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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56802 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]
+
+Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY.
+
+VOL. XVII.--NO. 860. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE BATTLE OF BRICK CHURCH.
+
+BY L. A. TEREBEL.
+
+
+What the Lincoln Cadets called their "armory" was a large low hall in
+the basement of the Brick Church. Here they drilled three times a week
+during the winter and spring; and here they kept their brightly polished
+guns in racks ranged along the wall; and here their drums and bugles
+were stacked in a pyramid in one corner; and old Tom, the janitor, was
+their "armorer." On the walls, in polished oak frames, hung photographs
+of groups of officers that had commanded the cadets in years past, and
+one picture of the entire battalion of sixty boys drawn up in parade
+formation in the park; and over the door, in a gold frame, was a fine
+steel engraving of Abraham Lincoln that had been presented to the corps
+by Mr. Dunworthy, the president of the Board of Trustees of the Brick
+Church, and the chief patron of the cadets. Opposite the door, at the
+other end of the room, was a closet with glass doors, in which the
+battalion's colors and the stars and stripes and the markers' flags were
+kept securely locked at all times when not in use.
+
+The first sergeants had not yet called upon their men to fall in, and
+the cadets were standing about the hall in groups, pulling on their
+white gloves and arranging their belts, for they intended to make a
+brave show that night because Mr. Dunworthy was coming in later to
+review the battalion. It was early, however, and Mr. Dunworthy need not
+be expected until after the meeting of the Trustees, which was being
+held in the vestry-room upstairs.
+
+"Perhaps he won't come, anyway," said Captain Tom Taylor, who commanded
+Company A.
+
+"Why not?" asked Adjutant Dale, as he struggled with his gold aigulets.
+
+"His men have been on strike for pretty near a week now, and Mr.
+Dunworthy has been obliged to stay at the mills until all hours,"
+continued Taylor.
+
+"And I saw in the papers to-day the men were beginning to get ugly," put
+in a diminutive Lieutenant in short trousers. "The police had to be
+called to clear the yard in front of the mills."
+
+"I wish those Poles would stay in Poland," remarked the Adjutant; but
+just then there was a blast from the bugle, and a great stamping of feet
+and scattering of groups put an end to further discussion of the strike
+at Roland and Dunworthy's mills.
+
+For those who are not so well informed as the cadets, however, it may be
+well to state that the trouble at the iron-mills was wholly restricted
+to the Polish element among the workmen. Most of these fellows were hard
+characters, employed at the furnaces and in the puddling shops. In all,
+they numbered about one hundred and fifty. Few of them could speak
+English, all were ignorant, and a majority had seen the inside of the
+town jail. But as they were the only class of men that the mill-owners
+could obtain to do that class of work, they had to be employed. The
+difficulty which had resulted in the present strike was of long
+standing. The men had made certain demands, and these demands, after a
+brief delay, had been granted. And the Poles, thinking then that any
+request of theirs should be acceded to, immediately asked for further
+benefits, and when these were refused they left their work. Some of the
+worst threw stones, and one of the stones hit the superintendent. Three
+men were arrested and locked up in the jail. This seemed to make the
+Poles very angry, and they became so demonstrative that, as the
+Lieutenant had said, the police had to be called in to drive them out of
+the yard in front of Mr. Dunworthy's office.
+
+All these occurrences made it necessary for Mr. Dunworthy to remain late
+at the mills, and consequently he was forced to send a note to the
+church saying that he would be unable to be present at the trustees'
+meeting that evening. Old Tom, the janitor, was sent down stairs to
+inform the cadets. Old Tom had served in the cavalry during the war, and
+he wore a decoration on his breast for gallantry at Vicksburg. So when
+he entered the drill-room he stood very erect, and marched up to Major
+Jack Downing, a tall, good-looking young man, and saluted in proper
+military style, then waited for permission to speak. When he announced
+that Mr. Dunworthy was not coming, there was an audible hum of
+disappointment in the ranks.
+
+"Never mind," said Major Downing, quickly; "we will go on with the
+parade just as if he were here."
+
+Old Tom saluted and withdrew. He went up stairs and stood on the front
+steps of the church, looking up at the clear starlit April sky.
+Presently, however, his reveries were interrupted by the sound of many
+feet and a sort of distant humming noise, and looking down the avenue,
+he saw a crowd of men approaching. He thought at first it was a body of
+street-cleaners or some other gang of night-workmen; but as they came
+nearer he recognized them as Poles, iron-workers from the mills. There
+must have been a hundred or more, and half of them carried bludgeons.
+They did not pass by the church, as old Tom had thought they would, but,
+seeing him standing there, they paused, and one bearded fellow, who
+spoke English fairly well, asked, "Is this the Brick Church?"
+
+"Yes," answered the janitor, curtly.
+
+"Is Dunworthy inside?"
+
+"Mr. Dunworthy is not here to-night," continued old Tom.
+
+The crowd grumbled.
+
+"Come off!" shouted another. "We know he's here; he's at a meeting.
+
+"He is not," replied the janitor: and seeing that the men were gradually
+crowding in from the sidewalk through the iron gates, old Tom went down
+to them, and said:
+
+"See here, you fellows, I tell you Mr. Dunworthy is not here, and you
+have got to get out. You are disturbing the meeting."
+
+"Ah-h-h-h!" shouted the crowd, like an angry sea; and a piece of sod,
+torn up from the grass-plot in front of the church, knocked off the
+janitor's hat. This angered the old cavalryman, and he gave the men
+nearest to him a vigorous shove, and tried to close the gates. He was
+unwise in this, for the Poles seized him, and soon there was a general
+fight, in which old Tom was the target for every Polander's fist and
+foot.
+
+Of course it is not to be expected that all this could have happened
+without attracting the attention of the gentlemen in the vestry room and
+of the boys in the armory. Several of the officers had run to the top of
+the stairs as soon as they heard the approach of the Poles, and when
+they reported to the Major, the latter at once ordered "Fix bayonets!"
+and drew his men up in column of twos facing the staircase. He had
+barely completed this formation, during which two of the trustees had
+urged the boys not to show themselves upstairs, when the Adjutant
+shouted from the doorway,
+
+"Come on, fellows; they're killing old Tom!"
+
+There was a swaying in the ranks, as if the impulse of all had been to
+rush; but Jack Downing shouted:
+
+"Steady! Company A, forward, double time, march!"
+
+Captain Taylor repeated the order sharply, and leaped in the van of his
+men, reaching the top of the staircase just in time to see half a dozen
+stones and bricks fly through the church doors.
+
+He could hear Jack Downing below shouting orders to the other two
+companies. Taylor called to his men to form fours, and marched them
+straight down the steps toward the gateway. The other cadets followed
+close behind up the narrow staircase, and the Major sent one company to
+the left of Taylor's rear, and one to the right, so as to attack the
+strikers in three parallel columns.
+
+The appearance of uniforms and bayonets from the church was a big
+surprise to the Polanders. They were so startled that they fell back to
+the middle of the street, leaving poor old Tom almost senseless on the
+sidewalk. Two non-commissioned officers of C Company helped him to his
+feet, and led him back into the vestry-room, where a corpulent old
+gentleman was telephoning madly for the police.
+
+But in the mean time there were lively times in the street. The Poles,
+partly recovered from their surprise, snarled like animals, and spoke
+hard words in their own hard language, and many of them threw sticks and
+stones at the cadets. Jack Downing got his forces out into the street,
+where there was room to manoeuvre, and formed a sort of wedge of
+bayonets with which he charged straight into the centre of the crowd.
+The iron-workers fell back like sheep, and as soon as he had the mob
+divided the young strategist wheeled one company against one section,
+and another company against the other section, and kept Company A in
+front of the church as a sort of reserve.
+
+The Poles only threw two volleys of stones, and were then apparently so
+surprised at the advance of the cadets that they did not notice these
+were merely boys and only half their number. But they did notice that
+their opponents were disciplined, and that they carried shining bayonets
+pointing straight out in front of them; and when they saw a phalanx of
+these coming down the street they turned about and ran.
+
+The Lincoln Cadets did not pursue. They halted on the street corners and
+formed skirmish-lines. But even this was unnecessary, for as they did so
+they heard the gongs of the patrol wagons, and soon a score of policemen
+were in the neighborhood of the church--and not a Pole in sight!
+
+The young Major drew his three companies up into battalion formation on
+the sidewalk then, and one of the trustees stood on the steps of the
+church and made what the Adjutant afterward characterized as a "regular
+spread-eagle, star-spangled-banner, Fourth-of-July speech." He ended by
+inviting the battalion to a near-by restaurant, where he ordered served
+for them just exactly the kind of an evening feast they would have
+ordered if they had had the doing of it themselves. Old Tom (with a
+black eye) sat at the head of the table, and after the cakes and the
+ice-cream had been slaughtered even worse than the Poles, he told
+stories of his own fighting days, and as he closed he said he had seen
+many battles, but none he cared more to remember than the "Battle of
+Brick Church."
+
+
+
+
+A PLUCKY YOUNG TENDERFOOT.
+
+BY PAUL HULL.
+
+
+Harry Brown had the cowboy fever, and this is the way that the disease
+originated. During the early spring Harry's uncle had been a guest with
+the Brown family for several weeks, during which time the boy had been
+regaled with stories of wild Western life and adventure until his dreams
+suggested a panorama of prairie-land, cowboys, a whole menagerie of
+savage animals, and an endless procession of gayly bedecked and
+hideously painted Indians galloping furiously across the plains.
+
+Uncle Joel had taken a great fancy to his sister's child, and having a
+boy of his own about the same age, he proposed to the somewhat startled
+parents to carry the lad away with him for the summer, and give him an
+outing on his ranch, where he would have the companionship of his
+sixteen-year-old cousin Frank, whom he had placed at school in Chicago
+for the winter, and for whom he intended to call when on his way back to
+Wyoming.
+
+After considerable pleading and argument, Harry's mother at length
+allowed herself to be almost persuaded that if he went he would not be
+converted into a long-haired, swaggering, pistol-shooting citizen, and
+that hostile bands of redskins were not in the habit of lying in ambush
+around the ranch for the purpose of scalping its inmates several times a
+day; so at last she hesitatingly added her consent to that of her
+husband's.
+
+During the remaining week of Uncle Joel's stay in New York the poor man
+was subjected by the anxious mother to such a running fire of
+cross-questioning, and so made to feel the awful responsibility that he
+was incurring by taking Harry away from his comfortable home, where he
+was tenderly cared for, to place him among strangers and savage beasts
+and wild and uncouth cowboys, as well as blood-thirsty Indians, that he
+would have gladly gone back on his contract, even if it was calculated
+to cost him a dozen of his best steers.
+
+The time set for the departure arrived, and, being a Saturday, Harry was
+escorted to the depot by a large delegation of his school-mates, who
+gazed enviously at their companion striding along at the side of his
+rich cowboy uncle, who had been elevated into a hero in their minds by
+reason of the startling tales of Indian adventure in which, according to
+his nephew's account, he had been a most prominent actor. It is safe to
+say that Harry's imagination was responsible for the gaudy coloring of
+some of the stories, and that the rate at which his uncle was reputed to
+have cleaned out the red men whenever an uprising took place proved
+conclusively that the savages were either so thick in Wyoming that they
+interfered with one another's walking, or that they were wise enough not
+to go upon the warpath very often--otherwise that territory would have
+been depopulated of its natives long before.
+
+After two days of anticipation, Harry stepped off the train at Chicago
+to greet a lad whom he had seen on the platform from the car window, and
+whose resemblance to Uncle Joel permitted no doubt as to his
+relationship. Frank had been written to some days previous concerning
+the companion that had been selected for him for the summer, and had
+been anxious to meet his cousin, so, as he expressed himself to a
+school-mate, "to size him up and see what stuff he was made out of."
+
+For a moment after Uncle Joel had introduced them, in his bluff but
+kindly way, the boys held back just a trifle, as though measuring one
+another according to individual standards; then a mutual smile of
+pleasure and satisfaction lit up their faces, and they shook hands
+heartily and walked off arm in arm, to the gratification of Mr.
+Williams, who heard them exchanging confidences and speculating over the
+coming vacation.
+
+The ride from the foot of Lake Michigan to the city of Cheyenne was full
+of novelty and excitement for the Eastern boy, whose previous travelling
+had never carried him beyond the limits of the Empire State.
+
+On the morning of the day that the train rolled into the capital city of
+Wyoming, Mr. Williams pointed to a natural and lofty pyramid of rocks
+situated a few hundred feet away from the track, telling them to take in
+the situation quickly, as the train would shortly round a curve and hide
+it from view.
+
+Harry asked his uncle if there was a history connected with the scene,
+and learning that his suspicious were well founded, begged for the
+story. Mr. Williams began in the orthodox fashion:
+
+"A long time ago, when I was a young fellow about twenty-three years of
+ago, I first came out to this part of the country as a member of a
+railroad surveying party. One awfully hot August afternoon we had worked
+our stakes along until we reached the big mass of rock that I pointed
+out to you a few minutes ago. As there was a promise of a thunder
+shower, according to the big black clouds soaring up out of the
+northwest, and as we were all knocked up with the heat, our chief gave
+orders to unhitch the cattle and to camp under the shade of the rocks.
+
+"We had two good guides and Indian-fighters in our outfit, and being in
+a hostile country, of course they were always on the alert for Indian
+signs and ambushes. Although we had had several attacks from the
+hair-lifting individuals, the same had always been made when we were
+prepared for them, owing to the warning given by our guides. Well, why
+it was that they were so careless on that day I speak of I cannot say,
+unless the burning heat of the forenoon had taken away their shrewdness
+and caution.
+
+"As far as the eye could reach in every direction there was nothing but
+rolling prairie, except right against our backs, where the bare and
+ragged rocks went up almost straight into the misty, heat-charged
+atmosphere. As we intended to remain in camp for the remainder of the
+day and coming night, sentinels were stationed on the four sides of the
+rock, and the mules and horses were allowed to crop the parched grass in
+the vicinity as far as their picket-ropes would allow them to wander, it
+being intended to drive them within the square of wagons before dark, so
+as to make them secure against a stampede.
+
+"About four o'clock the storm came sweeping across the prairie, and for
+about an hour the thunder rolled and cracked and the lightning flashed
+as it knows how to do in Wyoming; then when it seemed to be dying away,
+there came a blinding flash of fire in our faces and the most awful
+crash I ever heard. It stunned us all for a moment, so that when
+something came pitching down from the rocks just over our heads and fell
+with a thud on the sodden grass a few feet away, we imagined it to be a
+piece of the cliff detached by the last concussion. After that the rain
+ceased and the sun shone out. Then it was that we discovered the thing
+in front of us to be a Cheyenne warrior. After the first look there was
+no use in seeking for signs of life in him, for his face was as black as
+that of a negro's, and one side of him was horribly burned. It didn't
+take us long to reason that he had been hidden away among the rocks,
+spying on us, and that the last lightning bolt had been attracted to him
+by the steel tomahawk in his belt. Well, after that we pulled out on the
+open prairie and kept a close watch on that pile of rock for the
+remainder of the afternoon and night, for we didn't know how many more
+of the heathen there might be in hiding up there; but nothing further
+happened, and in the morning we said good-by to it with a big feeling of
+relief."
+
+At Cheyenne, Mr. Williams's foreman and several ranch hands were in
+waiting with saddle horses for the party. During the two days that the
+party remained in the city Frank gave Harry some valuable lessons in
+horsemanship, and after about a week's experience, in which time he
+became hardened to the saddle, Harry found no greater enjoyment than in
+galloping about the range on the back of a fiery young horse that his
+cousin had raised, and which he presented to him "for keeps," as he
+expressed it.
+
+Now Frank Williams was a kind-hearted young fellow, and during the
+fortnight that he and Harry had been thrown together a mutual affection
+had grown between them; but Frank was brimming over with mischief, and
+he conceived a plan for having a laugh at his "tenderfoot relation," as
+Harry was called by the cowboys.
+
+The few Indians who appeared in the vicinity of the ranch belonged to a
+peaceable tribe of Cheyennes, but when the opportunity came Frank
+intended for the time being to mentally transform these demoralized and
+decidedly lazy individuals into the most frenzied and blood-thirsty
+creatures that his imagination was equal to. The cowboys were taken into
+the secret, and a mysterious visit was made by one of them to the Indian
+camp, where the chief, who delighted in the high-sounding title of
+"Dog-with-two-tails," was pleased to dispose of several feathered
+head-dresses and a quantity of colored pigments for a suspicious-looking
+black bottle, which the noble savage patted affectionately and stowed
+away inside his dirty shirt.
