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diff --git a/16173-8.txt b/16173-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b244709 --- /dev/null +++ b/16173-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5699 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, +Vol. 5, May, 1878, No. 7., by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, May, 1878, No. 7. + Scribner's Illustrated + +Author: Various + +Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge + +Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16173] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lynn Bornath and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: MANDY AND BUB BY THE NETS. [See page 450.]] + + + + +ST. NICHOLAS. + +VOL. V. +MAY, 1878. +No. 7. + + +[Copyright, 1878, by Scribner & Co.] + + + + +HOW MANDY WENT ROWING WITH THE "CAP'N." + +BY MARY HALLOCK FOOTE. + + +It was the month of May--the season of fresh shad and apple-blossoms on +the Hudson River. "Bub" and "Mandy" Lewis knew more about the shad than +they did about the apple-blossoms, for their father was a fisherman, +and they lived in a little house built on a steep bank between the road +above and the river below. Sometimes, on cool, damp spring evenings, +the scent of the orchards came down to them from the hills above, but +the smell of shad was much stronger and nearer. + +Just in front of the house was an old wharf, where fishing-boats were +moored, and nets spread for drying or mending. One morning, Bub and +Mandy were sitting on the log which guards the edge of the wharf, +watching their father and brother Jeff getting ready to spread the nets +for next night's "haul." Jeff was busy with the buoy lines and sinkers, +while the father bailed out the boat with an old tin pan. The children +were rather subdued--Bub wondering how long it would be before he could +"handle a boat" like Jeff and go out with his father? Mandy was +expecting every moment to hear her mother's voice calling from the +house. It was Monday morning, and Mandy knew her mother would soon be +starting for the Hillard's, where she "helped" on Mondays and +Saturdays. + +These were the longest days of the week to Mandy, for then she had baby +to tend all by herself and he was "such a bother!" + +Yes, there it was: "Mandy!--Mandy!--Mandy _Lewis_! don't you hear?" +Mandy kept her eyes gloomily fixed on the curve of her father's back, +as it bent and rose in the boat below, in time with the scra-a-a-pe, +swish, of the bailer. + +"What's the use makin' b'l'eve you don't hear?" said Bub. "You know +you've got to go!" + +"I just wish mother'd make _you_ tend baby once, and see how you'd like +it!"--and Mandy rose with an impatient jerk of her bonnet-strings and +slowly climbed the steep path to the house. Her mother, standing in the +door-way with baby on one arm, shaded her eyes from the sun as she +watched the cloudy face under the pink bonnet. It was always cloudy on +Mondays and Saturdays. + +"Seems as if you didn't love your little brother, Mandy--such work as +you make of tendin' him! Just look how glad he is to see you," as baby +leaned forward and began pulling at the pink bonnet. "He's just had his +bread and milk, and if you set right there in the door, where he can +watch the chickens, I shouldn't wonder if he'd be real good for ever so +long. Father and Jeff wont be home to dinner, but there's plenty of +bread and butter and cold beans in the closet for you and Bub. You can +set the beans in the oven to warm, if you like--only be sure you put +'em on an old plate; and you can divide what's left of the ginger-bread +between you." + +"Oh, mother! can't we eat it now?" said Bub, who had watched his father +and Jeff off in the boat, and, now returning to the house, didn't +quite know what to do next. + +"Why, it aint an hour sence breakfast! But you can do as you like; +only, if Mandy eats hers, baby'll want it, sure. Better wait till he's +asleep." + +"All right; Mandy can wait," said Bub, cheerfully, as his mother set +the plate of cake on the table before leaving the house. + +"Oh, Bub, I'm awful hungry, too!" said Mandy. "You cut the cake in +halves,--mind you cut fair,--and hold my piece for me where baby can't +see it. Sit right here behind me." + +So Mandy on the door-step, and