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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59491 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]
+
+Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1896. FIVE CENTS A
+COPY.
+
+VOL. XVII.--NO. 887. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+TEXAS.
+
+BY A. G. CANFIELD.
+
+
+"One misty, moisty morning" of April, '36, there was quite a commotion
+in the office of the _Weekly Telegraph_, enterprising pioneer of Texas
+journalism, printed in English and Spanish, and published in the little
+town of Harrisburg, east of the Brazos River.
+
+The Alamo,[1] citadel and tomb of heroes, had fallen, and all the
+western part of the young republic was held by the Mexicans. Houston's
+hundreds were falling back towards the east; Santa Anna's thousands were
+in close pursuit.
+
+[1] For the story of the battle of the Alamo see "An American
+Thermopylæ," in No. 876.
+
+The Texans now occupied Harrisburg, and a good many of them occupied the
+_Telegraph_ office. These were carrying on an animated and eager
+discussion, while the object of their eloquence, a slim youngster of an
+uncommonly dark and swarthy countenance, stood listening silently.
+
+"I tell you," cried one, "you're risking your life by staying here.
+Santa Anna's just as likely as not to have you taken out and shot.
+Remember Goliad!"
+
+"And if they don't shoot you," said another, "they'll clap you in irons
+and shut you up in a Mexican jail. For my part, I'd rather take the
+bullet; it's quickest over."
+
+"And you must remember," remonstrated a third, "that your paper's always
+been down on the Mexicans. _They're_ safe to remember it, and as the
+editor has got clear off, they'll make you pay for yourself and him
+too."
+
+"All the same," said John Sibley, steadily, "I'll have to stay until Mr.
+Bolden sends for me. He left me in charge here, but promised to get me
+away before the Mexicans come."
+
+"Huh! Think Editor Bolden's going to trouble himself to get you out of
+the hole? You needn't if you do. He's saved his own skin, and that's all
+he cares about. The Greasers might knock everything in the
+printing-office into pi before I'd stay here to please him."
+
+"Come, John," said one, somewhat older than the rest, "let me persuade
+you out of this foolhardy project. Your young life ought not to be
+thrown away in mere bravado."
+
+"It's not bravado, Captain Hays," protested the boy. "It's my plain
+duty. I promised my employer I would stay and look after his property.
+He trusted me, and I mustn't disappoint him. So please don't ask me to
+go with you, for I can't."
+
+"What can a boy like you do to protect the property?"
+
+"I can do just what anybody else would do," said John, smiling; "I can
+do my best."
+
+"Well," cried one gay young soldier but little older than John himself,
+"you may thank your lucky stars that you're 'most as black as a nigger,
+and can patter Spanish like a regular Don. The Mexicans will take you
+for one of themselves. If they do, and you get a chance at old
+Wooden-leg, make him believe we're ten thousand strong. It's all right
+to lie till you're black in the face to fool an enemy and serve your
+country."
+
+John Sibley nodded and smiled, as the troop filed through the office
+door with many wishes for his ultimate safety. He stood looking after
+them with a queer twinkle in his black eyes, saying to himself:
+
+"I'll do the best I can, as you do, brave boys, but I'll lie as little
+as I can help. Wonder if I couldn't make the truth do as well?"
+
+One day passed, and then another. The Texans had left the town, and
+continued their retreat towards the east. Still, there was no word from
+the editor and proprietor of the _Weekly Telegraph_ releasing his young
+assistant from his perilous position, and John staid steadily on, caring
+faithfully for the property intrusted to him. He was "on guard," and had
+no more thought of deserting his post than if he had been a soldier
+under orders.
+
+He passed the anxious time watching and waiting for two
+events--wondering which of the two would come first--news that he was
+relieved from duty, and the approach of the Mexican army.
+
+The latter came first. Early one morning the vanguard appeared, soon
+followed by the main body, led by President Santa Anna in person.
+
+Before noon dark-skinned soldiers were swarming over the town on the
+lookout for plunder and mischief, and a crowd of them filled the office
+of the obnoxious _Telegraph_.
+
+They were surprised to find there a lad as dark-skinned as themselves,
+who in a resistless flood of Spanish welcomed them like brothers,
+assuring them in the most high-flown terms of Spanish courtesy that the
+office and all it contained was theirs, and would be honored by
+suffering destruction at their hands. But in the midst of this
+rodomontade he continued by many adroit and well-turned phrases and an
+assumption of genial camaraderie to induce his troublesome visitors to
+postpone their destructive designs until he had laid the case before
+General Santa Anna, to whom he wished to be taken immediately.
+
+This request was granted without any difficulty, for without a word of
+assertion on his part they had at once adopted him as one of their own
+race. Who else in that country but a Spanish-American could boast such
+smooth and courteous manners, such densely black eyes and hair, such a
+copper-colored skin, and such a flood of Spanish!
+
+When John Sibley stood in the presence of the Dictator of Mexico he
+trembled from head to foot, but not with fear. He was an American boy,
+and he could not look on the ruthless destroyer of so many of his
+countrymen, the treacherous executioner of Goliad, the bloody victor of
+the Alamo, without a shudder. But Santa Anna was used to seeing grown
+men tremble before him, and took no notice of the effect he produced on
+a boy.
+
+"How is this, muchacho?" he demanded, sternly. "They tell me you are a
+Mexican, yet you are employed on the _Weekly Telegraph_, a paper that
+never ceases to attack the land of God and liberty, her government and
+her people. Now tell me if this is what a true Mexican would do?"
+
+By this time John had recovered his self-possession.
+
+"Poverty, your Excellency," he replied, in as fluent Spanish as the
+Dictator's own, "will, as our proverb says, make a man put up at bad
+inns. A poor orphan Mexican boy might well be pardoned if he took the
+work and pay the stranger offered. But if your Excellency thinks it was
+wrong, let me atone by serving my native land in any way you can make
+use of me."
+
+The General examined him critically.
+
+"You seem an intelligent youth," he said at last, "and in spite of your
+boyish look, you have all your wits about you. If you are sincere in
+your offer, you can give me useful information."
+
+Then followed the usual inquiries as to the number, equipment, and route
+of the retreating army, to all of which John, contrary to precedent and
+the advice of his soldier friend, returned truthful answers.
+
+"For if I tell Santa Anna that Houston has more men than he has,"
+reasoned John, "he'll be mighty clear of following him a foot further,
+and will never fight if he can help it. But if I make him believe he can
+eat the Texans up at a mouthful, he'll push straight on, and I know what
+will happen then. The Texas boys will whip him out of his boots, or off
+his wooden leg."
+
+When these usual questions were disposed of, Santa Anna, looking keenly
+at the boy, asked him if he knew the country thereabouts.
+
+"Yes, your Excellency, I know the ground well on both sides of the
+Brazos, and for some way east."
+
+"Humph!" said the General, suspiciously; "how comes a boy of your age to
+be so competent a guide?"
+
+"My father was a ranchero," was the ready reply. "From a little chap, I
+went with him everywhere, until he died, about a year ago. I know the
+country almost as well as he did. Try me, and see if I fail."
+
+"Perhaps I shall. My scouts know nothing of this country hereabouts. I
+have a mind to send you with them on the enemy's track to bring me news
+of their movements. Knowing the country and the people, you may gain
+intelligence where they would fail. You can serve me well if you are
+faithful; and if you are _not_--well, you deal with Santa Anna!"
+
+"I'll take the job, and the punishment too if I fail," cried John,
+eagerly. Then, curbing his impetuosity, lest it should excite suspicion,
+he added, quietly: "I suppose your Excellency will furnish me with a
+horse? I have none."
+
+"_We_ have a good many, captured from the rebels on the Colorado," said
+the General, with a smile of grim satisfaction. "You can take your
+choice. And, muchacho, if you serve me well, your property shall be
+returned to you uninjured, nor shall that be your only reward."
+
+This was said with a gracious smile. John felt the tiger's claws under
+the velvet pat; but his terror was gone now, and he exulted in the hope
+of outwitting the cunning Mexican.
+
+The General's orderly showed him the corral where the captured horses
+were confined. There was a number of them; but the practised eye of the
+ranchero soon picked out the horse he wanted--a beautiful black mustang,
+whose satinlike skin, small head, and large bright eyes showed breeding
+and intelligence, while his clean-built sinewy limbs gave satisfactory
+promise of speed and endurance.
+
+"This is the horse for me," said John, going up to him.
+
+The orderly demurred. "_No, bueno!_" he exclaimed, emphatically. "He has
+the temper of the Evil One himself. A muchacho like you will never
+master him."
+
+"He'll not show temper with _me_. Look!"
+
+He patted the mustang's glossy neck and stroked its nose, while the
+horse stood perfectly still and whinnied low. Then, with a bound, John
+was on its back.
+
+For a moment the mustang justified the orderly's bad opinion. With a
+vigorous buck it tried its best to throw its rider. But John sat firm,
+and his soothing voice and hand soon pacified the wild creature, which
+stood quietly by his side when he dismounted, rubbing its head against
+his shoulder.
+
+"That horse knows you," said the orderly. "None of us can manage him;
+but you are an old friend."
+
+"Maybe so. We had a black colt on the ranch that had the making of as
+fine a horse as this, but he was sold, and I don't know what became of
+him. I'll try if this is he."
+
+He went some distance from the corral, then called "Texas, Texas!" in
+the caressing tone he had always used to his favorite colt. The mustang
+trotted up to the fence, thrust its head over it, and looked eagerly
+towards the place the voice came from.
+
+"Texas! Texas!" cried John, delightedly, throwing his arms round the
+horse's neck and kissing the "lone star" on its forehead, the sole white
+spot on its glossy black hide.
+
+The pursuit was resumed next day, and John went out regularly with the
+Mexican scouts, and always brought back encouraging reports. Firm in his
+conviction that a battle must result in a victory for the Texans,
+notwithstanding the greatly superior force of the enemy, John felt
+certain that the best service he could render his country would be to
+bring about a collision between her invaders and defenders as speedily
+as possible.
+
+Meanwhile he learned to know his horse thoroughly. Although Texas
+certainly deserved the orderly's assertion that he had the worst of
+tempers, he never showed it to John. There was perfect understanding
+between horse and rider, and John knew he could rely on Texas in any
+emergency.
+
+At last, when the scouts brought news that Houston had reached the San
+Jacinto, and would cross the river and continue his retreat next day,
+Santa Anna, President of the Mexican Republic and Generalissimo of her
+armies, felt that his time for action had come, and John Sibley,
+printer-boy, felt the same.
+
+He was in the saddle before daylight next morning, ready for a long
+day's scout. They were to scour the country between the two armies, and
+send back reports to General Santa Anna. Whether the unusual number of
+Mexicans sent out with him that morning was intended to supply
+messengers, or a precaution prompted by doubts of his fidelity, John
+neither knew nor cared. He patted his mustang's glossy neck, and
+whispered in its ear that they two would do great things that day. The
+scouts had their work cut out for them, and were off betimes.
+
+They had traversed a good many miles of country, seeing no signs of the
+Texans nor hearing anything new of their movements, when at noon they
+stopped on the bank of a large wooded creek to rest and refresh
+themselves and their horses. John's mustang was not hobbled like the
+rest, as he had no fear of its straying, but, to allow it to graze,
+freely, the bridle had been removed and was looped over the pommel of
+the saddle.
+
+"Unsaddle, Juan, and let your horse roll," said José Cardenas. "That
+rests them more than anything else."
+
+"Suppose Houston's scouts come upon us while we're unsaddled and
+unbridled?" suggested John.
+
+"_That_ for Houston's scouts!" retorted the Mexican, with a contemptuous
+gesture. "He has all he can do to picket his camp. But, _amigo_, I would
+prefer to see your horse in the same condition as ours, so if we have to
+fight or fly, we may be all on equal terms."
+
+"All right," said John, carelessly.
+
+He removed saddle and bridle and placed them beneath a tree. José gave a
+satisfied grunt, and coiled himself on the ground for a _siesta_. His
+companions followed his example, and in a short while the camp sank into
+utter stillness, the horses' crisp cropping of the long grass being the
+only sound disturbing the deep silence.
+
+John raised his head and looked around. No one was watching. The
+solitary guard had his back towards him; all the others seemed asleep.
+He rose noiselessly and moved towards his horse.
+
+In a tone little above a whisper he called, "Texas!" Instantly the small
+head was lifted from the grass, the small ears pointed forward, and the
+large intelligent eyes asked plainly, "Do you want me?"
+
+His master replied by a gesture, and the horse walked softly up to him.
+John mounted and headed him towards the creek. And then--
+
+"Whither go you, _amigo_?" rang in his ears.
+
+He looked round. José Cardenas had risen, and his hand was on the pistol
+in his belt.
+
+"It's time we were all going," called out John, coolly. "Wake the
+others, _camarada_, and saddle up while I give Texas another drink."
+
+Cardenas hesitated. He looked at the boy sitting carelessly sidewise on
+his horse, he looked at the fine silver-mounted saddle and bridle lying
+under the tree, and his suspicion seemed absurd. He removed his hand
+from the pistol and turned to rouse his comrades.
+
+With one far-reaching bound, Texas and his rider were over the creek and
+dashing through the woods beyond, a jubilant shout ringing back:
+
+"_Adios, camaradas!_ Any message for General Houston?"
+
+The boyish bravado had like to have cost him dear. Before the words were
+well out of his mouth a bullet from Cardenas's pistol showered the
+leaves from the bough just over his head.
+
+On he dashed, a fusillade of pistol-shots ringing out behind him. But he
+did not mind them; he was fast leaving them behind. His horse was in
+perfect condition, and as John felt the springy stride beneath him, he
+felt sure he could trust Texas to carry him safe out of danger.
+
+"José Cardenas little thought I could ride barebacked as well as on the
+finest Spanish saddle," he chuckled to himself, "or he wouldn't have
+been so particular about my unsaddling. Ha! ha! what was I born and
+raised on a ranch for?"
+
+He pressed on as fast as due care for his horse allowed. He must not
+exhaust Texas, for he bore news of vast importance which General Houston
+must hear before the sun went down. And should his horse fail him, or
+any unforeseen obstacle interrupt his journey, a glorious chance for
+victory would be lost to his countrymen, and might never be regained.
+
+He had lost all fear of being overtaken by his late comrades, when the
+sound of a horse's hoofs behind him caught his attention. He checked
+Texas and listened.
+
+Whoever followed him was coming at furious speed. Should he wait and see
+who it was? No; it was too perilous a risk. He must on.
+
+He pressed Texas into a swifter and ever swifter gallop, but the noise
+of pursuit grew louder, and was evidently gaining on him. He looked
+back. His pursuer was José Cardenas, mounted on a powerful bay, and
+coming up hand over hand. Where could he have got that horse? There was
+none in the band to match Texas. Ah! the ranch near the creek! Cardenas
+had helped himself to the ranchero's best steed to catch him.
+
+What on earth should he do? He could not distance his pursuer, and there
+was no chance for concealment on the open prairie. He was armed, but so
+was Cardenas; and in a personal encounter he knew well his slight boyish
+frame would stand no chance with the stalwart Mexican. But he would not
+yield his life and fail in his mission if one lucky shot could save him.
+He would have time for but one.
+
+He felt for his pistol. It was gone. How, or when, or where he could not
+guess, unless it had fallen from his belt when his horse jumped the
+creek. He was at the mercy of his foe, and well he knew that foe would
+have no mercy.
+
+Now Texas had other peculiarities besides his fiendish temper. One was a
+great dislike to being followed too closely. The sound of hoofs
+clattering close behind him rasped his nerves, and he generally let it
+be known. John saw that his savage temper was rising now. It had never
+troubled _him_, but other individuals, equine and human, had had
+frequent occasion to regret it, and the man and horse now in their rear
+would probably have the same.
