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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58997 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]
+
+Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY.
+
+VOL. XVII.--NO. 876. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+AN AMERICAN THERMOPYLÆ.
+
+BY KIRK MUNROE.
+
+
+"My!" exclaimed Bryce Gordon, with a deep sigh, as he softly closed the
+Greek history over which he had been intently poring for the last
+fifteen minutes, "I want to go and see that place some time."
+
+"What place?" asked his army uncle, Captain Frank Gordon, looking up
+from the evening paper.
+
+"The Pass of Thermopylæ," answered Bryce, who had just been reading of
+Leonidas and his wonderful battle with the hosts of Xerxes. "That is the
+kind of place I want to visit whenever I have a chance to travel," he
+continued, with flashing eyes, "and I should think Greek boys would be
+awfully proud of it. I only wish we had a Thermopylæ in this country;
+but there doesn't seem to be any such thing nowadays."
+
+"Doesn't there?" replied his uncle, laying down the paper. "Then I am
+afraid you are better posted concerning old Greek history than in that
+of the United States; for I know of a Thermopylæ in which, only sixty
+years ago, a handful of Americans made as glorious and heroic a defence
+against overwhelming numbers as was ever recorded."
+
+"You do?" cried Bryce, excitedly. "Where is it? Tell me about it, quick!
+Please do!"
+
+"Yes, tell us," pleaded Jackanapes, May, and little Miss Blue, who,
+scenting a story from afar, had made a magic appearance, and were now
+clustered about Captain Gordon's chair like so many hungry bees about a
+honeycomb.
+
+"Well," laughed their uncle, good-naturedly, "I see that I am in for it,
+and suppose I must do as my tyrants command. So here goes. To begin
+with, did any of you ever hear of the Alamo?"
+
+"Seems to me I have," answered Bryce; "but I can't remember what it
+is."
+
+The faces of the others were so blank that it was evident the word held
+no meaning for them.
+
+"I didn't much think you would know anything about it," continued their
+uncle; "for it belongs to American history, which, of course, is not
+half so important as that of the old Greeks and Romans. The Alamo, then,
+is, or rather was, an old Spanish mission located in a cottonwood grove
+that gave it its name--for Alamo means cottonwood--near the San Antonio
+River in southwestern Texas. On an opposite bank of the stream stood the
+Mexican town of San Antonio, built of low flat-roofed adobe or stone
+houses, and containing at the time of my story very few Americans,
+though in other parts of Texas these already formed an important part of
+the population. Texas was then a Mexican state, and Mexico itself had
+but recently thrown off the yoke of Spain. In its struggle for liberty
+the American residents had rendered such splendid service, that when
+freedom was finally gained they were granted many especial privileges by
+the Mexican government. These were highly prized, and everything went
+smoothly, until General Santa Aña headed a revolution, overthrew the
+existing government, and made himself Dictator.
+
+"Hating Americans, and jealous of their increasing power, Santa Aña
+began to withdraw their privileges, and declared that Texas,
+disappearing as a separate territory, should thereafter belong to the
+older Mexican state of Coahuila. Worst of all, he replaced the civil
+with a military government, and ordered that all citizens should be
+disarmed. Of course the free-born sons of fathers who had fought at
+Lexington and Yorktown--for these things happened in 1834--would not
+submit to such oppression, and the first thing Santa Aña knew the state
+of Texas was in open revolt, declaring itself to be an independent
+republic. As San Antonio was its most important city, the Mexican
+General Cos was ordered to fortify and hold it against the rebels; but
+one thousand Texans under General Edward Burleson marched against him;
+and three hundred of them, led by brave old Ben Milam, captured the
+place after a three days' fight from house to house, and from street to
+street. General Cos and his two thousand soldiers were allowed to retire
+to Mexico as paroled prisoners of war, who solemnly promised never again
+to take up arms against the Texans.
+
+"Soon after this, General Burleson's army scattered to different points
+where there seemed a chance of more fighting, until only eighty troops,
+under command of Colonel James Bowie, inventor of the famous bowie-knife
+and son-in-law of the Mexican Governor, remained to defend the city.
+These troops had not received one cent of pay, were poorly clad, and
+possessed but little ammunition. Early in February, 1835, Colonel Bowie,
+worn out by his efforts to obtain re-enforcements and make adequate
+provision for the defence of his important post, fell sick of a fever,
+and Colonel William Travis, who had just arrived with thirty-five men,
+assumed command. Soon afterwards the renowned David Crockett arrived
+from Tennessee with thirty more men, so that the garrison now numbered
+one hundred and forty-five.
+
+"On the 22d of February the Mexican Dictator appeared before San Antonio
+with an army of 4000 regular troops, and marched straight into the town,
+the Texans crossing the river and retiring before him to the ruinous old
+Alamo Mission, which they hastily barricaded, and so converted into a
+rude fortress. They carried fever-stricken Bowie with them, and, as they
+retreated, gathered up a few bushels of corn and a few beef cattle,
+which formed their sole stock of provisions.
+
+"From this place of refuge, when Santa Aña demanded its unconditional
+surrender, Travis replied with a cannon-shot. He knew that the longer he
+could hold the Mexican army in check the more time would be allowed the
+men of Texas to gather and organize for the defence of their homes. Upon
+receiving this defiant reply, Santa Aña displayed blood-red flags from
+every church-tower in the town, to signify death without quarter to the
+rebels, and began a furious bombardment of the Alamo. This was continued
+almost without intermission, by night as well as by day, until the 6th
+of March, or through two weary weeks. During that time Travis managed to
+despatch several couriers in different directions, with urgent messages
+imploring assistance. In every message he wrote, 'We are determined
+neither to surrender nor retreat, but will maintain our position to the
+bitter end.'
+
+"Every now and then the little garrison made desperate sorties for the
+destruction of some galling battery or to seize a few supplies, and
+during those twelve fearful days whenever a Texas rifle was fired a
+Mexican soldier fell dead. In the early morning of the 1st of March a
+great shout of rejoicing rang out from the battered mission, for Captain
+John Smith, who, with thirty men, had hastened from Gonzales to the
+assistance of his friends, had succeeded in passing the enemy's line and
+gaining the shelter of the fort. Now the bombardment became so fierce
+that all the outlying walls of the mission were demolished, and only its
+stout stone church remained standing. Into it the Texans retired,
+barricading every entrance and repairing every breach.
+
+"Shortly before sunset on the evening of the 3d the fire of the
+batteries suddenly ceased. Two thousand fresh troops, the army of
+General Cos, which had been captured and paroled at this very place, had
+retraced their steps, and now, in violation of their pledged word, were
+prepared once more to fight against their conquerors. While they were
+being welcomed with acclamations and every form of rejoicing by the
+Mexicans, the grim walls of the Alamo were witnessing one of the most
+solemn and pathetic scenes of history. In their dim shadow Colonel
+Travis paraded his handful of heroes in single file, and addressed them
+in substantially these words:
+
+"'My brave comrades, stern necessity compels me to employ the moments
+afforded by this probably brief cessation of conflict in making known to
+you the most interesting, yet the most solemn, melancholy, and unwelcome
+fact that humanity can realize. Our fate is sealed. Within a few days,
+perhaps a few hours, we must all be in eternity. Our provisions are
+gone, our ammunition is nearly spent, and our strength is almost
+exhausted. My calls for assistance remain unanswered, and the
+probabilities are that our couriers have been cut off. The enemy
+surrounds us in overwhelming and ever-increasing numbers. Then we must
+die, and have only to choose such method of death as may best serve our
+country. Shall we surrender, and be deliberately shot? Shall we try to
+cut our way out through the Mexican ranks, and be butchered before we
+can kill twenty of our adversaries? I am opposed to either plan, but
+leave every man of you to his own decision. Should any one choose to
+surrender, or attempt to escape, he is at liberty to do so. My own
+choice is to remain in this place, and die for my country, fighting so
+long as breath shall remain in my body. This will I do even if you leave
+me alone. Do, then, as you think best; but remember that no one of you
+can die with me without affording me comfort in the hour of death.'
+
+"Here Colonel Travis drew his sword, and with its point traced a line on
+the earthen floor extending the whole length of the motionless file.
+Then resuming his position in front of the centre, he said:
+
+"'Now let every man who is willing to remain here and die with me cross
+to this side of that line. Who will be the first? Forward! March!'
+
+"Tapley Holland leaped the line at a bound, exclaiming, 'I am ready to
+die for my country!' And in another instant every man, save one, of that
+heroic file had followed him and stood beside their gallant leader.
+Every wounded man who could move crawled or tottered across the fatal
+mark. Colonel Bowie, too weak to lift his head, called out feebly,
+'Don't leave me behind, boys!' and in a moment four men had lifted his
+cot over the line. The other helpless ones begged that they too might be
+lifted across, and finally only Moses Rose remained behind. He stood
+alone, with his face buried in his hands. Travis, Bowie, and Crockett
+all spoke to him kindly, and asked him if he were afraid to die. When he
+answered that he was, and believed in the possibility of an escape, they
+bade him go in peace. So he left them, scaling a rear wall of the
+church, dropping to the ground outside, and finally escaping, after
+eluding innumerable dangers. It is from him alone that we have a
+description of that memorable scene, for of all that devoted band whom
+he left in that gloomy fortress no man was ever again seen alive beyond
+its walls."
+
+"Then he was the Aristodemus of your American Thermopylæ," interrupted
+Bryce, who was listening with breathless attention to this tale of
+modern heroism.
+
+"Yes," replied Captain Gordon, "only he was more of a coward than
+Aristodemus, for the latter did not escape until after his comrades had
+been killed, and, if you remember, was himself killed in battle the
+following year, after performing more valorous deeds than any of his
+fellow Spartans."
+
+"I suppose Moses Rose was more truly a coward," admitted Bryce; "but
+lot's not stop to talk about him now, Uncle Cap. What became of the
+splendid fellows he left in the fort? Did they finally surrender, or
+were they captured, or what?"
+
+"They neither surrendered nor were made prisoners, but fought with the
+stubbornness of desperation for three days longer. At length, on the 5th
+of March, Santa Aña, believing the Americans to be too exhausted to
+offer a serious resistance, ordered the Alamo to be carried by assault
+at daylight of the following morning. At that hour the thunder of
+bombardment was again stilled, and as though the silence were a signal,
+dark masses of Mexican infantry, provided with scaling ladders, and
+driven to their deadly work by a pitiless cavalry pressing close on
+their rear, rushed at the walls of the devoted church.
+
+"Less than one hundred of the defenders were left to resist those
+thousands; but three times did this handful of dauntless fighters repel
+their swarming assailants, and three times did the furious Mexican
+General drive them back to the assault. At length the defenders had
+fired away their last grain of powder, the crowding Mexicans forced an
+entrance, and after another hour of the most terrific hand-to-hand
+fighting and awful slaughter, the Alamo was theirs. At nine o'clock two
+murderous discharges of double-shotted grape and canister from a cannon
+planted in the doorway of the room used as a hospital, and filled with
+helplessly wounded Americans, ended the bloody tragedy, for of Travis's
+noble band no man remained alive. So terribly had they fought that five
+hundred and twenty Mexicans were killed in that final assault, and as
+many more were wounded, while, including all who had fallen beneath the
+unerring Texas rifles during the siege, the Alamo had cost Santa Aña
+over two thousand men.
+
+"In his rage at this stubborn resistance the Mexican General ordered the
+bodies of the heroic defenders to be burned just outside the Alamo, and
+so thoroughly was this work accomplished that by sunset of that dreadful
+day naught was left of them save a mound of wind-blown ashes and an
+undying memory."
+
+"I think that is the very finest thing I ever heard of!" cried Bryce,
+nearly choked with emotion; "and now I know that I am prouder of being
+an American than any Greek boy can be of his country. But what happened
+after that, Uncle Cap? Did Santa Aña keep right on and conquer the whole
+of Texas?"
+
+"How could he when the Texans had such a glorious example to follow as
+that of Travis and Bowie and Crockett, and those who fell with them, and
+such a battle-cry as 'Remember the Alamo'? No, indeed, he did not
+conquer Texas, and I think your history will tell just how long it took
+the Texans to sweep everything before them, and win an independence that
+they maintained for nine years before joining themselves to the great
+American republic, and becoming one of the United States."
+
+"And what became of the Alamo?"
+
+"It still stands, or rather the old church does, facing the principal
+plaza of the beautiful, wide-spread city that has grown around it since
+Travis and his men won for it a glorious immortality."
+
+"Can any one see it, and go inside and touch its walls?"
+
+"Certainly he may."
+
+"Then," said Bryce, glowing with enthusiasm, "that is the very first
+place in all the world that I mean to visit just as soon as I set out on
+my travels."
+
+
+
+
+THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE LIFE.
+
+
+Aside from the arduous official duties of the President of the United
+States, it is interesting to note some of the pleasure and profit that
+accrue from his term of four years. With an income of $138 a day, or
+$50,000 a year, paid by the strongest bank in the country, the United
+States Treasury, he may or may not leave office with a snug fortune of
+perhaps $100,000, depending on whether his expenditures have been of an
+extravagant nature. Many Presidents have taken office as poor men, but
+with the money they have saved during their term, and the influence that
+the office has brought them in business pursuits afterwards, they have
+died comparatively rich.
+
+The country instals the President in the White House--a magnificent
+residence--and surrounds him with every convenience. With an
+appropriation that Congress makes every year most of the expenses of
+this establishment are paid.
+
+The following is a fair idea of the many incidentals that come free to a
+President: Every bit of linen, bedding, towels, and such things is
+furnished. He is shaved by the White House barber. His table is spread
+with the finest, daintiest damask, set with the most exquisite china,
+and bountifully supplied with flowers from the White House
+conservatories. If he sends a telegram, it is done from an instrument in
+the White House, for which the government pays. His stationery, postage,
+etc., cost him nothing. Should he desire a game of billiards, there is a
+beautiful table at hand; or if he wants to take a drive, his stables,
+which the government pays the rent for and takes care of, are amply
+equipped. When he enters his business office, a man is stationed at the
+door to open and close it; and a private secretary, to whom the
+government pays a salary of $5000 a year, assists him with his
+correspondence. The services of a type-writer are also furnished. He is
+protected from the curious by a number of private watchmen. Should he
+want a cruise, a magnificent steam-ship from the navy is placed at his
+disposal.
+
+There are many other things that cost him nothing, such as the culinary
+arrangements, his steward, who does the marketing, the many fancy
+delicacies sent him by enterprising firms. This, by-the-way, is a sort
+of nuisance, for it seems to be the desire of every manufacturer of some
+new eatable or drinkable to get it into the White House. Things of value
+that find their way there are never accepted.
+
+Lately the bicycle manufacturers have tried to get President Cleveland
+to ride a wheel, and have offered the most extravagant inducements to
+both the President and Mrs. Cleveland. One firm said they would present
+Mrs. Cleveland with a gold bicycle studded with gems if she would ride
+it.
+
+The President has to give state dinners and state receptions, but the
+expenses of these yearly probably do not exceed $7000 or $8000. The
+Marine Band always supplies the music, and the flowers come from the
+conservatory. It is seldom necessary to decorate the reception-rooms of
+the White House, so that these affairs, although of elaborate and
+ceremonial nature, are still inexpensive.
+
+Upon his retirement to private life, the influence that his Presidential
+office has given him enables him to secure large sums in payment for
+whatever he may do, such as a lecture, an article in a periodical, or,
+if he practises law--which most of our ex-Presidents have done--such
+fees as $10,000 are no uncommon thing.
+
+
+
+
+AN EXPLANATION.
+
+
+  "I do not smile when I'm in bed,"
+  The little baby softly said,
+  "Because my smile's so very wide,
+  'Tis sure to fall out on one side,
+  And oh, how madly I should scold
+  To find my smile out in the cold!"
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGE OE THE "RATTLETRAP."
+
+BY HAYDEN CARRUTH.
+
+I.
+
+
+Perhaps we were pretty big boys--Jack and I. In fact, I'm afraid we were
+so big that we haven't grown much since, though it was ten years or more
+ago that it all happened. But Ollie was a boy, anyhow; he couldn't have
+been more than a dozen years old, and we looked upon him as being a very
+small boy indeed; though when folks saw us starting off, some of them
+seemed to think that we were as boyish as he, because, they said, it was
+such a foolish thing to do; and in some way, I'm sure I don't know how,
+boys have got the reputation of always doing foolish things. "They're
+three of a kind," said Grandpa Oldberry, as he watched us weigh anchor.
+"Their parents oughter be sent fer."
+
+Well, it's hard to decide where to begin this true history. We didn't
+keep any log on this voyage of the Rattletrap. But I'll certainly have
+to go back of the time when Grandpa Oldberry expressed his opinion; and
+perhaps I ought to explain how we happened to be in that particular
+port. As I said, we--Jack and I--were pretty big boys, so big that we
+were off out West and in business for ourselves, though, after all, that
+didn't imply that we were very old, because it was a very new country,
+and everybody was young; after the election the first fall it was found
+that the man who had been chosen for county judge wasn't quite
+twenty-one years of age yet, and therefore, of course, couldn't hold
+office; and we were obliged to wait three weeks till he had had his
+birthday, and then to have a special election and choose him again.
