Prizes.
In the Winter Competition there will be a First Prize of a Guinea Volume; a Second Prize of a Half-Guinea Volume; a Third Prize of a Five-Shilling Volume, awarded in Each Division, viz., the Senior Division for girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 16 (inclusive), and the Junior Division for those under 14 years of age. There will also be awards of Bronze Medals of the Little Folks Legion of Honour to the three next highest of the Competitors following the Prize-winners in each Division.
Regulations.
Solutions of the Puzzles published in this number must reach the Editor not later than November 8th (November 12th for Competitors residing abroad), addressed as under:—
The Editor of "Little Folks,"
La Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill,
London, E.C.
Answers to Puzzles
Junior [or Senior] Division.
Solutions to Puzzles must be accompanied by certificates from a Parent, Teacher, or other responsible person, stating that they are the sole and unaided work of the competitor. No assistance must be given by any other person.
Competitors can be credited only under their own name.
The decision of the Editor of Little Folks on all matters must be considered final.
The names and addresses of Prize and Medal winners will be duly published in Little Folks.
GAME PUZZLE FOR NOVEMBER.
rhyming couplets, working in first lines of nursery rhymes.
F
ew children are aware, until they actually try it, how easy it is to make Rhyming Couplets; but now, any who may not have had exercise in this amusement will have an opportunity of making a very interesting game by carrying out the instructions given below.
First of all, Mamma or one of the elders will perhaps start the game thus: Send one (or two, if preferred) out of the room, and then give each player left in the room a word or words which they will have to work into their rhyme. We will suppose the lines selected are—
"Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard."
In arranging the game, the easy words, such as old, went, to, and the, should be given to the little ones, the other words to the elders.
Now the Guesser (or Guessers) may return to the room and the game commences—
"The old and young together go,"
says player No. 1. Now No. 2 has to make a line rhyming with "go," and bringing in "mother."
"My mother thinks me very slow,"
would do. No. 3 can make a fresh rhyme, and has a knotty word to bring in, so will probably need a longer line.
"Messrs. Stebbings and Hubbard two stockbrokers were."
The fourth player has to compose a line, not necessarily containing the same number of syllables as No. 3, but it must rhyme.
"We went to the orchard and found a large pear."
We will now finish the rhyme as each player might perform his part.
"I came to the city on Wednesday night."
"The dog was returned in a terrible plight."
"In the store-room or cupboard you're sure to find mice."
The guesser would probably find out this at once by the introduction of the word "Hubbard," but you can, of course, select more difficult lines (viz., those which give less clue to the nursery rhyme) according to requirement.
Winter Puzzle, No. 1.
I
n these Puzzles the idea we have propounded will be found carried out with slight modification. In each four lines will be found hidden the first two lines of various Nursery Rhymes. Thus, supposing the lines already given were those we wished to conceal, the four-line verse might run thus—
Messrs. Hutton and Hubbard once went to reside
In a house that was old, on the hill;
In each room was a cupboard, a sight very rare,
And my mother was constantly ill.
With this explanation our Competitors will, we think, have little difficulty in finding out the following Puzzles. In sending in Solutions it will only be necessary to write out the two first lines of the Nursery Rhymes hidden in each four lines given below.
Senior Division.
I.
If you ever go to Spain
It will rain, and rain again;
And you never will come back,
If you're left upon the rack.
II.
I sat upon a hod,
In my hand there was a clod,
And I threw it at a crow—
An old one I trow.
III.
I stand on the bridge, and the waters dance by,
For my lady I look o'er the lee;
I gaze down the stream, for by London at length
Is the solitude broken for me.
IV.
There lived a fair young woman
Whom an old man sought in vain,
It was under rocks by vale and hill
That she wandered on amain.
V.
How short the days are
Now October is here!
If you long for a song,
I'll sing one to cheer.
Junior Division.
I.
Jingle, jingle, Little Jack
Had a key put down his back;
Single, single, I declare,
He used to live for many a year.
II.
'Twas night, the moon shone bright,
The rats came down in scores,
Munching, squeaking, each man shrieking,
Tumbling down indoors.
III.
We went out four and twenty strong,
Sailors and tailors in a throng;
We heard a tale, we saw a sail,
And then returned to kill a snail.
IV.
Here Harry and Richard,
Here Robin and John!
If there were but two men
You would pretty soon come!
V.
Five, four, three, two, one,
Won't we have some fun,
A cat has caught a hare
Alive, I do declare.
[The Editor requests that all inquiries and replies intended for insertion in Little Folks should have the words "Questions and Answers" written on the left-hand top corners of the envelopes containing them. Only those which the Editor considers suitable and of general interest to his readers will be printed.]
Prize Competitions, &c.
H. Fortescue.—[Several important announcements as to new Competitions, &c., will be made in the January Number of Little Folks.—Ed.]
A Very Little Reader.—[I am glad to tell you that I have arranged to again give every month the "Pages for Very Little Folk," with large type and bold pictures, commencing with the January Number.—Ed.]
Literature.
Santa Claus writes, in reply to Little Bo-Peep's question, that the lines—
"There is a reaper, whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between"
are by Longfellow, and are to be found in a poem called "The Reaper and the Flowers." Answers also received from twenty-two other readers.
Celia Oakley writes that the line—
"Music hath charms to sooth the savage breast"
is to be found in the tragedy of The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve (1670-1729). Thirty-six answers to the same effect also received.