+
+Several days after this Frank asked his cousin to take a canter with him
+to a somewhat remote point of the range where the men were branding the
+young cattle. As they rode across the undulating prairie, sweet and
+fresh in the early summer sunshine, Frank explained to his cousin that
+the Indian outbreaks were always timed to take place when the winter was
+over. Then he went on to state, with a shade of worry on his face, that
+although there had been no trouble for some time, it was well to be on
+guard constantly, for the uprisings generally took place when they were
+least expected. He kept on in this strain until the branding-place was
+reached; then Harry became so interested in the round up and sorting of
+the cattle that he failed to notice several of the cowboys disappearing
+into the small woods close at hand.
+
+After a time the boys started on their ten-mile ride for home, allowing
+their horses to jog along easily, while Frank profited by the occasion
+to further dilate concerning the uncertainty of their savage neighbors,
+and the recklessness of even riding over the range unless prepared for
+emergencies.
+
+They had ridden about two miles, when their ears were suddenly saluted
+with the most infernal series of yells that ever disgraced the human
+throat. Looking back in the direction of the sound, the boys saw, not
+more than a quarter of a mile away, coming down on them at top speed,
+five savages in full war paint and feathers, brandishing their rifles,
+while they continued to utter such unearthly screams and howls that
+Harry afterward admitted that his hair developed a tendency to lift his
+cap clear of his head.
+
+"They've broken out!" yelled Frank. "Spur for home or they'll have our
+scalps!"
+
+The next instant the two boys were frantically driving their heels into
+the sides of the speeding horses, while behind them the Indians
+redoubled their yells and swept furiously along in pursuit.
+
+All of a sudden Harry saw Frank's horse, which was a little in advance,
+step in a hole, pitch on his knees, and send its rider flying out of the
+saddle. Harry reined up by the side of his cousin, but Frank never moved
+or responded to the excited appeal for him to jump up and get on behind.
+
+What was to be done? Back there, only an eighth of a mile away, the
+redskins were tearing along on their trail, and here, helpless and
+unconscious, lay his companion.
+
+"I'll never leave him for those fiends to butcher," muttered Harry, pale
+with fear, but with his teeth set hard and a look of determination on
+his youthful face. Then he unslung his gun, dismounted from his horse,
+brought the piece to his shoulder, ran his eye along the barrel until
+the head of one of the Indians was in line, and pulled the trigger.
+
+[Illustration: THE REPULSE OF THE PRACTICAL JOKERS.]
+
+With the report the savages turned their horses and took the back trail,
+and were soon out of sight.
+
+"The miserable cowards," thought Harry, "to run away from a boy!"
+
+"Harry," said a very shamefaced lad sitting on the ground a few feet
+away, and rubbing a big lump on the back of his head, "you can put up
+your gun; there's no danger. I tried to play a joke on you, and the joke
+came on me. I'm glad that you only had bird-shot in that gun of yours,
+because you might have killed one of father's cowboys. But I say, Harry,
+dear old fellow, it was awfully brave of you to stand by me when I was
+knocked silly by that tumble, and I appreciate it just as much as though
+it was all real work instead of a joke; and--and--oh! I say Harry, old
+fellow, don't say anything about it, and if any one ever dares to call
+you a tenderfoot again when I'm around, why, I'll brand him with the
+jolliest, biggest iron that we've got on the ranch!"
+
+
+
+
+DRILLING A GREAT ARMY IN WINTER.
+
+
+The effectiveness of any of the great European standing armies depends,
+above all things, upon their being able and ready to take the field at a
+moment's notice. This theory is taught in most of the military schools
+abroad, and it is an excellent one; but there are many and almost
+insurmountable difficulties to overcome in putting it into practice.
+Still, in order to reach the highest efficiency, troops are trained to
+manoeuvre in all weather and at all seasons, especially in France and
+Germany and Russia. The Russians, having more winter weather, perhaps,
+than the other nations of Europe, were the first to recognize the value
+and importance of drills on snow and ice, and have trained their armies
+to take the field in the depth of winter.
+
+Germany has followed this example, and during the winter months the
+various corps of her vast army carried on mock warfare in various parts
+of the empire. Extreme cold is, of course, a great obstacle to the
+mobilization of troops. It is not always possible to secure lodgings for
+soldiers in towns and villages, especially in times of peace, when the
+necessity is not absolute; and the alternative of sleeping in tents,
+with the snow lying deep on the ground and the thermometer below zero,
+seems at first thought impracticable. And yet it has been shown, by the
+recent manoeuvres of the German troops, that with dire precautions men
+suffer no ill effects from this exposure. The tents which have been
+found to be the most useful are very small, and have proved warmer than
+the larger ones. The temperature inside the canvas is generally about
+ten degrees higher than outside, to begin with, and rises when occupied
+by soldiers. The men are also kept warm by having hot coffee served to
+them at intervals of two hours throughout the night. The chief object,
+of course, of winter manoeuvres is to accustom soldiers to sleep in
+tents during severe weather, and to learn to know the conditions which
+winter campaigning imposes.
+
+[Illustration: A MOCK ASSAULT ON A FORT IN WINTER.]
+
+A detachment made up of several battalions of Pioneers and Grenadier
+Guards was sent across country on a long march during one of these
+manoeuvres, in an attempt to surprise and capture a fortress. The
+attack was to be made entirely without the aid and support of artillery.
+The troops arrived before the fortress in the evening, and were
+immediately ordered to the attack, the plan being to take the place by
+assault. The bastions and ramparts, of course, were covered with snow,
+and the water in the moat, if there was any, was frozen hard. They
+approached as quietly as they could, with the intention of crossing the
+moat, but before they could get their scaling-ladders into position the
+garrison had been alarmed by the sentries, and immediately opened fire
+upon the attacking party. Search-lights were also brought into play to
+throw their glare into the moat, where the Grenadiers had gathered in
+order to climb the ramparts. But in spite of this the Guards scaled the
+inner defences, being protected by the Pioneers, who were drawn up on
+the other side of the moat, and kept up such a constant fire on the
+garrison that these troops were unable to prevent the approach of the
+Grenadiers. As soon as the latter had successfully climbed the ramparts,
+they in turn opened a hot fire upon the defenders, while the Pioneers
+crossed the moat behind them. And when the whole attacking force had
+thus surmounted their greatest obstacle, they made a rush over the inner
+defences of the fortress and captured it. This is only one of the many
+kinds of winter manoeuvres that the German troops practise. Sometimes
+whole army corps are sent to capture a city or to take possession of a
+line of railroad; and if the snows are so heavy that these roads are
+impassable, the railway corps of the German army can construct a road
+made of light steel tracks across country over the ice and the drifts.
+In this way they keep up communication with their base of supplies.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE CELLAR-DOOR.
+
+
+  We fellows held a meeting, and Tommy had the floor;
+  Ned Parks was in the chair, sir, on Charley's cellar-door.
+  We'd voted for a lot of things and ruled some others in,
+  When Tommy's mother sent for him, which made no end of din.
+
+  'Twas in the middle of his speech, but Tommy had to go,
+  For if your mother sends for you, you haven't half a show.
+  The thing that _we_ complained of was that neither just nor kind
+  Is the way a fellow's mother veers, and dares to "change her mind."
+
+  Old Tommy said his mother said that he might spend the day
+  A-playing by that cellar-door; then would not let him stay,
+  But thought of errands he must run, and broke our meeting square
+  In two just at the height of fun, and I tell you 'twasn't fair.
+
+  Grown people have such funny ways. If _we_ should change our mind
+  When we had made a promise, why, they wouldn't be so blind,
+  They'd call it fibbing, if you please, or something worse than that,
+  A small black word of letters three; I've heard them plain and pat.
+
+  But we left our ruined meeting and went to playing ball,
+  And kicked it well, with might and main, there by Tom's mother's wall;
+  For we couldn't bear to stand around the dreary cellar-door
+  When Tommy's mother changed her mind just when he had the floor.
+
+  M. E. S.
+
+
+
+
+AN "OLD-FIELD" SCHOOL-GIRL.[1]
+
+[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 857.
+
+BY MARION HARLAND.
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Every hour of that black Monday cast Flea into deeper darkness. Because
+she was found wanting in arithmetic she was put, in all her classes,
+with girls whose ignorance she despised. For two years she had studied
+the same lessons with Bea, and recited them as well. Yet Bea smiled
+sweetly down upon her from the head of the "big girls'" bench, and Flea
+swelled with angry mortification between Lucy Wilson, who could not read
+to herself without whispering the words, and Emma Jones, whose
+recitation of, "Vermont is a small _ro_-mantick and pictures-_quee_
+State," was one of last session's jokes. At "play-time" Mr. Tayloe went
+to Greenfield, less than half a mile distant, for a comfortable
+luncheon. As soon as he was out of sight every tongue was loosened. The
+boys whooped and raced to and fro; the girls knotted together in groups
+under the trees and upon the steps to eat their snacks and discuss the
+incidents of the morning.
+
+Flea slipped away unperceived, luncheon-bag in hand, to the welcome
+cover of the woods. She thought she was glad that nobody stopped or
+stayed her. Really the indifference of her mates to what she had endured
+and what she now suffered pierced her with a new sorrow.
+
+"Nobody cares! nobody cares!" she cried aloud, plunging into the forest
+until the voices of the shouting boys could not be heard. She was alone
+at last. Casting herself down in the friendly shade, she let all the
+waves of wounded feeling, the billows of wounded pride, go over her
+head.
+
+Up to this morning she had been a happy child, making much of her few
+and simple pleasures. She liked everybody she knew in her small world,
+and loved nearly everybody. She had never been guilty of a wilful
+unkindness; hatred and revenge were unknown passions. The unpleasant
+smile that curved the schoolmaster's lips so far upward as partly to
+close his eyes would have straightened into a laugh of genuine amusement
+had he watched, from behind the tree-boles, the look that settled upon
+the face, blotched with weeping when, by-and-by, the girl sat up, her
+knees drawn up to her chin, her arms gripping her legs. She had cried
+her eyes dry. She believed that she could never cry again--certainly not
+in that man's presence. No! not if he were to beat her to death!
+
+"If he ever strikes me I will _kill_ him!" she muttered, her lips
+curling back from the locked teeth. "It would be as right as father's
+killing that snake. I hope I shall have a chance to pay him back some
+day. I am in his power now, but a time may come! A time may come!"
+
+She was genuinely miserable, yet she could not help being melodramatic.
+She was still living in her story, but the complexion of the story was
+changed. Yesterday she would not have harmed the meanest thing that
+lived. This morning to make and to see others happy was the purest joy
+she knew. Her heart seemed to this dreadful day to have been a placid
+pool, clear because it had never been stirred up from the bottom. This
+man--the first creature she had ever hated--had brought to the top such
+mire and dirt as she had never dreamed were there.
+
+By-and-by she ate her luncheon. She was only a child, and with childhood
+the sharpest edge of the sharpest grief is soon dulled. When her hunger
+was somewhat appeased she became critical of the remnants of her
+"snack."
+
+"Cold batter-bread!" turning it over with the tips of her fingers. "I
+wonder who mother thinks cares for _cold_ batter-bread?"
+
+Batter-bread is a mixture of Indian meal, milk, and eggs beaten light
+and baked in a mould. When hot and fresh it is puffy and delicious. In
+cooling it becomes heavy and sticky. Flea's misery was settling into
+crossness, very much after the fashion of the bread. She took one bite
+out of the solid chunk, and tossed the rest as far as she could send it
+over the bushes. It was aimed at the creek that flowed a dozen yards
+away, but fell short and landed in the sand. Flea could see it lying
+there while she crunched a crisp ginger-cake with teeth that snapped
+pettishly upon it.
+
+"I'll tell mother not to put cold batter-bread into my snack to-morrow,"
+she resolved.
+
+At the thought a home picture arose in her mind. Of her mother, with
+tired eyes and wrinkled forehead, the baby tugging at her skirts and
+whining to be taken up, while the busy housewife stood at the
+dining-room table, cutting ham and buttering bread, and selecting the
+nicest ginger-cakes for her daughters' midday meal. She had forgotten
+nothing, not even the clean napkin, although Calley was teasing her on
+one side and baby on the other, and Dee was asking everybody where he
+could have put his slate, and Chaney was waiting, a wooden bread-tray on
+her hip, for "Mistis to give out dinner." Flea concluded that she had a
+good mother. If she did scold sometimes, she had reason enough for it,
+and Flea at least, whatever might be said of the other children, richly
+deserved all the fault-finding she got at home. Her mother had said to
+herself when she cut and buttered that slice of batter-bread,
+
+"How my hungry little girl will enjoy this at play-time!"
+
+And the ungrateful little wretch had thrown it away.
+
+The Flea Grigsby who ten minutes ago was planning revenge and even
+murder got up meekly, crept under the hazel and sweet-gum bushes, picked
+up the despised chunk, carried it back to her seat at the foot of a
+hickory-tree, and proceeded to eat it. Every mouthful went against
+palate and stomach. The butter had soaked into it and left it clammy.
+The sand stuck to it, and Flea could not brush it quite clean. The
+gritty morsels set her teeth on edge, and reminded her of stories she
+had read of penances done for sins committed--hair-cloth shirts, and
+peas in one's shoes, and floggings upon the naked shoulders, and all
+that. The stories helped her to persevere until the last crumb was
+swallowed. The task was further lightened by meditation upon her
+mother's many sterling virtues. For instance, how she took especial
+pains to give the children who went to school something to eat that was
+a little better than the children left at home would have. She said
+"studying was hungry work."
+
+In reality Mrs. Grigsby had said, "stedyin' is mighty hongry work." Flea
+would not think of that or other peculiarities that had sometimes made
+her ashamed of her mother. Her mother was not to blame that her parents
+had not sent her to school for as many years as she meant to send her
+children.
+
+At this point of her musings something bitter and burning arose in the
+girl's softened heart.
+
+"Poor mother!" she muttered. "Wouldn't she be mad if she knew what has
+happened to-day? As for father, he'd be ready to mash him like he did
+the moccasin."
+
+The rule quoted as "a good law" by Major Duncombe, never to tell tales
+out of school, was one of the first lessons learned by every boy and
+girl of that school. Traditions of awful floggings administered by
+former teachers for violations of the rule were familiar to all. A large
+majority of parents were in the league with the schoolmasters in this
+matter. Many fathers not only refused to listen to their children's
+complaints, but punished them for bringing them. Boys actually carried
+for weeks the marks of the whip, and took pains to hide them from their
+parents lest they might be obliged to tell how they got them. A
+tell-tale was despised everywhere. To tell tales out of school branded
+boy or girl as for a disgraceful crime.
+
+If Flea had battles to fight, she must fight them single-handed. The
+authority of the Old Field schoolmaster was what she had learned in
+Olney's geography to call "absolute despotism."
+
+"He's worse than Turkey and China," she said, drawing the strings of her
+"snack-bag" viciously tight. "He's meaner and crueler than a
+satrap--or--a _Mameluke_!"
+
+The sound of voices and laughter broke in upon her gloomy reverie.
+Peeping between the overhanging boughs she saw what made her crouch
+lower in her covert.
+
+The creek was wide, and at this season shallow at this point. When
+swollen by winter and spring rains it was so deep and swift that a
+bridge had been built over it high above the present level. Coming from
+the direction of Greenfield, two women and a man had just reached the
+bridge. They were Miss Emily and Miss Eliza Duncombe, and Mr. Tayloe. He
+was on his way back to school, and the young ladies had walked part of
+the way with him. The party stopped on the bridge and leaned over the
+railing.
+
+"If Miss Emily had seen him this morning, she wouldn't let him stand so
+close to her," reflected Flea. "She'd sooner push him into the water."
+
+Miss Emily had no present intention of doing anything of the sort. She
+seemed upon the best possible terms with her brothers' teacher. He had a
+gun upon his shoulder. The woods were full of game, and he might knock
+over a bird or "an old hare" in his walks back and forth to the
+school-house. In the noon stillness Flea could hear what Miss Emily's
+high-pitched voice was saying:
+
+"I tell you I _can_ shoot beautifully. Just let me try."
+
+And in answer to something he said: "I _dare_ you to hit that stump in
+the water over yonder. The stump with the _red_ leaves on it."
