LETTER NO. 5 FROM BESSIE MAYNARD TO HER DOLL.
Cambridge, September, 1880.
MY DEAREST CLYTIE,—When I sent my last letter from Bar Harbor I thought it would be the very last I should write you for a long time, but I shall not see you for two whole weeks more, and I can not wait till then to tell you all the fine things I am precipitating for next winter.
We left Mount Desert last Monday, and have been with grandma and Auntie Belle here in Cambridge ever since, except when we go flying back and forth from Boston. We are very busy, Clytie, and have heaps of shopping to do; for what do you think?—we are all going to Europe, and are to sail one month from to-day. I am awfully glad, of course, but I don't know how I can live all winter long without you. Don't tell the rest of the dolls, Clytie, but I do a little bit believe that you are going too! Now that is a very great secret, so you will keep it close down in your own little heart, and not let the others even respect a thing about it, because it might make them feel bad that I chose you and left them behind; and one thing I never would do, and that is to let my children think I had a favorite among them. You know I love every one of them dearly, but of course I can not take them all to Europe, and as you are the largest, it is more your place to go.
Now for another piece of news: Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton are engaged! Yes, Clytie, they really are, and they are going to be married this very month, and go to Europe when we do. If this isn't news enough, here is some more: Randolph Peyton has gone home with his mamma, and they are all coming to our house in New York the week before we sail, and go with our party! Won't it be lovely? There will be Mr. and Mrs. Peyton, Randolph and his sister Helen, and Miss Rogers, their governess. I have never seen Helen, but Randolph says she is "awfully jolly, considering she is only a girl," so I guess I shall like her. Then there will be papa and mamma and me (and you, if we take you), Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton, only she won't be Miss Carleton then—she will be Mrs. Howard, and I am to call her Cousin Carrie: indeed, I call her so now, for Cousin Frank asked me to, and I would do anything to please him. I have forgiven him for sending me away one night when they were talking about little pitchers. When I asked him about it afterward, and if it was really deckerativeart they meant, he tried to exclaim to me, but he laughed so hard all the time, I couldn't make out anything at all except that I was the very funniest little pitcher in the whole world! Did you ever know such a comical thing as to call me, a girl ten years old, a pitcher? I'm sure he didn't know what he was talking about.
Mamma says I may give them anything I choose for a wedding present, and I have presided on a silver pitcher. I am going to send it with a card tied on the handle marked, "This is me," and I guess they will wonder what it means. Don't you?
I have told Cousin Carrie so much about you that she seems to love you already, even though she has never seen you, and she says she shall invite you to her wedding. Won't that be fun? She is going to send you her cards, and you will go with me. I shall get home in time to have your dress made. Mine is to be a bomination dress of white cashmere and silk, and I think yours will be of the same kind in rose-color.
I will tell you one more adventure that befell us at Bar Harbor, and then I shall not write any more letters unless you are left at home when I go to Europe. Of course, if you are, I shall write as often as I possibly can, and I shall have so many new and strange appearances in crossing the ocean and in visiting forran lands that the reading of them will make up in some agree for being left at home.
Randolph and I went down to the beach, the evening before we came away, to launch his ship—a beautiful one, with sails all set, "full-rigged," as the sailors say, that his uncle in Philadelphia had sent him that very day.
The Stars and Stripes waved from the prow or stern—I never know which is which—and on the top of one of the masts he fastened a "pennon," as he called it, with the name of the ship in big blue letters. (He printed it himself with his blue pencil, and it looked real cunning blowing round in the wind, and flapping up and down.) What do you suppose the name was? Bessie, to be sure. He says he thinks it is an "awfully jolly" name for a ship, or for a girl either.
