Chapter II: Part 2

He hadn't been at our house for so long (Mr. Martin, I mean) that we all thought he never would come again. Father sometimes said that his friend Martin had been driven out of the house because my conduct was such and he expected I would separate him from all his friends. Of course I was sorry that father felt bad about it but if I was his age I would have friends that were made more substantial than Mr. Martin is.

Night before last I was out in the back yard with Sitting Bull looking for a stray cat that sometimes comes around the house after dark and steals the strawberries and takes the apples out of the cellar. At least I suppose it is this particular cat that steals the apples for the cook says a cat does it and we haven't any private cat of our own. After a while I saw the cat coming along by the side of the fence looking wicked enough to steal anything and to tell stories about it afterward. I was sitting on the ground holding Sitting Bull's head in my lap and telling him that I did wish he'd take to rat-hunting like Sam McGinnis's terrier, but no sooner had I seen the cat and whispered to Sitting Bull that she was in sight than he jumped up and went for her.

He chased her along the fence into the front yard where she made a dive under the front piazza. Sitting Bull came round the corner of the house just flying, and I close after him. It happened that Mr. Martin was at that identicular moment going up the steps of the piazza and Sitting Bull mistaking one of his legs for the cat jumped for it and had it in his teeth before I could say a word.

When that dog once gets hold of a thing there is no use in reasoning with him, for he won't listen to anything. Mr. Martin howled and said "Take him off my gracious the dog's mad," and I said "Come here sir. Good dog. Leave him alone" but Sitting Bull hung on to the leg as if he was deaf and Mr. Martin hung on to the railing of the piazza and made twice as much noise as the dog. I didn't know whether I'd better run for the doctor or the police, but after shaking the leg for about a minute Sitting Bull gave it an awful pull and pulled it off just at the knee-joint. When I saw the dog rushing round the yard with the leg in his mouth I ran into the house and told Sue and begged her to cut a hole in the wall and hide me behind the plastering where the police couldn't find me. When she went down to help Mr. Martin she saw him just going out of the yard on a wheelbarrow with a man wheeling him on a broad grin.

If he ever comes to this house again I'm going to run away. It turns out that his leg was made of cork and I suppose the rest of him is either cork or glass. Some day he'll drop apart on our piazza then the whole blame will be put on me.

A MISHAP.

BY JOSEPHINE POLLARD.

A dear little fellow named Noah
Had made up his mind that he'd go a--
Sailing alone
In a boat of his own,
For he was a champion rower.

This dear little fellow named Noah
Hadn't gone very far before--oh! ah!--
His boat was upset,
And he got very wet,
Did this little numskull of a Noah.

CORN-STALK CATTLE.

BY FLORENCE E. TYNG.

Last winter my health gave out, and the doctor said I must go South. What a mourning there was among our little boys at the thought of losing Aunt Kate and her "beautiful stories"!

Just before the train started, little Jamie begged to be held up to the car window to give me a good-by kiss. Poor little fellow! his eyes streamed with tears, and not even the promise of a pound of candy could console him.

I was not going to Florida, where fashionable invalids spend their winters, but to the home of an old friend of mine on an Alabama plantation. How glad I was to find that she too had a little boy! He was not much like the nephews I had left behind, but I soon found him to be a good-hearted, brave little lad.

His mamma and I were sitting one rainy morning with our work before a great wood fire, when Frankie and his bosom companion, Abe, a young darky, came in with an armful of long dry corn stalks, a handful of chicken feathers, and two kitchen knives.

"Now, Frankie, you are going to make a mess, so get some papers and put them down on the floor," said Frankie's mamma. Abe ran to get the papers, and very soon the two boys were down on their knees, peeling the stalks.

I noticed that the stalks were old and brittle, and that the boys preserved the hull. After watching them for some minutes, I began to make inquiries as to what the stalks were for.

"Dese is fur cattle," said Abe, grinning.

I then asked how they made cattle. Frankie did not seem communicative, so Abe again answered my question.

"Wa'al, we jest cuts 'em. If yer waits a minute I'll show yer."

He cut off a piece of the peeled stalk about four inches long, then split the hull into four pieces about a quarter of an inch wide and two inches long. He stuck two of these pieces near one end of the stalk for hind-legs, and the two others at a quarter of an inch from the other end for front ones. He then cut a piece of the stalk about an inch long for the head, a niche for the mouth, two pins for eyes, and narrow bits of hull for horns; another little strip of hull was stuck first into the head and then into the body to form the neck, a chicken feather put in for the tail, and the job was finished.

