Who can guess the answer to Irma's puzzle? I will give you three weeks
to think it over, and will tell you the answer in No. 114. I am sorry
that it is not possible from the description to identify the particular
kind of fungus which Irma has found. There are more than two hundred
fungi which infest the living oak, and myriads more which grow on dead
leaves. Even were the fairy parasol sent, it would probably be withered
by the time it reached this Post-office Box.
I am very much obliged to dear Irma for writing plainly on purpose to
save my eyes. The eyes of a busy Postmistress like myself have to work
pretty steadily, and they always feel thankful to such thoughtful little
girls. But you ought to see how indignantly they snap when some of the
pencilled letters arrive, almost faded out before the Postmistress gets
hold of them.
* * * * *
The members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this number, under the
title of "The Fairy Fungi," by Mrs. S. B. Herrick, a most interesting
account of the good and mischief worked by these strange little inmates
of the vegetable world. The article on "Children of the Pantomime," by
Mrs. Helen S. Conant, gives a striking and pathetic picture of the lives
led by the children who are employed by London managers in getting up
these entertainments. "A Novel Present" will help some of the girl
readers who are undecided what to make for some little friend for
Christmas.
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