Another really creditable paper is The Scribbler, edited by Robert E. James, Jun., 212 North Third Street, Easton, Pa. It is illustrated by Easton amateurs—and well illustrated too.
Less pretentious, but very bright, is The Knight-Errant—an excellent name, by-the-way—edited by Bertram R. White, 616 Lexington Avenue, this city. Sir Bertram is one of the old stand-by knights of our Table, and deserves his success. We say success, because, no matter what the financial outcome may be, it is bound to succeed in teaching its editor a deal of valuable business experience.
The following-named are interested in amateur papers; George W. Buchanan, Searcy, Ark.; Sam Wood, 14 South Washington Street, Wilkesbarre, Pa.; M. S. Newman, 722 East Ninth Street, New York; G. Ellery Crosby, Jun., 15 Beach Street, Hartford, Conn.; D. Arthur Bowman, 4412 Delmar Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.; and Harold C. Day, Harrison, N. Y. They wish to subscribe for some amateur papers. The Arkansas Knight thinks of starting one, and the Missouri Knight wants to form a journalists' corresponding Chapter.
The Albermarle is published by George D. Galloway, Eau Claire, Wis., another old-time Knight of the Table, who has felt the healthy stimulus of our Order, and is now getting out a good journal. He is willing to send samples upon request.
The Inventor of Chess.
"Who invented chess?" asks a Knight who lives in Arkansas.
An Arabian mathematician named Sessa, the son of Daher, is supposed to have invented the game of chess. According to Al-Sephadi, the reigning prince was so pleased with the invention that he promised Sessa any reward he might desire. The mathematician asked for a grain of wheat for the first square of the chess-board, two for the second, four for the third, and so on to the sixty-fourth square. The prince was rather angry at first, considering it a stain on his liberality to be asked for such a paltry present. He gradually cooled down, however, when his Grand Vizier reported a total of 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 grains, or 31,274,997,412,295 bushels. If we suppose that one acre of land is capable of producing 30 bushels of wheat in one year, this enormous quantity would require 1,042,499,913,743 acres, or more than eight times the surface of the globe, at a cost of about $312,749,974,123.90.