Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]

$1.00 a Year. NOVEMBER, 1887. 10 cts. a No.

THE PANSY

EDITED
BY
“PANSY”
MRS. G. R. ALDEN.

D. LOTHROP COMPANY
BOSTON, MASS. U.S.A.

Copyright, 1887, by D. LOTHROP COMPANY. Published monthly.
Entered at the P. O. at Boston as second class matter.

EPPS’S (GRATEFUL—COMFORTING) COCOA.

=GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878.=

=BAKER’S=
Breakfast Cocoa.

Warranted _=absolutely pure Cocoa=_, from which the excess of Oil has been removed. It has _three times the strength_ of Cocoa mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, and is therefore far more economical, _costing less than one cent a cup_. It is delicious, nourishing, strengthening, easily digested, and admirably adapted for invalids as well as for persons in health.

=Sold by Grocers everywhere.=

=W. BAKER & CO., Dorchester, Mass.=

BROWN’S FRENCH DRESSING.

=The Original! Beware of Imitations!=

AWARDED HIGHEST PRIZE AND ONLY

BROWN’S
LIQUID DRESSING
ESTABLISHED.
BOSTON
1853

CIRAGE FRANCAIS,
—OR—
FRENCH
DRESSING
—FOR—
LADIES’ AND
CHILDRENS’
BOOTS & SHOES
TRUNKS, HARNESS,
CARRIAGE TOPS, etc.
MANUFACTURED BY
B. J. Brown.
BOSTON, MASS.
]

MEDAL

PARIS EXPOSITION, 1878.

Highest Award New Orleans Exposition.

GOOD NEWS
TO LADIES.

Greatest inducements ever offered. Now’s your time to get up orders for our celebrated =Teas= and =Coffees=, and secure a beautiful Gold Band or Moss Rose China Tea Set, or Handsome Decorated Gold Band Moss Rose Dinner Set, or Gold Band Moss Decorated Toilet Set. For full particulars address

=THE GREAT AMERICAN TEA CO.=,
P. O. Box 289. 31 and 33 Vesey St., New York.

No excuse for
=STAMMERING=.

Send for our book, “School of Voice.”

=11 East 14 Street, New York.=

=FACE, HANDS, FEET,= and all their imperfections, including Facial Development, Hair and Scalp, Superfluous Hair, Birth Marks, Moles, Warts, Moth, Freckles, Red Nose, Acne, B’lk Heads, Scars, Pitting and their treatment. Send 10c. for book of 50 pages, 4th edition. =Dr. John H. Woodbury, 37 North Pearl St., Albany, N. Y.= Established 1870.

=OLD GOLD!=

=In every household old-fashioned and worn jewelry and plate accumulate, becoming “food” for burglars or petty thieves.=

If the readers of OUR LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN will get out their old gold, old silver, old jewelry, and send it by mail or express to me, I will send them by return mail a certified check for full value thereof.

=J. H. JOHNSTON=,
150 Bowery, Cor. Broome St., N. Y.

=DIAMOND DYES.=

FOR SILK, WOOL, COTTON, =and all Fabrics and Fancy Articles. Any one can use them. Anything can be colored.=

32 COLORS—10 CENTS EACH.

Remember, these are the only Pure, Harmless and Unadulterated Dyes.

Beware of other Dyes, because often Poisonous, Adulterated, Weak and Worthless.

=We warrant these Dyes to color more goods, package for package, than any other Dyes ever made, and to give more brilliant and durable colors.=

=THE DIAMOND=
=GOLD=, =SILVER=, =PAINTS=
=BRONZE and COPPER=

For gilding Fancy Baskets, Frames, Lamps, Chandeliers, and for all kinds of ornamental work. Equal to any of the high priced kinds and only 10 cts. a package. Also Artists’ Black for Ebonizing.

Sold by Druggists everywhere. Send postal for Sample Card and directions for coloring Photographs and doing fancy work.

WELLS, RICHARDSON & CO., Burlington, Vt.

=THE
OLDEST
THE
BEST=

_=PAYSON’S=_ =INDELIBLE INK=, for Marking Linen, Silk & Cotton =WITH A COMMON PEN=, Without a Preparation.

EST. 1835

PAYSON’S INK

PAYSON’S INDELIBLE INK]

Sold at all Drug and Book Stores. Estab’ed 50 Years.

=Warren’s=

=DRESS STAY=.

Soft, Pliable and _Absolutely unbreakable_. Standard Quality, 15 cents per yard. Cloth covered, 20 cents. Satin covered, 25 cents. For sale everywhere. Try it.

LADIES’
=FANCY
WORK=

=Ingalls’ Illustrated Catalogue= of Stamping Outfits, Felt, Linen and Silk Stamped Goods, Fancy Work Materials, Books, Briggs’ Transfer Patterns, etc., sent _free_ for one 2-c. stamp.

=J. F. INGALLS, Lynn, Mass.=

ICE AND ROLLER SKATES.

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. CATALOGUE FREE

CANDY!

Send one, two, three or five dollars for a retail box, by express, of the best Candies in the World, put up in handsome boxes. All strictly pure. Suitable for presents. Try it once. Address

C. F. GUNTHER, Confectioner, 78 Madison Street, Chicago.

WIDE AWAKE.

_A Look Ahead into 1888._

The Christmas (Dec.) number will open with a noble
Christmas poem by Edmund Clarence Stedman, entitled
=The Star-Bearer=, with superb full-page frontispiece
and text illustrations by Howard Pyle.

The Holiday number will also give a poem by the witty
English author, Andrew Lang, entitled the =Ballad of
a Bad Boy=—which is to be received as an amusing bit
of autobiography, for Mr. Lang writes: “It is true—and
I hope moral!” The “bad boy” will be drawn by W. L.
Taylor.

A third great feature of the Christmas number will be
a complete African Serial Story by H. Rider Haggard,
author of the famous books, “She,” “King Solomon’s
Mines,” etc., etc. The story is called =A Tale of Three
Lions=, and will have thrilling full-page illustrations
by Heywood Hardy the English lion painter. The holiday
number will be much enlarged to include this serial
entire.

=Farm-Life for Young People=, by Ik Marvel (Donald G. Mitchell), _Out-of-Door Papers_ by John Burroughs, together with _Walking_, _Rowing_, and _The Training of Dogs_, three papers by Louise Imogen Guiney, will form a delightful phase of the coming volume.

