Golden Days for Boys and Girls Part 26

J. E. M. AND R. B. G.--Every requisite for admission to the West Point Military Academy was fully detailed in No. 12 of the last volume, which will be mailed to any address upon the receipt of 6 cents.

OLD READER.--1. The oldest daily newspaper in this country is the North American and United States Gazette, founded in 1771, and still published in Philadelphia. 2. There may be some curiosity dealer in your city who would be willing to purchase the ancient paper in your possession.

YUM YUM.--Boulak is the port of Cairo, Egypt, being situated on the right bank of the Nile, one mile northwest of that city, of which it forms a suburb. A n.o.ble museum of antiquities is situated at Boulak, and the latest additions to its treasures are the mummies described in No. 22.

F. E. N.--Level is a term applied to surfaces that are parallel to that of still water, or perpendicular to the direction of the plumb-line; and when it is desired to ascertain the alt.i.tude of any specified locality, the level of the ocean's surface is always taken as the standard from which such reckoning is made.

ALEX.--The easiest and most skillful methods of killing setting and preserving insects were set forth in Nos. 18, 27, 47, 48, 49 and 50 of Vol. III. The process of making the "killing bottle" is too lengthy to be reproduced here, but is given in full in the first-mentioned issue, under the heading "Herme's Museum."

W. B. W.--By closely studying the construction and solution of the puzzles printed from week to week in this paper, any boy of average intelligence will have no difficulty in mastering them in a comparatively short time. A very interesting article on this subject was presented under the t.i.tle of "An Instructive Pastime," in No. 22 of Vol.

VII.

CLARENCE B.--There is only one source of alcohol--the fermentation of sugar or other saccharine matter. Sugar is the produce of the vegetable world. Some plants contain free sugar, and still more contain starch, which can be converted into sugar. The best vegetable substances, therefore, for yielding alcohol are those that contain the greatest abundance of sugar or of starch.

A SUBSCRIBER, H. C. J. AND S. O. K.--Boys aged from fourteen to eighteen years are eligible to appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. The limit of age for those enlisting on the government training s.h.i.+ps is from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches of the service are open to any American youths capable of pa.s.sing the physical and mental examinations required of all applicants.

H. S. W.--The Bible informs us that Tubal-Cain, the son of Lamech and Zillah, was the "instructor of every artificer in bra.s.s and iron," and on that account he is considered the first blacksmith of which there is any record. Respecting the tools used by him there is no mention made by historians. Jabal, another son of Lamech, "was the father of such as dwell in tents and of such as have cattle," and his brother Jubal "of all such as handle the harp and organ."

FRANKLIN SCHOOL.--We prefer to refrain from publis.h.i.+ng medical recipes, such as pimple removers and the like, always advising a consultation with a first-cla.s.s physician, who will prescribe some blood-purifying compound for the relief or cure of the trouble. In our younger days, a mixture of mola.s.ses, cream tartar and sulphur was considered a sovereign remedy for skin eruptions, and a weak solution of alcohol or ammonia a most excellent annihilator of "blackheads."

HARKINGOPITCHER.--1. The originator of puzzles is not known, nor is it at all probable that the mystery surrounding their inception will ever be cleared away. The fabled founder is the Sphinx of Egypt, who, the mythologists inform us, propounded the first enigma. 2. It is an invariable custom to notify our readers of the appearance of new serial stories, and therefore you will receive due notice of those written by your favorites, when we conclude to publish them.

THEO. H.--The action of machines used for making ice consists in evaporating ether, or any similar volatile liquid, in a vacuum, and again condensing the vapor to liquid, so as to be used afresh. Fifty-two degrees of cold is thus easily obtained, and the machines used for the purpose can produce several tons of ice each day in the hottest countries. Much artificial ice is now made by compressing atmospheric air, and by this method a freezing temperature is obtained on vessels employed in carrying fresh meats from distant countries.

INK BOTTLE.--1. Mineralogists apply the term "pyrites" to a large group or family of minerals, compounds of metals with sulphur, or with a.r.s.enic, or with both. The name was originally given to the sulphuret of iron, known as iron pyrites, in consequence of its striking fire with steel (from the Greek _pyr_, fire), and it was used for kindling powder in the pans of muskets before gun-flints were introduced. Iron pyrites is commonly of a bright bra.s.s-yellow color, and is found crystallized in cubes, dodecahedrons and many other forms. It is a very widely diffused and plentiful mineral, and seems to belong almost equally to all geological formations. 2. Eagle cents issued in 1858 are of no value to collectors, because they lack rarity. 3. Your exchange is too trivial.

