LITTLE MISS TURNER.
BY W. T. PETERS.
"Oh, where have you been to,
My little Miss Turner—
Oh, where have you been to to-day?
I've brought you my wagon
To take you a-riding;
So why have I found you away?"
"Oh, I've been to the meadows,"
Said little Miss Turner,
"With sweet robin-redbreast at play;
And the daisies and daffodils
Made me a bow,
And said, 'How do you do to-day?"
ROASTING EARS.—Drawn by S. G. McCutcheon.
EGYPTIAN WONDERS.
It is said that an Egyptian Prince dreamed one night of an obelisk, and when he awoke ordered his engineers and his workmen to carve in solid stone the strange and useless device. An obelisk resembles nothing so much as the fanciful figures of a dream. It is a tall square pillar of a peculiar form, often carved with hieroglyphics, and commemorating the name and exploits of its founder. These solitary pillars of stone, sometimes more than a hundred feet in height, are formed of one block or piece, and must have been cut in the quarry with incessant labor. They abound in Egypt, and were a common decoration of its immense temples. Later, several of them were transported on great rafts or ships to the city of Rome. There are in all twelve in that city. One of them is one hundred and nine feet high without the base—a solid piece of red granite. Europe has despoiled Egypt of its obelisks. Paris has one; London another, crumbling away on the banks of the Thames; and we have one in New York. The dream of the Egyptian Prince seems to have a strong interest for all ages.
All Egypt, its history, its cities, its buildings, its mummies, gods, cats, hawks, bulls, sphinxes, the Memnonium, resemble the fancies of a dream. The Nile flows through its sandy plain, and covers it with fertility. Late discoveries have shown that it is one of the longest rivers in the world, rising among the high mountains of Africa, and fed by immense lakes. In Egypt it overflows its banks every year, and covers the land with a rich deposit of mud. On its shores are the ruins of the strangest of all architecture, the works of the ancient Egyptians—immense, grand, awful. They are the largest of all buildings. St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, or the Cologne Cathedral, or even St. Peter's, at Rome, would be lost in the vast circuit of the columns of Luxor and Karnak. As one passes them by moonlight on the smooth stream, they seem, it is said, the palaces of giants. One temple was a mile and a half in circumference. The Pyramids exceed all other buildings in strength, height, and durability. Some of them are four or five thousand years old.
Very tasteful ornamental covers for the first volume of Harper's Young People, which will conclude with No. 52, issued October 26, 1880, are now ready, and will be sold for thirty-five cents, or forty-eight cents if sent by mail, postage prepaid. These covers are not self-binding, but any book-binder will put them on for a small charge.
We wish to call the attention of those of our readers engaged in making exchanges to the great importance of careful and clearly written addresses. We receive proofs daily of the neglect of this essential point. In Post-office Box No. 46 we printed a letter from a correspondent anxious to make an acknowledgment of a pretty mineral, but who was unable to do so because she "could not make out the name" of the sender. Another correspondent, whose correct address was printed in full in Our Post-office Box, received a letter on which the only correct portion of the direction was his own name and the city in which he lived, the name and number of the street, and even the State, being entirely wrong. That he ever received it at all is a proof of the great experience and skill of Uncle Sam's Post-office Department. Now such a very careless method of direction might result in the loss of valuable minerals, stamps, or other specimens.
Other correspondents report having received letters without name or address of any kind, and yet the sender expected to be answered, and was no doubt disappointed, as he was probably unaware that he had omitted a very important part of his letter.
We have ourselves received large numbers of correct answers to puzzles, often accompanied by the pretty appeal, "Do, please, print my name in the list of those sending correct answers," and neither initials, name, nor even address attached upon which we could base an acknowledgment. When the answers were published, and those little folks found their solutions were correct, and yet their names didn't appear, no doubt they thought themselves very badly treated; but the fault was not ours.
Now when you direct a letter for purposes of exchange, copy the whole address given in Our Post-office Box very carefully and clearly. And give your own address in full, very plainly written, or else, even should your letter reach its destination, you probably will not receive an answer.
Learn to bestow care and attention upon little things now while you are young, and as you grow older you will find it easier to be careful in things of greater importance, and thereby save yourself and others from much unnecessary trouble.
