Harper's Young People, September 7, 1880 Part 6

And when the old nurse came in the room, she found the two babies wide-awake, smiling at each other, and saying, "Goo-goo," as sweetly as if they hadn't a grievance in the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GETTING ACQUAINTED.--DRAWN BY W. L. SHEPPARD.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.]

We are compelled to repeat some of our instructions to our young correspondents desiring exchange, in order to save ourselves and them from unnecessary trouble. In the first place, the name must be written very plainly. In some instances we can give only the initials because it is impossible to read the name, and the initials themselves are often very doubtful. Then the address must be given in full. If you have no post-office box, and live in a town too small to have numbered streets, have your letter addressed to the care of your father, or of some one through whom you will be sure to receive it.

Do not write to us that it would give you pleasure to exchange with any particular correspondent whose address has been plainly given in Our Post-office Box, because we can not make room to print a letter which should more suitably be written direct to the correspondent with whom you desire to exchange.

Requests for correspondence, or for exchange of cards or pictures of any kind, will not be noticed, as we do not consider such exchanges as leading to any valuable information, and it is only such that we desire to facilitate. Postmarks, which in themselves are worthless, we consider calculated to develop a knowledge of geography; for no American boy will rest content until he knows the exact locality from which his new postmark comes, and finds out all about it that his geography will tell him. Postage stamps have the same merit, with the advantage of being historical as well, as many of them contain heads of kings, queens, or eminent men, or at least some design typical of the country from which they come.

We shall never print in the Post-office Box letters from correspondents desiring to sell stamps, minerals, or any other things.

These observations are not gratuitous on our part, but we are compelled to make them to save ourselves the labor of reading scores of letters of which we can make no use whatever.

NEWBERN, VIRGINIA.

We live at the sea-side, and we had never seen mountains before we came here this summer. I thought they were awfully big when I first looked at them.

We amuse ourselves in many ways. Sometimes we ride on horseback, and other times we go to the brook and paddle. We also take lovely walks, and gather ferns, mosses, and lichens for hanging baskets.

One morning we went to the barn to see them thresh, and Ally found eight baby mice, and Nora brought them home in her pocket. At the thres.h.i.+ng place there are ten little puppies, and we have fine times playing with them.

The other day we drove to see the highest mountain near here, and just before we got there down came a shower. We took shelter in a log-cabin church, but before we got inside we were all wet through. We thought that was all the more fun, because we like to be in the rain.

I am nine years old, and the oldest child of five.

SUE D. T.

SAINT JOSEPH, TENSAS PARISH, LOUISIANA.

I am a little Southern girl nine years old, and I like YOUNG PEOPLE so much! I read all the letters in the Post-office Box.

So many children write about turtles that I thought I would tell them about one my brother had once. He said it was a pet, and one day he went to kiss it, when it put out its head and bit his nose, and hung on. His old black mammy told him that it would never let go until it thundered, so he ran all around, screaming, "I wish it would flunder! I wish it would flunder!" The noise he made frightened the turtle so that it dropped off without waiting for thunder.

My brother is a grown man now, living in New Orleans, and we often laugh at him about his turtle and the "flunder."

ANNIE FLEMING L.

I am a little girl of nine years. My papa has taken YOUNG PEOPLE for me since the first number. I enjoy reading the children's letters very much.

My grandma is visiting us this summer, and she has her parrot with her. It is twenty-seven years old. It calls "Grandma" and "Mother," and screams for its breakfast. It says "Good-by" and "How do you do?" as plain as I can, and sings two songs, and imitates the cat, the dog, and the rooster, and does a great many other things.

Now I will tell the little girls what I have been doing since the school closed. I have learned to crochet, and have made two tidies and five yards of tr.i.m.m.i.n.g. I am now making tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of feathered-edge braid, and if any little girl who can crochet would like the pattern, I will be glad to send her a sample.

GRACIE MEADS, Platte City, Platte County, Missouri.

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA.

I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and like it so much! I am ten years old. My papa is out at the mines, and I am going there too when it gets cooler weather. I have a pet kitten here at home, and my papa has got two kittens and a dog for me when I go out to the mines.

I have a doll named Goldie. My aunt sent it to me from New York city.

I go to school, and my reading-book is the History of the United States.

FLORENCE R.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

I send two easy experiments for the chemist's club: Pour a small quant.i.ty of common aqua ammonia in a dish; over this place a funnel, big end down, in the tube of which place a few cut flowers. In a little while the flowers will change color.

A very pretty experiment is this: Take a piece of ice, or in winter a snow-ball, and dig a small cavity in it. In this hole place a little piece of gum-camphor, and touch a lighted match to it. It will burn a good while, and have the appearance of ice or snow on fire.

FRED A. C.

BARTON, MARYLAND.

I am seven years old. I go to school, and am in the Second Reader.

Our teacher takes YOUNG PEOPLE, and we love to hear her read the stories.

I have a pet pig just as white as it can be. It likes to roll in the mud, and then it gets black and dirty like other pigs.

Sometimes it bites my brother Harry's toes, and then I think it is a naughty pig.

GRACIE W.