TWO LITTLE SUN-BONNETS.
Under the shade of the sun-bonnet's crown,
One head is golden, and one head is brown;
Blue eyes and hazel eyes sparkle with fun,
Hide and go seek, as the gay dimples run.
Four little hands overbrimming with flowers,
Four little feet tripping through the blithe hours;
Two little maidens, so happy and bright,
Busy all day, and so tired at night.
VOYAGE OF THE PAPER DOLLS.
BY MATTHEW WHITE, JUN.
It was a hot summer afternoon, and the great play-room in the garret was deserted.
There was not even breeze enough blowing in at the open window to stir Angelina Mary, Matilda Agnes, and General Adolphus Popgun, as they lay upon their paper backs on the table.
"Oh dear," complained Angelina, with a sigh, "I do wish those girls wouldn't leave us in such attitudes when they go down to dress! It's so undignified."
"But you must remember, my love," rejoined her friend Matilda, "that it has a tendency to sprain our ankles if we remain long standing; and, by-the-way, did you not hear the children speak about our having some new paper-muslins?" and thereupon the two ladies fell to discussing dress with great animation. General Popgun growing meanwhile quite puffed out with pride, as he reflected on the fact that his blazing red coat, ornamented with yellow braid, and his jaunty cap with its conspicuous tricolored pompon, must be particularly becoming to him.
He was not as yet very well acquainted, with his two companions, having only arrived at the post (as he professionally termed the garret) the previous day, and since then he had been obliged to attend so many drillings of the tin soldiers that he had enjoyed but few opportunities for social recreation. Now, however, he thought he would enter into conversation with the two fair members of his race beside him, and was just endeavoring to think of something new to say about the weather, when a great clattering was heard on the stairs, and the next instant two boys made their appearance in the garret, both breathing very hard, and looking as if they had been running races with the sun.
"I beat, anyhow," said one, as he sat down on an old trunk and wiped his face.
"All right," returned the other; adding, "and now what'll we get to put in the Foam?" and then the two rummaged around the room for a while, till suddenly one of them pounced upon the table where lay the paper dolls, and catching all three of them up in his hand, cried out: "Here! these'll do. Come on, Frank;" and the boys hurried down stairs again with even more racket than they had made coming up.
As may be imagined, Angelina Mary and Matilda Agnes grew paler than foolscap with fright when they felt Tom's fingers closing over them so roughly, and General Adolphus Popgun, although somewhat nervous himself, felt called upon to postpone his weather remarks, and endeavor, instead, to calm the fears of his companions.
"Pray don't be alarmed, I beg," he said; "I have no doubt we are being transported to a grand review of the Tin Regiment. It will be a very fine sight, and I shall try to provide seats for you in the grand stand."
The boys, however, did not stop at the garden play-house, where the tin soldiers were encamped, but kept straight onto the gate, passed through the latter, and then walked briskly off down the road. The General ventured to peep out between the fingers that inclosed him, and to his horror saw that Frank held in his hand a little boat six inches long, roughly whittled out of a common stick of wood.
And soon his dread anticipations were realized, for striking into a path that ran through a corn field, the boys made straight for the brook, where Frank proceeded to cut a long switch from a willow-tree, while Tom took out three pins from his coat, and deliberately impaled the two paper ladies to the stern, and General Popgun to the bow of the boat.
Fortunately the pin in each case pierced only some portion of the dress of the terror-stricken creature, otherwise the consequences might have been most tragical.
And now the Foam was launched, and the ladies and the General floated upon the rippling deep.
"Hi, don't they look fine?" cried Tom, as with the long willow switch he guided the little bark on its course down the stream, while his cousin walked by his side, much interested in the operation.
Having recovered from their first shock, the passengers began to look about them and enjoy their voyage.
"How very delightful!" exclaimed Matilda Agnes. "'Tis quite a pity, General, that you're not an Admiral."
"Oh yes. I always adored the navy," added Angelina Mary.