=My Uncle Florimond= is a beautiful and romantic
Serial Story for boys by Sidney Luska, author of those
popular novels of the day, “As It was Written,” “Mrs.
Peixada,” and “The Yoke of the Thorah.” It is the first
story which he has written for young folks. =My Uncle
Florimond= is quite a new kind of magazine serial,
and handsome Gregory Brace is quite a new kind of boy
to be met in a story-book, though fortunately for the
world there are some like him in real life. Fathers
and mothers will like their young folks to make the
acquaintance of this chivalric young fellow, and also
of the true girl Rosalind. The illustrations will be by
George Wharton Edwards.

=A Painter of Child-Life.= (First Art Paper.) A beautiful art-paper for children, by the English art-writer, T. Letherbrow, about the English painter, Warwick Brookes, who was once a little “tear-boy” in the Manchester cotton-mills, and afterwards rose to great eminence in art. This remarkable article is to have twenty exquisite illustrations of child-life from photographs of the artist’s paintings and drawings.

A brace of sparkling Serial Stories, =Those Cousins
of Mabel’s=, and =Double Roses=, will be contributed
by Mrs. John Sherwood, author of Harper’s standard
etiquette manuals, and of “Royal Girls and Royal
Courts.” In these stories she does good service to her
young countrywomen by showing them what a pleasant
and comfortable thing it is to be acquainted with the
usages of refined society and to conform to them. The
loveliness and nobility of Mabel will render her the
ideal “society girl” of young readers, and everybody
will follow the experiences of the brilliant Phyllis
and the piquant little Wilhelmina, the two girls from
Haffreysberg, with blended amusement and sympathy.
The life Mrs. Sherwood describes exists in all large
cities, the same embarrassments entangle young
strangers to social forms, the same heartlessness, over
against the same loftiness of character, is found among
people of fashion; and the counsel given to Phyllis and
Wilhelmina will be as helpful to thousands of other
girls—and certainly this social counsel could come
from no higher authority than Mrs. Sherwood. Charming
pictures will be drawn by W. L. Taylor.

=Daniel Webster in New Hampshire.= (First Historical Article.) Reminiscences, anecdotes, and gossip about the great statesman, given to the author, Miss Amanda B. Harris, by Webster’s early friends and neighbors in New Hampshire, or gathered from unpublished letters. With portraits from life-photographs, and many sketches.

=Plucky Small: His Story=, is a serial by Mary
Bradford Crowninshield. “I was a wharf rat,” begins
Plucky. Plucky’s friend, “The Tinker,” was another;
“why ‘The Tinker,’” says Plucky, “he don’t know, nor
I don’t know.” Plucky does a great brave deed, and
on account of it he gets a chance to enlist “in the
apprentice-service of a United States training-ship,”
and so does “the Tinker,” and away they go on a long
cruise, down around the south of Europe, into the
Mediterranean, with stops at Marseilles, Gibraltar,
and Havre—a whole ship-full of prankish boys; and how
realistic the story is may be guessed from the fact
that the author is the wife of Commander Crowninshield,
now of the U. S. School-Ship _St. Mary’s_, and has
cruised with the boys on other U. S. training-ships.
Pictures by Frank T. Merrill.

=About Rosa Bonheur.= (Second Art Paper.) This charming account of the wonderful French woman who has painted the finest animal pictures since Landseer has been written for WIDE AWAKE by Rosa Bonheur’s friend of many years, the American artist, Henry Bacon. The picture of her in studio dress painting the famous “Head of a Lion” was drawn by Mr. Bacon; the portrait of her at eighteen is from a painting by her brother, Auguste Bonheur. Full of anecdote and with many pictures.

=Children of the White House=, by Mrs. Harriet Taylor
Upton, is a series of articles of national importance
and national interest. It is a wonder that this work
has not been undertaken before for the pleasure and
information of young Americans. Starting with the
little Custises, the adopted children of Washington,
this fascinating series, giving a chapter to each
Presidential family, comes down to the present
administration, gathering up delightful details of
family life, and tracing the after histories of the
Presidential children. Mrs. Upton for many years
has had rare privileges of ransacking old annals in
Washington, and interesting family reminiscences have
been kindly recalled for her, and precious relics,
portraits, and paintings furnished for photographing.

=The Story of Boston Common=, by Edward Everett Hale, is now complete in _MS._, and the long-expected series, touching much of early American history, will be given, in three or more chapters, with historic and modern pictures, during the coming summer.

Certain old authors, certain old books, certain old
nursery stories, have become household words and
household treasures the world over. Under the title of
=Dear Old Story-Tellers=, Mr. Adams will relate all of
interest that is known about these dear old authors,
books and stories. The series of twelve papers embrace
Æsop, Arabian Nights, Mother Goose, Perrault, La
Fontaine, Defoe, Madame de Genlis, Brothers Grimm, Hans
Andersen, Laboulaye, La Motte-Fouqué—with authentic
portraits, when such exist, and other illustrations.

=The Medal Children of the Renaissance.= (Third Art Paper.) An art article for young readers by Frances H. Throop about some high-born children of the fifteenth century, whose portraits were sculptured or cast in medallions; these lovely medals are preserved in European museums and collections, being regarded as precious art-treasures; and Miss Throop has made casts and drawings from the originals to illustrate her paper.

=Around-the-World Stories= relate a dozen unique
personal experiences—some diverting, some perilous—of
the adopted daughter of Secretary of State, William H.
Seward, on his journey around the world after he had
recovered from the attack on his life at the time of
the assassination of President Lincoln. Miss Seward is
a born story-teller, and whether she is describing _A
Dinner at Kensington Palace_, or _A Visit to the Great
Wall of China_, or _Experiences as a Lion-Tamer_, or
_Adventures in the Streets of Pekin_, the interest
is always breathless, the story always novel.
Illustrations by Wm. T. Smedley and others.

=An Old House on Royal Street.= (Second Historical Article.) This delightful paper about old New Orleans and early Louisiana by Mrs. M. E. M. Davis (author of _In War-Times at La Rose Blanche_), written in the old house that was General Jackson’s headquarters, abounds in reminiscences of Indian, French, Spanish and Creole days, of Jackson, Galvez, the pirate Lafitte, Bienville, Pere Antoine, Don Almonaster, and other famous men of the Southwest. Full of portraits.

