diff options
Diffstat (limited to '59939-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 59939-0.txt | 3171 |
1 files changed, 3171 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/59939-0.txt b/59939-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f0cdfd --- /dev/null +++ b/59939-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3171 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59939 *** + + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] + +Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1896. FIVE CENTS A +COPY. + +VOL. XVIII.--NO. 890. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF GLEN FREON, BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN HIGHLANDERS AND LOWLANDERS.] + +BATTLE OF GLEN FREON. + +BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE. + + +This is how the country people still tell the story of the Tragedy of +the Youths, an incident of the time of James VI. of Scotland and I. of +England, about forty years before the sailing of the _Mayflower_ to +America: + +There was great destruction brought on the MacGregors, and many lost +their lives, their lands, and their name. And the cause was this: The +widow of a MacGregor dwelt in a place called Tulach, at the nether part +of Glen Streatha. Her house was about half a mile from the place where +the abode of the chief MacGregor himself was. She had two sons, and +these, when they were but young, began to be pack dealers or peddlers, +going to the Lowlands to buy, and going through the Highlands to sell +their wares again. Once they went on a journey to Dumbarton to buy +goods, and on returning homewards they passed along the west side of +Loch Lomond. But as they tramped on by the lands of Sir Humphrey +Colquhoun,[1] of Luss, heavy snow fell, and the track became very +difficult to travel, for there were no roads in those days in the +Highlands that could be used for wheeled carriages or carts, and when +the foot-track was covered with snow a man had to be very well +acquainted with the district not to go astray. The two boys went on +until they reached Luss, a village on the banks of the beautiful Loch +Lomond. There they asked for food, tendering payment, and being asked +who they were, they owned that their name was MacGregor, for they did +not know how much the people whose hospitality they craved hated that +name. Neither for favor nor for payment would the Luss people give the +boys any food. The boys saw well how much they were disliked on account +of their race, and they became anxious to go away. Up Glen Luss and +through Glen-Na-Sreinge was the shortest way in those days for any one +to reach the head of Loch Lomond, but the distance was great and the +snow made the journey most difficult. On the east side of the loch the +most numerous clans were the Curries and the MacGregors, and they +occupied the country from Pollach to near the north end of Loch Lomond, +through what was called the Sho's, or Slope, near to the pass of +Balla-Na-Chatha. The Slope was very rough and difficult to traverse, and +its inhabitants had the reputation of being very fierce. The Slope of +Ben Lomond was called Croigchrosdain, and the people dwelling there were +distinguished by this name from the other MacGregors. The people of Luss +declared these men came frequently in their boats across the Loch to +steal cattle and take whatever they could lay their hands on, and that +when a raid had thus been made it was as much as a man's life was worth +to go to ask for restitution. + +[1] The famous Virginian Calhoun came of this family. + +It was therefore no wonder that the young lads were badly received, for +they had not disguised their names, and no man would help them to get +home. They consulted together and determined to try to get across the +loch, and went to a place called the Caolaig, where a boat was kept by a +man who, when payment seemed assured, undertook to ferry people over to +the other side. The boys begged that they might be put across the water, +but the night threatening storm and the ferryman disliking to cross, +they were refused. They begged for shelter, but this was also denied +them. Food there was none for them at Caolaig any more than at Luss. +Left by this harsh treatment to shift for themselves, they looked around +for some place where they might find refuge, and at last they found a +goat shelter, and went into this, and lay down in the cold and darkness, +waiting in fear until they thought every one had gone to rest before +they dared try to make a fire. When they thought that they would not be +seen they made search for fuel, and happened on an out-house where a +farmer had left some agricultural implements. The shafts and handles of +these the boys took, breaking them up for fire-wood. A plough that had a +good deal of wood in it they destroyed for fuel, and lit a fire, and +having caught a young goat, killed this and roasted it to satisfy their +hunger. All this had been done, as they supposed, without any one having +been able to notice them, for they had hidden their fire as much as they +could, and the snow and storm made them think themselves secure. But +some one saw the light, followed them, and seeing what they had done, +went to Rossdhu, and told Sir Humphrey Colquhoun that the MacGregors +were at their old work again. A band of men was quickly got together, +and the two youths were caught and taken to Sir Humphrey's place, and +there put in prison. A court was held, witnesses were examined, the case +against them fully proved, and they were sentenced to be hanged on a day +that was named. Whether any of their kindred were present at the trial +is not known, but in a very short time the news spread through the +country that the lads were to be executed, and the men of Glen Gyle and +Croigchrosdain resolved to go in a body under their chief to the place +of punishment and ask for the corpses of the lads to take them back with +them for burial in their own district. When the day arrived Sir Humphrey +had a large force of men besides those from his own estate. He caused +the two prisoners to be brought from the prison of the House of Rossdhu +to a knoll called in the Gaelic Tom-Na-Cruaich (Knoll of the Gallows), a +short distance from the Light Grey Brook, by the side of the highway. +The Colquhouns selected a fir-tree, which grew on the mound, to serve as +a gallows, and the two lads were made to stand up to be hung. But +something went wrong with the withes of the gallows, and the two lads +fell as soon as their weight was on the ropes, and were not much the +worse. Then a great shout went up from the MacGregors and Curries who +had come over the loch. "The sentence of the law is fulfilled. Let the +prisoners go." They rushed to the gallows, intending to rescue the lads, +but their numbers were small in comparison to the followers of Sir +Humphrey, whose men spoke insolently and contemptuously to them, while +they barred the way, and prevented any nearer approach to the place +where the lads lay. Meanwhile new withes or ropes had been adjusted, and +the prisoners were hung up again, and left to die, amid the cries of +their friends, who shouted and yelled beyond the crowd of the men Sir +Humphrey had closely surrounding the mound. When it was evident that the +lads were dead they were let down, and their heads were cut from their +trunks, and the heads were placed on stakes, one on each side of the +gate of Rossdhu. The men who had demanded their pardon went away full of +anger. + +The tragedy that had taken place was detailed in all its sadness and +horror to the lads' clansmen wherever they could be found. Messengers +went from village to village recounting the story by the peat fires in +the little cottages, where under the thatched roofs and within the +unmortared walls the cows and the hens and the family lived together. +The messengers always began by saying that if any of the MacGregors had +lost any of their young men, they should go to the gate of Rossdhu +House, and see if in the features of the death heads on the posts on +each side of the gate they could discern the features of their loved +ones. The widow of Tulach in Glen Streatha heard the story, and anguish +came on her as she thought that this cruelty might have been dealt on +her children who had not returned when she expected them home. She made +ready speedily, and went over the moors, travelling without pausing +until she arrived near Rossdhu. She drew near to the gate and saw the +heads, and even from a distance she thought she recognized the shape of +her sons' heads, and coming close to the posts standing there with their +trophies on them, she saw that her forebodings were too true. She took +an opportunity, and had the heads taken down, and tied them up in two +pieces of cloth, and walked back, carrying a head in each hand. And +reaching her own glen she went to MacGregor's house, and laid down the +two heads at his feet, letting them out from the cloths which hid them, +and then burst into lamentation and tears, and at last told him how she +had carried them away with her. Then the chief, who knew and loved the +two youths, was greatly enraged with Sir Humphrey, and resolved to +encounter him. Before he proceeded on his designs he went to the Earl +of Argyll and asked his advice, and his counsel was that MacGregor +should ask to meet Sir Humphrey with a hundred men on each side, so that +an account might be given by the Colquhouns as to what had happened, and +the reasons for the cruel treatment of the lads. For, said the Earl, if +Sir Humphrey has no good reasons he may pay the old ransom called, from +the days of the Norse invasions, "eirig," or a fine for their deaths, +and all fighting be avoided. In any case, he counselled that MacGregor +should not be the first to begin to shed blood, unless in self-defence. +Then the chief went to Ardkinglass, where Mac Ian Riach (Campbell of +Ardkinglass) advised him to go and have an interview with Sir Humphrey, +saying that the MacGregors might go through the Ardkinglass lands and +have a night's lodging in Ganavin at the side of Loch Long, and that the +people there were to ferry the band over the loch on the day following +their arrival. All was carried out as had been suggested by the Earl, +and Sir Humphrey made answer that he would meet the MacGregor chief, and +tell the MacGregors of the crimes of the youths at the upper end of Glen +Freon on a Saturday, and that he desired to explain all that there might +be peace. + +As soon as this answer had been conveyed to the district where Alexander +MacGregor had his followers, he assembled two hundred men, giving his +brother the command over one hundred, and himself taking the leadership +of the rest, and marched towards Luss. They left Glen Streatha on +Friday, and went through the Caothran of Glen Fine, and arrived at +Ardkinglass Castle. Then instead of going by the highway of the +Highlanders up between Ben-Nan-Luibhean (Hill of the Herbs) and +Ben-Tomadh, they went through the lands of Mac Ian Riach (Ardkinglass), +over the moors as far as Ganavin. There they got ferried across the loch +to a place called the Tmire Franyach (French Ridge). Landing, they +ascended by the slant of the moor, and passed the top of Sron Mhailein, +crossed the water of the Callanach at the Broad ford, and went on by the +highway of the Highlanders above the place of the Man of Tom-Bhui, until +they reached a brook called Alt-Na-Chle. They halted there to rest, and +took special note of the situation of this place, for the burn had a +very rough course, and formed the march between the land of Fionnart and +Tom-Bhui. There were two fords within a short distance of each other +near the Highlanders' way; but most of the bed of the torrent lay deep, +and abounded in deep hollows, the burn flowing in a series of falls from +a third of the distance from the top of the moor to the shore of Loch +Long. Although the two fords are narrow, yet it was over them that the +cattle were driven when the Highland caterans, or robbers, took spoil +from the Lowlands. The MacGregors thought that this impetuous burn's +course would give an excellent place where a reserve of men might be +left in case the Laird of Luss should prove false to them. So the +chief's brother was left there with one hundred men, while he went +himself with a like number to meet Sir Humphrey. + +The place where the reserve men were thus placed in ambush, or at call, +was a remarkably secret one. There is a rock on the side of Fionnart of +the ford of the highway of the Highlanders, which, although of no great +height, is so wall-like that no one can climb up the face of it. It is +on the moorland side of the track, and there is a little hillock on the +top of it, and at the top of this hillock the waterfall of Alt-Na-Chle +flows with a bend round it, and returns again beneath it to the +Highlanders' way. The water falls steeply below this pass, and again +sixty paces lower, where there is a spot where the torrent can be +passed, but this is practically only at these so-called fords, for below +there is no good passage. John MacGregor and the band selected to remain +at the burn went up and concealed themselves behind the hillock, where +they were near enough to the track to throw stones upon it, although +they could not be seen where they lay. Alexander of Glen Streatha, when +he had seen his brother and his men thus posted, went on to the head of +Glen Freon for the tryst. The anticipated meeting with the Colquhouns +had been much discussed in the country, not only on Loch Lomond side, +but about the banks of Clyde. The MacGregors had the name of being a +fierce people, and as the date of the conference was known, and many +thought there might be fighting, a great crowd gathered to see what +would come of the meeting. + +In the town of Dumbarton there was a seminary, and the teachers and +students, participating in the curiosity aroused by the event, went in a +body to see what might happen. Many citizens of Dumbarton followed, and +a hundred men of the Clan-Na-Liendaig marched from that town to help Sir +Humphrey, should he need support. One of the Buchanan lairds marched +also thence with a number of the Clan Cameron and Clan Walter to Glen +Freon. Thus when Sir Humphrey numbered his men he found he had over four +hundred, but he and his friends arranged that he should go forward with +only one hundred, and that the other three hundred should be hidden +behind a hill, ready to move up at a signal, and this signal should be +given if the MacGregor chief did not come to terms. The hill behind +which Sir Humphrey's reserve was concealed was between the hill of Glen +Freon and a place called the Birch Clumps, not far from a part of the +Highland way by which they supposed the MacGregors would return home. +Sir Humphrey meanwhile marched on with his band of a little over one +hundred men, and stood waiting at the place where he had agreed to meet +MacGregor, for he was anxious to put an end to the disagreements and +troubles which had been a cause of warfare and sorrow to both Lowlanders +and Highlanders. MacGregor was soon seen approaching, and both bands +arrayed themselves in ranks, and stood opposite to each other and not +far apart. The Lowlanders wore their great flat bonnets of blue cloth, +and were clad in long jackets and short hose with gray coarse stockings; +the Highlanders, in bonnets also of blue, but of smaller size, and they +all wore red tartan, most of them in kilts, though others had tartan +tight-fitting trousers. + +Sir Humphrey went forward into the space between, and there met +MacGregor, who likewise advanced alone, with an eagle's plume in his +bonnet, and the two began to confer together. What passed is not exactly +known, but the conversation lasted long, and then the chief was seen to +turn away from Sir Humphrey, and go to his own men, who stood in their +red dresses on the hill-side, and the listening crowds of Lowland +citizens and Sir Humphrey's Lowland-clad band heard the chief's words to +his men, as he said, "We will go home. There is to be no bloodshed in +the mean time." The MacGregors turned and began their return march, but +instead of going by the Highland way they took a short way through the +glens which lay above Sron Glen Freon, and they thus avoided altogether +passing the Colquhoun men who were lying in reserve behind the hill. Sir +Humphrey and his friends now held a consultation quickly with each +other, and gave orders to those men who were leisurely following the +MacGregors' march. When these orders were delivered it was seen that the +Lowlanders quickened their pace, and a shout went up from them, and Sir +Humphrey's reserve of men rose and joined the advance and pursued the +MacGregors, who fled. The Alt-Na-Chle burn, where they had left their +supports, was nearly four miles away. The Highlanders ran on as fast as +they could, anxious to reach their comrades some time before the +pursuers could come up, so that they could have breath for the fight, +and get into order to receive the attack, which they now saw was to be +made upon them. This they accomplished. They got into order of battle, +and were standing to their arms on the other side of the two fords a +short time before the Colquhoun force arrived at the banks of the burn, +which presented such difficulties to the pursuers that the disparity in +numbers was well balanced by the nature of the position the chief had +gained. So much was this the case that the reserve was told to remain in +ambush until the fight should grow hot. The Colquhouns, pausing for a +moment, got their men in a column, and attempted to rush the ford and +bank beyond, but they could only advance a few at a time, the hill on +the other side giving great advantage to the defence, and the first men +who got over were all killed without a single one of the MacGregors +being harmed. There were seven very brave men among the Colquhouns. +These men were all brothers, and they volunteered to head the attack, +that a breach might be made through the MacGregors' line, but the +devoted brothers were all slain, and lay together in a heap by the side +of the water of the burn, which gave to the pass in after-times the name +of the Brothers Ford. + +Now when many of the pursuers were already lying heaped together in the +pass, the chief called to his brother and the hundred who were with him, +still lying beyond the knoll. These men as they rose had but to spring +forward a few steps to gain the top of the rock overhanging the Highland +way, and when they thus crowned the green summit they saw under the rock +wall below them a number of the Colquhouns at the base of the waterfall. +They plied their bows sharply now, sending down their arrows on the +pursuers, who, pent together, could not escape them. Every shaft told, +and the Colquhouns, despairing of forcing