Part 5

The most important thing in the preservation of a piano is to avoid atmospheric changes and extremes and sudden changes of temperature. Where the summer condition of the atmosphere is damp all precautions possible should be taken to avoid an entirely dry condition in winter, such as that given by steam or furnace heat. In all cases should the air in the home contain moisture enough to permit a heavy frost on the windows in zero weather. The absence of frost under such conditions is positive proof of an entirely dry atmosphere, and this is a piano's most dangerous enemy, causing the sounding board to crack, shrinking up the bridges, and consequently putting the piano seriously out of tune, also causing an undue dryness in all the action parts and often a loosening of the glue joints, thus producing clicks and rattles. To obviate this difficulty is by no means an easy task and will require considerable attention. Permit all the fresh air possible during winter, being careful to keep the piano out of cold drafts, as this will cause a sudden contraction of the varnish and cause it to check or crack. Plants in the room are desirable and vessels of water of any kind will be of assistance. The most potent means of avoiding extreme dryness is to place a single-loaf bread-pan half full of water in the lower part of the piano, taking out the lower panel and placing it on either side of the pedals inside. This should be refilled about once a month during artificial heat, care being taken to remove the vessel as soon as the heat is discontinued in the spring. In cases where stove heat is used these precautions are not necessary.

The action of a piano, like any other delicate piece of machinery, should be carefully examined, and, if necessary, adjusted each time it is tuned. The hammers need occasional and careful attention to preserve original tone quality and elasticity. Never allow the piano to be beaten or played hard upon. This is ruinous to both the action and tuning. When not in use the music rack and top should be closed to exclude dust. The keyboard need never be closed, as the ivory needs both light and ventilation and will eventually turn yellow unless left open.

The case demands careful treatment to preserve its beauty and polish, Never use anything other than a soft piece of cotton cloth or cheese cloth to dust it with. Never wipe it with a dry chamois skin or silk cloth. Silk is not as soft as cotton and will scratch. A dry chamois skin picks up the dust and grit and gradually scours off the fine finish. In dusting never use a feather duster, nor rub the piano hard with anything. The dust should be whipped off, and not rubbed into the varnish. If the piano is dingy, smoky or dirty looking, it should be washed carefully with lukewarm water with a little ammonia in it to soften it. Never use soap. Use nothing but a small, soft sponge and a chamois skin. Wipe over a small part at a time with the sponge, following quickly with the wet chamois skin wrung out of the same water. This will dry it immediately and leave it as beautiful and clean as new. Never use patent polishes. If your piano needs polishing employ a competent polisher to give it a hand-rubbing friction polish.

The highest mountain on the globe is not, as is generally supposed, Mt. Everest, that honor belonging to a lofty peak named Mt. Hercules on the Isle of Papua, New Guinea, discovered by Capt. Lawson in 1881, According to Lawson, this monster is 32,763 feet in height, being 3,781 feet higher than Mt. Everest, which is only 29,002 feet above the level of the Indian Ocean.

[Transcriber's Note: The highest point in New Guinea is Puncak Jaya (Mount Carstensz or the Carstensz Pyramid), at 16,023 feet.]

SALT-RISING BREAD.

The real formula for making salt-rising bread, as set down by the daughter of Governor Stubbs, of Kansas, and by him communicated to Theodore Roosevelt, is as follows, according to the "Saturday Evening Post":

"On the night before you contemplate this masterpiece of baking take half a cupful of corn meal and a pinch each of salt and sugar. Scald this with new milk heated to the boiling point and mix to the thickness of mush. This can be made in a cup. Wrap in a clean cloth and put in a warm place overnight.

