Part 6

It will be necessary this week again to devote the Department to answering one or two of the general questions on the subject of bicycling. In the first place, letters are being received from time to time asking not only how to join the League of American Wheelmen, but what the advantages of it are. As is stated in the note at the beginning of this Department, we are glad at any time to send blanks for application for membership of the League to any one, but particular reasons why any one should join the League cannot be given in small space and apply to each request. The League of American Wheelmen consists, according to the constitution, of amateur white wheelmen of good character, eighteen years of age or over. An applicant for membership must be endorsed by two League members and three other reputable citizens, and pay an initiation fee and dues.

It is an association of bicyclists who have proved that by combining in an association they can constitute themselves a strong influence for the laying of good roads, can secure legislation for the advantage of and prevent legislation against wheelmen, and can secure special rates at hotels. The League is not a money-making institution, the services of the officers are not paid for, and the two dollars which each member pays for membership go not to any one's individual advantage, but to paying the expenses of putting up signs throughout the country, of getting out the State Road Books and Tour Books, and to the expenses of carrying on correspondence, etc. The advantages that accrue to any one who joins the League are, in the first place, that he receives an interesting weekly paper, _The L.A.W. Bulletin and Good Roads_, which keeps him pretty well informed as to bicycling matters. The League also spends a large amount each year in keeping up the agitation for the movement for improved roads, and it makes every attempt, so far as it can, to protect wheelmen in their legal rights. The hand-books, maps, road-books, bicycle meets, parades, tours, and entertainments gotten out by each State for the benefit of members are all advantages that do not need to be explained. Any one member may not avail himself of all these, but he will find that at the end of the year he has obtained more than two dollars' worth of benefit from the League. The ticket which is given to him on the payment of the two dollars will secure from ten to twenty-five per cent. reduction in at least one good hotel in almost every large town in the United States, and if the member is making a two weeks' tour in the country in New York State, for example, he will be sure to more than get his two dollars back in that time on reduced hotel rates alone.

Some one writes to ask whether it is important to observe all the city regulations regarding bicyclists. This is one of the most important details of wheeling in cities that can come before the attention of the wheelman. The laws against bicycling would be much more stringent were it not for the work of the League of American Wheelmen. This League maintains, in substance, that a bicycle should be treated practically as a horse and carriage on the road. The tendency, however, for legislators is to curtail the rights of bicycles. As a result, certain laws have been passed, and the contest is continually going on between the two parties: those who assert that bicycles have and should have as much right upon the road as carriages, and those who believe they should be more restricted. If the community of wheelmen wish to have more rights on the road than they have to-day, or as many of them have to-day, the least they can do is to observe the ordinances, for by each infringement of a city ordinance the chances of securing better legislation become less. For example, there are city ordinances in New York which require that every bicyclist should carry a lantern after dark; that no one shall coast within the city limits; that every bicycle should have a bell in good order attached to it, which shall be rung on certain occasions. There are laws of a similar nature in most of the cities in the United States now. It is a very simple matter for one bicyclist who comes to a hill on the outskirts of New York city to coast. It is a pleasure to enlist, of course. There may not be any policeman about, and it is very possible that the bicyclist can have his coast and not be discovered. At the same time, if he is discovered and arrested, the case comes up in court; and especially if he is a well-dressed, respectable citizen of the city, the opposition at once secures a handle for argument that the bicycle must be restricted, that people do not observe the ordinances, and that the bicycle in general is a nuisance. Few readers of the ROUND TABLE could perhaps realize this at first sight, but it has been used time and time again in the New York city courts as an argument against bicyclists, and it is therefore the duty of every person who rides a bicycle to observe these rules. The questions of lights and bells are parallel. You may succeed in riding at night without a light in some small city where the laws are not enforced, but if any trouble arises you have done the best you could to bring the bicycle into disrepute.

THE MANIA FOR COLLECTING.