+
+Mr. Tayloe raised the gun and fired. The leaves flew in every direction,
+and the shot pattered in the water.
+
+Miss Emily clapped her hands and screamed with delight; there was a
+confused chatter for a moment, all three talking together, while Mr.
+Tayloe reloaded the gun and handed it to the young lady.
+
+[Illustration: WITH A CRY SHE COULD NOT QUITE STIFLE, SHE RUSHED AWAY
+INTO THE WOODS.]
+
+"She ain't aiming it right," thought Flea, regretfully, as Miss Emily
+raised the short fowling-piece awkwardly but boldly to her shoulder, and
+laid her cheek down upon the stock. There was a report, and a rain of
+bird-shot fell, not in the water this time, but upon the clump of bushy
+shrubs in which Flea was hiding, and she felt a sharp cut across her
+cheek. With a cry she could not quite stifle she rushed away into the
+woods, too much frightened to do anything but fly from the chance of a
+second shot.
+
+She did not hear the shout of laughter from the bridge.
+
+"You peppered a pig that time, Miss Emily," said the teacher to the
+unskilful sportswoman. "You did not come within fifty feet of the stump.
+It's lucky the pig was so far off. I heard him squeal as he scampered
+into the woods. So you did hit something after all. That's a good one!"
+
+He went off into another fit of laughter.
+
+The blood was oozing from the cut when Flea stopped running, and she put
+up her hand to feel how much she was hurt. It was a mere scratch, for
+the shot was light and almost spent by the time it reached her. Her
+fright over, her spirits arose with a bound. A happy thought had entered
+her ever-active brain.
+
+Major Duncombe had no patience with carelessness in the use of firearms.
+She had seen him angry but once in her life, and that was when one of
+his boys pointed an empty gun at his brother. The father had laid his
+riding-whip smartly about the boy's shoulders, and forbidden him to
+touch a gun again for a month.
+
+"I would cowhide any man who aimed even a broomstick at me," he said.
+"'Gun' and 'fun' should never go together except in a rhyme."
+
+Miss Emily would be scolded by her father and made fun of by everybody
+else, and feel dreadfully besides if anybody ever found out what she had
+done. Flea would lock up the secret in the recesses of her own heart, as
+any other heroine would, for the sake of the beloved object. She hoped
+the scratch would leave a scar--just a tiny thread of a scar--that would
+not disfigure her, and would always be a token of how much she loved her
+dear, dear _Miss_ Emily.
+
+"It would be a badge of merit--an honorable scar!" she said, aloud. "I
+am glad, _glad_ it happened!"
+
+A quarter-mile from the school-house, the hill on which it stood fell
+away abruptly in a bank out of which a clear little spring ran through a
+pipe into a trough below. There Flea paused to wash her face and hands,
+and to rinse the handkerchief she had used to stanch the blood. She even
+took pains to make herself look more tidy than usual, wetting her
+"Shetland-pony" forelock, and combing it back with the round comb which
+she wore for the first time that day. Then she smoothed her apron, and
+swinging her luncheon-bag around and around as she went, she tripped
+blithely up the slope into the clearing that made the play-ground. At
+the same instant the figure of the teacher came into view from the
+opposite quarter, and there was a rush and a scuffle among boys and
+girls to get into the school-room before he arrived.
+
+Thus it happened that nobody noticed the raw scratch crossing Flea's
+left cheek, about an inch below the eye, until the dictionary class was
+called up to recite. Much attention was paid in the Old Field school to
+spelling and definition, the text-book being Walker's Dictionary. Two
+columns of words and definitions under the head of A were assigned to
+the class of five girls and six boys, who had been busy studying the
+lesson ever since the beginning of the afternoon session. For no reason
+except that it pleased him to put down in every way the girl to whom he
+had taken a dislike, Mr. Tayloe placed Flea Grigsby at the foot of the
+row ranged in front of his chair. The scholars stood while reciting,
+their hands close to their sides, their chins level, and shoulders back.
+When a word was misspelled, or a wrong definition given, it was passed
+down the line until somebody supplied the proper spelling and meaning,
+and went above those who had failed.
+
+Flea mounted steadily and rapidly in this exercise, spelling being one
+of her strong points. She was the fourth from the head of the class when
+the word "adolescence" was given out. The first one who tried it put in
+two d's, the second left out the first c, the third spelled the word
+right, but had forgotten the meaning. Flea instinctively cast her eyes
+down, and tried with all her generous might not to look elated as the
+trial in which she knew she would succeed drew nearer and nearer.
+
+"Felicia Grigsby!" said the teacher.
+
+"Ado--"
+
+"Instead of staring that ink-spot out of countenance, suppose you have
+the politeness to look at me when I speak to you." He broke off to stare
+at her. "What have you been doing to your face?"
+
+Flea put her hand up to her wounded check, and felt that it was wet.
+The water had checked the bleeding for a while, but now specks of blood,
+like tiny beads, were starting out along the line of the cut. Her blush
+at the discovery looked to the master like the confusion of guilt.
+
+"Can't you speak?" he said, roughly. "You are usually over-ready with
+your tongue. With whom have you been fighting, _now_?"
+
+A titter from the school behind her made Flea color yet more deeply.
+
+"With nobody," she answered, in a low tone. "My face got scratched in
+the woods."
+
+"Got scratched? That does pretty well for the crack scholar of the
+county, who is going to make us all proud of her some day. Why don't you
+say what scratched you?"
+
+Flea was mute; not with alarm, although she would not have been
+surprised had he hurled the dictionary at her head. She had seen that
+done to a girl by a former teacher. The book had knocked the girl down.
+In falling she had cut her head against the corner of a bench, and lain
+quite still for a minute before she could get up. Flea recollected it
+all in a flash, yet without being afraid. Her eyes, fixed upon the
+teacher, were bright, her lips were compressed. No torture should force
+from her what might grieve and annoy Miss Emily. Stories from _Fox's
+Book of Martyrs_ and _Tales of the Covenanters_, and a Sunday-school
+book, _The Lives of the Saints_, which she read last summer, thronged
+her mind. It was grand to be a heroine to save one she loved. It was
+sublime to be a martyr. Who was it who had written of somebody who
+"played the man in the fire"?
+
+Mr. Tayloe's eyes faded almost white, the glow of metal seven times
+heated, that gave him an ominous look. The scholars ceased tittering and
+held their breaths. He took out his watch. Flea noticed that it was gold
+and very handsome, and was fastened to a heavy gold chain of curious
+workmanship, like the scales of a fish. There were initials on the back
+of the watch. She wondered if it had been his father's, and was left to
+him as the oldest son.
+
+"I will give you exactly three minutes, Felicia Grigsby, to say, 'Mr.
+Tayloe, a thorn scratched my face as I came through the woods.'
+Obstinacy is what I will not stand."
+
+In the deathlike hush of the room the ticking of the watch in his hand
+was painfully audible to the scholars of the back benches. Each tick
+seemed to go in one of Flea's ears and out at the other, trailing a
+red-hot wire with it. She could not stop counting them, try though she
+might. There was no thought of yielding in her mind, but she was getting
+faint with suspenseful dread. Never until now had she openly defied
+lawful authority. What was going to happen?
+
+"Three!" said the teacher, returning the watch to his pocket. "Are you
+ready to do as you are told?"
+
+Flea swept her dry lips with her tongue, and swallowed hard. "I can't
+say what you want me to say; it wouldn't be true."
+
+"Aha! what _is_ true, then?"
+
+Again she was dumb.
+
+"Go to your seat, and do not touch a book, or move, until I give you
+leave, if you have to sit there until to-morrow morning."
+
+When the school was dismissed, an hour later, the rest of the scholars
+filed out of the room, staring hard at Flea as they passed.
+
+Mr. Tayloe had letters to write. Not a sound was heard for the next
+half-hour, except the scratching of his pen and the rustling of the
+dried aspen-leaves blown by the wind into the open door and along the
+aisle. Flea watched them in a miserable, mechanical way. An odd stupor
+was stealing over her. Her nerves were wellnigh worn to threads, and
+although the stout heart stood firm, the waiting for an unknown
+punishment was horrible, and used up what strength positive disgrace had
+left to her.
+
+Mr. Tayloe wrote on briskly. If Flea had read the letter over his
+shoulder, she would have seen that it began, "My dear Mother," and was
+full of merry, affectionate sayings.
+
+Presently he looked up suddenly toward the door, smiled, hustled his
+papers into his desk, caught up his hat, and walked quickly down the
+aisle. In going out, he slammed the door behind him.
+
+She was, then, to be left there all night!
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+RICK DALE.
+
+BY KIRK MUNROE.
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+SAVED BY A LITTLE SIWASH KID.
+
+
+The attention of the departing revenue-officer being attracted by the
+barking dog, he paused, and glanced inquiringly in that direction. It
+was a critical moment for our lads, who knew not whether to run, which
+would be to reveal their presence at once, or to try and kill the dog,
+with probably the same result. Fortunately they were spared the
+necessity of a decision, for a little girl, whom up to this moment they
+had not noticed, though she was quietly at play with a family of
+clam-shell dolls directly in front of them, took the matter into her own
+hands. She had just arranged her score or so of dolls in _potlatch_
+order, with the most favored near at hand, when the dog, charging that
+way, threatened to upset the whole company. To avert such a catastrophe
+the child snatched up a stick, and springing forward in defence of her
+property, began to belabor him with such a hearty will, and scream at
+him so shrilly, as to entirely divert his attention from his original
+object.
+
+Taking advantage of this diversion in their favor, the boys stole softly
+away, and after making a long détour through the forest, cautiously
+approached the coast a mile or more from Skookum John's camp, but where
+they could command a wide view of the sound. Here they had the
+satisfaction of seeing the yawl, under sail, standing off shore, and a
+full half-mile from it. The sloop was not visible, nor was the cutter.
+
+"How could he have known just where to look for us?" asked Alaric, who
+had been greatly alarmed at the imminence of their recent danger.
+
+"He couldn't have known," replied Bonny. "It was only a good guess. I
+suppose he overhauled our boat, and, finding her empty, made up his mind
+that we had landed somewhere. Of course he couldn't tell on which shore
+to look, but, noticing John's camp, thought it would be a good idea to
+find out if the Indians had seen anything of us. Of course they hadn't,
+and now that he has left, it will be safe enough for us to go back."
+
+"Do you really think so? Isn't there any other place to which we can
+go?" asked Alaric, whose dread of being captured by the revenue-officers
+was so great as to render him overcautious.
+
+"Plenty of them, but no other that I know of within reach, where we
+could find food, fire to cook it, and a boat to carry us somewhere else;
+for there aren't any white settlers or any other Indians that I know of
+within miles of here."
+
+In spite of this assurance Alaric was so loath to venture that the boys
+spent several hours in discussing their situation and prospects before
+he finally consented to revisit Skookum John's camp. By this time the
+day was drawing to its close, and the lengthening forest shadows, flung
+far out over the placid waters of the sound, were so suggestive of a
+night of darkness and hunger amid all sorts of possible terrors as to
+outweigh all other considerations. So the boys plunged into the twilight
+gloom of the thickset trees, and began the uncertain task of retracing
+the way by which they had come.
+
+As neither of them was a woodsman, this soon proved more difficult than
+they had expected. The trees all looked alike, and they made so many
+turns to avoid prostrate trunks and masses of entangled branches, that
+within half an hour they came to a halt, and each read in the troubled
+face of the other a confirmation of his own fears. They had certainly
+lost their way, and could not even tell in which direction lay the
+sea-shore they had so recently left. Bonny thought it was in front,
+while Alaric was equally certain that it still lay behind them.
+
+"If we could only make a fire," said the former, "I wouldn't mind so
+much staying right where we are till daylight; but I should hate to do
+so without one. Are you certain you haven't a single match?"
+
+"Certain," replied Alaric; "but I thought you always carried them."
+
+"So I do; but I used them all on that old lantern last night. I almost
+wish now I'd never invented that thing, and that they had caught us.
+They wouldn't have starved us, at any rate, and perhaps the prison isn't
+so very bad after all."
+
+"I don't know about that," rejoined Alaric, stoutly. "To my mind a
+prison is the very worst thing, worse even than starving. After all,
+this doesn't seem to me so bad a fix as some from which I've already
+escaped. Going to China, for instance, or drifting alone at night in a
+small boat."
+
+"What do you mean by going to China?" asked Bonny, wonderingly.
+
+"Hark!" exclaimed the other, without answering this question. "Don't you
+hear something?"
+
+"Nothing but the wind up aloft."
+
+"Well, I do. I hear some sort of a moaning, and it sounds like a child."
+
+"Maybe it's a bear or a wolf, or something of that kind," suggested
+Bonny, whose notions concerning wild animals were rather vague.
+
+"Of course it may be," admitted Alaric; "but it sounds so human that we
+must go and find out, for if it is a child in distress we are bound to
+rescue it."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we are; only if it proves to be a bear, I wonder who
+will rescue us?"
+
+Alaric had already set off in the direction of the moaning; and ere they
+had taken half a dozen steps Bonny also heard it plainly. Then they
+paused and shouted, hoping that if the sound came from a bear the animal
+would run away. As they could hear no evidences of a retreat, and as the
+moaning still continued, they again pushed on. It was now so dark that
+they could do little more than feel their way past trees, over logs, and
+through dense beds of ferns. All the while the sound by which they were
+guided grew more and more distinct, until it seemed to come from their
+very feet.
+
+At this moment the moaning ceased, as though the sufferer were
+listening. Then it was succeeded by a plaintive cry that went straight
+to Alaric's heart. He could dimly see the outline of a great log
+directly before him. Stooping beside it and groping among the ferns, his
+hands came in contact with something soft and warm that he lifted
+carefully. It was a little child, who uttered a sharp cry of mingled
+pain and terror at being thus picked up by a stranger.
+
+"Poor little thing!" exclaimed the boy. "I am afraid it is badly
+injured, and shouldn't be one bit surprised if it had broken a limb. I
+must try and find out so as not to hurt it unnecessarily."
+
+"Well," said Bonny, in a tragic tone, "they say troubles fly in flocks.
+I thought we were in a pretty bad fix before; but now we surely have run
+into difficulty. What ever are we to do with a baby?"
+
+"Bonny!" cried Alaric, without answering this question, "I do believe
+it's the little Indian girl who drove away the dog, and something is the
+matter with one of her ankles."
+
+"Skookum John's little Siwash kid!" exclaimed Bonny, joyfully. "Then we
+can't be so very far from his camp. Now if we only knew in which
+direction it lay."
+
+As if in answer to this wish there came a cry, far-reaching and long
+drawn; "Nittitan! Nittitan! Ohee! Ohee!"
+
+For several hours Skookum John and his eldest son, Bah-die, had been
+searching the woods for two white lads whom the third Lieutenant of the
+cutter claimed to have lost. He had promised the Indian a reward of
+twenty-five dollars if he would bring them to the cutter, and Skookum
+John had at once set forth with the idea of earning this money as
+speedily as possible.
+
+Little Nittitan, his only daughter, whom he loved above all the others,
+noted his going, and after a while decided to follow him. When darkness
+put an end to the Indian's fruitless search and he returned to his camp,
+he found it in an uproar. Nittitan was missing, and no one could imagine
+what had become of her.
+
+For a moment the bereaved father was stunned. Then he prepared several
+torches, and accompanied by Bah-die, set forth to find her. At the edge
+of the forest he raised a mighty cry that he hoped would reach the
+little one's ears. To his amazement it was answered by a cheery "Hello!
+Hello there, Skookum John!"
+
+"Ohee! Ohee!" shouted the Indian.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARRIVAL AT SKOOKUM JOHN'S.]
+
+"Here's your _tenas klootchman_" (little woman), came the voice from the
+forest, and the happy father knew that he who shouted had found the lost
+child and was bringing her to him.
+
+On the outskirts of his camp he stood and waited, with blazing torch
+uplifted above his head, and an expectant group of women and half-grown
+children huddled behind him. He was greatly perplexed when a few minutes
+later a tall white lad whom he had never before seen emerged from the
+forest bearing the lost child in his arms. There was another behind him,
+though, who was promptly recognized, for Skookum John knew Bonny Brooks
+well, and instantly it came to him that these were the boys whom the
+revenue-man claimed to have lost. And they had found his little one. How
+glad he was that his own search for them had been unsuccessful! But this
+was not the time to be thinking of them. There was his own little
+Nittitan. He must have her in his arms and hold her close before he
+could feel that she was really safe.
