The Strand 1911-2 Vol-XLI № 242

230 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. \" Anywhere, anywhere ? \" demanded the Colonel, almost dancing in his eagerness. \"The nearest bed, miss,\" said the gardener, firmly fixed on answering Daisy rather than anyone else. \"There ain't none 'andy this side of the 'ouse,\" retorted Jack. \"Then, miss, I'd 'eave it over the 'edge into the ditch,\" said Smith. Daisy turned with sparkling eyes to Jack and the Colonel. \"Then—oh, then, they're \" \" In that ditch, missy, or I'm no reasonable tradesman,\" said Jack, with a solemn fervour. And Toller smote his thigh. \"You mean, my man, that those birds built a nest there, and that when it was knocked down the diamonds came out with it, and that they and the broken nest were most likely put in the ditch ? \" he asked. \" Right o,\" said Jack, \"and if so be they ain't there my 'eart will be fair broke.\" \"Oh, Mr. Painter, what a clever man you are,\" said Daisy. \" Yus, I knows I am,\" replied Jack. \" It's owned everywheres, and at Scotland Yard, too, that I'm a most uncommon blighter as on'y lacked 'igh eddication to be in the first flight. You 'ave that ditch scraped aht, sir.\" And scraped out it was. All hands were impressed for the purpose. Even Jones went at it, for the Colonel explained the burglar's theory, and even the honest men owned that the rogue was clever. All the greater was the fall in his stock when the closest scrutiny failed to find any- thing but ordinary gravel. His diamond diggings like most diggings proved a failure, and even Daisy at last gave up urging every- one to increased exertions, and went back to him with sympathy in her eyes. \" Poor Mr. Painter,\" she said, and Jack shook his head. \" Oh, I don't give it up yet,\" he said; \" not by a long chalk. There's somethin' else in this and they're somewhere's 'andy. I knows it, I knows it. It ain't the ditch I hangs on so much, but them there swallers. Wot I'm thinkin'of is the reward,\" said Jack. \"What reward, Mr. Painter?\" she asked, doubtfully. \"That 'undred pounds that was offered for them as found 'em when I first 'id 'em up there,\" said Jack, eagerly. \" I dessay you was too young to remember it.\" \" I'll ask grandmother and Colonel Toller,\" she said, and ran off to them as they stood talking by the door. By now it was a warm spring afternoon ; that quick-change artist, the English climate, had performed yet another miracle. \" Granny, dear, Mr. Painter is very much upset,\" she cried. \" He's awfully cross at not getting the reward. He says it's a hundred pounds.\" Toller burst into laughter. \" Daisy, your friend is a wonder,\" he said. He returned to the burglar, and as he did so

CLEVER MR. PAINTER. \"SHE HELD UP A ROUND WHITISH STONE, AND JACK HELD OUT HIS HAND FOR IT.\" a circle, while Jack almost forgot his bruises and came near to dancing in his eagerness. \" Ain't it queer to be di'mond-digging in a garding in England?\" he remarked, joyously. \" Very wonderful,\" said Daisy. They began on the earth beneath the turf. All but Mrs. Marsh went down on their knees and pulverized the hardened soil in their hands. And presently Daisy gave a little scream and held something up in her hand. \" Oh, is this one? \" she demanded. Jack took it from her, looked at it, and shook his head.

232 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. \" No, miss, that's on'y a quartz pebble,\" he replied. \" I don't believe there ain't none 'ere,\" said the gardener, sulkily ; \"and me as ought to be potting-out.\" \" Gahn, you and your potting-aht,\" said Jack ; \" is that a game in it with huntin' for di'monds ? \" \" Oh, oh,\" said Daisy ; \" I've got one.\" She held up a round whitish stone, and Jack held out his hand for it. He cleaned it unceremoniously with his tongue and the sleeve of his coat. \"What is it?\" asked Toller, and Jack trembled visibly. \" It's one o' them di'monds,\" he said, in an almost inaudible voice. \" Good Mr. Painter,\" said Daisy. \"Oh, isn't he clever ? \" \" Let me look at it, sir,\" said Smith, grumpily, and the Colonel passed it round. \" That a di'mond ? asked Smith, con- temptuously. \" Yus,\" said Jack ; \"oh, don't I know it? \" \" Then I don't think much of it,\" retorted Smith ; \" why, I've got three 'ere just like it.\" \" You—you blighted idjut,\" roared Jack ; \" where are they ? \" And the outraged gardener produced them from the corner of the bed. \" Blighted idjut, and 'im a jail - bird,\" spluttered Smith. \"Hush, hush,\" said Daisy; \"don't you dare say that.\" \" Oh, never you mind the blighter, miss,\" said Jack, scornfully; \"a brainless, unreasonin' cove like that will never be in quod for stealin' anythin' 'igher than cabbages. I scorn 'im.\" He rose to his feet and spoke to Mrs. Marsh with dignity. \" There, ma'am, they're your di'monds ; you've got 'em all back. I own freely I took 'em and 'id 'em very clever. But findin' 'em ag'in was equal clever, or more so, or I'm a liar.\" \" Oh, it was awfully clever, Mr. Painter,\" said Daisy. \"Thank you, miss,\" said Jack. \"So, ma'am, I gives 'em back freely, not even grudgin' the one the gent robbed me of when I was knocked silly, which makes up the five.\" The Colonel felt inexpressibly mean ; it was as if he had been accused of robbing a blind beggar. \" And nah abaht the reward,\" said Jack. \" I've nothing to do with it,\" said the Colonel, hastily. \" You leave it to me and the lady, sir,\" said Jack. \" But before you goes, sir, might Mr. Jones drive me to the station, me bein' in an 'urry to get to tahn ? \" \" Oh, certainly, certainly, Mr. Painter,\" said the Colonel, who felt Daisy's eye on him ; \" anything in the world to oblige you.\" Toller felt an insane impulse to shake hands with the burglar and say he hoped to see him at his club. There was something

