The championship season in football is now fairly under way in almost every section of the country, and the reports that come in from all sides are of a most promising nature for the welfare of the sport. More players in a greater number of schools spread over a broader area of the country are at work on the gridiron this year than ever before, and the colleges may feel confident of receiving a higher grade of raw material in the future than has ever come in with any previous Freshman class.
In the Boston Association the number of schools in the Junior League has become so large as to make it necessary to divide it into two sections, the winners of each to play off to decide the championship; and then, of course, the champion of the Juniors must play the tail-ender in the Senior League to determine whether or not they exchange places. Newton, Somerville, Chelsea, and Medford form one division of the Junior League; Roxbury Latin, Dedham, Hyde Park, and Dorchester the other. Dorchester and Medford are new-comers, and thus, to a certain extent, unknown quantities. Somerville High, having won the championship of the Junior League last year, will now move up into the Senior ranks, and from present appearances the team ought to make a good showing. In the game with Tufts College, Somerville held the collegians down to one touch-down in a twenty-minute half. They developed good team-work in their aggressive play, but when on the defence they were not so strong. This is the natural result of practice work against a weaker team, such as a second eleven usually is. The only way to develop a strong defence is to practise against stronger opponents, hence the advisability of as many matches with outsiders as possible.
The weak spots in the Somerville team are the guards. They are somewhat light, but with training and careful coaching should develop well, Almeida, the captain, is a good man, and is playing an unusually strong game at quarter for a captain. If he can manage his men as well as they were managed last season, Somerville need have no fears of losing its position in the Senior League. The backs, Pipe and Cuddy, are doing as well as can be expected so early in the season, and if Hanlon, at full-back, can keep on improving in his kicking, the team will be well taken care of back of the line.
From present appearances it looks as if English High would have fully as good a team as last year, and the eleven is certainly as strong as any other in the League to-day. Five of the old champions are back, and they form an excellent nucleus for an exceptionally good lot of new material. Kimball, who will probably hold centre, is pretty green, but will improve. He will doubtless be guarded by Walker, who is a new man, and by Carroll, who was last year's substitute centre. If these three men are finally selected, they will make as heavy a centre as there is on any team in the association. The position of quarter-back is still open, as it is not known yet definitely whether Sherlock will return to school. If he does not, however, Mansfield and Mann will make good substitutes, and can be trained into excellent players. Mann is a fast runner, and will make a good running quarter if he takes the place.
The Boston Latin School loses a good many of last year's team, but is fortunate in having an unusually large number of men anxious for positions on the eleven. The practice work so far has been of the first order, and the number of candidates has made it possible for the old men to get good practice. Those who are trying are not all by any means new to the game. Some were substitutes to the team which won the championship in 1895.
The men of last tear's team who are left to represent Boston Latin this year are Lowe, who played left guard; Teevens, who was substitute tackle in 1894, but who played back of the line last year; Daly, last year's right half-back, who, however, will doubtless make a try for full-back this fall; and Brayton, who is a candidate for guard. The new men, besides being a promising lot, are all pretty heavy, and so we may expect to see the Latin School represented by a heavy team in the coming championship.
The schedule for the championship series in the Senior League was made up at a recent meeting of the football committee as follows:
Boston Latin.—Oct. 30, Brookline High at South End; Nov. 6, Hopkinson at South End; Nov. 13, Cambridge High and Latin at South End; Nov. 26, English High at South End.
Cambridge Manual.—Oct. 30, Boston Latin or Cambridge High and Latin, Soldiers' Field; Nov. 6, Brookline High at Soldiers' Field; Nov. 13, Hopkinson at Soldiers' Field; Nov. 20, English High at Soldiers' Field.
English High.—Nov. 6, Cambridge High and Latin at South End; Nov. 12, Brookline High at South End; Nov. 17, Hopkinson at South End; Nov. 20, Cambridge Manual at Soldiers' Field; Nov. 26, Boston Latin at South End.
Cambridge High and Latin.—Oct. 31, Hopkinson (undecided); Nov. 6, English High at South End; Nov. 13, Boston Latin at South End; Nov. 18, Brookline (undecided).
