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The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

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The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

*

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

*

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

[Illustration: The Scientific Box Kite How to put in the sticks The Start] =PATENT APPLIED FOR= =The Latest Thing...= =Scientific Box Kite= To any one sending us =1= new subscriber we will send one of these kites.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Scientific kite flying has attracted the attention of the world.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

This kite is the invention of H.H. Clayton, Chief Observer at Blue Hill Observatory, near Boston.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

It is used at this and other weather stations for sending up instruments in making observations.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Kites of this type have attained the wonderful height of 9,200 feet, nearly two miles.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Anybody can fly this kite.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

It goes up straight from the hand like a bird.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Will fly in a moderate breeze, and yet no wind short of a gale is too strong for it.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

It is made of strong, selected wood, and the finest cotton, in red.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

=THE GREAT ROUND WORLD= =3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST.

The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 37, July 22, 1897: A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

NEW YORK CITY=

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Produced by David Widger A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT by MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Part 3.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

CHAPTER XII SLOW TORTURE

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Straight off, we were in the country.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It was most lovely and pleasant in those sylvan solitudes in the early cool morning in the first freshness of autumn.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

From hilltops we saw fair green valleys lying spread out below, with streams winding through them, and island groves of trees here and there, and huge lonely oaks scattered about and casting black blots of shade; and beyond the valleys we saw the ranges of hills, blue with haze, stretching away in billowy perspective to the horizon, with at wide intervals a dim fleck of white or gray on a wave-summit, which we knew was a castle.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

We crossed broad natural lawns sparkling with dew, and we moved like spirits, the cushioned turf giving out no sound of footfall; we dreamed along through glades in a mist of green light that got its tint from the sun-drenched roof of leaves overhead, and by our feet the clearest and coldest of runlets went frisking and gossiping over its reefs and making a sort of whispering music, comfortable to hear; and at times we left the world behind and entered into the solemn great deeps and rich gloom of the forest, where furtive wild things whisked and scurried by and were gone before you could even get your eye on the place where the noise was; and where only the earliest birds were turning out and getting to business with a song here and a quarrel yonder and a mysterious far-off hammering and drumming for worms on a tree trunk away somewhere in the impenetrable remotenesses of the woods.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And by and by out we would swing again into the glare.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

About the third or fourth or fifth time that we swung out into the glare--it was along there somewhere, a couple of hours or so after sun-up--it wasn't as pleasant as it had been.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It was beginning to get hot.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

This was quite noticeable.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

We had a very long pull, after that, without any shade.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Now it is curious how progressively little frets grow and multiply after they once get a start.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Things which I didn't mind at all, at first, I began to mind now--and more and more, too, all the time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

The first ten or fifteen times I wanted my handkerchief I didn't seem to care; I got along, and said never mind, it isn't any matter, and dropped it out of my mind.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

But now it was different; I wanted it all the time; it was nag, nag, nag, right along, and no rest; I couldn't get it out of my mind; and so at last I lost my temper and said hang a man that would make a suit of armor without any pockets in it.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

You see I had my handkerchief in my helmet; and some other things; but it was that kind of a helmet that you can't take off by yourself.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

That hadn't occurred to me when I put it there; and in fact I didn't know it.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I supposed it would be particularly convenient there.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And so now, the thought of its being there, so handy and close by, and yet not get-at-able, made it all the worse and the harder to bear.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Yes, the thing that you can't get is the thing that you want, mainly; every one has noticed that.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Well, it took my mind off from everything else; took it clear off, and centered it in my helmet; and mile after mile, there it stayed, imagining the handkerchief, picturing the handkerchief; and it was bitter and aggravating to have the salt sweat keep trickling down into my eyes, and I couldn't get at it.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It seems like a little thing, on paper, but it was not a little thing at all; it was the most real kind of misery.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I would not say it if it was not so.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I made up my mind that I would carry along a reticule next time, let it look how it might, and people say what they would.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Of course these iron dudes of the Round Table would think it was scandalous, and maybe raise Sheol about it, but as for me, give me comfort first, and style afterwards.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

So we jogged along, and now and then we struck a stretch of dust, and it would tumble up in clouds and get into my nose and make me sneeze and cry; and of course I said things I oughtn't to have said, I don't deny that.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I am not better than others.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

We couldn't seem to meet anybody in this lonesome Britain, not even an ogre; and, in the mood I was in then, it was well for the ogre; that is, an ogre with a handkerchief.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Most knights would have thought of nothing but getting his armor; but so I got his bandanna, he could keep his hardware, for all of me.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Meantime, it was getting hotter and hotter in there.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

You see, the sun was beating down and warming up the iron more and more all the time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Well, when you are hot, that way, every little thing irritates you.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

When I trotted, I rattled like a crate of dishes, and that annoyed me; and moreover I couldn't seem to stand that shield slatting and banging, now about my breast, now around my back; and if I dropped into a walk my joints creaked and screeched in that wearisome way that a wheelbarrow does, and as we didn't create any breeze at that gait, I was like to get fried in that stove; and besides, the quieter you went the heavier the iron settled down on you and the more and more tons you seemed to weigh every minute.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And you had to be always changing hands, and passing your spear over to the other foot, it got so irksome for one hand to hold it long at a time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Well, you know, when you perspire that way, in rivers, there comes a time when you--when you--well, when you itch.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

You are inside, your hands are outside; so there you are; nothing but iron between.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It is not a light thing, let it sound as it may.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

