order, girls? I have the greatest respect for you if you do. Mine gives
me more trouble than I can begin to tell you about. However, if you
could peep into it this morning you would admire it as much as I do,
what with the boxes all closed, and the gloves smoothed out and laid
lengthwise, and the handkerchiefs in small white piles, and the veils
folded, and everything else spick and span, and beautiful to see! It
will stay so, too--at least I hope it will--for at least a fortnight,
that wonderful upper bureau drawer into which so many things go, and out
of which so many things come. I'm afraid, though, that one of these days
when I'm hurrying to catch a train, or somebody is waiting to speak to
me, I'll dive down among the laces and boxes and gloves and cards and
handkerchiefs, upsetting this and overturning that, and woe is me! the
top drawer will be in a whirl of confusion once more. When I was a
little girl I shared a drawer with my sister, who had a great deal of
system and a natural talent for arrangement and compactness which I did
not have, and therefore had to cultivate. We divided our territories by
a pasteboard fence, and on her side there were always beauty and peace
and harmony; a place for everything, and everything in its place. But I
would rather not tell you very much about my side. I used to have
clearing-up days then, and I have them still.
Now don't imagine for a moment that I began this talk just to let you
know that I often have to fight against an inclination to be a little
bit disorderly in my arrangement of my various things. I had something
else in view. We are many-sided beings, you and I, and our top drawers
are not the only parts of our belongings which are now and then the
better for being gone over and straightened out and set right. Think
about it, girls. Can you not, looking back across the last month, or the
last week, or even over this very last hour, see that in something you
did or said or thought you were mistaken, you were not quite unselfish,
or you had not the fair point of view? Aren't you often sorry, after a
hasty word, that you had not waited before you spoke? And, again, are
there not times when you did not speak out bravely and strongly in
defence of an absent friend? Clearing-up seasons are good for the soul,
and one's mind and heart are the better for the taking one's top drawer
in hand--one's top drawer where she does not keep ribbons and roses and
belts and buckles only, but fancies and resolves and notions and
dispositions and prejudices.
Speaking of clearings up, there are moods when we are frank and open
with ourselves, and when we confess that we are not so sweet and amiable
as we might be. Perhaps we are not so just as we might be. What fusses
and frictions are caused by the sort of temper in the top drawer that
explodes like a fire-cracker the instant a match of irritation comes
within touching distance! What a disagreeable thing a certain sort of
smile is, the hateful smile that comes out of the top drawer where
vanity and jealousy lurk! When we are about it, we might as well, in our
clearing up, burn and get rid of the bad tempers, the crossness, and the
suspiciousness which help to make us and others wretched. To be happy
ourselves and to make others happy should be our constant aim and
effort. Above everything else, do not let us be contrary, like little
Miss Mary in Mother Goose. Many people are so, and they make others very
unhappy.
There is one little corner of the top drawer which is more important
than any other. It ought to be labelled "Conscience." Here we should be
careful that we never leave a single thing in confusion. Where we are in
doubt whether an action is right or wrong we _must_ settle it by the
light of conscience, and our decision will be influenced by our general
habits of thinking and doing, and by our every-day habit of asking our
Heavenly Father's guidance for each hour of life.
MURIEL.--Your letter interested me very much, and I will soon
devote one of these talks to the subject you speak of so sensibly.
ANNE T.--Why worry about your height? It is beautiful to be tall,
if you carry yourself gracefully, head up, shoulders back, as a
tall girl ought.
LOUISE S. M.--If you are tired of story-books, try biography. Have
you read Miss Edgeworth's life, or that of Miss Alcott? Or take up
a course of English history.
[Illustration: Signature]
* * * * *
STARVED TO DEATH
in midst of plenty. Unfortunate, yet we hear of it. The Gail Borden
Eagle Brand Condensed Milk is undoubtedly the safest and best infant
food. _Infant Health_ is a valuable pamphlet for mothers. Send your
address to N. Y. Condensed Milk Co., N. Y.--[_Adv._]
ADVERTISEMENTS.
