CHAPTER IV.

THE BUREAU OF INFORMATION.

immieboy took the reins in hand, and the Merboy sprang lightly out of the carriage, and by means of his tail wiggled himself to where the bureau stood. He opened the top drawer, and from where he sat Jimmieboy, who was watching him with a great deal of interest, could see that it was divided up into sections, in each of which lay a dozen or more large envelopes, each fat with contents of some kind or another.

"I guess this must be the information I want about your lockjaw," said the Merboy, picking up an envelope. "Yes," he continued, as he took great slips of paper out of it. "It is. This envelope tells how to take spots out of carpets. Ha! ha! Listen to this: 'To remove an ink stain from the parlor carpet, take a pair of shears and cut out the spotted part.' That's good advice. Here's another telling how to start a fire. It says: 'First build your fire, and then procure a match. Any kind of match will do except one that has already been used. Light the match and apply the burning end to the kindling. If the kindling ignites, the fire is started. If it does not, light another match and apply the burning end to the kindling. Keep this up until the kindling does ignite!'"

As the Merboy finished reading this a great commotion was heard in the water directly overhead, and looking up Jimmieboy saw a huge whale rushing headlong down toward him. At first he was a little frightened, but as the whale drew nearer and smiled pleasantly at him his fear for some reason or another disappeared entirely.

"Hullo, Merby," said the Whale. "What are you doing?"

"I'm after information," returned the Merboy, shaking the extended flipper of the Whale.

"So am I," returned the Whale. "I'm in great trouble."

"Indeed?" said the Merboy. "What's the matter?"

"I got into a fight with some whalers in the Arctic Ocean, and one of 'em threw a harpoon at me, and it stuck in my back. I want to get it out, but I don't know how. Which drawer has information for Whales in it?"

"I don't know," replied the Merboy. "I'm trying to find out what's the matter with Jimmieboy here. I'm afraid he's got lockjaw, but the only thing the bureau has told me so far is how to take spots out of carpets and start fires."

"What nonsense!" said the Whale. "Let me try it, will you? I'm suffering like everything."

"Certainly," said the Merboy, standing aside. "There isn't any special hurry about our case."

The Whale smiled gratefully and grabbed up an envelope. Opening it he extracted a slip of paper, and read:

"'To make a good peach pie get ten ripe sliced peaches, a tin plate, and enough dough to cover first the bottom of the plate and the top of the peaches. Put the whole into a hot oven and cook until done.'"

"Ho!" laughed the Merboy.

"This bureau's a nuisance," said the Whale. "The idea of telling a sea-monster with a harpoon in his back how to make peach pie."

Here he selected another envelope. This one contained a slip which read: "It is not polite to sneeze in company. If you like to sneeze, and are going out to an evening party, contrive to do all your sneezing before you go. If during the evening party you feel a sneeze coming on, rub the bridge of your nose, or press the middle of your upper lip with your forefinger, and the desire to sneeze will disappear."

"Nice advice to give a Whale," sneered the monster. "Where is my upper lip I'd like to know, or my forefinger for that matter? If I don't catch the right answer this time I'll hit that bureau with my tail and knock it all to pieces."

The Whale made one more effort. This time the slip he took out read, "If your teeth ache go to the dentist and have them pulled."

"That's a little nearer right," said the Merboy.

"I don't see how," retorted the Whale. "I haven't a toothache. I have a backache. Shall I go and get my back pulled?"

"No," said the Goldfish, "but perhaps you could get the harpoon pulled."

The Whale's face wreathed with smiles.

"That's so," he said, eagerly. "Wonder I didn't think of that before. It's a good idea. The bureau is some use after all--though if it hadn't been for you, Merby, I'd never have discovered it."

"Oh, yes you would," said the Merboy. "After you had thought it over a little while you'd have seen what was meant. Information isn't any good unless you think about it a little."

"Well, I'm obliged to you just the same," said the Whale, backing off. "It's pretty hard to think when one has a harpoon in his back. I suppose you don't know where I can find a dentist, do you?"

"No, I don't," said the Merboy. "I've never had occasion to use one."

"Oh, well, I suppose there are such things, and so I'll set about finding one. Good-by," said the Whale, and off he started in search of a dentist.

"He's a very dull creature," said the Merboy, returning to the bureau. "He never thinks much even when he hasn't a harpoon in his back. Now for our trouble again. This envelope looks as if it might tell us."

Again was the little fellow doomed to disappointment. All the information contained in this envelope related to the killing of potato-bugs, and the best way to keep mosquitos from biting.

"This is the worst failure of a bureau of information I ever saw, or else I don't know how to manage it," he said. "Suppose you try it, Jimmieboy. You may have better luck."

Jimmieboy dropped the reins and alighted from the carriage. Walking to the bureau he opened the second drawer and found it full of books. They were very handsome books on the outside, and if one could judge from their titles they were attractive inside too. One of them, for instance, was named _The Porpoise of the Mediterranean, or A Minnow's Adventures on the Coast of Africa_. Another was labelled _Poems of A. Swordfish_. Another was called _Jellyfish Jingles_, a title which so interested Jimmieboy that he opened it and read some of them. In a minute he threw his head back and laughed loudly, opening his mouth as widely as possible in his mirth. He was so amused that he couldn't keep his lips closed.

"Listen to this," he said; "it's called 'The Unfortunate Tale of the Polliwog:'

"The small sea-toad he climbed a tree One windy summer's day, And through the water chanced to see A pollywog grown gray; Whereat he cried, 'Oh, Pollywog, Come tell me, sir, I pray, How is it you are not a frog And yet have grown so gray?'

"'Because,' the Pollywog replied, His visage turning pale; 'Because,' and here he deeply sighed, And sadly wagged his tail; 'Because,' he added, as the tide Grew wavy in the gale; 'Because I shed but tears; I've tried But cannot shed my tail.'"

"That's pretty good," said the Merboy, with a smile, noticing with a great deal of relief that Jimmieboy had at last opened his mouth. "Are there any more?" he added, just to see if Jimmieboy's cure were final.

"Yes," said Jimmieboy. "Here's one about 'A Sad Sea-Dog.'

"Oh, the sad sea-dog he has no fin, And he never moves, they say. He sits as still as a piece of tin, And he's never known to smile or grin, Or to wipe his tears away.

"His chief delight is to bark and growl, And to yelp and screech and snap; He does not mind if the wild winds howl, He never will stir for fish or fowl, And cares not what may hap.

"He shakes his flippers and wags his jaws, Delights in the awful gale, He breaks each one of the ocean's laws, And no one lives that can make him pause, From sharks to the mammoth whale.

"And it's all because a fisherman-- A man with a great green eye-- Mistook him once for his black-and-tan, And whistled to him, and called him 'Fan,' In the days long since gone by.

"When a sea-dog's name is Anthony Montgomery Varian, 'Tis apt to sour his spirit to be Miscalled as upon that day was he By a mean land name like Fan!"

"I should think so," said the Goldfish. "It's like being christened Algernon at church and being known as Petie in school."

"I don't wonder he sulked," said Jimmieboy.

"Nor I," said the Merboy. "But, say, Jimmieboy, you are cured of your lockjaw, aren't you?"