=Eurania’s Boys= is the title of a story by Margaret
Sidney: Mrs. Eurania Stebbins and several members
of her family being called away suddenly from home,
her two boys keep house—not exactly according to her
methods!

ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS will contribute a series of practical papers for young people embodying suggestions helpful to them in their desire to get on in the world. The papers will be a departure from the customary “Letters to Young Men.” They will be, rather, in the spirit of appreciation and comradeship, and will endeavor to indicate and open toward the possibilities that exist for the boys and girls of America in these busy days that are merging into the twentieth century.

In a series of informing articles about the =U. S. Naval and Military Schools=, Mr. Peale tells the boys and their home friends explicitly what applicants must know and do in order to enter any of the U. S. Government schools, exactly what is expected of them during the years of training, what obligations to the Government they thereby take upon themselves, and what the schools and the Government do for the boys. While full of picturesque interest for the general reader, the series form a manual for boys aspiring to enter the army and the navy. Illustrations.

=For Business Boys= will be pithy, unforgettable, lifting words, straight from man to boy, as felt and said by a man whose business writing is even better known than his name—a companion paper to Mr. Brooks’ series.

Our Asiatic Cousins will be the subject of a series
of illustrated articles running through the year, by
Mrs. Leonowens, who was for some years governess in the
royal family of Siam, and who has travelled extensively
in the East.

=Among Sir Walter Ralegh’s Homes.= (Third Historical Article.) Sir Walter is everybody’s hero, and Mrs. Raymond Blathwayt has written a charming paper about his birthplace and his young days, and she has sent over many beautiful photographs of his old haunts made expressly for WIDE AWAKE; the manuscript itself has been prepared under the friendly supervision of Dr. Brushfield the English antiquarian and great Ralegh authority.

=The Cruise of a Coverlet=, being the adventures of
an embroidered counterpane in the U. S. Navy, will be
related by Mrs. Frémont. Illustrations from photographs.

=Typical Children of England=, by Julia Cartwright, will be a notable article, illustrated with most charming pictures of English children of the present day, all from life studies—the aristocratic type, the peasant type, the athletic, the spiritual, etc.

Brilliant additions to the preceding serials and
specialties will include ballads, poems, and the
following

_Interesting illustrated articles:_

=Some Chinese Dragons=, by Prof. Robert Douglas of the British Museum.

=About Sea Serpents=, by Dr. Samuel Kneeland.

=How Jew’s-harps Grow=, by Prof. Otis T. Mason of the Smithsonian
Institution.

=The Ramona School for Indian Girls=, by Rev. Dr. Horatio Ladd.

=An Ant of Annisquam=, by Harlan A. Ballard, President of the Agassiz
Association.

=My Friends, the Dogs=, by Maud Howe. [With portrait of Miss Howe and
Sambo, from Porter’s painting now in the Corcoran Gallery.]

=The Wild Cattle of Chillingly=, by Amanda B. Harris.

=All Around an Old Meeting-House=, by Frances A. Humphrey.

=The Old Ballad of London Bridge=, by Susan Archer Weiss.

=The Boyhood of Paul H. Hayne=, by Margaret J. Preston.

_Interesting illustrated stories:_

=The Little Captive Chief=, by Miss Owen.

=Two Girls—Two Parties=, by Susan Coolidge.

=A Piece of News: Aunt Ray’s Cat=, a humorous dialogue, by Margaret
Sidney.

=Puck and Puppypult=, a singular story, by George Parsons Lathrop.

=Cat Isabel=, by M. H. Catherwood, with many funny pictures.

=A Stray Shot=, by Hartwell Moore.

=A New Birthday=, by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop.

=The Squire’s Sixpence=, by Mary E. Wilkins.

=A Night in a Beaver Town=, a curious account by Edmund Collins.

=Sabot=, by Katharine S. Macquoid.

=The “Shut-Ins,”= by Mrs. Peattie.

=The Bull and the Leaping Pole=, by Charles G. D. Roberts.

=Saved on the Brink=, by J. Macdonald Oxley.

Further papers about =Famous Pets= are in preparation; =Tangles= will have new novelties; =The Contributors and the Children=, and other departments, will grow in interest; the artistic features will continue to delight young and old alike.

[Pointing Hand] Now is the time to subscribe, and to obtain valuable
Premiums by getting your friends to subscribe also.

_Wide Awake, in spite of unprecedented attractions, will still be
$2.40 a year._
_Address orders and inquiries to_

D. LOTHROP COMPANY, Boston.

BABYLAND _What Babies and Mammas
may look for during 1888._

The twelve numbers of BABYLAND for 1888 will be like twelve Christmas stockings stuffed full of delights—the choicest nuts, candies and raisins of jingledom and storyland; and there will be three special big delicious bon-bons besides.

=Me and Toddlekins= is a story told by “Me,” whose
other name is Mew-mew, and written down by Margaret
Johnson, with cunning pictures of “Me” and Toddlekins,
and their doings, drawn by the same Margaret Johnson.

=Six New Finger Plays= will be contributed by Emilie
Poulsson. The instant popularity of the first series
of Finger Plays, among little children, mothers, and
kindergarten teachers, has tempted Miss Poulsson to
prepare six more; the verses are delightfully amusing
and graceful, and the pictorial instructions showing
how to play the Plays, and the pictures themselves,
will be by the same artist, Mr. L. J. Bridgman.

=Allie and the Crickets= will be the subject of six
dear little stories that the crickets told to Baby
Allie—some on the hearth as she sat in her mother’s lap
at twilight, some when she was at play out in the sunny
fields—very cunning little stories all of them (which
Clara Doty Bates overheard and has related for other
babies). Many pictures.

BABYLAND will be full of pictures, too, big and beautiful, little and funny; and it will be printed in large clear black letters, as usual, on strong fine paper, and have pretty pink covers. All sent by mail for 50 cents a year.

OUR LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN _A glimpse
into 1888._

This magazine for youngest readers will be even more entertaining in text and pictures than in the past, and in the stories will be hidden bits of wisdom as well. There will be seventy-five full-page pictures.