MAXIM versus MASKELYNE. THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. THE interesting discus- sion between Sir Hiram Maxim and Mr. J. N. Maskelyne here reaches its conclusion. In the first letter Sir Hiram Maxim expresses his opinion of Mr. Maskelyne's articles, and finally Mr. Maskelyne, having seen this letter, winds up the whole discussion. As to which of these two clever gentlemen has had the better of the argument, every reader is free to come to his own decision. Dear Sir, — I have read Mr. Maskelyne's very ingenious and beautifully • illustrated article with a great deal of interest. The pictures are certainly a great triumph in photo-engraving, and the letter- press all that could l>e desired. Considered as a piece of literature, it is a brilliant and unqualified success, but unfortunately it does not gratify my longing ; I am still unable to account for Mr. Fay's tricks, and this longing cannot be satisfied with pictures, no matter how well they may be executed. I have had something to do with exposing mediums myself. I certainly made a good job of the Tomsons. My system was new and very effective—exit Tomsons. Mr. Maskelyne has some funny remarks to make about my wonderful memory of forty-seven years ago. I am very sorry to admit it, but it is a fact (hat I can remember the events of forty-seven years ago with a clearness of detail far exceeding what I can remem- ber of events of only forty-seven hours ago. The fact is that my poor old brain has t>een going on recording the events of my life and the contents of the tons of books that I have read until all the cells are fully occupied. In regard to the cabinet, which Mr. Maskelyne ridicules on account of its weight, I have said it was made of bass-wood, which is extremely light, having a specific gravity of about '35, and there is no trouble at all in making a cabinet of the size I mentioned to support the weight of three people, and still come Vol. xIl-30. THE CHALLENGED. A'rom ■ Photograph by Klliott Or fry. inside eighty pounds. Moreover, as the cabinet is very thin from front to back, \"the two heavy people\" were almost directly over the four supporting chairs. Although I had nothing to do with the selection of the rope or the tying, Mr. Maskelyne has a lot of ridicule on that score. (Juite true the bed-cord was of great length. The rigger commenced by tying Mr. Kay's hands, first sepa- rately, then together wilh the middle of the rope, and I will admit it did take some time to pass the long rope through the loops and form the knots, but those who had the job in hand imagined that this would be an advantage, because they could tie the ends of the rope to the back legs of the chair, so as to get them com- pletely out of Mr. Fay's reach. However, this long

234 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. between a gentleman and lady. There was just enough room in the cabinet for these three. Before they entered, the cabinet was lifted from the chairs, and estimated to weigh eighty pounds. In the presence of everybody in a strong light Mr. Fay entered the cabinet, and was followed by the gentleman and lady. It is very sure that no one else entered. It was in a new public hall, where there were no trap-doors. Mr. Fay was grasped firmly in the manner shown in the illustration, and still, instantly on closing the doors the instruments played, both the lady and gentleman received a kiss, and a hand was shown at the opening near the top of the cabinet. I am just longing to see this trick performed, first in the cabinet as I have described it, and then with the doors open. During the six evenings that Mr. Fay was in Boston practically all the conjurers in town were present. I knew some of them myself, and they all admitted at the end of the six evenings that they were quite unable to form any idea as to how the tricks were done. My article which appeared in the June number of The Strand Magazine was full and explicit, and brought me a large numt>er of letters from all over the world, including one from an old gentleman living in London, who informed me that he had assisted the Davenports and Mr. Fay and that my description was true in every particular. I had another letter from Mr. Fay's son, who is now living in Australia. He had shown my article to his father, and the rather pronounced it correct, but admitted that it was all trickery. Not only this, but old Mr. Fay gave a seance in Australia recently, in which he performed the old tricks again with perfect success, and as witnesses he gives a large number of prominent names, which would seem to prove that Mr. Fay is not quite so dead as we thought him to be. The account of his death was evidently \" greatly exagger- ated,\" as Mark Twain said. At the Bridgeport seance, referred to by Mr. Maskelyne, I went into the cabinet myself with the medium, and I am very sure that there was no one in the cabinet before the medium entered ; in fact, the chief detective was on the stage, and he as well as myself was sure that the cabinet was quite empty, and that no one entered except the medium, myself, and my assistant, who was a very tall and athletic young lady weighing about fourteen stone. Between us we held the medium—head, hand, and foot—with the grip of a vice. He was a small man, and we fairly boxed him in, so that he could neither escape nor move, and still, without stirring a hair, he per- formed all the tricks, just exactly as he would have done had we not been present. How did he do it ? These are the things that I am anxious to see done. So far I have been greatly disappointed. Mr. Maskelyne did a great deal to whet my appetite and to lead me on. I have been in a painful state of expectancy for a long time. The whole thing has been as exciting as setting a hen—I might say setting two hens — and I am afraid that it will bring on nervous prostration. If Mr. Maskelyne will express his regrets and apologize, it will do a lot to relieve the nervous tension. I have carried that twenty pounds so long in my pocket that it has actually worn a hole in it, and as I understand Mr. Maskelyne has \" lost his front teeth,\" which seem to

PERPLEXITIES. Puzzles and Solutions. 31.—THE THREE QUEENS. HERE is a pretty little chess puzzle, made some years ago by Mr. F. S. Ensor. White has to checkmate the Black king without ever moving a queen off the bottom row, on which they at present BLACK. * 1n Hi W ■ ■r m • ill ill J wt m 11 i WHITE. stand. It is not difficult. As the White king is not needed in this puzzle, His Majesty's attendance is dispensed with. His three wives can dispose of the enemy without assistance—in seven moves. By Henry E. Dudeney. 32.—THE FARMER'S PUZZLE. I GOT into conversation with a farmer in the train the other day, and he left me a pretty little poser— quite unintentionally, I believe. I happened to ask him if he had far to drive from the railway station, and this is what he told me. If he got out at Appleford, it is just the same distance as if he went to Bridgefield, fifteen miles farther on, and if he changed at Appleford and went thirteen miles from there to Carterton, it would still be the same distance. In fact, he said he was equidistant from the three stations. Now I happened to know that Bridgefield is just fourteen miles from Carterton, so it amused me, after he had gone, to work out the exact distance that the farmer had to drive home. 33.—THE FOOTBALL I'LAYERS. \" It is a glorious game !\" an enthusiast was heard to exclaim. \" At the close of last season, of the footballers of my acquaintance four had broken their left arm, five had broken their right arm, two had the right arm sound, and three had sound left arms.\" Can you discover from that statement what is the smallest number of players that the speaker could be acquainted with ? It does not at all follow thai there were as many as fourteen men, because, for example, two of the men who had broken the left arm might also be the two who had sound right arms. Solutions to Last Montk s Puzzles. 27.—THE TEN COUNTERS. From C to E (or to any other card) the ten counters may be transferred in 31 moves. Make a pile- of four counters on A (7 moves); a pile of three on B (5 moves); a pile of two on D (3 moves) ; transfer No. 10 to E (1 move) ; transfer D to E (3 moves) ; B to E (5 moves) ; A to E (7 moves) ; making jl moves in all. The twenty counters may be trans- ferred from C to E in 111 moves. Make piles of ten, six, and three (which will take respectively 31, 17, and 7 moves), and then proceed as before. 28.— THE TWENTY-ONE TREES.

