nothing in the whole year quite so delightful as taking down the
Christmas stocking. Of course it is charming to hang it up; but one
never feels the least bit sleepy on Christmas-eve, and it seems so long
to wait until morning shall come. The air is astir with excitement and
mystery, and Santa Claus is known to be hovering about waiting for eyes
to be closed, and children to go comfortably away to dream-land.
By-and-by everybody does manage to fall asleep, and then by some strange
magic the long, limp stockings are crammed with toys, books, bonbons,
tools, dolls, and skates, or lovely ribbons, laces, watches, and gems.
How beautifully they bulge out, every inch of room packed, while the
overflow, which could not possibly be forced into any stocking, is piled
temptingly on the tables and chairs.
Now look at this poor little girl who hung up her stocking on
Christmas-eve, hoping that the good Santa Claus would come down the
chimney and put something nice in it. She was afraid he would forget
her, and still she hoped that maybe he might bring just one dolly, and
slip it away down into the toe, where she would find it, and be, oh! so
glad. Little Jennie is used to being cold and hungry, and does not mind
a great many privations which more fortunate children never have to
endure. She can sweep crossings in old shoes, and wear a ragged shawl,
without envying girls who are wrapped in soft furs. These merry holidays
have not made her envious; and yet when Florence and Susie and Mabel
have flitted by on the street, their arms full of parcels, and their
fathers and mothers buying them every beautiful thing that the shop
windows show, she has wished and wished that _she_ might have just one
dolly--only one. So, thinking that maybe if she hung up her stocking her
desire would be granted, she did so on Christmas-eve, and went to bed
that night without minding the cold. The stocking hung where she placed
it. Nobody came down the chimney, or up the stairs, or in at the door.
Her mother was so tired and discouraged that she took no notice of
Jennie's stocking, and if she had, it is doubtful whether she could have
found a gift to gladden the child.
Sometimes little girls like Jennie have parents who are not kind and
good like yours, because they love liquor and spend their earnings to
procure that. There are plenty of empty stockings on Christmas in homes
where fathers and mothers are drunkards.
Little Jennie looks very forlorn holding her empty stocking in her hand.
The picture is a shadow on the gayety of this festive time, but it is
inserted in the New-Year's number of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, that some of
the readers may be prompted to think what they can do to send pleasures
to little ones whose lives are seldom gay.
A very large part of your Christmas happiness came from the gifts you
bestowed as well as from those you received. It was not a selfish
festival in homes where brothers and sisters exchanged love-tokens; and
the weeks you spent in making pretty presents with your own hands, in
saving your pocket-money, and in planning to surprise your dear ones,
were very happy weeks indeed. Now I have something to propose, which you
need not wait a whole year to carry out. You know there are Flower
Missions and Fruit Missions, which send flowers and fruit to the homes
of the sick poor. Why should there not be a Toy Mission too? Most of you
have a dolly, or two, or three, perhaps, which you could spare, and some
of you have books you have read, and playthings which you have outgrown,
which would make poor children wild with joy. Some of the Sunday-schools
have tried this way of keeping Christmas, and have brought their gifts
to be distributed among the poor. And some of the benevolent enterprises
of the city send out holiday bags, to be filled and returned with all
sorts of necessary things. A Toy Mission would be a little different
from these, and with a little help from and organization by older
brothers and sisters, it could be easily put into operation. The city
missionaries and Bible-readers can tell just where there are children
like Jennie in the picture, and some of the express companies willingly
carry packages and parcels of the kind I mean, free of charge.
The House of the Good Shepherd, Tompkin's Cove, New York, has for
several years sent cute-looking cloth bags to its friends, with the
request that they be filled with gifts for its inmates. One Christmas
season the children of the Wilson Industrial School of this city
undertook to fill one of these, and their teacher told me it was very
touching to see the eagerness and generosity with which they, so poor
themselves, brought their carefully kept and mended treasures to send to
the "poor children who had no friends to love them."
[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.]
