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diff --git a/59477-0.txt b/59477-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7bd07c --- /dev/null +++ b/59477-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3439 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59477 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] + +Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1896. FIVE CENTS A +COPY. + +VOL. XVII.--NO. 886. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE PRINCESS IN HER GARDEN. + +BY EVELYN SHARP. + + +The Princess was walking in her garden. It was a very beautiful garden, +full of many-colored flowers and rare exotics; but the Princess was not +fond of flowers, and she walked down the path without looking at them at +all, and she felt dreadfully dull. For she had quarrelled with her +yesterday's lover, and had just sent him away, so she had no one left to +tease, and was therefore without an occupation. + +"We are very beautiful," whispered the flowers on each side of her. +"Won't you look at us?" + +"Only look at our exquisite coloring," simpered the scarlet begonias. +"Surely you must admire us." + +"I," said a particularly ugly shrub with a foreign accent, "am unique. I +am surprised that you should pass _me_ over." + +But the Princess wandered on listlessly until she came to the high +prickly hedge at the end of her garden, and here she stopped because the +path ended and she could go no further. She was feeling so dull, +however, that she actually scratched her white hands in making a hole in +the hedge so that she could look through and see what was on the other +side. She had always been told that nothing outside the palace was at +all amusing, but she felt sure that anything would be better than her +secluded garden path and her beautiful, uninteresting flowers. So she +yawned lazily, and held on her crown with both hands, and peeped through +the hedge. To her surprise she saw nothing but potatoes growing, acres +and acres of potatoes, stretching as far as her eye could reach, and in +the middle of them all a tall man digging. + +"Oh!" said the Princess, in a disappointed tone, "only potatoes! How +dull!" + +"Nonsense!" said the tall man, without turning round; "they are only +grown for you to eat. If you don't want to see them growing, you must +not expect to eat them." + +"But I don't eat your potatoes," said the Princess, "because I have a +garden of my own." + +"There are no potatoes in your garden," answered the tall man, just as +roughly as before; "there is nothing but flowers there for you to look +at. But here in our garden we have no flowers to look at. We have to +live in an ugly place, and do ugly work all day long, so that you should +have your potatoes to eat." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed the Princess; "I never met such a rude man before. +Does he know I am the Princess, I wonder?" And she walked back hastily +to the palace. + +"We are very beautiful," said the flowers again, as her dress brushed +against them. "Won't you look at us?" + +But the Princess passed them by as before. + +"Where do potatoes come from?" she asked, suddenly, at dinner-time. +There was great consternation all round the table, for no one at the +palace was ever supposed to know anything so common or useful as that. +At last a strange and needy courtier, who had just come to apply for the +post of Lord High Treasurer or anything else that was vacant, made a +very good guess, as soon as he was quite certain that no one else knew +anything whatever about it. + +"They are washed up on the sea-shore at certain periods of the year," he +said, and the King nodded at him gratefully, and felt that he would make +a very useful foreign ambassador. But the Princess suggested that he +should be offered the post of head gardener instead, as it was a pity so +much useful learning should be wasted on a foreign ambassador. And the +needy courtier, who had no sense of humor, gratefully accepted the post. + +The next morning the Princess sent her page secretly to the hole in the +hedge, and told him to bring the tall man back to speak with her. But +the tall man sent her a message that he was too busy to come, and that +the Princess must go to him if she had anything to say. + +The little page trembled very much as he delivered this message. + +"Shall I order him to be beheaded, your Highness?" he asked. The +Princess's cheeks were smarting, but she merely smiled at the little +page with a royal indifference. + +"No," she said, "only Princes are beheaded." And when the little page +was safely playing marbles with all the other pages in the anteroom, she +opened her window and stepped out on the fresh dewy grass, and ran down +the garden path as fast as she could. The flowers were silent this +morning, and did not call out to her as she passed; but she noticed +their silence no more than she had noticed their words the day before, +for she had never understood their language. + +The tall man was digging busily when she looked through the hole in the +hedge, and now that the full light of day was on him she saw that he was +very, very ugly, and had the wrinkled, tired face of an old man, +although he was as straight and vigorous as a youth. + +"I have come back," said the Princess, for she could not think of +anything wiser to say. The tall man glanced round at her, and then went +on digging. + +"_That_ doesn't make any difference to anybody," he said. + +"Why," she exclaimed, "do you know who I am?" + +"Not in the least," said the tall man. "Who are you?" + +She drew a long breath of astonishment. "I am the Princess," she said. + +The man stopped digging, and looked at her for a moment. + +"Is that all? No name?" he asked. + +"Of course there's a name!" said the Princess, almost crying. "My real +name is Gyldea, but Princess is enough for most people. Is it possible +that you did not know who I was? Can't you see I am standing in my own +garden?" + +"Oh yes," said the tall man. "But you might have been the gardener's +daughter, or one of the ladies-in-waiting, mightn't you?" And he +returned to his digging. + +"Did you get my message?" asked the Princess, fighting to keep back her +angry tears. + +"Let me see, there was a message of some sort," answered the tall man. +"You sent for me, didn't you?" + +"Yes," said the Princess, haughtily, "and you said I was to come and see +you instead. It is positively shameful!" + +"But you needn't have come, need you?" said the tall man. + +Then the Princess stamped her tiny foot, and went away again up the +garden path. And as she went she thought unconsciously of her +yesterday's lover, the first one who had ever interested her at all; and +she almost wished she had not sent him away, just because he did not +dance well. It struck her now, for the first time, that perhaps there +was something else he could do, such as digging potatoes, for instance. + +"No, not digging potatoes!" she corrected herself, angrily, "that is a +horrid, vulgar occupation. But something else, perhaps; for I dare say +there are some people who do things that I have never heard of. I wonder +what it feels like to do things of that description? Oh dear! I wish +King Marigold would come back again!" + +Her yesterday's lover had been a young King with a serious face, and the +Princess could never bear people who looked serious; for, clearly, no +one had any right to do that, unless he happened to be a beggar or a +Prime Minister. All the same, she had wanted him back again ever since +the tall man had been rude to her. + +That evening there was a great ball at the palace. And the Princess was +dressed for it by her eleven maids of honor; and they took three hours +and a half over it, and only had twenty minutes left in which to dress +themselves. When they came back again, the Princess Gyldea was gone, and +no one knew where she was. The little page guessed, but he did not say +anything, because he did not want to go down the garden path by +moonlight, when the fairies were about, and might turn him into a frog +or something unpleasant. Besides, the dew was falling, and he had his +best dancing-shoes on, with real diamond buckles. + +Sure enough, at the bottom of the garden, the Princess was again looking +through the hole in the hedge. + +"Are you still digging potatoes?" she asked. + +"The potatoes have still to be dug," answered the tall man. + +"I want you to come and dance instead," said the Princess, imperiously. + +"Then who will dig your potatoes?" he asked. + +"Some one else will dig them," said the Princess, who always found that +when she wanted anything done it came to pass without any trouble. + +"There is no one else," said the tall man. "Go away and dance." + +"There is some one else!" cried the Princess. "_I_ will dig the +potatoes, and you shall go and dance!" + +"You are being an absurd child," laughed the tall man. "Why, you are on +the wrong side of the hedge, to begin with." + +"But you could help me to get over the hedge," said the Princess, +eagerly. "I want to do something new. I am _so_ tired of being a +Princess. You really don't know how dull it is to be a Princess always." + +"No," said the tall man, "I only know how dull it is to dig potatoes +always, for some one else to eat. Go away and dance, you foolish child. +Do you suppose you could dig potatoes in a dress like that?" + +And the Princess looked down at her fine silken robes, and she went away +up the garden path, more sadly than before. + +"I have been walking in my garden," she said, when she found the King +and the Queen and all the courtiers waiting for her, in the ballroom. + +"She is so fond of flowers, the sweet child," said the Queen, trying to +hide that she had been seriously alarmed; for the guests were beginning +to arrive, and it would never do for them to suspect that anything +unusual was happening. + +"That is all very well," grumbled the King, who was not fond of balls; +"but we must have the garden brought into the house or something, if she +wants to do those things. I have been standing at the open door in my +court suit for half an hour." + +The next morning the Princess set to work to find a dress in which she +could dig potatoes. But none of her own were simple enough; and when she +asked her maids of honor if they had any old clothes, they were quite +offended, and said they had never had such a thing in their lives. So +she called her little page, who was teaching the cat to stand on its +head in the anteroom; and she promised him a real sword in a gold sheath +if he would find her an old dress to wear. But the little page came back +again, in an hour's time, and said there was not an old dress to be had +in the palace. + +"What am I to do?" said the Princess, who had never been thwarted in her +life before. "How do dresses grow old, I wonder, and why has no one in +the palace got an old dress that I can wear?" + +"Please your Highness, I think it is because none of the ladies in the +palace slide down the balusters," said the little page. "That is the way +I tear my coats and make them old. But I have heard, your Highness, that +there are some people outside the palace gates who wear old clothes +sometimes, only his Majesty does not like us to mix with such people, +and I do not know where they live, your Highness." + +"Oh dear! oh dear!" sighed the Princess. "I wonder how long it would +take to wear out my dress and make it old enough to dig potatoes in?" + +The little page shook his head. + +"I do not think it will ever be an old dress, please your Highness," he +said; "but perhaps the White Witch of the Waterfall could help you to +find one." + +"Who is the White Witch of the Waterfall?" asked Princess Gyldea. + +"She lives by the waterfall in the wood that skirts the edge of your +garden," said the little page; "and she appears to those who call her +name three times, and grants them but one wish. At least that is what +folk say, but I have never dared to seek her myself, your Highness." + +So Princess Gyldea sent her page back to play with the other pages in +the anteroom, and she slipped out of the palace, and hastened across to +the wood, away from the high prickly hedge with the hole in it, and +arrived at last before the shimmering, glistening waterfall. Then she +raised her voice and called three times for the White Witch. And out of +the rushing, dancing water came a white mist, and out of the white mist, +stepped a wonderful, tall witch-woman, who looked as though the rivers +and the dew and the sunshine had all helped one another to make her. + +"Only one wish I can grant you, Princess, so think well before you ask," +she said. + +But the Princess Gyldea answered at once, without thinking at all. + +"Turn my silk robes into an old dress so that I can go and dig +potatoes," she begged. + +"As you like," answered the White Witch; "but for that you must give me +one of three gifts." + +"Tell me," said the Princess, "is it my crown, or my jewels, or my +wealth? You may have them all if you care for them, only give me an old +dress quickly." + +"I must have either your beauty or your strength or your happiness," +said the White Witch, with a smile. "That is my price for an old dress." + +"Will not all my wealth do as well?" she asked. + +"No," said the witch-woman, "for that is of no use to me, nor is it +yours to give. I must have something that is your very own." + +"I cannot let my beauty go," thought the Princess, as she looked at her +reflection in the clear mantle of the White Witch; "and if I lose my +strength I shall never be able to dig potatoes at all. No, it must be my +happiness; for, after all, I am very dull, and it will not be a big gift +to give." + +So she gave the White Witch her happiness; and the wonderful witch-woman +laughed like the trickling of water over stones; and her laugh mingled +with the rush of the waterfall; and she stepped back into the white mist +again and was gone. And Princess Gyldea looked down at her dress, and it +was no longer woven of silk and covered with precious jewels, nor was it +plain and clean, as she had fancied an old dress would be; but it was +soiled and ugly and torn; and she shivered with cold as she stood in it, +and put her hands over her eyes to shut out the ugliness of it. And she +walked back into her garden very slowly, and went down the path with her +head bent, for she felt heavy-hearted and downcast. The little page ran +across her path just behind her as she went, and he stopped and stared +after her. + +"What fun!" he cried. "Here is an old beggar-woman in the Princess's +garden!" and he took up a stone and threw it at her. But a red rose bush +caught the stone and stopped it, and the little page went singing back +to the palace, while the Princess crept sobbing towards the hole in the +hedge. + +"Look at us, Princess," whispered the flowers, "for we are very +beautiful." + +And the Princess stooped and picked a handful, and fastened them in her +torn, ragged dress. + +"Help me over. I'm so unhappy," she said, through the hedge, and +stretched out her hands to the tall man. And the tall man dropped his +spade and came and lifted her right over; and there she stood before +him, a woe-begone, tear-stained little figure in a ragged gown. + +"What have you come for?" he asked, and smiled at her. + +"I knew you would only laugh," she said, indignantly, "and now I can't +get back again." + +"So you want to go back again already? I suppose it is a nice new game +to wear an old dress and pretend to dig potatoes," said the tall man. + +"It is not a game," said the Princess, humbly. "I gave the White Witch +my happiness for an old dress so that I might come and dig potatoes and +you could go and learn to dance, and now you only laugh at me!" + +"So you have been to the White Witch too?" said the tall man. "Then you +shall come, if you like, and dig potatoes while I go and learn to +dance." + +So she took the spade and dug all day until the night-time, and then she +lay down under the high prickly hedge and went to sleep in the +starlight. And in the morning the tall man came back again and spoke +with her. + +"Are you tired of your new game yet?" he asked. + +"It is not a game," she said, and looked at the blisters and the +scratches on her soft white hands. + +Then the tall man took up the potatoes she had dug and went away for +another day. + +And every morning he came and asked the same question, and every morning +the Princess gave him the same answer; and after that he took away the +potatoes she had dug. + +At the end of a month the Princess was so tired with digging all day, +and her hands were so sore with holding the heavy spade, that she felt +she could do no more. + +"I am sure I must be going to die," she said, as she looked up at the +stars. But she did not die, and the next morning the tall man came as +before. + +"But you have dug no potatoes since yesterday, Gyldea," he said to her. + +"I am too tired; look at my hands," she said, and held them out to him. + +Then the tall man knelt down beside her and kissed her two hands, and as +he kissed them all the sore places were suddenly healed, and the ugly +scars vanished, and they grew white and soft again. + +"I shall be able to dig now," she said, joyfully. + +"There are no more potatoes to dig," said the tall man. + +Then she looked round and saw that all the potatoes were gone, and that +everything was covered with flowers, instead, as far as she could see. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" she exclaimed, and then looked down at her rags. +"Everything is beautiful except me." + +"And me," added the tall man. + +"Yet you look different somehow," she said, wonderingly, and put her +hand on his face where the wrinkles had been a month ago. + +"I have been learning to dance for a whole month, you see," he said, and +laughed merrily. "It is my turn to work again now, and you shall go back +to the palace." + +The Princess did not look at all pleased at that. + +"I don't want to go back a bit," she said, "and besides, I can't go to +the palace in this ragged dress, can I?" + +"The White Witch will give you back your fine clothes," he said. + +"Oh no! because, you see, I have cheated the White Witch out of her +gift," cried Gyldea, laughing. + +"How?" he asked. + +"Because I gave her my happiness, and you have made it come back to me," +said the Princess, and laughed again. + +"I have cheated her too," said the tall man. + +"How?" she asked. + +"I gave her my good looks so that I could come and work near you, and +you have made them come back again," he said, and kissed her. + +"Let us go to the palace," she said, presently. + +"Just as we are?" he asked. + +She was uncertain just for one minute. + +"Yes," she said, and took his hand. + +So he lifted her over the hedge again, and they walked up the garden +path to the palace. + +"How beautiful the flowers are!" said the Princess, and the flowers felt +immensely proud of themselves. + +"Who allowed these dreadfully ragged people in here?" exclaimed the +Queen, who was taking a stroll with the King, in the hopes of getting an +appetite for lunch. + +"I have come back," said the Princess, standing in front of her parents. + +"So have I," added the tall man. + +"Preposterous!" exclaimed the King. "They actually have the impudence to +confess that they have been here before!" + +"Is it possible?" said all the courtiers. + +"At last there will be an execution!" gasped the little page in delight, +and he ran round to get a better view. + +"Why, it is our Princess!" he screamed, and he waved his hat, and forgot +he was in the royal presence, and stood on his head with delight. For no +one had given him any sweets since the Princess Gyldea had disappeared. + +Every one who had an eye-glass put it on at once, and said that the +little page was quite right; and those who only had their own eyes to +depend upon believed what the others told them, and were all dumb with +amazement. + +The Queen was so astonished that she said the first thing that came into +her head, which, of course, was a thing she never did as a rule. + +"Then we need not have gone into mourning at all," she exclaimed. She +remembered herself the next moment, however, and held out her arms +affectionately. "Come and kiss me, my sweet child, and then go and +change your clothes _at once_!" + +But the Princess led up the tall man. + +"I have brought back a lover too," she said. + +There was a great sensation among the courtiers. + +"This must be looked into," said the Queen, ceasing to be affectionate; +and she trod on the King's toe. + +"Of course, of course, at once," added the King, hastily. + +"To have our daughter in rags is bad enough," continued the Queen, "but +a ragged son-in-law is really too much." + +"In fact, he must be beheaded at once. Let us go in to lunch," said the +King, with great presence of mind. + +"So, after all, there _will_ be an execution," said the little page to +all the other pages; but none of them were in the least bit excited, +because they had all seen as many executions in their day as any page +could possibly wish. + +Then a very wonderful thing happened. A white mist began to rise slowly +out of the ground, and it rolled all round the two ragged lovers, and +grew thicker and thicker, until no one could see them at all. + +"It is the White Witch of the Waterfall," whispered the little page. + +"I shall catch a bad cold," said the Queen, sneezing. "What a lot of +uncomfortable things seem to be happening this morning!" + +"And so near lunch-time too," added the King. "Do you suppose it would +be any good to turn on the garden hose or fire a few cannons?" + +Then the mist began to roll away again, and the two ragged lovers were +no longer there, but in their place stood the Princess Gyldea in her +court robes, looking ten times more beautiful than she had ever looked +before, and by her side--King Marigold himself. + +"Now I know why I fell in love with you when I saw you digging +potatoes," said the Princess. "But why did you disguise yourself in that +horrible way?" + +"I did it for both of us. We both had to be taught. Don't you +understand?" said the young King with the serious face. + +And the Princess thought she did at last. + +"But you can dance well now?" she said, anxiously. + +"Ah yes. And I know how to laugh, too," he replied. + +The Queen came up with her face covered with smiles. + +"I am delighted," she said, "and you may both kiss my hand." + +"I thought I saw a resemblance all the time," said the King, "and if +there are going to be no more mists, supposing we go in to lunch." + +All the courtiers, of course, had also known King Marigold all the time, +but had not liked to say so; and the Princess kissed the little page on +both cheeks, and they really did go in to lunch at last. + +And every year, in the far-away country where King Marigold and his +Queen are still ruling over a nation of happy people, a very curious +thing happens. For just about the time when most people go to the +sea-side for a holiday the King and Queen come down from their throne +and go out into the fields, and all the courtiers go with them; and +there they spend a whole month digging potatoes among the peasants. + +And there is no one in the whole kingdom who does not know how to dance. + + + + +THE CAPE COD SALT-WORKS. + + +In the early days of New England, not very many years after the arrival +of the Pilgrim fathers, a man named John Sears invented a method for +getting the salt out of the sea-water. The colonists did not have many +facilities for furnishing themselves with even the necessaries of life, +and much of their daily work was given to inventing ways and means for +providing themselves with food, clothing, and houses. One would think, +however, that they must have such a common necessity as salt sent to +them from the mother-country, but the distance was a long one then by +the only means of transportation, which were the small ships in Great +Britain, and the arrivals of these boats were few and far between. + +It became a necessity, therefore, for the colonists to provide +themselves with salt, as with other things; and John Sears, who lived in +the town of Dennis, on Cape Cod, hit upon the plan of abstracting the +salt from salt water, refining it, and putting it on the market. The +plan is a simple one, and not many years ago these queer-looking +salt-works anywhere on the coast of Massachusetts were common sights to +the residents there. They are now fast disappearing, and but few of them +remain, as cheaper processes have made this method too expensive to keep +up. It has therefore died a natural death. + +The plan was to put certain amounts of ordinary sea-water into large +flat wooden basins in such small quantities that there was a depth of +only about two or three inches. Each one of these basins had a cover, +which could be rolled aside on wheels and runners, and which looked much +like the roof of a small square house. In the daytime, when the sun was +shining, the cover was rolled back and the sun allowed to dry up the +water. During rainy weather, and even sometimes at night, the covers +were rolled over the basins, thus preventing the rain itself or the +heavy dews from getting into the salt water and delaying the action of +the aim in drying it up. As the water was evaporated by the sun the hard +salt was left on the bottom of the basin, and this could be used. + +Of course salt thus made was very coarse and full of impurities, but +after a time the process was refined more and more, so that instead of +using one basin for stated quantities of water, a series of three or +four--one a little lower than another--were used. It was found that +after a certain amount of evaporation had gone on, some of the +substances had settled in the bottom or attached themselves to the sides +of the basin. The remainder of the liquid could then be drawn off into +the next basin and evaporated there, thus allowing the evaporation +process to go on. This was again stopped after a time, and the liquid +drawn off into the third basin. Each time certain sediments from the +salt water were left in the basin, and thus, instead of having salt with +all its impurities, after the drawing process was over certain +impurities were extracted from the pure salt, and in the end the salt +itself was of a far more refined character than before. + +[Illustration: SALT-WORKS.] + +These salt-works became so profitable that large marshes along Cape Cod +up towards Boston and in other parts of the northeast Atlantic coast +were given up to this process. Acres were often covered with these low +foreign-looking huts, which consisted mostly of roofs. They were built +in long rows, and often required the care of several men, whose homes +were close to the works, and who might be seen going about pushing the +roofs or covers over or back from the basins, as the weather demanded. +Salt was sent from Cape Cod not only through Massachusetts, but through +other colonies, and afterwards States in the Union, and it was not +until, as has been said, the making of salt by chemical processes, or +the using of rock-salt itself, became so cheap, that this primitive +method was abandoned. + +[Illustration: THE WINDMILLS FOR CAPE COD SALT-WORKS.] + +Among the most striking features of these salt-works were the huge +wooden windmills built along the row of basins nearest the sea, which +were used for pumping the water from the ocean into the salt-works +themselves. They were raised on wooden staging some fifty or sixty feet +above the level of the ground, and were like the ordinary grinding +windmill of the time, with four wings, sometimes of frame-work stretched +with canvas, and sometimes with huge slats, after the manner of the +ordinary house-blind. If you go to-day through Barnstable County, and +further down the Cape through Yarmouth, Dennis, Worcester, and Orleans, +you may see some of these salt-works--not now in operation, but resting +quietly there until they drop to pieces from old age. Some of the +windmills still stand, in part if not in whole, and they with the +strange-looking squatty salt basins make the country look like some +foreign land. It might either be a bit of Holland or some East-Indian or +African scene, were it not for the stiff, severe white New England +meeting-house that is sure to be not far away. + + + + +A VIRGINIA CAVALIER. + +BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +The news brought by George confirmed all the fears of the war which was +presently to begin and to last for seven years. The Governor immediately +called together his council, laid before them Major Washington's report, +and for once acted with promptitude. It was determined to raise a force +of several hundred men to take possession of the disputed territory, and +without a single opposing voice the command was offered to Major +Washington, with the additional rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. + +George said little, but his gratification was deeper than he could +express. He wrote to his mother at once, and also to Betty, and Betty +answered: "Our mother is very resigned, for she knows, dear George, that +when one has a son or a brother who is _a great military genius_, and +who everybody knows must one day be _a great man_, one must give him up +to his country." At which George laughed very much, for he did not think +himself either a genius or a great man. + +After receiving the Governor's instructions, and paying a flying visit +to Ferry Farm, George went to Mount Vernon, as all the preparations for +the campaign were to be made at Alexandria, which was the rendezvous. + +His days were now spent in the most arduous labor. He knew what was +before him, and he was full of care. He was very anxious to enlist men +from the mountain districts, as being better able to withstand the +hardships of a mountain campaign. He wrote to Lord Fairfax, who was +Lieutenant of the county of Frederick, and a recruiting station was +opened at Greenway Court. At last, in April, he was ready to march on +his first campaign. His force consisted of about four hundred Virginia +troops, with nine swivels mounted on carriages. He expected to be joined +by other troops from Maryland and Pennsylvania, but he was doomed to be +cruelly disappointed. The morning of the 15th of April, 1754, was bright +and warm, and at eight o'clock the soldiers marched out, to the music of +the fife and drum, from the town of Alexandria, with Colonel Washington +at their head. + +They were a fine-looking body of men, but, as always, Colonel Washington +was the finest figure present. He rode a superb chestnut horse, +handsomely caparisoned. In his splendid new uniform his elegant figure +showed to the greatest advantage. All the windows of the streets through +which they marched were filled with spectators. At one Colonel +Washington removed his chapeau, and bowed as if to royalty, for from it +his mother and Betty were watching him. His mother raised her hands in +blessing, while Betty held out her hands as if to clasp him. And when he +had passed the two fond creatures fell into each other's arms and cried +together very heartily. + +Captain Vanbraam commanded the first company. In one of the +baggage-wagons sat a familiar figure. It was Billy--not left behind this +time, but taken as George's body-servant. + +On the 20th Will's Creek was reached. A small party of men under Captain +Trench had been sent forward by the Governor to the Ohio River, with +orders to build a fort at what is now Pittsburg, and there await Colonel +Washington. But while the Virginia troops were marching through the +forest, before sighting the creek, an officer on a horse was seen +approaching. He rode up to George, and, saluting, said: + +"I am Ensign Ward, sir, of Captain Trench's company." + +"From the fort at the meeting of the Alleghany and Monongahela?" asked +George. + +"Ah, sir," cried the young officer, with tears in his eyes, "the fort is +no longer ours. A French force, consisting of nearly a thousand men, +appeared while we were at work on it, and opened fire on us. We were but +forty-one, and we were forced to hoist the white flag without firing a +shot." + +This was indeed dreadful news. It showed that the French were fully +alive to the situation, if not beforehand, with the English. Even a +small detachment of the French force could cut off and destroy this +little band of four companies. George's mind was hard at work while +young Ward gave the details of the surrender. His only comment was: + +"We must push on to a point I have marked on the Monongahela, and there +build the fort, instead of at the junction of the rivers." + +After passing Will's Creek they were in the heart of the wilderness. The +transportation of the guns, ammunition, and baggage was so difficult, +owing to the wildness of the country, that they were fourteen days in +making fourteen miles. But the men, animated by their commander, toiled +uncomplainingly at work most distasteful to soldiers--cutting down +trees, making bridges, and dragging the guns over rocks when wheels +could not turn. Even Billy worked for the first time in his life. One +night, after three weeks of this labor, an Indian stalked up to the camp +and demanded to see the commander. George happened to be passing on his +nightly round of inspection, and in a moment recognized his old friend +Tanacharison. "Welcome!" cried the chief in the Indian tongue, and +calling George by his Indian name of "Young White Warrior." + +"Welcome to you," answered George, more than pleased to see his ally. + +"This is no time for much talk," said the Indian. "Fifty French soldiers +with Captain Jumonville are concealed in a glen six miles away. They are +spies for the main body--for the French have three men to your one--and +if they find you here you will be cut to pieces. But if you can catch +the French spies, the main body will not know where you are; and," he +added, with a crafty smile, "if they should meet Tanacharison, he will +send them a hundred miles in the wrong direction." + +George saw in a moment the excellence of the old chief's advice. +Tanacharison knew the road, which was comparatively easy, and offered to +guide them, and to assist with several of his braves. It was then nine +o'clock, and rain had begun to fall in torrents. George retired to his +rude shelter of boughs, called together his officers, and announced his +intention of attacking this party of fifty Frenchmen. He made a list of +forty picked men, and at midnight he caused them to be wakened quietly, +and set off without arousing the whole camp. + +The wind roared and the rain changed to hail, but still the Virginians, +with Washington at their head, kept on through the woods. Sometimes they +sank up to their knees in quagmires--again they cut their feet against +sharp stones; but they never halted. At daybreak they entered the glen +in two files, the Indians on one side, the Virginians on the other, +George leading. It was a wild place, surrounded by rocks, with only one +narrow cleft for entrance. Just as the last man had entered the alarm +was given, and firing began from both parties at the same time. The +French resisted bravely, headed by Captain Jumonville, who was the first +man to fall; but a quarter of an hour's sharp fighting decided the +skirmish, and the French called for quarter. This was George's baptism +of fire, and it was the beginning of war between France and England, +which was to last, with but a few years' intermission, for more than +fifty years. + +The prisoners were at once taken back to the American camp, and then +sent, under guard, back to Virginia. This little success raised the +spirits of the troops very much, but George, with a prophetic eye, knew +that as soon as the story of Jumonville's defeat and death reached the +French, a formidable force would be sent out against him. He had brave +and active spies, who penetrated almost as far as Fort Duquesne, as the +French had named Trench's fort, but none of them equalled old +Tanacharison. One night, the last of June, he and three other scouts +brought the news that the French were advancing, nine hundred strong, +and were near at hand. A council of war was called, and it was +determined to retreat to Great Meadows, where a better stand could be +made, and where it was thought provisions and re-enforcements would meet +them. Accordingly at daybreak a start was made. The horses had become so +weak from insufficient food that they could no longer drag the light +swivels, and the men were forced to haul them. George himself set the +example of the officers walking, and, dismounting, loaded his horse with +public stores, while he engaged the men, for liberal pay, to carry his +own small baggage. It very much disgusted Billy to be thrown out of his +comfortable seat in the baggage-wagon, but he was forced to leg it like +his betters. + +Two days' slow and painful marching brought them to Great Meadows, but, +to their intense disappointment, not a man was found, nor provisions of +any sort. The men were disheartened, but unmurmuring. + +George immediately set them to work felling trees and making such +breastworks of earth and rocks as they could manage with their few +tools. + +"I shall call this place Fort Necessity," he said to his officers; "for +it is necessity, not choice, that made me retreat here." + +Every hour in the day and night he expected to be attacked, but no +attack would have caught him unprepared to resist as best he could with +his feeble force. His ceaseless vigilance surprised even those who knew +how tireless he was. + +At last, on the morning of the 3d of July, just as George had finished +making the round of the sentries, he heard, across the camp, a shot, +followed by the sudden shriek of a wounded man. The French skirmishers +were on the ground, and one of them, being seen stealing along in the +underbrush, had been challenged by the sentry, and had fired in reply +and winged his man. The alarm was given, and by nine o'clock it was +known that a French force of nine hundred men, with artillery, was +approaching rapidly. By eleven o'clock the gleam of their muskets could +be seen through the trees as they advanced to the attack. Meanwhile not +a moment since the first alarm had been lost in the American camp. +George seemed to be everywhere at once, animating his men, and seeing +that every possible preparation was made. He had posted his little force +in the best possible manner, and had instructed his officers to fight +where they were, and not to be drawn from their position into the woods, +where the French could slaughter them at will. + +The French began their fire at six hundred yards, but the Americans did +not return a shot until the enemy was within range, when George, himself +sighting a swivel, sent a shot screeching into the midst of them. He +fully expected an assault, but the French were wary, and, knowing their +superiority in force, as well as the longer range of their artillery, +withdrew farther into the woods, and began to play their guns on the +Americans, who could not fire an effective shot. The French +sharp-shooters, too, posting themselves behind trees, picked off the +Americans, and especially aimed at the horses, which they destroyed one +by one. All during the hot July day this continued. The Americans showed +an admirable spirit, and this young commander, with the fortitude of a +veteran, encouraged them to resist, but he was too good a soldier not to +see that there could be but one issue to it. At every volley from the +French some of the Americans dropped, and this going on, hour after +hour, under a burning sun, by weary, half-starved men, would have tried +the courage of the best soldiers in the world. But the men and their +young commander were animated by the same spirit--they must stubbornly +defend every inch of ground and die in the last ditch. + +Captain Vanbraam, who was second in command, was a man of much coolness, +and knew the smell of burning powder well. During the day, standing near +him, he said quietly to George: + +"I see, Colonel Washington, that