Part 4

JERICHO, LONG ISLAND.

I am a little girl, and I live in the country. I wish to inform Henry F., who is so sorry for the country boys and girls, that his pity is thrown away, for when we go to the city--and I know of none in these parts who have never been there--and return to see the green grass, and fields bedecked with flowers, we think this is far superior to the noisy elevated railroads of the city. We have a great deal of fun here in winter. There is quite a high hill, to which we take our sleds, and ride clear down to the bottom, and then across a pond. Sometimes three or four get on a sled at a time. I go to school, and study reading, spelling, mental and practical arithmetic, geography, grammar, and history. I like history best. I think HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE is the nicest paper I have ever read. I like the Post-office very much.

MAGGIE J. L.

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WASHINGTON, D. C.

I am eleven years old. My mother and little brother have gone down to Florida, so papa and myself are alone at home. A few days ago papa and I went up on top of the Washington Monument. We did not walk up, but rode up on the elevator. It took about five minutes for it to reach the top. On the elevator was a large granite rock weighing over three tons. It went up with us. We saw memorial stones inside of the Monument sent from all parts of the world. When we got to the top we had a very fine view. It was better than the view from the top of the Capitol. They have a net around the top, so if persons should fall, it would not hurt them, as the netting would catch them. Sometimes during the noon hour the men get out on the netting, and smoke just as if they were in a hammock. What a terrible fall they would have if the netting should break! It was about 240 feet high when we were up there. It was so windy that day that you could not stand up on one side of the Monument without holding on to something. At one time the wind shifted, and there were some boards lying out on the net, and a man was walking along on the side where they were. When the wind shifted, it sent the boards flying, and every one of them came down on the man's head, but it did not hurt him, for as soon as they began to tumble on his head, he lay flat down on the wall, so as to keep from being blown away. It made quite an excitement. At first the man would halloo and laugh, and shout, "Joe, Joe, come up here; quick! quick!"

Some men came running up from the inside of the Monument, thinking something dreadful was the matter. We staid up there about an hour. Papa and I walked all around the walls, which were seven feet thick at the top and fifteen at the bottom. Then at the foot of the Monument, in a little house, we saw many more memorial stones. One of the best of them was one that came from Nevada, with the word "Nevada" let into the stone in solid silver, and a motto let into the stone in solid gold. Both the gold and silver came from the mines of Nevada. We enjoyed the trip very much, and I thought some of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE might like to have a description of it.

K. B. A. M.

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THE NURSERY, ROSEVILLE, ARCADIA.

I am a poor little thing. I used to be a beauty and a pet and a darling. But now I am a martyr, and am fading away by degrees. I haven't had a kiss or a kind word from my mamma since Christmas. It's more'n a week since I had my dress off or had on my night-gown at night; and you know it's very unrefreshful to have to wear the same clothes night and day. Still, 's long as I had a bed to sleep in, I didn't complain. But now for three nights I've slept under the sofa, with a lion and a tiger out of Bobby's Noah's ark by my side, and my poor little arms lying out on the floor. Mr. Philip, mamma's big brother, stepped on my thumb last night, and it gives me scruciating pain. Puss carried me all round in her mouth yesterday, and Peg, the terrier, shook me as if I had been a rat and 'most shook away my senses. And I heard Nurse and Norah the waitress talking, and Nurse said, "Oh, Norah, do throw the horrid-looking creature in the ash barrel; it isn't wanted in the nursery now."

Please can not somebody go to my mamma, and ask her to save me from my cruel fate. If she'll never love me any more, won't she give me to somebody who hasn't so many other new favorites? For I think my heart will break.

FLORRIE'S OLD DOLL.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

I have been wanting to write to you for a long time. I have a doll. I have a nice brother; his name is Joe. I have a good dog. I have a kitty, and I like her. I have a work-box. I have a basket. I have a money purse. I was happy Christmas morning. I can read in a book. I am a pretty big girl. I hope you will print this letter.

NAN P.

It is a very nice letter, Nan, and we wish we could give you a kiss for it. We hope the little work-box is in good order, that the money purse will never have a hole in it, and that you will be ever so much bigger and just as happy when Christmas shall come again.