+Everybody was young except Grandpa Oldberry, and he really wasn't old.
+
+But I was trying to account for our being in the port of Prairie Flower.
+Jack had a cheese-factory there, and made small round cheeses. I had a
+printing-office, and printed a small square newspaper. In my paper I
+used to praise Jack's cheeses, and keep repeating how good they were, so
+people bought them; and Jack used, once in a while, to give me a cheese.
+So we both managed to live, though I think we sometimes got a little
+tired of being men, and wished we were back home, far from thick round
+cheeses and thin square newspapers.
+
+One evening in the first week in September, when it was raining as hard
+as it could rain, and when the wind was blowing as hard as it could
+blow, and was driving empty boxes and barrels, and old tin pails and
+wash-boilers, and castaway hats and runaway hats and lost hats, and
+other things across the prairie before it, Jack came into my office,
+where I was setting type (my printer having been blown away, along with
+the boxes and the hats), and after he had allowed the rain to run off
+his clothes and make little puddles like thin mud pies on the dusty
+floor, he said,
+
+[Illustration: "I'M TIRED OF MAKING POOR CHEESES."]
+
+"I'm tired of making poor cheeses."
+
+"Well," I answered, "I'm tired of printing a poor newspaper."
+
+"Let's sell out and go somewhere," continued Jack.
+
+"All right," I said. "Let's."
+
+So we did.
+
+Of course the Rattletrap wasn't a boat which sailed on the water, though
+I don't know as I thought to mention this before. In fact, a water boat
+wouldn't have been of any use to us in getting out of Prairie Flower,
+because there wasn't any water there, except a very small stream called
+the Sioux River, which wandered along the prairie, sometimes running in
+one direction and sometimes in the other, and at other times standing
+still and wondering if it was worth while to run at all. The port of
+Prairie Flower was in Dakota. This was when Dakota was still a
+Territory, and before it had been cut into halves and made into two
+States, and left on the map like a green paving-stone lying on top of a
+yellow paving-stone. So, there being no water, we of course had to
+provide ourselves with a craft that could navigate dry land; which is
+precisely what the Rattletrap was--namely, a "prairie schooner."
+
+"I've got a team of horses and a wagon," went on Jack, that rainy night
+when we were talking. "You've got a pony and a saddle. We've both got
+guns. When we drive out of town some stray dog will follow us. What
+more'll we want?"
+
+"Nothing," I said, as I clapped my stick down in the space-box. "We can
+put a canvas cover on the wagon and sleep in it at night, and cook our
+meals over a camp-fire, and--and--have a time."
+
+"Of course--a big time. It's a heavy spring-wagon, and there is just
+about room in it behind the seat for a bed. We can put on a cover that
+will keep out rain as well as a tent, and carry a little kerosene-oil
+stove to use for cooking if we can't build a fire out-doors for any
+reason. We can take along flour, and--and--and salt, and other things to
+eat, and shoot game, and--and--and have a time."
+
+We became so excited that we sat down and talked till midnight about it.
+By that time the rain had stopped, and when we went out the stars were
+shining, and the level ground was covered with pools of water.
+
+"If it was always as wet as this around here we could go in a genuine
+schooner," said Jack.
+
+"Yes, that's so. But what shall we call our craft?"
+
+"I think Rattletrap would be a good name," said Jack.
+
+"I don't think it is a very pretty name," I replied.
+
+"You wait till you get acquainted with that wagon, and you will say it's
+the best name in the world, whether it's pretty or not. You don't know
+that wagon yet. The tongue is spliced, the whiffletrees are loose, the
+reach is cracked, the box is tied together with a rope, the springs
+creak, and the wheels whobble, lean different ways, and never follow one
+another."
+
+"Do they all turn in the same direction?" I asked.
+
+"I don't believe they do. It would be just like one to turn backward
+while the other three were going forward."
+
+"We'll call our craft the Rattletrap, then. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said Jack; and we parted, each to dream of our approaching
+cruise.
+
+[Illustration: IN A WEEK WE WERE BUSY GETTING READY TO START.]
+
+In a week we were busy getting ready to start. I found, when I looked
+over the wagon as it stood back of the cheese-factory, that it was much
+as Jack had described it, only I noticed that the seat as well as the
+springs creaked, and that a corner was broken off the dash-board. But we
+set to work upon it with a will. We tightened up the nuts and screws all
+over it, and wound the broken pole with wire. We nailed together the box
+so that the rope could be taken off, and oiled the creaking springs. We
+had no trouble in finding a top, as half the people in the country had
+come in wagons provided with covers only a year or so before. We got
+four bows and attached them to the box, one at each end, and the other
+two at equal distances between. These bows were made of hard-wood, and
+were a quarter of an inch thick and an inch and a half wide. They ran up
+straight on either side for two or three feet, and then rounded over,
+like a croquet-wicket, being high enough so that as we stood upright in
+the wagon-box our heads would just nicely clear them. Over this skeleton
+we stretched our white canvas cover, and tied it down tightly along the
+sides. This made what we called the cabin. There was an ample flap in
+front, which could be let down at night and fastened back inside during
+the day. At the rear end the cloth folded around, and was drawn together
+with a "puckering-string," precisely like a button-bag. By drawing the
+string tightly this back end could be entirely closed up; or the string
+could be let out, and the opening made any size wanted. After the cover
+was adjusted we stood off and admired our work.
+
+"Looks like an elephant on wheels," said Jack.
+
+"Or an old-fashioned sun-bonnet for a giantess," I added.
+
+"Anyhow, I'll wager a cheese it'll keep out the rain, unless it comes
+down too hard," said Jack. "Now for the smaller parts of our rigging,
+and the stores."
+
+On the back end we fastened a feed-box for the horses, as long as the
+wagon-box was wide, and ten or twelve inches square, with a partition in
+the middle. We put stout iron rings in the corners of this, making a
+place to tie the horses. On the dash-board outside we built another box,
+for tools. This was wedge-shaped, about five inches wide at the top, but
+running down to an inch or two at the bottom, and had a hinged cover. We
+put aboard a satchel containing the little additional clothing which we
+thought we should need. Things in this line which did not seem to be
+absolutely necessary were ruled out--indeed, for the sake of lightness
+we decided to take just as little of everything that we could. We made
+another box, some two feet long, a foot deep, and fourteen inches wide,
+with a hinged cover, which we called the "pantry," for our supply of
+food. This we stood in the wagon with the satchel. Usually in the
+daytime after we started each of these rode comfortably on the bed back
+of the seat. This bed was a rather simple affair, made up of some
+bed-clothing and pillows arranged on a thick layer of hay in the bottom
+of the wagon-box. Our small two-wick oil-stove we put in front next to
+the dash-board, a lantern we hung up on one of the bows, and a big tin
+pail for the horses we suspended under the wagon.
+
+"Since you're going to be cook," I said to Jack, "you tend to getting
+the dishes together."
+
+"They'll be few enough," he answered. "I don't like to wash 'em. Tin
+mostly, I guess; because tin won't break."
+
+So he put a few knives and forks and spoons, tin plates and cups, a
+frying-pan, a small copper kettle, and a few other utensils in another
+box, which also found a home on the bed. Other things which we did not
+forget were a small can of kerosene; two half-gallon jugs, one for milk
+and one for water; a basket of eggs; a nickel clock (we called it the
+chronometer); and in the tool-box a hatchet, a monkey-wrench,
+screw-driver, small saw, a piece of rope, one or two straps, and a few
+nails, screws, rivets, and similar things which might come handy in case
+of a wreck.
+
+"Now for the armament and the life-boat," said Jack.
+
+For armament Jack contributed a double-barrelled shot-gun and a heavy
+forty-five-calibre repeating rifle, and I a light forty-four-calibre
+repeating rifle, and a big revolver of the same calibre (though using a
+slightly shorter cartridge), with a belt and holster. This revolver we
+stored in the tool-box, chiefly for use in case we were boarded by
+pirates, while the guns we hung in leather loops in the top of the
+cover. In the tool-box we put a good supply of ammunition and plenty of
+matches. We also each carried a match-box, a pocket compass, and a stout
+jack-knife.
+
+"Now, how's your life-boat?" asked Jack.
+
+I led her out. She was a medium-sized brown Colorado pony, well
+decorated with brands, and with a white face and two white feet. She
+wore a big Mexican saddle and a horse-hair bridle with a silver bit.
+
+"She'll do," said Jack. "In case of wreck, we'll escape on her, if
+possible. She'll also be very handy in making landings where the harbor
+is poor, and in exploring unknown coasts."
+
+All of this work took several days, but when it was done the Rattletrap
+was ready for the voyage, and we decided to start the next morning.
+
+"She's as prairie-worthy a craft as ever scoured the plain," was Jack's
+opinion; "and if we can keep the four wheels from starting in opposite
+directions we'll be all right."
+
+But where was Ollie all this while? The fact is I had forgotten about
+Ollie. And who was Ollie, anyhow? Ollie was Jack's little nephew, and he
+lived back East somewhere--I don't remember where. The nearer we got
+ready to start, the more firmly Jack became convinced that Ollie would
+like to go along, so at last he sent for him to come, and he arrived the
+night before our start. Ollie liked the idea of the trip so much that he
+simply stood and looked at the wagon, the guns, the pony, and the
+horses, and was speechless. At last he managed to say,
+
+"Uncle Jack, it'll be just like a picnic, won't it?"
+
+The next morning we started as early as we could. But it was not before
+people were up.
+
+"Where be they going?" asked Grandpa Oldberry.
+
+"Oh, Nebraska, and Wyoming, and the Black Hills, and any crazy place
+they hear of," answered Squire Poinsett.
+
+[Illustration: "THEY'LL ALL BE SCALPED BY INJUNS," SAID GRANDPA
+OLDBERRY.]
+
+"They'll all be scalped by Injuns," said Grandpa Oldberry. "Ain't the
+Injuns bad this fall?"
+
+"So I was a-reading," said the Squire. "And in the hills I should be
+afeared of b'ar."
+
+"Right," returned Grandpa. "B'ar and sim'lar varmints. And more
+'specially boss-thieves and sich-like cut-throats. I disremember seeing
+three scalawags starting off on such a fool trip since afore the war."
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+A VIRGINIA CAVALIER.[1]
+
+[1] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 868.
+
+BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL.
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The remaining time of George's stay at Greenway Court sped on
+rapidly--too fast for Lord Fairfax, who realized every day how close the
+boy had got to his heart.
+
+As for Lance, a real friendship had grown up between him and George, and
+the old soldier thought with keen regret of the impending departure.
+
+Black Bear had remained at Greenway until his wound was well on the way
+to recovery, but, as Lance said, "an Injun can walk on a broken leg and
+climb a tree with a broken arm," so that when Black Bear considered
+himself recovered a white man would have thought his cure scarcely
+begun.
+
+Lord Fairfax found out that the Indian was the son of Tanacharison, one
+of the few chiefs who were friendly to the English and unfriendly to the
+French. On finding this out the Earl sent for Black Bear and had a long
+talk with him. With most Indians the idea of sparing an enemy seemed the
+extreme of folly; but Black Bear was of superior intelligence, and it
+had dawned upon him long before that the white men knew more than the
+red men about most things. And when he himself became the object of
+kindness, when he recalled George's remembering to give him water in his
+agony, and Lance's endeavors to cure his wound, the Indian's hard but
+not ignoble heart was touched. His father was reported among the wisest
+of the chiefs, and he had warned his tribe against taking either the
+French or the English side, as it was not their quarrel. Lord Fairfax
+found that in Black Bear, an uneducated savage who could neither read
+nor write, he had a man of strong natural intelligence, and one worth
+conciliating. He came to Greenway Court with blood and fire in his
+heart, and he left it peaceably inclined, and anxious for the friendship
+of the whits men. On the eve of his departure he said to George:
+
+"White brother, if ever you are in the Indian land and want help, call
+on Black Bear, or Tanacharison, the great chief who dwells on the other
+side of the mountains where the two rivers come together, and you will
+be heard as quickly as the doe hears the bleat of her young."
+
+Next morning Black Bear had disappeared, and was no more seen.
+
+The time came, about the middle of December, when George left Greenway
+Court for Mount Vernon. It was in a mild spell of weather, and advantage
+had to be taken of it to make the journey, as the roads were likely to
+be impassable later in the season. He was to travel on horse-back, Billy
+following him on a mule and carrying the portmanteau.
+
+The night before he left he had a long conversation with Lord Fairfax in
+the library. The Earl gently hinted at a wish that George might remain
+with him always, and that ample provision would be made for him in that
+event; but George, with tact and gratitude, evaded the point. He felt a
+powerful attachment towards Lord Fairfax, but he had no mind to be
+anybody's son except his father's and his mother's son. The Earl's last
+words on parting with him that night were:
+
+"I desire you to promise me that, in any emergency of any kind--and
+there will be many in your life--you will call on me as your friend if
+not your father."
+
+George answered, with gratitude in his heart, "I will gladly promise
+that, my lord; and it is great encouragement to me to feel that I have
+such a friend."
+
+Next morning, after an early breakfast, George's horse and Billy's mule
+were brought to the door. All the negroes were assembled to bid him
+good-by. Cæsar hoped he would come back soon, but not for any more
+fights with Indians, and each had some good wish for him. After shaking
+hands with each one, George grasped Lance's hand.
+
+"Good-by, Lance," said he. "I never can thank you enough for what you
+have taught me; not only fencing, but"--here George blushed a little at
+the recollection of his first fencing lesson--"teaching me to control my
+temper."
+
+"You were the aptest scholar I ever had, Mr. Washington," answered the
+old soldier; "and as for your temper, I have never seen you anything but
+mild and gentle since that first day."
+
+George then went to the library to find the Earl. He had meant to say
+something expressive of gratitude, but all through his life words failed
+him when his heart was overflowing. Lord Fairfax, too, was silent for a
+moment; but taking down the smaller of the two swords over the
+mantel-piece, he handed it to George.
+
+[Illustration: "I CHARGE YOU NEVER TO DRAW IT IN AN UNWORTHY CAUSE."]
+
+"This sword," he said, "I wore in the service of the Great Duke. I give
+it to you as being worthy to wear it, and I charge you never to draw it
+in an unworthy cause."
+
+"I promise you, my lord," was all that George could say in reply; but
+Lord Fairfax, who was a good judge of men, knew all that was passing in
+the boy's heart. The two wrung each other's hand; and George, going out,
+mounted his horse and rode off, with Billy trotting behind on the mule,
+and Rattler running at his heels.
+
+For the first few miles George felt the keen regret which every
+sensitive young soul must feel at leaving a place and persons dearly
+loved. At the point on the mountain-side where, on his way to Greenway,
+the Earl had stopped and showed him his first view of the house, George
+stopped again, and looked long and sadly. But once turned from it, and
+out of sight of it, his mind recovered its spring. He remembered that he
+was on the way to Mount Vernon, and would soon be with his brother
+Laurence and his sister-in-law, whom he dearly loved. Then there was
+little Mildred, a baby girl when he had been at Mount Vernon a year
+before. He wondered how big she was then. And Betty would be there, and
+he would hear from his mother, and see her soon after Christmas. On the
+whole, what with these pleasant prospects, and fine clear December
+weather, and a good horse to ride, George began to whistle cheerfully,
+and presently called back to Billy:
+
+"How do you like the notion of Christmas at Mount Vernon, Billy?"
+
+"I likes it mightily, suh," replied Billy, very promptly. "Dee ain' no
+Injuns at Mount Vernon, an' dee black folks git jes as good wittles in
+de kitchen as de white folks gits--tuckey, an' graby, an' all de pudden
+dat's lef over, an' plenty o' 'lasses, an' heap o' urr things."
+
+George travelled much faster than the lumbering coach in which he had
+made the best part of his first journey, and he had continuous good
+weather. On the fourth day, in the afternoon, he shouted delightedly to
+Billy, "There is the blue water, Billy!" and pointed to a silver line
+that glittered in the wintry sun. It was the Potomac, and a few miles'
+riding brought them to Mount Vernon.
+
+As George rode up to the broad front porch a girlish figure flew out of
+the door, and Betty clasped him in her arms. He knew he had always loved
+Betty, but until then he did not fully realize how dear his only sister
+was to him. Then there was his brother Laurence--a handsome,
+military-looking man, but pale and slight in comparison with George,
+who was a young Hercules in development--and his sister-in-law, a pretty
+young woman of whom he was fond and proud. And toddling about was little
+Mildred, whom Betty had taught to say "Uncle George," in anticipation of
+his arrival. All were delighted to see him; and his brother Laurence,
+telling him that Admiral Vernon, his old friend, for whom he had changed
+the name of the plantation to Mount Vernon from Hunting Creek, was
+visiting him, was for presenting him then and there to the Admiral. But
+Betty interposed.
+
+"Wait until George has changed his clothes, brother, for I am sure he
+looks much better in his blue cloth jacket and his brocaded waistcoat,
+made of our mother's wedding-gown; and I want the Admiral to think well
+of him at first, and--oh, George has a sword! He thinks he is a man
+now!"