you practise the tactics of all great +soldiers: if you cannot win, you will at least make the enemy pay dearly +for his victory." + +George turned a pale but determined face upon him. "I must never let the +Frenchman think that Americans are easily beaten. They outnumber us +three to one, but we must fight for honor when we can no longer fight +for victory. Nor can I acknowledge myself beaten before the Frenchman +thinks so, and he must sound the parley first. The braver our defence +the better will be the terms offered us." + +Captain Vanbraam gazed with admiration at the commanding officer of +twenty-three--so cool, so determined in the face of certain disaster. +George, in all his life, had never seen so many dead and wounded as on +that July day, but he bore the sight unflinchingly. + +About sunset on this terrible day a furious thunder-storm arose. Within +ten minutes the sky, that had gleamed all day like a dome of heated +brass, grew black. The clouds rushed from all points of the compass, and +formed a dense black pall overhead. It seemed to touch the very tops of +the tall pines, that rocked and swayed fearfully as a wind fierce and +sudden swept through them. A crash of thunder like two worlds coming +together followed a flash of lightning which rent the heavens. As tree +after tree was struck in the forest, and came down the sharp crash was +heard. Then the heavens were opened and floods descended. At the +beginning of the tempest George had promptly ordered the men to +withdraw, with the wounded, inside the rude fort. He worked alongside +with the private soldiers in trying to make the wounded men more +comfortable, and lifted many of them with his own arms into the +best-protected spots. It was impossible to secure them from the rain, +however, or to keep the powder dry, and George saw, with an anguish that +nearly broke his heart, that he had fired his last shot. + +For two hours the storm raged, and then died away as suddenly as it +rose. A pallid moon came out in the heavens, and a solemn and awful +silence succeeded the uproar of tempest and battle. About nine o'clock, +by the dim light of a few lanterns, the Americans saw a party +approaching bearing a white flag, and with a drummer beating the parley. +George, who was the first to see them, turned to Captain Vanbraam. + +"You will meet them, Captain, but by no means allow them to enter the +fort so they can see our desperate situation." + +Captain Vanbraam, accompanied by two other officers, met the Frenchmen +outside the breastworks, where they received a letter from the French +commander to Colonel Washington. George read it by the light of a pine +torch which Captain Vanbraam held for him. It ran: + + "SIR,--Desirous to avoid the useless effusion of blood, and to save + the lives of gallant enemies like yourself and the men under your + command, I propose a parley to arrange the terms of surrender of + your forces to me as the representative of his most Christian + Majesty. Captain Du Val, the bearer of this, is empowered to make + terms with you or your representative, according to conditions + which I have given him in writing, of which the first is that your + command be permitted to march out with all the honors of war, drums + beating and colors flying. I have the honor to be, sir, with the + highest respect, + + "Your obedient, humble servant, + "DUCHAINE." + +As George finished reading this letter, for one moment his calmness +deserted him, and with a groan he covered his face with his hands. But +it was only for a moment; the next he had recovered a manly composure. +With a drum head for a table and a log of wood for a seat he called his +officers about him, and quietly discussed the proposed terms, Captain +Vanbraam translating to those who did not understand French. The +conditions were highly honorable. The Frenchman knew what he was about, +and the stubborn resistance of the Americans had earned them not only +the respect, but the substantial consideration of the French. They were +to be paroled on delivering up their prisoners, and were to retain their +side-arms and baggage. + +The men knew what was going on, as orders had been given to cease +firing, and having built camp-fires, sat about them, gloomy and +despondent. But no word of murmuring escaped them. When at last, in +about an hour, the preliminaries were arranged, signed, and sent to the +French commander, George assembled round him the remnant of men left. + +"My men," he said, in a choked voice, "to-morrow morning at nine o'clock +we shall march out of Fort Necessity beaten but not disgraced. Every man +here has done his whole duty, but we were outnumbered three to one; and +our fight this day has been for our honor, not for victory, because +victory was impossible. We are accorded all the honors of war, which +shows that we are fighting men as honorable as ourselves. I thank you +every one, officers and soldiers, for the manly defence you have made. +This is our first fight, but it is not our last, and the time will come, +I hope, when we can wipe out this day's record by a victory gained not +by superior force, but by superior gallantry." + +A cheer broke from the men who had listened to him. They were soldiers, +and they knew that they had been well commanded, and that the unequal +battle had been very nobly fought; and George Washington was one of the +few men in the world's history who could always command in defeat the +confidence that other men can only secure in success. + +[Illustration: WITH DRUMS BEATING AND COLORS FLYING.] + +Next morning--by a strange coincidence the Fourth of July, then an +unmarked day in the calendar--at nine o'clock the Americans marched out +of camp. The French were drawn up in parallel lines in front of the +intrenchment. Knowing that the American officers would be afoot, the +French officers sent their horses to the rear. As the Americans marched +out, with George Washington at their head, the French commander, +Duchaine, turned to his officers and said, smiling: + +"Look at that beautiful boy commander! Are not such provincials worth +conquering?" + +The Americans halted, and George advanced to thank the French commander +for the extreme courtesy shown the Americans, for it was the policy of +the French to conciliate the Americans, and to profess to think them +driven into the war by England. + +Before George could speak, the Frenchman, saluting, said: + +"Colonel Washington, I had heard that you were young, but not until +this moment did I fully realize it. All day yesterday I thought I was +fighting a man as old in war as I am, and I have been a soldier for more +than thirty years." + +George could only say a few words in reply, but to the core of his heart +he felt the cordial respect given to him by his enemies. + +But his thoughts were bitter on that homeward march. He had been sent +out to do great things, and he came back a defeated man. By the +watch-fires at night he prepared his account to be submitted to Governor +Dinwiddie, and it was the most painful work of his life. After two +weeks' travel, the latter part of it in advance of his command, he +reached Williamsburg. The House of Burgesses was in session, and this +gave him a painful kind of satisfaction. He would know at once what was +thought of his conduct. + +On the day of his arrival he presented himself before Governor +Dinwiddie, who received him kindly. + +"We know, Colonel Washington," he said, "that you surrendered three +hundred men to nine hundred. But we also know that you gave them a +tussle for it. Remain here until I have communicated with the House of +Burgesses, when you will, no doubt, be sent for." + +George remained in his rooms at the Raleigh Tavern, seeing no one. He +knew the Governor perfectly well--a man of good heart but weak head--and +he set more value on the verdict of his own countrymen, assembled as +Burgesses, than on the Governor's approval. He did not have to wait +long. The House of Burgesses received his report, read it, and expressed +a high sense of Colonel Washington's courage and ability, although, in +spite of both, he had been unfortunate, and declared a continuation of +their confidence in him. Not so Governor Dinwiddie. His heart was right, +but whenever he thought for himself he always thought wrong. The fact +that he had to report to the home government the failure of this +inadequate expedition set him to contriving, as all weak men will, some +one or some circumstance on which to shift the responsibility. It +occurred to him at once: the Virginia troops were only provincial +troops, Colonel Washington was a provincial officer. What was needed, +this wise Governor concluded, were regular troops and regular officers. +This he urged strongly in his report to the home government, and next +day he sent for George. + +"Colonel Washington," he said, suddenly, "I believe nothing can be +accomplished without the aid of regular troops from England, and I have +asked for at least two regiments for the next campaign. Meanwhile I have +determined to raise ten companies to assist the regular force which is +promised us in the spring, for it is now too late in the season for +military operations. I offer you the command of one of those companies. +Your former officers will be similarly provided for; but I will state +frankly that when the campaign opens, the officers of the same rank in +his Majesty's regular troops will outrank those in the provincial army." + +George listened to this remarkable speech with the red slowly mounting +into his face. His temper, brought under control only by the most +determined will, showed in his eyes, which literally blazed with anger. + +"Sir," he said, after a moment, "as I understand, you offer me a +Captain's commission in exchange for that which I now bear of +Lieutenant-Colonel, and I am to be made the equal of men whom I have +commanded, and all of us are to be outranked by the regular force." + +The Governor shifted uneasily in his chair, and finally began a long +rigmarole which he meant for an explanation. George heard him through in +an unbroken silence, which very much disconcerted the Governor. Then he +rose and said, with a low bow: + +"Sir, I decline to accept the commission you offer me, and I think you +must suppose me as empty as the commission itself in proposing it. I +shall also have the honor of surrendering to your Excellency the +commission of Lieutenant-Colonel, which you gave me; and I bid you, sir, +good-morning"--and he was gone. + +The Governor looked about him, dazed at finding himself so suddenly +alone. + +"What a young fire-eater!" he soliloquized. "But it is the way with +these republicans. They fancy themselves quite as good as anybody the +King can send over here, and the spirit shown by this young game-cock is +just what I might have expected of him." + +The Governor tried to dismiss the subject from his mind, but he could +not, and he soon found out that "the young game-cock's" spurs were fully +grown. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +IN THE OLD HERRICK HOUSE. + +BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND. + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +At the threshold of the library Miss Herrick paused. "I cannot go into +that room, Elizabeth," she said. "How cruel you are to subject me to +this again! Bring the boy to me here, if you are speaking the truth and +he is really in the house." + +Elizabeth found her brother at the top of the stairs. + +"Come down," she said. "Aunt Caroline wants you." + +Without a word he brushed past her and went to the library. He was too +angry to speak. Miss Herrick had seated herself in a high-backed chair, +which had the appearance of being a throne of justice, while she herself +looked sufficiently stern and forbidding to cause the stoutest heart to +quail. Neither she nor her sister gave Valentine the slightest sign of +greeting. The boy might have been an absolute stranger to them. + +Miss Herrick motioned to her niece to come to her side, but Elizabeth +did not heed her. She had followed Valentine into the room, and she now +stood beside him. + +"What have you to say for yourself?" asked their aunt, after a pause +which to the two culprits seemed hours long. + +"Nothing," said Valentine. + +"You mean that you have no excuse to offer?" + +There was no answer. + +"Unless you explain fully why you are here and why you crept into the +house in this underhand manner, I will telegraph at once to your uncle +and aunt. Perhaps they will be able to account for your conduct." + +"They don't know anything about it," Val blurted out at last. + +"I thought not; but for all that I shall send for them to come. Their +nephew needs looking after, and they should know it." + +"This is your fault," cried Valentine, turning upon Elizabeth. "All +would have gone right if you had not been a traitor. I could have gone +off to-morrow morning, and no one would have known anything. Now the +'Q. R. K.' is done for as far as I am concerned, and I am in this scrape +besides." + +"Elizabeth did quite the proper thing," said Miss Herrick, "and now I +wish you to explain yourself. I give you five minutes. At the end of +that time, if you have not begun to explain, I will telegraph to your +uncle." She glanced at the clock as she spoke. + +"Oh, I suppose there is no help for it," said Valentine. "I've got to +tell you! The 'Q. R. K.' is a secret society at our school, and you have +to be initiated. I have been wanting to belong for ever so long, and +this year I was elected. I had been telling the fellows about this +house, and the queer room no one ever goes into, and how Elizabeth had +the Brady girls there once, and they said that part of my initiation +would be to come on here without any one knowing it, and spend the night +in that room, and get back again the next day. They knew I couldn't do +it, but if I did they would put me on the executive committee, and that +is a big honor for a new member. Of course I thought it would be a lark +to do it, and I was sure I could manage it. Aunt Helen thinks I am +spending the night with one of the fellows. It would have been all right +if Elizabeth hadn't gone back on me. I was to take back a statement from +her that no one had seen me." + +The Misses Herrick looked at him in amazement. "Do you mean to say that +such things are customary among school-boys?" asked Miss Rebecca. + +"I don't know," returned Valentine, sullenly. "I am only telling you +about our club." + +"Do you think, Valentine, that it was the proper thing for you to do, +after you had been a guest in this house and had profited by our +hospitality, to return to your home and gossip of our private affairs? +Of that--that room? And we your own aunts, your father's sisters?" + +It was Miss Herrick who asked these questions. + +"No," said the boy, "I don't suppose it was. But I didn't gossip; only +girls do that. One day when we were all telling queer stories, I told +this. I never thought at the time, and afterwards when they were +planning my initiation rites one of the fellows remembered it. That is +all." + +"And quite enough. As that room is connected with the greatest sorrow of +my life, you have hurt me more than you can ever realize. You are +cruel." + +"Don't say that to Val," said Elizabeth. "After all, Aunt Caroline, it +was really my fault that he got in there. He never would have known +anything about it last year if I had not told him and taken him there, +and I ought not to have let him in this time. I was the one who went to +your desk and got the key and opened the door. He didn't do one of those +things. And you would never have known about it if I had not told. I +think I am the one to be scolded, Aunt Caroline--really, I do." + +"You certainly are very much to blame, Elizabeth. I shall punish you by +withdrawing my consent to your taking drawing-lessons. I had supposed +that you had outgrown your prying, curious ways. I see that you are no +more worthy of trust than you used to be." + +Elizabeth's eyes filled with tears and her lip trembled. It had been so +hard for her to determine to betray Valentine, and now they were all +against her. He, especially. But the boy, after a long pause, suddenly +spoke: + +"Look here, Aunt Caroline! I think you are mighty hard on Elizabeth. I +am as mad as I can be at her for peaching, and I sha'n't forgive her in +a hurry, but you have no right to blame her such a lot. I took her by +surprise, in the first place, and I made her go and get the key and open +the door. Of course she ought not to have told after that was all done, +but still it wasn't her fault that I got in there." + +It cost Valentine some effort to say this. It was by no means an easy +matter for him to shoulder the blame, but, as he said afterwards, he +could not stand there and hear his aunt pitching into little Elizabeth, +who had been so ready to make excuses for him. He was rewarded by +Elizabeth's grateful look, which he pretended not to see; and when she +stole her hand into his and squeezed it, he impatiently shook her off. + +Valentine departed in disgrace the following day, and the letter which +Miss Herrick wrote to his uncle bore such results that he concluded that +it would be wiser in future to avoid any such initiation rites as those +which had just been attempted. + +Elizabeth went to school as usual, but it was with so sad a heart that +even her friend Patsy could not succeed in cheering her. A note was sent +to Mrs. Arnold, which told her that Miss Herrick's niece was not to take +drawing lessons, so that delightful prospect faded away into thin air, +much to the little girl's disappointment. + +And the room was closed again, and life in the old Herrick house went on +about as usual, until an event came to pass by which it was again +startled out of its accustomed calm, and which brought a great change +into Elizabeth's existence. + +For some weeks Patsy Loring had been planning to give a party. It was to +be on her birthday, which fell on the first day of December. Elizabeth +had never been to a party in her life, and the thought of going to one, +and to one so delightful as Patsy Loring's was sure to be, served to +keep her awake at night and to absorb her mind by day. And then a +present was to be bought, and although her aunts took little interest in +the all-important subject, Elizabeth was allowed to go to Chestnut +Street under the care of the maid, and after much hesitation and the +visiting of many shops, a beautiful silver pencil was selected for Patsy +to use in school. + +Twenty times a day did Elizabeth gaze upon it as it lay on green cotton +in a pink box, and at last it was tied up in tissue-paper with a colored +ribbon, and carried to Patsy's house, for the hour for the party had +arrived. + +Elizabeth Herrick had grown to be quite a tall girl, and in many +respects she seemed much older than her thirteen years, while in others +she was a mere child. + +Her beautiful hair still hung in a shining mass over her shoulders, and +she was simply dressed in a white frock with a broad blue sash about her +waist. Her aunt believed in "dressing children as children," so that she +seemed almost out of place among the very young-ladyfied girls who +assembled at Mis. Loring's on this birthday afternoon. + +After supper--for it was a tea party--Patsy's sister took her seat at +the piano, and they all danced. All except Elizabeth. The mere idea of +being asked to dance so terrified her that she fled up stairs to the +little sitting-room, determined to stay there until the evening had worn +away and some one should come to take her home. + +She was overcome with disappointment. Even the pencil had not been the +success that she had anticipated, for all the girls had brought presents +to Patsy, and among them had been a pencil which she very much feared +her friend might admire more than the one she had given, although Patsy +had thrown her arms about Elizabeth's neck and declared hers to be the +sweetest in the world. + +"There are so many disappointing things," thought Elizabeth, at the age +of the