Project Gutenberg's Harper's Round Table, June 25, 1895, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Harper's Round Table, June 25, 1895 Author: Various Release Date: June 30, 2010 [EBook #33037] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, JUNE 25, 1895 *** Produced by Annie McGuire OAKLEIGH. LIFE IN A LIGHT-HOUSE. THE CAMERA CLUB BILL TYBEE AND THE BULL. SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES. STORIES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. BETTY'S RIDE KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS. INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT BICYCLING THE PUDDING STICK STAMPS HARPER'S ROUND TABLE Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1895. FIVE CENTS A COPY. VOL. XVI.—NO. 817. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. [Pg 641] OAKLEIGH. BY ELLEN DOUGLAS DELAND. CHAPTER I. It was a large house, standing well back from the broad highway that leads from Brenton to Pelham, so far back, indeed, and at the end of such a long shady drive, that it could not be seen for some few minutes after turning in from the road. The approach was pretty, the avenue winding through the trees, with an occasional glimpse of the meadows beyond. The road forked where the trees ended, and encircled the lawn, or the "heater-piece" as the family called it, it being in the exact shape of a flatiron. The house stood on high ground, and there were no trees very near. It was a white house with green blinds, solid and substantial looking. The roof of the piazza was upheld by tall white columns, and vines growing at either end relieved the bareness. On the southern side of the house a small conservatory had been added. On the other side the ground sloped to the Charles River, though in summer one could see only the water from the upper windows, because of the trees which grew so thick upon the banks. This was Oakleigh, the home of the Franklins, so named because of a giant oak-tree which spread its huge branches not far from the back of the house. As to the Franklins, there were five of them, and they were all assembled on the front porch. Though it was the last day of April, spring was unusually early for Massachusetts this year, and the day was warm and clear, suggesting summer and delightful possibilities of out-door fun. Edith, the eldest, sat with her work. It was unusual work for a girl of barely sixteen. A large old-fashioned basket was on the floor by her side, with piles of children's clothes in it, and she was slowly and laboriously darning a stocking over a china egg. The children had no mother, and a good deal devolved upon Edith. Jack and Cynthia, the twins, came next in age, and they were just fourteen. They looked alike though Jack was much the taller of the two, and his hair did not curl so tightly as Cynthia's. She sat on the steps of the piazza. Her sailor hat was cast on the ground at her feet, and her pretty golden- brown hair was, as usual, somewhat awry. It was one of the trials of Edith's life that Cynthia's hair would not keep smooth. Jack lay at full length on the grass, sometimes flat on his back, staring at the sky, sometimes rolling over, the more easily to address his sisters. Jack had a project in his mind, and was very much in earnest. Cynthia, of course, was already on his side—she had known of it from the first moment the idea popped into his head, but Edith had just been told, and she needed convincing. Janet and Willy, "the children," were playing at the other end of the porch. They were only six and five, and did not count in the family discussions. "There's money in it, I'm sure," said Jack; "and if I can only get father to agree with me and advance some money, I can pay him back in less than a year." "Papa hasn't much money to spare just now," said Edith, "and I have always heard that there was a good deal of risk about raising chickens from an incubator." "My dear girl," returned Jack, with an air of lofty authority, "allow me to say that you don't know much about it. I've been reading upon hens for two days, and I find that, allowing for all risks—bad eggs, inexperience, weasels, and skunks, and diseases, you're sure to make some profit at the end of a year. Now, I'm late in thinking of it, I know. To-morrow is the 1st of May, and I couldn't get more than three hatches this summer, but that would probably pay the cost of the incubator. I can get a first-rate one for forty dollars, and I can buy one 'brooder.' If I bought one I could make the others like it." [Pg 642] "But your eggs?" said Edith. "You would have to pay a great deal for eggs." "Eggs would be about five or six dollars a hundred, and it takes two hundred to fill the machine. I should want to get a fine breed, of course— Brahmas, or Cochins, or Leghorns, probably, and they cost more; but, you see, when they begin to lay, there comes my money right back to me." "When they do," said Edith, sceptically. "Edith, don't be so mean!" cried Cynthia. "Jack wants to begin to make money, and I think he's right. I'm going to help him all I can, and we want you to be on our side to help talk over papa. He is always telling Jack that he'll soon have to begin to work, and now here's a chance." "Papa wants Jack to make some money to help support us when he is old enough, but he wants him to finish his education first, of course. And I am sure he doesn't want him to lay out a lot of money, as he would have to do in raising hens." "That's just like a girl," said Jack, scornfully. "Don't you know that there's always a lot of risk in anything you undertake, and you've got to take the chances? There are very few things you don't have to put money into." "Of course, for a grown man. But a boy of your age ought to work for a salary, or something of that sort—not go investing." Cynthia stirred uneasily. She knew this was just the wrong thing to say to Jack. Unfortunately, Edith was so apt to say the wrong thing. Jack sprang to his feet. "There's no use arguing with girls. I may be a 'boy of my age,' but I've got some sense, and I know there's money in this. I'm not going to say another word about it to anybody until father comes