A South Carolina Plantation.
We live on a plantation. The clearing is about 400 acres in extent. On the east is a salt-water river, and on the north, south, and west is the forest. On the other side of the river is a marsh. On this marsh there grows a kind of grass. In the winter the marsh dries and breaks off, and in spring, when we have high tides, the grass floats upon the beach, and people haul it away to put in the stables for the horses and cows. There are many large live-oaks scattered over the clearing, with lots of moss hanging from them. The moss is lovely. Along the river-shore on our side are palmettos, oak-trees, and bushes.
Millie Mittell, R. T. L.
Bluffton, S. C.
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.
Corean money is made of copper or brass, each piece about as large as our old copper cents, with a square hole in the centre. It takes six hundred of these coins to equal in value one of our silver dollars. Ten dollars would be a good load for a man to carry about, and fifty dollars would be a good load for a horse.
Where does the capitalist keep his money? We have to build immense vaults in Washington to store away our silver bullion and silver dollars that no one cares to carry about as we prefer good gold or paper money. There are no banks or safe-deposit companies with fire-proof vaults in Corea, so the Corean capitalist is forced to devise a method, and has hit upon a very novel one. He lends out the money early in the spring at 50 per cent. or 60 per cent. per year, all loans to be repaid in full with interest late in the autumn. The money, therefore, comes back about the beginning of winter. The Corean digs a big hole in his yard the first freezing night and spreads out a layer of cash on the bottom. On top of this he throws some earth and wets it thoroughly. As soon as this is frozen hard, he spreads out another layer of cash and covers it with wet earth; this freezes in turn and another layer of cash is put away. When he gets through the whole is wet again and it naturally freezes solid. Thus each Corean capitalist has his own security vault, and the winter is such that there is no danger of any one trying to dig up the money until warm weather in the spring.
W. J. McGarvey.—Continental and Confederate bills have little value, owing to the enormous quantity still in existence. A collection of these would be of at least as much interest as a collection of stamps, and the expense would not be very great.
H. H. Luther.—The Columbian half-dollar is in regular circulation at face value. There is little prospect of its increasing in value.
F. S. B.—The dealers sell the 1830 half-dollar for 75c.
R. Starke.—Ten-cent stamp albums are not recommended to even a beginner. A very good album can be bought for $1.
S. A. Dyar.—The coin described is Spanish, and is worth about 12c., face value. Dealers quote one-dollar gold pieces at $1.50, quarter eagles at $3, 1828-32 half-cent 15c., 1858 copper cents 5c.
Philatus.
One can be genteel and neat, and still indulge a love of outdoor sports.
A fall with nothing worse than mud stains is not serious; Ivory Soap will remove troublesome spots and restore the original freshness to a good piece of cloth.
Copyright 1895, The Procter & Gamble Co.