+
+The mustang's ears were laid flat on his head, his lips curled back in a
+fiendish grin, and the whites of his eyes showed prominently. And, to
+John's horror, he began to slacken his pace. In vain he urged him on.
+Slower and slower went Texas, and faster and faster came José Cardenas
+and his bay.
+
+Now they were alongside, and Cardenas's hand was extended to grasp
+John's collar and drag him from his horse. On the whole, he preferred
+not to shoot the muchacho, but to carry him back for Santa Anna's
+judgment.
+
+Texas saw that his time for vengeance on his too persistent follower had
+come. Whirling around, he measured his distance accurately, and drove
+his iron-shod heels into the bay's flank. Again came the flying heels,
+this time on Cardenas's bridle arm, and broke it.
+
+With a fierce curse the Mexican changed the bridle to his other hand,
+and tried vainly to control his plunging horse. Wherever he plunged
+Texas followed, and his swift heels rattled on the unhappy bay's ribs
+and his master's limbs indiscriminately. At last no bay was there to
+receive them. He had beaten an ignominious retreat, and was carrying his
+helpless rider across the prairie as fast as his demoralized condition
+would allow. As soon as the foe was fairly routed, Texas recovered his
+equanimity and became as gentle as a lamb.
+
+John pursued his journey without further interruption, exulting in the
+victory and lavishing praises and caresses on the victor, assuring him
+over and over again that he was worthy of the "lone star" on his
+forehead and of the land whose name he bore.
+
+They reached the Texan camp at sundown, and John disburdened himself of
+his great news. It was to the effect that Santa Anna had divided his
+army, part of them to cross the river at a ford several miles below and
+strike Houston in flank while Santa Anna attacked him in front.
+
+"And they ain't more'n two to one now, General," concluded John,
+eagerly, "and I know you won't retreat for them."
+
+"Not a step, my boy," replied Houston. "We'll not retreat--we'll fight."
+
+So on April 21 the battle of San Jacinto was fought, and the
+independence of Texas achieved. John was triumphant at the result of his
+calculations, and when the army reoccupied Harrisburg he had the
+pleasure of restoring to his quondam chief the entire plant of the
+_Weekly Telegraph_ intact.
+
+For himself he asked no reward but the consciousness of having done his
+duty at considerable risk to himself, and the possession of his beloved
+Texas, who was formally presented to him by General Houston, at the head
+of the army, as a slight reward for his devoted patriotism.
+
+The young republic afterward showed her gratitude in a more substantial
+manner by granting to John Sibley, his heirs and assigns forever, as
+many acres of her virgin soil as formed a magnificent ranch, where John
+and Texas lived to the extreme of the years allotted to man or horse,
+honored by all who knew them as potent factors in the cause of Texan
+independence.
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGE OF THE "RATTLETRAP."
+
+BY HAYDEN CARRUTH.
+
+XII.
+
+
+"Snoozer shall have a pancake medal."
+
+This was the first thing Ollie and I heard in the morning, and it was
+Jack's voice addressing the hero of the night before. We speedily rolled
+out, and agreed with Jack that Snoozer must be suitably rewarded. He
+seemed fully to understand the importance of his action in barking at
+the right moment, and for the first morning on the whole trip he was up
+and about, waving his bushy tail with great industry, and occasionally
+uttering a detached bark, just to remind us of how he had done it. He
+walked around the pony several times, and looked at her with a haughty
+air, as much as to say, "Where would you be now if it hadn't been for
+me?"
+
+"He shall have a pancake," continued Jack--"the biggest and best pancake
+which the skilful hand of this cook can concoct."
+
+Jack proceeded to carry out his promise, and when breakfast was ready
+presented a pancake, all flowing with melted butter, to the dog, which
+was as big as could be made in the frying-pan.
+
+"I always knew," said Jack, "that Snoozer would do something some day.
+He's lazy, but he's got brains. He would never bark at the moon, because
+he knows the moon isn't doing anything wrong, but when it comes to
+horse-thieves it's different."
+
+Snoozer munched his pancake, occasionally stopping to give a grand swing
+to his tail and let off a little yelp of pure joy.
+
+As we were getting ready for a start, and speculating on the prospect
+for water, a man came along, riding a mule, and we asked him about it.
+
+[Illustration: "YAH, BLENTY VATERS. DOAN NEED TO DAKE NO VATERS ALONG."]
+
+"Yah, blenty vaters," said the man. "Doan need to dake no vaters along."
+
+"Any houses on the road?" asked Jack.
+
+"Blenty houses," answered the stranger--"houses, vaters, efferydings."
+
+We thanked him and started. Notwithstanding this assurance, I had
+intended to fill a jug with water, but forgot it, and we went off
+without a drop. We were going down what was called the Ridge Road, along
+the divide between Elk and Elder creeks, and hoped to reach the crossing
+of the Cheyenne at Smithville Post-office that evening, and get on the
+Reservation the next morning. In half an hour we passed some trees which
+marked the site of the Washday Springs, but there was no house there,
+nor had we seen one at eleven o'clock. We met an Indian on foot, and
+Jack said to him,
+
+"Where can we get some water?"
+
+The Indian shook his head, "Cheyenne River," he replied.
+
+"Isn't there any this side?"
+
+"No," with another jerk of the head. Then he stalked on.
+
+"Yes, and the Indian's right, I'll warrant," exclaimed Jack. "'Blenty
+vaters' indeed! Why, that Dutchman doesn't know enough to ache when he's
+hurt."
+
+"Well, we're in for it," said I. "We can't go back. Maybe it'll rain,"
+though there was not a cloud in sight, and there was more danger of an
+earthquake than of a shower.
+
+So we went on, and a little after dark wound down among the black baked
+bluffs to the crossing, without any of us having had a drop to drink
+since before sunrise. After we had "lowered the river six inches," as
+Jack declared, we went into camp.
+
+We were up early in the morning, and Jack went down the river with his
+gun, and got several grouse. There was one house near the crossing,
+which was the post-office. The man who lived there told us it was a
+hundred and twenty-five miles across the Reservation to Pierre, and
+twenty miles to Peno Hill, the first station at which we would find any
+one. The ford was deep, the water coming up to the wagon-box, and there
+was ice along the edges of the river. It was a fine clear day, however,
+and the cold did not trouble us much. We wound up among the bluffs on
+the other side of the river, and at the top had our last sight of the
+Black Hills. We went on across the rolling prairie, black as ink, as the
+grass had all been burned off, and reached Peno Hill at a little after
+noon. There was a rough board building, one end of it a house and the
+other a barn. All of the stage stations were built after this plan. We
+camped here for dinner, and pressed on to reach Grizzly Shaw's for the
+night. About the middle of the afternoon we passed Bad River Station,
+kept by one Mexican Ed.
+
+"I'm going to watch and see if he runs when he sees Snoozer," said
+Ollie. Snoozer had insisted on walking most of the time since his
+adventure with the horse-thieves; but greatly to Ollie's disappointment
+Mexican Ed showed no signs of fear even when Snoozer went so far as to
+growl at him.
+
+As it grew dark we passed among the Grindstone Buttes--several small
+hills. A prairie fire was burning among them, and lit up the road for
+us. We came to Shaw's at last, and went into camp. We visited the house
+before we went to bed, and found that Shaw was grizzly enough to justify
+his name, and that he had a family consisting of a wife and daughter and
+two grandchildren.
+
+"Pierre is our post-office," said Shaw, "eighty-five miles away."
+
+"The postman doesn't bring out your letters, then?" returned Jack.
+
+"We ain't much troubled with postmen, nor policemen, nor hand-organ men,
+nor no such things," answered Shaw. "Still, once in a while a sheriff
+goes by looking for somebody."
+
+We told him of our experience with thieves, and he said:
+
+"It's a wonder they didn't get your pony. There's lots of 'em hanging
+about the edge of the Reserve, because it's a good place for 'em to
+hide."
+
+"Must make a very pleasant little walk down to the post-office when you
+want to mail a letter," said Jack, after we got back to the
+wagon--"eighty-five miles. And think of getting there, and finding that
+you had left the letter on the hall table, and having to go back!"
+
+We were off again the next morning, as usual. At noon we stopped at
+Mitchell Creek, where we found another family, including a little girl
+five or six years old, who carried her doll in a shawl on her back, as
+she had seen the Indian women carry their babies. We had intended to
+reach Plum Creek for the night, but got on slower than we expected,
+owing partly to a strong head-wind, so darkness overtook us at Frozen
+Man's Creek.
+
+"Not a very promising name for a November camping-place," said Jack,
+"but I guess we'll have to stop. I don't believe it's cold enough to
+freeze anybody to-night."
+
+There was no house here, but there was water, and plenty of tall dry
+grass, so it made a good place for us to stop. Frozen Man's Creek, as
+well as all the others, was a branch of the Bad River, which flowed
+parallel with the trail to the Missouri. We camped just east of the
+creek. The grass was so high that we feared to build a camp-fire, and
+cooked supper in the wagon.
+
+"I'm glad we've got out of the burned region," said Jack. "It's dismal,
+and I like to hear the wind cutting through the dry grass with its sharp
+swish."
+
+There was a heavy wind blowing from the southeast, but we turned the
+rear of the wagon in that direction, saw that the brake was firmly on,
+and went to bed feeling that we should not blow away.
+
+"I wonder who the poor man was that was frozen here?" was the last thing
+Jack said before he went to sleep. "Book agent going out to Shaw's,
+perhaps, to sell him a copy of _Every Man his own Barber; or, How to cut
+your own Hair with a Lawn-Mower_."
+
+[Illustration: THE CLOSEST CALL THE "RATTLETRAP" HAD.]
+
+We were doomed to one more violent awakening in the old Rattletrap. At
+two o'clock in the morning I was roused up by the loud neighing of the
+horses. Old Blacky's hoarse voice was especially strong. As I opened my
+eyes there was a reddish glare coming through the white cover. "Prairie
+fire!" flashed into my mind instantly, and I gave Jack a shake and got
+out of the front of the wagon as quickly as I could. I had guessed
+aright; the flames were sweeping up the shallow valley of the creek
+before the wind as fast as a horse could travel. Jack came tumbling out,
+and we knew instantly what to do. We both ran a few yards ahead of the
+wagon and knelt in the grass, and struck matches almost at the same
+moment. Jack's went out, but mine caught, and a little flame leaped up,
+reached over and to both sides, and then rolled away before the wind,
+spreading wider and wider. I beat out the feeble blaze which tried to
+work to windward, and ran back to the wagon, while Jack went after the
+horses. The coming flames were almost upon us by this time; but Ollie
+was out, and together, aided by the wind, we rolled the wagon ahead on
+our little new-made oasis of safety. Jack pulled up the pony's
+picket-pin, and brought her on also, while the other horses, being
+loose, sought the place themselves. The flames came up to the edge of
+the burned place, reached over for more grass, did not find it, and died
+out. But on both sides of us they rushed on, and soon overtook our
+little fire, and went on to the northwest. The wind, first hot from the
+fire, now came cool and fresh, though full of the odor of the burned
+grass.
+
+"Closest call we've had," said Jack.
+
+"Yes," I replied; "been pretty warm for us if we hadn't waked up. Our
+animals are doing better; first Snoozer distinguished himself, and now I
+think we've to thank Old Blacky mainly for this alarm."
+
+We were pretty well frightened, and though we went back to bed, I do not
+believe that any of us slept again that night. At the first touch of
+dawn we were up. As it grew lighter, the great change in the landscape
+became apparent. The gray of the prairie was turned to the blackest of
+black. Only an occasional big staring buffalo skull relieved the
+inkiness. Far away to the northwest we could see a low hanging cloud of
+smoke where the fire was still burning.
+
+"Blacky ought to have a hay medal," said Jack at breakfast. "If I had
+any hay I'd twist him up one as big as a door-mat."
+
+But Blacky, unlike Snoozer, seemed to have no pride in his achievement,
+and he wandered all around the neighborhood trying to find a mouthful of
+grass which had been missed by the fire; but he was not successful.
+
+"If the frozen man had been here last night he'd have been thawed out,"
+I said.
+
+"Yes; and if Shaw had been here, what a good time it would have been for
+him to let the fire run over his hair and clear off the thickest of it!"
+returned Jack.
+
+We started on, but the long wind had brought bad weather, and before
+noon it began to snow. It kept up the rest of the day, and by night it
+was three or four inches deep. We stopped at noon at Lance Creek, and
+made our night camp at Willow Creek; at each place there was a stage
+station in charge of one man. It cleared off as night came on, but the
+wind changed to the north, and it grew rapidly colder. Shortly after
+midnight we all woke up with the cold. We already had everything we had
+piled on the beds, but as we were too cold to sleep, there was nothing
+to do but to get up and start the camp-fire again. This we did, and
+staid near it the rest of the night, and in this way kept warm at the
+expense of our sleep.
+
+The morning was clear, but it was by far the coldest we had experienced.
+The thermometer at the station marked below zero at sunrise. We almost
+longed for another prairie fire. It grew a little warmer after we
+started, and at about eleven o'clock we reached Fort Pierre, on the
+Missouri, opposite the town of Pierre. The ferry-boat had not yet been
+over for the day, but was expected in the afternoon.
+
+"You're lucky to get it at all," said a man to us. "It is liable to stop
+any day now, and then, till the ice is thick enough for crossing, there
+will be no way of getting over."
+
+The boat came puffing across toward night, and we were safely landed
+east of the Missouri once more. But we were still two hundred miles from
+home; the country was well settled most of the way, however, and we felt
+that our voyage was almost ended. Little happened worthy of mention in
+the week which it took us to traverse this distance. The weather became
+warmer and was pleasant most of the way. On the last night out it snowed
+again a little and grew colder. We were still a long day's drive from
+Prairie Flower, but we determined to make that port even if it took half
+the night.
+
+It was ten o'clock when we saw the lights of the town.
+
+"Here we are," said Jack, "and I vote we've had a good time, and that we
+forgive Old Blacky his temper, and Old Browny and Snoozer their
+sleepiness, and Ollie his questions, and the rancher his general
+incompetence."
+
+"And the cook his pancakes," cried Ollie.
+
+We stopped a little while in front of Squire Poinsett's grocery, and
+Jack picked up the big revolver and fired the six shots into the air.
+The pony had come alongside the wagon, and Snoozer had his head over the
+dash-board. Half a dozen people came running out, including Grandpa
+Oldberry, wearing red yarn mittens and carrying a lantern. He held up
+the light and looked at us.
+
+[Illustration: "WELL! WELL! WELL!" SAID GRANDPA OLDBERRY.]
+
+"Well, I vum," he exclaimed, "if it ain't them three pesky scallawags
+back safe and sound! I've said all along that varmints would get ye
+sure, and we'd never see hide nor hair of ye again! Well, well, well!"
+
+It was clear that Grandpa was just a little disappointed to see that his
+predictions hadn't been fulfilled.
+
+So the voyage of the good schooner Rattletrap was ended. It had been
+over a thousand miles long, and had lasted more than two months.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+TILL THE GAME IS DONE.
+
+BY SEELYE BRYANT.
+
+
+Captain "Reddy" Alden, of the Blackwood Academy football team, was not
+handsome. He was not even graceful. But his chin "meant business," and
+there was a serene look in his eyes which was likely to make a bully
+think twice before taking hold of him. His nickname sufficiently
+indicated the color of his hair, which grew back from his forehead in a
+"cowlick," and showed a tendency, when of approved football length, to
+drop in straggling masses down either side of his freckled face.
+
+Reddy--or more properly Mark--was nineteen years old, tall, and
+long-armed, with a very slight outward bend of the legs, and a chest not
+broad but deep. He looked wiry rather than muscular.
+
+As he started toward the village, one Thursday afternoon, his hands were
+in his pockets, his leather cap was on the back of his head, and the
+collar of his heavy sweater fell over his shoulders above his
+double-breasted coat.