home, and I can talk it over with him." And Jack walked off around the corner of the house, whistling to Ben and Chester, the two big setters, to follow him, which they did with joyful alacrity. "There!" exclaimed Cynthia, "now he's gone off mad. I don't see why you said that, Edith." "Said what? I'm sure it is true. The idea of a boy of his age—" "There you go again. Jack may be young, but he is trying awfully hard to help papa, and you needn't go twitting him about his age." "I'm sure I never meant to twit him," said Edith; "and I think he's awfully touchy. But it is half past four, Cynthia, and time to go meet papa. Won't you be sure to brush your hair and put on a fresh neck-tie or something? You do look so untidy. That skirt is all frayed out around the bottom." "Oh, bother my hair and my neck-tie, and everything else!" cried Cynthia, though with perfect good-nature. "Edith, you make such a fuss! Shall I go meet papa?" "No, I'll go; but I wish you would order the horse. Now, Cynthia, don't forget your hair, will you? Papa hates to see you untidy." For answer Cynthia banged the screen-door as she disappeared into the house and walked through the wide hall, humming as she went. "What shall I do with these children?" sighed Edith to herself, as she laid down the stocking, mended at last, and prepared to put up her work. "I'm sure I do the best I can, and what I think our mother would have liked, but it is very hard. If Cynthia only would be more neat!" A loud crash interrupted her thoughts. At the end of the piazza, where the children had been playing, was a mass of chairs and tables, while from the midst of the confusion came roars of pain, anger, and fright. "What is the matter?" cried Edith, running to the scene, and overturning her work-basket in her flight. It took several minutes to extricate the screaming children, set them on their feet, and ascertain that no bones were broken. "Get the red oil!" shrieked Janet; "that naughty boy has killed me! I'm dead! I'm dead! Get the red oil!" "It's no such a thing!" shouted Willy. "I didn't do it, and I'm dead, too. Ugh! I'm all bludge. Get the red oil!" Cynthia had witnessed the scene from the window, and appeared just in time with the bottle of red oil, the panacea for all the Franklin bumps and bruises. "What were you doing, you naughty children?" said Edith, as she wiped the "bludge" from Willy's lips, and found that it came from a very small scratch, while Janet was scarcely hurt at all. "We were only playing cars, and Willy would ride on the engine, and made it topple over, and—" "It's no such a thing!" interposed Willy. "Girls don't know nothin' 'bout steam-cars, and Janet went and put her feet on the back of my chair, and —" He was interrupted by a blow from Janet's small fat fist, which he immediately returned in kind, and then both began to scream. "Yon are both as bad as you can be, and I've a good mind to send you to bed," said Edith, severely, shaking Janet as she spoke. Janet cast herself upon Cynthia. "Edith's horrid to us! She is so cross. Cynthia, don't let her send us to bed. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hit Willy; I'm sorry we upset the chairs; I'm sorry for everything." "Well, here comes the horse, and I must go," said Edith. "Oh, look at my basket!" And it was indeed a sight. Spools, scissors, china eggs, stockings, everything lay in wild confusion on the floor. "Never mind. I'll pick them up," said Cynthia. "Don't bother about them, Edith. The children will help me. Come along, Willy and Janet. Let's see which can find the most spools." Edith looked back doubtfully as, having put on her hat, she got into the carriage. What would her basket be like when she next saw it? But it was kind of Cynthia, and how much better Cynthia managed the children than she did. What was the reason? She was thinking it over, when she heard her name called loudly from behind, and, pulling in the horse quickly, she waited, wondering what had happened now. Cynthia came flying down the avenue. "Edith! Edith! Wait a minute! I forgot to tell you. Don't say anything to papa about Jack's scheme, will you? Let him tell." "Oh, Cynthia, how you frightened me! I thought something dreadful was the matter." "But don't, will you, Edith? Promise! You know—well, Edith, Jack can explain it so much better himself." Cynthia was too kind-hearted to tell Edith that she would spoil it all if she said anything first, but Edith knew that was what she meant. A sharp [Pg 643] reply was on her lips, but she controlled herself in time. "Very well," she said, quietly, "I won't." And then she drove on, and Cynthia went back to the house satisfied. Edith had a quick, impatient temper, and it was not an easy matter for her to curb her tongue. Her mother had died five years ago, when she was but eleven years old. Then an aunt had come to live with them, but she had lately married and gone to South America, and now there was no one else, and Edith was considered old enough to keep house and look after the children. The road wound through the woods, with here and there a view of the river, leading finally into the old New England town and forming its main street. Tall elm-trees shaded the approach to the village, and fine old houses, with well-kept lawns in front, were to be seen on either side. The horse that Edith drove was by no means a fine one, and the old buggy was somewhat unsteady and rattled alarmingly. In other words, the Franklins were poor, but they had hosts of friends; and as Edith entered the village she nodded right and left to the various people she met. Every one liked the Franklins, and the family had lived at Oakleigh for generations. As she reached the station the train came in. A throng of carriages filled the broad space in front, and Edith was obliged to draw up at some little distance from the cars. Presently she saw her father coming towards her, and with him was an odd little figure, the sight of which made Edith's heart sink with apprehension. "Oh dear! oh dear!" she exclaimed to herself, "if there isn't Aunt Betsey!" Then she shrank back into the corner of the buggy, and watched the amused glances that were cast