I send an experiment for the chemistry club. To make cyanogen gas the apparatus necessary is this: one test-tube, a cork, six inches of glass tube one-quarter of an inch in diameter, an alcohol lamp, and a round file. Now hold the glass tube over the flame of the lamp until the glass is soft, when by pulling it apart you will have two tubes, with one end of each drawn to a fine point. Break off the point of one, and you will have a tiny jet. Make a hole in the cork just large enough for the large end of the tube to go into. Put into the test-tube as much cyanide of mercury as will lie on the point of a penknife. Fit the cork tightly in the test-tube. Wave the test-tube over the flame of the lamp for five or ten minutes, and then apply a lighted match to the jet, when the gas will burn with a bluish flame. Pour some melted tallow or bees-wax over the cork to keep the gas from escaping before reaching the jet.
John R. G.
Nashville, Tennessee.
I read the letters in the Post-office Box with so much pleasure! I have every number of Young People. All my young friends that read it like it very much. We have formed a juvenile club, and I am president. Reading Young People is a part of our programme.
Randolph H.
San Francisco, California.
I thought I would write and tell you about our club. It is called the "Silver Crescent Dramatic Club." We were going to call it "Golden Crescent," but when the club gets a little richer it is going to buy some medals for each member to wear; they will be the shape of a crescent, and if they had to be of gold, they would cost more than silver ones. We meet once every week, and make by-laws and suggestions, and vote on them, and we rehearse. We also have a monthly paper; it is called "The Monthly Crescent." Of course it is not printed, and we have only one copy. Each member edits it in turn, and the others send in contributions. Everything has to be original. The paper is read at every fourth meeting.
We charge five cents to join the club, and every two months each member has to pay five cents dues. New members are voted for, and the majority rules. We have five officers—a president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, and stage-manager. I am the secretary.
We prepared a grand entertainment for the Christmas holidays. It was a tragedy in three acts. I arranged it. In the first part of Little Women, by Miss Alcott, they had a play called the "Witch's Curse." Only the plot was given. I took it and made up the dialogue, added some more characters, and changed it to make it turn out differently. It makes a very nice little play.
Ida B. D.