[to be continued.]
[DOBBIN'S PERVERSITY.]
"What can we do on this bright summer's day,
And what may our frolic be?
Shall we play at wild outlaws by Robin Hood led,
Just baby, and Bertie, and me?"
"Or stay, here's old Dobbin—why, children, you know
We must gallop him off to the pond below.
Poor Dobbin is thirsty—we nearly forgot;
He's done lots of work, and he's tired and hot."
Rattle and scamper—hurrah for the fun!—
Three merry youngsters, see how they run!
Fast go their heels, round go the wheels.
Old Dobbin says nothing of all that he feels.
Yet in his one eye lurks a mischievous wink,
And brought to the water, old Dobbin won't drink.
Sir Toadie lies low by yon mossy gray stone—
A worshipful toad is he!—
A toad with a wise and wonderful mien,
Solemnly wearing his coat of green,
Of what does this knowing Sir Toadie dream?
Hark! he croaks to a passing bee
Watching the scene—the scolding and petting
A very queer steed on the bank is getting,
Now ordered, now asked, now begged, "just one drop,"
Next pushed all a-hurry, it tumbles in—flop!
Nidding and nodding his wise old head,
These are the words that the toad has said,
"Many may lead to the fair river's brink,
But a horse must will, ere they make him drink."
Jes you stan' up, you queer old broom.
And be as good as you can be;
You see to-night is Christmas-eve,
And you must be my Christmas-tree.
Rub-a-dub-dub on kettle and pan,
Rub-a-dub-dub, make music who can.
Our gay little party all sing out of tune;
Tom of Puss in the Corner, and Ned of sweet June.
While on the pail drumming Joe strikes with a will,
Loud chanting the story of Jack and of Jill.
Music you call it! I hear but a noise;
But noise is sweet music to small girls and boys.
Patience, grown people, remember the day
When you were but children and rattled away,
With a rub-a-dub-dub on kettle and pan,
Rub-a-dub-dub, making music who can.
In this number of Harper's Young People we have given our readers a good foretaste of Christmas, just by way of preparation for all the delightful things coming in the next. On December 20 we shall publish our regular Christmas number, which will be entirely given up to matter suitable to the joyous Christmas-tide. The C. Y. P. R. U. will not have its attention drawn, as usual, to articles with sound facts for a basis; the Postmistress will not have a word to say; there will be no Exchanges; even the serial story will be dropped for a week. Our Christmas number will thus be complete in itself, for Young People, like its little patrons, has no room for other thoughts during one week in the year than those which are connected with the day which celebrates the birth of the Saviour of the world. The leading features will be a charming fairy story, entitled "Shamruck; or, the Christmas Panniers," by Mr. Frank R. Stockton, illustrated by Mr. Alfred Fredericks; another admirable story, entitled "A Perfect Christmas," by W. O. Stoddard, with illustrations by Mr. Howard Pyle; and a most amusing pantomime, entitled "The Magic Clock," by Mr. G. B. Bartlett, with an illustration by Mr. F. S. Church. There will be a number of minor attractions, which we will leave our readers to discover for themselves, and the whole will be inclosed in an entirely novel and unique cover, ornamented by one of Mr. Nast's most capital drawings.
Calumet, Michigan.
We have had snow three times this winter, and it has gone off twice, but the weather is very stormy now, and I guess it will stay this time.
I go to school. We have quite a large school-house, it being 190 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 100 feet in height, from the ground to the top of the belfry. The foundation is sandstone, which extends for about eight feet above the ground. There are eighteen rooms in use as school-rooms. I am in the next room below the High School. I am ten years old, and study reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, drawing, higher geography, and grammar.
There are many curious things about the mines here. One shaft is 2400 feet deep. I have not been through the mines since the new machinery was put in, but I have been told that it is a great deal stronger and larger than the old. They have built two new engine-houses, and rebuilt two old ones, and put new machinery in all. One of the boilers at the Hecla is thirty feet long, and there are two of that size at the Calumet.
Percy P.
Michigan City, Indiana.
I am a little girl eleven years old. I have a pet dog which is part blood-hound, and was named after a famous fox-hound in Pennsylvania. I have ten dolls. Some are pretty old, and have retired from active life. My aunt Mate made most of their clothes. One is quite plain, and I call her the old maid. The beauty of my family I call Daisy. My mamma has been sick four years. I have a brother Charley, four years old last June. We have a bird whose name is Major. We call it that after papa; his friends always called him the Major. Then there is John, the cat, who is four years and a half old; he belonged to my sister, who died four years ago.
This is a great locality for sand. We have a number of high hills; one called Hoosier Slide, covered with white sand, is over a hundred feet high. We have a nice harbor, which has been improved every year since we came here. We don't like it here as well as we did in Michigan. We sent a box of clothing to a little girl there who needed it very much.
Maud S.
