diff options
Diffstat (limited to '59855-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 59855-0.txt | 3305 |
1 files changed, 3305 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/59855-0.txt b/59855-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52d38c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/59855-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3305 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59855 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] + +Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1896. FIVE CENTS A +COPY. + +VOL. XVIII.--NO. 889. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration] + +RECAPTURED. + +A STORY OF THE APACHE DAYS IN ARIZONA. + +BY CAPTAIN CHARLES KING, U.S.A. + + +There was a boy at old Camp Sandy once upon a time when white men were +scarce in Arizona, and from the day he was ten years old this boy's +consuming desire was to help "clean out," as he heard the soldiers +express it, a certain band of mountain Apaches that had surprised and +slaughtered a small party of people in whose welfare he felt especial +interest, for the reason that there was with them a little fellow of his +own age. They had sojourned at Sandy only three days, and then, deaf to +remonstrance, had gone on their way up into the mountains "prospecting"; +but during those three days the two youngsters had been inseparable. +"Sherry" Bates, the sergeant's son, had done the honors of the post for +Jimmy Lane, the miner's boy; had proudly exhibited the troop quarters, +stables, and corrals; had taken him across the stream to the old ruins +up the opposite heights, and told him prodigious stories of the odd +people that used to dwell there; had introduced him personally to all +the hounds, big and little, and had come to grief in professing to be on +intimate terms with a young but lively black bear cub at the sutler's +store, and was rescued from serious damage from bruin's claws and +clasping arms only by the prompt dash of by-standers. It took some of +Sherry's conceit out of him, but not all, and the troopers had lots of +fun, later on, at the corral, when he essayed to show Master Jim how +well he could ride bare-back, and mounted for the purpose one of Mexican +Pete's little "burros" by way of illustration. All the same, they were +days of thrilling interest, and Sherry wept sorely when, a week later, a +friendly Indian came in and made known to the officers, mainly by signs, +that the party had been killed to a man, that their mutilated bodies +were lying festering in the sun about the ruins of their wagon up near +Stoneman's Lake in the pine country of the Mogollon.[1] The Major +commanding sent out a scouting party to investigate, and the report +proved only too true. The bodies could no longer be identified; but one +thing was certain: there were the remains of four men, hacked and burned +beyond recognition, but not a trace of little Jim. + +[1] Pronounced Mogol_yone_. + +"It was Coyote's band beyond doubt," said the Lieutenant who went in +command, and for Coyote's band the troopers at Sandy "had it in," as +their soldier slang expressed it, for long, long months--for over a +year, in fact--before they ever got word or trace of them. They seemed +to have vanished from the face of the earth. Meantime there had been +chase after chase, scout after scout. General Crook had been transferred +long since to an Eastern field, and was busy with the Sioux and +Cheyennes. Another commander, one who lacked Crook's knowledge of Indian +tricks and character, had taken charge in Arizona, and the Apaches had +quickly found it out. They made it lively for small parties, and easily +kept out of the path of big ones. And this was the way things were going +when, one autumn night, signal fires were discovered ablaze away up in +the Red Rock country, and Major Wheeler sent a troop post-haste to see +what it meant; and with this troop went Sergeant Bates, and on its +trail, an hour later, unbeknown to almost everybody, went Sherry. + +Indians rarely ventured into the deep valley of the Sandy. The boy had +hunted jack-rabbits and shot California quail and fished for "shiners" +and other inconspicuous members of the finny tribe along its banks, and +he knew the neighborhood north, south, and west for miles. Eastward, out +of sight of the flag-staff he had never ventured. That was towards the +land of the Apache, and thither his father had told him no one was safe +to go. An only son was Sherry, and a pretty good boy, as boys go, +especially when it is considered that he had been motherless for several +years. The old sergeant, his father, watched him carefully, taught him +painstakingly, and was very grateful when any of the officers or their +wives would help with the lessons of the little man. He had had a pony +to ride, but that pony was old when his father bought him from an +officer who was ordered to the East, and Sherry soon declared him too +old and stiff for his use. What he craved was a horse, and occasionally +the men let him mount some of their chargers when the troop went down to +water at the river, and that was Sherry's glory; and on this particular +October night he had stolen from his little bed and made his way to the +corral, and had got Jimmy Lanigan, the saddler sergeant's son, now a +trumpeter in "F" Troop, to saddle for him a horse usually ridden by +Private McPhee, now sick in hospital of mountain fever. As Mac couldn't +go, his horse would not be needed, and Sherry determined to ride in his +place. + +But some one gave old Bates the "tip," and he caught the little fellow +by the ear and led him home just before the troop started, and bade him +stay there; and Sherry feigned to be penitent and obedient, but hugged +his father hard, and so they parted. + +But boys who own dogs know the old dog's trick. Sometimes when starting +for a day's pleasuring where Rover would be very much in the way, the +master has sternly ordered him home when, with confident joy, the +usually welcome pet and companion came bounding and barking after. You +have all seen how sad and crestfallen he looked, how dumbly he begged, +how reluctantly he skulked homeward when at last he had to go or be +pelted with stones; and then, time and again, he finally turned and +followed, a long distance behind, never venturing to draw near, until, +so very far from home that he knew he couldn't be sent back, he would +reappear, tail on high and eyes beaming forgiveness and assurance, and +the battle was won. + +And Sherry had learned Rover's little game, and he lay patiently in wait +until he knew the troop was gone, then over to the corral he stole, +easily coaxed the stable sentry into giving him a lift, and in half an +hour he was loping northward along the winding Sandy under the starry +skies, sure of overtaking the command before the dawn if need be, yet +craftily keeping well behind the hindermost, so that his stern old +father could not send him back when at last his presence was discovered. + +For, long before daybreak, the soldiers were trailing in single file, +afoot and leading their horses up the steep, rocky sides of the +Mogollon, taking a short-cut across the range instead of following the +long, circuitous route to Stoneman's Lake, and only a hundred feet or so +behind the rear-most of the pack-train followed keen-eyed, quick-eared +little Sherry, still clinging to his saddle, for his light weight made +little difference to such a stocky horse as McPhee's Patsy, and trusting +mainly to Patsy's power as a trailer to carry him unerringly in the +hoof-prints of the troop. + +When at last the sun came peering over the pine crests to the east, the +little command was deep down in a rocky cañon, and here the Captain +ordered halt, lead into line, and unsaddle. The horses and the +pack-mules were quickly relieved of their loads, and the men were +gathering dry fagots for little cook-fires--fires that must make no +smoke at all, even down in that rocky defile, for Indian eyes are sharp +as a microscope; but before marching on again men and horses both had to +have their bite and the men their tin mug of soldier coffee, and here it +was that some one suddenly exclaimed, + +"Well, I'm blessed if here ain't Sherry!" + +It was useless for the old sergeant to scold now. The officers promptly +and laughingly took the boy's part and declared him "a chip of the old +block," and bade the sergeant bring the boy along. It was safer, at all +events, than sending him back. + +And so, secretly proud of him, though openly declaring he would larrup +him well the moment they got back to the post, Sergeant Bates obeyed his +Captain, and thus it happened that Master Sherry was with "F" Troop the +chill October morning, just at dawn, when they found out, entirely to +their satisfaction, just what those signal-fires meant. + +They were not visible from Camp Sandy, you must understand. Indians are +too sharp for that. They were started in certain deep clefts in the Red +Rocks which permitted their glare to be seen only from the southeast or +the east, the direction from which the roving bands approached when +seeking to steal their way back to the old reservation after some bloody +foray, sure of food and welcome at the lodges of their friends and +fellow-savages, provided they came not empty-handed. Coyote's band had +not been near the reservation since their exploit of the year before. A +price was on the leader's head, but scouting parties away down to the +southeast in the Chiricahua country had learned that recently Coyote +with some forty followers had crossed to the north of the Gila, and +seemed to be making his way back to his old haunts in the Mogollon. All +this was wired to Major Wheeler, and Wheeler sent some trustworthy +Apache-Mohave scouts out towards the head-waters of Chevelon's Fork to +the east, with orders to watch for the coming of Coyote. It was one of +these runners who brought in the tidings that the signal-fires were +burning, and that meant, "Come on, Coyote; the coast is clear." + +And Apache confederates, watching from the reservation, twenty miles +up-stream, would have said the coast was still clear, for the road to +Stoneman's Lake was untrodden. A day later, to be sure, they got word +that a whole troop of horse had gone by night up into the mountains, but +it was then too late to undo what they had done--lured Coyote many a +mile towards his enemies. They sent up "smokes" in the afternoon to warn +him, but by that time Coyote's people, what was left of them, knew more +than did their friends at the reservation. + +For, early that morning, just at dawn, while some of them were sound +asleep in their brush shelters, or "wicky-ups," away on top of a rocky +pinnacle that overlooked the country for miles, this is what happened: + +Following the lead of three or four swart, black-haired, beady-eyed +Apache scouts, the soldiers came stealthily climbing the steep. Away +down in a rocky cañon they had left the horses and pack-mules, their +blankets and, many of them, their boots, and in moccasins, or even +stocking feet in a few cases, they noiselessly made their way. Officers +and all carried the death-dealing little brown cavalry carbine, and +thimble belts of copper cartridges were buckled about their waists. +"Find um top," the leader of the little squad of scouts muttered to the +Captain, as he pointed the evening before to this distant peak, and well +he knew their ways, for only three years before he himself had been a +"hostile," and was tamed into subjection by General Crook. And so it +proved. Relying on the far-away night fires, Coyote and his weary band +had made their brush shelters on the old Picacho. The few squaws with +them had filled their water-jars at the cañon. Two trusty runners had +gone on westward to the reservation, and the rest to sleep. Coyote +thought the white soldiers "too heap fool" to think of making a night +march through the mountains instead of coming away around by the old +road. With the troop-horses was left a small guard, and with the guard a +little boy--Master Sherry Bates--fretting and fuming not a little as he +lay there among the rocks, wrapped in his father's blanket, and +listening with eagerness unspeakable for the crash of musketry away up +on that dimly outlined peak that should tell that his father and the +boys had found their foemen and the fight was on. Presently, as the +eastern sky began to change from crimson to gold, the lofty summit +seemed slowly to blaze with glistening fire. The light, still dim and +feeble in the jagged ravine, grew sharp and clear along the range, and +one of the guard, peering through the Captain's binocular, swore he +could "see some of the fellers climbing close to the top"; and Sherry, +though shivering with cold and excitement, rolled out of his blanket and +scrambled to his feet. An instant more and, floating on the mountain +breeze, there came the sudden crash and splutter of distant musketry, +and Sherry could control himself no longer. Mad with excitement, he +began dancing about the bivouac. The men were all listening and gazing. +The horses were snorting and pawing. There was no one to hinder the +little fellow now. Half shrouded by the lingering darkness in the gorge, +he stole away among the stunted pines and went speeding as though for +dear life up the cañon. + +The fight itself was of short duration. Surprised in their stronghold, +the Indians sprang to their arms at the warning cry of one haplessly +wakeful sentinel. It was his death-song, too, for Sergeant Bates and the +veteran corporal at his side, foremost with the guides, drove their +almost simultaneous shots at the dark figure as it suddenly leaped +between them and the sky, tumbling the sentry in his tracks, and then, +before the startled band could spring to the shelter of surrounding +bowlders, the soldiers with one volley and a ringing cheer came dashing +in among them. Some warriors in their panic leaped from the ledge and +were dashed upon the rocks below; some, like mountain-goats, went +bounding down the eastward side and disappeared among the straggling +timber; some, crouching behind the bowlders, fought desperately, until +downed by carbine butt or bullet. Some few wailing squaws knelt beside +their slain, sure that the white soldiers would not knowingly harm them; +while others, like frightened doe, darted away into the shelter of rock +or stunted pine. One little Indian boy sat straight up from a sound +sleep, rubbing his baby eyes, and yelling with terror. Another little +scamp, with snapping black eyes, picked up a gun and pulled trigger like +a man, and then lay sprawling on his back, rubbing a damaged shoulder, +and kicking almost as hard as the old musket. And then, while some +soldiers went on under a boy Lieutenant in charge of the fleeing +Indians, others, with their short-winded Captain, counted up the Indian +losses and their own, and gave their attention to the wounded; and all +of a sudden there went up a shout from Sergeant Bates, who was peering +over the edge of a shelf of rock. + +"Here's more of 'em, sir, running down this way!" followed by a bang +from his carbine and a yell from below, and men who reached his side +were just in time to see a brace of squaws, dragging two or three +youngsters by the hand, darting into the bushes, while their protecting +warriors defiantly faced their assailants, fired a shot or two, and then +went plunging after. "I know that Indian," almost screamed old Bates. +"It's Coyote himself!" + +"After 'em, then!" was the order, and away went every man. + +Two minutes later, out from under a shelving rock came crawling a +trembling squaw. Peering cautiously around, and assuring herself the +troopers were gone, she listened intently to the sound of the pursuit +dying away down the mountain-side; then in harsh whisper summoned some +one else. Out from the same shelter, shaking with fear, came a little +Apache boy, black and dirty, dragging by the hand another boy, white and +dirtier still, and crying. Seizing a hand of each, the woman scurried +back along the range, until she reached the narrow trail by which the +troopers had climbed the heights; then, panting, and muttering threats +to the urchins dragging helplessly after, down the hill-side she tore; +but only a hundred yards or so, when, with a scream of fright and +misery, she threw herself upon her knees before the body of a lithe, +sinewy Apache just breathing his last. And then, forgetting her boy +charges, forgetting everything for the moment but that she had lost her +brave, she began swaying to and fro, crooning some wild chant, while the +boys, white and black, knelt shuddering among the rocks in nerveless +terror. + +And this was the scene that suddenly burst upon the eyes of Sherry, the +sergeant's boy, as he came scrambling up the trail in search of his +father. And then there went up a shrill, boyish voice in a yell of +mingled hope and dread and desperation, and the dirty little white +savage, screaming "Sherry! Sherry!" went bounding to meet the new-comer. +And the squaw rose up and screamed too--something Master Sherry couldn't +understand, but that drove terror to the white boy and lent him wings. +"Run! run!" he cried as he seized Sherry by the hand, and, hardly +knowing where they were going, back went both youngsters tearing like +mad down the tortuous trail. + +Five minutes later, as some of the men, wellnigh breathless, came +drifting in from the pursuit, and Corporal Clancy, running up from the +cañon in pursuit of the vanished "kid," both parties stumbled suddenly +upon this motley pair, and the rocks rang with Clancy's glad cry. + +"Here he is, sergeant! all right, and Jimmy Lane wid him." + +And that's why Sherry didn't get the promised larruping when they all +got back to Sandy. + + + + +DEPORTMENT. + + + Half this windy day I've watched them, + In the breeze, + Those long slender tasselled branches + On the trees, + Bowing, courtesying politely, + Doing their deportments rightly, + As modestly, as brightly + As you please. + + Why, I never saw such manners, + Not till now, + Such beautiful deportment; + But I vow + All the people that I see + Are as rude as they can be, + Not to stop before each tree + And make a bow. + + ARTHUR WILLIS COLTON. + + + + +[Illustration: Adventures with Friend Paul.] + + +The following morning we left the village at daylight, each one carrying +about twenty pounds of boiled smoked elephant meat. We were soon in the +forest, and tramped and tramped along without seeing any game. Towards +four o'clock we met a great many fresh elephant tracks. The animals +seemed to be just ahead of us. The footprints after a while began to be +so plentiful that evidently there had been several herds of elephants. +At about five o'clock we came to a beautiful prairie which seemed like a +lovely island on that big sea of trees. There were many fields of +plantain-trees along the borders of the forest, growing in the midst of +trees that had been felled and burned. + +Okili said to me: "We have seen, Moguizi, many elephants' tracks on our +way here. I am almost certain they will come here to-night, for they are +fond of plantains." + +So we resolved to go no further that day, for we were on good +elephant-hunting ground, and made preparations to spend the night on the +border of the forest and wait for the huge beasts. We only spoke in +whispers, for we thought the elephants might not be far off. + +Okili then said, pointing to a spot where the forest advanced on the +prairie, forming, so to speak, a cape: + +"It would be wise, I think, for some of us to go to that place, for +there also is another large field of plantain-trees, and the chances are +that some of the elephants will go there, for there are very many." + +Then Ogoola, pointing to another field of plantain-trees south of us, +said, "To make sure, some of us ought to go there also." + +We all assented. + +"We have chosen," said I, "three places where we are going to lie in +wait for elephants, so we must divide ourselves into three parties." + +I had hardly said these words than they all cried with one voice, "I am +going with you, Moguizi." + +I replied, "Hunters, if you all go with me, then there will be only one +party, and we will be too many together." + +"That is so," they all answered. There was a pause. + +Okili got up and said, "The Moguizi, Okili, and Niamkala will make one +party. You know that the King said that I must be always by the side of +the Moguizi." + +"Yes," they all answered. "The King said so." + +Then Okili spoke again, and said, "Obindji, Mbango, and Macondai will +make the second party. Ogoola, Makooga, and Fasiko will make the third +party." + +Okili, who had much experience in hunting elephants, said, "Now listen +to what I am going to tell you, and act accordingly. The great thing in +elephant-hunting is for one to have a cool head, otherwise he had better +stay at home. Often elephants, when wounded, charge those who fire at +them. In that case, if the hunter runs away, he is lost, for the +elephant is sure to overtake him, tramp over him, and one of his feet +upon the hunter's body is quite enough to kill him instantly. The +elephant may prefer to impale him on one of his tusks, or seize him with +his trunk and dash him to the ground or against a tree. + +"The only way to escape the elephant when he makes his furious charge +upon you is to keep perfectly calm, then when you are sure of the +direction of the huge beast, instead of facing him, move sideways; then +when he is five or six yards from you, take three steps backward as +quickly as you possibly can. His pace is then so rapid that he cannot +deviate from his course, and he passes by you, and you are safe." + +"Yes, Okili, you are right," I said. "I have been three times in the +same predicament, and I did exactly what you tell us to do, and there +are no other ways to escape the fury of the elephant." + +"We will do so," all the hunters said, with one voice, "but we hope to +kill the elephants on the spot," and as they said this they looked at +the charms which hung on their guns. + +We separated, as we had agreed, into three separate parties, but not +before we had taken our dinner of elephant meat. Each party went into +the prairie to reach the fields, and one and all disappeared in the +midst of them. + +I had just looked at my watch for the tenth time, which marked one +o'clock, when lo! I saw through the dim moonlight, emerging from the +forest on the opposite side of the prairie, something like a big black +spot, which was moving. Soon I saw it was a huge bull elephant. He +walked for a while, then stood still and looked all around, as if to see +if there was danger ahead. + +Okili and Niamkala had their backs turned to me, and were watching in +another direction. I gave the cluck of danger--cluck, cluck! They turned +toward me, and I pointed the bull elephant to them. Then the big bull +gave a shrill, piercing trumpeting, which evidently meant there was no +danger, for immediately afterwards elephant after elephant emerged from +the forest into the prairie. I counted one, two, five, seven, ten, +thirteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-seven, when appeared +behind them all a cow followed by a baby elephant. No more elephants +came out of the forest; the herd was all there. They all came by the +bull elephant and stood still in a bunch. Were they mistrustful of +danger, or were they taking counsel together before moving? + +Fortunately for us the wind blew in the right direction; it blew from +the elephants towards us, so they could not possibly detect our scent. + +After a while the herd nearest to us, headed by the big bull, marched in +our direction. Their keen eyes had evidently detected the plantains. +They walked slowly. We could hear their heavy footsteps. + +Soon they entered the plantation not one hundred yards from us, and then +the destruction began. Plantain-tree after plantain-tree was brought +down by them. They were making such a havoc! + +Before we moved from our hiding-place we waited until they were so far +in among the trees that they could not possibly see us when we crossed +that bit of the prairie that stood between us. + +The time came at last when we left our place. Okili gave the small +cluck, to draw our attention, and made the sign to follow him. We left +our hiding-place, and as soon as we reached the grass we lay low, +creeping towards the place where the beasts were. We entered the +plantation; tree after tree had been pulled down. Fortunately they were +making such a noise continually pulling down the trees that they could +not hear us. + +We three were close together, and advanced slowly towards the game, +when, to our consternation, the wind shifted suddenly; if it shifted two +or three more points of the compass, then the elephants would be aware +of our presence. + +After emerging from a cluster of plantain-trees, Okili suddenly stood +still, put his finger on his mouth--a sign of danger. Looking around, we +saw within twenty yards of us the bull elephant feeding on a bunch of +plantains. How big he looked! + +Niamkala, Okili, and I looked at one another, as if to say, now danger +is before us; let our hearts not fail us. Then slowly we pressed forward +towards the big bull. + +Of course he was the most dangerous of the whole herd. It was certain +that he would charge if we did not kill him on the spot. Then we must +look out for our lives. Okili looked at his old-fashioned gun once more; +Niamkala did likewise. I gave a look also at Bull-dog, and I said to +myself, "Paul, if you let this elephant tramp on you or toss you or +impale you, it will be all over with you; you will never see home +again." + +We were getting dangerously near. Niamkala had left us, and crept +towards the elephant in such a manner that he could send a shot behind +his left shoulder without the danger of his iron plug coming in our +direction if it missed the animal. There was no danger of that, for +Niamkala was a splendid shot, but then he might only wound him. + +[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON THE BULL ELEPHANT.] + +Okili and I had approached within twelve or fifteen yards; we were +facing each other; circumstance had favored us. The moon was hidden +under a cloud, and just as the cloud disappeared we raised our guns. We +were to fire between the elephant's eyes. Niamkala also raised his gun, +and we all fired at the same time. We were upon our feet at once, and +waited for the effect of our shots. The elephant seemed to stagger, then +suddenly he made a plunge towards Okili and me, charging at full speed. +We turned instantly sidewise to let him pass in front of us. In a moment +he was near; we made three steps backwards and he passed us. I fired +another shot; we heard a thumping noise on the ground; the big beast had +fallen dead. + +Of course the whole herd decamped after we had fired. They went through +the jungle, breaking every small sapling that came in their way and +barred their flight. For quite a while we could hear them, until the +noise gradually died away in the distance. + +Then we left the dead bull and went on the prairie, and saw some men +running in our direction. As they came in sight they shouted, despite +their being out of breath, "We have killed two elephants and wounded one +that has run away." + +We shouted back, "We have killed the big bull elephant." + +We embraced one another, and shouted in the wildest manner, "We are men! +We are men!" Then they all danced round the bull elephant, and +exclaimed, "You wanted to kill our people; you charged them, but you got +killed instead." And they had a war-dance round the dead animal, after +which we went to their camp and saw the two cow elephants. They danced +round them, after which they cut a piece off each elephant, and took +these into the wood and left them there upon large leaves, for the +spirits Mombo and Olombo, who ruled over the hunting, to feed upon. + +One of the bull elephant's tusks weighed sixty-nine pounds, the other +one sixty-one. The four tusks of the cow elephants weighed one hundred +and eleven pounds. + +The following morning, Mbango, Macondai, Niamkala, and Fasiko left us to +go back to the village to fetch people to carry the elephant meat and +the tusks of ivory. + +After they had left, we eagerly followed the tracks the elephants had +made during their flight. For hours we followed these. Fortunately Okili +was well acquainted with this part of the forest. A number of +peculiar-shaped trees were his landmarks. During the day we crossed over +several hunting-paths. + +"The elephants must have gone far away," said Okili. "Their leader, the +big bull elephant we have killed, is not with them to direct them. The +other bull elephants in the herd were too young. Some big bull elephant +will scent them, and then become their leader. We had better leave their +tracks and follow one of the hunting-paths. I know the path will lead us +to the place where we are to meet Ogoola and Niamkala." + +We slept in the woods, surrounded by big blazing fires. The following +day, towards evening, after walking without intermission for twelve +hours, with the exception of half an hour for our noon meal, we reached +the shore of a little river, and came to the big koola-tree where we +were to meet Ogoola and Niamkala. Okili and I were delighted to see so +many koola nuts on the ground, for both of us were very fond of koola +nuts. + +We built our camp at some distance from the big koola-tree, and lighted +big fires, then lay upon our backs and put the soles of our sore and +lame feet as near the fire as we could. It is wonderful how this great +heat takes away the soreness. + +The next morning I thought I would take a stroll by myself and look for +elephants, as Okili was not feeling very well. + +One hour after I left our camp, and as I was walking along the bank of +the river, I spied, on the opposite side, a big bull elephant by +himself, evidently old, and the kind that is called by the natives a +"rogue elephant." The big beast was looking at the water, as if he had +not made up his mind to cross the river or not, or to take a bath. After +some hesitation he plunged into the river. The sun was very hot. He +threw water with his trunk in the air. He took his bath leisurely, then +began to swim across to a sandy island, upon which he landed, then stood +still for a few moments. He had all the appearance of a "rogue +elephant." I did not like his looks, and I was sure he would charge if +not killed on the spot. I looked at Bull-dog carefully, and made sure +that the steel-pointed bullets were near. I kept watching the beast, +hidden by the thick jungle, when suddenly he lay down and began to roll +himself in the sand. This was his sand bath, and he seemed to enjoy it +thoroughly. Then he got up, stood still for a while, and suddenly +plunged into the water and swam in my direction. I saw that he would +land about opposite to where I stood. "Goodness gracious!" said I to +myself, "I am in a pretty fix; I have no choice of position; I have to +face the huge beast, and I must aim right between his eyes before he +lands." + +I placed myself by a big tree, which could protect me in case the +elephant charged. + +[Illustration: "I TOOK AIM RIGHT BETWEEN HIS EYES AND FIRED."] + +I took aim right between his two eyes, and fired, reserving the other +shot. When I fired he was on the point of landing. As the bullet struck +him he gave a shrill cry; then he landed and charged. I dodged by going +to the other side of the tree, and well I did, for as he passed the tree +he moved his trunk in my direction. Then he disappeared, and I heard a +big crash in the jungle, and all became silent. I went in that +direction, but looked very sharp, and then I saw the huge beast +breathing his last. I approached very carefully, for I was not sure that +he had not strength enough at sight of me to get up and charge. I did +not want to waste more of my steel-pointed bullets. I waited for a +while; the elephant kept still; then I ventured nearer and I found that +he was dead. + +Okili, who had heard the report of the gun, started down the stream with +a raft he had made, and gave a war-whoop when he saw me by the shore. +Soon after he was in sight of the big rogue elephant. We cut his tail +off as a trophy, and went back to the camp, for Ogoola and Niamkala were +to be with us that day. + +There was great rejoicing with the animal. They were hardly seated when +Okili said to them, "We have great news to tell you." + +"What is it?" they said, with great eagerness. + +"The Moguizi has killed this morning a rogue elephant; there is his +tail." + + PAUL DU CHAILLU. + + + + +A SCHOOL OF SHARKS. + +BY CHARLES LEWIS SHAW. + + +A boy--that is, the ordinary every-day sort of boy, which is, after all, +the best kind--is supposed to cause sufficient mischief not only to keep +himself but his parents and guardians and a large circle of relatives in +considerable hot water. And when you mix up two healthy boys and a +school of sharks, and incidentally throw in a ship's boat, a heavy sea, +and a sudden squall, there is bound to be trouble. And there was. + +Philosophers to the contrary notwithstanding, there is such a thing as +luck in this world. It was pure unadulterated luck when the firm of +Henderson, Burt, & Co., let us call them, manufacturers of fire-arms, +had turned out 5000 rifles of what they supposed was the most improved +pattern, at a time when the market was dull, that an obscure German +chemist should invent a gunpowder requiring a cartridge which relegated +those rifles to the catalogue of ancient weapons. And it was luck that +the Captain of the schooner _Hecuba_ happened to be asleep one afternoon +off the coast of Cuba, and his son and the ship's apprentice were boys, +and had a boyish desire to catch a shark, or the firm of Henderson, +Burt, & Co. would have been bankrupt, and a considerable portion of +General Maceo's army would have had to struggle for freedom this summer +with their fists. And even Spanish conscripts cannot be beaten with +fists. This is how it happened: + +When the news of that German's discovery reached us, for I was the +junior partner--the "Co." part--of the firm of Henderson, Burt, &. Co., +it looked very much like ruin. The Orient, our hoped-for market, was not +only too far away and uncertain, but our agent in Alexandria had already +advised us that the Oriental was becoming more and more fastidious +regarding his fire-arms. In our desperation I thought of Cuba, which, on +account of the poverty of the insurgents, we had hitherto not +considered. The details of the transaction do not matter. Sufficient to +say that in a few days after the suggestion was made, an agreement was +entered into with the Cuban agents that if 2000 stand of arms were +delivered at a specified point on the coast of Cuba at a certain time, +we would be paid in gold then, and not before. It was a strange +contract. The sale was illegal, as the belligerency of the insurgents +was not recognized, and the risk of total loss by capture either by our +own revenue-boats or Spanish cruisers was great. To me was assigned the +entire conduct of the affair. + +I didn't relish the task. All halcyon dreams about the Spanish main, +coral islands, and hidden treasures, all latent admiration for +picturesque pirates, low raking schooners with tapering masts, +snow-white decks, and "Long Toms" secreted under the long-boats had +evaporated. I was a business man, and assuming the rôle of the +filibustering blockade-runner wasn't exactly in my line. And as the +_Hecuba_, favored at last by a land breeze, crept out of the harbor of +Tampa, Florida, in the darkness of the June night, I watched the lights +of the revenue-steamer ahead, and thoughts of capture, jail, the +disgrace of a trial, either in an American court or before a Spanish +court martial, possessed me, and I wondered why it was that ten years +ago I had a wild longing to pace quarter-decks arrayed in a slashed +doublet, a velveteen cloak, and a pair of uncomfortable big jack-boots, +and yell in a voice of thunder, "Man the tops'l yards. Port your helm. +Run out Long Tom and send a shot across her bows." It occurred to me +that there was just a little bit too much eighteenth-century Captain +Kidd, Sir Henry Morgan sort of romance being mixed up in this business +transaction. I confessed to myself that I had outgrown all interest in +the blockade-running business beyond seeing 2000 rifles safely delivered +to a customer, and $40,000 received therefor. But in the words of the +ship's boy, a runaway street arab from New York, there were others. And +he and the Captain's son, for they were sworn friends by this time, +discussed the chances of the trip from the vantage-ground of the ship's +boat, into which they had clambered. + +"D'ye t'ink they'll see us, Chimmie?" asked the Bowery boy, anxiously, +for it had been impossible to conceal the object of the trip from the +crew. + +"I don't know. I hope they do," answered the youngster, who had often +been on voyages with his father, and knew the sailing-qualities of the +_Hecuba_. "This breeze is going to freshen, and we're nearly out of the +bay. Father will show those revenue-steamers a thing or two." + +"If dey catch us, will we be hung to de yard-arm, way dey say in de +books?" inquired the street arab, whose first voyage it was. + +"Perhaps," cheerfully answered Jimmie; and with a son's unbounded faith +in his father, he continued: "But they won't catch us. The worst is that +they may get close enough to see who we are, and then there will be +trouble when we come back." + +"Den yer old man had better be a pirate. Dat's de way dey allus +does--get into trouble in dere own country, and den go piratin' in de +Spanish main after gold gallons," suggested the ex-newsboy. + +Jimmie said, in an apologetic tone, as if it were a blight on the +character of his parent, that the skipper, as he called his father, in +imitation of the sailors, wasn't exactly cut out for a pirate. He wasn't +blood-thirsty enough, and mentioned several other drawbacks, much to the +credit of Captain Wade. And then there was an intense discussion as to +what they would do if they were captain and mate of the schooner +_Hecuba_. How they would get a beautiful coral island with only savages +on it, whom they would first kill, and then utilize the island for +burying treasure, imprisoning captive maidens of ancient Castilian +lineage, and holding rich grandees for ransom. The blood-thirsty little +wretches had just determined that I should be their first prisoner, and +was to be held for a ransom that would have bankrupted half the arms +factories of Connecticut, when the voice of the Captain could be heard +in sharp command: + +"Ease her off and lay low. Cover up the binnacle light!" And in the +darkness we could see the point of the land we were hugging over the +port bow. + +"They see us. They see us!" excitedly said Jimmie. + +I looked, and felt a sick feeling in my heart as I saw the lights of the +revenue-steamer slowly moving toward us. + +"We're right at the mouth of the harbor," I could hear Jimmie whisper. +"With this wind, she's a good one if she catches us." + +In a few seconds I could feel the heavy swell of the Gulf of Mexico; and +the _Hecuba_, with her canvas spread like huge wings that looked +weirdlike in the darkness, sped before the wind. I felt, indeed, that +Jimmie was right--the steamer would be a good one if she caught us. And +she didn't catch us. But Yankee revenue-steamers are not easily run away +from, and it was only after we had steered a course that led the +government boat to believe that we were making for Jamaica did she +abandon the chase. We were then far out of our course, and I now had the +additional anxiety as to whether we would be able to make Cuba in the +appointed time. Slowly we beat up against adverse winds, practically +retracing our course for miles, until at last we sighted the +war-stricken island, with only two days left to make the little bay +named as the rendezvous with the Cuban agents. The elements then seemed +to rise up against us, for a storm came up in the evening with tropical +vehemence, and the sturdy little _Hecuba_ was compelled, with infinite +peril, to seek the shelter of one of the numerous bays along the Cuban +coast. For two days and nights the storm raged with such fury that it +would have been madness to venture forth. We saw on the second night far +out to sea an ironclad, which the Captain's night glass showed to be one +of the fastest of the Spanish cruisers guarding the coast. We took the +small crumb of comfort that it was an ill wind that blew nobody good. + +'Twas the afternoon of the second day. The violence of the gale had +spent itself that morning, and by noon had moderated into a gentle +breeze, although a heavy sea was still running. It was the day that I +was to have met the Cuban agents, and it was maddening to think that the +place of meeting was only a few hours' run from where we were idly +lying. I begged the Captain to venture forth, but he gravely handed me +his powerful glass and pointed to a speck on the horizon. I looked, and +saw the funnels of the Spanish cruiser that had passed us the night +before. + +"We shall have to wait for darkness," he said. "It would be worse than +folly to try it now. I must turn in for a spell. I haven't had a wink of +sleep for forty-eight hours," and he disappeared into his cabin. + +I was not the only discontented being on board the _Hecuba_. The two +boys resented the delay also, and having been kept below during the +storm like prisoners, longed for action. They soon had excitement +enough, however, to suit even their temperaments. + +"Sharks!" screamed Jimmie, disturbing the drowsy sailor of the +dog-watch, as he eagerly looked over the rail at a lot of plashing fins +and swaying tails. + +"S' help me!" said his companion. "Is dem de t'ings dat follies ships +and swallers people?" + +"No," said the sailor, coming up and contemptuously looking at the +school of sharks, whose long tails were making the water boil and bubble +as if a submerged volcano were in active operation. "They're just +thrasher sharks, and they're playin'." + +"But they'd eat a fellow," said the ship's boy, and he threw a piece of +wood at one under the bow. + +"No, they won't," said the sailor. "A swingle-tail, as some calls 'em, +won't hurt anybody. Though some says a whole school will sometimes +tackle a whale and kill it; but I don't believe it. A thrasher shark is +all play. The only trouble they make is when they get into fishermen's +nets, and with those long tails of theirs slash around and tear and +tangle everything up. They look big, but, you see, they run mostly to +tail. Tail and all, they're between twelve and fifteen feet long, and +weigh about 400 pounds. They make a good fight if caught on the hook." + +It must have been half an hour afterwards when my absorbing thoughts +about the affairs of Henderson, Burt, & Co., the undelivered rifles, and +impending ruin were interrupted by a sudden splash at the stern. I +looked over and saw that the two young scapegraces, taking advantage of +the Captain's absence and the sleepiness of the watch, had lowered one +of the _Hecuba_'s boats. + +"What are you doing?" I asked. + +"Going to fish for sharks," answered Jimmie. "They are over +there"--pointing a few hundred yards away. "We've got a shark hook and +line, and the cook gave us a piece of pork for bait." And he held up a +most portentous-looking hook, with about three feet of chain attached to +prevent the teeth of the shark from severing it. In my ignorance of the +ways of the sea, I didn't realize the danger. The big rolling waves made +the _Hecuba_ roll and pitch as she tugged at her anchor-chains, and I +anxiously watched the daring young fishermen. When clear of the schooner +they shipped the mast, and in a few minutes they were in pursuit of the +sharks under full sail. I saw Jimmie throw out the line, but still they +scudded on in the heavy sea. What happened then will never be accurately +known. Whether it was that the tremendous tug at the line when the shark +swallowed the hook made the youngsters lose their heads and forget +everything--sail, sea, and a sudden puff of wind that came up--in their +intense desire to secure it, neither can say. The probabilities are that +the tiller being abandoned, as both boys held on to the line, the boat +swung into the trough of the sea, the sheet got caught in some way, and +the sudden puff of wind capsized the boat in the midst of the exciting +struggle. + +I had watched the accident, and soon Captain and crew were on deck. As I +looked into the pale, tense features of the Captain as he quickly gave +his orders, I thought he was going on a hopeless errand. But no! Two +figures appeared on the bottom of the capsized boat, and a cheer went +forth from every throat. They would be saved yet. As if to add intensity +to the scene, the wind rose in fitful gusts and a huge bank of clouds +rolled up in the sky. Something had gone wrong with the gearing or +tackle of the second boat, which was seldom, if ever, used; and I fairly +trembled with anxiety as the valuable minutes passed, and looked at the +boys clinging to the bottom of the boat as it was tossed on a huge wave. +But, in Heaven's name! what were the boys doing? What did it mean? Were +they mad? By everything that was sane, they were still holding on to the +line. + +[Illustration: OUT OF THE GATHERING DARKNESS CAME A YAWL MANNED BY TWO +MEN.] + +"Cut away the tackle!" at last roared the Captain, maddened by the +delay, and noting the actions of the boys. It was done, and with a rush +the boat went down almost stern first, and half filled with water. I +felt that the fate of the boys was now sealed. With a water-logged boat +in that sea it would be impossible to cover the four hundred yards to +where the boys were still clinging tenaciously to the line. Jimmie was +standing up holding the line with both hands, in the position almost of +"the anchor" in a tug-of-war, and the ship's boy, extended on his +stomach along and astride the boat, held the line with his right hand, +while his left grasped the keel. Shark-fishing may be exciting, but +that the excitement was so great that one should court certain death was +hard to understand. I could hardly believe the evidence of my eyes, and +I screamed at the top of my voice, "Let go! Let go!" in the vain hope +that I might be heard. It was only a few minutes, but it seemed hours, +as the crew alongside bailed out the water. It would be too late. The +positions of the two lads showed they were almost exhausted. They +couldn't hold out much longer. If they let go there was yet time, but +they seemed to hold on as if their lives depended upon it. The end +couldn't be far off. The eyes of every one on deck were fixed on the +boys, when off to the left we saw, coming out of the gathering darkness, +a yawl manned by two men. It seemed almost ghostlike. But with +split-sail bellowing out before the wind, she raced on. The men bailing +in the boat relinquished their efforts as they watched the yawl steer +straight for the capsized boat. As they approached we saw one man move +forward to the bow. There was some weapon in his hand. And as the boys +apparently gave one last despairing tug at the line, the thrasher shark +in its agony gave a leap out of the water, but before its somersault was +completed a harpoon quivered in its side. Almost at the same time the +sail was lowered, the yawl was run alongside the capsized boat, and men +and boys helped to manage the dying struggles of the shark. Instead of +making immediately for the _Hecuba_, the Cubans, for such we could see +they were, seemed to be questioning the lads as they anxiously pointed +to the schooner. In a few minutes one of the men threw his cap in the +air, and a cry that sounded like "Cuba libre!" was wafted on the breeze. +It was too heavy a sea to tow the capsized boat, so, hoisting sail, they +ran under the stern of the _Hecuba_. + +"Well, we got the shark," said Jimmie, in a more cheerful tone than his +dilapidated appearance warranted, as the boys and one of their rescuers +clambered on deck. Captain Wade walked up to the Cuban, and there was a +moist look in his eyes as he took his hand. "He is my only child," we +heard him say, and everybody understood. + +"Oh!" said Jimmie, turning to me as he went below. "That gentleman from +Cuba says he knows you. He wanted to know all about the _Hecuba_ before +he would come on board. You see, the Spanish flag we're flying made him +nervous like," and Jimmie and his accomplice in trouble-making +disappeared. When Captain Wade presented me to the Cuban--who seemed by +his bearing to be a man of consequence--as the agent of the patriots +whom I was to meet, I thought that if there was such a thing as luck in +the affairs of Henderson, Burt, & Co., it was not all necessarily bad. +And I inwardly blessed troublesome boys and distinguished Cuban rebels +who would run risk of capture and execution by rescuing a pair of +youngsters from drowning in sight of what they supposed was a Spanish +revenue-schooner. They told me that what with the presence of the +Spanish cruiser and no sign of our schooner, they had thought that +further waiting at the rendezvous was both useless and dangerous, and it +explains their appearance at such an opportune moment. + +When the arms were landed and hidden in a dense jungle, and several bags +of gold were snugly lying in the Captain's locker, my views on +blockade-running, boys, and things in general underwent a radical +change. I even began to have a tender feeling towards sharks, +particularly thrasher sharks who lure boys into getting rescued by Cuban +officers. And I mentally retracted all the then harsh things I had +thought about the folly of holding on to a shark from the bottom of an +upturned boat in a heavy sea. I asked the ragged young ship's boy why he +held on so long. + +"Hold on!" he said. "Why, I couldn't help it. When we upset, Chimmie's +foot got tangled in de line, and it tied round his ankle. Hold on? Guess +I did. Chimmie'u'd be voyagin' round after dat shark now as dead as a +Baxter Street herrin' if we hadn't. Course I held on!" + + + + +A LOYAL TRAITOR. + +A STORY OF THE WAR OF 1812 BETWEEN AMERICA AND ENGLAND. + +BY JAMES BARNES. + + +CHAPTER II. + +A DEFERRED SOLUTION. + +It was very early the next morning when we started northward along the +turnpike. The doctor and I were driving in a tall chaise that swayed on +its hinges like a small-boat in a tide-rip. + +Mr. Edgerton followed on horseback. The sun had not risen when I had +been awakened, and the morning chill was in the air; a mist hung low +over the marshes, and the waters of the bay looked dull and cold. I had +begun to shiver, and the kind physician threw a heavy cape around me, +and tucked me in carefully beside him. + +We had not spoken, except for a morning's greeting, but now he began a +fire of questions, and I could not answer even the simplest. I had never +heard that my mother was a widow before her marriage to the man whose +name I bore; I did not know her maiden name, nor where she came from; +and if I was not born at the plantation on the Gunpowder, my birthplace +was a mystery to me; for, as I have said, my first recollection was the +warm day on the beach. + +My mother had told me nothing from which I could formulate a suggestion +or give a reply that would throw any light upon my family history. What +was to become of me I did not know. Apparently my mother had left no +will, and my appearance upon the day of her conversation with Mr. +Edgerton had interrupted, probably, any disclosures which she had +intended making. + +The lawyer had ridden alongside of the chaise as we slowly ascended a +slight hill. + +"Know you anything, Master Hurdiss, of a large iron-bound chest in a +room on the second story of Marshwood House?" (I have forgotten to say +that the estate upon which we lived was known in the neighborhood as the +"Marshwood plantation," whether from the name of a previous owner or its +location, I have never been able to ascertain.) + +To the lawyer's question I could only reply that I had often seen the +box and had once caught a glimpse of the interior, that it was full of +papers, and I had noticed it must have contained some money, for I saw +my mother take some gold pieces from a heavy leather bag that she had +afterwards replaced. + +"Never mind; we will solve it all," continued the man of law, "so soon +as we get there. I have the keys. Come, doctor, press ahead!" + +The horses lurched forward into a trot--we had now reached the top of +the hill--and tired and sleepy, I leaned back on my kind friend's +shoulder and fell asleep. + +When I awakened the sun was high, but the chill was yet in the air, and +a damp breeze had sprung up from the eastward that presaged rain. Aloft +against the heavy clouds a V-shaped line of wild-geese were winging +their way to the south; their coarse honking fell down to us. The sound +caused me to look upward, and I followed the steady flight. I have +always been well versed in the signs of nature, and there is nothing so +sure to judge by as the flight of wild-fowl. + +"We are going to have cold weather," I remarked to the doctor. + +"Yes, the old gander is setting a pace for them as if the snow were +after him," he replied. + +To my surprise, as I gazed about near to hand, I saw that we were almost +at the cross-roads, where it was our intention to stop and procure +something to eat, as we had had nothing since the gray of morning. + +Two or three new houses had been added to the group that lined the +road-side, and a new sign-post waved its arms at the corner. A number of +negroes hurried out and took the horses. + +As we entered the low-ceilinged front room of the tavern I overheard the +talk that the doctor and lawyer were having together. "It was certainly +most careless to leave such property unguarded," the latter was saying. +This made me listen. + +"But no one would suspect anything in the way of treasure, and they are +honest people hereabouts," returned the doctor reassuringly. + +For some reason I could scarcely swallow a mouthful of the meal that was +served for us, although it smelt most savory. As a special honor the +landlord himself insisted upon waiting upon the table, and I shrewdly +suspect, putting things together, that he was of a curious nature, and +longed for a chance to listen to the conversation; but if this was his +desire, it was not gratified, as the doctor and the lawyer were most +reserved in his presence. + +At last, however, we were on the move again, a fresh horse having been +placed in the shafts of the old rattle-trap (upon the possession of +which, by-the-way, I found that the doctor prided himself most +mightily). Well, off we went at a tremendous pace, the new horse +charging down the road in a clumsy, heedless fashion, and the chaise +rocking behind him fit to capsize us. + +The doctor at last succeeded in pulling the nag down to a steadier gait, +and Mr. Edgerton, coughing and choking, came trotting up beside us +through the trailing cloud of dust that, despite the damp, hung in our +wake. For two miles we drove on in silence, and then turned from the +main road into the lane that led to Marshwood. The old-fields on either +hand were grown breast-high with brambles, and the lane wheel-rucks were +almost hidden in the tall grass that swished softly and quietly under +the box of the chaise. + +Marshwood House was built partly of brick and partly of wood. The brick +had come from England at the time when the colonies, because of the tax +on industries mayhap, brought even their building material from over the +water. It had once been very handsome, but during the Revolution the +outbuildings had been destroyed, and the right wing of the house had +fallen into sad decay. By the expenditure of some not inconsiderable +sum, however, the whole estate could have been restored to the beauty it +must once have possessed (but alas! that never has or never will happen, +I suppose). Now, at the time of which I speak, ruin was writ on +everything. + +When the horses had been tied to two rusty staples driven into the trunk +of an oak-tree that stood before the door, we all stepped up on to the +piazza. The boards were sagged so badly that they had fallen away from +the body of the house, and even the stone-work had crumbled along the +foundations. + +It appeared like the old place, and yet it was not; but there was the +same hornets' nest that I had watched building up (ages and ages ago, it +seemed to me); and there, hanging on a nail, was a fishing-rod with a +rusty iron hook dangling from a bit of rotten fish-line. I had stood on +tiptoe and put it there; now I could touch it with my elbow. + +The lawyer had some difficulty in opening the door. However, at last he +succeeded, and gave a sigh of relief as he saw that there were no traces +of any one having preceded him. + +"Come in, doctor," he said, cheerily, his voice echoing oddly down the +empty hallway. + +"Come on, John, my son," reiterated the physician to me. + +I turned, before I crossed the threshold, and looked out over the +sloping meadow and the stretch of yellow marsh to the blue-gray waters +of the Chesapeake. The rain that had been threatening all the morning +had begun to fall with that depressing, sun-filtered drizzle that +promises hours of it. + +It was on such a day that I used to lie with my head in my mother's lap +while she read to me. I remembered this with a certain calmness, for +there had settled upon me a firmly assured belief that I should never be +happy again, and I accepted the feeling with a stoicism that now I +wonder at. But my pen runs from the main task of putting facts on paper. +To return: + +I entered the house, and insensibly caught the doctor's great hand in +mine. + +There was a musty, locked-up odor greeting us that checked full +breathing. The big room on the right smelt like a cellar, dank and +unhealthy. + +The doctor drew aside a chair, and, opening a window and the shutters, +admitted some light. Dust was all about, everywhere; the heavy oak +centre table was littered with dead, starved flies; the whole place was +so chill and unhomelike that I shuddered. The doctor closed the window. + +"By Jove, it grows cold!" he said. + +The lawyer, who had deposited a pair of large empty saddle-bags on the +floor, stamped his feet. + +"Heigho!" he cried, "let's cheer things up a bit. Here's a fire all +ready for the lighting; that's a godsend." + +In the wide fireplace were some good-sized logs and a handful of +fat-wood. Drawing a flint and steel, he struck a light, and soon a tiny +blaze crept up the old chimney, and broadened with a burst of flame at +last into a cheerful, roaring, warming glow. It cleared the room of its +unhealthiness, and all three of us spread our hands out to it as if it +had been winter. + +"I think the look of things has made us exaggerate the