Harper's Round Table, June 11, 1895 Part 6

The so-called _error_ of the 5c. red-brown U.S. 1890 issue in the color of the 4c. dark brown has been demonstrated to be a _changeling_, by a very simple chemical test. The dealer who offered these stamps for sale at $30 each has notified the thirty-seven people who bought copies at that price that their money will be returned on demand.

I would advise all collectors to keep all the different shades of the U.S. stamps which they get at little or no expense, but to avoid paying any extra for shades of current or late stamps.

A PENROSE SCULL.--The common stamps of the U.S. are worth about $50 to $100 per million if in good condition. The 10c. brown is quoted at 10c.

BUCKSKIN.--This is not the place to quote arguments in favor of stamp-collecting. Most boys, and many men, find great pleasure in this pursuit. Ask one of them to tell you of its pleasures.

H. W.--There are two varieties of Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph stamps. One is worth $2 each, the regular perforated are worth 65c. per set.

ARTHUR L. EVANS.--The 10c. green is worth 6c. The 6c. and 8c.

Columbians can still be bought at face in many post-offices.

PHILATUS.

SCHOOL-BOY'S SONG OF THE SCHOOL WEEK.

On Monday black, at four o'clock, The key is turned in the school-room lock, And I've given old Time a terrible knock, For the head of the Week is broken.

At four of a Tuesday afternoon, The hour that cometh none too soon, I strap my books to a merry tune, For the neck of the Week is broken.

As the four glad strokes on Wednesday ring, My cap in the air I gayly fling, And homeward run as I loudly sing, "The grip of the Week is broken."

Ah, welcome the sound of the Thursday's four, And the joyous thought of "but one day more That opens and shuts the school-room door,"

For the back of the Week is broken.

But sweeter than story in prose or rhyme The musical notes of the Friday chime, For the Week lies dead in the arms of Time, And the school-boy's chains are broken.

L. H. BRUCE.

KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS.

II.--THE SWORD.

"Now while the lords and their followers were gathered in the great church," the Story-teller said, as Jack and Mollie began to show some curiosity as to what this miracle for which Merlin hoped might be, "there was discovered in the church-yard near the altar a great black stone, about four feet square, on the middle of which stood a steel anvil a foot in height. Thrust into this, with its s.h.i.+ning point visible, was a beautiful sword, and about it, written in letters of gold, were these words:

"'WHOSO PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS STONE AND ANVIL IS RIGHTWISE KING BORN OF ENGLAND.'"

"Who put it there?" asked Jack.

"I don't know," said the Story-teller. "It was there, and that is all I know about it, and the people when they saw it were full of wonder, and marvelled greatly to read the words written about it. I imagine, however, that Merlin and the Archbishop had something to do with it, for when the people went into the church, and told the Archbishop what they had seen, he did not appear to be at all surprised, but commanded all to remain within the church and not to touch the sword until the service was over. The people and the gathered knights and all their followers obeyed the Archbishop's command, for they did not dare do otherwise; but, when the service was over, they all rushed out into the church-yard to see the stone and the anvil, with the wonderful sword stuck into it.

And then, when the lords had read the golden inscription upon the stone, each made an effort to pull the sword out of its anvil-sheath, but not one of them could do it. They pulled and tugged and pulled and tugged, but it was all in vain. They neither broke nor budged it, and the Archbishop of Canterbury said it was evident that none of those present could claim to be the rightful King. He added that he believed that the right one would yet be discovered, and suggested that ten of the best knights of the land should be made a guard of honor to watch over the sword until New-Year's day, when any one who wished might come and in the presence of all make the effort to pull it from the anvil. This was agreed to, and it was decided to have a great tournament upon the coming New-Year's day, after which the trial should be made. This kept the knights and their followers in London, for it was important that all should be present at the trial, success in which meant so much, not only to the successful man, but to the whole kingdom as well."

"Didn't Merlin try to pull it out?" asked Mollie. "If he put it in, I should think he could have pulled it out, and then he could have been King himself."

