[to be continued.]
[AN EMPTY STOCKING.]
BY MRS. MARGARET SANGSTER.
I am very sure that most boys and girls will agree with me that there is nothing in the whole year quite so delightful as taking down the Christmas stocking. Of course it is charming to hang it up; but one never feels the least bit sleepy on Christmas-eve, and it seems so long to wait until morning shall come. The air is astir with excitement and mystery, and Santa Claus is known to be hovering about waiting for eyes to be closed, and children to go comfortably away to dream-land. By-and-by everybody does manage to fall asleep, and then by some strange magic the long, limp stockings are crammed with toys, books, bonbons, tools, dolls, and skates, or lovely ribbons, laces, watches, and gems. How beautifully they bulge out, every inch of room packed, while the overflow, which could not possibly be forced into any stocking, is piled temptingly on the tables and chairs.
Now look at this poor little girl who hung up her stocking on Christmas-eve, hoping that the good Santa Claus would come down the chimney and put something nice in it. She was afraid he would forget her, and still she hoped that maybe he might bring just one dolly, and slip it away down into the toe, where she would find it, and be, oh! so glad. Little Jennie is used to being cold and hungry, and does not mind a great many privations which more fortunate children never have to endure. She can sweep crossings in old shoes, and wear a ragged shawl, without envying girls who are wrapped in soft furs. These merry holidays have not made her envious; and yet when Florence and Susie and Mabel have flitted by on the street, their arms full of parcels, and their fathers and mothers buying them every beautiful thing that the shop windows show, she has wished and wished that she might have just one dolly—only one. So, thinking that maybe if she hung up her stocking her desire would be granted, she did so on Christmas-eve, and went to bed that night without minding the cold. The stocking hung where she placed it. Nobody came down the chimney, or up the stairs, or in at the door. Her mother was so tired and discouraged that she took no notice of Jennie's stocking, and if she had, it is doubtful whether she could have found a gift to gladden the child.
Sometimes little girls like Jennie have parents who are not kind and good like yours, because they love liquor and spend their earnings to procure that. There are plenty of empty stockings on Christmas in homes where fathers and mothers are drunkards.
Little Jennie looks very forlorn holding her empty stocking in her hand. The picture is a shadow on the gayety of this festive time, but it is inserted in the New-Year's number of Harper's Young People, that some of the readers may be prompted to think what they can do to send pleasures to little ones whose lives are seldom gay.
A very large part of your Christmas happiness came from the gifts you bestowed as well as from those you received. It was not a selfish festival in homes where brothers and sisters exchanged love-tokens; and the weeks you spent in making pretty presents with your own hands, in saving your pocket-money, and in planning to surprise your dear ones, were very happy weeks indeed. Now I have something to propose, which you need not wait a whole year to carry out. You know there are Flower Missions and Fruit Missions, which send flowers and fruit to the homes of the sick poor. Why should there not be a Toy Mission too? Most of you have a dolly, or two, or three, perhaps, which you could spare, and some of you have books you have read, and playthings which you have outgrown, which would make poor children wild with joy. Some of the Sunday-schools have tried this way of keeping Christmas, and have brought their gifts to be distributed among the poor. And some of the benevolent enterprises of the city send out holiday bags, to be filled and returned with all sorts of necessary things. A Toy Mission would be a little different from these, and with a little help from and organization by older brothers and sisters, it could be easily put into operation. The city missionaries and Bible-readers can tell just where there are children like Jennie in the picture, and some of the express companies willingly carry packages and parcels of the kind I mean, free of charge.
The House of the Good Shepherd, Tompkin's Cove, New York, has for several years sent cute-looking cloth bags to its friends, with the request that they be filled with gifts for its inmates. One Christmas season the children of the Wilson Industrial School of this city undertook to fill one of these, and their teacher told me it was very touching to see the eagerness and generosity with which they, so poor themselves, brought their carefully kept and mended treasures to send to the "poor children who had no friends to love them."
Once more we wish a very Happy New Year to all our young friends. We have done our best to make the past year brighter to them, and they have made it very pleasant for us by their constant and hearty expressions of pleasure and approval.