It is doubtful if there is anywhere in the world a boy or a girl who has not at some time or another suffered from this very harmless disease of "collecting." It comes to most of us almost as surely as the mumps, but, unlike many other of the diseases of childhood, it can be had more than once, and there is no limit, apparently, to its phases. Stamp-collecting, and autograph-collecting, and the collecting of coins are most reasonable, instructive, and oftentimes profitable; but what can be said of a person who collects toothpicks? It would almost seem as if such a person were insane, and yet to some men it has appeared to be worth while to do it. An English journal states that probably the distinction of owning the most valuable assortment of these useful little articles belongs to an Eastern Rajah, whose collection contains toothpicks of the rarest workmanship and design, many of them studded with costly jewels. Others of them are valuable from their antiquity and the unique circumstances under which they came into his possession. The most curious miscellaneous collection, the paper goes on to say, ever made was that of an eccentric Scotsman, William Gordon, who lived at Grahamstown, near Glasgow. He had an immense collection of the most varied description, including adzes, gimlets, hammers, keys, jars, bottles, toothpicks, tops, marbles, whips, toys of all sorts, sizes, shapes, and materials, besides having an assortment of walking-sticks and gold and silver watches. The most remarkable articles ever used as toothpicks are the whiskers of the walrus, which are quite stiff, and improve with age. The writer tells also of a curious fad of an eccentric collector, who went in for bottled battle-fields, as he called them. He had about seventy-five bottles, each bottle containing some of the soil of a historic battle-field, and duly labelled.

Surely, if this mania continues to develop, we shall shortly hear of collections of canned volcanoes, and barrelled rivers, and preserved voices--in fact, the last would not, in these days of the phonograph, be a had thing at all. If, instead of taking an autograph-album to a celebrity, and asking him to write his name in it, a collector might readily take a phonograph fully supplied with cylinders to the famous men of the time, and ask them to say a few words to be handed down to posterity, not by word of hand, but by word of mouth. It would be a great joy to us now if some means of preserving the voice of Shakespeare, Washington, Napoleon, and other illustrious dead had been devised in the old days.

Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.

Owing to the number of questions, we devote the entire Department to answers this week.

SIR KNIGHT E. MAGSAMEU asks how to burnish prints without a burnisher; if ferrotype pictures be made with the pocket kodak, and if so, how are they made; if lantern slides can be made with a kodak; if blue prints can be burnished; how to print a title or name on a photograph; what is meant by the diaphragm; and what is the reason tall buildings in his pictures have the appearance of falling down. To burnish prints get a ferrotype plate (price 5c.), clean it with a soft rag dipped in benzine, take the prints from the water and lay them face down on the shiny side of the plate. Lay a piece of blotting-paper over the print and rub it with a squeegee (which is a rubber roller), till all the moisture is out of the print and it adheres to the plate. Leave it on the plate till dry, when, if it does not come off itself, lift it at one corner and it will peel off the plate. The contact with and the drying on the ferrotype plate give the print a fine gloss. If one has not a squeegee, a smooth bottle or even a wooden rolling-pin can be used. Ferrotype pictures cannot very well be made with a pocket kodak. Sir Knight Samuel Boucher, Jun., Box 68, Gravesend, L. I., says that he will send the formula for ferrotype plates to any one who asks him for it. Lantern slides can be made with a kodak. Blue prints cannot be burnished. See No. 855, March 17, 1896, for directions for marking negatives. A diaphragm in photography is a thin metal plate with a hole in the centre, which is placed between the lenses of the camera tube to concentrate the rays of light and increase the sharpness of the picture. The smaller the opening the sharper will be the picture, but the exposure will take longer than with a larger opening. The reason of the lines of the buildings in the pictures being out of perpendicular is because the lens is not rectilinear.

SIR KNIGHT WILLIAM F. BEERS, San Remo Hotel, 75th Street and Central Park, New York city, wishes to know the best book for amateurs. Wilson's _Photographics_ is a good book, and gives detailed directions for making pictures. Sir William says he has a 3 by 3-1/2 daylight kodak which he would like to sell, as he wishes to purchase a larger size.

SIR KNIGHT ARTHUR LAZARUS asks how to enlarge and diminish the size of pictures. To enlarge see directions given in No. 801. Will Sir Arthur state whether he means to reduce from the negative or from the print? Our competition is now open.

ROBERT HUNTER, 122 Buena Vista Ave., Newark, O.; LOE OLDS, Spring Alley, Minn.; EDWARD CLARKSON SEWARD, JUN., 43 North Fullerton Ave., Montclair, N. J.; WALTER S. RAUDENBUSH, 130 South 6th St., Lebanon, Pa.; LESTER SCHUTTE, 29 East 93d St., New York city; GRENVILLE N. WILLIS, Maplehurst, Becket, Mass.; WILLIS H. KERR, Bellevue, Neb., wish to be enrolled as members of the Camera Club.

