RICHARD'S DISAPPOINTMENT.
I drove them down to the meadow,
Dolly and Dilly and Kate,
And my steps like theirs grew quicker
As we neared the pasture gate;
For beneath the shade of a cedar,
Where no clover ever grew,
I had built a master bird-trap,
And set the trigger true.
I knew a little redbird
Whose feathers every one
Were as bright as the juice of a berry,
Or the stain of the setting sun.
My heart went patter, patter,
As I thrust my fingers through
The trap that held a captive
Where the gnarled old cedar grew.
My heart beat like the rain-drops,
And (the redbird in my thought)
I felt a fluttering winglet,
And cried, "You're caught! you're caught!"
But alas for the dreams of childhood!
The bird was only gray;
And with angry frown and feature
I tossed it far away.
That night beside my mother
I told my grief with tears,
And I've not forgot her answer
Through all these weary years.
She said: "Oh, little Richard,
The bird with the homely coat
Has all the sweetest music
Of the forest in its throat!
"And never forget, my darling,
As life you travel through,
That some of its sweetest blessings
May gray-coated come to you."
Little Compton, Point Seaconnet, Rhode Island.
I wanted my mamma to write to you when I was in Troy, but I had not any pets to write about, and my mamma told me to wait till I got to the sea-shore.
Now we are here. The ocean is all around us except on one side. We are on the lowest part of Rhode Island, on a point reaching away out into the ocean. I am almost the only little girl, as there is only one other here. She is May Kempton, and she lives here always.
May has five kittens. One kitten has double paws, and three kittens have two to three toes more than they ought to have, and one kitten is like all other kittens. There are a great many interesting things about here, but my mamma says I must not tell about too many at a time. Captain Williams is the lobster man, and once in a while he takes us out sailing in his vessel. It will hold about twelve people. His arms are all tattooed, and he tells very nice stories about shipwrecks. I am trying to learn the names of all the sails, and to "box the compass." I am going to a Rhode Island clam-bake. In my next letter I will tell you about some real live decoy-ducks.
Nettie Spencer A.
We wish the little folks who read the letter which Mrs. Richardson has sent to this number of Our Post-office Box would begin to think how nice it would be to save a little money to send her, so that the school-house which she so much wants could be built. As she will give the land and the timber, and Pete and the other men will perform most of the labor, it will take but a small amount of money. Who will do without a pretty ribbon or a pound of candy, and help to raise this little school-house under the grand old pines at Woodside?
Dear little Friends,—It is with very much pleasure that I now acknowledge the little packages that I have had from you since I wrote before. We still keep hoping that we will get the school-house in time, and in the mean while we keep on with the Sunday afternoon school in the dining-room. How much I would like you all to be here and help us teach them! When they get very sleepy, my sister wakes them up by letting them sing. Since I wrote I have had packages from Miss Nellie J. Parker, 748 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Willie Olmstead, Cleveland. Ohio; Mrs. Nettie Birkitt, Winnebago, Ill.; Frank Butzow, Martha Butzow, Mary Butzow, Emma Butzow, Watseka, Ill.; Gracie Macomber, Grand Isle, Vt.; Nellie and Samuel Willets, Old Westbury, Long Island; Georgie Hitchcock, Champlain, N. Y.; Mrs. C. B. Keese, Asa Keese, David Keese, Ed. Bukan, Turner's Junction, Ill.; Carroll P. Wilson, Troy, Tennessee; David Shipman, 29 Clinton St., Brooklyn; Miss Mary O'Neil, Rochester, N. Y.; Hubert D. Richardson, Box 492, Nashua, N. H.; Glenn Woolfenden, Neosho, Newton Co., Mo.; Alberta Ulman, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.; Fanny Stains, Adrian, Mich.; Martin C. Longstreth, 500 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa.; Grace and Louisa Todd, Meriden, Conn.; Louise Keney, Salina City, Cal.; Charley Ungen, Eaton, Ohio; Elmer Wallace, Elk Point, Dakota; Nellie Ritz Burns, Lewistown. The State was not written on your postal, my dear Nellie, so I could not write to you, as I wished. With many thanks to you all from myself and family, Uncle Pete, and the whole Sunday-school, I am very truly your grateful friend,
Mrs. Richardson.
The members of the Natural History Society will be glad to learn that Mrs. Richardson will organize the Woodside branch, and send reports from time to time. Her own family and her scholars will form the branch, under her charge.
Holton, Kansas.
