[to be continued.]
[PINAFORE RHYMES.—(Continued.)]
I'm glad to see you all so gay
On little Trottie's third birthday;
She's happy as a little queen,
And wants her presents to be seen;
She's got a doll that laughs and cries,
Opens her mouth, and winks her eyes;
A silver bird with painted wings,
And lots of other pretty things.
And all of us are very gay,
Because we have a holiday.
Through the sparkling, dewy grass
To the water's rim,
See my downy duckies run
For a merry swim.
Mother duck, as well as I,
Knows they can not drown,
And the water will not even
Wet the yellow down.
Our Johnny has a fishing-pole
That reaches up so high
That I'm afraid 'twill make a hole
Right through the clear blue sky.
It reaches up so very far,
If he'd come out at night,
And go a-fishing for a star,
He'd catch one, so he might.
They sat in the circus, all six in a row,
And thought that they never had seen such a show;
They laughed at the clowns and their comical tricks,
And all went home a-laughing, that party of six.
We offer a few suggestions to our young exchangers, which we hope they will read and remember. In the first place, be very careful to prepay postage on letters and packages, otherwise they will be sent to the Dead-letter Office. The correspondent to whom they are directed will be notified, but he is not obliged to send for them unless he wishes to do so. If he does not, you will blame him for not answering you, when the fault is wholly your own. Many of our correspondents find this matter of sending to the Dead-letter Office for unpaid packages very burdensome, and we see no reason why they should do it. As it is through the carelessness of the sender that the postage is not paid, the loss and the trouble should fall on him.
When you send specimens of minerals, pressed flowers, or any other natural curiosity, mark each distinctly, stating the name, if you know it, and the locality where it was found.
Always be sure to give your full address, distinctly written; and do not neglect to pay attention to the suggestion to note down the letters you receive, which we gave you in the Post-office Box of No. 78.
If you have only a very few specimens to exchange—perhaps only one arrow-head—we would advise you not to ask for an exchange through Young People, for you will receive a large quantity of letters, and as you have but one thing to dispose of, you will be in trouble, and very sadly out of your spending money, which will all go for postage, because if boys and girls send you things you have asked for, you must return them unless you can send a fair equivalent.
This matter of postage you must also consider before you enroll your name among our exchangers. A good many boys and girls have been compelled to withdraw their names because their allowance of pocket-money would not begin to cover the postage on the answers they had to write.
What you can do is this: If you have one arrow-head, or a very few stamps, or pressed flowers, which you wish to exchange, watch in the Post-office Box until you find the name of some boy or girl who offers just what you wish, for just what you have to give. Then you can write to the correspondent and arrange a pleasant exchange without any trouble, and without subjecting yourself to big postage bills, or to the task of writing to scores of applicants that your stock is exhausted.
Wakefield, Massachusetts.
The canoes we have built here after the directions given in Young People for April 27, 1880, have, without exception, been successes. They all weigh somewhere in the vicinity of fifty-five pounds, and are exceedingly graceful in shape. Within three weeks after the publication of the directions in Young People two canoes were in preparation in our town, and in three months a fleet of seven canoes was fully equipped and prepared. These canoes can be made inside of seven dollars.
At first we obtained spruce, and laid our keelson, which any boy can make in one afternoon with a good splitting saw. Of the ribs, nine were of soft wood, and three of hard. For slats to stretch over the frame-work, we used the strips of wood which come around hay bales. These we soaked and planed. After fastening these to the bow and stern, also to the ribs, and having made the frame-work for the deck, we were ready for the canvas. This having been carefully tacked to the keelson and gunwale, was oiled, and then painted. Then, having finished the well, we fastened the keel over the canvas along the keelson and the bow and stern, and added another coat of paint.
While this was drying, the paddle was made, and then we were ready for our trial trip. It was with fear and trembling that we carefully lowered our canoes into the water, and then, with still greater anxiety, stepped into them. Imagine our delight when, instead of keeling over, as we had feared, our boats sat as evenly and nicely as any we had ever seen. That day was a joyous one, and I can tell you we didn't lose the opportunity of being on the lake whenever we could. Two of us enjoyed a long trip, and a greater number are planning one for this coming summer.
