Chapter II: Part 2

The one which Jack had placed nearest my hand was dark and dirty, had feathers and filth of all kinds mixed in with its upper surface, and as, like the others, it was sufficiently hollowed out above for such a purpose. I could easily see that it might have been a nest in which a brood of young birds had been hatched and reared. The one next to it was cleaner, free from feathers, and showed no signs of having been used as a nest; but it was of a dingy brown color, and looked generally _dirty_. The third, however, was really beautiful. It was clean, clear as though its fibres were of pure gelatine, and so brilliant that it looked almost white.

"What in the world are these things?"

"Soup," said Jack, with great gravity--"undeveloped soup."

"Do, for pity's sake, talk sense, Jack. Do you mean to tell me that I have been eating such stuff as this?" pointing to the one nearest me.

"Such are not my intentions. You dined, I think, at the establishment of my friend Man Lok, and that sort of article never comes under his hand. This light one is like what you caused to become part of you, and I believe that even your prejudiced appetite can not fail to admit that it was good. But come, Tom, let's commence with the birds, and we will take up the nests afterward. Look at this little fellow, now; dull-colored beggar, is not he? Do you recognize him? Or rather did you ever know any bird which he resembles?"

"No, none that I can remember."

"Look again. Would he look natural whirling down into a chimney just at evening?"

"What! Do you mean a chimney-swallow, Jack?"

"That is precisely what I mean. Yes, Tom, these nests, which are such a peculiar delicacy to Chinese palates, are all made by swallows, and there are, as far as I can trace them, four species which build nests of this sort. They belong to a division of the swallows which are sometimes called swifts, our common chimney-swallow of the United States being included among the swifts. Those which build the edible nests are found only on the islands of this Asiatic region, and mostly on the coasts of the islands, though sometimes they go forty or fifty miles inland. They are all of one genus, _Collocalia_, and this one in my hand, which I shot myself, is the _Collocalia fuciphaga_.

"Four years ago I made a run down to the north coast of Java, and it was there I obtained these, the nests and the birds. The coast on that part of the island is very rocky, and large caves exist in some places, penetrating the rocks quite deeply. I knew that these caves were said to be specially frequented by the swallows, and I found that the report was true, for I visited five or six of them. The birds were very abundant, and I had opportunity to see their nests in every stage of their history. I brought away these three as fair representatives. You can see how they were placed, and this engraving gives you a correct idea of it. They were actually _stuck_ against the perpendicular or sloping wall of rock, precisely as a chimney-swallow sticks his nest against the side of a chimney, his, however, consisting only of a worthless mass of twigs. The Chinamen gather them from these places in boat-loads, and bring them to market. Most of those which are brought here come, I think, from Java and Borneo, though a good supply is obtained also in Ceylon, the species which is found there being the _Collocalia nidifica_. The nests, however, of the different species are sold together, the only distinction being in quality as to cleanness and color.

"Of course the value of the nests, as with all other goods, depends upon the quality. This dirty fellow here, which has evidently done its work, and furnished board and lodging to a rising family, is of small value; and yet even such as these Chinese patience and ingenuity can clean and clear so perfectly that they are fit for use, though never becoming of first class. This next one had not been used for rearing a brood, but it was soiled in some way in the building, and is of about middle grade. But this is what we call a prime article, this light one, and the whiter it is the better price it commands. The best are worth more than their weight in silver."

"But of what do the birds build them, Jack? Where do they get any such material? It is a strange-looking substance."

"No more strange than honey, Tom, and made in the same way. It used to be thought that it was something which the birds gathered from the surface of the sea, but we know now that that is all foolishness. I saw the swallows catching flies as industriously as I ever watched the barn-swallows doing it over the Green in New Haven, and I opened the stomachs of many specimens which I shot, and found them always filled with insects, and with nothing else, so that we know that their food is the same as that of other birds of their tribe.

"But they have a set of glands, corresponding to the salivary glands at the sides of the mouth, which form this peculiar gelatinous material used by them in building their nests. You know the song says, 'Little by little the bird builds its best,' and that is the way they deposit these fine fibres. When first placed they are always clear and nearly white, and of course nests gathered in that condition are highly prized; few, however, are obtained that have not been more or less soiled. I do not understand the mystery of Man Lok's art, but I know that bird's-nest soup is made very much as any other form of such material--say isinglass or gelatine--would be prepared for the table."

THE LITTLE DOLLS' DRESSMAKER.

ADAPTED FROM CHARLES DICKENS.

BY MRS. ZADEL B. GUSTAFSON.--(_Concluded._)

There stood on the door-step a rather overgrown boy, with a great many buttons on his clothes, and a very kind, pleasant face; though not at all handsome.

"Come in, sir," said the little dressmaker. "And who may you be?"

"My name's Sloppy, miss."