[Illustration]
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[Illustration]
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Established Dorchester, Mass., 1780.
Breakfast Cocoa
[Illustration]
Always ask for Walter Baker & Co.'s
Breakfast Cocoa
Made at
DORCHESTER, MASS.
It bears their Trade Mark
"La Belle Chocolatiere" on every can.
Beware of Imitations.
Postage Stamps, &c.
FREE!
Send 10c. to pay the postage, and I will send you a 225-page catalogue
with illustrations of every stamp, FREE. 100 varieties foreign stamps,
5c.; 200 varieties foreign stamps, 25c.; 12 varieties Japan, Spain, and
Portugal, 2c.; 400 varieties foreign stamps, $1.25; 500 varieties,
$1.75; 750 varieties, $4.50; 1000 varieties, $6.50. Approval sheets for
good references.
RICHARD R. BROWN, KEYPORT, N. J.
[Illustration]
STAMPS!
=800= fine mixed Victoria, Cape of G. H., India, Japan, etc. with fine
Stamp Album, only =10c.= New 80-p. Price-list =free=. _Agents wanted_ at
=50%= commission. STANDARD STAMP CO., 4 Nicholson Place, St. Louis, Mo.
Old U. S. and Confederate Stamps bought.
$117.50 WORTH OF STAMPS FREE
to agents selling stamps from my 50% approval sheets. Send at once for
circular and price-list giving full information.
C. W. Grevning, Morristown, N. J.
[Illustration]
100 all dif. Venezuela, Bolivia, etc., only 10c.; 200 all dif. Hayti,
Hawaii, etc., only 50c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com. List FREE!
C. A. Stegman, 5941 Cote Brilliante Ave., St. Louis, Mo
FOREIGN STAMPS ON APPROVAL
Agents wanted at 50% com. Lists free.
CHAS. B. RAUB, New London, Conn.
500
Mixed Australian, etc., 10c.; =105 varieties=, and nice album, 10c.; 15
unused, 10c.; 10 Africa, 10c.; 15 Asia, 10c.
F. P. Vincent, Chatham, N.Y.
125
dif. Gold Coast, Costa Rica, etc., 25c.; 40 U. S., 25c. Liberal com. to
agents. Large bargain list free. F. W. MILLER, 904 Olive St., St. Louis,
Mo.
Stamps!
25 var. free to all sending good ref. for my fine app'l sheets at 50%
commission.
CHAS. DREW, 25 West 104th St., New York.
BOOKS OF STAMPS at 33-1/3% com. References required. =Model Stamp Co.=, W.
Superior, Wis.
FINE PACKETS in large variety. Stamps at 50% com. Col's bought.
Northwestern Stamp Co., Freeport, Ill.
STAMPS! 100 all dif. Barbados, etc. Only 10c. Ag'ts w't'd at 50% com.
List free. L. DOVER & CO., 1469 Hodiamont, St. Louis, Mo.
333 African, U. S., and Foreign Stamps. One Dime. Address J. Handford,
55 N. 6th St. Paterson, N.J.
HARPER'S CATALOGUE
thoroughly revised, classified, and indexed, will be sent by mail to any
address on receipt of ten cents.
[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water]
A PRIZE MUSIC COMPOSITION.
The ability to compose music is not as common as that to solve puzzles,
and so the Table in its Music Contests this year opened competition to
amateurs without regard to age. For variety, a song and a hymn setting
were asked for, $5 being offered for the best in each class, and
packages of visiting-cards, with copper plates, for the second best.
First verses of two poems were given. Both were by Mrs. Margaret E.
Sangster, in her book _Little Knights and Ladies_.
We publish this week the song setting which won the first prize, and the
whole poem, in order that you may have a complete song. The composition
is by Miss Mary E. Bigelow, of Berea, O., who is a Round Table Patron.
The second prize is awarded to Harry R. Patty, of Los Angeles, Cal.,
Knight. Others whose compositions are deserving of high praise,
mentioned with honor, are: Helen H. Sohst, Alice C. Banning, Penry
Jones, Frank Balentine, Minnie Brendel (Weimar, Germany), and E. S.