+
+He stepped forward to take her, but the strange lad drew back, and Bonny
+cried out: "_Kloshe nanitsh, Skookum. Tenas klootchman la pee, hyas
+sick_," by which he conveyed the idea that the little woman had hurt her
+foot quite badly. Then he added: "It's all right, Rick. He understands
+that he must handle her gently."
+
+So Alaric relinquished his burden, and the swarthy father, rejoicing but
+anxious, bore the child to a rude hut of brush and cedar mats, the open
+front of which was faced by a brightly blazing fire. Here he laid her
+gently down on a soft bear-skin and knelt beside her.
+
+Alaric, who seemed to consider the child as still under his care, knelt
+on the opposite side and began to feel very carefully of one of the
+little ankles. He had not spent all his life in company with doctors
+without learning something of their trade, and after a brief examination
+he announced to Bonny that there were no broken bones, but merely a
+dislocation of the ankle-joint.
+
+"I don't know anything about it," said Bonny, "but I should think that
+would be just as bad."
+
+"No, indeed! A dislocation is not serious if promptly attended to. You
+explain to him that I am a sort of a doctor, and can make the child well
+in a few seconds if he will let me. Then I want him to hold her while I
+pull the joint into place."
+
+So Bonny explained that his friend was a _hyas doctin_ or great
+medicine-man who could make Nittitan well _hyak_ (quick), and the
+anxious father, having implicit faith in the white man's skill,
+consented to allow Alaric to make the attempt.
+
+The little one uttered a sharp cry of pain as, with a quick wrench, the
+dislocated bone was snapped into place, and Alaric, with flushed face,
+but very proud of what he had done, regained his feet.
+
+"Now," he said, "let them bathe the ankle in water as hot as the child
+can bear, and by to-morrow, she'll be all right. And, Bonny, if you know
+how to ask for anything to eat, for goodness' sake take pity on the
+starving poor, and say it quick."
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+LIFE IN SKOOKUM JOHN'S CAMP.
+
+Skookum John, which in Chinook means "Strong John," was a Makah, or Neah
+Bay, Indian, whose home was at Cape Flattery on the shore of the
+Pacific, and at the southern side of the entrance to the superb strait
+of Juan de Fuca. He was a _Tyhee_, or chief, among his people, for he
+was not only their biggest man, being a trifle over six feet tall, while
+very few of his tribe exceeded five feet nine inches in height, but he
+was the boldest and most successful hunter of whales among them. This
+alone would have given him high rank in the tribe, for to them the
+whales that frequent the warm waters of that coast are what buffalo were
+to the Indians of the great plains.
+
+The Makahs are fish-eaters, and while they catch and dry or smoke
+quantities of salmon, halibut, and cod, they esteem the whale more than
+all others, because there is so much of him, because he is so good to
+eat, and because he furnishes them with the oil which they use on all
+their food, as we use butter, and which they trade for nearly every
+other necessity of their simple life.
+
+The big Siwash, being an expert whaleman, had much oil to trade, and
+made frequent visits to Victoria for this purpose. Here, being an
+intelligent man and keenly noting all that he saw, he learned much
+concerning the whites and their ways, besides picking up a fair
+knowledge of their language.
+
+So it happened that when the smugglers who proposed to operate in the
+upper sound began to cast about for some trustworthy person, who would
+also be free from suspicion, to look out for their interests in that
+section, and keep them posted as to the whereabouts of cutters, they
+very wisely selected Skookum John, and offered him inducements that he
+could not afford to refuse. He, of course, knew nothing of the laws they
+proposed to violate, nor did he care, for political economy had never
+been included in Skookum John's studies.
+
+So the Makah Tyhee closed his substantial house of hewn planks on Neah
+Bay, and with all his wives and children--of whom Bah-die was the eldest
+and little Nittitan the youngest--and his dogs and canoes, and much
+whale oil, and many mats, he made the long journey to the place in which
+we find him. Here he established a summer camp of brush huts, and
+ostensibly went into the business of fishing for the Tacoma market. He
+had brought his big whaling-canoe, and the little paddling canoes in
+which his children were accustomed to brave the Pacific breakers
+apparently for the fun of being rolled over and over in the surf. Above
+all, he had brought a light sailing-canoe which was fashioned with such
+skill that its equal for speed and weatherly qualities had never been
+seen among canoes of its size on the coast. It was in this swift craft
+that he darted about the sound at night to discover the movements of
+revenue-men, watch for signals from incoming smugglers, and flash in
+return the lights that told of safety or danger.
+
+Although not possessed of a high sense of honor, Skookum John was loyal
+to his employers, because it paid him to be so, and because no one had
+ever tempted him to be otherwise. At the same time he was not above
+performing a service for the other side, provided it would also pay, and
+so he did not hesitate to promise the cutter's third Lieutenant that in
+return for twenty-five dollars he would use every effort to find and
+return to him two lost boys.
+
+When he did learn of the capture of the sloop (a blow that threatened to
+retire him from business), and the reason why the revenue-men were so
+desirous of finding the lost boys, he began to wish that he saw his way
+clear to the winning of that reward, for twenty-five dollars is a large
+sum to be made so easily. But the revenue-men wanted _two_ boys, and the
+only other besides Bonny at present available was the young
+medicine-man, the _hyas doctin_, who had not only found his dearly loved
+Nittitan in the dark _hyas stick_ (forest), but had so marvellously
+mended what he firmly believed to have been a broken leg.
+
+The old Siwash, therefore, determined to make the boys as comfortable as
+possible, and keep them with him until he could communicate with the
+_Tyhee_ of the _piah-ship_ (steamer).
+
+In consequence of these reflections, all of which passed through the
+Indian's mind in the space of a few seconds, Bonny had no time to make a
+request for food before the very best that the camp afforded was placed
+before them. There were small square chunks of whale-skin, as black and
+tough as the heel of a rubber boot. It was expected that these would be
+chewed for a moment, until the impossibility of masticating them was
+discovered, and that they would then be swallowed whole. After them came
+boiled fishes' heads, of which the eyes were considered the chief
+delicacy, and these were followed by several kinds of dried and smoked
+fish, including salmon and halibut, besides bits of smoked whale looking
+like so many pieces of dried citron. All of these were to be dipped in
+hot whale oil before being eaten.
+
+Then came another course of fish, this time fresh and plain boiled,
+which the Indians ate with a liberal supply of whale oil. Their boiled
+potatoes were also dipped in oil after each bite. The crowning glory of
+the feast was a small quantity of hard bread, which for a change was
+dipped in whale oil and eaten dripping, and with this was served a
+mixture of huckleberries and oil beaten to a paste.
+
+In regard to this liberal use of oil it must be said that Skookum John's
+whale oil was universally acknowledged to be the sweetest and most
+skilfully prepared to prevent rancidity of any in the Neah Bay village,
+and his family regarded it with the same pride that the proprietors of
+the best Orange County dairy do the finest products of their churn. It
+was therefore a great disappointment to them that Alaric did not
+appreciate it, and after trying a small quantity on a bit of potato,
+refused a further supply. He even seemed to prefer paté de foie gras, of
+which the boys had a single jar. This he opened in honor of the
+occasion, and with it to spread over his bread and potatoes, a liberal
+helping of the boiled fish, and an innumerable number of smoked halibut
+strips boiled after a manner taught him by Bonny, the millionaire's son
+made a supper that he declared was one of the very best he had ever
+eaten.
+
+In order that their new-found friends might not feel too badly over
+Alaric's refusal to partake more liberally of their whale oil, Bonny
+gave them to understand that it was not because he disliked it, but not
+being accustomed to rich food, he was afraid of making himself ill if he
+indulged in it too freely.
+
+At this meal the young sailor tasted both paté de foie gras and whale
+oil for the first time, and after carefully considering the merits of
+the two delicacies, declared that he could not tell which was the worse,
+and that as it would be just as difficult to learn to like one as the
+other, he thought he would devote his energies to the oil.
+
+After supper a rude shelter against the chill dampness of the night was
+constructed of small poles covered with a number of the useful bark
+mats, of which the Indian women of that coast make enormous quantities.
+A few armfuls of spruce-tips were cut and spread beneath it, a couple of
+mats were laid over these, two more were provided for covering, and
+Alaric's first camp bed was ready for him. Both lads were so dead tired
+that they needed no second invitation to fling themselves down on their
+sweet-scented couch, and were asleep almost instantly. As Skookum John
+and Bah-die had also been out all the night before, they were not long
+in following the example of their guests, and so within an hour after
+supper the whole camp was buried in a profound slumber.
+
+By earliest daylight of the next morning the older Indian was up, and
+stirring about very softly so as not to awaken the strangers. He was
+about to make an effort to earn that twenty-five dollars, and believed
+that by careful management it might be his before noon. He planned to
+notify the commander of the cutter that while he could deliver one of
+the desired lads into his Lands, the other had taken a canoe and gone to
+Tacoma, where he could no doubt be readily found. If the _Tyhee_ of the
+_piah-ship_ agreed to pay him the offered reward or even half of it for
+one lad, he would ask that a boat might be sent to the camp for him. In
+the mean time he would return first and invite both boys to go out
+fishing. Bonny in a canoe with him, and the other in a second canoe with
+Bah-die, who would be instructed to take his passenger out of sight,
+somewhere up the coast. Then the cutter's boat would be allowed to
+overtake his canoe, and Bonny could be handed over to those who wanted
+him without any trouble.
+
+It was an admirably conceived plan, and the old Siwash chuckled over it
+as he softly launched his lightest canoe, stepped into it, and paddled
+swiftly away.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+EXPLORING NEW-FOUND RIVERS.
+
+BY C. C. ADAMS
+
+
+Some of the leading African explorers have never written a book. They
+have had other work besides exploration, and have been too busy to write
+long accounts of their discoveries. A single copy of this paper would
+hold all that Alexander Delcommune, who has travelled further in the
+Congo basin than any other explorer, has written about his work. Captain
+Van Gele, who has had remarkable experiences, and who took the last step
+in the solution of a great geographical conundrum--the destination of
+Schweinfurth's "Welle" river--has written very little. But we know what
+all these men have done. Every new map of Africa that is worth anything
+differs from all its predecessors, because it contains later and better
+information. These men have done much to change and improve the maps,
+and their short reports to geographical and other societies have been
+very interesting and important.
+
+Foremost among these men is George Grenfell, of the Baptist Missionary
+Society of England, whose travels in 1884-5 gave us our first knowledge
+of six of the largest Congo tributaries. Many thousands of black people
+in the middle Congo basin first learned of the white man when they saw
+Grenfell pushing up their rivers on his little steamboat. He travelled
+for over three thousand miles on the Congo and its tributaries, and
+always as a man of peace, winning the confidence of barbarous tribes by
+patience and kindness. He never shed a drop of blood nor laid violent
+hands upon a native. How much better was this policy than to respond
+with violence to the mistrust and opposition of these frightened and
+savage peoples.
+
+Mr. Grenfell's steel steamer _Peace_ was built in England, and when she
+was shipped to the Congo all her plates and pieces of machinery were
+taken apart and packed into eight hundred loads; for every bit of the
+vessel had to be carried on the backs of men around two hundred and
+thirty-five miles of cataracts to Stanley Pool, where the long caravan
+of black porters arrived without losing a load. Another Congo steamboat
+was not so fortunate, for its brass fittings were stolen while in
+transit, and transformed into neck ornaments for native women. It has
+been said that a pioneer in Africa should be able to build a boat or a
+house without a nail or a tool. Grenfell seems to be that kind of man.
+The engineers who had been sent to put the _Peace_ together died of
+fever; so Grenfell trained natives in the art of riveting, and with
+their aid he put the eight hundred pieces together. When the _Peace_ was
+launched there was not a leak. All of the parts had been placed where
+they belonged. She was seventy feet long, and under her wooden roof were
+a cabin and cook-room, with an engine amidships. Her twin screws drove
+her ten miles an hour, and in all respects she was well fitted for her
+work. So in 1884 Mr. Grenfell and his wife, with a crew of fifteen
+natives, set out to find favorable points for mission stations on the
+great unexplored tributaries that stretch away hundreds of miles north
+and south of the middle Congo.
+
+We cannot describe here all the discoveries Grenfell made. He greatly
+changed our notions of the extent, direction, and importance of quite a
+number of rivers, chief among which were the Mobangi and Mongala north
+of the Congo, and the Bussera, Chuapa, Lulonga, and Lomami south of it.
+You may easily find these large rivers on the map, and they are
+Grenfell's greatest contribution to our knowledge of Africa.
+
+Most of the tribes whom Grenfell met live away from the Congo, and had
+never heard of the world outside the districts they occupy. We can
+scarcely imagine the astonishment and even terror which the white man
+and his puffing river monster inspired as the _Peace_ would suddenly
+round some river bend and pause at a village front. The natives did not
+always flee nor offer hostilities at once. Many stood motionless, as if
+rooted to the spot, with straining eyes, and hands over their wide-open
+mouths, a common practice among savages when they are greatly surprised.
+If one fled he was speedily followed by others. If one gathered his wits
+and began to poise his spear or bend his bow, others followed his
+example. Once a woman fell in spasms to the ground. One day, on the Ruki
+River, Grenfell surprised a party of fifty fisherwomen, who took one
+look at the wheezing _Peace_, and then sprang shrieking out of their
+boats, and swam, as a dog does, to the shore. A large crowd of men on an
+island in the Bussera saw the apparition, and rushed pell-mell for their
+boats, forgetting their paddles in their fright; and so, with frantic
+energy, they used their hands as paddles in their flight to the
+mainland. Grenfell was accompanied by the German explorer Von François
+on his ascent of some of the southern rivers, and sometimes the natives
+thought their white visitors came from the spirit world, and called to
+them, "We fear you because you are white ghosts."
+
+[Illustration: GRENFELL AS HE SOMETIMES TRAVELLED WHEN ON SHORE.]
+
+On all such occasions there was nothing to do except to wait for the
+excitement to subside, very quietly displaying presents of beads, wire,
+and cloth, while anchored at a distance from the shore. Grenfell's
+interpreter would strain his lungs with shouting words of soothing and
+friendship. Sometimes he would cry "Ba, ba, ba," to indicate that he
+wished to buy goats, and he would exhibit trade goods to pay for them.
+On some island, in the night, while alarm drums were arousing the
+country for miles along the banks, Grenfell would kindle fires, and in
+the bright light display his presents to the best advantage. Once while
+a howling crowd were bending their bows, the _Peace_ was sent at full
+speed within a rod of the shore, and a cloth full of beads and
+cowrie-shells was thrown among them. Before the astounded natives had
+recovered their wits, the _Peace_ was again in mid-stream beyond the
+reach of arrows. This set the savages thinking, and they listened
+quietly when Grenfell shouted that he wished to buy fire-wood. They
+filled a canoe with wood, and tying to the boat a long rope made of
+vines, let it drift down stream to the steamer, where the canoe was
+emptied, and the beads which the explorers placed in it were hauled back
+to the shore. The ice was broken now, weapons were laid aside, and soon
+a dozen canoes pushed out from the shore with natives having wood or
+provisions to sell.
+
+[Illustration: A DWARF OF THE CONGO FOREST.]
+
+All of Grenfell's blandishments failed sometimes, and he was fiercely
+attacked. Only one instance is recorded where he fired a gun, and then
+it contained only a blank cartridge. He proved the efficacy of unusual
+noises, for the explosion, reverberating along the forest-lined shores,
+sent the enemy scampering. A blast from the whistle was sometimes enough
+to turn pursuing canoes about face. The explorer did everything possible
+to protect his men, and not one of them was hurt. Wire netting
+completely covered the open sides of the vessel and caught many flying
+missiles, while others lodged in the wooden roof. A few natives in one
+village on the Bussera appeared to have seen or heard of guns, for
+Grenfell was much surprised when the very friendly people told him that
+they had intended to attack the vessel until they saw his firearms. One
+village that had accepted the explorer's presents on his ascent of the
+river, attacked him on his return because the river had risen meantime,
+a most uncommon thing at that season, they said, and ample proof that
+the white man was bad. The explorer found himself in a predicament on
+the last day he spent upon the Bussera, but Mrs. Grenfell helped him out
+of it. While the _Peace_ was in shore, a party of warriors rushed to the
+bank with their weapons all ready to launch. In a moment Mrs. Grenfell
+had thrown among them a double handful of beads, and while the crowd
+were scrambling and fighting for the prizes, the _Peace_ reached a safe
+distance. Usually an hour or two of waiting and conciliatory talk turned
+foes into friends. Sometimes, however, the alarm drums would notify the
+villages for miles around that an enemy was coming; and when Grenfell
+saw a throng of armed warriors waiting for him, and not a woman on the
+ground, he knew that trouble was brewing.
