Chapter XI: The Trial (2)

I'm going to have a party,
We'll have ice-cream and cake;
There is no end to the nice things
My dear mamma did bake.
Then we shall have nice music,
Uncle John is going to play;
He sent me a wreath of flowers,
Just like the Queen of May.

And we shall play all kind of games,
And maybe I'll catch some beaux,
For sister Kate always says that
When to parties _she_ goes.
There goes the bell, some one has come;
No--a large box for me;
Why, it's just the sweetest wax doll
That ever I did see.

J. V.

* * * * *

NEW YORK CITY.

If Georgie G. S., of Dubuque, Iowa, will put a handful of clean
white pebbles and five or six clean sea-shells in her globe, the
gold-fish are more likely to keep healthy. The water should be
changed every day.

VANDERBILT O.

* * * * *

CHAMPION, NEW YORK.

I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much, especially the stories of "The Moral
Pirates," and "Who was Paul Grayson?" I have no pets except a
little dog I call Watch. We have had a snow-storm here (October
24). I am thirteen years old.

WARREN B.

I am eleven years old, and I have fourteen dolls. I have a little
kitten for a pet. I call it Bob Short because it is a rabbit
kitten, and hasn't any tail.

My cousin sent YOUNG PEOPLE to my brother Warren and myself as a
present for two years, and we think she is very kind.

EVA E. B.

* * * * *

PLATTE CITY, MISSOURI.

I wish to notify my little friends that I can not send them any
more samples of crochet trimming. I have no time now to make it, as
I am going to school and taking music lessons. I have received a
great many requests, and I can not possibly get time to crochet
enough to answer them all.

GRACIE MEADS.

* * * * *

I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much. I think it is a very useful paper. I
live on Big Sandy Creek near the railroad, six miles from any
neighbor. There are antelopes, buffaloes, wolves, wild-cats,
rabbits, owls, and eagles here. There are also some splendid
specimens. I have some bullion out of a mine at Leadville, also
some petrified wood, topaz, moss-agate, and other things. I sent
"Wee Tot" some specimens of wild flowers and grasses, and if she
will send me some ocean curiosities I will be much pleased, and
will send her some of my specimens. I will also exchange some of
them with any little girl or boy for ocean curiosities.

CLARA F. R. SWIFT,
Aroya Station, Colorado, K. P. R. R.

* * * * *

I can never thank my grandfather too much for subscribing for this
delightful little paper for me.

Here is a recipe for keeping barberries and mountain ash for
Christmas decorations. Fill a large jar with a strong solution of
salt and water--cooking salt is best. Put the berries in the
brine, and cork it. It need not be air-tight.

I have three hundred and sixty-four postage stamps, and have
exchanged successfully with many of the boys and a few of the
girls. I have now some white moss which came from Muskosh Mills, a
little village on an island in the Muskoka River, which I would
gladly exchange for curiosities from the ocean or the far South.

W. C. V. CHADWICK,
44 St. George Street, Toronto, Canada.

The correspondents you inquire about have probably sent you sufficient address, and you would better try the experiment of answering them. If they do not receive the letters, it will not be from any fault of yours.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange foreign and United States postage stamps
and postmarks with any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.

ALFRED C. P. OPDYKE, Hotel Bristol,
Corner Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue,
New York City.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange minerals for stamps, postmarks, seeds,
shells, stones, or any other thing worth putting in a museum. I
wish to get a collection of flints from every State and from
Canada, and I will send a stone from Virginia in exchange. I will
also exchange postmarks for others. I have some from England,
Canada, and nearly every State.

H. H. TUCKER, Box 75, Richmond, Virginia.

* * * * *

I have a small collection of stamps, and would like to exchange. I
will also exchange a stone from Pennsylvania or from Caen, France,
for others from different States.

ALFRED W. STOCKETT,
P. O. Box 119, Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.

* * * * *

I am collecting curiosities, and would be happy to exchange with
any correspondent. I have about one hundred and fifty varieties of
birds' eggs. I would be glad to supply any one with a list of the
eggs of Canada.

J. F. WELLS,
Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postmarks, minerals, fossils, birds' eggs,
or coins with any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE for minerals,
fossils, coins, birds' eggs, or shells. I very much desire to
obtain specimens from foreign countries.

FRANK H. LATTIN,
Gaines, Orleans County, New York.

* * * * *

I have a large number of stamps and rare postmarks, and would like
very much to exchange with readers of this paper.

A. W. MORSE, Cheltenham Academy,
P. O. Shoemakertown, Pennsylvania.

* * * * *

I want to tell you about my collection. It consists of an Indian
mortar, an Indian axe and hatchet, a large number of arrow-heads, a
nail from "Old Fort Massac," a French bullet weighing an ounce, and
a piece of a French sword. I have also a fine collection of
minerals, and I would like to exchange some specimens of purple
spar for copper ore, crystallized quartz, or shells.

