r the water; or whether the snake was of the common variety,
and simply forced by hunger to make a meal of tadpoles. Can some
one enlighten me?

VINCENT V. M. BEEDE, R.T.F.
EAST ORANGE, N. J.

One Way to Learn.

One of the best ways to broaden one's mental horizon, to make one think
of more than the familiar things about him, is to enter into
correspondence with persons who live in distant States and countries.
You can find such correspondents in a variety of ways. Look in your
geography and see the name of a town in a far distant part of the
country. Perhaps it is a small village. It has a principal of a public
school. Write him a letter, briefly stating your purpose, and ask him
for the name of a pupil who wishes to correspond with you.

Are you interested in stamps, bugs, butterflies, minerals, rocks,
plants, autographs, cameras, amateur papers--anything? Enclose in your
letter a good specimen. It will interest somebody and hardly fail to
bring you a response. You can also find addresses through Sunday-school
teachers, Round Table Chapters, etc. Or you can, upon meeting a friend,
ask him or her for names of relatives who might like to correspond,
trade specimens, etc.

Use your ingenuity to find persons with the same hobby as your own. When
you find them, write them a really good letter; that is, treat them
well, not ill. Do not ask any one to excuse blots in letters. Busy
business men even do not do that. They write the letter over again, and
their time is more valuable than yours. Never say, "That isn't the best
I could do, but it is good enough." Only the best is good enough. Treat
your correspondents well, and you will derive much of both knowledge and
pleasure from them.

A Fire by the Esquimaux Method.

I read about the Esquimaux method of lighting fires in _Snow-shoes
and Sledges_. I had read about the method before, but had always
been somewhat sceptical on the subject. But as the directions were
plainer than any I had previously seen, I thought I would try it
myself. I procured a piece of soft pine and worked a hole in it
with my knife. The pencil I made of oak, and the piece that went
on top of the pencil I made of whitewood.

I then took an old bow, and taking the string off, put on a larger
one about an eighth of an inch in diameter. I took a turn of this
around the oak pencil, and drew the bow back and forth. At fir