were soon in comfortable attitudes, listening. The story had a peculiar
charm, because it was about her early girlhood, and as she is only our
aunt by marriage, we knew less of her young days than of the older life
so happily associated with our own.
* * * * *
Now, to begin with (said Aunt Ruth), you know that my father was a
country doctor. We lived in C----, a pretty town not far from Albany,
and when I was nine years old my mother died. There were three children
younger than I--one a mere baby--and we were all left to the care of my
step-sister Winifred. You know her now, girls; and can you fancy what
she was at fourteen, when she assumed the charge of our sad little
household? A sweet, motherly little body, with so many loving, gentle
ways that it seemed strange she was only our step-sister. But we never
thought of her as such. Gradually she stepped into the _mother_ place
left vacant, and by the time I was nearly fourteen, and Winny in her
nineteenth year, it had come to seem natural that she should direct and
govern, pet and humor, us all, as if she was really our mother. But
admirable as was Winny's household management, her care for us all, her
orderly ways, and tenderness for our wants, there was one mistake in her
system: she completely spoiled me, and from being inclined to indolence,
I grew selfish and exacting. It seemed to me in those days perfectly
right that Winny should have the work and I the play; that if a new
material was bought for Winny's dress, and I liked it, it should be made
up for me; that I should go away for change of air now and then, while
Winny staid at home; that I should go out to tea as often as I was
invited, and Winny have to hesitate over every invitation. In fact, it
never seemed to occur to me to question my right in all sorts of things
of which my selfishness deprived her. Winny loved me so devotedly, that
if she saw my faults she tried to cover them up. Mrs. Judson, the
minister's wife--your grandmother, Fanny--used to come over to our house
a great deal, and I remember hearing her scold Winny for spoiling me.
"Never mind, Mrs. Judson," Winny would say, with her sweet little laugh,
"Ruth will be a big girl one of these days, and then she'll take her
share of disciplining."
One fall, soon after my fourteenth birthday, I remember that papa began
to talk about Winny's looking pale and thin. She certainly did not look
well, but she maintained that she felt quite herself. It was a warm
autumn, and Winny said that the cold weather would do her good. Papa,
like the rest of us, I think, always took what Winny said without
analyzing it; and so, when Mrs. Judson came over to see if Winny could
go down to her mother's for a few days' change of air, I recall his
saying, "Oh, it's all right, Mrs. Judson; I've given her some quinine,
and she says she is very well."
It was two or three days after this that, at tea-time, papa came in with
a letter in his hand, which he read aloud. It was from a cousin of ours
in New York, a Mrs. Ludlow, and she wrote to invite either Winny or me
to spend a fortnight with her. There was to be a wedding anniversary
party; several young people were to be in the house, and she said she
knew it would be a pleasant gathering. Now I am ashamed to say that it
never for an instant occurred to me that I should not be the one to go.
Papa read the letter, and then looked at Winny, who was sitting at the
tea table, I recollect, with a small brother on either side of her. I
can see the home picture now: our comfortable tea table; the pretty,
cheerful room; the window at Winny's back, showing our bit of lawn and
cedar-trees; the cozy gleams of fire-light; and Winny's face, just a
trifle paler and thinner than its wont, but the dark eyes as lovingly
watchful of us all as ever.
"Well, lassie," papa said, looking at her fondly, "you'll have to go, I
think. Just what you need. Dear me!"--and he looked again at the
letter--"so it's Mary Ludlow's twentieth wedding-day. They have a fine
house down there. You'll see something of New York society."
Winny's face glowed. "Oh, thank you, papa," she exclaimed; "I shall be
so glad," and then her eyes fell upon me. I know just how I must have
looked--vexed, disappointed, and chagrined; indeed, the tears were
nearly in my eyes.
"It will be a good chance for Ruth to learn housekeeping," papa went on.
"Let us see if you can do as well as the lassie," he added. He had a
fashion of calling Winny that, because of her Scotch ancestry. He
laughed, and went away without noticing either my down-hearted look, or
the change that had come into Winny's face. Singular though it may seem,
it never occurred to me that it was Winny's _right_ to go, and my duty
to help her. I had grown accustomed to receiving all and giving nothing.
Winny said nothing more about the visit just then. We passed our usual
hour in the parlor before the children's bed-time rather quietly. It was
Winny's custom to go up every night to the nursery, see the children
undressed, hear their prayers, and perhaps talk to them a little before
they went to sleep. Sometimes--when I felt like it, that is--I assisted
at this little tender office, but I usually did so when I had some of my
own concerns to discuss with Winny.
