From a Bright British Lad.
In my last letter I told you about some of the sights of India, where I lived till I was twelve; but now that I am in England, I will tell you something about the town in which I live. Bedford has over 40,000 inhabitants, and is a very clean town. There is a beautifully laid out park containing forty acres, in which there is a pretty lake with two shrub-covered islands on which swans and ducks make their nests.
It is intersected with paths and carriage-drives, and is resorted to by cyclists of both sexes. There are two very fine statues in Bedford. One is that of John Bunyan, who was born not far from this town, at a place called Elstow, where may be seen the moot-house or church where he used to preach, and also the remains of his house. In a church named after John Bunyan there is an arm-chair supposed to have belonged to him.
The other statue is that of John Howard, the great philanthropist. It was erected two years ago. The River Ouse runs through this town. In summer it is alive with boats and steam-launches. I am an active collector of stamps, and would like to exchange some Indian and other stamps for those of other countries, with any boy or girl who has any to exchange. I will also exchange crests, coins, and curios for stamps. If any boy or girl would care to correspond about India or England, I would answer every letter, as I love letter-writing. I go to the Bedford Modern School, in which are over 600 boys. Your faithful reader,
Ernest C. Groves.
Belhaven, 33 Foster-Hill Road, Bedford.
From Among Mississippi Pines.
I was interested in your article on "Working a Turpentine Orchard," because I live in the Long Leaf Yellow Pine region, with turpentine orchards all about us. All summer we see wagons loaded with "crude" passing. If the Table would like to hear more about the process of manufacturing spirits of turpentine and resin, I will write again.
Herbert Shear.
Chicora, Miss.
Please tell us about the process.