"And Bob Rooney's pet coon has to be fastened by a chain," said Josie. "But Jack-a-Dandy is as free as we are."

But mamma was not particularly pleased with Jack, and grandma continued to grumble over his misdemeanors, especially when he would rummage in her work-basket, and carry off her silver thimble or bright steel bodkin.

"He's a troublesome creature," she would declare, "and if I had my way, he'd get his neck wrung."

But we kept a good watch on our favorite, to keep him from getting into mischief.

We had used our best endeavors to teach him to talk, but he was a poor scholar, and could not even learn to pronounce his own name.

Still we loved him, and continued to take his part against his enemies.

Papa had never said much, one way or the other, about Jack, though he was not very favorably disposed toward the race of crows. But when the spring planting was done, he took sides with the opposition.

"If your tame thief pulls up my corn, I'll shoot him," he declared.

"If he troubles the young chickens, he'll have to go," said mamma.

"If he spoils my garden, I'll wring his neck," asserted grandma.

And, as may be imagined, we suffered considerable anxiety about our pet.

One day we were eating dinner, while Jack sat perched on the post-oak near the door.

Suddenly a terrible commotion occurred in the chicken-yard, caused by a hawk which had swooped down and seized a young chicken.

The hen-mother, however, attacked the marauder so furiously that it was unable to carry off its prey immediately, and before papa could seize his gun and reach the scene of conflict, Jack-a-Dandy had flown to the hen's assistance.

He attacked the hawk so desperately that it dropped its prey, and a terrible combat ensued, in which Jack came off the victor. But not satisfied with this, he pursued the flying enemy a long distance, attacking him sharply when occasion offered.



You may be sure we had a great many praises and a sumptuous dinner for our favorite, on his return.

Hawks had for years been a great pest to poultry raising, and even mamma espoused Jack's cause after his successful battle with the rapacious foe.

And during Jack's life, not another chicken was molested by the hawks, as he kept a vigilant watch, and attacked every one that dared to venture near the premises.

He even won the good-will of papa, by keeping rigidly aloof from the corn-field; but grandma was still fearful lest he might do some damage to the garden.

She was very careful of her early vegetables, and the garden-spot was paled in, to keep the chickens and rabbits from making depredations on the early lettuce, peas and cabbages.

But no fence would keep Jack out. Like the wind, he went "wherever he listeth."

Much to our relief, however, he did not offer to molest the vegetables, but did good service in picking up the insects and cut-worms, which are usually such a pest about a garden.

When he fell to devouring the squash-bugs, which were sapping the life of the "Boston Marrows," grandma's last prejudice was overcome, and she declared that Jack was worth his weight in gold.

After that, she never went to the garden without calling Jack, who would give an answering "caw!" and hop gravely after her, or perch on her shoulder with all the confidence of a privileged favorite.

As long as he lived, Jack continued to grow in the good opinion of the household. But, alas! he could not live forever.

One day he sat drooping on his perch, and refused to be enticed away from it. He even declined the plump crickets Fred offered him in hopes of tempting his appetite.

The next morning he was found dead under his perch. He was mourned sincerely by the whole family, from grandma down, and we buried him with great ceremony under his favorite post-oak.

Tom sodded his grave, Josie planted a "mourning bride" over it, and Fred put up a shingle for a headstone, with this verse on it, which we all thought very beautiful:

"Handy-spandy, Jack-a-Dandy Loves plum-cake and sugar candy."



[This Story began in No. 15.]

THE

YOUNG GAME-WARDEN

BY HARRY CASTLEMON.

CHAPTER XXXI—[CONTINUED].

Silas was so completely wrapped up in his own affairs that the boys got close to him before he was aware of their presence, and it is the greatest wonder in the world that he did not shoot one of them in his excitement.

He was really alarmed; but when he had taken a good look at the newcomers, in order to make sure of their identity, he laid his gun across the chair, pushed up his sleeves, and shook both his fists at Dan.

"So you thought you would fool your poor old pap this morning, did you, you little snipe?" he shouted. "Well, you see what you made by it, don't you?"

"I never tried to make a fool of you," stammered Dan, who had a faint idea that he understood the situation. "I never in this wide world!"

"Hush your noise when I tell you I know better," yelled Silas; and one would have thought, by the way he acted and looked, that he was very angry, instead of very much delighted, at the way things had turned out. "Here you have been and tramped all over them mountings, and never got a cent for it, while I have made a clean twenty-five hundred dollars, if I counted it up right on my fingers; and I reckon I did, 'cause your mam put in a figger to help me now and then."

"Why, how did it happen?" exclaimed Joe, who, up to this moment, had not been able to do anything but stand still and look astonished.

He knew that his father had captured one of the robbers without help from any one, and that was more than fifty other men had been able to do, with all their weary tramping.

"The way it happened was just this," said Silas, who could not stand in one place for a single moment. "Hold on there!" he added, turning fiercely upon his prisoner, who just then moved uneasily upon the bench, as if he were trying to find a softer spot to sit on. "I've got my eyes onto you, and you might as—"

"Why, father, he can't get away," Joe interposed. "You've got him tied up too tight. Why don't you let out that rope a little?"

"'Cause he's worth a pile of money—that's why!" exclaimed Silas; "and I won't let the rope out not one inch, nuther. You Joe, keep away from there."

"I really wish you would undo some of this rope," said the prisoner, who, like Byron's Corsair, seemed to be a mild-mannered man. "I have been tied up ever since two o'clock, and am numb all over. I couldn't run a step if I should try."

"Don't you believe a word of that!" exclaimed Silas. "Come away from there and let that rope be, I tell you."

"Say, father," said Joe, suddenly, "what are you going to do with your captive? Do you intend to sit up and watch him all night long?"

"I was just a-studying about that when you come up and scared me," replied Silas, dropping the butt of his gun to the ground, and leaning heavily upon the muzzle.

He never could stand alone for any length of time; he always wanted something to support him.

"What do you think I had better do about it? I don't much like to keep him here, 'cause— Why, just look a-here, Joey," added Silas, moving up to the door, and pointing to some object inside the cabin. "See them tools I took away from him?"

The boys stepped to their father's side, and saw lying upon the table, where Silas had placed it, a belt containing a brace of heavy revolvers and a murderous-looking knife.

"Now, them's dangerous," continued Silas, "and if this feller's pardner should happen along—"

"But he won't happen along," interrupted Dan. "Brierly's squad gobbled him."

The ferryman looked surprised, then disgusted, and finally he turned an inquiring glance upon Joe, who said that Dan told the truth.

"You don't like it, do you?" said the latter, to himself. "It sorter hurts you to know that there is them in the world that are just as lucky and smart as you be, don't it? Yes, that's what's the matter with pap. He don't want no one else to be as well off as he is."

And when Dan said that, he hit the nail fairly on the head.

"The other robber is not in a condition to attempt a rescue," said Joe; "but, all the same, I don't think you ought to keep this man here all night. The sheriff is now at Mr. Warren's house, and it is your duty to hand the prisoner over to him at once. Be careful how you point those guns this way."

This last remark was called forth by an action on the part of Silas and Dan that made Joe feel the least bit uncomfortable.

While the latter was talking, his hands were busy with the rope; and when the prisoner arose from the bench and stamped his feet to set the blood in circulation again, his excited and watchful guards at once covered his head and Joe's with the muzzles of their guns.

"Turn those weapons the other way," repeated Joe, angrily. "You don't think this man is foolish enough to try to run off while his hands are tied, do you? Now, father, how did you happen to catch him?"

