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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58373 ***
+
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+
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+
+[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]
+
+Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY.
+
+VOL. XVII.--NO. 870. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+INQUISITIVE BILLY AND HIS COUSIN GIBB.
+
+BY RICHARD BARRY.
+
+
+The only way to prove whether this story is true or not is to find the
+Professor (who could tell you all about it) and the Quartermaster (who
+claims to have been an eyewitness), and ask them; or to believe the tale
+that Billy Schreiber, Jun., and his cousin, Gibson Peters, II., tell,
+without any proof at all. But the two young gentlemen say they really
+and truly had this adventure, and that it honestly happened on the
+Fourth of July.
+
+The Professor had rented the old Hope farm because it was the loneliest
+place on Long Island; and although he had lots of business on hand, for
+some reason he did not wish to be caught working at it. Perhaps he was
+bashful, and did not wish anybody to see him in his shirt sleeves. At
+all events, he took great precautions.
+
+Now the way that Billy Schreiber and Gibb Peters found out that the Hope
+farm (it had been deserted for years) was rented was this: They went
+over there one day, and saw from Trotters Hill that the Hope barn had
+been reshingled, that the house was evidently occupied, and some men
+were at work building a road through the apple orchard. It was quite
+half a mile away, but they could make all this out very plainly.
+
+"What's going on?" said Gibb to Bill.
+
+"Something on the Q. T.," was the answer, "or father would have known
+about it, you can be sure of that!"
+
+Mr. Schreiber senior was the station agent at the only railroad that
+came to that part of the country, and he knew the why and wherefore of
+every parcel that came into the village of Centreport. The boys looked
+off to the right, and saw piles of new lumber and boxes stored near the
+barn-yard, and crawling along the lower road a heavy-laden team that
+kicked up no small amount of dust.
+
+"Those things never came by rail," said Gibb.
+
+"Perhaps they brought them in from the south shore by boat," answered
+Billy, wisely. "'Tain't more 'an fifteen miles."
+
+"Well, the easiest way to settle it," said Billy, "is to go in and ask
+them what they're doing."
+
+"Don't think they'd object, do you?" suggested Gibb.
+
+"Of course not," Billy answered. "Let's walk right up the main road."
+
+But they were forced by circumstances to abandon this straightforward,
+fair, and aboveboard way of doing things. They had hardly turned the
+bend in the road at the bottom of the hill when there, in front of them,
+stretched a heavy barbed-wire fence, with the strands so close together
+that no one could possibly get through it or under it. Even climbing
+looked risky, and on the top of a post was the following legend, in very
+black letters:
+
+"Trespassing Forbidden. Beware! No one Allowed on this Property on any
+Pretence Whatever. No Admittance."
+
+"That kind of stops us," observed Billy to Gibb. "Say! what do you
+suppose is going on in there, anyhow?"
+
+"Counterfeiters!" exclaimed Gibb; "that's what they are. I've read about
+them hiring lonely houses."
+
+"It may be," returned his cousin. "But I've got an idea."
+
+Now Billy Schreiber was the smartest boy in the Northport, Eastport,
+Westport, and Centreport schools. He read all the newspapers that he
+could lay his hands on, and, moreover, had the good fortune, of course,
+to be the son of his father--who had asked so many questions in his life
+that he could not help having imbibed a vast store of knowledge--and
+Billy had inherited some of his father's traits.
+
+"Yes, I've got an idea," he repeated. "They're fitting out a Cuban
+expedition."
+
+Why they should be fitting out a Cuban expedition twenty miles from the
+coast it might be hard to tell, but it sounded nice and adventurous. It
+was full of possibilities, and the idea struck Gibb at once as being
+almost worthy of "Old Sleuth, the Guessing Detective," of whose wondrous
+discernment he had read in a dime novel.
+
+"Let's make believe we are spies," said Gibb, "and find out. Don't let's
+tell them in the village anything about it."
+
+"All right," answered Billy. "Then get down on your hands and knees and
+crawl through the bushes."
+
+No sooner said than done, and the boys crept into the thicket of
+scrub-oak. But the heavy fencing ran completely around the old Hope
+farm, and they could get no nearer to the house than when they had first
+sighted it, the distance of fully a quarter of a mile and more. They
+could see, however, that there were five or six men employed about the
+buildings, that three or four large wagons were drawn off to one side,
+and that an object that looked like a steam threshing-machine, and yet a
+little like a fire-engine, was under a sheltering tent made of canvas.
+
+"I'll wager father could tell what that is," said Billy, pointing.
+
+"But don't you tell him anything," said Gibb, "or you'll have half the
+village up here pokin' round. My father says your father is a knowin'
+feller, but he talks too much. I tell you what let's do, let's keep this
+thing secret."
+
+Now Billy and Gibb had had secrets very often during the course of their
+acquaintance, but they had never succeeded in keeping them any length of
+time. But on this occasion they determined to make a compact, sacred and
+awful, and not to be betrayed, no matter what happened. So that night,
+after every one else had gone to bed, they drew up a fearful paper in
+red ink, with skulls and cross-bones, and added the pictures of an
+eagle, a locomotive, and an American flag as extra decorations.
+
+As it rained all of the next day, they staid in the house, drawing up
+the plans of campaign, and were near to betraying themselves upon more
+than one occasion. Gibb proposed to let his uncle into the secret, under
+a bond of strict adherency to silence, but Billy, maybe because it is a
+wise child that knows its own father, refused to second the motion, and
+the conspirators remained two in number.
+
+Everything was arranged for an early start on Saturday morning, in order
+to make it a day of reconnoitring. But, alas! Billy, who had been
+ailing, broke out with the measles. This was distressing enough; but as
+the elder cousin generally led in most things, Gibb felt it incumbent
+upon himself to follow suit, and three days later he wanted to wager
+that he was "rasher than Billy, anyhow."
+
+This unforeseen postponement rather reduced the intensity of their
+curiosity; but when they were convalescing, after three weeks' close
+confinement, it was decided they must hasten, as rumors of the goings on
+at Hope farm had already reached the village, and Mr. Schreiber had
+expressed his intention of harnessing up and driving out that way some
+time in the near future.
+
+"Our scheme's a goner if he gets there before we do," said William, upon
+hearing this--and at last a day came when they got away.
+
+They were a little weak in the knees, and the six-mile tramp down the
+dusty road wore upon them. But at last they arrived at the barbed-wire
+fence that blocked the old driveway to the farm. Apparently there was
+nothing unusual going on, although a huge door had been cut in the front
+of the hay-barn, and through the roof of one of the smaller buildings a
+tall iron pipe extended, from which white feathery steam was spurting
+regularly, showing that machinery was at work within.
+
+Through the orchard ran a long board walk, or so it appeared to the
+boys, at least. They skirted through the underbrush, seeking a place
+where a brook entered the Hope property, knowing that there they could
+find out something by closer observation. As they crossed a little path,
+a man stepped from behind a tree directly in front of them. So intent
+had been the boys on the idea that they were Spanish spies, that they
+had been communicating with one another in most unintelligible
+gibberish, and their first idea was that they must have betrayed
+themselves. But the man, who was dressed in a very citified fashion,
+appeared to be rather glad to see them.
+
+"Halloa, boys!" he said. "Do you live here?"
+
+They shook their heads.
+
+"Well, do you know Professor Woerts?"
+
+"Naw," said Gibb. "Who is he?"
+
+The young man did not reply. "What's going on in there?" he asked. "Eh?
+Go on, tell us."
+
+But Billy had learned something by this time in the question-asking
+line. "Who are you?" he put in.
+
+"I'm a reporter for the _Evening Detector_, and have come here to find
+out what Professor Woerts is doing. Of course I know something about it,
+but he won't let any reporters on the premises."
+
+It was evident that the Professor had adopted no half-way measures to
+keep curious persons away, for a man on horseback, with a shot-gun
+across his saddle, rode around a corner of the woods inside the fence
+just at this moment. The boys were for running at once, but the young
+man in the stiff Derby hat hallooed out: "Heigh there, mister! I want to
+talk to you."
+
+The man on horseback rode closer.
+
+"What's the matter with you fellows, anyhow?" began the reporter.
+"Woerts ought to know that I'm going to write a story about this,
+whether I get in or not. Say! I'll give you five dollars to change
+clothes with me and let me ride up to that stable--I won't steal the
+horse or the house, either."
+
+"It's agin' orders to let anybody inside here," answered the sentry,
+with a drawl--"until the day," he added.
+
+"Well, look here," went on the reporter, "tell me something. Has she had
+a run yet?"
+
+"I won't tell you nothing," the man replied, "and there's nobody ye can
+see. Me and the Professor's the only folks on the premises. So go on
+away."
+
+"You're a polite gentleman; I like you," said the reporter, kissing his
+hand. "Say! I'm going back and write up a story about you all being
+crazy. The whole thing's a fake; that's my opinion."
+
+At this the man on the horse woke up. "Fake, eh?" he said. "All you
+fellows will be let in at the right time. No, sir, it's a success. You
+should have seen last night--"
+
+"Should've seen what?" asked the reporter, putting his hand in his
+pocket for his note-book.
+
+"Nothing," the man answered. "Keep the other side of the fence!" He
+touched his horse with the whip and rode away.
+
+Evidently the reporter was chagrined at his lack of success, for he
+inquired the direction of the nearest port and the time of the trains.
+
+Schreiber, who was a walking time-table, gave him the necessary
+information, and he strode off. The boys, however, continued their way
+until they came to the brook. Sure enough, they could get under the wire
+fence easily if they wished to try it.
+
+But as they were feeling hungry, they determined to postpone further
+investigations until later. Well, a week went by, and at last the night
+they had settled upon arrived. It was bright moonlight, and the day had
+been a very busy and a noisy one. For, as it happened long ago, the
+signers of a certain important paper connected with our national history
+had settled on this day to "proclaim liberty throughout the land." It
+was "the Glorious Fourth!" Billy and Gibb had fired fire-crackers until
+there weren't any left; had gone in swimming four times, which were
+three too many; and had told their families that they were going over to
+Westport in the evening to see the "celebrashun," which was not exactly
+the truth. But the Hope farm was in Westport, if in any place, and
+perhaps the result of their visit might be termed a celebration.
+
+It was nearly midnight when they reached the brook, and splashed down it
+until they came to the wire fence. They ducked under the lower strand,
+and, soaking wet, they scrambled up the bank on the other side.
+
+"Say! ain't this excitin'?" whispered Gibb, as they peered around the
+corner of the barn, and saw that the house was still and deserted. The
+moonlight made everything quite bright, and the boys saw that a track
+like a railroad switch, only with double rails on each side, ran up to
+the door of the barn, and extended through the orchard into the meadow a
+distance of almost half a mile. It was strongly and carefully made, but
+what it was used for the boys had no idea.
+
+"If we could only get into the barn," sighed Gibb.
+
+"Hush!" answered Billy. "Let's see if the door's open."
+
+They sneaked out of the shadows, and found a long rope with a
+cross-piece hanging within easy reach. Billy gave it a pull. There was a
+creak, and the great doors opened out slowly, exposing the whole front
+of the huge barn. There before them, they saw a strange object--a
+flat-boat on wheels it appeared to be at first glance, with a
+superstructure of tall tubes, strung and guyed with tense wires no
+heavier than fiddle-strings. But that was not all. A succession of wide
+flat surfaces stretched one above another. They looked like sails spread
+the wrong way.
+
+When the doors had swung open so noisily the boys looked toward the
+house to see if they had been discovered, but not a sound or a stir did
+they hear or see.
+
+"Come in. Let's look at the thing," Gibb said, entering cautiously,
+"What under the sun is it?"
+
+Billy followed him, and the boys now perceived that on the deck of the
+flat-boat which rested on the wheels was something that looked like the
+engine of a steam-launch, but there was no boiler in sight--three round
+cylinders of a shining white metal placed one above the other, and
+overhead a series of complicated belts and cogs. Now four
+strange-looking objects resolved themselves into four huge twisted fans
+like propellers.
+
+"Golly! I wish we had more light," muttered Gibb, as he stumbled over
+something on the floor.
+
+He half fell against the flat-boat, and it rolled a few feet along the
+track.
+
+"Goodness! doesn't it move easy?" said Billy, giving it a shove.
+
+Despite the apparent size and the various complications, the great thing
+ran as smoothly as a bicycle. In fact, it needed but a little extra
+pushing to wheel it out on the track into the air.
+
+The sky had clouded a little, but there was enough light to see by. The
+boys clambered up on the deck, as it were. As they did so Gibb put out
+his hand to steady himself, and it touched something that moved. Now a
+strange thing happened. There was a click, a buzzing sound, and a soft
+whirring began close overhead. Slowly and surely the car began to move.
+The whirring grew louder, and then with a jump the whole fabric started
+off at a tremendous pace. The boys clutched two of the uprights in mad
+terror. Before they knew it they were tearing through the orchard at
+fifty miles an hour. In fact, it all happened so quickly that the
+sensations of these first few seconds left but a vague impression.
+
+There was a lifting trembling quiver that caused both the unwilling
+passengers to hold on tighter, if possible, than before, and all at once
+there was a crash that almost took out their arms. They had reached the
+end of the track, but they did not stop. Oh no! As a stone skips off the
+surface of a mill-pond they left the earth, with a sickening upward
+swoop that almost stopped their hearts. On and on, higher and higher,
+with a roaring whirring sound in their ears, and then apparently they
+reached a height where for a few moments, as Billy afterwards put it,
+they "kept an even keel." But it was not for long. There was a dip
+forward, and down they swooped at even greater speed than they had
+ascended. Gibb began to scream now, and, fell flat, with his arms about
+the upright and his legs, spread out, clawing with his toes to keep
+himself from slipping. Billy lost his balance too, and reaching up his
+hand, caught one of the stays. Instantly there was a great rush of air,
+a checking of the downward motion, and, as Gibb put it, they "scooped"
+up again. Maybe the two boys had become more used to this nightmare sort
+of motion by this time, for they were lying with their faces looking
+over the side. Far below them they could see the dark shadow that they
+knew was ground, and little twinkling lights that they knew were houses.
+Some brilliant-colored fireworks burst in the air beneath them. For some
+five or ten minutes they kept on a level, and for the first time found a
+chance to indulge in conversation.
+
+"Where are we going to, anyway?" shrieked Gibb, in mortal fear.
+
+"I dun'no'," chattered Billy, with his hair on end. "Hold tight; the old
+thing's goin' down again."
+
+Sure enough, the flying-machine had taken a sort of twist off to the
+eastward, and was descending every second but at such an angle that it
+would be some minutes before it struck. The fans were working slower,
+and the great kitelike tail behind sagged slightly. But the stretches of
+silk were taut, and trembling like tight-trimmed fore-sails. They were
+skimming now scarcely two hundred feet above the tops of the trees. Half
+a mile away they saw the waters of the bay. The flight was becoming less
+swift, and they were sinking downwards with a sliding motion, softly and
+surely, but still with enough force to crush themselves to pieces should
+they strike the earth. Beneath them they saw a house. Gibb was
+whimpering again, and Billy also had begun to blubber.
+
+Oh, what would they not give to awake and find that this was all a
+dream! But no; here they were holding tight for their lives, and there,
+below, stretched the pier where the light-house-tender always landed.
+There was the steamer. Two minutes more and they would--
+
+But here is where Quartermaster Tim Muldoon comes into the story. It was
+his watch on the deck of the U.S.S. _Fern_, light-house-tender, and Tim
+had returned from liberty ashore early in the evening. He was drowsy and
+tired. Suddenly he was aroused by hearing a sound as if made by giant
+rushing wings. He raised his head, and then fell backwards flat upon the
+deck; not forty feet above him a huge thing was shooting along through
+the air.
+
+Tim closed his eyes, and called in a whisper upon the saints. He would
+have screamed, but his voice apparently had left him. The first shock
+over, however, he rose to his feet and rubbed his eyes. No, it was not
+imagination. There was the huge thing dashing along over the surface of
+the bay. Then, as Mr. Muldoon watched it, it remained stationary for a
+minute, and slowly sank. Tim put his hand in his pocket and pulled
+something out. There was a splash, and a big black bottle sank alongside
+the pier-head. Then, with a frightened look on his face, Tim went below
+and called the other watch.
+
+Half an hour later two dripping boys appeared at the Schreiber house.
+They were weak and pale, and when Mrs. Schreiber saw them they stood
+there holding on to the banisters.
+
+"Don't let's tell them a thing," whispered Billy.
+
+"All right," said Gibb. "Let 'em think what they want to."
+
+"You've been out on the water and upset," said Mrs. Schreiber,
+emphatically. "William, I'll tell your father to-morrow morning. You'll
+catch it!"
+
+"All right, ma'am," said Billy, meekly. "I guess me and Gibb will go to
+bed."
+
+As the boys went up stairs Mrs. Schreiber heard her nephew say,
+
+"Billy, I guess we swum half a mile."
+
+Now on board the _Fern_ they attribute Quartermaster Muldoon's
+conversion to the cause of total abstinence to the fact that one night
+he saw a fish-hawk as big as a full-rigged ship come down out of the sky
+and sink into the waters of Horseshoe Point, where the charts show no
+bottom.
+
+Two days after the Fourth of July Mr. Schreiber drove over to the Hope
+farm. He found the wire across the road had been taken down, and
+apparently everything hauled away but a few odds and ends of
+strange-looking timbers and a section of a wooden track.
+
+One of the Sunday papers published, a week or so afterwards, a long
+article with the following headings: "Professor Woerts's Air-Ship Runs
+Away! The Professor claims that His Wonderful Invention took Flight and
+disappeared of Its own Accord. Lost--A Flying-Machine. He says he will
+make another!"
+
+The other papers commented upon the story, and said, "It is a pretty
+good yarn." But they all advised the Professor to "chain the shebang
+down."
+
+Now what I have written here is what I got from the boys, and whether it
+is a good yarn or not I do not know; but, as I said before, just find
+the Professor and the Quartermaster; they may help you to decide.
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO ENTER THE NAVY.
+
+BY ADMIRAL BANCROFT GHERARDI, U. S. N.
+
+
+Some of our young readers would be glad to know how to enter the United
+States navy. There are two ways--one is through the Naval Academy at
+Annapolis, in which the young man becomes in time a commissioned
+officer; the other is through the Training-School at Newport, in which
+case the young man becomes a sailor, and in time may become an officer
+known officially as a warrant-officer. A commissioned officer holds an
+appointment from the President, and is confirmed by the United States
+Senate. A warrant-officer holds an acting appointment from the Navy
+Department, and after having served six months on a sea-going vessel,
+and his commanding officer having made a favorable report as to his
+fitness to remain an officer in the navy, he is then given a warrant
+signed by the President, and dated back to the time he received his
+acting appointment. Warrant-officers are designated gunners,
+boat-swains, and carpenters, and are officers as much as any other
+officers in the navy, except that they may not hold commissions.
+
+The history of the United States navy has been particularly glorious. It
+has traditions of heroism and bravery that are a constant source of
+pride to those in the service, and that appeal especially to young men
+who are fond of their country and of achievements in warfare. To become
+an officer in the service is a most honorable ambition, and one to which
+thousands of young men aspire. It is for that reason that appointments
+to Annapolis are always sought eagerly. Each Congressional district is
+entitled to one cadet at Annapolis at one time, and in addition the
+President has ten appointments at large. There can be, however, only ten
+appointees of the President, serving apprenticeship at the same time.
+The District of Columbia likewise sends one cadet to the Academy. The
+President usually appoints the sons of naval or army officers.
+
+The Congressmen or delegates to Congress from the Territories recommend
+the appointment of the other cadets. To avoid favoritism the Congressmen
+occasionally recommend young men who have passed the best examination in
+a competition, of which there has been public notice given.
+Congressmen's appointees must reside in the district from which they are
+appointed, and all appointees must be between the ages of fifteen and
+twenty.
+
+When a young man receives his appointment to Annapolis he is required to
+sign articles binding himself to eight years' service. He must pass an
+examination in the ordinary English branches, special attention being
+paid to the history of the United States. He must be sound physically,
+or his "alternate," the young man who usually passes the next best
+preliminary examination, takes his place as the cadet, provided the
+latter is sound physically, and can also pass the entrance examination
+to the Academy. When a young man becomes a cadet he gets $500 salary
+each year. The course of study lasts six years. Four of these are passed
+at the Academy, and two at sea. One of these is the "line" division, and
+the other is the "staff" division. The line-men are the officers who do
+the fighting, navigating, and executive work of a ship, and the others
+become officers who have charge of the machinery of a ship, and are
+known as engineers. The line division is the favorite, because young men
+rise to the highest grade, such as rear-admiral, in this branch of the
+service. The other men become engineers, and cannot reach any grade
+higher than that of commodore.
+
+After two years' service at sea, during which the young man perfects
+himself in the problems of seamanship, the cadets receive appointments
+as commissioned officers, if there are vacancies. If there are not
+sufficient vacancies to go around, the best men are taken, and the
+others are discharged, with a certificate of graduation and one year's
+pay--$1000. We are building and manning ships so fast in these days of
+the new navy that there are always enough vacancies, and it is rare that
+any cadets are discharged because there is no room for them in the
+service. After having become a commissioned officer in the staff or
+line, the young officer is promoted gradually from grade to grade,
+usually according to relative rank, except in time of war, when, for
+especial reasons, the brighter men are pushed forward because of their
+exceptional fitness for command or other important work. The officers
+remain in the service until they are sixty-two years old, unless they
+resign before that time, and then are retired under three-quarter pay
+until they die.
+
+The scarcity of men who go into the engineering department of the navy
+is such that there is a bill now pending in Congress to admit graduates
+of colleges where marine and mechanical engineering is taught to enter
+the navy without passing through the Annapolis Academy. They must pass
+an examination to show that they are fit for the engineering work, and
+must spend two years at sea, like the graduates of Annapolis. If this
+bill should become a law, it will be possible for young men to become
+officers in the engineer corps in the navy without going through the
+Annapolis Academy.
+
+[Illustration: ENLISTING ON BOARD A RECEIVING-SHIP.]
