[to be continued.]
Brooklyn, New York.
About the 1st of August I found some big worms crawling on an ailantus-tree in our yard. They were about two and a half inches long, of a pale green color, with white humps all over them, and beautiful blue spots on their heads. Mamma caught them for me, and we put them on a board with some ailantus leaves, and turned a large wire sieve over them. Every morning I gave them fresh leaves to eat, and in two or three days they began to spin themselves into cocoons. Some rolled themselves up in the leaves, while others clung to the side of the sieve, covering themselves at first with a thin white film, through which we could see the worm for half a day working himself back and forth. Then the film grew so thick we could not see the worm any more. When they had all formed cocoons mamma stood them away in a quiet place where nothing could injure them, and I went every morning to see if anything had come out of the cocoons. About three weeks passed, when one morning I found three magnificent moths clinging to the sieve. Mamma put ether on their heads, and they never moved again. She fastened them in a box for me, and arranged the wings, and they are just as beautiful as they can be. They spread about four inches. The color is reddish-brown, and across the middle of the wings there is a whitish line shading off into a clay-colored border. In the centre of each wing there is a long reddish-white spot, and on the tip of each fore-wing is a dark bluish eye. On the head are delicate feathered antennæ. Mamma found a picture of the moth in a book. We are sure it belongs to the genus Attacus, and we think it is the kind called Attacus promethia.
Sarah W. N.
Edna, Minnesota.
About a month ago a man caught a young whooping-crane, which I bought of him. It is now so tame that it will eat out of my hand, and come in the house and eat from the table, or drink out of the water pail. I keep him tied out back of the house by a string about two rods long, so that he can walk around. He is not a very small bird, if he is young. His neck is about two feet long, and his legs are very nearly the same length, and when he stands up straight he is about five feet high. He is not fully fledged yet. His body is now about as large as that of a goose.
I like to write. I am not a very good writer, but I think I can be a better one if I write a great deal. I am the lame boy whose letters you printed in the Post-office Box last winter.
Elmer R. Blanchard.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Since my request for exchanges was published in Young People I have received a great many letters from all parts of the United States, and I would like to inform the correspondents that I will answer all of them in due time. Now I am very busy. I am getting a new book and fixing it up, my school has commenced, and I am taking music lessons on the piano. I can play familiar tunes like the "Racquet Polka," "Fatinitza," "Pinafore," and others. I am also taking German lessons.
Willie H. Scherzer.
Clarence L. can buy silk-worms, and obtain all information in regard to them, at the southwest corner of Juniper and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or at the Educational Department of the Permanent Exhibition, in the same city.
Paul De M.
Ashland, Kentucky.
I have seen a real live white crow. It belongs to a gentleman living on Big Sandy River. The white crow was seen by several persons, who tried to shoot it. At last the gentleman who now owns it shot it in the wing. It was not much hurt, and soon got well. Its owner was offered three hundred dollars for it, but he would not sell it. A good many people go to see it.
Willie S. B.
Radnor, Ohio.
I wish some correspondent would tell me how to feather arrows. I have made a bow and some nice arrows, but I can not feather them.
I am making a collection of old coins. Are any other correspondents doing the same?
B. I.
New York City.
I like Young People very much. I am ten years old. I have no pets except a canary named David. I would like to know what to feed him with besides sugar and seed, for I think he must be tired of eating those all the time.
I have a collection of stamps. I like the Post-office Box ever so much.
Ann A. N.
Too much sugar is not good for your canary. You can vary his diet by giving him a leaf of fresh lettuce about once a week, or a bit of hard cracker to pick at. Whole oatmeal or grits, and a piece of apple or pear occasionally, are healthy food. These tidbits must be given sparingly, for if the bird eats them constantly it will grow so fat that it can not sing. The staple food should be canary seed mixed with rape, and there must always be a piece of cuttle-fish fastened in the cage.
Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.
Here is a spelling game I invented, which may be played by two or more persons. The first player, who may be chosen by lot, proposes two letters, as, for example, c o. Then each player must in turn call a word beginning with those letters, as come. A player is beaten if he says a word beginning with any other than the letters named, or calls a word already given, or a meaningless word, or, when only two are playing, if his opponent makes two correct words while he is thinking of his. The addition of s is not considered to form a new word where it merely constitutes a plural.