+
+George blushed a little, but he was very willing, boy like, to tell of
+how Lord Fairfax gave him the rapier, and Laurence and Mrs. Washington
+and Betty were all delighted, except that Betty wished it had been the
+one with the diamond hilt, which caused George to sniff at her
+ignorance.
+
+"That was a sword that anybody could buy who had money enough; but this
+is a sword that has seen service, as Lord Fairfax told me. He wore it at
+Bouchain."
+
+As Betty had never heard of Bouchain before, she very wisely held her
+peace. But she soon dragged George off up stairs to the little room
+which was his whenever he staid at Mount Vernon, and where Billy had
+preceded him with the portmanteau. George was full of questions about
+his mother and everybody at Ferry Farm, and Betty was full of questions
+about Greenway Court and Lord Fairfax, so they made but little headway
+in their mutual inquiries. Suddenly, as George glanced out of the window
+towards the river, he saw a beautiful black frigate lying at anchor. It
+was near sunset of a clear December evening, and a pale green light was
+over the river, the land, and the sky. Every mast was clearly outlined,
+and her spars were exactly and beautifully squared in true man-of-war
+style. The union-jack flying from her peak was distinctly visible in the
+evening light, and the faint echo of the bugle came softly over the
+water, and died among the wooded hills along the shore.
+
+George stood motionless and entranced. It was the first ship of war he
+had ever seen, and the beauty and majesty of the sight thrilled him to
+the core of his heart. Betty chattered on glibly.
+
+"That is the frigate _Bellona_. The Captain and officers are here all
+the time, and some of them are brother Laurence's old friends that he
+served with at the siege of Cartagena. I expect some of them will be
+here to supper to-night. Besides Admiral Vernon, who is staying here,
+are Mr. William Fairfax and his son William," and Betty rattled off a
+dozen names, showing that the house was full for Christmas.
+
+After Betty went out, when George, with Billy's assistance, was putting
+on his best clothes, he could not keep his eyes from wandering to the
+window, through which the _Bellona_ was still seen in the waning light,
+looming up larger as the twilight fell. Presently he saw a boat put off
+with several officers, which quickly made the Mount Vernon landing.
+
+When he was all dressed, with his fine white brocade waistcoat and his
+paste knee-buckles, he dearly wished to wear his sword, as gentlemen
+wore swords upon occasions when they were dressed for ceremony. But he
+felt both shy and modest about it, and at last concluded to leave it in
+his room. When he went downstairs he found the lower hall brightly
+illuminated with wax candles and a glorious fire, and decked with holly
+and mistletoe. It was full of company, several officers being present in
+uniform, and one tall, handsome, gray-haired officer stood before the
+hearth talking with Mrs. Laurence Washington. George guessed that to be
+Admiral Vernon, and his guess was correct.
+
+As he descended the last steps, and advanced to where Mrs. Laurence
+Washington stood, every eye that fell upon him admired him. His journey,
+his intercourse with a man like Lord Fairfax, and his fencing lessons
+had improved his air and manner, graceful as both had been before. Mrs.
+Washington, laying her hand on his shoulder, which was already on a
+level with the Admiral's, said:
+
+"Let me present to you my brother, Mr. George Washington, who has come
+to spend his Christmas with us."
+
+Admiral Vernon glanced at him keenly as he shook hands with him.
+
+"My brother has just returned from a visit to the Earl of Fairfax, at
+Greenway Court, my father's relative"--for Mrs. Washington had been Anne
+Fairfax of Belvoir. "The Earl has been most kind to him, and honored him
+by giving him the sword which he wore at the siege of Bouchain."
+
+"I believe he entered the town," said Admiral Vernon. "I have often
+heard of the adventure, and it was most daring."
+
+"Why have you not the sword on, George?" asked his sister.
+
+"Because--because--" George stammered, and then became hopelessly
+embarrassed.
+
+"Because he is a modest young gentleman," said the Admiral, smiling.
+
+George was introduced to many other persons, all older than himself; but
+presently he recognized William Fairfax, a cousin of his sister's, who
+had been at Mount Vernon with him the Christmas before. William was a
+merry youngster, a year or two older than George, but a foot or two
+shorter. The two boys gravitated together, and, as young gentlemen in
+those days were expected to be very retiring, they took their places in
+a corner, and when supper was announced they made up the very tail of
+the procession towards the dining-room. At supper the three young
+people--George and Betty and William Fairfax--sat together. The
+conversation was gay and sprightly until the ladies left, when it grew
+more serious.
+
+"Close up, gentlemen, close up!" cried Laurence Washington, cordially,
+motioning them to take the seats left vacant by the ladies. George and
+William Fairfax rose to leave the room then, as boys were not expected
+to remain on those occasions, but Laurence stopped them.
+
+"Stay, George and William; you are both old enough now to be company for
+men; and especially I desire an account from you, George, of how affairs
+are progressing at Greenway Court. I hear my Lord Fairfax had to repel
+an attack from the Indians within the last month. That, Admiral," he
+continued, turning to Admiral Vernon, "is one of the pleasures which
+Lord Fairfax exchanged for a residence in England."
+
+"How does he stand it, Mr. Washington?" asked Admiral Vernon. "Does he
+remain in his eyrie among the mountains because he is too proud to
+acknowledge his loneliness?"
+
+"I think not, sir," answered George. "He has a very large, comfortable
+house, much like a fortress. It is well furnished with everything,
+including books; my Lord Fairfax is the greatest reader I ever saw. He
+does not lead an idle life; on the contrary, he takes great interest in
+public affairs, and is lieutenant of the county. Especially is he
+concerned about our northwest boundary, and is preparing to have his
+lands west of the Alleghany Mountains surveyed, I believe, as much in
+the interest of the country as of his own, for the French are
+encroaching on that side."
+
+Although George spoke with the greatest modesty, it was evident that he
+understood his subject. It was a deeply interesting one to all present,
+as it was perfectly well known that the first serious collision between
+the French and English in America would mean war between France and
+England.
+
+Admiral Vernon and the other officers asked many questions about the
+temper of the Indians towards the English, the disposition of the French
+forts, and other matters, to all of which George gave brief but
+intelligent answers. After an hour spent in conversation at the table
+the scraping of fiddles was heard in the hall.
+
+"Come, gentlemen," cried Laurence, "the ladies are waiting for us; we
+cannot be so ungallant as to remain here longer."
+
+The large room to the right of the entrance had been cleared for
+dancing, and there, too, were wax candles shining amid Christmas greens,
+and a Christmas fire blazing on the hearth. On two planks placed across
+two wooden "crickets" sat Yellow Jake and Lef'-hand Torm, the negro
+fiddlers, tuning up their instruments and grinning from ear to ear. In
+every window merry black faces peered with beady eyes and shining
+ivories; for under the mild and patriarchal rule in Virginia in those
+days the negroes were considered as humble members of the family, who
+had a share in all its pleasures, as in all its sorrows. There were many
+ladies present in hoops and powder, and with stiff brocades that rustled
+as they walked, and great fans, which they used in dancing the minuet as
+the gentlemen used their cocked hats. George, in his heart, thought his
+sister Anne the handsomest of them all, and that in a year or two Betty
+would be a charmingly pretty girl. As it was, Mistress Betty, in her
+white sarcenet silk, looked a picture of modest and girlish beauty. She
+loved to dance; and when George came up, as the gentlemen were selecting
+their partners, and said, with a smile, "Come, Betty, nobody here wants
+to dance with a girl and boy like you and me, so we will have to dance
+together," Betty jumped for joy.
+
+"If I had waited, William Fairfax would have asked me to dance," she
+whispered to George; "but I would much rather dance with you, because
+you are so much taller and older-looking, and William is _such_ a boy!"
+
+William, however, was very gladly accepted later in the evening, when
+George, on being noticed by the other ladies, who admired his graceful
+manners and fine appearance, neglected Betty for them, after the manner
+of very young gentlemen. The first dance was a _minuet de la cour_, the
+most graceful and dignified of all dances. Mrs. Washington, dancing with
+Admiral Vernon, took the head of the room, and motioned George and Betty
+to take the place opposite to her. The minuet was formed, the fiddlers
+gave an extra flourish, and the dance began, while the gentlemen bowed
+so low to every lady that they swept the floor with their cocked hats.
+Among them all no couple were more graceful and dignified than the boy
+and girl. Betty danced with the utmost gravity, making her "bow, slip,
+slide, and pirouette," in the most daintily careful manner. George's
+noble figure and perfect grace were well adapted to this charming dance,
+and many compliments were paid both of them, which made Betty smile
+delightedly and George turn red with pleasure. When the stately minuet
+was over, the fiddlers struck into Betty's favorite, the "Marquis of
+Huntley's Rigadoon," which was as jolly and harum-scarum as the minuet
+was serious and dignified. Betty in her heart liked the rigadoon best,
+and whispered to George that "William was good enough for the rigadoon."
+William therefore came forward, and the two had a wild romp to the music
+of two energetic fiddlers. George was rather shy about asking the
+ladies, all of whom were older than he, to dance; but having made the
+plunge, he was accepted, and afterwards poor Betty had no one to depend
+upon but William Fairfax, who was equally ill off for partners. No one
+was gayer or more gallant than the gray-haired Admiral Vernon, and the
+veteran sailor and the boy George divided between them the honors of the
+evening.
+
+The dance stopped early, as the next day was Christmas, and they were
+sure to be roused betimes; and, besides, there was to be a grand ball
+for all the gentry round about on Christmas night.
+
+When George went up to his room he was very well inclined for bed from
+his day's travel and his evening's amusement, and Billy was snoozing
+comfortably before the fire, with Rattler asleep within reach. Before
+George slept, however, he wrote two letters--one to his mother and
+another to Lord Fairfax. Mount Vernon and its gayety, and the new faces
+he had met, had not put out of his mind the two persons so loved and
+admired by him. But as soon as his letters were written he tumbled into
+bed, and was asleep in less time than it takes to tell it.
+
+[TO BE CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+CROSSING THE XUACAXÉLLA.
+
+BY CAPTAIN CHARLES A. CURTIS, U. S. A.
+
+V.
+
+
+The boy sergeants wandered about the town, made some purchases, and
+found great amusement in watching a bevy of Mojave Indian girls ornament
+their arms, necks, and faces with colored chalks in various fanciful
+designs, display themselves briefly to their admiring friends, and then
+plunge into and swim about a lagoon that backed up to the town from the
+river. Emerging with no trace left of their recent adornment, they would
+proceed to renew it in a different design, and take another swim.
+
+"Quite like watering-place belles with extensive wardrobes," remarked
+Frank.
+
+"And takes about as long to put on the paint as to put on a fashionable
+dress," said Henry, "but not so long to remove it."
+
+Another thing that interested the boys was a balsa or raft, made by the
+Mojaves of the cane-grass which grew in the river-bottoms to the height
+of fifteen feet. A large bundle bound at the ends with withes would
+sustain two men. The boys borrowed one of an Indian girl, who was
+sitting in the shade of a cottonwood prinking herself artistically with
+an original and intricate pigmentary pattern. Stepping on board, they
+paddled about the quiet lagoon for some time.
+
+Tiring at last of the sport, they separated, Frank saying that he was
+going to look over his shot-gun, and, perhaps, go for some quail; and
+Henry, that he meant to find Clary, and set some lines for catfish.
+
+The younger sergeant failing to find the soldier, selected a line, and
+procuring some bait, returned alone to the lagoon. On his way he met the
+Indian girl walking along the sidewalk, an object of admiration and envy
+to the men and women of her people. Her bronze flesh was ornamented with
+a lacelike tracery in many tints.
+
+"How exceedingly pretty!" said Henry, in Spanish, a language fairly well
+understood by the aborigines of the Southwest.
+
+"I, or my paint?" asked the girl.
+
+"The paint is well put on; but I think you look prettiest just after a
+swim."
+
+"Thank you, señor."
+
+"May I take the balsa again, Indita?"
+
+"Si, señor; and you may keep it; but return the paddle."
+
+"Thank you. I will leave the paddle on the shore."
+
+With this exchange of civilities Henry walked down to the pool.
+Selecting a lid of a packing-box, he shaped a rude paddle with his
+pocket-knife. An idea had occurred to him. He wondered if he could not
+float down the river to the racing-ground, and get a peep at Chiquita
+and Sancho as they came in victors; for he felt sure no ponies in
+Arizona could beat them. But the Lieutenant had told the escort not to
+go to the race. True. But what harm could there be if he kept out of
+sight; and there must be some bushes or hummocks on the river-bank where
+he could conceal himself. He determined to try it. If there was no
+shelter, he could float past, land below, abandon the balsa, and return
+to town by a circuitous route.
+
+Placing an empty box on the raft for a seat, he took Vic on board, and
+began paddling out of the lagoon. Speed could not be got out of such a
+craft. It was simply a convenience for crossing or journeying down the
+river. The Mojaves, whose village was five miles above La Paz, came down
+on freshly made balsas every day, but walked home, carrying their
+paddles.
+
+Snatched by the rippling and undulating current of the murky river, the
+boy and dog were swept along at a swift rate. By using his paddle
+vigorously he kept near the shore, until, sweeping around a bend, he saw
+the steamer _Cocopah_ tied up to the bank, and realized that if he did
+not quickly work out a piece his sheaf of cane-grass would be carried
+under her bow. It proved a desperate struggle, and he cleared the
+steamboat with no space to spare.
+
+He floated swiftly on, and saw half a mile down the shore a crowd of
+men, mounted and on foot, intently watching something inland. He was
+approaching the race-course. He made a landing on a sand spit that
+struck off from an outward curve of the bank, and dragged the balsa out
+of the water.
+
+The shore rose abruptly from the bar to a height two feet above his
+head. He lifted and boosted Vic up, and seizing the long tufts of
+overhanging grass, and thrusting his feet into the loops of willow
+roots, drew himself to the higher level, and crept into a screen of low
+bushes.
+
+Peering through the branches Henry saw a straightaway course, parallel
+to the river, bordered for three hundred yards with the motley crowd of
+a mining and Indian country. At the northern end of the track was a
+group of ten ponies.
+
+Eager to obtain an unobstructed view of the race, the boy dashed for a
+gnarled cottonwood on his left, ordered Vic to lie down at its foot, and
+swung himself into its branches. Climbing into the top, he found no
+difficulty in picking out two ponies, a black and a cream-color, and
+recognizing the property of his brother and himself. In his opinion they
+were the handsomest animals in the group.
+
+At the fourth signal--a pistol-shot--the ten ponies got away. Down the
+three-hundred-yard track they sped, and over the last fourth the black
+and cream-color led by a length, crossing the goal with Sancho half a
+neck in advance. Of course the little sergeant knew they would beat, and
+in spite of his sorrow at the loss of the ponies--intensified by this
+stolen sight of them--he could not refrain from swinging his cap, and
+uttering a subdued, "Bravo, Sancho! bravita, Chiquita!"
+
+The cheer was promptly answered by a succession of barks at the foot of
+the tree, and Vic, interpreting the boy's words to mean that she was set
+free, dashed off at the top of her speed for the race-course, and down
+its length to where the victors were now held by their dismounted
+riders. She bounded wildly about them for a few moments, and then,
+standing still, Henry saw each horse in turn place its nose to the dog's
+nose. One of the men struck the dog sharply with the loop of his
+bridle-rein, and as she fled back in the direction of the boy's outlook,
+he saw them separate from the crowd, and, after a brief consultation,
+follow her.
+
+Henry, perceiving he was discovered, let himself down from the tree.
+Texas Dick and Jumping Jack approached.
+
+"Ven acá, muchacho," said the Mexican.
+
+Henry did not stir, and Dick said, in Spanish:
+
+"He does not understand your lingo. I'll try him in English. Come here,
+boy."
+
+Henry had not disregarded Juan's summons, for any reason, but the remark
+of Dick gave him an idea. By pretending to be ignorant of Spanish he
+might learn something that would prove of advantage to him. Accordingly
+he came promptly forward when Dick spoke.
+
+"From Fort Whipple, ain't yer, youngster?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"D'ye know these critters?"
+
+"The black is my brother's; the light is mine."
+
+"Yer lookin' on 'em up, I s'pect?"
+
+"We shall take them, if we can."
+
+"You see, I was right," continued Dick in Spanish to his companion.
+"They are here to take these horses."
+
+"Then we'd better collect the prize and our stakes, and leave," replied
+Juan.
+
+"Where shall we go?" asked Dick. "Arizona is getting uncomfortable for
+me, and your people across the Mexican line don't love you."
+
+"Valgame Dios, no! Let's cross the river and go to San Diego or Los
+Angeles."
+
+"Estar bueno. Come with us, youngster," he added, in English; "and, mind
+ye, keep a still tongue in yer head, or it'll go hard with yer."
+
+Henry followed the men to the head of the race-course, where they
+received their prizes and the winnings, and withdrew to the river-bank.
+There they divided the money and held a conference.
+
+"We'd better cross the river to-night and camp at El Rincon until
+morning, and then strike for Dos Palmas and the coast," said Dick.
+
+"Shall we leave our monte and other stuff in town?" asked Juan.
+
+"No; you stay here and watch the boy, and I'll go back and sell out.
