JAPANESE POSTAGE STAMPS!
Reading edition
Every one who sends me 20 unused stamps of his land will receive 20 unused stamps, in good varieties, from Japan.
Sekigyokuken, Mitsunosho, Bingo, Japan.
LOOK HERE, BOYS! 50 stamps and hinges, 15c.; 100, 25c. Cheaper packets if you want. Sheets on approval. List sent free. Send Postal Card.
W. C. SHIELDS, 30 Sorauren Ave., Toronto, Canada.
STAMPS. 20 different stamps free if you send for our approval sheets at 50 per cent. commission. Enclose 2c. stamp, and give reference.
DIAMOND STAMP CO., Germantown, Pa.
105 Stamps, Java, etc., hinges, catalogue, album, 5c. Agents at 50% get free packet stamps and fine illustrated album. Bargain cats. free. A. Bullard & Co., 97 Pembroke St., Boston, Mass.
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! 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.
100 Mixed stamps for 5c.; 100 all dif., 10c. Agents w't'd at 50% com. American Stamp Co., 1607 14th St., West Superior, Wis.
AGENTS w'nt'd to sell Confed. bills; 5 samples, 10c.; 1500 var. stamps and $2.50 album, $15. R. & A., 113 W. 15th St., City.
A Novel Experiment to Try.
Sir Edward C. Wood, secretary of a Round Table Chapter in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.—his address is 156 School Lane—is interested in science, and he sends us the following, adding that he intends to test the experiment, and will be glad to answer questions as to the result. Here is the novel item:
A French scientist, M. Ragouneau, has just discovered how to make a plant grow from the seed in thirty minutes as much as it would under ordinary circumstances in as many days. Heretofore nature has shared this secret with the Yogis of India alone, and the methods pursued by these clever magicians in performing this trick have been often described. They plant a seed in the earth and cover it with a cloth. In a few moments the cloth begins to be pushed upward by the growing plant, which, in a short time, attains the height of several feet. Various theories have been advanced as to the modus operandi of this miracle, one of the latest being that the spectators are all hypnotized by the magician. During his travels in India M. Ragouneau saw this trick performed frequently, and noticed that the Hindoos always embedded the seed in soil which they brought with them specially for that purpose. At last he learned that they obtained this earth from ant-hills. Now ants contain a large proportion of formic acid, with which, in time, the soil of their habitations becomes charged. This acid has the power of quickly dissolving the integument surrounding a seed, and of greatly stimulating the growth of the germ within. After a little experimenting with this acid the learned Frenchman was able to duplicate perfectly the Hindoo trick. His further researches have led him to believe that this discovery may be profitably applied to agriculture. By infusing ants in boiling water, acid as strong as vinegar can be obtained. M. Ragouneau has achieved the best results and most perfect growth by using earth moistened with a solution of 5000 parts of water to one of acid.
The Justice's Carriage Bill.
Not long since Mr. Justice Gray, of the United States Supreme Court, went down into Delaware to hold court, and was met at the railroad station by a deputy marshal. The fees are not large in that section and deputy marshals are not rich men. So this deputy met the Justice on foot.
"Where is your carriage?" asked Justice Gray.
"Well, Mr. Justice, you see the distance ain't great, and the fees are small. If I hired a carriage I should have nothing left."
"You get the carriage," said the Justice. "There is an account to which it can be charged. Write to the marshal in Baltimore, and he'll tell you what the account is."
So Mr. Justice Gray rode into town and the deputy wrote to his superior. Soon after the Justice returned to Washington he received a letter from the Delaware deputy.
"The carriage bill is all right," wrote the latter. "The marshal tells me to charge it up to the account of transportation of prisoners."
On Biscayne Bay.
The northernmost settlement on this Florida bay is Biscayne, first settled twenty-five years ago. The site is one of natural beauty and importance. The land is high, with very little prairie. Several orange and lemon groves have been put out during the past two years. There are pretty tropical flowers, stately cocoanuts, and the ruins of several old stone houses burnt many years ago.
Lemon City, three miles south, and the largest town on the bay, contains 150 families. It has a hotel, a church, and an excellent school. It is the terminus of the Bay and Key West schooner line. The harbor is deep. Buena Vista has the deepest water on the bay. It is a mile south of Lemon City. It is a very small town. It has one store, hotel, and the yard of the Pensacola Lumber Company is situated here. Schooners carrying 300,000 feet of lumber arrive along the shore. The back country is well settled. The largest shipment of beans for the whole bay was shipped from the Buena Vista wharf last season.