+
+[Illustration: THE "PEACE" SURPRISING A PARTY OF FISHERWOMEN ON THE RUKI
+RIVER.]
+
+Geographical information imparted by the natives was apt to be wholly
+incorrect. They had ready answers for all questions, but if they
+imagined Grenfell would like to hear of a lake a little inland, or five
+days more of navigation up the river, they would make replies which they
+thought would please him, regardless of truth. This is a widespread
+practice among savages. At the same time they were often eager to learn
+of his discoveries. They would ask him how many days' journey his vessel
+made above their village, and whether the natives he met dealt in ivory
+and slaves. Some tribes had not the slightest idea that ivory had any
+value, and thought it strange that any man should have occasion to buy
+wood. Some of them had no names for the rivers where they live. They
+were children of the earth, they said, and if he wished to know the
+names of the rivers he must ask the children of the water. The southern
+tributaries--Bussera, Chuapa, and Lulonga--are in the great belt of
+dense Congo forest, and in the upper reaches of the rivers the big
+branches form a complete roof over the streams, which are in deep shadow
+even on the brightest days; and in this roof Grenfell found some of his
+most persistent enemies. They were the little folks of Africa, the
+pygmies, who would clamber out on the branches overhanging the streams,
+and shoot their poisoned arrows into the wooden covering of the vessel.
+
+It was Grenfell who gave us our first positive information of the many
+dwarfs who live in the forest south of the Congo, though about the same
+time other explorers discovered them further south. One evening a canoe
+drew up at some distance from the _Peace_, and when the interpreter
+asked the natives who they were they said they were Batwa. This is the
+name of the dwarfs living in the southern Congo forests, and Grenfell
+and Von François were overjoyed at the prospect of seeing them. It was
+now so dark that they could not determine what the canoemen looked like,
+but in the morning they found near by a cluster of huts inhabited by
+these little people, and then they knew they were in the land of the
+pygmies. Grenfell found many dwarfs on the Lomami, Chuapa, and Bussera
+rivers, and they proved to be the most troublesome and vindictive people
+with whom he had to deal. His black crew were badly frightened when they
+heard the dwarfs were near. All their lives they had been told that the
+dwarfs were most unpleasant people to meet. It was common report that
+they shot with poisoned arrows, permitted no one to live in their
+country, and excelled all warriors and hunters in skill with the bow and
+spear. We shall see later what Grenfell and other explorers have learned
+about these strange and interesting people, and also about the cannibals
+who are spread so widely over the Congo basin. Very little was known of
+the cannibals as long as explorers kept to the main river, but after
+Grenfell began his work along the tributaries the world soon came to
+know the appalling extent of this evil.
+
+Nearly all the tribes discovered by Grenfell are cannibals. An
+interpreter whom he took with him from the Congo was in constant fear of
+being captured and eaten, and he would never venture ashore except in
+company with six or eight comrades: "You eat goats and hens," said some
+natives to Grenfell one day, "because you are rich and able to buy them;
+but we are poor, and have to eat men, whom we can get for nothing."
+Under the laws of the Congo State it is now a capital crime to eat human
+flesh. Wherever the influence of the white man extends, the practice is
+being discontinued, and some day this stigma upon human nature will
+disappear from all the parts of Africa where it has so long prevailed.
+
+There are missionary stations now in some parts of the large regions
+that Grenfell traversed. His peaceful and friendly methods made it easy
+for other white men to go among the people he brought to light. The
+natives who sought to kill him are now glad to sell ivory and rubber to
+traders. His discoveries during fifteen months added about one thousand
+eight hundred miles to the known navigable waters of the Congo basin. No
+one except Stanley has surpassed him in the extent and value of his work
+among the waterways of the second largest river system in the world.
+
+
+
+
+AN HOUR IN BICYCLELAND.
+
+WITH AN ACCOUNT OF A PNEUMATIC CIRCUS.
+
+BY HAYDEN CARRUTH.
+
+
+I.
+
+Kenneth had got his bicycle at last, and he was taking his first long
+ride on it. It was warm, and the road seemed to be all up hill. "If this
+road keeps on like this much longer," said Kenneth to himself, "I'll run
+into the moon. I guess papa was right when he said that bicycle-riding
+reminds him a good deal of work in its milder stages. However, I'd
+rather ride than work."
+
+He went on a little farther, but the afternoon sun shone down hotter and
+hotter, and the road still seemed to have more uphill than a
+well-behaved road ought to have. After a while he came to a fine grove
+of trees. "I think I'll just turn in here and rest a few minutes, and
+then go back," said Kenneth. "Seems to me I ought to be able to coast
+about three-quarters of the way home--unless the road tilts the other
+way before I start, like a seesaw," he went on. He trundled his wheel
+into the grove out of sight of the road, stood it against a big tree,
+and lay down on the soft grass-covered ground in the shade.
+
+"It seems to me," he mused, "that bicycles ought to be made so they
+would run themselves like--like--like horses. Then hills wouldn't make
+any difference." He was speaking very slowly, and half wondering if
+talking wasn't work too. "Then it wouldn't make any difference if the
+road _did_ tilt up or--or--or turn sommersaults if it wanted to. Just
+think of a road ten miles long turning a sommersault." He laughed a
+little at the idea, but _that_ was work too. "I--I wonder if bicycles
+couldn't be--be trained to--to--." It really was _too_ hard work to
+talk. He hadn't noticed that another wheelman had come into the grove to
+rest, and left his bicycle by the same tree.
+
+"Trained to do what?" said the other, who was enough bigger than Kenneth
+to be a young man. "To talk like a parrot, or to sit up and beg like a
+pug-dog?"
+
+Kenneth laughed at the idea of a bicycle sitting up and hanging down its
+handle-bar and begging; and then he answered:
+
+"Oh, no; just to go themselves, you know." The presence of the stranger
+seemed to revive him, so he sat up and looked at the other.
+
+"Oh, shucks!" said the young man. "Trained to go themselves! Where did
+you come from?"
+
+"Smithville," replied Kenneth.
+
+"Thought so," answered the other. "You're in Bicycle-land now, where
+they _are_ trained to go themselves. Come here!" he said, snapping his
+finger at his wheel, which rolled over and stopped by his side. "That's
+the way we have 'em trained here."
+
+"Well, that's what I meant," returned Kenneth, not liking the lofty tone
+of the other very well. "That's precisely the way I am going to train
+mine." And he turned and snapped his fingers at his wheel, and it came
+toward him, though it wavered a good deal, and would have fallen if he
+hadn't caught it.
+
+"That's very good," said the young man; "very good indeed. You have an
+extremely intelligent bicycle. Keep training it for a week; and it will
+go almost as well as mine."
+
+"There aren't any pedals on yours," said Kenneth, as he looked at the
+other's wheel.
+
+"Well, there aren't any pedals on a horse either, are there?" asked the
+young man, promptly. "Did you ever see a man riding a horse in
+Smithville, and pumping him along with pedals?"
+
+"I forgot," said Kenneth. "I'll take them off of mine," and he reached
+down and did so. "What shall I do with them?"
+
+"Oh, throw 'em in the ash-can," said the other, airily. "They're no
+good."
+
+Kenneth didn't see any ash-can, so he tossed them behind some bushes,
+and began to give his bicycle practice at going alone about on the
+grass-plot. It learned rapidly, and he soon ventured to mount it, and
+after one or two tumbles it circled around, went ahead, and backed up
+very well indeed.
+
+"Well, now, what shall we do?" asked the young man.
+
+"I hardly know," answered Kenneth. "You're better acquainted with the
+country than I. You suggest something."
+
+"I was on my way to the circus," said the other. "Suppose you come
+along. They say it's a very good show. It certainly has one great
+curiosity which I am anxious to see."
+
+"What's that?" asked Kenneth.
+
+"They have in this circus," answered the young man, speaking very slowly
+and impressively--"they have in a cage--a--live--horse!"
+
+"Well, I don't--" began Kenneth; then he checked himself and went on, "I
+don't see where they got that."
+
+"Captured it in the Smithville country at great expense and loss of
+life," replied the young man, proudly. "The Largest and most Ferocious
+Horse ever in the Captivity of Man. This Savage and Awe-inspiring Beast
+will daily Devour in Full View of the Breathless Audience a Peck of Oats
+and an Armful of Hay. At the Sight of his Food he Utters Blood-curdling
+Roars which bring Spasms of Fear to the Bravest. Don't miss this Chance
+of a Lifetime. I was just quoting from the bills," explained the young
+man hurriedly, as he lowered his voice again.
+
+They then mounted their bicycles and rode away out of the grove and down
+a side road. The pedals being gone, Kenneth rested his feet on the
+coasters, as did his companion, and they sped along faster than he had
+ever ridden on the wheel before. It was, in fact, just like coasting
+down a long steep hill, but without the danger, as he soon came to have
+perfect confidence in the ability of his newly trained steed to keep
+upright.
+
+"You see," said the young man, "that it's the simplest thing in the
+world to train a bicycle. Whoa!" he shouted, and his wheel began to
+stop. "Get up!" and it increased its speed again. "Yours doesn't know
+that yet, but it will soon learn. By-the-way," he continued, "they say a
+man actually goes into the cage with that horse at the circus. Don't
+fail to see Señior Jimjamdaza enter Fearlessly into the Cage of the
+Raging Bucephalus and Handle him as a Child might Handle a Bicycle.
+Remember, one Ticket admits to each and all of the Stupendous Wonders
+contained in this Gigantic Tentatorial Aggregation of-- Oh, I beg
+pardon; those bills _will_ keep running in my head," said the young man,
+just a little sheepishly.
+
+"Oh, I don't mind," answered Kenneth; "only I think it's a good deal of
+a fuss to make over a horse. Why, I wouldn't be afraid to go into his
+cage myself."
+
+"Now, see here," said the young man, "that won't do, you know. You can't
+fool me that way. You must think I'm green. The horse is the worst
+animal that ranges the Perilous and Deadly Jungle, spreading Terror and
+Destruction wherever he chances to show the Fiery Fury of his Face, and
+only Captured by our Agents after weeks of Superhuman Effort involving
+the Dreadful loss of Precious Life and the Sacrifice of Untold
+Treasure-- There I go again, quoting those bills; but, anyhow, you see
+what sort of an animal the horse is. And still you pretend to say that
+you wouldn't be afraid to enter the cage with one!"
+
+"Well, I wouldn't," insisted Kenneth. "Didn't you ever have horses in
+this country?"
+
+"They became extinct ages ago," answered the young man. (Kenneth thought
+of the pictures of mastodons and such things which he had seen in his
+physical geography book at school.) "Ages ago," repeated the young man.
+"Sometimes we find remains of 'em. Only last week a man discovered some
+horse bones while digging the cellar for a new bicycle-factory."
+
+They had been wheeling along pretty fast, and had made several turns.
+There were a great many other people on the road, mostly going in the
+same direction as they were, evidently also on their way to the circus.
+Nearly all of them were riding bicycles precisely as they were, though a
+few were in carriages driving bicycles, usually two side by side.
+Suddenly at a sharp turn in the road they came face to face with a long
+bill-board covered with immense colored pictures and letters as high as
+Kenneth. The young man stopped the moment he saw it, and said:
+
+"There, see that! There's a true picture of the gentle beast you say you
+would like to go in with."
+
+Kenneth looked, and saw a picture of an animal ten or twelve feet high,
+with a great mouth like a hippopotamus, wide open, showing rows of teeth
+six inches long. A lot of hunters and black natives were trying to get
+out of his way, but the biggest hunter had fallen, and the horse was
+about to come down upon him with his forward feet. The animal's eyes
+seemed to be flashing fire, and he had a mane like a lion.
+
+"How long do you think you'd like to stay in a cage with an animal like
+that?" asked the young man, proudly. "Like to sit down with him and do
+your sums, perhaps? Or maybe you'd rather lie down on the floor of the
+cage and take a nap--eh?"
+
+"I can't say about that sort of a horse," admitted Kenneth, doubtfully.
+"I never saw a horse just like that, you know."
+
+"See what it says," cried the young man. "'The Dreadful Terror in his
+Native Jungle! Captured after Awful Weeks of Cyclonic Struggle! To be
+seen in the Full and Excruciating Exuberance of his own Tremendous
+Verbosity in this Show alone!' What do you think of that?"
+
+"Well, I don't know, hardly. I can tell better after I have seen the
+horse," said Kenneth.
+
+"Yes, and we must be moving or we'll be late," returned the young man.
+"Here we go!" and off along the road they went again. In a few minutes
+they came to the circus-grounds. There were two large tents connected,
+with many smaller ones standing alone. There were great banners
+everywhere showing pictures of the wonders within, the largest being
+devoted to the horse. They left their bicycles in a shed, and after
+buying tickets, went into the first of the big tents. There was a great
+crowd inside, especially over at one side. "I think the horse is over
+there," whispered the young man. Just then they heard a man shouting:
+
+"This way, ladies and gentlemen, to see the Mighty Monarch of the
+Trackless Jungle, the only Horse ever captured by Man. He is now about
+to be fed a Peck of Hardened Oats, which he will Crunch and Rend by the
+Terrific Force of his Unaided and Unassisted Jaws! Step up, ladies and
+gentlemen; step up!"
+
+"We've got to see that horse if half of our bones are broken," exclaimed
+the young man, as he seized Kenneth by the arm, and began to force their
+way through the crowd.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MILKY WAY.
+
+BY ALBERT LEE.
+
+
+  I dreamed one night that I sailed away
+    From my little cot at home,
+  In a paper ship I had built that day,
+    Toward the heaven's starry dome.
+
+  And an angel met my little boat,
+    And clasped me by the hand
+  When I stepped ashore, in my short night-coat,
+    On the distant golden strand.
+
+  He led me forth down a great broad street
+    That seemed as bright as day,
+  And it felt all soft to the tread of my feet,--
+    For I walked on the Milky Way.
+
+  Along the sides of this heavenly road
+    That stretched away so white
+  Were a myriad stars that softly glowed,
+    Like fire-flies in the night.
+
+  The angel said that the Milky Way
+    Is the place where the girls and boys
+  Who are lame or crippled may go and play,
+    And trade their crutches for toys.
+
+  For when lame children go to sleep
+    In their sufferance beds below,
+  They are ferried by angels across the deep,
+    To the path where the star-lamps glow,
+
+  And the crutches they placed beside the bed,
+    Where they lay at close of day,
+  Are changed to tops and dolls instead
+    When they come to the Milky Way.
+
+  So I saw them there whom I knew down here,
+    Whom Heaven has not so blessed
+  With the strength to romp for the day's good-cheer,
+    But who hold the blessings of rest.
+
+  And now when I gaze toward the skies at night,
+    And look at the Milky Way,
+  I know why the near stars shine so bright:--
+    The little lame boys are at play.
+
+
+
+
+FROM CHUM TO CHUM.
+
+BY GASTON V. DRAKE.
+
+XII.--FROM BOB TO JACK.
+
+
+  STRATFORD-ON-AVON.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+     MY DEAR JACK,--This is the place where William Shakespeare was
+     born. He was the man that some people say didn't write his own
+     works, but I guess there must be some mistake about that, because
+     if he didn't, why then they weren't his _own works_. Pop says
+     that's a very suttle point that nobody else ever thought of and I
+     think he's right, though I don't know what suttle means. We came
+     down here from London yesterday, and on the whole I was kind of
+     glad to get away. We used to think it would be nice to go to the
+     circus every day, and I remember feeling very badly once because I
+     couldn't, but you change your mind after being in London a couple
+     of weeks with nothing but go, go, go, and see, see, see from
+     morning until night. I've seen so much in London that I can't keep
+     it straight in my head except the wax-works and they were royal.