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One of our little boy readers wants to know why he must always take off his hat when he speaks to a lady. It is a very old custom, and a mark of respect that gentlemen like to show their lady friends. The following little story shows what King George III. of England thought about the matter:

Nearly seven hundred years ago, Philip II. of France summoned King John of England either to trial or to combat for the murder of Prince Arthur. As the latter cared for neither, a gallant soldier named De Courcy, then languishing in prison, was set free that he might undertake the combat not for his King's, but for his country's sake. The fight, however, never took place, for Philip's champion, afraid of the gigantic De Courcy, preferred to sacrifice his honor to risking his life. Being urged by John and Philip, who had come to witness the expected encounter, to give them an exhibition of his strength, De Courcy placed his helmet upon a post, and cleaving it with terrific force, drove his sword so firmly into the wood that none but the striker could withdraw it. "Never," said King John--"never unveil thy bonnet, man, again, before King or subject." Thus the privilege of wearing the hat in presence of the sovereign came to be enjoyed solely by the De Courcys, Earls of Kinsale. They asserted their privilege by wearing their hat for a moment and then uncovering, but the De Courcy of George III.'s reign, not thinking this assertion sufficient, on one occasion wore his court hat all the time he was in the presence of the King. But the third George crushed the display of pride by remarking, "The gentleman has a right to be covered before me; but even King John could give him no right to be covered before ladies."

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WILLIAM T. W.--There seems to be a prevailing opinion that the "shadow" is the best canoe for sailing and paddling. The best-known builders of "shadows" are Everson, of Brooklyn (489 First Street), and the "Racine Canoe-Building Company," of Racine, Wisconsin. The American travelling canoe is an admirable paddling canoe and a fast sailer. One of the best rigs is the "Lord Ross," a modified lateen rig. Two sails are always to be preferred to one large sail.

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May G. Hamblin recites perfectly the list of the sovereigns of England, as her mother testifies. George F. and Hattie L. Leet have repeated the same list in its order, with the date of each coronation, and also the five lines and five houses, with the names of the sovereigns included in each.

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We wish there were room in the Post-office box to print the nine bright letters kindly sent to us by the principal of a school in Geneva, New York. They were selected by her from a number of letters to HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE submitted by her pupils as the regular weekly exercise in composition. Their merit is so nearly equal that we do not think it would be fair to choose one for publication and omit the others. So, with cordial thanks to Mrs. L. and to the little correspondents who like the paper so well, we simply print their names, and hope to hear from them again: Neva K., May E. B., Maggie M., Mabel S., Lizzie B., Philip B. R., Georgia H., May R., Carrie E. S.

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C. Y. P. R. U.

THOUGHTS FOR THE COMMONPLACE-BOOK.--No, Jessie and Mary, I have not forgotten my promise to give you pretty poems and quaint passages now and then for you to copy in your commonplace-book. I have had so many questions to answer that my column has not been long enough for choice extracts, but here to-day are three, which you may take pains to write out in a fair hand, as the old writing-masters used to say. The first quotation I make for you to-day is from Friedrich Ruckert, a great German lyric poet, who was born at Schweinfurt, Bavaria, in 1788, and died at Coburg in 1866. The little poem contains a thought for every member of the C. Y. P. R. U.--a thought worth taking for a life motto:

SOLOMON AND THE SOWER.

In open field King Solomon Beneath the sky sets up his throne; He sees a sower walking, sowing, On every side the seed-corn throwing.

"What dost thou there?" exclaimed the King. "The ground can here no harvest bring; Break off from such unwise beginning, Thou'lt get no crop that's worth the winning."

The sower hears; his arm he sinks. And, doubtful he stands still and thinks; Then goes he forward, strong and steady, For the wise King this answer ready:

"I've nothing else but this one field; I've watched it, labored it, and tilled; What further use of pausing, guessing?-- The corn from me, from God the blessing."

_Translated by_ N. L. FROTHINGHAM.

The next thought is from the _Green Book_ of Mrs. Maria Hare:

"The praises of others may be of use in teaching us not what we are, but what we ought to be."

