they form a word. One person may
try for only one prize--senior or junior.

All are invited to compete, whether subscribers or not. If you are not a
member of the Order of the Round Table, write to the publishers for a
Membership Patent. We request that answers be written on one side of the
paper only, and that each word be numbered. Write the words in
alphabetical order, as far as possible, and do not roll the sheets, but
send them either _flat_ or _folded_.

A Delightful Morsel from South Africa.

Winter is almost over. We have had a very warm one. Spring is not
supposed to come until September, but already the trees are
getting quite green, and birds and butterflies are coming back. We
very seldom see snow at Roydon, and have had none this winter, but
we are having a fearful drought. It is over a year since we had
rain. The farmers are looking very anxious about their crops.

In October the "shearing" begins. You meet everywhere bands of
Kafirs in their red blankets, knob-herries (sticks with a huge
knob at one end, usually carried by natives) in their hands, and a
bundle containing a pot, tin beaker, shears, and sometimes boots,
slung over their shoulders; these are "shearers." The farmers hire
them at the rate of about sixpence (twelve cents) for ten sheep.
Not much, is it? but the Kafirs are easily satisfied.

The sheep are put into an enclosure. Each Kafir, stripped to the
waist, seizes one and commences to shear the wool off. Sometimes
they are careless and cut the flesh. Then a man standing by dips a
brush in tar and rubs the place over. This not only heals it, but
keeps the flies off. As soon as a shearer has finished a sheep he
receives a "loikee" (bean or something of that sort). At the end
of the day he receives payment according to the amount of loikees
in his possession.

The wool is packed into large bales and is sold by the pound.
Dealers send the bales by rail to the seaports, where they are
shipped to England, and come back to us in the shape of clothes.
It is just as well to keep to windward of the shearing-house. Not
being addicted to water, the Kafirs have an odor peculiarly their
own. As I once heard it remarked, "it is enough to knock a fellow
down," if you go too near.

We sell a great deal of fruit in the summer. Our fruit ripens