Show when mother Is away the old house seems so creepy and the rooms so dull and dead I 1 think I 1 hear spooks walking in my bedroom overhead and I 1 hear the strangest whispers coming down the chimney flue and a voice I 1 guess a keeps a saying you boo and when the flames quit blazing and get low upon the grate and the shadows come a creeping and the hour Is getting late then I 1 hear the front stairs creaking just as if some one was there and I 1 d like to run and look but my gracious I 1 don t dare and sometimes in the cellar I 1 can hear the lest things it makes me get all ere py and I 1 have such and sometimes when the wind blows then the eaves make such a noise it s like the ghosts pa tells about that scares the 1 atle boys and when I 1 get real awful scared I 1 close my eyes up tight and cuddle up in this big chair and turn on all the light and say you ought to see them scoot those ghosts and gobble uns the witches and the things like that As soon as mother comes milwaukee sentinel A little table many a boy would like to make a little table for his sister if he only knew how to go about it the diorec eions given below it carefully tol lowed will make a very nice table for the top of the table secure a board 1410 inches and after rounding the corners with a file finish with sandpaper two pieces of wood inches can be used as legs before finishing cut out a little piece the bottom c each leg about 1 inch deep and 1 irenes wide as shown in the diagram also secure two pieces of wood inches for sides of table and file and finish with sandpaper as before when this has been done nail or glue the five parts together and your table Is finished flags at half mast what Is the origin of displaying flags at half masta e when this question is put the an awer always is unhesitatingly given it is borrowed from the navy the pennant at halt mast is always a sign of mourning yes but was it at first a ship s signal of distress as some saya in the seventeenth century it was so employed by the spaniards and in the following century it was so recognized by english and french sailors we also know that flags were commonly used at funerals in england hence the common application of the tion of the two usages on occasions ol 01 bereavement phantom doves A man who had been at work in a shoe factory in maine set a hen one day he was told that the eggs were bantams and he always was fond of bantams it don t take scarcely noth ing to feed em said he and I 1 m much obliged to you and the young fellows in the same room in the shoe factory who gave him the eggs smiled among themselves fhe eggs hatched and then the devoted bantam raiser hung over the chicks in rapture they were the most awful specimens of bantams though he ever saw they were the lankest and most insignia cant and nak edest and fuzziest birds he ever met in all his existence seems to me proffered be the next day as he stood at his work that I 1 them s mighty queer bantams I 1 kind of think they re some new breed something sort of original you know such things does happen the boys in the shop agreed without much arg ing to come up and see them they came in ones and twos and threes and squads and filled his hen house and flocked his and after they had all got there they gave the hen fancier the bottom of the plot they had given him a setting of dove s eggs A lesson in honesty when I 1 was a boy in virginia my father had one of the finest water melon patches in the region round about one of the colored boys on our plantation was named bill he and I 1 were great playmates and we were both very fond of watermelons one day when the crop was almost ripe my father called us to him and said it any of the melons are stolen I 1 am going to measure the tracks in the field and then measure feet and the owner of the feet that correspond with the tracks will get a good whipping this frightened me but I 1 was bound to get some melons bill s feet were much larger than mine so I 1 got his shoes stuffed them with grass walked in them to the patch got a melon ate it and replaced the shoes next afternoon my father came to where bill and I 1 were with a stick in his hand and ordered bill to fetch his sheea they were brought rry father measured them and then in spite of bill s protestations gave him a sound ng two days afterward we were again in the yard when my father appeared made me bring my shoes measured them with a stick which he held and then gave me a worse drubbing than he had bestowed upon bill some hours afterward when I 1 was feeling a little better I 1 met bill and said to him how did you manage to wear my shoes bill answered my question by ask ing another how did you whar mine put grass in them I 1 said feeling proud of my ingenuity in spite of the way that my back smarted well chuckled bill dat was smart but I 1 done took a pair short stilts and put you shoes on de ends ob em reckon mars dick you and I 1 s about eben now golden days A home made fleet it tun to sail a boat boys and not a real one because of course very few ot us can do that but those that we make ourselves some boys can build really fine lit tie craft tor themselves but for those who have not that knack we will tell of a way to make a whole fleet of sail boats it is so easy that even very tiny tots can manage it take the shells of walnuts the big best you can find clean them out care fully and cover the opening with card board cut the exact size thrust a match through the center of this card board and fasten it to the bottom of the shell with sealing wax or beeswax cut a sail out of white paper and fasten it to the match with thread it you like you can paint the hull ot your boats the shell in colors say have one fleet all white another gray for fighting trim and so on these boats can be sailed in foun bains in bath tubs or even in real ponds because they are so cheap to make that no one would be bankrupt if every vessel were swamped fine races can also be arranged between contesting boats aston shed ind ans among the people who went to set tie in colorado thirty years ago was a man with very red hair says golden days he and his party were thrown among the indians who thought at first his hair was painted just as they painted their own bodies and faces an old chief came up to him one day and looked at his hair very carefully ugh said the indian and then turning to the interpreter who had the party in charge asked where the man got the kind of paint that would color and yet not be greasy or look dauby he was told that the man s hair was not painted but he would not believe it he once more walked up to the man and scrutinized the red locks running his hand through them and looking at bis fin gers the red haired man became a little nervous and halt fancied that the chief was calculating how nice a red scalp would look hung to his belt the interpreter however laughingly told the man what the chief had said two or three more of the indians then gathered around the party an I 1 they and the interpreter had a pow wow finally the interpreter asked the man it he would object to putting water on his hair he saw the indians would not be aleve but that it was painted until they saw that the water would not wash the color out the man took some water rubbed it on his hair and then showed his bands to them but it took four or five days ot wonder ing examination to convince them that he had not found some peculiar paint and got himself up in a bright red of hair parlor football girls did you ever have a secret wish to play football it you did you can begin right off without any tear of broken arms and legs and other dis comforts that boys do not seem to mind your athletic field can be a dining room table and you need have no bother with going in training under severe coaches moreover you 11 have lots of exciting sport so much that the boys will be glad to join you in a game after their short season ot real football Is over this new game of parlor football Is played by driving a light ball inside a netted space toward the goals or touchdown at each end the daiv ing Is done by snapping a wire under the ball with a pointed stick As the other player Is to ing to flo the same thing at the same time OB can see what a lively contest follows the quickest winning every time there are kickoffs touchdowns touch downa and kicking the goal and reg alai fixed rules just as in real football and thirty points Is a game parlor football Is one of the popular of the new games this fall steaming out splinters when a splinter has been drives into the hand it can be extracted by steam fill a wide mouthed bottle near full of hot water place the in aured part over the mouth and press it slightly the action thus produced will draw the flesh down and in a minute or two the steam will extract the splinter also the try it and be convinced national maga zine |