+     They had a collection of Kings and Queens there that beats anything
+     I ever saw and Pop says they're just as valuable as the real
+     article, except in the matter of jewelry, which is only imitation
+     and made of paste. I said I'd rather see a real King than a wax
+     King, but Pop says the wax King would pay just as much attention to
+     me as a real King, and that you could slap a wax King on the back,
+     which you wouldn't be allowed to do with a real King. I don't know
+     about that though. I'd like to try it once. I sort of feel that if
+     I could get hold of a real King he and I would get along pretty
+     well together, because when I saw the Prince of Whales it struck me
+     that he wasn't much more than a human being after all, and from the
+     way he wore his hat, wouldn't mind much if somebody did slap him on
+     the back and tell him a bear story. I'd like mightily to try that
+     bear story of Sandboys' on that Whales fellow. I don't believe he'd
+     be very horty after he'd heard half of it.
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+     In some ways though the wax people are more interesting than the
+     real rulers. They wear better clothes. The wax Prince was a great
+     deal more gorgeous than the real one. He simply blossomed all over
+     with jewels and medals and uniform. There wasn't any beaver hat and
+     umbrella business about the wax one, and all the wax Kings had
+     their crowns on. I always thought Kings got along without hats and
+     wore gold bands with prongs on 'em all around their foreheads, but
+     Pop says they gave up that because it gave 'em colds in the heads
+     going out with prongs on, and besides the English crown was too
+     valuable to hang on a hat-rack.
+
+     They had wax plain people too, sitting all around the place to make
+     it look popular. A man came in here once and asked a wax policeman
+     where the figure of Napoleon was, and of course the wax policeman
+     didn't say a word, and the man got mad and took his number and
+     complained about him for not being civil. There's a Chamber of
+     Horrors too where they keep the wax heads of bad people and show
+     you how burglars look. Generally they didn't look any worse than
+     the fine people upstairs, only their clothes weren't so good and
+     they didn't wear diamonds.
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+     Napoleon wasn't half as great looking as I thought he would be. Pop
+     says he wasn't the kind of a man to work up in wax anyhow. He had a
+     face that needed cast-iron or granite to make it go as a figure in
+     a wax-work show, and as for the Duke of Wellington that beat him at
+     Waterloo, he didn't show up for much in wax except his nose and
+     that was fearful. He had a funny nose, the Duke of Wellington had
+     and I guess that's what beat Napoleon. If Napoleon ever saw it it
+     must have made him laugh, and nobody can fight and laugh at the
+     same time. He had a hard nose to follow if the wax-work was like
+     him, because it went in two directions. If I had a nose like that
+     and wanted to go somewhere and somebody told me to follow my nose
+     the way some people do sometimes, I'd know what they meant though.
+     They'd mean go across our block, turn a corner and go down two. It
+     had a thank-you-marm in it like country road's that you slide down
+     hill on in winter. But he got there just the same, which I'm sorry
+     for because Napoleon wasn't half as tall as he was, and I like to
+     see the little man win generally.
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+     Next to the wax-works I remember the Zoo clearest of all I've seen.
+     I saw more monkies than you could shake a stick at and the fun they
+     were having made me wish I might be one of 'em for a little while.
+     Some of 'em looked almost as human as our hired man, and Pop says
+     he didn't know but what they were nearly as useful. The only
+     objection to 'em was that they were never quite still enough to be
+     good hired men. Besides monkies they had bears, and horned toads,
+     and red, white, and blue parrots--Pop says he thinks the red white
+     and blue parrots are called Jingo-birds, and we have lots of 'em in
+     the United States, but I never saw any up our way, and I guess if
+     we had 'em I'd know it because they spend most of their time
+     screeching and shaking their feathers. I didn't care much for the
+     snakes. They've got a whole house full of 'em, but they don't
+     amount to much, spending most of their time asleep. They aren't
+     half as lively, nor any more snakey to look at than the elephants'
+     trunks. The Elephants in this Zoo are awfully friendly and they'll
+     eat anything from chocolate creams to pie. There was a man in the
+     Zoo once that saw a little girl giving the Elephant a piece of
+     chocolate and he thought it was tobacco, so when the elephant put
+     out his trunk for something from him he put his cigar in it,
+     forgetting unfortunately that it was still lit, and the elephant
+     got awful mad and grabbed the man around the waist and threw him up
+     in the air so hard that the Zoo man says he hasn't come down yet,
+     and that was three years ago. Try that on Sandboys and see what he
+     has to say about it.
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+     I've used up all my paper now and so must stop, or else I'd tell
+     you all about that Shakespeare man who was born here. He was a
+     great man and wrote Julius Cæsar and lots of plays that have people
+     die in, right before your eyes. They still keep his memory green
+     here and Pop says are making more money out of doing so in a week
+     than Shakespeare made in a year. He never wrote his name twice
+     alike and was buried in the church. His grave is very interesting
+     and has an epitaph on it forbidding anybody to dust it off, which I
+     think is mighty queer.
+
+     Next Monday, we are going over to Paris, and whenever I have the
+     time I study a little French. I've learned already to say bon jour
+     so that Pop knows what I mean and before long I expect to know the
+     language well enough to talk to myself in it anyhow.
+
+  Always yours,
+  BOB.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
+
+
+It is only a question of time when the Cambridge High and Latin schools
+will be forced to compete in interscholastic sports as separate
+institutions. Already the football authorities have refused to recognize
+a C. H. and L. eleven, and at the recent annual meeting of the Baseball
+Committee a fight was made to force the united Cambridge schools to
+enter separate baseball teams. The battle was lost; but the feeling
+against the Cambridge schools seems to be very strong, and sooner or
+later the High-school and the Latin school will be compelled to stand on
+their individual merits.
+
+The constitution of the Baseball League provides that no amendment can
+be made without a two-thirds vote, and when the question of separating
+the Cambridge High-school from the Cambridge Latin School in baseball
+came up, the vote stood three to three, and consequently C. H. and L.
+will be represented by one nine in the league games this spring. The
+schools that voted for C. H. and L. were the English High, the
+Somerville High, and, naturally, the Cambridge High and Latin. English
+High's representatives claimed that they voted to allow the schools to
+play as one, because separation would make the number of teams in the
+league too great, and they also thought the expense of such an
+arrangement would be inadvisable. Somerville High voted for the
+Cambridge institutions because it, too, is what they call there a
+"combined" school, and it was practically voting for itself by standing
+up for C. H. and L. The three schools on the opposition side were the
+Roxbury Latin, Boston Latin, and Hopkinson's. They voted for separation
+on the ground that it was for the best interests of interscholastic
+sport in Boston.
+
+The Baseball and Football Interscholastic leagues are encouraged and
+looked after by Harvard University athletes, because they develop
+players who enter Harvard and make good material for the university
+tennis. For that reason the influence of Harvard men has always been
+exerted in behalf of the schools that send the best and the most
+material to college, and also, of course, for the best interests of
+sport. It was largely due to the influence of Harvard men that
+C. H. and L. was forced out of the football association. Eventually
+these graduates will doubtless take the same stand in baseball.
+
+For the last ten years--that is, from 1886 to 1895--the number of
+scholars sent to Harvard by Somerville High, Cambridge High and Latin,
+and English High schools (the three institutions which voted for
+C. H. and L.) has been 236, or an average each year of 23.6 men. On the
+other hand, Roxbury Latin, Boston Latin, and Hopkinson's (the three
+schools that voted against C. H. and L.) have sent 639 men, or a yearly
+average of 63.9. These figures are taken from the annual report of the
+President of Harvard University. From other sources I find that the
+approximate number of scholars in the three schools first mentioned is
+1300, while the approximate number of students at the three schools last
+mentioned is 1000. It is fair to assume too, that 175 of the latter are
+too young to enter either the Cambridge or English High or the
+Somerville High schools, for Hopkinson's and Roxbury Latin accept boys
+as young as nine and ten years. This makes the discrepancy between the
+two groups even greater from an athletic point of view. Therefore it is
+evident that while the Cambridge schools and their adherents have some
+1300 pupils, they send only about 38 per cent. of the number of men to
+Harvard that the other three schools send there.
+
+For this reason, if for no other, Harvard is likely to support the
+separatist party among the schools, and thus ultimately force the
+Cambridge High and Latin schools to support separate teams. In view of
+this, and in view of the fact that it is beyond question for the best
+interests of sport that the Cambridge schools should be separated, it
+seems that the sooner C. H. and L. men come to realize this, and act
+upon the conviction, the more gracefully will they effect the scission,
+and besides that they will come out with credit rather than otherwise.
+
+[Illustration: THE BERKELEY OVAL.]
+
+It is probable, as matters now stand, that the first annual games of the
+National Association will be held on the Berkeley Oval the afternoon of
+Saturday, June 13th.
+
+The baseball schedule of the New Jersey I.S.A.A. has been laid out as
+follows: April 18th, Montclair High-School against Plainfield, at
+Plainfield; April 18th, Pingry against Newark Academy, at Elizabeth;
+April 25th, Montclair against Stevens Institute, at Montclair; April
+25th, Plainfield against Pingry, at Plainfield; May 6th, Stevens
+Institute against Newark Academy, at Newark; May 16th, Stevens Institute
+against Plainfield, at Hoboken; May 16th, Montclair against Pingry, at
+Elizabeth; May 23d, Plainfield against Newark Academy, at Newark; May
+23d, Pingry against Stevens Institute, at Hoboken; May 27th, Montclair
+against Newark Academy, at Montclair. It would be well if a game could
+be arranged between the winner of this series and the winner of the New
+York League, or, better yet, of the Inter-city game.
+
+The dates of the New York baseball series are juggled with so frequently
+that I have given up all hope of keeping track of the schedule. At the
+last meeting of the I.S.A.A. more alterations were made, but with the
+aid of the god of sport perhaps the schedule will come out straight. One
+date that can be announced with reasonable assurance at present,
+however, is that of the Interscholastic games. These will be held at the
+Berkeley Oval on Wednesday, May 13th.
+
+A striking feature of the recent interscholastic skating races at the
+107th Street rink was Morgan's winning of every event in the finals on
+Friday evening, April 10th. He seemed to be as much at home in the
+sprints as in the distances, his time in the various races being: 220
+yards, 23 sec.; quarter-mile, 50-1/5 sec.; two miles, 6 min. 36-2/5 sec.
+He skated also with the winning team in the one-mile relay race.
+
+Although these skating races were not officially sanctioned by the
+N.Y.I.S.A.A. almost all of the schools in the Association sent entries,
+of which there were about fifty. The trial heats were run on Friday
+night, the 9th, and the finals on Saturday, and there were between 3000
+and 4000 spectators present on each occasion.
+
+[Illustration: ALFRED MORGAN.
+
+Champion Interscholastic Skater N.Y.I.S.A.A.]
+
+Alfred Morgan, of De La Salle, won the 220 trial and the two-mile with
+ease, and in the quarter he almost lapped his field, and, mistaking the
+finish, he stopped. Realizing his mistake as soon as the field had
+rushed past, he plunged ahead again, and making a hard spurt managed to
+secure second place, which gave him a chance in the finals.
+
+In the finals the finishing of the second and third men was in almost
+every instance more exciting than that of first and second, because
+Morgan was so far superior to the other skaters. In the 220 he was the
+quickest to get in motion when the pistol was fired, set a clipping
+pace, and won easily by twenty yards. Pitizipio beat Goulding for the
+place by five yards. Goulding was fortunate in getting third prize, as
+he slipped and fell five yards from the finish, but managed to slide
+across the tape in time. In the two-mile Morgan came in fully three laps
+ahead of the second man.
+
+Morgan has great speed, and is particularly quick in getting off the
+mark. His time in the 440 comes very near to the world's in-door record.
+In practice Donohue has only been able to beat Morgan by about two feet
+in a 220 race. Morgan is not yet nineteen years old, and besides being
+the best skater in the schools, he is pitcher of the De La Salle nine,
+and a speedy bicycle-rider.
+
+The turns in the track at the 107th Street rink are very sharp, and a
+number of the skaters were bowled over like tenpins at the corners. On a
+longer track the time might have been a trifle better. But even so, next
+year the scholastic competitors will have pretty high records to beat.
+De La Salle won the cup which was offered to the school making the
+largest number of points, by scoring 14. The next highest score was 6
+points.
+
+The officers of the National Interscholastic Association have finally
+decided to ask the New Manhattan Athletic Club to take charge of their
+first field meeting--upon the success of which so much depends--and the
+club has undertaken the task. I think the school athletes of the country
+are to be congratulated upon this move, for the financial element of the
+enterprise has now been entirely eliminated so far as they are
+concerned, and this is one of the greatest advantages that could be
+wished for.
+
+That the National Association has done a clever thing in getting the
+N.M.A.C., or rather, the Athletic Manager of the club, to superintend
+and arrange these games is proved by the fact that for some time past
+the Inter-collegiate Association has been negotiating with the club to
+achieve this same end. But the governors of the N.M.A.C., in their
+endeavors to assist in the promotion of pure sport, have decided not to
+attempt more than they can handle at the outset, and believing that the
+schools deserve more of them than the colleges, they will, I believe,
+give their time and assistance this year to the latter only.
+
+And at this point let me give the readers of this Department a little
+glance into the inside history of the negotiations which have just ended
+between the National Association and the club. It will give them a
+better idea than anything else could, I think, of the spirit which is to
+pervade the management of scholastic affairs in the future. When the
+officers of N.I.S.A.A. went to the managers of the N.M.A.C. they
+explained what they wanted, and they talked about gate receipts and
+medals and percentage, and all that sort of thing, and the word
+"dollars" was used a good deal more than the word "sport." That was all
+very well and entirely excusable, because the officers felt a certain
+responsibility in the matter, and they knew they could not secure
+grounds and prizes for nothing, and perhaps they allowed the latter
+factors to assume a greater importance than they deserve.
+
+The managers of the club, however, who are ranged in opposition to the
+financial element in athletics, replied that they would make no
+agreement whatever with N.I.S.A.A. on a dollars and cents basis. They
+said they would take charge of the games if the association so desired,
+and they agreed to carry out the athletic plans of the association to
+the best of their ability and to the satisfaction of the scholastic
+representatives, but they firmly refused to enter into any contract or
+to discuss any question involving money matters. They stated that their
+purpose was to get the element of dollars and cents as far separate from
+that of sport as it was possible to do, and expressed a willingness to
+go ahead at once on that basis.
+
+In other words, the situation resolved itself to this: The managers of
+the N.M.A.C. are sportsmen. The members and officers of the N.I.S.A.A.
+are sportsmen. The younger men say to the older men, "We have perfect
+confidence in your ability and integrity; will you conduct our games?"
+The older men reply, "We know exactly how such games should be
+conducted, and we know what you want; we will conduct your games." They
+shake hands on that agreement, and that ends the matter.
+
+As affairs stand now the N.I.S.A.A. officials feel perfectly confident
+that everything that it is possible to do will be done to make the games
+a success. It is for the interest of school sport and for the interest
+of the N.M.A.C. that everything should so be done. The N.I.S.A.A. men
+know that the N.M.A.C. managers are aware of the fact that rewards or
+mementoes of some kind are customarily given to winners on occasions of
+this kind, and they are consequently confident that such trophies will
+be forthcoming upon this occasion. The value of these trophies has no
+place in the discussion, no matter what the constitution of the
+N.I.S.A.A. may say. It is further known by all concerned that the
+governors of the N.M.A.C., being sportsmen and not sports, are not
+undertaking the management of these games for purposes of gain, and
+that, therefore, whatever pecuniary profit may result will, no doubt, go
+to the scholastic association and not to the club. Hence everything
+seems now to be arranged on the best possible basis, and the
+disagreeable consideration of dollars and cents is entirely eliminated.
+In a few years scholastic sport will probably have gotten so far away
+from the financial question that we shall all of us have forgotten what
+a disagreeable tangle it once was.
+
+  THE GRADUATE.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STAMPS]
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
+     collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
+     on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
+     Editor Stamp Department.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Several collectors have lately sent me Newfoundland stamps for
+identification, in the belief that they had the rare early issues, but
+in each case the stamps were the 1863 "lake" issue. The 1d., 3d., and
+5d. of the two issues are easily identified. The 2d., 4d., 6d., 6-1/2d.,
+8d., and 1s. (all of about the same type) were printed in at least three
+colors--orange vermilion, scarlet vermilion, and "lake." The first two
+were used between 1856 and 1863, and are very scarce, especially the
+6-1/2d. and 1s. The "lake" issue, on the other hand, was printed in
+larger quantities, and went out of use in 1866, having had a circulation
+of little more than two years. A very large supply of all these
+varieties were left on hand, and for many years could be bought at the
+post-office singly or in sheets at face value. The used copies of the
+"lake" issue on the original envelope are worth ten times as much as the
+unused copies.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The following new counterfeits have made their appearance in New York:
+The Hawaiian 12c. mauve surcharged in black "Provisional Government."