"Now, den," said Abe, triumphantly, holding it up, "don't yer see dat's a cow?"

I smiled, but Abe was too good-natured to notice it. This animal I found, with slight variations, was made to represent horses, cows, mules, sheep, dogs, and pigs, and even chickens, which, of course, were much smaller, and had only two legs. In the course of the morning Frankie and Abe manufactured a sow with seven little pigs, two cows, a mule, and a horse.

It had stopped raining, so the boys asked if I would not like to go out and see their farms. Under a shed in the yard were these two farms, arranged as nearly as possible like Frankie's father's. Barns, stables, wagon-houses, and pig-pens were made of bricks on a very small scale, and inhabited by corn-stalk cattle.

A wagon made of a chip tied to two spools was hitched up with two corn-stalk oxen, their feather tails standing up in the air.

I thought my little friends would like this new breed of cattle. They struck me as being much easier to manage than those of Noah's ark, for there is hardly a boy who has not had all manner of trouble in making Father Noah's cows and horses stand up. Gather together some corn stalks this autumn, let them dry, and stock a farm for yourself.

SEA-BREEZES.

LETTER NO. 5 FROM BESSIE MAYNARD TO HER DOLL.

CAMBRIDGE, _September, 1880_.

MY DEAREST CLYTIE,--When I sent my last letter from Bar Harbor I thought it would be the _very_ last I should write you for a long time, but I shall not see you for two whole weeks more, and I can not wait till then to tell you all the fine things I am precipitating for next winter.

We left Mount Desert last Monday, and have been with grandma and Auntie Belle here in Cambridge ever since, except when we go flying back and forth from Boston. We are very busy, Clytie, and have heaps of shopping to do; for what do you think?--we are all going to Europe, and are to sail one month from to-day. I am awfully glad, of course, but I don't know how I can live all winter long without you. Don't tell the rest of the dolls, Clytie, but I do a little bit believe that you are going too! Now that is a very great secret, so you will keep it close down in your own little heart, and not let the others even respect a thing about it, because it might make them feel bad that I chose you and left them behind; and one thing I never would do, and that is to let my children think I had a _favorite_ among them. You know I love every one of them dearly, but of course I can not take them all to Europe, and as you are the largest, it is more your _place_ to go.

Now for another piece of news: Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton are engaged! Yes, Clytie, they really are, and they are going to be married this very month, and go to Europe when we do. If this isn't news enough, here is some more: Randolph Peyton has gone home with his mamma, and they are all coming to our house in New York the week before we sail, and go with our party! Won't it be lovely? There will be Mr. and Mrs. Peyton, Randolph and his sister Helen, and Miss Rogers, their governess. I have never seen Helen, but Randolph says she is "awfully jolly, considering she is only a girl," so I guess I shall like her. Then there will be papa and mamma and me (and you, if we take you), Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton, only she won't be Miss Carleton then--she will be _Mrs. Howard_, and I am to call her Cousin Carrie: indeed, I call her so now, for Cousin Frank asked me to, and I would do anything to please him. I have forgiven him for sending me away one night when they were talking about little pitchers. When I asked him about it afterward, and if it was really deckerativeart they meant, he tried to exclaim to me, but he laughed so hard all the time, I couldn't make out anything at all except that _I_ was the very funniest little pitcher in the whole world! Did you ever know such a comical thing as to call _me_, a girl ten years old, a _pitcher_? I'm sure he didn't know what he was talking about.

Mamma says I may give them anything I choose for a wedding present, and I have presided on a silver pitcher. I am going to send it with a card tied on the handle marked, "_This is me_," and I guess they will wonder what it means. Don't you?

I have told Cousin Carrie so much about you that she seems to love you already, even though she has never seen you, and she says she shall invite you to her wedding. Won't that be fun? She is going to send you her cards, and you will go with me. I shall get home in time to have your dress made. Mine is to be a bomination dress of white cashmere and silk, and I think yours will be of the same kind in rose-color.

I will tell you one more adventure that befell us at Bar Harbor, and then I shall not write any more letters unless you are left at home when I go to Europe. Of course, if you are, I shall write as often as I possibly can, and I shall have so many new and strange appearances in crossing the ocean and in visiting forran lands that the reading of them will make up in some agree for being left at home.