At these remarks the General blushed as red as the white paper out of which he was manufactured would allow, and hastened to change the subject by calling attention to the beauties of the country through which they were passing. He had just begun a poetical discourse on the wild flowers which an army tramples down on the field of battle, when Tom's switch happened to strike him in the face with such force as caused him to flutter for an instant like a sheet of paper in a high wind.
And now the ladies' fears returned, for the brook was growing wider and wider, and the Foam drifting constantly further and further from the bank.
Suddenly Tom, who had been busy talking about water turtles with Frank, noticed this, and struck out with his willow branch to bring the truant back, but it was too late; the boat had got beyond his reach, and was now floating swiftly down the middle of the stream with the current.
The ladies screamed, and the General groaned; but as neither the screams nor the groans were louder than paper is thick, they were not heard by human ears.
"The boys will surely save us," said Matilda Agnes, hopefully. "We are too valuable to lose, to say nothing of the boat."
Before long, however, Tom exclaimed: "Oh, I'm tired trudging after the thing. Come on, Frank, let's go back home, and I'll beat you a game of croquet."
"But the dolls," the other ventured to interpose. "What'll the girls say when we tell 'em what's become of them? They'll be mad, won't they?"
"Oh, I guess not, if we make up a nice story about their sailing off down to the ocean, and going to Europe and Africa, and seeing gorillas and bears, and kings and princes;" and with these words Tom gave up the pursuit, and, followed by Frank, soon disappeared in the woods.
Being thus cruelly abandoned, with not so much as a match at hand by means of which to row themselves ashore, the three paper voyagers gave up all as lost, and were beginning to bemoan their awful fate, when the General suddenly spoke out, in cheerful tones: "Perhaps somebody'll pick us up."
"Or a steam-boat may run us down," added Angelina Mary, somewhat spitefully.
"Maybe we'll land on a water-lily," murmured Matilda Agnes, with a poetical sigh.
But time passed, and none of these things happened. The little boat drifted on and on, through woods full of singing-birds, and by fields covered with waving grain, beside houses, around hills, under bridges, and over mill-dams. To be sure, when they emerged from the latter, the paper travellers were wet to the skin, but the Foam always came out right side up, and the sun soon dried them.
By-and-by the sun went down, and when the moon rose the little river had changed into a big one, and the tiny boat still floated down the middle of it, on and on, all through the night, and during the whole of the next day; and discovering that nothing terrible befell them, the three paper dolls began to grow quite contented with their life of constant change; and when they sailed down past the great city, with its many piers, big steamers, middle-sized ferry-boats, and little tugs, they forgot all about being frightened, so interested were they in gazing at the strange sights about them.
And thus they floated down the harbor, out at the Narrows, and so into the great broad ocean, and there they may be drifting to this very day.
At any rate, the girls say they are going to keep a good look-out for them when they go to Europe.
Honolulu, Sandwich Islands.
Having seen the charming little paper, Harper's Young People, and being in a distant country, I thought that now and again a letter from this place might please some of the dear children.
The little folks here are very dark-skinned, not black. They use a very different language, and call everything by a different name. Not having any snow, the boys go to the top of a steep mountain, and slide down its side on sleds they make for themselves. Some are boards, and some only palm leaves. The mountain is very steep, so that it looks as though the children must be killed in coming down its sides. Fancy yourselves sliding down the side of an old volcano on a palm leaf!
Sometimes the boys go and jump from thirty feet above the water down into it, and go out of sight. After a time they come up a long way off, and run up the rocks, or crawl up, and then jump off again.
One morning the boys started off, and were found sitting in a sugar plantation eating sugar. Though they do not steal as a rule, yet, I am sorry to say, they think it no harm to take fruits. Some day I will write the children some more strange things.
Aunt Alice.
Champaigne, Illinois.
My little nephew and all of us enjoy the Young People very much. It gets a pretty thorough reading, for I take it to school, where the pupils have it for a week, any who recite perfect lessons taking it in turn. Then I send it to my little niece in Indianapolis, who, after reading it, sends it to her cousin. You see this one copy has a considerable circulation, and I trust that many of these readers will take the paper for themselves another year.
