FROM THE JAPANESE, BY W. E. GRIFFIS.
Hares are always treated kindly by the Chinese and Japanese people, who make household pets of them. The Chinese believe that the hare lives to be a thousand years old, and that at the end of five centuries its hair becomes white. Instead of seeing a man in the moon, they imagine they see a hare standing on its hind-legs, and pounding drugs in a mortar. There are great creatures like gigantic men, called genii, who live in the moon, and make "the elixir of life," a draught of which confers very long life. The hare is their steward, and spends his time in pounding the precious roots and bark of the "tree of the king of drugs," from which the elixir is made. In the Japanese fairy tales, whoever smells, touches, or tastes of this tree is immediately healed of all disease.
The country folks in Japan believe a great deal more in the influence of the moon on crops, and good luck, and the weather, than our farmers do, and some of the Japanese almanacs are very funny to read. It is for these reasons that the people do not injure the hare, for fear of hindering the good influence of the moon.
The hare is considered above all others the faithful animal, and in the story which the picture tells he is comforting his master.
It would seem very queer to you, my readers, to see tame hares running about the house instead of your pet dogs and cats? But this is what the little Japanese see.
Meredith, New Hampshire.
I thought some of the readers of Young People would like to hear about a young robin my papa found under a cherry-tree near the house. He thought I could raise him, and take him back to New York for a pet. But after I had kept him two days in my room, he would chirp so mournfully when he heard the other birds singing merrily outside that it made me feel so sorry, I took him and put him on a branch of the tree. Oh, I wish you could have seen him flap his wings with delight. Then the old birds came, so glad to greet him. And how glad I was then that I had given him his freedom!
Alberto A. Dal M.
Meadville, Pennsylvania.
I am a subscriber to Young People, and am much pleased with it. It is the only pet I have.
I live near the Alleghany College, and I like to see the students drilling. On Commencement afternoon they had a regular sham battle. The military is composed of four companies, all under the command of Major H——. The Major ordered out two companies for the sham battle. One company he sent around the base of a hill, and up through a ravine. The other company turned the cannon round, and made the attacking party surrender as they came out in sight.
Willie V.
St. Louis County, Missouri.
I caught some turtles, which I keep in a tub. I feed them on meat, bread, and carrots. Last summer I hatched out two land turtles. Now I have fifteen turtles' eggs, and I think they will hatch. We found a land turtle that had July 3, 1776, carved on its back. I hope "The Moral Pirates" will catch some turtles. I am nine years old.
C. G. R.
Wellsburg, West Virginia.
I was up in the woods a few days ago, and I saw a woodchuck go in a hole. Having heard that they had a great deal of curiosity, I hid behind a heap of dirt real close to the hole, and in a minute out the woodchuck came to get a better look at me. Just then Dick, a little dog, came scampering up, ran by the hole, turned round, and crept softly back and stopped, watching, with eyes and ears on the alert. But I made a noise, so the woodchuck did not come out again.
Once Dick was watching on the top of a steep bank, and a great big woodchuck stuck its head out of a hole. Dick grabbed it, and together they rolled to the bottom of the bank, where, if somebody had not killed the woodchuck, Dick would have had the worst of the fight, as he was the smallest.
Are ground-squirrels, chipmunks, and gophers the same kind of animals?
I have a barrel sunk in the ground, with cold water running in and out, and about two hundred minnows in it. Please tell me something good to feed them on.
Samuel J.
The ground-squirrel and chipmunk are the same animal, but the gopher, or Canada pouched rat, belongs to a different family.—Feed your minnows by throwing bread-crumbs, and flies, and other small insects on the surface of the water.
Chimacum Valley, Washington Territory.
I live on a farm. I take Young People, and I think it is a very nice little paper.
I have had the rheumatism since Christmas so bad that I could not walk nor turn myself in bed. Do you know what will get me well? I am thirteen years old.