"Ought to be Buttons," laughed Jenny. But when Master Sloppy threw back his head and laughed, she exclaimed, "Goodness me! don't open your mouth so wide; if you do, some day it'll catch so, and never come shut again."

The big boy shut his mouth, and looked around the room for all the world as if it had been described to him, and he was trying to verify the description.

"How do you like it?" asked Jenny.

"Pretty well, miss."

"And what do you think of _me_?"

This question confused Master Sloppy. He pulled at his coat buttons, and looked at her foolishly.

"Don't be afraid," said she. "Speak out. You think I'm queer, now, don't you?" She shook her head at him, and the broken-toothed comb with which she had pushed back her hair fell out, so that the shining locks came down and made a golden bower all around the tiny little figure.

"Oh," cried Sloppy, "what a lot of it! and what a color!"

"What did you come for?" asked Jenny, in her gentle voice, after a short silence.

"I heard you dressed dolls, miss," said Sloppy, giving a very odd look at the door.

"Did you, indeed? Do _you_ want a doll dressed?"

"You don't live here all alone, do you, miss?" said Sloppy, with another look at the door.

"No; I live here with my fairy godmother."

"With--with--who did you say, miss?"

"Well, of course you don't understand," Jenny explained. "With my second father, or with my first, really." She shook her head and sighed. "If you'd known a poor child I used to have, you'd have understood me; but as it is, you don't, and you can't."

"You must have been taught a long time, miss, before you could do such nice work, and so pretty," Sloppy said, looking at the gay doll and the quick fingers.

"Never was taught a stitch. Just cobbled and cobbled until I found out how. Did badly at first, but better now."

"And here have I been ever so long a-learning of my trade--cabinet-making," said the boy. "I'll tell you what, miss; I should like to make you something."

"Much obliged," said the little creature, with her sharp look, and her head on one side. "You're a new sort of customer. What would you like to make for me, now?"

Sloppy looked all around the room. "I could make you a handy set of nests to lay the dolls in, or I could make you a handy little set of drawers to keep your silks and threads in, miss, or I could turn you a pretty handle for that crutch. It belongs to him you call your godmother?"

"It belongs to _me_," said Jenny, blushing over her face and neck; "I'm lame."

Sloppy blushed too, for he was a kind boy in spite of his big mouth and his lots of buttons.

"I'm glad it's yours, miss," said he, very quickly, "because I'd rather make it pretty for you than for any one else. Please may I look at it?"

"You'd better see me use it," said Jenny, getting up. "See, this is the way--hoppety-kickety-peg-peg-peg! Not graceful, is it?"

"Why, it seems to me that you hardly want it at all," said Sloppy, very kindly.

The little dressmaker sat down again and gave the crutch to him, thanking him with that soft voice and that better look that gave her a kind of beauty all her own. He measured the handle on his sleeve, and then gently laid the crutch down.

"It would be a real pleasure to me, miss, to fix it. I've heard that you can sing beautiful, and a song would pay me any time a deal better'n money."

"You're a very kind young man, and I accept your offer," said the little creature, with a smile. "I suppose _he_ won't mind," she added, thoughtfully; and then, tossing her head, "if _he_ does mind, why, _he_ may, that's all."

"Meaning him you call your godmother, miss?" Sloppy asked.

"No, no--_him, him, him_," said Jenny, with an odd, amused look at Sloppy's wonder.

"_Him, him, him,_" repeated Sloppy, staring.

"Yes, _him_ who is coming to court and marry me."

"Oh, _him_," said Sloppy. "When is he coming, miss?"

"What a question! How should I know?" cried the little dressmaker.

"Where is he coming from, miss?"

"Why, goodness gracious, boy, how can I tell that either? He's coming from somewhere, I suppose, and he's coming some day. That's all I know about him."

At this Master Sloppy threw back his head and laughed so heartily, and seemed so merry, that the dressmaker began to laugh too, and even Mr. Riah joined in.

"Now," said Jenny, when she had got her breath again, "you haven't told me yet what you've come to see me for.--Oh, godmother! what's that?"

"It's a bride, miss, a bride. And a wagon, a coach, a chariot, miss!" roared Sloppy, who sprang up and threw the door wide open.

There was a most unusual sound of wheels and voices, and in the same moment the little dressmaker, golden bower of hair and all, was caught up in the arms of Lizzie--Lizzie, in a wonderful silk dress, with shining pearls around her neck, and lace to drive a little dolls' dressmaker wild. Behind Lizzie stood a handsome gentleman, thin and pale yet, but with the happiest look Jenny had ever seen in a man's face in all her little watchful life.

"Come," said this gentleman to Lizzie--"come, Mrs. Wrayburn, let me take Miss Golden Hair, and you bring on the godmother."

Sloppy was already out and on the driver's seat. And almost as quickly as I have told it, the pretty coach and the span of dark gray horses--which behaved as if they had been told all about it--were flying away toward London.