Randolph and I went down to the beach, the evening before we came away, to launch his ship--a beautiful one, with sails all set, "full-rigged," as the sailors say, that his uncle in Philadelphia had sent him that very day.

The Stars and Stripes waved from the prow or stern--I never know which is which--and on the top of one of the masts he fastened a "pennon," as he called it, with the name of the ship in big blue letters. (He printed it himself with his blue pencil, and it looked real cunning blowing round in the wind, and flapping up and down.) What do you suppose the name was? _Bessie_, to be sure. He says he thinks it is an "awfully jolly" name for a ship, or for a girl either.

Well, the wind blew just the right way for a splendid launch. I held the cord, letting it out as fast as he told me to, and he gave it a push, and off it sailed, straight and lovely as a duck. I was so delighted I couldn't possibly help clapping my hands, and, oh, Clytie! I dropped the cord, and away it went, up and down over the waves as if it was alive. Randolph muttered something that sounded like, "Bother! that's just like a girl!" and scowled awfully at me, and then ran out into the water after it. I screamed as loud as I could, for I was afraid he would drown; and then I remembered how he had saved my life, and I said to myself, He is my friend now, and I will save him, for he saved _me_ when we were emernies. So, as the story-books say, I "dashed into the foaming billows" after him, and just as I caught him by his jacket I thought I heard him say again, "Bother!" and then came a great rushing noise in my ears, my mouth was full of water, and the next thing I knew I was lying in mamma's bed, and she and two or three other people were rubbing me! I was almost drowned, Clytie; and so it was Randolph who saved _my_ life a second time, and I never saved _his_ at all.

When I pulled him by his jacket, a wave broke over us; but he was stronger and bigger than I, and a _boy_ besides (and truly, Clytie, boys _do_ know more than girls about _some_ things), and so he caught me, and sort of pulled and rolled and pushed me out of the water; and just then Cousin Frank and Miss Carleton came round the point in their boat, and Cousin Frank took me in his arms, and ran up to the hotel as fast as he could go.

Poor mamma was most subtracted when she saw me, and Randolph was so scared he forgot all about his lovely new ship, that long before that time had gone sailing out to sea all by itself.

Wasn't it awful, Clytie? If I had minded what Solomon says, "Look before you leap," I should have seen that Randolph had his hand on the ship at the very moment I seized him, and he could have got back safe to the shore without any of my help.

Good-by for a little while. I shall see you and the rest of the dolls week after next.

Your loving mamma,
BESSIE MAYNARD.

CHAM, SWITZERLAND.

I am a little boy only six years old, and can not write very well,
but I want to say how much I like YOUNG PEOPLE. My mamma and papa
have taken HARPER'S WEEKLY and HARPER'S MONTHLY more years than I
can remember.

I like so much to hear all about the pets of the other children. I
have not any, but I have a dear little sister called Myra, and she
is my pet.

I liked the story "Across the Ocean" very much, but I think "The
Moral Pirates" was the best.

My governess is writing this, but soon I hope to be able to write
myself, as I have nearly finished my second copy-book. One year
ago I could not speak any English, but now I can read short
stories, and I am always so happy when YOUNG PEOPLE comes.

C. D. P.

* * * * *

LYNCHBURG, TEXAS.

I am twelve years old. I have a little colt, but it is not gentle,
it is very wild. I also have a roan horse, named Sabine. Whenever
horses are gathered I help to herd them. I like to do it very
much. We generally have about three hundred head to herd. I have
no pets now, for my little dog died.

I visited Captain H----'s plantation last winter, and I had a very
nice time. I saw the men gin cotton, and I drove the horses round
in the gin.

CHARLES A. T.

* * * * *

BUFFALO, WYOMING TERRITORY.

I have wanted to write to the Post-office Box for a long time for
I like YOUNG PEOPLE so much, but I thought as there were so many
children writing perhaps my letter would not be printed.

I live in a very lonely country. There are no little girls here at
all, but I have a good many pets. I have two colts, named Nellie
and Dollie, and a puppy named Carlo. Then I have a cat and four
little kittens, and six pigeons, and lots of little chickens. I am
going to get a pair of canaries very soon.

LUELLA A. M.

* * * * *

WHEATLAND, NEW YORK.

I am eleven years old. I live in the Genesee Valley, which I have
heard is the nicest valley in the world. We have not many pets,
because there are seven of us children, and mamma thinks those are
pets enough for one house.

