CUBA.--The new set of Cuba for 1879 are now in use. The only difference in the design between this year's set and those of 1877 and 1878 is the date.

FALKLAND ISLANDS.-At last these islands have issued a postage stamp. There has been a rumour for a long time that they would do so. The design is similar to the new Transvaal stamps, with head of the Queen. We expect soon a full set of them, but have at present only one-viz. :

6 pence, dark-green.

SAN MARINO.-These stamps have been in use now some time, but are seldom met with. San Marino (or Sammariono, as it is sometimes called) is a Republic in Italy, and one of the smallest States in the world. Its area is only twenty-one square miles; its inhabitants numbered in 1869, 7,303, of whom 1,189 were soldiers, 800 being the guard of the regents, or chief magistrates. There are always two regents, who change office every six months, the 1st April and 1st October. It is only on a good map of Italy that San Marino will be found. It is situated lat. 43° 50', N., lon. 12° 21'.

SWITZERLAND.-The 40 centimes is now printed a light-grey colour instead of green. For the foregoing notes we are indebted to Mr. Lincoln, of Holborn, London.

From Messrs. Whitefield, King, and Co., dealers in foreign stamps, Ipswich, we have received two new post-cards and a news-band, Uruguay; a penny queen's-head, Transvaal; and a candarin (green), China. There have been issued also three-candarins (rose), and five-candarins (yellow). There are also threepenny, fourpenny sixpenny, one shilling, and two shilling values of the same design issued for Transvaal.

Messrs. Whitefield, by the way, have adver tised a very handsome universal international album.

Messrs. Winch Brothers, of Colchester, send a curious sample of "provisional 25-cent Cuba, being a 50-cent cut in halves diagonally. The postal deleting mark is on the paper.

I TRAINED THEM. BY R. W. ALLDRIDGE.

I

CHAPTER V.

COULD

not help noticing that my mother did not seem to share the enthusiasm of my sisters and my. self. This was rather disappointing to me, for when I go in for a thing I like everybody else to go in for it too.

"I hope you are considering what you are doing, my dear," she remarked at last to my father, with a trifle of severity in her tone. "I have always heard that pigeon-fanciers were very low people, such as we should hardly like our boys to come into contact with. I have an idea they hang about public-houses on a Sunday morning, and that most of them live in St. Giles's or at the east end of London. Is it not so?"

"I certainly had the same opinion myself," returned my father. "But when I saw Alec was so eager to keep pigeons, I questioned Mr. Renton on the subject. You know he is a man on whom we can safely depend, and he says he sees no reason why pigeons should not take the same position in England that they do in Belgium, where the keeping of them is encouraged by every one, from the king to the poorest labourer. He showed me a weekly newspaper called "L'Epervier," published in Brussels, which is entirely devoted to the interests of the many pigeon societies there, and much surprised I was upon reading it, for I assure you I had no idea of the existence of such a publication, and of the importance given to pigeon races in that country. Mr. Renton tells me he has been an authority on pigeons for the last forty years, and he does not appear to be either very wicked or very vulgar; but, on the contrary, is a good man, and very intelligent upon most matters connected with natural history. I don't think the term vulgar is the right one to apply to pigeons, because there seems to be a peculiar refinement about the birds themselves. Let me read you a few lines from one of Mr. Renton's articles. After speaking of the mention of the pigeon, which is the same bird as the dove in the Old and New Testaments, he goes on, Surely all Christian people, old and young alike, should be taught to be gladdened by her sweet presence; and in every city and village in Christendom she should have such a home as in Venice she has had for ages, and be, among the sculptured marbles of the temple, the sweetest sculpture; and, fluttering at your children's feet, their never angered friend."

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"That is very charming," said my mother; "but why is it that pigeon keeping, or at least pigeon-flying, has been called vulgar?"

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'Because," replied my father, " up to about the year 1830 pigeon-flying in England was exclusively the amusement of the Spitalfields weavers; they having to attend to their looms all day, their most convenient recreation was to adjourn to the tops of their houses to fly their pigeons. Their birds were bred in the roofs or cock-lofts, and flown, as Mr. Renton described to me, from dormers,' as they were called-a species of lath or wire cage with doors to fall down, and to pull up when a stray bird had entered. These dormers' were placed upon timber platforms of elaborate construction. Remnants of them may still be seen by travellers on the Great Eastern Railway between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green junction, as well as the long latticed windows in the upper floors of the houses once occupied by these artisans. In those days brutal exhibitions called prize fights' were almost of everyday occurrence, and

pans, with some sawdust and short straw; and days old you will have to shift them into clean don't be afraid to use plenty of sawdust all about the house inside-mind, it must be common deal sawdust, because deal or pine dust contains a quantity of turpentine, and turpentine is very destructive to insect life." "I will be sure to do as you say. Need I put up perches, sir!"