=Stories of Captain John Smith and Princess
Pocahontas=, twelve of them, will be related by Frances
A. Humphrey; they will be accompanied with many
historical pictures.

=Laura’s Holidays=, a serial story in twelve chapters,
by Henrietta K. Eliot, will relate what one little
girl did in a year of holidays. Full-page pictures by
Elizabeth S. Tucker.

=Tiny Folks in Armor= is the title of twelve talks
about beetles, by Fannie A. Deane. There will be
pictures of the beetles.

There will be a set of =Twelve Flower Poems= by Clara
Doty Bates, whose bird poems have been so popular the
past year.

=Buffy’s Letters to his Mistress=, six in all, will
be published by the kind permission of Elizabeth F.
Parker. Buffy is a coon-cat, and his doings will be
pictured by L. J. Bridgman.

=Little People of the Plaza= will be told about in six
Mexican stories by Jennie Stealey. Some Mexican animals
also.

Adapted from the French there will be =Susanna’s
Auction=, in six funny chapters, each chapter with
funny pictures.

Besides these serials and series, there will be a treasury of short stories and verses, bright and interesting, and full of pictures as a Christmas pudding with plums. The best magazine for home and school reading. $1.00 a year by mail.

THE PANSY _Pansy’s Own Magazine.
Something about 1888._

=Up Garret= is the title of Pansy’s new serial, and
readers of “A Sevenfold Trouble” will be glad to know
it is a sequel to that story, and to continue their
acquaintance with its people.

The Golden Text Stories for 1888 will be given under
the title of =We Twelve Girls=, and they will be the
actual accounts of how twelve girls tried to live by
certain golden texts.

The “Little Red Shop” has roused such interest that
Margaret Sidney will relate more about Jack, Cornelius,
Rosalie, and the baby, in a sequel to be called =The
Old Brimmer Place=.

=Treasures: Their Hiding and Finding= is the title of
a new serial by Rev. C. M. Livingston, full of wise
entertainment.

[Pointing Hand] The Pansy Society will have a special serial. All
departments will be continued, some new features added,
and stories, poems and pictures will have ample place. Mailed for
$1.00 a year.

_Address all orders and inquiries to_

D. LOTHROP COMPANY, BOSTON.

=A Midshipman at Large.=

By CHARLES R. TALBOT. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.

An escapade of a bright young fellow who “shipped” for a yachting cruise in vacation.

The story has nothing to do with the question whether it pays to know one’s work and do it and “be,” as the phrase goes, “a gentleman”; but, if the reader chooses to think of them, he will find plenty of stimulant.

=Storied Holidays.=

By ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS, author of The American Indian, In Leisler’s Times, In No-Man’s Land, and others. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.

An historic tale connected with a holiday in every month of the year.

There is the snapdragon Christmas quarrel of James I. of England with his sons about the release of Sir Walter Raleigh; a New Year’s meeting of Margery More with Henry VIII; how William Penn got his motto “Be true, be leal, be constant,” on St. Valentine’s Day; how the Earl of Kildare kept St. Patrick’s; the wise men of Gotham fool King John on the first of April; and so on through the months.

These stories out of history practise one in the times they take him back to.

=Eighty-Seven.=

By MRS. G. R. ALDEN (Pansy, author of the hundred Pansy books and editor of _The Pansy_ magazine). 12mo, cloth, 1.50.

What is very widely known, but to many obscurely known
as the Chautauqua movement is told with a fulness that
people would lack the patience to read, if the tale
began there and stopped there.

Begins with a little civilized girl and a
runaway—actually a tramp. But trust Pansy for making
good company.

A novel with the distinctly double purpose of
showing how the Reading Circles gather together for
self-improvement the most impossible people young and
old, and of recommending religious life.

=Honor Bright Series.=

12 mo, cloth, illustrated, each, 1.25.

Four Boy Stories. By CHARLES R. TALBOT. Brisk and
unconventional, bright as boy stories can be. Girl
stories, too.

STORY OF HONOR BRIGHT.

ROYAL LOWRIE: A GENERAL MISUNDERSTANDING.

ROYAL LOWRIE’S LAST YEAR AT ST. OLAVES.

A DOUBLE MASQUERADE: A ROMANCE OF THE REVOLUTION.

=Our Adventure Library.=

12mo, cloth, illustrated, each, 1.25. Four books of
disconnected short stories.

=In City and Camp.=

Thirteen boys’ stories. By JAMES OTIS, KATE FOOTE, MARY
HARTWELL CATHERWOOD, J. E. COTTIN, ERNEST INGERSOLL,
FLORA HAINES APPONZI, C. E. S. WOOD, F. L. STEALEY,
ELLEN OLNEY KIRK, HELEN E. SWETT, ALICE WELLINGTON
ROLLINS and ANNA LEACH.

=Little Gold Miners of the Sierras and Other Stories.=

By JOAQUIN MILLER, MARION HARLAND, MARY CATHERINE LEE,
H. F. MARSH, KATE GANETT WELLS, GEORGE F. HEBARD, A. M.
GRIFFIN, JAMES OTIS, JOHN PRESTON TRUE, GEORGE VARNEY
and MARY B. CLAFLIN.

=Foreign Facts and Fancies.=

Stories of Travel. By ANNIE SAWYER DOWNS, CHARLOTTE S.
FURSDON, MARY GAY HUMPHREYS, CULLING CLIVER EARDLEY,
ROSE G. KINGSLEY, S. W. DUFFIELD, ARTHUR GILMAN, JULIAN
B. ARNOLD, DAVID KER, LUCY C. LILLIE, MRS. RAYMOND
BLATHWAYTE, ARTHUR F. J. CRANDALL and C. E. ANDREWS.

=Stories of Danger and Adventure.=

Twenty-five. By EMMA W. DEMERITT, CAROLINE ATWATER
MASON, FREDERICK SCHWATKA, ROSE G. KINGSLEY, F. L.
STEALEY, LIZZIE W. CHAMPNEY, HAMILTON W. MABIE, NORA
PERRY, GRANMERE JULIE, JANE HOWARD, D. C. MCDONALD,
MRS. MARY A. PARSONS, MARGARET LEBOUTILLIN, BELLE
STEWART, LUCY LINCOLN MONTGOMERY, ERSKINE M. HAMILTON,
GARRY GAINS, THEODORA R. JENNESS, LOUISE STOCKTON,
H. M. S., MRS. ANNIE A. PRESTON, B. P. SHILLABER and
CHARLES E. BOLTON.