Bub on the floor, with his back against +the door, which he gently tilted as he munched his cake, were very +silent and comfortable for a minute or two. + +The hens crawed and cackled, with cozy, gossipy noises, in the sun +before the door; the baby blinked and cooed contentedly. + +"Ready for another bite?" said Bub, holding out Mandy's cake close to +her left ear. + +"In a min-ute," said Mandy, with her mouth full. "Bub Lewis, aint you +ashamed of yourself? You've been eatin' off my piece! I saw you just +now!" + +"Aint, either! You can see great things with the back of your head! +Here's your piece 'n' here's mine. Yours is ever so much bigger!" + +"Well, you've been gobbling yours's fast's you could, and I only had +two little bites off mine." + +"_Little_ bites! I sh'd think so! Don't know what you call big ones, +then! So chuck full you couldn't speak half a minute ago. Here, hold +your own cake, and let baby grab it!" + +"Well, I'd rather give it _all_ to him, than have you eat it up on the +sly!" + +Bub walked down toward the water without deigning a reply, but thought +of several things on his way which would have been more withering than +silence. + +Mandy did not enjoy the rest of her cake very much,--eating it +furtively, so baby should not want it, and dropping crumbs on his +little white head, which he kept twisting around, to see what she was +doing. She began to think that perhaps she had been rather hasty in +accusing Bub; but surely that was the right-hand piece, instead of the +left, he was biting from? Well, anyway, it didn't much matter now the +cake was all eaten. The old rooster had wandered round the corner of +the house, where he was presently heard calling to his favorite hen. +She ran, and all the others followed. Baby grew restless, and made +little impatient noises, and the sun was getting very hot and bright on +the door-step. What _was_ Bub doing down there among the nets on the +drying-ground? He had been very still, with his head bent down and his +hands moving about for ever so long. + +Mandy felt that, after their late unpleasantness, it would be more +dignified to take no notice of Bub for a while; but curiosity, and +baby's restlessness, finally prevailed over pride, and rolling up her +troublesome little burden in an old red shawl, she trotted with him +down to the river. + +"Bub," she said, after standing by him some time in silence, watching +him driving a row of small sticks into the ground, "_was_ it my piece +you was bitin' off?" + +"I told you 't wasn't. If you don't b'l'eve me, what's the use o' my +sayin' so again?" + +"Well, I'm sorry, Bub. I just caught a sight of you as I turned my +head, an' I thought--" + +"Oh, well, never mind what you thought; we've heard enough 'bout that +cake! Shove your foot one side a little? I want to drive another spile +there. Them's the hitchin' spiles on the inside." + +"What you buildin'?" asked Mandy. + +"Can't you see for yourself? What's built on spiles, I'd like to know! +Meetinghouses, may be you think. This is Lewis's dock; all the day +boats and barges stop here!" + +"Where's the water?" asked Mandy. + +"Oh, you wait till high tide, 'bout four o'clock this afternoon, 'n' +you'll see water enough!" + +Just then, a boy in a blue blouse, with a basket of fish over his +shoulder, came whistling along. + +"Perry! Perry Kent! Where you goin'?" Bub called. + +"Down to little cove, to clean fish." + +"Oh, can't I go along and help? I can scale a herrin' first-rate; +father said so." + +"Aint herrin'; they're shad; got to be cleaned very partic'lar, too. +But come along, if you want to." + +"Bub," said Mandy, in an eager whisper, "oh, Bub, wait for me! Baby's +fast asleep. I'll lay him right down here, in his shawl; the nets'll +keep the sun off, 'n' he'll be real cozy 'n' nice till we get back." + +"Why don't you take him up to the house?" said Perry, looking with some +interest at Mandy's bundle. "'Taint a very good place for him here. +You'll find us at the cove, all right." + +"He'll wake up sure, if I try to carry him up the hill. See how nice he +lays; and I'll hang the end of the shawl over this net-pole. I can see +it plain enough from the cove. If he wakes up, he'll be tumblin' round +and pull it off, so I'll know when to come back for him." + +"Well, it