College Hill, near Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Post-office Box is very interesting to us little folks, and I have long wanted to contribute to it, but my papa tells me to write only when I have something of interest to say, so I have waited until now. Among our many Christmas gifts this year was Harper's Young People, which has given us a great deal of pleasure; indeed, we are so anxious we read it together. "We" means my sister Fanny and myself. My little brother, three years old, saw a circus procession last spring, and was delighted with it. When he came home he said he saw "great big pigs with logs tied on in front, and strings fastened on behind" (meaning the elephants), and "great big horses with lumps on their backs" (meaning the camels).
Daisy D.
Cambridgeborough, Pennsylvania.
I will tell you about our Indian excitement in Arizona last spring. We were living in Galeyville at the time of the Apache outbreak (some of you will remember the letter from there in No. 128). We were dreadfully frightened. We heard the firing one day when one of the men was shot. He went out to look for his horses, when the red-skins saw and killed him. We could see them (the Indians) the same evening as they passed just below town; they had hundreds of stolen horses along. At night the women and children slept in an adobe house which was barricaded. All the men in the camp were armed, and took turns at keeping guard; they expected to have a fight some morning at daybreak.
My papa and another gentleman talked the matter over, and decided to send their families to Tucson. So we got ready very hastily, and on the morning of the 26th of April we said "good-by" to the dear old camp where we had had such good times. It was a drive of twenty-five miles to our station on the Southern Pacific Railroad. There were two ladies, five children, and five riflemen, besides papa, who drove. A mile out of town we came to an encampment of soldiers, about five hundred in number. Two companies were mounted and moving, and the others were drawn up in line, ready to mount; each man stood at his horse's head, and took off his hat as we passed. We boys thought it very fine. But the scouts who accompanied them, about eighty Yuma Indians, looked hideous in their war-paint. They wore but little clothing, and all had red turbans on to show that they belonged to the United States service.
When ten miles from home we crossed a fresh trail, and a few moments later discovered a band of Indians on either side, the one at our right being the larger, and some two miles away. Those at the left—there were twenty—were nearer, and as soon as they saw us, wheeled about, and came dashing after us. Papa whipped Kate and Jennie, and they broke into a regular runaway, which lasted for a mile or more, the Indians, of course, gaining on us all the while, and soon we were almost in shooting distance. Papa then stopped the team to prepare for an attack, when the Indians halted, seeming to hold a council, then turned and rode back as fast as they had come. They no doubt saw we were well armed, and that they might get the worst of it. The large band was mostly composed of stolen horses without riders, but this we could not at first make out. I can never tell you how frightened mamma and Mrs. S. were, and how glad we all were to see the last of the hostiles.
We reached the railroad without any accident, and in time for the train. Mamma, brother, and I were in Tucson ten days, and then came here to my grandpa's house. The folks here had heard that we were all killed. A number of papa's friends were killed, and it was a most dreadful time. There are now no ladies or children at Galeyville, nor will there be for a long time. It makes us homesick to think about it all. My papa came on a few weeks ago, and we intend to stay here all summer. This is a very pleasant town. A river flows through it, bordered by grand old trees and sloping grassy banks, and spanned by a handsome suspension-bridge. We have nice times riding black Charlie, my grandpa's horse.
Georgie B. C.
What a jubilee there must have been at grandpa's when you arrived there safe and sound.
Los Angeles, California.