If you examine your assignat carefully you will see to the left the dim and faded stamp of the figure of Liberty, and if you have a strong magnifying-glass, you can amuse yourself by trying to make out the lettering around it. This little scrap of coarse paper, not quite a hundred years old, may incite you to read the story of the terrible time of which it is a relic. If you are not old enough to enjoy Carlyle's History of the French Revolution, you will find the scenes vividly portrayed in Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities, and Victor Hugo's novel entitled "'93."
Henry H. T.—Your proposal to found a Natural History Society, composed of contributors to Harper's Young People, is hardly practical. The exchange of specimens, etc., would be dilatory and difficult, as our contributors are scattered over the whole continent. Local societies of the kind you mean might be formed to advantage, and the officers of different associations could correspond with each other, and exchange views and information.
L. M. F. and L. L. P.—Your plan for a reading and debating club is excellent, and if well carried out must have good results. You will find suggestions that may be useful in some remarks appended to a letter from Violet S. in Harper's Young People No. 53, and also in a book called Stories of the Sea, noticed in No. 61. We would advise you not to waste your time over fourth-rate literature (to which the books you mention belong), but to select the best authors, whose works will not only entertain but instruct you. An excellent guide for you would be William Swinton's Masterpieces of English Literature, recently published by Harper & Brothers.
Violet S.—Your account of the proceedings of your society is not full enough. Can you not favor us with a sprightly description of what is done and said at your meetings, instead of giving the "order of exercises" merely?
John N. H.—Either hickory or sassafras wood is good material for bows.