often goes beyond the knowledge of their elders. For this reason
parents, as well as the youthful questioners, will extend a hearty
welcome to _The Young Folks' Cyclopædia of Persons and Places_,[3] which
contains full information of all celebrated localities, and many
biographical notices of important personages of every period. This
volume, together with _The Cyclopædia of Common Things_, by the same
author, published a year ago, forms a library in which inquisitive
little folks will find answers to their most ingenious questions.
* * * * *
Boys and girls who are forming social clubs, which they wish to make
instructive as well as amusing, and yet are not sure of the best course
to follow, should provide themselves with _Stories of the Sea_,[4] which
they will find an excellent model. The book itself is very interesting.
A party of bright young people, with an older head to guide them, meet
together for Saturday afternoon talks on subjects connected with the
history of the seas. Libraries are explored for accounts of famous
navigators and naval heroes, and interesting readings are given from the
works of Navarrete (who wrote of the voyages of Columbus), Sir Walter
Raleigh, Southey, and other authors. These extracts are so fascinating
that young readers are pretty sure to hunt up the books from which they
are taken, in order to learn the whole of the story. Books like this do
more toward cultivating a taste for good reading than volumes of advice.
* * * * *
A delightful little book of American natural history is _Friends Worth
Knowing_,[5] which takes its young readers in search of snails of all
kinds, into the fields and woods to find wild mice and birds, over the
plains after buffalo, and tells them many curious things about the
habits of different animals. Interesting illustrations and an attractive
cover add to the value of this book for a pretty and cheap holiday
present.
* * * * *
Another charming book of travel, if a summer excursion may be so called,
is _Aboard the Mavis_,[6] in which a merry party of boys and girls
cruise around the eastern end of Long Island Sound in a yacht, making
occasional landings, and learning much about the early history of that
portion of the country. This book is profusely illustrated and
beautifully bound, and is an elegant holiday present for any girl or
boy.
* * * * *
For very little children nothing is prettier or more attractive than the
Christmas number of _Our Little Ones_, a monthly magazine edited by
"Oliver Optic," and published by the Russell Publishing Company, of
Boston.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Drifting Round the World_. By Captain C. W. HALL. Illustrated. 8vo,
pp. 372. Boston: Lee & Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham.
[2] _The Story of the United States Navy_. By BENSON J. LOSSING, LL.D.
Illustrated. 12mo, pp. 418. New York: Harper & Brothers.
[3] _The Young Folks' Cyclopædia of Persons and Places_. By JOHN D.
CHAMPLIN, Jun. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 936. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
[4] _Stories of the Sea_. By E. E. HALE. 8vo, pp. 302. Boston: Roberts
Brothers.
[5] _Friends Worth Knowing_. By ERNEST INGERSOLL. Illustrated. Sq. 16mo,
pp. 258. New York: Harper & Brothers.
[6] _Aboard the Mavis_. By RICHARD MARKHAM. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 240.
New York: Dodd, Mead, & Co.
HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.
SINGLE COPIES, 4 cents; ONE SUBSCRIPTION, one year, $1.50; FIVE
SUBSCRIPTIONS, one year, $7.00--_payable in advance, postage free_.
The Volumes of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE commence with the first Number in
November of each year.
Subscriptions may begin with any Number. When no time is specified, it
will be understood that the subscriber desires to commence with the
Number issued after the receipt of the order.
Remittances should be made by POST-OFFICE MONEY-ORDER OR DRAFT, to avoid
risk of loss.
Volume I., containing the first 52 Numbers, handsomely bound in
illuminated cloth, $3.00, postage prepaid: Cover, title-page, and index
for Volume I., 35 cents; postage, 13 cents additional.
HARPER & BROTHERS,
Franklin Square, N. Y.
[Illustration: NEW-YEAR'S MORNING (PUSSY IN A MASK).
Charley (_under bed, to Tommy ditto_). "D-d-don't b-be fr-frightened,
T-T-Tommy, I-I-I-I'm h-h-here."]
NEW-YEAR'S.
New-Year's presents and visits originated with the Romans, and their
gifts were symbolic. They were dried figs, dates, and honey, emblematic
of the sweetness of the auspices under which the year should begin its
course, and a small piece of money called stips, which foreboded riches.
SPOONS.
A NEW GAME FROM THE GERMAN.
BY G. B. BARTLETT.
A very funny new game has come to us from our German cousins, with the
odd title of Spoons, which is played as follows: One person takes his
stand in the centre of the room, with a handkerchief tied over his eyes,
and his hands extended before him, in each of which he holds a large
table-spoon. The other players march around him in single file, clapping
their hands in time to a tune which may be sung or played upon a piano
in any slow measure suitable for marching. When the blinded player calls
out "Spoons," all the others stop at once, and turn their faces toward
him. He then finds his way to any player that he can, and must ascertain
who he is by touching him with the spoons only, which he may use as he
pleases. If he guesses right, the person he has caught is obliged to
take his place in the centre. If he is wrong, he must try until he
succeeds, which it is easy to do with a little practice, especially if
the one who is caught joins in the universal laughter.
* * * * *
An old gentleman in Vienna, who was afraid of leaving his money in a
bank, two years ago concealed his savings, in the shape of twenty 1000
florin notes, in a cupboard in his cellar. Last week it occurred to him
to go and see how his treasure was going on; but on doing this he
discovered, to his horror, that the mice had been making free with it,
and that only a small heap of fluffy dust remained of all his wealth.
The grief caused by this discovery was so great that the poor old man
threw himself out of his bedroom window, and broke his neck. Another
story is told of a lady who hid her property, consisting of a number of
United States greenbacks, in a satchel in her cupboard. She also, after
a time, found that a mouse had devoured part of the notes, and had used
the rest to line its nest; but in this case the meal had evidently
disagreed with the enterprising mouse, for it was lying dead in its
nest, the fact being that the arsenic which had been used to give the
green color to the notes had caused its death. In these days, when money
can easily and safely be deposited in savings-banks, it is very foolish
to hide it in holes and corners where it is liable to be lost.
CHARADE.
BY H.
Mighty and cruel and strong is my first,
Beautiful too to behold;
But oh! it is false. Of traitors the worst,
Luring the hardy and bold.
Tranquil and lovely it smiles in your face,
Then drags you to death in its wild embrace.
Feeble and weak is my second--a cry
Uttered by young, tender things;
Lovely to look at, they too may prove sly,
Darting with sudden, fierce springs;
Though never a smile plays over their face,
They _too_ drag to death in a wild embrace.
Found is my whole where the wild waters roar--
Old Ocean nurtures its race--
Where beat the waves on the rocky shore,
Looking the wind in the face.
Happy, contented, my whole will play
In the gale and the storm the live-long day.
[Illustration: RECEIVING CALLS IN THE NURSERY.]