Brookline High.—Oct. 30, Boston Latin at South End; Nov. 6, Cambridge Manual at Soldiers' Field; Nov. 12, English High at South End; Nov. 18, Cambridge High and Latin at Soldiers' Field or South End; Nov. 24, Hopkinson at Soldiers' Field.
Hopkinson.—Oct. 31, Cambridge High and Latin at South End (?); Nov. 6, Boston Latin at South End; Nov. 13, Cambridge Manual at Soldiers' Field; Nov. 17, English High at South End; Nov. 24, Brookline High at Soldiers' Field.
The schools of Maine are beginning to practise for their championship season, and several minor games have already been played. Portland High ought to have a fairly strong team, although it is perhaps too early yet to form any idea of what the new material will develop into. Bangor High is practising hard, and of last year's team there are again in school Connors, McCann, Snow, Hall, Hunt, Knaide, and Crowley. The Cony High-School, of Augusta, is looking forward confidently to winning the championship, and the eleven is practising hard every day. Several of last year's team are back, notably Savage and Sawyer, the guard and tackle. The regular League schedule, however, has not yet been arranged.
The Cook County High-School League, of Chicago, had a little trouble over its elections recently, but it is to be hoped that if any ill feeling resulted, it has all been smoothed over by this time. It seems to be a natural desire among a great many of us to go ahead regardless of rules sometimes, and this always results in trouble afterwards. When it comes to an election, nothing should ever be attempted that is not strictly in conformity with the regulations of the association. The desire for office or the enthusiasm of supporters should not be allowed to influence any candidate. A man elected under any circumstances except those of absolute regularity can never feel satisfied with his position, and will always suffer the loss of a certain amount of self-respect.
At the last meeting of the League's committee this trouble over the election was satisfactorily arranged, and a schedule for the championship series was laid out as follows:
Oct. 10.—West Division at North Division, Lake View at Oak Park, English High at Hyde Park, Northwest at Englewood, Chicago Manual at Evanston.
Oct. 17.—Hyde Park at West Division, Englewood at Lake View, North Division at English High, Evanston at Northwest, Oak Park at Chicago Manual.
Oct. 21.—West Division at Englewood, Chicago Manual at Hyde Park, Northwest at North Division, Lake View at Evanston, English High at Oak Park.
Oct. 24.—Evanston at West Division, Chicago Manual at Lake View, Oak Park at Englewood, Hyde Park at North Division, Northwest at English High.
Oct. 31.—Northwest at Oak Park, North Division at Chicago Manual, Englewood at Evanston, West Division at Oak Park, English High at Lake View.
Nov. 4.—North Division at Lake View, Evanston at English High, Hyde Park at Oak Park, West Division at Northwest, Englewood at Chicago Manual.
Nov. 7.—Lake View at Hyde Park, Oak Park at Evanston, Englewood at North Division, Northwest at Chicago Manual, English High at West Division.
Nov. 14.—Hyde Park at Evanston, English High at Englewood, Chicago Manual at West Division, North Division at Oak Park, Lake View at Northwest.
Nov. 21.—Hyde Park at Englewood, Northwest at Oak Park, Evanston at North Division, Chicago Manual at English High, West Division at Lake View.
The home grounds of the different teams are: Englewood, Hyde Park, and Chicago Manual, Washington Park; Lake View and North Division, Lincoln Park; English High and West Division, Douglas Park; Northwest Division, Humboldt Park; Evanston, Evanston; and Oak Park on the Oak Park Club baseball-grounds.
The New Jersey Interscholastic A.A. has arranged its football schedule, and the games will be played in the following order:
| Oct. 10.—Newark Academy vs. Pingry, at Newark. |
| Oct. 15.—Stevens Prep. vs. Montclair H.-S. at Montclair. |
| Oct. 24.—Pingry vs. Stevens Prep. at Elizabeth. |
| Oct. 24.—Newark vs. Montclair at Montclair. |
| Oct. 31.—Stevens vs. Newark at Hoboken. |
| Nov. 7.—Pingry vs. Montclair at Elizabeth. |
It is probable that the Wisconsin Interscholastic League will soon fall to pieces, inasmuch as three of the strongest members have withdrawn from it. The reason given for this action on their part is that the high-schools in the State are so widely separated, that the time and expense incurred in travelling to and from games are so great, that these contests must be abandoned. The Milwaukee schools, however, have decided to keep up interscholastic sport so far as they are themselves concerned, and have adopted a constitution and drawn up a set of rules to govern their own games, which shall take the place of the old League regulations. These rules were made by delegates representing three schools. They debar all undesirable persons from taking part in any of the contests, and a committee has been appointed to see that athletics are kept pure not only in Milwaukee, but to enforce the Milwaukee standard against all out-of-town teams that desire to hold contests with members of this new association.