+Anastacio Barella will buy. Look sharp that the young soldier does not
+send a message by his dog. I have heard strange stories of her. I will
+bring down something for our supper."
+
+Dick galloped away, leaving the Mexican and Henry to await his return.
+As the darkness deepened in the river-bottom the boy's thoughts grew
+more and more despondent. When he heard the men forming their plans of
+escape he had thought of sending a message to the Lieutenant by Vic, and
+his hopes had risen with the prospect of causing the arrest of Dick in
+town, and the pursuit and capture of Juan at the race-course. But Dick's
+last caution to his comrade had shattered all. He realized that by his
+disobedience of what he knew to be the Lieutenant's wishes he had
+brought disgrace upon himself, and ruined every chance of recovering the
+ponies.
+
+It was night when Dick returned and reported to his fellow thief that he
+had made an advantageous sale of their gambling property.
+
+"Now, kid, yer kin slope," said he, addressing the disheartened lad.
+"Tell th' Liftinint that he can look for us at Hermosilla, on th' other
+side ther bound'ry. Good-by."
+
+Henry hurried away toward La Paz, with Vic close at his heels. There was
+no occasion for haste, for he felt that nothing in the town could
+overtake the lost Sancho and Chiquita. Still he hurried and stumbled
+along in the darkness.
+
+"Oh, Vicky," said the boy, in his misery, stooping to pat her head, "I
+ought to be reduced to the ranks, and dishonorably discharged from the
+service for this. I have done very wrong. I've lost the ponies for
+good."
+
+The dog licked his hand sympathetically, and then suddenly bounded away,
+barking, and Henry heard Frank's voice say,
+
+"Why, Tom, here's Vic!"
+
+"Thin Sargint Hinery must be near," said the soldier.
+
+"Yes, I'm here, Frank--and oh, Frank, I'm in such trouble!" And in a
+curiously jumbled and half-incoherent manner Henry related his
+afternoon's adventures.
+
+At the conclusion of the recital the three held a consultation as to
+what was best to be done. Time was precious, and the town was two miles
+distant.
+
+"Sargints," said Private Tom, "I belave we can do bist by oursilves. You
+say the grass-boat is close by, Hinery?
+
+"Not far from here, Tom."
+
+"And the thaves are going to camp and cook their supper on the other
+side?"
+
+"So they said."
+
+"Thin lit's interfere with their arringemints. I think the Liftinint
+will overlook an 'absince without lave' if we bring in the raskils and
+the ponies."
+
+The soldier and boys turned, and, bidding Vic keep close to them,
+hurried to the bar where Henry had left the gift of the Mojave belle. As
+they were lifting the elastic raft into the water they heard the voices
+of men on the river, and knew that the horse-thieves were fording the
+stream.
+
+The Colorado was shoal, having an average summer depth of four feet at
+La Paz. Clary secured two poles from the river débris lodged on the bar,
+one for Frank and one for himself. Henry sat on the box in the middle,
+holding his companions' guns across his lap with one hand, and grasping
+Vic's collar with the other. The well-filled game-bags were between his
+feet.
+
+The balsa moved slowly towards the opposite shore and rapidly down
+stream, the stalwart Irish soldier's feet settling into the loosely
+bound stems as he poled. Becoming alarmed when he found the water
+standing above his ankles, he called, in a subdued undertone:
+
+[Illustration: "SARGINT FRANK, I BELAVE I SHALL GO THROUGH THIS L'AKY
+GONDOLA BEFORE WE GET ACRASS."]
+
+"Sargint Frank, I belave I shall go through this l'aky gondola before we
+get acrass."
+
+"Take Henry's paddle, Tom. It lies on the right side of the box. Lay it
+across the reeds and stand on it."
+
+"Ah, sure, that's betther! Kape yer ind a little more up-strame,
+sargint. We'll steer by the avening-star."
+
+The distance to the western side slowly lessened. A landing could not be
+selected where all was dark; that must be left to chance. But chance
+proved kindly, and the balsa lodged against the shore in the still water
+of a little cove. The three climbed the bank, and soon began to move
+upstream. They knew that the ponies, having waded most of the way, had
+not been carried down much by the current, and must have landed far
+above them. Vic was cautioned to "watch out," for the pursuers depended
+upon her scent to show them where the ponies left the water.
+
+They had made their way for nearly an hour over a rough and miry
+river-bottom when the setter paused. She began sniffing the ground to
+the right and left for a few moments, and then settled to a course,
+going west for half a mile, and then north, parallel to the river.
+
+"She must be on the trail, Tom," said Frank; "but I do not see why the
+men went upstream."
+
+"There's an excillint rayson for that, sargint," said Clary. "One of the
+routes to the coast is from La Paz, and the ford and landing is nearly
+opposite the town. The thaves have gone to El Rincon, as the landing is
+called."
+
+The boys and soldier continued to struggle through tangling grass,
+intertwining bushes, and over uneven ground, until they reached an open
+space, and saw a light ahead. Bidding Vic drop behind and remain silent,
+they moved cautiously in its direction, until they came out upon a hard,
+level, and grassless plat, the river end of the California trail.
+
+Across the level, near a clump of cottonwoods, was a fire where Texas
+Dick and Jumping Jack were plainly visible cooking their supper. On the
+side of their fire opposite the river were two saddles, upon which
+rested their rifles and revolvers. Still farther west the two ponies
+were picketed and grazing.
+
+Frank told Henry to go to the ponies and remain there with Vic, while he
+and Clary moved towards the fire. Screening themselves behind tufts and
+swells, and lastly behind the saddles, they worked across the level, the
+sound of their movements being covered by the booming and rushing of the
+great river. When within twenty yards of the fire, and five from the
+saddles, Private Tom Clary sprang to his feet, aimed his
+double-barrelled shot-gun at the thieves, and shouted:
+
+"Throw up your arrums!"
+
+At the same moment Frank made a flying leap for the saddles, and seized
+the rifles and revolvers. Henry was told to come forward and assist his
+brother in keeping Dick and Juan under the muzzles of their own rifles,
+while Clary securely bound them. This accomplished, the boys went back
+for a moment to renew their acquaintance with their little horses. Yes,
+the chase was over, and their favorites were again in their possession,
+and it cannot appear strange that the young soldiers went into boyish
+ecstasies of delight at their good-fortune, embracing, patting, and
+talking to the ponies, as if they understood all that was said to them.
+
+At last they rejoined Clary at the fire, and the three fell into a
+discussion of how they were to return to La Paz. Each one felt that it
+would be impossible to ford the river and yet retain possession of the
+prisoners. Either of the boys must go on one of the horses or Vic be
+sent. It was decided to send the setter. A message was written, and
+after much persuasion Vic was made to understand that she was to swim
+the Colorado, and struck across for the other shore.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While the boy sergeants were going through these adventures I had
+remained in La Paz. At retreat roll-call Corporal Duffey had reported
+"Private Clary absent and unaccounted for," and at Mr. Gray's table the
+boys were absent from supper.
+
+At first I did not give myself any uneasiness over the absentees,
+thinking they had miscalculated a distance in their rambles and would
+soon appear. The Captain and Director of the steamer _Cocopah_ were
+present, closing the transportation business. When finished, the Captain
+left to prepare his boat for an early start.
+
+Becoming alarmed at the boys' continued absence, at midnight I began a
+search for them, and soon learned that Frank and Clary had gone
+quail-shooting, and that Henry had been seen to paddle out of the lagoon
+on a Mojave balsa, accompanied by Vic. I did not feel especially anxious
+concerning the older boy; he and Clary were probably astray, and would
+turn up safe.
+
+I led the men in a long search beside the river without finding a clew,
+and returning to Mr. Gray's, sat a long time on the veranda alone, sadly
+reflecting upon the probable fate of Henry and the absence of Vic. I
+thought if the boy was simply in trouble, he would have sent our
+never-failing messenger to me. The fact that he had not done so made me
+fear the worst. Perhaps the faithful Vic was now watching his stranded
+body on the shores of the great river.
+
+In the midst of these reflections there scrambled up the steps a wet and
+bedraggled dog, who dropped at my feet a chip. Carrying her in my arms
+to my room, I examined her collar, and found a few leaves of a
+memorandum-book covered with Frank's handwriting.
+
+The news of Vic's arrival with a message spread quickly, and the whole
+household was gathered in my room when the wet leaves were unfolded and
+the boys' exploit learned.
+
+"Good! good!" exclaimed the Director. "Come with me to the _Cocopah_.
+We'll steam across, and get the whole party--boys, soldier, ponies, and
+scamps. Such boys must have the best transportation on the river."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the west side of the Colorado Private Tom Clary and the boy sergeants
+sat by the fire broiling quail, which they seasoned from the supplies of
+Texas Dick and Juan Brincos, and accompanied by slices of toasted bread
+from the same source. In the midst of their enjoyment of "quail on
+toast" a loud "whoof! whoof! whoof!" came across the river.
+
+"Hullo," said Henry, "the old _Cocopah_ is starting for the Gulf mighty
+early. I should think the pilot would find it difficult to keep off the
+shores when it is so dark."
+
+The boys could see by the boat's changing lights that her bow was
+swinging out into the stream, and expected shortly to see her starboard
+lights as she headed downward. But she seemed to pause with her furnace
+fires and pilot-lanterns pointing towards them. "Whoof! whoof!
+whoof!--patter, patter, patter,"--the noise of the steamboat grew louder
+and louder, until the boys rose from their seats and stared in surprise
+at the rapidly growing lights.
+
+"I really believe she is coming here," said Frank.
+
+"She is, or she nades a dale of space to turn in," observed Tom Clary.
+
+Presently two tall smoke-stacks separated themselves from the
+surrounding darkness and appeared high above the campers' heads.
+
+"Ahoy there, boys!" shouted the Captain's voice from the pilot-house.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" answered Frank.
+
+"Get ready to come on board! Below, there--ready with the gang-plank!
+Lower away!"
+
+Down came the plank, and a joyous group of friends walked down to the
+shore to greet the boys and the soldier.
+
+A little time afterwards the boy sergeants led their ponies on board,
+and Private Tom Clary escorted the prisoners. The Cocopah cleared away
+and paddled back to the La Paz side, where Texas Dick and Juan Brincos
+were turned over to the civil authorities, and Sancho and Chiquita to
+the escort in Mr. Gray's corral.
+
+Three days later the boys and I took leave of Mr. Baldwin, who was now
+in charge of the government store-house, and accompanied by Mr. Gray,
+started for Fort Whipple. Hanging under the hind axle of the ambulance
+was a ten-gallon keg, and inside was another. We left La Paz at six in
+the evening and reached Tyson's Wells at ten. Remaining there until four
+o'clock the next afternoon, we filled the kegs with water, and drove all
+night, arriving at Hole-in-the-Plain at sunrise. Remaining all day, the
+animals grazing without water, we made a second night's drive to Black
+Tanks; and then a third to Date Creek, where we resumed travelling by
+daylight. It is an old army custom to make night drives in warm weather
+over long distances between water. The nights of the far West being
+invariably cool, the strain is less on man and beast.
+
+Two days after our arrival at Whipple the mail brought an order from the
+Department Commander relieving me from duty in Arizona that I might
+comply with an order from the War Department detailing me as Military
+Professor at Oldenu Military Academy. The same mail brought a letter
+from Colonel Burton, directing that his sons accompany me to San
+Francisco.
+
+As rapidly as possible preparations were made for our departure. It
+chanced that Tom Clary's term of enlistment terminated a week before we
+were to start, and we were glad enough to give so worthy and useful a
+man free transportation in our ambulance to the coast, and by steamer to
+San Francisco.
+
+In those days there were no overland railroads. After a two weeks'
+holiday at the Presidio, the boys, Clary, Vic, and I took the steamer
+for Panama and New York, Colonel Burton paying Tom's passage in the
+steerage. More than that; through my influence Clary was appointed to a
+vacant janitorship in the academy, and when Manuel Perea and Sapoya and
+the four ponies arrived the following spring he had the care of the
+animals.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+THE WAR IN CUBA.
+
+BY T. R. DAWLEY, JUN.
+
+
+We all know how Columbus thought the world was round, and that by
+sailing west he could reach Cipango or India, from whence the Europeans
+formerly received their spices, silks, and other luxuries.
+
+Fired by dreams of stately cities, gold-roofed temples, and spice-laden
+groves, with kings and princes surrounded by Oriental splendor, Columbus
+sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. After many days he came to land, which
+was one of the Bahama Islands, and then he sailed south, and came to
+another island, so beautiful with birds and flowers and trees and rivers
+that he said one could live there forever, as "it is the most beautiful
+island eyes ever beheld." In the fragrance of the woods and
+sweet-smelling flowers he thought he had reached the spice-perfumed
+groves of the East India islands, but its strangely painted people of
+cinnamon hue puzzled him greatly.
+
+This beautiful land was the island of Cuba. After its discovery by
+Columbus the Spaniards came and took possession of it. They found the
+people of a simple nature, with strange notions about God and the
+creation of the universe. As they knew nothing about Christ, they were
+not Christians, and consequently the Spaniards soon began to look upon
+them as little better than wild animals. Then we must remember that the
+Spaniards who came flocking to the islands discovered by Columbus were
+not only adventurers seeking their fortunes, but were often the
+criminals from overcrowded jails, and others who could not make an
+honest living at home. As these people had no idea of working
+themselves, they made the simple inhabitants work for them. And as there
+were many of these inhabitants, the Spaniards counted their lives of no
+value, and not only overworked them, treating them with great cruelty,
+but killed them out of pure wantonness, just as some boys delight in
+stoning dogs and killing birds.
+
+There was one good Spaniard, however, who became convinced that it was
+wrong to make slaves of these poor people and to treat them so cruelly.
+Becoming a priest, he began by giving his own slaves their freedom, and
+then he went into the pulpit and preached against the wrong-doings of
+his countrymen. This man was the good Father Las Casas, who has been
+called the protector of the Indians. But the good work of this one good
+man could go but a little way against so many wicked ones. The native
+inhabitants rapidly disappeared under the cruel treatment of their harsh
+task-masters, and then negro slaves, a hardier race than the red men,
+were brought from Africa to take the place of the Indian, in spite of
+Father Las Casas and his sermons.
+
+So it happens that in the island of Cuba to-day there are none of the
+Indians left. They have long since disappeared. In their place remain
+the negroes, who are the descendants of the slaves from Africa, and the
+white Cubans, who are descended from the Spanish settlers. But owing to
+the climate, the fertility of the soil and other conditions which
+surround them, they have grown up to be different men from their Spanish
+grandfathers.
+
+Now Spain is a land ruled over by a King, and its lands are in the hands
+of a few fortunate men called counts and marquises, so that the poor
+people have no land of their own which they may cultivate, and thus earn
+their living as our country farmers do. Then Spain requires all of her
+boys to become soldiers, and serve the King, who is now only a boy
+himself. As the Spanish boys grow up without much education, and never
+learn of the liberty enjoyed by the people of other countries, they
+think this is all right. But then the King finds that he has more of
+these boy soldiers than he can feed, so his ministers say, "Well,
+there's that rich island across the sea; if our boys want to go there
+and till the soil, they need not serve as soldiers." So many of the
+Spanish boys go to Cuba, and often they forget Spain, take a Cuban girl
+for a wife, and never go home again. And then their children are Cubans
+with Cuban mothers. Cuba is so near to the United States, these Cuban
+children often come here, where they learn something about our system of
+government, and the education and freedom enjoyed by our people. Then
+they go back and tell their brothers and sisters all about it. This has
+gone on for a great many years, till these Cubans have become filled
+with ideas of liberty and self-government. They do not see why they
+should be ruled by a King who lives so far away, and then they do not
+see why they should have a King at all. Besides, they say they are taxed
+a great deal to support this King and his ministers in Spain, and every
+year more Spaniards come to Cuba, and as these are poor and anxious to
+work, they occupy all the places which would otherwise be held by the
+Cubans. Thus there is a jealousy between the Cubans and the new
+arrivals, who soon begin to regard their cousins born in the island very
+much as their ancestors regarded the native Indians.
+
+About twenty-eight years ago many of the Cubans got together in the
+eastern part of the island, and thinking they could throw off the
+Spanish rule, they armed themselves and went into the mountains, where
+they fought against the Spanish rule for ten years. At that time the
+negroes of Cuba were still slaves, their masters buying and selling them
+as though they were cattle instead of human beings. As these black men
+were all strong and hardy fellows, the Cubans told them that if they
+would help them fight they would give them their liberty. Of course they
+were anxious to become free men, and great many of them joined the white
+Cubans and fought with them very well. Spain tried hard to put down this
+insurrection, but found it very expensive to send her soldiers to fight
+a people among the mountains in their own country. At last, after she
+had spent a great deal of money and lost a great many of her boy
+soldiers, she sent her greatest General, Martinez Campos, with full
+power to treat with the rebellious Cubans. He succeeded in communicating
+with the revolutionists, and promised them certain reforms in the
+administration of their affairs. The Cubans wanted self-government, and,
+among other things, they stipulated that the negroes who had fought with
+them should be recognized as free men. This did not seem reasonable,
+because the negroes who had remained faithful to Spain were still
+slaves, while those who had rebelled were to be rewarded. General Campos
+agreed, however, and the Cubans laid down their arms. Thus the first
+successful blow for freedom was struck, and Spain soon passed laws which
+eventually gave the rest of the negroes their liberty.
