Chapter IX: Benny's Party (2)

We can not give you any fuller directions than are contained in the papers on aquaria in YOUNG PEOPLE, Nos. 42 and 43.

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MAYERSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI.

I have never written to the Post-office before, but now I wish to
say how very much I like this valuable little paper. I only
commenced taking it myself with No. 41, but before that I borrowed
it from a friend. I can not tell you how much I enjoy it. I believe
I liked the story called "Moonshiners" best of all.

I live on the Mississippi River in a very pretty little town.

GERTRUDE P.

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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

I am so much obliged to YOUNG PEOPLE for all the stories and poems.

I wish all the children could see my parrot. She is the wonder of
the age. Every one that comes to our house is convulsed with
laughter at her laughing, crying, singing, and talking. She is
very impudent; and after imitating any one, which she does
capitally, she will roar with laughter, and cry out, "Oh, Polly,
how funny!" Sometimes she swears. Then she laughs again, and
cries, "Oh, you bad Polly!"

Will you tell me of some books of fairy tales for older children?
I think the story of "Photogen and Nycteris" was lovely.

MAY.

There are a great many books of fairy tales which even grown-up children enjoy very much. _The Rose and the Ring_, by Thackeray, is delightful. Miss Johnson's _Catskill Fairies_, relating how they amused a little boy who was blocked in by a snow-storm, is a very fascinating book. Then there are the fairy-books of Laboulaye and Macé, _Puss-Cat Mew_, _Queer Folks_, _Tales at Tea-Time_, and other books by Knatchbull-Hugessen. _Alice in Wonderland_ is also very entertaining; for although it is the most absurd nonsense ever written, we pity the person too old to enjoy it. _The Snow-Queen_, and other fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, are charming books for readers of any age.

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ACCORD, NEW YORK.

The Post-office is a mile and a half away from where I live, but I
get YOUNG PEOPLE every Tuesday, and I can hardly wait for it. I
learn ever so much from it.

I have a little brother Henry, four years old, and a little sister
Eleanor, who is ten months. She is a great pet. My papa has two
mills here, and he is very busy, but he devotes a great deal of
time to our comfort and enjoyment.

MOLLY C. D.

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NEW YORK CITY.

I have seen so very many letters about pets in the Post-office Box
that I thought I would write the story of a poor, lone, forlorn
chicken a friend of mine had.

This chicken was orphaned and thrown upon the tender mercies of
this world at the tender age of two days. Jet discovered it, and
brought it into the house. She fed it, and every night wrapped it
up in a flannel rag, and put it into a snug corner near the stove,
and took it out again in the morning. At last it grew so large Jet
considered it in the way, so one night she took it out to roost
with the other fowls on the grape-vine trellis. The next day Jet
found her Majesty waiting to be fed as usual, and every night she
had to lift her up on to the trellis. This continued about a
month, when Jet's patience gave way, and the poor chicken was
beheaded.

I enjoy YOUNG PEOPLE very much indeed. The stories I have liked
the most are "Photogen and Nycteris," the series by "Jimmy Brown,"
Bessie Maynard's long-worded letters to her doll, and "Who was
Paul Grayson?"

BERSIA.

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I have a collection of twelve hundred and fifty postage and revenue
stamps, and I would like to exchange with readers of YOUNG PEOPLE
residing in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, or in
any part of Canada. Correspondents will please give the number of
stamps in their collection.

H. A. BLAKESLEY,
54 West Eighth Street, Topeka, Kansas.

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I have no pets, but I have the dearest little brother that ever
lived, and I am going to have a present of a kitty. I like "The
Moral Pirates" and "Who was Paul Grayson?" very much.

I will gladly exchange flower seeds with Grace Denton, as I live
very far West.

LAURA C. MARSHALL, Greeley, Colorado.

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We have been pressing a great many autumn leaves and ferns, and
would be glad to exchange them for flower seeds with any of the
readers of YOUNG PEOPLE. Correspondents will please mark the name
plainly on each package of seed.

BESSIE G. and ELIZA B. BARTLETT,
Greensburg, Green County, Kentucky.

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I have a collection of postage stamps, and would like to exchange
with Harry Gustin, Eddie De Lima, Horace C. Foote, or with any
other readers of YOUNG PEOPLE. Correspondents will please send a
list of stamps they have to exchange, and of those they would like
in return.

E. M. DEVOE, P. O. Box 159, Mount Vernon,
Westchester County, New York.

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Will "Wee Tot," or some other subscriber to YOUNG PEOPLE, send me
some sea-shells in exchange for feathers of the white crane and of
some other wild birds? I have also a petrified buffalo's tooth
which I will exchange for shells or quartz.

THEODORE PATCHEN,
Herman, Grant County, Minnesota.

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I am collecting stamps, postmarks, and shells. I have to exchange a
good many Greek stamps and some shells.

