PART III. treats of subjects relating to stamps not discussed in the two

preceding divisions, obliterations, surcharges, proofs, reprints, counterfeits, etc., together with an article on the _Universal Postal Union_ and another on the formation of an album.

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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 as far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.

Collectors are warned against so-called Cuban Republic stamps. They are fraudulent in every respect, even to the inscription which the makers supposed to be in the Spanish language.

The Indian government is about to issue 2, 3, and 5 rupee stamps in two colors. They will bear Queen Victoria's portrait painted lately by Angeli.

Some time ago I warned my readers that the $1 stamp would probably be withdrawn. Not only the $1, but the $2 and $5 have been withdrawn and the new printing is on water-marked paper. Some of these stamps are still to be found at some post-offices, and advanced philatelists are buying up all they can find on unwater-marked paper.

The auction season is about to be opened by J. W. Scott, whose catalogues are now out for a sale late in October, at the rooms of the Philatelic Society, New York. Albrecht & Co. have a sale at the same place October 29th and 30th.

Beware of so-called Korean stamps. A firm in Washington is putting them on the market for credulous collectors. Stanley Gibbons catalogues and presumably sells a number of the Chinese locals which are not collected by wise philatelists.

W. T. PUTNAM.--Dealers offer the 1828 half-cent at 10 cents.

M. WISTER.--The half-dollars can be bought of a dealer at 75c. each. The five-cent nickel without value does not command a premium. The Dresden stamp is a local. The complete Columbian set can be bought from $25 to $30.

M. CRAM.--The following are not collected by wise philatelists--All the China locals (except Shanghai); "San Antonio" of Portugal and Azores; 4c., 10c., 20c., 30c. and 40c. surcharges on North Borneo; British Mail of Madagascar; Brunei; Clipperton; Bussahir.

J. C. WEILAND.--The coins mentioned can be bought of dealers at a fair advance on face. I cannot give names of dealers. See advertising columns.

PHILATUS.

THE FAIRY'S FLORAL ZOO.

BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

There was a little fairy in the moon, Came down to earth one lovely afternoon, To wander And to ponder On the mountains and the lakes, On the meadows and the brakes, And to see what he could find To sort of occupy his mind. And as he wandered, As he pondered, This little fairy heard a roar Like none he'd ever heard before; And there, on either side, right by the shore, Two lilies stood: Great Tiger lilies thirsting for his blood! And did he run? Indeed not he! He simply stood likewise and smiled with glee, And after much ado He captured them--the two! "I'll take 'em home," said he, "and put 'em in my Zoo." And with them soon. In fact that very afternoon, Back to the moon He flew, And now he's rich, for all the moon-boys 'twixt us two Just throng about the cages of that Fairy's Floral Zoo!

* * * * *

FOND MOTHER. "And was my little boy smart at school to-day?"

LITTLE BOY (_sadly_). "My teacher didn't say I was, mamma, but he took pains to make me smart later."

* * * * *

MOTHER. "I wonder if my little boy is so afraid of work that he does not study his lessons?"

LITTLE BOY. "Me afraid of work! not much. Why, mamma, I can fall asleep alongside of it."

* * * * *

BOBBY. "What's the matter with your brother, Jack?"

JACK. "I guess he smelt of ma's new bottle of ammonia, 'cause now he's got the pneumonia."

* * * * *

FIRST BOY. "I's smaller than you."

SECOND BOY. "No, you're not."

THIRD BOY. "What's the matter with you fellows; I's smaller than both of you put together."

* * * * *

HOWARD. "Papa, I think baby plays with a knife."

PAPA. "I hope not, Howard."

HOWARD. "Well, when he was crying so this morning nurse said he was cutting his teeth."

* * * * *

TEDDY. "Papa, that's what you call a fruit-knife for fruit, isn't it?"

PAPA. "Yes, Teddy, that's right."

TEDDY. "Well, the gardener has what he calls a pruning-knife. Does he use that for prunes?"

* * * * *

ANECDOTE OF KIPLING.

A great many stories are told of famous authors, and it is probably not to be denied that a good half of them have no basis in truth. We have received, however, a story told of Mr. Rudyard Kipling which, whether it is true or not, is sufficiently amusing to be repeated; and as it comes from England, and is not the product of a Yankee brain, it may be told with perfect propriety, Mr. Kipling being one of her Majesty's subjects.

It seems that a good many years ago Mr. Kipling had an affectionate aunt, who lived at Southsea, and at her house the future poet of "Tommy Atkins" was wont to sojourn. One very hot day the aunt observed: "Don't you think, Ruddy, that waistcoat is very warm? Go upstairs and put on a white one." Ruddy did as he was told, _but he put the white one over the other_.

* * * * *

THE DIFFERENCE.

A locomotive engineer and a marine engineer were disputing over the relative danger of their occupations, each one claiming that his own condition was the less perilous.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the steamboat man. "If you are on your engine, and you go crash-bang into another train, why, there you are!"

"Yes," answered the railroad man; "and if you are in your engine-room at sea, and the boiler bursts, where are you?"

* * * * *

TALL STRUCTURES.

The United States can boast of the tallest masonry structures in the world, although other countries have buildings and towers made of other materials that can outtop American attempts. The Washington Monument is 550 feet high; the tower of the Philadelphia City Hall is 537 feet high, and the Manhattan Life-insurance Building is 437 feet high. One of their rivals abroad is a chimney at Port Dundas in Scotland, the tallest in the world, which is 454 feet high. There are only two masonry structures in Europe that surpass it--the Cologne Cathedral, 510 feet, and the Strasburg Cathedral, 468 feet. The Pyramid of Ghizeh is about 480 feet high. The highest thing put up by man is, of course, the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, but this will have to yield its supremacy to the Great Davey Tower now being built near London. When completed that will rise 1250 feet into the air. The highest artificial structure in America is a water tower at Eden Park, near Cincinnati, which reaches a total height of 589 feet.

* * * * *

A DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION.

A guileless city man wandered through the country with his rod over his shoulder seeking out a promising place to toss a fly. He soon came to a pond, near the edge of which was a sign that said: "No fishing." The city man scratched his head as he gazed at these words, but finally sat down on the shore, and was surprised at the number of bites he got. Pretty soon the gamewarden came along and cried out:

"Hey, there! Don't you see that sign?"

"Of course I do," answered the city man.

"Well," continued the warden, "don't you see it says, 'No fishing'?"

"Yes; but it's away off. There's bully fishing here. Just look at all I have caught."

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, November 5, 1895, by Various