=Boyhood Library.=

3 vols., 12mo, each 1.25.

=Adventures of Tad.=

By FRANK H. CONVERSE. A Philadelphia street-boy’s race
with fortune takes him to Boston and farther. Somehow
he gets into the way of picking out the proper thing to
do and doing it.

=Boys of Cary Farm.=

By MINNA CAROLINE SMITH. A Western story of city and
country boys together who have a good time and get
experience.

=An Ocean Tramp.=

By PHILIP D. HAYWOOD. A boy sea-story. It begins well:
“I go to sea.”

=Popular Biographies.=

18 volumes, 12mo, cloth, 1.50.

Take these four:

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. By E. E. Brown.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. By E. E. Brown.
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. By W. S. Kennedy.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. By W. S. Kennedy.

To review their lives and work and catch the spirit of both in 300 or 400 pages of easy type is to give the bones of biography; which is all nine tenths of us have the time to read; and the other tenth are glad of the bones before they come to the more elaborate whole.

The other fourteen:

CHARLES XII, KING OF SWEDEN. By M. de Voltaire.
CHARLES DICKENS. By P. A. Hanaford.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By Jeremiah Chaplin.
HORACE GREELEY. By William Cornell.
JAMES A. GARFIELD. By E. E. Brown.
ULYSSES S. GRANT. By E. E. Brown.
AMOS LAWRENCE. By William R. Lawrence.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By P. A. Hanaford.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE. By John S. Roberts.
LORD NELSON. By Robert Southey.
ISRAEL PUTNAM. By I. N. Tarbox.
GEORGE PEABODY. By P. A. Hanaford.
CHARLES SUMNER. By J. and J. D. Chaplin.
BAYARD TAYLOR. By Russel H. Conwell.
DANIEL WEBSTER. By Joseph Banvard.
HENRY WILSON. By Elias Nason.

=Young Folks’ Stories of Foreign Lands.=

Edited by Pansy. First and second series, 4to, boards, each .75.

Sketches, tales and pictures on Old-World subjects.

=Young Folks’ Stories of American History and Home Life.=

First and second series. Edited by Pansy. 4to, boards, each .75.

Sketches, tales and pictures on New-World subjects.

=Stories and Pictures of Wild Animals.=

By ANNA F. BURNHAM. 4to, boards, .75.

Big letters, big pictures, and easy stories of
elephants, lions, tigers, lynxes, jaguars, bears, and
many others.

=Stories and Pictures of Domestic Animals.=

By ANNA F. BURNHAM. 4to, boards .75.

Big letters, big pictures, and easy stories of farm and
house animals.

=Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.=

By MARGARET SIDNEY. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, 1.50.

Story of five little children of a fond and faithful
and capable “mamsie.” Full of young life and family
talk. How they lived in the little brown house and how
they came to go out of it. One of the most successful
books of a bright and always cheery writer.

=Two Modern Little Princes.=

By MARGARET SIDNEY. Illustrated, 16mo, cloth, 1.00.

Eight rollicking stories of children. And some of the
children are those same Peppers.

=Hester, and Other New England Stories.=

By MARGARET SIDNEY. 12mo, cloth, 1.25.

For older readers. Eleven stories in which New England
dialect, customs, ways, and people appear with many
in-door and out-door notions.

=Art For Young Folks.=

Square 8vo, boards, tinted edges, 1.50; cloth, gilt edges, 2.25.

Two boys go to the Water Color Exhibition and make
numerous sketches of what they see there. Between the
pictures is picture-talk.

Then the professor discourses on tools and colors and
books and schools and models—in general, means of art.

Then an account of the Children’s Hour: a novel art
school. And portraits, examples and sketches of
twenty-four American Artists. With a few useful words
on architecture.

=Christmas Snow Flakes.=

4to, boards, 1.50; cloth, 2.25.

Poems of all the year round, done up with pictures for
children at Christmas.

=New England Story-Book.=

4to, boards, 1.50; cloth, 2.25.

A picture-and-story-book by New England authors.

=The Poet and the Children.=

4to, boards, gilt edges, 1.50; cloth, 2.25. By JOHN G. WHITTIER.

And nearly two hundred other poems for children with as
many pictures for children.

=Mountain Series.=

4 vols, 12mo, cloth, each, 1.00.

=The Last Penacook.=

By ABEL B. BERRY. A New Hampshire historical story of
Indian times.

=A New England Idyl.=

By BELLE C. GREENE. A story of family life in one of
the shut-in nooks of New Hampshire, Sherburne “Holler,”
where souls are sometimes out of all proportion to
their surroundings.

=Swiss Stories.=

For children, and for those who love children. From
the German of Madame Spyri by LUCY WHEELOCK. Five
delightful tales of present life in Switzerland.

=Uncle Titus.=

A story for children and those who love children.
From the German of Madame Spyri by LUCY WHEELOCK.
The pleasant and unpleasant people and circumstances
somehow fall together naturally to work up a little
earthly paradise, the delights of which in no way
depend on accidental surroundings but on generosity of
soul.

=Children’s Outdoor Neighbors.=

Three instructive and interesting books by MRS. A. E. ANDERSON-MASKELL. 12mo, cloth, each 1.00.

CHILDREN WITH ANIMALS.
CHILDREN WITH BIRDS.
CHILDREN WITH FISHES.

=Winter Evening Tales.=

4 volumes, 16mo, 3.00.

Four books of nearly a dozen each short stories and
sketches by many authors.

=Young Folks’ Book-shelf.=

6 volumes, 16mo, each .60.

=Health and Strength Papers for Girls.=

What a wise physician said to a frail young girl and her mother together, and what the gymnasium is good for.

=Helpful Thoughts for Young Men.=

Three baccalaureate sermons.

=In Case of Accident.=

A competent man’s series of talks on emergencies. Much in a little book.

=Our Business Boys.=

Eighty-three successful men say what they think of the means of success and avoidance of failure. With these opinions the author makes this book—a little book with a great deal in it.

=Red Letter Stories.=

Two delightful Swiss stories. Madame Spyri.

