QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.

ON GOING TO COLLEGE.

One of the professors of Harvard University once said, in a lecture, that many young men made a great mistake in going to college; that a university was for students, and for students only; and that if a boy were not of a studious turn of mind it was more than likely that he would waste his time for four years that could be put to better advantage in some mercantile business.

The time for such ideas has gone into history with other ideas of a similar nature, such as the buying and selling of slaves, and the pride noblemen used to feel in not being able to read or write. A college education is quite different from acquiring knowledge at a college. For instance, you may be attending a preparatory school at this moment, and are considering what courses of study you will pursue in order to obtain a "college education." What do you find at Harvard? There are some two hundred different courses to choose from, and by choosing sixteen or seventeen, and taking four or four and a half a year, at the end of four years you will, if the examinations are passed satisfactorily, obtain a degree of A. B., which in the common phrase signifies that you have obtained an education. And yet you have studied only sixteen or seventeen out of the two hundred preliminary courses that lead up to a real education. In fact, when these four years are done you have only just begun! And therefore the actual study covered amounts to little.

What has been accomplished, however, is the study and practice of how to learn, and how to go to work to get an education. You have learned how to start on any subject, whether it be the selling and buying of leather and tin goods, or the teaching of boys' schools, or the science of biology. Little information has been acquired, but you have at least learned how to attack any subject.

Furthermore, you have come from your home, wherever that may be, have met other fellows, have joined them in studies, in sports, in clubs, and in societies; and under the guidance of a carefully selected body of instructors and authorities you have learned how to take care of yourself in emergencies of all kinds, how to read, how and what to study, how to treat men and women—even how to fight when that becomes necessary; and whether you decide to take up further study or mercantile business, the result is the same. You know men, and the ways of dealing with them; you know books, and the ways of dealing with them. And incidentally you have acquired a great respect for both these valuable companions.

Let no young boy say to himself that, being dull in school, he will waste time in college. Time is never wasted that is spent in manly existence, in seeing and working with other men on a high plane, in reading any good books upon good themes or good ideas. If you have little money for any such purpose, remember that any sincere man can either win scholarships or work his way through college by doing janitor-work or a thousand other things. Remember, too, that not only have some of the greatest men America has ever known worked their way through college, but that money does not count for so much at the university as it does anywhere else in life. Many a poor fellow has led his class, and not in studies alone, but in sports and in societies and in respect. But—and this is a big "but"—he must be a man, a gentleman, and a hard worker.

If you are going into mercantile business, if you are going into professional work, or if you are going to do anything that comes first to hand, you will be the better for the three or four years, and no one who can study nights, while he works days, can be prevented from passing the entrance examinations in time. The only person who can really prevent him is himself, for if he has not the force of character to stick to it till the end, he can never do much of anything, to say nothing of entering or working his way through college.

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.

TRANSPARENCIES FOR ORNAMENTAL LANTERN.

An ornamental lantern fitted with transparencies is a pretty and inexpensive Christmas gift, and may be quickly and easily made by any member of our club who owns a scroll-saw. For the sides of the lantern make a pretty open-work design, and in the centre of each panel cut a square large enough to admit a glass the size of a lantern slide (3½ by 4). Select negatives which have plenty of detail and are of good printing quality. Make four transparencies, using either the sensitive plates which come for that purpose, or making tinted transparencies according to directions given in Nos. 857 and 863. The tinted transparencies are more ornamental, but the black and white are pretty. These transparencies are fitted in the panels, and the lantern is then put together.

If one does not know how to make transparencies, almost the same effect may be produced by applying a print to plain glass, using the cover glasses made for lantern slides, and then removing the paper, leaving the film only on the glass. Directions for this process may be found in No. 878. If one has used landscape negatives, a piece of pale blue paper placed over the sky part, and a piece of green back of the landscape, will have the effect of a colored transparency when the tiny lantern inside is lighted. A small alcohol-lamp serves for the lighting, and will burn for several hours. If one has a sunset view showing fine clouds, place a faint rose-color or violet-tinted paper back of the sky, and when the lantern is lighted the colors are like those of a real sunset, the shadows and high lights in the clouds, making the different tones and shades of color. Of course if viewed in a strong light this way of coloring would be too crude, but in the faint light of the lamp it is not noticed.

In selecting pictures for the lantern, choose those which will be familiar to the one for whom the gift is designed, as half the value of a photograph is in its being a picture of some well-known place or object.

Blue transparencies show off well in a lantern of this description. Directions for making them were given some time ago, but we print another formula for the benefit of those who have not a copy of the number containing the first, and who might wish to make a lantern with blue transparencies.

No. 1.

Red prussiate of potassium¼ oz.

Water4 oz.

No. 2.

Hyposulphite of soda¼ oz.

Water4 oz.

Take old or fogged plates, and soak them in a solution made up of equal parts of No. 1 and No. 2 until the gelatine is perfectly clear. Wash thoroughly, and while wet place the plate, gelatine side up, in a clean tray, and flow over it a solution made of

Citrate of iron and ammonia½ oz.

Water2 oz.

Allow it to remain in this solution one minute, drain, and stand away to dry in a dark room. Print in the sun till shadows are slightly bronzed, about as they appear in a blue print. Remove from the frame, place in a developing-tray, and flow with a solution made of

Red prussiate of potassium1 oz.

Water4 oz.

When the development has been carried far enough, remove from the tray, and wash in running water till the high lights are clear. Dry and use in any way in which transparencies are used.

Sir Knight J. Paul Jones, 214 N. Third St., Harrisburg, Pa., says that he has a 4-by-5 Daylight kodak, with plate attachment, which he will sell at a bargain, if any of the members of the club wish to purchase a camera of this kind.

Sir Knight Warren H. Munk, 14 Waldron Street, West Lafayette, Ind., wishes to obtain a prize picture from one of the members of the club who has won a prize in any of the Camera Club contests. He says he will be glad to pay for it if he can have it. Will one of our members who has won a prize write to Sir Warren? Sir Warren may see half-tone reproductions (much reduced in size) of the pictures that won prizes last year, in No. 848, January 28, 1896.

George Coleman, Dayton, O., asks how he may become a member of the Camera Club; what makes the films of negatives crack off round the edges, making it necessary to trim the picture considerably, thus reducing it very much in size. Any Knight or Lady of the Round Table may become a member of the Camera Club by sending name and address to the editor of this Department, and it will be published in the Round Table, and duly enrolled in the Camera Club book. To become a Knight or Lady of the Round Table send name and address to the Round Table, and patent will be sent to you. In order to enter contests one must belong to the Order of the Round Table. The softening of the film is because the water in which the negative is washed is of too high a temperature. Neither the water nor the solution should rise above 85° or fall below 60° F.; 70° is a safe temperature. If the solutions or fixing-bath is too warm, set the dishes in a pan of ice-water for a few moments to lower the temperature.

The Camera Club Competitions will close February 15, 1897, as announced in the October 27, 1896, issue. The statement in the December 8 issue that they closed on December 15, 1896, was an error.