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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-05 04:03:55 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-05 04:03:55 -0800 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab88adf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50679 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50679) diff --git a/old/50679-8.txt b/old/50679-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a9e24d6..0000000 --- a/old/50679-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3740 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, December 24, 1895, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Harper's Round Table, December 24, 1895 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: December 13, 2015 [EBook #50679] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S ROUND TABLE *** - - - - -Produced by Annie R. McGuire - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] - -Copyright, 1895, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. - - * * * * * - -PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1895. FIVE CENTS A -COPY. - -VOL. XVII.--NO. 843. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. - - * * * * * - - - - -A GOOD SUNDAY MORNING'S WORK. - -BY W. J. HENDERSON. - - -"It's altogether too absurd!" That was what the schoolmaster said. - -"It is a wicked assumption of power!" That was what the minister said. - -"It's flying in the face of Providence!" That was what old Mrs. Mehonky -said. - -"Them two boys is a couple o' fools, an' they'll git drowned!" That was -what old Captain Silas Witherbee, formerly commander of the steam -oyster-dredge _Lotus Lily_, said. - -And really, when you come to think of it, that was the most sensible -remark of the lot. But what people said did not seem to trouble "them -two boys." - -"We're going to do it," declared Peter Bright. - -"That's what," added Randall Frank. - -And so they did. What was it? Well, it was this way. Searsbridge was a -small sea-coast town situated at the head of a bay some four miles long. -There was very little commercial traffic in that bay, for Searsbridge -was a tiny place. A schooner occasionally dropped anchor in the bay when -head winds and ugly seas were raging outside; and it was said that two -or three big ships had run into the shelter of the harbor in days gone -by, and there was a legend that a great Russian ironclad had once -stopped there for a supply of fresh water. But, as a rule, only the -fishermen's boats ran in and out between Porgy Point and Mullet Head. -There was no light at the entrance to the harbor, but there were some of -the sharpest and most dangerous rocks on the coast scattered about the -entrance. - -"It'd be a famous place for a wreck," said a visitor one day. - -"Why," exclaimed Peter Bright, who was showing him about, "there have -been three wrecks there since I was born." - -"And is there no life-saving station?" - -"Not nearer than Hartwell, and that's three miles away." - -"Well, there ought to be a volunteer crew here, then." - -"We generally manage to get a crew together when there's a wreck." - -"There ought to be a regular crew, well drilled, and prepared for the -worst." - -And that was what led Peter Bright and Randall Frank to talk it all -over and decide to get up a crew. But the other fellows all laughed at -them, and said that there would be a crew on hand when there was any -need for it. - -"Yes," said Randall, who always spoke briefly and to the point, "and -before that crew gets afloat lives will be lost." - -But the arguments of the two young men did not prevail, and they -therefore came to the determination which called forth the protests of -the schoolmaster, the minister, Mrs. Mehonky, and Captain Silas -Witherbee. But these protests had no influence with the two friends. - -"We're going to brace up my boat, and in suspicious weather we're going -to cruise in her off the mouth of the bay to lend aid to vessels in -distress," said Peter, with all the dignity he could command. - -And Randall proudly and emphatically added, "That's what." - -Peter's boat was by no means so despicable a craft as might have been -supposed from the comments of the neighbors. She had been the dinghy of -a large sailing ship, and was stoutly built for work in lumpy water. The -ship had been wrecked on the coast, and the dinghy had been given to -Peter in payment for his services in helping to save her cargo. The -first thing that the boy did was to put a centre-board in the craft, and -to rig her with a stout mast and a mainsail, cat-boat fashion. Then he -announced that in his opinion he had a boat that would stay out when -some more pretentious vessels would have to go home. Of course she was -not very speedy, but for that Peter did not care a great deal. In light -weather most of the fishermen could put him in their wake, but when they -had to reef he could carry all sail, and drop them to leeward as if they -were so many corks. Peter and Randall now went to work to "brace up" the -_Petrel_, as she was called. They put some extra ribs in her, and built -a small deck before the mast. Then they put an extra row of reef points -in the mainsail, and set up a pair of extra heavy shrouds. Peter also -put a socket in the taffrail for a rowlock, so that in case of having to -run before a heavy sea an oar could be shipped to steer with. - -"You know she'll work a good deal better with an oar in running off than -with the rudder," he said. - -And Randall sagely answered, "That's what." - -By the time the September gales were due the _Petrel_ was ready for -business, and whenever the weather looked threatening she was seen -pounding her way through the choppy seas near the mouth of the bay. No -wrecks occurred, however. Indeed, no vessels of any kind approached the -harbor, and the two young men were hard put to it to endure the ridicule -that greeted them on their return from each profitless cruise. But Peter -pluckily declared that their time would come, and Randall repeated his -unshaken opinion that that was what. - -Men are still talking about the storm that visited that coast in October -of that year. It was the worst that had occurred within the memory of -the oldest inhabitant. Even old Tommy Ryddam, who had been around the -Horn three times, had weathered the Cape of Good Hope, and had been as -far north as Upernavik, said, "I 'ain't never seed it blow no harder." -And that was the first time that Tommy had ever made such an admission. -It began on a Wednesday night. The day had been oppressively warm for -that time of year, and as a result a light fog had set in early in the -morning. But before sundown the wind began to come in cold sharp puffs -out of the southeast, and the fog was soon cut into swirling shreds and -sent skimming and twisting away over the yellow land. Its disappearance -revealed a hard brassy-looking sky, and a gray sea running from the -horizon in great oily folds that broke upon the rocks outside of Porgy -Point and Mullet Head with a noise like the booming of distant guns, and -a smother of snowy spray. - -"I reckon this'll be the gale that'll bring us a job," said Peter, as he -hoisted the mainsail on his boat. - -"I shouldn't wonder," said Randall; "but it's going to be a corker." - -His slangy prediction proved to be true. He and Peter cruised around -inside the mouth of the bay for an hour after sunset; but the great -breadth and weight of the swell that came brimming in between the two -headlands and the fast-increasing power of the wind sent them to shelter -for the night. In the morning they beat down under the lee of the -easterly shore, and landed on Mullet Head. Hauling up the boat, they -walked to the highest point of observation. So fierce was the wind that -they were forced to lie down. The sea was an appalling sight. It was -running in great serried ridges of gray and white that hurled themselves -against the land in mountainous breakers. - -"We couldn't get out there if a dozen wrecks came," said Peter. - -"So," answered Randall, "but we might pull some poor fellow out of the -sea." - -"That's about all we could do." - -The boys kept a constant watch all day, but not the faintest sign of a -sail hove in sight above the wavering horizon. The gale blew all day -Thursday and all day Friday. Such a sea had never been seen on the -coast, and many people went down to look at it. The boys maintained -their watch all day on Mullet Head, with the boat safe under its lee. -They knew they were helpless, yet they could not go away. People tried -to persuade or to ridicule them into doing so, but they remained. They -were pretty resolute boys, and were not easily turned from their -purposes. - -On Saturday morning the wind shifted, and the gale showed signs of -moderating. By Saturday night it had fallen to a brisk wind, and the sea -had gone down somewhat. On Sunday morning the two boys sailed down to -Mullet Head to have another look around the horizon. The minister saw -them start, and reproved them for not staying at home to go to church. -But they said that they might go in the afternoon. As soon as they -reached their customary landing-place, they hauled up the boat and -walked up the hill. - -"Look!" exclaimed Peter; "now that the gale is over a sail is in sight." - -"That's a fact," said Randall. "A sloop." - -"Yes; but doesn't she look queer to you?" - -"No--hold on--yes. Her hull looks too big for her rig." - -"That's it. There! Did you see that when she rose on that sea? She's a -schooner, but her mainmast is gone close to the deck. I saw the stump. -Look now!" - -"Yes! I see it, I see it!" cried Randall; "and what's more, she's lost -her foretop-mast." - -"That's so. It's broken off above the masthead cap." - -"She must have had a pretty lively time of it with the gale." - -"Sure enough. I wonder where she's bound?" - -They watched her in silence for half an hour, and then Peter sprang to -his feet with an exclamation: - -"Guinea-pigs and dogs! She's trying to make this harbor." - -"That's what!" cried Randall, slapping his knee. - -They watched her now with more interest than ever. She was not more than -two miles off the entrance now, and Peter was intensely interested. -Suddenly he started down the hill toward the boat. - -"What is it!" cried Randall, following him. - -"She's flying the flag union down, and she's so heavy in her movements -that I believe she's sinking." - -With nervous haste the boys got their boat afloat, and hoisted the -mainsail. In a few minutes they were standing out of the mouth of the -harbor with the long swells underrunning their light craft. Somehow news -of the incoming vessel had reached Searsbridge, and several of the -residents had ridden down to the Head to see what was going to happen. -Some of them caught sight of the little dinghy running out, and waved at -her to return. But the boys were in earnest now, and were not to be -turned from their course. - -"I knew I was right," said Peter. "She's sinking fast, and they're -trying to run her into shallow water." - -"Do you think we can get to her in time?" - -"We must do our best." - -The mainsail ought to have had the last reef taken in, for the mast bent -like a whip, and the dinghy plunged heavily; but it was a time for -driving, if ever there was one. - -"Look! look!" screamed Randall. - -"Too late!" cried Peter. - -The schooner, now half a mile away from them, made a great lurch -forward, threw her stern into the air, and settled down head first. The -top of her broken foremast protruded some ten feet above the surface. - -"No, we're not too late!" shouted Randall. - -"Right you are!" ejaculated Peter. - -They had just discovered that two men had managed to clamber up on the -foretop-mast stump as the schooner went down, and were now clinging -there, waving their arms toward the boys. - -"Get the heaving line ready, Randall," said Pete. - -"Ay, ay," answered the willing boy. - -Peter brought the dinghy broad under the lee of the mast, and getting a -good full on her let her luff up straight at the spar, knowing that the -sea would quickly kill her way. - -"Stand by to catch the line!" he shouted to the men. "Heave!" - -Randall hove the line with good judgment, and one of the wrecked sailors -catching it took a couple of turns around the mast with it. Randall now -hauled the dinghy up close enough to the mast for the two seamen to -swing themselves into her. They were gaunt, hollow-eyed, and exhausted, -and at Randall's bidding they lay down in the bottom of the dinghy. In -three-quarters of an hour the two boys had sailed back to their -landing-place inside Mullet Head. There they met the people who had come -down to see the wreck, and who now received them with cheers. The two -seamen were able to state that they were the sole survivors of a crew of -six, the other four having been carried overboard when the mainmast went -over Thursday night. Old Mr. Peddie volunteered to take the men up to -the town in his carriage, and as they climbed out of the boat he -exclaimed to one of them, - -"Hold on! let me look at you! Aren't you Joseph Spring?" - -"Yes," said the man, hanging his head; "I am." - -"Well, boys," said Mr. Peddie, "you've done a fine Sunday-morning's -work. This is Joe Spring, who quarrelled with his father and ran away to -sea four years ago. There will be a happy reunion in one house to-day." - -Peter and Randall have a fine Block Island boat now, the gift of their -admiring fellow townsmen. - - - - -WILLIE TUCKER. - -SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS CHRISTMAS TRIBULATIONS. - - - WASHINGTONVILLE, CHRISTMAS DAY. - - Dear Mr. Editor:--Why is it that when a fellow tries to have some - fun, he always gets into trouble? Take two years ago this - Christmas, for instance, when I had a notion that I'd play a little - trick on old Santa Claus. My idea was to keep awake till he came - down, wedge up the chimney on him, and then go out and help myself - to a pair of reindeer--he'd have had enough left. Besides, I wasn't - going to _steal_ them, of course--just borrow them for a while and - hitch 'em to my double ripper. Now, I call that an innocent and - perfectly proper thing for any boy to do, but what was the result? - A long, lank, limp, hollow stocking in the morning--and no reindeer - stamping their feet and bleating in the wood-shed, either. - - Well, this was two years ago, and I haven't been fooling around - much about Santa Claus since. Santa Claus can drive a procession of - reindeer a mile long if he wants to, and I won't touch one of them. - Santa Claus is all right in his way, but I think that Captain Kidd - was rather more _my_ kind of a man. Captain Kidd wasn't much on - filling anybody's stockings, but when he got alongside and grappled - the other fellow there was fun--genuine, innocent fun. - - And I can't see that Captain Kidd always got into trouble when he - had a little fun, like a boy does now. You see, it was this way: - They had a Christmas tree over at the church last night. It was a - regular old-fashioned Christmas tree, which was the minister's - idea. Last Sunday says he: "Of late years Christmas trees have been - too much given up to children and such things. It was not that way - when I was a boy up at Hurricane Centre. There were presents for - everybody, old and young. Let us have a genuine, plain, old - Hurricane Centre tree." - - The tree was set for last night, of course, and the committees and - folks and things were working on it all day. Fanny (she's my - sister) and Aunt Lou were over in the afternoon stringing pop-corn, - and falling off of step-ladders, and so forth. My brother Bob is - home from college, and he was over too; though Fanny said he didn't - do much but talk to the girls. That's just like Bob. The football - season has closed, and he has got his hair cut, and kind of exposed - his countenance again at last. Bob thinks he's going to be a - lawyer, but if he ever tries to prosecute me when I get to be a - pirate, he'll be sorry for it. - - Along toward night ma asked me to run over to the church, and take - a little package of things which she wanted put on the tree. - - "What's in it, ma?" I asked. - - "A pair of Santa Claus's reindeer for you," says ma. They're always - throwing that thing up to me. - - So I took the package and started. When I got there I found - everybody gone home to supper except Deacon Green, who was just - staying to keep the church. He took my package, and I says to him: - - "Mr. Green, supper is all ready over at your house." - - "How do you know?" asks he. - - "I smelt it as I came along," I says. "Apple dumplings, I _think_." - - "My, you don't say so!" says the Deacon. "I'm a good deal fond of - dumplings. 'Specially with maple syrup on 'em--_and_ plenty o' - butter." - - "Yes, ma'am," says I. (I _always_ go and say "Yes, ma'am," to a - man.) - - "Wish I could go over and get 'em while they're hot," says he. - - "I'll stay here while you go, if you'd like," I said. - - "Sure you wouldn't snoop 'round the tree?" - - "Yes, ma'am," says I. - - So the Deacon put on his mittens and went home. - - Well, it was sort of lonesome and solemnlike waiting there in that - big hollow church, and so I went up and began _looking_ at the - tree. It was a big pine, all covered with beautiful things. I guess - I jarred the thing a little, and the label off of somebody's - present came fluttering down. - - "Oh," says I to myself, "that won't do. If I don't put that back - somebody will be disappointed. I'll just shin up and fix it." So up - I went. - - I looked a long time before I could find a package without a label - on it, and then after I did find one and got it on, I saw another - label on it; so it wasn't right after all. I looked around a little - more and found the right one at last, but when I turned to take off - the label I had put on, I couldn't for the life of me tell which of - the two it was, so I just jerked off one of 'em by guess and stuck - it on the present. Probably I got the wrong one--just my luck. - - The tree was sort of bendy and wigglesome, and I saw I'd shaken off - several more tags, so I went down and got them. I was getting a - little tired of roosting up there like a Christmas bird, so I stuck - the labels around sort of promiscuouslike, and probably got most of - them wrong. I noticed a good many of the big parcels had small - labels, and _vice versa_, as Bob says, so I thought while I was - about it I might as well fix things up a little. So I put the big - labels on the big things and--_vice versa_ again. Some others I - guess I changed without any particular rule, which, I suppose, was - a bad thing to do, as my teacher says our actions should always be - governed by definite and intelligent rules, but I was tired and I - just stuck 'em about, hit or miss. I thought it would be kind of - funny, and maybe old-fashioned and Hurricane Centre like. Besides, - I wanted to be doing something--the teacher says idleness is a - vice, heard her say so more'n a thousand times. - - Well, after awhile I heard scrunching in the snow outside. I got - down and went over and sat in our pew and tried to look just about - as much like a lamb as a boy not having any wool can look. - - It was Deacon Green. Says he; "Young man, you were a little - mistaken about them apple dumplings. It was just a picked-up cold - supper, 'cause Miranda said to-morrow was Christmas, and we could - eat then." - - "Then it must have been Mr. Doolittle's supper I smelt, ma'am," - says I. - - "Well, no matter; run along home and get yours," answered the - Deacon. So I did so. - - After supper we all went over to the church. I sat in the outside - end of the pew because, of course, I didn't know what might happen. - Well, they had singing and speaking and such stuff. Then Mr. Doty, - the Superintendent of the Sunday-school, made a funny speech, with - easy jokes for children, and then they began to take down the - things and read 'em off to folks. The first few things on the lower - branches seemed to fit all right; then Tommy Snyder's great-grandma - got a pair of club skates. Folks looked surprised, but the next few - things appeared to be right, and nobody said anything. Then somehow - the minister got a red tin horn, and a yearling baby a pair of - silver-bowed spectacles, and Mrs. Deacon Wilkie a cigar-case, right - in succession. This made talk, but Mr. Doty went on. But things - seemed to get worse, and two or three old gentlemen got - rattle-boxes and such stuff, and a little girl got a gold-headed - cane, and Tommy Snyder's poor great-grandma was called again and - got a set of boxing gloves. There was a great uproar, and just then - Deacon Green got a teething-ring. I saw him rise up and motion for - silence. I put my hand on my stomach and says to ma, - - "Ma, I don't feel well at all." - - "Better run out in the vestibule and get some fresh air," says ma. - - I ran. As I went out the door I heard Deacon Green saying something - about me. The air seemed to do me good, so I staid out. While I was - about it I thought I might as well run home and go to bed, so I did - so. - - The next morning at breakfast there was some talk. I didn't succeed - in resembling a lamb so much as I had expected. But pa stood by me - as usual. Then, when it quieted down, I happened to think of - something, and I said, - - "Ma, wasn't there anything on that tree for me?" - - "Well," says ma, "I had understood from trustworthy sources that - there was to be a good-sized brass steam-engine on it for you, but - the engine was read off to a boy who lives over at Clear Brook, so - I suppose I must have been mistaken. Anyhow, I didn't say anything, - and he went off with it." - - There seemed to be something wrong with my buckwheat cake, and I - didn't eat any more of it. I concluded I wasn't much hungry, and - left the table. - - "Don't mind, Willie," said Bob, "you've got your reindeer yet." - - That's the way it goes, you see, when a boy tries to have a little - harmless, innocent amusement. A pirate ship can't come along - looking for recruits any too soon to suit. - - Yours truly, - WILLIE TUCKER. - - - - -A MODERN LABYRINTH. - -BY WALTER CLARK NICHOLS. - - -Clickety-click! click! click! go the levers in the narrow brick house at -six o'clock. Rapidly yet surely five alert men, clad in blue railroad -blouses and trousers, rush about from handle to handle. - -"Quick, Jim!" shouts the head man, "49, 61, and 72! There comes the -Boston express, and the Croton local only two minutes behind! Shove 'em -in there lively!" - -"All right," responds Jim. - -On the instant this lever is down, the others snapped up, and the -express train just out of the tunnel has a clean, clear track into its -haven at Forty-second Street. Three hundred yards before the station is -reached the flame-throated iron monster, uncoupled from its burden of -cars, darts forward on a siding like a spirited horse unharnessed from -its load, while the train glides forward with its own momentum, slowly -and more slowly as the brakes are applied, until it comes to a stop -under the depot shed. Hardly have the passengers poured forth when -another train rolls in, and then another, the pathway in each instance -cleared by those keen men at the levers in this tower-house of the yards -of the Grand Central station in New York city. For they only know the -intricacies of this interesting modern labyrinth where more iron paths -and by-paths are to be found, in all probability, than in any other -place of the same size in the world. - -There is a strange fascination about this labyrinth. Business men on -their way to work and children on their way from school stop to watch -the scene. The light iron foot-bridges which span the tracks for several -blocks, saturated and blackened by the steam and smoke of the five -hundred engines which pass underneath every day, separate you by barely -two feet from the tops of the trains which run in and out of the great -union depot, and from the smoke-stacks of the engines which dart about -from siding to main track and from main track to round-house, where they -sleep and dream fire dreams at night. - -And the chief heart-throb of all this incessant activity, the centre of -the iron labyrinth, in which Theseus himself, were he alive, would be -lost, is the smoke-begrimed tower-house in the middle of the yard, where -all the switching for the New York Central, the Harlem, and the New -Haven railroads in the vicinity of the tunnel is done. From every train -that comes in from or starts out for the West or the East through the -long smoky tunnel that leads into the heart of New York a pathway is -found by the clear-headed men in this house. Every rail on the many -tracks and sidings of the busy yard can be coaxed and compelled from -this house to do its part in forming a new wheel path. It is the busiest -tower-house in the world, according to the yard-master. - -Suppose you enter this rectangular house with one of your railroad -friends and go up stairs. Here there is a long "key-board," as the men -call it, consisting of one hundred and four numbered iron levers. You -see the men in charge grasp lever after lever, apparently at random; you -hear the sharp click of these gunlike rods as they move backwards or -forwards, and then as you see a red light flash white or a white red two -blocks away, you are told by one of the men at the levers that a path -has been cleared for the Stamford local or the Empire State express. If -you look in the room underneath it seems like the interior of a huge -piano-board. Here are stiff-moving wires and bars, each one connected -above to its particular iron key. Beneath they spread out in every -direction, like the thread-like legs of a spider, each connected with -its special rail or switch or light, and never interfering with its -neighbor--so delicate the mechanism. As you go up stairs a second time, -to hear Mr. Anderson, the man in charge of the great key-board, talk -about the arrangements, you cannot help thinking again how like a -monster piano it is. To be sure the iron keys are pushed and pulled -instead of gently struck. But then what of that? They must be skilful -musicians at those keys, these men. Suppose a false note were struck, -what a discord would be sounded! It is a human symphony these men play, -where a wrong chord might bring death to many people. - -But Mr. Anderson, the head operator in the tower-house, doesn't seem to -be thinking of these things. It is his duty and his work. He bends his -mind to it, and he never makes a mistake. For a few minutes now he gives -the direction of the work over to another man and speaks of the work. -Over five hundred "pieces of rolling stock"--as the railroad men speak -of trains and engines--have to be sent in and out of the depot and yard -in a day. These include nearly three hundred regular incoming and -outgoing passenger trains, the "stock" and baggage trains which ply -between there and Mott Haven, carrying empty cars and station freight, -and the "made-up" and "unmade" trains passing to and fro. When a through -Western or Boston express starts out of the station, the arrangement of -one or two levers by no means insures it a straight track into the -tunnel. Oftentimes a combination of ten or fifteen all over the -switch-board is necessary to give a train a straightaway track, and you -wonder, as you hear this, how the men ever learn the varying -combinations of keys. The train-despatcher in the depot notifies the men -in the tower-house on which road each arriving and departing train -is--whether New York Central, Harlem River, or New Haven--and they -instantly know the answer to the problem. - -[Illustration: THE LABYRINTH AND THE TOWER-HOUSE AT GRAND CENTRAL -STATION.] - -It is a noisy piano these men play, noisier and larger than in the -switch-house of the Pennsylvania Railroad yards in Jersey City. There -the electric pneumatic interlocking switch and signal system of Mr. -Westinghouse is in use. In this one man can do the work of several, -although many old railroad men believe that the operation of a switch -key-board by hand is the only one absolutely safe and reliable. This -key-board in the house at the Pennsylvania yards is a glass-topped case -about the size of a grand-piano box. The case is apparently full of -metal cylinders. About seventy handles project from the front of the -case--half of them numbered in black, the other half in red. Each is, or -seems to be, the handle of a cylinder. The train-director is in charge -of the room, and the young men under him touch the handles as easily as -piano keys when the different switch numbers are called out. Suppose he -calls out, "29, 21, 23, 20, 17, 13, 12, 7, 8!" One of the men touches -the black handles bearing these numbers, then the red. The switches -begin to waver up in the yard, though the gush of compressed air which -precedes the wavering cannot be heard. Finally, as the last of these -numbers is touched, a red signal in the yard droops from its horizontal -position to an angle of sixty degrees. Then an empty train comes out of -the shed from track 9 to 0 _viā_ switches 29, 21, 23, 20, 17, 13, 12, 7, -and 8, as you note on the yard model--black ground, with bright brass -tracks--above the case. Although it seems so simple, it is really as -intricate as is the network of wires running down from the glass case -through the tower-base to the various switches. - -It is early in the morning and late in the afternoon that there is the -greatest activity in the yards of the New York Central Railroad. Between -seven and nine in the morning so many trains come in that frequently the -switching necessary to give them clear ways in and out has meant the -moving of 1400 levers in the tower-house. Hardly an engine, as it passes -Forty-ninth Street, dragging its train on its way in, but darts away -from the cars to a siding, leaving the train to roll in by itself, -controlled by the trainmen at the brakes. You are not conscious of this -if you are on the incoming cars. But as you get out and walk along the -platform you note that yours is an engineless train. It saves time, this -swerving of the engine off to right or left, and it is immediately ready -to drag another load out. But the alertness of these tower-house men is -here called into keenest play, for but a second elapses between the -arrival of the engine and its train at the self-same switch, and each -must have a separate path. - -Although you can plainly see all this rush and bustle on a winter -morning just as the sun is creeping over the top of the Grand Central -palace, can note so clearly, as you stand on the bridge, which switches -are turned for a particular train, and can count exactly the thirty-two -tracks from the round-house alongside Lexington Avenue to the "annex -sheds" on Madison Avenue, it is far more interesting to visit the yard -late in the afternoon, just after dusk. Then you can stand on one of the -bridges and see a brilliant panorama--the moving flash-lights of the -engines, the quickly shifting red and white signal-lamps, the -brilliantly lighted outgoing trains, standing out in relief against the -dark narrow bulk of an "unmade" train on a distant siding, and, a short -distance away, veiled every now and then by puffs of smoke from an -impatient engine, the dazzling arc-burners of the station. - -Shut your eyes, then open them, and again almost shut them, and give -yourself up to the scene. It is fairy-land, all these moving lights, -this brilliant panorama. Close your eyes still more till you can just -peep out at the motion around you. It is no longer the iron-threaded -yard of the Grand Central station. You are in the midst of some wild, -strange region. Great dragons snorting flame and smoke move uneasily -about. Black serpents with eyes of flashing fire and long dark bodies -trail their way through the flat country past you, and disappear in that -cavern of a tunnel above. On all sides are weird noises. But in the -midst of it all you half dreamily see, not many feet away from you, the -men at the levers in the tower-house, playing their mechanical music so -well on the great key-board that every iron monster is charmed, and -keeps safely and quietly his own pathway. - - - - -FOR KING OR COUNTRY.[1] - -A Story of the Revolution. - -BY JAMES BARNES. - -[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 836. - -CHAPTER X. - -TROUBLOUS TIMES. - - -The little camp-fire at which Colonel Hewes and some of the officers -were sitting was just outside the line of heavy fortifications which the -Americans had thrown up some weeks previously. - -Colonel Hewes, as soon as he heard George's answer, welcomed the young -soldier heartily, and, searching in the saddle-bags that were lying on -the ground, he secured some bread and a slice of ham, which George -accepted, as he had not tasted food since early in the morning. - -For two days nothing was done, but at last Washington's plans were -perfected, and under the cover of a heavy fog nine thousand men were -ferried across to the city of New York. As George was about to embark -with the body of discouraged stragglers in one of the small boats -impressed for the service, he heard a familiar voice beside him. - -Carter Hewes! He started suddenly. There he stood. A cape was over his -shoulder, his left arm was in a sling. - -"Oh, Carter, are you wounded?" he exclaimed, before the other had -noticed who it was that called to him. - -"George, dear friend, you've escaped?" answered Carter, wheeling. Then -he noticed the anxious glance. "Merely a scratch," he went on. "Come -over with my company, at least what is left of them--it's been bad work. -What! a Lieutenant! Hurrah! I told you so." - -The soldiers crowded into the flat-boat, and soon the two friends were -drifting across the river. - -"Your father's proposal has gone to the Convention," said George. - -"That relieves me," said Carter. "It is a pet scheme of his, and it was -dreadful careless of me to forget and carry it in my pocket. See; do you -remember this?" He held out the note-book. - -"Why, it's mine!" cried George. "Where did you get it?" - -Questions and answers followed in quick succession, and the young -officers seemed to forget that they were retreating with a defeated -army. - -As soon as they had landed they made their way past the Fly Market, near -the river. - -"It looks as if a plague were in town," thought George to himself. He -had just finished relating the incidents that led to his sudden -promotion, and had listened to Carter's tale of the adventures in the -strange house. - -Carter was leaning on his arm as they went up the street, and suddenly -he stopped. "Take a good look at this man, here on the right. Who is -he?" he asked. - -As George turned he saw in the group of spectators a strange figure -leaning on a stick. His clothes were ragged, and his hat flopped about -his ears; a patch was over his left eye, but despite all this the young -Lieutenant recognized him in an instant. - -"That's my old schoolmaster, Jabez Anderson. The Tory-hunters haven't -found him, evidently," he said, quietly, "and I certainly shall not -betray him. Though he's rabid for the crown." - -"It seems to me that I have met him some place," returned Carter. "But, -come to think, he resembles a portrait I've seen and can't place for the -life of me." - -What Carter was thinking of was a reflection in an old gilt-framed -mirror, although he did not know it. - -"He's an odd fish," said George, as they stepped forward again, "and -used to give us long lectures on our duty to the King, and all in his -own way, for he told minutely the grievances of the colonies, and then -admonished us to be steadfast. I often even then felt like taking up -cudgels on the opposite side of the question. I owe him no ill-will." - -As he spoke he looked in his companion's face. "You are suffering, dear -friend," he said. "We must find some place to rest." - -"It's nothing. I shall be right in a few days," murmured Carter. - -George noticed that he was pale, however, and that during the last -half-hour or so he leaned heavily on his arm. - -"Courage; I know of just the place," he said. - -"We won't be left quietly here very long," responded Carter. "Howe has -us on the hip, I fear me. Let me sit down on this step a minute." - -"Mr. Frothingham! Mr. Frothingham!" called a voice just at this -juncture. - -George looked around. There stood Mrs. Mack. - -"Thank Dame Fortune," said George to his companion, "here's my old -landlady; she will look after us, I'll warrant." - -He stepped over to where the honest woman stood. She spoke before he had -time to say a word. - -"I hev somethin' fer ye to the house, sir," she said; "and shure you -lift a foine suit of clothes." - -George's heart bounded. He needed clothes badly enough, but had no -recollection of having left anything but an old worn coat. - -"Won't yez be after comin' ter the house!" continued the woman. "I ken -git you a bite to ate, and you kin stay there. Shure ye look that -tired." - -George easily got permission from his Captain, and dropped out of the -ranks. With the help of the widow he succeeded in getting Carter at last -tucked away in a great soft bed, where he immediately went to sleep. The -last thing he said was, "George, this is the house they took me to, only -I had the little room upstairs." George stole away, intending to ask an -explanation from the good Irish woman, and solve the mystery. - -"Whisper," said Mrs. Mack, taking her old boarder by the arm before he -could begin his questioning. "I was on the look fer ye. Here!" - -What was George's surprise, and even consternation, when Mrs. Mack -handed him an envelope. He opened it. It was heavy with gold -coin--English guineas, bright and clinking. - -"Where did they come from? Where? Where?" he exclaimed. - -"Shure I don't know, sir," said Mrs. Mack. "They wus lift here by a -little old man who wus deaf and dumb." - -George was puzzled. - -"They are shure fer you, sir," she said, "bekase he described you." - -"And if he was deaf and dumb, how could he describe me?" - -The good woman appeared confused. "And shure, sir, wid signs," she -answered. "Oh, I will git the suit of clothes." - -She disappeared, but came back immediately. Again was the young soldier -almost frightened. He never owned a coat like that, and surely never -possessed such a fine pair of buckskin breeches; but there they were. - -"Some mistake," said George, looking at the yellow facings, the large -brass buttons, and the Lieutenant's shoulder-knots. "I won't take them -until I know where they came from," said he, decidedly. - -Now may the Recording Angel forgive the good washer-woman, for he must -have put down against her name that day a fib of the straightest, -whitest kind. - -"I made thim fer ye," she said, unblushingly. "If all the army was -dressed as foine as that the Ridcoats would take off their hats to ye." - -The fact was Mrs. Mack may have referred to the lace trimmings when she -said that she had made them, for that was all that she had contributed. - -Aunt Clarissa must have relented! At last it dawned on the young -soldier. Why had he not written to her? He resolved to do so at once. If -he could find some way of sending her the letter. - -In a few days Carter was able to move, and Colonel Hewes--who had been -ordered to New Jersey to help his cousin mould cannon-balls--took him -with him out to the estate. Mrs. Mack had acknowledged the fact that the -wounded lad had been her guest before, under certain mysterious -circumstances. But she could not or would not explain the method or -means of his previous arrival, insisting that he was brought to her by -two "dark men" whose language she could not understand. - -Two days after Carter's departure George was leaning against the side of -a little brick guard-house--he was officer of the guard--his thoughts -far away, busy with the good old times, when he saw down the street some -one crossing from a path that led along the common. His heart beat -quickly. He would know that shuffling gait, that was yet so strong, -amongst a thousand. In half a minute his long young legs were striding -in the direction of the retreating figure, and in another he had grasped -the man by both shoulders and swung him sharply against a tall board -fence. - -"Cato, you old rascal!" he exclaimed, shaking his shoulders back and -forth roughly, though the tears of joy had gathered in his eyes. - -"Why, Mas'r George," came the answer with a jerky emphasis. "How -y-y-youse growed, and I done guess you pritty strong too, but you -needn't try for to p-prove it no more." - -It was not until this that George remembered that he must have changed -somewhat, and that he did not know really how strong he had become, for -it only seemed yesterday that the old man had been able to lay him -across his knee, or carry him by the slack of his little homespun coat. - -"Cato," he said, "how are you all at home?" - -"Dat's what I's come to tell you, young mas'r," said the old darky. -"Dere's a peck of trubble over yander, and I's got a letter fer you from -Mistis Grace." - -George took the crumpled paper and read it hastily. How she must have -changed--his little sister--to write and think such thoughts as these! -For the letter told how she prayed every night that he would come back -safe and sound, and that the great General Washington would whip the -British and drive them from the country. "Aunt Clarissa would not let me -write to you," concluded the letter, "and does not know that Cato has -gone to look for you. Good-by, dear, dear George. - - "From your little Rebel Sister, - "GRACE." - -"God bless her sweet heart!" said Lieutenant Frothingham, and he paused -for a minute. Oh, it seemed so long ago, and William, his dear brother, -was in England, and could not understand. - -"Cato," he said, suddenly, breaking away from his train of thought, for -the old darky had not spoken, "did you bring any money for me some time -ago and leave it with Mrs. Mack?" - -"No, sah, 'fo' de Lawd, I didn', Mas'r George, but I's got some now," he -said, hurriedly, diving into the