1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
271 
scholars could hear him distinctly, and announced the 
words to be spelled. Two umpires sat on the stage, 
with Webster’s dictionary for reference. Worcester’s 
spelling was allowed, but Mr. Worcester was not repre¬ 
sented, as his dictionary didn’t happen to be present. 
I was not on the stage, but I had paper and pencil with 
me, and as each word was given out, I wrote it down, 
and got along remarkably well until they came to “ guer¬ 
rilla,” and I should have had to take a back seat at that, 
i?br I spelled it with only one which was very stupid of 
me, for I might have known it was derived from “ guerre," 
the French for “ war.” As soon as the contestants spell¬ 
ed a word incorrectly, they either took a back seat, or 
went off of the stage entirely. Some of the Reporters 
were very funny about it; when they made a mistake 
they picked up their coats and hats, hid their faces with 
the latter, and scooted, amid the laughter of the audience. 
And so, one after another vanished, until about a dozen 
children were left. Then your Auntie’s sympathies were 
aroused, and I longed to go and comfort each one as some 
“ stumper” proved too much for him or for her, and he 
or she had to give up the contest. One little boy was 
amongst the last four—two girls and two boys—and he 
looked so sorry when at last he failed, that I felt nearly 
as bad as he did. Then the other boy missed, and back 
he went. The two girls kept it up for some time, but at 
last “ Khan,” (a Persian prince), fell to the lot of one of 
the girls, and she, unfortunately, spelt it “ K-a-h-n ; ” of 
course the other reversed the a and h, and became the 
victor. The first prize was a large handsome Bible ; the 
second, a large fruit cake, which fell to the lot of the lit¬ 
tle “ Kahn ” girl. I think these spelling matches are 
excellent institutions, but if I should get up a spelling 
match for my Agricultui'ist children, the first word I 
should propound, would be “NIECE,” for fully half of 
my correspondents spell it incorrectly, “ n-e-i-c-e.” 
[We quite agree with Aunt Sue that spelling matches 
are good things, as you will see they were recommended 
to the old folks last month, on page 216, for they some¬ 
times can improve their spelling as well as youngsters. 
The summer months are not favorable for such amuse¬ 
ments, but we expect to see them start up again next 
fall, and be more numerous than ever. Aunt Sue very 
kindly sent us a list of the words given out at the famous 
Brooklyn match, and it contains most of the words that 
people spell incorrectly ; this list will keep until the 
matches begin again; were we to publish it now, it would 
be lost sight of before it can/e time to use it. Wouldn’t 
it be grand if Aunt Sue could get up an Agriculturist 
spelling match ?—We should like to be there. Ed.] 
-■ ■ m —- 
Can yon Swim ? 
At one of the colleges a short time ago as the students 
were practising at rowing, one boat ran against and cap¬ 
sized another, and a fine young man was drowned. In 
reading of this we were reminded to ask our boys if they 
can swim. It seems very strange that any one should be 
training for a boat-race and not know how to swim. 
Every one of you who is large enough should learn to 
swim this very month. Of course you will talk with 
your parents about it, and not do anything that they do 
not think perfectly safe and proper. They no doubt 
wish you to learn, and at the same time may think that 
the place where you wish to go is not safe. So when we 
say boys and girls should do this or that, we mean always 
with the consent of their parents. No one who cannot 
swim should trust himself in a boat—indeed the need of 
being able to swim is so great that it is not necessary to 
argue the point. It is easier for boys to learn than it is 
for girls, but there is no great difficulty in the way if 
girls wish to learn, and they would feel much safer on 
the water if they knew that they could, in case of acci¬ 
dent, keep themselves afloat. In learning, try to have 
some older person teach you. Some boys learn at once, 
while others are a long while about it. The writer 
learned in this way: there was a place in the river where 
the bottom sloped very gradually, and one could go out 
a long ways without getting out of depth. We would 
wade out until the water was up to our arm-pits, and 
then turn towards the shore and try to swim to it, know¬ 
ing that we could touch bottom at any time. It took but 
a little while to learn. If the hands and all parts are 
kept under water, a person will float with the face out 
of water. It is well for those who cannot swim to re¬ 
member that if they keep perfectly still they will not 
sink. At the swimming-schools they have a plan which 
any one can adopt. A band is fastened around the chest 
to which is attached a strong cord several feet long, the 
other end of the cord is fastened to a strong pole ; the 
teacher holds the pole and directs the movements of the 
pupil, who is at the end of the line. A very little aid 
will keep one afloat, and a band made of stout cloth will 
answer the purpose. After the pupil learns to strike out 
properly while held up by the cord, he is gradually 
taught not to depend upon this. Watching the move¬ 
ments of a good swimmer will teach you more about 
using the hands and feet than anything that can be 
written. There are some rules that should always be 
observed: keep all parts, hands and feet, well under 
water, and do not be afraid to sink the whole body up to 
the chin ; throw the head well back, and hollow the 
spine, or back-bone ; this allows the weight of the head 
to come over the chest, which is the lightest part of the 
body. Learn to breathe through the nostrils ; some 
swimmers make a great sputtering in throwing water 
from the mouth; it is easy to learn to swim with the 
mouth shut. Make every movement slowly and quietly; 
it is a great fault with beginners that they make hard 
work of swimming, and seem to think that they must 
make great exertions. Be quiet and you will find that 
swimming need not tire you any more than walking. 