the ascent, gave way and fled +back, the MacGregors crossing over after them and keeping above them as +they ran along the hill face, continuing their arrow fire and doing much +hurt. The whole crowd of pursuers and pursued ran aslant the moor until +they reached a little plain called Tom-Na-Folaich (or the Little Bush +and of the Rank Grass), where the Colquhouns, turning, attacked the +nearest of their enemies, who gave way in their turn, running over the +hill to a place where there was a gap between two ridges of rock. There +they faced round, filling up the gap. The Colquhouns hurried onward +until they were nearly within sword-stroke of their enemies. Here again +the skill of the Highland bowmen decided matters, for crossing the top +of the rock on the left of the Lowlanders they killed a great number, +while they could not be much harmed themselves. In the Gaelic speech +that gap is still called the Chasm of Misfortune, and the rock is yet +known as the Bowmen's Crag. The Lowlanders gave way. Meanwhile the +remainder of them, under Sir Humphrey, had been fighting the rest of the +Highlanders, and a like result had overtaken them. All the MacGregors +were now in pursuit of the Colquhouns, running along the Highland way +over the large brook, the Alt-Mor, at the smithy's ford, and when some +distance beyond, an unfortunate minister, who was a teacher at the +seminary of Dumbarton, was overtaken as he was fleeing with the people +who had rashly come out as spectators, and was killed. The chief's +brother happened to be pursuing a young man of the Clan-Na-Liondaig who +had been with Sir Humphrey, and the young fellow turned on the +chieftain, and cut him down near a great gray stone that was often +pointed out as marking the Highland chieftain's death-place. At the head +of Glen Freon the Colquhouns attempted to rally, by the persuasions of +Sir Humphrey, but he could not get them into any order until they +arrived at a large level field called Acha Haich. Here he managed to get +them again into array, but the Highlanders, seeing them make a stand, +halted to form their line, and quickly attacked. Hardly a minute passed +before Sir Humphrey's men turned their backs, and all that can be said +of what followed is that chase and flight went streaming down both sides +of Glen Freon. + +When the rout reached the middle of the glen the victors, who were +slaying as they went, overtook the principal of the seminary, who with +his students were showing every sign of terror. But the MacGregors took +no heed of them. The principal hastened to the chief, and said to him, +"These youths are unarmed and in great fear. Now that you have won the +day, I intrust them to your forbearance." There was a barn near the +place where they stood, and the chief ordered them into the barn, +putting over them as guard a man named Black Hugh of the Dhu-Leitir, who +came from his own Glen Streatha. It is said that this man was not a +MacGregor, but a MacCalister, who had gone from the district where his +youth was spent to the MacGregor country, taking their name on account +of some crime that he had committed. + +He heard his chief now say to him, "Hugh, here are thirty-seven youths. +Stand at the door. I confide them to you. Take good care of them," and +as he obeyed he saw his chief hurry on in the pursuit. Hugh began his +sentry duty, and allowed none of the youths to leave the barn, believing +that they should be treated as prisoners; but as the lads could speak no +Gaelic, and Hugh no English, there was not much attempt at communication +between them. + +We will follow the pursuit from which Hugh was debarred by his duties as +jailer. The MacGregors harassed the Colquhouns in their retreat +persistently, sparing none whom they found with arms in their hands, and +among these were many of the citizens of Dumbarton. Of the incidents of +the pursuit, men remember that at Tigh-Na-Goaithe, or the House of the +Winds, in the glen, one of the MacGregors took note of a gentleman among +the Colquhouns who was on horseback. He rushed at the rider, who fled, +yet the Highlander was so swift of foot that he kept up with the pace of +the horse all the way between the place called the Hill of the Wind and +the waterfall of the Finglass. The mounted officer missed a passage or +ford which existed, and came to a place where it was difficult to cross +the burn's ravine, called the "churn." It was about twenty feet in +depth, and there was a pool below, the chasm being about ten feet broad +above and sixteen feet below. The horse took the leap, and bad as was +the take off, carried his rider across in safety. The pursuer could not +take the leap, but shot an arrow, which missed the rider, who coolly +dismounted, picked up the arrow, and shot it back from his own bow, +killing the man who had first shot it. + +At the lower part of the glen Sir Humphrey's people scattered widely, +each trying to save his own life. Some went the way of Luss, others fled +towards the Leven. But MacGregor did not care to see his men disperse +themselves so widely, and stopped the pursuit. He called them to him, +and told them it was now best to return the road they had come. They +obeyed him, and the march home was commenced. When they were ascending +the upper part of Blar-Na-Chietein (or the Plain of April) the piper +struck up, playing an extemporized tune, which was known afterwards as +the "Bout of Spoils on Colquhoun." They went along rejoicing, but they +soon had cause for grief. + +MacGregor now observed Black Hugh among his followers, and inquired of +him, "What have you done with the young lads whom I intrusted to you?" + +Hugh replied by drawing a dirk from his belt, and shaking it above his +head, said, "Ask that dirk and God's mercy what has become of them!" + +"May God look on us!" said MacGregor. "If you have killed the lads, no +mention shall be made of a MacGregor henceforth." He hurried to the +barn, and there were all the youths lying where they had been butchered, +cold in their blood! The chief turned angrily and called up Black Hugh. +"Why have you done this?" + +And Hugh answered: "After the youths had been for a time in the barn +they became turbulent, I do not know why; but they spoke a great deal of +English, and I could not understand a word of what they said, but I +shook the dirk at them and told them to keep quiet in Gaelic, which they +should have understood, and I asked, and I asked, and I asked them to +keep quiet, but they would not, and attempted to get out in spite of me. +It seemed to me that I might just as well lose my own life as let a +prisoner escape; and as they came forward one by one to get out I killed +them as quickly as they got within reach. I do not know what it means, +but every one as he was pierced with the dirk seemed to me to cry out a +sound like 'God's mercy.'" + +"It was not to hurt them or keep them prisoners that I sent you there, +but to protect them from harm," sternly replied MacGregor. + +It was only then that Hugh perceived that he had blundered. All the +MacGregors were sorrowful at the event, and the chief himself deeply +distressed. They continued their march in gloom, taking home with them +the body of the chief's brother, for they found him where he had fallen +on the hill-side. Although the fight has been named after the glen, it +was really at Alt-Na-Chle that it began, about four miles from the glen, +and a much larger number of the Colquhouns were slain on the land of +Fionnart than at the head of the glen, but the pursuit did not take them +through Glen Freon. + +After the battle, and on the retreat of the Highlanders, the Lowland +party were greatly enraged. They went and buried the dead, and kept +their bloody shirts that they might be shown to the King, and Sir +Humphrey and his friends got 220 women to ride to Edinburgh, each woman +carrying on a spear as a banner a blood-stained shirt which she said had +belonged to a man massacred by the MacGregors. The youths who had been +killed by Hugh were of good parentage, and the indignation caused by +their death was not allowed to sleep by their kinsfolk and tutors. The +King was greatly enraged against the MacGregors, having had a hatred of +them on account of old strifes. He appointed a day for a court of +justice, and MacGregor was summoned, but durst not appear. Neither was +there any one to speak for him, and in his absence he and his clan were +sentenced to lose their lands and name. + + + + +[Illustration: "WHO DONE THAT?" SHOUTED MR. CUMMINGS.] + +THAT DISREPUTABLE SCHOOL-HOUSE STOVE. + +BY ARTHUR WILLIS COLTON. + + +The district school-house in Hagar was very old, but it never looked so, +on account of the paint. When the Selectmen concluded not to do +something that ought to be done, because it would cost too much, they +violently painted the school-house instead. It relieved their feelings +and did not cost too much. Also, the school-house standing prominently +by the cross-roads, it gave a thrifty appearance to the village. + +The inside of the school-house was seldom painted by the violent +Selectmen, or its individuality interfered with in any way. Its desks +became more whittled from year to year, its ceiling smokier, and its +blackboards dingier with adding and subtracting. The water-pail that +stood over the cellar stairs was often upset for different reasons, so +that now and then there was a new water-pail. The stove stood in front +of the teacher's desk, and, on cold days, an enormous distance from the +back seats. The stove-pipe was strung along the ceiling on precarious +wires. + +This stove was not an adequate stove. The sphere of its influence fell +short of the back seats. It was an uncertain and variable stove. It +sulked; sometimes it dropped legs and severed connections with the pipe. +On windy days it shook, roared, threw sparks, and interrupted lessons. +The Selectmen, namely, Deacon Crockett, Harvey Cummings, and Mr. +Atherton Bell--who had been to the Legislature--were told that the stove +was not an adequate stove, and denounced the school-house as a source of +endless expense. + +In the fall and spring the school was taught by different young ladies, +who were much to be pitied. In the winter it was taught by a man--for +some years by a man named Pollock, who had ideas. When the school became +very unruly he flung the bell on the floor to produce silence. It was a +large yellow-colored bell. When it was rung, the sound of it was as the +sound of lamentation, and when it was flung on the floor it made us +think of a number of funerals all mixed up. Mr. Pollock also taught +algebra to those whom he thought deserved it; that was his idea of +rewarding merit. It seemed to us that his idea was wrong. + +But this story which I have to tell is not about the school in general, +but a particular story intended to bring out a moral about the putting +of horse-chestnuts in a stove, namely, that it is very revolutionary, +and a good way to play nihilists, if you wish to play nihilists. It +concerns one Willy Flint, who was an imp; not one of those nervous black +little things, however, such as you would expect an imp to be. He had +light hair, rather thin red eyelids, and no nerves; but for all that he +was an imp. His sister's name was Angelica Bertina and some other names. +She also was an imp. I believe she was, or grew up to be, a very pretty +girl, but at that time I had no opinion of such matters. + + * * * * * + +Angelica kicked the snow against the entry-door and mentioned a desire +to smash things. She felt that way, perhaps, more often than most +people, but we all know how it is when it is a relief, although nothing +in particular has happened, to get a large club and pound a rock. It is +partly surplus energy and partly discontent. Bobby Bell stared at +Angelica admiringly. It was the noon-hour. Willy Flint reached the +bottom of his lunch-pail, shook up the crumbs, and fitted it deftly on +the head of Bobby Bell, who escaped and ran into Angelica. Angelica +collared him and shook him out of the dinner-pail, but respectfully, for +Bobby Bell was a gentleman, though very little, and though only five or +six years old, greatly admired Angelica. + +"You let Bobby alone," snapped Angelica; but Willy Flint was thinking of +something else. Angelica, holding Bobby by the collar, brushed off the +crumbs, and Bobby became contented and conversational. + +"My fatha's comin' to thee the thtove," he announced. + +"How do you know?" asked Willy Flint, blinking his red eyelids. + +"My fatha thaid tho. Tho'th Deacon Cwockett. Tho'th Mithta Cummin'. +Tho'th my fatha." + +Willy Flint blinked his eyelids at Bobby Bell for some minutes, and +then, without looking to the right or left, started on a run through the +drifts to the road and along the road eastward. The entire school +stopped snowballing and watched him in dumb amazement. Just as he turned +into the Flints' gate, a quarter of a mile away, Mr. Pollock came to the +entry and rang the lamentable bell. Therefore Willy Flint was late, and +had to do a strange sum, involving two men who exchanged commodities in +such a manner as never ought to be done in this world. + + * * * * * + +Willy Flint sat, pretending to do this sum, on the seat behind the +stove, because he was an imp, and Mr. Pollock wished to keep an eye on +him. The scholars on the back seats were good but cold; those in between +were middling. Angelica Bertina was reciting geography, which she did +very well. I suppose it practised her memory to remember her name. When +one can say Angelica Bertina and the other names easily, it helps one +out with Liberia and Porto Rico. + +Willy Flint looked at Mr. Pollock, who looked at him, and asked Angelica +about the products of Liberia. Willy Flint sighed despondently and drew +spindle-legged people on his slate. Angelica stated the products of +Liberia to be coffee, ivory, and rofia-palm fibre, and Mr. Pollock did +not deny it, though of course rofia-palm fibre belongs with Madagascar +and not with Liberia. He was wondering what Willy Flint was about to do. + +Angelica saw his abstracted eye and went on, "Arrowroot, sugar, +chewing-gum." + +Here Moses Durfey giggled and Mr. Pollock started. + +"What's that?" + +"Cotton," said Angelica, "cocoa, oranges, and lemons." + +"Ah," said Mr. Pollock. "Correct." + +And Willy Flint looked more cheerful. + +This was the situation when the Selectmen came: the stove behaving in +various ways, Willy Flint considering what he was about to do, Mr. +Pollock wondering what that was, and Angelica reciting geography. + +There was a loud knock at the entry-door, and Mr. Pollock and the entire +school, with the exception of Willy Flint and Angelica, left whatever +they were doing, and concentrated their minds on the door. Willy Flint +leaned swiftly forward and slipped something through the damper of the +stove. Angelica cast a glance after Mr. Pollock, closed her eyes, and +recited in a loud voice: + +"Abyssinia, eastern Africa, three kingdoms--Shoa, Tigre, and Amhara, +elevated table-land, of which majority of people--m-m-m-m--pastoral +pursuits." + +Willy Flint again leaned forward and slipped something through the +damper. + +"Ah!" said Mr. Pollock, at the door. "Come in." And the violent +Selectmen entered, namely, Deacon Crockett, Harvey Cummings, and Mr. +Atherton Bell--who had been to the Legislature. Again Willy Flint leaned +forward. + +"Exports, skins," shouted Angelica, "ivory, gums--" + +"Angelica," said Mr. Pollock, sternly--"Angelica Flint, that will do." +And Angelica, with an eye on Willy's movements, thought that very likely +it might. + +"We've come to see about that stove," said the fluent Mr. Atherton Bell. +"Now I don't see anything the matter with the stove. Do you, Deacon? It +appears to me to have an excellent draught." + +Deacon Crockett nodded gloomily. + +"Furs rate," said Mr. Cummings. + +"A good serviceable stove," said Mr. Atherton Bell. + +Bang! went something in the stove; boom! crack! bang! + +The top of the stove rose and danced about in an angular manner. The +pipe came down and covered Deacon Crockett and Willy Flint impartially +with soot. Legs went here and there. The door bounced off, followed by +ashes and coals, and smote Mr. Cummings sorely on the foot. Then the +stove settled down, propped only by one leg plainly showing and +declaring itself the most disreputable stove in the town of Hagar; and +the school resolved itself into anarchy, which proves just what all wise +men say, that nihilism results in anarchy. + +"Who done that?" shouted Mr. Cummings, angrily. Deacon Crockett said +nothing, but glared. Willy Flint, being also covered with soot, looked +in every respect like the down-trodden victim of conspiracy. Mr. Pollock +wiped his glasses, which meant that he intended to maintain his presence +of mind; and Mr. Atherton Bell, whom neither soot had touched nor flying +missile smitten anywhere, seeing the misfortunes of his colleagues, +immediately saw also the humor of the thing in a broad and liberal +manner, thumped his sides and laughed loudly. + +"Now, Harvey, tut, tut! Now, deacon--" + +Then Bobby Bell, who greatly admired his father, joined in shrilly; then +the rest of the school saw the humor of it too. Mr. Cummings, polishing +his toe, smiled feebly. Mr. Pollock's eyes, as he brushed the Deacon's +back with the broom, twinkled behind his glasses. The only persons who +seemed really chagrined were Deacon Crockett and Willy Flint. Such it is +to have an eye for the humor of a thing. + +"Why--why," gasped Mr. Atherton Bell, "Pollock--Pollock--you don't mean +to tell me it acts like this--I might say--customarily?" + +Mr. Pollock wiped his glasses slowly. "No," he said, "I never saw it act +just like that before--not so badly as that." + +And all the school agreed that it had never acted so badly as that +before. + + * * * * * + +And so it came about, what with Mr. Atherton Bell's sense of humor and +the intense dislike which Harvey Cummings conceived for the ancient +stove, that a new stove was put in--a large flat-topped satisfactory +stove on which could be baked nearly a quart of chestnuts. + +I remember distinctly how Chub Leroy, Moses Durfey, and I argued it +over, and concluded that Willy Flint was to be a nihilist. After that we +collected horse-chestnuts, and did things with them for which Moses +Durfey was spanked. And Angelica, whose language was vigorous, like her +stride, remarked that Mr. Pollock was "game." He was, in fact, a very +honest and kindly gentleman, who always maintained his presence of mind, +and that was about what Angelica meant. + + + + +FRENCH BOYS' GAMES. + + +The games of the children of France are the games of the children of the +world--for games are the same all the world over. + +This discovery is a great blow to your patriotic feeling of +proprietorship in them. "Hide-and-Seek" and "Blind-Man's-Buff" are as +much American