to school to my auntie. I have no sister nor brother here, but I
have two little sisters in heaven. My mamma gave me an express
wagon. I am going to take YOUNG PEOPLE until I am a big man.
ALLIE HARWOOD L.
* * * * *
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.
I go to the public school, and take advantage of all that my
teacher tells us. We have a very good teacher; her name is Miss H.
The boys and girls saved their pennies and bought pictures, etc.,
to decorate our room. Do you not think that it is nice to see that
your room is the nicest room in the school? When we are through our
lessons we can go to a table, which is called the reading-table.
Here you can find story-books of all kinds, and among these is
HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE. On the same table you can also find cubes,
scales, measures, weights, etc. We are all the time saying, If we
only could see something about our school! and I hope that you will
print this in the Post-office Box. We will visit HARPER'S YOUNG
PEOPLE one of these days.
Is this written plain enough?
C. F. K.
Written so plainly that tired eyes were rested when they read it. It is
a splendid idea to have that reading-table in your class-room.
* * * * *
ATHENS, GEORGIA.
I am nine years of age. I have a pet cat, and her name is Beauty,
and I have a dog whose name is Rex. I have a sister older than
myself; she is ten years of age. I go to school to Miss Fannie A. I
like her very well, although she sometimes scolds. I have an uncle
who sends us the YOUNG PEOPLE. I liked "All-Hallow-eve" very much.
My sister Hallie has a pet dog, whose name is Flirt. She is so
timid that if you go in the yard with a stick, and make believe
that you are going to whip her, she will get down on her stomach,
and keep right still until you go away. I think this is long
enough, so good-by.
Your friend,
ANNIE H.
* * * * *
WOODSIDE, NEAR LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA.
I wish again, my dear young friends, to thank you for the books,
papers, and the box of things for the Christmas tree that have come
since I wrote to you last. I am so glad you keep sending them, for
I find so many who need them, and to whom they will do so much
good. We have some money, and will begin having the lumber for the
school-house hauled to the mill to be sawed very soon now--as soon
as the men sow their wheat and get in their corn. The parcels I
have received have been from Miss Emma Joiner, Easton, Md.; Miss
Julia Langden, Elmira, N. Y.; Rev. David Strang, Lincoln, Tenn.;
Mrs. E. A. Clark, Battle Creek, Mich.; Miss Maria McRene Suydam,
Newark, N. J.; Miss Mary O'Neil, Miss Clara Copeland, Miss Harper,
Miss Millie Glover, Miss Hattie Burgess, Miss Cora Cote, Miss Livia
Mandeville, Miss Grace Webb, Miss Etta Coulter, and Miss Hattie
Plinney, Rochester, N. Y.; Miss Mary Harkell, Weathersfield, Vt.;
Master Charles Graff, Harlem, New York City; Miss Carrie Yardley,
Lockhaven, Penn.; Mrs. Harrison, Walnut Creek, Col.; Mrs. P. A.
Harrison, Dewbury, Barry County, Mich.; Miss McFarland and Mrs.
Snyder, Paxton, Ill.; Miss Miriam Oliver, Milwaukee, Wis.; Master
Paul Krughoff, Nashville, Ill.; Master N. B. Blunt, Lexington
Avenue, New York City; Miss Annie Wetzell, Grand Rapids, Mich.;
Master George R. Hitchcock, Champlain, N. Y.; Miss Helen Woodworth,
268 Ryerson Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Master Walter Anderson,
Nashville, Ill.; Mrs. S. B. Bortwick, South Amboy, N. J.; Miss
Ethel and Master Vivian Ketchum, Augusta, Ill.; Miss Minna
Mandeville, Kinderhook, N. Y.: Miss M. D. L., Madison, N. J.; Miss
Corinne Redden, Master Bertie Ellis, and Miss Winnie Needles,
Nashville, Ill.; Miss Slack, Bristol, Penn.