ANDREW GUNARI,
Care of P. Gunari, New Rochelle, New York.

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I enjoy knitting lace very much, but I would like some new
patterns. I have two that are wide, the oak-leaf and Normandy, and
one that is narrow and very easy. I will be glad to exchange any of
these for something new.

A class of the pupils in this school have just listened to "The
Moral Pirates," and enjoyed it very much.

ALICE C. LITTLE,
Institution for the Blind, Janesville, Wisconsin.

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I would like to exchange postage stamps with any of the readers of
this interesting paper. I have some very rare stamps to exchange.

FRANK F. RICE,
109 East Seventy-ninth Street, New York City.

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I like to read the letters in HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.

I have three kittens, and a canary which is very tame. I go to
school, and am taking drawing lessons.

I will exchange postage stamps with any of the correspondents of
YOUNG PEOPLE. I am ten years old.

ARLINE M. SKIFF,
37 College Street, New Haven, Connecticut.

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I would like to exchange eggs, copper ore, postmarks, and stamps
for coins or Indian relics.

S. B. FOSTER, Knowlton, P. Q., Canada.

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HENRY R. H.--Yale College was chartered in 1701, and in the autumn of that same year the school was opened in Saybrook, Connecticut. It was removed to New Haven in 1716. In the first years of its existence it was known as "The Collegiate School of Connecticut," but in 1718 the name was changed to Yale College, as a recognition of gifts of valuable books and considerable sums of money from Elihu Yale, who was a native of New Haven, but who left his birth-place when a boy, and resided all his life in either London or India. He amassed great wealth, and was for some time Governor of the East India Company. He died in London in 1721.

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LEWIS D.--In early numbers of the Post-office Box, especially in No. 5, are directions for the care of a pet tortoise. And in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 27, in the article entitled "A Letter from a Land Turtle," you will find interesting facts about the habits of these creatures.

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ROBERT G. S.--Rabbits, as a rule, obtain all the moisture they require from the leaves of lettuce, cabbage, and other succulent plants upon which they feed. They like bread or cracker soaked in milk, and we have known rabbits that would drink water, but it is not supposed to be required by the little beasts when they are in a healthy state.

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MINNIE W.--Vancouver Island was named from Captain George Vancouver, a British naval officer, who accompanied Captain Cook in his first and second voyages round the world. In 1790 he was put in command of a small squadron, and sent to take possession of the Nootka region, then in the hands of the Spaniards. The island which now bears his name was surrendered to him by the Spanish commandant Quadra in 1792. Vancouver was instructed by the English government to institute a search for a northern water connection between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans after taking possession of Nootka, but he was unable to discover what many navigators before and after him sought for in vain. It was not until 1850 that the Northwest Passage was finally discovered by Sir Robert McClure. Captain Vancouver died in England in 1798.

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JENNIE C. A.--The cover for YOUNG PEOPLE is strong, and very prettily ornamented. It is not self-binding, but any book-binder will put it on for you for a small charge. See answer to C. B. M. in Post-office Box of YOUNG PEOPLE No. 53.

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DUDLEY.--The standard value of the foreign coins about which you inquire is subject to slight variation in the United States, but as used in the computation of customs duties on January 1, 1880, it was as follows: Chilian peso, or dollar, ninety-one cents; Peruvian dollar, eighty-three cents; Norwegian crown, twenty-six cents; India rupee of sixteen annas, thirty-nine cents; Brazilian milreis of one thousand reis, fifty-four cents; Austrian florin, forty-one cents; German mark, twenty-three cents; Turkish piaster, four cents; Italian lira, nineteen cents; Russian ruble of one hundred copecks, sixty-six cents. We have not given the fractions of a cent, which in business transactions are added to the above amounts, for as you are simply a coin collector, we do not think you will require them.--The Spanish silver "quarter," the "elevenpence," worth twelve and a half cents, and the "fi'penny-bit," worth six and a quarter cents, were in general circulation in the United States, especially in the West, about forty years ago. These coins were marked by the two pillars of the Spanish coat of arms, between them the two castles and two lions rampant of Castile in a shield surmounted by a crown.

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"YOUNG SAILOR."--The first light-house of which there is any record in history was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 300 B.C. It was a tower on which wood fires were kept blazing at night. It was built on Pharos, a small island in the bay of Alexandria, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is an interesting fact that the modern French and Spanish names for light-house--the one being _phare_, the other _faro_--still preserve the memory of the island where the first attempt at sea-coast illumination was located. The ruined tower in Dover Castle, England, erected about A.D. 44, is claimed by some authorities to have been built for a light-house, upon which an enormous wood fire was kept burning.

