Part 4
I am twelve years old. I have a little colt, but it is not gentle, it is very wild. I also have a roan horse, named Sabine. Whenever horses are gathered I help to herd them. I like to do it very much. We generally have about three hundred head to herd. I have no pets now, for my little dog died.
I visited Captain H----'s plantation last winter, and I had a very nice time. I saw the men gin cotton, and I drove the horses round in the gin.
CHARLES A. T.
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BUFFALO, WYOMING TERRITORY.
I have wanted to write to the Post-office Box for a long time for I like YOUNG PEOPLE so much, but I thought as there were so many children writing perhaps my letter would not be printed.
I live in a very lonely country. There are no little girls here at all, but I have a good many pets. I have two colts, named Nellie and Dollie, and a puppy named Carlo. Then I have a cat and four little kittens, and six pigeons, and lots of little chickens. I am going to get a pair of canaries very soon.
LUELLA A. M.
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WHEATLAND, NEW YORK.
I am eleven years old. I live in the Genesee Valley, which I have heard is the nicest valley in the world. We have not many pets, because there are seven of us children, and mamma thinks those are pets enough for one house.
We have a black dog named Shot, but he is real old. We raised him from a puppy. Once he was in a soap box, with three other puppies, and mamma heard an awful squealing. There was a knot-hole in the box, and the puppy's tail stuck out. My little brother Jim crept up and grabbed hold of it, and was trying to pull the poor puppy through the knot-hole.
We had a yellow cat named Moses. He would let us dress him and put him to bed like a baby, and when my little sister sat down on the floor, he would come and put his paws around her neck. He died last spring, and we had a funeral. My brother Manta made a head-stone for him, and painted it white, and put poor Moses's name and age on it.
LAURA M.
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WINONA, MINNESOTA.
I have just returned home from Maiden Rock, a little town in Wisconsin. It is a funny name for a town, and I will tell you why it is called so. There was once an Indian maiden who wanted to marry a young brave, but the other Indians were not willing. One day she went to the top of a high rock, as high as the bluffs on the shore of Lake Pepin. The Indians called to her to come down, and they would give her permission to marry her lover; but she knew very well that if she went down they would kill her, so she jumped from the rock and killed herself. I am eleven years old.
BELLA M.
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SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA.
I got HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for a birthday present, and I like to read the Post-office Box.
In August I went on a mountain trip. We slept in tents. The roads over the mountains are very rough, but we thought it splendid fun to ride in the baggage-wagon.
I have a small museum. Last year when my father came home from Europe he brought me some stones from Rome and from the Alps, and also some pressed flowers.
H. E. R.
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CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK.
I am nine years old. I have a twin sister Ina, and a little brother Herbert, who is very cunning and full of mischief. We have only two pets besides Herbert--a dog named Dick and a cat named Jack. We have lots of fun. We have a croquet set in the yard, and sometimes we have a tent too. Every time Dick comes into the house Herbert calls out, "Dit, here, Dit."
Papa owns a share in a cabin, and every summer we all go up to the lake, and stay about two weeks. Herbert likes to play in the water, and throw stones in it. One day he crawled right in, and got all wet. He does not like to ride in the boat, because he has to sit still. He wants to be in mischief all the time, and he is a little wide-awake, and will not go to sleep when he can help it. He is nineteen months old.
ADA E.
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LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS.
I want to tell you about some fun I had the other day. We have a barrel sunk in the yard with water-lilies in it. There was a lizard in it too. I made a noose and caught it, and put it into mamma's big dish pan, which I filled with water. Then I caught two little toads; one was a little brown fellow about an inch long, and the other a little larger. I put a little piece of board in the water, and fastened it to the end of the string that was round the lizard's neck. Then I put the little toads on the board, and the lizard drew them all around.
EMMA H.
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SCOTTSVILLE, NEW YORK.
I am five and a half years old. I can not read, but I can write letters, although mamma says nobody can read them, so she is writing this for me. Mamma and sister read me the stories in YOUNG PEOPLE. I liked "The Moral Pirates" best of all, but I was afraid Jim would get shot when he took the borrowed boat back.
I have a cat that eats milk and everything with its paw. And I have three rabbits.
Yesterday I took mamma and papa over to the depot, a mile away, and drove home all alone.
I go fishing with papa, and have caught a good many fish.
MILTON B.
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XENIA, OHIO.