weather," said +the doctor, with an attempt at a laugh. "Come, let's set to work." + +The lawyer drew from his pocket a small bunch of keys. "We will have to +try for it--they're not numbered," he replied, thrusting one into the +keyhole of the desk in the chimney-corner. + +He tried them all before he found one that would fit. Then he turned the +bolt with a sharp click, and lowered the lid. I began to feel excited, +and I could see that the others were and did not conceal it. + +"Ah, no one has been here, that's evident!" exclaimed the doctor. + +Plain to view in a neat pile were some French coins, a shining little +tower of gold. The lawyer opened one of the drawers on the left. It was +empty. Then another, with the same result. In the bottom one, on the +right hand, however, was a paper and a miniature on ivory. I remembered +the last--the side face of a large, heavy man in a white wig. His nose +was very prominent, and despite the massive jowl he had an air that +suggested the effect of a noble presence. His costume was magnificent. +From beneath a broad sash that crossed his breast peeped a great diamond +star, and lace and jewels decked him. + +"An excellent likeness, I judge," said the doctor, looking at the +portrait with one eye shut. + +"I should know it across the room," replied the lawyer. + +"Who is it?" I asked, for I had seen it once in my mother's hands. + +"It is the French King who lost his head by the guillotine," answered +the doctor--"Louis the Sixteenth." + +"Did your mother never speak to you about this portrait?" asked the +lawyer, who was untying the ribbon with which the paper had been +fastened. + +"Once I saw her looking at it," I replied, "and I asked her. But I never +did so again, because she began to talk so fast and in such strange +words that I could not follow. Then she began to weep, and her hair fell +down all about her. Aunt Sheba came running in and held her in her +arms. It was a long time before she grew calm again. She never told me +who it was." + +By this the lawyer had spread the document on his knee. He gave a grunt +of vexation. + +"This is Greek to me," he muttered. "See what you can make out of it." + +He handed the paper to the doctor. The latter wrinkled his brows and +shrugged his shoulders. + +"I give it up," he replied, half smiling. + +I peeped beneath his elbow. + +"Why, it's French," I said, "and my mother's writing, sir!" + +"Can you read it?" asked the doctor, spreading it out on the desk lid. + +In reply I began without hesitation: + + "'_To Monsieur Henri Amedee Laralle de Brienne._ + + "'DEAR BROTHER,--Although I have not written you and have received + no word from you, I am writing these lines, trusting and intending + that they will meet your eye should you survive me. My husband, + whose memory I cherish, is dead--lost at sea. Despite the + injustice with which you have treated him, and me also since my + second marriage, I recommend to you my son, who bears the name of + his step-father.'" + +I started and read the last words over twice. + +"Go on!" interjected the lawyer, rapping the mantelpiece sharply with +his knuckles. + +I continued, with my face burning and my lips atremble: + + "'For the sake of the name _that he might claim_, and all that it + may mean, you may receive him. I have told him little of the past. + In my judgment it was not needed, nor could it now produce anything + to his favor. If circumstances should alter, you may divulge the + secret; but I pray you not to do so unless this happens. This I + beseech you for the sake of her whom you have loved. My son will + bear with him the chest that contains the papers that I brought + from the château at A. They will be unopened and addressed to you. + There is enough money in the two bags to pay for my Jean's + education. I have never been able to bring myself to talk about the + dreadful happenings. I cannot even think of them, or I should go + mad. Somehow it has appeared that silence has been the better part; + but to your discretion I leave this, and to you I intrust my son's + future. May God watch over him and direct you! It is evident to me + from your letter that you were uncertain which one of your sisters + was writing to you. I am _H. de B._, who inscribes here what will + be carved upon her tombstone, "_Madam John Hurdiss_, widow of + Captain John Hurdiss, merchant and trader, of Cornwall, England."'" + +This was all the letter contained. It did not seem to lessen any mystery +that existed, and for some minutes neither the doctor nor Mr. Edgerton +spoke a word. Suddenly the latter kicked back one of the logs in the +fireplace with his foot. + +"Confound the fire, it smokes like a smudge!" he grumbled. "So we are +not to open the papers, after all! But there may be something lying +loose. Let us up." + +[Illustration: "HARK! WHAT NOISE IS THAT?"] + +All at once the doctor raised his hand. "Hark! What noise is that?" he +exclaimed. + +A roaring crackling sound came from overhead. Something fell heavily on +the floor of the hallway outside. The two men sprang to the door and +pulled it open. The hall and the other rooms were filled with stifling +smoke. The old portrait (the one with the long brown curls) had fallen, +and a blazing bit of wainscoting burned through the canvas that had +smouldered to the frame. + +"The strong-box!" shrieked the lawyer, and he plunged up the stairs. + +"It's in the room on the right!" I cried, as the doctor and I followed +him, feeling our way with the aid of the banisters. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +TYPICAL ENGLISH SCHOOLS. + +BY JOHN CORBIN. + + +WINCHESTER. + +The English public schools are not what we should call public schools at +all--that is, they are not kept up at the public expense, and you can't +go to them without paying. What we call public schools the English call +free schools, and only poor children go to them. The kind of schools I +am going to write about are attended by the sons of the richer people +and of the nobility. They are not unlike the big American schools which +prepare fellows for college--Exeter, Andover, St. Paul's, St. Mark's, +Groton, and others--though they are all much older, and have many quaint +and interesting customs inherited from the Middle Ages. I shall give an +article to each of three of these schools--Winchester, Eton, and +Rugby--and then shall add an article on athletics at public schools in +general. + +The oldest of all the schools is Winchester. Fellows at Andover +sometimes tell you that their fathers and grandfathers went there before +them. At Winchester this is a common case; and since the quadrangles of +the college were built, there has been time not for one grandfather but +for fifteen in a line. The prim and charming buildings look every day as +old as they are; but if you were to go into the dormitories and see the +rows of little iron bedsteads, each with a boy sleeping in it, you would +find it hard to realize that grandfathers of these boys have slept at +Winchester for five hundred years back, and that all our grandfathers +began by being young and small enough to sleep in these cots. + +The founder of the school was William of Wykeham, Bishop of the See of +Winchester, who was not only a great bishop and a great statesman, but +one of the greatest builders of the Middle Ages. His purpose in founding +a school was to prepare boys to enter a college he had just founded at +Oxford--New College, as it was called, and is still called after more +than five hundred years. At both Winchester and New College the scholars +are proud to call themselves Wykehamists; and when a fellow has been +through both he is apt to tell you that he is a Wykehamist of the +Wykehamists--which means more than you can ever understand until you +hear and see a man say it. The first result of preparing boys to enter +the university was to make them too far advanced for the teaching they +found when they got there. To carry on their education Wykeham had to +have a special body of tutors at New College. This was the beginning of +the English custom of having a complete set of teachers at each of the +score of colleges that make up a university. Thus Winchester is not only +the father of all preparatory schools, but of the English university +system of instruction by colleges. + +Wykeham intended that all his scholars should be too poor to pay for +their own education, and left funds to support them. Within the last +generation, however, the masters have changed this. In order to get the +cleverest possible pupils, they examine all boys between twelve and +fourteen, and admit the best ones each year. About eight usually fail +for one who gets in. The boys who succeed are, of course, those who have +had the best training; and thus the fellows who get the benefit of +Wykeham's money are usually sons of university graduates, and are often +rich. Many people object strongly to this, and with good reason; yet the +method has one great virtue. Fellows get almost as much credit in school +for being studious and able, as for playing football; so that many of +the richest fellows study hardest. In our schools, and even in our +universities, there is still a stupid prejudice against being a +first-rate scholar. + +Within the school also there is keen competition. The five or six best +students each year get scholarships at New College, which enable them to +go through the university without expense to themselves. This is called +"getting New," and is perhaps the greatest achievement of a Wykehamist. +That such has been the case for at least two hundred years may be seen +in the epitaph of a boy who died in 1676 from being hit by a stone, "In +this school he stood first, and we hope he is not the last in heaven, +where he went, instead of Oxford." When such is the case, there would +seem to be little need of the motto on the wall of the old school, which +Wykehamists translate, "Work, walk, or be wopped." + +Beside the members of the "college" Wykeham founded, another kind of +pupils has grown up, called commoners, who pay for lodging, board, and +tuition--about $700 a year. These, at first few and unimportant, have +increased so greatly of late that they are usually regarded as the +characteristic kind of school-boy. They live in nine communities, or +houses, of about thirty-five each, under separate masters. The life of +the commoners is almost exactly the same as that of the collegians; but +the division into those who are and those who are not supported by the +college is worth remembering, for a similar distinction exists not only +in all public schools, but in the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. It +does not happen everywhere, however, that the best scholars all live +together; and many Wykehamists maintain that both scholars and commoners +would gain by being mingled. Before many years the old college will +doubtless be broken up, and the "scholars" proportioned among the +various "houses." + +The discipline is not so strict as at many public schools, yet quite +strict enough, according to American standards. The boys--or _men_, as +they are always called--are not allowed to enter the town, and have to +get special "leave out" to go far into the country. The school day +begins at seven o'clock, and bed-time comes at nine or ten. Constant +attendance at prayers is required, morning and night; and there are four +services on Sunday. For breaches of discipline the boys are still +flogged. One is tempted to say that such a system is not modern; but as +a matter of fact, it did not exist, among the commoners, at least, until +the present century; and no true Wykehamist would think of changing it. +Even the boys like it sincerely, in spite of some few breaches of +discipline. Certainly the strictness has no more faults than the great +freedom granted by certain of our large preparatory schools; and though +we should hardly want to live just as English boys do, we can learn a +great deal from them. + +The main idea of the discipline of an English school is that as much of +it as possible shall be carried on by the boys themselves. At Winchester +it was ordained from the beginning that eighteen of the older boys +should, in Wykeham's own words, "oversee their fellows, and from time to +time certify the masters of their behavior and progress in study." These +eighteen are called Prefects, and are chosen from the men who stand +highest in studies. To an American boy, I am afraid, it wouldn't seem +much fun to have to take care of his schoolmates' behavior. He would +probably look upon himself more or less as a spy. Yet everything I saw +at Winchester went to prove that to be a Prefect was almost as great an +honor as to be an athlete. Five of the Prefects have special titles, +such as Prefect of Chapel, Prefect of Hall, etc. These are generally +chosen from the five best scholars. The Prefect of Hall has charge not +only of his special duties, but of the other Prefects. If any +disturbance takes place, he quells it. If the boys have any favors to +ask, he is their spokesman. He is thus the head of the whole school, and +a far more important person, I should say, than the Captain of the +cricket team. + +An incident occurred in 1838 which well illustrates the power of a +Prefect. A peddler insisted on bringing various contraband articles, +among them liquor, to sell to the boys on their recreation-grounds. The +Prefects remonstrated time and again, with no effect. At last five of +them seized him and threw him, basket and all, into the river. The +peddler had the Prefects arrested and tried for assault with intent to +kill, and the magistrate fined them fifty dollars each. This fine the +college paid willingly, complimenting the Prefects for their zeal and +common-sense. The spirit which prompted both masters and pupils exists +to-day, not only at Winchester, but at all public schools. The result is +that not only is order maintained without ill feeling between masters +and pupils, but the eighteen Prefects of each year learn to fill posts +requiring unusual tact, common-sense, and courage. + +The duty of a Prefect which an American would least envy is that of +inflicting bodily punishment--"tunding," as it is called in Winchester +slang. This consists in beating the culprit across the back of his +waistcoat with a ground-ash the size of one's finger. The art of +"tunding," an old Prefect of Hall informed me, was to catch the edge of +the shoulder-blade with the rod, and strike in the same spot everytime. +In this way, he said, it was possible to cut the back of a waistcoat +into strips. In the early part of the century flogging was of more than +daily occurrence. An old Wykehamist states that on the day of his +arrival at school there were 198 boys in residence and 279 names +reported for punishment. Nowadays, however, only a score or so of cases +occur each year; and many boys go through the school without being +tunded. + +A characteristic case occurred during my stay at Winchester. A party of +small boys had been invited to a strawberry feast in the rooms of one of +the dons, and seeing a group of Prefects in the court below, had been +unable to resist the temptation. First a rotten strawberry splashed on +the flint at the feet of the Prefects, and then a storm descended. This +was too much for Prefectorial dignity to bear. The good don's strawberry +feast ended in a general tunding. The Prefect of Hall described this to +me next day with quiet satisfaction; and, later, the don spoke of the +case as characteristic of the best effects of the Prefectorial system. +As host, he said, he had not been able to interfere; and except for +school-boy discipline, the culprits would have escaped. The wife of one +of the masters, however, said it was a brutal shame, and that if she had +her way with those Prefects, she would throw strawberries at them. + +Such a system leaves little for the masters to do, yet a boy sometimes +carries his case to the higher court, though he does it at the risk of +great unpopularity. Some years ago two Seniors, having a grudge against +another boy, employed two Juniors, at ninepence a head, to give him a +beating. The Prefects very naturally objected to this method of doing +one's dirty work, and ordered all four to be tunded. One of the Senior +culprits lost courage when he found how hard it was going with his +companion, and appealed to the master on the plea that the ground-ash +was too large. The master declared that the ground-ashes were "proper +good ground-ashes," and proceeded to wear them out on him. + +[Illustration: A DORMITORY.] + +[Illustration: A STUDENT'S STUDY.] + +[Illustration: "HORSE-BOXES" AND "WASHING-STOOLS."] + +[Illustration: AT THE GATE OF CHAMBER COURT.] + +[Illustration: CHAPEL AND PART OF DORMITORIES.] + +The details of daily life at Winchester are not easy to understand. The +"college," as, in fact, each of the "houses," is divided into chambers +or "shops," as the boys call them. In each of these lives a community of +say a dozen boys, over which three Prefects preside. The sleeping-rooms +are locked up, except at night. In the study-room each boy has a desk, +which he calls his "horse-box." The Prefects have tables, placed in +commanding positions. These are called "washing-stools." In the college +there are seven chambers, occupying "Chamber Court," the main +quadrangle; and all about are ranged the domestic buildings belonging to +the college--the slaughter-house, the bake-house, the kitchen, and the +brew-house. In Chamber Court also are the rooms occupied by the masters +and their families, and the magnificent college dining-hall and chapel. +All these buildings stand to-day almost precisely as they were built +five hundred years ago--that is, a hundred years before Columbus +discovered America--with this difference, that the flint walls are so +stained by time that they reflect the sunshine in many subdued and +mellow shades. + +There are, however, a few relics of dead customs. At one side of the +court you will find the remains of the ancient conduit. Here, on the +stone pavement and in the open air, five centuries of boys have taken +their morning baths, summer and winter. Bathing could not always, +however, be as regular as in these days when travelling Englishmen pack +their clothes in leather-covered bath-tubs instead of in a trunk. A +dozen years ago bath-rooms were fitted up within-doors, in rooms +formerly occupied by learned Fellows of the College. On a wall is the +painting of the "Trusty Servant," with its verses. + +The old lavatory of the college was called "Moab," while the +shoe-blacking place was called "Edom." I wonder how many American +school-boys are as familiar as those old English boys must have been +with the Psalm that says "Moab is my wash-pot; over Edom will I cast out +my shoe." The ancient brew-house in outer court is still used, but when +I took luncheon in Hall with the Prefects they rather sniffed at the +beer made in it. Under King William, however, it inspired this song: + + Now let us all, both great and small, + With voice both loud and clear, + Right merrily sing, Live Billy our King! + For 'bating the tax upon beer. + For I likes my drop of good beer; + For I likes my drop of good beer. + So whene'er I goes out I carries about + My little pint bottle of beer. + +To my taste the beer was very good, and not too strong. Perhaps it is a +sign of the good sense of Wykehamists that they preferred water or +milk. + +One might also class fagging, with which all readers of _Tom Brown_ are +familiar, with the dead and dying customs. It is limited to a few simple +offices. A Senior still sends small boys on errands, and sometimes makes +him cook and wash bottles at