We have a black dog named Shot, but he is real old. We raised him
from a puppy. Once he was in a soap box, with three other puppies,
and mamma heard an awful squealing. There was a knot-hole in the
box, and the puppy's tail stuck out. My little brother Jim crept
up and grabbed hold of it, and was trying to pull the poor puppy
through the knot-hole.

We had a yellow cat named Moses. He would let us dress him and put
him to bed like a baby, and when my little sister sat down on the
floor, he would come and put his paws around her neck. He died
last spring, and we had a funeral. My brother Manta made a
head-stone for him, and painted it white, and put poor Moses's
name and age on it.

LAURA M.

* * * * *

WINONA, MINNESOTA.

I have just returned home from Maiden Rock, a little town in
Wisconsin. It is a funny name for a town, and I will tell you why
it is called so. There was once an Indian maiden who wanted to
marry a young brave, but the other Indians were not willing. One
day she went to the top of a high rock, as high as the bluffs on
the shore of Lake Pepin. The Indians called to her to come down,
and they would give her permission to marry her lover; but she
knew very well that if she went down they would kill her, so she
jumped from the rock and killed herself. I am eleven years old.

BELLA M.

* * * * *

SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA.

I got HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for a birthday present, and I like to
read the Post-office Box.

In August I went on a mountain trip. We slept in tents. The roads
over the mountains are very rough, but we thought it splendid fun
to ride in the baggage-wagon.

I have a small museum. Last year when my father came home from
Europe he brought me some stones from Rome and from the Alps, and
also some pressed flowers.

H. E. R.

* * * * *

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK.

I am nine years old. I have a twin sister Ina, and a little
brother Herbert, who is very cunning and full of mischief. We have
only two pets besides Herbert--a dog named Dick and a cat named
Jack. We have lots of fun. We have a croquet set in the yard, and
sometimes we have a tent too. Every time Dick comes into the house
Herbert calls out, "Dit, here, Dit."

Papa owns a share in a cabin, and every summer we all go up to the
lake, and stay about two weeks. Herbert likes to play in the
water, and throw stones in it. One day he crawled right in, and
got all wet. He does not like to ride in the boat, because he has
to sit still. He wants to be in mischief all the time, and he is a
little wide-awake, and will not go to sleep when he can help it.
He is nineteen months old.

ADA E.

* * * * *

LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS.

I want to tell you about some fun I had the other day. We have a
barrel sunk in the yard with water-lilies in it. There was a
lizard in it too. I made a noose and caught it, and put it into
mamma's big dish pan, which I filled with water. Then I caught two
little toads; one was a little brown fellow about an inch long,
and the other a little larger. I put a little piece of board in
the water, and fastened it to the end of the string that was round
the lizard's neck. Then I put the little toads on the board, and
the lizard drew them all around.

EMMA H.

* * * * *

SCOTTSVILLE, NEW YORK.

I am five and a half years old. I can not read, but I can write
letters, although mamma says nobody can read them, so she is
writing this for me. Mamma and sister read me the stories in YOUNG
PEOPLE. I liked "The Moral Pirates" best of all, but I was afraid
Jim would get shot when he took the borrowed boat back.

I have a cat that eats milk and everything with its paw. And I
have three rabbits.

Yesterday I took mamma and papa over to the depot, a mile away,
and drove home all alone.

I go fishing with papa, and have caught a good many fish.

MILTON B.

* * * * *

XENIA, OHIO.

I wish to ask a favor of some of the Southern correspondents of
the Post-office Box. My sister planted a cotton seed, and the
plant that came up bears white blossoms which afterward turn red
and drop off. Now I would like very much to know whether it is
cotton or not. I would also be glad for all information about the
cotton-plant that any correspondent will give.

ROSCOE E. E.

* * * * *

I am a little boy seven years old. I live at Ingleton, Alabama,
two miles from Dickson. My papa owns a large stone quarry. I have
two little brothers and one little sister, and we take YOUNG
PEOPLE. I like Bessie Maynard's letters to her dollie the best of
all.

GEORGIE F.

* * * * *

BUFFALO PAPER MILL, NORTH CAROLINA.

Papa takes HARPER'S MAGAZINE and WEEKLY, the BAZAR for mamma, and
YOUNG PEOPLE for my brothers and sister and myself. I like to read
the stories, and the letters in the Post-office Box.

We live right in the woods. Buffalo Creek runs around our house,
almost forming an island. I do not go to school. Mamma teaches us
at home. We say our lessons every evening.

