Chapter XII: The End of It (2)

I had a pet hare, and once I forgot and left it tied in the hot
sun. It had a sunstroke and died. It used to sit on its hind-legs,
and take its fore-paws and wash its face real clean. I had a pet
deer, too, that was sent me from the White Sulphur Springs, but he
would cut me with his fore-hoofs, and he was so wild he broke off
his young horns, and we had to kill him.

I have a collection of Indian arrow-heads and minerals. I am
eleven years old.

DAVIS C.

* * * * *

KESWIC, IOWA.

I will tell Jessie Lee R. how I make scrap-books. I get some large
volume that is worthless--an old agricultural report or book of
advertisements will do--and cut out every other leaf. I make paste
or starch, and lay it on the scraps with a brush or a knife. After
pasting, it is a good plan to lay clean paper between the leaves
until the paste is dry. It is better to let the leaves dry slowly
under heavy pressure than to iron them.

MAY L.

* * * * *

DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

I went to Cincinnati lately, and I visited the Zoological Garden. I
bought some candy, and gave it to the monkeys and the Rocky
Mountain grizzly bears. They would stick their mouths through the
bars, and open them for me to throw in the candy. There was a white
polar bear who was swimming all the time. When I threw a stone in
his tank he would dive after it, and bring it up and throw it at
me.

N. P. G.

* * * * *

OSWEGO, NEW YORK.

I am fourteen years old. I enjoy YOUNG PEOPLE very much. I always
read all the stories and all the letters. I wish some little girl
would tell me how to make some Christmas presents, some that would
be pretty and not very expensive. I have made almost everything I
can think of.

I am going to try the hanging basket described by Daniel D. L.,
which I think will make a very pretty ornament. I would like to
ask him if it is necessary to empty the cup, and put in all fresh
water every morning, or if only to fill in what has evaporated is
sufficient.

CARRIE V. D.

* * * * *

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

We have had a big snow-storm here. It begun in the night, and
lasted until noon to-day (November 6).

I have taken YOUNG PEOPLE since the first number, and now I am
beginning the second volume. I am going to take it always.

J. T. M.

* * * * *

BERLIN HEIGHTS, OHIO.

Correspondents wishing a catalogue of birds' eggs can obtain one by
sending ten cents in stamps or silver to W. J. Knowlton, 168
Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts.

MILTON D. C.

* * * * *

All boys from eleven to sixteen are invited to become members of a
debating society on a legal basis. The debates are carried on by
mail. For further particulars address, inclosing a three-cent stamp
for answer, the recording secretary,

A. G. NORRIS,
2222 Pine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We hope this new society will meet with better success than the one noticed in the Post-office Box of YOUNG PEOPLE No, 52. The idea is very good, and if well developed might prove beneficial to the youthful debaters. We are requested by N. L. Collamer, to whom communications for the first society were to be addressed, to inform those from whom he received answers to his proposition, that in spite of all his efforts, and much to his regret, the club he tried to form was not successful. Correspondents will please accept this statement as an explanation why their letters to him have remained unanswered.

* * * * *

I wish to inform those boys with whom I have been exchanging that
as the nesting season is over I have no more eggs.

I have two United States half-cent pieces, one of 1804 and one of
1825, which I will exchange for some United States Department
stamps, or old issues of postage stamps.

WALLACE ROSS,
Lock Box 97, Rutland, Vermont.

* * * * *

I have a collection of birds' eggs, and would like to exchange with
any subscriber of YOUNG PEOPLE. I will exchange the egg of a
king-bird for one of a martin. I would request all correspondents
to label distinctly all eggs they may send.

CHARLES MATTHEWS, P. O. Box 15,
Fort Covington, Franklin County, New York.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postage stamps. I have some very rare
stamps from Greece and from South America.

PEYTON A. SAVIN,
1262 Lexington Avenue and Eighty-fifth Street,
New York City.

* * * * *

I have a collection of nineteen hundred and twenty stamps, and a
great many duplicates. I would like to exchange with Charles H. W.,
of Brooklyn, New York, who has such a large collection. If he will
send me his address and a list of his duplicates, I will send him a
list of my best ones.

K. S.,
P. O. Box 203, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

* * * * *

I live in a little town of about eighteen houses, on the Champlain
Canal, thirty miles from Saratoga. I have a printing-press, a
collection of birds' eggs, and some white bantams and some rabbits.
I have to go five miles every morning to a military school. I stay
there all day, and ride home in a stage at night.

I would like to exchange flower seeds, birds' nests, and specimens
of quartz for postmarks, stamps, birds' eggs, or curiosities.

