_Blanche_. Now let us go and ask the Queen if she will join us and forgive us.

_Flora_ (_whose voice trembles a little_):

I have nothing to pardon, 'twas all a mistake.

And the sweetest amends you are willing to make; Hereafter, dear girls, we'll be comrades and friends, Till, unclouded, our life at this pleasant school ends.

_Granny_. Kiss the Queen, dearies, and then eat your cake and cream. It is Flora's box. You see now the result of the dream. Instead of sending a box, the uncle, who is really at heart very kind, sent a liberal sum of money, and Flora directed this feast to be purchased.

[_All the girls kiss_ Flora, _who beams gratefully upon them_.]

_Granny_ (_to the birds_). Sit right on the floor, you sweet birdies, and you shall have a share in the good things. I must go now. My duty as grand regulator is done.

_Christabel_ (_laying down her plate_). Girls, I have my suspicions about that funny old woman. Let's catch her, and see if she isn't somebody in disguise.

[_All the girls run to_ Granny _with shouts and laughter. They pull off the bonnet, cape, spectacles, and cloak. Their teacher,_ Miss Foster, _stands revealed_.]

_Christabel_. I knew it. I knew it. You dear! You dear! What a lesson you have taught us! I shall never forget it.

_Morna_. So much better than reading us a long lecture.

_Miss Foster_. But you deserved the lecture.

_Lucille_. Yes, we did.

_Miss Foster_. I hope, dear girls, you have learned the lesson once for all your lifetime. Let the main business of this Club be to add comfort and cheer to a sad heart. But you will have to change the name of your Club; you cannot be ninepins any more.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAMERA CLUB]

This Department is conducted in the interest of Amateur Photographers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Camera Club Department.

PAPERS FOR BEGINNERS, NO. 2.

FOR THE DARK ROOM.

To those who have a room specially devoted to photographic work and materials the only suggestion to them will be to adopt for their rules and laws:

I. A label and place for everything, and everything in its place _with_ its label.

II. Keep everything clean and free from dust.

These two directions for arranging and caring for a dark room will save hours of labor, and many spoiled plates.

The lighting of the dark room is the first thing which should engage our attention. If the developing is done at night, the stopping out of actinic rays will be avoided; but if in the daytime, care must be taken to shut out all direct rays of light. If the plate is kept in the direct rays of the red light, diffused light will not harm the plate. By diffused light is meant the stray gleams which come through a crack, or a door that does not shut tight enough so but what light shows around the edge.

There are many makes of lantern of all grades and prices in the market, and care should be taken in buying one that it is perfectly light-tight.

An actinic ray from the lantern striking the plate will fog it. Most of the lanterns are made for using kerosene. A lantern in which the lamp screws into the bottom is not as light-safe as one which sets wholly inside the lantern, though there is less odor and grease from the kerosene. The trouble with a kerosene lamp is that the confined air soon becomes heated, causing the oil to lose its density, and it oozes out, not only making an unpleasant smell, but greasing the lantern. It will be found much more agreeable to remove the lantern and subst.i.tute in its place a candlestick and candle. The one known as the camping or soldier's candlestick is just the thing for a dark lantern. It is a little over two inches high, and made of bra.s.s, and costs only fifteen cents.

Adamantine candles are the best, as they last twice as long, and do not melt and run down the sides like the parraffine or tallow candles.

One needs two trays for developing--one 4 x 5 and another 5 x 8. The smaller tray can be used when one has only two or three plates to develop, and both trays where one has quite a number. The two trays are necessary also in transferring the plate from one solution to another, if the developing does not work satisfactorily. The tray for the hypo-sulphite of soda or fixing solution should be 5 x 8, so that two 4 x 5 plates can be fixed at one time.

The developing-trays should be of hard rubber or celluloid, and the hypo-tray of amber gla.s.s, so that there shall be no mistaking the developing for the hypo tray.

A four-ounce gla.s.s graduate is needed for measuring liquids, and if one has no scales, the dry chemicals should be weighed in the right proportions for use when they are purchased. The hypo can be put up in half-pound packages, and this quant.i.ty of fixing solution prepared at one time.

A gla.s.s funnel is needed for pouring solutions from trays into bottles, and also for holding the filtering-paper when filtering solutions. The funnel should be fluted, for the ribs make pa.s.sages for the liquid to pa.s.s through the sides of the paper, letting the sediment settle at the bottom of the paper.

If one has not the advantage of running water for fixing and washing plates it is better to have a washing box in which to place the developed negatives. The regular washing box is made of zinc, which does not rust. The inside rack, which holds a dozen plates, is adjustable by thumb-screws for different-sized plates. The box has a small tube at one of the lower corners, to which a rubber hose is attached from the faucet, the water is turned on, and comes up from the bottom of the box, circulates between the plates, and runs out through an overflow spout at the top of the box.

The box containing the plates can be transferred from one pail or tub to another, or set on the floor, while the water is changed, without danger of breaking or scratching. A boy who is handy with tools can make a washing box that will answer every purpose.

The cost of the articles mentioned in this article are as follows: Candlestick for lantern, 15 cents; a 4 x 5 developing-tray, 50 cents; a 5 x 8 developing-tray, 72 cents (the price for these trays is for either rubber or celluloid); amber gla.s.s tray for hypo, 35 cents; gla.s.s graduate (4 oz.), 25 cents; fluted gla.s.s funnel (4 oz.), 15 cents; zinc washing-box, $2.25.

OFF WITH THE MERBOY.

BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

CHAPTER VI.

IN THE DRAWER.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative J]

immieboy clambered up the side of the bureau with some difficulty too, because he was now so small that the bureau was not so easy to climb. In a few minutes, however, he was comfortably fixed inside the drawer, and the Wizard, taking the key from the lock, followed him. Once inside he touched a spring on the side of the drawer, and with a bang it shut itself.

"There we are," said the Wizard, locking the drawer from the inside.

"How do you like it, Jimmieboy?"

"It's awfully dark," said the little fellow. "I can't see an inch in front of my face."

"Then take my hand," said the Wizard, "and I'll lead you to where it is light."

Jimmieboy did as he was told, and the two little creatures groped their way along in the dark until the Wizard found a small door. Turning the k.n.o.b to this he threw it wide open, and Jimmieboy looking through it saw a beautiful garden in which sweetly perfumed fountains were plashing merrily, and through which there were scattered beds and beds of the loveliest and withal the most singular-looking flowers he had ever seen.

"My!" he cried in an ecstasy of delight. "Isn't this magnificent!"

"Oh, yes--pretty good," said Thumbhi. "I suppose when one sees it for the first time it must look like the most beautiful place in the world, but to one whose prison it has been it isn't quite so beautiful. You never heard my song,

"'I would rather be free in a dungeon cell Than a captive at large in a flowered dell.'

"Did you?"