C. Y. P. R. U.
The Postmistress has a particular request to make of her young gentleman friends, particularly of those who write to her of their success with guns and bows and arrows. It is that they will read and think about this tender little poem, written by a lover of birds, who found a poor little bobolink dead in her nest on his lawn:
WHO KILLED ROBERT OF LINCOLN?
BY NATHANIEL NILES.
Robert of Lincoln went searching for food
To take to his love on her nest;
From bush and tree-top, from meadow and wood,
To pick it, and bring her the best.
He sprang from the edge of her nest below,
And sat on a twig that was nigh,
To sing her a song before he could go—
But sang her his last good-by.
Far out on the meadow a lad that day
Had gone to take sport with his gun,
Cheerily shooting the birds on his way,
And—Robert of Lincoln was one.
Since Robert of Lincoln went out to the wood
Three suns have gone down in the west:
And weary of waiting for him to bring food,
She died without leaving her nest.
Some of you have been very much interested in the pretty fan drills and broom drills which have been in fashion lately. Now let me tell you about the mékés, or dances of Feejee, of which an interesting description is given by Miss C. F. Gordon Cumming in her book At Home in Feejee.
"In one very odd dance," she says, "a queer, fluttering creature, with a huge fan in each hand to represent wings, kept dancing round and round a covey of cowering children, whom he bowled over two at a time. Then, as they lay prone, he fanned them to life again, and so drove them along to join the orchestra." The idea was supposed to be that of a bird of prey providing for her young.
In another méké half the men carry fans adorned with long blue and white streamers, and the other half brandish spears. At the end of every movement each dancer holds his fan high above his head, and all together utter a wild, piercing cry. After a while the fan half and the spear half separate into opposing lines, and have a sham fight. In this the spearsmen are defeated, and fall down as if dead, when the fan-bearers bend over and fan them until they spring to their feet again.
In some of the movements the dancers are armed with the old carved war clubs, which were their terrible weapons when the Feejeeans were cannibals. During the last forty years Christianity has been introduced into the islands, and the people who used to be fierce and cruel beyond belief are now the meek and gentle followers of the Saviour.
But in their houses they still have the heirlooms which belonged to their savage ancestors, and which the older ones have themselves fought with when they were young. The missionaries have never tried to induce them to abandon their graceful national games, and so they still practice these beautiful dances, and they are a great feature at the missionary meetings, to which the islanders throng, each bringing his offering with him to present when the contributions are asked for.
One lovely dance represents the breaking of waves on a coral reef. In this they leap and toss their heads, on which they wear loose turbans of soft white native cloth, finished with floating scarf-like ends, which flutter in the breeze. When they begin, it is usually slowly, and with such precision that in the long lines the spears, clubs, or fans are raised and lowered as if held by one man. In every dance they follow a leader, and the leader is often a tiny child, quaintly dressed, and executing every manœuvre perfectly.
Members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this number another one of the interesting series of articles on music, by Mrs. John Lillie, entitled "The Story of the Opera." Under the title of "The Titmouse Family," Mrs. Helen S. Conant describes the characteristic habits and ways of these merry and saucy little inhabitants of the bird world. Then you must read about Prince Bismarck. Fancy one of the greatest statesmen the world has ever known having been born on April-fools' Day! We wonder how many of the boys will undertake to construct a magic lantern from the directions given? To those that do we would say that they must not get out of patience if they have trouble in making the soldering-iron work effectively at first. A little patience will overcome all difficulties.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
A WORD SQUARE.
1. A piece of timber. 2. A wild animal. 3. A pointer. 4. A perfume. 5. Compositions on which notes are written.
Empire City.