XXIV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 19 1 3 



OWN A 

 "Springfield Portable" 



And know all the Pleasures of 



I SUMMER'S BEST ENJOYMENTS 



There's a Springfield Portable that 

 will exactly fit your requirements for a 

 pretty summerhouse, handsome garage, 

 bungalow, or camp. If you have never 

 seen a "Springfield Portable" you don't know how practical a building of this type is. 



A TYPE FOR EVERY PURPOSE OR FOR ANY PLACE 



— and you may be sure if it bears our mark, that you are getting full value. A 

 "Springfield" taken up into the woods, to the lake or the seashore makes an ideal 

 camp — it won't leak, let wind or dirt through, is easy to keep clean, and saves 

 rent bill. 



There is a sure way to get 

 "Portable" satisfaction. Get 

 a "Springfield." 



-■ ' 



Illustrated booklet contains a lot of 

 interesting facts. Mailed at once on 

 request. 



Springfield Mfg. Co. 



1012 Main Street, Springfield, Mass. 



551 

 Mm 



P| 



WOLFF 



PHE owner of this beautiful 

 * residence at Elkhart, Indiana, 

 enjoys his Bath Room as much 

 as any room in the house. It, 

 together with the Kitchen, Pan- 

 try and Laundry, is equipped 

 with the most modern fixtures 

 from the Wolff factories which 

 harmonize perfectly with the 

 Architecture of the home. 



Get our booklet on Bath 

 Room Suggestions. 



JS. Hill Tii mock - JrcMYecfi 



L Wolff Manufacturing Co. 



Plumbing Goods Exclusively 



Main Office, 601-627 West Lake Street 



Showrooms, 111 N.Dearborn Street 



CHICAGO 



BRANCHES: Denver, Omaha, Minneapolis, 



Dallas, Rochester 



POTTERY: Trenton, N. J. 



THE OLDEST ALMANAC IN THE 

 WORLD 



YOU have heard people say, "As use- 

 less as a last year's almanac" ; but 

 an old almanac may be both valuable 

 and interesting if it is only old enough, 

 says The Youth's Companion. There is 

 in the British Museum an almanac 3,000 

 years old — probably the oldest almanac in 

 the world. It was found in one of the 

 buried tombs of Egypt ; the owner must 

 have valued it, since he had it buried 

 with him. 



It is written on papyrus, in columns, 

 and there are twenty-five pages well pre- 

 served. Its chief purpose was to inform 

 its owner whether each day was lucky 

 or unlucky for any sort of enterprise. 

 Certainly it was not so important to 

 know that a certain day was the 5th 

 of Tobi, with a new moon and a pros- 

 pect of rain, as to know that it was a 

 day when you must not start on a jour- 

 ney, look at a rat, wash yourself with 

 water, or even go outdoors before day- 

 light! 



This almanac was no brief yearly af- 

 fair, but was planned for four years, and 

 gave for that period the dates of the 

 fixed and movable feasts, of which the 

 Egyptians had a great number. It was 

 issued for the four years following the 

 fifty-seventh year of Rameses the Great. 

 The days are written in red ink, and 

 each one is followed by three characters 

 — morning, day, evening, each with its 

 significant mark to denote prosperous, 

 indifferent, adverse ; the first sign is in 

 black ink and the others in red. 



For example, the 25th of Thoth is 

 marked good, good, middling, with the 

 caution, "Do not go outdoors in the even- 

 ing" ; the fortunate qualities of the day 

 apparently declined with the sun. And in 

 another month is a day of which it is de- 

 clared, "A child born on this day will die 

 a prince of the people" — a much simpler 

 way to choose rulers of the nation than a 

 general election. 



When you consider how little a person 

 has to do with the choice of his birthday, 

 it is discouraging to find so many dangers 

 awaiting an unlucky selection ; one day 

 assured your death in the jaws of a croco- 

 dile, and another birthday meant that you 

 would be eaten by a serpent. 



The day of all days to be born was the 

 5th of Phamenoth, the day of the great 

 feast in honor of Neith, the mother-god of 

 Egypt. Heredotus wrote about that feast 

 more than two thousand years ago. He 

 calls it the Feast of Lamps, when every 

 house must be illuminated. 



There were days when no one must go 

 hunting or fishing, special days for eating 

 beef or drinking wine, days when it was 

 unlucky to travel, and one was marked, 

 ''Do nothing at all to-day!" 



THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERA- 

 TION OF EXPOSITIONS 



A CONGRESS of a diplomatic char- 

 acter representing no less than 

 twenty-six governments was held on 

 October 7th, at Berlin. It was organized 

 by the International Federation of Exposi- 

 tion Committees, and the congress was oc- 

 cupied with establishing a basis for holding 

 expositions in various countries, and it also 

 took measures to draw up rules for the 

 awarding of prizes on such occasions. In 

 this way all such questions are likely to 

 be settled in a satisfactory manner owing 

 to an international agreement upon exposi- 

 tion matters. 