"In the morning, when all is ready, take a one-gallon stone jar and into this put one scant cupful of new milk. Add a level teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar. Scald this with three cupfuls of water heated to the boiling point. Reduce to a temperature of one hundred and eight degrees with cold water, using a milk thermometer to enable you to get exactly the right temperature. Then add flour and mix to a good batter; after the batter is made, mix in your starter that was made the night before. Cover the stone jar with a plate and put the jar in a large kettle of water and keep this water at a temperature of one hundred and eight degrees until the sponge rises. It should rise at least an inch and a half. When it has raised mix to a stiff dough, make into loaves and put into pans. Do not let the heat get out of the dough while working. Grease the loaves well on top and set your bread where it will be warm and rise. After the loaves rise bake in a medium oven for one hour and ten minutes. When you take the loaves from the oven wrap them in a bread-cloth."

A CURE FOR LOVE.

Take twelve ounces of dislike, one pound of resolution, two grains of common sense, two ounces of experience, a large sprig of time, and three quarts of cooling water of consideration. Set them over a gentle fire of love, sweeten it with sugar of forgetfulness, skim it with the spoon of melancholy, put it in the bottom of your heart, cork it with the cork of clean conscience. Let it remain and you will quickly find ease and be restored to your senses again.

These things can be had of the apothecary at the house of Understanding next door to Reason, on Prudent street.

DOING BUSINESS WITH A BANK

In opening your account with a bank it is proper that you should first be introduced to the cashier, or some other official. If you are engaged in business, that officer will inquire as to your particular business or calling, your address, etc., and unless he is already satisfied on this point, he may make inquiries as to your business standing. This being satisfactory, he will hand you a passbook, and some deposit tickets, whereupon you make your first deposit, entering the amount on the ticket. You will then be asked to write your signature in a book provided for that purpose, or upon a card to be filed away for reference.

The Signature.

This signature should be just as you intend to use it in all your dealings with the bank. If, for instance, your name is John Henry Smith, you may write it J. H. Smith, J. Henry Smith. John H. Smith or John Henry Smith, but whatever form you adopt should be used all the time. Once having adopted the form, it should be maintained in exactly that way. The only excuse for variation from your usual signature is when presenting checks or other paper made payable to you. In that case, supposing you had adopted the form J. Henry Smith for your regular signature, and the check is made payable to John H. Smith, you should first write on the back of that check "John H. Smith," and immediately under this you should place your regular signature.

Depositing Money.

When making a deposit, always use the deposit ticket provided by the bank, filling it out yourself in ink. From this ticket, which is first checked up by the receiving teller, the amount of your deposit is placed to your credit. Do not ask the teller to fill our your deposit ticket. No doubt he would be glad to accommodate you, but to do so would violate a rule which protects both the bank and the depositor, Deposit tickets are preserved by the bank, and often serve to correct mistakes.

How to Avoid Mistakes.

Consider for a moment the vast aggregate of bank transactions, and you will see that perfect system on the part of the banks and bank officials is required to insure accuracy and avoid mistakes. Sometimes the requirements of the banks may seem arbitrary and troublesome, but reflection will show that they safeguard the depositor as well as the bank. The simple rules here laid down will enable anyone who has business with a bank to do so with the least trouble and with absolute safety.

How to Make Out a Check.

Checks are the most satisfactory and most convenient method of paying a debt or making any ordinary remittance. The stub of your check book will furnish a permanent memorandum, and when the check is canceled and returned to you by the bank, it is an indisputable evidence that the debt has been paid, or that the remittance has been made. The making of a check is a simple matter, but even the best business men make mistakes sometimes which are as difficult to remedy as they are easy to avoid. The hints here given and the facsimiles of checks printed in illustration will repay careful study.

[Illustration: A Check Properly Drawn. The name and amount are against the left side of their fields.]

The first facsimile shows a check properly made. It will be seen, in the first place, that this check is written very plainly, and that there is no room for the insertion of extra figures or words. The writing of the amount commences as nearly as possible to the extreme left of the check. The figures are written close together and there is no space between the first figure and the dollar mark.

All erasures in checks should be avoided. If you have made a mistake, tear a blank check from the back of your check book and use that in place of the one spoiled.

Some business men allow their clerks to fill out checks on the typewriter. This is ill-advised for two reasons: First, it is much easier to alter a typewritten check than one filled in with a pen; in the second place, a teller, in passing on the genuineness of a check, takes into consideration the character of the handwriting in the body of the check as well as in the signature. The typewritten characters offer no clue to individuality.

