Maggie J. L.
Washington, D. C.
I am eleven years old. My mother and little brother have gone down to Florida, so papa and myself are alone at home. A few days ago papa and I went up on top of the Washington Monument. We did not walk up, but rode up on the elevator. It took about five minutes for it to reach the top. On the elevator was a large granite rock weighing over three tons. It went up with us. We saw memorial stones inside of the Monument sent from all parts of the world. When we got to the top we had a very fine view. It was better than the view from the top of the Capitol. They have a net around the top, so if persons should fall, it would not hurt them, as the netting would catch them. Sometimes during the noon hour the men get out on the netting, and smoke just as if they were in a hammock. What a terrible fall they would have if the netting should break! It was about 240 feet high when we were up there. It was so windy that day that you could not stand up on one side of the Monument without holding on to something. At one time the wind shifted, and there were some boards lying out on the net, and a man was walking along on the side where they were. When the wind shifted, it sent the boards flying, and every one of them came down on the man's head, but it did not hurt him, for as soon as they began to tumble on his head, he lay flat down on the wall, so as to keep from being blown away. It made quite an excitement. At first the man would halloo and laugh, and shout, "Joe, Joe, come up here; quick! quick!"
Some men came running up from the inside of the Monument, thinking something dreadful was the matter. We staid up there about an hour. Papa and I walked all around the walls, which were seven feet thick at the top and fifteen at the bottom. Then at the foot of the Monument, in a little house, we saw many more memorial stones. One of the best of them was one that came from Nevada, with the word "Nevada" let into the stone in solid silver, and a motto let into the stone in solid gold. Both the gold and silver came from the mines of Nevada. We enjoyed the trip very much, and I thought some of the readers of Young People might like to have a description of it.
K. B. A. M.
The Nursery, Roseville, Arcadia.
I am a poor little thing. I used to be a beauty and a pet and a darling. But now I am a martyr, and am fading away by degrees. I haven't had a kiss or a kind word from my mamma since Christmas. It's more'n a week since I had my dress off or had on my night-gown at night; and you know it's very unrefreshful to have to wear the same clothes night and day. Still, 's long as I had a bed to sleep in, I didn't complain. But now for three nights I've slept under the sofa, with a lion and a tiger out of Bobby's Noah's ark by my side, and my poor little arms lying out on the floor. Mr. Philip, mamma's big brother, stepped on my thumb last night, and it gives me scruciating pain. Puss carried me all round in her mouth yesterday, and Peg, the terrier, shook me as if I had been a rat and 'most shook away my senses. And I heard Nurse and Norah the waitress talking, and Nurse said, "Oh, Norah, do throw the horrid-looking creature in the ash barrel; it isn't wanted in the nursery now."
Please can not somebody go to my mamma, and ask her to save me from my cruel fate. If she'll never love me any more, won't she give me to somebody who hasn't so many other new favorites? For I think my heart will break.
Florrie's Old Doll.