The Holton branch of the Natural History Society met for the first time on July 26. There were but few members. George S. Linscott was elected president. I am glad the society has been organized, as it will promote an interest in nature among the children of this town. We have a good book that we intend to use at the meetings of the club. There are three or four boys and girls here who take Young People, but who are only nine years old. As yet none of our club have discovered any facts worth reporting. We will meet every two weeks, and I will report the doings of this society regularly once a month.
E. S. Beck, Secretary.
The following exchanges are offered by correspondents:
One stamp from each of the following countries, for a triangular Cape of Good Hope stamp and a Straits Settlement stamp: Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, Holland, Brazil, Belgium, Hungary, England, France, Germany, and Bavaria.
Carter Colquitt,
Walton House, Clayton, N. Y.
Stamps from Germany, England, Canada, Bermuda, island of Cuba, and U. S. Revenue stamps, for stamps from any other nation. Stamps from Mexico especially desirable.
E. E. Hide,
Allegany Co., Belmont, N. Y.
I would like to exchange 2-cent (brown) issue of 1871, and 5, 6, 10, and 30 cent U. S. stamps, and 1 and 2½ penny English stamps.
Ferd B. Hesse,
236 South Second St., Brooklyn, E. D.
A newspaper published at Natal with news of the war there, for five specimens of minerals, to weigh about three ounces each.
Sammie Risien,
Groesbeck, Limestone Co., Texas.
E. H. Randolph wishes to be addressed during the summer at 13 and 15 Park Row, New York City.
I live in the country, and two of my cousins are visiting us this summer. Papa takes Harper's Young People this year for my brother. I would like to exchange a stone and a little soil from New York, for the same from any other State or Territory; and also some everlasting-flowers that grow here, for pressed leaves, ferns, or flowers from any place in the United States. Correspondents will please label what they send, and be sure to write their address in full so I will know where they come from. Will they please inform me if they receive what I send, and wrap their packages securely?
Sarabelle Bayles,
West Kortright, Delaware Co., N. Y.
Minerals, for minerals, ores, and other curiosities.
M. L. E., 51 Spencer St., Albany, N. Y.
Stones and soil from California, for stamps, coins, or sea-shells.
E. T. Wheeler, Berkeley, Cal.
A card printer wishes a pair of good French fencing foils, for a font of script type.
Arthur Pool, Earlville, Ill.
Stamps from Cuba, Belgium, and Barbadoes, and other rare stamps, for a three-cornered Cape of Good Hope; or other foreign stamps, for ore or any kind of curiosities.
George H. Elder,
99 Broadway, Brooklyn, E. D.
Golden Days, for Harper's Young People. Have all the first volume, except between 7, and 23, and 31. Wish Harper's Young People between 20 and 40, and 41 and 53; U. S. and other stamps, for curiosities and Cape of Good Hope stamps.
J. H. Todd,
Box 225, Oakland, California.
A 2-cent U. S. Internal Revenue stamp, for any foreign stamp, except from Canada. England, Denmark, France, Austria, Italy, and Germany. Five U. S. postmarks, for any foreign stamp, except from the above-named countries. Will receive offers for a New York State coin of 1863, and for an eagle cent of 1857.
Rosie Ball,
7 Sycamore St., Buffalo, N. Y.
Rare U. S. stamps, newspaper stamps of Austria, a South German state stamp, and rare stamps of Italy, Spain, and Brazil, also an Agricultural Department stamp, for stamps from Spain, which are an earlier issue than 1870, or 1-penny Bahamas 1859, or 10, 12, 15, 30 cent Post-office Department, U. S.
Charles Warren, Box 54, Plymouth, Mass.
A fret-saw, designs, saws, and all complete, for a printing-press and materials, autographs of eminent persons, or a microscope. Stones from Madagascar, U. S., and foreign postmarks, for books, coins, minerals, stamps, ocean curiosities, or Indian relics.
Albert E. Dwelle, McPherson, Kan.
A piece of oak cut by a soldier friend from the prow of the iron-clad Merrimac; a piece of olive-wood from Jerusalem, and a piece of asbestos, for a genuine Indian bow and arrows. Please write to arrange exchange.
F. W. Glasier, Adams, Mass.
White coral, curious rocks from Crève-Cœur Lake, shells from the Pacific Ocean, quartz crystals, for books of all kinds on mineralogy.
"Mineralogist," 903 Cardinal Avenue,
West St. Louis Station, Mo.
Sea-shells and other ocean curiosities, for Indian curiosities.
