athletics in Connecticut that if the track-athletic meetings cannot be
conducted at a profit, they ought certainly, by good management, to be
conducted without loss. It has been suggested that instead of having a
football association, a track-athletic association, a baseball
association, and perhaps other athletic organizations, it would be the
better plan to have a single association that would govern all
interscholastic sports in the State. The managers of this association
would be the managers of each sport as it came up with the season, and
the treasurer of the association would be responsible for all the moneys
received and disbursed.
Thus if there was a profit from football, that profit could go to the
assistance of any deficit there might be in track athletics. At the
larger colleges this plan of uniting all branches of athletics under one
financial management has been found to be the best plan, for in sport
there must always be one branch that is self-supporting while another is
not.
Furthermore this plan of uniting all school sports under one financial
management in Connecticut would solve the problem of what to do with the
surplus in the treasury at the end of the football season. It would seem
that, knowing there was a deficit in the track-athletic treasury, the
officials of the football association would have turned over from their
surplus the amount necessary to make good the shortage. It is to be
hoped that the desire of those who wish to unite all sports under one
head will be carried out, for it would be to the benefit of athletics in
Connecticut.
The Hartford High-School will have three representatives at the
Knickerbocker A.C. games next month. F. R. Sturtevant will enter the
high jump. He won the event last year with 5 ft. 7-1/2 in. He will also
enter the pole-vault. His record in this event is 10 ft. 5 in. J. F.
Morris will enter the 100, 220, and 440 yard dashes. He has run the 100
in 10-1/2 sec.; the 220 in 23-3/5 sec.; the 440 in 52-4/5 sec. C. A.
Roberts will enter the walk. He is an unknown quantity.
The Board of Education of Chicago seems to be taking a hand in
athletics, so far as the high-schools of that city are concerned. A rule
has been passed which makes it necessary for the Cook County athletes to
work hard at their lessons. No scholar at any of the high-schools who is
not a regular student taking a regular course may represent his school
in any athletic event. The principal of the school is required to sign a
voucher certifying to these facts, and it is also required of him to see
that no pupil lets his marks fall below a certain average, the penalty
for this being that he must give up athletics until his school work is
brought up to the required standard.
There is a lull in athletics among the Chicago schools just at
present--the quiet before the storm, most likely. The in-door baseball
games do not seem to be getting along very prosperously, and there is
considerable opposition to them among some of the students, on the
ground that an admission-fee is charged. Lake View High-School still
leads for the championship, having won every game played, with Austin
second.
There has been a protest game, of course. It was in the match between
North Division and Evanston. In the last half of the ninth inning North
Division was at the bat, with the score 7-9 in favor of Evanston. The
crowd that was looking on got in pretty close to the Evanston fielders,
who claimed that this prevented them from doing their proper and
necessary work. The Evanston captain protested against the crowding, but
as this had no effect with the on-lookers he left the floor with his
team.
The matter was of course brought up at the next League meeting, but the
executive committee decided that Evanston was in the wrong, gave the
game to North Division, and legislated that in the future any nine that
left the floor should forfeit the game to the opponents.
The Long Island Interscholastic Athletic League has decided to hold the
first annual skating championships of the organization at the Clermont
Avenue Ice-Skating Rink, on Clermont Avenue near Myrtle, Brooklyn. J. A.
Forney, of Adelphi Academy, has been appointed to ascertain upon what
conditions the Rink may be had for the races, which will probably be
held the last week of this month.
The in-door games of the Long Island Interscholastic League will be held
on February 20 at the Cycle Club, Brooklyn. There will be ten events
contested, and among them one of those precious events for "juniors."
The basket ball championship series has already begun, and the schedule
will be played out as follows:
Feb. 5. Poly. Prep. _vs._ Pratt Institute, and Adelphi Academy
_vs._ Brooklyn High-School.
Feb. 12. Brooklyn High-School _vs._ Poly. Prep., and Pratt
Institute _vs._ Brooklyn Latin School.
Feb. 19. Poly. Prep. _vs._ Brooklyn Latin School, and Adelphi
Academy _vs._ Pratt Institute.
Feb. 26. Adelphi Academy _vs._ Brooklyn Latin School, and Brooklyn
High-School _vs._ Pratt Institute.