=Temperance Teachings of Science.=

A short treatise on the hygiene of alcohol.

=Lothrop’s Historical Library.=

=Alaska.= Its Southern coast and the Sitkan
Archipelago. By ELIZA RUHAMAH SCIDMORE. Illustrated
from photographs. 12mo, cloth, 1.50.

=History of the American People.= By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.
A. 12mo, cloth, 668 pages, fully illustrated, 1.50. A
scholarly history short and fairly full and, what is of
great account for popular use, sympathetic. A patriotic
work well done.

=China.= By ROBERT K. DOUGLAS. 12mo, cloth, 566 pages,
fully illustrated, 1.50. Very brief as to history.
Chiefly an account of present customs.

=Egypt= (The History of). By CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT.
12mo, cloth, 100 full page illustrations, 476 pages,
1.50. A sketch from the earliest date to the British
occupation.

=India= (The History of). By FANNIE ROPER FEUDGE. 12mo,
cloth, 100 full-page illustrations, 640 pages, 1.50.
An account of the country and people as they are by a
resident; with a brief survey of history.

=Japan and its Leading Men.= By CHARLES LANMAN. 12mo,
cloth, illustrated, 1.50. Sketches of eminent Japanese
men with a glance at the national history.

=Spain= (The History of). By Prof. JAMES ALBERT
HARRISON. 12mo, cloth, 100 full-page illustrations, 717
pages, 1.50. A brief but careful history.

=Switzerland= (The History of). By HARRIET D. SLIDELL
MACKENZIE. 12mo, cloth, 100 full-page illustrations,
385 pages, 1.50. The story of a most interesting people
in simple language.

=MacDonald’s Latest Books.=

=Donal Grant.= 12mo, cloth, 1.50. “It was granted,
however, that if a boy stayed with him long enough he
was sure to turn out a gentleman.”—Let that sentence
out of it stand for the book.

=Imagination= (The) and other Essays. 12mo, cloth,
1.50. A volume of essays mostly on literary subjects.

=Warlock o’ Glenwarlock.= 12mo, cloth, illustrated,
1.50. A lad without fortune works his way in Scotland.

=What’s Mine’s Mine.= 12mo, cloth, 1.50. A novel which
shows in action the beauty of love and faithfulness.

=Weighed and Wanting.= 12mo, cloth, 1.50. A noble woman
escapes a sordid husband.

=Round World Series.=

Each volume, 12mo, cloth, 1.25.

=Dorothy Thorn of Thornton.= By JULIAN WARTH. A
vigorous, even, well-sustained, intensely interesting,
wholesome story.

=The Full Stature of a Man.= By JULIAN WARTH. The
author’s first novel; a very promising one.

=Gladys: A Romance.= By MARY G. DARLING. This skein is
untangled in a perfectly natural fashion—when you look
back from the finis, which means a great deal more than
it says.

=Grafenburg People.= By REUEN THOMAS. A novel out of a
row in the church—a good one; that is, novel, not row.

=Romance of a Letter.= By LOWELL CHOATE. A life with an
inflexible purpose turns out happy or not, according
to—what? The old question: When do we arrive at “years
of discretion?”

=Rusty Linchpin and Luboff Archipovna.= By MADAME
KOKHANOVSKY. Two stories of Russian life, of
characteristic simplicity and interest.

_Volume 15, Number 1._ Copyright, 1887, by D. LOTHROP COMPANY.
_November 5, 1887._

THE PANSY.

“WE TWELVE GIRLS.”

WHOSOEVER, THEREFORE, SHALL CONFESS ME BEFORE MEN,
HIM WILL I CONFESS ALSO, BEFORE MY FATHER WHICH IS IN
HEAVEN.

HE WAS A BURNING AND A SHINING LIGHT.

COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN,
AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

IT IS LAWFUL TO DO WELL ON THE SABBATH DAYS.

I SHALL have to begin the story for you, or you would never understand. It happened that the twelve girls in Mr. Shepard’s Bible class were very nearly of an age; were class-mates in day school, as well as on Sundays, and were very fond of one another.

They lived in different parts of the country, but were gathered in Clayville at boarding-school.

It came to pass that on this year of which I write, they were to be widely scattered; only one was to return to the school in the fall. It was because of this fact that the thought grew up, out of which grows my story. On the last Sabbath before they separated, Mr. Shepard gave to each a tiny book of texts; one for each week, with the hint that he would like them to live by those words in the coming year.

This set them to thinking and to talking. After many plans, it was finally agreed that they should each select a month in which to write a letter that should give some account of an experience connected with one of the verses for that month. These letters were to be passed by mail from one member of the class to another until each had read them; and I, being a particular friend of several of the girls, have the privilege of reading them, and of making a copy for you, my Blossoms.

Cora Stevens had the month of November, and, without more introduction, I give you her letter:

MAPLEWOOD, _Nov. 18_—

YOU DEAR GIRLS:

I hope you every one miss me as much as I do you!
Really and truly, I am dreadfully homesick for school!
But this is my special letter, so I must not take time
for anything else. I’m sorry I promised to write the
first one, because I don’t know just how to write it,
and I have such a mean, silly little story to tell,
that I’m ashamed of it, anyhow.

I chose that verse about “confessing before men,” for the one to write my letter on. And I meant to go to the young people’s meeting, and to the Band, and confess Him in some way that would be nice to tell; and I didn’t do anything of the kind.

Don’t you think my story is about a cat! Who would have supposed that a cat would get mixed up with a verse like that?

We went to grandma’s, as usual, for the month of November, but things there were very unusual, for aunt Kate was married, and the house was full of company and confusion.

It is about the wedding day that I’m to tell you. I wish you could have seen the tables after they were ready. They did look too lovely for anything! The central table was magnificent. All the old silver and queer, quaint china which have been in grandma’s family for ages, had been brought out for decoration, and people say that the tablecloth was the finest piece of old damask that has ever been used in this part of the world. If I had Nettie’s descriptive powers, I could give you a picture of the whole; but as it is, I want you to confine your attention to one dish—the loveliest cut-glass beauty that was ever seen. It was amber-colored sometimes, with little threads of crimson running through it, which reminded one of a sunset. Besides, it was a very peculiarly-shaped dish, and as frail as a cobweb. Uncle Fred found it in Paris, and brought it to the bride. Uncle Fred, you understand, is the bridegroom.