From all accounts it would seem that athletics in Wisconsin must have been about as impure and un-amateur and shamefacedly semi-professional as could possibly be. The trouble all came about, as it usually does, gradually. One school committed some small offence, and then another school committed a larger one, excusing itself on the ground that its neighbor was the first sinner. Madison High-School, so far as I am able to learn, seems to have been the worst transgressor. It is a great boaster of championships, and it is true that the Madison High-School football team has never been defeated. It has seemed to many, however, that the authorities of that school ought to take some steps to prevent men who are students at the University of Wisconsin from playing on the High-School team. Such men actually did play on the school teams while members of the university, by taking some single subject in the High-School. With university men on the school teams, victory naturally came to Madison very frequently when it met other schools, and this afforded a bad example.
The contagion reached Milwaukee, and the High-Schools there did a great many things which are doubtless now regretted by the better element. To such a point have they come in Wisconsin that the Mercury, which is the paper of the Milwaukee East-Side High-School, says, in a leading editorial: "There must be an entire revolution in the High-School athletics of this State. Otherwise Wisconsin will have a league professing purity in athletics, but really composed of professionals and 'ringers' and some unquestioned amateurs.... Numerous charges have been wafted to our ears, but we will deal only with those which we can substantiate." So long as the Mercury can substantiate the charges, it may be interesting to the readers of this Department to hear what those charges are.
It would seem that the first case of irregularity occurred in last year's football season, when, according to the Mercury, the Madison eleven had two players who were regular members of the University of Wisconsin. The next case was in the Milwaukee East Side High-School itself. Members of that institution had the rules of the League suspended until after the date of the field meeting in order to allow one of their men, who had not been regularly enrolled since December, as the rules required, to enter and compete. "The next irregularity," says the Mercury, "was the entrance of a professional from the interior of the State, but that resulted satisfactorily. He was ruled out." The editorial then goes on to tell another story of professionalism in which two schools, holding a majority vote, refused to obey the rules of the Association, and legislated so as to allow certain individuals to represent their schools in a track-athletic meeting who had no more right to do so than any professional performers that they might have called on for similar work. It is to be hoped that the new spirit which seems to be awakening in Milwaukee will have sufficient influence and power to root out these evils in the future, or the sports of that State will get into a sad condition, where the young are so crafty and bold in their adoption of unfair methods.
With the awakening spirit of purity in athletics the prospects for football in Wisconsin seem to be brighter than ever before. The Madison High and the East Side and South Side high-schools at Milwaukee will undoubtedly be the strongest three high-school teams in the State. Madison has more old players back than the others, and thus has a slight advantage to start with; and it has the additional advantage of good coachers from the neighboring university. The Milwaukee schools, however, will put heavier men into the field.
The St. John's Military Academy will be stronger on the gridiron this year than it has been for some time, and ought to come out pretty well in interscholastic contests. The amateur spirit has had some pretty hard rubs at St. John's, as has been told of before in this Department, but I understand that this year no instructors will be permitted to play on the team, and none but students of the institution will be allowed to wear the school colors. It has not always been possible to say this of St. John's teams.
All the schools of the Long Island League are working hard at football this year, much harder than they have worked for the past few seasons, and we may therefore expect to see a better general average across the river. St. Paul's School always has had a strong team, and expects to have the best that ever represented the school this year. The Boys' High-School of Brooklyn has an energetic captain, Dickson, and promises to put a strong eleven into the field.
The trouble with last year's High-School team was that the men were too light, and became discouraged early in the season, and did not work with that determination which alone can insure success on the football field. A number of the old men are back, however, this fall, and the new material seems to be heavier than any which has before been available.