Hosmer. The additional verses of "Our Little Echo" are:
[Illustration: OUR LITTLE ECHO.]
This little echo, soft and sweet,
Repeats what others say,
And trots about on tireless feet,
Up stairs and down, all day.
It makes us very careful not
To use a naughty word,
Lest in the echo's lisping tones
It should again be heard.
Which would be such a dreadful thing,
As any one may see,
Who has an echo in _his_ house
A little over three.
The first-prize hymn, with awards, will be published soon--probably next
week.
* * * * *
A Leech Barometer.
Very few books of pastimes are lacking in elaborate descriptions
for making so-called "infallible" barometers. Now here is a
barometer, not absolutely infallible, however, of an exceedingly
simple kind, though, like the aforementioned, you may purchase your
outfit entire at the apothecary's--unless, luckily, you are a rural
member. Here are the directions:
Buy or catch a leech. Confine it in a jar three-quarters full of
rain-water, which must be changed regularly twice a week. Place the
jar on a window-frame, facing the north.
Weather indications. _Fair and Frosty._--The leech lies motionless,
rolled up in a spiral form, at the bottom of the glass. _Rain or
Snow._--The leech creeps up to the top of the glass. If the rain
will be heavy and of long duration, it remains a considerable time.
If trifling, it quickly descends. If the rain or snow is
accompanied by wind, it darts about quickly, and does not cease
until there is a hard blow. _Storm of Thunder or Lightning._--The
leech is exceedingly agitated, and expresses its feelings in
violent, convulsive starts.
VINCENT V. M. BEEDE.
* * * * *
About Some Chapters.
The Table has a flourishing Chapter in Santiago College, Agustinas 150,
Santiago, Chile. Its president is Blanca Oliveira, aged fourteen, and
she wishes to correspond with American Ladies of her own age. Writing
under date of November 25th, the president tells of an entertainment
given by the Wide Awake Chapter in the college gymnasium, in which
songs, dialogues, recitations, and the like were the attractions. The
invitation cards are very neat. The Chapter has forty-one members, who
have corresponded with many readers of the Table in this country and
Europe, some doing so in French and Spanish as well as in English.
Washington Chapter, of Racine, Wis., was organized on February 22, 1894,
and is prospering. It holds semi-monthly meetings, and the dues are five
cents per month. Officers are elected every four months. The present
officers are: President, Hira E. Tyrrell; Vice-President, Russell Lewis;
Secretary, Frank H. Marlott; Treasurer, Arthur Murray. "We think it
would be nice to know what some of the many other Chapters are doing,"
writes Secretary Frank H. Marlott, 1511 Wisconsin Street. "I am sure we
are not the only ones who should like to have some suggestions from
successful Chapters regarding programmes," etc.
* * * * *
Information Wanted.
Name and address of story "All at Sea," sent in competition for a prize,
that manuscript may be returned, and address of Rudolph Raphael, "Tea
Picker of Chang Choy," for same purpose.
* * * * *
The Good Will School Fund.
This Fund has grown since last report as follows:
Amount previously acknowledged $1579.16
Little Women Chapter, of New York, $6;
Barbara Arbogust, 25 cents; Frank Alfred
Stetson, 50 cents; Paul C. Conn, 10 cents;
Fred W. and George M. Beal, 50 cents; Walter
Goff, 50 cents; The Kirk Munroe Talk at
St. Agnes Hall, New York, $10.08; "Euclid
Place," $1.30; Sunday-school Class, Stillwater,
Minn., 50 cents; Francis S. Winston,
$1; Louis O. Brosie, from contributions to
his amateur paper, $2; Margaret C. Walter,
$1; Carrie M. Walton, 10 cents; John Burroughs
Chapter, Winsted, Conn., $15.84;
Sophie R. St. Clair, 50 cents; Fred W. Christensen,
10 cents; Bessie Cauffman, $3.50;
Franklin Pendleton, 25 cents; Paul A Sensheimer,
$1; "Sancho Panza," 25 cents; Mrs.