A lady gave me eight ducks' eggs. I set them under a hen, and now I have five little ducks. The old hen looks so frightened when her little ones go swimming in a pan of water! I suppose she thinks they are strange chickens. I have a dog named Prince. He knows so much he comes very near talking. Whenever I go away and come back, he will pick up a stick in his mouth and run toward me. I have a hen with nine little chicks. Whenever they get hungry, the mamma hen will come to the door of the house and cluck. My father milks twenty-eight cows. They give a bucket of milk apiece.
Arthur S. R.
Yosemite Valley, California.
I live in Philadelphia, but it is so hot there in the summer that we decided to spend a few weeks in this beautiful Californian valley, camping out.
We travelled from Merced to this place in our own wagons, pitching our tents every night. I like camp life very much, sleeping in tents and eating in the open air. Sometimes we build a camp fire in the evening, and all sit around it, telling stories and singing. It is very warm in the daytime here, and cold at night; and there is such a strong wind almost all the time that if you go too near the water-falls the spray is blown over you like rain. We make excursions every day to mountains and water-falls near by.
On the way here we saw a tree so large that it took fourteen of us to get our arms round it.
If any of the readers of Young People ever get a chance to go camping, I advise them to do it, for I think it is a great deal of fun.
I like to read Young People very much, and I am so glad I take it. I am twelve years old.
Alice W. S.
Glenora, Mississippi.
My grandma gives Young People to my brother and myself, and we like it very much. I have no pets to write about, for my little pet deer, named Nettie, died. We live in the country, on the banks of a beautiful lake, and have a nice time fishing and taking skiff rides. I wish you could see the lovely magnolia-trees in my grandma's yard; and she has so many pretty roses too.
Louise B.
Bridgeport, Connecticut.
My papa is in Europe this summer, and he writes me very funny letters. His last one was from Paris, and he told me what people did when they wanted to take a bath in their room at the hotel. You touch an electric bell, and the man in the office telegraphs to a station, and a cart carrying a round boiler with hot and cold water, and drawn by a horse, comes dashing up to the hotel just like a fire engine; a man rushes up to your room with a tub and towels, and before you know it you are taking a nice warm bath. Papa said one day, just for fun, he rang for two baths at the same time, and it was very comical to see the two Frenchmen fight to see which bath should be used first. Papa makes little sketches all through his letters, so I know just how things look. I guess we shall all go to Europe another year, and then I will write you a letter from London or Paris.
Paul S.
Dansville, New York.
I am four and a half years old, and I can not read or write, but mamma is writing this for me. Papa has taken Harper's Weekly since 1865, and binds it himself, and now he takes Young People for me, and is going to bind that too. I love to look at the pictures and hear mamma read the stories in my paper as soon as it is sewed and cut.
I have many nice toys and playthings, and two pet kittens; their names are Dick and Spot.
Papa plays on the violin, and mamma plays the organ, and I play on my triangle with them. I have a little violin, too, that grandpa gave me, but I don't play on it much when papa and mamma play. I can sing a great many pieces. I like music.
We live in a pleasant farm-house south of Dansville. I do lots of chores for papa and mamma, and I ride our horse to water nearly every day. We have plenty of nice fruit and flowers.
I think the Post-office Box is nice.
Clyde H.
Hastings, Minnesota.
I take Young People, and I like it so much. I always read the letters the very first thing when I get my paper. Almost all the boys and girls write about their pets. I have no pets except my dolls. I have eight dolls. The largest is wax, and I call her Bessie.
As I was trying to paint, the other day, I saw a large ant run along. I touched it with my brush, and then it was a green ant instead of a black one.
I tried the recipe for cup-cake that Bessie L. S. sent, and it was just splendid.
I think the story of "The Moral Pirates" is very nice. When I get a whole volume of Young People, I am going to have it bound. I am ten years old.
Mabel I.
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
Our school closed on the last day of June, and the 1st of July we had a picnic, and we all enjoyed ourselves very much.
I like Young People, especially the Post-office Box. The story of "The Moral Pirates" is splendid, and I hope it will be a good long one.