"It was just as easy as falling off a log," replied Silas, resuming his seat and resting his double-barrel across his knees. "When you and Dan went away this morning, I just naturally shouldered my gun, walked up the road to the foot of the mounting, and set down on a log to wait for game to come a-running past me, just the same as if I was watching for deer, you know."

This was all true; but there was one thing he did that he forgot to mention. The only "game" Silas expected to see was Dan Morgan, when he returned from the mountain at night, and the ferryman was prepared to give him a warm reception. Before he devoted himself to the task of holding down that log by the roadside, he took the trouble to cut a long hickory switch, and to place it beside the log, out of sight. He meant to give Dan such a thrashing that he would never play any more tricks upon him.

"Well, about one o'clock, or a little after, while I was a-setting there and waiting for the game to come along, I heared a noise in the brush, and, all on a sudden, out popped this feller. He was running like he'd been sent for, and that's why I suspicioned him. Of course I didn't know him from Adam, but I asked him would he stop a bit. And he 'lowed he would, when he seed my gun looking him square in the eye. I brung him home, and your mam she passed out the clothes-line, and I tied him up."

"Where is mother now?" asked Joe.

"Gone off after more sewing, I reckon," replied Silas, in a tone which seemed to say that it was a matter that was not worth talking about. "She helped me figger up what I would get for catching him, and then she dug out. I'm worth almost as much as you be now, Joey, and that there mean Dan, who wouldn't stay by and help me, he ain't got a cent. Now don't you wish you hadn't played that trick on me this morning?"

"Never mind that," interposed Joe, who did not care to stand by and listen to an angry altercation which might end in a fight or a foot-race between his father and Dan. "If we are going to deliver this man to the sheriff to-night, we had better be moving."

"Do you reckon the sheriff will hand over the twenty-five hundred when I give up the prisoner?" inquired Silas, as the party walked down the bank toward the flat.

"Of course he won't."

"What for won't he?"

"Because he hasn't got it with him. Perhaps it was never put into his hands at all. I haven't received my share yet."

"Then I reckon I'd best hold fast to him till I'm sure of my money," said Silas, reflectively. "I guess I won't take him down to old man Warren's to-night."

"I guess you will, unless you want to get into trouble with the law," said Joe, decidedly. "If you don't give him up of your own free will, the sheriff will take him away from you."

Silas protested that he couldn't see any sense in such a law as that, but he lent his aid in pushing off the flat.

Dan, who was almost too angry to breathe, had more than half a mind to stay at home; but his curiosity to hear and see all that was said and done when the prisoner was turned over to the officers of the law impelled him to think better of it. When the flat was shoved off, he jumped in and picked up one of the oars.

CHAPTER XXXII.

We have said that Tom Hallet was so anxious to help his unlucky friend Bob in some way that he joined the very first squad that went out in search of him.

The man who had the name of being the leader of it was the sheriff's deputy; but the two stalwart young farmers who belonged to his party were longer of limb than he was, and they pushed ahead at such a rate that the deputy speedily fell to the rear, and stayed there during the most of the day.

"Me and Cyrus have come out to win that there reward," said one of the young men, when Tom remonstrated with them for leaving the officer so far behind, "and we can't do it by loafing along like that sheriff does. We've got a mortgage to pay off on the farm, and we don't know any easier way to raise the money for it than to capture one of them rogues."

But this sanguine young fellow was not the only one who was destined to have his trouble for his pains; and what made his disappointment and his brother's harder to bear was the reflection that if they had left Tom's cabin half an hour earlier than they did, they might have succeeded in earning a portion of the money of which they stood so much in need.

They were not more than a quarter of a mile away when Brierly's signal guns announced that one of the robbers had been captured. They ran forward at the top of their speed, hoping to reach the scene of action before the arrest was fairly consummated, but in this they were also disappointed.

When they came within sight of the successful party, they found the robber securely bound, and Brierly wearing the belt that contained his weapons.

"Too late, boys!" exclaimed the guide, who was highly elated over his good fortune. "You can't lay claim to any of our money, if that's what brung you up here in such haste."

"We don't care for the money," panted Tom. "Where's Bob?"

"That's so," said Brierly, who had not bestowed a single thought upon the prisoner during the whole forenoon. "Where is he? Say, feller, what have you done with him?"

"I have not seen him for two hours," replied the prisoner. "As soon as we found out that the hills were full of men, we set him at liberty, and I suppose he made the best of his way home. We didn't want to keep him with us for fear that he would set up a yelp to show where we were hiding."

Just then, the deputy, who had been sitting on a log to recover his breath, managed to inquire:

"What have you done with your partners?"

"There were only two of us, and the other man has gone off that way," answered the captive, nodding his head toward an indefinite point of the compass.

Tom Hallet had no further interest in the hunt. He stood by and watched the officer as he unbound the prisoner and substituted a pair of hand-cuffs for the rope with which his arms had been confined, and when Brierly's party started off with their captive, Tom fell in behind them.

He went as straight to his cabin as he could go, and there he found Bob Emerson, who was rummaging around in the hope of finding something to eat.

"I haven't had a bite of anything since last night, and you'd better believe that I am hungry," said Bob, after he and Tom had greeted each other as though they had been separated for years. "But I am not a bit of a hero. I haven't had an adventure worth the telling."

"There's nothing in there," said Tom, seeing that his friend was casting longing eyes toward his game-bag. "I didn't take much of a lunch with me, and I was hungry enough to eat it all. Can you stand it until we get home?"

"I'll have to," replied Bob. "By-the-way, did you ever see that before?"

As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a soiled and crumpled letter, which looked as though it might have been through the war.

It was the same precious document that he and Tom had left in Silas Morgan's wood-pile.

"One of the robbers gave it to me last night," continued Bob, in reply to his companion's inquiring look. "You will remember that Dan Morgan lost the letter within a few feet of the log on which he sat when he read it, and that when he and Silas went back to find it, they were frightened away by something that dodged into the bushes before they could get a sight at it, and which they took to be a ghost. Well, it wasn't a ghost at all, but one of the thieves, who had been to the Beach after supplies. He found the letter, and read it. Of course he was greatly alarmed, and so was his companion; for they couldn't help believing that some one had got wind of their hiding-place. They could hardly believe me when I told them that you and I made that letter up out of the whole cloth, and that we never dreamed there was any one living in the gorge."

"But we did know it," said Tom.

"Of course we did after they frightened us, but not before. They spoke about that, too. We took them completely by surprise the day we came down the gorge. We were close upon their camp before they knew it, and for a minute or two they didn't know what to do. Then one of them conceived the idea of making that hideous noise, and when the other saw how well it worked, he joined in with him."

"But didn't they know that we would be back sooner or later to look into the matter?" asked Tom.

"Of course they did, and that was another thing that frightened them. They saw very plainly that their hiding-place was broken up, and were making preparations to leave it when Silas and Dan put in their appearance. The robbers saw and heard them long before they got to the camp, and the one who found the letter recognized them at once. It was at his suggestion that that ghost was rigged up."

"But they must have known that they could not scare everybody with that dummy," observed Tom.

"To-be-sure they did, and they were in a great hurry to get away from there; but they needed provisions, and by stopping to get them they fell into trouble. They took Joe Morgan's house for a wood-chopper's cabin, and while we were robbing them, they were foraging on Joe. I tell you, Tom, it's a lucky thing for us that we got out of that gorge when we did. They were mad enough to shoot us on sight."

"I don't wonder at it," replied Tom. "It would make most anybody mad to lose a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money and securities, no matter how he came by them. Where did they catch you? Did they treat you well?"