thirteen. "I wonder, if my father were to come home I should be +disappointed about him!" + +In the sitting-room she found a lady, who sat by the table, reading the +evening paper. Elizabeth did not see at first who it was, for her face +was hidden, but the lady looked up presently, and, to her surprise, it +proved to be Mrs. Brown, who gave drawing and painting lessons at the +school. + +She was a very beautiful woman, and Elizabeth had always admired her in +secret, and had longed more than ever to be allowed to take lessons of +her. They had never exchanged a word, however, for Mrs. Brown was at the +school merely during the hours of her lessons, and knew only those girls +who were in her classes, but she recognized Elizabeth's face to-night, +and smiled kindly at the little girl when she saw her. + +"You are one of Miss Garner's pupils, are you not?" she said, with the +lovely light in her eyes that won the heart of every girl to whom she +spoke. "I think I have seen you there, although you are not in my +class." + +"No," said Elizabeth, "I am not in your class, though I do wish I could +be. I love drawing." + +"Perhaps another year you may be allowed to study." + +"I am afraid not," replied Elizabeth, sadly; "my aunt does not approve +of my learning it. I don't know why. She said once that I might, but I +was dreadfully bad--so naughty that she had to punish me by not letting +me learn to draw and paint, and I do love it so!" + +"I am sorry," said Mrs. Brown; "but you do not look as if you could be +dreadfully bad." + +"Oh, but I am!" replied the little girl, earnestly. "I am terribly +curious, for one thing, but I don't think I should be if there were not +so many mysteries in our house. Don't you hate mysteries?" + +"They are not agreeable things, certainly. Tell me what your name is. I +feel sure we shall be friends, and you remind me of some one whom I used +to know." + +"Oh, do you think so?" cried Elizabeth, going to her side. "I do love +friends, and this is the first year I ever had any. My name is Elizabeth +Herrick." + +"Elizabeth Herrick!" repeated Mrs. Brown, in a low, startled voice. +"Where--where do you live?" + +"I live in Fourth Street. With my two aunts. What is the matter, Mrs. +Brown? Don't you feel well?" + +"Yes, dear. It was only a momentary shock. I--I sometimes have them. You +live with your aunts, you say? How many aunts have you?" + +"Two--Aunt Caroline and Aunt Rebecca." + +"And did you never have any other?" + +"No, not here in Philadelphia. There was never any one else in our +family but my father." + +"So they have not told her!" murmured Mrs. Brown, but so low that +Elizabeth could not quite catch the words. Then with an effort she +continued, "And your father! Where is he?" + +"He is abroad. He has never lived at home since my mother died, and that +was when I was a baby, so I have never seen him." + +"Ah, poor Edward!" said Mrs. Brown. + +"Why, Mrs. Brown, do you know him? That is exactly what Aunt Caroline +always calls him. Do you know my father?" + +"What did I say?" exclaimed Mrs. Brown, hurriedly. "I must have been +thinking of--at least, I used to know your father, it is true. But don't +ask me any more, my child; and perhaps it would be as well not to +mention to your aunts that--that you have seen me." + +"Another mystery!" cried Elizabeth. "Oh, dear me, I do hate them!" + +"My child," said Mrs. Brown, taking the little girl's hands in her own +and looking tenderly into the great brown eyes, "I do not ask you to +hide anything on my account. Say just what you think best. And I hope I +shall see more of you, Elizabeth. Perhaps some day you can come to see +me with Patsy. My home is in the country, and I am merely spending the +night with Mrs. Loring, who is an old friend whom I have not seen in +some years. She only discovered to-day that I was at the school, and she +begged me to stay with her to-night. I am sitting here waiting for her +to come to me. And now I want you to kiss me, Elizabeth, for already I +love you dearly." + +Elizabeth threw her arms about her new friend. + +"You are the most beautiful lady in the world," she whispered. "And I +wish you were my mother or my aunt." + +They were interrupted by a maid who came to say that the carriage had +been sent for Miss Elizabeth Herrick, and that she must hurry. Her aunts +wanted her at once. + +"I wonder why," said Elizabeth, discontentedly, as she glanced at the +clock. "Aunt Caroline told me I could stay until nine o'clock, and it is +only eight now. And I was just beginning to enjoy the party." + +"Never mind, dear," said Mrs. Brown; "it is very nice that you happened +to come up here and find me, and I shall look forward to seeing you +again soon. Perhaps after a time you may be allowed to take +drawing-lessons. I am so glad you love it, Elizabeth"--kissing her +again--"and I am more glad still that you like me even a tiny bit!" + +"Like you!" cried Elizabeth. "I love you. I adore you!" + +And then she ran to put on her coat and hat, for her aunt's message had +been imperative, and she dared not linger. + +She was driven quickly home, and when the door was opened for her the +man told her that her aunts were in the library and wished to see her at +once. Wondering, she ran up stairs, and, drawing aside the portière, she +entered the room. It was more brightly lighted than usual, and her eyes +fell upon a group of people who were sitting at the farther end of it, +beyond the big library table. + +Her two aunts were there, and a gentleman whose back was turned to her. +A strange feeling came over Elizabeth. Who was this gentleman? Why had +they sent for her? Was the longing of years to be fulfilled at last? + +They did not see her at first, not until she had slowly advanced and was +very near them. Then Miss Herrick discovered her. + +"Oh," she exclaimed, "you are here! Edward, this is Elizabeth." + +The gentleman turned quickly and rose to his feet. "So this is +Elizabeth!" he repeated. "My child, do you know who I am?" + +"Yes!" she cried, with a sob in her voice, "you are my father, at last, +at last!" + + * * * * * + +It was half an hour later, and Elizabeth was even yet unable to realize +that her father was actually here, in the same room with her, touching +her, stroking her hair. She had drawn a footstool to the side of his +chair, and sat holding his hand in both of hers, and looking up into his +face. + +He seemed older than she had thought, for the photograph of him that she +had was taken long ago when he was first married. His eyes were sad now, +and his hair and mustache were quite gray, while his face was browned +with exposure to the sun, for he had travelled widely. + +"And so you are glad to see me, Elizabeth?" he said. + +[Illustration: "GLAD? WHY, YOU ARE MY FATHER!"] + +"Glad? Why, you are my father!" + +And the look in Elizabeth's eyes and the tone of her voice showed that +these words conveyed all that could be said. + +"Poor little girl, I have neglected you." + +"Elizabeth can scarcely be said to have been neglected," put in Miss +Herrick, somewhat stiffly. + +"Oh no, Aunt Caroline, you have been very good to take care of me so +long, and I have given you so much trouble; but you are not my father, +and I have wanted him so much." + +"And what do you think was the means of bringing me home at last, +Elizabeth?" + +"I don't know, father." + +Mr. Herrick released her hand for a moment, and took from his pocket a +leather case. Carefully put away in the innermost compartment was a +letter. The envelope was covered with postmarks, and it had the +appearance of having journeyed to many places. + +"Do you remember this letter that you wrote me more than a year ago?" he +asked. "It reached me only the day before I sailed, and until it came, +Elizabeth, I had no intention of sailing for many years to come. It has +followed me about from place to place, and has been mislaid and sent +astray, until at last it found me. When I read it, Elizabeth, I believe +I realized for the first time that I had a daughter, and that I ought to +come home to her." + +"Oh, father! did that letter really bring you at last? I knew it would, +for it is what I have prayed for every night and morning ever since I +wrote it; but you were so long in coming that I had almost begun to give +up hoping." + +"May I see the letter?" asked Miss Herrick. + +"No," said her brother. "I don't think any one shall ever read this +letter but my daughter and myself." Which made Elizabeth sigh with +satisfaction. + +There was a short pause, and then she summoned courage to ask a +question--one of the utmost importance, and the asking of which cost her +a great effort. She rose from her stool and stood in front of her +father, her hands clasped behind her and tightly locked. + +"Father," she said, timidly. + +"What is it, my darling?" + +"I want you to look at me very, very hard. Do you think--you--can--bear +the sight of me?" + +"My child, what on earth do you mean? You are the most beautiful sight +in the world to me." + +He put his arms around her and drew her down to his knee. Elizabeth hid +her face on his shoulder and cried with relief. + +It was indeed a happy Elizabeth who went to bed that night, and the next +morning when she awoke and remembered that her father was actually in +the house, she was obliged to pinch herself to make sure that it was not +all a dream. + +When she went down to breakfast there he was, waiting to kiss her for +good-morning, and Elizabeth felt that she was at last like other girls +with a father to love her, and she should soon have a brother also, for +Valentine had already been sent for, and would hereafter make his home +with them in the house which their father intended to buy. + +Elizabeth rather dreaded Val's coming, for she feared that he had not +yet forgiven her for telling their aunt of his previous visit; but when +he arrived, a few days later, she found that he was ready to acknowledge +that his sister had done right, and that it was he who had been in the +wrong. + +The morning after Mr. Herrick's return the father and daughter had a +long conversation, and Elizabeth was able to ask him about the subjects +which most interested her. One question related to her drawing-lessons, +which her father readily promised that she should take. The other was in +regard to the mystery of the locked door. + +"It was your aunt's room, my child," said Mr. Herrick. + +"But which aunt, father--Aunt Caroline or Aunt Rebecca?" + +"Your aunt Mildred." + +"But who was she? I never heard of her." + +"You have never heard of your aunt Mildred? Is it possible?" + +And then he told her of his beautiful younger sister who, years before, +when she was but twenty, had left home to become a trained nurse in a +hospital. Miss Herrick, who was devotedly fond of her, and who had +expected her to make a brilliant marriage, had bitterly opposed this +course. + +"They were equally obstinate," said Mr. Herrick, "and neither one would +give up. It was not that it was a disgraceful thing for Mildred to +do--far from it. She had a longing to do some good in the world, and it +suited her fancy to try to do it in that way. In a year or two she would +probably have come back. But Caroline told her she must make her choice +then and there--if she left her it was to be forever; and Mildred chose +to go. Your aunt Caroline never forgave her for this, and her room has +been closed and padlocked ever since, and her name is never mentioned. +It is a sad story, Elizabeth, and I think your aunt has made a mistake; +but it is not for me to judge her, I who have neglected my children all +these years. We Herricks are all more or less peculiar." + +Elizabeth told her father of the letters in the closed room, and from +one of them Mr. Herrick learned that his sister had married an artist by +the name of Brown. A second letter told that he had died within a year +of their marriage, that her money was almost gone, and that she was now +obliged to support herself. + +Mr. Herrick reproached his sister Caroline for not having forwarded +these letters to him, and although Miss Herrick tried to defend herself, +she knew in her heart that she had done very wrong, and she longed to +make amends to the Mildred whom she had once loved so dearly. But she +gave no outward sign of this change of feeling. + +Mr. Herrick determined to lose no further time in looking for Mildred, +but he wished, first of all, to settle Elizabeth comfortably at school +in regard to her drawing-lessons, which seemed to be so near her heart. +That very morning, therefore, he went with her to Mrs. Arnold's, and +asked to see the teacher of drawing and painting. Mrs. Arnold left the +room to send her to the parlor, and the father and daughter were left +alone together. + +Presently there was a faint sound on the stairs, a rustle in the hall. +The door was opened and Mrs. Brown came in. Mr. Herrick, attracted by +the slight sound of her entrance, turned, and their eyes met. For a +moment he was speechless, and there was a silence in the room. + +"Mildred!" he said, starting forward, "have I found you here?" + +"Edward, at last you have come!" + +The three returned to Fourth Street together, and Mr. Herrick and his +sister waited in the parlor while Elizabeth went to her aunts. She found +them in the library. + +"Aunt Caroline," said she, standing in front of her, "whom do you love +best in the world?" + +Her aunt looked at her for a moment without speaking. Then she said, +"You, Elizabeth, I think." + +"No, there is some one else. Some one you used to love and who loved +you, and she is here now, in this very house. Come, Aunt Caroline and +Aunt Rebecca, come down and see her." + +And she took the hand of each. + +And so it was Elizabeth who in the end brought them together. It was she +who unlocked the door. + +THE END. + + + + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLETRAP." + +BY HAYDEN CARRUTH. + +XI. + + +"You're a miserable, sneaking, treacherous old equine scoundrel!" cried +Jack, shaking his fist violently at Old Blacky. "You knew you were +making us come the wrong road." + +Old Blacky answered never a word, but turned, hit the wagon tongue a +kick, and joined the other horses. + +"Well, close down the front and let's talk this thing over," said Jack. +"In the first place, we are snowed in." + +"In the second place," said I, "we may stay snowed in a week." + +"I don't think we're prepared for _that_," said Ollie, very solemnly. + +"Let's see," went on Jack. "There are two sacks of ground feed under +Ollie's bed. By putting the horses on rather short rations, that ought +to last pretty nearly or quite a week. But for hay we're not so well +provided. There's one big bundle under the wagon, if Blacky hasn't eaten +it up. The pony won't need any, because she knows how to paw down to the +dry grass. The others don't know how to do this, and the hay will last +them, after a fashion, for about three days." + +"Perhaps by that time the pony will have taught them how to paw," I +said. + +"Wouldn't be surprised," returned Jack. "Perhaps by that time we'll all +be glad to learn from her. We've got flour enough to last a fortnight, +so we needn't be afraid of running out of water pancakes at least. You +don't grow fat on 'em, but, on the other hand, there is no gout lurking +in a water pancake as I make it." + +"No, Jack, that's so," I said, feelingly. + +"We've got enough bacon for several meals, a can of chicken, and two +cans of beans. Also a loaf of bread and a pound of crackers. Then +there's three cans of fruit, a dozen potatoes, six eggs, a quart of +milk, and half a pound of pressed figs. After that we'll paw with the +pony." + +"I wonder if we couldn't get some game?" inquired Ollie. + +"Snow-birds, maybe," said Jack. "Or perhaps an owl. I've heard b'iled +owl spoken of." + +After all, the prospect was not so bad. Besides, it was so early in the +season that it did not seem at all likely that we would be snow-bound a +week. Still, we knew little about the mountain climate. + +We got on our overcoats and went out and gave the horses their +breakfast. Old Blacky was still cross, but Jack contented himself by +calling him a few names. We also got up what wood we could and piled it +against the wagon, for use in case our kerosene became exhausted, though +we decided to cook in the wagon for the present. The snow was seven or +eight inches deep, and still falling rapidly. After breakfast we took +the pony down to a little open flat and turned her loose. The old +instinct of her wild days came back to her, and she began to paw away +the snow and gnaw at the scanty grass beneath. + +"Perhaps," I said, "she can be induced to paw for the others." + +After giving the other horses a little hay, we returned to the wagon, +where we staid most of the day. I'm afraid we were a little frightened +by the prospect. Of course, we knew that if it came to the worst we +could leave the wagon and make our way back along the trail on foot, +but we did not want to do that. But as for getting the wagon back along +the narrow road, now blotted out by the snow, we knew it would be +foolish to attempt it. It was not very cold in the wagon, and Jack +played the banjo, and we were fairly cheerful. The snow kept coming down +all day, and by night it was a foot deep. The pony came in from the flat +as it began to grow dark, and we gave the horses their supper and left +them in the shelter of the rocks. Then we brushed the snow off the top +of the cover, as we had done several times before, and went in to spend +the evening by the light of the lantern. When bedtime came, Jack looked +up and said: + +"The cover doesn't seem to sag down. It must have stopped snowing." + +We looked out, and found that it was so. We could even see the stars; +and, better yet, it did not seem to be growing colder. We went to bed +feeling encouraged. + +The next morning the sun peeped in at us through the long trunks of the +pines, and Ollie soon discovered that the wind was from the south. + +"Unless it turns cold again, this will fix the snow," said Jack. + +He was right, and it soon began to thaw. By noon the little stream in +the gulch was a torrent, and before night patches of bare ground began +to appear. We decided not to attempt to leave camp that day, but the +next morning saw us headed back along the tortuous road. In two hours we +were again on the main trail. Just as we turned in, Eugene Brooks came +along, having also been delayed by the snow, though the fall down the +trail had not been nearly so great. 'Gene laughed at us, and told us +that we had been following a trail to some lead-mines, which had been +abandoned several months before. + +[Illustration: THE DEADWOOD TREASURE COACH.] + +Half a mile farther on we came to the Thunder Butte Creek which we had +sought. The water was almost blood-red, which 'Gene told us came from +the gold stamp-mills on its upper course. If the water had been gray it +would have indicated silver-mining. Just beyond we met the Deadwood +Treasure Coach. It was an ordinary four-horse stage, without passengers, +but carrying two guards, each with a very short double-barrelled +shot-gun resting across his lap. The stage was operated by the express +company, and was bringing out the gold bricks from the mines near +Deadwood. + +"I suppose," said Ollie, musingly, "if anybody tried to rob the coach, +those fellows would shoot with their guns?" + +"Oh no," replied Jack. "Oh no; they carry those guns to fan themselves +with on hot days." But Ollie did not seem to be misled by this +astonishing information. + +As we went on, the road grew constantly more mountainous. Sometimes the +trail ran along ledges, and sometimes near roaring streams and +waterfalls, and the great pine-trees were everywhere. We passed two +grizzly old placer-miners working just off the trail, and stopped and +watched them "pan out" a few shovelfuls of dirt. They were rewarded by +two or three specks of gold, and seemed satisfied. 