Christmas is past. How many of the readers of Young People remembered to make some poor child happy on Christmas-day? If some of them were too much occupied with their own sparkling Christmas trees to think of the friendless and homeless little ones all around them, we beg them to stop now and remember that they can not begin the new year better than by bringing a smile to some sad, wan little face. There are poor children everywhere, in the streets, in hospitals, in wretched and desolate homes, over whose young life poverty and misfortune have thrown a heavy cloud. It must always be remembered that their suffering arises from no fault of their own, and those to whom fortune has been more generous should never forget to help from their abundance the little ones toward whom the world has turned a cold and unkind face. Now if every reader of Young People would give some little thing, if it be only a bunch of flowers or evergreen, how many poor little faces might be made brighter on New-Year's morning! A few oranges, or a picture-book, will make a sick, friendless child happy. Those of you who live near together, and have your "Young People Clubs," which you write so prettily about, can have a meeting, and fill baskets with playthings you do not need. Mamma will help you buy some oranges, and perhaps a warm scarf or pair of stockings, and she will advise you, too, of the best way to dispose of them. Every one of you can do something, and in that way you will bring to yourself, as well as to others, a real Happy New Year.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
I read all of the letters in the Post-office Box, and I like them, and I like all of the stories. Sometimes I miss my paper, and I feel very sorry, and sometimes I bring it home and lay it on the table, and my younger brother takes it and leaves it on the floor; then the baby gets it and tears it. That does not please me. My papa is an editor. I have three brothers and two sisters. I am ten years old.
There are two rivers here, the Assiniboine and the Red. They are very muddy rivers, and it is hard to learn to swim in them. Every spring somebody has been drowned. The banks of the Assiniboine are undermined. It is awfully cold up here in the winter.
Harry L.
Louisville, Kentucky.
I am nine years old. I do love to read Young People, and can hardly wait for papa to bring it home.
I went to Texas to see my relations, and we brought home a horned frog. It never ate anything. We staked a pen for it in the back yard, but it died.
My papa and my uncles went hunting on the big prairie, and camped out. Uncle Tom killed a striped catamount, and gave me the skin to make a soft rug. Uncle Will killed two deer, and papa shot one, but it got away. It is very warm in Texas, and at Galveston there are lots of oysters.
Mamma has promised to have my Young People bound for my birthday gift.
Minnie L. C.
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
I take Young People, and I like it very much. We have it in school to read instead of a reader.
I live within one hundred yards of the rock where the Pilgrims landed.
C. F. S.
Harlem, New York.
Dear "Young People,"—I have been one of your subscribers ever since you were born, and I enjoy your company very much. I have a large family to look after, but when I get all my children to sleep, I take the time left me to read. My family consists of Dolly Varden, Betsy, Daisy, and Pearl, who are all little girls, and Sambo, who is the porter, and does all the work. I have my little dog Tip to watch the house when I go out, and see that no strangers disturb anything during my absence. Another important member of my family is my pussy cat Sam. He is just as old as I am (eleven years), and begins to be rather cross. He and Tip sometimes have little spats, but I soon settle them, and make them be good friends again.
After school closed this summer I went to the country, where I had splendid times. I fed the chickens several times during the day, and I got some of them so tame they would eat out of my hands. Then I had a little bit of a pig, which I picked from a whole litter, and made a pet of him.
We had a large dog that did the churning, but he did not like it one bit. When the churn was being prepared for him to work, he would whine and cry like a baby.
When my papa came he made us a kite, which we raised real high. Some of the birds were frightened at it, and others would fly right up and peck at it to see what it was. It made us laugh to see how the birds acted.
For my birthday my papa sent me a set of archery, which we placed on the lawn at the side of the house, and we enjoyed shooting at the target ever so much. I can shoot real good now.
I have a great deal to do, so will close my letter by telling you that I am home again, and going to school. I also attend Sunday-school, and have my music lessons to practice, so I am very busy.
Irene M. N.
We are two dolls. Our mamma is a dear little black-eyed girl almost ten years old, named Jennie. She is a good deal like Bessie Maynard, and loves us as much as Bessie loves her doll Clytie. We used to live in Nevada, but last summer we came to live in Central City, Colorado. We all like Young People, and the Post-office Box in particular.
Minnie and Joe McG.
We have had this dear little paper ever since it was published. Mamma is very glad to have it, for she is very particular about our reading. I always spend the evening after it comes reading it to my little brother Regie, who is eight years old. I am fourteen. My father died when I was seven.
Santa Cruz is a pretty town, and has good schools, both public and private. We have roses all the year, as our winter is only a succession of pleasant rains with warm sunny days between, like spring in the Eastern States.
The town is near the mouth of the broad, beautiful bay of Monterey, so that we can see out into the Pacific Ocean. We have grand times on the beach when the tide is low, searching for shells and the beautiful sea-weeds. The lady principal of a school here teaches us all about shells and algæ, or sea-plants, and we learn to name and classify them. I wish all the young people who write about aquaria could see mine. I have hundreds of them in the rocks by the sea in holes worn by the waves, from the size of a wooden bucket to that of a large deep barrel. They are round, and the walls are covered with limpets of all sizes, star-fish of different colors, bright purple sea-urchins, and lovely pale green and pink sea-anemones, which wave their petals in search of food. Bright-hued crabs, fish, and creatures of which I have not yet learned the name, move in the water. Every part is covered with some form of life capable of motion, and with all kinds of sea-plants.