A STORY FOR CHILDREN. E'Nesbix^_ Illustrated by H. R. Mill CHAPTER III. FERN-SEED. T was very glorious to wake up the next morning in enor- mous soft beds—four-posted, with many-folded silk hang- ings, and shiny furniture that reflected the sunlight as dark mirrors might do. And was nice, with different sorts of breakfast things to eat, in silver dishes with spirit-lamps more distinctly. Copyright, 1910, by E. Nesbit-Bland. under them — bacon and sausages and scrambled eggs, and as much toast and marma- lade as you wanted ; not just porridge and apples, as at Aunt Emmeline's. There were tea and coffee and hot milk ; and they all chose hot milk. \" I feel,\" said Caroline, pouring it out of a big silver jug with little bits of ivory between the handle and the jug to keep the handle from getting too hot—\" I feel that we're going to enjoy every second of the time we're here.\" \" Rather,\" said Charles, through sausage. \"Isn't Uncle Charles a dear?\" he added,

THE WONDERFUL GARDEN. »37 There was an interval of contented silence. Then, \"What shall we do first?\" said Charles. His sisters, with one voice, answered, \" Explore, of course.\" And they finished their breakfast to dreams of exploring every hole and corner of the wonderful house. But when they rang to have breakfast taken away it was Mrs. Wil- mington who appeared. \" Your uncle desired me to say that he thinks it healthy for you to spend some hours in the hopen — open air,\" she said, speaking in a small, distinct voice. \" He himself takes the air of an afternoon. So will you please all go out at once,\" she ended, in a burst of naturalness, \" and not come 'ome,—home, till one o'clock.\" \" Where are we to go ?\" asked Charlotte, not pleased. \" Not beyond the park and grounds,\" said the housekeeper. \" And,\" she added, reluc- tantly, \" Mr. Charles said if there was any pudding you liked to mention \" A brief consultation ended in, \"Treacle hat, please.\" Then they went out, as they had been told to do. And they took off their shoes and stockings, which they had not been told to do, but, on the other hand, had not been told not to, and walked barefooted in the grass, still cool and dewy under the trees. And they put on their boots again and explored the park, and explored the stable-yard, where a groom was brightening the silver buckles of the harness and whistling as he rubbed. They explored the stables and the harness- room, and the straw-loft, and the hay-loft. And then they went back to the park and climbed trees—a little way—because, though they had always known that they would climb trees if ever they had half a chance, they had not, till now, had any chance at all. 'And all the while they were doing this they were looking for the garden. And there wasn't any garden ! That was the plain fact that they had to face after two hours of sunshine and green out-of-doors. \" And I'm certain mother said there was a garden,\" Caroline said, sitting down suddenly on the grass—\"a beautiful garden and a terrace.\" \" Perhaps the uncle didn't like it, and he's had it made not garden again — 'going back to Nature' that would be, like Aunt Emmeline talks about,\" Charles suggested. \" But it's dreadful if there's no garden,\" said Caroline, \" because of the flowers we were going to send in letters. Wild flowers don't have such deep meanings, I'm certain of that.\" \" Never mind,\" Charles said. \" Think of exploring the house—and finding the book, perhaps. We'll ask the elegant one, when we go in, why there isn't a garden.\" \" We won't wait till then,\" said Charlotte ; \" let's go and ask that jolly chap who's polishing the harness. He looked as if he

238 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. the candle up to show the groined roof of a long, straight passage, built of stone, and with stone flags for the floor of it. \" How perfectly ripping ! \" said Charlotte, breathlessly. \" It is brickish of you to bring us here. Where does it go to ? \" \" You wait a bit,\" answered William, and went on. The passage ended in another flight of steps—up this time—and the steps ended in a door, and when William had opened this, everyone frowned and shut their eyes, for the doorway framed green leaves with sunlight dazzling through them ; and— \"'Ere's the garden,\" said William; and here, indeed, it was. \" There's another door the other end what the gardeners go in and out of,\" said William. \"I'll get you the key arter dinner.\" The door had opened into a sort of arch or arbour, for its entrance was almost veiled by thick growing shrubs. \" Oh, thank you,\" said Caroline. \" But when did they make this passage, and what for?\" \" They made that passage when the folks in the house was too grand to go through the stable-yard and too lazy to go round,\" said William. \" There's no stable-yard way now,\" he added. \" So long! I must be getting back, miss. Don't you let on as I brought you through.\" \"•Of course not,\" everyone said. Charles added :— \" But I didn't know the house was as old as secret passages in history times.\" . \" It's any age you please,\" said William ; \" the back parts is.\" He went back through (he door and the children went out through the leafy screen in front, into the most beautiful garden that could be, with a wall. I like unwalled gardens myself, with views from the terraces. From this garden you could see nothing but tall trees and—the garden itself. The lower half was a vegetable garden arranged in squares, with dwarf fruit trees and flower borders round them like the borders round old-fashioned pocket-handkerchiefs. Then about half-way up the garden came steps, stone balustrades, a terrace, and beyond that a flower-garden with smooth green turf- paths, box-edged, a sundial in the middle, and in the flower-beds flowers, more flowers than I could give names to. \" How perfectly perfect! \" Charlotte cried. \" I do wish I'd brought out my ' Language of Flowers ' ! \" said Caroline. \" How awfully tidy everything is !\" said Charles, in awestruck tones. There was nowhere an imperfect leaf, a deformed bud, or a misshapen flower. Every plant grew straight and strong, and with an extraordinary evenness. \" They look like pictures of plants more than like real ones,\" said Caroline, quite truly. An old gardener was sweeping the terrace steps and gave the children \"Good morning.\" They gave it back and stayed to watch

