QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.

ON DRESS.

There is a certain professor in a certain university of the United States who once, at the beginning of one of his lectures on fine arts, got on the subject of the kind of pins worn in the neck-ties of young college men. He was a good lecturer, and was always interesting, but this lecture was the most interesting of his course to the three hundred boys who heard him, and the whole hour was spent on neck-tie pins, their use and misuse, and what they suggested. The gist of what he said was that there was no more reason why a boy should wear a horseshoe with a whip across it all in gold than that houses should have sieves for roofs. And that as it was extremely foolish to put a big sieve on your house for a roof, so it was quite as foolish to wear horseshoes on your neck-ties. The principle of this is that you should have a reason in what you wear as well as in other things, and that senseless decorations, like horseshoes on neck-ties or neck-ties on horseshoes, are silly and unbecoming to a self-respecting person. This particular example was only one to illustrate a principle, which is that nothing unusual, queer, out of the ordinary, is in itself a good thing; that, in fact, most things that are queer and out of the ordinary are likely, in the question of dress, to be in bad taste. A man's dress ought to be quiet, but it must be clean and well taken care of in every instance. The best dressed man is the man who, in whatever company he finds himself, is inconspicuous; who, you realize in an indefinite way, is well appointed, though you cannot well tell why. If you appear at a dinner in overalls, people say you are badly dressed, and they would repeat that wise observation if you went out in the field in a swallow-tail-coat. In the same way a man who has a flaring neck-tie or a purple handkerchief, or very long coat or very short trousers, is at once conspicuous, and therefore badly dressed.

This is not a question which involves the expenditure of money. A young man's clothing may be worn threadbare, but it can always be clean, and it costs no more to buy a quiet-colored cloth than to buy a big check of black and green or brown and yellow. If you study the matter a little you will find that you can tell the general character of any person by his clothes. Some men are sure to always wear slouchy clothes, half-soiled linen, a bright green neck-tie; others wear highly colored waistcoats; others again are always in the height of fashion—that is, a little in the extreme year after year; and still others make a point of being badly dressed and out of the prevalent style to show that they are not swayed by such silly laws as style. It is easy enough to place all these men in their proper places. And then, finally, you see some young chap whose clothes are clean, who is neither out of the style of the day nor in the height of it, whose clothes may be showing distinct signs of wear, but who seems to fit them pretty well, and to be noticeable in no particular way so far as they are concerned, and in all probability you put him down, if you think of the matter at all, as a man of common-sense, of decency, of self-respect, and good manners.

Then, again, some men sit in their shirt sleeves at home. There is no reason for this. It is merely a queer idea that you are more comfortable in that style of dress. But such men do not realize that their sisters, wives, mothers, naturally lose some of their respect for them, and that they unconsciously lose a good deal of respect for themselves. Certainly these sisters and wives and mothers are the girls and women we think most of, and why do we treat them with a disrespect that we would never think of subjecting strangers to in our own or in their homes? That disrespect to them is a boomerang, a reflector on us ourselves. If you dress quietly and decently and as well as you can, if you keep yourself and your clothes clean, you are more likely to keep morally clean, to think and act in a dignified way, and to treat others with proper respect. Of course there are great men who are slovenly, but they are never great because they are slovenly, and it would not dull their greatness if they kept themselves clean and orderly. It is because they grow careless, and carelessness is never excusable in any one. Think about your clothes, then, and avoid anything that will make you noticeable. That does not mean that one should always be thinking of what to wear, that one should be a dandy and a fop. It simply means that he should be a self-respecting man who tries to be decent.

Postmen sometimes have very lively experiences in the course of their daily rounds. It has often happened that on lonely roads they have had to fight their way against tramps and others who lie in wait to see what they can get that doesn't belong to them, and may be worth having. The most novel experience that has come to notice, however, was in the work of an English postman. It appears that on a recent Sunday a swarm of bees took possession of the village letter-box at Haunton, six miles from Tamworth. There is no collection on Sunday, and on Monday night, when the rural postman essayed to take out the letters, he was compelled to beat a speedy retreat, and no one could approach within twenty yards of the box. The postman avers that that was the liveliest mail he has had to do with in a long while.

BLÜCHER'S PIPE-BEARER.

There is a story told somewhere of an old Indian-fighter, one of the kind that trailed the war parties of the redskins far back in the last century. This veteran loved his pipe, and as the story goes, during one of his exploits the Indians followed his trail by the smell of the tobacco smoke, and finally a well-aimed bullet knocked the glowing bowl from his mouth. Thus warned, he made his escape.