Do not go into the water when heated, very tired, or 
after eating a hearty meal. Finally, when you get a 
chance, watch the best of all swimmers, and see how 
neatly and quietly he does it, and try if you cannot swim 
as well as—a frog! 
—--=«> --— 
A W<>e!<1U‘ip4'sb! Cat. 
The Rev. J. G. Wood, who writes about animals and 
their doings, gives this cat story by a lady : Three years 
ago I had a lovely kitten given to me. Iler fur was of a 
beautiful blue-grey color, marked with glossy black 
stripes, according to the most approved zebra or tiger 
fashion. She was so very pretty that she was named 
“ Fret,” and was the wisest, most loving, and dainty 
pussy that ever crossed my path. When Pret was very 
young, I fell ill with a nervous fever. She missed me 
immediately in my accustomed place, sought for me, and 
placed herself at my door until she found a chance of 
getting into my room, and began at once to try her little 
best to amuse me with her frisky kitten tricks and pussy¬ 
cat attentions. But soon finding that I was too iTl to 
play with her, she placed herself beside me, and at once 
established herself as head nurse. In this capacity few 
human beings could have exceeded her in watchfulness, 
or manifested more affectionate regard. It was truly 
wonderful to note how soon she learned to know the dif¬ 
ferent hours at which I ought to take medicine or nour¬ 
ishment ; and during the night, if my attendant were 
asleep, she would call her, and if she could not awaken 
her without such extreme measures, she would gently 
nibble the nose of the sleeper, which means never failed 
to produce the desired effect. Having thus achieved her 
purpose, Miss Pret would watch attentively the prepara¬ 
tion of whatever was needed, and then come, and with a 
gentle purr-purr announce it to me. The most marvellous 
part of the matter was, her never being five minutes 
wrong in her calculations of the true time, even amid the 
stillness and darkness of the night. But who shall say 
by what means this little creature was enabled to meas¬ 
ure the fleeting moments, and by the aid of what power 
did she connect the lapse of time with the needful atten¬ 
tions of a nurse and her charge ? Surely we have here 
something more than reason ? 
Nests anti Eggs. 
Do we think it right to collect birds’ eggs and nests ?— 
asks some one. Yes and no—and as a general thing for 
boys, no. We would not have boys make collections of 
birds’ eggs, just as a matter of curiosity, or to see how 
many they can get. If a boy is old enough to study Or¬ 
nithology seriously, then it becomes another matter, but 
birds are altogether too valuable to have their numbers 
diminished by a single one, without there are very good 
reasons for it. The fact that eggs are pretty, and that a 
collection of them makes a good show, is just no reason 
at all. All boys, and girls too, should do everything in 
their power to save and encourage the birds. Even those 
which take the cherries, and help themselves to strawber¬ 
ries, without waiting for sugar and cream, have been fed 
on insects when young. Each one has done good service 
in eating hundreds if not thousands of insects, brought 
by its parents before it left the nest; and now, after so 
longa course of animal food, it wishes a little fruit by 
way of change, it is only because it has fairly earned it. 