"Dear me, I forgot!" said Jimmieboy. "I wasn't going to open my mouth under water at all."

"Why not, pray?" asked the Merboy.

"For fear of swallowing the ocean," replied Jimmieboy.

"Ha! ha!" laughed the Merboy. "Why, you couldn't swallow a drop of it, much less the whole of it, the way I've fixed it. Is that all you were doing--just holding your month shut?"

"That's all," said Jimmieboy.

"Well, well! The idea!" said the Merboy. "You ought to have known better."

"Well, I didn't," said Jimmieboy, glad to find that it was not really necessary to keep his mouth closed.

"Apparently not--and it took the bureau of information to cure you. That's a very useful bureau."

"Very," said Jimmieboy. "I'd like to go through some of the drawers if we have time. Have we?"

"Lots," said the Merboy, taking the brush on the top of the bureau and fixing his hair with it. "We have ten times as much time as there is really."

"How can that be?" asked Jimmieboy.

"Well, never mind now," said the Merboy. "But some time you ask your papa how long a dream a boy can have who is asleep only ten seconds. You will be surprised at what he tells you. I once had a dream lasting forty years in a nap that was less than a minute long. So go ahead. You have plenty of time, and I dare say you will find lots of valuable information in the bureau. I will be back in a few minutes."

"You aren't going to leave me, are you?" asked Jimmieboy.

"No. I'm only going to drive the Dolphins around to the stable. I'll be right back."

The Merboy entered the carriage again and drove off, while Jimmieboy turned his attention to the bureau of information. As he turned, his eye caught sight of two little drawers that he had not noticed before on either side of the mirror which surmounted the bureau. He tried to open the right-hand drawer, but found it locked. The left-hand one opened easily, and in it Jimmieboy found a little golden key. This, as it turned out, was the key to the other drawer, and which, no sooner had the key turned in the lock, slid out as though pushed by a spring, and from it jumped the funniest little old man Jimmieboy had ever seen, hardly taller than his thumb, and dressed from head to foot in beautiful garments of silver and gold. In his left hand the little old man carried a jewelled staff, and his right hand he extended to Jimmieboy, as much as to say,

"Why, howdy do? I'm very glad to see you."

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

Although the New York athletes will by no means have a walk-over at the Berkeley Oval next Saturday, when the N.Y.I.S.A.A. and the L.I.I.S.A.A. contend for the Intercity championship in track athletics, they will certainly carry off the honors of the day, and they ought to do it by a good score. New York has better material this year than has Brooklyn, and the schools here have been devoting more time and energy to field sports than their rivals have across the Bridge. In fact, the Long-Islanders have shown a certain lack of interest in the Intercity contest which of itself is sufficient to betoken defeat. The relay race between the New York and Brooklyn Interscholastic teams was to have been run off at the Wilson and Kellogg games on April 27th, and a large number of enthusiasts gathered at the Oval to witness the sport in spite of the heavy downpour of rain. The hours passed, however, and no Brooklyn racers appeared. Not even a word of explanation came, and the race had to be postponed. It was thought at first that the Brooklyn team did not come over on account of the storm, but I learned the next day that the reason of its non-appearance was due to the fact that there was no team to come. Not enough candidates had applied at the Brooklyn trial heats for the managers to choose four capable runners. The very least these managers could have done, under the circumstances, would have been to notify the New York Interscholastic authorities of this fact. Young sportsmen, as well as older ones, should remember that one of the first considerations among amateurs is to fulfil engagements that have been entered upon, or if this is found to be impossible, to give ample and timely notice to their opponents of their inability to do so.

While it is gratifying to see such active interest displayed by the New York schools in out-door sport, it is also to be regretted, as I have had occasion to say before in this department, that so much of this interest should be turned in one direction. The New York school-boys have taken up track and field sports to so large an extent that baseball has suffered materially this spring, and tennis has practically been dropped. Such a state of affairs must surely bring evil results. It is a condition that cannot last long, but while it does last it works considerable harm. The genuine interests of field sports are not advanced by excessive indulgence. It is best to encourage every game that the season favors, and to attempt to do well in all branches of sport than to excel in but one. Such an excellence can be but ephemeral. In New England the school-boys are wiser in this respect. They endeavor to develop themselves in all branches. Only a few days ago Mr. D. S. Sanford, principal of the Brookline High-School, told me that from statistics he had prepared he had learned that twenty per cent. of the boys at the High-School play football, fifteen per cent. play baseball, fifteen per cent. take part in track athletics, and forty per cent. (of the boys and girls) play tennis. Fifty per cent. take part in no athletic games at all. From what I have observed in and around Boston I should judge that the athletic efforts of most of the other New England schools are distributed in a similar ratio. And yet, with only fifteen per cent. of the boys indulging in track athletics, they manage to make pretty fair records!

In Brooklyn baseball has not been allowed to suffer neglect because of track athletics, and so the race for the Long Island championship promises to be interesting. The teams are evenly matched with but one or two exceptions. Pratt Institute has no nine in the field, and Bryant & Stratton's is practically out of the race, having already been defeated a number of times. The St. Paul's team has a decided advantage over most of the other nines in the Association in that it is mainly composed of experienced players, most of whom were members of last year's nine. Hall is pitching well, and has good support. The Brooklyn High's team is made up wholly of raw material, with the exception of Captain Brum, but the men are working hard, and will do well before the season closes. One good feature in this year's High-School athletics is the barring out of all questionable candidates, the two forfeited championships of last year having evidently proved a salutary lesson. The Brooklyn Latin has one of the strongest nines in the league, and will probably make a strong bid for the pennant. Captain Litchfield is playing good ball at third, and both Goodwin and Sleven are doing good work at short-stop and first base respectively. Hall, of last year's Poly. Prep. team, is pitching, and Watt, formerly of Bryant & Stratton's, is catching.

The Adelphi Academy has turned out a better set of players than it had last year, and promises to make a good record. The team is made up pretty much of new material, but the men are working hard. Jewell and Simpson alternate in the box, with Forney as back-stop. Byers at first and Graff at third are capable players. Poly. Prep. is laboring under the disadvantage of an unfavoring faculty--a group of honest gentlemen who have not yet caught up with the fact that athletics have come to stay, and are, in moderation, a part of every educational system. As the school officers take no interest whatever in the sport, the players are working along as best they can under these adverse circumstances, and they are fortunately getting good support from their fellows. The authorities have gone further than being passive in their attitude toward athletics by ruling that Stevenson, the Captain of the nine, shall only play in league games. This is all very well if Stevenson neglects his studies for baseball, but as far as I am able to learn, such is not the case. Dunne is pitching fairly well, but to be successful he must get better control over the ball. Noyes, who is acting as substitute Captain, is putting up a steady game at second, and McKay is doing well at first. The other players are new. The out-field is weak, but the team work at times is fairly good, and the men certainly have a spirit and energy which are commendable.

