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diff --git a/59045-0.txt b/59045-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffd3a2a --- /dev/null +++ b/59045-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3216 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59045 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] + +Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY. + +VOL. XVII.--NO. 877. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE "FLYING DUTCHMAN" UP TO DATE. + +ONE OF THE OLD SAILOR'S YARNS. + +BY W. J. HENDERSON. + + +It was the day before a great storm. Any one familiar with the face of +the sea could have told that. The sky was a dead, dull sheet of cold +leaden-gray cloud, and the color of it was reflected in a darker shade +in the vast expanse of heaving waters. From the southward and eastward +long, broad, oily swells were rolling in a formidable procession. As +each one swept into the shallow water close to the shore it reared +itself in a curving pinnacle of gray shot with green. Then it whitened +in a quivering, broken line along its crest, and rushing forward, hurled +itself upon the beach in a crashing swirl of snowy foam. Not a breath +of air was stirring. The atmosphere was damp and heavy, and it seemed to +clog the lungs. Sounds along the shore were preternaturally clear in the +intervals between the thunder-bursts of the surf, and the crowing of a +cock at a farm-house half a mile away could be distinctly heard. Not a +sail was to be seen except far away in the northeast, where the light +canvas of a schooner showed above the wavering line of the horizon. +Nearer at hand a south-bound steamer was ploughing her way seaward, +rolling so perilously that the yawning throat of her fuming black +smokestack lay wide open toward the land at every starboard lurch of +her. The Old Sailor was sitting in his accustomed place on the pier, +gazing around the horizon and shaking his head. There was no doubt that +the day or the ship in sight had aroused in his mind some reminiscent +train of thought. So Henry and George, who had caught sight of him, +determined to join him. They walked quickly out on the pier, but before +they reached their friend, he turned his head and called out, + +"Wot d'ye think of 't?" + +"Of what?" asked Henry, as they paused beside him. + +"O' the weather." + +"It looks as if we were going to have a severe storm," said Henry. + +"Werry good; werry good indeed," declared the Old Sailor, gazing around +the horizon once more and indulging in one of his silent laughs. "An' +s'posin'," he continued, "I was to go fur to ax you wot quarter would +the wind come in, wot'd ye say?" + +"Southeast," answered George, confidently. + +"Not so werry good," commented the Old Sailor. "Ye can't allus say that +the wind are a-goin' fur to come from the same quarter as the swells is +a-comin' from. I reckon we'll git this fust o' the no'theast, an' then +east, an' then southeast, an' so on around to nor'west, w'ere it'll +clear off. It are a-goin' to be one o' them there cycloons wot ye read +about. An' w'en it comes, w'y, gimme plenty o' sea-room an' a good stout +main-torps'l; that's wot." + +The Old Sailor relapsed into a deep silence, and the boys waited +patiently for several minutes, knowing that if there was any memory at +work within him it would surely work its way out. In about five minutes +the old man suddenly broke out thus: + +"Ye may paral and sarve me with fish bones ef this ain't the werry +identical kind o' day wot it happened on, 'ceptin' as how it didn't +really happen till night, an' it are now not more'n five bells in the +arternoon watch. I were a-takin' the brig _Banana Peel_ out from St. +Paul de Loanda to Delagoa Bay with a cargo of frankfurter sausages, +condensed milk, leather shoelaces, an' beeswax. The Cap'n, Jerubabel +Moxon, were took sick o' coast-fever in St. Paul, an' had to be left +there. So bein' I were the fust mate an' it were my dooty fur to take +command an' perceed with the woyidge aroun' the Cape an' into Delagoa +Bay, I called at Cape Town fur some fresh purwisions an' water, and we +laid at anchor in Table Bay fur two days. W'en I were a-gittin' ready +fur to git under way a old boatman sez to me, sez he, 'Ef I was you, I'd +wait a day or two longer. It are a-goin' to blow putty fresh from the +east'rd, an' ye won't be able fur to double the Cape.' But seein' as how +there weren't no other signs o' weather 'ceptin' his talk, I reckoned +I'd go ahead, an' I did. + +"Waal, boys, we hadn't no more'n got clean out to sea nor she come on in +stiff puffs onto the east'rd, an' in about three hours it were blowing +half a gale. I laid the brig close-hauled on the port tack, but she made +leeway by the rood, and I knowed I were a-headin' a good deal nigher fur +the antarctic continent than fur the Cape o' Good Hope. Fur three days +an' nights that easter blowed. It warn't never a whole gale, but it kep' +us under short canvas, an' riz enough sea fur to keep us way down to +leeward all the time, an' when it bruk we was two hundred miles sou'west +o' the Cape. Now we got a southerly wind, an' in twenty-four hours we +doubled the Cape o' Good Hope, and I laid the course to weather Cape +Agulhas. Blow me fur pickles, ef it didn't fall a flat calm w'en we was +off that cape, jess like this one to-day, with a mos' disorganizin' +swell a-runnin' in from the southeast. I seed that it were a-goin fur to +come on to blow, but wot could I do? We was about ten miles off the +land, an' them swells a-settin' us in toward it all the time at a mos' +amazin' pace. I wished as how I were back on the other side o' Good +Hope, w'ere them same swells would 'a' bin a-settin' us off shore. +Howsumever, it warn't no use wishin'; 'cos w'y, wishes ain't +steam-engines or perpellers, an' won't make ships go w'en there ain't no +wind. + +"Waal, there we was, a-buggaluggin' aroun' in the mos' permiskous +fashion, like a fly in a plate o' butter. Night come on darker'n the +inside o' an empty mess-chest with the lid shut down. We was a-rollin' +an' a-rollin' so that I were more'n half afeard as how we'd roll the +masts out o' the bloomin' hooker, an' most o' the men was on deck +hangin' on fur dear life, an' waitin' to hear the wind begin fur to +howl. But I kinder b'lieved myself that we wouldn't get it afore +mornin'. Waal, all on a suddent down to the south'ard an' west'ard, on +our stabboard quarter, there comes one o' the mos' awful ear-splittin' +screeches I ever heerd in all my life. We all held our breath, an' I +reckon most on us turned white. 'Cos w'y, none on us ever heerd any sich +sound afore. In about three minutes we heerd it ag'in. Then the whole +sky down there lit up with a big green flash, as ef all the green +fireworks on 'arth'd gone off at oncet. + +"'Wot in bloomin' Africa are it?' sez I to Hiram Sink, my mate, sez I. + +"'Ghosts, sure,' sez he to me, sez he. + +"I were jess a-goin' to tell him that ghosts didn't walk aroun' at sea +an' set off fireworks, w'en a shout from the hands forrad stopped me. +There, broad off our stabboard quarter, about a mile away, were a brig +lined out against the sky in a reg'lar skellington o' waverin' fire. It +were the palest greenest sort o' fire, an' she looked like the ghost o' +a brig. + +"'The _Flyin' Dutchman_!' sez Hiram Sink, sez he. + +"'By the great anchor flukes, them's it!' sez I. + +"An' at that werry identical minute there were another one o' them awful +screeches, an', pst! that there brig jess went out, like as ef ye'd +turned off the gas. + +"'We 'ain't got no show to git out o' this,' sez Hiram Sink, sez he. + +"'Nary show. We got to go on them rocks sure,' sez I to he, sez I. + +"A werry few minutes arter that a hand forrard yells, 'Steamer on the +stabboard bow!' + +"An', sure 'nuff, we could see the lights in her cabin. Nex' thing I +knowed, there were a launch off our quarter, an' a voice hailed us, + +"'Aboard the brig there!' + +"'Hello!' sez I. 'Who on 'arth are you?' + +"'I'm the owner o' that steam-yacht up there, an' I want to come aboard +you,' sez he. + +"'Come on, then,' sez I. + +"So the launch come alongside, an' the man comes aboard. He sartinly +were a pikooliar pusson. His face were so full o' wrinkles it looked +like it were made o' rope, an' he had a stiff mustache as white as +chalk. His eyes was little an' black an' piercin'. But he were dressed +in the swellest kind o' yachtin' toggery ye ever seed, an' spite o' his +lookin' a hundred years old, he skipped over the side like a midshipman. +He come up to me with a jolly laugh, slapped me on the back, an' sez he +to me, sez he, + +"'How'd ye like the show?' + +"'Wot show?' sez I to he, sez I. + +"'W'y, my show down yonder--shrieks, lightnin', ghost ship, an' all +them--eh?' + +"'W'y,' sez I to he, sez I, 'we thort it were the _Flyin' Dutchman_.' + +"'So it were,' sez he to me, sez he, jess like that, me bein' Cap'n o' +the brig, an' him a grinnin' Methuselah in yachtin' togs. + +"'Wot d'ye mean?' sez I. + +"'I'm the Flyin' Dutchman, the only one in the business, Cap'n G. W. +Vanderdecken,' sez he. + +"'But it ain't reg'lar at all,' sez I. 'Wot are you a-doin' of with a +steam-yacht an' them clothes?' + +"'Wot did ye expect? W'y, I'm up to date, I am,' sez he, laffin' like +he'd bust hisself. 'I ain't no old moth-eaten barnacle-covered, worn-out +spook. I'm a real, live, wide-awake Flyin' Dutchman, right down here in +my own partikler latitoods, an' out an' 'tendin' to business w'en +there's thick weather a-brewin'. It'll blow a livin' gale by mornin'.' + +"An' with that he went into sech a fit o' laffin' I thort he'd putty +well choke hisself to death, an' I 'mos' wished he would, him a-comin' +aroun' scarin' sailor-men, an' makin' fun o' 'em w'en they was in danger +o' shipwrack an' death. + +"'Waal,' sez I to he, sez I, 'ef you be the Flyin' Dutchman, you'd +better go back to wherever you come from, an' let us get wracked in +peace. We ain't in no humor to be laffed at,' sez I to he, sez I, jess +like that. + +"'W'y,' sez he, 'ye might jess as well laff as cry, 'cos w'y, arter +ye're all dead ye can't do nothin'.' + +"'Waal,' sez I, gittin' putty mad, 'there's one thing I can do afore I +goes to Davy Jones's locker; I can throw you overboard.' + +"I made a move toward him, an' he jumped back an' pulled a whistle out +o' his pocket an' blowed it. The nex' second the air jess shook with +them awful screams ag'in, an' the yacht blazed up in streaks o' fire. I +stopped like I were shot. + +"'Good show, ain't it?' sez he. 'There ain't nothin' like it a-scourin' +the high seas.' + +"With that he dances aroun' on one leg an' laffs ag'in like a crazy +hyena. + +"'Look here,' sez I to he, sez I, 'I don't see wot business you got with +a steam-yacht, anyhow.' + +"'W'y,' sez he to me, sez he, 'you made one kick about that already. Wot +d'ye s'pose? D'ye think I'm goin' to be behind the times? 'Ain't I got +as good a right to have all the modern improvements as any other man +afloat?' + +"'But the last time I seed you,' sez I, 'were about ten year ago, an' +you had a old-fashioned sailin'-vessel then.' + +"'An' wot good were she?' sez he, speakin' kind o' mad like. 'I couldn't +git to wind'ard in her in any sort o' weather at all.' + +"'O' course not,' sez I to he, sez I. 'Ye ain't expected to git to +wind'ard. You're expected to be down here a-tryin' to double this 'ere +cape in a gale o' wind an' gittin' blowed back.' + +"'Waal, my son,' sez he to me, sez he, 'we got all that old story +changed now. That's wot used to happen to me, but it don't happen no +more. I got a steamer now, an' I can git to wind'ard in putty poor +weather. An' as for doublin' this 'ere cape, I jess do that two or three +times a year fur my health, an' to keep up my repitation. It wouldn't do +fur me never to be seed down here at all; 'cos w'y, a lot o' you +ignerent sailor-men'd git so ye wouldn't b'lieve in me, an' then my +occupation'd be gone. I jess showed up fur you as a matter o' business, +an' I'm sure I give you a mighty good show, too. An' now here you are +a-grumblin' an' a-kickin' an' a-talkin' about throwin' me overboard. Not +as I'd mind bein' in the sea werry much, 'cos ye can't drown me, ye +know. But I got feelin's, I have, an' I don't like to be treated bad by +nobody at all, I don't.' + +"An' blow me fur pickles ef the old willain didn't pull out his +hankercher an' wipe his eyes jess like he were a-cryin'. + +"'Ef you don't want to hear hard words from sailor-men,' sez I to he, +sez I, 'don't go fur to come fur to appear to 'em off this 'ere cape an' +bring on foul weather an' shipwrack.' + +"'Ah, say,' sez he, takin' the hankercher from his eyes and commencin' +fur to laff ag'in, 'd' you b'lieve that tommy-rot?' + +"'Wot!' sez I, 'ain't you the cause o' this 'ere weather?' + +"'Naw-w-w,' sez he, disgusted like. + +"'Waal,' sez I, 'you're the sign o' 't.' + +"'Not edzackly,' sez he. 'I allers turn on my show w'en there's bad +weather comin'. I got to. I got to keep up my repitation. W'y, wot'd +Herne the Hunter, the Erl-King, the Headless Horseman, an' old Mother +Erda think o' me ef I didn't attend to business? I'd git kicked out o' +respectable spook society, an' w'ere in goodness'd I go then?' + +"There not seemin' to be no fittin' answer to that there inquiry, I +didn't make none. No more did Hiram Sink, him havin' lost his breath +w'en Vanderdecken first came aboard, an' not bein' able to speak. + +"'But I want to tell you one thing,' sez the Flyin' Dutchman, sez he; +'ef it's the weather an' the lee shore you're a-worrin' about, I can +prove to ye that I 'ain't got no sort o' interest in it.' + +"'How can ye do that?' sez I to he, sez I. + +"'I'll tow ye round the cape,' sez he. + +"Waal, my sons, ye could 'a' knocked me down with a compass-card. Who +ever heard o' the Flyin' Dutchman doin' sich a thing? + +"'All right,' sez I to he, sez I. 'Will you give us a line?' + +"'Sure,' sez he; 'look out there forrad.' + +"He blowed that whistle o' his a couple o' times, an' the end o' a +heavin'-line lit onto my fo'k's'le deck. The hands was 'mos' afraid to +touch it, but bime-by Hiram Sink got the hawser aboard an' made fast. +The Flyin' Dutchman's launch were dropped astern, an' his bloomin' +steam-yacht went ahead, towin' us along at about seven knots an hour. As +fur him he walked up an' down the deck mumblin' to hisself like he were +puffickly disgusted with the entire perceedin's. Arter he'd towed us +putty well past the cape, an' I commenced fur to feel a leetle easier in +my mind, I walked up to him, an' sez I to he, sez I, + +"'Look here, Mr. Flyin' Dutchman.' + +"'Waal, Mr. Sailin' American, wot are it?' + +"'I'd like fur to have the privilege o' axin' you a fair question.' + +"'Heave ahead,' sez he, 'an' I'll answer 't ef I likes.' + +"'What brought ye aboard o' my vessel, anyhow?' + +"'Waal,' sez he, 'I'm out o' baccy, an' I thort as how ye might let me +have a little.' + +"'Oho!' sez I to he, sez I, 'I s'pose ye can't lay in a cargo 'cos ye +kin only land once in seven years.' + +"'Aw, gammon!' sez he, 'I can land w'enever I wants to.' + +"'But how about keepin' up yer repitation?' sez I. + +"'That's all right,' sez he. 'Who's goin' to know me in broad daylight +with a steam-yacht an' in these togs? W'y, I'm goin' up to Calcutta as +quick as I can get there.' + +"I told him to wait a minute, an' I went an' got him a box o' smokin' +baccy, an' he were werry grateful fur 't, too. + +"'Now,' sez I to he, sez I, 'I got to tell ye somethin' afore ye go.' + +"'Waal,' sez he, 'wot are it?' + +"'I can't jess edzackly b'lieve,' sez I, 'that you're ginuwine.' + +"'Ginuwine wot?' sez he. + +"'Genuwine Flyin' Dutchman.' + +"'Wot!' sez he. 'Waal, jess you wait a few minutes an' I'll show ye.' + +"With that he jumped over the rail. I thort he were in the sea, but I +seed him in his launch goin' out ahead o' us. At the same time the +tow-line gave a jerk an' parted right under our fore-stay. The nex' +minute them awful screams bruk out ag'in, an' then the Flyin' Dutchman's +yacht came down past us at a twenty-knot gait. She were red hot all +over, an' steam hissed from the sea as she passed. Her masts and spars +looked to be all afire, an' on the bridge in a cloud o' smoke stood the +Flyin' Dutchman hisself, smokin' a pipe o' the baccy I give him. An' he +looked like he were a sheet o' white fire. + +"'Ha, ha, ha, ha!' he yelled. 