First it is one place; then another; then some more; and it goes on spreading and spreading, and at last the territory is all occupied, and nobody can imagine what you feel like, nor how unpleasant it is.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And when it had got to the worst, and it seemed to me that I could not stand anything more, a fly got in through the bars and settled on my nose, and the bars were stuck and wouldn't work, and I couldn't get the visor up; and I could only shake my head, which was baking hot by this time, and the fly--well, you know how a fly acts when he has got a certainty--he only minded the shaking enough to change from nose to lip, and lip to ear, and buzz and buzz all around in there, and keep on lighting and biting, in a way that a person, already so distressed as I was, simply could not stand.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

So I gave in, and got Alisande to unship the helmet and relieve me of it.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Then she emptied the conveniences out of it and fetched it full of water, and I drank and then stood up, and she poured the rest down inside the armor.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

One cannot think how refreshing it was.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

She continued to fetch and pour until I was well soaked and thoroughly comfortable.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It was good to have a rest--and peace.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

But nothing is quite perfect in this life, at any time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I had made a pipe a while back, and also some pretty fair tobacco; not the real thing, but what some of the Indians use: the inside bark of the willow, dried.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

These comforts had been in the helmet, and now I had them again, but no matches.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Gradually, as the time wore along, one annoying fact was borne in upon my understanding--that we were weather-bound.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

An armed novice cannot mount his horse without help and plenty of it.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Sandy was not enough; not enough for me, anyway.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

We had to wait until somebody should come along.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Waiting, in silence, would have been agreeable enough, for I was full of matter for reflection, and wanted to give it a chance to work.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I wanted to try and think out how it was that rational or even half-rational men could ever have learned to wear armor, considering its inconveniences; and how they had managed to keep up such a fashion for generations when it was plain that what I had suffered to-day they had had to suffer all the days of their lives.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I wanted to think that out; and moreover I wanted to think out some way to reform this evil and persuade the people to let the foolish fashion die out; but thinking was out of the question in the circumstances.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

You couldn't think, where Sandy was.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

She was a quite biddable creature and good-hearted, but she had a flow of talk that was as steady as a mill, and made your head sore like the drays and wagons in a city.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

If she had had a cork she would have been a comfort.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

But you can't cork that kind; they would die.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Her clack was going all day, and you would think something would surely happen to her works, by and by; but no, they never got out of order; and she never had to slack up for words.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

She could grind, and pump, and churn, and buzz by the week, and never stop to oil up or blow out.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And yet the result was just nothing but wind.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

She never had any ideas, any more than a fog has.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

She was a perfect blatherskite; I mean for jaw, jaw, jaw, talk, talk, talk, jabber, jabber, jabber; but just as good as she could be.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I hadn't minded her mill that morning, on account of having that hornets' nest of other troubles; but more than once in the afternoon I had to say: "Take a rest, child; the way you are using up all the domestic air, the kingdom will have to go to importing it by to-morrow, and it's a low enough treasury without that."

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

CHAPTER XIII FREEMEN

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Yes, it is strange how little a while at a time a person can be contented.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Only a little while back, when I was riding and suffering, what a heaven this peace, this rest, this sweet serenity in this secluded shady nook by this purling stream would have seemed, where I could keep perfectly comfortable all the time by pouring a dipper of water into my armor now and then; yet already I was getting dissatisfied; partly because I could not light my pipe--for, although I had long ago started a match factory, I had forgotten to bring matches with me--and partly because we had nothing to eat.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Here was another illustration of the childlike improvidence of this age and people.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

A man in armor always trusted to chance for his food on a journey, and would have been scandalized at the idea of hanging a basket of sandwiches on his spear.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

There was probably not a knight of all the Round Table combination who would not rather have died than been caught carrying such a thing as that on his flagstaff.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

And yet there could not be anything more sensible.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It had been my intention to smuggle a couple of sandwiches into my helmet, but I was interrupted in the act, and had to make an excuse and lay them aside, and a dog got them.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Night approached, and with it a storm.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

The darkness came on fast.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

We must camp, of course.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I found a good shelter for the demoiselle under a rock, and went off and found another for myself.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

But I was obliged to remain in my armor, because I could not get it off by myself and yet could not allow Alisande to help, because it would have seemed so like undressing before folk.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It would not have amounted to that in reality, because I had clothes on underneath; but the prejudices of one's breeding are not gotten rid of just at a jump, and I knew that when it came to stripping off that bob-tailed iron petticoat I should be embarrassed.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

With the storm came a change of weather; and the stronger the wind blew, and the wilder the rain lashed around, the colder and colder it got.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Pretty soon, various kinds of bugs and ants and worms and things began to flock in out of the wet and crawl down inside my armor to get warm; and while some of them behaved well enough, and snuggled up amongst my clothes and got quiet, the majority were of a restless, uncomfortable sort, and never stayed still, but went on prowling and hunting for they did not know what; especially the ants, which went tickling along in wearisome procession from one end of me to the other by the hour, and are a kind of creatures which I never wish to sleep with again.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

It would be my advice to persons situated in this way, to not roll or thrash around, because this excites the interest of all the different sorts of animals and makes every last one of them want to turn out and see what is going on, and this makes things worse than they were before, and of course makes you objurgate harder, too, if you can.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Still, if one did not roll and thrash around he would die; so perhaps it is as well to do one way as the other; there is no real choice.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

Even after I was frozen solid I could still distinguish that tickling, just as a corpse does when he is taking electric treatment.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

I said I would never wear armor after this trip.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.

All those trying hours whilst I was frozen and yet was in a living fire, as you may say, on account of that swarm of crawlers, that same unanswerable question kept circling and circling through my tired head: How do people stand this miserable armor?