Boston, Massachusetts.
It would be curious to know how many of the child-correspondents of Young People are really getting good natural history collections. I can not imagine a greater help in educating a child. My little girl, known among them as "Wee Tot," is quite absorbed in learning everything she can about shells, minerals, birds, flowers, and other natural objects, and nearly every mail brings or takes some new variety.
One of the Mothers.
West Brighton, Staten Island.
Although I am not one of your youngest readers, I wish to tell you that Young People is the best paper I ever saw for little folks, and I very much wish there was one as good in my own country, which is France.
My pet is a little chicken hatched by steam, which I bought at Coney Island, at a show where you can see the whole process of hatching. The eggs are kept at a certain temperature for twenty-one days, the length of time a hen would sit on them, and then the little chickens begin to knock on their shells for admittance into the wide world. In half an hour they are fairly out, and ready to eat some yolk of an egg crumbled in little bits, which is given them for the first few days of their life.
I bought one when it was a day old. The poor little thing was put in a card-board box, where it cried all the way home. I kept it in a cage made of an old box for several weeks, fearing the cat would take it for a bird, and eat it up. I call it Cocotte. It is very tame, and follows me everywhere, but its favorite place is in the kitchen closet, keeping guard over the oatmeal bag, which contains its principal food, although it will eat any kind of meat with the cats, and drinks milk with them.
Cocotte, which is now two months old, is a Spanish Leghorn. She sends her best love to Young People, and begs me to say that she is a very happy orphan.
A. D.
Clifton Springs, New York.
I have some very queer pets. They are craw-fish, which I caught in a little creek. There were thirteen, but there are only twelve now, for one fell out of the window. We keep them in a pan, and they fight each other a great deal. A good many have some of their claws bitten off, and in the morning I find a stray claw floating on the top of the water. The two smallest are named Budge and Toddy. I would like to know how to take care of them.
Bessy F.
You must put dirt and small stones on the bottom of your pan, for craw-fish like to burrow and hide themselves in the mud. Feed them with worms and bits of meat. If they live, and you watch them carefully, you will find that the claws they lose will soon grow out again.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
As all the children write of their pets, I would like to tell about mine. They are ten little silver minnows. They are so tame they will come up to me when I go near them. They are very fond of moss, which I put in the water for them, and they like to run under it.
In cold weather the water freezes, and I put the glass globe near the fire to thaw. The minnows seem so happy when the water is thawed.
M. Lilian K.
Dublin, New Hampshire.
I send a very simple experiment to the chemists' club. Take equal parts of oil and water, and even when shaken violently they will not unite. Add a small quantity of ammonia, and they will take the form of liquid soap.
George L. O.
Lynchburgh, Texas.
I am taking Young People, and I like it very much, but I like the Post-office Box very much indeed.
I have a pet colt. I raised it on milk. At first I had to feed it with a bottle, as it had no mother. Its name is Minnehaha. It now eats bread, sugar, or corn. When I call, it answers just like a child, and will come to me.
I have a wax doll named Lily. I had eight dolls, but I sent the others to my little cousins.
My little sister Ruby, five years old, has a pet cat that comes every morning and gets in the bed with her, and lies down with its head on her arm, like a little baby.
Pearl A. H.
North Andover, Massachusetts.
I was very much interested in the account of "Lovewell's Fight with the Pigwackets," in Young People No. 47, as I live in the house in which it is said Chaplain Jonathan Frye was born, and from which he started to the fatal fight where he lost his life. About sixty years ago my grandfather bought the house and repaired it, and my uncle owns it now. The north portion is the oldest, and the walls are finished with antique wooden panels. Formerly there were very big fire-places, but they have all been modernized.
Just before starting to fight the Indians, Chaplain Frye brought a young elm-tree from the woods, and planted it on the green by the road-side near the house. About a month afterward, in May, 1725, he was killed, but the tree grew and flourished, and its great round crown stood nobly against the storms and winds of a hundred and fifty, years. It was known all through this region as the "Old Frye Elm." Although it had many dead branches, it was still a beautiful tree when in 1875 it was cut down. The trunk was left standing about twenty feet high—a silent and mournful monument to the memory of him who planted it. The winds carried some germs of the solidago to the top of the stump, where they rooted in the decaying wood, and for several autumns crowned it with their golden blossoms. But the stump is now very much decayed, and must soon fall, and this natural monument to the memory of a brave man will disappear forever.