capacious pockets of his flapping -waistcoat. He brought out a worn leather wallet. It contained two gold -pieces and a half-handful of silver. "It's yours, sah," he said. - -George looked at him earnestly. "Did Mistress Frothingham send it to -me?" he asked. - -The old darky shifted uneasily. "Yes, sah," he said, faintly. - -"Cato, you're telling me a lie," said George, once more laying his hand -on the colored man's shoulder. "I don't need the money, and you know -that it is yours. I am rich now, Cato." He jingled the gold coins in his -own pocket. - -The old darky had not replied, but a huge tear rolled down his face. - -"T'ank God for dat, honey," he said. "Old Cato didn't know." Then, as if -to change the subject, he went on more cheerfully. "Cunel Hewes's cousin -is runnin' de big works, sah. Dey is moulding a big chain over -dere--biggest you ever seed. Dey done goin' to tro it 'cross de Hudson -Ribber to keep dem Redcoat boats from goin' up. He's makin' -cannon-balls. I reckon he'd like to use yo' foundry." - -"Well, what's to prevent him?" said George. - -"'Deed ol' miss' won't let 'im," responded Cato, seriously. "She'd fight -'em toof and nail." - -George smiled. "Have you heard her speak of me?" he asked. - -"No, Mas'r George," said the old negro, shaking his head. "I heered her -tell Mistis Grace dat--dat--" - -"Well?" said George. - -"Dat you wus dead to her, you 'n' massa." - -A drum rolled down the street, and some ragged soldiers were seen -leading some thin, unkempt horses from the stable across the way. Two -non-commissioned officers came out of the little house before which Cato -and his young master had been standing. One was buckling on his heavy -leather belt. - -"Orders to march, I reckon," he said to his companion. George -acknowledged the salute they gave him, and the old darky removed his hat -and bowed. - -"Wus dat Gineral Washington?" he asked, in an awed whisper, looking at -the burly figure of the first speaker, who had a great lump of cheese in -his hand, which he was endeavoring to slip into the pocket of his coat. - -"No, Cato," said George; "that was a sergeant of artillery." - -He was scribbling a few lines, addressed to his sister, on a bit of -rough paper. He thrust it into Cato's hands. "Good-by, old friend," he -said, and placed his arm about the faithful darky's shoulder and gave -him a squeeze, as he had often done in the good old days. - -"I's not goin' back," said Cato, shaking his head. "I's goin' wid you as -yo' body-sarvant." - -"You can't," said George. "Prithee do you think that a Lieutenant is -allowed a servant?" - -"I don't know," said the old darky. "I spec you'll be a gineral 'fore -very long." - -"No, no, Cato, you must go back," said his young master. -"Good-by--good-by." - -He turned quickly and ran off toward the guard-house. Where could the -gold have come from? It was puzzling. - -Cato looked after him, and placing the note in the crown of his big hat, -walked slowly away. - -An orderly met the young Lieutenant at the door. "Your presence is -requested at headquarters, sir," he said, and hurried off. - -The city was going to be abandoned, and to George Frothingham was given -the important charge of conducting the precious powder train through the -lanes and by-ways of Manhattan Island to the new position Washington had -taken at Harlem Heights. - -[Illustration: LUMBERING VANS TRUNDLED AND JOLTED ALONG WITH THE -REAR-GUARD.] - -At noon the caravan was ready to start. Besides the lumbering vans, two -brass field-pieces trundled and jolted along with the rear-guard. George -knew well the best route to take, and gave the orders to push ahead up -the old "King's Highway"--the post-road to Boston. - -At a street corner as they passed were standing some soldiers of one of -the commands that had not received marching orders. Running out into the -street, one of the men touched a tall private on the elbow. It was -Thomas, the former porter in Mr. Wyeth's office. He held in his hand a -buckskin bag of bullets. - -"Brother Ralston," he said, "here are some leaden pills. Shoot straight -with them." Then he noticed George, and saluted. Pouring something out -in his hand, he came up close. "Slip them into your pocket for a -keepsake, Mr. Frothingham," he said. "They are some of those that were -moulded out of the statue of King George himself." - -George took them, and remembered the time when he and his brother had -looked at this same statue when they had that first unhappy parting with -Carter Hewes three years before. How differently had things terminated. -He smiled sadly to himself as he slipped the new shining bullets into -the pocket of his coat. - -As they trudged along through the hot sun and the dust, a young officer, -scarcely nineteen, galloped up and down the line, hurrying on those in -the rear, and keeping the column well together to prevent straggling. He -did not shout his orders, but talked in a low, intense voice; his -movements were quick and nervous, but his graceful figure sat erect on -his horse, and he seemed to take in everything with a rapid glance of -his handsome deep-set eyes. George saw at once that it was his friend -who had lent him his first Lieutenant's uniform, and whose name he had -forgotten to ask. Chagrined, he thought that he could only explain that -the wet had ruined everything, and the gay coat had been discarded. - -"Who is he, that he should assume such airs?" said one of the slouching -rear-guard that had been swelled by stragglers from various commands in -advance, for the young officer had hastened him on by giving him a sharp -dig in the shoulder with his foot as he rode up the line. - -"'Tis young Aaron Burr," was the response. - -"Humph! the young coxcomb!" had exclaimed the first soldier. - -"Coxcomb, perhaps, but a game one, I'll warrant you," had come the -answer. - -The last time the proud young officer had ridden down the line, his -tired horse dotted and blotched with foam, he had caught sight of the -young Lieutenant, and had ridden up to him. - -"Well met, comrade Frothingham!" he said, with a fascinating smile. -"Take charge of these lazybones. Stop their mouths, and make them use -their legs." - -He cut with apparent playfulness at the shoulder of one of the belated -ones nearest to him. - -The blow stung, nevertheless, but the man only cringed, and hastened on -like a jaded horse, frightened to further exertion. George looked at his -face carefully. It was the pale youth with the fishy eyes who had been a -clerk in Mr. Wyeth's employ with him. They had cordially disliked each -other. - -It was good that the rear-guard had hastened, for scarcely had they -crossed to the heights at Harlem, where Washington was waiting, when the -British appeared from east and west. A battery of Yankee artillery--the -two brass pieces--had taken possession of a little knoll, and they -roared alternately and held the victors in check. George placed his -force along the slope, and took command of the battery. At the sound of -the guns and the smell of the white sulphurous smoke our young hero's -heart once more began to beat with that strange unaccountable -excitement. As he faced his men about, he noticed private Ralston kneel -down behind a stump, and soon the bullets made from King George's statue -were singing across the meadow. The pursuit stopped at the bottom of the -hill. - -That night George and his weary companions rested in the hay of a small -barn on the hill-side that overlooked the beautiful village of -Bloomingdale. - -He was too tired to sleep, and his thoughts ran rampant. What must -William think of him? What was his brother doing? Why could not he see -the right side? Oh, the bitterness of it! When would it end? Perhaps one -of those bullets whose sound he now knew so well would settle things for -good and all. If only William were here by him! - -"Look back at the city!--look!" said a voice from the hay. - -Far to the southward great red tongues of flame were leaping against the -sky; billows of smoke swept up and caught the reflection of the flames, -and sparks filled the air and danced out over the river. The city was on -fire. - -As George watched the conflagration from the window of the hay-mow, -which was now crowded with excited soldiers, some men on horseback -passed by beneath him. - -"There's a warm reception for them," said a short thick-set man with a -round chubby face. His voice had a cheery sound. - -"I don't think that it was fired by our directions, General Putnam," -came the answer. - -"Probably it was done by the British themselves. They're not above it. -Gadzooks, it is a grand sight!" said the short man, "and many a Tory -heart is thumping with fear against its Tory ribs, I'll warrant ye." -There came a pause, and then the speaker added, "What was the name of -the lad who saved the powder train?" - -"Aaron Burr," was the answer. - -"No, not he--the young Lieutenant, I mean--the one who brought the news -from Staten Island?" - -"His name has slipped me," replied the second officer, "but I heard the -General himself speak well of him." - -George's heart gave a great leap, and then he murmured a prayer that he -might never fail to deserve such commendation. For well-earned praise is -balm to wounds and strengthening to the soul and spirit of the soldier, -be he young or old, great general or humble private in the ranks. - -[TO BE CONTINUED.] - - - - -THE RAVELLED MITTEN. - -BY SOPHIE SWETT. - -(_In Two Parts._) - -I. - - -It had begun to look as if no one would go to Viola Pitkin's birthday -party; it had been snowing for two days, and the drifts in some places -were as high as a man's head. Patty Perley had tried to take an interest -in the new lace pattern that she was crocheting, and in the paper -lamp-shade she was making, for which Ruby Nutting had taught her to make -roses that almost smelled sweet, they were so natural, and it was all in -vain; and she quite envied Anson, who was trying to draw the buff kitten -stuck into the leg of Uncle Reuben's boot. The kitten's squirming and -the old cat's frantic remonstrances were preventing the picture from -being a success, but Anson was highly entertained, and didn't seem to -care whether he went to the party or not. It was just when Patty was -feeling irritated by this indifference that Uncle Reuben came in, and -she heard him stamping and shaking his clothes in the entry, and saying, -"Whew, this is a night!" Then her spirits went down to zero. But the -very first thing that Uncle Reuben said when he opened the door was: - -"I've told Pelatiah to get out the big sled and hitch up the black mare, -and you'll get to your party if the snow is deep. And the sled is large; -you'd better pick up all the youngsters you can along the way." - -Now that was like Uncle Reuben as he used to be, not as he had been -since Dave, his only son, ran away; since then he had not seemed to -think there was anything but gloom and sadness in the world. Indeed, -Dave's going had taken the heart out of the good times all over -Butternut Corner. He was only sixteen, and a good boy--his mother had -meant that he should be a minister--but he got into the company of some -wild fellows down at Bymport, and of Alf Coombs, a wild fellow nearer -home, and then he had run away from home under circumstances almost too -dreadful to tell. Burton's jewelry-store at Bymport had been broken into -and robbed of watches and jewelry, and the next morning Dave and Alf -Coombs had disappeared. They had been seen around the store that night; -Dave had not come home until almost morning. The boys had been gone -almost two months now, and the suspicion against them had become almost -a certainty in most people's minds, and it was reported that the sheriff -had a warrant for their arrest, but as yet had not been able to find -them. - -With such trouble weighing upon them, Patty had felt as if it were -almost wicked to wish to go to Viola Pitkin's party, but Aunt Eunice had -said, with the quiver about her patient mouth that always came there -when she referred to Dave, that the innocent must not suffer for the -guilty; and she had told Barbara, the "hired girl," to roast a pair of -chickens and make some of her famous cream-cakes also, for it was to be -a surprise party, and each guest was to carry a basket of goodies for -the supper. - -And now Uncle Reuben had planned for them to go, in spite of the -snow-drifts; so Patty began to feel that it was not wrong to be -light-hearted under the circumstances. - -"Take all the youngsters you can pack on," repeated Uncle Reuben, as -Patty and Anson settled themselves on the great sled, and Pelatiah -cracked his whip over the old horse; "only I wouldn't stop at the foot -of the hill"--Uncle Reuben's face darkened suddenly as he said -this--"we've had about enough of Coombses." - -Patty's heart sank a little, for she liked Tilly Coombs. They were rough -and poor people, the Coombs family--"back folks," who had moved to the -Corner only the summer before; the father drank, and the mother was an -invalid, and it was the son Alf who was supposed to have had an evil -influence over Dave. Patty thought it probable that Tilly had been -invited to the surprise party, because Ruby Nutting, the doctor's -daughter, who had planned the party, would be sure to ask her. Poor -people who would be likely to be slighted, and stray animals that no one -wanted, those were the ones that Ruby Nutting thought of first. - -Along slid the great sled with its jingling bells, and out of her gate -at the foot of the hill ran Tilly Coombs--the very first passenger. -Patty couldn't help it. She didn't disobey Uncle Reuben's injunction not -to stop; Tilly ran and jumped on. - -[Illustration: "YOU'LL LET ME GO WITH YOU, WON'T YOU?"] - -"You'll let me go with you, won't you?" she panted. "I couldn't bear to -miss it when she asked me! Some folks wouldn't, but _she_ did. And I -never went to a party in all my life! I couldn't bring anything but some -doughnuts." Tilly opened her small basket, and by the light of -Pelatiah's great lantern Patty saw that eager face darken suddenly. "I -made 'em myself, and I'm afraid they're only middling. Doughnuts will -soak fat, though, won't they?" she added, anxiously, as Patty gazed -doubtfully at the soggy lumps laid carefully in the folds of a ragged -napkin. "I never made any before." - -It was altogether an affair of first times with Tilly--a happier thing -in the way of party-going than of doughnut-making! - -"They're very nicely flavored," said Patty, tasting critically, "and -where there are so many things nobody will notice if they're not--not so -very light." - -Tilly's sharp anxious face brightened a little, but she heaved a sigh -and covered her doughnuts quickly as the sled stopped to take on Rilly -Parkhurst and her cousins, the Stillman boys, and Kathie Loomis, who was -visiting Rilly. The Sage boys came next, and Delia Sage, who was sixteen -and had taught school, but was just as full of fun as if she were young. -It was a merry company; the jingling of the bells was almost drowned in -chatter and laughter, and when Ruby Nutting joined it, she was greeted -with a cheering that, as Pelatiah said, "must 'a' cracked the -mill-pond." - -The crowd increased; the baskets were all huddled together upon the seat -with Pelatiah, and under the seat, and in the middle of the sled; no one -could keep hold of his own, but there was no fear but that they would -all know their own when they reached Viola's house. - -Ruby Nutting was missed suddenly. She hadn't been as gay as usual; -generally Ruby could be depended upon to stir up every one's wits and -make the dullest party merry, but to-night she had been sitting in a -corner talking in a low tone with Alvan Sage. Now she had disappeared, -and Alvan Sage, looking very much surprised and bewildered himself, said -that she had slipped off when they were going a little slowly up the -hill, just as Pelatiah had held the lantern down to see if there was -anything the matter with the horse's foot; she had said she would wait -until Horace Barker's sleigh came along; either she thought the sled was -too crowded, or she wanted to see some one who was coming with the -Barkers. The latter explanation was probable enough, for Chrissy Barker -was on the "committee of arrangements," and had helped Ruby about the -preparations. - -So no one thought much more about it, although it didn't seem like Ruby -to go off without saying anything. The sled party was the first to reach -Viola's, and it was great fun to see her perfect surprise and delight -when they trooped in. They all thought that Ruby Nutting should have -been there then. - -Patty had a surprise that was not pleasant. When her basket was carried -in the cover was open, the cream-cakes all jammed and half spoiled, and -the two fine roast chickens were gone! - -"See here, you can catch the thief by his mitten!" cried one of the -boys. The rim of the basket was broken, probably by the thief in his -haste, and to one sharply jagged end was attached a long, long string of -red worsted. "Who has a ravelled mitten?" - -The color came and went in Tilly Coombs's sharp, elfish little face; -then she thrust her hand into her pocket as if she was thrusting her -mittens deep into it. Patty Perley happened to be standing close beside -her, and saw her. - -Patty was mortified to have come to the surprise party with only a few -half-spoiled cream-cakes, but she was kind-hearted, and her first -thought was a pitying one. - -"They must be so very poor! Tilly wanted them for her sick mother," she -said to herself. - -How Tilly could have taken the chickens from the basket and where she -could have concealed them was a mystery. But Uncle Reuben believed that -all the Coombs family were thievish and sly; perhaps he was right, and -Tilly was used to doing such things. But even Uncle Reuben would not be -very hard upon a girl who had stolen delicate food for her sick mother. - -"'Sh!--'sh! don't say anything about it! It is of no consequence," she -whispered to some girls and boys who were loudly wondering and guessing -about the mysterious theft. - -Then they all went into the sitting-room, and the Virginia reel, the -old-fashioned dance with which Butternut Corner festivities almost -always began, was danced, and no one thought any more of the stolen -chickens. - -Ruby Nutting had come by this time, and she led the dance, as usual the -life of the good time. She had come in Horace Barker's sleigh, and she -gayly evaded the wonderings and reproaches of the party she had left. As -the dance ended, Berta Treadwell beckoned slyly to Patty. Berta was -Viola Pitkin's cousin, who had come all the way from California to visit -her; she and Patty had "taken to" each other at once. - -"I want you to see such a funny thing!" whispered Berta, drawing Patty -out into the back entry. "That queer-looking girl they call Tilly, with -the wispy black hair and the faded cotton dress, asked me to lend her a -pair of knitting-needles! I got grandma's for her, and she snatched them -out of my hands, she was so eager. 'You needn't tell anybody that I -asked you for 'em, either,' she said, in that sharp way of hers. I had -such a curiosity to know what she was going to do with them that I -watched her. After a while, when the reel was begun and she thought no -one was looking, she slipped out through the wood-shed into the barn. -Come and peep through the crack!" - -Patty followed Berta softly through the wood-shed, and looked through a -chink in the rough board partition into the barn. - -On an inverted bucket, with a lantern hung upon a nail over her head, -sat Tilly Coombs diligently knitting. The barn was cold; the cattle's -breaths made vapors, and there was a glitter of frost around the beams. -Tilly was muffled in a shawl, but her face looked pinched and blue. - -"What is she knitting? It looks like a red mitten," whispered Berta. "Is -she so industrious? To think of leaving a party on a winter night to go -out to the barn and knit! Do you think we ought to leave her there in -the cold? I should think she must be crazy!" - -Patty was drawing Berta back through the wood-shed eagerly, in silence. -Berta had not heard about the ravelled mitten; she did not know that -Tilly was trying to knit it into shape again so it would never be known -that it was her mitten that was ravelled. - -"I know why she is doing it," said Patty, "though I don't see why she -couldn't have waited until she got home; but I suppose she is awfully -anxious. Berta, don't say that we saw her, or anything about the -needles, to anybody. That will be kind to her, and she is so poor. -Whatever you hear, don't say anything." - -"I'm sure I don't want to say anything to hurt her," answered Berta, a -little resentfully, for she did think Patty might have told her all -about it. "But I must say I think society in Butternut Corner is a -little mixed." - -"Ruby asked her," explained Patty. "I think it was right; Tilly never -went to a party before." - -"Her way of enjoying herself at a party is a little queer," said Berta, -unsympathetically. - -And Patty thought she did not feel quite so sorry as she had done that -Berta was going back to California the next day. - -She thought she would tell Ruby Nutting; Ruby would understand, and pity -Tilly; but before she had a chance, while Horace Barker was singing a -college song and Ruby was playing the accompaniment on the piano, a -sudden recollection struck her that sent the color from her face. Aunt -Eunice's spoons! - -Aunt Eunice had said that there were never spoons enough to go round at -a surprise party, and Viola Pitkin's mother was her intimate friend, so -she wished to help her all she could, and she put a dozen spoons into -the basket--the solid silver ones that had been Grandmother -Oliver's--and charged Patty to take care of them. And it was not until -she overheard Mrs. Pitkin whisper to Viola that she wasn't _sure_ that -there were sauce-plates enough that Patty remembered the spoons. - -She had a struggle to repress a cry of dismay, those spoons were so -precious! Uncle Reuben had demurred when they were put into the basket, -but Aunt Eunice was proud, and always liked to give and lend of her -best. Patty felt as if she must cry out and denounce Tilly when she -crept slyly in behind broad-backed Uncle Nathan Pitkin and slyly warmed -her benumbed hands at the fire. But Patty held her peace; when she had -reflected for a few minutes she knew that this was too grave a matter -for fourteen-year-old wits to grapple with, and she must tell Uncle -Reuben and Aunt Eunice. - -Tilly Coombs was drawn into a merry game--Ruby Nutting took care of -that--and before long her queer little sharp face was actually dimpling -with fun, and her laugh rang out with the gayest! Patty Perley looked at -her, and decided that it was a very queer world indeed; for her the joy -of Viola Pitkin's party was done. - -When they were all dressing to depart, Patty looked involuntarily at -Tilly Coombs's mittens; in fact, many furtive glances were cast around -at the red mittens by those who remembered the theft of the roast -chickens. There were many of them, red being the fashionable color for -mittens at Butternut Corner, but apparently they were all sound and -whole. Tommy Barker had one mitten with a white thumb, which his blind -grandmother had knitted on in place of a torn thumb, and little Seba -Sage had but one mitten; but that one was very dark red, not the vivid -scarlet of the ravelling. - -Rilly Parkhurst whispered to Patty, as she sat down beside her on the -sled: "Tilly Coombs has the ravelled mitten! She is trying to cover it -with her shawl; it is only a little more than half a mitten!" - -Patty smothered an exclamation of doubt, and then she gazed curiously at -Tilly's hands; but they were tightly, carefully covered by her shawl. - -Could it be that after spending all that time in the cold barn she had -failed to knit up her ravelled mitten? Tilly looked as if she had been -having a good time. Under the light of Pelatiah's lantern her eyes were -shining, her face rippling with smiles. Patty thought with wonder that -she had not seen her look so happy--well, certainly not since her -brother Alf ran away. - -"I must have grown plump at the party!" laughed Ruby Nutting. "One of my -mittens is too tight around the wrist." And Patty saw Tilly Coombs -nervously fold her shawl more closely about her mittens. - -Just before her own door was reached, Tilly Coombs leaned towards Patty -and whispered, so that even Anson or Pelatiah should not hear. - -"I didn't know there were such good times in the world!" she said, with -her face aglow. "And Viola Pitkin's uncle Nathan ate one of my -doughnuts!" But Patty shrank away from her. - - - - -A FEMININE SANTA CLAUS. - -BY ZITELLA COCKE. - - -The Eve of Epiphany or Twelfth-Night brings to the Roman children very -much the same experience which Christmas brings to young Americans. It -is the time and opportunity for presents, and sometimes for -disappointments and even punishments. Upon this occasion, however, it is -a benefactress instead of a benefactor who confers the coveted favor. It -is not Santa Claus, who, round, red, and good-natured, comes down the -chimney with a gift for every child, but a hideous old woman, lean, -dark, and sour-visaged, who descends the chimney with a bell in one hand -and a long cane in the other. The bell announces her coming, and the -cane is especially for the children who have rebelled against parents -and teachers, or have been otherwise forgetful of duty. The name of this -old crone is Befana, and she brings plenty of good things, in spite of -her forbidding countenance and manner, and the good, obedient child may -confidently expect a stocking full of dainties. She fills the stocking -of the disobedient too, but with ashes! The Festival of the Befana is -one of the most fascinating to the children of Rome. Crowds gather upon -the thoroughfares and fill up the streets and piazzas, and the beating -drums, squeaking whistles, jingling tambourines, and sonorous trumpets -show that Roman children can be quite as noisy in honor of the Befana as -American children are when they wish to welcome Christmas or celebrate -the glorious Fourth. This festival occurs, of course, on the eve of -Twelfth-Night, and in addition to the various noises which assail your -ears, your eyes are feasted with the most startling and curious -spectacles. Very odd and, we can say, very picturesque toys are -exhibited on all sides, and the brilliant display of fireworks gives a -fascination to things which are in themselves ridiculous and grotesque. -Noise, unceasing noise, is the order of the night, and he who can -surprise you with the loudest is greeted with peals of laughter and -shouts of applause. A whistle or horn is always at your ears. - -Nor is the custom of receiving presents on this happy occasion confined -to children. The Pope and the Cardinals take part in the rejoicing. -Formerly a chalice of gold containing a hundred ducats was presented to -the Pope with a Latin address and great ceremony, and the Pope, in -accepting it, made his reply in Latin, and graciously allowed the bearer -to kiss his foot. This offering was called the Befana Tribute. The -ceremony was discontinued in the year 1802; but the Befana Tribute is -still offered and accepted. Of course, there are many traditions -concerning the Befana, and it is in honor of a tradition that a burning -broom is always carried in the processions which celebrate her festival. -According to this tradition she is said to have been an old woman, who -was engaged in cleaning the house when the three Kings passed carrying -presents to the infant Christ; she was called to the window to see them, -but she declined to leave her household duties, and said, "I will see -them as they return." But the old woman was denied the blessed sight, -for they did not return that way, and hence she is represented as -waiting and watching for them continually--always standing in the -attitude of expectation, with her broom in her hand. - -To disguise themselves as this old woman is one of the pranks of the -Roman boys during the Befana Festival. With blackened faces and -fantastic caps on their heads they stand in the doors with a broom in -one hand and a lantern in the other. Around their necks and suspended to -their waists are rows of stockings filled with sweet-meats, and also -with the reward of evil-doing--the famous ashes! And what do the Roman -children say when they see these representations of the Befana? - -Well, very much what the American children say when they see the images -of their dearly loved Santa Claus! - - - - -A SONG FOR CHRISTMAS EVE. - -BY FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN. - - - Come, draw around the fire, - And watch the sparks that go - All singing like a fairy choir - Into the realms of snow. - - Above us evergreen, - With mistletoe in sprays, - And tenderly the leaves between - The holly-berries blaze. - - And while the logs burn bright, - Before the day takes wing, - The happy children, gowned in white, - Their merry carols sing. - - Then high the stockings lift, - Like hungry beggars dumb. - _Good Santa Claus, bring every gift,_ - _And fill them when you come!_ - - - - -IN THE TOWER OF MANY STORIES. - -BY MRS. LEW. WALLACE. - -SIR WALTER RALEIGH. - - -The most illustrious name connected with London Tower--high over king, -priest, or prince--is the name of Raleigh. There at four different times -he was sent, not so much prisoner of England as of Spain. He never lay -in the lonesome cell in the crypt called his. His longest term was in -the grim fortress Bloody Tower, where his undaunted spirit taught the -world - - "Stone walls do not a prison make, - Nor iron bars a cage." - -[Illustration: GARDEN INSIDE THE TOWER, WHERE RALEIGH WALKED.] - -He was allowed the freedom of the garden, with a little lodge for a -study--a hen-house of lath and plaster, where he experimented with drugs -and chemicals, studied medicine and ship-building, kept his crucibles -and apparatus, and the near terrace he paced up and down through weary -years is to this day called Raleigh's Walk. - -It was in the reign of King James the First--the cruel and cowardly--and -never in his peerless prime was Raleigh greater than in the fourteen -years that sentence of death hung over his head. His prison was a court -to which men crowded with delight. Queen Anne sent gracious messages to -him, and Prince Henry rode down from Whitehall to hear the old sailor -tell of green isles with waving palms like beckoning hands, hints of -wonderful plumage, hissing serpents in tropic jungles, barbarian cities -built of precious stones, and of rivers running over sands of gold, all -waiting for the English conqueror to come and make them his own. - -After a morning of high converse the Prince cried out, "No man but my -father would keep such a bird in such a cage," and when the young -listener fell ill the Queen would have him take nothing but Raleigh's -cordial, which, she said, had saved her life. - -His best biographer writes: "Raleigh was a sight to see; not only for -his fame and name, but for his picturesque and dazzling figure. -Fifty-one years old, tall, tawny, splendid, with the bronze of tropical -suns on his leonine cheek, a bushy beard, a round mustache, and a ripple -of curling hair which his man Peter took an hour to dress. Apparelled as -became such a figure, in scarf and band of richest color and costliest -stuff, in cap and plume worth a ransom, in jacket powdered with gems, -his whole attire from cap to shoe-strings blazing with rubies, emeralds, -and pearls, he was allowed to be one of the handsomest men alive." - -In the eleventh year of his bondage he finished the first part of the -_History of the World_. He wrote what men will not let die, invented the -modern war-ship, and from the turrets of Bloody Tower looked across the -vast blue plain of ocean and directed operations in Virginia and Guiana. -He was a guiding light to his beloved England; proud and brilliant -heroes deferred to him, sought his advice; charming women were charmed -by the most courtly of courtiers, and all felt him to be a man whom the -government could not afford to spare. He knew more than any other person -living about the New World offering endless riches to the Old, and his -services were at the King's command. While prisoner to the crown he -sailed with five ships under royal orders for the region of the Orinoco, -the land of promise unfulfilled. The golden city lighted by jewels was a -vanishing illusion ending in bitter disappointment. - -Years before, in 1609, he had written to Shakespeare, whom he called, -"My dearest Will": - - "Great were our hopes, both of glory and of gold, in the kingdom of - Powhatan. But it grieves me much to say that all hath resulted in - infelicity, misfortune, and an unhappy end.... As I was blameworthy - for thy risk, I send by the messenger your £50, which you shall not - lose by my overhopeful vision. For its usance I send a package of a - new herb from the Chesapeake, called by the natives tobacco. Make - it not into tea, as did one of my kinsmen, but kindle and smoke it - in the little tube the messenger will bestow ... it is a balm for - all sorrows and griefs, and as a dream of Paradise.... Thou knowest - that from my youth up I have adventured for the welfare and glory - of our Queen, Elizabeth. On sea and on land and in many climes have - I fought the accursed Spaniard, and am honored by our sovereign and - among men ... but all this would I give, and more, for a tithe of - the honor which in the coming time shall assuredly be thine. Thy - kingdom is of the imagination, and hath no limit or end." - -The dreams of the Admiral far outran any possibility, and the mines of -Guiana proved a cheat equal to the yellow clay of the Roanoke. Peril of -life, fortune, and the varied resources of genius and valor were not -enough to insure success, and a failure in the paradise of the world -probably hastened the sentence for which Philip III. of Spain clamored. - -The charges of treason against Raleigh were pure invention; but on his -return from South America he was arrested, committed to the Tower, and -the warrant for execution was signed without a new trial, while men from -the streets and ships came crowding to the wharf, whence they could see -him walking on the wall. He was advised to kill himself to escape the -shameful sentence of James I., but he solemnly spoke of self-murder, and -declared he would die in the light of day and before the face of his -countrymen. In the field of battle, on land and on sea, he had looked at -death too often to tremble now. - -His farewell letter to his wife is one of the sweetest. I wish I had -space for it all. It concludes: - - "The everlasting God, Infinite, Powerful, Inscrutable; the Almighty - God, which is Goodness itself, Mercy itself; the true light and - life--keep thee and thine, have mercy on me, and teach me to - forgive my persecutors and false witnesses, and send us to meet - again in His Glorious Kingdom. My own true wife, farewell. Bless my - poor boy. Pray for me, and let the good God fold you both in His - arms. Written with the dying hand of sometime thy husband, but now, - alas! overthrown. - - "Yours that was, but not now my own, - - "W. RALEIGH." - -In his final imprisonment Lady Raleigh was not allowed a share. When she -caught his youthful fancy it was as Elizabeth Throckmorton, maid of -honor to Queen Elizabeth. - -"Sweet Bess" was a favorite there among ladies of gentle blood. The -flatterers of the dazzling court fluttered round the lovely young girl, -conspicuous for beauty and grace; slender, fair, golden-haired. Her -sighs were only for the sea-captain who expected to crown her with glory -won by his sword, and riches, the spoil to be fought for in many lands. -She was his loyal wife to the end, always pleading for pardon, defiant -before King and court, where she appeared daily in her husband's cause, -"holding little Wat by the hand." When her petition was refused, she was -not afraid to call down curses on the head of the tyrant, who heeded not -her wrath or her grief. - -The water-way from the Thames is a dark passage under whose arch a pale -procession of ghosts of the murdered may easily be fancied as coming up -out of the past. Beneath it went Raleigh from prison to hear his -sentence in Westminster Hall; from the King's Bench he was sent to -Westminster Abbey. Crowds thronged to watch him pass, and from the -carriage window he noticed his old friend Burton, and invited him to -Palace Yard next day to see him die. - -[Illustration: THE TRAITORS' GATE.] - -The warrant came on a dark October morning, 1618. Raleigh was in bed, -but on hearing the Lieutenant's voice he sprang lightly to his feet, -threw on hose and doublet, and left his room. At the door he met Peter, -his barber, coming in. "Sir," said Peter, "we have not curled your head -this morning." His master answered with a smile, "Let them comb it that -shall have it." The faithful servant followed him to the gate insisting -on the service. "Peter," he asked, "canst thou give me any plaster to -set on a man's head when it is off?" - -John Eliot wrote: "There is no parallel to the fortitude of Raleigh. -Nothing petty disturbed his calm soul in ending a career of constant -toil for the greatness and honor of his country. The hero who created a -New England for Old England was fearless of death, the most resolute and -confident of men, yet with reverence and conscience." - -The executioner was deeply moved by the matchless spirit of the martyr. -He knelt and prayed forgiveness--the usual formula at the block or -scaffold. Raleigh placed both hands on the man's shoulders and said, "I -forgive you with all my heart. Now show me the axe." He carefully -touched the edge of the blade to feel its keenness, and kissed it. "This -gives me no fear. It is a sharp and fair medicine to cure all my ills." -Being asked which way he would lie on the block, he answered, "It is no -matter which way the head lies, so that the heart be right." Presently -he added, "When I stretch forth my hands, despatch me." There were -omissions in his last speech, but we may be sure they were noble -utterances. He prayed in an unbroken voice, and begged his friends to -stand near him on the scaffold so they might better hear his dying -words. Which being done, he concluded, "And now I entreat you all to -join with me in prayer that the great God of Heaven, whom I have -grievously offended--being a man full of vanity, and having lived a -sinful life in all sinful callings, having been a soldier, a captain, -and a sea-captain, and a courtier, which are all places of wickedness -and vice--that God, I say, would forgive me and cast away my sins from -me, and that He would receive me into everlasting life. So I take my -leave of you making my peace with God. - -"Give me heartily of your prayers," he repeated, turning right and left. -The headsman cast down his own cloak that the victim might kneel on it -after laying off his velvet robe. An act which reminds us of the happy -chance for like courtesy that made Raleigh's fortune when he was a -boyish adventurer in the train of Sussex; a beautiful youth watching the -state barge of Queen Elizabeth. - -The supreme moment came; the great captain, never greater than in death, -stretched out his palsied hands. The deathman hesitated. "What dost thou -fear, man? Strike, strike." One blow--a true one--and the murder was -done. There were those standing near who saw his face as it had been the -face of an angel. Courtier, historian, poet, seaman, soldier, his was -"the noblest head that ever rolled into English dust." - -[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH.] - -The wasted body was laid under the altar of St. Margaret's, the church -of the House of Commons, across the way from Westminster, with only a -small tablet to mark his resting-place. - -Sweet Bess, who shared his glory and his prison-house, and with little -Wat had walked the terrace with him, does not lie beside him. I do not -know where that fond and faithful heart went to dust, but I do believe -that in the final day, for which all other days are made, true love will -find its own, and they will be reunited for evermore. - -I saw no monument to Raleigh in Westminster Abbey. The fame of the -colonizer of Virginia belongs to us of the New World, and in 1880 a -memorial window was placed there at the expense of Americans in London. -Canon Farrar's address at the unveiling was a brilliant review of -Raleigh's life and varied fortunes in the most glorious portion of the -Elizabethan era. It concluded with an earnest appeal to the England of -Queen Victoria and the America of Lincoln and of Garfield to stand -shoulder to shoulder under the banner of the cross. - - - - -HOW TO ENTER THE ARMY. - -BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD, U.S.A. - -(_In Two Papers._) - -II. - -THE MILITARY ACADEMY. - - -The usual method for a boy to obtain a commission in the army is to pass -through the four years' course of study, and graduate at the United -States Military Academy at West Point, New York. - -Receiving a diploma upon completing this course, he is by law appointed -by the President a Second Lieutenant in some branch of the four military -divisions of service--Engineers, Artillery, Cavalry, or Infantry. Cadets -are annually admitted to the Military Academy by appointment. Each -Congressman has the right to request one for a resident of his district, -the Secretary of War giving the appointment. Ten are also appointed by -the President, selecting at large from anywhere in the United States. -Besides these, each Territory and the District of Columbia are entitled -to one. This would allow about 400 cadets, but the course is so severe -that the number becomes very much reduced. Last June the corps numbered -285; but including the entering class of 103 the present number is only -336 cadets. Application to Washington can be made at any time. It will -be placed on file in the office of the Secretary of