I have a pet hen. She is black, and so tame that she comes in the
house every evening for me to put her to roost. Then we have lots
of pigs, goats, calves, chickens, and pigeons, and each of my five
brothers has a colt.

MARY T.

* * * * *

WARSAW, INDIANA.

I have no father nor mother. I live with my uncle and aunt, who
are very good to me. In vacation I work in uncle's
printing-office, and when there is school I go.

My uncle takes HARPER'S WEEKLY, and my aunt takes the BAZAR, and I
take YOUNG PEOPLE. I think it is one of the best papers published.

I have a pet chicken named Mary. She will walk a rope, and swing
in a little swing I made for her.

ALFRED J. H.

* * * * *

PAXTON, ILLINOIS.

I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I like to read the letters from the
little folks. I am ten years old, and am in the fourth room and
"A" class at school.

I had a velocipede, but it is broken. I have a horse and a saddle
and bridle, and I ride a good deal.

My little sister is three years old, and I am making a play-house
for her. She bit my ear so hard I had to cry. Mamma asked her what
made her bite brother's ear. She said, "Brother hurt his ear on my
teeth."

RITCHEY M. K.

* * * * *

ARROW ROCK, MISSOURI.

In the hot weather we keep our doors open at night, and one night
a little opossum got in, and in the morning we found it curled up
in papa's hat. I kept it for a few days, but once when I went away
it ran off. I am seven years old.

RIDLEY MCL.

* * * * *

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

YOUNG PEOPLE comes every week, and I assure you it receives a warm
welcome.

We have two little pets. Their names are Roly and Poly. Roly is a
little Skye terrier, and Poly is a kitten, which travelled here
from "down East." They eat, drink, sleep, and, I am sorry to say,
cry together, for they are both very sensitive. They object
strongly to being shut up at night, and protest against it loudly.

I am thirteen years old, and I wear spectacles.

J. O.

* * * * *

WALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

I have taken YOUNG PEOPLE ever since the first number, and I find
it very interesting. I was born in this Territory, but I have been
to San Francisco and down the Pacific coast as far as Santa
Barbara, where I remained six months with my mother and brother
and sister. Sometimes in warm weather we take a trip to the Blue
Mountains, and we have picnics and fishing parties. I am eleven
years old.

FANNIE MINNIE B.

* * * * *

ADAMS, WISCONSIN.

I am ten years old. I live in the country, near a beautiful lake
called Lake Pleasant. I often have a boat-ride on it. The hills
are quite high around the lake.

I live with my grandpa and grandma, and I go to school in an old
yellow school-house that has stood for thirty years. We are going
to have a nice new brick school-house soon, but I do not like to
have the dear old house torn down, as it is the same one my mamma
went to school in.

We have two hundred sheep. I have a pet lamb that will leave the
flock when I call it. Its name is Dickie.

NORA P.

* * * * *

RANDALL, NEW YORK.

I am eleven years old. I have not any pets now, but I had two. One
was a little dog named Fanny. It would draw a little sleigh with a
milk-pail on it, and pull me on the ice when I had my skates on.
The other was a little kitten that would jump and take a piece of
meat out of my hand when I held it over my head.

GEORGE W. L.

* * * * *

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

I am eleven years old. I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much. I often go
out to the Spanish fort. There is a band of music there every
evening, and every Saturday it is there all day. There are two
cannon which have been in the fort ever since 1718. I have two pet
kittens that follow me everywhere.

CHARLIE N. W.

* * * * *

I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with some
of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.

EDDIE DE LIMA, care of D. A. de Lima & Co.,
68 William St., New York City.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postmarks of the United States or Canada
with any readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.

A. W. RUSSELL, P. O. Box 109,
Brookfield, Madison County, New York.

* * * * *

I would be glad to exchange postage stamps with any readers of
YOUNG PEOPLE.

HARRY GUSTIN, Bay City, Michigan.

* * * * *

I have a few foreign coins which I should like to exchange for
rare postage stamps. They are small French coins, Swiss, English,
Prussian, German, and Italian, copper and nickel. Some of them I
do not know. They look like silver, but I think they are only
German silver.

EUGENE E. PETTEE,
11 Prospect Street, Fall River, Massachusetts.

* * * * *

I have a collection of shells, minerals, postmarks, coins, and
woods. I have also a collection of about eleven hundred and
twenty-five stamps, all different kinds, and I would like to
exchange stamps with any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE.

