvas rendered +waterproof with boiled oil, if desired.</p> + +<p>It is well to fasten some inflated bladders in each end, so as to +make the canoe a diminutive lifeboat, in case of an upset or of a hole +being knocked in her.</p> + +<p>The canoe will now be ready for launching. The owner should learn to +put her carefully into the water and take her out by himself—to +carry her on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>Superfluous wood may be cut from the central parts of the shapes, and +also from along the keel toward the ends before covering. The floor +forms a considerable item in the weight, consequently this should be +made no wider or thicker than necessary. In paddling, learn to reach +well forward and back, with a good swing of the body from side to +side.</p> + +<p>Such a canoe as described will be found to wear well, and one made by +myself for a friend two years ago is now in use, and quite +water-tight.</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "partridge" id = "partridge"> </a></p> + +<h2>HOW THE PARTRIDGE DRUMS.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>“When I first came to Canada,” says a writer from that locality, +“I found there were various opinions as to the method of making the +sound. One man, who read a great deal, but rarely went into the woods, +said that the sound was produced by the bird’s voice. Some of the +hunters told me that the bird struck its wings on the log, and others +that it struck them together over its back.</p> + +<p>“I did not give much heed to the bookman’s explanation, for all the +woodmen laughed at it. I soon learned to discredit also the idea +that the bird thumped the log with its wings, because whether it stood +on a stump or a stone, a rotten log or solid timber, the sound was +always the same. Lastly, I did not believe that the wings were +struck together, because, when a pigeon or rooster strikes its wings +together, the sound is always a sharp crack. At length, after watching +the bird carefully, I came to the conclusion that it drums by +beating the air only.</p> + +<!-- png 19 --> +<span class = "pagenum">388d</span> +<p>“It is not an easy matter to get sight of a partridge when he is +drumming, but I managed to do it by crawling on my hands and knees +toward the bird, lying still while he was quiet, and only moving forward +when he renewed his noisy courtship; for it is only to woo and win his +mate that Sir Ruffled Grouse indulges in these musical exercises.</p> + +<p>“In this way I contrived to come within twenty feet without alarming +him. Through the alder thicket I could just see his shapely form, +strutting about like a turkey cock; then for a moment he stood upright, +with his feathers lying close.</p> + +<p>“Suddenly his wings flashed, and at the same moment I heard the loud +thump. Then for a few seconds he stood looking about as though nothing +had happened; but presently came a second flash and thump, and others +followed at lessening intervals, until at last the serenade rolled a way +like the galloping of horses or the rumbling of distant thunder.”</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "frogs" id = "frogs"> </a></p> + +<h2>FROGS AND TADPOLES.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY E. S.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>It is very interesting in the spring to watch the gradual development +of a frog from the egg, through the tadpole stage of its existence, till +at last it assumes its final form.</p> + +<p>The old frogs emerge from their winter hiding-places in the mud, +early in the spring, and during April their eggs may be found floating +on almost every stagnant pond.</p> + +<p>A group of these eggs in their early stages of development looks like +a mass of clear white jelly, containing numbers of black specks, each of +which is really the germ of the future tadpole.</p> + +<p>In order to watch the development, a group of the eggs should be +taken and put in a shallow vessel of water, which, if kept in the house, +should have a bell-glass, or some other covering, over it, to keep out +the dust.</p> + +<p>The jelly-like mass which envelopes the future tadpole is so clear +that all its changes can be easily watched.</p> + +<p>First the head appears, then a flat tail, and in course of time the +nostrils, mouth and large eyes, till at length the completed tadpole +bursts open its gelatinous covering, and apparently not in the least +embarrassed by its new surroundings, begins swimming briskly about, +looking for something to eat.</p> + +<p>The time occupied in hatching varies in different countries, +according to the climate, from four days to a month.</p> + +<p>The following stages are even more interesting, especially for those +who can take advantage of the transparency of the parts to watch the +circulation of the blood through a microscope.</p> + +<p>The body of the tadpole gradually gets broader, while the tail gets +thinner and thinner, till it finally disappears altogether; but before +that happens, its place has been taken by two hind legs, which first +appear under the skin and then gradually push their way through.</p> + +<p>The fore legs next appear, and so on through all the stages of +development, till in a longer or shorter time, according to the amount +of warmth, light and food it can obtain, the complete frog appears.</p> + +<p>But woe betide the unfortunate tadpole which, first of the shoal, +attains to the dignity of possessing limbs, for so ferocious are the +later ones, and so jealous of their precocious little brother, that they +almost always fall upon him, and not content with killing, never rest +till every morsel of him is eaten.</p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic06b.jpg" width = "203" height = "110" +alt = "frog"></p> + +<p>And unless several of the tadpoles assume their final change about +the same time, this proceeding is repeated till their numbers are very +considerably diminished, or, as sometimes happens, till only one +survivor is left, who, having helped to eat all his brethren, instead of +meeting with his deserts, is allowed to live on in peace, till some day, +in the course of his walks abroad, he, in his turn, is snapped up as a +delicate morsel by some hungry snake or water-fowl.</p> + + +<!-- png 20 --> +<span class = "pagenum">389a</span> + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "honest" id = "honest"> </a></p> + +<h2>BE HONEST AND TRUE.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY GEORGE BIRDSEYE.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "poem"> +<tr><td> +<p class = "indent2">Be honest and true, boys!</p> +<p class = "indent2">Whatever you do, boys,</p> +<p>Let this be your motto through life.</p> +<p class = "indent2">Both now and forever,</p> +<p class = "indent2">Be this your endeavor,</p> +<p>When wrong with the right is at strife.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent2">The best and the truest,</p> +<p class = "indent2">Alas! are the fewest;</p> +<p>But be one of these if you can.</p> +<p class = "indent2">In duty ne’er fail; you</p> +<p class = "indent2">Will find ’twill avail you,</p> +<p>And bring its reward when a man.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent2">Don’t think life plain sailing;</p> +<p class = "indent2">There’s danger of failing,</p> +<p>Though bright seem the future to be;</p> +<p class = "indent2">But honor and labor,</p> +<p class = "indent2">And truth to your neighbor,</p> +<p>Will bear you safe over life’s sea.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent2">Then up and be doing,</p> +<p class = "indent2">Right only pursuing,</p> +<p>And take your fair part in the strife.</p> +<p class = "indent2">Be honest and true, boys,</p> +<p class = "indent2">Whatever you do, boys,</p> +<p>Let this be your motto through life!</p> +</td></tr> +</table> + + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "search" id = "search"> </a></p> + +<p class = "center"> +[<i>This Story began in No. 22.</i>]</p> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">In Search of Himself.</h1> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h3>A Tale of Dangerous Adventure.</h3> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>BY GEORGE H. COOMER,</h4> + +<h6 class = "tiny">AUTHOR OF “ARTHUR SUMMERS,” ETC.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XIII.<br> +<span class = "subhead">RALPH MAKES A FRIEND.</span></h4> + +<p>Ralph had need of all his courage, as he realized what was before +him. In a low, swampy spot, close under a pile of rock and earth, that +rose out of it like a wall, was an animal such as he had never met with +until this moment, although he instinctively guessed what it +must be.</p> + +<p>The creature appeared to be in a complete frenzy of rage. It was +covered with mud and water, and with furious motions was trampling down +the long, rank grass which grew about the place.</p> + +<p>“A wild boar!” uttered our young friend to himself, with his heart +leaping to his throat, as his glance took in the sharp back, the high +shoulders, and the immense tusks that curved from the jaws like +cimetars. </p> + +<p>He had seen pictures of such animals, but had never dreamed how +startling the reality would be.</p> + +<p>The boar seemed to direct his fury against the ledge which formed the +boundary of the muddy and grassy place where he was raging about; and +looking a little above the savage brute, Ralph perceived a something +which appeared like a human form in some manner confined among the +rocks. He thought the body looked as if partially under a big stone that +held it down.</p> + +<p>Instantly the thought came to him:</p> + +<p>“It must be that a man has got caught there under a rock, which he +has pulled down upon himself in trying to clamber up.”</p> + +<p>Just as this thought entered his mind, he saw the boar give a fearful +spring and fall back with what seemed a strip of clothing between his +jaws.</p> + +<p>The position of the imprisoned man must be awful, and there was not a +moment to lose. The next spring might be more successful.</p> + +<p>The fierce jaws clashed together with a startling sound, and the huge +head was shaken, as if the frenzy of the monster was increased by the +possession of that bit of rag.</p> + +<p>The prisoner gave another wild cry, and Ralph responded, with all the +strength of his lungs:</p> + +<p>“I’ll help you! I’ll help you!”</p> + +<p>He was too far off for a successful shot, but he hoped by firing to +attract the animal’s attention from the man to himself, and then, in +case of need, he might retreat into some one of the trees among which he +was then standing.</p> + +<p>So, taking the best aim he could, he fired both barrels in quick +succession. But the boar, except by a furious toss of the head and a +single terrible “<i>Whoosh!</i>” paid not the slightest attention to +him.</p> + +<!-- png 21 --> +<span class = "pagenum">389b</span> +<p>Indeed, the efforts of the animal to reach the intended victim +became, if possible, more frantic than ever; and Ralph guessed that +once, at least, the tusks came in contact with some part of the poor +captive’s body.</p> + +<p>“I can do nothing in this way,” he said to himself. “The man will be +torn in pieces before my eyes. I must make a bold move and take my +chance.”</p> + +<p>Between himself and the scene of danger there was neither rock nor +tree, but only the shallow mud and water, and the rank grass. The +venture would be a desperate one, but nothing less would save the man +from a terrible death.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic07.jpg" width = "508" height = "553" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption" style = "width: 508px"> +“RALPH’S LEGS WERE KNOCKED FROM UNDER HIM BY THE WEIGHT OF THE HUGE +BODY, SO THAT HE FELL AT FULL LENGTH IN THE MUD.”</p> + +<p>Ralph had about him shells containing charges of all descriptions, +from fine shot to bullets. Quickly throwing open his breech-loader, he +slipped a ball cartridge into one barrel and a heavy charge of buckshot +into the other.</p> + +<p>Then springing forward, he went splashing across the morass, with the +mud and water almost up to his knees.</p> + +<p>“I am no marksman,” he thought, as he strode rapidly on, “and shall +have to get close to him to hit him; but if he should come at me, +I shall have my second barrel, besides a plenty of shells.”</p> + +<p>There was some reassurance in this thought, especially as he had two +of the spare shells in his hand, ready for use in case of need.</p> + +<p>At a distance of only six rods from the enraged animal, he stopped +and brought up his gun.</p> + +<p>The boar was not still for an instant, but rushing about in its +efforts to get up the rock. He had certainly struck the man, for there +was blood on the rock and on the savage tusks. This probably rendered +him all the more eager.</p> + +<p>“I’ll try the buckshot first,” thought +<span class = "pagenum">389c</span> +Ralph, “for they’ll scatter a little, and some of them must hit +him.”</p> + +<p>He ranged between the two barrels, and pulled. “Bang!” sounded the +report. “Whoosh!” uttered the boar, stopping short in his efforts +against the rock, and turning his whole attention upon the intruder. +Doubtless he was hit, but perhaps not mortally.</p> + +<p>Ralph’s gun was again at his face. “Bang!” This time the single ball +was sent, but through the smoke of the discharge he saw that the boar +was rushing upon him.</p> + +<p>An interval of six rods, and a wild hog, six feet long, bounding over +it with clashing jaws! How the breech-loader sprang open, and how the +two spare charges went into it! What if Ralph had not held them all +ready in his hand?</p> + +<p>“Bang! bang!” The boar’s head was not three feet from the muzzle as +the second barrel was fired. The monster’s impetus carried him on with a +plunge; and the young hero’s legs were knocked from under him by the +weight of the huge body, so that he fell at full length in the mud.</p> + +<p>For an instant he believed himself lost, and while scrambling to his +feet he expected to feel the sweep of those sword-like tusks.</p> + +<p>But there was no longer any danger; the last discharge had done its +work to perfection, and with his knees bent under him, the boar lay just +as he had plowed into the mire, having not even rolled over.</p> + +<p>Picking up his gun, Ralph hurried to assist the person on the rock, +whom he had already seen to be a negro, and whom he now found to be held +down by a large stone, which lay upon his legs, he having doubtless +pulled it from a position above +<span class = "pagenum">389d</span> +in his frantic efforts to escape from his pursuer.</p> + +<p>The confined black could not help himself; but Ralph succeeded, +without much difficulty, in relieving him from the heavy weight.</p> + +<p>The stone could not have slipped more than two or three feet, for the +negro was not much injured by it, although it had held him so firmly. He +had the marks of the animal’s tusks on one of his legs; but the wound +was not a dangerous one. Ralph bound his handkerchief around it, and +felt very glad to find that the poor fellow was almost as good as +new.</p> + +<p>Finding himself able to walk, and seeming to realize how much he owed +to his young rescuer, the stout negro grasped the boy’s right hand in +both his own, and with tears glistening in his eyes, uttered a number of +rapid sentences, only a few words of which Ralph could understand, but +which were evidently the outpourings of gratitude.</p> + +<p>Still, there was in his manner an appearance of apprehension, as if +he feared that the lad might not be alone. He would glance furtively +about, like one who is expecting an enemy; and it was plain that he was +meditating a retreat.</p> + +<p>Back of the rocks there was dry, firm land; and in this direction he +looked, as if desirous of moving off.</p> + +<p>Ralph recalled the conversation which he had heard the day before +about the runaway slave.</p> + +<p>“This man may be Jumbo himself,” he thought. “I’ll try to make him +understand me.”</p> + +<p>Then, looking kindly in the negro’s face, he said, in Spanish:</p> + +<p>“I think you are Jumbo. I am only a boy, and I am all alone. You are +free; you can go where you will.”</p> + +<!-- png 22 --> +<span class = "pagenum">390a</span> +<p>And he pointed to the deep, free woods.</p> + +<p>Ralph had great difficulty in getting out this amount of Castilian; +but the negro, whose own command of that language seemed to be of the +most meagre description, comprehended his meaning. He took the spirit, +if not the words.</p> + +<p>A grateful expression came over his dark face, and again he clasped +the boy’s hand, with the same flow of mingled African and Spanish upon +his tongue.</p> + +<p>Ralph bade him a kind good-by, and he walked away into the forest, +waving his sable hand with a gesture full of feeling as he +disappeared.</p> + +<p>Our young sailor now proceeded to examine the animal he had +killed.</p> + +<p>It is said that the timid man is afraid before the danger, the coward +during it, and the brave man after it. Ralph was afraid +after it.</p> + +<p>He felt a kind of weakness about the knees, and wondered that he had +not noticed it before. He remembered how the bristles had stood up on +the boar’s back, how the savage jaws had clashed together, and how he +had seen the tusks standing out like long knives as the creature came +straight for him.</p> + +<p>Now how grim the monster looked as he lay in the mud and water, just +where he had dropped dead—not on his side, but with the legs +doubled under him, and the stout, hoggish ears sticking up like ears of +corn.</p> + +<p>“The next thing is to find my pony,” thought Ralph. “Let’s +see—which way did I come? Here are my tracks. I must have +come out of that thicket yonder.”</p> + +<p>Then, looking about him, he saw another line of tracks, and, going to +examine it, perceived that it was where the boar had chased the black +man across the morass. Most of the negro’s footprints were lost in those +of the hog.</p> + +<p>Almost at the moment in which Ralph reached his pony, he heard the +report of a gun at some distance, and guessed that Mr. Arthur was coming +in search of him. He answered the signal, and the planter, who had +become anxious for his safety, soon made his appearance.</p> + +<p>“I had begun to be really alarmed about you,” said Mr. Arthur, “and +feared I should have to go back and summon assistance in the search. If +you had not heard my gun, I should have missed you, for I was just +about to turn in the opposite direction.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I am sorry I have given you all this trouble!” said Ralph. “It +is too bad. But you can’t think what I have killed! I am glad you +have come, so that I can show you.”</p> + +<p>“Why, how wet and muddy you are!” said the planter, “and how your +clothes are torn! For heaven’s sake! where have you been?”</p> + +<p>Ralph related his adventure, and told how the black man had gone into +the forest.</p> + +<p>“I would not have had you take such a risk for all I am worth!” said +Mr. Arthur. “What would your father say if he knew of it?”</p> + +<p>“But the man couldn’t get away, and the boar might have got at him +before I could have had a chance to bring any one else here,” replied +Ralph.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I know; but it was a fearful risk. No doubt the man was the +runaway that I was speaking of to Mr. Osborne. At least, I should +judge so from your description. Osborne would have detained him, of +course; but I am not sorry that you made no such attempt. I should +have been tempted to let him go myself.”</p> + +<p>It was a great relief to Ralph to find that Mr. Arthur took this view +of the matter—a very singular one, he thought, for the owner +of five or six hundred slaves; yet, from what he had seen of his kind +friend, he was not surprised at it.</p> + +<p>The planter was curious to visit the scene of the adventure, and, +with some difficulty, they made their way to the place.</p> + +<p>“Why, Ralph,” he exclaimed, looking at the dead animal, and then at +the surroundings of the spot, “it is fearful! Had I known what you were +about, I should have given you up for lost. Not a tree within +twenty rods of you! Suppose you had failed to kill him? It frightens me +to think of it!”</p> + +<p>Going to the ledge beyond, they saw where the negro had scrambled up +with muddy feet, and where the sharp hoofs of the boar had scratched +long lines on the rock.</p> + +<p>It was easy to see how the large, loose stone, which had prevented +the fugitive’s +<!-- png 23 --> +<span class = "pagenum">390b</span> +escape, had slipped from its place as he tried to climb +over it.</p> + +<p>“Well, well,” said Mr. Arthur, “you ought to have one good friend in +the forest, and I guess you have! I don’t think that poor fellow +will ever forget you.”</p> + +<p>Ralph felt that this was pay enough, even though the friend was only +a poor negro, whom he might never see again.</p> + +<p>And now, leaving the huge game where it had fallen, he accompanied +the good planter back to the little village of huts, where Mrs. Arthur +and Camilla were awaiting them in some anxiety.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XIV.<br> +<span class = "subhead">OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE.</span></h4> + +<p>“Oh, how dreadful!” exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital +of what had taken place.</p> + +<p>“I am thinking of his mother,” said Mrs. Arthur, “and I am so +thankful—so thankful—that he is safe!”</p> + +<p>Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter.</p> + +<p>“You could have kept the negro, I suppose,” he said, “as you had your +gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you +being a boy.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t wish to <i>get him anywhere</i>,” replied Ralph. +“I wished him to go where he liked.”</p> + +<p>“Of course; it wasn’t your business to catch runaway negroes,” said +the overseer, “and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have +been there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?”</p> + +<p>“No, sir; I laid down my gun.”</p> + +<p>“Suppose he had taken it up?”</p> + +<p>“I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and +he knew it.”</p> + +<p>“I wouldn’t have trusted him,” remarked the overseer.</p> + +<p>“I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn’t think anything about it. +I wanted to stop his leg from bleeding.”</p> + +<p>“Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed him up?”</p> + +<p>“He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before +he could get away.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march +for his old quarters?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know how that was,” said Ralph; “but the gun lay all the +while where he could have taken it up if he would.”</p> + +<p>“What did you say to him?”</p> + +<p>“I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how +grateful he appeared for what I had done. I hope he has some good +place to stay in.”</p> + +<p>“No danger,” said the overseer; “he has a good enough place for this +climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. I think some of +my negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they +won’t tell.”</p> + +<p>“And do they never run away, too?” asked Ralph.</p> + +<p>“Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested +by the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and +sometimes, when they keep in their hiding-places, I track them out +myself.”</p> + +<p>“And do you whip them when you get them back?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again.”</p> + +<p>Somehow, Ralph did not like Mr. Osborne; for, besides that it was +hard to help associating him with the cruel office he occupied, there +was a something in him as an individual which repelled the boy’s quick, +intuitive sympathies. Practically he might be better than most +overseers, but how could he be otherwise under a superior like Mr. +Arthur?</p> + +<p>Ralph had brought in the parrots and paroquets that he had shot, for +he had not forgotten them on remounting his pony, and he now took off +their skins in a very artistic manner, leaving the beautiful plumage +almost unruffled, much to the delight of Camilla, who thanked him for +his thoughtfulness of her.</p> + +<p>Upon the journey homeward, the two spotted ponies, keeping close +together, galloped, trotted or walked, according to the fancies of their +riders or the variations of the road, while the horses of the older +people jogged more steadily.</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Camilla, “if Jumbo will not often think of you? +I know he will, though—he cannot help it.”</p> + +<p>“I hope he will,” said Ralph; “and I hope, too, that he will not +suffer. Your father does not seem at all anxious to get him back.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no! papa does not care for his running away. He says that if the +revolution +<!-- png 24 --> +<span class = "pagenum">390c</span> +should succeed, the new government would free all the slaves, and he is +willing that this should be done. Somehow, he is a slaveholder against +his will.”</p> + +<p>“Do you like Mr. Osborne?” asked Ralph.</p> + +<p>“Not very well. Papa has a high opinion of him as an overseer, but I +do think that even papa himself is not quite satisfied with all that was +done while we were away in the United States.”</p> + +<p>“The revolutionists appear to ruin a great many sugar plantations,” +said Ralph. “Do you ever feel afraid of being molested?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, mamma and I do, because they sometimes come very near us; but +papa says he does not think there is any danger. They know what his +sentiments are; besides, he is an <i>Americano</i>, and they have a +great respect for <i>los Americanos</i>.”</p> + +<p>“And isn’t he afraid, then, of the Spanish government?”</p> + +<p>“No; he takes no active part on either side; only his feelings are +with the liberal party. I think papa is not much of a +politician.”</p> + +<p>“I know how he feels,” said Ralph; “he is good and kind, and wants +everybody to be free. He is one of the best men I ever saw.”</p> + +<p>“He really is!” exclaimed Camilla, enthusiastically. “He is just as +good as any one <i>can</i> be. And,” she added, with childlike +earnestness, “he likes you ever so much, too.”</p> + +<p>Ralph was perfectly happy upon this ride; and when the party reached +home, it was to be greeted by the unaffected welcome of the negroes, old +and young, who were evidently much attached to their master and his +household. The parrots chattered, and the song-birds sang, while the +odor of the orange blossoms was well in keeping with the rest.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XV.<br> +<span class = "subhead">A NEW PROPOSITION.</span></h4> + +<p>Next day the planter and his young guest visited the city, and +returned with Captain Weston. He was thrilled by the story of Ralph’s +encounter with the wild boar. It shocked him to think how narrowly a +dreadful calamity had been escaped, and he all the while attending to +his ordinary duties, in ignorance of the danger.</p> + +<p>“Captain,” said Mr. Arthur, as they sat conversing together after +reaching the plantation, “I have a proposition to make. Why not let +Ralph remain with me till your return from Philadelphia? I may take +a journey or two about the island within the next few weeks, upon +business, and probably he would enjoy going with me. It would give him +an opportunity to see more of Cuba than he is likely to see in any other +way.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know what his mother would say,” replied the captain. “She +expects me to bring him home, and I am afraid she would be troubled +about it. Besides, I like to have him with me, though I know you +would take every care of him.”</p> + +<p>“I understand your feelings,” said the planter; “but my wife is about +writing to Mrs. Weston concerning the debt of gratitude we owe him; and +should you consent to his remaining, I think her letter will place +the matter in such a light as to remove any objection on his mother’s +part.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Arthur seconded her husband very earnestly.</p> + +<p>“You cannot think how much we would enjoy having him here,” she said. +“He has such a kind, lovable nature, and is so bright and active. +I do hope it may be arranged that he may stay.”</p> + +<p>Captain Weston revolved the matter seriously, and concluded at length +that it should be left to Ralph’s decision. What that decision would be +he could have had very little doubt, as he glanced toward the boy and +girl who were at that moment enjoying a swing under an orange tree of +unusual size, the vibrations of the rope occasionally bringing down some +of the golden fruit.</p> + +<p>Ralph was in ecstasies at the proposition, and Camilla’s bright face +lighted up with a pleasure that she did not try to conceal.</p> + +<p>“Oh, how nice it will be!” she said. “I am so glad you are to +remain.”</p> + +<p>A soft flush leaped to her cheeks as she spoke, and her beautiful +eyes expressed an artlessness that was very bewitching.</p> + +<p>So it was settled that Ralph should remain in Cuba during the two +months which would probably elapse before the return of the Cristoval +Colon to Santiago. +<!-- png 25 --> +<span class = "pagenum">390d</span> +His mother (for he could not have endured to think of Mrs. Weston in any +other light) would be comforted by the knowledge that he was in such +good hands. And then how much he would have to tell her when he should +go home!</p> + +<p>Captain Weston was greatly pleased with the plantation and its +management. He had seen much of Cuba, but never anything of this kind +which appeared so satisfactory. He walked and rode with the planter, +smoked his cigar with him, and admired his kind treatment of his +slaves.</p> + +<p>After a tarry of two days, he returned to the city, accompanied by +the planter and Ralph.</p> + +<p>As the latter mounted the side of the Cristoval Colon, he met a merry +welcome from the tars, some of whom threw out sly innuendoes in their +sailor style about pearls and pearl-divers, but he did not permit their +harmless jokes to annoy him.</p> + +<p>After a pleasant visit, Mr. Arthur returned to the plantation; but +Ralph did not accompany him, as he desired to remain some days with his +father during the vessel’s brief stay in port.</p> + +<p>He was not a boy who was afraid of work, and now, putting on his +everyday rig, he applied himself with a light heart to the duties of the +ship, lying stoutly back upon the slack of the tackle, while the sailors +hoisted the heavy articles of the cargo, or running aloft to loose the +sails for drying after the drenching night dews, and assisting to furl +them at evening.</p> + +<p>“That boy is smart,” old Jack Evans would say to his shipmates. “He +is the best fellow for a captain’s son I ever fell in with; he is always +looking for something to do.”</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XVI.<br> +<span class = "subhead">OLD JACK SEES A REMEMBERED FACE.</span></h4> + +<p>One evening, when Ralph went into the forecastle, he found Jack alone +there. The old sailor had just been overhauling his sea-chest, and had +in his hand the baby’s shoe which he had so long carried for good +luck.</p> + +<p>“I was just looking at it,” he said, “because to-day I came across +the father of that identical baby. I hadn’t seen him for about +sixteen years, but I knew him in a minute. He was puffing his cigar, +just as he used to do about the decks of the Moro Castle.”</p> + +<p>“What!” exclaimed Ralph, “the very man? Oh, how I wish I had been +with you! Who is he, and where does he live?”</p> + +<p>“That I don’t know,” replied Jack. “Of course, he didn’t know me, and +I hadn’t a very good chance to introduce myself. He was jabbering with a +lot of other Spaniards on a corner, with his <i>caramba</i> and his +<i>como esta usted</i>, so that I didn’t feel like going up to him with +a yarn about a baby’s shoe. Which way he went I don’t know, for I had to +get back to the ship.”</p> + +<p>“When was it?” asked Ralph, with great earnestness.</p> + +<p>“It was while I was ashore this noon.”</p> + +<p>“Why didn’t you tell me?” said the boy. “I would have gone right +ashore. But, no—I couldn’t have found him without you. Dear +me! I wish I could have been with you.”</p> + +<p>“Why, my lad, it’s of no consequence,” said Jack. “You seem to think +more of it than I do.”</p> + +<p>“But I want to see him,” replied Ralph. “I wonder if he is about +here every day?”</p> + +<p>“Likely enough,” said Jack. “But I didn’t think you cared anything +about the matter.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I’m thinking of that baby’s shoe,” answered Ralph. “It seems +so queer—the way you got it, and the way you have +kept it.”</p> + +<p>“I know that’s odd,” said Jack. “I suppose my keeping it is all +nonsense.”</p> + +<p>“No, it isn’t,” said Ralph. “I don’t think it is, I’m sure.”</p> + +<p>“You believe a little in old shoes, then?”</p> + +<p>“I believe in <i>that</i> shoe, Jack. I mean to go ashore with you, +and have a good look for that man.”</p> + +<p>“But we shouldn’t stand much chance of finding him,” replied Jack. +“I’ve been here in Santiago a number of times, but this is the first +time I have run across him here.”</p> + +<p>Ralph looked anxious and excited; but he saw that Jack felt somewhat +surprised at the interest he took in the matter, and so restrained +himself.</p> + +<p>“After all,” he thought, “it may have nothing to do with <i>me</i>. +Just a baby on its +<!-- png 26 --> +<span class = "pagenum">391a</span> +passage to the United States. But, then, it was going to Philadelphia, +and it was a boy baby; and I must have been a baby at the same time. +I wonder what Jack would say if he knew what I am +thinking of?”</p> + +<p>It would be strange, he thought, if he were really to get track of +himself in such a way—the first of the tracks being made by that +tiny shoe in Jack’s chest. And then he reflected how improbable it +seemed, when there were so many babies in the world, that he should have +been <i>that</i> baby.</p> + +<p>“I almost hope the thing will never come to light,” he said to +himself. “Perhaps it is better not to know.”</p> + +<p class = "center"> +[TO BE CONTINUED.]</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "menagerie" id = "menagerie"> </a></p> + +<h2>IN A MENAGERIE.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>There is a distinct individuality among tigers, as among ourselves, +some being gentle and tolerably tractable, while others are fierce, +morose, and not to be trusted.</p> + +<p>In Mr. G. Sanger’s menagerie, at Margate, England, there are two +tigresses which are of exactly opposite characters. Both go by the name +of “Bessy,” there being an extraordinary lack of originality in the +nomenclature of animals.</p> + +<p>The difference may be partly owing to the accident of birth, one +having been captured while young, and the other born in a menagerie.</p> + +<p>One might naturally imagine that the latter would be the better +tempered of the two, she never having known the freedom of savage life. +But, in accordance with the invariable rule, the “forest-bred” animal is +the tamer, those which have been born in captivity being always +uncertain in their ways, and not to be trusted.</p> + +<p>Now, “Bessy the First” is forest bred. The head keeper, Walter +Stratford, has the most perfect confidence in her, and can take any +liberties with her.</p> + +<p>After I had paid several visits to the menagerie, I thought that +she began to recognize me, and therefore cultivated her acquaintance. +Now, as soon as I enter the house, Bessy tries to attract my attention, +expects to be patted and stroked, her ears to be pulled, and her nose +rubbed, just as a pet cat would do.</p> + +<p>One day I had an unexpected experience with her. Nearly the whole of +the end of the room is occupied by a huge cage, in which Stratford +delights in putting all sorts of incongruous animals.</p> + +<p>There are several varieties of monkeys, a porcupine, +a goat, some rabbits and guinea-pigs, a few geese and ducks, +four cats, a coati-mondi, two raccoons, a jackal, +a little white Pomeranian dog named Rose, two pigs, and other +animals.</p> + +<p>Thinking that the goat would like some fresh grass, I went to +the lawn, gathered a large handful, and brought it to the goat.</p> + +<p>Not a blade of that grass did she get. I had hardly held the grass to +the bars when Rose flew at it, drove the goat away, and literally tore +the grass out of my hands. Three times did I fetch grass before the goat +was allowed to eat a blade of it. Ever since that time I have always +furnished myself with a good supply of grass before visiting these +animals.</p> + +<p>On one occasion I stopped as usual at <ins class = "correction" title += "elsewhere ’Bessy’">Bessie’s</ins> cage, and noticed that she stared +fixedly at the grass. So I said, jokingly:</p> + +<p>“Why, Bessy, you cannot want grass. However, here it is if you +want it.”</p> + +<p>So I put my hand into the cage, and was much surprised by seeing her +gently scrape the grass out of my hand with her huge paw. Then she lay +down, gathered the grass between her paws, and licked up every particle +of it.</p> + +<p>When she had finished it, she looked appealingly in my face as if +asking for another supply; so I brought a fresh handful, the whole of +which she took in the same dainty way.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Rose was performing the most extraordinary antics at the +end of the room. She had seen me bring in the grass, and naturally +imagined that it was intended for her. What with disappointment, and +what with jealousy, she was simply frantic, barking, yelping, jumping up +and down, scratching at the bars of the cage, and expressing her +outraged feelings in the most ludicrous fashion. Now I always give Bessy +her allowance of grass first, and then take another portion to Rose and +the goat.</p> + +<!-- png 27 --> +<span class = "pagenum">391b</span> +<p>It is a rather remarkable fact that the carnivora are much more eager +for the grass than are the deer, camels, antelopes and other vegetable +feeders.</p> + +<p>As to “Bessy the First,” she is so fond of Stratford, and places such +reliance on him, that when she has cubs she will allow him to enter the +cage, take away the cubs and hand them about among the visitors. In +fact, she is quite pleased to see that her offspring attract so much +attention.</p> + +<p>Very different is “Bessy the second.” She never had a very good +temper, but was not considered to be a very dangerous animal, until an +event occurred which completely altered, or, at all events, had an evil +influence upon her character.</p> + +<p>Nearly two years ago, three young lion cubs were in the next cage to +hers. One day she seemed to be seized with a sudden frenzy, smashed the +partition between the cages, flew at the cubs, and killed two of them in +a moment.</p> + +<p>The whole attack was so quick and unexpected that Stratford had only +just time to save the life of the third cub. Since that time she has +been carefully watched, for when once a lion or a tiger has broken +through a cage it is apt to repeat the operation.</p> + +<p>“Bessy the Second” is restless, morose and suspicious, and if any of +the animals make a sudden movement, she starts up, stares at them +through the bars, and often sets up a series of roars, which have the +effect of causing every lion and tiger in the place to roar for +sympathy, so that the noise is deafening.</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "creatures" id = "creatures"> </a></p> + +<h2>STORIES OF DUMB CREATURES.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>—Says a naturalist: “We came to a large piece of timber, and +while passing through it, I had my first experience with the +honey-bird of South Africa. This curious little bird is, in size and +plumage, about like an English sparrow, and gets his name from the fact +that the little fellow, who is very fond of honey, being unable to +obtain it for himself, will lead men to the places where the wild bees +have hidden their stores of rich, wild honey. Whenever this bird sees a +man, he will fly close to him, hovering around, uttering a twittering +sound; then he will go off in the direction of the place (generally a +tree) where the honey is, flying backward and forward in a zigzag +fashion. Then back he will come, twittering in the same manner, as if to +say, ’Come along: I’ll show you where it is.’ These actions are repeated +until the tree is reached, when the bird will indicate it very plainly +by flying to it and hovering around it. If the distance is great (and +sometimes the honey-bird will lead a person who is willing to follow a +distance of ten miles); he will wait on a tree until the follower comes +up, and will then continue his business of piloting. He is very +persistent, and will do his best to draw any one on; but if the party is +not posted about honey-birds, and refuses to follow, or goes in the +wrong direction, the bird will leave, probably in search of some person +who will appreciate his efforts to provide him with sweetmeats. While +the bees are being smoked out, and the honey taken up, the bird will +hover in the vicinity until the job is done, when of course his reward +comes in the shape of a feast on the fragments that are left. If he +knows of other hives, just as soon as one is disposed of he will lead +the way to another, and I have, since this time, known as many as four +trees taken up by a party in one day. When the honey-bird has shown one +tree, if the hunters are satisfied with that, and refuse to follow him +further, he leaves them; but I have never heard of an instance in which +the bird misled any one in regard to finding honey. It frequently +happens, however, that a honey-bird will lead a person into very +dangerous places, and unless the hunter keeps his eyes about him when +following this bird, he may run right into a lion, a venomous +snake, or some other equally undesirable acquaintance.”</p> + +<p>—A correspondent of a New Orleans paper writes: “Dick was only +a big toad. The boys found him beside the road one day last summer when +the June roses were in bloom, and triumphantly deposited him in one of +the flower-beds, ‘to eat the bugs and things off’n the pinks and pansies +and rosemary; and, besides, you know, mamma, the other boys will throw +stones at him<ins class = "correction" title = "” for ’">.’</ins> That +settled it, and Dick (as they gravely informed me they had named him) +was left to enjoy his flowery home. Occasionally, when cutting flowers, +I noticed the exceeding tameness of the little creature, and was +often assured by the boys, ‘Our Dick is the very best toad in town.’ +However, I noticed nothing uncommon until two or three weeks after +they had brought him home, when I was attracted by their peals of +laughter, and presently heard them calling, ‘Dick, Dick! come, Dick!’ +I slipped out and peeped around the corner of the house, and beheld +a most comical sight—one of the boys down on his knees, holding +<!-- png 28 --> +<span class = "pagenum">391c</span> +out his hands and calling to the toad, which was gravely hopping toward +him, making a peculiar little noise, until he reached the outstretched +hand, into which he hopped and sat contentedly blinking his bright, +bulging eyes. After this I noticed the strange pet more closely, and +found he would always come promptly when his name was called, and seemed +very grateful when presented with a worm or bug. He would come at any +kindly call, but showed greatest preference for eight-year-old, +mischievous Teddy, into whose hand he would always hop, and whom he +would hop around after as long as he would walk around the flower-bed +where Dick made his home, but never beyond its limits. And such pansies, +pinks and other sweet posies I had there!—no cut stem or bitten +leaves. Dick ate all the floral enemies up that ventured there. When the +cold days of autumn came upon us, he left us, and we have seen him no +more. What is the moral of this? Nothing—only that kindness and +mercy shown to even so humble a creature as a toad will bring pleasures +and a sure recompense.”</p> + +<p>—Writing from Tecumseh, Mich., a correspondent sends this: +“A few years ago our house was infested with a large number of +rats, which had taken up their abode in a recess of the cellar that had +formerly been used as a landing-place for a dumb-waiter, but was now +filled with odds and ends of every description. We had endeavored to rid +ourselves of these pests, but all our attempts were in vain, and they +held their daily matinees as usual. On hearing more of a commotion than +common, one afternoon, I softly opened the cellar door, and, to my +amazement, saw nine rats, one of which had mounted a box containing +potatoes, while the others were stretched out in a line leading to their +den—the recess before mentioned. Now comes the most curious part +of my story: The rat that stood on the box of potatoes would push a +potato over the edge, then the rat in line nearest the box would roll +the potato to his neighbor, and so on with each one till the potato was +safely stowed away. I watched them for some time, and, seeing the +potatoes disappearing rather rapidly, I dispersed the earnest +workers by a stamp of my foot.”</p> + + +<p class = "fancyline"> +<a name = "puzzledom" id = "puzzledom"> </a></p> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">Puzzledom.</h1> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p class = "center">No. CCCLXXVII.</p> + +<p>Original contributions solicited from <i>all</i>. Puzzles containing +obsolete words will be received. Write contributions on one side of the +paper, and apart from all communications. Address “Puzzle Editor,” <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, Philadelphia, Pa.</p> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h3>ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S PUZZLES.</h3> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<table class = "puzzler" summary = "puzzle solution"> +<tr> +<td>No. 1.</td> +<td>Calendar.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 2.</td> +<td class = "puzzle left"> +B E S T O W<br> +E P A U L E<br> +S A C R E D<br> +T U R B I D<br> +O L E I N E<br> +W E D D E D +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 3.</td> +<td>Wise-acre.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 4.</td> +<td class = "puzzle left"> +C A L A B O O S E<br> +A N I M A B L E<br> +L I M E R O D<br> +A M E N D E<br> +B A R D S<br> +O B O E<br> +O L D<br> +S E<br> +E +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 5.</td> +<td>Mark Tapley.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 6.</td> +<td class = "puzzle left"> +M O C H E S<br> +O T I O S E<br> +C I C U T A<br> +H O U D A H<br> +E S T A T E<br> +S E A H E N +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 7.</td> +<td>Good-humored.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 8.</td> +<td class = "puzzle"> +F A I R S<br> +A B N E T S<br> +I N T A I L S<br> +R E A L L I E D<br> +S T I L E T T O S<br> +S L I T H E R<br> +S E T E E<br> +D O R<br> +S +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 9.</td> +<td>Byrnehc, Pygmalion, Traddles.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 10.</td> +<td class = "puzzle left"> +G R A T I S<br> +R E V E S T<br> +A V E N E R<br> +T E N U R E<br> +I S E R I N<br> +S T R E N E</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 11.</td> +<td>Cover-shame.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>No. 12.</td> +<td class = "puzzle"> +H U M E C T A T I O N<br> +P O L I A N I T E<br> +B A T T E N S<br> +S E T A E<br> +D O R<br> +O +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h3>NEW PUZZLES.</h3> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 1. Numerical.</h5> + +<p class = "indent2">When trees and fields <i>complete</i></p> +<p class = "indent3">Their garbs of green;</p> +<p class = "indent2">When birds and flowers sweet</p> +<p class = "indent3">Again are seen,</p> +<p>And airy zephyrs murmur by,</p> +<p>My 5, 4, 3 and 6 soars high.</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent2">Oh! how I’m in a state</p> +<p class = "indent3">Of agitation,</p> +<p class = "indent2">6, 1 and 2 I get</p> +<p class = "indent3">An inspiration.</p> +<p>’Twill be in vain—in vain my lay,</p> +<p>For spring will then have flown away.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> <!-- end div center --> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Villanova, Pa.</td> +<td class = "author">Villanova.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<!-- png 29 --> +<span class = "pagenum">391d</span> +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 2. Square.</h5> + +<p>1. The young of the great black-backed gull. 2. To come. +3. Carves. 4. Granters. 5. To entirely destroy +(<i>Obs.</i>) 6. To grow smaller.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Rochester, N.Y.</td> +<td class = "author">Egerton.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 3. Charade.</h5> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p><i>Prime</i> not, ye fair ladies, or gentlemen wise.</p> +<p class = "indent">To disbelieve what for your fortune will prove;</p> +<p><i>Next total</i>, not gold, should select as a prize,</p> +<p class = "indent"><i>Three</i>, friends, to the right, and marry for +love.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Danville, Va.</td> +<td class = "author">Aleda.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 4. Pentagon.</h5> + +<p>1. A letter. 2. The pulp of fruit. 3. A shrub of the genus +<i>Corylus</i>. 4. The Brazil nut. 5. Deep blue colors. +6. Contrite. 7. A detached bastion (<i>Fort.</i>) 8. To +admit extension. 9. Rigid.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Haverhill, Mass.</td> +<td class = "author">Pygmy.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 5. Mutation.</h5> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>Like a hawk that pounces on its prey,</p> +<p>Swift as lightning on a summer day,</p> +<p>Through the stillness of the air you came,</p> +<p>Without life, and more—without a name.</p> +<p>Man has called you <i>whole</i>—perhaps you are</p> +<p>Dross ejected from some brilliant star!</p> +<p>But methinks the spheres their place will yield</p> +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Ere to time</span> your mystery is +revealed.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Newark, N.J.</td> +<td class = "author">Demosthenes.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 6. Square.</h5> + +<p>1. Gaps. 2. By reason of this. 3. A fleet of vessels. 4. A sort +of flying fish. 5. A title addressed to a lady. 6. The +principal gold coin of ancient Greece.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">East Brady, Pa.</td> +<td class = "author">St. Elmo.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 7. Charade.</h5> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>Come here, my <i>second</i>—lose no time;</p> +<p class = "indent"><i>First</i> lively, don’t procrastinate;</p> +<p>Although, my <i>all</i>, I’ll spare no pains</p> +<p class = "indent">To render you less obdurate.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">My <i>all</i>! Yet truly as a <i>last</i></p> +<p class = "indent">I’ve learned to look upon my boy:</p> +<p>Most true it is, ’tis but a <i>one</i></p> +<p class = "indent">From sad distrust to life of joy!</p> + +<p class = "stanza"><i>First</i> dame, indeed, I would not be</p> +<p class = "indent">Held in my <i>second’s</i> inmost thought;</p> +<p>Transmuted by love’s magic power,</p> +<p class = "indent">My <i>all</i> my <i>last</i> is, without doubt.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Woburn, Mass.</td> +<td class = "author">Glen Cottage.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 8. Half Square.</h5> + +<p>1. Concise. 2. Birds resembling thrushes. 3. A poisonous +substance composed of minute fungi. 4. Forms. 5. Kinds of +liquor. 6. An iron chain (<i>Obs.</i>) 7. Exists. 8. A +letter.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Boston, Mass.</td> +<td class = "author">Pi Eta.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 9. Numerical.</h5> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>The <i>whole</i> is a thing that drives away harm,</p> +<p>Defined by dear Webster as “a charm;”</p> +<p>My 5, 6, 2, 3, 3 is by the same called “not much;”</p> +<p>My 6, 7, 8, a “vassal,” “subject,” “person,” or such:</p> +<p>My 5, 2, 3, 1 is “taste,” “savor,” or “a sailor;”</p> +<p>My 1, 2, 4, 3 of a coat is oft shortened by a tailor.</p> + +<p class = "stanza">Now I think you have all you require to solve this +numerical;</p> +<p>If not, I will tell you the <i>whole</i> relates to nothing +clerical.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">N.Y. city.</td> +<td class = "author">Atello.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 10. Square.</h5> + +<p>1. Barley-water. 2. A small particle. 3. A fine white powder or +earth, without taste or smell. 4. A paved way. 5. To convey or +transfer. 6. Tidier.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Chicago, Ill.</td> +<td class = "author">U. Reka.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 11. Anagram.<br> +Tom, these men criticise common rates.</h5> + +<div class = "center"> +<table class = "verse" summary = "centered poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>The law’s strong arm and stern decree</p> +<p>Are turned against monopoly;</p> +<p>Justice and equal rights for all</p> +<p>Be ours though the heavens fall!</p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Hazleton, Pa.</td> +<td class = "author">P. O. Stage.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h5 class = "puzzle"> +No. 12. Inverted Pyramid.</h5> + +<p><i>Across</i>: 1. The process of analysis by means of standard +solutions (<i>Analyt. Chem.</i>) 2. Little tufts. 3. Species +of walls made of stiff clay. 4. To steal (<i>Obs.</i>) 5. A +letter.</p> + +<p><i>Down</i>: 1. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3. To surpass. +4. To impair seriously. 5. A case in which the relics of +saints were kept. 6. To produce. 7. A pronoun. 8. A bone. +9. A letter.</p> + +<table class = "authors" summary = "formatted text"> +<tr> +<td class = "town">Hoboken, N.J.</td> +<td class = "author">Junius.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" +alt = "-->" align = "left"> +Answers will appear in our next issue; solvers in six weeks.</p> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Special.</span>—<span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span> Puzzlers’ Directory for each of the first +correct solutions to Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.</p> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>SOLVERS.</h4> + +<p>Puzzles in “<span class = "smallcaps">Puzzledom</span>” No. CCCLXXI +were correctly solved by E. C. Lectic, Maud Lynn, Demosthenes, +Barnyard, Skye Buckeye, Gemini, Egerton, H. S. Nut, Jr., Will O’ +the Wisp, F. Aitchell, Col. O’ Rado, Dorothy Doolittle, Grepwic, +Cricket, P. O. Stage, Sub Rosa, Fairplay, Alcyo, Tunie H. S., +R. M’Bride, Jo Jo, Khimo, Lorrac, Billy Bluebottle, May Le Hosmer, +O. Pal, Vladimir, F. Arce, Nue Norton, J. H. Mowbray, +U. Reka, Sim Sly, Clarence W. Chapin, Reklaw, Io, Tom B. Stone, +Toodlewinks, Jo Ram, Craftsman, Fly, Alpheus, Chinook, Puzz L., Teddy, +Wm. H. Deucker, Annie Gramme, W. T. Anderson, C. R. +Irving, Jr., Bennie Knowels, Monte Christo, V. G. Ohnja, +H. U. T., Alphonzo, B. L. Under, Bryx, +J. I. C., Harry S., Jno. Bopp, Cale and Harry Allen, +J. Evans, Alpha Sigma, Liberty, Brooklyn Boy, Jno. Beck, Howard H. +Geiger, Earnest Fleet, Washingtonian, Annie A. Powell, Dick Ens, +C. H. Sweetzer, Panama Derby, Orpheus, Jno. Fitzgerald, Henn, +Reidsville, Mahdea, A. B. Y. Nomis, H. C. Williams, Mas +Ten, Panama Hat, Tidal Wave, Primrose, Geo. W. Phinney, J. F. +Ireland, Laf A. Yette, Freddie Geib, R. O. Chester, A. B. +Williams, Lucrezius Borgers, Lackawanna, Laeno, Whisk, Effie W.McConkey, +C. B. A., Puer and Swamp Angel.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Complete List.</span>—E. C. +Lectic.</p> + +<p>The specials were awarded as follows:</p> + +<div class = "inset"> +<p>No. 1. Cricket, La Porte, Ind.<br> +No. 3. Clarence W. Chapin, Akron. Ohio.<br> +No. 5. E. C. Lectic. Chicago, Ill.<br> +No. 7. Alcyo, New York city.<br> +No. 9. Jo Ram, New York city.<br> +No. 11. E. C. Lectic, Chicago, Ill.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<!-- png 30 --> +<span class = "pagenum">392a</span> + +<p class = "lines"> </p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<a name = "circulation" id = "circulation"> +<img src = "images/pic10a.png" width = "309" height = "65" +alt = "Golden Days" title = "Golden Days"></a> +</p> + +<h6>ISSUED WEEKLY.</h6> + +<p class = "lines"> </p> + +<h4 class = "boldf extended">Our Subscription Price.</h4> + +<p>Subscriptions to “<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>,” +$3.00 per annum, $1.50 per six months, $1.00 per four months, all +payable in advance.</p> + +<p>Single numbers, six cents each. We pay postage on all United States +and Canada subscriptions.</p> + +<p class = "center">TO THOSE WHO DESIRE TO GET UP CLUBS.</p> + +<p>If you wish to get up a club for “<span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>,” send us your name, and we will forward you, <i>free of +charge</i>, a number of specimen copies of the paper, so that, with +them, you can give your neighborhood a good canvassing.</p> + +<p class = "center">OUR CLUB RATES.</p> + +<p>For $5 we will send two copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address.</p> + +<p>For $10 we will send four copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address.</p> + +<p>For $20 we will send eight copies to one address, or each copy to a +separate address.</p> + +<p>The party who sends us $20 for a club of eight copies (all sent at +one time) will be entitled to a copy for one year FREE.</p> + +<p>Getters-up of clubs of eight copies can afterward add single copies +at $2.50 each.</p> + +<p>Money should be sent to us either by Post Office order or Registered +Letter, so as to provide as far as possible against its loss by +mail.</p> + +<p>All communications, business or otherwise, must be addressed to</p> + +<p class = "right">JAMES ELVERSON,<br> +Publisher.</p> + +<p class = "lines"> </p> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" +alt = "->"> <i>A new Serial Story, entitled</i></p> + +<h1>Three Young Silver Kings!</h1> + +<h4>BY OLIVER OPTIC,</h4> + +<h5 class = "extended">WILL BEGIN NEXT WEEK.</h5> + +<p class = "lines"><a name = "sculpture" id = "sculpture"> + </a></p> + +<p> </p> + +<h2>NATURE’S SCULPTURE.</h2> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h6>BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE.</h6> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p>Perhaps the strangest public work ever suggested by man was that of +Dinocrates, whose scheme was to cut and carve Mount Athos into the form +of a gigantic man, holding in one hand a town, in the other a cup to +receive the drainage of the mountain before it reached the sea.</p> + +<p>His king, Alexander the Great, declined to accept his plan; though, +amused at his extravagant notion, he gave him a permanent place in his +attendance.</p> + +<p>A small village in Northern Italy to a wonderful extent fulfills the +wild dream of the Macedonian architect, the houses being grouped in such +a manner upon a broken eminence of land that from a certain point a +striking resemblance to an upturned human face is outlined. In addition +to a chin, nose and brow, a white chimney lends an eye to the +profile, while a line of bushes at the crown has the appearance of +shaggy locks.</p> + +<p>Allowing that a vivid imagination has much to do toward perfecting +these faces of nature’s sculpture, and that a range of hills or coast +line will lend itself to almost any fancy we choose, there are in +different localities stones and cliffs bearing a remarkable resemblance +to the human countenance, individual peculiarity sometimes being easily +traced in these grave omens.</p> + +<p>As the voyager approaches Rio Janeiro, he sees in the distance, +apparently rising from the sea, lonely and majestic, a massive +stone head, with the profile of the Iron Duke of England, the brow, the +nose, the chin, each feature perfect in its outline.</p> + +<p>St. Vincent, of the Cape Verde group, has a huge volcanic rock which +requires no grievous strain of the imagination to transform into the +figure of George Washington in a recumbent position, the profile, the +hair and even the collar frill being reproduced with remarkable +clearness.</p> + +<p>Rising grimly from the whirlpool of waters beating fiercely the +rugged western extremity of Santa Catalina Island, in the West Indies, +is an isolated block of basaltic rock, many feet in height, bearing a +marked likeness of a human face. It is known as “Morgan’s Head,” from a +fancied resemblance to that noted free-booter.</p> + +<p>Among the countless rocks fringing the coast of Norway is one forming +a striking picture of a horse and rider about to plunge into the surf, +fifteen hundred feet below. This gigantic illusion, to the fanciful +minds of the old bards presented the image of Odin as he disappeared +before the advance of Christianity.</p> + +<p>In Iceland, overlooking one of its picturesque +<!-- png 31 --> +<span class = "pagenum">392b</span> +valleys, is a bluff surmounted by a colossal head, covered by a stunted +growth looking not unlike a cap with frills. Before this august image +the worshipers of Odin were wont to bow in serious reverence.</p> + +<p>The rugged coast of England has several of these faces of nature. Off +the Cornish point are seen the Great Lions, and lower down the shore the +Armed Knight. There is also the Old Man, the Old Dame, Duke’s Nose and +Witch’s Head.</p> + +<p>Not the least remarkable of these freaks is the Old Man of the +Mountain, who uprears his gigantic form amid a sea of cliffs and rugged +heights, in the heart of that region known as the “Switzerland of +America”—New Hampshire.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“What doth thy anxious gaze espy?</p> +<p class = "indent">An abrupt crag hung from the mountain’s brow!</p> +<p>Look closer; scan that bare, sharp cliff on high;</p> +<p class = "indent">Aha! the wondrous shape bursts on thee +now—</p> +<p class = "indent"><i>A perfect human face</i>—neck, chin, mouth, +nose and brow!”</p> +</div> + +<p>A face of granite that alone kept watch and ward over the country +long ere the foot of man pressed its soil. In the grave, philosophical +outlines is traced a resemblance to Franklin’s countenance. At the base +of this singular mountain lies a sparkling sheet of water, called the +“Old Man’s Mirror.”</p> + +<p>More beautiful and wonderful than any of these grave images is the +Maid of the Kaaterskill Falls, in the Catskill Mountains. With the +mellow light of sunset falling obliquely upon the thin layer of water +flowing over a sharp ledge worn and fretted by the continual wear of the +current for ages, rock and spray together making up the illusion, is to +be seen the fairy-like form of an Indian maid, with flowing hair and +robes. So clearly does she appear that the beholder has at first the +startling conception of gazing upon a living being, suspended in the +waters.