C. Percy Russell, Deal Beach, N. J.
Postmarks and rare stamps, for curiosities.
Miss Frankie Pratt, Keokuk, Iowa.
Hard stamps and postmarks, etc., for department stamps of all kinds, stamps from Africa, Asia, Canada, South and Central America, Cape of Good Hope triangular especially desired, or curiosities of any kind, wood from historic trees, etc.
F. S. Miller, Westfield, N. J.
Five foreign stamps, for one from Asia or Africa (no duplicates given or taken).
E. Bidwell,
Box 584, Saratoga Springs, N. Y.
Specimens of red granite, antimony as it comes from the mine, Spanish fivepenny and eleven pence values, old English pennies and halfpennies, and other coins, for foreign coins or old American cents coined before 1815, or nickel cent with small eagle 1856, or two-cent pieces 1872 and 1873 if in good condition, or U. S. half-dimes 1794-1805. Please write before sending any coins and arrange exchange.
Abner H. Graham, P. O. Box 22,
Milltown, Charlotte Co., New Brunswick.
Ten postmarks (no duplicates), four U. S. postage stamps, all different, and one German postage stamp, for one triangular Cape of Good Hope stamp.
Ray Edmiston,
Minier, Tazewell Co., Ill.
Five or six pounds of good type, leads, and copper cuts to exchange for Indian relics, minerals, fossils, skulls, curiosities, shells, and old coin.
Fletcher M. Noe,
130 E. N. York St., Indianapolis, Ind.
A stamp of Hong-Kong, Brazil, and Mexico, for one three-cornered stamp of the Cape of Good Hope; twenty foreign stamps (no duplicates), for a stamp of Egypt, Japan, Peru, and Iceland.
James H. Robinson,
431 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Stamps, for stamps. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Hong-Kong especially desired.
James Hugh,
1710 Geary St., San Francisco, Cal.
Indian arrow-heads picked up near the spot where General G. A. Custer fell; also some of the bayonets from the guns used in the battle of Bull Run, for anything suitable for a museum. Please write before sending.
H. E. Rald,
Care of Mr. Collin,
Rye Beach Hotel, Rye, N. Y.
Three-dollar printing-press with type, for a scroll-saw or something useful.
Walter J. Lee,
357 East Fifty-third St., New York City.
A good microscope, for any of the following U. S. coins: Half-cents of 1796, 1831, '36, '40 to '49, inclusive, cents of 1799 and 1804, or a quarter-dollar of 1823 or 1827. Exchangers will please write before sending coins.
Vance S. Shober, Cumberland, Md.
[For other exchanges, see third page of cover.]
George L. D.—A drop of camphor or of chloroform will kill a moth or butterfly painlessly, and you can then fasten it to a card; to preserve them from dust, it is best to keep your specimens in a glass case.
R. L. H.—The worm you send was so crushed in the mail that it could not be identified, but it is not a parasite which usually infests rabbits. To free your rabbits from vermin, wash them with a strong infusion of carbolic soap.
Hallie J. Perkins, Lynchburg, Virginia.—In forming your Natural History Society you may include any friends you choose. Whether or not they are subscribers to Young People makes no difference. You will find it a good plan to read the correspondence in Young People at your meetings. Be sure to send your reports.
H. F. L.—To have beautiful autumn leaves you must take pains to gather perfect ones, of rich colors and pretty shapes. You may preserve them by passing over the freshly gathered leaves a warm iron, on which you have rubbed bees-wax, or you may press the leaves between the pages of an old book, and when dry, coat them with very thin varnish, put on with a soft camel's-hair brush. The secret of pressing flowers and ferns successfully is in laying them immediately in a dark place under a weight, and changing the papers over them as these become moist.
Fred Gutyalin, 3 East Forty-seventh Street, New York City, withdraws from exchange list.
Daisy Rollins's address is Post-office Box 186, Columbia, Missouri, not Columbus, as published. Write to her until September 13.
Some of our correspondents have sent such silly noms de plume in answer to puzzles that we have really felt ashamed to print them. In two instances the names sent were inadmissible. Please select sensible fictitious names when you do not desire your own to appear.
Correct answers to puzzles have been received from "Paxton," "Will O. Tree." "Unknown," E. Pearl Lisk, John H. Busch, H. Elkena, "Comet," A. A. Beebe, Alice M. Walther, Annetta Jackson, Lee Marks, "School-Boy," Willie J. Baldwin, Eva J. Ward, H. N. Pleis, Jemima Beeston.