maids, "Take care of that afghan; wrap it in an old linen sheet; it was
knitted by a very dear friend, and I do not want it moth-eaten; I had
rather lose a camel's-hair shawl." Which evidence of regard seemed very
extravagant to the girl who was obeying instructions, but which Joe
thought he appreciated.
"Haven't I tole ye about Phil, Miss Rachel?"
"I don't know. I don't think you have; but come down to my room, Joe,
and then I can listen to your story."
Giving a few more directions, Miss Rachel led the way to a lovely sunny
room, with flower baskets in the windows, soft blue draperies, and
delicate appointments. Seating herself at a desk, and pointing Joe to a
chair, upon which the old man carefully spread a silk handkerchief lest
his clothes should soil the blue cushions, she counted out the money due
him, and placed it in an envelope, saying, as she did so, "Now tell me
about that child."
"It's a white chile, Miss Rachel."
"Well, I like white children, Joe, though I must confess the little
colored ones are much more interesting," said Miss Rachel, smiling.
"I thought you liked my people, Miss Rachel; but this poor Phil's a
gentleman's son, very much come down far's money goes. He is too young
to know much about it, but the girl who takes care of him was brought up
in his family, and she says they was well off once."
"But what about the boy?" asked Miss Schuyler, a little impatiently.
"He's a great sufferer, but he's a wonderful chile. He loves to have me
play for him, and then he tells me the thoughts that come to him from
the music. I's no great player, Miss Rachel," said Joe, modestly, "but
you'd think I was, to hear him talk. He sees fairies, and he dreams
beautiful things, and his big brown eyes look as if he could a'most see
'way up into heaven. Oh, he's a strange chile; but he'll die if he stays
up in that garret room and nebber sees the green fields he's so hungry
for."
Miss Rachel's eyes were moist, but she took a card and pencil from her
desk. "Where does he live--in what street and what number?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Rachel-- You jess go up the Avenue, and turn down the
fourth or fifth street, and up a block or two, and it's the fust house
with a high stoop and green shutters. I allers go in the alleyway, so I
forgit numbers."
Miss Schuyler bit her lip to keep from smiling, thought a moment,
scribbled a memorandum, rang the bell, and gave some more directions;
left the room, and came back with her bonnet on. "Can you show me the
way to Phil's house, Joe?"
"Course I can, Miss Rachel," replied the old man, delighted that his
words had aroused his listener's sympathies.
"It's not very far; he's all alone, 'cause Lisa has to be away all day.
And I shouldn't wonder"--here he dropped his voice to a whisper--"if
sometimes he was hungry; but he'd nebber say so."
This latter remark made Miss Schuyler bid Joe wait for her in the hall,
while she went to a closet, found a basket, in which she placed a snowy
napkin, some biscuit, some cold chicken, and a few delicious little
cakes. In her pocket she put a little flask of some strong cordial she
had found of service on her many errands of charity.
How proud Joe was to be her escort! but how meekly he walked behind the
lady whose footsteps he thought were those of a real gentlewoman, the
only one to whom he would accord this compliment, although he passed
many elegant dames in gay attire.
The little gray figure, with its neat, quiet simplicity, was his
embodiment of elegance, for somehow Joe had detected the delicate
perfume of a sweet nature and a loving heart--a heart full of Christian
charity and unselfishness.
They walked for some distance, and the day was so warm that Miss
Schuyler moderated her usual rapid pace to suit the old man's feebler
steps. Off the Avenue a long way, up another, down a side street, until,
amidst a crowded, disagreeable neighborhood, Joe stopped.
"You had better lead me still, Joe. The boy might be frightened or
annoyed at seeing a stranger: I dare say he's nervous. Go up, and I will
wait outside the door while you ask him if I may come and see him. Wait,
there's a flower stall a little way from here; I will get a bunch. Take
my basket, and I will be back in a few moments. I am glad I thought of
the flowers; children always like them."
She hastened off, while Joe leaned on his cane and muttered blessings
upon her; but some rude boys beginning to chaff him, he turned on them
with his usual crustiness, and quite forgot his beatitudes.
Miss Schuyler came back in a few minutes with a lovely bunch of bright
blossoms embosomed in geranium leaves.
"Now, then, Joe, this shall be my card; take it in, and tell Phil I am
coming."
"God bress you, Miss Rachel!" was all Joe could reply.
Miss Rachel had her own way of doing things. It was nothing new for her
to carry flowers and dainties to the sick poor. She had been much with
sick people, and she knew that those who have no luxuries and few
necessaries care for the things which do not really sustain life quite
as much as do those who can command both.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
MY MONKEY.
