I am a little girl, too small to read our paper when it comes, but grandma reads it to my brother Clayton and myself. She read "Toby Tyler" to us, and even papa was interested in it. We live in Belmont, Nevada, but are staying this summer at this place. It is a long narrow cañon several miles in length, almost all over green meadow, forming a strange contrast to the high rocky mountains. We have some boiling springs here, and you can see the hot water bubbling up to the surface from somewhere below—I often wonder where. We have plenty of Indians here, and I have a little pappoose to play with, who swings me in the hammock. I was born in San Francisco, but have lived most of my life in Nevada, and know nothing of the beautiful world beyond, except what mamma and grandma tell me, and what I see in pictures. You may know that we miss the papers terribly when they do not come, as sometimes happens. Mamma takes the Magazine and Bazar as well as Young People, which we all enjoy. I shall watch very anxiously to see whether you will print my little letter.
Minnie H. W.
Some of our little correspondents are troubled because they do not see their letters in Our Post-office Box, and they express a fear lest they are lost or thrown into the waste-basket. Now, dear boys and girls, set your minds at rest. As we have already said, the editor does not own such a thing as a waste-basket for the Post-office Box. All the little letters are read, and those which can not be published are put away carefully, and your names and homes and little messages are remembered. If the Post-office Box should crowd out the stories and poems and beautiful pictures, and the doleful experiences of Jimmy Brown, you would not enjoy Young People nearly so much, would you?
We have told exchangers again and again that their requests can not be printed the next week after we receive them. They necessarily have to wait several weeks before they can be published. It is hardly a month since we said this the last time, yet some of you write as though you were quite vexed at our delay. Please be patient. And if you send your exchange a second or a third time before we can possibly print it, then be sure to say in your letter that you have sent it before.
Marlborough, New York.
Some time ago, in your Post-office Box, I saw a letter from a little girl offering to exchange fifty stamps for an Indian arrow-head. I sent her a very nice one, and wrote at the same time; but I waited two weeks, and no stamps came. Then I wrote again, and asked her either to return the arrow-head or send the stamps. This was about two weeks ago, and I have heard nothing from her. What can I do in this case? It can not be because I have not sent my address, for I was very careful to put it on both letters. I did not think any child would be mean enough to keep anything without sending an equivalent; but I can see no other reason for it.
Margaret Neilson Armstrong.
The little girl may be ill, or there may be illness in her family, or she may be absent from home. Nothing is more provoking than a delay of this kind, but we still think you will hear from her. After waiting a little longer, it will do no harm for you to write again.