I am twelve years old. I have a canary, and my brother and I had
a pair of squirrels, but one died.

HORACE C. FOOTE,
109 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with any
correspondents. I have stamps from Colombia, Venezuela, Germany,
England, and other countries.

ELIAS DESOLA,
162 East Sixtieth Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange flower seeds with any little girl in
California or Florida. I have verbenas, mixed phlox,
four-o'clocks, sweet-williams, balsams, alyssum, salvia,
mignonette, and red and white petunias.

ADA BELT,
1099 Wilson Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

* * * * *

I have a collection of postmarks, and would like to exchange with
any correspondents of this nice paper. I am eleven years old.

"EXCHANGE," 939 Main Street,
Buffalo, Erie County, New York.

* * * * *

If any correspondents will send me a list of the stamps they
require, and also of those they have to spare, I will like to
exchange with them.

JOHN R. BEDFORD, 5 Spencer Place,
Fourth Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange some revenue stamps for postage stamps.
Among those I wish to exchange are two varieties of one-dollar
stamps and a forty-cent stamp.

LEONARD T. BEECHER,
Wellsville, Alleghany County, New York.

* * * * *

I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and I think it is splendid.

I have a great many French, Italian, English, and German postage
stamps which I would like to exchange for others.

GEORGE B. DONNELLY,
P. O. Box 4574, New York City.

* * * * *

I am collecting postage stamps, and would like to exchange.
Correspondents will please state the number of stamps in their
collection, and send me their list. I have twelve hundred stamps,
and I am thirteen years old. I would like to know the age of my
correspondents.

CHARLES S. PETRASCH,
13 West Thirty-second Street, New York City.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postmarks with any boy readers of YOUNG
PEOPLE in the West. I am twelve years old.

ARTHUR S. MOORE,
40 Third Place, Brooklyn, New York.

* * * * *

I would like to exchange postage stamps with any correspondent.

R. L. PRESTON,
P. O. Box 327, Lynchburg, Virginia.

* * * * *

LOUISE.--Your question, "Is the mosquito of any use in the great economy of nature?" has often been asked by many older and wiser than you, for it is not generally known that in their larval state mosquitoes form an important branch of nature's army of tiny scavengers. The larvæ live in the water of stagnant pools and marshes, and feed upon particles of decaying matter, and as their number is so very large, the amount they devour is considerable. By thus purifying the water they destroy the miasma which would otherwise arise and pollute the atmosphere to such an extent that no human being could breathe it with safety. The value of the work accomplished in tropical countries by these tiny scavengers is very great. It is estimated that the air of certain marshy regions would be so poisonous that no animal higher than a reptile could breathe it and live, were their purifying influence removed. We do not know that mosquitoes in the winged state have any useful mission beyond that of depositing the eggs which produce the larvæ, but that alone saves them from being "nothing but a nuisance."

* * * * *

F. A. REILLY.--The subscription price for HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE for 1881 will remain one dollar and fifty cents, the same low figure as for the first volume.

* * * * *

BRIAN B.--The large green worm that feeds on carrot, caraway, parsley, and some other common garden plants is the caterpillar of the _Papilio asterias_, a large black butterfly which is seen in great numbers at midsummer, hovering about the flowers in gardens. It is especially fond of the sweet-scented phlox. This butterfly is very handsomely marked with rows of yellow spots near the margin of its wings, and on the hind wings, which are tailed, there is also a row of blue spots, and near the lower angle an orange-colored eye with a black dot in the centre. The wings of this handsome insect expand from three to four inches.

* * * * *

"THISTLE."--It is not easy to say why such great numbers of potato-bugs are found crawling on the sea-beaches. These striped cantharides are so numerous in all parts of the country that they are probably blown seaward by the wind, and naturally sail ashore on the tide.

You will find simple directions for pressing flowers and leaves in the Post-office Boxes of YOUNG PEOPLE Nos. 34 and 46.

* * * * *

F. B. W.--Write again to your correspondent. There are so many possible reasons why he has not answered you that it would not be fair to him to print your notice. Possibly he has misdirected the letter to you.

* * * * *

Favors are acknowledged from Fred P. Herron, Albert C. B., Jessie R. Ellerby, E. N., Richard F. Morgan, Willie C. Chapman, S. B., Frank Davis, S. Donald Newton, Gertrude B. Duffee, Frank Haid, John R. Bancroft, H. S. G.