"They treated me well enough," was Bob's reply; "but I believe that if they had not stood in fear of immediate capture, I should have a different story to tell, if, indeed, I were able to tell any. I told you nothing but the truth in the postscript I added to their note."

"I knew they made you write it, and that you did not express your honest sentiments when you told us to be in a hurry about giving back that valise."

"I was sure you would understand it: but what could a fellow do with a cocked revolver flourished before his eyes by a man who was in just the right humor to use it on him?"

"He would do as he is told, of course," answered Tom. "But do you suppose they thought they could get that valise back by threatening you?"

"I don't know what they thought, for they acted as if they were crazy. They caught me in less than half an hour after I left you, and it was through my own fault. I ran on to them before I knew it; and do you imagine I thought 'robbers' once? As true as you live, I didn't. I took them for poachers, and told them, very politely, that these grounds were posted and they couldn't be allowed to shoot there, when all on a sudden it popped into my head what I was doing. They saw the start I gave, and in a second more they had me covered. If I could have got away without letting them see that I suspected them, they wouldn't have said a word to me."

"Well, they covered you with their revolvers; then what?"

"Beyond a doubt, they made a prisoner of me before they thought what they were doing, and when they came to look at it, they found that they had got an elephant on their hands. Then they would have been glad to get rid of me; but they did not see just how they could do it with safety to themselves, so they made up their minds to use me.

"At first they thought they would wait and see if anything would come of the notice they left on the door of the cabin, and then they thought they wouldn't—that they would hunt up another hiding-place as soon as possible; so they ordered me to take them where nobody would ever think of looking for them. And I could do nothing but obey."

"Were you acting as their guide when they released you?"

Bob replied that he was.

"Why didn't you veer around a bit, and lead them toward the railroad?"

"If I had, I shouldn't be here now," answered Bob, significantly. "They warned me to be careful about that, and they were so well acquainted with the hills that I was afraid to attempt any tricks. We camped over on Dungeon Brook last night, and set out again at an early hour this morning; but before we had been in motion an hour, we found ourselves cut off from the upper end of the hills, and that was the time they made up their minds to let me go. They didn't say so, but still I had an idea that they didn't want me around for fear I would make too much noise to suit them."

"I know they were afraid of it," said Tom. "The robber that Brierly's squad captured said so."

"Is one of them taken?" exclaimed Bob, who hadn't heard of it before. "That's good news. Where's the other?"

"Don't know. They separated after they let you go, and Brierly captured one of them. Perhaps we shall hear something about the other one now," added Tom, directing his companion's attention to a large party of men who were at that moment discovered approaching the cabin. "We went out in squads of four, and there are a dozen men in that crowd."

"But I don't see any prisoner among them," said Bob. "They have all got guns on their shoulders, and that proves that they have not seen anything of robber number two."

As the party came nearer, the boys saw that it was made up of citizens of Bellville and Hammondsport, who had abandoned the search for the day, and were now on their way home.

They were surprised to see Bob Emerson there, safe and sound, and forthwith desired a full history of the letter which had been the means of bringing about so remarkable a series of events.

Bob protested that he was too hungry to talk, but when he saw the generous supply of bread and meat which one of the men drew from his haversack, he sat down on a log in front of the cabin and told his story.

His auditors declared that the way things had turned out was little short of wonderful, adding, as they arose to go, that they were coming out again, bright and early the next morning, to resume the search for robber number two. They were not going to remain idle at home, they said, as long as there were twenty-five hundred dollars running around loose in the woods.

When the bread and meat were all gone, and the boys were once more alone, Tom wrote the notice which Joe Morgan found pinned to the door of the cabin, and then he and Bob set out for Uncle Hallet's.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Although Silas Morgan had received the most convincing proof that he had nothing more to fear from the "hant" which had so long occupied all his waking thoughts and disturbed his dreams at night, he would not have taken one step toward Mr. Warren's house before morning, had he not been urged on by the hope that the sheriff would be ready to pay over his money as soon as the robber was given up to him. The desire to handle the reward to which he was entitled was stronger than his fear of the dark.

"And what shall I do with them twenty-five hundred after I get 'em, Joey?" said he. "That's what's a-bothering of me now."

And it was the very thing that was bothering Joe, also. His father had always been in the habit of spending his money as fast as he got it, and the boy fully expected to see this large sum slip through his fingers without doing the least good to him or anybody else.

"I'll tell you what I wouldn't do with it," said Joe, after a little hesitation. "I wouldn't give Hobson any of it."

"You're right I won't!" exclaimed Silas. "He's got more'n his share already. What be you going to do with yours, when you get it?"

"I think now that I shall put it in the bank at Hammondsport," answered Joe. "It will be safe there, and if I am careful of it, it will last me until I get through going to school. You don't want to go to school, but you might go into business and increase your capital."

"That's it—that's it, Joey!" exclaimed Silas, who grew enthusiastic at once. "I never thought of that. But what sort of business? It must be something easy, 'cause I've worked hard enough already."

"Mr. Warren says that there is no easy way of making a living," began Joe; but his father interrupted him with an exclamation of impatience.

"What does old man Warren know about it?" he demanded. "He never had to do a hand's turn in his life."

"But he don't know what it is to be idle, and he is busy at something every day," said Joe. "I'll tell you what I have often thought I would do if I had a little money, and I may do it yet, if you don't decide to go into it. The new road that is coming through here is bound to bring a good many people to the Beach, sooner or later. As the trout are nearly all gone, the guests will have to devote their attention to the bass in the lake, and consequently there will be a big demand for boats."

"So there will!" exclaimed Silas, who saw at once what Joe was trying to get at. "That's the business I've been looking for, Joey, and it's an easy one, too. Of course, I can let all my boats at so much an hour, and I won't have nothing to do but sit on the beach and take in my money."

"And what'll I be doing?" inquired Dan, who had not spoken before.

"You!" cried Silas, who seemed to have forgotten that Dan was one of the party. "You will keep on chopping cord wood, to pay you for the mean trick you played on me this morning. You see what you made by it, don't you? I reckon you wish you'd stayed by me now, don't you? How much will them boats cost me, Joey?"

"I should think that ten or a dozen skiffs would be enough to begin with," answered Joe, "and they will cost you between three and four hundred dollars; but you would have enough left to rent a piece of ground of Mr. Warren and put up a snug little house on it."

"Then I'll be a gentleman like the rest of 'em, won't I?" exclaimed Silas, gleefully.

"No, you won't," said Dan, to himself. "That bridge ain't been built yet, and I don't reckon Hobson means to have it there. He is going to bust it up some way or 'nother, and I'm just the man to help him, if he'll pay me for it. Everybody is getting rich 'cepting me, and I ain't going to be treated this way no longer!"

Silas was so completely carried away by Joe's plan for making money without work that he could think of nothing else. He forgot how determined and vindictive Dan was, and how easy it would be for him to place a multitude of obstacles in his way, but Joe didn't.

The latter knew well enough that Dan intended to make trouble if he were left out in the cold, but what could be done for so lazy and unreliable a fellow as he was? That was the question.

While Joe was turning it over in his mind, he led the way through Mr. Warren's gate and up to the porch, where he found his employer sitting in company with the sheriff and both Uncle Hallet's game-wardens. The deputy was in an upper room, keeping guard over the other prisoner.

Of course, Tom and Bob, who were greatly surprised as well as delighted to see Joe and his party, wanted to know just how the capture of robber number two had been brought about, and while Joe was telling the story, the sheriff marched the captive into the house and turned him over to his deputy.

Then he came back and sat down; but he did not put his hand into his pocket and pull out the reward, as Silas hoped he would.