I made a salt-water aquarium five days ago, and it is all right. I have two eels, one minnow, and five other fish, some hermit-crabs, scallops, and periwinkles. I had a pipe-fish, but it died soon after I put it in. I use a small wash-tub for the aquarium, with sand on the bottom. I had two minnows at first, but this morning I found one on the floor, dead. What do you suppose made it jump out? There is sea-lettuce in the water, so there must be enough air. How long must the aquarium stand in the sun for the ulva to work? And with what shall I feed the crabs?
W. A.
The directions in the paper on "A Salt-water Aquarium," in Young People No 42, are as clear as it is possible to give them, but they must be supplemented by experience, which, if you persevere, you will very soon gain. The ulva will work in an hour's time when placed in the sun, as you will see by the rising of the tiny air-bubbles, but it may be necessary to renew the exposure to the sun for a short time each day, always taking care that the temperature of the water is not too much increased. If your crabs will not eat bits of clam, try them with tiny mouthfuls of fish. Be careful to allow no uneaten food to remain in the water. Experience, which you will quickly gain, will insure you success.
I have a great many German, French, Austrian, and English postage stamps, and would like to exchange with any who are beginning a collection. I can get all kinds of stamps.
I am a native of England. I have been two years in America, and I think it is a very nice country.
Frank B. Westwood,
P. O. Box 4574, New York City.
I am nearly twelve years old, and I like Young People very much.
I am making a collection of postage stamps, and would like to exchange with any other boy.
I can not get many kinds of stamps in this out-of-the-way place.
Horace Randolph,
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas.
I come from the far South, where I spend the winter in New Orleans. I am collecting postage stamps, and would like to exchange with any readers of Young People.
Edward L. Hunt,
Barrytown, Dutchess County, New York.
I take Harper's Young People, and think it is a splendid paper for boys and girls.
I have a collection of postage stamps, and would like to exchange with any of the readers of Young People.
Henry A. Blakesley,
54 West Eighth Street, Topeka, Kansas.
I think Young People is the best paper that I ever read, and I think the Post-office Box is one of the nicest things in it.
I am collecting relics and minerals, and would like to exchange petrified wood for relics. I will also exchange a chimney-swallow's egg for the egg of any bird except a robin, blue jay, or chipping sparrow.
W. A. Webster,
394 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
I would like to exchange birds' eggs with any of the readers of Young People. Correspondents will please state what kind of eggs they have to exchange, and what they would like in return.
Gussie Hartman,
65 Cass Street, Chicago, Illinois.
I would like to exchange postmarks for stamps with any of the readers of Young People.
George G. Omerly,
616 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I must write, dear Young People, to tell you how I love you. Through you I have made the acquaintance of little "Wee Tot." I have sent her some Lake Michigan shells, and she has sent me some lovely ocean curiosities, some of which are star-fishes, sea-urchins, and beautiful shells.
I would like to exchange slips of wax-plant, sweet-scented geranium, and fuchsias with any readers for more ocean curiosities, only I wish some one would please tell me how to send them safely.
Anna Wierum,
495 West Twelfth Street, Chicago, Illinois.
I like to read history, and about brave men, and I think "The Story of the American Navy" is splendid.
I am collecting postage stamps, and have over one hundred duplicates, which I would like to exchange with the readers of Young People.
Robert Lamp,
Care of William Lamp, Madison, Wisconsin.
My sister takes Young People, and I read it every week. The story of "The Moral Pirates" was splendid. I work out all the puzzles, and read the stories and the letters.
I would like to exchange stamps and birds' eggs with any of the readers of Young People.
Oscar Rauchfuss,
Golconda, Pope County, Illinois.
I have been taking Harper's Young People from our news-dealer, and I find it a very interesting and instructive paper for the young.
I will exchange foreign postage stamps and United States postage and revenue stamps with the readers of Young People.
Alexander A. Reeves,
Emporia, Lyon County, Kansas.
I would like to exchange a specimen of the soil of Georgia for some of the soil of any other State.
James L. Johnson,
76 Jones Street, Savannah, Georgia.
I am collecting birds' eggs, and have about one hundred varieties, but I need eggs of hawks, owls, eagles, whip-poor-wills, quails, partridges, prairie-hens, terns, snipes, plovers, gulls, finches, divers, loons, and other birds, and also the nest and egg of the humming-bird. I have a collection of nearly six hundred stamps, which I will exchange for birds' eggs or Indian relics.
Harry F. Haines,
1259 Waverley Place, Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Papa takes Harper's Bazar, Weekly, and Magazine for himself and mamma, and Young People for sister Mabel and me. We think it is a splendid little paper.