+
+When a boy wishes to become a sailor in the navy he applies to one of
+the three "receiving" ships. They are the _Vermont_ at the New York
+Navy-Yard, the _Wabash_ at the Boston Yard, and the _Richmond_ at the
+League Island Navy-Yard in Philadelphia. The boys must be between
+fourteen and sixteen years of age, sound in health, and be able to read
+and write to some extent. No distinction is made in race, and it is a
+singular fact that the colored boys who apply are almost invariably able
+to read and write better than the white boys. On board the _Vermont_ the
+only reading test applied is contained on a card, which is as follows:
+
+"'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States in Congress assembled, that fraudulent enlistment and the receipt
+of any pay or allowance thereunder is hereby declared an offence against
+naval discipline, and made punishable by general court martial.'
+
+"What I have just read to you is a law of the United States, and it
+means that if you do not tell the truth about your age, parents, or
+guardian, or if you are a deserter from the naval or military service,
+you may be tried by a court martial, be put in prison, or punished in
+some way."
+
+[Illustration: GUNNERY AND AIMING DRILL AT THE NEWPORT NAVAL
+TRAINING-SCHOOL.]
+
+The last paragraph of this is what boys are usually required to read.
+The officers are not very strict about the hard words, and so almost any
+boy can pass the test. After being admitted, Uncle Sam gives each boy an
+outfit. His parents or guardian must sign a paper giving him to the
+government until he is twenty-one years of age. He becomes known at once
+as a third-grade apprentice, and in a few days he is sent to a
+training-school at Newport, where he is taught rudimentary things about
+a sailor's life and work. After remaining at Newport for six months he
+is transferred to one of two training-ships. These are the _Essex_ and
+the _Alliance_. He remains on one of these for six months, and takes a
+cruise. On the voyage he learns how to handle the sails, how to sew and
+splice, and how to handle guns. Innumerable other things about a
+sailor's life he also picks up, and when he returns he is transferred to
+a modern man-o'-war, where he becomes an apprentice of the second class.
+Here he takes his place with the regular crew, and has his allotted
+share of the daily routine to perform. He is examined every three
+months, and usually he becomes an apprentice of the first class in six
+months, when he has a rank which corresponds to the rank of seaman with
+sailors.
+
+When a boy becomes twenty-one he may leave the service, or enlist again,
+and be independent of parents or guardian. There are three grades of
+enlisted men in the navy--landsmen, ordinary seamen, and seamen. Besides
+these the following are enlisted: machinists, masters-at-arms, and
+coal-heavers, and from these classes there are other special classes.
+The boy who enlists after he has served his apprenticeship usually goes
+into the highest grade--that of seaman. After a while he may be promoted
+to be a warrant-officer, and so reach the highest grade.
+
+When a man enters the navy he enters one of the three grades--landsman,
+ordinary seaman, or seaman. If he has had no experience whatever on
+shipboard he becomes a landsman, and practically is taught all he knows
+on shipboard. If he has had some experience on ships, but is not expert
+in all branches of his work, he becomes an ordinary seaman. If he has
+served five years at sea and is intelligent, he usually goes to the
+grade of seaman. Such men are competent to "reef, hand, and steer," as
+the expression goes; that is, they are competent to do all the work
+required of a sailor without further instruction. As fast as their terms
+expire men and boys may re-enlist, and at each re-enlistment they
+receive a slight increase of pay.
+
+As third-class apprentices the boys get $9 per month; when they become
+second-class apprentices they get $15 a month, and when they become
+first-class apprentices they get $21 a month. If they re-enlist after
+they are twenty-one they get three months' extra pay at the rating they
+had when they became of age, and, in addition, get one dollar a month
+more pay than they received as apprentices.
+
+There are other ways for men to get into the navy than those I have
+mentioned, but these are what might be called special enlistments. For
+example, a man may enlist as a fireman. There are two grades of these,
+according to skill and experience. Then there are machinists, who must
+pass an examination, and stewards, carpenters, musicians, and the like.
+These special grades require skilled labor to some extent, and of course
+higher pay goes with their work.
+
+It is imperative when a boy enters the service that his parents or
+guardian shall sign papers giving him to the government until he is
+twenty-one. When a boy applies who has no parents or duly qualified
+guardian the officials supply him with a guardian. They do this through
+the generosity of a lawyer in New York, named Herbert Van Dyke. He
+becomes their guardian, and all such boys are known as "Van Dyke"
+boys--a discrimination which from the name should of itself be quite
+aristocratic. Mr. Van Dyke has become the guardian of probably 1500 boys
+since he has been in this kind of work. He does it entirely from motives
+of philanthropy, and there is no doubt that he is a public benefactor.
+Many a boy has been started in an honorable career in the navy through
+his kindness and generosity. He performs a most welcome service not only
+to the boys, but to his country as well. He does this so quietly that
+almost nothing is heard of him, and it is simply a matter of justice
+that credit should be given to him.
+
+It is a mistake to think that there is room in the navy for "bad boys,"
+that is, boys who are unmanageable at home or have done some crime.
+There is a popular idea that when a boy becomes utterly bad, and fit
+only for the reform school, his parents may get rid of him, and hope at
+the same time to make a man of him, by getting him into the navy. No
+such boys are taken if the officials know of it. The uniform of the
+United States is honorable, and only honorable persons are expected to
+wear it. No others are wanted. When the officials find out that a boy
+has a bad record morally, he is rejected forthwith. Even with the
+applicants who are fit morally to wear the uniform, only about
+one-quarter are taken, but no one is rejected so quickly as a boy who
+ought to go to a reform school rather than into the navy, even though he
+may be able to pass the mental and physical examination with ease. There
+is no law to prevent the enlistment of aliens in the United States navy,
+but it is a singular fact that so popular has this branch of the public
+service become in recent times that for the last two years practically
+none but Americans have entered it.
+
+The truth of the old saying "that it is sweet to die for one's country"
+shows itself in the spirit which animates most of those who compose the
+navy of the United States to-day, whether they are officers or sailors.
+A notable instance of this was seen during the recent civil war in
+Brazil. The rebels at Rio Janeiro blockaded the port, and would not
+allow our merchant ships to go into the harbor. Admiral Benham, in
+command of our squadron, notified the ships of the rebels that he
+intended to take our merchant-men into the harbor, and that if they were
+interfered with he should fire on the rebel fleet. Our war-ships were
+cleared for action, and every man waited a single word before he plunged
+into a fight that must have meant death to many of them. One of the
+spectators of that scene has declared that he never saw a more
+inspiriting sight than the way our sailors, probably not a dozen of whom
+had ever had experience in war, responded to the call of duty. To a man
+they were ready to die for one's country if necessary. Surely, if it is
+sweet to die for one's country, it is honorable at all times to wear the
+uniform of that country, and that doubtless explains why our naval
+service is so popular nowadays, and is composed chiefly of native-born
+Americans.
+
+In order to induce good men to return to the service, there is a law of
+Congress which gives to every man on re-enlisting three months' pay of
+the grade that he held at the time of his discharge, providing he
+enlists within three months from the date of his discharge. Then the
+regulations of the department, as another inducement for men, give a
+continuous-service certificate to all men receiving honorable
+discharges, which certificate entitles a man at every re-enlistment to
+one dollar's additional pay.
+
+
+
+
+OLD TOOLS AND NEW ONES.
+
+BY BARNET PHILLIPS.
+
+
+I bought a gimlet with a metal handle for five cents, and it turned out
+to be a good tool. Five cents seemed cheap for a gimlet. Then I read
+that when manufacturers turned out gimlets in large quantities they
+could afford to sell them for less than a cent apiece. I happened to
+remember how a friend of mine showed me, some years ago, a handsome
+otter-skin pouch neatly ornamented, and told me that when he was in
+Alaska he had given an Indian a gimlet for it.
+
+"That was a hard trade for the Indian," I said, "for that skin is worth
+twenty-five dollars."
+
+"I did not take any advantage of the Indian," was my friend's answer.
+"The man was perfectly satisfied with the barter. A week afterwards I
+would have given the skin back, and more besides, to have had a gimlet.
+Skins were plenty in Alaska, gimlets scarce. The real cost of a thing
+often depends on how much you need it--and that is called the demand;
+and to something else--the distance from the place where the thing is
+made. You see, the subject of transportation comes in there, which has
+to do with supply."
+
+When I thought it over I came to the conclusion that my friend had not
+got the better of the Indian, and that it was a fair swop.
+
+I have the credit with my own children of being a very poor tinkerer,
+with a reputation for breaking tools; and I wanted a gimlet, and did not
+have one, when, strangely enough, the United States National Museum at
+Washington sent me one, not to use, but to look at, and here is an exact
+outline of it:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It is a splinter of flint made by primitive man, and he used it to bore
+holes in wood or as an awl for piercing skins. It came from Boone
+County, Missouri. It is immensely old, so old that its date, or when it
+was made, can only be guessed. The antiquity of it in a general way can
+be insisted upon, because it is what is called "weathered," and by
+weathered this is meant: that the piece of flint has been so long
+exposed to the action of the air and moisture that the composition of
+the flint has altered. If you were to take a piece of freshly splintered
+flint and put it in a hole in the ground when you were ten years old,
+and waited until you were seventy, and then dug it up, the alteration on
+the outside would be but slight. You might, of course, put it in wet
+ground where the water was full of lime in solution, and more rapid
+changes would take place. Anyhow, you would not be likely in a lifetime
+to see much alteration in the character of your flint. If your
+great-great-great-grandfather had buried that flint, and you had found
+it, the changes would have been more evident. Now this gimlet, or borer,
+is of a white creamy color, and you cannot see that it resembles flint.
+I could not bore a hole with it, because it would be certain to break.
+
+If I were to guess how old it is I should say, "Fifteen hundred years
+ago that borer was in use," and then I might not give it age enough. It
+is a very old-fashioned gimlet, and since we can make gimlets to-day for
+less than a cent apiece, I wonder what this flint one was worth fifteen
+or twenty thousand years ago?
+
+You might never have thought about it, but the hardest thing to do
+to-day is to find out exactly what a thing costs. There are, however,
+certain things that you do know--the cost of the raw material, and the
+price of labor. When the gimlet-maker in New England made up the price
+of his wares by the millions, he had to count up a hundred or more
+different kinds of expenses before he could settle down to what was
+about the exact cost of a gimlet.
+
+We cannot apply the same rules exactly to this flint tool. In 1896 you
+can buy iron or steel everywhere. Flint may seem to you to-day as of no
+great value, because there is so little demand for it, but in the early
+history of man it was a substance highly prized. It is not scattered
+about everywhere. Primitive man made long journeys in order to obtain
+it. He wanted it badly, not only for his tools, but for the purpose of
+making a fire. He knew that by striking it with a bit of metal or with
+certain natural metallic substances he could bring forth sparks. There
+are often found in the graves of men whose race or tribe or origin is
+lost bits of flint with fragments of pyrites; and pyrites is a natural
+combination of sulphur and iron. When you strike them together there is
+a spark. What is strange about these finds is this, that in the
+surrounding country there is not to be found a bit of flint or a scrap
+of pyrites. Primitive man must have set out to find them, or they came
+to him by barter. I should then think that if we could measure the
+values of tools in the past with those of to-day, such implements as
+early man had were expensive, and worth comparatively more to him than
+our tools are to us. It is, however, a puzzle. Labor must have been
+cheap, because savage people take little account of time. To-day we know
+how these flint tools or weapons are made, and coarser ones can be
+fashioned by us in a short time. There must have been developed,
+however, great skill in the long past, and for this simple reason: The
+flint tools broke so easily that there was always a demand for new
+tools, and so the old gimlet business must have been always brisk.
+
+[Illustration: A PREHISTORIC SCRAPER.]
+
+Another illustration is a scraper, and belongs also to the United States
+National Museum. It served for dressing skins, in removing the hair and
+grease, before the rough process of tanning. These stone scrapers are
+found of all sizes, and as implements might have served for a variety of
+purposes. This bit of flint is as old as the gimlet or borer, being
+white with age.
+
+[Illustration: THE CHISEL.]
+
+Here is a chisel, or gouge, and, compared with the other tools, this may
+be called an implement made the day before yesterday. Those who have
+studied this kind of tool, found in the Swiss lakes, say it is not more
+than 2500 or 3000 years old. Ages on ages ago there was a race of people
+who lived in houses built on piles which stood in the water of the Swiss
+lakes. Nobody ever thought such a race existed until the level of one of
+the lakes was lowered, and then the secrets of a long-forgotten people
+were discovered. This tool is made of a piece of green serpentine
+embedded in a handle, which socket is a portion of the antler of a deer.
+It has still a good edge on it, though it has remained under water
+thousands of years. I might scrape off a bit of wood with it to-day. The
+handle, however, is weak, rotten through age, and would crumble.
+
+This is what I should like to impress on my readers: Our work to-day is
+what is called specialized. By that is meant that everybody has a
+special or particular trade or occupation. I should not want a carpenter
+to make my clothes, or a locksmith to make my boots. Men become skilled
+because they exercise one craft, doing it quicker and better. In those
+old days there must have been artisans, as the stone tool maker, who
+made blunt implements, and nothing else; but from the nature of things
+those who used the tools had many occupations. Having but few tools, one
+implement served various purposes. The edge of the drill might be used
+to cut with, or, attached to a stock, could be converted into a weapon.
+Primitive man, then, had to be a "Jack of all trades," and was not, as
+in the old adage, "master of none," for he was forced to turn his hand
+to many different kinds of occupations.
+
+
+
+
+INDEPENDENCE DAY.
+
+
+  With pomp of waving banners,
+    With beat of throbbing drums,
+  And shouts of happy people,
+    The joyous morning comes;
+  The very air is thrilling,
+    And every heart is gay,
+  For once again we welcome
+    Our Independence day.
+
+  'Twas a very little nation
+    That set apart "the Fourth";
+  'Tis a nation strong and mighty
+    Which keeps it, South and North.
+  Our flag of stars is floating
+    From surging sea to sea,
+  And beneath its folds we gather,
+    A people great and free.
+
+  Not the older Magna Charta
+    Was a pledge of braver hearts
+  Than the later Declaration
+    From which this proud day starts.
+  Stout souls they were that framed it,
+    Stout hands that signed and sealed,
+  And the birthright thus they gave us
+    We never more will yield.
+
+  So to gallant martial music
+    We are stepping down the street,
+  With the shrilling bugles calling,
+    And the drum's exulting beat,
+  While from every spire and steeple
+    There flutters, blithe and gay,
+  The flag we love and honor
+    This Independence day.
+
+  MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS.
+
+LEXINGTON ON FOURTH OF JULY.
+
+BY EMMA J. GRAY.
+
+
+"Tell you what, fellows, I mean to have a rousing good time this Fourth of
+July, and no mistake. I'm tired of just torpedoes, crackers, and
+cannons. What do you say to joining me?"
+
+"Joining you, Alec? Of course we will," was the hearty response given by
+Sam Thayer, with a hurried look at each of the boys, as if to make
+doubly sure of their assent; and a second afterwards they all shouted,
+as if they had practised in concert, "You can make sure of me"; while a
+later voice added, with a face full of mischief, and a sly wink to the
+boy at his left, "Catch any of us missing Alec's fun"; and then, turning
+towards Alec, he asked, "Do you remember last Fourth how we scared cats
+with torpedoes until, notwithstanding their nine lives, I think some of
+them gave up the ghost? And do you remember, too, how we watched out for
+policemen before touching off our crackers? Whew!"
+
+"Oh, that was the time," Alec laughingly responded, "when, to quote from
+my recitation to-morrow,
+
+          "'The boys turned out
+          With noise and rout,
+          And loud halloo, and lusty shout,
+  And racket of crackers, and boom, and pop,
+    And ringing of bells, and sizz, and splutter,
+  Till good folks trying to sleep would stop,
+    And get up, and close the windows and shutter.'
+
+"But this time I propose something quite different."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The group numbered fifteen. They had been taking a spin on their
+bicycles, and now had stopped to rest, to lay plans for the coming
+Fourth, and also to get comfortably cool under the long branches of this
+welcome grove of maple-trees.
+
+Alec was undoubtedly the ringleader, but Sam Thayer, John Sinclair, and
+Clarence Bruce were his right-hand men, so whenever an unusually big
+scheme was on foot Alec always bided his time until being sure of their
+support.
+
+"Hurrah for Alec!" suddenly ejaculated John Sinclair, tossing his cap
+ten feet or more upward; and a tremendous whoop, followed by three times
+three cheers and a tiger; but Sam Thayer, not yet satisfied with the
+stir already made, thought he would continue, and picked up a stick and
+tin pan lying on the road, and, making believe he was a drummer-boy,
+banged away with all his might, rat-ta-tat-tat, rat-ta-tat-tat--and
+marching to his left and so around, he speedily made a circle which
+enclosed the group.
+
+"Thayer is anticipating part of my programme, boys." These words were
+sufficient, for in a trice the stick and pan were thrown as far as Sam's
+strong arms could pitch them, while Sam, first having turned a
+summersault, threw himself on the soft grass, thus joining the other
+expectant listeners.
+
+"What would you think of a battle, fellows?"
+
+"Fine!" And the very suggestion threw the little group in such disorder
+and hubbub that Alec laughingly but decidedly called "Order," adding,
+"The time is rapidly passing, and if we are to go to war we must
+prepare. You are sure you will not fail me, boys?"
+
+"Certain sure." And once again quiet was restored.
+
+"My plan is very simple. It is to divide ourselves into two armies. One
+army will represent the British, the other the United States. Make
+believe that Congress has commanded us to fortify the farm that belongs
+to my father. You know the location?"
+
+"Rather."
+
+"Suppose we name the place Lexington. You each know that it was at
+Lexington, Massachusetts, that the first skirmish in the War of American
+Independence was fought.
+
+"Well, the United States army must occupy the farm, and the British
+force must attack it; and, of course, the United States army must win.
+
+"The British will simply respect the action of the Revolutionary period
+at the time of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis--they will run away, but
+not, like the boy in the story-book, 'come to fight another day.' In
+order to make it really jolly, though, we should enlist fifty boys, and
+more if possible, and, to make it a fair fight, divide them evenly.
+
+"You'll have to be General-in-chief of the whole, Alec," interrupted one
+of the listeners.
+
+"All right; as you have decided to adopt my plan, I cannot do otherwise
+than accept such a position. I'm bound on having a good time, and if
+you'll honestly join me, we'll have one.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Now, by right of office, and to get the thing started, I appoint as
+head of the British army Clarence Bruce, and as head of the army of the
+United States Samuel Thayer. As General-in-chief of both armies I would
+further state that the said officers must secure the requisite number of
+men, and see that they are provided with suitable uniforms and flags. In
+order not to make ourselves a nuisance to our mothers and big sisters,
+adopt as uniform our very oldest clothing; then we'll not have any
+advice or fuss as to care. We can show our colors by means of flags,
+banners, and a short scarf of bunting tied around our left arms: or
+what's the matter with basting a narrow strip of bunting around our
+jackets or on the outside seams of our trousers? Everybody must be
+provided with a wooden gun, as neither balls, cartridges, nor shot of
+any sort will be allowed. But both officers and privates may use large
+fire-crackers, any amount of torpedoes, and cannon, for war is not
+altogether fun; and the soldiers on both sides must show pluck. My plan
+of battle would be the following, but the officers in charge must
+arrange for themselves: Commence hostilities at nine o'clock Fourth of
+July morning, thus enabling our parents and friends to watch, at which
+time half of the United States army will be hidden back of the rocks
+which skirt the southeast side of the farm, and most of the others will
+be in the old barn that my father has been trying to tear down for the
+last two years. A sentinel should pass to and fro before the barn, and
+back of him other men should occasionally appear. The onslaught should
+be made by the British throwing handfuls of torpedoes against the rocks;
+but on the same rocks the United States army will have previously placed
+cannon, which, at a few moments after nine, will go off with a
+tremendous bang. The British will continue the hurling of the torpedoes
+until they are satisfied that all of the United States men are about the
+barn, and then they will recklessly march directly on the forbidden
+territory. At this moment the hidden soldiers will jump to their feet,
+and those at the barn will come to assist them. Thus action will
+determinedly commence. The English, being surprised, will soon be
+surrounded, and a fierce battle will ensue. The United States soldiers
+are now firing, and it seems a veritable blinding hailstorm, so thick
+and fast the white torpedo shells shower down, and the noise from the
+occasional fire-cracker not only increases confusion, but creates
+dismay. In the excitement the English make a mad rush for the barn; but
+that action has been anticipated--indeed, so much so that one of the
+privates had staid behind with the express purpose of firing it. And
+what a magnificent conflagration it will make, fellows, for we must
+carefully prepare it with a coating of tar and long wisps of tarred
+paper!
+
+"When the barn is fired the battle will end, for there will be nothing
+left for the British to do but to surrender. Those who will not
+willingly give up their guns will drop them in the chase, for the United
+States Soldiers will be after them sure and fast, and all their banners
+and flags will be exhibited as trophies."
+
+When Alec concluded, the boys drew a long breath, and then all tongues
+were loosed, and each one seemed to talk faster and louder than the
+other in his desire for a hearing, all agreeing, however, that the
+battle would be "jolly fun," and it was "like Alec" to get ahead of them
+in planning such grand sport. But what would be done with the rest of
+the day? This amusement would be but a starter; not a moment must be
+left for idleness.
+
+And so it was another of the boys that was heard. He had lately been
+reading, he explained, the story of Mary, the mother of Washington, and
+he suggested that something should be done in her honor. That so much
+was always said about General George Washington, the Declaration of
+Independence, and all that, and he had made up his mind for one that
+George Washington would have been nowhere without his mother, and that
+she should be celebrated.
+
+This resulted in tremendous applause, and the calling out of, "Only
+listen to Mr. Wisdom."
+
+For a second the boy was abashed; but suddenly regaining himself, he
+added, "I've explained I have only but just finished reading about her,
+and the book told me of General Lafayette's visit and of the impression
+she gave him; for on reporting the interview to his friends, he stated,
+'I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day!' and it is also
+said of her that the cause of American Independence had no more
+steadfast adherent."
+
+So, after a short discussion, the boys decided to follow the battle with
+a procession, in which every one would be invited to join, even the
+visitors, whether friends or strangers; these should follow either four
+or six abreast, as their number would allow. That the boys who had
+represented the English army should make the necessary change in attire,
+and march as the United States navy, while the other boys would march as
+the army. There should be a detachment of cavalry--for a few riders
+ought to be found somewhere--a battalion of volunteers and several
+companies of infantry, all followed by the Marine Band.