Dear me! said Mr. Renton; "perches, perches; of course, and plenty of them too; only mind how you place them, so that one perch will not be within pecking reach of another, or placed so that the droppings from the upper will fall upon the lower birds.

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Why so many perches, sir?" I asked.

Why, you know, Alec," said Mr. Renton, smiling, a good-natured smile, "it says in the hymn, 'Birds in their little nests agree,'

Dear Jack, "Your old chum, "ALEC CAREW."

I found we couldn't quite manage the building of the house in a couple of days, as I had imagined; but at the end of a week there was a very neat little place on our lawn, fit, in my own estimation, for the reception of the most fastidious pigeons ever hatched. My father wrote to Mr. Renton and asked him to be good enough to drive over, and he was good enough, and came.

I felt inclined to be as proud as a peacock, but yet I could not help thinking that my venerable friend would find plenty of fault with our work, and sure enough he did.

"Of the outside I have no complaint to make," he began. This was satisfactory; but, between ourselves, I should hardly have agreed with him if he had had a complaint, for I haven't seen many bits of carpentering that I have really liked better. "Yes, very good indeed!" he went on, "and when the climbing roses cover the front, and the laurels by the side have grown a few feet higher, it will have quite a pretty effect." But now, opening the door at the back, let us have a peep into the interior. What, no flooring! Oh, that won't do at all; that must be seen to at once; a good timber flooring you must have. Then about the shelves for nests. Under each end of the sloping roof you have room for a shelf of eighteen inches wide; with a partition in the centre of each shelf you will have four good nestingplaces; then a couple of shelves underneath these, with partitions as before, and you will have plenty of room for at least six pairs of breeding birds-don't forget the pans.' "Pans, sir," I said, what pans do you

mean?"

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"Why, pigeon-pans, to be sure," said Mr. Renton; pans for them to lay their eggs in and raise their families in. You can't do without pans unless you wish to see the eggs rolling about the floor, and the young ones, too, at times. The pans are only twopence each, and may be had at any earthenware shop. You had better get a good stock of them; you'll want them, for when the 'squeakers' are about ten

'If for harmony you search,

Give every pigeon-pair a perch.' When I hear all this has been done, and the whole inside has been given a good coat of hot lime, I will drive over again and see what more I can do for you."

"Thank you, sir," said I; and the old gentleman went into my father's study.

(To be continued.)

Home Employments and Amusements.

WOOD-CARVING.

PART III.-HOW TO MAKE A WALL BRACKET.

THE wheel bracket, No. 1, may be made of any wood, cigar-box, cedar, walnut, or holly. The other one, being rather delicate, requires a strong, fine-grained wood like white holly. A bracket of convenient size may be cut from a piece of wood four inches wide by five and a half long, and three-sixteenths or onefourth of an inch thick.

As the patterns have been reduced in the engravings, they must be drawn of the desired size on a piece of paper, and then transferred to the wood in the manner explained in the first article. It is better not to try and make the brackets larger than the dimensions indicated, unless you are using a saw with a deeper bow than the one previously described, as it will be troublesome to saw far within the margin of the wood. There are other styles of saws; some with bows ten or more inches from the saw; but they are rather difficult to manage, and, without previous practice, are less useful than the one we figured. There are also saws which are mounted and run by treadles, which are de lightful to work, and cut with great rapidity. They must be used very carefully. But equally good work can be done with the little handsaws, if you cannot afford the more expensive kind.

In sawing out brackets and other work of this size, you will find that often it is advantageous to put your saw into the frame with the teeth inside, or towards the frame, instead of the usual way; and, in sawing a long line parallel to the edge of the wood, you can put the saw-blade in sidewise, so that the back of the frame will be entirely out of the way. In fact, it is often necessary to change our tools in this way, to get

the best effects from them.

We may add that you can use broken saw-blades if the pieces are two inches or so in length, and they really cut better than the long ones, because they are proportionally stiffer; and in cutting out some

delicate piece of work you will find it easier to follow the lines than if you used a whole blade.

O

Design for Bracket No. I.

These, however, are details which experience will suggest.

We will now give a few practical hints for the brackets. Mark out the pattern on the wood, or cut it out in paper and paste it on the wood with gum or paste; then bore holes with one of the small brads in each space to be cut out. Saw first the outside margin, and the inner parts afterwards. You will find it comes easier to work systematically. That is, if you commence with a wheel in the wheelbracket, finish them both before going off to something else. When you commence the leaves at the bottom, finish them all before you do anything else. There are two reasons why it is best to do this; a moral one and a physical one. The moral reason is obvious; and we will tell you the other, which is, that if you have a number of spaces just alike to cut out, it is easier and better to do them all at once, because you get your hand in, and apply the

experience gained on each while it is fresh and most available. Consequently your work looks more symmetrical and even.

in the figure, so as to fill up the open space that would otherwise be left. If you saw out the back piece first, you can lay it down on paper, and use one side to mark the pattern from which to cut out the front piece.