Even a casual observer cannot fail to notice how much more is done for interscholastic sport in New England than in New York and its vicinity. Not only do Harvard and Yale universities take an active interest in the work of the young men whom they expect to gather into their own ranks, but even the Boston Athletic Association, which cannot hope to derive any material benefit from its exertions, offers cups and medals for interscholastic events, and does all that is possible to aid and advise the Boston school-boys. It seems to me that the New York Athletic Club could do worse than follow the B.A.A.'s good example. As far as I know, the N.Y.A.C. does nothing in the interest of school sports. To be sure, my indefatigable friend Evert Wendell performs enough good service as referee at scholastic contests to make up for many of the club's shortcomings; but Mr. Wendell does this purely as a lover of sport, and not as a representative of the club. Many of the best athletes of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. are members of the N.Y.A.C. They ought to get together in the near future, and, with the aid and advice of Mr. Wendell, endeavor to get the managers of the N.Y.A.C. to show more active interest in the exceedingly good work now being done by the schools.

In Boston, all the Interscholastic Committee meetings are held in the B.A.A. club-house on Exeter Street, and every winter the club holds an in-door meeting for the especial benefit of the thirty schools that compose the New England League. The silver cup which the B.A.A. has offered this year to be played for for five years by the school baseball teams is a fine trophy, and cannot fail to act as an incentive to the young players of the league. Harvard's work for the schools is even more active. Seven years ago the university was instrumental in forming the New England I.S.B.B.A., and in 1891 it organized the Interscholastic Lawn Tennis Association, whose fifth annual tournament was held on Jarvis Field, Cambridge, May 4th and 6th, with an entry list of over fifty names. The prizes offered each year are a gold medal or a cup to the winner, a racquet to the runner-up, and a championship banner to the school whose team scores the largest number of points. This year the cup is a handsomely engraved piece of silverware in the shape of a pitcher with one handle. As a general thing, I do not believe in medals and cups as inducements to young men to enter into amateur sports. The pure love of the game should be sufficient to call out their best efforts. But there is no doubt that interest in their early efforts, expressed in some such material way by associations of older players is a good thing, and it is certainly a strong incentive to a general participation in athletics for many boys who might otherwise be too indolent or too disinterested to discover and develop their own capabilities. This once done, however, there is no school-boy who is not enough of a true sportsman not to keep on, regardless of any possible material advantages or rewards. The mere title of champion is the most precious prize to be won in any field.

That Harvard's efforts for the promotion of tennis in the New England schools have been successful there is no doubt. At the first tournament, held in 1891, R. D. Wrenn, now the national champion, then in the Cambridge Latin School, was the winner, and he helped earn the pennant for his school. The following year Malcolm Chace met Clarence Budlong in the Interscholastic finals, and, after a hot match, Chace took first, and carried the banner to the University Grammar School of Providence. Budlong won in 1893, but only after a hard struggle with Ware, of the Roxbury Latin, who came up again in 1894 and carried off all the honors, including the championship banner for the school making the highest number of points. Ware's second victory in the finals last week entitles him to a position among the leading young players of the country, and I have no doubt that he will win at Newport in the Interscholastic tournament this summer.

Jarvis Field afforded a beautiful sight while the tournament was going on last week. There were twenty-two courts in use during the preliminary rounds, and a goodly number of spectators stood around to watch the players. I was most interested in Ware's work, and gave most of my attention to his play. He was in three matches the first day, and won them all. He first met Edwards, who is a strong player, and who made him do some sharp work in the second set. Ware is particularly good on hard drives, and it is really inspiring to see him smash the ball at the back line, and come within a few inches of it every time. But Henderson was lively, and returned many of the champion's swiftest drives; he would have made a better showing if he had been more accurate in his placing. Later Ware defeated Bartlett and Seaver, both in two straight sets, three of which were love sets. Fitz showed great improvement in form over last year, and reached the semi-finals. He is a rising young player, and will be heard from next year. On Monday, the 6th, Ware played in the semi-finals and the finals and won the cup. Newton High took the pennant offered for the school winning the greatest number of points.

Arrangements are being made to bring about a meeting between the track-athletic teams of Phillips Andover and Worcester academies. As yet no date has been set for the games, but if the two schools can come to an understanding on certain minor points, it is probable that they will be held at Worcester during the week previous to the big Interscholastic meeting at Cambridge in June. The games will be most interesting, for both the Worcester and Andover academies have strong teams. Readers of this department will remember that the Worcester Academy took second place, with 141 points, at the in-door meeting in Boston last March, and Andover won the Interscholastics in June last year. The programme of the dual games will be the same as the Intercollegiate order of events, and only three candidates will be entered from each school. Worcester's best sprinter, Clark, has been ill, and will not run again this year, and so Senn or Barker of Andover will have a better chance for the 100 and 220. Barker, however, is inclined to be indolent, and is not careful or regular in his training. Laing of Andover is pretty sure to win the mile. He won that event in the Interscholastics last June in 4.32-2/5, but as he is twenty-one years old this year, he is debarred from competing on Holmes Field in June. This I.S.A.A. rule would not affect his status in the Worcester-Andover games, however, and Laing will there try to lower his record. Holt will take the shot event for Andover, and Malby, his schoolmate, will probably get second. Holt should also win the hammer throw. Lorraine of Andover will do no better than to secure a place in the 440, which will be won by Judd of Worcester, if he runs. But Judd may reserve himself for the half-mile, which he is sure to take. As Andover has no good men in the jumps, Worcester should get 10 points or more there, and Johnson of Worcester will easily take the pole vault, having a record of 10 feet 8 inches. Barker will give Hine a close race over the low hurdles, and may win. Hine took the event at the Interscholastics last year. These dual games will be an excellent thing for the advancement of the sport, and I hope some of the other large schools, situated at a distance from one another, will take up the idea and arrange similar meetings.

A field meeting of Pacific Coast amateurs was held at the Olympic Club Grounds, San Francisco, April 20th, and the school-boys who entered made a very good showing. The games were held for the benefit of the University of California team, now in the East, and the young athletes of the A.A.L. compared very favorably with the men who have come on to joust with Yale, Princeton, and Pennsylvania. Jackson of the Oakland High-School won the mile run in 4 min. 38-3/5 sec., with Brown of the University of California second. Brown led in the last lap until the stretch, when Jackson spurted and won by the very narrow margin of ten inches. Jenks, O.H.-S., won the quarter in 52-3/5 secs. by ten or twelve yards, with two university men, Barnes and Parkhurst, behind him. Cheek, the captain of the O.H.-S. team, got second in the broad jump, covering 21 feet, and cleared 10 feet 2-1/2 inches in the pole vault. McConnell, O.H.-S., cleared 5 feet 3 inches in the high jump, and took second in the event. The Pacific Coast scholars may well be proud of these achievements in a competition with men so much older and more experienced than themselves.

THE GRADUATE.

This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.

Ailsie Bond came to see me on last Saturday afternoon, and I noticed at a glance that something was wrong. I knew it by her very step and her look. Ailsie is one of my darlings, such a bright, brave girl, always just where one expects to find her, the sweetest, dearest, sunniest of companions. But she was under a cloud last week. Let me add that she is sixteen years old, and a school-girl.