I have twenty different kinds of flower seeds, and would like to exchange with some little girls in the far West and South.
Grace Denton,
114 Thirty-ninth Street, South Brooklyn,
Kings County, New York.
I shall be very grateful if any correspondents who can will send me specimens of minerals or fossil formations in exchange for the beautiful quartz crystals that we find imbedded in the rock at this place. I am also anxious to get some pretty shells, especially from the Southern and Western coasts. I will return any excess of postage on packages.
Susie C. Benedict,
Little Falls, Herkimer County, New York.
I have a nice collection of curiosities, and if Ida B. D., of California, will kindly send me some shells from the Pacific coast, especially some abalone shells, and some sea-mosses, I will exchange any of my curiosities for them. My curiosities consist of stalactites, stalagmites, conglomerates, crystals, Indian arrow-heads (some of which are broken), gypsum, iron ore, and a great many pretty pebbles and stones that I find on the sand-bars along Green River. If she sends me any specimens, will she please mark the name and where each one is from?
John H. Bartlett, Jun.,
Greensburgh, Green County, Kentucky.
Jesse Hargrave.—The poet alluded to by Scott in the forty-first chapter of The Heart of Mid-Lothian, as "him of the laurel wreath," was Robert Southey, who was appointed poet laureate of England in 1813. The lines quoted are from Southey's poem of "Thalaba the Destroyer," eleventh book, thirty-sixth stanza.
W. W. S.—Many thanks for your kind attention in sending us the interesting facts concerning the nesting of English sparrows in trees. These little foreigners will pile the mass of dried grass, hair, and other rubbish which composes their nest, on any ledge or shelf which will support it, and if a decayed stump or deserted nest affords such support, they are quite as ready to use it as they are to take possession of the little houses which kind hands fasten to the branches of trees. They will also build in woodbine and ivy, the strong branches of which, clinging to the brick or stone wall, form a solid support, quite as good as the ledge over a window or door. Almost any corner is acceptable to these little fellows. A lady who had been absent from the city during the summer, on returning home found one of her chamber windows taken full possession of by the sparrows. The blinds had been closed, and the space between them and the window was stuffed full of rubbish, the birds using an open slat as an entrance to their cozy home. We know of no instance where sparrows have woven an independent nest, and fastened it to the branches of a tree, and for that reason we have not classed them among birds that build their nests in trees.
W., F., and S.—To make a boat scup set two upright posts firmly in the ground about four or five feet apart. Connect them at the top by a strong bar, across which at the centre fasten another bar at right angles. The boat, which should have a seat at each end, is hung by four stout ropes, one to each corner, so as to balance well, to the connecting bar. A rope passing from each end of the cross-bar enables the occupants to swing the boat forward and backward. The upright posts should be well braced. If you can visit some park or picnic ground where one of these swings is in operation, you will understand better how to build one.
William F. S.—The coins you describe belong to the class known as business tokens. They are issued by private parties, and are valueless.
Clarence E. and F. B. W.—You can get the back numbers of Young People you require by forwarding the necessary amount to the publishers, with your full address. They will cost four cents for each copy.
Eddie de Lima.—The oldest text-book on arithmetic employing the Arabian or Indian figures (those at present in use), and the decimal system, is that of Avicenna, an Arabian physician who lived in Bokhara about a.d. 1000. It was found in manuscript in the library at Cairo, Egypt, and contains, besides the rules for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, many peculiar properties of numbers. It was not until the seventeenth century that arithmetic became a regular branch of common education.
Captain Frank.—The average price of a boy's bicycle is from twenty-five to fifty dollars. Very small sizes may be obtained at a lower price.
Favors are acknowledged from Lizzie Gieselberg, H. N. Dawson, John R. Blake, C. D. Nicholas, Carrie Hard, Lilian McDowell, Nellie Rossman, Henry Coleman, Annie M. Douglas, Aggie M. Mason, Madgie W. B., Sallie R. Ely, Dora Williams, M. W. D., Mary McWhorter.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from Olive Russell, "Chiquot," Minnie H. Ingham, Sidney Abenheim, Emma Shaffer, Edward L. Hunt, Allie Maxwell, George Volckhausen.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
UNITED DIAMONDS.
1. In September. An ancient water vessel. An article of food. A domestic animal. In December.
2. In February. A part of the body. A product. To blend. In August. Centrals of diamonds read across give a valuable natural product much used in the East Indies.
Henry.