Our school keeps growing, and now numbers fifty-six. They are
learning very well indeed. They are now learning on Saturday
afternoons a carol to sing at Christmas! Not many can read; they
have to learn the words orally. They catch the tune very quickly.
They are looking forward with so much pleasure to the expected tree
at Christmas. I wish I could tell you what a happy time it will be
for them all, and how often I wish that you could all spend a
Sunday with us, and see how pleased they are to be learning. We
do--all of us who teach them--thank you so much for your kind and
generous help! I will write you all about the tree after Christmas.
Truly your grateful friend,
MRS. RICHARDSON.
* * * * *
JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS.
The Editor said that we little girls must write about our dolls, so
I thought I would. I have not seen any letters from this place. I
must begin to write about my dolls. I have seven baby dolls--Lillie
(a wax one), Daisy, Phoebe (she is wax too), Mattie, Ludie,
Boneby, and last a little doll, not an inch long, called Neil. I
had four birds, and they all died; three doves and five cats, and
they all ran away or were killed. I now have a white and black cat.
Mamma drives a spirited horse, and we all make a great pet of him.
GRACE A. M.
* * * * *
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.
I am a little girl six years old. My brother takes HARPER'S YOUNG
PEOPLE, but I love to read it, and I read it all myself. I like to
read the letters best. I have been reading since I was four years
old, and we have had YOUNG PEOPLE from the first, and on rainy days
we get the numbers out and look them all over. We have two dogs
named Beaut and Snooze. Snooze has a "bobtail." I have a black cat,
with a few white spots, named Harry, and when I take him up he puts
his two paws around my neck, as though he wanted to love me. He
never scratches or acts ugly to me. I have three dolls, named
Fannie, Bessie, and Nellie. I have a cousin Anna, just my size, and
we play together often. I go to Sunday-school every Sunday, and
learn the Golden Text; then I get a pink ticket for saying it, and
when I have four pink tickets, I get a pretty floral card for
them. I study at home with mamma. I can read, spell, and cipher,
and now I am learning to write. I hope to see my letter in YOUNG
PEOPLE. Mamma is writing this letter for me, but I told her what to
write. Your friend,
HATTIE C.
* * * * *
WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.
I have a hen-house of my own, and I am going to keep hens this
winter. I have fifteen brown Leghorns and a rooster. I have made a
silo, and filled it with sorrel for them to eat in the winter. If
any of the boys who read YOUNG PEOPLE keep hens, I would like to
hear from them. I have a cat that weighs thirteen pounds. I am
eleven years old.
H. EVERETT C.
* * * * *
FAIRVIEW, LOUISIANA.
I am a little Southern girl nine years old. My grandpa has taken
Harper's publications as long as my mamma can remember, and has
taken YOUNG PEOPLE for me ever since it came out. I have never been
to a school, as there is none near us. I said my lessons to a
Northern lady who was visiting her sister last year for four
months, and she taught me all I know about writing. I say my
lessons to mamma now. I think YOUNG PEOPLE is splendid. I live on a
plantation about a mile from the Mississippi River. When it is
high, we can read the names of the boats. It seems so strange to
read about snow up North, when we have not had a frost. We have
geraniums growing in the yard, and plenty of roses in bloom. We
have nine pecan-trees; they are full of pecans. I have four dolls,
and lots of play-things. Bob, Buddy, and I have a play-house under
the grape-vine. I like to play with dolls very much.
H. M. S.
* * * * *
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
I have three tame turtles. I put them all in a row to see which one
can go the fastest. But the two big ones have now made their way
into the ground, and left the little one behind, and so I have
helped the little one to make its way into the ground with the
others. I have a lot of pigeons, and I have some chickens. We were
going out to the woods to-day to get some autumn leaves and moss,
but it rained, so I thought I would write a letter to you.
JESSE W. P.