I think almost any boy, with the proper tools and plenty of care, could make a canoe inside of a month. I hope this account of our success will stimulate some to make the attempt.
S. A.
South Royalton, Vermont.
I am a little boy of six years. I have no brother, and only one sister. She is teaching lots of little girls and boys in Iowa. I want to see her very much. I print letters to her, and she writes to me, and sends me lots of pretty things.
I wish the children that write letters for the Post-office Box would come and play with me. I am sorry for the sick ones, and for the one whose brother perished in the snow last winter while he was hunting in Canada.
I have good times making and eating maple sugar.
I have live sheep and two lambs of my own, and we have ten pretty calves. I get the eggs every night, and I shut up the turkeys.
The school-house is very near, and when school commences I shall have some boys to play with me. I am going to carry my Young People to school, so as to let the scholars see it.
Leon D. L.
Mountain House, California.
My home is a large public-house, and our nearest neighbor lives a mile away. We have beautiful scenery here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and now the snow has gone, the wild flowers are coming up everywhere.
There are mines very near our house, and my grandpa has a saw-mill.
We have a governess with us all the time. I am nine years old, and I have a sister eleven, and a little brother. We have a post-office and a telegraph office. I can telegraph some, and my sister can send and receive messages.
Not only my sister and I read Young People, but also all the big folks here, and they thought "Toby Tyler" was just splendid.
Ida C.
Lakeville, New York.
I am the oldest of three boys. I have a little sister, who looks at my Young People, and reads it in her baby way, and kisses all the pretty pictures.
I live at the foot of Lake Conesus. It was named by the Indians, and the word in their language means "beautiful waters." There are three steamers and two sailing yachts on the lake.
My papa has moved to his farm this spring. He has just bought a span of fine young horses, and if any of Harper's Young People will come to see me, I will give them a ride.
Harry F. W.
Bleak House, Illinois.
I am a little girl seven years old, and I want to write to Young People.
It has been such a long winter! We think it is time for spring. The snow-banks are thawing to-day (April 10), and this morning the birds were singing, and a prairie-chicken went boo-o-o-o.
I live on a farm, and when my uncle William goes into the woods, I go with him, and ride back on a load of wood, and I see squirrels, and acorns, and moss, and hawks' nests in the tops of the trees.
I have a little sister in Scotland. She is eleven years old. She writes me nice letters. She has seen London and the Queen's palace. Santa Claus brought her a doll, and she has named it Grace Anastasia.
Dudie A. C.
New Orleans, Louisiana.
I like "Toby Tyler" and "Phil's Fairies" best of all the stories in Young People.
I am twelve years old. My mamma died five weeks ago, and left me with my sister and papa. I have been an invalid all my life until now, when I can run as fast as any little girl.
The flowers are all in bloom (April 14), and everything is so green and lovely!
Laura B.
Downieville, California.
We have had a warm, pleasant winter here. I found the first buttercup on the 8th of January, and now (April 10) there are quantities of buttercups and wild pansies, and a few days ago I found two wild larkspurs. This time last year the snow was between four and six feet deep.
I have a dear little kitten named Frisky, and she deserves her name, for a more playful little thing I never saw. She loves to play with a ball of yarn. Sometimes she will get angry with it and kick it, then she will hug it, then she will bite and kick it again. We have another kitten named Beauty. He is not so playful as Frisky, but sometimes she will coax him to play, and if you could only hear the noise they make when they chase each other across the floor, you would think they were two little mules instead of two little cats. I often call Beauty "Professor," because he is such a serious kitten. He will sit still and stare at a thing so long, and he has such very big round eyes!
Mary A. R.
Chicago, Illinois.
I am nine years old. I go to Lincoln School. I want to tell Young People about our temperance meeting we have every Wednesday afternoon. We call ourselves the Band of Hope, because our teacher says we are the hope of the nation. She reads to us how alcohol hurts the brain and the health, and does not allow one to be a strong man. Then we have singing, and say the Lord's Prayer. Before we go home the young ladies give us papers. From sixty to seventy boys meet every week. We are going to try to have a reading-room for the bigger boys.