In the coach were Mr. Riah, who hardly knew how he came to be there, and the little dressmaker, who sat between the handsome gentleman and Lizzie--her own dear, kind Lizzie; but, oh, how different and how much more beautiful! Jenny thought.

When they had been riding into the city for a little while, the horses stopped in front of a beautiful house, and Lizzie's "him" carried Jenny up the wide stairs, by tall stands of lovely flowers, to a little room. And oh, what a little room it was! The paper on the walls was a tea-rose color; there was a pretty moss-rose carpet, and a little inlaid working bench with little scissors, and a dainty basket with silks and ribbons and velvets pouring out of it, all fit for a dressmaker to the fairies; and a low chair, cushioned to be as soft as a bunch of clover; and a beautiful book of pretty patterns, in which was written: "For my darling Jenny Wren, from her Lizzie-Mizzie-Wizzie."

Such a change--so great and so delightful that any real fairy godmother might have been proud to have made it with her fairy wand--almost took away the little dolls' dressmaker's breath.

But while she sat in the soft low chair, and Lizzie told her how Mr. Wrayburn had been very ill, and how when he got better he had asked to keep his nurse always, and how she had said yes, if she might have her Jenny Wren, and how he had said he couldn't do without Jenny Wren either, the little dressmaker's eyes filled with tears, almost the first happy tears that had ever come into them.

She took Mr. Wrayburn's hand and kissed it, and wound some of her beautiful hair around it, and then twisted some of Lizzie's dark hair around that, and said, "It's a bargain."

Then Lizzie told her that Mr. Riah was going to live in the little house in Church Street, because he liked it best, and he was going to do some nice work for Mr. Wrayburn, and be well paid for it. "And we are going to take tea with him sometimes," said Lizzie, "and he is going to take tea with us very often, my dear, and Sloppy is going to make you the prettiest things, and go on your errands, Jenny love, and you are going to live with us, and be as happy as the day is long, till 'he' comes."

"Oh, he! He can stay away now," said Jenny, with the merriest little laugh. "If he couldn't come when a person was alone, and had trouble, and lots of work to do, he can stay away now as long as he likes."

"And serve him right, miss," said Sloppy, who stood in the doorway, and laughed as merrily as Jenny.

"And, Jenny dear," said Lizzie, after the little dolls' dressmaker had gone to bed under the pretty lace curtains, and both were looking through the window into the pleasant evening sky, "now you can see your long bright slanting rows of children?"

Jenny waited a moment. "Yes, but not here," said she, softly. "By-and-by, when I've gone up to be dead."

THE END.

A LOVING KISS.

A big jar of sweetmeats
Stood high on the shelf;
All eager to reach it,
Climbed up a sweet elf.

A thumb and a finger
Were daintily dipped,
When all of a sudden
A little foot slipped.

Then oh, what a tumble!
And oh, what a cry!
But you see a big brother
Was standing close by.

He saw in a moment
Just what was amiss--
A bruised little forehead
Was cured by a kiss.

IN THE CORNER.

On the chair an open lesson, open wide at A B C,
In the corner little Lettice, just a little girl of three.
Little Lettice is not stupid; she can learn if she will try;
And she knows her A B C just as well as you or I.

But to-day she really will not think of anything at all
But the shining china dishes and the flowers on the wall;
When to big A mother pointed, saying, "Letty, this you know,"
Letty twirled her little fingers and sedately answered, "O!"

This is why our little Lettice in the corner there you see,
There to stand until it pleases her to say her A B C;
For she knows the printed letters just as well as you or I,
And the little miss could say them if she only chose to try.

MONOGRAM PUZZLE.

There is a novelty and ingenuity about this puzzle that can not fail to delight our puzzle-loving readers. Here, under a fanciful disguise, are four lines of poetry. Our artist has taken each word of a simple stanza, and worked the letters into a graceful monogram. Among the monograms may be found four well-known names. Take the four diagonals, beginning with the one in the left-hand corner. The first two and the last give the names of three popular authors, and the third that of a famous play.

There is not a bit of use in being discouraged about it, children; but we are not ashamed to tell you that sometimes we feel just a very little blue when we have to lay aside so many of your dear letters simply because we have not room enough to print them. And then we think of the sweet faces that will be clouded with disappointment, and the provoked faces that will frown, when the Post-office Box comes week after week without the letters John and Jenny are watching for so patiently. But, as we said, it isn't worth while to fret and cry, and so we, for ourselves, make up our minds to enjoy hearing about the goats that draw the little wagons, and the kittens that have such fearful fits, and the birds which are so cunning, and the babies who are so cute. We like to be told, even though we can not print the letters which so inform us, that Molly's little sister Bess is learning to walk, and that Arthur's brother Freddie claps his hands when he looks at the pictures in HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE. And if you'll keep the secret, and never whisper it to anybody, we'll tell you that we love just as dearly, and perhaps a wee, tiny morsel more dearly, the boys and girls whose words we do not print, than those whose letters are published in Our Post-office Box.