Once more we wish a very Happy New Year to all our young friends. We
have done our best to make the past year brighter to them, and they have
made it very pleasant for us by their constant and hearty expressions of
pleasure and approval.
Christmas is past. How many of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE remembered to
make some poor child happy on Christmas-day? If some of them were too
much occupied with their own sparkling Christmas trees to think of the
friendless and homeless little ones all around them, we beg them to stop
now and remember that they can not begin the new year better than by
bringing a smile to some sad, wan little face. There are poor children
everywhere, in the streets, in hospitals, in wretched and desolate
homes, over whose young life poverty and misfortune have thrown a heavy
cloud. It must always be remembered that their suffering arises from no
fault of their own, and those to whom fortune has been more generous
should never forget to help from their abundance the little ones toward
whom the world has turned a cold and unkind face. Now if every reader of
YOUNG PEOPLE would give some little thing, if it be only a bunch of
flowers or evergreen, how many poor little faces might be made brighter
on New-Year's morning! A few oranges, or a picture-book, will make a
sick, friendless child happy. Those of you who live near together, and
have your "YOUNG PEOPLE Clubs," which you write so prettily about, can
have a meeting, and fill baskets with playthings you do not need. Mamma
will help you buy some oranges, and perhaps a warm scarf or pair of
stockings, and she will advise you, too, of the best way to dispose of
them. Every one of you can do something, and in that way you will bring
to yourself, as well as to others, a real Happy New Year.
* * * * *
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA.
I read all of the letters in the Post-office Box, and I like them,
and I like all of the stories. Sometimes I miss my paper, and I
feel very sorry, and sometimes I bring it home and lay it on the
table, and my younger brother takes it and leaves it on the floor;
then the baby gets it and tears it. That does not please me. My
papa is an editor. I have three brothers and two sisters. I am ten
years old.
There are two rivers here, the Assiniboine and the Red. They are
very muddy rivers, and it is hard to learn to swim in them. Every
spring somebody has been drowned. The banks of the Assiniboine are
undermined. It is awfully cold up here in the winter.
HARRY L.
* * * * *
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
I am nine years old. I do love to read YOUNG PEOPLE, and can hardly
wait for papa to bring it home.
I went to Texas to see my relations, and we brought home a horned
frog. It never ate anything. We staked a pen for it in the back
yard, but it died.
My papa and my uncles went hunting on the big prairie, and camped
out. Uncle Tom killed a striped catamount, and gave me the skin to
make a soft rug. Uncle Will killed two deer, and papa shot one,
but it got away. It is very warm in Texas, and at Galveston there
are lots of oysters.
Mamma has promised to have my YOUNG PEOPLE bound for my birthday
gift.
MINNIE L. C.
* * * * *
PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.
I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like it very much. We have it in school
to read instead of a reader.
I live within one hundred yards of the rock where the Pilgrims
landed.
C. F. S.
* * * * *
Harlem, New York.
Dear "YOUNG PEOPLE,"--I have been one of your subscribers ever
since you were born, and I enjoy your company very much. I have a
large family to look after, but when I get all my children to
sleep, I take the time left me to read. My family consists of Dolly
Varden, Betsy, Daisy, and Pearl, who are all little girls, and
Sambo, who is the porter, and does all the work. I have my little
dog Tip to watch the house when I go out, and see that no strangers
disturb anything during my absence. Another important member of my
family is my pussy cat Sam. He is just as old as I am (eleven
years), and begins to be rather cross. He and Tip sometimes have
little spats, but I soon settle them, and make them be good friends
again.
After school closed this summer I went to the country, where I had
splendid times. I fed the chickens several times during the day,
and I got some of them so tame they would eat out of my hands.
Then I had a little bit of a pig, which I picked from a whole
litter, and made a pet of him.
We had a large dog that did the churning, but he did not like it
one bit. When the churn was being prepared for him to work, he
would whine and cry like a baby.
When my papa came he made us a kite, which we raised real high.