+
+There followed some sixteen years of comparative peace, although the
+Cubans claim that Spain never fulfilled the promises made to them by
+Martinez Campos. There were several attempts to make war again, but the
+Cubans appear to have been afraid. They are not a fighting people, like
+our ancestors, who fought against a tax of threepence on a pound of tea
+because they considered it unjust. The Cubans wanted to be let alone,
+and often paid their taxes without complaint. But as Spain still sent
+her boys as colonists to Cuba, the Cubans found it very hard to compete
+with these boys, pay their taxes, and make a living. A great many of
+them left the island and came to this country, where they have made
+their homes, but always looking across the water, hoping that some day
+their island would be free from Spanish rule. Some of the Cubans,
+instead of leaving the island took to the woods and became bandits. Thus
+things went from bad to worse, until some of the old leaders of the last
+war thought the time had arrived to strike another blow for the freedom
+of Cuba.
+
+[Illustration: THE INSURGENT GENERAL GOMEZ AND HIS STAFF.]
+
+About one year and a half ago, Maximo Gomez, a soldier who had fought in
+the ranks and had risen to be a general in the ten years' war, landed on
+the east end of Cuba. He was shortly followed by Antonio Maceo, a
+mulatto, who had also a command in the last war. They proclaimed a
+rebellion against Spain, and called upon all Cubans to join them. It was
+not long before they had an army. Spain was slow to understand the
+seriousness of the situation, and declared that it was only a negro
+uprising which she could easily put down. Of course there were a great
+many negroes who flocked to the standard raised by Gomez and Maceo, for
+they knew that it was through the Cubans they had gained their liberty.
+But the uprising became general throughout the island. Gomez marched his
+army from the eastern end of the island to the centre, and then invaded
+Matauzas and Havana provinces. On the way he met the Spaniards several
+times, but they were unable to check his movements. The old general,
+Martinez Campos, who had treated with him seventeen years before, tried
+to stop him in his westward march, and finally failed at Coliseo, in
+Matauzas province. Then the Spaniards became dissatisfied with their
+greatest General, for Martinez Campos spoke the truth, and told Spain
+many things which she did not like to hear, and he refused to kill his
+prisoners, for he said the Cubans did not kill his soldiers when they
+caught them. But the Spaniards thought the Cubans should be killed for
+fighting against Spain, so they sent General Weyler with full power to
+do as he liked in the island of Cuba. Under the rule of this General
+matters have grown very much worse for Spain, and to one who has studied
+the situation carefully in the island it looks very much as though the
+Cubans were going to gain their independence. The Spaniards hold the
+towns, while the Cubans remain in the country. There are no great
+battles fought, and while the Spaniards claim that they cannot find the
+rebels, the Cubans destroy and lay waste the country, believing that the
+Spaniards will eventually get tired and give up trying to rule them, for
+Cuba's wealth, they say, is the cause of the yoke she bears, and all
+must be destroyed rather than submit again to Spanish rule.
+
+[Illustration: Pedro Muñoz de Sepulveda, Civil Governor of Havana.
+
+General Weyler.
+
+Navarro Fernandez, Commander of the Navy, and his Adjutant.
+
+Señor Pintas, General Weyler's Secretary.
+
+GENERAL WEYLER AS HE LANDED IN CUBA.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PIPER.
+
+BY M. L. VAN VORST.
+
+
+  There's a strange gaunt piper in doublet brown
+    Comes over the heather and over the sea;
+  His dwelling is neither in city nor town,
+    And he pipes for the wee little folk and me.
+
+  His hat is high and pointed and green,
+    With a sprig in the hand from the holly-tree,
+  And his smile is the merriest ever seen
+    In the eyes of the wee little folk and me.
+
+  He comes at the close of the winter days,
+    As we sit in the firelight after tea;
+  He steals from the corner, and smiles and plays
+    For the tired wee little folk and me.
+
+  And what are the tunes that the piper sings
+    As the strange pipe trembles with melody?--
+  I'd like to tell you the beautiful things
+    He tells to the wee little folk and me.
+
+  But they fade as soon as the piper goes
+    To take his journey o'er heather and sea.
+  Will he come again to us? Nobody knows.
+    Will you wait with the wee little folk and me?
+
+
+
+
+WHAT THE BEE TOLD ME.
+
+BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.
+
+
+The other night, after my children had been tucked away safely in bed, I
+was seated in my library reading. The house was very warm, and I opened
+the huge window on the south side of the room to let in a little air,
+and as I did so a little bee came buzzing in through the slats of the
+shutters. I paid no attention to him at first, but after I had taken my
+arm-chair again, and had settled back in comfort to resume my story, the
+little creature began to buzz about my ears in a fashion which did not
+altogether please me.
+
+"Shoo!" I cried, waving my hand gently at him. "Why don't you shoo?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Now you may believe me or not, as you please, but the little bee
+giggled, and said:
+
+"What shall I shoe? Bees can do lots of things, but they can't shoe.
+They are not blacksmiths."
+
+The reply amused and interested me, and I put down my book and gazed at
+him without saying a word, waiting for his next remark.
+
+"In fact," the bee continued, "I could tell you a story about that very
+point, if you'd listen."
+
+"Go ahead," said I. "I'll be delighted."
+
+And the little bee told me the following story.
+
+     Once upon a time, a great many years ago, the Queen of the bees
+     sent to the Lord High Treasurer of her kingdom for his annual
+     report, and when it came she was very much surprised to find that
+     the treasury contained about half as much treasure as she had
+     supposed.
+
+      "Where is the rest of the money?" she demanded in severe tones.
+
+      "We haven't had it, your Majesty," said the Lord High Treasurer.
+
+      "Haven't we earned it?" she asked.
+
+      "Yes," replied the Lord High Treasurer. "But we haven't been able
+      to sell all the honey we've made. We've been too industrious."
+
+      "It is impossible to be too industrious," said the Queen. "Send
+      the Trade Secretary here."
+
+      The Trade Secretary came at once, and bore out all that the Lord
+      High Treasurer had said. The bees had made more honey than they
+      could sell.
+
+      "Then we must have a mass-meeting and tell all the beeple," she
+      observed.
+
+"The what?" I asked, interrupting the bee's story.
+
+"The beeple. You folks are people. We bees are beeple," explained my
+little visitor.
+
+I laughed, and he continued:
+
+     "Tell the beeple," said the Queen, "and at once, because when they
+     read your report and see how little profit we have gained for our
+     labors this year they may become suspicious. If we tell them at
+     once, as soon as we have discovered it ourselves, they cannot
+     complain."
+
+      And so the mass-meeting was called, and ten thousand bees gathered
+      before the royal hives.
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      The Queen undertook to tell the beeple herself.
+
+      "Most beloved subjects," said she, as she emerged from the royal
+      hive amid the enthusiastic buzzing of the beepulace, "I have been
+      going over the report of my Trade Secretary during the past week,
+      and I regret to say that the showing is not satisfactory."
+
+      A murmur of disappointment greeted the announcement.
+
+      "We have not been idle, your Majesty!" cried one of the workers.
+      "I myself have flown from flower to flower for five hours a day
+      every day during the season, and I can testify that all my friends
+      and neighbors have kept themselves equally busy."
+
+      "I have nothing to complain about on that score," returned her
+      Majesty, graciously. "Indeed, you have all been most industrious.
+      Even the drones have droned to my satisfaction."
+
+      "Have we then worked too hard?" queried another.
+
+      "It would seem so," returned her Majesty. "Either that or after a
+      fashion which might be termed unprofitable. We have manufactured
+      seventeen million pounds of honey in the last year, and after all
+      the demands of the honey-eaters have been fulfilled we find
+      ourselves with ten million pounds on hand."
+
+      "It proves how useful we do-nothing bees are," said one of the
+      drones. "Had we worked, the supply would have been twice as great,
+      and instead of having ten million pounds of honey more than we
+      need, we should have twenty-seven million pounds of it upon our
+      antennæ."
+
+      "We've got no business with antennæ, anyhow," growled another
+      drone. "Why can't we have beetennæ, and be done with it?"
+
+      "All of this!" cried the Queen, impatiently, "is apart from the
+      question. Whether we have antennæ, beetennæ, or flytennæ, we have
+      made too much honey."
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      "Then let us rest for a year," sighed one of the drones. "It's
+      mathematics that if one does enough work in one year to last for
+      two years, he's done two years' work in one, wherefore let him
+      take a year off and travel for his health."
+
+      "Not so!" cried the Queen. "The Lord High Commissioner of the
+      Police will arrest the drone who has spoken so unreasonably, and
+      suggested such an unbeely practice as idleness. Put him in the
+      darkest dungeon of the Bee-stile, and feed him upon iced water and
+      cold biscuit crumbs for twenty-four hours."
+
+      "Mercy!" cried the drone. "Mercy, your Majesty! I was only
+      thoughtless."
+
+      "You do well," quoth the Queen, "to appeal to my mercy, and I will
+      be merciful. I will remit half of the sentence. Lock him up for
+      twenty-four hours, but do not feed him at all."
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      The thoughtless drone was arrested and taken away, and the Queen
+      resumed.
+
+      "It's not that we work too hard," she said. "It is that we make
+      too much of one kind of thing. If the honey consumers only want
+      ten million pounds of honey, it is foolish for us to make twenty
+      million pounds of it, and I think we should turn our attention to
+      other fields."
+
+      "I did," said one. "I brought a country doctor five dollars by
+      stinging a small boy."
+
+      "How often have I told you not to sting small boys?" frowned the
+      Queen.
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      "I couldn't help it, your Majesty," returned the bee, humbly. "I
+      was flying along a garden path, and the small boy came running up;
+      he ran so fast he collided with me, and ere I knew it my stinger
+      had penetrated his flesh."
+
+      "You had no business to have your stinger out," said the Queen.
+
+      "Oh yes, your Majesty," explained the bee, "I had to have it out,
+      for I had come to that garden to sharpen it upon the grindstone of
+      the boy's father. Had the boy been looking where he was going, it
+      would not have happened."
+
+      "Ah!" said the Queen, smiling with pleasure; "that is different.
+      If you taught the small boy a lesson you worked to some purpose,
+      and you are forgiven. I don't see, however, how you still live if
+      you really stung the child. Pray explain."
+
+      "He was a tender little chap--that is all," said the bee. "And I
+      had no trouble in pulling my sting out of his soft little cheek.
+      It was like a peach."
+
+      Again the Queen smiled. "I am pleased with you," she said, and
+      then turning again to the assembled multitude, she resumed her
+      speech.
+
+      "Now that we know what our trouble is, shall we not act
+      accordingly? Shall we continue year in and year out wasting our
+      valuable time in the making of honey that nobody wants, or shall
+      we look about for something new to do which, after we have made
+      all the honey that is needed, shall still keep us busy, so that
+      people seeing us shall be able to call us 'the busy bees' as of
+      yore? What is the will of my subjects?"
+
+      "Let us branch out! Let us do other things," buzzed the beepulace.
+
+      "I knew my confidence in your judgment was not misplaced," cried
+      the Queen, joyously. "It now remains for us to decide what, and I
+      here to-day in the presence of you all as witnesses proclaim my
+      intention to give the hand of my eldest daughter to that one of
+      you who shall suggest the scheme that shall seem best for our new
+      line of action."
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      "Suppose it's won by a lady bee?" cried a woman's-rights bee in
+      the throng. "She won't want your daughter's hand."
+
+      "She shall have the hand of my eldest son," replied the Queen bee,
+      with a smile.
+
+      The reply seemed to satisfy the woman's-right's bee, and the Queen
+      having retired to her royal cell, the crowd broke up, and the
+      various members of it betook their way to their respective hives
+      to cogitate upon the problem presented by the Queen.
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      On the day following the royal proclamation was found posted all
+      over Beeland, in which it was announced that a committee,
+      consisting of the Queen, the Trade Secretary, and the Lord High
+      Treasurer of the country would receive the various plans
+      presented, go over them carefully, and on Christmas day following
+      make known whatever decision they might have reached. This method
+      was satisfactory to all hands, and the bees busied themselves for
+      ten and fifteen hours a day thinking up schemes. It was a long
+      time to think, but bees have very small heads, and they had to
+      think quite as much as that daily to reach any conclusion at all.
+      Some of them got very sick with brain-fever from trying to think
+      too much, and one little worker went crazy because he was so
+      foolish as to cogitate for forty-nine hours without rest. Many of
+      the lighter-headed bees soon gave it up, but the wiser ones,
+      thinking moderately and not too deeply all at once, soon had their
+      schemes mapped out and placed in the committee's hands, or
+      antennæ.
+
+      The autumn went rapidly. Christmas came, and the committee
+      examined the plans that were presented.
+
+      "I must say," the Queen said, with a sigh, after reading a large
+      number of foolish schemes, "it doesn't seem to me that my subjects
+      are as bright as they might be. The idea of this fellow suggesting
+      that we go into the 'horse-bothering business'!"
+
+      The Trade Secretary laughed. "What on earth is the
+      'horse-bothering business'?" he asked.
+
+      "He wants individual bees to hire themselves out to farmers with
+      slow horses," said the Queen. "Their duty is to bother the horses
+      until they get skittish and try to run."
+
+      "Hoh!" laughed the Lord High Treasurer; "what a donkey that bee
+      must be!"
+
+      "Here's another," observed the Trade Secretary, opening a sealed
+      envelope. "He wants us to go into the carrier-pigeon business. He
+      says there is nothing can strike a bee-line so accurately as a
+      bee, and adds that he thinks a whole swarm ought to be able to
+      earn from fifteen to twenty dollars a month at it."
+
+      "How very foolish," said the Queen, impatiently. "It would take a
+      whole swarm a month to carry a single message a mile. I do hope
+      that isn't going to turn out to be the best suggestion of all, for
+      I should be most unhappy if I had to give the hand of my eldest
+      daughter to a bee like that."
+
+      "You may relieve your mind on that score," said the Trade
+      Secretary. "I have just found another which is much better. This
+      bee suggests that when we are not gathering honey and making
+      honey-combs, it wouldn't be a bad thing to fly about barber-shops
+      and gather hair and make hair-combs."
+
+      "I think that is very foolish," said the Queen. "Why do you think
+      it is better than the horse-bothering and the carrier-pigeon
+      plans?"
+
+      "It's no more foolish, and twice as funny," explained the Trade
+      Secretary.
+
+      "That is very true," said the Queen.
+
+      "Here's another that's funnier yet," said the Lord High Treasurer.
+      "This one says that we might gather curry and make curry-combs."
+
+      The Queen laughed outright. "I think they'd better start a comic
+      paper," she said.
+
+      "That's the best idea yet," cried the Trade Secretary,
+      enthusiastically, for he was a great flatterer. "Let us decide on
+      that, and then your Majesty can keep your eldest daughter's hand
+      as a reward for some future competition."
+
+      "No," said the Queen, shaking her head; "that would never do. I
+      shall not enter into this competition at all. The others would
+      say, and very properly too, that I was partial to my own plan, and
+      couldn't be a good judge of its merit. No; you must leave my plans
+      out altogether."
+
+      And so they went on examining the plans, none of which seemed any
+      better or funnier than the ones I have mentioned, until they came
+      to what appeared to be a grand scheme.
+
+      "I suggest," wrote one little bee, "that we keep on making honey
+      just the same, only instead of putting it together in one great
+      lot, all tasting alike, let us keep different kinds in different
+      combs. For instance, let one swarm gather from roses and make rose
+      honey; another can sip the nectar from the violet and make violet
+      honey; another can get the essence of the mint and mix it with
+      pepper and make peppermint honey, and so on. Let us have honey of
+      all flavors--vanilla, sarsaparilla, and so on--and then we shall
+      never make too much. There never was too much soda-water in the
+      world, because if you get tired of one kind you can drink another
+      kind. I heard a little girl who was a soda-water expert say so,
+      and it was from her remark that I got the idea. If I've won,
+      please let me know, and I'll come up to the palace and get the
+      hand of the Queen's eldest daughter; and if you'll send me word
+      early enough in the day, with the size of her hand, I'll bring a
+      nice little glove to put on it. P. S.--Do we get only one hand, or
+      does the whole daughter go with it?"
+
+      "Magnificent!" cried the Queen, in ecstasy, clapping her antennæ
+      together. "We must award the prize to him."
+
+      "I think so myself," said the Trade Secretary, "he is certainly
+      the most original."
+
+      "And a good business bee, too," said the Lord High Treasurer.
+      "What he asks about the whole daughter proves that."
+
+      "And a good husband he'll make," said the Queen, with a pleased
+      expression. "His thinking about her gloves proves that. Are there
+      any others?"
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      "Only one," said the Trade Secretary. "From a bee who signs
+      himself 'A Poet.'"
+
+      "Oh, he can't win!" said the Queen, impatiently, for she had the
+      idea which many wiser people have that poets are lazy.