+
+He walked slowly down the hill, as if waiting for some one, and
+occasionally turned to look back toward the academy. Soon a clear quick
+call stopped him entirely. "Hold on there, Reddy!" it came, and the next
+moment "Buck" Harris darted down the hill and caught him by the arm.
+
+The two settled into a brisk walk, and Buck remarked, "I saw Billy Hurd
+just now. His knee'll keep him off the field for a month."
+
+"Too bad!"
+
+"Well, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Going to do?"
+
+"Yes. Saturday comes in two days, and with Hurd gone there's no one on
+the team safe enough to kick twenty yards."
+
+The Captain smiled grimly, "We'll _run_, then!"
+
+"Why not give up playing Winston this year? It's an extra game, and
+they're too heavy for us, anyway. Think what a strain it's going to be
+to face that rush-line for the two halves. And if they know enough to
+keep Mellen kicking, he'll about kill us before the end of the first
+half, making us chase the ball. Besides, he's dead sure to drop a goal
+from the field, if he gets any sort of an angle within decent distance
+of the posts."
+
+Reddy straightened up, and his blue eyes gleamed.
+
+"That game's no picnic for either side!" he jerked out. "The Blackwood
+boys'll play it for all that's in it! Our tricks are good, and I shall
+save you for the second half. As for me--well, I was never killed yet,
+and I never saw a Blackwood eleven go back on its Captain!"
+
+This was a long speech for Mark Alden, and it had its effect upon his
+chum.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Seton Harris was short, thick-set, and very muscular, although his
+fashionable clothes and perfect grace of movement might at first deceive
+you in regard to his "solid contents."
+
+He had regular features, and clear, glowing cheeks, with handsome eyes,
+and dark hair, whose clustering waves even the exigencies of football
+could not persuade him to wear at more than conventional length. He was
+two years younger than Alden, and a class below him in school.
+
+Their intimacy had been the surprise of the year. When the principal
+heard of it he said, "Well, if anything can make a man out of Seton
+Harris, it is to room with Mark Alden. I am delighted with the
+arrangement, though I confess I do not understand it."
+
+Others felt in the same way, and perhaps the most thoroughly astonished
+person in the whole academy was Seton Harris himself!
+
+He had come to Blackwood the year before with an obliging disposition,
+no strongly settled principles, and more spending-money than was good
+for him. As a natural result, the sort of boys who voted him "a jolly
+good fellow," and with whose doings he soon became identified, was not
+the sort most likely to make his academy career a success in the eyes of
+his teachers.
+
+His great lack was persistence. He hated to face opposition or to keep
+steadily at work on anything that was disagreeable.
+
+Still he had plenty of energy when he chose to exert it, and everybody
+liked him, even the principal.
+
+He was the fastest short-distance runner in school, and when they made
+him "half-back" on the football team he became the "star" of the eleven.
+
+His occasional fits of application had results sufficiently brilliant to
+save him from hopeless disgrace in his studies.
+
+But he lived under a chronic state of reprimand for general conduct, his
+miscellaneous offences ranging from noisiness in his room during study
+hours to absence from the building after proper time at night.
+
+In fact, he had so many executive sessions with the principal that
+new-comers were usually informed he was "Doctor Walker's private
+secretary." Rumor stated that a member of the entering class was
+accustomed to lift his hat when Seton spoke to him!
+
+Even at football the boy could not be depended upon.
+
+In practice and in minor games his play was wonderful. But he was likely
+to lose his nerve in a close struggle. It was not that he was actually
+afraid. He had physical courage, only his confidence did not meet the
+requirements of a "forlorn hope." Once start him with the ball, and he
+was all right, seemed perfectly reckless of himself, made those
+"phenomenal rushes" that capture a grand stand by storm.
+
+But he seemed unwilling to run after he had failed once or twice to gain
+ground. When sharp work was needed, he was not sure of catching the
+ball, and might even trip himself up in getting under way.
+
+Besides, the managers continually complained that he was irregular about
+training.
+
+This was Buck Harris at the time when steady-going, self-contained Mark
+Alden first showed an interest in him. Buck never told exactly how it
+happened, and no one ventured to ask Reddy.
+
+But it came to pass, after one of Buck's numberless escapades, near the
+beginning of the fall term, that he moved his personal effects into the
+large corner room on the second floor where Alden had planned to reign
+alone during Senior year.
+
+The escapade in question was unusually serious. The "wild set" had
+destroyed some abandoned buildings belonging to a farmer in the lower
+village. The owner did not love the Blackwood boys, and vowed to push
+the case to the extreme of the law.
+
+"Jest let me git one o' them pesky young villyuns behind the bars 'nd
+I'll be satisfied!" he told the postmaster.
+
+Now it chanced that Seton Harris was identified as the particular
+"villyun" whom he was most anxious to prosecute. Money would not satisfy
+the man, and matters looked black for the culprit.
+
+But, to the surprise of the town, the case did not come to trial.
+
+All that the public knows about it is that Mark Alden walked down to the
+lower village with Seton one afternoon, and that when they came out of
+the farmer's house, an hour after, the owner was seen to shake hands
+with both the boys.
+
+The public does not know what took place as Seton and Mark sat under the
+academy maples waiting for supper.
+
+"Reddy, not one of my set would do as you've done for me to-day. I
+believe I'd like to cut the whole tough outfit!"
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+"Too hard work; besides, there's nobody else much that I know very
+well."
+
+"Room with me."
+
+Seton gasped, and turned around to look his companion squarely in the
+face. "Do you mean it? Wy, I'd drive you crazy!"
+
+"I mean it."
+
+And so it was brought about.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Saturday afternoon, and one o'clock. The old "Elm House" barge drew up
+promptly at the academy door. "Pete" Marston had driven that barge for
+the boys on every athletic occasion in the last fifteen years. No one
+enjoyed the successes or mourned the defeats of Blackwood Academy more
+sincerely than Pete.
+
+"I vum, boys, ye look 's if ye cal'lated to start for the north pole
+this trip, with all them duds wound round ye!" he called back as the
+players tumbled in.
+
+Sweaters, ulsters, toboggan caps, and padded suits made it difficult to
+tell where woollen goods left off and the boys began. Buck Harris had
+wrapped a huge Turkish towel around himself on top of everything else,
+"by way of ornament," he remarked. Buck's dark eyes were the only
+visible portion of him, but from the continual "chaff" he kept flying,
+the rest knew that somewhere was an open passage to his mouth. Everybody
+was talking except Mark Alden. Some were excited, and a few were gayly
+indifferent. Mark did not look at all worried; he simply kept quiet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Half past three o'clock on the grounds of the Winston Normal Institute.
+The game with Blackwood was in progress. Mark Alden had just "tackled" a
+Winston player in his decided way, which left no doubt as to where the
+ball was "down."
+
+"That Captain of yours is an ugly customer, I judge," said the Winston
+storekeeper to Pete Marston, who had put up his horses and was leaning
+against the fence.
+
+"Waal no, Reddy ain't ugly 'xac'ly. He's square 's a
+meetin'-house--ain't afraid 'f th' inside o' one neither; only when
+football's on he _plays the game_, that's all. Don't believe he sees
+anythin' but the ball, or knows there's anybody here but them players.
+He's jes so in ev'rythin' else. 'Twouldn't be no diff'rent if 'twas
+drawin' trygomertry figgers on that there blackboard up 't Blackwood
+school. He wouldn't hev nothin' in his red head then but rules 'nd
+chalk-marks. He ain't jest what I call a chromo fer looks, but he's all
+pluck, 'nd I hain't seen no cleaner-talkin', perliter boy in the last
+ten years."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was a disheartened group that gathered in the Blackwood dressing-room
+for the intermission when the game was half over. Winston had five
+points, Blackwood none. Buck Harris had fumbled the ball almost in front
+of his own goal. A Winston man immediately dropped on it, and in the
+play that followed Mellen had kicked a clean goal from the field at
+twenty-eight yards.
+
+As the last man came in and shut the dressing-room door Harris dropped
+on the bench and groaned out:
+
+"It's all my fault, boys, but we're beaten now. We're all worn out. The
+next half'll be a regular procession."
+
+"Buck, that's enough."
+
+The boys stared. Mark Alden seldom spoke like that, but he was stern
+enough now.
+
+"Set won't fumble again, I'll answer for that. Get rubbed down, all of
+you, and then rest till time is called. This game is young yet."
+
+And loosening his jacket Mark pulled a towel from the rack.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was evident in the last "half" that Winston was on the defensive. Its
+players merely tried to keep Blackwood from scoring. They made some
+pretense of running with the ball for the sake of using up time; but
+their real work was done by their brilliant full-back, Mellen, whose
+sure kicks carried the ball far down the field whenever their goal-line
+was in danger.
+
+These tactics succeeded until a few minutes of time remained. Buck
+Harris was doing nobly, and had nearly succeeded in getting a
+touch-down, but the next play gave Winston the ball. The two elevens
+were lining up for Mellen's inevitable kick, when Barstow, of the
+Winstons, passed near the Blackwood Captain.
+
+Alden's hair was flying wildly about his face. His cheeks were flushed.
+He was dark under the eyes and pale about the mouth and forehead. His
+lips were tightly closed, and his nostrils wide apart. One stocking was
+half-way down his leg, his canvas jacket was torn in several places,
+and, in spite of the chill air, perspiration soaked him through and
+through.
+
+Ned Barstow knew him well, and could not resist a bantering word.
+
+"How d'you like it, Reddy?"
+
+"Blackwood's never beaten _till the game is done_!" came through Mark's
+set teeth.
+
+The ball was kicked on along slant, more across than down the field, and
+as the players scattered to follow it, Mark and Seton found themselves
+running together off at one side away from the rest. The ball, which had
+gone over their heads, was still in the air, but very near. Directly
+behind them there was almost a clear field to the Winston goal-line.
+
+"I'll catch it, Buck," Mark whispered. "You be all right to start when I
+give it to you. Keep behind me when I turn around; we can't afford a
+foul pass!"
+
+It was on the ground before they reached it, but Mark snapped it up and
+shot it under his arm to his chum, who darted up the field behind him.
+The two were fairly started before the others saw what had happened.
+
+Fleet-footed Buck Harris, plus a clear field and Reddy Alden for
+interference!
+
+"[Illustration: BUCK'S BLOOD WAS UP, AND HE TURNED THE FULL-BACK
+COMPLETELY OVER."]
+
+No wonder the Blackwood crowd yelled with delight. Winston men started
+across the field to head off the runners, but only two reached Harris.
+Barstow dodged Alden, and threw himself straight for Buck's knees. With
+a surprising wriggle the boy jumped clear over him, and left him
+sprawling. He was fairly caught, though, by Mellen, about a yard from
+the line. But his blood was up now, and by a supreme muscular effort he
+turned the full-back over, and together they rolled across. A
+touch-down!
+
+Score: Winston, 5 points; Blackwood, 4.
+
+Of course pandemonium reigned for a few minutes! Then the spectators
+calmed down, and the ball was brought out for the kick. Time was up, but
+the rules allowed the try for goal.
+
+Captain Alden walked steadily toward the ball, which was held by the
+quarter-back, and just as it touched the ground his foot struck it
+fairly and drove it over the bar between the posts. A goal! Two points
+more.
+
+Score: Blackwood, 6; Winston, 5.
+
+It was Seton Harris who got the credit of saving the game, but Mark
+Alden did not care.
+
+"Buck was really the only man who could make that run," he said to
+himself, "and it'll do him lots of good to have kept his nerve in one
+tight place."
+
+Besides, Blackwood was not beaten, and the game was done!
+
+
+
+
+A RACE WITH DACOITS ON MY BICYCLE.
+
+BY DAVID GILMORE.
+
+
+I believe I was the first man to ride a bicycle in Rangoon. I know I was
+the cause of much wonder to the natives, who would stare in open-eyed
+astonishment to see a white man scorching by on a little iron carriage
+with two wheels. When I chanced to dismount, they would gather around
+and take a look at the machine, finger the tires, ask how much it cost,
+and finally grunt out some such remark as "_Teh goundy, naw?_"--Pretty
+good, isn't it? It was pleasant to be the centre of all this admiration,
+but not so pleasant when I turned the admiration into amusement by
+coasting boldly down a steep hill, making a sharp turn just in time to
+avoid a deep ditch, and driving full speed into a most unyielding fence.
+It is peculiarly mortifying to be laughed at by those whom you regard as
+your social inferiors.
+
+When I arrived in Rangoon, it was just after the "dacoit times." Dacoits
+are the highway-robbers of India. They work in gangs, and travel over
+the country plundering, murdering, and sacking and burning the villages
+in the jungle. They carry guns when they can get them; but as the
+English are very careful to confiscate guns found in the possession of
+natives, the dacoits are generally armed with _dahs_, as the Burmese
+swords are called.
+
+Shortly before I arrived in Burmah, the country had been infested with
+dacoits, so that even in the outskirts of Rangoon houses were barricaded
+at night, and the employment of private watchmen, always common in
+Burmah, became almost universal. By the time I arrived there, however,
+the gentle custom of dacoity had been pretty thoroughly broken up. Now
+and then a lonely village in the jungle might be looted and burned, or
+an English official living in some remote town might be murdered, but we
+who lived in Rangoon were safe. No dacoit dared to show himself there.
+At least, so I was assured.
+
+Now I had a sweetheart in those days; and have her still--no less sweet
+now that she shares my home. But then she lived in Kemendine, a
+considerable village about two miles from my own home in Rangoon. I
+believe that technically Kemendine lies within the municipal limits of
+Rangoon, but practically it is a separate community, being cut off from
+Rangoon proper by a considerable stretch of unimproved land. Kemendine
+is distinctively a native community, having a large population of
+Burmans, but not half a dozen white inhabitants.
+
+I was in the habit of using my bicycle when I went out to spend an
+evening with my _fiancée_. The road was lonely, but I considered it
+perfectly safe.
+
+One night, after the good-byes had been said, I started for home a
+little after nine o'clock. A minute or so of easy pedalling brought me
+to the railway track which bounded Kemendine village. The gates at the
+crossing were closed, in anticipation of the Prome mail-train, which was
+due there in a quarter of an hour. I dismounted while the Hindoo gateman
+opened the gates just enough to let me through. Then I walked my wheel
+across the track and remounted, receiving, as I rolled away, the
+beautiful Oriental salutation, "Salaam, sahib"--Peace be with you,
+sir--a pious wish strangely in contrast with the scene which was almost
+immediately to follow.
+
+On crossing the railway tracks I had left behind me the lights in the
+village street, and the road before me was illuminated only by the
+waning moon, which had just risen, affording me light enough to pick my
+way, though not as much as I wanted before I got safely home. On my left
+was the Burmese cemetery, on my right the ample grounds of a _kyaung_--a
+Buddhist monastery. Of these two, the proximity of the latter was much
+the more legitimate cause of anxiety, as the indiscriminate hospitality
+of the _kyaungs_ makes them favorite lurking-places for bad characters.
+But all I thought about the _kyaung_ just then was that the bells of its
+pagodas jingled sweetly in the night wind. About half-way down the hill
+the road turned at right angles from the cemetery, and skirted along the
+other side of the _kyaung_. On the left was a little village called
+Shan-zu. It was as still as the grave; the villagers were evidently all
+asleep. Here the road began to be bordered with bushes and bamboos,
+which grew denser as the road left the _kyaung_ and the village behind
+and began to cross the waste-land between Kemendine and Rangoon. At the
+foot of the hill the road passed over a little bridge.
+
+Of course I didn't coast down the hill, lest I should come to grief at
+the corner. But after turning the corner the road lay straight before me
+clear into the town, and I let my machine go, keeping my feet on the
+pedals, however, that I might have control of the wheel in case anything
+should happen.