The unusually large number of students at the Buffalo High-School this year seems to have bred a lively interest in football. The first team the High-School ever put into the field was in 1892, but so little interest was taken in its work by the students at large and the players themselves, that they were able to accomplish but little. This year, however, a change seems to have come over the spirit of B.H.-S., and large crowds watch the practice every afternoon. The eleven is light when compared with some of the teams which it will meet during the season, but the men play well together, and the new rules are so arranged that a light eleven is not under such a disadvantage as it used to be in years past. Vayers, the captain, knows the game thoroughly, and has the ability of imparting knowledge to those under him.
The Andover football team this year seems to be rich in candidates for positions behind the line, whereas very few good men can be found for the rush-line itself. Nevertheless, Captain Barker is working hard with such material as he has, and no doubt by the close of the season he will have developed an eleven of the usual Andover calibre. It seems very improbable that a game with Exeter will be arranged this year, although there has been a renewal of interest in the subject lately, and considerable thought and some activity among the graduates of the two schools.
The papers on the "Science of Football" which have been appearing in this Department during the past few weeks, written by Mr. W. H. Lewis, of the Harvard football team of 1893, are published now in book form, with much additional material, and many more illustrations and diagrams than were given originally in the Round Table. The book will be found especially valuable to beginners, for whom it is intended rather than for the more experienced player, and the chapter on training will be found especially serviceable to the captains of school teams.
The Graduate.
A little boy who had been very well and carefully brought up was overlooked one evening at dinner in the serving of the roast. Presently he said,
"Papa, will you pass me the salt, please?"
This was an unusual request, and the father said: "Certainly. Have you none at your end of the table?"
"Not enough for all the meat you are going to give me," replied the little boy. And he was served at once.
A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening strength.—Latest United States Government Food Report.
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Thoroughly revised, classified, and indexed, will be sent by mail to any address on receipt of ten cents.
This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership blanks and information so far as possible.
There are several well-known rules in bicycling to-day which have established themselves by custom, and yet many of which, perhaps, will not be found in any book. They are, none the less, rules to be followed, because they are founded on experience. Riding in the city is very different from riding in the country, and there are certain differences in riding in small towns from either the country or the city. In the country there is no reason why one should not ride on side-paths or sidewalks if the road is better there. There is much less traffic, not so many pedestrians, and no one has any objection to this side-path riding there.
It is very different in towns, however. There, whether the law forbids sidewalk riding or not, no bicyclist should leave the street. In towns and in cities bicycles become in every way subject to the laws of carriages; a wheelman should keep always on the right-hand side of the road on principle. When a horse and carriage or another wheel is approaching, he should turn to the right, although both the driver of the horse and carriage and the rider of the wheel must give him room to pass on the right. In overtaking and passing either carriages or bicycles, you should pass to the left, turning, in other words, from the right-hand side of the road in towards the centre. In turning a corner, there are several rules to be observed, and in practice they ought all to be observed invariably. If you are turning into a street to the left a wide circle should be made, keeping well to the right, leaving room always at the corner for any vehicle, whether bicycle or carriage, to easily pass.
In fact, a good principle is to keep straight on until the cross-road is nearly passed, then turn to the left, and running into the cross-road close to the curb at the right. Where there is a road with a walk, or a car track, or anything of the sort in the centre that divides the avenue into two roadways, always keep on the right hand of the two, and when it is necessary to cross in order to get into a side road, do the crossing as quickly as possible. If this one rule alone were followed, many accidents would be avoided.
The use of bells and brakes constitutes an important part of city riding. Every man or woman who rides in a city should have a brake. There are times when nothing can save a fall except a very powerful brake. You may be riding close behind a horse-car, a cable-car, or carriage, when either the cars are obliged to stop suddenly, or perhaps a horse falls down. The sharp turn required to avoid running into the cars or carriage on a slippery pavement would throw the rider. Back-pedalling is of no use in the emergency, and a brake is the only thing that will save a collision. In like manner, in riding at night, and turning a corner, some one may come upon you suddenly when only a brake will save a collision. Bells are of just as much use. It is always safe, and therefore advisable, to ring your bell as you cross a cross-street. One should never overtake and pass another bicyclist, especially a woman, without giving a distinct notice by ringing a bell. The rider may be new to the wheel, or a hundred different things might happen to change the direction of the leading rider, and the notice given by ringing the bell will often save a catastrophe. No corner should be turned without notice being given by ringing the bell. No carriage should be overtaken and passed without the same notice.