I wish to ask a favor of some of the Southern correspondents of the Post-office Box. My sister planted a cotton seed, and the plant that came up bears white blossoms which afterward turn red and drop off. Now I would like very much to know whether it is cotton or not. I would also be glad for all information about the cotton-plant that any correspondent will give.
ROSCOE E. E.
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I am a little boy seven years old. I live at Ingleton, Alabama, two miles from Dickson. My papa owns a large stone quarry. I have two little brothers and one little sister, and we take YOUNG PEOPLE. I like Bessie Maynard's letters to her dollie the best of all.
GEORGIE F.
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BUFFALO PAPER MILL, NORTH CAROLINA.
Papa takes HARPER'S MAGAZINE and WEEKLY, the BAZAR for mamma, and YOUNG PEOPLE for my brothers and sister and myself. I like to read the stories, and the letters in the Post-office Box.
We live right in the woods. Buffalo Creek runs around our house, almost forming an island. I do not go to school. Mamma teaches us at home. We say our lessons every evening.
I have a pet hen. She is black, and so tame that she comes in the house every evening for me to put her to roost. Then we have lots of pigs, goats, calves, chickens, and pigeons, and each of my five brothers has a colt.
MARY T.
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WARSAW, INDIANA.
I have no father nor mother. I live with my uncle and aunt, who are very good to me. In vacation I work in uncle's printing-office, and when there is school I go.
My uncle takes HARPER'S WEEKLY, and my aunt takes the BAZAR, and I take YOUNG PEOPLE. I think it is one of the best papers published.
I have a pet chicken named Mary. She will walk a rope, and swing in a little swing I made for her.
ALFRED J. H.
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PAXTON, ILLINOIS.
I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like to read the letters from the little folks. I am ten years old, and am in the fourth room and "A" class at school.
I had a velocipede, but it is broken. I have a horse and a saddle and bridle, and I ride a good deal.
My little sister is three years old, and I am making a play-house for her. She bit my ear so hard I had to cry. Mamma asked her what made her bite brother's ear. She said, "Brother hurt his ear on my teeth."
RITCHEY M. K.
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ARROW ROCK, MISSOURI.
In the hot weather we keep our doors open at night, and one night a little opossum got in, and in the morning we found it curled up in papa's hat. I kept it for a few days, but once when I went away it ran off. I am seven years old.
RIDLEY MCL.
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
YOUNG PEOPLE comes every week, and I assure you it receives a warm welcome.
We have two little pets. Their names are Roly and Poly. Roly is a little Skye terrier, and Poly is a kitten, which travelled here from "down East." They eat, drink, sleep, and, I am sorry to say, cry together, for they are both very sensitive. They object strongly to being shut up at night, and protest against it loudly.
I am thirteen years old, and I wear spectacles.
J. O.
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WALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
I have taken YOUNG PEOPLE ever since the first number, and I find it very interesting. I was born in this Territory, but I have been to San Francisco and down the Pacific coast as far as Santa Barbara, where I remained six months with my mother and brother and sister. Sometimes in warm weather we take a trip to the Blue Mountains, and we have picnics and fishing parties. I am eleven years old.
FANNIE MINNIE B.
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ADAMS, WISCONSIN.
I am ten years old. I live in the country, near a beautiful lake called Lake Pleasant. I often have a boat-ride on it. The hills are quite high around the lake.
I live with my grandpa and grandma, and I go to school in an old yellow school-house that has stood for thirty years. We are going to have a nice new brick school-house soon, but I do not like to have the dear old house torn down, as it is the same one my mamma went to school in.
We have two hundred sheep. I have a pet lamb that will leave the flock when I call it. Its name is Dickie.
NORA P.
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RANDALL, NEW YORK.
I am eleven years old. I have not any pets now, but I had two. One was a little dog named Fanny. It would draw a little sleigh with a milk-pail on it, and pull me on the ice when I had my skates on. The other was a little kitten that would jump and take a piece of meat out of my hand when I held it over my head.
GEORGE W. L.
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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.
I am eleven years old. I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much. I often go out to the Spanish fort. There is a band of music there every evening, and every Saturday it is there all day. There are two cannon which have been in the fort ever since 1718. I have two pet kittens that follow me everywhere.
CHARLIE N. W.
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I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with some of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.
EDDIE DE LIMA, care of D. A. de Lima & Co., 68 William St., New York City.
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I would like to exchange postmarks of the United States or Canada with any readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.