</p> + +<p>Indian tradition says that this maid of the mist was once the beloved +of the Great Spirit; but herself falling in love with a Mohawk brave, +she perished here, fleeing from her angry master.</p> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "monument" id = "monument"> + </a></p> + +<h2>MONUMENT PARK.</h2> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p>The formations from which this takes its name are among the greatest +curiosities to be seen in Colorado. Pen cannot well describe them. They +consist of a series of curiously shaped natural monuments, which have +been formed from sandstone rock solely by the action of the weather, +a thin strata of iron on the top having protected these particular +pieces and preserved them.</p> + +<p>No accurate estimate can be made of the thousands of years this work +of the elements has been in progress. There are perhaps a hundred of the +peculiar formations of different sizes and shapes, some of which are +really fantastic.</p> + +<p>The Garden of the Gods is also a remarkable freak of Nature, +partaking somewhat more of the grand and imposing.</p> + +<p>It is a secluded spot, hemmed in by great rocks stood up on edge and +on end. They are some of the more marked of the numerous evidences on +every hand here of a grand upheaval some time in the past.</p> + +<p>Imagine tremendous flat rocks, large enough to cover a quarter of an +acre of ground, standing up on edge, 330 feet high, and you will have +some idea of what forms the chief wonder of this garden.</p> + +<p class = "right">G. B. G.</p> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "backlogs" id = "backlogs"> + </a></p> + +<h3>BACKLOGS MADE OF STONE.</h3> + +<p>It will surprise many persons of the present day to be told that the +“backlog” of which we read so much in old-time stories was a large +stone, a porous stone being preferred if possible. This stone was +buried in the ashes, and on top was placed the “back stick.” The back +stone in those primitive times played a very important part in the +economy of early housekeeping. Matches were not then invented. Flint, +steel and tow were the only means of lighting a fire or a lamp. Imagine +for a moment the Bridget of to-day thus engaged, with the thermometer +ten degrees below zero in the kitchen. The stone, together with the +ashes with which it was covered, served to retain fire and heat through +the night, and all that was necessary in the morning was a little +kindling and gentle use of the indispensable bellows, and a fire was as +readily made as at the present day.</p> + +<!-- png 32 --> +<span class = "pagenum">392c</span> + +<p><a name = "mamie" id = "mamie"> </a></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic10b.jpg" width = "335" height = "386" +alt = "Mamie’s mother watches her writing"></p> + +<h4>MAMIE’S LETTER TO HEAVEN.</h4> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h6>BY J. W. WATSON, AUTHOR OF<br> +“BEAUTIFUL SNOW.”</h6> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "poem"> +<tr><td> +<p>An humble room in a tenement house,</p> +<p class = "indent">Four stories above the street,</p> +<p>Where a scanty fire, a scanty light,</p> +<p class = "indent">And a scanty larder meet;</p> +<p>A woman sits at her daily toil,</p> +<p class = "indent">Plying the needle and thread;</p> +<p>Her face is pallid with want and care,</p> +<p class = "indent">And her hand as heavy as lead.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +There she sits with her weary thought,</p> +<p class = "indent">While the tears drop full and fast;</p> +<p>There she sits and stitches away,</p> +<p class = "indent">With her memory in the past;</p> +<p>Beside her, perched on her little stool,</p> +<p class = "indent">Sits Mamie, a six-year-old,</p> +<p>Who says she is never hungry at all,</p> +<p class = "indent">And never admits she is cold.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +There she sits and chatters away,</p> +<p class = "indent">Not seeing her mother’s tears;</p> +<p>“Mamma, ’tis a month since winter came,</p> +<p class = "indent">And I think to me it appears</p> +<p>That the Lord will never find us out,</p> +<p class = "indent">If He’s anything to give,</p> +<p>Unless we can, some way, let Him know</p> +<p class = "indent">The street and the number we live.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“You see, mamma, last winter He passed,</p> +<p class = "indent">While papa was sick in bed;</p> +<p>He doesn’t know we are here, mamma,</p> +<p class = "indent">And He doesn’t know papa is dead;</p> +<p>And so it happened all winter long</p> +<p class = "indent">We didn’t have anything nice,</p> +<p>And so I think it would only be fair</p> +<p class = "indent">If He came this winter twice.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Do you ’member, mamma, that little, old man</p> +<p class = "indent">Who gave me the bright, new cent?</p> +<p>Well, it wouldn’t buy much to eat, mamma,</p> +<p class = "indent">And it would not pay for the rent;</p> +<p>So I bought a sheet of paper, mamma,</p> +<p class = "indent">And I’ve written a letter in print—</p> +<p>It’s written to heaven direct, mamma,</p> +<p class = "indent">And I’ve given Him just a hint.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Shall I read it aloud to you, mamma?</p> +<p class = "indent">Yes! Well, this is what I have said:</p> +<p>‘Dear Lord, my name is Mamie St. Clair,</p> +<p class = "indent">And dear, darling papa is dead;</p> +<p>I live forty-four in the street they call Fourth,</p> +<p class = "indent">And the cold of the winter is here;</p> +<p>My mamma is poor, and I go to school,</p> +<p class = "indent">And I hope you will send this year.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“’I hope you will send mamma a new dress</p> +<p class = "indent">Of something that’s warm and nice,</p> +<p>A paper of flour, some loaves of bread,</p> +<p class = "indent">And a couple of pounds of rice;</p> +<p>And dear, loving Lord, do, if you feel rich,</p> +<p class = "indent">You could send her some shoes to wear,</p> +<p>And two or three pounds of beef for soup,</p> +<p class = "indent">Or anything else you can spare.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">392d</span> +<p class = "stanza"> +“’I’ve heard my dear mamma say many a time</p> +<p class = "indent">That a chicken would do her much good,</p> +<p>And so, dear Lord, if chickens is cheap,</p> +<p class = "indent">A chicken also, if you could;</p> +<p>With three pails of coal, if it isn’t too much,</p> +<p class = "indent">And some stuff for mamma’s lame knee,</p> +<p>And oh, my dear Lord, pray don’t think me mean,</p> +<p class = "indent">But a dear little dolly for me.’</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“That’s all, my dear mamma, and now let me run</p> +<p class = "indent">And send it to heaven at once,</p> +<p>For if He don’t get it by Christmas time,</p> +<p class = "indent">He surely will think me a dunce.”</p> +<p>The letter was posted, the letter was scanned,</p> +<p class = "indent">With numberless grins by the men</p> +<p>Whose duty it was to assort all the waifs</p> +<p class = "indent">That came from the wonderful pen.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Now where’s the dear Lord?” said one of these men;</p> +<p class = "indent">“That’s me,” said another, quite grave.</p> +<p>“Here’s a letter, then!”—tossing the missive to him,</p> +<p class = "indent">“And a twopenny stamp you will save.”</p> +<p>The letter was opened, the letter was read,</p> +<p class = "indent">There were very few tearless eyes;</p> +<p>The reader looked round on the silent group,</p> +<p class = "indent">And then, with a nod, he cries:</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +“Now, boys, there is something in this that I like—</p> +<p class = "indent">It’s nature right straight up to win,</p> +<p>And we’ve all of us got to be lords right here—</p> +<p class = "indent">So here is my dot to begin.”</p> +<p>The dollars flew down on the table like snow,</p> +<p class = "indent">They came from the crowd’s great heart,</p> +<p>A letter was written by proxy and signed,</p> +<p class = "indent">The proposer to play the part.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +And so it came off upon one winter night</p> +<p class = "indent">That there happened this strange affair;</p> +<p>A tapping came soft at Mamie’s door,</p> +<p class = "indent">And a very old man stood there;</p> +<p>He was clad from his head to his feet so warm,</p> +<p class = "indent">And his beard it was long and white.</p> +<p>“Good-even!” he said, as he pushed in a box</p> +<p class = "indent">Then vanished quite out of their sight.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +They were speechless, and only could stare at the box</p> +<p class = "indent">Directed to Mamie St. Clair,</p> +<p>From “The Lord in Heaven.” What did it all mean?</p> +<p class = "indent">And a letter beside was there—</p> +<p>A letter from heaven read: “Be a good girl,</p> +<p class = "indent">And never do anything ill;</p> +<p>Love mamma as well as you do to-day.”</p> +<p class = "indent">And a fifty-dollar bill.</p> + +<p class = "stanza"> +If I wrote from now till the crack of doom,</p> +<p class = "indent">I could tell no more than this.</p> +<p>It was all packed down in that wonderful box,</p> +<p class = "indent">And the dolly—oh, gracious! what bliss!</p> +<p>And in time that letter to heaven direct</p> +<p class = "indent">Sent many and many a friend,</p> +<p>And perhaps a new papa—who knows?—may be sent</p> +<p class = "indent">By heaven itself, in the end.</p> +</td></tr> +</table> + + + +<!-- png 33 --> +<span class = "pagenum">393a</span> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "striking" id = "striking"> + </a></p> + +<h1>Striking out for Themselves.</h1> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h6>BY F. H. SWEET.</h6> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p>“Reckon we’ll get ’em burned out by Tuesday week, Tom, and be ready +for Pylant’s oranges. Suppose the old fellow will want us to take pay in +town lots, though.”</p> + +<p>“He’ll get left if he does;” and the lad by the fire removed the +skillet of fried bacon from the coals and put the coffee-pot in its +place. “I’m willing to work out a five-acre lot, but don’t want any +towns. Say, Dave, what do you think of the party going to Punta Rassa?” +he added, as he thrust a stick into the bean-pot to see what prospect +there was for an early supper.</p> + +<p>“Well, from what I hear, I fancy there is plenty of good land to be +homesteaded in that section, and if we didn’t have a good job here, I’d +be for joining them. I begin to feel a little anxious to have some +land where we can be starting trees of our own.”</p> + +<p>“Same here; but the land will come in good time, and while we’ve got +a week’s rations of bacon and hominy ahead, I shan’t kick against +luck. But grub’s ready.”</p> + +<p>Both lads fell to with a relish. Beans seemed to be the central dish +at almost every meal, and yet they somehow never seemed to tire of +them.</p> + +<p>They had encountered a good many hard knocks since leaving their +Western home, but were evidently none the worse for them.</p> + +<p>Dave Freeman, the son of a hard-working Kansas farmer, had come South +to better his prospects, and with a deep but unexpressed longing to help +the home folks.</p> + +<p>At Flomaton, or Pensacola Junction, as it is now called, he had +fallen in with Tom Byrne, an Indiana boy, and the two had soon become +fast friends.</p> + +<p>By getting occasional jobs along the way, and not infrequently +“tramping it,” they had reached their present quarters, near Panasofkee, +in Sumter County.</p> + +<p>Here they had taken a contract from a “papertown” proprietor to clear +five acres of land for seventy-five dollars.</p> + +<p>This was a low figure, as the ground was full of palmetto roots, and +not only were the trees to be cleared from the land, but all stumps to +be burned out.</p> + +<p>The boys already had been at work over two months, and hoped that +another week would complete the job. On the first, their employer was to +commence gathering his oranges, and they expected several weeks’ +employment with him.</p> + +<p>Although the work of clearing was very hard, the boys were rugged and +hearty, and thoroughly enjoyed their novel surroundings.</p> + +<p>After finishing their beans, they put away the few dishes, and began +the round of their stumps. Here and there one was dying out, and new +fuel had to be piled around it. As one stump burned out, it was dragged +from its hole and placed against the roots of another.</p> + +<p>And so, from one stump to another, adding fuel to this or dragging +that away, their faces covered with soot, and looking more like negroes +than white folks, the boys darted around, shouting gleefully to each +other whenever one of the tall pines burned through and came crashing to +the ground.</p> + +<p>A little to one side, and out of reach of the fires, the boys had +built a little six-by-ten shanty, where they kept their belongings and +occasionally slept. More frequently, however, they slung their hammock +between two pines, near the camp-fire.</p> + +<p>At first, the peculiar roar of the alligators from the swamp near by +had disturbed their rest, but they very soon got accustomed to it, and +also to the startling challenge of a large bat, which is apt to frighten +strangers by its sudden appearance and shrill cry.</p> + +<p>A few days before the boys finished their contract, a party of +surveyors stopped at their shanty to get a drink of water, and to see if +they could get them for a couple of days.</p> + +<p>As the pay offered was good, the boys were glad to accept it, and +five minutes were sufficient to put their few belongings into the shanty +and to nail up the door.</p> + +<p>It took the party some hours to reach their destination, and as soon +as they had +<!-- png 34 --> +<span class = "pagenum">393b</span> +partaken of a lunch, they began to survey a site for a new town.</p> + +<p>The boys had seen a great many “paper towns” since they came to +Florida, but as a rule had taken little interest in them. They were +usually ventures of men who did not have money enough to make their +speculations a success.</p> + +<p>Tom and Dave were put to work carrying chain, and very soon became +interested in the talk of their companions.</p> + +<p>The spot chosen was a very beautiful one—a sloping +hillside gradually narrowing into a strip six or seven hundred yards +wide and running between two of the most picturesque lakes the boys had +ever seen.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic11.jpg" width = "517" height = "596" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +“‘WHY, BOYS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?’<br> +TOM LOOKED UP TO MEET THE KEEN EYES OF THE DOCTOR.”</p> + +<p>From the talk of the surveyors they learned that a number of them +were railroad men, and that they were endeavoring to buy at nominal +figures all the choice lands along the line of the new road before the +settlers became aware of its value.</p> + +<p>They discussed their plans before the boys without reserve, and it +soon became evident to the latter that the future of this hillside could +bear no comparison with the other paper towns they had seen. +A number of very wealthy men were interested in it, and they +proposed to make it the winter home of themselves and friends.</p> + +<p>“You see, gentlemen,” said one of the men to his companions, as he +pointed across the strip of land to the slope on the other side, “the +road will wind around the lake, across the neck of land, and along +<span class = "pagenum">393c</span> +the western side of the lake to the right, and then in almost a bee-line +toward Palatka. Ten years from now, and this hillside for forty miles +will be a succession of orange groves. Near the depot we shall have a +limited number of business lots, while the balance of the land will be +surveyed into large orange grove and villa tracts. It will be specified +in each deed that no cheap buildings shall be erected. It is not a mere +speculation, as there are already a dozen or more men who will begin +elegant residences as soon as the land is surveyed.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know, professor, who owns that point jutting into the lake? +It is a fine building site.”</p> + +<p>The speaker was a tall, sharp-featured man of middle age, whom his +friends addressed as doctor.</p> + +<p>“No,” answered the professor, “but I think a man named Pylant is the +owner, and that the twenty acres beyond belong to a Dutchman in Eustis. +However, we do not wish to make inquiries at present. They saw us when +we came out, and should we go back now and value their land, they will +put on four prices. Our policy is to go back as though we were +disappointed in the land, and by the time we return next week they will +offer it at our own figures. We can probably get it for two to four +dollars an acre. It is thirty miles from any town, and as Pylant got it +from the government, four dollars will be a big price to him.”</p> + +<p>“And in twelve months it will be worth as many hundred,” said the +doctor.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">393d</span> +<p>Tom and Dave looked at each other curiously, and wondered how they +would feel if they owned a few acres on this hillside.</p> + +<p>At the end of the week—for the two days’ work had lengthened +into five—the boys were paid fifteen dollars, and told they would +be soon wanted for several months, should they care to return.</p> + +<p>Everything was found safe at the shanty, and the boys went to work at +the stumps with a will. At the end of the third day, the last root was +reduced to ashes, and then Dave set to work to prepare a supper suitable +for such an occasion. Fried quail (which they had snared), orange slump, +pineapple shortcake, baked beans and a pot of steaming coffee graced the +table (or rather box), while by way of dessert a pillow-case full of +oranges, picked up in a neighboring grove, stood by the side of the +banqueting board.</p> + +<p>Next morning the boys went to see Mr. Pylant.</p> + +<p>“So you’ve cleaned it up, have you?” he exclaimed, as the boys told +him their errand. “I saw last week it was most done. Reckon you’ll +want a little money and the rest in land. Sharp boys! know land is +best—goin’ up, goin’ up all the time.”</p> + +<p>“But if you please, Mr. Pylant, we’d rather have the money,” said +Dave, quietly.</p> + +<p>“Money!” exclaimed the “cracker,” in astonishment. “Why, boys, in one +year there’ll be a city on that land, and you’ll be rich. The lots I let +you have for thirty dollars’ll be worth a fortune.”</p> + +<!-- png 35 --> +<span class = "pagenum">394a</span> +<p>“We don’t want any lots,” replied Dave, decidedly. “We intend to get +some land when we can, but we must have it large enough to put out a +good grove on.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I’ll sell you a five-acre lot near the village for two hundred +dollars, and you can work it out.”</p> + +<p>“Too much,” answered Dave. “We want cheaper land, and are willing to +go a longer distance from town.”</p> + +<p>“But that’s cheap,” expostulated Pylant, who began to fear he would +have to pay out money. “How far would you be willin’ to go for land?” he +added, as another idea seemed to strike him.</p> + +<p>“Not particular, if the land is good and price low.”</p> + +<p>“Then I’ve got the identical place for you,” cried Pylant, his face +brightening; “splendid land, and on a beautiful lake.”</p> + +<p>“How far?”</p> + +<p>Pylant hesitated.</p> + +<p>“Mebbe it’s twenty miles or so,” he at length said, slowly; “but it’s +good, and I’ll let you have it low.”</p> + +<p>“Twenty miles is a long distance from town,” said Dave, dubiously; +“but what’ll you take?”</p> + +<p>Fearing he would lose the sale, Pylant lowered the figures he had +mentally fixed upon, and said, quickly:</p> + +<p>“If you take the twenty acres, you can have it for three dollars and +a half an acre. I reckoned on sellin’ to the party here last week, +and I ’lowed to myself I’d ask five dollars. But, somehow, they didn’t +seem to take to it.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Dave, slowly, as though hesitating, “I reckon we’ll +take it. Can you fix up the deed now?”</p> + +<p>“Right off!” answered Pylant, quickly, fearing the boys might change +their mind. “Here are the other five dollars I owe you.”</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, Dave and Tom were the owners of the coveted twenty +acres.</p> + +<p>For the next two weeks the boys worked in the orange grove and added +another thirty-five dollars to their fund.</p> + +<p>Their living cost very little, and they now had nearly fifty dollars +between them.</p> + +<p>Feeling comparatively wealthy, and with the prospect of, perhaps, +weeks of idleness before them, if they remained where they were, the +boys concluded to remove to their new possession.</p> + +<p>Provisions enough to last two months were purchased, and with these, +and with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, axes, and other tools, +the boys set out.</p> + +<p>Although the load was packed and strapped to their backs in the most +convenient manner, it took two days to complete their journey.</p> + +<p>The third was spent in making a camp and looking up the stubs which +marked the boundaries of their twenty acres.</p> + +<p>Like most of the high pine land in Florida, their tract was free from +palmetto, and consequently much easier to clear than the low pine they +had previously been at work upon.</p> + +<p>Four weeks passed, and they had heard nothing from the surveying +party.</p> + +<p>Nearly three acres were cleared, and the boys were already +calculating how many orange and lemon trees they would put out.</p> + +<p>One morning, as Tom was digging a hole under the roots of a lofty +pine, preparatory to setting it on fire, he was greeted with a +surprised:</p> + +<p>“Why, boys! What are you doing here?”</p> + +<p>And he looked up to meet the keen eyes of the doctor.</p> + +<p>“Clearing up our new purchase,” answered Tom, quietly.</p> + +<p>The doctor’s shrewd face broadened into a smile.</p> + +<p>“I see,” he said, pleasantly. “But how much are we to pay you boys +for outwitting us? I saw Pylant yesterday, and was told that you +had the land. The old man was nearly crazy, when one of us said we would +be willing to go as high as twenty dollars an acre.”</p> + +<p>“I reckon we don’t care to sell at present,” said Dave. “Our twenty +acres wouldn’t make much difference to you, who own as many thousand +around the lakes.”</p> + +<p>The doctor and his friends laughed good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>“That’s right, boys,” said the one called professor; “hold the land +for an advance. It will come sooner than you expect, perhaps. But we +shall want your services for the next three months, to help our +surveyors; so be at our camp in the morning.”</p> + +<p>After this the boys could not complain +<!-- png 36 --> +<span class = "pagenum">394b</span> +of loneliness. A few weeks of surveying outlined the streets and +blocks of the new town; a sawmill was quickly under way; buildings +went up rapidly, and here and there were displayed the new goods of +enterprising young merchants.</p> + +<p>The fame of the new town spread through the surrounding country, and +every day brought new arrivals, seeking work; and soon hundreds of axes +could be heard on the hillside, clearing the land and making ready for +the numerous young groves to be put out in the spring.</p> + +<p>Dave and Tom had all the work they could do, and utilized the +evenings and odd moments in burning the trees and stumps on their land. +By the first of February they had five acres cleared and fenced, and +ready for trees.</p> + +<p>Believing the best to be the cheapest, they sent to one of the +nurseries for three hundred and fifty budded trees. They took especial +pains in setting them out, and in due time had as thrifty a young grove +as one could wish to see.</p> + +<p>The trees cost them all the money they had earned and most of what +they had laid aside; but when they looked at their beautiful young +grove, they were more than satisfied.</p> + +<p>Before the end of the year the proposed railroad was built, and its +advent made a tremendous rise in the value of land.</p> + +<p>The boys had had many excellent offers for their land before, but +invariably declined to consider them. As the depot had been built very +near them, they knew their place must advance rapidly.</p> + +<p>However, shortly after the erection of the depot, they received an +offer of seven thousand dollars for the unimproved ten acres, and after +a short consultation, decided to accept it. Dave had not seen his people +for nearly two years, and was anxious to visit them. Tom, who was alone +in the world, was to remain and look after their grove.</p> + +<p>So a few weeks later saw Dave walking up the lane to the old +homestead. Knowing how particular his father was, he was greatly +surprised at the thriftless look of everything. A man was hobbling +across the yard as he approached, and Dave saw with dismay that the +haggard face belonged to his father.</p> + +<p>Their meeting may be imagined, and Dave soon knew of the broken leg +and the long, hard winter following it, with no one to look after things +and unpaid bills accumulating rapidly.</p> + +<p>“A sorry home-coming, my boy,” said his father, with a wan smile.</p> + +<p>But Dave’s story quickly changed the aspect of things. The bills were +paid; pinching want was a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>And then Dave talked and argued until his parents agreed to return +with him and spend the winter in Florida, and give that genial climate a +chance to make his father well and strong again.</p> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "jack_ocean" id = "jack_ocean"> + </a></p> + +<p class = "center"> +[<i>This Story began in No. 21.</i>]</p> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">Jack Stanwood;</h1> + +<h6>OR,</h6> + +<h5 class = "extended">FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN.</h5> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>BY JAMES H. SMITH.</h4> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XIII.<br> +<span class = "subhead">I BREAK JAIL THROUGH NO +EFFORTS OF MY OWN.</span></h4> + +<p>I was handed over to the custody of a little man, with big, staring +eyes, and a magnified head of hair that made him look like a gun-swab. +This was Mr. Janks, the jailor.</p> + +<p>He stood looking at me for some moments, swinging a bunch of keys on +his finger, and then said, mournfully, “So, you’ve come, have you?” +which made me think that he must have dreamed of my coming.</p> + +<p>Then he took up a small lamp, and, after examining me from head to +foot as if I were some strange animal, he gave vent to a dismal groan, +and asked me if I was hungry.</p> + +<p>Receiving a negative answer, he groaned again, and beckoned me to +follow him.</p> + +<p>He led the way along a damp and chilly stone corridor, lined with +little iron doors, which I needed no one to tell me belonged to cells, +and I followed him very readily. My previous notions of prison treatment +included the immediate ironing of the culprit to the extent of several +hundredweight, and, finding myself mistaken, my spirits rose +accordingly.</p> + +<!-- png 37 --> +<span class = "pagenum">394c</span> +<p>He stopped before one of the little doors near the end of the +corridor, and, opening it with a large key, ushered me into an apartment +about eight feet square.</p> + +<p>This was my cell. The walls and ceiling were whitewashed, and the +only furniture was an iron bedstead, covered with two coarse, gray +blankets.</p> + +<p>Mr. Janks waved his keys around as if to welcome me to this abode, +and then, instead of going out and leaving me to my reflections, he +leaned up against the door and groaned once more.</p> + +<p>“The wickedness of these boys!” he said, passing his hand through his +hair, and apparently addressing the ceiling. “Why do they ever come +here? Why did you come here?”</p> + +<p>I hastened to explain that I did not come of my own accord, and so +far from wishing to be in jail, if he would only have the kindness to +open the door, I would promise him to make my exit, and never +return.</p> + +<p>“And so young!” continued Mr. Janks, without paying any attention to +my remarks, and still apostrophizing the ceiling. “But it’s allus the +way! The younger they are, the worse they are!”</p> + +<p>Then he launched forth into a description of the number of bad boys +who had passed through his hands, and endeavored to draw a parallel +between their case and mine, but, I think, with poor success.</p> + +<p>He kept up this monologue for at least ten minutes, while I sat on +the couch and listened with anything but pleasurable emotions.</p> + +<p>At the end of that time he came to a sudden stop, and went out +slowly, groaning dismally.</p> + +<p>When the sound of his footsteps had died away down the corridor, +I surrendered myself to my thoughts. And how I did think!</p> + +<p>What had been all my trouble compared to this? <i>In prison!</i> The +thought was horrifying!</p> + +<p>I felt now that I would not dare return home—for who would not +shrink from me as a malefactor?</p> + +<p>Besides, I was extremely dubious as to my impending fate. I was +not afraid of being convicted of larceny, unless Mary Jane Robinson +perjured herself; but I was desperately afraid of Mr. Barron.</p> + +<p>I knew he took the Lancaster Examiner, and should he see my name in +it, I felt certain he would pounce down on me, and then—well, +something terrible would certainly happen.</p> + +<p>The sky looked very dark and cloudy just then, and you may easily +imagine how bitterly I regretted my foolishness in running away.</p> + +<p>I lay awake for an hour or more thinking in this fashion, and then I +fell into a fitful slumber.</p> + +<p>How long I slept, I don’t know; but when I awoke it was with a +strange feeling that I was not alone—that some one was in the cell +with me.</p> + +<p>I was wide awake in an instant, and my heart beat so loudly that I +fancied I could hear it.</p> + +<p>I listened intently, and presently heard a light “pitapat,” as if +some one was walking across the floor; and while I was trying to muster +up courage to call out, there was a sharp click, a flood of light +illumined the cell, and I saw that the intruder was a man.</p> + +<p>He was standing near the opposite wall, and in his hand he held a +lighted wax taper, with the aid of which he was taking a survey of the +room.</p> + +<p>As he turned slowly around, I saw that he was young, rather +good-looking, and well-dressed, and at the same time he saw me.</p> + +<p>He started, and with an exclamation of alarm, dropped the taper.</p> + +<p>In an instant, however, he recovered the taper and himself, and +advanced toward me.</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” he demanded. “And how did you get here?”</p> + +<p>I related, in a few words, who I was and how I came to be +incarcerated.</p> + +<p>He laughed lightly when I had finished, and said:</p> + +<p>“I suppose you wonder how <i>I</i> came here. Look!”</p> + +<p>I looked, and saw an aperture in the wall about two feet square.</p> + +<p>“I came through that,” he said, laughing softly at my evident +astonishment. “My cell is on the other side. Now, I am going to +escape from this jail, and I want you to go with me.”</p> + +<p>I know now that his reason was to prevent my giving an alarm; but I +thought then that it was because he took pity on me.</p> + +<p>And I joyfully accepted his offer, +<!-- png 38 --> +<span class = "pagenum">394d</span> +although I couldn’t imagine how he was to manage it, and I made a remark +to that effect.</p> + +<p>“Easy enough,” he said. “You have only a lock on your door, while +there’s a dozen bolts on mine. That’s why I dug through, expecting to +find the cell empty. However, it is all right. Take off your shoes.”</p> + +<p>I did so, and then my companion put out the lights, having first +opened the door with what looked like a piece of wire.</p> + +<p>Then he whispered to me to keep hold of his sleeve, step cautiously +and not let my shoes fall, and then we moved out into the corridor, now +black as Egypt.</p> + +<p>My guide also seemed to be in his stocking feet; but where his shoes +were I couldn’t imagine.</p> + +<p>We moved along slowly, but steadily, my guide seeming to know the +way, and presently he opened a door with only a slight creak, and then +whispered in my ear:</p> + +<p>“We are in the lodge. Don’t breathe.”</p> + +<p>Again we moved on and again stopped, and from one or two sharp clicks +I judged him to be trying to open another door.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he drew me forward. I felt a rush of cold air, and the next +instant I was out of jail.</p> + +<p>“Wait!” said my companion.</p> + +<p>And he closed the wicket gate, and locked it noiselessly.</p> + +<p>“If they find the gate open, they’ll smell a rat,” he remarked. “Now +then, my boy, come on.”</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XIV.<br> +<span class = "subhead">I BECOME A WANDERER +AND FALL INTO LUCK.</span></h4> + +<p>I kept closely by his side, and for half an hour we moved along, +keeping in the shadow of the houses, until we reached the outskirts of +the town.</p> + +<p>“Now then,” said my companion, speaking for the first time, “put on +your shoes.”</p> + +<p>I did so, and very glad I was to do it. At the same time he reached +down and drew off his stockings, and then I saw they had been drawn on +over his boots.</p> + +<p>Then he took my hand, and we walked along steadily and swiftly for an +hour, until the lights of Lancaster had faded in the distance, and not +until then did my companion fall into a walk and conversation.</p> + +<p>“What did you say you were in for?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“For nothing,” I answered, promptly.</p> + +<p>This seemed to amuse him greatly.</p> + +<p>“Of course not,” said he, after an outburst of laughter. +“I never saw a prisoner in my life who wasn’t innocent!”</p> + +<p>I attempted to explain, but he wouldn’t listen.</p> + +<p>“No matter—it’s not my business. It was forgery with +me—ten years at the least; and I couldn’t stand that, you +know.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly not,” said I, not knowing what else to say.</p> + +<p>Then, by way of turning the conversation, I inquired how he came +to be provided with tools to effect his escape.</p> + +<p>He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, as if he suspected me of +some hidden motive in asking the question, and then, apparently +satisfied with the scrutiny, he informed me that his friends had sent +him pies every day for two weeks past.</p> + +<p>“Pies?” I exclaimed, in open-mouthed wonder.</p> + +<p>“Yes, pies,” he said, gravely. “Don’t you see? Nothing but the +crusts. Inside were keys, saws and a jimmy.”</p> + +<p>“A <i>jimmy</i>?”</p> + +<p>“Yes—here it is. That came in four pies.”</p> + +<p>He took from his coat-pocket four pieces of steel, and in an instant +fitted them together into a bar about two feet in length.</p> + +<p>“Not much to look at, is it?” said he; “but it is a crowbar, chisel, +hammer and wrench, all in one. It only took me two nights to cut into +your cell.”</p> + +<p>“And how did you know your way out in the dark?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“Because I came in that way, and I always keep my eyes open. +Hello!”</p> + +<p>“What’s the matter?” I asked, in some alarm, as he came to a sudden +halt.</p> + +<p>“Nothing much,” he answered; “only that I must leave you here. +I don’t know where you are going, and I don’t propose to let you +know where I am going. Besides, it is much harder to follow two than +one, and there is no use of us both being captured.”</p> + +<!-- png 39 --> +<span class = "pagenum">395a</span> +<p>“Captured?” I repeated, in dismay. “Do you think the officers will +follow us?”</p> + +<p>“Do I think so? I know they will.”</p> + +<p>I was so terrified that my teeth chattered, at this announcement, and +he noticed it.</p> + +<p>“Don’t get too scared, young one,” he added, consolingly. “They won’t +look for you half as much as they will for me. If you travel right +straight on, and keep out of their clutches for a week, you’ll be +safe.”</p> + +<p>“But I haven’t done anything,” I said, tremblingly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes you have,” said he, with a laugh. “You have broken jail, and +that means a year at least, if you’re caught.”</p> + +<p>I was so overwhelmed at this dread piece of news that I could only +lean up against a convenient fence and stare at him.</p> + +<p>“Come, come!” he cried, impatiently, “brace up! They haven’t got you +yet. If you go straight through this cornfield you will strike a road +that will take you to Columbia. Good-by!”</p> + +<p>Before I had time to reply, he had plunged into the woods on the +right of the road, and I was left alone.</p> + +<p>I was terribly alarmed, and lost no time in making my way through the +cornfield; and when I found the road, I sped along it at a rapid +gait. Fear lent me wings, and I fancied every bush an officer.</p> + +<p>It was a warm but pleasant night, and the moon was just rising. +I calculated that it must be about midnight, and I determined that +I would put many a mile between me and Lancaster before daybreak.</p> + +<p>So I set off at a dog-trot, and I kept it up until I saw the sun +rising over the eastern hills.</p> + +<p>By that time I must have gone about twenty miles, and I was +completely tired out, and very glad to crawl into the shelter of some +neighboring woods and lie down to rest.</p> + +<p>Before I knew it I was asleep, and I did not awake until late in the +afternoon.</p> + +<p>I was stiff and sore, and at the same time ravenously hungry. The +first two ailments wore away as I started again on my journey, but the +latter increased until I determined to brave anything rather than suffer +any longer.</p> + +<p>The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the +road, with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in +the kitchen.</p> + +<p>“Please, ma’am,” said I.</p> + +<p>“G’way!” said she. “Here, Tige!”</p> + +<p>“Please, ma’am—”</p> + +<p>“G’way, I say! We don’t want no tramps hookin’ everything they kin +lay their hands on!”</p> + +<p>“Please, ma’am,” I persisted, mildly, “I am not a tramp. I want +something to eat”—the woman started to unchain the dog—“for +which I am willing to pay.”</p> + +<p>“Come right in,” said the woman, with a broad smile. “I declare +I couldn’t have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a +person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you +were different from the general run.”</p> + +<p>While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table +with fried ham, potatoes, bread and butter and coffee, and I lost no +time in falling to. I paid a quarter for it when I had finished, +and got away as quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of +the men folks, who might have their suspicions aroused.</p> + +<p>All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to +enter into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for +a week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by +that time I judged myself to be reasonably safe.</p> + +<p>So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my +hair cut, a complete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of +rest.</p> + +<p>When I started out again, the next morning, I had recovered my +usual spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as +my money and strength held out. I had twenty-five dollars of the +former and an unlimited supply of the latter.</p> + +<p>All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and +supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, I thought it +would be just as well to camp in the woods again.</p> + +<p>For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my +left, I soon came to a secluded spot, near a ravine or +<!-- png 40 --> +<span class = "pagenum">395b</span> +gully, and there I made myself a bed of dry leaves.</p> + +<p>On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when +I was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware.</p> + +<p>I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it +evidently come from the ravine, I arose and began an +investigation.</p> + +<p>Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about +fifteen feet below, a bright light, and the rattling sound again +smote my ears.</p> + +<p>By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching +hold of a small sapling, I leaned far over the edge to observe the +why and wherefor. As I did so, I felt the sapling giving away, and +I made a desperate attempt to recover myself.</p> + +<p>It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along +with it.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XV.<br> +<span class = "subhead">I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR +AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE.</span></h4> + +<p>The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which +came the light at which I had been gazing.</p> + +<p>I was slightly stunned, but I scrambled to my feet just as a heavy +hand was laid on my collar, and a gruff voice said:</p> + +<p>“Vell! here’s a precious go!”</p> + +<p>I looked up, and saw that the voice and hand belonged to the same +person—a short, stout man, with sallow complexion and +glistening black eyes. His dress was a curious compound of broad, glazed +hat and blue shift of a sailor and the flashy check vest and pantaloons +of a peddler.</p> + +<p>“Vere did you come from, anyhow,” he demanded, before I had finished +my survey, “a-busting down on a chap vithout varning, and a smashing of +his pots and kettles?”</p> + +<p>“Pots and kettles?” I repeated, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>For answer he pointed indignantly to the ground, and then I saw what +damage my descent had caused.</p> + +<p>A rusty coffee-pot, a little dish and a skillet were scattered among +the embers of the fire.</p> + +<p>“That’s vot you did,” said he, resentfully. “Here vos I, a-cooking my +supper and a-thinking of just nothink at all, when all of a suddent down +you come, like a cannon-ball, and avay goes everythink! It was werry +aggerwating because it was nearly done.”</p> + +<p>“I assure you, sir,” said I, very contritely, “that I had no +intention of falling on your fire or your supper.”</p> + +<p>Then I explained the cause of my sudden descent, and wound up by +offering to pay for the damage.</p> + +<p>By this time the man had entirely recovered his temper—if he +had ever lost it, which I very much doubt—and smiled kindly.</p> + +<p>“Vell, vell, there ain’t much harm done except putting my supper back +half an hour. Put up your money, my boy, and join me.”</p> + +<p>Then he righted the utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared +the meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task +to be by no means an unusual one.</p> + +<p>Within half an hour, he had made a pot of coffee, a pan of +biscuits and a savory stew, and we were soon discussing this supper very +amiably together.</p> + +<p>After supper he washed out the dishes and utensils in a brook near +by, and lying at full length on the ground, composed himself for a +smoke.</p> + +<p>All this time I had been regarding him in silence, but with +considerable curiosity, and I had about made up my mind that he was a +gipsy, on his way to join his tribe, when he startled me by saying, +abruptly:</p> + +<p>“Look ’ere!”</p> + +<p>I intimated that I was all attention.</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” he asked, bluntly.</p> + +<p>“Jack Wood,” I answered, promptly, although a trifle nervously.</p> + +<p>“My name is Miles Norris,” he rejoined, after a long pause. “I’m a +wender of physics and knickknacs.”</p> + +<p>“A doctor?”</p> + +<p>“Not exactly,” he replied, rising on his elbow and winking at me +significantly. “I cures people as hasn’t got nothink the matter +vith ’em and thinks they has.”</p> + +<p>This sentence was too deep for me to fathom, and on my intimating as +much, he condescended to explain.</p> + +<p>“I go round the country selling my own medicines, which is Norris’s +Golden Balsam, wot cures all kinds of pains, cuts and bruises, +whatsomedever they +<!-- png 41 --> +<span class = "pagenum">395c</span> +may be; fifty cents a bottle, small bottles twenty-five. Then there’s +the Lightning Toothache Drops, wot cures that hagonizing malady in one +second, or money refunded—twenty-five cents a bottle. And finally, +’ere we ’ave the Great American Tooth Powder, which makes the blackest +teeth vite in less’n no time, and makes the gums strong and +’elthy—ten cents a box. And each and every purchaser is presented +vith a book containing fifty songs, all new and prime, free gratis and +for nothink! Valk hup, ladies and gentlemen; who’ll ’ave another +bottle?”</p> + +<p>During this recital, Doctor Norris gradually assumed a professional +demeanor, and near the close he rose to his feet, and gesticulated as if +addressing a large audience.</p> + +<p>But at the close he suddenly cooled down, and assuming his recumbent +position, said, listlessly:</p> + +<p>“Now you know me.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” said I; “but then I do not see—”</p> + +<p>“I hunderstand,” said he. “You don’t see no Balsam, nor Drops, nor +Powder?”</p> + +<p>“I do not.”</p> + +<p>“And you vonder vere they are?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Your surprise is werry natural,” said Doctor Norris, with great +gravity. “I am out of those inwaluable medicines at present, but +ven I get to my laboratory, I shall roll ’em out wholesale.”</p> + +<p>“Then you make them?”</p> + +<p>“In course. I couldn’t trust anybody else.”</p> + +<p>Then, after a pause, he added, slowly:</p> + +<p>“I don’t know but that I might let you into my secrets if— What +did you say your name was?”</p> + +<p>I repeated my alias, and told my fictitious history.</p> + +<p>“So you ain’t got nothink to do?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing.”</p> + +<p>“How would you like to work for me?”</p> + +<p>“Doing what?”</p> + +<p>“Selling my medicines.”</p> + +<p>“Done!” cried I, joyfully.</p> + +<p>“Hold hup!” said he, quickly. “I ain’t quite certain. Can you +patter?”</p> + +<p>“Can I what?”</p> + +<p>“Gab, I mean—talk? Are you good on that?”</p> + +<p>“I think I am,” I answered, modestly.</p> + +<p>“And ’ave you got plenty of cheek?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes! Why?”</p> + +<p>“Because you’ll need it. You wouldn’t be afraid to stand hup before a +big crowd and blow away about the Balsam, or the Powder, nor yet the +Drops—hey?”</p> + +<p>I assured him that the prospect did not dismay me in the least.</p> + +<p>My companion then brought the conversation to a conclusion very +summarily.</p> + +<p>“Then, Jack Wood,” said he, “you’re my man!”</p> + +<p>Then he rolled over and went to sleep, and although somewhat +astonished at the suddenness of the doctor’s resolution, I thought +his action a good one, and <i>I</i> rolled over and went to sleep, +also.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XVI.<br> +<span class = "subhead">TREATS OF MY EXPERIENCE AS A +PHYSICIAN—I REACH THE MISSISSIPPI.</span></h4> + +<p>I awoke at sunrise, or rather Doctor Norris awoke me by a vigorous +dig in the ribs with the point of his boot, and told me that breakfast +was ready. I arose at once, washed my face, combed my hair, and +then astonished the doctor by the vigor of my appetite.</p> + +<p>During the meal he confided to me his plans for the future. He had +laid out a route through Butler and Beaver counties to the State line, +and thence through Ohio until winter set in.</p> + +<p>“I make enough in summer to lay hup in winter,” he explained. “It’s +an ’ealthy and hinvigorating life, and I like it. I’ve traveled over +nearly all the States between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, ’ave ’ad +my hups and downs, and I wouldn’t change places with a king.”</p> + +<p>I rather doubted whether the doctor knew very much about kings, that +he could afford to speak so positively, but I felt that it would be +neither polite nor prudent to disagree with him.</p> + +<p>“I dare say I shall like the life very well,” I said, quietly. +“But—what am I expected to do?”</p> + +<p>“You’ll be my assistant,” said the doctor, in a lofty voice, as if he +was announcing my appointment to a cabinet position.</p> + +<p>Then he went into details, and explained that I was to assist him in +concocting and selling the wonderful remedies of which he was the +inventor.</p> + +<p>This duty included filling bottles, pasting on labels, carrying his +baggage, making his fires, and several other minor matters which he +could not recall just then.</p> + +<p>“Ve’ll camp out like this most of the time,” he added. “Hotels is +hexpensive, and I never stops at ’em, unless it’s raining or I’m going +to sell in the town. You von’t mind that, vill you?”</p> + +<!-- png 42 --> +<span class = "pagenum">395d</span> +<p>I was more than delighted at the prospect, and I said so.</p> + +<p>“This man,” I told myself, “is evidently a great traveler, and he is +going West. If I stick to him my fortune is made.”</p> + +<p>It did not take the doctor long to pack up his traps, and, dividing +them between us, we journeyed along very agreeably.</p> + +<p>When we arrived in Butler we went to a hotel, and there, in the +seclusion of our room, the doctor manufactured three dozen bottles of +the balsam, as many of the toothache drops and twice as many boxes of +the tooth-powder.</p> + +<p>At this distance of time I cannot recall the ingredients of these +justly celebrated remedies, but I can cheerfully testify to their +harmlessness.</p> + +<p>The balsam was composed of two or three simple aromatic oils, the +toothache drops was merely a diluted essence of the oil of cloves, and +the wonderful tooth-powder chalk powdered and scented.</p> + +<p>The labels for the various compounds the doctor carried in his +oilcloth bag, and the bottles, boxes and various ingredients he +purchased at the village drug stores.</p> + +<p>I am almost ashamed to tell you what enormous profits he made on his +sales, and will only mention that he once told me that the bottle and +label formed nine-tenths of the cost of the Golden Balsam, which +retailed at one dollar.</p> + +<p>In these days the street <ins class = "correction" title = "spelling unchanged">vender</ins> of physic is an ordinary sight, but a quarter of +a century ago he was almost unknown outside of the largest cities.</p> + +<p>After being a month in the company of Doctor Norris I easily +understood why he followed such a life. In the town of Butler two days’ +sales netted him sixty dollars, and he made nearly as much in +Beaver.</p> + +<p>He was not always so successful, but, taking one week with another, +I judged that he cleared at least fifty dollars, which was a bank +president’s salary in those days.</p> + +<p>His methods were such as are in use among this class of gentry all +the world over.</p> + +<p>Having prepared his stock in trade, he would gravely walk down the +main street, followed by your humble servant.</p> + +<p>Halting on the most prominent corner, he and I would arrange the +boxes and bottles in attractive pyramids on the top of a box or a +barrel, taking as much time as possible, so as to attract the attention +of the passers-by.</p> + +<p>Having achieved this object, the doctor would mount on a soap-box, so +as to raise himself above the crowd, and begin his harangue.</p> + +<p>He always began gravely, and not until he had made several sales did +he venture on a joke or a witticism, although he had a plentiful stock +of cheap wit, such as crowds delight in.</p> + +<p>Another thing: When he spoke in public he used excellent English, and +the cockney dialect entirely disappeared. He never explained this to me, +but I suppose he was like an actor on the stage when addressing a +crowd.</p> + +<p>“Ladies and gentlemen,” he would say, in calm and measured tones, +“Shakespeare has said, ‘Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it!’ and +he was right. Medicinal drugs are pernicious, even when given by a +practiced physician, but when administered by quacks, it is little short +of murder. Now, in my medicines I do not give you strange and deadly +drugs. The articles I use are all known to you” (this was strictly +true), “the mode of preparation only being a secret. No pain, no danger +in their use, absolutely harmless to the smallest child, yet so powerful +that the most deadly ailments yield to their power.”</p> + +<p>Thus the doctor talked on for fifteen minutes, taking the crowd into +his confidence in a learned and fatherly way, until some fellow +bashfully thrust forward a coin, and then the money rolled in.</p> + +<p>The doctor was now in his element; he was witty, he cracked jokes, he +told stories, and even indulged in snatches of song, and he rarely +failed to hold his audience until his stock was exhausted.</p> + +<p>This operation sometimes consumed three or four hours, and sometimes +his eloquence was wasted. But at all times he was cheerful and polite, +and good and bad fortune seemed alike to him.</p> + +<p>I thought then, and I still think, that he was a remarkable man; and +I am sure that he treated me very kindly. He paid me a very liberal +salary of ten dollars a month, and whenever he had an unusually good +day, gave me an extra dollar.</p> + +<p>All of this money I carefully stowed away in my belt for a rainy day, +which I felt sure would come. And my experience did not +deceive me.</p> + +<p>After leaving Pennsylvania, we traveled through the small towns of +Ohio until near the middle of December, as it was a very open winter, +and it was nearly Christmas before the cold and snow drove us into +winter quarters in Toledo.</p> + +<p>The doctor intended to treat himself to a three months’ rest, and for +that purpose hired two rooms and kept bachelor’s hall, and invited me to +keep him company.</p> + +<p>I received no wages; but as he was to bear all expenses, +I willingly agreed to the arrangement.</p> + +<p>These three months were absolutely uneventful, and about the first of +April we started out again.</p> + +<p>The doctor had laid out a new route for this season. We traveled +across country by stage to Keokuk, Iowa, intending to travel up the +river as far as St. Paul, and then work eastward thorough Wisconsin and +Michigan, and close the season at Detroit.</p> + +<p>But we never carried out our programme. My cruel fate pursued +me—or was it punishment for my foolishness?—and at Davenport +I was once more cast adrift.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +[TO BE CONTINUED.]</p> + +<p> </p> + +<!-- png 43 --> + +<span class = "pagenum">396a</span> + +<p class = "lines"><a name = "lesson" id = "lesson"> + </a></p> + +<h2 class = "smallcaps"> +<img src = "images/arrow_left.png" width = "33" height = "11" +alt = "--"> +International Lesson—for May 29. +<img src = "images/arrow_right.png" width = "33" height = "11" +alt = "--"></h2> + +<h6 class = "smallcaps">Exodus 14:19-21. Golden Text—Isaiah +43:2.</h6> + +<h4>Central Subject—THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.</h4> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h5 class = "extended">BY REV. D. P. KIDDER, D.D.</h5> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4>INTRODUCTION.</h4> + +<p>According to Jewish tradition, it was seven days after the Passover +that the Israelites passed over the Red Sea.</p> + +<p>Before they left they were directed by God to ask (not “borrow,” as +it is in our version) of the Egyptians jewels of silver and gold, and +other articles that would be of service to them.</p> + +<p>It was customary thus on the eve of a journey, or at the close of a +term of service, to ask gifts. The practice corresponded to the asking +of <i>backshish</i>, still so common in the East.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians, it seemed, readily and generously granted the request +of the Israelites and supplied them abundantly. Thus, in some slight +measure, they made return for the long years of unrequited service which +the Hebrews had rendered to Egypt’s land and Egypt’s king.</p> + +<p>While the Egyptians were bewailing their dead, the children of +Israel, having finished hurriedly their Passover feast, started on their +journey of escape. Leaving Rameses, the western part of Goshen, they +assembled at Succoth—“place of tents”—so called because it +was a camping place for caravans going east, then and now. They were, +perhaps, four days gathering at this spot, about two millions of people +all told.</p> + +<p>The next point which they reached was Etham. This was a district of +country just on the edge of the desert. From this point there were three +routes to Palestine. The Israelites, by divine direction, took the most +southern.</p> + +<p>They were at first surprised at this order of march; but it was the +only safe one for them. The most northern would have taken them right +through the country of the warlike and hostile Philistines, and the +middle route (after passing the great wall which stretched from Pelusium +on the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez) would have brought them +right out upon the desert.</p> + +<p>Several days had elapsed since the Israelites started on their +flight. Pharaoh already missed them. His important works were brought to +a standstill; there was no one to make or handle bricks, and the loss of +so large and so efficient a body of workers was severely felt.</p> + +<p>A reaction takes place in the mind of the king; he charges himself +with folly in letting the people go, and resolves to pursue them. He +learns, also, that they have not yet got out of the land of Egypt, and +he thinks that by the fact that they have turned south, and not gone +directly to the east, they are confused, and he plans to catch them when +they are hemmed in by the mountains and the sea.</p> + +<p>With six hundred of his swiftest chariots he at once sets out after +them, leaving orders, doubtless, for other chariots as well as foot +soldiers to follow as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>The Israelites were in the greatest alarm; there was no visible means +of escape. They could go no further south, for the mountains were in +front of them; they could not turn to the right for the same reason; the +Egyptians were in their rear, and the Red Sea was before them. They were +in a trap. This is what Pharaoh expected. The strategy on which he had +reckoned (ver. 3) had worked admirably.</p> + + +<h4>THE PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.</h4> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and +went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their +face, and stood behind them:</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel: +and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to +these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.” +</p> + +<p>It is singular that this blind king should so soon forget that there +was a God in Israel, and that he was to come into collision again with +that Being who had so often foiled, and finally, in the death of the +first-born, had utterly crushed him.</p> + +<p>But none are so blind or so heedless as the obstinate and the +unbelieving. It will be seen that the battle that is soon to follow will +end as before—in the defeat +<span class = "pagenum">396b</span> +of Pharaoh, and, as some think, his death.</p> + +<p>We have in this “angel of God” the same being that we have met so +often before, who talked familiarly with Abraham and Jacob. He is the +one who afterward came in the form of the flesh, and is called +Christ.</p> + +<p>This time His symbol was a cloud, and at night a pillar of fire. In +such a large host as that of the children of Israel were at this time, +it would be necessary that there be some elevated central object, so +that those of the people scattered widely, in caring for the flocks and +other like services, should not lose the location of the camp.</p> + +<p>Some such arrangement was early found important in caravans crossing +the deserts, so that it was customary to carry a round grate with fire, +held aloft on a pole. The ancient Persians and some other nations +carried a sacred fire in silver altars before their armies.</p> + +<p>At night this cloud over the camp of the Israelites was illumined by +some strong internal fire, so that the host dwelt amid the darkness of +the desert as in a city brightly lighted. It was a marvelous +miracle.</p> + +<p>This cloud now changed its position as the Egyptians came near to the +Israelites. It stood between the two hosts. Over the Egyptians it was a +dense fog that cut off all their vision so that they could not tell what +the Israelites were doing, while to the latter it was as though it had +caught and held the rays of the setting sun, and poured a brilliant +glory all over and through their encampment. The Egyptians, thinking +that the rising sun will disperse the fog, wait for morning.</p> + + +<h4>THE ISRAELITES ENTER THE RED SEA.</h4> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the +sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea +dry land, and the waters were divided.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry +ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on +their left.” +</p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic14.jpg" width = "333" height = "343" +alt = "crossing the Red Sea"></p> + +<p>While the Egyptians were thus waiting, the Israelites were busy; they +were making the best use of their time. They were making their escape by +the way last of all thought possible—even the bottom of the +sea!</p> + +<p>The crossing was made in the neighborhood of what are now called the +Bitter +<span class = "pagenum">396c</span> +Lakes. This was then most probably the head of the Red Sea.</p> + +<p>It was at a time of the year when the tide would help the action of +the wind. If there were shoals or flats at the place where the crossing +is supposed to have occurred, as there are now at Suez, the wind and the +tide clearing a passage there would leave deep water on both sides of +the passage-way, and this most probably is the meaning of the expression +that the waters were a wall to them on either side.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“They were a defense; not necessarily perpendicular cliffs, as they were +often pictured. God could make the water stand in precipices if He +should so choose, and such a conception is more impressive to the +imagination, but it is certain that the language of the text may mean +simply that the water was a protection on the right and on the left +flanks of the host. Thus, in Nahum 3:8, No (Thebes) is said to have the +sea (the broad Nile) for the rampart and a wall—that is, +a defense, a protection against enemies. It is true that in +poetical passages the waters are said to have stood ’as a heap’ (Exod. +15:8; Psa. 78:13); but so they are also, in the same style, said to have +been ’congealed in the heart of the sea,’ and the peaks of the trembling +Horeb are said to have ’skipped like rams, and the little hills like +lambs’ (Psa. 114:4). Of course these expressions are not to be literally +and prosaically interpreted.”