I want to tell the readers of Young People about my pet. It is a little bird; I call it Jenny Wren. We take it out of the cage, and let it fly around the room. It has two principal places where it alights, and those two are each at the top of a window. We can make it play that it is a dead bird. It will eat sugar from my hand. I like Jimmy Brown's stories very much. I liked "Art's Organ Adventure," "Todd and Ketchum's Grate Show," "Mr. Thompson and the Bull-Frog," and lots of other stories. I just love to read the Post-office Box.
Tommy P. S.
Orford, New Hampshire.
I live away up among the hills in New Hampshire, almost in the White Mountains. I suppose you city boys think I am about out of the world, and don't have any good times, but I would not change places with you. I have a papa who gets lots of papers and magazines for us to read, and a mamma who is always ready to read them to us, and a grandpa who will play checkers with me, but almost always beats, a little sister who is ready for any fun, and Ida, the girl who does the housework, is very kind in helping us to have a good time, and the two men who work on the farm let me work with them whenever I wish. I know it is pretty cold when the high hills are covered with snow, but it is just fun sliding down them on my new sled. I have a pair of steers, yoke, and sled all complete; they will work like oxen. I can get up wood or ice with them; they are better than your ponies. We have three horses I can drive, and thirty cattle to tend. When it is warm weather I can go hunting for partridges, gray squirrel, etc. I don't always find any, but when I do I feel pretty big. I go fishing pretty often too. My little cousin Willie and I went up on the side of Mount Cube last summer after trout; he got forty, and I got seventy-five. But if you had seen us when we came home, you would have thought something had bit besides fish. I will say black flies were plentier than fish, but we enjoyed it. We have good clear springs of water, pure air, and plenty to eat. I think you will believe it when I tell you I am thirteen years old, and weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds. Boys, please make me a visit. We are making sugar, and I promise you a "sweet" time. I always go to school when we have one, but that is not more than six months in a year, and I will have to attend Haverhill Academy this spring. Please pity me. I was glad to see "Mr. Stubbs's Brother." I think it is going to be just as good as "Toby Tyler."
Harry E. M.
We are sure that many boys will wish they might go and see you in the home among the hills, where you have such a kind grandpa, and such loving parents, and so many delightful occupations. But we shall not pity you in the least that you must be sent away to school, for six months' tuition in the year is not quite enough for a boy of thirteen. You need at least nine months, under a good teacher, and so success to you, Harry, at Haverhill Academy!
Winnsboro, Louisiana.
I am a Louisiana boy eleven years old. My brother Bertie is eight, and my little sister five. If any of the young people wished to visit me now, they could come all the way in a boat. You have no idea what a sea of water covers this whole country! It never was so high here before! It has done a great deal of damage, and caused a great deal of suffering. It would make you sad to see how the poor cattle suffer from the water and gnats. The deer, too, are dying in the woods. A gentleman who came to town in a canoe said he saw six dead ones floating in the water. Deer horns are no rarity with us, as I have an uncle who kills a great many deer. They have no horns at this season of the year; they shed them in the winter. Although it is sad to see such an overflow, still it brings some fun to little boys who are fond of boating. Bertie and I and our little sister Kate spend a great deal of our time on the water in our little boat. It would make my letter too long to give you a description of our trips to the pasture to look after the cattle, and to town on errands for mamma. We have been taking Young People for nearly a year, and enjoy reading it so much! Mamma gave it to us this year, but Bertie and I have made enough to take it ourselves. I take it down to school sometimes, and our teacher reads it aloud to the pupils, who enjoy it so much!