'Gene told us +afterward that one of them was an old California '49er, who had used the +same pan in every State and Territory of the West. + +It was a little after noon when we drove in to Deadwood--the last point +outward bound at which the Rattletrap expected to touch. It was a larger +town than Rapid City, and was wedged in a little gulch between two +mountains, with the White Wood Creek rushing along and threatening to +wash away the main street. We noticed that the only way of reaching many +of the houses on the mountain-side was by climbing long flights of +stairs. We drove on, and camped near a mill on the upper edge of town. + +In the afternoon we wandered about town, and, among other places, +visited the many Chinese stores. We also clambered up the mountain-sides +to the two cemeteries, which we could see far above the town. It seemed +to us that on rather too many of the head-stones (which were in nearly +every case boards, by-the-way) it was stated that the person whose grave +it marked was "assassinated by" so-and-so, giving the name of the +assassin; but these were of the old days, when no doubt there were a +good many folks in Deadwood who left the town just as well off after +they had been assassinated. "Killed by Indians" was also the record on +some of the boards. Ollie was greatly interested in the Chinese graves, +with dishes of rice and chicken on them, and colored papers covered with +curious characters--prayers, I suppose. We climbed on up to the White +Rocks, almost, at the top of the highest peak overlooking Deadwood, and +had a good view of the town and gulch below, and of the great Bear Butte +standing out alone and bold miles to the east. We were tired, and glad +to go to bed as soon as we got back to the wagon. + +The next day we decided to visit Lead City (pronounced not like the +metal, but like the verb to lead). Here were most of the big gold-mines, +including the great Homestake Mine. It was only two or three miles, and +we drove over early. It was a strange town, perched on the side of a +mountain, and consisted of small openings in the ground, which were the +mines, and immense shedlike buildings, which contained the ore-reducing +works. The noise of the stamp-mills filled the whole town, and seemed to +drown out and cover up everything else. We soon found that there was no +hope of our getting into the mines. + +"They'd think you were spies for the other mines, or something of that +sort," said a man to us. "Nobody can get down. Nobody knows where they +are digging, and they don't mean that anybody shall. They may be digging +under their own property exclusively, and they may not. For all I know, +they may be taking gold that belongs to me a thousand feet, more or +less, under my back yard." + +"If I had a back yard here," said Jack, after we had passed on, "I'd put +my ear to the ground once in a while and listen, and if I heard anybody +burrowing under it I'd--well--I'd yell scat at 'em." + +We found no difficulty in getting in the stamp-mills, and a man kindly +told us much about them. + +"The Homestake Mills make up the largest gold-reducing plant in the +world," said the man. "Where do you suppose the largest single +stamp-mill in the world is?" + +We guessed California. + +"No," he said. "It's in Alaska--the Treadwell Mill." + +We decided that the stamp-mills were the noisiest place we were ever in. +There were hundreds of great steel bars, three or four inches in +diameter and a dozen feet long, pounding up and down at the same time on +the ore and reducing it to powder. It was mixed with water, and ran away +as thin red mud, the gold being caught by quicksilver. The openings of +the shafts and tunnels were in or near the mills, and there were the +smallest cars and locomotives which we had ever seen, going about +everywhere on narrow tracks, carrying the ore. Ollie walked up to one of +the locomotives and looked down at it, and said: + +"Why, it seems just like a Shetland-pony colt. I believe I could almost +lift it." + +The engineer sat on a little seat on the back end, and seemed bigger +than his engine. As we looked at them we constantly expected to see them +tip up in front from the weight of the engineer. There was also a larger +railroad, though still a narrow gauge, winding away for twenty miles +along the tops of the hills, which was used principally for bringing +wood for the engines and timbers for propping up the mines. + +[Illustration: "WHAT A BASEBALL PITCHER THAT MAN WOULD MAKE!"] + +We were walking along a connecting shed, and happened to look out a +window, when we saw a four-foot stick of cord-wood shoot up fifty feet +from some place behind us, and after sailing over a wide curve, like a +"fly-ball," alight on a great pile of similar sticks on the lower +ground, which was much higher than an ordinary house, and must have +contained thousands of cords. + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Jack. "Wish I could throw a stick of wood +like that fellow." + +Another and another shot after the first one in quick succession. +Sometimes there were two almost together, and we noticed the bigger and +heavier the stick the higher and farther it was shot. We saw some almost +a foot in diameter soaring like straws before the wind. + +"What a baseball-pitcher that man would make!" went on Jack, +enthusiastically. "Think of his arm! Look at that big one go--it must +weigh two hundred pounds!" + +"Let's get out of this shed and investigate the mystery," I said. + +Outside it was all clear. The narrow-gauge wood railroad ended on the +edge of the steep hill overlooking the mills. Down this was a long +wooden chute, or flume, like a big trough, which for the last thirty or +forty feet at its lower end curved upward. Men were unloading wood from +a train at the upper end. Each stick shot down the flume like lightning, +up the short incline at the end, and soared away like a bird to the pile +beyond and below the shed. A little stream of water trickled constantly +down the chute to keep the friction of the logs from setting it on fire. + +"That's the most interesting thing here," said Jack. "I'd like to send +the Blacksmith's Pet down the thing and see what he would do. Bet a +cooky he'd kick the wood-pile all over the town after he alighted." + +We spent nearly the whole day in wandering about the stamp-mills. The +great steam-engines which operated them were some of the largest we had +ever seen. + +"And think," observed Jack, "of the fact that all of this heavy +machinery, including the big engines and the locomotives and cars, and, +in fact, everything, was brought overland on wagons, probably most of it +nearly three hundred miles. No wonder people got to driving such teams +as Henderson's." + +Toward night we returned to Deadwood by the way of Central City. Here +were more great mines and mills, but they did not seem to be so +prosperous, and part of the town was deserted, and consisted of nothing +but empty houses. Just as the sun set we drove in through the Golden +Gate, and cast anchor at our old camp near the mill. + +The next morning was wintry again, with snowflakes floating in the air. +The ground was frozen, and the wind seemed to come through the wagon +cover with rather more freedom than we enjoyed. + +"It's time we began the return voyage," said Jack. "We're a long way +from home, and we won't get there any too soon if we go as fast as we +can and take the shortest cut." So we started that afternoon. + +The shortest cut was to return to Rapid City, and then instead of going +south into Nebraska, to go straight east, through the Sioux Indian +Reservation, crossing the Missouri at Pierre, and then on across the +settled country of eastern Dakota to Prairie Flower, over against the +Minnesota line. + +We followed the same road between Deadwood and Rapid City, with the +exception that we turned out in one place, and went around by Fort +Meade. Here we found a beautiful camping-place the first night near a +little stream, and great overhanging rocks, and not far from Bear Butte. +We reached Rapid late the next night, which was Saturday, and stopped at +the old camp near the mill-race. Here we staid over Sunday, but Monday +noon saw us under sail again. As we went through the town we stopped at +the freighter's camp, and told 'Gene Brooks good-by, and then drove away +across the wide rolling plain to the east. + +'Gene had warned us that we had a lonesome road before us to Pierre, one +hundred and seventy miles, nearly all of it across the reservation. + +[Illustration: A STATION IN THE SIOUX COUNTRY.] + +"You'll follow the old freight trail all the way," he said, "but you may +not see three teams the whole distance, because since the railroad got +nearer it isn't used. You'll find an old stage station about every +fifteen or seventeen miles, with probably one man in charge. You may see +a horse-thief or two, or something of that sort. S'ciety ain't what it +ought to be 'round a reservation gen'rally." + +Just before the sun sank behind the mountains, which lay like low black +clouds to the west, we came to a little ranch standing alone on the +prairie. The door was open, and it seemed to be deserted, though there +was a rude bed inside. There was a good well of water, and we decided to +camp near it for the night, especially as the grass was good. There was +no other house in sight. Bedtime arrived, and no one came to the ranch. + +"I think I'll just sleep in that house to-night," said Jack, "and see +how it seems. I'll leave the door open, so as not to have _too_ much +luxury at first." + +I must have been asleep three or four hours, when I was awakened by the +loud barking of a dog. I started up, and began to unfasten the front end +of the cover. As I put my head out, Jack called, excitedly: + +"Some men were trying to get the pony. They'd have done it, too, if +Snoozer hadn't barked and scared them away." + +I was out of the wagon by this time, and found the pony trembling at the +end of her picket-line as near the wagon as she could get. Snoozer kept +barking as if he couldn't stop. + +"Did they shoot at you, Jack?" I asked. + +"No, I guess not. I think they just blazed away for fun. They went off +toward the reservation. Some of 'Gene's poor s'ciety, I suppose." + +It took half an hour to get the frightened pony and indignant dog +quieted; and perhaps it was longer than that before we again got to +sleep. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +FAIR PLAY. + +BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER. + + + There are two little words that are dear as his honor + To the every-day boy whom we meet at our school. + He may walk round the street with a chip on his shoulder, + But if you join battle, fair play is the rule. + + All he asks of a comrade, a foe, or a neighbor, + This every-day fellow, whom you and I know. + Is that friendship be loyal, and battle be open, + And fair play be practised with friend or with foe. + + And so be it comrade, or foe, or near neighbor + In the march or the fight, or the heat of the game, + Whatever the stress of the fun or the labor, + He calls for fair play, and he renders the same. + + Only cowards and braggarts would seize an advantage + That was not allowed in the rules of the game. + Our boy is as brave as the knight in the tourney; + He asks but fair play, and he renders the same. + + + + +CAPTAIN JACK AND THE BLUE-FISH. + + +It was dreadfully hot on the sea-shore, and the boys couldn't find much +fun in digging in the sand, so they sauntered slowly down the scorching +beach to the old wreck, intending to sit upon its shady side and try to +keep cool. It was deserted when they arrived, and they had a pretty good +time by themselves for about an hour, when who should turn up but old +Captain Jack, pulling away as usual upon his pipe! They could always +tell without much trouble when the Captain was approaching, he used such +very strong tobacco, and blew the smoke on ahead of him in great clouds, +which announced his coming some fifteen or twenty seconds before he +arrived. + +"Hullo!" said he, as he sat down alongside of the boys. "You here? I +sort of thought you'd be up at the hotel sitting in a bath-tub full of +ice-water a sizzling day like this." + +"It is pretty hot, isn't it?" said Tommie. "The thermometer's at +eighty-nine up in the hotel office." + +"I don't doubt it," said Captain Jack. "But that don't signify much. +Everything's high at the hotel. They charged me a quarter for ten cents' +worth o' smokin'-tobaccy last week--so I ain't surprised that the +mercury's riz to pretty high heights there. What takes me all of a heap +is the heat out there on the ocean. It's fearful. I 'ain't seen anything +like it since '69, and even then it warn't half as hot." + +The boys giggled, and Captain Jack went on. "I been out blue-fishin' all +the morning, and I tell you if it's a-sizzlin' in here it's simply +a-sozzlin' out there. The boat's all covered with blisters, and her +name, where I painted it last week, has just regularly peeled right off; +and worst of all, I've teetotally forgot what the name was, so I've got +to christen her clean over again." + +"She was called the _Polly Ann_, wasn't she?" asked Bob. + +"That used to be her name," said the Captain; "but it hasn't been this +summer. It was something like _Amber-Jack_ or _Sarah Toodles_ this year, +and I can't remember which. Fact was, she leaked so last summer when she +was known as the _Polly Ann_ that people wouldn't hire her to go fishin' +in; so, seeing as how I couldn't afford to buy a new boat, I gave her a +new name, so's the fishin' folks wouldn't know she was the old _Polly +Ann_; and now this here heat has gone and het her name right off, and I +can't remember what it was. Kind of hard luck, I think." + +"Very," said the boys. "But why don't you call her the _Sarah Toodles_ +anyhow?" + +"I'm afeered to. The summer before last she had some such name as that, +and she leaked then, bad as ever, and it may be some folks will remember +it. I guess I'll call her _Fido_. _Fido_'s as good a name for a boat as +a dog, and it'll give funny fellers a chance to speak of my bark bein' +on the seas, and say she's a regular old sea-dog." + +"Good idea," said Bob. "Did you catch any fish this morning?" + +"Yes," said the Captain, sadly, "but the heat ruined 'em all. It's a +shame the way the Weather Bureau lets loose all these hot waves, ruinin' +honest men's business--peelin' the names off their boats and spilin' +their fish." + +"How did it spoil the fish, Captain?" queried Tommie. + +"Spoiled 'em for my trade," said the Captain, sadly. "I took two young +fellers out to catch 'em. They were fellers that thought there was +nothin' so good to eat in this world as broiled blue-fish, and I said I +knew where we could catch some beauties, so we struck a bargain and went +out. Inside of two hours we'd caught a dozen of the finest yo'd ever +seen, and we turned about to come in. 'It's been awful hot,' says one of +the fellers. 'Yes,' said the other; 'but we'll make up for our sufferin' +in the heat when we have a couple o' those blue-fish broiled and sit +down to eat 'em. It makes my mouth water,' says he. Then we came in and +landed. We took the fish ashore, and then we found out what had +happened." + +The old man paused, and pulled mournfully away at his pipe for a full +minute. + +"Go on," said Bob, softly. "What had happened?" + +"_They was boiled when we caught 'em, the water was so hot_," moaned the +Captain. "And if there's anything spoils a blue-fish for broiling, it's +to have 'em boiled first!" + +"It was too bad," said Tommie. "And wouldn't they take 'em?" + +"No," said the Captain; "and I couldn't blame 'em. They only wanted to +keep me up to my bargain. I'd made it, and they meant I should stick to +it; and havin' promised 'em broilers, they wasn't under any obligations +to take boiled fish. The worst part of it is I've got 'em all on my +hands, and instead o' havin' the cash to buy tenderloin steaks and pie +and apple-sauce with, I'll have to eat boiled blue-fish instead for the +next ten days; and boiled blue-fish gives me the most depressed feelin's +you ever saw." + +With which sorrowful statement the good old fellow rose up and walked +away, leaving the boys not only sorry for him, but sorry for themselves +as well; for when they realized how awfully hot it must be out upon the +sea to boil the fish in the water itself, somehow or other it seemed to +grow a great deal hotter there upon the beach. + + + + +FLAGS OF THE REVOLUTION. + +BY WILLIAM HALE. + + +[Illustration] + +It is a fact not generally known that the stars and stripes is the +oldest national emblem now in existence, and that the national flags of +all other countries bear more recent dates of official adoption. + +There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the origin of our +flag. Although the thirteen stripes were in use before and during the +early part of the Revolution, the first and only legislative action for +the establishment of a national flag was in the shape of the following +resolution, which was passed on Saturday, June 14, 1777: + + "_Resolved_, That the flag of the thirteen United States be + thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be + thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new + constellation." + +[Illustration] + +No record of the discussions that preceded the adoption of this flag has +been kept, and although there have been many theories as to the origin +of the device, none of them has been entirely satisfactory. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +In the early years of the Revolution a number of emblems were in use, +which became famous. The standard displayed on the south-east bastion +of Fort Sullivan (or Moultrie, as it was afterward named) on the 28th of +June, 1776, by Colonel Moultrie, was a blue flag with a white crescent +in the upper left-hand corner, and the word "Liberty" in white letters +emblazoned upon it. This was the flare that fell outside the fort and +was secured by Sergeant Jasper, who leaped the parapet, walked the whole +length of the fort, seized the flag, fastened it to a sponge-staff, and +in sight of the whole British fleet, and in the midst of a perfect hail +of bullets, planted it firmly upon the bastion. The next day Governor +Rutledge visited the fort, and rewarded Jasper by giving him his own +sword. He offered him also a lieutenant's commission; but Jasper, who +could neither read nor write, modestly declined it. + +The pine-tree flag, which was a favorite device with the officers of +American privateers, had a white field with a green pine-tree in the +middle, and the motto, "An Appeal to Heaven." This flag was officially +endorsed by the Massachusetts Council, which in April, 1776, passed a +series of resolutions providing for the regulation of the sea service, +among which was the following: + + "_Resolved_, That the uniform of the officers be green and white, + and that they furnish themselves accordingly, and that the colors + be a white flag with a green pine-tree and the inscription 'An + Appeal to Heaven.'" + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The device of a rattlesnake was popular among the colonists, and its +origin as an American emblem is a curious feature in our national +history. It has been stated that its use grew out of a humorous +suggestion made by a writer in Franklin's paper, the _Pennsylvania +Gazette_--that, in return for the wrongs which England was forcing upon +the colonists, a cargo of rattlesnakes should be sent to the +mother-country and "distributed in St. James's Park, Spring Garden, and +other places of pleasure." + +[Illustration] + +Colonel Gadsden, one of the Marine Committee, presented to Congress, on +the 8th of February, 1776, "an elegant standard, such as is to be used +by the commander-in-chief of the American navy; being a yellow flag with +a representation of a rattlesnake in the middle in the attitude of going +to strike." Another was a white flag with a pine-tree in the centre +under which was a snake. Above was "An Appeal to God," and below "Don't +Tread on Me!" The Culpepper Minute-Men adopted a similar device, with +the name of their company and the motto "Liberty or Death." Another use +of the rattlesnake was upon a ground of thirteen horizontal alternate +red and white stripes, the snake extending diagonally across the +stripes, and the lower white stripe bearing the motto "Don't tread on +me." The snake was always represented as having thirteen rattles--and +the number thirteen seems constantly to have been kept in mind: thus, +thirteen vessels are ordered to be built; thirteen stripes are placed +upon the flag; in one design thirteen arrows are grasped in a mailed +hand; and in a later one thirteen arrows are in the talons of an eagle. + +[Illustration] + +The red stripes seemed for a time to be used as often on a blue ground +as on a white. A water-color drawing found among the papers of +Major-General Philip Schuyler represents the _Royal Savage_, one of the +little fleet on Lake Champlain in the summer and winter of 1776, +commanded by Benedict Arnold, as flying a flag which Bancroft, in his +_History of the United States_, describes as "the tricolored American +banner not yet spangled with stars, but showing thirteen stripes, +alternate red and white, in the field, and the united crosses of St. +George and St. Andrew on a blue ground in the corner." + +[Illustration] + +One of the most interesting flags of the Revolution is the banner or +flag of Count Pulaski, presented to him by the Moravian Sisters of +Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Count Pulaski, a Polish volunteer, who had been +appointed a brigadier in the Continental army just after the battle of +Brandywine and placed in command of the cavalry, had resigned his +commission, and had received the consent of Congress to raise and +command an independent corps of 68 horse and 200 foot, which was chiefly +raised and fully organized in Baltimore in 1778. He visited Lafayette +while wounded, and was taken care of by the Moravian Sisters, who gave +him a crimson silk banner with designs beautifully wrought with the +needle by their own hands. Pulaski bore this flag through many a battle, +until he fell at Savannah in 1779. It is now in the possession of the +Maryland Historical Society. + +[Illustration] + +The flag of Washington's Lifeguard, which is preserved in the museum of +Alexandria, Virginia, is of white silk, on which the device is neatly +painted. One of the guard is holding a horse, and in the act of +receiving a flag from the Genius of Liberty, represented as a woman +leaning on the Union shield, near which is an American eagle. The motto +of the corps, "Conquer or Die," is on a ribbon over the device. The flag +flown by our victorious frigates during the war of 1812 bore fifteen +stripes and fifteen stars. Afterwards it was settled that the number of +stripes should be the original thirteen; and now the field bears +forty-five stars, to which others will be added as new States are +admitted. + + + + +[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] + + +The Oak Park High-School, of the Cook County League, starts out this +season with more men qualified for positions on the football team than +any of its rivals, having twenty-seven available players. Evanston has +the smallest available amount of material, with but fifteen men. Lake +View has twenty-four, Chicago Manual twenty-three, North Division +twenty-one, West Division eighteen, and Hyde Park and Englewood +seventeen each. These numbers show a considerable increase of candidates +over previous years. + +There is a very general opinion among those who have been watching the +form of the Englewood H.-S. team that they have the pennant won already; +and they are beyond doubt very strong. Nevertheless, they cannot hope to +overcome some of their hard-working rivals without a continuation of the +steady work which has characterized their early practice. In Teetzel +they have a strong and sure ground-gainer. He is a fast runner, and +knows the game thoroughly. Henry is also certain to make his distance +with the ball, although he has been unable to practise the past few days +on account of injuries received in the Chicago University match. +Talcott, captain and quarter-back, is a quick player, and is the best +man on the eleven for heading interference. Fowler at centre is +handicapped slightly by his stature, but he is of good strength, learns +quickly, and has had experience in playing his position on last year's +team. + +At right guard Doud is doing steady work. He played on the Chicago +Manual team last year. On the other side of centre there is another +veteran--Lespinasse. He is a stockily built player, and helps to make +the centre a formidable thing to attack. Schoellenberger at right end +has been doing excellent work in breaking up interference; and besides +this he is a sure tackler and a fast runner, both excellent qualities +for an end rusher. Wadsworth is doing fairly well at full-back, having +gone back from end, where he played last year. His previous experience +in the line makes him a good running back, but as a punter he is not yet +up to the mark. + +[Illustration: HYDE PARK HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM. + +Cook County Interscholastic League.] + +The Hyde Park H.-S. Eleven averages heavier than last year's team--130 +pounds. Only four of last year's players are back again. The team this +fall is not so snappy and quick as the Hyde Park elevens usually have +been, but it is very probable that this quality will develop by the time +the important games come about. It is improbable, however, that Hyde +Park will have as strong an eleven as that which represented the school +last year. Captain Linden, who plays left end, is a quick, hard runner, +and is thoroughly familiar with the game. Knickerbocker and Miller, +right and left tackles, are the heaviest men; of the two, Miller is the +better man, being a good tackler. Knickerbocker is somewhat slow in +getting down the field. Nash and Crane are pretty light for guards; but +Nash has been playing a hard game, and has been doing notably good work +in running with the ball. Crane is a new man, but is developing +steadily. Mackay, at centre, was considered last year the best man for +his position in the Cook County League, and is still maintaining his +reputation. Hennessy, at right end, to be valuable should make better +use of his head and follow the ball more closely; he is energetic and a +hard worker. Of the candidates for right half-back, Higley is the best +of the three, being a surer tackler than either Wilson or Pingree. +Minnemyer and Welch are trying for left half, the former being the best +tackler, the latter the fastest runner. Trude, at full-back, is as fast +a runner as there is on the team, and is punting very well this year. + +SHADY-SIDE ACADEMY FOOTBALL PLAYERS, PITTSBURG. + +[Illustration: HUMBIRD, Left end.] + +[Illustration: SCHILDECKER, Captain and right tackle.] + +[Illustration: HAWKINS, Left guard.] + +In the first practice game, two weeks ago, the Shady-Side Academy eleven +of Pittsburg played a fast and snappy game, but a few days later the +team showed up very poorly, and the work was exceedingly slow. +Arundell's work at full-back is not entirely satisfactory; he is not +improving in punting, and his general play is poor. In consequence it is +probable that McConnell, who was at Cheltenham last year, will play that +position. Dravo, at half-back, is a new man, but has been doing +unexpectedly good work. He uses his head and does not fumble the ball. +T. McConnell, at quarter, is one of the most promising players on the +team; he keeps cool, tackles hard, and gets into the interference well. + +It is doubtful at present whether Jennings will play centre or guard; if +he goes in at guard, Aley will hold down centre. Hawkins and Brainard +are the most promising candidates for the other guard's position. The +principal thing in Hawkins's favor is that he is a steady man and +maintains a good average style. Captain Schildecker is improving rapidly +in his position at right tackle, but the same spot on the other side of +the line is not so well taken care of by Flinn. The ends are Kirke and +Humbird; the former is putting up a hard, fast game, tackles hard, and +gets into the interference well; the latter is a new man, but promises +to develop well, especially in tackling. + +The Kiskiminetas team of the same League will average about 150 pounds +this year. McKelvey at full-back is punting well, and has developed into +a strong line-backer. Carrol at left half-back is a good ground-gainer, +and maintains a steady average of play. Captain Aiken is playing +quarter; his strongest point is tackling, and he is thoroughly familiar +with the fine points of the sport, and makes a good commander. Herron +and Woodbridge, the ends, run and tackle well, and although they are not +brilliant players, they are careful and steady in their work. There is +room for improvement in Kelso at right tackle and Fisher at centre. +Henry and Shaw, the guards, are heavy men, and interfere well, so +likewise does Montgomery at right tackle. Although the eleven is not so +heavy this year as the team which Kiskiminetas put into the field last +season, it is playing a faster and snappier game. + +It does not look very much at present as if the Hartford High-School +would come out with any very great honors at the close of the football +season. At the present date of writing Hartford has not only lost every +game played, but her men have not yet succeeded in scoring a single +touch-down. This is a very sad state of affairs for such a reliable +old-timer as Hartford. H.P.H.-S. lost the Meriden game, 16-0. The play +on that occasion was exceedingly ragged, the interference was loose; in +centre plays not more than half the men seemed to get into the game; on +the defence the ends could not get at their men at all, and on the whole +it was a pretty sorry exhibition of football. + +Meriden, on the other hand, played a steady game, and although their +performance was not brilliant, it was of the kind that insures victory. +The best individual work was done by Lane and Hubbard for Meriden, +whereas for Hartford Captain Sturtevant was about the only man who +deserves mention. In the game against the Yale Freshmen Hartford played +a little better, but they were up against heavier men, and were unable +to make any points. In the New Britain game Hartford's play was again +ragged, there being not even an attempt at team-work, whereas the New +Britain players were especially strong in this feature. + +As to individual play, McDonald, Brinley, and Meehan of New Britain were +the most conspicuous. Of the Hartford players, Sturtevant, Strong, +Allen, and Gillette surpassed in individual work the best performances +of their opponents, but this was of little avail where team-work lacked. +It seems now very probable that New Britain will win the Connecticut +championship this year. The team has already defeated Bridgeport, 14-0, +Waterbury having defeated Hillhouse, 4-0, on the same day. + +There seems to be more activity in football in the South this year than +ever before, and it is probable that a number of interscholastic leagues +will be organized. At Richmond, Virginia, the High-School is turning out +a pretty good team, which promises to be better in every respect than +that of 1895. If a league is formed it will probably include the +High-Schools of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Fredericksburg, Suffolk, Danville, +Petersburg, and Richmond. + +In Washington the Central High-School seems to have the heaviest eleven +this year, although all three high-school teams are light. The season is +not far enough advanced yet for any detailed criticism of the work done +to be justly made, but it is probable that within a few weeks the raw +material will have been coached and moulded into fair condition. + +It is gratifying to note, in connection with the comments concerning the +Milwaukee High-Schools last week, and the rather questionable spirit of +sportsmanship which was growing there, that the East Side High-School +has taken steps for the purification of athletics that ought to bring up +all questionable practices with a sharp turn. + +A code of regulations has been adopted by the faculties of the three +leading High-Schools of Milwaukee, and although it seems perhaps a +little startling to us here in the East to find in it such a paragraph +as "No person shall enter a contest under an assumed name," still there +may have been very good cause for this sort of severity. One thing about +the regulations is certain: If they are lived up to, Milwaukee +High-School sports will be of the cleanest, and of a very high grade +besides. + +Not only must any person who wishes to represent a school in any +athletic contest of the Milwaukee High-School League be a _bona fide_ +student in regular attendance at his school, but he must obtain a +scholastic standing of at least seventy per cent. He must also have +obtained seventy per cent. in two full studies during the previous term, +or must have obtained credits in three full studies during his last term +of attendance. But, of course, pupils who are enrolled for the first +time will not be excluded from athletics for lack of percentages and +credits which naturally they cannot have, not having been members of the +school during the previous term. A further provision allows a student of +the Senior class, who is considered by the faculty as a regular +candidate for graduation, to participate in any contest even if he has +taken less than three full studies at the school, provided, however, he +has completed extra work which shall entitle him to a credit in each of +the three full studies of the regular curriculum of Senior year. + +The rules even go so far as to include managers of teams within these +restrictions; so that thus any student who is connected with an athletic +team, either in an active or an executive capacity, must have a high +standing in his classes and be altogether a reputable person. There are +thirteen paragraphs in all to the new code, but those which are not +included in the foregoing digest are such as we find in almost all +interscholastic leagues, with variations--making provisions for +arbitration committees, and filing the names of players a certain given +period before contests. + +The schedule of the Long Island Football Association has been made out, +and the championship games will begin to-morrow, continuing as follows: + + Oct. 21.--Brooklyn Latin School _vs._ St. Paul's School, at Garden City. + Oct. 24.--Brooklyn High-School _vs._ Pratt Institute, at Brooklyn. + Oct. 31.--Poly. Prep. _vs._ St. Paul's School, at Garden City; + Brooklyn Latin School _vs._ Brooklyn High-School, at Brooklyn. + Nov. 7.--Brooklyn Latin School _vs._ Pratt Institute, at Brooklyn. + Nov. 11.--Brooklyn High School _vs._ St. Paul's School, at Eastern Park. + Nov. 14.--Poly. Prep. _vs._ Pratt Institute, at Brooklyn. + Nov. 21.--Pratt Institute _vs._ St. Paul's School, at Garden City; + Poly. Prep. _vs._ Brooklyn Latin School, at Brooklyn. + Nov. 26.--Brooklyn High-School _vs._ Poly. Prep., at Eastern Park. + +If we may judge from the character of the teams in the Long Island +League the championship games this year ought to make pretty fair +exhibitions of football playing. St. Paul's, Garden City, is going in +even harder than customarily, and will have as strong a team as has ever +worn the school colors. It will undoubtedly be the strongest eleven of +the Long Island League, and will take the championship there, but St. +Paul's chief ambition will be to defeat Lawrenceville, and even Andover, +if a game can be arranged with the latter. + +The make-up of the team, is about the same as it was last year, except, +perhaps, that it is heavier. The rush-line is unusually heavy for a +school team and the backs, excepting quarter, are also of good weight. +Most of the men are veterans, only two being new to the team. These are +Kinney, at right guard, and Blount, at quarter-back. This is Kinney's +first year at football, but he is developing well, and has great +strength, having cultivated this at shot-putting. He weighs 190 pounds. +Blount, the other new man, is a Southerner who has never had much +experience at football, but he is showing unusual ability for the game, +and is rapidly improving under the coaching system prevalent at Garden +City. + +As full-back Captain Sidney Starr is doing good work, and is running the +eleven in proper style. Starr is one of the most prominent of St. Paul's +athletes, having played on the school teams ever since he entered +school. He weighs 175 pounds, and besides being an excellent punter, he +makes a good running full-back. Last year Starr played at quarter a good +part of the time, alternating with Gardiner at full-back; but this year +he has preferred to let Blount try for quarter, there being no +first-class man among his candidates for the position he has taken +himself. + +The half-backs are Weller and Goldsborough. The latter is an old-time +St. Paul's man, having played on the nine and eleven for several years. +He weighs 158 pounds, and is a hard runner, usually sure to gain his +distance. Weller, the left half-back, played end on the team last year, +and showed such good qualities as a line-backer that he was put back of +the line this season. He is a good tackler, too, and he is five pounds +heavier than his mate. The line is well protected by two good ends. +Lorraine has played two years on the team, and is a sharp tackler, with +a great capacity for breaking through the opponents' interference. +Lorraine is one of those players, however, who does not keep up to his +best work steadily, but is liable to have "on" and "off" days. This is a +misfortune which may possibly be overcome by coaching. A team made up of +players who have "on" and "off" days will be defeated nine times out of +ten by an inferior team of steady players. + +At the other end of the line, White is a more steady player and an +exceedingly active rusher. Symonds and Brown are the tackles; they weigh +170 and 192 pounds respectively. Brown is a shot-putter and +hammer-thrower, and has great strength, which he uses to good effect +when his team is on the defensive. The centre is Cluett, who played last +year, and is doing good work at present. He is well guarded by Kinney +and Everett Starr. The latter has played three years on the team, and +knows the position thoroughly. + +With so many veterans on the St. Paul's team, more time will be devoted +by the coaches to a cultivation of team-work than could otherwise be +possible; and so it is probable that when St. Paul's meets Berkeley in +their last game a few weeks hence we shall see an interesting exhibition +of scholastic football. + +"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL, +$1.25. + + THE GRADUATE. + + + + +[Illustration: STAMPS] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin + collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question + on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address + Editor Stamp Department. + + +On October 3 the subscribers to the Philatelic club-house met in the +building which had been leased by the committee, and organized under the +title of "The Collectors' Club," adopted a constitution and by-laws, +elected governors, and arranged for incorporation. The board of +governors consists of William Herrick, president; Charles Gregory, +vice-president; J. W. Scott, treasurer; J. M. Andreini, secretary; and +Messrs. J. N. Luff, H. L. Calman, F. E. P. Lynde, H. E. Deats, and F. A. +Nast. The club-house is No. 351 Fourth Avenue, near Twenty-fifth Street, +and contains an auction-room, billiard-room, meeting-rooms for the +different societies, bedrooms, and janitor's rooms. + +The second instalment of new prices for the U.S. stamps has been issued. +The Department stamps have been materially advanced. Newspaper stamps +and Postage Due stamps have not been changed radically. The U.S. used +stamps of all kinds have not increased in value compared with unused +copies. + +The London "Philatelist," in an article on the stamps of Cape of Good +Hope Colony, states that the rare wood blocks were issued in April, +1861, and that no copies were in the main post-office of the colony in +September, 1861. But in 1878 the postmaster of Graaf Reinet found a +complete sheet of both the one penny and four pence in stock, and sold +most of them in the ordinary course of business. + +Had these two sheets been preserved until to-day, probably $20,000 would +hardly buy them. + + E. PERCY.