Grattan, Michigan.
Although I am thirteen years old, I am not too old to write to a young people's paper. I went to school in the winter, but just a week before school closed the school-house burned. My papa owns a hop yard, and in the fall we have a number of girls to pick hops. I like to pick quite well, but when the sun is hot the hops settle, and you don't get your box full so quickly. I have only two pets. One is a large, playful yellow-dog, and the other is a ferret. Her name is Jennie, and she is very nice. She looks very much like a weasel, only her fur is yellow and black. She likes bread and milk very much, and if we give her a cracker she will run and hide it. We can take a saucer of milk and hold it up a foot and a half from the floor, and she will jump and catch hold of the edge of the saucer and eat. I have taken Young People for about four months, and like it real well. This is the first letter I have ever written to a paper.
Ollie L. W.
So even a ferret appreciates kindness! It must be a pretty sight when the girls go out to pick the hops. I am sure they have a happy time over their work. Are they paid according to the number of boxes they fill in a day?
Josie E. L.—For a little girl still in the Primary Department your letter is very well written indeed. I hope the new Maltese kitten will be as cunning and as great a pet as the one that died.
Margaret S. S.—Your account of your travels almost took away my breath. Twice across the continent; twice from New York, by Panama, and thence by steamer, to San Francisco; and then, last summer in the Yosemite! You are a fortunate girl to have seen so many places. Well, dear, when you grow up you will have many pleasant and some droll things to remember, and you will not be a timid or fussy traveller, making every one around you uncomfortable. Your room must be very beautiful, decorated as you describe it. I presume your sister and you are both fond of natural history.