Beaufort, South Carolina.
I send you a pencil sketch of a magnolia blossom. I drew it myself. I draw a good deal for my own amusement, although I have had no instruction. The diameter of this blossom is about nine inches when it is fully open. This month is the time for the falling of the cones. They contain the seeds, which are covered with a bright red pulpy substance, and are suspended from the cone by a white silken thread about half an inch long. They are very pretty. Our magnolia-tree is very large. The circumference is about fifteen feet.
Several days ago I saw a wild vine that resembles the sweet-potato vine, and the blossom is just the same. We have what I think is the wild onion growing here. It grows all around in the fields.
I think Harper's Young People is a splendid paper.
A. L. H.
Many thanks for your pretty drawing. We regret we have no room to give it in the Post-office Box.
Windsor, Connecticut.
I don't know but the little folks are tired of hearing about pets, but I want to tell them how my kitty jumped on the piano, and ran over the keys from one end of them to the other, and the tune she played frightened her so that she scampered away with all her might. She is now curled up in my hat, fast asleep. I have two carrier-doves for pets besides.
I sent Carrie Harding, of Freeport, Illinois, some pressed flowers quite a long time ago, but I have not heard whether she received them or not.