'Ye don't believe I'm genuwine, eh? I'll +show ye!' + +"An', pst! him an' the yacht an' the fire an' the steam was gone, jess +like that, leaving the sea blacker'n ink. An' the nex' minute whee-oop +come the gale, not out o' the southeast, but out o' the no'theast. An' +it blowed us back two hundred mile, dismasted us, an' generally used us +up. An' I don't want to be towed by the Flyin' Dutchman ag'in." + + + + +A DAY WITH SAND-PIPER SNIPE, ESQ. + +BY DUDLEY D. F. PARKER + + +There is no pleasanter way of spending a day than snipe-shooting, and +there are many reasons why it is so popular. The birds are to be found +almost anywhere where water and sedge-grass abound, though the best +shooting-grounds are the salt-meadow-bordered bays on the coast. When a +bird is shot there is small danger of losing it as compared to that in +upland or thicket shooting, and a dog is not a necessity, as all +wing-shots are generally made over water or short grass, where the bird +can easily be recovered. Most boys are not so fortunate as to possess a +good dog, and as very fine snipe-shooting can be had without one, it is +especially fitted for them. The bird when "flushed" anywhere near the +water will fly out over it. + +[Illustration: THE BEACH SNIPE.] + +The bird that will be especially referred to in this paper will be the +ordinary little beach snipe that is so common everywhere, though what +remarks apply to him will, with very slight exceptions, apply to all of +the snipe family. + +The sand-piper always flies on a dead level, about a foot above the +water, unless the flock is flying high to escape some obstruction. He +propels himself with a jerky motion of the wings, a stroke, and then an +instant's soaring, at a pretty fair rate of speed. The "yellow leg," a +larger variety, on the contrary, flies quite high, and sometimes in the +formations adopted by the wild-duck. They can always be recognized by +their peculiar whistling call. The predominating colors of the snipe +family are gray and white, though some few have a touch of brown on the +back plumage. There is also a slight variation in the length and shape +of the bill, though the character is about the same in all. The legs of +the snipe are long and a greenish-yellow in color; those of the "yellow +leg" being almost a bright yellow. The sand-piper is a very rapid +walker, or perhaps, more properly, runner, and this remarkable facility +should always be borne in mind when a bird is only "winged." When not +frightened they usually travel in a very irregular course along a beach, +but when frightened they will make as straight a line as the best +sprinter. These little birds are very good swimmers and divers, +remaining under water for a long time, propelling themselves with great +rapidity by the use of their wings. + +Sand-piper Snipe is a very sociable little fellow, and travels with lots +of company, though the snipe are split up into small flocks during the +latter part of June, July, and the first part of August, when they are +breeding, usually beginning to flock again about the middle of August. +No true sportsman will shoot during this season. Aside from that, it is +against the game laws; the old birds are not fit to eat, and there are +in the latter part of the breeding season large numbers of small flocks +of young birds who are too small to be of any use, and are so tame that +it is possible to decimate a whole flock by a single barrel as they are +bunched on the beach. This is not the aim of the sportsman. + +A word about the game laws. You should always respect them. They were +made for your and all sportsmen's benefit, and not as a means of +annoyance. If you kill the birds whilst breeding, or destroy the young, +there will soon be little left in the country to shoot. + +There are three times to find the snipe at rest: in the early morning, +shortly after sunrise; at low tide, when the ground usually under water +is exposed, so they can pick up the sand insects and feed on the +sea-grasses that the high-water has brought up; and in the evening, when +the flocks are coming to rest for the night. The early morning and +low-water are the best times, as the birds will be found along the +water's edge feeding, whilst in the evening they usually retire some +distance inland on the meadows, and after they are settled in the grass +for the night it is pretty hard to get them up again. There is sometimes +a pretty fair show of finding the birds on the beach feeding just before +sundown. It must be remembered, however, that the strength and direction +of the wind have much to do with the number of snipe. The above is in +fair weather, and now for the ideal "snipe weather." + +If you live on the Jersey coast, or any of the neighboring ones, and +wake up one September morning with a good southeaster, which has been +blowing since the previous evening, rattling around your windows, +accompanied by drizzle, get up and put on your shooting "togs," oil your +gun well, and prepare for a good day's sport. The birds do not like to +fly in a high wind, and will almost always come up into the coast bays +and rivers to feed on the overflowed meadows that such storms produce. + +It is a rather difficult thing to determine on what kind of ground you +will find snipe; some days they will be found in great abundance in one +locality, and the day after hardly a bird will be seen. The weather has +something to do with this, and by a careful study of it some idea may be +gained as to where to find the birds, though this will not always prove +reliable. + +When the wind in a storm is not too high, the birds usually remain on +the sea-beach, but when it is violent you will run a pretty fair chance +of finding them inland. During the southeaster mentioned, if the wind is +rather high and there is a heavy tide, Sand-piper likes nothing better +than to spend the day paddling around on the flooded salt-meadows, +picking up the little worms and bugs that have been soaked out of their +homes in the grass and soil. Here you will find him in large flocks, +travelling by short flights from one end of the meadow to the other, +showing very little disposition to move on. But above all his happiness +seems wholly complete if he can find a meadow on which the grass has +been cut and not collected in mows at the time of the overflow. The +floating grass affords a refuge for all the washed-out bug inhabitants +of the meadow, and the snipe make the most of the rare treat offered. +This kind of meadow-shooting is very pleasant, as the birds will not fly +far when "flushed," and it is possible to follow a flock all around the +meadow, securing several shots before it takes flight for good. The +sedge islands at the mouths of rivers and bays are great feeding-grounds +when the wind is not so high, and tide not sufficient to flood the +fields. + +Sometimes on the day after a storm pretty good shooting can be had on +the meadows that have been overflowed. The soil is usually of a clayey +character, and the water does not drain off in the lower places very +rapidly, forming puddles and patches of slimy mud around which the birds +like to feed. They are usually found on the sea-beach just before or +after a storm. + +The favorite haunts of snipe in fine weather, at low water, are the +little sand or mud beaches bordering the sedge islands and meadows, and +in the inlets along the water-front. + +There are three methods of shooting snipe: tramping the beach, crawling +up on them by boat, and by using decoys. + +[Illustration: TRAMPING FOR SNIPE.] + +Tramping the beach or following up on land requires the smallest outfit +of any, all that is necessary being the gun and your equipments. It is +best to wear rubber boots, unless you intend to shoot along hard beaches +or dry meadows. This tramping of the meadows will afford rather good +sport when they are flooded, and although you may not get as many birds +as by decoying, the action it necessitates adds much to the pleasure. +However, if the birds are plentiful and inclined to move about, I should +advise the use of a blind and decoys. + +Let us suppose we are going out at low water to look out for the birds +on the beaches. You have arrived at the scene of action and loaded your +gun. Put it in the hollow of either arm; if there are two shooting, +carry the guns in opposite arms. In walking along the water you should +not walk on the beach, if there is one, but about fifteen or twenty feet +back, going up to the beach at frequent intervals to study it for a +distance ahead. By this means the birds behind the sedge-grass will not +be able to see you until you are quite near. If when studying the beach +ahead you do not see any birds, you should make a careful note of the +likely places behind which snipe may be, and use corresponding care when +approaching them. The snipe do not take to wing until you get quite +near, and there is little danger of frightening your birds by these +short examinations. You have been walking along the shore in the +described manner for some time, and in one of the above examinations you +locate some birds, let us say two hundred feet off. Crouch down in the +grass and make a study of the lay of the beach where the snipe are, +noting with care the positions of any high tufts of grass, bushes, or +anything by which you can locate the place without seeing the beach, and +it is best to select two between which the game is. Now strike inland +some fifty feet, more if level meadow, and move up parallel to the beach +until opposite the marks noticed. When directly in back of where you +think the birds ought to be, work up to the beach, cocking your gun, and +holding it in a position for instant use. You will probably get within +twenty or thirty feet of the edge of the grass, when the shrill whistles +of the snipe will let you know the birds are off. It is then only a +question of your skill as to whether you bag some. In approaching this +way, the birds will usually fly directly off-shore and away from you for +a distance, thus affording the best kind of a shot. Taking the birds by +surprise, you can afford to let them get steadied in flight before +shooting. Do not shoot as the bird first starts off, as his twisting +will destroy the aim; but let him get settled, cover him with the muzzle +of your gun, following him with it for an instant until your hand is +steady, and then pull the trigger. + +Perhaps it should be mentioned here that if the wind is at all heavy you +will never find the birds on a lee shore; always look for them on the +windward. If the snipe is "flushed" on the meadow, or any other place +where he has the choice of direction, he will always rise against the +wind; so if you approach up wind you will get mostly driving shots, but +if down wind good shots will be presented. + +[Illustration: SHOOTING FROM A SNEAK-BOAT.] + +Following the birds by boat is sometimes very effective. Perhaps before +coming to the shooting proper we should consider the boat. The best kind +of boat for this work, where there is a great deal of running up on +beaches, is a sneak-box (description of shooting-boat in HARPER'S ROUND +TABLE No. 818). The long bow overhang makes it easy to land without +running the boat hard aground. We will consider the sailing first. No +special equipment is required, but if you are going out alone a +yoke-line attachment will be necessary for steering (see sketch). By +this device you can steer the boat from any part of the cockpit by +simply catching hold of the line at the nearest place, and pulling +either way you wish. + +If alone, it is best to sit pretty well aft, as you are less liable to +be bothered by the sail, but if there are two in the boat, one shooting +and the other sailing, the man with the gun should sit as far forward as +convenient, and on the side next to the shore. If the sail happens to be +on the shore side, if possible sit on the forward deck so as to be able +to shoot ahead of the mast; if not, you will have to shoot under the +sail or in whatever manner a shot offers. + +[Illustration: ROWING AFTER SNIPE.] + +The pleasure of the expedition may be greatly marred by mismanagement of +the boat. There are no particularly new problems in sailing presented, +but there are several points that must be borne in mind. Above all, the +boat must not race alongshore, but should only drift along about thirty +or forty feet off, because, when going at only a fair speed, objects on +shore pass so rapidly as to make all accurate shooting impossible; and, +also, a boat travelling even slowly in shallow water will kick up such +large waves, that these, breaking on the beach, will frighten all the +birds within hearing. + +There is one peculiarity of snipe that perhaps ought to be mentioned. +When the flock is feeding on small beaches broken up by patches of grass +extending down to the waters edge, the birds, if approached on the water +in a direction parallel to the beach, will run along it until they are +all bunched at the grass before taking wing. This affords a good shot, +and you can usually bag several. If you prefer to row after the birds, +select a two-oared light flat-bottomed boat, and sit in the front row +seat, the person pulling occupying the rear. Sometimes the boat is +propelled with a pole used over the stern. There is one indispensable +article in shooting snipe from a boat--a crab-net. By this, the dead and +wounded birds can easily be picked up. + +[Illustration: DECOYING SNIPE.] + +Decoying, though requiring quite an extensive outfit, under proper +conditions, will yield fine results. The blind is of first +consideration, much depending on its location. Before building it you +should try to determine where the birds are flying the day in question, +though the following general locations may be of help in the selection: +a neck of land separating two streams or arms of a river; a sedge +island; or a flooded meadow. In choosing the site try to find a spot +where natural conditions give as much cover as possible, as behind weeds +or tall grass, and try not to alter the appearance in the construction. +If you intend to shoot on a meadow, place the blind at a convenient +distance from some spot where you notice the birds feed. If on a beach, +try and place it so as to get a raking shot. In the meadow-blind, if you +have been able to find a convenient clump of weeds, cut down the extra +ones so as you will have a thin circle around you, or as near so as +possible, and line the inside with hay or anything procurable, filling +up the thin places in the barrier of live weeds with those you cut down. +If no clump can be found, look over the meadow until you find some +stiff-stemmed weeds, and cut them quite near the roots. Carry these to +the selected spot, and construct the blind by sticking the ends in the +ground, and finish as before. The beach-blind may be constructed like +this, or a hiding-place can be made in the sedge-grass. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAMS OF SHELLS, DECOYS, AND STEERING-GEAR.] + +The decoys are an essential part of the outfit. They can be made at +home, and should be at least twice life size. Their construction may be +understood from the sketch. In painting them, try to lay the colors in +the same relations as in the live bird. + +Suppose we have constructed our blind near a beach, and set our decoys, +some twelve or fifteen, fairly bunched. A flock is seen approaching. +They see our decoys, and head in, apparently just skimming the water. +Let them land, if they will; if not, fire as they wheel off. They will +most likely land, and if clear of the decoys use the right barrel, +reserving the left (usually choked) for when they fly off. You have most +likely bagged some birds, but do not attempt to recover them now, for a +flock will often return if any birds are lost. If there are any dead +birds on the water, you had better keep an eye on them, as the crabs are +fond of dead snipe. + +A few words here about the gun. The dangers of mishandling have been +gone over so often that it is unnecessary to repeat them. A boy is +perfectly safe with a gun if he will bear in mind the old and perhaps +rather ambiguous saying, "A gun is always loaded." A gun should not be +allowed to stand for anytime with the remains of previous discharges in +the barrels, as the acid contained in the powder will pit them. It is +best to follow the rule of swabbing it clean after a day's sport; first, +perhaps, if very dirty, with the wire burr, and polishing with soft +rags. Sometimes the barrels become so much coated that they cannot be +cleansed by these means, and it will be necessary to wash them out with +water. If this is the case, be sure to remove every trace of moisture +afterwards. Always keep every part of the gun well coated with oil, and +never forget to oil the barrels after swabbing them clean, bearing in +mind also that the heat of the discharge will dry the oil off the +outside. + +A great deal might be said about shells, but it is not essential here. +Machine-loaded shells with suitable charges for snipe can be bought for +about $1.40 a hundred, and will answer all purposes very well. There is +room for discussion as to the proper charge. I should say 2-3/4 or 3 +drams of powder and 1 ounce of either No. 8 or No. 9 shot is a good load +for a 12-bore gun. The smaller shot is best for flock shooting. In the +sketch is represented a section of a shell showing the position and kind +of wads, and there is also shown a light home-loaded shell to kill +crippled birds. Many sportsmen load their own shells, but this takes +much time and trouble, and the saving is not as great as would be +supposed, unless expensive powders are used. The boy learning to shoot +should by all means buy his ammunition, at least for such a time, until +he will know exactly what he is doing when loading his own shells. + + + + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLETRAP." + +BY HAYDEN CARRUTH. + +II. + + +The port of Prairie Flower was in the eastern part of the then Territory +of Dakota. It stood out on an open plain a half-dozen miles wide, which +seemed to be the prairie itself, though it was really the valley of the +Sioux River, that funny stream which could run either way, and usually +stood still in the night and rested. To the east and west the edges of +this valley were faintly marked by a range of very low bluffs, so low +that they were mere wrinkles in the surface of the earth, and made the +valley but very little lower than the great plain, which rolled away for +miles to the east and for leagues to the west. + +It was a beautiful morning a little after the middle of September that +the Rattletrap got away and left Prairie Flower behind. The sun had been +up only half an hour or so, and the shadow of our craft stretched away +across the dry gray plain like a long black streak without end. The air +was fresh and dewy. The morning breeze was just beginning to stir, and +down by the river the acres of wild sunflowers were nodding the dew off +their heads, and beginning to roll in the first long waves which would +keep up all day like the rolling of the ocean. We shouted "Good-by" to +Grandpa Oldberry and Squire Poinsett, but they only shook their heads +very seriously. The cows and horses picketed on the prairie all about +the little clump of houses which made up the town looked at us with +their eyes open extremely wide, and no doubt said in their own +languages, like Grandpa Oldberry, that they had no recollection of +seeing any such capers as this for many years. + +"See here," I said, suddenly, to Jack, "where's that dog you said was +going to follow us?" + +"You just hold on," answered Jack. + +"Oh, are we going to have a dog too?" asked Ollie. + +"You wait a minute," insisted Jack. + +[Illustration: SNOOZER.] + +Just then we passed the railroad station. Jack craned his head out of +the front end of the wagon. Ollie and I did the same. Lying asleep on +the corner of the station platform we saw a dog. He was about the size +of a rather small collie, or, to put it another way, perhaps he was half +as big as the largest-size dog--if dogs were numbered like shoes, from +one to thirteen, this would have been about a No. 7 dog. He was yellow, +with short hair, except that his tail was very bushy. One ear stood up +straight, and the other lopped over, very much wilted. Jack whistled +sharply. The dog tossed up his head, straightened up his lopped ear, let +fall his other ear, and looked at us. Jack whistled again, and the dog +came. He ran around the wagon, barked once or twice, sniffed at the +pony's heels and got kicked at for his familiarity, yelped sharply, and +came and looked up at us, and wagged his bushy tail with a great +flourish. + +"He wants to get in. Give him a boost, Ollie," said Jack. + +Ollie clambered