Little Falls, New York.
I would like to ask Bertie Brown and M. R. L. if the Indians in their vicinity make dolls. I have two very curious ones made by the Nez Percés in the guard-house at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory. On the heads of the squaws are long braids of real hair. Will you please tell me what a guard-house is, and also why barbers' signs are painted in stripes?
Susie C. B.
The guard-house is that portion of a fort where prisoners are confined and kept under guard.—In former times the barber's craft was dignified with the title of a profession, being conjoined with the art of surgery. In France, the barber-surgeons were separated from the hair-dressers, and incorporated as a distinct body in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth. In England, barbers first received incorporation from Edward the Fourth in 1461. In the reign of Henry the Eighth they were united with the Company of Surgeons, it being enacted that the barbers should confine themselves to the minor operations of blood-letting and drawing teeth. In 1745, barbers and surgeons were separated in England into distinct corporations. The barber's sign consisted in ancient times, as now, of a striped pole, from which a basin was formerly suspended. The fillet round the pole indicated the ribbon used for bandaging the arm in bleeding and the basin the vessel to receive the blood.
F. Haynes.—Many thanks for your kindness and trouble in copying the poem. You have done it very neatly. It is, however, much too long to be printed in Young People.
W. Atkinson.—A water-mark is any device stamped in the substance of a sheet of paper while it is in a damp or pulpy condition. The practice dates back to the early part of the sixteenth century, and came into vogue soon after the invention of printing. The mark is produced by pressure as the paper passes over a wire-gauze net, or under a roller, in its progress from the vat, the raised lines of the design making the paper thinner at the points of contact.
Louie B.—We shall soon begin the publication of "The Story of the American Navy," by Benson J. Lossing.