May Inman Maguire.
Hendersonville, N. C.
The Helping Hand.
The example of "Billy" is producing results. Following him comes "Sancho Panza," who sends, by the hand of his mistress, 25 cents, and "hopes everybody is as much interested as I am." Sancho Panza is a Yankee dog, at least he lives in Connecticut. Not to be behind him, here comes word from Washington:
"Two of us, Dick (the canary) and Polly (the parrot), are great travellers, as we have been out to St. Louis, Mo., St. Paul, Minn., and a great many towns and cities on the Mississippi River; we have also been in Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, and are now living in the District of Columbia, but hope to travel a great deal more, as the father of our master and mistress is a naval officer, and naval officers, you know, travel a great deal. We three little Paradise fish, Tom, Dick, and Harry, are new members of the family, so we have not travelled as Dick and Polly have, but hope to some day. We each send you a dime, and our master and mistress send a quarter each, making $1 in all."
"Bruno Morgan," who is a greyhound and lives in New York, sends 50 cents. Antonio France, another Connecticut "Yankee," who says he has no tail, sends 10 cents and his mistress 10 more, and "Midget" a like sum all the way from Nebraska. But "Midget," is a pony who says:
"I have a great many friends who are not so well provided for. I see so many of them whipped and overworked and shouted at by cross, impatient drivers, who, I am sure, if they were brought up at Good Will Farm, where Bow-wow Billy says they have established a Band of Mercy, would never, I know, no matter how discouraged or ill-natured they might feel, vent their anger on us defenceless creatures. I want more boys brought up at this Good Will Farm, where they think of animals and treat them kindly."
Danbury and Its Hats.
Hatting is the leading occupation of the people of Danbury. This has been an occupation for at least a century, and now Danbury is probably the largest hatting town in the country. The factories, too, are extensive, and almost every manufacturer has a salesroom in every important city. All kinds of hats are manufactured—soft, stiff, and straw. We have fur factories, one of which has branches in Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, and other countries.
We have also silk manufactories, woollen-goods manufactories, and a machine-shop. Recently a Danburian invented a trolley that would be run by power passing through the tracks, thus doing away with overhanging wires. If this proves a success, Danbury will have a new industry, as all of the cars will be made here. We have, besides these manufactories, two stock-farms which have gained national notoriety. One, the Ridgewood, owns the famous horse Quartermaster, which has gained several Blue Ribbons at the National Horse Show in New York. Quartermarch is another horse of that farm which has gained several prizes, one of which was at the Grange Show, I think it is, of Orange, N. J. The other, Bekerle's, owns several famous horses. One was sold to the Emperor of Germany recently. May I write about a hat factory?