We thank Miss L. C. for her kindness in sending us the nice little budget of letters from her pupils. They were all of nearly equal merit, and those children whose letters are not printed may be sure that we liked them just as well as we did that of Allie D., which follows:
State Centre, Iowa.
Our reading class have been reading out of Harper's Young People instead of our Readers this term, and I like it very much. In No. 114 was a very interesting article on the sponge, and for our examination last month we had to write a composition on it. In No. 117 was a very interesting article on the cigarette. I think if boys and men knew what is in cigars and cigarettes, they would not smoke them. Just think of men and boys smoking cigars that are made up of stubs that are found in gutters in large cities! I think some of your puzzles are very interesting. I like the monogram puzzle very much. You have had some very pretty illustrations in your papers, especially the "Little Dreamer," which is pretty enough for an oil-painting. I have not been very much interested in the "Talking Leaves," because we did not have the first numbers; but we are waiting very patiently for the next story by Mr. Otis.
Allie D.
Pictou, Nova Scotia.
I am a little boy living in Pictou, Nova Scotia, in the Dominion of Canada. Papa takes your paper for me and sister Eliza, and we like it immensely, as we hear some people say about anything they like very much. It is now winter with us; we have a heavy fall of snow on the ground, and it is banked up as high as the windows at our house. The harbor is frozen over altogether down as far as the light-house, about three miles from town, outside of which it hardly ever freezes, but is open all winter. Some parts of our harbor are three miles wide, other places one mile. The ice is now about one foot thick, and carries horses and sleds with large loads of coal. It is marked in many directions with long rows of trees not very far apart, which were put into holes in the ice when it was about four inches thick, and having frozen there, they stand quite firmly. They are for guiding people on stormy days and nights, when they can not see from shore to shore.
There are extensive coal mines about eight miles from us. Some of them are very deep under-ground, but others are not, but the coal is brought up a slope in wagons on wheels. I was up last winter, and saw the men and boys that work in the mines. They were terribly black with coal dust. Each of them carries a safety-lamp, which gives but a feeble light in such dark places. I was up two winters ago, and saw one of the places for myself. At one of the largest mines, about two years ago, there was an explosion, which killed forty men, and ruined the mine. It has never been worked since. For days and days you could see great clouds of smoke rising toward the skies from where we live. Our town is not large; there are only 4000 people in it. But we have some fine houses and public buildings. We have a $20,000 brick and stone academy, with 200 students. We have a railway connecting us with other places in the Dominion and the United States. My papa has travelled a good deal; he has been in Boston several times, and in New York and Philadelphia. He was at the Exhibition there in 1876. He thinks it was a bigger show than Barnum's Circus, which was here some years ago. I wish I could visit your great city, and see the East River Bridge, and the elevated railway, and Broadway, and all the other great sights.
Willie M. H.
Brooklyn, New York.