* * * * *

CEDAR HILL, PULASKI COUNTY, KENTUCKY.

We have been taking YOUNG PEOPLE since last June; I like it very
much. I am ten years old. We live in the country, and our home is
called Cedar Hill because it has a great many cedar-trees in the
yard, and is on a hill. We have six canaries; they sing very
sweetly, and are very nice pets. We have a little black shepherd
dog; we call him Jipsy; he is very playful.

SOPHIE M.

* * * * *

This dear little fellow who feeds the sparrows forgot to print his address at the top of his letter. It is a very nice letter notwithstanding:

I can not write good, so I will have to print my letter. I like
HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE better than any of my story-books. I have
about two hundred pets. You could never guess what they are, so I
will tell you; they are sparrows, and they are so tame that they
will come and perch on the window-sill and look for me to feed
them. I give them bread every day. Sometimes, if I do not see them,
they go around to the dining-room windows, and peep for me to come.
They have a nest inside our garret window.

I wish Jimmy Brown would write and tell what he got for his
Christmas. I hope his stocking was full. I got lots of nice things
from Santa Claus. Good-by.

THEODORE G. H.

* * * * *

YONCALLA, OREGON.

We have a dog and five cats. Our dog's name is Telephone. He is a
good dog to catch rats and mice. We had a merry Christmas. My
brother and I milk the cows and chop the wood. I am eleven years
old, and my twin brother and I are going to grub all the ground we
can this winter, and pa is going to plough it, and give us the
proceeds. We have got about an acre and a half grubbed out. We
grubbed up a snake four feet long.

GEORGE L.

Grubbing must be hard work, George, and we have no doubt it develops your muscles wonderfully. What are your brother and you going to do with your money when you receive it?

* * * * *

DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

I am a little girl in the third class in the grammar school, and my
age is nine years. I have never seen a letter from Eastern
Massachusetts in YOUNG PEOPLE, and so I thought that perhaps you
would put mine in print.

Danvers is noted as the birth-place of the celebrated London banker
George Peabody; also of General Putnam, who was so famous in the
Revolution.

I am very fond of your paper, and wish it came every day.

MAY P. G.

* * * * *

SALUBRIA, IDAHO.

I have taken HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for almost a year. I like it
very much. I look every week to see what new trouble has befallen
poor Jimmy Brown, and if I were his sister I would make him a
jacket and stuff it with feathers. I can hardly wait for the papers
to come, so as to hear what has become of Rita and Ni-ha-be. I have
lived almost all my life in the valleys of Idaho. There are many
beautiful sights here, such pretty flowers grow in valley and
mountain. One kind grows right near the edge of the snow, away up
the mountain-side. One can step right from the blossoms to the
snow.

I wish I could have a good school to go to, like so many little
girls of my age. I have attended school but nine months in my life.
My mother teaches me at home. I have two horses all my own and a
saddle, and can ride splendidly, mamma says. I am twelve years old.

ALMA C.

Though deprived of the opportunity of going to school, you have learned to use your eyes, and see the beautiful things which God has made; and if you study and read and profit by your mother's instruction, you will lay a good foundation for the class-room when you are older. It is quite an advantage, too, to ride so well, and the health you gain as you canter over the hills is something to be thankful for.

* * * * *

PROSPECT, ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

I live up here near the North Woods, and it is hard work to get
books to read, and the winters are long. My father is a guide, and
will send any one who will mail me a good book, a map of the Canada
lake region, showing the route from Utica, _via_ Trenton Falls,
through the wilderness to the lakes.

My father was in the war, and when the powder-magazine blew up at
Yorktown, Virginia, in December, 1863, he found between the walls
of an old brick house a curious pipe, made of mahogany, bone, and
brass, and he says I may offer it in exchange for a printing-press
and type, or a very fine scroll-saw and the attachments.

I am eleven years old, and my pa says your paper is full of the
best reading for boys.

ALFRED B. WORDEN.

* * * * *

ARIVACA, ARIZONA.

My brother takes YOUNG PEOPLE, and we both enjoy reading it very
much. We wish to tell you of our pony, which we all love dearly.
When we have ridden him, he always wants a piece of bread or some
sugar, and if we do not give it to him as soon as he is unsaddled,
he opens the side door by turning the knob with his lips. Should we
drive him away and shut the door, he immediately opens it again,
and stands by it until he gets his piece, when he will go off to
eat grass. He is very gentle and knowing. Our mamma writes this for
us, as we were afraid you would have too much trouble to study it
out if we wrote it.

LENA and CHARLIE B.

What a wise pony! He deserves a large piece of bread with sugar on it; and we hope he never has to wait long for his reward after taking his little master and mistress to ride.