March 2. Brooklyn High-School _vs._ Brooklyn Latin School, and
Adelphi Academy _vs._ Poly. Prep.
Arrangements for the track meeting between Lawrenceville and the Hill
School are about to be completed, and it is sincerely to be hoped that
whatever arrangements are made will be carried out. Last year the
meeting that was proposed, and the league of big schools in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, never came to anything; but as sport advances all
these plans will doubtless be carried through, and a strong organization
ought to grow out of them.
"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL,
$1.25.
THE GRADUATE.
* * * * *
A CURIOSITY OF LITERATURE.
John Heywood, the playwright and epigrammatist, was patronized by Henry
VIII. and Elizabeth. "What the 'Faery Queen,'" says Warton, "could not
procure for Spenser from the penurious Elizabeth and her precise
ministers, Heywood gained by puns and conceits." The object of one of
his books, as disclosed by the title-page, is singular: "A Dialogue,
containing in effect the Number of all the Proverbs in the English
Tongue, compact in a Matter concerning Two Marriages."
When the Marquis of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer, was presented with
a copy of this book by the author, he inquired what it contained, and
being answered, "All the proverbs in English," replied, "What! all? No,
no. 'Bate me an ace, quoth Bolton'"--a form of speech once much in
vogue. "By my faith," said Heywood, "that is not in."
It happened that the marquis casually uttered the only proverb not in
the book.
Camden mentions an interview of Heywood with Queen Mary, at which her
Majesty inquired what wind blew him to court. He answered, "Two,
specially--the one to see your Majesty."
"We thank you for that," said the Queen; "but I pray you, what is the
other?"
"That your Grace," said he, "might see me."
The curious work on proverbs is in rhyme, and contains many sayings that
are now forgotten, as well as allusions to superstitions still
remaining.
* * * * *
ENGLISH AND ENGLISH.
Most American boys and girls feel confident that they are tolerably
familiar with the English language, and they are right in so feeling;
but sometimes one cannot but wonder, in reading over the English
newspapers, whether some expressions which are common enough to the
English mind would prove puzzling to the American reader or not. For
instance, here is a specimen paragraph from the _Western Morning News_,
published in England:
"_An Extraordinary Express._--The Cornish corridor express from
Paddington, on the morning of the 31st ult., was one of the heaviest
fast trains ever sent out of a London terminus. It started with 15
eight-wheel bogie coaches on, reckoned as equal to 22-1/2 ordinary
vehicles. But as these corridor carriages weigh about 25 tons each, the
coach load must have been over 370 tons, or quite equal to a train of 30
six-wheeled coaches. This for an express run at over 53 miles an hour!
There were two engines on of the largest class. West of Swindon the
train was split into two parts."
How many of us know what a "corridor express" is? or who can guess the
meaning of the term "bogie coach"? and to how many of us, indeed, is the
word "coach" a natural expression for car? and, finally, when a train or
anything else is "split" into two parts, does not the expression convey
to our minds something divided from end to end longitudinally, and not
cut in two? After all, the English spoken in one place differs largely
from the English spoken elsewhere, and probably ours is as good as that
of any one else.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
Celebrated for its great leavening strength and healthfulness. Assures
the food against alum and all forms of adulteration common to the cheap
brands.
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION]
CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS.
Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use
in time. Sold by druggists.
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.
ON KEEPING YOUR OWN COUNSEL.
It is an old saying among schoolboys and college men that the fellow who
keeps his mouth shut is always the big man; that he who deliberately
says little quickly wins for himself the name for wisdom. Such
statements are quite as true in the outer world to a certain degree as
they are in college and school. The pith of the matter is that if in any
way you arrive at a position of any importance, the less you talk to
every one the more credit you receive for care, for thoughtfulness, for
sound well-considered opinions. Here is nothing which urges a boy to
have no opinions or to never express them; and in fact this "wise
silence" at school and college as often, perhaps, covers up an empty
mind as it does the wisdom of Solomon. There is, however, a good rule to
follow, which may be given briefly, to the effect that it is well to say
little until you have thoroughly made up your mind, and then not to
hesitate in your statements. The temptation of the average man is to
express some opinion at once, but if that is changed later, the full
force of the final opinion is lost.