Of course this looks as if one would be kept ringing the bicycle bell continually in the city, which is indeed the case; but after a moment's thought it will appear that any vehicle which moves without noise is obliged to give notice by ringing bells just as frequently. Cable-cars, trolley-cars, horse-cars, etc., are all ringing bells continually, and yet the newspapers each day contain notices of accidents from one or the other. Hence one should make up his mind that if he is to ride in the city he must be continually on the watch, and must continually be giving notice of his presence by the only noise-making method at his command—the bell.
This Department is conducted in the interest of Amateur Photographers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Camera Club Department.
There is scarcely a State in the Union but what is represented in our Camera Club, and its membership extends to Canada, the maritime provinces, and Europe. Correspondence and local photographic chapters are formed among the members, who find that the exchange of ideas and experiences are of the greatest help to the amateur who wishes to improve.
A few weeks ago one of our members living in a Western State, wishing to have a picture of the Treasury Building in Washington, wrote to the editor, asking if some member of the Camera Club living in that city would not be willing to send him a print of it in exchange for one of some Western views, a list of which he enclosed in his letter. By a singular coincidence the same mail which brought this letter brought one from a member residing in Washington, who stated that she had made some fine negatives of the government buildings, and asking suggestions in regard to the printing and mounting. The address of the young lady was sent to our Western correspondent, and the exchange of prints made to their mutual satisfaction.
This incident has suggested to the editor the idea of forming a photographic-print exchange for the benefit of the members of the club who wish to form a collection of views from different localities. Suppose some member of the club wished photographs of the State Houses. He could state his wish, and say what pictures he had to offer in exchange. Members residing in the capitals of the different States, who cared to make the exchange, could correspond with the member wishing the pictures.
If the starting of a photographic-print exchange meets the favor of the club, a limited space could be given each week to the printing of the requests. The print exchange would enable one to make a fine collection of views, and the members would receive many helpful suggestions from seeing the work of other amateurs. The addresses and wants would be published in the Camera Club Department of the Round Table, but the correspondence would of course be carried on by mail, and not through the Camera Club.
Some of our amateurs have been abroad, and have made fine negatives of foreign scenes: the stay-at-home amateurs might, through the print exchange, be able to obtain some of these pictures. Amateurs who make a specialty of some particular subject or branch of photography might add to their collection, and in many ways the exchange would be a source of pleasure and profit.
The plan of exchanging prints is not a new one to our amateurs, for several of the prize-winners in our photographic contest exchanged prints of the prize pictures.
In making exchanges it is better to send unmounted prints, as the pictures can then be mounted on cards of uniform size, or placed in an album.
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.
It is now reported that instead of 200,000 sets (except the 5c.) Nova Scotia cents issue, there were 200,000 stamps only, divided as follows:
| 1c. | 52,000 |
| 2c. | 54,000 |
| 8½c. | 54,000 |
| 10c. | 28,000 |
| 12½c. | 12,000 |
The price paid was about $10,000, and the entire quantity of stamps has been divided into 2000 lots, each containing the same number of stamps, and the price was fixed at $6 per lot. Stanley Gibbons, of London, the English agent, stated in a letter that 80 sets would cost $500, and that single sets would retail at $6. In Stanley Gibbons's paper announcing prices of the Nova Scotia sets, advertisements of other dealers appeared offering sets at $2.40 to $3.60. Harry Hilckes, of London, states that sets have been offered to him at 62c. per set. The difference between $6 and 62c. per set is simply ridiculous. Collectors should not pay fancy prices for stamps which are common.
The French government announces the early withdrawal of the 75-centime adhesive stamp, the 5c. and 60c. envelopes, and the 3c. newspaper wrapper.
The new Japanese stamps which were to be issued in Japan on September 12, 1896, were received on letters in London on September 5.
The S.S.S.S. adds the following to its list of speculative stamps the collection of which should be discouraged:
Uruguay (Suarez memorial), 1c. black and violet; 5c. black and blue; 10c. black and red. Venezuela (Miranda), 5c., 10c., 25c., and 50c., and 1c. Bolivar.
