L. Addie M.
South Amboy, New Jersey.
I am twelve years old. I am going to tell you about the little canary-bird we have. When we first got him, several years ago, his eyesight was perfectly good. We used to let him fly around the room with another canary-bird we had. That canary-bird died, and the other bird gradually got blind in one eye, and then in the other; and now he is perfectly blind. But he sings from morning until night. We have to cover him in the morning, he sings so early he wakes us up before the time. You can hear him singing all over the house during the day. Children, how much happier ought we to be, who have our eyesight, than this poor little blind canary!
Julia S.
Hastings.
I write to tell you that I have learned the names of all the Kings and Queens of England, and the dates of their coronation; I learned them in just one week. I have to walk nearly two miles to school. I have no brother or sister; my sister Ella died one year ago, and was buried on my ninth birthday. I want to tell you about a trout-pond we have on our farm, and how we raise the little speckled trout. We put their spawn on wire screens in a wooden trough, and let spring water run through it. It takes about fifty days for them to hatch. When they are hatched, they have something attached to their stomach which is called a food sac, and on which they live for about forty days. After that is gone we have to feed them. Last winter we hatched twenty thousand, and expect to raise as many more this year. Trout spawn in November and December, and the eggs are hatched in the winter. A few weeks ago my father noticed his screens had been disturbed in the night. We set a trap, and in the morning it had a musk-rat caught in it. My auntie takes Harper's Young People for me, and I am very glad every week when it comes.
Bert Campbell.
In what State is your Hastings? You forgot to tell us.