War, and notice sent -to the representative of that district whenever a vacancy occurs. The -application must give the full name of the young man, date of birth, and -permanent residence. Appointments are required to be made one year in -advance of date of admission, except that, in case of death or other -cause, vacancies may occur; then they may be filled in time for the next -annual examination. At present candidates appear for mental and physical -examination before a board of officers convened at the military post -nearest their respective places of residence on the first day of March -annually. The successful candidates will be admitted to the Academy -without further examination upon reporting in person to the -superintendent at West Point before 12 M. on the 15th day of June. -Candidates selected to fill the vacancies unprovided for by the March -boards, and those which may occur afterwards, will be instructed to -report at West Point for examination early in June. After admission at -West Point, cadets must sign an engagement to serve the United States -eight years, and take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance. They agree -to obey all legal orders of their superior officers. - -Cadets admitted must be between seventeen and twenty-two years of age, -and five feet or more in height, and unmarried. They must be well versed -in reading, writing, and spelling, so as to spell correctly from -dictation a considerable number of test words; in arithmetic enough to -be able to take up at once the higher branches without further study of -arithmetic; and have a thorough knowledge of the elements of English -grammar; of descriptive geography, particularly that of the United -States, and of the history of the United States. - -We thus see that it is in the common branches that the boy desiring to -go to West Point must especially perfect himself to be able to enter; -but a student of higher mathematics and other collegiate studies has a -better chance for class standing, when the different subjects are taken -up, after entering, and rapidly pushed to completion. The first year -algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and surveying are completed; analytical -geometry, use of logarithms, rhetoric, and English language studied, -with French commenced; besides, the practical instruction in military -drill and discipline is demanded. There are marchings to every exercise, -to mess-hall, chapel, and recitations. Fencing, bayonet, and gymnastic -drills come the first year. - -The second year analytical and descriptive geometry and calculus, with -method of "least squares," are completed. French is finished, and also -several weeks of Spanish, drawing, and practical military training and -bridge-building. - -The third year philosophy is substituted for mathematics, analytical -mechanics, astronomy, and wave-motion being finished. The cadets take -chemistry, electricity, mineralogy, and geology; also military drawing, -drill regulations, and practical engineering, with signalling. - -The fourth year has military engineering, fortifications, and art of -war; also constitutional, international, and military law, history, -practical instruction in astronomy, and the study of ordnance and -gunnery. All this time the cadet is constantly subject to the life and -duties of a soldier, just as far as his studies will permit. Infantry -drill in squad, company, and battalion, cavalry and artillery drill, -guard duty, parades, reviews, and other ceremonies are incessant. The -cadet's life is more than a busy one. So hard is it, that out of one -hundred candidates who enter seldom more than fifty graduate. - -But a boy of sound body and good constitution, with suitable preparation -and good natural capacity, and aptitude for study, industrious, -persevering, and of an obedient and orderly disposition, with a correct -moral deportment, will not fail to receive the reward of his four years' -labor in a commission in the United States army. - - -THE PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS DIRECT FROM CIVIL LIFE. - -The third way a commission is sometimes obtained is by direct -appointment to a Second Lieutenancy by the President, who has the power, -and exercises it when vacancies occur over and above those filled by -cadet graduates of West Point, and by candidate non-commissioned -officers from the ranks. In the case of the President having appointed a -civilian to fill a vacancy, the appointee is called upon to pass an -examination, mentally and physically. The subjects of examination are -the common English branches, also history, geometry, surveying, -international and constitutional law. If accepted, after a critical and -extensive trial he is passed by the examining board, he will receive a -commission from the President, either in the cavalry or infantry; and -after serving some little time with his regiment he will usually be sent -to the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth for a -post-graduate course. Surgeons, undergoing a most thorough examination, -are appointed First Lieutenants directly into the service, as are often -Paymasters and Judge-Advocates with the rank of Major. - - -SUBSEQUENT SUCCESS. - -We have brought our young man through the three different doorways to -the position of a commissioned officer of the lowest grade, _viz._, a -Second Lieutenant. His subsequent success as an officer will depend upon -himself. The usual promotion is, as a rule, according to seniority, _i. -e_., the ranking man of one grade goes to the next higher, except in -case of war, when the best man is selected to fill a position of higher -rank according as he is believed to be fit therefor. Though regular -promotion may be slow, an officer has many other channels of success. - -The highest cadets in class rank, perhaps four or five, go into the -Engineer Corps, where their work is mainly among civilians, and their -promotion rapid. The Ordnance Corps is filled by special competitive -examination of Second Lieutenants of the army; the successful receive -the rank of First Lieutenant on entering the corps. The departments of -the Quartermaster, Commissary, Paymaster, Judge-Advocate, and -Adjutant-General are filled from the lines of officers, giving to the -appointed increased rank and pay. There are many special details open to -industrious officers; between thirty and forty being selected for -colleges; some for military attaches at foreign courts; also others for -aides-de-camp to generals; and for places of importance in Washington. - -Officers are required to study extensively, and pass examinations for -every promotion. The diploma from the Infantry and Cavalry School will -entitle the holder to promotion for five years without further -examination. The profession of an army officer may not be so -remunerative pecuniarily as one of like study and preparation in civil -life; but perhaps, with the one exception of the ever-impending danger -or prospect of active service, his is as comfortable and satisfying as -that of the average professional or business man. - -The pay of a Second Lieutenant, whose age varies from twenty-one to -twenty-eight, is, in infantry, $116.67 per month, and in cavalry $125 -per month, together with advantages of groceries at cost price, coal at -about one-half the usual cost, and quarters free. - -Thus we cannot help feeling that the young man who strives for success -in the army, from the ranks of a private soldier up, will feel amply -repaid, particularly if he receives a commission, and then continues to -make a good soldierly reputation. - -Usually where a son is desirous of entering the army through any open -door, his parents immediately inquire concerning his surroundings. Are -they favorable to good morals? Are they conducive to a religious life? -The answer is that good morals are required at the outset; but of course -in barrack life as it is a young man would be likely to be influenced by -the example of his comrades. In some companies there could be no fault -to find. In others he would encounter much roughness of speech--perhaps -as much as in the forecastle of a ship. As to religion there is nothing -necessarily hindering, no more than in railroading, in working in large -out-door gangs, in manufactories, or elsewhere in the world. - -The young man as a Christian is always called upon to resist temptation, -and I do not think it harder in the army than elsewhere; for everywhere -temptations must be met and overcome. There are many decided Christian -officers and soldiers--perhaps as large a proportion as are to be found -in other business careers. - - - - -A MOTHER GOOSE FAIR. - -BY AGNES BAILEY ORMSBEE. - - -Here is a new idea for a fair in costume for the Fresh Air Fund or some -other charity, and one not too hard to get up. Did you ever hear of an -evening with Mother Goose and her friends? Well, the idea is to have the -attendants of the booths and tables appear in characters taken from -Mother Goose's immortal jingles, with the dear kindly old face of Mother -Goose welcoming all. To give such a fair the air of a social gathering, -it is a good plan to have Mother Goose, the old woman with rings on her -fingers and bells on her toes, the old man clad all in leather, and poor -old Robinson Crusoe receive the guests, being introduced by little Tommy -Trot, after Solomon Grundy has taken the tickets as each one enters. - -This reception committee should be impersonated by some of your mothers -and fathers, who would be willing to lend themselves for the interest -they naturally take in the object of your efforts. Or else the older -young people might enjoy the ceremony. The costumes would not be hard to -make. Mother Goose should wear a short dark red, blue, or brown plain -gown, a black apron, a white or gay-colored kerchief, and a white cap -with a wide frill. The costume of the musical old woman should be -similar, except her cap should be a high conical colored one trimmed -with tiny bells. Bells should border her dress and be sewed to her -shoe-tops, and her hair should be powdered. A cape, also bell-trimmed, -might be substituted for the kerchief. The leather man should wear a -coat and hat covered with the heavy paper which imitates alligator-skin, -wear high-topped boots, and carry an umbrella in one hand and a cane in -the other. - -The next question to settle is about the booths. These should be rather -small, so that there can be quite a number of them, and so that the -articles for sale could in a measure be also in character. The slight -wooden frame of the booths and their counters or tables should be hidden -under drapings of cheese-cloth, cotton crépon, silkolene, or -tissue-paper, each one being of single or harmonizing colors, pale lemon -color and heliotrope, pink and blue, orange and black, being especially -showy by electric or gas light. For the special decoration there should -be placed high on the front of each booth a placard, being a -characteristic quotation descriptive of the booth and its contents. This -is an excellent chance for a handy boy or girl to do some fancy -lettering. Supposing the central booth should have this rhyme: - - "There was an old woman tossed up in a basket - Ninety times as high as the moon; - And where she was going I couldn't but ask her, - For in her hand she carried a broom. - - "'Old woman, old woman, old woman,' quoth I, - 'Whither, O whither, O whither so high?' - 'To sweep the cobwebs off the sky!' - 'Shall I go with you?' 'Aye, buy-and-buy.'" - -I am sure your friends will excuse the pun in the last line, and, what's -more to the purpose, will take the hint. Trimming the booth and -displayed on its counter you must have brooms of all sizes. - -You see there is a multitude of simple things you can make yourselves -that will be appropriate for this booth, and much that will be -contributed easily and willingly, and, best of all, they will be -articles that every one will be glad to buy. I think the secret of -success in such a fair is not to have too costly articles for sale. It -is astonishing how quickly dollars grow from dimes, quarters, and -halves, and how easily these small coins slip out of friendly purses. -The chief young lady in charge of this broom booth should be dressed to -represent the famous old woman, and each of her helpers should wear -miniature brooms made of a few broom-splints and a toothpick for badges. - -Another booth should be decorated with pictures of our tabby friends, -corresponding to the jingle, "I love little pussy, her coat is so warm," -while its contents should entice buyers with a display of animal toys of -every kind--cotton flannel elephants dear to childish hearts, dogs, -pussies, a whole flock of Mary's lambs, horses, and mechanical bears, if -you should be so fortunate as to have the latter donated. - -A third booth should be devoted to dolls dressed in every style and -paper dolls, both of which are always saleable. Who ever found a little -girl's heart so full that it would not admit one more doll-child to the -play-house family? This booth could be draped with butterflies and -festoons of the stars and stripes, and have for its motto, - - "Hush, baby, my doll, I pray you don't cry." - -The merry jingle of "Humpty Dumpty" is fitting for a table devoted to -Easter eggs and cards, Easter bonbons, and other timely trifles, and -could be easily allowed to include stationery, _menu_ cards, pen-wipers, -and all the pretty conceits agreeable to use when writing one's thanks -for an Easter gift. - -"Needles and pins, needles and pins," is the motto for a table where -should be shown dainty doilies, tea-cloths, bits of drawn-work, and all -the pretty pieces of needle-work it is possible for your skilful fingers -to make, or kind friends to give you. Do not fail to try and get enough -toy watches, tiny pins, beads, and ornamental trifles--things that make -a _good_ time, you can say, because "Hickory, dickory, dock," etc., is -such a pretty legend for a booth, especially with an old-fashioned tall -clock to add to the decorations. - - "Daffo-down-dilly has come to town - In a fine petticoat and a green gown," - -is a charming verse for a flower, which the smiling faces of girls in -costumes representing flowers will yet further decorate. - - "Handy Spandy Jack-a-Dandy - Loves plum-cake and sugar-candy," - -should be the jingle for the candy table, and the boys and girls can -exercise their ingenuity in appearing in character--one a chocolate -cream, another a striped stick, another a pink peppermint, and so on. -But whatever you do, do not forget the little kindergarteners in your -households. They are so proud of their bits of work, and would be so -glad to give something for the poor sick babies. Take the mats and -sewing-cards, and make them into sachet-bags, pin-trays, blotters, -cornucopias, needle-books, "scratch-my-backs," with ribbons and fringed -papers. Let the verse over these childish offerings be, - - "I saw a ship a-sailing, - A-sailing on the sea; - And, O, it was all laden - With pretty things for thee," - -and trim the booth with the paper chains, stars, and the like; also the -work of the little ones. - -[Illustration: MOTHER GOOSE AND SOME OF HER CHARACTERS.] - -In order that such a fair as this shall be a success and not wear every -one out, you must divide yourselves into groups, with an older lady or -ladies to direct your work. If you belong to the broom booth, do not -change your mind and try to be a flower-girl at the last moment. If you -are lucky enough to have given you, or to make something suitable for -the needle-work table, turn it over to that group, and do not dictate -how it shall be placed. Give your attention to making your own booth a -success. It is wise to ask some one who is older to take charge of the -fitting up of the booths. He can manage better than you, especially if a -carpenter is employed, and you can pour forth your soul on the -decorations. There are plenty of characters in Mother Goose's jingles -for every one to have one appear in, but it is no harm if there are -several of a kind. "Betsy Brooks and Tommy Snooks," "The butcher, the -baker, the candle-stick-maker," "Three wise men of Gotham," "Father -Graybeard," "Tommy Grace with the pain in his face," are groups which -can appear together, and by acting in character and repeating often the -jingles that belong to them, add to the fun. - -Thus far it would be possible to have the fair in a private house, if -any one is so generous as to offer hers. But if you can have a hall or -chapel you can offer yet greater variety. Arrange to keep seats in the -centre of the hall, and have tableaux and songs for an hour. If it is -possible, drill those of you who can sing, or perhaps some singer would -volunteer to accompany the tableaux. Otherwise ask some one who reads -nicely to recite the words appropriate to each tableau. "Little Bo-peep" -appears as the curtain rises, looking for her sheep, while "Polly -Flinder" will make two tableaux, one for each two lines of the rhyme. -"Georgie Porgie" should appear kissing a tiny girl, and, in the second, -running away when a group of school-girls come in sight. "Seesaw, -Margery Daw," is another pretty tableau. "Bobby Shaftoe" should show his -faithful little maid waiting for him, while the second one shows Bobby's -return. When this is done by two yellow-haired children it is effective. -"Old King Cole and his fiddlers three," "Little Jack Horner," "Simple -Simon," "Ba-ba, Black Sheep," "Little Miss Muffett," "Tom, Tom, the -piper's son," and "When I was a bachelor," are all capable of being -arranged in tableaux. There are two editions of "Mother Goose" -published, with the words set to music, and with pictures that would -give suggestions for costumes. - -Of course a fair without refreshments is a good deal like plum-pudding -without currants and raisins, and even here Mother Goose comes to our -aid. What do you say to "Jack and Jill" drawing the lemonade at the well -in small pails, and then pouring it into glasses? Would it not add to -the fun if part of the evening Jack's head should be mended with brown -paper? "Little Tommy Tucker" must not be forgotten, and should have a -stand to himself, where he can sing for your supper, and offer -sandwiches of every sort neatly wrapped in waxed paper and fancy -crackers. Close at hand "Mary Morey" should give you a chance to tell -her story while you drink your chocolate and eat your sandwich. - -A pretty booth should have for sale fancy cakes, loaves, and buns, while -its attendants should ring a bell, and sing, "Hot cross buns," etc. -"Little maid, pretty maid, wilt thou be mine," etc., is an appropriate -legend for the ice-cream corner, while "Sing a song of sixpence," with -as many waiters as may be in black dresses and red sleeves for -blackbirds, would add a finishing touch to the evening with Mother -Goose, if it is thought best to undertake a hot supper to coax the -nimble sixpences for the poor children's holiday. - - - - -[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] - - -The New York Interscholastic Athletic Association publishes a monthly -paper, which is called the _Interscholastic Record_, and is edited by a -board composed of one member from each of the schools represented in the -Association. It is fair for the general public to assume that the -opinions expressed by the _Record_ are official and endorsed by the rank -and file of the members of the Association, and, consequently, of the -New York schools. But in justice to the true and straightforward -sportsmen of New York, of which there are many in the schools, I want to -say to the readers of the _Record_ in other cities that the opinions -expressed by the paper are by no means those of the better element among -the scholastic athletes of this city. - -The Editor-in-Chief of the _Record_ is Mr. William J. Ehrich, of the -Harvard School. Mr. Ehrich attended the College of the City of New York -for a term in 1894, but for some reason did not continue his course, and -returned to the Harvard School. He caught upon their baseball nine last -spring, and was protested by the De La Salle Institute because Section I -of Article X. of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. constitution states that no member of -any school is eligible to compete in any athletic contest who has been -enrolled as a member of any college. Mr. Ehrich was fully cognizant of -this law when he played. Mr. Freeland, the principal of the Harvard -School, must have been fully cognizant of this law. Nevertheless, Ehrich -played. The result of this has been that at a recent meeting of the -Arbitration Committee of the N.Y.I.S.A.A., the Harvard School was found -guilty of fraud, the penalty for which is expulsion from the -Association. - -In commenting upon this action of the Committee the _Record_ says: "Now -that the football season is practically over, the delegates to the -I.S.A.A. have found it necessary to 'keep the pot boiling' by rehashing -old protests and concocting new ones. For example, the time-honored -protest against Harvard School for playing Ehrich on her baseball team -last spring is being resurrected. This protest was, we are certain, -finally decided and buried last June immediately after the baseball -season closed. Being a party directly interested in the failure of the -protest, we do not care to discuss the question of its validity. Suffice -it to say, that after riding in the bicycle-races of eight scholastic -and interscholastic athletic meetings, and receiving his medals for -these races; after playing on the Harvard baseball team in every game -but the last without having his well-known attendance at C.C.N.Y. -brought up against him--after all this, we ask, is there any right or -reason in protesting Ehrich for playing in the championship games -between De La Salle and Harvard?" - -It is possible that Mr. Ehrich did not write this himself, but whether -he did or not, the statement is certainly not published without his -knowledge and consent, and he is consequently severely censurable for -such an expression of opinion. It is contrary to the spirit of -amateurism, it is harmful to the best interests of honesty in school -sport, and it is insidious in that it may lead younger boys to believe -that such statements are just and correct. And another thing: Mr. Ehrich -has no business to criticise the action of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. in the paper -which claims to be the official organ of that Association. - -But this is not the worst offence committed by the _Record_ against -amateur and school sport. Farther along in the editorial column we read: -"If we had our choice all those technical rules governing athletics in -the schools would be stricken out of the constitution; and any _bona -fide_ member of a school who is under age would have a right to compete -in the games. We have frequently heard intelligent fellows say that this -would not do, as the college athletes would come back to school to -compete. It evidently never occurred to them that an athlete would much -prefer competing in college, and that an athlete whom it would pay a -school to support would be able to do very well at a college." Among the -"technical rules" that Mr. Ehrich and the _Record_ do not like is the -one which caused the conviction of the Harvard School for fraud. This -easily accounts for the opinion expressed. But the rule is not a -"technical" one. It is a very practical rule, a very good rule, and a -necessary rule, and the Association was perfectly right in enforcing it. - -And now, parents and guardians, and principals of the New York -schools--Dr. White, Mr. Lyon, Messrs. Wilson and Kellogg, Mr. Freeland, -Dr. Cutler--all of you, is not it time that you should look into this? -What does the editor of the _Record_ mean when he says that "an athlete -whom it would _pay a school to support_ would be able to _do very well_ -at a college"? I beg of you to consider this! Does any New York school -"support" any athlete? If so, do you know of it? And is there any doubt -as to what sporting men understand by the term "to do very well"? Is it -possible that the _Record_ suggests to the lurking professional spirit -in certain school athletes that there is money "in it" for the boy who -will go to college and try to enter sport for money? Does the _Record_ -believe this of the colleges? Does the experience of the editor of the -_Record_ at his own school lead him to believe that there is money to be -had for playing baseball at college? - -My own opinion about this editorial is that the young man who wrote it -did not realize what he was saying. I don't think he meant to convey the -idea which his words clearly state. But even if he did not, he has done -a great wrong to the schools of this city, and the Association under -whose name these dreadful fallacies are published should interfere at -once. - -[Illustration: ST. MARK'S SCHOOL, SOUTHBORO MASS.] - -[Illustration: ST. JOHN'S MILITARY ACADEMY, DELAFIELD, WISCONSIN.] - -[Illustration: CHELTENHAM MILITARY ACADEMY, OGONTZ, PENNSYLVANIA.] - -[Illustration: FRIENDS' SCHOOL, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.] - -FOUR FOOTBALL TEAMS. - -The four pictures in this number represent teams from widely separated -districts of this broad country of ours. The St. John's Military Academy -eleven, of Delafield, Wisconsin, is one of the prominent school teams of -the West. The Cheltenham team is a member of the Philadelphia -Interscholastic League, and although this season has not been successful -from the point of view of victories, it has served to develop excellent -material that ought to be heard from next year. The St. Mark's eleven is -a champion team, having defeated its old-time rivals from Groton 6-0 on -November 9th. The victory was earned through superior team-work and -generalship. The Groton players averaged heavier, but were not the -equals of the Southboro' men in scientific work. The Friends' School -football team, of Wilmington, closed the season with a victory over its -especial rival, the Swarthmore Grammar School, November 8th. The score -was 4-0, and the game was as exciting as the figures show. The best -playing was done by Brownfield, S. G. S., and by Pyle, Neary, and -Warner, F.S. - -The season that has just ended in Boston has been the best in almost -every respect that the League has had. More good individual players and -better team-work have been developed than ever before. The teams have -been much more evenly matched, and the spirit shown by each school, by -the Captains and players alike, has made the season very interesting and -satisfactory. The reason for this is that this year every team in the -League was out for the championship. Heretofore it has generally -happened that one or two teams have developed good football early in the -season, and the others, contented with winning one or two games, have -allowed the championship to go, almost by default, to one of the better -teams. - -But this year a different feeling crept into the League. Every team -played every game to win. The consequence was that the usual one-sided -games, with scores of thirty or forty to nothing, have been missing. -Instead, every game has been hard played and interesting, and the -attendance at two of the games, at least, has reached up into the -thousands. The heavier teams, which used to go into a game relying upon -their mere weight to win, have been forced to learn how to play -scientific football, and the lighter teams, instead of going on the -field beaten before the game began, have discovered that science and -sand are worth more than bluff and brawn. - -The scores of this year's games show very justly how close the season -has been. Twenty-four points are the most that have been scored in a -championship game, and in this game the points were divided 16 to 6. The -worst defeat was that of Cambridge High by Brookline High, 18 to 0. One -game resulted in a tie, neither side scoring, and four games have been -won by the score of 4 to 0. The champions, instead of a record of 100 or -more points won and none lost, managed this year to get through with 56 -won and 14 lost. Boston Latin, who are tied for second place, won 14 -points and lost 14. - -The one feature of the year that is to be regretted was brought into -conspicuous prominence by this very closeness of the games. That feature -was the poor umpiring that occurred in some of the games. One or two of -the schools resorted to the trick of securing officials who could be -relied upon to give them an advantage of decisions. Cambridge Manual was -the worst offender in this line, and Hopkinson the most successful. -Hopkinson owes one of its victories to an exceedingly unjust decision -made by a referee whom they had appointed. All the other teams, however, -seemed very anxious that impartial and competent men be secured; and -that honesty is still the best policy is exemplified in the case of -English High, the champions, who were more in earnest about good judges -than any other school. - -One of the unpleasant features of many of last year's games--the -darkness that interfered in the second half--was done away with this -season. That was because the Captains were sensible enough to see that -short halves of twenty minutes were much better than the full thirty -minutes, and because all the teams were willing to make an effort to -begin the games early enough so that they could be finished about -sunset. The result has been most satisfactory. No disputes have arisen -from this cause, and the spectators have not crowded on to the fields to -add to the delay of the game. Another of last year's unpleasant -features--the bitterness between some of the teams--was lacking. While -the rivalry was much more intense, the feeling was much more friendly. -The disputes that have arisen have been settled most amicably, and the -meetings of the Executive Committee have been free from the -recriminations that have heretofore characterized them. Everybody seemed -to be working for this "era of good feeling," Captains, managers, -players, and graduates all lending a hand to smooth over any petty -troubles. One bit of courtesy will bear mentioning. When two teams were -playing, the players of the other teams were always furnished tickets to -the game free of charge. - -All the teams have been managed in a very business-like manner. The -schedule was made out carefully, and was very just. The arrangements -about securing grounds, providing police, advertising, and the other -details necessary to a successful game were promptly and well attended -to. Altogether, the season must please the Harvard football management -and the Boston Athletic Association, under whose joint patronage the -League is conducted. Harvard must see in the League a great and reliable -feeder for her Freshman and 'varsity teams, and after a few seasons like -this one the university will be able to place more reliance than ever on -the preparatory schools. - -English High must feel an immense amount of satisfaction in winning the -championship after such a hard struggle. The fast gait that they struck -early in the season they kept up to the last game. They played the game -as never before. Quick starts, hard interfering, sure tackling, a spirit -of "do or die," and just the right amount of confidence in themselves; -their Captain and their coach carried them through the season, and -earned, as a reward, the custody of the silver bowl. The team was -excellently managed, nothing being left undone that could help the team -to victory, and the support the boys received from the school and the -graduates was very flattering. - -Boston Latin, who came so near defeating the winners, deserve the -greatest amount of praise for the season's work. They started out in -September by beating Andover--a feat never dreamt of before by a Boston -school--and tying St. Mark's. That gave them an idea that they could win -the championship. It was the first time the school had ever had that -idea; as usually they have been contented with finishing near the foot -of the list. They put in some hard practice, and succeeded in making -third place. This is a remarkable feat, considering that they went -through the season without a coach. The only instruction they had was -from their Captain, who devoted an immense amount of labor to his team, -and was rewarded by gaining the admiration of every boy in the League, -and seeing Boston Latin finish better than it had ever finished before. - -Hopkinson's team this year was remarkable more for its even, steady, -plucky playing than for its stars or brilliancy. They pulled out more -than one game by displaying their sand at the critical moments. They -played excellent team-work, and, thanks to a very competent coach, were -up to all the latest tricks of the game. They had more luck than any -other team, and that accounts for their standing second. - -Brookline won the junior championship last year, and, by defeating -Newton, earned the privilege of playing in the senior league. They were -counted as winners by a great many wiseacres; and indeed started in with -good football. But they were really outclassed. They were the lightest -team in the league, and averaged the youngest in years. They found the -season too hard for them. This, together with their losing the services -of a valuable coach, caused a marked falling off in their play. Their -backs and ends were, taken together, the best set in the League, and -they had at one time the best interference; but their defence was not -always reliable, and they were sadly in need of a quarter-back who could -do something besides pass the ball. - -Cambridge High and Latin, with the best team they have had for years, -are tied for last place. They were very much hampered by restrictions -imposed by their school committee, and by unnecessary interference on -the part of the masters. To this they attribute their poor showing. They -undoubtedly had material for a fine team, and it was being handled in a -most careful and vigorous way. Their Captain was the sort of fellow who -gets an immense amount of work out of his men, and puts all kinds of -ginger into them. After beating Hopkinson and Boston Latin, they were -looked upon as the only team that could possibly beat English High. But -before that decisive game the school committee got in its work, and the -little nerve left to the players was lost when the Executive Committee -of the League deprived them of their two victories, on protest. - -The first steps toward the formation of a National I.S.A.A. will be -taken next Saturday at a convention to be held at the De La Salle -Institute. I hope every association that can possibly afford to do so -will send one or more representatives to this convention. The interest -all over the country is growing greater every day, and I feel that the -association, when formed, is bound to be a success. I am informed by the -president of the Iowa State H.-S.A.A. that in view of the formation of a -National Association the schools of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and -Minnesota have abandoned the plan of forming a large Western league, -which I spoke of last spring. In speaking of this my correspondent says: - - "The matter was brought up, but as soon as they found out that a - National Association was to be formed they dropped it. They would - rather have their State meet, and then send a team to the National - meet. They will do nothing towards the formation of such an - association till they find out whether they can join the National - Association or not. It will cost but little more to go East, and - they are all willing to go. The Clinton Association will, if they - can become members, send one of the best teams that any Iowa - High-School can produce. They have already engaged Mr. Moulton, the - veteran trainer, who has handled Crum so well in his running-work - this year. The school means business; they have the entire support - of the business men of the city, and have a course of entertainment - laid out which will bring them in ample means to pay all expenses." - -Unless something unforeseen prevents, the All-New York Interscholastic -Football eleven will be announced next week. - - THE GRADUATE. - - - - -ADVERTISEMENTS. - - - - -Highest of all in Leavening Strength.--Latest U. S. Gov't Report. - -[Illustration: Royal Baking Powder] - - - - -Arnold - -Constable & Co - - * * * * * - -Winter Underwear, - -Hosiery, - -Gloves, - -Umbrellas. - -_Best qualities and special Importations for Christmas presents._ - - * * * * * - -Broadway & 19th st. - -NEW YORK. - - - - -[Illustration] - -Songs. - -Franklin Square Collection. - -It would be difficult, if not impossible, to gather more features of -interest into a work of this kind. Not only are many of the best songs -and hymns in the English language here given--both old and new--but -there are also songs and hymns for children and the schools. There are -songs of home and of country, of love and fame, of heart and soul, of -devotion and praise, with their sad and sweet or lively melodies, and -with grand old chorals that stir the heart and lift it in worship. -Besides the words and music, explanatory and historic notes are given to -indicate their origin and significance. These books cannot fail to -become immensely popular.--_Lutheran Observer_. - -Sold Everywhere. Price, 50 cents: Cloth, $1.00. Full contents of the -Several Numbers, with Specimen Pages of favorite Songs and Hymns, sent -by Harper & Brothers, New York, to any address. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: BICYCLING] - - The Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. - Our maps and tours contain much valuable data, kindly supplied from - the official maps and road-books of the League of American - Wheelmen. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the - L. A. W., the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with - membership blanks and information so far as possible. - - -CIRCUIT RIDE. - -[Illustration: Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers.] - -Starting from the Ericson monument on Commonwealth Avenue, go westward, -joining Beacon Boulevard, which follow direct by the electric-car tracks -to Chestnut Hill Reservoir. After passing car station at end of route, -keep to left around the reservoir, and a short distance on Beacon Street -beyond reservoir; then turn to left on to Hammond Street, following it -southward, and turn to right at Brookline Street. Turn to right at -Dedham Street, and bear to the left out Nahanton Street, going over the -Charles River and up the hill by direct road to Highlandville. Turn to -left on to Highland Street, following straight road south to Needham. -Thence the course is down hill on Dedham Street, leading over the -Charles River, after crossing which you bear southeast by direct road -into Dedham; go under the bridge beyond the station, and from there take -direct road to Paul's Bridge. Turn to right at fountain, and go, _viā_ -Brush Hill Avenue, to the base of Blue Hill. There turn to the left, and -take the direct road for Mattapan, _viā_ Canton Avenue, and turn to left -at Mattapan Street into Mattapan. From here follow Blue Hill Avenue -direct to Franklin Park. Enter, and make circuit of park, keeping to -right and then to left, or keep to left on Morton Street direct to -Forest Hill Station. At the drinking-fountain turn to the left after -passing tracks, and go through the Arnold Arboretum; pass out of the -Arboretum by the Centre Street entrance, and, turning to the right, take -Centre Street, and then go through the Arborway and Park system to -Jamaica Pond. There is a good roadway around this pond both to the right -and left, and the distance is about the same either way. After passing -the pond keep direct road, _viā_ Park system, to the Fenway Parks, in -passing through which keep to the left, and it will bring you across the -bridge, over the railroad tracks, and on to Commonwealth Avenue; there -turn to right, and ride direct to Ericson statue near Massachusetts -Avenue. Distance covered, about thirty miles. - -By taking this circuit ride one gets a fair idea of the new boulevards -and public parklands of the Metropolitan system, which is making rapid -strides of development, and promises to be in the near future one of the -finest in America, if not in the world. The roads are good throughout -the entire distance, and it is a fine country ride from Chestnut Hill -Reservoir through Highlandville, Dedham, Blue Hill, to Franklin Park. - - - - -[Illustration: THE PUDDING STICK] - - This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young - Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the - subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor. - - -One of my correspondents asks, in a general way, what I think about old -school-books. Should a girl sell them, if she can, when passing on to a -higher class in which she does not need the books used in the former -term? Ought they be taken care of with as much pains as one bestows on -the books in the library or the pretty illustrated editions which come -to one as gifts at birthdays and holidays? - -To the first question I answer, without hesitation, keep all your -school-books if you possibly can. Never sell them or dispose of them in -any way unless it is very plainly your duty to somebody else to do so. -For instance, in a family an older sister may let the younger children -have her books when she is done with them. This may save her parents the -expense of buying new ones, and having the same books duplicated in the -household collection. Or there may be in your acquaintance a girl too -poor to buy new books, who will be very glad and thankful to have yours -as a gift. In this case it will be your pleasure, I am sure, to make -this friend happy, and to relieve her of anxiety, and help her in -procuring her education. But, as a rule, I would advise you to keep your -books for yourself. Even when you have finished studying in a particular -book you may want it to refer to, and after your school-days are over -your books will be reminders of the delightful times you had when you -used them. School-books are valuable because they are written in a -clear, plain, straightforward style which it is quite easy to -comprehend. They do not wander away from the point, and they give a -great deal of information packed up in a small compass. A good -school-book on any subject is a real treasure. - -All books should be treated with respect. No nice person leaves books -lying around heedlessly, with the bindings opened widely so that they -become loosened, and the pages curling up at the corners. If a girl is -neat about her room and her dress, she will surely be so in the care of -her books. Never let books gather dust. They are as ornamental as -pictures or flowers or vases, and a house in which there are a number of -books is already half furnished. - -I speak with the more emphasis about the folly of selling school-books -because I have a confession to make. Once, a long while ago, I was -moving from my home to a distant State, to stay for some years, and I -owned a book-case, a pretty affair with five shelves, to which a friend -took a fancy. "Sell me the book-case," she pleaded; "you will not need -it for ages, and I would like it so much for my own library." Well, I -did not sell the book-case; I gave it away, and that part of the -transaction I have never regretted in the very least. But, alas! the -little case was full of grammars, and geographies, and logics, and -rhetorics, and spellers, and arithmetics, and lexicons, the dear books -that had kept me company all the way from childhood on, and in an evil -moment I was persuaded to sell those to a dealer in second-hand books. I -was sorry the next time I needed to look at one of the dear things, and, -if you will believe me, girls, I am still sorry. I changed something -precious for a little bit of money when I disposed of my books. And I -wish I had not done it. - -If by any chance books have been used by a patient in illness, such as -scarlet-fever or any other contagious disease, they must immediately be -burned up. This is the only safe way. A child recovering from such an -attack may ask for his or her books to play with. Let the books be -given, if the mother is willing, but they must be destroyed afterwards. -Even if they have remained on shelves in the room and the patient has -not so much as touched them they must be burned, for books have a way of -preserving germs of disease, and must be used only by people who are not -ill with anything infectious or who are perfectly well. - -Do I think books should be covered? To save the bindings, you mean? It -depends on how very clean and dainty are the hands which hold them. -Smooth white paper makes a good covering, and is easily renewed, and -most publishers in these days provide attractive covers for the -beautiful books they sell. - -As December finishes the period for their subscriptions, will the -friends who accepted the Baby boxes a twelvemonth ago kindly send their -boxes as soon as possible to Mrs. Sangster, care of HARPER'S ROUND -TABLE, Franklin Square, New York? - -[Illustration: Signature] - - - - -[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB] - - Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly - answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to - hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions. - - -SUGGESTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS. - -Summer has gone, with all its delightful outings, but the amateur -photographer, if he has been wise, has not only many photographic -souvenirs as reminders of his vacation, but has also abundant material -for making his friends glad at holiday-time. - -A dozen, or even six or seven, finely finished prints, mounted in an -attractive way, make a most acceptable gift, and one which the recipient -is sure not to have duplicated. - -Blue prints, which are the cheapest and easiest form of photographic -printing, are just the thing for waterscapes. If one's outing has been -by the lake or seashore, select six or eight of the prettiest -waterscapes, something which would make a sort of series. Do not print -them all the same uniform size, but select different-shaped mats for -each one. One picture may look better vigneted, another would not be -pretty printed except in a circle, and still another would need to be -printed in a long narrow oblong to make an attractive picture. Choose -the mat which best fits the picture. All styles and sizes may be bought -at the dealer in photographic goods, or one may make the mats himself. A -pretty mat is made by taking a piece of post-office paper and marking an -irregular opening large enough to take in the picture; tear the paper on -the pencilled lines, peeling it so as to leave it thinner at the edges. -Any-shaped opening may be made, and a picture which has a spot or -scratch which would mar it if shown in the print may be blocked out in -this way. Pictures printed in this way are very pretty, and something -out of the ordinary way of printing. - -Having the pictures printed, the selection of the card mount is the next -consideration. The mount should show at least an inch or more margin all -round, and one may buy the plain mounts and punch eyelet-holes in the -edges to fasten them with, or else the regular album leaves, which have -holes for fastening together. The album leaves are really better than -the cards, as the edges having the eyelet-holes are finished with cloth, -which prevents the card from breaking. - -Under each picture letter a title or an appropriate quotation, using -either ultramarine or cobalt blue water-color. Either corresponds with -the color of the finished print. - -The cover may be of rough water-color paper, and decorated with the -brush in blue, or an opening may be cut in the cover, and a tiny blue -print set back of it like a picture in a frame. In such a case there -would need to be two pieces for the front cover, glued at the edges. Tie -the whole together with a heavy blue silk cord the color of the blue -prints, or with two-inch-wide blue ribbon with a butterfly bow. - - - - -DON'T WORRY YOURSELF - -and don't worry the baby; avoid both unpleasant conditions by giving the -child pure, digestible food. Don't use solid preparations. _Infant -Health_ is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your address to the New -York Condensed Milk Company, N. Y.--[_Adv._] - - - - -ADVERTISEMENTS. - - - - -Postage Stamps, &c. - - - - -50 Distinct Countries - -135 Different Varieties - -53c. by letter, post-paid. - -If on sheets, $2.00. Two packets for a dollar bill. Holiday Offer: 211 -Presents valued at $100.00 distributed among purchasers. Particulars and -a rare stamp sent for 3c.; 100 mixed stamps, 10c. - -A. L. Lewis, 2 Maltland Place, Toronto, Canada. - - - - -[Illustration] - -100 all dif. Venezuela, Bolivia, etc., only 10c.; 200 all dif. Hayti, -Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. List FREE! =C. A. -Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliante Ave., St. Louis, Mo - - - - -500 Mixed Australian, etc., 10c.; =105 varieties=, and nice album, 10c.; -15 unused, 10c.; 10 Africa, 10c.; 15 Asia, 10c. F. P. Vincent, Chatham, -N.Y. - - - - -FINE PACKETS in large variety. Stamps at 50% com. Col's bought. -Northwestern Stamp Co., Freeport, Ill. - - - - -FINE APPROVAL SHEETS. Agents wanted at 50% com. =P. S. Chapman, Box 151, -Bridgeport, Ct.= - - - - -STAMPS! 100 all dif. Barbados, etc. Only 10c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. -List free. L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo. - - - - -An important trifle--The DELONG Patent Hook and Eye and trifles make -perfection. - -See that - -hump? - -[Illustration] - -Richardson & DeLong Bros., Philadelphia. - - - - -[Illustration] - -Highest Award - -WORLD'S FAIR. - -SKATES - -CATALOGUE FREE. - -BARNEY & BERRY, Springfield, Mass. - - - - -BREAKFAST--SUPPER. - -EPPS'S - -GRATEFUL--COMFORTING. - -COCOA - -BOILING WATER OR MILK. - - - - -HOOPING-COUGH - -CROUP. - -Roche's Herbal Embrocation. - -The celebrated and effectual English Cure without internal medicine. -Proprietors, W. Edward & Son. - -London, England. - -E. Fougera & Co., 30 North William St., N.Y. - - - - -[Illustration] - -PRINTING OUTFIT 10c. - -Sets any name in one minute; prints 500 cards an hour. YOU can make -money with it. A font of pretty type, also Indelible Ink, Type, Holder, -Pads and Tweezers. Best Linen Marker; worth $1.00. Sample mailed FREE -for 10c. stamps for postage on outfit and large catalogue of 1000 -Bargains. Same outfit with figures 15c. Larger outfit for printing two -lines 25c. post-paid. - -Ingersoll & Bro., 65 Cortlandt St., N. Y. City - - - - -DEAFNESS & HEAD NOISES CURED - -by my INVISIBLE Tubular Cushions. Have helped more to good HEARing than -all other devices combined. Whispers HEARd. Help ears as glasses do -eyes. =F. Hilcox=, 853 B'dway, N.Y. Book of proofs =FREE= - - - - -CARDS - -FOR 1896. 50 Sample Styles AND LIST OF 400 PREMIUM ARTICLES FREE. -HAVERFIELD PUB. CO., Cadiz, Ohio. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -An Appeal for a School-house. - - -Come, dear readers of the Table--Ladies, Knights, Patrons, and their -friends--let us make possible the laying of the corner-stone of Good -Will School next spring. The task is not a difficult one. It can be -accomplished in this way: - -Get one subscriber to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE. Remit the $2 for it for one -year. Attach the accompanying Coupon. Say in your letter that you wish -the 50 cents turned into the Fund. And the thing is done. The Fund is -complete. The corner-stone will be laid. The boys will have an -Industrial school-house. The Order will have performed a grand, a -chivalrous deed. - -At this holiday-time every person who reads these lines has it within -his or her power to build this school-house. Because, if _you_ get the -one subscriber, the house will be built. If you do not, it will not--not -now. All depends on you. - -Go out and ask your friends about it. Ask them to help you get the -subscriber. Your parents and teachers will help you. Ask them to do so. -Set your heart on getting this one subscriber. Go to a Sunday-school or -church committee, a day school, some well-to-do man or woman who has -young persons in the household. Ask the well-to-do neighbor. Relate the -merits of the paper, and show a sample copy and Prospectus. We furnish -them free. Ask us to do so. - -But do more than this. Relate the story of Good Will. Tell the person -whom you are asking to subscribe why you want the subscription, and why -you want it now. Tell him or her that Good Will Farm, while in Maine, -takes boys from any part of the country, and is therefore not a local, -but a national enterprise. Say that it is a house for an Industrial -school that the Order is to build. The Farm is in good hands, and the -school itself will be well conducted. Our task is only to put up the -building, not to conduct the school. Say that during the last few -years--two or three--more than 700 poor boys have applied for admission -to Good Will, and had to be refused it for lack of room. These boys were -deserving. Say further that if you get the subscription the school will -be built, and, by turning a house now used for the school into a -dwelling, more boys can be taken--boys of five, six, and seven years of -age, who are now homeless, may be given homes, school advantages, and a -chance to become useful Christian men. - -During the next two weeks will _you_ get this subscription? Talk it -up--and get it. The appeal is not made to the Order. It is made to -_you_. If you do not wish to cut out the coupon, make a pen one nearly -like it, ask us for duplicates, or send on the subscription without a -coupon, simply saying that you got it to help the school, and that you -want 50 cents of the $2 given to the Fund. Be sure to give the -subscription address, and your own name for the Honor Roll. - -Come on, dear friends, let us build this school-house. - -THIS COUPON - -Will be received by the publishers of HARPER'S ROUND TABLE as - -[Illustration] - -when accompanied by an order For a NEW subscription to HARPER'S ROUND -TABLE and One Dollar and Fifty Cents. The intent of this Coupon is to -pay you for inducing another person, not now a _subscriber_, to -subscribe for HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for one year. This Coupon has nothing -whatever to do with your own subscription; that is, with the copy you -expect to read next year, it matters not in whose name it be ordered, -and will not be accepted as payment for any part of it. It is good for -its face in the hands of any person who performs the work indicated, -whether said person is a subscriber or not. HARPER & BROTHERS. - - * * * * * - -A Drive in Switzerland. - - We have been passing three weeks of our summer vacation at - Mühlenen, a tiny village in the Bernese Oberland, where there are - so many interesting things to write about that the only trouble is - to know with what to begin. One beautiful drive we took would, I - think, interest our Table, so I shall do my best to describe it. - - Mühlenen lies in a lovely and fertile valley called the Frutigthal, - through which winds a rushing river, the Kander. A great deal - higher up than Mühlenen, about nineteen kilometres away, is the - village of Kandersteg, 1156 metres above the level of the sea, and - just at the entrance of the celebrated Gemmi Pass. To this little - village, one cloudless summer day, we--my aunt, a dear friend, my - sister, and myself--decided to drive, and, what is more, we - determined to be unconventional, and go without a coachman. In - Switzerland a lady never drives herself, and it is even seldom that - a gentleman does so, but we knew that people would shrug their - shoulders and say: "Ah, well! they are only Americans," in a tone - that implies, "they know no better, and are up to anything wild and - dangerous," so we have gone alone from time to time during the past - year. - - At half past seven we were safely installed in the "Einspenner," as - they call the one-horse vehicles there, and Lenore, being driver, - tried her best to crack the whip in a professional way, ejaculated - "hui! hui!" and wound up the brake. In German Switzerland one must - say "hui hui" to make a horse go, while in the French cantons - "allez houp" is the usual way. Our Table probably knows that every - carriage has a brake, which is put on at every slight decline with - the greatest care. As we came into the main road to Frutigen all - eyes were turned towards the beautiful Blümlisalp, which rose in - its grandeur before us, and no wonder, for it is a sight one never - tires of. Before us lay the peaceful green valley, the picturesque - old peasant houses dotted about, and to the left the quaint little - village of Reichenbach, with its old church-tower bearing the date - 1546. On the right, rising about 300 feet away, the dark Niesen - towered up towards the sky, at its base the Kander, whose music - lulls us to sleep every night, and straight before us the - Blümlisalp, Gerihorn, Wildstrubel, and many other mountains. - - We drove on to Frutigen, passing many sheep, cows, and goats, being - driven by peasant owners to the cattle market which was to be held - next day. Most of these peasants laughed at our driver, making some - good-natured remark, others passed nodding "Gott grüss Ihnen" (God - greet you), as is the custom. Frutigen is the most important - village in the valley, and is also quite modern looking. A large - fire there some time ago burnt up a great many houses, which have - been replaced by stone buildings which look very stiff and ugly in - comparison to the wooden chalets. Just on the other side of - Frutigen is a hill on which the ruins of the old castle of - Tellenburg are to be seen. Fellen was the old German word meaning - tax or tribute, and the people of the valley had to pay tribute to - the barons who lived in the castle. The last baron, Anton von - Thurm, was deeply in debt and sold the whole valley to Bern for - 6200 Gulden. - - About an hour from Frutigen is the "Blauseeli," or little blue - lake, which I once described in a letter to the "Post-office," - before our Order existed. A little further on is another ruin, - exceedingly picturesque, and situated just as I imagined a castle - should be, on a high, almost inaccessible rock. The owner was also - Anton von Thurm, a wild, cruel tyrant. He and his followers were - greatly feared throughout the valley, and yet the people had to pay - him tribute. Once he had the fine idea to exact a herd of young - cattle from them as that year's payment, and when the peasants - begged and implored him not to, he simply laughed them to scorn. - - The people held a counsel and decided to kill the wicked baron. - They decorated the asked-for cattle, dressed themselves in their - Sunday best, and started off to the castle apparently peaceful, - happy, and resigned, but in reality each with a hidden weapon. The - baron heard in some way that there was a plot against him, and at - the last minute fled over the border, back to his castle in the - canton of Valais. The people arrived only to find the Felsenburg - deserted and the doors closed against them. Filled with rage at - being robbed of their prey they beat in the doors and destroyed the - castle completely, leaving it the ruin we now can see. I think they - served the Baron Anton right. - - After passing the Felsenburg the road goes up in zigzags to the - Kander Valley. All the way we had a most beautiful view of the - whole Frutigen Valley with mountain chain of the Viesen in the - background. The houses began to be very interesting now, for almost - all have texts or inscriptions burned on the outside, as well as - dates. We stopped to read some of them, and I copied this one for - the Table. - - Gebauen durch Johannes Brosser und sein Ehgemahl Maria Ogi. 1m 1556 - Jahre. David Würner Zimmermeister war. - - Gott bewahre dieses Haus, - Und die da geben ein und aus. - - This last is evidently original poetry, meaning, "God protect this - house, and those who go in and out of it." Some of them are texts - from the Bible, and I think the idea very beautiful. Others have no - texts nor verses, but tell who built the house, who owned it, and - some give a long list of the people who lived in it, what their - profession was, etc. One house evidently was the first work of some - proud young carpenter, for he wrote, "Johann Hari was carpenter and - twenty-two years old." - - I said we stopped the horse to read these texts. How most of the - Knights and Ladies would have laughed could they have seen _how_ we - stopped him. If I saw an interesting looking house, I had to say - that I wanted to read what was on it quite a while before we came - to it. Then Lenore would brace herself and pull up the horse, but - instead of stopping like a well-bred animal he would walk on and on - till finally, when Lenore had no "pull" left in her, he would stop. - Not that he was a fiery, spirited horse. Alas! no. It was just as - hard to make him start after he had once been persuaded to stand - still, and as for trotting-- We all combined our voices in a loud - "hui, hui," at the same time flecking him continually with the - whip, to make him go out of a creeping walk. - - At Kandersteg we went to the Hotel Gemmi for dinner, and while - waiting till it was ready amused ourselves by reading the queer - verses written all over the dining-room walls. At another table - were some travellers, two of them unmistakably American, and it - sounded very homelike to hear "all right," instead of "quite so." I - was buying photographs for my collection later, and an English lady - came up and spoke to me. During the conversation I said something - about America. "Are _you_ American?" she said, incredulously. Upon - my replying in the affirmative she went on, "Why, r_ee_ly you have - no accent at all." We arrived in Mühlenen at seven o'clock in high - spirits, and much delighted with the beautiful day. - - WINTERTHUR. - MARIAN GREENE, R.T.F. - - * * * * * - -Getting Behind the Scenes. - - Could you inform me if there ever was such a boy as Diego Pinzon, - and if so, was he in the crew of the _Pinta_? Was Martin Alonzo - Pinzon the proprietor of the _Pinta_, as stated by Mr. Coryell, or - Gomez Rascona and Christopher Quintero, as stated by Justin Winsor - in his _Christopher Columbus_? - - GENEVA, FLA. - LEO REHBINDER, R.T.F. - - I did not say or mean to convey the impression, in _Diego Pinzon_, - that Martin Alonzo Pinzon was the proprietor of the _Pinta_. I use - the words, "* * * the _Pinta_, as the vessel of Martin Alonzo was - named." I meant the vessel of which he was captain. The phrase is - not definite, but is usual. The _Pinta_ belonged to Gomez Rascon - and Christoval Quintero, and had been pressed into the service of - the expedition. - - I have no knowledge that a boy by the name of Diego Pinzon was one - of the crew of the _Pinta_; but I took the liberty of shipping him - for the voyage, because there were several boys of his age who went - on the expedition, and because there were several Pinzons in the - crews of the three vessels. I have no doubt that there was more - than one Diego on the expedition. I am certain there were several - Pinzons; and so I make my combination of Diego Pinzon. - - CORNWALL, N. Y. - JOHN R. CORYELL. - - - - -[Illustration: STAMPS] - - This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin - collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question - on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondent should address - Editor Stamp Department. - - -There seems to be no end of changes in the printing of the current -United States postage stamps. It has just been discovered that all the -plates of the 2-cents, from No. 171 upward, have had the guidelines for -cutting the complete sheet of 400 stamps into four sheets of 100 each -changed, so that now on each sheet of 100 stamps the inside corner -stamps have an extra red line parallel with two of the sides (see -diagram in ROUND TABLE No. 830). This makes four distinct varieties of -the red stamp, which every collector can easily find. The same principle -will probably be applied to all the other stamps now current. - -And still another variety, or curiosity, has just been noticed. The -left-hand sheet of the present 15-cent stamp (Plate No. 52) is marked on -the margin W. F. G., W. L. C. These initials appear on the upper margin -of the sheet, immediately above the first stamp. To the left, on the -margin, appear the initials C. S. This is another variety easily -obtainable by almost every collector. Of course the stamp must have the -entire margin of the sheet, or, still better, keep the entire strip of -the top row of ten stamps. - -This interesting variety was first seen by a gentleman who is not a -collector, but, having unusually sharp eyes, called the attention of a -veteran collector to the same. - -Speaking of plate-numbers, which are the fashion at present, reminds me -that the finest collection of these ever made up was exhibited to the -members of the New York Philatelic Society at its last meeting. At the -same meeting another member exhibited his West-Indian, and still another -his Australasian. Each collection was simply superb. Thousands of -dollars were spent in making up the West-Indian and the Australasian -collections to where a hundred had been spent on the plate-number -collection, and yet each collector had something the others had not, and -every one present was greatly pleased by an inspection of all three. - - FRED. L. HAWTHORNE, Kingston, Jamaica, wants to exchange stamps, - seeds, etc., with collectors in the U.S. - - A. M. J.--Similar questions to yours as to values of coins have - been answered several times. When a coin is so worn that the date - cannot be read it is usually worthless. - - J. HALL.--A pair of 20-cent St. Louis stamps was sold for $5000 to - a collector in the East about a month ago. - - F. H. CHURCH, Boonville, N. Y., wishes to exchange stamps, birds' - eggs, etc. - - F. KELLER.--The 30-cent Ceylon is worth 12c., the 25-cent Straits - Settlements 15c., the 1-cent Shanghai 5c. - - S. THOMPSON.--The Department has discontinued all U. S. envelopes - except the 1, 2, 4, and 5c. - - J. W. STEVENS.--The 1859 cent does not command any premium. - - W. F. SCOTT.--I have sent you a copy of the statutes of the - Philatelic Society, New York, the leading society in this country. - Monaco issues a regular series of stamps. - - W. COMFORT.--We do not buy coins. The 1798 cent is catalogued at - 20c. The other cent is worth 5c. - - J. F. RODGERS.--The 15-cent Columbian, unused, is sold by dealers - at 20c. Used is worth 5c. - - PHILATUS. - - - - -[Illustration: Ivory Soap] - -Have you noticed when discussing household affairs with other ladies -that each one has found some special use for Ivory Soap, usually the -cleansing of some article that it was supposed could not be safely -cleaned at home. - -THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CARDS - -The FINEST SAMPLE BOOK of Gold Beveled Edge, Hidden Name, Silk Fringe, -Envelope and Calling Cards ever offered for a 2 cent stamp. These are -GENUINE CARDS, NOT TRASH. =UNION CARD CO., COLUMBUS, OHIO.= - - - - -SOME NEW BOOKS - -FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - - * * * * * - -"HARPER'S ROUND TABLE" FOR 1895 - -Volume XVI. With 1096 Pages, and about 750 Illustrations. 4to, Cloth, -Ornamental, $3.50. - - A literal mine of instruction and entertainment.... The young - person who receives this beautiful book as a Christmas gift is an - enviable person indeed.--_Examiner_, N. Y. - - There is nothing, we imagine, that the young reader would be likely - to prize more.--_N. Y. Sun_. - - A truly royal volume for the youthful reading appetite--_Boston - Courier_. - - * * * * * - -A LIFE OF CHRIST FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - -In Questions and Answers. By MARY HASTINGS FOOTE. With Map. Post 8vo, -Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25. - - The Rev. Dr. DAVID H. GREER writes: - - "I believe it to be one of the most satisfactory manuals of that - character which I have ever seen. It meets a need both in the - family and the Sunday-school, and I am sure that its merits will be - very quickly and widely appreciated. It is not often that I can - give an indorsement so cordially and unreservedly as in this case." - - * * * * * - -OAKLEIGH - -A Story for Girls. By ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND. Illustrated. Post 8vo, -Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25. - - The story is told in a simple and direct manner that enlists the - sympathy and attention of the reader.--_Saturday Evening Gazette_, - Boston. - - A story for girls, charmingly written, and illustrated throughout - with pictures dainty enough to please the most fastidious - damsel.... The incidents are full of life, the characters are very - natural, and the conversations well sustained, so that the story is - full of intense interest from beginning to end.--_Chicago - Inter-Ocean_. - - * * * * * - -By KIRK MUNROE - -=Snow-Shoes and Sledges=, a Sequel to "The Fur-Seal's Tooth." Illustrated. -Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25. - - Will hold the interest of its readers from beginning to end.--_N. Y. - Evening Post_. - - The young folks will take delight in it.... We confess to have read - every word of the journal with as much interest as we once read - "Robinson Crusoe" or the "Swiss Family Robinson."--_Christian - Intelligencer_, N.Y. - -_BY THE SAME AUTHOR:_ - -THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH.--RAFTMATES.--CANOEMATES.--CAMPMATES.--DORYMATES. -Each one volume. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.25. - -WAKULLA.--THE FLAMINGO FEATHER.--DERRICK STERLING.--CHRYSTAL, JACK & -CO., and DELTA BIXEY. Illustrated. Square 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 each. - - * * * * * - -By MRS. SANGSTER - -=Little Knights and Ladies.= Verses for Young People. By MARGARET E. -SANGSTER, Author of "On the Road Home," etc. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, -Ornamental, $1.25. - - These verses for young people are brimful of sweetness and - tenderness; they will find generous welcome.... All through the - little volume runs a graceful current of personal influence, sunny - and gentle and sympathetic.--_Independent_, N. Y. - - * * * * * - -BY W. J. HENDERSON - -=Afloat With the Flag.= By W. J. HENDERSON, Author of "Sea Yarns for -Boys," etc. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25. - - Mr. W. J. Henderson's latest sea-story for boys is one of the best - we have seen.... The story has been read with eager interest by - thousands of ROUND TABLE readers, and it will have an additional - charm to them and others in its present book form.--_Boston - Advertiser_. - - * * * * * - -HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York - - - - -[Illustration: THE DUCK. "SAY, ARE YOU GOING TO HANG UP YOUR STOCKING ON -CHRISTMAS EVE?" - -THE STORK. "NAW! I WANT SOMETHING MORE THAN A TOOTHPICK."] - - - - -BOBBY'S COMPOSITION. - -THE CAT. - - -The cat is a small animal with four legs and a long tail. The cat is -covered with cat fur. In the night cats love to roost on the back fence. -They roost lengthways of it, instead of cross ways like a bird or a hen. - -When the cat wants to say anything it utters a yowl. No other animal -yowls, except a baby, and its yowl is different. Mostly cats make their -remarks in the night. The baby is not different from the cat in this -respect. - -Cats have nine lives, but after a cat has lost one of them she isn't -good for much except a cat-skin. If I was a cat I wouldn't be afraid of -dogs. - -Cats' eyes shine in the dark. Once I was up in our garret, and saw a -cat's eyes shining. I came down and went to talking to Ma about things. -She said she thought I went up into the garret to stay awhile. I said, -"No, I staid as long as I intended to." - -The cat has an Ann Tipathy for rats. Cats eat rats. Tastes differ. The -Chinese make porcelain cats with yellow glass eyes, and put a candle -inside. When the rats see it they go away on the dead run. Of course -there is no danger. I forget what I went up into the garret for that -time. - -The middle of cats' eyes gets big in the dark and small in the light. -Girls like cats. A cat goes up a tree frontwards and comes down -backwards. They go up because they see a dog, and come down when the dog -isn't looking. The more dogs a cat sees the bigger her tail gets. The -cats in the Isle of Man don't have any tails, so they are not afraid of -dogs. - -Once we had a cat whose eyes got so big in the dark that you'd have been -afraid if you hadn't known what it was. This was the same cat I saw in -the garret. But, pshaw! I knew what it was right away soon as I got -down! - -That's all anybody knows about cats. - - * * * * * - -THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. - -UNCLE BOB. "What's the matter, Tommy? What makes you look so gloomy?" - -TOMMY. "I don't think Santa Claus is a very sensible man. I'd think any -one with as much sperience wouldn't give little boys pumps when their -mammas wouldn't let 'em put any water in 'em." - - * * * * * - -THE CONCEITED COW. - - A haughty cow unto a horse - Remarked, "Why cannot we, - And only we two, practise for - A dual jubilee? - My bass profound is faultless, - While your tenor tremulo - Is heavenly; and our duet - Would please our master so." - With pleading moo she urged her case, - Then sadly turned away, - For the horse looked up disdainfully, - And only answered "Neigh!" - - * * * * * - -"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed Bobby, "I've thought of the awfulest, dreadfulest -thing. Suppose our chimney should catch fire Christmas eve?" - - * * * * * - -BOBBY. "Mamma, I don't want any fire in my room to-night." - -MAMMA. "Why, you'll freeze." - -BOBBY. "I don't mind being cold, but if you leave the fire burn, Santa -Claus won't be able to come down the chimney." - - * * * * * - -JACK (_to friend on bicycle_). "What's your hurry; are you racing for a -train?" - -JOE. "No; I'm training for a race." - - * * * * * - -BOBBY TAKES TO JOKING. - -BOBBY. "I don't see why they talk about the 'Forty Thieves' in the -_Arabian Nights_." - -MAMMA. "Why not?" - -BOBBY. "'Cos they acted like sixty." - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: A CHRISTMAS STOC-KING.] - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, December 24, 1895, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S ROUND TABLE *** - -***** This file should be named 50679-8.txt or 50679-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/6/7/50679/ - -Produced by Annie R. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Harper's Round Table, December 24, 1895 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: December 13, 2015 [EBook #50679] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S ROUND TABLE *** - - - - -Produced by Annie R. McGuire - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_GOOD_SUNDAY_MORNINGS_WORK">A GOOD SUNDAY MORNING'S WORK.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#WILLIE_TUCKER">WILLIE TUCKER.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_MODERN_LABYRINTH">A MODERN LABYRINTH.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#FOR_KING_OR_COUNTRY1">FOR KING OR COUNTRY.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_RAVELLED_MITTEN">THE RAVELLED MITTEN.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_FEMININE_SANTA_CLAUS">A FEMININE SANTA CLAUS.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_SONG_FOR_CHRISTMAS_EVE">A SONG FOR CHRISTMAS EVE.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#IN_THE_TOWER_OF_MANY_STORIES">IN THE TOWER OF MANY STORIES.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#HOW_TO_ENTER_THE_ARMY">HOW TO ENTER THE ARMY.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#A_MOTHER_GOOSE_FAIR">A MOTHER GOOSE FAIR.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#INTERSCHOLASTIC_SPORT">INTERSCHOLASTIC_SPORT.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#BICYCLING">BICYCLING.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_PUDDING_STICK">THE PUDDING STICK.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#THE_CAMERA_CLUB">THE CAMERA CLUB.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#STAMPS">STAMPS.</a></td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#BOBBYS_COMPOSITION">BOBBY'S COMPOSITION.</a></td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"> -<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="800" height="268" alt="HARPER'S ROUND TABLE" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">Copyright, 1895, by <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span>. All Rights Reserved.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary=""> -<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">published weekly</span>.</td><td align="center">NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1895.</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">five cents a copy</span>.</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">vol. xvii</span>.—<span class="smcap">no</span>. 843.</td><td align="right"></td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">two dollars a year</span>.</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"><a name="A_GOOD_SUNDAY_MORNINGS_WORK" id="A_GOOD_SUNDAY_MORNINGS_WORK"></a> -<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="800" height="508" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2>A GOOD SUNDAY MORNING'S WORK.</h2> - -<h3>BY W. J. HENDERSON.</h3> - -<p>"It's altogether too absurd!" That was what the schoolmaster said.</p> - -<p>"It is a wicked assumption of power!" That was what the minister said.</p> - -<p>"It's flying in the face of Providence!" That was what old Mrs. Mehonky -said.</p> - -<p>"Them two boys is a couple o' fools, an' they'll git drowned!" That was -what old Captain Silas Witherbee, formerly commander of the steam -oyster-dredge <i>Lotus Lily</i>, said.</p> - -<p>And really, when you come to think of it, that was the most sensible -remark of the lot. But what people said did not seem to trouble "them -two boys."</p> - -<p>"We're going to do it," declared Peter Bright.</p> - -<p>"That's what," added Randall Frank.</p> - -<p>And so they did. What was it? Well, it was this way. Searsbridge was a -small sea-coast town situated at the head of a bay some four miles long. -There was very little commercial traffic in that bay, for Searsbridge -was a tiny place. A schooner occasionally dropped anchor in the bay when -head winds and ugly seas were raging outside; and it was said that two -or three big ships had run into the shelter of the harbor in days gone -by, and there was a legend that a great Russian ironclad had once -stopped there for a supply of fresh water. But, as a rule, only the -fishermen's boats ran in and out between Porgy Point and Mullet Head. -There was no light at the entrance to the harbor, but there were some of -the sharpest and most dangerous rocks on the coast scattered about the -entrance.</p> - -<p>"It'd be a famous place for a wreck," said a visitor one day.</p> - -<p>"Why," exclaimed Peter Bright, who was showing him about, "there have -been three wrecks there since I was born."</p> - -<p>"And is there no life-saving station?"</p> - -<p>"Not nearer than Hartwell, and that's three miles away."</p> - -<p>"Well, there ought to be a volunteer crew here, then."</p> - -<p>"We generally manage to get a crew together when there's a wreck."</p> - -<p>"There ought to be a regular crew, well drilled, and prepared for the -worst."</p> - -<p>And that was what led Peter Bright and Randall Frank<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> to talk it all -over and decide to get up a crew. But the other fellows all laughed at -them, and said that there would be a crew on hand when there was any -need for it.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Randall, who always spoke briefly and to the point, "and -before that crew gets afloat lives will be lost."</p> - -<p>But the arguments of the two young men did not prevail, and they -therefore came to the determination which called forth the protests of -the schoolmaster, the minister, Mrs. Mehonky, and Captain Silas -Witherbee. But these protests had no influence with the two friends.</p> - -<p>"We're going to brace up my boat, and in suspicious weather we're going -to cruise in her off the mouth of the bay to lend aid to vessels in -distress," said Peter, with all the dignity he could command.</p> - -<p>And Randall proudly and emphatically added, "That's what."</p> - -<p>Peter's boat was by no means so despicable a craft as might have been -supposed from the comments of the neighbors. She had been the dinghy of -a large sailing ship, and was stoutly built for work in lumpy water. The -ship had been wrecked on the coast, and the dinghy had been given to -Peter in payment for his services in helping to save her cargo. The -first thing that the boy did was to put a centre-board in the craft, and -to rig her with a stout mast and a mainsail, cat-boat fashion. Then he -announced that in his opinion he had a boat that would stay out when -some more pretentious vessels would have to go home. Of course she was -not very speedy, but for that Peter did not care a great deal. In light -weather most of the fishermen could put him in their wake, but when they -had to reef he could carry all sail, and drop them to leeward as if they -were so many corks. Peter and Randall now went to work to "brace up" the -<i>Petrel</i>, as she was called. They put some extra ribs in her, and built -a small deck before the mast. Then they put an extra row of reef points -in the mainsail, and set up a pair of extra heavy shrouds. Peter also -put a socket in the taffrail for a rowlock, so that in case of having to -run before a heavy sea an oar could be shipped to steer with.</p> - -<p>"You know she'll work a good deal better with an oar in running off than -with the rudder," he said.</p> - -<p>And Randall sagely answered, "That's what."</p> - -<p>By the time the September gales were due the <i>Petrel</i> was ready for -business, and whenever the weather looked threatening she was seen -pounding her way through the choppy seas near the mouth of the bay. No -wrecks occurred, however. Indeed, no vessels of any kind approached the -harbor, and the two young men were hard put to it to endure the ridicule -that greeted them on their return from each profitless cruise. But Peter -pluckily declared that their time would come, and Randall repeated his -unshaken opinion that that was what.</p> - -<p>Men are still talking about the storm that visited that coast in October -of that year. It was the worst that had occurred within the memory of -the oldest inhabitant. Even old Tommy Ryddam, who had been around the -Horn three times, had weathered the Cape of Good Hope, and had been as -far north as Upernavik, said, "I 'ain't never seed it blow no harder." -And that was the first time that Tommy had ever made such an admission. -It began on a Wednesday night. The day had been oppressively warm for -that time of year, and as a result a light fog had set in early in the -morning. But before sundown the wind began to come in cold sharp puffs -out of the southeast, and the fog was soon cut into swirling shreds and -sent skimming and twisting away over the yellow land. Its disappearance -revealed a hard brassy-looking sky, and a gray sea running from the -horizon in great oily folds that broke upon the rocks outside of Porgy -Point and Mullet Head with a noise like the booming of distant guns, and -a smother of snowy spray.</p> - -<p>"I reckon this'll be the gale that'll bring us a job," said Peter, as he -hoisted the mainsail on his boat.</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't wonder," said Randall; "but it's going to be a corker."