BY JIMMY BROWN.
[Illustration]
There never was such luck. I've always thought that I'd rather have a
monkey than be a million heir. There is nothing that could be half so
splendid as a real live monkey, but of course I knew that I never could
have one until I should grow up and go to sea and bring home monkeys and
parrots and shawls to mother just as sailors always do. But I've
actually got a monkey and if you don't believe it just look at these
pictures of him that Mr. Travers made for me and told me to send to the
YOUNG PEOPLE so that Mr. Harper would know that the monkey was genuine
and unadulterated.
[Illustration]
It was Mr. Travers that got the monkey for me. One day there came a
woman with an organ and a monkey into our yard.
She was an Italian, but she could speak a sort of English and she said
that the "murderin' spalpeen of a monkey was just wearing the life of
her out." So says Mr. Travers "What will you take for him?" and says
she, "It's five dollars I'd be after selling him for, and may good luck
go wid ye!"
What did Mr. Travers do but give her the money and hand the monkey to
me, saying, "Here, Jimmy! take him and be happy." Wasn't I just happy
though?
[Illustration]
Jocko--that's the monkey's name--is the loveliest monkey that ever
lived. Toby Tyler may talk about his "Mr. Stubbs," and tell how he
understands everything said to him, and begs for crullers, and all that;
but I tell you "Mr. Stubbs" was just an ordinary illiterit monkey
alongside of my Jocko. I hadn't had him an hour when he got out of my
arms and was on the supper table before I could get him. The table was
all set and Bridget was just going to ring the bell, but the monkey
didn't wait for her.
[Illustration]
To see him eating the chicken salad was just wonderful. He finished the
whole dish in about two minutes, and was washing it down with the oil
out of the salad bottle when I caught him. Mother was awfully good about
it and only said, "Poor little beast he must be half starved Susan how
much he reminds me of your brother." A good mother is as good a thing as
a boy deserves, no matter how good he is.
[Illustration]
The salad someway did not seem to agree with Jocko for he was dreadfully
sick that night. You should have seen how limp he was, just like a girl
that has fainted away and her young man is trying to lift her up. Mother
doctored him. She gave him castor oil as if he was her own son, and
wrapped him up in a blanket and put a mustard plaster on his stomach and
soaked the end of his tail in warm water. He was all right the next day
and was real grateful. I know he was grateful because he showed it by
trying to do good to others, at any rate to the cat. Our cat wouldn't
speak to him at first, but he coaxed her with milk, just as he had seen
me do and finally caught her. It must have been dreadfully aggravoking
to the cat, for instead of letting her have the milk he insisted that
she was sick and must have medicine. So he took Bridget's bottle of
hair-oil and a big spoon and gave the cat such a dose. When I caught him
and made him let the cat go there were about six table-spoonfuls of oil
missing. Mr. Travers said it was a good thing for it would improve the
cat's voice and make her yowl smoother, and that he had felt for a long
time that she needed to be oiled. Mother said that the monkey was cruel
and it was a shame but I know that he meant to be kind. He knew the oil
mother gave him had done him good, and he wanted to do the cat good. I
know just how he felt, for I've been blamed many a time for trying to do
good, and I can tell you it always hurt my feelings.
[Illustration]
The monkey was in the kitchen while Bridget was getting dinner yesterday
and he watched her broil the steak as if he was meaning to learn to cook
and help her in her work, he's that kind and thoughtful. The cat was
outdoors, but two of her kittens were in the kitchen, and they were not
old enough to be afraid of the monkey. When dinner was served Bridget
went up stairs and by-and-by mother says "What's that dreadful smell
sure's you're alive Susan the baby has fallen in to the fire." Everybody
jumped up and ran up stairs, all but me, for I knew Jocko was in the
kitchen and I was afraid it was he that was burning. When I got into the
kitchen there was that lovely monkey broiling one of the kittens on the
gridiron just as he had seen Bridget broil the steak. The kitten's fur
was singeing and she was mewing, and the other kitten was sitting up on
the floor licking her chops and enjoying it and Jocko was on his
hind-legs as solemn and busy as an owl. I snatched the gridiron away
from him and took the kitten off before she was burned any except her
fur, and when mother and Susan came down stairs they couldn't understand
what it was that had been burning and guessed the cook must have put
egg-shell on the fire.
This is all the monkey has done since I got him day before yesterday.