Let others do the wrangling. Your opinion will have all the more
influence if you come out strong with it at the close of the discussion,
when not only are the others considerably in doubt as to what they do
want, but you have also had the advantage of hearing many sides of the
case.
That is to say, that in your daily behavior towards the others in school
it is well to keep your "talk" in reserve. It is a habit easily
acquired, and one that in the end works both ways. It adds both to the
value of your advice, because the advice is better considered, and it
gives the advice an added value so far as others are concerned, because
when you only say a little, that little has the more consideration.
In the course of athletic games there are two ways of treating friends
and opponents. One way is as easy as another, for both are merely
habits. Many a good chap at baseball or football is constantly grumbling
whenever the umpire or referee gives a decision. He objects to the
decision on principle; he goes back to his place in the field
criticising the partisanship of the official, and makes himself
uncomfortable as well as disagreeable to the umpires and the other
teams. If this young man should be asked some day--off the field, of
course--whether it were sportsmanlike to criticise in the midst of a
game an umpire properly chosen, he would, no doubt, maintain in strong
terms that such criticism was the most unsportsmanlike thing possible,
and then he would promptly deny that he ever made such criticism. Yet
there are many such, and it is unfortunately one of the most common
sights on a school athletic field to-day to find the two teams wrangling
with the umpire over a decision he has made, and this, too, after he has
been asked ten minutes before to decide all such questions for them. It
is only another form of the same lack of habit in courteous behavior,
and it causes most of the hard feeling between schools and colleges
to-day.
So one might go on by the hour speaking of the different questions in
school and college life which are examples of lack of behavior of the
most ordinary kind, but the root of the matter is that each boy should
say to himself that he will be constantly reserved, that he will wait
for the proper moment to speak and act, and that he will then act
vigorously if he is convinced the time has come.
* * * * *
A BLOCKADE VENTURE.
During the blockade of Buenos Ayres a clipper bark laden with flour was
fitted out at Boston with the express purpose of running in. The late
Augustus Hemenway was her supercargo. After a tedious voyage she arrived
off Buenos Ayres, and found the blockade too close to run in, and was
compelled to cruise off and on, waiting for a change in her favor. While
thus lazily reconnoitring, she spoke a vessel from Valparaiso, which
reported a famine there. Mr. Hemenway at once decided to try Valparaiso.
The Captain hesitated; he said his vessel was not adapted to double Cape
Horn in the dead of winter; but young Hemenway assumed the entire
responsibility, and the Captain yielded. She had a favorable slant round
the Horn, and reached Valparaiso in safety, where her cargo was sold at
high prices. The Chilians were so grateful for the timely relief that
they loaded the bark as deep as she could safely swim with copper ore,
and all concerned in the venture made a fortune. Later, Mr. Hemenway
opened a trade with Valparaiso in copper, wool, nitrate, etc., by which
he became one of the richest men in Boston.
* * * * *
DAYBREAK.
When the sunlight peeps in through the curtains at dawn,
His Highness awakes with a smile and a yawn,
And his little fat hands fly up in the air,
Out of whole-souled delight that a new day is there.
He laughs to himself and he churns his pink heels,
He gurgles and chirps at the pleasure he feels,
And he looks with dismay at the big folk near by
Who sleep while the daylight is kissing the sky.
The sight of a sunbeam is thrilling and new;
The big folk are missing it--that will not do!
Awake, oh, good people, awake to the sight!
Come out of your pillows, 'tis no longer night!
See what a wonderful broad streak of gold
Has come through the window! Arise and behold
A slice of the dawn dancing over the floor!
Was ever so glorious a vision before?
But the elders, to whom the awakening of day
Is old as their memories, turn blindly away,
And his Highness is left, with the birds of the trees,
To carol his joy at the new life he sees.
ALBERT LEE.
* * * * *
CAPTAIN HEARD'S EXPLOIT WITH A PRIVATEER.