"I am so homesick," she said, sitting in her favorite corner of the lounge, with her elbow resting on a cushion. "Here I've kept up for months working hard and learning ever so much, and feeling every day that father and mother are so good in sparing me to stay away so long, and in giving me these advantages, and now, when the last school term of the year is almost ended, examinations coming on, and then so soon home, sweet home and a long vacation, I can't _stand_ it. I want my mother. I want to sleep in my own little room. I want to hug the baby. I want to count the silver, and dust the parlor, and keep the library in order, and run to meet my father when he comes home from the office. Oh, I know it is silly!" she said, laughing and crying both at once, "but I can't help it. I'm homesick, and I'd rather have the toothache. It wouldn't hurt any more."

There was no use in arguing with dear Ailsie, so I comforted her as best I could. You girls who are away at school know all about it. The homesick hours must come, and you wouldn't be really home-loving girls if you didn't have them. But if one never went away from home, she couldn't have the joy of going back there, and being met at the station by her big brother, and having father and mother welcome her, and the little ones show how much they had grown in her absence, even the cat and dog showing their delight that one they had missed was with them again. Poor puss, and poor collie and terrier, I often wonder at _their_ dumb wonder and speculation as to what has become of their friends when somebody in the house goes off and stays away a long while. They cannot talk, but they purr or wag their tails, and all but laugh when the friends return. Yes, girls, brace up, as your brothers say. A half-hour at home will console you for the homesickness you suffer from when absent. Keep up your courage, and at the worst remember that

"The darkest day, Live till to-morrow will have passed away."

The woods are perfect dreams of beauty in these May days, and what with the dogwood blossoms shining in starry splendor, and the laurel getting ready to bloom, and the orchards drifting their pink-and-white blossoms on the softly caressing winds, the world is a beautiful place. Be on the lookout for exquisite things and you will surely find them. It is a pity to go blindly through so much splendor. Use your eyes and _observe_; every day will show you something new.

Did you ever notice how cunningly some birds hide their nests, weaving them of twigs just the color of the ground, and then sitting on their eggs almost in your sight, yet so unobtrusively that you discover them only by accident? The little sociable wrens, less timid and more friendly, build their nests by the very house door, and are not afraid to let you have a peep at their pretty housekeeping. Birds are interesting neighbors to my mind.

Anna C. asks what you must have at an afternoon tea. You _may_ have anything you choose, sandwiches, small cakes, salads, ices, candies, and, of course, tea served with cream and sugar, or with thin slices of lemon and sugar. But you _must_ have, or, rather, you need only have, if you wish, tea and very thin, daintily served slices of bread-and-butter. The idea of afternoon tea is merely a light refreshment about five o'clock in the afternoon, when you may have a few moments' pleasant chat with the family and your friends, and when what you eat and drink is a delicate accompaniment to the conversation. Among the most acceptable sandwiches are those made with a crisp green lettuce leaf between thin slices of bread-and-butter, the lettuce salted and sprinkled with vinegar, or of very dainty brown bread with cottage cheese thinly spread on the two inner sides.

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Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

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=A Request.=--Readers of _Harper's Round Table_ will please mention the paper when answering advertisements contained therein.

This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject, besides inquiries regarding the League of American Wheelmen, so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Bicycling Department.

The map this week marks out one of the several different ways of going from New York to Stamford, Connecticut, or any of the points along the way. A good ride for an ordinary bicycle-rider who is not out to cover distance, but wants to reach a certain point, stop for dinner and return, is to go from Fifty-ninth Street to Portchester, which is about twenty-five miles, making in all a fifty-mile run. This route may be extended if the rider is looking for a longer distance, as far as Stamford, which is perhaps about thirty-two miles from 110th Street. The road is an uncomfortable one to ride over until the rider is well out of the city, but after that it is reasonably good, except for the hills before going into New Rochelle, and before going into Mamaroneck.

The rider should enter Central Park at Fifty-ninth Street and Eighth Avenue; thence diagonally over to the Eastern Drive, leaving the Park at its northern end; up Lenox Avenue to 128th Street; then east to Third Avenue, and then across the Third Avenue Bridge. Half a block north of the bridge turn to the right on the southern Boulevard; follow the southern Boulevard east to Union Avenue, something more than a mile, with Belgian block pavement all the way. At Union Avenue it is well to leave the southern Boulevard, because the macadamized road is so full of holes, and otherwise in very bad condition. Go on Union Avenue about one-half mile north over mud ruts, and come out upon Westchester Avenue. Here the rider has sixteen blocks of Belgian block pavement eastward. After this comes a badly macadamized road, which has several descents and short sharp hills for about three blocks to Fox Street; thence go on a fairly good road, improving all the way, to the village of West Farms, where you cross the Bronx River and come out on the old Boston Post Road. From here the road is macadamized and is very good, and the rider should keep to it all the way to Stamford. Or he may turn right just out of Bronxdale and go down to New Rochelle through Westchester, Baychester, etc. In either case the road is the same after leaving New Rochelle.

There are many little hills between Pelham Bridge and New Rochelle, the longest being in Neptune Park, just south of New Rochelle village. The road is macadamized and in excellent order. There is a steep descent about four blocks long as you approach Larchmont Manor, with a corresponding hill to climb as you enter the village. There are three hills, each about three blocks long, between Larchmont Manor and Mamaroneck, the road being macadamized all the way. North of Mamaroneck the road is macadamized and kept in excellent condition as far as Rye. The road from Rye, thence around the north of Portchester, thence to bridge at Bryan River, sharp turn to right here, and thence to Greenwich, is a well-kept macadam. The rider may stop at Greenwich, if he choose, but the run to Stamford to the north of Coscob at the head of Coscob Bay is a good one. The country is rolling rather than hilly. There are no specially steep hills in this district.

At New Rochelle a stop may be made at the Hugenot House, after a run of fourteen miles. By taking the turn to the right indicated on the map just before entering Portchester, instead of turning sharp to the left and following the bicycle route, the rider may run into Portchester and stop at the Irving or the West End Hotel, while at Stamford the Stamford House is in the centre of the town, and furnishes a suitable stopping-place for the end of the journey.

NOTE.--Map of New York city asphalted streets in No. 809. Map of route from New York to Tarrytown in No. 810.

This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.

Since the finding of the variety in the twelve-cent stamp of the United States, illustrated a short time ago, the collectors have been industriously seeking for varieties in the other values in the same series, and not without results, as two varieties are now mentioned in other stamps, one of them being the seven-cent of the 1872 issue, and the other in the current two-cent stamp.

The first variety discovered is shown in the accompanying illustrations, these showing the lower left-hand corners of the seven-cent stamp. In Fig. 2 a very fine line will be noticed around the two points of the bulb, these being absent in the other variety. As the seven-cent stamp is somewhat scarce, young collectors will hardly be in a position to sort a number over to look for the variety.

The other variety which has been found is shown in the two cuts given, these representing the triangular ornaments in the upper corners of the current two-cent stamps. In the ordinary or common variety the lines run across the ornaments, while in the new variety the lines stop at the frame of the triangles, thus causing them to show clearer. As there are a great number of plates used for printing the two-cent values, the new variety will probably be found in profusion, and it is interesting to hunt for them.

A recent despatch from Washington stated that the Attorney-General had given it as his opinion that foreign postage-stamps were securities, and therefore came under the law in relation to counterfeiting. This opinion, it would seem, would stop the using of stamp cuts of any kind in this country, but the publishers have as yet taken no notice of the matter.