H. E. Banning, 50 cents; Alice May Douglas
Chapter, Bath, Me., $3; "Midget," 10 cents;
John H. Campbell, Jun., 5 cents; "Bruno
Morgan," 50 cents; Laura Gooding, $1;
"Antonio," 20 cents; Evarts A. Graham, 30
cents; Dick, Polly, Tom, Harry, etc., $1;
George Taylor, 20 cents; Katherine W. Butler,
10 cents; Alice V. B. Foos, $1; Sidney
Davis, and each of the following-named, 10
cents: Edward O. Tatnall, Mary Fithian,
Adela Harper, Randolph Wilson, Walter P.
Hall, Edith and Amy Shattuck, Ethel Van
Rennselaer, George H. Hogeman, W. W.
Harvey, Edith Moore, and Richard Corcoran;
Lindsey D. Holmes, and each of the following-named,
50 cents: Mrs. D. L. Miller,
Mary A. Lippincott, S. J. Peters, Lulu Wangelin,
L. I. and E. Brown, James F. Rodgers,
Grace M. Fay, Grace E. Hall, Stella L. Tutewiler,
L. S. Whittaker, Pauline L. Stockton,
J. A. Beach, Ethel R. Betts, B. W. Gale,
Frankie L. Potts, and W. Stowell Wooster;
Ellen B. Laight, $1; John Nixon Brooks, $1;
"Santa Claus," 5 cents; J. Howard Beckley,
15 cents; J. F. Hammond and Sophie V.
Gray, each 5 cents; Daisy Noyes and Ralph
Page, each 25 cents; G. W. Hinckley, $1; Albert
Gregory, 16 cents; Whitman Dart, 15
cents; K. K. Forsythe, 25 cents; Eleanor
Davis, $1; Harry G. Sprowl, 5 cents; "Hecla,"
N. Y., $1; Eileen and Robert Weldon, 19
cents; and Robert W. Stockbridge, 16 cents.
Total 69.75
In the formal acknowledgment of a contribution
from the Admiral Benham Chapter
the sum was given, by mistake, $8.95.
It should have been $18.95. Hence we add 10.00
-----------
Total of Fund $1658.91
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. Correspondent should address
Editor Stamp Department.
In the ROUND TABLE for January 26, 1896, I illustrated twelve of the
rare Confederate locals. I complete the list (with a few exceptions) in
this number.
[Illustration]
Livingston, Kingston, Greenville, Madison, Ringgold, and Victoria are
all great rarities. The stamps are worth from $250 to $750 if on
envelope and in good condition.
[Illustration]
Goliad (several varieties) are worth from $100 to $500 each. Rheatown
and Tellico Plains (same type) are worth over $100 each.
Danville (W. D. Coleman, P.M.) and Pittsylvania (same type) worth $250
each.
[Illustration]
Petersburg is worth $15; Pleasant Shade (same type) is worth $150.
Lynchburg, worth $25 to $30; Lenoir, from $50 to $75.
[Illustration]
Marion (six varieties) is a very rare stamp, but the original plate from
which the stamps were printed is in the possession of a New York
stamp-dealer. (Not illustrated.)
There are several others not illustrated, such as Spartansburg, Salem,
etc., which resemble the ordinary postmark, and several others which are
not yet fully accepted as genuine.
Representative Pugh, of Kentucky, has introduced a bill in Congress
permitting all cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants to issue stamps of
special designs for local use, the designs on such stamps to commemorate
the history of the city or the memory of its prominent deceased
citizens; but no such stamps shall be made to advertise the business of
any individual, firm, corporation, or society. The cost of engraving and
printing will be paid by the city issuing the stamps, not by the general
government.
PHILATUS.
[Illustration: IVORY SOAP]
A well enforced rule of order and Ivory Soap will make the kitchen an
attractive and appetizing spot.
Copyright, 1895, by The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
BREAKFAST--SUPPER.
EPPS'S
GRATEFUL--COMFORTING.
COCOA
BOILING WATER OR MILK.