</p> - -<p>His slangy prediction proved to be true. He and Peter cruised around -inside the mouth of the bay for an hour after sunset; but the great -breadth and weight of the swell that came brimming in between the two -headlands and the fast-increasing power of the wind sent them to shelter -for the night. In the morning they beat down under the lee of the -easterly shore, and landed on Mullet Head. Hauling up the boat, they -walked to the highest point of observation. So fierce was the wind that -they were forced to lie down. The sea was an appalling sight. It was -running in great serried ridges of gray and white that hurled themselves -against the land in mountainous breakers.</p> - -<p>"We couldn't get out there if a dozen wrecks came," said Peter.</p> - -<p>"So," answered Randall, "but we might pull some poor fellow out of the -sea."</p> - -<p>"That's about all we could do."</p> - -<p>The boys kept a constant watch all day, but not the faintest sign of a -sail hove in sight above the wavering horizon. The gale blew all day -Thursday and all day Friday. Such a sea had never been seen on the -coast, and many people went down to look at it. The boys maintained -their watch all day on Mullet Head, with the boat safe under its lee. -They knew they were helpless, yet they could not go away. People tried -to persuade or to ridicule them into doing so, but they remained. They -were pretty resolute boys, and were not easily turned from their -purposes.</p> - -<p>On Saturday morning the wind shifted, and the gale showed signs of -moderating. By Saturday night it had fallen to a brisk wind, and the sea -had gone down somewhat. On Sunday morning the two boys sailed down to -Mullet Head to have another look around the horizon. The minister saw -them start, and reproved them for not staying at home to go to church. -But they said that they might go in the afternoon. As soon as they -reached their customary landing-place, they hauled up the boat and -walked up the hill.</p> - -<p>"Look!" exclaimed Peter; "now that the gale is over a sail is in sight."</p> - -<p>"That's a fact," said Randall. "A sloop."</p> - -<p>"Yes; but doesn't she look queer to you?"</p> - -<p>"No—hold on—yes. Her hull looks too big for her rig."</p> - -<p>"That's it. There! Did you see that when she rose on that sea? She's a -schooner, but her mainmast is gone close to the deck. I saw the stump. -Look now!"</p> - -<p>"Yes! I see it, I see it!" cried Randall; "and what's more, she's lost -her foretop-mast."</p> - -<p>"That's so. It's broken off above the masthead cap."</p> - -<p>"She must have had a pretty lively time of it with the gale."</p> - -<p>"Sure enough. I wonder where she's bound?"</p> - -<p>They watched her in silence for half an hour, and then Peter sprang to -his feet with an exclamation:</p> - -<p>"Guinea-pigs and dogs! She's trying to make this harbor."</p> - -<p>"That's what!" cried Randall, slapping his knee.</p> - -<p>They watched her now with more interest than ever. She was not more than -two miles off the entrance now, and Peter was intensely interested. -Suddenly he started down the hill toward the boat.</p> - -<p>"What is it!" cried Randall, following him.</p> - -<p>"She's flying the flag union down, and she's so heavy in her movements -that I believe she's sinking."</p> - -<p>With nervous haste the boys got their boat afloat, and hoisted the -mainsail. In a few minutes they were standing out of the mouth of the -harbor with the long swells underrunning their light craft. Somehow news -of the incoming vessel had reached Searsbridge, and several of the -residents had ridden down to the Head to see what was going to happen. -Some of them caught sight of the little dinghy running out, and waved at -her to return. But the boys were in earnest now, and were not to be -turned from their course.</p> - -<p>"I knew I was right," said Peter. "She's sinking fast, and they're -trying to run her into shallow water."</p> - -<p>"Do you think we can get to her in time?"</p> - -<p>"We must do our best."</p> - -<p>The mainsail ought to have had the last reef taken in, for the mast bent -like a whip, and the dinghy plunged heavily; but it was a time for -driving, if ever there was one.</p> - -<p>"Look! look!" screamed Randall.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Too late!" cried Peter.</p> - -<p>The schooner, now half a mile away from them, made a great lurch -forward, threw her stern into the air, and settled down head first. The -top of her broken foremast protruded some ten feet above the surface.</p> - -<p>"No, we're not too late!" shouted Randall.</p> - -<p>"Right you are!" ejaculated Peter.</p> - -<p>They had just discovered that two men had managed to clamber up on the -foretop-mast stump as the schooner went down, and were now clinging -there, waving their arms toward the boys.</p> - -<p>"Get the heaving line ready, Randall," said Pete.</p> - -<p>"Ay, ay," answered the willing boy.</p> - -<p>Peter brought the dinghy broad under the lee of the mast, and getting a -good full on her let her luff up straight at the spar, knowing that the -sea would quickly kill her way.</p> - -<p>"Stand by to catch the line!" he shouted to the men. "Heave!"</p> - -<p>Randall hove the line with good judgment, and one of the wrecked sailors -catching it took a couple of turns around the mast with it. Randall now -hauled the dinghy up close enough to the mast for the two seamen to -swing themselves into her. They were gaunt, hollow-eyed, and exhausted, -and at Randall's bidding they lay down in the bottom of the dinghy. In -three-quarters of an hour the two boys had sailed back to their -landing-place inside Mullet Head. There they met the people who had come -down to see the wreck, and who now received them with cheers. The two -seamen were able to state that they were the sole survivors of a crew of -six, the other four having been carried overboard when the mainmast went -over Thursday night. Old Mr. Peddie volunteered to take the men up to -the town in his carriage, and as they climbed out of the boat he -exclaimed to one of them,</p> - -<p>"Hold on! let me look at you! Aren't you Joseph Spring?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the man, hanging his head; "I am."</p> - -<p>"Well, boys," said Mr. Peddie, "you've done a fine Sunday-morning's -work. This is Joe Spring, who quarrelled with his father and ran away to -sea four years ago. There will be a happy reunion in one house to-day."</p> - -<p>Peter and Randall have a fine Block Island boat now, the gift of their -admiring fellow townsmen.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="WILLIE_TUCKER" id="WILLIE_TUCKER">WILLIE TUCKER.</a></h2> - -<h3>SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS CHRISTMAS TRIBULATIONS.</h3> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Washingtonville, Christmas Day</span>.</span><br /> -</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Dear Mr. Editor:—Why is it that when a fellow tries to have some -fun, he always gets into trouble? Take two years ago this -Christmas, for instance, when I had a notion that I'd play a little -trick on old Santa Claus. My idea was to keep awake till he came -down, wedge up the chimney on him, and then go out and help myself -to a pair of reindeer—he'd have had enough left. Besides, I wasn't -going to <i>steal</i> them, of course—just borrow them for a while and -hitch 'em to my double ripper. Now, I call that an innocent and -perfectly proper thing for any boy to do, but what was the result? -A long, lank, limp, hollow stocking in the morning—and no reindeer -stamping their feet and bleating in the wood-shed, either.</p> - -<p>Well, this was two years ago, and I haven't been fooling around -much about Santa Claus since. Santa Claus can drive a procession of -reindeer a mile long if he wants to, and I won't touch one of them. -Santa Claus is all right in his way, but I think that Captain Kidd -was rather more <i>my</i> kind of a man. Captain Kidd wasn't much on -filling anybody's stockings, but when he got alongside and grappled -the other fellow there was fun—genuine, innocent fun.</p> - -<p>And I can't see that Captain Kidd always got into trouble when he -had a little fun, like a boy does now. You see, it was this way: -They had a Christmas tree over at the church last night. It was a -regular old-fashioned Christmas tree, which was the minister's -idea. Last Sunday says he: "Of late years Christmas trees have been -too much given up to children and such things. It was not that way -when I was a boy up at Hurricane Centre. There were presents for -everybody, old and young. Let us have a genuine, plain, old -Hurricane Centre tree."</p> - -<p>The tree was set for last night, of course, and the committees and -folks and things were working on it all day. Fanny (she's my -sister) and Aunt Lou were over in the afternoon stringing pop-corn, -and falling off of step-ladders, and so forth. My brother Bob is -home from college, and he was over too; though Fanny said he didn't -do much but talk to the girls. That's just like Bob. The football -season has closed, and he has got his hair cut, and kind of exposed -his countenance again at last. Bob thinks he's going to be a -lawyer, but if he ever tries to prosecute me when I get to be a -pirate, he'll be sorry for it.</p> - -<p>Along toward night ma asked me to run over to the church, and take -a little package of things which she wanted put on the tree.</p> - -<p>"What's in it, ma?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"A pair of Santa Claus's reindeer for you," says ma. They're always -throwing that thing up to me.</p> - -<p>So I took the package and started. When I got there I found -everybody gone home to supper except Deacon Green, who was just -staying to keep the church. He took my package, and I says to him:</p> - -<p>"Mr. Green, supper is all ready over at your house."</p> - -<p>"How do you know?" asks he.</p> - -<p>"I smelt it as I came along," I says. "Apple dumplings, I <i>think</i>."</p> - -<p>"My, you don't say so!" says the Deacon. "I'm a good deal fond of -dumplings. 'Specially with maple syrup on 'em—<i>and</i> plenty o' -butter."</p> - -<p>"Yes, ma'am," says I. (I <i>always</i> go and say "Yes, ma'am," to a -man.)</p> - -<p>"Wish I could go over and get 'em while they're hot," says he.</p> - -<p>"I'll stay here while you go, if you'd like," I said.</p> - -<p>"Sure you wouldn't snoop 'round the tree?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, ma'am," says I.</p> - -<p>So the Deacon put on his mittens and went home.</p> - -<p>Well, it was sort of lonesome and solemnlike waiting there in that -big hollow church, and so I went up and began <i>looking</i> at the -tree. It was a big pine, all covered with beautiful things. I guess -I jarred the thing a little, and the label off of somebody's -present came fluttering down.</p> - -<p>"Oh," says I to myself, "that won't do. If I don't put that back -somebody will be disappointed. I'll just shin up and fix it." So up -I went.</p> - -<p>I looked a long time before I could find a package without a label -on it, and then after I did find one and got it on, I saw another -label on it; so it wasn't right after all. I looked around a little -more and found the right one at last, but when I turned to take off -the label I had put on, I couldn't for the life of me tell which of -the two it was, so I just jerked off one of 'em by guess and stuck -it on the present. Probably I got the wrong one—just my luck.</p> - -<p>The tree was sort of bendy and wigglesome, and I saw I'd shaken off -several more tags, so I went down and got them. I was getting a -little tired of roosting up there like a Christmas bird, so I stuck -the labels around sort of promiscuouslike, and probably got most of -them wrong. I noticed a good many of the big parcels had small -labels, and <i>vice versa</i>, as Bob says, so I thought while I was -about it I might as well fix things up a little. So I put the big -labels on the big things and—<i>vice versa</i> again. Some others I -guess I changed without any particular rule, which, I suppose, was -a bad thing to do, as my teacher says our actions should always be -governed by definite and intelligent rules, but I was tired and I -just stuck 'em about, hit or miss. I thought it would be kind of -funny, and maybe old-fashioned and Hurricane Centre like. Besides, -I wanted to be doing something—the teacher says idleness is a -vice, heard her say so more'n a thousand times.</p> - -<p>Well, after awhile I heard scrunching in the snow outside. I got -down and went over and sat in our pew and tried to look just about -as much like a lamb as a boy not having any wool can look.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> - -<p>It was Deacon Green. Says he; "Young man, you were a little -mistaken about them apple dumplings. It was just a picked-up cold -supper, 'cause Miranda said to-morrow was Christmas, and we could -eat then."</p> - -<p>"Then it must have been Mr. Doolittle's supper I smelt, ma'am," -says I.</p> - -<p>"Well, no matter; run along home and get yours," answered the -Deacon. So I did so.</p> - -<p>After supper we all went over to the church. I sat in the outside -end of the pew because, of course, I didn't know what might happen. -Well, they had singing and speaking and such stuff. Then Mr. Doty, -the Superintendent of the Sunday-school, made a funny speech, with -easy jokes for children, and then they began to take down the -things and read 'em off to folks. The first few things on the lower -branches seemed to fit all right; then Tommy Snyder's great-grandma -got a pair of club skates. Folks looked surprised, but the next few -things appeared to be right, and nobody said anything. Then somehow -the minister got a red tin horn, and a yearling baby a pair of -silver-bowed spectacles, and Mrs. Deacon Wilkie a cigar-case, right -in succession. This made talk, but Mr. Doty went on. But things -seemed to get worse, and two or three old gentlemen got -rattle-boxes and such stuff, and a little girl got a gold-headed -cane, and Tommy Snyder's poor great-grandma was called again and -got a set of boxing gloves. There was a great uproar, and just then -Deacon Green got a teething-ring. I saw him rise up and motion for -silence. I put my hand on my stomach and says to ma,</p> - -<p>"Ma, I don't feel well at all."</p> - -<p>"Better run out in the vestibule and get some fresh air," says ma.</p> - -<p>I ran. As I went out the door I heard Deacon Green saying something -about me. The air seemed to do me good, so I staid out. While I was -about it I thought I might as well run home and go to bed, so I did -so.</p> - -<p>The next morning at breakfast there was some talk. I didn't succeed -in resembling a lamb so much as I had expected. But pa stood by me -as usual. Then, when it quieted down, I happened to think of -something, and I said,</p> - -<p>"Ma, wasn't there anything on that tree for me?"</p> - -<p>"Well," says ma, "I had understood from trustworthy sources that -there was to be a good-sized brass steam-engine on it for you, but -the engine was read off to a boy who lives over at Clear Brook, so -I suppose I must have been mistaken. Anyhow, I didn't say anything, -and he went off with it."</p> - -<p>There seemed to be something wrong with my buckwheat cake, and I -didn't eat any more of it. I concluded I wasn't much hungry, and -left the table.</p> - -<p>"Don't mind, Willie," said Bob, "you've got your reindeer yet."</p> - -<p>That's the way it goes, you see, when a boy tries to have a little -harmless, innocent amusement. A pirate ship can't come along -looking for recruits any too soon to suit.</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;">Yours truly,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Willie Tucker</span>.</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="A_MODERN_LABYRINTH" id="A_MODERN_LABYRINTH">A MODERN LABYRINTH.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY WALTER CLARK NICHOLS.</h3> - -<p>Clickety-click! click! click! go the levers in the narrow brick house at -six o'clock. Rapidly yet surely five alert men, clad in blue railroad -blouses and trousers, rush about from handle to handle.</p> - -<p>"Quick, Jim!" shouts the head man, "49, 61, and 72! There comes the -Boston express, and the Croton local only two minutes behind! Shove 'em -in there lively!"</p> - -<p>"All right," responds Jim.</p> - -<p>On the instant this lever is down, the others snapped up, and the -express train just out of the tunnel has a clean, clear track into its -haven at Forty-second Street. Three hundred yards before the station is -reached the flame-throated iron monster, uncoupled from its burden of -cars, darts forward on a siding like a spirited horse unharnessed from -its load, while the train glides forward with its own momentum, slowly -and more slowly as the brakes are applied, until it comes to a stop -under the depot shed. Hardly have the passengers poured forth when -another train rolls in, and then another, the pathway in each instance -cleared by those keen men at the levers in this tower-house of the yards -of the Grand Central station in New York city. For they only know the -intricacies of this interesting modern labyrinth where more iron paths -and by-paths are to be found, in all probability, than in any other -place of the same size in the world.</p> - -<p>There is a strange fascination about this labyrinth. Business men on -their way to work and children on their way from school stop to watch -the scene. The light iron foot-bridges which span the tracks for several -blocks, saturated and blackened by the steam and smoke of the five -hundred engines which pass underneath every day, separate you by barely -two feet from the tops of the trains which run in and out of the great -union depot, and from the smoke-stacks of the engines which dart about -from siding to main track and from main track to round-house, where they -sleep and dream fire dreams at night.</p> - -<p>And the chief heart-throb of all this incessant activity, the centre of -the iron labyrinth, in which Theseus himself, were he alive, would be -lost, is the smoke-begrimed tower-house in the middle of the yard, where -all the switching for the New York Central, the Harlem, and the New -Haven railroads in the vicinity of the tunnel is done. From every train -that comes in from or starts out for the West or the East through the -long smoky tunnel that leads into the heart of New York a pathway is -found by the clear-headed men in this house. Every rail on the many -tracks and sidings of the busy yard can be coaxed and compelled from -this house to do its part in forming a new wheel path. It is the busiest -tower-house in the world, according to the yard-master.</p> - -<p>Suppose you enter this rectangular house with one of your railroad -friends and go up stairs. Here there is a long "key-board," as the men -call it, consisting of one hundred and four numbered iron levers. You -see the men in charge grasp lever after lever, apparently at random; you -hear the sharp click of these gunlike rods as they move backwards or -forwards, and then as you see a red light flash white or a white red two -blocks away, you are told by one of the men at the levers that a path -has been cleared for the Stamford local or the Empire State express. If -you look in the room underneath it seems like the interior of a huge -piano-board. Here are stiff-moving wires and bars, each one connected -above to its particular iron key. Beneath they spread out in every -direction, like the thread-like legs of a spider, each connected with -its special rail or switch or light, and never interfering with its -neighbor—so delicate the mechanism. As you go up stairs a second time, -to hear Mr. Anderson, the man in charge of the great key-board, talk -about the arrangements, you cannot help thinking again how like a -monster piano it is. To be sure the iron keys are pushed and pulled -instead of gently struck. But then what of that? They must be skilful -musicians at those keys, these men. Suppose a false note were struck, -what a discord would be sounded! It is a human symphony these men play, -where a wrong chord might bring death to many people.</p> - -<p>But Mr. Anderson, the head operator in the tower-house, doesn't seem to -be thinking of these things. It is his duty and his work. He bends his -mind to it, and he never makes a mistake. For a few minutes now he gives -the direction of the work over to another man and speaks of the work. -Over five hundred "pieces of rolling stock"—as the railroad men speak -of trains and engines—have to be sent in and out of the depot and yard -in a day. These include nearly three hundred regular incoming and -outgoing passenger trains, the "stock" and baggage trains which ply -between there and Mott Haven, carrying empty cars and station freight, -and the "made-up" and "unmade" trains passing to and fro. When a through -Western or Boston express starts out of the station, the arrangement of -one or two levers by no means insures it a straight track into the -tunnel. Oftentimes a combination of ten or fifteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> all over the -switch-board is necessary to give a train a straightaway track, and you -wonder, as you hear this, how the men ever learn the varying -combinations of keys. The train-despatcher in the depot notifies the men -in the tower-house on which road each arriving and departing train -is—whether New York Central, Harlem River, or New Haven—and they -instantly know the answer to the problem.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/ill_003.jpg" width="600" height="396" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">THE LABYRINTH AND THE TOWER-HOUSE AT GRAND CENTRAL -STATION.</span> -</div> - -<p>It is a noisy piano these men play, noisier and larger than in the -switch-house of the Pennsylvania Railroad yards in Jersey City. There -the electric pneumatic interlocking switch and signal system of Mr. -Westinghouse is in use. In this one man can do the work of several, -although many old railroad men believe that the operation of a switch -key-board by hand is the only one absolutely safe and reliable. This -key-board in the house at the Pennsylvania yards is a glass-topped case -about the size of a grand-piano box. The case is apparently full of -metal cylinders. About seventy handles project from the front of the -case—half of them numbered in black, the other half in red. Each is, or -seems to be, the handle of a cylinder. The train-director is in charge -of the room, and the young men under him touch the handles as easily as -piano keys when the different switch numbers are called out. Suppose he -calls out, "29, 21, 23, 20, 17, 13, 12, 7, 8!" One of the men touches -the black handles bearing these numbers, then the red. The switches -begin to waver up in the yard, though the gush of compressed air which -precedes the wavering cannot be heard. Finally, as the last of these -numbers is touched, a red signal in the yard droops from its horizontal -position to an angle of sixty degrees. Then an empty train comes out of -the shed from track 9 to 0 <i>viā</i> switches 29, 21, 23, 20, 17, 13, 12, 7, -and 8, as you note on the yard model—black ground, with bright brass -tracks—above the case. Although it seems so simple, it is really as -intricate as is the network of wires running down from the glass case -through the tower-base to the various switches.</p> - -<p>It is early in the morning and late in the afternoon that there is the -greatest activity in the yards of the New York Central Railroad. Between -seven and nine in the morning so many trains come in that frequently the -switching necessary to give them clear ways in and out has meant the -moving of 1400 levers in the tower-house. Hardly an engine, as it passes -Forty-ninth Street, dragging its train on its way in, but darts away -from the cars to a siding, leaving the train to roll in by itself, -controlled by the trainmen at the brakes. You are not conscious of this -if you are on the incoming cars. But as you get out and walk along the -platform you note that yours is an engineless train. It saves time, this -swerving of the engine off to right or left, and it is immediately ready -to drag another load out. But the alertness of these tower-house men is -here called into keenest play, for but a second elapses between the -arrival of the engine and its train at the self-same switch, and each -must have a separate path.</p> - -<p>Although you can plainly see all this rush and bustle on a winter -morning just as the sun is creeping over the top of the Grand Central -palace, can note so clearly, as you stand on the bridge, which switches -are turned for a particular train, and can count exactly the thirty-two -tracks from the round-house alongside Lexington Avenue to the "annex -sheds" on Madison Avenue, it is far more interesting to visit the yard -late in the afternoon, just after dusk. Then you can stand on one of the -bridges and see a brilliant panorama—the moving flash-lights of the -engines, the quickly shifting red and white signal-lamps, the -brilliantly lighted outgoing trains, standing out in relief against the -dark narrow bulk of an "unmade" train on a distant siding, and, a short -distance away, veiled every now and then by puffs of smoke from an -impatient engine, the dazzling arc-burners of the station.</p> - -<p>Shut your eyes, then open them, and again almost shut them, and give -yourself up to the scene. It is fairy-land, all these moving lights, -this brilliant panorama. Close your eyes still more till you can just -peep out at the motion around you. It is no longer the iron-threaded -yard of the Grand Central station. You are in the midst of some wild, -strange region. Great dragons snorting flame and smoke move uneasily -about. Black serpents with eyes of flashing fire and long dark bodies -trail their way through the flat country past you, and disappear in that -cavern of a tunnel above. On all sides are weird noises. But in the -midst of it all you half dreamily see, not many feet away from you, the -men at the levers in the tower-house, playing their mechanical music so -well on the great key-board that every iron monster is charmed, and -keeps safely and quietly his own pathway.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="FOR_KING_OR_COUNTRY1" id="FOR_KING_OR_COUNTRY1"></a>FOR KING OR COUNTRY.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> - -<h4>A Story of the Revolution.</h4> - -<h3>BY JAMES BARNES.</h3> - -<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> - -<h3>TROUBLOUS TIMES.</h3> - -<p>The little camp-fire at which Colonel Hewes and some of the officers -were sitting was just outside the line of heavy fortifications which the -Americans had thrown up some weeks previously.</p> - -<p>Colonel Hewes, as soon as he heard George's answer, welcomed the young -soldier heartily, and, searching in the saddle-bags that were lying on -the ground, he secured some bread and a slice of ham, which George -accepted, as he had not tasted food since early in the morning.</p> - -<p>For two days nothing was done, but at last Washington's plans were -perfected, and under the cover of a heavy fog nine thousand men were -ferried across to the city of New York. As George was about to embark -with the body of discouraged stragglers in one of the small boats -impressed for the service, he heard a familiar voice beside him.</p> - -<p>Carter Hewes! He started suddenly. There he stood. A cape was over his -shoulder, his left arm was in a sling.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Carter, are you wounded?" he exclaimed, before the other had -noticed who it was that called to him.</p> - -<p>"George, dear friend, you've escaped?" answered Carter, wheeling. Then -he noticed the anxious glance. "Merely a scratch," he went on. "Come -over with my company, at least what is left of them—it's been bad work. -What! a Lieutenant! Hurrah! I told you so."</p> - -<p>The soldiers crowded into the flat-boat, and soon the two friends were -drifting across the river.</p> - -<p>"Your father's proposal has gone to the Convention," said George.</p> - -<p>"That relieves me," said Carter. "It is a pet scheme of his, and it was -dreadful careless of me to forget and carry it in my pocket. See; do you -remember this?" He held out the note-book.</p> - -<p>"Why, it's mine!" cried George. "Where did you get it?"</p> - -<p>Questions and answers followed in quick succession, and the young -officers seemed to forget that they were retreating with a defeated -army.</p> - -<p>As soon as they had landed they made their way past the Fly Market, near -the river.</p> - -<p>"It looks as if a plague were in town," thought George to himself. He -had just finished relating the incidents that led to his sudden -promotion, and had listened to Carter's tale of the adventures in the -strange house.</p> - -<p>Carter was leaning on his arm as they went up the street, and suddenly -he stopped. "Take a good look at this man, here on the right. Who is -he?" he asked.</p> - -<p>As George turned he saw in the group of spectators a strange figure -leaning on a stick. His clothes were ragged, and his hat flopped about -his ears; a patch was over his left eye, but despite all this the young -Lieutenant recognized him in an instant.</p> - -<p>"That's my old schoolmaster, Jabez Anderson. The Tory-hunters haven't -found him, evidently," he said, quietly, "and I certainly shall not -betray him. Though he's rabid for the crown."</p> - -<p>"It seems to me that I have met him some place," returned Carter. "But, -come to think, he resembles a portrait I've seen and can't place for the -life of me."</p> - -<p>What Carter was thinking of was a reflection in an old gilt-framed -mirror, although he did not know it.</p> - -<p>"He's an odd fish," said George, as they stepped forward again, "and -used to give us long lectures on our duty to the King, and all in his -own way, for he told minutely the grievances of the colonies, and then -admonished us to be steadfast. I often even then felt like taking up -cudgels on the opposite side of the question. I owe him no ill-will."</p> - -<p>As he spoke he looked in his companion's face. "You are suffering, dear -friend," he said. "We must find some place to rest."</p> - -<p>"It's nothing. I shall be right in a few days," murmured Carter.</p> - -<p>George noticed that he was pale, however, and that during the last -half-hour or so he leaned heavily on his arm.</p> - -<p>"Courage; I know of just the place," he said.</p> - -<p>"We won't be left quietly here very long," responded Carter. "Howe has -us on the hip, I fear me. Let me sit down on this step a minute."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Frothingham! Mr. Frothingham!" called a voice just at this -juncture.</p> - -<p>George looked around. There stood Mrs. Mack.</p> - -<p>"Thank Dame Fortune," said George to his companion, "here's my old -landlady; she will look after us, I'll warrant."</p> - -<p>He stepped over to where the honest woman stood. She spoke before he had -time to say a word.</p> - -<p>"I hev somethin' fer ye to the house, sir," she said; "and shure you -lift a foine suit of clothes."</p> - -<p>George's heart bounded. He needed clothes badly enough, but had no -recollection of having left anything but an old worn coat.</p> - -<p>"Won't yez be after comin' ter the house!" continued the woman. "I ken -git you a bite to ate, and you kin stay there. Shure ye look that -tired."</p> - -<p>George easily got permission from his Captain, and dropped out of the -ranks. With the help of the widow he succeeded in getting Carter at last -tucked away in a great soft bed, where he immediately went to sleep. The -last thing he said was, "George, this is the house they took me to, only -I had the little room upstairs." George stole away, intending to ask an -explanation from the good Irish woman, and solve the mystery.</p> - -<p>"Whisper," said Mrs. Mack, taking her old boarder by the arm before he -could begin his questioning. "I was on the look fer ye. Here!"</p> - -<p>What was George's surprise, and even consternation, when Mrs. Mack -handed him an envelope. He opened it. It was heavy with gold -coin—English guineas, bright and clinking.</p> - -<p>"Where did they come from? Where? Where?" he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Shure I don't know, sir," said Mrs. Mack. "They wus lift here by a -little old man who wus deaf and dumb."</p> - -<p>George was puzzled.</p> - -<p>"They are shure fer you, sir," she said, "bekase he described you."</p> - -<p>"And if he was deaf and dumb, how could he describe me?"</p> - -<p>The good woman appeared confused. "And shure, sir, wid signs," she -answered. "Oh, I will git the suit of clothes."</p> - -<p>She disappeared, but came back immediately. Again was the young soldier -almost frightened. He never owned a coat like that, and surely never -possessed such a fine pair of buckskin breeches; but there they were.</p> - -<p>"Some mistake," said George, looking at the yellow facings, the large -brass buttons, and the Lieutenant's shoulder-knots. "I won't take them -until I know where they came from," said he, decidedly.</p> - -<p>Now may the Recording Angel forgive the good washer-woman, for he must -have put down against her name that day a fib of the straightest, -whitest kind.</p> - -<p>"I made thim fer ye," she said, unblushingly. "If all the army was -dressed as foine as that the Ridcoats would take off their hats to ye."</p> - -<p>The fact was Mrs. Mack may have referred to the lace trimmings when she -said that she had made them, for that was all that she had contributed.</p> - -<p>Aunt Clarissa must have relented! At last it dawned on the young -soldier. Why had he not written to her? He resolved to do so at once. If -he could find some way of sending her the letter.</p> - -<p>In a few days Carter was able to move, and Colonel Hewes—who had been -ordered to New Jersey to help his cousin mould cannon-balls—took him -with him out to the estate. Mrs. Mack had acknowledged the fact that the -wounded lad had been her guest before, under certain mysterious -circumstances. But she could not or would not explain the method or -means of his previous arrival, insisting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> that he was brought to her by -two "dark men" whose language she could not understand.</p> - -<p>Two days after Carter's departure George was leaning against the side of -a little brick guard-house—he was officer of the guard—his thoughts -far away, busy with the good old times, when he saw down the street some -one crossing from a path that led along the common. His heart beat -quickly. He would know that shuffling gait, that was yet so strong, -amongst a thousand. In half a minute his long young legs were striding -in the direction of the retreating figure, and in another he had grasped -the man by both shoulders and swung him sharply against a tall board -fence.</p> - -<p>"Cato, you old rascal!" he exclaimed, shaking his shoulders back and -forth roughly, though the tears of joy had gathered in his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Why, Mas'r George," came the answer with a jerky emphasis. "How -y-y-youse growed, and I done guess you pritty strong too, but you -needn't try for to p-prove it no more."</p> - -<p>It was not until this that George remembered that he must have changed -somewhat, and that he did not know really how strong he had become, for -it only seemed yesterday that the old man had been able to lay him -across his knee, or carry him by the slack of his little homespun coat.</p> - -<p>"Cato," he said, "how are you all at home?"</p> - -<p>"Dat's what I's come to tell you, young mas'r," said the old darky. -"Dere's a peck of trubble over yander, and I's got a letter fer you from -Mistis Grace."</p> - -<p>George took the crumpled paper and read it hastily. How she must have -changed—his little sister—to write and think such thoughts as these! -For the letter told how she prayed every night that he would come back -safe and sound, and that the great General Washington would whip the -British and drive them from the country. "Aunt Clarissa would not let me -write to you," concluded the letter, "and does not know that Cato has -gone to look for you. Good-by, dear, dear George.</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;">"From your little Rebel Sister,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;">"<span class="smcap">Grace</span>."</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>"God bless her sweet heart!" said Lieutenant Frothingham, and he paused -for a minute. Oh, it seemed so long ago, and William, his dear brother, -was in England, and could not understand.</p> - -<p>"Cato," he said, suddenly, breaking away from his train of thought, for -the old darky had not spoken, "did you bring any money for me some time -ago and leave it with Mrs. Mack?"</p> - -<p>"No, sah, 'fo' de Lawd, I didn', Mas'r George, but I's got some now," he -said, hurriedly, diving into the capacious pockets of his flapping -waistcoat. He brought out a worn leather wallet. It contained two gold -pieces and a half-handful of silver. "It's yours, sah," he said.</p> - -<p>George looked at him earnestly. "Did Mistress Frothingham send it to -me?" he asked.</p> - -<p>The old darky shifted uneasily. "Yes, sah," he said, faintly.</p> - -<p>"Cato, you're telling me a lie," said George, once more laying his hand -on the colored man's shoulder. "I don't need the money, and you know -that it is yours. I am rich now, Cato." He jingled the gold coins in his -own pocket.</p> - -<p>The old darky had not replied, but a huge tear rolled down his face.</p> - -<p>"T'ank God for dat, honey," he said. "Old Cato didn't know." Then, as if -to change the subject, he went on more cheerfully. "Cunel Hewes's cousin -is runnin' de big works, sah. Dey is moulding a big chain over -dere—biggest you ever seed. Dey done goin' to tro it 'cross de Hudson -Ribber to keep dem Redcoat boats from goin' up. He's makin' -cannon-balls. I reckon he'd like to use yo' foundry."</p> - -<p>"Well, what's to prevent him?" said George.</p> - -<p>"'Deed ol' miss' won't let 'im," responded Cato, seriously. "She'd fight -'em toof and nail."</p> - -<p>George smiled. "Have you heard her speak of me?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"No, Mas'r George," said the old negro, shaking his head. "I heered her -tell Mistis Grace dat—dat—"</p> - -<p>"Well?" said George.</p> - -<p>"Dat you wus dead to her, you 'n' massa."</p> - -<p>A drum rolled down the street, and some ragged soldiers were seen -leading some thin, unkempt horses from the stable across the way. Two -non-commissioned officers came out of the little house before which Cato -and his young master had been standing. One was buckling on his heavy -leather belt.</p> - -<p>"Orders to march, I reckon," he said to his companion. George -acknowledged the salute they gave him, and the old darky removed his hat -and bowed.</p> - -<p>"Wus dat Gineral Washington?" he asked, in an awed whisper, looking at -the burly figure of the first speaker, who had a great lump of cheese in -his hand, which he was endeavoring to slip into the pocket of his coat.</p> - -<p>"No, Cato," said George; "that was a sergeant of artillery."</p> - -<p>He was scribbling a few lines, addressed to his sister, on a bit of -rough paper. He thrust it into Cato's hands. "Good-by, old friend," he -said, and placed his arm about the faithful darky's shoulder and gave -him a squeeze, as he had often done in the good old days.</p> - -<p>"I's not goin' back," said Cato, shaking his head. "I's goin' wid you as -yo' body-sarvant."</p> - -<p>"You can't," said George. "Prithee do you think that a Lieutenant is -allowed a servant?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," said the old darky. "I spec you'll be a gineral 'fore -very long."</p> - -<p>"No, no, Cato, you must go back," said his young master. -"Good-by—good-by."</p> - -<p>He turned quickly and ran off toward the guard-house. Where could the -gold have come from? It was puzzling.</p> - -<p>Cato looked after him, and placing the note in the crown of his big hat, -walked slowly away.</p> - -<p>An orderly met the young Lieutenant at the door. "Your presence is -requested at headquarters, sir," he said, and hurried off.</p> - -<p>The city was going to be abandoned, and to George Frothingham was given -the important charge of conducting the precious powder train through the -lanes and by-ways of Manhattan Island to the new position Washington had -taken at Harlem Heights.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/ill_004.jpg" width="600" height="423" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">LUMBERING VANS TRUNDLED AND JOLTED ALONG WITH THE -REAR-GUARD.</span> -</div> - -<p>At noon the caravan was ready to start. Besides the lumbering vans, two -brass field-pieces trundled and jolted along with the rear-guard. George -knew well the best route to take, and gave the orders to push ahead up -the old "King's Highway"—the post-road to Boston.</p> - -<p>At a street corner as they passed were standing some soldiers of one of -the commands that had not received marching orders. Running out into the -street, one of the men touched a tall private on the elbow. It was -Thomas, the former porter in Mr. Wyeth's office. He held in his hand a -buckskin bag of bullets.</p> - -<p>"Brother Ralston," he said, "here are some leaden pills. Shoot straight -with them." Then he noticed George, and saluted. Pouring something out -in his hand, he came up close. "Slip them into your pocket for a -keepsake, Mr. Frothingham," he said. "They are some of those that were -moulded out of the statue of King George himself."</p> - -<p>George took them, and remembered the time when he and his brother had -looked at this same statue when they had that first unhappy parting with -Carter Hewes three years before. How differently had things terminated. -He smiled sadly to himself as he slipped the new shining bullets into -the pocket of his coat.