over the dash-board and jumped to the ground. He pushed +the dog forward, and he leaped up and scrambled into the wagon, jumped +over on the bed, where he folded his head and tail on his left side, +turned around rapidly three times, and lay down and went to sleep, one +ear up and one ear down. + +"He's just the dog for the Rattletrap," said Jack. "We'll call him +Snoozer." + +"That looks a good deal like stealing to me, Uncle Jack," said Ollie. +"Doesn't he belong to somebody?" + +"No," said Jack, "he doesn't belong to anybody but us. He came here a +week ago with a tramp. The tramp deserted him, and rode away on the +trucks of a freight train, but Snoozer didn't like that way of +travelling, because there wasn't any place to sleep, so he staid behind. +Since then he has tried to follow every man in town, but none of them +would have him. He's a regular tramp dog, not good for anything, and +therefore just the dog for us." + +Snoozer was the last thing we shipped, and after taking him aboard we +were soon out of the harbor of Prairie Flower, and bearing away across +the plain to the southwest. In twenty minutes we were among the +billowing sunflowers, standing five or six feet high on either side of +the road, which seemed like a narrow crack winding through them. Ollie +reached out and gathered a handful of the drooping yellow blossoms. The +pony was tied behind, carrying her big saddle, and tossing her head +about, and showing that she was very suspicious of the whole +proceedings, and especially of a small flag which Ollie had fastened to +the top of the wagon-cover, and which fluttered in the fresh morning +breeze. Snoozer slept on and never stirred. At last the road came to the +river, and then followed close along beside its bank, which was only a +foot or so high. Ollie was interested in watching the long grass which +grew in the bottom of the stream and was brushed all in one direction by +the sluggish current, like the silky fur of some animal. After a while +we came to a gravelly place which was a ford, and crossed the stream, +stopping to let the horses drink. The water was only a foot deep. As we +came upon the higher ground beyond the river we met the south wind +squarely, and it came in at the front of the cover with a rush. We heard +a sharp flutter behind, and then the wagon gave a shiver and a lurch, +and the horses stopped; then there was another shock and lurch, and it +rolled back a few inches. + +"There," exclaimed Jack, "some of those wheels have begun to turn +backwards! I told you!" + +I looked back. Our puckering-string had given way, and the rear of the +cover had blown out loosely. This had been more than the pony could +stand, and she had broken her rope and run back a dozen rods, and stood +snorting and looking at the wagon. + +[Illustration: THE FIRST ACCIDENT.] + +"First accident," I cried. "She'll run home, and we'll have to go back +after her." + +"Perhaps we can get around her," said Jack. "We'll try." + +We left Ollie to hold the horses, and I went out around among the +sunflowers, while Jack stood behind the wagon with his hat half full of +oats. I got beyond her at last, and drove her slowly toward the wagon. +She snorted and stamped the ground angrily with her forward feet; but at +last she ventured to taste of the oats, and finding more in the feed-box +on the rear of the wagon, she began eating them and forgot her fright. + +"I guess we'd better not tie her, but let her follow," said Jack, "As +soon as we have gone a little ways she'll come to think the wagon is +home and stick to it." + +"Yes," I said. "I think she is really as great a tramp as Snoozer, and +just the pony for us." + +"Are we all tramps?" asked Ollie. + +"Well," said Jack, "I'm afraid Grandpa Oldberry thinks we don't lack +much of it. He says varmints will catch us." + +"Do you think they will?" went on Ollie, just a little bit anxiously. + +"Oh, I guess not," said Jack. "You see, we've got four guns. Then +there's Snoozer." + +"But will they try to catch us?" + +"Well, I don't know. Grandpa Oldberry says the varmints are awfully +thick this fall." + +"But what are varmints?" + +"Oh, wolves, and b'ars, and painters, and--" + +"What are painters?" + +"Grandpa means panthers, I guess. Then there's Injuns, and boss-thieves, +and--" + +"There's a prairie-chicken," I cried, as one rose up out of the long +grass. + +"Perhaps we can get one for dinner," said Jack. + +He took his gun and went slowly toward where the other had been. Another +whirred away like a shot. Jack fired, but missed it. We started on, +leaving the pony tossing her head and stamping her feet in a great +passion on account of the report of the gun; but when she saw that we +paid no attention to her and were rapidly going out of sight she turned, +after taking a long look back at distant Prairie Flower, and came +trotting along the road, with her stirrups dangling at her sides, and +soon was following close behind. + +"We can depend on the life-boat," said Jack. + +Before we realized it the chronometer showed that it was almost noon. By +this time we had left the sea of sunflowers and crept over the wrinkle +at the western edge of the valley, and were off across the rolling +prairie itself. Still Snoozer never stirred. + +"I wonder when he'll wake up?" said Ollie. + +"You'll see him awake enough at dinner-time," said Jack. + +"Well, you'll see me awake enough then, too," answered Ollie. "I'm +hungry." + +"We hardy pioneers plunging into the trackless waste of a new and +unexplored country never eat but one meal a day," said Jack. "And that's +always raw meat--b'ar-meat, generally." + +"Well," said Ollie, "I don't see any b'ar-meat, or even +prairie-chicken-meat. Why didn't you hit the prairie-chicken, Uncle +Jack?" + +"I'm not used to shooting at such small game," answered Jack, solemnly. +"My kind of game is b'ar--b'ar and other varmints." + +Just then we passed a house, and down a little way from it, close to the +road, was a well. + +"Here's a good place to have dinner," said Jack; so we drove out by the +side of the road and stopped. + +"If I'm to be cook," said Jack to me, "then you've got to take care of +the horses and do all the outside work. I'll be cook; you'll be rancher. +That's what we'll call you--rancher. Rancher, feed the horses and look +out for hoss-thieves and sich like cut-throats." + +I unhitched the horses, tied them behind the wagon, and gave them some +oats and corn in the feed-box. The pony I fed in the big tin pail near +by. The grass beside the road was so dry, and it was so windy, that we +decided that it was not safe to build a fire out-doors, so Jack cooked +pancakes over the oil-stove inside. These with some cold meat he handed +out to Ollie and me as we sat on the wagon-tongue, while he sat on the +dash-board. We were half-way through dinner when we heard a peculiar +whine, followed by a low bark, in the wagon, and then Snoozer leaped +out, stretched himself, and began to wag his tail so fast that it looked +exactly like a whirling feather duster. We fed him on pancakes, and he +ate so many that if Jack had not fried some more we'd have certainly +gone hungry. + +"I told you he was a true tramp," said Jack. "Just see his appetite." + +After we had finished, and the horses had grazed about on the dry grass +some time, we started on. We hoped to reach a little lake which we saw +marked on the map, called Lake Lookout, for the night camp; so we +hurried along, it being a good distance ahead. All the afternoon we were +passing between either great fields where the wheat had been cut, +leaving the stubble, or beside long stretches of prairie. There were a +few houses, many of them built of sod. Not much happened during the +afternoon. Ollie followed the example of Snoozer, and curled up on the +bed and had a long nap. We saw a few prairie-chickens, but did not try +to shoot any of them. The pony trotted contentedly behind. Just before +night I rode her ahead looking for the lake. I found it to be a small +one, perhaps a half-mile wide, scarcely below the level of the prairie, +and generally with marshy shores, though on one side the beach was sandy +and stony, with a few stunted cottonwood-trees, and here I decided we +would camp. I went back and guided the Rattletrap to the spot. Soon Jack +had a roaring fire going from the dry wood which Ollie had collected. I +fed the horses and turned them loose, and they began eagerly on the +green grass which grew on the damp soil near the lake. The pony I +picketed with a long rope and a strap around one of her forward ankles, +between her hoof and fetlock, as we scarcely felt like trusting her all +night. Snoozer got up for his supper, and after that stretched himself +by the fire and blinked at it sleepily. The rest of us did much the +same. After a while Ollie said: + +"I think that bed in the wagon looks pretty narrow for two. How are +three going to sleep in it?" + +"I don't think three are going to sleep in it," said Jack. + +"Where are you going to sleep, then, Uncle Jack?" + +Jack laughed. "I think," he said, "that the rancher and the cook will +sleep in the wagon and let you sleep under the wagon. Nothing makes a +boy grow like sleeping rolled up in a blanket under a wagon. You'll be +six inches taller if you do it every night till we get back." + +"Well, I don't think so," said Ollie, just a little alarmed at the +prospect. "I'd prefer to sleep in the wagon. Maybe what Grandpa Oldberry +said about wild animals is so. You say you like to shoot 'em, so you +stay outside and do it--I don't." + +At last it was arranged that Ollie and I should sleep inside and Jack +under the wagon. We were surprised to find how early we were ready for +bed. The long ride and the fresh air had given us an appetite for sleep. +So we soon turned in, the dog staying outside with Jack. + +"Good-night, Uncle Jack," called Ollie, as we put out the lantern and +covered up in the narrow bed. "Look out for painters." + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THAT NOISE?"] + +I was almost asleep when Ollie shook me, and whispered, "What's that +noise?" + +I listened, and heard a regular, hollow, booming sound, something like +the very distant discharge of cannon. + +"It's the horses walking on the ground--always sounds that way in the +night," I answered. + +Again I was almost asleep when Ollie took hold of my arm, and said, +"What's that?" + +I once more listened, and recognized a peculiar creaking noise as that +made by the horses cropping off the grass. I explained to Ollie, and +then dropped off sound asleep. I don't know how long it was, but after +some time I was again roused up by a nervous shake. + +"Listen to _that_," whispered Ollie. "What can it be?" + +I sat up cautiously and listened. It was a strange, rattling, unearthly +sound which I could not account for any better than Ollie. + +"It's a bear," he whispered. "I heard them make that noise at the park +back home." + +I was puzzled, and concluded that it must be some wild animal. I took +down one of the guns, crept softly to the front end of the wagon, raised +the flap, and looked out. The wind was still, and the night air met my +face with a cool, damp feeling. The moon had just risen and the lake was +like silver. I could see the horses lying asleep like dark mounds. But +the mysterious noise kept up, and even grew louder. I grasped the gun +firmly, and let myself cautiously out of the front end of the wagon. +Then I climbed back in less softly and hung up the gun. + +"Wh-what is it?" asked Ollie, in a faint whisper. + +"It's your eloquent uncle Jack snoring," I said. "He's one of Grandpa +Oldberry's sim'lar varmints." + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +A VIRGINIA CAVALIER. + +BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + +CHAPTER X. + + +It seemed to George that he had not been in bed an hour before he heard, +in the gray glimmer of dawn, Billy's voice crying: + +"Chris'mus, Marse George, Chris'mus! an' jes listen to dem niggers +singin' under de winder!" Although a sound sleeper, George always waked +quickly, and in an instant he recognized the Christmas melody that +floated upward from the ground outside. A dozen or so of the field hands +were marching around the house just as the first faint grayness of the +Christmas day appeared, and singing, in their rich, sweet, untrained +voices, a song with the merry refrain, + + "White folks, black folks, Chris'mus am heah, + An' Chris'mus comes but oncet a year, + An' dis is Chris'mus mawnin'!" + +Sounds showed that the house was stirring. Laurence Washington, as the +master, had to dress and go down stairs to give the singers the treat +they expected. Betty got up and dressed herself at the first sound, and, +tapping at George's door, called softly, "Merry Christmas, George!" +Nobody could sleep much after that, and soon after sunrise everybody was +up, and "Merry Christmas" resounded through the whole house. The negroes +were most vociferous, as this was their favorite holiday, and no work, +except the feeding of the stock and the cutting of wood, was to be done +for several days--that is, as long as the backlog on the Christmas fire +remained unconsumed. The putting of this log on the fire was an annual +ceremony, that George thought most amusing. The English officers thought +so too, and watched it with the greatest interest. Before breakfast was +served, when all the guests were assembled in the hall, Uncle Manuel, +the butler, who was very tall and very black, and who wore, on great +occasions, a pair of scarlet satin knee-breeches that had once belonged +to Laurence Washington, appeared, and announced, with a condescending +smile, that "de boys" had come with the backlog. + +Amid much grinning and shoving and jostling and chuckling four stalwart +negro men walked in the house carrying a huge log, which was placed at +the back of the great fireplace, upon the tall iron fire-dogs. It was of +unseasoned black gum, a wood hard to burn at all times, and this +particular log had been well soaked in a neighboring swamp. It was the +privilege of the negroes to select the backlog, and although the masters +and mistresses knew perfectly well that everything was done to make it +as noncombustible as possible, the plantation joke was to pretend that +it was as dry as a bone and would burn like tinder. + +"We fotch you a mighty fine backlorg dis time, mistis," grinned the head +man. "Hit gwi' bu'n same like light-wood." At which Mrs. Washington +looked grave, as she was expected to look, while a general guffaw went +around among the negroes. + +"I spect we ain' gwi' to have no holiday 'tall ef we has to go ter wuk +as soon as dis heah lorg b'un up," chuckled another. + +"'Tain' gwi' lars' mo'en fer Christmas day!" chorussed the others +standing near by. + +"I think I saw a black-gum log soaking in the swamp a few days ago," +said Laurence, smiling at the grinning faces before him: but there was a +chorus immediately: + +"Naw, suh; dis lorg ain' never had a drap o' water on it, an' we-all's +been dryin' it fer a whole mont'." The log was then steaming like a +tea-kettle, and the negroes yah-yahed with delight at the ready +acceptance of their _ruse_. + +"Very well, then," cried Laurence Washington; "you can all have holiday +until this log is burned out, and if I am not mistaken it will last the +week through!" + +Immediately after breakfast horses were brought out, and the great +coach, and several gigs and chaises, to take a party to old Pohick +Church. There was to be a service, however, on the _Bellona_, and the +"church flag" was flying from her peak. Admiral Vernon invited George to +go with him on board the ship. They went to the landing, where the +captain's gig awaited them. On board the _Bellona_ everything was as +clean as hands could make it, the ship was dressed, and the men, being +excused from work that day, were in their Sunday clothes and prepared +for their holiday. + +The service, performed by the chaplain, was held upon the gun-deck. Four +hundred sailors, in spotless clothing, and each with a sprig of +mistletoe in his glazed hat, were assembled, seated on capstan-bars, +which made improvised benches. In front of them their officers were +assembled, the captain at their head, while in front of the officers +were the Admiral and his guests. Never had George seen a more beautiful +and reverent service. The sailors were reminded of their homes in green +England, far away, and every heart was softened by the recollection. The +officers needed no reminder of their families and friends at home, and +all felt drawn together in sympathy at their common separation from +those dearest to them. + +After the service the Admiral took George over the ship, showing him all +the beauty and strength of her. The boy gazed with wonder and delight at +her trim yards, her immaculate decks, and at the rows of menacing guns +in her batteries. Until then he had strongly inclined to the army, but +in the first flush of his new enthusiasm he longed to be a naval +officer. There were several midshipmen of his own age on board, to whom +the Admiral introduced him, and George yearned, boy fashion, to wear a +smart uniform like theirs, and to carry a midshipman's dirk. He said +little; his enthusiasms were all of that silent kind which burn the more +furiously because their blaze is concealed. But the moment he reached +the house, after leaving the ship, he went straight to his brother +Laurence's study, and marched in with this bold announcement, + +"Brother Laurence, I want to serve in the King's navy." + +Laurence looked up smiling at George's earnest face, in which a fixed +purpose was plainly seen. + +"I should have preferred the army for you," responded Laurence. "But if +a youngster _will_ serve in the King's navy, in the King's navy he must +serve." + +"And will you get me my warrant?" eagerly asked George. + +"The fact is," cautioned Laurence, "I have a midshipman's warrant +offered me for you at this very time. Admiral Vernon has the privilege +of nominating a midshipman on the _Bellona_, and some days ago, in +speaking of your arrival, he asked me, as my old friend, if it would be +agreeable to my family to appoint you in his Majesty's naval service. I +told him I had not yet consulted with Madam Washington, but I had no +doubt whatever that it would be highly agreeable to her, and the Admiral +assured me that it would be at my service at any time." + +George stood perfectly breathless with surprise. His first thought was +that surely he was the most fortunate boy in the world. At that moment +there was a knock at the door and Admiral