Use your ingenuity to find persons with the same hobby as your own. When you find them, write them a really good letter; that is, treat them well, not ill. Do not ask any one to excuse blots in letters. Busy business men even do not do that. They write the letter over again, and their time is more valuable than yours. Never say, "That isn't the best I could do, but it is good enough." Only the best is good enough. Treat your correspondents well, and you will derive much of both knowledge and pleasure from them.
A Fire by the Esquimaux Method.
I read about the Esquimaux method of lighting fires in Snow-shoes and Sledges. I had read about the method before, but had always been somewhat sceptical on the subject. But as the directions were plainer than any I had previously seen, I thought I would try it myself. I procured a piece of soft pine and worked a hole in it with my knife. The pencil I made of oak, and the piece that went on top of the pencil I made of whitewood.
I then took an old bow, and taking the string off, put on a larger one about an eighth of an inch in diameter. I took a turn of this around the oak pencil, and drew the bow back and forth. At first I could perceive no fire, but before long, to my surprise, the wood began to smoke, and when I took the pencil out I found it was somewhat charred. I have tried it several times since with more or less success. I would like to know whether any one else has tried this experiment, and how they have succeeded.
I would like some correspondents.
Cassius Morford.
Banfield, Mich.
Questions and Answers.
Avis K. Smith, Box 84, San Luis Obispo, Cal., wants to hear from a Chapter that admits corresponding members. Gérasime Dubois, 21 Chaussie du Vouldy, Troyes, Champagne, France, is a French Knight of the Order, and wants to correspond in French, German, or English, to improve his own and his correspondents' language construction. He will write in any or all of the languages. O. Prussack, R. T. K., 84 Norfolk Street, New York, wants to join a literary Chapter.