And now for the last hint for which I can spare space. It is from John Ruskin, and is intended as a reproof for an affectation of modesty. Modesty is always beautiful, but affectation, like other forms of insincerity, is the sign of a defect in character:

"If young ladies really do not want to be seen, they should take care not to let their eyes flash when they dislike what people say; and more than that, it is all nonsense, from beginning to end, about not wanting to be seen. I don't know any more tiresome flower in the borders than your especially 'modest' snow-drop, which one always has to stoop down and take all sorts of tiresome trouble with, and nearly break its poor little head off, before you can see it; and then, half of it is not worth seeing. Girls should be like daisies, nice and white, with an edge of red if you look close; making the ground bright wherever they are; knowing simply and quietly that they do it, and are meant to do it, and that it would be very wrong if they didn't do it. Not want to be seen, indeed!"

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MAY.--Caoutchouc is obtained from plants which afford a milky juice, white as it flows from the plant, but darkening with exposure to the weather. It is commonly called India rubber, and is so useful and convenient an article that civilized people could hardly get along comfortably without it. It forms an important article of commerce. Mexico, Central and South America, and the East Indies are the principal places from which India rubber comes. The East India rubber is the juice of a species of fig-tree. The South American product is taken from the syringe-tree, which is sometimes as high as an eight-story house. To erase pencil marks is one of the uses of India rubber which will occur to you first, and then you will think of water-proof cloaks and shoes, without which we could not go out comfortably in stormy weather. But these only begin to be the list of articles which this obliging gum aids in constructing. Tubes, fire hose, elastic bands, mats, belts for machinery, door springs, etc., are made of it. Combined with sulphur, it forms combs, canes, buttons, picture-frames, brush backs, and surgical instruments, and combined with sulphur and coal tar, and polished like jet, it is used to make beautiful ornamental jewelry.

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LOIS T.--Yes, when I was a little girl I liked to go to parties; but our parties, dear, always began about three o'clock in the afternoon, and were over at eight, when we were sent for by our mothers, and went home to sleep well and have happy dreams. Such a thing as an evening party, with full dress, was considered too great a dissipation for little folks when I was young.

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The boy members of the C. Y. P. R. U. will find in this issue an inspiring sketch, entitled "The Boyhood of Daniel Webster," by Mr. George Cary Eggleston, showing what an "idle boy" could do in the way of astonishing his teacher by his industry; and a pleasant article by Sherwood Ryse, entitled "On Skates," which gives both information and practical suggestions regarding one of our pleasantest winter pastimes. The girl members can not fail to be interested in "The Life of a Little Girl in 1782," by Mrs. Margaret E. Sangster, while they will heartily congratulate themselves on the changes in the way of training children that a century has brought about.

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PUZZLES PROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

ENIGMA.

'Tis black and brown, 'tis blue and gray, 'Tis changeful as an April day; And yet, no matter what they say, 'Tis not without attraction. It has a language all its own. Though mortal never heard its tone; It tells the sufferer's moan, It tells of satisfaction.

Inclosed within a narrow cell, It moves on hinge invisible. Securely kept, and guarded well From all approaching danger. It often speaks, yet never talks; It freely runs, but never walks; And every passing thing remarks-- In fact, is quite a ranger.

It swims, and yet arms has it none; And dances out of very fun Without a leg to stand upon, Or foot to follow after. It has a brother--twin, they say-- And when cross-purposes they play, They look the very oddest way; To some they're cause for laughter.

As shining crystal it is bright. 'Tis dark or dull as winter night, Its very nature, too, is light, For all were dark without it. It forms the poet's constant theme, It haunts the lover in his dream, And really paramount would seem, So much is said about it.

RIP VAN WINKLE.

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No. 2.

TWO EASY DIAMONDS.

1.--1. A letter. 2. A personal pronoun. 3. A word implying command. 4. A tree. 5. A letter.

2.--1. A letter. 2. To decay. 3. Sunny. 4. A vegetable product. 5. A letter.

FILL BUSTER.

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No. 3.

DOUBLE ENIGMA.

In acorn, not in nut. In depot, not in hut. In building, not in inn. In copper, not in tin. In shark, not in eel. The whole two reptiles dreaded Wherever they are seen.