* * * * *

Correct answers to puzzles are received from Eddie S. Hequembourg, Mary Tiddy, "Chiquot," William H. Dobson, Dana D. Stanton, "Milwaukee," Percy McGeorge, "Nellie Bly," E. D. W. R. Garden, George Volckhausen, James H. Beddow, Howard A. Esterly, "Ivanhoe."

* * * * *

John H. Bartlett, A. O., and J. C. Locher have sent neat specimens of the five-pointed star, which were received too late for acknowledgment with the others.

* * * * *

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

UNITED DIAMONDS.

1. In strawberry. By way of. A fabulous woman. A unit. In huckleberry. 2. In peach. An article very useful to travellers. A color. A jewel. In plum. Centrals of diamonds read across give the name of a common shrub.

OWLET.

* * * * *

No. 2.

WORD SQUARES.

1. First, mountains in Switzerland. Second, mountains in Asia. Third, a river in Hungary. Fourth, a town in Piedmont, once an ancient Roman settlement.

JULIA.

2. First, a part of the body. Second, a disease. Third, invalid. Fourth, a hollow.

CHIQUOT.

* * * * *

No. 3.

CHARADE.

My first is needed to make my second, and should always be in my whole.

BOLUS.

* * * * *

No. 4.

NUMERICAL CHARADES.

1. A fanciful character in one of Shakspeare's plays composed of 11
letters.
My 3, 10, 5, 1 is agony to weary fingers.
My 8, 2, 1 is a problem.
My 6, 9, 5, 11 is done by every school-boy.
My 7, 2, 8, 4 is fine powder.

LONIE.

2. An inhabitant of Africa composed of 10 letters.
My 2, 7, 8, 5, 4 is a bird.
My 6, 9, 3, 4 is a piece of money.
My 1, 5, 10, 7 is a beautiful flower.

FANNIE.

* * * * *

No. 5.

ENIGMA.

My first is in board, but not in plank.
My second is in hoard, but not in bank.
My third is in sin, but not in good.
My fourth is in tin, but not in wood.
My fifth is in sword, but not in arms.
My sixth is in town, but not in farms.
My whole its forehead proudly rears,
Crowned by two hundred and fifty years.

ARTHUR AURIE.

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 47.

No. 1.

B F
U R N A R M
B R E A D-F R U I T
N A G M I X
D T

No. 2.

Telephone.

No. 3.

1. Hipparchus. 2. Epicharmus. 3. Herodotus.

No. 4.

F O A M A R G O
O H I O R E A P
A I M S G A L A
M O S S O P A L

* * * * *

Charade on page 696--Salt-Petre.

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With a COMPLETE ANALYTICAL INDEX, and A VISITORS' GUIDE TO THEIR ESTABLISHMENT,

Sent by mail on receipt of Nine Cents.

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COLUMBIA BICYCLE.

Bicycle riding is the best as well as the healthiest of out-door sports; is easily learned and never forgotten. Send 3c. stamp for 24-page Illustrated Catalogue, containing Price-Lists and full information.

THE POPE MFG. CO.,

79 Summer St., Boston, Mass.

=COINS AND STAMPS.= My revised catalogue of coins, showing _buying prices_, just out--price 10c. No. 20, of the St. Louis _Philatelist_, the best stamp paper in America, is now ready, and will be mailed free for stamp. E. F. GAMBS, Coin and Stamp Dealer, 621 South 5th St., St. Louis, Mo. Established 1872.

ABSORBING STORY

OF A

BOY'S LIFE AMONG PIRATES.

* * * * *

=THE ADVENTURES OF REUBEN DAVIDGER;= Seventeen Years and Four Months Captive among the Dyaks of Borneo. By JAMES GREENWOOD. 8vo, Cloth, $1.25; 4to, Paper, 15 cents.

* * * * *

This is a book which will be devoured by youth with much the same engrossing interest that made the perusal of "Robinson Crusoe" so delightful. The author has the power of literally enchaining the attention of the reader, whether of larger or smaller growth.--_Brooklyn Times._

* * * * *

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

HARPER & BROTHERS _will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price_.

CHILDREN'S

PICTURE-BOOKS.

Square 4to, about 300 pages each, beautifully printed on Tinted
Paper, embellished with many Illustrations, bound in Cloth, $1.50
per volume.

The Children's Picture-Book of Sagacity of Animals.

With Sixty Illustrations by HARRISON WEIR.

The Children's Bible Picture-Book.