THE WONDERFUL GARDEN. 239 ' AN OLD GARDENER WAS SWEEPING THE TERRACE STEPS, AND GAVE THE CHILDREN 'GOOD MORNING.'\" \" It is jolly having meals by ourselves,\" said Charlotte; \" only I wish she wasn't cross.\" \" We ought to be extra manner-y, I expect, when we're by ourselves,\" observed Caroline. \" May I pass you the salt, Charles ? \" \" No, you mayn't,\" answered Charles: \" thank you, I mean ; but there's one at each corner. That's one each for us, and one over for \" \"For her.\" Charlotte pointed to the picture of the dark-eyed, fair-haired lady. \" Let's put a chair for her,\" said Charlotte, \" and pretend she's come to dinner, then we shall have to behave like grown-up people.\" And a large, green-seated chair whose mahogany back was inlaid with a brass scroll pattern was wheeled to the empty space on the fourth side of the table. \" Now we must none of us look at her—in the picture, I mean. And then we can't be sure that she isn't sitting in that chair,\" said Caroline. After dinner Caroline looked up \" remorse \" and \" regret \" in \" The Language of Flowers.\" It was agreed that Mrs. Wilmington had better have a bouquet. \" ' Brambles,' \" Caroline said, her finger in the book, \" mean remorse, but they wouldn't make a very comfortable nosegay. And ' regret's' verbena, and I don't even know what it is.\" \"Put pansies with the brambles,\" said Charlotte ; \" that'll be thoughts of remorse.\" So the housekeepei, coming down very neat in her afternoon dress of shiny black alpaca, was met by a bunch of pansies. \" To show we think we're remorsish about the secret stairs,\" said Charlotte ; \"and look out, because the brambles are the remorse and they prick like Billy-o ! \"

240 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. Mrs. Wilmington smiled, and looked quite nice-looking. \" Thank you,\" she said. \" I am sure you will remember not to repeat the fault.\" Which wasn't the nicest way of receiving a remorse-bouquet ; but then, as Charlotte remarked, perhaps she couldn't help not knowing the nice ways. And, anyhow, she seemed pleased, and that was the great thing, as Caroline pointed out. Then, having done something to please Mrs. Wilmington, they longed to do some- thing to please someone else, and the uncle was the only person they could think of doing anything to please. \" Suppose we arranged all the books in the dining-room bookcases—in colours—all the reds together and all the greens, and the ugly ones all on a shelf together,\" Charlotte suggested. And the others agreed. So that the afternoon flew by like any old put them back, while you go and wash your hands.\" \" We'll put them back,\" the children said, but in vain. They had to go to wash their hands, and Mrs. Wilmington continued to put the books back all the time they were having tea. Patiently and carefully she did it, not regarding the colours at all, and her care and her patience seemed to say, more loudly than any words she could have spoken, \" Yes, there you sit, having your nice tea—and I cannot have my tea, because I have to clear up after you. But I do not complain. No.\" They would have preferred that she should complain. But they couldn't say so. Now, you may say it was chance, or you may say it was fate, or you may say it was destiny, or fortune—in fact, you may say exactly what you choose. But the fact remains unaltered by your remarks. 'THANK YOU,' SHE SAID. 'I AM SURE YOU WILL REMEMBER NOT TO REPEAT THE FAULT bird, as Caroline put it, and when tea came the floor and sofa and chairs were covered with books, and one shelf was gay with red books and half a shelf demure in green. \" Your uncle isn't coming home to-day,\" said Mrs. Wilmington, \"and I'm sure it's just as welL What a mess ! Here, let me When Mrs. Wilmington placed a fat brown volume of sermons on the shelf, and said: \" There, that's the last,\" she, quite without meaning it, said what was not true For when tea was over the children found that the fat sermon book had not been the last. The last was \"Shadoxhurst on

THE WONDERFUL GARDEN. 241 Thessalonians,\" a dull large book, and Mrs. Wilmington had not put it back in its place because she had not seen it. It was, in fact, lying on the floor, hidden by the tablecloth. If Charles had not happened to want his handkerchief, and gone down to look for it on the floor (its usual situation when it was be all magic, and abracadabra, and crossed triangles, like in ' Ingoldsby legends.' \" \" I'll have first look, anyway,\" said Caroline. \" I found it.\" \" I found it,\" said Charles. \" You only picked it up.\" \" You only dropped it. Oh, bother t \" 'IT'S LATIN,' HE SAID. 'I COULD READ IT IF I KNEW A LITTLE MORE LATIN. needed), he would not have seen the book either. Charles picked up Thessalonians. and the cover \"came off in his hand,\" as the handles of cups do in the hands of washing-up maids. What was inside the cover fell on the floor with a thump, and Caroline picked that up. \" Shadoxhurst on Thessalonians,\" Charles read from the cover. \" This isn't,\" said Caroline, looking at what had been inside. \" It's—I say ! Sup- pose it was the book \" She looked up at the picture. It was certainly like the painted book. \" Only it hasn't any brass clasps,\" said Caroline. \"But look—it used to have clasps. You can see the marks where they used to go.\" You could. \" Glory ! \" cried Charlotte. \" Fancy finding it the very first day ! Let's take it to Uncle Charles.\" \" Perhaps it isn't it,\" suggested Caroline. \" Then he'd be furious, perhaps.\" \" We'll soon see.\" Charles reached out a hand. \" Ixt's have a squint. It ought to Vol. jclL—3t She had opened the book and now let her hands fall, still holding it. \" Bother what ? \" asked the others. \" It isn't English. It's French, or Latin, or something. Isn't that just like things? Here, you can look.\" Charles took the book. \" It's I^atin,\" he said. \" I could read it if I knew a little more Latin. I can read some of it as it is. I know quatn, and apud, and vara. Let's take it to the uncle.\" \"Oh, no\" said Caroline. \" Let's find out what it is first.\" It was not easy to find out. The title- page was missing, and quant, apud, and rara, though quite all\" right in their way, gave but little clue to what the book was about. \" I wish we'd someone we could ask,\" said Charles. \"I don't suppose the Wilming- ton knows any Latin. I don't suppose she knows even apud and quatn and rara. If we had the Murdstone chap handy, he could tell us, I suppose.\" \" I'm glad we haven't,\" Charlotte said. \" I don't suppose he'd tell us. And he d take it