Never mail a check drawn to "Bearer." Remember that if your check is made payable to "Bearer" or to "John Smith or Bearer" it may be cashed by anybody who happens to have it. Unless it is for a large amount the paying teller of your bank will look only to see whether your signature is correct, and, that being right, the bank cannot be held responsible if the check should have come into the wrong hands.

A check drawn to order can be cashed only when the person to whose order it has been drawn has indorsed it by writing his or her name on the back and the bank will be responsible for the correctness of the indorsement.

If you make your check payable say, to William Armstrong or order, nobody but William Armstrong, or some one to whom he indorses the check, can collect the amount, and if through fraud or otherwise some one not entitled to it gets the money which the check calls for, the responsibility is not yours, but the bank's. It is for that reason that bankers and business men use such great care in accepting checks.

[Illustration: A Check Carelessly Drawn. The text and numbers for the amount is in the center of their fields, leaving of space for extra text.]

[Illustration: The Same Check "Raised". The amount has been changed from One Hundred/100.00 to Eighty-One Hundred/$8100.00.]

For the same reason you should never accept a check from anybody whom you do not know as responsible, and you should not be surprised or angered if some one else should hesitate to take a check from you.

Checks or drafts received by you should be deposited as soon as possible. Should you receive a check for a considerable amount and have no convenient bank account, you should go to the bank on which the check is drawn and have the cashier certify it by stamping "Accepted" or "Certified" across the face over his signature. That formality makes the paper as good as money so long as the bank accepting it is solvent.

It sometimes happens that a check drawn in good faith by a responsible party is withheld so long by the person receiving it that there is no money to the account when the check is finally presented.

Paying Notes and Acceptances.

Make your notes and accepted drafts payable at the bank where you do business. Whether it or other banks hold them for collection, they will be presented to your bank when due.

Pay your notes, etc., on the day they fall due, and early in the day if convenient, or leave a check for the amount with your bank on the day before your paper matures. Banks will not pay notes or drafts without instructions.

Keep a careful record of the days of maturity of all your paper. Banks usually notify all payers a few days beforehand when their paper matures, but this is only courtesy on their part and not an obligation.

Exchange.

"Exchange" means funds in other cities made available by bankers' drafts on such places. These drafts afford the safest and cheapest means for remitting money. Drafts on New York are worth their face value practically all over the United States in settlement of accounts.

Collections.

A draft is sometimes the most convenient form for collecting an account. The prevalence of the custom is due to the fact that most men will wait to be asked to pay a debt. If a draft is a time draft it is accepted by the person on whom it is drawn by writing his name and date across the face. This makes it practically a note, to be paid at maturity.

Notes or drafts that you desire to have collected for you by your bank should be left at the bank several days before they are due, so as to give ample time to notify the payers.

Borrowing.

Banks are always willing to loan their funds to responsible persons within reasonable limits. That is what they exist for. There is, of course, a limit to the amount a bank may loan, even on the best known security, but the customer of the bank is entitled to and will receive the first consideration.

The customer should not hesitate, when occasion requires, to offer to the bank for discount such paper as may come into his hands in the course of business, if, in his opinion, the paper is good. At the same time he should not be offended if his bank refuses to take it even without giving reasons.

Indorsing Checks, Etc.

When depositing checks, drafts, etc., see that they are dated properly and that the written amounts and figures correspond. The proper way to indorse a check or draft--this also applies to notes and other negotiable paper--is to write your name upon the back about one inch from the top. The proper end may be determined in this way: As you read the check, holding one end in each hand, draw the right hand toward you, and turn the check over. The end which is then farthest from you is the top. If, however, the check, draft or note has already been indorsed by another person, you should write your name directly under the other indorsement, even if that is on the wrong end. If your own name on the face of the check, draft or note is misspelled, or has the wrong initials, but if the paper is clearly intended for you, you should first write your name as it appears on the face, and under it your regular signature. You should indorse every check you deposit, even though it be payable to bearer.