College Grove, Tennessee.
I am a little girl who has owned a great many cats. I lost the oldest one last November. His name was Mark Gray. He was fourteen years and eight months old. The first word I ever said was to call him "Tit-tat." Many persons said to me, "Anna, why don't you let that poor old cat be shot?" But I could not let him meet that fate. He had lost all his teeth, and I fed him on milk and biscuit till he died. I have had a great many dolls, but my favorite is a large one that Santa Claus brought me when I was three years old. I could not then lift her. She has a china head, a cloth body, and red kid gloves. I named her Lizzie M., for one of my young lady cousins, and when she married I changed the doll's name to Mrs. B. I raised twenty-four turkeys last year, and I take Harper's Young People with part of my turkey money. I have twenty-three this year, nearly all white. I like white turkeys best, because I can see them better than those of any other color when they wander off to make a nest. I have no brothers and sisters, but we have a little black girl who plays with me and helps me to drive up my turkeys. They got wet twice, and I thought they were dead, but we put them under the stove, and they revived. I have a garden and a little pit. I have five rose-bushes; one has blossoms no larger than my finger-nail. I have a bed of sweet violets; they begin to bloom in February. I have a lovely species of white asclepias that grows wild here; it looks like wax. Mamma says if it had come from the Cape of Good Hope, people would go wild about it. My pit is three feet square and one and a half feet deep. I plant in it verbenas, feverfews, Japan pinks, and rose cuttings. I cover it with boards, and when it is very cold I put a rug on top. I kept my flowers safely last winter, although it was so cold. This is November 7, and we have not yet had any frost. The roses are as pretty as in spring-time, and the garden is gay with zinnias and chrysanthemums.
Anna Miner R.
We ask attention to the letter from two little girls which follows this paragraph. We have sent them a bound volume of Young People for 1881, which we hope will help them in making the Christmas season a glad one to their little friends the "Innocents."
Dear Girls and Boys,—Christmas is drawing near now, and you are all preparing for the Christmas tree, and lots of you are making pretty presents for your friends. We wish to ask you a favor, so now please give attention.... The pastor of the Trinity Episcopalian Church established a "Home for the Innocents." All poor little waifs are taken to this Home, and little ones are left whose mothers work out by the day. They have a nice time playing together, and some kind Sisters watch these little ones. But the church caught fire and burned down, and now the members (who are mostly poor people) are saving their money so we can build the church up again, and we are sadly afraid the little ones will lose their Christmas fun. The Sunday-school scholars have given up the tree, so they could help the church, but the "Innocents" will have nothing. Now won't you all send us some toys, or brightly colored picture-books, or Christmas-tree ornaments. Rummage your closet shelves, and see if there are not broken toys or dolls you don't care about any more, and send them to us. Some of you write and tell of so many things you have; can't you spare one for these children? Please do, and after Christmas we will write again all about them.
Lydia Belle Hargreaves,
Lulu G. Ruckstuhl,
508 Wenzel St., Louisville, Ky.
Be particular, children, to send your gifts directly to Lydia or Lulu, and not to Harper & Brothers.
Lawrence, Kansas.
I am a little Kansas boy who reads your paper regularly. I am very much interested in the Wiggle department of the Young People. I sent a wiggle for No. 95 and No. 104, and it made me very happy to see them in the paper. I shall send some more. I am eleven years old, and have been going to school four years, and am in the sixth grade. I live in Lawrence, and the University of Kansas is here. When I become old enough I will go there. I want to get a good education. Then, when I become a man, perhaps I may be an editor, or write story-books. West of Lawrence a few hundred miles are the great plains. The Indians used to live there, and hunt buffaloes. The Indians have gone now, and so, I suppose, have the buffaloes.
Kansas is a good place for little boys. I used to live in Washington. D. C. But there the houses are too thick to fly a kite. Here on the prairies we boys often fly our kites to the height of two balls of twine. We have lots of room to run. Father has promised me a pony on my next birthday. He says thousands of people come to Kansas every year from the Eastern States. I wish lots of little boys from the East would come to Lawrence to live. I am very anxious to hear about Mr. Stubbs's brother.
Sidney C. P.
This little picture, represents a branch of oranges sent to the office of Harper's Young People. It was cut by Mr. James Otis from an orange-tree in Duval County, Florida, which this season has borne over 2000 oranges. We thank Mr. Otis for his kind remembrance.
McKeesfort, Pennsylvania.
I am six years old, and have a little brother John sixteen months old. He came Sunday night, July 4, and he bothers me a heap—wants all my playthings, and when he gets them, breaks them all up. At night, when I want papa to read me the stories in Young People, he screams and screams to see the pictures, and I have to wait for the stories till he goes to bed. I am going to start to school this week, and I will study hard and learn to read, so I can read the stories myself. My grandpa lives on a farm, and I go to see him nearly every day to get rides on the horses, and drive the cows, and to see the men working at the water-works basin which the town is building to get water from the Youghiogheny River. The only pet I have is an Alderney heifer named Bessie, which my grandma gave me. She is so quiet I can put my arms round her neck, and hold her by the horns.