upon her relative by all who saw her. Miss Betsey Trinkett, of Wayborough, was Edith's great-aunt, and constituted one of the largest thorns in her side. She was old, she was odd, she was distinctly conspicuous; and Edith disliked above all things to be conspicuous. Miss Betsey trotted along the platform by her nephew's side, quite unconscious of the tumult she was raising in the breast of her grandniece. She was dressed in a short, scant velveteen gown that might have belonged to her grandmother, and a large bonnet of the same date, from which hung a figured lace veil. A gay shawl was folded about her slender shoulders, and Mr. Franklin carried her carpet-bag with the silver lock and key. She waved a welcome to Edith with a mitted hand, and Edith, recovering herself, nodded in response. "How do you do, Aunt Betsey? What a surprise!" "Yes, my dear, I like to surprise you now and then. I came up to Boston town on business, and your father insisted upon my coming out to see you all. In fact, I knew he would, so I just popped my best cap and my knitting into my bag, along with some little things for you children, and here I am." And she stepped nimbly into the buggy, followed by Mr. Franklin. "We shall be a 'Marblehead couple,'" he said, as he balanced himself on the seat and took the reins. Edith detested "Marblehead couples," otherwise driving three on a seat, and she hid herself as much as possible in her corner, and hoped that people would not know she was there. Miss Betsey chatted away with her nephew, and in time the three miles were covered, and they turned into the Oakleigh drive. Edith had recovered somewhat by this time, having been engaged in scolding herself all the way from the village for her uncordial feelings. The others welcomed Aunt Betsey most cordially. Her carpet-bag always contained some rare treat for the little ones; and, besides, they were a hospitable family. "But come with me, girls," said Miss Betsey, mysteriously, when she had bestowed her gifts. "There is something I want to consult you about." She trotted up the long flight of stairs to her accustomed room with the springiness of a young girl, Edith and Cynthia following her. She closed the door behind them, and seating herself in the rocking-chair, looked at them solemnly. "Do you remark anything different about my appearance?" "Why, of course, Aunt Betsey!" exclaimed Cynthia; "your hair!" "Well, I want to know! Cynthy, you are very smart. You get it from your great-grandmother Trinkett, for whom you were named. Well, what do you think of it?" Edith had hastened to the closet, and was opening drawers and removing garments from the hooks in apparently a sudden desire for neatness. In reality she was convulsed with laughter. Cynthia controlled herself, and replied, with gravity, "Did it grow there?" Miss Betsey rocked with satisfaction, her hands folded in her velveteen lap. "I knew it was a success. No one would ever know it, would they? My dears, I bought it to-day in Boston town. The woman told me it looked real natural. I don't know as I like the idea exactly of wearing other people's hair, but one has to keep up with the times, and mine was getting very scant. Silas said to me the other night, said he, 'Betsey, strikes me your hair isn't as thick as it used to be.' That set me thinking, and I remember I'd heard tell of these frontispieces, and I then and there made up some business I'd have to come to Boston town about, and here I am. I bought two while I was about it. The woman said it was a good plan, in case one got lost or rumpled, and here it is in this box. Just lay it away carefully for me, Cynthy, my dear." The old lady's thin and grayish locks had been replaced by a false front of smooth brown, with puffs at the side, and a nice white part of most unnatural straightness down the middle. "You see, I like to please Silas," she continued. "I'll tell you again, as I've told you before, girls, Silas Green and I we've been keeping steady company now these forty years. But I can't give up the view from my sitting-room windows to go and live at his house on the other hill, and he can't give up the view from his best-room windows to come and live at my house. We've tried and tried, and we can't either of us give up. And so he just comes every Sunday night to see me, as he's done these forty years, and I guess it'll go on a while longer." They were interrupted by the sound of the tea bell. Miss Betsey hastily settled her cap over the new front, and they all went down stairs, Cynthia pinching Edith to express her feelings, and longing TAKEN ASHORE IN A BREECHES-BUOY. TAKEN ASHORE IN A BREECHES-BUOY. to tell Jack about Aunt Betsey's latest. But they found Jack having an animated discussion with his father, his thoughts on business plans intent. Cynthia anxiously surveyed the two, and she feared from appearances that Mr. Franklin did not intend to yield. [to be continued.] LIFE IN A LIGHT-HOUSE. BY A. J. ENSIGN. A cold biting west wind was blowing. The sea close under the beach was smooth and steel blue, and the breakers reared their white crests slowly, falling in dull booms of muttered thunder. Beyond the rollers a wide expanse of ice-hard gray water swept away to the iron line of the horizon, where strange shapes of writhing billows tossed against the glow of the rising moon. Half a dozen stars of the first magnitude swam in moisture in the zenith, and far away in the west a smudge of black cloud, touched on its lower edge with blood red, kept the record of the swift winter sunset. "It will blow from the south'ard and east'ard afore mornin', an' it'll snow," said the light-house keeper, as he peered out into the growing gloom, pierced as it was by the rays of the lamp which he had set burning half an hour before. "Ay," said his assistant, "an' we'll have fog, too, I'm thinkin'." "Well, get steam up for the siren, an' stan' by fur trouble afore dawn." The predictions of both men came true. Before two o'clock in the morning the wind had shifted to the southeast, and was blowing a gale. Great tangled masses of brown cloud were flying across the sky at terrific speed, and in and out of the rifts