</p> + +<p>The wind thus prevailed all night, to keep the passage open until all +the Israelites had crossed and the pursuing Egyptians had got well into +the sea.</p> + + +<h4>THE ENEMY FOLLOW CLOSELY.</h4> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the +sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the +host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and +troubled the host of the Egyptians.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily; so +that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the +Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.” +</p> + +<p>Surrounded by darkness and enveloped by the fog, the Egyptians did +not know that they were rushing into the midst of the sea. It is not +said that Pharaoh went in, and yet as the post of the king is usually +represented on the ancient monuments as leading his +soldiers—marching at their head—it may be, as some think, +that his chariot led those six hundred chariots, and that he perished +with them.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“The chariots of Egypt were very famous. According to Diodorus Siculus, +Rameses II had twenty-seven thousand in his army. The processes of +manufacture of chariots and harness are fully illustrated by existing +sculptures, in which also are represented the chariots used by +neighboring nations.”—<i>Rev. H. W. Phillot.</i></p> + +<p>At this point the movements of the Egyptians are very much impeded. +Shortly after midnight, the fog changed into a +<!-- png 44 --> +<span class = "pagenum">396d</span> +storm cloud, blazing with lightning and growling with thunder. This was +terrifying to the Egyptians in the extreme, as they were not accustomed +to thunderstorms, and scarcely ever saw rain.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder and +lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted upon +them; nor was there anything which God sends upon men as indications of +His wrath which did not happen at this time.”—<i>Josephus.</i></p> + +<p>Psalms 77:15-20 refers to this storm. Although the Israelites went +through dry-shod, the pursuing chariots sank in the mire, were buried in +the sand, and in some cases the wheels were wrenched off, so that the +superstitious Egyptians recognized the fact that the God of Israel was +fighting against them. They therefore began to retreat. In the meantime +the children of Israel had an abundance of time to make good their +escape.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“Before the captivity, the night (between sunset and sunrise) was +divided by the Israelites into three watches—the first watch, the +middle watch and the morning watch. It appears that the Israelites had +the space of two watches, at least (or eight hours), for effecting their +passage.”—<i>Murphy.</i></p> + + +<h4>THE OVERTHROW OF PHARAOH’S HOST.</h4> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that +the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and +upon their horsemen.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned +to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled +against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the +sea.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, +and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there +remained not so much as one of them.”</p> + +<p>After the fugitives had safely gained the farther shore, and while +the Egyptians were still struggling in the middle of the passage, +through the gray of the dawn they saw the majestic form of Moses rise +upon the opposite bank. They saw him stretch forth that terrible +rod—that rod which had left so many deep scars upon the fair land +of Egypt—and immediately the wind ceased, its strong pressure was +relaxed, the sudden swell of the tide caught the waters, and they, as if +impatient of restraint, leaped again to their wonted channel, burying +the hopeless and helpless enemy.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“A sudden cessation of the wind at sunrise, coinciding with a +spring tide (it was full moon), would immediately convert the low, flat +sand-banks, first into a quicksand, and then into a mass of waters, in a +time far less than would suffice for the escape of a single chariot or +horseman loaded with heavy corselet.”—<i>Canon Cook.</i></p> + +<p>The destruction was as complete as it was sudden. Not one escaped. +The disaster was overwhelming, crushing. The Egyptians never again +disturbed the Israelites during all their after wanderings.</p> + + +<h4>THIS WAS THE LORD’S DOINGS.</h4> + +<p class= "quote"> +“But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the +sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on +their left.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; +and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.</p> + +<p class= "quote"> +“And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians; +and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant +Moses.”</p> + +<p>There was only one explanation of this event, and that was the Lord +wrought it. There could be no room in the mind of any of the children of +Israel to doubt that God was with them. Repeatedly had they seen their +enemies baffled and discomfited; now they saw them destroyed. What folly +to contend with such a God! Would it be possible for these people thus +delivered ever to doubt God? ever to distrust Him? ever to disobey Him? +It would seem not.</p> + +<p>They had every reason to believe Him, to be grateful to Him, to love +and serve Him devotedly. Without lifting a finger, they, an unarmed +people, with not a soldier in all their ranks, nor a weapon worthy the +name, had triumphed over a chosen detachment of the finest army in the +world at that time, led, too, by a king who was familiar with battles +and accustomed to victories.</p> + +<p>Josephus says that, after the passage of the sea by the Israelites, +a west wind set in, which (assisted by the current) drove the +bodies of the drowned Egyptians to the eastern side of the gulf, where +many of them were cast up upon the shore. In this way, Moses, according +to him, obtained weapons and armor for a considerable number of +Israelites.</p> + +<!-- png 45 --> +<span class = "pagenum">397a</span> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "rains" id = "rains"> + </a></p> + +<h2>WHAT THEY DO WHEN IT RAINS.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY CARRIE CATHCART DAY.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<table class = "verse" summary = "poem"> +<tr><td> +<p class = "indent3">“Where do you go,</p> +<p class = "indent4">Sweet, happy bird,</p> +<p class = "indent3">When wild winds blow</p> +<p class = "indent4">And storms are heard?</p> +<p>Do you not dread the rushing rain,</p> +<p>And wish the sky was bright again?”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Tweet oh! I fly</p> +<p class = "indent4">To nestlings near—</p> +<p class = "indent3">To hush their cry,</p> +<p class = "indent4">And soothe their fear;</p> +<p>And o’er them all my wings I fold,</p> +<p>To keep them safely from the cold.”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Where do you run,</p> +<p class = "indent4">Dear little duck?</p> +<p class = "indent3">Is the rain fun,</p> +<p class = "indent4">And best of luck?”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes! Quack! quack! I swim in glee,</p> +<p>It never pours too hard for me!”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Of course, good sheep,</p> +<p class = "indent4">You do not care—</p> +<p class = "indent3">Out-doors you keep</p> +<p class = "indent4">Through foul and fair;</p> +<p>Your coat is surely thick enough</p> +<p>To shield you from a tempest rough?”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Baa! baa! baa! baa!</p> +<p class = "indent4">I let the geese</p> +<p class = "indent3">Have all the wet;</p> +<p class = "indent4">For should my fleece</p> +<p class = "indent3">All soaking get,</p> +<p>’Twould be too heavy for my play—</p> +<p>So to my shed I skip away.”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Why do you croak</p> +<p class = "indent4">So long and loud,</p> +<p class = "indent3">Queer froggie folk,</p> +<p class = "indent4">When comes a cloud?”</p> +<p class = "indent3">“Cree-crake! cree-crake!</p> +<p>Because our pollywogs, we know,</p> +<p>When ponds are full will nicely grow!”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“But, bumble-bee,</p> +<p class = "indent4">Your gauzy wings,</p> +<p class = "indent3">It seems to me,</p> +<p class = "indent4">Are flimsy things;</p> +<p>Should they get drenched, ’twould spoil them quite,</p> +<p>And you’d be in a sorry plight!”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“I crawl beneath</p> +<p class = "indent4">A lily bell—</p> +<p class = "indent3">A lovely sheath</p> +<p class = "indent4">That suits me well,</p> +<p>And when—buzz! buzz!—the sun I greet,</p> +<p>The roses all are fresh and sweet.”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Well, surely you,</p> +<p class = "indent4">My little lad,</p> +<p class = "indent3">Feel very blue</p> +<p class = "indent4">In weather sad?</p> +<p>You mope and fret and whine and frown,</p> +<p>To see the torrents driving down!”</p> + +<p class = "stanza indent3">“Oh, ho! oh, ho!</p> +<p class = "indent4">You do not know;</p> +<p class = "indent3">For <i>thus</i>, you see,</p> +<p class = "indent4">My trowsers go</p> +<p class = "indent3">Up to my knee;</p> +<p>I make believe to wade and splash</p> +<p>In puddles nice, with Puss and Dash,</p> +<p>And we pretend the shower pours</p> +<p>As hard <i>within</i> as out of doors!”</p> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "jackadandy" id = "jackadandy"> + </a></p> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">JACK-A-DANDY.</h1> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h6>BY HELEN WHITNEY CLARK.</h6> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p>We children had been wishing for a tame crow ever since reading +Dickens’ charming description of his pet raven. There were no ravens +where we lived; but Brother Tom said crows were just as good, and could +be taught to talk, too.</p> + +<p>And one day, when we were playing “Here we go round the mulberry +bush” in the woods near the house, little Ikey, our colored +washerwoman’s boy, came along with a live crow in his hands.</p> + +<p>Of course we were curious to see and examine the wonderful bird, and +we crowded around Ikey, who seemed bewildered at being the object of so +much attention.</p> + +<p>“Where did you get him?” “What you going to do with him?” “How much +will you take for him?” asked Tom, Josie and Fred, in one breath.</p> + +<p>But Ikey only grinned, as he answered each in turn.</p> + +<p>“Got him out of his nest in a post-oak. Dey was more of ’em, but I +couldn’t git ony dis one. I’m a-gwine to raise him if mammy’ll let me. +But I mout sell him, if I git a good chance.”</p> + +<p>The opportunity was not to be lost, and in a very few moments Ikey +was trudging homeward with a handful of coppers and two +nickels—all the change we could raise among us, and we proudly +carried our new-found treasure to the house.</p> + +<p>“Mercy on us!” cried mamma, holding up her hands. “What on earth have +you got there?”</p> + +<p>“A crow,” we told her. “And we’re going to tame him, and teach him to +talk.”</p> + +<!-- png 46 --> +<span class = "pagenum">397b</span> +<p>“Nonsense!” said mamma. “You don’t suppose I’ll have a <i>crow</i> +about the house, to kill the young chickens and eat up the eggs!”</p> + +<p>But we begged and pleaded, till at last she gave her consent to let +us keep it.</p> + +<p>“It’ll be a great torment,” grumbled grandma. “It’s a <i>young</i> +bird, and you’ll have to feed it like a baby.”</p> + +<p>But we did not mind the trouble. Indeed, it was more of an amusement +to us to feed our pet on scraps of meat and bits of bread. It opened its +mouth so wide, and cried “Caw-aw-aw!” in such a satisfactory way.</p> + +<p>Ikey had instructed us as to the manner of feeding.</p> + +<p>“Jess you peck it on de head, an’ it’ll open its mouth like it does +fur de ole birds,” he explained.</p> + +<p>And we found his advice was good.</p> + +<p>We named our pet “Jack-a-Dandy,” and he grew and throve so much that +he was soon able to procure his own food, which consisted of crickets +and other insects.</p> + +<p>He was so tame that we could allow him perfect freedom, without any +fear of his deserting us.</p> + +<p>As he grew older, he used frequently to fly into the top of a tall +post-oak near the front door, from which he would circle around and +around the house, then alight on the ground, and come hopping in the +door, with a cheerful “caw! caw!” as if asserting that there was no +place like home.</p> + +<p>“He’s better than Dick Hardy’s tame squirrel,” Tom used to say, “for +that has to be kept in a cage.”</p> + +<p>“And Bob Rooney’s pet coon has to be fastened by a chain,” said +Josie. “But Jack-a-Dandy is as free as we are.”</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">397c</span> +<p>But mamma was not particularly pleased with Jack, and grandma +continued to grumble over his misdemeanors, especially when he would +rummage in her work-basket, and carry off her silver thimble or bright +steel bodkin.</p> + +<p>“He’s a troublesome creature,” she would declare, “and if I had +<i>my</i> way, he’d get his neck wrung.”</p> + +<p>But we kept a good watch on our favorite, to keep him from getting +into mischief.</p> + +<p>We had used our best endeavors to teach him to talk, but he was a +poor scholar, and could not even learn to pronounce his own name.</p> + +<p>Still we loved him, and continued to take his part against his +enemies.</p> + +<p>Papa had never said much, one way or the other, about Jack, though he +was not very favorably disposed toward the race of crows. But when the +spring planting was done, he took sides with the opposition.</p> + +<p>“If your tame thief pulls up my corn, I’ll shoot him,” he +declared.</p> + +<p>“If he troubles the young chickens, he’ll have to go,” said +mamma.</p> + +<p>“If he spoils my garden, I’ll wring his neck,” asserted grandma.</p> + +<p>And, as may be imagined, we suffered considerable anxiety about our +pet.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic15.jpg" width = "507" height = "557" +alt = "see caption"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +“BEFORE PAPA COULD SEIZE HIS GUN AND REACH THE SCENE OF CONFLICT,<br> +JACK-A-DANDY HAD FLOWN TO THE HEN’S ASSISTANCE.”</p> + +<p>One day we were eating dinner, while Jack sat perched on the post-oak +near the door.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a terrible commotion occurred in the chicken-yard, caused by +a hawk which had swooped down and seized a young chicken.</p> + +<p>The hen-mother, however, attacked the marauder so furiously that it +was unable to carry off its prey immediately, and before papa could +seize his gun and reach +<span class = "pagenum">397d</span> +the scene of conflict, Jack-a-Dandy had flown to the hen’s +assistance.</p> + +<p>He attacked the hawk so desperately that it dropped its prey, and a +terrible combat ensued, in which Jack came off the victor. But not +satisfied with this, he pursued the flying enemy a long distance, +attacking him sharply when occasion offered.</p> + +<p>You may be sure we had a great many praises and a sumptuous dinner +for our favorite, on his return.</p> + +<p>Hawks had for years been a great pest to poultry raising, and even +mamma espoused Jack’s cause after his successful battle with the +rapacious foe.</p> + +<p>And during Jack’s life, not another chicken was molested by the +hawks, as he kept a vigilant watch, and attacked every one that dared to +venture near the premises.</p> + +<p>He even won the good-will of papa, by keeping rigidly aloof from the +corn-field; but grandma was still fearful lest he might do some damage +to the garden.</p> + +<p>She was very careful of her early vegetables, and the garden-spot was +paled in, to keep the chickens and rabbits from making depredations on +the early lettuce, peas and cabbages.</p> + +<p>But no fence would keep Jack out. Like the wind, he went “wherever he +listeth.”</p> + +<p>Much to our relief, however, he did not offer to molest the +vegetables, but did good service in picking up the insects and +cut-worms, which are usually such a pest about a garden.</p> + +<p>When he fell to devouring the squash-bugs, which were sapping the +life of the “Boston Marrows,” grandma’s last prejudice was overcome, and +she declared that Jack was worth his weight in gold.</p> + +<!-- png 47 --> +<span class = "pagenum">398a</span> +<p>After that, she never went to the garden without calling Jack, who +would give an answering “caw!” and hop gravely after her, or perch on +her shoulder with all the confidence of a privileged favorite.</p> + +<p>As long as he lived, Jack continued to grow in the good opinion of +the household. But, alas! he could not live forever.</p> + +<p>One day he sat drooping on his perch, and refused to be enticed away +from it. He even declined the plump crickets Fred offered him in hopes +of tempting his appetite.</p> + +<p>The next morning he was found dead under his perch. He was mourned +sincerely by the whole family, from grandma down, and we buried him with +great ceremony under his favorite post-oak.</p> + +<p>Tom sodded his grave, Josie planted a “mourning bride” over it, and +Fred put up a shingle for a headstone, with this verse on it, which we +all thought very beautiful:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>“Handy-spandy, Jack-a-Dandy</p> +<p>Loves plum-cake and sugar candy.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "warden" id = "warden"> + </a></p> + +<p class = "center">[<i>This Story began in No. 15.</i>]</p> + +<h5 class = "extended">THE</h5> + +<h1 class = "smallcaps">Young Game-Warden</h1> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h5><b>BY HARRY CASTLEMON.</b></h5> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<h4 class = "smallcaps">CHAPTER XXXI—[Continued].</h4> + +<p>Silas was so completely wrapped up in his own affairs that the boys +got close to him before he was aware of their presence, and it is the +greatest wonder in the world that he did not shoot one of them in his +excitement.</p> + +<p>He was really alarmed; but when he had taken a good look at the +newcomers, in order to make sure of their identity, he laid his gun +across the chair, pushed up his sleeves, and shook both his fists at +Dan.</p> + +<p>“So you thought you would fool your poor old pap this morning, did +you, you little snipe?” he shouted. “Well, you see what you made by it, +don’t you?”</p> + +<p>“I never tried to make a fool of you,” stammered Dan, who had a faint +idea that he understood the situation. “I never in this wide +world!”</p> + +<p>“Hush your noise when I tell you I know better,” yelled Silas; and +one would have thought, by the way he acted and looked, that he was very +angry, instead of very much delighted, at the way things had turned out. +“Here you have been and tramped all over them mountings, and never got a +cent for it, while I have made a clean twenty-five hundred dollars, if I +counted it up right on my fingers; and I reckon I did, ’cause your mam +put in a figger to help me now and then.”</p> + +<p>“Why, how did it happen?” exclaimed Joe, who, up to this moment, had +not been able to do anything but stand still and look astonished.</p> + +<p>He knew that his father had captured one of the robbers without help +from any one, and that was more than fifty other men had been able to +do, with all their weary tramping.</p> + +<p>“The way it happened was just this,” said Silas, who could not stand +in one place for a single moment. “Hold on there!” he added, turning +fiercely upon his prisoner, who just then moved uneasily upon the bench, +as if he were trying to find a softer spot to sit on. “I’ve got my eyes +onto you, and you might as—”</p> + +<p>“Why, father, he can’t get away,” Joe interposed. “You’ve got him +tied up too tight. Why don’t you let out that rope a little?”</p> + +<p>“’Cause he’s worth a pile of money—that’s why!” exclaimed +Silas; “and I won’t let the rope out not one inch, nuther. You Joe, keep +away from there.”</p> + +<p>“I really wish you would undo some of this rope,” said the prisoner, +who, like Byron’s Corsair, seemed to be a mild-mannered man. +“I have been tied up ever since two o’clock, and am numb all over. +I couldn’t run a step if I should try.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you believe a word of that!” exclaimed Silas. “Come away from +there and let that rope be, I tell you.”</p> + +<p>“Say, father,” said Joe, suddenly, “what are you going to do with +your captive? Do you intend to sit up and watch him all night long?”</p> + +<p>“I was just a-studying about that when you come up and scared me,” +replied Silas, +<!-- png 48 --> +<span class = "pagenum">398b</span> +dropping the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning heavily upon the +muzzle.</p> + +<p>He never could stand alone for any length of time; he always wanted +something to support him.</p> + +<p>“What do you think I had better do about it? I don’t much like +to keep him here, ’cause— Why, just look a-here, Joey,” added +Silas, moving up to the door, and pointing to some object inside the +cabin. “See them tools I took away from him?”</p> + +<p>The boys stepped to their father’s side, and saw lying upon the +table, where Silas had placed it, a belt containing a brace of +heavy revolvers and a murderous-looking knife.</p> + +<p>“Now, them’s dangerous,” continued Silas, “and if this feller’s +pardner should happen along—”</p> + +<p>“But he won’t happen along,” interrupted Dan. “Brierly’s squad +gobbled him.”</p> + +<p>The ferryman looked surprised, then disgusted, and finally he turned +an inquiring glance upon Joe, who said that Dan told the truth.</p> + +<p>“You don’t like it, do you?” said the latter, to himself. “<ins class += "correction" title = "text reads ’I sorter’">It sorter</ins> hurts you +to know that there is them in the world that are just as lucky and smart +as you be, don’t it? Yes, that’s what’s the matter with pap. He don’t +want no one else to be as well off as he is.”</p> + +<p>And when Dan said that, he hit the nail fairly on the head.</p> + +<p>“The other robber is not in a condition to attempt a rescue,” said +Joe; “but, all the same, I don’t think you ought to keep this man +here all night. The sheriff is now at Mr. Warren’s house, and it is your +duty to hand the prisoner over to him at once. Be careful how you point +those guns this way.”</p> + +<p>This last remark was called forth by an action on the part of Silas +and Dan that made Joe feel the least bit uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>While the latter was talking, his hands were busy with the rope; and +when the prisoner arose from the bench and stamped his feet to set the +blood in circulation again, his excited and watchful guards at once +covered his head and Joe’s with the muzzles of their guns.</p> + +<p>“Turn those weapons the other way,” repeated Joe, angrily. “You don’t +think this man is foolish enough to try to run off while his hands are +tied, do you? Now, father, how did you happen to catch him?”</p> + +<p>“It was just as easy as falling off a log,” replied Silas, resuming +his seat and resting his double-barrel across his knees. “When you and +Dan went away this morning, I just naturally shouldered my gun, +walked up the road to the foot of the mounting, and set down on a log to +wait for game to come a-running past me, just the same as if I was +watching for deer, you know.”</p> + +<p>This was all true; but there was one thing he did that he forgot to +mention. The only “game” Silas expected to see was Dan Morgan, when he +returned from the mountain at night, and the ferryman was prepared to +give him a warm reception. Before he devoted himself to the task of +holding down that log by the roadside, he took the trouble to cut a long +hickory switch, and to place it beside the log, out of sight. He meant +to give Dan such a thrashing that he would never play any more tricks +upon him.</p> + +<p>“Well, about one o’clock, or a little after, while I was a-setting +there and waiting for the game to come along, I heared a noise in +the brush, and, all on a sudden, out popped this feller. He was running +like he’d been sent for, and that’s why I suspicioned him. Of course I +didn’t know him from Adam, but I asked him would he stop a bit. And he +’lowed he would, when he seed my gun looking him square in the eye. +I brung him home, and your mam she passed out the clothes-line, and +I tied him up.”</p> + +<p>“Where is mother now?” asked Joe.</p> + +<p>“Gone off after more sewing, I reckon,” replied Silas, in a tone +which seemed to say that it was a matter that was not worth talking +about. “She helped me figger up what I would get for catching him, and +then she dug out. I’m worth almost as much as you be now, Joey, and that +there mean Dan, who wouldn’t stay by and help me, he ain’t got a cent. +Now don’t you wish you hadn’t played that trick on me this morning?”</p> + +<p>“Never mind that,” interposed Joe, who did not care to stand by and +listen to an angry altercation which might end in a fight or a foot-race +between his father and Dan. “If we are going to deliver +<!-- png 49 --> +<span class = "pagenum">398c</span> +this man to the sheriff to-night, we had better be moving.”</p> + +<p>“Do you reckon the sheriff will hand over the twenty-five hundred +when I give up the prisoner?” inquired Silas, as the party walked down +the bank toward the flat.</p> + +<p>“Of course he won’t.”</p> + +<p>“What for won’t he?”</p> + +<p>“Because he hasn’t got it with him. Perhaps it was never put into his +hands at all. I haven’t received my share yet.”</p> + +<p>“Then I reckon I’d best hold fast to him till I’m sure of my money,” +said Silas, reflectively. “I guess I won’t take him down to old man +Warren’s to-night.”</p> + +<p>“I guess you will, unless you want to get into trouble with the law,” +said Joe, decidedly. “If you don’t give him up of your own free will, +the sheriff will take him away from you.”</p> + +<p>Silas protested that he couldn’t see any sense in such a law as that, +but he lent his aid in pushing off the flat.</p> + +<p>Dan, who was almost too angry to breathe, had more than half a mind +to stay at home; but his curiosity to hear and see all that was said and +done when the prisoner was turned over to the officers of the law +impelled him to think better of it. When the flat was shoved off, he +jumped in and picked up one of the oars.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XXXII</h4> + +<p>We have said that Tom Hallet was so anxious to help his unlucky +friend Bob in some way that he joined the very first squad that went out +in search of him.</p> + +<p>The man who had the name of being the leader of it was the sheriff’s +deputy; but the two stalwart young farmers who belonged to his party +were longer of limb than he was, and they pushed ahead at such a rate +that the deputy speedily fell to the rear, and stayed there during the +most of the day.</p> + +<p>“Me and Cyrus have come out to win that there reward,” said one of +the young men, when Tom remonstrated with them for leaving the officer +so far behind, “and we can’t do it by loafing along like that sheriff +does. We’ve got a mortgage to pay off on the farm, and we don’t know any +easier way to raise the money for it than to capture one of them +rogues.”</p> + +<p>But this sanguine young fellow was not the only one who was destined +to have his trouble for his pains; and what made his disappointment and +his brother’s harder to bear was the reflection that if they had left +Tom’s cabin half an hour earlier than they did, they might have +succeeded in earning a portion of the money of which they stood so much +in need.</p> + +<p>They were not more than a quarter of a mile away when Brierly’s +signal guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They +ran forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of +action before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were +also disappointed.</p> + +<p>When they came within sight of the successful party, they found the +robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his +weapons.</p> + +<p>“Too late, boys!” exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his +good fortune. “You can’t lay claim to any of our money, if that’s what +brung you up here in such haste.”</p> + +<p>“We don’t care for the money,” panted Tom. “Where’s Bob?”</p> + +<p>“That’s so,” said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon +the prisoner during the whole forenoon. “Where is he? Say, feller, what +have you done with him?”</p> + +<p>“I have not seen him for two hours,” replied the prisoner. “As soon +as we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, +and I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn’t want to keep +him with us for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were +hiding.”</p> + +<p>Just then, the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his +breath, managed to inquire:</p> + +<p>“What have you done with your partners?”</p> + +<p>“There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way,” +answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the +compass.</p> + +<p>Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and +watched the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of +hand-cuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when +Brierly’s party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind +them.</p> + +<!-- png 50 --> +<span class = "pagenum">398d</span> +<p>He went as straight to his cabin as he could go, and there he found +Bob Emerson, who was rummaging around in the hope of finding something +to eat.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t had a bite of anything since last night, and you’d better +believe that I am hungry,” said Bob, after he and Tom had greeted each +other as though they had been separated for years. “But I am not a bit +of a hero. I haven’t had an adventure worth the telling.”</p> + +<p>“There’s nothing in there,” said Tom, seeing that his friend was +casting longing eyes toward his game-bag. “I didn’t take much of a +lunch with me, and I was hungry enough to eat it all. Can you stand it +until we get home?”</p> + +<p>“I’ll have to,” replied Bob. “By-the-way, did you ever see that +before?”</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a soiled +and crumpled letter, which looked as though it might have been through +the war.</p> + +<p>It was the same precious document that he and Tom had left in Silas +Morgan’s wood-pile.</p> + +<p>“One of the robbers gave it to me last night,” continued Bob, in +reply to his companion’s inquiring look. “You will remember that Dan +Morgan lost the letter within a few feet of the log on which he sat when +he read it, and that when he and Silas went back to find it, they were +frightened away by something that dodged into the bushes before they +could get a sight at it, and which they took to be a ghost. Well, it +wasn’t a ghost at all, but one of the thieves, who had been to the Beach +after supplies. He found the letter, and read it. Of course he was +greatly alarmed, and so was his companion; for they couldn’t help +believing that some one had got wind of their hiding-place. They could +hardly believe me when I told them that you and I made that letter up +out of the whole cloth, and that we never dreamed there was any one +living in the gorge.”</p> + +<p>“But we did know it,” said Tom.</p> + +<p>“Of course we did after they frightened us, but not before. They +spoke about that, too. We took them completely by surprise the day we +came down the gorge. We were close upon their camp before they knew it, +and for a minute or two they didn’t know what to do. Then one of them +conceived the idea of making that hideous noise, and when the other saw +how well it worked, he joined in with him.”</p> + +<p>“But didn’t they know that we would be back sooner or later to look +into the matter?” asked Tom.</p> + +<p>“Of course they did, and that was another thing that frightened them. +They saw very plainly that their hiding-place was broken up, and were +making preparations to leave it when Silas and Dan put in their +appearance. The robbers saw and heard them long before they got to the +camp, and the one who found the letter recognized them at once. It was +at his suggestion that that ghost was rigged up.”</p> + +<p>“But they must have known that they could not scare everybody with +that dummy,” observed Tom.</p> + +<p>“To-be-sure they did, and they were in a great hurry to get away from +there; but they needed provisions, and by stopping to get them they fell +into trouble. They took Joe Morgan’s house for a wood-chopper’s cabin, +and while we were robbing them, they were foraging on Joe. I tell +you, Tom, it’s a lucky thing for us that we got out of that gorge when +we did. They were mad enough to shoot us on sight.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t wonder at it,” replied Tom. “It would make most anybody mad +to lose a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and securities, no +matter how he came by them. Where did they catch you? Did they treat you +well?”</p> + +<p>“They treated me well enough,” was Bob’s reply; “but I believe that +if they had not stood in fear of immediate capture, I should have a +different story to tell, if, indeed, I were able to tell any. +I told you nothing but the truth in the postscript I added to their +note.”</p> + +<p>“I knew they made you write it, and that you did not express your +honest sentiments when you told us to be in a hurry about giving back +that valise.”</p> + +<p>“I was sure you would understand it: but what could a fellow do with +a cocked revolver flourished before his eyes by a man who was in just +the right humor to use it on him?”</p> + +<p>“He would do as he is told, of course,” answered Tom. “But do you +suppose they thought they could get that valise back by threatening +you?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know what they thought, for +<!-- png 51 --> +<span class = "pagenum">399a</span> +they acted as if they were crazy. They caught me in less than half an +hour after I left you, and it was through my own fault. I ran on to +them before I knew it; and do you imagine I thought ‘robbers’ once? As +true as you live, I didn’t. I took them for poachers, and told +them, very politely, that these grounds were posted and they couldn’t be +allowed to shoot there, when all on a sudden it popped into my head what +I was doing. They saw the start I gave, and in a second more they had me +covered. If I could have got away without letting them see that I +suspected them, they wouldn’t have said a word to me.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they covered you with their revolvers; then what?”</p> + +<p>“Beyond a doubt, they made a prisoner of me before they thought what +they were doing, and when they came to look at it, they found that they +had got an elephant on their hands. Then they would have been glad to +get rid of me; but they did not see just how they could do it with +safety to themselves, so they made up their minds to use me.</p> + +<p>“At first they thought they would wait and see if anything would come +of the notice they left on the door of the cabin, and then they thought +they wouldn’t—that they would hunt up another hiding-place as soon +as possible; so they ordered me to take them where nobody would ever +think of looking for them. And I could do nothing but obey.”</p> + +<p>“Were you acting as their guide when they released you?”</p> + +<p>Bob replied that he was.</p> + +<p>“Why didn’t you veer around a bit, and lead them toward the +railroad?”</p> + +<p>“If I had, I shouldn’t be here now,” answered Bob, significantly. +“They warned me to be careful about that, and they were so well +acquainted with the hills that I was afraid to attempt any tricks. We +camped over on Dungeon Brook last night, and set out again at an early +hour this morning; but before we had been in motion an hour, we found +ourselves cut off from the upper end of the hills, and that was the time +they made up their minds to let me go. They didn’t say so, but still I +had an idea that they didn’t want me around for fear I would make too +much noise to suit them.”</p> + +<p>“I know they were afraid of it,” said Tom. “The robber that Brierly’s +squad captured said so.”</p> + +<p>“Is one of them taken?” exclaimed Bob, who hadn’t heard of it before. +“That’s good news. Where’s the other?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t know. They separated after they let you go, and Brierly +captured one of them. Perhaps we shall hear something about the other +one now,” added Tom, directing his companion’s attention to a large +party of men who were at that moment discovered approaching the cabin. +“We went out in squads of four, and there are a dozen men in that +crowd.”</p> + +<p>“But I don’t see any prisoner among them,” said Bob. “They have all +got guns on their shoulders, and that proves that they have not seen +anything of robber number two.”</p> + +<p>As the party came nearer, the boys saw that it was made up of +citizens of Bellville and Hammondsport, who had abandoned the search for +the day, and were now on their way home.</p> + +<p>They were surprised to see Bob Emerson there, safe and sound, and +forthwith desired a full history of the letter which had been the means +of bringing about so remarkable a series of events.</p> + +<p>Bob protested that he was too hungry to talk, but when he saw the +generous supply of bread and meat which one of the men drew from his +haversack, he sat down on a log in front of the cabin and told his +story.</p> + +<p>His auditors declared that the way things had turned out was little +short of wonderful, adding, as they arose to go, that they were coming +out again, bright and early the next morning, to resume the search for +robber number two. They were not going to remain idle at home, they +said, as long as there were twenty-five hundred dollars running around +loose in the woods.</p> + +<p>When the bread and meat were all gone, and the boys were once more +alone, Tom wrote the notice which Joe Morgan found pinned to the door of +the cabin, and then he and Bob set out for Uncle Hallet’s.</p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<h4>CHAPTER XXXIII</h4> + +<p>Although Silas Morgan had received the most convincing proof that he +had +<!-- png 52 --> +<span class = "pagenum">399b</span> +nothing more to fear from the “hant” which had so long occupied all his +waking thoughts and disturbed his dreams at night, he would not have +taken one step toward Mr. Warren’s house before morning, had he not been +urged on by the hope that the sheriff would be ready to pay over his +money as soon as the robber was given up to him. The desire to handle +the reward to which he was entitled was stronger than his fear of the +dark.</p> + +<p>“And what shall I do with them twenty-five hundred after I get ’em, +Joey?” said he. “That’s what’s a-bothering of me now.”</p> + +<p>And it was the very thing that was bothering Joe, also. His father +had always been in the habit of spending his money as fast as he got it, +and the boy fully expected to see this large sum slip through his +fingers without doing the least good to him or anybody else.</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you what I <i>wouldn’t</i> do with it,” said Joe, after a +little hesitation. “I wouldn’t give Hobson any of it.”</p> + +<p>“You’re right I won’t!” exclaimed Silas. “He’s got more’n his share +already. What be you going to do with yours, when you get it?”</p> + +<p>“I think now that I shall put it in the bank at Hammondsport,” +answered Joe. “It will be safe there, and if I am careful of it, it will +last me until I get through going to school. You don’t want to go to +school, but you might go into business and increase your capital.”</p> + +<p>“That’s it—that’s it, Joey!” exclaimed Silas, who grew +enthusiastic at once. “I never thought of that. But what sort of +business? It must be something easy, ’cause I’ve worked hard enough +already.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Warren says that there is no easy way of making a living,” began +Joe; but his father interrupted him with an exclamation of +impatience.</p> + +<p>“What does old man Warren know about it?” he demanded. “He never had +to do a hand’s turn in his life.”</p> + +<p>“But he don’t know what it is to be idle, and he is busy at something +every day,” said Joe. “I’ll tell you what I have often thought I would +do if I had a little money, and I may do it yet, if you don’t decide to +go into it. The new road that is coming through here is bound to bring a +good many people to the Beach, sooner or later. As the trout are nearly +all gone, the guests will have to devote their attention to the bass in +the lake, and consequently there will be a big demand for boats.”</p> + +<p>“So there will!” exclaimed Silas, who saw at once what Joe was trying +to get at. “That’s the business I’ve been looking for, Joey, and it’s an +easy one, too. Of course, I can let all my boats at so much an +hour, and I won’t have nothing to do but sit on the beach and take in my +money.”</p> + +<p>“And what’ll I be doing?” inquired Dan, who had not spoken +before.</p> + +<p>“You!” cried Silas, who seemed to have forgotten that Dan was one of +the party. “You will keep on chopping cord wood, to pay you for the mean +trick you played on me this morning. You see what you made by it, don’t +you? I reckon you wish you’d stayed by me now, don’t you? How much +will them boats cost me, Joey?”</p> + +<p>“I should think that ten or a dozen skiffs would be enough to begin +with,” answered Joe, “and they will cost you between three and four +hundred dollars; but you would have enough left to rent a piece of +ground of Mr. Warren and put up a snug little house on it.”</p> + +<p>“Then I’ll be a gentleman like the rest of ’em, won’t I?” exclaimed +Silas, gleefully.</p> + +<p>“No, you won’t,” said Dan, to himself. “That bridge ain’t been built +yet, and I don’t reckon Hobson means to have it there. He is going to +bust it up some way or ’nother, and I’m just the man to help him, if +he’ll pay me for it. Everybody is getting rich ’cepting me, and I ain’t +going to be treated this way no longer!”</p> + +<p>Silas was so completely carried away by Joe’s plan for making money +without work that he could think of nothing else. He forgot how +determined and vindictive Dan was, and how easy it would be for him to +place a multitude of obstacles in his way, but Joe didn’t.</p> + +<p>The latter knew well enough that Dan intended to make trouble if he +were left out in the cold, but what could be done for so lazy and +unreliable a fellow as he was? That was the question.</p> + +<p>While Joe was turning it over in his mind, he led the way through Mr. +Warren’s gate and up to the porch, where he found his employer sitting +in company with the sheriff and both Uncle Hallet’s +<!-- png 53 --> +<span class = "pagenum">399c</span> +game-wardens. The deputy was in an upper room, keeping guard over the +other prisoner.</p> + +<p>Of course, Tom and Bob, who were greatly surprised as well as +delighted to see Joe and his party, wanted to know just how the capture +of robber number two had been brought about, and while Joe was telling +the story, the sheriff marched the captive into the house and turned him +over to his deputy.</p> + +<p>Then he came back and sat down; but he did not put his hand into his +pocket and pull out the reward, as Silas hoped he would.</p> + +<p>“This has been a good day’s work all around,” said Tom, who was in +high spirits. “The next time there is any detective work to be done in +this county, Bob and I will volunteer to do it. We can catch more +criminals by sitting still and writing letters, than the officers can by +bringing all their skill into play.”</p> + +<p>The sheriff laughed, and said that was the way the thing looked from +where he sat.</p> + +<p>“The fun is all over now,” continued Tom, “and to-morrow we will go +to work in earnest. You will be on hand, of course?”</p> + +<p>Joe replied that he would.</p> + +<p>“By-the-way,” chimed in Bob, “did this robber of yours have a gun of +any description in his hands when he was captured?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“Then, Joe, you and I are just that much out of pocket. The guns are +gone up.”</p> + +<p>“What has become of them?”</p> + +<p>“They are out in the hills somewhere,” answered Bob. “When the +robbers made up their minds that they had better let me go, one of them +had my gun and the other had yours; but the robber Brierly captured says +that the weapon impeded his flight, and so he threw it away. Whereabouts +he was in the hills when he got rid of it, he can’t tell. No doubt your +gun was thrown away also, and the chances are not one in a thousand that +we shall ever find them again.”</p> + +<p>While this conversation was going on, Silas Morgan, who stood at the +foot of the steps that led to the porch, kept pulling Joe by the +coat-sleeve, and whispering to him:</p> + +<p>“Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I’m powerful anxious to +see the color of them twenty-five hundred.”</p> + +<p>Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so +very much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy’s notice, that +the officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the +conversation, he said, carelessly:</p> + +<p>“Oh, about the reward, Silas—”</p> + +<p>“That’s the idee,” replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he +was going to get it now. “That’s what I’m here for. You have got the +<ins class = "correction" title = "spelling unchanged">bugglars</ins> in +your own hands now, and I don’t reckon you would mind passing it over, +would you?”</p> + +<p>“I?” exclaimed the sheriff. “I haven’t got it. I have never had +a cent of it in my possession.”</p> + +<p>“Then who’s going to give it to me?” demanded Silas, who wondered if +the officer was going to cheat him out of his money.</p> + +<p>“Well, you see, Silas,” said the sheriff, “the reward is conditioned +upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, +and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can’t get your +money until they are sentenced.”</p> + +<p>“And how long will that be?”</p> + +<p>“The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money +was offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry +and things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from +different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a +lump.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the way I want it,” said Silas, who was very much +disappointed. “I’m going into business.”</p> + +<p>“What sort of business?” inquired Mr. Warren.</p> + +<p>“I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach.”</p> + +<p>“Well now, Silas, that’s the most sensible thing I have heard from +you in a long time,” said Mr. Warren. “I’ll rent you a piece of ground +big enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good +shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you +manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living +of it.”</p> + +<p>“Who said anything about Dan?” exclaimed Silas.</p> + +<p>“I did. Of course you can’t ignore +<!-- png 54 --> +<span class = "pagenum">399d</span> +him because you are wealthy. He wants a chance to earn an honest living, +and he needs it, too. He’s a strong boy, a first-rate hand with a +boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds on the lake, and would be just +the fellow to send out with a party who wanted a guide and boatman. You +can easily afford to pay him a dollar a day for such work as that.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I won’t do it,” said Silas, promptly. “He’s a lazy, +good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won’t take him into business along +of me.”</p> + +<p>“But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the +game law and make an honest living,” said the sheriff. “By-the-way, +Silas, I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me +the trouble of going after them.”</p> + +<p>“What setters?” exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point +of taking to his heels. “I ain’t got none. I took ’em down to +the hotel and give ’em up.”</p> + +<p>“I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble,” replied +the officer. “I have had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got +hold of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known +where to find the owner. Don’t do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best +policy, every day in the week.”</p> + +<p>“If you will leave your business in my hands, I will attend to +it for you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all,” +continued Mr. Warren.</p> + +<p>And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the +gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, +if he could help it.</p> + +<p>“It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats +this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, +and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at +Hobson’s bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not +paid over to you by the time spring opens, I will advance you +enough to start you in business and build your house. Then I think you +had better give Dan a chance.”</p> + +<p>“So do I,” whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. “Dan has lived by his +wits long enough, and if Silas doesn’t begin to take some interest in +him, the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. +I can see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over +Silas as a whip to make him behave himself.”</p> + +<p>“Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?” +asked Bob.</p> + +<p>“No, I don’t, because he doesn’t know enough to take care of so much +money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that +he will make every cent of it count.”</p> + +<p>Then, aloud, Tom said:</p> + +<p>“Well, Bob, seeing that we’ve got to get up in the morning, we had +better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take +your things back to your cabin.”</p> + +<p>“And I will send up another supply of provisions,” said Mr. +Warren.</p> + +<p>Joe thanked his employer, bade him good-night, and led the way out of +the yard.</p> + +<p>For a time he and his party walked along in silence, and then Silas, +who began to have a vague idea that he had been imposed upon in some +way, broke out, fiercely:</p> + +<p>“What did old man Warren mean by saying that if I didn’t get all my +money by the time spring comes, he would advance enough to set me up in +business?” Silas almost shouted. “Looks to me like he’d ’p’inted himself +my guardeen, and that he means to keep a tight grip on them twenty-five +hundred, so’t I can’t spend it to suit myself. That’s what I think he +means to do, dog-gone the luck!”</p> + +<p>Joe thought so, too, and he was glad of it. If that was Mr. Warren’s +intention, Joe’s mother would be likely to reap some benefit from the +reward; otherwise, she would not.</p> + +<p class = "center smaller">[TO BE CONTINUED.]</p> + +<p class = "fancyline"><a name = "riddles" id = "riddles"> + </a></p> + +<h3>EIGHT GOOD RIDDLES.</h3> + +<p>Feet have they, but they walk not—stoves.</p> + +<p>Eyes have they, but they see not—potatoes.</p> + +<p>Teeth have they, but they chew not—saws.</p> + +<p>Noses have they, but they smell not—teapots.</p> + +<p>Mouths have they, but they taste not—rivers.</p> + +<p>Hands have they, but they handle not—Clocks.</p> + +<p>Ears have they, but they hear not—cornstalks.</p> + +<p>Tongues have they, but they talk not—wagons.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<!-- png 55 --> +<span class = "pagenum">400a</span> + +<p class = "lines"><a name = "comics" id = "comics"> + </a></p> + +<div style = "margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 325px;"> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic18a.png" width = "323" height = "367" +alt = "teacher talking to student"></p> + +<p><i>Teacher</i>—“I am sorry, William, to have to whip a big boy +like you. It grieves me terribly.”</p> + +<p><i>William</i>—“It don’t grieve you half as much as it +does me.”</p> +</div> + +<p class = "fancyline"> </p> + +<div class = "wrinkles"> + +<h2>CREAM OF THE COMICS.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p class = "center">“Brisk as a bee.”</p> +<p class = "right">—<i>Boswell’s Life of Johnson</i>.</p> + +<p>—In the drama of life the clerk plays a counter-part.</p> + +<p>—Why is a whisper forbidden in polite society? Because it isn’t +aloud.</p> + +<p class = "floatright"> +<img src = "images/pic18b.png" width = "204" height = "195" +alt = "monkey at easel, painting his tail"></p> + +<p class = "caption float" style = "width: 204px;"> +AN ILLUSTRATED TALE.</p> + +<p>—A tinsmith in the country has a sign which reads:</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Quart measures of all shapes and sizes sold here.”</p> + +<p>—Customer: “Is your bread nice and light?”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Baker’s boy: “Yessum; it only weighs nine ounces to the pound!”</p> + +<p>—“Home, Sweet Home”—a bee-hive.</p> + +<p>—The egotist lives on an I-land.</p> + +<p>—The Bank of England—a fog-bank.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">400b</span> +<p>—“April showers bring forth May flowers.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Said Flora to her brother Bob: “Robert, dear, what do April showers +bring forth?”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Said Bob: “Umbrellas, of course!”</p> + +<p>—“Don’t you find the people around here very sociable?” asked +Cobwigger of a new neighbor.</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Yes, indeed, I do,” was the hearty response. “Only a moment ago I met a +beggar, and he held out his hand to me.”</p> + +<p>—“Pa,” said little Jimmie, “I was very near going to the head +of my class to-day.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“How is that, my son?”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Why, a big word came all the way down to me, and if I could only have +spelled it, I should have gone clear up.”</p> + +<p>—Mamma (coaxingly): “Come, Bobby, take your medicine now, and +then jump into bed!”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Bobby: “I do not want to take my medicine, mamma.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Father (who knows how to govern children) “Robert, if you don’t take +your medicine at once, you will be put to bed without taking it at +all.”</p> + +<p>—A little girl in Charles Street, Boston, has an old-fashioned +doll which has the following words worked in red silk letters on its +sawdust-stuffed body:</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Steal not this doll for fear of shame,<br> +For here you see the owner’s name.</p> + +<p class = "center smallcaps"> +“Priscilla Alden.”</p> + +<p>—A little grammar found in an old garret in Portsmouth, N.H., +has an illustration representing the difference between the active, +passive and neuter verbs. It is a picture of a father whipping his boy. +The father is active, the boy is passive, and the mother, sitting by +herself on a stool, looking on, but doing nothing, is neuter.</p> + +<p>—“Here, Johnnie, what do you mean by taking Willie’s cake away +from him? Didn’t you have a piece for yourself?”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Yes; but you told me I always ought to take my little brother’s +part.”</p> + +<p>—Young physician (who has just lost a patient, to old +physician): “Would you advise an autopsy, doctor?”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Old physician: “No; I would advise an inquest.”</p> + +<p>—“Pause!” cries the sire unto the lad,<br> +“Let judgment teach you sense.”</p> +<p class = "nospace"> +“I will,” he answers, “when I’ve had<br> +Enough experience.”</p> + +<p>—Doctor: “Now, my little man, you take this medicine and I will +give you five cents.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +Young America: “You take it yourself, and I will go you five cents +better.”</p> + +<p>—Mistaking the door, young Mr. Cipher walked into the dentist’s +office instead of the doctor’s.</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Doctor,” he groaned, “I’m in bad shape. My head aches all the time, and +I can’t do anything with it.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +“Yes, yes,” said Doctor Toothaker, cheerfully. “I see; big cavity +in it; must be hollow; you’ll need to have it filled.”</p> + +<p class = "nospace"> +And, seeing his mistake, young Mr. Cipher apologized and went out, and +told it all around as a capital joke on the dentist.</p> + +<table summary = "cartoon with two captions"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/pic18c.png" width = "427" height = "230" +alt = "see captions"></p> + +<p class = "caption"> +JOHNNIE’S FIRST FISHING EXCURSION OF THE SEASON.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width = "60%" class = "center"> +What he caught at the pond.</td> +<td class = "center"> +What he caught when he got home!</td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> <!-- end div wrinkles --> + +<p> </p> + +<p class = "lines"><a name = "letters" id = "letters"> + </a></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">400c</span> + +<div class = "letters"> + +<h2>OUR LETTER BOX.</h2> + +<hr class = "small"> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Declined.</span>—A Sad +Catastrophe—A Stage-Driver’s Story—My Dog Carlo—The +Children’s Celebration—Flossie’s Letter—The Scotch Yacht +Thistle—Brave Dog Nero and his Friends—Our First Boat +Ride—Little Sam, a Tale of Long Ago—Penny.</p> + +<p>Q. K.—The first fire insurance office in the United States was +established at Boston in 1724; the first life insurance at Philadelphia +in 1812.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">J. E. M. and R. B. G.</span>—Every +requisite for admission to the West Point Military Academy was fully +detailed in No. 12 of the last volume, which will be mailed to any +address upon the receipt of 6 cents.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Old Reader.</span>—1. The oldest +daily newspaper in this country is the North American and United States +Gazette, founded in 1771, and still published in Philadelphia. +2. There may be some curiosity dealer in your city who would be +willing to purchase the ancient paper in your possession.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Yum Yum.</span>—Boulak is the port of +Cairo, Egypt, being situated on the right bank of the Nile, one mile +northwest of that city, of which it forms a suburb. A noble museum +of antiquities is situated at Boulak, and the latest additions to its +treasures are the mummies described in No. 22.</p> + +<p>F. E. N.—Level is a term applied to surfaces that are parallel +to that of still water, or perpendicular to the direction of the +plumb-line; and when it is desired to ascertain the altitude of any +specified locality, the level of the ocean’s surface is always taken as +the standard from which such reckoning is made.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Alex.</span>—The easiest and most +skillful methods of killing setting and preserving insects were set +forth in Nos. 18, 27, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of Vol. III. The process of +making the “killing bottle” is too lengthy to be reproduced here, but is +given in full in the first-mentioned issue, under the heading “Herme’s +Museum.”</p> + +<p>W. B. W.—By closely studying the construction and solution of +the puzzles printed from week to week in this paper, any boy of average +intelligence will have no difficulty in mastering them in a +comparatively short time. A very interesting article on this +subject was presented under the title of “An Instructive Pastime,” in +No. 22 of Vol. VII.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Clarence B.</span>—There is only one +source of alcohol—the fermentation of sugar or other saccharine +matter. Sugar is the produce of the vegetable world. Some plants contain +free sugar, and still more contain starch, which can be converted into +sugar. The best vegetable substances, therefore, for yielding alcohol +are those that contain the greatest abundance of sugar or of starch.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">A Subscriber, H. C. J. and S. O. +K.</span>—Boys aged from fourteen to eighteen years are eligible +to appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. The +limit of age for those enlisting on the government training ships is +from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches of the service +are open to any American youths capable of passing the physical and +mental examinations required of all applicants.</p> + +<p>H. S. W.—The Bible informs us that Tubal-Cain, the son of +Lamech and Zillah, was the “instructor of every artificer in brass and +iron,” and on that account he is considered the first blacksmith of +which there is any record. Respecting the tools used by him there is no +mention made by historians. Jabal, another son of Lamech, “was the +father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattle,” and his +brother Jubal “of all such as handle the harp and organ.”</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Franklin School.</span>—We prefer to +refrain from publishing medical recipes, such as pimple removers and the +like, always advising a consultation with a first-class physician, who +will prescribe some blood-purifying compound for the relief or cure of +the trouble. In our younger days, a mixture of molasses, cream +tartar and sulphur was considered a sovereign remedy for skin eruptions, +and a weak solution of alcohol or ammonia a most excellent annihilator +of “blackheads.”</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Harkingopitcher.</span>—1. The +originator of puzzles is not known, nor is it at all probable that the +mystery surrounding their inception will ever be cleared away. The +fabled founder is the Sphinx of Egypt, who, the mythologists inform us, +propounded the first enigma. 2. It is an invariable custom to +notify our readers of the appearance of new serial stories, and +therefore you will receive due notice of those written by your +favorites, when we conclude to publish them.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Theo. H.</span>—The action of +machines used for making ice consists in evaporating ether, or any +similar volatile liquid, in a vacuum, and again condensing the vapor to +liquid, so as to be used afresh. Fifty-two degrees of cold is thus +easily obtained, and the machines used for the purpose can produce +several tons of ice each day in the hottest countries. Much artificial +ice is now made by compressing atmospheric air, and by this method a +freezing temperature is obtained on vessels employed in carrying fresh +meats from distant countries.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Ink Bottle.