Harry W. C.
Concord, New Hampshire.
I was very much interested in the story of the escape of Hannah Dustin, in Young People No. 42, because I know many of the places through which she passed. The brook that runs by our house empties into the Merrimac. Lake Pennacook, now called Long Pond, supplies the city of Concord with water. It is a favorite resort for picnics and boating parties.
The monument on the island at the mouth of the Contoocook is near Fisherville, one of the suburbs of Concord. There is another monument on the west side of Concord, which we pass every time we go to town. It is in memory of several white people who were massacred by Indians near that spot.
We have felt three slight shocks of earthquakes here this summer.
I hope the Moral Pirates will report their next cruise.
B. M.
Hazlet, New Jersey.
I am a little boy nine years old. My mother, my little sister, and myself came from Texas in June to spend the summer in the North. We live in Galveston. I think Harper's Young People is full of pretty stories. I have been very much interested in "The Moral Pirates." I found a little row-boat in the creek last week, and took possession of it with three of my little friends. We cruised to the end of the creek, where we had to leave our boat, as we did not know how to turn it around. The boat is there still. It is too old to be of any use, and is abandoned by its owner. Mamma said I must have been imitating the Moral Pirates. I never enjoyed myself so much as I did that day.
Omer.
Weymouth, Massachusetts.
I have asked my papa to write for me and tell you how much even a blind boy may enjoy Young People. Mamma, papa, and Arthur read me the stories over and over again. I should like to know the Moral Pirates, but papa says my brother is one, and that ought to be enough.
I am almost seven. I used to run all about, chase the butterflies and everything else that came in my way. But last year I was awful sick, and though I run now as well as I can, my little brother can run so much faster. I can see the light of the fire in papa's fire-place, and the sunlight coming in at the windows, but the things I used to see are so dark, and I can only feel. I have not found a word of fault because I can not do like other boys.
Everett C. B.
Troy, Tennessee.
My brother Clarence takes Young People. I enjoy it almost as much as he does, and he says he couldn't do without it.
I have a doll with great blue eyes and light hair. Her name is Dora. She is thirty inches high. Mamma dressed her in my own lemon-colored lawn and blue sash. When papa gave Dora to me I stood her by the side of my little sister Hallie, fourteen months old, and they were the same height.
My home is near Reelfoot Lake, which is about twenty miles long and seven wide. Papa says it was sunk there about 1811.
There are several mocking-birds tame enough to build in our yard and raise young birds. The old ones sing all night when it is moonlight. I am seven years old, and began school in September.
Pearl H.
Pleasanton, California.
I have taken Young People since No. 11, and I think it is a splendid paper.
I have only one pet—a black cat named Nig. He is very cunning. He will sit up as well as any squirrel. He never mews unless he wants a drink, or to run out-of-doors. He tries hard to turn the door knob himself, but has never succeeded.
Mamie B.
I have postage stamps I would like to exchange with the correspondents of Young People, if they will send me a list of the stamps they would like, and of those they have to exchange.
Ettie A. Houston,
9 West Nineteenth Street, New York City.
My papa has taken Harper's Weekly for twenty years, and I take Young People. I like "Old Times in the Colonies" and "The Story of the American Navy" the best. I have a collection of about one hundred and fifty stamps, and would like to exchange with any readers of Young People.
Curtis Bishop,
P. O. Box 1093, New London, Connecticut.
I have just begun to take Young People, and I like it very much. I think "The Moral Pirates" ended splendidly.
If any boy would like to exchange postage stamps with me, I would be much obliged if he would send me a list of his stamps, and I will send one of mine in return.
C. F. Moses,
Care of J. J. Cohen & Sons, Augusta, Georgia.
I have about two thousand foreign stamps, comprising about fifty varieties, that I would like to exchange with the readers of Young People, especially beginners, for I have not many rare varieties. I have also a number of one, two, three, six, ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty-four, and thirty cent War Department stamps to exchange.
