My papa gave me Harper's Young People for a birthday present. I like it very much indeed. L. Pearlie S. said she had a hen that killed all but the black ones in her brood. Mamma says she once had a hen that did not like black chickens, so she tried to kill all she saw in her brood, and others too. I like chickens very much. I have twenty-one chickens—nine hens, one rooster, and eleven little chicks. One year I had thirty-eight chickens, two turkeys, and four Pintados.
I don't see how any one can help liking sweet, gentle, loving cats. I have a cat nearly four years old. She can't do any tricks; she only curls up under the stove when she can't get into my lap. But I like her very much; she is the only pet I have. I have no brother nor sister, except a grown sister who is married.
I have a flower and a vegetable garden. I like to go to school very much, but I do not go now, as I was sick and had to stop. I think Jimmy Brown's adventures are so very funny! I make a good many Wiggles, but I have never sent any. I often see some just like mine, though.
I am making two quilts. One is made out of the pieces that are too little for the other, and the other is a "memory quilt." Maybe some of the little readers would like to know what a memory quilt is. It can be of any pattern, provided it has a light-colored piece in the middle. The little girl who has it makes a square, and gives it to one of her friends, who makes another like it for her. The name can be worked or printed in the middle. When all her friends have made one, she puts them together, and has a quilt.
I would be very glad to see this in print, as no one knows I am writing it except mamma. Good-by.
Susie S. B.
The birthday verses which follow were written by a little girl to please her sister, and the Postmistress thinks they are very sweet. Mother did quite right in advising Maggie to send them to Our Post-office Box:
Behold our little darling
In gorgeous garb arrayed!
Her presents are before her,
On the table nicely laid.
She smiles so sweetly upon all—
She's neither proud nor haughty;
She's sometimes very mischievous,
But hardly ever naughty.
Her lustrous eyes, of a dark brown hue,
Are a match for her wavy hair;
And of birthday queens our Annie dear
Is the fairest of the fair.
Maggie J. L.
Jericho, Long Island.
Sioux River, Wisconsin.
I am a little girl ten years old, and live nine miles from Bayfield. There is no school, church, or Sunday-school here. My sisters are older than I, and they stay in Bayfield and go to school. I am pretty lonely when they are all away and I am here with papa and mamma. But I have my pets as well as some other girls. I have a black cat which I call Pussy. I play with her, and I like her ever so much. I have ten dolls, and mamma says some of them are dilapidated. My oldest doll is a rag doll, which my aunt gave me when I was six months old. We live in Sioux River Valley, and the river is full of trout. I caught one in a little brook that runs past the door. A great many people come here in the summer to fish. There are some very large hills, all around us, covered with pine-trees, and pretty both in summer and winter. I never saw any hills, pine-trees, or rocks until we came here two years ago. About a mile from here is what we call the rapids. It is just beautiful! Such large rocks, covered with such pretty green mosses! I wish you could all see them, for I can not describe them. From the sitting-room we can see a "slide," and I love to watch the logs come tumbling and crashing down until they fall in the river.
Alberta S.