</span>—1. Mineralogists +apply the term “pyrites” to a large group or family of minerals, +compounds of metals with sulphur, or with arsenic, or with both. The +name was originally given to the sulphuret of iron, known as iron +pyrites, in consequence of its striking fire with steel (from the Greek +<i>pyr</i>, fire), and it was used for kindling powder in the pans of +muskets before gun-flints were introduced. Iron pyrites is commonly of a +bright brass-yellow color, and is found crystallized in cubes, +dodecahedrons and many other forms. It is a very widely diffused and +plentiful mineral, and seems to belong almost equally to all geological +formations. 2. Eagle cents issued in 1858 are of no value to +collectors, because they lack rarity. 3. Your exchange is too +trivial.</p> + +<p>J. B. D., of Chicago, kindly informs us that he has been able to get +a slight shock from a telegraph battery in the following manner: “On +every learner’s instrument there are two binding-posts, and to one of +them is joined a wire from the battery; a small file is fastened to +the other; the key is closed, +<!-- png 56 --> +<span class = "pagenum">400d</span> +and then the other wire of the battery is taken in your wet fingers, +and, with the other hand, also wet, upon the file, the wire is run along +the surface of the file, and a shock results.”</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Walter R.</span>—What is known as the +registry system is intended to secure to valuable mail-matter in its +transition through the mails the utmost security within the province of +the Post Office Department. The fee on any registered matter, domestic +or foreign, is fixed at ten cents on each parcel or letter, to be +affixed in stamps, in addition to the postage. The money-order system is +intended to promote public convenience, and to secure safety in the +transfer through the mails of small sums of money. The rates may be +ascertained by inquiring at a local office.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">An Admirer of G. D.</span>—1. Two +French scientists, Captain Renard and M. Tissaudier, have invented +a balloon whose motive power is electricity. The dynamo machine used by +them is an intensely concentrated bichromate battery of one and a half +horse-power. It is very light, weighing but 121¼ pounds. Several +successful experimental trips have been made in this machine, and the +inventors claim that by using all the battery power, they were enabled +to navigate against the wind. They may be over-sanguine, but expect, +after making some improvements in the balloon, to attain a speed of from +fifteen to twenty miles an hour. 2. Constant base-ball practice +will harden the hands. No artificial preparation is used by +professionals.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Parxie</span>.—John Howard, an +Englishman, made on May 8, 1854, the greatest running long-jump, with +weights, 29 feet 7 inches; without weights, the highest record is 23 +feet 3 inches, made by M. W. Ford, August 14, 1886. Standing +long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5½ inches, G. W. Hamilton, October 3, +1879; without weights, 10 feet 10½ inches, M. H. Johnson, +September 4, 1884. Running hop-step-and-jump. 48 feet 8 inches, +T. Burrows, October 18, 1884; standing hop-step-and-jump, with +weights, 40 feet 2 inches, D. Anderson, July 24, 1865; without +weights, 31 feet 10 inches, Gavin Tait, 1862. These are world’s records. +The best one-mile amateur bicycle record—2.35 2-5—was made +by W. A. Rowe, October 23, 1885. He has beaten this record—2.29 +4-5—since he became a professional.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">H. C. H.</span>—In early days the +coining of copper money for New Jersey was given by law to Walker Mould, +Thomas Goodsby and Albion Cox. There were two mints, one at +Elizabethtown and the other at Morristown. These coins display on their +obverse a horse’s head, usually facing right, with a plow below it, and +the legend is “Nova Cæsarea.” The date is placed in several positions. +On the reverse is a shield, with the motto “E Pluribus Unum” around +the border. In ordinary condition, these coppers are worth from ten to +fifty cents. The rarest varieties are those having the date under the +beam, which are worth $100 each: with the General Washington bust, $150 +each; and with “Immunis Columbia, 1786” for obverse, $50. Doubtless the +one in your possession is a common variety.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Grape City.</span>—1. The modern +express traffic was originated by William F. Harnden, on March 4, +1839. At first he carried the packages himself from place to place in a +satchel; but his patrons grew in number until he had to establish an +office in each city, with a daily messenger each day. Previous to this, +all such packages had been sent by friends, or by special messengers. +2. The precise time of the invention of the telescope, as well as +the name of its inventor, is unknown. Prior to the end of the thirteenth +century, glass lenses were in use for the purpose of assisting the eye +in obtaining distinctness of vision. Galileo is generally credited with +being the first who constructed a telescope by which he was enabled to +make many of the great discoveries upon which the science of astronomy +stands for its foundation. 3. By good business methods you can +doubtless build up a trade such as that stated. 4. Inquire at a +book store.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Kickapoo.</span>—1. At the beginning +of the eleventh century it is said that the Northmen attempted to plant +a settlement in the locality known as Rhode Island. In 1614, Block, the +Dutch navigator, explored it, and the Dutch traders afterward, seeing +the marshy estuaries red with cranberries, called it Roode Eylandt, “red +island,” afterward corrupted into the name it now bears. Roger Williams, +a Welsh-Puritan minister, pastor of a church at Salem, was banished +from the colony of Massachusetts, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, +and there, with a few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of +Rhode Island in 1636. The place selected by him for settlement he called +Providence. 2. The first wife of Julius Cæsar was named Cornelia; +the second was Pompeia, a relative of the noted Pompey; and the +third was Calpurnia. 3. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, +Corsica, August 15, 1769, and died May 5, 1821, at St. Helena, to +which island he had been exiled after the battle of Waterloo.</p> + +<p><span class = "smallcaps">Nemo.</span>—The recipe for making a +copying-pad and the ink used thereon was given in No. 2, +vol. V. —<span class = "smallcaps">E. D. and +Author</span>. We are fully supplied with literary material by +experienced writers. —<span class = +"smallcaps">Solomon C.</span> Acrobats do not use any artificial +preparation to increase their suppleness. Constant practice is the +secret of the agility displayed by them. —<span class = +"smallcaps">W. B.</span> The construction of a photographic camera +was detailed in No. 13, Vol. IV; while the making of blue prints formed +the subject of an article in No. 51, Vol. II. —<span class = +"smallcaps">Ninth Avenue.</span> Interesting articles on the subject of +electricity have been presented in Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. VI, and 16, Vol. +VII. —<span class = "smallcaps">Subscriber.</span> An ingenious, +painstaking boy can construct a very neat æolian harp by following out +the directions given in No. 16 of the fifth volume. —<span class = +"smallcaps">Copperhead.</span> 1. The drawing of the binder shows +considerable ingenuity, and is doubtless novel and useful enough to +warrant patenting. 2. One of the simplest and best forms of the +canvas canoe was illustrated and described in No. 37, Vol. VI. In this +and the previous number another kind is represented. —<span class += "smallcaps">W. C. H.</span> Any study can be mastered if the +student is persevering and ordinarily intelligent. —<span class = +"smallcaps">D. P. H.</span> 1. None of the curiosities in +your possession are of any special value. 2. The gold coin will +pass at its face value. 3. Nos. 2 and 18, Vol. II, are out of +print. Three dollars per year is the regular subscription price of <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>. 4. The magazine is out of +print. —<span class = "smallcaps">Buckskin Bob.</span> This paper +has always been sold by us at a uniform rate of six cents per copy. +—<span class = "smallcaps">W. M. K.</span> Tan the small skins +according to the directions published in No. 7, Vol. IV. +—<span class = "smallcaps">S. C.</span> Yes. —<span +class = "smallcaps">J. A. W.</span> Place the matter in the +hands of a lawyer. —<span class = +"smallcaps">W. G. W.</span> The addition of a small quantity +of japan dryer to printing ink will make it dry quickly. —<span +class = "smallcaps">Chestnuts.</span> A boy of eleven should confine his +reading to more useful literature than novels, leaving those to be +perused at a maturer age. —<span class = "smallcaps">Cow +Boy.</span> There is such a series of juvenile books. Make inquiry at a +book store. —<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Cross.</span> A +first class bookseller can obtain for you the books of travels written +by Stanley and Livingstone. —<span class = +"smallcaps">Middy</span> (Washington). The length of a ship’s cable is +about 720 feet. —<span class = +"smallcaps">B. O. S.</span> No premium is offered for 1819 +quarter-dollars, Hong-Kong coins or French centimes.</p> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> Several communications have been received which will be +answered next week.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div letters --> + +<!-- png 57 --> + +<a name = "advertising_19" id = "advertising_19"> </a> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/thumb19.png" width = "376" height = "517" +alt = "image of advertising page showing all four columns"> +</p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +Depending on your browser settings and font choices, one column may +come out longer than the others.</p> + +<table class = "ads" summary = "advertising from inside back cover"> +<tr> +<td class = "plainbottom" colspan = "3"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf"> +UNCONDITIONALLY WARRANTED TO GIVE SATISFACTION!</span></p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/ad19a.png" width = "552" height = "35" +alt = "WOOD’S PENOGRAPH"></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1 sans"> +THE ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE EXACT SIZE OF PENOGRAPH.</span></p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan = "2"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1">JUST THE BOOK FOR STUDENTS.</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans +size2"><b>M</b>ilitary <b>D</b>ictionary</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1">—AND—</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "sans">GAZETTEER</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1">COMPRISING</span></p> + +<p><span class = "sans">Ancient and Modern Technical Terms, Historical +Accounts of all North American Indians, as well as Ancient Warlike +Tribes. Also, Notices of Battles from the Earliest Period to the Present +Time, with an Appendix containing the Articles of War.</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1">—BY—</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1">THOMAS WILHELM,</span><br> +<span class = "size_1">(<i>Captain Eighth Infantry.</i>)</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<img src = "images/dec_line2.png" width = "69" height = "7" +alt = "----"><br> +<br> +<span class = "size2 sans">656 Pages, Bound in Blue Cloth.</span><br> +<br> +<img src = "images/dec_line2.png" width = "69" height = "7" +alt = "----"></p> + +<p>We have arranged with the publishers for a limited number of this +book, and will send</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1 boldf sans">It and “Golden Days” one year on +receipt of $3.25.</span></p> + +<p>Money must be sent by the subscriber direct to this office—not +through any agent. Address</p> + +<p class = "right">JAMES ELVERSON,<br> +Publisher “Golden Days,”<br> +<span class = "smallcaps">Philadelphia, Pa.</span></p> +</td> + +<td class = "plaintop plainbottom" colspan = "2"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size3">WOOD’S PENOGRAPH!</span></p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<!-- <td></td> --> +<td class = "plaintop"> +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> <b>WOOD’S PENOGRAPH</b> consists of a first-class <span class = +"smallcaps">Diamond-Pointed Fourteen-Carat</span> gold pen, and the only +fountain holder ever constructed which is <i>unconditionally warranted +to give satisfaction</i>. It needs no wiping and no dipping for ink, and +it is carried in the pocket always ready for use on any kind of paper. +The Penograph is totally unlike the McKennon, Livermore, T. Cross, +and other Stylographic so-called pens, which have a rigid point +incapable of making shaded lines. Hitherto a really desirable two-nibbed +gold pen and fountain holder has been an expensive luxury in which +comparatively few could indulge. The retail price of this Penograph is +$3. It is warranted to be the <i>par excellence</i> of all fountain +pens, and we place it within easy reach of every one by the following +liberal offer:</p> +</td> + +<td class = "plaintop"> +<p>Every Subscriber to <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> for +One Year can have this valuable Fountain Pen sent to them postpaid by +adding to the subscription price one dollar—in other words, send +us $4.00, and we will send postpaid <b>Wood’s Penograph</b> and <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> for one year. In this way you +will be getting the <b>Penograph</b> for one dollar, or one year’s +subscription to <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> for one +dollar, just as you please to look at it. Either way you get a bargain. +<img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = "->"> +The money must be sent direct to this office.</p> + +<p class = "right">Address<br> +<b>JAMES ELVERSON,</b><br> +Publisher <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, Phila., Pa. +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size3 boldf sans">OUR PREMIUM KNIFE!</span></p> + + <table class = "background" style = "background-position: top center; + background-image: url(images/ad19b.png);"> + <tr> + <td style = "height: 162px;" colspan = "2"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width = "48%"> </td> + <td> + <p>Ivory handle, beautifully finished, <span class = +"smallcaps">Exactly as Illustrated</span>. Made to our own order, and +can <b>ONLY</b> be had by subscribing to “<span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>.”</p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> We will make this Knife <span class = "sans">a Present</span> +to any one who sends us THREE DOLLARS</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size2 sans">For One Year’s Subscription to “Golden +Days.”</span></p> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> The money must be sent <span class = "size1 sans">direct</span> +to this office. Address</p> + +<p class = "right"> +<b>JAMES ELVERSON</b>, Publisher “<span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>,” Phila., Pa. +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> +<p class = "center"> +<b>Special Notice.—WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we +consider ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have +sent several thousand Knives and Penographs without one in a thousand +being lost.</b></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<!-- png 58 --> + +<table class = "editorial" summary = "text in columns"> +<tr> +<td width = "50%"> + +<h4><a name = "exchange" id = "exchange">Notices of Exchange.</a></h4> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning +exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the +reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding +in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging +to write for particulars to the addresses before sending the articles +desired.</p> + +<p><img src = "images/finger.gif" width = "30" height = "13" alt = +"->"> Exchange notices containing offers of or for <i>shot-guns</i>, +<i>air-guns</i>, <i>pistols</i>, <i>rifles</i>, <i>poisons</i>, +<i>dangerous chemicals</i>, <i>animals</i>, <i>odd numbers of +papers</i>, <i>valueless coins and curiosities</i>, <i>birds’ eggs</i>, +or “offers”, will <i>not</i> be inserted.</p> + +<p><b>Exchange Notices conforming with the above rates are inserted free +of charge.</b></p> + +<p>L. Boyd, N.E. cor. 18th and Hamilton Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., +a set of boxing gloves and a book by Verne, for a miniature +sailboat, 2 feet long.</p> + +<p>S. A. Chevalier, No. 366 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 49 photo +negatives of notable yachts, buildings, etc., for an electrical outfit, +a cornet, or a banjo.</p> + +<p>J. Hirsch, Box 212, Corpus Christi, Texas, a collection of sea +curiosities for stamps.</p> + +<p>E. T. Warner, 155 S. 5th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Vols. VI, VII +(complete) and VIII (to date) <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, and 20 books by Castlemon and Alger, for other books by +Castlemon, Alger, Otis or Ellis.</p> + +<p>L. G. Banks, 92 Maple Ave., 31st Ward, Pittsburg, Pa., a magic +lantern with lens, lamp and 12 views, and “Robinson Crusoe,” for a Model +printing press.</p> + +<p>H. J. West, 1610 Hollins St., Baltimore, Md., a magic lantern +with 13 slides, in a leatherette box, for a pair of 3-pound Indian clubs +and a pair of 3-pound dumb-bells.</p> + +<p>R. F. Baird, 205 Wylie Ave., Pittsburg, Pa., Vol. VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a Waterbury watch.</p> + +<p>E. D. Flugel, 134 E. 109th St., N.Y. city, a large bagatelle +board with marbles, for a collection of not less than 300 foreign stamps +only. (City offers only.)</p> + +<p>F. L. Shipley, Box 275, Creston, Ia., Vols. LVII and LVIII “Youth’s +Companion” and Vol. VIII (up to date) <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, for a printing press and outfit.</p> + +<p>H. B. Cochran, 345 N. 12th St., Phila., Pa., a Waterbury watch, +a font of newspaper type, and 2 books, for a book on mineralogy and +natural history or specimens of minerals.</p> + +<p>E. Rudolphy, 389 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. Vol. VII “Harper’s +Young People,” for a photo tripod.</p> + +<p>H. A. Eastman, Box 1080, Keene, N.H., a printing press and 5 fonts of +type, for a telegraph key and sounder.</p> + +<p>J. Tracy, Conneaut, Ohio, a maple-shell snare-drum with ebony sticks, +for any vol. of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> prior to +the fifth.</p> + +<p>M. Graham, Grove City, Pa., a magic lantern with 35 slides, +a panorama, a 3x4 printing press with type, a telephone +and a cabinet of tricks, for a telegraph instrument with batteries.</p> + +<p>L. Randall, 1825 Garrison Ave., St. Louis, Mo., a collection of +over 300 foreign and U.S. postage stamps and a collection of postmarks, +for a Waterbury watch.</p> + +<p>W. P. Simpson, Box 773, Jacksonville, Fla., Vol. VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, a pair of roller skates and a set +of books, for a silver watch or a press and outfit.</p> + +<p>C. W. Hurst, 1825 Fitzwater St., Phila., Pa., Vols. I, II and III +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, a xylophone, +a magic lantern with 24 slides, and a stamp collection in an album, +for the best offer of bicycle sundries.</p> +</td> + +<td> +<!-- png 59 --> +<p>T. J. McMahon, 41 Thomas St., N.Y. city, Vols. III, IV and V <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for best offer of a musical +instrument.</p> + +<p>S. M. Johnson, Lock Box 172, Round Rock, Texas, a $25 brass +B-flat cornet with A and B crooks, for a 5x7 self-inking printing press +and material.</p> + +<p>J. Atwell, 10 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse, N.Y., a pair of +nickel-plated extension roller skates and bag, for a banjo.</p> + +<p>G. Frick, 2908 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a 48-inch steel-spoked +rubber-tired bicycle, a watch, Vol. VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, and “Tom Brown at Oxford,” for a Star +bicycle.</p> + +<p>C. E. Mason, 656 Franklin St., Phila., Pa., an International album +containing stamps and about 5,000 loose ones, a New Rogers scroll +saw, and 2 pairs of nickel-plated ice and roller skates, for a +26-bracket nickel-rimmed banjo, or a guitar, or photo materials.</p> + +<p>G. Barker, 504 W. 129th St., N.Y. city, 7 books by Castlemon, +Kingston and Dickens, for a violin and instruction book. (City offers +preferred.)</p> + +<p>Z. A. Stegmuller, 56 E. 25th St., N.Y. city, a game, +a small steam engine, a silver watch and a gold pen-holder, +for a self-inking printing press with type, or a rowing machine. (City +and Brooklyn offers only.)</p> + +<p>J. W. Edwards, 197 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a 16-foot +flat-bottomed skiff with centreboard, sail, oars and oarlocks, for a 46 +or 48-inch rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.</p> + +<p>J. J. Morrow, 94 Pennsylvania Ave., Allegheny, Pa., a 3-lens +microscope with a few mounted specimens, for Vols. V and VI <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>.</p> + +<p>C. H. Montayre, 145 W. 11th St., N.Y. city, a self-inking +printing press and full outfit, for a 6x6 canvas tent. (City offers +preferred.)</p> + +<p>F. Blake, Lock Haven, Pa., a telegraph outfit, for a $10 watch, or a +set of boxing gloves, or a pair of 12-pound dumb-bells.</p> + +<p>L. H. Reamy, 113 River St., Zanesville, Ohio, a polyopticon, for +the best offer of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> prior to +Vol. VI.</p> + +<p>C. V. Gibson. Box 1026, Natick, Mass., a 2½x4 printing press with +cards, 200 postmarks. 1400 foreign and U.S. stamps, and a pair of +skates, for a flute, a banjo, a violin and bow, or a +cornet.</p> + +<p>C. Perry, Ithaca, N.Y., a $25 upright engine, for a scroll saw with +lathe attachment.</p> + +<p>L. M. Geer, Box 663, Corry, Pa., Vols. II, III and IV “Harper’s Young +People,” Vols. XLI, XLII and XLIII “Youth’s Companion,” a magic +lantern with 12 slides, 6 books and 2 pairs of skates, for a +rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.</p> + +<p>G. V. Bacon. 52 Dudley St., Boston, Mass., a Ruby magic lantern, +a set of carving tools, and a set of drawing instruments, for a +pair of fencing foils.</p> + +<p>G. Medina, Room 360, Prod. Ex. Bldg., N.Y. city, a complete $40 +camping outfit, for a ½-nickeled bicycle with ball bearings.</p> + +<p>C. O. Henbest, Marshall, Ill., Vol. V or VI <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, or a printing press, for a collection of +stamps.</p> + +<p>F. A. Magee, Maiden, Mass., Vol. IV <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, a canvas canoe, a printing press, 200 stamps, 200 +postmarks, a pair of opera glasses, a magnifying glass and 200 +good story papers, for a large press or a bicycle.</p> + +<p>E. C. Cary, Box 147, N.Y. city, a New Rogers scroll saw with drill, +saws and patterns, a hand-inking 2¼x3¼ printing press, with type, +ink, furniture, etc., for a violin and bow, with or without case.</p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td colspan = "2"> +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1 sans boldf"> +Children Cry for Pitcher’s Castoria</span></p> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> +<!-- png 60 --> +<p>N. J. Waite, 401 Giddings Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Vol. VII <span class += "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for any kind of electrical goods.</p> + +<p>J. Clay Collier, Fort Smith, Ark., Vol. V and part of Vol. VII +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for books by Castlemon or +Cooke.</p> + +<p>F. Vansant, 770 St. Peter St., Baltimore, Md., $15 worth of books, +for an 8x8x8 wall tent.</p> + +<p>J. W. Robertson, 1180 Harvard St., Chicago, Ill., a collection +of stamps and 4 books, for a pair of opera glasses or a printing press +with type.</p> + +<p>C. A. Lutz, Cane Spring, Ky., Vols. II (a few numbers missing). +III, IV, V, VI (all bound, without covers) and VII (unbound) “Harper’s +Young People,” for volumes of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span> or telegraphic apparatus.</p> + +<p>G. Moulton, Virginia, Ill., an ebony 13-keyed B-flat clarionet, for a +watch.</p> + +<p>W. R. Clickner, Andover. Kans., a $25 5x8 printing press and outfit, +for a rubber-tired bicycle.</p> + +<p>C. Peck, 71 35th St., Chicago, Ill., 8 books by Reid and others, and +a pair of ice skates, for a Morse telegraph outfit.</p> + +<p>R. Buck, Sea Isle City, N.J., “Ragged Dick Series,” (6 volumes), +for a telegraph key, sounder and outfit.</p> + +<p>F. Schafer, 307 S. 3d St., Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y., a pair of opera +glasses with case, and a fife, for a mandolin, or a banjo with 24 +brackets (N.Y. or Brooklyn offers preferred).</p> + +<p>F. Horton, Westfield, Pa., 2 volumes of “Youth’s Companion,” and a +pair of roller skates, for a banjo.</p> + +<p>W. A. Sherwood, Lutherville, Md., a magic lantern with 12 slides and +a font of job type, for rare foreign and U.S. stamps.</p> + +<p>W. A. Pickering, Box 797, Eureka Springs, Ark., a ¼-horse-power +steam engine, for a nickel-plated B-flat cornet.</p> + +<p>E. H. Gilbert, Lock Box 21, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2 pairs of skates and +“Don Quixote,” for a pair of opera glasses with case.</p> + +<p>L. A. Cox, Verden, Ill., Vols. V, VI and VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a banjo.</p> + +<p>R. F. Greene, Box 232, Arkansas City, Kans., Vol. LVIII “Youth’s +Companion” and 2 books, for any bound volume of <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span> except the sixth.</p> + +<p>H. J. Hendrickson, 214 W. Market St., York, Pa., 950 foreign stamps +and 700 foreign and domestic postmarks, for a collection of +minerals.</p> + +<p>C. V. B. Gettz, Moore’s, Pa., a $35 gas engine (⅓-horse-power), for a +bicycle (American Challenge preferred).</p> + +<p>H. H. Sellers, 73 Exchange St., Bangor, Me., a 10-keyed ocarina, +a 6-keyed clarionet, 6 books and a stylographic pen, for a +cornet.</p> + +<p>C. W. Valentine, Millville, N.J., a volume of “Youth’s Companion,” +“Tom Brown’s School-days” and a bagatelle board, for carpenters’ +tools.</p> + +<p>A. Spring, Jr., White Plains, N.Y., a magic lantern with 23 slides, +for Vol. I or II <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> +(bound).</p> + +<p>J. G. Ross, Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., a 12-foot +round-bottomed row-boat with centreboard and oars, for a photographic +outfit, a bicycle or a press.</p> + +<p>J. C. Hubbard, 22 E. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., +a hand-inking press and a collection of curiosities, for type and +material, or volumes of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> +prior to the fourth.</p> + +<!-- png 61 --> +<p>C. A. Wise, Gobleville, Mich., a pair of nickel-plated roller skates +and a guitar, for the best offer of foreign and U.S. stamps.</p> + +<p>H. A. Hammond. Box 276, Peabody, Mass., Vols. V and VI, or VI +and VII <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a fountain or +stylographic pen.</p> + +<p>R. A. Weston, W. Mt. Vernon, Me., 300 numbers of “Youth’s Companion,” +Vols. II, III and IV “Harper’s Young People,” Vol. VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, 3 books, 100 varieties of stamps, +a pair of ice skates and a game, for a rubber-tired steel-spoked +bicycle.</p> + +<p>C. H. Dunham, 1098 Washington St. (Suite 12), Boston, Mass., +a pair of roller skates, a Holly scroll saw with saws and +patterns, and Vol. VII <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for +a bicycle (Mass. offers preferred).</p> + +<p>R. H. Stickney, Valparaiso, Ind., a stereoscope with 16 views, +a magic lantern with views and photographic attachment, a dark +lantern and a book by Kingston, for a 7x9 wall tent.</p> + +<p>B. M. Wilson, 1824 Ridge Ave., Phila., Pa., an International album +with 100 stamps, and Vol. V <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, for a banjo.</p> + +<p>E. S. Harvey, Ridge, Ohio, a hand-inking press with roller, furniture +and a font of type, and a book, for an International stamp album or +stamps.</p> + +<p>J. Meighan, Jr., 386 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., a pair of +skates, for a catcher’s mask.</p> + +<p>C. Bagley, 10 Olive St., Lynn, Mass., a pair of skates, Vols. IV, VI +and VII <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> and a lot of +musical instruments, for a rubber-tired bicycle (Mass. offers +preferred).</p> + +</td> + +<td> +<p>E. F. Balinger, Mt. Union, Ohio, 2 vols. of <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, a pair of roller skates, +a telegraph key and sounder, an Indian bow and arrows, and some +books and magazines, for a cornet with crooks.</p> + +<p>S. L. Taylor, 333 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., a collection of +350 foreign stamps in an album, 900 traders, a magic lantern with +20 or 30 slides, and 5 books, for a B-flat cornet, a banjo, or a +cork-handled tennis racquet.</p> + +<p>J. E. Ackerman, Jr., 7 Nassau St., N.Y. city, a nickel-plated +bicycle saddle and bell, for a Duryea saddle (style, +A or C).</p> + +<p>F. H. Meyers. 38 Bleecker St., N.Y. city, Vols. IV, V, VI and VII +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, Vol. LIV “Youth’s +Companion,” a vol. of “St. Nicholas,” 5 books; a magic lantern +with slides, and 2 games, for a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.</p> + +<p>C. F. Souder. Box 199, Toledo, Ohio, a violin and bow, and Vol. VII +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a banjo.</p> + +<p>C. W. Howell, 646 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kans., an accordion, +a Waterbury watch, and a puzzle, for a complete telegraph +outfit.</p> + +<p>W. T. Cook, Royersford, Pa., 5 books by popular authors for any bound +vol. of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> prior to the +fifth.</p> + +<p>W. H. Field, 234 Ferry St., Easton, Pa., a Holly scroll saw and +a set of tenpins for a wall or other tent large enough for four +persons.</p> + +<p>P. J. McConomy, 38 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa., Vols. I and II +(a few numbers missing) and V and VI (complete) <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a piccolo with at least 4 keys.</p> + +<p>O. C. Cornwell, Girard, Kans., Vols. VI and VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, 8 books, a pair of skates, 5 games, +a set of drawing Instruments, and 500 foreign and U.S. stamps, for +a self-inking printing press, or a silver watch.</p> + +<p>W. Bell, Box 154, Norfolk, Va., Vols. I, II, III, IV and V <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for a Holly steam engine or a +collection of 1500 to 2000 stamps.</p> + +<p>G. E. Montgomery, Westernport, Md., Vols. VI and VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span> and “Ames’ Mastery of the Pen,” for +standard works on physiology and hygiene or a field glass.</p> + +<p>C. C. Moore, 76 3d Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., a magic lantern with +16 slides, and a printing press with 2 fonts of type, for an +instantaneous camera and outfit.</p> + +<p>W. Willson, 561 Lorimer St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. N.Y., a magic +lantern with 12 slides for a pair of 9 or 9½ nickel-plated roller +skates.</p> + +<p>D. A. Trapp, 113 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, Ky., a collection of +over 1200 stamps in an international album for a No. 2 or 3 Baltimorean +press and outfit.</p> + +<p>H. Edwards, 147 E. 114th St., N.Y. city, a magic lantern with 12 +slides, and a hand-inking printing press, without type, for a set of +boxing gloves.</p> + +<p>F. Rowell, Stamford, Conn., Vols. VI and VII <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, and some books, games and stamps, for +Indian grammars, or histories of North American Indians, or Indian +relics.</p> + +<p>J. E. Caldwell, Sego, Kans., a $3 piccolo, a set of boxwood +chessmen, and a box of water-color paints, for the best offer of <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>.</p> + +<p>W. McIntosh, East Smethport, Pa., a 10x14 hand-inking press, with 20 +fonts of type, 2 sticks, galley, leads, etc., for a 50 to 52-inch +bicycle.</p> + +<p>J. H. Cunningham, Room 507 Hamilton Building, Pittsburg, Pa., +a pair of ice skates and “Tom Brown’s School Days” for a learners’ +book on shorthand.</p> + +<p>W. McVeagh. 831 W. 3d St., Williamsport, Pa., a New Rogers +scroll saw for Vol. I or IV <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>.</p> + +<p class = "lines"> </p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size1">A LIMITED NUMBER</span><br> +<span class = "size_1">OF</span><br> +<span class = "sans size2 boldf">Volumes IV, V and VI</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size2">“GOLDEN DAYS,”</span></p> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size3">Bound in Cloth.</span></p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size2 boldf">Price, $4.00 each.</span></p> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<p class = "center"> +<span class = "size_1">ADDRESS,</span><br> +<span class = "size1 extended">JAMES ELVERSON,</span><br> +<span class = "size_1 boldf">Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa.</span></p> + +<p class = "lines"> </p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Daily News, Genesee, N.Y.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he +could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, decidedly the most +valuable and most interesting pictorial newspaper we ever saw, not only +for the children, but for the entire family. For the sake of his +children we sincerely urge every father to send to the office for a +specimen copy, when he can see for himself the great value it will be in +his family, and he will thank us in his heart for calling his attention +to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, corner and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, +Penna.</p> + +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<a name = "testimonials_20" id = "testimonials_20"> </a> + +<p class = "mynote"> +The remaining testimonials were printed in three columns, filling the +entire back cover.</p> + +<!-- png 62 --> +<h4><b>OUT OF THE MANY EARNEST AND EMPHATIC ENDORSEMENTS OF “GOLDEN +DAYS,” WE PRINT THE FOLLOWING:</b></h4> + +<p class = "testheader"> +A GOOD OPINION FROM REV. G. E. STROBRIDGE,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<i>Pastor St. John’s M. E. Church, New York city.</i></p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> has been coming regularly +to my house since its first number. It is always welcome. The children +wait with impatience its weekly arrival, and even interrupt their meals +to tear off its wrapper and scan its attractive pages. It is generously +illustrated, and as to its reading matter, it is bright, breezy, +instructive, and, best of all, pure. The most careful parent may dismiss +anxiety while his happy child is absorbed in its columns.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +A feature that adds to the paper an especial value is a weekly +discussion of the International Sunday-school Lesson. This is given in a +pleasant narrative style by Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., for many years +editor of the Sunday School Advocate, and editor and writer of books for +children. His widely-known name is a sufficient assurance that these +lessons thus conducted will continue to be learned, clear and +interesting.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the West Philadelphia Press.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days.</span>—This weekly journal +for young people has reached a circulation that embraces the entire +country. Indeed, there is hardly to be found a village or hamlet in the +newest of the States or in our far Western Territories in which <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> is not a welcome visitor. The +proprietor and editor, Mr. James Elverson, determined from the first to +make it a journal that should please and at the same time instruct the +young, and he has been completely successful. There is no weekly paper +published in this or the Old World that so covers the field for the +youthful mind as <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>. There is +nothing heavy about it—nothing prosy or difficult to comprehend in +the matter it contains. Its stories are graphic, entertaining and by the +best writers, while each number has articles especially prepared on +subjects of practical interest to boys and girls by authors whose fame +in the arena of natural history, science, biography and art is national. +Add to all these excellencies and attractions the fact that no impure +line or thought ever stains its pages, and it must be acknowledged that +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> is pre-eminently fitted to +become the intellectual and pleasant companion of the young in the +American household.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Sunday Courier, York, Pa.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +The remarkable success attained by <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, the boys’ and girls’ periodical published by Mr. James +Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most encouraging evidence that pure and +healthful literature is not incapable of attracting the eager interest +of “Young America.” Mr. Elverson seems, in fact, to have gauged the +taste of the average child of our day with wonderful accuracy, as there +appears to be but one opinion as to the universal popularity of this +excellent periodical. So far as parents are concerned, its success +should be a matter for general congratulation, as scrupulous care is +evidently observed in excluding from its pages everything that could be +considered as in any way tending to vitiate the minds of the young. On +the other hand, its contents are far superior in vividness of interest +for the little ones to those sensational publications which are the +source of so much anxiety to all who have children to educate. <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, in fact, appears to have struck +the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere +pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days.</span>—“To merit is to +insure success” is certainly verified in the publication of <span class += "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable <i>weekly</i> for the youth of this great land is now +well-established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved +patronage. Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with +pictures and puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful +knowledge. <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> is supplanting a +poisonous literature, and performing a wholesome mission in this day, +when too much good seed cannot be sown by the friends of humanity.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Congregationalist and Boston Recorder.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +Among juvenile periodicals, we think <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span> likely to take high rank for variety, instructiveness, +vivacity and freedom from objectionable characteristics. We have +examined several numbers, and it seems to be well edited and likely to +deserve and win popularity.</p> + +<!-- png 63 --> +<p class = "testheader"> +ANOTHER FROM REV. D. M’CARTNEY,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<i>Pastor Clinton Avenue M. E. Church, Kingston, N.Y.</i></p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +I have examined sample copies of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, and most heartily indorse it as meeting a felt want. +Notwithstanding the large number of papers we subscribe for now, it +looks as if <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> would have to +be added to the number, as my children are enraptured with it.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +BISHOP BOWMAN,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<i>Of the Methodist Episcopal Church, writes:</i></p> + +<p class = "right"> +<span class = "smallcaps">St. Louis</span>, Nov. 26, 1880.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +I have examined with great interest several numbers of <span class = +"smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, and am much pleased with them. We +greatly need all such publications for our young people, to save them +from the corrupting trash that meets them on every side. I wish you +great success in this worthy Christian enterprise.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +FROM REV. O. C. DICKERSON,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<i>Pastor of Congregational Church, Belleplain, Iowa.</i></p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Ed. Golden Days.</span>—All hail! As a +sterling friend of the young, your enterprise wakes loud echoes.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<i>Pastor of the P. E. Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, +says:</i></p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +From what I have seen of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, +it strikes me very favorably. There is a high tone of morality about it +which is calculated to exert a very wholesome influence on the young +people who read it.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">A MODEL PAPER.</span>—Two years ago, we +informed the readers of the Citizen that a long-felt want was to be +supplied—viz., a paper was to be printed which would give the +young people (boys and girls) plenty of good reading without corrupting +their morals or vitiating their tastes—in other words, would +furnish them with stories which would gratify their love of adventure +without inspiring in them a desire to imitate impossible heroes, and +tempting them to desert their homes in search of adventures which never +occur outside of blood-and-thunder papers and story books. The paper we +allude to—<span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>—promised this, and we have carefully watched it for +two years to see how its pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be +able to state it has exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it +has been constantly filled with stories and sketches of the most +fascinating character, we have never seen a sentence in it which we +could have wished to have omitted.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Episcopal Recorder.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days.</span>—We commend this as +the best of the class of publications to which it belongs, and as being +essentially different from all that are contemporaneous with it. And if +it shall prove to be like Moses’ rod when turned into a serpent, and +swallow up the serpent-rods of all cunning magicians of evil, and then +become a rod of power for working good in the home, in the school, and +wherever youth are found, we shall rejoice.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Christian Register, Boston.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> is well worthy the +examination of parents who wish to provide their children with a large +amount of carefully-prepared miscellany, at once entertaining, +instructive and clean. It is edited with ability, and shows a quick +sympathy with the pleasures of the young people, and a clear outlook for +their welfare.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Maryland School Journal.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> (Elverson, Philadelphia) +has fulfilled its promise, and is in every respect a suitable weekly +paper to put into the hands of young boys and girls. We have carefully +watched each number since the start, and have seen in it nothing to +censure and much to praise.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Floyd Co. Advocate, Charles City, Iowa.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, published by James +Elverson, of Philadelphia, is a new first-class paper for boys and +girls. Provide them with good, entertaining reading, and they will grow +up good men and women.</p> + +<!-- png 64 --> +<p class = "testheader"> +From Town Talk, Mansfield, Ohio.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome illustrated and +interesting youth’s paper called <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>. It should find a welcome in every home for the young folks, +for the reading is wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged +by prompt subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it they +will find they need it as a recreation after study hours.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From The Home and Sunday-School, Dallas, Texas.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +We can heartily recommend <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> +as one of the purest and most charming juvenile magazines we have seen. +It is wholly free from corrupting influences—fresh, instructive, +and eagerly welcomed by the boys and girls. Having seen nothing in it to +censure and much to praise, we hope it may have the wide circulation it +merits.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Christian Advocate, Pittsburg, Pa.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> comes to us in a magazine +form, making a beautiful and interesting volume. This journal numbers +among its contributors probably more popular writers of serial stories +for youth than any juvenile publication in the country.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Presbyterian Banner, Pittsburg, Pa.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +A great advance has been made within the last twelve months in a very +important agency for good—the publication of cheap, and, at the +same time, unexceptionable and attractive reading matter. For a long +time the want has been seriously felt for something more than mere +denunciation to overcome the growing evil of the demoralizing +literature—cheap and vile—that has been scattered broadcast +over the land. That want has been measurably supplied, in part, by the +publication of standard English classics, at marvelously low prices, and +in part by the issue of low-priced but superior periodicals, attractive +in appearance and contents, and suitable for both young and old. We +invite special attention to the latest enterprise in the latter +department—<span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, for boys +and girls, James Elverson, publisher, Philadelphia. It is a handsome +juvenile journal, of sixteen pages (over eight hundred a year), filled +with stories, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, puzzles, and humorous items, +making up a total that will delight and at the same time instruct the +boys and girls from eight to eighty. The pictorial embellishments are +<ins class = "correction" title = "text unchanged">unsually</ins> fine, +and far in advance of the coarse deformities in the flashy sheets that +are displayed on the news-stands to horrify every refined passer-by.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Baltimore Gazette.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +The remarkable success attained by <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>, the boys’ and girls’ periodical, published by Mr. James +Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most encouraging evidence that pure and +healthful literature is not incapable of attracting the eager interest +of “Young America.” Mr. Elverson, seems, in fact, to have gauged the +taste of the average child of our day with wonderful accuracy, as there +appears to be but one opinion as to the universal popularity of this +excellent periodical. So far as parents are concerned, its success +should be a matter for general congratulation, as scrupulous care is +evidently observed in excluding from its pages everything that could be +considered as in any way tending to vitiate the minds of the young. On +the other hand, its contents are far superior in vividness of interest +for the little ones to those sensational publications which are the +source of so much anxiety to all who have children to educate. <span +class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span>, in fact, appears to have struck +the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere +pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Methodist, New York.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and +interesting youth’s paper, called <span class = "smallcaps">Golden +Days</span>. It should find a welcome in every Christian home for the +young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and such literature should be +encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of +it, they will find they need it as a recreation after study-hours.</p> + +<p class = "testheader"> +From the Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss.</p> + +<p class = "testimonial"> +A specimen number of <span class = "smallcaps">Golden Days</span> has +fallen into our hands. This is a paper for boys and girls, and, from the +cursory examination we have been enabled to give it, we think it +deserving of support.</p> + +<hr> + +<!-- links to whole images --> + +<div class = "mynote"> +<p>The illustration for “Linda’s Crazy Quilt” was cut into three pieces +to interlock with surrounding text. The <a href = +"images/pic03_full.jpg" target = "_blank">complete version</a> is +included here as a separate file.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 27287-h.htm or 27287-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/8/27287/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Golden Days for Boys and Girls + Volume VIII, No 25: May 21, 1887 + +Author: Various + +Editor: James Elverson + +Release Date: November 17, 2008 [EBook #27287] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[This e-text comes in three different forms: unicode (UTF-8), Latin-1 +and ascii-7. Use the one that works best on your text reader. + + --If "oe" displays as a single character, and apostrophes and + quotation marks are "curly" or angled, you have the utf-8 version + (best). If any part of this paragraph displays as garbage, try + changing your text reader's "character set" or "file encoding". + If that doesn't work, proceed to: + --In the Latin-1 version, "oe" is two letters, but French words like + "etude" have accents and "ae" is a single letter. Apostrophes and + quotation marks will be straight ("typewriter" form). Again, if you + see any garbage in this paragraph and can't get it to display + properly, use: + --The ascii-7 or rock-bottom version. All necessary text will still be + there; it just won't be as pretty. + +Boldface text is shown with *asterisks*. The notation [->] represents +the pointing-finger symbol. + +The layout of the advertising pages is shown after all text, along with +a list of file names for major illustrations. Typographical errors in +the original, whether corrected or not, are listed at the end.] + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + Vol. VIII.--No 25. May 21, 1887. + + GOLDEN DAYS + + For Boys and Girls + + Philadelphia: + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: + +Text incorporated into advertising illustrations is shown in +(parentheses); where necessary, a brief description of the +illustration is given in {braces}.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +QUITE UP TO THE TIMES. + +_New Applicant_--Do I know how to use Sapolio? Well, that's fresh! Do I +look like a girl who don't know about Sapolio? Am I blind, d'yer think, +or can't read? Why, the babies on the block know all about Sapolio. What +are ye givin' me? + +SAPOLIO + +is a solid, handsome cake of House-cleaning Soap, which has no equal for +all scouring purposes, except the laundry. Perhaps you have heard of it +a thousand times without using it once. If you will reverse the position +and use it once you will praise it to others a thousand times. Ask your +grocer for a cake, and try it in your next house-cleaning. + + No. 3. [Copyright, March 1887.] + + +DYKE'S BEARD ELIXIR + +[Illustration: (Before After Before After)] + +For_es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair on bald heads in 20 to 30 days. +Extra Strength. No other remedy 2 or 3 Pkgs. does the work. We will +prove it or forfeit $100.00 Price per Pkg. sealed and postpaid 25c., 3 +for 50 cts., stamps or silver. SMITH MFG. CO., PALATINE, ILLS. + + +$50 WEEKLY + +EASILY EARNED! + +*We want agents* for our celebrated Oil Portrait. *No experience +required!* *4 orders* per day gives the Agent $50 weekly profit! Our +agents report from 4 to 30 daily sales! Send at once for terms and full +particulars. *$2 outfit free!* *SAFFORD ADAMS & CO., 48 Bond St., N.Y.* +[Mention "Golden Days."] + + +IMPROVED + +HIRES' ROOT BEER + +25 cents / PACKAGE + +Makes *Five Gallons* of a *delicious*, sparkling temperance beverage. +*Strengthens* and purifies the blood. Its *purity* and delicacy commend +it to all. Sold by druggists and storekeepers everywhere. + + +A ZANZIBAR TIGER COWRY SHELL, 8c. Send stamp for list. Steel & Co., 135 +E. 23d St., New York + + +CURE FOR THE DEAF + +PECK'S PATENT IMPROVED CUSHIONED EAR DRUMS *Perfectly Restore the +Hearing*, and perform the work of the natural drum. Invisible, +comfortable and always in position. All conversation and even whispers +heard distinctly. Send for illustrated book with testimonials, *FREE*. +Address or call on F. HISCOX, *853* Broadway, New York. Mention this +paper. + + +FREE a $2.50 *Gold Ring* to all who will act as our agents. The Journal +Co., Essex, Conn. + + +[Illustration: (THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA COMPANY)] + +GOOD NEWS TO LADIES. + +Greatest inducements ever offered. Now's your time to get up orders for +our celebrated *Teas* and *Coffees*, and secure a beautiful Gold Band or +Moss Rose China Tea Set, or Handsome Decorated Gold Band Moss Rose +Dinner Set, or Gold Band Moss Decorated Toilet Set. For full particulars +address + + *THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA CO.,* + P.O. Box 289. 31 and 33 Vesey St., New York. + + +AGENTS wanted for Lyman Abbot's Life of Beecher. The only proper one. +A. GORTON & CO., Philada. + + * * * * * + + Vol. VII "Golden Days" + + NOW READY, + + is a + + MAGNIFICENT BOOK OF 832 PAGES! + +A perfect mine of everything that will interest young people. + + *It is Superbly Illustrated,* + + --CONTAINING-- + +Over 400 Finely-Executed Wood Engravings! + + Making, without question, + + THE MOST ATTRACTIVE BOOK + + Of The Season. + +[->] This volume will be sent to any address, prepaid, on the receipt of +price--$4.00. + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Philad'a + + * * * * * + +[->] Advertisements inserted on Second and Third Pages of Cover at 50 +cents per line, and on the Fourth Page at 75 cents per line, agate +measurement). + + * * * * * + +The Best Practical Joke of the Season + +[Illustration: (Ring the Bell)] + +The perfect Electric Bell Button is made to pin on your breast, Fine +ebony finish with white button sure to induce a push, which never fails +to produce a shock with "Hail Columbia," and variations. *A Full Charge* +of electricity every time. The old joker is told "*That is Good! Ring +the Bell.*" The *Best Selling Article* ever invented. *4760* sold by one +agent in *3* weeks. Sample by Mail *15* cents.; two for *25* cents.; +*14* for *$1.00*. 100 for *$6.00*. Try *$1* worth. Stamps taken. + +Send all orders to World Manuf. Co. 122 Nassau St. New York + + +*EUREKA RECITATIONS* + +NINE NUMBERS NOW READY. + +Each number contains nearly *100 selections* by Mrs. Anna Randall-Diehl, +and bound in 4-color lithograph cover. Mailed for 12 cents each by J. S. +Ogilvie & Co., Publishers, 31 Rose Street, New York. Send for one. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: + (The + READY BINDER + for binding + THREE MONTHS + of the + GOLDEN DAYS + Price, 10 Cents.)] + +*THIS BINDER* is light, strong and handsome, and the weekly issues of +GOLDEN DAYS are held together by it in the convenient form of a book, +which can be kept lying on the reading-table. It is made of two white +wires joined together in the centre, with slides on either end for +pressing the wires together, thus holding the papers together by +pressure without mutilating them. We will furnish the Binder at Ten +Cents apiece, postage prepaid. Address JAMES ELVERSON, + + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: (Perfection Slate Erasor)] + +*We want you as our Agent* to sell the *Perfection Slate Eraser* in +schools. _It is attractive, well-made and indispensable._ Send five +2-cent stamps for sample and particulars. WITTRAM MFG. CO., 525 Front +St., San Francisco, Cal. (*Box 2414.*) + + +[Illustration {knife}] + +*FOR 10 cts. to pay postage &c.*, we will send this Charm Pen-Knife and +five other samples FREE. *Atlantic Works, East River, Conn.* + + +[Illustration {bicycle}] + +*BICYCLES $8 to $150. EASY PAYMENTS.* + +Tricycles, $7.50 up. Standard makes. 2d-hand Wheels handled. Send for +Catalogue. + +GEO. W. ROUSE & SON, 34 G St., Peoria, Ill. + + +[Illustration {ring}] + +1 Stone Ring, 1 Band Ring, 275 Scrap Pictures & Verses, Book of Poems, +Book Flirtations, 40 Agt's Samples, All 10c. Austin Card Co., New +Haven, Ct + + +[Illustration: (THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUM)] + +*THE NEW DEPARTURE DRUMS* + +are made with patent double acting rods and folding knee rest. Light, +substantial and handsome. Used in the best Bands and Orchestras. +Unequaled for tone, surpass all others in finish and appearance. If +nearest Music dealer does not keep them, write to us for Illustrated +Catalogue. + +*LYON & HEALY, Chicago, Ill.* + + +*PRINTERS* Send stamp for wholesale list of BLANK Cards, 1000 kinds. +Card Co., Montpelier, Vt + + +*SHORTHAND* Writing _thoroughly taught_ *by mail* or personally. +*Situations procured* all pupils when competent. Send for circular. +*W. G. CHAFFEE*, Oswego, N.Y. + + +23 HIDDEN NAME *MOTTO CARDS*, 10c + +Story Book and AGENT'S OUTFIT with each pack. HAMDEN CARD WORKS, Hamden, +Conn + + +[Illustration: (The Gem) {hose reel}] + +REEL, 25 FEET HOSE, NOZZLE AND COUPLINGS, $4.00. + +Sent on receipt of price. + +*Rubber Footballs*, No. 1, *$1.25* each + +Additional sizes to No. 6, 25c. extra. + +[->] *RUBBER GOODS* of all descriptions--Gossamers, Shoes, Boots, etc. + +*ROBERT C. GEDDES*, 316 Market St., Philada., Pa. + + +*CARDS* + +100 Fancy Pictures, all new designs, 30 latest Songs, 50 Elegant Fancy +Patterns, 1 Album, over 60 Colored Transfer Pictures, with our Grand +Premium List all for *10 cts.* BIRD CARD WORKS, MERIDEN, CONN. Autograph +Album, name in gold, *10 cts.* + + +HIGHLY Educated Physician who has traveled much and speaks several +languages, wants to complete a party of youths for travel in Europe. +References exchanged. Address "Aeskulap," (office of) Advocate, 805 +Broadway, N.Y. + + * * * * * + + Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria + + * * * * * + +*FOR MALARIA,* + +And malarial diseases so prevalent in the South and West, Ayer's Pills +have proved peculiarly beneficial. "I have found in Ayer's Pills, an +invaluable remedy for disorders peculiar to miasmatic localities. Taken +in small and frequent doses, + + *Ayer's* + +Pills act well on the liver and aid it in throwing off malarial +poisons."--C. F. Alston, Quitman, Texas. + +Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass. + +*YELLOW FEVER,* + +The terror of the South, has yielded to Ayer's Pills. James M. Crofut, +of Beaufort, S.C., writes: "During the past three months our city has +been scourged with yellow fever. Many friends and neighbors have been +taken from us. In several cases Ayer's + + *Pills* + +broke the attack of the fever, and saved the patient's life. They are an +excellent liver medicine." + +Sold by all Druggists and Dealers in Medicines. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: (BOYS GIRLS)] + +*LEARN TO TELEGRAPH* + +With the Pocket Telegraph Instrument + +In a few hours. Want an agent in each town. They sell fast. Sample and +alphabet, postpaid, for 13 two-cent stamps, or 6 for $1.00. You can sell +them quick for 25c. each. *PORTVILLE MF'G CO.* limited, Portville, Catt. +Co., N.Y. + + +MORE MONEY THAN EVER + +You thought of can now be made. MALE or FEMALE. Write quick for free +Sample and Terms. BEST selling article ever out. *NATIONAL CO.*, 21 Dey +St., N.Y. + + +*LANGUAGES.* + +*The Meisterschaft System*, by Dr. R. S. ROSENTHAL, is the only +successful method ever devised to learn to speak without a teacher, and +in a few weeks, + +*French*, *German*, *Spanish* or *Italian*. + +Endorsed by leading linguists. Terms, $5.00 for books of either +language. Sample copy, Part I., 25 cents. Liberal terms to Teachers. + +*MEISTERSCHAFT PUBLISHING CO., Boston, Mass.* + + +*100 Choice New Recitations* 13 Songs, Elegant Sample Cards, all for a +2c. stamp. CADIZ CARD CO., CADIZ, O. + + +*SPRING SALE* To reduce our stock of music we will send by mail, +postpaid, the *Beautiful Blue Danube* Waltzes and 60 pieces, full +sheet-music size, including songs, marches, quadrilles (with calls), for +only 20 cents. Satisfaction guaranteed, or money refunded. *WHITE WINGS +& 100 Songs*, words and music, *10c.* W. HATHAWAY, 339 Wash. St., +Boston, Mass. + + +*BROWN'S FRENCH DRESSING.* + +The Original! Beware of Imitations! + +[Illustration {bottle}] + +*AWARDED HIGHEST PRIZE AND ONLY MEDAL* + +PARIS EXPOSITION, 1878. + +Highest Award New Orleans Exposition. + + +[Illustration] + +*PRINTING MADE EASY!* + +With our Economy Outfits. Business men save money doing their own +printing! Fun for the boys! Instructions free. Business Outfits $7.50 +upwards. Card Outfits $2. Catalogue for 2c stamp. Wm. Volkmann & Co., +164 Washington St., Chicago, Ill. + + +[Illustration] + +CAT'S-EYE SCARF-PIN 44 cts + +The Gem Cat's Eye is so called because it possesses the peculiar ray of +light or glisten seen in a cat's eye in the dark. I have a limited stock +only, and offer you one for only *44 cts.*, post paid. The same in Ear +Drops, choice, *87 cents*. _Send Stamp for large illustrated catalogue +of Mineral Cabinets, Agate Novelties, Indian Relics, etc. Trade +Supplied._ + +H. H. TAMMEN, 935 16th St., Denver, Col. + + +*100 New Imported Scrap Pictures, 12 Elegant Imported Cards*, 1 Album of +*50* Colored Transfer Pictures and Agt's Samples for '87. all for *10c.* +S. STOKES & CO., Meriden, Conn. + + +*DRUNKENNESS* *OR THE LIQUOR HABIT POSITIVELY CURED* in any of its +stages. All desire or craving for stimulants entirely removed. Medicine +can be given without knowledge of the patient, by placing it in coffee, +tea, or articles of food. Cures guaranteed. Send for particulars. +*GOLDEN SPECIFIC CO., 185 Race Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.