WILL A. METTE.

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No. 4.

DOUBLE ACROSTIC.

1. Undisturbed. 2. A lovely wild flower. 3. A bed. 4. A large building. 5. A preparation of opium. 6. A domestic animal. 7. A lazy person. 8. Plentifully. 9. A small rodent. 10. A river in South America. 11. A measure. 12. A large bird prized for its feathers. 13. A bird that sings at night. 14. An article of dessert. 15. A covering for the head. 16. To terrify. Finals and primals form the names of two choice flowers.

M. E. N. (11 years old).

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ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN No. 113.

No. 1.

Snow-bird. Sparrow.

No. 2.

1. Chicago. 2. Hartford. 3. Rappahannock. 4. Idaho. 5. Savannah. 6. Tallahassee. 7. Maine. 8. Austin. 9. Susquehanna. Christmas.

No. 3.

H B E T H E L I X T I N X

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Correct answers to puzzles have been received from Harry D. Lockman, Bessie Eaton, Roy Dempster, Robert Andrews, Jun., William C. Hyatt, "Fill Buster," John Janemich, Harry Graff, Olin A. McAdams, Florence T. Cox, L. E. C., "Lodestar," H. L. Pruyn, Sadie A. Sedgewick, Clare B. Bird, J. C. Krautz.

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The answer to the Enigma on page 160 of No. 114 is Drab-Bard.

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[_For Exchanges, see 2d and 3d pages of cover._]

SCIENTIFIC PUZZLES.

Here are two very simple experiments that will not fail to excite a good deal of interest and wonderment among persons who are unfamiliar with them.

The first illustrates the pressure of the atmosphere. Take a coin and rub it against some oaken book-case or very smooth wooden surface, as shown in Fig. 1. Press it hard for a moment, and then withdraw the fingers. The coin will continue to stick to the wood.

The reason of this is that the rubbing and the pressure have dispersed the air which was between the coin and the wood, and the pressure of the atmosphere is sufficient to keep the coin in its place.

To perform the experiment shown in Fig. 2 fill a glass carefully with water up to the brim, so that the surface of the water is rounded. Then ask the by-standers how many coins can be thrown into the glass without the water over-flowing. Some will emphatically declare that it will not hold one; others will admit that there may possibly be room for one or two.

By dropping the coins very carefully into the water edge-ways, it will be found that even as many as five or six coins the size of a silver dollar can be dropped into the water before it overflows.

THE LITTLE MAN.

BY MAMIE LUKE.

A little man, in brand-new suit Of clothes from out the store; Nor speck of dirt nor stain of fruit His natty garments bore. His jacket and his trousers were His first, and spick and span; And pride soon exercised its spur Upon this little man.

And felt he prouder than a King In his complete array; To see him round the parlor swing Was better than a play. Deep in his trousers pockets thrust, Make sure, were both his hands, And richer he with cents in trust Than owner large of lands.

"Papa," he cried, as stopped he short Beside his father's knee-- "Papa, me loves oo tos oo bought 'Ese nice new tose for me; And, mammy, me be 'eal dood boy, An' teep 'ese tose so tean; Me do an' buy me pooty toy, To p'ay in house, I mean.

"Me on'y 'tay a 'ittle w'ile, An' tum 'ight in aden, An' den till dinner me will p'ay 'Ith Donnie Hay an' Ben. Me teep my tose so tean, papa, Me dit on dem no dirt; Me do away f'om house not far, An' 'on't fell down dit hurt."

An hour passed on; the little man Returned with face all blood; Without a cap in-doors he ran, His clothes befouled with mud. Between his sobs, for breath hard pressed, A tale of strife he told; "'At Donnie Hay 'tepped on my foot, An' den we bof taut hold,

"An' felled all down an' 'olled all 'ound; He bite my fingis sore; Me sc'atch his face, my nose he pound, An' b'an'-new tows is tore; Me hit 'im bat, an' pulled he hair So hard I ever tan. Me lick him, pa, an' made him kye, _An' I's a 'ittle man_!"

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, January 17, 1882, by Various