private feasts in chambers. Every evening, +too, when the post comes in, the porter of the college brings it to +Chambers Court, and at a signal the junior of each chamber to get what +belongs to his fellows. In olden times, in order to accustom the fags to +handling hot dishes, the Seniors would sometimes score their hands with +glowing fagots. This provided them with "tin gloves." A more amusing bit +of barbarity was the "toe fittee," pronounced _tofy-tie_. This consisted +in tying a string about a boy's great toe while he lay asleep. Then the +string was violently pulled, and the boy was drawn out of his bed to his +tormentor's side. Sometimes two or three would be brought from different +parts of a chamber to the same point. In America I have often known a +boy to tie a string about his own toe, and hang it out of the window so +that a friend might wake him up to go out fishing; but that is a +different thing. + +For pure ingenuity the so-called "scheme" bears the palm. It was always +the duty of a certain luckless Junior to wake the Prefect at an early +hour every morning, and if he overslept he was of course tunded. +Noticing that the night candle always burned to a certain point at this +hour, some nameless fag invented the plan of hanging a hat-box over his +head by a string, and connecting the string with this point of the +candle by a rude fuse. He thus made sure that the hat-box would fall on +his head at the required hour. Under this sword of Damocles he could, of +course, sleep in peace without fear of flogging. + +The terrible stories of flogging and fagging, however, really belong to +the past. Unless I am very much mistaken, life at Winchester, in spite +of an occasional tunding, is much pleasanter and better regulated than +in most of our schools. The fact that the Prefects enforce most of the +discipline makes it possible for the masters to get very near to the +hearts of their pupils; and, above all, the English boys are fortunate +in the fact that the wives and daughters of the Masters live with them +in the same quadrangle. To speak of Winchester without telling about the +wife of the second Head Master, and how fond of her big boys and little +boys, good boys and bad boys are, would be to leave the part of Hamlet +out of the play. Many are the gawky boys whom she has put at ease among +people, and many the bad boys whom she has set right. One of the +pleasantest things I saw at Winchester was a lot of Oxford men who had +come back to her during vacation just to hear her call them Smith, +Brown, and Robinson. + +The stamp of men Winchester produces is as distinct from all others as a +St. Paul's man is different from one from Exeter. The ideal toward which +the school is working was well expressed by one of the Head Masters. "I +consider that those boys who issue from the top of the school--_i.e._, +those upon whom the highest influences of the school have been brought +to bear--are boys who ... carry into life a stamp, not of a very showy +kind, but distinguished by a self-reliance, a modesty, a practical good +sense, and strong religious feeling--that religious feeling being of a +very moderate traditional and sober kind which, in my judgment, is +beyond all price." + + + + +HOW TO USE A PIANO. + +BY W. J. HENDERSON. + + +"As we journey through life, let us live by the way," is a very old +saying to which many interpretations have been given. To me its +pleasantest significance is that we should try to make life a constant +delight. There is nothing better for this purpose than kindly +intercourse with friends, but as we grow older we find that a circle of +agreeable acquaintances cannot be maintained simply on a conversational +basis. We must offer our friends inducements to come and see us; in +other words, we must entertain in some form. Most boys and many girls +are alarmed by the word "entertain." The girls are less afraid of it +than the boys, because they have an inborn desire and a natural talent +for social pleasures. But they are often puzzled as to the best means of +arranging entertainments. Everything seems so difficult for a girl to +undertake without a great deal of assistance from her mother, and +frequently that assistance robs her of all feeling of personal +proprietorship in the entertainment. + +"It was called my party," she says, "but really mamma did everything." + +Now I wish to offer a suggestion or two to girls about a form of +entertainment which is easily arranged. There are very few homes in this +civilized land which do not contain pianos, and there are very few girls +who cannot play a little. Even if you cannot play difficult music you +can give a musical, and make it a really artistic and enjoyable +entertainment. In the first place, then, let us talk about the piano. +Two or three days before your musical is to take place you should have +the instrument tuned, for you cannot make music agreeable to your guests +if the piano is out of tune. And here let me offer a few suggestions +about keeping it in tune. The most important requirement is equality of +temperature. Therefore your piano should not stand where the heat of a +grate or a steam radiator will affect one end of it more than the other, +nor should it be so situated that a draught from a leaky window will +blow on one end. It ought to be placed so that it will be affected only +by the general temperature of the room, and that ought not to have an +extreme range. If you hear loud cracks coming from your piano at times, +as if something had snapped, lookout; the chances are that the +sounding-board is warping, or something equally undesirable is +happening, and it is probably due to the influence of temperature. If +you wish to keep a piano in the very best order, do not pile books or +music or any other heavy objects on its lid. + +When preparing for your musical, bear these suggestions in mind. You +will in all likelihood be obliged to move your piano out of its +customary position, for nine times out of ten that is one which would +make you sit with your back squarely to your audience. You should not do +this; but when you move the instrument, do not put it where it will be +injured. In giving a musical, bear in mind that the player is to be the +centre on which all eyes are focussed. If the piano is a grand, place it +so that its right side will be toward the audience, but running a little +obliquely, so that the keyboard will be visible, or partly so, to those +on the right side of the room. The position of a square or an upright +should be similar, but you may with advantage turn an upright so that +the keyboard is more in view. If the room is very large, you may raise +the lid of a grand half-way. Do not raise it all the way just because +you have seen concert performers do so. That is necessary only in a +large public hall. If your drawing-room is small, do not raise the lid +at all. + +Now you must have light for your music. The prettiest way is to set a +tall standing-lamp a little to your left and a little behind you. Never +place it on your right, because that would be between you and the +audience. If you have not a standing-lamp, a pedestal or a table with an +ordinary lamp will do quite as well. Do not set a light on the piano. It +does not look well, in the first place, and in the second it is likely +to rattle. It will add much to the effect of the picture if you surround +the base of your lamp with roses and smilax, and it is also pretty to +have some smilax twined around the scroll-work of the music-stand. In +arranging the seats for your guests, you will naturally have to be +guided by consideration of the number you expect. I should advise you +not to have too many, for that would make it look too much like a public +performance. In placing the seats, try to avoid all appearance of +stiffness, yet endeavor to arrange them so that as many as possible of +your guests will be in front of the piano--by which I mean facing its +right side. But whatever you do, do not set chairs in rows as if it were +a public hall. It looks badly, and it prevents freedom of movement among +your friends between the selections. + +And this leads me to another important suggestion. Whatever your +programme may be, it should be short, and it should have at least one +intermission. Two would be better. In those intermissions you should +encourage conversation, and try to induce your guests to move about and +change their seats. You might have lemonade served in one intermission. +Let the boys pass it around. That starts both movement and conversation. +I suppose I need hardly suggest that, if the words of your friends are +too complimentary to your playing, you can lead them to comment on the +beauty of the music. But I do believe that the girls will forgive me if +I say "dress plainly." A musician should never do anything to attract +attention to his person at the expense of his art. Wear a simple gown, +and avoid all mannerisms or affectations in playing. + +But now I hear some girl saying, "I can't play well enough to give a +musical." That depends on what you regard as good playing. If you think +it means performing difficult and showy pieces, you are mistaken. That +kind of playing may astonish your friends, but it will not give them +such genuine pleasure as the performance of a few comparatively easy +compositions of real beauty in a sympathetic manner. Here the majority +of girls will meet with their greatest difficulty, for I am sorry to say +that many music-teachers ignore the easy pieces of the great masters, +and give their pupils as studies the cheap rubbish which litters the +counters of the average music-store. It is a mistake to suppose that the +immortals among composers never wrote anything easy. There are +compositions by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and others which can +be performed by players of very moderate ability, and there are easy and +attractive compositions by less ambitious composers, even such as Johann +Strauss, which have much more merit than the brilliant runs and +arpeggios of Sidney Smith, H. A. Wollenhaupt, and that class. + +There are several ways in which you can make a programme so as to give +it a special interest beyond that of the music alone, and I should +advise you to adopt some one of these plans. If you are not a brilliant +player, all the more reason for adding interesting features to your +entertainment. If you are an accomplished performer, your musical will +still gain in artistic dignity by an intelligent arrangement of the +programme. Of course there is one thing always to be borne in mind: you +must compose your list of selections so that there will be constant +variety. Do not, for instance, put three or four slow and plaintive +pieces one after the other. As a rule, too, it is well to avoid a +succession of compositions in the same form, such as sonatas, nocturnes, +or valses. Eminent artists make mistakes in these matters. One of the +most distinguished conductors in this country once gave an orchestral +concert consisting of nine overtures. The effect was very bad indeed, +for in spite of the fact that they were all by different composers, they +were not sufficiently dissimilar in form to produce variety. + +Keeping in mind, then, the necessity of variety, you can arrange your +programme chronologically--that is, beginning with a very early writer +and coming down to the most recent. Secondly, you can arrange it by +schools, taking some pieces from the polyphonic, some from the classic, +and some from the romantic. Thirdly, you may arrange it according to +nations, giving examples of German, Russian, French, Italian, English, +and American. Fourthly, you may make it representative of one nation; +and fifthly, representative of one composer. The last-named way is not +advisable for any except accomplished performers, because you will find +it practically impossible to make up even a short list of good pieces by +one composer and have them all easy. A programme representative of one +nation may also be chronological, and if you intend to give more than +one musical--say a series of three--this will probably be the most +attractive way. But undoubtedly the neatest way for a single recital +would be the arrangement according to nations, for you will have no +trouble at all in finding a single composition from each country that is +pretty and easy to play. In making out the programme, be careful to give +the full title and, if possible, opus number of the composition, and I +think it always adds to the interest of a programme for young people to +put in the dates of the births and deaths of the composers. If you will +permit me, I will now submit a sample programme on the plan of +representation of nations just to show you how attractive it looks: + + GERMAN. + + 1. Sonata No. 33 E-flat (composed when + eleven years old) _Beethoven_ (1770-1827). + + RUSSIAN. + + 2. Melody in F _Rubinstein_ (1829-1894). + + POLISH. + + 3. "Chant du Voyage" _Paderewski_ (1860----). + + FRENCH. + + 4. "Funeral March of a Marionette" _Gounod_ (1818-1893). + + ITALIAN. + + 5. Gavotte (from violin sonata in F) _Corelli_ (1653-1713). + + ENGLISH. + + 6. Nocturne in E-flat _J. Field_ (1782-1837). + + AMERICAN. + + 7. "Wood Idyl," from Opus 19 _MacDowell_ (1861----). + +I wish to submit for your consideration one more programme, representing +the great schools of music, simply to show you that such a list can be +made of pieces well within the powers of an amateur of ordinary +technical ability. + + POLYPHONIC SCHOOL (1500-1750). + + 1. Canzona in seto tono _Girolamo Frescobaldi_ (1588-1645). + + 2. Prelude No 1 from the + "Well-tempered Clavichord" _J. S. Bach_ (1685-1750). + + CLASSIC SCHOOL (1750-1827). + + 3. Andante and Finale from + Sonata No. 1 _W. A. Mozart_ (1756-1791). + + 4. Sonata No. 37 _L. van Beethoven_ (1770-1827). + + ROMANTIC SCHOOL (1821 to the present). + + 5. Slow Waltz (from + "Album Leaves") _R. Schumann_ (1810-1856). + + 6. "Marche Hongroise" _Franz Schubert_ (1797-1828). + +The compositions embraced in this programme are well within the power of +an amateur of moderate ability. + +If, however, you can play more difficult music, your choice will be +extended. Nevertheless, I adhere to my first assertion that it is not at +all troublesome to make up a programme of compositions which may be +classed as easy. And here let me give you some final advice. Select for +a musical at which you are to be the performer music somewhat easier +than that which you are accustomed to study under your teacher. The +reason for doing this is so plain that it is hardly necessary to mention +it. If you are unaccustomed to formal piano-playing before an audience, +you will undoubtedly be nervous. Now if you go to the piano knowing that +the music before you is going to tax your utmost powers, you will be +still more nervous, and the probabilities are that you will not only not +play the music effectively, but that you will play it badly and make +many technical slips. The more you make, the more nervous you will +become, till it would not be surprising if you should break down +altogether. On the other hand, if you are conscious that the music is +well within your powers--that you have technical facility enough and to +spare--you will not be harassed by fears of making blunders, but will +lose all your nervousness as soon as you begin to play and to realize +how easy your work is. Thus instead of being constantly on the watch for +fear of making mistakes, you will be able to devote your entire +attention to giving every phrase the right expression. If you have +carefully studied the musical beauties of each composition, you will no +doubt surprise yourself as well as your friends by the intelligence and +sentiment of your playing. Bear in mind the fact that such great artists +as Paderewski frequently charm and move an audience more by the amount +of color and expression which they throw into easy compositions like +Chopin's E-flat nocturne, while in their more brilliant playing, as in +one of Liszt's Hungarian rhapsodies, they gain applause rather as the +result of amazement at their conquest of technical difficulties than as +the demonstration of sincere delight in the music itself. And now I +shall leave the rest to the girls. I am sure that among the readers of +this paper there must be hundreds and hundreds of girls who can play the +piano well enough to get up such musicals as I have suggested. + + + + +[Illustration: THE PYROTECHNIC DISPLAY FROM THE FLOATS.] + +THE MARINE DEMONSTRATION IN NEW YORK HARBOR. + + +The city of New York has one of the finest harbors in the world, and it +invariably invokes a burst of admiration from the observer when he first +sails up through its land-locked entrance, passing the low-lying hills +of Staten Island on his left and Long Island on his right; then past +Governors Island, with its old fort, and the Statue of Liberty, to +approach the densely populated Manhattan Island with its innumerable +tall buildings that testify to the admirable skill of the city's +architects and engineers. The forest of masts that fringe the water's +edge, the saucy puffing tugs towing huge vessels, steamboats, +flat-boats, barges, etc., here and there, and the stately steamships +gliding along, make a very impressive picture. + +On the night of October 24 some two hundred of these vessels assisted in +a marine demonstration that took place in the harbor, turning its waters +into a fairy scene that will ever remain in the memory of those that +witnessed it. The men identified with the shipping interests of the +country determined to show their enthusiastic support in the late +campaign for sound money, and to do so, adopted the idea of having a +monster marine parade. Every steam-craft that could be spared was +pressed into service, and on the night of the parade threaded its way up +the Hudson River as far as Grant's Tomb--where the procession +started--and fell into line. Along the river front the piers were +brilliantly lighted up and decorated, and thousands of people gathered +to view the unique spectacle. With a roar of steam-whistles, amidst the +soaring of sky-rockets, and fireworks of every description, the boom of +cannon, and the hoarse cheering of the crowds lining the river's banks, +the parade started, proceeding down the stream in stately procession, a +thing of unusual beauty. Each vessel vied with the others in +illuminating its masts, smoke-stacks, and decks with countless electric +lights and colored lamps. A steady stream of fire trailed from some, +while others set off fireworks. Powerful search-lights from the tall +buildings of the cities threw their strong beams on the fleet. Music +sounded faintly through the blasts of steam-whistles, and the river and +harbor resolved itself into a field of colored fire. The huge office +buildings were brilliantly lighted, and from the windows people watched +the scene. + +Arriving off the Battery, the vessels gathered around some floats +anchored there, and completely blocked the harbor as a crowd might a +street. Suddenly these floats became fringed with beautiful colored +fire, and a busy little tug industriously hustled around to various +smaller floats stationed here and there, and lighted a compound on them +that produced a high-leaping flame. Sky-rockets soared from the larger +floats in an incessant stream, bursting high overhead in showers of +exquisitely colored sparks, and streams of bombs shot skyward only to +explode in a downpour of fire. Some flew up to burst and whirl around, +producing an effect of a huge umbrella of sparks. + +For an hour the sky rained a stream of gorgeous colored fire in which +even the powerful glare of the search-lights