* * * * *

DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

I am a little boy eight years old. I take YOUNG PEOPLE. My sister
takes _St Nicholas_. I was twelve miles out in the country the
other day. The cars pass our door. We have a type-writer, and I
write on it instead of with a pen. My papa is a lawyer, and I copy
testimony sometimes. We have a little baby, and we call him Mr.
Google, but his right name is Herbert.

NORMAN F.

Your beautiful type-writing made us feel like congratulating your father that he has so intelligent and skillful a copyist.

* * * * *

WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY.

Can any one beat Woodbury for late dandelions? The one inclosed was
found on our lawn this morning, January 10.

H.

And a little beauty it must have been, as we can testify, who received it pressed.

* * * * *

BEULAH, KANSAS.

I read before our lyceum the story of Jimmy Brown and his monkey;
it made everybody laugh. My uncle sent me a pair of Italian Leghorn
chickens. They are beauties. We call the rooster John, and the hen
Biddy. Biddy lays an egg every day. I think it pays to keep a hen.
We live in Southeastern Kansas; this is the great coal, lead, and
zinc region. We have had a very mild winter so far. This country is
thickly settled. There has been a large immigration during the last
two years. We have school nine months out of the year. I am eight
years old, and read in the Fifth Reader, and study geography,
grammar, arithmetic, spelling, and writing.

WILLIAM PITT A.

* * * * *

I am a little girl just six years old, and my name is Joe. I read
all the letters in YOUNG PEOPLE. I have a cat named Cutty; but her
whole name is Connecticut, because she came from there in a box by
express. She is very smart, and can do a great many tricks. She can
lie down as if she were dead; can stand on her hind-legs; says her
prayers, gives her paw to shake hands, sits upon the piano-stool
with her paws on the keys, and her head thrown back, as if she were
singing a song. She sits at the table in a high chair, with a
napkin around her neck, and laps milk from a saucer without putting
her paws on the table. Now have any of the Young People got a
smarter cat than mine? I like HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE very much, and
when I have finished reading it, I send it to a little boy who
lives on a farm in the country, where I spent last summer. I have
no brothers or sisters. But I am going to be a doctor when I am
big.

J. W. K.

We would like to know where this little girl lives, as she forgot to tell us. Perhaps she will write again.

* * * * *

SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA.

As I have seen only one letter from here, and that from my friend
Edith D., I thought I would write and tell you about my doll Martha
Washington. She is very large, and a perfect beauty. She has a nice
dress, and my mother is going to make me a nice hat for her. My
doll has brown eyes and white hair. We have two dogs and two cats
at our house, and each of the children has a fine bow and a set of
arrows, and we have a target to shoot at.

JESSIE N. D.

When you have learned to sew so well that you can make Madam Martha Washington a dress and a hat with your own skillful fingers, you must write and tell us how much you enjoy working for the darling yourself. Little girls often learn to sew very beautifully by making clothes for their dolls, and we think it is a great accomplishment to sew neatly by hand as well as on the machine. What does your mother think?

* * * * *

CROSS VILLAGE, MICHIGAN.

I live on the shore of Lake Michigan, about twenty-five miles from
old Fort Mackinaw. It is lovely in the summer season to see the
vessels pass. Many of them land at the dock. We can also see two
light-houses. I think "Talking Leaves" is splendid. I have two
brothers and one sister. Ernest, Henry, and Olla are their names.
My grandma sent YOUNG PEOPLE to me last year. Isn't she a dear good
grandma? I am eleven years old.

M. EFFA G.

* * * * *

Be sure to try your skill at unravelling our puzzle column, little readers. You will find it a charming occupation for winter evenings. Try to send us some puzzles of your own invention, inclosing the answer invariably with the puzzle. We wish to print a long list of successful solvers next week. If you can not untangle every enigma and arrange every word square, never mind, but send us the answers of those which you can puzzle out, and do not be discouraged by a little trouble at the outset. The fun of making out a puzzle is in conquering it.

* * * * *

C. Y. P. R. U.

A lady writes to us that she has found great satisfaction in reading HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE to a number of boys, whom she invites to meet at her house every Wednesday evening. She says she finds the stories and articles excellent and charming. Besides reading aloud to the boys, she lends them books, and, we presume, assists them in other womanly and Christian ways to grow up to a useful and intelligent manhood. We desire to thank Miss E. J. Y. for her kind letter, and we are not without the hope that our allusion to it may indicate to other friends an easy and beautiful method for doing good.

* * * * *

ANGIE.--To make nice sago gruel for your invalid sister, wash an ounce of sago very carefully, and then soak it for two hours in a pint of tepid water; simmer it in the same water about fifteen minutes, stirring it gently. Sweeten and flavor it, and serve it at once.--Your milk toast will be delicious if you brown your toast very evenly, dip it for an instant into boiling water, and then spread it with a very little butter. Lay it in a deep hot plate; a soup plate will do. Boil a tea-cupful of milk, which you must thicken with a tea-spoonful of corn starch mixed with a pinch of salt in a little cold water. Pour this over your toast.