Some of the birds were frightened at it, and others would fly
right up and peck at it to see what it was. It made us laugh to
see how the birds acted.
For my birthday my papa sent me a set of archery, which we placed
on the lawn at the side of the house, and we enjoyed shooting at
the target ever so much. I can shoot real good now.
I have a great deal to do, so will close my letter by telling you
that I am home again, and going to school. I also attend
Sunday-school, and have my music lessons to practice, so I am very
busy.
IRENE M. N.
* * * * *
We are two dolls. Our mamma is a dear little black-eyed girl almost
ten years old, named Jennie. She is a good deal like Bessie
Maynard, and loves us as much as Bessie loves her doll Clytie. We
used to live in Nevada, but last summer we came to live in Central
City, Colorado. We all like YOUNG PEOPLE, and the Post-office Box
in particular.
MINNIE and JOE MCG.
* * * * *
We have had this dear little paper ever since it was published.
Mamma is very glad to have it, for she is very particular about our
reading. I always spend the evening after it comes reading it to my
little brother Regie, who is eight years old. I am fourteen. My
father died when I was seven.
Santa Cruz is a pretty town, and has good schools, both public and
private. We have roses all the year, as our winter is only a
succession of pleasant rains with warm sunny days between, like
spring in the Eastern States.
The town is near the mouth of the broad, beautiful bay of
Monterey, so that we can see out into the Pacific Ocean. We have
grand times on the beach when the tide is low, searching for
shells and the beautiful sea-weeds. The lady principal of a school
here teaches us all about shells and algæ, or sea-plants, and we
learn to name and classify them. I wish all the young people who
write about aquaria could see mine. I have hundreds of them in the
rocks by the sea in holes worn by the waves, from the size of a
wooden bucket to that of a large deep barrel. They are round, and
the walls are covered with limpets of all sizes, star-fish of
different colors, bright purple sea-urchins, and lovely pale green
and pink sea-anemones, which wave their petals in search of food.
Bright-hued crabs, fish, and creatures of which I have not yet
learned the name, move in the water. Every part is covered with
some form of life capable of motion, and with all kinds of
sea-plants.
I would like to exchange shells and pressed sea-plants for other
shells, Lake Superior agates, or other small mineral specimens. I
would like to have everything clearly marked, and I will in return
name and classify the shells.
HARRY BOWMAN,
Santa Cruz, California.
* * * * *
We print the following note in reply to many inquiries in regard to
postage-stamp catalogues, etc.:
If any reader of YOUNG PEOPLE will write to me on matters connected
with stamps which can not well be published, inclosing stamp for
reply, I shall be happy to answer him.
JOSEPH J. CASEY,
P. O. Box 1696, New York City.
* * * * *
Several of us have organized a club for the exchange of minerals.
We call it the American Mineralogical Club. We shall be glad to
have any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE join us if they are willing
to conform to the rules, which can be had upon application to the
secretary.
GEORGE DAVIES, P. O. Box 80,
Pottstown, Montgomery County, Penn.
* * * * *
The following exchanges are offered by correspondents:
Iron ore from Spain, Ireland, England, and different sections of
the United States, for good specimens of copper or zinc.
WILLIE S. SHAFFER,
20 North Second Street, Harrisburg, Penn.
* * * * *
Postmarks.
MISS AGNES MCMURDY,
Care of Mrs. R. M. Beckwith,
Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y.
* * * * *
United States Department stamps, or pieces of the Washington
Monument, for coins, minerals, or foreign stamps.
HARRY LOWELL,
830 Twentieth Street, Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
The Bavarian doctor mentioned in "The Story of the Boy-General," in
YOUNG PEOPLE No. 57, who tried to rescue Lafayette from the Olmütz
prison, was Justus Erick Bollman, my uncle.
If any reader of YOUNG PEOPLE will send me a Greek or a Danish
postage stamp, or two kinds of stamps from South America, I will
send in return an Indian arrow-head, or I will exchange Indian
pottery for any foreign stamps except English.