The desire to differentiate minute varieties on the part of advanced collectors gives point to a story which is going the rounds of the philatelic press. A certain dealer secured a lot of U.S. stamps with original gum, etc. Some were older than other copies of the same issue, others were a little "off," still others had had the gum soaked off, etc. He began marking them "uncancelled"; a better copy became "unused," a still better one "original gum"; then advancing, "old original gum," "older original gum," "very old original gum"; and still there were a few which seemed to him should be classed by themselves, so after much thought they were labelled "pre-historic gum."
McHenry Coal.—The 1827 dime can be bought for 20c.
W. G. Crawford.—I do not understand your inquiry regarding postal-cards. There is a "Postal-Card Society" in existence which is quite active, but stamp-collectors, as a rule, confine themselves to adhesive stamps. In many instances, however, cut square envelopes are added. Entire envelopes of the U.S. are coming into favor gradually.
W. T. Holden, 36 Marcy Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y., wishes to exchange stamps. I believe dealers are eligible to membership in the Dorchester Stamp Exchange. I do not know the New York Stamp Exchange. All the philatelic societies in New York have exchange circuits of their own, confined to their own membership. Dealers are not eligible to membership in "The Philatelic Society, New York"; but members who afterward become dealers can continue their membership if they wish.
H. O. Koerper.—The 1839 dime is offered by dealers at 20c. each; the 3c. piece in fair condition from 10c. to 20c. each. Worn copies of either are worth face only. U.S. fractional currency which is not fresh and clean is worth face only.
L. V. Green.—Continental, Colonial, and Confederate paper money is extremely plentiful. With a few exceptions, dealers do not care to buy, except in large quantities. One house held Confederate money in bales, and sold it by the pound. The copies mentioned by you have no money value.
T. A. B. Osage.—No illustration of the St. Louis stamp appeared in No. 871 Harper's Round Table, page 875. It was illustrated in No. 826 (August 26, 1895). You say you have a copy of the 5c. St. Louis, and ask its value. It is impossible to express any opinion as to the value of a rare stamp until after examination. I am always glad to oblige a subscriber to the Round Table, but I cannot be responsible for the loss of stamps in transit. If you wish me to examine it I will do so, provided it be sent by express prepaid. When returned, it would be sent express at your expense. In the case of less valuable stamps, they can be sent by registered mail, and an addressed envelope stamped for return in the same way should be enclosed with the stamps. If stamps are sent in the regular mail, they will be returned the same way, provided an addressed and stamped envelope be enclosed.
Mary Willis.—French assignats are worthless. The French government made thousands of millions, which gradually sunk in value from par with gold to absolutely nothing within four years. The same was true of Colonial and Continental currency in this country, with the solitary exception of Vermont Colonials, which were redeemed at par.
G. T. T.—Your 1853 quarter is the common variety, worth face only.
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Express or freight paid if cash is sent with order. Send address on postal for Catalogue. Order-sheet and particulars.
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STAMPS on Approval! 50% disct. List free.
the best things in Prose and Poetry, always including good Songs and Hymns. It is surprising how little good work of this kind seems to be done in the Schools, if one must judge from the small number of people who can repeat, without mistake or omission, as many as Three good songs or hymns.
and accurate Memory work is a most excellent thing, whether in School or out of it, among all ages and all classes. But let that which is so learned be worth learning and worth retaining. The Franklin Square Song Collection presents a large number of
and Hymns, in great variety and very carefully selected, comprising Sixteen Hundred in the Eight Numbers thus far issued, together with much choice and profitable Reading Matter relating to Music and Musicians. In the complete and varied
which is sent free on application to the Publishers, there are found dozens of the best things in the World, which are well worth committing to memory; and they who know most of such good things, and appreciate and enjoy them most, are really among the best educated people in any country. They have the best result of Education. For above Contents, with sample pages of Music, address
Not infrequently has the Table urged upon its readers the desirability of good penmanship and careful selection of words in letter-writing. Here are three stories, all vouched for as true, which emphasize the points anew:
A Cincinnati grocer's house found that cranberries had risen to $6 per bushel. The purchasing clerk immediately sent this note by the firm's teamster, "One hundred bushels per Simmons." (Simmons was the driver's name.) The well-meaning correspondent thought the scrawl read, "One hundred bushels persimmons," and boys were straightway set to work, for persimmons were plentiful. The wagon made its appearance next day loaded down with eighty bushels. The remaining twenty bushels were to follow next day, and when the correspondent found out his mistake he angrily demanded why the order did not read by Simmons?