was lost. The bombs +exploded overhead like the rattle of musketry, and through it all the +steam-whistles kept up a steady roar that must have made the farmers far +out in the rural districts uneasy in their sleep. Loudly as the crowds +packed on the decks of the gathered vessels yelled their enthusiasm, +their shouts were completely lost in the screech of whistles. Then came +the prettiest spectacle of the pyrotechnic display. Without any warning, +hundreds of feet overhead, suspended in mid-air between the Battery and +Governors Island, Old Glory floated, a huge flag of red, white, and blue +fire. + + H. E. + + + + +SAWDUST WILL TELL. + +BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS. + + + I ne'er could understand just how the trouble came about, + But two of Mollie's dolls one day had quite a falling out. + They were not ordinary dolls, with dresses and all that, + But boy dolls both, and one was tall, the other short and fat. + The way the story comes to me, the rumpus that arose, + Came from the short doll's stepping on the taller fellow's nose; + And when he said, "I'm sorry, and regret the episode," + The tall doll he retorted: "Oh, your sorriness be blowed! + Keep both your feet where they belong, and let my nose alone! + I feel as if I had been hit upon it with a stone; + And if you'd had a bit of sense, it's plain beyond a doubt, + The horrible catastrophe could not have come about." + This made the short doll angry. He apologized, and yet + The taller would not take a bit of stock in his regret; + And so he lost his temper, and retorted, very mad, + "To step upon your nose again I'd really be quite glad." + The answer was a pair of cuffs upon the short doll's ear. + The short doll he retorted, without any sign of fear. + He whacked the tall doll on the eye--I do not claim 'twas right-- + And then there started up a really fearful sort of fight. + And all the toys were very sure the short doll would be licked, + He was so very fat, you know; but, oh, how they were tricked! + The tall one was not in it for a second, and in three + The short was crowned with laurel, for he'd won the victory. + And then the secret came out. When they looked about they saw + The tall one'd never had a chance by any natural law. + They both were stuffed with sawdust, as are dolls of yours and mine; + The short was oaken sawdust, and the tall was Georgia pine! + And in doll-land, as in our land, 'tis always safe to say + The stronger wins the laurels, he will always wear the bay. + We say that blood will tell; and in this world of dolls we see + The sawdust that is best of all will win the victory! + + + + +[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] + + +The Hartford High-School suffered its worst defeat of the season at the +hands of the Hotchkiss School eleven two weeks ago Saturday. Not only +did the Hartford men fail to score against 50 points made by their +opponents, but in the first few moments of play Bush and Strong were +injured so that they were unable to continue in the game. Bush was the +more seriously injured of the two, and will probably not be able to +appear again this season. + +[Illustration: HOTCHKISS SCHOOL FOOTBALL ELEVEN.] + +Hotchkiss put up a beautiful game. The eleven played so snappily and +with such excellent team-work that Hartford was unable to withstand the +attack, and even if the visitors had not lost their two half-backs, it +is not probable that they could have won, although there is no doubt +that the score would have been smaller. The best gains for Hotchkiss +were made around the ends, their interference being of fine quality. + +There seems very little chance now for Hartford in the Connecticut +championship series. Besides the two men laid up in the Lakeville game, +Hartford has also lost Morris, tackle. Marsh will take his place. +Captain Sturtevant will go in as half-back, and Ballerstein will take +Sturtevant's place at quarter. Ballerstein is a good player, but he +lacks weight, and is considerable of an unknown factor for the new +position. + +The Hotchkiss School team is an unusually good one this year. Noyes at +full-back plays a steady game and interferes well; he does not buck the +centre quite hard enough, however--a style of play which is being +greatly developed at Hotchkiss this year. Adams and Reynolds are the +half-backs. The former runs well with the ball, plunges strongly through +the centre, and interferes well, but he fumbles on catching kicks. +Reynolds was a substitute on last year's team, and is doing good work +this season. If he could train himself to start more quickly, his +running around the end would be of double value. Fincke at quarter-back +plays a good sharp game, and is considerable of a strategist. He +interferes well, although he is not quite fast enough for the backs. + +The line men are all in pretty good condition. Of the two ends, Savage +is the better. He plays a good offensive game, but has the inexcusable +fault of running backward at times when given the ball. His offensive +work is good, and on the defence he is clever at getting into the +interference, but does not always tackle his man. Coy, at right end, is +a new man on the first team, and has not yet learned how to put his +opponent out of the plays every time. He runs well with the ball, but is +only a fair tackler. Montague at right tackle is a veteran; he is still +somewhat slow, however, and does not block fiercely enough, but he may +generally be depended upon to make a good hold when occasion demands. + +[Illustration: BERKELEY SCHOOL (N. Y.) FOOTBALL TEAM.] + +The weakest spot in the line is probably centre, which is looked after +by Dix, a player who has had no experience until this year, but is doing +remarkably well for a novice. With coaching and practice he will develop +into a strong player. Cook, at right tackle, is good at breaking +through, but is not a capable tackler. His line-work is good; he runs +fairly well with the ball, but he runs too high. Hixon, the captain, has +played on the Hotchkiss team, alternately at guard and centre, ever +since he entered school; his strongest point is in making holes, and a +play put through him by his backs is practically sure of a gain. He runs +powerfully, but too high. He is a conscientious commander, and has good +control of his men. + +Following close upon the defeat by Hotchkiss, Hartford was beaten a week +ago Saturday by New Britain, 42-6. The Hartford men started out well, +and scored their first touch-down in the first few minutes of play; but +when New Britain kicked off, Hartford, instead of rushing down the +field, returned the kick, which gave New Britain the opportunity of +scoring within a very few moments. The New Britain men then scored +again, and as soon as they were ahead Hartford seemed to lose all +spirit. + +Hartford's offensive work was pretty nearly as good as New Britain's, +but on the defense they seemed to be absolutely powerless. The best work +of the defeated eleven was done by Gillette and Sturtevant. For New +Britain, Brinley and Flannery were giants. Of course much of Hartford's +weakness was due to the crippled condition of the whole team, the loss +of Bush and Morris. Strong, who was injured in the Hotchkiss game, tried +to play against New Britain, but his condition did not allow of very +good work. This is undoubtedly an unfortunate year for Hartford in +football. + +The other games played on the same day were by Hillhouse against +Meriden, which resulted in a victory of 54-15 for the latter; Bridgeport +defeated Waterbury, 12-8. Connecticut Literary Institute forfeited to +Norwich Free Academy. + +One of the most interesting school football games ever played in +Cleveland was undoubtedly that between the University School and the +South High-School on October 25. The score was 4-0. This touch-down was +made by Roby, University School, after a run of thirty-five yards; he +got started through a big hole in the South High line, and there was no +stopping him until he had scored the only points made that afternoon. + +The teams were evenly matched, although the South High men were much +heavier than their opponents. The University players made up for this +inequality by opposing skill to brawn. At the University School there +are eight football elevens which practise daily, and from these very +good material is to be had for the first team. At South High, on the +other hand, there is a scarcity of players for a scrub team, but the men +are all heavier than the University players. The feature of the play was +the excellent punting of Perkins. Most of the gains, however, were made +through South High line, and a few by good plays around the end. + +The Academic Athletic League of San Francisco held its autumn field-day +a few weeks ago with the usual success, seven records being broken. The +figures that went in the 120-yard hurdle, which Hoffman, O.H.-S., +reduced from 17-4/5 to 17-1/5 sec. Woolsey, B.H.-S., won the 220-yard +dash in 23-2/5 sec., which is one second better than the former record. +Spencer, B.H.-S., reduced the 220-yard hurdles from 29-1/2 sec. to +28-1/2 sec. Pitchford, B.H.-S., ran the 880-yard race in 2 min. 7-1/5 +sec. Hoffman, O.H.-S., cleared 5 ft. 6-5/8 in. in the high jump. Smith +of Hoitt's School broke the 12-pound hammer-throw record by sending the +weight 133 ft. 9 in., which beats by 4 ft. 1 in. the National I.S. +record made by Ingalls of the Hartford High-School. + +Hoffman's work at this field-day was of the first order; he won the +three events in which he entered, and in these broke two of the League +records. Following is a table of the points made by schools: + + 1st Place. 2d Place. 3d Place. Points. + O.H.-S. 5 6 3 46 + B.H.-S. 4 6 4 42 + P.H.-S. 2 1 3 16 + L.H.-S. 1 1 1 9 + S.H.-S. 1 - 2 7 + Hoitt's School 1 - - 5 + + Points: 1st place--5; 2d place--3; 3d place--1. In relay: 1st + place--10; 2d place--6; 3d place--2. + +The desire to resume relations in sport seems to be growing among the +students both of Andover and of Exeter. Only recently one of the Andover +publications, the _Mirror_, printed an editorial upon the subject, +urging that a school meeting be held to consider the question of opening +negotiations with their old rivals. "Who is there in school now," says +the _Mirror_, "who has any grudge against our old-time rival? The +majority of the fellows only know that there was trouble; that somebody +was naughty, and somebody else said they wouldn't play with them any +more. As a matter of fact, the make-up of neither of those memorable +teams would bear the scrutiny that is now being turned against amateur +athletics, nor can Andover be entirely upheld for protesting a game +which she ought not to have played." + +There is no dispute of the statement that there were men on the Exeter +eleven, during the game which caused trouble, who had no right to play +for the school. It seems now that Andover was also to some extent in the +wrong in regard to the eligibility of players. But that is a point which +it is not necessary to go into at this late date. The _Mirror_ admits +that Andover knew that Exeter was going to play individuals who had no +right upon the team, but instead of refusing to meet them, Andover, on +the other hand, "rather sought glory in the hope of defeating them, +whether or no." + +The "Mirror" then goes on very wisely to say that now, after the +_personnel_ of the two schools has changed completely from what it was +at the time of the trouble, there is nothing to be gained by cherishing +the old grudge. "There is everything to lose by it, on the other hand," +continues the editorial. "Our present opponents are true sportsmen, and +play good football and baseball, but they live too far away." This is +about what this Department contended a few weeks ago--that Lawrenceville +and Worcester, and those schools which Andover has been seeking for +close games of late are not her natural rivals, being at too great a +distance from the home grounds. There is a great deal more in this +argument than may appear at first sight. + +It is therefore sincerely to be hoped that the Andover men will have the +school meeting suggested by the _Mirror_. Good will surely come of it. +"We feel sure," says the _Mirror_, "that a discussion shared by the +whole school, and led by intelligent speakers instead of demagogues, as +was the previous one, would be the greatest gratification to every true +Phillips man, whether from Andover or Exeter, and would clear up one of +the most unfortunate affairs that has occurred in a long time." + +The victory of the Cheltenham Military Academy football team over Penn +Charter makes it look as though the soldiers would capture the +championship of the Academic League this year. The game was played at +Ogontz, and consequently Cheltenham had a small advantage over the +visiting team, but they put up a game which Penn Charter would find hard +to beat on any field. Play had only been under way five minutes when +Boyd, C.M.A., broke through the line and scored. There was no goal, and +soon afterwards Boyd scored again. + +Toward the close of the first half it looked as if Penn Charter might +score, but misjudging the situation, a try for goal from the field was +ordered, and the visitors lost the ball. In the second half, Cheltenham +scored another touch-down almost at the start. This made the score 16-0, +and that ended the point-making for the game. Just before the whistle +sounded, Dolson got a good start and made a long run, ending by placing +the ball behind the goal posts; but the referee refused to allow the +points, the Penn Charter man having run out of bounds. + +The Chicago interscholastic football teams kept up their forfeiting +procedure on October 24--only two games being played. Hyde Park defeated +North Division by fast playing and good interference. The score was +42-6. Trude did good work, and made the finest run of the day by +shooting through a hole in the line and making a run of ninety yards. +Miller has developed into one of the strongest tackles in the League, +and in every game he makes sure gains when he takes the ball. +Friedlander's tackling was one of the features of the Hyde Park-North +Division match. + +The game between Evanston and West Division was a one-sided affair, +Evanston winning, 28-0. The three centre men of the winning team are as +good as any in the Cook County League. Praether is the best man in his +position; he weighs 210 pounds, and does his work with thoroughness and +intelligence. + +North Division and English High had an ugly misunderstanding in their +game, and the whole thing will have to be done over again some time +later. Part of the trouble resulted from playing in the dark. A decision +by the referee was the immediate cause. A competent referee should have +ordered play stopped as soon as it grew so dark that decisions must be +difficult to arrive at. + +"A PRIMER OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL."--BY W. H. LEWIS.--16MO, PAPER, 75 CENTS. + + THE GRADUATE. + + + + +[Illustration: STAMPS] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin + collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question + on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address + Editor Stamp Department. + +The following new issues are on the market: + +Fernando Po. + + 1/2 centimo, yellow-brown. + 6 centimo, violet. + 12-1/2 centimo, brown. + 20 centimo, blue. + 25 centimo, carmine. + +5c. on 10c. surch. per. + +Montenegro, on September 1, two cards. + + 1 novtch, blue and brown. + 2 novtch, lilac and orange. + 3 novtch, brown and green. + 5 novtch, green and brown. + 10 novtch, yellow and blue. + 15 novtch, blue and green. + 20 novtch, green and ultramarine. + 25 novtch, blue and yellow. + 50 novtch, red and blue. + 1 novtch, rose and blue. + 2 novtch, brown and green. + +Some of the Tobago stamps have been seen in different colors from those +catalogued, and in some instances these stamps have been offered as +"errors" in color. It turns out that a new issue is to be made from the +same dies, but in new colors. + +A collector in San Francisco lately was given access to the papers of a +merchant who was in business during 1861-1865. It is said that he found +U.S. Revenue stamps to a face value of $20,000. Most of the stamps were +common, but a good number of rarities repaid the collector for his +trouble. + + ENDICOTT C. ALLEN, High Street, Brookline, Mass., and L. T. + BRODSTANE, Superior, Neb., wish to exchange stamps. + + A. GREENE.--No premium. + + HAROLD WEAVER.--Your stamps are locals from Finland. + + W. BENEDICT.--"Correos" is Spanish for postage, España is Spanish + for Spain. You can obtain the Belgium dominical stamps from any + dealer from 1c. to 25c., nine varieties for 25c.; the 50c. 1 F. and + 2 F. are worth 25c. each. + + A. B. C.--The Columbian half-dollar of 1893 is worth face only. + + E. V. SULLIVAN.--No premium on the coin. I believe there is a + philatelic society in Hoboken, but I do not know the address. The + Cuban republic stamps have been seen in New York on letters, but it + has not yet been shown to the satisfaction of philatelists that + these stamps are used for postal purposes in any part of Cuba. Of + course, should the Cubans win their independence, they would + establish regular post-offices, and probably would use the present + Cuban republic stamps for some time at least. + + P. A. N.--Unused Würtemberg stamps previous to 1869 issue are very + scarce. In many instances the used copy is worth 10c. or 15c., and + the unused $10 or $15, and even more. + + CONSTANT READER.--Your coins are still current in England and + Prince Edward Island respectively, consequently there is no + premium. + + A. GILLOW, Main Street, Zeehan, Tasmania, offers Australian stamps + in exchange for American and West Indian stamps. + + P. DREIER, Ridley Park, Pa., wishes to exchange stamps. + + C. H. V.--Encased postage-stamps are sold at $1 each and upward. + Some varieties are very scarce. + + E. BRIGHAM.--No dealer will buy any stamps or collections of stamps + without previous examination, and common stamps catalogued at 1c. + to 10c. each are unsaleable (to dealers) except in lots of one + hundred or more of each kind at one time. You can probably dispose + of your collection to some of your friends who collect stamps. + + A. M. STEBBINS.--No premium. + + C. WILLISTON.--Continental and Colonial currency is well worth + collecting. Many varieties are very common, and as yet it has not + become fashionable to collect these interesting souvenirs of + American history. Probably when they become scarcer there will be a + greater demand than at present. + + A. B. TAYLOR.--The first issue of Tuscany stamps were printed on a + sheet bearing twelve crowns as a water-mark--_i.e._, four + horizontal rows of three each. It takes about eight stamps to show + a complete crown, consequently individual stamps have a few + irregular water-mark lines only. + + PHILATUS. + + + + +The Very Best Way Wanted. + + +Every time we have printed information about how to preserve flowers, +letters have come saying that this or that way is a better method than +the one we gave. Now "Lincoln, Wis.," writes us: + +"I should like to collect wild flowers, but do not know how to prepare +them in order to preserve them in the best condition possible. Will some +one please tell me how it may be done?" + +Complying with the request in the last clause, will some one tell us the +best way? Be brief and prompt. We will print the responses to this +query--or the best ones, at least--since many others may desire the +information. + + + + +[Illustration: Royal] + +The absolutely pure baking powder. Made from cream of tartar, a fruit +acid. Does not contain alum or any deleterious substance. Unequaled in +strength. + +ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW-YORK. + + + + +[Illustration] + +To Show + +Your + +Heels + +To other skaters wear the + +Barney & Berry Skates. + +Highest Award World's Fair. + +Catalogue Free. + +BARNEY & BERRY, Springfield, Mass. + + + + +HOME STUDY. + +A practical and complete =Business College Course= given by =MAIL=, at +student's =HOME=. Low rates and perfect satisfaction. Trial lesson 10 +cents. Catalogue free. + +BRYANT & STRATTON, 85 College Bldg., Buffalo, N.Y. + + + + +Hold their place in the front rank of the publications to which they +belong.