takes a girl for contrivance," Perry said; and it was +something in his manner rather than the words which made Mandy, as she +followed the two boys, vaguely feel she was disapproved of. + +The cove was a half-circle of pebble beach, washed by the ripples of a +slowly rising tide, with a wall of gray slate rock at the back. +Hemlock-trees leaned from the steep wooded cliff above, the shadows of +their boughs moving with the wind across the sunny face of the rock. + +It was very warm and still and bright. Mandy climbed to a perch high up +in the twisted roots of an old hemlock, who, having ventured too far +over the edge of the cliff, was clinging there, desperately driving his +tough toes into the crevices of the rock, and wildly waving his boughs +upward and backward as if imploring help from his comrades, safe in the +dark wood above. + +The river spread broad and bright below her. Mandy listened, in happy +silence, to all the mysterious rustlings and twitterings and cracklings +in the wood above, and the sounds, far and near, from the river below. +Now and then she looked to see if the shawl still fluttered from the +net-pole. She was glad she came, and it seemed but a very little while +before the fish were all cleaned, and the boys, sitting on a rock, +skipping pebbles, and watching for Perry Kent's father, who was coming +in his boat to take the fish up to the hotel. + +Perry's father was always called Cap'n Kent. He kept a kind of floating +restaurant. One end of his boat was boarded over into a closet, with +shelves filled with a supply of fresh fruit and berries in the season, +cider, cakes, pies, root-beer, lemons, crackers, etc. His customers +were chiefly the "hands" on board sloops becalmed opposite the landing, +or passing barges and canal-boats, slowly trailed in the wake of a +panting propeller, or escorted by dingy little "tugs," struggling along +like lively black beetles. + +The "Cap'n" was a very tall man, and his arms were so long that, as he +rowed, he sat quite upright, only stretching his arms back and forth, +scarcely bending his body at all. This gave great dignity to his +appearance in a boat. His feet were very long too, and when he walked +he lifted the whole foot at once, and put it down flat. Of course he +could not walk very fast; but so important a person as the "Cap'n" +could never be in a hurry. + +As he held his boat against a rock while Perry lifted in the basket of +fish, he saw the wistful faces of the children standing on the beach. +Now, the "Cap'n" considered himself a very good-natured man, and +good-natured men are always fond of children. So he called out in a +loud voice: + +"Whose little folks are you?" + +"Bub and Mandy Lewis," Mandy answered quickly. + +Bub nudged her with his elbow. + +"He spoke to _me_, Mandy!" + +"Want to take a little row up to the hotel? Let's see--your folks live +by the old fishin' dock, don't they? Wal, I can leave ye there comin' +back. You can tell your Pa that Cap'n Kent took ye out rowin'." + +"I'd like to go, if you please," said Bub, who was ready with an answer +this time; "but Mandy, she's got to tend to the baby." + +"The baby! What baby?" said the "Cap'n," while Mandy whispered, +crossly, "Bub, I think you're real mean!" + +"Oh, sir, baby's fast asleep up on the dryin'-ground, where the nets +are! I could go as far as that, if you'd let me get out there,--if it +wouldn't be too much trouble, sir." + +"Course it would!" said Bub, emphatically. + +But the "Cap'n," who was not so good-natured that he liked to have +small boys answer for him, gravely considered the matter while he +settled his oars in the rowlocks. + +"Wal, it's some trouble, perhaps; but I don't mind puttin' myself out +once in a while for a nice little gal. Step lively now, young man! Come +along, sissy!" + +Mandy sat radiant in the little bow-seat, as the boat pushed off. A +great Albany "tow" was passing,--a whole fleet of barges and +canal-boats lashed together,--with calves and sheep bellowing and +bleating, cables creaking, clothes flapping on the lines; a big +steamboat, with a freight-barge under each wing, plowing the water on +ahead, and sending the waves chasing each other in shore. + +The little boat danced gayly on the "rollers." A fresh wind blew toward +them, and brought