d to help me, and we want at least
three more members in this city aged about sixteen years. The cost
of a party varies according to the distance and the electrical
decorations.

There are several fine routes. Germantown, Chestnut Hill, Angora,
Darby, and Willow Grove. The two last ones are preferable on
account of the length of the lines. The cost is about $16 per car,
decorated. We need at least three things for a success
financially--united action on the part of the members, publicity,
and a good night.

CHARLES C. CANFIELD.
FAIRMOUNT STATION, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

This is an admirable suggestion. Let us hear from all Quaker City
members who will go.

Origin of Three Common Things.

Some of our most common symbols have interesting derivations. Take, for
instance, the dollar sign ($), which every one knows and loves--to a
more or less extent. Several explanations have been given of its origin.
The most probable is that it is a modification of the figure 8, denoting
the famous "piece of eight" of pirate lore, a Spanish silver piece of
the value of our dollar. Another theory is that it represents the scroll
and pillars depicted on certain Spanish coins. Still another makes us
question whether it is not a monogram of the letters "U.S." It has even
been stated that this mark at one time appeared on the flag of
Saragossa, a city famous for its two months' siege by the French in
1808.

The symbol Rx, standing for _recipe_--take--was originally the symbol
for Jupiter, a sign placed at the head of a medical formula to
propitiate Jove, that the compound might act favorably. The character &
is a corruption of the Latin word _et_, the letters being written as
one.

Hunting Deer in California.

I wish you could see the picturesque spot where we are spending
the summer. We are in a deep canon, surrounded by the Santa Cruz
Mountains, all of them over 2000 feet high. Llagas Creek, which
abounds in cataracts, runs through the ravine. But the attractive
feature of the place is that deer abounds on the hill-sides. The
season opened on the 15th of July. At three o'clock on that
morning thirteen hunters, dressed in leggings and corduroys,
mounted their horses and started out, followed by a large pack of
hounds, for the deer haunts.

The leader of the party in an hour's time had reached a convenient
spot and d