shot the red moon flaming like a comet. The breakers no longer reared and fell slowly, but hurled themselves in shrieking masses of foam upon the stricken beach. A yelling as of ten thousand evil spirits surrounded the caged lantern; but the great yellow light blazed out its warning upon the black waters. But not for long; for out of the southeast swept the impenetrable gray fog that no light could pierce. Then the hoarse moaning blast of the steam-siren sent its cry of warning out over the raging waters. At four o'clock the gale was terrific, and ever and anon the shriek of a steam-whistle told that some vessel was groping her way toward the entrance to the harbor. Suddenly the whistle burst into a series of rapid screams. "Wake up, Tom!" shouted the assistant keeper, who was on watch. "There's a tug out yonder that's parted the hawser of her tow." The keeper sprang to his feet and listened to the despairing screams of the whistle out in the fog. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "And whatever's gone adrift'll be ashore in less than an hour. They'll never hear those whistles at the station with the wind in this quarter." He jumped to the telephone and called up the life-saving station a mile above. "There's a tug off here," he said, "and she's lost her tow." "All right," came the answer; "we'll look out for 'em." Half an hour later a big three-masted coal barge, which thirty years earlier had been an English bark, was in the breakers half a mile above the life-saving station; but owing to the sharp lookout for her, all her people, three men, a boy, and a woman, were taken ashore safely in the breeches buoy. At sunup the other barge, which had been in tow of the tug, was seen three miles offshore hove to under her leg-of-mutton canvas. She was picked up by an incoming steamer, and towed into the harbor. That is a sample of the experience of a light-house keeper whose light is on the land. He has a comparatively comfortable berth; but all lights are not so pleasantly situated. Some are situated at considerable distances from the shore, on dangerous reefs. Most of the houses so situated are built on iron-screw piles, like those at Thimble Shoals, Virginia, Fowey Rocks, Alligator Reef, and Sombrero Key, Florida. These houses stand on iron legs, which are screwed down into the rocks on the bottom, and the keeper's only means of leaving his confined dwelling is by the boat, which swings at davits, as it would aboard a ship. It has been found that a light-house built in this manner will stand the shocks of heavy weather much better than one made of solid masonry. The storm wave of the Atlantic Ocean travels at the rate of about thirty miles an hour, and when one of these waves, towering from fifteen to thirty-five feet, strikes an obstacle, such as a light-house, it deals a blow whose force can be measured only in hundreds of tons. The iron-screw pile-house, however, is elevated far enough above the level of the sea to escape the blows of the waves, which meet with no greater resistance than that offered by the slender legs of the structure. Let us imagine the experience of a keeper of one of these lights in a great storm. It is September. All day the sea has been deathly calm, but with a slow swell of ominous breadth and weight. The sky has been of a dead gray color, and has seemed to hang so low that one might almost reach it from the top of the lantern. Toward night the wind begins to come in fitful gusts that moan around the light-house like the voices of warning spirits. The keeper goes out on the balcony and looks anxiously around the horizon. He knows that they are in for a bad night, and he knows that even iron-screw light-houses have been carried away in great gales. But he goes calmly and carefully about his work. He sees that the boat and all other objects outside the house are well secured. He sees the lamp well supplied with oil and trimmed wicks. He gives the lenses and reflectors a few more affectionate rubs, and as the sun goes down fire-red into a crimson sea he lights the wicks and goes down to his supper. The gusts of wind outside increase in number and in force. Strange shriekings and moanings break from the crannies of the light-house. It is [Pg 644] blowing half a gale now, and the sea is beginning to rise. Fiercer and fiercer become the blasts. The light-house begins to vibrate like a fiddle. A strange humming, as of the giant strings of some enormous Æolian harp, is added to the shriller screams of the wind. It is the gale singing through the iron legs and braces of the structure. And now a squall more violent than any that have preceded it comes yelling across the sea. It tears the foaming crests off half a dozen waves, and sends them swirling down to leeward in shivering sheets of snowy spoondrift. With fearful force the blast strikes the light-house, at the same time hurling some of the spoondrift against its weather side with a crash. What was that? Did the whole building sway? The keeper shuts his lips tightly and goes up to look at the lamp. It is burning brightly. He descends again, and puts on his oil-skins and sou'wester. Waiting for a lull in the gale, he bolts out upon the balcony, hastily closing the door behind him. For a moment he stands, clinging with all his might to the iron railing, while the mad wind seems to try to strip his clothing from him. How the building trembles under the furious assaults of the wind! What an awful roar the conflicting elements make around its iron walls! The keeper's eyes are half blinded by the driving rain and salt spray. But he can see by the light of the faithful lamp above him towering walls of black and shining water sweeping down out of the fathomless darkness beyond as if to engulf his little refuge. They rush forward and disappear within the circle of gloom below the light, and the next instant he hears them hissing and shrieking around the sturdy iron leg. There! There is the monster wave of all, heaving its mighty crest twenty-five feet, so that the keeper sees it level with his eyes as he gazes, fascinated. It is coming, it is coming. Ah, it is too big to pass the reef without