Father has been away for a week but is coming back in a few days, and
won't he be delighted when he finds a monkey in the house?
[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX]
ATHENS, GEORGIA.
I wish to say to the correspondents who wrote to me for exchange of
postmarks that I can not answer all their letters right away, as I
have received so many, but I will answer them as soon as I can.
LOUIS J. BRUMBY.
In justice to Master Louis, we state that the above letter was received
at our office on December 14, 1880, but owing to the crowded state of
our Post-office Box, has been pushed aside until now.
A large number of our correspondents are in the same trouble as this
Georgia boy. The demands upon them are so large that they can not
possibly obtain a sufficient supply of postmarks, stamps, or other
things to meet them all promptly, and they are in distress, fearing that
they will be thought dishonorable, when they are in reality overwhelmed
by the great number of demands upon their boyish resources.
The explanation of this trouble is very simple. A boy possessing a small
number of stamps and postmarks, or perhaps a shelf of pretty minerals,
being anxious to obtain more, sends a request for exchange to YOUNG
PEOPLE. Now the subscribers to YOUNG PEOPLE number many thousands, and
the number of readers can not be estimated. A great many of these also
have small collections which they are anxious to enlarge. The
consequence is that the boy who has offered exchange receives to his
astonishment a dozen or more letters daily, many of them containing
specimens for which an immediate return is expected. Now he has started
out with, say, three hundred postmarks--probably not so many--as his
stock in trade, and has offered a given number from the State where he
lives for the same number from any other State. The demands of the first
week exhaust his small store, and even with the help of his friends he
can not collect fast enough to satisfy his correspondents. He can not
use those he has received, even were he willing to part with them, for
they are not from the State from which he has promised specimens, so he
is compelled to work slowly, and appear for the time to be neglectful
and remiss in keeping his promises. Could he answer every letter, and
explain how matters stood, of course all would be right. But he is a
school-boy, and has lessons to learn, or is otherwise employed; and even
if he has leisure, no one needs to be told that to answer a large number
of letters every day is an impossible performance for a boy from ten to
fifteen years old, the average limits of the age of those who offer
exchange in our columns.
In view of the impossibility of promptly answering all communications,
the Post-office Box is often requested to publish an explanation.
Whenever it is possible, we print these boyish appeals for indulgence,
but they are very often crowded out.
We are sorry to see so little reason and forbearance on the part of some
boys who fail to receive answers from exchanges at the time they expect.
We have received numerous complaints, to all of which we pay no
attention, and which we often have positive proof are wholly unjust. We
assure those boys from whom we have received such communications that
they do not rise in our estimation by their hasty accusations of their
correspondents, of whose circumstances or character they know nothing,
beyond the mere fact that their letters to them have not been
immediately answered. A boy who is himself honorable will seek excuses
for his delinquent correspondent, and will never accuse him of
unfairness, even in his own mind, unless he has positive proof that the
charge is well founded. In future, all requests for exchange,
accompanied by complaints of the delinquency of other parties, will not
be noticed in our columns.
Considering the length of our exchange list, these misunderstandings
have been so few that they may be classed as exceptions to the general
rule. The majority of our correspondents speak in the highest terms of
the fairness with which exchanges have been conducted, of the valuable
additions they have made to their collections, and of the pleasant
friendships they have formed.
In spite of all our good advice in the matter of full and distinctly
written addresses, carelessness in this respect is still the source of
some annoyance. We frequently receive letters from boys and girls who
are troubled because they have received some specimen which they can not
even acknowledge, as the sender omitted either name or address,
sometimes both. We have no space to explain all these matters, and in
such cases leave it for the careless correspondent to learn by
experience the troublous results of inattention.
* * * * *
YOUNG MEN'S SOCIETY FOR HOME STUDY.--A very useful society has been
formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the purpose of aiding boys of
fifteen years and upward in systematic study. It is organized under the
lead of such gentlemen as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry W. Longfellow,
William D. Howells, Charles Dudley Warner, and others, and is designed
to guide and encourage the youth of America by opening to them, by means
of correspondence, systematic courses of study in various subjects.
Courses of reading and plans of work are arranged, from which
subscribers to the society may select one or more, according to their
taste and leisure, and aid is given them from time to time through
directions and advice. The courses embrace history, natural science,
mathematics, and literatures of different nations, divided into
sections. No subscribers are admitted under fifteen years of age. Each
member pays a fee of two dollars on entering. Full particulars may be
obtained by addressing the secretary, Frederic Gardiner, Jun.,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, to whom all communications, marked Y. M. S. on
a corner of the envelope, should be sent by all who desire further
information on the subject, with postage stamp inclosed for the reply.