Mistakes in Banking.

Mr. Samuel Woods, a member of the American Institute of Bank Clerks, recently contributed to Munsey's Magazine an interesting article on the subject of "Mistakes in Banking." From this we are permitted by the courtesy of the publishers of Munsey's to reproduce two of the facsimiles shown.

One wrong word, or figure, or letter--the right thing in the wrong way or the wrong place--the scratch of an eraser or the alteration of a word--or any one of these things, in the making or cashing of a check, is liable to become as expensive as a racing automobile.

The paying teller of a bank, says Mr. Woods, must keep his eyes open for new dangers as well as old ones. The cleverest crooks in the country are pitting their brains against his. After he has learned the proper guard for all the well-known tricks and forgeries it is still possible that an entirely new combination may leave him minus cash and plus experience.

But it is not the unique and novel swindle that is most dangerous, either to a bank or an individual. It is the simple, ordinary mistake or the time-worn trick that makes continuous trouble. Apparently, every new generation contains a number of dishonest people who lay the same traps, and a number of careless people who fall into these traps in the same old way.

Check-Raising Made Easy.

One of the first lessons, for instance, that a depositor should learn before he is qualified to own a check-book is to commence writing the amount as near as possible to the extreme left of the check. Those who forget this are often reminded of it in a costly way. Some one "raises" their checks by writing another figure in front of the proper amount. "Five hundred" might be "raised" to "twenty-five hundred" in this way, even by an unskilled forger.

The highest court has recently decided that a bank cannot be held responsible, when it pays a "raised" check, if the maker of the check failed in the first place to write it out correctly. The treasurer of the Bath Electric Company, of Bath, Maine, had written a check for one hundred dollars, which was raised to eighty-one hundred dollars and cashed. The court held that the company, and not the bank, should lose the eight thousand dollars, because of the "gross carelessness" in drawing up the check. Facsimiles showing the check as originally written and as it looked when paid are here reproduced.

Altered Words and Figures.

The altered check is the bane of the paying teller's profession, and it is the general practice in conservative banks to accept no checks or other paper which shows signs of erasure or alteration in either words or figures.

THE NAMES OF THE STATES.

Alabama--Indian; meaning "Here we rest."

Arkansas"--Kansas," the Indian name for "smoky water," with the French prefix "arc," bow or bend in the principal river.

California--Caliente Fornala, Spanish for "hot furnace," in allusion to the climate.

Colorado--Spanish; meaning "colored," from the red color of the Colorado river.

Connecticut--Indian; meaning "long river."

Delaware--Named in honor of Lord De La Ware.

Florida--Named by Ponce de Leon, who discovered it in 1512, on Easter Day, the Spanish Pascua de Flores, or "Feast of Flowers."

Georgia--In honor of George II. of England.

Illinois--From the Indian "illini," men, and the French suffix "ois," together signifying "tribe of men."

Indiana--Indian land. Iowa--Indian; meaning "beautiful land.'"

Kansas--Indian; meaning "smoky water."

Kentucky--Indian for "at the head of the river," or "the dark and bloody ground."

Louisiana--In honor of Louis XIV. of France.

Maine--From the province of Maine, in France.

Maryland--In honor of Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. of England.

Massachusetts--The place of the great hills (the blue hills southwest of Boston).

Michigan--The Indian name for a fish weir. The lake was so called from the fancied resemblance of the lake to a fish trap.

Minnesota--Indian; meaning "sky-tinted water."

Mississippi--Indian; meaning "great father of waters." Missouri--Indian; meaning "muddy."

Nebraska--Indian; meaning "water valley."

Nevada--Spanish; meaning "snow-covered," alluding to the mountains.

New Hampshire--From Hampshire county, England.

New Jersey--In honor of Sir George Carteret, one of the original grantees, who had previously been governor of Jersey Island.

New York--In honor of the Duke of York.

North and South Carolina--Originally called Carolina, in honor of Charles IX. of France.