* + + +How to Make, Your Own *CANDIES*. By an Experienced Confectioner. Book +containing 68 Recipes mailed on receipt of 10 cts. L. SCHWARZ +Confectioner, 68 Fulton St., N.Y. + + +1000 foreign stamps, including Mexico, Jamaica, Dutch E. India, Barbados +& Portugal, 25cts. CHAS. A. TOWNSEND, Akron, O. + + +*PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* and Catalog, 10c. *ALBUMS*, 50c. Agents' terms +and Catalog, 10c. JOHN NEWHAM, *Box 3694*, N.Y. City. + + +*500 FOREIGN STAMPS*, Australia, etc., 10c.; 105 varieties, 10c. F. P. +Vincent, Chatham, N.Y. + + +STAMPS 106 varieties, 10c.; 1010 mixed, 20c. Putnam Brothers, +Lewiston, Me. + + +*STAMPS* APPROVAL SHEETS. Agents wanted. *E. A. OBORNE. Jamaica, N.Y.* + + +*STAMPS* Agents wanted. 30 per cent. com. on sheets. Keystone Stamp Co., +Box 200, Philad'a, Pa. + + +25 *Foreign Stamps FREE* to every collector. Send your address. _A. E. +Ashfield_, Box 233, Rye, N.Y. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +*A NEW BOOK ON CURVE-PITCHING* + +That so fully explains the Art that + +*Any one with a Little Practice can Master all the Curves* used by the +most noted pitchers. Price, *15* cts. Send for Catalogue. + + A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM + 1492 TO 1885, INCLUSIVE, FOR 10 CENTS. + +A. J. REACH & CO., 23 S. 8th St., Philad'a, Pa. + + +*390* Funny Selections, Scrap Pictures, etc., and nice Sample Cards for +2c. HILL CARD CO., Cadiz, Ohio + + +*THE RED BOOKS.* + +NEW PIECES TO SPEAK IN SCHOOL, + +at Church or Home Entertainments. Elocution. Gesture. Beautifully +Illustrated. 12 different numbers, $1.00. Sample by mail, 10 cts. +*Agents Wanted.* + +*HALL & STEBBINS, 11 Michigan Ave. CHICAGO, ILL.* + + +*CARDS* + +New Sample Book of Hidden Name Cards for a 2c. stamp. STAR CARD CO., +Laceyville, Ohio + + +*WAKE UP* and earn *$70 per month* at home. COSTLY OUTFIT of samples, +a package of goods and full instructions sent for *10c.* to help pay +postage and advertising. + +*H. C. ROWELL & CO., Rutland, Vermont.* + + +*4 U.S. 1/2 CENTS*, postpaid, 25 cents. Price List free. G. J. BAUER, 73 +Front St., Rochester, N.Y. + + +[Illustration] + +*PRINT YOUR OWN CARDS!* + +Press, $3; Circular size, $8. Press for small newspaper, $25. New Rotary +Jobber, $100. Send 2 stamps for catalogue Presses, Type, cards to +factory, Kelsey & Co. Meriden, Conn + + +*WARNER BRO'S* + + [Illustration: (CELEBRATED CORALINE CORSETS + FLEXIBLE HIPS + NURSING + HEALTH ABDOMINAL CORALINE)] + +*9, MILLION* + +worn during the past six years. + +This marvelous success is due-- + +1st.--To the superiority of Coraline over all other materials, as a +stiffener for Corsets. + +2d.--To the superior quality, shape and workmanship of our Corsets, +combined with their low prices. + +Avoid cheap imitations made of various kinds of cord. None are genuine +unless + +*"DR. WARNER'S CORALINE"* + +is printed on inside of steel cover. + +*FOR SALE BY ALL LEADING MERCHANTS.* + +*WARNER BROTHERS,* + +*359 Broadway. New York City.* + + +*THIS HAMMOCK CHAIR* + +[Illustration] + +May be changed instantly to an automatic floor Chair adjustable to many +reclining positions. Has no equal, and is desirable for + +[Illustration] + +*Library, Steamer, and Invalid Use.* + +Used in hospitals, colleges, families, and wherever + +*COMFORT AND HEALTH* + +are desired at a small cost. Folded compactly, and shipped anywhere. +Circulars, testimonials, and photographs for 2 cts. Price $7 to $15. +LIBERAL DISCOUNTS to agents and dealers. _Mention this Paper._ +*BLAISDELL CHAIR CO., 96 High St., Boston.* + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by +JAMES ELVERSON, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at +Washington, D.C.) + + VOL. VIII. + + JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher. + N.W. corner Ninth and Spruce Sts. + + PHILADELPHIA MAY 21, 1887. + + TERMS + $3.00 Per Annum, In Advance. + + No. 25. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + LINDA'S CRAZY QUILT. + + By Fannie Williams. + + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Linda Trafton, turning over the pages of a +closely-written, school-girlish letter, which her brother Fred had +tossed into her lap, on returning from the post office. "I do wish I +could get silk pieces enough to make a crazy quilt. Cousin Dell writes +all about hers, and it must be very pretty." + +"Crazy quilt! That's about all I've heard for the last six months! +I should think you girls had all gone crazy yourselves!" ejaculated +Fred. + +"Why, Fred!" was Linda's only answer to this outburst. + +She was a very sweet-tempered little maid, with soft, brown hair and +soft, brown eyes, that matched in color as exactly as eyes and hair +could match, and gave her a look of being--as indeed she was--too gentle +to dispute, or even to argue, with anybody, least of all with Fred, who +was fifteen, and three years her elder, and always took a tone of great +superiority toward his little sister. + +Still, he was a pretty good sort of brother, as brothers go; and, in +Linda's eyes, he was a prodigy of cleverness. + +So, whenever they happened to differ in opinion, and Fred expressed +himself in this vehement style, she only looked at him in a deprecating +way, and murmured: + +"Why, Fred!" + +"Well, I should like to know," continued Fred, "what could be more +idiotic than the way you spend your time, you girls, fitting those +ridiculous, catty-cornered pieces of silk together, and working them all +over with bugs and cobwebs and caterpillars, and little boys in Mother +Hubbard dresses! You may well call 'em _crazy_ quilts! I don't believe +there was ever anything crazier, unless it was the lunatic who first +invented them!" + +"Why, Fred!" said Linda, again. "Now, I think they are too pretty for +anything!" + +"Pretty!" snorted Fred. "They're made out of the last things that you'd +suppose anybody would ever think of putting into a bed-quilt. I can't +get a chance to wear a neck-tie half out before somebody wants it. Kate +Graham spoke for my last new one the next day after I bought it. And I +hardly dare to put my hat down, where there's a girl around, for fear +she'll capture my hat-band!" + +By this time, Linda was laughing outright. + +"Oh, you are so funny, Fred! But you only just ought to see Kate +Graham's crazy quilt. I _know_ you couldn't help calling it lovely. She +has got pieces of ever so many wedding dresses in it; but I don't know +who would give _me_ any. Aunt Mary never will get married, nor Cousin +Susie, nor our Bridget, unless Pat hurries up with his courting--and +there's nobody else. Besides, they are all making crazy quilts of their +own. I would start one with papa's old silk handkerchief and his +Association badge, if I thought I could ever get pieces enough to finish +it; but I don't see how I could." + +"Bess Hartley told me that she was going to send off somewhere and get a +lot of pieces that are put up to sell. You get a whole package of +assorted colors for a dollar," suggested Fred. + +"Oh, that would make it cost too much! Mamma would not let me do that," +said Linda, shaking her head. "She says it is well enough to use up odd +bits of silk in that way, if one happens to have them; but she doesn't +think it right to spend money in such a manner, instead of using it for +better purposes--and I don't suppose it is." + +"Well, I am sure I don't know what you are going to do," was Fred's +consoling observation. "You'd be as crazy as the rest of the girls if +you began to piece a quilt; and I don't know but you will go crazy if +you can't." + +With which conclusion, Fred walked off whistling, and left Linda to read +her Cousin Dell's letter over again, and wish that Patrick O'Brien would +propose to Bridget, if he was ever going to, so that she could get +married, and have a new silk dress for her wedding. + +However, Linda was not the girl to fret and worry after things which +were unattainable. + +Fred would have his joke, but she was not going to make herself unhappy +just because she had not the materials for making silk patchwork, as +Dell and the rest of her girl friends were doing. There were plenty of +other pleasures and amusements within her reach, and the one that she +enjoyed most of all came in her way, as it happened, the very next +morning. + +[Illustration: +"OH, MRS. BURBANK! WHAT BEAUTIFUL PIECES!" CRIED LINDA. +"WHERE DID THEY ALL COME FROM?"] + +Her father said to her, as he rose from the table after breakfast: + +"Linda, would you like a ride, my dear? I am going to drive over to East +Berlin, and I will take you along, if you would like to go." + +"_If_ I would like it! Why, papa, you _know_ there isn't _anything_ that +I like so much as a good, long ride with you!" cried Linda, dancing with +delight, as she ran off to get ready for the drive. + +For it was indeed a "good long" ride to East Berlin--fifteen miles at +least--and the day was just as fresh and bright and lovely as a day +could be in the fresh and bright and lovely month of May. + +The young grass was emerald green along the country roads, the apple +trees were all in sheets of bloom, hill-sides were fairly blue with +bird-foot violets, and sweet spring flowers were smiling everywhere. + +Linda was so full of happiness that she could scarcely keep from singing +in concert with the birds that trilled and chirped among the trees on +either hand, as the pleasant road led through a piece of woodland. + +But the woods came to an end abruptly where the trees had been cut off, +and where some men with ox-carts were hauling away the long piles of +cord-wood. Then there were fields of plowed ground on each side of the +road, and then a long stretch of rocky hills and old pastures, and +presently some houses came in sight. + +Old, weather-beaten houses they were--a dozen, perhaps, in all. Two or +three had once been painted red, and still displayed some dark and dingy +traces of that color; but most of them were brown, and some had green +moss growing on their broad, sloping roofs--roofs which were two stories +high in front, but came down so low at the back that a lively boy might +reach them from the ground with very little effort, only the place did +not look as if anything so young or so lively as a boy had been seen +there for at least twenty years. + +Still, it was a pleasant place. There were thickets of lilac and +mock-orange bushes around every house, and old-fashioned lilies and +roses growing half-wild along the fences. + +There were flagged walks leading up to all the doors, with borders of +evergreen box, which had once been trim, and still was quaint and +pleasing; there were old gardens, where everything was "all run out," +but where the bees and birds appeared to find congenial homes; there +were gnarly old apple-trees, with bending, twisted branches that touched +the ground and made the most enticing rustic seats. + +Withal, there was a calm and stillness brooding on the place that filled +one's fancy with sweet thoughts of olden times and-- + +"Whoo-oo-oop! Hip, hip, pip, hoo-_ray_!" + +"Good _gracious_!" cried Mr. Trafton, starting from his pleasant +reverie, and clutching at the reins which lay loose upon his knee. "Good +gracious! What's that?" + +"It's a boy!" said Linda, with a quite disgusted accent. + +Unquestionably, it was a boy--and a boy of the most aggressively modern +type, clad in garments of the very latest cut, from his flannel +yachting-shirt to his canvas "base-ball" shoes--a boy with a look as +well as a voice, which proclaimed him all alive. + +His close-cropped head was bare, and his white straw hat came spinning +over the stone wall and into the middle of the road, as if impelled by +steam-power, before the boy himself scrambled over, giving vent to +another whoop, which would have done credit to a Comanche gone mad. + +The whoop and the hat together were enough to startle almost any horse; +and, although Mr. Trafton's fine roadster, "Billy," was pretty well +trained, the combined effect was a little too much for his nerves. He +gave a sidelong leap and started to run. His master checked him sharply, +and veering from the road, he ran the wheels into a deep rut, and over +went the buggy with a crash! + +Linda screamed, as she was pitched headlong into a thicket of sweet-fern +which grew along the roadside; but the bushes broke her fall, and, +beyond the fright and a scratched hand, she received no injury. + +Her father was equally fortunate, and, as Billy had recovered from his +momentary panic and did not run, the accident appeared, at the first +glance, to be nothing serious. + +The boy who had caused it came forward, with a look of trepidation upon +his countenance, exclaiming: + +"I'm awfully sorry, sir; I didn't mean to frighten your horse. I was +down behind the wall and didn't see you coming, or I wouldn't have +thrown my hat so. I was only scaring a squirrel." + +"He must have been pretty thoroughly scared," said Mr. Trafton, drily. + +However, the boy's bright face wore an expression of such honest regret +that he added, with a good-humored accent: + +"Well, well, I was a boy myself once. You must be more careful another +time, my lad." + +"That I will, sir." + +And as Mr. Trafton began to raise the overturned buggy, the boy took +hold and helped him. + +On getting the vehicle righted, they found that one wheel was broken so +badly as to need repairs before the journey could be continued, and Mr. +Trafton surveyed the damage with grave concern. + +The boy gave a low whistle, and murmured: + +"Here's a state of things!" + +"I don't see what I'm going to do," remarked the gentleman. "There's +nobody in this region who could mend that wheel, I suppose?" + +"Oh yes there is!" cried the boy, brightening up. "Doran's blacksmith +shop is only a little ways down the road; you can get the wheel fixed +there. I'll go along and hold up this side of the buggy; and I'll pay +the bill, sir, as I caused the damage." + +Mr. Trafton looked at him approvingly, but answered: + +"You need not do that, my boy. The bill won't amount to much; but the +job may take some time--and where can I leave my little girl? I suppose +you would not care to wait in the blacksmith shop, Linda?" + +Before Linda could reply, the boy said, looking at her frankly, and not +at all abashed: + +"She can stay with my grandma while you're having the wheel fixed. Mrs. +Deacon Burbank is my grandma; she lives right here, sir," pointing out +the house. + +"And where do you live?" asked Mr. Trafton, who took a liking to Mrs. +Deacon Burbank's grandson, for all his annoyance at the trouble which +that lively youth had caused him. + +"I'm staying with grandma this summer," said the boy; "but I live in +Boston when I'm at home. My name is John Burbank." + +"Well, John, you will have to take Linda to your grandma, for I cannot +leave Billy standing here with this broken buggy." + +"All right, sir; I'll be back in a minute, and help you down to +Doran's." + +So saying, John Burbank led the way, and Linda followed, to the nearest +of the brown old houses--a big, broad-roofed domicile, with wide, double +doors and narrow windows, and with two great cherry trees in the front +yard, looking like two great drifts of snow, they were so thickly +covered with white blossoms. + +A border of red and yellow tulips, gay daffodils, and "crown imperials," +edged the narrow walk which led from the front gate around to the side +door, where they were received by a surprised old lady in gold-bowed +spectacles, to whom John presented his companion, with the following +concise account of the accident which occasioned her unexpected +appearance: + +"Grandma, here's a girl, and her father is out there with his team, and +they've just had a break-down, and it was all my doing; but I didn't +mean to! I scared the horse, hollering at a squirrel. I've got to go and +help her father get the buggy down to Doran's, and she's going to stay +here till it's fixed, and her name's Linda. I don't know what her other +name is." + +"Linda Trafton," supplemented Linda, as the boy paused to catch his +breath. + +"Johnny," said the old lady, speaking as severely as a stout old lady +with dimples in her cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes could be expected +to speak, when addressing her only grandson--"Johnny, I do declare for +'t, you air the worst boy! What under the canopy will you go to cuttin' +up next? Come right in, my dear," she said to Linda, "and make yourself +to home. Johnny, you run along and help the gentleman; and tell Mr. +Doran your gran'ther will pay the bill." + +"Oh, I'm going to pay it myself, grandma, with my own pocket-money, +if the gentleman will let me; but he says he won't." + +And Johnny was off before he had done speaking. + +"I declare for 't," said his grandmother, "that boy is a regular +Burbank; jest exactly what the deacon used to be at his age--always into +suthin'. I knew the deacon when he wa'n't any older than Johnny, an' +I remember jest how he used to act. Take off your things, my dear, and +make yourself to home." + +She took Linda's hat and sacque, and carried them into the spare +bed-room, where there was a great "four-poster" bedstead, with +blue-and-white chintz hangings and a blue-and-white spread; and then she +came and sat down by Linda, and asked her a great many questions about +the break-down, and about her father and mother and herself, but she was +such a nice old lady that Linda did not mind her being a little +inquisitive. + +In return, she gave Linda quite a complete history of her own family, +and told her a number of entertaining stories about Johnny and Johnny's +father, and about the deacon when he was a boy. Finally, she looked at +the queer old clock on the kitchen mantle-shelf, and remarked: + +"It's time I was gittin' my dinner over to cook, and I guess I shall +have to leave you to amuse yourself a little while, my dear. You might +go out an' look 'round the garden, if you want; or maybe you'd ruther go +up in the garret, an' look at Johnny's picture-books an' things. He +likes to stay up there, when it rains so't he can't go out." + +"Oh, I should like that, of all things!" cried Linda, delighted. "I do +love a real old-fashioned garret, with all sorts of old things in it!" + +"Do you now? Well," said Mrs. Burbank, beaming over the gold-bowed +spectacles, "our garret is full of old truck, an' you can go up there +an' rummage 'round all you've a min' to." + +She opened the door of a narrow staircase, with steep and well-worn +stairs, and told Linda that was the way to the back chamber over the +kitchen, and when she got up there she would see the garret stairs; +and she guessed Linda could find the way up alone. She was pretty hefty +herself, and she didn't travel up and down stairs any more than she +could help. + +Linda very quickly found her way to the garret, which proved to be +indeed a veritable treasury of "old truck;" and her brown eyes opened +wide with ecstasy as she caught sight of a real, genuine spinning-wheel, +stowed away under the low, sloping roof. + +Then she discovered a smaller wheel, with a motto carved around its rim +in quaint lettering, which Linda studied over a long time before she +made it out--"Eat not the Bread of Idleness." She learned afterward that +this was a flax-wheel, on which Deacon Burbank's mother used to spin the +thread to weave her linen sheets. + +Beside the flax-wheel stood a superannuated chest of drawers, with dingy +brass handles, which had once, no doubt, been a fine piece of furniture. + +Then there were broken-down chairs, with straight, stiff backs; queer, +cracked jugs and bottles, and painted teacups with the handles broken +off; and funny old spelling-books and school-readers, all inscribed, +in beautiful handwriting, on their yellow fly-leaves: + + "John Burbank, his book." + +Linda knew that the John Burbank who had learned his lessons from these +old books must have been the deacon "when he was a boy," and not her +young friend, Johnny. + +There were several old-fashioned wooden chests among the treasures of +this delightful garret, and Linda hesitated to open them at first; +but finally she called to mind that she had been given permission to +"rummage" as much as she pleased. + +One chest, painted green, stood near the narrow window, which threw a +checkered square of sunshine upon the garret floor, and as Linda raised +the cover she gave a little scream of rapture, for it seemed almost as +if she had found a broken rainbow, there was such a glitter of gay +colors in the sunlight. + +"Oh! _oh!_" she cried, "what lovely, _lovely_ pieces for a crazy quilt!" + +For the old chest was nearly filled with scraps of silk and satin of +every shape and size, from bits not over an inch wide to the large, +three-cornered pieces, of which there seemed to be a great number, left +in cutting trimming-folds "on the bias," as Linda knew, for she had seen +many such remnants proudly displayed by those of her girl friends who +happened to be in the good graces of Miss Cranshaw, the village +dressmaker. But such brocades and stripes, such "plaid" and "watered" +and "figured" silks, such brilliant shades of color as she found among +the contents of that chest, her eyes had never looked upon before. + +"I wonder if these are pieces of Deacon Burbank's mother's dresses?" +thought Linda, as she turned them over, exclaiming, every other minute, +"Oh, how pretty!" or "Oh, what a beauty!" for every new piece that she +took up seemed prettier than the last. "Why, she must have had as many +as Queen Victoria. Why _don't_ they wear such colors now? Most of the +silk dresses that Miss Cranshaw makes are black, or brown, or +sage-green, or some other sober shade; but these are all so bright. +Oh, what a lovely blue!" + +"It is a handsome piece of silk, ain't it? That was the dress Miss Polly +Newcome wore to the inaugeration ball at Washington, 'most forty years +ago. They don't have no such silks in these days." + +Mrs. Deacon Burbank had mounted the garret stairs with footsteps far +from noiseless, being, as she said, a "hefty" old lady; but Linda had +been too much absorbed to notice her approach until she spoke. + +"Oh, Mrs. Burbank! What beautiful pieces!" cried Linda. "Where did they +all come from?" + +"Why, they come from all 'round, my dear," said Mrs. Burbank, sitting +down with Linda, beside the green chest. "You see, my girls used to take +in dressmakin', when they was young, and the pieces kinder gathered an' +gathered. The girls used to keep the silk pieces separate, thinkin' they +might do suthin' with 'em sometime; but they never did. They was always +too busy to do much putterin' work. So the pieces have laid there ever +sence the girls left home. They all got married, many a long year ago, +my girls. Cecilia went to New York, and Evaline lives down in +Pennsylvaney--she's got to be quite an old woman herself now; and Nancy +Jane, she's layin' in the cemetery over to East Berlin, with her own +little girl buried 'long side of her," said the old lady, sighing. "But +they used to be called the best dressmakers there was anywhere round +these parts; folks used to come from as far off as Tolland County to +have their nice dresses made by the Burbank girls. Miss Polly Newcome +went to Washington the winter that her father was elected to the Senate. +She was a great beauty, Miss Polly was, an' they made everything of her +in Washington. But my girls had the makin' of all her new clothes, 'fore +she went. This was a dress she wore to a grand dinner-party that was +given to her father, Senator Newcome." + +And the old lady picked out a scrap of marvelous brocade, with +silver-white roses on a wine-colored ground, and smoothed it on her +knee. + +"This was the one she wore to the President's reception"--selecting a +bit of rose-colored satin, striped with sky-blue velvet; "and this," +she continued, smoothing out a long strip of changeable silk in green +and ruby tints, "was another dinner dress. Here's a piece of plaid silk +that was made up for Squire Harney's wife, when she was goin' to Europe; +and here's a piece of Mrs. Doctor Thorne's dress, that she had made on +purpose to wear to a grand party over in Tolland." + +This last was a good-sized square of bright yellow silk, with polka-dots +of mazarine blue. + +Linda, looking at the gorgeous fabric with admiring eyes, exclaimed: + +"I never saw such pieces in all my life! They _would_ make the loveliest +crazy quilt!" + +"What kind of a quilt, my dear?" + +"A crazy quilt," said Linda, laughing. "Haven't you ever seen one, Mrs. +Burbank? Fred says the person was crazy who first invented them; but I +think they're just as pretty as they can be. It takes a great many +pieces of silk, though, to make a bed-quilt, and some of the girls only +make sofa-pillows and such things." + +"Oh, you mean patchwork. The land!" said Mrs. Burbank, "I used to make +silk patchwork more than sixty years ago. It was all the style then, +but I didn't s'pose they ever done it now." + +"Oh, yes; it is all the style now," said Linda, with a smile. + +"Do tell! I want to know if you like to piece patchwork?" said the old +lady, looking over her spectacles at Linda's girlish face, with its +gentle eyes and frame of soft, brown hair. "I declare for't, you look +just as my Nancy Jane did when she was your age! If you want them +pieces, child, you can have 'em; I ain't got any use for 'em, and don't +s'pose I ever shall have. I'm too old to piece patchwork, myself--my +eyesight ain't what it used to be." + +For a moment Linda was speechless with delight, but finally she found +her voice, and cried out: + +"Oh, Mrs. Burbank! All those lovely crazy pieces! Do you really mean to +give them to me?" + +"Of course I do, and I'm real glad to see ye so pleased, my dear. Them +silk pieces have laid in that chest years an' years, doin' nobody any +good; an' they shan't lay there no longer, if they can make a little +girl so happy." + +And the good old lady looked happy herself as she opened another chest, +and, taking out an old pillow-case of home-spun linen, began to fill it +with the wondrous "crazy pieces." + +When she had crowded them all in and tied the bag with a piece of twine, +she said: + +"Now, you can take 'em right along with you, an' whenever your father +happens to come this way ag'in, he can bring me back the piller-case, +for it was one of Mother Burbank's, and I shouldn't want to lose it. +I declare for 't!" she added, "I forgot all about your father, child, +I got so took up with lookin' over them pieces. He's got the buggy +mended, an' he's come back after you, so you must come right down. +I want you an' he should have dinner 'fore you go; it's all ready." + +And happy Linda went down to the kitchen, where she found her father and +Johnny, and Deacon Burbank, who had just come home to dinner. + +Mr. Trafton was hungry, and quite willing to take dinner at the +deacon's, instead of waiting till they arrived at East Berlin. + +They all became very well acquainted in the course of the meal, and Mr. +Trafton promised to bring Linda to see Mrs. Burbank, whenever he came +that way. + +"And I will bring my crazy quilt and show it to you, when I get it done, +Mrs. Burbank," added Linda. + +Whereupon Johnny spoke up, and said: + +"If you don't get on with your crazy quilt any faster than my sister +does with hers, you won't ever get it done!" + +And Linda told him that sounded just like Fred! + +Johnny carried the pillow-case out to the buggy and tucked it under the +seat; and Linda could think of nothing but her crazy pieces all the way +to East Berlin. + +When she got home and showed them to Fred, he declared they were the +jolliest, craziest lot of pieces he had seen yet! + +And when Linda's quilt was commenced, all the girls went wild over it; +but she laughingly refused to tell them where her pieces came from. + +She made a great mystery of the matter, asserting, in reply to all +inquiries, that hers would be a crazy quilt with a history, and nobody +should know anything about it until the quilt was finished. + +A crazy quilt with a history is no trifling piece of work, and the girls +have not yet heard the story. + + + + +DAVY'S TURN. + +BY FLORENCE B. HALLOWELL. + + +"Never mind! It'll come my turn some day, and then I'll pay you boys up; +and you'll be sorry enough for all the mean things you've done to me," +and Davy Potter stooped to pick up the books which one of a group of a +dozen boys had pushed from his arm. + +The school-house yard was muddy from recent rains, and the books were so +wet and dirty that Davy took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe them +off. + +"What'll you take for that handkerchief, Dave?" asked Fred Bassett. +"It's a beauty, and no mistake." + +There was a loud shout from the other boys, and universal attention was +directed to the little square of faded calico Davy was so industriously +using. + +A hot flush rose to the boy's thin, freckled face; but he made no reply, +except to mutter under his breath something which the boys could not +catch. + +But there was a bitter, vindictive feeling in his heart as he followed +his persecutors into the school-house. He did not understand why all the +wit--if wit it could be called--should be leveled at him; why he should +be the target for every poisoned arrow, simply because he was poor, ugly +and always at the bottom of his classes. He thought it unjust and cruel, +and longed with all his heart for the time to come when by some real +good luck he would have a chance to "pay the boys up." + +He knew that if he ever needed assistance in any such work, he could +rely on old Sim Kane to help him; for the old man--a half-witted +creature who earned a miserable livelihood by doing odd jobs of +wood-sawing and cleaning for charitably-disposed people--had good +reason, also, to hate the boys of the Prickett school, and long for +revenge. + +Davy lived with an aunt, who gave him a home as a matter of duty, and +regarded him as a burden and a nuisance, often treating him so unkindly +that he was made very unhappy, and spent as little time with her as +possible. + +He tried honestly to be dutiful and obedient; but he couldn't help +forgetting occasionally to wipe his feet before entering the kitchen, +and sometimes he let the fire go out, or forgot to feed the chickens. +Then he was severely reprimanded, of course, and told that he was +ungrateful, as well as stupid. + +But in the woods he was free to do as he liked, and there was no one to +scold or find fault with him, and he had many dumb but affectionate +friends there among the squirrels, rabbits and birds. + +So he always took his way to the woods every Saturday as soon as he had +cleaned up the yard about his aunt's house, filled all the +water-buckets, cut the kindling for the kitchen stove, and attended to +the dozen or more other chores Miss Potter required of him. + +He never shirked the least of them, no matter how anxious he was to get +away; for he had been so frequently told how much he owed to his aunt, +that he believed he could not do too much for her. + +It was while exploring the depths of the woods, one day, that he +discovered the secret retreat of the "Mystic Nine," a club of nine boys +who disappeared from the village regularly every Saturday morning during +the spring, summer and fall, and remained away until sunset, often +returning with torches to have a street parade after dark, or with a bag +of plump birds for a grand "fry" in the kitchen of some indulgent +mother. + +That they had a hiding-place of some sort, where they held meetings and +ate the generous lunches they carried with them, all the boys outside +the nine felt sure; but none of the Mystics ever answered any questions +concerning it, and threw out vague but impressive warnings as to the +terrible fate that would befall any one whose curiosity led him to seek +to penetrate the secret they guarded so closely. + +Davy stumbled upon it quite by chance. Following the trail of a bird +with a wounded wing, he found himself in a part of the wood he had never +been in before, and came suddenly upon a great pile of brush a dozen +feet high, behind which was the entrance to a deep cave in a rocky +hillside. + +He entered, and found it well furnished with rough blankets, a table, +an oil stove, and many other things necessary to the comfort and +convenience of nine boys. A large window in the roof, which was +carefully covered with brush, afforded a means to obtain light, when +that given by the mouth of the cave did not prove sufficient, or when +bad weather made it necessary to drop the canvas which did duty as a +door. + +Davy, afraid of getting into trouble, kept his discovery to himself, but +he made frequent stolen trips to the cave, and resolved that some day he +would use his knowledge for the purpose of obtaining his revenge. + +He had a vague plan in his head to guide about fifty of the roughest +boys in the village to the cave, and thus give the secret to every one, +and he fully determined to let this be his form of revenge, when, being +called upon to read in class, he was forced to use the wet, soiled +books. + +His thoughts were directed so much to this subject that his lessons were +recited even worse than usual, and as a result he was kept in to study +for an hour after the close of school. + +When he was at last free to go home, and left the school-house, he found +that poor old Sim was in the hands of his enemies. The Mystic Nine had +placed him in his own dilapidated hand-cart, and were wheeling him down +one of the side streets as fast as they could go, shouting and laughing +at his frenzied cries of distress and the ludicrous picture he +presented, as he clung to the side of the cart, the brim of his torn +straw hat flapping in the wind, and an old scarf of bright scarlet silk, +which he cherished as his dearest earthly possession, streaming out +behind. + +Davy felt very sorry for the old man, but did not dare interfere. He +could only wait until the boys, becoming wearied of their sport, ran the +cart into a shallow pond and went off to seek other diversion. + +Old Sim was almost helpless with fright and exhaustion, and when Davy +waded into the pond and pushed the cart out on dry land again, he threw +his arms about the boy's neck, and clung to him, sobbing and moaning +like a child. + +It was all Davy could do to comfort and quiet him, and to persuade him +to go home, so apprehensive was he that another attack would be made on +him. But Davy finally succeeded in convincing him that there was no +further danger, and the old man went scuffling off to the miserable +shanty he called home. + +The next day was Saturday, and as the weather was clear and bright, Davy +resolved to spend the whole morning in the woods. But his aunt found so +much for him to do that it was nearly noon before he was able to get +away. + +As usual, he divided his lunch with the birds and squirrels, and then +lay down under a tree to read a book he had brought with him. + +But it failed to interest him, and his mind persisted in dwelling upon +the unkindness with which he was so systematically treated, both at home +and at school. + +"I wonder if it will ever be any different?" he thought, as he sprang to +his feet at last. "If I only could get to the head of the grammar class +just once, they might treat me better. But of course there is no use in +thinking of that, for there's no chance of it." + +He strolled through the woods, his steps turning unconsciously in the +direction of the secret cave. + +He had almost reached it, when he suddenly became aware of where he was, +and started to retrace his steps, fearing the boys would come out and +discover him there. + +But scarcely had he turned when, to his amazement, he saw old Sim Kane +come rushing toward him from the direction of the cave. + +The old man's face was pallid with excitement, and he was swinging his +long arms, and muttering and laughing to himself in a way that made +Davy's blood run cold. + +"Sim! Sim! what's the matter?" he cried. + +But the old man paid no attention to him, and not pausing to question +him again, but sure there was trouble of some sort at the cave, Davy ran +toward that secret retreat. + +His ears soon told him what the trouble was. The great pile of brush +which concealed the entrance to the cave had been set on fire! + +Terrible was the vengeance which the half-demented old man had taken on +his boyish persecutors. + +Davy, with a loud cry of horror, and forgetting in that awful moment all +his own wrongs, seized a stout branch, and rushed upon the pile of brush +without a moment's hesitation. + +The entire mouth of the cave was a mass of flame, and it was no easy +matter to scatter the burning brands, so intense was the heat. + +But Davy fought the fire right and left, with a wild energy far beyond +his strength and years, and at last the mouth of the cave was clear, +and the fresh air could enter it again. + +Then, exhausted, faint, and suffering most intense agony from a dozen +terrible burns, the brave boy sank to the ground. + +At first he was scarcely conscious, but presently he became aware that +some one was bending over him, and opening his eyes, he saw Fred +Bassett's face, so full of pity, admiration and kindness that poor Davy +scarcely recognized it. + +"We didn't deserve this good turn of you, Davy," said the boy. "But I +can't tell you how thankful we are to you. But for you we would have +been suffocated inside of ten minutes. It was that old Sim who set the +fire. We were busy at the back of the cave, making it deeper, and didn't +know anything about the fire until we heard the old man shout at us from +the window overhead. He was half mad with joy, and was just about to +light the brush on the window. He must have fired the pile in front in +twenty places. There was no use in trying to get out. It was like a wall +of fire. I tell you, we all thought our time had come. It was just +awful." + +"I'm glad I came when I did," said Davy, gently. "But I'm afraid you'll +have to help me home. My feet are so badly burned I don't believe I can +take a step." + +"As if we'd let you even think of walking!" exclaimed Fred. "We'll rig +up a litter in short order." + +So Davy was carried into the village in state by seven of the boys, +while the two others went on ahead to tell Miss Potter what had happened +and engage the services of a doctor. + +And it was not until his wounds were all dressed, and he was lying +quietly in bed, with Fred Bassett and Tom Harper sitting beside him, +that Davy happened to think that the "turn" for which he had waited so +long had come at last, and he had failed to take the revenge he had so +ardently desired. + +But he never regretted this, for he never had to complain again of +unkind treatment from either his aunt or his schoolmates. For Miss +Potter, in taking care of her young nephew during the three weeks he was +confined to the house, found good qualities of head and heart the +existence of which she had never before even suspected, and she made up +her mind that she had thought Davy a burden because she had never really +understood him. + +As to the boys--well, they made a hero of Davy, and the "Mystic Nine" +became the "Mystic Ten," by the admission to membership of the shy, +freckled-faced boy who was always at the bottom of his classes. + +And affection and encouragement brightened up Davy's wits so much that +he ceased before long to occupy that unenviable and lowly position, and +astonished his teacher by his rapid progress. + +No punishment was ever meted out to old Sim; but it is scarcely +necessary to say that the boys were careful to let him severely alone +after that memorable Saturday on which Davy became a hero. + + + + +THE BLIND GIRL AND THE SPRING. + +BY SYDNEY GREY. + + + Yes, it is true that I am blind (it was not always thus), + But oft it comes into my mind how God can comfort us. + For if, of some good gift bereft, we bend before His will, + He ever has a blessing left which should our sorrows still. + This very morn I found it so; scarce had the day begun, + Ere with small, pattering, restless feet that hither swiftly run, + The children came in joyous mood, and shouted, "Spring is here!" + And when they led me through the wood, I knew that she was near. + I felt her breath upon my cheek, and while we walked along, + A thousand times I heard her speak the rustling leaves among, + In tones as though a harp had thrilled beneath an angel's touch, + And all my soul with rapture filled: yet when I said as much, + The others laughed and whispered low, "Nay, nay, it is the wind!" + To them perhaps it might be so; but, ah! if folks are blind, + They learn in every sound that floats around their pathway dark-- + The breeze, the brook, the glad bird-notes--some hidden voice to mark. + Therefore, when spring begins to don her garments fresh and gay, + Because I cannot look upon her beauty day by day, + Nor see the pointed crocus flame above the garden mold, + Nor watch the snowy tips that frame the daisy's heart of gold; + Because unto my longing eyes may never be displayed + The changeful glory of the skies, warm shine and soothing shade, + Nor the great sun's far-reaching rays which crown the day with light, + Nor yet the star-lit purple haze that comes before the night; + She breathes the tender tale to me, in accents clear and plain, + Until I nearly rend the veil and see it all again. + And though I'm blind, I know quite well, when to the woods we go, + The place to find the wild bluebell, and where the lilies blow; + Shy violets tell me, as I pass, their buds are at my feet, + And through the lengthening meadow-grass run murmurs soft and sweet. + Oh! I thank God that He doth bring such daily joy to me, + For even I can welcome spring, like happy girls who see. + + + + +[Illustration] + +How to Make A Canvas Canoe, + +(_Concluded._) + +BY E. T. LITTLEWOOD. + + +The covering is best made of what is known as "crash," strong and close. +It must be wide enough to go completely under the canoe, and can be had +about 5 ft. wide, which will be quite wide enough. Seven yards of it +will be sufficient. + +To put on the canvas, turn the canoe over. Lay the canvas with the +centre line along the keel. Stretch it well by pulling at each end, and +tack it through the middle at the extreme ends with a few tacks in a +temporary manner. Put in temporary tacks along the gunwale at moderate +intervals, stretching slightly, and endeavor to get rid of all folds. + +Begin in the middle and work toward the ends, and always pull straight +away from the keel, and not along the gunwale. Then put in a second set +of tacks half way between the first set of tacks on one side, pulling +fairly tight. Then, on the other side, put in tacks opposite to the +latter, pulling as tightly as possible. + +The best way to do this is to seize the canvas with a pair of pincers, +so that on pulling you can get the head of the pincers just over the +gunwale, when they can be used as a lever to give an extra pull. A tack +may then be put in on the outside of the gunwale; half-inch galvanized +tacks will do. + +Now remove the temporary set of tacks. To get rid of folds, which will +not occur along the keel, but along the gunwale, keep bisecting the +distance between two consecutive tacks by another tack, so that the +canvas is equally loose on each side of it, always now pulling the +canvas as tightly as possible. + +In this way the folds will disappear, and the canvas be stretched tight +and well-fastened to the gunwale. Leave that portion within a foot of +each end untacked. + +Next cut away all that portion which projects beyond the stem and +stern-post; turn the edges in, and tack along the edges at moderate +distances. + +Bisect these distances, and these again, till you have a very close row +of tacks, as in Fig. 12. Pull fairly tight, but not too tight, and do +not use pincers for this part; quarter-inch tacks will be best. + +The ends may be cut out and put on, lapping the edges over the side, as +shown in Fig. 12, and enough canvas will be left to fill the part along +the sides of the well, into which the canvas should be tacked with a +fine row of tacks, afterward being stretched over the gunwale. The canoe +will now be completely covered in except the well. + +Before putting on the top, however, give the lower part outside a good +coating of boiled linseed-oil. This will be most of it absorbed into the +canvas. The same may be done afterward with the top. + +When this is dry--that is, after two or three days--give another good +coating of the same. Then paint the canoe according to taste. Two coats +for the bottom will be advisable, and paint which will stand water well +should be used. It would be well to paint the framework with one coat +before covering. + +[Illustration] + +Make a stretcher (Fig. 13) for the feet, of half-inch board, and slips +to fit it into (Fig. 10), with stops on the floor. Also, a backboard of +half-inch board, to correspond (Fig. 14). Each piece in the latter may +be 18x4 inches. They should be nailed into two cross-pieces behind, so +as to form a hollow for back, and should be placed two inches apart, +to allow a space for the spine. + +I prefer myself to fit in the backboard by means of stops on the floor +and back of the well, making it keep one position, and that at a +considerable slope, and have not found a swinging backboard so +comfortable as some appear to have done. + +For the paddle, for which I think about 7 feet 6 inches long over all +is a good length, take a light, clean piece of yellow pine, or fir, +1-1/2 x 1-1/4 inches, not more, and 6 feet long. In the ends of this cut +slots 6 inches long, each to receive two pear-shaped pieces of very +light half-inch plank, 1 foot 3 inches by 8 inches. Nail them through +with copper nails, if possible. The blades should be at right angles +to the thickest direction of the handle. + +Before nailing in, shave down the handle from an oval of 1-1/2 x 1-1/4 +inches for 2 feet of the middle to an oval of about 1-1/8 x 7/8 inches +near the beginning of the blades. + +The handle should have its full thickness at the beginning of the blade, +but should be well tapered off along the blade, so as to be quite thin +at its middle, where it ends. It should have its full breadth across the +breadth of the blade. The blade itself may be shaved off thinner toward +the edges. + +I do not think that for ordinary purposes any strip of copper or tin +need be put round the blade, and the weight is increased by using. + +The great thing about a paddle is that it should be as light as +possible, and, if it appears able to stand it, it may be reduced still +further. It may be painted or varnished, all but two feet in the middle. +I find no rings on the paddles necessary. + +A short strip nailed outside the gunwale in the middle of the canoe is a +good thing; it prevents wear from the paddle, and forms something to +catch hold of in lifting the canoe. + +A short outer keel is also a good thing at each end to prevent wear; but +in making holes for the nails through the canvas into the keel care must +be taken to turn in the edges round each hole, to tack with a close +circle of tacks, and paint well, so as to render the place water-tight. + +An apron is seldom wanted, but may be made of canvas rendered waterproof +with boiled oil, if desired. + +It is well to fasten some inflated bladders in each end, so as to make +the canoe a diminutive lifeboat, in case of an upset or of a hole being +knocked in her. + +The canoe will now be ready for launching. The owner should learn to put +her carefully into the water and take her out by himself--to carry her +on his shoulder. + +Superfluous wood may be cut from the central parts of the shapes, and +also from along the keel toward the ends before covering. The floor +forms a considerable item in the weight, consequently this should be +made no wider or thicker than necessary. In paddling, learn to reach +well forward and back, with a good swing of the body from side to side. + +Such a canoe as described will be found to wear well, and one made by +myself for a friend two years ago is now in use, and quite water-tight. + + + + +HOW THE PARTRIDGE DRUMS. + + +"When I first came to Canada," says a writer from that locality, +"I found there were various opinions as to the method of making the +sound. One man, who read a great deal, but rarely went into the woods, +said that the sound was produced by the bird's voice. Some of the +hunters told me that the bird struck its wings on the log, and others +that it struck them together over its back. + +"I did not give much heed to the bookman's explanation, for all the +woodmen laughed at it. I soon learned to discredit also the idea that +the bird thumped the log with its wings, because whether it stood on a +stump or a stone, a rotten log or solid timber, the sound was always the +same. Lastly, I did not believe that the wings were struck together, +because, when a pigeon or rooster strikes its wings together, the sound +is always a sharp crack. At length, after watching the bird carefully, +I came to the conclusion that it drums by beating the air only. + +"It is not an easy matter to get sight of a partridge when he is +drumming, but I managed to do it by crawling on my hands and knees +toward the bird, lying still while he was quiet, and only moving forward +when he renewed his noisy courtship; for it is only to woo and win his +mate that Sir Ruffled Grouse indulges in these musical exercises. + +"In this way I contrived to come within twenty feet without alarming +him. Through the alder thicket I could just see his shapely form, +strutting about like a turkey cock; then for a moment he stood upright, +with his feathers lying close. + +"Suddenly his wings flashed, and at the same moment I heard the loud +thump. Then for a few seconds he stood looking about as though nothing +had happened; but presently came a second flash and thump, and others +followed at lessening intervals, until at last the serenade rolled a way +like the galloping of horses or the rumbling of distant thunder." + + + + +FROGS AND TADPOLES. + +BY E. S. + + +It is very interesting in the spring to watch the gradual development of +a frog from the egg, through the tadpole stage of its existence, till at +last it assumes its final form. + +The old frogs emerge from their winter hiding-places in the mud, early +in the spring, and during April their eggs may be found floating on +almost every stagnant pond. + +A group of these eggs in their early stages of development looks like a +mass of clear white jelly, containing numbers of black specks, each of +which is really the germ of the future tadpole. + +In order to watch the development, a group of the eggs should be taken +and put in a shallow vessel of water, which, if kept in the house, +should have a bell-glass, or some other covering, over it, to keep out +the dust. + +The jelly-like mass which envelopes the future tadpole is so clear that +all its changes can be easily watched. + +First the head appears, then a flat tail, and in course of time the +nostrils, mouth and large eyes, till at length the completed tadpole +bursts open its gelatinous covering, and apparently not in the least +embarrassed by its new surroundings, begins swimming briskly about, +looking for something to eat. + +The time occupied in hatching varies in different countries, according +to the climate, from four days to a month. + +The following stages are even more interesting, especially for those who +can take advantage of the transparency of the parts to watch the +circulation of the blood through a microscope. + +The body of the tadpole gradually gets broader, while the tail gets +thinner and thinner, till it finally disappears altogether; but before +that happens, its place has been taken by two hind legs, which first +appear under the skin and then gradually push their way through. + +The fore legs next appear, and so on through all the stages of +development, till in a longer or shorter time, according to the amount +of warmth, light and food it can obtain, the complete frog appears. + +But woe betide the unfortunate tadpole which, first of the shoal, +attains to the dignity of possessing limbs, for so ferocious are the +later ones, and so jealous of their precocious little brother, that they +almost always fall upon him, and not content with killing, never rest +till every morsel of him is eaten. + +And unless several of the tadpoles assume their final change about the +same time, this proceeding is repeated till their numbers are very +considerably diminished, or, as sometimes happens, till only one +survivor is left, who, having helped to eat all his brethren, instead of +meeting with his deserts, is allowed to live on in peace, till some day, +in the course of his walks abroad, he, in his turn, is snapped up as a +delicate morsel by some hungry snake or water-fowl. + +[Illustration] + + + + + BE HONEST AND TRUE. + + By George Birdseye. + + + Be honest and true, boys! + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life. + Both now and forever, + Be this your endeavor, + When wrong with the right is at strife. + + The best and the truest, + Alas! are the fewest; + But be one of these if you can. + In duty ne'er fail; you + Will find 'twill avail you, + And bring its reward when a man. + + Don't think life plain sailing; + There's danger of failing, + Though bright seem the future to be; + But honor and labor, + And truth to your neighbor, + Will bear you safe over life's sea. + + Then up and be doing, + Right only pursuing, + And take your fair part in the strife. + Be honest and true, boys, + Whatever you do, boys, + Let this be your motto through life! + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 22._] + + IN SEARCH of HIMSELF. + + A Tale of Dangerous Adventure. + + BY GEORGE H. COOMER, + + Author Of "Arthur Summers," Etc. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +RALPH MAKES A FRIEND. + +Ralph had need of all his courage, as he realized what was before him. +In a low, swampy spot, close under a pile of rock and earth, that rose +out of it like a wall, was an animal such as he had never met with until +this moment, although he instinctively guessed what it must be. + +The creature appeared to be in a complete frenzy of rage. It was covered +with mud and water, and with furious motions was trampling down the +long, rank grass which grew about the place. + +"A wild boar!" uttered our young friend to himself, with his heart +leaping to his throat, as his glance took in the sharp back, the high +shoulders, and the immense tusks that curved from the jaws like +cimetars. + +He had seen pictures of such animals, but had never dreamed how +startling the reality would be. + +The boar seemed to direct his fury against the ledge which formed the +boundary of the muddy and grassy place where he was raging about; and +looking a little above the savage brute, Ralph perceived a something +which appeared like a human form in some manner confined among the +rocks. He thought the body looked as if partially under a big stone that +held it down. + +Instantly the thought came to him: + +"It must be that a man has got caught there under a rock, which he has +pulled down upon himself in trying to clamber up." + +Just as this thought entered his mind, he saw the boar give a fearful +spring and fall back with what seemed a strip of clothing between his +jaws. + +The position of the imprisoned man must be awful, and there was not a +moment to lose. The next spring might be more successful. + +The fierce jaws clashed together with a startling sound, and the huge +head was shaken, as if the frenzy of the monster was increased by the +possession of that bit of rag. + +The prisoner gave another wild cry, and Ralph responded, with all the +strength of his lungs: + +"I'll help you! I'll help you!" + +He was too far off for a successful shot, but he hoped by firing to +attract the animal's attention from the man to himself, and then, in +case of need, he might retreat into some one of the trees among which he +was then standing. + +So, taking the best aim he could, he fired both barrels in quick +succession. But the boar, except by a furious toss of the head and a +single terrible "_Whoosh!_" paid not the slightest attention to him. + +Indeed, the efforts of the animal to reach the intended victim became, +if possible, more frantic than ever; and Ralph guessed that once, at +least, the tusks came in contact with some part of the poor captive's +body. + +"I can do nothing in this way," he said to himself. "The man will be +torn in pieces before my eyes. I must make a bold move and take my +chance." + +Between himself and the scene of danger there was neither rock nor tree, +but only the shallow mud and water, and the rank grass. The venture +would be a desperate one, but nothing less would save the man from a +terrible death. + +[Illustration: +"RALPH'S LEGS WERE KNOCKED FROM UNDER HIM BY THE WEIGHT +OF THE HUGE BODY, SO THAT HE FELL AT FULL LENGTH IN THE MUD."] + +Ralph had about him shells containing charges of all descriptions, +from fine shot to bullets. Quickly throwing open his breech-loader, he +slipped a ball cartridge into one barrel and a heavy charge of buckshot +into the other. + +Then springing forward, he went splashing across the morass, with the +mud and water almost up to his knees. + +"I am no marksman," he thought, as he strode rapidly on, "and shall have +to get close to him to hit him; but if he should come at me, I shall +have my second barrel, besides a plenty of shells." + +There was some reassurance in this thought, especially as he had two of +the spare shells in his hand, ready for use in case of need. + +At a distance of only six rods from the enraged animal, he stopped and +brought up his gun. + +The boar was not still for an instant, but rushing about in its efforts +to get up the rock. He had certainly struck the man, for there was blood +on the rock and on the savage tusks. This probably rendered him all the +more eager. + +"I'll try the buckshot first," thought Ralph, "for they'll scatter a +little, and some of them must hit him." + +He ranged between the two barrels, and pulled. "Bang!" sounded the +report. "Whoosh!" uttered the boar, stopping short in his efforts +against the rock, and turning his whole attention upon the intruder. +Doubtless he was hit, but perhaps not mortally. + +Ralph's gun was again at his face. "Bang!" This time the single ball was +sent, but through the smoke of the discharge he saw that the boar was +rushing upon him. + +An interval of six rods, and a wild hog, six feet long, bounding over it +with clashing jaws! How the breech-loader sprang open, and how the two +spare charges went into it! What if Ralph had not held them all ready in +his hand? + +"Bang! bang!" The boar's head was not three feet from the muzzle as the +second barrel was fired. The monster's impetus carried him on with a +plunge; and the young hero's legs were knocked from under him by the +weight of the huge body, so that he fell at full length in the mud. + +For an instant he believed himself lost, and while scrambling to his +feet he expected to feel the sweep of those sword-like tusks. + +But there was no longer any danger; the last discharge had done its work +to perfection, and with his knees bent under him, the boar lay just as +he had plowed into the mire, having not even rolled over. + +Picking up his gun, Ralph hurried to assist the person on the rock, whom +he had already seen to be a negro, and whom he now found to be held down +by a large stone, which lay upon his legs, he having doubtless pulled it +from a position above in his frantic efforts to escape from his pursuer. + +The confined black could not help himself; but Ralph succeeded, without +much difficulty, in relieving him from the heavy weight. + +The stone could not have slipped more than two or three feet, for the +negro was not much injured by it, although it had held him so firmly. +He had the marks of the animal's tusks on one of his legs; but the wound +was not a dangerous one. Ralph bound his handkerchief around it, and +felt very glad to find that the poor fellow was almost as good as new. + +Finding himself able to walk, and seeming to realize how much he owed to +his young rescuer, the stout negro grasped the boy's right hand in both +his own, and with tears glistening in his eyes, uttered a number of +rapid sentences, only a few words of which Ralph could understand, but +which were evidently the outpourings of gratitude. + +Still, there was in his manner an appearance of apprehension, as if he +feared that the lad might not be alone. He would glance furtively about, +like one who is expecting an enemy; and it was plain that he was +meditating a retreat. + +Back of the rocks there was dry, firm land; and in this direction he +looked, as if desirous of moving off. + +Ralph recalled the conversation which he had heard the day before about +the runaway slave. + +"This man may be Jumbo himself," he thought. "I'll try to make him +understand me." + +Then, looking kindly in the negro's face, he said, in Spanish: + +"I think you are Jumbo. I am only a boy, and I am all alone. You are +free; you can go where you will." + +And he pointed to the deep, free woods. + +Ralph had great difficulty in getting out this amount of Castilian; but +the negro, whose own command of that language seemed to be of the most +meagre description, comprehended his meaning. He took the spirit, if not +the words. + +A grateful expression came over his dark face, and again he clasped the +boy's hand, with the same flow of mingled African and Spanish upon his +tongue. + +Ralph bade him a kind good-by, and he walked away into the forest, +waving his sable hand with a gesture full of feeling as he disappeared. + +Our young sailor now proceeded to examine the animal he had killed. + +It is said that the timid man is afraid before the danger, the coward +during it, and the brave man after it. Ralph was afraid after it. + +He felt a kind of weakness about the knees, and wondered that he had not +noticed it before. He remembered how the bristles had stood up on the +boar's back, how the savage jaws had clashed together, and how he had +seen the tusks standing out like long knives as the creature came +straight for him. + +Now how grim the monster looked as he lay in the mud and water, just +where he had dropped dead--not on his side, but with the legs doubled +under him, and the stout, hoggish ears sticking up like ears of corn. + +"The next thing is to find my pony," thought Ralph. "Let's see--which +way did I come? Here are my tracks. I must have come out of that thicket +yonder." + +Then, looking about him, he saw another line of tracks, and, going to +examine it, perceived that it was where the boar had chased the black +man across the morass. Most of the negro's footprints were lost in those +of the hog. + +Almost at the moment in which Ralph reached his pony, he heard the +report of a gun at some distance, and guessed that Mr. Arthur was coming +in search of him. He answered the signal, and the planter, who had +become anxious for his safety, soon made his appearance. + +"I had begun to be really alarmed about you," said Mr. Arthur, "and +feared I should have to go back and summon assistance in the search. If +you had not heard my gun, I should have missed you, for I was just about +to turn in the opposite direction." + +"Oh, I am sorry I have given you all this trouble!" said Ralph. "It is +too bad. But you can't think what I have killed! I am glad you have +come, so that I can show you." + +"Why, how wet and muddy you are!" said the planter, "and how your +clothes are torn! For heaven's sake! where have you been?" + +Ralph related his adventure, and told how the black man had gone into +the forest. + +"I would not have had you take such a risk for all I am worth!" said Mr. +Arthur. "What would your father say if he knew of it?" + +"But the man couldn't get away, and the boar might have got at him +before I could have had a chance to bring any one else here," replied +Ralph. + +"Yes, I know; but it was a fearful risk. No doubt the man was the +runaway that I was speaking of to Mr. Osborne. At least, I should judge +so from your description. Osborne would have detained him, of course; +but I am not sorry that you made no such attempt. I should have been +tempted to let him go myself." + +It was a great relief to Ralph to find that Mr. Arthur took this view of +the matter--a very singular one, he thought, for the owner of five or +six hundred slaves; yet, from what he had seen of his kind friend, he +was not surprised at it. + +The planter was curious to visit the scene of the adventure, and, with +some difficulty, they made their way to the place. + +"Why, Ralph," he exclaimed, looking at the dead animal, and then at the +surroundings of the spot, "it is fearful! Had I known what you were +about, I should have given you up for lost. Not a tree within twenty +rods of you! Suppose you had failed to kill him? It frightens me to +think of it!" + +Going to the ledge beyond, they saw where the negro had scrambled up +with muddy feet, and where the sharp hoofs of the boar had scratched +long lines on the rock. + +It was easy to see how the large, loose stone, which had prevented the +fugitive's escape, had slipped from its place as he tried to climb +over it. + +"Well, well," said Mr. Arthur, "you ought to have one good friend in the +forest, and I guess you have! I don't think that poor fellow will ever +forget you." + +Ralph felt that this was pay enough, even though the friend was only a +poor negro, whom he might never see again. + +And now, leaving the huge game where it had fallen, he accompanied the +good planter back to the little village of huts, where Mrs. Arthur and +Camilla were awaiting them in some anxiety. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE. + +"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of +what had taken place. + +"I am thinking of his mother," said Mrs. Arthur, "and I am so +thankful--so thankful--that he is safe!" + +Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter. + +"You could have kept the negro, I suppose," he said, "as you had your +gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you +being a boy." + +"I didn't wish to _get him anywhere_," replied Ralph. "I wished him to +go where he liked." + +"Of course; it wasn't your business to catch runaway negroes," said the +overseer, "and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been +there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?" + +"No, sir; I laid down my gun." + +"Suppose he had taken it up?" + +"I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he +knew it." + +"I wouldn't have trusted him," remarked the overseer. + +"I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn't think anything about it. +I wanted to stop his leg from bleeding." + +"Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed him up?" + +"He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before he +could get away." + +"Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march for +his old quarters?" + +"I don't know how that was," said Ralph; "but the gun lay all the while +where he could have taken it up if he would." + +"What did you say to him?" + +"I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how grateful +he appeared for what I had done. I hope he has some good place to +stay in." + +"No danger," said the overseer; "he has a good enough place for this +climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. I think some of my +negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they +won't tell." + +"And do they never run away, too?" asked Ralph. + +"Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested by +the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and sometimes, +when they keep in their hiding-places, I track them out myself." + +"And do you whip them when you get them back?" + +"Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again." + +Somehow, Ralph did not like Mr. Osborne; for, besides that it was hard +to help associating him with the cruel office he occupied, there was a +something in him as an individual which repelled the boy's quick, +intuitive sympathies. Practically he might be better than most +overseers, but how could he be otherwise under a superior like Mr. +Arthur? + +Ralph had brought in the parrots and paroquets that he had shot, for he +had not forgotten them on remounting his pony, and he now took off their +skins in a very artistic manner, leaving the beautiful plumage almost +unruffled, much to the delight of Camilla, who thanked him for his +thoughtfulness of her. + +Upon the journey homeward, the two spotted ponies, keeping close +together, galloped, trotted or walked, according to the fancies of their +riders or the variations of the road, while the horses of the older +people jogged more steadily. + +"I wonder," said Camilla, "if Jumbo will not often think of you? I know +he will, though--he cannot help it." + +"I hope he will," said Ralph; "and I hope, too, that he will not suffer. +Your father does not seem at all anxious to get him back." + +"Oh, no! papa does not care for his running away. He says that if the +revolution should succeed, the new government would free all the slaves, +and he is willing that this should be done. Somehow, he is a slaveholder +against his will." + +"Do you like Mr. Osborne?" asked Ralph. + +"Not very well. Papa has a high opinion of him as an overseer, but I do +think that even papa himself is not quite satisfied with all that was +done while we were away in the United States." + +"The revolutionists appear to ruin a great many sugar plantations," said +Ralph. "Do you ever feel afraid of being molested?" + +"Yes, mamma and I do, because they sometimes come very near us; but papa +says he does not think there is any danger. They know what his +sentiments are; besides, he is an _Americano_, and they have a great +respect for _los Americanos_." + +"And isn't he afraid, then, of the Spanish government?" + +"No; he takes no active part on either side; only his feelings are with +the liberal party. I think papa is not much of a politician." + +"I know how he feels," said Ralph; "he is good and kind, and wants +everybody to be free. He is one of the best men I ever saw." + +"He really is!" exclaimed Camilla, enthusiastically. "He is just as good +as any one _can_ be. And," she added, with childlike earnestness, "he +likes you ever so much, too." + +Ralph was perfectly happy upon this ride; and when the party reached +home, it was to be greeted by the unaffected welcome of the negroes, +old and young, who were evidently much attached to their master and his +household. The parrots chattered, and the song-birds sang, while the +odor of the orange blossoms was well in keeping with the rest. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A NEW PROPOSITION. + +Next day the planter and his young guest visited the city, and returned +with Captain Weston. He was thrilled by the story of Ralph's encounter +with the wild boar. It shocked him to think how narrowly a dreadful +calamity had been escaped, and he all the while attending to his +ordinary duties, in ignorance of the danger. + +"Captain," said Mr. Arthur, as they sat conversing together after +reaching the plantation, "I have a proposition to make. Why not let +Ralph remain with me till your return from Philadelphia? I may take a +journey or two about the island within the next few weeks, upon +business, and probably he would enjoy going with me. It would give him +an opportunity to see more of Cuba than he is likely to see in any other +way." + +"I don't know what his mother would say," replied the captain. "She +expects me to bring him home, and I am afraid she would be troubled +about it. Besides, I like to have him with me, though I know you would +take every care of him." + +"I understand your feelings," said the planter; "but my wife is about +writing to Mrs. Weston concerning the debt of gratitude we owe him; and +should you consent to his remaining, I think her letter will place the +matter in such a light as to remove any objection on his mother's part." + +Mrs. Arthur seconded her husband very earnestly. + +"You cannot think how much we would enjoy having him here," she said. +"He has such a kind, lovable nature, and is so bright and active. I do +hope it may be arranged that he may stay." + +Captain Weston revolved the matter seriously, and concluded at length +that it should be left to Ralph's decision. What that decision would be +he could have had very little doubt, as he glanced toward the boy and +girl who were at that moment enjoying a swing under an orange tree of +unusual size, the vibrations of the rope occasionally bringing down some +of the golden fruit. + +Ralph was in ecstasies at the proposition, and Camilla's bright face +lighted up with a pleasure that she did not try to conceal. + +"Oh, how nice it will be!" she said. "I am so glad you are to remain." + +A soft flush leaped to her cheeks as she spoke, and her beautiful eyes +expressed an artlessness that was very bewitching. + +So it was settled that Ralph should remain in Cuba during the two months +which would probably elapse before the return of the Cristoval Colon to +Santiago. His mother (for he could not have endured to think of Mrs. +Weston in any other light) would be comforted by the knowledge that he +was in such good hands. And then how much he would have to tell her when +he should go home! + +Captain Weston was greatly pleased with the plantation and its +management. He had seen much of Cuba, but never anything of this kind +which appeared so satisfactory. He walked and rode with the planter, +smoked his cigar with him, and admired his kind treatment of his slaves. + +After a tarry of two days, he returned to the city, accompanied by the +planter and Ralph. + +As the latter mounted the side of the Cristoval Colon, he met a merry +welcome from the tars, some of whom threw out sly innuendoes in their +sailor style about pearls and pearl-divers, but he did not permit their +harmless jokes to annoy him. + +After a pleasant visit, Mr. Arthur returned to the plantation; but Ralph +did not accompany him, as he desired to remain some days with his father +during the vessel's brief stay in port. + +He was not a boy who was afraid of work, and now, putting on his +everyday rig, he applied himself with a light heart to the duties of the +ship, lying stoutly back upon the slack of the tackle, while the sailors +hoisted the heavy articles of the cargo, or running aloft to loose the +sails for drying after the drenching night dews, and assisting to furl +them at evening. + +"That boy is smart," old Jack Evans would say to his shipmates. "He is +the best fellow for a captain's son I ever fell in with; he is always +looking for something to do." + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +OLD JACK SEES A REMEMBERED FACE. + +One evening, when Ralph went into the forecastle, he found Jack alone +there. The old sailor had just been overhauling his sea-chest, and had +in his hand the baby's shoe which he had so long carried for good luck. + +"I was just looking at it," he said, "because to-day I came across the +father of that identical baby. I hadn't seen him for about sixteen +years, but I knew him in a minute. He was puffing his cigar, just as he +used to do about the decks of the Moro Castle." + +"What!" exclaimed Ralph, "the very man? Oh, how I wish I had been with +you! Who is he, and where does he live?" + +"That I don't know," replied Jack. "Of course, he didn't know me, and I +hadn't a very good chance to introduce myself. He was jabbering with a +lot of other Spaniards on a corner, with his _caramba_ and his _como +esta usted_, so that I didn't feel like going up to him with a yarn +about a baby's shoe. Which way he went I don't know, for I had to get +back to the ship." + +"When was it?" asked Ralph, with great earnestness. + +"It was while I was ashore this noon." + +"Why didn't you tell me?" said the boy. "I would have gone right ashore. +But, no--I couldn't have found him without you. Dear me! I wish I could +have been with you." + +"Why, my lad, it's of no consequence," said Jack. "You seem to think +more of it than I do." + +"But I want to see him," replied Ralph. "I wonder if he is about here +every day?" + +"Likely enough," said Jack. "But I didn't think you cared anything about +the matter." + +"Well, I'm thinking of that baby's shoe," answered Ralph. "It seems so +queer--the way you got it, and the way you have kept it." + +"I know that's odd," said Jack. "I suppose my keeping it is all +nonsense." + +"No, it isn't," said Ralph. "I don't think it is, I'm sure." + +"You believe a little in old shoes, then?" + +"I believe in _that_ shoe, Jack. I mean to go ashore with you, and have +a good look for that man." + +"But we shouldn't stand much chance of finding him," replied Jack. "I've +been here in Santiago a number of times, but this is the first time I +have run across him here." + +Ralph looked anxious and excited; but he saw that Jack felt somewhat +surprised at the interest he took in the matter, and so restrained +himself. + +"After all," he thought, "it may have nothing to do with _me_. Just a +baby on its passage to the United States. But, then, it was going to +Philadelphia, and it was a boy baby; and I must have been a baby at the +same time. I wonder what Jack would say if he knew what I am +thinking of?" + +It would be strange, he thought, if he were really to get track of +himself in such a way--the first of the tracks being made by that tiny +shoe in Jack's chest. And then he reflected how improbable it seemed, +when there were so many babies in the world, that he should have been +_that_ baby. + +"I almost hope the thing will never come to light," he said to himself. +"Perhaps it is better not to know." + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +IN A MENAGERIE. + + +There is a distinct individuality among tigers, as among ourselves, some +being gentle and tolerably tractable, while others are fierce, morose, +and not to be trusted. + +In Mr. G. Sanger's menagerie, at Margate, England, there are two +tigresses which are of exactly opposite characters. Both go by the name +of "Bessy," there being an extraordinary lack of originality in the +nomenclature of animals. + +The difference may be partly owing to the accident of birth, one having +been captured while young, and the other born in a menagerie. + +One might naturally imagine that the latter would be the better tempered +of the two, she never having known the freedom of savage life. But, in +accordance with the invariable rule, the "forest-bred" animal is the +tamer, those which have been born in captivity being always uncertain in +their ways, and not to be trusted. + +Now, "Bessy the First" is forest bred. The head keeper, Walter +Stratford, has the most perfect confidence in her, and can take any +liberties with her. + +After I had paid several visits to the menagerie, I thought that she +began to recognize me, and therefore cultivated her acquaintance. Now, +as soon as I enter the house, Bessy tries to attract my attention, +expects to be patted and stroked, her ears to be pulled, and her nose +rubbed, just as a pet cat would do. + +One day I had an unexpected experience with her. Nearly the whole of the +end of the room is occupied by a huge cage, in which Stratford delights +in putting all sorts of incongruous animals. + +There are several varieties of monkeys, a porcupine, a goat, some +rabbits and guinea-pigs, a few geese and ducks, four cats, +a coati-mondi, two raccoons, a jackal, a little white Pomeranian dog +named Rose, two pigs, and other animals. + +Thinking that the goat would like some fresh grass, I went to the lawn, +gathered a large handful, and brought it to the goat. + +Not a blade of that grass did she get. I had hardly held the grass to +the bars when Rose flew at it, drove the goat away, and literally tore +the grass out of my hands. Three times did I fetch grass before the goat +was allowed to eat a blade of it. Ever since that time I have always +furnished myself with a good supply of grass before visiting these +animals. + +On one occasion I stopped as usual at Bessie's cage, and noticed that +she stared fixedly at the grass. So I said, jokingly: + +"Why, Bessy, you cannot want grass. However, here it is if you want it." + +So I put my hand into the cage, and was much surprised by seeing her +gently scrape the grass out of my hand with her huge paw. Then she lay +down, gathered the grass between her paws, and licked up every particle +of it. + +When she had finished it, she looked appealingly in my face as if asking +for another supply; so I brought a fresh handful, the whole of which she +took in the same dainty way. + +Meanwhile Rose was performing the most extraordinary antics at the end +of the room. She had seen me bring in the grass, and naturally imagined +that it was intended for her. What with disappointment, and what with +jealousy, she was simply frantic, barking, yelping, jumping up and down, +scratching at the bars of the cage, and expressing her outraged feelings +in the most ludicrous fashion. Now I always give Bessy her allowance of +grass first, and then take another portion to Rose and the goat. + +It is a rather remarkable fact that the carnivora are much more eager +for the grass than are the deer, camels, antelopes and other vegetable +feeders. + +As to "Bessy the First," she is so fond of Stratford, and places such +reliance on him, that when she has cubs she will allow him to enter the +cage, take away the cubs and hand them about among the visitors. In +fact, she is quite pleased to see that her offspring attract so much +attention. + +Very different is "Bessy the second." She never had a very good temper, +but was not considered to be a very dangerous animal, until an event +occurred which completely altered, or, at all events, had an evil +influence upon her character. + +Nearly two years ago, three young lion cubs were in the next cage to +hers. One day she seemed to be seized with a sudden frenzy, smashed the +partition between the cages, flew at the cubs, and killed two of them in +a moment. + +The whole attack was so quick and unexpected that Stratford had only +just time to save the life of the third cub. Since that time she has +been carefully watched, for when once a lion or a tiger has broken +through a cage it is apt to repeat the operation. + +"Bessy the Second" is restless, morose and suspicious, and if any of the +animals make a sudden movement, she starts up, stares at them through +the bars, and often sets up a series of roars, which have the effect of +causing every lion and tiger in the place to roar for sympathy, so that +the noise is deafening. + + + + +STORIES OF DUMB CREATURES. + + +--Says a naturalist: "We came to a large piece of timber, and while +passing through it, I had my first experience with the honey-bird of +South Africa. This curious little bird is, in size and plumage, about +like an English sparrow, and gets his name from the fact that the little +fellow, who is very fond of honey, being unable to obtain it for +himself, will lead men to the places where the wild bees have hidden +their stores of rich, wild honey. Whenever this bird sees a man, he will +fly close to him, hovering around, uttering a twittering sound; then he +will go off in the direction of the place (generally a tree) where the +honey is, flying backward and forward in a zigzag fashion. Then back he +will come, twittering in the same manner, as if to say, 'Come along: +I'll show you where it is.' These actions are repeated until the tree is +reached, when the bird will indicate it very plainly by flying to it and +hovering around it. If the distance is great (and sometimes the +honey-bird will lead a person who is willing to follow a distance of ten +miles); he will wait on a tree until the follower comes up, and will +then continue his business of piloting. He is very persistent, and will +do his best to draw any one on; but if the party is not posted about +honey-birds, and refuses to follow, or goes in the wrong direction, the +bird will leave, probably in search of some person who will appreciate +his efforts to provide him with sweetmeats. While the bees are being +smoked out, and the honey taken up, the bird will hover in the vicinity +until the job is done, when of course his reward comes in the shape of a +feast on the fragments that are left. If he knows of other hives, just +as soon as one is disposed of he will lead the way to another, and I +have, since this time, known as many as four trees taken up by a party +in one day. When the honey-bird has shown one tree, if the hunters are +satisfied with that, and refuse to follow him further, he leaves them; +but I have never heard of an instance in which the bird misled any one +in regard to finding honey. It frequently happens, however, that a +honey-bird will lead a person into very dangerous places, and unless the +hunter keeps his eyes about him when following this bird, he may run +right into a lion, a venomous snake, or some other equally undesirable +acquaintance." + +--A correspondent of a New Orleans paper writes: "Dick was only a big +toad. The boys found him beside the road one day last summer when the +June roses were in bloom, and triumphantly deposited him in one of the +flower-beds, 'to eat the bugs and things off'n the pinks and pansies and +rosemary; and, besides, you know, mamma, the other boys will throw +stones at him.' That settled it, and Dick (as they gravely informed me +they had named him) was left to enjoy his flowery home. Occasionally, +when cutting flowers, I noticed the exceeding tameness of the little +creature, and was often assured by the boys, 'Our Dick is the very best +toad in town.' However, I noticed nothing uncommon until two or three +weeks after they had brought him home, when I was attracted by their +peals of laughter, and presently heard them calling, 'Dick, Dick! come, +Dick!' I slipped out and peeped around the corner of the house, and +beheld a most comical sight--one of the boys down on his knees, holding +out his hands and calling to the toad, which was gravely hopping toward +him, making a peculiar little noise, until he reached the outstretched +hand, into which he hopped and sat contentedly blinking his bright, +bulging eyes. After this I noticed the strange pet more closely, and +found he would always come promptly when his name was called, and seemed +very grateful when presented with a worm or bug. He would come at any +kindly call, but showed greatest preference for eight-year-old, +mischievous Teddy, into whose hand he would always hop, and whom he +would hop around after as long as he would walk around the flower-bed +where Dick made his home, but never beyond its limits. And such pansies, +pinks and other sweet posies I had there!--no cut stem or bitten leaves. +Dick ate all the floral enemies up that ventured there. When the cold +days of autumn came upon us, he left us, and we have seen him no more. +What is the moral of this? Nothing--only that kindness and mercy shown +to even so humble a creature as a toad will bring pleasures and a sure +recompense." + +--Writing from Tecumseh, Mich., a correspondent sends this: "A few years +ago our house was infested with a large number of rats, which had taken +up their abode in a recess of the cellar that had formerly been used as +a landing-place for a dumb-waiter, but was now filled with odds and ends +of every description. We had endeavored to rid ourselves of these pests, +but all our attempts were in vain, and they held their daily matinees as +usual. On hearing more of a commotion than common, one afternoon, +I softly opened the cellar door, and, to my amazement, saw nine rats, +one of which had mounted a box containing potatoes, while the others +were stretched out in a line leading to their den--the recess before +mentioned. Now comes the most curious part of my story: The rat that +stood on the box of potatoes would push a potato over the edge, then the +rat in line nearest the box would roll the potato to his neighbor, and +so on with each one till the potato was safely stowed away. I watched +them for some time, and, seeing the potatoes disappearing rather +rapidly, I dispersed the earnest workers by a stamp of my foot." + + + + +PUZZLEDOM. + +NO. CCCLXXVII. + + +Original contributions solicited from _all_. Puzzles containing obsolete +words will be received. Write contributions on one side of the paper, +and apart from all communications. Address "Puzzle Editor," GOLDEN DAYS, +Philadelphia, Pa. + + +ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLES. + + + No. 1. Calendar. + + No. 2. B E S T O W + E P A U L E + S A C R E D + T U R B I D + O L E I N E + W E D D E D + + No. 3. Wise-acre. + + No. 4. C A L A B O O S E + A N I M A B L E + L I M E R O D + A M E N D E + B A R D S + O B O E + O L D + S E + E + + No. 5. Mark Tapley. + + No. 6. M O C H E S + O T I O S E + C I C U T A + H O U D A H + E S T A T E + S E A H E N + + No. 7. Good-humored. + + No. 8. F A I R S + A B N E T S + I N T A I L S + R E A L L I E D + S T I L E T T O S + S L I T H E R + S E T E E + D O R + S + + No. 9. Byrnehc, Pygmalion, Traddles. + + No. 10. G R A T I S + R E V E S T + A V E N E R + T E N U R E + I S E R I N + S T R E N E + + No. 11. Cover-shame. + + No. 12. + + H U M E C T A T I O N + P O L I A N I T E + B A T T E N S + S E T A E + D O R + O + + +NEW PUZZLES. + + +NO. 1. NUMERICAL. + + When trees and fields _complete_ + Their garbs of green; + When birds and flowers sweet + Again are seen, + And airy zephyrs murmur by, + My 5, 4, 3 and 6 soars high. + + Oh! how I'm in a state + Of agitation, + 6, 1 and 2 I get + An inspiration. + 'Twill be in vain--in vain my lay, + For spring will then have flown away. + +_Villanova, Pa._ VILLANOVA. + + +NO. 2. SQUARE. + +1. The young of the great black-backed gull. 2. To come. 3. Carves. +4. Granters. 5. To entirely destroy (_Obs._) 6. To grow smaller. + + _Rochester, N.Y._ EGERTON. + + +NO. 3. CHARADE. + + _Prime_ not, ye fair ladies, or gentlemen wise. + To disbelieve what for your fortune will prove; + _Next total_, not gold, should select as a prize, + _Three_, friends, to the right, and marry for love. + + _Danville, Va._ ALEDA. + + +NO. 4. PENTAGON. + +1. A letter. 2. The pulp of fruit. 3. A shrub of the genus _Corylus_. +4. The Brazil nut. 5. Deep blue colors. 6. Contrite. 7. A detached +bastion (_Fort._) 8. To admit extension. 9. Rigid. + + _Haverhill, Mass._ PYGMY. + + +NO. 5. MUTATION. + + Like a hawk that pounces on its prey, + Swift as lightning on a summer day, + Through the stillness of the air you came, + Without life, and more--without a name. + Man has called you _whole_--perhaps you are + Dross ejected from some brilliant star! + But methinks the spheres their place will yield + ERE TO TIME your mystery is revealed. + + _Newark, N.J._ DEMOSTHENES. + + +NO. 6. SQUARE. + +1. Gaps. 2. By reason of this. 3. A fleet of vessels. 4. A sort of +flying fish. 5. A title addressed to a lady. 6. The principal gold coin +of ancient Greece. + + _East Brady, Pa._ ST. ELMO. + + +NO. 7. CHARADE. + + Come here, my _second_--lose no time; + _First_ lively, don't procrastinate; + Although, my _all_, I'll spare no pains + To render you less obdurate. + + My _all_! Yet truly as a _last_ + I've learned to look upon my boy: + Most true it is, 'tis but a _one_ + From sad distrust to life of joy! + + _First_ dame, indeed, I would not be + Held in my _second's_ inmost thought; + Transmuted by love's magic power, + My _all_ my _last_ is, without doubt. + + _Woburn, Mass._ GLEN COTTAGE. + + +NO. 8. HALF SQUARE. + +1. Concise. 2. Birds resembling thrushes. 3. A poisonous substance +composed of minute fungi. 4. Forms. 5. Kinds of liquor. 6. An iron chain +(_Obs._) 7. Exists. 8. A letter. + + _Boston, Mass._ PI ETA. + + +NO. 9. NUMERICAL. + + The _whole_ is a thing that drives away harm, + Defined by dear Webster as "a charm;" + My 5, 6, 2, 3, 3 is by the same called "not much;" + My 6, 7, 8, a "vassal," "subject," "person," or such: + My 5, 2, 3, 1 is "taste," "savor," or "a sailor;" + My 1, 2, 4, 3 of a coat is oft shortened by a tailor. + + Now I think you have all you require to solve this numerical; + If not, I will tell you the _whole_ relates to nothing clerical. + + _N.Y. city._ ATELLO. + + +NO. 10. SQUARE. + +1. Barley-water. 2. A small particle. 3. A fine white powder or earth, +without taste or smell. 4. A paved way. 5. To convey or transfer. +6. Tidier. + + _Chicago, Ill._ U. REKA. + + +NO. 11. ANAGRAM. + +TOM, THESE MEN CRITICISE COMMON RATES. + + The law's strong arm and stern decree + Are turned against monopoly; + Justice and equal rights for all + Be ours though the heavens fall! + + _Hazleton, Pa._ P. O. STAGE. + + +NO. 12. INVERTED PYRAMID. + +_Across_: 1. The process of analysis by means of standard solutions +(_Analyt. Chem._) 2. Little tufts. 3. Species of walls made of stiff +clay. 4. To steal (_Obs._) 5. A letter. + +_Down_: 1. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3. To surpass. 4. To impair +seriously. 5. A case in which the relics of saints were kept. 6. To +produce. 7. A pronoun. 8. A bone. 9. A letter. + + _Hoboken, N.J._ JUNIUS. + + +Answers will appear in our next issue; solvers in six weeks. + + +SPECIAL.--GOLDEN DAYS Puzzlers' Directory for each of the first correct +solutions to Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. + + +SOLVERS. + +Puzzles in "PUZZLEDOM" No. CCCLXXI were correctly solved by E. C. +Lectic, Maud Lynn, Demosthenes, Barnyard, Skye Buckeye, Gemini, Egerton, +H. S. Nut, Jr., Will O' the Wisp, F. Aitchell, Col. O' Rado, Dorothy +Doolittle, Grepwic, Cricket, P. O. Stage, Sub Rosa, Fairplay, Alcyo, +Tunie H. S., R. M'Bride, Jo Jo, Khimo, Lorrac, Billy Bluebottle, May Le +Hosmer, O. Pal, Vladimir, F. Arce, Nue Norton, J. H. Mowbray, U. Reka, +Sim Sly, Clarence W. Chapin, Reklaw, Io, Tom B. Stone, Toodlewinks, Jo +Ram, Craftsman, Fly, Alpheus, Chinook, Puzz L., Teddy, Wm. H. Deucker, +Annie Gramme, W. T. Anderson, C. R. Irving, Jr., Bennie Knowels, Monte +Christo, V. G. Ohnja, H. U. T., Alphonzo, B. L. Under, Bryx, J. I. C., +Harry S., Jno. Bopp, Cale and Harry Allen, J. Evans, Alpha Sigma, +Liberty, Brooklyn Boy, Jno. Beck, Howard H. Geiger, Earnest Fleet, +Washingtonian, Annie A. Powell, Dick Ens, C. H. Sweetzer, Panama Derby, +Orpheus, Jno. Fitzgerald, Henn, Reidsville, Mahdea, A. B. Y. Nomis, +H. C. Williams, Mas Ten, Panama Hat, Tidal Wave, Primrose, Geo. W. +Phinney, J. F. Ireland, Laf A. Yette, Freddie Geib, R. O. Chester, A. B. +Williams, Lucrezius Borgers, Lackawanna, Laeno, Whisk, Effie W.McConkey, +C. B. A., Puer and Swamp Angel. + +COMPLETE LIST.--E. C. Lectic. + +The specials were awarded as follows: + + No. 1. Cricket, La Porte, Ind. + No. 3. Clarence W. Chapin, Akron. Ohio. + No. 5. E. C. Lectic. Chicago, Ill. + No. 7. Alcyo, New York city. + No. 9. Jo Ram, New York city. + No. 11. E. C. Lectic, Chicago, Ill. + + * * * * * + +*Golden Days* + +ISSUED WEEKLY + +Our Subscription Price. + +Subscriptions to "GOLDEN DAYS," $3.00 per annum, $1.50 per six months, +$1.00 per four months, all payable in advance. + +Single numbers, six cents each. We pay postage on all United States and +Canada subscriptions. + + +TO THOSE WHO DESIRE TO GET UP CLUBS. + +If you wish to get up a club for "GOLDEN DAYS," send us your name, and +we will forward you, _free of charge_, a number of specimen copies of +the paper, so that, with them, you can give your neighborhood a good +canvassing. + + +OUR CLUB RATES. + +For $5 we will send two copies for one year to one address, or each copy +to a separate address. + +For $10 we will send four copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address. + +For $20 we will send eight copies to one address, or each copy to +separate addresses. + +The party who sends us $20 for a club of eight copies (all sent at one +time) will be entitled to a copy for one year FREE. + +Getters-up of clubs of eight copies can afterward add single copies at +$2.50 each. + +Money should be sent to us either by Post Office Order or Registered +Letter, so as to provide as far as possible against its loss by mail. + +All communications, business or otherwise, must be addressed to + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + * * * * * + + [->] _A new Serial Story, entitled_ + + Three Young Silver Kings! + + BY OLIVER OPTIC, + + Will Begin Next Week. + + * * * * * + +NATURE'S SCULPTURE. + +BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE. + + +Perhaps the strangest public work ever suggested by man was that of +Dinocrates, whose scheme was to cut and carve Mount Athos into the form +of a gigantic man, holding in one hand a town, in the other a cup to +receive the drainage of the mountain before it reached the sea. + +His king, Alexander the Great, declined to accept his plan; though, +amused at his extravagant notion, he gave him a permanent place in his +attendance. + +A small village in Northern Italy to a wonderful extent fulfills the +wild dream of the Macedonian architect, the houses being grouped in such +a manner upon a broken eminence of land that from a certain point a +striking resemblance to an upturned human face is outlined. In addition +to a chin, nose and brow, a white chimney lends an eye to the profile, +while a line of bushes at the crown has the appearance of shaggy locks. + +Allowing that a vivid imagination has much to do toward perfecting these +faces of nature's sculpture, and that a range of hills or coast line +will lend itself to almost any fancy we choose, there are in different +localities stones and cliffs bearing a remarkable resemblance to the +human countenance, individual peculiarity sometimes being easily traced +in these grave omens. + +As the voyager approaches Rio Janeiro, he sees in the distance, +apparently rising from the sea, lonely and majestic, a massive stone +head, with the profile of the Iron Duke of England, the brow, the nose, +the chin, each feature perfect in its outline. + +St. Vincent, of the Cape Verde group, has a huge volcanic rock which +requires no grievous strain of the imagination to transform into the +figure of George Washington in a recumbent position, the profile, the +hair and even the collar frill being reproduced with remarkable +clearness. + +Rising grimly from the whirlpool of waters beating fiercely the rugged +western extremity of Santa Catalina Island, in the West Indies, is an +isolated block of basaltic rock, many feet in height, bearing a marked +likeness of a human face. It is known as "Morgan's Head," from a fancied +resemblance to that noted free-booter. + +Among the countless rocks fringing the coast of Norway is one forming a +striking picture of a horse and rider about to plunge into the surf, +fifteen hundred feet below. This gigantic illusion, to the fanciful +minds of the old bards presented the image of Odin as he disappeared +before the advance of Christianity. + +In Iceland, overlooking one of its picturesque valleys, is a bluff +surmounted by a colossal head, covered by a stunted growth looking not +unlike a cap with frills. Before this august image the worshipers of +Odin were wont to bow in serious reverence. + +The rugged coast of England has several of these faces of nature. Off +the Cornish point are seen the Great Lions, and lower down the shore the +Armed Knight. There is also the Old Man, the Old Dame, Duke's Nose and +Witch's Head. + +Not the least remarkable of these freaks is the Old Man of the Mountain, +who uprears his gigantic form amid a sea of cliffs and rugged heights, +in the heart of that region known as the "Switzerland of America"--New +Hampshire. + + "What doth thy anxious gaze espy? + An abrupt crag hung from the mountain's brow! + Look closer; scan that bare, sharp cliff on high; + Aha! the wondrous shape bursts on thee now-- + _A perfect human face_--neck, chin, mouth, nose and brow!" + +A face of granite that alone kept watch and ward over the country long +ere the foot of man pressed its soil. In the grave, philosophical +outlines is traced a resemblance to Franklin's countenance. At the base +of this singular mountain lies a sparkling sheet of water, called the +"Old Man's Mirror." + +More beautiful and wonderful than any of these grave images is the Maid +of the Kaaterskill Falls, in the Catskill Mountains. With the mellow +light of sunset falling obliquely upon the thin layer of water flowing +over a sharp ledge worn and fretted by the continual wear of the current +for ages, rock and spray together making up the illusion, is to be seen +the fairy-like form of an Indian maid, with flowing hair and robes. So +clearly does she appear that the beholder has at first the startling +conception of gazing upon a living being, suspended in the waters. + +Indian tradition says that this maid of the mist was once the beloved of +the Great Spirit; but herself falling in love with a Mohawk brave, she +perished here, fleeing from her angry master. + + + + +MONUMENT PARK. + + +The formations from which this takes its name are among the greatest +curiosities to be seen in Colorado. Pen cannot well describe them. They +consist of a series of curiously shaped natural monuments, which have +been formed from sandstone rock solely by the action of the weather, +a thin strata of iron on the top having protected these particular +pieces and preserved them. + +No accurate estimate can be made of the thousands of years this work of +the elements has been in progress. There are perhaps a hundred of the +peculiar formations of different sizes and shapes, some of which are +really fantastic. + +The Garden of the Gods is also a remarkable freak of Nature, partaking +somewhat more of the grand and imposing. + +It is a secluded spot, hemmed in by great rocks stood up on edge and on +end. They are some of the more marked of the numerous evidences on every +hand here of a grand upheaval some time in the past. + +Imagine tremendous flat rocks, large enough to cover a quarter of an +acre of ground, standing up on edge, 330 feet high, and you will have +some idea of what forms the chief wonder of this garden. + + G. B. G. + + + + +BACKLOGS MADE OF STONE. + + +It will surprise many persons of the present day to be told that the +"backlog" of which we read so much in old-time stories was a large +stone, a porous stone being preferred if possible. This stone was buried +in the ashes, and on top was placed the "back stick." The back stone in +those primitive times played a very important part in the economy of +early housekeeping. Matches were not then invented. Flint, steel and tow +were the only means of lighting a fire or a lamp. Imagine for a moment +the Bridget of to-day thus engaged, with the thermometer ten degrees +below zero in the kitchen. The stone, together with the ashes with which +it was covered, served to retain fire and heat through the night, and +all that was necessary in the morning was a little kindling and gentle +use of the indispensable bellows, and a fire was as readily made as at +the present day. + + + + +[Illustration] + +MAMIE'S LETTER TO HEAVEN. + +BY J. W. WATSON, AUTHOR OF "BEAUTIFUL SNOW." + + + An humble room in a tenement house, + Four stories above the street, + Where a scanty fire, a scanty light, + And a scanty larder meet; + A woman sits at her daily toil, + Plying the needle and thread; + Her face is pallid with want and care, + And her hand as heavy as lead. + + There she sits with her weary thought, + While the tears drop full and fast; + There she sits and stitches away, + With her memory in the past; + Beside her, perched on her little stool, + Sits Mamie, a six-year-old, + Who says she is never hungry at all, + And never admits she is cold. + + There she sits and chatters away, + Not seeing her mother's tears; + "Mamma, 'tis a month since winter came, + And I think to me it appears + That the Lord will never find us out, + If He's anything to give, + Unless we can, some way, let Him know + The street and the number we live. + + "You see, mamma, last winter He passed, + While papa was sick in bed; + He doesn't know we are here, mamma, + And He doesn't know papa is dead; + And so it happened all winter long + We didn't have anything nice, + And so I think it would only be fair + If He came this winter twice. + + "Do you 'member, mamma, that little, old man + Who gave me the bright, new cent? + Well, it wouldn't buy much to eat, mamma, + And it would not pay for the rent; + So I bought a sheet of paper, mamma, + And I've written a letter in print-- + It's written to heaven direct, mamma, + And I've given Him just a hint. + + "Shall I read it aloud to you, mamma? + Yes! Well, this is what I have said: + 'Dear Lord, my name is Mamie St. Clair, + And dear, darling papa is dead; + I live forty-four in the street they call Fourth, + And the cold of the winter is here; + My mamma is poor, and I go to school, + And I hope you will send this year. + + "'I hope you will send mamma a new dress + Of something that's warm and nice, + A paper of flour, some loaves of bread, + And a couple of pounds of rice; + And dear, loving Lord, do, if you feel rich, + You could send her some shoes to wear, + And two or three pounds of beef for soup, + Or anything else you can spare. + + "'I've heard my dear mamma say many a time + That a chicken would do her much good, + And so, dear Lord, if chickens is cheap, + A chicken also, if you could; + With three pails of coal, if it isn't too much, + And some stuff for mamma's lame knee, + And oh, my dear Lord, pray don't think me mean, + But a dear little dolly for me.' + + "That's all, my dear mamma, and now let me run + And send it to heaven at once, + For if He don't get it by Christmas time, + He surely will think me a dunce." + The letter was posted, the letter was scanned, + With numberless grins by the men + Whose duty it was to assort all the waifs + That came from the wonderful pen. + + "Now where's the dear Lord?" said one of these men; + "That's me," said another, quite grave. + "Here's a letter, then!"--tossing the missive to him, + "And a twopenny stamp you will save." + The letter was opened, the letter was read, + There were very few tearless eyes; + The reader looked round on the silent group, + And then, with a nod, he cries: + + "Now, boys, there is something in this that I like-- + It's nature right straight up to win, + And we've all of us got to be lords right here-- + So here is my dot to begin." + The dollars flew down on the table like snow, + They came from the crowd's great heart, + A letter was written by proxy and signed, + The proposer to play the part. + + And so it came off upon one winter night + That there happened this strange affair; + A tapping came soft at Mamie's door, + And a very old man stood there; + He was clad from his head to his feet so warm, + And his beard it was long and white. + "Good-even!" he said, as he pushed in a box + Then vanished quite out of their sight. + + They were speechless, and only could stare at the box + Directed to Mamie St. Clair, + From "The Lord in Heaven." What did it all mean? + And a letter beside was there-- + A letter from heaven read: "Be a good girl, + And never do anything ill; + Love mamma as well as you do to-day." + And a fifty-dollar bill. + + If I wrote from now till the crack of doom, + I could tell no more than this. + It was all packed down in that wonderful box, + And the dolly--oh, gracious! what bliss! + And in time that letter to heaven direct + Sent many and many a friend, + And perhaps a new papa--who knows?--may be sent + By heaven itself, in the end. + + + + + Striking out for Themselves. + + BY F. H. SWEET. + + +"Reckon we'll get 'em burned out by Tuesday week, Tom, and be ready for +Pylant's oranges. Suppose the old fellow will want us to take pay in +town lots, though." + +"He'll get left if he does;" and the lad by the fire removed the skillet +of fried bacon from the coals and put the coffee-pot in its place. "I'm +willing to work out a five-acre lot, but don't want any towns. Say, +Dave, what do you think of the party going to Punta Rassa?" he added, as +he thrust a stick into the bean-pot to see what prospect there was for +an early supper. + +"Well, from what I hear, I fancy there is plenty of good land to be +homesteaded in that section, and if we didn't have a good job here, I'd +be for joining them. I begin to feel a little anxious to have some land +where we can be starting trees of our own." + +"Same here; but the land will come in good time, and while we've got a +week's rations of bacon and hominy ahead, I shan't kick against luck. +But grub's ready." + +Both lads fell to with a relish. Beans seemed to be the central dish at +almost every meal, and yet they somehow never seemed to tire of them. + +They had encountered a good many hard knocks since leaving their Western +home, but were evidently none the worse for them. + +Dave Freeman, the son of a hard-working Kansas farmer, had come South to +better his prospects, and with a deep but unexpressed longing to help +the home folks. + +At Flomaton, or Pensacola Junction, as it is now called, he had fallen +in with Tom Byrne, an Indiana boy, and the two had soon become fast +friends. + +By getting occasional jobs along the way, and not infrequently "tramping +it," they had reached their present quarters, near Panasofkee, in Sumter +County. + +Here they had taken a contract from a "papertown" proprietor to clear +five acres of land for seventy-five dollars. + +This was a low figure, as the ground was full of palmetto roots, and not +only were the trees to be cleared from the land, but all stumps to be +burned out. + +The boys already had been at work over two months, and hoped that +another week would complete the job. On the first, their employer was to +commence gathering his oranges, and they expected several weeks' +employment with him. + +Although the work of clearing was very hard, the boys were rugged and +hearty, and thoroughly enjoyed their novel surroundings. + +After finishing their beans, they put away the few dishes, and began the +round of their stumps. Here and there one was dying out, and new fuel +had to be piled around it. As one stump burned out, it was dragged from +its hole and placed against the roots of another. + +And so, from one stump to another, adding fuel to this or dragging that +away, their faces covered with soot, and looking more like negroes than +white folks, the boys darted around, shouting gleefully to each other +whenever one of the tall pines burned through and came crashing to the +ground. + +A little to one side, and out of reach of the fires, the boys had built +a little six-by-ten shanty, where they kept their belongings and +occasionally slept. More frequently, however, they slung their hammock +between two pines, near the camp-fire. + +At first, the peculiar roar of the alligators from the swamp near by had +disturbed their rest, but they very soon got accustomed to it, and also +to the startling challenge of a large bat, which is apt to frighten +strangers by its sudden appearance and shrill cry. + +A few days before the boys finished their contract, a party of surveyors +stopped at their shanty to get a drink of water, and to see if they +could get them for a couple of days. + +As the pay offered was good, the boys were glad to accept it, and five +minutes were sufficient to put their few belongings into the shanty and +to nail up the door. + +It took the party some hours to reach their destination, and as soon as +they had partaken of a lunch, they began to survey a site for a new +town. + +The boys had seen a great many "paper towns" since they came to Florida, +but as a rule had taken little interest in them. They were usually +ventures of men who did not have money enough to make their speculations +a success. + +Tom and Dave were put to work carrying chain, and very soon became +interested in the talk of their companions. + +The spot chosen was a very beautiful one--a sloping hillside gradually +narrowing into a strip six or seven hundred yards wide and running +between two of the most picturesque lakes the boys had ever seen. + +[Illustration: +"'WHY, BOYS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?' TOM LOOKED UP TO MEET +THE KEEN EYES OF THE DOCTOR."] + +From the talk of the surveyors they learned that a number of them were +railroad men, and that they were endeavoring to buy at nominal figures +all the choice lands along the line of the new road before the settlers +became aware of its value. + +They discussed their plans before the boys without reserve, and it soon +became evident to the latter that the future of this hillside could bear +no comparison with the other paper towns they had seen. A number of very +wealthy men were interested in it, and they proposed to make it the +winter home of themselves and friends. + +"You see, gentlemen," said one of the men to his companions, as he +pointed across the strip of land to the slope on the other side, "the +road will wind around the lake, across the neck of land, and along the +western side of the lake to the right, and then in almost a bee-line +toward Palatka. Ten years from now, and this hillside for forty miles +will be a succession of orange groves. Near the depot we shall have a +limited number of business lots, while the balance of the land will be +surveyed into large orange grove and villa tracts. It will be specified +in each deed that no cheap buildings shall be erected. It is not a mere +speculation, as there are already a dozen or more men who will begin +elegant residences as soon as the land is surveyed." + +"Do you know, professor, who owns that point jutting into the lake? +It is a fine building site." + +The speaker was a tall, sharp-featured man of middle age, whom his +friends addressed as doctor. + +"No," answered the professor, "but I think a man named Pylant is the +owner, and that the twenty acres beyond belong to a Dutchman in Eustis. +However, we do not wish to make inquiries at present. They saw us when +we came out, and should we go back now and value their land, they will +put on four prices. Our policy is to go back as though we were +disappointed in the land, and by the time we return next week they will +offer it at our own figures. We can probably get it for two to four +dollars an acre. It is thirty miles from any town, and as Pylant got it +from the government, four dollars will be a big price to him." + +"And in twelve months it will be worth as many hundred," said the +doctor. + +Tom and Dave looked at each other curiously, and wondered how they would +feel if they owned a few acres on this hillside. + +At the end of the week--for the two days' work had lengthened into +five--the boys were paid fifteen dollars, and told they would be soon +wanted for several months, should they care to return. + +Everything was found safe at the shanty, and the boys went to work at +the stumps with a will. At the end of the third day, the last root was +reduced to ashes, and then Dave set to work to prepare a supper suitable +for such an occasion. Fried quail (which they had snared), orange slump, +pineapple shortcake, baked beans and a pot of steaming coffee graced the +table (or rather box), while by way of dessert a pillow-case full of +oranges, picked up in a neighboring grove, stood by the side of the +banqueting board. + +Next morning the boys went to see Mr. Pylant. + +"So you've cleaned it up, have you?" he exclaimed, as the boys told him +their errand. "I saw last week it was most done. Reckon you'll want a +little money and the rest in land. Sharp boys! know land is best--goin' +up, goin' up all the time." + +"But if you please, Mr. Pylant, we'd rather have the money," said Dave, +quietly. + +"Money!" exclaimed the "cracker," in astonishment. "Why, boys, in one +year there'll be a city on that land, and you'll be rich. The lots I let +you have for thirty dollars'll be worth a fortune." + +"We don't want any lots," replied Dave, decidedly. "We intend to get +some land when we can, but we must have it large enough to put out a +good grove on." + +"Well, I'll sell you a five-acre lot near the village for two hundred +dollars, and you can work it out." + +"Too much," answered Dave. "We want cheaper land, and are willing to go +a longer distance from town." + +"But that's cheap," expostulated Pylant, who began to fear he would have +to pay out money. "How far would you be willin' to go for land?" he +added, as another idea seemed to strike him. + +"Not particular, if the land is good and price low." + +"Then I've got the identical place for you," cried Pylant, his face +brightening; "splendid land, and on a beautiful lake." + +"How far?" + +Pylant hesitated. + +"Mebbe it's twenty miles or so," he at length said, slowly; "but it's +good, and I'll let you have it low." + +"Twenty miles is a long distance from town," said Dave, dubiously; "but +what'll you take?" + +Fearing he would lose the sale, Pylant lowered the figures he had +mentally fixed upon, and said, quickly: + +"If you take the twenty acres, you can have it for three dollars and a +half an acre. I reckoned on sellin' to the party here last week, and I +'lowed to myself I'd ask five dollars. But, somehow, they didn't seem to +take to it." + +"Well," said Dave, slowly, as though hesitating, "I reckon we'll take +it. Can you fix up the deed now?" + +"Right off!" answered Pylant, quickly, fearing the boys might change +their mind. "Here are the other five dollars I owe you." + +Ten minutes later, Dave and Tom were the owners of the coveted twenty +acres. + +For the next two weeks the boys worked in the orange grove and added +another thirty-five dollars to their fund. + +Their living cost very little, and they now had nearly fifty dollars +between them. + +Feeling comparatively wealthy, and with the prospect of, perhaps, weeks +of idleness before them, if they remained where they were, the boys +concluded to remove to their new possession. + +Provisions enough to last two months were purchased, and with these, +and with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, axes, and other tools, +the boys set out. + +Although the load was packed and strapped to their backs in the most +convenient manner, it took two days to complete their journey. + +The third was spent in making a camp and looking up the stubs which +marked the boundaries of their twenty acres. + +Like most of the high pine land in Florida, their tract was free from +palmetto, and consequently much easier to clear than the low pine they +had previously been at work upon. + +Four weeks passed, and they had heard nothing from the surveying party. + +Nearly three acres were cleared, and the boys were already calculating +how many orange and lemon trees they would put out. + +One morning, as Tom was digging a hole under the roots of a lofty pine, +preparatory to setting it on fire, he was greeted with a surprised: + +"Why, boys! What are you doing here?" + +And he looked up to meet the keen eyes of the doctor. + +"Clearing up our new purchase," answered Tom, quietly. + +The doctor's shrewd face broadened into a smile. + +"I see," he said, pleasantly. "But how much are we to pay you boys for +outwitting us? I saw Pylant yesterday, and was told that you had the +land. The old man was nearly crazy, when one of us said we would be +willing to go as high as twenty dollars an acre." + +"I reckon we don't care to sell at present," said Dave. "Our twenty +acres wouldn't make much difference to you, who own as many thousand +around the lakes." + +The doctor and his friends laughed good-humoredly. + +"That's right, boys," said the one called professor; "hold the land for +an advance. It will come sooner than you expect, perhaps. But we shall +want your services for the next three months, to help our surveyors; so +be at our camp in the morning." + +After this the boys could not complain of loneliness. A few weeks of +surveying outlined the streets and blocks of the new town; a sawmill was +quickly under way; buildings went up rapidly, and here and there were +displayed the new goods of enterprising young merchants. + +The fame of the new town spread through the surrounding country, and +every day brought new arrivals, seeking work; and soon hundreds of axes +could be heard on the hillside, clearing the land and making ready for +the numerous young groves to be put out in the spring. + +Dave and Tom had all the work they could do, and utilized the evenings +and odd moments in burning the trees and stumps on their land. By the +first of February they had five acres cleared and fenced, and ready for +trees. + +Believing the best to be the cheapest, they sent to one of the nurseries +for three hundred and fifty budded trees. They took especial pains in +setting them out, and in due time had as thrifty a young grove as one +could wish to see. + +The trees cost them all the money they had earned and most of what they +had laid aside; but when they looked at their beautiful young grove, +they were more than satisfied. + +Before the end of the year the proposed railroad was built, and its +advent made a tremendous rise in the value of land. + +The boys had had many excellent offers for their land before, but +invariably declined to consider them. As the depot had been built very +near them, they knew their place must advance rapidly. + +However, shortly after the erection of the depot, they received an offer +of seven thousand dollars for the unimproved ten acres, and after a +short consultation, decided to accept it. Dave had not seen his people +for nearly two years, and was anxious to visit them. Tom, who was alone +in the world, was to remain and look after their grove. + +So a few weeks later saw Dave walking up the lane to the old homestead. +Knowing how particular his father was, he was greatly surprised at the +thriftless look of everything. A man was hobbling across the yard as he +approached, and Dave saw with dismay that the haggard face belonged to +his father. + +Their meeting may be imagined, and Dave soon knew of the broken leg and +the long, hard winter following it, with no one to look after things and +unpaid bills accumulating rapidly. + +"A sorry home-coming, my boy," said his father, with a wan smile. + +But Dave's story quickly changed the aspect of things. The bills were +paid; pinching want was a thing of the past. + +And then Dave talked and argued until his parents agreed to return with +him and spend the winter in Florida, and give that genial climate a +chance to make his father well and strong again. + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 21._] + + JACK STANWOOD; + + or, + + FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. + + BY JAMES H. SMITH. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +I BREAK JAIL THROUGH NO EFFORTS OF MY OWN. + +I was handed over to the custody of a little man, with big, staring +eyes, and a magnified head of hair that made him look like a gun-swab. +This was Mr. Janks, the jailor. + +He stood looking at me for some moments, swinging a bunch of keys on his +finger, and then said, mournfully, "So, you've come, have you?" which +made me think that he must have dreamed of my coming. + +Then he took up a small lamp, and, after examining me from head to foot +as if I were some strange animal, he gave vent to a dismal groan, and +asked me if I was hungry. + +Receiving a negative answer, he groaned again, and beckoned me to follow +him. + +He led the way along a damp and chilly stone corridor, lined with little +iron doors, which I needed no one to tell me belonged to cells, and I +followed him very readily. My previous notions of prison treatment +included the immediate ironing of the culprit to the extent of several +hundredweight, and, finding myself mistaken, my spirits rose +accordingly. + +He stopped before one of the little doors near the end of the corridor, +and, opening it with a large key, ushered me into an apartment about +eight feet square. + +This was my cell. The walls and ceiling were whitewashed, and the only +furniture was an iron bedstead, covered with two coarse, gray blankets. + +Mr. Janks waved his keys around as if to welcome me to this abode, and +then, instead of going out and leaving me to my reflections, he leaned +up against the door and groaned once more. + +"The wickedness of these boys!" he said, passing his hand through his +hair, and apparently addressing the ceiling. "Why do they ever come +here? Why did you come here?" + +I hastened to explain that I did not come of my own accord, and so far +from wishing to be in jail, if he would only have the kindness to open +the door, I would promise him to make my exit, and never return. + +"And so young!" continued Mr. Janks, without paying any attention to my +remarks, and still apostrophizing the ceiling. "But it's allus the way! +The younger they are, the worse they are!" + +Then he launched forth into a description of the number of bad boys who +had passed through his hands, and endeavored to draw a parallel between +their case and mine, but, I think, with poor success. + +He kept up this monologue for at least ten minutes, while I sat on the +couch and listened with anything but pleasurable emotions. + +At the end of that time he came to a sudden stop, and went out slowly, +groaning dismally. + +When the sound of his footsteps had died away down the corridor, +I surrendered myself to my thoughts. And how I did think! + +What had been all my trouble compared to this? _In prison!