I have no tame pets, but there are some chipping sparrows around our house. One pair built a nest in the honeysuckles by the kitchen door, and another pair built in the grape arbor.
Here is a recipe for cake for the Cooking Club: One and a half cups of sugar; one egg; two table-spoonfuls of butter; three cups of sifted flour; one cup of sweet milk; two tea-spoonfuls of cream of tartar; one of soda; a little essence of either lemon or almond—I like almond best. This will make a good big cake.
Ella B. R.
I found fifty-five new flowers in June. Among them was the Ceanothus americanus, or New Jersey tea, the leaves of which, mamma read to me, were used for tea during the American Revolution. It is a pretty shrub with white flowers.
I have two pet kittens, named Puck and Blossom.
I would like to send Carrie Harding some pressed arbutus, but it has done blooming for this year. I would be glad to exchange other kinds of pressed flowers with her, if she would like to do so.
Harry H. Moore,
Windsor, Connecticut.
Anacostia, D. C.
On the 10th of July I was nine years old. Although it is vacation now, I practice writing in my copy-book, for it is very important to be a good writer.
I have a butterfly net, and have caught some very pretty specimens. If Walter H. P. would use benzine to kill his butterflies, he would find it quite as good as cyanide of potassium, which is so poisonous. Benzine can be bought by the quart at the paint shops at a low price, and one or two drops on the head of a butterfly will kill it at once.
I have a bantam rooster so tame that he will allow me to pick him up and carry him in my arms. I have a kitchen-garden, too. In it there are potatoes, corn, tomatoes, water-melons, a pea-nut vine, and two fine tobacco plants. One of my tomato vines has fruit on it. There are no weeds in my garden.
I think Harper's Young People is the best paper published for children.
Willie C. S.
Harshmanville, Ohio.
Papa takes Harper's Young People for my brother. Mamma made him a pie from Helen's recipe. It was very nice. Mamma says some little girls are born cooks.
When my brother reads the fairy stories in Young People, he says he would like to wade the Atlantic Ocean, and put a few whales in his pocket for his minnow tank. Now he wants to go fishing in a boat. He is almost ten, and I am seven.
Mamma says, Tell Puss Hunter to set her bread to rise in a deep vessel, as the less surface exposed, the better it is, as the gas is kept confined in the dough. A flannel cloth to cover it with is best, for the same reason. Mamma says she is a friend to all little bakers.
Myrtie Belle E.
I would like to exchange dried grasses, Southern moss, birds' eggs and nests, for sea-shells, with any reader of Young People.
Horace L. Barlow,
Refugio, Refugio County, Texas.
I would be glad to exchange birds' eggs with any correspondent of Young People.
S. E. Strong,
1394 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.
I am eleven years old. I have a pony, some rabbits, guinea-pigs, and ferrets. Not long ago my pony went into the bantam-house, and ate up a whole boxful of oats which was standing there. Then he pulled down a bag of oats, and scattered them all over the floor. I have two canaries which have set twice this spring, but have not raised a bird.
I would like to exchange pressed flowers with some little girl in California.
Winnie Waldron,
Care of Mr. E. H. Waldron, Lafayette, Indiana.
Will Harry Starr Kealhofer, of Memphis, Tennessee, please send his full address, and a list of stamps he wishes to exchange, to M. C. Stryker, corner of Argyle Avenue and Biddle Street, Baltimore, Maryland?
Chicago, Illinois.
Will you please tell me the origin of the name of strawberries? I take Young People, and like it very much, and my little cousins in Louisiana take it too. I am eight years old.
Winnie S. G.
The word strawberry is from the Anglo-Saxon, and was formerly written streawberie. The reason for applying the name to the delicious little fruit is undecided. Some authorities hold that it should be written strayberry, and that it refers to the creeping or straying habit of the vines.
C. L. B.—Alwur, sometimes written Alwar or Alvar, is a town of India, eighty-five miles southwest of Delhi.
Bonanza, Idaho.
I have heard that there are a great many towns in the United States named Vicksburg. Can you tell me how many?
