WANTED—­A RECIPE FOR A BOOK.

Your editor had an interesting talk a few days ago with one of our best-known naturalists, who said:  “Boys and girls are the keenest observers, if they are interested in anything.  We naturalists get much of our most valuable information through their quick eyes and minds.”

“And,” he added, “the more they see, the more they want to see and know, and they are constantly coming to me for facts, asking me why I do not write good books.”

“Well, why don’t you?”

“I’ll tell you why.  It is because I want to write a book which will tell them just what they want to know, and I do not know what our boys and girls are interested in.  If I write about pets, what kind of pets are they most interested in—­dogs or cats, horses or birds, squirrels or fishes?  If I write about wild animals, must it be about their homes and what they do, or about the best ways to hunt and trap them?  Then, again, I am not sure if they are not more interested in hunting for beautiful and curious things on the seashore—­shells, crabs, sea-anemones, and such things.”

Your editor believes in asking the boys and girls to say for themselves what they want, and then to give that to them in the best possible way.  Therefore he answered:  “Ask the boys and girls what they want.  Do not ask one or two, but just ask one or two thousand, and give them just what they ask for—­no more and no less.”  As he cannot write a letter to you all, will you not, each one of you, write a letter addressed to “Naturalist, care of Editor of great Round world, 5 West 18th Street,” and in this letter say just what you would like:  a book about birds, pets, bees, wild animals, shells, fishes, or snakes—­for he knows all about these things, and can write a book on any or all of these subjects, or, indeed, anything that has to do with woods, fields, or ocean, and the wonderful and interesting things found in them.  We hope that our promise to this naturalist, that our boys and girls can and will tell him what he wants to know, will not lead to a disappointment.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

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If any of our boys and girls have found their bicycle saddles as uncomfortable as your editor has found his, they will be delighted to learn that there is to be had a sensible as well as most comfortable saddle.  The pleasure of riding your wheel for miles without feeling your saddle can only be appreciated by those who happen to have a saddle which fits; the great trouble is that very few people fit the average saddle; and as the saddle cannot be adjusted, perfect comfort is not obtainable.  With this new saddle the case is different, for it can be adjusted to fit a large or small person exactly.  It also has a contrivance which permits the parts to move up and down so that there is no friction whatever.  Our attention was called to it by one of the officers of the navy, who has proved himself an expert in wheel contrivances, and a careful test bears out all of his statements.  The saddle is well made and inexpensive ($3.50).