Philadelphia, September 16, 1877.
Dear ST. NICHOLAS: I was looking over your September number, and happened to read a letter addressed to the "Little Schoolma'am," and signed "Father of two school-girls;" it was about school lunches, and told of a visit to the new Normal school of Philadelphia; he said that in the lunch hall there is a long table on which there was nothing but cakes of all sorts. Now, being a member of the school, I was a little hurt at the injustice done to our school. I know there is something else but cake,—fruit, milk, soup, sandwiches, etc., being among the other things that are spread on the lunch-table, provided by the janitor, and sold to the girls at very low rates. So you see I had reason to be a little indignant at the discredit done to our school, and set about repairing it as far as possible; and you, too, can help repair the harm done to this fine public school by kindly printing this note. But I must close, for my letter is getting too long.—Your true friend,
A MEMBER OF THE MODEL CLASSES PRIMARY DEPARTMENT. (Aged eleven years.)
SCIENCE AT HOME.
Brooklyn.
DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am an old boy, but not too old to be one of your most delighted readers; and I am glad of the present chance to send you my good wishes, and say my say. Here it is:
Be sure and tell your youngsters to bear in mind that opportunities for home study on their own accounts are multiplying around them day by day, and that in taking advantage of them they will not only find great enjoyment and add to their stock of knowledge, but also will come upon hundreds of ways in which to amuse their friends, both old and young.
Here, for instance, come Professor Mayer, and your frequent contributor, Mr. Charles Barnard, with a little book about "Light." They are not content with merely telling the dry facts about their subject, but, with pictures and plain speech, they explain how almost any boy or girl may, at small cost, make his or her own apparatus, and with it verify by actual trial what the book says. Some of the experiments are positively beautiful, and the hardest is not very difficult.
Then, too, Professor Tyndall has written out his lectures to young people, given before the Royal Institution at London during 1875-76, in a little work called "Lessons in Electricity,"—most interesting and beautiful of scientific studies,—in which he tells how to make the instruments and conduct the experiments yourself. And, as if that were not enough, Mr. Curt W. Meyer, of the Bible House, New York, has arranged to supply a complete set of instruments, to suit this book of Professor Tyndall's, at a total cost of $55, packing-case and all; the various articles being obtainable separately at proportionate prices.
I only wish we had had such chances fifty years ago; for, if our older friends had not made presents of such things to us,—as no doubt many oldsters will to your young folks this coming Christmas,—we'd have saved up our pocket money and gone ahead alone. I know that I made all my own electrical apparatus; but there was good fun in doing it, and it worked well, and made splendid times for our circle of young folks on cozy winter evenings.
I hope you will read this letter through, although it is as long as most old men's memories.—Yours still affectionately,
GRAN'THER HORTON.
Jamaica, L.I.
DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I read Jack-in-the-Pulpit's inquiry in the August number about the "Fiery Tears of St. Lawrence." Yesterday I was reading a book, and in it there was an article headed "Showers of Stars." I read it, and at the end of it was a piece which seemed to be an answer to Jack's question. I copied word for word from the book. Here it is:
"Another writer suggests the theory that a stream or group of innumerable bodies, comparatively small, but of various dimensions, is sweeping around the solar focus in an orbit, which periodically cuts the orbit of the earth, thus explaining the actual cause of shooting stars, aerolites, and meteoric showers."
This is all I have been able to find out, and I hope it is correct.—Believe me to be yours very truly,
C.A.R.
C.A.R., and others who wish to know more of this subject, will find all the latest information in "Appleton's Cyclopaedia," under the items "Aerolite" and "Meteor," where admirably clear and condensed accounts are given of all that is known about these bodies. C.A.R.'s extract states the theory most generally held.
TABLEAUX FROM ST. NICHOLAS PICTURES.