Well, the wind blew just the right way for a splendid launch. I held the cord, letting it out as fast as he told me to, and he gave it a push, and off it sailed, straight and lovely as a duck. I was so delighted I couldn't possibly help clapping my hands, and, oh, Clytie! I dropped the cord, and away it went, up and down over the waves as if it was alive. Randolph muttered something that sounded like, "Bother! that's just like a girl!" and scowled awfully at me, and then ran out into the water after it. I screamed as loud as I could, for I was afraid he would drown; and then I remembered how he had saved my life, and I said to myself, He is my friend now, and I will save him, for he saved me when we were emernies. So, as the story-books say, I "dashed into the foaming billows" after him, and just as I caught him by his jacket I thought I heard him say again, "Bother!" and then came a great rushing noise in my ears, my mouth was full of water, and the next thing I knew I was lying in mamma's bed, and she and two or three other people were rubbing me! I was almost drowned, Clytie; and so it was Randolph who saved my life a second time, and I never saved his at all.
When I pulled him by his jacket, a wave broke over us; but he was stronger and bigger than I, and a boy besides (and truly, Clytie, boys do know more than girls about some things), and so he caught me, and sort of pulled and rolled and pushed me out of the water; and just then Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton came round the point in their boat, and Cousin Frank took me in his arms, and ran up to the hotel as fast as he could go.
Poor mamma was most subtracted when she saw me, and Randolph was so scared he forgot all about his lovely new ship, that long before that time had gone sailing out to sea all by itself.
Wasn't it awful, Clytie? If I had minded what Solomon says, "Look before you leap," I should have seen that Randolph had his hand on the ship at the very moment I seized him, and he could have got back safe to the shore without any of my help.
Good-by for a little while. I shall see you and the rest of the dolls week after next.
Your loving mamma,
Bessie Maynard.
Cham, Switzerland.
I am a little boy only six years old, and can not write very well, but I want to say how much I like Young People. My mamma and papa have taken Harper's Weekly and Harper's Monthly more years than I can remember.
I like so much to hear all about the pets of the other children. I have not any, but I have a dear little sister called Myra, and she is my pet.
I liked the story "Across the Ocean" very much, but I think "The Moral Pirates" was the best.
My governess is writing this, but soon I hope to be able to write myself, as I have nearly finished my second copy-book. One year ago I could not speak any English, but now I can read short stories, and I am always so happy when Young People comes.
C. D. P.
Lynchburg, Texas.
I am twelve years old. I have a little colt, but it is not gentle, it is very wild. I also have a roan horse, named Sabine. Whenever horses are gathered I help to herd them. I like to do it very much. We generally have about three hundred head to herd. I have no pets now, for my little dog died.
I visited Captain H——'s plantation last winter, and I had a very nice time. I saw the men gin cotton, and I drove the horses round in the gin.
Charles A. T.
Buffalo, Wyoming Territory.
I have wanted to write to the Post-office Box for a long time for I like Young People so much, but I thought as there were so many children writing perhaps my letter would not be printed.
I live in a very lonely country. There are no little girls here at all, but I have a good many pets. I have two colts, named Nellie and Dollie, and a puppy named Carlo. Then I have a cat and four little kittens, and six pigeons, and lots of little chickens. I am going to get a pair of canaries very soon.
Luella A. M.
Wheatland, New York.
I am eleven years old. I live in the Genesee Valley, which I have heard is the nicest valley in the world. We have not many pets, because there are seven of us children, and mamma thinks those are pets enough for one house.
We have a black dog named Shot, but he is real old. We raised him from a puppy. Once he was in a soap box, with three other puppies, and mamma heard an awful squealing. There was a knot-hole in the box, and the puppy's tail stuck out. My little brother Jim crept up and grabbed hold of it, and was trying to pull the poor puppy through the knot-hole.
We had a yellow cat named Moses. He would let us dress him and put him to bed like a baby, and when my little sister sat down on the floor, he would come and put his paws around her neck. He died last spring, and we had a funeral. My brother Manta made a head-stone for him, and painted it white, and put poor Moses's name and age on it.
Laura M.
Winona, Minnesota.
I have just returned home from Maiden Rock, a little town in Wisconsin. It is a funny name for a town, and I will tell you why it is called so. There was once an Indian maiden who wanted to marry a young brave, but the other Indians were not willing. One day she went to the top of a high rock, as high as the bluffs on the shore of Lake Pepin. The Indians called to her to come down, and they would give her permission to marry her lover; but she knew very well that if she went down they would kill her, so she jumped from the rock and killed herself. I am eleven years old.