George M. Finckel,
P. O. Box 368, Washington, D. C.
I have some little stone cells, built and occupied by worms. I found them in a brook in Mount Alto Park, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The worms were alive when I took them from the brook, and perhaps if I had kept them in water they would have developed into something different.
If George M. Finckel, or any other readers of Young People, would like a few specimens of these worm cells in exchange for stamps, I could supply them. My list of stamps is not large, as I am only beginning a collection. I have no Chinese or West India stamps, and would be glad to exchange for them any of the following, which are all the duplicates I have: One zwei groschen Nord-deutscher post: one eighty centime, Empire Français; one sixpence; two threepence; two two-hundred mils. Correos de Esco. de España.
Lidie B. Keith, Waynesborough,
Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
I have about four hundred and twenty-five different kinds of postage stamps, and would like to exchange with any of the readers of Young People. I also have a lot of rare postmarks, which I should like to exchange for stamps. I particularly wish the ninety Interior, and the seven, twenty-four, thirty, and ninety of either the War or Treasury Department; or any foreign stamps. I have Persian, Turkish, Canadian, German, English, Swedish, and Interior Department stamps for exchange.
A. H. Verrill,
P. O. Box 824, New Haven, Connecticut.
I would like to exchange with the readers of Young People some rare foreign stamps for other foreign stamps and United States official issues of 1851, '55, '56, '57, '61, '65, '69, '74, '75, and '76.
Paul Goldsmith,
Hohokus, Bergen County, New Jersey.
I am making a collection of minerals, and I would gladly exchange with any of the readers of Young People.
Carrie Thorner,
185 Hurn Street, Toledo, Ohio.
J. B.—Honey-bees were unknown in America until they were brought here by early European settlers. On this account the honey-bee is called white man's fly by the Indians.
W. A.—From your description your "queer animal" appears to belong to the family of caddis-worms. If he is a member of this family, he is a scavenger, and will feed himself on the bits of decayed matter in the water. After a while he will cling to some weed near the surface, and spin a chrysalis, from which the caddisfly will break forth.
"Capt. Frank."—The directions you require are in Young People No. 26.
G. T. T.—Experience has shown that catamarans with two masts are not as serviceable as those with one.
D. C. D.—A very popular Halloween game in Scotland is apple-catching. A large tub of water is placed in the centre of the floor, and a basketful of plump, rosy-cheeked apples dumped into it. The young folks then try to pick them from the water with their teeth. As the apples are slippery, and bob around merrily, there are a great many laughable mishaps before the coveted prize is secured. A ten-cent piece may be hidden in one of the apples, which gives more interest to the sport, as the lucky possessor becomes King or Queen of the festival. This game has its disadvantages, as you must play it in the kitchen, where the water may be spattered on the floor without doing mischief. Then, too, you can not wear your pretty new winter frock, but must be contented with a calico dress, which you will get soaked with water, and must change the moment all the apples are captured and the game finished, or you will surely take cold, and remember Halloween with sorrow. We do not advise you to try apple-catching, but give it as one of the few sportive games associated with Halloween. There are many foolish tricks practiced on that night, but they are intended for grown-up young men and maidens. They are most of them innocent, but very silly.
C. D. N.—Nellie H.'s recipe for candy is in Young People No. 24. The recipes for white cake and cream candy are both in No. 38. You will find different recipes for cake and candy in Nos. 19, 27, 28, and 31 to 43 inclusive.
Favors are acknowledged from Burt J. Wilson, Hammond W. S., Gracie Stevens, Harry Kennard, Albert Rareshide, George H. K., Mary E. B., Mabel Lowell, Julian H., G. E. H.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from H. M. P., Ernie Garden, Allie Maxwell, Hugh Lesley, Nellie Cruger, Artie Winter, J. N. Howe, Howard Rathbone, J. F. W.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
WORD SQUARES.
1. First, lean. Second, part of a door. Third, to fish. Fourth, a memorial. Fifth, to choose.
Bolus.
2. First, a low shrub. Second, remarkable. Third, a mountain famous in mythology. Fourth, a region. Fifth, rapidity.
Owlet.