to us as "The Star-spangled Banner" and "Yankee Doodle." +English children might perhaps know them, because the English are our +cousins and speak our language; but they had certainly never got so far +from home as across the Channel. And now, when you begin to look into +the subject, you find that "Hide-and-Seek" is represented in one of the +old paintings found in the ruins of Herculaneum, and that not only +children, but grown people as well, played this fascinating game in +India long before we Americans were born or thought of. Rousselet, a +French traveller who wrote about India, says that an Indian Emperor in +the sixteenth century built a palace expressly for playing it. The +palace contained a wonderful labyrinth in marble, and little cabinets +for people to hide in, with a marble pillow in the centre for a goal. + +And "Blind-Man's-Buff" is equally of very ancient lineage, and is really +a French game, though it is not called by that name in France. This is +the way it came to be invented: In the year 999 Robert, the son of Hugh +Capet, had attached to his service a warrior named Colin, surnamed +Maillard, or Mallet, because a mallet was his favorite weapon. In a +campaign against the Count of Louvain, Colin Maillard had his eyes put +out; but he kept on fighting, guided by his squires. So, in memory of +his bravery, King Robert established a military game, a sort of +tournament named after him, which was nothing more nor less than +"Blind-Man's-Buff." One of the titles to distinction of the celebrated +crusader Godfrey de Bouillon was his having kept successfully the rôle +of Colin Maillard five times. + +Bowling is another very old French game, and the French word _boulevard_ +comes from it. It is made up of _boule_, or bowls, and _vert_, or green; +so that the word means "the green bowling-place." The celebrated French +boulevards, overhung by their green trees, were once upon a time the +places where people congregated to bowl, and you can see how easily +_vert_ became _vart_, and how that was changed again into _vard_. Even +nowadays one sometimes sees it written in old signs _boulevart_. + +So in nearly all of the French games we find some of our old favorites, +only changed more or less, according to the imagination of the people +who have played them. The French are very imaginative, and the children +always personify something or somebody in their games. For instance, +"Tag," which is as popular here as at home, becomes "Chat," or "Cat." +The person who is "it" is always a cat, and the others playing are +generally supposed to be mice. There are several varieties of "Chat," +such as "Chat perché" and "Chat coupé." In "Chat perché" the mouse is +allowed to perch on anything it pleases, and is safe so long as it can +hang on. Or the cat perches, and the mice watch the moment when the cat +can no longer hold on and must fall. Generally the players agree that +nobody is to be kept perched too long at a time. In "Chat coupé," the +person who is cat chooses one person to run after. Any one else playing +may cut in between the two running, when the cat changes her course to +run after him. + +Girls play "La Mère Gigogne," a running game in which one of the players +is chosen to be the old Mother Gigogne. A line is traced, or some sort +of boundary is decided on, behind which la Mère Gigogne is supposed to +live. She calls out "La Mère Gigogne va sortir" (Mother Gigogne is going +out), and then makes a dive for the children, who run as hard as they +can with the mother Gigogne after them. The children, as they are caught +one after the other, are put inside the boundary, and must take hold of +hands in a line until all are taken. This line can bar the passage of +the others, so the Mother Gigogne can catch them more easily. This is a +favorite game in the girls' _pensions_ or schools, and in the _lycées_ +and common schools both girls and boys alike play the "Jen de Barres," +or "Prisoner's Base." + +"Prisoner's Base" is exactly like our own "Prisoner's Base," and perhaps +it may interest you to know that this game was invented by the Greeks +about five hundred years before Christ. That and "Theque" are perhaps +the two favorite boys' games in France. "Theque" is a kind of feeble +imitation of our baseball, played in a babyish sort of way that would +make an American college team faint. Indeed it is only lately that they +are beginning to realize in France that boys need a certain amount of +athletics to make them healthy and manly, and are trying to encourage +out-door sports in all the schools. There has recently been held in +Paris a grand international congress to promote the re-establishment of +the old Olympic games, but exactly what these re-established Olympic +games are going to be it is too early to say yet. Meanwhile lawn-tennis +is getting to be as popular in France as at home, and croquet is a +perpetual favorite. + +The French have all sorts of pretty rounds, like the charming old "Pont +d'Avignon"--when they used to dance "en rond"--which is not so popular +as a round now as it used to be in the olden time; but there are many +others. Instead of "Little Sally Waters," all the "babies in our block" +in Paris would sing, "J'ai un joli bouquet, à qui le donnerai-je?" (I +have a charming bouquet, to whom shall I give it?) or "Nous n'irons plus +au bois." + +Perhaps this last is the most popular of the French rounds, so that it +is given in full. The idea is something like this: "We will go no more +to the wood, for all the laurels are cut. But the beautiful one I +present to you will go and pick them up. Enter into the dance, sing and +waltz, and embrace the one that you love the best." + + "Nous n'irons plus au bois, + Les lauriers sont coupés; + La belle que voilà ira les ramasser. + Entrez dans la danse; + Voyez comme on danse; + Chantez, valsez, embrassez celle que vous aimez." + +Another game that is a sort of round is called "Mon beau Guillaume." All +the players form a circle, while "handsome William" stands in the +centre. Then he asks, "Where are you going, mes belles dames?" And the +belles dames answer that they are going to take a walk. "Mes belles +dames, you will wear out your slippers." "Mon beau Guillaume, you will +mend them for us." "Mes belles dames, and who will pay me for it?" "The +one that you catch." Then beau Guillaume closes his eyes, and the circle +turns around very fast three times, when beau Guillaume must catch +somebody and guess who it is. + +The French play some pretty in-door games which are not known in +America, a favorite of which is "Why am I on the sellete?" _Sellette_ +means literally "stool," and it is represented by a chair in the centre +of the room. One person goes out, while another of the players goes +around and asks each one why So-and-so is "on the sellette." When all +the answers are given, the player who has gone out is called in, and +takes his place on the chair. "Why am I on the sellette?" he asks, and +the person who has collected the answers gives one after another, while +the person in the centre tries to guess who are their authors. You can +see that all the fun of this game, like that of many others, depends +upon the cleverness of the players, for each one tries to make a witty +hit in his answer at some characteristic or some event in the life of +the person in question that is known to the speaker alone. If the person +on the sellette guesses the author of the answer, the latter takes his +place on the sellette. + +"If I were a little piece of paper, what would you do with me?" is +another game of the same sort, where the interest depends on the +cleverness of the answers. "I'd make you into a bank-note." "I'd make +you into a love-letter." You can see how an endless number of bright +replies is possible. "I've lost my valise--what was there in it?" is +another, in which any little foible or characteristic of the questioner +is good-naturedly hit off. "Pigeon, vole, oiseau, vole," is a game very +much like our "Simon says thumbs up." You twirl your two forefingers and +put them down on your knees, saying, "Pigeon, fly, bird, fly," etc. But +if you say "rabbit, fly," or any other animal that hasn't wings, and any +fingers go down, their owners must give a forfeit. + +And now to end with one more game, "Marriage and Divorce." All the +players but one form in couples, one behind the other. The one left out +stands in front of them in this way .::: and claps his hands three +times, when the last two players run, one on one side and one on the +other, and try to come together again and join hands behind the one +standing alone before he shall have been able to catch either one of +them. If he does not succeed in doing this the couple are still married, +and take their place at the head of the others. If he succeeds, the one +caught takes his place, and he "marries" the other, and takes his place +with his bride at the head. + + + + +IMPORTANT "TRIFLES" ON WAR-SHIPS. + +BY FRANKLIN MATTHEWS. + + +I. + +Suppose that a state of war exists between the United States and some +other country well supplied with modern war-ships. Suppose, also, that +one of our best battle-ships--like the _Kentucky_, soon to be built--is +cruising off New York Harbor. A monster battle-ship of the enemy +appears, and the ships are to fight until one is sunk or conquered. The +alarm for general quarters has sounded. Every gun is loaded; the decks +are cleared; ammunition is ready for instant use. The captain has taken +his place in the conning-tower. The enemy approaches. The signal runs +through the ship, "Stand by to fire!" + +When the enemy gets within 3000 yards, the _Kentucky_'s 13-inch forward +guns will each hurl a monster bullet, weighing more than a thousand +pounds, at the other vessel. Not a shot must be fired until the enemy is +exactly 3000 yards away. Both ships are moving swiftly. In less than one +second the enemy will be exactly 3000 yards off. An awful roar follows. +A tongue of fire, followed by a rolling, bounding ball of smoke, darts +from a great cannon. Nearly a quarter of a mile away the eye can see the +half-ton projectile darting straight toward the other ship. It hits the +very place it was intended to hit. Half a dozen such shots, or perhaps +fewer, may send the other vessel to the bottom. The battle rages. Shot +after shot is fired, and finally one vessel hoists the white flag, or +careens, and the order is given for every man to save himself as she +plunges to the bottom. + +[Illustration: THE RANGE-FINDER.] + +Marvellous as the shooting has been, still more marvellous is the way it +has been done. The gunners have fired without seeing, or even looking to +see, the other ship. They have fired by looking rather at little dials +close by each gun. They have aimed each gun without trying to see the +enemy. Still, each shot goes straight to the mark, and the havoc is +terrific. How is it all done? Long before the firing began you might +have observed a sailor-man, half-way up each mast of the battle-ship, +looking at the enemy through a telescope. Attached to each telescope are +a telephone-receiver and mouth-piece. The receiver is fitted to the +sailor-man's head, and the mouth-piece comes close to his lips as he +looks through the telescope. One of the sailor-men says to the other, +through the telephone: + +"I am looking at the forward smoke-pipe. Keep your eye on that until I +tell you to change." + +"All right," comes the answer; and then, as the enemy nears the +_Kentucky_, these two telescopes follow the ship, turning gradually as +the vessel comes nearer. Down at each gun there is another man looking +at the enemy through a telescope. He is the gun-firer. Another man at +the gun, the gunner, has turned a wheel to elevate the gun so as to +shoot a certain number of yards, as marked on the dial in front of him. +The vessel is rolling from side to side. The gun now points high in the +air, and now down into the water. It is known that the enemy is the +exact distance away to be hit by the projectile if the _Kentucky_ did +not roll. The gun-firer watches as his ship comes to a level. He sees +the other ship exactly in the centre of his telescope, or at the +juncture of the cross-hairs on the glass. Not a tenth of a second must +be lost. The gunner has already pressed down a button, showing that his +aim is all right for a certain distance. The gun-firer presses his +button as the target shows itself in the centre of the cross-hairs; an +electric current flashes through the primer of the projectile, and a +thunder-bolt of war speeds through the air at the rate of about 2000 +feet a second. The gun cannot be fired unless both gunner and gun-firer +press down the buttons in front of them. How do they know when to do +this? Who tells them when to fire? The answer is that no one tells them +when to fire after they have received their general orders. It all +results from those two sailor-men on the masts following the path of the +enemy. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING TELEPHONIC CONNECTIONS BETWEEN +RANGE-FINDERS AND GUNNERS. + +A.--Central Telephone Station. B.--Dial on which Distance is conveyed to +Gunners from A. C.--Range-finder who conveys Angle to A. D.--Gun-firer +who presses Firing-button when Range is Found.] + +Those men on the masts are working the range-finders. There are +electrical instruments that tell automatically the exact distance from +them of any object. All that the men have to do is to keep looking at +the enemy, and the guns will keep on hitting the mark if fired at that +instant in the roll or plunge that the target comes at the centre of the +gun-firer's telescope. All that is absolutely essential, as a first +requisite, is that the two men at the range-finders shall be looking at +the same spot on the enemy's ship. Electricity does most of the rest of +the work. Now you must know that there are instruments in navigation by +which distances of objects from a ship can be reckoned accurately. A +sextant is one of these instruments. It requires a lot of figuring, +however, to fix the distance. It would be useless to try to use these +instruments in a battle. Long before the distance of an enemy could be +computed his ship, and your own as well, would have changed its +position, going as war-ships in time of conflict do at the rate of more +than a quarter of a mile a minute. A shot fired at the distance computed +would perhaps be a mile wide of the mark. + +[Illustration: RANGE-FINDERS AT WORK ON THE ENEMY FROM THE FORE AND MAIN +TOPS.] + +Nor will it do to fire at an enemy in the old hit-or-miss style that +used to be followed. In the old days the gunner sighted the gun, made an +allowance as best he could for the distance the ship would go before he +fired, and when the roll or plunge of his own vessel was favorable he +pulled a string, as he turned away his head, and took chances of hitting +the other ship. He had to guess the distance largely. He first tried a +certain range, and then another, until he gradually got the right +distance, and then he fired, whenever he got the right chance. Those +were the days of the old smooth-bore cannon; the days when a captain +could make himself heard by a speaking-trumpet anywhere on deck, and +almost anywhere below-deck by shouting down a hatchway. All that is +changed now. The roar on a war-ship in battle is like that on a +mountain-top encased in a violent thunder-storm. Then, too, ammunition +is too costly and too limited nowadays to be wasted by experiments in +finding the range of the enemy, and in taking chances on hitting him. +One shot from one of these guns of modern times may win the battle by +piercing the vitals of the enemy's ship, and not even the smallest +chance must be taken to miss that target. It is for that reason that the +wonderful aid of electricity has been called into use on war-ships in +many devices. Probably the most wonderful of all these devices is the +range-finder. + +It isn't necessary for us to go deep into electrical science to +understand how this instrument does its work. Electricity itself is a +great mystery, and a puzzle in many ways to those who understand it +best. Most of us have not been able to grasp its simpler puzzles until +we studied them in college, and even then it would not be well for us to +boast of what we knew. All we need to know, however, to understand the +range-finder is a little problem in geometry. Most of you understand +that if we have a triangle, and know the length of one side and the size +of the angles at the ends of that side, we can figure exactly the length +of the other two sides and the distance of the point where those two +sides meet. Well, that explains just how the range-finder works. The +exact distance between the two men looking through the telescopes is +known and fixed. Each man looks, as we have seen, at the same point out +in the distance on the enemy's ship. That point is where the two unknown +sides of the triangle come together. There is no time to figure the +distance. A tenth of a second in these days is too much time to be lost. +We must use electricity to do our figuring. This is the way it is done: +The telescopes are turned about on electric circuits; that is, they are +attached to a metal circle charged with electricity. The wires from +these circles run to a little dial down in the hold. The Wheatstone +bridge or electrical balance system is used. That means that the +resistance of a current through a wire through a given distance is +measured finally by a dial on a marking-instrument. + +Now it is impossible to turn one or both of those telescopes on the +range-finders without moving the dial on the marking-instrument. +Electricity has progressed so far that to the exact foot the dial will +indicate the distance an object is away from the base of the line +connecting the range-finding instruments. At any instant that dial will +tell how many yards off the enemy is. The men at the telescopes know +nothing of what the dial is doing. The dial is down in the central +telephone exchange of the ship. One man is stationed there to do nothing +else than to watch what it records. He has a little instrument beside +him called a range-indicator. The dial of the range-finder says that the +enemy is so many yards away. He simply presses a button on the +range-indicator, which sends a current to other range-indicators in ten +different places on a battle-ship like the _Kentucky_. The needles of +these ten instruments, one at each of the guns of the main battery, and +at some of the guns of the secondary battery, tell the gunner how far +off the enemy is. The indicators have simply transmitted the news to the +gunners which the range-finders have discovered automatically. + +Every gunner knows, by the sliding-scale attached to his gun, just how +far to elevate the gun so as to carry its projectile a certain number of +yards. He