Bella M.
Salem, North Carolina.
I got Harper's Young People for a birthday present, and I like to read the Post-office Box.
In August I went on a mountain trip. We slept in tents. The roads over the mountains are very rough, but we thought it splendid fun to ride in the baggage-wagon.
I have a small museum. Last year when my father came home from Europe he brought me some stones from Rome and from the Alps, and also some pressed flowers.
H. E. R.
Canandaigua, New York.
I am nine years old. I have a twin sister Ina, and a little brother Herbert, who is very cunning and full of mischief. We have only two pets besides Herbert—a dog named Dick and a cat named Jack. We have lots of fun. We have a croquet set in the yard, and sometimes we have a tent too. Every time Dick comes into the house Herbert calls out, "Dit, here, Dit."
Papa owns a share in a cabin, and every summer we all go up to the lake, and stay about two weeks. Herbert likes to play in the water, and throw stones in it. One day he crawled right in, and got all wet. He does not like to ride in the boat, because he has to sit still. He wants to be in mischief all the time, and he is a little wide-awake, and will not go to sleep when he can help it. He is nineteen months old.
Ada E.
Lockport, Illinois.
I want to tell you about some fun I had the other day. We have a barrel sunk in the yard with water-lilies in it. There was a lizard in it too. I made a noose and caught it, and put it into mamma's big dish pan, which I filled with water. Then I caught two little toads; one was a little brown fellow about an inch long, and the other a little larger. I put a little piece of board in the water, and fastened it to the end of the string that was round the lizard's neck. Then I put the little toads on the board, and the lizard drew them all around.
Emma H.
Scottsville, New York.
I am five and a half years old. I can not read, but I can write letters, although mamma says nobody can read them, so she is writing this for me. Mamma and sister read me the stories in Young People. I liked "The Moral Pirates" best of all, but I was afraid Jim would get shot when he took the borrowed boat back.
I have a cat that eats milk and everything with its paw. And I have three rabbits.
Yesterday I took mamma and papa over to the depot, a mile away, and drove home all alone.
I go fishing with papa, and have caught a good many fish.
Milton B.
Xenia, Ohio.
I wish to ask a favor of some of the Southern correspondents of the Post-office Box. My sister planted a cotton seed, and the plant that came up bears white blossoms which afterward turn red and drop off. Now I would like very much to know whether it is cotton or not. I would also be glad for all information about the cotton-plant that any correspondent will give.
Roscoe E. E.
I am a little boy seven years old. I live at Ingleton, Alabama, two miles from Dickson. My papa owns a large stone quarry. I have two little brothers and one little sister, and we take Young People. I like Bessie Maynard's letters to her dollie the best of all.
Georgie F.
Buffalo Paper Mill, North Carolina.
Papa takes Harper's Magazine and Weekly, the Bazar for mamma, and Young People for my brothers and sister and myself. I like to read the stories, and the letters in the Post-office Box.
We live right in the woods. Buffalo Creek runs around our house, almost forming an island. I do not go to school. Mamma teaches us at home. We say our lessons every evening.
I have a pet hen. She is black, and so tame that she comes in the house every evening for me to put her to roost. Then we have lots of pigs, goats, calves, chickens, and pigeons, and each of my five brothers has a colt.
Mary T.
Warsaw, Indiana.
I have no father nor mother. I live with my uncle and aunt, who are very good to me. In vacation I work in uncle's printing-office, and when there is school I go.
My uncle takes Harper's Weekly, and my aunt takes the Bazar, and I take Young People. I think it is one of the best papers published.
I have a pet chicken named Mary. She will walk a rope, and swing in a little swing I made for her.
Alfred J. H.
Paxton, Illinois.
I take Young People, and I like to read the letters from the little folks. I am ten years old, and am in the fourth room and "A" class at school.
I had a velocipede, but it is broken. I have a horse and a saddle and bridle, and I ride a good deal.