--As you are a new beginner, I would advise you not to pay + any attention to water-marks, perforations, shades, papers, etc. + You will find enough to study in the stamps themselves + independently of these points. After you have a fair collection you + can then begin the study of these minor points, but to collect such + stamps means the spending of large amounts of money. All the + dealers now recognize the fact that these minor varieties, while + interesting to the advanced collector with a large bank account, + are of no interest to the average collector through his inability + to buy or even to ever see these scarce stamps. Hence the new + albums and new catalogues for ordinary collecting will embrace only + the regular stamps in their ordinary forms. + + N. P. P.--The U.S. carrier's stamp, black on yellow (a double + circle), issued in 1849, if a good copy on original letter, is + worth $8 to $10. Cape of Good Hope Revenues are not collected in + the U.S. + + G. BEARDSLEY.--Continental money is worth very little. In the + beginning of this century some people papered their rooms with it, + and one man covered a whole barn with the so-called money. You can + buy good copies of the dealers for 5c. or 10c. each. + + GEORGE NEWHAM.--Stamps of "Tromsöe," "Stadspost," etc., are locals + of no value to collectors. To distinguish faint water-marks, dip + the stamp in benzine and place it face downward on a piece of + japanned iron. The benzine will not hurt the gum. + + G. L. LINDSLEY.--The 5c. nickel without the word "cents" has no + premium value. Dealers sell it at 10c. + + L. YUNGST.--The Spanish dollar, 1788, is no longer current. It is + worth so much bullion only. + + N. J.--Your English gold coin has no premium value. It is worth its + full coinage value. + + E. P. TRIPP.--"Ultramar" stamps are from Cuba. The Porto Rico + stamps of 1873-1876, with paraph also have "Ultramar" at the top. + On H.M.S. means On Her Majesty's Service. Gold quarters were never + coined by the U.S. government. Those now in circulation were made + chiefly by jewellers, and, as a rule, they do not contain more than + 10c. worth of gold; the remainder is base alloy. Cut post-cards are + valueless. + + J. LOWELL.--Do not remove gum from unused U.S. stamps. It would + lessen the value of the stamps from ten to fifty per cent. + + A. DE GRAM.--I cannot identify your stamps by your description. + + R. PARLS, P.O. Box 36, Ridley Park, Pa., wishes to exchange stamp. + + W. MORROW.--Your stamp is U.S. Revenue 25c. Insurance; worth 10c. + + E. C. CROSSETT.--There is no premium on the new silver + certificates, as they have not been recalled. + + HIG.--See HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for October 6 for old and new prices + of unused U.S. stamps. Used copies remain about the same, except + Columbian, which have been reduced. The 1861 5c., used, is worth + 35c.; the 24c., 25c.; the 1869 1c., 40c.; the others mentioned by + you are less than 10c. each. + + GEORGE S. LORD, 815 High Street, Bath, Me., wishes to exchange + stamps. Inverted medallions occur in stamps printed in two colors. + Sometimes the sheet was turned, and one color design was printed + upside down. + + CARL HATHAWAY.--The handy-book is now out of print. You can buy a + catalogue of stamps from New York dealers at 10c. + + H. MCLOUGHLIN.--The 1824 half-dollar is very common. + + G. HULL.--I do not understand your question. The Mexican silver + dollar contains more silver than the U.S. dollar. If you want to + sell Mexican dollars, you can get about 45c. or 50c. each. If you + want to buy, they will cost you 55c. each. + + J. CABELL.--Your "Sydney View" is a poor copy. While fine copies, + used and unused, are much higher than two or three years ago, poor + copies are only worth half as much as was asked for the same stamps + two years ago. When collectors pay $50, $100, or more for a stamp, + they want fine copies. Such persons will not touch a poor copy at + any price. By fine copies is meant those with a good margin, clean + print, no tear or skinned back, and, if perforated, that it be + evenly centred, and, if unused, that it have the original gum. + Stamps lacking one or two perforations, or not coming up to the + above standard, are worth from twenty-five per cent. to + seventy-five per cent. less. + + PHILATUS. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER] + +A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening +strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._ + +ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK. + + + + +[Illustration] + +EARN A GOLD WATCH! + +We wish to introduce our =Teas and Baking Powder=. Sell 50 lbs. to earn a +=Waltham Gold Watch and Chain=; 25 lbs. for a =Silver Watch and Chain=; 10 +lbs. for a =Gold Ring=; 50 lbs. for a =Decorated Dinner Set=; 75 lbs. for +a =Bicycle=. Write for a Catalog and Order Blank to Dept. I + +W. G. BAKER, + +Springfield Mass. + + + + +GIRLS! + +4-oz. Bottle Perfumery + +FREE! + +Send name and address to + +HARRISON & STRAUSS, 35 and 37 Frankfort St., N. Y. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER] + + + + +[Illustration: BICYCLING] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the + Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our + maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the + official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. + Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the + Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership + blanks and information so far as possible. + + +A woman on a bicycle, whatever the laws may be, always has the right of +way. If you meet her in a small side-path in the country, the path +belongs to her. It is your duty to turn out. If this path happens to be +on your side of the road--that, is, if the woman is approaching on the +left side of the road, facing the direction in which she is moving--it +is just as much your duty to turn out. + +If in the country you come upon a woman who has in any way broken her +bicycle or punctured a tire, it is perfectly proper, and a gentleman's +duty, to offer to help her. It would be distinctly impolite to offer +similar help in a city. The city is full of repair shops, there are cabs +at any corner, and a woman can easily help herself there. In the country +the case is very different. In fact, the rules of etiquette between men +and women on bicycles are precisely the same as they are between men and +women in carriages or in any other ordinary circumstances. + +The question of costume is an important one also. Every bicyclist, +especially men, should remember that, starting with a perfectly clean +suit of clothing, after an hour's ride, no matter how expensive and +perfect the costume may have been at the start, he is in no condition to +go among other people to any extent. A bicyclist, therefore, should +never attempt, especially in the city, to go into the main dining-room +of a hotel in bicycle costume. An ordinary bicycle or golf suit--that +is, a suit precisely like an ordinary business suit except for knickers +and long stockings--may be suitable enough before one goes out bicycling +for the day, but even at its best a sweater has no place in the parlor +or the dining-room. Except at a regular bicycle resort, a small country +inn where there are few people, or some athletic club, the bicyclist +should change his costume before dining, or, in fact, entering the +parlor or dining-room of any public-house. + +Most of the railroads in the United States now have certain regulations +regarding the carrying of bicycles. Where a certain fee is charged the +bicyclist has nothing to do except to hand his wheel in to the +baggage-master on the train, and to take it again when the train stops +at the station where he wishes to leave it. Where no charge is made by +the railroad, it is only fair and right to give the baggage-master ten +cents or so for his trouble, and to be of whatever assistance to him +that you can in handing in the bicycle and taking it from him. This of +course applies to bicycles that are not crated. + +When a machine is crated it comes under the rules of ordinary parcels, +and requires no more attention than any other parcel. The average +wheelman who has been riding some distance on his wheel belongs in the +smoking-car. When men and women riding together enter a train they of +course go into the regular cars, but they should carry themselves as +they would if they were travelling like other passengers--and, strange +as it may seem, that is not always the case. + + + + +A History and an Inspiration. + +Here is the story of a Round Table Chapter that served well the reason +for its existence. It is now "a thing of the past," as the secretary +records, but it is past only in the fact that it no longer meets. Its +memories and its benefits live after it, and will long continue to do +so. + + DEAR FRIENDS,--Of course the Knights and Ladies of our Order are + interested in the various Chapters which have been formed, and the + items of news from them are often very good morsels. The Lancelot + Chapter, of Newtonville, Mass., No. 572, has never had very much to + say to the public, but in a quiet way it has prospered. But now the + Lancelot Chapter is a thing of the past. It was composed of nine + girls, who for several years were to be separated. Most of them had + just graduated from high-school and were going to begin a + life-work, and for various reasons it seemed advisable to dissolve + our Chapter. + + But on such a sad occasion we did our best to enjoy ourselves and + make our last meeting a memorable one. Perhaps the account of our + meeting may suggest a pleasant evening for the other Chapters. Each + member was given a part, and we allowed plenty of time for + preparation. The Chapter invited all of its former members, and + also its honorary members, and one evening in July we assembled at + our secretary's home. The first thing on the programme was a + welcome from one of the girls, our treasurer. Our president read + the club prophecy, our secretary read the club history, and the + club statistics, poem, and oration were given by three other girls. + Our musical member took charge of the music, which was introduced + between the papers. The club song, in which we all joined, was + written by our president, and sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne." + + Refreshments, consisting of ice-cream, and cake, made by the girls, + were served in the dining-room. Our editor was toast-mistress, and + she called upon each member to respond to a toast. We drank to the + Round Table, to Good Will Farm, to the Lancelot Chapter, its + officers and honorary members, and to our guests. The meeting was + considered a grand success. The papers read were original and full + of wit and humor. The cake and cream were delicious, and the + Lancelot Chapter passed out of existence amid the roar of the + elements, for a thunder-storm raged out-doors, and amid the + laughter and jollity which prevailed in-doors. + + The Chapter is dissolved, but the friendships fostered and + cherished in its circle will never dissolve. The girls have learned + to know each other better, and have become broader by contact. One + and all we say we are glad we have been a club. Now, though we are + separated, we still try to live up to our motto: + + "Do all the good you can; by all the means you can; in all the ways + you can; in all the places you can; at all the times you can; to + all the people you can; just as long as you can."--JOHN WESLEY. + + Wishing success to all our friends in other Chapters, we sign + ourselves for the last time, + + THE LANCELOT CHAPTER, K.L.O.R.T. + MARION DREW BASSETT, Secretary, R.T.F. + NEWTONVILLE, MASS. + + * * * * * + +Santa Catalina Island. + + Santa Catalina, more commonly called "Catalina," lies twenty-five + miles off the coast of southern California. It is twenty miles + long, and between two and three miles wide. It was first inhabited + by Indians, of whom many relics and skulls and bones have been + found. The principal town, called Avalon, is situated near the + southern part of the island in a little cove about a mile wide. The + water is so clear that you can see the rocks and fish one hundred + feet below the surface--the rocks with their green moss waving to + and fro with the tide, while gold and other fish swim lazily about. + There is a marble called Catalina which is of grayish color, and is + used in building some of our finest business blocks in Los Angeles. + This marble is more or less transparent, and is said to be the only + kind of hard stone with that peculiarity. Two years ago Catalina + was hardly heard of, but now there often are, in summer, five + thousand people there. + + A. LAZARUS, R.T.K. + LOS ANGELES. + + * * * * * + +A Young Naturalist's Outing. + + Last summer I spent my vacation in Noank, Conn. My chief amusement + was fishing. Noank is a fishing-village, and there are many large + lobster-cars about. Every day the dead lobsters in the cars were + taken out and thrown overboard, forming a great attraction to + multitudes of eels. Almost every night some of the boys went eeling + off the cars, and came home with a bucket half full of the + wriggling things. Every time I came to the house with some eels the + boarders would declare, after a glance into my bucket, that they + would never eat another eel as long as they lived. + + While at Groton, Conn., a gentleman said he'd never eat eel. One + morning the landlord asked him if he would have some blue-fish. The + gentleman said he would, and found the fish so good that he asked + for a second plate. Suddenly the landlord exclaimed, "Sakes alive, + man, I have given you eel instead of blue-fish!" The table shouted + with laughter, and the gentleman did not appear again until + supper-time. The worst of eeling is that eels tangle your line, and + when you pick up the eel to get the line off him you have the + pleasure of seeing him slip through your fingers. The Noank boys + have a way of holding eels by simply pinching them behind the eyes + with the thumb and first finger. By taking a boat and anchoring + about five hundred feet from the shore I caught flounders, + sea-bass, porgies, and now and then an eel. Flounders are hard to + catch, because of a bone in their mouth which prevents the hook + from getting a good grip. When I did not feel like fishing from a + boat I gathered a pocketful of periwinkles, and procuring a small + stone to crack them with, went fishing for cunners off some wharf. + The cunner is a fish about the size, shape, and color of a perch. + + ALBERT W. ATWATER. + SPRINGFIELD, MASS. + + + + +[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB] + + Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly + answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to + hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions. + +PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS. + + +The amateur photographer, if he has improved the shining hours of summer +by gathering some good negatives, has on hand the material for very +acceptable Christmas gifts, and now is the time to set about preparing +them. + +No amateur has probably been so fortunate as to secure a satisfactory +picture with every plate used. The prodigal throws these spoiled plates +in the ash-barrel, but the wise amateur uses them for many things. One +way is to use them for mounting prints. Carefully mounted and finished, +they are very pretty and make handsome ornaments, and for simple gifts +are far more satisfactory than the usual Christmas-cards, which +eventually find their way into the scrap-basket. Then, too, another +thing which commends them to a young person who must make a little money +go a long way is that they are very much cheaper. + +Soak the spoiled plate in hot water till all the film has been removed, +then wash it in hot suds, dry, and polish it with French chalk and a +piece of soft chamois. Select the prints to be mounted, choosing those +which will have some special attraction to the one for whom you intend +the gift. Soak the prints for a few minutes in a weak solution of +glycerine, using 1/4 oz. of glycerine to 16 oz. of water. Lay them face +up on a piece of glass, and let the water drain off, but do not blot +them. Have your glass ready, place the print face down on it, and +covering it with a piece of blotting-paper, squeegee it to the glass, +using the rubber roller made for this purpose. The picture must adhere +to the glass at every point; for if it does not, the air-blisters will +show and disfigure the picture. By examining the face of the print from +the glass side it can easily be seen whether the optical contact is +perfect, and if not, rub it until it is. + +Cut a piece of stout Manila-paper half an inch larger all round than the +glass. Lay the glass in the centre of the paper, and cut a small square +from each corner of the paper. Remove the picture, cover the paper with +paste, and paste it on the back of the picture, turning over the edges +on to the face of the glass, the squares cut from the corners allowing +it to lie smoothly. + +If you wish to finish the picture to stand on a desk or table, bind the +edges of the glass with a piece of ribbon, or colored or gilt paper; or +if you wish to have it more decorative, get a narrow open-work brass +strip and bend it round the edges. To make the support, take heavy +card-board and mark on it two lines about an inch apart and at equal +distances from each edge. Cut through the card-board on these lines, and +then cut half-way through the card-board across from one line to the +other. Bend the strip back a little way, and paste a strip of stout +cloth over the place where the board is cut part way through, fitting it +into the cut. This makes a stout hinge, and will not easily break or +bend out of shape. Paste this support, which should be the size of the +glass, on the back of the picture, using a thick paste, or, what is +still better, fish glue. + +Pictures may be mounted by optical contact, and framed in silk or linen +in the card-board screen frames, using one or two leaves. They may also +be finished to hang on the wall by attaching a brass ring by a piece of +tape to the back of the picture. + +A number of pictures which make a series may be mounted on spoiled +plates, then set in a frame, using narrow strips of beading to divide +the pictures and cover the edges of the glasses. + +The directions here given will suggest to our amateurs many ways of +using spoiled plates for picture mounts. + +Another use for spoiled plates may be found in No. 857 (March 31, 1896). + + S. B. C. wishes to know some place in Brooklyn or New York where + the "Quad" camera may be purchased; and how much it costs to + develop, print, and mount each picture. E. T. Anthony & Co., and + Scovill Adams Co., carry many makes of cameras, and S. B. C. will + probably find the Quad for sale at one of these places. To finish a + picture from the developing and mounting, not including the price + of the plate, will cost, for a picture the size of the Quad, 3-1/2 + by 4-1/2, about three cents. When prints are made in large + quantities, the cost is less in proportion than when only a few are + made. Four by five blue-print paper costs ten cents per dozen, and + there is no toning necessary; so if one made blue prints, and used + the cheap cards for mounting, the prints would cost but fifteen + cents per dozen. + + SIR KNIGHT FRANK F. SMITH sends a print from a negative