with it a shout of "Boat ahoy! Hello, Cap'n! Got any +good stuff aboard?" + +"Got some good _cider_," the "Cap'n" called in reply, with strong +emphasis on the last word. + +"Come alongside, then!" + +The "Cap'n" condescended to lean a little on his oars in pursuit of a +bargain, and sent the little boat spinning over the water toward one of +the barges in the rear part of the "tow." + +Some men in a row were lounging over the rail; one of them threw a +rope, which hissed and splashed close to the boat. Perry caught it, and +they were soon under the lee of the floating village. + +While the store was unlocked, and its wares handed out, Mandy noticed, +on the deck above, a woman washing a little boy three or four years +old. He stood in an old wooden pail, with a rope tied to the +handle,--his little white body, all naked and slippery, shining in the +sun. One could hardly help noticing him, he screamed so lustily as the +water was dashed over his head and shoulders. + +Mandy saw how his face showed red and flushed with crying, under the +dripping yellow locks. + +She thought uneasily of the baby, lying all alone on the old dock; +wondered if the sun had got round so as to shine in his face, and how +long the "Cap'n" would stand there, talking with those men. She was +happy again when the boat dropped behind and the "Cap'n" turned toward +the shore. + +"Perry," he said, "just look at my watch--there in my weskit-pocket on +the starn-seat. What time's it got to be?" + +"Twenty minutes to one," said Perry. + +"What time'd I say we'd have them shad up there? One o'clock? Wal, one +o'clock it'll be, then. Only we can't leave this little gal ashore till +we come back." + +"Oh, please----" Mandy began, in great dismay as she saw they were +passing the fishing-dock. "The baby! He's there all alone, and--oh, +Bub, the shawl's gone! I _must_ go ashore, Cap'n Kent--please!" + +"Never mind, sissy; baby's all right. Bless my soul! who'd want to +carry off a baby? There aint no wild beasts roamin' round, and most of +us's got babies enough o' our own to hum, without borryin of the +neighbors. You'll find him there all safe enough when we get back. Them +shad, ye see, was promised at one o'clock up to the hotel. Cap'n Kent, +ye know, he never breaks his word." + +"But you said----?" Mandy began, in a distressed voice, when Bub +interrupted her. + +"You'd better keep quiet, Mandy. You would come, 'n' now I hope you'll +get enough of it!" + +That was a very long twenty minutes to Mandy, while they drew slowly +nearer and nearer to the steamboat-landing, and the little white and +brown houses of the fishermen, scattered along shore, one by one were +left behind. + +"Now, Perry," the "Cap'n" said, as he unshipped his oars, while the +children clambered out of the boat, "just look at that ere watch again. +See if the Cap'n aint as good as his word. Five minutes to one, eh? +Didn't I tell ye? Hello, sissy! Where's that gal goin' to now? What's +your hurry? I'll take ye back in half an hour." + +But Mandy was off, running like a young fox along the edge of the +wharf. + +"Cap'n," said Bub, "we're much obliged to you, sir, and I guess I'll go +on too. Mandy's awful scared about the baby, and--" + +"Lord, what a fuss 'bout a baby!" the "Cap'n" broke in with his loud +voice, "Babies aint so easy got rid of. Wal, may be you'll go rowin' +with the Cap'n again, some day. Tell yer Ma I've got some first-class +lemons, if she wants to make pies for Sunday. Can't get no such lemons +at the store." + +But the "Cap'n's" last words were wasted, for Bub was already speeding +off after Mandy. + +When he reached the fishing-dock, there she sat, a dismal little heap, +on the ground between the net-poles. She had lost her bonnet; she had +fallen down and rubbed dust in her hair. Now she sat rocking herself to +and fro, and sobbing. + +"Oh, Bub! The baby!" was all she could say. + +"Look here, Mandy! Stop cryin' a minute, will you?" said Bub. "It's +after one o'clock; may be mother had only half a day at Hillard's, and +come home 'n' found the baby down here; she could see the shawl from +the house." + +Mandy jumped up, "Let's go see. Quick!" she cried. But the string of +one shoe was broken, and the shoe slipped at every step. She stooped to +fasten it. "Don't wait, Bub. Go