+
+      "Not likely," said the Lord High Treasurer. "I still think, your
+      Majesty, that we ought to read what he suggests."
+
+      "Very well; no doubt you are right. What is it he says?" said the
+      Queen, with a look of resignation on her face.
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      So they read the suggestion of the little poet bee, and this is
+      the way it went:
+
+            "We have made too much plain honey
+            For the people's ready money;
+  And the only way to keep our daily toil from being waste
+            Is to give them something neater,
+            Something purer, something sweeter,
+  Something quite the like of which they never yet have had a taste.
+
+            "Shall we then spend all our hours
+            Sipping up the sweets of flowers,
+  Sipping sweets of which they tell us that they don't want any more?
+            Or shall we set our forces
+            Seeking out some other sources
+  Which will yield a store of honey of a kind not known before?
+
+            "Oh, I know where there is nectar
+            Fit for Jupiter or Hector;
+  'Tis a sweet no bee has ever tried to put into his comb.
+            'Tis a sweet I say of which, sir,
+            In the mansions of the rich, sir,
+  Or the poorest is the sweetest of the sweets of any home.
+
+            "Tis the nectar of the kisses
+            Of the babies--learn what bliss is!--
+  Gather that and put it into all the honey that you can,
+            And you'll find e'en the Immortals
+            Thronging daily at your portals
+  With rich jewels for the product that will follow from my plan."
+
+      [Illustration]
+
+      There was a long silence when the Trade Secretary had finished
+      reading the poet's suggestion. The Queen wiped her eyes. She was
+      manifestly touched by the sentiment of the poet's little verse.
+      Finally the Lord High Treasurer spoke.
+
+      "I'm not much of a judge of poetry," he said, "so I won't say much
+      about the verse, except that I don't think he ought to have lugged
+      Hector in just for the sake of a rhyme; but I do think it is a
+      beautiful idea. I kissed a baby once in a country garden, and it
+      was so fearfully sweet that all the flowers tasted like lemons for
+      months afterwards."
+
+      "I have had the same experience," said the Queen, softly.
+
+      "Me too!" said the Trade Secretary. "The plan is a fine one."
+
+      "But is it finer than the other one?" asked the Queen. "I, as a
+      mother, think it is."
+
+      "I, as a business bee, think not," said the Lord High Treasurer.
+
+      "Well, I, as a business bee and a father, can't make up my mind,"
+      sighed the Trade Secretary. "It's very unfortunate. One ought to
+      be better than the other, but I can't decide which is the one."
+
+      "They can't both have my eldest daughter's hand," sighed the
+      Queen.
+
+      "No," said the Lord High Treasurer, with a dubious shake of his
+      head.
+
+      "True," ejaculated the Trade Secretary; and then he gave a loud
+      buzz of triumph. "Why didn't we think of it before?" he cried.
+
+      "Of what?" asked the Queen, eagerly.
+
+      "Your eldest daughter is twins," cried the Trade Secretary. "One
+      can have one twin and the other the other."
+
+      "So they are!" said the Queen, joyously. "I had forgotten that.
+      Their hands shall be awarded as you suggest."
+
+      And so it was decided; and on Christmas morning the announcement
+      was made. To one bee one daughter was affianced, and to the other
+      the other, and all were satisfied; and on New-Year's day, a week
+      later, they were all four married, and lived happily ever after.
+
+The little bee stopped here and looked at me.
+
+"That's a very nice little tale," said I, smiling upon my friend the
+bee.
+
+"Thank you," said he. "If you like it you can have it all for your own."
+
+"It is very good of you," I replied. "But can't you use it?"
+
+"No," he said. "None of the magazines would print a story sent in by a
+bee; but even if they would you could have it, because we owe you some
+return."
+
+"What for, pray?" I cried.
+
+"Your baby's kisses," he said, simply. "We've made eight dollars out of
+him this year."
+
+I looked at him for a moment, and then, as he buzzed back to the window,
+I called out,
+
+"Don't be in a hurry."
+
+"I must," he said. "It's getting late."
+
+"Well, come again," I said, "and tell me some more."
+
+"Oh, you can count on that," he answered, as he flew out of the window
+with a joyous buzz. "I'll be back before you know it."
+
+And with that he was gone; and when next morning I told his story to my
+children, they all liked it so much that I have put it down to tell you,
+for possibly the bees made eight or ten dollars out of you when you were
+a baby, and you are as much entitled to the return as I am.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
+
+
+The next important interscholastic event of the year will be the tennis
+tournament at Newport, August 13th. It is not possible at the date of
+writing to state exactly what players will participate, the entries not
+having all been received as yet; but if the winners of the various
+interscholastic tournaments of this spring all gather at Newport this
+week, the 1896 tournament should prove the most interesting and
+important of any held heretofore.
+
+The most promising of the interscholastic players seems to be Reginald
+Fincke, of the Hotchkiss School, who won the Yale interscholastic
+tournament. Fincke out-classed all the other players in this tournament,
+and made the very creditable record of winning first place without
+dropping a set. He has been keeping in good practice all summer, and did
+some good work at the recent Wentworth tournament. He is a cool-headed
+player, and has excellent control of his racket. He is particularly
+strong on cross-drives and in placing.
+
+His strongest opponent at Newport will probably be C. W. Beggs, Jun.,
+the winner of the Princeton interscholastic tournament, and a student at
+the Lawrenceville School. Beggs won the Chicago interscholastic
+tournament last year, and developed his game considerably this spring.
+He won handily over all the other men in his local contest, and is
+undoubtedly the best tennis-player Lawrenceville ever had.
+
+The Boston schools will be represented by Y. M. Edwards, of the English
+High-School, who won the Harvard interscholastic tournament in May.
+Edwards, however, is not so strong a player as the two men already
+mentioned. In fact, this year the Boston schools did not develop any
+high-class man on the courts, which perhaps might have been expected,
+they having turned out such men as Ware and Whitman last year. The
+Inter-Academic League's tennis tournament in Philadelphia was won by
+J. K. Willing, of Delancey School, who did some pretty good work on the
+Belmont Cricket Club courts, but from whom little can be expected if he
+appears at Newport. Pell of Berkeley, the winner of the N.Y.I.S.A.A.
+tournament, is not entitled to compete in the National event; and if the
+New York schools are represented at all it will be by Walton, the winner
+of the Columbia interscholastic tournament. The Maine tourney resulted
+in a victory for Dana of Portland, but it is uncertain if he will appear
+at Newport.
+
+The interscholastic matches at the National event have been held yearly
+since 1891. The record of the winners since then is as follows:
+
+  Year.   Played at.   Winner.          School.
+  1891.   Cambridge.   R. D. Wrenn.     Cambridge Latin.
+  1892.   Cambridge.   M. G. Chace.     Univ. Grammar, Prov.
+  1893.   Newport.     C. R. Budlong.   High, Providence.
+  1894.   Newport.     W. G. Parker.    Tutor, New York.
+  1895.   Newport.     L. E. Ware.      Roxbury Latin.
+
+A glance at this list will show that the winners of the interscholastic
+matches have all, with the possible exception of Parker, become players
+of ability; and although Ware cannot yet be ranked with Chace or Wrenn,
+he certainly will achieve that distinction before long. It is pleasing
+to see that the schools are developing such good men in this line of
+sport, the winners of the tournaments of '91, '92, '93, and '95 being
+graduates of large schools, whereas the winner of '94, who has not
+achieved any particular prominence since, was not a graduate of any
+institution. Perhaps this shows the advantage of attending a large
+school, for this surely affords a greater opportunity for good practice,
+and a player gets the chance to brush up against many different styles.
+
+This question of practice is a very important one, and no player who
+hopes to become proficient in tennis can ever hope to do so unless he
+keeps himself in shape by working daily on the court during the open
+season. In tennis, as in everything else, there is no high-road to
+success, and while it is possible that some men may have a greater
+facility for making strokes and covering the court than others, there is
+no such thing as a born tennis-player, and all who have succeeded in the
+game have earned their laurels by hard and persistent work.
+
+It has sometimes been asked if a tennis-player should maintain any
+especial kind of training. He should--that is, he should keep in
+training in the sense of keeping in good condition and, as I have said
+above, in keeping in form. If a man wishes to win a closely contested
+five-set match, he has got to be absolutely fit. Such a game requires
+endurance as much as skill, and the man who is in the better condition,
+even if he is the poorer player, so far as science goes, is likely to be
+the winner.
+
+Every one who has played tennis, no matter how little, knows what an
+amount of exertion and lung-power is expended in a three or five set
+match, especially if the weather is at all warm or humid, as it
+usually is in this part of the country on the day set for a
+tennis-match--(unless it rains!) In order to be able to stand the strain
+of such an exertion, any one who is going to play tennis regularly and
+in tournaments during the summer should make it a point to lead as much
+as possible a regular life. One of the most important things is to get a
+good long rest every night, and especially on the night preceding a hard
+match. A good night's rest may only be obtained by retiring early. The
+trouble with a good many of our tennis-players is that, being at hotels
+or summer resorts for the playing of tournaments, they are apt to be led
+into sitting up late at night by the company or the entertainment which
+is at hand.
+
+Two hours sleep before midnight is recognized to be worth more than four
+hours of sleep in the morning, so far as refreshing the tissues of the
+body is concerned. For this reason tennis-players, and especially the
+younger men among them, to whom I hope to appeal in these columns,
+should avoid hops and dances at summer resorts, for this is the most
+common reason for sitting up late at night. A couple of hours' dancing
+in the evening, while it is fun, is exercise, and tires one. The man who
+has to play a match in the morning will feel that unpleasant weary
+sensation under the knees if he has danced the night before, and in the
+middle of about the second set he will wish he had gone to bed instead
+of to the ballroom.
+
+As for diet, there is no particular reason why this should be especially
+restricted. Good wholesome food will strengthen any one who is
+exercising, and constant exercise will likewise usually overcome the
+effect of a certain amount of rich food; but it is better for the
+general health not to tax the system with pastry and sweets and rich
+sauces. Especially at luncheon, before an afternoon match, should these
+dishes be shunned. It goes without saying that smoking should be
+avoided, for there is nothing worse than such indulgence for the "wind."
+
+While playing, either a match or practice sets, never under any
+circumstances drink anything. It is bad on general principles to drink
+when overheated, and while exercising in this way cold drinks will
+surely make a player feel badly, and eventually give him dyspepsia, if
+nothing worse. It is well to have a pail of fresh water--better still,
+oatmeal water--near the court, and there is no reason why the players
+should not occasionally wash out their mouths. In England, where there
+is even a greater fear of ice-water than there is among our own sensible
+people, tennis-players frequently take a little warm tea between sets
+when playing important matches. The tea, which is served not hot but
+only lukewarm, quenches the thirst very satisfactorily, and, in
+addition, acts as a stimulant to the system.
+
+After an afternoon of play on the courts it is a very good thing to
+retire to your room and use a pair of light wooden dumbbells for two or
+three minutes. This exercise is not fatiguing and does not take up any
+time, and makes a man feel refreshed and somewhat rested, for it brings
+into play a number of muscles that were not used on the court. It goes
+without saying that bathing is imperative after tennis, as it is, after
+all, exercise, and after the bath a rub down with a rough towel. The man
+who takes a cold bath in the morning will find himself better set up for
+the coming day's play, and it cannot be too strongly urged upon players
+at the sea-side to take a plunge before breakfast, if they can, in the
+salt water.
+
+To lay a grass court is not such a difficult matter as it might seem to
+one who has never attempted it, and as some of the readers of this
+Department seem to wish to be enlightened on this subject, it may be
+well to devote a few lines of explanation. We will suppose, of course,
+that the grass court is to be laid out on a lawn, and not on a bare
+space that must be sodded down. The portion of the lawn selected should
+be, of course, as flat and even as possible, and the court should be
+carefully measured out, but not necessarily marked out, before anything
+else is done. Then with sharp spades remove entirely all the existing
+turf. When this has been done the bare ground must be properly levelled
+and turned over, and a layer of fine soil about two inches deep should
+be laid on. Then replace the turf and beat it well down. It sounds like
+a heavy undertaking to remove the sod from the entire court space, but
+the results will justify the labor expended, and the court will be a
+much better one when completed than if the rough spots only had been
+taken up and smoothed over.
+
+This court should then be left for a week or two, to settle down, so to
+speak; and after that the grass should be carefully mowed. There is a
+good deal of skill in the use of a lawn-mower, and a good gardener can
+do more for the turf with this little machine than might at first be
+supposed. The grass ought not to be cut more frequently than once a week
+in the spring-time, but as the summer becomes older and the grass grows
+faster, it may be well to mow the court twice and possibly even three
+times in the week. In the early days of the court's construction, if it
+is not in demand for playing, the best thing is to allow the cut grass
+to remain on the lawn, for it acts eventually as a sort of fertilizer
+and develops a superior quality of turf.
+
+Next in importance to mowing is rolling. A lawn-roller need not be a
+large one, but its use should not be spared, and while the ground is
+soft in the spring the court should be rolled a little almost every day.
+On one day roll the lawn from end to end, and on the next roll it from
+side to side. But in spite of the most careful mowing and rolling, weeds
+will appear on every lawn, and if they are not attended to at once they
+will multiply so rapidly that the entire sodding will have to be torn up
+again and relaid. A very good way, in the spring, is to call in a couple
+of small boys and set them to work at pulling up weeds. The twenty-five
+or fifty cents that the small boys will consider ample payment for their
+labors is nothing compared to the nuisance and annoyance that weeds
+might cause later in the season. Recognizing this fact, it might be
+well, if the boys proved efficient as weed-pullers, to have them come in
+throughout the playing season, every fortnight or so, and thus keep the
+court in good condition.
+
+In this Department last year, at just about this season, were printed a
+couple of paragraphs telling of the construction of dirt and clay
+courts; it seems, therefore, unnecessary to return to that subject again
+this summer; but any of the readers of the Department who desire
+information on that subject may obtain it by addressing the Editor. It
+is not always possible, as I have said before, to answer by letter the
+many inquiries that come to this Department, but correspondents may feel
+assured that sooner or later their questions, if they are of general
+interest to sportsmen, will be answered here.
+
+[Illustration: Conger. Walsh. Bannister (Capt.).
+
+Dannatt. Armstrong. Mongovern. Davis. Flournoy. Whitson. Kelster.
+
+Carmichael. Berrien. Lake. Van Allen. Holmes. Lachmund.
+
+THE CLINTON, IOWA, HIGH-SCHOOL TRACK-ATHLETIC TEAM.]
+
+The Clinton High-School track-athletic team, a picture of which is given
+on another page, is the champion of the Iowa State High-School A.A.,
+having taken the greatest number of points again this year at their
+annual field-meeting. One of the most promising of the young athletes in
+the group is Flournoy, who came on with the Iowa team to the National
+Games, and participated in the high jump. Since the formation of the
+National Association there has been a great boom in track athletics in
+many of the Western States, where hitherto the interest had been more or
+less desultory, especially among the graduates, and without graduate
+interest little can be done by the young sportsmen themselves. Now,
+however, it looks as if Iowa and Wisconsin, and Ohio and Minnesota were
+in a fair way to develop strong school athletes, and within the next
+year or so these lads will surely become a factor in the interscholastic
+athletic development of this country.
+
+While it is perhaps a little early to begin the discussion of football,
+it is not out of place to call the attention of captains to the fact
+that the University Athletic Club has revised the rules of the game, and
+that in all probability this fall their code will be accepted by all the
+colleges in the country. Last year, as we all remember, there were two
+or three sets of rules, and Harvard played one way, while Yale played
+another way, and when matches were arranged between colleges that had
+early in the season adopted varying regulations, it was first necessary
+for the managers to meet and decide upon what should be considered fair
+ruling in the proposed match.
+
+Now this is done away with, and a new code has been accepted--a code
+that I feel sure will be better than anything we have had before. For
+the best heads evolved it, and the idea of the committee representing
+the University Athletic Club was to do away with the worst features of
+roughness in the game, at the same time retaining the science and the
+keen edge of the sport.
+
+These rules may not yet have been published, but I should advise every
+school football captain to inform himself concerning this, and to secure
+a copy of the book as soon as possible, in order that when he gets back
+to the gridiron he may be familiar with the changes and innovations that
+have been made, and thus gain time which must be spent in the study of
+the rules.
+
+No captain can be efficient unless he has the rules of the game at his
+fingers' ends; not only the general rules, but the various
+interpretations that can be put on points that only come up perhaps once
+in a season, but which often cause long delays and discussions when they
+do crop up, and the captains and umpires are uninformed concerning the
+penalties required.
+
+In the next issue of the ROUND TABLE we shall begin a series of
+descriptive articles on swimming and diving, which will run from rime to
+time in this Department, as the articles on track athletics were printed
+last year. The descriptions will be illustrated from instantaneous
+photographs taken of one of the most expert swimmers in the country, and
+it will be the object of the papers to so describe the science of
+swimming and diving that any boy who does not know how, but who has a
+pond near his home, may go out and soon learn the necessary strokes.
+
+"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL,
+$1.25.
+
+  THE GRADUATE.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: STAMPS]
+
+     This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
+     collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
+     on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
+     Editor Stamp Department.