J. B. D., of Chicago, kindly informs us that he has been able to get a slight shock from a telegraph battery in the following manner: "On every learner's instrument there are two binding-posts, and to one of them is joined a wire from the battery; a small file is fastened to the other; the key is closed, and then the other wire of the battery is taken in your wet fingers, and, with the other hand, also wet, upon the file, the wire is run along the surface of the file, and a shock results."

WALTER R.--What is known as the registry system is intended to secure to valuable mail-matter in its transition through the mails the utmost security within the province of the Post Office Department. The fee on any registered matter, domestic or foreign, is fixed at ten cents on each parcel or letter, to be affixed in stamps, in addition to the postage. The money-order system is intended to promote public convenience, and to secure safety in the transfer through the mails of small sums of money. The rates may be ascertained by inquiring at a local office.

AN ADMIRER OF G. D.--1. Two French scientists, Captain Renard and M. Tissaudier, have invented a balloon whose motive power is electricity. The dynamo machine used by them is an intensely concentrated b.i.+.c.hromate battery of one and a half horse-power. It is very light, weighing but 121 pounds. Several successful experimental trips have been made in this machine, and the inventors claim that by using all the battery power, they were enabled to navigate against the wind. They may be over-sanguine, but expect, after making some improvements in the balloon, to attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour. 2. Constant base-ball practice will harden the hands.

No artificial preparation is used by professionals.

PARXIE.--John Howard, an Englishman, made on May 8, 1854, the greatest running long-jump, with weights, 29 feet 7 inches; without weights, the highest record is 23 feet 3 inches, made by M. W. Ford, August 14, 1886.

Standing long-jump with weights, 14 feet 5 inches, G. W. Hamilton, October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10 inches, M. H. Johnson, September 4, 1884. Running hop-step-and-jump. 48 feet 8 inches, T. Burrows, October 18, 1884; standing hop-step-and-jump, with weights, 40 feet 2 inches, D. Anderson, July 24, 1865; without weights, 31 feet 10 inches, Gavin Tait, 1862. These are world's records. The best one-mile amateur bicycle record--2.35 2-5--was made by W. A. Rowe, October 23, 1885. He has beaten this record--2.29 4-5--since he became a professional.

H. C. H.--In early days the coining of copper money for New Jersey was given by law to Walker Mould, Thomas Goodsby and Albion c.o.x. There were two mints, one at Elizabethtown and the other at Morristown. These coins display on their obverse a horse's head, usually facing right, with a plow below it, and the legend is "Nova Caesarea." The date is placed in several positions. On the reverse is a s.h.i.+eld, with the motto "E Pluribus Unum" around the border. In ordinary condition, these coppers are worth from ten to fifty cents. The rarest varieties are those having the date under the beam, which are worth $100 each: with the General Was.h.i.+ngton bust, $150 each; and with "Immunis Columbia, 1786" for obverse, $50. Doubtless the one in your possession is a common variety.

GRAPE CITY.--1. The modern express traffic was originated by William F.

Harnden, on March 4, 1839. At first he carried the packages himself from place to place in a satchel; but his patrons grew in number until he had to establish an office in each city, with a daily messenger each day.

Previous to this, all such packages had been sent by friends, or by special messengers. 2. The precise time of the invention of the telescope, as well as the name of its inventor, is unknown. Prior to the end of the thirteenth century, gla.s.s lenses were in use for the purpose of a.s.sisting the eye in obtaining distinctness of vision. Galileo is generally credited with being the first who constructed a telescope by which he was enabled to make many of the great discoveries upon which the science of astronomy stands for its foundation. 3. By good business methods you can doubtless build up a trade such as that stated.

4. Inquire at a book store.

KICKAPOO.--1. At the beginning of the eleventh century it is said that the Northmen attempted to plant a settlement in the locality known as Rhode Island. In 1614, Block, the Dutch navigator, explored it, and the Dutch traders afterward, seeing the marshy estuaries red with cranberries, called it Roode Eylandt, "red island," afterward corrupted into the name it now bears. Roger Williams, a Welsh-Puritan minister, pastor of a church at Salem, was banished from the colony of Ma.s.sachusetts, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, and there, with a few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in 1636. The place selected by him for settlement he called Providence.

2. The first wife of Julius Caesar was named Cornelia; the second was Pompeia, a relative of the noted Pompey; and the third was Calpurnia.

3. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769, and died May 5, 1821, at St. Helena, to which island he had been exiled after the battle of Waterloo.

NEMO.--The recipe for making a copying-pad and the ink used thereon was given in No. 2, vol. V. --E. D. AND AUTHOR. We are fully supplied with literary material by experienced writers. --SOLOMON C. Acrobats do not use any artificial preparation to increase their suppleness. Constant practice is the secret of the agility displayed by them. --W. B. The construction of a photographic camera was detailed in No. 13, Vol. IV; while the making of blue prints formed the subject of an article in No.

51, Vol. II. --NINTH AVENUE. Interesting articles on the subject of electricity have been presented in Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. VI, and 16, Vol.

VII. --SUBSCRIBER. An ingenious, painstaking boy can construct a very neat aeolian harp by following out the directions given in No. 16 of the fifth volume. --COPPERHEAD. 1. The drawing of the binder shows considerable ingenuity, and is doubtless novel and useful enough to warrant patenting. 2. One of the simplest and best forms of the canvas canoe was ill.u.s.trated and described in No. 37, Vol. VI. In this and the previous number another kind is represented. --W. C. H. Any study can be mastered if the student is persevering and ordinarily intelligent.

--D. P. H. 1. None of the curiosities in your possession are of any special value. 2. The gold coin will pa.s.s at its face value. 3. Nos. 2 and 18, Vol. II, are out of print. Three dollars per year is the regular subscription price of GOLDEN DAYS. 4. The magazine is out of print.

--BUCKSKIN BOB. This paper has always been sold by us at a uniform rate of six cents per copy. --W. M. K. Tan the small skins according to the directions published in No. 7, Vol. IV. --S. C. Yes. --J. A. W. Place the matter in the hands of a lawyer. --W. G. W. The addition of a small quant.i.ty of j.a.pan dryer to printing ink will make it dry quickly.

--CHESTNUTS. A boy of eleven should confine his reading to more useful literature than novels, leaving those to be perused at a maturer age.

--COW BOY. There is such a series of juvenile books. Make inquiry at a book store. --GOLDEN CROSS. A first cla.s.s bookseller can obtain for you the books of travels written by Stanley and Livingstone. --MIDDY (Was.h.i.+ngton). The length of a s.h.i.+p's cable is about 720 feet. --B. O. S.

No premium is offered for 1819 quarter-dollars, Hong-Kong coins or French centimes.

[->] Several communications have been received which will be answered next week.

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[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOD'S PENOGRAPH THE ILl.u.s.tRATION SHOWS THE EXACT SIZE OF PENOGRAPH.]

WOOD'S PENOGRAPH!

[->] *WOOD'S PENOGRAPH* consists of a first-cla.s.s DIAMOND-POINTED FOURTEEN-CARAT gold pen, and the only fountain holder ever constructed which is _unconditionally warranted to give satisfaction_. It needs no wiping and no dipping for ink, and it is carried in the pocket always ready for use on any kind of paper. The Penograph is totally unlike the McKennon, Livermore, T. Cross, and other Stylographic so-called pens, which have a rigid point incapable of making shaded lines. Hitherto a really desirable two-nibbed gold pen and fountain holder has been an expensive luxury in which comparatively few could indulge. The retail price of this Penograph is $3. It is warranted to be the _par excellence_ of all fountain pens, and we place it within easy reach of every one by the following liberal offer:

Every Subscriber to GOLDEN DAYS for One Year can have this valuable Fountain Pen sent to them postpaid by adding to the subscription price one dollar--in other words, send us $4.00, and we will send postpaid *Wood's Penograph* and GOLDEN DAYS for one year. In this way you will be getting the *Penograph* for one dollar, or one year's subscription to GOLDEN DAYS for one dollar, just as you please to look at it. Either way you get a bargain. [->] The money must be sent direct to this office.

Address

JAMES ELVERSON,

Publisher GOLDEN DAYS, Phila., Pa.

JUST THE BOOK FOR STUDENTS.

*Military Dictionary*

--and--

*GAZETTEER*

Comprising

*Ancient and Modern Technical Terms, Historical Accounts of all North American Indians, as well as Ancient Warlike Tribes. Also, Notices of Battles from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, with an Appendix containing the Articles of War.*

--by--

THOMAS WILHELM,

(_Captain Eighth Infantry._)

*656 Pages, Bound in Blue Cloth.*

We have arranged with the publishers for a limited number of this book, and will send