does not look along his gun. He pays no attention to the enemy +himself. He keeps one hand on a little wheel, which he turns with his +fingers, and the slightest twist alters the range of the piece. In a +twinkling he can change the range a hundred yards. Suppose, now, the +dial of the range-finder in front of the man in the telephone central +indicates 2580 yards. He presses his button on the range-indicator, and +in ten places on board the _Kentucky_ the gunners know that the enemy is +2580 yards away. Previous warnings have fixed that distance +approximately. With a quick twist of the wrist the range of each gun in +action is fixed for 2580 yards. The gunner keeps his eye on the +range-indicator, and when his gun is pointed to carry its projectile +that distance he presses down his firing-button. But it will not do, +perhaps, to fire at that instant. The ship may be rolling or pitching. +The gun-firer is looking through his telescope. Suddenly the ship is +shown to be on an even keel, because the cross-hairs of the telescope +centre on the enemy. The gun-firer presses his button, and the gun is +discharged. + +Suppose, now, that the range has changed between the time that the gun +is aimed and the time the _Kentucky_ has reached an even keel. Of course +the gun-firer at the telescope can know nothing of it. He presses his +button, and perhaps is surprised to find that the gun does not fire. +That simply means that the gunner has taken his finger off his +firing-button while he is changing the range of the gun to the new +figures just telegraphed to him from the range-finder. The gun cannot be +fired unless the buttons of both gunner and gun-firer are pressed down +at the same time. This is done to avoid waste of ammunition. The gunner +keeps his finger on his firing-button all the time the range remains +fixed. During that time the man at the telescope can fire the gun +whenever the cross-hairs of his instrument tell him it is the proper +time to fire. If the range is being changed, the gun does not go off. If +the range is set, the gun does go off. In either case the man at the +telescope has nothing to do with the range. All he has to do is to watch +the enemy and press his button. All the gunner has to do is to see that +the range of his gun is the same as the range-indicator registers, and +to keep his button pressed down so long as the range is fixed. All the +man in the central telegraph and telephone exchange on ship has to do is +to see what range the range-finders are indicating and telegraph it to +the gunners. All the men at the range-finders have to do is to keep +pointing their telescopes at the enemy, and let the rest of the work +take care of itself. + +All this seems like a complicated bit of mechanism. So it is; but, as +with all electrical appliances, it is difficult to understand and +extremely simple to use them. It may surprise you to know that from the +time that the range-finder sailors fix their telescopes on the enemy +less than one second need elapse before the guns are fired. Of course +every man is at his station. Each gun is already fixed at near the +proper range. The range-finders give the exact distance. The man in the +central office telegraphs it to the gunners. The gunners adjust their +weapons and press down their buttons. The gun-firers wait to get the +proper sight, probably in the same twinkling of an eye that all this +information is being sent over the ship, and he finally fires the gun. +Of course, where the ship is rolling or pitching considerably, the time +between fixing the range and firing the gun may be longer. After the gun +is all ready for firing, however, even the fifth of a second may make +the difference between a hit and a miss, and hence the need for the +lightning quickness of electricity. + +The range-finder and the other appliances used with it are the +inventions of Lieutenant Bradley A. Fiske, of the United States navy. No +other navy than ours has them, although the naval authorities of other +nations are thinking of adopting them. If we should have a war right +away, we should have an advantage over an enemy. Constant experience has +shown their complete success. + +In another article we shall consider some more of these "trifles" that +are used in connection with electricity on war-ships. + + + + +A LOYAL TRAITOR. + +A STORY OF THE WAR OF 1812 BETWEEN AMERICA AND ENGLAND. + +BY JAMES BARNES. + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BURNING. + +The fire must have eaten through the chimney, and had probably been +burning in the walls along the staircase and in the floors of the +rubbish chambers for some minutes before we had inkling of it. It was +almost beyond imagining, the way it spread. But the steps of the +staircase itself were firm underfoot, although inside the walls, and +even to the roof, the roaring crackling flames were gutting the left +wing of the house. + +The doctor did not stop to help Mr. Edgerton find the key; he threw his +weight against the door I pointed out again and again. It went open with +a crash at last, after I had thought that the doctor would have stove +his own side in first. + +There was no smoke on this side of the house, but it followed us from +the hallway, choking the throat and stinging the eyes. There was the box +in the middle of the room. + +Now we were all three encouraging one another and shouting for haste. +Twice did the lawyer drop the bunch of keys as he tried to fit the lock. + +"Take them, lad," he cried at last, looking over his shoulder; "your +fingers are the nimbler. But make haste!" The tears were pouring down +his face; he hurriedly rose from his knees, and, making a leap for the +window, kicked out the glass and the shutter that had been nailed fast, +and thrust his head to the air, coughing, struggling, and gagging as if +his last day had come. + +In the mean time the doctor was bending over, with his face close to +mine, and whispering admonitions to be cool; but his hand on my shoulder +shook as if the ague had possession of him. Upon my soul, I think I was +the coolest of the three! Key after key I tried without success. +Suddenly the doctor slipped his fingers into the handle at the end. + +[Illustration: "OUT OF THE WINDOW WITH IT!" HE SPLUTTERED.] + +"Out the window with it!" he spluttered. "What jack-asses! What dunces! +Bear a hand here, Edgerton!" + +The lawyer turned back into the room. He took the other end of the box, +and they heaved with all their strength, I, still on my knees, helping +them. We might as well have tried to pull the big oak before the house +up by the roots. + +"It's nailed down!" roared the lawyer, running his fingers along the +edge. + +There was a crash in the lower hall, and a great tongue of flame, like a +red thirsty blade, licked in at us through the doorway. There was such +a roaring now in our ears that we could not make ourselves heard except +by shouting. + +"Out of the window for our lives!" cried the doctor. "The stairs have +fallen!" + +The lawyer bestowed some angry but useless kicks on the lid of the box, +and we piled out of the window on the roof of the back piazza. The wind, +blowing strongly from the eastward, had kept most of the smoke and the +flame away from the north side of the building. + +But it was a fearsome sight to see the way things were going. The whole +of the west wing, and the south also, to the roof, was one red smooch of +flame against the tree-tops. The dark smoke curled over and hung close +to the damp earth. It was some twelve or fifteen feet from the piazza +roof to the ground, but a chinaberry-tree grew close to hand, spreading +to the eaves. + +The lawyer made one leap of it into the tree and crashed through it; and +just as the roof on which we were standing shook and sloughed away and +the flames burst up from below, the doctor and I caught at a branch and +swung off together; but the limb broke beneath our weight. Down we came +by the run, I landing full and fair upon the doctor's chest, which +almost did for him for good and all. + +Scrambling to our feet, Mr. Edgerton and I hauled him away to some +distance from the house, and the cool rain helped to revive him, +although for some minutes he drew breath with difficulty. + +Then the three of us sat there on the wet grass and watched the house +burn. I shall never forget it or the mixture of feelings which filled my +mind and bosom. A sense of unreality, an inability to grasp the idea +that it was really _happening_ probably was uppermost. + +The lawyer, whom I had always thought a cold-tempered person, was +squatted cross-legged, Turk fashion, grasping the toes of his boots in +either hand, and rocking himself to and fro, all the time muttering and +scolding like a child, and, whether from the smoke or his anger and +disappointment, the tears following one another down his cheeks. + +The doctor, who had raised himself on his elbow, was the first to speak +coherently. + +"The burning of a mystery," he said. "Now what's to be done?" + +A shrill, frightful scream, the like of which I had never heard before +or since, roused us to our feet. + +"In the name of all the powers, what's that?" cried the lawyer. + +"The horses, man--we have forgotten them!" answered the doctor, starting +on a run to the front of the house around the east wing. + +The oak to which the two beasts had been made fast was close to the side +of the house. One of them had broken loose, and had made off into the +garden, towing the chain behind him. The other (the saddle-horse) had +wound the halter around the trunk of the tree, and, half strangled, was +snubbed close to it, backing away with all his might. As we saw this +again he emitted the horrid cry of fright and agony. I had never known +that such tones were in the voice of any animal. The heat had shrivelled +the upper branches of the oak, and even the bark on the side toward the +house was singed and smoking. + +The lawyer drew out a knife, and hastening up, shielding his face, cut +the poor beast adrift. He galloped away toward the swamp. + +The wooden wing was completely eaten by this time, and the flames were +pouring from every window of the brick portion of the older part of the +dwelling. Soon the walls alone would be left standing. I turned away +from the sight and looked out to the river. A long white row of wild +swan swayed in the current. Their halloings and cries, like those of a +crowd of school-children at recess, came down to us on the damp wind. +The smoke had evidently been seen from one of the plantations up the +Gunpowder, for a boat under a small sprit-sail was making out from the +farther shore. + +The doctor was now in the garden examining the chaise, which had been +overturned in a patch of brushwood. He tried each wheel mechanically, +and I could see he felt relieved that no damage had been done. + +"Well, what are we going to do now?" I nervously asked of Mr. Edgerton, +speaking for the first time, and repeating the doctor's words of a few +minutes before. + +The lawyer fumbled in his pockets and drew forth the miniature and the +paper he had taken from the desk. I remembered having noticed also that +the doctor had slipped the coins in his pocket. + +"This is all we have to go by," he replied. "Lord only knows what you've +lost, Master Hurdiss. Oh, confound the thought that made me light the +fire!" he added, kicking and pawing at the soaked ground like an angry +bull. + +Well, to make a short story of a long one, we watched the house burn +down to a mass of smouldering heated ashes, and then we started to drive +back without speaking. On the return we met a number of men on foot and +horseback, who had sighted the conflagration from the cross-roads and +were coming down the lane, but it was too late to do anything, and in a +few words we explained what had happened. That night we spent at the +tavern, and the next day we returned to Marshwood, followed by many +curious persons. We dug in the still warm ruins, and there, to show the +heat of the fire, we discovered nothing of the strong-box but the +hinges, melted out of shape, and two or three small bits of metal as +large as bullets that had once been gold pieces. These were turned over +to me as being my lawful possessions, and they made, with what the +doctor had saved and the miniature and the paper, my sole inheritance. +So now begins the time I must act for myself. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHEREIN I FALL IN LOVE WITH THE SEA. + +On the twelfth day of November, 1811, my new life began. But before I go +on I should explain that on the outside of the paper which the lawyer +had saved, and which I had deciphered on the day of the burning of +Marshwood House (and which has staid in my mind, as I transcribed it +also), an address had been found. In some way it had been overlooked +upon the first reading. It was important, however, as it gave the +address of my uncle, Monsieur Henri Amedee Lovalle de Brienne, as +Miller's Falls, near Stonington, Connecticut. + +The lawyer had written to this place a letter at some length, but we had +waited in vain for a reply; letters often went astray in those days, and +in some way, as I afterwards discovered, this one was most likely lost. +In the mean time I had become a member of Mr. Edgerton's family. I was +treated with kindness, but of course it was not expected of him to take +charge of my maintenance, and the proposition for a change came from my +own lips. In walking along the water-front one day I discovered that a +little brig, the _Minetta_, was about to sail for Stonington, and I +proposed to Mr. Edgerton to take passage in her and search out my +relative, if he were living. + +The lawyer, who I could see felt himself responsible in some way for the +beginning of my misfortune, exacted a promise that should I fail in +finding M. de Brienne, I would return to him, and I should have done so +had affairs terminated otherwise than as they did. + +The consultation in which this decision was arrived at took place on the +evening of the tenth of the month; and it was two days later, as I have +written, that my new life began. For bright and early that morning I was +standing at the taffrail of the little brig that was being warped out +into midstream. + +Mr. Edgerton and his family, consisting of a maiden sister and a grown +daughter (he had been a widower for some ten years), together with Mr. +Thompson, the school-master, the major, the kind doctor, and some of my +boy companions, were on the dock. And I must not forget that Aunt Sheba, +Ann Martha, and Ol' Peter were there also, all three of them in tears. + +The lawyer had promised to take care of Peter, and the doctor had taken +Aunt Sheba and Ann Martha into his household. I am glad to say that I +had not sold the old people, although I had a perfect right to do so, as +they were my property, but had given them their freedom, and knew they +were left in kind hands and keeping. + +Soon the faces on shore became indistinct. The brig took in her kedge +anchors, the trilling of her capstan falls ceased, her jibs rattled up +the stays, the yards creaked aslant, and we caught the light westerly +breeze. The tide was setting out, and we made good travelling of it. + +I was not the only passenger. There was a Virginian, by the name of +Chaffee, a tobacco-planter, who was going on the voyage as a sort of +supercargo, and his wife (a slight, black-eyed woman of much spirit) +accompanied him. + +The Captain and first mate were both New Bedford men, and tiptop +sailors, as circumstances proved afterwards. The crew of eight men were +Americans also, so far as I could judge, three of them being +negroes--great, deep-chested black fellows, worth large sums of money in +the market; but they were free men, and held themselves differently from +slaves, although one, Pompey, waited on the cabin table. + +Whether the _Minetta_'s crew was a picked one or not I do not know, but +no man would have felt ashamed of being over them. I can say that much. +As for the brig, she was something over one hundred and eighty tons +burden, and loaded with tobacco, sole-leather, and turpentine; she was +light in ballast, and in good trim for fast sailing. + +The crew for the most part slept in a tall deck-house on the forecastle, +built around the foremast, and the cabin was given up to Mr. Chaffee and +his wife; the two officers and myself bunked in a little cubby-hole +forward of the after-skylight. + +The _Minetta_ was old-fashioned, and her high poop and top sides gave +her a clumsy look; her spars and masts were very heavy for her tonnage, +and I think had been built for a larger vessel; but she spread a great +show of canvas, and the way she boiled the water up in front of her +proved she was no laggard. + +We kept well to the eastern shore as we went down the bay, but, +nevertheless, I soon made out the mouth of the Gunpowder River, and +could see the stark walls of my old home standing out against the trees. + +Here I was, scarce fourteen years of age, and starting into the wide +world alone, verily with my bridges burned behind me! Mr. Chaffee had +entered into conversation with me, and he and his wife displaying great +interest, I told him as much of my story as I thought proper. So far as +the Captain and first mate went, I might not have existed. + +That night as I lay on my narrow little shelf, I was so full of thinking +that at first I could not sleep. I longed for comfort, and would have +given worlds to have rested my head on Aunt Sheba's shoulder. I half +sobbed aloud from loneliness, but at last I dozed off, and was awakened +some hours afterwards by feeling the vessel pitching heavily. + +[Illustration: THE SOUND OF A SCURRYING ON DECK CAUSED ME TO START UP +SUDDENLY.] + +Strange noises sounded all about me. Every plank overhead and on each +side seemed to have a voice of its own. It was the first time I heard +these sounds. Some loud bawling and the sound of scurrying from on deck +caused me to start up suddenly, and I almost cracked my skull against a +beam. After that I could not sleep, and lowering myself from the bunk I +dressed and climbed out to the air. + +I had imagined, from the patter of many feet, that I should find the +whole crew trying to save the ship from some distress, and I was not +prepared for the calm sight which met my eyes. It was moonlight, and all +sail was set. The brig rose and fell steadily, occasionally taking a +sea-chug under her broad bows with a jar which made her quiver, and the +water would fly up in a gleaming sprinkle and scatter along the wet +rail. Only four men were in sight--one at the wheel, two gathered in the +lee of the forward deck-house, and the first mate leaning back against +the skylight, smoking a long clay pipe. + +(Oh, I have forgotten to mention that I had noticed the captain snoring +in his bunk as I left the cabin, which had been reassuring.) The cool +breeze and the damp on my cheeks were grateful to me, and then and there +I fell in love with the sea (and I have truly never lost it). I staid on +deck breathing a strange freedom until the morning watch. + +About noon of this day the breeze had freshened, and we were carrying +only our lower sails. The planter and his wife both kept the cabin, +suffering much from the unusual motion, but as for myself I can here +record I have never felt a touch of that sickness which is expected to +accompany a first voyage or to follow a long stay ashore. I revelled in +the swinging of the vessel, and wished it would blow harder, which it +did. + +At four o'clock in the afternoon a sail was made out to the northward, +and holding the course that we already were we would have passed close +by her, as she was bearing down on us before the wind. I noticed, +however, that as the stranger became clearer, and her lower courses +could be seen, the first mate went aloft with a glass, and hurrying down +held consultation with Captain Morrison. In pursuance to orders, the +brig's course was altered a few points, and we stood to the eastward to +give the approaching vessel a wider berth. But no sooner had we done so +than the latter held up a trifle, as if it were her intention to +intercept us, and an hour's more sailing brought her into plain view. + +She was a vessel the like of which I had never seen up to that day. Her +hull appeared as large as one of the many-windowed warehouses of the +wharves of Baltimore, and her towering tiers of canvas gleamed white in +the sunlight. A smother of foam rolled under her forefoot. + +A few more turns of the wheel now, and we were holding a course due +east, sailing close on the wind. + +"She means to head us off," said Captain Morrison, looking about with a +scowl. + +Why he should have any cause for alarm I did not know; but I could see +that the crew were much disturbed, and were gathered in a whispering +cluster at the break of the forecastle, watching the vessel with anxious +eyes. I timidly approached Mr. Norcross, the mate. + +"Is she a pirate?" I inquired, half fearing. + +"Yes, about that," was the gruff return. "She's a British line-of-battle +ship, and keeps the seas, with all her kind, by robbery." + +"Will she harm us?" I inquired again. + +"Not you, my son," he answered. "But she would like to get her clutches +on some of our brave lads yonder." He nodded his head toward the group +of seamen. + +Slowly but surely we were nearing the huge vessel now holding the same +course as our own. It was a grand sight! As she heeled over, the gleam +of her copper showed in the hollows of the waves that swept past her, +and the shadows on her white sails were as blue as the sky overhead. Her +ports were open, and the muzzles of the black guns could be made out +plainly. The red coats of a party of marines on her forecastle made a +bright patch of color, and some men sprawling out on her great yard-arms +were no bigger to the eye than ants. + +The Captain was giving nervous glances at our shaking foresail. Then he +took a look across the water, as if measuring the distance and the rate +of the other's travelling. Suddenly a smile wrinkled his cheeks. + +"We're outpointing the old whale, Mr. Norcross," he said, grinning. + +"Ay, sir; given the wind hold as it is and she will pass astern of us." + +The crew by this time had noticed this fact, and a movement began +amongst them. One, a tall fellow with light hair and a well set up +figure, took a few steps of a horn-pipe. + +"Not this time, Johnny Bull; not this time," he laughed, slapping one of +his companions on the shoulder. "I know her; it's the _Plantaganet_; and +I'd go overboard with a shot at my heels before I put a foot on her +deck. She reeks of the cat!" + +I was soon to learn why this man, whose name was Dash, knew so much. As +soon as he had finished his dancing, the tall sailor and another man ran +aft. + +"Shall we show our colors, sir?" the former asked of Captain Morrison. + +"Ay; toss them out," replied the Captain, whose good humor had now +returned. + +A minute later the stars and stripes were crackling at our peak. The +line-of-battle ship was almost even with us by this time. Faces could be +seen above her bulwarks. Suddenly a puff of white smoke burst out from +one of her forward ports, and a ball skipped and plashed across our +bows--so close that we heard the slap of it against the water; then the +report came to us. The Captain mounted the bulwarks, and taking off his +hat, made an elaborate bow. + +"Sorry I cannot stop, you great big hog," he said; and then standing +there bareheaded, he burst into such a torrent of cursing that Mrs. +Chaffee, who had come out of the cabin, and was anxious to see the +sight, sought its refuge again. But we had outpointed the battle-ship, +and crossed athwart her bows. + +Not three hundred yards astern of us she roared past. + +"She dassent fire a broadside at us, or she'd do it in a minute," +muttered Mr. Norcross, looking back over his shoulder. + +He had taken the wheel himself during the last few minutes, and had +handled it amazingly, I can tell you. + +As if afraid to acknowledge her discomfiture, the three-decker went on +in silence, like she had not seen us, and our men, who were now all in +the rigging of the brig, burst out into a cheer. + +But they were cheering too early in the game, and this was soon to be +proved. + +Somehow, despite Captain Morrison's excited profanity, I had begun to +admire him hugely. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +THE TRUE STORY OF ONE OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S DOGS. + +BY KATHARINE DE FOREST. + + +This is the way I came to hear the story: One summer afternoon, two or +three years ago, I was sitting in front of a hotel in a Normandy +watering-place, watching for the diligence to come from Fécamp. At last +it appeared in the distance. And then began my surprise. For when I had +first caught sight of the figures in the imperial there had seemed +something familiar about them, and as they came nearer and I could see +the faces, they looked so much like some faces I knew that I could +hardly believe my eyes. It was--but no, it could not be--yes, it was; it +was the MacAlpines! There were Mr. and Mrs. MacAlpine getting out from +inside the diligence, and there were Janie and Isa and Fédie, Tom and +Alec and the maid, climbing down from the top, with, in Janie's arms, +the dearest little dog--the dearest little blue Skye terrier--you ever +saw. + +"And who is this?" I said at last, looking at the little dog that Janie +still held in her arms, while Mrs. MacAlpine was talking to Madame +Ernestine, the landlady of the hotel, about rooms, and Mr. MacAlpine was +watching the men take down the luggage, and counting the different +pieces. "This is a new member of the family. I thought you said you +never would take a dog about with you, Mr. MacAlpine." + +"And so I did," said Mr. MacAlpine. "But this isn't an every-day dog. +This is a family dog, and a dog of high degree. Almost anybody would be +glad to take her about." + +"This is the Queen's dog," said Alec, giving her a pat, "or it used to +be." + +"Has it ever been to court?" I asked. + +"Yes, indeed, she has!" said Janie. "Haven't you, Lassie darling? She's +done all sorts of wonderful things, Aunt Katharine." (I was not really +the children's aunt. They only called me so because we loved each other +so much.) "She doesn't look like other dogs. She's much prettier." + +"Yes, and more clever," put in Tom. + +"She's certainly a very wonderful little dog," said Mrs. MacAlpine, who +had finished arranging about the rooms. "And of all the strange stories +you ever heard, Aunt Katharine, hers is the strangest. We'll tell you +all about it when we've been upstairs and got a little of this dust off. +What are you going to do this afternoon? Can't we have tea together +by-and-by when we're clean and rested?" + +"Oh, my cake!" I called out, suddenly remembering it. "My beautiful +Paris cake! I must go and get it. We'll have our tea in the cabin on the +beach, and Tom and Alec shall carry down the tea-things. We'll meet at +the front door of the hotel at four o'clock;" and off I ran to get my +parcels. + +At four o'clock we went down in procession to the beach, and settled +ourselves in front of our bathing-cabin. + +And then Mr. MacAlpine began the story: "Once upon a time I lived with +my father and mother and brothers and sisters in the beautiful islands +called the Hebrides. The Hebrides, you know, are islands off the coast +of Scotland, and they are noted for their wild and romantic scenery. But +scenery, I am sorry to say, was something that I didn't much appreciate +when I was a boy, and I would have given the whole of it for some boys +of my own age to play with. My brothers were all older and my sisters +younger than I, so I had to get my lessons and go to the manse to recite +them by myself; and very lonely work it was too, until one day my father +brought me home a blue Skye terrier, Lassie, just like this little dog +here. + +"From the first moment I saw her I loved her almost better than anything +in the world. She was so little that I could take her about with me +everywhere I went, tucked away in my plaid when we climbed the rocks and +went long distances, and she always sat by me when I did my lessons, and +I spent all my spare time playing with her and teaching her tricks. She +could beg, and play dead, and wink one eye, and sneeze, and do more +things than I ever heard of a dog's doing before or since, and she could +understand everything I said to her exactly like a person, and +altogether I was perfectly happy with her up to the time Lady Jane came +to see us. + +"Lady Jane was a cousin of my father's who was one of the Queen's +ladies-in-waiting, and a very grand lady she was, indeed. She always +came with so many boxes and bundles that we boys had a sort of feeling +it would be polite for us to move out and give the house to her, and she +also made us feel that everything she said must be obeyed, because she +represented the Queen, and we had been brought up to be very good and +loyal subjects. So you can imagine how I felt one day when she said to +me: 'Tom, I'm going to take your little dog back with me as a present +for her Majesty. You've trained her so nicely, and you won't care, will +you? I'll send you something else in its place.' + +"My very heart stood still at these words. Lady Jane had a way of having +her own way if she wanted it, and none of us could stand out against +her, and so I went to my mother about it. 'She wouldn't take Lassie, +_would_ she, mother?' I said, looking into her eyes to try to read there +what she thought. And my mother said of course not, and comforted me, +and I went off for a long walk and tried to think no more about it. But +I couldn't help but feel uneasy, and after that I kept my dog out of the +way as much as possible until in a little while Lady Jane seemed to have +forgotten her. She was away nearly all the time--on excursions or +visiting at the great houses in the neighborhood--so that we children +seldom saw her, and by-and-by the last evening of her stay came. + +"There were fine doings at our house that night. I can see the big hall +now with a roaring fire in the chimney-place at one end, throwing its +light over the deer-heads and odd birds and trophies with which the +walls were hung. And the Highlanders came up with their bagpipes and +played for us all to dance Sir Roger de Coverley up and down the +polished floor, and Lady Jane and my father danced a jig, and my +sisters sang, and I put Lassie through her tricks, and made her perform +the celebrated double somerset, which was the last trick I had taught +her. Everybody laughed, Lady Jane the most of all, and then she kissed +us children good-night and bade us good-by, and I went up stairs happy. +For Lady Jane would be gone in the morning; her trunks were strapped and +in the front hall now, and I went to sleep with Lassie curled up by me, +and a lighter heart than I had since the day when she first spoke to me +about the dog. + +"It seemed to me I had only slept a moment when I began to dream of +icebergs, and then I was waked up suddenly by some one's pulling all the +bedclothes off from me. Then a hand snatched up Lassie, and before I +could realize what was happening Lady Jane's voice, very fresh and +wide-awake, said: 'Now, Tom, don't feel badly, but you know I must have +Lassie, and I've come after her. I'll send you something nice in her +place, my boy,' and before I could say a word she was out of the door +and my little dog was gone. + +"There was no time for thinking. Like a flash I was out of bed and into +my clothes and rushing along the road to the pier where Lady Jane's boat +lay, trying to keep back the big tears as I went. But it was too late. +Just as I came up to the landing the boat sailed slowly out of the +harbor, and there in the stern was Lady Jane standing, waving her +handkerchief to the people on the shore, and under one arm I could see a +little shaggy head and a pair of bright eyes that seemed to look at me +with a sad farewell look, and my little dog went sailing away on the +unknown sea, and I burst into tears with my heart breaking, for I never +expected to see her again." + +"And did you?" I asked, eagerly. "Is this dog--" + +"Ah, that's the strange part of the story," said Mr. MacAlpine. "Janie +is the one who can tell that. Janie, tell Aunt Katharine the rest." + +Janie's rosy Scotch face dimpled, and smiling up at her father, she went +on: + +"Well, you know that was always our favorite story, about when papa was +a little boy in the Hebrides, and about the little dog he lost, but we +always wanted to hear the end of it. We wanted to know what became of +Lassie after Lady Jane took her, and if the Queen liked her, and if she +did her tricks; but Lady Jane died soon after she went back to Balmoral, +and papa's father went to Canada and took papa with him, and so we could +only guess about Lassie, and make papa make up what happened to her. + +"And then one time mamma and Isa and Fédie and I were going home from +England, and mamma and the maid were so seasick they had to stay down in +the cabin, but we children sat in steamer chairs on the deck, so +miserable, and with nothing to do to amuse ourselves. And then a little +bit of a dog that belonged to the lady sitting in a chair next ours +jumped down from her lap and came over and stood in front of us, and +stood up on her hind legs and began to sneeze. We all began to laugh, +and then we said how exactly she was like papa's little dog that he used +to tell us about, and she used to sneeze too, and they were the only +dogs we had ever heard of that did. And then we said we wished we knew +what the dog's name was, and the lady it belonged to said it was Lassie, +and then we couldn't help but cry out,'Oh, how strange!' Then the lady +asked us what was strange, and we told her about our Lassie, and she +told us about her Lassie, and we found out that hers was the +granddaughter of ours. And this lady, who had been one of the Queen's +ladies-in-waiting herself, could remember when Lady Jane brought Lassie +there. + +"The Queen _had_ liked papa's little dog, and had always kept her, and +when her maid of honor left England for Canada her Majesty had given her +one of Lassie's puppies to take with her. + +"Before the ship reached Quebec we all got to be great friends, and just +the last day out the lady called me to her, and said, 'My dear, I'm +going to make you a present of this little dog if you'll take her. My +maid doesn't like dogs, and I'm not strong enough myself to take care of +her. And it was Lady Jane that carried your father's Lassie away, and it +shall be Janie that brings her back.'" + +"Yes, because the oldest girl in the MacAlpine family is always named +Jane," put in Tom. + +"And then when papa came down to the wharf to meet them," said Alec, +"there was Janie standing on the ship and waving to him, and under her +arm was a bundle and a pair of bright eyes, and there was Lassie come +sailing back when he was a grown-up man." + + + + +BOXING FOR BOYS. + +BY S. SCOVILLE, JUN. + + +There are two reasons why a boy should understand and practise boxing. +First, because in the life of every one there come times when it is +necessary to defend one's self or others. There are very few occasions +when a boy need ever fight on his own account. Sometimes, of course, it +is absolutely necessary, but more often it only seems so, and the older +a boy becomes, the more he is convinced that in boys' affairs, as well +as in those of nations, arbitration is the only sensible and civilized +way of settling disputes. Occasionally, however, there comes a crisis +when a boy must defend another weaker than himself, and then it is that +a boxer knows what to do and does it, while an untrained boy either +shirks his duty or, if very brave, tries to interfere, and usually makes +matters worse by being hurt himself. + +At a Yale-Harvard football game in Springfield, the writer noticed an +incident which illustrates very forcibly the advantage of knowing how to +box. Some rows ahead of the writer in the grand stand, a slim young +fellow, certainly not more than eighteen years old, was sitting with a +lady in the aisle seats. During the intermission between the halves he +stepped some distance down the aisle to speak to a friend. Just then a +rough-looking character, who had been drinking enough to be quarrelsome, +pushed his way into the row, insisting that the lady was in his seat, +and seizing her by the shoulder, tried to pull her out into the aisle. +The boy turned at her call and sprang back. As the rough faced him the +other stepped easily forward, and like a flash his left shot out from +the shoulder and landed just under his opponent's chin--a clean +scientific lead with all his weight back of it. The rough went down, +striking his head heavily against the boards, lay there a moment, and +then climbing unsteadily to his feet, slunk off without a word. There +were no police officers nearer than the field, the lady was in the boy's +care, was insulted, and in danger of being injured. In time the crowd +would have interfered, but it was a case for immediate action. To +protect a woman at any cost is the duty of every American boy. This one +had developed and trained his strength so as to make it effectual for +exactly such an emergency. He knew just how and where to strike, +and--the thing was over. Altogether the incident convinced the writer +more than ever that boys owe it to themselves and their manhood, as +protectors of all things weak, to learn to use their strength most +effectively. And it is wonderful how effective a knowledge of boxing +will make a very small amount of strength. The writer remembers seeing a +skilled light-weight boxer in a college boxing-room easily best the +stroke oar of a class crew--a man of tremendous strength and weight, but +one who had never learned to box. + +The second reason why a boy should learn to box is because boxing not +only teaches him how to utilize the strength that he has, but before +long it tremendously increases that same strength. Nearly every muscle +of the body is brought into play. The triceps, or pushing muscles on the +back of the arm, the shoulder and back muscles, are the ones especially +developed in boxing. The bare back of a boxer is a perfect mass of +muscle. Great knots and coils appear between and across the shoulders +with every movement, while the ridges stand out clear down to the base +of the spine. Let a boy practise a single left-hand lead in front of a +mirror in gymnastic costume, and note how many muscles are used. +Besides the above-mentioned ones, the leg, thigh, fore-arm, stomach, and +breast muscles are all called upon indirectly. Besides strengthening all +the muscles, boxing trains the eye, gives quickness and a lithe, easy +carriage, broadens and deepens the chest, and enlarges the lungs, and, +best of all, teaches self-control, and gives a certain indefinable +feeling of strength and safety that comes only with a strong +well-trained body. + +So much for the advantages of boxing. It is not the writer's purpose in +this article to do more than give the most general hints in regard to +the actual blows and parries. Boxing cannot be taught on paper, and a +boy can learn more in one lesson from a good teacher than by reading +volumes. But a few brief hints may aid those who are not fortunate +enough to be under an instructor. + +And first, as to the selection of a teacher. Above all things, get one +that is a scientific boxer, not some strapping bruiser that will knock +you around at so much an hour. Every town has some veteran boxer who +will be glad to give boys a start in sparring. The first principles +should be learned thoroughly and correctly, or the pupil will always be +bothered by some clumsy habit picked up as a beginner. It was only this +winter that the writer broke his thumb by a wrong blow learned ten years +back from his first teacher, and which, in the excitement of a +hard-fought bout, is only too apt to crop out in spite of years of +warning from half a dozen instructors. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +The first important thing to learn in boxing is the position. Figure 1. +represents what the writer considers an ideal position. The left foot +should be in front, with the right foot from fifteen to eighteen inches +in the rear and from six to eight inches to the right. The left hip +should point nearly front. By that position the whole body can be +protected from any right-hand blows by simply dropping the left arm as +shown in illustration No. 2. The right arm should rest across the chest, +with the glove on the left nipple, while the left arm should be held as +in the illustration. In connection with the subject of position comes +the management of the feet. The weight should rest equally on both feet, +and in breaking ground, as movement to one side or the other is termed, +or in advancing or retreating, the feet should never be raised from the +ground as in walking. Advance first the front foot some six inches, and +then the back foot, so as to always keep the same relative distance +between them. + +Always "counter" (_i.e._, give a return blow with the hand not used in +parrying) every lead of your opponent. Remember that a straight line is +the shortest distance between two points, and always lead a straight +blow. It comes more natural for every one to hit "round"--_i.e._, +swinging--blows. But a straight hard lead is the more effective. Swing, +if swing you must, when countering, never when leading. Try as much as +possible to avoid blows at the face by ducking. + +The left hand lead, either at the face or the body, is the most +important lead of all, the first taught, and by far the hardest to +learn. One of the best boxers the writer has ever met was not allowed by +his teacher to practise anything else for a whole year, until it was +almost impossible to avoid or parry his left-hand lead or counter, so +quick did he become. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.] + +Illustration No. 3 shows a left-hand lead at the face getting home. +Observe the tremendous force and drive that the blow has, while the +boxer can step back instantly into perfect position, and is not thrown +at all off his balance, as is the case with swinging blows. The +requisites of a good left-hand lead either at face or body are: + +First, that the left foot shall be advanced in a perfectly straight line +with the hit (notice how straight the toe is in the illustration), +otherwise the blow is apt to be pulled across in the parry and leave one +desperately exposed. + +Second, the weight of the body should follow the lead. This is what +gives the "kick" to the blow, and more than anything else shows the +difference between the veteran and the novice. + +Third, the wrist should be held perfectly straight, and the blow be +struck by that portion of the hand between the knuckles and the second +joints of the fingers. Practise this lead constantly, either in actual +boxing or at a punching-bag as it swings from you, and the instant the +blow lands get away and back into position. The left-hand lead once +learned, the straight left-hand counters will come easily. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.] + +Next in importance to the left-hand lead--for in our modern boxing +offence is of much more importance than defence--come the parries. The +guard for a right-hand body blow has already been shown in illustration +No. 2. The safest parry for a left-hand body blow is by +"barring"--_i.e._, laying the right hand across the body and letting the +blow land on the rigid muscles of the fore arm--at the same time +countering with the left, as shown in illustration No. 4. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.] + +The best answer to a lead at the face is to duck to one side or the +other and counter either on the face or on the body, as shown in +illustration No. 6. But sometimes it is necessary to parry it in the +regulation manner. This should be done by shooting the arm out perfectly +straight as if leading. This will make the blow glide easily off the +wrist or arm, as shown in illustration No. 5. + +Never parry with the arm bent, as is often done, for then the arm +receives the full concussion of the blow, and may be badly bruised. The +left-hand lead and the different parries form the first principles of +boxing. Practise them again and again until they come instinctively. +With these well learned a boy can do much towards defending himself, +even before mastering the counters, cross-counters, upper cuts, +side-steps, and all the more complicated part of boxing which can only +be taught effectively by a teacher. + +A last piece of advice--practise continually. Spar with everybody and +anybody who will put the gloves on. By so doing one perfects what has +already been learned, besides continually picking up new ideas from the +different styles of his various opponents. + + + + +[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT] + + +One of the most important of recent events in the world of +interscholastic sport is the reconciliation between Exeter and Andover, +and the renewal of athletic relations between these two great schools. +The first meeting of the two old rivals occurred on the football field +at Andover last Saturday; which was too late for any comment to get into +this issue of the ROUND TABLE. Next week, however, we hope to be able to +devote to the game the space due to so important an event. + +It was decided on November 5 that there should be an Exeter-Andover +game. On that day Andover sent a challenge to Exeter, and Exeter at once +accepted. Two days later the _Exonian_ confirmed the news of the +reconciliation, and spoke editorially as follows: + + It is now three years since these contests were broken off, and + this thought, taken with the history of the years which went + before, may well give us cause for sober reflection. We, the school + of to-day, stand far enough apart from the school of '93 to + consider calmly the events which then took place, and to draw from + them such lessons as shall help us in the conduct of our athletics + in the future. We are able now to see that the spirit of rivalry + between the two schools, which was at first but a healthy stimulus + to all forms of athletics, had grown to such unhealthy proportions + as to cause a doubt in the minds of thinking people as to the + beneficial results of such athletics, not only to those who took + part but to the larger school bodies. + +The "Exonian" then goes on to say that the students at Exeter now +realize that their predecessors allowed their excitement and rivalry to +carry them too far, and it asserts that it may be that the three years +in which the two great schools have stood apart may not have been +without their usefulness. It is to be hoped that this is true, and it is +to be hoped that both Exeter and Andover will go into the new contests +with a firm determination to respect not only the letter of the law of +amateur sport, but likewise the spirit. + +The game with Exeter, however, will not be Andover's last match of the +year. They play Lawrenceville day after to-morrow. Although at the +present writing the Lawrenceville team is not so strong as it was last +year at this time, it is probable that with the coming days of practice, +and the games with outsiders that are to be played in the meantime, the +men will improve very materially. Dana's work at centre has improved +considerably of late, but much of this is due to the assistance he gets +from Richards and Cadwalader. There is still room for progress in his +method of snapping the ball back. Another weak position is that of +full-back, where Kafer is weak on catching punts. + +Some of the schools of the Cook County League are still keeping up their +great game of "protest." Their capacity for this sort of thing has +become so great that the Chicago newspapers have even commented upon +it. It would seem as if almost every team that loses a game immediately +protests, with the result that most of the League matches have to be +repeated. Next to protesting, the Cook County football teams seem to be +ablest at forfeiting. On November 1 Northwest Division failed to meet +its obligations toward Hyde Park. Northwest Division has little to be +proud of in its football record this year. It has not won a game in the +High-School League, and it does not seem likely that it will if it +continues to forfeit. + +Because a football team is weak is no excuse for not fulfilling its +agreement to play another team--an obligation which it assumed when it +became a member of the League. The Oak Park team is a weak eleven, but +it won a victory nevertheless when it met the West Division eleven. Oak +Park started in boldly and scored, and her players were so surprised at +this success that they kept right on, and closed the game with a score +of 32-0. + +But this same game afforded an excellent illustration of the disease of +"protest" which is afflicting Cook County just at present. At one point +of the play, just as Hyman of Oak Park was being forced over the +goal-line for a touch-down, he lost the ball, which rolled twenty feet +away from him. Holdrich and Brown both made long dives for the ball, and +both, falling upon it at about the same moment, claimed the leather. The +referee decided in favor of Holdrich of Oak Park, and immediately the +captain of the West Division team made great objections, and said that +he would protest the game. Fortunately, however, better judgment +prevailed later in the afternoon, and this particular game was, after +all, not protested. But some of the Cook County League games have been +carried before the Executive Committee on smaller grounds than these. + +A close and interesting match was that between North Division and Manual +Training, which resulted in favor of Manual, 6-0. For the first time in +any of the League games this fall there was not a single dispute of any +kind during the entire game. That is undoubtedly the principal reason +why the players put up such an excellent game of football. Men cannot +play football and quarrel among themselves at the same time, and, +consequently, when they are weak enough to allow their tempers to get +the better of them, the sport invariably suffers. Manual Training was +superior in line-bucking, and made most of its games in that way. + +In the game between Englewood and Evanston the former was victorious, +12-0. Evanston forced the ball to within two or three yards of +Englewood's goal twice, but lost the leather on a fumble the first time, +and on downs the second time. Excepting perhaps Teetzel, the two elevens +were very evenly matched. Prather had the better of Fowler, and +occasionally made a hole through his position. Englewood's tackles, +Ryden and Prentiss, were weak at times, and allowed several gains to be +made through them. + +The game between Hyde Park and Oak Park, resulting in a victory of 16-0 +to the former, was of no particular interest, as the sport was marred by +disputes between the players and the umpire over slugging. There must be +something radically wrong with the officials of the Cook County League. +Fully half the games played so far have been marred, in some way or +another, by misunderstandings between the players and the field +officers. + +[Illustration: BERKELEY'S FOUR BACKS. + +Pell, Bien, Rice, Wiley.] + +The Berkeley School team has made considerable progress within the last +two weeks. Hasbrouck is putting up a strong game at left end, and is +developing a good capacity for breaking into opposing interference. Both +he and Boyesen are learning rapidly to get down the field after punts. +Hasbrouck runs well with the ball, and is being depended upon a good +deal in tricks. He is making an excellent Captain for the team, and +although he does not insist quite strongly enough upon his rights +against opposing teams sometimes, this is a shortcoming which will +promote rather than injure the welfare of amateur sport. Boyesen is a +new man to the game, and a trifle light, but he tackles splendidly and +has good grit. + +Huntington, who has been playing right tackle, is a trifle careless in +his work; he is a powerful player, however, and runs well, and can +tackle when he sets his mind on it. Granberry and Thomas have been +candidates for the tackle positions; Granberry has been doing hard work +and has improved steadily, but Thomas has the advantage over him in +stature and physical strength. With the exception of Hasbrouck, Gilson, +who plays right guard, is probably the best man in the line. He is +well-developed, and is as strong a player as any in the New York League. +He knows the game well, but unfortunately, owing to his class-room work, +he has not been able to devote as much time to field practice as is +necessary to keep him in tiptop shape. Irvine, at left guard, has been +running considerably with the ball; he is better in this position than +he was at tackle, where he played early in the season. One of the +weakest men in the line is Walker, at centre; he has the strength, but +he is very slow, and does not seem able to catch the knack of putting +the ball into play properly. + +The backs are putting up a higher quality of football than the line-men. +They are natural athletes, and all except Rice were members of last +spring's baseball team. Their experience in catching seems to stand them +in good stead now. Pell has been making rapid strides in his knowledge +of the game. He is a clever dodger when running with the ball, but needs +to overcome a slight timidity against being tackled. He punts fairly +well, and is the best drop-kicker on the team. On the offensive he plays +close up to the line and breaks through well, but his eagerness +sometimes leads him to run too far, thus putting himself out of the +play. + +The best football-player that Berkeley ever boasted is undoubtedly Bien, +at full-back. He is as good a man in that position as there is in the +New York League this year. He is a first-rate ground-gainer and knows +the game thoroughly. He is a strong tackler; and as for kicking goals, +it is asserted that he has not missed one this season. Wiley puts up a +hard game, but does not use his head enough. He punts pretty well, and +may be counted on to catch every ball that comes his way. He is a sandy +player, and sometimes plunges too boldly into the scrimmage. + +Rice at quarter can hardly be ranked on a par with the other backs. He +interferes well at the kick-off, but does not keep up this standard in +close plays. He is a sandy tackler, but being a new man at the game +frequently wastes his energy. He is badly handicapped by his centre +rush. + +[Illustration: THE ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, GARDEN CITY, FOOTBALL SQUAD.] + +Considerable improvement is to be noticed in the work of the Garden City +football-players. Lorraine is doing all that can be required at end. +Since my last criticism of his play he has gone into the game with more +vim and dash, and is playing good hard football all the time. Symonds, +until the Lawrenceville game, was playing a miserable game at tackle; +since then, however, he has improved greatly, particularly in defensive +play. + +Everett Starr is heavier than he was last year, although he is still the +lightest man in the line. His experience, however, makes him as reliable +a man as there is on the team. Cluett as snap-back and in attacks on the +centre is first rate, but he seems to have the idea that his work ends +there, as he very seldom breaks through and is slow in following the +ball. Kinney is new at the game this year, but nevertheless he is +playing as good football as any of the older members on the team. He is +strong and exceptionally quick for his size. He makes many tackles and +sure ones, is generally to be found where the ball is, and when he runs +with the ball is pretty sure of making a gain. + +Thus far Brown has not by any means played the game he is capable of. He +has met no opponents of his own weight. He is fairly quick, and has a +good knowledge of the game. With these conditions his work should be of +the brilliant order, but, on the contrary, it has been even at the best +mediocre, and at times lamentably weak. + +White is probably the best end on any school team about New York. Very +seldom is a gain made around his end, and an attempt usually results in +a loss. Owing to an injury to Goldsboro, he has taken the latter's place +at right half in offensive play, and has done exceptionally good work, +getting down the field on kicks in good style. Goldsboro may not be able +to play again this year. + +Blount, who last year was only a substitute on the second eleven, is a +fixture at quarter-back. He gives the signals, and is playing his +position and handling the team like a veteran. The chief fault he has to +overcome is in missing tackles. Weller is a good runner and a sure hard +tackler. He interferes and follows interference well. + +Captain Starr is showing rare form at full-back this year. He has +developed into an exceptionally good punter and place-kicker; moreover, +in the games with Cutler and Poly. Prep. he dropped in each a pretty +goal from the field. As a line-bucker and an interferer he can be relied +upon thoroughly. In defensive play he plays rush-line half-back. His +work is often brilliant. Temple is a fast runner, but owing to lack of +experience he has a tendency not to make the best use of his +interference. This was particularly noticeable in the Poly. Prep. game. +He made some good runs, but with a good end he would have been downed +for a loss in nearly every case. + +By the time this number of the ROUND TABLE reaches the reader the +deciding game of the Connecticut League championship series will have +been played, and as the match will probably be a close one I hardly dare +hazard the guess that the banner will go to New Britain. The New Britain +team defeated Norwich Free Academy last week to the tune of 50-0, and +although Brinley was seriously injured in the game, and may not be able +to play any more this season, the eleven will still be a strong one +without him. + +On the same day that New Britain played Norwich, Meriden H.