My little sister is three years old, and I am making a play-house for her. She bit my ear so hard I had to cry. Mamma asked her what made her bite brother's ear. She said, "Brother hurt his ear on my teeth."
Ritchey M. K.
Arrow Rock, Missouri.
In the hot weather we keep our doors open at night, and one night a little opossum got in, and in the morning we found it curled up in papa's hat. I kept it for a few days, but once when I went away it ran off. I am seven years old.
Ridley McL.
Chicago, Illinois.
Young People comes every week, and I assure you it receives a warm welcome.
We have two little pets. Their names are Roly and Poly. Roly is a little Skye terrier, and Poly is a kitten, which travelled here from "down East." They eat, drink, sleep, and, I am sorry to say, cry together, for they are both very sensitive. They object strongly to being shut up at night, and protest against it loudly.
I am thirteen years old, and I wear spectacles.
J. O.
Walla Walla, Washington Territory.
I have taken Young People ever since the first number, and I find it very interesting. I was born in this Territory, but I have been to San Francisco and down the Pacific coast as far as Santa Barbara, where I remained six months with my mother and brother and sister. Sometimes in warm weather we take a trip to the Blue Mountains, and we have picnics and fishing parties. I am eleven years old.
Fannie Minnie B.
Adams, Wisconsin.
I am ten years old. I live in the country, near a beautiful lake called Lake Pleasant. I often have a boat-ride on it. The hills are quite high around the lake.
I live with my grandpa and grandma, and I go to school in an old yellow school-house that has stood for thirty years. We are going to have a nice new brick school-house soon, but I do not like to have the dear old house torn down, as it is the same one my mamma went to school in.
We have two hundred sheep. I have a pet lamb that will leave the flock when I call it. Its name is Dickie.
Nora P.
Randall, New York.
I am eleven years old. I have not any pets now, but I had two. One was a little dog named Fanny. It would draw a little sleigh with a milk-pail on it, and pull me on the ice when I had my skates on. The other was a little kitten that would jump and take a piece of meat out of my hand when I held it over my head.
George W. L.
New Orleans, Louisiana.
I am eleven years old. I like Young People very much. I often go out to the Spanish fort. There is a band of music there every evening, and every Saturday it is there all day. There are two cannon which have been in the fort ever since 1718. I have two pet kittens that follow me everywhere.
Charlie N. W.
I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with some of the readers of Young People.
Eddie de Lima, care of D. A. de Lima & Co.,
68 William St., New York City.
I would like to exchange postmarks of the United States or Canada with any readers of Young People.
A. W. Russell, P. O. Box 109,
Brookfield, Madison County, New York.
I would be glad to exchange postage stamps with any readers of Young People.
Harry Gustin, Bay City, Michigan.
I have a few foreign coins which I should like to exchange for rare postage stamps. They are small French coins, Swiss, English, Prussian, German, and Italian, copper and nickel. Some of them I do not know. They look like silver, but I think they are only German silver.
Eugene E. Pettee,
11 Prospect Street, Fall River, Massachusetts.
I have a collection of shells, minerals, postmarks, coins, and woods. I have also a collection of about eleven hundred and twenty-five stamps, all different kinds, and I would like to exchange stamps with any of the readers of Young People.
I am twelve years old. I have a canary, and my brother and I had a pair of squirrels, but one died.
Horace C. Foote,
109 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.
I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with any correspondents. I have stamps from Colombia, Venezuela, Germany, England, and other countries.
Elias Desola,
162 East Sixtieth Street, New York City.
I would like to exchange flower seeds with any little girl in California or Florida. I have verbenas, mixed phlox, four-o'clocks, sweet-williams, balsams, alyssum, salvia, mignonette, and red and white petunias.
Ada Belt,
1099 Wilson Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.
I have a collection of postmarks, and would like to exchange with any correspondents of this nice paper. I am eleven years old.
"Exchange," 939 Main Street,
Buffalo, Erie County, New York.
If any correspondents will send me a list of the stamps they require, and also of those they have to spare, I will like to exchange with them.