"This has been a good day's work all around," said Tom, who was in high spirits. "The next time there is any detective work to be done in this county, Bob and I will volunteer to do it. We can catch more criminals by sitting still and writing letters, than the officers can by bringing all their skill into play."

The sheriff laughed, and said that was the way the thing looked from where he sat.

"The fun is all over now," continued Tom, "and to-morrow we will go to work in earnest. You will be on hand, of course?"

Joe replied that he would.

"By-the-way," chimed in Bob, "did this robber of yours have a gun of any description in his hands when he was captured?"

"No."

"Then, Joe, you and I are just that much out of pocket. The guns are gone up."

"What has become of them?"

"They are out in the hills somewhere," answered Bob. "When the robbers made up their minds that they had better let me go, one of them had my gun and the other had yours; but the robber Brierly captured says that the weapon impeded his flight, and so he threw it away. Whereabouts he was in the hills when he got rid of it, he can't tell. No doubt your gun was thrown away also, and the chances are not one in a thousand that we shall ever find them again."

While this conversation was going on, Silas Morgan, who stood at the foot of the steps that led to the porch, kept pulling Joe by the coat-sleeve, and whispering to him:

"Never mind the guns. Tell the sheriff that I'm powerful anxious to see the color of them twenty-five hundred."

Joe paid no sort of attention to him, and finally Silas became so very much in earnest in his endeavors to attract the boy's notice, that the officer saw it; and when there was a little pause in the conversation, he said, carelessly:

"Oh, about the reward, Silas—"

"That's the idee," replied the ferry-man, who thought sure that he was going to get it now. "That's what I'm here for. You have got the bugglars in your own hands now, and I don't reckon you would mind passing it over, would you?"

"I?" exclaimed the sheriff. "I haven't got it. I have never had a cent of it in my possession."

"Then who's going to give it to me?" demanded Silas, who wondered if the officer was going to cheat him out of his money.

"Well, you see, Silas," said the sheriff, "the reward is conditioned upon the arrest and conviction of the burglars. They have been arrested, and their conviction is only a matter of time; but you can't get your money until they are sentenced."

"And how long will that be?"

"The court will sit again in about six weeks. As some of the money was offered by the county, and the rest by the men who lost the jewelry and things that were found in that valise, you will get your reward from different parties, unless they hand it over to me to be paid to you in a lump."

"That's the way I want it," said Silas, who was very much disappointed. "I'm going into business."

"What sort of business?" inquired Mr. Warren.

"I am going to keep a boat-house down to the Beach."

"Well now, Silas, that's the most sensible thing I have heard from you in a long time," said Mr. Warren. "I'll rent you a piece of ground big enough for a garden, and you can set yourself up in business in good shape, build a nice house, and have money left in the bank. If you manage the thing rightly, you and Dan ought to make a good living of it."

"Who said anything about Dan?" exclaimed Silas.

"I did. Of course you can't ignore him because you are wealthy. He wants a chance to earn an honest living, and he needs it, too. He's a strong boy, a first-rate hand with a boat, knows all the best fishing-grounds on the lake, and would be just the fellow to send out with a party who wanted a guide and boatman. You can easily afford to pay him a dollar a day for such work as that."

"Well, I won't do it," said Silas, promptly. "He's a lazy, good-for-nothing scamp, Dan is, and I won't take him into business along of me."

"But you will hire him, and give him a chance to quit breaking the game law and make an honest living," said the sheriff. "By-the-way, Silas, I guess you had better bring up those setters, and save me the trouble of going after them."

"What setters?" exclaimed Silas, who acted as if he were on the point of taking to his heels. "I ain't got none. I took 'em down to the hotel and give 'em up."

"I am glad to hear it, because it will save me some trouble," replied the officer. "I have had my eyes on those dogs ever since you got hold of them, and I should have been after them long ago if I had known where to find the owner. Don't do that again, Silas. Honesty is the best policy, every day in the week."

"If you will leave your business in my hands, I will attend to it for you, and you will not have to go to Hammondsport at all," continued Mr. Warren.

And Joe was glad to hear him say it, because it showed him that the gentleman did not intend that his father should squander all his money, if he could help it.

"It is too late in the season for you to do anything with your boats this year, but I will give you and Dan a steady job at chopping wood, and if you take care of the money you earn, instead of spending it at Hobson's bar, you can live well during the winter. If the reward is not paid over to you by the time spring opens, I will advance you enough to start you in business and build your house. Then I think you had better give Dan a chance."

"So do I," whispered Tom, to his friend Bob. "Dan has lived by his wits long enough, and if Silas doesn't begin to take some interest in him, the sheriff will have a word or two to say about those setters. I can see plainly enough that he intends to hold that affair over Silas as a whip to make him behave himself."

"Do you think Silas will ever have the reward paid him in a lump?" asked Bob.

"No, I don't, because he doesn't know enough to take care of so much money. Joe can get his any time he wants it, for Mr. Warren knows that he will make every cent of it count."

Then, aloud, Tom said:

"Well, Bob, seeing that we've got to get up in the morning, we had better be going home. Come over bright and early, Joe, and we will take your things back to your cabin."

"And I will send up another supply of provisions," said Mr. Warren.

Joe thanked his employer, bade him good-night, and led the way out of the yard.

For a time he and his party walked along in silence, and then Silas, who began to have a vague idea that he had been imposed upon in some way, broke out, fiercely:

"What did old man Warren mean by saying that if I didn't get all my money by the time spring comes, he would advance enough to set me up in business?" Silas almost shouted. "Looks to me like he'd 'p'inted himself my guardeen, and that he means to keep a tight grip on them twenty-five hundred, so't I can't spend it to suit myself. That's what I think he means to do, dog-gone the luck!"

Joe thought so, too, and he was glad of it. If that was Mr. Warren's intention, Joe's mother would be likely to reap some benefit from the reward; otherwise, she would not.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]



EIGHT GOOD RIDDLES.

Feet have they, but they walk not—stoves.

Eyes have they, but they see not—potatoes.

Teeth have they, but they chew not—saws.

Noses have they, but they smell not—teapots.

Mouths have they, but they taste not—rivers.

Hands have they, but they handle not—Clocks.

Ears have they, but they hear not—cornstalks.

Tongues have they, but they talk not—wagons.



CREAM OF THE COMICS.

"Brisk as a bee." —Boswell's Life of Johnson.

—In the drama of life the clerk plays a counter-part.

—Why is a whisper forbidden in polite society? Because it isn't aloud.



—A tinsmith in the country has a sign which reads: "Quart measures of all shapes and sizes sold here."

—Customer: "Is your bread nice and light?" Baker's boy: "Yessum; it only weighs nine ounces to the pound!"

—"Home, Sweet Home"—a bee-hive.

—The egotist lives on an I-land.

—The Bank of England—a fog-bank.

—"April showers bring forth May flowers." Said Flora to her brother Bob: "Robert, dear, what do April showers bring forth?" Said Bob: "Umbrellas, of course!"

—"Don't you find the people around here very sociable?" asked Cobwigger of a new neighbor. "Yes, indeed, I do," was the hearty response. "Only a moment ago I met a beggar, and he held out his hand to me."

—"Pa," said little Jimmie, "I was very near going to the head of my class to-day." "How is that, my son?" "Why, a big word came all the way down to me, and if I could only have spelled it, I should have gone clear up."

—Mamma (coaxingly): "Come, Bobby, take your medicine now, and then jump into bed!" Bobby: "I do not want to take my medicine, mamma." Father (who knows how to govern children) "Robert, if you don't take your medicine at once, you will be put to bed without taking it at all."