+
+[Illustration: AS I SHOT AHEAD AN AWFUL YELL AROSE BEHIND ME.]
+
+As I left the _kyaung_ behind and was making for the bridge, I heard a
+few notes whistled softly just behind me. The sound seemed to come from
+the bushes skirting the _kyaung_. I should not have thought anything of
+this, however, if the same notes had not been whistled again, this time
+apparently from the fields just ahead. This was evidently a call and an
+answer; and it made me a little nervous, especially if the danger (if
+danger there were) menaced me both in front and in the rear. I looked
+around, but saw nothing more than I had seen many a night on that same
+road. Not knowing anything else to do, I went steadily ahead, keeping
+myself and my wheel well in hand, so as to be ready for any emergency
+which might arise. Passing by some gaps in the shrubbery, I saw some
+figures in the fields near the road making stealthily for the narrow
+bridge which I should have to cross before I could get into the town. I
+thought I could see some _dahs_ under their arms. Then I saw the danger
+which threatened me. The dacoits evidently planned to intercept me at
+the bridge, and cut me to pieces when I should be at a disadvantage. I
+couldn't go back; for even if I had not had reason to think that some of
+the gang were lurking behind me, the time I should have lost in turning
+around would have put me at the mercy of my pursuers. There was only one
+thing to do, and it didn't take me long to decide upon it. My wheel was
+under pretty good headway, and I crowded on all the power I could to try
+and reach that bridge before the dacoits got there. As I shot ahead an
+awful yell arose behind me. I had been sharply watched. Immediately my
+ears were greeted by a chorus of shouts from the fields on both sides of
+the road.
+
+My recollections of the next few minutes are not very clear. All I
+remember is, pedalling with all my might, with those bloodthirsty cries
+ringing in my ears, and my mind making incessant calculations as to the
+chance of getting a bullet through my body next moment. But I heard no
+shots, and probably the dacoits had no guns. I rolled on the bridge just
+as they swarmed up from the fields into the road behind me.
+
+But I was not out of the woods yet. Before I got into town I had a long
+hill to climb. Now the Burman is a lightning sprinter when he chooses to
+sprint, and that's just what those fellows did. Racing them down hill I
+had the advantage, especially as they were running over the rough ground
+in the fields. But when it came to racing up hill they rather had the
+best of it, especially as they were now on the road. On a steep hill I
+would have had no chance at all; but the slope was gentle, and I had a
+start. I had a chance, therefore, for my life, and I made the best of
+it. The thought of those _dahs_ put strength into every stroke I made.
+The worst of it was, I could not tell whether I was holding my own or
+not. My pursuers had stopped shouting, needing all their wind for
+running; and their bare feet didn't make much noise on the ground. I was
+bending low over my handle-bar, and didn't dare to risk diminishing my
+speed by straightening up to look behind me even for an instant.
+
+But when I got to the head of the hill, and was passing the grounds of
+the Chief Commissioner, where there are always soldiers on guard, I felt
+that I could venture to take a backward glance. Then I saw that my
+pursuers had all disappeared.
+
+Next day I wrote a letter to the Chief of Police, reporting my adventure
+in detail, and having "the honor to be, sir, his most obedient servant,"
+according to the prescribed formula, which whosoever observeth not shall
+not gain the ear of the government of Burmah. In due course I received a
+reply, in a big brown envelope, assuring me that the matter should be
+promptly investigated, and having "the honor to be, sir, _my_ most
+obedient servant." This was polite. The Indian government is great on
+politeness. But nothing ever came of it. I suppose the Superintendent
+did his best to ferret the matter out, but he had to work through native
+policemen, and they may have had reasons of their own for not being too
+anxious to catch the dacoits.
+
+
+
+
+A VIRGINIA CAVALIER.[2]
+
+[2] Begun in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE No. 868.
+
+BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL.
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+George returned to Alexandria, where his regiment awaited him. He was
+mad with rage and chagrin. He could have taken censure with humility,
+feeling sure that whatever mistakes he had made were those of
+inexperience, not a want of zeal or courage. But to be quietly
+supplanted, to be asked--after all the hardships and dangers he had
+passed through, and the exoneration from blame by his countrymen--to
+take a humiliating place, was more than he felt he ought to bear.
+
+When he reached Alexandria he informed his officers of the resignation
+of his commission, which would be accepted in a few days; and their
+reply was an address, which did what all his cares and griefs and
+hardships had never done--it brought him to tears. A part of the letter
+ran thus:
+
+     "SIR,--We, your most obedient and affectionate officers, beg leave
+     to express our great concern at the disagreeable news we have
+     received of your determination to resign the command of that corps
+     in which we have, under you, long served. The happiness we have
+     enjoyed and the honor we have acquired, together with the mutual
+     regard that has always subsisted between you and your officers,
+     have implanted so sensible an affection in the minds of us all that
+     we cannot be silent on this critical occasion.
+
+      "Your steady adherence to impartial justice, your quick
+      discernment and invariable regard to merit, first heightened our
+      natural emulation to excel. Judge, then, how sensibly we must be
+      affected with the loss of such an excellent commander, such a
+      sincere friend, such an affable companion. How great the loss of
+      such a man! It gives us additional sorrow, when we reflect, to
+      find our unhappy country will receive a loss no less irreparable
+      than our own. Where will it find a man so experienced in military
+      affairs--one so renowned for patriotism, conduct, and courage? Who
+      has so great a knowledge of the enemy we have to deal with? Who so
+      well acquainted with their situation and strength? Who so much
+      respected by the soldiery? Who, in short, so well able to support
+      the military character of Virginia? We presume to entreat you to
+      lead us on to assist in the glorious work of extirpating our
+      enemies. In you we place the most implicit confidence. Your
+      presence only will cause a steady firmness and vigor to actuate in
+      every breast, despising the greatest dangers, and thinking light
+      of toils and hardships, while led on by the man we know and
+      love."[3]
+
+[3] This letter, which is printed in full in Marshall's _Life of
+Washington_, was among the highest personal compliments ever paid
+Washington. The signers were seasoned soldiers, addressing a young man
+of twenty-three, under whom they had made a campaign of frightful
+hardship ending in disaster. They were to be ordered to resume
+operations in the spring, and it was to this young man that these
+officers appealed, believing him to be essential to the proper conduct
+of the campaign.
+
+Deep indeed was the conviction which made George resist this letter; but
+his reply was characteristic, "I made not this decision lightly, and all
+I ask is that I may be enabled to go with you in an honorable capacity;
+but to be degraded and superseded, this I cannot bear."
+
+The Governor was very soon made aware that the soldiers bitterly
+resented his treatment of their young commander; but he had gone too far
+to retreat. George, as soon as his resignation was accepted, retired to
+Mount Vernon; and about the time he left his regiment at Alexandria two
+frigates sailed up the Potomac with General Braddock, and landed two
+thousand regular troops for the spring campaign against the French and
+Indians.
+
+George spent the autumn and winter at Mount Vernon, where, until then,
+he had spent but one night in fifteen months. After getting his affairs
+there in some sort of order he visited his sister at Belvoir, and his
+mother and Betty at Ferry Farm. All of them noticed a change in him. He
+had grown more grave, and there was a singular gentleness in his
+manner. His quick temper seemed to have been utterly subdued. Betty
+alone spoke to him of the change she saw.
+
+"I think, dear Betty," he answered, gently, "that no one can go through
+a campaign such as I have seen without being changed and softened by it.
+And then I foresee a terrible war with France and discord with the
+mother-country. We are upon the threshold of great events, depend upon
+it, of which no man can see the outcome."
+
+The winter was passed in hard work at Mount Vernon. Only by ceaseless
+labor could George control his restlessness. The military fever was
+kindled in his veins, and do what he could, there was no subduing it,
+although he controlled it. Torn between the desire to serve his country
+as a military man and the sense of a personal and undeserved affront, he
+scarcely knew what to do. One day, in the fever of his impatience, he
+would determine to go to Alexandria and enlist as a private in his old
+corps. Then reason and reflection, which were never long absent from
+him, would return, and he would realize that his presence under such
+circumstances would seriously impair the discipline of the corps. And
+after receiving the officers' letter, and hearing what was said and done
+among them, he was forced to recognize, in spite of his native modesty,
+that his old troops would not tolerate that he should be in any position
+which they conceived inadequate to his deserts. Captain Vanbraam told
+him much of this one night when he rode from Alexandria to spend the
+night with George.
+
+"General Braddock is a great, bluff, brave, foolish, hard-drinking,
+hard-driving Irishman. He does not understand the temper of our
+soldiers, and has not the remotest conception of Indian fighting, which
+our enemies have been clever enough to adopt. I foresee nothing but
+disaster if he carries out the campaign on his present lines. There is
+but one good sign. He has heard of you, Colonel Washington, and seems to
+have been impressed by the devotion of your men to you. Last night he
+said to me, 'Can you not contrive to get this young Colonel over to see
+me? I observe one strange thing in these provincial troops: they have
+exactly the same confidence in Colonel Washington now as before his
+disastrous campaign, and as a soldier I know there must be some great
+qualities in a commander when even defeat cannot undo him with his men,
+for your private soldier is commonly a good military critic; so now, my
+little Dutch Captain'--bringing his great fist down on my back like the
+hammer on the anvil--'do you bring him to see me. If he will take a
+place in my military family, by gad it is his.' And, my young Colonel,"
+added Vanbraam, in his quiet way, "I am not so sure it is not your duty
+to go, for I have a suspicion that this great swashbuckler will bring
+our troops to such a pass in this campaign that only you can manage
+them. So return with me to-morrow."
+
+"Let me sleep on it," answered George, with a faint smile.
+
+Next evening, as the General sat in his quarters at the Alexandria
+Tavern, surrounded by his officers, most of them drinking and
+swaggering, the General most of all, a knock came at the door, and when
+it was opened Captain Vanbraam's short figure appeared, and with him
+George Washington, the finest and most military figure that General
+Braddock ever remembered to have seen. Something he had once heard of
+the great Condé came to General Braddock's dull brain when he saw this
+superb young soldier: "This man was born a captain."
+
+When George was introduced he was received with every evidence of
+respect. The General, who was a good soldier after a bad pattern, said
+to him at once:
+
+"Mr. Washington, I have much desired to see you, and will you oblige me
+by giving me, later on, a full account of your last campaign?" The other
+officers took the hint, and in a little while George and the General
+were alone. They remained alone until two o'clock in the morning, and
+when George came out of the room he had entered as a private citizen he
+was first aide-de-camp on General Braddock's staff.
+
+As he walked back to Captain Vanbraam's quarters in the dead of night,
+under a wintry sky, he was almost overwhelmed with conflicting feelings.
+He was full of joy that he could make the campaign in an honorable
+position; but General Braddock's utter inability to comprehend what was
+necessary in such fighting filled him with dread for the brave men who
+were to be risked in such a venture.
+
+Captain Vanbraam was up waiting for him. In a few words George told what
+had passed.
+
+"And now," he said, "I must be up and doing, although it is past two
+o'clock. I must bid my mother good-by, and I foresee there will be no
+time to do it when once I have reported, which I promised to do within
+twenty-four hours. By starting now I can reach Ferry Farm by the
+morning, spend an hour with her, and return here at night; so if you,
+Captain, will have my horses brought, I will wake up my boy Billy"--for
+although Billy was quite George's age, he remained ever his "boy."
+
+That morning at Ferry Farm, about ten o'clock, Betty, happening to open
+the parlor door, ran directly into George's arms, whom she supposed to
+be forty-five miles off. Betty was speechless with amazement.
+
+"Don't look as if you had seen a rattlesnake, Betty," cried George,
+giving her a very cruel pinch, "but run, like a good child as you are,
+though flighty, and tell our mother that I am here."
+
+Before Betty could move a step in marched Madam Washington, stately and
+beautiful as ever. And there were the three boys, all handsome youths,
+but handsomer when they were not contrasted with the elder brother; and
+then, quite gayly and as if he were a mere lad, George plunged into his
+story, telling his mother that he was to make the campaign with General
+Braddock as first aide-de-camp, and trying to tell her about the
+officers' letter, which he took from his pocket, but, blushing very
+much, was going to return it had not Betty seized it as with an eagle's
+claw.
+
+"Betty," cried George, stamping his foot, "give me back that letter!"
+
+"No, indeed, George," answered Betty, with calm disdain. "Do not put on
+any of your grand airs with me. I have heard of this letter, and I mean
+to read it aloud to our mother. And you may storm and stamp and fume all
+you like--'tis not of the slightest consequence."
+
+So George, scowling, and yet forced to laugh a little, had to listen to
+all the compliments paid to him read out in Betty's rich, ringing young
+voice, while his mother sat and glowed with pride, and his younger
+brothers hurrahed after the manner of boys; and when Betty had got
+through the letter her laughing face suddenly changed to a very serious
+one, and she ran to George and kissed him all over his cheeks, saying,
+
+"Dear George, it makes me so happy that I want to both laugh and
+cry--dear, dear brother!"
+
+And George, with tender eyes, kissed Betty in return, so that she knew
+how much he loved her.
+
+When Madam Washington spoke it was in a voice strangely different from
+her usually calm, musical tones. She had just got the idol of her heart
+back from all his dangers, and she was loath to let him go again, and
+told him so.
+
+"But, mother," answered George, after listening to her respectfully,
+"when I started upon my campaign last year you told me that you placed
+me in God's keeping. The God to whom you commended me then defended me
+from all harm, and I trust He will do so now. Do not you?"
+
+Madam Washington paused, and the rare tears stole down her cheeks.
+
+"You are right, my son," she answered, presently. "I will not say
+another word to detain you, but will once more give you into the hands
+of the good God to take care of for me."
+
+That night, before twelve o'clock, George reported at Alexandria to
+General Braddock as his aide.
+
+On the 20th of April, near the time that George had set out the year
+before, General Braddock began his march from Alexandria in Virginia to
+the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the reduction of Fort Duquesne was
+his first object. There were two magnificent regiments of crack British
+troops and ten companies of Virginia troops, hardy and seasoned, and in
+the highest spirits at the prospect of their young commander being with
+them. They cheered him vociferously when he appeared, riding with
+General Braddock, and made him blush furiously. But his face grew very
+long and solemn when he saw the immense train of wagons to carry baggage
+and stores which he knew were unnecessary, and the General at that very
+moment was storming because there were not more.
+
+"These," he said, "were furnished by Mr. Franklin, Postmaster-General of
+Pennsylvania, and he sends me only a hundred and fifty at that."
+
+"A hundred too many," was George's thought.
+
+The march was inconceivably slow. Never since George could remember had
+he had so much difficulty in restraining his temper as on that
+celebrated march. As he said afterwards, "Every mole-hill had to be
+levelled, and bridges built across every brook." General Braddock wished
+to march across the trackless wilderness of the Alleghanies as he did
+across the flat plains of Flanders, and he spent his time in
+constructing a great military road when he should have been pushing
+ahead. So slow was their progress that in reaching Winchester George was
+enabled to make a detour and go to Greenway Court for a few hours. The
+delight of Lord Fairfax and Lance was extreme, but in a burst of
+confidence George told them the actual state of affairs.
+
+"What you tell me," said the Earl, gravely, "determines me to go to the
+low country, for if this expedition results disastrously I can be of
+more use at Williamsburg than here. But, my dear George, I am concerned
+for you, because you look ill. You are positively gaunt, and you look as
+if you had not eaten for a week."
+
+"Ill!" cried George, beginning to walk up and down the library, and
+clinching and unclinching his fists nervously. "My lord, it is my heart
+and soul that are ill. Can you think what it is to watch a General,
+brave but obstinate and blind to the last degree, rushing upon disaster?