A. W. RUSSELL, P. O. Box 109, Brookfield, Madison County, New York.
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I would be glad to exchange postage stamps with any readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.
HARRY GUSTIN, Bay City, Michigan.
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I have a few foreign coins which I should like to exchange for rare postage stamps. They are small French coins, Swiss, English, Prussian, German, and Italian, copper and nickel. Some of them I do not know. They look like silver, but I think they are only German silver.
EUGENE E. PETTEE, 11 Prospect Street, Fall River, Massachusetts.
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I have a collection of shells, minerals, postmarks, coins, and woods. I have also a collection of about eleven hundred and twenty-five stamps, all different kinds, and I would like to exchange stamps with any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.
I am twelve years old. I have a canary, and my brother and I had a pair of squirrels, but one died.
HORACE C. FOOTE, 109 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.
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I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with any correspondents. I have stamps from Colombia, Venezuela, Germany, England, and other countries.
ELIAS DESOLA, 162 East Sixtieth Street, New York City.
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I would like to exchange flower seeds with any little girl in California or Florida. I have verbenas, mixed phlox, four-o'clocks, sweet-williams, balsams, alyssum, salvia, mignonette, and red and white petunias.
ADA BELT, 1099 Wilson Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.
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I have a collection of postmarks, and would like to exchange with any correspondents of this nice paper. I am eleven years old.
"EXCHANGE," 939 Main Street, Buffalo, Erie County, New York.
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If any correspondents will send me a list of the stamps they require, and also of those they have to spare, I will like to exchange with them.
JOHN R. BEDFORD, 5 Spencer Place, Fourth Street, New York City.
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I would like to exchange some revenue stamps for postage stamps. Among those I wish to exchange are two varieties of one-dollar stamps and a forty-cent stamp.
LEONARD T. BEECHER, Wellsville, Alleghany County, New York.
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I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I think it is splendid.
I have a great many French, Italian, English, and German postage stamps which I would like to exchange for others.
GEORGE B. DONNELLY, P. O. Box 4574, New York City.
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I am collecting postage stamps, and would like to exchange. Correspondents will please state the number of stamps in their collection, and send me their list. I have twelve hundred stamps, and I am thirteen years old. I would like to know the age of my correspondents.
CHARLES S. PETRASCH, 13 West Thirty-second Street, New York City.
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I would like to exchange postmarks with any boy readers of YOUNG PEOPLE in the West. I am twelve years old.
ARTHUR S. MOORE, 40 Third Place, Brooklyn, New York.
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I would like to exchange postage stamps with any correspondent.
R. L. PRESTON, P. O. Box 327, Lynchburg, Virginia.
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LOUISE.--Your question, "Is the mosquito of any use in the great economy of nature?" has often been asked by many older and wiser than you, for it is not generally known that in their larval state mosquitoes form an important branch of nature's army of tiny scavengers. The larvæ live in the water of stagnant pools and marshes, and feed upon particles of decaying matter, and as their number is so very large, the amount they devour is considerable. By thus purifying the water they destroy the miasma which would otherwise arise and pollute the atmosphere to such an extent that no human being could breathe it with safety. The value of the work accomplished in tropical countries by these tiny scavengers is very great. It is estimated that the air of certain marshy regions would be so poisonous that no animal higher than a reptile could breathe it and live, were their purifying influence removed. We do not know that mosquitoes in the winged state have any useful mission beyond that of depositing the eggs which produce the larvæ, but that alone saves them from being "nothing but a nuisance."
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F. A. REILLY.--The subscription price for HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for 1881 will remain one dollar and fifty cents, the same low figure as for the first volume.
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BRIAN B.--The large green worm that feeds on carrot, caraway, parsley, and some other common garden plants is the caterpillar of the _Papilio asterias_, a large black butterfly which is seen in great numbers at midsummer, hovering about the flowers in gardens. It is especially fond of the sweet-scented phlox. This butterfly is very handsomely marked with rows of yellow spots near the margin of its wings, and on the hind wings, which are tailed, there is also a row of blue spots, and near the lower angle an orange-colored eye with a black dot in the centre. The wings of this handsome insect expand from three to four inches.
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"THISTLE."--It is not easy to say why such great numbers of potato-bugs are found crawling on the sea-beaches. These striped cantharides are so numerous in all parts of the country that they are probably blown seaward by the wind, and naturally sail ashore on the tide.
You will find simple directions for pressing flowers and leaves in the Post-office Boxes of YOUNG PEOPLE Nos. 34 and 46.