In serving sick people with food please be sure not to offer them too much at a time. Do not bother them by saying, "Would you like this?" and "Will you have that?" They do not know what they wish, and they think they want nothing. They have to be coaxed to eat, not in words, but by offering them dainty things daintily and prettily prepared. The finest, cleanest napkin, the thinnest, loveliest cup and saucer, and the brightest silver should be taken when you are arranging the meals of invalids. Sometimes, after all your trouble, they will scarcely taste what you have prepared, and perhaps they may be a little cross and petulant. Remember then that suffering has made them weak and tired, and do not be discouraged, but try again, for on good and patient nursing the doctor depends for success in treating the sick as much us he does on his medicines and his skill.

* * * * *

D. C. H.--There is a real Jimmy Brown. The Postmistress has seen him several times.

* * * * *

J. B.--It is easy to make a tennis net if you have any one to show you how, but it is almost impossible to describe the manner of making it so as to be understood. If you live near the sea-shore, you can get some fisherman to teach you. If not, perhaps your mother or her seamstress can show you how to make it. If you can not learn before next summer, and yet want the net very badly, you may buy one for three dollars.

* * * * *

RITA.--You will probably obtain the information you desire about the care of silk-worms by addressing the Ladies' Silk-culture Association, 1028 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (over Keystone National Bank). This association, which is doing much to stimulate this branch of industry, has recently given an exhibition at St. George's Hall in Philadelphia. It was formally opened by Governor Hoyt, ex-Governor Pollock, and other distinguished gentlemen. It was designed to illustrate the various branches of the silk industry from the forming of cocoons to the perfected fabric.

* * * * *

It would seem as if the variety of the articles to which we would call the attention of the C. Y. P. R. U. this week was extensive enough to please readers of all tastes and ages. Mr. George Cary Eggleston carries us back to those terrible days of religious persecution when differences in creed bathed the soil of France with blood; Mr. Ralph Watson tells us of the curious "Collocalia," whose nests supply the Chinese with the principal ingredient of one of their most highly esteemed soups; Mr. Charles Barnard gives us full information how to while away our leisure hours with the interesting and inexpensive and at the same time instructive pastime of taking photographs; and Mr. B. Hardwicke tells the boys and girls how to supersede the pleasures of coasting by the more exciting sport to be had with the toboggan.

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YOUNG PEOPLE'S COT.

We publish this week the January report of Miss E. Augusta Fanshawe, and repeat that the contributions for Young People's Cot should be sent to the treasurer of the Cot Fund, and not to Messrs. Harper & Brothers. Please read Aunt Edna's letter, children.

NEW YORK CITY.

In my last letter I told you I would soon let you know something
from _our_ hospital. Well, the other day I went there, and such a
chatter of little voices as met my ear when the door opened! I
could hardly believe I was going to a place where there was
sickness and pain. I went up stairs to Holy Innocent's Ward--_our_
ward, you know--and how bright and sunny it looked! Sister Miriam,
the kind Sister who has charge of it, and who I wish you all knew,
as she is sunshine itself, was putting the finishing touches to the
morning dressing of the little ones. Every bed had its occupant,
though many of the children were not then in bed, but were running
about the room; and I was quickly surrounded by several little
"tots," who wanted to rub my muff, and see some cards I had that a
kind lady had sent them. But just now I am only going to speak of
two children and one cot, though I could easily tell you
interesting things of many more if I did not feel afraid the
Postmistress would shake her head.

Sister Miriam is much pleased with your efforts, and thinks you
will certainly raise the whole amount if you will only keep on
trying, and to encourage you all she has selected a cot that will
be ours just as soon as we raise the money, but not before,
remember. It is the first cot in the south end of the room, right
in the sunshine, near a big window, where our child can look down
on Thirty-fourth Street. When I was there the occupant of that cot
was a funny little colored boy named Willie Stanward. He had been
very sick with something called by a very long name--pneumonia--but
was a great deal better, and when I saw him he was sitting in a
little chair near the window playing with something--looking very
much like a doll. He was only a wee boy, you know. He was going
home very soon, well, and Sister Miriam thought she would put in
his place a little white boy named Robert McGee, who, she said,
made very queer speeches, and was ever so funny. The doctor had
been making his legs straight, which before were crooked, and
though it was pretty hard to bear, he was getting on very nicely.
He also was a very little boy. I took up a "mite chest" and put it
over that cot, and think when we open it we will find something to
help on our work.

Now good-by, but don't forget that we have not got the cot yet, but
must all try hard and raise the money, and then think how glad we
will all feel when we can say _that_ is the Young People's Cot.

