QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.

ON THE USE OF BOOKS.

M. Taine, the famous french essayist, once said that a book was only the overflow of a man's mind; that his mind must be full of thoughts first before anything could come out on paper, and that after the mind had been filled to the brim a book overflowed. So that in reading any work of great merit we must always read between the lines, and see how much more the author meant to say than he did say, and how much care and thought and study he must have put into it before it appeared in its present form. Any one who understands books, therefore, has for them a wholesome respect that approaches reverence, and you can estimate the amount of brains a man has by the way he treats his books. If he tosses them about, if he leaves them lying open, if he turns down the leaves, you may be sure he uses them but little, and knows less about them and what they contain. There is many a strong athlete and good fighter who is as tender as a woman with his books. He loves to have them around, to sit in the same room with loaded bookshelves, and to turn to them occasionally. There you will find—in the room of the boy or man who knows books—copies of this or that book, from the Three Musketeers to the Bible, pretty well worn, and showing that they are not merely once read, but that they are companions to whom he turns when he feels blue, when there is nothing else to do for the moment, when something is bothering him about which he does not wish to think.

Another good remark somebody made once is that if you own books you do not have to read them. That is, if you hear of a certain book, you say, "I must get that out of the library and read it." If you do so, it is necessary to read it at once and return it. If you can buy it, you read what portion satisfies your particular want at the moment, and then there it stands among your other good friends, always ready, like any real friend, to serve you at a moment's notice in any way it can. Indeed, it is a real friend, because it never deserts you, never goes back on you, never changes, unless somebody borrows it, and that is not the book's fault. The mere fact that your room is filled with books is a good kind of influence, for there is something in the mere proximity of books that makes a chap serious occasionally, and induces him to sit and ponder once in a while in the midst of his grind, his sport, his daily work, and his other and less valuable friends at school or college.

Then, too, in these days, when there are so many hundreds of books a year and so many millions already published, it is utterly impossible to try to read, as the old fellows in the later Middle Ages used to, everything that is published. It is far better to re-read some good familiar things again and again. They are good books, they are your especial favorites, and you will seldom fail to find something new in them each time you read them. It gives you a little idea of how much the writing of them must have meant to their author if you can read them, say, twenty times, and still go on finding something you had not succeeded in discovering in them before.

Some day you will go to call upon a friend who is perhaps a good deal older than you are, and finding him in his library, you will walk in and come upon him standing at his bookshelves, with a volume in his hand. As he stops reading or examining a book, he will sit down, talking with you and handling the book carefully, smoothing down its outside cover, or gently feeling the leaves between his thumb and forefinger. Then, as he gets up to take down a book to show you, he will gently blow off the dust from the top, in order that as he opens it no dirt shall go down between the leaves, there to remain and work ruin like sand-paper. Such a man understands books and has an affection for them. He may be a busy merchant; he may be a lawyer; he may be a bookworm; but in all three cases he is sure to be a refined, educated, more or less scholarly man, because no one can live in the company of good books long and be otherwise. It is a good plan for a schoolboy to begin to make his library at once. Money spent in good books is never wasted, and no sensible parent will check a reasonable desire for them. At college the library will increase, and before you know it you will be starting in on your work of life with one little room in your bachelor apartments or your family home that is just as good as a teacher—better in many ways.

A PERSON TO BE AVOIDED.

There is one thing that every bicycler needs to look out for more than for anything else, and that is the bicycle-thief. There is no denying that he springs up everywhere, and his ingenuity is something to marvel at. The latest device of these people is somewhat amusingly shown in a story which comes to us from over the sea. It seems that a well-known guards Colonel was exhibiting to an admiring group of ladies in Battersea Park, the other morning, the excellences of a magnificent bicycle, rumored to have cost an immense sum, when he was courteously accosted by name by a well-dressed stranger, who ventured to admire the wonderful machine. The stranger inquired as to the cost, and address of the makers, and asked if he might mention the Colonel's name when ordering a similar machine, a request to which the Colonel, who thought that the stranger might be an acquaintance whose face he had forgotten, immediately acceded. Then the stranger wanted to try the bicycle, and the Colonel, proud that his machine should have created such an impression, agreed to that proposition also. "I am only a novice, you know," the stranger remarked, as he treadled feebly along in a serpentine course; and then he mysteriously quickened his pace and began to ride straight. He was out of sight in a minute, and the Colonel is still waiting for him to return.