Well, it was on the special wedding table, just before the bride’s seat, and was filled with the most exquisite flowers.

Grandma did not want the dish used, because it was so frail and so rare, but aunt Kate insisted that it should be placed just there, and be filled with orange-buds.

Grandma had just seen that the very last touches had been put to the table, and had taken the children in for a look, and then had said, as she shut the dining-room door: “Now, don’t one of you children open that door again. I wouldn’t have anything go wrong in there for a great deal.”

Then she went up to take a last look at aunt Kate, before she became Mrs. Fred Somerville.

Just at that moment little Sallie Evans came running down the hall, her eyes full of tears. Her mamma had called her just as grandma took the children in to see the tables, and she had missed the sight.

“And now I sha’n’t see them at all, till everything is spoiled,” she said, “for they aren’t going to let the little bits of cousins come to the first table.” And she sobbed outright.

Now it never entered my mind that grandma meant me, when she said, “You children,” because—well, because, you know, I am thirteen, and there are three at home, younger than I, and I’m used to being trusted. So I said, “Never mind, Sallie, I’ll let you look at them; but you must look fast, for it is almost time for the wedding.”

So, in we went. And Sallie, who is the most beauty-loving little creature of eight, whom I ever saw, seemed to have eyes only for that lovely glass dish, which she had never seen before. She clasped her hands together with an eager little “Oh!” and ran towards it. I don’t suppose she would have touched it, but I was excited, and so afraid she would, that I ran after her, calling out, “Don’t touch anything!” and put out my hand to prevent it. And then, I don’t know how it happened—does anybody know how such accidents happen? The lace from my sleeve caught in one of the points of the glass, or in one of the stems of flowers, or somehow,—I don’t suppose I could do it again if I tried,—but over that glass went, the water pouring itself out in the most disgusting way, on the damask cloth, and a long crooked piece snapped from the upper edge of the dish!

O, dear! Don’t ask me how I felt. I couldn’t describe it, even though I were sitting on the dear old bed at No. 7, with half a dozen of you beside me, and the rest cuddled around close at hand.

There wasn’t any time to do anything. I heard them calling, at that moment, for I was one of the bridesmaids. I just had to force back my tears and my fright, and run and take my place in the procession. We all got through it somehow. I hope aunt Kate heard what the minister said; I didn’t; but it is safe to say that she was not thinking of what I was.

Immediately after the ceremony, we went to the dining-room, and then the awful accident was discovered. I don’t know which I was the most sorry for, grandma or myself. I didn’t mean to tell about it then, because I thought it wouldn’t be the proper time; and then, of course, it would be dreadful to have to speak before them at all.

But what should grandma do, after we were all seated, and the eating had begun, but lean over to aunt Kate and say in a low tone: “That is some of Jill’s work; if I don’t get rid of a cat who can open doors, before I am a day older, it will be because I am not smart enough.”

Now, Jill is the cutest cat that was ever born, I do believe; there isn’t a door in grandma’s house that she cannot manage to open almost as well as though she had hands.

I never thought of her blaming the cat; and now the story came out, just as they guessed it had happened, and all the people at our end of the table talked it over.

Even then, I don’t know whether I would have spoken, because Jill is only a cat, you know, and her feelings couldn’t be hurt by bearing blame that didn’t belong to her for a few hours, until I could see grandma alone. But, just as I was thinking that, I heard grandma say: “The fault rests with little John. I charged him a dozen times to keep watch of that cat, and not on any account let her out of the barn to-day; and that is all the good it did! I think I have given John a lesson on obedience that he will remember.”

Now John is the little errand boy; a real nice chubby little fellow, who was very fond of aunt Kate, and who had never tasted wedding cake, and he was to drive one of the carriages to the depot that very day, to see the bridal party off.

It all came over me like a flash—how grandma would forbid his coming in to the wedding supper, and how she would not let him drive to the depot, but would send him to bed; and I felt just as though I should choke!

Even then, it didn’t seem to me that I could speak out then and there; and I don’t believe I could have done it, but for the verse.

Girls, I know you don’t see how the verse is coming in, and I can’t explain myself how it seemed to fit; there was certainly nothing about “confessing” Jesus in my telling of what I had done. And yet, you see, I knew I ought to tell, and I know it is what Jesus would do in my place, and it would be showing that I wanted to copy him, and—well, anyhow, it seemed to fit exactly, though I can’t explain it. And I spoke right out, loud and fast: “Grandmother, it wasn’t the cat; John didn’t let the cat out; it was I did it.”

My voice sounded so loud that it almost seemed as though they could hear me down at the church; the people at our table all stopped talking, and I just knew they could hear my heart beat.

“You!” said grandma. “You let the cat out?”

“No, ma’am,” I said, “I broke the dish.”

Then she questioned, and I answered, until somehow, she had the whole story.

I don’t think any tears dropped, but my eyes and my throat felt full of them. It didn’t seem to me that I could say another word, and then grandma said: “Well, well, child, there are worse things in the world than broken dishes. Eat your wedding cake, and think no more about it.” And I heard her call one of the waiters, and say to him: “Tell little John that he may dress himself again in his best suit, and come to the dining-room as soon as he is ready.” Then I knew that I had been none too soon with my confession.

And the bride, my dear, sweet aunt Kate, leaned over toward me and spoke low, “There are better things than glass dishes,” she said; “there are little nieces who are true.”

And papa looked across the table at me, and nodded, and smiled.

And in spite of the lovely broken dish, and the tablecloth, and my being ashamed, and all, I never felt happier in my life.

And as for the verse, if you girls can’t fit it to the cat story, I shall not be surprised; for I can’t explain it myself, but I know they fitted when the time came. Good-by!

Your loving, lonely
CORA.

==========

WATER that flows from a spring, does not freeze in the coldest winter. And those sentiments of true friendship which flow from the heart cannot be frozen by adversity.

A THANKSGIVING DINNER.

THERE are four of us young people at home: first I, who am sixteen, then there is a long gap, and next comes Katie, who is eight, and Bessie, who is six, and last of all baby Harry, who is not yet two. But we were all a year younger when what I mean to tell you of happened, for that was a year ago.