"Possibly; but I imagine he didn't want to be King, for one thing, and, for another, he had been too good a friend to Arthur, and to Uther, his father, to wish to betray them. The Chronicles do not say whether he tried it or not, but if he did, he failed; and so the week between Christmas and New-Year's went by without any one's having moved the sword; and the lords made their preparations for the tournament, and many of them, I have no doubt, spent a great deal of their time getting their muscle up in the hope of winning the crown.

"On the New-Year's day all again a.s.sembled in the church, and, after the service, proceeded to the field where the tournament was to take place.

Sir Ector, followed by his son, Sir Kaye, who had himself been made a knight, and Arthur, rode with them, when it was discovered that Sir Kaye had left his sword behind him at his father's lodging. Summoning Arthur, he requested him to return to the house and get it for him. This Arthur readily consented to do, for he was fond of Kaye, whom, as we have already seen, he supposed to be his own brother. Turning his horse about, he rode full speed back to the lodgings; but when he arrived there he found every one had gone to the tournament, and he could not find his foster-brother's sword. For a moment he was perplexed. He knew it would never do for Sir Kaye to be found at a tournament without his sword, for the sword was the sign of his knighthood, and a knight who had lost it would have been considered unworthy of the honor which had been bestowed upon him. Suddenly Arthur bethought him of the sword in the anvil, and without much hope that he should succeed where so many others had failed, he resolved to make the effort to loosen it anyhow, and in case of success to carry it to Sir Kaye.

"So he rode to the church-yard, and found it as deserted as Sir Ector's lodgings had been. The ten knights who had been left to guard the sword, like every one else in London, had gone to the tournament. Dismounting from his horse, Arthur strode into the yard, and grasping the handle of the sword as firmly as he could, pulled at it fiercely, when, to his surprise and delight, it came out of the anvil. Without stopping to think of all that this meant for him, he remounted his steed, and rode hastily back to Sir Kaye, to whom he handed the weapon.

"The instant Sir Kaye looked at it he knew it to be the sword of the stone, and putting his spurs to his horse, he dashed to where his father stood, and, showing him the glittering blade, told him that it was the sword of the stone, and said,

"'I must be King of this land!'

"But Sir Ector was cautious, so he questioned Kaye closely as to how he had come by the weapon, and he made him go with him and Arthur back to the church and swear to what he said; and Sir Kaye told him the whole story--how he had left his own sword at home and had sent Arthur back for it; how Arthur had gone there, and not finding any one, had bethought him of the sword in the anvil, and had taken it, though no one had witnessed the act."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RIGHTFUL KING OF ENGLAND.]

"Whereupon Sir Ector made Arthur return the sword to the anvil, and himself tried to pull it out, but it would not come; and then he made Sir Kaye try it, and still it would not come; and then bidding Arthur make an effort, the boy did so, and it came out easily, at which both Sir Kaye and his father knelt before Arthur, and hailed him as the man who should be rightful King of England."

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]

With the New England Interscholastic games next Sat.u.r.day the season of track and field athletics--as far as school leagues are concerned--will practically come to a close. The season has been a most successful one.

Records have been broken on every hand, even in events where it was supposed that many a year must go by before that performance could be bettered. This excellent showing is the natural result of the hard training and constant energy of the hundreds of runners and jumpers in the schools; and the ever-increasing number of contestants all over the country proves that track and field sports have secured a firm foothold, and now deserve to be recognized as equal in importance to both football and baseball. In the vicinity of New York, at least, there are fully twice as many who indulge in track athletics as there are baseball and football players. In other regions I think the proportions are more nearly equal. The growth of these sports has been very rapid. In almost every centre there is an Interscholastic a.s.sociation or League, and the daily newspapers, not only of the East but of the West, have been printing reports of scholastic meets for the past two months. The work of the school athletes has decidedly become a factor in amateur sport.

In some of the school leagues there are better men than the colleges can boast of.

