I am a "Shut In"--that is, I am not strong, and able to be out but occasionally. I admire athletic sports, and am doing all I can to get stronger. The following is my exercising programme: As soon as I get up I do the double bend fifty times; that is, I touch my feet with my clinched fists without bending the knee. If you have not tried it, do so; you'll find out how easy it is. Then I take a cane, grasp it firmly, and swing it over my head twenty-five times to my back without bending the elbows or arms at all. Next I take my dumb-bells and go through the exercises with them, first down sideways, front, above head, and then swing them back until they touch in back. This I keep up until about ten minutes have elapsed. After breakfast, if favorable, I take a brisk walk for about half an hour, and feel very much refreshed. Shortly after luncheon I exercise on an exerciser, and that completes my athletic training for the day. I have done this for about six months, and have missed about twenty days in doing so. It is getting very tiresome, but I am "sticking" to it. I would like to hear of other Knights and Ladies who conduct such in-door exercise. C. ARNOLD KRUCKMAN. ST. LOUIS. * * * * * Music as a Bond of Union. Our familiar tune "America," for which the late Dr. Smith wrote the patriotic words, is a very old one, and is the national air of Great Britain and of Germany, as well as of the United States--if we may be said to have any one national tune. Some time since the King of Italy and the Emperor of Germany met in an Italian city. The Emperor of Germany is, you know, a grandson of Queen Victoria of England. The Italian band, out of compliment to the visiting sovereign, played the German national air. An English woman in the crowd, ignorant of the fact that her "God save the Queen," like our "God bless our native land," is not exclusive property, but borrowed, remarked, with characteristic English assurance, "How sweet of them at such a time to remember Emperor William's grandmother!" * * * * * This Busy World Forgets Us Easily. Fame is not a very tangible thing. United States Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island, has represented his State for many years, and was very prominent in the framing of the tariff bill which is called after the name of Governor McKinley. The Senator tells the following incident, adding that he has never had a conceited moment since it occurred: "Not long since I was journeying from Providence to New York, when a business man of my own State, a man of prominence and wealth, and an old friend of mine, fell in with me, and at once said: "'Good-morning, Senator. Where are you going?' "'Oh, I am going to Washington,' said I. "'What are you going there for?' "'To attend to my public duties.' "'Why, what duties--what duties do you have in Washington?'