—A little girl in Charles Street, Boston, has an old-fashioned doll which has the following words worked in red silk letters on its sawdust-stuffed body:

"Steal not this doll for fear of shame, For here you see the owner's name.

"PRISCILLA ALDEN."

—A little grammar found in an old garret in Portsmouth, N.H., has an illustration representing the difference between the active, passive and neuter verbs. It is a picture of a father whipping his boy. The father is active, the boy is passive, and the mother, sitting by herself on a stool, looking on, but doing nothing, is neuter.

—"Here, Johnnie, what do you mean by taking Willie's cake away from him? Didn't you have a piece for yourself?" "Yes; but you told me I always ought to take my little brother's part."

—Young physician (who has just lost a patient, to old physician): "Would you advise an autopsy, doctor?" Old physician: "No; I would advise an inquest."

—"Pause!" cries the sire unto the lad, "Let judgment teach you sense." "I will," he answers, "when I've had Enough experience."

—Doctor: "Now, my little man, you take this medicine and I will give you five cents." Young America: "You take it yourself, and I will go you five cents better."

—Mistaking the door, young Mr. Cipher walked into the dentist's office instead of the doctor's. "Doctor," he groaned, "I'm in bad shape. My head aches all the time, and I can't do anything with it." "Yes, yes," said Doctor Toothaker, cheerfully. "I see; big cavity in it; must be hollow; you'll need to have it filled." And, seeing his mistake, young Mr. Cipher apologized and went out, and told it all around as a capital joke on the dentist.



OUR LETTER BOX.

DECLINED.—A Sad Catastrophe—A Stage-Driver's Story—My Dog Carlo—The Children's Celebration—Flossie's Letter—The Scotch Yacht Thistle—Brave Dog Nero and his Friends—Our First Boat Ride—Little Sam, a Tale of Long Ago—Penny.

Q. K.—The first fire insurance office in the United States was established at Boston in 1724; the first life insurance at Philadelphia in 1812.

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 noble 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 altitude 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 title 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 ships is from fifteen to eighteen years. Both of these branches of the service are open to any American youths capable of passing 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 brass 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 publishing medical recipes, such as pimple removers and the like, always advising a consultation with a first-class physician, who will prescribe some blood-purifying compound for the relief or cure of the trouble. In our younger days, a mixture of molasses, 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 arsenic, 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 brass-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 bichromate battery of one and a half horse-power. It is very light, weighing but 121-1/4 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 5-1/2 inches, G. W. Hamilton, October 3, 1879; without weights, 10 feet 10-1/2 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 Cox. 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 shield, 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 Washington 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, glass lenses were in use for the purpose of assisting 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 Massachusetts, 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 illustrated 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 pass 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 quantity of japan 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 class bookseller can obtain for you the books of travels written by Stanley and Livingstone. —MIDDY (Washington). The length of a ship'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.

* * * * *

UNCONDITIONALLY WARRANTED TO GIVE SATISFACTION!

WOOD'S PENOGRAPH!

[->] *WOOD'S PENOGRAPH* consists of a first-class 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

*It and "Golden Days" one year on receipt of $3.25.*

Money must be sent by the subscriber direct to this office—not through any agent. Address

JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher "Golden Days," PHILADELPHIA, PA.

* * * * *

*OUR PREMIUM KNIFE!*



Ivory handle, beautifully finished, EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. Made to our own order, and can *only* be had by subscribing to "GOLDEN DAYS."

[->] We will make this Knife *a Present* to any one who sends us THREE DOLLARS

*For One Year's Subscription to "Golden Days."*

[->] The money must be sent *direct* to this office. Address

*JAMES ELVERSON*, Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Phila., Pa.

Special Notice.—WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we consider ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have sent several thousand Knives and Penographs without one in a thousand being lost.

* * * * *

Notices of Exchange.

[->] The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging to write for particulars to the addresses before sending the articles desired.

[->] Exchange notices containing offers of or for shot-guns, air-guns, pistols, rifles, poisons, dangerous chemicals, animals, odd numbers of papers, valueless coins and curiosities, birds' eggs, or "offers", will not be inserted.

*Exchange Notices conforming with the above rates are inserted free of charge.*

L. Boyd, N.E. cor. 18th and Hamilton Sts., Philadelphia, Pa., a set of boxing gloves and a book by Verne, for a miniature sailboat, 2 feet long.

S. A. Chevalier, No. 366 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 49 photo negatives of notable yachts, buildings, etc., for an electrical outfit, a cornet, or a banjo.

J. Hirsch, Box 212, Corpus Christi, Texas, a collection of sea curiosities for stamps.

E. T. Warner, 155 S. 5th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., Vols. VI, VII (complete) and VIII (to date) GOLDEN DAYS, and 20 books by Castlemon and Alger, for other books by Castlemon, Alger, Otis or Ellis.

L. G. Banks, 92 Maple Ave., 31st Ward, Pittsburg, Pa., a magic lantern with lens, lamp and 12 views, and "Robinson Crusoe," for a Model printing press.

H. J. West, 1610 Hollins St., Baltimore, Md., a magic lantern with 13 slides, in a leatherette box, for a pair of 3-pound Indian clubs and a pair of 3-pound dumb-bells.

R. F. Baird, 205 Wylie Ave., Pittsburg, Pa., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a Waterbury watch.

E. D. Flugel, 134 E. 109th St., N.Y. city, a large bagatelle board with marbles, for a collection of not less than 300 foreign stamps only. (City offers only.)

F. L. Shipley, Box 275, Creston, Ia., Vols. LVII and LVIII "Youth's Companion" and Vol. VIII (up to date) GOLDEN DAYS, for a printing press and outfit.

H. B. Cochran, 345 N. 12th St., Phila., Pa., a Waterbury watch, a font of newspaper type, and 2 books, for a book on mineralogy and natural history or specimens of minerals.

E. Rudolphy, 389 S. Halsted St., Chicago, Ill. Vol. VII "Harper's Young People," for a photo tripod.

H. A. Eastman, Box 1080, Keene, N.H., a printing press and 5 fonts of type, for a telegraph key and sounder.

J. Tracy, Conneaut, Ohio, a maple-shell snare-drum with ebony sticks, for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth.

M. Graham, Grove City, Pa., a magic lantern with 35 slides, a panorama, a 3x4 printing press with type, a telephone and a cabinet of tricks, for a telegraph instrument with batteries.

L. Randall, 1825 Garrison Ave., St. Louis, Mo., a collection of over 300 foreign and U.S. postage stamps and a collection of postmarks, for a Waterbury watch.

W. P. Simpson, Box 773, Jacksonville, Fla., Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, a pair of roller skates and a set of books, for a silver watch or a press and outfit.

C. W. Hurst, 1825 Fitzwater St., Phila., Pa., Vols. I, II and III GOLDEN DAYS, a xylophone, a magic lantern with 24 slides, and a stamp collection in an album, for the best offer of bicycle sundries.

T. J. McMahon, 41 Thomas St., N.Y. city, Vols. III, IV and V GOLDEN DAYS, for best offer of a musical instrument.

S. M. Johnson, Lock Box 172, Round Rock, Texas, a $25 brass B-flat cornet with A and B crooks, for a 5x7 self-inking printing press and material.

J. Atwell, 10 W. Jefferson St., Syracuse, N.Y., a pair of nickel-plated extension roller skates and bag, for a banjo.

G. Frick, 2908 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a 48-inch steel-spoked rubber-tired bicycle, a watch, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, and "Tom Brown at Oxford," for a Star bicycle.