+
+
+The discovery of a misspelled word on the new $1 silver certificate
+(tranquility instead of tranquillity) has led thousands of persons to
+believe that the government will call in all the bills, with the
+consequence that those remaining in the hands of the public will command
+a premium from "collectors." Nothing can be more erroneous.
+
+The marvellous growth in value of rare stamps has led to a widespread
+idea that there is an immense number of "collectors" in every
+department, that these "collectors" are waiting with money in their
+hands anxious to pay fancy prices for anything which is old or odd. As a
+matter of fact neither age nor scarcity makes a thing valuable. It is
+entirely a question of demand and supply. For instance, any book printed
+by Caxton (1474 to 1492) would be worth $5000 at least, and some of his
+books would bring $15,000 or more, each. Many other older books printed
+previous to these dates can be bought for $10 each. Why the difference?
+Simply this: Caxton was the first English printer, and his books are
+eagerly sought for in England by the great libraries and by English
+bibliophiles. The demand is great, the supply exceeding small, hence the
+continuous growth in values. On the other hand, thousands of big folio
+volumes of sermons and theological disquisitions in the Latin language,
+printed in Germany and elsewhere, at the same time as the Caxtons, or
+earlier, are in the market. The supply is immense, the demand very
+small, hence the very small prices, despite the fact that some of these
+books are quite as scarce as some of the Caxtons, and just as old.
+
+The same remarks apply to coins and other objects. Every week I receive
+requests to price old silver and copper coins, and when I reply that the
+U.S. coins are worth their face, and that the foreign coins are usually
+worth their weight as old silver, I do so convinced that my
+correspondents will feel disappointed. Previous to 1834 most of the
+silver money used in the U.S. was Spanish. Millions of these coins are
+still in existence, and to-day they are not current in any country, and
+are bought up by coin-dealers at about forty-five per cent. of their
+face value, and are melted into bullion.
+
+Old Roman and Greek coins are found in large quantities every year in
+tombs and in the ruins of old houses. Messrs. Hunt and Grenfell found
+two large jars of Roman silver and gold coins in Lower Egypt last winter
+in which were over 4000 coins in perfect preservation. The latest coins
+were those of Hadrian (A.D. 138) and Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161). All
+over Europe, Asia, and Africa similar finds are frequent. In June, 1833,
+some boys found a box containing 7000 coins, which were mostly English,
+of the reigns of William the Conqueror (A.D. 1066) and William Rufus
+(A.D. 1109). In 1832 the sexton of Hexham Church, while digging a grave,
+found a brass bucket containing over 8000 coins of the early Saxon Kings
+of England (about A.D. 800). In High Wycombe a shepherd boy found a
+large number of British gold coins which had been hidden over 1800
+years. In 1831 a chest containing over 200,000 coins of Edward I. and
+II. (about A.D. 1300) was unearthed at Tutbury, and not far from this
+find another box was dug up containing over 7000 gold and silver coins,
+mostly Saxon (about A.D. 850), but containing many foreign coins. It was
+probably the entire stock of some money-broker who was obliged to flee
+for his life.
+
+This list of great finds could be continued indefinitely, but enough has
+been said to show how common old coins are. The old Greek gold coins are
+scarce, and lately a demand for these has arisen, which has pushed up
+prices to nearly double what they were a year ago. Ordinary coins remain
+the same. Now nothing is more interesting than a collection of coins.
+For instance, specimens of the common coins of all countries and all
+ages. They are just as interesting as if they were all rare, and can be
+picked up at small prices with patience and a little going about. Gold
+coins would, of course, be out of the question, but copper and silver
+illustrate the different periods just as well. I know a collector who
+has over 500 coins, no two of the same reign, and representing over one
+hundred different countries. They give the owner and his friends much
+pleasure and information, and their entire cost was less than $125.
+
+  PHILATUS.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
+
+A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening
+strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._
+
+ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+[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.]
+
+This week we begin describing the trip from Chicago to Waukesha. A trip
+in the vicinity of Waukesha was given last week as being one of the best
+rides in that part of the country. The quickest way, of course, to reach
+Waukesha is by train, but it is a pleasant ride all the way from Chicago
+there on the wheel, and there is no reason why a wheelman with some time
+on his hands should not begin his journey at Chicago instead of at
+Waukesha. There are several ways of reaching Waukesha, but the one that
+we shall give in the next three weeks is usually considered the best,
+since it goes through the most attractive country, and over, on the
+whole, the best roads, although the distance is somewhat greater than by
+one or two other routes.
+
+The first stage will be from the Court-House in Chicago to Wheeling, a
+distance of about twenty-five miles. Leave the Court-House, and run out
+Washington Boulevard, through Union Park to Hoyne Avenue; then turning
+to the right into this, run to North Avenue, and turn here sharp to the
+right, and a moment later to the left into Milwaukee Avenue. Milwaukee
+Avenue runs out beyond Grayland, turns here slightly to the northward,
+and crosses the railroad track. It is what used to be called the old
+toll road, and crosses the railroad track at Jefferson Park. Immediately
+after crossing turn to the left, and follow the track up through Norwood
+Park, which is two miles further on, thence through Canfield to Park
+Ridge, and at Park Ridge leave the railroad track and turn right into
+the road that runs northward. This should be followed as marked on the
+map, with a sharp turn to the left and right about a mile out of Park
+Ridge, and a mile further on another sharp turn to the right, bringing
+the rider again into Milwaukee Avenue. Here keep to the left, and run
+northwestward through Grove to West Northfield, seven miles from Park
+Ridge. Thence the road zigzags three or four miles on to Wheeling.
+
+The road most of the way is reasonably good, partly block pavement, and
+partly ordinary country road in good condition. The run can easily be
+made in two hours by a moderately good rider; in three hours by any one
+who is able to ride twenty-five miles. If the rider has time it is well
+worth while to do this ride in the morning, and spend the afternoon at
+Wheeling, or running out here and there in the vicinity of that town--to
+Deerfield, for example, and back. Or it is quite possible to make the
+next stage of the journey to Waukesha in the afternoon, and this will be
+given in the coming week.
+
+     NOTE.--Map of New York city asphalted streets in No. 809. Map of
+     routes from New York to Tarrytown in No. 810. New York to Stamford,
+     Connecticut, in No. 811. New York to Staten Island in No. 812. New
+     Jersey from Hoboken to Pine Brook in No. 813. Brooklyn in No. 814.
+     Brooklyn to Babylon in No. 815. Brooklyn to Northport in No. 816.
+     Tarrytown to Poughkeepsie in No. 817. Poughkeepsie to Hudson in No.
+     818. Hudson to Albany in No. 819. Tottenville to Trenton in No.
+     820. Trenton to Philadelphia in No. 821. Philadelphia in No. 822.
+     Philadelphia-Wissahickon Route in No. 823. Philadelphia to West
+     Chester in No. 824. Philadelphia to Atlantic City--First Stage in
+     No. 825; Second Stage in No. 826. Philadelphia to Vineland--First
+     Stage in No. 827; Second Stage in No. 828. New York to
+     Boston--Second Stage in No. 829; Third Stage in No. 830; Fourth
+     Stage in No. 831; Fifth Stage in No 832; Sixth Stage in No. 833.
+     Boston to Concord in No. 834. Boston in No. 835. Boston to
+     Gloucester in No. 836. Boston to Newburyport in No. 837. Boston to
+     New Bedford in No. 838. Boston to South Framingham in No. 839.
+     Boston to Nahant in No. 840. Boston to Lowell in No. 841. Boston to
+     Nantasket Beach in No 842. Boston Circuit Ride in No. 843.
+     Philadelphia to Washington--First Stage in No. 844; Second Stage in
+     No. 845; Third Stage in No. 846; Fourth Stage in No. 847; Fifth
+     Stage in No. 848. City of Washington in No. 849. City of Albany in
+     No. 854; Albany to Fonda in No. 855; Fonda to Utica in No. 856:
+     Utica to Syracuse in No. 857; Syracuse to Lyons in No. 858; Lyons
+     to Rochester in No. 859; Rochester to Batavia in No. 860; Batavia
+     to Buffalo in No. 861; Poughkeepsie to Newtown in No. 864; Newtown
+     to Hartford in No. 865; New Haven to Hartford in No. 866; Hartford
+     to Springfield in No. 867; Hartford to Canaan in No. 868; Canaan to
+     Pittsfield in No 869; Hudson to Pittsfield in No. 870. City of
+     Chicago in No. 874.
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+MYSTERY OF SILVER PRINTING--(_Continued_).
+
+Chemists have proved that no substance is sensitive to light when
+perfectly pure and kept by itself in a dry place. If silver chloride is
+placed in a glass tube, the air exhausted, and the tube hermetically
+sealed, it may be exposed to sunlight, and will remain unchanged in
+color.
+
+The action of light on the silver chloride is to separate the chlorine
+from the silver, but there must be some substance with which the
+chlorine will combine, or the light will not decompose the chloride.
+(Decompose is to separate the parts composing a compound body.)
+
+For purposes of photography some substance must be used which will
+combine very quickly with the silver, and such a substance is found in
+silver nitrate. The chlorine set free by the action of light combines at
+once with the pure silver in the nitrate of silver. The chemical nature
+of the dark-colored substance produced by the action of light on the
+silver chloride is not yet fully determined, but most chemists agree
+that the silver chloride, when decomposed by light, produces silver
+sub-chloride and chlorine. (A sub-chloride is a chloride which contains
+more of the base than the acid. A molecule of silver chloride contains
+one atom of silver and one of chlorine, while a molecule of sub-chloride
+contains _two_ atoms of silver and one atom of chlorine.)
+
+This silver chloride is white, but passes through different shades of
+coloring, from a reddish-violet to a deep purplish-black, according to
+the length of time it is exposed to the light.
+
+When paper coated with a sensitive silver solution is placed under a
+negative and exposed to the sun, the light reaches the paper through
+different degrees of thickness, or density, in the gelatine film. In the
+part of the negative which represents the sky the film is quite thick,
+while in the part which represents the deep shadows it is thin,
+sometimes being almost transparent. The part of the paper which is under
+the portion of the negative representing the sky is scarcely affected by
+the light, but in that part representing the shadows the light acts at
+once, and quickly decomposes the silver chloride. When the paper is
+taken from the printing-frame it contains different grades of the
+deposit formed by the action of light on the silver chloride.
+
+     NOTE.--The first article in the series of "Chemistry of
+     Photography" was published in No. 867 (June 9). This article was on
+     the chemical elements, and contained the following paragraph:
+
+     "Each element is represented by a symbol, this symbol being the
+     first letter or letters of the name of the element. The symbol of
+     hydrogen is 'H': of oxygen is 'O'; of gold, 'Au,' the first two
+     letters of the word 'Aurum,' the Latin name for gold. Each symbol
+     also stands for the weight of one of its atoms. (An atom is
+     supposed to be the smallest possible division of a substance.)
+     Hydrogen is the _lightest_ element known, and is taken as the
+     standard of weight when comparing the weight of other atoms. The
+     symbol 'H' would therefore not only stand for the element hydrogen,
+     but for its atomic weight, 1, or a unit. An atom of oxygen is
+     _sixteen_ times as heavy as an atom of hydrogen, and an atom of
+     gold is 196 times as heavy."
+
+     In the next number of the ROUND TABLE a list of the chemicals
+     mentioned was given, but either through a typographical error or an
+     error in copy, the weight of hydrogen was given as "11," and that
+     of oxygen as "12." It should have been hydrogen "1," and oxygen
+     "16." Those who read the first paper would of course perceive the
+     mistake; but this correction is made for those who may not have
+     seen the first article, or may have forgotten the explanation.
+
+
+
+
+CAPTAIN JACK AND THE CANNIBALS.
+
+
+"Well! well! well!" said old Captain Jack, as Bobbie and Tom appeared
+before him on the beach in front of the Ocean House. "You boys back
+again, eh? Why, do you know, I never expected to see ye again? For a
+fact I didn't."
+
+"Why not?" asked Bobbie.
+
+"Why not?" echoed the old seafarer, as he leaned back against the old
+wreck and laughed. "Why not? Why, I takes the town paper, I does, an'
+las' winter I seed a squib in the town paper as said that two hungry
+cannabiles had descended on New York city, an' et up the whole
+poppylation. Mebbe you didn't belong to the poppylation. Some folks
+don't join everything there is a-goin'. Wasn't ye et up?"
+
+"How you do talk!" said Bobbie. "If we had been eaten up how should we
+be here?"
+
+"Simple enough! simple enough!" returned the old Captain, pulling away
+on his pipe. "I was et up once, therefore why not ye, says I," he added.
+
+"Eaten up? You?" cried Tom. "How could that be? You are here, aren't
+you?"
+
+"Yes, I be," returned the Captain. "But so also are you in spite of the
+fact that ar town paper says that two cannabiles has et up the
+poppylation of New York. If it's a-comin' to manufacture apologizing,
+it's your turn first."
+
+"Well," said Tom, "we don't want to make you mad, Captain Jack. If two
+cannibals ate up the population of New York, we escaped. Maybe we were
+in the back of the pantry, where they couldn't find us," he added, with
+a sly wink at Bobbie.
+
+"That's where I was," said Bobbie, resolved to be on good terms with the
+Captain anyhow. "I heard our next-door neighbors hollering away like
+everything, so I and my whole family hid away behind the ice-box."
+
+"Exactly," said Captain Jack, with a smile. "You was sensible, you was;
+an' so you escaped being et, but I never had no such luck. Cannabiles
+got hold of me oncet, an' if it hadn't been for my presence o' mind I
+wouldn't ha' been here now."
+
+"Why, what did they do?" asked Tom.
+
+"They et every bit o' me except my head," said Jack. "First they et my
+feet, then my legs, then my arms, an' then the rest o' me, except my
+head"--and Captain Jack sighed as he thought of it. "An' I tell ye,
+boys," he added, with a sad shake of his head, "it hurt awful,
+'specially when they were pickin' my bones."
+
+"But you're here now!" cried Bob.
+
+"Yes," said Captain Jack; "but from my collar down I'm false. I've one
+wooden leg, one cork leg--which keeps me up when I go in swimmin'--one
+wax arm, and another arm which I've growed since the cataract."
+
+"Cataract?" said Bob.
+
+"Cat-as-trophe, I guess you mean," said Tom.
+
+"One o' the two. I dun'no' which," said the old sailor. "I ain't never
+been particular about cats."
+
+And then he rose up and walked away, leaving the two boys wishing they
+had brought a few pins along with them to stick into him to see whether
+his legs were really cork and wood, as he had said.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN EXPLANATION.
+
+"Jacky, you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said Mrs. Harkins to her
+boy. "Mr. Hayseed tells me you picked all his cantaloupes and threw them
+into the well."
+
+"I did it for you," pleaded Jacky.
+
+"Me?" cried his mother.
+
+"Yes, I did," said Jacky. "They was only muskmelons, and you said you
+liked watermelons best, so I put 'em in the well."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+STARVED TO DEATH
+
+in midst of plenty. Unfortunate, yet we hear of it. The Gail Borden
+Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is undoubtedly the safest and best infant
+food. _Infant Health_ is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your
+address to N. Y. Condensed Milk Co., N. Y.--[_Adv._]
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+The Gown
+
+is like the veneer--it's the best foot forward; the smiling face of
+things. If you abrade the one, or the other gaps at the fastenings--it's
+very embarrassing.
+
+The DeLONG HOOK AND EYE never unhooks until you unhook it yourself.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+See that
+
+hump?
+
+RICHARDSON & DELONG BROS., Philadelphia.
+
+Also makers of the
+
+CUPID Hairpin.
+
+
+
+
+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
+
+
+
+
+STAMPS
+
+=10= stamps and large list =FREE=!
+
+L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamant, St. Louis, Mo.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Catching and Mounting Butterflies.
+
+     Will you kindly tell me how to catch, how to kill without pain, how
+     to mount, and on what to mount butterflies?
+
+  ZELL STEEVER.
+  "THE CAIRO," WASHINGTON, D. C.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+To properly catch butterflies for a collection do not use your hat or
+your fingers. Provide a net as shown in the illustration. Bend a light
+wire so as to form a hoop ten inches across, and fasten the two ends
+into a section of a fishing-rod or other light pole about four feet
+long. Over this hoop stretch netting as shown. Immediately the fly is in
+the net turn the hoop over, that it may not escape. If it be of large
+size, catch it at the base of the wings by your thumb and finger. Press
+hard enough to kill, but not to crush the body. If of small size, or if
+it does not hold its wings above its back, put your killing-bottle
+inside the net, drive the fly inside it, and let the poison do the rest.
+This killing-bottle is of glass, with a large mouth, and has a cork that
+projects sufficiently to be easily handled. Into the bottle put a piece
+of cyanide of potassium as big as a chestnut, and pour over it, to depth
+enough to cover it, plaster of Paris, letting the latter harden.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+To mount butterflies prepare a setting-board as shown in the
+illustration. Put the body into the groove, as here shown, and then,
+using a fine needle, spread the wings well, the front wings being quite
+well forward, and the hind wings well away from the body. Get the
+antennæ in position, and put two pins crossed under the abdomen so it
+does not fall. Put over the wings pieces of stiff cardboard, as in the
+cut, and bind them down with the string. Let them be on the
+setting-boards one week after you think them thoroughly dry. If insects
+become too dry to spread they can be softened by putting them, for a few
+hours, into a closed jar in which there is wet sand.