Vernon entered. + +"Ah, Admiral!" cried Laurence, "you see before you a very happy lad. He +is overjoyed at the notion of entering the naval service." + +"It would be a thousand pities to lose so fine a fellow from the King's +navy," said the Admiral, smiling. George wished to thank him, but when +he tried to speak he felt a choking sensation, albeit he was so happy. +It was so exactly what he wanted at that very time; and how few there +are who get what they want before the wish for it has departed! + +[Illustration: SHE WAS THE STATELIEST BEAUTY OF A SHIP HE HAD EVER +SEEN.] + +All the rest of that day George felt as if he were walking on air. He +made plans for his whole life ahead, and already saw himself an admiral. +He thought it would not be right to speak of this beautiful plan for him +to any one until his mother knew it, and so he would give no hint to +Betty, or even tell it, as he longed to do, to Billy. But when in his +room in the afternoon, before the Christmas dinner, Rattler jumped upon +him and licked his hands, George could not forbear whispering to him, +"Good dog, your master will soon be a midshipman!" He had gone to his +room to carry out his intention of reading every day something out of a +useful book; but his heart was too full to read, and his book lay +unopened while he sat before the fire in a happy dream, slowly passing +Rattler's silky ears through his hand. From his chair he could see +through his window the handsome frigate lying motionless in the stream. +Some of the men were dancing on the fok'sle to the sound of a fiddle and +tambour played by two of the crew. In George's eyes, infatuated as he +was with the navy, she was the stateliest beauty of a ship he had ever +seen, and he thought every man on her must be altogether happy. + +At five o'clock there was a grand Christmas dinner. The ladies wore +their gayest gowns, the officers were in full uniform, and the other +gentlemen present were in all the splendor of velvet coats and breeches +and ruffled shirts. There was much laughter and many toasts, and at the +end of the dinner Uncle Manuel, gorgeous in his scarlet silk breeches, +entered, bearing aloft, on a huge platter, a plum-pudding blazing with +blue flumes, and with sprigs of mistletoe stuck in it. Afterwards, in +the hall, came off the ceremony of placing the branch of mistletoe on +the lantern that hung from the ceiling. Then there was great jollity and +a merry scramble, for, according to the hearty custom of the time, any +lady caught under the mistletoe could be kissed by any gentleman who +caught her. George and William Fairfax secretly longed to act the +mannish part and join in the sport, but both felt quite overcome with +bashfulness at the idea, and only watched the gay doings from afar. Not +so Betty, who quite assumed the young lady, and who not only treated +William Fairfax as if he had been an infant, but gave herself lofty airs +towards George, whom she had heretofore regarded with the greatest +respect. Then, soon after dark, the coaches of the neighboring gentry +drove up with the guests. In the hall the negro fiddlers were in great +force, and sawed the air from eight o'clock in the evening until +daylight next morning. Besides the minuet and rigadoon there were jigs +and reels, and at last everybody, young and old, danced Sir Roger de +Coverley, while the candles sputtered in their sockets and the chickens +crowed outside. George danced all night with the greatest enjoyment, not +finding any difficulty in obtaining partners, all of the ladies being +willing to dance with so handsome a stripling. Among the guests who came +from a distance was a remarkably pretty young girl of about George's +age, Miss Martha Dandridge. With her George danced Sir Roger de +Coverley, going down the middle swinging partners, and making the grand +march to the music of the crashing fiddles and dancing feet. When at +last it was over, and in the gray dawn the coaches and chaises rattled +off, and the ball was over, George thought it was the finest ball he had +ever seen in his life. + +For a week gayety and jollity prevailed at Mount Vernon. There were +fox-hunts, when the huntsmen assembled by daybreak, and the winding of +the horns, and the hounds with tongues tuned like bells, echoed across +the river and among the hills; and after a day's hard riding there would +be a jolly dinner and dancing afterwards. Then there was a great party +aboard of the _Bellona_, where the decorations were all of flags and +warlike emblems. George's enthusiasm for the navy did not decrease in +the least, but rather gained by being in company with so many officers, +and feeling obliged to keep his delightful secret of a promised +commission to himself. He became friends with the midshipmen, and in his +heart he enjoyed more his visits to the cockpit, with all its +discomforts, than the luxury of the Admiral's cabin and the comfort of +the ward-room. He was never weary of listening to the officers telling +of their adventures; and his expressive young face, with the blood +coming and going like a girl's, showed his overpowering interest in what +he heard. No real doubt of his mother's consent entered his mind; and if +the thought occasionally crossed him that her consent must be asked and +might not be given, he dismissed it, as all young and ardent natures +dismiss unpleasant possibilities. + +Among the quieter pleasures which he had at this time was that of making +friends with little Mildred, the two-year-old daughter to which his +brother and sister were so devoted. They had lost three other children; +and in a time of the utmost sadness after their deaths, when Laurence +Washington realized his own delicate constitution, and the chances that +none of his children might live, he had made his will, giving Mount +Vernon and all he had, if he should leave no children, to George. But +this little one bade fair to grow up into a healthy and happy child. + +Betty, who was by nature a little mother, was never more at home than +when she had charge of the child, and could take as good care of her as +any grown person. George, on the contrary, although his heart went out +to the little girl, regarded her as a piece of china that might be +broken by touching her. But Mildred took a violent fancy to him, and was +never so happy as when carried about in his strong young arms, or +sitting on his knee while he made rabbits out of his handkerchief and +pictures out of the shadows on the wall, and was ready to do anything +and to give her anything that would amuse her. He had never been thrown +with a child of that age before, and regarded every instance of her baby +cleverness as the most extraordinary thing in the world, to the +amusement of his brother and sister. + +The year before George had found William Fairfax a delightful boyish +companion, but this year, with his new experiences, and the company of +the young officers on the _Bellona_, George unconsciously neglected him. +But William, who had a sweet and forgiving nature, showed no ill-humor +over it, and said to himself: "Never mind; when the ship goes away, and +all the visitors, George will again find me good company." + +And such was the case. On the morning that the _Bellona_ loosed her +topsail, as a sign that she was about to trip her anchor, George felt +utterly forlorn. He wondered how he should get through the time until he +could go to Ferry Farm, and, securing his mother's consent, join the +ship before she sailed from the Chesapeake. So eager was he that +Laurence, in the goodness of his heart, had ordered, at his own expense, +George's uniforms to be made in Alexandria, and he was given his +side-arms from the stores on board the _Bellona_. George in fancy +already saw himself Midshipman Washington. Admiral Vernon, on parting, +had said some kind words to him which sank deep in his heart. "I shall +look forward with pleasure to your joining, Mr. Washington," he said. +"It is just such youngsters as you that we want in the navy." + +On a bleak January day the _Bellona_ went out. George watched from the +shore as long as he could see her, and sighed as he turned back to the +house. On his way back he was joined by William Fairfax. + +"George," said William, diffidently, "I am afraid we are not as good +friends as we were last year." + +"Why?" asked George, in surprise. He had almost forgotten William's +existence in the last few busy and exciting days, and he had felt so +immeasurably older than he that companionship seemed out of the +question. + +"Because you do not seem to care for me any longer." + +George stopped, and his heart and his conscience smote him. William was +his sister's cousin and his brother's guest, and he had been neglected +by both George and Betty; for Betty had grown about ten years, in her +own estimation, since dancing with officers and being allowed to come to +the first table. George thought this rather ridiculous of Betty; but was +it not equally ridiculous of him to lord it over William, as if there +were twenty years between them? + +"I see how it is, William," said George, after a pause. "I dare say I +have often made a fool of myself in this last week, talking to men as if +I were their equal, and to boys of my own age as if I were a man. But, +although you may laugh at me, I do feel a great deal older in the last +two months--I suppose because I have been with men like Lord Fairfax and +Lance, and then Admiral Vernon and his officers. But if you will be +friends again with me I will promise not to treat you as I have done, +and I acknowledge it was not very gentlemanly of me." + +The house seemed strangely quiet after all the company had left, and +there were no more routs and balls and romping and hunting. Snow had +fallen, and George and Betty were waiting for good weather before +attempting the journey back to Ferry Farm. George spoke to Betty about +William, acknowledging that he had been as much to blame as she; and +Betty, being of a generous nature, felt ashamed of herself, with the +result that William enjoyed the latter part of the time much more than +the first. But he was destined to have one more clash with George before +their friendship became so firmly cemented that it lasted during the +whole of their lives. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +BOBBY'S TOOL-CHEST. + + + They gave him a chest full of wonderful tools when he got to be six + years old, + And he made up his mind to go forth in the world and become a carpenter + bold. + "I've gimlets and saws, and hammers and nails, I've jack-planes and + awls," said he; + "I've rulers and screws. How can I refuse a carpenter-man for to be? + + "The first thing to learn is to hammer a nail." And he got out his + hammer and tacks, + And he hammered, and hammered, and hammered away till he'd used up a + half-dozen packs. + He nailed up the doors, and he nailed down the floors, and he nailed + 'em again and again, + And he made no mistake till he hammered a tack through the nursery + window-pane. + + Then he took up his saw, and he tried its teeth. "I must now learn to + saw," he said; + And he sawed in two some bureau drawers, and he sawed off the legs of + his bed. + And he sawed on the lock of the nursery door till the teeth of the tool + grew rough, + And then he sat down and remarked to himself, "Well, I guess I have + sawn enough. + + "I will now try the awl and the gimlet too, and learn what different + kinds + Of holes they make--for they're not alike"--and he bored on the outside + blinds. + He bored six holes in the shutter slats, and then made a change again, + And tried his luck on the bureau top with the beautiful two-inch plane. + + And then, poor boy! some one came in, and oh, what a fuss was raised! + They spanked that boy for trying to learn when he thought he'd be + surely praised; + And his father was mad and his mother was mad, and even his sister + cried, + Because he'd taken her desk apart to see what there was inside; + + And the baby, too, was as wrathy as they, because for a little while + He'd used the ruler to find how wide was the dear little fellow's + smile. + And that's why Bob--the poor little chap!--has changed every future + plan, + And is going to be a policeman bold instead of a carpenter-man. + + CARLYLE SMITH. + + + + +[Illustration: THE RELIEF OF RIVERDALE.] + + +The C. and V. Railroad half encircles Riverdale on the south and west +sides. For the most part it runs along a narrow shelf on the +mountain-side many feet above the village, but toward the southwest is +the valley of the little Jewell River, and this is crossed by a long, +narrow embankment and a high bridge, where the track curves sharply +northward. + +A few years ago an important part of the traffic over this line +consisted of long trains from the far West loaded entirely with hogs. +"Earle's excursions," the boys called them, in allusion to the famous +pork-packer to whom they were consigned. One afternoon--it was in +midsummer--a train of thirty-eight cars and a caboose started from the +summit, five miles above Riverdale. The grade is very steep, and the +train soon attained a terrific speed as it thundered down the mountain. + +No one can tell the cause of the accident, but just as the train struck +the embankment at Riverdale it doubled up in the middle like a startled +snake, and five cars were forced out of the train and went down the +embankment, carrying rails, sleepers, and a foot or two of the road-bed. +Fortunately none of the trainmen was on these cars, so no one was +injured. But as the cars went crashing down they broke in pieces like +kindling-wood. Many hogs were killed and injured, but it is certain that +about four hundred large, able-bodied, hungry, half-crazy hogs were let +loose upon the outskirts of the lovely village of Riverdale. + +[Illustration] + +Without a moment's hesitation the invaders began their work of +destruction. Near the foot of the embankment was the cozy parsonage, and +the Rev. Mark Sanders was at work in his garden when the accident +occurred. Startled by the crash, he stood staring at the splintering +cars until one of them brought up almost against his garden fence, and a +dozen screeching hogs were trying to squeeze through the gate together. +Then he struck out valiantly with his sharp hoe, and thought he drove +all back, and locked the gate. But when he turned about, three hungry +hogs were feasting on his early potatoes, and they led him such a chase +that he heartily wished that every hog in the world had been in that +herd which in ancient times ran violently down a steep place into the +sea and were choked. + +Meanwhile the main body of the army moved toward the centre of the +village, sending out foraging excursions to every garden and lawn, +unmindful of shrill threats or fluttering aprons. On the bank of the +Jewell River stood a little photograph saloon, and there Miss Sally +Graham, for twenty years the village dressmaker, was having her picture +taken. It was a critical moment. The photographer's head was underneath +the green cloth behind the camera. + +"Please turn your head just a trifle toward the left, and look a little +more cheerful, Miss Graham," said the artist. + +Miss Sally turned her head so that she looked toward the open door. She +was just saying "besom" for the last time when two large hogs, one of +them as black as Erebus, scrambled into the room and came directly +toward her. + +"Oh, horrors!" shrieked Miss Sally, jumping up and whirling wildly about +in search of a way of escape. She rushed into the dark room and slammed +the door, overturning a bottle of some malodorous compound. There she +stood amid the horrible smells till, after much squealing, shouting, and +crashing of glass, the artist bade her come forth again. + +By this time the hogs began to arrive at the centre of the village. +Those who saw them coming were first amused, and then amazed, and then +alarmed. Several of them climbed up four steps to the piazza of +Boynton's fruit-store, and began to eat a bunch of bananas and other +fruit exposed for sale. Oscar Boynton's wrath was great, his arm was +mighty, and his weapon was an iron poker; but all these produced no +effect whatever until he hooked the end of the poker into the nostrils +of the hogs, and so persuaded them to turn aside. + +The situation was in truth growing serious. The hogs began to collect in +large numbers on Main Street. They drove the people into the houses, +especially where the men were not at home. They spread across Depot +Street until they came to Prospect Street. This was known as "Ladies' +Row," because so many spinsters and widows lived there. It was the +street of flower gardens, and all summer long it was a glorious rivalry +of violets, pansies, daisies, roses, asters, and every sweet and +beautiful blossom. Into this paradise the hogs entered, and began to +root up and destroy. + +Toward the lower part of Main Street stood the grocery-store of Mr. +Heman Hemenway, Chairman of the Board of Village Trustees. Trade being +very dull, Mr. Hemenway sat dozing behind the counter dreaming of better +times. + +Suddenly quick footsteps tapped along the knotty floor. Mr. Hemenway +sprang up and put on the expectant smile with which he greeted every +customer. + +[Illustration] + +It was Miss Placentia Hannum, of Ladies' Row, who stood before him. Her +face was flushed, her dark eyes blazed with indignation, and her voice +was pitched on a very high note as she exclaimed, "Mr. Hemenway! aren't +you going to do _anything_?" + +"Do--do--anything? What--?" stammered the chairman of the trustees. + +"Don't you know?" cried Miss Placentia, with an eloquent gesture of +disdain. "A whole train of hogs has run off the embankment, and they are +just pouring into the village, thousands and thousands of them, and now +they are on our street tearing up my beautiful flowers." + +Mr. Hemenway was a man who intended to do his duty, and he went out to +the street at once. He was met by a deputation of hogs of such numbers +that he believed that Miss Hannum's statement was literally true. He +also began to feel that here was a condition of things not provided for +in his _Manual for Village Officers_. He saw the hogs swarming down the +street. He saw the people retreating into their houses after disastrous +conflict with the enemy. Yet he kept bravely on up the street as far as +the hay-scales, and there he met his fate. + +Two hogs saw Mr. Hemenway approaching, and they immediately gave him +their entire attention. They were the humorists of the herd, and they +played with Mr. Hemenway. When he went toward the