I would like to exchange shells and pressed sea-plants for other shells, Lake Superior agates, or other small mineral specimens. I would like to have everything clearly marked, and I will in return name and classify the shells.
Harry Bowman,
Santa Cruz, California.
We print the following note in reply to many inquiries in regard to postage-stamp catalogues, etc.:
If any reader of Young People will write to me on matters connected with stamps which can not well be published, inclosing stamp for reply, I shall be happy to answer him.
Joseph J. Casey,
P. O. Box 1696, New York City.
Several of us have organized a club for the exchange of minerals. We call it the American Mineralogical Club. We shall be glad to have any of the readers of Young People join us if they are willing to conform to the rules, which can be had upon application to the secretary.
George Davies, P. O. Box 80,
Pottstown, Montgomery County, Penn.
The following exchanges are offered by correspondents:
Iron ore from Spain, Ireland, England, and different sections of the United States, for good specimens of copper or zinc.
Willie S. Shaffer,
20 North Second Street, Harrisburg, Penn.
Postmarks.
Miss Agnes McMurdy,
Care of Mrs. R. M. Beckwith,
Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y.
United States Department stamps, or pieces of the Washington Monument, for coins, minerals, or foreign stamps.
Harry Lowell,
830 Twentieth Street, Washington, D. C.
The Bavarian doctor mentioned in "The Story of the Boy-General," in Young People No. 57, who tried to rescue Lafayette from the Olmütz prison, was Justus Erick Bollman, my uncle.
If any reader of Young People will send me a Greek or a Danish postage stamp, or two kinds of stamps from South America, I will send in return an Indian arrow-head, or I will exchange Indian pottery for any foreign stamps except English.
C. H. Bollman, Monongahela City,
Washington County, Penn.
I would like to exchange ocean curiosities for a genuine Indian bow five feet long—not a bow like those Indians sell here in Massachusetts, but a good one that will shoot. I should like two or three arrows with it.
In answer to Carrie V. D.'s question I would say that it is not necessary to change the water in the carrot hanging basket, but only to refill it when the water dries away.
Daniel D. Lee,
Myrtle Street, Jamaica Plains, Suffolk Co., Mass.
A stone from New York State for one from any other State, or Canada. Postmarks for stamps, minerals, birds' eggs, or Indian relics. Five postmarks for every bird's egg.
William Porter Chapman, Jun.,
Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y.
Postage stamps from Europe, Asia, and other countries, for others.
Loyal Durand,
591 Cass Street, Milwaukee, Wis.
Postmarks.
H. D. and R. B. Hall,
39 Highland Street, Roxbury, Mass.
Foreign postage stamps.
Freddie W. Allree,
26 Cedar Avenue, Allegheny, Penn.
Foreign postage stamps for Navy, Interior, and Agricultural Department stamps, and stamps from Newfoundland.
Willis Bishop,
20 Gold Street, Chicago, Ill.
A white metal copy of the ancient Jewish shekel for an old coin or a handsome shell.
Libbie and Mattie Penick, St. Joseph, Mo.
Postage stamps for minerals or Indian relics.
William H. Rhees,
1317 Eleventh Street, N.W., Washington, D. C.
Birds' eggs and Indian relics.
Roscoe S. Nickerson,
Klamath Agency, Oregon.
Southern moss, specimens of sulphur, and some United States stamps for foreign stamps.
Clarence Marsh,
2217 Calumet Avenue, Chicago, Ill.
Curiosities and specimens of all kinds.
L. E. Walker, care of H. W. Walker,
Lock Box 316, Lansing, Mich.
Sea-weed, or pieces of the stone of which the new Capitol at Albany is built, for curiosities of any kind.
Willie L. Widdemer,
99 Madison Avenue, Albany, N. Y.
United States Department stamps, or pieces of stone from the new War and Navy Department buildings, or from the Washington Monument now being finished, for shells, foreign stamps, or any curiosity.
Horace D. Goodall,
826 Twentieth Street, N.W., Washington, D. C.
Postage stamps.
Charles Swabey,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Autographs of renowned men and women.
C. J. Otterbourg,
128 East Seventieth Street, New York City.
Minerals from the mines of Colorado for ocean curiosities or postage stamps.