+
+A banner should lead the procession, bearing the inscription, "In honor
+of Mary Washington," and the Star-spangled Banner should triumphantly
+wave throughout the entire line.
+
+One of the younger boys was noticeably uneasy, and in reply to the
+question, "Don't you want the procession?" said:
+
+"Oh yes! but the battle's far jollier. I like the smell and bang of
+gunpowder, and I've been studying a receipt for a powerful noise."
+
+"What's that--a good receipt for a noise?" and the next instant the boy
+was surrounded by his fellows.
+
+"Yes, simple enough too--nothing but chlorate of potash and sulphur
+mixed; you should put several pieces of paper around it, though, and
+hammer it down as heavy as you can."
+
+Just then was heard a sharp whistle, and Alec, with a jump on his wheel,
+called, "Good-by, all; it's time for me to start home." And a minute
+later those who were watching saw a bicycle-race along the road.
+
+
+
+
+A VIRGINIA CAVALIER.
+
+BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL.
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+Next morning, as usual, George was up and on horseback by sunrise. Until
+this year he had ridden five miles a day each way to Mr. Hobby's school;
+but now he was so far ahead of the schoolmaster's classes that he went
+only a few times a week, to study surveying and the higher mathematics,
+and to have the week's study at home marked out for him. Every morning,
+however, it was his duty to ride over the whole plantation before
+breakfast, and to report the condition of everything in it to his
+mother. Madam Washington was one of the best farmers in the colony, and
+it was her custom, after hearing George's account at breakfast, to mount
+her horse and ride over the place also, and give her orders for the day.
+
+The first long lances of light were just tipping the woods and the river
+when George came out, and found his horse held by Billy Lee, a negro lad
+of about his own age, who was his body-servant and shadow.[1] Billy was
+a chocolate-colored youth, the son of Aunt Sukey, the cook, and Uncle
+Jasper, the butler. He had but one idea and one ideal on earth, and that
+was "Marse George." It was in vain that Madam Washington, the strictest
+of disciplinarians, might lay her commands on Billy. Until he had found
+out what "Marse George" wanted him to do, Billy seemed unconscious of
+having got any orders. Madam Washington, who could awe much older and
+wiser persons than Billy, had often sent for the boy, when he was
+regularly taken into the house, and after reasoning with him, kindly
+explaining to him that both "Marse George" and himself were merely boys,
+and under her authority, would give him a stern reproof, which Billy
+always received in an abstracted silence, as if he had not heard a word
+that was said to him. Finding that he acted throughout as if he had not
+heard, Madam Washington turned him over to Aunt Sukey, who, after the
+fashion of those days with white boys as well as with black, gave him a
+smart birching. Billy's roars were like the trumpeting of an elephant;
+but within a week he went back to his old way of forgetting there was
+anybody in the world except "Marse George." Then Madam Washington turned
+him over to Uncle Jasper, who "lay" that he would "meck dat little
+triflin' nigger min' missis." A second and much more vigorous birching
+followed at the hands of Uncle Jasper, who triumphed over Aunt Sukey
+when Billy for two days actually seemed to realize that he had something
+else to do besides following George about and never taking his eyes off
+him. Uncle Jasper's victory was short-lived, though. Within a week Billy
+was as good for nothing as ever, except to George. Madam Washington then
+saw that it was not a case of discipline--that the boy was simply
+dominated by his devotion to George, and could neither be forced nor
+reasoned out of it. Therefore it was arranged that the care of the young
+master's horse and everything pertaining to him should be confided to
+Billy, who would work all day with the utmost willingness for "Marse
+George." By this means Billy was made of use. Nobody touched George's
+clothes or books or belongings except Billy. He scrubbed and then
+dry-rubbed the door of his young master's room, scoured the windows, cut
+the wood and made the fires, attended to his horse, and when George was
+there personally to direct him Billy would do whatever work he was
+ordered. But the instant he was left to himself he returned to idleness,
+or to some perfectly useless work for his young master--polishing up
+windows that were already bright, dry-rubbing a floor that shone like a
+mirror, or brushing George's clothes, which were quite spotless. His
+young master loved him with the strong affection that commonly existed
+between the masters and the body-servants in those days.
+
+[1] In Washington's will he mentions "my man William, calling himself
+William Lee," and gives him his freedom, along with the other slaves,
+and an annuity besides: "and this I give him as a testimony of my sense
+of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the
+Revolutionary war."
+
+Like Madam Washington, George was a natural disciplinarian, and himself
+capable of great labor of mind and body, he exacted work from everybody.
+But Billy was an exception to this rule. It is not in the human heart to
+be altogether without weaknesses, and Billy was George's weakness. When
+his mother would declare the boy to be the idlest servant about the
+place, George could not deny it; but he always left the room when there
+were any animadversions on his favorite, and could never be brought to
+acknowledge that Billy was not a much-injured boy. Serene in the
+consciousness that "Marse George" would stand by him, Billy troubled
+himself not at all about Madam Washington's occasional cutting remarks
+as to his uselessness, nor his father's and mother's more outspoken
+complaints that he "warn't no good 'scusin' 'twas to walk arter Marse
+George, proud as a peacock ef he kin git a ole jacket or a p'yar o'
+Marse George's breeches fur ter go struttin' roun' in." Aunt Sukey was
+very pious, and Uncle Jasper was a preacher, and held forth Sunday
+nights, in a disused corn-house on the place, to a large congregation of
+negroes from the neighboring places. But Billy showed no fondness
+whatever for these meetings, preferring to go to the Established Church
+with his young master every Sunday, sitting in a corner of the gallery,
+and going to sleep with much comfort and regularity as soon as he got
+there. Madam Washington always exacted of every one who went to church
+from her house that he or she should repeat the clergyman's text on
+coming home, and Billy was no exception to the rule. On Sunday,
+therefore, instead of joining the gay procession of youths and young
+men, all handsomely mounted, who rode along the highway after church,
+George devoted his time on his way home to teaching Billy the text. The
+boy always repeated it very glibly when Madam Washington demanded it of
+him, and thereby won her favor, for a short time, once a week.
+
+On this particular morning, as George took the reins from Billy and
+jumped on the back of his sorrel colt, and galloped down the lane
+towards the fodder-field, Billy, who was keen enough where his young
+master was concerned, saw that he was preoccupied. Contrary to custom,
+he would not take his dog Rattler with him, and Billy, dragging the
+whining dog by the neck, hauled him back into the house and up into
+George's room, where the two proceeded to lay themselves down before the
+fire and go to sleep. An hour later the indignant Aunt Sukey found them,
+and but for George's return just then it would have gone hard with Billy
+anyhow.
+
+As George galloped briskly along in the crisp October morning he felt
+within him the full exhilaration of youth and health and hope. He had
+not been able to sleep all night for thinking of that promised visit to
+Greenway Court. He had heard of it--a strange combination of
+hunting-lodge and country-seat in the mountains, where Lord Fairfax
+lived, surrounded by dependents, like a feudal baron. George had never
+in his life been a hundred miles away from home. He had been over to
+Mount Vernon since his brother Laurence's marriage, and the visit had
+charmed him so that his ever-prudent mother had feared that the simpler
+and plainer life at Ferry Farm would be distasteful to him; for Mount
+Vernon was a fine, roomy country-house, where Laurence Washington and
+his handsome young wife, both rich, dispensed a splendid hospitality.
+There was a great stable full of saddle-horses and coach-horses, a
+retinue of servants, and a continual round of entertaining going on.
+Laurence Washington had only lately retired from the British army, and
+his house was the favorite resort for the officers of the British
+war-ships, that often came up the Potomac, as well as the officers of
+the military post at Alexandria. Although he enjoyed this gay and
+interesting life at Mount Vernon, George had left it without having his
+head turned, and came back quite willingly to the sober and industrious
+regularity of the home at Ferry Farm. He was the favorite over all his
+brothers with Laurence Washington and his wife, and it was a
+well-understood fact that, if they died without children, George was to
+inherit the splendid estate of Mount Vernon. Madam Washington had been a
+kind step-mother to Laurence Washington, and he repaid it by his
+affection for his half-brothers and young sister. In those days, when
+the eldest son was the heir, it seemed quite natural that George, as
+next eldest, should have preference, and should be the next person of
+consequence in the family to his brother Laurence.
+
+He spent an hour riding over the place, seeing that the fodder had been
+properly stripped from the stalks in a field, looking after the
+ferry-boats, giving an eye to the feeding of the stock and a sharp
+investigation of the stables, and returned to the house by seven
+o'clock. Precisely at seven o'clock every morning all the children,
+servants, and whatever guests there were in the house, assembled in the
+sitting-room, where prayers were read. In his father's time the master
+of the house had read these prayers, and after his death Laurence, as
+the head of the family, had taken up this duty; but since his marriage
+and removal to Mount Vernon it had fallen upon George.
+
+When he entered the room he found his mother waiting for him as usual,
+with little Mistress Betty and the three younger boys. The servants,
+including Billy, who had already been reported by Aunt Sukey, were
+standing around the wall. After an affectionate good-morning to his
+mother, George, with dignity and reverence, read the family prayers in
+the Book of Common Prayer. His mother was as calm and as collected as
+usual, but in the small velvet bag she carried over her arm lay an
+important letter, received between the time that George left the house
+in the morning and his return. Prayers over, breakfast was served,
+George sitting in his father's place at the head of the table, and Madam
+Washington talking calmly over every-day matters.
+
+"I do not know what we are to do with that boy Billy," she said. "This
+morning, when he ought to have been picking up chips for the kitchen, he
+was lying in front of your fireplace with Rattler, both of them sound
+asleep."
+
+George, instead of being scandalized at this, only smiled a little.
+
+"I do not know which is the more useless," exclaimed Madam Washington,
+with energy, "the dog or that boy."
+
+George ceased smiling at this; he did not like to have Billy too
+severely commented on, and deftly turned the conversation: "Lord Fairfax
+again asked me, when we were crossing the river last night, to visit him
+at Greenway Court. I should like very much to go, mother. I believe I
+would rather go even than to spend Christmas at Mount Vernon, for I have
+been to Mount Vernon, but I have never been to Greenway, or to any place
+like it."
+
+"The Earl sent me a letter this morning on the subject before he left
+Fredericksburg," replied Madam Washington, quietly.
+
+The blood flew into George's face, but he spoke no word. His mother was
+a person who did not like to be questioned.
+
+"You may read it," she continued, handing it to him out of her bag.
+
+It was sealed with the huge crest of the Fairfaxes, and was written in
+the beautiful penmanship of the period. It began:
+
+     "HONORED MADAM,--The promise you graciously made me, that your
+     eldest son, Mr. George Washington, might visit me at Greenway
+     Court, gave me both pride and pleasure; and will you not add to
+     that pride and pleasure by permitting him to return with me when I
+     pass through Fredericksburg again on my way home two days hence? Do
+     not, honored madam, think that I am proposing that your son spend
+     his whole time with me in sport and pleasure. While both have their
+     place in the education of the young, I conceive, honored madam,
+     that your son has more serious business in hand--namely, the
+     improvement of his mind, and the acquiring of those noble qualities
+     and graces which distinguish the gentleman from the lout.
+
+      "He would have at Greenway, at least, the advantage of the best
+      minds in England, as far as they can be writ in books, and for
+      myself, honored madam, I will be as kind to him as the tenderest
+      father. If you can recall with any pleasure the days, so long ago,
+      when we were both twenty years younger, and when your friendship,
+      honored madam, was the chief pleasure, as it always will be the
+      chief honor, of my life, I beg that you will not refuse my
+      request. I am, madam, with sentiments of the highest esteem,
+
+  "Your obedient humble servant, FAIRFAX."
+
+"Have you thought it over, mother?"
+
+"Yes, my son; but, as you know, I am a person of deliberation; I will
+think it over yet more."
+
+"I will give up Christmas at Mount Vernon, mother, if you will let me
+go."
+
+"I have already promised your brother that you shall spend Christmas
+with him, and I cannot recall my word."
+
+George said no more. He got up, and bowing respectfully to his mother,
+went out. He had that morning more than his usual number of tasks to do;
+but all day long he was in a dream. For all his steadiness and
+willingness to lead a quiet life with his mother and the younger
+children at Ferry Farm, he was by nature adventurous, and for more than
+a year he had chafed inwardly at the narrow and uneventful existence
+which he led. He had early announced that he wished to serve either in
+the army or in the navy, but, like all people, young or old, who have
+strong determination, he bided his time quietly, doing meanwhile what
+came to hand. He had been every whit as much fascinated with Lord
+Fairfax as the elder man had been with him; and the prospect of a visit
+to Greenway--of listening to his talk of the great men he had known; of
+seeing the mountains for the first time in his life, and of hunting and
+sporting in their wilds; of taking lessons in fencing from old Lance; of
+looking over Lord Fairfax's books--was altogether enchanting. He had a
+keen taste for social life, and his Christmas at Mount Vernon, with all
+its gayety and company, had been the happiest two weeks of his life.
+Suppose his mother should agree to let him go to Greenway with the Earl
+and then come back by way of Mount Vernon? Such a prospect seemed almost
+too dazzling. He brought his horse down to a walk along the cart-road
+through the woods he was traversing while he contemplated this
+delightful vision; and then, suddenly coming out of his day-dream, he
+pulled himself together, and striking into a sharp gallop, tried to
+dismiss the subject from his mind. This he could not do, but he could
+exert himself so that no one would guess what was going on in his mind,
+and in this he was successful.
+
+Two o'clock was the dinner-hour at Ferry Farm, and a few minutes before
+that time George walked up from the stables to the house. Little Betty
+was on the watch, and ran down to the gate to meet him. Their mother,
+looking out of the window, saw them coming across the lawn, arm in arm,
+Betty chattering like a magpie, and George smiling as he listened. They
+were two of the handsomest and healthiest and brightest-eyed young
+creatures that could be imagined, and Madam Washington's heart glowed
+with a pride which she believed sinful, and strove unavailingly to
+smother.
+
+At dinner Madam Washington and George and Betty talked, the three
+younger boys being made to observe silence, after the fashion of the
+day. Neither Madam Washington nor George brought up the subject of the
+Earl's visit, although it was a tremendous event in their quiet lives.
+But little Betty, who was the talkative member of the family, at once
+began on him. His coach and horses and outriders were grand, she
+admitted; but why an Earl, with bags of money, should choose to wear a
+plain brown suit, no better than any other gentleman, Mistress Betty
+vowed she could not understand. His knee-buckles were not half so fine
+as George's, and brother Laurence had a dozen suits finer than the
+Earl's.
+
+"His sword-hilt is worth more than this plantation," remarked George, by
+way of mitigating Betty's scorn for the Earl's costume. Betty
+acknowledged that she had never seen so fine a sword-hilt in her life,
+and then innocently remarked that she wished she were going to visit at
+Greenway Court with George. George's face turned crimson, but he
+remained silent. He was a proud boy, and had never in his life begged
+for anything, but he wanted to go so badly that the temptation was
+strong in him to mount his horse, without asking anybody's leave, and
+taking Billy and Rattler with him, start off alone for the mountains.
+
+Dinner was over presently, and as they rose, Madam Washington said,
+quietly:
+
+"My son, I have determined to allow you to join Lord Fairfax, and I have
+sent an inquiry to him, an hour ago, asking at what time to-morrow you
+should meet him in Fredericksburg. You may remain with him until
+December; but the first mild spell in December I wish you to go down to
+Mount Vernon for Christmas, as I promised."
+
+George's delight was so great that he grew pale with pleasure. He would
+have liked to catch his mother in his arms and kiss her, but mother and
+son were chary of showing emotion. Therefore he only took her hand and
+kissed it, saying, breathlessly:
+
+"Thank you, mother. I hardly hoped for so much pleasure."
+
+"But it is not for pleasure that I let you go," replied his mother, who,
+according to the spirit of the age, referred everything to duty. "'Tis
+because I think my Lord Fairfax's company will be of benefit to you; and
+as there is but little prospect of a school here this winter, and I have
+made no arrangements for a tutor, I must do something for your
+education, but that I cannot do until after Christmas. So, as I think
+you will be learning something of men as well as of books, I have
+thought it best, after reflecting upon it as well as I can, to let you
+go."
+
+"I will promise you, mother, never to do or say anything while I am away
+from you that I would be ashamed for you to know," cried George.
+
+Madam Washington smiled at this.
+
+"Your promise is too extensive," she said. "Promise me only that you
+will _try_ not to do or say anything that will make me ashamed, and that
+will be enough."
+
+George colored at these words, as he answered, quickly: "I dare say I
+promised too much, and so I will accept the change you make."
+
+[Illustration: HERE A WILD HOWL BURST UPON THE AIR.]
+
+Here a wild howl burst upon the air. Billy, who had been standing behind
+George's chair, understood well enough what the conversation meant, and
+that he was to be separated until after Christmas from his beloved
+"Marse George." Madam Washington, who had little patience with such
+outbreaks of emotion, sharply spoke to him: "Be quiet, Billy!"
+
+Billy's reply was a fresh burst of tears and wailing, which brought home
+to little Betty that George was about to leave them, and caused her to
+dissolve into tears and sobs, while Rattler, running about the room, and
+looking from one to the other, began to bark furiously.
+
+Madam Washington, standing up, calm, but excessively annoyed at this
+commotion in her quiet house, brought her foot down with a light tap,
+which, however, meant volumes. Uncle Jasper too appeared, and was about
+to haul Billy off to condign punishment, when George intervened.
+
+"Hold your tongue, Billy," he said; and Billy, digging his knuckles into
+his eyes, subsided as quietly as he had broken forth.
+
+"Now go up to my room, and take the dog, and stay there until I come,"
+continued George.
+
+Billy obeyed promptly. Betty, however, having once let loose the
+floodgates, hung around George's neck and wept oceans of tears. George
+soothed her as best he could, but Betty would not be comforted, and was
+more distressed than ever when, in a little while, a note arrived from
+Lord Fairfax, saying he would leave Fredericksburg the next morning at
+sunrise, if it would be convenient to Mr. Washington to join him then.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Between Two Years]
+
+BY MARGARET SUTTON BRISCOE.
+
+
+I.
+
+The Right Rev. Bishop Hegan and his younger brother were holding a family
+conclave in the Bishop's library, one at each side of the sermon-strewn
+writing-table.
+
+"I may be wrong," the younger man was saying, "but I see no better way
+out of my difficulty. My dear brother, you pray every Sunday for
+fatherless children and widows; why don't you mention widowers and
+motherless children; they are in far more need of help."
+
+"It is hard," said the Bishop, sympathetically; "but I am afraid you are
+making your path harder by this last move."
+
+Mr. Hegan made no effort to contradict his brother. "I see no better
+way," he repeated. "I went to Mildred's, and there found Tom, a boy of
+eighteen, eating his ten-o'clock breakfast--quail on toast. I picked
+Master Tom up with me and went on. At Jane's I found my four other young
+ones. But you have seen for yourself how I found them."
+
+The Bishop laughed genially. "There was nothing to worry you in their
+training."
+
+"No, for there was none. Perhaps I ought to have let their mother's
+sister bring them up as she offered."
+
+"Whip them up, you mean," said the Bishop.
+
+"Exactly; that's why I refused. It was good of my sisters to take my
+children for me; but they are not as their mother left them."
+
+"No," said the Bishop, shaking his head; "they have lost what cannot be
+replaced. I suppose, Tom, you are not thinking of marrying again?" The
+brothers talked together with the utmost freedom, the younger answering
+the point-blank question as frankly as it was asked.
+
+"I had thought of that, but the chances seemed to me as even that a
+step-mother would make the children unhappy as that my plan may. Joan is
+now--let me see--sixteen years old. She ought not to study this year;
+she is not as strong as she should be. She has been growing too fast and
+thinking too hard. The change to a year of home life and home cares will
+do her good."
+
+"Is Joan to keep your house?"
+
+"That was my idea. Jane has been filling her little head with romances,
+and letting her talk freely with the servants at the same time, until
+her conversation is a grotesque mixture of cultivation and picturesque
+terms culled from the servants' hall. Tom hears her in horror. But he
+needs to be shocked, so that's one good gained. I shall take Tom out to
+the furnaces with me, and start him with a crowbar in his hand to work
+his way up. It's the only chance for redeeming him. I haven't broken
+that piece of news to him yet. He thinks he is to go to college. I don't
+dare to send him there in his present trim. Milly has meant well, but
+she has almost ruined my boy with her money. Jane has done less harm to
+the others, but I must have my children with me for a year at least to
+straighten them out, and then I can decide what each one needs."
+
+The Bishop looked grave. "It seems to me an awful experience ahead for
+you, and a pretty hard one for the young people, Tom. Aren't you just a
+little severe on them?"
+
+"I don't think so; I know I don't mean to be. The truth is they have
+lost their dear mother, and life must be hard for us all at present. I
+think they ought to take their share of it. Shirking their burden, as I
+have been letting them, was certainly doing them harm. We are a
+motherless brood, and a motherless brood we will be, and work it out
+together."
+
+The elder brother looked tenderly across the table at the younger. "You
+are a brave fellow, Tom. God bless you and your undertaking! I can't
+help feeling it's a wild experiment, but, as you have the courage to
+conceive it, you may have the character to bring it to a good end. Now
+that you have your little brood all collected here, let them roost in
+the garret as long as you like, and draw a free breath before you plunge
+in. Here come the youngsters now."
+
+The study door was banged open, and three little children, two boys and
+a girl, hurtled into the room. The elder children were dragging the baby
+girl between them, and they were followed by Joan, who had plainly set
+out with the intention of quelling the riot, but forgot her errand by
+the way, and now wandered in dreamily after the procession. The Bishop's
+quiet study, kept always by his housekeeper as a half-sacred retreat,
+buzzed as if blue-bottle flies had flown in.
+
+"Godfather, we can play here, can't we?"
+
+The Bishop was godfather to all his brother's children.
+
+"Play here? No, my dears," said the Bishop, promptly; "you cannot. See!
+I tied my manuscript scissors to my desk yesterday, because-- Well, you
+two boys know why; and now somebody has most impudently cut the string
+with those very same scissors, and they are off again. This will not do,
+gentlemen--it will not do."
+
+The Bishop was afraid of no man, woman, or child either; for, strange to
+say, it is not uncommon to find those who are bold with grown people
+fearful with little folk.