I spoke of Katie and Bessie and Harry and myself as the young people, because I think I am rather too old to be called a child, and I didn’t know how else to put it, but I don’t at all mean to call father and mother old. It is true father has a great many gray streaks in his hair, but I think that is more from care than from age.

It makes me sad, however, very sad, to see father’s hair changing color; but when I speak of it, he only laughs and says: “The whites are gaining the ascendency, and the aborigines becoming extinct.”

Father and mother have not looked like themselves since the summer mother was so ill. That was the most dreadful period of my life, I am sure. For a long time we thought she couldn’t recover. She was ill, of course, to begin with, and then the expense of having a doctor and nurse preyed on her mind and made against her. I really believe mother minded that more than the pain she suffered! At one time she got so nervous with thinking of it, that she said Dr. May’s visits did her more harm than good, and declared she wouldn’t see him again; but Dr. Armstrong, our minister, happened to come in just then, and he soon reasoned her out of all that and made her see things differently.

There couldn’t possibly be a nicer minister than Dr. Armstrong,—I can’t begin to say how much I love him; better, indeed, than anybody in the world, outside of home, except a dear friend, Miss Judith Hepburn. Miss Judith lives next door to us; she is old and very poor; she has, in fact, nothing in the world but the house she lives in, and so she occupies only one of the rooms on the first floor, and lives on the rent from the others. But Miss Judith is as happy as if she possessed all this world has to offer, and happier, too, for that matter, and this is because she is such a true Christian. “Whatever befalls us is good,” she says, “whether it comes in the shape of prosperity or of adversity, because everything is bestowed by a loving Hand.”

I forgot to say, all this while, that my name is Annie—Annie Gray—but Miss Judith never calls me anything but “Martha.” She commenced this when mother was ill, because I kept so busy, and perhaps, too, because I was “troubled about many things,” for indeed I was all during her illness, and for a long time after, too, for the debt we owed to the doctor and nurse hung like a black cloud over the household. It is different with some people, but debt has always seemed a very serious evil to us. I believe father has dreaded it almost more than anything else, and up to mother’s illness, he had always avoided it; but the demands which sickness makes are very great, and can’t be easily disregarded.

Ah! how often I have heard father say: “Owe no man anything,” after which he would always add, “whether this is a Divine command, or only loving counsel I cannot say, but, in either case, I shall not willingly disregard it.”

Well, it was right funny, but soon after mother’s illness, Dr. Armstrong commenced his Friday evening lectures to the congregation “On Secular Matters,” as he said in his notice. Father took me to the first one, and I couldn’t help giving his hand a squeeze when he gave out the subject, “Debts: How They are Made, and How They May be Paid.” I can’t remember the words he used, which is a pity, but Dr. Armstrong’s words, as well as his thoughts, are forcible, but I know the sense of it all was that debts are generally commenced in a small way, little by little, little by little, they are added one to the other, till presently an account is presented to us of such overwhelming proportions that we despair of ever wiping it out. “But I trust,” he added, “that none of my friends who find themselves in this unhappy situation will give way for a moment to a feeling of discouragement. Step by step have we been led into trouble; let us retrace our way in like manner, step by step. Begin from this moment a system of judicious retrenchment; lay aside sums, never mind how trifling, toward the liquidation of your debt, and little by little it will melt away, till, almost unconsciously to yourself, it has disappeared, and you, again a free man, ‘can look the whole world in the face.’”

“Ah, that was practical! That was what I needed!” said father, as we came out after the lecture was over, “and I, for one, shall not ‘approve the doctrine and immediately practice the contrary.’ No; from this very moment I shall begin to retrench and put by. Ah, Annie, ‘a word in season,’ how good it is! I was almost ready to despair till now.”

And that was the beginning of our saving. First, coffee was given up; mother always drank tea, and so no one was inconvenienced by that but father; then butter was dispensed with, and the cheapest meat and vegetables in the market were selected, and mother decided that so many things were unnecessary about our clothes, that Katie declared after a while mother would think we could do without buttons on our dresses. But my happy part of the day, during all this anxious time, was the twilight when there was no work for me to do and I could run in and sit by Miss Judith’s bright little fire and talk over things with her. It was on one of these evenings, after Miss Judith’s usual greeting of, “Well, Martha, how has the work come on to-day?” that I said, “Indeed, Miss Judith, I wish I were not such a ‘Martha,’ and that I might ‘choose the better part,’ like Mary. But then, what can I do? Wouldn’t it be wrong for me to throw things on mother when she isn’t strong, and don’t you think our Saviour would think so, too? Then, besides, mother would have to be a ‘Martha,’ for the work must be done. I am sure it is all very puzzling to me, anyway.”

“I do not wonder that you say so, dear,” said Miss Judith, “for older heads than yours have puzzled over the same question, and certain it is that were it not for the ‘Marthas’ in the world the whole system of society would come to a stand-still. But, then, Annie, we are told that Martha was ‘_cumbered_ with serving’; she allowed her work, it would seem, to absorb her faculties to the exclusion of other and more important things; we need not do that, need we? Has not each one of us, even the busiest among us, leisure sufficient to consecrate his work to God in prayer, and ask His blessing upon it, and His help in it? Then, my child,” she continued, “observe the words of our Saviour, ‘Mary has chosen the better part’; that is better than Martha, but perhaps there is a ‘better part,’ still, or the best part, in which labor and worship are united, in which, while ‘not slothful in business,’ we are still ‘fervent in spirit serving the Lord.’ This would seem to me the best part, and surely the best example is that of the blessed Saviour Himself, who ‘came not to be ministered to, but to minister,’ who ‘went about doing good,’ and ‘followed up days of toil with nights of prayer.’ Yes, my dear, the necessity of serving is evidently laid upon you, and you have not the choice of your part in life, but the manner in which you act your part is within your power. Don’t forget, dear child, that you ‘serve the Lord Christ,’ and ‘whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto Him.’ He has taken a journey into a far country now, but he will come again to inspect your work; be faithful, dear Annie, and watch and pray.”

That little talk with Miss Judith did me real good. My little talks with her always do, and mother says that she is the greatest possible comfort to her, for she shows her how useful one may be, even where one has only sympathy and counsel to bestow; and father says that there is a healing and strengthening power in her words, which is far better than a gift of silver and gold, for it enables you to “rise up and walk” under the burden of life.