+The rare U.S. 1861 10c. without the colored line. A clever rascal has
+taken the common 10c. of the same issue and painted out the white
+vertical lines. This is a dangerous counterfeit. The Tuscany 60c. has
+been imitated so successfully that even some dealers were at first
+deceived. It seems to have been made by the same person who imitated the
+3 lire Tuscany.
+
+     A. L. A.--They are tokens, not coins, and have practically no
+     value.
+
+     T. D. H.--Die A of the U.S. 1887 envelope is scarce on white and
+     amber, and rare on blue and Oriental buff. It may be distinguished
+     by the bust, which points to the space between the third and the
+     fourth tooth. In the common die B (now current) the bust points to
+     the space between the second and the third tooth.
+
+
+  PHILATUS.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+Arnold
+
+Constable & Co
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Children's Wear.
+
+CHILDREN'S
+
+_Wash and Outing Dresses,_
+
+_School Frocks,_
+
+_Cloth Reefers._
+
+BABIES' WEAR.
+
+_French Piqué Bonnets,_
+
+_Dimity Dresses,_
+
+_Mull Caps._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Broadway & 19th st.
+
+NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
+
+A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening
+strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._
+
+ROYAL BAKING POWDER. CO., NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Over the hills
+
+and far away,
+
+The whizzing wheels speed on to-day.
+
+As they fly along the glad shouts ring--
+
+"Ride MONARCH, the wheel that's best and king"
+
+MONARCH
+
+KING OF BICYCLES
+
+Beloved by his subjects because he does right by them. There's goodness
+and merit in every inch of his kingly fame.
+
+4 models. $80 and $100, fully guaranteed. For children and adults who
+want a lower price wheel the =Defiance= is made in 8 models, $40 to $75.
+
+Send for Monarch book.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Monarch Cycle Mfg. Co.
+
+Lake, Halsted and Fulton Sts., CHICAGO.
+
+83 Reade St., NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S PERIODICALS.
+
+_Postage free to all subscribers in the United States, Canada, and
+Mexico._
+
+  HARPER'S MAGAZINE       _per Year_, $4.00
+  HARPER'S WEEKLY                      4.00
+  HARPER'S BAZAR                       4.00
+  HARPER'S ROUND TABLE                 2.00
+
+_Booksellers and Postmasters usually receive Subscriptions.
+Subscriptions sent direct to the publishers should be accompanied by
+Post-office Money Order or Draft. When no time is specified,
+Subscriptions will begin with the current Number._
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK CITY, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: BICYCLING]
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the
+     Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our
+     maps and tours contain 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.
+
+
+[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers.]
+
+Leaving Powers' Hotel at Rochester, proceed westward across the bridge
+over asphalt pavement, and taking the turn to the right at the fork of
+the road cross two railroads. After crossing the second, or rather on
+crossing the second, turn to the right, and keeping then to the left,
+pass through the toll-gate and follow the turnpike to Gates Centre. The
+route from Gates Centre, past Coldwater, to North Chili, and thence to
+Churchville is direct and unmistakable. Churchville is fifteen miles
+from Rochester, and the road is a good one most of the way. If you stop
+at the Cottage Hotel you will find good rooms and excellent meals served
+at sixty cents.
+
+For an experienced rider it may be safe enough to take the cinder path
+from Churchville between the two tracks of the railway, and ride thence
+to Bergen, three miles further on, since of these three miles two miles
+on the road are practically unrideable on account of the sand; but for
+any one who is not an experienced rider--and, to be honest, for any one
+at all--to do this is a great risk, and you are advised, therefore, to
+walk or ride in a wagon these two miles of sand. From Bergen a turn
+should be made to the right, the track crossed about a mile out from
+town, and a direct run made to Byron through West Bergen. Thence proceed
+due west, following the track for about a mile, where a sharp turn to
+the left is made, and this road is held until Batavia is reached, ten
+miles further on. The road, as will be seen upon the map, is somewhat
+irregular, but is very easy to follow. The road itself is in good
+condition, though it is somewhat uphill as you run in towards Batavia.
+
+It is possible to take the fair bicycle route marked on the map, running
+direct from Bergen to Batavia, to the south of West Bergen and South
+Byron; but, everything considered, it is better to follow the best
+route. This stage of the journey to Buffalo--from Rochester to
+Batavia--is one of the most difficult, as much of the road is sandy and,
+at best, aggravating riding. A good deal of care should be taken of the
+wheel during this run. In the first place, sand roads often give the
+rider a throw which wrenches his bicycle; and in the second place, the
+sand itself is apt to get into the bearings of the wheel, and if
+considerable care is not taken in cleaning it at night evil results may
+develop.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Phil May, of _Punch_, seldom lets slip a chance to play a practical
+joke. Not long ago he needed a policeman for a model. He went out into
+the street and accosted the first one he met, saying who he was and what
+he wanted. "Come to my house at noon to-morrow," said Phil May, and he
+gave the man his address. Then he walked on a couple of blocks further
+until he met another bobby. This one was also willing to pose, and he
+was likewise told to apply at noon of the following day. The artist
+wandered about London for several hours making appointments with
+policemen. The next day at noon there was an entire platoon of police in
+front of Phil May's residence. A crowd collected, and the reason for
+such an array was freely discussed. Some asserted that a den of
+anarchists had been discovered and was about to be raided; others
+insisted that a swell gambling-place was about to be seized; others
+hinted at a murder or at some other mystery. A few minutes after twelve
+o'clock Phil May came to the door and invited all the policemen into his
+garden. There he lined them up and inspected them. He picked out the man
+most suitable for his purposes, then handed to each of the others an
+envelope containing the regulation fee for a sitting, and dismissed
+them.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PUDDING STICK]
+
+
+Every girl cannot, of course, find a blind neighbor who wishes to hear
+somebody read aloud, nor are little dancing classes to be formed at
+one's pleasure. But if a girl is fond of her needle, she may keep a
+dainty piece of work on hand--a centre-piece, or a bureau scarf, or a
+doily or two, and embroider these as she has opportunity, gradually
+becoming so expert and deft that her needle produces exquisite effects,
+like those of a painter's brush. Such work is saleable, and there are
+always people who will order it for holiday or birthday gifts, or for
+their contributions to fairs. You must not hope to sell what you do in
+this line unless it is really excellent work, but if you are skilled you
+will be able to reap some profit from your labor. Many girls earn their
+money for charity in this way. I know one who trims the family hats and
+bonnets, and so earns Easter and Christmas money for the poor and for
+her gifts.
+
+Among pleasant methods of earning money I must mention the device of
+Marion, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a friend, who pays her a little
+salary for keeping a set of books for him. There is, in this case, a
+particular account which the father wishes to keep separate from all
+others, and Marion, who has studied book-keeping, has charge of this,
+her father willingly remunerating her for her time. When a girl's
+parents are able to pay her for some work which she does at home she is
+to be congratulated.
+
+Anna M---- frankly declares that her talents are of the home-making
+order. She is quick and neat, and likes to make cake, and candy, and
+salted almonds, and other goodies which people enjoy. If she had time to
+make them, her peanut taffy and her maple-sugar caramels would be in
+great demand, but as it is she never has trouble in getting orders for
+all she can supply. Her sister Sallie has earned a really large amount
+of money for a young girl by obtaining subscriptions for a favorite
+periodical, the publishers allowing a liberal commission on every paid
+subscription.
+
+But after all, girls, I cannot urge you to devote your powers as yet to
+the earning of money. This is your preparatory season. Think of
+something you would like to become, and spend your time in getting ready
+for it. I admire Louise W----, who, when she was a child, enjoyed her
+needle and her little bit of patchwork, and learned to dress her dolls
+beautifully. Louise took a thorough course in millinery and dressmaking,
+learning the art of cutting and fitting perfectly; then she began to
+teach it, and now, as a young lady, she goes about to different schools
+to impart what she knows, and she also forms classes and takes single
+pupils. She waited till her school days were over before entering on her
+profession, and she is so fully mistress of her art that nobody is more
+independent than she.
+
+Concerning singing, about which Lulu D---- writes, lessons from the best
+masters are very costly, though it is possible to study at a
+conservatory, and by sharing the lessons of a class receive instruction
+at a smaller outlay. If the voice is worth cultivation a conscientious
+teacher will tell you its probable range, and advise you whether to
+invest money in vocal culture.
+
+     MARY G. H.--Your letter reached me too late to be answered by the
+     date you set. Should your club have another entertainment
+     mentioned, have either a flower party or a library party. In the
+     first instance each girl must dress in the color of her favorite
+     flower, wear it in her belt, and recite a little poem or tell a
+     story in which her flower is mentioned. In the second, each chooses
+     a book and is dressed to represent its title, which the rest find
+     out by guessing. Bring a copy of the book with you, if you wish,
+     and let it be given to a hospital or other charity.
+
+     FLORA B.--All the way from Chili your letter came straight to my
+     desk. I am glad to have warm words of appreciation of The Pudding
+     Stick from a South-American reader. You write a beautiful hand, and
+     use English well.
+
+     FRANCES.--I think twenty-five cents a week would be a sufficient
+     allowance for pocket-money at your age.
+
+     HELEN.--As you are small for your age, wear your dresses just to
+     the tops of your boots.
+
+     MAY AND ROSALIND H.--I thank you and your mamma for your letter,
+     and grandmamma for her excellent culinary hint, which is that a bit
+     of charcoal put in the vessels in which cabbage, onions,
+     cauliflower, turnips, and spinach are cooked will quite do away
+     with the disagreeable odors which usually accompany the process of
+     boiling.
+
+     MRS. T. E.--You will gain the information you ask for by addressing
+     the Young Women's Christian Association, New York.
+
+[Illustration: Signature]
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+SCIENTIFIC
+
+BICYCLE MAKING
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The ball bearings of a bicycle must be very hard. But they must not be
+brittle, or they will break easily. The Columbia method is right. Soft,
+tough steel is forged to the shape required, machined down to exact
+size, case hardened to diamond density on its surface, and then
+polished. Such bearings rarely break, while they give the matchless ease
+of running that makes
+
+[Illustration: Columbia Bicycles]
+
+Standard of the World
+
+$100 to all alike
+
+Columbias in construction and quality are in a class by themselves.
+
+POPE MANUFACTURING CO., Hartford, Conn.
+
+Columbia Art Catalogue gives full information of Columbias; also of
+Hartford bicycles, next best, $80, $60, $50. Free from the Columbia
+agent or mailed for two 2-cent stamps.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HARTFORD Single-Tube Tire]
+
+HARTFORD Single-Tube Tires are the standard single-tubes. Their success
+has caused a host of imitations. But who will have imitations when he
+can have the genuine?
+
+IF IT'S A HARTFORD TIRE IT'S RIGHT.
+
+The Hartford Rubber Works Co.
+
+HARTFORD, CONN.
+
+New York Chicago.
+
+[Illustration: HARTFORD Single-Tube Tire]
+
+
+
+
+JOSEPH GILLOTT'S
+
+STEEL PENS
+
+Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F.
+
+And other styles to suit all hands.
+
+THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS.
+
+
+
+
+Postage Stamps, &c.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+STAMPS! =800= fine mixed Victoria, Cape of G. H., India, Japan, etc., with
+fine Stamp Album, only =10c.= New 80-p. Price-list =free=. _Agents wanted_
+at =50%= commission. STANDARD STAMP CO., 4 Nicholson Place, St. Louis, Mo.
+Old U. S. and Confederate Stamps bought.
+
+
+
+
+$117.50 WORTH OF STAMPS FREE
+
+to agents selling stamps from my 50% approval sheets. Send at once for
+circular and price-list giving full information.
+
+C. W. Grevning, Morristown, N. J.
+
+
+
+
+JAPANESE POSTAGE STAMPS!
+
+Every one who sends me 20 unused stamps of his land will receive 20
+unused stamps, in good varieties, from Japan.
+
+Sekigyokuken, Mitsunosho, Bingo, Japan.
+
+
+
+
+=LOOK HERE, BOYS!= 50 stamps and hinges, 15c.; 100, 25c. Cheaper packets
+if you want. Sheets on approval. List sent free. Send Postal Card.
+
+W. C. SHIELDS, 30 Sorauren Ave., Toronto, Canada.
+
+
+
+
+=STAMPS.= 20 different stamps free if you send for our approval sheets at
+50 per cent. commission. Enclose 2c. stamp, and give reference.
+
+=DIAMOND STAMP CO.=, Germantown, Pa.
+
+
+
+
+=105= Stamps, Java, etc., hinges, catalogue, album, 5c. Agents at 50% get
+_free_ packet stamps and fine illustrated album. Bargain cats. free. A.
+Bullard & Co., 97 Pembroke St., Boston, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+=125= dif. Gold Coast, Costa Rica, etc., 25c.; 40 U. S., 25c. Liberal com.
+to agents. Large bargain list free.
+
+F. W. MILLER, 904 Olive St., St. Louis, Mo.
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+=100= Mixed stamps for 5c.; 100 all dif., 10c. Agents w't'd at 50% com.
+American Stamp Co., 1607 14th St., West Superior, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+=AGENTS= w'nt'd to sell Confed. bills; 5 samples, 10c.; 1500 var. stamps
+and $2.50 album, $15. =R. & A.=, 113 W. 15th St., City.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A Novel Experiment to Try.
+
+Sir Edward C. Wood, secretary of a Round Table Chapter in Germantown,
+Philadelphia, Pa.--his address is 156 School Lane--is interested in
+science, and he sends us the following, adding that he intends to test
+the experiment, and will be glad to answer questions as to the result.
+Here is the novel item:
+
+A French scientist, M. Ragouneau, has just discovered how to make a
+plant grow from the seed in thirty minutes as much as it would under
+ordinary circumstances in as many days. Heretofore nature has shared
+this secret with the Yogis of India alone, and the methods pursued by
+these clever magicians in performing this trick have been often
+described. They plant a seed in the earth and cover it with a cloth. In
+a few moments the cloth begins to be pushed upward by the growing plant,
+which, in a short time, attains the height of several feet. Various
+theories have been advanced as to the _modus operandi_ of this miracle,
+one of the latest being that the spectators are all hypnotized by the
+magician. During his travels in India M. Ragouneau saw this trick
+performed frequently, and noticed that the Hindoos always embedded the
+seed in soil which they brought with them specially for that purpose. At
+last he learned that they obtained this earth from ant-hills. Now ants
+contain a large proportion of formic acid, with which, in time, the soil
+of their habitations becomes charged. This acid has the power of quickly
+dissolving the integument surrounding a seed, and of greatly stimulating
+the growth of the germ within. After a little experimenting with this
+acid the learned Frenchman was able to duplicate perfectly the Hindoo
+trick. His further researches have led him to believe that this
+discovery may be profitably applied to agriculture. By infusing ants in
+boiling water, acid as strong as vinegar can be obtained. M. Ragouneau
+has achieved the best results and most perfect growth by using earth
+moistened with a solution of 5000 parts of water to one of acid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Justice's Carriage Bill.
+
+Not long since Mr. Justice Gray, of the United States Supreme Court,
+went down into Delaware to hold court, and was met at the railroad
+station by a deputy marshal. The fees are not large in that section and
+deputy marshals are not rich men. So this deputy met the Justice on
+foot.
+
+"Where is your carriage?" asked Justice Gray.
+
+"Well, Mr. Justice, you see the distance ain't great, and the fees are
+small. If I hired a carriage I should have nothing left."
+
+"You get the carriage," said the Justice. "There is an account to which
+it can be charged. Write to the marshal in Baltimore, and he'll tell you
+what the account is."
+
+So Mr. Justice Gray rode into town and the deputy wrote to his superior.
+Soon after the Justice returned to Washington he received a letter from
+the Delaware deputy.
+
+"The carriage bill is all right," wrote the latter. "The marshal tells
+me to charge it up to the account of transportation of prisoners."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On Biscayne Bay.
+
+     The northernmost settlement on this Florida bay is Biscayne, first
+     settled twenty-five years ago. The site is one of natural beauty
+     and importance. The land is high, with very little prairie. Several
+     orange and lemon groves have been put out during the past two
+     years. There are pretty tropical flowers, stately cocoanuts, and
+     the ruins of several old stone houses burnt many years ago.