THE REPLY TO THE "DRUMMER."

Travellers in the buffet-car of the Chicago Limited have provided many good stories for the delectation of readers. The following is a good instance.

As the train pulled out of Chicago, a quiet, gentlemanly-looking man entered the buffet-car, and ensconcing himself in a comfortable chair, drew out a long cigar, and entered deeply into his paper. He remained so quiet and retained his seat so long that another passenger, whose hearing distinctly stamped him as a commercial travelling man, one of the kind full of chatter and curiosity, could no longer restrain himself. Addressing the quiet gentleman, he inquired, "Travelling East?"

Slowly removing his cigar the gentleman turned and looked at his questioner with slightly elevated eyebrows, replying, "Yes."

"New York?"

"Yes."

"Pleasure?"

"Yes and no."

"Great place, New York. Ever been there before?"

"No."

"I'm going home this trip—New York, you know."

The gentleman made no reply but resumed his paper. After a little silence the commercial man began again.

"I'm with C. & Co., on Broadway. If you drop in I'll show you over the city."

"Thank you, it will not be necessary."

"Excuse me, but might I ask what you're going to New York for?"

By this time most of the other passengers were interested. The gentleman, who was extremely annoyed at the drummer's curiosity, laid down his paper, and exclaimed:

"I'm going to New York, first, because the train is taking me there; second, because I've got lots of money and can afford it; and last, because if I like the place I intend to buy it."

The commercial man subsided amidst a roar of laughter.

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.

A HOME-MADE VIGNETTING-GLASS.

A short time ago directions were given for vignetting pictures, using empty plate-boxes with an opening covered with tissue-paper. This is a good way to vignette pictures, but a new box must be prepared for each kind of vignette desired. By using a sheet of ground glass in a frame and painting on it with a non-actinic paint, water-color paint, a vignetting glass is made which is always ready for use by simply washing off the paint and covering again, leaving the shape of the vignette clear.

The frame for the glass may be of wood, or one can take an empty plate-box a little larger than the printing-frame, cut out the bottom, and put the glass in its place, gluing strips of cloth along the edge to hold it in place. The ground side of the glass should be uppermost.

Mark on the glass with pencil the shape of the vignette, have some Gihon's opaque—which is a non-actinic water-color—and paint the glass with it, except in the place marked for the vignette. The paint should be mixed quite thick and be applied evenly, so that the light cannot shine through the glass except where the vignette is to be made. Along the edges of the opening work the paint with a piece of moist surgeon's cotton, which will give a soft effect in the printed picture. A new vignette is made by washing the glass and applying the paint in a different shape. This device for making vignetted pictures will be found very handy, and one which can be easily prepared.

Sir Knight W. Ryerson asks to have the rules of the competition published; what the cause of the yellowish color is in the finished negative; the expense of putting up a reasonable amount of toning solution; and the necessary qualifications to belong to the Camera Club. The competition rules were published in the Round Table for October 6. The yellowish color in the negative is caused by the unused silver salts not being thoroughly dissolved out of the film. If a toning solution is prepared with chloride of gold and sodium with bicarbonate of soda, it will cost 35c. for the chloride of gold and sodium, and 5c. for the bicarbonate of soda. Put the 15 grs. of gold and soda into 7½ oz. of water. This is the stock solution. Put the bicarbonate of soda in water, using just enough water to dissolve it. To make the bath for use, take 3½ oz. of water, and ½ oz. of the gold solution. Dip a piece of blue litmus into the solution, and if it does not turn the paper red, add a little more of the gold solution. Add to this a few drops of the bicarbonate of soda, till it turns the litmus-paper back to blue. Mix the bath half an hour before it is needed. To be a member of the Camera Club one must be an amateur photographer. To join the club, send name and address and state your wish to the editor of the Camera Club.

Sir Knight Wilbur T. Helm, Jun., and Sir Knight Hall M. Crossman ask whether a pocket-kodak picture can be entered in the prize competition, and which is the best film or plate. The pocket-kodak pictures are under the size allowed, 4 by 5 being the smallest size entered. The Stanley, Carbutt, Cramer, Seed, as well as other standard makes, are all good plates. Eastman and Carbutt films are both fine.