+Upon my soul, sir, those English officers think, I verily believe, that
+the Indians are formed into regiments and battalions, with a general
+staff and a commissary, and God knows what!" And George raved a while
+longer before he left to ride back to Winchester, with Billy riding
+after him. This outbreak was so unlike George, he looked so strange, his
+once ruddy face was so pallid at one moment and so violently flushed at
+another, that the Earl and Lance each felt an unspoken dread that his
+strong body might give way under the strain upon it.
+
+George galloped back into Winchester that night. Both his horse and
+Billy's were dripping wet, and as he pulled his horse almost up on his
+haunches Billy said, in a queer voice:
+
+"Hi, Marse George, d'yar blood on yo' bridle. You rid dat hoss hard, sho
+'nough!"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" shouted George, in a tone that Billy had never heard
+from him before; and then, in the next minute, he said, confusedly, "I
+did not mean to speak so, but my head is in a whirl; I think I must be
+ill."
+
+And as he spoke he reeled in his saddle, and would have fallen had not
+Billy run forward and caught him. He staggered into the house where he
+had lodgings, and got into his bed, and by midnight he was raving with
+fever.
+
+Billy had sense enough to go for Dr. Craik, George's old acquaintance,
+who had volunteered as surgeon to General Braddock's staff. He was a
+bright-eyed, determined-looking man, still young, but skilled in his
+profession. By morning the fever was reduced, and Dr. Craik was giving
+orders about the treatment as he sat by George's bedside, for the army
+was to resume its march that day.
+
+"Your attack is sharp," said the doctor, "but you have an iron
+constitution, and with ordinary care you will soon be well."
+
+George, pale and haggard, but without fever, listened to the doctor's
+directions with a half smile. The troops were already on the move;
+outside could be heard the steady tramp of feet, the thunder of horses'
+hoofs, the roll of artillery-wagons, and the commotion of an army on the
+move. In a few moments the doctor left him, saying,
+
+"I think you will shortly be able to rejoin the army, Colonel
+Washington."
+
+"I think so too," answered George.
+
+As soon as the doctor was out of the room George turned to Billy, and
+said,
+
+"Help me on with my clothes, and as soon as the troops are well out of
+the town fetch the horses."
+
+When the soldiers halted at noon, General Braddock, sitting under a tree
+by the road-side, was asking Dr. Craik's opinion of the time that
+Colonel Washington could rejoin, when around the corner of a huge
+bowlder rode George with Billy behind him. He was very pale, but he
+could sit his horse. He could not but laugh at the doctor's angry face,
+but said, deprecatingly, to him,
+
+"I would have fretted myself more ill had I remained at Winchester, for
+I am not by nature patient, and I have been ill so little that I do not
+know how to be ill."
+
+"I see you don't," was the doctor's dry reply.
+
+For four days George kept up with the army, and managed, in spite of
+burning fevers, of a horrible weakness and weariness, of sleepless
+nights racked with pain, to ride his horse. On the fifth he was
+compelled to take to a covered wagon. There, on a rough bed, with Billy
+holding his burning head, he was jolted along for ten days more, each
+day more agonizing than the one before. In that terrible time master and
+man seemed to have changed places. It was George who was fretful and
+unreasonable and wildly irritable, while Billy, the useless, the lazy,
+the incorrigible, nursed him with a patience, a tenderness, a strange
+intelligence that amazed all who saw it, and was even dimly felt by
+George. The black boy seemed able to do altogether without sleep. At
+every hour of the day and night he was awake and alert, ready to do
+anything for the poor sufferer. As the days passed on, and George grew
+steadily worse, the doctor began to look troubled. In his master's
+presence Billy showed no sign of fear, but he would every day follow Dr.
+Craik when he left, and ask him, with an ashy face, "Marse doctor, is
+Marse George gwi' die?"
+
+"I hope not. He is young and strong, and God is good."
+
+"Ef he die, an' I go home, what I gwin' say when mistis come out and
+say, 'Billy, wh'yar yo' Marse George?'" And at that Billy would throw
+himself on the ground in a paroxysm of grief that was piteous to see.
+The doctor carefully concealed from the soldiers George's real
+condition. But after four or five days of agony a change set in, and
+within the week George was able to sit up and even to ride a little. The
+wagons had kept with the rear division of the army, but George knew that
+General Braddock, with twelve hundred picked men, had gone ahead and
+must be near Fore Duquesne. On the fourteenth day, in the evening when
+the doctor came he found his patient walking about. He was frightfully
+thin and pale, but youth and strength and good habits were beginning to
+assert themselves. He was getting well.
+
+"Doctor," said he, "this place is about fifteen miles from Fort
+Duquesne. I know it well, and from this hour I emancipate myself from
+you. This day I shall report for duty."
+
+The next morning, the 9th of July, 1755, dawned beautifully, and the
+first long lances of light revealed a splendid sight on the banks of the
+Monongahela. On one side flowed the great river in majestic beauty.
+Following the shores was a kind of natural esplanade, while a little way
+off the rich woods, within which dwelt forever a purple twilight,
+overhung this charming open space. And along this open space marched, in
+exquisite precision, two thousand of England's crack troops--cavalry,
+infantry, and artillery--and a thousand bronzed Virginian soldiery, to
+the music of the fife and drum. Often in after-years George Washington
+was heard to say that the most beautiful sight his eyes ever rested on
+was the sight of Braddock's army at sunrise on that day of blood.
+Officers and men were in the highest spirits; they expected within a few
+hours to be in sight of Fort Duquesne, where glory, as they thought,
+awaited their coming. Even George's apprehensions of the imprudence of
+this mode of attack were soothed. He rode by General Braddock's side,
+and was by far the most conspicuous figure there for grace and nobility.
+His illness seemed to have departed in a night, and he was the same
+erect, soldierly form, fairly dwarfing every one contrasted with him. As
+the General and his first aide rode together, General Braddock said,
+confidently:
+
+"Colonel Washington, in spite of your warning, see how far we have come
+upon our way without disaster. The danger of an attack by Indians is now
+passed, and we have but to march a few miles more and glory is ours."
+
+Scarcely were the words out of his month when there was one sharp crack
+of a gun, followed by a fierce volley, and fifty men dropped in their
+tracks. But there was no enemy visible. The shots were like a bolt of
+lightning from a clear sky.
+
+"The Indians," said George, in a perfectly composed voice, reining up
+his horse.
+
+"I see no Indians," cried General Braddock, excitedly. "There is
+disorder in the ranks; have them closed up at once, and march in
+double-time. We will soon find the enemy."
+
+But the firing from the invisible foe again broke forth, this time
+fiercer and more murderous than before. General Braddock, riding to the
+head of the first regiment, which had begun to waver, shouted the order
+for them to reform and fire. The veteran troops, as coolly as if on
+parade, closed up their ranks and gave a volley, but it was as if fired
+in the air. They saw no enemy to fire at. Meanwhile the Virginia troops,
+after the first staggering effect of a terrific musketry fire poured
+into them by an unseen enemy, suddenly broke ranks, and, each man
+running for a tree, took possession of the skirts of the woods. On
+seeing this General Braddock galloped up to George.
+
+"Colonel Washington," he cried, violently, "your Virginia troops are
+insubordinate! They have scattered through the woods, and I desire them
+formed again in column of fours to advance."
+
+"Sir," answered George, in agony, "the ravines are full of Indians--many
+hundreds of them. They can slaughter us at their pleasure if we form in
+the open. The Virginians know how to fight them."
+
+"You are an inexperienced soldier, sir, and therefore I excuse you. But
+look at my English veterans--see how they behave--and I desire the
+Virginians to do the same."
+
+At that moment George's horse fell upon his knees, and the next he
+rolled over, shot through the heart. The English regiments had closed up
+manfully, after receiving several destructive volleys, returning the
+fire of their assailants without seeing them and without producing the
+smallest effect. But suddenly the spectacle of half their men dead or
+wounded on the ground, the galloping about of riderless horses, the
+shrieks of agony that filled the air, seemed to unman them. They broke
+and ran in every direction. In vain General Braddock rode up to them,
+actually riding over them, waving his sword and calling to them to halt.
+
+The men who had faced the legions of Europe were panic-stricken by this
+dreadful unseen foe, and fled, only to be shot down in their tracks. To
+make it more terrible, the officers were singled out for slaughter, and
+out of eighty-six officers in a very little while twenty-six were killed
+and thirty-seven wounded. General Braddock himself had his horse shot
+under him, and as he rolled on the ground a cry of pain was wrung from
+him by two musket-balls that pierced his body. Of his three aides, two
+lay weltering in their blood, and George alone was at his side helping
+him to rise.
+
+Rash and obstinate as General Braddock might be, he did not lack for
+courage, and in that awful time he was determined to fight to the last.
+
+"Get me another horse," he said, with difficulty, to George. "Are you
+too wounded?"
+
+"No, General, but I have had two horses shot under me. Here is my third
+one. Mount!" And by the exertion of an almost superhuman strength he
+raised General Braddock's bulky figure from the ground and placed him in
+the saddle.
+
+"I am badly wounded," said General Braddock, as he reeled slightly; "but
+I can sit my horse yet. Your Virginians are doing nobly, but they should
+form in column."
+
+Besotted to the end, but seeing that the Virginians alone were standing
+their ground, General Braddock did not give a positive order, and George
+did not feel obliged to obey this murderous mistake. But General
+Braddock, after a gasp or two, turned a livid face towards George.
+
+"Colonel Washington, the command is yours. I am more seriously wounded
+than I thought." He swayed forward, and but for George would have fallen
+from his horse.
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE DID ALL THAT MORTAL MAN COULD DO TO RALLY THE
+PANIC-STRICKEN MEN.]
+
+The panic was now at its height. Men, horses, wagons, all piled together
+in a terrible mélée, made for the rear; but there, again, they were met
+by a hail of bullets. Staggered, they rushed back, only to be again
+mowed down by the hidden enemy. The few officers left commanded, begged,
+and entreated the men to stand firm; but they, who had faced death upon
+a hundred fields, were now so mad with fear that they were incapable of
+obedience. George, who had managed to have General Braddock carried to
+the rear with the aid of Dr. Craik, had got another horse, and riding
+from one end of the bloody field to the other, did all that mortal man
+could do to rally the panic-stricken men, but it was in vain. His
+clothes were riddled with bullets, but in the midst of the carnage
+around him he was unharmed, and rode over the field like the embodied
+spirit of battle.
+
+The Virginians alone, cool and determined, fought steadily and sold
+their lives dearly, although picked off one by one. At last, after hours
+of panic, flight, and slaughter, George succeeded in bringing off the
+remnant of the Virginians, and, overtaking the fleeing mob of regular
+troops some miles from the scene of the conflict, got them across the
+ford of the Monongahela. They were safe from pursuit, for the handful of
+Frenchmen could not persuade their Indian allies to leave the plunder of
+the battle-field for the pursuit of the enemy. The first thing that
+George did was to send immediately for wagons, which had been left
+behind, to transport the wounded. General Braddock, still alive but
+suffering agonies from his wounds, was carried on horseback, then in a
+cart, and at last, the jolting being intolerable, on a litter upon the
+shoulders of four sturdy backwoodsmen. But he was marked for death. On
+the third day of this terrible retreat, towards sunset, he sank into a
+lethargy. George, who had spent every moment possible by his side,
+turned to Dr. Craik, who shook his head significantly--there was no
+hope. As George dismounted and walked by the side of the litter, the
+better to hear any words the dying soldier might utter, General Braddock
+roused a little.
+
+"Colonel Washington," he said, in a feeble voice, "I am satisfied with
+your conduct. We have had bad fortune--very bad fortune; but"--here his
+mind began to wander--"yonder is the smoke rising from the chimneys; we
+shall soon be home and at rest. Good-night, Colonel Washington--"
+
+[Illustration: THE BURIAL OF GENERAL BRADDOCK.]
+
+The men with the litter stopped. George, with an over-burdened heart,
+watched the last gasp of a rash but brave and honorable soldier, and
+presently gently closed his eyes. At daylight the body of General
+Braddock, wrapped in his military cloak, was buried under a great
+oak-tree in the woods by the side of the highway, and then the mournful
+march was resumed.
+
+The news of the disaster had preceded them, and when George, attended
+only by Captain Vanbraam and a few of his Virginian officers, rode into
+Williamsburg on an August evening, it was with the heaviest heart he had
+ever carried in his bosom. But by one of those strange paradoxes ever
+existing in the careers of men of destiny, the events that had brought
+ruin to others only served to exalt him personally. His gallant conduct
+in battle, his miraculous escape, his bringing off the survivors,
+especially among the Virginia troops, and the knowledge which had come
+about that had his advice been heeded the terrible disaster would not
+have taken place--all conspired to make him still more of a popular
+hero. Not only his own men adored him, and pointed out that he had saved
+all that could be saved on that dreadful day, but the British troops as
+well saw that the glory was his, and the return march was one long
+ovation to the one officer who came out of the fight with a greater
+reputation than when he entered it. Everywhere crowds met him with
+acclamations and with tears. The streets of the quaint little town of
+Williamsburg were filled with people on this summer evening, who
+followed the party of officers, with George at their head, to the
+palace. George responded to the shouts for him by bowing gracefully from
+side to side.
+
+Arrived at the palace, he dismounted, and just as the sentry at the main
+door presented arms to him he saw a party coming out, and they were the
+persons he most desired to see in the world and least expected. First
+came the Earl of Fairfax with Madam Washington, whom he was about to
+hand down the steps and into his coach, which had not yet driven up.
+Behind them demurely walked Betty, and behind Betty came Lance, carrying
+the mantles of the two ladies.
+
+The Earl and Madam Washington, engaged in earnest conversation, did not
+catch sight of George until Betty had rushed forward, and crying out in
+rapture, "George, dear George!" they saw the brother and sister clasped
+in each other's arms.
+
+Madam Washington stood quite still, dumfounded with joy, until George,
+kissing her hand tenderly, made her realize that it was indeed he, her
+best beloved, saved from almost universal destruction and standing
+before her. She, the calmest, the stateliest of women, trembled, and had
+to lean upon him for support; the Earl grasped his hand; Lance was in
+waiting. George was as overcome with joy as they were.
+
+"But I must ask at once to see the Governor," said he, after the first
+rapture of meeting was over. "You, my lord, must go with me, for I want
+friends near me when I tell the story of sorrow and disaster."
+
+Four days afterwards, the House of Burgesses being in session, Colonel
+Washington was summoned by the Speaker to read his report of the
+campaign before it, and to be formally designated as commander-in-chief
+of the forces. The facts were already known, but it was thought well, in
+order to arouse the people to the sense of their danger, and to provide
+means for carrying on the war in defence of their frontiers, that
+Colonel Washington should make a public report, and should publicly
+receive the appointment of commander-in-chief of the next expedition.
+The House of Burgesses, then as ever proudly insistent of its rights,
+had given the Governor to understand that they would give him neither
+money nor supplies unless their favorite soldier should have the command
+in the next campaign--and, indeed, the attitude of the officers and
+soldiery made this absolutely necessary. Even the Governor had realized
+this, and, disheartened by the failure of his much-heralded regulars,
+was in a submissive mood, and these haughty colonial legislators, of
+whose republican principles Governor Dinwiddie already complained much,
+took this opportunity to prove that without their co-operation but
+little could be done.
+
+The large hall of the House of Burgesses, but dimly lighted by small
+diamond-paned windows, was filled with the leading men of the colony,
+including Lord Fairfax. Ladies had been admitted to the floor, and among
+them sat in majestic beauty Madam Washington, and next to her sat Betty,
+palpitating, trembling, blushing, who with proud, bright eyes awaited
+the entrance of her "darling George," as she called him, although often
+reproved for her extravagance by her mother.