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F. B. W.--Write again to your correspondent. There are so many possible reasons why he has not answered you that it would not be fair to him to print your notice. Possibly he has misdirected the letter to you.
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Favors are acknowledged from Fred P. Herron, Albert C. B., Jessie R. Ellerby, E. N., Richard F. Morgan, Willie C. Chapman, S. B., Frank Davis, S. Donald Newton, Gertrude B. Duffee, Frank Haid, John R. Bancroft, H. S. G.
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Correct answers to puzzles are received from Eddie S. Hequembourg, Mary Tiddy, "Chiquot," William H. Dobson, Dana D. Stanton, "Milwaukee," Percy McGeorge, "Nellie Bly," E. D. W. R. Garden, George Volckhausen, James H. Beddow, Howard A. Esterly, "Ivanhoe."
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John H. Bartlett, A. O., and J. C. Locher have sent neat specimens of the five-pointed star, which were received too late for acknowledgment with the others.
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PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
UNITED DIAMONDS.
1. In strawberry. By way of. A fabulous woman. A unit. In huckleberry. 2. In peach. An article very useful to travellers. A color. A jewel. In plum. Centrals of diamonds read across give the name of a common shrub.
OWLET.
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No. 2.
WORD SQUARES.
1. First, mountains in Switzerland. Second, mountains in Asia. Third, a river in Hungary. Fourth, a town in Piedmont, once an ancient Roman settlement.
JULIA.
2. First, a part of the body. Second, a disease. Third, invalid. Fourth, a hollow.
CHIQUOT.
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No. 3.
CHARADE.
My first is needed to make my second, and should always be in my whole.
BOLUS.
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No. 4.
NUMERICAL CHARADES.
1. A fanciful character in one of Shakspeare's plays composed of 11 letters. My 3, 10, 5, 1 is agony to weary fingers. My 8, 2, 1 is a problem. My 6, 9, 5, 11 is done by every school-boy. My 7, 2, 8, 4 is fine powder.
LONIE.
2. An inhabitant of Africa composed of 10 letters. My 2, 7, 8, 5, 4 is a bird. My 6, 9, 3, 4 is a piece of money. My 1, 5, 10, 7 is a beautiful flower.
FANNIE.
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No. 5.
ENIGMA.
My first is in board, but not in plank. My second is in hoard, but not in bank. My third is in sin, but not in good. My fourth is in tin, but not in wood. My fifth is in sword, but not in arms. My sixth is in town, but not in farms. My whole its forehead proudly rears, Crowned by two hundred and fifty years.
ARTHUR AURIE.
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ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 47.
No. 1.
B F U R N A R M B R E A D-F R U I T N A G M I X D T
No. 2.
Telephone.
No. 3.
1. Hipparchus. 2. Epicharmus. 3. Herodotus.
No. 4.
F O A M A R G O O H I O R E A P A I M S G A L A M O S S O P A L
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Charade on page 696--Salt-Petre.
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[Illustration]
Bicycle riding is the best as well as the healthiest of out-door sports; is easily learned and never forgotten. Send 3c. stamp for 24-page Illustrated Catalogue, containing Price-Lists and full information.
THE POPE MFG. CO.,
79 Summer St., Boston, Mass.
=COINS AND STAMPS.= My revised catalogue of coins, showing _buying prices_, just out--price 10c. No. 20, of the St. Louis _Philatelist_, the best stamp paper in America, is now ready, and will be mailed free for stamp. E. F. GAMBS, Coin and Stamp Dealer, 621 South 5th St., St. Louis, Mo. Established 1872.
ABSORBING STORY
OF A
BOY'S LIFE AMONG PIRATES.
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=THE ADVENTURES OF REUBEN DAVIDGER;= Seventeen Years and Four Months Captive among the Dyaks of Borneo. By JAMES GREENWOOD. 8vo, Cloth, $1.25; 4to, Paper, 15 cents.
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This is a book which will be devoured by youth with much the same engrossing interest that made the perusal of "Robinson Crusoe" so delightful. The author has the power of literally enchaining the attention of the reader, whether of larger or smaller growth.--_Brooklyn Times._
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Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
HARPER & BROTHERS _will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price_.
CHILDREN'S
PICTURE-BOOKS.
Square 4to, about 300 pages each, beautifully printed on Tinted Paper, embellished with many Illustrations, bound in Cloth, $1.50 per volume.
The Children's Picture-Book of Sagacity of Animals.