Tommy E.
West New Brighton, New York.
I am eight years old. I have a white cat with one blue and one green eye. We have a dog called Grip, a bull-terrier. He is very gentle and playful. I lost my dog called Pickles. My father is going to get me another. I go to school at New Brighton, and take French lessons, spelling, reading, and geography. I have a little brother nearly a month old, and two others. Perhaps I have said enough.
Davy B.
It is quite proper for little correspondents who have not yet learned to write to do so by proxy; by which we mean to get their fathers or mothers to write for them while they dictate the letters. Such letters are always welcome. Master Davy B. signed his name very boldly to the letter his father wrote for him, and probably Tommy E. will soon be able to do the same.
I am a little boy seven years old last Valentine's Day. I have been taking Harper's Young People from No. 1 to the present time. I have had two volumes bound, and am saving up for the third volume. I have two numbers (duplicates), 20 and 76. I will give them to any of the little readers that will send me his or her address. I have eight cats and three kittens, also an English pug-dog. Pug does not like the cats, but the kittens eat out of his dish with him. One Sunday Pug went to Sunday-school, and sat on the bench beside my sister Helen. I am so interested in the story, "The Talking Leaves."
Louis N. W., Jun., Beverly, N. J.
Harry Van N.—Your description of the industries of Minneapolis is very interesting. A city where there is so much manufacturing, so much enterprise, is a good place for an intelligent lad to live in.
Six little girls at Pulaski, Tennessee, were directed by their teacher to write letters to Our Post-office Box, and bring them to her instead of their usual weekly compositions. The letters signed by S. K. A., Maggie J. A., F. W., A. B. A., M. R., and Julia R. have been sent to us, and are very creditable to the little writers. Our thanks are due to their kind teacher for her appreciation of our efforts in behalf of young people.
Alice McL.—For a boy of twelve who is fond of reading we know of no more enchanting book than What Mr. Darwin Saw in his Voyage Round the World in the Ship Beagle. This is a beautifully illustrated volume, and its price is $3. The Boys of '76, at the same price, is a fascinating book which tells young Americans about the stirring scenes of the Revolutionary war. There are three volumes of Travel in the Far East, by Colonel Knox, each of which boys pronounce splendid. They relate the adventures of youthful travellers in a journey to Japan and China, to Siam and Java, and to Ceylon and India, and the books, which may be purchased separately or together, cost $3 a volume. These books are all published by Harper & Brothers. Hector, by Flora L. Shaw, published by Roberts Brothers, and Boys at Chequassett, by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, published by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., are very charming books, smaller than those we have placed first on the list.
A bright boy who already has a sled, skates, etc., might be pleased with a well-furnished tool-chest or a printing-press. At twelve, boys no longer care for toys which are merely playthings.
In addition to the pretty things you already have, make little mice and pigs of white Canton flannel for your Christmas tree. If you can procure some cotton as it grows, crystallize it with alum, and dispose clusters of it here and there. There are bright little balls of different colors which may be purchased for a few cents, and used to festoon the tree, and if put away carefully they may be used for successive years. Have plenty of little wax tapers, and your tree will repay your trouble.
We desire to call the attention of exchangers to the notice which is printed at the head of the Exchange list. Please make it a rule to follow this in every instance. When a boy has five or six coins, two or three hundred postmarks, or a few relics or curiosities, and calls attention to them in these columns, many thousands of readers see the notice, and he finds himself confronted with so many replies that his embarrassment is very great. In the mere matter of postage he may find himself burdened with considerable expense, perhaps more than his pocket-money will pay, or than his parents will allow him to spend. This inconvenience, and the further peril of being thought dishonorable, may be avoided by having a correspondence by postal cards before sending any precious things away.
It is not possible for us to rectify mistakes, nor to compel delinquent exchangers to make proper returns. We prefer to think that all who avail themselves of this privilege are worthy of it. We desire and hope that every girl and boy who is numbered among our young people shall be true, courteous, prompt, and obliging. Without the exercise of these qualities, neither exchanging nor any other business can be satisfactorily carried on.
Those who have saved their back numbers, as we think all ought to do, will find a paragraph on this matter in the Post-office Box of Vol. II., No. 80. To this we refer the attention of Willie B. G., who writes to us complaining of an apparently dishonest correspondent. We can not settle difficulties which arise among exchangers, but we think careful attention to preliminary correspondence, and to the full payment of postage, would prevent much confusion.
Until after the Christmas number the pressure upon our columns will prevent us from publishing all of the large accumulation of Exchanges we have received, but we will print them as rapidly as we can when the holidays are over.