By using a fine quality of wood, and by care

Bear in mind that there are hosts of people in the world who can take these or any other designs and saw them out in a very short time, and be perfectly satisfied with them; but it is the careful after-finish which shows the refined taste of the skilled workman.

ease.

The veining of the leaves can be very nicely done with the point of the knifeedge or other thin-bladed file, helped, perhaps, with a sharp knife; though, as we progress in our work, we may be able to get a tool for the express purpose, which will do it with greater rapidity and You will notice that some parts of the figures are lightly shaded. This indicates that the wood there is to be slightly cut away, so as to give the effect of relief to the other parts. The real beauty of the work depends upon the success with which this is done, and removes it from the simple field of plain fret sawing to the finer one of wood carving.

If you have access to some fine art shop in a city, and can look at some specimens of Swiss picture-frames, you will see at once how very

Shelf for Brackets.

beautiful they are, and you will get the idea how to apply the principles of carving to the simple articles we make for our amusement. The furniture of almost any drawing-room nowadays will give you some example of an ordinary carving, from which you can get ideas; and if you are really interested in this work you will keep your eyes open, and take in all such ideas. If you know anything about drawing, it is an excellent plan to keep a little book and copy any designs which interest you; the pattern of a carpet, a figure from the wall-paper, a fresco, the margin of a bookcover, or the border round a piece of music. You will find handsome designs enough if you will only look for them.

These brackets can be put together with screws from the back, care being taken to

bore the holes first with a brad of the same size as the screw, so that the wood will not split. Then countersink a hole for the head of the screw to fit into, so that it will go down flush and the bracket will hang flat on the wall. If you choose, instead of screws, you can put two pins in the shelf, as shown in No. 2, to go into corresponding holes in the back piece, and then put one screw and one pin on the front bracket to fit into the slots shown

in the cut. This latter arrangement allows the bracket to be readily taken apart for convenience in packing. The front pieces, which support the shelves, are made exactly like one-half of the back piece below the shelves. In the wheel pattern, leave out the leaves on the front piece, and put in the little ball shown by the dotted ball

Evenings at Home.

Pleasant Hours with the Magic-Lantern. By A. A. WOOD, F.C.S.

X.-SLIDE PAINTING, ETC. THE preparation of magic-lantern slides for home use (although, perhaps, not equalling the bought ones in quality) is a great source of pleasure, and a few hints on this part of our subject will probably be acceptable. A number of very amusing slides may be made by cutting grotesque or other figures out of black paper, and pasting them on glass slips, and after the pictures are dry, giving a little detail by slashing the picture with a sharp penknife in places where needed. If these figures be first drawn on tissue paper, coloured, and then cut out, the effect is still more pleasing. Or, if preferred, sheets of these figures in black can be bought, and thus the trouble of drawing them will be saved.

A very efficient set of astronomical slides may be constructed out of blackened cardboard with the aid of a few punches, some different-sized needles, and some of the coloured gelatine from bon-bons. Having cut the card of a size suitable for the lantern, and marked on it a circle of the same diameter as the lantern condenser, prick holes in the card by aid of the needles, so as to represent the principal constellations and nebulæ, illustrations of which will be found in most works on astronomy. The relative positions of the planets may be shown by punching holes in the cardboard and covering them over with gelatine. When the holes are punched, the orbits may be traced by a very minute row of holes, pricked with a fine needle, the circles having first been marked with a pair of compasses. For larger diagrams representing the planets singly, a sharp penknife and a pair of compasses would, combined with a steady hand, produce wonders.

The painting of magic-lantern slides on glass is a rather more difficult task, and some knowledge of the rules of the art of painting in general will be found most useful. The colours and brushes to be used are sold in boxes, and the number of colours can be readily increased by mixing. The following articles may be considered necessaries. Easel, glass to paint on, pencils, dabbers, etching-needles, fixing varnish, and the following colours. Blue, No. 1 and No. 2, crimson, amber, brown, mauve, black, light green, dark green, orange, purple, and scarlet. Having obtained these articles, proceed as follows. Make a drawing of the picture required, of the right size, on white paper, and place this under the glass upon which the picture is to be painted. The outline is then to be traced on the glass in Indian ink with a fine pen. This part of the work, however, can be dispensed with if the glasses be bought having pictures already outlined on them. If the subject of the picture be a landscape, the outlined glass is to be turned upside down, and the sky filled in first, commencing at the horizon with a pale tint, which is to be increased in density as the edge of the picture is approached. To remove any superfluous colour, a dabber is used.

When this colour has dried, the other parts of the picture are painted in succession with appropriate tints, warm tints being employed for the objects in the reground, neutral or cool tints for the background.

This having been done, the picture has then to be coated with the fixing varnish, either using a brush, or pouring it on as a photographer would do; or when it has covered the surface,