Questions and Answers.

Henry W. Hill, who lives in Columbus, O., writes to know the cost of attending the Eastern colleges per year, saying that he gets the impression, from reading the newspaper accounts of football, baseball, and other games, and the list of sons of wealthy parents who attend these colleges, that they are intended mainly for the well-to-do, and that young men of moderate means or of no means are practically cut off from attending them. He especially asks the status of the poor student at Harvard or Pennsylvania. "Is he left severely alone?"

It is easy to suppose that a reading of the newspaper news concerning Eastern colleges would give the impressions here outlined. And yet we are sure that such impressions are not intended to be conveyed by the writers of the news. Let it be distinctly stated, and with emphasis, that the great majority of students at all Eastern colleges, and Western ones too, are sons of poor parents. There is no social exclusion of a poor man because he is poor—none at all. And this is emphatically true at all the colleges. In response to our inquiry, a member of the Faculty of one of the leading universities wrote thus: "Here is an average student. He maintains a creditable standing in his class, and finds time to play football, or the game his fancy dictates. He becomes acquainted with all members of his class, and many besides, and forms numerous warm friendships. He may take college honors, and is likely to receive honors on class-day. His life on the campus, in the class room, on the athletic-field, and at his boarding-club is taken as the measure of his real worth, and length of purse and of ancestry are of equally small value. And he lives comfortably on $500 a year."

Three recent Princeton classes, including honor men, were asked to give their personal expense accounts. Their replies show from $250 to $700 a year, with an average of $442.68. One student gives his account in detail thus: Dues, games, newspapers, $25; Books, $20; Car fare, $15; Clothes, $50; Current expenses, $50; and College bills, $240. Total $400.

F. C. Bears.—The origin of the term "blue stocking" is given by Brewer as follows: A woman's club met at the house of a Mrs. Montague, in London. Men were admitted, although it was a woman's gathering. One of the regular attendants was a Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, and he always wore blue stockings. It was one hundred years or more ago, when knee-breeches were in vogue, and the bright blue lower-leg coverings were conspicuous. Hence the name.

The New York Stock Exchange, dear Sir John L. M. Taylor, is a private not a public institution, and is maintained by fees assessed upon its members. It is not the same as the Produce Exchange and the Consolidated Exchange, which have members and buildings of their own. Peter Lindbloom, Baltimore.—The Table regrets it cannot undertake an elaborate explanation of the silver and gold question as you ask it to do. Apply to Congressional Campaign Committee, Washington. D. C., or to State or National Campaign Committee of either party. Simply write a letter containing a brief statement of what documents you desire. They are usually sent free.

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 new Trinidad stamps are on the market, and make a handsome set. The central figure is Britannia, and the values are printed in different colors.

½	penny, mauve, value in green.
1	penny, mauve, value in red.
2½	penny, mauve, value in blue.
4	penny, mauve, value in orange.
5	penny, mauve, value in mauve.
6	penny, mauve, value in black.
1	shilling, green, value in red.
5	shilling, green, value in vermillion.
10	shilling, green, value in blue.
1	pound, green, value in red.

The last three are double the size of the smaller values.

The proposed New York Philatelic Club house is still in the air. Over one hundred subscriptions of $25 each have been received, and new subscribers are coming in every day, but the difficulty of obtaining a suitable house has blocked the plan for the present. The committee has been offered several houses at a rent of $2000 per year, but this is a little more than they care to pay at present. In London there has been no such difficulty.

I cannot too strongly impress upon collectors the necessity of handling valuable stamps with care. A startling instance has just come under my observation. I was shown an album the owner of which collected stamps from 1868 to 1875 inclusive. Page after page was filled, with all the stamps in the spaces set apart for them, stamps of which large dealers to-day have no stock. Had the stamps been in good condition, the value of the collection would be four or five thousand dollars. If in "first-class" condition, it would be difficult to duplicate at six or seven thousand dollars. Yet this collection was offered to all the dealers in the city for four hundred dollars, and not one of them would buy it. It was at last sold for three hundred and fifty dollars, and the dealer who bought it would have been glad to have sold it at once at an advance of twenty-five or fifty dollars. An inspection of the album by lovers of stamps almost brought tears to their eyes at seeing the way rare stamps had been maltreated. Hardly one scarce or rare stamp had escaped mutilation—perforations trimmed, pieces torn out of the body of the stamp, corners gone, backs "skinned," face of stamps rubbed, creased, or dirtied—in fact, almost every philatelic mistake possible had been made, and a fine collection utterly ruined. As a matter of course, in many instances the commonest stamps were in good, and in some cases in mint, condition. The explanation of this fact is that the commonest stamps had been replaced by better copies when the originals were torn, whereas the scarce stamps were scarce, and could not so easily be replaced.

George Werner, 277 Fairmont Ave., Newark, N.J., wishes to exchange with collectors in British colonies and South American countries.

Philatus.

'Tis wisest to economize
By blending, in the home supplies,
The highest worth and widest scope.
Now Ivory, being pure and good
For laundry, bath and toilet, would
Save fully half the bills for soap.