</p> - -<p>As they trudged along through the hot sun and the dust, a young officer, -scarcely nineteen, galloped up and down the line, hurrying on those in -the rear, and keeping the column well together to prevent straggling. He -did not shout his orders, but talked in a low, intense voice; his -movements were quick and nervous, but his graceful figure sat erect on -his horse, and he seemed to take in everything with a rapid glance of -his handsome deep-set eyes. George saw at once that it was his friend -who had lent him his first Lieutenant's uniform, and whose name he had -forgotten to ask. Chagrined, he thought that he could only explain that -the wet had ruined everything, and the gay coat had been discarded.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Who is he, that he should assume such airs?" said one of the slouching -rear-guard that had been swelled by stragglers from various commands in -advance, for the young officer had hastened him on by giving him a sharp -dig in the shoulder with his foot as he rode up the line.</p> - -<p>"'Tis young Aaron Burr," was the response.</p> - -<p>"Humph! the young coxcomb!" had exclaimed the first soldier.</p> - -<p>"Coxcomb, perhaps, but a game one, I'll warrant you," had come the -answer.</p> - -<p>The last time the proud young officer had ridden down the line, his -tired horse dotted and blotched with foam, he had caught sight of the -young Lieutenant, and had ridden up to him.</p> - -<p>"Well met, comrade Frothingham!" he said, with a fascinating smile. -"Take charge of these lazybones. Stop their mouths, and make them use -their legs."</p> - -<p>He cut with apparent playfulness at the shoulder of one of the belated -ones nearest to him.</p> - -<p>The blow stung, nevertheless, but the man only cringed, and hastened on -like a jaded horse, frightened to further exertion. George looked at his -face carefully. It was the pale youth with the fishy eyes who had been a -clerk in Mr. Wyeth's employ with him. They had cordially disliked each -other.</p> - -<p>It was good that the rear-guard had hastened, for scarcely had they -crossed to the heights at Harlem, where Washington was waiting, when the -British appeared from east and west. A battery of Yankee artillery—the -two brass pieces—had taken possession of a little knoll, and they -roared alternately and held the victors in check. George placed his -force along the slope, and took command of the battery. At the sound of -the guns and the smell of the white sulphurous smoke our young hero's -heart once more began to beat with that strange unaccountable -excitement. As he faced his men about, he noticed private Ralston kneel -down behind a stump, and soon the bullets made from King George's statue -were singing across the meadow. The pursuit stopped at the bottom of the -hill.</p> - -<p>That night George and his weary companions rested in the hay of a small -barn on the hill-side that overlooked the beautiful village of -Bloomingdale.</p> - -<p>He was too tired to sleep, and his thoughts ran rampant. What must -William think of him? What was his brother doing? Why could not he see -the right side? Oh, the bitterness of it! When would it end? Perhaps one -of those bullets whose sound he now knew so well would settle things for -good and all. If only William were here by him!</p> - -<p>"Look back at the city!—look!" said a voice from the hay.</p> - -<p>Far to the southward great red tongues of flame were leaping against the -sky; billows of smoke swept up and caught the reflection of the flames, -and sparks filled the air and danced out over the river. The city was on -fire.</p> - -<p>As George watched the conflagration from the window of the hay-mow, -which was now crowded with excited soldiers, some men on horseback -passed by beneath him.</p> - -<p>"There's a warm reception for them," said a short thick-set man with a -round chubby face. His voice had a cheery sound.</p> - -<p>"I don't think that it was fired by our directions, General Putnam," -came the answer.</p> - -<p>"Probably it was done by the British themselves. They're not above it. -Gadzooks, it is a grand sight!" said the short man, "and many a Tory -heart is thumping with fear against its Tory ribs, I'll warrant ye." -There came a pause, and then the speaker added, "What was the name of -the lad who saved the powder train?"</p> - -<p>"Aaron Burr," was the answer.</p> - -<p>"No, not he—the young Lieutenant, I mean—the one who brought the news -from Staten Island?"</p> - -<p>"His name has slipped me," replied the second officer, "but I heard the -General himself speak well of him."</p> - -<p>George's heart gave a great leap, and then he murmured a prayer that he -might never fail to deserve such commendation. For well-earned praise is -balm to wounds and strengthening to the soul and spirit of the soldier, -be he young or old, great general or humble private in the ranks.</p> - -<h4>[<span class="smcap">to be continued</span>.]</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="THE_RAVELLED_MITTEN" id="THE_RAVELLED_MITTEN">THE RAVELLED MITTEN.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY SOPHIE SWETT.</h3> - -<h4>(<i>In Two Parts.</i>)</h4> - -<h3>I.</h3> - -<p>It had begun to look as if no one would go to Viola Pitkin's birthday -party; it had been snowing for two days, and the drifts in some places -were as high as a man's head. Patty Perley had tried to take an interest -in the new lace pattern that she was crocheting, and in the paper -lamp-shade she was making, for which Ruby Nutting had taught her to make -roses that almost smelled sweet, they were so natural, and it was all in -vain; and she quite envied Anson, who was trying to draw the buff kitten -stuck into the leg of Uncle Reuben's boot. The kitten's squirming and -the old cat's frantic remonstrances were preventing the picture from -being a success, but Anson was highly entertained, and didn't seem to -care whether he went to the party or not. It was just when Patty was -feeling irritated by this indifference that Uncle Reuben came in, and -she heard him stamping and shaking his clothes in the entry, and saying, -"Whew, this is a night!" Then her spirits went down to zero. But the -very first thing that Uncle Reuben said when he opened the door was:</p> - -<p>"I've told Pelatiah to get out the big sled and hitch up the black mare, -and you'll get to your party if the snow is deep. And the sled is large; -you'd better pick up all the youngsters you can along the way."</p> - -<p>Now that was like Uncle Reuben as he used to be, not as he had been -since Dave, his only son, ran away; since then he had not seemed to -think there was anything but gloom and sadness in the world. Indeed, -Dave's going had taken the heart out of the good times all over -Butternut Corner. He was only sixteen, and a good boy—his mother had -meant that he should be a minister—but he got into the company of some -wild fellows down at Bymport, and of Alf Coombs, a wild fellow nearer -home, and then he had run away from home under circumstances almost too -dreadful to tell. Burton's jewelry-store at Bymport had been broken into -and robbed of watches and jewelry, and the next morning Dave and Alf -Coombs had disappeared. They had been seen around the store that night; -Dave had not come home until almost morning. The boys had been gone -almost two months now, and the suspicion against them had become almost -a certainty in most people's minds, and it was reported that the sheriff -had a warrant for their arrest, but as yet had not been able to find -them.</p> - -<p>With such trouble weighing upon them, Patty had felt as if it were -almost wicked to wish to go to Viola Pitkin's party, but Aunt Eunice had -said, with the quiver about her patient mouth that always came there -when she referred to Dave, that the innocent must not suffer for the -guilty; and she had told Barbara, the "hired girl," to roast a pair of -chickens and make some of her famous cream-cakes also, for it was to be -a surprise party, and each guest was to carry a basket of goodies for -the supper.</p> - -<p>And now Uncle Reuben had planned for them to go, in spite of the -snow-drifts; so Patty began to feel that it was not wrong to be -light-hearted under the circumstances.</p> - -<p>"Take all the youngsters you can pack on," repeated Uncle Reuben, as -Patty and Anson settled themselves on the great sled, and Pelatiah -cracked his whip over the old horse; "only I wouldn't stop at the foot -of the hill"—Uncle Reuben's face darkened suddenly as he said -this—"we've had about enough of Coombses."</p> - -<p>Patty's heart sank a little, for she liked Tilly Coombs. They were rough -and poor people, the Coombs family—"back folks," who had moved to the -Corner only the summer before; the father drank, and the mother was an -invalid, and it was the son Alf who was supposed to have had an evil -influence over Dave. Patty thought it probable that Tilly had been -invited to the surprise party, because Ruby Nutting, the doctor's -daughter, who had planned the party, would be sure to ask her. Poor -people who would be likely to be slighted, and stray animals that no one -wanted, those were the ones that Ruby Nutting thought of first.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p> - -<p>Along slid the great sled with its jingling bells, and out of her gate -at the foot of the hill ran Tilly Coombs—the very first passenger. -Patty couldn't help it. She didn't disobey Uncle Reuben's injunction not -to stop; Tilly ran and jumped on.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/ill_005.jpg" width="600" height="465" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">"YOU'LL LET ME GO WITH YOU, WON'T YOU?"</span> -</div> - -<p>"You'll let me go with you, won't you?" she panted. "I couldn't bear to -miss it when she asked me! Some folks wouldn't, but <i>she</i> did. And I -never went to a party in all my life! I couldn't bring anything but some -doughnuts." Tilly opened her small basket, and by the light of -Pelatiah's great lantern Patty saw that eager face darken suddenly. "I -made 'em myself, and I'm afraid they're only middling. Doughnuts will -soak fat, though, won't they?" she added, anxiously, as Patty gazed -doubtfully at the soggy lumps laid carefully in the folds of a ragged -napkin. "I never made any before."</p> - -<p>It was altogether an affair of first times with Tilly—a happier thing -in the way of party-going than of doughnut-making!</p> - -<p>"They're very nicely flavored," said Patty, tasting critically, "and -where there are so many things nobody will notice if they're not—not so -very light."</p> - -<p>Tilly's sharp anxious face brightened a little, but she heaved a sigh -and covered her doughnuts quickly as the sled stopped to take on Rilly -Parkhurst and her cousins, the Stillman boys, and Kathie Loomis, who was -visiting Rilly. The Sage boys came next, and Delia Sage, who was sixteen -and had taught school, but was just as full of fun as if she were young. -It was a merry company; the jingling of the bells was almost drowned in -chatter and laughter, and when Ruby Nutting joined it, she was greeted -with a cheering that, as Pelatiah said, "must 'a' cracked the -mill-pond."</p> - -<p>The crowd increased; the baskets were all huddled together upon the seat -with Pelatiah, and under the seat, and in the middle of the sled; no one -could keep hold of his own, but there was no fear but that they would -all know their own when they reached Viola's house.</p> - -<p>Ruby Nutting was missed suddenly. She hadn't been as gay as usual; -generally Ruby could be depended upon to stir up every one's wits and -make the dullest party merry, but to-night she had been sitting in a -corner talking in a low tone with Alvan Sage. Now she had disappeared, -and Alvan Sage, looking very much surprised and bewildered himself, said -that she had slipped off when they were going a little slowly up the -hill, just as Pelatiah had held the lantern down to see if there was -anything the matter with the horse's foot; she had said she would wait -until Horace Barker's sleigh came along; either she thought the sled was -too crowded, or she wanted to see some one who was coming with the -Barkers. The latter explanation was probable enough, for Chrissy Barker -was on the "committee of arrangements," and had helped Ruby about the -preparations.</p> - -<p>So no one thought much more about it, although it didn't seem like Ruby -to go off without saying anything. The sled party was the first to reach -Viola's, and it was great fun to see her perfect surprise and delight -when they trooped in. They all thought that Ruby Nutting should have -been there then.</p> - -<p>Patty had a surprise that was not pleasant. When her basket was carried -in the cover was open, the cream-cakes all jammed and half spoiled, and -the two fine roast chickens were gone!</p> - -<p>"See here, you can catch the thief by his mitten!" cried one of the -boys. The rim of the basket was broken, probably by the thief in his -haste, and to one sharply jagged end was attached a long, long string of -red worsted. "Who has a ravelled mitten?"</p> - -<p>The color came and went in Tilly Coombs's sharp, elfish little face; -then she thrust her hand into her pocket as if she was thrusting her -mittens deep into it. Patty Perley happened to be standing close beside -her, and saw her.</p> - -<p>Patty was mortified to have come to the surprise party with only a few -half-spoiled cream-cakes, but she was kind-hearted, and her first -thought was a pitying one.</p> - -<p>"They must be so very poor! Tilly wanted them for her sick mother," she -said to herself.</p> - -<p>How Tilly could have taken the chickens from the basket and where she -could have concealed them was a mystery. But Uncle Reuben believed that -all the Coombs family were thievish and sly; perhaps he was right, and -Tilly was used to doing such things. But even Uncle Reuben would not be -very hard upon a girl who had stolen delicate food for her sick mother.</p> - -<p>"'Sh!—'sh! don't say anything about it! It is of no consequence," she -whispered to some girls and boys who were loudly wondering and guessing -about the mysterious theft.</p> - -<p>Then they all went into the sitting-room, and the Virginia reel, the -old-fashioned dance with which Butternut Corner festivities almost -always began, was danced, and no one thought any more of the stolen -chickens.</p> - -<p>Ruby Nutting had come by this time, and she led the dance, as usual the -life of the good time. She had come in Horace Barker's sleigh, and she -gayly evaded the wonderings and reproaches of the party she had left. As -the dance ended, Berta Treadwell beckoned slyly to Patty. Berta was -Viola Pitkin's cousin, who had come all the way from California to visit -her; she and Patty had "taken to" each other at once.</p> - -<p>"I want you to see such a funny thing!" whispered Berta, drawing Patty -out into the back entry. "That queer-looking girl they call Tilly, with -the wispy black hair and the faded cotton dress, asked me to lend her a -pair of knitting-needles! I got grandma's for her, and she snatched them -out of my hands, she was so eager. 'You needn't tell anybody that I -asked you for 'em, either,' she said, in that sharp way of hers. I had -such a curiosity to know what she was going to do with them that I -watched her. After a while, when the reel was begun and she thought no -one was looking, she slipped out through the wood-shed into the barn. -Come and peep through the crack!"</p> - -<p>Patty followed Berta softly through the wood-shed, and looked through a -chink in the rough board partition into the barn.</p> - -<p>On an inverted bucket, with a lantern hung upon a nail over her head, -sat Tilly Coombs diligently knitting. The barn was cold; the cattle's -breaths made vapors, and there was a glitter of frost around the beams. -Tilly was muffled in a shawl, but her face looked pinched and blue.</p> - -<p>"What is she knitting? It looks like a red mitten," whispered Berta. "Is -she so industrious? To think of leaving a party on a winter night to go -out to the barn and knit! Do you think we ought to leave her there in -the cold? I should think she must be crazy!"</p> - -<p>Patty was drawing Berta back through the wood-shed eagerly, in silence. -Berta had not heard about the ravelled mitten; she did not know that -Tilly was trying to knit it into shape again so it would never be known -that it was her mitten that was ravelled.</p> - -<p>"I know why she is doing it," said Patty, "though I don't see why she -couldn't have waited until she got home; but I suppose she is awfully -anxious. Berta, don't say that we saw her, or anything about the -needles, to anybody. That will be kind to her, and she is so poor. -Whatever you hear, don't say anything."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure I don't want to say anything to hurt her," answered Berta, a -little resentfully, for she did think Patty might have told her all -about it. "But I must say I think society in Butternut Corner is a -little mixed."</p> - -<p>"Ruby asked her," explained Patty. "I think it was right; Tilly never -went to a party before."</p> - -<p>"Her way of enjoying herself at a party is a little queer," said Berta, -unsympathetically.</p> - -<p>And Patty thought she did not feel quite so sorry as she had done that -Berta was going back to California the next day.</p> - -<p>She thought she would tell Ruby Nutting; Ruby would understand, and pity -Tilly; but before she had a chance, while Horace Barker was singing a -college song and Ruby was playing the accompaniment on the piano, a -sudden recollection struck her that sent the color from her face. Aunt -Eunice's spoons!</p> - -<p>Aunt Eunice had said that there were never spoons enough to go round at -a surprise party, and Viola Pitkin's mother was her intimate friend, so -she wished to help her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> all she could, and she put a dozen spoons into -the basket—the solid silver ones that had been Grandmother -Oliver's—and charged Patty to take care of them. And it was not until -she overheard Mrs. Pitkin whisper to Viola that she wasn't <i>sure</i> that -there were sauce-plates enough that Patty remembered the spoons.</p> - -<p>She had a struggle to repress a cry of dismay, those spoons were so -precious! Uncle Reuben had demurred when they were put into the basket, -but Aunt Eunice was proud, and always liked to give and lend of her -best. Patty felt as if she must cry out and denounce Tilly when she -crept slyly in behind broad-backed Uncle Nathan Pitkin and slyly warmed -her benumbed hands at the fire. But Patty held her peace; when she had -reflected for a few minutes she knew that this was too grave a matter -for fourteen-year-old wits to grapple with, and she must tell Uncle -Reuben and Aunt Eunice.</p> - -<p>Tilly Coombs was drawn into a merry game—Ruby Nutting took care of -that—and before long her queer little sharp face was actually dimpling -with fun, and her laugh rang out with the gayest! Patty Perley looked at -her, and decided that it was a very queer world indeed; for her the joy -of Viola Pitkin's party was done.</p> - -<p>When they were all dressing to depart, Patty looked involuntarily at -Tilly Coombs's mittens; in fact, many furtive glances were cast around -at the red mittens by those who remembered the theft of the roast -chickens. There were many of them, red being the fashionable color for -mittens at Butternut Corner, but apparently they were all sound and -whole. Tommy Barker had one mitten with a white thumb, which his blind -grandmother had knitted on in place of a torn thumb, and little Seba -Sage had but one mitten; but that one was very dark red, not the vivid -scarlet of the ravelling.</p> - -<p>Rilly Parkhurst whispered to Patty, as she sat down beside her on the -sled: "Tilly Coombs has the ravelled mitten! She is trying to cover it -with her shawl; it is only a little more than half a mitten!"</p> - -<p>Patty smothered an exclamation of doubt, and then she gazed curiously at -Tilly's hands; but they were tightly, carefully covered by her shawl.</p> - -<p>Could it be that after spending all that time in the cold barn she had -failed to knit up her ravelled mitten? Tilly looked as if she had been -having a good time. Under the light of Pelatiah's lantern her eyes were -shining, her face rippling with smiles. Patty thought with wonder that -she had not seen her look so happy—well, certainly not since her -brother Alf ran away.</p> - -<p>"I must have grown plump at the party!" laughed Ruby Nutting. "One of my -mittens is too tight around the wrist." And Patty saw Tilly Coombs -nervously fold her shawl more closely about her mittens.</p> - -<p>Just before her own door was reached, Tilly Coombs leaned towards Patty -and whispered, so that even Anson or Pelatiah should not hear.</p> - -<p>"I didn't know there were such good times in the world!" she said, with -her face aglow. "And Viola Pitkin's uncle Nathan ate one of my -doughnuts!" But Patty shrank away from her.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="A_FEMININE_SANTA_CLAUS" id="A_FEMININE_SANTA_CLAUS">A FEMININE SANTA CLAUS.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY ZITELLA COCKE.</h3> - -<p>The Eve of Epiphany or Twelfth-Night brings to the Roman children very -much the same experience which Christmas brings to young Americans. It -is the time and opportunity for presents, and sometimes for -disappointments and even punishments. Upon this occasion, however, it is -a benefactress instead of a benefactor who confers the coveted favor. It -is not Santa Claus, who, round, red, and good-natured, comes down the -chimney with a gift for every child, but a hideous old woman, lean, -dark, and sour-visaged, who descends the chimney with a bell in one hand -and a long cane in the other. The bell announces her coming, and the -cane is especially for the children who have rebelled against parents -and teachers, or have been otherwise forgetful of duty. The name of this -old crone is Befana, and she brings plenty of good things, in spite of -her forbidding countenance and manner, and the good, obedient child may -confidently expect a stocking full of dainties. She fills the stocking -of the disobedient too, but with ashes! The Festival of the Befana is -one of the most fascinating to the children of Rome. Crowds gather upon -the thoroughfares and fill up the streets and piazzas, and the beating -drums, squeaking whistles, jingling tambourines, and sonorous trumpets -show that Roman children can be quite as noisy in honor of the Befana as -American children are when they wish to welcome Christmas or celebrate -the glorious Fourth. This festival occurs, of course, on the eve of -Twelfth-Night, and in addition to the various noises which assail your -ears, your eyes are feasted with the most startling and curious -spectacles. Very odd and, we can say, very picturesque toys are -exhibited on all sides, and the brilliant display of fireworks gives a -fascination to things which are in themselves ridiculous and grotesque. -Noise, unceasing noise, is the order of the night, and he who can -surprise you with the loudest is greeted with peals of laughter and -shouts of applause. A whistle or horn is always at your ears.</p> - -<p>Nor is the custom of receiving presents on this happy occasion confined -to children. The Pope and the Cardinals take part in the rejoicing. -Formerly a chalice of gold containing a hundred ducats was presented to -the Pope with a Latin address and great ceremony, and the Pope, in -accepting it, made his reply in Latin, and graciously allowed the bearer -to kiss his foot. This offering was called the Befana Tribute. The -ceremony was discontinued in the year 1802; but the Befana Tribute is -still offered and accepted. Of course, there are many traditions -concerning the Befana, and it is in honor of a tradition that a burning -broom is always carried in the processions which celebrate her festival. -According to this tradition she is said to have been an old woman, who -was engaged in cleaning the house when the three Kings passed carrying -presents to the infant Christ; she was called to the window to see them, -but she declined to leave her household duties, and said, "I will see -them as they return." But the old woman was denied the blessed sight, -for they did not return that way, and hence she is represented as -waiting and watching for them continually—always standing in the -attitude of expectation, with her broom in her hand.</p> - -<p>To disguise themselves as this old woman is one of the pranks of the -Roman boys during the Befana Festival. With blackened faces and -fantastic caps on their heads they stand in the doors with a broom in -one hand and a lantern in the other. Around their necks and suspended to -their waists are rows of stockings filled with sweet-meats, and also -with the reward of evil-doing—the famous ashes! And what do the Roman -children say when they see these representations of the Befana?</p> - -<p>Well, very much what the American children say when they see the images -of their dearly loved Santa Claus!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="A_SONG_FOR_CHRISTMAS_EVE" id="A_SONG_FOR_CHRISTMAS_EVE">A SONG FOR CHRISTMAS EVE.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN.</h3> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Come, draw around the fire,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">And watch the sparks that go</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">All singing like a fairy choir</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Into the realms of snow.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Above us evergreen,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">With mistletoe in sprays,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">And tenderly the leaves between</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">The holly-berries blaze.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">And while the logs burn bright,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Before the day takes wing,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">The happy children, gowned in white,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Their merry carols sing.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Then high the stockings lift,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Like hungry beggars dumb.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;"><i>Good Santa Claus, bring every gift,</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;"><i>And fill them when you come!</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="IN_THE_TOWER_OF_MANY_STORIES" id="IN_THE_TOWER_OF_MANY_STORIES">IN THE TOWER OF MANY STORIES.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY MRS. LEW. WALLACE.</h3> - -<h3>SIR WALTER RALEIGH.</h3> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 139px;"> -<img src="images/ill_006.jpg" width="139" height="200" alt="Drop Cap T" /> -</div> - -<p>he most illustrious name connected with London Tower—high over king, -priest, or prince—is the name of Raleigh. There at four different times -he was sent, not so much prisoner of England as of Spain. He never lay -in the lonesome cell in the crypt called his. His longest term was in -the grim fortress Bloody Tower, where his undaunted spirit taught the -world</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 11em;">"Stone walls do not a prison make,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Nor iron bars a cage."</span><br /> -</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_007.jpg" width="400" height="385" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">GARDEN INSIDE THE TOWER, WHERE RALEIGH WALKED.</span> -</div> - -<p>He was allowed the freedom of the garden, with a little lodge for a -study—a hen-house of lath and plaster, where he experimented with drugs -and chemicals, studied medicine and ship-building, kept his crucibles -and apparatus, and the near terrace he paced up and down through weary -years is to this day called Raleigh's Walk.</p> - -<p>It was in the reign of King James the First—the cruel and cowardly—and -never in his peerless prime was Raleigh greater than in the fourteen -years that sentence of death hung over his head. His prison was a court -to which men crowded with delight. Queen Anne sent gracious messages to -him, and Prince Henry rode down from Whitehall to hear the old sailor -tell of green isles with waving palms like beckoning hands, hints of -wonderful plumage, hissing serpents in tropic jungles, barbarian cities -built of precious stones, and of rivers running over sands of gold, all -waiting for the English conqueror to come and make them his own.</p> - -<p>After a morning of high converse the Prince cried out, "No man but my -father would keep such a bird in such a cage," and when the young -listener fell ill the Queen would have him take nothing but Raleigh's -cordial, which, she said, had saved her life.</p> - -<p>His best biographer writes: "Raleigh was a sight to see; not only for -his fame and name, but for his picturesque and dazzling figure. -Fifty-one years old, tall, tawny, splendid, with the bronze of tropical -suns on his leonine cheek, a bushy beard, a round mustache, and a ripple -of curling hair which his man Peter took an hour to dress. Apparelled as -became such a figure, in scarf and band of richest color and costliest -stuff, in cap and plume worth a ransom, in jacket powdered with gems, -his whole attire from cap to shoe-strings blazing with rubies, emeralds, -and pearls, he was allowed to be one of the handsomest men alive."</p> - -<p>In the eleventh year of his bondage he finished the first part of the -<i>History of the World</i>. He wrote what men will not let die, invented the -modern war-ship, and from the turrets of Bloody Tower looked across the -vast blue plain of ocean and directed operations in Virginia and Guiana. -He was a guiding light to his beloved England; proud and brilliant -heroes deferred to him, sought his advice; charming women were charmed -by the most courtly of courtiers, and all felt him to be a man whom the -government could not afford to spare. He knew more than any other person -living about the New World offering endless riches to the Old, and his -services were at the King's command. While prisoner to the crown he -sailed with five ships under royal orders for the region of the Orinoco, -the land of promise unfulfilled. The golden city lighted by jewels was a -vanishing illusion ending in bitter disappointment.</p> - -<p>Years before, in 1609, he had written to Shakespeare, whom he called, -"My dearest Will":</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"Great were our hopes, both of glory and of gold, in the kingdom of -Powhatan. But it grieves me much to say that all hath resulted in -infelicity, misfortune, and an unhappy end.... As I was blameworthy -for thy risk, I send by the messenger your £50, which you shall not -lose by my overhopeful vision. For its usance I send a package of a -new herb from the Chesapeake, called by the natives tobacco. Make -it not into tea, as did one of my kinsmen, but kindle and smoke it -in the little tube the messenger will bestow ... it is a balm for -all sorrows and griefs, and as a dream of Paradise.... Thou knowest -that from my youth up I have adventured for the welfare and glory -of our Queen, Elizabeth. On sea and on land and in many climes have -I fought the accursed Spaniard, and am honored by our sovereign and -among men ... but all this would I give, and more, for a tithe of -the honor which in the coming time shall assuredly be thine. Thy -kingdom is of the imagination, and hath no limit or end."</p></blockquote> - -<p>The dreams of the Admiral far outran any possibility, and the mines of -Guiana proved a cheat equal to the yellow clay of the Roanoke. Peril of -life, fortune, and the varied resources of genius and valor were not -enough to insure success, and a failure in the paradise of the world -probably hastened the sentence for which Philip III. of Spain clamored.</p> - -<p>The charges of treason against Raleigh were pure invention; but on his -return from South America he was arrested, committed to the Tower, and -the warrant for execution was signed without a new trial, while men from -the streets and ships came crowding to the wharf, whence they could see -him walking on the wall. He was advised to kill himself to escape the -shameful sentence of James I., but he solemnly spoke of self-murder, and -declared he would die in the light of day and before the face of his -countrymen. In the field of battle, on land and on sea, he had looked at -death too often to tremble now.</p> - -<p>His farewell letter to his wife is one of the sweetest. I wish I had -space for it all. It concludes:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"The everlasting God, Infinite, Powerful, Inscrutable; the Almighty -God, which is Goodness itself, Mercy itself; the true light and -life—keep thee and thine, have mercy on me, and teach me to -forgive my persecutors and false witnesses, and send us to meet -again in His Glorious Kingdom. My own true wife, farewell. Bless my -poor boy. Pray for me, and let the good God fold you both in His -arms. Written with the dying hand of sometime thy husband, but now, -alas! overthrown.</p> - -<p>"Yours that was, but not now my own,</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;">"<span class="smcap">W. Raleigh</span>."</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>In his final imprisonment Lady Raleigh was not allowed a share. When she -caught his youthful fancy it was as Elizabeth Throckmorton, maid of -honor to Queen Elizabeth.</p> - -<p>"Sweet Bess" was a favorite there among ladies of gentle blood. The -flatterers of the dazzling court fluttered round the lovely young girl, -conspicuous for beauty and grace; slender, fair, golden-haired. Her -sighs were only for the sea-captain who expected to crown her with glory -won by his sword, and riches, the spoil to be fought for in many lands. -She was his loyal wife to the end, always pleading for pardon, defiant -before King and court, where she appeared daily in her husband's cause, -"holding little Wat by the hand." When her petition was refused, she was -not afraid to call down curses on the head of the tyrant, who heeded not -her wrath or her grief.</p> - -<p>The water-way from the Thames is a dark passage under whose arch a pale -procession of ghosts of the murdered may easily be fancied as coming up -out of the past. Beneath it went Raleigh from prison to hear his -sentence in Westminster Hall; from the King's Bench he was sent to -Westminster Abbey. Crowds thronged to watch him pass, and from the -carriage window he noticed his old friend Burton, and invited him to -Palace Yard next day to see him die.</p> - -<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_008.jpg" width="400" height="290" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">THE TRAITORS' GATE.</span> -</div> - -<p>The warrant came on a dark October morning, 1618. Raleigh was in bed, -but on hearing the Lieutenant's voice he sprang lightly to his feet, -threw on hose and doublet, and left his room. At the door he met Peter, -his barber, coming in. "Sir," said Peter, "we have not curled your head -this morning." His master answered with a smile, "Let them comb it that -shall have it." The faithful servant followed him to the gate insisting -on the service. "Peter," he asked, "canst thou give me any plaster to -set on a man's head when it is off?"</p> - -<p>John Eliot wrote: "There is no parallel to the fortitude of Raleigh. -Nothing petty disturbed his calm soul in ending a career of constant -toil for the greatness and honor of his country. The hero who created a -New England for Old England was fearless of death, the most resolute and -confident of men, yet with reverence and conscience."</p> - -<p>The executioner was deeply moved by the matchless spirit of the martyr. -He knelt and prayed forgiveness—the usual formula at the block or -scaffold. Raleigh placed both hands on the man's shoulders and said, "I -forgive you with all my heart. Now show me the axe." He carefully -touched the edge of the blade to feel its keenness, and kissed it. "This -gives me no fear. It is a sharp and fair medicine to cure all my ills." -Being asked which way he would lie on the block, he answered, "It is no -matter which way the head lies, so that the heart be right." Presently -he added, "When I stretch forth my hands, despatch me." There were -omissions in his last speech, but we may be sure they were noble -utterances. He prayed in an unbroken voice, and begged his friends to -stand near him on the scaffold so they might better hear his dying -words. Which being done, he concluded, "And now I entreat you all to -join with me in prayer that the great God of Heaven, whom I have -grievously offended—being a man full of vanity, and having lived a -sinful life in all sinful callings, having been a soldier, a captain, -and a sea-captain, and a courtier, which are all places of wickedness -and vice—that God, I say, would forgive me and cast away my sins from -me, and that He would receive me into everlasting life. So I take my -leave of you making my peace with God.</p> - -<p>"Give me heartily of your prayers," he repeated, turning right and left. -The headsman cast down his own cloak that the victim might kneel on it -after laying off his velvet robe. An act which reminds us of the happy -chance for like courtesy that made Raleigh's fortune when he was a -boyish adventurer in the train of Sussex; a beautiful youth watching the -state barge of Queen Elizabeth.</p> - -<div class="figright" style="width: 322px;"> -<img src="images/ill_009.jpg" width="322" height="400" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">SIR WALTER RALEIGH.</span> -</div> - -<p>The supreme moment came; the great captain, never greater than in death, -stretched out his palsied hands. The deathman hesitated. "What dost thou -fear, man? Strike, strike." One blow—a true one—and the murder was -done. There were those standing near who saw his face as it had been the -face of an angel. Courtier, historian, poet, seaman, soldier, his was -"the noblest head that ever rolled into English dust."</p> - -<p>The wasted body was laid under the altar of St. Margaret's, the church -of the House of Commons, across the way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> from Westminster, with only a -small tablet to mark his resting-place.</p> - -<p>Sweet Bess, who shared his glory and his prison-house, and with little -Wat had walked the terrace with him, does not lie beside him. I do not -know where that fond and faithful heart went to dust, but I do believe -that in the final day, for which all other days are made, true love will -find its own, and they will be reunited for evermore.</p> - -<p>I saw no monument to Raleigh in Westminster Abbey. The fame of the -colonizer of Virginia belongs to us of the New World, and in 1880 a -memorial window was placed there at the expense of Americans in London. -Canon Farrar's address at the unveiling was a brilliant review of -Raleigh's life and varied fortunes in the most glorious portion of the -Elizabethan era. It concluded with an earnest appeal to the England of -Queen Victoria and the America of Lincoln and of Garfield to stand -shoulder to shoulder under the banner of the cross.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="HOW_TO_ENTER_THE_ARMY" id="HOW_TO_ENTER_THE_ARMY">HOW TO ENTER THE ARMY.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY GENERAL O. O. HOWARD, U.S.A.</h3> - -<h4>(<i>In Two Papers.</i>)</h4> - -<h3>II.</h3> - -<h3>THE MILITARY ACADEMY.</h3> - -<p>The usual method for a boy to obtain a commission in the army is to pass -through the four years' course of study, and graduate at the United -States Military Academy at West Point, New York.</p> - -<p>Receiving a diploma upon completing this course, he is by law appointed -by the President a Second Lieutenant in some branch of the four military -divisions of service—Engineers, Artillery, Cavalry, or Infantry. Cadets -are annually admitted to the Military Academy by appointment. Each -Congressman has the right to request one for a resident of his district, -the Secretary of War giving the appointment. Ten are also appointed by -the President, selecting at large from anywhere in the United States. -Besides these, each Territory and the District of Columbia are entitled -to one. This would allow about 400 cadets, but the course is so severe -that the number becomes very much reduced. Last June the corps numbered -285; but including the entering class of 103 the present number is only -336 cadets. Application to Washington can be made at any time. It will -be placed on file in the office of the Secretary of War, and notice sent -to the representative of that district whenever a vacancy occurs. The -application must give the full name of the young man, date of birth, and -permanent residence. Appointments are required to be made one year in -advance of date of admission, except that, in case of death or other -cause, vacancies may occur; then they may be filled in time for the next -annual examination. At present candidates appear for mental and physical -examination before a board of officers convened at the military post -nearest their respective places of residence on the first day of March -annually. The successful candidates will be admitted to the Academy -without further examination upon reporting in person to the -superintendent at West Point before 12 <span class="smcap">m</span>. on the 15th day of June. -Candidates selected to fill the vacancies unprovided for by the March -boards, and those which may occur afterwards, will be instructed to -report at West Point for examination early in June. After admission at -West Point, cadets must sign an engagement to serve the United States -eight years, and take and subscribe the Oath of Allegiance. They agree -to obey all legal orders of their superior officers.