* * * * *
CHESTNUT HILL, MASSACHUSETTS.
We report willow "pussies" found on Sunday, January 16. As this may
seem incredible, we inclose a sprig of the "pussies."
J. and M.
A fresh twig covered with soft, pearly aments accompanied this letter.
* * * * *
FERGUS FALLS, MINNESOTA.
For two winters my gift from a lady who never forgets me is YOUNG
PEOPLE. It is the greatest pleasure I have, for I am a helpless
invalid. I can not stand or take a single step, and never shall
until I walk in the golden streets. I have only the partial use of
my left hand. I can read, and with great effort write a little. I
know so well how to pity the sick and lame children who sometimes
write to the Post-office Box! I want to thank YOUNG PEOPLE for
brightening so many of my weary hours. I mean to have it always.
EDDIE S.
* * * * *
CINCINNATI, OHIO.
I read in YOUNG PEOPLE about "An Empty Stocking" and the Toy
Mission, and I want to tell the children what we did in our
Kindergarten, Christmas. Our dear teacher told us each to bring a
toy or some pretty thing, and together with some other kind
Kindergarten teachers she made a beautiful tree for the poor
children of the free Kindergartens of Cincinnati.
I love YOUNG PEOPLE. I am seven years old now, and I am going to
take it until I am a young lady.
My brother has eight rabbits, and he calls them "The Bucktoot
Family."
JULIA H. D.
* * * * *
MIDDLE BAR, CALIFORNIA.
My grandma has made me a present of YOUNG PEOPLE.
My mother says there were some pictures of the place where we live
in HARPER'S MAGAZINE once, and of men washing gold out of the
river. Chinamen get gold out of it now.
I have never been to school, but I am going when I am twelve. I am
eight now, and my mother teaches me. My brothers are learning
German, and sometimes they talk it to me.
KATE S.
* * * * *
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
Here are some pretty experiments for the Chemists' Club.
_Tin Tree_.--Pour about a pint of distilled or rain water into a
common decanter; put in three drams of chloride of tin, and about
ten drops of nitric acid. When the chloride of tin is dissolved,
suspend a piece of zinc wire in the mixture, and set the whole
where it will not be disturbed. In a few hours the wire will be
covered with beautiful crystals of tin precipitated from the
solution. In this experiment it is wonderful to see the laminæ, or
thin plates, shoot out, as it were, from nothing.
_Silver Tree_.--Put into a decanter four drams of nitrate of
silver, and fill up the decanter with distilled or rain water;
then drop in about an ounce of mercury, suspend a piece of zinc
wire, and place the mixture where it will not be moved. In a short
time the silver will be precipitated in beautiful and sparkling
arborescent forms.
JOHN E. H.
These metal trees make very beautiful ornaments, and it is very
interesting to watch the formations. A recipe for a lead tree was given
in the Post-office Box of YOUNG PEOPLE No. 48.
* * * * *
OCEAN GROVE, NEW JERSEY.
My school-teacher has started a "Boys' and Girls' Lyceum" in our
school. We prepare original pieces, and answer questions, and we
speak, read, sing, and play on the piano.
There is a little snow on the ground, and it is very slippery. I
fell off my sled to-day, and cut my cheek.
I have lots of dolls, and my pet doll is named Louise, after my
mamma. I am nine years old.
MAUDE M.
* * * * *
NEW YORK CITY.
I am a little boy seven years old. I am in the First Reader. What I
like to do best is to fish. I often catch twenty in one day. I can
swim under water and dive. I do all these things at my
grandmother's in the country.
ARTHUR D. B.
My brother Arthur and I have a boat, and we row up the river which
runs in front of our house in the country. Then one of us steers
the boat, while the other sits in the bow with an oar raised, and
the wind and the tide carry us home. I am nine years old.
FREDDIE C. B.
* * * * *
SULLIVAN, INDIANA.
We think HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE is the best paper published. Mamma
gave it to my sister for a birthday present. I am five years old. I
can read a little, and can print a letter. I printed this.
We have a calf named Rosie that is only a year and two months old,
and weighs eight hundred and eighty-five pounds. I have a dear
baby brother.
HELEN M.
* * * * *
NEW YORK CITY.
I enjoy reading HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE very much, although I am
fifteen years old. I am employed in a large hardware house in this
city. I think we boys ought to appreciate the privilege given us in
this paper of exchanging our postage stamps and postmarks. And it
is a satisfaction to feel that the same paper we receive and read
is also received and read by so many other boys and girls in so
many different parts of our own and other countries.