+
+Mr. Hegan laughed to see his two stormy boys stand staring solemnly and
+guiltily at their uncle. "I wish I had your royal talent," he said. "I
+never shall make myself loved yet respected as you do. Once, twenty
+years ago, you found me shoving about some of your papers on this very
+desk, and I took a long walk afterward, and crept in at the back door
+when I came home. I loved you just as dearly, but I never touched your
+desk papers again, any more than my boys will your scissors."
+
+"Dear! dear! I must have a frightful temper," said the Bishop, easily.
+"Tom, suppose you wake Joan. But the child has a lovely face when she
+sleeps awake, hasn't she?"
+
+"Joan!" called Mr. Hegan; "my child!"
+
+Joan turned with a start. She had been standing gazing up at a picture
+that hung over the Bishop's head. The painting was a spiritual yet
+spirited conception of the manly Maid of Orleans, with a peculiarly
+delicate shading of her womanliness into the warlike pose.
+
+"Father," said Joan, as she turned--her voice cooed like a
+wood-pigeon's--"did you ever see such a perfect picture? Can't the
+children go out now? They are getting so fritty in the house."
+
+There was no break between the sentences, only a change of tone.
+
+"Fritty?" asked her uncle. "What's fritty, pray?"
+
+"I don't know. I always say that. Frightfully fretful, I suppose. They
+certainly are that. It's not really raining now, father." She walked to
+the window. "Just a kinder drizzle-drazzle, slightly drippy-drap."
+
+The father and uncle exchanged glances and waited; but Joan, turning
+back, was again absorbed in the painting above them, and saw nothing.
+
+"We are talking about the weather, my dear," said Mr. Hegan, dryly, and
+Joan flushed as she roused again. "Does their nurse think the children
+should go out?"
+
+Joan laughed aloud. She had a child's laugh. "Lolly? Why, father, Lolly
+doesn't know anything. You wrote Aunt Jane you would rather the children
+had a stupid nurse than a bright one who would force them forward, so we
+chose out Lolly, and indeed, father, you've got your rather." She
+laughed out again--with no impertinence, but an open enjoyment that
+anything should be expected of Lolly.
+
+"Is this the nurse you expect to keep?" asked the Bishop of his brother.
+
+Mr. Hegan looked troubled. Joan watched him anxiously, and with a swift
+keenness of expression that surprised and pleased her uncle.
+
+"Father," she said, seriously, "I haven't asked what your plans are, but
+whatever they may be, don't part with Lolly. She's half a fool, but she
+bathes the children beautifully, and keeps their clothes nice, and they
+love her just as the baby loves her cribby-house. She is so soft and
+kind and pleasant to them. I always--or Aunt Jane--decide things."
+
+Again the brothers exchanged glances, as Joan stooped to extricate the
+baby, who had been tilted over into the scrap-basket.
+
+"She looked a woman as she said that," whispered the Bishop, "and like a
+child the moment before."
+
+"She is both," said the father. "Joan, sit here a moment, my dear. We
+want to talk with you. Your uncle does not approve what I am going to
+do, but I have decided, if you feel able to undertake it, to let you
+drop study for a year, and keep house for me and the children. What do
+you say? Could you 'decide things' without Aunt Jane?"
+
+To the disappointment of those who were closely watching her on this
+test question, Joan's radiant delight rose as a screen before any latent
+capacity she might have shown.
+
+"Oh dear father, is it true? Oh, godfather, I am so happy! Children,
+children, listen--"
+
+"Let her alone," said the Bishop; "we can only tell by waiting. She is a
+sweet-hearted child, if she does use extraordinary language, and she
+still will be sweet if she should utterly fail you in housekeeping.
+Remember that, Tom."
+
+"But she also shows a lovely and cultivated mind at times," insisted the
+father.
+
+"Well, not to me as yet," denied the Bishop, laughingly.
+"'Fritty'--'Drippy-drap'--'drizzle-drazzle'! Nevertheless, you are right
+to forbid her to study for a time. She has sombre shadows under her eyes
+that add to her peculiar style of beauty, but they must be painted out
+by a good common rose-color. Now, Tom, take yourself and your children
+and your affairs out of my study and my head--out of my heart you never
+go--but this sermon must be written."
+
+"Oh, just one minute," begged Joan, "Father, what about Tom?"
+
+"He is to be with us. I shall take him on the furnace work with me. But
+don't mention that to him yet, Joan; I charge you carefully not to tell
+him."
+
+Joan's face was a flushed joy. "Not for the world. How happy, happy,
+happy we shall all be together! Tom's coming is my last straw of joy."
+
+"Godfather," pleaded the baby, with hands held up, "you tarry me up
+'tairs."
+
+Godfather flung the baby up to his tall broadcloth shoulder, and the
+whole cavalcade trooped to the stairs, the baby the centre of
+attraction. Joan, running on ahead, stood smiling from the upper
+landing, her arms held down for the crowing baby girl, whom she clasped
+and carried away to bed.
+
+Presently from the highest landing, where the children were quartered,
+Joan's still sweet tones floated down as if remonstrating against some
+action of her brother's.
+
+"Tom, Tom, you mustn't grab baby like that with a pin in your coat. Why,
+I wouldn't keep pins in my clothes any more than I would a hoppy-toad.
+Sure to scratch baby. Well, dear boy, if you don't like my ways, don't
+swing on my gate. When you strain my hinges, they creak."
+
+"No lack of spirit, at any rate," laughed the Bishop. "Cheer up, Tom. I
+am more anxious now for your boy than for your girl. I think she'll do."
+
+At that moment, in the garret nursery, temporarily fitted up for the
+children's use, Tom's boy was talking with Joan in a way momentous to
+both. He was a handsome, finely built young fellow, with the look of
+half-sulky defiance which marks the boy who, for one reason or another,
+has yet to earn his real manhood.
+
+"So that's the plan for you and the kids, eh? I'm glad for you, Joan, if
+you like it. I wish I knew what college father will decide to send me
+to. I can't understand why he won't let me choose. And he was so odd at
+Aunt Milly's; he swept me away before I had really finished my
+breakfast, and sat watching me eat with his face like a thunder-cloud."
+
+Joan's heart contracted with a quick fear of unhappy possibilities which
+had not before occurred to her. What had seemed ideal to her was not,
+she began to realize, Tom's ideal. She controlled herself to reply.
+
+"What were you eating?" she asked, practically.
+
+"Quail on toast; and there was no harm in that. You would have thought
+he had caught me picking a pocket. He was closeted for a long time with
+Aunt Milly, and she came out crying, and told me father meant to take me
+from her at once. Did you know Aunt Milly wanted to adopt me?"
+
+Joan raised her eyes with the rare searching look her uncle had
+admired. "You would not like that?" she stated rather than asked.
+
+Tom shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It would mean money to burn."
+
+"It would mean hearts to burn," replied Joan, quickly. "Tom, _would_ you
+like it?" She looked in his face with pleading anxiety.
+
+Tom melted. "No, I would hate it. I'm immensely proud of being my
+father's son. Do you happen to know how father got his first promotion?
+Uncle told me to-day. He wasn't very much older than I when he went to
+work. The furnace he was in charge of was cooling fast, and they
+couldn't control it. He had barrels of oil hoisted to the top of the
+furnace, and with his own hands he flung them down into the red-hot
+opening. It saved the company thousands; but what I liked was his doing
+it himself, and not sending some poor devil of a workman to do it for
+him."
+
+Joan's dark cheek flushed. "Wasn't that fine? Tom, there are two things
+I do envy you the chance of doing. Poor me! I shall never be able to do
+anything fine like that, and I never can knock anybody down. I always
+wanted to be able to hit out from the shoulder if I needed to, and do
+deeds of valor like Joan of Arc. Uncle has the most perfect picture of
+her."
+
+"Don't talk like that, Joan," said Tom, with a humorous look at her. He
+was at times strikingly like his uncle, with the same unconscious air of
+gentle breeding, quite different from the man-of-the-world manner he
+affected whenever he remembered it. "I want you to be like other girls.
+Fellows don't like peculiar women, and I want my sister to be a toast
+among my college friends. I suppose father will let me fill the house
+for the holidays. There's good shooting down there, isn't there?"
+
+"I don't know," said Joan.
+
+"Joan," said Tom, in a still voice, "what are you crying about? You know
+something you are not telling me, Joan. What is it?"
+
+"Indeed, Tom--"
+
+"Don't try to tell stories, Joan; you don't know how to. Father has some
+plan for me that I won't like, and you know what it is."
+
+"Oh, Tom, why do you say that; what have I said?"
+
+"Nothing. That's just the trouble. If you don't know anything, deny it."
+Another long and, to Joan, terrible stillness. "Does father want me to
+go to work half educated, as he did? There is no earthly necessity for
+it, as there was with him. If you don't answer, Joan, I shall know
+that's his plan."
+
+Joan wrung her hands in speechless agony.
+
+"It's a piece of rank tyranny," said Tom, between his teeth. "I won't
+submit to it, and I shall tell father so this minute. I won't be planned
+for over my head."
+
+He had accepted the facts as if Joan had told him of them in so many
+words. Joan had a vague sense that she was being horribly wronged, or
+that she was wronging some one, her over-tender conscience leading her
+to settle in the latter conviction. She was trying to clasp Tom's arm
+and hold him back with sobbing entreaties, but he would not be held. The
+little baby sister, attracted half pleasurably by the emotion she saw
+between her elders, had drawn near, and was staring up at them
+round-eyed. Tom stubbed his toe over her as he made for the door, and
+did not stop for more than a hasty glance, which told him the baby was
+more angry than hurt. It was Joan who picked up the child, and the two
+sobbed together, with their faces tucked each into the other's soft
+neck.
+
+"Oh," sobbed the elder sister, "don't cry, little sister, don't cry. Big
+sister wants to think!"
+
+Tom meantime was allowed no preparation between his discovery and his
+interview with his father, for he stumbled against Mr. Hegan in the
+lower hall as he had on the baby in the nursery, with the difference
+that the father not only withstood the shock, but caught his son by the
+shoulder, steadying him. So the two came face to face and eye to eye in
+actual arm's-length of each other.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Hegan; and Tom knew he was not referring
+to their bodily encounter.
+
+"Joan has been telling me--" he blurted out.
+
+Mr. Hegan's hands dropped. He knew at once what was referred to. "Joan
+told you!" he exclaimed.
+
+Tom recovered his wits and his generosity. "No, no! I mean I wormed it
+out of her. She did not mean to tell anything."
+
+"Did you twist her arm or pinch her?"
+
+"Father!"
+
+"It amounts to the same thing. As you have succeeded in 'worming out' of
+Joan--I use your own terms--what I wanted to tell you myself, suppose we
+talk it all over now and settle it here."
+
+Mr. Hegan moved to the hall window, leaning against one side of the
+frame. His tone of cold contempt stung like a whip, and matters did not
+mend as they progressed. To Tom it was as if the world were at stake,
+and Mr. Hegan, in a few terse matter-of-fact sentences, was making his
+will known. The boy broke in at last, unable to wait for a proper pause:
+
+"You had not a college education yourself, sir, or you would realize why
+I feel it so important."
+
+The tone was not respectful, and Mr. Hegan's brow reddened slightly, but
+his voice was as even as before: "Does the anticipation of a college
+education give so much experience? Perhaps I value what I lost more than
+if I had enjoyed it. You cannot possibly place more importance on
+education than I do, for you have not felt the handicap of its lack.
+But, though you will not now believe it, there are things more
+important. For my own reasons, and thoughtfully"--Mr. Hegan's voice grew
+warmer and his manner more fatherly--"I have decided, Tom, that you must
+just now begin as your father began."
+
+Tom looked up steadily in his father's face.
+
+[Illustration: "HAD YOU CONSIDERED THAT I MIGHT REFUSE, SIR?"]
+
+"Had you considered that I might refuse, sir?"
+
+Mr. Hegan did not again change color, though now the disrespect was
+marked. He looked at his son calmly, as he might at a stranger.
+
+"No," he replied, quietly. "I had not considered that for a moment."
+
+Tom strove in vain to render his own tones as quiet. "What is there to
+prevent my refusing? What is to prevent my acceptance of Aunt Milly's
+offer of adoption?"
+
+"Nothing," answered Mr. Hegan, as quietly as before. "Your Aunt Milly
+would be glad to take you back on any terms, pleasant or offensive to
+me, and once back with her, I assure you I would not move a finger to
+dislodge you."
+
+In spite of his resentment at fatherly control, this announced
+indifference cut the son to the quick. He flung back his head.
+
+"I will go at once," he said.
+
+"No," replied Mr. Hegan, "you will not."
+
+"Why not?" asked Tom, and could have choked himself for the involuntary
+question.
+
+"You will not go simply because I forbid it."
+
+At the simple words Tom's heart stood still. A quick conviction seized
+him that he would for some unknown reason have to obey this calm command
+as absolutely as it was given. At the bare mental suggestion a great
+anger and defiance surged within him. He knew then that he had touched
+the crisis. It was then or never--freedom or bondage. Hot words that
+were to cut him loose from all authority were on his tongue, and he
+opened his lips to say them. Mr. Hegan's calm eyes were fixed on his
+face. To the boy's amazement, defiant words would not come. In their
+place, as he gasped in his effort, there was something else--a wordless,
+voiceless sound tearing its way through his throat and choking an outlet
+at his lips. Tom was leaning against the window opposite his father,
+sobbing like a beaten child. In the depths of his mortification, the
+confusion of his abrupt downfall, he heard his father's footsteps pass
+by him, leaving the hall. For the first time in his prosperous life Tom
+had been knocked down flat--in spirit. He was quivering in every nerve
+with the shock of failure, yet he felt a strange new sense of power. He
+had measured his strength for the first time against a more powerful
+nature, and, though beaten, he was stronger for the struggle, and he
+knew it. There was something in the experience that had developed while
+it humbled him.
+
+In the Bishop's study Joan was also taking her first lesson in the new
+life, but she had a different teacher, and her lesson was shorter. He
+had always been easy for her to talk with, and a few questions drew
+forth the true state of the case.
+
+"The young rascal!" said the Bishop.
+
+"Do you," sobbed Joan--"do you think father will be harsh with him?"
+
+"I don't doubt it for a moment," said the Bishop, cheerfully. "Tom will
+be treated to just enough punishment, and not a grain too much."
+
+Her uncle laid his hand tenderly on her dark head. "See here, my little
+girl," he said, "I want you to take life less heroically. I am going to
+give you a token to remind you of this. You keep looking up at my Joan
+of Arc. Well, she is yours. No, you must accept it, for I can spare her
+easily. I don't care to own too many impediments in my walk through the
+world. You must hang the picture in your own room; and whenever you look
+at it I want you to say to yourself, not Joan of Arc, but--Joan of Home.
+You don't understand what I mean just yet, but some day as you say this
+you will understand suddenly, and better than if I had explained it. Now
+run away, my dear."
+
+"Dear! dear!" thought the Bishop to himself, as he shut his study door,
+"Brother Tom has plainly been reading the riot act. I wonder if his boy
+will ever make him another declaration of independence?" His eye fell on
+the calendar on his desk, and he raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Why," he
+said, "what a man of peace I am! It's the great Fourth of July, and I
+never realized it. Well, Tom and his family have been Celebrating and
+Declaring enough for us all. I wonder how it will end?"
+
+
+II.
+
+"Now, Joan, I think the table looks as if a butler had set it," said
+Tom, as he arranged the napkins in little hillocks.
+
+"You are awfully good to me, Tom. Indeed, I couldn't keep house without
+you. I hardly knew a carafe from a finger-bowl until you taught me. Aunt
+Jane never thought or cared for such things."
+
+"Aunt Milly never thought or cared for anything else," said Tom. "If
+I've taught you some things, you've untaught me more, Joan. Anyhow, what
+good does it do a man to know how to serve a dinner? It doesn't help me
+to sledge."
+
+"Perhaps it does. Father said yesterday that you were more accurate in
+sledging than any man on the works."
+
+Tom glowed with pleasure. "Did he say that?" he said, eagerly; then he
+laughed. "Suppose a year ago any one had told me I should blush with
+pride at praise for sledging! By-the-way, I want to remind you, Joan,
+you mustn't yawn in his lordship's face this evening when you begin to
+get sleepy. If I know him, he wouldn't like it at all, and it's not
+polite. I've told you that so often, why don't you stop it?"
+
+"I can't," said Joan, sorrowfully. "I have tried to close my mouth and
+let it go out at my ears, as you said, but I feel as if I were turning
+inside out like a popcorn."
+
+"You had better turn inside out than be rude, Aunt Milly would tell you.
+Joan, do you know we have both changed in this year? Here we are, you
+sniffing at Aunt Jane's housekeeping, and I at Aunt Milly's eternal
+little fixings. I don't say that was nice of us, but it does mark a
+change. You know we have thought our respective aunts perfection."
+
+Joan looked troubled, and was attempting an explanation--she could not
+think so fast as Tom--when the front door opened, and her father's voice
+announced the arrival of their expected guest. Joan paused to give a
+quick glance around the room. Everything was ready: the dinner, she
+knew, prepared to serve in a moment; the baby in bed; the little
+boys--externally--in perfect order. "Tom, do you think they'll behave
+decently?" she asked, with a young mother's anxious glance at the boys.
+
+"I don't see why they should," Tom rejoined, cheerfully--"they never
+have."
+
+"Indeed, Tom, Robert sometimes makes me doubt the efficacy of prayer.
+Every night he asks God to make him a good boy, but I don't see any
+improvement in him. Do you?"
+
+Joan spoke earnestly, but Tom laughed. "Don't you worry, Joan. Uncle is
+a man of the world: he always understands everything."
+
+If Bishop Hegan did not understand everything, he understood a great
+deal with no questions asked, and he nodded silent congratulations to
+his brother across the dinner table. When the meal was ended the Bishop
+said:
+
+"I think I will go to bed with the chickens and the children," said
+Bishop Hegan. "I am a tired man to-night. Tom--young Tom, I
+mean--suppose you come help me to take off my apron. Lord Bishops wear
+aprons, Tom, don't they?" He looked at his nephew with a twinkle in his
+eye.
+
+"I don't know, sir; I never unfrocked one before," retorted Tom, and
+then gasped at his own audacity. He would never have ventured so
+reckless a jest with his father. The Bishop was different somehow--more
+like himself, and in a degree like Aunt Milly. As he led his uncle to
+his room, Tom felt with a pleasurable excitement that it was to be a
+brief return to the world from his work-a-day life.
+
+"Suppose we talk about Joan," said the Bishop. "She looks well--very
+well--quite like a little milkmaid."
+
+"That's just the trouble," said Tom, plunging eagerly into the subject,
+as one near to his heart. "Why, uncle, she's a perfect tomboy. Do you
+know, Joan is seventeen years old, and there's not a romance in the
+house she hasn't read, and not a tree in the country round that she
+can't and don't climb. You heard her change the subject when father
+asked where the cherries came from that we had at dinner."
+
+"No," answered the Bishop. "You see, I am not sufficiently a member of
+the family to take in all these shibboleths."
+
+"They came from a tree she was ashamed to say she had climbed. Those
+cherries--I recognized them--are almost never gathered, because there's
+not a boy around here who likes to climb that tree. Do you think she
+ought to run wild like that? I don't mean she doesn't do finely at home,
+for she does--just as well as she can--that is--" Tom's truth forced the
+amendment. "Father's awfully good to her. He keeps a chair by his study
+desk for her, that she calls her thinking-chair, and when she's in any
+home trouble she slips in there and sits by him to think it over.
+Sometimes she consults father, but as often she doesn't say a word. She
+seems to get help from him without that. I suppose you have seen how
+very fond they are of each other."
+
+The Bishop was winding his watch, and looking about the bedroom to which
+Tom had led him. "That's nice," he said. "Where's your thinking-chair?"
+
+The question came so suddenly, and the look which went with it was so
+kindly searching, that Tom stammered out the truth with a rush: "Father
+and I are not confidential like that. But it's a mercy that Joan is his
+favorite. You see, she's so dreamy she's apt to blunder, and if she were
+not a favorite with him it would be frightfully hard for her."
+
+"Is it frightfully hard for you?" asked the Bishop.
+
+"Sometimes," said Tom, truthfully. He spoke candidly, but with a reserve
+which his uncle respected.
+
+"Wouldn't you miss Joan sadly if she were to be sent away?" he asked.
+"You seem to depend on each other."
+
+The older man noted the swift change in the young face near him.
+
+"I can't think about that. No human being knows what Joan has done for
+me this year. She seemed always to divine just when I couldn't stand
+things any longer, and there she is by me. I suppose I shouldn't let her
+be around those rough furnaces so much, but I never can send her away.
+It made me ashamed the other day when I found she could stand as much of
+the furnace gas in her lungs as I. You see, she always comes at the
+worst times to bring me lemonade or something of that sort. The thirst
+in those gases is awful."
+
+"Yet you think she ought to go elsewhere?"
+
+The answer came unhesitatingly: "I know it. This is no way to bring up a
+girl."
+
+"I'm not so sure," said the Bishop, easily. "It depends on the girl."
+
+But Tom, his tongue once loosened, went on: "Now if she could spend one
+year with Aunt Milly--"
+
+The Bishop's mouth twitched. "Well, now, it would be rather funny,
+wouldn't it, to have the life here curing what was bad for you in your
+Aunt Milly's training, and Aunt Milly's training curing what is bad for
+Joan in the life here; No, no; your Aunt Milly would suit for some
+girls, but not for Joan. She is a little oddity, and not very strong in
+body. She needs odd treatment. Your father sees that. Let her read and
+climb all she chooses, but a governess with no domestic authority might
+be an advisable addition to the family. I'll suggest that to your
+father; and tell him too that while Joan talks more carefully than a
+year ago, she has to-night informed me that the baby is the 'very spit
+of father.'" The Bishop smiled at the memory. "That won't do, of course.
+Why haven't you talked Joan over with your father?"
+
+"I should as soon think of advising the Pope, uncle. My father," he
+added, with a little unconscious wistfulness that caught the listener's
+quick ear--"my father is the finest man I know, but he is not easy to
+talk with, as you are."