CARDS
FOR 1896. 50 Sample Styles AND LIST OF 400 PREMIUM ARTICLES FREE.
HAVERFIELD PUB. CO., Cadiz, Ohio.
CARDS
The FINEST SAMPLE BOOK of Gold Beveled Edge, Hidden Name, Silk Fringe,
Envelope and Calling Cards ever offered for a 2 cent stamp. These are
GENUINE CARDS, NOT TRASH. UNION CARD CO., COLUMBUS, OHIO.
[Illustration: Thompson's Eye Water]
[Illustration]
THE
BALTIMOREAN PRINTING-PRESS
has earned more money for boys than all other presses in the market.
Buys, don't idle away your time when you can buy a self-inking
printing-press, type, and complete outfit for $5.00. Write for
particulars, there is money in it for you.
THE J. F. W. DORMAN CO.,
Baltimore, Md., U.S.A.
HOOPING
COUGH
CROUP
_Can be cured_
by using
ROCHE'S HERBAL
EMBROCATION
The celebrated and effectual English cure, without internal medicine. W.
EDWARD & SON, Props., London, Eng. Wholesale, E. FOUGERA & CO., New York
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN'S
Fascinating Historical Works
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
THE BOYS OF '76.
THE STORY OF LIBERTY.
OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES.
BUILDING THE NATION.
_A History of the Rebellion in Four Volumes:_
DRUM-BEAT OF THE NATION.
MARCHING TO VICTORY.
REDEEMING THE REPUBLIC.
FREEDOM TRIUMPHANT.
_Nine Volumes. Profusely Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental,
$3.00 each._
Mr. Coffin avoids the formality of historical narrative, and presents
his material in the shape of personal anecdotes, memorable incidents,
and familiar illustrations. He reproduces events in a vivid, picturesque
narrative.--_N. Y. Tribune._
Mr. Coffin writes interestingly; he uses abundance of incident; his
style is pictorial and animated, he takes a sound view of the inner
factors of national development and progress; and his pages are
plentifully sprinkled with illustrations.--_Literary World_, Boston.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
FROM CHUM TO CHUM.
BY GASTON V. DRAKE.
III.--FROM BOB TO JACK.
[Illustration]
Dear Jack,--I got your letter the day we came aboard this ship and I was
so much interested with what was going on here that I put it in my
pocket to read next day. The trouble with the next day was what I might
have expected. I wasn't seasick at all but something I had for dinner
didn't agree with me and I lay down all day and wished I was ashore. As
an old man who stood near me said "they run trolly cars all over the
land where you don't want 'em, but out at sea when you'd give ten
dollars to be carried ashore in one they don't have 'em." I'd have gone
ashore on a shingle if I could have. If you can imagine the Mountain
House dancing around like a cork, 'way up in the air one minute and
fifty feet lower down the next you'll get some idea about what I've been
going through. I'd have enjoyed it though if I hadn't eaten that thing
that disagreed with me, for to people that don't get seasick the
moviness of the whole business is great.
There's a sailor on the _New York_ that's had almost as many thrillers
as Sandboys and between you and me I think he could talk Sandboys all
around the block. He's been a pirate, he told me, but a nice kind of a
pirate. He says he was called the Chesterfield of the Black Flag because
he always did what he did politely no matter how horrible. If he
attacked a ship at night he always did it in a dress suit and things
like that, and if there were ladies aboard of any ship he captured and
he had to lock 'em up in the hold he always apologized for doing it, and
hoped they'd have a good time. He was brought up in Salem Massachusetts
where he imbibed a love of the sea and learned manners--those are his
own words, particularly imbibed. That word shows what a fine man he
really is. His language is really splendid. Most pirates, he told me,
wasn't fit to associate with gentlemen because they couldn't talk like
gentlemen, but he felt that he could go anywhere, even into a lady's
parlor and talk and never say a word that "wouldn't go with the
furniture," as he put it, without swearing off a bit of his piracy
neither. He has charge of the steamer-chairs on board this boat and
nobody but me knows who he really is. He hasn't been on shore for five
years because he says there's a price on his head. Just as soon as the
boat gets into port he takes a dozen cans of sardines and a box of
crackers and goes and hides up under the bowsprit and lives there on the
sardines and crackers until the ship starts to sea again, when he comes
out and takes charge of the chairs. That's how I came to know him. I get
up early and go out on deck and he tells me all the thrillers he knows.