The four, five, and fifteen cent values of the United States 1890 issue have been found in an unperforated state.

In the first issue of United States envelopes, in giving the various dies of the three-cent value the catalogue gives the width of the labels in millimetres as showing the dies. The label is the space at top of stamp enclosing the word "Three," and in measuring you take from each side of the label, in some dies the label being curved, and in some it is straight on the ends.

LOUIS A. DYAR.--There is no half-penny English postage stamp of a dark blue color. A complete catalogue of all stamps can be had of any dealer for about fifty cents. All English stamps issued between 1858 and 1887 had letters in the corners. The first stamp on the sheet was lettered A. B. in the upper corners, B. A. in the lower corners. The next stamp was lettered A. C. in the upper, C. A. in the lower, and so on. In addition each plate had a separate number.

R. F. J.--We cannot give addresses in this column. Apply to any stamp dealer if you do not find a satisfactory advertisement in the advertising columns of this paper.

F. SMITH.--The two stamps described by you are very rare Confederate locals. The New Orleans is worth from $2 to $5, according to the color of the ink and paper. You do not describe it sufficiently to determine whether it is the regular issue or one of the red on blue paper. The other stamp is the Mobile black, sold by dealers at $40 each. You are to be congratulated.

A. K.--Yes. All United States stamps are increasing in value.

K. C. B.--The 1838, 1845, 1847 United States cents are sold by dealers at from five to fifteen cents each, according to condition. There is one 1838 cent in which this date is struck over the date 1836. That is a rare coin, and is worth $6.

FRED. W. COON.--The Cape of Good Hope stamps made in 1861 are woodcuts made for an emergency. The one penny blue and fourpenny red of this issue are "errors," and are worth $250 each.

ALBERT CURRIER.--The value of the two locals which are catalogued at $35 and $20 respectively, which you wish to sell, depends largely on their condition. This department cannot tell what a dealer ought to give for them. If one dealer will not buy at your price, perhaps another will, but remember dealers expect to, and, in fact, must make a profit.

M. B. W.--The United States Internal Revenue stamps on the back of old photographs have no value as a rule. Many millions were used every year for a long time. This is especially true of the one-cent stamps, except the one marked Playing Cards.

* * * * *

THE SECOND SUMMER,

many mothers believe, is the most precarious in a child's life; generally it may be true, but you will find that mothers and physicians familiar with the value of the Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk do not so regard it.--[_Adv._]

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Physicians

prescribe Scott's Emulsion of Cod-liver Oil and Hypophosphites because they find their patients can tolerate it for a long time, as it does not upset the stomach nor derange the digestion like the plain oil.

Scott's Emulsion is as much easier to digest than the plain oil as milk is easier to digest than butter. Besides, the fish-fat taste is taken out of the oil, and it is almost palatable. The way sickly children, emaciated, anæmic and consumptive adults, gain flesh on Scott's Emulsion is very remarkable.

_Don't be persuaded to accept a substitute!_

Scott & Bowne, N. Y. All Druggists. 50c. and $1.

MONARCH

King of all Bicycles.

TRADE-MARK.

Five Styles. Weights, 18 to 25 Pounds.

Prices, $85 and $100.

MONARCH CYCLE CO.

Factory and Main Office, Lake and Halsted Sts., Chicago.

Eastern Branch: 79 Reade St., & 97 Chambers St., N.Y.

The C. F. GUYON CO., Ltd., Managers.

Sick Headache

AND

Constipation

are quickly and pleasantly

cured by

Tarrant's Effervescent Seltzer Aperient.

The most valuable family remedy for

Disordered Stomach

and Impaired Digestion.

50 cents and $1.00. All Druggists.

TARRANT & CO., Chemists, N. Y.

* * * * *

Postage Stamps, &c.

* * * * *

_STAMPS!_ _300_ fine mixed Victoria, Cape of G. H., India, Japan, etc., with fine Stamp Album, only =10c.= New 80-p. Price-list =free=. _Agents wanted_ at =50%= commission. STANDARD STAMP CO., 4 Nicholson Place, St. Louis, Mo. Old U. S. and Confederate Stamps bought.

100 all dif. Venezuela, Costa Rica, etc., only 10c.; 200 all dif. Hayti, Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Ag'ts wanted at 50 per ct. com. List FREE!

=C. A. Stegmann=, 2722 Eads Av., St. Louis, Mo.

=50= var., all dif., 5c.; 12 var. Heligoland, 15c.; 6 var. Italy, 1858 to 1862, 5c.; 3 var. Hanover, 5c.; 35 var. C. American, 50c. Agents wanted.

F. W. MILLER, 904 Olive St., St. Louis, Mo.

=100= all different, China, etc., 10c.; 5 Saxony, 10c.; 40 Spain, 40c.; 6 Tunis, 14c.; 10 U. S. Revenues, 10c. Agts. wtd., 50% com.; '95 list free.

CRITTENDEN & BORGMAN CO., Detroit, Mich.

=POSTAGE DUES.=--50c. and 30c., at 70c each; the pair for $1.25. =Diamond Stamp Co., Germantown, Pa.=

PUZZLE PURSE.

A first-class morocco purse with nickel frame and clasp. Can't be opened without the secret; worth 25c. as a purse and $5.00 as a "brain cracker." As sample of our 1000 Bargains we mail it postpaid with large Catalogue for 10c.

INGERSOLL & BRO., 65 CORTLANDT ST., N. Y. CITY.

=HARPER'S CATALOGUE= thoroughly revised, classified, and indexed, will be sent by mail to any address on receipt of ten cents.

Twenty-three Puzzle Awards and Answers.

The West carried off the honors in the Twenty-three Club Contest, and they are high honors, for the questions were very difficult. The answers follow. The authority for most of them is Mr. Joseph West Moore's _History of the American Congress_, just published.

1. Nathaniel Macon. 2. Benjamin Harrison, great-grandfather of ex-President Benjamin Harrison. 3. John Hancock. 4. James Oglethorpe. 5. Gen. John Newton. 6. Jonathan Edwards. 7. Miles Standish; Gov. William Bradford. 8. Eliphalet Nott. 9. Thos. H. Benton. 10. Thomas Corwin. 11. Gen. Sam Houston. 12. James Otis. 13. George Washington. 14. Davy Crockett. 15. Geo. B. Roberts. 16. James Fitch. 17. Jared Ingersoll. 18. Thomas Godfrey. 19. Bayard Taylor. 20. Charles Ellet. 21. Robt. R. Livingston. 22. Anne C. de la Luzerne. 23. Henry D. Thoreau. 24. George Inness. 25. Henry Inman. 26. John Adams. 27. William Lloyd Garrison. 28. Oliver Hazard Perry. 29. Stephen A. Douglas. 30. Timothy Ruggles.

Longfellow credits Miles Standish with the sending back of the snake-skin, and the "S" in his name is needed to get the second answer: but the act is also credited to Governor William Bradford. Hence both were accepted. George Inness is the correct answer to Number 24, for the puzzle was particular to say "the late."