C. H. BOLLMAN, Monongahela City,
Washington County, Penn.
* * * * *
I would like to exchange ocean curiosities for a genuine Indian bow
five feet long--not a bow like those Indians sell here in
Massachusetts, but a good one that will shoot. I should like two or
three arrows with it.
In answer to Carrie V. D.'s question I would say that it is not
necessary to change the water in the carrot hanging basket, but
only to refill it when the water dries away.
DANIEL D. LEE,
Myrtle Street, Jamaica Plains, Suffolk Co., Mass.
* * * * *
A stone from New York State for one from any other State, or
Canada. Postmarks for stamps, minerals, birds' eggs, or Indian
relics. Five postmarks for every bird's egg.
WILLIAM PORTER CHAPMAN, JUN.,
Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y.
* * * * *
Postage stamps from Europe, Asia, and other countries, for others.
LOYAL DURAND,
591 Cass Street, Milwaukee, Wis.
* * * * *
Postmarks.
H. D. and R. B. HALL,
39 Highland Street, Roxbury, Mass.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps.
FREDDIE W. ALLREE,
26 Cedar Avenue, Allegheny, Penn.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps for Navy, Interior, and Agricultural
Department stamps, and stamps from Newfoundland.
WILLIS BISHOP,
20 Gold Street, Chicago, Ill.
* * * * *
A white metal copy of the ancient Jewish shekel for an old coin or
a handsome shell.
LIBBIE and MATTIE PENICK, St. Joseph, Mo.
* * * * *
Postage stamps for minerals or Indian relics.
WILLIAM H. RHEES,
1317 Eleventh Street, N.W., Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
Birds' eggs and Indian relics.
ROSCOE S. NICKERSON,
Klamath Agency, Oregon.
* * * * *
Southern moss, specimens of sulphur, and some United States stamps
for foreign stamps.
CLARENCE MARSH,
2217 Calumet Avenue, Chicago, Ill.
* * * * *
Curiosities and specimens of all kinds.
* * * * *
L. E. WALKER, care of H. W. Walker,
Lock Box 316, Lansing, Mich.
* * * * *
Sea-weed, or pieces of the stone of which the new Capitol at Albany
is built, for curiosities of any kind.
WILLIE L. WIDDEMER,
99 Madison Avenue, Albany, N. Y.
* * * * *
United States Department stamps, or pieces of stone from the new
War and Navy Department buildings, or from the Washington Monument
now being finished, for shells, foreign stamps, or any curiosity.
HORACE D. GOODALL,
826 Twentieth Street, N.W., Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
Postage stamps.
CHARLES SWABEY,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
* * * * *
Autographs of renowned men and women.
C. J. OTTERBOURG,
128 East Seventieth Street, New York City.
* * * * *
Minerals from the mines of Colorado for ocean curiosities or
postage stamps.
LOUIS M. GROSS,
Care of Abel Brothers, Denver, Colorado.
* * * * *
A Canadian postmark and a Centennial three-cent stamp for a German
postage stamp.
ARTHUR FROST,
Care of D. H. Frost, Belle Plaine, Iowa.
* * * * *
Twenty-five postmarks for five stamps. No duplicates.
NELLIE V.,
343 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
* * * * *
Birds' eggs for other eggs; or a rock from every State in the Union
and from several foreign countries for twenty different kinds of
eggs.
W. BOSTWICK, Care of John C. Remington,
Columbus, Muscogee County, Ga.
* * * * *
Birds' eggs.
FRANK M. RICHARDS,
Farmington, Maine.
* * * * *
Minerals and fossils for shells and minerals. A good specimen of
copper ore especially desired.
BARTAS W. JAY, Emporia, Kansas.
* * * * *
Postage stamps for birds' eggs, coins, or minerals.
WENNIE HOLMES, Bay City, Mich.
* * * * *
J. T. M.--See answer to Ida B. D., in Post-office Box of YOUNG PEOPLE
No. 51.