breaking. See! It has toppled over, and goes boiling under the gallery in a wild mass of ghostly foam. The keeper shivers a little, shakes his head, and goes back to his warm room, muttering a prayer for the safety of the sailors on the sea. You and I would mutter one for our own, perhaps, if we stood on a swaying balcony above a storm-torn ocean. Before morning the keeper hears the report of a gun. He knows too well the meaning of that sound. It is a signal of distress. He rushes out on the balcony again, and sees the dim form of a dismasted ship driving upon the reef. What can he do? Not a thing. He calls up his assistants, and they helplessly watch the vessel strike. They hear the cries of her people. They see the waves burst over her in great clouds of seething spray. Suddenly one of the men utters a shout. "See! There's a spar driving down on us with some one on it." A RESCUE FROM THE LIGHT. A RESCUE FROM THE LIGHT. Now the keeper and his assistants can do something, and they move with the rapidity of men whose wits are accustomed to the emergencies of the deep. Projecting from one side of the house is an iron arm, at the end of which hang a block and tackle. This is used for hoisting supplies from the boat which brings them off. Quickly a line is fastened around the hook at the bottom of the tackle. This is to give the shipwrecked mariner something by which to hold. The broken and half-buried spar sweeps down toward the light-house. Two men are clinging to it with the strength of despair. The tackle is lowered, and as the spar drives against one of the stout iron legs of the light-house one of the two men catches the rope, and is quickly hauled up to the gallery. At once the tackle is lowered again, and the other man is hauled up. Half blind, half drowned, staggering with exhaustion, they are taken into the house where warm drinks and dry clothing revive them. Then they sit beside the stove and tell the dreadful story of the wreck, while the howling of the wind, the thunder of the seas, and the swaying of the house remind them all that the storm still rages without. Finally the great gale ends, and gradually the sea goes down. The shipwrecked seamen are anxious to reach land, and the light-house keeper, upon whose stores two extra mouths make serious inroads, is willing to have them go. Late in the afternoon of the third day they see smoke on the horizon. By-and-by the smoke appears to rise from a little black speck. Gradually the speck grows larger, and at length it assumes the outlines of a small steam-vessel. "That's her," says the keeper. "Now you'll be able to get ashore." "Is it the tender?" asks one of the wrecked sailors. "Yes," says the keeper. "She was due here just about the time the gale set in." It is the stanch little light-house tender, whose duty it is to visit the various lights in her district, and replenish their supplies. Many a rough time she has at sea, and many a narrow escape; but the pressing necessities of the keepers of the isolated lights embolden the captains of tenders to brave many dangers. The tender is alongside the light-house in due time, and the tackle which so lately saved human lives hoists up boxes of provisions, cans of oil, and other articles. The two shipwrecked sailors are put aboard the tender to be landed at the nearest port, and in a short time the little vessel is once more a smudge of smoke upon the horizon. And so let us bid good-by to the light-house and the keeper. We know now that he is a brave and faithful fellow, who, if need be, will lower away his little boat, and pull to the rescue of those in danger. We know that in spring and in summer, in autumn and in winter, in calm or storm, in clear weather or in fog, in health or in sickness, he will be found always at his post, always at his duty. We know that when the skies are clear, [Pg 645] [Pg 646] RECEIVING SUPPLIES IN CALM WEATHER. RECEIVING SUPPLIES IN CALM WEATHER. and the sea smooth, and the stars bright, the lamp will burn and send its gentle yellow rays out upon the inky waters to guide the mariner over the trackless sea. We know that when the gray curtain of the fog hides the light, the hoarse scream of the steam-siren or brazen clang of the fog-bell will echo over the water, and warn the sailor against hidden dangers. For always and everywhere the light- house keeper is a brave, honest, faithful man; humble, indeed, but the reliance and the guide of "those who go down to the sea in ships." THE CAMERA CLUB 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. PAPERS FOR BEGINNERS, No. 6. SIMPLE DEVELOPMENT. A girl who was taking her first lesson in developing said that developing was dozens of "whens" and "ifs," and one must learn them all at once or else spoil all one's plates. Our first directions for development will not be with the kind of pictures which the beginner usually takes, but the kind he ought to take, and which are simplest and easiest to develop. These are time landscape pictures. By time pictures is meant those which are taken with a short-time exposure instead of with a drop-shutter in bright sunlight. The day for making a successful time picture is when the sky is slightly clouded and the light soft, so that there are no deep shadows. The picture being made, and everything ready for development, remove the plate from the holder and lay it face up in the tray. Turn the developer —which is ready in the glass graduate—quickly over the plate, taking great care that the whole surface is flooded instantly. If the developer is not applied uniformly patches will appear on the negative which print darker, the dark spots being where the developer did not reach the plate as quickly as it did the other parts. As soon as the developer has covered the plate, move the tray gently to and fro, tipping it this way and that, but not enough to expose the plate. In about a half-minute the high lights will begin to appear. The high lights are those parts of the plate which have been exposed to the strongest light, and which will show white, or light, in the printed picture. The sky, which has reflected the strongest light, will appear first. It will show as black