+
+At last George entered this august assembly. His handsome head was
+uncovered, showing his fair hair. He wore a glittering uniform, and his
+sword, given him by Lord Fairfax, hung at his side. He carried himself
+with that splendid and noble air that was always his characteristic,
+and, quietly seating himself, awaited the interrogatory of the
+president. When this was made he rose respectfully and began to read
+from manuscript the sad story of Braddock's campaign. It was brief, but
+every sentence thrilled all who heard it. When he said, in describing
+the terrible story of the 9th of July, "The officers in general behaved
+with incomparable bravery, for which they suffered, upwards of sixty
+being killed or wounded," a kind of groan ran through the great
+assemblage; and when he added, in a voice shaken with emotion, "The
+Virginia companies behaved like men and died like soldiers; for, I
+believe, out of three companies on the ground that day scarce thirty men
+were left alive," sobs were heard, and many persons, both men and women,
+burst into tears.
+
+His report being ended, the president of the House of Burgesses arose
+and addressed him:
+
+"Colonel Washington, we have listened to your account of the late
+campaign with feelings of the deepest and most poignant sorrow, but
+without abandoning in any way our intention to maintain our lawful
+frontiers against our enemies. It has been determined to raise sixteen
+companies in this colony for offensive and defensive warfare, and by the
+appointment of his Excellency the Governor, in deference to the will of
+the people and the desire of the soldiers, you are hereby appointed, by
+this commission from his Excellency the Governor, which I hold in my
+hand, commander-in-chief of all the forces now raised or to be raised by
+this colony, reposing special confidence in your patriotism, valor,
+conduct, and fidelity. And you are hereby invested with power and
+authority to act as you shall think for the good of the service.
+
+"And we hereby strictly charge all officers and soldiers under your
+command to be obedient to your orders, and diligent in the exercise of
+their several duties.
+
+"And we also enjoin and require you to be careful in executing the great
+trust reposed in you, by causing strict discipline and order to be
+observed in the army, and that the soldiers be duly exercised and
+provided with all necessaries.
+
+"And you are to regulate your conduct in every respect by the rules and
+discipline of war, and punctually to observe and follow such orders and
+directions as you shall receive from his Excellency the Governor, and
+this or other House of Burgesses, or committee of the House of
+Burgesses."
+
+A storm of applause broke forth, and George stood silent, trembling and
+abashed, with a noble diffidence. He raised one hand in deprecation, and
+it was taken to mean that he would speak, and a solemn hush fell upon
+the assembly. But in the perfect silence he felt himself unable to utter
+a word, or even to lift his eyes from the floor. The president sat in a
+listening attitude for a whole minute, then he said:
+
+"Sit down, Colonel Washington. Your modesty is equal to your valor, and
+both are above comparison. Your life would not have been spared, as if
+by a miracle, had not the all-wise Ruler of the heavens and the earth
+designed that you should fulfil your great destiny; and one day, believe
+me, you shall be called the prop, the stay, and the glory of your
+country."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+THE SMALL BOY IN WAR.
+
+BY C. E. SEARS.
+
+
+Much has been recently said and written about the resources of the
+nation in the event of war, the fighting capacity of our army and navy,
+and the character of recruits who would constitute the new army that
+must be speedily organized should a conflict result from present
+complications. The valor of the veterans who participated in our civil
+war has been often dwelt on, but nowhere have I seen any calculation
+based on the intrepidity and wild courage of the small boy--an element
+that constitutes a more important factor in every successful campaign
+than most people imagine. Literature is full of accounts of the small
+boy at school and at play. Humorists have depicted his weaknesses, his
+mischievous proclivities, and volunteer poets have made him the victim
+of rhyming obituaries. Dickens has painted him in pathetic colors,
+Thackeray has alternately satirized and sympathized with him, and Hughes
+has described him in his character of friend and fighter. None of his
+peculiarities has escaped detection. His disappointments have been
+ridiculed, his triumphs belittled; nor have even his sorrows been held
+sacred from the rude analysis and heartless ridicule of maturer and more
+conceited minds. While asleep the pockets of his little pants have been
+invaded, and their curious collections exposed to excite merriment. If
+he wears his cap-brim backward, smuts his face with sooty fingers or
+marks the progress of the season with fruit stains on his clothes,
+whistles from the gallery of the theatre, guys the actors, projects
+spiral play-bills on the spectators below, tortures the house cat,
+fights chickens in out-of-the-way places, or burglarizes his sister's
+safety bank of its pennies, he is condemned and often lashed. And these
+are penalties he pays for existence outside of the school-room. His life
+there is one of continued anxiety and peril. But this part of his
+history has been over and over narrated. My purpose is to give some
+account of the small boy on the battle-field--not in the petty conflicts
+that occur on the play-ground, but in the fiercer and bloodier clash of
+arms, where the very souls of grown men were tried, and where they were
+oftener found wanting than the small boy.
+
+After Julius Cæsar had conquered Gaul, Britain, and Egypt, and had even
+overcome the great Pompey at Pharsalia, he found a victory over Pompey's
+two sons, mere lads, in Spain, a very different enterprise. Encountering
+them at the great battle of Munda, his army was about to yield before
+their intrepid leadership, when he rushed among his men, exclaiming,
+"Will you deliver me into the hands of boys?" He afterwards said he had
+often fought for victory, but it was the first time he had fought for
+his life.
+
+Mr. Bryan, in a speech in Congress, made good use of an incident
+recorded by Muelbach, who narrated that at Marengo, when Napoleon gave
+up the battle as lost, and ordered a drummer-boy to beat a retreat, the
+lad's face saddened as he said: "Sire, I do not know how. Dessaix has
+never taught me retreat, but I can beat a charge. Oh, I can beat a
+charge that would make the dead fall into line! I beat it at Mount
+Tabor; I beat it at the Pyramids. Oh, may I beat it here?" The charge
+was ordered, and victory plucked from the jaws of defeat by the little
+hands of that heroic lad.
+
+The incident is fanciful, but it is illustrative. There is a stone wall
+in a cemetery at Paris where many Communists were executed. When I saw
+it the wall still bore marks of shot, and fragments of the skin and hair
+of the victims were matted to the masonry. A lad who had been among the
+fiercest of the fighters was one of the condemned. While marching near
+his home and to the place of execution, he told the officer in command
+that he had a locket which he had just taken from the body of his dead
+father, and begged that he might bear it to his mother, promising to
+return and resume his place in the fated line. The officer, touched by
+his tender age, gave the permission, hoping and believing he would not
+return, thus sparing him the necessity of executing a mere child. Before
+the line reached its destination, however, the lad came up with hasty
+steps, stood against the wall, and faced the soldiers. The first volley
+tore out his brave little heart.
+
+The cradles of France furnished the troops who fought and won the
+desperate battle of Wagram. "In my young soldiers," said Napoleon, "I
+have found all the valor of my old companions in arms."
+
+The small boy as a soldier has never had a historian. No Foy or Napier
+or Thiers has done justice to his heroism; but he furnishes much of the
+enthusiasm, the dash and fury, of every triumphant army. It was the
+small boy of France who helped to win those marvellous victories under
+the revolutionary government of 1789, and, later, under Napoleon. When
+Wellington was contending against Marshal Soult in Spain, he got a
+number of young recruits from England whose smooth faces and dudish
+uniforms excited the derision of veterans. But when the conflict came
+they were foremost in the charge. The Duke, who had shared the contempt
+for these "parlor soldiers," was forced to admit that "the puppies
+fought well. They report oftener for duty, are capable of more
+endurance, and are irresistible in a charge. They need only a few
+veterans to steady them in action. Some are timid in the first
+encounter, as was Frederick the Great, but they soon overcome it." It
+was "a narrow lane, an old man and two boys," that saved the battle in
+_Cymbeline_, and forced on the Romans better thought of Britons than
+when Julius Cæsar "smiled at their lack of skill." The soul contributes
+more than the body to results. Take a boy of eighteen, inspire him with
+enthusiasm, and however fragile in form, he will outstrip, both on the
+march and in the field, the less impressible men with twice his physical
+strength. I have seen trudging in the ranks of Lee's army striplings
+whose equipments almost outweighed their delicate bodies. But they
+straggled less, were sick less, and were foremost in the fight. When the
+hour of battle came their faces brightened with a beautiful light, a
+smile would play over their features, and their disposition to cheer and
+charge became irrepressible. It has been said that the most dangerous
+antagonists are those who value their own lives the least; and these
+lads seemed not to think of either life or death, but the foe, the foe,
+and to be up and at them. Must a battery be captured? They rushed at it,
+and recked not of the terror and death it belched forth. Must a redoubt
+be carried? Forward they leaped so swift and brave, not counting the
+bristling mass that defended it.
+
+[Illustration: "I AM THE KING'S DRUMMER AND CANNOT BEAT FOR REBELS."]
+
+Another and well-known incident of the bravery of a boy is the one which
+is told of a young drummer in 1798 who, in an engagement between the
+rebels and the King's troops, was captured. During the fight he was
+ordered by his captors to beat the drum for them. Without a moment's
+hesitation he placed his drum on the ground and put his foot through
+both heads, then sitting down he said, "I am the King's drummer and
+cannot beat for rebels."
+
+All who have seen anything of war appreciate the presence of the small
+boy in the ranks, for he must be reckoned with in the hours of battle. A
+fury blazes in his little frame that nerves his delicate arm and gives a
+tiger-spring to his step.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
+
+
+One of the principal difficulties which have to be faced every year by
+the managers of interscholastic athletics is the choice of proper and
+competent officials for league games. It is not so difficult in the
+spring-time to get umpires for baseball games, but in the fall if seems
+to be an exceedingly difficult matter to secure the proper kind of
+officials for the football matches.
+
+Not only is this difficulty encountered in New York, but we often hear
+of the same trouble in Boston and Philadelphia, and other great athletic
+centres. The main difficulty seems to be in securing referees and
+umpires who shall be thoroughly impartial. Inasmuch as the men who can
+be secured to act as officials at school games are usually graduates of
+the schools, or are still in the schools, or are teachers at the
+schools, there is always the chance that they may be more or less
+interested in the success of one team or the other, and so not entirely
+impartial in their decisions, in spite of having the best of intentions.
+
+If it were only possible to secure the co-operation of graduates of two
+or three years' standing, both in this city and in others, the question
+of officials would be settled. This, however, would be the ideal
+solution of the vexing problem, and can hardly be hoped for. It might be
+possible to get a list of such gentlemen, who are familiar with the
+sport, and who would be willing, for the sake of the promotion of the
+sport, to give one afternoon each season to the game.
+
+In Boston there has been so much trouble over the matter of securing
+competent officials for the football-games that a committee of the head
+masters of the schools interested finally took up the question, and,
+after going thoroughly into its merits, reported to the Football
+Association, whose executive committee thereupon passed the following
+resolutions:
+
+     "Voted, that all games officials should be approved by the
+     executive committee of the association before being allowed to act,
+     and that the officials should be, when possible, men of college
+     rank.
+
+     "Voted, that the secretary of the association be empowered to act
+     by the executive committee as regards the approval of games
+     officials, except in such cases where he shall desire to call a
+     meeting of the whole committee."
+
+It is plain now that when this rule goes into effect, the old system of
+waiting to choose the officials until the teams appear upon the football
+field ready to play will be done away with. The captains of the teams
+are now compelled to meet the secretary of the Football Association
+before the game, and to decide upon the officials at that time. This
+will dispose of one of the difficulties; but the greatest difficulty of
+all, that of securing the individuals themselves, of getting them to
+promise to come, and of having them appear after they have promised, is
+one that cannot be overcome by legislation. It is a condition that can
+only be improved by an increased interest among college men in the
+sports of their juniors.
+
+Among other things done by the Executive Committee of the Boston
+Interscholastic Football Association was the reconsideration of its
+former decision to compel the Cambridge High and Latin schools to
+compete in athletics as two separate institutions. C.H. and L.
+petitioned to be readmitted to the Senior Football League as a single
+school, and their cause was very strongly championed by a number of
+graduates at the recent committee meeting.
+
+The result was that C.H. and L. was readmitted to the Senior League, and
+for this year at least the two schools will be represented by a single
+eleven. It is greatly to be hoped, however, that the young man who
+captains this year's team will make it his especial business to find out
+all about the men under him, and to know whether they attend the High or
+the Latin school, or neither. In this way he will avoid making the
+rather unexplainable mistake which occurred last year.
+
+The decision of the committee has infused new life into the many
+football-players of C.H. and L., and active practice has been begun by
+the various squads. Warnock has been elected captain; and as this move
+was made upon the advice of a number of graduates, it is probable that
+the new leader will prove to be a man competent to avoid the pitfalls
+which proved so disastrous to his predecessor.
+
+Not more than four or five of the men who played on last year's team are
+back in school this year. Among them is Estabrook, who will retain his
+old position at centre. One of his guards will undoubtedly be Usher.
+The tackles will probably be Fletcher and Simmons. Captain Warnock will
+undoubtedly go in and look after one end of the line. Back of the line
+we shall probably see Clarkson at quarter, and the other positions ought
+to be divided among Donovan, Lewis, and Hill. But it is too early to
+make much of a prognostication, as football was somewhat disorganized at
+C.H. and L. in the early part of the fall on account of the uncertainty
+in the future, which has now been settled by the executive committee's
+action.
+
+The Hartford High-School team, after its rather poor showing a few weeks
+ago, has taken a big brace, and is displaying somewhat of its old-time
+form. The eleven went up to Springfield a week or so ago, and defeated
+the High-School eleven there, 18-10. The team-work on that occasion was
+much better than Hartford had done at any time this year, and the
+general snap of the players was noticeably improved.
+
+This good work was followed up a week ago Friday in the game against
+Hillhouse, in which the latter was defeated, 16-4. The weakest spot in
+the Hartford team was right guard, which is filled by Costello. The
+Hillhouse men made all their gains through him, with hardly any
+exception. Captain Sturtevant was unable to play at quarter on account
+of injuries received in the Springfield game, and this may possibly
+account for the many holes made through guard. Had Sturtevant been at
+his usual post, it is probable that he could have headed off some of the
+runs that got past Costello. Two of Hartford's touch-downs were made by
+Bush, who is developing into a strong player.
+
+The Hillhouse players fumbled badly, and many of their fumbles proved
+most expensive. They had gotten the ball to within one yard of the
+Hartford line, when they lost it through inability to keep their fingers
+on the leather. The New Haven men's defence was weak too, and Hartford
+had little trouble in getting around the ends. Their best work was done
+by Morris, Sternberg, and Wolfe. For Hartford the best playing was done
+by Bush, Strong, Twichell, and Allen.
+
+If this improvement in the Hartford team continues, New Britain will not
+have such a sure thing of the championship as we all had reason to
+suppose a few days ago. The line-up for the rest of the season will
+probably be as follows: Whaples and Gillette, ends; Allen and Morris,
+tackles; Weeks and Costello, guards; Smith, centre; Strong and Bush,
+half-backs; Sturtevant, quarter-back and captain; Twichell, full-back.
+This team will average about 154 pounds, and, unusual as it is, the
+backs will average 156 pounds, two pounds heavier than the rush-line.
+
+[Illustration: ENGLEWOOD HIGH-SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM.
+
+Cook County Interscholastic League.]
+
+The Cook County High-School Football League's season began October 10.
+If we may judge from the initial game, there are four strong teams and
+four weak teams in the Association. Englewood H.-S. so badly out-classed
+Northwest Division in the first half, scoring 30-0, that the Northwest
+men did not care to play out the second half, which was exceedingly
+unsportsmanlike. Teetzel did not play for Englewood in this game, but
+Ferguson went in at right half in his place, and did good work. He made
+a number of long runs, and proved a clever substitute. The Northwest
+eleven did not have sufficient team-work to prevent Englewood's plays.
+
+[Illustration: TEETZEL, HALF-BACK,
+
+Englewood High-School, Chicago.]