The speed of the Baltimore clippers in days gone by made history redound
with their exploits. Every boy and girl has read at some time or place
of the piratical long, low, rakish-looking schooners that cruised the
ocean ostensibly as privateers, but chiefly as pirates, in those days,
and have marvelled more or less at their astounding adventures. A good
story is told of the late Captain Augustine Heard, that while in command
of a fine ship richly laden, bound from China to New York, he was
overhauled by one of this kind, which came up under his lee, fired a
shot into his ship, and demanded in "good English" that she should be
hove to. Captain Heard watched a favorable opportunity, squared his
yards, ran the privateer down, passed over her between the masts, and
when well to leeward brought his ship to the wind and resumed his
course. She had lost some of her head-gear, but sustained no damage in
her hull. Captain Heard left the "long, low, black privateer," or
pirate, to her fate, and had no doubt that all her crew perished.
It was a dangerous thing to do, but Heard relied upon the good timber in
his ship's bows to withstand the shock, although his heart grew sad at
the loss of life. Still, as he put it, "My honor and life were at stake,
so he had to go under."
[Illustration: STAMPS]
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
Editor Stamp Department.
Another No. 89 Plate No. has been found, and is now offered at $100.
There may be a lot of this No. at some small post-office, as the larger
offices do not seem to have received any of this particular No.
During the past month the stamp business has begun to revive, and there
are indications that better prices will be obtained in the auction-room
than in the past three months. The main difficulty seems to lie in the
fact that there are seemingly as many dealers as collectors. Years ago
the New York city stamp business was practically in the hands of two or
three men, while to-day Nassau Street and Twenty-third Street are
overflowing with dealers. Some of these dealers have entered into an
engagement with each other not to buy at auctions. If they keep to their
word so much the better for the collectors.
Guatemala has just issued a new set of fourteen adhesive stamps, five
postal cards, two envelopes, and one wrapper. The stamps are all printed
in black on colored papers. The size is about that of our Columbian
issue, and the entire set is made to commemorate and advertise the
Central American Exposition to be held this year.
1 centavo Black on lilac.
2 centavos Black on olive.
6 centavos Black on ochre.
10 centavos Black on indigo.
12 centavos Black on rose.
20 centavos Black on vermilion.
50 centavos Black on brown.
75 centavos Black on blue.
100 centavos Black on blue-green.
150 centavos Black on light rose
200 centavos Black on mauve.
500 centavos Black on yellow-green.
The probabilities are that the entire issue will be condemned by the
S.S.S.S.
The American Bank-Note Company of New York has just secured the contract
for printing the Canadian stamps. It is said that the cost of printing
will be about $600,000 for the five and a half years, and that the
saving to the Canadian government compared with late contracts will be
$125,000.
B. B. PERKINS.--I would advise your buying a packet of 1000 stamps
for $10, or 1500 stamps for $25. If you intend to collect certain
countries only, such packets would not serve your purpose.
BEATRICE FINK.--Tromsö stamps are locals from Norway. Wuhu is a
Chinese local. Poste-Locale, 40 paras, is a Turkish local.
BEVERLY S. KING, 31 New York Ave., Brooklyn, wishes to exchange
stamps. Refer to your catalogue for the number of stamps issued by
U.S., Great Britain, France, etc. A "complete" collection of stamps
is a very vague quantity. I know one collection of Great Britain
containing many thousands of stamps, no two alike, and yet the
owner says he has just begun to collect Great Britain.
D. MCPHERSON.--The unused Department stamps are higher than the
used simply on account of the demand for unused stamps. The amount
of money proposed by you will buy you very many good stamps, and
ensure many hours of enjoyment, and that is the best investment.
W. R. WHEELER.--Before postage-stamps were used the postmaster used
to print with an iron or copper hand-stamp "Paid," "Paid 10," etc.
Envelopes with such printing are very common, and while very
interesting have no money value.
PHILATUS.
[Illustration: IVORY SOAP]
Reject all compounds which dispense
With honest work and common sense;
With Ivory Soap the wash is good
And takes no longer than it should.
Copyright 1896, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti
_READY FEBRUARY 11_
By Ellen Douglas Deland
=IN THE OLD HERRICK HOUSE=, and Other Stories. Illustrated. Post 8vo,
Cloth, Ornamental, $1.50.
Besides the title story, this volume contains "At the Camerons'"
and "The Little Red Book." Like all of Miss Deland's stories, these
are wholesome and attractive, while there is an abundance of
incident.