C. E. Mason, 656 Franklin St., Phila., Pa., an International album containing stamps and about 5,000 loose ones, a New Rogers scroll saw, and 2 pairs of nickel-plated ice and roller skates, for a 26-bracket nickel-rimmed banjo, or a guitar, or photo materials.

G. Barker, 504 W. 129th St., N.Y. city, 7 books by Castlemon, Kingston and Dickens, for a violin and instruction book. (City offers preferred.)

Z. A. Stegmuller, 56 E. 25th St., N.Y. city, a game, a small steam engine, a silver watch and a gold pen-holder, for a self-inking printing press with type, or a rowing machine. (City and Brooklyn offers only.)

J. W. Edwards, 197 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., a 16-foot flat-bottomed skiff with centreboard, sail, oars and oarlocks, for a 46 or 48-inch rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.

J. J. Morrow, 94 Pennsylvania Ave., Allegheny, Pa., a 3-lens microscope with a few mounted specimens, for Vols. V and VI GOLDEN DAYS.

C. H. Montayre, 145 W. 11th St., N.Y. city, a self-inking printing press and full outfit, for a 6x6 canvas tent. (City offers preferred.)

F. Blake, Lock Haven, Pa., a telegraph outfit, for a $10 watch, or a set of boxing gloves, or a pair of 12-pound dumb-bells.

L. H. Reamy, 113 River St., Zanesville, Ohio, a polyopticon, for the best offer of GOLDEN DAYS prior to Vol. VI.

C. V. Gibson. Box 1026, Natick, Mass., a 2-1/2 x 4 printing press with cards, 200 postmarks. 1400 foreign and U.S. stamps, and a pair of skates, for a flute, a banjo, a violin and bow, or a cornet.

C. Perry, Ithaca, N.Y., a $25 upright engine, for a scroll saw with lathe attachment.

L. M. Geer, Box 663, Corry, Pa., Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young People," Vols. XLI, XLII and XLIII "Youth's Companion," a magic lantern with 12 slides, 6 books and 2 pairs of skates, for a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.

G. V. Bacon. 52 Dudley St., Boston, Mass., a Ruby magic lantern, a set of carving tools, and a set of drawing instruments, for a pair of fencing foils.

G. Medina, Room 360, Prod. Ex. Bldg., N.Y. city, a complete $40 camping outfit, for a 1/2-nickeled bicycle with ball bearings.

C. O. Henbest, Marshall, Ill., Vol. V or VI GOLDEN DAYS, or a printing press, for a collection of stamps.

F. A. Magee, Maiden, Mass., Vol. IV GOLDEN DAYS, a canvas canoe, a printing press, 200 stamps, 200 postmarks, a pair of opera glasses, a magnifying glass and 200 good story papers, for a large press or a bicycle.

E. C. Cary, Box 147, N.Y. city, a New Rogers scroll saw with drill, saws and patterns, a hand-inking 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 printing press, with type, ink, furniture, etc., for a violin and bow, with or without case.

N. J. Waite, 401 Giddings Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for any kind of electrical goods.

J. Clay Collier, Fort Smith, Ark., Vol. V and part of Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for books by Castlemon or Cooke.

F. Vansant, 770 St. Peter St., Baltimore, Md., $15 worth of books, for an 8x8x8 wall tent.

J. W. Robertson, 1180 Harvard St., Chicago, Ill., a collection of stamps and 4 books, for a pair of opera glasses or a printing press with type.

C. A. Lutz, Cane Spring, Ky., Vols. II (a few numbers missing). III, IV, V, VI (all bound, without covers) and VII (unbound) "Harper's Young People," for volumes of GOLDEN DAYS or telegraphic apparatus.

G. Moulton, Virginia, Ill., an ebony 13-keyed B-flat clarionet, for a watch.

W. R. Clickner, Andover. Kans., a $25 5x8 printing press and outfit, for a rubber-tired bicycle.

C. Peck, 71 35th St., Chicago, Ill., 8 books by Reid and others, and a pair of ice skates, for a Morse telegraph outfit.

R. Buck, Sea Isle City, N.J., "Ragged Dick Series," (6 volumes), for a telegraph key, sounder and outfit.

F. Schafer, 307 S. 3d St., Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y., a pair of opera glasses with case, and a fife, for a mandolin, or a banjo with 24 brackets (N.Y. or Brooklyn offers preferred).

F. Horton, Westfield, Pa., 2 volumes of "Youth's Companion," and a pair of roller skates, for a banjo.

W. A. Sherwood, Lutherville, Md., a magic lantern with 12 slides and a font of job type, for rare foreign and U.S. stamps.

W. A. Pickering, Box 797, Eureka Springs, Ark., a 1/4-horse-power steam engine, for a nickel-plated B-flat cornet.

E. H. Gilbert, Lock Box 21, Glens Falls, N.Y., 2 pairs of skates and "Don Quixote," for a pair of opera glasses with case.

L. A. Cox, Verden, Ill., Vols. V, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo.

R. F. Greene, Box 232, Arkansas City, Kans., Vol. LVIII "Youth's Companion" and 2 books, for any bound volume of GOLDEN DAYS except the sixth.

H. J. Hendrickson, 214 W. Market St., York, Pa., 950 foreign stamps and 700 foreign and domestic postmarks, for a collection of minerals.

C. V. B. Gettz, Moore's, Pa., a $35 gas engine (1/3-horse-power), for a bicycle (American Challenge preferred).

H. H. Sellers, 73 Exchange St., Bangor, Me., a 10-keyed ocarina, a 6-keyed clarionet, 6 books and a stylographic pen, for a cornet.

C. W. Valentine, Millville, N.J., a volume of "Youth's Companion," "Tom Brown's School-days" and a bagatelle board, for carpenters' tools.

A. Spring, Jr., White Plains, N.Y., a magic lantern with 23 slides, for Vol. I or II GOLDEN DAYS (bound).

J. G. Ross, Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., a 12-foot round-bottomed row-boat with centreboard and oars, for a photographic outfit, a bicycle or a press.

J. C. Hubbard, 22 E. Main St., Battle Creek, Mich., a hand-inking press and a collection of curiosities, for type and material, or volumes of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fourth.

* * * * *

Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria.

* * * * *

C. A. Wise, Gobleville, Mich., a pair of nickel-plated roller skates and a guitar, for the best offer of foreign and U.S. stamps.

H. A. Hammond. Box 276, Peabody, Mass., Vols. V and VI, or VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a fountain or stylographic pen.

R. A. Weston, W. Mt. Vernon, Me., 300 numbers of "Youth's Companion," Vols. II, III and IV "Harper's Young People," Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, 3 books, 100 varieties of stamps, a pair of ice skates and a game, for a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.

C. H. Dunham, 1098 Washington St. (Suite 12), Boston, Mass., a pair of roller skates, a Holly scroll saw with saws and patterns, and Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a bicycle (Mass. offers preferred).

R. H. Stickney, Valparaiso, Ind., a stereoscope with 16 views, a magic lantern with views and photographic attachment, a dark lantern and a book by Kingston, for a 7x9 wall tent.

B. M. Wilson, 1824 Ridge Ave., Phila., Pa., an International album with 100 stamps, and Vol. V GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo.

E. S. Harvey, Ridge, Ohio, a hand-inking press with roller, furniture and a font of type, and a book, for an International stamp album or stamps.

J. Meighan, Jr., 386 Garden St., Hoboken, N.J., a pair of skates, for a catcher's mask.

C. Bagley, 10 Olive St., Lynn, Mass., a pair of skates, Vols. IV, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS and a lot of musical instruments, for a rubber-tired bicycle (Mass. offers preferred).

