used and unused, are much higher than two or three years ago, poor
copies are only worth half as much as was asked for the same stamps
two years ago. When collectors pay $50, $100, or more for a stamp,
they want fine copies. Such persons will not touch a poor copy at
any price. By fine copies is meant those with a good margin, clean
print, no tear or skinned back, and, if perforated, that it be
evenly centred, and, if unused, that it have the original gum.
Stamps lacking one or two perforations, or not coming up to the
above standard, are worth from twenty-five per cent. to
seventy-five per cent. less.
PHILATUS.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening
strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
[Illustration]
EARN A GOLD WATCH!
We wish to introduce our =Teas and Baking Powder=. Sell 50 lbs. to earn a
=Waltham Gold Watch and Chain=; 25 lbs. for a =Silver Watch and Chain=; 10
lbs. for a =Gold Ring=; 50 lbs. for a =Decorated Dinner Set=; 75 lbs. for
a =Bicycle=. Write for a Catalog and Order Blank to Dept. I
W. G. BAKER,
Springfield Mass.
GIRLS!
4-oz. Bottle Perfumery
FREE!
Send name and address to
HARRISON & STRAUSS, 35 and 37 Frankfort St., N. Y.
[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
[Illustration: BICYCLING]
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.
A woman on a bicycle, whatever the laws may be, always has the right of
way. If you meet her in a small side-path in the country, the path
belongs to her. It is your duty to turn out. If this path happens to be
on your side of the road--that, is, if the woman is approaching on the
left side of the road, facing the direction in which she is moving--it
is just as much your duty to turn out.
If in the country you come upon a woman who has in any way broken her
bicycle or punctured a tire, it is perfectly proper, and a gentleman's
duty, to offer to help her. It would be distinctly impolite to offer
similar help in a city. The city is full of repair shops, there are cabs
at any corner, and a woman can easily help herself there. In the country
the case is very different. In fact, the rules of etiquette between men
and women on bicycles are precisely the same as they are between men and
women in carriages or in any other ordinary circumstances.
The question of costume is an important one also. Every bicyclist,
especially men, should remember that, starting with a perfectly clean
suit of clothing, after an hour's ride, no matter how expensive and
perfect the costume may have been at the start, he is in no condition to
go among other people to any extent. A bicyclist, therefore, should
never attempt, especially in the city, to go into the main dining-room
of a hotel in bicycle costume. An ordinary bicycle or golf suit--that
is, a suit precisely like an ordinary business suit except for knickers
and long stockings--may be suitable enough before one goes out bicycling
for the day, but even at its best a sweater has no place in the parlor
or the dining-room. Except at a regular bicycle resort, a small country
inn where there are few people, or some athletic club, the bicyclist
should change his costume before dining, or, in fact, entering the
parlor or dining-room of any public-house.
Most of the railroads in the United States now have certain regulations
regarding the carrying of bicycles. Where a certain fee is charged the
bicyclist has nothing to do except to hand his wheel in to the
baggage-master on the train, and to take it again when the train stops
at the station where he wishes to leave it. Where no charge is made by
the railroad, it is only fair and right to give the baggage-master ten
cents or so for his trouble, and to be of whatever assistance to him
that you can in handing in the bicycle and taking it from him. This of
course applies to bicycles that are not crated.
When a machine is crated it comes under the rules of ordinary parcels,
and requires no more attention than any other parcel. The average
wheelman who has been riding some distance on his wheel belongs in the
smoking-car. When men and women riding together enter a train they of
course go into the regular cars, but they should carry themselves as
they would if they were travelling like other passengers--and, strange
as it may seem, that is not always the case.
A History and an Inspiration.
Here is the story of a Round Table Chapter that served well the reason
for its existence. It is now "a thing of the past," as the secretary
records, but it is past only in the fact that it no longer meets. Its
memories and its benefits live after it, and will long continue to do
so.
DEAR FRIENDS,--Of course the Knights and Ladies of our Order are
interested in the various Chapters which have been formed, and the
items of news from them are often very good morsels. The Lancelot
Chapter, of Newtonville, Mass., No. 572, has never had very much to
say to the public, but in a quiet way it has prospered. But now the
Lancelot Chapter is a thing of the past. It was composed of nine
girls, who for several years were to be separated. Most of them had
just graduated from high-school and were going to begin a
life-work, and for various reasons it seemed advisable to dissolve
our Chapter.