This pipe story does not equal that told of Christian Hennemann, a countryman from Rostock, who fought with Field-Marshal Blücher at Waterloo. Those who are familiar with Blücher's life know of his partiality for a pipe, and even in the heat of battle he never neglected his smoke. As day broke the morning of the memorable battle of Waterloo, Blücher called the hussar Christian Hennemann, and placed him in charge of a box of clay pipes, with the instruction to keep one always ready to hand to him, that he might enjoy a few whiffs during the engagement.

As the morning wore on, Blücher sat on his white charger gravely puffing away. He had reached out his hand for the second time to take the refilled pipe, when an ungenerous cannon-ball dug up the ground near at hand, causing his horse to shy. Blücher hastily handed the pipe to Christian, saying, "Just keep that lighted for a few moments while I drive those rascally Frenchmen back."

The chase was a long one, as history relates, and through the hot summer day the battle waged and men fought and died. When the battle was over, Blücher and Wellington, who were riding over the scene together, happened to pass near where Blücher had first started to chase the enemy. Outlined against the sky a lonely man sat perched on a rock. A bloody rag was bound around his head, and one arm hung in a sling. He was calmly smoking a clay pipe.

With an exclamation of surprise Blücher pulled up.

"Why, it's my Hennemann! How you look, boy! What are you doing here alone?"

"Waiting for you, as ordered," was the grumbled reply. "Been waiting ever since you left. The French have shot away every pipe in the box. They ripped the flesh from my head and shattered my arm with their bullets. It's well there is an end to the battle, or you would have been too late even for this last pipe."

Wellington, turning to Blücher, remarked:

"You have admired the unflinching loyalty and bravery of my Highlanders. What shall I say of this brave soul?"

"But your Highlanders had no pipes to regale themselves with," Blücher replied.

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. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.

The prices of great rarities are not declining, and the common stamps are worth as much to-day as ever; but the middle-class U. S. stamps have had a serious decline during the past three months. However, the stock is not large, it cannot be increased, and the good stamps are constantly being spoiled by carelessness or destroyed by accident, hence the eventual return to higher values is inevitable.

A rumor has gone abroad that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington contemplates making an entirely new set of postage-stamps, or keeping the present dies and changing all the colors. In either case there will be a great demand for Plate Nos. The present prices of Plate Nos. are quite low, and collectors should make up their albums as soon as possible. If a new set of stamps is issued, almost every one will be able to get all the new Nos. at a slight advance on face values.

One of the New York dealers has adopted a new method of selling scarce stamps. For instance, a U. S. Revenue was placed in the window marked $20, the catalogue price, with a notice that the price would be reduced $1 each day until sold. Quite a number of collectors kept tally, and determined to buy the stamp when it had come down to $12 or $13. They are still waiting, as the stamp was sold at $14. Other dealers intend to do the same thing with other stamps, and in many instances they expect the stamp to be sold the second day.

S. P. Kenna.—There is no accounting for fashion, but the wise collector is one of those who set the fashion. Those who come in later must pay highest prices. Australians were the most sought after three or four years ago, then came West-Indians. U. S. stamps, of course, are, and probably will be, more sought after in this country than abroad.

J. Shackheim.—A fine unused 90c. U. S. 1860 issue, sold at one auction for $11 a few days ago, and the next day a poor copy of the same stamp brought $13.50 at another auction. The first was very cheap, the second very dear. Unused high values U. S. will always be very scarce, and in some cases rare.

J. Urban.—You have a very interesting lot of coins, but none of them is of such rarity as to be worth sending to a dealer. You will doubtless be able to get many others in time at nominal prices, and thus make up a good collection.

W. Hammond, 8 High St., Peabody, Mass., wishes to exchange stamps.

J. O. Hall.—To get the new stamps as issued I would advise you to join the American Philatelic Association. Address J. F. Beard, secretary, Muscatine, Iowa.

F. X. Schmidt.—The first coins struck for an American English-speaking country were the Sommer Island III., VI., XII. pence in 1616. These are now called the Bermuda Islands. The next coins were the New England III., VI., XII. in 1652, and the Pine-Tree pieces struck in the same year.

J. Kleinschmidt.—There are two varieties of the 1869 15c. stamp. 1. The ordinary, in the frame of which, under the letter T of the word POSTAGE, is a diamond. This variety is worth $1.25 used. 2. The other has the diamond cut out, and this variety is worth $3 used.

A. A. Davis.—Brazil stamps, both used and unused, had been very low in price for all issues from 1850 to 1893. Daring the past two years they have gone up in price quite remarkably, as the dealers and collectors find that certain varieties are quite scarce. If you have the complete sets unused hold on to them, as prices are bound to advance.

Philatus.