H. S. W.
What a pity about the poor toad! Perhaps he pined for home.
Any unmarried woman is a maiden. A spinster is a person who spins. In olden times the young ladies of the family used to spin and weave the household linen, and so they were called spinsters. Really a maiden and a spinster are the same.
Gallipolis, Ohio.
I am a little girl twelve years old. I have been taking Harper's Young People two years, and like it very much. I have been afflicted for years, and have to walk on crutches. I have two sisters, who are away at school; a week more and they will be at home, and I will be happy. I have a canary-bird; his name is Pedro. The bottom of his cage dropped out, and he flew away, and was gone a day and night; a boy caught him, and brought him back to me. I have a tortoise-shell cat and kitten. The old cat is named Spot, and the kitten Hot. I will exchange twelve foreign and United States stamps for the same number of gilt cards or glass buttons. I have a button string of over a thousand glass buttons; I have also six hundred cards.
Mary V. Cox.
Although you have to walk on crutches, you have happy times, I am sure, for a contented heart triumphs over all difficulties.
Sherburne Four Corners, New York.