? And if he threw a ball to a
base-man, wouldn't he be apt to throw it clean through him?

Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are interesting
all the same, to yours sincerely,

R.V.D.

CATCHING BIRDS ON THE WING.

As if a man could ever hope to do that, or even to do so much as fly!
And yet, word has already come to me of a man who has made a machine
with which he actually has flown, up, down, with the wind, against the
wind, and, in fact, any way he wished!

The particular machine he used looked, I'm told, rather like a big
bolster-case blown full of air, and with a light frame-work of hollow
brass tubes strapped to it underneath. In this frame-work was a seat for
the man, and near him were two circular fans, which he turned round very
fast indeed; one of the fans made the machine fly backward or forward,
and the other made it go up or down, as he liked.

Now, this certainly seems to be a step ahead, or, rather, a flap upward;
but you needn't expect to be chasing and catching eagles and albatrosses
on the wing by dropping salt on their tails; at least, not just yet, my
dears. The time for that sort of fun may come, perhaps; but it would be
well not to crow too loudly at present.

THE BEE AND THE ANEMONE.

Des Moines, Iowa.

DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: The bee you told us of in your August
sermon did not mistake the anemone for a flower. At least, _I_ think
not. No bee ever makes such a mistake as to settle on a poisonous
flower, and I believe that this bee went to the anemone for water
and not for honey. Bees will settle on pieces of straw afloat in the
water, when seeking for water, and I believe they know, even while
on the wing, where to find honey. Good-bye.--Your friend. N.E.H.

FRANGIPANI SCENT AND PUDDINGS.

"Let's begin with the puddings, and make sure of _them_," as a little
boy once remarked. Well, then, in former times, Frangipani puddings were
of broken bread, and their queer name is made from two words,--_frangi_,
meaning "to break," and _panus_, "bread"; but, after some time, these
puddings were made with pastry-crust and contained cream and almonds.

Frangipani scent, however, was named after a great marquis who first
made it, getting it from the jasmine plant. And the marquis got _his_
name from an ancestor whose duty it had been to break the holy bread or
wafer in one of the church services, and who on that account was c