--_Boston Journal_, Feb. 19, 1896. + +HARPER'S + +PERIODICALS + + MAGAZINE, $4.00 A YEAR + WEEKLY, $4.00 A YEAR + BAZAR, $4.00 A YEAR + ROUND TABLE, $2.00 A YEAR + + + + +[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSTIPATION] + +CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. + +Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use + +in time. Sold by druggists. + + + + +[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. + + +It will be necessary this week again to devote the Department to +answering one or two of the general questions on the subject of +bicycling. In the first place, letters are being received from time to +time asking not only how to join the League of American Wheelmen, but +what the advantages of it are. As is stated in the note at the beginning +of this Department, we are glad at any time to send blanks for +application for membership of the League to any one, but particular +reasons why any one should join the League cannot be given in small +space and apply to each request. The League of American Wheelmen +consists, according to the constitution, of amateur white wheelmen of +good character, eighteen years of age or over. An applicant for +membership must be endorsed by two League members and three other +reputable citizens, and pay an initiation fee and dues. + +It is an association of bicyclists who have proved that by combining in +an association they can constitute themselves a strong influence for the +laying of good roads, can secure legislation for the advantage of and +prevent legislation against wheelmen, and can secure special rates at +hotels. The League is not a money-making institution, the services of +the officers are not paid for, and the two dollars which each member +pays for membership go not to any one's individual advantage, but to +paying the expenses of putting up signs throughout the country, of +getting out the State Road Books and Tour Books, and to the expenses of +carrying on correspondence, etc. The advantages that accrue to any one +who joins the League are, in the first place, that he receives an +interesting weekly paper, _The L.A.W. Bulletin and Good Roads_, which +keeps him pretty well informed as to bicycling matters. The League also +spends a large amount each year in keeping up the agitation for the +movement for improved roads, and it makes every attempt, so far as it +can, to protect wheelmen in their legal rights. The hand-books, maps, +road-books, bicycle meets, parades, tours, and entertainments gotten out +by each State for the benefit of members are all advantages that do not +need to be explained. Any one member may not avail himself of all these, +but he will find that at the end of the year he has obtained more than +two dollars' worth of benefit from the League. The ticket which is given +to him on the payment of the two dollars will secure from ten to +twenty-five per cent. reduction in at least one good hotel in almost +every large town in the United States, and if the member is making a two +weeks' tour in the country in New York State, for example, he will be +sure to more than get his two dollars back in that time on reduced hotel +rates alone. + +Some one writes to ask whether it is important to observe all the city +regulations regarding bicyclists. This is one of the most important +details of wheeling in cities that can come before the attention of the +wheelman. The laws against bicycling would be much more stringent were +it not for the work of the League of American Wheelmen. This League +maintains, in substance, that a bicycle should be treated practically as +a horse and carriage on the road. The tendency, however, for legislators +is to curtail the rights of bicycles. As a result, certain laws have +been passed, and the contest is continually going on between the two +parties: those who assert that bicycles have and should have as much +right upon the road as carriages, and those who believe they should be +more restricted. If the community of wheelmen wish to have more rights +on the road than they have to-day, or as many of them have to-day, the +least they can do is to observe the ordinances, for by each infringement +of a city ordinance the chances of securing better legislation become +less. For example, there are city ordinances in New York which require +that every bicyclist should carry a lantern after dark; that no one +shall coast within the city limits; that every bicycle should have a +bell in good order attached to it, which shall be rung on certain +occasions. There are laws of a similar nature in most of the cities in +the United States now. It is a very simple matter for one bicyclist who +comes to a hill on the outskirts of New York city to coast. It is a +pleasure to enlist, of course. There may not be any policeman about, and +it is very possible that the bicyclist can have his coast and not be +discovered. At the same time, if he is discovered and arrested, the case +comes up in court; and especially if he is a well-dressed, respectable +citizen of the city, the opposition at once secures a handle for +argument that the bicycle must be restricted, that people do not observe +the ordinances, and that the bicycle in general is a nuisance. Few +readers of the ROUND TABLE could perhaps realize this at first sight, +but it has been used time and time again in the New York city courts as +an argument against bicyclists, and it is therefore the duty of every +person who rides a bicycle to observe these rules. The questions of +lights and bells are parallel. You may succeed in riding at night +without a light in some small city where the laws are not enforced, but +if any trouble arises you have done the best you could to bring the +bicycle into disrepute. + + + + +THE MANIA FOR COLLECTING. + + +It is doubtful if there is anywhere in the world a boy or a girl who has +not at some time or another suffered from this very harmless disease of +"collecting." It comes to most of us almost as surely as the mumps, but, +unlike many other of the diseases of childhood, it can be had more than +once, and there is no limit, apparently, to its phases. +Stamp-collecting, and autograph-collecting, and the collecting of coins +are most reasonable, instructive, and oftentimes profitable; but what +can be said of a person who collects toothpicks? It would almost seem as +if such a person were insane, and yet to some men it has appeared to be +worth while to do it. An English journal states that probably the +distinction of owning the most valuable assortment of these useful +little articles belongs to an Eastern Rajah, whose collection contains +toothpicks of the rarest workmanship and design, many of them studded +with costly jewels. Others of them are valuable from their antiquity and +the unique circumstances under which they came into his possession. The +most curious miscellaneous collection, the paper goes on to say, ever +made was that of an eccentric Scotsman, William Gordon, who lived at +Grahamstown, near Glasgow. He had an immense collection of the most +varied description, including adzes, gimlets, hammers, keys, jars, +bottles, toothpicks, tops, marbles, whips, toys of all sorts, sizes, +shapes, and materials, besides having an assortment of walking-sticks +and gold and silver watches. The most remarkable articles ever used as +toothpicks are the whiskers of the walrus, which are quite stiff, and +improve with age. The writer tells also of a curious fad of an eccentric +collector, who went in for bottled battle-fields, as he called them. He +had about seventy-five bottles, each bottle containing some of the soil +of a historic battle-field, and duly labelled. + +Surely, if this mania continues to develop, we shall shortly hear of +collections of canned volcanoes, and barrelled rivers, and preserved +voices--in fact, the last would not, in these days of the phonograph, be +a had thing at all. If, instead of taking an autograph-album to a +celebrity, and asking him to write his name in it, a collector might +readily take a phonograph fully supplied with cylinders to the famous +men of the time, and ask them to say a few words to be handed down to +posterity, not by word of hand, but by word of mouth. It would be a +great joy to us now if some means of preserving the voice of +Shakespeare, Washington, Napoleon, and other illustrious dead had been +devised in the old days. + + + + +[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB] + + Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly + answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to + hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions. + + +Owing to the number of questions, we devote the entire Department to +answers this week. + + SIR KNIGHT E. MAGSAMEU asks how to burnish prints without a + burnisher; if ferrotype pictures be made with the pocket kodak, and + if so, how are they made; if lantern slides can be made with a + kodak; if blue prints can be burnished; how to print a title or + name on a photograph; what is meant by the diaphragm; and what is + the reason tall buildings in his pictures have the appearance of + falling down. To burnish prints get a ferrotype plate (price 5c.), + clean it with a soft rag dipped in benzine, take the prints from + the water and lay them face down on the shiny side of the plate. + Lay a piece of blotting-paper over the print and rub it with a + squeegee (which is a rubber roller), till all the moisture is out + of the print and it adheres to the plate. Leave it on the plate + till dry, when, if it does not come off itself, lift it at one + corner and it will peel off the plate. The contact with and the + drying on the ferrotype plate give the print a fine gloss. If one + has not a squeegee, a smooth bottle or even a wooden rolling-pin + can be used. Ferrotype pictures cannot very well be made with a + pocket kodak. Sir Knight Samuel Boucher, Jun., Box 68, Gravesend, + L. I., says that he will send the formula for ferrotype plates to + any one who asks him for it. Lantern slides can be made with a + kodak. Blue prints cannot be burnished. See No. 855, March 17, + 1896, for directions for marking negatives. A diaphragm in + photography is a thin metal plate with a hole in the centre, which + is placed between the lenses of the camera tube to concentrate the + rays of light and increase the sharpness of the picture. The + smaller the opening the sharper will be the picture, but the + exposure will take longer than with a larger opening. The reason of + the lines of the buildings in the pictures being out of + perpendicular is because the lens is not rectilinear. + + SIR KNIGHT WILLIAM F. BEERS, San Remo Hotel, 75th Street and + Central Park, New York city, wishes to know the best book for + amateurs. Wilson's _Photographics_ is a good book, and gives + detailed directions for making pictures. Sir William says he has a + 3 by 3-1/2 daylight kodak which he would like to sell, as he wishes + to purchase a larger size. + + SIR KNIGHT ARTHUR LAZARUS asks how to enlarge and diminish the size + of pictures. To enlarge see directions given in No. 801. Will Sir + Arthur state whether he means to reduce from the negative or from + the print? Our competition is now open. + + ROBERT HUNTER, 122 Buena Vista Ave., Newark, O.; LOE OLDS, Spring + Alley, Minn.; EDWARD CLARKSON SEWARD, JUN., 43 North Fullerton + Ave., Montclair, N. J.; WALTER S. RAUDENBUSH, 130 South 6th St., + Lebanon, Pa.; LESTER SCHUTTE, 29 East 93d St., New York city; + GRENVILLE N. WILLIS, Maplehurst, Becket, Mass.; WILLIS H. KERR, + Bellevue, Neb., wish to be enrolled as members of the Camera Club. + + SIR KNIGHT J. R. SIXX sends two blue prints, and asks if they are + good. He has had his camera but two months and is anxious to do + good work. The picture of the poultry-yard is very good, but in + making pictures of figures would suggest that the full length be + included. If the camera had been moved a little farther away from + the subject it would have brought the whole figure within the angle + of the lens. The picture is sharp and detail good. The picture of + the steamer is a good one, but trimming would improve the general + appearance. Try cutting off half an inch in the foreground, at the + same time making the edge of the picture parallel with the bottom + of the boat, and then squaring the rest of the picture to + correspond. A part of an umbrella out of focus shows at one side of + the picture. This can be removed in the printing if a thin mixture + of Gihon's opaque or lamp-black (water-color) be painted on the + glass side of the negative over the outlines of the umbrella. Make + it as near the color of the film of the sky as possible, and it + will look like a part of it. Try and win a prize in our coming + competition. + + SIR KNIGHT WALTER RAUDENBUSH and several other correspondents who + wish to become members of the Camera Club ask if there is any + initiation fee required for admission into the Camera Club. There + is no fee, and any Knight or Lady of the Round Table may become a + member of the Camera Club by sending name and address to the editor + and asking to be enrolled as a member. One is not required to be a + subscriber to the magazine in order to belong to the Camera Club or + to enter the competitions; but it is a great advantage to have the + magazine, as the Camera Club column always contains matter which is + of value to the amateur. + + + + +AN ENGLISH VIEW OF THE AMERICAN CLIMATE. + + +We learn a great many interesting things about America from the London +newspapers. Here is the latest bit of information that has come to hand: + +"Mr. Willie Park, Jun., the well-known golfer, who recently returned +from a visit to America, tells of a match he played there with Willie +Dunn under exceptional circumstances. It was the time of the great heat +wave in New York, and on the day on which the match was decided, the +heat Mr. Park describes as being 'somewhat terrible.' The thermometer +registered 101 degrees in the shade. Notwithstanding this, there was a +large following, many of whom sought to overcome the effects of the heat +by bathing their heads under running-water taps on different parts of +the course. It was almost impossible to keep the balls in a playable +condition, as the heat softened the gutta-percha. To prevent them +melting they were placed on ice and carried along by a caddie, who +deposited a changed ball at each tee, while the old ones were replaced +on the ice for preservation!" + + * * * * * + +THE SECOND SUMMER, + +many mothers believe, is the most precarious in a child's life; +generally it may be true, but you will find that mothers and physicians +familiar with the value of the Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk do +not so regard it.--[_Adv._] + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +Arnold + +Constable & Co + +Cloakings + +For Ladies and Children. + +_Costume Cloths,_ + +_Fancy Colored Faced Cloths,_ + +Street and Evening Shades. + +_Cheviots, Serges, Zibelines, Venetians,_ + +_Zibeline Tweeds, Mixed Meltons._ + +_Irish and Scotch Tweeds and Homespuns for_ + +Bicycle and Golf Wear. + +Broadway & 19th st. + +NEW YORK. + + + + +WALTER BAKER & CO., LIMITED. + +Established Dorchester, Mass., 1780. + +Breakfast Cocoa + +[Illustration] + +Always ask for Walter Baker & Co.'s + +Breakfast Cocoa + +Made at + +DORCHESTER, MASS. + +It bears their Trade Mark + +"La Belle Chocolatiere" on every can. + +Beware of Imitations. + + + + +Postage Stamps, &c. + + + + +Any Stamp Collector + +who is not familiar with our weekly stamp journal may secure it on trial +for 3 months for 10c. and a packet of 100 varieties of foreign-stamps, +_free_. The packet contains only genuine stamps, including Victoria, New +South Wales, Newfoundland, Ceylon, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Austria, Chili, +and many other countries. + +Price-lists FREE. Approval sheets sent on application. + +C. H. Mekeel Stamp & Pub. Co., St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +[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. + + + + +U.S. + +25 diff U.S. stamps 10c., 100 diff. foreign 10c. Agts w'td @ 50%. List +free! L. S. Dover & Co. 5958 Theodosia, St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +STAMPS. 25 var. 10c. Sheets 50% commission. + +R. W. De HAVEN, Box 4023, Sta. B. Phila., Pa. + + + + +Old + +and + +New. + +Franklin + +Square + +Song + +Collection. + +The "Franklin Square Library" has given many valuable numbers, but none +so universally attractive as this. Nowhere do we know of an equally +useful collection of School, Home, Nursery, and Fireside Songs and Hymns +which everybody ought to be able to preserve, and which everybody will +be able to enjoy.--_Springfield Journal._ + + Eight Numbers. Price, 50 cents each; Cloth, $1.00. Full contents of + the Eight Numbers, with Specimen Pages of favorite Songs and Hymns, + sent by Harper & Brothers, New York, to any address. + + + + +A Glimpse of Long Island Life. + + + HARPER'S ROUND TABLE has always been the greatest source of + pleasure to us, and has followed us around in our various + wanderings, both here and abroad; always awaited with impatience + and devoured with avidity. I have just finished that most + delightful serial "For King or Country," and think it one of the + finest stories I have ever read. I began it one evening after + supper, and became so much excited over it that I could not lay it + aside until I had reached the last page. My other favorite serials + were "Dorymates," "The Red Mustang," and "The Flamingo Feather." + + Roslyn is a quiet little town on the north shore, nestled at the + foot of Harbor Hill, the highest elevation on the island. It is on + Hempstead Harbor, and looking out across the Sound one can see the + hills of Connecticut ten miles away. It is a resort much frequented + by tourists in the summer-time, and its scenery is most + picturesque. With its rolling meadows, deep glens and recesses, and + ridges of hills, one might almost imagine Switzerland on a small + scale. We are devotedly fond of the place, having lived here the + greater part of our lives, and were quite heart-broken at leaving + it to go to Europe in early 1889. My sister and I go to a classical + school here, and take the regular college preparatory dose of + Latin, Greek, and mathematics, which we enjoy immensely. + + We are both ardent disciples of photography, and also struggling + young acrobats on the treacherous fiddle-string. During our leisure + hours we ride, drive, skate, play tennis, or swim--according to + season. + + HILDA WARD, L.R.T. + ROSLYN, N. Y. + + * * * * * + +Queer Signs of Coming Events. + +There is old sign that if the housewife drops her dishcloth, "company" +is coming. Did you ever hear of it? Then there are signs about the +weather, about luck, and about many similar things. We want to know the +signs common with you. Do you live in the South, in Canada, or in the +West? Tell the Table briefly a few of the signs you oftenest hear. Those +that strike us as the oddest and the funniest we will print, giving +credit to the senders of them. Cannot our readers abroad help us on the +collection? We hope so. + + * * * * * + +Kinks. + +No. 50.