hinks chess.

Chess-boards are everywhere. You may rest your elbow on one
while you sip your beer at an old-fashioned inn, which is
itself called "The Chess-Board," and there, if your quiet
and subdued manner makes you appear worthy of the honor, the
landlord will show you the set of chess-men presented to the
inhabitants in 1650.

Two princes played upon this board, and with these very
chess-men, he will tell you, and an inscription on the
chess-board itself confirms all the town's privileges, so
that one may say the very charter of the town is engrossed
upon a chess-board.

Every year a great chess tournament is held, for which every
one may enter. A large number of heats must first be played
off, the winners of which are entitled to enter for the
tournament. The competitors seek the distinction which will
be conferred upon them if they are adjudged the winner, and
do not set so much value on the prize itself, which
invariably takes the shape of a magnificent chess-board,
upon which are inscribed the words: "A reward for
application." This is presented by the municipality.

Chess enthusiasts in the United States have urged that the game be
introduced into the public schools. Certainly it does afford an excellent
mental discipline, though whether useful languages and sciences should be
discarded in its favor may well be questioned.

STOUT STRATEGISTS OF THE REVOLUTION.

TAFTS AND SHAFTERS WERE MANY.

Washington Himself No Small Man, but
Several of His Officers Outweighed
Him by Scores of Pounds.

Great men were the officers who led the colonial forces during the War of
the Revolution--great in patriotism, great in courage, great in patience,
and great in size.

General Washington would pass in these days as a large man, but many of
his officers outweighed him. Read, for example, the following statement,
showing the weight of a number of American officers, as recorded at West
Point on August 10, 1778:

General Washington 209 lbs.
General Lincoln 224 "
General Knox 280 "
General Huntingdon 182 "
General Greaton 166 "
Colonel Swift 319 "
Colonel Michael Jackson 252 "
Colonel Henry Jackson 238 "
Lieutenant-Colonel Huntingdon 212 "
Lieutenant-Colonel Cobb