Your well-wisher,
M. O. A.
The above letter is very gratifying, and we thank the writer heartily for her kind wishes on behalf of Young People.
Vicksburg, Michigan.
I am nine years old. I take Young People, and think it the nicest little paper I ever saw. Little Netta Franklin, the little girl whose letter you acknowledged in Young People No. 17, and said it was so neatly printed, was my little sister. She died several weeks ago, and I miss her very much. I am alone now, with neither sister nor brother. She thought so much of Young People! She had mamma read a story to her out of it the night before she died.
Molly W. F.
Downieville, California.
I wrote a few weeks ago and told Young People of the pleasant weather we were having, although the snow was still on the ground. But the very next day it began to rain, and before night it was snowing. A few days afterward the snow was four feet deep in places where there was none before. The storm lasted two weeks, and my uncle, who has lived here for more than twenty-eight years, says he never knew anything like it before.
I feel very sorry for those Indians Bertie Brown wrote about, and I think he drew a very nice picture for a boy only nine years old.
I have a cat named Frolic. He is just one year younger than I am. He is full of tricks. One is this: when auntie is making cake, he always sits quietly at the end of the table and watches her. When supper-time comes he waits patiently till we are finished, then cries for his share. Just to tease him, uncle gives him a piece of bread, but Frol knows the difference between bread and cake, and he will not touch a mouthful of anything until he gets his cake. We had thirteen cats once, but some of them are dead, and now we have only seven.
Mary A. R.
Prairie Plains, Tennessee.
I am a little girl eleven years old. My father was hurt on the railroad and died, and I and my mamma live with a family that have no children at home, so I am the only child in the house. Uncle Henry sends me Young People. He is not my own uncle, but I love him just as well as though he were.
I have a nice shepherd puppy. It is just as cunning as it can be. There is no school here that I can go to, so I study at home. We have eight cows. I can milk, and I can strain the milk and skim it too. One evening I skimmed sixteen pans.
Susie H.
Mountainville, New York.
I live in the country, and write to tell you how much pleasure the charming little paper Young People gives me. I only wish it came every day instead of once a week. My little sister Ethel is greatly interested in all the stories, and begs me to read them over and over.
Mamma has over two hundred little chickens. I have made a pet of one of them. It follows me wherever I go, and does not seem contented without me. We had quite a curiosity the other day in the shape of a little chicken. It had four legs and four wings, and was otherwise perfect. Unfortunately it did not live, which was a great disappointment to us.
Florence C.
New Albany, Indiana.
I read so many letters in the Post-office Box from other little girls that I thought I would write myself. I like Young People so much that I can hardly wait until it comes.
I had some pet chickens. They were so tame they would eat out of my hand. I had a bird too, but it fell into its bath-tub, and was drowned. My only pet now is a cat named Kitty Clover.
N. V. L.
Chicago, Illinois.
I am six years old. My cousin, who lives with me, has taken Young People since the first number. My sister is writing this for me, because I can not write very well yet, but I tell her just what to say.
I have lots of pets. I live in Chicago, not far from the Park, where I go to ride in a little goat-cart drawn by two goats that my uncle Will gave me last Fourth of July, which was my birthday. I have a pet canary which I have made very tame by catching it and making it accustomed to being handled. Now it is so tame that it will come when I call, "Goldy, Goldy," even if it is in another room. It also does many funny tricks. It will pull all the pins out of the cushion, and the hair-pins from mamma's hair.
I have a parrot which talks French, because we got it in France, when we were there winter before last; also, a little white kitten named Snowdrop, which always goes to sleep with Cecil, my dog.
My uncle has three horses, and one is so small and gentle that I am learning to ride him.
I like to read the other children's letters in the Post-office Box, and I can read them myself, except the long words.
My papa is in China. He sent me a little silk dressing-gown last Christmas, and a tea-set.