242 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. \" Of course he would,\" Caroline said, with returning brightness. \"Let's go and ask him.\" Half an hour later the children, coming down a deep - banked lane, saw before them the grey tower of the church, with elm trees round it, standing among old gravestones and long grass. A white- faced house stood on the other side of the church- yard. \" I suppose the clergyman lives there,\" observed Caroline. \" Please,\" she said to a plea- sant - looking, hook - nosed man who was mending the churc hyard wall, and whistling \" Blow away the morning dew\" as he slapped on the mortar and trimmed off the edges with a dia- mond -shaped trowel, \"please does the clergyman live in that house ? \" \" He does,\" answered the man with the trowel. \" Do you want him?\" \" Yes,\" said Caroline. \"Well, here he is,\" said the man with the trowel. \" What can I do for you ? \" \" Do you mean to say that you're It? The clergyman, I mean ; I beg your pardon,\" said Caroline ; and the man with the trowel replied, \" At your service.\" \" I beg your pardon,\" said Caroline again, INTERESTING. LATIN, CAREFULLY, FOR HIS HANDS WERE VERY DIRTY. very red as to her ears. \" I thought you were a working man.\" \" So I am, thank God,\" said the man with the trowel. \" You see, we haven't much money to spare, the parish is so poor, so we do any little repairs ourselves. Did you ever set a stone ? It's awfully jolly. The

THE WONDERFUL GARDEN. 2 43 \"Rather! Do you?\" \"Rather!\" they said. And if anything had been needed to cement this new friend- ship, well, there it was. \" Look here,\" said the clergyman. \" If you'll just wait while I wash my hands I'll walk up with you. And I'll look through the book and report to you to-morrow.\" \" But what's it about ? \" \" About? \" said he, turning the leaves deli- cately with the least mortared of his fingers. \"Oh, it's about spells and charms and things.\" \" How perfectly too lovely !\" exulted Char- lotte. \" Oh, do read us one—just only one.\" \" Right o,\" was the response of this unusual clergyman, and he read: \" 'The seed of the fern, if pulverized '— pressed, pounded, smashed, you know—'and laid upon the eyes at the twelfth hour'—midnight, you know ; at least, I think that's it—' on a certain day shall give to the eyes thus doctored '—■ treated, dealt with, you know—' the power to see that which is not to be seen.' It means you'li see invisible things. I say, I must wash. I feel the dirt soaking into my bones. Will you wait ? \" The children looked at each other. Then Charlotte said, \" Look here, don't think we don't like you. We do—awfully. But if you walk up with us will you feel bound to tell uncle about the book ? Because it's a secret. He's looking for a book, and we think perhaps this is it. But we don't want to tell him till we are quite sure.\" \"I found it inside Somebody-or-other-quite- dull on Thessalonians, you know,\" said Charles ; \"and I saw it was Latin because of quam and \" \" My dear sir -and ladies,\" said the agree- able clergyman, \" I am the soul of honour. I would perish at the stake before I would reveal a centimetre of your least secret. Trust me to the death.\" And off he went. \"What a different clergyman ! \"said Charles; \" he is just like anybody else—only nicer.\" \" He said ' Thank God,' \" Caroline re- minded him; \"he said it like being in church, too, not like cabmen and people in the street.\" \"He said, 'Thank God he was a working man,' \" said Charlotte. \" I wonder what he meant?\" \" I shall ask him some day,\" said Caroline, \"when we know him better.\" But anyone who had met the party as they went talking and laughing up the hill would have thought they had known each other for long enough, and could hardly know each other any better than they did. Charles was dreaming of mortaring the Murdstone gentleman securely into a first- class railway carriage, and tapping him on the head with a brass trowel which was also a candlestick, when he was awakened by a pinch given gently. At the same moment a hand was laid on his mouth, and a whisper said :— \" Hist—not a word !\" \" Shut up,\" said Charles, recognizing at

244 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. as they waited, by the light of their one candle, for it to be twelve o'clock. Caroline was plucking fronds of fern, carefully, so that the lack of them should not disfigure the plants. \" It's all duffing,\" grumbled Charles. \" Don't forget I said so. And how are you going to pound the beastly stuff? You'll wake the Wilmington and the uncle and the whole lot if you pound.\" \" I thought,\" said Caroline, hesitating with the fern-fronds in her hand and her little short pigtail sticking out like a sauce- pan handle, as Charles put it later; \" I thought—it sounds rather nasty, but it isn't really, you know, if you remember it's all you—I thought we might cheiv them. Each do our own, you know, and put them on our eyes like a poultice. I know you hated it when Aunt Emmeline chewed the lily leaves and put them on your thumb when you burnt it,\" she told Charles ; \" but then her chewing is quite different from you doing it.\" \" / don't care,\" said Charles ; \" it's only a bit more of your nonsense. Give us the beastly seeds.\" \" They won't come off the leaves,\" said Caroline. \"We shall have to chew the lot.\" \" In for a penny, in for a sheep,\" said Charlotte, cheerfully. \" I mean, we may as well be hanged for a pound as a lamb. I mean- \" \"/know what you mean,\" Caroline inter- rupted. \" Here you are. It's just on twelve. Chew for all you're worth, and when the Wilmington's clock has half-struck put it on your eyes. And when it's struck all the strikes take it off. Yes. I've thought about it all. I'm sure that's right. Now then, chew.\" \" I hope it's not poison,\" said Charles; \" you'll remember I told you \" \" Of course it isn't,\" said Caroline. \" We often licked ferns And I'm not dead. I say. I dare say nothing will happen. But think how silly we should feel if we hadn't tried it. And this is the only night. He said so.\" \"Oh, all right,\" said Charles. \"At any rate, if we do it you can't be always saying we ought to have.\" \" Chew,\" said Charlotte ; and the clock began to strike. \" One, two, three, four, five, six,\" said Mrs. Wilmington's highly ornamented pink china clock ; each child had thrust a little bunch of fern fronds into its mouth. \" Seven,\" said the clock. \" Now,\" said Caroline. And each child . . . But you picture the scene. \"Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, purr,\" said the clock, and said no more. \" I don't like to take it off,\" said Charlotte, her hands to her eyes. \" Suppose we did see something ? \" \" We sha'n't,\" said Charles. \" You must,\" said Caroline.