A New England clergyman wrote a letter to the General Court. The clerk came to a sentence which he read, "I address you not as magistrates, but as Indian devils." The Court was wroth until the "Indian devils" were found to be "individuals."
An English gentleman, in writing to a Lincolnshire friend, mentioned the latter's kindness to him, and said he should soon send him a suitable "equivalent." The friend read the word "elephant," and immediately built a handsome barn for the reception of his elephantine majesty. But much to his surprise a barrel of oysters was the "equivalent."
Mention was made in the Table, not long since, of the microscopic ring presented to Queen Elizabeth, consisting of a silver penny on which Bales "put more things than would fill several duodecimo pages." For a long time, Pliny's remark that Cicero had once seen Homer's Iliad in a nutshell was considered an exaggeration, at least. But an old French writer named Huet proves the statement to be true. A sheet of sheep-skin 10x8 can be neatly folded up so as to fit the shell of a large walnut. In its breadth the strip will contain one line of thirty verses, and in its length, 250 lines. Each side of the page would, then, contain 7500 verses, or the whole of the Iliad! Huet proved this fact in the presence of the Dauphin, using a sheet of paper and a crow-quill pen.
In the library of St. John's College, Oxford, is a head of Charles I. made up of minute lines of script which at a little distance resemble common engraving lines. The lines of the head and ruff form the Psalms, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. There is a portrait of Queen Anne in the British Museum "not much above the size of the hand." This drawing, too, is made up of microscopic lines and scratches which form the contents of an entire folio!
Elizabeth's silver penny ring was surpassed by the farthing of Peter Almunus, an Italian monk. On the coin were engrossed the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel according to St. John. Another example of microscopic writing was presented to Elizabeth in the shape of a piece of parchment the size of a finger, containing the Decalogue, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the name of the giver, and the date. A pair of spectacles accompanied this Lilliputian manuscript.
Ælian tells us of an artist who wrote a "distich in letters of gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn," while Menage writes of microscopic sentences, pictures, and portraits. He mentions reading an Italian poem in praise of the Princess, "written by an officer in the space of a foot and a half."
With Pope we would say:
"Why has not man a microscopic eye?
For this plain reason—man is not a fly."
Maurice Maxwell.
Queen Wilhelmina, of Holland, who once applied for membership in the Order of the Round Table, and purchased a set of Columbian stamps through the Editor of the Round Table Stamp Department, has become betrothed to her second cousin, although yet in her early teens. When the German Emperor paid a visit to The Hague, in 1893, the Queen desired to be present at the banquet given in his honor. This, of course, was out of the question. To all the pleadings of her daughter the Queen Regent turned a deaf ear. "You are too young and must go to bed." As, however, the child Queen persisted in her demands, there remained for the Regent but one alternative—to herself conduct the young lady to her bedroom. This she did, but not without one final energetic protest from the disappointed Queen. "I will go to the balcony and tell the Dutch people how you abuse their Queen."
Of course the young lady did nothing of the kind, but sobbed herself to sleep instead, and next day dutifully begged her mother's pardon.
I am a combination of the animal and vegetable kingdom, generally made by boys, and carried in their pockets. Part of me once belonged to a two-legged farm animal, and helped to do what Maxim, Langley, and Lielenthal have as yet failed in. The next important part grew in the forest and was shaped by a jack-knife. The third and last part grew in the ground. Many a fly has met death at my hands, but my chief merit is noise. What am I?
1. What legislature is known as the "House of Keys"?
2. What early American hero boasted of having killed, while in Austria, thirty men merely to prove to a party of ladies that he was brave?
3. Who burned up the "copy" of the first Congressional Record?
4. Who made the principal address at Gettysburg, now forgotten, on the day that Lincoln made his famous impromptu one?