</p> - -<p>Cadets admitted must be between seventeen and twenty-two years of age, -and five feet or more in height, and unmarried. They must be well versed -in reading, writing, and spelling, so as to spell correctly from -dictation a considerable number of test words; in arithmetic enough to -be able to take up at once the higher branches without further study of -arithmetic; and have a thorough knowledge of the elements of English -grammar; of descriptive geography, particularly that of the United -States, and of the history of the United States.</p> - -<p>We thus see that it is in the common branches that the boy desiring to -go to West Point must especially perfect himself to be able to enter; -but a student of higher mathematics and other collegiate studies has a -better chance for class standing, when the different subjects are taken -up, after entering, and rapidly pushed to completion. The first year -algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and surveying are completed; analytical -geometry, use of logarithms, rhetoric, and English language studied, -with French commenced; besides, the practical instruction in military -drill and discipline is demanded. There are marchings to every exercise, -to mess-hall, chapel, and recitations. Fencing, bayonet, and gymnastic -drills come the first year.</p> - -<p>The second year analytical and descriptive geometry and calculus, with -method of "least squares," are completed. French is finished, and also -several weeks of Spanish, drawing, and practical military training and -bridge-building.</p> - -<p>The third year philosophy is substituted for mathematics, analytical -mechanics, astronomy, and wave-motion being finished. The cadets take -chemistry, electricity, mineralogy, and geology; also military drawing, -drill regulations, and practical engineering, with signalling.</p> - -<p>The fourth year has military engineering, fortifications, and art of -war; also constitutional, international, and military law, history, -practical instruction in astronomy, and the study of ordnance and -gunnery. All this time the cadet is constantly subject to the life and -duties of a soldier, just as far as his studies will permit. Infantry -drill in squad, company, and battalion, cavalry and artillery drill, -guard duty, parades, reviews, and other ceremonies are incessant. The -cadet's life is more than a busy one. So hard is it, that out of one -hundred candidates who enter seldom more than fifty graduate.</p> - -<p>But a boy of sound body and good constitution, with suitable preparation -and good natural capacity, and aptitude for study, industrious, -persevering, and of an obedient and orderly disposition, with a correct -moral deportment, will not fail to receive the reward of his four years' -labor in a commission in the United States army.</p> - -<h4>THE PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS DIRECT FROM CIVIL LIFE.</h4> - -<p>The third way a commission is sometimes obtained is by direct -appointment to a Second Lieutenancy by the President, who has the power, -and exercises it when vacancies occur over and above those filled by -cadet graduates of West Point, and by candidate non-commissioned -officers from the ranks. In the case of the President having appointed a -civilian to fill a vacancy, the appointee is called upon to pass an -examination, mentally and physically. The subjects of examination are -the common English branches, also history, geometry, surveying, -international and constitutional law. If accepted, after a critical and -extensive trial he is passed by the examining board, he will receive a -commission from the President, either in the cavalry or infantry; and -after serving some little time with his regiment he will usually be sent -to the Infantry and Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth for a -post-graduate course. Surgeons, undergoing a most thorough examination, -are appointed First Lieutenants directly into the service, as are often -Paymasters and Judge-Advocates with the rank of Major.</p> - -<h4>SUBSEQUENT SUCCESS.</h4> - -<p>We have brought our young man through the three different doorways to -the position of a commissioned officer of the lowest grade, <i>viz.</i>, a -Second Lieutenant. His subsequent success as an officer will depend upon -himself. The usual promotion is, as a rule, according to seniority, <i>i. -e</i>., the ranking man of one grade goes to the next higher, except in -case of war, when the best man is selected to fill a position of higher -rank according as he is believed to be fit therefor. Though regular -promotion may be slow, an officer has many other channels of success.</p> - -<p>The highest cadets in class rank, perhaps four or five, go into the -Engineer Corps, where their work is mainly among civilians, and their -promotion rapid. The Ordnance Corps is filled by special competitive -examination of Second Lieutenants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> of the army; the successful receive -the rank of First Lieutenant on entering the corps. The departments of -the Quartermaster, Commissary, Paymaster, Judge-Advocate, and -Adjutant-General are filled from the lines of officers, giving to the -appointed increased rank and pay. There are many special details open to -industrious officers; between thirty and forty being selected for -colleges; some for military attaches at foreign courts; also others for -aides-de-camp to generals; and for places of importance in Washington.</p> - -<p>Officers are required to study extensively, and pass examinations for -every promotion. The diploma from the Infantry and Cavalry School will -entitle the holder to promotion for five years without further -examination. The profession of an army officer may not be so -remunerative pecuniarily as one of like study and preparation in civil -life; but perhaps, with the one exception of the ever-impending danger -or prospect of active service, his is as comfortable and satisfying as -that of the average professional or business man.</p> - -<p>The pay of a Second Lieutenant, whose age varies from twenty-one to -twenty-eight, is, in infantry, $116.67 per month, and in cavalry $125 -per month, together with advantages of groceries at cost price, coal at -about one-half the usual cost, and quarters free.</p> - -<p>Thus we cannot help feeling that the young man who strives for success -in the army, from the ranks of a private soldier up, will feel amply -repaid, particularly if he receives a commission, and then continues to -make a good soldierly reputation.</p> - -<p>Usually where a son is desirous of entering the army through any open -door, his parents immediately inquire concerning his surroundings. Are -they favorable to good morals? Are they conducive to a religious life? -The answer is that good morals are required at the outset; but of course -in barrack life as it is a young man would be likely to be influenced by -the example of his comrades. In some companies there could be no fault -to find. In others he would encounter much roughness of speech—perhaps -as much as in the forecastle of a ship. As to religion there is nothing -necessarily hindering, no more than in railroading, in working in large -out-door gangs, in manufactories, or elsewhere in the world.</p> - -<p>The young man as a Christian is always called upon to resist temptation, -and I do not think it harder in the army than elsewhere; for everywhere -temptations must be met and overcome. There are many decided Christian -officers and soldiers—perhaps as large a proportion as are to be found -in other business careers.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="A_MOTHER_GOOSE_FAIR" id="A_MOTHER_GOOSE_FAIR">A MOTHER GOOSE FAIR.</a></h2> - -<h3>BY AGNES BAILEY ORMSBEE.</h3> - -<p>Here is a new idea for a fair in costume for the Fresh Air Fund or some -other charity, and one not too hard to get up. Did you ever hear of an -evening with Mother Goose and her friends? Well, the idea is to have the -attendants of the booths and tables appear in characters taken from -Mother Goose's immortal jingles, with the dear kindly old face of Mother -Goose welcoming all. To give such a fair the air of a social gathering, -it is a good plan to have Mother Goose, the old woman with rings on her -fingers and bells on her toes, the old man clad all in leather, and poor -old Robinson Crusoe receive the guests, being introduced by little Tommy -Trot, after Solomon Grundy has taken the tickets as each one enters.</p> - -<p>This reception committee should be impersonated by some of your mothers -and fathers, who would be willing to lend themselves for the interest -they naturally take in the object of your efforts. Or else the older -young people might enjoy the ceremony. The costumes would not be hard to -make. Mother Goose should wear a short dark red, blue, or brown plain -gown, a black apron, a white or gay-colored kerchief, and a white cap -with a wide frill. The costume of the musical old woman should be -similar, except her cap should be a high conical colored one trimmed -with tiny bells. Bells should border her dress and be sewed to her -shoe-tops, and her hair should be powdered. A cape, also bell-trimmed, -might be substituted for the kerchief. The leather man should wear a -coat and hat covered with the heavy paper which imitates alligator-skin, -wear high-topped boots, and carry an umbrella in one hand and a cane in -the other.</p> - -<p>The next question to settle is about the booths. These should be rather -small, so that there can be quite a number of them, and so that the -articles for sale could in a measure be also in character. The slight -wooden frame of the booths and their counters or tables should be hidden -under drapings of cheese-cloth, cotton crépon, silkolene, or -tissue-paper, each one being of single or harmonizing colors, pale lemon -color and heliotrope, pink and blue, orange and black, being especially -showy by electric or gas light. For the special decoration there should -be placed high on the front of each booth a placard, being a -characteristic quotation descriptive of the booth and its contents. This -is an excellent chance for a handy boy or girl to do some fancy -lettering. Supposing the central booth should have this rhyme:</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"There was an old woman tossed up in a basket</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 16em;">Ninety times as high as the moon;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">And where she was going I couldn't but ask her,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 16em;">For in her hand she carried a broom.</span><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"'Old woman, old woman, old woman,' quoth I,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">'Whither, O whither, O whither so high?'</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">'To sweep the cobwebs off the sky!'</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">'Shall I go with you?' 'Aye, buy-and-buy.'"</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>I am sure your friends will excuse the pun in the last line, and, what's -more to the purpose, will take the hint. Trimming the booth and -displayed on its counter you must have brooms of all sizes.</p> - -<p>You see there is a multitude of simple things you can make yourselves -that will be appropriate for this booth, and much that will be -contributed easily and willingly, and, best of all, they will be -articles that every one will be glad to buy. I think the secret of -success in such a fair is not to have too costly articles for sale. It -is astonishing how quickly dollars grow from dimes, quarters, and -halves, and how easily these small coins slip out of friendly purses. -The chief young lady in charge of this broom booth should be dressed to -represent the famous old woman, and each of her helpers should wear -miniature brooms made of a few broom-splints and a toothpick for badges.</p> - -<p>Another booth should be decorated with pictures of our tabby friends, -corresponding to the jingle, "I love little pussy, her coat is so warm," -while its contents should entice buyers with a display of animal toys of -every kind—cotton flannel elephants dear to childish hearts, dogs, -pussies, a whole flock of Mary's lambs, horses, and mechanical bears, if -you should be so fortunate as to have the latter donated.</p> - -<p>A third booth should be devoted to dolls dressed in every style and -paper dolls, both of which are always saleable. Who ever found a little -girl's heart so full that it would not admit one more doll-child to the -play-house family? This booth could be draped with butterflies and -festoons of the stars and stripes, and have for its motto,</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"Hush, baby, my doll, I pray you don't cry."</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>The merry jingle of "Humpty Dumpty" is fitting for a table devoted to -Easter eggs and cards, Easter bonbons, and other timely trifles, and -could be easily allowed to include stationery, <i>menu</i> cards, pen-wipers, -and all the pretty conceits agreeable to use when writing one's thanks -for an Easter gift.</p> - -<p>"Needles and pins, needles and pins," is the motto for a table where -should be shown dainty doilies, tea-cloths, bits of drawn-work, and all -the pretty pieces of needle-work it is possible for your skilful fingers -to make, or kind friends to give you. Do not fail to try and get enough -toy watches, tiny pins, beads, and ornamental trifles—things that make -a <i>good</i> time, you can say, because "Hickory, dickory, dock," etc., is -such a pretty legend for a booth, especially with an old-fashioned tall -clock to add to the decorations.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"Daffo-down-dilly has come to town</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">In a fine petticoat and a green gown,"</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>is a charming verse for a flower, which the smiling faces of girls in -costumes representing flowers will yet further decorate.</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"Handy Spandy Jack-a-Dandy</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Loves plum-cake and sugar-candy,"</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>should be the jingle for the candy table, and the boys and girls can -exercise their ingenuity in appearing in character—one a chocolate -cream, another a striped stick, another a pink peppermint, and so on. -But whatever you do, do not forget the little kindergarteners in your -households. They are so proud of their bits of work, and would be so -glad to give something for the poor sick babies. Take the mats and -sewing-cards, and make them into sachet-bags, pin-trays, blotters, -cornucopias, needle-books, "scratch-my-backs," with ribbons and fringed -papers. Let the verse over these childish offerings be,</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">"I saw a ship a-sailing,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 16em;">A-sailing on the sea;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 15em;">And, O, it was all laden</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 16em;">With pretty things for thee,"</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>and trim the booth with the paper chains, stars, and the like; also the -work of the little ones.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/ill_010.jpg" width="500" height="444" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">MOTHER GOOSE AND SOME OF HER CHARACTERS.</span> -</div> - -<p>In order that such a fair as this shall be a success and not wear every -one out, you must divide yourselves into groups, with an older lady or -ladies to direct your work. If you belong to the broom booth, do not -change your mind and try to be a flower-girl at the last moment. If you -are lucky enough to have given you, or to make something suitable for -the needle-work table, turn it over to that group, and do not dictate -how it shall be placed. Give your attention to making your own booth a -success. It is wise to ask some one who is older to take charge of the -fitting up of the booths. He can manage better than you, especially if a -carpenter is employed, and you can pour forth your soul on the -decorations. There are plenty of characters in Mother Goose's jingles -for every one to have one appear in, but it is no harm if there are -several of a kind. "Betsy Brooks and Tommy Snooks," "The butcher, the -baker, the candle-stick-maker," "Three wise men of Gotham," "Father -Graybeard," "Tommy Grace with the pain in his face," are groups which -can appear together, and by acting in character and repeating often the -jingles that belong to them, add to the fun.</p> - -<p>Thus far it would be possible to have the fair in a private house, if -any one is so generous as to offer hers. But if you can have a hall or -chapel you can offer yet greater variety. Arrange to keep seats in the -centre of the hall, and have tableaux and songs for an hour. If it is -possible, drill those of you who can sing, or perhaps some singer would -volunteer to accompany the tableaux. Otherwise ask some one who reads -nicely to recite the words appropriate to each tableau. "Little Bo-peep" -appears as the curtain rises, looking for her sheep, while "Polly -Flinder" will make two tableaux, one for each two lines of the rhyme. -"Georgie Porgie" should appear kissing a tiny girl, and, in the second, -running away when a group of school-girls come in sight. "Seesaw, -Margery Daw," is another pretty tableau. "Bobby Shaftoe" should show his -faithful little maid waiting for him, while the second one shows Bobby's -return. When this is done by two yellow-haired children it is effective. -"Old King Cole and his fiddlers three," "Little Jack Horner," "Simple -Simon," "Ba-ba, Black Sheep," "Little Miss Muffett," "Tom, Tom, the -piper's son," and "When I was a bachelor," are all capable of being -arranged in tableaux. There are two editions of "Mother Goose" -published, with the words set to music, and with pictures that would -give suggestions for costumes.</p> - -<p>Of course a fair without refreshments is a good deal like plum-pudding -without currants and raisins, and even here Mother Goose comes to our -aid. What do you say to "Jack and Jill" drawing the lemonade at the well -in small pails, and then pouring it into glasses? Would it not add to -the fun if part of the evening Jack's head should be mended with brown -paper? "Little Tommy Tucker" must not be forgotten, and should have a -stand to himself, where he can sing for your supper, and offer -sandwiches of every sort neatly wrapped in waxed paper and fancy -crackers. Close at hand "Mary Morey" should give you a chance to tell -her story while you drink your chocolate and eat your sandwich.</p> - -<p>A pretty booth should have for sale fancy cakes, loaves, and buns, while -its attendants should ring a bell, and sing, "Hot cross buns," etc. -"Little maid, pretty maid, wilt thou be mine," etc., is an appropriate -legend for the ice-cream corner, while "Sing a song of sixpence," with -as many waiters as may be in black dresses and red sleeves for -blackbirds, would add a finishing touch to the evening with Mother -Goose, if it is thought best to undertake a hot supper to coax the -nimble sixpences for the poor children's holiday.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 800px;"><a name="INTERSCHOLASTIC_SPORT" id="INTERSCHOLASTIC_SPORT"></a> -<img src="images/ill_011.jpg" width="800" height="160" alt="INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT" /> -</div> - -<p>The New York Interscholastic Athletic Association publishes a monthly -paper, which is called the <i>Interscholastic Record</i>, and is edited by a -board composed of one member from each of the schools represented in the -Association. It is fair for the general public to assume that the -opinions expressed by the <i>Record</i> are official and endorsed by the rank -and file of the members of the Association, and, consequently, of the -New York schools. But in justice to the true and straightforward -sportsmen of New York, of which there are many in the schools, I want to -say to the readers of the <i>Record</i> in other cities that the opinions -expressed by the paper are by no means those of the better element among -the scholastic athletes of this city.</p> - -<p>The Editor-in-Chief of the <i>Record</i> is Mr. William J. Ehrich, of the -Harvard School. Mr. Ehrich attended the College of the City of New York -for a term in 1894, but for some reason did not continue his course, and -returned to the Harvard School. He caught upon their baseball nine last -spring, and was protested by the De La Salle Institute because Section I -of Article X. of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. constitution states that no member of -any school is eligible to compete in any athletic contest who has been -enrolled as a member of any college. Mr. Ehrich was fully cognizant of -this law when he played. Mr. Freeland, the principal of the Harvard -School, must have been fully cognizant of this law. Nevertheless, Ehrich -played. The result of this has been that at a recent meeting of the -Arbitration Committee of the N.Y.I.S.A.A., the Harvard School was found -guilty of fraud, the penalty for which is expulsion from the -Association.</p> - -<p>In commenting upon this action of the Committee the <i>Record</i> says: "Now -that the football season is practically over, the delegates to the -I.S.A.A. have found it necessary to 'keep the pot boiling' by rehashing -old protests and concocting new ones. For example, the time-honored -protest against Harvard School for playing Ehrich on her baseball team -last spring is being resurrected. This protest was, we are certain, -finally decided and buried last June immediately after the baseball -season closed. Being a party directly interested in the failure of the -protest, we do not care to discuss the question of its validity. Suffice -it to say, that after riding in the bicycle-races of eight scholastic -and interscholastic athletic meetings, and receiving his medals for -these races; after playing on the Harvard baseball team in every game -but the last without having his well-known attendance at C.C.N.Y. -brought up against him—after all this, we ask, is there any right or -reason in protesting Ehrich for playing in the championship games -between De La Salle and Harvard?"</p> - -<p>It is possible that Mr. Ehrich did not write this himself, but whether -he did or not, the statement is certainly not published without his -knowledge and consent, and he is consequently severely censurable for -such an expression of opinion. It is contrary to the spirit of -amateurism, it is harmful to the best interests of honesty in school -sport, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> it is insidious in that it may lead younger boys to believe -that such statements are just and correct. And another thing: Mr. Ehrich -has no business to criticise the action of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. in the paper -which claims to be the official organ of that Association.</p> - -<p>But this is not the worst offence committed by the <i>Record</i> against -amateur and school sport. Farther along in the editorial column we read: -"If we had our choice all those technical rules governing athletics in -the schools would be stricken out of the constitution; and any <i>bona -fide</i> member of a school who is under age would have a right to compete -in the games. We have frequently heard intelligent fellows say that this -would not do, as the college athletes would come back to school to -compete. It evidently never occurred to them that an athlete would much -prefer competing in college, and that an athlete whom it would pay a -school to support would be able to do very well at a college." Among the -"technical rules" that Mr. Ehrich and the <i>Record</i> do not like is the -one which caused the conviction of the Harvard School for fraud. This -easily accounts for the opinion expressed. But the rule is not a -"technical" one. It is a very practical rule, a very good rule, and a -necessary rule, and the Association was perfectly right in enforcing it.</p> - -<p>And now, parents and guardians, and principals of the New York -schools—Dr. White, Mr. Lyon, Messrs. Wilson and Kellogg, Mr. Freeland, -Dr. Cutler—all of you, is not it time that you should look into this? -What does the editor of the <i>Record</i> mean when he says that "an athlete -whom it would <i>pay a school to support</i> would be able to <i>do very well</i> -at a college"? I beg of you to consider this! Does any New York school -"support" any athlete? If so, do you know of it? And is there any doubt -as to what sporting men understand by the term "to do very well"? Is it -possible that the <i>Record</i> suggests to the lurking professional spirit -in certain school athletes that there is money "in it" for the boy who -will go to college and try to enter sport for money? Does the <i>Record</i> -believe this of the colleges? Does the experience of the editor of the -<i>Record</i> at his own school lead him to believe that there is money to be -had for playing baseball at college?</p> - -<p>My own opinion about this editorial is that the young man who wrote it -did not realize what he was saying. I don't think he meant to convey the -idea which his words clearly state. But even if he did not, he has done -a great wrong to the schools of this city, and the Association under -whose name these dreadful fallacies are published should interfere at -once.</p> - -<h3>FOUR FOOTBALL TEAMS.</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/ill_012.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">ST. MARK'S SCHOOL, SOUTHBORO MASS.</span> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/ill_013.jpg" width="500" height="279" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">ST. JOHN'S MILITARY ACADEMY, DELAFIELD, WISCONSIN.</span> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/ill_014.jpg" width="500" height="286" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">CHELTENHAM MILITARY ACADEMY, OGONTZ, PENNSYLVANIA.</span> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_015.jpg" width="400" height="380" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">FRIENDS' SCHOOL, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.</span> -</div> - -<p>The four pictures in this number represent teams from widely separated -districts of this broad country of ours. The St. John's Military Academy -eleven, of Delafield, Wisconsin, is one of the prominent school teams of -the West. The Cheltenham team is a member of the Philadelphia -Interscholastic League, and although this season has not been successful -from the point of view of victories, it has served to develop excellent -material that ought to be heard from next year. The St. Mark's eleven is -a champion team, having defeated its old-time rivals from Groton 6-0 on -November 9th. The victory was earned through superior team-work and -generalship. The Groton players averaged heavier, but were not the -equals of the Southboro' men in scientific work. The Friends' School -football team, of Wilmington, closed the season with a victory over its -especial rival, the Swarthmore Grammar School, November 8th. The score -was 4-0, and the game was as exciting as the figures show. The best -playing was done by Brownfield, S. G. S., and by Pyle, Neary, and -Warner, F.S.</p> - -<p>The season that has just ended in Boston has been the best in almost -every respect that the League has had. More good individual players and -better team-work have been developed than ever before. The teams have -been much more evenly matched, and the spirit shown by each school, by -the Captains and players alike, has made the season very interesting and -satisfactory. The reason for this is that this year every team in the -League was out for the championship. Heretofore it has generally -happened that one or two teams have developed good football early in the -season, and the others, contented with winning one or two games, have -allowed the championship to go, almost by default, to one of the better -teams.</p> - -<p>But this year a different feeling crept into the League. Every team -played every game to win. The consequence was that the usual one-sided -games, with scores of thirty or forty to nothing, have been missing. -Instead, every game has been hard played and interesting, and the -attendance at two of the games, at least, has reached up into the -thousands. The heavier teams, which used to go into a game relying upon -their mere weight to win, have been forced to learn how to play -scientific football, and the lighter teams, instead of going on the -field beaten before the game began, have discovered that science and -sand are worth more than bluff and brawn.</p> - -<p>The scores of this year's games show very justly how close the season -has been. Twenty-four points are the most that have been scored in a -championship game, and in this game the points were divided 16 to 6. The -worst defeat was that of Cambridge High by Brookline High, 18 to 0. One -game resulted in a tie, neither side scoring, and four games have been -won by the score of 4 to 0. The champions, instead of a record of 100 or -more points won and none lost, managed this year to get through with 56 -won and 14 lost. Boston Latin, who are tied for second place, won 14 -points and lost 14.</p> - -<p>The one feature of the year that is to be regretted was brought into -conspicuous prominence by this very closeness of the games. That feature -was the poor umpiring that occurred in some of the games. One or two of -the schools resorted to the trick of securing officials who could be -relied upon to give them an advantage of decisions. Cambridge Manual was -the worst offender in this line, and Hopkinson the most successful. -Hopkinson owes one of its victories to an exceedingly unjust decision -made by a referee whom they had appointed. All the other teams, however, -seemed very anxious that impartial and competent men be secured; and -that honesty is still the best policy is exemplified in the case of -English High, the champions, who were more in earnest about good judges -than any other school.</p> - -<p>One of the unpleasant features of many of last year's games—the -darkness that interfered in the second half—was done away with this -season. That was because the Captains were sensible enough to see that -short halves of twenty minutes were much better than the full thirty -minutes, and because all the teams were willing to make an effort to -begin the games early enough so that they could be finished about -sunset. The result has been most satisfactory. No disputes have arisen -from this cause, and the spectators have not crowded on to the fields to -add to the delay of the game. Another of last year's unpleasant -features—the bitterness between some of the teams—was lacking. While -the rivalry was much more intense, the feeling was much more friendly. -The disputes that have arisen have been settled most amicably, and the -meetings of the Executive Committee have been free from the -recriminations that have heretofore characterized them. Everybody seemed -to be working for this "era of good feeling," Captains, managers, -players, and graduates all lending a hand to smooth over any petty -troubles. One bit of courtesy will bear mentioning. When two teams were -playing, the players of the other teams were always furnished tickets to -the game free of charge.</p> - -<p>All the teams have been managed in a very business-like manner. The -schedule was made out carefully, and was very just. The arrangements -about securing grounds, providing police, advertising, and the other -details necessary to a successful game were promptly and well attended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> -to. Altogether, the season must please the Harvard football management -and the Boston Athletic Association, under whose joint patronage the -League is conducted. Harvard must see in the League a great and reliable -feeder for her Freshman and 'varsity teams, and after a few seasons like -this one the university will be able to place more reliance than ever on -the preparatory schools.</p> - -<p>English High must feel an immense amount of satisfaction in winning the -championship after such a hard struggle. The fast gait that they struck -early in the season they kept up to the last game. They played the game -as never before. Quick starts, hard interfering, sure tackling, a spirit -of "do or die," and just the right amount of confidence in themselves; -their Captain and their coach carried them through the season, and -earned, as a reward, the custody of the silver bowl. The team was -excellently managed, nothing being left undone that could help the team -to victory, and the support the boys received from the school and the -graduates was very flattering.</p> - -<p>Boston Latin, who came so near defeating the winners, deserve the -greatest amount of praise for the season's work. They started out in -September by beating Andover—a feat never dreamt of before by a Boston -school—and tying St. Mark's. That gave them an idea that they could win -the championship. It was the first time the school had ever had that -idea; as usually they have been contented with finishing near the foot -of the list. They put in some hard practice, and succeeded in making -third place. This is a remarkable feat, considering that they went -through the season without a coach. The only instruction they had was -from their Captain, who devoted an immense amount of labor to his team, -and was rewarded by gaining the admiration of every boy in the League, -and seeing Boston Latin finish better than it had ever finished before.</p> - -<p>Hopkinson's team this year was remarkable more for its even, steady, -plucky playing than for its stars or brilliancy. They pulled out more -than one game by displaying their sand at the critical moments. They -played excellent team-work, and, thanks to a very competent coach, were -up to all the latest tricks of the game. They had more luck than any -other team, and that accounts for their standing second.</p> - -<p>Brookline won the junior championship last year, and, by defeating -Newton, earned the privilege of playing in the senior league. They were -counted as winners by a great many wiseacres; and indeed started in with -good football. But they were really outclassed. They were the lightest -team in the league, and averaged the youngest in years. They found the -season too hard for them. This, together with their losing the services -of a valuable coach, caused a marked falling off in their play. Their -backs and ends were, taken together, the best set in the League, and -they had at one time the best interference; but their defence was not -always reliable, and they were sadly in need of a quarter-back who could -do something besides pass the ball.</p> - -<p>Cambridge High and Latin, with the best team they have had for years, -are tied for last place. They were very much hampered by restrictions -imposed by their school committee, and by unnecessary interference on -the part of the masters. To this they attribute their poor showing. They -undoubtedly had material for a fine team, and it was being handled in a -most careful and vigorous way. Their Captain was the sort of fellow who -gets an immense amount of work out of his men, and puts all kinds of -ginger into them. After beating Hopkinson and Boston Latin, they were -looked upon as the only team that could possibly beat English High. But -before that decisive game the school committee got in its work, and the -little nerve left to the players was lost when the Executive Committee -of the League deprived them of their two victories, on protest.</p> - -<p>The first steps toward the formation of a National I.S.A.A. will be -taken next Saturday at a convention to be held at the De La Salle -Institute. I hope every association that can possibly afford to do so -will send one or more representatives to this convention. The interest -all over the country is growing greater every day, and I feel that the -association, when formed, is bound to be a success. I am informed by the -president of the Iowa State H.-S.A.A. that in view of the formation of a -National Association the schools of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and -Minnesota have abandoned the plan of forming a large Western league, -which I spoke of last spring. In speaking of this my correspondent says:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"The matter was brought up, but as soon as they found out that a -National Association was to be formed they dropped it. They would -rather have their State meet, and then send a team to the National -meet. They will do nothing towards the formation of such an -association till they find out whether they can join the National -Association or not. It will cost but little more to go East, and -they are all willing to go. The Clinton Association will, if they -can become members, send one of the best teams that any Iowa -High-School can produce. They have already engaged Mr. Moulton, the -veteran trainer, who has handled Crum so well in his running-work -this year. The school means business; they have the entire support -of the business men of the city, and have a course of entertainment -laid out which will bring them in ample means to pay all expenses."</p></blockquote> - -<p>Unless something unforeseen prevents, the All-New York Interscholastic -Football eleven will be announced next week.</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">The Graduate</span>.</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>ADVERTISEMENTS.</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>Highest of all in Leavening Strength.—Latest U. S. Gov't Report.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_016.jpg" width="400" height="114" alt="Royal Baking Powder" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>Arnold</h2> - -<h2>Constable & Co</h2> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>Winter Underwear,</h3> - -<h3>Hosiery,</h3> - -<h3>Gloves,</h3> - -<h3>Umbrellas.</h3> - -<h4><i>Best qualities and special Importations for Christmas presents.</i></h4> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h4>Broadway & 19th st.</h4> - -<h4>NEW YORK.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_017.jpg" width="400" height="63" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h2>Songs.</h2> - -<h3>Franklin Square Collection.</h3> - -<p>It would be difficult, if not impossible, to gather more features of -interest into a work of this kind. Not only are many of the best songs -and hymns in the English language here given—both old and new—but -there are also songs and hymns for children and the schools. There are -songs of home and of country, of love and fame, of heart and soul, of -devotion and praise, with their sad and sweet or lively melodies, and -with grand old chorals that stir the heart and lift it in worship. -Besides the words and music, explanatory and historic notes are given to -indicate their origin and significance. These books cannot fail to -become immensely popular.—<i>Lutheran Observer</i>.</p> - -<p>Sold Everywhere. Price, 50 cents: Cloth, $1.00. Full contents of the -Several Numbers, with Specimen Pages of favorite Songs and Hymns, sent -by Harper & Brothers, New York, to any address.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_018.jpg" width="400" height="64" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="BICYCLING" id="BICYCLING"></a> -<img src="images/ill_019.jpg" width="400" height="96" alt="BICYCLING" /> -</div> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. -Our maps and tours contain much valuable data, kindly supplied from -the official maps and road-books of the League of American -Wheelmen. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L. A. W., -the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership -blanks and information so far as possible.</p></blockquote> - -<h3>CIRCUIT RIDE.</h3> - -<p>Starting from the Ericson monument on Commonwealth Avenue, go westward, -joining Beacon Boulevard, which follow direct by the electric-car tracks -to Chestnut Hill Reservoir. After passing car station at end of route, -keep to left around the reservoir, and a short distance on Beacon Street -beyond reservoir; then turn to left on to Hammond Street, following it -southward, and turn to right at Brookline Street. Turn to right at -Dedham Street, and bear to the left out Nahanton Street, going over the -Charles River and up the hill by direct road to Highlandville. Turn to -left on to Highland Street, following straight road south to Needham. -Thence the course is down hill on Dedham Street, leading over the -Charles River, after crossing which you bear southeast by direct road -into Dedham; go under the bridge beyond the station, and from there take -direct road to Paul's Bridge. Turn to right at fountain, and go, <i>viā</i> -Brush Hill Avenue, to the base of Blue Hill. There turn to the left, and -take the direct road for Mattapan, <i>viā</i> Canton Avenue, and turn to left -at Mattapan Street into Mattapan. From here follow Blue Hill Avenue -direct to Franklin Park. Enter, and make circuit of park, keeping to -right and then to left, or keep to left on Morton Street direct to -Forest Hill Station. At the drinking-fountain turn to the left after -passing tracks, and go through the Arnold Arboretum; pass out of the -Arboretum by the Centre Street entrance, and, turning to the right, take -Centre Street, and then go through the Arborway and Park system to -Jamaica Pond. There is a good roadway around this pond both to the right -and left, and the distance is about the same either way. After passing -the pond keep direct road, <i>viā</i> Park system, to the Fenway Parks, in -passing through which keep to the left, and it will bring you across the -bridge, over the railroad tracks, and on to Commonwealth Avenue; there -turn to right, and ride direct to Ericson statue near Massachusetts -Avenue. Distance covered, about thirty miles.