Louis M. Gross,
Care of Abel Brothers, Denver, Colorado.
A Canadian postmark and a Centennial three-cent stamp for a German postage stamp.
Arthur Frost,
Care of D. H. Frost, Belle Plaine, Iowa.
Twenty-five postmarks for five stamps. No duplicates.
Nellie V.,
343 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
Birds' eggs for other eggs; or a rock from every State in the Union and from several foreign countries for twenty different kinds of eggs.
W. Bostwick, Care of John C. Remington,
Columbus, Muscogee County, Ga.
Birds' eggs.
Frank M. Richards,
Farmington, Maine.
Minerals and fossils for shells and minerals. A good specimen of copper ore especially desired.
Bartas W. Jay, Emporia, Kansas.
Postage stamps for birds' eggs, coins, or minerals.
Wennie Holmes, Bay City, Mich.
J. T. M.—See answer to Ida B. D., in Post-office Box of Young People No. 51.
Henry A. Blakesley, Harry F. Haines, E. A. De Lima, and many Others.—We are sorry not to print your requests for exchange, but that department of our Post-office Box is so very crowded that we can not give space to addresses which have been already published, unless the exchange offered is of some new article. Neither can we attend to irregularities between exchanges, which arise in almost every instance from carelessness, or failure to give a proper address. We know of no remedy for those who fail to receive answers to their letters except to continue sending reminders to the delinquent correspondent. A great many boys and girls write to us that they receive so many letters, they can not answer them all promptly, as they are going to school, and very busy with studies, but that they will surely answer them in time. We hope they will not forget this promise, as a letter should always be acknowledged.
P. I. G.—The rudder of the ice-boat is not fastened. The rudder-post runs up through the keelson, which rests on an iron pin driven through the post just above the rudder. The runner irons are sharp.
Alfred C. T.—The directions you require are in preparation, and will appear in an early number of Young People.
Cecil X.—There is no limit to the age of our contributors, but we would advise you to wait until you are a little older before you try to write a story.
Harry Olmstead, W. F., and E. N. High.—There are so many kinds of printing-presses for boys that the best thing for you to do is to notice the advertisements which are in all newspapers, and send to different manufacturers for catalogues, from which you can make your selection.
George C. D.—Dr. Kane penetrated to 81° 22' north latitude; but in 1827 the English navigator Sir Edward Parry reached 82° 45' N., and in 1861 Dr. Hayes reached the same latitude. Captain Hall has also penetrated nearly as far north. In February, 1854, in about 78° N., Dr. Kane experienced the unexampled temperature of -68°, or 100° below freezing-point, and a still lower degree has been recorded by more recent navigators.
B. G. G.—Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are the most southern permanent abodes of man.—Read Dana's Geology, and you will learn all about the formation of the earth. If you find it difficult to understand, ask your teacher to explain it to you.
Elmer. A.—The Seven Wonders of the World are generally given as follows: the Colossus of Rhodes, Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Pyramids, the Pharos at Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Olympian Zeus.
G. H. Elder, Theodore Henneman, J. B. Whitlock, and Others.—We would gladly assist you to begin a collection of postage stamps, but it is against our rules to give up space to the exchanges you propose.
Lewis D.—Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella and Abbott's Romance of Spanish History are good books for you to read.
Favors are acknowledged from Alice M. H., Edna E. Harris, Paul Gray, E. H. Shuster, Joseph A. Unruh, Lorena C. Emrich, R. Poe Smith, Harry and Richard Bellam, W. K. M., L. C., Edmund H. B., Fred Dierking, Florence McClure, Margaretta Mott, Wina James, Edgar E. Hyde, Nellie A. Robson, Grace A. Hood, Etta B. Easton, Arthur McCain, Vina E. B., Fred B., Bertram and Leroy S., Alice Ward, Melvin Rosenthal, A. V. H., Johnnie E., Sarah A. W., Eva L. M., Clayton B., W. Hoey, Jun., Martha M. I., Pet Wilcox, Gertrude and Albert F., C. Arnold, Frank Durston, Grace T. Lyman, H. L. Van Norman, Marion P. Wiggin.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from J. F. W., John N. Howe, T. M. Armstrong, M. P. Randolph, Charles Gaylor, Nellie V. Brainard, Cal I. Forny, Bessie C. Morris, Walter P. Hiles, Blanche Anderson, Marie Doyle, Isobel Jacob, S. Birdie Dorman, William and Mary Tiddy, Emma Radford, W. H. Wolford, The Dawley Boys, "Lone Star," Willie F. Woolard, A. C. Chapin, George Hayward, John Ogburn.