on, please!" Then she felt so tired and +breathless with running and crying, that she dropped down on the ground +again to wait for Bub's return. + +She heard his feet running down the hill, and wondered if they brought +good news. + +No; the house was empty. No baby or mother there! + +"I must go to Hillard's," said Bub. "You'd better stay, Mandy; you look +'most beat out." + +His voice was very gentle, and Mandy could not bear it. + +"Oh, Bub! don't be good to me. I'm a horrid wicked girl! What will +mother say? How _can_ I tell her?" Then she broke into sobs again. + +It was dreadful, sitting there alone, after Bub's footsteps died away +in the distance, thinking and wondering hopelessly about the baby. +Mandy remembered how his little head, heavy with sleep, had drooped +lower and lower, and tired her arms. How gladly would she feel that +ache if she could only hold the warm little body in her arms again! + +How still it was! She could hear the children at McNeal's, down the +road, laughing and calling after their father as he went away to his +work. There was fresh trouble in the thought of _her_ father coming +home at night. Would it not be better that she should go away and hide +herself, where no reproachful eyes could reach her? Would they miss +her, and feel sorry for poor little Mandy? Would her mother go about +looking pale and quiet, thinking of her gently? + +Hark! What noise was that under the drooping curtain of nets? Now she +does not hear it; but presently it comes again--a soft, happy little +baby voice, cooing and talking to itself. + +With joyful haste, Mandy lifted the heavy festoon of nets, and crawled +under. There, in the warm, sunny gloom, lying all rosy and tumbled, +with his clothes around his neck, and the old red shawl hopelessly +tangled round the bare and active legs, lay baby, cramming his fists in +his mouth or tossing them about, while he talked stories to the gleams +of sunlight that flickered down through the meshes of the nets. + +How he had managed to roll so far, Mandy did not stop to wonder about. +She scooped him up into her arms, the bare legs kicking and struggling, +and crawled with him into the open air. + +There she sat, hugging him close, with her cheek resting on his head, +when the tired, anxious mother, hurrying on ahead of Bub, came running +down the hill. + +Many times after that, the baby was a "bother" to Mandy, but she was +never heard to call him so. + + + + +THE SILLY GOOSE. + +_(An Old Story Re-told.)_ + +BY E.A. SMULLER. + + +[Illustration] + + + There's a queer old story which you shall hear. + It happened, once on a time, my dear, + That a goose went swimming on a pond, + A pleasure of which all geese are fond. + She sailed about, and to and fro, + The waves bent under her breast of snow, + And her red feet paddled about below, + But she wasn't a happy goose--oh no! + + It troubled her more than she could tell, + That in the town where she chanced to dwell, + The saying of "stupid as a goose," + Was one that was very much in use. + For sneers and snubbing are hard to bear, + Be he man or beast I do not care, + Or pinioned fowl of the earth or air, + We're all of the same opinion there. + + Now, as she pondered the matter o'er, + A fox came walking along the shore; + With a pleasant smile he bowed his head, + "Good-evening, Mrs. Goose!" he said. + "Good-evening, Mr. Fox!" quoth she, + Looking across at him tremblingly, + And, fearing he had not had his tea, + Pushed a trifle farther out to sea. + + She had little harm to fear from him; + For, with all his tricks, he could not swim, + And, indeed, his voice was sweet and kind. + "Dear Mrs. Goose, you've a troubled mind; + I only wish I could help you through, + There's nothing I would not gladly do + For such a beautiful bird as you." + Which sounded nice, and was really true. + + "Well, then, Mr. Fox," the goose replied, + "It hurts my feelings, and wounds my pride, + That in these days my sisters and I, + Who saved old Rome by our warning cry, + Should be called the _silly geese_. Ah, me! + If I could learn something fine, you see, + Like writing, or reading the A, B, C, + What a happy, happy goose I'd be!" + + "Now, would you, indeed!" Renard replied + As the floating fowl he slyly eyed; + "I hardly know what 'tis best to