The light-house on the southern end of the island of Conanicut, at the mouth of Narragansett Bay, is said to be the oldest in the United States. The present structure is comparatively modern, but the first one was erected in 1750, and for nearly one hundred years previous a watch-tower with a beacon fire had existed at the same point.

This light-house bears the odd name of Beaver Tail. The southern portion of Conanicut Island is shaped something like a beaver, with its tail pointing southward, and in early times it was known by that name, the two extremities being called head and tail.

Previous to 1789 the few light-houses existing in the United States were maintained by the States in which they were situated, but from that date the expense was assumed by the general government, and in 1791 the first light-house under the new law was erected at Cape Henry. There are now nearly six hundred and fifty light-houses, lighted beacons, and light-ships on the coast and waters of the United States.

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JACK NEMO.--If you paid a year's subscription to YOUNG PEOPLE, you will receive your paper until January, 1881. Subscriptions may begin with any number, and the paper will be sent the length of time for which the subscription is taken, without reference to the beginning or close of a volume.

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Favors are acknowledged from Frank L. L., Joseph Henry C., S. V. B., A. R. Reeves, Lloyd Elliot, "Bo-Peep," Mary Burns, Hattie Venable, Bertha M. Hubbard, Nellie M. S., Amy L. O.

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Correct answers to puzzles are received from Nellie Brainard, Jennie C. Ridgway, "Jupiter," G. Dudley Kyte, A. H. Ellard, Alfred C. P. Opdyke, George M. Finckel, G. Volckhausen.

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ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 51.

No. 1.

C-hestnut.
E-lm.
D-ogwood.
A-sh.
R-ose-wood.

No. 2.

B H
F L Y D O E
B L O O D - H O U N D
Y O N E N D
D D

No. 3.

I R I S R A C E
R O S E A C I D
I S L E C I T E
S E E R E D E N

No. 4.

Lemon.

No. 5.

P A R T N E R
G O R G E
F E E
N
A T E
S T O I C
L E O N A R D

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

DIAMOND--(_To Bolus_).

1. A letter. 2. To loiter. 3. A plant. 4. The kingfisher. 5. Merrily. 6. Shy. 7. A letter.

ZELOTES.

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No. 2.

EASY SQUARES.

1. First, an easy seat. Second, to unfold. Third, measures. Fourth, insects.

S. F. W.

2. First, a quantity of wood. Second, scent. Third, a girl's name. Fourth, a cart.

C. H. MCB.

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No. 3.

HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE--(_To Zelotes_).

A city in Great Britain. A city in India. A city in Switzerland. A lake in Scotland. A letter. A city in Germany. A city in France. A city in Russia. A city in Asia. Centrals read downward spell the name of a port on the Mediterranean Sea.

OWLET.

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No. 4.

ENIGMA.

My first is in Paris, but not in the Seine.
My second in simple, but not in fool.
My third is in Frankfort, but not in the Main.
My fourth is in labor, but not in tool.
My fifth is in trouble, but not in grief.
My sixth is in fortune, but not in fate.
My seventh is in robber, but not in thief.
My eighth is in malice, but not in hate.
My ninth is in gymnasium, furnished with ropes and bars.
The secret of my whole is hid in sun and moon and stars.

TOM.

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CHARACTER TREES.

1. What is the sociable tree?
2. The tree where ships ride?
3. The languishing tree?
4. The chronologist's tree?
5. The fisherman's tree?
6. The tree warmest clad?
7. The tree that fights?
8. The housewife's tree?
9. The lazy tree?
10. The dandy's tree?
11. The tree that supplies wants?
12. The tree that invites to travel?
13. The tree that forbids to die?
14. The tree always near in billiards?
15. The Egyptian plague tree?
16. The tree in a bottle?
17. The tree in a fog?
18. The busiest tree?
19. The most yielding tree?
20. Tree neither up nor down hill?
21. The tree nearest the sea?
22. The tree that binds ladies' feet?
23. The tree cockneys make into wine?
24. Tree that warms cold meat?
25. Tree offered to friends when we meet?
26. The treacherous tree?

THROWING LIGHT.

BY E. MASON.

I am white, I am black, I am all colors save blue, green, and purple, and all lengths, yet when I am grown I am of uniform size. I run with great swiftness, but have no motion of my own; am carried round by my possessor, and worn according to the taste of my owner. I don't know how I can be worn, though the outer covering of me is put to some use, I believe. I am very hard to tame, though gentle and timid, yet I submit to being pulled, tied, cut, dressed, burned, without rebelling; in fact, I might be called inanimate, though I never cease growing; but the truth is, in a year I attain my full growth.

I am excellent eating, and esteemed a delicacy, yet should I make my appearance in the food of a delicate person, or even of anybody, disgust would certainly ensue. I can be dressed according to fancy, though there is but one way of cooking me; still, I do not need cooking, except when taken from my natural place: then I am baked to preserve me; but I am only cooked to be eaten, not preserved; and as to dressing me, my garment must be taken off before I can be made palatable, and that I never am, for I can't be chewed or swallowed, though lovers of me declare me to be a toothsome morsel.

