C. Y. P. R. U.
Alice.—I can not decide for you the question which is the most useful of all the trees in the world. I will leave it open for the C. Y. P. R. U., and members may send me their opinions. The tree which is applied to the most various and multiplied uses is probably the palm. There are a number of species of palm, differing in some minor peculiarities, but all graceful, elegant, and beautiful. The Palmyra palm (Borassus flabelliformis) is, on account of its great usefulness, called the prince of trees. Until this tree reaches its twentieth year it has little grace or beauty. A recent writer says: "It is covered from the root upward with the remains of old leaves which have been cut off some distance from the trunk, leaving ugly and dangerous projections. These leaf-stalks when green are soft and easily cut, but after they become dry they are almost as hard as horn. A person running against such a tree by night, or accidentally, is sure to retire wounded. After the tree becomes older, all these remains of former leaves disappear, and the straight trunk emerges smooth and clean, as if it had been artificially trimmed and polished. It rises to the height of from sixty to ninety feet, and is considered in its youth during its first hundred years. The timber is almost worthless until the tree is sixty years old."
A Hindoo poem is said to enumerate eight hundred and one uses to which the palm is applied. The leaves are used for fuel, for thatch, for mats, for baskets, for cords, for fans, for umbrellas, for pouches, books, etc. The sap is drawn from the tree twice daily during seven months of the year, and makes, when unfermented, a pleasant drink; when fermented, an intoxicating wine. It is boiled into a coarse sugar, which is used both as food and medicine, and as a cement in mortar. The fruit is considered a delicacy. There is an Indian proverb about the palm which says, "If you plant it, it will grow a thousand years; and if you cut it, it will last a thousand years."
The Postmistress acknowledges with thanks the kindness of her young friends who have sent her pretty cards and other favors of the season.
St. Clair, Michigan.
Dear Postmistress,—Will you please try to think of something pleasant for five girls to do. We are trying to get up a club by ourselves. We want to meet in the afternoon, and sometimes in the evening. We would like to have you tell us some name for it, and what kind of badges and what color would be nice. I take Harper's Young People, and like it very much.
Worthy E. McE.
How would you like "We Girls?" I think that would be a pretty name for such a club as yours. As for badges, there is nothing more appropriate than a geranium leaf or two, to be worn when you meet, or you might assume rosettes of pink ribbon, or, prettier still, always wear a white apron when you assemble. I think it would be very charming for you to have some beautiful needle-work on hand, and while one should read aloud, let the others sew. If there are poor little girls in your town who do not know how to sew, or whose mothers are too busy to make comfortable clothing for them, your club, with your mothers' permission, might make garments for them. A cooking club is very popular among girls of your age, and, upon the whole, would perhaps give you more enjoyment, and result in more real benefit to you in making you efficient little house-keepers, than anything else the Postmistress could propose. If you try the latter work, you will need the assistance of some older friend until you are fairly organized. Please write, and tell me what you finally resolve upon.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I am a regular subscriber to your nice paper, and read it with great interest. I would like to tell you about a dog that I know of that was much attached to his master, who is a boat-builder. The other day, while at work placing beams in position in a new boat, one of the poles became loose, and was about to fall on the man, who was in the way. The dog saw his master's danger, and sprang on him, knocking him out of the way. The man was slightly hurt, but the poor dog was killed. He saved his master's life, but lost his own. Please give this to the Postmistress to publish.
Kitty B. H.
I am very glad to publish this letter in memory of the faithful dog who lost his life to save his master's.
There is one thing certain about our paper this week. The C. Y. P. R. U., on the look-out for relations of solemn fact, would never be able to tell which articles were intended for its special entertainment if the Postmistress did not point them out. "The Loss of the Royal George" is one, but who that did not know it to be an actual occurrence, and one of the most terrible and heart-rending in English history, would not think the story one of the wildest fancies of some writer's brain? Then who would believe that some birds could be so cruel and heartless as to feed upon the flesh of their fellows, if Dr. W. O. Ayres, of Yale College, did not tell us so in "My Family of Orioles"? Unless the Postmistress is very much mistaken, the articles in Young People which will be most widely read this week are those in which "truth is stranger than fiction."
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
ENIGMA.
Formed half beneath and half above the earth,
We sisters owe to art a second birth;
The smiths' and carpenters' adopted daughters,
Made on the earth to travel o'er the waters.
Swifter we move as tighter we are bound,
Yet neither touch the water, air, nor ground.
We serve the poor for use, the rich for whim,
Sink when it rains, and when it freezes, swim.
Ella B.
No. 2.
TWO EASY DIAMONDS.
1.—1. A letter. 2. A verb. 3. Large plants. 4. A creeping fish. 5. A letter.
2.—1. A letter. 2. A huge serpent. 3. Juvenile. 4. A conjunction. 5. A letter.
Robtus.
No. 3.
DOUBLE ACROSTIC.
1. To obey. 2. A surgical instrument. 3. Universal. 4. Part of a bird. 5. To breathe out. 6. A weight. 7. A pronoun. Primals—One of Shakspeare's plays. Finals—The name of a famous author.
Harmon W.
No. 4.
A LETTER PUZZLE.
One I, one O, one R, four S's, and one C.
Now place these letters in order, and form a word for me.
H. W.
No. 5.
NUMERICAL ENIGMA.
My whole is a familiar adage composed of 22 letters.
The 6, 4, 5, 16 is to try anything.
The 3, 18 does not mean yes.
The 11, 2, 20, 15, 16 is to lift.
The 13, 8, 10, 12 is to sting.
The 19, 22, 14 is used to wash with.
The 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 is very sweet.
The 9, 17, 1, 21, 4 is a fragrant substance.
W. B. G.
Correct answers to puzzles have been received from "Lodestar," Nellie Anderson, Ella Chirney, Ernest Payne, Walter E. Paulding, G. W. Taggart, Edward Lee Haines, Sammy A. Jones, Reggie Reid, Arthur Bancroft, Elbert E. Hurd, J. J. Bellman, Gerson G. Freund, Jacob Marks, Henry E. Johnston, Jun., and Willie Volckhausen.
[For Exchanges, see 2d and 3d pages of cover.]
SOME ANSWERS TO WIGGLE No. 23, OUR ARTIST'S IDEA, AND NEW WIGGLE, No. 24.