E. F. Balinger, Mt. Union, Ohio, 2 vols. of GOLDEN DAYS, a pair of roller skates, a telegraph key and sounder, an Indian bow and arrows, and some books and magazines, for a cornet with crooks.

S. L. Taylor, 333 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., a collection of 350 foreign stamps in an album, 900 traders, a magic lantern with 20 or 30 slides, and 5 books, for a B-flat cornet, a banjo, or a cork-handled tennis racquet.

J. E. Ackerman, Jr., 7 Nassau St., N.Y. city, a nickel-plated bicycle saddle and bell, for a Duryea saddle (style, A or C).

F. H. Meyers. 38 Bleecker St., N.Y. city, Vols. IV, V, VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, Vol. LIV "Youth's Companion," a vol. of "St. Nicholas," 5 books; a magic lantern with slides, and 2 games, for a rubber-tired steel-spoked bicycle.

C. F. Souder. Box 199, Toledo, Ohio, a violin and bow, and Vol. VII GOLDEN DAYS, for a banjo.

C. W. Howell, 646 Kentucky St., Lawrence, Kans., an accordion, a Waterbury watch, and a puzzle, for a complete telegraph outfit.

W. T. Cook, Royersford, Pa., 5 books by popular authors for any bound vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the fifth.

W. H. Field, 234 Ferry St., Easton, Pa., a Holly scroll saw and a set of tenpins for a wall or other tent large enough for four persons.

P. J. McConomy, 38 N. Prince St., Lancaster, Pa., Vols. I and II (a few numbers missing) and V and VI (complete) GOLDEN DAYS, for a piccolo with at least 4 keys.

O. C. Cornwell, Girard, Kans., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, 8 books, a pair of skates, 5 games, a set of drawing Instruments, and 500 foreign and U.S. stamps, for a self-inking printing press, or a silver watch.

W. Bell, Box 154, Norfolk, Va., Vols. I, II, III, IV and V GOLDEN DAYS, for a Holly steam engine or a collection of 1500 to 2000 stamps.

G. E. Montgomery, Westernport, Md., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS and "Ames' Mastery of the Pen," for standard works on physiology and hygiene or a field glass.

C. C. Moore, 76 3d Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., a magic lantern with 16 slides, and a printing press with 2 fonts of type, for an instantaneous camera and outfit.

W. Willson, 561 Lorimer St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. N.Y., a magic lantern with 12 slides for a pair of 9 or 9-1/2 nickel-plated roller skates.

D. A. Trapp, 113 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, Ky., a collection of over 1200 stamps in an international album for a No. 2 or 3 Baltimorean press and outfit.

H. Edwards, 147 E. 114th St., N.Y. city, a magic lantern with 12 slides, and a hand-inking printing press, without type, for a set of boxing gloves.

F. Rowell, Stamford, Conn., Vols. VI and VII GOLDEN DAYS, and some books, games and stamps, for Indian grammars, or histories of North American Indians, or Indian relics.

J. E. Caldwell, Sego, Kans., a $3 piccolo, a set of boxwood chessmen, and a box of water-color paints, for the best offer of GOLDEN DAYS.

W. McIntosh, East Smethport, Pa., a 10x14 hand-inking press, with 20 fonts of type, 2 sticks, galley, leads, etc., for a 50 to 52-inch bicycle.

J. H. Cunningham, Room 507 Hamilton Building, Pittsburg, Pa., a pair of ice skates and "Tom Brown's School Days" for a learners' book on shorthand.

W. McVeagh. 831 W. 3d St., Williamsport, Pa., a New Rogers scroll saw for Vol. I or IV GOLDEN DAYS.

* * * * *

A LIMITED NUMBER OF *Volumes IV, V and VI* "GOLDEN DAYS," Bound in Cloth.

Price, $4.00 each.

ADDRESS, JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa.

* * * * *

*From the Daily News, Genesee, N.Y.*

We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the GOLDEN DAYS, decidedly the most valuable and most interesting pictorial newspaper we ever saw, not only for the children, but for the entire family. For the sake of his children we sincerely urge every father to send to the office for a specimen copy, when he can see for himself the great value it will be in his family, and he will thank us in his heart for calling his attention to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, GOLDEN DAYS, corner and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Penna.

OUT OF THE MANY EARNEST AND EMPHATIC ENDORSEMENTS OF "GOLDEN DAYS," WE PRINT THE FOLLOWING:

*A GOOD OPINION FROM REV. G. E. STROBRIDGE,*

Pastor St. John's M. E. Church, New York city.

GOLDEN DAYS has been coming regularly to my house since its first number. It is always welcome. The children wait with impatience its weekly arrival, and even interrupt their meals to tear off its wrapper and scan its attractive pages. It is generously illustrated, and as to its reading matter, it is bright, breezy, instructive, and, best of all, pure. The most careful parent may dismiss anxiety while his happy child is absorbed in its columns.

A feature that adds to the paper an especial value is a weekly discussion of the International Sunday-school Lesson. This is given in a pleasant narrative style by Rev. D. P. Kidder, D.D., for many years editor of the Sunday School Advocate, and editor and writer of books for children. His widely-known name is a sufficient assurance that these lessons thus conducted will continue to be learned, clear and interesting.

*From the West Philadelphia Press.*

GOLDEN DAYS.—This weekly journal for young people has reached a circulation that embraces the entire country. Indeed, there is hardly to be found a village or hamlet in the newest of the States or in our far Western Territories in which GOLDEN DAYS is not a welcome visitor. The proprietor and editor, Mr. James Elverson, determined from the first to make it a journal that should please and at the same time instruct the young, and he has been completely successful. There is no weekly paper published in this or the Old World that so covers the field for the youthful mind as GOLDEN DAYS. There is nothing heavy about it—nothing prosy or difficult to comprehend in the matter it contains. Its stories are graphic, entertaining and by the best writers, while each number has articles especially prepared on subjects of practical interest to boys and girls by authors whose fame in the arena of natural history, science, biography and art is national. Add to all these excellencies and attractions the fact that no impure line or thought ever stains its pages, and it must be acknowledged that GOLDEN DAYS is pre-eminently fitted to become the intellectual and pleasant companion of the young in the American household.

*From the Sunday Courier, York, Pa.*

The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' periodical published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson seems, in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day with wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to the universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents are concerned, its success should be a matter for general congratulation, as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding from its pages everything that could be considered as in any way tending to vitiate the minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are far superior in vividness of interest for the little ones to those sensational publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all who have children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have struck the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity.

*From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.*

GOLDEN DAYS.—"To merit is to insure success" is certainly verified in the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This admirable weekly for the youth of this great land is now well-established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved patronage. Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with pictures and puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful knowledge. GOLDEN DAYS is supplanting a poisonous literature, and performing a wholesome mission in this day, when too much good seed cannot be sown by the friends of humanity.

*From the Congregationalist and Boston Recorder.*

Among juvenile periodicals, we think GOLDEN DAYS likely to take high rank for variety, instructiveness, vivacity and freedom from objectionable characteristics. We have examined several numbers, and it seems to be well edited and likely to deserve and win popularity.

*ANOTHER FROM REV. D. M'CARTNEY,*

Pastor Clinton Avenue M. E. Church, Kingston, N.Y.

I have examined sample copies of GOLDEN DAYS, and most heartily indorse it as meeting a felt want. Notwithstanding the large number of papers we subscribe for now, it looks as if GOLDEN DAYS would have to be added to the number, as my children are enraptured with it.

BISHOP BOWMAN,

Of the Methodist Episcopal Church, writes:

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 26, 1880.