* * * * *
MODIE G.--Your friend who thinks the Editor of YOUNG PEOPLE writes the
letters in Our Post-office Box is mistaken. If she could only see what a
budget awaits the Editor every morning, she would open her eyes quite
wide with amazement. We are glad you learn to recite the pretty poems
which are printed in YOUNG PEOPLE.
* * * * *
Some of you are now and then puzzled and disappointed because your paper
suddenly ceases to come to you on its usual day; you wonder what has
happened to it. Let us tell you how to make such a provoking experience
impossible. On the left-hand corner of the cover, just after the number
of the volume, you will observe the number of the paper for the current
week. Now look at the little printed label which bears your name, and on
the right of your name you will perceive certain figures; they tell you
the number of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE with which your subscription will
expire. Within a few weeks of that number's arrival, ask papa to please
renew the paper for you, and it will then go on without an interruption.
* * * * *
WILLIE AND OTHERS.--Mud-turtles are managed during the winter just as
land-turtles are; that is, given a tub of wet sand, and allowed to
burrow there and go to sleep, as they do in the marshes where they live
in freedom. You will find paragraphs about turtles in the Post-office
Box of Nos. 5, 28, and 51, Vol. I.
* * * * *
C. Y. P. R. U.
So far as she can, the Postmistress answers questions and publishes
letters in the order of their reception. Nobody need feel slighted if
attention to him or her is deferred. The turn of each will come in time.
And now to reply to some of the inquiries which are winking their
inquisitive eyes like animated interrogation points while the
Postmistress puts on her thinking-cap:
What were the original Seven Wonders of the World? They were these: 1.
The Pyramids of Egypt. 2. The Mausoleum built for Mausolus, King of
Caria, by his queen Artemisia. 3. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus. 4. The
Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 5. The vast brazen image of the
sun at Rhodes, called the Colossus. 6. The ivory and gold statue of
Jupiter Olympus, at Olympia. 7. The Pharos, or Watch-tower, built by
Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria. You will find it an interesting and
profitable pursuit for the long winter evenings to read something about
these Wonders in the pages of ancient history. These Wonders were given
in the Post-Office Box of No. 61, Vol. II., but we repeat them for the
benefit of the C. Y. P. R. U.
* * * * *
I am asked why the capital of France was called Paris. It derives its
name from the Parish, a tribe of aborigines whom Cæsar met and defeated
in his conquest of Gaul. This tribe occupied the island in the Seine on
which the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame stands.
* * * * *
DEAR POSTMISTRESS,--Can I do anything toward beautifying our ugly,
old-fashioned parlor? It is covered with a horrid red and green
Brussels carpet, an abomination to artistic eyes. The family
photographs, in lozenge-shaped frames, adorn the walls, and the
furniture is hopelessly hideous. Can you suggest anything? Don't
mention Japanese fans or banners; mother wouldn't tolerate them.
Don't speak of unbleached muslin curtains; they wouldn't be given
house room. But do tell me how I can make the room look _livable_,
for that is just what it does not look at present. An old
school-mate is coming to visit me next month, and I blush to own
it, but I am ashamed to have her see our dreadful parlor.
HARRIET L.
The carpet and pictures, as you describe them, are discouraging. But
people must do the best they can under the circumstances which are
theirs. One of the pleasantest parlors I ever saw had a rag-carpet on
the floor, and a map of the United States, bordered by the heads of the
successive Presidents, on the wall. In the first place, keep your parlor
resplendently clean; don't permit the suspicion of dust or the trail of
stray shreds and thread on the too brilliant carpet. Admit the sunshine
and air every day. Fill the windows with plants--blooming plants, if
possible, but green, growing ones at all events. Fill a glass globe with
sprays of tradiscanthia, which grows rapidly in water, and set that on
the middle of the table. Bring your choicest books, and put them where
visitors can read them. "Bread of flour is good; but there is bread,
sweet as honey, if we would eat it, in a good book, and the family must
be poor indeed which, once in their lives, can not for such multipliable
barley loaves pay their baker's bill." I do not know why I think so, but
I am very sure that you have some books in your house; and believe me,
nothing furnishes a room more beautifully than a few books. I do not
admire fans and screens very much myself, and I am no friend to curtains
and tidies and such things, unless one has plenty of time to care for
them. But you have doubtless a large, old-fashioned sofa. Make a
generous-looking pillow to invite the weary head, and put it at one end
of the sofa, and at the other lay a gay patchwork quilt. Study harmony,
and even in an ugly room harmony will evolve a certain degree of beauty.