+
+Another one-sided match was that between West Division and North
+Division, in which the Northerners routed the Westerners, 42-0, in
+20-minute halves. West Division seemed to go to pieces in the face of
+the excellent team-work of North Division. Johnson, the N.D. left
+half-back, made a number of good runs, assisted by interference. On the
+whole there was little individual play, the men working well in concert.
+
+It was doubtless a surprise to Oak Park to be defeated, 44-0, by Lake
+View. Oak Park's centre was lamentably weak, and the Lake View men went
+through it repeatedly, and when they got tired of bucking the line they
+travelled easily around the ends. Evanston defeated Manual, 28-0. Manual
+had no team-work at all, and was defeated principally on this account,
+although Evanston had little trouble in making holes between guard and
+tackle on both sides of the line.
+
+[Illustration: LINDEN, END.
+
+Hyde Park High-School, Chicago.]
+
+In the game between Hyde Park and English High, Hyde Park made a
+touch-down at the very start. Then followed a series of fumbles, first
+by Knickerbocker of Hyde Park, who caught the kick off; then by Sullivan
+of English High, who secured the ball and made a good run, only to lose
+the leather to Hyde Park again. This incident was the cause for a
+display of bad feeling and ill-breeding, and, worst of all, of
+unsportsmanlike instincts.
+
+The English High players refused to accept the decision of the referee,
+and left the field, subsequently protesting the game; but, very
+fortunately for the good name of the Chicago League, their protest was
+not sustained, and the game went to Hyde Park, as it should have.
+
+In the Inter-preparatory League the initial games were between the
+Princeton-Yale and University schools, the latter winning, 10-8. This
+game was much closer than any played by the Cook County teams, although
+the contesting elevens were not made up of such good men, but were more
+evenly matched. Fumbling was plentiful, and gave Henneberry, one of the
+University School half-backs, a chance to make a 40-yard run.
+
+"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.
+
+
+Collectors in the West are warned against an old-time philatelist who is
+going about offering "specimen" sets of the U.S. stamps at very low
+prices. Several of these sets have been sent to me for examination. They
+prove to be card-board proofs rubbed down with pumice-stone, gummed, and
+perforated. The word "specimen," instead of being printed, was then
+applied, by means of a rubber-stamp, in aniline ink. These are very
+dangerous frauds, as few young collectors are familiar with the genuine
+originals. Unused U.S. stamps and "specimen" sets are always saleable in
+New York city at fair prices. When any one offers these stamps at
+"bargain-counter" rates, it is safe to say that there is something wrong
+in the transaction.
+
+The Nova Scotia "find" made a very little flurry in this country, but in
+England it has developed into a first-class sensation. The leading
+dealers are involved, and letters to one another and to the philatelic
+press abound; but, curious to say, no definite information is given. The
+facts seem to be that one large dealer was offered sets at sixty-two
+cents, and several weeks later another large dealer advertised himself
+as the sole agent for the sale of these stamps, and fixed six dollars as
+the price of the set. In the absence of any statement as to the true
+quantity of each of the stamps, collectors refuse to buy except at very
+low prices.
+
+A Western philatelic paper proposes the riddle, "What is the difference
+between stamp-albums and clocks?" and answers it as follows: "The latter
+points out the hours, the former causes us to forget them."
+
+The auction season has begun, and most of the larger sales will be held
+in the hall of the Collectors Club, 351 Fourth Avenue, New York. The
+value of stamps sold by auction in London during the past season was
+nearly $200,000, and the auction sales during the same period in the
+United States amounted to a somewhat larger sum.
+
+     R. B. HADDOCK.--The 1856 flying eagle is the only small cent that
+     dealers care to buy. They offer from $1.50 to $2 for a fine copy.
+     The 3c. piece is quite common.
+
+      F. G. TUPPER.--Your half-dollar is worth face only. Most of the
+      early dollars and half-dollars were in the same style.
+
+      H. C. DAY.--The U.S. envelopes of the present issue differ
+      slightly from the preceding. The main difference is in the
+      water-mark of the paper, and advanced collectors make at least
+      eight varieties. I have not room to give all the varieties.
+
+  PHILATUS.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ROYAL]
+
+The greatest American baking powder. Sold the world over and approved by
+the highest authorities for its healthfulness.
+
+ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW-YORK.
+
+
+
+
+Postage Stamps, &c.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The neatest and most attractive Stamp Album ever published is =The
+Favorite Album for U.S. Stamps=. Price 25c. (post free 30c.).
+
+Catalogue of U.S. Stamps free for the postage, 2c. Complete Catalogue of
+all Stamps ever issued, 10c. Our Specialty: =Fine Approval Sheets= at low
+prices and 50% commission.
+
+R. F. ALBRECHT & CO.,
+
+90 Nassau Street, New York.
+
+
+
+
+THE market value of the 7c. Vermilion, 1872, United States, is 75 cents,
+but in order to increase the circulation of my price-list of stamps, I
+will send one of these stamps and a copy of my list to any one sending
+me 30 cents and the names and addresses of five or more stamp
+collectors.
+
+E. T. PARKER, Bethlehem, Penn.
+
+
+
+
+10 BOOKS FREE
+
+On tricks, experiments in electricity, in chemistry, war, puzzles, 4 of
+stories, coins we buy, 4 on stamps, stamp dictionary, toy making. Send
+35c. for youth's paper, 1 year, and choose any ten books.
+
+BULLARD, Pembroke St., Boston, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+
+
+200
+
+Foreign Stamps, 10c. Agt's wanted. 60% discount.
+
+LOU. O. BROSIE, 3405 Butler St., Pittsburg, Pa.
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S MAGAZINE
+
+For 1897
+
+will contain
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE DU MAURIER.]
+
+GEORGE DU MAURIER'S
+
+Last Novel
+
+The Martian
+
+which was begun in the October Number.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+POULTNEY BIGELOW
+
+will contribute papers on
+
+WHITE MAN'S AFRICA
+
+with many illustrations.
+
+STEPHEN BONSAL ON EASTERN SIBERIA
+
+F. HOPKINSON SMITH ON HUNGARY
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A New Novel of the Next Century
+
+BY
+
+[Illustration: FRANK R. STOCKTON.]
+
+FRANK R. STOCKTON
+
+will appear during the year.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SHORT STORIES
+
+will continue to be the most popular feature of the MAGAZINE.
+
+Besides contributions from authors already famous, others
+
+will be especially sought from NEW WRITERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+STRIKING AMERICAN FEATURES
+
+WILL BE CONTRIBUTED BY
+
+CHARLES F. LUMMIS, WOODROW WILSON, OWEN WISTER,
+
+FREDERIC REMINGTON, AND WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_35 CENTS A COPY. $4.00 A YEAR._
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+
+[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.
+
+
+There are many questions connected with what to the average rider would
+be long journeys on a bicycle which seldom or never obtain the amount of
+attention which they require in order to give the rider the comfort and
+pleasure that he ought to have.
+
+For instance, the packing of luggage is one of the most important
+details of a week's run. The best method for carrying luggage is that
+already described in this column, namely, a leather bag fitted to the
+inside of the frame. The proper luggage for a week should be the
+smallest set of toilet articles that can be conveniently used, a couple
+of sets of under-clothing, and at least two extra pairs of long
+stockings, and, perhaps most important of all, a pair of loose slippers.
+When starting out in the morning the entire clothing which you wear
+should be perfectly dry. This can always be accomplished if it is done
+in the right way, by asking a maid at the hotel where you stop at night
+to see that all your clothes are dried during the night, and it is well
+to dress in a different suit each day, except, of course, the trousers
+and jacket. When you stop at noon for the hour or two for dinner, with
+the intention of riding on in the afternoon, the greatest care should be
+taken to avoid taking cold, especially in the fall and winter weather.
+In the first place, you should wrap yourself up usually by putting on
+the coat and waistcoat which you have been carrying on the front of the
+wheel or in the leather portmanteau. It is unwise, however, to take a
+bath and change the clothing at this time of day, and therefore merely
+the rest and the dinner should be your care at noon. After riding all
+the afternoon, the moment the bicycle is stowed away or put under some
+one's care, go to your room at the hotel and take a bath. If there
+happens to be no bath-tub available, which is often the case at small
+inns or country hotels, take a sponge bath--always in warm water at
+first, ending with cold. There is considerable danger to any one who
+takes a warm bath after heavy physical exertion and omits the cold water
+afterward. It is one of the best methods known for catching a dangerous
+cold.
+
+The food which you eat on these journeys is quite as important as any
+other of the details of the ride. It is always well, if that be
+possible, to sit still reading the paper, or smoking, or resting in any
+way, for from three-quarters of an hour to an hour after each meal. For
+breakfast, oatmeal, coffee, and perhaps a couple of eggs with toast is
+quite as much as it is well for you to take, unless you have been in the
+habit of eating a very heavy breakfast. If the journey is to be
+continued in the afternoon, it is well not to eat too heavily at dinner,
+and you are advised to stick to water for drink. Then after the
+afternoon ride, after a good bath, and with a change of clothing and the
+slippers on, at anywhere from six to eight o'clock, you may eat as much
+and take as much time at table as you care to. If this rule is followed,
+you will wake up the next morning fresh and ready for the day's run.
+
+
+
+
+THE BABY SPEAKS.
+
+
+  I've got a joke on pa and ma--
+    They say 'at I can't walk.
+  It really makes me laugh right out
+    To hear those people talk.
+  Why, I can walk as well as you,
+    So grand in all your pride,
+  But for the present "Baby" thinks
+    He'd much prefer to ride.
+
+
+
+
+Money Prizes Offered Subscribers.
+
+
+The attention of all subscribers to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE is called to
+the prize competitions which we are offering for the winter of 1896-7.
+These Prizes are worth, in all, $475, and are offered for original Short
+Stories, Amateur Photographs, and Puzzle Solutions. Contestants for them
+must be _bona fide_ subscribers to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, save in Puzzle
+contests, in which contestants may be subscribers of a few newspapers
+which publish the puzzles simultaneously with HARPER'S ROUND TABLE. If
+you are not now a subscriber, and desire to compete, send the
+subscription price, $2, with your puzzle answer, photograph, or story,
+and you will then receive HARPER'S ROUND TABLE each week for a year,
+besides having a chance at the prizes. Even if you do not secure any
+prizes, you will have the paper, and be able to enter other
+competitions, and take advantage of our Book and Library offers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prizes for Puzzle Solutions--$200.
+
+Offered in Five Unique Contests.
+
+HARPER'S ROUND TABLE puzzles are famous. During the year five prize
+puzzles will be published, and $40 in cash will be offered for best
+solutions to each. Competition for these prizes is open only to actual
+subscribers to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, and to the subscribers of a few
+newspapers which print these puzzles simultaneously with this
+periodical.
+
+These prize puzzles are given in addition to the usual "Kinks." As a
+rule, the Kinks are not prize contests. The prize puzzles consist of
+stories, which are interesting as stories, and are good puzzles besides.
+The five cover as many varieties or styles of puzzles, and so give
+solvers of different tastes and abilities a chance at the particular
+kind of puzzle for which they have a bent. Here are titles of two of the
+prize puzzles: "The River Styx Puzzle," and "A Wonderful Outing
+Tragedy." Others are similar. The prize-money is $40 to the best three
+solvers in each contest. The right is reserved to divide the prize-money
+according to merit of answers. As a rule, it may be said that the best
+solver wins $20; the one who comes next wins $12, and the third $8.
+These puzzles will appear in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE during November and
+December, 1896, and January, February, and March, 1897, with the
+particulars of the contest. Correctness and neatness are the tests of
+excellence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prizes for Short Stories--$150.
+
+First Prize, $75; Second, $50; Third, $25.
+
+HARPER'S ROUND TABLE offers $150, divided in three parts, thus: First
+Prize, $75; Second Prize, $50; Third Prize, $25--for the best stories
+written by actual subscribers to it, those whose names are on its
+subscription list for a one year's subscription. Stories must contain at
+least five hundred words, and must not exceed two thousand words, actual
+count. The plot must be probable, and the story well told, both in
+sequence of events and in language employed. As far as practicable
+type-write the story. But this condition is not imperative. At the top
+of the first page place your name and address in full, and the number of
+words in your story. Do not roll your manuscript. Use paper about five
+by eight inches in size, unless the story is type-written, when use
+regular type-writer paper. Prepay postage, and enclose return postage.
+Address it, not later than February 28, 1897, to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE,
+New York, and put in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope the
+words "Story Competition." No story may be sent by you that is not
+wholly original with you, and none may be submitted that has ever been
+submitted in any contest. One person may not submit more than one story.
+Two persons may not join in writing a single story. If you are not a
+subscriber, and desire to compete for these prizes, send $2 with your
+story, and give address to which paper is to be sent for one year.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Prizes for Photographs--$125.
+
+In Junior and Senior Contests.
+
+We take great pleasure in announcing the opening of our annual
+photographic competition, in which prizes are to be given for the best
+photographs entered in the different classes before February 15, 1897.
+Until last year the competition was confined to members of the ROUND
+TABLE CAMERA CLUB. At that time it was decided to arrange, in addition
+to the competition for the club members, one which should be open to all
+amateur photographers who are subscribers to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE. This
+arrangement proved so popular that it will be continued this year. The
+prizes are as follows:
+
+Open to all subscribers of HARPER'S ROUND TABLE who have not passed
+their eighteenth birthday.
+
+        CLASS I.           CLASS II.          CLASS III.
+    FIGURE STUDIES.       LANDSCAPES.          MARINES.
+
+  First Prize    $20  First Prize    $12  First Prize     $12
+  Second Prize    10  Second Prize     8  Second Prize      8
+  Third Prize      5  Third Prize      5  Third Prize       5
+
+Entries for this competition will close February 15, 1897.
+
+RULES OF COMPETITION.
+
+RULE I.--This competition is open to all subscribers of HARPER'S ROUND
+TABLE who have not passed their eighteenth birthday.
+
+RULE II.--All photographs offered must be the work of the competitor,
+from the exposure of the plate to the mounting of the finished print.
+
+RULE III.--No picture less than 4 by 5 or larger than 8 by 10 must be
+sent.
+
+RULE IV.--Any printing process may be used with the exception of the
+blue print.
+
+RULE V.--All pictures must be mounted and carriage prepaid.
+
+RULE VI.--Each picture must be marked on the back of the mount with the
+name and address of the sender, the class for which it is designed, and
+the statement whether the artist has or has not passed his or her
+eighteenth birthday. No other writing is required, nor is it necessary
+to send a letter with the picture or pictures.
+
+RULE VII.--No picture must be sent which has taken a prize, or has been
+submitted for prizes in other competitions.
+
+RULE VIII.--Each competitor may send as many pictures as he chooses.
+
+RULE IX.--In addition to the name and address of the journal the package
+must be marked on the outside, "Harper's Round Table Photographic
+Competition."
+
+Senior Contest.
+
+Open to all amateur photographers who are subscribers to HARPER'S ROUND
+TABLE, without regard to age limit.
+
+CLASS A.--FIGURE STUDIES.
+
+  First Prize         $20
+  Second Prize         15
+
+CLASS B.--LANDSCAPES.
+
+  First Prize         $15
+  Second Prize         10
+
+Entries for this competition will close February 15, 1897.
+
+RULES OF COMPETITION.
+
+This competition is open to all amateurs, young or old, whether they are
+or are not members of the ROUND TABLE CAMERA CLUB. Members of the Camera
+Club may send pictures to both competitions.
+
+The other rules governing this competition are the same as those in the
+competition open only to members of the Camera Club.
+
+Photographs which do not take prizes, or are not retained for
+publication, will be returned to the senders if postage is enclosed.
+
+Any picture which fails to take a prize, the percentage of which is
+above seventy, will receive honorable mention.