AUNT EDNA.

* * * * *

Contributions received for Young People's Cot in Holy Innocent's
Ward, St. Mary's Free Hospital for Children, 407 West Thirty-fourth
Street, New York:

Willie and Georgie Campbell, Drummondville, $1; Clare Gardiner,
Troy, N. Y., 25c.; In Memoriam M. A., "a dear little one who will
never need the cot," $30; Kitty Tutwiler, Flatonia, Texas, 10c.;
Nobe Taylor, Flatonia, Texas, 10c.; Charles Roy Bangs, Brooklyn,
$3; Mary Dean, 25c.; Jennie Dart, Kingston, N. Y., $1; Ida Allison,
Harlem, N. Y., $2; Willie Allison, Harlem, N.Y., $2; T. Robert
Palmer, Palatka, Fla., 50c.; Will D. Sayer, Meadville, Penn., $2;
Green Clay, Jun., Mexico, Mo., $1; Ellie Earle, Chelten Hills,
Penn., $1; Agnes D. Cram, Mechanic Falls, 10c.; Jennie Bolton, New
York City, $1--total, $45.30. Previously acknowledged, $201.39;
total, January 16, $246.69.

E. AUGUSTA FANSHAWE, Treasurer,
43 New Street, New York City.

* * * * *

FLATONIA, TEXAS, _December_ 15, 1881.

I send you my _Three Little Kittens_ book for _all_ the children in
_that_ room. I send you a dime for that bed you wrote about. Papa
read us that letter, and our black boy said he wanted to send a
dime too. His name is Nobe Taylor. He has lived with us for nine
years, and nursed me when I was a baby. He is big and fat. This is
all I've got to send. Aunt Net sent me the book from Alabama last
Christmas. Our school-teacher is going to give us a Christmas tree.
I can't write good enough, and got papa to write this for me.

KITTY TUTWILER.

P.S.--Nobe incloses his dime too.

* * * * *

CHELTEN HILLS, PENNSYLVANIA.

I got a good many china animals for Christmas, and now I have
forty-one altogether. Sophie and Horace, two of my school-mates,
have one hundred and fifty-one; Sophie has only fifteen of them,
though. I got a lovely coaster for Christmas, and I want to use it
very much. There is about an inch of snow on the ground now, but
not enough for coasting; there has not been deep snow on the ground
all winter. In my letter I send a dollar for the Young People's
Cot. Our tree was just taken down to-day, and the room where it was
looks all bare to me.

ELLIE EARLE.

There are a number of other little letters about the Cot, and they are very bright and sweet, but we have not room to insert any more.

* * * * *

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

ENIGMA.

I am composed of 12 letters, and mean yielding content.
My 1, 2, 3 is having placed.
My 4, 5 is a verb.
My 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 is a manufactory.

EMMA A.

* * * * *

No. 2.

A WORD SQUARE.

1. To surrender. 2. A sluggard. 3. A funeral dirge. 4. Lawful. 5. Sarcastically spoken.

EMPIRE CITY.

* * * * *

No. 3.

HISTORICAL ACROSTIC.

1. A battle of the Revolution. 2. A President. 3. An inventor. 4. An island. 5. A river in Asia. 6. One of the great lakes. 7. A battle of the French and Indian war. 8. One of the United States. 9. A country in Africa. The primals form the name of a distinguished French general.

* * * * *

No. 4.

PI.

Ti asw het meit ehnw seliil lobw.
Dan doulcs rea gihhset pu ni rai.
Rold noladr gouhtbr a yill heitw oed
Ot iveg sih sioune dyal lerac.

Straighten out, and form a stanza from Tennyson.

EMMA.

* * * * *

No. 5.

?

Forward, I am a lady's name. Backward, I stand for something which will make men forget troubles. You will find me in Anglo-Saxon nurseries, and in ancient mythology.

ROBERT.

* * * * *

No. 6.

DIAMOND.

1. A consonant. 2. A hut. 3. Reeds. 4. Good policy. 5. Fretful. 6. A pen. 7. A letter.

* * * * *

No. 7.

A DOUBLE SQUARE.

Across.--1. A girl's name. 2. A word used in prayers. 3. A hole. 4. Finishes. Down.--1. A cavern. 2. A sign. 3. To tear. 4. Small insects.

ELOISE.

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN No. 116.

No. 1.

The eye.

No. 2.

S S
S H E R O T
S H A L L S O L A R
E L M T A R
L R

No. 3.

Adder. Cobra.

No. 4.

C al M
A nemon E
M attres S
E dific E
L audanu M
L am B
I dle R
A bundantl Y
J erbo A
A mazo N
P in T
O stric H
N ightingal E
I ce-crea M
C hapea U
A lar M

* * * * *

Correct answers to puzzles have been received from Eva Brown, Annie Brown, Ambrose Elting, F. M. S., "Jack Frost," Artie Secor, John Phelan, J. and H. Bates, Hetty R., J. C., Alice E. Garretson, "Prince," Henry Berlan, Jun., "Bud," R. H. L., Maggie Dutto, Meredith Knapp, Susie Perkins, "Snap," Alice Emmons.