The first prize, for sending correct answers to the greatest number of questions, was won by Alga Fawcett, of Minnesota, and is $10 in money. Two second prizes of $3 each are awarded to John Morton Espey, of Pennsylvania, and Frances C. Bliven, of distant Washington. Two third prizes of $1 each are given to John H. Blair, of New York (Ithaca), and Walter Johnson, of Minnesota. And nine Columbian half-dollars, as fourth prizes, are sent to Marion Miller, of Maryland; Marguerite Clow, of Minnesota; Edmund Rice, Jr., of Washington; Harold D. Sampson and Kenneth Burton, of Wisconsin; Gertrude G. Wilcox, of Massachusetts; Esther Neilson, of Pennsylvania; Mary T. Porter, of New York, and Katie Bartholow, of Maryland.

The first prize winner got 25 correct answers; the second, 24; the third, 23, and the Columbian half-dollar winners, 22 and 21.

If the last names of the twenty-three members of the Club be rightly arranged the initials spell "The Landing of the Pilgrims." Prizes of bound volumes of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE were offered for finding this sentence, no regard being had for the number of names found. The winners are: Pennsylvania, William F. Campbell; Wisconsin, Harold D. Sampson and Kenneth Burton; Washington, Edmund Rice, Jr.; Illinois, Alice Enright; New England, Helen C. Hopkins; Minnesota, Alice E. Dyar; Michigan, Henry Martin Jones; Indiana, James Gibbons; New York and New Jersey, Mary T. Porter (New York); Missouri and Kansas, Mary T. Robinson; Tennessee, Frank Hopkins; Manitoba, Jules E. Marjoribanks; and "at large," Pansy Caldwell, of Alabama, and Maddie C. Marshall, of South Carolina.

Round Table Chapters.

No. 687.--The Washington Chapter, of Warsaw, Ill. Phillip Dallam, Willie Hoffman. Box 106, Warsaw.

No. 688.--The Grove Literary and Musical Chapter, of New York city. Hattie Lovell; Edythe G. Hathaway, 67 Horatio street.

No. 689.--The Whittier Chapter, of Englewood, Ill. Percy Wilkinson, Raymond Hathaway, Stearns Bushnell, Herbert Snider. Other members are Morey Porter, George Ray, William Mueller. Its meetings are held on Friday. Chapter address, 439 Englewood Avenue.

No. 690.--The Charleston Stamp Exchange Chapter, of Charleston, S. C. It desires to correspond with other stamp exchange Chapters, and would like members from other cities. Chapter address, James E. Nestor, 26 Pinckney Street.

No. 691.--The El Dora Social Club, of San Francisco, Cal. J. J. Cohn, George Dreck, George Rosenberg, S. Michels. Other members are Edward Blanchard, Al Williams, Aaron Lewis, Dave and Hyman Caro. Its object is social amusement, and it would like members from all parts of the globe. Chapter address, 669 McAllister Street.

No. 692.--The Margaret Sangster Chapter, of Salem, Mass. Bessie Fabens, Katherine Wardwell, Grace Oliver; Eleanor Little, 40 Chestnut Street.

Kinks.

No. 83.--DOUBLE ACROSTIC.

1. Clotted blood. 2. Smooth. 3. A circle. 4. A denomination of money. 5. Superficial contents. 6. Time of day. 7. An enclosure.

The initials and finals, read downward, give the names of two countries.

SIMON T. STERN.

* * * * *

No. 84.--AN EASY DIAMOND.

1. A letter. 3. A verb. 3. To crush. 4. A verb. 5. A letter.

ADA JEMPSON.

* * * * *

No. 85.--A RIDDLE.

Animal, nor vegetable, Nor mineral am I; A natural product, I exist From two to six feet high. I am not she, I am not he. But just between the two, You'll often see me take my place, And sometimes hear me too. I have no breadth, I have no length, I'm neither thin nor thick, I'm used to show a faithful love, And mark a traitor's trick. I'm mentioned oft in Holy Writ, Both in the Old and New, And strongly recommended there By holy men and true.

J. M. C.

* * * * *

No. 86.

My first is in house, but not in barn, My second is in sock, but not in darn, My third is in love, but not in hate, My fourth is in worm, but not in bait, My fifth is in eight, but not in six, My last's in slab, and likewise in sticks, My whole an author is whose name and worth Are known and cherished over all the earth.

HORACE F. MAYOR.

Answers to Kinks in No. 808.

King, French, Swett, Bangs, Sangster, Henderson, Patterson, Stuart, Pyle, Lillie, Munroe, Curtis, Otis, Gibson, Brooks.

* * * * *

Priscilla.

* * * * *

BOYS' NAMES.

1. Sam, 2. Lew, 3. Adam, 4. Ed, 5. Rob, 6. George, 7. Andy, 8. Andrew, 9. Dan, 10. Lee.

College Yells and Colors.

The TABLE is indebted to many members for replies to the question asked by "M. T." about college yells and colors.

Amherst.--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Amherst!"--Purple and white.

Annapolis.--Navy blue and old-gold.

Bowdoin.--"B-o-w-d-o-i-n Rah, Rah, Rah."--White.

Hamilton.--"Rah! rah! rah! Ham-il-ton, zip rah boom!"--Rose pink.

Johns Hopkins.--"Hullaballoo, Kanuck, Kanuck! Hullaballoo, Kanuck, Kanuck! Hoorah! Hoorah; J. H. U.!"--Black and blue.

Lafayette.--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Tiger Lafayette!"--Maroon and white.

Lehigh.--"Hoo, ray ray! Hoo, ray ray! Ray ray ray, Lehigh!"--Brown and white.

Leland Stanford Junior University.--"Rah-Rah-Rah (three times) Stanford!"--Cardinal.

Oberlin.--"Hi!-O!-Hi!-O!-Hi-O!-Hi!-Hi!-O! Hi! O-ber-lin!"--Crimson and gold.

University of Alabama.--"Rah, hoo, ree! Universitee! Rah, hoo! Wah, hoo! A. C. U.!"--Crimson and white.

University of California.--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Cali-forn-i-a U. C. Berk-lee Zip-Boom-ah!"--Blue and gold.

University of Chicago.--"Chi-ca-go! Chi-ca-go! Chi-ca-go go! Go-it-Chi-ca! Go-it-Chi-ca! Go-it-Chi-ca-go!"--Maroon.

University of Michigan.--"U. of M. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah! Michigan! Michigan! rah! rah! rah!"--Maize and blue.

University of Pennsylvania.--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Penn-syl-vani-ah!" (seldom used). "'Ray! 'Ray! 'Ray! Penn-syl-vani-a!" (short and sharp). This is the most common form. "Hoo-rah! Hoo-rah! Hoorah! Penn-syl-va-ni-ah-h-h!" Each syllable is strongly accented, and the "ah" prolonged.

Following are sporadic, borrowed from no one knows where

THE OLLY-KAZOOK.

Olly-kazook-Alack! Alack! Olly-kazook-Alack! Alack! Hoorah! Hoorah! Penn-syl-va-ni ah!

THE OWSKI-WOW-WOW.

Owski-wow-wow! Whisky-wow-wow! Holy-muckeli! Kentuckyi! Pennsylvanyi!