The annual meeting of the Inter-collegiate Athletic a.s.sociation at the Berkeley Oval, usually characterized as the "Mott Haven games," because they were first held at Mott Haven, brings together the best college athletic talent from all parts of this broad country. This year a team from the University of California travelled three thousand miles overland to contest for the champions.h.i.+p on that day. Besides them, an unknown runner with a rapid gait and a queer cap came out of the West, and left the crack sprinters of the East straining and striving behind him, while he, with a broad smile, pocketed two gold medals, and carried them back to Iowa. I don't believe there was ever any better sport at Olympia, and if the colleges can be so successful in these things, and can draw men to compete at these games from every point of the compa.s.s, why should not the schools follow their example, and form one great Interscholastic a.s.sociation, and have a big meeting once a year? There is no reason why they should not. I can think of hardly a single obstacle in the way of the formation of such a league. All that is needed is that some energetic individual or individuals, or some enthusiastic and sporting spirited Athletic a.s.sociation take the matter in hand and put it through. Once started, the routine of organization would roll along as if on wheels.

It is not necessary that every school in the country should be asked to join at the outset. On the contrary, I would suggest that the greater a.s.sociation under discussion be made up of the various I.S.A.A.'s now existing, and that the big annual games be a contest among the winners of the annual games of the individual a.s.sociations. This scheme commends itself, because only the best men from every locality could compete at the meeting, and the number of entries could in that manner be limited.

We have all had experience with a superfluity of contestants, and we know what interminable trial heats mean. If the movement to form a general Interscholastic a.s.sociation should be started in New York, there would be no lack of leagues already in good standing to call upon for members.h.i.+p. There are the New York and the Long Island I.S.A.A.'s right here. Near by we have the New England I.S.A.A., the Western Ma.s.sachusetts I.S.A.A., the Maine I.S.A.A., the Connecticut I.S.A.A., the Pennsylvania Inter-academic A.A., the Dartmouth I.S.A.A., and the New York State I.S.A.A. of Syracuse. In addition to these there are many others that I need not mention here. A large and influential league in the West is the Academic Athletic League of the Pacific Coast, of whose prowess on track and field I have had occasion to speak of many times in this Department.

Of course, one of the first questions that would arise upon the organization of such an Interscholastic a.s.sociation would be, Where shall the annual meeting be held? The answer to that is simply, hold it where it will be most convenient for the greatest number of schools interested. It would not be advisable to hold the meeting in a different city each year, for the Portland and Bangor athletes would not care to journey to Philadelphia, neither would the Pennsylvanians care to travel up into Maine. New York is a central location, but in many respects it would be a poor place for a meeting of the kind under consideration. The ideal spot, to my mind, would be New Haven. This for two reasons princ.i.p.ally. It is half-way between Boston and Philadelphia, which are the centres of the New England and Pennsylvania districts; and it is also about equally distant from New York and Hartford, which are the homes of the N.Y. & L.I.I.S.A.A's, and the Connecticut I.S.A.A. The second good reason is that Yale University is situated at New Haven, and I have no doubt that the authorities of college athletics there would only be too happy to offer the use of the Yale field, and to do considerable work toward the management of the games.

Even if the college men felt that they could not devote their time to the management of an Interscholastic meeting--which I greatly doubt, for it would be to their interest to do so--there are three large schools in New Haven, members of the Connecticut I.S.A.A., which would certainly see that business committees were appointed, and competent men set to work for the successful carrying out of the enterprise. But I believe the athletic authorities of Yale would be so glad of the opportunity to help and a.s.sist the school athletes that they would even go so far as to offer a cup to be contested for.

But I have run a little ahead of my subject. What we are all most interested in now is the first step; the rest can easily be arranged afterward. It is too late to think of holding a general Interscholastic meeting this spring, but it is none too early to begin to think of holding one next year. Preparations for such an important event require much time. If there is anything that HARPER'S ROUND TABLE can do to further the success of the plan, or if there is any work that I can perform in my small way toward the carrying out of any idea that may be formulated, it shall be done. I hope these few words on the subject will appeal to the athletes of the schools, and I shall be only too glad to hear from them, and, if possible, to give s.p.a.ce to their suggestions.

PENNSYLVANIA I.A.L. GAMES, FRANKLIN FIELD, PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 1, 1895.

Event. Winner--5 points. Performance.

100-yard dash Jones, P.C. 10-4/5 sec.

120-yard hurdle Branson, P.C. 18-3/5 "

Half-mile run Gage, H. 2 m. 17-1/2 "

Mile bicycle Whetstone, De L. 3 " 7 "

440-yard run Jones, P.C. 58-2/5 "