* * * * *

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

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.

* * * * *

Special Inducements to Youthful Agents.

To any boy or girl who shall procure for HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, before April 1, 1882, ten new yearly subscribers, and forward their names and addresses to this office, with the sum of fifteen dollars, Messrs. HARPER & BROTHERS will, on receipt of the same, present any one of the volumes mentioned in the following list which may be selected:

COL. KNOX'S BOOKS OF TRAVEL IN THE FAR EAST.

_The Boy Travellers in the Far East.--Part I.--Adventures of two Youths in a Journal to Japan and China. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $3._

_The Boy Travellers in the Far East.--Part II.--Adventures of two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java. With Descriptions of Cochin China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the Malay Archipelago. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $3._

_The Boy Travellers in the Far East.--Part III.--Adventures of two Youths in a Journey to Ceylon and India. With Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and Burmah. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $3._

COFFIN'S HISTORICAL READING FOR THE YOUNG.

_The Story of Liberty.--Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cloth, $3._

_Old Times in the Colonies.--Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3._

_The Boys of '76.--A History of the Battles of the Revolution. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3._

Messrs. HARPER & BROTHERS further offer to present to the boy or girl from whom they shall receive, before April 1, 1882, the largest number of new yearly subscriptions, with $1.50 for each.

_Harper's Household Edition of Charles Dickens's Works, in Sixteen Volumes, handsomely bound in Cloth, in a box. Price $22._

These prizes will be sent by mail or express, prepaid.

In order that an accurate account may be kept of the number of subscriptions received, it will be necessary for each one, when sending a list of new subscriptions, to refer to these offers, and to state that he or she desires to compete for these valuable prizes.

Cash must accompany each order.

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, $1.50 a year.

The extension for one month of the time for sending subscriptions in competition is designed to accommodate boys and girls residing in different parts of the country.

HARPER & BROTHERS,

Franklin Square, New York.

ENIGMA.

Within the compass of my first
Are right and wrong, dissected;
Bold falsehood there is put to shame,
And villainy detected.

Of constant port, with royal parts,
Tall, strong, and stately reckoned,
But hauled about with tarry coat--
By these marks know my second.

My whole, devoted to one aim,
One prize intent on gaining,
Expends its life in the pursuit,
And dies in the obtaining.

EXPERIMENTS WITH ELECTRICITY.

This mysterious "agent," as people call it for want of a better word, can be produced in the easiest fashion, and some of its ways studied with the simplest kind of apparatus, constructed of articles that lie close at hand.

If we rub a stick of sealing-wax with a piece of cloth, we shall see that it will attract some small fragments of paper placed near it. Nothing is easier than to construct a small pendulum to show with perfect clearness the wonder of electric attraction. A piece of iron is fixed on a wooden pedestal, and holds a thread of silk, to the end of which is fastened a little ball cut out of a piece of cork. The stick of sealing-wax, after being rubbed with the cloth, will attract the ball, as shown in Fig. 1.

We can easily construct other electrical apparatus. Take a lacquered tea-tray about a foot long, and cut out a sheet of thick wrapping paper so that it will lie over all the level portion of the tray. At each side of this sheet of paper fix two bands of paper, as in Fig. 2, so as to serve as handles. The tea-tray should be placed upon two tumblers to support it and to insulate it, glass being a "non-conductor." By a non-conductor is meant a substance that will not convey electricity, or allow it to pass away.

Now rub the thick packing-paper over a hot fire or a stove until it is thoroughly dry, and as hot as possible without charring. When this has been done, place it quickly upon a wooden table, and rub it rapidly with as dry and hard a clothes-brush as can be obtained. Place the paper upon the tray; touch the tray with the knuckle, and draw away the paper by the handles fixed to it (see Fig. 2); a spark will result. Then if the paper be replaced upon the tray, and the hand again presented, the same result will follow. This may be done five or six times, at least, with success.

We have in this tea-tray and its paper covering a real electric machine. How can we manage to provide a Leyden-jar (so named from its inventor, Muschenbrock, of Leyden) to contain our electricity? Nothing is more easy. Let us take a tumbler, and partly fill it with shot; insert into the glass a tea-spoon, and if all the articles are quite dry, we shall possess a Leyden-jar.

To charge the jar we must work our other machine. While one person lifts off the paper as directed, another must hold the glass to the edge of the tray, and touch the corner with the tea-spoon; the spark will then enter the "jar." We can thus charge the jar as we please, and by presenting the finger, as in Fig. 3, we shall obtain a discharge from it.

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, February 7, 1882, by Various