“After a lapse of eighteen hundred years, the theater of Pompeii will be re-opened, with the opera of ‘La Figlia del Reggimento.’  I ask the continuation of the favor shown to my predecessor, Marcus Quintus Martius, and beg to assure the public that I shall make every effort to equal the rare qualities he displayed during his management.”

If only Marcus Quintus Martius and his actors, and musicians, and the ancient audience, could have been at that re-opening of their long-buried theater, how they would have stared!

THE LETTER-BOX.

Our older boys and girls will find in this number an excellent article on “Parlor Magic,” in which they are told, by Professor Leo Grindon, one of the Faculty of the Royal School of Chemistry in Manchester, England, how to perform some very interesting, and in some cases, quite astonishing experiments in chemistry, optics, etc.  Some of our readers may be familiar with a few of these experiments, but the majority of them will be found novel to nearly all young people.  Occasionally, there are materials or ingredients called for, which are somewhat expensive, and some of the experiments require a good deal of time and patience.  But these are the exceptions, for nearly all the experiments described in the article can be performed by any careful and intelligent boy or girl of fourteen or fifteen, in a short time and at a very small cost.

Of course, in getting up a little “Parlor Magic Entertainment” it will not be necessary to try all the experiments described.  Choose such as you think you can perform without fail, and which will be likely to interest the company you expect.  Be careful not to try to do too many things in one evening, and, if possible, make each experiment in private, before you attempt to show your friends how it is done.  This will not be necessary in every case, but if you make an experiment, for the first time, before company, be sure that you know exactly what you are going to do and how it ought to be done.

One more thing, the most important of all, we would impress on the mind of every reader of ST. NICHOLAS who tries any of these experiments, and that is the necessity for great care in handling and disposing of the chemical ingredients which may be used.  Some of these, although perfectly harmless, when used as directed, are very injurious, if tasted, or even smelt very closely; and although the performer may himself be very prudent and careful with his materials and apparatus, he must not give the slightest opportunity to young children, or indeed any one who has not studied up the subject, to handle his chemicals.

With careful attention to the directions given in the article, a pleasant evening entertainment may easily be had, and if an occasional failure should take place, both the performer and the company should remember that an experiment is only a trial, and cannot be expected always to succeed.