-S. took +Bridgeport into camp, 20-12. It is evident that this year the smaller +schools turned out the better teams. Hillhouse, Hartford, and Bridgeport +all got defeated in the race for the Yale Cup. + + ANDREW T., ROCHESTER.--The "halves" in a football game may be of + any duration agreed upon beforehand. In championship games, + however, they must be thirty-five minutes each. + + J. C. FINCH, FORT ANNE, NEW YORK.--See HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for + September 22, or for fuller particulars see W. H. Lewis's _A + Primer of College Football_. + +"A PRIMER OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL."--BY W. H. LEWIS.--16MO, PAPER, 75 CENTS. + + THE GRADUATE. + + + + +ORIGIN OF THE PLOTS OF TWO FAMOUS PLAYS. + + +Dr. Goldsmith took the plot of _She Stoops to Conquer_ from a joke +played by a Lincolnshire gentleman named Grummit. Late one night a +commercial traveller met Grummit on the road, and asked him where he +might find the nearest inn. Grummit said he would gladly "show him the +way to a quiet respectable house of public entertainment for man and +horse." The stranger was thereupon conducted to Grummit's private +residence. Everything he ordered was promptly brought him, and in the +morning he asked for his bill, and was very pleasantly surprised to find +he had been a private guest. Other odd deeds of kindness are related of +Grummit. + +_Hamlet_ is taken from the Danish history of _Amleth_, by Saxo +Germanicus. It may be but a coincidence that the word "Hamlet" may be +formed from "Amleth" by placing the last letter of the latter word +before the former one. The story of Amleth is said to be very +improbable, and that only a genius like Shakespeare would have founded a +play on it. The famous "ghost" of the Shakespearian version is the +bard's own invention. Amleth, having made the nobility drunk, sets fire +to the palace, kills the usurping king, and is himself proclaimed ruler. + + * * * * * + +STARVED TO DEATH + +in midst of plenty. Unfortunate, yet we hear of it. The Gail Borden +Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is undoubtedly the safest and best infant +food. _Infant Health_ is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your +address to N. Y. Condensed Milk Co., N. Y.--[_Adv._] + + * * * * * + +HIGH-GRADE PRESS NOVELTIES. + +Bewildering display of elegance at Arnold, Constable & Co.'s store. A +show of elegant and artistic articles in dress goods and materials as +must surely bewilder the most hardened of shoppers is now to be seen at +Arnold, Constable & Co.'s, at the corner of Broadway and Nineteenth +Street. In the silk department there is so much worthy of notice that it +seems almost impossible to select special samples of the wealth of +beauty which has been imported recently. Satin duchesse, with gold or +silver tinsel, in graceful and elegant patterns, specially adapted for +dinner and reception dresses, while for street costumes the peau-de-soie +material, with colorings of the new blue, new green, and lavender, will +be much admired. There are some particularly striking moire antiques in +water silks, handsomely brocaded in all the new tints, while a striking +exhibit is the white moire antique with flower designs in satin effects, +suitable for bridal costumes. This magnificent material is in grades +from $2.50 to $10 a yard. A full line of moire velours in tints with +gold and silver threads for evening wear is sure to command attention, +while some very pretty designs in white grounds with small colored +pompadour figures, very well adapted for bridesmaids' dresses, are +likely to be popular. Among the velvet materials there are many +novelties, most noticeable of which is perhaps the frieze velvet on +chameleon ground of taffeta silk. This is an absolute innovation. White +velvet figures on a light-colored brocaded groundwork is also new. A +very pretty thing is the brocaded velvet with mottled spots on a colored +ground, and the velvet on a glacé taffeta in all colors. Plain velvets +are likely to be very popular for waists and sleeves or trimmings. In +dress goods the drap d'été, in all colors, both dark and light, is an +important and attractive novelty.--[_Adv._] + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION] + +CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. + +Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good, use + +in time. Sold by druggists. + + + + +HOME STUDY + +Book-keeping, Penmanship, Arithmetic, Shorthand, etc., thoroughly taught +by =Mail= at student's =Home=. Low rates; perfect satisfaction. Cat. free. +Trial lesson 10c. + +BRYANT & STRATTON, 85 College Bldg., Buffalo, N. Y. + + + + +[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER] + +A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening +strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._ + +ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK. + + + + +Arnold + +Constable & Co + +Ladies' Neckwear. + +_Lace Boleros, Garnitures, Collars._ + +_Chiffon & Net Ruffs & Boas._ + +OSTRICH FEATHER BOAS. + +_Marie Antoinette Lace Fichus,_ + +_Lace and Linen Handkerchiefs._ + +Broadway & 19th st. + +NEW YORK. + + + + +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 + + + + +=PIGEONS!=--Send 25c. for "_Pigeon Queries_," a book of 200 questions and +answers on Pigeons. "Possum Creek Poultry Club," humorous, =25c. +Fanciers' Review, Chatham, N. Y.= + + + + +[Illustration: BICYCLING] + + This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the + Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our + maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the + official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. + Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the + Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership + blanks and information so far as possible. + + +[Illustration: Copyright, 1896, by Harper & Brothers.] + +The difficulty of getting out of New York city by proceeding directly +north, and the fact that there are only two suitable roads, which makes +bicycling out of New York in time monotonous, can be obviated by +crossing the Hudson and proceeding by several good roads up its western +bank. For the next few weeks, therefore, we shall give in this +Department maps of the country along the Hudson as far as Newburg. + +The map this week includes Hoboken, Jersey City, the marshes back of +these cities, and the roads as far north as Englewood. There are several +ways of starting from New York into this country. You can cross the +Hoboken Ferry at either Barclay, Christopher, or Fourteenth Street to +Hoboken, and go out of the city direct to the Hudson County Boulevard, +which is the best road running north. By an examination of the map the +rider will easily pick out the different ways to reach the boulevard. It +is perhaps wiser to cross from Fourteenth Street, as the ferry lands in +Hoboken further uptown; but it is possible to ride from any of the +ferries northward, keeping generally to the left into West Hoboken; +thence to the boulevard, by Scheutzen Park, leaving Union on the +eastward, passing through New Durham and by Guttenburg to Fairview, and +thence to Ridgefield. The Northern Railroad of New Jersey should always +be to the westward, and the road itself runs along the side of the hill, +which rises to the Palisades. The Hackensack marshes are across the +river to the left going north. At Ridgefield the rider may either +continue on through Leonia and Nordhoff, running direct into Englewood, +or he may turn to the left across the Northern road, crossing a branch +of the Hackensack afterwards, and running along its bank, finally +crossing the West Shore road and the main river, keeping to the right at +Little Ferry, and running direct into Hackensack. It is then possible to +proceed northward from Hackensack through Fairmount and Cherry Hill, or +to run eastward through Tea Neck to Nordhoff, thence turning to the left +northward on the boulevard, and running into Englewood. From Hoboken the +rider, if he is going westward towards Passaic, should cross the West +Shore road at Tyler Park or at Scheutzen Park, running direct to +Secaucus, and thence cross the marshes and the river into Rutherford and +direct to Passaic. + +It is also possible to cross the ferry at Fort Lee, but there is a long +hill which it is foolish for any one to ride, rising for something over +a mile. The rider may either follow the bank of the river and run along +a good road through Linwood, turning to the left to run into Englewood, +or he may proceed to Leonia, and there turn northward to Englewood. The +black roads on the map are in almost every case good roads, and +especially in and around Englewood, Tea Neck, Nordhoff, and to the north +of these towns the roads are in capital condition. Of course time may be +saved, if the wheelman lives uptown in New York, by crossing at Fort +Lee, but he must remember that he has to rise between 250 and 300 feet +above the river at once, and this necessitates a long walk. The Fort Lee +Ferry leaves New York at 125th Street. + +Thebe is still another way of crossing, which is from the 42d Street +Ferry to Weehawken. On arriving at the Weehawken Ferry the rider should +make at once by the shortest roads for the Hudson County Boulevard, as +it is distinctly the best wheeling road in that vicinity. + + * * * * * + +THE UNEXPECTED. + +At a country-school examination one day, a visitor noticing the great +promptness and correctness with which the questions were answered by the +scholars, suspected that the children were only given such questions as +the teacher was sure of their knowing. So requesting the privilege of +asking a few himself, the gentleman addressed a small child thus, "Where +is Turkey, my dear?" + +The little girl was greatly confused for a minute, then suddenly a +bright look came into her little face, and she piped forth, "In the back +yard with the poultry, sir!" + + + + +[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. + + +HINTS ON MAKING FIGURE STUDIES. + +In photographic exhibits, as well as in exhibits of paintings, what are +called character studies always attract the most attention, and usually +receive higher marks than a simple portrait study. + +There are many picturesque characters which make fine studies for the +amateur photographer, and our young amateurs are requested to bear them +in mind when in search of subjects for our coming contest. There is the +old veteran with his faded blue army coat, to which he clings as long as +it preserves a remnant of respectability; the shoemaker or cobbler at +work on his bench; a sailor who bears marks of his tussle with wind and +wave; a ruddy farmer engaged in some one of his many duties; a woman +weaving at a hand-loom or spinning on a flax or wool wheel; a sturdy +blacksmith at his forge; an old colored uncle or aunty, relics of the +sunny South--these and many other types or characters may be found by +the amateur photographer, and their likenesses preserved in gelatine. + +One common fault with nine out of ten of the amateur character studies +is that the subject looks as if he were sitting for his picture. This is +the one thing to be avoided, for the charm of this style of picture is +the natural and easy position of the subject, who must look as if such a +thing as a camera had never come within his observation. + +Suppose one wished to make a picture of a cobbler on his bench. If you +went to him with your camera and told him you wished to take his +picture, while you were getting your camera ready he would probably +begin to tuck away the bits of litter on his bench, straighten his +tools, close the half-open drawers, put away his last, and then taking +out his pocket-comb, smooth his hair so that not a lock should be out of +place. This done, he would sit up and announce that he was ready. If you +should take his picture thus, you would have a subject with every +natural line crossed out, leaving simply a stiff uncomfortable victim +sitting for his picture. + +The proper way to do is to tell the cobbler that you wish to make a +picture of him at his work, and that you would like to have him go on +working the same as if you were not there, and that when you are all +ready you will tell him. Arrange your camera, focus sharply, take out +the slide, and set the shutter ready to open. Watch for a favorable +attitude, ask the man to hold still for a moment, and expose the plate. +Make three or four studies, for it is better to do this than to take but +one and, in case it should not be good, be obliged to go again. Do not +let the subject look toward the camera, but insist on his looking at the +piece of work on which he is engaged. If he is tapping a shoe, take the +picture when he has the hammer raised to drive a peg, if he is sewing a +seam, take it when he is either putting in the threads or has them +partly drawn out. A cobbler hammering a piece of leather on a lapstone +is an easy position to catch, and another is where he is examining a +ragged shoe to see if it is past mending. + +Whatever vocation you may choose to picture, bear this in mind, that the +subject must not be allowed to pose himself, and if, while you are +getting your camera in readiness for the picture, you talk with him on +some subject in which he is interested, you will stand a good chance of +getting an easy, natural picture of him. If you are not successful the +first time trying, remember the old couplet, + + If at first you don't succeed, + Try, try again. + + GEORGE H. says that he has a pocket kodak which makes very good + pictures, but in nearly all the negatives there is a black cloud in + the one corner, and asks the reason; how to make the title of the + picture on the print in white letters; and if the "Quad" and "Vive" + cameras are reliable; and how to join the Camera Club. The black + cloud on the negative is due to the fact that there is undoubtedly + a tiny pin-hole either in the bellows or lens-holder which admits + light to the film and fogs it. Take the camera to the place where + it was purchased, and have the defect remedied. Letter the title on + the negative on the film side with India-ink, going over the + letters carefully in order that they may be uniform in density, and + when the print is made from the negative the letters will appear + white, as the ink is nonactinic, and shields the paper from the + light. The title must be reversed when printed on the negative. + Both the "Quad" and the "Vive" are made by reliable firms, and + either will give satisfactory returns for the money invested. Sir + George says that he discovered in a back number of the ROUND TABLE + the use of blue paper, and encloses prints made on the first paper + which he experimented with. Sir George must have followed the + directions closely, for the paper is very evenly coated, and the + blues clear and brilliant. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + + + +Postage Stamps, &c. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE neatest and most attractive Stamp Album ever published is =The +Favorite Album for U. S. Stamps=. Price 25c. (post free 30c.). + +Catalogue of U. S. Stamps free for the postage, 2c. Complete Catalogue +of all Stamps ever issued, 10c. Our Specialty: =Fine Approval Sheets= at +low prices and 50% commission. + +R. F. ALBRECHT & CO., + +90 Nassau Street, New York. + + + + +Do you wish a set of stamps free? If so, send to us for a selection of +stamps on approval at 50 per cent. commission and full particulars. + +H. STONEBRAKER & CO., + +1921 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, Md. + + + + +[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. + + + + +$250 + +worth of stamps given away to approval sheet agents. Send for circular +describing all details. Fine sheets 50% com. Reference required, 102 +varieties, Venezuela, Cuba, etc., 10c. + +W. P. TODD, Morristown, N. J. + + + + +[Illustration: STARR STAMP CO.] + +Coldwater, Mich. 80 var., 5c.; 160 var., 20c.; 21 var. U. S. Revenue, +25c. Agents wanted. 50% com. + + + + +=STAMPS,= FREE, 100 mixed, perf. gauge, 8 blank app. sheets, hinges, cat. +Send 10c. for large juvenile paper (with stamp dept.) 3 mos. to get +above. Bullard & Co., Pembroke St., Boston, Mass. + + + + +U.S. + +25 diff U.S. stamps 10c., 100 diff. foreign 10c. Agts w'td @ 50%. List +free! L. B. Dover & Co. 5958 Theodosia, St. Louis, Mo. + + + + +=STAMPS.= Send for approval sheets, 50% commission. + +G. D. HOLT & CO., 155 Pulaski St., Brooklyn, N. Y. + + + + +U. S. + +Postage and Rev. Fine approval sheets. Agts. wanted. + +P. S. CHAPMAN, Box 151, Bridgeport, Ct. + + + + +NOV. & DEC. FREE + +On New Yearly Subscriptions Received before Jan. 1, '97, for + +BABYLAND and LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN. + + "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 TO 16 PAGES. + +50 cts. a year. + +Sample Copy Free. + +Every =MOTHER=, =KINDERGARTNER=, and =PRIMARY TEACHER= should have +Babyland. + +SOME OF THE FEATURES FOR '97: + +=BUZ-BUZ.= A tiny Serial Story. By CHAS. STUART PRATT. The "twelve +adventures of a housefly." Something really new in nursery literature; +as simple as it is novel. + +=GUESSING STORIES.