* * * * *
HENRY A. BLAKESLEY, HARRY F. HAINES, E. A. DE LIMA, AND MANY OTHERS.--We
are sorry not to print your requests for exchange, but that department
of our Post-office Box is so very crowded that we can not give space to
addresses which have been already published, unless the exchange
offered is of some new article. Neither can we attend to irregularities
between exchanges, which arise in almost every instance from
carelessness, or failure to give a proper address. We know of no remedy
for those who fail to receive answers to their letters except to
continue sending reminders to the delinquent correspondent. A great many
boys and girls write to us that they receive so many letters, they can
not answer them all promptly, as they are going to school, and very busy
with studies, but that they will surely answer them in time. We hope
they will not forget this promise, as a letter should always be
acknowledged.
* * * * *
P. I. G.--The rudder of the ice-boat is not fastened. The rudder-post
runs up through the keelson, which rests on an iron pin driven through
the post just above the rudder. The runner irons are sharp.
* * * * *
ALFRED C. T.--The directions you require are in preparation, and will
appear in an early number of YOUNG PEOPLE.
* * * * *
CECIL X.--There is no limit to the age of our contributors, but we would
advise you to wait until you are a little older before you try to write
a story.
* * * * *
HARRY OLMSTEAD, W. F., AND E. N. HIGH.--There are so many kinds of
printing-presses for boys that the best thing for you to do is to notice
the advertisements which are in all newspapers, and send to different
manufacturers for catalogues, from which you can make your selection.
* * * * *
GEORGE C. D.--Dr. Kane penetrated to 81° 22' north latitude; but in 1827
the English navigator Sir Edward Parry reached 82° 45' N., and in 1861
Dr. Hayes reached the same latitude. Captain Hall has also penetrated
nearly as far north. In February, 1854, in about 78° N., Dr. Kane
experienced the unexampled temperature of -68°, or 100° below
freezing-point, and a still lower degree has been recorded by more
recent navigators.
* * * * *
B. G. G.--Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are the most southern permanent
abodes of man.--Read Dana's _Geology_, and you will learn all about the
formation of the earth. If you find it difficult to understand, ask your
teacher to explain it to you.
* * * * *
ELMER. A.--The Seven Wonders of the World are generally given as
follows: the Colossus of Rhodes, Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Pyramids, the Pharos at Alexandria, the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Olympian Zeus.
* * * * *
G. H. ELDER, THEODORE HENNEMAN, J. B. WHITLOCK, AND OTHERS.--We would
gladly assist you to begin a collection of postage stamps, but it is
against our rules to give up space to the exchanges you propose.
* * * * *
LEWIS D.--Prescott's _History of Ferdinand and Isabella_ and Abbott's
_Romance of Spanish History_ are good books for you to read.
* * * * *
Favors are acknowledged from Alice M. H., Edna E. Harris, Paul Gray,
E. H. Shuster, Joseph A. Unruh, Lorena C. Emrich, R. Poe Smith, Harry
and Richard Bellam, W. K. M., L. C., Edmund H. B., Fred Dierking,
Florence McClure, Margaretta Mott, Wina James, Edgar E. Hyde, Nellie A.
Robson, Grace A. Hood, Etta B. Easton, Arthur McCain, Vina E. B., Fred
B., Bertram and Leroy S., Alice Ward, Melvin Rosenthal, A. V. H.,
Johnnie E., Sarah A. W., Eva L. M., Clayton B., W. Hoey, Jun., Martha
M. I., Pet Wilcox, Gertrude and Albert F., C. Arnold, Frank Durston,
Grace T. Lyman, H. L. Van Norman, Marion P. Wiggin.