To-night I followed her up to the nursery, and sat down in the window,
looking very haughty and self-restrained, while Winny put Joe to bed,
talked Annie into a peaceful frame of mind, and made sleep less
repulsive to Dick, whose theory was that beds were wicked tortures
invented by grown people expressly to aggravate boys. While Winny went
from one tiny bed to another, I sat thinking what a fine thing it would
be to tell the girls at school I was going to the Ludlows'. I should
certainly have a new dress, and perhaps my hat retrimmed. There was to
be a party, so I must take my white muslin and kid slippers. Gradually
my mind was not only absorbed by these delights, but by the feeling that
Winifred would actually be robbing me of my own were she to accept
Cousin Mary's invitation.
The children were at last in bed. Dick, in spite of his theories, was
snoring loudly; Joe was declaring from the depths of the clothes that he
never, _never_ meant to be good again, because the cook had taken away
his marbles; Annie was asleep in her little cot, a picture of pretty
dimpled babyhood; and Winny was looking, if a little tired, at least
glad that in spite of naughtiness, not one had gone to bed without
kissing and hugging her fondly. Even Joe supplemented his terrible
resolve with, "I'll just be good _sometimes_ for you, Winny, but I'll
_always_ be bad _all_ the rest of the time." His voice reached a kind of
a wail. It was a sepulchral voice for a little boy. "I'll be bad--very
bad--and perhaps I'll be _hung_--"
Winny was down on her knees at Joe's side.
"Yes, I will," he persisted, in a louder but more melancholy key. "I
will go off where there are wild beasts, pottermusses, and lizards--I
will."
"Winny," I exclaimed, sharply, "how can you put up with that naughty
boy? Joe," I continued, looking at him severely, "let Winny alone, and
go to sleep this _minute_. I want to talk to her."
"Oh, you do, miss, do you?" Joseph returned, with round eyes fixed on me
over the sheet. "I'll never be good for _you_, Miss Greedy, I can tell
you _that_."
But in a few moments Joe's curly head had drooped, and he was fast
asleep. Winny turned to me the gentle sisterly look I knew so well.
[Illustration: WINNY AND RUTH--DRAWN BY E. A. ABBEY.]
"Ruth dear," she said, sitting down, "I've been thinking it over, and it
_seems_ to me"--Winny's eyebrows drew together, she clasped her hands
closely--"you had better go to Cousin Mary's. I don't think I can: leave
home just now"--Winny was a little flurried--"so we will get you ready
nicely, and you shall go."
I was ready enough then to hug Winny, and tell her she was a darling,
but during the days that followed I forgot the sacrifice she had made.
She easily made papa see that it was I who should go. "Joe is not well,"
she pleaded, "and he never does anything for Ruth; he must be taken care
of." One such excuse after another was made, greatly to my delight, and
the only drawback to my satisfaction was Mrs. Judson's disapproving air.
She came over more than usual, and several times remarked upon the
injustice of this arrangement. "Why, Winny is quite a young lady," she
said once to me, "and really ought to see something." But it was always
Winny who silenced her, and prevented papa's discussing the question
further.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
PINAFORE RHYMES.--(_Concluded_.)
[Illustration]
Fly away, you naughty bee,
With your ugly sting,
Buzzing round my sister's head,
Such a little thing!
If you hurt her, naughty bee,
With your ugly sting,
I will catch you in my apron,
And pull off every wing.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
What are you staring at, idle Fritz?
The baby alone is lying.
What if she is? She won't be a bit
The worse for a little crying.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
Four pretty lilies, just as white as snow,
Just out of reach in the water grow;
Four little children standing on the shore--
Four little children want the lilies four.
"White little lilies," cry the children four,
"Little white lilies, can't you come ashore?"
White little lilies answer not a word,
Though they nestle softly, just as if they heard.
Four little lilies staid right where they were;
Four little children couldn't make them stir.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
Potato-booby, I want you to say
If I shall be smart at school to-day?
You shake your head, and now I know
Down to the foot of the class I'll go.
I'll be kept in school till supper's cold,
And mother will fret and father scold.
I won't get anything fit to eat,
And a lively whipping, too, for a treat.
* * * * *
Now we blow kisses
To all our friends,
For now our Pinafore
Concert ends.
But if we have pleased you,
Only say,
And perhaps we will come
Some other day.
So take down the curtain,
And fold it away;
We will put on our hats,
And out to play.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX]
We wish to say to the boys and girls who are sending requests for
exchange to the Post-office Box that they must never expect to see their
offer printed in YOUNG PEOPLE the week after it is sent. This is
impossible. We know it takes more patience than boys usually possess to
wait three or four weeks, or even longer, as many of you do, before your
offer appears, but there are so many of you that the delay is
unavoidable. We have received a large number of letters recently from
boys and girls wishing to exchange only to a certain date, when they
would leave home for the country. Those letters we have been unable to
print, as they could not possibly appear in time to suit the convenience
of the exchangers.
