Harper's Round Table, October 29, 1895 Part 13

A Special Offer.

Teachers, students, superintendents of Sunday-schools, Ladies, members of the Round Table, and others willing to distribute ten to seventy-five Prospectuses and personally commend HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, will receive, according to number of Prospectuses distributed, bound volumes of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for 1893, gold badges of the Round Table Order, packet of fifty engraved visiting-cards, bearing their name, with copper plate for future use, rubber stamp bearing their name and address, nickel pencil resembling a common nail, or silver badge of the Round Table Order. This offer is restricted to one person in a town or neighborhood. In applying, state how many circulars you can place in the hands of those sure to be interested in them, what are your facilities for distributing them, and what prize you seek. Apply early.

For an In-door Evening.

The season of the year approaches when in-door parties are held. At these parties riddles are often called for. Several members send us some riddles. We group them here, with answers, that you may use them if you have need:

For no crime did I come to my end, No rope round my neck was e'er tied; Though no jury decided my fate, I was hanged from a tree till I died.

Answer: Absalom.

I was a baron bold and bad, A follower of King John; I lost my place, I lost my power, And all my wealth was gone.

My story, told in jingling rhyme, Familiar is to all: For I'm only ---- ---- The ---- that had a fall.

Answer: Humpty Dumpty. Egg.

My first a party leader is, A river is my second, Whoever bears my third will still A man of mark be reckoned.

An emperor, in sad disgrace, Knelt barefoot at the portal Of him whose name my whole betrays, In church and state immortal.

Answer: Hill-Dee-Brand.--Hildebrand.

I'm a very busy person About this time of year; At morning and at night-time I'm almost always here, But at high noon I steal away To come again at close of day.

Answer: Jack Frost.

The Helping Hand.

At the approaching Christmas-time cannot the Ladies, the Knights and Patrons a.s.sisting, hold some fairs in aid of the School Fund? As a rule, these fairs prove the most successful of any plan so far followed. There is some work connected with such undertakings, but there is also much pleasure. Won't _you_ speak to your friends about it at once? See what they say and what they will do. You will find all willing to help. What is needed is a leader. Won't you take the lead--set the ball rolling?

Prizes for Pen-Drawings.

Members are asked to bear in mind that we cannot send proof of the prize story promptly, as several of you ask us to do, since the Story Compet.i.tion does not close till near the end of December. It is the first prize story of that contest that is to be ill.u.s.trated. We have about fifty requests for the proof, so the contest is to be a spirited one. With the proof, to be sent to contestants early in January, there will be mailed hints about size, etc. The sum of $10 is offered for the best ill.u.s.tration. Contestants select their own subject. Those who wish to try for the prize should ask for proof. If, after you receive the proof, you think you cannot successfully compete, you merely throw the proof in the waste basket. Better try in the contest. You risk nothing.

By-the-way, do you remember the spirited ill.u.s.trations of Mrs.

Roosevelt's _Heroes of America_ published last summer? They were the professional work of Mr. F. C. Yohn, who, as an aspiring young man, and then living in Indianapolis, tried in one of our pen-drawing contests, winning a first prize.

How Did the Gypsy Know?

Years ago an old gypsy called on my grandmother and wanted to tell her fortune. My grandmother didn't believe the gypsy's power to tell of future events. But the gypsy persisted. Finally, grandmother declared she had no money with which to pay her.

"Yes," said the old gypsy, "you have five dollars hid in that old clock."

Well, my grandmother consented at this exhibition of the gypsy's supernatural powers. And then the gypsy told her, among other things, that she would have great trouble, leave Georgia, and go away down South, and be left a widow, and then years after go back to Georgia. Now, the strange part about this is that the gypsy's prophecy was literally true. My grandmother, sure enough, went away down on the Gulf coast, and her husband died soon after of paralysis, and now, seven years after he died, she is on her way back to Georgia. How did the gypsy know?

HARRY R. WHITCOMB.

UMATILLA, FLA.

Prices of the Order's Badges.

The new badges are an exact reproduction of the rose, in the centre of which is claimed to be the original "round table" of King Arthur. You will find a picture of the top of this table on the back of the 1896 Prospectus, and the centre of it at the bottom of the Patent. The prices of the badges are: Pansy leaves or the rose, in silver, 10 cents--that is, 8 cents for the badge and 2 cents for postage; of the rose, in gold, 85 cents, with nothing added for postage. All are in the form of stick pins. Members are not required to purchase badges. We offer the silver rose as payment for giving to your friends, whom you are sure will appreciate them, fifteen Round Table circulars. The offer is open to all members.

The Order's Handy Book.

Have you the Table's "Handy Book"? It has thirty-six pages, mostly filled with useful facts. Full information is given about the Order and the School Fund; and there are values of rare stamps and coins; lists of words often misspelled; athletic records of 1895; books that all ought to read; information about gaining admission to West Point and Annapolis; populations of cities; rules of etiquette, etc. You may have copies for yourself and friends, if you apply for them. Some members get copies and give them to fellow-students in Sunday-school and day-school cla.s.ses.

A Question for You.

In the ninetieth line of the First Book of Virgil, the first two words are _Intonuere poli_. The translation, as I have it, is "the poles resound," meaning that the earth echoes with the heavy thunders. Now will somebody please explain to me how the ancients knew there were poles without having some idea of the roundness of the earth? Almost the same expression is used in the 398th line, as follows, _Et coetu cinxere polum_, etc.

ALFRED C. BAKER.

SCHAGHTIc.o.kE, NEW YORK.

A Venetian Night at Newport.

On an evening recently Newport Harbor presented a fine appearance.