But on such a sad occasion we did our best to enjoy ourselves and
make our last meeting a memorable one. Perhaps the account of our
meeting may suggest a pleasant evening for the other Chapters. Each
member was given a part, and we allowed plenty of time for
preparation. The Chapter invited all of its former members, and
also its honorary members, and one evening in July we assembled at
our secretary's home. The first thing on the programme was a
welcome from one of the girls, our treasurer. Our president read
the club prophecy, our secretary read the club history, and the
club statistics, poem, and oration were given by three other girls.
Our musical member took charge of the music, which was introduced
between the papers. The club song, in which we all joined, was
written by our president, and sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne."
Refreshments, consisting of ice-cream, and cake, made by the girls,
were served in the dining-room. Our editor was toast-mistress, and
she called upon each member to respond to a toast. We drank to the
Round Table, to Good Will Farm, to the Lancelot Chapter, its
officers and honorary members, and to our guests. The meeting was
considered a grand success. The papers read were original and full
of wit and humor. The cake and cream were delicious, and the
Lancelot Chapter passed out of existence amid the roar of the
elements, for a thunder-storm raged out-doors, and amid the
laughter and jollity which prevailed in-doors.
The Chapter is dissolved, but the friendships fostered and
cherished in its circle will never dissolve. The girls have learned
to know each other better, and have become broader by contact. One
and all we say we are glad we have been a club. Now, though we are
separated, we still try to live up to our motto:
"Do all the good you can; by all the means you can; in all the ways
you can; in all the places you can; at all the times you can; to
all the people you can; just as long as you can."--JOHN WESLEY.
Wishing success to all our friends in other Chapters, we sign
ourselves for the last time,
THE LANCELOT CHAPTER, K.L.O.R.T.
MARION DREW BASSETT, Secretary, R.T.F.
NEWTONVILLE, MASS.
* * * * *
Santa Catalina Island.
Santa Catalina, more commonly called "Catalina," lies twenty-five
miles off the coast of southern California. It is twenty miles
long, and between two and three miles wide. It was first inhabited
by Indians, of whom many relics and skulls and bones have been
found. The principal town, called Avalon, is situated near the
southern part of the island in a little cove about a mile wide. The
water is so clear that you can see the rocks and fish one hundred
feet below the surface--the rocks with their green moss waving to
and fro with the tide, while gold and other fish swim lazily about.
There is a marble called Catalina which is of grayish color, and is
used in building some of our finest business blocks in Los Angeles.
This marble is more or less transparent, and is said to be the only
kind of hard stone with that peculiarity. Two years ago Catalina
was hardly heard of, but now there often are, in summer, five
thousand people there.
A. LAZARUS, R.T.K.
LOS ANGELES.
* * * * *
A Young Naturalist's Outing.
Last summer I spent my vacation in Noank, Conn. My chief amusement
was fishing. Noank is a fishing-village, and there are many large
lobster-cars about. Every day the dead lobsters in the cars were
taken out and thrown overboard, forming a great attraction to
multitudes of eels. Almost every night some of the boys went eeling
off the cars, and came home with a bucket half full of the
wriggling things. Every time I came to the house with some eels the
boarders would declare, after a glance into my bucket, that they
would never eat another eel as long as they lived.
While at Groton, Conn., a gentleman said he'd never eat eel. One
morning the landlord asked him if he would have some blue-fish. The
gentleman said he would, and found the fish so good that he asked
for a second plate. Suddenly the landlord exclaimed, "Sakes alive,
man, I have given you eel instead of blue-fish!" The table shouted
with laughter, and the gentleman did not appear again until
supper-time. The worst of eeling is that eels tangle your line, and
when you pick up the eel to get the line off him you have the
pleasure of seeing him slip through your fingers. The Noank boys
have a way of holding eels by simply pinching them behind the eyes
with the thumb and first finger. By taking a boat and anchoring
about five hundred feet from the shore I caught flounders,
sea-bass, porgies, and now and then an eel. Flounders are hard to
catch, because of a bone in their mouth which prevents the hook
from getting a good grip. When I did not feel like fishing from a
boat I gathered a pocketful of periwinkles, and procuring a small
stone to crack them with, went fishing for cunners off some wharf.