which shows + a white line looking something like a piece of string with a knot + or loop in it, and asks the opinion of the editor as to what it is. + He says it was caused in the following manner: He loaded a + Bull's-Eye camera, and left the shutter open, walked about seven + squares with the camera in this condition, then closed the shutter, + and rolled the film up without attempting to take a picture on it. + The editor would be quite at a loss as to the cause if she had not + had a similar experience. Wishing to make a picture showing + moonlight effect--the subject being two young ladies standing at + the edge of a small lake just as the sun was setting--the camera + was pointed directly toward the sun, which was not obscured by + clouds, the lens shielded so that the sun would not strike the + plate, and an exposure made. When the plate was developed there was + no picture on it, but a white line which looked like a bunch of + tangled string, the ends of the line passing off the same side of + the plate as in the print sent by Sir Frank. The only way in which + this phenomena could be accounted for was that a ray of light must + have struck the plate, and, instead of fogging it, left its + likeness, after the manner of a flash of lightning. Have any of our + members had a similar experience? + + SIR KNIGHT CHARLES LUSENKAMP, Grand Rapids, Mich., asks how to + mount prints without destroying the gloss made by the ferrotype + plate; how long a plate of medium sensitometer should be printed + for a lantern-slide, and what developing agent should be used for + developing it; where glycin can be purchased, and where 2 by 2-1/2 + plates can be bought; which chemical the editor prefers for + developing--pyro, eikonogen, metol, amidol, hydrochinon, or glycin. + To preserve the gloss given by the ferrotype plate, trim the prints + ready for mounting, before toning. Squeegee to the ferrotype plate, + and, when dry, paste the back of the print before removing it from + the plate, and mount directly on the card. By this method the print + does not become moistened, and retains most of the gloss. The plate + should be printed from three to ten seconds, according to the + density of the negative from which the slide is made. A very dense + negative takes several seconds longer. Hydrochinon and eikonogen + mixed make an excellent developer for lantern-slides. The + hydrochinon gives density and the eikonogen detail. See No. 852, + February 25, for a good formula for a developer. Order glycin + through one of the photographic supply houses in your own city. If + they do not have it in stock, they will get it for you. The plate + the size you mention is not made, but you can get films in small + sizes. The editor likes eikonogen and hydrochinon mixed, and also + metol for developing. See No. 825 for a toning solution. Sir + Charles sends a formula for a developer made with eikonogen and + hydrochinon, which he says is fine. No. 1. Water, 64 oz.; sulphite + of sodium crystals, 2-1/2 oz.; eikonogen, 1 oz.; hydrochinon, 1/8 + oz. No. 2. Water, 64 oz.; carbonate of potassium, 2-1/2 oz. To use, + take of No. 1, 2 oz., and of No. 2, 1 oz. Sir Charles asks for + correspondents interested in photography. Will Sir Charles send his + street and number? + + CALVIN FARRAR, 35 Greenwood Avenue, Cleveland, O.; JAMES MAYNARD, + JUN., Box 282, Knoxville, Tenn.; FOSTER HARTWELL, 629 Third Avenue, + Lansingburg, N. Y.; JOHN MILLS, 308 Ogden Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis.; + MINNIE G. FARWELL, 55 Oak Street, Hyde Park, N. Y.; CHARLES + LUSENKAMP, Grand Rapids, Mich., wish to be enrolled as members of + the Camera Club. + + * * * * * + +A POUND OF FACTS + +is worth oceans of theories. More infants are successfully raised on the +Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk than upon any other food. Infant +Health is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your address to N. Y. +Condensed Milk Co., N. Y.--[_Adv._] + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +Arnold + +Constable & Co. + + * * * * * + +Lyons Silks. + +_Black and Colored Moire,_ + +_Rich Brocades, Armures, Impression sur chaine,_ + +_Metal Brocades, Plaid Silks, Plaid Poplins,_ + +_Silk-and-Wool Moire Velours._ + +Lyons Velvets. + +_Brocaded Velvets,_ + +_Colored and Black Velvets._ + + * * * * * + +Broadway & 19th st. + +NEW YORK. + + + + +Postage Stamps, &c. + + + + +[Illustration: STAMPS] + +100, all dif., & fine =STAMP ALBUM=, only 10c.; 200, all dif., Hayti, +Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Agents wanted at 50 per cent. com. List FREE! +=C. A. Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliant Ave., St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +[Illustration: STARR STAMP CO.] + +Coldwater, Mich. See ad. in H.R.T. Sept. 29th for bargains. Large col'n +bought. Agents wanted. 50% com. + + + + +STAMPS + +=10= stamps and large list =FREE!= + +L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +1872. + +1c. 2c. & 3c. National Bank Note Co. Print, 20c. + +P. S. Chapman, Box 151, Bridgeport, Ct. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER] + + + + +[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION] + +CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. + +Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use + +in time. Sold by druggists. + + + + +[Illustration: An Illustration from "The Martian," by George du +Maurier.] + + + + +GEORGE DU MAURIER. + + +[Illustration: GEORGE DU MAURIER.] + +All the readers of the ROUND TABLE have heard in some way or other of +Mr. George du Maurier, the author of _Trilby_. His death a few days ago, +at his home in London, closes the life of a man whose career is most +interesting and suggestive to the average boy of ambition. + +Mr. Du Maurier was born March 6, 1834. For many years after he had taken +up the work of illustrating for _Punch_, the leading comic paper of +England, he was known as the greatest living humorist and society +artist. The work was difficult, and his drawings, although a large +number were required in a year by the paper, did not give him a very +competent livelihood. In 1888 he had, at the age of fifty-four made what +would commonly be called an extraordinary name for himself. He was known +in every family in the British Isles, and English-reading people all +over the world knew of his work. Such fame acquired in this well-earned +way would be quite enough for any one to have for an ambition, and yet +had Mr. Du Maurier never made a drawing up to the time he was fifty-four +years old the literary work he has done since then--that is, _Peter +Ibbetson_, written in 1888; _Trilby_, written in 1893; and _The +Martian_, just beginning in HARPER'S MAGAZINE--would have made him a man +with a name which is not only known all over the world where people +read, but has placed him among the literary men of England--a name so +much more famous and widespread than that of the illustrator that there +will come a time when people will read his books and never know that he +illustrated anything but his own works. + +It is very often said to be the case that if a man is ever to make a +name for himself he must show very definite signs of it before he is +thirty, and that if he has not accomplished great things before he is +forty he never will. Mr. Du Maurier's life is an absolute contradiction +to this statement or rule, for the work for which he will really remain +famous for a long time to come was not begun until eight years before +his death, and he died at the age of sixty-two. + +The point of great importance, however, is that, although after _Trilby_ +had appeared Du Maurier became immediately famous, he did not become +suddenly possessed of great ability. He has said himself that these +three books are not the only, nor by any means the most difficult, +literary works he ever did, for for forty years, week by week, he had to +work over the little two-line legends under his illustrations in +_Punch_. He used to say that the work required to tell the story by one +illustration and fifteen or twenty words required more literary ability +in the choosing of the fifteen or twenty words than in the writing of a +fifteen or twenty thousand word story. He was constantly having +practice, therefore, in telling a great deal in a few well-chosen words. +Besides this studying human beings as he did, and making drawings of +their peculiarities and strengths and weaknesses year after year, he was +all the time learning to know human nature, and laying up a store of +material for the characters of his three books. + +So that, after all, Mr. Du Maurier was, so to speak, studying for over +fifty years to learn how to write and illustrate three books at the very +end of his life, which were so well done that they have given him a +greater name than most men get in a life-time of books or drawings. +Daniel Webster told practically the same story after he had made his +famous speech in the United States Senate against Mr. Hayne of South +Carolina, when some one asked him how he could make one of the finest +speeches ever made in the English language, lasting several hours, +without the slightest preparation. His answer was that he had been +preparing for it all his life, so that, after all, there is much truth +of a certain kind in the statement that a great name must be begun +early, for when you hear of a man becoming suddenly famous because of +some great work of any kind accomplished late in life, you may be quite +sure that the man has really been laboring all his life with the most +persistent industry and energy to reach at last the great position which +he occupies. And the making of such a name is open to any one who has +the capacity for taking such infinite pains. + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF A WIZARD. + + +One evening, towards the close of the last century, a traveller alighted +at a little inn in the town of Würzburg, Germany. He was tall, dark, and +rather sombre-looking. His strange ways soon aroused the curiosity of +the towns-people to the highest pitch. He would take long rambles, often +being absent from early morning till the time of the evening meal. +Certain worthies reported having seen him, wrapt in contemplation, +walking by the Rhine, occasionally waving his arms, and paying no +attention to the passers-by. One person had seen his light burning far +into the morning. But the landlady at first said she had no cause for +complaint; the stranger was pleased with everything set before him, and +seemed to be a perfect gentleman. + +One morning one of the maids of the inn told the landlady that, +listening at the stranger's key-hole the night before, she had heard him +in earnest conversation with some person or thing, and yet no one had +been seen to enter the room. The girl was severely reprimanded for her +eavesdropping, but nevertheless the landlady took her post at the door +the following evening, and had her story to tell. She had fully made up +her mind that the stranger was in league with the evil one. She gave the +information to the justices of the town, and sundry officers were +speedily assembled about the stranger's door. Near at hand, too, was a +goodly gathering of the town gossips. The oppressive silence was +suddenly broken by the distinct tones of a dialogue going on in the +stranger's room. The officers crowded around the door and heard the +following conversation: + +"Thou misformed offspring of our uncreated power--thou whom I have so +long sought--thou shalt escape me no longer. Answer me! Come, my black +barbet, change thy costume. How thy black hair rises on end, thy body +swells, and thy red eyes sparkle!... If thou indeed hast submitted +thyself to me, show thyself, demon, and speak to thy master." + +At this moment _a distinct smell of burning brimstone_ caused the stout +burghers to draw their noses away from the door and stifle their +coughing as best they could. + +A sharp shrill voice was now heard to answer, + +"Master, what dost thou desire of thy servant?" + +The door was broken down, and the stranger dragged before the +magistrate, charged with being in league with the devil. The stranger +quietly said: + +"I had begun a tragedy, but as my friends disturbed me continually at +Weimar, where I live, I came to write here. The hero of my tragedy is a +man who invokes the devil, and to whom the devil appears. I confess that +I have an unfortunate habit of reading aloud what I compose, as fast as +I write it. As to my invoking, perhaps personally, the devil, I am too +good a Christian to do that, and you, Mr. Burgomaster, too enlightened +to believe it." + +The wizard was Goethe, and the tragedy, _Faust_. + + VINCENT V. M. BEEDE. + + + + +[Illustration: Ivory Soap] + +Ivory Soap is white and pure; it is a clean soap and it washes clean. + +THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI. + + + + +JOSEPH GILLOTT'S + +STEEL PENS + +Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F. + +And other styles to suit all hands. + +THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS. + + + + +WATCH AND CHAIN FOR ONE DAY'S WORK. + +[Illustration] + +Boys and Girls can get a Nickel-Plated Watch, also a Chain and Charm for +selling 1-1/2 doz. Packages of Bluine at 10 cents each. Send your full +address by return mail and we will forward the Bluine, post-paid, and a +large Premium List. No money required. + +BLUINE CO. F Concord Junction, Mass. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER] + + + + +FOR LOVERS OF ATHLETIC SPORTS + + * * * * * + +A PRIMER OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL + +By W. H. LEWIS. Illustrated from Instantaneous Photographs and with +Diagrams. 16mo, Paper, 75 cents. + +Mr. Lewis, an old Harvard football centre-rush, has put together in this +book the result of his experiences in practical football. The work, +therefore, is not so much a treatise on the game as a series of +practical suggestions to be used by captains in teaching their men and +coaching their teams. The book is divided respectively into the +"individual" and "team" play. The part on the "individual" discusses, +first, the individual plays, such as passing, kicking, running, falling +on the ball, and so on, and then the work of the individual players +themselves. The second part discusses, first, offensive, and then +defensive team play. + + Beginners will be very grateful for the gift, for no better book + than this of Mr. Lewis's could be placed in their hands.--_Saturday + Evening Gazette_, Boston. + +_New Edition of_ + +CAMP'S AMERICAN FOOTBALL + +By WALTER CAMP. New and Enlarged Edition. 16mo, Cloth, $1.25. + + The progress of the sport of football in this country, and a + corresponding growth of inquiry as to the methods adopted by + experienced teams, have prompted the publication of an enlarged + edition of this book. Should any of the suggestions herein + contained conduce to the further popularity of the game, the object + of the writer will be attained.--_Author's Preface._ + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR:_ + +=FOOTBALL FACTS AND FIGURES.= Post 8vo, Paper, 75 cents. + +A SPORTING PILGRIMAGE + +Riding to Hounds, Golf, Rowing, Football, Club and University Athletics. +Studies in English Sport, Past and Present. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, +Cloth, $3.50. + + The work is certainly one of the most valuable contributions to + athletic literature that has been published for many a + day.--_Chicago Journal._ + +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. + + * * * * * + +HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York + + + + +[Illustration] + +HOW THE GILT BALL BECAME A WEATHER-VANE. + + A ball of gilt was mounted high upon a lofty tower, + Above a great and faithful clock that told the time each hour. + "What service do you render man, though you are placed so high?" + Inquired the clock. The gilty ball, ashamed, made no reply. + One day while roaming through the earth, Adversity espied + The gleaming sphere upon the tower, aloft at eventide. + And straightway shot an arrow with a quick, unerring aim, + Into the hollow useless ball while yet it was aflame. + Again inquired the faithful clock, "Though you are reared so high, + What service do you render man, ablaze up in the sky?" + "I tell the point from which the wind in passing by doth blow, + So all that gaze upon my face that fact shall quickly know. + No longer but a gilded ball--an object of disdain-- + Am I, but poised 'twixt earth and sky I am a weather-vane." + + * * * * * + +RUN NO RISK. + +SCORCHER (_to novice_). "The more wheels the better. Try a cycle first, +then buy a cycle, and try that. Tricycle, bicycle--see? Start right, and +you'll be able soon to get along without any wheel at all." + + * * * * * + +Rob and Arthur were looking at a picture in a Sunday-school paper, which +showed two South-Sea Islanders rubbing noses, after the cordial manner +of these natives when meeting a friend. + +"What are they doing?" asked Rob. + +Arthur, who had heard something about the custom, quickly replied, "Oh, +just scraping acquaintance." + + * * * * * + +NATURAL SYMPATHY. + +Freddy was looking through a big picture-book, when he came to a picture +of Daniel in the lions' den, and he forthwith began to cry. + +"Don't cry, Freddy," said his mother; "those lions aren't going to hurt +Daniel." + +"I'm not crying about that," said Freddy. "There's a little lion there, +and Daniel's so small, I'm afraid the little lion won't get any." + + * * * * * + +SOME BITS OF NATURAL HISTORY. + +"It stands to reason," writes Toby Trip in his composition, "that most +of our rats come from Gnaw-away, and that some of our choicest poultry +are cotch in China, while there are no black folks in the Isle of Wight. +Yet there are women in the Isle of Man, wise people in the Scilly Isles, +and the best-natured men in the world are natives of Ire-land." + + * * * * * + +"What were the Dark Ages?" asked the governess at the morning lessons. + +"That must have been before spectacles were invented," guessed May. + +"Oh no!" interrupted Cedric; "I know why they were called the Dark Ages. +Because there were more knights then." + + * * * * * + +"Well, Teddy, have you been a good boy to-day?" asked his mother upon +her return home late in the afternoon. + +"No, ma'am," replied the truthful Ted. + +"I hope you have not been a bad boy?" + +"No, ma'am; not a very bad boy and not a very good boy--just +comfortable!" + + * * * * * + +"What time is it, my lad?" asked an American traveller of a small Irish +boy, who was driving a couple of cows home from the fields. + +"About twelve o'clock, sir," replied the boy. + +"I thought it was more." + +"It's never any more here," returned the lad, in surprise. "It just +begins at one again." + + * * * * * + +A little boy and his sister were allowed, this summer, to collect the +eggs from the hen-coops, but they were told they must never take away +the nest-egg. The little girl, however, did so one morning by mistake, +and her brother told her she must take it right back, "because that was +what the old hen measured by." + + * * * * * + +When Freddy got back from the mountains last week he was much pleased at +the sight of clean stiff curtains hanging in all the rooms. + +"Oh, mamma," he remarked, "the windows have all got clean shirts on!" + + * * * * * + +"That's the pretty white cow that gives us the nice white milk," said +the country boy to his little city friend. + +"And is that the brown cow that gives us the coffee?" asked the latter. + + * * * * * + +A newsboy saw a dime lying on the ground in the City Hall Park. A tramp +sitting on a bench near by saw the boy pick up the piece, and claimed it +at once as his own. + +"Your dime did not have a hole in it, did it?" asked the boy. + +"Yes, it did," said the tramp; "give it up!" + +"Well, this one has not got any hole in it, so I guess I'll keep it." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, October 20, 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59477 *** |