+
+The unconscious comparison did not offend the Bishop. He sat thoughtful
+for a while before he replied. "I want to tell you something to
+remember," he said at last. "Some day you and your father will come
+together, and be all the closer for the momentum you get by being
+separate now. I know he is a silent man, but wait until you get at what
+is behind his silence, as I have. Did I ever show you any of his letters
+to me? I suppose he lets himself out in them as nowhere else, and some
+of them I have laid away for you children when you are older. Let me
+see; I think I can show you a part of one now. It struck me as so true I
+almost stole it for use in a sermon." He drew out some letters from his
+pocket, and choosing one, he turned it down between certain lines and
+handed it over to his nephew. Tom read with interest that grew intense
+as he went on.
+
+"I am sure we both agree," the letter ran, "that the man who earns his
+education, and his right to eat bread and live, by the sweat of his own
+brow, has an enormous pull over the man whose education and buttered
+bread and honey are all paid for by somebody else. At the same time my
+boy has worked so finely, so manfully and earnestly, at the furnaces
+this year, I think, and you, my dear brother, will be glad to learn
+this, that by the coming fall I can venture to send him--"
+
+"Where?" asked Tom, devouring the turned-down page with hungry eyes. His
+fingers trembled to lift the sheet.
+
+"Dear! dear!" said the Bishop, innocently, taking the paper and folding
+it away. "Did I leave out something I ought to have folded down? Well,
+don't ask me any questions. Don't ask me. It's a very imprudent person
+who tells names and tales the same day. I don't think I left out the
+name of the college, did I? Now, my boy, be off, before my waistcoat is.
+How could you respect my cloth if you should see me in flannel? I must
+go to rest if I mean to climb that cherry-tree with Joan to-morrow, and
+I certainly mean to try."
+
+Bishop Hegan was always as good as his word, generally a little better;
+therefore the next morning he and Joan and the little boys and Lolly and
+the baby were all established under the spreading branches of the
+cherry-tree--Joan half ashamed of the tree's proportions, but wholly
+happy.
+
+"Do you always move in a caravan like this?" asked Bishop Hegan, "I felt
+like Father Abraham establishing a tribe as we trailed over the fields.
+I don't remember asking any one but you to accompany me, Joan."
+
+"They always come too," said Joan, simply, "wherever I go. Do you really
+want to climb this tree, godfather? It would be a nice way for you to
+celebrate the Fourth of July, wouldn't it?"
+
+"For me, as a kind of mild and clerical dissipation, I suppose," laughed
+the Bishop. "Bless my soul, I don't believe there is such an unpatriotic
+man in America as I! Last Fourth of July I forgot to celebrate at all,
+and here's another Fourth hours old before I realize its birth."
+
+Joan looked at her uncle with round shocked eyes. "Why, godfather! I
+didn't know you'd think that a right way to feel. I make our children
+pray every night for our country and the President and our continued
+independence."
+
+The Bishop could not restrain a smile. "My little Joan of Arc," he said,
+and the words struck a chord of memory with them both. "How is it with
+Joan of Home?"
+
+Joan shook her head sorrowfully. "Not very well. But indeed I am trying.
+I keep your letters and read them over, and I say, 'Joan of Home' every
+time I look at my lovely Joan of Arc; but I don't see yet why you told
+me to do that, godfather."
+
+"Yes, you do," said the Bishop; "at least your heart has seen, if your
+mind has not. What do you think as you look at the Maid?"
+
+Joan's eyes kindled; her voice rang: "That I would love to buckle on my
+armor as she did, and fight for my country as she fought."
+
+Again the Bishop had to hide a smile. "Well, don't you?"
+
+Joan stared. "I am so stupid, godfather. I don't understand you."
+
+"Why, sometimes I think every woman is a fighting patriot, all day and
+every day. Don't you buckle on your armor every morning and war with the
+butcher, the baker, and candlestick-maker to defend your little country
+in this direction and that? Every family is a small state to be
+governed. Don't you know that?"
+
+Joan's face fell. "Godfather, I don't like that idea," she burst out.
+"There is nothing glorious in what I am doing. Of course I love helping
+father, but the dear children and the tradesfolk almost fray me out
+sometimes. I only war in the way you describe because I know I ought
+to."
+
+"That's a good enough and glorious enough reason," said the Bishop.
+"Don't you fret, my little girl. If the chance of any kind of glory ever
+comes your way--and your cruel old godfather prays it never may--you
+won't find yourself ill prepared to meet it, if you take care of the
+peace duties and let the glory take care of itself."
+
+"Yes," said Joan, humbly, "I will try. I am trying to talk better than I
+did, as you wrote to me I should. Do you think I have improved at all? I
+know I did sometimes talk to beat the band."
+
+"Well, the last remark was not wholly guiltless," laughed the Bishop.
+"But never mind. You are doing very well in all ways. What a
+sweet-tempered child you are making of Teddy! Hear the boy now."
+
+"Bumble-peg, bumble-peg," Teddy was calling to Robert. "Yeth, I want to
+play it. Oh, come an' leth play bumble-peg. What ith it?"
+
+"He gets that from you, dear godfather," said Joan. "I don't believe
+there's another bishop in the world that would go out to climb trees
+with his niece."
+
+"I haven't climbed yet," said the Bishop, looking up at the spreading
+branches and the huge bare hole of the old tree. "My dear, where do you
+get your first foothold?"
+
+"Here," said Joan. "I'll show you, godfather. But you mustn't tell Tom.
+It was half mean of him to tell you on me about climbing this tree."
+
+She had led her uncle to the back of the old tree, where the underbrush
+clustered thickly, hiding a set of heavy iron pegs, which she had driven
+into the trunk, one above the other, until they were like an irregular
+set of steps.
+
+"I did that with a great iron hammer," said Joan. "It took a whole
+morning. I stood on one as I drove in the other, and I never felt so
+much like my Joan of Arc as then."
+
+"I should think so," said the Bishop, looking up at the iron perches.
+"Personally I should think it would have been easier, and certainly more
+school-girlish, to content yourself with candy at home."
+
+"I know," said Joan; "but then I never did care for candy. I always
+loved the works of nature better than the arts of man." She spoke so
+sweetly and simply that though he really started at the last words,
+Bishop Hegan could not find it in his heart to laugh at them. He set his
+foot on the first iron peg, which at once yielded under his weight.
+
+"Dear! dear!" he said, drawing back; "my rotundity or the weight of my
+divinity is too much for your ladder, Joan. No wild celebrating for me
+to-day. By-the-way, why aren't you children blowing off your fingers and
+your heads on this glorious Fourth? You, of all people, Joan, should not
+have a toe or finger left."
+
+"Father doesn't allow fireworks here," said Joan; "you see, he can't
+make any exceptions for us, as we live on the works. There are never
+holidays for furnaces, and he can't very well allow the furnace-men to
+be playing at fire-crackers. Somehow I like it quiet this way much
+better. We can _feel_ the day more solemnly than if we were playing all
+the time. I think if everybody would try to _do_ something patriotic on
+the Fourth of July it would be beautiful, and ever so much better than
+firing off shooting-crackers. But then it's awfully hard to find
+patriotic things to do. I've tried every year, and I have never found
+one yet."
+
+"And then most of us find more satisfaction in shooting-cracker
+patriotism," said Bishop Hegan, dryly. "Now, little girl, up with you;
+let me see how you can climb."
+
+[Illustration: SHE SWAYED FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH.]
+
+He expected a pretty sight, but Joan's climbing was something more than
+that. She not only swayed from branch to branch, but fitted her slender
+body against limbs too large to grasp, crawling out on their limits as
+the tree-toad crawls. For the pure joy of motion, she worked her sinuous
+way to the tree-top, where no cherries grew, and back again to the limbs
+where they hung in clusters, which she flung down, laughing. It was not
+the fearless climbing of a hardy boy, but the poetry of climbing as a
+delicate girl might be expected to climb, but as the on-looker had never
+seen one venture to attempt. He felt that in a way it was scarcely
+human, and was glad when Joan, flushed but not breathless, dropped again
+at his side.
+
+"Thank you," said the Bishop, as if he had witnessed a special benefit
+performance. He kept watching the young girl as she walked home quietly
+by his side.
+
+"Aunt Milly!" he thought. "Fancy this bit of oddity shackled in her
+house! But she climbs entirely too well. Egad! it's a professional
+wood-nymph. She must have a governess. I wonder if she is all heroics,
+or if we have a mute inglorious Jeanne d'Arc in our midst. I almost wish
+we could prove the child."
+
+"Come, children," said Joan, interrupting the thread of her uncle's
+thought. "Come, stir your little stumps. We are late for lunch, and I'm
+hungry. No, Lolly, it won't hurt Ted to run a little. You know, nothing
+ever hurts our boys. I declare, rattlesnakes run from 'em."
+
+"She's just a little child, after all," decided the laughing Bishop,
+"Upon my word, I think I caught her heroics for the moment."
+
+"Come on," said Joan, urging on the little ones. "Come on. Father must
+be at home by now."
+
+She stopped short, suddenly listening, her eyes dilated. Across the
+fields, blown to them on the wind, came faintly the sound of a sharp
+shrill whistle, thrice repeated, then silence, and the same signal
+again.
+
+"It's for father," said Joan, breathlessly. "Something has happened at
+the works."
+
+All over the great iron-works men were hurriedly calling inquiries to
+one another as the shrill insistent whistle rang out with that note of
+alarm which danger signals seem to gain, or which the ear hears in them.
+The busy place roused as a humming beehive is roused by a sounded gong.
+All those who could, or who dared to leave their work, ran in the
+direction where they saw others running. Tom, dressed in his rough
+overalls, and with face and hands grimy from the great furnace stoves
+for which he was responsible, was by that responsibility tied to his
+post until he could leave everything in safe order. He was almost the
+last man free, and not until long after his patience was exhausted was
+he able to follow the straggling procession that led to the new
+fire-proof stock-house in process of erection. As he ran, Tom learned by
+snatches what had happened. Those dreaded poisonous gases that are the
+curse of the furnace-man had been insidiously leaking out from the
+neighboring furnace pipes, and creeping up under the iron roof of the
+stock-house. There they had collected as in an ether-cone, waiting to do
+their mischievous work. So slowly and so imperceptibly had they
+gathered, the men working in under the roof, riveting the huge iron
+girders, had labored on unconscious of the enemy surrounding them. They
+were not "iron-men" proper, and so less inured to the gases and less
+aware of their danger, the peculiarity of which is that the gases do
+their deadly work so swiftly when once taking hold that a man is
+unconscious before he knows he is actually attacked. Tom remembered one
+poor fellow who was sitting on a high wall eating his poor dinner-pail
+meal, when the gases found and caught him. It was Tom who had discovered
+him lying at the foot of the wall, a bit of bread still in his hand,
+and--Tom did not care to remember the rest, and he was glad when he
+reached the stock-house to see that a piece of tarpauling had been laid
+over a huddled something on the ground outside the house.
+
+"Father is here," thought Tom, "or that would have been left out to gape
+at."
+
+But it was not his father who was standing by the tarpauling. It was
+Bishop Hegan, who looked up at Tom as he would have hurried by, and
+beckoned to him. "Find Joan and the children," he said. "They
+outstripped me, and are here somewhere. Take them home. I must stay here
+by this poor thing. They say his wife is coming."
+
+Bishop Hegan's face was white with pity. He took a step to the open
+building, and pointed up significantly. Tom lifted his eyes, and then
+ran forward where the crowd surged inside.
+
+There had been three men working on the girders; now there were but two,
+still hanging, no one knew how, astride the great iron ribs sixty feet
+above the terrified eyes that watched them. They were both unconscious,
+as was yet another poor fellow who had tried to climb to his comrades'
+aid, and almost reached them, but turned back just in time, gasping and
+fainting. Half-way down the wall he was with difficulty rescued and
+lowered to safety. No one else was volunteering for the dangerous task.
+To climb those high sheer walls, mounting from ladder to brace, from
+brace to bracket, was no easy task at best for the coolest heads. The
+danger doubled when one climbed with nerves unhinged. Outside the
+building there were scaffoldings in place against the unfinished walls,
+but the braces on the steep roof had been removed, and to reach the
+unconscious men from there meant working unstayed on the verge of a
+precipice, and delving a way through iron plates. There seemed no choice
+but waiting in sickening suspense for a second tragedy, to be followed
+by a third.
+
+Under the open windows and along the wall of the house Mr. Hegan was
+pacing up and down with an excitement which his son had never before
+seen. His men left a way for him, and watched him with a rude affection.
+Stern as he was, the safety of his men was dear to him, as they knew. He
+had vainly striven to raise a rescuing party, but the men hung back, he
+saw, in earnest. His helplessness seemed to hurt bodily.
+
+"If I were only twenty years younger!" he was groaning as he walked.
+
+"I am that, father. What shall I do?"
+
+Mr. Hegan started and stood still, looking at his son in the first flush
+of his young manhood. He settled back against the window-frame with a
+deep breath.
+
+"No," he said, hoarsely, uttering perhaps the first untruth of his manly
+life. "Any attempt is useless. It is throwing life away. I absolutely
+forbid it."
+
+As if with a flash of memory, Tom's mind went back to that scene a year
+before, of which this seemed a repetition. Then, on this same historic
+July day, he had, with a curious appropriateness, made to his father his
+declaration of independence, but had met an inappropriate defeat. Then,
+too, they had stood, as now, by an open window, and, moved by an
+instinct of repetition, Tom turned to stand exactly as he had before
+stood, leaning against the opposite side of the frame. As he did so, he
+saw with what he knew was a foolish but uncontrollable flush of
+exultation that his eyes were on an exact level with his father's. One
+ambition he had achieved, but along with this growth had come another so
+much more important that Tom forgot all else in the exhilaration of its
+discovered possession.
+
+"Father," he said, in a low tone that none the less rang with
+determination, "last year I didn't dare to disobey you, because I was
+afraid, but now--I'm not a bit afraid of you."
+
+Mr. Hegan leaned quickly forward, and laid his hand on his boy's
+shoulder with a fatherly touch and an anxiety in his eyes that made
+Tom's heart beat high.
+
+"I must try it, father," he said, gently, answering the questioning
+look. "There isn't a man here who can stand the gases as I can. I'm used
+to them."
+
+Mr. Hegan bowed his head. He tried to reply quietly, but his voice
+broke. "You are a man," he said; "your own master. I haven't the right
+to say no if your courage says yes. God go with you!" He held out his
+hand, but turned away as if he could not see the boy's first step toward
+danger.
+
+Tom grasped the hand, but did not move. "Father!" he cried, in a gasp.
+"Look! It is Joan!"
+
+[Illustration: JOAN WAS DRAGGING HER LITHE BODY ALONG THE IRON BEAM.]
+
+Mr. Hegan turned. Tom was pointing up, not at the endangered men, but to
+a spot on which every eye was now fixed, and to which all were pointing
+in turn. Further along the building and close under the roof was a small
+opening, left for some temporary purpose, and through this opening, by
+which no man could have entered, appeared the slight shoulders and the
+dark head they all recognized. With strong motions of her slender arms,
+Joan was dragging her lithe body into the building, until she lay at
+last flattened on the wide iron beam that separated wall from roof. From
+there she began to work her way along the beam towards the girder where
+the men still hung. Her progress, like that of a measuring-worm, was
+slow but sure. A light rope was coiled round and round her waist.
+
+"She will tie them to the girders," shouted Tom. "Take courage, father;
+she can stand the gases as I can. Who goes up with me?"
+
+"My goodness!" murmured the father. "Both my children!" But in a moment
+he was himself again--the master, the director. He stepped forward, as a
+captain reviewing his troops.
+
+"Volunteers!" his commanding voice ordered, and from the mass of
+reluctant men sprang a dozen, stung to tardy courage. Mr. Hegan rapidly
+divided his forces. Half were to go with him to the outer walls and the
+roof, half to follow Tom, already on his way up the inner wall to Joan.
+
+If Joan had stopped to ask herself how she came to be where she was, she
+could hardly have told. From the moment when she reached the stock-house
+and saw the poor souls dangling, as it were, between life and death, her
+brain had worked like a fire. She saw the small opening under the eaves,
+and remembering the scaffolding on the outside, realized that she could
+make the height of the walls in pure air. To her the gases were less
+terrifying because she had formed the habit of visiting Tom when the air
+was most foul, to carry him cooling draughts. Almost instinctively she
+caught up a rope, and winding it about her waist, ran to the outer wall,
+where she was quite alone. Never before in her childish life had she
+felt so little the need of advice and instruction. As each move occurred
+to her, she followed it instantly, and with a concise certainty as
+unusual to her as it was exhilarating. Never before had she climbed with
+such careful precision or so rapidly. Her whole soul was absorbed in the
+impulse of succor, which steadied while it inspired her. She did not
+stop to count the cost, because cost did not exist for her. Once only
+did she remember herself and her danger, and that was when some
+instinctive feeling drew her eyes down to the rescuing-band swarming up
+to her aid. After that one look she did not venture to measure with her
+eyes the dreadful distance below. She was soon on a level with those she
+came to reach, and breathing the same air they breathed. Used as she was
+to the gases, their poison was affecting her. Her breath began to come
+heavily, and her eyes were now and then playing her false. Joan grasped
+her dulling senses as with physical hands and forced them to her service
+until she reached the girder. To climb out upon it and to lash the men
+in place were all that remained for her to do. Then, if she had the
+strength left, she would also lash herself, and--she realized dully that
+she had reached the first victim.
+
+He had fallen forward, and was caught by the breast and between the arms
+in the frame-work. Joan twined the rope about him and the bar, and with
+the loose end passed on, crawling to the next man, who lay less
+dangerously. He was supported astride the girder as by a miracle of
+balance, his back against an iron bar, his head dropped on his breast. A
+strange throbbing sound was troubling Joan's ears, and seemed to her to
+dim her powers, and make the knots her stiffened fingers tied yet more
+difficult. Her sight, too, was growing dimmer, as the throbbing entered
+into her brain with hard metallic crashings that increased in force and
+volume, paralyzing the will-power to which she now felt herself clinging
+but feebly. She tied the last knot about the unconscious man, and felt
+herself then stupidly trying to wind the rope's end about her own waist.
+The clashing in her brain grew terrible. It was like an acute suffering,
+than which a fall to the depths below was preferable. But, painfully
+forcing herself to what was now a mere duty of self-preservation, she
+feebly plucked at the rope, her body swaying back and forth on the
+girder. Suddenly she realized her swaying motion, and righted herself
+with a start that roused her to a full, if momentary, consciousness. She
+had no longer the power to even toy with the rope or stop this swaying,
+which she knew had begun again. The terrible crashing sound was an
+unbearable uproar in her ears and brain. Her head fell forward
+helplessly; she felt her body following, and with a great human cry of
+mortal fear she struggled desperately against the sinking impulse which
+was dragging her down, down--
+
+A strong rough grasp was about her waist, catching her back. Tom's voice
+was crying her name in her ears, and a moment later the iron roof,
+yielding to the brave attacking of sledges and crowbars, opened above
+their heads. But to Joan's sick and giddy senses it was the heavens that
+were parting, with a tearing, rending sound, and a glory of inrushing
+sunlight told her that all was over. She closed her eyes, wondering
+vaguely at the painlessness of death, and while thus wondering lost
+consciousness.
+
+When Joan awoke it was with a warm rain, dropping on her face, and she
+looked up into her uncle's eyes. He was kneeling by her side, bending
+over her. On her other side she recognized the physician of the works,
+and standing at her feet was Tom, his arm about his father's shoulders,
+supporting him. Mr. Hegan was trembling, and leaning on that support as
+gratefully and as naturally as if it had ever been his habit to cling to
+his son. A dry sob of relief broke from her father's lips as Joan opened
+her eyes.
+
+"Hush!" whispered the doctor, as she looked around her amazed. A rope
+was knotted about her waist and the pulley block and ropes by which she
+had been lowered from the roof were still attached to her rope girdle.
+
+"What is it?" she asked, in painful bewilderment. "Oh, what is all
+this?"
+
+The doctor bent to speak to her soothingly, but Bishop Hegan motioned
+him back.
+
+"It is your unbuckled armor, my little Joan," he said. "You have had
+your wish for glory, Joan."
+
+Joan lay still, looking up at him, her eyes growing larger and deepening
+with intelligence as her memory returned. Suddenly she cried: "I
+remember now. Are the men safe?"
+
+"They are recovering," Mr. Hegan tried to say, but his voice failed as
+he spoke.
+
+"And who saved me?"
+
+"Your brother," answered Bishop Hegan. "Six other men ran to your help,
+but four gave out, and Tom outstripped the other two by yards of
+climbing. He caught you just as you were falling, and handed you out to
+a rescue party on the roof."
+
+Joan looked affectionately at her brother. "I'd have done the same for
+him," she said, simply. Her glance travelled on to her father's white
+face and shaking hands. She sat upright suddenly, anxious and inquiring.
+"Why, father dear, what ever's the matter? You are just as white and
+jumpity as you can be. I never saw you like this. You haven't had any
+lunch, have you? Well, I think we all had better go home to eat
+something. I'm awfully hungry myself. Help me up, Tom." The elders hung
+back as the two young people drew together.
+
+Bishop Hegan held out his hand--the brothers stood clasping each other.
+
+"God bless my boy!" said Mr. Hegan, feelingly. "He has earned his
+independence, if ever a man did." The Bishop was openly wiping his eyes.
+
+"God bless my little girl! She may be as romantic as a milkmaid, and
+talk like a sailor-taught parrot if she chooses, with no more scoldings
+from me. My dear Tom, it's the Fourth of July. Do you remember how one
+year ago to-day you were laying down the law to the young rebels?"
+
+"Yes, I remember, and to-day they are playing Washington to my King
+George."
+
+"Well, not exactly," said the Bishop. "You see, you were imposing
+nothing unreasonable last year."
+
+Mr. Hegan laughed. "Exactly what King George said, I have no doubt. Let
+me acknowledge it when my reign is justly over. Tom shall go to college
+in the fall, and Joan--she shall decide for herself on a governess. My
+two eldest are now a man and a woman, not my children after to-day.
+Shall we go to luncheon? When the heroine of the hour calls loudly for
+bread and beef we old folks needn't stop to be sentimental."
+
+"I suppose," said the Bishop, "that Independent States and States of
+Independence are nearly the same thing. Are we to have a celebration?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," laughed Mr. Hegan. "There are our conquerors calling us.
+Yes, children, we are coming."
+
+
+
+
+FREDDY SOLILOQUIZES--JULY 4, 1896.