The cunner is a fish about the size, shape, and color of a perch.
ALBERT W. ATWATER.
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
[Illustration: THE CAMERA CLUB]
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.
PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS.
The amateur photographer, if he has improved the shining hours of summer
by gathering some good negatives, has on hand the material for very
acceptable Christmas gifts, and now is the time to set about preparing
them.
No amateur has probably been so fortunate as to secure a satisfactory
picture with every plate used. The prodigal throws these spoiled plates
in the ash-barrel, but the wise amateur uses them for many things. One
way is to use them for mounting prints. Carefully mounted and finished,
they are very pretty and make handsome ornaments, and for simple gifts
are far more satisfactory than the usual Christmas-cards, which
eventually find their way into the scrap-basket. Then, too, another
thing which commends them to a young person who must make a little money
go a long way is that they are very much cheaper.
Soak the spoiled plate in hot water till all the film has been removed,
then wash it in hot suds, dry, and polish it with French chalk and a
piece of soft chamois. Select the prints to be mounted, choosing those
which will have some special attraction to the one for whom you intend
the gift. Soak the prints for a few minutes in a weak solution of
glycerine, using 1/4 oz. of glycerine to 16 oz. of water. Lay them face
up on a piece of glass, and let the water drain off, but do not blot
them. Have your glass ready, place the print face down on it, and
covering it with a piece of blotting-paper, squeegee it to the glass,
using the rubber roller made for this purpose. The picture must adhere
to the glass at every point; for if it does not, the air-blisters will
show and disfigure the picture. By examining the face of the print from
the glass side it can easily be seen whether the optical contact is
perfect, and if not, rub it until it is.
Cut a piece of stout Manila-paper half an inch larger all round than the
glass. Lay the glass in the centre of the paper, and cut a small square
from each corner of the paper. Remove the picture, cover the paper with
paste, and paste it on the back of the picture, turning over the edges
on to the face of the glass, the squares cut from the corners allowing
it to lie smoothly.
If you wish to finish the picture to stand on a desk or table, bind the
edges of the glass with a piece of ribbon, or colored or gilt paper; or
if you wish to have it more decorative, get a narrow open-work brass
strip and bend it round the edges. To make the support, take heavy
card-board and mark on it two lines about an inch apart and at equal
distances from each edge. Cut through the card-board on these lines, and
then cut half-way through the card-board across from one line to the
other. Bend the strip back a little way, and paste a strip of stout
cloth over the place where the board is cut part way through, fitting it
into the cut. This makes a stout hinge, and will not easily break or
bend out of shape. Paste this support, which should be the size of the
glass, on the back of the picture, using a thick paste, or, what is
still better, fish glue.
Pictures may be mounted by optical contact, and framed in silk or linen
in the card-board screen frames, using one or two leaves. They may also
be finished to hang on the wall by attaching a brass ring by a piece of
tape to the back of the picture.
A number of pictures which make a series may be mounted on spoiled
plates, then set in a frame, using narrow strips of beading to divide
the pictures and cover the edges of the glasses.
The directions here given will suggest to our amateurs many ways of
using spoiled plates for picture mounts.
Another use for spoiled plates may be found in No. 857 (March 31, 1896).
S. B. C. wishes to know some place in Brooklyn or New York where
the "Quad" camera may be purchased; and how much it costs to
develop, print, and mount each picture. E. T. Anthony & Co., and
Scovill Adams Co., carry many makes of cameras, and S. B. C. will
probably find the Quad for sale at one of these places. To finish a
picture from the developing and mounting, not including the price
of the plate, will cost, for a picture the size of the Quad, 3-1/2
by 4-1/2, about three cents. When prints are made in large
quantities, the cost is less in proportion than when only a few are
made. Four by five blue-print paper costs ten cents per dozen, and
there is no toning necessary; so if one made blue prints, and used
the cheap cards for mounting, the prints would cost but fifteen
cents per dozen.