* * * * *
Correct answers to puzzles are received from J. F. W., John N. Howe,
T. M. Armstrong, M. P. Randolph, Charles Gaylor, Nellie V. Brainard, Cal
I. Forny, Bessie C. Morris, Walter P. Hiles, Blanche Anderson, Marie
Doyle, Isobel Jacob, S. Birdie Dorman, William and Mary Tiddy, Emma
Radford, W. H. Wolford, The Dawley Boys, "Lone Star," Willie F. Woolard,
A. C. Chapin, George Hayward, John Ogburn.
* * * * *
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
ENIGMA.
In cream, not in milk.
In chintz, not in silk.
In time, not in late.
In pencil, not in slate.
In atlas, not in book.
In sight, not in look.
In love, not in pity.
My whole an American city.
WALTER.
* * * * *
No. 2.
GEOGRAPHICAL HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE.
A city in Great Britain. A country in Europe. A group of peaks in
the Pyrenees. A river in Asia. A range of mountains in Asia. A
river in Ireland. A letter. A river in England. A peak in the
Northwestern United States. A city in England founded by Ine, the
West Saxon King. A river in British America. A river in Asia. A
town and county in California. Centrals read downward spell the
name of a large sea.
MARIE.
* * * * *
No. 3.
ENIGMA.
First in mouse, not in rat.
Second in dog, not in cat.
Third in house, not in lot.
Fourth in can, not in pot.
Fifth in owl, not in hawk.
Sixth in flower, not in stalk.
A famous city am I;
You'll guess me if you try.
HERMIE.
* * * * *
No. 4.
WORD SQUARES.
1. First, a package. Second, certain animals. Third, to jump.
Fourth, to perceive.
2. First, something that once laid in a famous house. Second, a
space. Third, a Shakspearean character. Fourth, sour.
C. I. F.
3. First, the resting-place of an army. Second, an Asiatic sea.
Third, a companion. Fourth, an argument.
CHARLES.
4. First, a picture. Second, something which often causes pain, and
yet no one likes to part with. Third, a river in Transylvania.
Fourth, passageways. Fifth, to efface.
ANNIE.
* * * * *
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN No. 57.
No. 1.
United, untied. Cavern, craven. German, manger. Grandee, derange.
Neuter, tureen. Garnets, strange. Cruel, lucre. Derange, angered.
Master, stream.
No. 2.
1. Partridge. 2. Woodchuck.
No. 3.
E C H O S T A R
C R E W T A L E
H E E L A L O E
O W L S R E E L
C R O W O U S E
R O P E U S E D
O P A L S E E D
W E L L E D D A
No. 4.
Nightingale.
* * * * *
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN No. 58.
No. 1.
T E N T
M E A T
W R A P
E P I C
No. 2.
Possunt quia posse videntur.
No. 3.
Atlantic Ocean.
NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS.
_Drifting Round the World_[1] is a handsomely bound and illustrated
volume containing the adventures of a boy by sea and land. The countries
he traverses are those not often described in books of boyish travel.
Starting in a Cape Ann fishing schooner for Greenland, he is shipwrecked
on the coast of Labrador, contrives to reach Iceland, passes through
marvellous adventures in Russia and Siberia, sails for Alaska, and at
length reaches home by the overland route from San Francisco. The
strange countries through which Robert, the hero of this book, travels
are graphically described, and a great deal of information is conveyed
in a form especially delightful to boy readers.
* * * * *
A large number Of the new holiday books for little folks combine
amusement with instruction of one kind or another. A very interesting
volume, prettily bound and profusely illustrated with portraits and
other engravings, is _The Story of the United States Navy_,[2] by Mr.
Lossing, who has devoted many years to the study of American history,
and whose works on that subject are popular with readers of all ages.
The present volume, the substance of which has appeared in the columns
of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, is written especially for boys, and contains
many stirring accounts of famous naval engagements, of historical war
vessels, and of celebrated men whose heroic deeds add glory to the
history of our country. No better reading than is contained in this book
can be found for boys, as, while it is of absorbing interest, it tells
the story of many noble men whose example can not fail to awaken
patriotism and a desire to attain true manhood in the minds of American
boys in whose hands lies the future history of the United States.
* * * * *