SIR KNIGHT J. R. SIXX sends two blue prints, and asks if they are good. He has had his camera but two months and is anxious to do good work. The picture of the poultry-yard is very good, but in making pictures of figures would suggest that the full length be included. If the camera had been moved a little farther away from the subject it would have brought the whole figure within the angle of the lens. The picture is sharp and detail good. The picture of the steamer is a good one, but trimming would improve the general appearance. Try cutting off half an inch in the foreground, at the same time making the edge of the picture parallel with the bottom of the boat, and then squaring the rest of the picture to correspond. A part of an umbrella out of focus shows at one side of the picture. This can be removed in the printing if a thin mixture of Gihon's opaque or lamp-black (water-color) be painted on the glass side of the negative over the outlines of the umbrella. Make it as near the color of the film of the sky as possible, and it will look like a part of it. Try and win a prize in our coming competition.

SIR KNIGHT WALTER RAUDENBUSH and several other correspondents who wish to become members of the Camera Club ask if there is any initiation fee required for admission into the Camera Club. There is no fee, and any Knight or Lady of the Round Table may become a member of the Camera Club by sending name and address to the editor and asking to be enrolled as a member. One is not required to be a subscriber to the magazine in order to belong to the Camera Club or to enter the competitions; but it is a great advantage to have the magazine, as the Camera Club column always contains matter which is of value to the amateur.

AN ENGLISH VIEW OF THE AMERICAN CLIMATE.

We learn a great many interesting things about America from the London newspapers. Here is the latest bit of information that has come to hand:

"Mr. Willie Park, Jun., the well-known golfer, who recently returned from a visit to America, tells of a match he played there with Willie Dunn under exceptional circumstances. It was the time of the great heat wave in New York, and on the day on which the match was decided, the heat Mr. Park describes as being 'somewhat terrible.' The thermometer registered 101 degrees in the shade. Notwithstanding this, there was a large following, many of whom sought to overcome the effects of the heat by bathing their heads under running-water taps on different parts of the course. It was almost impossible to keep the balls in a playable condition, as the heat softened the gutta-percha. To prevent them melting they were placed on ice and carried along by a caddie, who deposited a changed ball at each tee, while the old ones were replaced on the ice for preservation!"

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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._]

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Old

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Collection.

The "Franklin Square Library" has given many valuable numbers, but none so universally attractive as this. Nowhere do we know of an equally useful collection of School, Home, Nursery, and Fireside Songs and Hymns which everybody ought to be able to preserve, and which everybody will be able to enjoy.--_Springfield Journal._

Eight Numbers. Price, 50 cents each; Cloth, $1.00. Full contents of the Eight Numbers, with Specimen Pages of favorite Songs and Hymns, sent by Harper & Brothers, New York, to any address.

A Glimpse of Long Island Life.

HARPER'S ROUND TABLE has always been the greatest source of pleasure to us, and has followed us around in our various wanderings, both here and abroad; always awaited with impatience and devoured with avidity. I have just finished that most delightful serial "For King or Country," and think it one of the finest stories I have ever read. I began it one evening after supper, and became so much excited over it that I could not lay it aside until I had reached the last page. My other favorite serials were "Dorymates," "The Red Mustang," and "The Flamingo Feather."

Roslyn is a quiet little town on the north shore, nestled at the foot of Harbor Hill, the highest elevation on the island. It is on Hempstead Harbor, and looking out across the Sound one can see the hills of Connecticut ten miles away. It is a resort much frequented by tourists in the summer-time, and its scenery is most picturesque. With its rolling meadows, deep glens and recesses, and ridges of hills, one might almost imagine Switzerland on a small scale. We are devotedly fond of the place, having lived here the greater part of our lives, and were quite heart-broken at leaving it to go to Europe in early 1889. My sister and I go to a classical school here, and take the regular college preparatory dose of Latin, Greek, and mathematics, which we enjoy immensely.

We are both ardent disciples of photography, and also struggling young acrobats on the treacherous fiddle-string. During our leisure hours we ride, drive, skate, play tennis, or swim--according to season.

HILDA WARD, L.R.T. ROSLYN, N. Y.

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Queer Signs of Coming Events.

There is old sign that if the housewife drops her dishcloth, "company" is coming. Did you ever hear of it? Then there are signs about the weather, about luck, and about many similar things. We want to know the signs common with you. Do you live in the South, in Canada, or in the West? Tell the Table briefly a few of the signs you oftenest hear. Those that strike us as the oddest and the funniest we will print, giving credit to the senders of them. Cannot our readers abroad help us on the collection? We hope so.