I hope all the children will read this letter, and I want lots of boys to have temperance meetings, as we do.
James McD.
Waterbury, Vermont.
In Young People No. 77, G. H. inquired how much sap it takes to make a pound of maple sugar. My papa has a sugar orchard of three hundred trees, and has made seventeen hundred pounds of sugar this year. He says it takes from fourteen to twenty quarts of sap to make a pound of sugar.
M. H. M.
Cold Spring, New York.
I want to tell the boy in Ohio that I had ten chickens hatched on the 11th of March, seventeen days earlier than his.
Fred D. M.
We acknowledge a package of letters from the scholars of the Marcella Street Home, Boston Highlands. These little fellows who write to us are from seven to twelve years old. We are very glad to hear from them, and gratified to see from their neat and correctly written letters that they are profiting by the kind attention of their teachers. We thank them for their expressions of pleasure in Young People, and like to know that they spend so many happy hours reading its stories, working out the puzzles, and learning pieces from it to speak in school. We print two of the letters, and are sorry we have not space to print them all.
Marcella Street Home, Boston, Mass.
I am a little boy eleven years old. All the boys here have been very much interested in the story of Toby Tyler. I think his lot is something like ours, for we are all poor boys without homes; but there are many things to make it a happy home for us here.
We have four beautiful school-rooms, pleasant teachers and officers, and a kind Superintendent.
At noon we leave our school-rooms, and fall in line to march into the dining-hall, and afterward we go to a large play-room, where we play.
In the evening we come again to the school-rooms for half an hour. We have silent prayer, and take off our shoes, and march out into the dormitories for the night.
I like holidays, for then the boys have a good time and a big dinner.
George Johnston.
I am a very small boy. I am eight years old, and I have been at the Marcella Street Home four years. We have just moved into our new school-room, and it is so very pleasant and so sunny! There are nine windows in it, seven blackboards, with nine drawings on them made by us boys, and two gas jets with Easter-eggs on them, and seven plants. Don't you think it must be nice?
We have sixty-four boys in our school, and all have new desks. How good our Superintendent is to us! We have two radiators, two numeral frames, and three spelling frames, and lots of blocks that the babies play with.
I like the story of Toby Tyler, and think he is smart. I hope he will never run away again. I like the puzzles too. My teacher told us that smart boys answer your puzzles, so we try, if we are in the lowest room.
Joseph Minon.
We have received many correct answers to puzzles from these ambitious little students, and hope we shall hear from them again and often.
Soldiers' Orphan Home, Knightstown, Indiana.
I am a little girl twelve years old. My father and mother are both dead. I have been here at the Home nearly four years. I was here when it burned down; but it has been rebuilt more beautiful than ever. My teacher and governess are very kind to the children. We have three ranks of boys, and one rank of girls. There are four little boys here who wear dresses yet. We have a dog that has been here twelve years. We are all happy, and I shall be lonesome when the time comes for me to leave.
Hattie E. R.
I live on a farm three miles from the post-office. I went on horseback for the mail yesterday. I had a nice ride. A short distance from our house is a high hill, and from its summit is one of the grandest views in Northern New York State.
Right at the base of the hill live some little friends of mine. They are getting a collection of minerals and insects, and I am making a collection of woods. I have one hundred and twenty-five different kinds. I would like to exchange elm, bass-wood, maple, and ash, for black walnut or cottonwood. Please label specimens.
Clair W. Austin,
Copenhagen, Lewis Co., N. Y.
I wish to exchange foreign stamps, fossils, minerals, and other specimens, for minerals, fossils, shells, sea plants, corals, or other ocean curiosities, arrow-heads, spear-heads, and other genuine Indian relics, or any good curiosities. Correspondents will please label every specimen distinctly, and state the locality where it was found.
I wish to give notice to those who are exchanging with me that my address is changed.