+
+There are various ways of arranging a permanent butterfly collection,
+but the best way is to provide a light box, two inches deep and 20x24
+inches square. Have the bottom of cork, and over the top put a cover
+with glass in it. Cover the cork bottom with white paper. Insects should
+be arranged as they are classified in science, each with a label below
+the insect giving scientific name, date and place of capture, and with
+both sexes present. With each ought to be placed the other stages of its
+life, if possible: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and cocoon, if it makes one.
+Some prefer to set insects on pins arranged to show their color to the
+best advantage, but this is not so good a plan from a scientific point
+of view. Designs might be a crown, a star, a wasp, or a butterfly, using
+beetles, wasps, and dragon-flies to vary colors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Storing and Transferring Wheat.
+
+     In this city are stored vast quantities of wheat. This wheat has to
+     be kept somewhere between crops, so to speak. Formerly it was
+     stored in great wooden structures called elevators. You have seen
+     such buildings, of course. But there were two serious objections to
+     wooden buildings for keeping grain. One was that rats, weevils, and
+     worms easily got through the wood. The other was the danger from
+     fire, and the consequently increased cost of insurance.
+
+     In Toledo the experiment was first tried of erecting immense steel
+     tanks for storing grain. These tanks would not burn, and rats could
+     not dig through them. Furthermore, they can be made air-tight, and
+     hence they preserve the grain.
+
+     A short distance from here, on the line of the Lake Shore and
+     Michigan Southern Railway, a new method has just been tried for
+     putting wheat into and getting it out of these tanks. The grain is
+     transferred by a system of tubes, through which are strong
+     air-currents, and the wheat is carried by the air just as a chip is
+     carried along by a stream of water. These air-tight tanks make the
+     flour you eat better than formerly, and the tubes for transferring
+     the wheat lessen its cost.
+
+  FRANK F. CLARK.
+  TOLEDO, O.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Answers to Kinks.
+
+No. 14.--Pope Gregory IX. Found by using capitals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 15.--Spear, pear, ear, ar.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 16.--Hot-ten-tot. An-a-gram, Mush-room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 17.
+
+Turtle, cod, salmon, duck, goose, onion, pea, olive, tongue, orange,
+plum, strawberry, sugar, milk, cold water.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No. 18.
+
+1, General Sher (Shire) man. 2, U. S. Grant. 3, B. Franklin. 4, Chauncey
+Depew (chance, seedy, pew). 5, Salmon Portland Chase. 6, P. T. Barnum
+(pea, tea, bar, numb). 7, Patrick Henry (pat, rick, hen, rye). 8,
+Abraham Lincoln (a, bray, ham, lin, con). 9, G. Washington (gee,
+washing, ton). 10, James A. Garfield. 11, Noah Porter. 12, Phil Sheridan
+(fill, sherry, den). 13, Daniel Webster (Dan, yell, web, star). 14,
+Benjamin Harrison. 15, Henry Ward Beecher (hen, reward, beech, err). 16,
+Oliver Wendell Holmes (olive, are, double u, homes.) 17, Thomas Edison.
+18, J. Russell Lowell (jay, russ, cell, low, well). 19, Kit Carson. 20,
+Captain Kidd (cap, tun, kid).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Questions and Answers.
+
+"Can you tell a New York city boy, who is interested in architecture,
+where he can get a chance, without expense, to read the illustrated
+architectural papers or magazines as they come out? Can you suggest the
+names of those which are best suited to help a boy ambitious to become
+familiar with this study?" You can read all the periodicals and books on
+this subject contained in the Astor and Cooper Institute libraries free
+of expense. Consult the _Architectural News_, which you will find on the
+Institute table; also _Gunton's Magazine_--advertisements as well as
+contents. Lewis J. Mather: No pins of the Order are in stock just now.
+Notice will be given on this page when a new stock is ready.
+"Would-be-Marine" should read the article by Admiral Gherardi in
+_Harper's Round Table_ for June 30 last. He can procure it through any
+dealer or direct from the publishers for five cents. In it he is told in
+great detail how to enter the navy, the requirements, pay, and chances
+of promotion.
+
+Will "H. K. M.", an autograph-collector, send us his or her full name
+and address? A Knight in France writes: "Will any Western Knight or Lady
+write to Sir Victor Cartier, 3 Rue Beauregard, Troyes, Aube, France, how
+farmers are making their own oatmeal, and about sweet-corn culture? He
+shall answer them any question concerning France. Sir Victor would like,
+too, to trade French stamps with people living in Africa, South America,
+China, Australia." Josephus Cinquemont: Ask your newsdealer for HARPER'S
+ROUND TABLE, which is HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE under a different name. You
+give no address. To insure a reply it is always best to send your
+address. Evon Foucht, 105 Bank Street, Dayton, O., is interested in
+magic, and wants correspondents who have ideas to trade with him. He is
+informed, in answer to his question, that the St. George and the Greek
+crosses are one and the same in form--as nearly as the types will allow
+us, this +. Look in Webster for a picture of the Greek cross. The St.
+George is not given there.
+
+Frank W. Dougherty, 1751 North Thirty-first Street, Philadelphia, is a
+"Shut in," aged thirteen, who has had to keep his room for three years.
+He is what the daily papers call a baseball "rooter," and is saving up
+colored pictures of ball-players. Can you send him some for his
+collection? Henry F. Schermerhorn: It is better to apply for a patent
+through an experienced attorney than to attend to the matter yourself.
+Models are no longer required.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AN UNEXPECTED RESULT.
+
+A party of American college graduates on a trip around the world were
+spending a few days in one of the smaller cities of India. Near by was a
+temple, in the grounds of which were always to be found a number of
+fakirs and jugglers and performers of wonderful tricks. One evening the
+Americans were joking with one of these miracle-workers, and succeeded
+in making him believe that they considered there was nothing wonderful
+about his performances. One of the Americans who had a knack of doing
+sleight-of-hand tricks, and who had cultivated his ability somewhat by
+entertaining his college mates with various feats of dexterity before he
+graduated, thought it would be a good joke to challenge the fakir to a
+competition. The juggler accepted, and called his assistants about him.
+It was decided that the American should perform the first trick; and he
+confided to his friends that he would make the fakir believe he had
+swallowed a lighted cigarette. Knowing how well he could perform this
+feat of sleight-of-hand, his companions smiled confidently. The American
+youth rolled up his sleeves and pulled from his pocket a cigarette,
+which he passed around among the Hindoos. He then took a match from his
+pocket and scraped it on the heel of his shoe.
+
+To the amazement of all the American travellers the natives uttered
+howls of dismay, and gathered up their goods and fled. Nothing could
+persuade them to come back again, and the Americans were considerably at
+a loss to know what had caused their fright. They learned a few days
+later from a low-caste Hindoo that the fakir and his friends had been
+scared almost out of their wits by the lighting of the match. "They are
+willing to do tricks with human beings," said the man, "but they have
+great fear of one who can pick up a small stick from the ground, and
+with it draw fire from his foot. The fakirs fear no man, but they would
+have the Prophet protect them from devils."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A SLOW TRAIN.
+
+Southern railroads have a reputation for slow travel, and in some cases
+it is well merited. A Western travelling-man, making a trip on these
+lines, suffered a great deal of annoyance from this particular failing,
+but up to the time of the following incident he had enjoyed himself
+immensely guying the conductors, trainmen, or any persons having to do
+with the roads, about their rapid transit.
+
+He was travelling one afternoon on an exceptionally slow train, which
+came to a stop every now and then without any apparent cause. After
+expressing himself very audibly to the passengers he resigned himself to
+the inevitable, and dozed off into short naps, which were interrupted by
+the sundry jerks of the train, at which he complained. The passengers
+showed their annoyance at these complaints by angry looks. The conductor
+had excused the engineer in every possible way. The last apology had
+been that cattle obstructed the track. The train had started again, and
+had proceeded about ten minutes, when it halted with a jerk. Up waked
+the impatient traveller, and petulantly remarked:
+
+"Dear, dear! I suppose, conductor, this worse than slow train has struck
+another herd of cattle?"
+
+"Struck another one?--not much," replied the conductor; "we've simply
+caught up again with the first herd we ran into, that's all."
+
+The traveller subsided, and the conductor was left in peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+NO HIRING ABOUT THE MATTER.
+
+Probably one of the neatest bits of sharp bargaining ever enacted took
+place not long ago between an apparently ignorant German with an
+abundance of wealth and a sharp dealer in horses. The German wanted a
+day's outing, and decided that a long drive would suffice for his wants,
+and applied to the horse-dealer for the hire of his best horse and trap.
+The dealer, not knowing the applicant, demurred at supplying his wants.
+The German, determined to have his ride, finally pulled out a huge roll
+of bills, and offered to buy the horse and rig, provided the dealer
+would buy them back at the same price. This surprised the dealer, but
+not wishing to offend the owner of so much ready money and possibly a
+good future customer, he agreed to the deal.
+
+The German departed with the horse and rig, and at the end of the day
+returned them in good condition, expressing his satisfaction at the
+pleasure the drive had afforded him. The dealer, according to the
+agreement, paid him back the money, and the German started to leave the
+place.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," exclaimed the dealer, "but you have forgotten
+to pay for the hire, you know."
+
+"Pay for the hire? Why, my dear sir," coolly replied the German, "I fail
+to see that. If you will exercise your memory a trifle you will agree
+that I have been driving my own horse and trap all day, and, now you
+have bought them back, they are yours. There was no hiring about the
+matter. Good-day, sir." And he left the astonished dealer to reflect.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ivory Soap]
+
+The popular wash silk waists can be made as fresh as new by washing in a
+suds of Ivory Soap. The gloss is restored by ironing when almost
+perfectly dry. Use no starch.
+
+THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO, CIN'TI.
+
+
+
+
+JOSEPH GILLOTT'S
+
+STEEL PENS
+
+Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F.
+
+And other styles to suit all hands.
+
+THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+POPULAR BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+By KIRK MUNROE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The kind of stories that healthy, hearty boys are apt to
+like._--Independent, N. Y.
+
+_Master of the art which keeps the young reader's interest at a
+tension._--N. Y. Sun.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES
+
+A Sequel to "The Fur-Seal's Tooth."
+
+Brimful of adventures admirably recorded. The young folks will take
+delight in it.... We confess to having read every word of the journal
+with as much interest as we once read "Robinson Crusoe" or the "Swiss
+Family Robinson."--_Christian Intelligencer_, N. Y.
+
+A book which will hold the interest of its readers from beginning to
+end.--_N. Y. Evening Post._
+
+THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH
+
+There is plenty of moving incident in the tale, and the atmosphere,
+redolent of seals and the life of that stormy clime, will delight all
+boys.--_Spectator_, London.
+
+CANOEMATES
+
+An entertaining story for boys, and will usefully enlarge their
+knowledge of our great Atlantic peninsula.--_N. Y. Evening Post._
+
+RAFTMATES
+
+The story has a strong, wholesome tone, and will hold the interest of
+boy readers from first to last page.--_Churchman_, N. Y.
+
+CAMPMATES
+
+An excellent record of the early development of certain Western cities
+and of certain Indian tribes now fast disappearing.--_Critic_, N. Y.
+
+DORYMATES
+
+A wholesomely exciting tale of adventure which any bright boy might
+consider a valuable addition to his library.--_Christian Intelligencer_,
+N. Y.
+
+Each one volume. Illustrated. Post 8vo. Cloth, $1.25.
+
+The "Mates" Series, Four Volumes in a Box, $5.00.
+
+RICK DALE
+
+A thrilling story of the Northwest coast. (_In Press._)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WAKULLA
+
+A Story of Adventure in Florida.
+
+The book will prove specially attractive to boys from its spice of
+adventure, and it will not be less valuable because it conveys a little
+covert instruction.--_Springfield Republican._
+
+DERRICK STERLING
+
+A Story of the Mines.
+
+A bright, vivid, and often thrilling tale ... graphically
+illustrated.--_Brooklyn Eagle._
+
+THE FLAMINGO FEATHER
+
+On the slender thread of tradition Mr. Munroe has strung a series of
+fascinating adventures. The story is certain to hold the attention of
+young readers, and is wholesome from beginning to end.--_Literary
+World_, Boston.
+
+CHRYSTAL, JACK & CO.
+
+And Delta Bixby. Two Stories.
+
+Two lovely little stories for children.... There is a good, healthy tone
+in Mr. Munroe's books that commends them to readers of every
+age.--_Philadelphia Public Ledger._
+
+Each one volume. Illustrated. Square 16mo, Cloth, $1.00
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: MR. COIN. "I AM NOT FEELING VERY WELL THIS MORNING."
+
+MR. OLD BLADE. "OH, CHEER UP, OLD MAN; WE ALL HAVE OUR DULL DAYS."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WHY SHE DIDN'T SMILE.
+
+"Why are you pouting to-day, Jennie dear? Aren't you happy?"
+
+"I'm very happy," said Jennie.
+
+"Then why don't you smile as you generally do, and show us those pretty
+little white teeth?"
+
+"That's just it. They ain't white. I've been eating blueberry pie."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DISCONTENTED SAMMY.
+
+DISCONTENTED SAMMY. "I wish I was down at the sea-shore instead of up
+here in the mountains."
+
+JIMMIEBOY. "What would you be doing at the sea-shore?"
+
+DISCONTENTED SAMMY. "I'd be wishin' I was back here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A GREAT CLIMBER
+
+"Do you do much climbing, Harold?" asked the newly arrived guest.
+
+"Well, in a way I do," said Harold. "Papa climbs all over the mountains,
+and I climb all over papa."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+JIMMIEBOY'S DESSERT.
+
+It was at dinner at the Profile House.
+
+"I'll have some blueberry pie and some ice-cream," said papa.
+
+"You may bring me some jelly and cream-cakes," said mamma.
+
+"And what will you have?" asked the waitress of Jimmieboy.
+
+"I'll have the same," said Jimmieboy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A POPULAR FEATURE.
+
+"I just love it here," said Bobbie.
+
+"What do you like best about it?" asked the good farmer's wife.
+
+"You haven't any bath-tub in the house," said Bobbie.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two brawny sunburnt sons of Ireland met each other on the street shortly
+before an eclipse of the sun.
+
+"Hallo, Pat! are yez goin' ter see the 'clipse?"
+
+"Faith, Tim, oive no tiliscope."
+
+"Oi wonder at yer ignorance. Go home an' smoke some glass if yez want
+ter see it. That's as good as all the tiliscopes yez can git."
+
+"Shure if that's all yez have ter do, that's aisy enough."
+
+Some hours later Tim was passing down the street when he espied Pat
+sitting on his stoop staring at the sky and madly pulling away at a
+short stump of a pipe from which no smoke issued.
+
+"Did yez see the 'clipse, Pat?" he called out.
+
+"Nary a bit of wan have I seen. Is it over?"
+
+"Over? Sure; an hour ago."
+
+"Well, then" (and here Pat hurled his pipe out into the road), "it's all
+the fault of that glass. Oi must have smoked the wrong kind."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is said that the sagacity and memory of the elephant exceed those of
+any other animal. This is very possible, as in the many cases reported
+the incidents bearing on these two particulars surpass those of other
+animals.
+
+One of the recent stories related of an elephant's astuteness contains
+an element of doubt, but the comic side of it makes up for that
+delinquency. It seems that this particular native African was an attaché
+of a travelling circus, and part of his performance consisted in sitting
+on a stool in front of a piano and producing some hideous discords
+called music. One day, having hit the instrument heavier than usual, he
+irreparably smashed it. A new one was purchased, but when the elephant
+took his place on the stool as usual he absolutely refused to do his act
+and groaned very miserably. He was led out, and after a short time the
+manager entered with this excuse:
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen, I regret that the disobedience of Jack has caused
+you a loss of pleasure; but unfortunately the poor fellow discovered
+that the ivory in the keys of the piano came from his mother's tusks,
+and he couldn't play for grief."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+AFTER EXCITEMENT.
+
+FARMER. "Come down with me. Jack, and I'll show you the cows."
+
+JACK. "Hoh! Cows ain't exciting to anything but girls. If mamma'll put
+my red suit on me I'll go look at the bull."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+WALLIE'S IDEA OF IT.
+
+"Papa," said Wallie, "I wish you'd buy me a shovel. I get awfully
+thirsty in the daytime."
+
+"What on earth has a shovel to do with that?"
+
+"Well, somebody told me that on farms when you wanted water you had to
+dig a well."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A GOOD THING TO BE.
+
+"Wish I was a squash vine," sobbed Wilbur, after he had been punished
+for trampling down the corn. "Squash vines can run all about the garden,
+and nobody complains."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A SMALL GIRL'S DISCOVERY.
+
+"I know why it's such fun to play in the hay," said little Anne. "It's
+because hay tickles you and makes you laugh."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, August 11, 1896, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58997 ***