+
+If you are not a subscriber, send $2 with your picture or pictures, and
+give your address, where we will send HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for one year.
+
+Any questions in regard to the competition, or preparing pictures for
+the same, will be promptly answered by the editor. Address "Editor of
+Camera Club."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A GOOD CHILD
+
+is usually healthy, and both conditions are developed by use of proper
+food. The Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is the best infant's
+food: so easily prepared that improper feeding is inexcusable and
+unnecessary.--[_Adv._]
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+WALTER BAKER & CO., LIMITED.
+
+Established Dorchester, Mass., 1780.
+
+Breakfast Cocoa
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Always ask for Walter Baker & Co.'s
+
+Breakfast Cocoa
+
+Made at
+
+DORCHESTER, MASS.
+
+It bears their Trade Mark
+
+"La Belle Chocolatiere" on every can.
+
+Beware of Imitations.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+EARN A TRICYCLE.
+
+We wish to introduce our Teas. Sell 30 lbs. and we will give you a Fairy
+Tricycle; sell 25 lbs. for a Solid Silver Watch and Chain; 50 lbs. for a
+Gold Watch and Chain; 75 lbs. for a Bicycle; 10 lbs. for a Gold Ring.
+Write for catalog and order sheet Dept. I
+
+W. G. BAKER,
+
+Springfield, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+---- 1857-1897 ----
+
+HARPER'S WEEKLY
+
+For the Coming Year
+
+will continue to be a
+
+PANORAMA OF THE WORLD
+
+[Illustration]
+
+TOPICS OF
+
+INTERNATIONAL
+
+INTEREST
+
+will be fully treated.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SERIALS
+
+_A New England Story_
+
+_By MARY E. WILKINS._
+
+_A Tale of a Greek Uprising_
+
+_By E. F. BENSON._
+
+A Sequel to "The House-Boat on the Styx," by
+
+JOHN KENDRICK BANGS
+
+Will also appear early in the year. Illustrated by PETER NEWELL
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ARMY AND NAVY LIFE
+
+will be
+
+PRESENTED BY SPECIAL WRITERS AND WELL-KNOWN ARTISTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Special attention will be given to
+
+WESTERN SUBJECTS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The department of
+
+AMATEUR SPORT
+
+By CASPAR WHITNEY
+
+will remain the most important department of its kind in the country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_10 CENTS A COPY $4.00 A YEAR_
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+
+_A SPLENDID LIST OF_
+
+BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=George Washington.= By WOODROW WILSON, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of
+Jurisprudence, Princeton University. Illustrated by HOWARD PYLE and
+Others. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, Deckel Edges and Gilt Top. (_In
+Press._)
+
+=Contemporary Essayists.= Uniform in Size and Style. Post 8vo, Cloth,
+Ornamental, Uncut Edges and Gilt Top.
+
+     =Aspects of Fiction=, and Other Ventures in Criticism. By BRANDER
+     MATTHEWS. $1.50.
+
+     =Impressions and Experiences.= By W. D. HOWELLS. $1.50.
+
+     =The Relation of Literature to Life.= By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. (In
+     Press.)
+
+=In the First Person.= A Novel. By MARIA LOUISE POOL. Post 8vo, Cloth,
+Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+=History of the German Struggle for Liberty.= By POULTNEY BIGELOW, B.A.
+Copiously Illustrated with Drawings by R. CATON WOODVILLE, and with
+Portraits and Maps. Two Volumes. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, Uncut
+Edges and Gilt Tops, $5.00. (_In a Box._)
+
+=The Dwarfs' Tailor=, and Other Fairy Tales. Collected by ZOE DANA
+UNDERHILL. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.75.
+
+="Harper's Round Table" for 1896.= Volume XVII. With 1276 Pages, and about
+1200 Illustrations. 4to, Cloth, Ornamental, $3.50. (_In Press._)
+
+=Limitations.= A Novel. By E. F. BENSON, Author of "Dodo," "The Judgment
+Books," etc. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental.
+
+=The Gray Man.= A Novel. By S. R. CROCKETT, Author of "The Raiders," etc.
+Illustrated by SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.50.
+
+=Rick Dale.= A Story for the Young. By KIRK MUNROE. Illustrated. Post 8vo,
+Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+=By George du Maurier.= Illustrated by the Author.
+
+     =Trilby.= A Novel. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.75; Three-quarter
+     Calf, $3.50; Three-quarter Crushed Levant, $4.50.
+
+     =A Souvenir of "Trilby,"= Seven Photogravures in a Portfolio, $1.00.
+
+     =Peter Ibbetson.= Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.50; Three-quarter
+     Calf, $3.50; Three-quarter Crushed Levant, $4.50.
+
+=The Square of Sevens.= An Authoritative System of Cartomancy. With a
+Prefatory Notice by E. IRENÆUS STEVENSON. With Diagrams. Post 8vo,
+Cloth, Ornamental, Deckel Edges and Gilt Top. (_In Press._)
+
+=Solomon Crow's Christmas Pockets=, and Other Tales. By RUTH MCENERY
+STUART. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=In the Old Herrick House=, and Other Stories. By ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND.
+Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental.
+
+=Tommy Toddles.= By ALBERT LEE. Illustrated by PETER S. NEWELL. Square
+16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+=Iras: A Mystery.= By THEO. DOUGLAS. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.00.
+
+=Green Fire.= A Romance. By FIONA MACLEOD. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
+$1.25.
+
+=Amyas Egerton, Cavalier.= A Novel. By MAURICE H. HERVEY. Illustrated.
+Post 8vo, Cloth, $1.50.
+
+=The Evolution of Woman.= Forty-four Drawings by HARRY WHITNEY MCVICKAR,
+printed in colors, with accompanying text. Large 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
+Uncut Edges and Gilt Top, $2.00.
+
+=Naval Actions of the War of 1812.= By JAMES BARNES. With 21 Full-page
+Illustrations by CARLTON T. CHAPMAN, printed in color or tint. 8vo,
+Cloth, Ornamental, Deckel Edges and Gilt Top, $4.50. (_In Press._)
+
+=Reminiscences of an Octogenarian of the City of New York= (1816-1860). By
+CHAS. H. HASWELL. With many Illustrations, a Photogravure Portrait of
+the Author, and a Map of New York in 1816. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
+Uncut Edges and Gilt Top, $3.00.
+
+=Alone in China=, and Other Stories. By JULIAN RALPH. Illustrated by C. D.
+WELDON. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $2.00. (_In Press._)
+
+=The Ship's Company=, and Other Sea People. By J. D. JERROLD KELLEY,
+Lieutenant-Commander, U.S.N. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth,
+Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=A Rebellious Heroine.= A Story. By JOHN KENDRICK BANGS. Illustrated by
+W. T. SMEDLEY. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, Uncut Edges, $1.25.
+
+=Mark Twain's Joan of Arc.= Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.
+Illustrated by F. V. DU MOND. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $2.50.
+
+=Books by Mark Twain.= New and Uniform Library Editions from New
+Electrotype Plates. Crown 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental.
+
+     =The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.= With Photogravure Portrait of
+     the Author, and other Illustrations. $1.75.
+
+     =Life on the Mississippi.= Illustrated. $1.75.
+
+     =A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.= Illustrated. $1.75.
+
+     =The Prince and the Pauper.= Illustrated. $1.75.
+
+     =Tom Sawyer Abroad=, =Tom Sawyer, Detective=, and Other Stories,
+     etc., etc. Illustrated. $1.75. (_In Press._)
+
+     =The American Claimant=, and Other Stories. Illustrated. (_In
+     Press._)
+
+=The Abbey Shakespeare.= The Comedies of William Shakespeare. With 131
+Drawings by EDWIN A. ABBEY, Reproduced by Photogravure. Four Volumes.
+Large 8vo, Half Cloth, Deckel Edges and Gilt Tops, $30.00 per set. (_In
+a Box._)
+
+=Bound in Shallows.= A Novel. By EVA WILDER BRODHEAD. Illustrated by W. A.
+ROGERS. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=Love in the Backwoods.= Two Stories: "Two Mormons from Muddlety,"
+"Alfred's Wife." By LANGDON ELWYN MITCHELL. Illustrated by A. B. FROST.
+Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=Frances Waldeaux.= A Novel. By REBECCA HARDING DAVIS, Author of "Dr.
+Warrick's Daughters." Illustrated by T. DE THULSTRUP. Post 8vo, Cloth,
+Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=Gascoigne's "Ghost."= A Novel. By G. B. BURGIN. Post 8vo, Cloth,
+Ornamental, $1.00.
+
+=Tomalyn's Quest.= A Novel. By G. B. BURGIN. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
+$1.25. (_In Press._)
+
+=A Virginia Cavalier.= By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. Illustrated. Post 8vo,
+Cloth, Ornamental. (_In Press._)
+
+=Constitutional History of the United States= from their Declaration of
+Independence to the Close of their Civil War. By GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS.
+In Two Volumes. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $3.00 each.
+
+=Clarissa Furiosa.= A Novel. By W. E. NORRIS. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
+$1.50.
+
+=An Elephant's Track=, and Other Stories. By M. E. M. DAVIS. Illustrated.
+Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
+
+=The Mystery of Sleep.= By JOHN BIGELOW. Post 8vo, Cloth, Deckel Edges and
+Gilt Top. (_In Press._)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+
+HE DID NOT KNOW THE ROPES.
+
+
+General Morgan, of Illinois, who commanded a brigade in Davis's
+division, was one of those men so slouchy in his appearance that a
+stranger would never have picked him for an officer of high rank. One
+day a raw recruit of his brigade who had lost some books asked a veteran
+where he might be likely to find them. The veteran said the only thief
+in the brigade was Jim Morgan, who occupied a tent near the blue flag.
+The recruit hastened to Morgan's tent, shoved his head in through the
+flaps, and asked,
+
+"Does Jim Morgan live here?"
+
+"My name is James Morgan," answered the General.
+
+"Then I want you to hand over those books you stole from me!"
+
+"I have none of your books, my dear man."
+
+"That's a lie!" cried the soldier. "The boys say you are the only thief
+in camp. Turn out them books, or I'll grind your carcass into
+apple-sass!"
+
+General Morgan appreciated the joke, and laughed heartily, but when the
+recruit began pulling off his coat to make good his threats, the officer
+informed him of his relations to the brigade.
+
+"Waal, blast me if I'd take you for a brigadier!" said the man. "Excuse
+me, General, but I don't thoroughly know the ropes yet."
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENTS.
+
+
+
+
+Arnold
+
+Constable & Co.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Children's Wear.
+
+FALL STYLES.
+
+_Velvet Walking Coats,_
+
+_Lamb's-wool Coats,_
+
+_Hand-made Dresses,_
+
+_Children's Reefers,_
+
+_School Frocks, Jackets, Capes._
+
+INFANTS' WEAR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Broadway & 19th st.
+
+NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+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: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION]
+
+CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS.
+
+Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use
+
+in time. Sold by druggists.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ivory Soap]
+
+  When office work has tried the nerves
+    And taxed both hands and brain,
+  A quick, cool wash with Ivory serves
+    To soothe and ease the strain.
+
+Copyright, 1896, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S BAZAR
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In 1897
+
+Will be, as in the past,
+
+AN UNEQUALLED FASHION JOURNAL
+
+AN UNRIVALLED PAPER FOR THE HOME
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+4 Splendid Serials
+
+BY
+
+MARIA LOUISE POOL
+
+W. D. HOWELLS
+
+OCTAVE THANET
+
+S. R. CROCKETT
+
+Working-Girls' Clubs and Young Women's Christian Association Work
+
+_By LILLIAN W. BETTS_
+
+STRONG SHORT STORIES
+
+_By well-known writers._
+
+THE EARLIEST YEARS
+
+OF CHILDHOOD
+
+_By FRANCES FISHER WOOD_
+
+BREAD-WINNING AVOCATIONS
+
+IN NEW LINES
+
+_By CLARE BUNCE_
+
+THE OUTDOOR WOMAN
+
+_By ADELIA K. BRAINERD_
+
+EMBROIDERY AND NEEDLEWORK
+
+_Will be illustrated by CANDACE WHEELER, ALICE C. MORSE, and others._
+
+WOMEN AND MEN
+
+_By COL. T. W. HIGGINSON_
+
+WOMEN IN SOCIETY AND
+
+AT HOME
+
+_By JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE_
+
+CEREMONY AND ETIQUETTE
+
+_By ANNA WENTWORTH SEARS_
+
+WHAT GIRLS ARE DOING
+
+_By a New York Girl._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+10 Cents a Copy. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. $4.00 a Year.
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SYMPATHY.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Jimmie," said Mrs. Hicks, "won't you have some brown bread?"
+
+"No, thank you," said Jimmie; "I'm afraid to eat it."
+
+"Afraid?" asked Mrs. Hicks.
+
+"Yes," said Jimmie. "You see, ma'am, my papa says red beef will give me
+red cheeks, and I'm afraid brown bread will make a darky out of me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Pat," said Tommie to the gardener, "what is nothing?"
+
+"There ain't any such thing as nothin'," replied Pat; "becaze whin ye
+find nothin', and come to look at it, there ain't nothin' there."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+An absent-minded old gentleman went into a shop to buy a new cane.
+
+"That's a very nice one," he said, picking one up from the counter. "How
+much is that?"
+
+"That's the one you brought in with you. You just laid it down there,
+sir," said the shopkeeper.
+
+"Oh, really?" said the old gentleman. "Then I don't need a new one.
+Good-day." And he walked out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"What is the baby crying about?" asked his mother.
+
+"He doesn't want to get in the bath-tub without his rubbers on," said
+the nurse. "He's afraid he'll get his feet wet."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A WITTY DECISION.
+
+A good story is told of Dr. Arne, the composer of the English national
+hymn "Rule, Britannia." He was called upon one day to judge between two
+singers, neither of whom was worthy of a moment's consideration. After
+patiently hearing them, he said to one of the contestants,
+
+"You are the worst singer I ever heard in my life."
+
+"Ah!" cried the other, exultingly, "then I win?"
+
+"No," said Dr. Arne. "You can't sing at all."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, my son," said the Freshman's father, "I am very glad you have
+gone on your class football team. Have you got everything you need?"
+
+"Everything, father, except a new set of teeth, and I may be able to get
+through the year without losing those that I have," replied the
+Freshman.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Jack got asking his grandmother questions the other night. One of them
+was:
+
+"Grandma, if you was a centipede, would you always insist on putting on
+fifty pairs of rubbers before you walked on the grass?"
+
+Up to this hour the dear old lady has not made up her mind on the
+important point.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Li Hung-Chang, the famous Chinaman who visited this country a short time
+ago, made quite an impression in England for his wit and apparent
+ingenuousness, although it was more than suspected that some of the old
+gentleman's remarks were not so bland as they seemed. One incident
+especially amused the Britishers. It was when Li Hung-Chang met Joseph
+Chamberlain, who affects a monocle. The Chinaman noticed the single
+eye-glass, and took it for granted that the Colonial Secretary had lost
+the use of one eye, and he offered him his sincere condolences.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+PHILOSOPHIC.
+
+  To prophesy the future would
+  Bring more of evil than of good;
+  So let us thank our lucky stars
+  That no such gift our wisdom mars.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Irish soldier seems to furnish the story-teller with many an
+anecdote. The following incident is said to have occurred at the battle
+of Fontenoy, when the great Saxe was the marshal in command.
+
+"The password is 'Saxe,'" said the officer of the guard, as he sent off
+an Irish trooper with a message; "don't forget the word."
+
+"Sure I won't, sir," was the reply. "Sacks--my father was a miller."
+
+When he came to the sentinel and was challenged, the Irishman looked
+wise, and whispered,
+
+"'Bags,' you spalpeen; let me through!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, October 27, 1896, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59491 ***