purchaser.

QUEER MONEY.

Here is an amusing account of a traveller who went many years ago to
Mexico, and found the natives using a strange kind of currency. Says he:

"In one of the small towns I bought some limes, and gave the girl one
dollar in payment. By way of change, she returned me forty-nine pieces
of soap the size of a small biscuit. I looked at her in astonishment,
and she returned my look with equal surprise, when a police officer, who
had witnessed the incident, hastened to inform me that for small sums
soap was legal tender in many portions of the country.

"I examined my change, and found that each cake was stamped with the
name of a town and of a manufacture authorized by the government. The
cakes of soap were worth three farthings each. Afterwards, in my travel,
I frequently received similar change. Many of the cakes showed signs of
having been in the wash-tub; but that I discovered was not at all
uncommon. Provided the stamp was not obliterated, the soap did not lose
any value as currency. Occasionally a man would borrow a cake of a
friend, wash his hands, and return it with thanks. I made use of my
pieces more than once in my bath, and subsequently spent them."

[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]

In looking over the programmes of the different scholastic athletic
associations, I find that the Connecticut High-School A.A. is about the
only one which has the same list of events as that approved by the
I.C.A.A.A. It also uses the same system of scoring--5, 2, and 1--whereas
most of the other interscholastic associations award three points to the
winner of second place. This, however, is a different question, and one
that I hope to treat of later. One thing at a time; and if we can get
the card straightened out by next spring I shall be satisfied. If I can
persuade all the executive committees to adopt the list of events in use
by the colleges I shall consider that this Department has done some
good, and has accomplished at least one valuable thing in its own sphere
of usefulness. I am optimistic enough to believe that a year from now
every association will have adopted the uniform schedule.

The Connecticut Association at one time had the standing high and broad
jumps as well as the running high kick on their card; but when Yale
offered a silver cup for competition among the schools in 1891, one of
the conditions attached to the gift was that the programme must be made
to cor