I have a little dog named Fanny, who shakes rats, and cats too when she gets a chance. She talks, and she shows her teeth when she laughs, and sneezes when she is pleased.
Laura B. W. (eight years).
Wellsburg, West Virginia.
As you have asked us to write about household pets, I thought I would tell you about a pet fish we kept in a stone basin about three feet square and two feet deep. We caught the fish in Cross Creek, and brought it home in a bucket, and placed it in the basin. It was a yellow bass about ten inches long and very pretty. It soon got very tame, and would take a fishing-worm out of my fingers. It committed suicide one night by jumping out on the floor and killing itself. I have a sunfish in the basin now, but I don't expect it will ever get so tame. There are four or five pretty redbirds staying in our yard, and lots of snowbirds.
Samuel J.
New York City.
In Young People No. 11 there is an article on the Dead-letter Office at Washington which mentions some curious things to go through the mail. There are three more very queer things I would like to mention. The first is two centipedes, which are on the shelf with the snake; the second is an iron hitching post; and the third is a live alligator about a foot and a half long. There is an old record in the office of 1778, which lasted at that time eleven years, but which, a clerk said, would last now about fifteen minutes.
K. P.