Louis D. Orrison,
1206 Independence Avenue, Kansas City, Mo.
Edna Wheeler, Williamsville, Vermont, wishes to notify correspondents that she can not exchange any more maple sugar for shells and mosses.
Robert T. Parke, Downingtown, Pennsylvania, desires to withdraw his name from our exchange list, as his stock of coins and other articles for exchange is exhausted.
If the correspondent who sent me stamps in an unsealed letter, and wished arrow-heads in return, will favor me with his address, I will answer him. I also request the addresses of others who have sent me things and have received no answer.
Russell S. Janney,
Rainbow Box, Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio.
I wish to say to correspondents that my stock of Chinese coins is exhausted. I will now exchange peacock coal, minerals, stamps, and postmarks, for sea-shells, sea-moss, and arrow-heads or other Indian relics.
Willard Barnes,
Wellsville, Allegany Co., N. Y.
The following exchanges are offered by correspondents:
A printing-press and outfit in good order, for a stamp-book but little used.
James Nelson, Jun.,
Mount Vernon, Westchester Co., N. Y.
A Newfoundland stamp, for a petrified shell.
Archie C. Niven,
Care of Rev. T. M. Niven, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.
An ounce of soil from Pennsylvania, for the same from any other State.
James A. Parker,
Williamsport, Penn.
Florida moss and iron ore, for fifteen postage stamps from Japan, Spain, Cuba, Newfoundland, and other foreign countries.
H. Leonard Potts,
P. O. Box 18, Pottstown, Montgomery Co., Penn.
Soil of Long Island, New York, for the same from any other State.
Samuel D. Pine,
Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y.
A specimen of tourmaline, for minerals or Indian relics; or some stamps, for a curiosity.
John G. Reevs,
P. O. Box 720, Yonkers, N. Y.
Stamps from Russia, Montevideo, Argentine Confederation, Chili, Brazil, and Germany (no duplicates), for other foreign stamps. Those of China, Italy, and France especially desired.
M. B. Rauch,
713 Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, Penn.
Ten postmarks, for one stamp, either a United States 90-cent Agricultural, Executive, or Justice Department, Cape of Good Hope, Western Australia, Persia, or Egypt.
Harry B. Rood,
Poultney, Rutland Co., Vt.
Foreign stamps and insects, for insects.
Arthur R. Torrey,
1 Hubbard Avenue, West Cambridge, Mass.
Stamps from Bavaria and Denmark, for United States department stamps.
Dan Talmage,
Bound Brook, N. J.
Specimens of garnet rock, kyanite, or limestone, for postage stamps, or other minerals.
Louis Treadwell, Redding, Fairfield Co., Conn.
Ocean curiosities, fossils, old coins, and other curiosities, for Indian relics.
William A. White,
Sag Harbor, Suffolk Co., Long Island, N. Y.
United States and foreign stamps, for sea-shells, Indian relics, ore, coral, or other curiosities.
Johnnie Wood,
188 State Street, Rochester, N. Y.
Minerals and curiosities, for United States department and revenue stamps, and foreign postage stamps.
George E. Wells,
P. O. Box 466, New York City.
Ten foreign stamps, for fifty postmarks (no duplicates).
Anne H. Wilson,
Clermont, Columbia Co., N. Y.
Stamps.
Charlie E. Wheeler,
Chesterville, Franklin Co., Me.
[For other exchanges, see third page of cover.]
P. C. H.—In most book establishments the printing is done from stereotype or electrotype plates, taken from the type pages. In the first process one or more pages are placed in an iron frame, and from these a mould is taken in plaster of Paris. Type-metal—a composition mainly of lead and antimony—is poured into this mould, forming a cast of the face of the type. These casts, or "plates," are planed down upon the back to a regular thickness, and from them the printing is made precisely as from the types themselves. In electrotyping, a mould of beeswax, coated with black-lead to give it a metallic surface, is forced by a powerful pressure upon a page of type, producing a perfect fac-simile. After receiving another coating of black-lead, the mould is placed in a tank filled with a solution of sulphate of copper, into which enter the poles of a galvanic or electric battery, the mould being connected with the positive pole, the negative pole being attached to a plate of copper. In an instant a thin film of copper appears on the "black-leaded" surface of the mould. This increases in quantity until it has acquired the thickness of a sheet of stout paper. The upper surface of this "shell," when taken from the mould, is a perfect fac-simile of the face of the original page. This thin shell would be crushed flat by the immense pressure of the printing-press. It must be "backed up" with type-metal. This metal will not, even when melted, adhere firmly to a sheet of copper, but it will adhere to tin, and melted tin will adhere to copper. A sheet of tin-foil is laid upon the back of the copper shell, which is secured in a shallow iron tray, and heated. Melted type-metal is then poured over the plate, filling up every depression, and forming a solid backing, firmly soldered to the shell. The plates are then shaved down to the proper size, and are ready for the press.