Every parlor should aim at some high effect. The key-note of your aim
should be comfort, and comfort carried to its ultimate superlative is
luxury.
The only way I know of to make a room look _livable_ is to live in it.
Sit in your parlor every day. Gather the household there every evening.
Don't be ashamed of the friendly, familiar faces on the walls, nor,
indeed, suffer in yourself any shame of any honest thing that belongs to
you or yours, your home or your environment. So advises the
Postmistress.
* * * * *
We are indebted to the Rev. A. B. Russell, of Cumberland Furnace,
Dickson County, Tennessee, for the following interesting item
illustrating the reasoning power of animals. Necessity is the parent of
invention, and even a hog, it seems, can do something which resembles
thinking:
We passed a full-grown hog with a cob usually in its mouth,
especially when lying down, to enable it to breathe well, it having
had its nose torn off at the extremity, some months ago, by a
ferocious dog, to which I was witness. An instance of the reasoning
of animal mind.
* * * * *
TO BRONZE PLASTER OR SOAPSTONE FIGURES.--Give them a sizing of glue; rub
them down with a piece of flannel. Take equal parts of Prussian blue,
spruce ochre, and verditer, and mix with water, oil, or turpentine, each
separately; then mix together so as to produce the shade desired. Apply
with a small brush.
* * * * *
L. M. E.--There are several excellent agricultural colleges in the
Eastern States. Among them are the State College of Agriculture and the
Mechanic Arts, at Orono, Maine; the Massachusetts Agricultural College,
at Amherst; New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts,
at Hanover; College of Agriculture, in connection with Cornell
University, at Ithaca, New York; Pennsylvania State College, Centre
County, Pennsylvania; and State Agricultural College, at Burlington,
Vermont. At any of these a student may be sure of the conditions which
you mention.
* * * * *
The members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this number the
conclusion of "The Wreck of the _Grosvenor_" to which we called their
attention last week, and an article of great interest on the
"Piano-forte," by Mrs. John Lillie.
* * * * *
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
DOUBLE ENIGMA.
In barter, not in sale.
In liquor, not in juice.
In umbrella, not in veil.
In either, not in choose.
In binding, not in wedge.
In island, not in ledge.
In rosy, not in pale.
In drooping, not in frail.
My whole are two favorite song-birds.
ELSIE FAY.
* * * * *
No. 2.
A GEOGRAPHICAL PUZZLE.
My first is the initial letter of a river in England.
My second is that of a city in Pennsylvania.
My third is that of a river in South America.
My fourth, of an island off the coast of Labrador.
My fifth is that of one of the States.
My sixth, that of a noted summer resort.
My seventh, that of a lake in Switzerland.
My eighth, of a lake in Minnesota.
My ninth, of a city in Austria.
My tenth, of one of the British isles.
My eleventh, of a branch of the Amazon.
My twelfth, of a city in Italy.
My whole is something you have lately enjoyed.
KATIE.
* * * * *
No. 3.
AN EASY ENIGMA.
My first is in mouse, but not in rat.
My second in kitten, but not in cat.
My third in stag, but not in deer.
My fourth is in milk, but not in beer.
My fifth is in stone, but not in sand.
And my whole is something that can not stand.
KATIE M.
* * * * *
No. 4.
EASY WORD SQUARE.