With Eighty Illustrations, from Designs by STEINLE, OVERBECK,
VEIT, SCHNORR, &c.

The Children's Picture Fable-Book.

Containing One Hundred and Sixty Fables. With Sixty Illustrations
by HARRISON WEIR.

The Children's Picture-Book of Birds.

With Sixty-one Illustrations by W. HARVEY.

The Children's Picture-Book of Quadrupeds and other Mammalia.

With Sixty-one Illustrations by W. HARVEY.

* * * * *

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

_Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price._

SOLUTION TO MARINER'S PUZZLE.

Divide the piece of plank described in the Mariner's Puzzle, published in No. 47, into five squares, as represented in Fig. 1; then draw a line from A to B, and from B to C. Cut off the two triangular pieces marked X X, and re-arrange them as represented in Fig. 2, and you will have a piece of plank of the shape and size required by the mariner to stop the leak in his ship.

IMITATION SCREW-HEADS.

BY F. BELLEW.

Here is a simple little thing of my own invention, from which I have derived a good deal of fun from time to time, and from which the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE may extract some amusement. It is an imitation of the common screw-head, and is made in this wise: Take a piece of common tin-foil, and mark on it with a pair of compasses or a small thimble a number of circles; then, with a broad pen or small brush and black ink, rule across each a broad line, as represented in Fig. 1. Then, when your ink is dry, cut out the little circular pieces very neatly with a pair of scissors. They resemble so exactly the head of a real screw as to deceive the most acute observer. Once I made a box for conjuring tricks, with a side swung on hinges, and fixed the sides of the box with these screw-heads in such a way as to impress the spectator with the idea that it was a piece of workmanship that could not be trifled with.

On one occasion a much-loved relative of mine had left me alone in her house while she drove over to the station to meet her husband. I did not wish to waste my time while she was away, and having nothing else to do, I cast my eye round for material. At last it lighted on an article of furniture: this was a bureau, highly prized by my much-loved relative. I have attempted, feebly, in the subjoined sketch to convey an idea of it, but am fully conscious that I am far from doing it justice. But this bureau was of solid mahogany, and had belonged to her grandmother--qualities enough to make anything dear to the heart of a true woman. On the side of this solid mahogany bureau I scrawled a ragged line with the sharp corner of a piece of soap, and gummed some of my screw-beads down each side of the mark, as in Fig. 2. Then I waited until my much-loved relative returned.

"Aunt," I said, in solemn tones, "look at the end of your mahogany bureau. It is all my fault, and I am as sorry as I can be. I know how you value it, and realize the extent of the disaster; but I've fixed it up as well as I can, and I guess it won't show much."

My aunt rushed to the bureau, and there she saw the patched and botched wreck.

"Oh dear!" cried she, "to think--just to think--how could you be so-- I knew something would come of swinging those vile clubs. I'd rather have given a hundred dollars. It's too bad. And such a mess! Why didn't you wait till I could send for a proper man--a cabinet-maker or something--to mend it?"

Then she ran into the garden, and called to her husband: "Oh, George, do come here, and see what that boy has been doing! My dear mahogany grandmother's bureau all knocked to pieces, and patched together with big screws. Such a sight!"

As soon as my aunt left the room I seized a wet towel, and quickly removed all the appearance of damage, so that when she returned with her husband, and with averted face, bade him look upon the wreck, the mild old gentleman, after putting on his specs, and making a careful examination, reported that he could see nothing the matter.

"For pity's sake!--the man must be getting blind and foolish," cried my aunt. "It's as plain as Charley Meeker's nose on his face."

A discussion of some length here followed between my aunt and her husband, which was terminated by the lady stepping up to the bureau, with an air of triumph, to point out the broken places. Never before was seen such a perplexed woman. She looked and looked, and felt all over the precious piece of furniture with her finger, and, I believe, would have fairly gone demented had I not broken the spell by a roar of laughter. When I explained the trick I had played, she too laughed heartily, and boxed my ears, saying it was just like me, and that I was always up to some prank or another.

And so ended my first practical joke with the screw-heads.

MAJOR ANDRÉ. "Look here, fellers, there ain't a-goin' to be no hanging, yer know."

JOHN PAULDING. "No hangin'! W'at er yer talkin' 'bout? D'yer s'pose we're a-goin' back onter history and Gineral Washington? Get out! Course yer've got to be hanged; and ef yer don't like it, we'll get some feller as does. That's all there is to it."]

End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, October 12, 1880, by Various