patches here and there at one edge of the plate. By the time the sky is well out other objects will begin to show, those which were in the deepest shadow will be the longest coming out. After the image is well defined on the plate, lift it carefully from the tray and look through it toward the light, holding rather near the lantern so as to see if the detail is out. To explain what is meant by detail, we will suppose that there is a mass of shrubbery in the picture. If this part of the picture is developed far enough, the lights and shadows and the forms of the bushes will show when the plate is looked at against the light, but if the glass is clear there is no detail, and the development has not been carried far enough. It must be put back in the developer and allowed to remain longer. When the plate has been sufficiently developed, which will be in from three to five minutes, the yellow color will begin to fade, and the outlines, which have been quite sharp, will grow dim. At this point, if one looks at the plate the picture can be quite distinctly seen on the back. Take the plate from the developer, rinse it thoroughly in clean water, and place it, film side up, in the tray of hypo solution, which is made by dissolving 1 oz. of hyposulphite of soda in 4 oz. of water. This bath, which is usually called the fixing-bath, though the proper term would be clearing-bath, removes from the negative the sensitive silver salts which have not been affected by light or by development, and makes the image permanent. After the plate has remained in the clearing-bath for five minutes it will be found on looking at the back of the plate that the yellow color has almost entirely disappeared, leaving on the glass the clear image of the landscape. The plate should remain in the hypo for ten minutes, so that the salts of silver may be thoroughly dissolved, or the plates will look streaked, and will not make satisfactory prints. The plate must next be washed to remove all traces of hypo. Hypo stains the negative, and if not thoroughly washed out is apt to form again in crystals and ruin the negative. An hour is long enough to wash the negative in running water, and two hours, with four or five changes of water, where there is no running water. When the negative has been washed long enough, take a small wad of soft cotton, and holding both plate and cotton in the water wipe the film gently with the cotton to remove any dirt which may have settled in the film. If one has no drying-rack set the plate on a shelf, with the film side toward the wall to avoid the settling of dust in the film. When the negative is dry, place it in an envelope, number and mark it, and place it in some place where it may be found without trouble. BILL TYBEE AND THE BULL. YARN OF A WHALEMAN ON SHORE. BY W. J. HENDERSON. "And didn't yeou never have nothin' more to do with whalin'?" asked Farmer Joe. "Oh, well," Handsome answered, "I never said that I gave up whaling for good and all. You know, sailors never know when they're well off." "Waal," said Farmer Joe, "it 'pears to me that this 'ere's abaout a good time to tell us some more on 't." "Did I ever tell you about going whaling on shore?" "Git aout!" exclaimed Farmer Joe. "You don't believe it, eh? Did you never hear of Amagansett, Long Island? That's where all good whalemen go when they get to be too old to go to sea. They have their boats there, and when a whale heaves in sight off shore they put right out through the surf, and generally there's one dead whale in those parts when they come back. But it isn't about that I'm going to tell you, because chasing whales in boats is all the same whether you start from shore or a ship. But down there's where I met old Bill Tybee." "Who were he?" asked Farmer Joe. "He was a very old sailor, who'd quit the sea, and was running a sort of express business. That is, he had a horse and wagon, and used to cart things for people. He was a great old chap, I tell you, and the yarns he used to tell would have scraped barnacles off the back door of the North Pole. His horse was so old he couldn't move at any pace except a sort of dog-trot, and the wagon rumbled and squeaked like a fife-and-drum corps. One day I said to Bill that I'd like to know why he didn't get a new horse and wagon, and then he told me a regular hair-twister. I'm going to tell it to you, and I'm going to tell it just the way Bill told it to me." Handsome shifted his seat a foot or two, took a round turn around his foot and tested the splice which he had been making, and then screwing his face up in imitation of "old Bill Tybee," he began. "Git a new hoss an' waggin, hey? I ain't no dude. Nex' thing I 'spect you'll be wantin' me to run a tally-hoo coach to take beach-combers out a clam-diggin'. New hoss an' waggin! Say, I had 'em oncet, an' I don't want 'em no more. I got all the trouble I want now, without havin' a cantankerous young colt a tryin' to jump fences with me an' the waggin. Say, I'm goin' to tell you 'bout the new hoss an' waggin I had oncet, an' then I leave it to you, if you was me an' I was you, would you try it on some more. 'Bout two year ago come Thanksgivin' I got so sot up in bizness that I bought Farmer Hiram Smoggs's brown colt, that were jes seven year old that fall, an' his one-hoss farm waggin wot Fin Dooley had jes painted redder'n a new can-buoy on the starboard side o' a ship channel. I gave him this 'ere hoss an' waggin wot I'm a-drivin' now to boot. Werry good. I got aboard my new waggin, and h'isted my whip, an' whistled the 'Star-Spangled Banner,' and sez I, 'Thar, gol bust ye, you're in commission, ye wall-sided hooker,' sez I. Then I got under way fur my fust cruise. It were plain sailin' gittin' out o' the harbor, an', as the weather were fair with a stiddy wind, I let the colt go along under plain sail. Waal, I hadn't gone more'n a couple o' cable lengths w'en ole Widdy Moriarty she comes down to the sea-wall on her place, an' sings out to me. So I hove the colt to, an' I axes her, 'Wot's up, mate?' An' she says she wants me fur to take a box o' heggs down to the Fraser Bellew's grocery store. So I filled away on the colt, an' luffed