These last two are not the Pennsylvania yells, strictly speaking, but they are used at nearly all games, etc., for a change now and then. Another prime favorite is a melancholy chant.

"Oh me! Oh my! How we blacked the Tiger's eye!" The colors are red and blue.

University of Vermont.--"Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah! U. V. M.! rah, rah!"--Straw and darkgreen.

University of Virginia.--"Rah-rah-rah, Uni-v! Rah-rah-rah, ver-si-tee! Ver-gin-i-a!"--Navy blue and orange.

Vanderbilt.--"Vanderbilt, Rah, Rah, Rah! Whiz Boom! Zip-Boom, Rah, Rah, Rah!"--Black and old-gold.

Vassar.--Rose and gray

Wesleyan.--"Rah, Rah, Rah Rah, Wes-lei-an-a! Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah!"--Cardinal and black.

West Point.--"Rah! Rah! Ray! Rah! Rah! Ray! West Point! West Point! Armay!"--Black and gray.

Thanks are due to the following for the information given. Grant Knauff, Jun., F. M. E., R. H., Clara Rompano, Harold Simonds, R. C. Wente, Dudley S. Steele, A. D. J., Isabelle Willis, B. F. E. Lantie V. Blum, Harry B. Reese, and V. J. Smith.

Want Corner.

Samuel Byers, Sandiford, Philadelphia, sends the TABLE an account of a trip which he and about twenty young friends made to New York last winter. His account is admirably written. His grammar, construction, and penmanship are away above the average for his age. He tells about visits made by his jolly party to the Art Museum, to an ocean ship, and many other places. We do not print his letter in full, because he describes sights that are already quite familiar, by description at least. We know his party had a good time, for it called at Franklin Square, and a look at the jolly faces demonstrated it. Sir Samuel belongs to a Chapter which wants correspondents everywhere, specially about moths, minerals, and flowers. Write him for names of individual members. You can get some good correspondents among them of both sexes.

Harrie O. Bender, 5903 Tulip Street, Wissinoming, Philadelphia, Station F., is, we think, a member of the same Chapter as the preceding--the Sylvia. At any rate, the Sylvia has the same wants. It seeks to make a collection of pressed flowers from all over the world. Won't you help it? Of course it sends flowers in return. Hubbard Marsh asks how to cure the skins of small animals. Won't some member ask a taxidermist and send the information in the form of a Table morsel? We will print it with due acknowledgment and thanks. The TABLE is in receipt of a long letter from its old friend, Janet Cowley, whose present address is care W. E. Moxon, Bungalow, Sherwood Road, Toowong, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Writing in January, she says the weather is oppressively hot--such is the difference in seasons. She also says that the Table's other Karnerunga friend, Constance Smith, is married and living in Sydney. Lady Janet promises to answer all her American correspondents as early as their number and her time permits.

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.

It is a fortunate thing for the would-be amateur photographer that a dark-room, used exclusively for photographic work, is not one of the "must-haves" of photography. If it were, there would doubtless be very few amateurs, especially among the young people.

To make the work of arranging a temporary dark-room simple and easy, the materials should be kept all together and in as compact a form as possible. For storing the chemicals and trays a wooden box eighteen inches long, twelve inches wide, and eight or ten inches high will be found a convenient size for holding all the material necessary to use for developing.

A rack to hold the bottles should be made of a piece of half-inch board half the size of the bottom of the box. In this board cut holes the size of the bottles containing the solutions for developing. Fasten this board securely to the inside of the box, about four inches from the bottom. The bottles will fit in the holes, and there will be no danger of breaking or spilling their contents when carrying it from one place to another. Square bottles should be used for the hypo, and round bottles for the developers. Five bottles will be enough for the chemicals--one for the hypo, one for old and one for new developer, one for the restrainer, and one for the accelerator. Have the labels on the bottles large and distinct, and make the box on the outside "POISONS."

The trays can be placed one inside the other and put into the box by the side of the bottles. The glass funnel should be turned over the top of one of the bottles, and unless the lantern is an extra size, there will be plenty of room to set it in the box. Nail a strip of leather across the box for a handle. A piece of board an inch or two larger all round than the top of the box will serve for a cover when the box is not in use.

With one's materials in this convenient and portable form it is a simple matter to get ready for developing, and when one has finished it is but a moment's work to replace the materials and put them away. This plan of storing materials not only saves a great deal of time and trouble, but often prevents mistakes in developing.

In preparing for developing get everything ready before the plates are taken into the dark-room. Always be particular to place the hypo trays in the same place each time you develop plates, and you will never make the mistake of putting a negative into the hypo instead of the developer.

Keep all the trays and bottles wiped clean. The trays should be thoroughly rinsed each time after using, so that no trace of hypo from the fixing tray may come in contact with the developing tray.

The amateur more than perhaps any other person should cultivate habits of neatness, carefulness, and exactness.

At all grocery stores east of the Rocky Mountains two sizes of Ivory Soap are sold; one that costs five cents a cake, and a larger size. The larger cake is the more convenient and economical for laundry and general household use. If your Grocer is out of it, insist on his getting it for you.

THE PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. CIN'TI.

Tastes good as it goes down, does good when it gets down.

makes the children rosy-cheeked, keeps the parents healthful, helps the old folks carry their years lightly. A 25c. package makes the whole family happy.

CHAS. E. HIRES CO.,

PHILADELPHIA.

Kombi

Camera

$3.50

SMALLEST CAMERA MADE

Carry it in your pocket. Size 1-5/8 x 2 in. Weight 4 oz. takes 25 pictures with one loading. Made of seamless metal, oxidized silver finish. Size of picture 1 in. sq. The simplest camera made. Any boy or girl can use it. Every instrument fully guaranteed. Not a toy, but a practical camera. The Kombi complete. $3.50. Roll of film (25 exposures) 20 cts. extra. We develop your negatives if desired. Illustrated Booklet Free.

Alfred C. Kemper, Mnfr., 208 Lake st., Chicago

BRANCHES--LONDON: 36 Oxford st., W.

BERLIN: 10 Taubenstrasse, W.

HOOPING-COUGH

CROUP.

Roche's Herbal Embrocation.

The celebrated and effectual English Cure without internal medicine. Proprietors, W. EDWARD & SON, Queen Victoria St., London, England. Wholesale of

E. Fougera & Co., 30 North William St., N.Y.

BASE BALL, HOW TO PLAY IT.

A Great Book, contains =all= the rules; also the =secret= of pitching curved balls, and to bat successfully. Rules for Football and Tennis. Every player should have it. Entirely new and handsomely illustrated. This =Great Book Free= to any one sending us =10= cents to pay postage. =Also= Catalogue Guns, Revolvers, Musical Instruments, Magic Tricks. =All for l0c. Order quick.= For =$1.25= we will send =Our Base Ball Outfit=, consisting of 9 Caps, 9 Belts, 1 Ball, 1 Bat. =BATES SPORTING CO., 100 High St., Boston, Mass.=

CARD PRINTER =FREE=

Sets any name in one minute; prints 500 cards an hour. YOU can make money with it. A font of pretty type, also Indelible Ink, Type Holder, Pads and Tweezers. Best Linen Marker; worth $1.00. Sample mailed FREE for 10c. stamps for postage on outfit and large catalogue of 1000 Bargains.