Historic Miami is situated three miles south. It is a picturesque region. The oldest cocoanuts in the State wave their nuts above the deserted barracks of Fort Dallas. The Miami River is narrow, silent, and slow-flowing, with rocky banks. There are only three families here, but the Miami River bottom-lands are full of people, owing to vegetable farms, which make this an important shipping-point.
Cocoanut Grove, the home of the yachtsman, is five miles south of Miami. The Peacock Inn is a "veritable English caravansary." This settlement is described as being "popular with travellers, leaders in social functions, and a favorite resort of professionals from all paths of life in need of rest and recreation." There is a hotel, a store, union chapel, and four clubs—the Housekeepers' Club, Girls' Pine-Needle Club, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and a Knights of Pythias Society—all in active operation. There is a casino for social purposes, and a yacht-club house which was built in 1888. The club signal is a red field bordered with blue. Ralph Munroe is commodore, and Kirk Munroe is secretary. Many prominent people belong to the club, and the winter season is gay at Cocoanut Grove.
Harry R. Whitcomb. Umatilla, Fla.
A Blunt but Practical Reproof.
Mr. Henry T. Durant, the philanthropist who gave to Wellesley College its largest endowment, was in early life a lawyer, but at fifty retired from practice and became a "lay preacher." He brought to the latter calling wide experience of affairs and no small knowledge of human nature. He saw through people and through things. One day, during a religious meeting in which he was much interested, he listened to a preacher whose eloquence had profoundly impressed his audience. Behind his eloquence, however, Mr. Durant saw the self-consequential bearing of the young clergyman. When the latter came down from the pulpit Mr. Durant said to him:
"That was an eloquent sermon. What was your purpose in it?"
"Why," answered the preacher with surprise, "to hold up the vivid personality of our Lord."
"I thought that was what you intended; but do you know," observed Mr. Durant, bluntly, "you stood so distinctly and directly in front of Him that nobody saw any one but you."
Answers to Kinks.
No. 1.—Pie-crust.
No. 2.—1, Bagpipe. 2, Hornpipe. 3, Blowpipe. 4, Stovepipe. 5, Pitchpipe. Poetical quotation from Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin."
No. 3.—1, Blame—lame. 2, Swarm—warm. 3, Pine—pin. 4, Wine—win. 5, Maid—aid. 6, Brown—brow. 7, Brow—row. 8, Sleight—sleigh. 9, Babel—babe. 10, Scorn—corn. 11, Pink—ink. 12, Learn—earn.
Kinks.
No. 4.—The American Flag.
I am composed of 16 stars and 5 stripes. My stars 1-16 form a word square.
My 1, 2, 3, 4 is a girl's name.
My 5, 6, 7, 8 is to mind, to yield to.
My 9, 10, 11, 12 is to bring up.
My 13, 14, 15, 16 is a hawk's nest.
My 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 is a trembling, a quivering.
My 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 is to place in contrary order.
My 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 is a large strong rope or chain.
My 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 is a species of poplar.
My 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 is to rule over, to play lord or mistress,
My whole is the red, white, and blue of our nation.
Rita E. Boardman.
No. 5.—Enigma and Anagram.
A spacious room am I, But when taken my first, What before I my second That no more mean I. Into a sentence transpose me I tell that a fluid they pour; Reverse the two last words of this, And an animal they adore. Once more an anagram am I, The impossible I denote; And still once more an anagram, "They're at a catch" is then my cry. Simon T. Stern.
Questions and Answers.
Harvey G. Brendersteth: National Guards of the various States are not national in the sense that they are directly under the command of the United States authorities. More properly speaking they are State Guards, or militia, and when called out to service are called by the Governor of their State. Their expenses are borne by the States and not by the national government. The commander-in-chief of the United States Army is the President of the United States. The commander, in a strictly military sense, is the ranking general, at present General Nelson A. Miles. He is not a West Point graduate.
Any question 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.
FLASH-LIGHTS.
Nearly every amateur has experimented with flash-lights, the results of his experiments being, like his photographs, good, bad, and indifferent.