= By MARGARET JOHNSON. Small pictures take the place of +words. =Very easy=, =entertaining=, and =educational=. + +=A PINT OF PEAS.= Work for Little Fingers. The construction of various +objects, using soaked peas and wood toothpicks. =Endless amusement.= + +JINGLES. LITTLE STORIES. PICTURES. + + * * * * * + +LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN + +The only Magazine + +edited especially for + +CHILDREN from 7 to 11 + +$1.00 A YEAR. Specimen Free. + +THREE SPLENDID SERIALS: + +=JOHNNY, JACK, AND JOHN.= By MARGARET COMPTON. + +=JO AND BETTY; or, Out in the World.= By SOPHIE SWETT. + +=GOING WITH THE BIG BOYS.= By KATE UPSON CLARK. + +=BOY HEROES OF THE WAR.= By Mrs. A. R. WATSON. Pathetic, humorous, +thrilling. A dozen stories of young heroes of our Civil War--six of the +South, six of the North. + +=THE TALKING BIRDS.= By M. C. CROWLEY. A series of amusing and marvellous +parrot stories--_true_ stories. + +Notable Articles, + +Short Stories, Poems, + +Beautiful Pictures, + +Children's Songs. + + * * * * * + +ALPHA PUBLISHING CO., Boston. + + + + +Quite Different. + +The importance of correct pronunciation is nowhere more imperative than +in a religious service. A soloist in a Philadelphia surpliced boy choir +was heard on a recent Sunday morning in a certain well-known anthem. +After the service another boy, a member of the choir, excitedly caught +hold of the skirt of the choir-master's vestment, and asked, "Will you +tell me, sir, what Jack Mahaffy [the boy soloist] meant by 'a +consecrated cross-eyed bear'?" + +"A what?" demanded the astonished leader. + +The lad, badly frightened, repeated the question. + +The soloist was called, and when he spoke the words, instead of singing +them, the boy got the correct version, "a consecrated cross I'd bear." + + * * * * * + +Second Largest Church in America. + + Will some reader of the ROUND TABLE please give me a description of + the Church of Notre Dame, Montreal, Canada? I will be very thankful + for information on this subject. + + RUPERT FORBES. + MONTOWESE, CONN. + +We quote the following from an article on "Montreal," in HARPER'S +MAGAZINE for June, 1889: + +"Here"--in Montreal--"among a Roman Catholic population, noted chiefly +for their lack of wealth, is building a cathedral one-third the size of +St. Peter's at Rome, and of the same shape, excepting that this one has +a pointed roof to shed snow. Montreal has already the great Notre Dame +de Lourdes, the largest in America, excepting the Cathedral of Mexico. +It seats 10,000, and will hold 15,000 people. The official poster at the +door asserts that the bell is the largest in the world. It is the eighth +in size, weighing 24,780 pounds. In the interior, vast but harsh and +gaudy, you may see an ornate spiral pulpit and a bronze statue of St. +Peter, of which the toes are well polished. + +"In Montreal you can continue to visit churches all day. They reveal a +religious life of the Middle Ages kept up with marvellous force in this +nineteenth century. One of the pleasantest scenes of this religious life +may be witnessed in the city of the dead. In the cemetery on the +mountain, along the streets of tombs, are erected little grottos, each +having in colored tableau the stations of the cross. A priest leads +slowly the flock from station to station, and explains to the kneeling +people the dogmatic value of the sufferings portrayed. The trees, birds, +plants, sunshine, and the murmuring winds, all combine to make the +ceremony touching. The route ends on a knoll where three huge crosses +and figures represent most realistically the final agony. When I visited +the place, on a fine June day, a company of convent girls and nuns were +holding a merry picnic at this spot. After their picnic they knelt for +prayer and went away rejoicing. On many of the graves are evidences of +tender regard to the departed--plaster figures of saints, photographs of +the deceased, and little altars with candles and crucifixes, set up in +glass-covered boxes that look like toy chapels." + +Some Montreal reader may give us a short description of the exterior of +Notre Dame. + + * * * * * + +Kinks. + +No. 55.--A RIDDLE. + + I'm not employed by Uncle Sam, + And yet I carry mail. + I'm swift as many a telegram; + I'm seldom known to fail. + Around and 'round, then straight I go; + The shortest route I always know. + + * * * * * + +No. 56.--HISTORICAL QUESTIONS. + +1. What battle was fought October 13, 1812? + +2. How did Du Plessis Mauduit help America? + +3. Who was Sir Guy Carleton? + +4. Who put this clause into his will: "I enjoin and require that no +ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatever, shall be +admitted for any purpose whatever, or as visitor, within the premises +appropriated for said ----." And of what did he speak? + + * * * * * + +No. 57.--RHYMING CHARADE. + + My first moon, in her regal car, + In thronely pomp rides past; + She trips a silver serenade + Round my secluded last. + + My last has borne the pelting blasts + Two hundred years twice told; + Its loop-holed battlements to-day + Rear grandly as of old. + + Our first laid schemes we plumb and build + In sorrow, be it known; + Like fabled last high-poised in air + Are quickly levelled down. + + My dual parts will rightly sketch, + If roughly scribbled down, + A city in an English shire + And in a Delaware town. + + J. E. BENNETT. + NEW YORK. + + * * * * * + +No. 58.--WORD SQUARE. + + 1. To blight so as to destroy. + 2. A machine for turning. + 3. A collection of maps. + 4. Anything long and straight. + 5. Easily irritated or fretful. + + A. E. T. + CHICAGO. + + * * * * * + +Answers to Kinks. + +No. 50.--DIAGONAL ACROSTIC. + +March--April, thus: + + M O D E L + O A S I S + F A R C E + E P O C H + A S A P H + + * * * * * + +No. 51.--DOUBLE PROGRESSIVE MAGIC SQUARE. + + 128 x 1 x 32 = 4096 + x + 4 x 16 x 64 = 4096 + x + 8 x 256 x 2 = 4096 + +And the same with the perpendiculars and diagonals. + + * * * * * + +No. 52.--A SENTENCE HUNT. + +St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, iv, 27. + + * * * * * + +No. 53.--PHONETIC CHARADE. + +Ant--elope. Antelope. + + * * * * * + +No. 54.--A GEOGRAPHY LESSON. + +1. Skaara. 2. Kars. 3. Don--the Spanish equivalent of Lord. 4. Bhore. 5. +Kabul--Atlantic cable. 6. Save--because, if true to its name, it would +rescue you. 7. Koping. + + * * * * * + +Young Newspaper-Makers. + +Janey Crow, 13 Birch Crescent, Rochester, N. Y., publishes, with a +friend to help, _The Acorn_, a monthly of twenty-eight pages. It is not +printed from types, but written, and sent round for reading. These young +editors and publishers desire to receive sample copies of other amateur +papers, either written or printed ones. So also do Frank G. Davis, +Vermillion, S. D., and Edward F. Daas, 1717 Cherry St., Milwaukee, Wis. +The last-named desires also to form a corresponding Chapter, whose +members may live in any part of the world, exchange specimens of shells, +minerals, ferns, and bugs, and prepare round-robin descriptive letters. + + * * * * * + +Questions and Answers. + +Polly Pemberton Morris.--You are quite right in your contention, and +your friend is wrong. Queen Elizabeth did not live as well as does the +average family of to-day whom we call poor. Comparatively she lived +well--and walked on a cloak. But she suffered many discomforts which the +gallantry of all the Raleighs of her reign but badly recompensed. +Indeed, her household was so poor that few of the laboring-people of +to-day would endure one like it. For instance, her table service was +what we would call scarcely fit for animals. Huge joints of meat were +brought to the table on the roasting-spits. There were no dishes such as +we have. Earthenware with a china finish was unknown. The meat-carvers +held the meat with one hand while they cut it with the other, and the +guests helped themselves with their fingers. Cats and dogs were allowed +around and under the table--and to them were thrown the bones. Fancy the +condition of the floor--there was not always a floor--after the meal. +There were no forks and no plates. Fingers served for the former and +huge slices of bread for the latter. + +Irving Kenyon asks: "Is there on exhibition in some city in each State +the articles patented in that State? If so, in what city of Connecticut +can I see them? Are authors privileged to use the plan of another +author, which has appeared in a pamphlet some time previous, without +permission? If permission is necessary, to whom do I apply?" There is no +such exhibition. In the Patent Office at Washington may be seen a vast +number of models, but they come from every State. Even these models are +no longer required by law. Authors' privileges are not easily defined. +Do you mean "plan" or "plot"? We should say that the least one could do +who wished to use the plot of another would be to ask permission. If +permission cannot be obtained from any cause, get another plan or plot +or else forego writing. + + + + +[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. + + +Although all German and foreign catalogues list the varieties of the +1870 20c. blue of France in three types, still few are seen in +collections, probably on account of the difficulty heretofore felt in +explaining the differences. + +The cuts I., II., and III. illustrate exactly the differences of the +Greek ornaments at the lower light side of the frame (compare with +Figure IV.). + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.] + +Even in the very poorly printed specimens these varieties in the lines +of the Greek ornaments are prominent, and in the very heavy impressions +where the shadings of the main lines are invisible, the distinguishing +points are still plain. + +[Illustration: TYPE I.] + +[Illustration: TYPE II.] + +[Illustration: TYPE III.] + +It will be simple for everybody to now distinguish these types with the +aid of the illustrations. In addition the main points will be easy to +memorize. + +Type I. has, as we know, only points at the neck and eyes for shading +purposes; the circle of pearls is very irregular. + +Type II. The shading at the neck consists of fine lines, and under the +eyes are long drawn points. A fine white line runs around the entire top +of the head. + +In Type III. the white line at the top of the head is almost invisible; +under the eye are points similar to Type II., but in larger numbers. At +the neck there are only lines. The points between the inscriptions, both +at top and bottom, are hardly to be seen and often disappear altogether. + +A Type IV. is also listed in few catalogues, but its existence has been +clearly established. The peculiar break in the Greek ornaments, as is +the case in the other types, is not found, but in other respects it +resembles Type III., except in the inscription. + +It is probable that after the plate of the third type was worn out the +inscription was repaired, and for the third time enlarged, which is +sufficient evidence to accept as a fourth type. As to the grade of +rarity of these different types the following is probably correct (the +lowest number being the commonest). + + Used. Unused. + Type I. Seventh. Fifth. + Type II. Fourth. Second. + Type III. Third. First. + Type IV. Eighth. Sixth. + +Early impressions of these four plates are very desirable. + + A. E. DRAKE, 198 Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn wishes to exchange stamps. + The last Peru issue are very common. Any dealer can supply at a + fair price. + + F. RICH.--The 90c. 1851 issue, unperforated, is probably a proof. + The 24c. same issue is well authenticated. + + J. B. BRYAN.--To restore colors of stamps which have oxidized, or + changed color, owing to chemical or atmospheric changes, to their + original color, apply peroxide of hydrogen to the stamp with a + small camel's-hair brush. After repeating several times soak the + stamp in water and dry between blotters. + + A. A. HALL.--In purchasing hinges, be careful to secure those + having a gum known to be harmless. Some hinges have a gum that will + eventually injure the stamp to which they are affixed, changing the + color or causing the paper to turn yellow. For fifteen cents a + thousand you can get the best hinges from any responsible dealer. + You will probably not use over a million during your career as a + collector, and the amount you save in purchasing an inferior grade + is insignificant, while the proper preservation of your stamps will + be materially aided in using those you know are reliable. + + E. L. SMITH, 64 Sparks Street, Cambridge, Mass., wishes to exchange + stamps. + + C. RAWSON.--The 3c. Proprietary is worth 10c. perforated, several + dollars if unperforated, with wide margins. + + F. D. W. LANELAND.--Your Chile stamp is probably a Revenue stamp. + You do not give all the lettering, and I am therefore unable to say + positively. + + PHILATUS. + + + + +A Record of a Good Deed. + + You ask me to tell the Table about the fair which we had this + autumn, which netted $25 for the Good Will School Fund. We sold + home-made candy, fancy-work which we made through the summer, cake, + and ice-cream. All who took part in the fair were members of + Harper's Round Table Order. They were Helen Layton, Katie Atwood, + Mary Roof, Mable Roof, Edna Roof, Mollie Morford, Eleanor Hayward, + Emma Hayward, Louis Layton, Waldemar Hayward, Clarence Hayward, and + Thomas Woodruff. Mrs. John Roof, who assisted us, is a Patron of + Harper's Round Table. We hoped to, and doubtless would, have made + more had the evening not been a very stormy one. Last year we sent + thirty-one dollars. We hoped at least to send fifty this year. + + HELEN J. LAYTON. + NEWTON, N. J. + +We thank you most heartily. The money has been placed in the Fund. + + + + +[Illustration: IVORY SOAP] + +The frequent use of a good soap like the Ivory will purify the +complexion as no cosmetic can. + +THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO., CIN'TI. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Highest + +Award + +WORLD'S + +FAIR. + +SKATES + +CATALOGUE FREE. + +BARNEY & BERRY, Springfield, Mass. + + + + +BE AN ARTIST + +Copy accurately and beautifully the glories of nature by means of the + +Curtis Sketching Camera + +Every one can draw and sketch with it. A simple device, consisting of a +mirror and photographic lens, so arranged that you can draw with pencil +and paper exactly what is before you. An educator to the youthful mind. +Sent on receipt of =$1.00=. Circulars free. + +CURTIS & SCHUMANN, 96 Blue Island Ave., Chicago. + + + + +EARN A BICYCLE! + +[Illustration] + +We wish to introduce our Teas, Spices, and Baking Powder. Sell 75 lbs. +to earn a BICYCLE; 50 lbs. for a WALTHAM GOLD WATCH AND CHAIN; 25 lbs. +for a SOLID SILVER WATCH AND CHAIN; 10 lbs. for a beautiful GOLD RING; +50 lbs. for a DECORATED DINNER SET. Express prepaid if cash is sent with +order. Send your full address on postal for Catalogue and Order Blank to +Dept. I + +W. G. BAKER, Springfield, Mass. + + + + +YOU CAN GET + +BABYLAND + +Six Months For 10 Cents + +by sending two other 6-months' subscribers on the same terms. Write for +the necessary _special subscription blanks_. + +Alpha Publishing Co., Boston. + + * * * * * + +Boys! Girls! earn + +$5 to $25 + +before Christmas. + +Particulars =free=. + +Alpha Publishing Co., Boston. + + + + +JOSEPH GILLOTT'S + +STEEL PENS + +Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F. + +And other styles to suit all hands. + +THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS. + + + + +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: THE KING ATTACHES HIS ROYAL SEAL TO A DOCUMENT.] + + * * * * * + +REST YOUR PEN. + +Here is a hint for boys and girls who write. A correspondent of an +English newspaper asked, the other day, if it improved a steel pen to +give it a period of rest. The answer was: + +Yes. Rest for a steel pen is not only good, but at times absolutely +necessary, as it is for all steel tools if they are to continue in +first-class order. A member of a well-known firm of steel-pen makers +advised that if a pen gets scratchy and does not write well, it is not +necessarily finished and fit for throwing away, but is probably only +tired and in need of a rest. "Give it," said he, "a rest for a day or +two, then hold it in a gas-light for fifteen seconds, not longer, and +you will find it almost as good as new." Keeping steel pens in water +when not in use, or converting a potato into a pen-wiper, is said to +prevent corrosion and to preserve them for a long period. + +Apropos of the steel pen, it is interesting to note that the earliest +notice of steel pens is one by Wordsworth. In 1806 he and his family +were occupying the house at Colerton during the absence of Sir George +and Lady Beaumont, and in the month of December the poet wrote to the +latter what he calls "the longest letter I ever wrote in my life," and +with reason, as it fills eighteen pages. He begins: "My dear Lady +Beaumont,--There's penmanship for you! I shall not be able to keep it up +to the end in this style, notwithstanding I have the very great +advantage of writing with one of your best steel pens, with which Miss +Hutchinson has just kindly furnished me." + +The next mention noted is one by Dr. Kitchiner, in 1824. When speaking +of a friend above sixty, he says, "This strain of the eye and occasion +for spectacles of a high magnifying power is particularly found in +mending pens (this was when the goose-quill was the most generally +accepted tool in the trade of authorship), so that he has a sufficient +number of pens to prevent the necessity of mending any of them until he +has finished writing." To this there is appended a note: "To those who +find the mending of pens rather a difficult job, I recommend the +occasional use of the steel pen, especially when they wish to write very +small and neatly." + + * * * * * + +AN INDESTRUCTIBLE PRESENT. + +Joe is a boy who, through the beneficence of his grandparents, is +singularly blessed with uncles and aunts, and Christmas and birthdays he +realizes it most. They give him so many toys that his father and mother, +on such occasions, usually make their presents consist in carrying out +some cherished plan of Joe's. + +"Actually," his father remarked, on his most recent birthday, "Joe has +more presents now than he can break in a year." + +"Oh no, papa!" said Joe, with an injured air, "there's one present I +won't break." + +"Well, Joe," replied his father, "I'm glad there's one. Which is it--the +cast-iron train of cars Uncle Bill gave you?" + +"Oh no!" cried Joe; "I can break that easily enough. I mean I won't +break your promise to send me to dancing-school." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "THE FUNNIEST THING HE EVER SAW."] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, November 17, 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59939 *** |