We desire to call the attention of exchangers to the notice which is printed at the head of the Exchange list. Please make it a rule to follow this in every instance. When a boy has five or six coins, two or three hundred postmarks, or a few relics or curiosities, and calls attention to them in these columns, many thousands of readers see the notice, and he finds himself confronted with so many replies that his embarrassment is very great. In the mere matter of postage he may find himself burdened with considerable expense, perhaps more than his pocket-money will pay, or than his parents will allow him to spend. This inconvenience, and the further peril of being thought dishonorable, may be avoided by having a correspondence by postal cards before sending any precious things away.
It is not possible for us to rectify mistakes, nor to compel delinquent exchangers to make proper returns. We prefer to think that all who avail themselves of this privilege are worthy of it. We desire and hope that every girl and boy who is numbered among our young people shall be true, courteous, prompt, and obliging. Without the exercise of these qualities, neither exchanging nor any other business can be satisfactorily carried on.
Those who have saved their back numbers, as we think all ought to do, will find a paragraph on this matter in the Post-office Box of Vol. II., No. 80. To this we refer the attention of Willie B. G., who writes to us complaining of an apparently dishonest correspondent. We can not settle difficulties which arise among exchangers, but we think careful attention to preliminary correspondence, and to the full payment of postage, would prevent much confusion.
Until after the Christmas number the pressure upon our columns will prevent us from publishing all of the large accumulation of Exchanges we have received, but we will print them as rapidly as we can when the holidays are over.
C. Y. P. R. U.
Paper.—How many varieties of paper do you think they manufacture in Japan? Over sixty kinds are made from the fibres of various grasses and plants. "Paper," says Miss Bird, in her interesting record of travel in Japan, "is used for walls, windows, cups, pocket-handkerchiefs, lanterns, string, wrappers, cloaks, hats, and baggage covers, and is used domestically and professionally for all purposes for which we use lint, bandages, and cloths. It is so tenacious as to be nearly untearable, and even the finest kind, an exquisite and nearly diaphanous fabric, soft like the most delicate silk crepe, in which fine gold lacquer is usually wrapped, can only be torn with difficulty."
The same writer tells about the fine varnish or lacquer which we see on the beautiful Japanese trays and bowls. It is a natural varnish, the product of a tree, from which the sap is taken in the early spring. When it comes from the tree it is of the color and thickness of cream, but it darkens when exposed to the air. Lacquer is used for all kinds of purposes, from the golden shrines in the temples to the rice bowl in which the humblest cooly takes his meal.