He had an awful experience last trip over. He was putting away the
chairs one night when all of a sudden he saw one of the English
detectives that had been looking for him for years coming along the deck
and in the moonlight the detective saw him and recognized him at once.
"Aha!" said he. "Run to earth at last, Chesterfield."
"Not as I know on," said the sailor. "Seems to me I'm run to sea." And
then he gave a wild ominous laugh. "I'm very glad to see you," he
continued. "How are Mrs. Detective and the children?"
"You haven't lost any of your manners, Chesterfield," said the
detective; "but they don't go with me. You're my pirate!" And he laid
his hands on Chesterfield's shoulder.
"Pardon me," said Chesterfield. "But really my dear Mr. Detective you
don't realize your peril. I could throw you overboard in two seconds,
and if it wasn't an exceedingly impolite thing to push a gentleman of
your standing into the water where you'd get your clothes spoiled I'll
be jiggered if I wouldn't do it. Can't I summon assistance for you?"
[Illustration]
"I'll summon it quick enough!" cried the detective rudely not even
thanking Chesterfield for his offer, and he ran to one of those big air
funnels that came up through the decks and hollered help down it,
supposing that it lead into the cabin where the stewards stay; and
Chesterfield just took him by the coat tails and pitched him head first
through the funnel into the hold, where the fellow could howl to his
heart's content and nobody'd hear him because he landed way below the
lowest deck on a bale of cotton and there he staid until the ship got
into port--and when he came out he was so excited that nobody'd believe
what he said, he spoke so sort of crazy and he was arrested for a
stowaway. Chesterfield of course had gone and hid under the bowsprit,
and even if folks had believed the detective they'd have thought he'd
escaped. But to show how polite he was, every morning Chesterfield would
go to the funnel when nobody was looking and call out good-morning to
the detective and drop down two sandwiches and a bottle of ginger-ale so
he wouldn't starve.
[Illustration]
When the pirate isn't on duty I don't have quite as much fun, though I
have fun enough. We have to eat by a time-table. Soup comes at half past
six, fish at twenty minutes to seven, lobster patties at ten minutes to
seven, roast beef at seven, and so on, and I don't like it a bit. I
don't ever want anything but soup and pie. The soup comes in early
enough but you have to wait an hour and forty minutes for the pie and
it's slow work. I asked the Captain if I couldn't have my pie at six
forty and he said he'd be glad to let me only discipline had to be kept
up and if the waiters were allowed to bring in pie out of its turn it
would upset the whole system an' we'd get nothing but chaos. I don't
know what chaos is; we've never had any at home and I never saw it on a
bill of fare anywhere, but Pop says it's no good and spoils one's
digestion.
[Illustration]
The pirate gave me a pointer for coming home. He said there was a boy on
the _New York_ two years ago that had a pair of roller skates, and on
very rough days he'd put 'em on and stand up near the bow and when the
bow went up with the waves the boy would slide 'way down to the stern on
his skates without a bit of trouble, and then back he'd go when she
pitched the other way. It seems to me that's a great scheme and I'm
going to try it. I always did like skating and the decks are bully for
it, smooth as a park road.
The scenery isn't much so I won't try to tell you about it. It's nothing
but water all the time, and when we get up in the morning you seem to be
in just the same place you were last night.
The gong has just rung for dinner, and I must go. Maybe in a few days
I'll write to you again, but I'm going to mail this letter to you now,
because the pirate says maybe to-morrow we'll meet the sister ship to
this one going back to New York, and he thinks if I can catch the eye of
the Captain of the Paris, perhaps he'll stop long enough to take this
letter aboard and carry it home to you.
Yours with love to Sandboys,
BOB.
End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, February 18, 1896, by Various