--A DIAGONAL ACROSTIC. + +Here is as pretty a puzzle as one could wish to see. Its answer is +simple, and yet fewer things are harder to construct than this double +acrostic. It looks easy--but! You remember the story of the fresh +Freshman at college who thought proverbs simple. His professor told him +to make a few! In the following the primal diagonal reads downwards, the +final one upwards. The five short couplet lines throw light on the +cross-words: + + Two brothers we are said to be, + And children of the year; + We come each spring, and always bring + Some proof that spring is here. + The elder fumes and shakes his plumes + That spring should be so coy; + But, much more mild, the younger child + Sheds copious tears of joy. + +1. + + In every work-shop, every trade, + For imitation chiefly made. + +2. + + When weary on the desert plain, + Rest and refreshment here obtain. + +3. + + In this the low comedian plays, + And seeks to catch the vulgar praise. + +4. + + Some great event doth indicate + The time from which I take my date. + +5. + + Musician I--when David sung, + His lyre to me ofttimes he strung. + + * * * * * + +No. 51.--DOUBLE PROGRESSIVE MAGIC SQUARE. + +Figures 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256. These numbers have been +doubled from one upwards, and the puzzle is to place them in a square of +three lines, so that the first multiplied by the second, and the product +multiplied by the third each way, horizontally, perpendicularly, and +diagonally, will produce the same amount. There are eight answers, all +alike. + + * * * * * + +No. 52.--A SENTENCE HUNT. + +The following sentence, standing alone, is in one of the most familiar +of books, + + "Neither give place to the devil." + +Where is it? + + * * * * * + +No. 53.--PHONETIC CHARADE. + + I am the first half you all are to guess, + I, a poor insect, quite tiny or less. + After me comes the two-syllabled verb + Lovers may do and their parents disturb. + Join us, we make the fleet-footed beast + Lovers should copy and rival; at least, + Would those rash lovers reach safely their goal, + They ought to make use of the speed of my whole. + + * * * * * + +No. 54.--A GEOGRAPHY LESSON. + +1. What town in Norway would you prefer not to drive a shying horse +past? + +2. What city in Trans-Caucasia runs on wheels? + +3. What is the most aristocratic river of Europe? + +4. What suburb has Bombay that, if you had it, you would try to get rid +of? + +5. What city of Afghanistan can one person talk in every part at once? + +6. What large river of Bosnia can you not drown in? + +7. What town in Sweden could you use on your front-yard fence? + + * * * * * + +Answers to Kinks. + +No. 46.--CHARADE. + +Sun-down-(h)er.--Sundowner; a squatter on government land. + + * * * * * + +No. 47.--FOR MATHEMATICIANS. + +He receives all his book debts except $2 in $5 of $15,000, and all +except $1.25 in $5 of $6000. His loss corresponds to 2-5 of $15,000 plus +1-4 of $6000 or $7500 in all. Had he received all his book debts he +could have paid $5.25 on every $5 he owed. As it is, he can only pay $4 +on every $5. Therefore the loss of each $1.25 on each $5 he owes +corresponds to the total loss of $7500, and so + +As $1.25:$7500::$5:$30,000. Amount he owes, $30,000. This is +propounder's solution. + + * * * * * + +No. 48.--WORD SQUARE. + + T A F F Y + A W A R E + F A T A L + F R A N K + Y E L K S + + * * * * * + +No. 49.--EASY RIDDLE IN PROSE. + +Valuable as a curiosity to any museum. The five pebbles. The one pebble +with which David killed Goliath. + + * * * * * + +A Sailing Trip and a War-Ship. + + Last April a friend of my father's told me that a party from + Bluffton were going to "Paris Island" to see the man-of-war + _Indiana_, and asked me if I would like to go. I went. We had to + ride five miles in wagons, and then we got into a large sail-boat. + It was a cold and rough day, and some of the girls got seasick. But + other boys and girls and myself had a delightful time. We arrived + at our journey's end in four hours, and proceeded to a friend's + house. + + The dry dock in which the ship lay is a hole thirty-five feet deep, + four hundred feet long, and about seventy feet broad, and has steps + going down three sides of it. The other end is the gate, which is + very large and oblong. It has rigging inside of it, which opens or + closes it at will. A pump working all the time keeps the dock dry. + We went on board the _Indiana_, and a marine explained everything + to us. The small cannons fire twenty-five times in a minute, and + some others sixty or sixty-five times in a minute. The large + cannons are in turrets, which can be turned around on a pivot, + enabling them to be fired in any direction. We saw some torpedoes + which, the marine said, cost twenty-five hundred dollars apiece. + + The ship's kitchen is large and cool. There were some sailors + cooking, and some were washing clothes. Others were sewing, + reading, writing, and talking. Then we went through the petty + officers' quarter, which was a kind of long hall, on each side of + which were small rooms, and all along this hall sailors were asleep + in all kinds of positions. We went to a lower deck in the boat, and + our guide showed us where they telegraph to all parts of the ship. + There were two rows of boxlike instruments, and in the middle of + each was a button. The sailors wore navy-blue blouses and + pantaloons and Tam o' Shanters that were trimmed with white braid. + The marines' suits were trimmed with gold braid. Instead of Tam o' + Shanters they had caps. We went also to see Fort Charles. The moats + are three feet deep and five feet broad. They are very thickly + overgrown with scrub-oak. We picked up a few shells on the beach as + mementos of our trip to the _Indiana_. I would like a few + correspondents. + + EMILY MITTELL. + BLUFFTON, S. C. + + * * * * * + +Books for a Girls' Chapter. + + I have organized a little club of five girls, three + thirteen-year-olds, one ten, and one eleven years. We call it the + Iris Club, in honor of Juno's hand-maiden between the earth and + sky; and also in honor of her, our colors are purple and white. Our + dues for the first month are ten cents, and after that five cents. + We are going to give these dues to the Home for Friendless + Children. I thought it would be nice to take up some noted work + which all would enjoy--the oldest as well as the youngest. I love + Dickens, but his works are so lengthy, and the plot so long in + evolving, that the younger ones might lose interest. Can you + suggest a list of books? + + ADELAIDE L. W. ERMENTROUT. + READING, PA. + +Ellen Douglas Deland's _Oakleigh_, _The Wide, Wide World_, which is a +standard, but which you may have read, and Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney's +books--all of them. + + * * * * * + +Amateur Illustrator's Outfit. + + "What utensils are needed by an amateur illustrator, and where can + they be obtained? J. S." + + CORNING, N. Y. + +Illustrations are made in two ways--pen-drawing, and what is called +"wash." For the former get good Bristol board, a bottle of drawing-ink, +and some small steel pens. The outfit will cost half a dollar, perhaps, +and can be had from a dealer in artists' materials, or your bookseller +may have them. If he has not, he can get them for you. To draw in wash +use ivory black and Chinese white. The drawing is a water-color, and the +picture is made with the lights and shades of the background, the ink, +and the white. Use water-color paper and small sable brushes--half a +dozen assorted sizes. You can get the outfit by sending to the address +given in any advertisement. These are all the utensils you need. The +rest comes by practice and study. + + * * * * * + +A Query in Natural History. + +Adelaide L. W. Ermentrout asks: "Can any one interested in natural +history tell me the name of the queer object which I am going to +describe? It is a worm about one inch long and one-fourth of an inch in +diameter. The body is brown, but over the back is a patch of green +bordered with white. In the centre of this patch is a brown spot. At +each end of the body are two horns covered with bristles, and around the +body are tufts of bristles like fringe on a cushion. At one end, under +the body, is a little head with which it feels its way. There are two +tiny eyes at the sides. Its under side has little holes in three +parallel rows, by which, I suppose, it clings. It is a hideous creature. +What is it, where does it come from, and what does it develop into?" + + * * * * * + +A Startling Experiment. + + Not long ago I went to the American Institute Fair, in New York, + and went through a most mysterious performance. At one end of the + hall was the "illustrated" X rays. To see this wonder, you pay ten + cents and put your hand in front of a tube and peep through an + instrument which looks like a stereoscope. At first you see nothing + but a dark object; then, as if by magic, a faint outline of the + hand appears, and then--horrors--you see the bones--the actual + bones--of your own hand with all their ugliness! + + This is a most wonderful experiment, and, if possible, I would + advise all those who can, to "see the bones of your own hand." Some + timid persons may shrink from this ghastly sight, but I firmly + believe that they would learn something by seeing this marvellous + scientific experiment. + + FRED. W. PANGBORN, JUN. + HACKENSACK, N. J. + + * * * * * + +The Lesson of a Life. + +The late George du Maurier was an example of a man who worked his way to +fame and fortune. True, when just turned sixty he had a wonderful "run +of luck," but it is to be remembered that his genius had been present +all the long up-hill years before sixty. The trouble was, the world +would not see it. + +Daniel Webster, upon the conclusion of the greatest effort of his life, +that wonderful speech in the United States Senate, was congratulated on +being able to make such a speech off-hand. Asked if it really was +extempore, as it appeared, he replied, "Yes, but I have been all my life +preparing it." + +It was much this way with the late novelist. Du Maurier wrote and the +world applauded. Quite simple. Quite easy. Not so. Du Maurier studied +for many, many years, and faced discouragements that would have sent +weaker men to the wall. Like Webster, his effort at last seemed almost +"extempore" in spite of the fact that his custom was to write, rewrite, +tear up, write again and change; but he had been all his life a student, +a patient toiler, piling up a capital of experience, not knowing whether +he should ever be able to realize any thing from it or not. In spite of +Du Maurier's phenomenal success near the close of his life, his personal +history is a lesson to young persons in this: That the price of success +must be paid, just as the price must be paid for land, for gold, or for +anything else of value. + + * * * * * + +"Chinese" by the Way of South Africa. + +From distant South Africa comes the following. It is not quite new, if +it did come so far, but we print it, partly because it always +stimulates, and partly to oblige the sender, J. G. Tanté, who is a young +stamp-collector of that distant place where we have so many other Round +Table members--Somerset East, Cape Colony, South Africa. Here is the +story: + +A Chinaman died, leaving his property by will to his three sons as +follows: "To Fuen-huen, the eldest, one-half thereof; to Nu-pin, his +second son, one-third thereof; and to Ding-bat, his youngest, one-ninth +thereof." + +When the property was inventoried, it was found to consist of nothing +more nor less than seventeen elephants, and it puzzled these three heirs +how to divide the property according to the terms of the will without +chopping up seventeen elephants, and thereby seriously impairing their +value. Finally they applied to a wise neighbor, Suen-punk, for advice. +Suen-punk had an elephant of his own. He drove it into the yard with the +seventeen, and said: + +"Now we will suppose that your father left these eighteen elephants. +Fuen-huen, take your half and depart." So Fuen-huen took nine elephants +and went his way. + +"Now, Nu-pin," said the wise man, "take your third and go." So Nu-pin +took six elephants and travelled. + +"Now, Ding-bat," said the wise man, "take your ninth and begone." So +Ding-bat took two elephants and vamosed. Then Suen-punk took his own +elephant and drove him home again. + +Query: Was the property divided according to the terms of the will? + + + + +[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. + + + + +NOV. and DEC. Numbers FREE + +ON ALL NEW YEARLY SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR + +BABYLAND AND LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN + +Received by the publishers BEFORE JAN. 1st, 1897. + +SUBSCRIBE NOW AND GET 14 NUMBERS FOR A YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION + + "_These publications give the children the right taste for reading, + and help to an extent that is beyond expression in making them + intelligent and in educating the moral nature, while furnishing + them delightful entertainment._"--Herald and News. + + * * * * * + +BABYLAND + +ENLARGED + +_50 cts. a Year._ + +Sample Copy Free. + +The Babies' Own Magazine. For Baby, + +up to the Six-Year-Old. + +LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN + +The only Magazine + +edited especially for + +Children from 7 to 11. + +_$1.00 a Year. Sample Copy Free._ + + * * * * * + +ALPHA PUBLISHING COMPANY, 212 Boylston St., Boston, Mass. + + + + +POPULAR FOOTBALL BOOKS + + * * * * * + +A PRIMER OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL + +By W. H. LEWIS. Illustrated from Instantaneous Photographs and with +Diagrams. 16mo, Paper, 75 cents. + + There is probably no other man in America who has had as much + football experience or who knows more about the game than Mr. + Lewis.... Of value not only to beginners, but to any one who wishes + to learn more about football.... We heartily recommend it as the + best practical guide to football we have yet discovered.--_Harvard + Crimson_, Cambridge. + + Written by a man who has a most thorough knowledge of the game, and + is in language any novice may understand.--_U. of M. Daily_, + University of Michigan. + + Will be read with enthusiasm by countless thousands of boys who + have found previous works on the subject too advanced and too + technical for beginners.--_Evangelist_, N. Y. + + Beginners will be very grateful for the gift, for no better book + than this of Mr. Lewis's could be placed in their hands.--_Saturday + Evening Gazette_, Boston. + +_NEW EDITION OF_ + +CAMP'S AMERICAN FOOTBALL + +By WALTER CAMP. New and Enlarged Edition. 16mo, Cloth, $1.25. + + The progress of the sport of football in this country, and a + corresponding growth of inquiry as to the methods adopted by + experienced teams, have prompted the publication of an enlarged + edition of this book. Should any of the suggestions herein + contained conduce to the further popularity of the game, the object + of the writer will be attained.--_Author's Preface._ + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR:_ + +=FOOTBALL FACTS AND FIGURES.= Post 8vo, Paper, 75 cents. + + * * * * * + +HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York + + + + +[Illustration: JUST A TRIFLE UNDER THE WEATHER.] + + * * * * * + +NOW SHE KNOWS. + +Hattie is no longer in doubt. She has often heard good people declare +that it was "raining cats and dogs," and for a time believed that they +were romancing, or, at least, prevaricating. Now she thinks they were +speaking the truth. "If it doesn't rain cats and dogs sometimes," says +Hattie, "how do the Skye-terriers get here? That's what I want to know." + + * * * * * + +"Where did you go last summer, Jacky?" + +"We didn't go," said Jacky. "We staid home." + + * * * * * + +AN ITEM FOR SAILORS. + +Here is an important statement--if true--for those interested in +sailing. An English newspaper says that while it is hard to believe that +the speed of a sailing-vessel can be increased by boring holes in her +sails, an Italian sea-captain nevertheless claims to have conducted +experiments which go a long way towards proving it. His theory is that +the force of the wind cannot fairly take effect on an inflated sail, +because of the cushion of immovable air which fills up the hollow. To +prevent the formation of this cushion, the captain bored a number of +holes in the sail. These holes let through the air which would otherwise +have been retained in the hollow of the sail, and allowed the wind to +exercise its whole power by striking fairly against the sail itself. +Several trials of this device have been made, and it has been found that +in a light wind a boat with ordinary sails made four knots, while with +the perforated sails she covered five and a quarter knots. In a fresh +breeze she made seven knots with the ordinary and eight and +three-quarter knots with the perforated sails; and in a strong wind she +made eight knots with the old and ten knots with the new sails. This +gain--from twenty to twenty-five per cent.--is of so much importance +that the experiments will be repeated on a larger scale. + + * * * * * + +THE JOCUND WIND. + +For a practical joker there is nothing like the wind. It blows clothing +hung out to dry from one neighbor's yard into another; it will whisk +your hat off in a jiffy, and compel you to make yourself a spectacle +chasing after it; it is worse than the small boy who removes gates on +All-Halloween, for it not only removes gates, but sky-lights and +window-shutters. Worst of all, it is no respecter of persons. It will +prank with a King as readily as with a beggar, and years ago in France +it had its joke with no less a person than the Prince-President +himself--the one who subsequently overthrew the republic and proclaimed +the empire, with himself as Emperor, Napoleon III. According to the +chronicles, the way of it was this: + +When the Prince-President, on his journey through France, came to +Bordeaux, a triumphal arch had been erected for him by the prefect at +the entrance to the town. A wreath suspended by a rope was to be let +down on his head as he passed under it, and the arch bore this +inscription: "He has well deserved it." But a gust of wind carried off +the wreath, so there was nothing left but the rope with this legend--"He +has well deserved it." + + * * * * * + +This is a true story of Peter Apple, of Oakland, Marion County, Indiana. +He was a raw recruit when his company took part in an attempt to storm a +battery at Vicksburg. The fire of the rebels was so hot, however, that +the Union troops were forced to retreat. Private Apple was so excited, +however, that he did not hear the command to retreat, and in the +disorder of the contest rushed over the breastworks unharmed and grabbed +a gunner by the collar. Then he turned about and dragged the man back to +the retreating Indianians, and cried out: + +"Boys, why did you not come on? Every fellow might have had one!" + + * * * * * + +MRS. HOPE. "Ethel, Miss Nerfus is coming to-day, and I want you to be +mamma's good little girl." + +ETHEL (_aged five_). "Oh yes, indeed, mamma! I'm always very particular +about what I do when visitors are here." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: AUNT SAMANTHA. "NOW I SEE WHY THAT YOUNGSTER GAVE ME +THESE FELT SLIPPERS FOR CHRISTMAS."] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, November 10, 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59855 *** |