Men hunt and persecute me, yet they do not like to be without me, and are very apt to feel when I leave them that it is a sign of age. I can belong to people in two ways--either by inheritance or by purchase; when in the latter manner, every one tries to conceal the fact, and pretend that I am a gift of nature, though extravagant sums are paid for me, as there are fashions in me in color, and I am often dyed, though that process would render me worthless and unmarketable.

Soft and silky, fine and coarse, harsh and wiry, of a sleek coat, running on four legs, having no legs at all, capable of suffering and being killed, a theme for poets, having no feeling of pain, yet dying, I am a part of man, yet an animal.

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE.

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NELLIE. "Annie, the season has commenced, and we must fix up our children's party dresses."]

THE WONDERFUL DRAWING LESSON.

BY G. B. BARTLETT.

Many years ago a very funny pantomime was performed by the Ravels, or some other talented actors, that astonished every one who saw it, and no one could guess how it was done. We propose first to give a sketch of the action of the scene, and then to describe a very simple manner of doing the trick upon which it depends. By careful attention to the description any boy can prepare it in a few hours in such a way that it can be often used for home and hall, and will give as much pleasure in preparation as in performance. The pantomime requires an old man, an old woman, and a stupid boy--the latter it is often easy to find in any family. The old parts can be assumed by young people, as they can be made venerable by powdering their hair with flour. They must borrow their grandfather's and grandmother's clothes, if possible, but the boy can wear an old dressing-gown, and the girl a long skirt trained over her own dress, looped up at the sides with bows of ribbon; she should have an old-fashioned bonnet, or a broad hat tied down to resemble one, a kerchief, and a cane. The boy should borrow a suit of a smaller boy that is too short and tight for him, and should brush his hair down over his eyes, and wear a paper ruffle around his neck. The boy who wears the dressing-gown or old dress-coat should also have a palette, brush, a piece of chalk, and some other artistic implements with which to decorate the room, which can be very prettily arranged if for a public performance. The most conspicuous object is a large blackboard, standing on the floor at the rear of the room, behind which another boy is concealed, and upon which all the mystery depends. The artist is discovered walking around the room in a nervous manner, as if expecting a pupil. A knock is heard, and he admits the lady, who salutes him with an old-fashioned bow in response to those with which he greets her. She leads in the boy by the hand, who hangs back, as if very bashful. She puts her hand behind the boy's head, and compels him to bow to the artist, of whom he seems afraid.

The mother consoles him, and persuades him to look at some pictures which the artist shows him. The boy expresses great interest, and the artist points to the blackboard, as if offering to teach him to draw. The boy seems eager to begin, and seizes a piece of chalk from the table. The artist takes the chalk from him, and pats the palm of his left hand with three fingers of his right, to signify that he wants some money. The mother pays very unwillingly, and the artist keeps demanding more, until she shakes her head very forcibly, and points to the board, as if refusing to pay any more money unless she is satisfied with her son's progress in art.

The boy is then furnished with chalk, and the artist holds up a pattern before him, and points from it to the board. The boy slowly draws the face of a man on the top of the board, near the centre. The mother seems much pleased, and claps her hands, in delight. The boy goes on with his work, and finishes the body, with the arms extended, and the artist then demands, more money, which the mother refuses, when the arms which have just been drawn move up and down with violent gestures, and the mother becomes so much alarmed that she pays him, and the arms then remain still. The boy goes on with his work, and draws the two legs of the figure, which is supposed to be facing the audience.

At the completion of the work the mother and boy contemplate it with wonder and delight, and the artist renews his demand for more money, which the old lady refuses. The right leg then kicks out violently, the other does the same toward the left, the arms go up and down, and the chalk man thus appears to be alive, and to be dancing a jig, as the movements of the legs and arms increase in speed, although they can only swing up and down on the board. The mother and son hold up their hands as if struck with horror, and the former rushes out of the room, pulling the boy by the arm. The artist follows, demanding more money, and the curtain falls.

The blackboard is made of any smooth board painted; the arms and legs of the figure are cut out in outline of common pasteboard, and are fastened to the blackboard by a peg, upon which their weight is balanced, and upon which they move. The limbs are moved by means of bits of black thread attached to them, and passing through small holes in the board to the boy behind it. They are fastened on after the board has been painted, and the whole is made of a uniform dull black with common paint, so it does not show when the light is between it and the spectators.

The boy may make the figure of the man in any style, taking care only to match it to the limbs, the outline of which he draws on the edges of the pasteboard profiles. A little practice will enable the performers to arrange animals and other figures on the same plan, to the delight of themselves and their friends.

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, November 9, 1880, by Various