Some Novel Picture Puzzles. Readers will find on this page a series of puzzles presented in a somewhat original style, solutions of which, together with further puzzles of the same kind, will appear next month. If A CIPCK STRIKE THREE IN THREE SECONDS, How LONG WILL IT TAKE TO STRIKE SEVEN ? Which will be first off the table ? A FROG AND A SNAIL ARE ■ SEATED ON A ROUND TABLE- 6 ft diameter, at its centre, and start together to • • get off it. the frog goes- ix inches the first leap- 9 inches the second, and so on, each leap being •• half the preceding one. The snail crawls uniformly 6 inches per minute.

CURIOSITIES. [ IVe shall be glad to receive Contributions to this section, and to pay for such as are accepted.} A DANGEROUS PET. ' I \"HIS is a photograph of a very novel pet which X arrived at an hotel abroad with its master. As it had no tail it puzzled everyone to know what sort of a dog it could possibly be, and on inquiry we found it was not a dog at all, but a Russian wolf which its master had procured at an early age and trained as a dog. Its constant restlessness and quick- moving eyes, however, revealed the still savage instincts within, and a poor tame chicken which happened to wander aimlessly by was snapped up and killed in a flash. Rather a dangerous and unreliable \" pet\" !—Mr. N. Rankin, 67, Carlton Hill, London, N.W. •A SHOCKED LAMP-POST. \\ T Coventry, recently, a lorry bearing a huge boiler suddenly collapsed, owing to the enor- mous weight driving one of its wheels into a weak spot in the roadway. The wheel half disappeared into what was apparently a solid road. The boiler rolled towards the door of a house, but, luckily for the residents, a lamp-post stopped the progress of this twenty-five tons or so of metal. The effect on the lamp-post, however, was rather curious, and the photograph proves conclusivelv that the shock it received was very severe - Sir. John J. Ward, Kusinurbe House, Somerset Road, Coventry. SUMMER-HOUSE MADE FROM OLD WINDOW- BLINDS. BY inserting this photograph of a summer-house made by myself out of old window - blinds you will, I feel sure, earn the gratitude of many Strand readers, for not only will it show them how they may usefully occupy their leisure hours, but the result of their labour will be a most comfortable and ornamental addition to their garden. Photograph by A. Lemay.—Mr. John Sutherland, Uddingston. A FEAT WITH FINGERS. YOU have published in recent issues several photographs showing various forms of finger dislocation, but I think the one I now send you, showing the little finger protruding at the side of the closed hand, is at least as curious as any of them.— Mr. George Kdward Harris, 18, De Lorenlz Street, Cape Town.

CHURCH Hl'l 1.1 BV ONE MAN. IUILT 1))' Ihe \"priest\" or leader of a small handful of devotees of a section of the Russian Greek Church, this \" one- man church\" was until lalely one of the \"sights\" of the foreign district in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most of the stuff consists mainly of old lum- ber, tin cans of all sorts and sizes, iron bedsteads, chairs, iron wire, and rods of all kinds, most ingeniously put together, and presenting a wonderful picture of great variety of colours and shapes. The church has been pulled down lately, as (he owner got into financial difficulties and was behind in his payments on the Hails. The wheat to be threshed is red into the hopper by the two men on the platform, the grain subsequently . falling into the sacks suspended beneath.—Mr. D. J. Cangram, 83, Woodville Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey. lot on which it 1 1, Duncairn Buildings, Antrim Road, Belfast. A PRIMITIVE THRASHING MACHINE. THE novel threshing machine shown in the drawing at the right-hand top of this page is used by some peasants in the valley of the Orne, where I took the picture during a recent visit to Normandy. The horse has been trained to walk on an endless plat- form, or treadmill, thereby furnishing the motive power for working the MADE ENTIRELY OF OLD BOXES. THIS model of a showman's \" Whirling the Whirl\" was made entirely out of old boxes, etc., being

248 THE STRAND MAGAZINE. bending the wire until the screw was held in the centre, and then starting the pendulum swinging, the watch commenced to go, and, judging by the swing of the pendulum, has no inten- tion of stopping. Since shortening the wire by rolling the screw higher up the watch has kept excellent time. The leaf shown in the photograph is simply a brass picture-hanger to which the watch is screwed at the back, the former then being nailed to the wall.—Mr. John A. Orme, 73, Firwood Avenue, Urmston Lane, Stretford, near Man- chester. N' WHERE EVERY HOUSE HAS ITS OWN TOTEM POLE. ON a recent expedition to Alaska we stopped at Alert Hay, an old Indian village on Vancouver Island, and I had an excellent opportunity of photo- graphing the most complete collection of totem poles to be found anywhere on the Pacific Coast, of which those show n in my photograph are a sample. They represent the family heraldics of the Siwash or Coast Indians, and every house has its own totem pole, consisting of figures of birds and animals and other monstrosities rudely carved in wood and quaintly coloured. The top figure represents the crest of the owner of the house, the one beneath it that of his wife, and the remaining ones that of his or his wife's relatives. As a rule there are only three or four figures carved on a totem, and only the totems of the greatest chiefs have six figures carved on them. This custom seems to have originated in the trans- migratory idea of the souls of men passing into the forms of birds and animals, and is interesting as show- ing that the Indians had some faint idea of a super- natural power. It will be remembered that Longfellow, in his \" Hiawatha,\" refers to the \"an- cestral totem.\"— M iss Margaret H. Wheat, G.P.O., Vancouver, liritish Columbia. A WATCH WITH A PENDULUM. IT A V I N G JlI broken the hair-spring of this watch, I took out the fly - wheel and the bracket which supports one end of its spindle ; I then drewastrand of wire out of a piece of brass gauze, made a hook at one end, hooked this on to the \" pallets,\" and the other end of the wire I twisted around a small wood screw. Hy slightly KOR BRIDf.E PLAYERS.— PROBLEM No. 2.

