The Helping Hand.
The readers of Harper's Round Table are trying to earn $3000 to build a school-house for the boys at Good Will Farm. The house is to be for the use of an Industrial School, where carpentry, moulding, etc., are to be taught. The Order of the Round Table seeks only to erect the building, not to be responsible for the school itself. Good Will Farm is on the banks of the Kennebec River in Maine, but it takes homeless and friendless boys from everywhere, so far as it has room, hence it is national and not local in its scope and work.
It takes these boys at four to eight years of age, gives them an education, and finds positions for them, thus turning what might grow into hardened and depraved men into what are certain to be useful men. There are upwards of 100 boys at the Farm now. There would be more were there room for them. During the past two years more than 700 deserving lads had to be denied this splendid "chance in the world" because the Farm could not house and support them.
One building, now used for a school, may be used for a home for fifteen additional boys as soon as the Order accomplishes its task. The Fund on November 12, 1895, stands thus:
| Amount previously acknowledged | $1437.79 |
| There have been added these sums, which came from nearly every part of the world: Dorothy and Pinneo, 5 cents; Victor R. Gage, $5; W. Stowell Wooster, George Tempel, William M. Mursick, Louise May Levy, Rose A. Levy, Mrs. P. B. Levy, Hattie M. Reidell, Mignonette Karelson, Johanna Girvins, Edwin J. Roberts, Christine, Ada, and Harry Norris, Paul Barnhart, Vincent V. M. Beede, Eileen M. Weldon, Florence E. Cowan, Maud Wigfield, Kate Sanborn, Two Friends, Allie and Julia K. Russell, Thacher H. Guild, Frederick G. Clapp, a Member, the Winship Family (five), Mary D. and Bella Tarr, Erwin F. Wilson, Charles E. Abbey, Tom R. Robinson, John C. Failing, Tracy French, Adella Hooper, John H. Campbell, Jun., and Helen F. Little, all in response to Mr. Munroe's appeal, and many of whom had previously contributed larger sums, 10 cents each; Ursula Minor, $5; Jessie Alexander, $1; Chauncey T. Driscoll, $1; J. Crispia Bebb, 25 cents; Christina R. Horton, 25 cents; Lyle, Frances, and H. M. Selby, $1; Evelyn, Marianne, and Lyle Tate, $1; Nellie Hazeltine, 25 cents; Addie Brown, 25 cents; the Roof Fair, previously mentioned, $30.17; the Misses Schrenkeiser, Dey, and Hubert Fair, $71.50; Marion and Dora Compton (Bavaria), $1; Dan and Lucinda Amsden, 50 cents; Nathaniel Thompson and his brother, 30 cents; Barbara Arbogast, William A. Steel, John Pohland, and Adelaide Ermentrout, 25 cents each; Edward Gray, 10 cents; Louise May Levy, $1; Edwin V.Griswold, 25 cents; Tennyson Chapter, of Piqua, O., $3.35; William H. Tobey, 50 cents; Edith L. Lewis, 50 cents; "Tiger," 25 cents; Miss M. T. Berge, $2; Maybelle H. Seelyee, $1; E. J. Nichols, 50 cents; Martha J. Sisson, 25 cents; Elsie Hall, 60 cents; the Admiral Benham Chapter, of Fort Adams, $8.95; and Harold C. Day, 10 cents. | |
| Total | 141.37 |
| ———— | |
| Grand Total | $1579.16 |
The Order was conditionally promised the sum of $300, the same to come to it on July 1, 1895, from a travelling salesmen association. It is due the Order to state that this sum is not included in the foregoing, it not yet having been received. The sum given is cash actually in hand. In addition to both there is the stone for the foundations, worth $400, but it is hoped to be able to raise $3000 in money.
Help is asked from any one desirous of aiding philanthropic boys and girls who are trying to be practical Knights and Ladies in the building of an industrial school-house for boys who need such.
This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
Many pretty and saleable things may be made for fairs by girls who know how to embroider. You may, for example, make a note-book by cutting a piece of white linen a little larger than the ordinary pad which you buy at the stores for five or ten cents. On this either draw in pencil or stamp a pretty pattern of leaves, flowers, forget-me-nots, or vines, or, if you choose, the letters which form a motto or a friend's name. Embroider these in delicate colors, and then cover the outside flap of the pad as neatly as possible. You will need a yard or so of ribbon to bind the back and finish off the book with a graceful little bow. A spool-case is a convenient thing to add to one's work-basket. You take two oval pieces of pasteboard, cover them very neatly with silk or linen, on which you have embroidered some dainty device, and on the inner side of each you run little shirrs of silk, in which you fasten spools of different sizes. One is always losing spools or getting them tangled up, and by this contrivance you can keep a half-dozen spools in order. Such a case as this, if properly made, should sell for one dollar at a fair. A pad for the bottom of a writing case or bureau drawer, made by laying a fold of wadding, sprinkled with sachet-powder, between two covers of silkoleen or silk, is a dainty gift, and an acceptable offering for a friend's table at a sale.
A convenient case may be made to hold the magazines which accumulate in a family by simply covering two large pieces of thick card-board with silk, linen, or canvas, on which the little artist may paint a delicate design if she prefers to do that with her brush rather than with her needle. These covers should be fastened together by long pieces of broad white silk elastic, and a neat person will be very glad to put in such a case the half-dozen papers or magazines which otherwise litter up her table. A pretty little book for engagements, addresses, etc., may be made by covering card-board with crépe paper. Make this just like the cover of a little book. Fasten inside a small pad and pencil, and to the outside attach a little bunch of paper violets perfumed and tied with ribbon.
Flowers are easily disposed of at children's fairs, and if you can secure ferns, carnations, and roses, and make them into tiny button-hole bouquets, you will realize something from your investment.
You must take pains to ask as many of your grown-up friends as possible to your little sale, as they have more money to spend than children, though children too will be welcome. The invitations may be given as you meet people, but it is, on the whole, best to have a few tickets printed thus:
AN AFTERNOON FAIR
for the Benefit of the Babies' Hospital
will be held at
MISS SALLY B.'S,
128 Sweetbriar Avenue,
ON
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24th,
at three o'clock.
admission, . . . 10 cents.
Sell as many of these as you can. Do not charge too much for your articles. Exorbitant prices are unwise. You must ask enough to pay the cost of the materials, with something added to recompense you for your time, skill, and pains.
If well managed, your little fair will net you a sum of money which will go far in making somebody who needs help happy and comfortable next winter.
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.
The statement is made that the entire number of unwater-marked stamps of the present dollar issue sold to the public was as follows: $1 stamps, 35,046; $2 stamps, 10,027; $5 stamps, 6251. The number of collectors in this country is over half a million, of whom probably at least five per cent. may be classed as advanced philatelists. This would make 25,000 sets necessary to fill the wants of this country alone under normal conditions. In Europe there are probably ten times as many philatelists as in the United States. Hence it is easy to see that the prices of these three stamps will rapidly advance. Some copies are still to be found on sale at various post-offices. Parties buying a few should take those stamps only which have a part of the margin attached. When this is done there can be no question as to whether the stamps are water-marked or not.
M. Gibbons.—The rose 1861-1867 U.S. 3c. stamp has no value except by the thousand. The pink 1861 is an extremely rare stamp.
Philatus.