</p> - -<p>By taking this circuit ride one gets a fair idea of the new boulevards -and public parklands of the Metropolitan system, which is making rapid -strides of development, and promises to be in the near future one of the -finest in America, if not in the world. The roads are good throughout -the entire distance, and it is a fine country ride from Chestnut Hill -Reservoir through Highlandville, Dedham, Blue Hill, to Franklin Park.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 563px;"> -<img src="images/ill_020.jpg" width="563" height="600" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers.</span> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="THE_PUDDING_STICK" id="THE_PUDDING_STICK"></a> -<img src="images/ill_021.jpg" width="400" height="109" alt="THE PUDDING STICK" /> -</div> - -<blockquote> - -<p>This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young -Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the -subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.</p></blockquote> - -<p>One of my correspondents asks, in a general way, what I think about old -school-books. Should a girl sell them, if she can, when passing on to a -higher class in which she does not need the books used in the former -term? Ought they be taken care of with as much pains as one bestows on -the books in the library or the pretty illustrated editions which come -to one as gifts at birthdays and holidays?</p> - -<p>To the first question I answer, without hesitation, keep all your -school-books if you possibly can. Never sell them or dispose of them in -any way unless it is very plainly your duty to somebody else to do so. -For instance, in a family an older sister may let the younger children -have her books when she is done with them. This may save her parents the -expense of buying new ones, and having the same books duplicated in the -household collection. Or there may be in your acquaintance a girl too -poor to buy new books, who will be very glad and thankful to have yours -as a gift. In this case it will be your pleasure, I am sure, to make -this friend happy, and to relieve her of anxiety, and help her in -procuring her education. But, as a rule, I would advise you to keep your -books for yourself. Even when you have finished studying in a particular -book you may want it to refer to, and after your school-days are over -your books will be reminders of the delightful times you had when you -used them. School-books are valuable because they are written in a -clear, plain, straightforward style which it is quite easy to -comprehend. They do not wander away from the point, and they give a -great deal of information packed up in a small compass. A good -school-book on any subject is a real treasure.</p> - -<p>All books should be treated with respect. No nice person leaves books -lying around heedlessly, with the bindings opened widely so that they -become loosened, and the pages curling up at the corners. If a girl is -neat about her room and her dress, she will surely be so in the care of -her books. Never let books gather dust. They are as ornamental as -pictures or flowers or vases, and a house in which there are a number of -books is already half furnished.</p> - -<p>I speak with the more emphasis about the folly of selling school-books -because I have a confession to make. Once, a long while ago, I was -moving from my home to a distant State, to stay for some years, and I -owned a book-case, a pretty affair with five shelves, to which a friend -took a fancy. "Sell me the book-case," she pleaded; "you will not need -it for ages, and I would like it so much for my own library." Well, I -did not sell the book-case; I gave it away, and that part of the -transaction I have never regretted in the very least. But, alas! the -little case was full of grammars, and geographies, and logics, and -rhetorics, and spellers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> and arithmetics, and lexicons, the dear books -that had kept me company all the way from childhood on, and in an evil -moment I was persuaded to sell those to a dealer in second-hand books. I -was sorry the next time I needed to look at one of the dear things, and, -if you will believe me, girls, I am still sorry. I changed something -precious for a little bit of money when I disposed of my books. And I -wish I had not done it.</p> - -<p>If by any chance books have been used by a patient in illness, such as -scarlet-fever or any other contagious disease, they must immediately be -burned up. This is the only safe way. A child recovering from such an -attack may ask for his or her books to play with. Let the books be -given, if the mother is willing, but they must be destroyed afterwards. -Even if they have remained on shelves in the room and the patient has -not so much as touched them they must be burned, for books have a way of -preserving germs of disease, and must be used only by people who are not -ill with anything infectious or who are perfectly well.</p> - -<p>Do I think books should be covered? To save the bindings, you mean? It -depends on how very clean and dainty are the hands which hold them. -Smooth white paper makes a good covering, and is easily renewed, and -most publishers in these days provide attractive covers for the -beautiful books they sell.</p> - -<p>As December finishes the period for their subscriptions, will the -friends who accepted the Baby boxes a twelvemonth ago kindly send their -boxes as soon as possible to Mrs. Sangster, care of <span class="smcap">Harper's Round -Table</span>, Franklin Square, New York?</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_022.jpg" width="400" height="97" alt="Signature" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="THE_CAMERA_CLUB" id="THE_CAMERA_CLUB"></a> -<img src="images/ill_023.jpg" width="400" height="141" alt="THE_CAMERA_CLUB" /> -</div> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly -answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to -hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.</p></blockquote> - -<h3>SUGGESTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS.</h3> - -<p>Summer has gone, with all its delightful outings, but the amateur -photographer, if he has been wise, has not only many photographic -souvenirs as reminders of his vacation, but has also abundant material -for making his friends glad at holiday-time.</p> - -<p>A dozen, or even six or seven, finely finished prints, mounted in an -attractive way, make a most acceptable gift, and one which the recipient -is sure not to have duplicated.</p> - -<p>Blue prints, which are the cheapest and easiest form of photographic -printing, are just the thing for waterscapes. If one's outing has been -by the lake or seashore, select six or eight of the prettiest -waterscapes, something which would make a sort of series. Do not print -them all the same uniform size, but select different-shaped mats for -each one. One picture may look better vigneted, another would not be -pretty printed except in a circle, and still another would need to be -printed in a long narrow oblong to make an attractive picture. Choose -the mat which best fits the picture. All styles and sizes may be bought -at the dealer in photographic goods, or one may make the mats himself. A -pretty mat is made by taking a piece of post-office paper and marking an -irregular opening large enough to take in the picture; tear the paper on -the pencilled lines, peeling it so as to leave it thinner at the edges. -Any-shaped opening may be made, and a picture which has a spot or -scratch which would mar it if shown in the print may be blocked out in -this way. Pictures printed in this way are very pretty, and something -out of the ordinary way of printing.</p> - -<p>Having the pictures printed, the selection of the card mount is the next -consideration. The mount should show at least an inch or more margin all -round, and one may buy the plain mounts and punch eyelet-holes in the -edges to fasten them with, or else the regular album leaves, which have -holes for fastening together. The album leaves are really better than -the cards, as the edges having the eyelet-holes are finished with cloth, -which prevents the card from breaking.</p> - -<p>Under each picture letter a title or an appropriate quotation, using -either ultramarine or cobalt blue water-color. Either corresponds with -the color of the finished print.</p> - -<p>The cover may be of rough water-color paper, and decorated with the -brush in blue, or an opening may be cut in the cover, and a tiny blue -print set back of it like a picture in a frame. In such a case there -would need to be two pieces for the front cover, glued at the edges. Tie -the whole together with a heavy blue silk cord the color of the blue -prints, or with two-inch-wide blue ribbon with a butterfly bow.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>DON'T WORRY YOURSELF</h3> - -<p>and don't worry the baby; avoid both unpleasant conditions by giving the -child pure, digestible food. Don't use solid preparations. <i>Infant -Health</i> is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your address to the New -York Condensed Milk Company, N. Y.—[<i>Adv.</i>]</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>ADVERTISEMENTS.</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>Postage Stamps, &c.</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>50 Distinct Countries</h3> - -<h3>135 Different Varieties</h3> - -<h3>53c. by letter, post-paid.</h3> - -<p>If on sheets, $2.00. Two packets for a dollar bill. Holiday Offer: 211 -Presents valued at $100.00 distributed among purchasers. Particulars and -a rare stamp sent for 3c.; 100 mixed stamps, 10c.</p> - -<h4>A. L. Lewis, 2 Maltland Place, Toronto, Canada.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"> -<img src="images/ill_024.jpg" width="100" height="72" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>100 all dif. Venezuela, Bolivia, etc., only 10c.; 200 all dif. Hayti, -Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. List FREE! <b>C. A. -Stegmann</b>, 5941 Cote Brilliante Ave., St. Louis, Mo</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p>500 Mixed Australian, etc., 10c.; <b>105 varieties</b>, and nice album, 10c.; -15 unused, 10c.; 10 Africa, 10c.; 15 Asia, 10c. F. P. Vincent, Chatham, -N.Y.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="center">FINE PACKETS in large variety. Stamps at 50% com. Col's bought. -Northwestern Stamp Co., Freeport, Ill.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="center">FINE APPROVAL SHEETS. Agents wanted at 50% com. <b>P. S. Chapman, Box 151, -Bridgeport, Ct.</b></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p>STAMPS! 100 all dif. Barbados, etc. Only 10c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. -List free. L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>An important trifle—The DELONG Patent Hook and Eye and trifles make -perfection.</h3> - -<h4>See that</h4> - -<h3>hump?</h3> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 141px;"> -<img src="images/ill_025.jpg" width="141" height="200" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h4>Richardson & DeLong Bros., Philadelphia.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/ill_026.jpg" width="200" height="174" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h3>Highest Award</h3> - -<h3>WORLD'S FAIR.</h3> - -<h2>SKATES</h2> - -<h3>CATALOGUE FREE.</h3> - -<h4>BARNEY & BERRY, Springfield, Mass.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>BREAKFAST—SUPPER.</h3> - -<h2>EPPS'S</h2> - -<h3>GRATEFUL—COMFORTING.</h3> - -<h2>COCOA</h2> - -<h3>BOILING WATER OR MILK.</h3> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>HOOPING-COUGH</h2> - -<h2>CROUP.</h2> - -<h3>Roche's Herbal Embrocation.</h3> - -<p class="center">The celebrated and effectual English Cure without internal medicine. -Proprietors, W. Edward & Son.</p> - -<h4>London, England.</h4> - -<h4>E. Fougera & Co., 30 North William St., N.Y.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> -<img src="images/ill_027.jpg" width="150" height="125" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h3>PRINTING OUTFIT 10c.</h3> - -<p>Sets any name in one minute; prints 500 cards an hour. YOU can make -money with it. A font of pretty type, also Indelible Ink, Type, Holder, -Pads and Tweezers. Best Linen Marker; worth $1.00. Sample mailed FREE -for 10c. stamps for postage on outfit and large catalogue of 1000 -Bargains. Same outfit with figures 15c. Larger outfit for printing two -lines 25c. post-paid.</p> - -<h4>Ingersoll & Bro., 65 Cortlandt St., N. Y. City</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>DEAFNESS & HEAD NOISES CURED</h3> - -<p>by my INVISIBLE Tubular Cushions. Have helped more to good HEARing than -all other devices combined. Whispers HEARd. Help ears as glasses do -eyes. <b>F. Hilcox</b>, 853 B'dway, N.Y. Book of proofs <b>FREE</b></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>CARDS</h3> - -<p class="center">FOR 1896. 50 Sample Styles AND LIST OF 400 PREMIUM ARTICLES FREE. -HAVERFIELD PUB. CO., Cadiz, Ohio.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_028.jpg" width="400" height="64" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>An Appeal for a School-house.</h3> - -<p>Come, dear readers of the Table—Ladies, Knights, Patrons, and their -friends—let us make possible the laying of the corner-stone of Good -Will School next spring. The task is not a difficult one. It can be -accomplished in this way:</p> - -<p>Get one subscriber to <span class="smcap">Harper's Round Table</span>. Remit the $2 for it for one -year. Attach the accompanying Coupon. Say in your letter that you wish -the 50 cents turned into the Fund. And the thing is done. The Fund is -complete. The corner-stone will be laid. The boys will have an -Industrial school-house. The Order will have performed a grand, a -chivalrous deed.</p> - -<p>At this holiday-time every person who reads these lines has it within -his or her power to build this school-house. Because, if <i>you</i> get the -one subscriber, the house will be built. If you do not, it will not—not -now. All depends on you.</p> - -<p>Go out and ask your friends about it. Ask them to help you get the -subscriber. Your parents and teachers will help you. Ask them to do so. -Set your heart on getting this one subscriber. Go to a Sunday-school or -church committee, a day school, some well-to-do man or woman who has -young persons in the household. Ask the well-to-do neighbor. Relate the -merits of the paper, and show a sample copy and Prospectus. We furnish -them free. Ask us to do so.</p> - -<p>But do more than this. Relate the story of Good Will. Tell the person -whom you are asking to subscribe why you want the subscription, and why -you want it now. Tell him or her that Good Will Farm, while in Maine, -takes boys from any part of the country, and is therefore not a local, -but a national enterprise. Say that it is a house for an Industrial -school that the Order is to build. The Farm is in good hands, and the -school itself will be well conducted. Our task is only to put up the -building, not to conduct the school. Say that during the last few -years—two or three—more than 700 poor boys have applied for admission -to Good Will, and had to be refused it for lack of room. These boys were -deserving. Say further that if you get the subscription the school will -be built, and, by turning a house now used for the school into a -dwelling, more boys can be taken—boys of five, six, and seven years of -age, who are now homeless, may be given homes, school advantages, and a -chance to become useful Christian men.</p> - -<p>During the next two weeks will <i>you</i> get this subscription? Talk it -up—and get it. The appeal is not made to the Order. It is made to -<i>you</i>. If you do not wish to cut out the coupon, make a pen one nearly -like it, ask us for duplicates, or send on the subscription without a -coupon, simply saying that you got it to help the school, and that you -want 50 cents of the $2 given to the Fund. Be sure to give the -subscription address, and your own name for the Honor Roll.</p> - -<p>Come on, dear friends, let us build this school-house.</p> - -<h3>THIS COUPON</h3> - -<p class="center">Will be received by the publishers of <span class="smcap">Harper's Round Table</span> as</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_029.jpg" width="400" height="91" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>when accompanied by an order For a NEW subscription to <span class="smcap">Harper's Round -Table</span> and One Dollar and Fifty Cents. The intent of this Coupon is to -pay you for inducing another person, not now a <i>subscriber</i>, to -subscribe for <span class="smcap">Harper's Round Table</span> for one year. This Coupon has nothing -whatever to do with your own subscription; that is, with the copy you -expect to read next year, it matters not in whose name it be ordered, -and will not be accepted as payment for any part of it. It is good for -its face in the hands of any person who performs the work indicated, -whether said person is a subscriber or not. HARPER & BROTHERS.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>A Drive in Switzerland.</h3> - -<blockquote> - -<p>We have been passing three weeks of our summer vacation at -Mühlenen, a tiny village in the Bernese Oberland, where there are -so many interesting things to write about that the only trouble is -to know with what to begin. One beautiful drive we took would, I -think, interest our Table, so I shall do my best to describe it.</p> - -<p>Mühlenen lies in a lovely and fertile valley called the Frutigthal, -through which winds a rushing river, the Kander. A great deal -higher up than Mühlenen, about nineteen kilometres away, is the -village of Kandersteg, 1156 metres above the level of the sea, and -just at the entrance of the celebrated Gemmi Pass. To this little -village, one cloudless summer day, we—my aunt, a dear friend, my -sister, and myself—decided to drive, and, what is more, we -determined to be unconventional, and go without a coachman. In -Switzerland a lady never drives herself, and it is even seldom that -a gentleman does so, but we knew that people would shrug their -shoulders and say: "Ah, well! they are only Americans," in a tone -that implies, "they know no better, and are up to anything wild and -dangerous," so we have gone alone from time to time during the past -year.</p> - -<p>At half past seven we were safely installed in the "Einspenner," as -they call the one-horse vehicles there, and Lenore, being driver, -tried her best to crack the whip in a professional way, ejaculated -"hui! hui!" and wound up the brake. In German Switzerland one must -say "hui hui" to make a horse go, while in the French cantons -"allez houp" is the usual way. Our Table probably knows that every -carriage has a brake, which is put on at every slight decline with -the greatest care. As we came into the main road to Frutigen all -eyes were turned towards the beautiful Blümlisalp, which rose in -its grandeur before us, and no wonder, for it is a sight one never -tires of. Before us lay the peaceful green valley, the picturesque -old peasant houses dotted about, and to the left the quaint little -village of Reichenbach, with its old church-tower bearing the date -1546. On the right, rising about 300 feet away, the dark Niesen -towered up towards the sky, at its base the Kander, whose music -lulls us to sleep every night, and straight before us the -Blümlisalp, Gerihorn, Wildstrubel, and many other mountains.</p> - -<p>We drove on to Frutigen, passing many sheep, cows, and goats, being -driven by peasant owners to the cattle market which was to be held -next day. Most of these peasants laughed at our driver, making some -good-natured remark, others passed nodding "Gott grüss Ihnen" (God -greet you), as is the custom. Frutigen is the most important -village in the valley, and is also quite modern looking. A large -fire there some time ago burnt up a great many houses, which have -been replaced by stone buildings which look very stiff and ugly in -comparison to the wooden chalets. Just on the other side of -Frutigen is a hill on which the ruins of the old castle of -Tellenburg are to be seen. Fellen was the old German word meaning -tax or tribute, and the people of the valley had to pay tribute to -the barons who lived in the castle. The last baron, Anton von -Thurm, was deeply in debt and sold the whole valley to Bern for -6200 Gulden.</p> - -<p>About an hour from Frutigen is the "Blauseeli," or little blue -lake, which I once described in a letter to the "Post-office," -before our Order existed. A little further on is another ruin, -exceedingly picturesque, and situated just as I imagined a castle -should be, on a high, almost inaccessible rock. The owner was also -Anton von Thurm, a wild, cruel tyrant. He and his followers were -greatly feared throughout the valley, and yet the people had to pay -him tribute. Once he had the fine idea to exact a herd of young -cattle from them as that year's payment, and when the peasants -begged and implored him not to, he simply laughed them to scorn.</p> - -<p>The people held a counsel and decided to kill the wicked baron. -They decorated the asked-for cattle, dressed themselves in their -Sunday best, and started off to the castle apparently peaceful, -happy, and resigned, but in reality each with a hidden weapon. The -baron heard in some way that there was a plot against him, and at -the last minute fled over the border, back to his castle in the -canton of Valais. The people arrived only to find the Felsenburg -deserted and the doors closed against them. Filled with rage at -being robbed of their prey they beat in the doors and destroyed the -castle completely, leaving it the ruin we now can see. I think they -served the Baron Anton right.</p> - -<p>After passing the Felsenburg the road goes up in zigzags to the -Kander Valley. All the way we had a most beautiful view of the -whole Frutigen Valley with mountain chain of the Viesen in the -background. The houses began to be very interesting now, for almost -all have texts or inscriptions burned on the outside, as well as -dates. We stopped to read some of them, and I copied this one for -the Table.</p> - -<p>Gebauen durch Johannes Brosser und sein Ehgemahl Maria Ogi. 1m 1556 -Jahre. David Würner Zimmermeister war.</p> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Gott bewahre dieses Haus,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Und die da geben ein und aus.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>This last is evidently original poetry, meaning, "God protect this -house, and those who go in and out of it." Some of them are texts -from the Bible, and I think the idea very beautiful. Others have no -texts nor verses, but tell who built the house, who owned it, and -some give a long list of the people who lived in it, what their -profession was, etc. One house evidently was the first work of some -proud young carpenter, for he wrote, "Johann Hari was carpenter and -twenty-two years old."</p> - -<p>I said we stopped the horse to read these texts. How most of the -Knights and Ladies would have laughed could they have seen <i>how</i> we -stopped him. If I saw an interesting looking house, I had to say -that I wanted to read what was on it quite a while before we came -to it. Then Lenore would brace herself and pull up the horse, but -instead of stopping like a well-bred animal he would walk on and on -till finally, when Lenore had no "pull" left in her, he would stop. -Not that he was a fiery, spirited horse. Alas! no. It was just as -hard to make him start after he had once been persuaded to stand -still, and as for trotting— We all combined our voices in a loud -"hui, hui," at the same time flecking him continually with the -whip, to make him go out of a creeping walk.</p> - -<p>At Kandersteg we went to the Hotel Gemmi for dinner, and while -waiting till it was ready amused ourselves by reading the queer -verses written all over the dining-room walls. At another table -were some travellers, two of them unmistakably American, and it -sounded very homelike to hear "all right," instead of "quite so." I -was buying photographs for my collection later, and an English lady -came up and spoke to me. During the conversation I said something -about America. "Are <i>you</i> American?" she said, incredulously. Upon -my replying in the affirmative she went on, "Why, r<i>ee</i>ly you have -no accent at all." We arrived in Mühlenen at seven o'clock in high -spirits, and much delighted with the beautiful day.</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Winterthur</span>.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Marian Greene</span>, R.T.F.</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>Getting Behind the Scenes.</h3> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Could you inform me if there ever was such a boy as Diego Pinzon, -and if so, was he in the crew of the <i>Pinta</i>? Was Martin Alonzo -Pinzon the proprietor of the <i>Pinta</i>, as stated by Mr. Coryell, or -Gomez Rascona and Christopher Quintero, as stated by Justin Winsor -in his <i>Christopher Columbus</i>?</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Geneva, Fla</span>.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Leo Rehbinder</span>, R.T.F.</span><br /> -</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>I did not say or mean to convey the impression, in <i>Diego Pinzon</i>, -that Martin Alonzo Pinzon was the proprietor of the <i>Pinta</i>. I use -the words, "* * * the <i>Pinta</i>, as the vessel of Martin Alonzo was -named." I meant the vessel of which he was captain. The phrase is -not definite, but is usual. The <i>Pinta</i> belonged to Gomez Rascon -and Christoval Quintero, and had been pressed into the service of -the expedition.</p> - -<p>I have no knowledge that a boy by the name of Diego Pinzon was one -of the crew of the <i>Pinta</i>; but I took the liberty of shipping him -for the voyage, because there were several boys of his age who went -on the expedition, and because there were several Pinzons in the -crews of the three vessels. I have no doubt that there was more -than one Diego on the expedition. I am certain there were several -Pinzons; and so I make my combination of Diego Pinzon.</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Cornwall</span>, N. Y.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">John R. Coryell</span>.</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="STAMPS" id="STAMPS"></a> -<img src="images/ill_030.jpg" width="400" height="137" alt="STAMPS" /> -</div> - -<blockquote> - -<p>This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin -collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question -on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondent should address -Editor Stamp Department.</p></blockquote> - -<p>There seems to be no end of changes in the printing of the current -United States postage stamps. It has just been discovered that all the -plates of the 2-cents, from No. 171 upward, have had the guidelines for -cutting the complete sheet of 400 stamps into four sheets of 100 each -changed, so that now on each sheet of 100 stamps the inside corner -stamps have an extra red line parallel with two of the sides (see -diagram in <span class="smcap">Round Table</span> No. 830). This makes four distinct varieties of -the red stamp, which every collector can easily find. The same principle -will probably be applied to all the other stamps now current.</p> - -<p>And still another variety, or curiosity, has just been noticed. The -left-hand sheet of the present 15-cent stamp (Plate No. 52) is marked on -the margin W. F. G., W. L. C. These initials appear on the upper margin -of the sheet, immediately above the first stamp. To the left, on the -margin, appear the initials C. S. This is another variety easily -obtainable by almost every collector. Of course the stamp must have the -entire margin of the sheet, or, still better, keep the entire strip of -the top row of ten stamps.</p> - -<p>This interesting variety was first seen by a gentleman who is not a -collector, but, having unusually sharp eyes, called the attention of a -veteran collector to the same.</p> - -<p>Speaking of plate-numbers, which are the fashion at present, reminds me -that the finest collection of these ever made up was exhibited to the -members of the New York Philatelic Society at its last meeting. At the -same meeting another member exhibited his West-Indian, and still another -his Australasian. Each collection was simply superb. Thousands of -dollars were spent in making up the West-Indian and the Australasian -collections to where a hundred had been spent on the plate-number -collection, and yet each collector had something the others had not, and -every one present was greatly pleased by an inspection of all three.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p><span class="smcap">Fred. L. Hawthorne</span>, Kingston, Jamaica, wants to exchange stamps, -seeds, etc., with collectors in the U.S.</p> - -<p>A. M. J.—Similar questions to yours as to values of coins have -been answered several times. When a coin is so worn that the date -cannot be read it is usually worthless.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">J. Hall</span>.—A pair of 20-cent St. Louis stamps was sold for $5000 to -a collector in the East about a month ago.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">F. H. Church</span>, Boonville, N. Y., wishes to exchange stamps, birds' -eggs, etc.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">F. Keller</span>.—The 30-cent Ceylon is worth 12c., the 25-cent Straits -Settlements 15c., the 1-cent Shanghai 5c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">S. Thompson</span>.—The Department has discontinued all U. S. envelopes -except the 1, 2, 4, and 5c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">J. W. Stevens</span>.—The 1859 cent does not command any premium.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">W. F. Scott</span>.—I have sent you a copy of the statutes of the -Philatelic Society, New York, the leading society in this country. -Monaco issues a regular series of stamps.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">W. Comfort</span>.—We do not buy coins. The 1798 cent is catalogued at -20c. The other cent is worth 5c.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">J. F. Rodgers</span>.—The 15-cent Columbian, unused, is sold by dealers -at 20c. Used is worth 5c.</p></blockquote> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">Philatus</span>.</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/ill_031.jpg" width="600" height="168" alt="Ivory Soap" /> -</div> - -<p>Have you noticed when discussing household affairs with other ladies -that each one has found some special use for Ivory Soap, usually the -cleansing of some article that it was supposed could not be safely -cleaned at home.</p> - -<h4><span class="smcap">The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti</span>.</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<img src="images/ill_032.jpg" width="400" height="64" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h3>CARDS</h3> - -<p>The FINEST SAMPLE BOOK of Gold Beveled Edge, Hidden Name, Silk Fringe, -Envelope and Calling Cards ever offered for a 2 cent stamp. These are -GENUINE CARDS, NOT TRASH. <b>UNION CARD CO., COLUMBUS, OHIO.</b></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>SOME NEW BOOKS</h2> - -<h2>FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</h2> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>"HARPER'S ROUND TABLE" FOR 1895</h3> - -<p class="center">Volume XVI. With 1096 Pages, and about 750 Illustrations. 4to, Cloth, -Ornamental, $3.50.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>A literal mine of instruction and entertainment.... The young -person who receives this beautiful book as a Christmas gift is an -enviable person indeed.—<i>Examiner</i>, N. Y.</p> - -<p>There is nothing, we imagine, that the young reader would be likely -to prize more.—<i>N. Y. Sun</i>.</p> - -<p>A truly royal volume for the youthful reading appetite—<i>Boston -Courier</i>.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>A LIFE OF CHRIST FOR YOUNG PEOPLE</h3> - -<p class="center">In Questions and Answers. By <span class="smcap">Mary Hastings Foote</span>. With Map. Post 8vo, -Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The Rev. Dr. <span class="smcap">David H. Greer</span> writes:</p> - -<p>"I believe it to be one of the most satisfactory manuals of that -character which I have ever seen. It meets a need both in the -family and the Sunday-school, and I am sure that its merits will be -very quickly and widely appreciated. It is not often that I can -give an indorsement so cordially and unreservedly as in this case."</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>OAKLEIGH</h3> - -<p class="center">A Story for Girls. By <span class="smcap">Ellen Douglas Deland</span>. Illustrated. Post 8vo, -Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The story is told in a simple and direct manner that enlists the -sympathy and attention of the reader.—<i>Saturday Evening Gazette</i>, -Boston.</p> - -<p>A story for girls, charmingly written, and illustrated throughout -with pictures dainty enough to please the most fastidious -damsel.... The incidents are full of life, the characters are very -natural, and the conversations well sustained, so that the story is -full of intense interest from beginning to end.—<i>Chicago -Inter-Ocean</i>.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>By KIRK MUNROE</h3> - -<p><b>Snow-Shoes and Sledges</b>, a Sequel to "The Fur-Seal's Tooth." Illustrated. -Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Will hold the interest of its readers from beginning to end.—<i>N. Y. -Evening Post</i>.</p> - -<p>The young folks will take delight in it.... We confess to have read -every word of the journal with as much interest as we once read -"Robinson Crusoe" or the "Swiss Family Robinson."—<i>Christian -Intelligencer</i>, N.Y.</p></blockquote> - -<h3><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR:</i></h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The Fur-Seal's Tooth</span>.—<span class="smcap">Raftmates</span>.—<span class="smcap">Canoemates</span>.—<span class="smcap">Campmates</span>.—<span class="smcap">Dorymates</span>. -Each one volume. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.25.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Wakulla</span>.—<span class="smcap">The Flamingo Feather</span>.—<span class="smcap">Derrick Sterling</span>.—<span class="smcap">Chrystal, Jack & -Co</span>., and <span class="smcap">Delta Bixey</span>. Illustrated. Square 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 each.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>By MRS. SANGSTER</h3> - -<p><b>Little Knights and Ladies.</b> Verses for Young People. By <span class="smcap">Margaret E. -Sangster</span>, Author of "On the Road Home," etc. Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, -Ornamental, $1.25.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>These verses for young people are brimful of sweetness and -tenderness; they will find generous welcome.... All through the -little volume runs a graceful current of personal influence, sunny -and gentle and sympathetic.—<i>Independent</i>, N. Y.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>BY W. J. HENDERSON</h3> - -<p><b>Afloat With the Flag.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. J. Henderson</span>, Author of "Sea Yarns for -Boys," etc. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Mr. W. J. Henderson's latest sea-story for boys is one of the best -we have seen.... The story has been read with eager interest by -thousands of <span class="smcap">Round Table</span> readers, and it will have an additional -charm to them and others in its present book form.—<i>Boston -Advertiser</i>.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h4>HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York</h4> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 340px;"> -<img src="images/ill_033.jpg" width="340" height="400" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">THE DUCK. "<span class="smcap">Say, are you going to hang up your stocking on Christmas eve</span>?"<br /><br /> -THE STORK. "<span class="smcap">Naw! I want something more than a toothpick</span>."</span> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="BOBBYS_COMPOSITION" id="BOBBYS_COMPOSITION">BOBBY'S COMPOSITION.</a></h2> - -<h3>THE CAT.</h3> - -<p>The cat is a small animal with four legs and a long tail. The cat is -covered with cat fur. In the night cats love to roost on the back fence. -They roost lengthways of it, instead of cross ways like a bird or a hen.</p> - -<p>When the cat wants to say anything it utters a yowl. No other animal -yowls, except a baby, and its yowl is different. Mostly cats make their -remarks in the night. The baby is not different from the cat in this -respect.</p> - -<p>Cats have nine lives, but after a cat has lost one of them she isn't -good for much except a cat-skin. If I was a cat I wouldn't be afraid of -dogs.</p> - -<p>Cats' eyes shine in the dark. Once I was up in our garret, and saw a -cat's eyes shining. I came down and went to talking to Ma about things. -She said she thought I went up into the garret to stay awhile. I said, -"No, I staid as long as I intended to."</p> - -<p>The cat has an Ann Tipathy for rats. Cats eat rats. Tastes differ. The -Chinese make porcelain cats with yellow glass eyes, and put a candle -inside. When the rats see it they go away on the dead run. Of course -there is no danger. I forget what I went up into the garret for that -time.</p> - -<p>The middle of cats' eyes gets big in the dark and small in the light. -Girls like cats. A cat goes up a tree frontwards and comes down -backwards. They go up because they see a dog, and come down when the dog -isn't looking. The more dogs a cat sees the bigger her tail gets. The -cats in the Isle of Man don't have any tails, so they are not afraid of -dogs.</p> - -<p>Once we had a cat whose eyes got so big in the dark that you'd have been -afraid if you hadn't known what it was. This was the same cat I saw in -the garret. But, pshaw! I knew what it was right away soon as I got -down!</p> - -<p>That's all anybody knows about cats.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Uncle Bob</span>. "What's the matter, Tommy? What makes you look so gloomy?"</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tommy</span>. "I don't think Santa Claus is a very sensible man. I'd think any -one with as much sperience wouldn't give little boys pumps when their -mammas wouldn't let 'em put any water in 'em."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>THE CONCEITED COW.</h3> - -<p> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">A haughty cow unto a horse</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Remarked, "Why cannot we,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">And only we two, practise for</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">A dual jubilee?</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">My bass profound is faultless,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">While your tenor tremulo</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">Is heavenly; and our duet</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Would please our master so."</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">With pleading moo she urged her case,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Then sadly turned away,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 18em;">For the horse looked up disdainfully,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 19em;">And only answered "Neigh!"</span><br /> -</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed Bobby, "I've thought of the awfulest, dreadfulest -thing. Suppose our chimney should catch fire Christmas eve?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Bobby</span>. "Mamma, I don't want any fire in my room to-night."</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mamma</span>. "Why, you'll freeze."</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Bobby</span>. "I don't mind being cold, but if you leave the fire burn, Santa -Claus won't be able to come down the chimney."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jack</span> (<i>to friend on bicycle</i>). "What's your hurry; are you racing for a -train?"</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Joe</span>. "No; I'm training for a race."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>BOBBY TAKES TO JOKING.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Bobby</span>. "I don't see why they talk about the 'Forty Thieves' in the -<i>Arabian Nights</i>."</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mamma</span>. "Why not?"</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Bobby</span>. "'Cos they acted like sixty."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 310px;"> -<img src="images/ill_034.jpg" width="310" height="500" alt="" /> -<span class="caption">A CHRISTMAS STOC-KING.</span> -</div> - -<p style="clear:both;"> </p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Begun in <span class="smcap">Harper's Round Table</span> No. 836.</p></div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, December 24, 1895, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S ROUND TABLE *** - -***** This file should be named 50679-h.htm or 50679-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/6/7/50679/ - -Produced by Annie R. 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