Rebecca D.—There are several works on the Egyptian Pyramids, but all of them are too scientific and learned to be interesting to young readers. If you live near a library which contains encyclopædias, you will find in them all that you would care to read at present about their age and probable origin and purpose. The largest and most interesting are at Jeezeh, about twelve miles from Cairo, and seven from the banks of the Nile. Learned men differ in regard to the time when they were built, as well as for what use they were intended. Some calculations place the date at about 2170 years b.c., and while some scholars hold that these enormous structures were intended for royal sepulchres only, others suppose that they were built for astrological purposes. Although erected in the childhood of the human race, the masonry of the Pyramids is far superior to that of modern times. The joints of the casing-stones, that still partially cover the sides, are so close that the thinnest paper can not be inserted in them.
B. T. H.—As allegory is a figurative representation in which a story or a picture signifies something more than its literal meaning, it is the privilege of an artist to call his ideal picture "Temperance," "Fortitude," or anything else he pleases. Probably the pictures you saw were given those names because to the artist's mind they represented the characteristics of those particular virtues.
A very large number of our little correspondents have sent us poems on spring and the fresh grass and flowers. We can not print any of them, but we thank them for their favors. Their fancies are all pretty, and we are glad to see that boys and girls are such close observers of Nature, and that they love her changing moods well enough to write her praises in verse.
The editor thanks Tillie S. for her pretty Easter-egg, with its kind wishes.
G. S. H.—Long Island is a part of New York State, and is included within its boundaries. It may properly be said to be in New York State.
Nelse W., W. L. W., R. C. Orr, and Others.—The coins and paper money you inquire about are interesting as curiosities, but have no great value. United States cents and half-cents of an early date are usually sold for from ten to thirty cents, according to date and condition. The only coinage upon which any special value is placed is that of 1799, which was so small that but few perfect specimens now remain in existence. It is not always the age which determines the value; for instance, a cent of 1810 is worth considerably more than one of 1798. If you live near any large public library, and can consult the Mint Reports of different years, you can find out whether the coinage of that year was large or small, and in that way determine if your specimen be rare or not. Every mail brings us questions concerning the value of coins, which we can not answer, partly because the descriptions, as a rule, are not sufficiently accurate, and also because the value depends very much on condition, and that we can not know without a careful examination of the coin in question. If any of you have old coins, the best thing is to keep them and look upon them as curiosities, without seeking to know their money value, which is arbitrary at best, as every dealer or collector to whom you might take them will offer you a different price.
Correct answers to puzzles have been received from W. Aiken, R. Burke, J. Cott, J. Reagan, and P. Riley, Marcella Street Home, "A. B. C," Courtland F. Bishop, Charles S. Bingham, A. E. Cressingham, R. O. Chester, Bernie Collins. Frank C. F., Ernest Frankel, E. L. Hunt, Willie Hartwell, Frank Hayward, William B. Hadley, W. E. J., Samuel Kridel, Beth D. L., "L. U. Stral," Otis J. Loomis, H. B. Lent, Charles F. Meyer, Percy L. McD., F. Nichols, Bessie and Edith Nesbitt, "Pepper," Charles H. P., Ned Robinson, John Richardson, "Starry Flag," G. P. Salters, T. W. Siddall, Howard J. Van Doren, Maude Wilson, "Will A. Mette."