R. H. Ingersoll & Bro. 65 Cortlandt St. N.Y. City

_PUZZLE PENKNIFE, 10c._

Best steel Blade concealed in nickel handle. Press the button and it opens. Worth 25c. as a knife and $5.00 as a puzzle. A sample of 1000 Bargains, mailed postpaid with Cat. for =10c.=

ROBT. H. INGERSOLL & BRO., 65 CORTLANDT ST., N.Y. CITY.

=DEAFNESS & HEAD NOISES CURED= by my =INVISIBLE= Tubular Cushions. Have helped more to good =HEAR=ing than all other devices combined. Whispers =HEAR=d. Help ears as glasses do eyes. =F. Hiscox=, 853 B'dway, N.Y. Book of proofs =FREE=

_Ten Old Songs._

The brief list given below names ten songs from each Number of the Franklin Square Song Collection. This is only one-twentieth, by the Arithmetic, of the round Two Hundred to be found in each Number, or of the Sixteen Hundred in the Eight Numbers thus far issued.

=No. 1.= All Together, Annie Laurie, Blue Bells of Scotland, Bonnie Doon, Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean; Home, Sweet Home; Last Rose of Summer, Long, Long Ago; Old Oaken Bucket, When the Swallows Homeward Fly.

=No. 2.= Flow Gently, Sweet Afton; Ever of Thee, Juanita, Kathleen Mavourneen, Killarney, Mary of Argyle, Speak Gently, The Long Weary Day, Twickenham Ferry, What is Home without a Mother?

=No. 3.= Ah! I have Sighed to Rest Me, A Life on the Ocean Wave, Be Kind to the Loved Ones at Home, Blue Juniata; Chime Again, Beautiful Bells; Do They Miss Me at Home? In Happy Moments, Old House at Home, Rain Upon the Roof, The Vacant Chair.

=No. 4.= Dublin Bay, Happy Are We To-Night, Boys: Keller's American Hymn, Ossian's Serenade, Rock Me to Sleep, Mother; Search Through the Wide World, Sweeter than the Breath of Morning, Trancadillo, When the Bloom is on the Rye.

=No. 5.= All Among the Barley, Ben Bolt, Fair Land of Poland, Home Again, Maryland, My Maryland; Speed, My Bark; Thou Art So Near and Yet So Far; Tramp, Tramp, Tramp; When I Come; Within this Sacred Dwelling.

=No. 6.= Alice Gray, Andreas Hofer, Eyes So Blue and Dreaming, Faded Flowers, Listen to the Mocking Bird, Jamie's on the Stormy Sea, Men of Harlech, Rockaway, She Wore a Wreath of Roses, Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.

=No. 7.= Cousin Jedediah, Gentle Annie, Hark, I Hear an Angel Sing; Irish Emigrants Lament, Touch the Harp Gently, Love's Golden Dream; The Years Creep Slowly by, Lorena; O Give Me but My Arab Steed, The Star of Glengary.

=No. 8.= Chimes of Zurich, Flow, Rio Verde; There's a Good Time Coming, I'd Weep with Thee, Lone Starry Hours, Lovely Nancy, Johnny Schmoker, Mermaid's Evening Song, Old Easy Chair by the Fire, The German Fatherland.

Sold Everywhere. Price, 50 cents; Boards, 60 cents; Cloth, $1.00. Full contents of the Several Numbers, with Specimen Pages of favorite Songs and Hymns sent, without cost, to any address.

Harper & Brothers, New York.

OPENING OF THE CIRCUS SEASON.

AN ACT "NOT DOWN ON THE BILLS."

IT DIDN'T WORK.

It isn't always safe for a small boy to take his father's jokes and games too seriously. This was shown very plainly at one time by the experience of an Englishman and his son upon a railway journey which they took together. While the little fellow was gazing out of the open window his father slipped the hat off the boy's head in such a way as to make his son believe that it had fallen out of the window. The boy was very much upset by his supposed loss, when his father consoled him by saying that he would "whistle it back." A little later he whistled, and the hat reappeared. Not long after the little lad seized upon his father's hat, and flinging it out of the window, shouted, "Now, papa, whistle your hat back again!"

A DAINTY FOR ELEPHANTS.

If there is anything in the world that an elephant loves better than a peanut it is an orange, and if any boy who reads this wishes, when he goes to the circus, to give the massive creature an especial treat, instead of paying five cents for a bag of peanuts to put in the elephant's trunk, let him purchase for the same money one good-sized orange, and present that to the small-eyed, flat-eared monster. A number of years ago, in a book which was called _Leaves from the Life of a Special Correspondent_, Mr. O'Shea, the author of the book, gave the following description of an adventure he had with a herd of elephants. Said he: "A young friend asked me once to show him some elephants, and I took him along with me, having first borrowed an apron and filled it with oranges. This he was to carry whilst accompanying me in the stable, but the moment we reached the door the herd set up such a trumpeting--they had scented the fruit--that he dropped the apron and its contents, and scuttled off like a scared rabbit. There were eight elephants, and when I picked up the oranges I found I had twenty-five. I walked deliberately along the line, giving one to each. When I got to the extremity of the narrow stable I turned, and was about to begin the distribution again, when I suddenly reflected that if elephant No. 7 in the row saw me give two oranges in succession to No. 8 he might imagine he was being cheated, and give me a smack with his trunk--that is where the elephant falls short of the human being--so I went to the door and began at the beginning as before. Thrice I went along the line, and then I was in a fix. I had one orange left, and I had to get back to the door. Every elephant in the herd had his greedy gaze focussed on that orange. It was as much as my life was worth to give it to any one of them. What was I to do? I held it up conspicuously, coolly peeled it, and ate it myself. It was most amusing to notice the way those elephants nudged each other and shook their ponderous sides. They thoroughly entered into the humor of the thing."

ARITHMETIC.

MAMMA. "Suppose you have four apple-dumplings, Willie, and you eat three, then what do you have?"

WILLIE. "Nightmare."

IN MEMORIAM.

My broken soldiers, made of lead, Are buried in the garden bed, And lovely flowers o'er them play, For this is Decoration day.

TOMMY'S PROGRESS.

MAMMA. "You may open your school report, Tommy, and tell me how you have been doing this week."

TOMMY. "Oh, here is the highest mark, mamma, a 1."

MAMMA. "And what is that for, Tommy?"

TOMMY. "Days absent, 1."

JOHNNY'S COUNTING.

JOHNNY. "Mamma, I can count all the way up to twelve."

MAMMA. "And what comes after twelve, Johnny?"

JOHNNY. "Recess."

AN APPEAL.

"Papa," said Jennie, climbing upon her father's knee, "don't you think that 'stead o' ten cents a week you could give me fifteen?"

"Well, I don't know, my dear," was the answer. "What do you want of the extra five cents?"

"I thought my dollie was old enough to have a 'lowance, and I want to give it to her."

A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION.

"I know how Columbus made that egg stand up," said Wilbur. "He had it hatched first."

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, May 14, 1895, by Various