\"WHITE COAL\" The Story of a Nation's Water Powers. By DENIS CRANE HE most careless observer, taking up a map of Canada, cannot have failed to notice all over the surface of that country a delicate tracery of tortuous lines, expanding here and there into eccentric blobs, as if the draughtsman's pen had picked up a hair and made a blot. You are not sure for the moment whether they more resemble the veins in the human body or that peculiar decorative marking known to bookbinders as \" mottle,\" though you take them, correctly enough, to be rivers and lakes. Some have names appended. If the map is very large, nearly all have. And quaint names some of them are, too—the Wedding and Ashuapmouchouan Rivers, for example. Others, especially the lakes, have a spice of romance and a gleam of poetry, as witness the Arrow, the Great Slave, the Pelican, the Big Quill, the Reindeer, the Moose Lakes, and the Lake of the Clouds and the I.ake of the Woods; while yet others haunt the memory like a snatch of melody, as the Assiniboine River, the Athabasca Lake, and the River Saguenay. Some of the names are old friends, smacking—pleasantly or other- wise, according as we were bright scholars or dull—of the class-room and the geography lesson: Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario. But the rest, who ever heard of them before ? Indeed, except for the momentary interest which their strangeness awakens, what cares Vol. xli.-32. the reader for them, anyway ? They are just so many curly lines and unsightly blotches, nothing more. It would not be very gratifying to the brave men who first navigated and named them could they overhear such a summary judgment, and perhaps it is not entirely creditable to the reader that he makes it. For what if those winding waterways should prove to be as vital to the life, not of Canada alone, but also of Europe and the world, as those veins are to the human system ; and what if they are clothed with a natural beauty which few artists could adequately express and none surpass ? At least they are of such importance as to merit one half-hour's study, even if thereafter they pass from our minds for ever. Of their beauty I will leave other men, more gifted with the pen though not more appreciative with the eye, to tell. Be it my task to speak only of their utility, of the service they have already rendered to man- kind, and of the inexhaustible powers pent up in their limpid depths, awaiting only the master-hand of the engineer to harness them to the mightiest uses. \" White coal.\" That is the apt and pleasing metaphor which the Canadian uses in his appreciation of the vast motive powers of his national lakes and waterways. Black

THE STRAND MAGAZINE—SUPPLEMENT. as a prime mover of machinery without that daily peril to life and limb inseparably asso- ciated with the mine. Little idea can be gathered from the attenuated appearance of these markings on the map of the wealth of energy they repre- sent. Not only are many of the rivers deep and broad and swift of movement, but along their courses rapids and falls abound. Niagara and its wonders so fill the popular mind that we are apt to overlook the fact that on these great streams are other declivities, such as the Hamilton and Montmorency through an as yet unsurveyed region capable of future settlement into the Arctic Ocean, there are 6,000 miles of waterways, with only 150 miles of land break. Attempts have been made from time to time to estimate the total power available from all these waters. Where the facts are so difficult of access there has naturally been a tendency to exaggerate. On the other hand, the Government, alive to this danger, have perhaps tended to the opposite extreme, and in their records the figures are under rather than overstated. V l'UOTOr.KAPH SHOWING THE IMMENSE I'OWER OK WATER ABOVE ONE OF THE CANADIAN FALLS. Falls and the Lachine Rapids, that no less boldly challenge the attention. Respecting the Hamilton River Falls it may be interesting to know that these have been variously estimated as capable of yield- ing anything from 9,000,000 to 15,000,000 horse-power, as against an available horse- power from the Canadian part of Niagara of 3,000,000 only. The length alone of the Canadian rivers is to the Englishman astonishing. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior there is a waterway of 2,381 miles. The St. Lawrence system proper is 740 miles long and has 4,000 miles of con- nected navigable waters; while from this mighty stream to the Mackenzie, which flows Thus, in the evidence given before a Select Committee of the Dominion House of Com- mons by Mr. R. E. Young, D.L.S., Super- intendent of Railway Lands, in 1909, the following estimate, declared by other experts to be \" altogether too conservative,\" and generally agreed to be the \" absolute mini- mum,\" was given—namely, that the total horse - power available from the different waters of Canada is 25,692,900. To the reader unaccustomed to think in scientific measurements these figures, perhaps, convey little information. Horse power is the unit of power or force originally settled by James Watt in measuring the work capa- city of the steam engine. One horse power is a force capable of lifting 33,000 pounds

\" WHITE COAL. one foot in one minute. Multiply, then, the above total by 33,000 and we get the weight which such a force could lift—viz., over 378,500,000 tons. Now, if we subtract from the total 25,692,900 the 486,887 horse-power already in use, we have over 25,206,000 as the net available horse power in the Dominion at present running to waste. What this really means will be more apparent if I say that this is equivalent to an annual wastage of over 552,000,00c tons of coal; or, to adopt the Cana- dian's metaphor, there are over 552,000,000 tons of \" white coal \" immediately avail- able for the myriad uses of civilization. And that is the \"absolute mini- mum.\" The carefulness of the authorities is well illustrated by one fact—that, whereas the capa- city of the Hamil- ton River Falls has been esti- mated, as already stated, as high as 15,000,000 horse- power, it is reckoned in the above computation at 9,000,000 only. Moreover, every year new sources of power are being discovered or created. Thus, the construction of the proposed Georgian Bay Canal will add to the total a horse- powerofi, 176,310. Although, as we have seen, the \"white coal\" is well distributed overthe Dominion, certain provinces are specially en- dowed. Ontario and Quebec, for instance, together claim more than 20,200,000 horse-power. Even excluding the Hamilton River Falls, the figure is well over 11,000,000. What a wonderful field for industry is here ! It will bear comparison with any other region in the world, and, if its powers were utilized, would beat in the favourable character of its labour conditions even our own North of England. This fact was well brought out by Professor

