Questions and Answers.
"B. H. S." asks: "To whom is application made in order to get a position in any of the large railroad offices? I have heard that in order to get a position in any of the New York Central offices certain examinations had to be taken." The railroad you name examines applicants for positions in the auditors' and all departments where good penmanship and accuracy in figures are required, but it does not examine applicants for positions in other departments. But it has no regular examining-board. Nor do railways of the country have, as far as we know, such boards for applicants to apply to. If one desires to get into the telegraph service of a railway, he applies to the superintendent, or in some cases to the chief operator or train-despatcher. Any local telegraph operator can give the name of the proper official on his road. For positions in auditors' and other accounting offices applications are made to those officials. For places on trains apply to the superintendent, and on locomotives to the master-mechanic. As a rule the best course is to get acquainted with some employé, and through him make the application.
J. B. Coles asks how to get into West Point. Old readers must bear with us when we answer again this much-answered query to say: Apply to your member of Congress. The appointment is made by him, and by him only, save in the case of a very few appointments made by the President of the United States, which appointments are usually reserved for sons of army officers, who have, as a rule, no legal residence and, therefore, no member of Congress to apply to. The same course is to be followed to get an appointment to Annapolis. If you prefer, you can write, merely for information about vacancy and conditions, to the Secretary of War or Secretary of the Navy. Address your communication as here named, and add, Washington, D. C. Make the request plain and brief, and you will receive a reply in good time. Don't hesitate to write to these officials. They are public servants, and are always ready to answer such proper inquiries. Only one cadet from each district can be at West Point and at Annapolis, respectively, at a time.
Ralph Leach: Address G. A. Hentey, in care of Boys' Own Paper, Paternoster Row, London, and Kirk Munroe, in care of this publication.—Minnie Louise Naething asks what a "parchment eater" is. We give it up—because our reference-books, like hers, are silent on the subject. Can some one enlighten us?—"Cape Vincent" asks us some questions, and desires answers by mail. We are always glad to oblige our readers, but our purpose in answering questions is to give information to all. Why not have answers published?
Robert H. Nead asks for information about the "Mad Yankee," which occurred in one of the recent puzzle questions. We discarded "Mad" Anthony Wayne because he was not a Yankee. Robert retorts that Elisha Kent Kane was born in Philadelphia. The question was, in effect, what public man went by the nickname "Mad Yankee"? The answer was Kane. Whether the nickname was or was not correctly applied we cannot say. Nor is it material. Wayne could not be accepted, for he was not the bearer of that nickname, and our conditions included nicknames in the list of questions.
Louise A. Littlepage, who lives in Colon, Guatemala, sends us a poem of six verses on "The Noble Boy." The Table rarely prints poems—for obvious reasons. Louise says, "If the Table wishes, I will send some more verses." Will she not tell us in plain prose not about noble boys, because such are not rare with us, but about Guatemala—the school she attends, the interesting sights of the city she lives in, what time blackberries are ripe, if she have such fruit, the flowers that bloom in Colon in March, what the people of Colon think of the new republic of which Guatemala is now a part? Does Colon have cable cars? Has she ever been out in the country on a visit to a country house? If so, what was it like, how furnished, and what did the housewife have for dinner? Noble boys are noble boys the world over. But Guatemala is different from Georgia, Maine, or Dakota. Please describe for us some of these interesting differences.—A member: Wood-engravers' tools are for sale only by a few first-class dealers in hardware. They are purchased in the rough, and have to be finished and put in condition by the engraver. A set of tools, including leather-pad and magnifying-glass, suitable for a beginner would cost about ten dollars.