SIR KNIGHT FRANK F. SMITH sends a print from a negative which shows
a white line looking something like a piece of string with a knot
or loop in it, and asks the opinion of the editor as to what it is.
He says it was caused in the following manner: He loaded a
Bull's-Eye camera, and left the shutter open, walked about seven
squares with the camera in this condition, then closed the shutter,
and rolled the film up without attempting to take a picture on it.
The editor would be quite at a loss as to the cause if she had not
had a similar experience. Wishing to make a picture showing
moonlight effect--the subject being two young ladies standing at
the edge of a small lake just as the sun was setting--the camera
was pointed directly toward the sun, which was not obscured by
clouds, the lens shielded so that the sun would not strike the
plate, and an exposure made. When the plate was developed there was
no picture on it, but a white line which looked like a bunch of
tangled string, the ends of the line passing off the same side of
the plate as in the print sent by Sir Frank. The only way in which
this phenomena could be accounted for was that a ray of light must
have struck the plate, and, instead of fogging it, left its
likeness, after the manner of a flash of lightning. Have any of our
members had a similar experience?
SIR KNIGHT CHARLES LUSENKAMP, Grand Rapids, Mich., asks how to
mount prints without destroying the gloss made by the ferrotype
plate; how long a plate of medium sensitometer should be printed
for a lantern-slide, and what developing agent should be used for
developing it; where glycin can be purchased, and where 2 by 2-1/2
plates can be bought; which chemical the editor prefers for
developing--pyro, eikonogen, metol, amidol, hydrochinon, or glycin.
To preserve the gloss given by the ferrotype plate, trim the prints
ready for mounting, before toning. Squeegee to the ferrotype plate,
and, when dry, paste the back of the print before removing it from
the plate, and mount directly on the card. By this method the print
does not become moistened, and retains most of the gloss. The plate
should be printed from three to ten seconds, according to the
density of the negative from which the slide is made. A very dense
negative takes several seconds longer. Hydrochinon and eikonogen
mixed make an excellent developer for lantern-slides. The
hydrochinon gives density and the eikonogen detail. See No. 852,
February 25, for a good formula for a developer. Order glycin
through one of the photographic supply houses in your own city. If
they do not have it in stock, they will get it for you. The plate
the size you mention is not made, but you can get films in small
sizes. The editor likes eikonogen and hydrochinon mixed, and also
metol for developing. See No. 825 for a toning solution. Sir
Charles sends a formula for a developer made with eikonogen and
hydrochinon, which he says is fine. No. 1. Water, 64 oz.; sulphite
of sodium crystals, 2-1/2 oz.; eikonogen, 1 oz.; hydrochinon, 1/8
oz. No. 2. Water, 64 oz.; carbonate of potassium, 2-1/2 oz. To use,
take of No. 1, 2 oz., and of No. 2, 1 oz. Sir Charles asks for
correspondents interested in photography. Will Sir Charles send his
street and number?
CALVIN FARRAR, 35 Greenwood Avenue, Cleveland, O.; JAMES MAYNARD,
JUN., Box 282, Knoxville, Tenn.; FOSTER HARTWELL, 629 Third Avenue,
Lansingburg, N. Y.; JOHN MILLS, 308 Ogden Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis.;
MINNIE G. FARWELL, 55 Oak Street, Hyde Park, N. Y.; CHARLES
LUSENKAMP, Grand Rapids, Mich., wish to be enrolled as members of
the Camera Club.
* * * * *
A POUND OF FACTS
is worth oceans of theories. More infants are successfully raised on the
Gail Borden Eagle Brand Condensed Milk than upon any other food. Infant
Health is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your address to N. Y.
Condensed Milk Co., N. Y.--[_Adv._]
ADVERTISEMENTS.
Arnold
Constable & Co.
* * * * *
Lyons Silks.
_Black and Colored Moire,_
_Rich Brocades, Armures, Impression sur chaine,_
_Metal Brocades, Plaid Silks, Plaid Poplins,_
_Silk-and-Wool Moire Velours._
Lyons Velvets.
_Brocaded Velvets,_
_Colored and Black Velvets._
* * * * *
Broadway & 19th st.
NEW YORK.
Postage Stamps, &c.