We hope our correspondents will notice this explanation, and endeavor to
wait with more patience for the appearance of their letters of exchange.
* * * * *
COURTLAND, NEW YORK.
I thought I would write to ask the readers of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE
if they remember the story of "Coachy," in No. 50 of Vol. I. Well,
I am little Bessie Rathbun, but that is not all my name. I am
eleven years old. I want all the little readers to know that
"Coachy" was a real true story. I am at the farm now. Our farm is
called Locust Hill, and is just a little bit over a mile from the
village. I have lots of "Coachy" hens now, but none that I love
quite as well as my pet that Mr. Beck killed.
I have a little kitten that has spots all over it like freckles,
so I call it Toby Tyler. I have lots of other pets that I will
write about some other time.
BESSIE RATHBUN H.
* * * * *
LAKE EUTIS, FLORIDA.
I live on the banks of a beautiful lake in Florida. I go in
bathing, and I have a boat of my own, and go out boating and
fishing, and catch lots of fish. Sometimes we catch a turtle. There
are lots of land turtles here, but the people call them gophers,
and the real gophers they call salamanders. They look like a rat.
They dig holes in the ground with their fore-feet, and they bite
off the roots of the orange-trees. That kills the trees. There are
lots of oranges and pine-apples growing here. We never have any
snow, and we hardly ever see ice. The land is very sandy. It is
almost all covered with woods, and there is a lot of moss.
I went out alligator-hunting with a man. He shot eight times at
one alligator without hitting him. I am nine years old.
CHARLIE K. S.
* * * * *
WESTPORT, CALIFORNIA.
My papa has a saw-mill on the Pacific coast, and you ought to see
the large redwood trees they cut down here to saw up into lumber.
Papa's lumber landing is about half a mile from our house. It is on
a large rock out in the Pacific Ocean, about two hundred and
seventy-five feet from the mainland. The lumber is carried to the
rock on a suspension-bridge, and vessels come and take it to San
Francisco and other ports.
We have a great many different kinds of lovely ferns here. I am
eight years old.
ETTA M.
* * * * *
SCHOOLCRAFT, MICHIGAN.
That little boy who was anxious for a new crop of rattlesnakes
ought to come out here. Last summer we killed six, three of which
were in our orchard. I came very near stepping on one, and another
struck my shoe.
At school one day one of the girls heard a buzzing in the
ventilator, and put her hand down to find what it was, and there
lay a big rattlesnake. It crawled away, but at noon the teacher
put a piece of bread and butter in the ventilator, and it came up
after it, and the boys killed it.
MARY S.
* * * * *
GREENWOOD, COLORADO.
I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like it very much. I have a kind of a
pet. It is only a cow, but I can ride on her. I live on a farm, but
I wish I could live in the city. There is no fun in the country but
running foot-races, and I have never seen a circus since I can
remember.
ROBERT C. W.
If our little friend could have his wish fulfilled, and exchange his
beautiful country home for a city residence, we are sure that the
experience of a few weeks would entirely cure him of his delusion.
Thousands of young men and boys flock from the country into our great
cities every year, in the hope of making money, and having a good time
at the theatres, circuses, and other places of amusement. And what do
they find? They may make higher wages, but their living costs them more;
and instead of a healthful country home, they are compelled to live in
some close, stuffy boarding-house, to work from early morning until late
at night, perhaps, in shop or store, until the fresh country color is
bleached out of their cheeks, and their faces wear a tired, jaded look.
The very amusements of the city, unless a boy is discreet and steady,
are a source of great danger. It is far better to play ball, or run
foot-races in the country, than to spend the evening in a billiard
saloon, where boys are too apt to learn to drink and gamble, and to use
low and profane language; and our young friend need not consider his
life wasted if he should never see a circus. There are hundreds of boys
in New York who would gladly give up the excitements and amusements of
city life if they could exchange the counter and the boarding-house for
the greater freedom and healthier life of the country. There is a
society in this city which every year sends large numbers of boys and
girls to country homes, and we believe that none of them wants to come
back. Let Master Robert take this lesson to heart, and learn to be happy
in the healthful work and sports to be found in his native fields.