+
+     Lemon City, three miles south, and the largest town on the bay,
+     contains 150 families. It has a hotel, a church, and an excellent
+     school. It is the terminus of the Bay and Key West schooner line.
+     The harbor is deep. Buena Vista has the deepest water on the bay.
+     It is a mile south of Lemon City. It is a very small town. It has
+     one store, hotel, and the yard of the Pensacola Lumber Company is
+     situated here. Schooners carrying 300,000 feet of lumber arrive
+     along the shore. The back country is well settled. The largest
+     shipment of beans for the whole bay was shipped from the Buena
+     Vista wharf last season.
+
+     Historic Miami is situated three miles south. It is a picturesque
+     region. The oldest cocoanuts in the State wave their nuts above the
+     deserted barracks of Fort Dallas. The Miami River is narrow,
+     silent, and slow-flowing, with rocky banks. There are only three
+     families here, but the Miami River bottom-lands are full of people,
+     owing to vegetable farms, which make this an important
+     shipping-point.
+
+     Cocoanut Grove, the home of the yachtsman, is five miles south of
+     Miami. The Peacock Inn is a "veritable English caravansary." This
+     settlement is described as being "popular with travellers, leaders
+     in social functions, and a favorite resort of professionals from
+     all paths of life in need of rest and recreation." There is a
+     hotel, a store, union chapel, and four clubs--the Housekeepers'
+     Club, Girls' Pine-Needle Club, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and a
+     Knights of Pythias Society--all in active operation. There is a
+     casino for social purposes, and a yacht-club house which was built
+     in 1888. The club signal is a red field bordered with blue. Ralph
+     Munroe is commodore, and Kirk Munroe is secretary. Many prominent
+     people belong to the club, and the winter season is gay at Cocoanut
+     Grove.
+
+  HARRY R. WHITCOMB.
+  UMATILLA, FLA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A Blunt but Practical Reproof.
+
+Mr. Henry T. Durant, the philanthropist who gave to Wellesley College
+its largest endowment, was in early life a lawyer, but at fifty retired
+from practice and became a "lay preacher." He brought to the latter
+calling wide experience of affairs and no small knowledge of human
+nature. He saw through people and through things. One day, during a
+religious meeting in which he was much interested, he listened to a
+preacher whose eloquence had profoundly impressed his audience. Behind
+his eloquence, however, Mr. Durant saw the self-consequential bearing of
+the young clergyman. When the latter came down from the pulpit Mr.
+Durant said to him:
+
+"That was an eloquent sermon. What was your purpose in it?"
+
+"Why," answered the preacher with surprise, "to hold up the vivid
+personality of our Lord."
+
+"I thought that was what you intended; but do you know," observed Mr.
+Durant, bluntly, "you stood so distinctly and directly in front of Him
+that nobody saw any one but you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Answers to Kinks.
+
+No. 1.--Pie-crust.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 2.--1, Bagpipe. 2, Hornpipe. 3, Blowpipe. 4, Stovepipe. 5,
+Pitchpipe. Poetical quotation from Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 3.--1, Blame--lame. 2, Swarm--warm. 3, Pine--pin. 4, Wine--win. 5,
+Maid--aid. 6, Brown--brow. 7, Brow--row. 8, Sleight--sleigh. 9,
+Babel--babe. 10, Scorn--corn. 11, Pink--ink. 12, Learn--earn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kinks.
+
+No. 4.--THE AMERICAN FLAG.
+
+  I am composed of 16 stars and 5 stripes. My stars 1-16 form a word
+      square.
+  My 1, 2, 3, 4 is a girl's name.
+  My 5, 6, 7, 8 is _to mind, to yield to_.
+  My 9, 10, 11, 12 is _to bring up_.
+  My 13, 14, 15, 16 is a hawk's nest.
+  My 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 is _a trembling, a quivering_.
+  My 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 is _to place in contrary order_.
+  My 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 is _a large strong rope or chain_.
+  My 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 is a species of poplar.
+  My 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 is to _rule over_, to play lord or
+      mistress,
+  My whole is the red, white, and blue of our nation.
+
+  RITA E. BOARDMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 5.--ENIGMA AND ANAGRAM.
+
+  A spacious room am I,
+  But when taken my first,
+  What before I my second
+  That no more mean I.
+
+  Into a sentence transpose me
+  I tell that a fluid they pour;
+  Reverse the two last words of this,
+  And an animal they adore.
+
+  Once more an anagram am I,
+  The impossible I denote;
+  And still once more an anagram,
+  "They're at a catch" is then my cry.
+
+  SIMON T. STERN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Questions and Answers.
+
+Harvey G. Brendersteth: National Guards of the various States are not
+national in the sense that they are directly under the command of the
+United States authorities. More properly speaking they are State Guards,
+or militia, and when called out to service are called by the Governor of
+their State. Their expenses are borne by the States and not by the
+national government. The commander-in-chief of the United States Army is
+the President of the United States. The commander, in a strictly
+military sense, is the ranking general, at present General Nelson A.
+Miles. He is not a West Point graduate.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB.]
+
+     Any question 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.
+
+
+FLASH-LIGHTS.
+
+Nearly every amateur has experimented with flash-lights, the results of
+his experiments being, like his photographs, good, bad, and indifferent.
+
+The great fault with flash-light pictures is the poor lighting of the
+subject, especially if one photographs a group or even a single
+individual. The sharp high lights and the dense shadows make a picture
+which might be called a Rembrandt gone mad. In making a portrait by
+flash-light the effect of the flash-lighting may be seen by placing a
+lamp at a point where the best effects of lights and shadows are
+obtained. The lamp should be at a height of at least four feet from the
+floor, or at the place where the strongest light from a window, if there
+were one, would shine on the subject.
+
+Having found the best place for the correct lighting of the subject,
+arrange the flash-light at this point. Next proceed to obtain a correct
+focus. This is more difficult to do than by daylight, as the light is so
+much duller, or has less illuminating power; but by a very simple device
+one can focus as easily by lamp-light as by daylight. Take a large piece
+of white card-board, on which either paste or draw plain black letters
+at least two inches in height. A sentence is better than letters made at
+random. Set this card-board in the lap of the subject so that it is at
+the exact horizontal of the camera. If the subject is standing, a string
+can be attached to the card, and it can be hung about the neck. Place
+the card-board so that the letters are _bottom side up_, and they will
+of course appear right side up when viewed through the camera. This
+makes them much easier to distinguish. Focus on the letters, and do not
+try to strain the eye to focus on the subject.
+
+Having the flash-light ready to fire, lower the lights a little, but not
+enough to make objects indistinct. If the lights are turned out or very
+low, the sudden change from light to darkness makes the staring look to
+the eyes so often seen in flash-light pictures. The room being in
+semi-darkness, the pupils become diluted, and do not contract to natural
+size till after the picture has been made. Flash-light lamps, with full
+directions for use, can be bought at very moderate prices ($3 to $5), or
+one may buy the powder or cartridges. Each cartridge contains enough for
+one flash. A very pretty picture may be made by placing the powder in
+the fire-place, and firing it--placing something between the light and
+the camera--giving the effect of the room being lighted by the
+firelight.
+
+If the subject does not look toward the camera when the flash is made
+the expression of the eyes will not be noticed. In firing either a lamp
+or the powder it is a wise precaution to protect the hands by either
+putting on an old pair of gloves or wrapping a cloth round the hand used
+in firing the flash. Aluminum is sometimes used in place of magnesium
+powder. Either the leaf or powdered aluminum when burned gives an
+intense light, without the smoke and fumes which make the use of
+magnesium powder so disagreeable.
+
+Sir Knight Floyd E. Quick sends to the ROUND TABLE a tiny photograph of
+the picture of General Grant which was given with our ROUND TABLE last
+month. It was taken with the Kombi camera, and Sir Floyd says that he
+placed a lamp about a foot from the picture, and set his camera on some
+books about a foot from the picture, opened the shutter, and made a
+three-minute exposure. The picture is very good indeed, quite clear and
+distinct, so sharp a focus, that the name "U.S. Grant" can easily be
+read, though the whole picture is not much larger than a
+twenty-five-cent piece.
+
+TO OUR QUERISTS.
+
+Correspondents in sending as queries often ask to have the answers
+printed in the next issue of the ROUND TABLE following the receipt of
+the letter. For the benefit of those who make this request, and then
+fail to see the desired answer in the "next number" of the ROUND TABLE,
+we will explain that queries are published as soon as possible.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT L. K. says that in developing he develops his plates
+     till the image can be seen on the back of the plate, but after the
+     plate is fixed, while the picture is distinct the negative is
+     nearly transparent, and wishes to know the reason. It is because
+     the development has not been carried far enough. The best test of
+     development is to hold the negative to the light and look through
+     it. If it does not appear dense enough it is not developed
+     sufficiently, and must be returned to the developer. A negative
+     will look nearly the same after fixing as it does when examined
+     before fixing. The method of testing development by the image on
+     the back of the plate is not a true test.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT JOSEPH PERI asks what is used in retouching negatives.
+     1st, What is used to make the negative print black; and 2d, What is
+     used to make it print white. Soft lead-pencils are used in
+     retouching negatives. Any spot in the negative which is filled up
+     or marked over on the negative will print white or light in the
+     negative. To make the print of the negative black in certain places
+     the film is removed by a reducing solution. Alcohol applied lightly
+     with soft linen or cotton will reduce or thin the film where it is
+     not very thick. Ferrocyanide of potassium dissolved in water is a
+     powerful reducer, and will remove the film entirely, leaving clear
+     glass, if such an effect is desired.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ivory Soap]
+
+It costs a little more, but with chapped hands and clothes weakened by
+the free alkali in common soaps, the housekeeper soon finds that Ivory
+Soap is the cheapest in the end.
+
+THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI.
+
+
+
+
+There is just a little appetizing bite to HIRES Rootbeer; just a smack
+of life and good flavor done up in temperance style. _Best by any test._
+
+Made only by The Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia.
+
+A 25c. package makes 5 gallons. Sold everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+CARDS
+
+The FINEST SAMPLE BOOK of Gold Beveled Edge, Hidden Name, Silk Fringe,
+Envelope and Calling Cards ever offered for a 2 cent samp. These are
+GENUINE CARDS, NOT TRASH. UNION CARD CO., COLUMBUS, OHIO.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+BALTIMOREAN PRINTING-PRESS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+has earned more money for boys than all other presses in the market.
+Boys, don't idle away your time when you can buy a self-inking
+printing-press, type, and complete outfit for $5.00. Write for
+particulars, there is money in it for you.
+
+THE J. F. W. DORMAN CO.,
+
+Baltimore, Md., U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTING OUTFIT 10c.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+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. Mailed for 10c.
+stamps for postage on outfit and catalogue of 1000 bargains. Same outfit
+with figures 15c. Outfit for printing two lines 25c. postpaid.
+
+Ingersoll & Bro., Dept. No. 123. 65 Cortlandt St., New York.
+
+
+
+
+FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Tommy Toddles
+
+By ALBERT LEE. Illustrated by PETER S. NEWELL. Square 16mo, Cloth,
+Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+     A more entertaining collection of nonsense has rarely been
+     penned.--_Boston Traveller._
+
+     The story is intended to be juvenile, but it will appeal to
+     thousands of grown-up juveniles better than to the juveniles
+     themselves.--_Boston Daily Advertiser._
+
+     This is one of the most charming bits of fairyland writing I have
+     read in a long time. The boys and girls will delight in it, but the
+     old folks, no matter how many years they carry, will find an equal
+     pleasure.--George H. Hepworth in _N. Y. Herald_.
+
+A Life of Christ for Young People,
+
+In Questions and Answers. By MARY HASTINGS FOOTE. With Map. Post 8vo,
+Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+     It is only occasionally in the book-market that we come across such
+     a clear decantation of long and well-digested reading as may be
+     found in this book.--_Critic_, N. Y.
+
+     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 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 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.
+
+     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: Notice]
+
+
+  Come to the Moon-Fay Tennis-Courts,
+  And see the Grand Athletic Sports.
+    The Frogs will jump for the medal gold
+    With the Famous cow of the fable old,
+    Who took the moon in one grand leap.
+    Two Snails will start on a Six-Day Creep,
+      And sixteen gnats,
+      In derby hats,
+    Will wrestle a match
+    With the Bandersnatch.
+
+    A dozen Clams
+  Will take six hurdles against six lambs;
+    And the Lobster's claw
+    Will pull 'gainst the Crab's in a tug-of-war.
+  The voice of the musical Pee-Wee Bird
+  In a high-note contest will be heard.
+    So come to the Moon-Fay Tennis-Courts
+      And see these grand athletic sports.
+  Admission Free!! All those must pay
+  Who have the bad taste to stay away.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Why, Pat, what's the trouble now?"
+
+"Faith, whin oime asked to paint a life-sized man on this sign-board,
+and it not big enough to paint a half a man on, what on earth can I do?"
+
+"Why, paint the half of a man, of course."
+
+"Sure it's aisy enough to do that; but what troubles me is what shall I
+leave off."
+
+"Leave off? What do you mean?"
+
+"Faith, I don't know whether to let his legs hang off or put his head
+above the sign."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SCIENCE IN THE NURSERY.
+
+  Now, Fido, you'll be pleased to hear
+    That when my dollie groans,
+  Because I've let her fall and break
+    Each precious limb she owns,
+  We soon can make her well, for we
+    May photograph her bones.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+General Lee used to tell a story about a darky that served in the war.
+It seems during the heat of the battle the General and his attendants
+were posted on a small knoll watching the course of the action. They
+descried a colored soldier racing toward them, leaping over obstacles in
+his path, his face blanched with fear. He rushed up, and fell headlong
+on the ground in front of Lee, crying,
+
+"Oh, massa General, let me stay here."
+
+Lee saw at once that the man was almost frightened to death, and useless
+as a soldier. It disgusted him somewhat, but his curiosity was aroused,
+and he asked,
+
+"Did you come here to get out of the way of the bullets?"
+
+"Yes, massa; where de generals am is de safest place on de field."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+TEACHER. "James, what makes you late?"
+
+JAMES. "I was pursuing knowledge."
+
+TEACHER. "Pursuing knowledge? What do you mean?"
+
+JAMES. "Why, my dog ran off with my spelling-book, and I ran after him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Chauncey M. Depew is very fond of telling humorous short stories,
+and the following one that he relates is a good specimen:
+
+"When I was quite a young lad, about fourteen years old, my father lived
+on an old farm up at Poughkeepsie. One day I went to town to see the
+circus, and while there I saw for the first time one of those spotted
+coach dogs. I bargained for it with the owner, and trotted home happy
+with my new possession. When my father saw it his good old Puritan face
+fell, and he said, sadly,
+
+"'Why, Chauncey, we don't want any spotted dog on the farm! It would
+drive the cattle crazy.'
+
+"I succeeded in obtaining permission to keep him, however. The next day
+it was raining, and I took the dog out in the woods to try him on a
+coon. The rain was too much for the spots, and when we returned home
+they had disappeared. I hastened to town and hunted up the man who sold
+him to me.
+
+"'Look at the dog,' said I; 'his spots have all washed off.'
+
+"'Great guns, boy!' exclaimed the dealer, 'there was an umbrella went
+with that dog. Didn't you get an umbrella?'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Emperor of Germany is a man of versatile accomplishments, and rarely
+rests any length of time without appearing in some new rôle. Recently he
+was entertained at dinner by his officers of the cuirassiers, and
+enjoyed himself thoroughly--so much so that he prolonged his stay over
+six hours. As the time went by he entered into conversation with the
+bandmaster on the subject of historical marches. With a quick impetuous
+movement, the Emperor jumped to his feet, and summoning the musicians of
+the band, seized the baton and conducted the Hohenfriedberg March by
+Frederick the Great. As his baton fell on the final note, and the music
+ceased, he turned, and in an enthusiastic manner cried out:
+
+"Ah, it is fine like that! I'll have it like that throughout my army."
+
+It is to be wondered if the Emperor proposes to wander about his country
+rehearsing the bands of his army to suit his musical tastes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: A FUNNY SPAT.]
+
+  OH, WOULD IT NOT BE FUNNY FOR TO SEE THIS SORT OF SPAT,
+  AND HAVE THE RABBIT ARCH ITS BACK THE SAME AS DOES THE CAT!
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, April 21, 1896, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56802 ***