_ The thought +was horrifying! + +I felt now that I would not dare return home--for who would not shrink +from me as a malefactor? + +Besides, I was extremely dubious as to my impending fate. I was not +afraid of being convicted of larceny, unless Mary Jane Robinson perjured +herself; but I was desperately afraid of Mr. Barron. + +I knew he took the Lancaster Examiner, and should he see my name in it, +I felt certain he would pounce down on me, and then--well, something +terrible would certainly happen. + +The sky looked very dark and cloudy just then, and you may easily +imagine how bitterly I regretted my foolishness in running away. + +I lay awake for an hour or more thinking in this fashion, and then I +fell into a fitful slumber. + +How long I slept, I don't know; but when I awoke it was with a strange +feeling that I was not alone--that some one was in the cell with me. + +I was wide awake in an instant, and my heart beat so loudly that I +fancied I could hear it. + +I listened intently, and presently heard a light "pitapat," as if some +one was walking across the floor; and while I was trying to muster up +courage to call out, there was a sharp click, a flood of light illumined +the cell, and I saw that the intruder was a man. + +He was standing near the opposite wall, and in his hand he held a +lighted wax taper, with the aid of which he was taking a survey of the +room. + +As he turned slowly around, I saw that he was young, rather +good-looking, and well-dressed, and at the same time he saw me. + +He started, and with an exclamation of alarm, dropped the taper. + +In an instant, however, he recovered the taper and himself, and advanced +toward me. + +"Who are you?" he demanded. "And how did you get here?" + +I related, in a few words, who I was and how I came to be incarcerated. + +He laughed lightly when I had finished, and said: + +"I suppose you wonder how _I_ came here. Look!" + +I looked, and saw an aperture in the wall about two feet square. + +"I came through that," he said, laughing softly at my evident +astonishment. "My cell is on the other side. Now, I am going to escape +from this jail, and I want you to go with me." + +I know now that his reason was to prevent my giving an alarm; but I +thought then that it was because he took pity on me. + +And I joyfully accepted his offer, although I couldn't imagine how he +was to manage it, and I made a remark to that effect. + +"Easy enough," he said. "You have only a lock on your door, while +there's a dozen bolts on mine. That's why I dug through, expecting to +find the cell empty. However, it is all right. Take off your shoes." + +I did so, and then my companion put out the lights, having first opened +the door with what looked like a piece of wire. + +Then he whispered to me to keep hold of his sleeve, step cautiously and +not let my shoes fall, and then we moved out into the corridor, now +black as Egypt. + +My guide also seemed to be in his stocking feet; but where his shoes +were I couldn't imagine. + +We moved along slowly, but steadily, my guide seeming to know the way, +and presently he opened a door with only a slight creak, and then +whispered in my ear: + +"We are in the lodge. Don't breathe." + +Again we moved on and again stopped, and from one or two sharp clicks I +judged him to be trying to open another door. + +Suddenly he drew me forward. I felt a rush of cold air, and the next +instant I was out of jail. + +"Wait!" said my companion. + +And he closed the wicket gate, and locked it noiselessly. + +"If they find the gate open, they'll smell a rat," he remarked. "Now +then, my boy, come on." + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +I BECOME A WANDERER AND FALL INTO LUCK. + +I kept closely by his side, and for half an hour we moved along, keeping +in the shadow of the houses, until we reached the outskirts of the town. + +"Now then," said my companion, speaking for the first time, "put on your +shoes." + +I did so, and very glad I was to do it. At the same time he reached down +and drew off his stockings, and then I saw they had been drawn on over +his boots. + +Then he took my hand, and we walked along steadily and swiftly for an +hour, until the lights of Lancaster had faded in the distance, and not +until then did my companion fall into a walk and conversation. + +"What did you say you were in for?" he asked. + +"For nothing," I answered, promptly. + +This seemed to amuse him greatly. + +"Of course not," said he, after an outburst of laughter. "I never saw a +prisoner in my life who wasn't innocent!" + +I attempted to explain, but he wouldn't listen. + +"No matter--it's not my business. It was forgery with me--ten years at +the least; and I couldn't stand that, you know." + +"Certainly not," said I, not knowing what else to say. + +Then, by way of turning the conversation, I inquired how he came to be +provided with tools to effect his escape. + +He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, as if he suspected me of some +hidden motive in asking the question, and then, apparently satisfied +with the scrutiny, he informed me that his friends had sent him pies +every day for two weeks past. + +"Pies?" I exclaimed, in open-mouthed wonder. + +"Yes, pies," he said, gravely. "Don't you see? Nothing but the crusts. +Inside were keys, saws and a jimmy." + +"A _jimmy_?" + +"Yes--here it is. That came in four pies." + +He took from his coat-pocket four pieces of steel, and in an instant +fitted them together into a bar about two feet in length. + +"Not much to look at, is it?" said he; "but it is a crowbar, chisel, +hammer and wrench, all in one. It only took me two nights to cut into +your cell." + +"And how did you know your way out in the dark?" I asked. + +"Because I came in that way, and I always keep my eyes open. Hello!" + +"What's the matter?" I asked, in some alarm, as he came to a sudden +halt. + +"Nothing much," he answered; "only that I must leave you here. I don't +know where you are going, and I don't propose to let you know where I am +going. Besides, it is much harder to follow two than one, and there is +no use of us both being captured." + +"Captured?" I repeated, in dismay. "Do you think the officers will +follow us?" + +"Do I think so? I know they will." + +I was so terrified that my teeth chattered, at this announcement, and he +noticed it. + +"Don't get too scared, young one," he added, consolingly. "They won't +look for you half as much as they will for me. If you travel right +straight on, and keep out of their clutches for a week, you'll be safe." + +"But I haven't done anything," I said, tremblingly. + +"Oh, yes you have," said he, with a laugh. "You have broken jail, and +that means a year at least, if you're caught." + +I was so overwhelmed at this dread piece of news that I could only lean +up against a convenient fence and stare at him. + +"Come, come!" he cried, impatiently, "brace up! They haven't got you +yet. If you go straight through this cornfield you will strike a road +that will take you to Columbia. Good-by!" + +Before I had time to reply, he had plunged into the woods on the right +of the road, and I was left alone. + +I was terribly alarmed, and lost no time in making my way through the +cornfield; and when I found the road, I sped along it at a rapid gait. +Fear lent me wings, and I fancied every bush an officer. + +It was a warm but pleasant night, and the moon was just rising. +I calculated that it must be about midnight, and I determined that I +would put many a mile between me and Lancaster before daybreak. + +So I set off at a dog-trot, and I kept it up until I saw the sun rising +over the eastern hills. + +By that time I must have gone about twenty miles, and I was completely +tired out, and very glad to crawl into the shelter of some neighboring +woods and lie down to rest. + +Before I knew it I was asleep, and I did not awake until late in the +afternoon. + +I was stiff and sore, and at the same time ravenously hungry. The first +two ailments wore away as I started again on my journey, but the latter +increased until I determined to brave anything rather than suffer any +longer. + +The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the road, +with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in the +kitchen. + +"Please, ma'am," said I. + +"G'way!" said she. "Here, Tige!" + +"Please, ma'am--" + +"G'way, I say! We don't want no tramps hookin' everything they kin lay +their hands on!" + +"Please, ma'am," I persisted, mildly, "I am not a tramp. I want +something to eat"--the woman started to unchain the dog--"for which I am +willing to pay." + +"Come right in," said the woman, with a broad smile. "I declare I +couldn't have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a +person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you +were different from the general run." + +While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table with +fried ham, potatoes, bread and butter and coffee, and I lost no time in +falling to. I paid a quarter for it when I had finished, and got away as +quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of the men folks, +who might have their suspicions aroused. + +All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to enter +into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for a +week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by that +time I judged myself to be reasonably safe. + +So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my hair +cut, a complete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of rest. + +When I started out again, the next morning, I had recovered my usual +spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as my +money and strength held out. I had twenty-five dollars of the former and +an unlimited supply of the latter. + +All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and +supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, I thought it would be +just as well to camp in the woods again. + +For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my +left, I soon came to a secluded spot, near a ravine or gully, and there +I made myself a bed of dry leaves. + +On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when I +was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware. + +I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it +evidently come from the ravine, I arose and began an investigation. + +Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about fifteen +feet below, a bright light, and the rattling sound again smote my ears. + +By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching hold +of a small sapling, I leaned far over the edge to observe the why and +wherefor. As I did so, I felt the sapling giving away, and I made a +desperate attempt to recover myself. + +It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along +with it. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE. + +The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which came +the light at which I had been gazing. + +I was slightly stunned, but I scrambled to my feet just as a heavy hand +was laid on my collar, and a gruff voice said: + +"Vell! here's a precious go!" + +I looked up, and saw that the voice and hand belonged to the same +person--a short, stout man, with sallow complexion and glistening black +eyes. His dress was a curious compound of broad, glazed hat and blue +shift of a sailor and the flashy check vest and pantaloons of a peddler. + +"Vere did you come from, anyhow," he demanded, before I had finished my +survey, "a-busting down on a chap vithout varning, and a smashing of his +pots and kettles?" + +"Pots and kettles?" I repeated, inquiringly. + +For answer he pointed indignantly to the ground, and then I saw what +damage my descent had caused. + +A rusty coffee-pot, a little dish and a skillet were scattered among the +embers of the fire. + +"That's vot you did," said he, resentfully. "Here vos I, a-cooking my +supper and a-thinking of just nothink at all, when all of a suddent down +you come, like a cannon-ball, and avay goes everythink! It was werry +aggerwating because it was nearly done." + +"I assure you, sir," said I, very contritely, "that I had no intention +of falling on your fire or your supper." + +Then I explained the cause of my sudden descent, and wound up by +offering to pay for the damage. + +By this time the man had entirely recovered his temper--if he had ever +lost it, which I very much doubt--and smiled kindly. + +"Vell, vell, there ain't much harm done except putting my supper back +half an hour. Put up your money, my boy, and join me." + +Then he righted the utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared the +meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task to be +by no means an unusual one. + +Within half an hour, he had made a pot of coffee, a pan of biscuits and +a savory stew, and we were soon discussing this supper very amiably +together. + +After supper he washed out the dishes and utensils in a brook near by, +and lying at full length on the ground, composed himself for a smoke. + +All this time I had been regarding him in silence, but with considerable +curiosity, and I had about made up my mind that he was a gipsy, on his +way to join his tribe, when he startled me by saying, abruptly: + +"Look 'ere!" + +I intimated that I was all attention. + +"Who are you?" he asked, bluntly. + +"Jack Wood," I answered, promptly, although a trifle nervously. + +"My name is Miles Norris," he rejoined, after a long pause. "I'm a +wender of physics and knickknacs." + +"A doctor?" + +"Not exactly," he replied, rising on his elbow and winking at me +significantly. "I cures people as hasn't got nothink the matter vith 'em +and thinks they has." + +This sentence was too deep for me to fathom, and on my intimating as +much, he condescended to explain. + +"I go round the country selling my own medicines, which is Norris's +Golden Balsam, wot cures all kinds of pains, cuts and bruises, +whatsomedever they may be; fifty cents a bottle, small bottles +twenty-five. Then there's the Lightning Toothache Drops, wot cures that +hagonizing malady in one second, or money refunded--twenty-five cents a +bottle. And finally, 'ere we 'ave the Great American Tooth Powder, which +makes the blackest teeth vite in less'n no time, and makes the gums +strong and 'elthy--ten cents a box. And each and every purchaser is +presented vith a book containing fifty songs, all new and prime, free +gratis and for nothink! Valk hup, ladies and gentlemen; who'll 'ave +another bottle?" + +During this recital, Doctor Norris gradually assumed a professional +demeanor, and near the close he rose to his feet, and gesticulated as if +addressing a large audience. + +But at the close he suddenly cooled down, and assuming his recumbent +position, said, listlessly: + +"Now you know me." + +"Certainly," said I; "but then I do not see--" + +"I hunderstand," said he. "You don't see no Balsam, nor Drops, nor +Powder?" + +"I do not." + +"And you vonder vere they are?" + +"Yes." + +"Your surprise is werry natural," said Doctor Norris, with great +gravity. "I am out of those inwaluable medicines at present, but ven I +get to my laboratory, I shall roll 'em out wholesale." + +"Then you make them?" + +"In course. I couldn't trust anybody else." + +Then, after a pause, he added, slowly: + +"I don't know but that I might let you into my secrets if-- What did you +say your name was?" + +I repeated my alias, and told my fictitious history. + +"So you ain't got nothink to do?" + +"Nothing." + +"How would you like to work for me?" + +"Doing what?" + +"Selling my medicines." + +"Done!" cried I, joyfully. + +"Hold hup!" said he, quickly. "I ain't quite certain. Can you patter?" + +"Can I what?" + +"Gab, I mean--talk? Are you good on that?" + +"I think I am," I answered, modestly. + +"And 'ave you got plenty of cheek?" + +"Oh, yes! Why?" + +"Because you'll need it. You wouldn't be afraid to stand hup before a +big crowd and blow away about the Balsam, or the Powder, nor yet the +Drops--hey?" + +I assured him that the prospect did not dismay me in the least. + +My companion then brought the conversation to a conclusion very +summarily. + +"Then, Jack Wood," said he, "you're my man!" + +Then he rolled over and went to sleep, and although somewhat astonished +at the suddenness of the doctor's resolution, I thought his action a +good one, and _I_ rolled over and went to sleep, also. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +TREATS OF MY EXPERIENCE AS A PHYSICIAN--I REACH THE MISSISSIPPI. + +I awoke at sunrise, or rather Doctor Norris awoke me by a vigorous dig +in the ribs with the point of his boot, and told me that breakfast was +ready. I arose at once, washed my face, combed my hair, and then +astonished the doctor by the vigor of my appetite. + +During the meal he confided to me his plans for the future. He had laid +out a route through Butler and Beaver counties to the State line, and +thence through Ohio until winter set in. + +"I make enough in summer to lay hup in winter," he explained. "It's an +'ealthy and hinvigorating life, and I like it. I've traveled over nearly +all the States between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, 'ave 'ad my +hups and downs, and I wouldn't change places with a king." + +I rather doubted whether the doctor knew very much about kings, that he +could afford to speak so positively, but I felt that it would be neither +polite nor prudent to disagree with him. + +"I dare say I shall like the life very well," I said, quietly. +"But--what am I expected to do?" + +"You'll be my assistant," said the doctor, in a lofty voice, as if he +was announcing my appointment to a cabinet position. + +Then he went into details, and explained that I was to assist him in +concocting and selling the wonderful remedies of which he was the +inventor. + +This duty included filling bottles, pasting on labels, carrying his +baggage, making his fires, and several other minor matters which he +could not recall just then. + +"Ve'll camp out like this most of the time," he added. "Hotels is +hexpensive, and I never stops at 'em, unless it's raining or I'm going +to sell in the town. You von't mind that, vill you?" + +I was more than delighted at the prospect, and I said so. + +"This man," I told myself, "is evidently a great traveler, and he is +going West. If I stick to him my fortune is made." + +It did not take the doctor long to pack up his traps, and, dividing them +between us, we journeyed along very agreeably. + +When we arrived in Butler we went to a hotel, and there, in the +seclusion of our room, the doctor manufactured three dozen bottles of +the balsam, as many of the toothache drops and twice as many boxes of +the tooth-powder. + +At this distance of time I cannot recall the ingredients of these justly +celebrated remedies, but I can cheerfully testify to their harmlessness. + +The balsam was composed of two or three simple aromatic oils, the +toothache drops was merely a diluted essence of the oil of cloves, +and the wonderful tooth-powder chalk powdered and scented. + +The labels for the various compounds the doctor carried in his oilcloth +bag, and the bottles, boxes and various ingredients he purchased at the +village drug stores. + +I am almost ashamed to tell you what enormous profits he made on his +sales, and will only mention that he once told me that the bottle and +label formed nine-tenths of the cost of the Golden Balsam, which +retailed at one dollar. + +In these days the street vender of physic is an ordinary sight, but a +quarter of a century ago he was almost unknown outside of the largest +cities. + +After being a month in the company of Doctor Norris I easily understood +why he followed such a life. In the town of Butler two days' sales +netted him sixty dollars, and he made nearly as much in Beaver. + +He was not always so successful, but, taking one week with another, +I judged that he cleared at least fifty dollars, which was a bank +president's salary in those days. + +His methods were such as are in use among this class of gentry all the +world over. + +Having prepared his stock in trade, he would gravely walk down the main +street, followed by your humble servant. + +Halting on the most prominent corner, he and I would arrange the boxes +and bottles in attractive pyramids on the top of a box or a barrel, +taking as much time as possible, so as to attract the attention of the +passers-by. + +Having achieved this object, the doctor would mount on a soap-box, so as +to raise himself above the crowd, and begin his harangue. + +He always began gravely, and not until he had made several sales did he +venture on a joke or a witticism, although he had a plentiful stock of +cheap wit, such as crowds delight in. + +Another thing: When he spoke in public he used excellent English, and +the cockney dialect entirely disappeared. He never explained this to me, +but I suppose he was like an actor on the stage when addressing a crowd. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he would say, in calm and measured tones, +"Shakespeare has said, 'Throw physic to the dogs; I'll none of it!' and +he was right. Medicinal drugs are pernicious, even when given by a +practiced physician, but when administered by quacks, it is little short +of murder. Now, in my medicines I do not give you strange and deadly +drugs. The articles I use are all known to you" (this was strictly +true), "the mode of preparation only being a secret. No pain, no danger +in their use, absolutely harmless to the smallest child, yet so powerful +that the most deadly ailments yield to their power." + +Thus the doctor talked on for fifteen minutes, taking the crowd into his +confidence in a learned and fatherly way, until some fellow bashfully +thrust forward a coin, and then the money rolled in. + +The doctor was now in his element; he was witty, he cracked jokes, +he told stories, and even indulged in snatches of song, and he rarely +failed to hold his audience until his stock was exhausted. + +This operation sometimes consumed three or four hours, and sometimes his +eloquence was wasted. But at all times he was cheerful and polite, and +good and bad fortune seemed alike to him. + +I thought then, and I still think, that he was a remarkable man; and I +am sure that he treated me very kindly. He paid me a very liberal salary +of ten dollars a month, and whenever he had an unusually good day, gave +me an extra dollar. + +All of this money I carefully stowed away in my belt for a rainy day, +which I felt sure would come. And my experience did not deceive me. + +After leaving Pennsylvania, we traveled through the small towns of Ohio +until near the middle of December, as it was a very open winter, and it +was nearly Christmas before the cold and snow drove us into winter +quarters in Toledo. + +The doctor intended to treat himself to a three months' rest, and for +that purpose hired two rooms and kept bachelor's hall, and invited me to +keep him company. + +I received no wages; but as he was to bear all expenses, I willingly +agreed to the arrangement. + +These three months were absolutely uneventful, and about the first of +April we started out again. + +The doctor had laid out a new route for this season. We traveled across +country by stage to Keokuk, Iowa, intending to travel up the river as +far as St. Paul, and then work eastward thorough Wisconsin and Michigan, +and close the season at Detroit. + +But we never carried out our programme. My cruel fate pursued me--or was +it punishment for my foolishness?--and at Davenport I was once more cast +adrift. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + + INTERNATIONAL LESSON--FOR MAY 29. + + Exodus 14:19-21. Golden Text--Isaiah 43:2. + + Central Subject--THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. + + BY REV. D. P. KIDDER, D.D. + + +INTRODUCTION. + +According to Jewish tradition, it was seven days after the Passover that +the Israelites passed over the Red Sea. + +Before they left they were directed by God to ask (not "borrow," as it +is in our version) of the Egyptians jewels of silver and gold, and other +articles that would be of service to them. + +It was customary thus on the eve of a journey, or at the close of a term +of service, to ask gifts. The practice corresponded to the asking of +_backshish_, still so common in the East. + +The Egyptians, it seemed, readily and generously granted the request of +the Israelites and supplied them abundantly. Thus, in some slight +measure, they made return for the long years of unrequited service which +the Hebrews had rendered to Egypt's land and Egypt's king. + +While the Egyptians were bewailing their dead, the children of Israel, +having finished hurriedly their Passover feast, started on their journey +of escape. Leaving Rameses, the western part of Goshen, they assembled +at Succoth--"place of tents"--so called because it was a camping place +for caravans going east, then and now. They were, perhaps, four days +gathering at this spot, about two millions of people all told. + +The next point which they reached was Etham. This was a district of +country just on the edge of the desert. From this point there were three +routes to Palestine. The Israelites, by divine direction, took the most +southern. + +They were at first surprised at this order of march; but it was the only +safe one for them. The most northern would have taken them right through +the country of the warlike and hostile Philistines, and the middle route +(after passing the great wall which stretched from Pelusium on the +Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez) would have brought them right out +upon the desert. + +Several days had elapsed since the Israelites started on their flight. +Pharaoh already missed them. His important works were brought to a +standstill; there was no one to make or handle bricks, and the loss of +so large and so efficient a body of workers was severely felt. + +A reaction takes place in the mind of the king; he charges himself with +folly in letting the people go, and resolves to pursue them. He learns, +also, that they have not yet got out of the land of Egypt, and he thinks +that by the fact that they have turned south, and not gone directly to +the east, they are confused, and he plans to catch them when they are +hemmed in by the mountains and the sea. + +With six hundred of his swiftest chariots he at once sets out after +them, leaving orders, doubtless, for other chariots as well as foot +soldiers to follow as soon as possible. + +The Israelites were in the greatest alarm; there was no visible means of +escape. They could go no further south, for the mountains were in front +of them; they could not turn to the right for the same reason; the +Egyptians were in their rear, and the Red Sea was before them. They were +in a trap. This is what Pharaoh expected. The strategy on which he had +reckoned (ver. 3) had worked admirably. + + +THE PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. + + "And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed + and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before + their face, and stood behind them: + + "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of + Israel: and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light + by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the + night." + +It is singular that this blind king should so soon forget that there was +a God in Israel, and that he was to come into collision again with that +Being who had so often foiled, and finally, in the death of the +first-born, had utterly crushed him. + +But none are so blind or so heedless as the obstinate and the +unbelieving. It will be seen that the battle that is soon to follow will +end as before--in the defeat of Pharaoh, and, as some think, his death. + +We have in this "angel of God" the same being that we have met so often +before, who talked familiarly with Abraham and Jacob. He is the one who +afterward came in the form of the flesh, and is called Christ. + +This time His symbol was a cloud, and at night a pillar of fire. In such +a large host as that of the children of Israel were at this time, it +would be necessary that there be some elevated central object, so that +those of the people scattered widely, in caring for the flocks and other +like services, should not lose the location of the camp. + +Some such arrangement was early found important in caravans crossing the +deserts, so that it was customary to carry a round grate with fire, held +aloft on a pole. The ancient Persians and some other nations carried a +sacred fire in silver altars before their armies. + +At night this cloud over the camp of the Israelites was illumined by +some strong internal fire, so that the host dwelt amid the darkness of +the desert as in a city brightly lighted. It was a marvelous miracle. + +This cloud now changed its position as the Egyptians came near to the +Israelites. It stood between the two hosts. Over the Egyptians it was a +dense fog that cut off all their vision so that they could not tell what +the Israelites were doing, while to the latter it was as though it had +caught and held the rays of the setting sun, and poured a brilliant +glory all over and through their encampment. The Egyptians, thinking +that the rising sun will disperse the fog, wait for morning. + + +THE ISRAELITES ENTER THE RED SEA. + + "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused + the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made + the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. + + "And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry + ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, + and on their left." + +While the Egyptians were thus waiting, the Israelites were busy; they +were making the best use of their time. They were making their escape by +the way last of all thought possible--even the bottom of the sea! + +The crossing was made in the neighborhood of what are now called the +Bitter Lakes. This was then most probably the head of the Red Sea. + +It was at a time of the year when the tide would help the action of the +wind. If there were shoals or flats at the place where the crossing is +supposed to have occurred, as there are now at Suez, the wind and the +tide clearing a passage there would leave deep water on both sides of +the passage-way, and this most probably is the meaning of the expression +that the waters were a wall to them on either side. + + "They were a defense; not necessarily perpendicular cliffs, as they + were often pictured. God could make the water stand in precipices if + He should so choose, and such a conception is more impressive to the + imagination, but it is certain that the language of the text may + mean simply that the water was a protection on the right and on the + left flanks of the host. Thus, in Nahum 3:8, No (Thebes) is said to + have the sea (the broad Nile) for the rampart and a wall--that is, + a defense, a protection against enemies. It is true that in poetical + passages the waters are said to have stood 'as a heap' (Exod. 15:8; + Psa. 78:13); but so they are also, in the same style, said to have + been 'congealed in the heart of the sea,' and the peaks of the + trembling Horeb are said to have 'skipped like rams, and the little + hills like lambs' (Psa. 114:4). Of course these expressions are not + to be literally and prosaically interpreted." + +[Illustration] + +The wind thus prevailed all night, to keep the passage open until all +the Israelites had crossed and the pursuing Egyptians had got well into +the sea. + + +THE ENEMY FOLLOW CLOSELY. + + "And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of + the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. + + "And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto + the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the + cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. + + "And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily; so + that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for + the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians." + +Surrounded by darkness and enveloped by the fog, the Egyptians did not +know that they were rushing into the midst of the sea. It is not said +that Pharaoh went in, and yet as the post of the king is usually +represented on the ancient monuments as leading his soldiers--marching +at their head--it may be, as some think, that his chariot led those six +hundred chariots, and that he perished with them. + + "The chariots of Egypt were very famous. According to Diodorus + Siculus, Rameses II had twenty-seven thousand in his army. + The processes of manufacture of chariots and harness are fully + illustrated by existing sculptures, in which also are represented + the chariots used by neighboring nations."--_Rev. H. W. Phillot._ + +At this point the movements of the Egyptians are very much impeded. +Shortly after midnight, the fog changed into a storm cloud, blazing with +lightning and growling with thunder. This was terrifying to the +Egyptians in the extreme, as they were not accustomed to thunderstorms, +and scarcely ever saw rain. + + "Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunder + and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted + upon them; nor was there anything which God sends upon men as + indications of His wrath which did not happen at this + time."--_Josephus._ + +Psalms 77:15-20 refers to this storm. Although the Israelites went +through dry-shod, the pursuing chariots sank in the mire, were buried in +the sand, and in some cases the wheels were wrenched off, so that the +superstitious Egyptians recognized the fact that the God of Israel was +fighting against them. They therefore began to retreat. In the meantime +the children of Israel had an abundance of time to make good their +escape. + + "Before the captivity, the night (between sunset and sunrise) was + divided by the Israelites into three watches--the first watch, the + middle watch and the morning watch. It appears that the Israelites + had the space of two watches, at least (or eight hours), for + effecting their passage."--_Murphy._ + + +THE OVERTHROW OF PHARAOH'S HOST. + + "And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, + that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their + chariots and upon their horsemen. + + "And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea + returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the + Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in + the midst of the sea. + + "And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the + horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after + them; there remained not so much as one of them." + +After the fugitives had safely gained the farther shore, and while the +Egyptians were still struggling in the middle of the passage, through +the gray of the dawn they saw the majestic form of Moses rise upon the +opposite bank. They saw him stretch forth that terrible rod--that rod +which had left so many deep scars upon the fair land of Egypt--and +immediately the wind ceased, its strong pressure was relaxed, the sudden +swell of the tide caught the waters, and they, as if impatient of +restraint, leaped again to their wonted channel, burying the hopeless +and helpless enemy. + + "A sudden cessation of the wind at sunrise, coinciding with a spring + tide (it was full moon), would immediately convert the low, flat + sand-banks, first into a quicksand, and then into a mass of waters, + in a time far less than would suffice for the escape of a single + chariot or horseman loaded with heavy corselet."--_Canon Cook._ + +The destruction was as complete as it was sudden. Not one escaped. The +disaster was overwhelming, crushing. The Egyptians never again disturbed +the Israelites during all their after wanderings. + + +THIS WAS THE LORD'S DOINGS. + + "But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the + sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on + their left. + + "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the + Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. + + "And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the + Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, + and his servant Moses." + +There was only one explanation of this event, and that was the Lord +wrought it. There could be no room in the mind of any of the children of +Israel to doubt that God was with them. Repeatedly had they seen their +enemies baffled and discomfited; now they saw them destroyed. What folly +to contend with such a God! Would it be possible for these people thus +delivered ever to doubt God? ever to distrust Him? ever to disobey Him? +It would seem not. + +They had every reason to believe Him, to be grateful to Him, to love and +serve Him devotedly. Without lifting a finger, they, an unarmed people, +with not a soldier in all their ranks, nor a weapon worthy the name, had +triumphed over a chosen detachment of the finest army in the world at +that time, led, too, by a king who was familiar with battles and +accustomed to victories. + +Josephus says that, after the passage of the sea by the Israelites, +a west wind set in, which (assisted by the current) drove the bodies of +the drowned Egyptians to the eastern side of the gulf, where many of +them were cast up upon the shore. In this way, Moses, according to him, +obtained weapons and armor for a considerable number of Israelites. + + + + + WHAT THEY DO WHEN IT RAINS. + + By Carrie Cathcart Day. + + + "Where do you go, + Sweet, happy bird, + When wild winds blow + And storms are heard? + Do you not dread the rushing rain, + And wish the sky was bright again?" + + "Tweet oh! I fly + To nestlings near-- + To hush their cry, + And soothe their fear; + And o'er them all my wings I fold, + To keep them safely from the cold." + + "Where do you run, + Dear little duck? + Is the rain fun, + And best of luck?" + "Oh, yes! Quack! quack! I swim in glee, + It never pours too hard for me!" + + "Of course, good sheep, + You do not care-- + Out-doors you keep + Through foul and fair; + Your coat is surely thick enough + To shield you from a tempest rough?" + + "Baa! baa! baa! baa! + I let the geese + Have all the wet; + For should my fleece + All soaking get, + 'Twould be too heavy for my play-- + So to my shed I skip away." + + "Why do you croak + So long and loud, + Queer froggie folk, + When comes a cloud?" + "Cree-crake! cree-crake! + Because our pollywogs, we know, + When ponds are full will nicely grow!" + + "But, bumble-bee, + Your gauzy wings, + It seems to me, + Are flimsy things; + Should they get drenched, 'twould spoil them quite, + And you'd be in a sorry plight!" + + "I crawl beneath + A lily bell-- + A lovely sheath + That suits me well, + And when--buzz! buzz!--the sun I greet, + The roses all are fresh and sweet." + + "Well, surely you, + My little lad, + Feel very blue + In weather sad? + You mope and fret and whine and frown, + To see the torrents driving down!" + + "Oh, ho! oh, ho! + You do not know; + For _thus_, you see, + My trowsers go + Up to my knee; + I make believe to wade and splash + In puddles nice, with Puss and Dash, + And we pretend the shower pours + As hard _within_ as out of doors!" + + + + +JACK-A-DANDY. + +BY HELEN WHITNEY CLARK. + + +We children had been wishing for a tame crow ever since reading Dickens' +charming description of his pet raven. There were no ravens where we +lived; but Brother Tom said crows were just as good, and could be taught +to talk, too. + +And one day, when we were playing "Here we go round the mulberry bush" +in the woods near the house, little Ikey, our colored washerwoman's boy, +came along with a live crow in his hands. + +Of course we were curious to see and examine the wonderful bird, and we +crowded around Ikey, who seemed bewildered at being the object of so +much attention. + +"Where did you get him?" "What you going to do with him?" "How much will +you take for him?" asked Tom, Josie and Fred, in one breath. + +But Ikey only grinned, as he answered each in turn. + +"Got him out of his nest in a post-oak. Dey was more of 'em, but I +couldn't git ony dis one. I'm a-gwine to raise him if mammy'll let me. +But I mout sell him, if I git a good chance." + +The opportunity was not to be lost, and in a very few moments Ikey was +trudging homeward with a handful of coppers and two nickels--all the +change we could raise among us, and we proudly carried our new-found +treasure to the house. + +"Mercy on us!" cried mamma, holding up her hands. "What on earth have +you got there?" + +"A crow," we told her. "And we're going to tame him, and teach him to +talk." + +"Nonsense!" said mamma. "You don't suppose I'll have a _crow_ about the +house, to kill the young chickens and eat up the eggs!" + +But we begged and pleaded, till at last she gave her consent to let us +keep it. + +"It'll be a great torment," grumbled grandma. "It's a _young_ bird, +and you'll have to feed it like a baby." + +But we did not mind the trouble. Indeed, it was more of an amusement to +us to feed our pet on scraps of meat and bits of bread. It opened its +mouth so wide, and cried "Caw-aw-aw!" in such a satisfactory way. + +Ikey had instructed us as to the manner of feeding. + +"Jess you peck it on de head, an' it'll open its mouth like it does fur +de ole birds," he explained. + +And we found his advice was good. + +We named our pet "Jack-a-Dandy," and he grew and throve so much that he +was soon able to procure his own food, which consisted of crickets and +other insects. + +He was so tame that we could allow him perfect freedom, without any fear +of his deserting us. + +As he grew older, he used frequently to fly into the top of a tall +post-oak near the front door, from which he would circle around and +around the house, then alight on the ground, and come hopping in the +door, with a cheerful "caw! caw!" as if asserting that there was no +place like home. + +"He's better than Dick Hardy's tame squirrel," Tom used to say, "for +that has to be kept in a cage." + +"And Bob Rooney's pet coon has to be fastened by a chain," said Josie. +"But Jack-a-Dandy is as free as we are." + +But mamma was not particularly pleased with Jack, and grandma continued +to grumble over his misdemeanors, especially when he would rummage in +her work-basket, and carry off her silver thimble or bright steel +bodkin. + +"He's a troublesome creature," she would declare, "and if I had _my_ +way, he'd get his neck wrung." + +But we kept a good watch on our favorite, to keep him from getting into +mischief. + +We had used our best endeavors to teach him to talk, but he was a poor +scholar, and could not even learn to pronounce his own name. + +Still we loved him, and continued to take his part against his enemies. + +Papa had never said much, one way or the other, about Jack, though he +was not very favorably disposed toward the race of crows. But when the +spring planting was done, he took sides with the opposition. + +"If your tame thief pulls up my corn, I'll shoot him," he declared. + +"If he troubles the young chickens, he'll have to go," said mamma. + +"If he spoils my garden, I'll wring his neck," asserted grandma. + +And, as may be imagined, we suffered considerable anxiety about our pet. + +One day we were eating dinner, while Jack sat perched on the post-oak +near the door. + +Suddenly a terrible commotion occurred in the chicken-yard, caused by a +hawk which had swooped down and seized a young chicken. + +The hen-mother, however, attacked the marauder so furiously that it was +unable to carry off its prey immediately, and before papa could seize +his gun and reach the scene of conflict, Jack-a-Dandy had flown to the +hen's assistance. + +He attacked the hawk so desperately that it dropped its prey, and a +terrible combat ensued, in which Jack came off the victor. But not +satisfied with this, he pursued the flying enemy a long distance, +attacking him sharply when occasion offered. + +[Illustration: +"BEFORE PAPA COULD SEIZE HIS GUN AND REACH THE SCENE OF CONFLICT, +JACK-A-DANDY HAD FLOWN TO THE HEN'S ASSISTANCE."] + +You may be sure we had a great many praises and a sumptuous dinner for +our favorite, on his return. + +Hawks had for years been a great pest to poultry raising, and even mamma +espoused Jack's cause after his successful battle with the rapacious +foe. + +And during Jack's life, not another chicken was molested by the hawks, +as he kept a vigilant watch, and attacked every one that dared to +venture near the premises. + +He even won the good-will of papa, by keeping rigidly aloof from the +corn-field; but grandma was still fearful lest he might do some damage +to the garden. + +She was very careful of her early vegetables, and the garden-spot was +paled in, to keep the chickens and rabbits from making depredations on +the early lettuce, peas and cabbages. + +But no fence would keep Jack out. Like the wind, he went "wherever he +listeth." + +Much to our relief, however, he did not offer to molest the vegetables, +but did good service in picking up the insects and cut-worms, which are +usually such a pest about a garden. + +When he fell to devouring the squash-bugs, which were sapping the life +of the "Boston Marrows," grandma's last prejudice was overcome, and she +declared that Jack was worth his weight in gold. + +After that, she never went to the garden without calling Jack, who would +give an answering "caw!" and hop gravely after her, or perch on her +shoulder with all the confidence of a privileged favorite. + +As long as he lived, Jack continued to grow in the good opinion of the +household. But, alas! he could not live forever. + +One day he sat drooping on his perch, and refused to be enticed away +from it. He even declined the plump crickets Fred offered him in hopes +of tempting his appetite. + +The next morning he was found dead under his perch. He was mourned +sincerely by the whole family, from grandma down, and we buried him with +great ceremony under his favorite post-oak. + +Tom sodded his grave, Josie planted a "mourning bride" over it, and Fred +put up a shingle for a headstone, with this verse on it, which we all +thought very beautiful: + + "Handy-spandy, Jack-a-Dandy + Loves plum-cake and sugar candy." + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 15._] + + THE + + YOUNG GAME-WARDEN + + BY HARRY CASTLEMON. + + +CHAPTER XXXI--[CONTINUED]. + +Silas was so completely wrapped up in his own affairs that the boys got +close to him before he was aware of their presence, and it is the +greatest wonder in the world that he did not shoot one of them in his +excitement. + +He was really alarmed; but when he had taken a good look at the +newcomers, in order to make sure of their identity, he laid his gun +across the chair, pushed up his sleeves, and shook both his fists at +Dan. + +"So you thought you would fool your poor old pap this morning, did you, +you little snipe?" he shouted. "Well, you see what you made by it, don't +you?" + +"I never tried to make a fool of you," stammered Dan, who had a faint +idea that he understood the situation. "I never in this wide world!" + +"Hush your noise when I tell you I know better," yelled Silas; and one +would have thought, by the way he acted and looked, that he was very +angry, instead of very much delighted, at the way things had turned out. +"Here you have been and tramped all over them mountings, and never got a +cent for it, while I have made a clean twenty-five hundred dollars, if I +counted it up right on my fingers; and I reckon I did, 'cause your mam +put in a figger to help me now and then." + +"Why, how did it happen?" exclaimed Joe, who, up to this moment, had not +been able to do anything but stand still and look astonished. + +He knew that his father had captured one of the robbers without help +from any one, and that was more than fifty other men had been able to +do, with all their weary tramping. + +"The way it happened was just this," said Silas, who could not stand in +one place for a single moment. "Hold on there!" he added, turning +fiercely upon his prisoner, who just then moved uneasily upon the bench, +as if he were trying to find a softer spot to sit on. "I've got my eyes +onto you, and you might as--" + +"Why, father, he can't get away," Joe interposed. "You've got him tied +up too tight. Why don't you let out that rope a little?" + +"'Cause he's worth a pile of money--that's why!" exclaimed Silas; "and I +won't let the rope out not one inch, nuther. You Joe, keep away from +there." + +"I really wish you would undo some of this rope," said the prisoner, +who, like Byron's Corsair, seemed to be a mild-mannered man. "I have +been tied up ever since two o'clock, and am numb all over. I couldn't +run a step if I should try." + +"Don't you believe a word of that!" exclaimed Silas. "Come away from +there and let that rope be, I tell you." + +"Say, father," said Joe, suddenly, "what are you going to do with your +captive? Do you intend to sit up and watch him all night long?" + +"I was just a-studying about that when you come up and scared me," +replied Silas, dropping the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning +heavily upon the muzzle. + +He never could stand alone for any length of time; he always wanted +something to support him. + +"What do you think I had better do about it? I don't much like to keep +him here, 'cause-- Why, just look a-here, Joey," added Silas, moving up +to the door, and pointing to some object inside the cabin. "See them +tools I took away from him?" + +The boys stepped to their father's side, and saw lying upon the table, +where Silas had placed it, a belt containing a brace of heavy revolvers +and a murderous-looking knife. + +"Now, them's dangerous," continued Silas, "and if this feller's pardner +should happen along--" + +"But he won't happen along," interrupted Dan. "Brierly's squad gobbled +him." + +The ferryman looked surprised, then disgusted, and finally he turned an +inquiring glance upon Joe, who said that Dan told the truth. + +"You don't like it, do you?" said the latter, to himself. "It sorter +hurts you to know that there is them in the world that are just as lucky +and smart as you be, don't it? Yes, that's what's the matter with pap. +He don't want no one else to be as well off as he is." + +And when Dan said that, he hit the nail fairly on the head. + +"The other robber is not in a condition to attempt a rescue," said Joe; +"but, all the same, I don't think you ought to keep this man here all +night. The sheriff is now at Mr. Warren's house, and it is your duty to +hand the prisoner over to him at once. Be careful how you point those +guns this way." + +This last remark was called forth by an action on the part of Silas and +Dan that made Joe feel the least bit uncomfortable. + +While the latter was talking, his hands were busy with the rope; and +when the prisoner arose from the bench and stamped his feet to set the +blood in circulation again, his excited and watchful guards at once +covered his head and Joe's with the muzzles of their guns. + +"Turn those weapons the other way," repeated Joe, angrily. "You don't +think this man is foolish enough to try to run off while his hands are +tied, do you? Now, father, how did you happen to catch him?" + +"It was just as easy as falling off a log," replied Silas, resuming his +seat and resting his double-barrel across his knees. "When you and Dan +went away this morning, I just naturally shouldered my gun, walked up +the road to the foot of the mounting, and set down on a log to wait for +game to come a-running past me, just the same as if I was watching for +deer, you know." + +This was all true; but there was one thing he did that he forgot to +mention. The only "game" Silas expected to see was Dan Morgan, when he +returned from the mountain at night, and the ferryman was prepared to +give him a warm reception. Before he devoted himself to the task of +holding down that log by the roadside, he took the trouble to cut a long +hickory switch, and to place it beside the log, out of sight. He meant +to give Dan such a thrashing that he would never play any more tricks +upon him. + +"Well, about one o'clock, or a little after, while I was a-setting there +and waiting for the game to come along, I heared a noise in the brush, +and, all on a sudden, out popped this feller. He was running like he'd +been sent for, and that's why I suspicioned him. Of course I didn't know +him from Adam, but I asked him would he stop a bit. And he 'lowed he +would, when he seed my gun looking him square in the eye. I brung him +home, and your mam she passed out the clothes-line, and I tied him up." + +"Where is mother now?" asked Joe. + +"Gone off after more sewing, I reckon," replied Silas, in a tone which +seemed to say that it was a matter that was not worth talking about. +"She helped me figger up what I would get for catching him, and then she +dug out. I'm worth almost as much as you be now, Joey, and that there +mean Dan, who wouldn't stay by and help me, he ain't got a cent. Now +don't you wish you hadn't played that trick on me this morning?" + +"Never mind that," interposed Joe, who did not care to stand by and +listen to an angry altercation which might end in a fight or a foot-race +between his father and Dan. "If we are going to deliver this man to the +sheriff to-night, we had better be moving." + +"Do you reckon the sheriff will hand over the twenty-five hundred when I +give up the prisoner?" inquired Silas, as the party walked down the bank +toward the flat. + +"Of course he won't." + +"What for won't he?" + +"Because he hasn't got it with him. Perhaps it was never put into his +hands at all. I haven't received my share yet." + +"Then I reckon I'd best hold fast to him till I'm sure of my money," +said Silas, reflectively. "I guess I won't take him down to old man +Warren's to-night." + +"I guess you will, unless you want to get into trouble with the law," +said Joe, decidedly. "If you don't give him up of your own free will, +the sheriff will take him away from you." + +Silas protested that he couldn't see any sense in such a law as that, +but he lent his aid in pushing off the flat. + +Dan, who was almost too angry to breathe, had more than half a mind to +stay at home; but his curiosity to hear and see all that was said and +done when the prisoner was turned over to the officers of the law +impelled him to think better of it. When the flat was shoved off, +he jumped in and picked up one of the oars. + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +We have said that Tom Hallet was so anxious to help his unlucky friend +Bob in some way that he joined the very first squad that went out in +search of him. + +The man who had the name of being the leader of it was the sheriff's +deputy; but the two stalwart young farmers who belonged to his party +were longer of limb than he was, and they pushed ahead at such a rate +that the deputy speedily fell to the rear, and stayed there during the +most of the day. + +"Me and Cyrus have come out to win that there reward," said one of the +young men, when Tom remonstrated with them for leaving the officer so +far behind, "and we can't do it by loafing along like that sheriff does. +We've got a mortgage to pay off on the farm, and we don't know any +easier way to raise the money for it than to capture one of them +rogues." + +But this sanguine young fellow was not the only one who was destined to +have his trouble for his pains; and what made his disappointment and his +brother's harder to bear was the reflection that if they had left Tom's +cabin half an hour earlier than they did, they might have succeeded in +earning a portion of the money of which they stood so much in need. + +They were not more than a quarter of a mile away when Brierly's signal +guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They ran +forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of action +before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were also +disappointed. + +When they came within sight of the successful party, they found the +robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his +weapons. + +"Too late, boys!" exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his +good fortune. "You can't lay claim to any of our money, if that's what +brung you up here in such haste." + +"We don't care for the money," panted Tom. "Where's Bob?" + +"That's so," said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon +the prisoner during the whole forenoon. "Where is he? Say, feller, what +have you done with him?" + +"I have not seen him for two hours," replied the prisoner. "As soon as +we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, and +I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn't want to keep him +with us for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were +hiding." + +Just then, the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his +breath, managed to inquire: + +"What have you done with your partners?" + +"There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way," +answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the +compass. + +Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and watched +the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of +hand-cuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when +Brierly's party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind them. + +He went as straight to his cabin as he could go, and there he found Bob +Emerson, who was rummaging around in the hope of finding something to +eat. + +"I haven't had a bite of anything since last night, and you'd better +believe that I am hungry," said Bob, after he and Tom had greeted each +other as though they had been separated for years. "But I am not a bit +of a hero. I haven't had an adventure worth the telling." + +"There's nothing in there," said Tom, seeing that his friend was casting +longing eyes toward his game-bag. "I didn't take much of a lunch with +me, and I was hungry enough to eat it all. Can you stand it until we get +home?" + +"I'll have to," replied Bob. "By-the-way, did you ever see that before?" + +As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a soiled and +crumpled letter, which looked as though it might have been through the +war. + +It was the same precious document that he and Tom had left in Silas +Morgan's wood-pile. + +"One of the robbers gave it to me last night," continued Bob, in reply +to his companion's inquiring look. "You will remember that Dan Morgan +lost the letter within a few feet of the log on which he sat when he +read it, and that when he and Silas went back to find it, they were +frightened away by something that dodged into the bushes before they +could get a sight at it, and which they took to be a ghost. Well, it +wasn't a ghost at all, but one of the thieves, who had been to the Beach +after supplies. He found the letter, and read it. Of course he was +greatly alarmed, and so was his companion; for they couldn't help +believing that some one had got wind of their hiding-place. They could +hardly believe me when I told them that you and I made that letter up +out of the whole cloth, and that we never dreamed there was any one +living in the gorge." + +"But we did know it," said Tom. + +"Of course we did after they frightened us, but not before. They spoke +about that, too. We took them completely by surprise the day we came +down the gorge. We were close upon their camp before they knew it, +and for a minute or two they didn't know what to do. Then one of them +conceived the idea of making that hideous noise, and when the other saw +how well it worked, he joined in with him." + +"But didn't they know that we would be back sooner or later to look into +the matter?" asked Tom. + +"Of course they did, and that was another thing that frightened them. +They saw very plainly that their hiding-place was broken up, and were +making preparations to leave it when Silas and Dan put in their +appearance. The robbers saw and heard them long before they got to the +camp, and the one who found the letter recognized them at once. It was +at his suggestion that that ghost was rigged up." + +"But they must have known that they could not scare everybody with that +dummy," observed Tom. + +"To-be-sure they did, and they were in a great hurry to get away from +there; but they needed provisions, and by stopping to get them they fell +into trouble. They took Joe Morgan's house for a wood-chopper's cabin, +and while we were robbing them, they were foraging on Joe. I tell you, +Tom, it's a lucky thing for us that we got out of that gorge when we +did. They were mad enough to shoot us on sight." + +"I don't wonder at it," replied Tom. "It would make most anybody mad to +lose a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and securities, no +matter how he came by them. Where did they catch you? Did they treat you +well?" + +"They treated me well enough," was Bob's reply; "but I believe that if +they had not stood in fear of immediate capture, I should have a +different story to tell, if, indeed, I were able to tell any. I told you +nothing but the truth in the postscript I added to their note." + +"I knew they made you write it, and that you did not express your honest +sentiments when you told us to be in a hurry about giving back that +valise." + +"I was sure you would understand it: but what could a fellow do with a +cocked revolver flourished before his eyes by a man who was in just the +right humor to use it on him?" + +"He would do as he is told, of course," answered Tom. "But do you +suppose they thought they could get that valise back by threatening +you?" + +"I don't know what they thought, for they acted as if they were crazy. +They caught me in less than half an hour after I left you, and it was +through my own fault. I ran on to them before I knew it; and do you +imagine I thought 'robbers' once? As true as you live, I didn't. I took +them for poachers, and told them, very politely, that these grounds were +posted and they couldn't be allowed to shoot there, when all on a sudden +it popped into my head what I was doing. They saw the start I gave, and +in a second more they had me covered. If I could have got away without +letting them see that I suspected them, they wouldn't have said a word +to me." + +"Well, they covered you with their revolvers; then what?" + +"Beyond a doubt, they made a prisoner of me before they thought what +they were doing, and when they came to look at it, they found that they +had got an elephant on their hands. Then they would have been glad to +get rid of me; but they did not see just how they could do it with +safety to themselves, so they made up their minds to use me. + +"At first they thought they would wait and see if anything would come of +the notice they left on the door of the cabin, and then they thought +they wouldn't--that they would hunt up another hiding-place as soon as +possible; so they ordered me to take them where nobody would ever think +of looking for them. And I could do nothing but obey." + +"Were you acting as their guide when they released you?" + +Bob replied that he was. + +"Why didn't you veer around a bit, and lead them toward the railroad?" + +"If I had, I shouldn't be here now," answered Bob, significantly. "They +warned me to be careful about that, and they were so well acquainted +with the hills that I was afraid to attempt any tricks. We camped over +on Dungeon Brook last night, and set out again at an early hour this +morning; but before we had been in motion an hour, we found ourselves +cut off from the upper end of the hills, and that was the time they made +up their minds to let me go. They didn't say so, but still I had an idea +that they didn't want me around for fear I would make too much noise to +suit them." + +"I know they were afraid of it," said Tom. "The robber that Brierly's +squad captured said so." + +"Is one of them taken?" exclaimed Bob, who hadn't heard of it before. +"That's good news. Where's the other?" + +"Don't know. They separated after they let you go, and Brierly captured +one of them. Perhaps we shall hear something about the other one now," +added Tom, directing his companion's attention to a large party of men +who were at that moment discovered approaching the cabin. "We went out +in squads of four, and there are a dozen men in that crowd." + +"But I don't see any prisoner among them," said Bob. "They have all got +guns on their shoulders, and that proves that they have not seen +anything of robber number two." + +As the party came nearer, the boys saw that it was made up of citizens +of Bellville and Hammondsport, who had abandoned the search for the day, +and were now on their way home. + +They were surprised to see Bob Emerson there, safe and sound, and +forthwith desired a full history of the letter which had been the means +of bringing about so remarkable a series of events. + +Bob protested that he was too hungry to talk, but when he saw the +generous supply of bread and meat which one of the men drew from his +haversack, he sat down on a log in front of the cabin and told his +story. + +His auditors declared that the way things had turned out was little +short of wonderful, adding, as they arose to go, that they were coming +out again, bright and early the next morning, to resume the search for +robber number two. They were not going to remain idle at home, they +said, as long as there were twenty-five hundred dollars running around +loose in the woods. + +When the bread and meat were all gone, and the boys were once more +alone, Tom wrote the notice which Joe Morgan found pinned to the door of +the cabin, and then he and Bob set out for Uncle Hallet's. + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Although Silas Morgan had received the most convincing proof that he had +nothing more to fear from the "hant" which had so long occupied all his +waking thoughts and disturbed his dreams at night, he would not have +taken one step toward Mr. Warren's house before morning, had he not been +urged on by the hope that the sheriff would be ready to pay over his +money as soon