LETTER FROM A LITTLE GIRL ABOUT "HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE."
Newport, Rhode Island, November 6, 1879.
Mr. Editor,—I don't know who to put at the head of this letter, because I don't know your first name. I wonder if it is Uncle John.
Papa found me reading what he called a "trash paper" the other day, and he said he would take a good paper for me if I would not read any more of that kind of trash; and he said you was going to print a nice paper for young folks, and this morning he brought one home—the very first number; but he said he was disappointed in the size of it, and that it was not quite half so big as an ordinary paper at four cents, and I am afraid he will not take it for me; but mamma says if I wrote to you perhaps you could give me some good reason for the paper being smaller than papa expected, so that he will keep his promise, for I like the paper very much, and I have read about the "Brave Swiss Boy," and so has father; and he says it is better than the kind of paper they throw in the door—"to be continued." So please tell us why your paper is not so big as the "trash papers," as father calls them, and I will be very thankful.
Lizzie M. D.
There are several reasons why Harper's Young People is not as large as the journals which you call "trash" papers. In the first place, Harper's Young People is very carefully printed on extra fine paper, which make the type and illustrations look so clear and beautiful. And then a very large price is paid to the artists who draw the pictures, to the engravers who reproduce them on wood, and to the authors who contribute the reading matter which you find so interesting. The picture of "The Tournament," for instance, on the first page of the preceding number, cost over one hundred and fifty dollars for drawing and engraving. Some of the pictures will cost even more than that. If Young People was a larger weekly paper, and just as good in every respect as it is now, the price would necessarily be larger; and then some of our young readers might be deprived of the pleasure of having it.
Harper's Young People comes out every Tuesday; and if you read all the stories, poems, etc., and make out the puzzles and enigmas, you will find that it will take all the time you ought to spare from study, play, and other callings. We mean to make Young People the very best weekly for children in the world, so that they will always be glad to see it, as they would welcome a visit from a pleasant companion.
The following letters have been received in reply to the question, in the first number of Young People, as to the originator of cheap postage.
New York City.
The founder of the system of prepaying postage by placing a small label on one corner of the letter was Sir Rowland Hill. It was first advocated by him in 1837, and stamps were first used by the British Post-office May 6, 1840. They were introduced in the United States in 1847. Sir Rowland was born at Kidderminster in 1795, and died at Hampstead August 27, 1879, at the age of eighty-four.
Walter J. Lee.
Brooklyn, New York.
In answer to your question in the first number of Young People, asking if any one knew the name of the man who first thought of cheap postage, I would say that it was Sir Rowland Hill, of England. He died a few months ago at Hampstead, near London, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The answer to your letter puzzle in the same number is "Longfellow."
F. B. Hesse (11 years old).
Clara S. Gardiner, St. Louis, Missouri, sends a similar reply.
Correct answers to letter puzzle have also been received from Albert E. Seibert, New York city, and Annie B. Stephens, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Several correct answers to the mathematical puzzles have been sent in, and will be published as soon as other correspondents have had time to try their skill.
Louis B. Parsons, Montclair, New Jersey.—If you will put a very little oil of cloves, or still better, a few drops of creosote, into your ink, it will not trouble you by moulding. You should also keep it corked tight when not in use.