st I
could perceive no fire, but before long, to my surprise, the wood
began to smoke, and when I took the pencil out I found it was
somewhat charred. I have tried it several times since with more or
less success. I would like to know whether any one else has tried
this experiment, and how they have succeeded.

I would like some correspondents.

CASSIUS MORFORD.
BANFIELD, MICH.

Questions and Answers.

Avis K. Smith, Box 84, San Luis Obispo, Cal., wants to hear from a
Chapter that admits corresponding members. Gerasime Dubois, 21 Chaussie
du Vouldy, Troyes, Champagne, France, is a French Knight of the Order,
and wants to correspond in French, German, or English, to improve his
own and his correspondents' language construction. He will write in any
or all of the languages. O. Prussack, R. T. K., 84 Norfolk Street, New
York, wants to join a literary Chapter.

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Elizabeth A. Hyde, 1458 Euclid Place, N. W., Washington, D. C., wants to
hear from other Washington members willing to help her get up an
entertainment in that city in aid of the School Fund. S. L. Barksdale, a
Mississippi Knight, says he has a good many correspondents. It is their
custom, besides describing places each may have visited, to propound
questions. They differ about answers sometimes, and so they send us five
questions, agreeing to abide by our decisions. What is the Flower City
and what the Flour City? Springfield, Ill. and Rochester. N. Y.
respectively. How does a spider get his web from one tree to another?
How does he spin a round web? How does he keep lines the same distance
apart? And what keeps him from falling?

The spider possesses no special ability to get from one tree to another.
He depends upon the wind generally. He spins a single thread long enough
to reach across and then trusts to the wind. If the end attaches itself
at what he deems the wrong place, he goes over it where it is, or around
by way of the ground and adjusts it. He makes the web regular, both in
size and distances apart, because he possesses mathematical and
mechanical instinct, just as does the bee, only in less degree. He keeps
from falling by clinging to his web. He possesses no peculiar power in
this respect over other insects. We cannot express an opinion whether a
certain firm is reliable or not. The price of Abbott's _Life of
Napoleon_ is $5 in cloth.

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