T. C. would like to know if any one could tell her the author of the following verse, and where it is to be found—
"Rain, rain, for ever falling,
Trembling, pouring slow or fast,
Through the mist a voice is calling
From the unforgotten past."
Work
Lilian Bowyer writes, in answer to Georgina Dexter's inquiry how to make a pair of bedroom slippers, that one way is to crochet the tops with double Berlin wool and procure a pair of cork soles wool lined. Answers also received from Bumpkin, Toby, and A. J.
Minnie Walsham writes, in answer to Florence Waters' question, that to clean crewel-work it should be washed in soap-suds, then rinsed out in salt and water, and, after drying it quickly, it should be smoothed out on the wrong side of the work. Answers also received from T. X. Z., Mary Wiltshire, and A. J.
Cookery.
Matty would like to know the way to make Madeira cake.
Lady of the Lake asks how to make pine-apple cushions.
General.
A Tabby Kitten will be glad if any reader could tell her of a good, inexpensive varnish for a picture-screen, as the one she is now using colours the pictures, and makes the printing on the backs of thin ones shine through.
Ethel wants to know a new kind of dip, or bran-pie.
J. F. H. writes to inform Herbert Masters, in reply to his inquiry, that a small carpenter's bench would cost about twenty shillings or a little more.
Another Young Mechanic writes, in answer to An Amateur Mechanic's question, that walnut, oak, and sandal are among the best woods for fretwork purposes. The fret-saws may be bought in packets at an ironmonger's. Answers also received from J. A. Wace, A Young Carpenter, and X. Y. Z.
Natural History
P. F wishes to know if anything can be done for her little kitten? In the last few weeks her head has become quite bare, and she has lost a lot of hair from her shoulders; she is very lively, but does not drink her milk properly?—[She is probably kept indoors too much. Put a little sulphur in her milk about twice a week, and rub the places with vaseline. Let her run out where she can bite grass or plants if she wants to, and give her a little meat.]
Helen wishes to know if she ought to give her canary a bath in winter, and if so ought it to be cold or warm.—[Offer the bath, and let it do as it likes. The water should be about 60°.]
Lady Cara will be very glad to know what can be given to her parrot when it pulls its feathers off. The bird in question is now quite bare, and has been so for some time past, although well in health.—[We fear you have been giving him meat, or too much of rich nuts and biscuits. Parrots should have no meat, and plain food. Get him some scraped cuttle-fish bone, if he will eat it, and rub on a little vaseline, and on a bright day get him to bathe. Give him now and then a fig, and some ripe fruit, only begin very gradually.]
PRELIMINARY NOTICE.
The Editor has much pleasure in informing his Readers that, in response to repeated requests, there is now in preparation a new "Little Folks Painting Book," and that he is arranging for a Special Competition in connection with it, open to Children of all Ages, in which a large number of Prizes in Money, Books, and Medals will be offered for the best Coloured copies of it. This book, which will be called "The Little Folks Proverb Painting Book," and contain 96 pages of outline Illustrations and Verses, will be ready on the 25th of November; and the full Regulations of the Competition, with the list of the Prizes offered, will be printed in the January, 1885, Number of Little Folks.
Picture Wanting Words.
A Guinea Book and an Officer's Medal of the Little Folks Legion of Honour will be given for the best Poem having special reference to the Picture below. A smaller Book and an Officer's Medal will be given, in addition, for the best Poem (on the same subject) relatively to the age of the Competitor; so that no Competitor is too young to try for this second Prize. The Poems must not exceed 24 lines in length, and must be certified as strictly original by a Minister, Teacher, Parent, or some other responsible person. All the Competitors must be under the age of Sixteen years. The Poems must reach the Editor by the 10th of November (the 15th of November in the case of Competitors residing abroad). In addition to the Two Prizes and Officers' Medals, some of the most deserving Competitors will be included in a special List of Honour, and will be awarded Members' Medals of the Little Folks Legion of Honour. The Editor requests that each envelope containing a Poem having reference to this Picture should have the words "Picture Wanting Words" on the left-hand top corner. (Competitors are referred to a notice respecting the Silver Medal on page 115 of the last Volume.)
ANSWERS TO OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN PUZZLES (p. 253).
GEOGRAPHICAL ACROSTIC.—Zealand.
1. Z urich. 2. E bro. 3. A rno. 4. L isbon. 5. A lps. 6. N ile. 7. D anube.
MISSING LETTER PUZZLE.
"'Twas in the prime of summer-time,
An evening calm and cool,
And four-and-twenty happy boys
Came bounding out of school:
There were some that ran and some that leapt,
Like troutlets in a pool."
SQUARE WORDS.
1. SCAR. 2. CAKE. 3. AKIN. 4. RENT.
1. CART. 2. ALOE. 3. RODE. 4. TEES.
1. MATE. 2. ALUM. 3. TUNE. 4. EMEU.
BURIED NAMES OF RIVERS.
1. Iser. 2. Weser. 3. Indus. 4. Aar. 5. Amstel.
RIDDLE-ME-REE.
Tomato.
BURIED PROVERB.
"People who live in glass houses must not throw stones."
PICTORIAL NATURAL HISTORY PUZZLE.
Sacred Ibis of Egypt.
1. Acrid. 2. Sip. 3. Fogs. 4. Bey. 5. Diet.