I have examined with great interest several numbers of GOLDEN DAYS, and am much pleased with them. We greatly need all such publications for our young people, to save them from the corrupting trash that meets them on every side. I wish you great success in this worthy Christian enterprise.

*FROM REV. O. C. DICKERSON,*

Pastor of Congregational Church, Belleplain, Iowa.

ED. GOLDEN DAYS.—All hail! As a sterling friend of the young, your enterprise wakes loud echoes.

*REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,*

Pastor of the P. E. Church of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, says:

From what I have seen of GOLDEN DAYS, it strikes me very favorably. There is a high tone of morality about it which is calculated to exert a very wholesome influence on the young people who read it.

*From the Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y.*

A MODEL PAPER.—Two years ago, we informed the readers of the Citizen that a long-felt want was to be supplied—viz., a paper was to be printed which would give the young people (boys and girls) plenty of good reading without corrupting their morals or vitiating their tastes—in other words, would furnish them with stories which would gratify their love of adventure without inspiring in them a desire to imitate impossible heroes, and tempting them to desert their homes in search of adventures which never occur outside of blood-and-thunder papers and story books. The paper we allude to—GOLDEN DAYS—promised this, and we have carefully watched it for two years to see how its pledge would be redeemed. We are glad to be able to state it has exceeded our most sanguine expectations. While it has been constantly filled with stories and sketches of the most fascinating character, we have never seen a sentence in it which we could have wished to have omitted.

*From the Episcopal Recorder.*

GOLDEN DAYS.—We commend this as the best of the class of publications to which it belongs, and as being essentially different from all that are contemporaneous with it. And if it shall prove to be like Moses' rod when turned into a serpent, and swallow up the serpent-rods of all cunning magicians of evil, and then become a rod of power for working good in the home, in the school, and wherever youth are found, we shall rejoice.

*From the Christian Register, Boston.*

GOLDEN DAYS is well worthy the examination of parents who wish to provide their children with a large amount of carefully-prepared miscellany, at once entertaining, instructive and clean. It is edited with ability, and shows a quick sympathy with the pleasures of the young people, and a clear outlook for their welfare.

*From the Maryland School Journal.*

GOLDEN DAYS (Elverson, Philadelphia) has fulfilled its promise, and is in every respect a suitable weekly paper to put into the hands of young boys and girls. We have carefully watched each number since the start, and have seen in it nothing to censure and much to praise.

*From the Floyd Co. Advocate, Charles City, Iowa.*

GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, of Philadelphia, is a new first-class paper for boys and girls. Provide them with good, entertaining reading, and they will grow up good men and women.

*From Town Talk, Mansfield, Ohio.*

James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome illustrated and interesting youth's paper called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome in every home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it they will find they need it as a recreation after study hours.

*From The Home and Sunday-School, Dallas, Texas.*

We can heartily recommend GOLDEN DAYS as one of the purest and most charming juvenile magazines we have seen. It is wholly free from corrupting influences—fresh, instructive, and eagerly welcomed by the boys and girls. Having seen nothing in it to censure and much to praise, we hope it may have the wide circulation it merits.

*From the Christian Advocate, Pittsburg, Pa.*

GOLDEN DAYS comes to us in a magazine form, making a beautiful and interesting volume. This journal numbers among its contributors probably more popular writers of serial stories for youth than any juvenile publication in the country.

*From the Presbyterian Banner, Pittsburg, Pa.*

A great advance has been made within the last twelve months in a very important agency for good—the publication of cheap, and, at the same time, unexceptionable and attractive reading matter. For a long time the want has been seriously felt for something more than mere denunciation to overcome the growing evil of the demoralizing literature—cheap and vile—that has been scattered broadcast over the land. That want has been measurably supplied, in part, by the publication of standard English classics, at marvelously low prices, and in part by the issue of low-priced but superior periodicals, attractive in appearance and contents, and suitable for both young and old. We invite special attention to the latest enterprise in the latter department—GOLDEN DAYS, for boys and girls, James Elverson, publisher, Philadelphia. It is a handsome juvenile journal, of sixteen pages (over eight hundred a year), filled with stories, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, puzzles, and humorous items, making up a total that will delight and at the same time instruct the boys and girls from eight to eighty. The pictorial embellishments are unsually fine, and far in advance of the coarse deformities in the flashy sheets that are displayed on the news-stands to horrify every refined passer-by.

*From the Baltimore Gazette.*

The remarkable success attained by GOLDEN DAYS, the boys' and girls' periodical, published by Mr. James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a most encouraging evidence that pure and healthful literature is not incapable of attracting the eager interest of "Young America." Mr. Elverson, seems, in fact, to have gauged the taste of the average child of our day with wonderful accuracy, as there appears to be but one opinion as to the universal popularity of this excellent periodical. So far as parents are concerned, its success should be a matter for general congratulation, as scrupulous care is evidently observed in excluding from its pages everything that could be considered as in any way tending to vitiate the minds of the young. On the other hand, its contents are far superior in vividness of interest for the little ones to those sensational publications which are the source of so much anxiety to all who have children to educate. GOLDEN DAYS, in fact, appears to have struck the golden mean in juvenile literature, and it affords us sincere pleasure to be able to chronicle its conspicuous popularity.

*From the Methodist, New York.*

James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and interesting youth's paper, called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome in every Christian home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it, they will find they need it as a recreation after study-hours.

*From the Baptist Record, Jackson, Miss.*

A specimen number of GOLDEN DAYS has fallen into our hands. This is a paper for boys and girls, and, from the cursory examination we have been enabled to give it, we think it deserving of support.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Illustrations:

Readers who are unable to use the fully illustrated html version of this text may wish to view some individual images, located within the "images" directory of the html file. The major illustrations are:

Cover pic01.jpg Linda's Crazy Quilt pic03_full.jpg In Search of Himself pic07.jpg Mamie's Letter to Heaven pic10b.jpg Striking out for Themselves pic11.jpg Jack-A-Dandy pic15.jpg

Layout of Advertising Pages:

inside front:

- - - Sapolio "Advertisements Malaria Yellow Fever inserted..." - Ayer's Pills -Practical Joke - -+ // // // // // Ready Binder + -+ + -+ Stamps Vol. VII + - - "Golden Days" Pitcher's Castoria Hammock Chair - - -

inside back:

- - - -+ Wood's Penograph + -+ (exchanges) Military + - - Dictionary Our Premium Knife - - - (exchanges) // // // // // (exchanges) (exchanges) - (exchanges) - Volumes Pitcher's Castoria IV, V and VI - - -

back cover (three columns, all Testimonials)

Errata (noted by transcriber)

Missing or incorrect punctuation was silently corrected. Typographical errors in the advertising sections were left unchanged; those in the main text were corrected. Both are noted here.

Advertising, Front Section: For es heavy Mustache, Whiskers, or hair [probably "forces": letter invisible] Advertisements inserted ... agate measurement). [no opening parenthesis] *PAKET* of *FOREN STAMPS* [as printed]

Linda's Crazy Quilt I declare for 't!" she added [close quote missing]

In Search of Himself curved from the jaws like cimetars. [spelling unchanged]

In a Menagerie I stopped as usual at Bessie's cage [elsewhere "Bessy"]

Stories of Dumb Creatures the other boys will throw stones at him.' [" for ']

Jack Stanwood the street vender of physic [spelling unchanged]

The Young Game-Warden "It sorter hurts you to know [I sorter] You have got the bugglars in your own hands now [spelling unchanged]

Testimonials The pictorial embellishments are unsually fine [spelling unchanged]

THE END