J. C. L.
* * * * *
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
I want to tell you how near I came to being run over by an engine.
It was one awful cold Saturday morning, and the sidewalk on the
avenue where we slide was all covered with ice. I started at the
top of the hill, and went down very swiftly. At the foot of the
hill there is a railroad, and on one side of it there was a big
snow-bank. When I got to that snow-bank, I could not stop my sled,
and I went clear over it right in front of an engine that was
standing on the track. I got up and took myself and the sled out of
the way in a hurry, and just then the engine started.
HORACE G. B.
* * * * *
COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI.
I am nine years old, and I go to school. We have a class of boys,
and we read in YOUNG PEOPLE instead of a reader. We read all the
stories, and like them very much. We expect to have a railroad here
in a few years, and street cars too.
Charles W. W.
* * * * *
LINCOLN, TENNESSEE, _January_ 18, 1881.
I have received over thirty applications for Egyptian stamps, and
my supply is exhausted. Applicants will please wait until I can get
more stamps from my sister, who is in Egypt.
AMBROSE STRANG.
* * * * *
NEWPORT, DELAWARE.
I am very much pleased with YOUNG PEOPLE. My uncle sends it to me,
and also to a little girl in Brooklyn, and one in Illinois. I am
eight years old. My papa reads the stories to us, and also the
letters in the Post-office Box. I think all the little people would
like to hear again from Judith Wolff, of Barranquilla, in the
United States of Colombia.
NELLIE B. F.
* * * * *
I would like to exchange foreign postage stamps and some very old
United States stamps, for coins, minerals, or insects. I am twelve
years old.
L. A. V. Z.,
52 University Place, New York City.
* * * * *
Last Christmas my mamma presented me with a year's subscription to
YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like it so much I think it would be a good plan
for every little boy's mamma to do the same.
I have a few postage stamps from New Zealand, Turkey, Hong-Kong,
and other localities, which I would like to exchange for others. I
am ten years old.
PERCY L. MCDERMOTT,
523 Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, L. I.
* * * * *
I wish to begin a collection of birds' eggs, and will give forty
stamps for four eggs, or ten stamps for one egg. I am eleven years
old.
FRANK L. BREWER,
108 West Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.
* * * * *
I am trying to get a collection of shells and other curiosities,
but as yet I have very few things.
I would like to exchange some shells, a wild boar's tooth, and a
few other curiosities, for curiosities and birds' eggs.
ALICE E. THORP,
P. O. Box 618, Newport, R. I.
* * * * *
The following exchanges are also offered by correspondents:
Postmarks.
SAM G. SMITH,
Heckatoo, Lincoln County, Ark.
* * * * *
Stamps from Sweden and Switzerland, for stamps from Germany.
ALICE V. SMITH,
Holly Tree Coffee Rooms, Newport, R. I.
* * * * *
A Swedish coin of 1871, for ten foreign stamps, or for the same
number of the United States Treasury or Naval Departments.
JAY H. MALTBY,
Detroit, Becker County, Minn.
* * * * *
Postmarks, United States and foreign stamps, silver and copper
coins, Indian relics, and other curiosities.
E. L. BRICE, Sunbury, Penn.
* * * * *
Postmarks, for German, French, Italian, or Spanish stamps.
B. C. G.,
P. O. Box 1138, Mankato, Minn.
* * * * *
Stamps, postmarks, birds' eggs, or minerals, for sea-shells,
Florida moss, or any curiosity from the South or far West.
JEAN C. PORTER,
Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.
* * * * *
Minerals.
JOHNNIE SEELEY,
Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, N. Y.
* * * * *
Indian arrow-heads, for coins.
CHARLES F. JENKINS,
West Chester, Chester County, Penn.
* * * * *
Foreign stamps, for Indian arrow-heads or birds' eggs.
HOWARD G. CHASE,
19 Woodland Terrace, West Philadelphia, Penn.
* * * * *
One hundred stamps from Brazil, Spain, Australia, and other foreign
countries, for fifteen coins.
HOWARD J. VAN DOREN,
89 State Street, Brooklyn, L. I.
* * * * *
Foreign, United States, and internal revenue stamps, postmarks, and
United States and foreign coins, for birds' eggs, minerals, or
coins.
WILLARD BARNES,
Wellsville, Allegany County, N. Y.
* * * * *
Twenty-five postmarks, for four birds' eggs.