Will you please tell me how to mount postmarks properly?

GEORGE E. BAKER,
Comstocks, Washington County, New York.

Postmarks should be mounted in the same manner as stamps. You will find directions for mounting specimens neatly and conveniently in the paper entitled "Stamp Collecting," in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 54.

* * * * *

My brother and myself are collecting coins, minerals, birds' eggs,
shells, and stamps, and will be glad to exchange with any readers
of YOUNG PEOPLE. Some one sent us a box of shells and a star-fish,
but unaccompanied by any address. If we can find out who sent it,
we will be glad to send something in return.

L. F. BREHMER,
Penn Yan, Yates County, New York.

* * * * *

Harry Gustin, of Bay City, Michigan, is also troubled because he has received several unsigned letters which he wishes to answer, and can not for want of an address. Leon M. Fobes, of Portland, Maine, has sent stamps and written several times to a correspondent, but has received no answer. All this trouble is the result of carelessness and negligence on one side or the other. Always remember to _direct your letters properly_, and to give _your full address_.

* * * * *

I like very much to read the letters in the Post-office Box. I,
too, am trying to make a collection of stones, one from each State.
I would like to exchange with any readers of YOUNG PEOPLE. I will
give a stone from either Wisconsin, Illinois, or Colorado for one
from any other locality.

MAMIE H. BALL,
Augusta, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange a box of good paints for a little engine.

E. BENSON,
Care of W. H. Francis,
749 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey.

* * * * *

We wish very much to get a bow from the Indian country, and if any
boy or girl living there would send each of us an Indian bow about
five feet long, with a few arrows, we will give in return pressed
leaves, or a winter bouquet of Minnesota grasses, or any
curiosities we can get in this locality, or in the spring we would
send in return a collection of birds' eggs.

MAUD POOL and PHEBE EDDY,
Morristown, Rice County, Minnesota.

* * * * *

We are compelled to condense the following offers for exchange:

Coins and postage stamps.

WILLIE T. KNOX,
2318 Third Avenue, New York City.

* * * * *

Postage stamps and eggs.

PEREZ S. BURR, Freeport, Maine.

* * * * *

Postage stamps for postal cards and stamps.

ANITA R. NEWCOMB,
1336 Eleventh Street, Washington, D. C.

* * * * *

Ohio postmark for postmarks from any other State, and old issues of
United States postage and revenue stamps for foreign stamps.

GEORGE E. FRAZIER,
Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio.

* * * * *

Postmarks for different kinds of buttons.

MARY P. BICE,
39 Second Street, Utica, New York.

* * * * *

P. S. B.--A cheap, substantial squirrel cage may be made in the following manner: Take a piece of board about eighteen inches wide and three feet long for the bottom. Fasten upright boards about three feet high at each end. These end pieces must be rounded at the top. Now buy from any dealer in hardware a piece of coarse strong wire netting long enough to go over your wooden frame, and nail it securely to the bottom board on one side, and to each of the end pieces, bending it over the rounded top. If you fasten it with stout tacks, it will be strong enough, and there will be no danger of splitting the wood of the ends. On the front of the cage the netting should stop within three inches of the bottom, so as to leave room to put in a drawer, like the drawer of a bird-cage, which you must pull out and clean every morning. Make the drawer of a sheet of tin. Any tinsmith will turn up the sides for you, leaving the front a little higher than the others, so as to overlap the netting. If you can procure the wire netting only of a certain width, grade the length of your cage accordingly.

If you can get a stout branching bough of some hard wood, fasten it securely from end to end of the cage before putting on the wire covering, as your pet will enjoy climbing about on it much better than running in a revolving cylinder, which is neither healthy nor natural exercise for a squirrel. The end boards must also be of some hard wood, or the sharp teeth of your little pet will soon make sad havoc with them.

Now for the sleeping apartment. Cut a round hole in one of the end boards near the bottom, and fasten on the outside a neat little box, the bottom of which must be level with that of the cage, so as to present the appearance of a tiny extension. In this box there must be a hinged door large enough to allow you to change the bedding, which must be clean dry moss or cotton-wool, and through which you can feed your pet. You can also cut a small hole in the wire netting at the top of the cage large enough to admit a nut, and the squirrel will soon learn to climb up and take food from your hand. After cutting the hole, bend back the ends of the wires, so as to leave no sharp edges. Give the squirrel a little milk occasionally. You can put it in a dish like a canary's bathing-cup, which is low enough to slide out and in with the drawer. If you are ingenious, you can make a neat and comfortable cage at a very trifling expense.