up alongside o' the sea-wall, an' made him fast to a pile wot were stickin' up. I got the heggs, an' stowed 'em right forrard in the forepeak o' the waggin. I got aboard, an' filled away on my course ag'in. "Werry good. Nex' I war hove to by Pete Maguff, a cullud man, who put a bar'l o' maple syrup aboard. Then Jim Penn he puts in a bar'l o' flour fur me to take back to ole man Bellew 'cos 'twarn't the right kind. Them two bar'ls pooty nigh filled up the whole waist o' the waggin. Howsumever, w'en Hank Mosher axed me to take a bar'l o' apples aboard I carkilated I could git her under the break o' the tailboard, an' I did. Pussonally, I war now usin' the box o' heggs fur a bridge, an' were a-steerin' the colt from there. Bein' loaded right down to the Plimsoll's mark, I didn't go to crackin' on sail, but let the colt go along under his lower tops'ls like. All right, sez you. But allus keep a bright lookout fur squalls, sez I. Werry good. I hadn't logged off more'n half a knot w'en Farmer Powley's ten-acre pasture were on my starboard hand, an' his black-an'-white bull, Napoleon Bonyparty, were standin' plum in the middle o' the same. Now w'en that 'ere bull seed that 'ere red waggin he knowed it warn't the ole merchant hooker wot he'd seed me a-steerin' up an' down that road so long. Nope; he med up his mind it were a foreign cruiser, an' sez he to hisself, 'This are where I shows 'em wot kind o' a coast-defense ram I are.' So he blowed one whistle, hooked on, an' come down the field under forced draught, turnin' up a mos' terrible starn wave o' dust on account o' the pasture bein' werry shallow water. I hailed him, an' told him it war me, but he couldn't hear nothin'. All he could do war to see a red waggin. So, seein' that he war a-goin' to ram, I ups an' I lets fall to'gallants an' royals onto the colt, an' away we went dead afore the wind at a twelve-knot gait. The bull didn't stop fur to jump the fence. He jes went through it. Now it were a starn chase right up the hill. "Werry good. But afore I'd got fur I heard a thump, an' lookin' round I seed Hank Mosher's bar'l o' apples'd bounced out over the starn, an' were a-rollin' down the hill at a ginerally lively gait. Gosh! You'd ort to see the bull clear that bar'l. Say, flyin'-fish would have to take lessons from him. Waal, havin' lightened ship by losin' some o' my cargo I reckoned I'd make better speed; but I didn't seem to gain werry much onto the bull. He follered me right slap inter town, an' then there war a sort o' grand general mixification, sich as never war seed afore or sence. "Fust place, everybody begin fur to yell. One sez murder, an' another sez fire. Wimmen screeched an' boys hollered, an' the bull he bellered louder'n any on 'em. Jehosaphat Book, the cullud dominie, he run out an' tried to jump inter the waggin. Jes at that minute the bar'l o' flour give a bounce up in the air. The head o' the bar'l fell out, an' the bar'l, flour, an' all came down over Jehosaphat's head. Afore he could git it off the bull war there, an' he jes picked up Jehos an' his bar'l an' fired 'em right through the winder o' the school-haouse. Jehos landed in the middle o' the [Pg 647] floor, an' comin' out o' the bar'l he war all white. The chillen set up a yell, 'Ghost! ghost!' an' afore the teacher knowed wot'd happened school war out. Jehos picked hisself up, an' saw hisself in the lookin'-glass. Then he let out a squeal an' started fur the street. He thort he'd turned white. "But that warn't the wust of 't. That there bar'l o' apples a-rollin' down-hill had fetched up ag'in the feet o' Blind Billy Bunker's team o' mules, an' they'd started off on a dead run with bar'l hoops a flappin' round their legs. They came into town a quarter o' a mile astarn o' me, and jes in time to meet Jehos w'en he come out in the street all white. He scared them mules so bad that they stopped right in their tracks, an' Billy Bunker war shot off the seat o' his waggin an' out into the road on his head. He got up an' made a grab fur the fust thing that he could feel, an' it were Jehos. Billy war so mad that he punched Jehos's head an' Jehos punched back, an' there was the cullud minister, all white, a-fightin' in the middle o' the street with a blind man. An' the sheriff he came along an' arrested 'em both, an' Jedge Sooter fined Jehos five dollars fur disturbin' o' the peace, w'en he'd ort to have fined the bull. "But that warn't the wust of 't. All this time me an' the bull was still a-goin'. Somebody'd hollered fire, an' somebody else'd run off to the fire- engine house, an' told 'em that they'd got to come quick or the whole bloomin' town'd go. Jes then the red waggin hit a stone in the middle o' the street, an' she pitched so hard she hove her tailboard right up into the air an' overboard. That tailboard were jes as red as anythin', an' w'en the bull seed it soarin' in the air like a ole-time round shell with a navy time-fuse, he jes got clean crazy. He ketched it onto his horns, an' lowerin' his head scraped up about two tons o' dust, an' hove dust an' all right through the big front winder o' Jeremiah Boggs's book an' newspaper store. The firemen seein' all the dust, thought it war smoke, an' they comes up with their engine an' lets drive a stream o' water a foot thick right through the hole in the winder, an' completely sp'iled the whole shop. "But that warn't the wust of 't. Jeremiah's brindle bull-dog were asleep under the counter, an' that there stream o' water hit him ca-plum in the middle o' the back. He let out one yell, an' out o' the shop he went an' down the street all drippin' wet an' squealin' like a pig. Everybody wot seed him hollered 'Mad dog! mad dog!' An' then ole Willum Henry Peet, the constable, he got clean rattled, an' pulled out his rewolwer an' beginned to shoot all over the country. As me an' the bull was still a-goin' I didn't see that, but I could hear it. Waal, Willum Henry's shootin' started up some other folks, an' putty soon there war a whole rigimint o' people out in the street a-shootin', an' not hittin' anythin' 'ceptin' winders, w'ich the same they busted forty-seven. The firemen findin' they'd made a mistake, an' there warn't no fire, said as how Jeremiah'd sent out a false alarm, an' they started to lick him. Some o' his friends come to help him, an' in five minutes there war a reg'lar riot right out in front o' his store. "All this time me an' the bull war still a-goin'. I didn't seem to gain much onto him, so I set the royals an' the stu'ns'ls onto the colt, although it were werry stormy weather, an' I made up my mind that if somethin' didn't carry away I'd be able to hold him right where he war. I had to keep goin' right straight ahead. 