as the robber was given up to him. The desire to handle +the reward to which he was entitled was stronger than his fear of the +dark. + +"And what shall I do with them twenty-five hundred after I get 'em, +Joey?" said he. "That's what's a-bothering of me now." + +And it was the very thing that was bothering Joe, also. His father had +always been in the habit of spending his money as fast as he got it, and +the boy fully expected to see this large sum slip through his fingers +without doing the least good to him or anybody else. + +"I'll tell you what I _wouldn't_ do with it," said Joe, after a little +hesitation. "I wouldn't give Hobson any of it." + +"You're right I won't!" exclaimed Silas. "He's got more'n his share +already. What be you going to do with yours, when you get it?" + +"I think now that I shall put it in the bank at Hammondsport," answered +Joe. "It will be safe there, and if I am careful of it, it will last me +until I get through going to school. You don't want to go to school, but +you might go into business and increase your capital." + +"That's it--that's it, Joey!" exclaimed Silas, who grew enthusiastic at +once. "I never thought of that. But what sort of business? It must be +something easy, 'cause I've worked hard enough already." + +"Mr. Warren says that there is no easy way of making a living," began +Joe; but his father interrupted him with an exclamation of impatience. + +"What does old man Warren know about it?" he demanded. "He never had to +do a hand's turn in his life." + +"But he don't know what it is to be idle, and he is busy at something +every day," said Joe. "I'll tell you what I have often thought I would +do if I had a little money, and I may do it yet, if you don't decide to +go into it. The new road that is coming through here is bound to bring a +good many people to the Beach, sooner or later. As the trout are nearly +all gone, the guests will have to devote their attention to the bass in +the lake, and consequently there will be a big demand for boats." + +"So there will!" exclaimed Silas, who saw at once what Joe was trying to +get at. "That's the business I've been looking for, Joey, and it's an +easy one, too. Of course, I can let all my boats at so much an hour, and +I won't have nothing to do but sit on the beach and take in my money." + +"And what'll I be doing?" inquired Dan, who had not spoken before. + +"You!" cried Silas, who seemed to have forgotten that Dan was one of the +party. "You will keep on chopping cord wood, to pay you for the mean +trick you played on me this morning. You see what you made by it, don't +you? I reckon you wish you'd stayed by me now, don't you? How much will +them boats cost me, Joey?" + +"I should think that ten or a dozen skiffs would be enough to begin +with," answered Joe, "and they will cost you between three and four +hundred dollars; but you would have enough left to rent a piece of +ground of Mr. Warren and put up a snug little house on it." + +"Then I'll be a gentleman like the rest of 'em, won't I?" exclaimed +Silas, gleefully. + +"No, you won't," said Dan, to himself. "That bridge ain't been built +yet, and I don't reckon Hobson means to have it there. He is going to +bust it up some way or 'nother, and I'm just the man to help him, if +he'll pay me for it. Everybody is getting rich 'cepting me, and I ain't +going to be treated this way no longer!" + +Silas was so completely carried away by Joe's plan for making money +without work that he could think of nothing else. He forgot how +determined and vindictive Dan was, and how easy it would be for him to +place a multitude of obstacles in his way, but Joe didn't. + +The latter knew well enough that Dan intended to make trouble if he were +left out in the cold, but what could be done for so lazy and unreliable +a fellow as he was? That was the question. + +While Joe was turning it over in his mind, he led the way through Mr. +Warren's gate and up to the porch, where he found his employer sitting +in company with the sheriff and both Uncle Hallet's game-wardens. The +deputy was in an upper room, keeping guard over the other prisoner. + +Of course, Tom and Bob, who were greatly surprised as well as delighted +to see Joe and his party, wanted to know just how the capture of robber +number two had been brought about, and while Joe was telling the story, +the sheriff marched the captive into the house and turned him over to +his deputy. + +Then he came back and sat down; but he did not put his hand into his +pocket and pull out the reward, as Silas hoped he would. + +"This has been a good day's work all around," said Tom, who was in high +spirits. "The next time there is any detective work to be done in this +county, Bob and I will volunteer to do it. We can catch more criminals +by sitting still and writing letters, than the officers can by bringing +all their skill into play." + +The sheriff laughed, and said that was the way the thing looked from +where he sat. + +"The fun is all over now," continued Tom, "and to-morrow we will go to +work in earnest. You will be on hand, of course?" + +Joe replied that he would. + +"By-the-way," chimed in Bob, "did this robber of yours have a gun of any +description in his hands when he was captured?" + +"No." + +"Then, Joe, you and I are just that much out of pocket. The guns are +gone up." + +"What has become of them?" + +"They are out in the hills somewhere," answered Bob. "When the robbers +made up their minds that they had better let me go, one of them had my +gun and the other had yours; but the robber Brierly captured says that +the weapon impeded his flight, and so he threw it away. Whereabouts he +was in the hills when he got rid of it, he can't tell. No doubt your gun +was thrown away also, and the chances are not one in a thousand that we +shall ever find them again." + +While this conversation was going on, Silas Morgan, who stood at the +foot of the steps that led to the porch, kept pulling Joe by the +coat-sleeve, and whispering to him: + +"Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I'm powerful anxious to see +the color of them twenty-five hundred." + +Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so very +much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy's notice, that the +officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the conversation, +he said, carelessly: + +"Oh, about the reward, Silas--" + +"That's the idee," replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he was +going to get it now. "That's what I'm here for. You have got the +bugglars in your own hands now, and I don't reckon you would mind +passing it over, would you?" + +"I?" exclaimed the sheriff. "I haven't got it. I have never had a cent +of it in my possession." + +"Then who's going to give it to me?" demanded Silas, who wondered if the +officer was going to cheat him out of his money. + +"Well, you see, Silas," said the sheriff, "the reward is conditioned +upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, +and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can't get your +money until they are sentenced." + +"And how long will that be?" + +"The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money was +offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry and +things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from +different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a +lump." + +"That's the way I want it," said Silas, who was very much disappointed. +"I'm going into business." + +"What sort of business?" inquired Mr. Warren. + +"I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach." + +"Well now, Silas, that's the most sensible thing I have heard from you +in a long time," said Mr. Warren. "I'll rent you a piece of ground big +enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good +shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you +manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living +of it." + +"Who said anything about Dan?" exclaimed Silas. + +"I did. Of course you can't ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants +a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He's a strong +boy, a first-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds +on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who +wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a +day for such work as that." + +"Well, I won't do it," said Silas, promptly. "He's a lazy, +good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won't take him into business along +of me." + +"But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game +law and make an honest living," said the sheriff. "By-the-way, Silas, +I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble +of going after them." + +"What setters?" exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of +taking to his heels. "I ain't got none. I took 'em down to the hotel and +give 'em up." + +"I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble," replied +the officer. "I have had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got hold +of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known where +to find the owner. Don't do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best +policy, every day in the week." + +"If you will leave your business in my hands, I will attend to it for +you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all," continued Mr. +Warren. + +And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the +gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, +if he could help it. + +"It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats +this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, +and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at +Hobson's bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not +paid over to you by the time spring opens, I will advance you enough to +start you in business and build your house. Then I think you had better +give Dan a chance." + +"So do I," whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. "Dan has lived by his wits +long enough, and if Silas doesn't begin to take some interest in him, +the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. I can +see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over Silas as a +whip to make him behave himself." + +"Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?" asked +Bob. + +"No, I don't, because he doesn't know enough to take care of so much +money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that +he will make every cent of it count." + +Then, aloud, Tom said: + +"Well, Bob, seeing that we've got to get up in the morning, we had +better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take +your things back to your cabin." + +"And I will send up another supply of provisions," said Mr. Warren. + +Joe thanked his employer, bade him good-night, and led the way out of +the yard. + +For a time he and his party walked along in silence, and then Silas, who +began to have a vague idea that he had been imposed upon in some way, +broke out, fiercely: + +"What did old man Warren mean by saying that if I didn't get all my +money by the time spring comes, he would advance enough to set me up in +business?" Silas almost shouted. "Looks to me like he'd 'p'inted himself +my guardeen, and that he means to keep a tight grip on them twenty-five +hundred, so't I can't spend it to suit myself. That's what I think he +means to do, dog-gone the luck!" + +Joe thought so, too, and he was glad of it. If that was Mr. Warren's +intention, Joe's mother would be likely to reap some benefit from the +reward; otherwise, she would not. + + [TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +EIGHT GOOD RIDDLES. + + +Feet have they, but they walk not--stoves. + +Eyes have they, but they see not--potatoes. + +Teeth have they, but they chew not--saws. + +Noses have they, but they smell not--teapots. + +Mouths have they, but they taste not--rivers. + +Hands have they, but they handle not--Clocks. + +Ears have they, but they hear not--cornstalks. + +Tongues have they, but they talk not--wagons. + + +[Illustration: + +_Teacher_--"I am sorry, William, to have to whip a big boy like you. +It grieves me terribly." + +_William_--"It don't grieve you half as much as it does me."] + + + + +CREAM OF THE COMICS. + + "Brisk as a bee." + --_Boswell's Life of Johnson_. + + + --In the drama of life the clerk plays a counter-part. + + --Why is a whisper forbidden in polite society? Because it isn't +aloud. + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATED TALE.] + + --A tinsmith in the country has a sign which reads: + "Quart measures of all shapes and sizes sold here." + + --Customer: "Is your bread nice and light?" + Baker's boy: "Yessum; it only weighs nine ounces to the pound!" + + --"Home, Sweet Home"--a bee-hive. + + --The egotist lives on an I-land. + + --The Bank of England--a fog-bank. + + --"April showers bring forth May flowers." + Said Flora to her brother Bob: "Robert, dear, what do April showers + bring forth?" + Said Bob: "Umbrellas, of course!" + + --"Don't you find the people around here very sociable?" asked + Cobwigger of a new neighbor. + "Yes, indeed, I do," was the hearty response. "Only a moment ago I met + a beggar, and he held out his hand to me." + + --"Pa," said little Jimmie, "I was very near going to the head of my + class to-day." + "How is that, my son?" + "Why, a big word came all the way down to me, and if I could only have + spelled it, I should have gone clear up." + + --Mamma (coaxingly): "Come, Bobby, take your medicine now, and then + jump into bed!" + Bobby: "I do not want to take my medicine, mamma." + Father (who knows how to govern children) "Robert, if you don't take + your medicine at once, you will be put to bed without taking it at + all." + + --A little girl in Charles Street, Boston, has an old-fashioned doll + which has the following words worked in red silk letters on its + sawdust-stuffed body: + + "Steal not this doll for fear of shame, + For here you see the owner's name. + + "PRISCILLA ALDEN." + + --A little grammar found in an old garret in Portsmouth, N.H., has an + illustration representing the difference between the active, passive + and neuter verbs. It is a picture of a father whipping his boy. The + father is active, the boy is passive, and the mother, sitting by + herself on a stool, looking on, but doing nothing, is neuter. + + --"Here, Johnnie, what do you mean by taking Willie's cake away from + him? Didn't you have a piece for yourself?" + "Yes; but you told me I always ought to take my little brother's + part." + + --Young physician (who has just lost a patient, to old physician): + "Would you advise an autopsy, doctor?" + Old physician: "No; I would advise an inquest." + + --"Pause!" cries the sire unto the lad, + "Let judgment teach you sense." + "I will," he answers, "when I've had + Enough experience." + + --Doctor: "Now, my little man, you take this medicine and I will give + you five cents." + Young America: "You take it yourself, and I will go you five cents + better." + + --Mistaking the door, young Mr. Cipher walked into the dentist's + office instead of the doctor's. + "Doctor," he groaned, "I'm in bad shape. My head aches all the time, + and I can't do anything with it." + "Yes, yes," said Doctor Toothaker, cheerfully. "I see; big cavity in + it; must be hollow; you'll need to have it filled." + And, seeing his mistake, young Mr. Cipher apologized and went out, + and told it all around as a capital joke on the dentist. + + +[Illustration: JOHNNIE'S FIRST FISHING EXCURSION OF THE SEASON. + + What he caught at the pond. + + What he caught when he got home!] + + + + +OUR LETTER BOX. + + +DECLINED.--A Sad Catastrophe--A Stage-Driver's Story--My Dog Carlo--The +Children's Celebration--Flossie's Letter--The Scotch Yacht +Thistle--Brave Dog Nero and his Friends--Our First Boat Ride--Little +Sam, a Tale of Long Ago--Penny. + +Q. K.--The first fire insurance office in the United States was +established at Boston in 1724; the first life insurance at Philadelphia +in 1812. + +J. E. M. AND R. B. G.--Every requisite for admission to the West Point +Military Academy was fully detailed in No. 12 of the last volume, which +will be mailed to any address upon the receipt of 6 cents. + +OLD READER.--1. The oldest daily newspaper in this country is the North +American and United States Gazette, founded in 1771, and still published +in Philadelphia. 2. There may be some curiosity dealer in your city who +would be willing to purchase the ancient paper in your possession. + +YUM YUM.--Boulak is the port of Cairo, Egypt, being situated on the +right bank of the Nile, one mile northwest of that city, of which it +forms a suburb. A noble museum of antiquities is situated at Boulak, +and the latest additions to its treasures are the mummies described in +No. 22. + +F. E. N.--Level is a term applied to surfaces that are parallel to that +of still water, or perpendicular to the direction of the plumb-line; and +when it is desired to ascertain the altitude of any specified locality, +the level of the ocean's surface is always taken as the standard from +which such reckoning is made. + +ALEX.--The easiest and most skillful methods of killing setting and +preserving insects were set forth in Nos. 18, 27, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of +Vol. III. The process of making the "killing bottle" is too lengthy to +be reproduced here, but is given in full in the first-mentioned issue, +under the heading "Herme's Museum." + +W. B. W.--By closely studying the construction and solution of the +puzzles printed from week to week in this paper, any boy of average +intelligence will have no difficulty in mastering them in a +comparatively short time. A very interesting article on this subject was +presented under the title of "An Instructive Pastime," in No. 22 of Vol. +VII. + +CLARENCE B.--There is only one source of alcohol--the fermentation of +sugar or other saccharine matter. Sugar is the produce of the vegetable +world. Some plants contain free sugar, and still more contain starch, +which can be converted into sugar. The best vegetable substances, +therefore, for yielding alcohol are those that contain the greatest +abundance of sugar or of starch. + +A SUBSCRIBER, H. C. J. AND S. O. K.--Boys aged from fourteen to eighteen +years are eligible to appointment to the United States Naval Academy at +Annapolis, Md. The limit of age for those enlisting on the government +training ships is from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches +of the service are open to any American youths capable of passing the +physical and mental examinations required of all applicants. + +H. S. W.--The Bible informs us that Tubal-Cain, the son of Lamech and +Zillah, was the "instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," and +on that account he is considered the first blacksmith of which there is +any record. Respecting the tools used by him there is no mention made by +historians. Jabal, another son of Lamech, "was the father of such as +dwell in tents and of such as have cattle," and his brother Jubal "of +all such as handle the harp and organ." + +FRANKLIN SCHOOL.--We prefer to refrain from publishing medical recipes, +such as pimple removers and the like, always advising a consultation +with a first-class physician, who will prescribe some blood-purifying +compound for the relief or cure of the trouble. In our younger days, +a mixture of molasses, cream tartar and sulphur was considered a +sovereign remedy for skin eruptions, and a weak solution of alcohol or +ammonia a most excellent annihilator of "blackheads." + +HARKINGOPITCHER.--1. The originator of puzzles is not known, nor is it +at all probable that the mystery surrounding their inception will ever +be cleared away. The fabled founder is the Sphinx of Egypt, who, +the mythologists inform us, propounded the first enigma. 2. It is an +invariable custom to notify our readers of the appearance of new serial +stories, and therefore you will receive due notice of those written by +your favorites, when we conclude to publish them. + +THEO. H.--The action of machines used for making ice consists in +evaporating ether, or any similar volatile liquid, in a vacuum, and +again condensing the vapor to liquid, so as to be used afresh. Fifty-two +degrees of cold is thus easily obtained, and the machines used for the +purpose can produce several tons of ice each day in the hottest +countries. Much artificial ice is now made by compressing atmospheric +air, and by this method a freezing temperature is obtained on vessels +employed in carrying fresh meats from distant countries. + +INK BOTTLE.--1. Mineralogists apply the term "pyrites" to a large group +or family of minerals, compounds of metals with sulphur, or with +arsenic, or with both. The name was originally given to the sulphuret of +iron, known as iron pyrites, in consequence of its striking fire with +steel (from the Greek _pyr_, fire), and it was used for kindling powder +in the pans of muskets before gun-flints were introduced. Iron pyrites +is commonly of a bright brass-yellow color, and is found crystallized in +cubes, dodecahedrons and many other forms. It is a very widely diffused +and plentiful mineral, and seems to belong almost equally to all +geological formations. 2. Eagle cents issued in 1858 are of no value to +collectors, because they lack rarity. 3. Your exchange is too trivial. + +J. B. D., of Chicago, kindly informs us that he has been able to get a +slight shock from a telegraph battery in the following manner: "On every +learner's instrument there are two binding-posts, and to one of them is +joined a wire from the battery; a small file is fastened to the other; +the key is closed, and then the other wire of the battery is taken in +your wet fingers, and, with the other hand, also wet, upon the file, +the wire is run along the surface of the file, and a shock results." + +WALTER R.--What is known as the registry system is intended to secure to +valuable mail-matter in its transition through the mails the utmost +security within the province of the Post Office Department. The fee on +any registered matter, domestic or foreign, is fixed at ten cents on +each parcel or letter, to be affixed in stamps, in addition to the +postage. The money-order system is intended to promote public +convenience, and to secure safety in the transfer through the mails of +small sums of money. The rates may be ascertained by inquiring at a +local office. + +AN ADMIRER OF G. D.--1. Two French scientists, Captain Renard and +M. Tissaudier, have invented a balloon whose motive power is +electricity. The dynamo machine used by them is an intensely +concentrated bichromate battery of one and a half horse-power. It is +very light, weighing but 121-1/4 pounds. Several successful experimental +trips have been made in this machine, and the inventors claim that by +using all the battery power, they were enabled to navigate against the +wind. They may be over-sanguine, but expect, after making some +improvements in the balloon, to attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty +miles an hour. 2. Constant base-ball practice will harden the hands. +No artificial preparation is used by professionals. + +PARXIE.--John Howard, an Englishman, made on May 8, 1854, the greatest +running long-jump, with weights, 29 feet 7 inches; without weights, the +highest record is 23 feet 3 inches, made by M. W. Ford, August 14, 1886. +Standing long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5-1/2 inches, G. W. Hamilton, +October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10-1/2 inches, M. H. Johnson, +September 4, 1884. Running hop-step-and-jump. 48 feet 8 inches, +T. Burrows, October 18, 1884; standing hop-step-and-jump, with weights, +40 feet 2 inches, D. Anderson, July 24, 1865; without weights, 31 feet +10 inches, Gavin Tait, 1862. These are world's records. The best +one-mile amateur bicycle record--2.35 2-5--was made by W. A. Rowe, +October 23, 1885. He has beaten this record--2.29 4-5--since he became a +professional. + +H. C. H.--In early days the coining of copper money for New Jersey was +given by law to Walker Mould, Thomas Goodsby and Albion Cox. There were +two mints, one at Elizabethtown and the other at Morristown. These coins +display on their obverse a horse's head, usually facing right, with a +plow below it, and the legend is "Nova Caesarea." The date is placed in +several positions. On the reverse is a shield, with the motto +"E Pluribus Unum" around the border. In ordinary condition, these +coppers are worth from ten to fifty cents. The rarest varieties are +those having the date under the beam, which are worth $100 each: with +the General Washington bust, $150 each; and with "Immunis Columbia, +1786" for obverse, $50. Doubtless the one in your possession is a common +variety. + +GRAPE CITY.--1. The modern express traffic was originated by William F. +Harnden, on March 4, 1839. At first he carried the packages himself from +place to place in a satchel; but his patrons grew in number until he had +to establish an office in each city, with a daily messenger each day. +Previous to this, all such packages had been sent by friends, or by +special messengers. 2. The precise time of the invention of the +telescope, as well as the name of its inventor, is unknown. Prior to the +end of the thirteenth century, glass lenses were in use for the purpose +of assisting the eye in obtaining distinctness of vision. Galileo is +generally credited with being the first who constructed a telescope by +which he was enabled to make many of the great discoveries upon which +the science of astronomy stands for its foundation. 3. By good business +methods you can doubtless build up a trade such as that stated. +4. Inquire at a book store. + +KICKAPOO.--1. At the beginning of the eleventh century it is said that +the Northmen attempted to plant a settlement in the locality known as +Rhode Island. In 1614, Block, the Dutch navigator, explored it, and the +Dutch traders afterward, seeing the marshy estuaries red with +cranberries, called it Roode Eylandt, "red island," afterward corrupted +into the name it now bears. Roger Williams, a Welsh-Puritan minister, +pastor of a church at Salem, was banished from the colony of +Massachusetts, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, and there, with a +few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in +1636. The place selected by him for settlement he called Providence. +2. The first wife of Julius Caesar was named Cornelia; the second was +Pompeia, a relative of the noted Pompey; and the third was Calpurnia. +3. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, +and died May 5, 1821, at St. Helena, to which island he had been exiled +after the battle of Waterloo. + +NEMO.--The recipe for making a copying-pad and the ink used thereon was +given in No. 2, vol. V. --E. D. AND AUTHOR. We are fully supplied with +literary material by experienced writers. --SOLOMON C. Acrobats do not +use any artificial preparation to increase their suppleness. Constant +practice is the secret of the agility displayed by them. --W. B. The +construction of a photographic camera was detailed in No. 13, Vol. IV; +while the making of blue prints formed the subject of an article in No. +51, Vol. II. --NINTH AVENUE. Interesting articles on the subject of +electricity have been presented in Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. VI, and 16, Vol. +VII. --SUBSCRIBER. An ingenious, painstaking boy can construct a very +neat aeolian harp by following out the directions given in No. 16 of the +fifth volume. --COPPERHEAD. 1. The drawing of the binder shows +considerable ingenuity, and is doubtless novel and useful enough to +warrant patenting. 2. One of the simplest and best forms of the canvas +canoe was illustrated and described in No. 37, Vol. VI. In this and the +previous number another kind is represented. --W. C. H. Any study can be +mastered if the student is persevering and ordinarily intelligent. +--D. P. H. 1. None of the curiosities in your possession are of any +special value. 2. The gold coin will pass at its face value. 3. Nos. 2 +and 18, Vol. II, are out of print. Three dollars per year is the regular +subscription price of GOLDEN DAYS. 4. The magazine is out of print. +--BUCKSKIN BOB. This paper has always been sold by us at a uniform rate +of six cents per copy. --W. M. K. Tan the small skins according to the +directions published in No. 7, Vol. IV. --S. C. Yes. --J. A. W. Place +the matter in the hands of a lawyer. --W. G. W. The addition of a small +quantity of japan dryer to printing ink will make it dry quickly. +--CHESTNUTS. A boy of eleven should confine his reading to more useful +literature than novels, leaving those to be perused at a maturer age. +--COW BOY. There is such a series of juvenile books. Make inquiry at a +book store. --GOLDEN CROSS. A first class bookseller can obtain for you +the books of travels written by Stanley and Livingstone. --MIDDY +(Washington). The length of a ship's cable is about 720 feet. --B. O. S. +No premium is offered for 1819 quarter-dollars, Hong-Kong coins or +French centimes. + + [->] Several communications have been received which will be + answered next week. + + * * * * * + +UNCONDITIONALLY WARRANTED TO GIVE SATISFACTION! + + [Illustration: WOOD'S PENOGRAPH + THE ILLUSTRATION SHOWS THE EXACT SIZE OF PENOGRAPH.] + WOOD'S PENOGRAPH! + +[->] *WOOD'S PENOGRAPH* consists of a first-class DIAMOND-POINTED +FOURTEEN-CARAT gold pen, and the only fountain holder ever constructed +which is _unconditionally warranted to give satisfaction_. It needs no +wiping and no dipping for ink, and it is carried in the pocket always +ready for use on any kind of paper. The Penograph is totally unlike the +McKennon, Livermore, T. Cross, and other Stylographic so-called pens, +which have a rigid point incapable of making shaded lines. Hitherto a +really desirable two-nibbed gold pen and fountain holder has been an +expensive luxury in which comparatively few could indulge. The retail +price of this Penograph is $3. It is warranted to be the _par +excellence_ of all fountain pens, and we place it within easy reach of +every one by the following liberal offer: + +Every Subscriber to GOLDEN DAYS for One Year can have this valuable +Fountain Pen sent to them postpaid by adding to the subscription price +one dollar--in other words, send us $4.00, and we will send postpaid +*Wood's Penograph* and GOLDEN DAYS for one year. In this way you will be +getting the *Penograph* for one dollar, or one year's subscription to +GOLDEN DAYS for one dollar, just as you please to look at it. Either way +you get a bargain. [->] The money must be sent direct to this office. + +Address + +JAMES ELVERSON, + +Publisher GOLDEN DAYS, Phila., Pa. + + * * * * * + + JUST THE BOOK FOR STUDENTS. + + *Military Dictionary* + + --and-- + + *GAZETTEER* + + Comprising + +*Ancient and Modern Technical Terms, Historical Accounts of all North +American Indians, as well as Ancient Warlike Tribes. Also, Notices of +Battles from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, with an Appendix +containing the Articles of War.* + + --by-- + + THOMAS WILHELM, + + (_Captain Eighth Infantry._) + + *656 Pages, Bound in Blue Cloth.* + +We have arranged with the publishers for a limited number of this book, +and will send + +*It and "Golden Days" one year on receipt of $3.25.* + +Money must be sent by the subscriber direct to this office--not through +any agent. Address + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher "Golden Days," + PHILADELPHIA, PA. + + * * * * * + +*OUR PREMIUM KNIFE!* + +[Illustration: {penknife} GOLDEN DAYS] + +Ivory handle, beautifully finished, EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. Made to our +own order, and can *only* be had by subscribing to "GOLDEN DAYS." + +[->] We will make this Knife *a Present* to any one who sends us THREE +DOLLARS + +*For One Year's Subscription to "Golden Days."* + +[->] The money must be sent *direct* to this office. Address + +*JAMES ELVERSON*, Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Phila., Pa. + + +Special Notice.--WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we consider +ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have sent several +thousand Knives and Penographs without one in a thousand being lost. + + * * * * * + +Notices of Exchange. + + +[->] The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning +exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the +reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding +in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging +to write for particulars to the addresses before sending the articles +desired. + +[->] Exchange notices containing offers of or for _shot-guns_, +_air-guns_, _pistols_, _rifles_, _poisons_, _dangerous chemicals_, +_animals_, _odd numbers of papers_, _valueless coins and curiosities_, +_birds' eggs_, or "offers", will _not_ be inserted. + +*Exchange Notices conforming with the above rates are inserted free of +charge.* + +L. Boyd, N.E. cor. 18th and Hamilton Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., a set of +boxing gloves and a book by Verne, for a miniature sailboat, 2 feet +long. + +S. A. Chevalier, No. 366 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 49 photo +negatives of notable yachts, buildings, etc., for an electrical outfit, +a cornet, or a banjo. + +J. Hirsch, Box 212, Corpus Christi, Texas, a collection of sea +curiosities for stamps. + +E. T. Warner, 155 S. 5th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Vols. VI, VII (complete) +and VIII (to date) GOLDEN DAYS, and 20 books by Castlemon and Alger, +for other books by Castlemon, Alger, Otis or Ellis. + +L. G. Banks, 92 Maple Ave., 31st Ward, Pittsburg, Pa., a magic lantern +with lens, lamp and 12 views, and "Robinson Crusoe," for a Model +printing press. + +H. J. West, 1610 Hollins St., Baltimore, Md., a magic lantern with 13 +slides, in a leatherette box, for a pair of 3-pound Indian clubs and a +pair of 3-pound dumb-bells. + +R. F. Baird, 205 Wylie Ave., Pittsburg, Pa., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a +Waterbury watch. + +E. D. Flugel, 134 E. 109th St., N.Y. city, a large bagatelle board with +marbles, for a collection of not less than 300 foreign stamps only. +(City offers only.) + +F. L. Shipley, Box 275, Creston, Ia., Vols. LVII and LVIII "Youth's +Companion" and Vol. VIII (up to date) GOLDEN DAYS, for a printing press +and outfit. + +H. B. Cochran, 345 N. 12th St., Phila., Pa., a Waterbury watch, a font +of newspaper type, and 2 books, for a book on mineralogy and natural +history or specimens of minerals. + +E. Rudolphy, 389 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. Vol. VII "Harper's Young +People," for a photo tripod. + +H. A. Eastman, Box 1080, Keene, N.H., a printing press and 5 fonts of +type, for a telegraph key and sounder. + +J. Tracy, Conneaut, Ohio, a maple-shell snare-drum with ebony sticks, +for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +M. Graham, Grove City, Pa., a magic lantern with 35 slides, a panorama, +a 3x4 printing press with type, a telephone and a cabinet of tricks, +for a telegraph instrument with batteries. + +L. Randall, 1825 Garrison Ave., St. Louis, Mo., a collection of over 300 +foreign and U.S. postage stamps and a collection of postmarks, for a +Waterbury watch. + +W. P. Simpson, Box 773, Jacksonville, Fla., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, a pair +of roller skates and a set of books, for a silver watch or a press and +outfit. + +C. W. Hurst, 1825 Fitzwater St., Phila., Pa., Vols. I, II and III GOLDEN +DAYS, a xylophone, a magic lantern with 24 slides, and a stamp +collection in an album, for the best offer of bicycle sundries. + +T. J. McMahon, 41 Thomas St., N.Y. city, Vols. III, IV and V GOLDEN +DAYS, for best offer of a musical instrument. + +S. M. Johnson, Lock Box 172, Round Rock, Texas, a $25 brass B-flat +cornet with A and B crooks, for a 5x7 self-inking printing press and +material. + +J. Atwell, 10 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse, N.Y., a pair of nickel-plated +extension roller skates and bag, for a banjo. + +G. Frick, 2908 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a 48-inch steel-spoked +rubber-tired bicycle, a watch, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, and "Tom Brown at +Oxford," for a Star bicycle. + +C. E. Mason, 656 Franklin St., Phila., Pa., an International album +containing stamps and about 5,000 loose ones, a New Rogers scroll saw, +and 2 pairs of nickel-plated ice and roller skates, for a 26-bracket +nickel-rimmed banjo, or a guitar, or photo materials. + +G. Barker, 504 W. 129th St., N.Y. city, 7 books by Castlemon, Kingston +and Dickens, for a violin and instruction book. (City offers preferred.) + +Z. A. Stegmuller, 56 E. 25th St., N.Y. city, a game, a small steam +engine, a silver watch and a gold pen-holder, for a self-inking printing +press with type, or a rowing machine. (City and Brooklyn offers only.) + +J. W. Edwards, 197 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a 16-foot +flat-bottomed skiff with centreboard, sail, oars and oarlocks, for a 46 +or 48-inch rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +J. J. Morrow, 94 Pennsylvania Ave., Allegheny, Pa., a 3-lens microscope +with a few mounted specimens, for Vols. V and VI GOLDEN DAYS. + +C. H. Montayre, 145 W. 11th St., N.Y. city, a self-inking printing press +and full outfit, for a 6x6 canvas tent. (City offers preferred.) + +F. Blake, Lock Haven, Pa., a telegraph outfit, for a $10 watch, or a set +of boxing gloves, or a pair of 12-pound dumb-bells. + +L. H. Reamy, 113 River St., Zanesville, Ohio, a polyopticon, for the +best offer of GOLDEN DAYS prior to Vol. VI. + +C. V. Gibson. Box 1026, Natick, Mass., a 2-1/2 x 4 printing press with +cards, 200 postmarks. 1400 foreign and U.S. stamps, and a pair of +skates, for a flute, a banjo, a violin and bow, or a cornet. + +C. Perry, Ithaca, N.Y., a $25 upright engine, for a scroll saw with +lathe attachment. + +L. M. Geer, Box 663, Corry, Pa., Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young +People," Vols. XLI, XLII and XLIII "Youth's Companion," a magic lantern +with 12 slides, 6 books and 2 pairs of skates, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +G. V. Bacon. 52 Dudley St., Boston, Mass., a Ruby magic lantern, a set +of carving tools, and a set of drawing instruments, for a pair of +fencing foils. + +G. Medina, Room 360, Prod. Ex. Bldg., N.Y. city, a complete $40 camping +outfit, for a 1/2-nickeled bicycle with ball bearings. + +C. O. Henbest, Marshall, Ill., Vol. V or VI GOLDEN DAYS, or a printing +press, for a collection of stamps. + +F. A. Magee, Maiden, Mass., Vol. IV GOLDEN DAYS, a canvas canoe, +a printing press, 200 stamps, 200 postmarks, a pair of opera glasses, +a magnifying glass and 200 good story papers, for a large press or a +bicycle. + +E. C. Cary, Box 147, N.Y. city, a New Rogers scroll saw with drill, saws +and patterns, a hand-inking 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 printing press, with type, ink, +furniture, etc., for a violin and bow, with or without case. + +N. J. Waite, 401 Giddings Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +for any kind of electrical goods. + +J. Clay Collier, Fort Smith, Ark., Vol. V and part of Vol. VII GOLDEN +DAYS, for books by Castlemon or Cooke. + +F. Vansant, 770 St. Peter St., Baltimore, Md., $15 worth of books, for +an 8x8x8 wall tent. + +J. W. Robertson, 1180 Harvard St., Chicago, Ill., a collection of stamps +and 4 books, for a pair of opera glasses or a printing press with type. + +C. A. Lutz, Cane Spring, Ky., Vols. II (a few numbers missing). III, IV, +V, VI (all bound, without covers) and VII (unbound) "Harper's Young +People," for volumes of GOLDEN DAYS or telegraphic apparatus. + +G. Moulton, Virginia, Ill., an ebony 13-keyed B-flat clarionet, for a +watch. + +W. R. Clickner, Andover. Kans., a $25 5x8 printing press and outfit, +for a rubber-tired bicycle. + +C. Peck, 71 35th St., Chicago, Ill., 8 books by Reid and others, and a +pair of ice skates, for a Morse telegraph outfit. + +R. Buck, Sea Isle City, N.J., "Ragged Dick Series," (6 volumes), for a +telegraph key, sounder and outfit. + +F. Schafer, 307 S. 3d St., Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y., a pair of opera glasses +with case, and a fife, for a mandolin, or a banjo with 24 brackets (N.Y. +or Brooklyn offers preferred). + +F. Horton, Westfield, Pa., 2 volumes of "Youth's Companion," and a pair +of roller skates, for a banjo. + +W. A. Sherwood, Lutherville, Md., a magic lantern with 12 slides and a +font of job type, for rare foreign and U.S. stamps. + +W. A. Pickering, Box 797, Eureka Springs, Ark., a 1/4-horse-power steam +engine, for a nickel-plated B-flat cornet. + +E. H. Gilbert, Lock Box 21, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2 pairs of skates and +"Don Quixote," for a pair of opera glasses with case. + +L. A. Cox, Verden, Ill., Vols. V, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +R. F. Greene, Box 232, Arkansas City, Kans., Vol. LVIII "Youth's +Companion" and 2 books, for any bound volume of GOLDEN DAYS except the +sixth. + +H. J. Hendrickson, 214 W. Market St., York, Pa., 950 foreign stamps and +700 foreign and domestic postmarks, for a collection of minerals. + +C. V. B. Gettz, Moore's, Pa., a $35 gas engine (1/3-horse-power), for +a bicycle (American Challenge preferred). + +H. H. Sellers, 73 Exchange St., Bangor, Me., a 10-keyed ocarina, +a 6-keyed clarionet, 6 books and a stylographic pen, for a cornet. + +C. W. Valentine, Millville, N.J., a volume of "Youth's Companion," "Tom +Brown's School-days" and a bagatelle board, for carpenters' tools. + +A. Spring, Jr., White Plains, N.Y., a magic lantern with 23 slides, +for Vol. I or II GOLDEN DAYS (bound). + +J. G. Ross, Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., a 12-foot +round-bottomed row-boat with centreboard and oars, for a photographic +outfit, a bicycle or a press. + +J. C. Hubbard, 22 E. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., a hand-inking press +and a collection of curiosities, for type and material, or volumes of +GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fourth. + + * * * * * + +Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria. + + * * * * * + +C. A. Wise, Gobleville, Mich., a pair of nickel-plated roller skates and +a guitar, for the best offer of foreign and U.S. stamps. + +H. A. Hammond. Box 276, Peabody, Mass., Vols. V and VI, or VI and VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a fountain or stylographic pen. + +R. A. Weston, W. Mt. Vernon, Me., 300 numbers of "Youth's Companion," +Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young People," Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, +3 books, 100 varieties of stamps, a pair of ice skates and a game, for +a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. H. Dunham, 1098 Washington St. (Suite 12), Boston, Mass., a pair of +roller skates, a Holly scroll saw with saws and patterns, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +R. H. Stickney, Valparaiso, Ind., a stereoscope with 16 views, a magic +lantern with views and photographic attachment, a dark lantern and a +book by Kingston, for a 7x9 wall tent. + +B. M. Wilson, 1824 Ridge Ave., Phila., Pa., an International album with +100 stamps, and Vol. V GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +E. S. Harvey, Ridge, Ohio, a hand-inking press with roller, furniture +and a font of type, and a book, for an International stamp album or +stamps. + +J. Meighan, Jr., 386 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., a pair of skates, for a +catcher's mask. + +C. Bagley, 10 Olive St., Lynn, Mass., a pair of skates, Vols. IV, VI and +VII GOLDEN DAYS and a lot of musical instruments, for a rubber-tired +bicycle (Mass. offers preferred). + +E. F. Balinger, Mt. Union, Ohio, 2 vols. of GOLDEN DAYS, a pair of +roller skates, a telegraph key and sounder, an Indian bow and arrows, +and some books and magazines, for a cornet with crooks. + +S. L. Taylor, 333 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., a collection of 350 +foreign stamps in an album, 900 traders, a magic lantern with 20 or 30 +slides, and 5 books, for a B-flat cornet, a banjo, or a cork-handled +tennis racquet. + +J. E. Ackerman, Jr., 7 Nassau St., N.Y. city, a nickel-plated bicycle +saddle and bell, for a Duryea saddle (style, A or C). + +F. H. Meyers. 38 Bleecker St., N.Y. city, Vols. IV, V, VI and VII GOLDEN +DAYS, Vol. LIV "Youth's Companion," a vol. of "St. Nicholas," 5 books; +a magic lantern with slides, and 2 games, for a rubber-tired +steel-spoked bicycle. + +C. F. Souder. Box 199, Toledo, Ohio, a violin and bow, and Vol. VII +GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo. + +C. W. Howell, 646 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kans., an accordion, +a Waterbury watch, and a puzzle, for a complete telegraph outfit. + +W. T. Cook, Royersford, Pa., 5 books by popular authors for any bound +vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth. + +W. H. Field, 234 Ferry St., Easton, Pa., a Holly scroll saw and a set of +tenpins for a wall or other tent large enough for four persons. + +P. J. McConomy, 38 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa., Vols. I and II (a few +numbers missing) and V and VI (complete) GOLDEN DAYS, for a piccolo with +at least 4 keys. + +O. C. Cornwell, Girard, Kans., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, 8 books, +a pair of skates, 5 games, a set of drawing Instruments, and 500 foreign +and U.S. stamps, for a self-inking printing press, or a silver watch. + +W. Bell, Box 154, Norfolk, Va., Vols. I, II, III, IV and V GOLDEN DAYS, +for a Holly steam engine or a collection of 1500 to 2000 stamps. + +G. E. Montgomery, Westernport, Md., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS and +"Ames' Mastery of the Pen," for standard works on physiology and hygiene +or a field glass. + +C. C. Moore, 76 3d Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., a magic lantern with 16 +slides, and a printing press with 2 fonts of type, for an instantaneous +camera and outfit. + +W. Willson, 561 Lorimer St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. N.Y., a magic lantern +with 12 slides for a pair of 9 or 9-1/2 nickel-plated roller skates. + +D. A. Trapp, 113 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, Ky., a collection of over +1200 stamps in an international album for a No. 2 or 3 Baltimorean press +and outfit. + +H. Edwards, 147 E. 114th St., N.Y. city, a magic lantern with 12 slides, +and a hand-inking printing press, without type, for a set of boxing +gloves. + +F. Rowell, Stamford, Conn., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, and some +books, games and stamps, for Indian grammars, or histories of North +American Indians, or Indian relics. + +J. E. Caldwell, Sego, Kans., a $3 piccolo, a set of boxwood chessmen, +and a box of water-color paints, for the best offer of GOLDEN DAYS. + +W. McIntosh, East Smethport, Pa., a 10x14 hand-inking press, with 20 +fonts of type, 2 sticks, galley, leads, etc., for a 50 to 52-inch +bicycle. + +J. H. Cunningham, Room 507 Hamilton Building, Pittsburg, Pa., a pair of +ice skates and "Tom Brown's School Days" for a learners' book on +shorthand. + +W. McVeagh. 831 W. 3d St., Williamsport, Pa., a New Rogers scroll saw +for Vol. I or IV GOLDEN DAYS. + + * * * * * + + A LIMITED NUMBER + OF + *Volumes IV, V and VI* + "GOLDEN DAYS," + Bound in Cloth. + +Price, $4.00 each. + + ADDRESS, + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + +*From the Daily News, Genesee, N.Y.* + +We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he +could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the +GOLDEN DAYS, decidedly the most valuable and most interesting pictorial +newspaper we ever saw, not only for the children, but for the entire +family. For the sake of his children we sincerely urge every father to +send to the office for a specimen copy, when he can see for himself the +great value it will be in his family, and he will thank us in his heart +for calling his attention to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, +GOLDEN DAYS, corner and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Penna. + + +OUT OF THE MANY EARNEST AND EMPHATIC ENDORSEMENTS OF "GOLDEN DAYS," +WE PRINT THE FOLLOWING: + + +*A GOOD OPINION FROM REV. G. E. STROBRIDGE,* + +_Pastor St. John's M. E. Church, New York city._ + +GOLDEN DAYS has been coming regularly to my house since its first +number. It is always welcome. The children wait with impatience its +weekly arrival, and even interrupt their meals to tear off its wrapper +and scan its attractive pages. It is generously illustrated, and as to +its reading matter, it is bright, breezy, instructive, and, best of all, +pure. The most careful parent may dismiss anxiety while his happy child +is absorbed in its columns. + +A feature that adds to the paper an especial value is a weekly +discussion of the International Sunday-school Lesson. This is given in a +pleasant narrative style by Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., for many years +editor of the Sunday School Advocate, and editor and writer of books for +children. His widely-known name is a sufficient assurance that these +lessons thus conducted will continue to be learned, clear and +interesting. + + +*From the West Philadelphia Press.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--This weekly journal for young people has reached a +circulation that embraces the entire country. Indeed, there is hardly to +be found a village or hamlet in the newest of the States or in our far +Western Territories in which GOLDEN DAYS is not a welcome visitor. The +proprietor and editor, Mr. James Elverson, determined from the first to +make it a journal that should please and at the same time instruct the +young, and he has been completely successful. There is no weekly paper +published in this or the Old World that so covers the field for the +youthful mind as GOLDEN DAYS. There is nothing heavy about it--nothing +prosy or difficult to comprehend in the matter it contains. Its stories +are graphic, entertaining and by the best writers, while each number has +articles especially prepared on subjects of practical interest to boys +and girls by authors whose fame in the arena of natural history, +science, biography and art is national. Add to all these excellencies +and attractions the fact that no impure line or thought ever stains its +pages, and it must be acknowledged that GOLDEN DAYS is pre-eminently +fitted to become the intellectual and pleasant companion of the young in +the American household. + + +*From the Sunday Courier, York, Pa.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' +periodical published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson seems, +in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day with +wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to the +universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents are +concerned, its success should be a matter for general congratulation, +as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding from its pages +everything that could be considered as in any way tending to vitiate the +minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are far superior in +vividness of interest for the little ones to those sensational +publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all who have +children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have struck the +golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere pleasure +to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--"To merit is to insure success" is certainly verified in +the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable _weekly_ for the youth of this great land is now +well-established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved +patronage. Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with +pictures and puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful +knowledge. GOLDEN DAYS is supplanting a poisonous literature, and +performing a wholesome mission in this day, when too much good seed +cannot be sown by the friends of humanity. + + +*From the Congregationalist and Boston Recorder.* + +Among juvenile periodicals, we think GOLDEN DAYS likely to take high +rank for variety, instructiveness, vivacity and freedom from +objectionable characteristics. We have examined several numbers, and it +seems to be well edited and likely to deserve and win popularity. + + +*ANOTHER FROM REV. D. M'CARTNEY,* + +_Pastor Clinton Avenue M. E. Church, Kingston, N.Y._ + +I have examined sample copies of GOLDEN DAYS, and most heartily indorse +it as meeting a felt want. Notwithstanding the large number of papers we +subscribe for now, it looks as if GOLDEN DAYS would have to be added to +the number, as my children are enraptured with it. + + +BISHOP BOWMAN, + +_Of the Methodist Episcopal Church, writes:_ + + ST. LOUIS, Nov. 26, 1880. + +I have examined with great interest several numbers of GOLDEN DAYS, and +am much pleased with them. We greatly need all such publications for our +young people, to save them from the corrupting trash that meets them on +every side. I wish you great success in this worthy Christian +enterprise. + + +*FROM REV. O. C. DICKERSON,* + +_Pastor of Congregational Church, Belleplain, Iowa._ + +ED. GOLDEN DAYS.--All hail! As a sterling friend of the young, your +enterprise wakes loud echoes. + + +*REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,* + +_Pastor of the P. E. Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, says:_ + +From what I have seen of GOLDEN DAYS, it strikes me very favorably. +There is a high tone of morality about it which is calculated to exert a +very wholesome influence on the young people who read it. + + +*From the Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y.* + +A MODEL PAPER.--Two years ago, we informed the readers of the Citizen +that a long-felt want was to be supplied--viz., a paper was to be +printed which would give the young people (boys and girls) plenty of +good reading without corrupting their morals or vitiating their +tastes--in other words, would furnish them with stories which would +gratify their love of adventure without inspiring in them a desire to +imitate impossible heroes, and tempting them to desert their homes in +search of adventures which never occur outside of blood-and-thunder +papers and story books. The paper we allude to--GOLDEN DAYS--promised +this, and we have carefully watched it for two years to see how its +pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be able to state it has +exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it has been constantly +filled with stories and sketches of the most fascinating character, +we have never seen a sentence in it which we could have wished to have +omitted. + + +*From the Episcopal Recorder.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--We commend this as the best of the class of publications +to which it belongs, and as being essentially different from all that +are contemporaneous with it. And if it shall prove to be like Moses' rod +when turned into a serpent, and swallow up the serpent-rods of all +cunning magicians of evil, and then become a rod of power for working +good in the home, in the school, and wherever youth are found, we shall +rejoice. + + +*From the Christian Register, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is well worthy the examination of parents who wish to +provide their children with a large amount of carefully-prepared +miscellany, at once entertaining, instructive and clean. It is edited +with ability, and shows a quick sympathy with the pleasures of the young +people, and a clear outlook for their welfare. + + +*From the Maryland School Journal.* + +GOLDEN DAYS (Elverson, Philadelphia) has fulfilled its promise, and is +in every respect a suitable weekly paper to put into the hands of young +boys and girls. We have carefully watched each number since the start, +and have seen in it nothing to censure and much to praise. + + +*From the Floyd Co. Advocate, Charles City, Iowa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, of Philadelphia, is a new +first-class paper for boys and girls. Provide them with good, +entertaining reading, and they will grow up good men and women. + + +*From Town Talk, Mansfield, Ohio.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome illustrated and +interesting youth's paper called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and +such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the +youngsters catch a glimpse of it they will find they need it as a +recreation after study hours. + + +*From The Home and Sunday-School, Dallas, Texas.* + +We can heartily recommend GOLDEN DAYS as one of the purest and most +charming juvenile magazines we have seen. It is wholly free from +corrupting influences--fresh, instructive, and eagerly welcomed by the +boys and girls. Having seen nothing in it to censure and much to praise, +we hope it may have the wide circulation it merits. + + +*From the Christian Advocate, Pittsburg, Pa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS comes to us in a magazine form, making a beautiful and +interesting volume. This journal numbers among its contributors probably +more popular writers of serial stories for youth than any juvenile +publication in the country. + + +*From the Presbyterian Banner, Pittsburg, Pa.* + +A great advance has been made within the last twelve months in a very +important agency for good--the publication of cheap, and, at the same +time, unexceptionable and attractive reading matter. For a long time the +want has been seriously felt for something more than mere denunciation +to overcome the growing evil of the demoralizing literature--cheap and +vile--that has been scattered broadcast over the land. That want has +been measurably supplied, in part, by the publication of standard +English classics, at marvelously low prices, and in part by the issue of +low-priced but superior periodicals, attractive in appearance and +contents, and suitable for both young and old. We invite special +attention to the latest enterprise in the latter department--GOLDEN +DAYS, for boys and girls, James Elverson, publisher, Philadelphia. It is +a handsome juvenile journal, of sixteen pages (over eight hundred a +year), filled with stories, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, puzzles, and +humorous items, making up a total that will delight and at the same time +instruct the boys and girls from eight to eighty. The pictorial +embellishments are unsually fine, and far in advance of the coarse +deformities in the flashy sheets that are displayed on the news-stands +to horrify every refined passer-by. + + +*From the Baltimore Gazette.* + +The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' +periodical, published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most +encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable +of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson, +seems, in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day +with wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to +the universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents +are concerned, its success should be a matter for general +congratulation, as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding +from its pages everything that could be considered as in any way tending +to vitiate the minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are +far superior in vividness of interest for the little ones to those +sensational publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all +who have children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have +struck the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere +pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity. + + +*From the Methodist, New York.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and +interesting youth's paper, called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every Christian home for the young folks, for the reading is +wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt +subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it, they will find +they need it as a recreation after study-hours. + + +*From the Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss.* + +A specimen number of GOLDEN DAYS has fallen into our hands. This is a +paper for boys and girls, and, from the cursory examination we have been +enabled to give it, we think it deserving of support. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Illustrations: + +Readers who are unable to use the fully illustrated html version of +this text may wish to view some individual images, located within the +"images" directory of the html file. The major illustrations are: + + Cover pic01.jpg + Linda's Crazy Quilt pic03_full.jpg + In Search of Himself pic07.jpg + Mamie's Letter to Heaven pic10b.jpg + Striking out for Themselves pic11.jpg + Jack-A-Dandy pic15.jpg + + +Layout of Advertising Pages: + +inside front: + + +---------------+---------------+-------------------------------+ + | Sapolio |"Advertisements| Malaria Yellow Fever | + | | inserted..." | | + | +---------------+ Ayer's Pills | + +---------------+Practical Joke +---------------+---------------+ + // // // // // + | | Ready Binder | | | + | +---------------+ | | + +---------------+ | Stamps | | + | Vol. VII +---------------+---------------+ | + | "Golden Days" | Pitcher's Castoria | Hammock Chair | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +inside back: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Wood's Penograph | | + +---------------+ | (exchanges) | + | Military | | | + | +---------------+---------------+ | + | Dictionary | Our Premium Knife | | + | | | | + +---------------+---------------+---------------+ (exchanges) | + // // // // // + | | (exchanges) | (exchanges) +---------------+ + | (exchanges) +-------------------------------+ Volumes | + | | Pitcher's Castoria | IV, V and VI | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +back cover (three columns, all Testimonials) + + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +Missing or incorrect punctuation was silently corrected. Typographical +errors in the advertising sections were left unchanged; those in the +main text were corrected. Both are noted here. + + Advertising, Front Section: + For es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair + [_probably "forces": letter invisible_] + Advertisements inserted ... agate measurement). + [_no opening parenthesis_] + *PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* [_as printed_] + + Linda's Crazy Quilt + I declare for 't!" she added [close quote missing] + + In Search of Himself + curved from the jaws like cimetars. [_spelling unchanged_] + + In a Menagerie + I stopped as usual at Bessie's cage [_elsewhere "Bessy"_] + + Stories of Dumb Creatures + the other boys will throw stones at him.' [" for '] + + Jack Stanwood + the street vender of physic [_spelling unchanged_] + + The Young Game-Warden + "It sorter hurts you to know [I sorter] + You have got the bugglars in your own hands now + [_spelling unchanged_] + + Testimonials + The pictorial embellishments are unsually fine + [_spelling unchanged_] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 27287.txt or 27287.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/8/27287/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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