Franklin, Pa.
Dear St. Nicholas: I would like to have you tell me what Cleopatra’s needle is. I read about its voyage in the papers.—Yours truly, B. L. F.
The obelisk known as Cleopatra’s needle, presented by the Khedive to England, is a great stone that was cut out in one piece from the quarries of Syene, Egypt, it is supposed in the time of Thothmes III. (about 1600 years B. C.), when, also, it was set up in the temple of Karnak, at Thebes. It is a tall, rectangular pillar, tapering from the base to near the top, where it is pointed like a flattened pyramid; its sides are inscribed with hieroglyphics. The obelisk was taken to Alexandria by Queen Cleopatra, and was named after her. Some think that Cleopatra’s Needle was another stone, quarried by order of Ramesis II., and set up in Heliopolis, the City of the Sun; but several obelisks have borne the name, and this may have caused uncertainty about them. The former account is believed to be correct.
Ashland, Wis.
Dear St. Nicholas: I saw, in your January number, two ways pictured for carrying the mails. Here, where I live, on the shore of Lake Superior, we see both ways at the present time. The mail from Bayfield comes on the backs of packers, and on the railroad the mails come from Milwaukie and other points south of us.
We have a jolly fire-place. It is large enough for Santa Claus to come right down without any trouble; and he filled our stockings full last year.—From your constant reader,
Estelle Wilmarth.
We have received the following letters in answer to Alice Clinton’s question, in the February “Letter-Box,” asking for a list of books pleasant to read:
Ogdensburg, N. Y.