+
+                  He's a very wise man,
+                  The Calendar Man;
+          He fixes the year just right;
+                  He has a good plan,
+                  As every one can
+          Discern at the very first sight.
+
+  He knows that the very best days of the year
+    Are Christmas and Fourth of July,
+  And it would have been very unpleasant and queer
+    If he'd gone and arranged 'em close by.
+
+  But with one in December and the other one now,
+    The calendar's all right for fun.
+  There's time to recover from one, anyhow,
+    Before the other's begun.
+
+
+
+
+RICK DALE.
+
+BY KIRK MUNROE,
+
+AUTHOR OF "SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES," "THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH," "THE 'MATE'
+SERIES," "FLAMINGO FEATHER," ETC.
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+WHAT IS A HUMP-DURGIN?
+
+
+When the boys returned to Buck Raulet's shack, which he had insisted they
+should share with him until they could build one of their own, the first
+question Alaric asked was in regard to his new employment.
+
+"What is a hump-durgin?"
+
+"Ho, ho! With all your learning don't you know what a hump-durgin is?
+Well, I am surprised, for it's one of the commonest things. Still, if
+you don't really know, I'll tell you. A genuine hump-durgin is a sort of
+a cross betwixt a boat and a mule."
+
+"A boat and a mule?" repeated Alaric, more perplexed than ever.
+
+"That's what I said. You see, it is something like a boat. I might say a
+steamboat, or perhaps a canal-boat would be more like it, and it is
+always sailing back and forth. It often rolls and pitches like it was in
+a heavy sea; but at the same time it lives on dry land and never goes
+near the water. It also rears and bucks, and jumps from side to side,
+and tries its best to throw its rider, same as a mule does, and it
+wouldn't look unlike one if it only had legs, and a tail, and ears, and
+hair, and a bray."
+
+"Humph!" interrupted Bonny, who had been an interested listener to this
+vague description of a hump-durgin. "A log of wood might look like a
+hump-durgin if it had all those things."
+
+"Right you are, son! A log of wood might look like a hump-durgin, and
+then again it mightn't. Same time I've often thought that some
+hump-durgins wasn't much better than logs of wood, after all. Anyway,
+now that I've described the critter so that you know all about him, you
+can see why the boss has decided to put our young friend here in charge
+of one."
+
+"I'm sure I can't," said Alaric, more puzzled than ever.
+
+"Because of your experience with both mules and boats," laughed the big
+"faller" teasingly, and that was all the satisfaction the boys could get
+from him that night.
+
+The next morning, bright and early, the occupants of the camp scattered
+to their respective duties: the loggers trudging up the skid-road and
+deep into the forest, there to resume their work of converting trees
+into logs; the loading-gang going in the opposite direction, to the
+distant railway landing, where they would spend the day loading logs on
+to flat cars; the engineers with their firemen to their respective
+engines; the road-gang up to the head of a side gulch where they were
+constructing a branch skid-road; the blacksmiths to their ringing
+anvils; Bonny to the store, where he was to take an account of stock;
+and Alaric, in company with the man whose place he was to fill, after
+receiving from him half a day's instruction in his new duties to make
+the acquaintance of his hump-durgin.
+
+They went a short distance down the skid-road to where one of the relay
+engines was winding in a half-mile length of wire cable over a big steel
+drain. This cable stretched its shining length up the gulch and out of
+sight around a bend. Near the engine-house, and at one edge of the
+skid-road, was a little siding, or dock, protected by a heavy
+sheer-skid. In it lay what looked like a log canoe, sharp-pointed at
+both ends, and having a flat bottom.
+
+"There," said Alaric's guide, "is your hump-durgin."
+
+"That thing!" exclaimed the lad, gazing at the canoe-like object
+curiously. "But I thought a hump-durgin went by steam!"
+
+"So it does," laughed the man, "when it goes at all. Just wait a minute,
+and you'll see."
+
+Almost as he spoke there came a sound of bumping and sliding from up the
+skid-road, and directly afterwards the end of an enormous log came into
+sight around the bend, drawn by the cable the engine was winding in. As
+this log rounded the bend and came directly toward them, another was
+seen to be chained to it, then another, and another, until the "turn"
+was seen to contain five of the woody monsters. Attached to the rear end
+of the last log came another hump-durgin, in which a man was seated, and
+to the after end of which was fastened a second wire cable that
+stretched away for half a mile to the next engine above.
+
+Every log was made fast to the one ahead of it by two short chains, each
+of which was armed at either end with a heavy steel spur having a sharp
+point and a flat head. These are called "dogs," and, driven deep into
+the logs, bind them together. The hump-durgin was also attached to the
+rear log by a chain and "dog," and one of the principal duties of a
+hump-durgin man is to see that none of these dogs pulls out.
+
+As the "turn" of logs stopped just above the station, the man who had
+come with them knocked out his hump-durgin dog, while the man with
+Alaric disconnected the cable that had drawn the logs down to that
+point, and hooked on the upper end of another that stretched away out of
+sight down the road. Then he waved to the engineer, who telephoned to
+the next station down the line, and at the same time to the one above.
+In another minute the hump-durgin that had just arrived was being pulled
+back by its cable over the way it had come, and the "turn" of logs was
+drawn forward by the new cable just attached to them. When the rear end
+of the last log was passing Alaric's hump-durgin, the man with him
+hammered its "dog" into the wood, the chain straightened with a jerk,
+and the novel craft was under way. As it started, both the man and
+Alaric jumped in, and away they went, bumping and sliding down the
+skid-road, slewing around corners that were protected by sheer-skids,
+and dragging behind them a half-mile length of cable attached to the
+after end of their craft.
+
+In this way they were dragged half a mile down the gulch to a second
+engine station, where a new relay of cable with a third hump-durgin
+awaited the logs, and from which their own craft, laden with the chains
+and dogs just brought up from below, was dragged back up hill to the
+station from which they had started.
+
+Every now and then on their downward trip the man jumped from the
+hump-durgin, and, maul in hand, ran along the whole length of the
+"turn," giving a tap here and there to the "dogs" to make sure that none
+of them was working loose. As the cables were only speeded to about four
+miles an hour, he could readily do this; but after he had thus examined
+one side he had to wait until the whole turn passed him, and then run
+ahead to examine the other. Alaric asked why he did not run on the logs
+themselves, and, by thus examining both sides at the same time, save
+half his work.
+
+"Because I ain't that kind of a fool," replied the man. "There is them
+as does it; but a chap has to be surer-footed and spryer than I be to
+ride the logs, 'specially when they're slewing round corners. I reckon,
+though, from all I hear of you, that you'll be just one of the kind to
+try it on; and all I can say is, I hope you'll be let off light when it
+comes your time to be flung. Some gets killed, and others only comes
+nigh it."
+
+The hump-durgin man at the lower relay station followed the first "turn"
+of logs to the railway landing, and then went back to the extreme upper
+end of the skid-road. With the second "turn" Alaric and his instructor
+did the same thing. The next man above him followed the third "turn" to
+its destination, while the man farthest up of all travelled the whole
+length of the road with the fourth "turn," covering its two miles in
+four different hump-durgins. And at length Alaric had a chance to do the
+same thing. Thus each hump-durgin driver became familiar with every
+section of the road, and made six round trips in a day.
+
+At noon of that first day Alaric's instructor in the art of navigating a
+hump-durgin bade him "so long," and left him in sole command of the
+clumsy craft. The man had no sooner gone than his pupil began practising
+the science of log-riding, and before night he had triumphantly ridden
+the whole length of the road mounted on the backs of his unwieldy
+charges. To be sure, he sat down most of the way, and was thrown twice
+when attempting to walk the length of the "turn" while it was slewing
+round corners. Fortunately he escaped each time with nothing more
+serious than a few bruises, and that night he drove a number of hobnails
+into the soles of his boots. These afforded him so good a hold on the
+rough bark that he was never again flung, and within a week had become
+so expert a log-rider that he could keep his feet over the worst "slews"
+on the road.
+
+The hump-durgins brought up many things from the railway landing besides
+chains and "dogs," for they were the sole conveyances by which supplies
+of any kind could reach the camp. It often happened that they carried
+passengers as well, and in this respect running a hump-durgin was, as
+Alaric said, very much like driving a stage-coach--a thing that he had
+always longed to do.
+
+Bonny was so envious of his comrade's job that on that very first day he
+made application for the next hump-durgin vacancy, and two weeks later
+was filled with delight at receiving the coveted appointment.
+
+By the time that both our lads became hump-durgin boys they were living
+in their own shack, which stood just beyond Buck Raulet's, and which
+nearly every man in camp had helped them to build. So proud were they of
+this tiny dwelling that they nearly doubled their bill at the store in
+procuring bedding and other furnishings for it.
+
+Although thus amply provided with rude comforts, or, as Bonny expressed
+it, "surrounded with all the luxuries of life," Alaric fully realized
+that it would soon be time to exchange this mode of living for another.
+He knew that he owed a duty to his father, as well as to the station of
+life into which he had been born; and, having proved to his own
+satisfaction that he was equally strong with other boys, and as well
+able to fight his way through the world, he was more than willing to
+return to his own home. Now that he felt competent to hold his own,
+physically as well as mentally, with others of his age, he was filled
+with a desire to go to college. On talking the matter over with Bonny he
+found that the latter cherished similar aspirations, the only difference
+being that the young sailor's longing was for a mechanical rather than
+a classical education. "Though, of course," said Bonny, with a sigh, "I
+shall always have to take it out in wishing, for I shall never have
+money enough to carry me through a school of any kind, or at least not
+until I am too old to go."
+
+At this Alaric only smiled, and bade his comrade keep on hoping, for
+there was no telling when something might turn up. As he said this he
+made up his mind that if ever he went to college Bonny should at the
+same time go to one of the best scientific schools of the country.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+ALARIC AND BONNY AGAIN TAKE TO FLIGHT.
+
+For a full month had our hump-durgin boys occupied the little
+cedar-built shack, which now seemed to them so much a home that it was
+difficult to realize they had ever known any other. By this time too
+they were exercising a very decided influence upon the character of the
+camp into whose life they had been so unexpectedly thrown. Light-hearted
+Bonny, with his cheery face and abounding good-nature, was as full of
+amusing pranks as a young colt, and from every group that he joined
+shouts of merriment were certain to arise within a few minutes. Thus
+Bonny was very popular and always in demand. Nor was Alaric less so, for
+he could tell so much concerning strange countries and relate so many
+curious old-world tales, that there was rarely an evening that he was
+not called upon for something of the kind. He so often said that most of
+his stories could be found in certain books, related a thousand times
+better than he could tell them, that in the breasts of many of his
+hearers he aroused a real longing for books, and a wider knowledge than
+they could ever acquire without them.
+
+At the same time Alaric was not only appreciated for what he knew, but
+for what he could do. No one in camp could ride a "turn" of logs,
+swaying, bumping, and sliding down the skid-road, with such perfect
+confidence and easy grace as he. Only one of them all could outrun him,
+and none could catch or throw a baseball with the certainty and
+precision that he exhibited, although ever since Buck Raulet discovered
+the ball in his young guest's coat pocket the camp had practised with it
+during all odd moments of daylight.
+
+So our lads made friends with and knew the personal history of every
+occupant of the camp save one, and he was its boss. Since the night on
+which they had taken tea in his house Mr. Linton had hardly spoken to
+either of them; nor did he ever join with the men in their evening
+gatherings to listen to Bonny's jokes or Alaric's tales. At first they
+noticed this, and wondered what reason he had for avoiding them; but
+they soon learned that it was only his way, and that he never talked
+with any of the men except on matters of business. Buck Raulet said it
+was because he was a deputy United States Marshal, and didn't know when
+he might be called on to arrest any one of them for some offence against
+the government.
+
+With all their present popularity the boys were growing weary of the
+monotonous life they were leading, of their good-natured but rough and
+narrow-minded associates, and of the deadly sameness of the food served
+three times a day in the dingy mess-room. They also dreaded the
+approaching winter, with its days and weeks of rain, during which the
+work of getting out logs for the insatiable mills down on the sound must
+keep on without a moment of interruption. They listened with dismay to
+tales of loggers who had not known the feeling of dry clothing for weeks
+at a time; of "turns" of logs rushing down skid-roads slippery with wet,
+like roaring avalanches of timber, threatening destruction to everything
+in their course; and of long dreary winter evenings when the steady
+downpour forbade camp-fires and prevented all social out-of-door
+gatherings.
+
+In view of these things, Alaric was determined that the end of another
+month, or such time as his wages should be paid, should see him on his
+way to San Francisco and home. He did not anticipate any difficulty in
+persuading Bonny to go with him, for that young man had already remarked
+that while hump-durgin riding was fun up to a certain point, he should
+hate to do it for the remainder of his life. Oh yes, Bonny would go of
+course; and Alaric's only fear was that his father might not take a
+fancy to the lad, or hold the same views regarding his future that he
+did. Still, that was a matter that would arrange itself somehow, if they
+could only manage to reach San Francisco, and the "poor rich boy" now
+began to long as eagerly for the time to come when he might return to
+his home as he once had for an opportunity to leave it.
+
+One day, when matters stood thus, a stranger, past middle age, shabbily
+dressed, and wearing a peculiarly dilapidated hat, appeared at the
+railway log-landing, and asked of Bonny, whose hump-durgin happened to
+be there at the time, permission to ride with him to the upper end of
+the skid-road. With a sympathetic glance at the man's forlorn appearance
+Bonny answered,
+
+"Certainly, sir; you may ride with me all day if you like, and I shall
+be glad of your company."
+
+Thanking the lad, the stranger seated himself in the hump-durgin, and
+after he had been warned to hold on tight and watch out for "slews," the
+upper journey was begun. At one of the upper relay stations they waited
+for a descending "turn" of logs to pass them. Here the stranger visited
+the engine-house, and while he was talking with the engineer they came
+in sight. Alaric, who happened to be in charge, was at that moment
+walking easily forward along the backs of the swaying logs, presenting
+as fine a specimen of youthful agility, strength, and perfect health as
+one could wish to encounter. He was clad in jean trousers tucked into
+boot-legs and belted about his waist; a blue flannel shirt, with a black
+silk kerchief knotted at the throat, and a black slouch hat.
+
+[Illustration: "ISN'T THAT EXTREMELY DANGEROUS?" ASKED THE STRANGER.]
+
+"Isn't that extremely dangerous?" asked the stranger, regarding the
+approaching lad with a curious interest.
+
+"Not for him it isn't, though it might be for some; but Rick Dale is so
+level-headed and sure-footed that there isn't his equal for riding logs
+in this outfit, nor, I don't believe, in any other," answered the
+engineer.
+
+"What did you say his name was?" asked the stranger, with his gaze still
+fixed on Alaric.
+
+"Dale. Richard Dale," replied the engineer. "Why? Do you think you know
+him?"
+
+"No. I don't know any one of that name; but the lad's resemblance to
+another whom I used to know is certainly very striking."
+
+"Yes. It's funny how often people look alike who have never been within
+a thousand miles of each other," remarked the engineer, carelessly, as
+he stepped to the signal-box. In another minute Alaric had passed out of
+sight, while Bonny and the stranger had resumed their upward journey.
+
+That evening Alaric remarked to his chum, "I noticed you had a passenger
+to-day."
+
+"Yes," replied Bonny. "Seedy-looking chap, wasn't he, but one of the
+nicest old fellows I ever met. Never saw any one take such an interest
+in everything. I suspected what he was after, though, and finally we got
+so friendly that I asked him right out if he wasn't looking for work."
+
+"Was he?"
+
+"Yes. He hesitated at first, and looked at me to see if I was joking,
+and then owned up that he was hunting for something to do. I felt mighty
+sorry for him, 'cause I know how it is myself; but I had to tell him
+there wasn't a living show in this camp just now. He seemed mightily
+taken with our shack here, and said he once had a house just like it,
+but he was afraid he'd never have another. I invited him to stay with us
+a few days if he wanted to--just while he was looking for a job, you
+know--but he said he guessed he'd better go on to some other camp. You'd
+have been willing, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Alaric. "I've already been in hard luck enough to
+be mighty glad of a chance to help any other fellow who's in the same
+fix, especially an old man; for they don't have half the show that young
+fellows do."
+
+"I told him you'd feel that way," exclaimed Bonny, triumphantly, "and he
+said if there were more like us in the world it would be a happier place
+to live in, but that he guessed he'd manage to scrape along somehow
+awhile longer without becoming a burden to others. I did insist on his
+taking a hat, though."
+
+"A hat?"
+
+"Yes. We were down at the store, and he was asking the price of things,
+and looking around so wistful that I couldn't help getting him a new hat
+and having it charged; for the one he wore wasn't any good at all. He
+hated to take it, but I insisted, and finally he said he would if I'd
+keep his old one and let him redeem it some time. Of course I said I
+would, just to satisfy him, and here it is."
+
+Alaric looked carelessly at the dilapidated hat as he said: "It was a
+first-class thing to do, Bonny, and I only wish I had been here to give
+him something at the same time. But, hello! this is a Paris hat, and
+hasn't been worn very long, either. I wonder how he ever got hold of it?
+Never mind, though; hang it up for luck, and to remind me to do
+something for the next poor chap who comes along. I heard to-day that
+the president of the company was in Tacoma, on his way to make an
+inspection of all the camps."
+
+"Yes," replied Bonny. "They say he is an awful swell, too, and I heard
+that he was coming in his private car. I only hope he is, and that I can
+get a chance to look at it, for I have never seen a private car. Have
+you?"
+
+"One or two," answered Alaric, with a smile.
+
+At noon of the following day, while a fifteen-minute game of baseball
+was in progress after dinner, the boss of Camp No. 10 received a note
+from the president of the company, requesting him to report immediately
+in person at Tacoma, and bring with him the two hump-durgin boys Dale
+and Brooks.
+
+Mr. Linton, being a man who kept his own business to himself as much as
+possible, merely called our lads and bade them follow him. Of course
+this order broke up the game they were playing, and as they hastened
+after the boss, Bonny, in whose hands the baseball happened to be,
+thrust it into one of his pockets. Although curious to know why they
+were thus summoned, the boys learned nothing from Mr. Linton until they
+reached the railway log-landing, when he told them that they were wanted
+in Tacoma, and that he was instructed to bring them there at once.
+
+From the landing they proceeded by hand-car to Cascade Junction, where
+they boarded a west-bound passenger train over the Northern Pacific.
+Even now Mr. Linton was not communicative, and after sitting awhile in
+silence, he went forward into the smoking-car, leaving the boys in the
+passenger coach next behind it. Now they began to discuss their
+situation, and the more they considered it, the more apprehensive they
+became that something unpleasant was in store for them.
+
+"He's a United States Marshal, remember," said Bonny.
+
+"Yes," replied Alaric; "I've been thinking of that. Do you suppose it
+can have anything to do with that smuggling business?"
+
+"I'm awfully afraid so," replied Bonny. "Great Scott! Look there!"
+
+The train was just leaving Meeker, where a passenger had boarded their
+car, and was now walking leisurely through it toward the smoker. It was
+he who had attracted Bonny's attention, and at whom he now pointed a
+trembling finger.
+
+Alaric instantly recognized the man as an officer of the revenue-cutter
+that had so persistently chased them in the early summer. Without a
+word, he left his seat and followed the new-comer to the smoking-car,
+where a single glance through the open door continued his worst
+suspicions.
+
+The officer had seated himself beside Mr. Linton, and they were talking
+with great earnestness.
+
+"They are surely after us again," Alaric said, in a whisper, as he
+regained his seat beside Bonny; "but I don't intend to be captured, if I
+can help it."
+
+"Same here," replied Bonny.
+
+Thus it happened that when, a little later, the train reached Tacoma,
+and Mr. Linton returned to look for his lads, they were nowhere to be
+found.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
+
+
+The first meeting of the National Interscholastic Association was held
+at the Columbia Oval, New York, June 20, and the records established on
+that occasion are something that every school-boy in the country may
+well feel proud of. The day was perfect and the track was good; and
+although there were only five associations represented, the teams
+present were undoubtedly made up of the best scholastic athletic talent
+in the United States. As had been anticipated, victory went to the
+New-Englanders, with a score of 46 points; the Connecticut H.-S.A.A.
+took second honors with 25 points, New York following with 23, while the
+Long Island I.S.A.A. was fourth with a score of 7, and the sandy team
+from Iowa closed the list with 6 points.
+
+NATIONAL I.S.A.A. GAMES, COLUMBIA OVAL, NEW YORK, JUNE 20, 1896.
+
+  Event.                            Winner.                     Performance.
+  100-yard dash           W. H. Jones (_P.A._), N.E.              10-1/5 sec.
+  220-yard dash           W. H. Jones (_P.A._), N.E.              22-2/5  "
+  Quarter-mile run        H. L. Washburn (_B._), N.Y.             51-2/5  "
+  Half-mile run           W. S. Hipple (_B._), N.Y.         1 m.  59-3/5  "
+  One-mile run            D. T. Sullivan (_W.H._), N.E.     5 "   10-1/5  "
+  120-yard hurdles        A. F. Beers (_D.L.S._), N.Y.            16-4/5  "
+  220-yard hurdles        J. H. Converse (_E.H.-S._), N.E.        26-2/5  "
+  One-mile walk           A. L. O'Toole (_E.H.-S._), N.E.   7 "   53-2/5  "
+  One-mile bicycle        O. C. Roehr (_P.P._), L.I.        2 "   36      "
+  Running high jump       F. R. Sturtevant (_H._), Ct.      5 ft.  8     in.
+  Running broad jump      H. Brown (_H.H.-S._), Ct.        21  "   1      "
+  Pole vault              R. G. Clapp (_Will._), N.E.      10  "   5      "
+  Throwing 12-lb. hammer  F. C. Ingalls (_H._), Ct.       129  "  10      "
+  Putting 12-lb shot      F. C. Ingalls (_H._), Ct.        43  "   4      "
+
+  Event.                            Second.
+  100-yard dash              R. W. Moore (_B._), N.Y.
+  220-yard dash              R. W. Moore (_B._), N.Y.
+  Quarter-mile run           G. G. Whitcomb (_P.E._), N.E.
+  Half-mile run              R. F. Hanson (_E.H.-S._), N.E.
+  One-mile run                ----------------------
+  120-yard hurdles           F. A. Edmands (_W.A._), N.E.