right, they gently +swayed in the same direction. He went toward the left, and they imitated +him, smiling very widely. He stopped, and the hogs stood patiently +before him. + +"Whey!" cried Mr. Hemenway, waving his hand. + +[Illustration] + +Apparently the hogs were startled by so harsh a word, and they fell back +a few paces. Then they darted forward so suddenly that Mr. Hemenway +nearly fell over his own heels, and when he recovered himself he stood +with his feet far apart. This was an opportunity not to be lost. One hog +ran between Mr. Hemenway's feet and upset him. He came down just in time +to take a short ride on the back of the other, and then rolled off into +the street. It seemed to him that a hundred hogs gathered around him in +a moment. With the energy of despair he sprang to his feet, ran hatless +up the steps of the harness-shop, and mounted the very lifelike wooden +horse which the harness-maker kept there as a sign. + +Across the street a door was cautiously opened, and the head and +shoulders of Gran'sir Pease appeared. + +[Illustration] + +"Heman!" he cried, in a shrill, quavering voice, "go 'n' git the ol' +Fo'th o' July cahnern and shewt 'em. It used to be 'round thar under +Simon Hyle's shed." But this did not seem to Hemenway a feasible plan, +especially as he knew that the "cahnern" had been at the bottom of the +mill-pond for three years. + +A horse came rattling down the hill and across the mill bridge near the +harness-shop. It was driven by Norris Wood, who had been out among the +farms buying cattle for his meat market. He drove up to the harness-shop +and hitched his horse. Three or four hogs stood in the way, but it +seemed a very easy thing for Norris to set his great boots against them +and send them sprawling along the ground. He looked so big and strong +that Mr. Hemenway dismounted from the wooden horse. + +"Well, Heman, what have you got here?" said Norris, widening his bushy +whiskers with a beaming smile. + +"Norris," said Mr. Hemenway, solemnly, "the village is overrun with hogs +from a wrecked train, and I rely on you to drive 'em out. I give you +full authority to do or take anything you want to." + +"They've got pretty well started," said Norris, "but if I had a few good +helpers I guess we could master them. Hi!" he continued, "here come the +academy boys." + +There were about twenty of them coming across the mill bridge. They were +Riverdale Academy boys just out of school. They were on the +double-quick, for they had seen the hogs, and felt sure there was fun +ahead. + +"'Arma virumque cano!' Come here, every one of you!" cried Norris, who +was an old academy boy himself. + +The boys immediately gathered around him, some of them, and Harry Burton +in particular, inventing a great terror of the sniffing hogs. + +"Norris! Oh, Norris!" he cried, "protect us from these wild beasts of +the desert. Let me ride in safety upon your broad shoulders," and he +made as if he would suit the action to the word. + +"Quit your fooling," said Norris, sternly. "I want volunteers to drive +these hogs out of the village. Every one who is willing to help, step +out." + +With a hilarious cheer the whole company stepped forward. + +"Now," said Norris, "you see that pile of wood by the hay-scales? Every +one of you go and get a stick." + +In less than a minute every boy was armed with a stout cudgel and +waiting for further orders. + +Norris quickly scanned the crowd. "Julian Ross," he said, "you take six +boys and stay here. Don't let a single hog get by you up the hill. Harry +Burton, you take seven with you down to the bridge. Don't you let a hog +pass over it into the lower village." + +Julian and Harry selected their followers. "Friends, Romans, +countrymen," cried Harry, "follow me! + + "'Still is the story told + How well Horatius kept the bridge + In the brave days of old.'" + +And they went down the street on the double-quick. + +"All the rest of you come with me to Prospect Street," commanded Norris. + +They arrived at the scene of destruction none too soon. As they ran down +the street they were greeted with tearful pleadings by the ladies to +save their gardens from utter ruin. + +At length they outran the hogs and faced around to drive them back. The +boys formed a line across the road, and beat them unmercifully with +their cudgels. "Hit 'em on the snout every time," said Norris. + +[Illustration] + +And now began a high and piercing symphony which mingled and harmonized +with a blood-curdling melody from Main Street. Norris, like the great +Cæsar, was everywhere at one time. His methods were very interesting. He +had persuasive powers with his big boots which caused a hog to point to +the sky with four feet at a time. He was very dexterous in seizing a hog +by a hind-leg and casting it out of a flower-bed into the road. And just +as an enormous hog was about to root up Miss Placentia Hannum's +rose-bush, Norris calmly took the animal by the ear, and led it +squealing to the street. + +At last the hogs were beaten back and driven across to Main Street. +There they mingled with the others slowly retreating before Julian Ross +and Harry Burton and their followers. The boys were nearly exhausted, +but Harry encouraged them by shouting, "Charge, Chester, charge! On, +Stanley on!" and like historic exhortations. + +The hogs were now all brought together, filling the street in a solid +mass. And there they stuck in spite of every effort to induce them to +move on. Gran'sir Pease advised Norris to "slarter 'em" where they +stood. It was time for a stroke of Napoleonic genius or the day would be +lost. + +Norris unhitched his horse and jumped into the wagon. "Boys!" he cried, +"hold 'em right where they are till you see me again. Go on, Bill." And +he galloped away up Depot Street, and disappeared under the small +railroad bridge. + +[Illustration] + +Ten long minutes the boys waited and shouted and fought the obstinate +hogs. Then Norris was seen coming far up Main Street. He drove down to +the hogs and turned his cart around. In the wagon was a box, and out of +it Norris shovelled some yellow stuff into the road. The hogs nearest to +him saw, smelled, hustled, and gobbled. In an instant others followed, +pushing and upsetting each other. Norris drove on and cast out more +meal, and in a minute the whole rushing, squirming, squealing herd +glided away like the mill-pond when the dam broke. They followed the +trail of corn meal up the street, and in a short time they were all +safely enclosed in Norris's cattle-yard. + +Then the boys carried their sticks right shoulder shift, and came down +the street singing, "When Johnny comes marching home again." + + + + +BILL'S BEAR-FIGHT. + + +Broiled trout washed down with an ice-cold draught of spring water is +not the worst supper in the world, and when you are out in the woods +cozily perched on a log near a roaring camp-fire of crackling birch, +with a ravenous appetite, it tastes as good as a dinner served at the +Waldorf in New York. But your trout must be cooked by Bill to be +enjoyed, for Bill owns no superior in that line. Bill is a hunter, not +for market, but a sportsman for sport, and his delight is to guide some +gentleman through the forests of Maine, or, as he terms it, his +territory. + +One fall he and I started up in the Moose-head Lake region, and slowly +worked down over the trails, until one evening we found ourselves near +the head of the Cupsuptic River, on the Rangeleys. We had fairly good +sport on our way, bagging more or less game, with many a long and weary +chase on a deer trail. When we struck the river it was too late to make +for a large camp that lay some eleven miles below on the lake, so we put +up a lean-to, and went into quarters for the night. Bill got out the +lines, and in a short while he had some fine trout broiling, so that +though all our provisions were exhausted, we had made a fine supper of +the trout. + +After supper we lighted our pipes, and throwing an extra log or two on +the fire, we lounged around, recalling different adventures. It was but +a short time before Bill got off on to some of his own experiences, and +it was then that I relapsed into silence, and puffed my pipe with that +peaceful enjoyment that comes to a lover of nature and sport. I lay +admiring his magnificent physique, my admiration doubled by the +knowledge of the wonderful strength that lay in his powerful muscles. + +"Well, boy," said Bill at last, with a yawn, "it's gettin' kind er cold; +seems to me it's er bit more than frosty. Had to crack ice down on the +stream to ketch them trout. Guess it'll freeze tight by to-morrow, and +with a little fall of snow we might sight a buck's tracks 'tween here +and the camp below. I rather think we'd better turn in now. Wrap +yourself good or you'll be stiff in the mornin'." + +Raking the ashes into the fire, and banking it a little with some damp +logs, we rolled up in our blankets and went to sleep. + +I do not know what time it was, but it seemed to me I had no more than +closed my eyes when I was suddenly awakened by the sounds of a fierce +struggle, with a great amount of low choking, growling, and subdued +muttering. I sprang up, forgetting my blanket, which tripped me, and +nearly pitched me headlong into the fire. When I finally reached my feet +and saw the cause of the row, I was more than amazed. There was Bill +hugging and being hugged for dear life by a good-sized bear. It was nip +and tuck, and seizing my rifle, I danced around trying to get a shot at +the bear. Bill caught sight of me, and cried out in jerks: "Boy--I'll +never--forgive you if you kill him. It's the first,--chance I've had to +strangle--a bear, and, by gum, I'm er-goin' to strangle--this one!" + +I could appreciate that sort of a desire on Bill's part well enough, but +nevertheless it was dangerous work. The bear's claws had already played +havoc with his clothing, and his legs were bleeding in more than one +place. Back and forth they struggled, one of the bear's fore-paws around +Bill's neck and the other around his waist. Bill had the bear by the +throat with one hand, and with the other held his head away to stop him +from biting. + +Suddenly they tripped on the edge of the slope that led in a gentle +descent to the stream below. I jumped forward this time, determined to +put an end to it, but before I could reach them, down they went, rolling +over and over the sloping ground, fighting away like mad, until, with a +crash, they struck the thin ice on the stream and plunged out of sight. +It was a bright moonlight night, and the hole they made in the ice +looked black and ugly. I jumped down the bank, and seeing the roots of +an old tree running out near the spot, I made for it. Bill came up by +this time, and I was hoping that they had separated, but they were +hugging and fighting as hard as ever. I crawled out on the roots and +yelled to Bill to let me settle it. + +"If yer tetch him, boy, I'll never forgive yer. I'm not done yet by a +long shot, and I'll down the critter if it takes all night." + +When Bill talked that way I know he was game to the finish and his blood +was up, so I ran up the bank and got my rifle, and sitting on a log near +the water, I watched the fun, altogether too serious for fun, I thought. +Their struggles were fearful, and I screamed, and would certainly have +fired at the bear had it not been for the fear of hitting Bill. By this +time they had worked over to the roots, and then I realized what Bill +was up to. He got one arm around them to brace himself, and with the +other clutching the bear's throat, he slowly and by main force pushed +those fearful red gaping jaws away from him. Slowly and with almost +superhuman strength he pushed the head further away until finally he +forced it under water. I could see the claws of the animal's fore-paw +dig into Bill's shoulder. I could see his violent struggles as he strove +to get his head above water, but Bill held him under. It was a frightful +but a grand sight. The moon lit up the scene, and through the steam +rising from the struggling pair Bill's grim-set jaws and determined face +showed the true hunter in the height of his glory. + +The fight grew weaker and weaker, and then all was still except the +quick panting of Bill. At last with a deep sigh his chest relaxed, his +hand gave up his prey, and a few bubbles showed where the bear sank. +Slowly Bill made his way to where I was standing, and putting out his +hand, said, + +"Thank ye, boy; you had nerve to obey me, and that makes a good hunter." + +He was pretty nigh exhausted and badly clawed. While I helped him to +patch up his wounds temporarily I learned that the bear, evidently +attracted by the trout, had sneaked into camp during the night and +stumbled over Bill, who grabbed him. The next morning we fished him out +of the water, and found him a large specimen and a foe well worth +letting alone. + +HUBERT EARL. + + + + +ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. + +BY CAPTAIN HOWARD PATTERSON. + + +Every patriotic American is proud of our famous White Squadron, +illustrating as it does to all the navies of the world the perfection of +ship-building, motive power, ordnance and _personnel_. Although two or +three other navies have a much longer list of men-of-war in their +registers, there is not a foreign power that can show, class for class, +anything superior in battle-ships, cruisers, and coast-defense vessels +to those which float under "Old Glory," and it is not making a rash +claim when it is asserted that in a competitive exhibition the laurel +wreaths would in all probability be hung upon the mast-heads of the +ships that belong to Uncle Sam. + +And yet how weak and lowly in comparison was the birth of our navy!--but +still a navy that even in its infancy humbled almost to degradation the +strength and vanity and hauteur of that of the British, that mistress of +the seas, against which for more than a century the most magnificently +equipped and powerful fleets in Europe had hurled themselves, only to be +beaten back from its "walls of oak," crushed and shattered. + +On October 13, 1775, one hundred and twenty-one years ago, or nine +months before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the +representatives from the thirteen colonies authorized the building of +two vessels, one to be armed with 14 guns and the other with 10 guns. +When completed it was designed that these ships should escape through +the English fleets blockading the coast, and then prey upon the commerce +of the enemy. On October 30 Congress ordered the building of two +additional cruisers, one to carry 36 guns and the other 20 guns. These +measures so aroused the patriotic fire and zeal of hundreds of American +seamen whose vessels were locked up in idleness in our seaports, owing +to the embargo, that they petitioned Congress to provide ships and put +them on board, so that they might go out against the enemy's vessels +that tantalizingly kept watch before the approaches to our harbors. +Appreciating the spirit of the petitioners, and realizing that a +possible opportunity was offered them to deal a serious blow to the +supremacy of the English along our line of coast, Congress ordered, on +December 13 (or just two months, to the day, following the first +authorization, for ship construction), the building of thirteen vessels +of war, of which five were to carry 32 guns, five 28 guns, and three 24 +guns. + +Work was immediately commenced on this fleet; but as the builders +demanded six months' time to complete them, Congress passed a law to +purchase and arm suitable merchant-ships for immediate service. It +cannot fail to interest the reader to give the names of the first +vessels of the American navy. Among the many merchant-ships lying idle +in the Eastern and Southern ports the following fourteen were selected +by a committee, and, after being purchased, were armed with the number +of guns set opposite their respective names: Ships--_Alfred_, 24; +_Columbus_, 24. Brigs--_Lexington_, 16; _Cabot_, 16, _Reprisal_, 16; +_Andrea Doria_, 14; _Hampden_, 14; _Providence_, 12. Schooners--_Wasp_, +8; _Fly_, 8. Sloops--_Hornet_, 10; _Independence_, 10; _Sachem_, 10, and +_Mosquito_, 4. + +Had the guns with which these vessels were armed been of uniform and +suitable calibre, the odds in favor of the English men-of-war would +still have been enormous; but when it is considered that the batteries +of the ships were made up of every description of ordnance, from the +antiquated Dutch cannon brought over by Peter Stuyvesant, to the +ridiculously small and obsolete saluting-guns that had been preserved as +relics on the public greens in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other +cities, the wonder grows that with such implements, served by men green +to naval warfare, and mounted within lumbering merchant-ships, the +stateliest frigates of the enemy were again and again beaten and +captured, and the proud white ensign of old England lowered repeatedly +to the flag whose motto was "Don't tread on me!" + +The difficulty encountered by Congress in equipping, officering, and +manning the little American fleet in the absence of arsenals and +dock-yards, and when men trained to the service were not obtainable, +finds only one parallel in history, when Alfred the Sailor King fitted +out and conducted a fleet against the Danes one thousand years and more +ago. But if system and order were at first lacking, patriotism +compensated, and the old guns were served by men whose love of liberty +breathed in the shot they hurled against their foes. + +On December 22, 1775, Congress appointed Ezekiel Hopkins as commodore +and commander-in-chief of the navy, and the following officers, all +drawn from the merchant marine of the colonies, to serve as captains: +Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle, and J. B. Hopkins. +Leading the list of first lieutenants appointed on the same day, we find +the immortal name of John Paul Jones, and in succession those of Rhodes +Arnold, James Stanbury, Haysted Hacker, and Jonathan Pitcher. Next, +under the head of second lieutenants, the records preserved in the Navy +Department in Washington show the names of Benjamin Seabury, Joseph +Olney, Elisha Warner, Thomas Weaver, and James McDougal, while the three +third lieutenants appointed were John Fanning, Ezekiel Burroughs, and +Daniel Vaughn. + +Immediately after assuming command, Commodore Hopkins sailed, with the +_Alfred_ as his flag-ship, for a descent upon the English possession +known as New Providence, and was accompanied to the West Indies by the +_Columbus_, _Cabot_, _Andrea Doria_, _Providence_, _Wasp_, _Fly_, and +_Hornet_. The expedition was successful, and the ships of the little +flying squadron were loaded with captured stores and one hundred cannon, +which latter were afterwards mounted on the American men-of-war under +construction at the time. The commodore returned north, carrying back +with him the English Governor of New Providence, and several other high +officials of that colony. When within view of the Long Island shore +three of the leading American vessels sighted and later on engaged the +English frigate _Glasgow_ and two brigs-of-war. After a spirited contest +the latter surrendered, but the former escaped by a great display of +seamanship. + +The entire fleet with its prizes arrived safely at New London on +April-fool day, 1776. This was the first and last naval command that +Commodore Hopkins enjoyed; for, not acting with sufficient energy in +refitting his fleet, Congress dropped him from the naval service. + +In June, 1776, a marine corps was established, and Samuel Nichols was +appointed to command it, with the rank of major. The junior officers +consisted of nine captains, ten first and seven second lieutenants. + +At the time that the Declaration of Independence was signed the thirteen +vessels ordered to be constructed during the previous year were reported +finished, and Congress assigned officers to them, as well as to other +ships that had been captured from the enemy. The standing of the +American navy when the Liberty Bell in the City of Brotherly Love pealed +out the anthem of the free on July 4, 1776, is shown in the following, +and the numerals attached to the names signify the number of guns with +which they were armed: _Washington_, 32; _Virginia_, 28; _Boston_, 24; +_Warren_, 32; _Trumbull_, 28; _Randolph_, 32; _Raleigh_, 32; _Congress_, +28; _Effingham_, 28; _Delaware_, 24; _Reprisal_, 16; _Montgomery_, 24; +_Lexington_, 16; _Hampden_, 14; _Andrea Doria_, 14; _Providence_, 28; +_Providence_ (2d), 12; _Alfred_, 24; _Cabot_, 14; _Sachem_, 10; +_Independence_, 10, and _Fly_, 8. + +To the command of some of these vessels were ordered men who proved +themselves heroes in many a notable encounter, and whose names will +endure as long as this great republic lasts; but the two most prominent +figures in the historical group are those of John Paul Jones, promoted +to the rank of captain for bravery in battle and for services rendered +to his country, and Nicholas Biddle, the brave old sea-lion, who +recognized no odds, but who would engage a vastly superior enemy with +the same readiness and confidence that he laid his vessel alongside of a +sure prize. + +A few words concerning four of these vessels will be found not to be +devoid of unusual interest. + +The _Reprisal_ audaciously sailed across the Atlantic, being the first +American vessel to visit Europe, and commenced a wild work of capture +and destruction among the British merchant-ships in the Channel, right +under the noses of their great fleets of war. Being joined a little +later on by the _Lexington_, these two vessels, assisted by several +prizes that they had armed, caused such havoc that rates of insurance on +all English vessels were advanced twenty-five per cent. In the year 1778 +the _Reprisal_ foundered in a gale, and only the ship's cook was saved. + +The _Andrea Doria_ received the first foreign salute ever paid to an +American man-of-war. Upon visiting St. Eustatins, the Dutch Governor +greeted the vessel with a grand salvo from the fort; and this courtesy +proved a very costly one for him, as his nation had not recognized the +United States, and he therefore paid the penalty of his politeness by +being dismissed from his high office. + +The _Randolph_, on the night of March 7, 1778, engaged the British +line-of-battle-ship _Yarmouth_, and while the fight was being gallantly +conducted by Captain Biddle against a vastly superior foe, the +_Randolph_, blew up. Out of 310 souls on board only four seamen were +left alive, and these were picked up, four days later clinging to a +piece of the wreck of their old ship. + +One other vessel was ordered to be built by Congress during the year +1776, and that was a line-of-battle-ship of 74 guns, the name of which +was to be _America_. This fine vessel was constructed at Portsmouth, New +Hampshire, but was not completed until the end of the Revolutionary +struggle. She was then fitted out and presented, in the name of the +United States, to Louis XVI. of France, as a mark of appreciation and +gratitude by this republic, in whose cause he had so nobly and +generously assisted. + +It does not come within the scope of this story to tell of the gallant +actions that took place between our modest vessels and the towering +ships of England, but some measure of the great honors that we fought +for and gained may be appreciated when it is known that American +men-of-war made over 800 prizes at sea during the struggle for +independence. + + + + +[Illustration] + +JIM LANGAN, HERO. + +BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER. + + + Do not dream it was only in olden romance + That the knight and the hero were given their chance. + Nor think for a moment that history's page + Will be blank when it tells of our own passing age. + The deed waits the doer, the hour the man, + And he is the hero who does what he can. + Jim Langan was up there at Pittston the week + When the mine walls gave way. Then with fast-blanching cheek + To that black-yawning grave's mouth rushed women and men. + Their dearest were buried there. Sheep in a pen + Not so helpless, if any yet breathing were kept + To face death in the dark, as on surely it crept. + Men stood there, wives sobbed there, naught was there to do, + Till Langan stepped boldly the huddling crowd through. + "If the boys are alive, we must reach them. I'll see! + If I find a path, you can then follow me." + Over rough rocks and ruins, o'er falling débris, + He crawled and he pushed, with the blood dripping free + From torn hands and knees. In the dark, in the dole, + Jim Langan fought on to the desperate goal. + Above him the dusky roof shuddered and shook, + A menace each inch of the black way he took; + The foul air was stifling, the night wrapped him round + As he wormed his slow progress deep under the ground. + The great pillars sagging, his thick gasping breath-- + A strife of the heart against threatening death-- + Jim Langan fought on--there were men pent up there + In that tomb of the mine shaft, a prey to despair-- + Fought on, and fought back, for the help that must save + Those poor prisoned men from a horrible grave. + The red line of valor is still on the earth; + The true and the fearless we prize at their worth. + And, lads, never dream that the heroes are gone, + That they only loomed up in the world's early dawn, + For Homer to sing, lest the world should forget. + The valiant man leads us, is king of us yet, + Redeeming our time from its strife after pelf + With the sacrifice laid on God's altar--himself. + + + + +[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] + + +[Illustration: 1.--FORWARD BREAST STROKE.] + +[Illustration: 2.--FLOATING.] + +[Illustration: 3.--SCULLING BACKWARDS.] + +[Illustration: 4.--SCULLING FORWARDS.] + +[Illustration: 5.--OVERHAND STROKE--THE REACH.] + +[Illustration: 6.--OVERHAND STROKE--THE START.] + +From instantaneous Photographs of Professor Gus Sundstrom, Champion +All-round Swimmer of the United States. + +Although it is preferable to have some one to teach you how to swim, it +is not absolutely necessary, and any one who has failed to learn as a +youngster may, by following out the instructions here given, learn how +to swim and float and dive by practising in the water all by himself. + +One of the most important things for the beginner to have, of course, is +confidence. He must not fear the water any more than a rider should fear +his horse; on the other hand, he should not be overbold or reckless and +attempt too many risks. The beginner should not go to a stream where +there is a current, or in sea-water where there might be an undertow. He +should choose a lake or a pond or, if at the sea-side, a bay; and he +should stick at first pretty closely to shallow water. Salt water being +so much more buoyant than fresh water, it is much easier to learn how to +swim in the sea; in fact, if a man who has absolutely no knowledge of +swimming will only keep control of his head, and retain his hands +_under_ water, he need never fear of drowning should he fall overboard +into salt water. It is advisable, however, when first attempting to +swim, to have some one on the bank near by who could come to your +assistance should anything happen. + +And now for the preliminary steps. First drive a stake into the bottom +of the pond where the water is from three to four feet deep. Then take +hold of the stake with both hands and stretch the body straight out on +the surface of the water, with the back upward, of course. I might just +as well say here as anywhere that the first thing to do when going into +the water is to submerge the entire body, head included. In fact, it is +a very good thing for timid people to go into shallow water and put +their heads under the water and open their eyes, for this very soon +gives them confidence in themselves. The head should always be wet, too, +because otherwise, with all the body under water and only the head in +the sunlight, the blood is apt to rush upwards and eventually cause a +head-ache. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--DETAIL OF BREAST STROKE.] + +To return to the stake. The first motions to be learned are those of the +legs, and they may be divided into three parts. The first motion of the +legs is to draw them up, with the knees bending outward, and the feet +kept as closely together as possible. The second motion is to extend the +feet outward and move the legs backward, and the third motion is to draw +the feet quickly together, extended as far out from the body as +possible. These motions are clearly shown in Fig. 7, and they are also +displayed in illustration No. 1. This photograph was taken while the +arms were going back and the legs were starting to come up. + +It will take the novice some time before he can master these motions +absolutely, and unless he is careful he will never master them at all; +and although he will learn to know how to swim, he will not swim +correctly, nor will he be able to get the greatest advantage out of the +labor expended. To acquire this leg motion correctly a beginner should +go through this kicking action twenty or thirty times, counting one, +two, three, as he does so, and keeping his mind all the time on the +theory of the thing. Then he should come out of the water and rest a few +minutes, and then go back again to the stake and go through the +exercises again. + +After the leg motion has been thoroughly mastered, the proper use of the +arms must be learned. It is a common fallacy that the beginning of the +stroke in swimming consists of holding the hands in front of the face +palm to palm. This is the wrong way. The hands should be held flat out, +thumb knuckle to thumb knuckle and forefinger to forefinger, under the +chin and almost touching the breast (see Fig. 7.). As soon as the stroke +is begun the palms should be turned a little outward so as to assist in +moving the body forward. The hands should not be separated to any great +extent until they have been pushed out almost to arm's length, and when +they are brought backwards in the stroke they should not be allowed to +pass much behind the line of the shoulders. + +A good way to learn the arm stroke is to kneel in shallow water, or to +lie across a plank in the water, and practise it. The most difficult +part of the early stages of swimming is to learn how to combine the +stroke of the arms with the stroke of the legs. It is absolutely +necessary that the arms and legs should work in harmony, and therefore +the following rules should be strictly observed: + +1. When the hands are being thrust out forward, the legs should be +coming together, as in the third part of the leg motion described above. + +2. When the arms are straight out in front the legs should be straight +out behind. + +3. When the arms are passing back in the act of performing the stroke, +the legs are being drawn up. + +The beginner should not try to swim any long distance at first. As soon +as he finds that he can keep his body floating easily on the water by +means of the strokes he has learned, he should aim to perfect his form +rather than aim to cover long distances. The stroke which has just been +described is technically called the forward breast stroke, and although +there are a great many other kinds of strokes in swimming, this is the +easiest of all strokes to learn, and the one that is most generally +used, except, perhaps, for racing. + +One of the most common of the fancy strokes is the overhand stroke. This +is performed by placing the body on the right side, with the legs held +out behind perfectly straight. One leg is then brought up in front and +the other is lifted up behind, and the next motion is to bring them +together with a swift, scissorlike motion, exerting as much force as +possible. In the mean time the right hand is moved out in front and +brought down through the water as far as the left thigh, while the left +hand passes out of the water from the rear forward, and is drawn back +similarly through the water, thus pulling the body ahead, just as one +might pull one's self along by means of a rope. The start and finish of +the arm-work in this stroke are well shown in illustrations Nos. 5 and +6. It is a stroke which requires considerable practice. + +But perhaps before trying to learn fancy strokes, it might be well for +the beginner to learn how to float. It is, of course, much easier to +float in salt water than in fresh water, and it is therefore advisable +when possible to learn in sea-water. The method is simple, and any one +who has perfect confidence in himself ought to be able to float the +first time he tries. The first thing to do is to fill the lungs well, +and then cut off the air at the curve of the larynx instead of up in the +nostrils. This is done by holding the muscles of the throat as they are +when performing the act of swallowing. This keeps the bulk of the air in +the lungs, and consequently under water; any air held in the mouth does +not give buoyancy to the body. + +Fat people, of course, float much more easily than thin people, just the +same as a piece of fat will float on the water, whereas a piece of lean +meat will in all probability sink. In the same way men with greater +lung-power will float more easily than others with a lesser lung +capacity. To float, a beginner should not thrust himself backward +violently. He should take a long breath, and then fall backwards in the +water gently, making a sort of sculling movement with his hands, at the +same time raising his arms upwards until they are stretched as far out +from the shoulders as he can and slightly above the lines of the +shoulder-blades. The arms (which, of course, must never be lifted out of +the water) should be raised no higher than this above the head, +otherwise they diminish the capacity of the lungs by pressing them in. +The feet should be worked up slowly from the bottom, and the legs should +be spread out. (The correct position is shown in illustration No. 2.) + +The first attempts will naturally result in the beginner's head going +under water for a moment at a time, every now and then; but this should +not alarm or discourage him, for if he holds the air in his lungs and +follows the instructions just given, the head will soon come above the +surface again. Then, after the body has settled into the proper +position, the floater may breathe naturally, but he should take long +breaths, and when driving the air out of the lungs he should do it +rapidly, and likewise inhale rapidly, holding the air in the body as +long as possible. + +After one has learned to float, a pleasant diversion is to learn the +forward sculling stroke. This is a fancy stroke, and is of no particular +service, except perhaps that it is restful. The hands should be held in +the same position as in floating, but the feet should be brought +together. (Illustration No. 4.) Then both hands should be worked at the +wrists in a sort of semicircle--this is called the sculling motion. +After a few turns of the wrist the body will take a slow forward +movement, which gradually increases, and this aids materially in keeping +the swimmer afloat. Nevertheless he should keep his lungs full of air, +as he does when floating. + +There is also a backward sculling stroke, but this is performed by lying +face downward on the water. (Illustration No. 3.) The body is held +rigid, the feet are pointed forward, and kept moving up and down at the +ankle to keep the legs from sinking, the legs are held stiff, and the +hands spread out as before, and moved in the same manner. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--SWIMMING ON THE BACK.] + +The stroke which should perhaps first be learned after one has mastered +the art of floating is that which enables one to swim on the back. The +fastest and easiest way of swimming on the back is called the double +over-arm, and the method is well illustrated in Fig. 8. In order to +practise this the swimmer must, of course, first come to the floating +position, and then he should bring his feet together and keep them +moving up and down, so as to hold them near the surface of the water. +The movement of the arms is a sort of windmill motion, and as they pass +through the water the palms and forearms propel the body onward. This is +an easy stroke to learn when one knows how to float. + +These are perhaps the most important points about swimming that can be +given in so brief a paper. It will take the beginner some time to master +these, and after he has learned them and has become familiar with the +water, he should practise diving. At an early date this Department will +be devoted, in text and illustration, to the interesting subject of +diving. + +The Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, M.P., made a speech on the subject of +athletics recently when he delivered prizes to the boys of the King's +School at Warwick, England, and the London _Sporting Life_ quotes a few +of his remarks, which, I believe, are just as true concerning American +sport as they are of English sport, and must consequently be of interest +to our American school-boys. Mr. Lyttelton said that nobody could accuse +him of saying anything against athletic games, for he is a great lover +of sports; but he added that he feared there was a tendency to overdo +matters, and to allow athletics to occupy a more important place in the +world than they should--to make a business of them, in fact, instead of +keeping them as a recreation which should make us more fitted to do our +work in this world. + +The speech created a good deal of comment among sportsmen abroad; and +_Sporting Life_, a week later, devoted considerable space to editorial +remarks on what Mr. Lyttelton had said. I quote a few sentences: "Few +will deny the 'growing professional spirit in most of our games' decried +by that famous sportsman [Mr. Lyttelton], or venture to contradict his +statement that the majority of them are being reduced to a mere matter +of _£ s. d._ by exponents galore nowadays.... But above and beyond this +lamentable endeavor to reduce all things to pounds, shillings, and pence +there is an excess of enthusiasm in sport equally to be decried by +all.... The fact is that many devotees of sport make far too much of it +by having allowed themselves to be taught that ordinary success in any +branch thereof is not worth having. They do so in the spirit of the old +saying that whatever you do you should do well, which, like many other +old sayings, is very untrue, and very dangerous in its lack of truth. +And nowhere is this more untrue than in reference to our amusements." + +The editorial then goes on to give some examples, saying that to play +billiards, for instance, is the amusement of a gentleman, but to play +billiards pre-eminently well is hardly that. The writer argues that a +man who makes it his life's work to become a successful billiard-player +can hardly, in the mean time, have continued to be a gentleman in the +best use of the word. As another example, the writer states that chess +is perhaps, of all recreations, the one most adapted to intellectual +persons, but to be pre-eminent at chess, he argues, is generally to be +that and nothing else. + +There is a good deal of truth in this, and it may well be said that the +athletes who go in purely for record-breaking, even if they stick +strictly to the amateur spirit so far as the letter of the law is +concerned, devote themselves so fully to their endeavors that they have +little time to cultivate the gentler arts and amenities of social life. +They consort so constantly with trainers and rubbers and professional +sports that they grow more or less to be like these; they talk like +them, they act like them, and they begin to shun more elegant society; +and while still remaining amateurs, they are unquestionably amateurs of +a lower social caste. This degradation is due solely to their own +conduct. There is a wide difference between a healthy and keen +indulgence in sport and a passion for breaking records, putting aside +any mention of the money-making feature of the question. + +It would seem that Mr. Lyttelton is not the only man in England whose +attention has been called to this weakness among their amateurs; for the +Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P., who was present at Stamford Bridge on the +occasion of the athletic meeting of the Association of Conservative +Clubs, made remarks in a similar vein when he distributed the prizes to +the winners. He said that there were critics of athletics who watched +the rapid growth of interest in sport with something like suspicion, not +to say dislike. He asserted, however, that he did not share their views, +for he had always held that the healthy interest in athletic sports was +one of the most distinguishing and characteristic marks of our age, and +he considered it an admirable sign of the times. Nevertheless he warned +the young men who were listening to him to beware of the danger of +carrying their sports too far, and he said that that point was reached +when training or indulgence in sports ceased to be a pastime and became +an occupation. There is fruit for considerable thought in the remarks of +these two prominent English gentlemen. + +The Interscholastic Tennis Tournament at Newport has been postponed +until August 19, and will therefore not be treated in this Department +until the issue of August 25. + + R. W. NEAL, Salem, Mass.--1. The price of _Track Athletics in + Detail_ has been printed conspicuously at the bottom of the second + page of this Department for the past six weeks. 2. I do not know + the book you mention. 3. _Track Athletics in Detail_ is the only + volume so far published in the HARPER'S ROUND TABLE Library. 4. + Other good books on athletics are Walter Camp's _Book of College + Sports_ (Century Company), and Blaikie's _How to Get Strong_. + + F. F. SMITH, Cumberland, Md.--The articles on canoe-building + appeared in the ROUND TABLE, August 13 and 20, 1895. + + F. E. D., New York.--You will find the advice you seek in Blaikie's + _How to Get Strong_ (Harper and Brothers, $1); and _Sound Bodies + for Boys and Girls_ (Harper and Brothers, 40c.). + + V. W. HALL, Portland, Me.--See answer to F. E. D. + + C. W. GILLESPIE, Terre Haute, Ind.--It was assumed, in writing the + article on "Hammer-throwing," that the athlete was more or less + familiar with the various track-athletic events now practised, and + consequently it was thought unnecessary to go into various specific + details concerning the "turn" which puzzles you. In throwing the + hammer you only turn once. The act is merely that of jumping about + and facing the other direction. If you are confused at the start, + practise this turn without a hammer. The shoes should have spikes + both in the toes and the heels. + +"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL, +$1.25. + + THE GRADUATE. + + * * * * * + +RECALLED STORMY TIMES. + +"Well, that looks natural," said the old soldier, looking at a can of +condensed milk on the breakfast-table in place of ordinary milk that +failed on account of the storm. "It's the Gail Borden Eagle Brand we +used during the war."--[_Adv._] + + + + +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] + + + + +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 as far as possible. + + +[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers.] + +Continuing the trip from Chicago to Waukesha, we give this week the +second stage of the journey, which is divided into three parts. As was +stated last week, it is probably well for the rider to stop at Wheeling +for dinner, rather than stay there for the night. The ride is a short +one, and can be done by any one who had ridden for a season with +comparative ease in the early morning hours before it grows too warm. If +this is done, the rider may stop at Wheeling for dinner and for three or +four hours' rest, and then in the cool of the early evening continue on +as far as Lippencott's on Fox Lake, about 23 or 24 miles from Wheeling. +Here is a good place to stop for the night, and the run from +Lippencott's to Waukesha will not be too great for the second day. For +convenience in making maps, however, we have divided this journey into +three. + +Leaving Wheeling, still on the Old Milwaukee Toll Road, run a little +west of north four and a half miles to Halfday. At Halfday turn +westward, taking the left fork, cross the railroad about two miles out +of the town, and run on to Diamond Lake, four and a half miles from +Halfday. Keeping straight on the main road, continue to Dean's Corners, +three and a half miles from Diamond Lake. Again keep straight ahead, +running into Fremont Center, keeping to the left about a mile before +entering the town, and then by turning sharp to the right half a mile +further on, run into the village itself. On running out of Fremont +Center keep to the left at the fork across the stream, and then bear to +the right up towards Fort Hill. Instead of running to Fort Hill, +however, you should keep to the left about half a mile before reaching +the town, and keep to the main road running up to Lippencott's between +Fish Pond on the left and Wooster Lake on the right. The road is easily +found, with the exception of one or two turns just before reaching +Lippencott's, and these can be more easily found by making inquiries +than by attempting to describe them here. Lippencott's is a pleasant +place with a good hotel on Fox Lake, where it is moderately certain that +you will pass a cool night and feel refreshed for your ride to Waukesha +the next day. + + NOTE.--Map of New York city asphalted streets in No. 809. Map of + route 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 in 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. Waukesha to Oconomowoc in 875. Chicago to + Wheeling in 876. + + * * * * * + +If one is a collector of antiquities, he has doubtless in his possession +one of those beautifully chased and ornamented timepieces that at one +period at the court of France were so much in vogue, it being the +fashion to wear several of them at one time. Invariably set with jewels, +they were very costly, but for usefulness in keeping time they were +practically worthless. A good story is told of a nobleman who was +showing two or three of his beautiful watches to a friend. Being jostled +by a passer-by the friend accidentally dropped two of them on the floor. +He was very profuse with his apologies for his awkwardness, to which the +nobleman replied, + +"Oh, pray don't mention it, my dear friend. It's the first time I ever +saw them go together." + + + + +[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 new Spanish Congressional stamp has been received on letters. It is +a very handsome stamp, printed in carmine, bearing the Spanish coat of +arms, with the words "Congreso de los Diputados." The cancellation is a +crown with ornament attached bearing the words "Congreso de los +Diputados." The cancellation is the same as that hitherto used on the +ordinary Spanish envelopes bearing the regular issues of stamps when +mailed by a member of the Spanish legislature. + +This is the time for the annual conventions of all kinds, even of +stamp-collectors. The Southern Philatelic Association has already +adjourned. The Sons of Philately met August 5, at Gettysburg, Pa. The +American Philatelic Association will meet at Minnetonka. + +The two new Japanese stamps are to be issued September 12, 1896, the +second anniversary of the Emperor's leaving Tokyo to go to Hiroshima, so +as to be near the seat of war between Japan and China. + +The inhabitants of the small group of islands situated on the south of +Iceland possess a very curious method of communication in their +so-called "bottle post." When the wind blows from the south, and one of +the islanders wishes to communicate with the mainland, he puts his +letters into a well-corked bottle, and to insure their delivery he +incloses at the same time a plug or twist of tobacco, or a cigar. The +wind speedily impels the bottle to the shores of the main island, where +people are usually on the lookout, who are willing to deliver the +letters in return for the inclosed remuneration. + +Africa is coming to the front with a multiplication of new stamps. The +French in Madagascar have issued three different sets, two provisional +and one regular. The British East Africa new series of fifteen +denominations, and Zanzibar with fourteen denominations, have been +issued. In the near future specialists in African stamps will grow +common. + +This reminds me of a prophecy by one of the old dealers that soon there +would be albums made for each country and for each hemisphere for the +advanced collector with money, and one simplified album for the use of +the general collector, who with less money, but with equal enthusiasm, +would get just as much enjoyment out of his modest general collection as +the millionaire specialists out of their marvellous collection of +varieties, etc., of one country. + + W. W. WOOD.--The two coins are sold by dealers at a slight increase + over face. + + J. M. F.--There were five varieties of the $5 red Internal Revenue, + first issue, viz.: Charier Party, Conveyance, worth 15c. each; + Mortgage and Probate of Will, worth 50c. each; and Manifest, worth + $1.50. These prices are for perforated copies; unperforated copies + are worth from $1.25 to $10. The second issue, blue and black, and + the third issue, vermilion, are worth 50c. or 60c. each. Cuban + stamps are not much collected, and any one can buy them in + quantities, therefore there is little prospect of an advance. + + W. R. WHEELER.--The $10 Charter Party, perforated, is worth 60c.; + unperforated, $8; the $3 Charter, 15c., and $1.50 respectively; a + pair of $2 Mortgage, unperforated, is worth $4; the $2 and $5 + Probate, worth $1 and 50c. respectively. + + W. R. C.--The 3c. U.S. red, 1851, is worth 35c. per hundred; the + 1857, about 25c. per hundred; the 1861, about 10c. per hundred. The + 1c. blue, from 1851 to 1860, are worth much more, depending on + condition of the plate, etc. The U.S. Internal Revenue 2c. are not + worth anything, the other 2c. Revenues are worth various prices. + + F. E. COWAN.--I do not know the value of Mexican Revenue stamps. + Probably some St. Louis dealer could quote prices. Hitherto they + have not been collected generally, but I believe they will soon be + more popular. When that time comes prices will become more stable. + + G. LEONARD.--I cannot repeat the long list of coins previously + published in the ROUND TABLE for December 17, 1895, and January 14, + 1896. + + A. A. HALL.--English Revenue stamps, or rather stamped papers, have + been used for several hundred years. You will doubtless recall + England's attempt to force the American Colonists to use stamped + paper in 1765. The law was repealed in 1766 in consequence of the + disaffection and riots. + + J. SCHWANMAN.--"Gumpaps" is a nickname or term of contempt applied + to stamps issued primarily to sell to collectors, especially those + condemned by the Society for the Suppression of Speculative Stamps, + usually called the S.S.S.S. + + W. T. WILLIAMS.--No. Never paste your stamps down. Always use + hinges, and buy the best hinges, as it will pay you in the end. I + frequently see old collections containing stamps pasted down, with + the result that almost every stamp has been damaged. Blues, greens, + and some reds disappear altogether. I am told it comes from using + dextrine from which the acid has not been thoroughly removed. + + J. J. SINGER.--In perforating postage-stamps a die plate is placed + before the needles of a machine carrying hundreds of needles. As + about 180,000,000 holes are punched per day, the wear on the die + plate is excessive. Brass plates wear out in a day, and even steel + plates are rapidly destroyed. The use of aluminium bronze has + caused the die plates to last for months without renewal. Usually + the parallel horizontal rows are perforated first, and the vertical + rows next. Both rows have been perforated at one time, but this + method has proved impracticable. + + FAITHFUL READER.--The 1850 dime can be bought of the dealers for + 20c. They are still in circulation. + + M. C. HALDEMAN, Thompsontown, Pa., wishes to exchange stamps and + philatelic literature. Also wants samples of amateur papers. + + V. M.--The 1851 1c. U.S. is worth $2 unused, 25c. used. But there + are two varieties (from the early impressions) which are worth much + more. Do not cut any pairs or strips of any unperforated stamps. + + PHILATUS. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +[Illustration: COLUMBIA BICYCLES.] + + + + +WALTER BAKER & CO., LIMITED. + +Established Dorchester, Mass., 1780. + +Breakfast Cocoa + +[Illustration] + +Always ask for Walter Baker & Co.'s + +Breakfast Cocoa + +Made at + +DORCHESTER, MASS. + +It bears their Trade Mark + +"La Belle Chocolatiere" on every can. + +Beware of Imitations. + + + + +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 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +STAMPS on Approval! 50% disct. _List free._ + +W. C. Shields, 30 Sorauren Ave., Toronto, Canada. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER] + + + + +Reader: Have you seen the + +[Illustration: Franklin] + +It is a Collection which no one who loves music should fail to own; it +should find a place in every home. Never before, it may truthfully be +said, has a song book been published at once so cheap, so good, and so +complete.--_Colorado Springs Gazette._ + +[Illustration: Square] + +This Song Collection is one of the most notable enterprises of the kind +attempted by any publisher. The brief sketches and histories of the +leading productions in the work add greatly to the value of the +series.