1. A girl's name. 2. Death. 3. A token. 4. A mountain.
PHIL I. PENE.
* * * * *
No. 5.
BEHEADINGS.
Behead a story, and leave a beverage. A boy's nickname, and leave a
verb. Behead to annoy, and leave metal in its rough state. Behead a part
of a tree, and leave the edge of a wall. Behead an animal, and leave a
personal pronoun. The first letters of the beheaded words spell an
indispensable article of furniture.
MAUD B.
* * * * *
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN No. 106.
No. 1.
Burlington. Gentian.
No. 2.
Fox-hound.
No. 3.
A M E N D
M A N O R
E N S U E
N O U N S
D R E S S
No. 4.
C H A R D
H I D E R
I R E N E
M E L T S
B R A S S
* * * * *
Correct answers to puzzles have been received from Jonas D. Cooper,
Bertie Wheeler, Arthur Zinn, Nathan Glucksman, Belle Walrath, Maggie
Cushing, William A. Lewis, "Lodestar."
* * * * *
The following are the names of the little folks who have succeeded in
reproducing our artist's idea of Wiggle No. 22. We shall be glad if each
will send us his or her address:
W. M. Duff, George Strauss, "Scamp," H. Hull, Sadie E. Lyon, Bessie S.
Brown, L. H. Gibbs, "Tip," J. R., Peter B. Havenagh, J. A. H., Wilfred
Hostetter, E. S. C. (aged six years), Arthur Beames, Carl Woodruff, and
Gertie Davis.
* * * * *
[_For Exchanges, see third page of cover._]
[Illustration: THE LAST OF THE THANKSGIVING FEAST.]
WHAT AM I?
I am brown or gray. I may be painted any color. Under some
circumstances, I am very annoying to sensitive ears. As I make no sound,
and am a fixture, so I can not annoy any one. My swift motion may give
uneasiness to those unaccustomed to me, but as I am an act of mutilation
performed by a person, which I am not, of course I can not stir. When in
rapid motion, with all my equipments, I am a very pretty sight. To some,
seeing me only suggests sickness and bitterness. I can't be seen, for I
am intangible, and can only be heard. I can't be heard, for when I am
done, no sound is heard, because I am an act, not a thing. I make no
sound when in motion. Poems have been written in my honor. Many
anathemas also have I excited, particularly from the sleepless. Yet I
don't see how it is possible for _me_--colorless, brown, soundless,
sharp, rasping, tasteless, bitter, motionless, vibrating, quiescent,
gliding--to excite either pleasurable or the contrary emotions in any
one. Absolutely valueless, save to my owner, I play an important part in
commerce. I am an article of merchandise, and very expensive. A little
of me goes a great way, and costs a great deal. I take up very little
space. In spacious quarters I require a large amount of leeway. Large
revenues are derived from me. I can be had for the taking, and generally
am regarded as a nuisance. No one can like me, I am so disagreeable; yet
to many I am the dearest thing they own. No owner would willingly part
with me. I am a protection, a home, and, to crown all, I am vegetable,
mineral, and medicinal.
ENIGMA.
The lady treads her lofty halls,
Her robes are long and fine,
And because of my first their velvet folds
With softest, lustre shine.
And when the revel and rout are done,
And the robes are laid away,
Again my first the lady takes
Through half the livelong day.
Through every land beneath the sun
Where Nature's touch we find,
It's never my last that's "more than kin."
Though always "less than kind."
The sweetest lips that e'er were kissed
Have to my whole been pressed:
It rests on the knees of feeble age,
On the infant's tender breast.
[Illustration]
He did not read his book, but ate a deal of cake.
And so, although he tried, he could not keep awake;
Thus fast asleep he fell, and very, very soon
He had a horrid nightmare, in the afternoon--
The table grew an elephant, the cake changed to a tiger,
And gobbled up his little self, who turned into a ni'ger.