+  220-yard hurdles           A. F. Beers (_D.L.S._), N.Y.
+  One-mile walk              G. A. Blakeslee (_H.H.-S._), Ct.
+  One-mile bicycle           M. W. Forney (_A._), L.I.
+  Running high jump          T. Flournoy (_C._), Io.
+  Running broad jump         H. Moeller (_C.G._), N.Y.
+  Pole vault                 B. Johnson (_W.A._), N.E.
+  Throwing 12-lb. hammer     W. B. Boyce (_B.H.-S._), N.E.
+  Putting 12-lb shot         F. A. Edmands (_W.A._), N.E.
+
+  Event.                            Third.
+  100-yard dash              Hugh Jackson (_C.R._), Io.
+  220-yard dash              Hugh Jackson (_C.R._), Io.
+  Quarter-mile run           C. F. Luce (_H._), Ct.
+  Half-mile run              C. A. Brown (_S.C._), Io.
+  One-mile run               ----------------------
+  120-yard hurdles           F. W. Shirk (_W.A._), N.E.
+  220-yard hurdles           J. J. Peters (_P.A._), N.E.
+  One-mile walk              ----------------------
+  One-mile bicycle           E. A. Strong (_H._), Ct.
+  Running high jump          ----------------------
+  Running broad jump         W. Hersey (_W.A._), N.E.
+  Pole vault                 F. R. Sturtevant (_H._), Ct.
+  Throwing 12-lb. hammer     F. A. Edmands (_W.A._), N.E.
+  Putting 12-lb shot         C. Leo (_C.R._), Io.
+
+     ABBREVIATIONS:--N.E., New England I.S.A.A.; N.Y., New York
+     I.S.A.A.; Ct., Connecticut H.-S.A.A.; L.I., Long Island I.S.A.A.;
+     Io., Iowa State H.-S.A.A.; _P.A._, Phillips Academy, Andover; _B._,
+     Barnard School, New York; _W.H._, Worcester High-School; _D.L.S._,
+     De La Salle Institute, New York; _E.H.-S._, Boston English
+     High-School; _P.P._, Brooklyn Poly Prep. Institute; _H._, Hartford
+     Public High-School; _Will._, Williston Seminary; _P.E._, Phillips
+     Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire; _W.A._, Worcester Academy; _A._,
+     Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn; _B.H.-S._, Brookline High-School;
+     _C.G._, Columbia Grammar-School, New York; _C.R._, Cedar Rapids
+     High-School; _C._, Clinton High-School; _S.C._, Sioux City
+     High-School; _H.H.-S._, Hillhouse High-School, New Haven.
+
+NATIONAL I.S.A.A. GAMES, JUNE 20, 1896.
+
+TABLE OF POINTS SCORED.
+
+  Association.            First.    Second.   Third.   Total.
+                           Five       Two      One
+                          Points.   Points.   Point.
+  New England I.S.A.A.       6         6        4        46
+  Connecticut H.-S.A.A.      4         1        3        25
+  New York I.S.A.A.          3         4        0        23
+  Long Island I.S.A.A.       1         1        0         7
+  Iowa State H.-S.A.A.       0         1        4         6
+                                                        ---
+                                                        107
+
+     N. B.--Out of a possible 112 points only 107 were awarded, there
+     being no second or third man in the mile run, and no third man in
+     the high jump or the mile walk.
+
+  School.                 First.    Second.  Third.  Total.
+                           Five       Two     One
+                          Points.   Points.  Point.
+  Hartford School            3         0       3      18
+  Barnard, N.Y.              2         2       0      14
+  English High-School        2         1       0      12
+  Phillips Andover           2         0       1      11
+  Worcester Academy          0         3       3       9
+  De La Salle, N.Y.          1         1       0       7
+  Hillhouse High-School      1         1       0       7
+  Worcester High-School      1         0       0       5
+  Poly. Prep., Brooklyn      1         0       0       5
+  Williston                  1         0       0       5
+  Cedar Rapids               0         0       3       3
+  Adelphi, Brooklyn          0         1       0       2
+  Phillips, Exeter           0         1       0       2
+  Brookline High-School      0         1       0       2
+  Col. Grammar, N.Y.         0         1       0       2
+  Clinton High-School        0         1       0       2
+  Sioux City High-School     0         0       1       1
+                                                     ---
+                                                     107
+
+Now that the meeting is past and gone, it is very easy for most of us to
+make comments and suggestions about what should have been done, but
+these suggestions can be of little use to-day, unless they serve to help
+matters for next year. Hind-sight is very much better than foresight,
+and experience is much more valuable than either. If the officers of the
+National Association, and all who are interested in the welfare of that
+body, will work next year with wisdom acquired from this year's
+experience, the field day of '97 ought to be a perfect one of its kind.
+There are a great many things that I should like to say in this
+Department about the meeting of the N.I.S.A.A., but there are none of
+these reflections which cannot just as well be made a week or two hence,
+when there will be more space at disposal, and when there will have been
+more time for reflection with all of us. For the present I think that,
+in spite of all the shortcomings of the first meeting, we have reason to
+congratulate ourselves over the success of the day, and the promise it
+holds out for the future.
+
+The New York school-boys need waste no time in regret over the defection
+of the Berkeley and Cutler teams. It is certain that had they been
+present at the National meet, they could not have altered the result, so
+far as victory is concerned. It is possible--it is even probable--that
+New York might have secured second place, but nothing better. The
+hurdles were 3 ft. 6 in. and 2 ft. 6 in. in the long and short events,
+respectively, so that it is not exactly fair to compare the performances
+in these events at the National games with those of the New York
+Interscholastics, where the hurdles are lower. Nevertheless, Converse in
+the low hurdles made better time than Harris, who won at the
+Interscholastics.
+
+To make a just comparison, we must leave the hurdles out of our
+calculation and take only the other twelve events, which are the same on
+both the National and the New York schedules. Of these twelve events
+the performances at the National meeting were better in ten cases than
+they were at the New York Interscholastics a few weeks ago. The two
+which were not surpassed were the pole vault and the mile run. It is
+probable that Hurlburt of Berkeley could have defeated Clapp. I am not
+so sure that Turner of Cutler's could have defeated Sullivan, who won
+the mile in 5 min. 10-1/5 sec. Turner could certainly not have defeated
+Mills, but Mills was unfortunately ill, and unable to be present.
+Sullivan ran second to Mills at the New England Interscholastics,
+Mills's time being 4 min. 33-4/5 sec. Turner's time at the New York
+Interscholastics was 4 min. 49-3/5 sec.
+
+But it is hardly fair to compare Sullivan's time at the National games
+with Turner's at the New York games, because Turner was pressed very
+hard, and did his very best, whereas Sullivan ran around the track alone
+at the Columbia Oval, there being no other contestant in the mile event;
+furthermore, at the stretch of the third lap he thought he had finished
+his mile and spurted, and almost stopped in front of the judge's stand,
+when the officials called out to him that he still had another lap to
+go; then he merely trotted the remaining 440 yards, so that of course
+good time could not be expected. To carry on the speculation further,
+and to make the comparison more complete, it may be stated that the
+performances at the National games, besides being better in ten cases
+out of twelve than the performances at the New York Interscholastic,
+were better in six cases out of twelve than the N.Y.I.S.A.A. records.
+The superiority is in the two dashes, the quarter, the half, the hammer,
+and the shot. In the hammer, both first and second men at the National
+games made better throws than Irwin Martin did, a few weeks ago, when he
+set up the New York Interscholastic record at the Berkeley Oval. In the
+shot, all three point-winners at the National games surpassed the New
+York Interscholastic figures.
+
+[Illustration: Jackson. Jones. Moore. Robinson.
+
+N.I.S.A.A. GAMES: FINISH OF FINAL HEAT, 100-YARD DASH.]
+
+[Illustration: Jones. Moore. Jackson.
+
+N.I.S.A.A. GAMES: FINISH OF THE 220-YARD, FINAL HEAT.]
+
+It may clearly be seen from this that the field work at the Columbia
+Oval was of a very high order. But better still were the performances in
+the dashes and the middle distances. Jones of Andover defeated Moore of
+Barnard in both the 100 and the 220, running the shorter distance both
+in his heat and in the final in 10-1/5 sec. Jones is beyond any doubt
+the best sprinter in the schools to-day, and gets down the path in
+beautiful form. Moore was never so hard pushed in all his life, and also
+ran beautifully, making a close race every time, and his defeat in his
+heat was doubtless due to his desire to save his strength rather than to
+the superiority of Robinson, who, however, ran much better in his heat
+than he did in the finals. The 220 was anybody's race for three-quarters
+of the distance, Moore and Jones running about even, with Jackson barely
+a yard in the rear; but Jones, being much the stronger man, and with
+decidedly more reserve force than Moore, managed to pull out a winner by
+a couple of yards.
+
+The quarter-mile was hotly contested, and proved a very pretty race.
+Washburn of Barnard was the favorite, but he had two good men against
+him in Robinson of Worcester and Luce of Hartford. The bunch went around
+the turn at a brisk pace, and when half the distance had been covered
+Whitcomb of Exeter developed unexpected speed, and pushed the New-Yorker
+strongly. It was plain then that the real struggle was between these
+two, and it was not until the last three yards of the race that Washburn
+could feel sure of victory. Luce came in a good third.
+
+[Illustration: Hanson. Hipple.
+
+N.I.S.A.A. GAMES: FINISH OF THE HALF-MILE RUN.]
+
+The half-mile was probably the hardest race of the day, and Hipple won
+only after the hottest kind of a struggle with Hanson. The bunch started
+off at a good pace, as may be seen from the record-breaking time made,
+Bedford setting the pace. The Barnard man kept well in the lead for the
+first lap, and then surrendered his position to his schoolmate. But the
+New-Englanders had no idea of letting Hipple have an easy time of it,
+and Hanson, Albertson, and Brown at once began to swing out for
+position. Hipple stuck to his colors, however, and strained every nerve,
+running beautifully, and on the stretch he and Hanson pulled away quite
+perceptibly from the others. Hipple finished about five feet ahead of
+the Boston man, and both were entirely played out when they crossed the
+line, Hipple so much so that he was unable to enter the mile, a little
+later.
+
+[Illustration: Beers. Edmands.
+
+N.I.S.A.A. GAMES: FINAL HEAT OF THE HIGH HURDLES.]
+
+Both the hurdle-races furnished fine sport. Shirk of Worcester Academy
+took the first heat, not being pressed very hard by O'Rourke, and the
+second heat was an exceedingly hot race between Beers and Edmands, the
+time, .16-3/5, being even faster than that of the final. In the final
+struggle the race was clearly between Edmands and Beers, and the
+New-Englander certainly ran in far better form than did the victorious
+New-Yorker. Beers knocked over fully half the obstacles, whereas Edmands
+only toppled one. I should pick Edmands as the winner in a contest with
+Beers, both men being fresh. At the National games Edmands was throwing
+the hammer when the hurdles were called, and he had to leave his
+exhausting field work, without a chance for a rest, to start in his
+heat, and again in the final. Considering this, his performance over the
+sticks was exceedingly creditable. There were only three starters in the
+low hurdles, and Beers got off the mark first. He had not gone far,
+however, before Converse overtook him and soon passed him. Converse won
+in the excellent time of 26-2/5 sec., Beers finishing about six yards
+behind, with Peters almost on his heels. Beers ran in better form in the
+low hurdles, although doubtless a little fagged from his two high-hurdle
+heats. It is only fair to say for Beers that he has been in the habit of
+running over the dwarfed high hurdles of the N.Y.I.S.A.A., and thus
+Edmands, who has enjoyed the benefit of belonging to an association
+which uses recognized standards in athletics, had a slight advantage
+over the New York man.
+
+The walk was a gift to O'Toole of English High, there being only one
+other contestant, Blakeslee of Hillhouse. Inasmuch as the faculty of the
+Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, did not allow any of the Hotchkiss men to
+come down to the meeting, Eels, who made such a good record at the
+Connecticut games, was not present. This is greatly to be regretted, for
+he and O'Toole would doubtless have had a close struggle in that event.
+The Boston man was pressed at no time, but he kept up a good pace, and
+when he crossed the line he was half a lap ahead of Blakeslee.
+
+There were no accidents in the bicycle race, for a wonder, and the
+contestants actually raced from start to finish. The riders remained
+pretty closely bunched for half a mile, Roehr of Long Island leading. At
+the three-quarter post Poillon of New York dashed from the rear and took
+the lead, but he was able to hold it for only half a lap, when the
+others all put on steam and left him again at the tail. Roehr won in
+good style, with another Brooklynite, Forney of Adelphi, second, and
+Strong of Connecticut third.
+
+The field events developed some excellent performances. There were only
+two men who answered to the call in the high jump--Sturtevant and
+Flournoy. The Connecticut man had the greater reputation, and the event
+was conceded to him at once, although the Iowa athlete struggled
+bravely, and cleared the very creditable height of 5 ft. 7 in.
+Sturtevant showed good form, and went an inch higher. The pole vault was
+also well contested, but the winner did not go so high as might have
+been expected from the various performances that have occurred at
+interscholastic meetings this year. Clapp, the winner, cleared 10 ft. 5
+in., although he did an inch better at the New England Interscholastics,
+where he vaulted 10 ft. 6 in., and took second to Johnson of Worcester
+Academy. At the National games Johnson could only clear 10 ft. 3 in.,
+and took second to Clapp.
+
+Ingalls of Hartford, with Jones of Andover, enjoyed the honor of scoring
+a double win. He took first place in both the hammer and the shot, and
+his performances are something to be proud of. He established records in
+both events which will probably stand for some years to come. Boyce of
+Brookline High-School threw 125 ft. 3 in., and took second in the
+hammer, Edmands of Worcester being third. The latter also took second in
+the shot, coming within eight inches of the winner. Edmands is a very
+good all-round athlete. Leo of Iowa took third in the shot, and was only
+an inch behind Edmands.
+
+Although every athlete who appeared at the National games is to be
+congratulated on his sportsmanship, and on the determined way in which
+he set about his work, especial commendation is to be given to the four
+young men who came on all the way from Iowa. They were outnumbered by
+every team, but they nevertheless succeeded in making creditable
+performances, and in carrying off six points. They are not of the stuff
+that goes home with a zero, and we may confidently expect, if Iowa sends
+on a team next year, that the experience of the Iowans this spring will
+have been profited by, and the Westerners will put up even a stiffer
+competition than they did a week ago.
+
+  THE GRADUATE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SICKNESS AMONG CHILDREN
+
+is prevalent at all seasons of the year, but can be avoided largely when
+they are properly cared for. _Infant Health_ is the title of a valuable
+pamphlet accessible to all who will send address to the New York
+Condensed Milk Co., N. Y. City.--[_Adv._]
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+Arnold
+
+Constable & Co
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SUMMER
+
+UNDERWEAR.
+
+_Silk-and-Wool Underwear, Merino_
+
+_Underwear, Union Suits._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+HOSIERY, GLOVES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+Sparkling with life--rich with delicious flavor, HIRES Rootbeer stands
+first as nature's purest and most refreshing drink. _Best by any test._
+
+Made only by The Charles E. Hires Co., Philadelphia.
+
+A 25c. package mates 5 gallons. Sold everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: Commit to Memory]
+
+the best things in Prose and Poetry, always including good Songs and
+Hymns. It is surprising how little good work of this kind seems to be
+done in the Schools, if one must judge from the small number of people
+who can repeat, without mistake or omission, as many as =Three= good songs
+or hymns.
+
+[Illustration: Clear, Sharp, Definite,]
+
+and accurate Memory work is a most excellent thing, whether in School or
+out of it, among all ages and all classes. But let that which is so
+learned be worth learning and worth retaining. The Franklin Square Song
+Collection presents a large number of
+
+[Illustration: Old and New Songs]
+
+and Hymns, in great variety and very carefully selected, comprising
+Sixteen Hundred in the Eight Numbers thus far issued, together with much
+choice and profitable Reading Matter relating to Music and Musicians. In
+the complete and varied
+
+[Illustration: Table of Contents,]
+
+which is sent free on application to the Publishers, there are found
+dozens of the best things in the World, which are well worth committing
+to memory; and they who know most of such good things, and appreciate
+and enjoy them most, are really among the best educated people in any
+country. They have the best result of Education. For above Contents,
+with sample pages of Music, address
+
+Harper & Brothers, New York.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: BICYCLING]
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the
+     Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our
+     maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the
+     official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen.
+     Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the
+     Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership
+     blanks and information so far as possible.
+
+
+[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers.]
+
+It is advisable at this point to leave Connecticut and Massachusetts and
+describe one of the best--and practically the only--ways of going on a
+wheel from the Hudson River to the Berkshire Hills. We have already
+given in former numbers of HARPER'S ROUND TABLE the route from New York
+city to Hudson, on the Hudson River. For any one making the trip from
+New York city to the Berkshire Hills, the best route is to follow this
+already described, and at Hudson to take the following trip to
+Pittsfield.
+
+Leave Hudson by Warren Street, and run along the trolley-line to the
+Boston-Albany railroad tracks, and then make for what is called the
+Columbia turnpike by turning to the left around the park, and still
+keeping to the left into Green Street. Continuing along this road, you
+will run into Claverack, four miles away. The road is good, but begins
+to be hilly towards the last. Claverack is then left, the rider moving
+eastward and taking the right turn, which carries him by the Red Mills.
+Then comes a long ascent, and at the end of three miles Hollowville is
+passed. The road runs clearly, and is practically unmistakable to
+Martindale, and with the exception of the few hills, it is capital
+bicycling. Four miles further on, Craryville is reached, the hills
+becoming a little more frequent, but the road-bed is in such good
+condition that all are rideable. Three miles further on you pass through
+Hillsdale, and then run into South Egremont, and then, keeping to the
+right on leaving South Egremont, climb a long hill with a long coast on
+the other side, and by Maple Avenue run into Great Barrington. From
+Great Barrington the road to Pittsfield, through Stockbridge, is along
+the railroad track through Van Densenville to Housatonic, thence through
+Glendale to Curtisville, through Stockbridge, and leaving Stockbridge
+Bowl on the right, up West Street to Lenox. To go from Lenox take Main
+Street and run direct into the town of Pittsfield itself.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STAMPS]
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
+     collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
+     on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
+     Editor Stamp Department.
+
+
+One of the stamp papers reports that a Washington philatelist has had
+two U.S. 1847 ten-cent stamps made up into a pair of cuff-buttons. This
+is an old idea. I remember seeing a number of similar buttons many years
+ago in Germany.
+
+A rumor is current that a new series of stamps is under contemplation by
+the U.S. government, or that there will be a change in the color of
+several denominations.
+
+The Olympian stamps continue to be used on letters received in New York,
+and several foreign papers state that the set will be used until next
+October, and possibly longer. The official report of the number printed
+of the different denominations shows clearly that the speculating
+element was in the mind of the officials of the Greek government. For
+instance, they printed 20,000 of the 60-lepta stamp (12c.), and 50,000
+of the 10 drachmai ($2). The 60 lepta advanced in price to $1.25 within
+a few days, as all the 60 l. were sold out on the first day to a few
+favored ones. The outcry from the other speculators was so loud that the
+government ordered 50,000 more printed, and the price dropped to 30c. It
+is a pity that the Greek government should humiliate itself in this way,
+and the first step to make these Olympian stamps "regular" should be an
+order to print as many copies of any denomination as may be asked for.
+The stamps themselves are so pretty and interesting that every collector
+wants to see them established as a regular issue.
+
+     BEV.--The U.S. 1870 stamps were printed by the National Bank-Note
+     Company. In 1873 the contract passed to the Continental Company.
+     They added secret marks to the 1c., 2c., 3c., 6c., 7c., 10c., 12c.,
+     and 15c., and probably to the 24c., 30c., and 90c.; but these last
+     have not been identified to the satisfaction of all philatelists.
+     In 1875 the American Bank-Note Company succeeded to the contract.
+     They printed the stamps on a peculiar soft porous paper, which
+     identifies their issues. They also added a secret mark to the 3c.
+     stamp, and some years later they re-engraved the 1c., 3c., 6c., and
+     10c. As to U. S. stamps on ribbed paper, I personally do not
+     believe in them. I have seen many collections of unused U. S. in
+     blacks, and never saw one on ribbed paper. The used stamps which
+     looked like ribbed paper were probably accidentally produced by the
+     paper to which they were affixed.
+
+     W. K. DORT.--To answer all your questions would take at least two
+     columns. U. S. Revenue stamps, perforated, are still very low in
+     price, with the exception of the few scarce and rare stamps. You
+     can get a full catalogue of all postage-stamps and of the U. S.
+     Revenue stamps for 25c. from any responsible dealer.
+
+     EDGAR HILL, 3612 Columbia Avenue, Cincinnati, O., wishes to
+     exchange stamps.
+
+     J. H. DE JARNETTE.--No premium on the coins.
+
+     J. K. DENNON.--Postal cards are collected by some of our leading
+     philatelists. As there is very little demand, the prices are low;
+     but, on the other hand, dealers do not pay much attention to them,
+     and carry very little stock. Personally I prefer adhesive postage
+     stamps to U.S. Revenues.
+
+     W. P. KELLMOND.--Dealers ask 15c. for the U.S. 1804 half-cent. No
+     "flying eagle" cents are worth more than face, except the 1856,
+     which can be bought for $4.
+
+     A. HALL.--The Franklin-head U. S. carrier stamp used in 1851 is one
+     of the rarest U. S. stamps. If the U. S. government had not
+     reprinted this stamp it would be worth $250 to-day. The reprint was
+     made on the same paper, with the same color of ink, and from the
+     original plates.
+
+     A. REICHMAN.--My advice is to keep all your stamps, whether
+     duplicates or not, until you know more about them. Buy a catalogue,
+     and carefully examine the stamps by it. After you have selected all
+     the varieties, sell or trade the rest. Do not keep them, expecting
+     to make a fortune by their rise in value. They may go up according
+     to catalogue, but you will find it impossible to realize. Cornering
+     stamps is about as unprofitable a thing as cornering stocks. For
+     instance, so many people bought quantities of Columbian stamps on
+     speculation that the dealers in New York are buying them at ten per
+     cent. discount. One dealer bought a lot of nearly $11,000 face
+     value at that rate, and the lot contained a quantity of the $1 and
+     $2, which still other parties have cornered.
