OLD SERIES, VOL. XXXIV., No. 1.-NEW SERIES, VOL. XXIX., No. 1. Entered at the Post Office at Boston, Mass., as second class matter A. E. WINSHIP, EDITOR. BOSTON, SEPTEMBER, 1910. Monthly $1.00 a year. A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER ¶ We are rapidly reaching the point where it will be considered a crime rather than a misfortune to be ill. ¶ No longer do the scientist and the doctor limit their efforts to curing us of sickness; they show us how we may keep well by observing a few simple precautions. ¶ As a result, the death rate has largely decreased in the last few years, and most grown people know how to avoid such preventable diseases as tuberculosis and typhoid fever. ¶ The children of to-day are the men and women of to-morrow, and if they are properly taught the rules of health, the next generation will see even less sickness than this one. ¶ Would you not prefer to use in your classes textbooks on Physiology which teach your pupils how disease is caused, and how it may be prevented? Such books are those of the Davison's Health Series, in either three books: Elementary Human Body and Health (40 cents), Intermediate (50 cents), and Advanced (80 cents); or two books, Health Lessons, Book I (35 cents) and Book II (60 cents). ¶They emphasize throughout the entire course that the most important thing in the world is good health, and they show the boys and girls how they may guard their own health and the health of the community in which they live. If you are not familiar with these books, we should be very glad to tell you about them. Great American Educators With Chapters on American Education By A. E. WINSHIP Every boy and girl should be familiar with the lives of men and women who have done so much to improve the schools of this country and have made a thorough education possible. This book contains stories of Horace Mann, Mary Lyon, Henry Barnard, and others with portraits. Also contains sketches of founders and benefactors of American colleges. Brief historical sketches of American Education from 1900 back to 1619. Cloth. Price, 50 cents. NEW ENGLAND PUBLISHING CO. 29-A Beacon Street, Boston What Became of 2,230,270,000 Passenger-Pigeons ? A. H. Cole, writing in The World To-Day of the remarkable disappearance of the passenger-pigeon, says: "What is known as the great Petoskey nesting, in 1876 or 1877, covered an area twenty-eight miles long and from three to four wide. Brewster says that 'for the entire twentyeight miles every tree of any size had more or less nests, and many trees were filled with them.' "If we picture to ourselves a flock of pigeons covering about one hundred square miles of woodland with their nests, and that each nest contained one or two young which needed an abundance of food, Baron Hontan's account of the devastation of the crops is believabe. The daily search for food gave the netters an opportunity, which they used with profit. Each of the five hundred netters near Petoskey, who set his decoy pigeons, baited his beds and hauled his nets over the hungry birds, considered five or six hundred birds a good 'strike,' and this might be repeated three or more times in a day for weeks. When the young pigeons began to fly, they were trapped in large latticework structures, in which several dozens of old pigeons were confined as decoys. Nets were drawn over the exits, and Brewster states that 'over four hundred dozen young pigeons were known to have been taken at once by this method.' It was estimated that each netter averaged twenty thousand pigeons apiece in a season, during which daily shipments of one or two carloads were sent from one station to cities farther South. NOTABLE LECTURES ON BOYS By A. E. Winship Boston Unsurpassed in Interest, Information or Inspiration. Mr. Winship has been an exceedingly attractive lecturer on Boys for a quarter of a century. He has lectured in every state in the union, and in more than half of the states every year for twenty-five years. In more than one hundred cities he has lectured in more than ten different years. LECTURES ON BOYS Boys as an Asset Making Boys Manly These may be given singly or as a series. For dates, address C. W. SOUTHWORTH, 29-A Beacon St., Boston. "The mystery of the disappearance of the flocks that broke down trees by their weight in their roostingplaces, and darkened the sun like a thick cloud for hours when they passed in their migrations, is partially solved by the story of their butchery by the netters. The more general clearing of the country and the destruction of their breeding-places may have hastened their end. Thirty years ago passenger-pigeons could be bought in the markets for a few cents each. Now, $400 awaits the fortunate discoverer of a nesting pair. The unnumbered billions of America's finest pigeon have disappeared, and some of the best authorities fear that there is not one live passenger-pigeon on the continent. What a contrast! What a pity that they were not adequately protected!" A Human Queen. When a girl, Wilhelmina of Holland possessed a family of dolls, of whom she remained particularly fond long after her skirts had been let down. She was a motherly little person, and could not bear to put away her pets. One was the Queen of Doll-land, and was dressed in miniature robes of royalty. It had also a tiny throne and other dolls appointed as attendants. One day, after coming home very tired from the celebration of her own birthday, Wilhelmina got out her queen doll, and made her bow and bend till her veil and crown were terribly awry. "Now," said the little girl pettishly, "how do you like being a queen? Doesn't your back ache, and don't you feel horrid ?"-Selected. The Lion as a Terror of the Night. Once in the lion country, you learn the real reason why he is termed the king of beasts. He looks it. Besides, there is the terror he casts over all the brute creation about him. And as for terror, there is one feature of life in East Africa that the traveler never forgets-the lion's roaring. To me, no other sound in nature is more awe-inspiring, more appalling, espepecially if heard at really close range, sounds in its rolling double bass. or among hills, where the echo reContrary to the common idea, lions do not confine their thunderous calls to the night only; frequently in open daylight one may be startled by a sudden outburst. They are a noisy lot, too. At night, I have heard a band keep up the dire chorus for hours at a time, a blood-curdling concert that brings to mind every tale, fanciful or true, of their daring, of their fierce rapacity and might. It seems, still further, to have an added dreadfulness when one is lying within the frail walls of a tent, with only its canvas between one and the formidable musician. Listen now! There goes one booming in the distance, a roaring obligato that breaks into from six to a dozen calls. From the first to the fourth the volume usually increases; then it dies down. At very close quarters, one hears the roar melt gradually into a purr, itself diminishing to a growling, discontented mumble that lasts for about half a minute. Or there is the other sound, equally menacing-a soft and suggestive crunching noise, as though the beast had already settled down to a grewsome meal. The lion's voice |