* * * * *

VICTOR L.--The first of the historical sketches entitled "Old Times in the Colonies" is in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 35.

* * * * *

E. M. B.--Your "first attempt" is correct and very pretty, but unfortunately the same solution appeared in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 22, therefore we can not use it.

* * * * *

L. B.--Mexico has so much commercial intercourse with the United States that Mexican postage stamps are as easy to obtain as those of any Spanish-American country.

* * * * *

L. B. S., Hempstead.--It is contrary to the rules of our Post-office Box to print letters offering articles of any kind for sale.

* * * * *

Correct answers to puzzles are received from Isabel L. Jacob, John N. Howe, Emma R., Allie Maxwell, Alice Ward, G. Volckhausen, Bell, Annie Volckhausen.

* * * * *

Favors are acknowledged from H. L. J., Arthur H. Gould, Theresa Morro, Harry McG. Wood, Edith Bidwell, Agnes D. C., Charles De Gaugue, Bessie Guyton, Clyde E. Marsh, Gilbert P. Coleman, F. L. Van Valkenburgh, S. P. Duffield, Mary Louisa Olmstead, E. W. Rice, Nellie Anderson, R. D. Britton, E. A. De Lima, Percy Cunningham, Mary F. Wright, Winifred Serl, Arthur Kramer, Libbie M. Hayes, Josie A. Dole, Thurman Allen, Charlie L. Lewis, Louie E., M. Leona N., May F. Brinckerhoff, Freddie Barnes, Harry Clark, Eddie Williams, Grace A. Lindsey, Dora A. Knobel, Bertie Reid, H. W. S., Frank E. Boyd, Josie M. Patten, Arthur D. Thaller.

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 54.

No. 1.

H
L A G
L I L A C
H A L C Y O N
G A Y L Y
C O Y
N

No. 2.

S O F A C O R D
O P E N O D O R
F E E T R O S A
A N T S D R A Y

No. 3.

E D I N B U R G H
B E N A R E S
B E R N E
E C K
E
U L M
L Y O N S
B A R N A U L
S I N G A P O R E

No. 4.

Astronomy.

* * * * *

CHARACTER TREES.

1. Pear. 2. Bay. 3. Pine. 4. Date. 5. Crab. 6. Fir. 7. Box. 8. Broom. 9. Sloe. 10. Spruce. 11. Bread-fruit. 12. O-range. 13. O-live. 14. Mace. 15. Locust. 16. Cork. 17. Haze-l. 18. Plantain. 19. Cedar. 20. Plane. 21. Beech. 22. Sandal. 23. Vine. 24. Red ash. 25. Palm. 26. Judas.

* * * * *

Throwing Light.--Hair, hare.

* * * * *

Anagram in letter on page 30--Scythe.

* * * * *

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

TRANSPOSITIONS.

Transpose joined, and get separated. Transpose a cave, and get a coward. Transpose a language, and get an eating-trough. Transpose a person of rank, and get to confuse. Transpose indifferent, and get a soup-dish. Transpose a species of gems, and get curious. Transpose brutal, and get profit. Transpose to confuse, and get displeased. Transpose a chief, and get a current.

BOLUS.

* * * * *

No. 2.

EASY NUMERICAL CHARADES.

1. I am a bird composed of 9 letters.
My 4, 6, 3, 9 is part of a wheel.
My 8, 2, 1 is an opening.
My 7, 2, 5, 9 is to venture.

ARISTOTLE.

2. I am an animal composed of 9 letters.
My 8, 2, 4 is a fish.
My 1, 6, 3 is a pronoun.
My 8, 7, 5, 9, 3, 2 is a bird.

SNOWDROP.

* * * * *

No. 3.

EASY SQUARES.

1. First, to resound. Second, a company. Third, a part of the body. Fourth, birds.

G. B. D.

2. First, a shining body. Second, a story. Third, a tree. Fourth, to stagger.

3. First, a bird. Second, something always found in ships. Third, a jewel. Fourth, a spring.

4. First, a river in England. Second, employed. Third, a germ. Fourth, a collection of ancient poetry.

BELL.

* * * * *

No. 4.

ENIGMA.

In stocking, not in shoe.
In white, not in blue.
In grave, not in merry.
In bright, not in dreary.
In foot, not in arm.
In tropic, not in palm.
In denial, not in yes.
In gown, not in dress.
In bread, not in pie.
In laugh, not in cry.
In second, not in third.
The whole a singing-bird.

MAGGIE L.

"HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE."

"HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE" has drawn to its pages a large number of the best writers for youth in this country and England; and an extensive corps of artists is constantly employed in providing pictures for the entertainment of its readers. Among those who will contribute stories, poems, sketches, etc., during the coming year, we may mention Mr. F. W. Robinson, of London, Miss Louise M. Alcott, Mrs. D. M. Craik (Miss Mulock), Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke, Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford, Mr. John Habberton, author of _Helen's Babies_, Mr. William L. Alden, author of _The Moral Pirates_, Miss Virginia W. Johnson, author of _The Catskill Fairies_, "Sherwood Bonner," Mr. David Ker, the Rev. W. M. Taylor, D.D., Bishop Dudley, of Kentucky, Mrs. John Lillie, Mr. James Payn, of London, Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton, Mrs. Margaret Eytinge, Mrs. Helen S. Conant, Mrs. W. J. Hays, "Mary Densel," Mr. Edward Cary, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, Mr. Edgar Fawcett, Mr. W. O. Stoddard, Mr. Frank Stockton, Mrs. Mary D. Brine, Mrs. A. M. Diaz, Mr. C. C. Coffin, Mr. A. A. Hayes, Jun., "Sydney Dare," Mrs. Margaret Sangster, Miss Mary A. Barr, Miss Lillie E. Barr, Miss Sarah O. Jewett, Miss Josephine Pollard, Mr. Frank H. Taylor, Mrs. Lizzie Champney, Mrs. E. H. Miller, Mrs. M. E. W. Sherwood, the Rev. Bradford K. Peirce, D.D., Mr. G. B. Bartlett, and W. Elliot Griffis.

Among the artists who will contribute during the year to the pictorial attractiveness of YOUNG PEOPLE we may name Mr. E. A. Abbey, Mr. C. S. Reinhart, Miss M. R. Oakey, Mr. A. B. Frost, Mr. J. E. Kelly, Mr. Howard Pyle, Mr. F. S. Church, Mr. Thomas Nast, Mr. J. O. Davidson, Mr. Alfred Fredericks, Mr. S. G. McCutcheon, Mr. Sol Eytinge, Jun., Mr. W. H. Beard, Miss C. A. Northam ("C. A. N."), Mr. W. A. Rogers, Mr. Charles Graham, Mr. H. P. Wolcott, Mr. Frank Bellew, Mr. W. M. Cary, Mrs. Charles H. Sheppard (Jessie Curtis), Mr. M. Woolf, Mr. J. W. Champney, Mr. Palmer Cox, and Mr. W. P. Hooper.

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.

THE FIRST SNOW-STORM.

Oh, what shall we do? cried a sad little bird--
Oh, what shall we do? cried she;
For the fields lie white in the morning light,
And there's never a leaf on a tree--
Tree, tree, tree--
And there's never a leaf on a tree.

Oh, let us be off to the fair sunny South--
Oh, let us be off, said he;
For they tell me down there they've enough and to spare
For my dear little wifey and me--
Me, me, me--
For my dear little wifey and me.

THE NUN.

By tracing Fig. 1 very carefully on a piece of white card, cutting it out, and painting with black ink as indicated, drawing in the beads and cross, then folding at the dotted lines, and afterward painting the hood and prayer-book, also the arms and hands, pasting the two sides of the book together, folding the two small pieces at the soles of the feet inward, and mounting the whole on a card, you can produce the representation of a nun as shown in Fig. 2.

A RARE STONE.

The cat's-eye (so called from the changing pearly light it exhibits, which is not unlike that observed to emanate from the eye of a cat) is a variety of the precious or noble opal. It is a transparent quartz, of a yellow hue, slightly tinged with green, and is full of minute fibres of "asbestos"--a term denoting its incombustible quality, for which it was used by the ancients for wrapping round dead bodies on the funeral pile, so as to prevent their ashes from mingling with those of the fire. The finest cat's-eyes in the world are obtained from Ceylon, and a perfect gem is of great value. The Hindoos esteem it next to the diamond. Its average size is that of a hazel-nut, and it is a favorite stone with jewellers. In 1820 one of these precious gems, about two inches broad, was sold for £400. The largest now known is one inch and a half in diameter, and formerly belonged to the King of Kandy, but is now in the possession of Mr. Beresford Hope.

Among the Marlborough gems one of the most curious is a monster cat's-eye, an inch and a half high, admirably cut into the form of a lion's head.

De Boot describes the cat's-eye as good for all diseases of the eye, being placed under the lid, and allowed to work its way into the corner.