The great fault with flash-light pictures is the poor lighting of the subject, especially if one photographs a group or even a single individual. The sharp high lights and the dense shadows make a picture which might be called a Rembrandt gone mad. In making a portrait by flash-light the effect of the flash-lighting may be seen by placing a lamp at a point where the best effects of lights and shadows are obtained. The lamp should be at a height of at least four feet from the floor, or at the place where the strongest light from a window, if there were one, would shine on the subject.
Having found the best place for the correct lighting of the subject, arrange the flash-light at this point. Next proceed to obtain a correct focus. This is more difficult to do than by daylight, as the light is so much duller, or has less illuminating power; but by a very simple device one can focus as easily by lamp-light as by daylight. Take a large piece of white card-board, on which either paste or draw plain black letters at least two inches in height. A sentence is better than letters made at random. Set this card-board in the lap of the subject so that it is at the exact horizontal of the camera. If the subject is standing, a string can be attached to the card, and it can be hung about the neck. Place the card-board so that the letters are bottom side up, and they will of course appear right side up when viewed through the camera. This makes them much easier to distinguish. Focus on the letters, and do not try to strain the eye to focus on the subject.
Having the flash-light ready to fire, lower the lights a little, but not enough to make objects indistinct. If the lights are turned out or very low, the sudden change from light to darkness makes the staring look to the eyes so often seen in flash-light pictures. The room being in semi-darkness, the pupils become diluted, and do not contract to natural size till after the picture has been made. Flash-light lamps, with full directions for use, can be bought at very moderate prices ($3 to $5), or one may buy the powder or cartridges. Each cartridge contains enough for one flash. A very pretty picture may be made by placing the powder in the fire-place, and firing it—placing something between the light and the camera—giving the effect of the room being lighted by the firelight.
If the subject does not look toward the camera when the flash is made the expression of the eyes will not be noticed. In firing either a lamp or the powder it is a wise precaution to protect the hands by either putting on an old pair of gloves or wrapping a cloth round the hand used in firing the flash. Aluminum is sometimes used in place of magnesium powder. Either the leaf or powdered aluminum when burned gives an intense light, without the smoke and fumes which make the use of magnesium powder so disagreeable.
Sir Knight Floyd E. Quick sends to the Round Table a tiny photograph of the picture of General Grant which was given with our Round Table last month. It was taken with the Kombi camera, and Sir Floyd says that he placed a lamp about a foot from the picture, and set his camera on some books about a foot from the picture, opened the shutter, and made a three-minute exposure. The picture is very good indeed, quite clear and distinct, so sharp a focus, that the name "U.S. Grant" can easily be read, though the whole picture is not much larger than a twenty-five-cent piece.
To Our Querists.
Correspondents in sending as queries often ask to have the answers printed in the next issue of the Round Table following the receipt of the letter. For the benefit of those who make this request, and then fail to see the desired answer in the "next number" of the Round Table, we will explain that queries are published as soon as possible.
Sir Knight L. K. says that in developing he develops his plates till the image can be seen on the back of the plate, but after the plate is fixed, while the picture is distinct the negative is nearly transparent, and wishes to know the reason. It is because the development has not been carried far enough. The best test of development is to hold the negative to the light and look through it. If it does not appear dense enough it is not developed sufficiently, and must be returned to the developer. A negative will look nearly the same after fixing as it does when examined before fixing. The method of testing development by the image on the back of the plate is not a true test.
Sir Knight Joseph Peri asks what is used in retouching negatives. 1st, What is used to make the negative print black; and 2d, What is used to make it print white. Soft lead-pencils are used in retouching negatives. Any spot in the negative which is filled up or marked over on the negative will print white or light in the negative. To make the print of the negative black in certain places the film is removed by a reducing solution. Alcohol applied lightly with soft linen or cotton will reduce or thin the film where it is not very thick. Ferrocyanide of potassium dissolved in water is a powerful reducer, and will remove the film entirely, leaving clear glass, if such an effect is desired.
It costs a little more, but with chapped hands and clothes weakened by the free alkali in common soaps, the housekeeper soon finds that Ivory Soap is the cheapest in the end.
The Procter & Gamble Co., Cin'ti.
There is just a little appetizing bite to HIRES Rootbeer; just a smack of life and good flavor done up in temperance style. Best by any test.