WILLIE B. MORRIS,
Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Illinois.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postage stamps for birds' eggs.
Correspondents will please state the kind of eggs they have to
exchange, and the varieties of stamps they wish in return. I have
over one thousand stamps in my collection.

FRANK MADISON, 206 Stockton Street,
San Francisco, California.

* * * * *

We are making a collection of postmarks and stamps, wood, minerals,
pressed leaves and ferns, and the soil of different States and
countries, and will exchange any of these things with other boys or
girls. We will also exchange flower seeds or slips for ocean
curiosities or Indian relics.

MARY, LEWIS, MINNIE,
Care of E. M. Frazier, Lock Box No. 12,
Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio.

* * * * *

I will be very glad to exchange foreign postage stamps with any
readers of YOUNG PEOPLE. Correspondents will please send a list of
their stamps for exchange.

O. L. WELCH,
40 Bank Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I live on the San Jacinto River. My papa has a plantation on the
Trinity. He has a plum orchard, and we go up there and eat plums.
Mamma is going up there to preserve some. I am collecting snail
shells. I have about four hundred.

I would like to exchange birds' eggs or postage stamps with any
little boy or girl. I am nine years old.

PEARL A. HARE,
Lynchburg, Harris County, Texas.

* * * * *

I have stamps from Venezuela and Curaçao I wish to exchange for
others.

CHARLES DE SOLA, care of B. De Sola,
23 William Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I will exchange twenty-five kinds of postmarks from Georgia for
twenty-five kinds from any other State. I will also exchange
foreign stamps for their equivalent value in birds' eggs, shells,
minerals, curiosities of all kinds, or for other stamps.

LOUIS J. BRUMLY,
P. O. Box 126, Athens, Georgia.

* * * * *

I will exchange postmarks and French stamps for any American and
European stamps except English and Canadian. To any one who will
send me ten stamps, all different, I will send by return mail
twenty postmarks.

WILLIE GURNETT,
Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada.

* * * * *

I live near Niagara Falls. I have a white pony. She is very gentle,
and can do a great many tricks. She will lie down and let me get on
her back.

I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and like it so much I can hardly wait from
one week till the next for it. I would like to exchange specimens
of rock from Niagara Falls for shells or sea-weed. I would also
like to exchange coins. I am eleven years of age.

HARRY SYMMES,
The Grove, Drummondville,
Near Niagara Falls, Canada.

* * * * *

E. MCGARRAH.--It is said that Robert Burns, when a youth of nineteen, became acquainted with Douglas Grahame, an honest farmer who lived at Shanter, and who afterward figured as Tam o' Shanter in the wonderful poem of that name. A merry story told of Grahame by his friends served as the material which Burns long afterward turned to such good account. The original story was as follows: Grahame had a friend named John Davidson, the Souter Johnnie of the poem, with whom he often made merry when in town on market-day, frequently lingering so late at night as to cause severe displeasure to the good dame waiting at home. It happened once, when returning later than usual, on a very dark, stormy night, Grahame had the misfortune to lose his "bonnet," or cap, in which was all the money he had made that day at the market. Fearing the scolding which he knew awaited him, he took advantage of his wife's superstition and credulity, and invented a terrible story of a band of witches which had appeared to him at Alloway Kirk, and from which he had barely escaped with his life. The dame was satisfied with his explanation, and gave thanks for the miraculous preservation of her husband. Honest Douglas Grahame, however, quietly returned by daylight to Carrick Hill, where he was fortunate enough to find his "bonnet" and money safe in the bushes near the Bridge of Doon. Grahame and Davidson, the originals of Tam o' Shanter and Souter Johnnie, are buried in the church-yard at Kirkoswald.

* * * * *

MANSFIELD.--In earliest times skins, cattle, corn, and other articles were used as money. According to Homer, certain numbers of oxen were paid for the armor of warriors; and even our modern word _pecuniary_, the etymology of which is traced directly to the Latin word _pecus_; signifying cattle, is a convincing proof that those beasts were used as money by the ancient Romans.

Precious metals were also given and taken in payment at a very early age. Abraham is represented in Genesis as coming up out of Egypt "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold," and payments made in so many pieces or shekels of silver are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. It is supposed that at this period the precious metal was in the form of lumps of different weights, but bore no stamp. Wrought jewels are also mentioned as serving for money.

The first coined money is supposed to have been used by the Lydians about 700 or 800 B.C. Greek coins appeared at a little later period, the earliest being those of Ægina. The first coins were very rough in appearance, a rude device being stamped from a die on a lump of metal of a certain weight by a blow of a hammer. The early Lydian coins bore a lion's head, and the Æginetan a tortoise on the obverse, the other side being marked only by an indentation caused by the blow.

