WHAT IS A LETTER? It is not so long since most personal letters, after an extremely formal salutation, began "I take my pen in hand." We do not see that so much nowadays, but the spirit lingers. Pick up the average letter and you cannot fail to discover that the writer has grimly taken his pen in hand and, filled with one thought, has attacked the paper. That one thought is to get the thing over with. And perhaps this attitude of getting the... more...

[Transcriber's Notes]Conventional mathematical notation requires specialized fonts andtypesetting conventions. I have adopted modern computer programmingnotation using only ASCII characters. The square root of 9 is thusrendered as square_root(9) and the square of 9 is square(9).10 divided by 5 is (10/5) and 10 multiplied by 5 is (10 * 5 ).The DOC file and TXT files otherwise closely approximate the originaltext. There are two versions of the HTML... more...

A 1 Abilities—No man's abilities are so remarkably shining, as not to stand in need of a proper opportunity, a patron, and even the praises of a friend, to recommend them to the notice of the world. —Pliny. 2 Absence, with all its pains,Is by this charming moment wip'd away. 3 Abuse is the weapon of the vulgar. —Goodrich. 4 It is told of Admiral Collingwood that on his travels he carried a bag of acorns, and... more...

SECTION I - HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, and TRAVELS Baker (Sir Samuel W.). THE NILE TRIBUTARIES OF ABYSSINIA, and the Sword-Hunters of the Hamran Arabs. By Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., F.R.C.S. With Portraits, Maps, and Illustrations. Third Edition, 8vo. 21s. Sir Samuel Baker here describes twelve months' exploration, during which he examined the rivers that are tributary to the Nile from Abyssinia, including the Atbara, Settite, Royan, Salaam,... more...

GREETING Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. —Emerson. Girls, the word lady should suggest, ideally, a girl (or a woman) who keeps herself physically fit, her thinking on a high plane, and her manners gentle and winsome. Boys, the word gentleman means, ideally, a fine, athletic, manly fellow who is an all round good sport in the best sense, and who has manners that do not prevent other people from... more...

PREFATORY Not only does this manual cover all the subjects prescribed by War Department orders for the Junior Division, and the Basic Course, Senior Division, of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, but it also contains considerable additional material which broadens its scope, rounding it out and making it answer the purpose of a general, all-around book, complete in itself, for training and instruction in the fundamentals of the art of war.... more...

Many Thoughts of Many Minds. Ability.—No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he be that has but little in his power should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with him that can do nothing.—Dr. Johnson. We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.—Longfellow. Every person is... more...

A Bit of His Life Talbot Mundy was born in London on April 23, 1879. He was educated at Rugby, and served nearly ten years, beginning in 1900, as a government official in Africa and India. While in India, he wandered all over the sub-continent on horseback, and even into Tibet. Eastern occult lore first attracted, then fascinated, his active and unorthodox mind. Mundy absorbed all he could learn of the Indian beliefs. Government service next... more...

AN OAK BUFFET Finished Buffet Details of Buffet The accompanying sketch and detail drawing show a design of a buffet wherein refinement of outline and harmony of details are conspicuously regarded. Quarter-sawed oak is the most suitable wood for this handsome piece of mission furniture. The material should be ordered from the mill ready cut to length, squared and sanded. Following is a list of the stock needed: 2 back posts, 2 by 2 by... more...

The piano bench shown in the accompanying picture was made of black walnut and was finished natural. The finish was applied in the following manner: First, all the parts were well scraped and sandpapered, then the surface was covered with a coating of boiled linseed oil. After this had stood several hours, or until it had had time to penetrate the wood, the surplus liquid was wiped off with a flannel cloth. After the oil had stood for 48 hours, a... more...