I have learned to speak "Bofe dem Chillun's White," and mamma and I think it is lovely.
Clarence D.
Rochester, New York.
I am but a tiny baby, but my mamma takes Young People for me—so she says; but when I grab it to cut my teeth on it, my mamma grabs it away, which don't seem as if it were much mine.
I live in Rochester, and I am in a farm-house near the lake for the summer. The lake air is good for little babies.
I go all over the farm in my little carriage, sometimes 'way out in the field to see the cow from which I get milk fresh twice a day. The man who takes care of her calls her Betsy, but my mamma, who is a Baltimorean, calls her Madame Bonaparte, because she was brought to the farm just after Madame Bonaparte's death. I feed her on bread and sugar, to pay for her milk.
When I get bigger I'm going to be like Thackeray's little girl in the Rose and the Ring. I'm going to "dance and sing, and do all sorts of t'ing," and write you a real big letter.
"Baby Helen."
New York City.
I have taken Young People from the first number, and I like it very much. I like the story "For Mamma's Sake" best of all. I have no brothers or sisters, but I have a pet canary I call Beauty. Another little girl wrote that she had one by that name. Mine is very tame. I have only lived in the city about eight months. I always lived in the country, in Connecticut. I like it better than the city. I am eleven years old.
Myrtle E. S.
Salem, Ohio.
I have tried Puss Hunter's recipe for cake, and it was very nice. I am going to try R. C. W.'s recipe for candy, in Young People No. 28. I hope it will be a success.
I expect to have a young turtle given to me soon, and I should like to tame it, if I can. Is there any reader of Young People who can tell me how to tame a turtle?
I have a great many dolls, and I think a good deal of them all. I have a wax doll named Maud, and a china doll named Nellie, and another named Linnie. I like Nellie better than all the rest.
Jessie B.
Young People is a very welcome visitor at our house. I like especially the pieces entitled "Easy Botany." I would like very much to exchange roots and seeds of wild flowers with any correspondents of our Post-office Box.
Frances M. Heaton,
Flushing, Long Island.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
My father has taken Harper's Weekly twenty-three years, and has it all bound. Now I take Young People, and at the end of the year I am going to have my paper bound too. I have a little baby brother, three months old, and I think he is cunning. I also have a new cart, made in Leominster. I go to school, and every Friday night I go to grandma's, and stay over Saturday.
Charles H. P.
Saugus, Massachusetts.
I am seven years old. I live on the bank of a river and at the foot of a hill. Some of the rocks that surround us are full of red jasper, and parties come from the cities near by to gather specimens. I go to the sea-shore every summer together with my two little sisters. We pick up lovely stones and shells. My pets are twenty little black and white chickens, and a nice kitty named Tabby Gray. I made a doll's cake by Puss Hunter's recipe. It was very nice indeed.
Gertrude H. N.
Concordia, Kansas.
I made cake from the recipe given by Bessie L. S. in Young People No. 28, and thought it very nice. But I think I put a little too much egg in it.
I send a recipe for crullers for Puss Hunter's Cooking Club: One heaping cup of sugar; half a cup of sweet milk; one table-spoonful of lard; three eggs well beaten; one heaping tea-spoonful of baking-powder; flavor with cinnamon or lemon. I read all the letters in the Post-office Box.
Grace Myrtle G.
This little housewife forgot to state the amount of flour required to complete her recipe; but any little girl's mamma will say how much is necessary to make the batter stiff enough for crullers.
Bristol, Rhode Island.
Here is a recipe for ginger-cake that I send to Puss Hunter's Cooking Club: One cup of molasses; half a cup of butter; half a cup of water; two cups of flour; two tea-spoonfuls of ginger; one tea-spoonful of soda.
Emma B.
I am thirteen years old, and I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Northeast Georgia. My home is in a lovely valley, called Nacoochee. It was called after an Indian princess of that name.