The oldest extant Jewish coins, specimens of which may be seen in the British Museum, are the shekel and half-shekel of Simon Maccabæus, "the priest and prince of the Jews," to whom Antiochus VII., the son of Demetrius I., granted the right of coining money about 139 B.C. The silver shekel and half-shekel had for their devices on one side the almond rod with buds (Numbers, xvii. 8, 10), with the legend, "Jerusalem the Holy"; and on the other the pot of manna (Exodus, xvi. 33), and the legend, "Shekel of Israel," or "Half-Shekel." This early coinage never bore a head, as that would have violated the law forbidding idolatry. The value of the Maccabæus silver shekel may be estimated at 2_s._ 6_d._ sterling, or 60 cents.

* * * * *

LYMAN C.--You can buy the cover for YOUNG PEOPLE of Harper & Brothers for thirty-five cents, or forty-eight cents if sent by mail, but they can not bind your copies for you.

* * * * *

NEWMAN G.--In YOUNG PEOPLE No. 36, in the story entitled "The Mohawk Bowmen," you will find directions for making bows and arrows, and in the Post-office Box of No. 51 the process of feathering arrows is described. In the Post-office Box of No. 19 are instructions for making a kite.

* * * * *

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

BOTANICAL CONUNDRUMS.

1. Plant a youthful Virginian before it can walk, and what comes up?
2. Plant a piece of bunting, and what comes up?
3. Plant a wise man, and what comes up?
4. Plant a large, inclosed basin, and what comes up?
5. Plant a ruminant's lips, and what comes up?
6. Plant an egg, and what comes up?
7. Plant a color, and what comes up?
8. Plant a sea-shore, and what comes up?
9. Plant yourself, and what comes up?
10. Plant a muff, and what comes up?

A. and T. J.

* * * * *

No. 2.

WORD SQUARE.

First, a dead body. Second, a bay-window. Third, stiff. Fourth, a net. Fifth, a shrub.

BOLUS.

* * * * *

No. 3.

ENIGMA.

My first is in corn, not in grain.
My second in hail, not in rain.
My third is in lamp, not in light.
My fourth in darkness, not in night.
My fifth is in well, not in sick.
My sixth is in cane, not in stick.
My seventh in maple, not in pine.
My eighth is in back, not in spine.
My ninth is in green, not in red.
My tenth is in needle, not in thread.
My eleventh in archer, not in bow.
My whole was an emperor long ago.

MAY E. T.

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 53.

No. 1.

S M
A T E D I M
S T O R M I N E R
E R R I M E W
M I S E R
Y A M E N O W
M A N O R O B I N
M O B W I T
R N

No. 2.

Marseille.

No. 3.

1. Winnipiseogee. 2. Niagara Falls.

NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS.

The early history of America is always a subject of great interest to boys and girls; and although they may get ahead very slowly in the school history, which is invariably dull, as its statements are of necessity as condensed as possible, put a volume in their hand in which the story of their country is told in picturesque and easy style, and made more interesting than many works of fiction, and the rapidity with which it is absorbed by young readers is wonderful. A new and very interesting book of this description is _Old Times in the Colonies_,[1] by Charles C. Coffin, whose earlier works, _The Boys of '76_ and _The Story of Liberty_, are favorite volumes with boys and girls. From this new book children will learn about the hardships and sufferings of the pioneer settlers of the United States--how they fought with frost and snow, and desolate, rocky lands, living in constant fear of attacks by Indians, to whose tomahawks many a brave man and many women and little children fell victims; and how, in spite of all obstacles, they struggled ahead with the courage of true men, never faltering and never stopping until the liberty and prosperity of this great country were firmly established.

[1] _Old Times in the Colonies_. By CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 460. New York: Harper & Brothers.

The few passages from this volume which have appeared in the columns of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE have found universal favor with young readers throughout the country, and we are sure all those children who find this handsome book in their bundle from Santa Claus will count it among their best gifts. The volume is printed in type so large and clear that no little eyes will ever ache over it, the illustrations are very numerous and exceedingly attractive, and the binding is handsome and substantial.

* * * * *

One of the most delightful stories ever written for boys is _The Moral Pirates_,[2] which is now published in a small, neat volume, with fifteen full-page illustrations. This has been one of the most popular serials published in HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, and many of the little friends of Harry Wilson, Tom Schuyler, and Joe and Jim Sharpe, will be happy to renew their acquaintance with them in this pretty little book, while those who have not read the story have some delightful hours in store. The cruise of Harry and his three friends in the _Whitewing_--a neat little boat, well stocked with provisions and camping-out comforts by Harry's uncle John--is accompanied by many innocent and amusing adventures. It takes the boys some time to learn how to manage themselves and their boat, as new difficulties are constantly arising; and when at last they reach Brandt Lake, and have become experienced "moral pirates," their adventures come to a sudden end in a very unexpected manner. This charming story has a new incident and new interest on every page, and will induce many boys to attempt next summer a cruise in the style of these young mariners of the _Whitewing_.