--_Troy Times._ + +[Illustration: Collection?] + +Sold Everywhere. Price, 50 cents; Cloth, $1.00. Full contents, with +Specimen Pages mailed, without cost, on application to + +Harper & Brothers, New York. + + * * * * * + +The Theban Chariot. + + When in Florence we started for the Egyptian Museum one morning at + ten, and got there in about twenty minutes. I was disappointed when + I first looked at the chariot. As I examined it I saw how + wonderfully it was made. There was no metal in it, and the only + substances besides wood were leather and fossil bone. There are + very few pieces of wood in the chariot, as you will see in the + picture. The collar is like a wishbone with the point down. The tip + is round instead of flat, and is of fossil bone. The ends of the + yoke are finished with the same bone, and also the heads of the + wooden spikes that hold the wheels on the axles. + + [Illustration: THE THEBAN CHARIOT.] + + The pole is about the same length as an average carriage-pole. The + yoke is about four feet long, and the wheels the same height. The + place where the driver and warrior stood is made of leather, + plaited like a split-bottomed chair, and this platform is + semicircular. The yoke and pole are held together by a bone-headed + spike. The spokes, pole, and hubs were originally covered with + birch bark. The authorities say that from the quality of the wood + and the absence of metal, it may be presumed that this chariot, + formerly belonging to some warrior of the north, had been taken to + Egypt as one of the spoils of war over 3300 years ago. + + I have seen a photograph of a Roman chariot. It was the same as + this, but filled in with bronze, and thirty times as heavy. The + pieces of leather which go from the breast-work of the platform to + the pole have been put there recently. There is a bow, that was + found with the chariot, leaning against it. It used to be covered + with leather, and is about five feet long. + + JOHN B. CANTLEY. + WOODBURN SANDS, BLETCHLY, ENGLAND. + + * * * * * + +A Man-eating Russian. + +In the church of St. Alexander, St. Petersburg, are the remains of a +Russian general, Hannibal. A guide once said to a traveller, "There lies +a Cannibal." This startling remark was all due to the fact that the +Russian alphabet is H-less. + + * * * * * + +An Infallible Guesser. + +When Thomas was compiling one of his first almanacs his clerk asked him +what forecast he should enter opposite a certain week in July. + +"_Thunder, hail, and snow_," promptly replied Thomas--and, lo! the +prediction proved to be true! Thomas's almanac was thereafter considered +well-nigh infallible. + + * * * * * + +In Order Now for "S.Z.B." to Explain. + +Some weeks ago a letter reached us, signed by what appeared a +responsible name, and dated at Kingman, Arizona, telling us of the death +of Lady Florence E. Cowan. As Miss Cowan lives at Kingman, we believed +the statement, and as she had contributed to the Table many delightful +morsels, which thousands had enjoyed, we made a minute of the news. A +letter from Miss Cowan expresses her natural surprise, and gives us and +the Table the glad tidings that the information of "S.Z.B." was +incorrect. + + * * * * * + +Some Odd Pastimes. + + Spinosa, after studying assiduously for hours, would amuse himself + by setting spiders to fighting. His laughter was said to have been + positively alarming on the occasion of especially exciting combats. + Socrates loved to play with children, and Tycho Brahé to polish + spectacle glasses. D'Andilly, a translator of _Josephus_, spent his + leisure in cultivating trees, while Barclay, author of the + _Argenis_, was as devoted to his flowers as Celia Thaxter. Balzac + collected crayon portraits, and the Abbé de Maroles, prints. + Politian was never so happy as with his lute. The learned monk + Petavius would gravely whirl his chair for five minutes at the end + of every second hour of theological research, while Dr. Samuel + Clarke was an expert chair and table jumper. Swift was often seen + running up and down the steps of the deanery. Shelley's fondness + for sailing paper boats is well known, but few know that he once + folded a fifty-pound bank-note and sent it bobbing down the current + of the Serpentine. But all will be glad to know that the shallop + was finally moored in safety lower down the river. This launching + somehow reminds us of the first stanza of Lear's _Owl and Pussy + Cat_. + + GEOFFREY CARTWRIGHT. + + * * * * * + +Two Apt Anagrams. + +A person once wrote this anagram of the name "Napoleon Bonaparte": "No, +appear not on Elba." + +When it was rumored that the Duke of Wellington intended marrying a rich +heiress, Angelina Burdett Coutts, this anagram appeared: + + "The Duke must in his second childhood be, + Since in his doting age he turns to A B C." + + ORION BELTON. + + * * * * * + +Kinks. + +No. 19.--A JINGLE OF JACKS. + + Pray find, without much tribulation, + Full many a neat e_jac_ulation: + The Jack^1 that flies at vessel's prow; + Before it all good Jack Tars bow; + The Jack^2 that on a darksome night + May well inspire one's soul with fright; + The Jack^3 that rears its massive trunk + O'er flowers that of the brook have drunk; + The Jack^4 whom ev'ry butcher greets + With offers of all lean-fleshed meats; + The Jack^5 whom sober-minded people shun, + So great his size he fills a tun! + The Jack^6 who makes the strong and hale + Before its very name turn pale; + And now I'll tell you of _one_ Jack-- + The Jack who has the happy knack + Of making sunshine out of shade-- + The dearest Jack that e'er was made! + + PROTE A. JAY. + + * * * * * + +No. 20.--A QUARTUS. + + First is a state that is surely in debt; + Second, a stone that in truth is _a door_; + Third, an odd gem which dilates in a pet; + Fourth is a stone that may mean _a horse poor_. + + PLESIOSAURUS. + + * * * * * + +No. 21.--A SESTINE OF STONES. + + The stone (1) that will capture the "mackerel-guide"; + The stone (2) which might have the term "measures" applied; + The stone (3) that "O, Partner!" cries out with _esprit_; + The stone (4) that may grow 'mid the tall _fleurs-de-lis_; + The stone (5) that means "steward" in Persian, 'tis said; + And, lastly, the stone (6) in which gas burns o'erhead. + + EASON C. ARLINGTON. + + * * * * * + +No. 23.--A MYTHOLOGICAL MÉLANGE. + +In the following jumble find these mythological personages, Greek and +Roman: nine female and five male divinities, two giants, two heroes, a +legendary king, a monster, a Greek maiden metamorphosed into a white +heifer, the most beautiful of all mortals, and the mother of a +well-known god and goddess: + +The miner vacantly began to leer--ostentation at last! He cater to a +maniac? Hill escaped; an oven used to mar Smith's arbor. Eastwardly the +coach ironically accompanied Jan. "Usually _I_ owe; _he_ bears genuine +grief amid astounding trials, surpassing any Medes." The ice restored +her; attentive Lucas tore the vest at the hem; the shy mender let oats +fly, while the poacher messed his porridge--the color I only conjectured +to be bice. + + SOUTHE ARLINGTON. + + * * * * * + +Questions and Answers. + +Are you interested in music and natural history? Inez M. Brush, Chelsea, +Iowa, wants to correspond with you if you are. If you live in Baltimore, +P. Dettelbach, 1905 Druid Hill Avenue, wants you to join the Monumental +City Chapter. Corresponding members are also received. William J. +Smith,--No badges are now in stock. When more are prepared, notice will +be given in these columns. We know of no active Chapter in Detroit near +you. It is better to form one among your own friends than to join one +whose members you have no acquaintance with. + +"Disputants,"--Austria is on a gold and Russia on a silver monetary +basis. "Amateur Newspaper,"--There are several methods by which writing +is cheaply duplicated. None are perfect--that is, as perfect as +type-printing, and none can, unless done far better than the average +amateur is able to do, deceive the recipient to the extent of making him +think it an original letter. For HARPER'S MAGAZINE, and for prices apply +to your bookseller. Directions go with the apparatus. + +Henry F. Brown, a Massachusetts Knight, who won a Round Table +Illustration prize, asks if the late Horace Bradley is the same person +who judged his picture: "for," he writes, "I find 'H. B.' on the back of +it." We cannot say with absolute certainty, but it is probable that it +is. Mr. Bradley, who was one of the most obliging of men, passed +judgment upon much work sent in by Round Table members. Pressed with +responsibilities, he often took time to look through a pile of members' +drawings, giving a word of criticism here or of commendation there. In +half a dozen instances he wrote letters to members of artistic promise, +giving them helpful advice. You should prize your drawing with its +initials "H. B." highly. + +Eugene B. Benton, who says he hopes one day to enter the navy, asks what +became of the old vessels of the Revolutionary navy. There were about +forty of them, and they had different fates. Two, the _America_ and the +_Ariel_, were presented to France. The famous _Bonhomme Richard_ was +sunk in 1779, and the _Washington_, _Independence_, and _Montgomery_ in +1778. The _Saratoga_ was lost at sea, and the _Lexington_ was captured +by the British in the English Channel, in 1778. You are in error in +thinking the _Constitution_ was in the war of the Revolution. It was not +launched until 1797. It was in service, with some lapses, until +December, 1881, when it was consigned to "Rotten Row," in the Brooklyn +Navy-yard. The earliest built of our new navy, or White Squadron, was +the _Chicago_, in 1886. Previous to 1862 enlisted men in the navy were +granted a "spirit ration." In July of that year Congress passed a law +abolishing it, and enacted that "hereafter no distilled spirituous +liquors shall be admitted on board of vessels of war, except as medical +stores." Read Admiral Gherardi's article on the navy, in HARPER'S ROUND +TABLE for June 30 last. It can be had for five cents from the +publishers, and it authoritatively answers all of your questions about +entering the navy, the pay, etc. + + + + +CAMERA CLUB. + + +CHOOSING A CAMERA. + +Many letters come to the editor of this column asking advice in regard +to the purchase of a camera, style, price, etc., and a short talk on the +subject may not come amiss to the members of the club. + +There are so many makes of cameras, each with a seemingly equal claim to +merit, that the would-be purchaser--unless he has had some experience in +photography--is often at a loss what sort of an instrument to select. To +simplify the description we will divide the cameras into four classes: +1. The tiny snap-shot. 2. The hand camera. 3. The hand and view camera +combined. 4. The view camera. + +If one has had no previous experience in taking pictures, and simply +wishes to make pictorial reminders of his summer outings, the tiny +snap-shot-camera, which makes pictures about the size of a silver +dollar, is a most satisfactory investment. This camera carries a spool +of film long enough for twelve pictures, which is easily and quickly +changed for fresh film. The lens has what is called a universal focus, +so that there is no focussing. All that one has to do to make a picture +is to point the camera at the object and press the shutter spring. The +result is sometimes very good and sometimes very amusing, according to +the skill with which the instrument is managed. Some of these miniature +pictures are perfect in detail, and such pictures may be enlarged four +or five times their diameter with slight expense. Even if one owns a +larger camera one of these pocket-cameras is a desirable addition to +one's outfit. This snap-shot camera costs from $3 to $5. + +No. 2. The hand camera may be bought anywhere from $8 to $50. The size +of the picture made varies from the small 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 to the 5 by 7. +The camera which takes a 4 by 5 picture is the most convenient and the +most satisfactory size. These cameras are made with an interchangeable +arrangement, so that one may use either plates or films. For general +work the plates are less trouble to handle, and the fact that one can +carry only eight to ten plates in the camera leads one to be more +careful in making pictures. Films are more convenient to carry on a +journey, for the weight of film enough for one hundred pictures is not +equal to eight plates. A good 4 by 5 hand camera may be bought for $12. + +No. 3. The hand and view camera combined is one of the best cameras for +all-round work. A 4 by 5 camera fitted with double swing-back, rising +and falling front, and a rapid rectilinear lens may be bought for $20. +The object of the swing-back is to adjust the plate so that it may be +parallel with the object to be photographed. + +No. 4. The view camera is one made specially for out-of-door work, and +is the style used by professionals who make a specialty of landscape +views. The camera and lens are bought separately, and one may have +several lenses for the same camera. Most of the view cameras fold up +compactly, so that a 5 by 8 camera, three double plate-holders, two or +three lenses, and a focussing-cloth may be carried in a case about +twelve inches square and five and a half inches wide. + + + + +[Illustration: IVORY SOAP] + + A wise young woman understands + That Ivory Soap is best to use + For outing flannels, sunburned hands, + Light summer gowns and tennis shoes. + +Copyright, 1896, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti. + + + + +THE + +BALTIMOREAN PRINTING-PRESS + +[Illustration] + +has earned more money for boys than all other presses in the market. +Boys, don't idle away your time when you can buy a self-inking +printing-press, type, and complete outfit for $5.00. Write for +particulars, there is money in it for you. + +THE J. F. W. DORMAN CO., + +Baltimore, Md., U.S.A. + + + + +FREE. + +Sample cards and circulars describing the latest and greatest +educational game. Fascinating, entertaining, and highly instructive. + +H. J. WEIHE, + +602 25th Street, Milwaukee, Wis. + + + + +[Illustration] + +EARN A TRICYCLE. + +We wish to introduce our Teas. Sell 30 lbs. and we will give you a Fairy +Tricycle; sell 25 lbs. for a Solid Silver Watch and Chain; 50 lbs. for a +Gold Watch and Chain; 75 lbs. for a Bicycle; 10 lbs. for a Gold Ring. +Write for catalog and order sheet Dept. I + +W. G. BAKER, + +Springfield, Mass. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER] + + + + +SOME GOOD BOOKS + + * * * * * + +TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL. + +Compiled by the Editor of "Interscholastic Sport" in HARPER'S ROUND +TABLE. Illustrated from Instantaneous Photographs. 8vo, Cloth, +Ornamental, $1.25. In "HARPER'S ROUND TABLE Library." + + A good book to put into the hands of the athletically inclined. It + is capitally illustrated with instantaneous photographs, and is + full of expert and sound advice and instruction.--_Outlook_, N. Y. + + * * * * * + +By CAPTAIN KING + + Captain King has in large degree the rare faculty of placing in the + mental vision of the reader a clearly limned picture of the scenes + described.--_Newark Advertiser._ + +CADET DAYS. + +Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25. + +CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK, + +And Stories of Army Life. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.25. + +A WAR-TIME WOOING. + +Illustrated by R. F. ZOGBAUM. Post 8vo, Cloth. $1.00. + +BETWEEN THE LINES. + +A Story of the War. Illustrated by GILBERT GAUL. Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.25. + + * * * * * + +HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + + Said Tommy Tadpole to his Ma, + "I wish I were a frog! + Then I could make a great big noise, + And sit upon a log!" + + "You'll find, my dear," his mother said, + "More things than noise and log + Complete the sum of daily life + When you've become a frog." + + * * * * * + +A GOOD PLAN. + +"Bobbie," said Tom, "let you and I go into business." + +"What business?" asked Bobbie. + +"Oh, I don't care," said Tom. "I'll be senior partner, and you be head +clerk and attend the business." + + * * * * * + +A GOOD TERM. + +"Hoh," said Wilbur, when Wallie wanted to swap an American two-cent +stamp for a silver shilling, "you're pretty mumpy, I think." + +"Mumpy?" asked Wallie. "What's mumpy?" + +"When your cheek gets big," said Wilbur. + + * * * * * + +A HARD QUESTION TO ANSWER. + +"Papa," said Arthur, "I read somewhere that people became what they +ate." + +"So it is said, my son." + +"Then why don't cannibals become missionaries, papa?" + + * * * * * + +A DISPUTE. + +"Did you see how that bull tossed his head?" asked Mollie. + +"No," said Allie. "I saw him shake it. He didn't toss it." + +"Yes, he did," said Mollie. + +"Where did he toss it to?" asked Allie. "I didn't see it land anywhere." + + * * * * * + +HARD TO RESIST. + +"Billie," said little Tommie, "won't you come and play with me?" + +"You're too little, Tommie," said Billie. "I couldn't play anything with +you." + +"I'll be anything, Billie," pleaded Tommie. "I'll roll myself up into a +ball, and maybe you'll have a splendid time bouncing me about." + + * * * * * + +WHERE THE WINDOWS GOT THEIR NAMES. + +It was a very blustery day. The breeze from the sea was so strong that +it blew in one or two panes of glass, and brought down the curtains with +a clatter to the floor. + +"I see now," said little Harry, "why they call windies windies." + + * * * * * + +A BOUNCER. + +"What a splendid jumper your little dog is, Sammie," said Mr. Hicks. + +"Well, he ought to be," said Sammie. "He swallowed a rubber ball last +week." + + * * * * * + +Floods in lowland countries have their humorous side as well as their +tragic ones. A gentleman recently returned from the West relates a +little experience he had with a swollen river in Missouri. The country +had been a veritable swamp for some days, and after travelling through +it on horseback for a week doing business here and there, he says he +arrived at the bank of the river. There was no way to cross it except by +swimming, so, dismounting, he tied his clothes to the horse, and drove +him into the river, swimming after him. Reaching the other side, he +dressed and continued on his way. Before going twenty feet, however, he +came to the forks of the road, and not knowing the correct direction he +wanted to go, he looked around for a sign. There was none, but just +across the river, near the spot he had entered to swim across, he saw a +board nailed on a tree. Well, there was nothing to do but to get in and +swim across again, as undoubtedly that was the sign containing the +directions. He swam across, and after climbing up the bank he read the +following notice: + +"Five dollars fine for crossing this bridge faster than a walk." + +He says that under the circumstances the sarcasm of that sign put him in +bad humor for the rest of the day. + + * * * * * + +In the rush and crush of business in the general post-office the other +day an Irishman's answer was heard that is worth repeating. It was at +the general-delivery window, and the Irishman was poor, and a typical +son of the sod. He had applied for a letter. + +"Letter? All right, sir. What name?" + +The Irishman gave his name, but the clerk, not catching it, asked, + +"How do you spell it?" + +"Spell it!" answered the Irishman. "Shure, if a foine smart clerk loike +you can't spell it, how d'ye think a poor man loike me can?" + + * * * * * + +THE TERRIBLE PLIGHT OF THE WISE MAN. + + There was a man in our town + Who was so wondrous wise + That nobody dared speak to him; + And so he winked his eyes, + + And said, "I don't know anything, + But all these people here + Are so afraid, they dare not speak, + And call me sage and seer; + + "But, oh, if some one should forget, + And speak to me some day, + I really haven't an idea + Of what I then should say!" + + And so this sage pretended that + His temper was most vile, + And people, when they met him, + Turned and ran away a mile. + + And so it is unto this day-- + He's magnified in size, + So that though he knows nothing, + All the town folks think him wise. + + J. K. B. + + * * * * * + +THE BEST OF ALL. + +"What are you going to be when you are a man, Jack?" asked Uncle George. + +"A man," said Jack. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, August 18, 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59045 *** |