Some persons say that they had quite as lief that the 
insects would take the fruit in the first place, as to have 
the birds keep off the insects, and then eat up the fruit 
to pay for doing it; we don’t agree to this, for we can, by 
a little trouble, frighten away birds, while no amount of 
scaring will send away insects. But we did not intend 
to discuss the usefulness of birds, but to say something 
about their nests. It is very interesting to see the various 
ways in which birds build their nests, and you can exam¬ 
ine these after the brood has fledged and left as well as 
before, and you will not destroy any birds. Some birds 
are very careless about their nests, a few sticks and a 
little hay serving them, while on the other hand, other 
birds take great pains and weave them very carefully, and 
line them with the softest material they can get. Look 
at a King-bird’s or Oriole’s nest, and see what a won¬ 
derful piece of work if is—a regular bag, woven of 
all sorts of fibres, in the bottom of which the nest 
is placed. This is a very sociable bird, and likes 
to build near houses, and if you see any of the birds 
about, you can leave strings of various kinds where 
they, can find them; when they leave the nest, you 
will find your strings all nicely woven in with other 
materials. One of the prettiest and neatest of nests 
is that of the humming-bird; these nests are not at all 
rare, though they are very seldom found ; the body of the 
nest is made of the hairy down which grows upon the 
stem's of some ferns, and then it is covered all over on 
the outside with lichens, (which are often incorrectly 
called mosses). The nest is usually built in an apple- 
tree, and looks so much like a lichen-covered knot that 
it is not often discovered. What a contrast with this is 
the daub of mud which the barn swallow puts up fora 
nest. Some birds hardly take the trouble to make a nest 
at all; a few sticks brought together being the whole. 
You will find it very interesting to examine the nests of 
different birds, and to notice the wonderful variety of 
ways in which they do the same thing—provide a place 
in which to hatch their eggs and rear their young. 
July. 
Why do we call this month July? Here we have to re¬ 
member another ancient Roman ; this time it is Julius 
Caesar, and the month was named in his honor because 
he was born in it. This is better than naming a month 
after heathen gods and goddesses, for J. C., as every boy 
who has studied Latin knows to his sorrow, was a great 
general in his day, and his work describing his wars is 
one of the Latin school books. He was murdered by 
assassins, and almost every big boy has spoken the piece 
beginning “Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Lend me 
your ears,” which Shakespeare makes Mark Anthony say 
over his body. Who thinks of Julius Caesar now—lie’s 
nothing to the Fourth of July, for which this month is 
particularly remembered by all patriotic youngsters. 
Saved by a Fisb.—Sometimes a very trifling 
thing will do a great deal of mischief. Here is a story 
showing that a trifle may save a great many lives. The 
captain of the bark Providence, states that during his 
voyage to Dantzic, the ship sprang a severe leak, and his 
crew were all but exhausted in their efforts at the pumps 
to reduce it. One day she suddenly stopped making 
more water, and in time reached Dantzic safely. After 
the discharge of the cargo, a search was made for the 
leak, and a hole was found in the center of one of the 
after-planks, from the yielding of a knot in the wood; in 
this hole there was wedged a dead fish, which coming' 
against the bottom of the vessel when alive, at just the 
spot where the hole was, had stopped the leak and saved 
the ship and crew. 
Answer to Puzzle Picture 414, in 
May No.— To see the “Old Man of the Mountain,” 
turn the picture so that the right-hand side will be the 
top. The trunk of the tree forms the outline of the top 
of the head ; the bleak looking hills, his long hair; the 
distant fence makes the outline of the face and beard ; the 
ear of the right-hand (now uppermost) sheep, the eye ; 
the nose is formed by the space between the neck of one 
sheep and the tail of the other ; and the ear and mouth 
by little marks not noticed when looking at the picture 
as it is placed in the page. We think the artist who did 
this will have to try many times before he makes a better 
puzzle picture than this “Old Man of the Mountain.” 
-—« .e —-— 
Aunt Sue's PuzzIe»llox. 
CHARADE. 
A native of a foreign land, 
One whom we often see, 
Receives this name on every hand, 
And this my first will be. 
What do we all, from Childhood up. 
At morning, noon and night. 
Whene’er we breakfast, dine or sup ? 
My second answers right. 
My third, one who, when George was king 
And ruled with tyrant’s sway, 
To Freedom’s cause did closely cling 
In her most gloomy day. 
In eastern wilds there grows a plant 
Which yields a perfume sweet, 
Although in outward beauty scant: 
Behold me now complete. Henrt. 
SQUARE WORDS. 
1. —1. Circumstance. 2. Powerful. 3. A clique. 4. 
To contribute. Herbert J. K. 
2. —1. A title. 2. An ornament worn by a high priest. 
3. Animals. 4. A large bird which cannot fly. 
Mocking Bird. 
cross acrostic. 
The center letters, horizontal and perpendicular, name 
a county in Pennsylvania. 
1. An animal. 2. Depravity. 3. Was a Jewish priest. 
4. Affectation. 5. Mountains in the United States. 6. 
A point of the coinpass. 7. A boy’s nickname. 8. A 
boarding-house. 9. An answer. Star State. 