[2] _The Moral Pirates_. By W. L. ALDEN. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 148. New York: Harper & Brothers.

* * * * *

All children are by nature fond of small living pets. There is scarcely a child who, if it has a home, does not spend hours in petting its old Maltese cat or aged dog, and the smallest tricks performed by these common domestic animals are matters of intense interest to the youthful master or mistress. Books containing stories of animals are always welcome, and one of the best writers of books of this description is Olive Thorne Miller, whose last publication, entitled _Queer Pets at Marcy's_,[3] is destined to be very popular with young readers. There are stories of all kinds of animal pets from lions to mice: parrots climb about, making all sorts of funny speeches, mischievous crows make havoc in peaceful households, and dogs and cats do most wonderful and intelligent things. There are stories of funny baby-owls, prairie-dogs, opossums, bears, deer, and many kinds of birds and reptiles. Indeed, Marcy and her neighbors appear to have transformed a whole menagerie into household pets. Delightful and wonderful as these stories are, they are given as facts, and in reading them children will gain not only amusement, but learn many things about the habits of birds and beasts when domesticated. The book is beautifully bound, and contains many fine illustrations.

[3] _Queer Pets at Marcy's_. By OLIVE THORNE MILLER. Illustrated by J. C. BEARD. 8vo, pp. 326. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.

SINGLE COPIES, 4 cents; ONE SUBSCRIPTION, one year, $1.50; FIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS, one year, $7.00--_payable in advance, postage free_.

The Volumes of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE commence with the first Number in November of each year.

Subscriptions may begin with any Number. When no time is specified, it will be understood that the subscriber desires to commence with the Number issued after the receipt of the order.

Remittances should be made by POST-OFFICE MONEY-ORDER OR DRAFT, to avoid risk of loss.

Volume I., containing the first 52 Numbers, handsomely bound in illuminated cloth, $3.00, postage prepaid: Cover, title-page, and index for Volume I., 35 cents; postage, 13 cents additional.

HARPER & BROTHERS,
Franklin Square, N. Y.

GAMES FOR WINTER EVENINGS.

MACHINE SONNETS.

Although this species of poetry has been considered hard to write, and oftener harder to read when written, a simple recipe is here given by which sonnets by any one, with very little effort, can be produced. One person selects a sonnet from the works of any author--the less known the better--and covers the printed lines with a sheet of paper, leaving the last word of each line only visible. He then reads aloud the word which concludes the first line, and waits until every player has composed a line ending in this word in any metre, and on any subject. When all are ready he reads the next word, and so on until every person present has composed a poem, all of which differ in every way excepting that the last words are alike. This game will be found interesting alike to children and their parents, and is well worthy the attention of the most experienced players.

STILL THERE.

Place a small card upon the tip of one of the fingers of the left hand, and on the card, immediately above the finger, put a coin. Now give a smart blow to the card with the second finger of the right hand, and it will be whirled from under the coin so swiftly that the latter will be left on the tip of the finger. A similar feat can be performed with two wine-glasses. Place a sheet of card-board over both, and then, with a smart fillip, send it spinning from under the coins you have placed upon it, and they will drop into the glasses.

LIGHT FROM OYSTER SHELLS.

It has long been known that certain compounds of lime and sulphur had the property of absorbing light, and giving it out again when placed in the dark. A simple way to do this is to expose clean oyster shells to a red heat for half an hour. When cold, the best pieces are picked out and packed with alternate layers of sulphur in a crucible, and exposed to a red heat for an hour. When cold, the mass is broken up, and the whitest pieces are placed in a clean glass bottle. On exposing the bottle to bright sunshine during the day, it is found that at night its contents will give out a pale light in the dark. Such a bottle, filled more than a hundred years ago, still gives out light when exposed to the sun, proving the persistency of the property of reproducing light. The chemicals, ground to a flour, may now be mixed with oils or water for paints, may be powdered on hot glass, and glass covered with a film of clear glass, or mixed with celluloid, papier-maché, or other plastic materials. As a paint it may be applied to a diver's dress, to cards, clock dials, sign-boards, and other surfaces exposed to sunlight during the day; the paint gives out a pale violet light at night sufficient to enable the objects to be readily seen in the dark. If the object covered with the prepared paint is not exposed to the sun, or if the light fades in the dark, a short piece of magnesium wire burned before it serves to restore the light-giving property. The preparation, under various fanciful names, is being manufactured on a large scale.

RETRIBUTIVE CHORUS. "Now, then, all together!"]