'Cos w'y: if I'd 'a' put the helm hard over fur to turn a corner, I'd 'a' rolled the deck-house right off'n my red hooker. Waal, a leetle furder up the street we comes to Peanut Brewer, with his black horse a-standin' dead still. He'd balked, an' Peanut war sittin' on top o' a load o' hay a-sayin' bad words at him. Mrs. Mehitabel Saggs's little boy come out with a big fire-cracker to set off under the hoss an' make him start. At that werry minute Pete Maguff's bar'l o' maple syrup on my waggin' give a jounce, and went by the board over the port rail. That there bar'l rolled right under Peanut's hoss jes as the fire-cracker busted. It sot fire to the bar'l, an' she blazed right up. 'Now,' sez Peanut, 'my ole black hoss'll start,' sez he. An' so he did. He started an' went jes fur enough to pull the waggin' right over the fire, an' then he stopped. Waal, sir, Peanut had to jump fur his life, fur that load o' hay blazed up in half a second. The fire company war on the dead run fur home w'en they seed the blaze, an' down they come at their finest gait, with Jeremiah Boggs an' his gang astarn o' them, keepin' up a permiskious fire o' stones, sticks, an' termatter cans an' sich things. Jes then Jeremiah's dog come around the corner with forty boys a-chasin' him an' yellin' 'Mad dog.' He run right under Peanut Brewer's black hoss, an' that started him. Yaas, sir, he got right up onto his hind legs, an' away he went down the street licketty- split, pullin' a load o' hay on fire. By that time everybody in town were putty nigh crazy, an' the President o' the village had telegraphed fur the militia to come." "ALL THE TIME THE BULL WERE ATTENDIN' STRICTLY TO BIZNESS." "ALL THE TIME THE BULL WERE ATTENDIN' STRICTLY TO BIZNESS." "All the time the bull were attendin' strickly to bizness. The colt war all covered with foam, an' I made up my mind that afore long he war a-goin' fur to give out, an' me an' the bull would have to settle the question atween ourselves, in w'ich case the bettin' would all 'a' bin in favor o' the bull. So I kinder considers a little, an' all on a suddint I recommembered them heggs. I yanked the top off'n the box, an' diskivered that most o' the heggs was scrambled—raw—but still scrambled. Howsumever, there was a few that wasn't. So I took one o' them an' hove it at the bull. It hit him smack on the middle o' the forehead. Waal, if he'd been mad afore, he war crazy now. He let out a roar that made my bones rattle, an' he opened out his last link o' speed. Now he commenced fur to gain on me, hand over fist; so I made up my mind to do somethin' desprit. I put the helm hard a-starboard, an' steered the colt into a narrer channel wot led right down to the bay. The bull he tried to cut short goin' round the corner, an' he run into the lamp-post, w'ich the same he knocked clean down into Parker's basement, where Johannes Pfeiffenschneider, the cobbler, works, an' scared Johannes so that he sp'iled Miss Beasley's Sunday shoes, an' lost putty nigh all his trade. "Down at the foot o' the street war Mark Rogers's oyster sloop Betsey Jane, lyin' alongside o' the wharf. On the wharf war about ten million oyster shells, all piled up. 'Now,' sez I to myself, sez I, 'here's where I've got to stop the bull.' I steered the colt right straight at that reef o' shells, trustin' to our speed an' our shaller draft to carry us right over. There war a smash, crash, biff! an' over we went. Then I jumped up, grabbed the box o' scrambled heggs, an' hove 'em straight in the bull's face. Waal, gol bust me if that there bull didn't look like the gran'father o' all omlets. He was clean blinded fur a minute, an' he kicked out with all four legs in the middle o' the reef, till the air war white with flying oyster shells. He kicked so many of 'em into the bay that Mark had to dredge out a new channel. Then he got his eyes clear a minute an' he seed me a-laffin'. He jes made one jump, an' he got under the waggin' with his head. The next thing I knowed I war in the bay. That there bull jes picked up waggin', colt, an' me, an' he hove us straight off the dock an' into the bay." [Pg 648] "And what happened after that?" I asked. "Waal, we had to swim out, o' course. It killed the colt, that cold bath arter bein' so heated, an' the waggin' was busted into kindlin' wood. An' the bull? Oh, yaas, the bull. Waal, he was puffickly satisfied, an' he went up along the side o' the road an' eat grass jes as if he'd never did nothin' else in all his life. Now, my son, you know w'y I don't git a new hoss an' waggin. I bin there, an' w'en I bin to a place wot's not to my likin' I knows enough not to go back. Git ep!" SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES. BY KIRK MUNROE. CHAPTER XXXIII. LOST IN A MOUNTAIN BLIZZARD. Tired as were the occupants of that lonely camp after a day of exhausting climbing through the timber, their slumbers were broken and restless. The uncertainties of the morrow, the peculiar nature of the road they had yet to travel, and the excitement consequent upon nearing the end of their journey, which none of them believed to be over fifty miles away, all combined to render them wakeful and uneasy. So they were up by the first sign of daylight, and off before sunrise. As there were now but three dogs to a sledge, the load of the one driven by Serge was divided between it and the one that brought up the rear in charge of Jalap Coombs. A few sticks of dry wood were also placed on each sledge, so that in crossing the upper ice-fields they might at least be able to melt snow for drinking purposes. "Now for it!" cried Phil, cheerfully, as they emerged f...