There is no reason why country life should be dull. In every village a
club of young people can be found to play base-ball, cricket, croquet,
lawn tennis, or practice archery--a most healthful and delightful kind
of sport. In almost every German village there is a bowling-alley,
simply constructed, where young people of both sexes meet on evenings or
on holidays, and enjoy themselves a great deal more than city young
folks do in billiard saloons and bowling-alleys hot with gas-lights, and
reeking with the fumes of intoxicating drinks. If Master Robert will
join with the boys and girls of his acquaintance in getting up a club or
society for such amusements as these, he will soon find that country
life is very far from being dull.
* * * * *
I do not wish to exchange any more woods. I will now exchange rare
foreign stamps, for any foreign coins except those of China and
Japan.
FRED L. PARCHER,
Maryville, Nodaway Co., Mo.
* * * * *
Correspondents will please take notice that my stock of shells is
exhausted. I will exchange stamps, minerals, or postmarks, for
stamps, minerals, sea-shells, Indian relics, or other curiosities.
Correspondents will please label specimens.
A. EDDIE CONOVER, JUN.,
50 West One-hundred-and-twenty-sixth St.,
New York City.
* * * * *
I will print the name of any reader of YOUNG PEOPLE on twenty-five
pretty cards, for any nice specimens, Indian or Mound Builders'
relics, ocean curiosities, coins, etc. My stock of rare stamps is
almost exhausted, but I can still exchange common stamps.
I have received many nice things in answer to my other letter, and
although my collection is not so large as that of some of the boys
and girls who write to YOUNG PEOPLE, still it is a source of great
amusement and pleasure to me. My brother is in Europe this summer,
and when he returns he will bring me many nice things for my
collection.
SAMUEL CARPENTER, JUN., Oswego, Kan.
* * * * *
I have no more oil-sand to exchange, but will send to those who
wrote to me. I will now exchange specimens of white spar and
quartz, and a rock and soil from West Virginia, for four foreign or
old United States coins. I particularly desire some copper cents
and half-cents coined previous to 1830.
WILLIE B. PRICKITT, Volcano, Wood Co., W. Va.
* * * * *
My stock of sharks' teeth is exhausted. I will now exchange earth
or stone from New Jersey, iron ore, stones from Nevada and
Leadville, sandstone, and some other minerals, for stamps from
Lubeck, South Australia, or Baden.
LOUIS W. MULLIKIN,
Room 37, Hackettstown Institute,
Hackettstown, N. J.
* * * * *
I wish to inform correspondents that my stock of South American
stamps is exhausted. I will now exchange postmarks, and pieces of
an idol found in an Inca Indian grave, for insects. Butterflies,
moths, and a burying-beetle especially desired.
RICHARD B. KIPP, 13 Grant St., Newark, N. J.
* * * * *
PARSONS, KANSAS.
I wish to notify correspondents that my stock of curiosities for
exchange is exhausted. If any have sent me specimens, and have
received no answer, I wish they would inform me.
JENNIE HARRINGTON.
* * * * *
I have no more minerals to exchange for silk scraps. I have a
collection of from sixty to eighty different kinds of rare bugs,
which I will exchange for something of equal interest.
Correspondents will please write what they will give.
FLAVEL S. MINKS, Kirkwood, St. Louis Co., Mo.
* * * * *
Since my request was printed in YOUNG PEOPLE I have added nearly
two hundred new varieties to my collection. I will now offer the
following exchanges: Twenty-two postage stamps and ten postmarks,
for one genuine and perfect Indian arrow-head; thirty postmarks and
two postage stamps, for a nice specimen of any kind of ore; three
foreign stamps, for one foreign copper coin; two foreign stamps and
ten postmarks, for one stamp from South or Central America, Mexico,
China, or any African country.
C. L. HOLLINGSHEAD, 72 Grant Place, Chicago, Ill.
* * * * *
I have only five arrow-heads left, and I will give them for the
seven stamps which form the set of Alsace and Lorraine; or for the
same set I will give two Italian and three French stamps, and one
from each of the following countries: Canada, Spain, Finland,
Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Queensland, and
the Netherlands.
CARTER COLQUITT,
Wilcox Place, Sand Hills (near Augusta), Ga.
* * * * *
E. C. P., Winona, Minn., desires to inform correspondents that he has
arranged an exchange for his stamp collection with a boy in St. Louis,
and accordingly withdraws his name from our exchange list.
* * * * *
Exchangers will please take notice that the address of Carl Wagner is
changed from Atlanta, Ga., to 1136 Twelfth St. N. W., Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
Wroton M. Kenny, Pineville, Mo., and G. E. Standish, Columbus, Ohio,
withdraw their names from our exchange list.
* * * * *
The following exchanges are offered by correspondents:
Horned frogs, tarantulas, centipeds, or snakes, dried, for any kind
of curiosities. Pressed flowers or leaves, for the same.
