Fred R. P.
Irvington, New York.
I wish some correspondent of the Post-office Box who lives in a maple-sugar region would tell me how much sap it takes to make a pound of sugar.
G. H.
Port Orange, Florida.
I have come all the way from Kentucky to Florida, and I have had such a nice time that I want to tell Young People about it.
It was snowing hard when we left Louisville on the 16th of February, and when we reached Palatka, three days afterward, people were sitting out under the orange-trees in summer dresses. We felt as if summer had really come when we saw green peas and strawberries on the table.
I saw an alligator that was twelve feet long. There are plenty of little ones for sale. A young lady in our hotel has one for a pet.
There are a good many curiosity stores in Palatka, and all of them are full of stuffed birds. In one is a large panther which was killed near the town.
On our way here from Orange City we came through several cypress swamps. The cypress-trees had tall ferns growing at their roots, and different kinds of air plants were fastened to them all the way up to the top. One of the swamps was so deep that the water came up into the bottom of the wagon, and spoiled our lunch.
This is a lovely place. The Halifax River is just in front of the hotel. The water is salt, and papa says it is really an arm of the sea. We take a sail-boat and go across the river, a mile and a half, then we walk a little way, and come to the Atlantic Ocean, where we find pretty shells and go in bathing.
There are lots of fish here, and oyster beds all along near the shore. I am keeping a diary of my Florida trip, and write in it every day myself. I am eight years old.
Ethel A.