I have two dogs—Cupid and Brave. Cupid is a rat-terrier, but he likes to hunt rabbits better than rats. Brave is a white and yellow spotted dog. He is also a good rabbit hunter.
I am making a collection of Indian relics and quartz. I would like to exchange specimens with some of the readers of Young People.
John R. Glen,
Nacoochee, Georgia.
I have some little ponies. They are the prettiest little things you ever saw. And I have a nice Maltese kitty, and a little bird that sings like everything.
The town where I live was settled by the Hutchinson family of singers. I am nine years old.
I would like to exchange pressed flowers with Genevieve, or any other little girl in California.
Mattie L. Day,
Hutchinson, Minnesota.
Yesterday morning I went to the Soldiers' Home, in Dayton, to spend the day. It is the largest and handsomest institution of its kind in the United States. I went with a friend of mine, and we had a splendid time. What we enjoyed most were the flowers. We each bought a great number, and among others we got a quantity of pansies, which are my favorite flowers. I would like to exchange some pressed pansies for some of the floral beauties of California. I have a great many varieties, and some are very rare.
Ralph M. Fay,
Xenia, Ohio.
If any boy living at the sea-side or in the South will exchange birds' eggs with me, I will be very much obliged, and will, as quick as I receive any, send eggs in return.
I would like all eggs sent to me to be plainly marked, that I may know what kind they are.
Fred R. Benedict,
Norwalk. Huron County, Ohio.
If "Dot," of Washington, D. C., will send me her address, I would like to write to her. I am an invalid myself, and can sympathize with everybody that is sick in any way. I am eleven years old.
Clara L. Kellogg,
Fulton, Oswego County, New York.
New Albany, Indiana.
I should like to tell the little girl named "Dot" all I know about taming birds. I had two canaries, and they both died, but my sister had one, and every day I would take it out of the cage and pet it. It became so tame that it would eat out of my hand, and when I let it out of its cage, it would fly upon the tops of the picture-frames, and sometimes come and perch upon my shoulder. When school began I did not have time to pet it any more, and it became wild again.
N. L. V.
I am twelve years old. My mamma raises canary-birds. We are raising some mocking-birds, and if any of the correspondents of Young People could arrange to exchange a pair of pure Maltese kittens for a singing mocking-bird, I would be very much pleased.
Cornelia Fitts,
West Point, Clay County, Mississippi.
I am making a collection of birds' eggs and minerals, and would like to exchange specimens with any one. I would like very much to have some birds' eggs from the North. I send a list of eggs which have all been found in the Georgia woods: jaybird, cat-bird, sap-sucker, thrush (two kinds), redbird, bluebird, wren (different kinds), mocking-bird, woodpecker, partridge, bee-martin, and several kinds of sparrows. Any of these I would like to exchange for other kinds.
I saw a letter in Young People No. 29 from Samuel P. Higgins, of New Jersey, offering to exchange eggs. If he has any kinds not mentioned in my list, I would be very glad to exchange with him.
Alice I. Paine,
Ingleside Farm, Cherokee County, Georgia.
E. I. Radford.—E. & F. N. Span, New York city, can supply you with catalogues and books of all kinds relating to telegraphy.
Willie B. M.—The dates you require are given in "A Personation," on page 392 of Young People No. 28.
Charles L. S.—Fort Dodge, the military post, is in Kansas. There is a town in Iowa of the same name.
Elwyn A. S.—The shells of your doves' eggs are soft because the doves probably eat nothing from which the shell can be formed. A piece of cuttle-fish hung in the cage might answer the purpose; or, still better, the shells of hens' eggs broken in pieces and scattered in the cage. The doves also need plenty of clean gravel to scratch in.—Your first favor was acknowledged in Young People No. 19.
Maud H. B.—In an article on "The House-Sparrow" in Young People No. 14 you will find out what kind of food your "sparrow named Hopkins" will like best.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
DIAMOND.
In marble. To lay a wager. To yield blossoms. An animal. Reptiles. An abbreviation. In ascend.
A. H. E.