[Illustration: STAMPS]
100, all dif., & fine =STAMP ALBUM=, only 10c.; 200, all dif., Hayti,
Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Agents wanted at 50 per cent. com. List FREE!
=C. A. Stegmann=, 5941 Cote Brilliant Ave., St. Louis, Mo.
[Illustration: STARR STAMP CO.]
Coldwater, Mich. See ad. in H.R.T. Sept. 29th for bargains. Large col'n
bought. Agents wanted. 50% com.
STAMPS
=10= stamps and large list =FREE!=
L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo.
1872.
1c. 2c. & 3c. National Bank Note Co. Print, 20c.
P. S. Chapman, Box 151, Bridgeport, Ct.
[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION]
CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS.
Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use
in time. Sold by druggists.
[Illustration: An Illustration from "The Martian," by George du
Maurier.]
GEORGE DU MAURIER.
[Illustration: GEORGE DU MAURIER.]
All the readers of the ROUND TABLE have heard in some way or other of
Mr. George du Maurier, the author of _Trilby_. His death a few days ago,
at his home in London, closes the life of a man whose career is most
interesting and suggestive to the average boy of ambition.
Mr. Du Maurier was born March 6, 1834. For many years after he had taken
up the work of illustrating for _Punch_, the leading comic paper of
England, he was known as the greatest living humorist and society
artist. The work was difficult, and his drawings, although a large
number were required in a year by the paper, did not give him a very
competent livelihood. In 1888 he had, at the age of fifty-four made what
would commonly be called an extraordinary name for himself. He was known
in every family in the British Isles, and English-reading people all
over the world knew of his work. Such fame acquired in this well-earned
way would be quite enough for any one to have for an ambition, and yet
had Mr. Du Maurier never made a drawing up to the time he was fifty-four
years old the literary work he has done since then--that is, _Peter
Ibbetson_, written in 1888; _Trilby_, written in 1893; and _The
Martian_, just beginning in HARPER'S MAGAZINE--would have made him a man
with a name which is not only known all over the world where people
read, but has placed him among the literary men of England--a name so
much more famous and widespread than that of the illustrator that there
will come a time when people will read his books and never know that he
illustrated anything but his own works.
It is very often said to be the case that if a man is ever to make a
name for himself he must show very definite signs of it before he is
thirty, and that if he has not accomplished great things before he is
forty he never will. Mr. Du Maurier's life is an absolute contradiction
to this statement or rule, for the work for which he will really remain
famous for a long time to come was not begun until eight years before
his death, and he died at the age of sixty-two.
The point of great importance, however, is that, although after _Trilby_
had appeared Du Maurier became immediately famous, he did not become
suddenly possessed of great ability. He has said himself that these
three books are not the only, nor by any means the most difficult,
literary works he ever did, for for forty years, week by week, he had to
work over the little two-line legends under his illustrations in
_Punch_. He used to say that the work required to tell the story by one
illustration and fifteen or twenty words required more literary ability
in the choosing of the fifteen or twenty words than in the writing of a
fifteen or twenty thousand word story. He was constantly having
practice, therefore, in telling a great deal in a few well-chosen words.
Besides this studying human beings as he did, and making drawings of
their peculiarities and strengths and weaknesses year after year, he was
all the time learning to know human nature, and laying up a store of
material for the characters of his three books.
So that, after all, Mr. Du Maurier was, so to speak, studying for over
fifty years to learn how to write and illustrate three books at the very
end of his life, which were so well done that they have given him a
greater name than most men get in a life-time of books or drawings.
Daniel Webster told practically the same story after he had made his
famous speech in the United States Senate against Mr. Hayne of South
Carolina, when some one asked him how he could make one of the finest
speeches ever made in the English language, lasting several hours,
without the slightest preparation. His answer was that he had been
preparing for it all his life, so that, after all, there is much truth
of a certain kind in the statement that a great name must be begun
early, for when you hear of a man becoming suddenly famous because of
some great work of any kind accomplished late in life, you may be quite
sure that the man has really been laboring all his life with the most
persistent industry and energy to reach at last the great position which
he occupies. And the making of such a name is open to any one who has
the capacity for taking such infinite pains.
THE DISCOVERY OF A WIZARD.