THE STRAND MAGAZINE—SUPPLEMENT. THE SASKATCHEWAN RIVER, LOOKING EAST, EDMONTON the Ottawa branch of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. He remarked that rather less than two centuries ago our northern counties were little more than \"a sheep walk \"; that although coal had been known to be there for many years it was not then used for manufacturing purposes. Now, how- ever, the manufacturing of the world had to a very considerable extent been carried on there. What had taken place in the North of England, said he, would in due time take place in these two Canadian provinces. And not only so. The lives of the people would be healthier and happier, for the conditions under which manufacturing is carried on are vastly superior where the power is from water than where it is from coal; and when the employes are healthy and happy, then is their work more swiftly and carefully per- formed. By the development and conservation of the water powers of Ontario and Quebec, he added, other countries would some day look to Canada, not only as the greatest wheat-field of the world, but also as the greatest manufacturing centre. In Ontario \"white coal \" is already furnish- ing power for street railways and suburban lines. Its Hydro-Electric Commission scheme of transmission is the largest in the world, and electric power will shortly be transmitted at the highest voltage known—110,000. Nearly twenty municipalities have even now arranged to be supplied, and up to January last 27,350 horse-power had been contracted for. Hydro-electric power averages about 2 2dols. per horse-power per year, as against 6odols. per horse-power from coal or steam plant for a twenty-four hours day. The saving in cost is thus tremendous. GOLDIK'S MM.I. AT GUELPH, ONTARIO.

s A T I N C R E A T I O N IADAME LA MODE shows no signs of altering the sim- plicity of the general cut of garments, the plain lines of the newest models being more than made up for by the richness of the trim- mings employed. These are simply applied, but very handsome and, necessarily, expensive. The keynote of success of all garments just now is that the materials must be of the very best of their sort. Their plain and still somewhat scanty cut demands that the best be used and luxu- riously enhanced, that the little they consist of shall not be dwarfed by what one might style \"timid\" trimming. Bold embroideries, bold satin facings, wide velvet bands, startling blots of colour ornamentations, large beads and bugles, huge cabuchons and buckles—all illustrate the mode of the moment for trimming other- wise quite insignificant-looking garments. As an example in evening gowns our sketch shows a simple model; but, exploited by a well-known Parisian couturilrt in maize satin with a gold tissue draped belt, the bodice embroidered with gold thread and the lace parts sparkling with gold sequins, the effect was rich in the extreme. The same model was also expressed in Irish green chiffon velvet with black lace and sash, the bodice being finished with a jet embroidery, jet cabuchons also centring the rosettes. Still another gown of the same cut, so much has it caught on, was composed of black crepe meteore, the lace being substituted by satin of a rich cardinal, which completely transformed the design into a new model.

254 THE STRAND MAGAZINE-SUPPLEMENT. Since anything new for evening wear is eagerly welcomed, I am glad to notice that the latest hairdressing conception from across the Channel is for the most part generally becoming. A scarf of a most delicately- coloured blurred design is edged with a row of rather large gilt, silver, or pearl beads— these latter are also tinted in sky-blue or shell-pink— and a little cluster of pin curls is arranged just below each ear for the debutante, or conveniently omitted for the woman of maturer years (see the heading). Soutache braiding has by no means dis- appeared from the decorative rank, as is evidenced by the dernier cri in evening coats on this page of pale blue wool back satin, the ornamentation being of black silk soutache, which reminds me not to forget mention of

FASHIONS OF THE MOMENT. pic. 4. still another coat which I saw during my Paris ramble, which was of the same colour and material, but the revers fronts and also a V-shaped back yoke were of loosely-woven cotton cloth of pink Paisley, lined with pale blue satin and finished with blue cords. Dainty evening reticules, in all sorts of shapes and sizes, are very popular, made in gold or silver tinsel cloth, embroidered with coloured silks or worked in beaded flower designs. For afternoon visits the French- woman shows a predilection for black satin or velvet bags, but for morning shopping the large leather handbag reigns supreme. Smart little French girls, out with their nurses, are universally coated in black satin ornamented with a little silk braid, or left severely plain. The white satin lining, how- ever, and suggestion of white lace frillies successfully dismisses any idea of sombre- ness, and indeed looks extremely smart. To see young girls of ten or twelve—in fact, of all ages from babyhood—in white veils when the weather is very inclement always strikes the English eye as rather strange ; but then a good complexion, of course, is a great point with our French cousins, who believe Flat Paper Patterns of these designs may be had from this Oflice (or 1.0! each for Figs. 1, 2, or 3 (girl's coat or blouse ft d.i, post free. FIG. 5. that this can only be ensured by careful attention from infancy. A new note of colour combinations is struck in the dress example of Fig. 3, which is fashioned of nickel grey cloth, hr.ving a silk stripe of the same shade. Satin bands of lichen green form an effective con- trast, and the pretty white lace neck-finish completes a very original, yet simple, house frock. Quite a novelty is Fig. 5, and specially appealing to women who like to wear some- thing actually made by themselves, when that something can be made without any trouble, is the one-piece shirt-blouse shown on this page. It would look especially smart in a silk tartan or Paisley panne. Millinery modes will not change per- ceptibly till next month, when manufacturers have many shapes in store for the fabrication of flower toques. For the present we must be content with new creations still on wintry lines.

256 THE STRAND MAGAZINE—SUPPLEMENT. A diversion from the tall tam-o'-shanter toque with upturned brim is shown on this page, where it is turned downwards to show a cabuchon of gold braid, com- pletely filling the width of the velvet brim on the left. The hat shown in our sketch is still of the buckram variety, covered with stretched satin of a moonlight-blue shade, the under- brim being faced with black satin. Gold cording is wound five times round the crown, surmounted by two narrow lengths of grey fur, each side, these latter while two huge roses of pewter-grey gauze decorate For demi-evening wear, white or pale pink velvet ones are substituted for