Ohio--Indian; meaning "beautiful river."

Oregon--From the Spanish "oregano," wild marjoram, which grows abundantly on the coast.

Pennsylvania--Latin; meaning Penn's woody land.

Rhode Island--From a fancied resemblance to the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean.

Tennessee--Indian; meaning "river with the great bend."

Texas--Origin of this name is unknown.

Vermont--French; meaning "green mountain."

Virginia--In honor of Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen."

Wisconsin--Indian; meaning "gathering of the waters," or "wild rushing channel."

MOTTOES OF THE STATES.

Arkansas--Regnant populi: The peoples rule.

California--Eureka: I have found it. Colorado--Nil sine numine: Nothing without the Divinity.

Connecticut--Qui transtulit sustinet: He who has transferred, sustains.

Delaware--Liberty and Independence.

Florida--In God is Our trust.

Georgia--Wisdom, Justice, Moderation.

Illinois--State Sovereignty and National Union.

Iowa--Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.

Kansas--Ad astra per aspera: to the stars through rugged ways.

Kentucky--United we stand, divided we fall.

Louisiana--Union and Confidence.

Maine--Dirigo: I direct.

Maryland--Crescite et multiplicamini: Increase and multiply.

Massachusetts--Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam: By her sword she seeks under liberty a calm repose.

Michigan--Si quaeris peninsulam amoeanam circumspice: If thou seekest a beautiful peninsula, look around.

Minnesota--L'Etoile du Nord: The Star of the North.

Missouri--Salus populi suprema lex esto: Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.

Nebraska--Popular Sovereignty.

Nevada--Volens et potens: Willing and able.

New Jersey--Liberty and Independence.

New York--Excelsior: Higher.

Ohio--Imperium in imperio: An empire within an empire.

Oregon--Alis volat propriis: She flies with her own wings.

Pennsylvania--Virtue, Liberty, Independence.

Rhode Island--Hope.

South Carolina--Animis opibusque parati: Ready with our lives and property.

Tennessee--Agriculture, Commerce. Vermont--Freedom and Unity.

Virginia--Sic semper tyrannis: So be it ever to tyrants.

West Virginia--Montani semper liberi: The mountaineers are always free.

Wisconsin--Forward.

United States E pluribus unum: From many, one.

Annuit captis: God has favored the undertaking;

Vovus ordo seclorum: A new order of ages.

The first named on one side of the great seal, the other two on the reverse.

GEOGRAPHICAL NICKNAMES.

States and Territories.

Alabama, Cotton State;

Arkansas, Toothpick and Bear State;

California, Eureka and Golden State;

Colorado, Centennial State;

Connecticut, Land of Steady Habits: Freestone State and Nutmeg State;

Dakota, Sioux State;

Delaware, Uncle Sam's Pocket Handkerchief and Blue Hen State;

Florida, Everglade and Flowery State;

Georgia, Empire State of the South;

Idaho, Gem of the Mountains;

Illinois, Prairie and Sucker State;

Indiana, Hoosier State;

Iowa, Hawkeye State;

Kansas, Jayhawker State;

Kentucky, Corn-cracker State;

Louisiana, Creole State;

Maine, Timber and Pine Tree State;

Maryland, Monumental State;

Massachusetts, Old Bay State;

Michigan, Wolverine and Peninsular State;

Minnesota, Gopher and North Star State;

Mississippi, Eagle State;

Missouri, Puke State;

Nebraska, Antelope State;

Nevada, Sage State;

New Hampshire, Old Granite State;

New Jersey, Blue State and New Spain;

New Mexico, Vermin State;

New York, Empire State;

North Carolina, Rip Van Winkle, Old North and Turpentine State;

Ohio, Buckeye State;

Oregon, Pacific State;

Pennsylvania, Keystone, Iron and Oil State;

Rhode Island, Plantation State and Little Rhody;

South Carolina, Palmetto State;

Tennessee, Lion's Den State;

Texas, Lone Star State;

Utah, Mormon State;