My sister tried Helen's recipe for lemon pie, in Young People No. 32, and it was very nice.
F. M. G.
There are five towns and cities named Vicksburg, one in each of the following States: Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Mississippi.
Willie M.—Directions for making an ordinary kite were given in Post-office Box No. 19. "Sim Vedder's Kite," in Young People No. 25, also contained some valuable suggestions.
Wave.—Common sunfish can not injure the gold-fish and other inhabitants of your aquarium.
Ottawa, Canada.
I am nine years old, and I have two sisters and one brother, Ruth, Alonzo, and baby Vera.
There was a boy who wrote to Young People and said he was very fond of history. So am I. I have read Peter Parley's History of the United States five times, and now I am reading Charles Dickens's Child's History of England. I don't know what to read next. I wish you would tell me the names of some child's histories, for I do not understand very well those written for older people.
Percy R.
All of Abbott's Illustrated Histories would interest you. Then there are some good histories for young readers by Miss Yonge; and child's histories of the United States, of Greece, and of Rome, by Bonner; an interesting child's history of the United States, by T. W. Higginson; and many other books referring to special periods, like Mr. Coffin's Story of Liberty and Boys of '76, where you will find much valuable information. The works by Abbott, Bonner, and Coffin are published by Harper & Brothers.
Ella W.—The date of the invention of gun-powder is unknown. Tradition says that it was used in China as early as a.d. 85, for fire-works and blasting, and that the Arabs employed it at the siege of Mecca in 690. Roger Bacon is supposed to allude to its explosive force, and it is said that Berthold Schwartz, a monk, about 1336, discovered the mode of manufacturing it. It is also said that the knowledge of it was conveyed to Europe by the returning Crusaders.
Tempt your parrot with English walnuts, bits of apple and pear, and canary and hemp seed, and also give it a red pepper to pick to pieces. Let it out of its cage to climb about an hour or more every morning. A parrot can not be healthy without some exercise.
George F.—Directions for "Model Yacht Building" were given in Young People No. 23.
F. H. L.—Any hardware merchant will send to New York city for a catalogue of toy steam-engines for you, which will give you full information in regard to styles, prices, and how and where the engine you require can be obtained.
Fred H. H.—You can purchase turtles at any store where gold-fish and materials for an aquarium are sold. They will cost you very little—ten or fifteen cents apiece, perhaps, for small ones. If you are going to the country, you can catch plenty of them yourself. By reading former numbers of Our Post-office Box you will find many directions for the care of turtles. A water turtle needs clean water, and also stones to climb up on.
Flavors are acknowledged from Anna Stuart, John Parr, Lulu A. Sacchi, Helen E. H., Ed. Walshe, Edith Haigh, Blanche C., H. Krause, Fannie L. D., Eddie A. Leet.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from Joseph Roome, Philip E. Ide, William I. Coleman, Harry Louis, May L. Davis, R. H. King, W. Fowler, J. H. Shaw, Otis L. How, John W., Harry E. Furber, George W. Raymond, W. Callaghan, Leon Munroe, Beryl Abbott, Willie Miner, Eddie Wheeler, H. M. P., Helen W. Dean, Howard Rathbone, Daisy Violet, Paul Sterling, F. and B. Haigh, M. C. Stryker, Winnie Waldron, George Francis, Carrie and Cora, Wilfred H. Warner, Lucie Ruprecht, H. H. Gottleben, Lillian Clark, Minnie Lewis, Eddie S. Hequembourg, G. Volckhausen, Alfred Jaquith, A. H. Ellard, Nannie S. S., Hallie S. Morgan, Jessie and Gertie Evans.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
NUMERICAL CHARADE.
I am composed of 16 letters.
My 11, 8, 15, 5 is used in winter.
My 7, 12, 9, 2, 8 is found on the sea-shore.
My 1, 3, 14, 6, 10 is a flock of birds.
My 2, 3, 5, 15 is a vein of metal.
My 1, 16, 13, 4, 5 is floating vapor.
My whole was a noted British admiral.
"Tout ou Rien."