* * * * *
By Charles Carleton Coffin
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $3.00.
All the best characteristics of the author are found in his last
work, "Abraham Lincoln"; his brilliant power of revivifying the
past, his skill in interweaving anecdote with narrative, his
ability to present characters without dull description, are placed
at their best use in sketching the life and times of the nation's
hero.--_Boston Journal._
=OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES.= Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
$3.00.
=THE BOYS OF '76.= A History of the Battles of the Revolution. Profusely
Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $3.00.
=BUILDING THE NATION.= Events in the History of the United States from the
Revolution to the Civil War. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
$3.00.
=THE DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION.= The First Period of the War of the
Rebellion, from its Outbreak to the Close of 1862. Profusely
Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $3.00.
=MARCHING TO VICTORY.= The Second Period of the War of the Rebellion,
including the Year 1863. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
$3.00.
=REDEEMING THE REPUBLIC.= The Third Period of the War of the Rebellion, to
September, 1864. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $3.00.
=FREEDOM TRIUMPHANT.= The Fourth Period of the War of the Rebellion, from
September, 1864, to its Close. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth,
$3.00.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York
A Great Soldier's Amusing Experience.
Some letters of Count Von Moltke, long at the head of the German army,
and the man who took the German thousands and made of them the greatest
engine of war the world ever saw, are now being published for the first
time. In one of them he tells of a visit he made to London as a young
soldier, when, during a review in fashionable Hyde Park, he tried to
appear to his best advantage. The Count thus describes his experience:
"The Lord in His wrath made the Duke of Wellington Master of the Horse;
he understood nothing about horses, so he provided me with an animal
that had won at the last races. I never rode a more uncomfortable one;
likely enough that he had never been ridden before except by a jockey;
or my light overcoat so tickled his back that he bucked the whole time,
and bored as well..... To make it perfect, one of my trouser straps
burst. I had to manoeuvre with the utmost circumspection, and am
thankful to have got out of it so passably."
* * * * *
A Far-West Fishing Village.
Skamokana is a little town on the banks of the Columbia River,
about twenty-eight miles from its mouth. The place is divided into
three valleys, east, west, and middle. The principal industries are
fishing, logging, and farming. The fishing season begins about the
10th of April and ends about the 10th of August. The fish are
caught in gill-nets, seines, and fish-traps. There are streams in
the valleys where mountain-trout are caught.
It is very pleasant here in the summer, but it rains nearly all
winter. There are a great many salmon-canneries on the river. In
the summer we find a great many mosses and ferns. There is some
pretty scenery in the town. There are two bluffs seventy feet high.
At the bottom of the bluffs runs a creek. The bluffs are covered
with mosses and ferns. Part of the town is built on an island. The
island and the mainland are connected. Part of this island is
covered with sawdust from the mill.
ESTHER SILVERMAN.
SKAMOKANA, WASH.
* * * * *
Great Caution, and the Lack of It.
Almost everybody has heard of the woman who, when her bed took fire,
refrained from throwing upon it the milk in a pitcher which stood near
by, because, as she explained, the milk would grease the bedroom floor.
So she lost her house and its contents, but she didn't grease the floor.
A farmer living in West Virginia had a hog afflicted with fleas. Some
one told him that kerosene oil would drive them away. It was night when
he returned home, but he resolved to put the prescription to the test at
once. Taking a torch out to the pen, he stuck it in the ground while he
poured the oil over the pig. The animal did not relish the treatment. He
ran squealing away, and of course ran near the torch. The oil took fire
and the pig ran to the barn. That ignited, and the pig, crazed with
pain, rushed toward the house, pushed the wood-shed door open, and
brought up in the kitchen. Pig, barn, and house were ashes before
daylight.
* * * * *
A Peep at a Queer City.
New Orleans is, I think, entirely different from any other city in
the United States. You see things here that you see nowhere else,
and you hear things on the street that you hear nowhere else.
French is heard oftener than English, and Spanish and Italian are
spoken a great deal, as a large percentage of the population is
made up of these nationalities. The old French people, and a
mixture of French and Spanish, represent the aristocracy of New
Orleans, and are known as "Creoles." But these have degenerated to
some extent, and the younger generation of Creoles, especially the
men, are said to be lazy and worthless.