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Kinks.

No. 50.--A DIAGONAL ACROSTIC.

Here is as pretty a puzzle as one could wish to see. Its answer is simple, and yet fewer things are harder to construct than this double acrostic. It looks easy--but! You remember the story of the fresh Freshman at college who thought proverbs simple. His professor told him to make a few! In the following the primal diagonal reads downwards, the final one upwards. The five short couplet lines throw light on the cross-words:

Two brothers we are said to be, And children of the year; We come each spring, and always bring Some proof that spring is here. The elder fumes and shakes his plumes That spring should be so coy; But, much more mild, the younger child Sheds copious tears of joy.

1.

In every work-shop, every trade, For imitation chiefly made.

2.

When weary on the desert plain, Rest and refreshment here obtain.

3.

In this the low comedian plays, And seeks to catch the vulgar praise.

4.

Some great event doth indicate The time from which I take my date.

5.

Musician I--when David sung, His lyre to me ofttimes he strung.

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No. 51.--DOUBLE PROGRESSIVE MAGIC SQUARE.

Figures 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256. These numbers have been doubled from one upwards, and the puzzle is to place them in a square of three lines, so that the first multiplied by the second, and the product multiplied by the third each way, horizontally, perpendicularly, and diagonally, will produce the same amount. There are eight answers, all alike.

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No. 52.--A SENTENCE HUNT.

The following sentence, standing alone, is in one of the most familiar of books,

"Neither give place to the devil."

Where is it?

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No. 53.--PHONETIC CHARADE.

I am the first half you all are to guess, I, a poor insect, quite tiny or less. After me comes the two-syllabled verb Lovers may do and their parents disturb. Join us, we make the fleet-footed beast Lovers should copy and rival; at least, Would those rash lovers reach safely their goal, They ought to make use of the speed of my whole.

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No. 54.--A GEOGRAPHY LESSON.

1. What town in Norway would you prefer not to drive a shying horse past?

2. What city in Trans-Caucasia runs on wheels?

3. What is the most aristocratic river of Europe?

4. What suburb has Bombay that, if you had it, you would try to get rid of?

5. What city of Afghanistan can one person talk in every part at once?

6. What large river of Bosnia can you not drown in?

7. What town in Sweden could you use on your front-yard fence?

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Answers to Kinks.

No. 46.--CHARADE.

Sun-down-(h)er.--Sundowner; a squatter on government land.

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No. 47.--FOR MATHEMATICIANS.

He receives all his book debts except $2 in $5 of $15,000, and all except $1.25 in $5 of $6000. His loss corresponds to 2-5 of $15,000 plus 1-4 of $6000 or $7500 in all. Had he received all his book debts he could have paid $5.25 on every $5 he owed. As it is, he can only pay $4 on every $5. Therefore the loss of each $1.25 on each $5 he owes corresponds to the total loss of $7500, and so

As $1.25:$7500::$5:$30,000. Amount he owes, $30,000. This is propounder's solution.

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No. 48.--WORD SQUARE.

T A F F Y A W A R E F A T A L F R A N K Y E L K S

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No. 49.--EASY RIDDLE IN PROSE.

Valuable as a curiosity to any museum. The five pebbles. The one pebble with which David killed Goliath.

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A Sailing Trip and a War-Ship.

Last April a friend of my father's told me that a party from Bluffton were going to "Paris Island" to see the man-of-war _Indiana_, and asked me if I would like to go. I went. We had to ride five miles in wagons, and then we got into a large sail-boat. It was a cold and rough day, and some of the girls got seasick. But other boys and girls and myself had a delightful time. We arrived at our journey's end in four hours, and proceeded to a friend's house.

The dry dock in which the ship lay is a hole thirty-five feet deep, four hundred feet long, and about seventy feet broad, and has steps going down three sides of it. The other end is the gate, which is very large and oblong. It has rigging inside of it, which opens or closes it at will. A pump working all the time keeps the dock dry. We went on board the _Indiana_, and a marine explained everything to us. The small cannons fire twenty-five times in a minute, and some others sixty or sixty-five times in a minute. The large cannons are in turrets, which can be turned around on a pivot, enabling them to be fired in any direction. We saw some torpedoes which, the marine said, cost twenty-five hundred dollars apiece.