John R. Bedford, 5 Spencer Place,
Fourth Street, New York City.
I would like to exchange some revenue stamps for postage stamps. Among those I wish to exchange are two varieties of one-dollar stamps and a forty-cent stamp.
Leonard T. Beecher,
Wellsville, Alleghany County, New York.
I take Young People, and I think it is splendid.
I have a great many French, Italian, English, and German postage stamps which I would like to exchange for others.
George B. Donnelly,
P. O. Box 4574, New York City.
I am collecting postage stamps, and would like to exchange. Correspondents will please state the number of stamps in their collection, and send me their list. I have twelve hundred stamps, and I am thirteen years old. I would like to know the age of my correspondents.
Charles S. Petrasch,
13 West Thirty-second Street, New York City.
I would like to exchange postmarks with any boy readers of Young People in the West. I am twelve years old.
Arthur S. Moore,
40 Third Place, Brooklyn, New York.
I would like to exchange postage stamps with any correspondent.
R. L. Preston,
P. O. Box 327, Lynchburg, Virginia.
Louise.—Your question, "Is the mosquito of any use in the great economy of nature?" has often been asked by many older and wiser than you, for it is not generally known that in their larval state mosquitoes form an important branch of nature's army of tiny scavengers. The larvæ live in the water of stagnant pools and marshes, and feed upon particles of decaying matter, and as their number is so very large, the amount they devour is considerable. By thus purifying the water they destroy the miasma which would otherwise arise and pollute the atmosphere to such an extent that no human being could breathe it with safety. The value of the work accomplished in tropical countries by these tiny scavengers is very great. It is estimated that the air of certain marshy regions would be so poisonous that no animal higher than a reptile could breathe it and live, were their purifying influence removed. We do not know that mosquitoes in the winged state have any useful mission beyond that of depositing the eggs which produce the larvæ, but that alone saves them from being "nothing but a nuisance."
F. A. Reilly.—The subscription price for Harper's Young People for 1881 will remain one dollar and fifty cents, the same low figure as for the first volume.
Brian B.—The large green worm that feeds on carrot, caraway, parsley, and some other common garden plants is the caterpillar of the Papilio asterias, a large black butterfly which is seen in great numbers at midsummer, hovering about the flowers in gardens. It is especially fond of the sweet-scented phlox. This butterfly is very handsomely marked with rows of yellow spots near the margin of its wings, and on the hind wings, which are tailed, there is also a row of blue spots, and near the lower angle an orange-colored eye with a black dot in the centre. The wings of this handsome insect expand from three to four inches.
"Thistle."—It is not easy to say why such great numbers of potato-bugs are found crawling on the sea-beaches. These striped cantharides are so numerous in all parts of the country that they are probably blown seaward by the wind, and naturally sail ashore on the tide.
You will find simple directions for pressing flowers and leaves in the Post-office Boxes of Young People Nos. 34 and 46.
F. B. W.—Write again to your correspondent. There are so many possible reasons why he has not answered you that it would not be fair to him to print your notice. Possibly he has misdirected the letter to you.
Favors are acknowledged from Fred P. Herron, Albert C. B., Jessie R. Ellerby, E. N., Richard F. Morgan, Willie C. Chapman, S. B., Frank Davis, S. Donald Newton, Gertrude B. Duffee, Frank Haid, John R. Bancroft, H. S. G.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from Eddie S. Hequembourg, Mary Tiddy, "Chiquot," William H. Dobson, Dana D. Stanton, "Milwaukee," Percy McGeorge, "Nellie Bly," E. D. W. R. Garden, George Volckhausen, James H. Beddow, Howard A. Esterly, "Ivanhoe."
John H. Bartlett, A. O., and J. C. Locher have sent neat specimens of the five-pointed star, which were received too late for acknowledgment with the others.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
UNITED DIAMONDS.
1. In strawberry. By way of. A fabulous woman. A unit. In huckleberry.
2. In peach. An article very useful to travellers. A color. A jewel. In plum. Centrals of diamonds read across give the name of a common shrub.
Owlet.