+
+     E. R. N.--Your stamps are worth 5c. each. The only way to tell the
+     date of issue is by reference to one who knows, or, still better,
+     by reference to a catalogue which gives illustrations, dates,
+     prices, etc. Such a catalogue you can buy of any dealer for 25c. or
+     50c.
+
+     HAWLEY, PA.--1. "Pneumatic" envelopes are those used in Berlin,
+     Paris, etc., for letters sent through the pneumatic post-tubes.
+     Some day we hope our government will wake up and give us a
+     pneumatic service in the large cities. 2. See answer to O. H.
+     Schell. 3. Technical terms in stamp-dealing are too numerous to
+     mention in one answer. 4. By looking carefully. 5. The centennial
+     of the first settlement.
+
+     R. H. ANDERSON, 121 East Forty-seventh Street, New York, wants to
+     trade stamps for mineral or botanical specimens, or curios.
+
+     E. B. BRADLEY.--You ask too much. Refer to a catalogue, which can
+     be had of any dealer for 25c.
+
+     H. BEVIS.--Unless you know what the genuine stamp is, or have a
+     copy before you, you cannot expect to detect counterfeits.
+
+     S. GARMLEY.--The 12c. 1872 is worth 50c. The 30c., worth 12c. The
+     24c. is 1861 issue, worth 25c. Your 3c. 1861 is probably the rose,
+     worth 1c.
+
+  PHILATUS.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+Better
+
+than
+
+Most Bicycles
+
+The public is wise in values. It judges merit shrewdly. Bicycles of
+unknown worth will not sell at $100--the Columbia price. We might just
+as well offer Hartford Bicycles at $100, instead of $70, $65, $50, and
+$45. Yet the
+
+$50 Hartford
+
+is a better bicycle than many of the machines listing at $100. One
+hundred dollars is the right price for the unequalled, unapproached
+COLUMBIA. Fifty dollars is less than the right price for Pattern 3 or 4
+Hartford. Our prices are the same to all. You know what you are buying.
+
+     Visit the nearest Columbia agent or send two 2-cent stamps for
+     Catalogue.
+
+POPE MFG. CO.
+
+General Offices and Factories, Hartford, Conn.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Hartford SINGLE-TUBE ... Tires]
+
+THE ORIGINAL SINGLE-TUBES
+
+are made of proper rubber, proper fabric, properly put together--proper
+tires in every way. Make bicycling pleasure absolute.
+
+     Hartford Tires are furnished with most bicycles of highest grade.
+     Can be had on any.
+
+THE HARTFORD RUBBER WORKS CO.
+
+HARTFORD, CONN.
+
+New York. Philadelphia. Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+Postage Stamps, &c.
+
+
+
+
+$117.50 WORTH OF STAMPS FREE
+
+to agents selling stamps from my 50% approval sheets. Send at once for
+circular and price-list giving full information.
+
+C. W. Grevning, Morristown, N. J.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STAMPS]
+
+100 all dif. Venezuela, Bolivia, etc., only 10c., 200 all dif. Hayti,
+Hawaii, etc, only 50c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. List FREE! =C. A.
+Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliante Ave., St. Louis, Mo
+
+
+
+
+APPROVAL SHEETS!
+
+50 Per Cent. Discount.
+
+A. VANCE PIERSON, Morristown, N. J.
+
+
+
+
+STAMPS! 100 all dif. Bermuda, etc. Only 10c. Ag'ts w'td at 50% com. List
+free. L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo.
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW YORK SUN _on April 11, 1896, said of_
+
+HARPER'S
+
+PERIODICALS
+
+They are handsome and delightful all, and are as friends that one is
+glad to see. They please the eye; the artistic sense is gratified by
+them; they overflow with varied material for the reader. They educate
+and entertain. They are the well-known and well-liked literary and
+artistic chronicles of the time. They are a credit to their publishers
+and to the discernment of the public that approves them. May they
+continue to be as admirable as they have been and as they are. Better
+could hardly be wished for them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+FOR SALE EVERYWHERE.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bringing up a Humming-bird by Hand.
+
+     Some time ago we found in an oleander-tree in our garden a
+     humming-bird's nest. Our curiosity and interest were so great that
+     we could not resist peeping into it. We found two tiny birds, only
+     a few days old, and as there were several of us children examining
+     it we shook the nest considerably, and as it seemed insecure we
+     changed it. The mother bird did not return that day, and we feared
+     that by our carelessness we had driven her off, but the next day
+     she appeared.
+
+     One of the birds fell from the nest and was killed, so that only
+     one remained for us to watch. It happened that the tree was
+     infested with ants, who soon discovered the little bird and bit it
+     terribly. To relieve it I ventured to try and bring it up in the
+     house, and so made a little nest out of cotton for it, and kept it
+     on a shelf of flowers in my room. I fed it many times a day, on
+     diluted honey, through a medicine-dropper. We were delighted to see
+     that the little thing survived on this treatment, and we soon had a
+     well bird on our hands.
+
+     One day while in my room I heard a strange noise outside the
+     window, and looking out, I saw the mother bird, who had caught
+     sight of her little one inside on one of the flower-pots. The
+     little one had learned to fly by this time, so I opened the window
+     and the two flew away together. We felt that we had accomplished
+     the "wellnigh impossible"--bringing up a humming-bird by hand.
+
+  GERALDINE SCUPHAM.
+  OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In Distant Australia.
+
+     In the eastern part of Victoria, nestling among the mountains, lies
+     Warburton, one of the prettiest countries in this colony. It is
+     fifty miles from Melbourne and twenty-five from Lilydale, the
+     nearest town from which the coach runs daily. The mountains are
+     thickly covered with gum-trees, many of which reach the height of
+     300 feet, and sometimes 400 feet. In the evenings the mountains
+     vary in color from deep pink to a very deep purple, reflected from
+     the setting sun. The effect is grand.
+
+     In the valleys are beautiful gullies, full of ferns, varying in
+     size from a foot to about sixty feet high. It is delightfully cool
+     in the gullies, as they are pleasantly shaded by trees with closely
+     matted tops that we often go and sit in, especially at a place
+     where there are many comfortable swings and hammocks formed of bark
+     which is shed from the gum-trees.
+
+     These gullies abound with most of our native animals, such as
+     bears, wallabies, wombats, dingoes, opossums, etc. Warburton has
+     numberless creeks, and a river called Yarra Yarra, which is a
+     native name, meaning flowing. The river is very winding, and is
+     flecked with rocks here and there, and shaded by trees which bend
+     their branches over to the water. The river is full of rapids and
+     little cataracts, and is not navigable except within about twelve
+     or fifteen miles of its mouth. It is a beautiful place in which to
+     enjoy peace and rest.
+
+  DAISY DAMMAN, R.T.P.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Music Rack.
+
+     Not long ago I read an explanation stating that to the public, not
+     understanding music, classical music sounds like the tuning of
+     instruments. Don't some of the Round Table Knights and Ladies think
+     this an error? I think the strains of _Tannhäuser_ and Wagner's
+     _Lohengrin_, as also _Träumerei_, _Bohemian Girl_, _Cavalleria
+     Rusticana_, _Maritana_, and ever so many other masterpieces which
+     are certainly classed as classics please anybody. Of course they
+     have not any similarity to "Liberty Bell," "Maggie Murphy's Home,"
+     and other compositions of this order, but they do please the
+     masses. The Grand March from _Tannhäuser_ always does catch popular
+     fancy. Also the "Bridal March" from _Lohengrin_.
+
+     I have often heard _Martha_ played and treated to deafening
+     applause, and no music-studied audience were the people who
+     applauded. Have players ever heard that when rosining the bow they
+     should not draw the bow up and down rapidly? A great many know
+     this, but many more do not. The reason is because the bow becomes
+     warm and melts the rosin and spoils the hair, whereas if you go
+     slowly the rosin comes off crisp and fine. Another thing, for
+     orchestra playing tighten the bow, but for solo playing leave it
+     slack, as the sound is finer.
+
+     I would be very glad to hear of some music Chapter, as I would like
+     to join one.
+
+  C. ARNOLD KRUCKMAN, R.T.K.
+  1235 NORTH THIRTEENTH STREET, ST. LOUIS, MO.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Why He Sawed Wood.
+
+The Bishop of Pennsylvania was formerly a frontier or missionary bishop
+in Nevada. While in the West he had a loyal friend in a man noted for
+his big heart and his wonderful combination of profane words. He was the
+possessor of a good carriage and a pair of fast horses, and was always
+ready to stop swearing for half a day or long enough to take the Bishop,
+whom he greatly admired as a man, out on worthy errands.
+
+One day the Bishop had accepted the use of the team to go in search of
+funds to build a small chapel. Passing a rough shanty at a smart pace
+they saw a man before it sawing wood. The day was hot and the man
+bareheaded.
+
+"Stop a moment," said the Bishop. The team was halted. "My good man,"
+said the Bishop, addressing the wood-sawyer, "put on your hat. The sun
+will bake your brain."
+
+The man looked up in surprise, and then a look of disgust came over his
+face.
+
+"D'you s'pose," said he, "that 'f I had any brains I'd be sawing wood in
+this land of silver?"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB]
+
+     Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly
+     answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to
+     hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.
+
+
+SEPARATING GOLD FROM ALLOY.
+
+Gold coins and gold jewelry always contain alloy. Gold being too soft a
+metal to use alone is mixed with some harder metal, so that the article
+will wear longer. Pure gold is 24 carats fine. Before the metric system
+was adopted, a mark--a gold coin--was used as the unit of standard
+weight, and a carat is 1/24 of the weight of a mark. A carat is used to
+express the proportion of gold in the alloy. If a coin is 22 carats
+fine, it means that it contains 22 parts of pure gold. An article that
+is 18 carats fine contains 18 parts of pure gold and 6 parts of alloy.
+Gold coins contain so little alloy that it is not necessary to separate
+the gold from the alloy; but if one is preparing chloride of gold from
+old jewelry, in which are found perhaps only nine parts of pure gold, it
+is best in using it for special work to separate the two metals. This
+can be done with very little trouble.
+
+Dissolve the gold in "aqua-regia," according to the directions given in
+the last number of the ROUND TABLE. When it is dissolved and the acid
+evaporated, dilute the chloride with clear water, and add a small
+quantity of ferrous sulphate. This will cause the gold to be
+precipitated, and it will settle to the bottom of the vessel in the form
+of a brown powder, while the alloy will remain in solution. It will take
+some time for the gold to settle, and when it is all deposited or
+precipitated turn off the water carefully, wash the gold in distilled
+water, and then redissolve it in fresh aqua-regia, following the
+directions in our last paper on preparing chloride of gold. Ferrous
+sulphate, the substance which precipitates the gold, is also called
+sulphate of iron. It is a chemical compound, and the chemical formula is
+FeSO_{4}+7H_{2}O, meaning that one atom of iron, one of sulphur, and
+four of oxygen are added (+) to 7 molecules of water (7H_{2}O).
+
+In the directions for preparing printing-paper for violet prints the
+directions for the coloring-bath read as follows:
+
+SEL D'OR (DOUBLE SALTS OF GOLD).
+
+  Sel d'or               7-1/2 grs.
+  Distilled water       15 oz.
+  Hydrochloric acid      1 drachm.
+
+A member of the Camera Club, wishing to try the formula, wrote to the
+editor that he went to a druggist for the "sel d'or," but was unable to
+obtain it, nor could the druggist tell him what it was. An explanation
+was sent by mail, but we repeat it for the benefit of the club. "Sel
+d'or" is a double salt of hyposulphite of soda and gold chloride. It is
+formed by adding chloride of gold to a hyposulphite solution, and mixing
+with alcohol. Take three parts of concentrated solution of chloride of
+gold and one part of concentrated solution of hyposulphite of soda. Mix
+thoroughly, and add alcohol till it is well covered. Shake well, and
+then set it aside. The alcohol will cause the chloride of gold and
+sodium sulphite to be precipitated in the form of delicate needlelike
+crystals, almost transparent, and readily dissolved in water.
+
+If one cannot, obtain "sel d'or" ready prepared, it is not much work to
+prepare it. This double salts of gold is the form in which gold was used
+for toning daguerreotypes in the early days of photography. The silvered
+plate on which was the picture was coated with a solution of "sel d'or,"
+and then heated. The gold was melted or decomposed by the heat and
+deposited on the picture, giving it not only a beautiful tone, but also
+preserving it. That this preparation made the picture durable is shown
+from the fine daguerreotypes which, though taken so many years ago,
+still retain almost their first freshness.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT W. BAKER asks if there is any difference between a
+     sulphite and bisulphite. A sulphite is a salt formed by the union
+     of sulphurous acid with a base. For instance, sulphite of soda is a
+     _salt_ formed by the union of sulphurous acid and sodium, the
+     sodium being the _base_. A bisulphite is a sulphite in which the
+     metal has replaced but half the hydrogen in the acid. "Bi," used
+     chemically, means that the compound contains two equivalents of the
+     substance named.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT LESTER R. MOSS asks which camera to buy--a "B." daylight
+     or a Kodak, both same price. Would advise a Kodak with glass plates
+     for a beginner. A camera in which films are used is not so
+     satisfactory as one for glass plates, and one can learn how to
+     manage a camera much better if plates are used. Sir Knight Lester
+     asks how he may become a member of the Round Table. Your name has
+     been placed on the membership list. To become a member all that is
+     required is that one should send name and address, and state that
+     he wishes to become a member.
+
+     SIR KNIGHT F. G. CLAPP sends grateful acknowledgment for query
+     answered in the ROUND TABLE for March 31.
+
+     Will Max Miner be kind enough to write to the editor and give the
+     name of the camera which he used in making the picture, reproduced
+     in the ROUND TABLE, called "Sweeping a Sliding-Place"? A member of
+     the Camera Club is anxious to know. Will Sir Max also add the name
+     of lens and plate used?
+
+
+
+
+THE PUDDING STICK.
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young
+     Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the
+     subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
+
+
+I am fond of perfumes myself, and so I know just what Elizabeth Rosa
+means when she sighs: "Oh, how I wish I could have all the violet
+extract I want! But I cannot afford to buy it, and nobody ever gives me
+any, except sometimes Aunt Susie at Christmas. There is Lettie, whose
+writing-paper always reminds you of flowers, a faint far-away sweetness,
+and Norah, who leaves a dream of roses in the room she has been sitting
+in, and Eleanor, whose gowns have a delicate fragrance; but there, it's
+of no use; I am poor, and I can't compete with those girls!"
+
+Really, my dear, your style is poetical. A dream of roses is very
+impressive. Now let me give you one or two secrets of perfume.
+
+To have your writing-paper, whether note or letter size, or a plain
+businesslike pad, carry with it a breath of dainty sweetness, you must
+keep it in tightly closed boxes in which are little packets of orris
+powder. Your bureau drawers will be perfumed, and the perfume will creep
+into your handkerchiefs and ribbons and your under-clothing if you will
+line the drawers with tissue-paper; sprinkle this with powdered orris,
+and lay a sheet of tissue-paper above it. A prettier way is to make a
+sachet the exact size of your drawer by quilting orris powder between
+folds of China silk. Little bags of silk filled with orris and kept in
+the pockets of your gowns will give them a very delicate fragrance.
+
+A pronounced perfume is vulgar. You must have merely a suggestion of
+it--a whiff--gone in a breath, not a coarse heavy odor which makes your
+friends think of musk or patchouly. Perfume poured from a bottle is apt
+to scent a handkerchief too strongly to please a fastidious taste. You
+may use your cologne or your violet essence a few drops at a time in the
+water in which you bathe, or you may finish your toilet by wetting your
+hands with a tiny drop or two of your favorite perfume. Liquid perfumes
+must be used sparingly.
+
+In toilet soaps for the face and hands select the nicest you can afford.
+Do not be afraid to use soap on your face. At least once a day wash it
+thoroughly with warm water and soap, as only thus can you get rid of the
+dust which clogs up the fine lace-like net-work of the skin. Make a
+lather and rub the face thoroughly. Then wash it off with clean water.
+
+I may add that fresh rose leaves sprinkled plentifully in bureau drawers
+or in the linen closet give a very agreeable perfume to their contents.
+And we have all heard of the delicate sweetness of sheets and
+pillow-slips laid away in lavender.
+
+Remember that the nicest people are fastidiously clean. The dainty girl
+uses a dash of ammonia in the bath, and keeps everything belonging to
+her spotlessly neat. Clothing should be frequently changed, and every
+detail of a girl's should be fresh and pure. One who is careful in this
+way needs no perfume in her toilet.
+
+  MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ivory Soap]
+
+No other soap is found in so many homes.
+
+THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI.
+
+
+
+
+EARN A BICYCLE!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We wish to introduce our Teas, Spices, and Baking Powder. Sell 75 lbs.
+to earn a BICYCLE; 50 lbs. for a WALTHAM GOLD WATCH AND CHAIN; 25 lbs.
+for a SOLID SILVER WATCH AND CHAIN; 10 lbs. for a beautiful GOLD RING;
+50 lbs. for a DECORATED DINNER SET. Express prepaid if cash is sent with
+order. Send your full address on postal for Catalogue and Order Blank to
+Dept. I
+
+W. G. BAKER, Springfield, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+JOSEPH GILLOT'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.
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S
+
+BAZAR
+
+The great fashion magazine of the world. None excels it in its
+field.--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_, Feb. 22, 1896.
+
+10 CENTS A COPY - $4.00 A YEAR
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+Charles Carleton Coffin's
+
+FASCINATING HISTORICAL WORKS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+  THE BOYS OF '76.
+  THE STORY OF LIBERTY.
+  OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES.
+  BUILDING THE NATION.
+
+_A History of the Rebellion in Four Volumes:_
+
+  DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION.
+  MARCHING TO VICTORY.
+  REDEEMING THE REPUBLIC.
+  FREEDOM TRIUMPHANT.
+
+     _Nine Volumes. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
+     Ornamental, $3.00 each._
+
+Mr. Coffin avoids the formality of historical narrative, and presents
+his material in the shape of personal anecdotes, memorable incidents,
+and familiar illustrations. He reproduces events in a vivid, picturesque
+narrative.--_N. Y. Tribune._
+
+Mr. Coffin writes interestingly; he uses abundance of incident; his
+style is pictorial and animated; he takes a sound view of the inner
+factors of national development and progress; and his pages are
+plentifully sprinkled with illustrations.--_Literary World_, Boston.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A FOURTH OF JULY TRAGEDY.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Professor was crossing a small lake in Ireland. After admiring for
+some time the way his boatman, John, handled the oars, he thought he
+would like to try and row. John, nothing loath, surrendered the blades,
+and the Professor essayed the task of rowing. Things developed rapidly
+into a shower-bath as the oars splashed this way and that, and finally
+catching a crab, the learned gentleman landed with a crash in the bottom
+of the boat, very nearly upsetting it.
+
+"Well, well," said the Professor, "rowing is quite a difficult thing,
+after all. Dear me, how my back aches!"
+
+"Faith, yer know," said John, "it's all in the sculls."
+
+The Professor is still pondering over what John said; whether he meant
+the oars or the heads of the oarsmen. The sly twinkle of John's eyes
+when he said it rather inclines him to believe the latter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A PISCATORIAL OBSERVATION.
+
+TOMMY. "Isn't it funny, mamma, that these eels live in the wide, wide
+ocean?"
+
+MAMMA. "I don't think it's funny, Tommy."
+
+TOMMY. "Well, I do; I should think them built for narrow winding
+streams."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Patrick was lying in bed in a hospital. He had been brought in a few
+days before after a severe fall from the top story of a building on
+which he had been working. With all his suffering he never lost his
+cheerful spirits, and livened up many of the other patients with his
+bright remarks and short stories. The doctor happened along, and asked
+him how he felt.
+
+"Fairly well, doctor; this right leg of moine is a very ungrateful
+spalpeen consitherin' that it wuz only broke in wan place whin it moight
+have been smashed in a dozen."
+
+"How did you fall, Patrick?" I asked. "Did you lose your head?"
+
+"Faith, no; sure it was me footin' oi lost."
+
+"What time did it happen?"
+
+"Well, oi wuzn't so sure before I fell, but I wuz thinkin' comin' down
+that it wuz near dinner hour, an' oi wuz convinced of that same as oi
+passed the second story, fer oi saw the people in there atin' dinner."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the days of Emperor William the cadets in Berlin were obliged to
+adhere very closely to the rules of their respective academies. They
+were not allowed to go to entertainments at night without the escort of
+an elder relative. One evening, a cadet thinking he would escape
+observation, slipped into an entertainment, and taking a back seat
+quietly enjoyed the performance. He presently entered into conversation
+with his neighbor, a very pleasant gentleman. An academy officer passing
+spotted him, and the cadet, seeing that he had been observed, whispered
+to his new acquaintance, "Will you be my uncle?"
+
+The gentleman, understanding the position of the cadet, smilingly agreed
+to be his uncle. Next morning the cadet was sternly called from the
+ranks.
+
+"You broke the rules last night, sir."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the cadet; "but I was with my uncle."
+
+"Hum! Well, your uncle last night happened to be the Crown Prince, and
+he wrote me this morning begging that you should be let off. Remember
+next time that your alliance with the royal family is a strict military
+one only."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE REASON.
+
+WILLIE. "I know why the Chinese send all their fire-crackers over here?"
+
+MAMMA. "Why, Willie?"
+
+WILLIE. "Why, because they don't have any Fourth of July over there."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE PIN-WHEEL.
+
+  I love to watch the pin-wheel go
+    A-spinning round so free,
+  To make its goldfish dive into
+    The starry night's black sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A ticket-seller in a theatre once owned a parrot that was quick at
+learning to repeat the phrases he heard. Thus, among other things, he
+was soon able to exclaim, "One at a time, gentlemen! one at a time,
+please!" for this sentence was constantly in the mouth of his master.
+The ticket man went to the country for a summer vacation and took the
+educated parrot along with him. One day the bird got out of his cage and
+disappeared. His owner searched all about for him, and finally toward
+evening found him despoiled of half his feathers sitting far out on the
+limb of a tree, while a dozen crows were pecking at him whenever they
+could get a chance. And all this time the poor parrot, with his back
+humped up, was edging away and constantly exclaiming, "One at a time,
+gentlemen! one at a time, please!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, June 30, 1896, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58373 ***