HERBERT J. ANGUS,
Corsicano, Navarro Co., Texas.
* * * * *
Two very rare English revenue stamps, used in 1765, for stamps from
the Agricultural, Justice, State, Executive, or Interior Department
of the United States.
CARRIE B. ALTON,
P. O. Box 139, Haddonfield, N. J.
* * * * *
Curious stones, for ocean shells or curiosities.
GRACIE C. ALDRICH,
West Milton, Miami Co., Ohio.
* * * * *
Forty-eight foreign stamps, for two nickel eagle cents of 1856.
ROBERT ANDREWS,
298 Spring St., New York City.
* * * * *
A large variety of rare postage stamps, for rare seeds and bulbs.
FRED A. C. ARCHER,
Rutherford, N. J.
* * * * *
Fifty foreign stamps, and some Louisiana moss, for some object of
equal interest.
MARY ANDERSON,
771 Magazine St., New Orleans, La.
* * * * *
Stamps from Denmark, Austria, and other foreign countries, for
South and Central American, African, Asiatic, and other rare
stamps.
FRED W. ADAMS, Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio.
* * * * *
Curiosities. Correspondents will please send only within one week
from date of this number of YOUNG PEOPLE.
OTTO BARNETT,
Glencoe, Cook Co., Ill.
* * * * *
A very superior compound microscope (Orange Judd's teacher's
microscope), with camera attached, for one hundred good specimens
of Florida or California ferns, or sea-weeds from the Pacific
coast. Sea-weeds must be well mounted.
P. O. Box 241, Shelbyville, Ky.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps, for ores, Indian relics, coins, minerals,
shells, and curiosities.
GEORGE M. BRENNAN,
148 East Thirtieth St., New York City.
* * * * *
A pair of roller skates, for Paraguay, Cashmere, or United States
department stamps, or for old United States or English coins.
H. BUFFUM,
4 Lloyd St., Providence, R. I.
* * * * *
An English florin, for some rare shells of different colors, or
pretty curiosities.
MILLIE BURNET,
16 Chestnut St., Newark, N. J.
* * * * *
Postage stamps, for sea-shells.
EDWARD G. BOGERT,
Flushing, Queens Co., N. Y.
* * * * *
Twenty-five different foreign stamps, and several internal revenue
stamps, for stamps from Turkey, China, Japan, Arabia, Sandwich or
Ionian Islands, Natal, or South America.
HELEN A. BROWNELL,
Elmhurst, Du Page Co., Ill.
* * * * *
Rare United States and foreign stamps from Natal, Straits
Settlements, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Buenos Ayres, Ecuador,
United States of Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala,
Sandwich Islands, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward
Island, for other rare foreign stamps, or for very rare United
States postage or department stamps.
F. W. BROWN, care of T. Clark,
519 East One-hundred-and-nineteenth St.,
New York City.
* * * * *
A stamp from Greece, for one from Paraguay.
CHARLES BEARDSLEY, JUN.,
214 Fourth St S. E., Washington, D. C.
* * * * *
A large assortment of good minerals, petrifactions, ocean
curiosities, and relics, for a printing-press in good order, with
ink, type, and general outfit. Correspondents will please write for
list of specimens before sending press.
HARRY R. BARTLETT and BROTHER,
P. O. Box 8, Greensburg, Green Co., Ky.
* * * * *
Five-cent Cuban stamps, issue of 1881, and other foreign postage
stamps, for foreign stamps.
B. R. T. COLLINS, P. O. Box 62, Fryeburg, Me.
* * * * *
Pressed flowers, leaves, ferns, and mosses of Vermont, for
sea-shells or sea-weed.
M. E. CUTTS, BARRE, Washington Co., Vt.
* * * * *
Ten foreign, United States, or department stamps, for any mineral
or other curiosity.
WILLIAM E. CHASE, Franklin, Essex Co., N. J.
* * * * *
Foreign postage stamps, for a foreign coin, an Indian relic, or
shells.
CLARA CAMPMAN,
146 East Seventy-first St., New York City.
* * * * *
Stones and Spanish iron ore, for ores, minerals, relics, and
curiosities.
WILLIAM T. CRANE,
124 Washington St., Hoboken, N. J.
* * * * *
Gypsum, red chalk, or Texas soil, for Indian relics, Florida
shells, specimens from the Mammoth Cave, or small ocean
curiosities.
RAYMOND L. CAROTHERS,
Giddings, Lee Co., Texas.
* * * * *
White coral, for foreign stamps and foreign postal cards. No French
or German desired.
VERNON CHESLEIGH,
14 Carmine St., New York City.
* * * * *