say, + Let's think about it a moment, pray, + I may help you yet, my dear, who knows?" + So he struck a meditative pose, + And thoughtfully laid his small, red toes, + Up by the side of his pointed nose. + + "Ah, yes!" he cried, "I have it at last: + Your troubles, dear Mrs. Goose, are past; + There is a school-master, wise and good, + I know where he lives in yonder wood, + To-morrow evening, you shall see + In yon broad meadow his school will be, + He'll bring you a book with the A, B, C, + And he'll give his little lesson free." + + But now just listen, and you shall hear + About that fox; he went off, my dear, + And he bought a coat, and a beaver hat, + And a pair of specs, and a black cravat. + Next evening he came dressed up to charm, + With the little "Reader" under his arm, + Where the goose stood waiting without alarm, + For, indeed, she hadn't a thought of harm. + + Had she looked at all, you would have thought + She need not have been so quickly caught, + For the long red bushy fox's tail, + Swept over the meadow like a trail. + But 'twas rather dark, for night was near, + And another thing, I greatly fear. + She felt too anxious to see quite clear; + She was simply _a goose of one idea_. + + The school-master opens wide his book, + The goose makes a long, long neck, to look, + He opens his mouth, as if to cough, + When, snippety-snap! her head flies off. + Now, cackle loudly her sisters fond, + Who are watching proudly from the pond, + While off to the town that lies beyond, + The whole of the frightened flock abscond. + + That day, the geese made a solemn vow, + Which their faithful children keep till now, + That, never shall goose or gosling look + At any school-master or his book. + So, if ever you should chance to hear + Them talking of school, don't think it queer + If they say some hard things, or appear + To show a certain degree of fear; + It is always so with geese, my dear. + + +[Illustration: "LADY-BIRD, FLY AWAY HOME!"] + + + + +PARISIAN CHILDREN. + +BY HENRY BACON. + + +[Illustration] + +Parisians adore the sunshine. On a sunny day the many squares and parks +are peopled by children dressed in gay costumes, always attended by +parents or nurses. The old gingerbread venders at the gates find a +ready sale for chunks of coarse bread (to be thrown to the sparrows and +swans), hoops, jump-ropes, and wooden shovels,--for the little ones are +allowed to dig in the public walks as if they were on private grounds +and heirs of the soil. Here the babies build their miniature forts, +while the sergents-de-ville (or policemen), who are old soldiers, look +kindly on, taking special care not to trample the fortifications as +they pass to and fro upon their rounds. + +Here future captains and admirals sail their miniature fleet, and are +as helplessly horror-stricken when the graceful swans sally out and +attack their little vessels, as when from Fortress Monroe the +spectators watched the "Merrimac" steam down upon the shipping in the +roads. + +[Illustration: EXTREMES MEET.] + +Here the veterans, returned again to childhood, bask in the sun, and, +watching the fort-building, forget their terrible campaigns amidst +snows and burning sands, delighting to turn an end of the jumping rope +or to trot a long-robed heiress on, perhaps, the only knee they have +left. + +[Illustration: THE STAFF OF LIFE.] + +Parisians are very fond of uniforms, and so begin to employ them in the +dress of citizens as soon as they make their entry into the world, even +before they are registered at the mayor's office; for the caps and +cradles of a boy (or _citoyen_) are decorated with blue ribbons, and +the girl (or _citoyenne_) with pink. + +Every boys' or girls' school of any pretension has a distinctive mark +in the dress, and so has each employment or trade,--the butcher's boy, +always bareheaded, with a large basket and white apron; the grocer's +apprentice, with calico over-sleeves and blue apron; and the +pastry-cook's boy, dressed in white with white linen cap, who despises +and ridicules the well-blacked chimney-sweep, keeping the while at a +respectful distance. And we must not forget the beggars, with their +carefully studied costumes of rags, or the little Italians, born in +Paris, but wearing their so-called native costume, which has been cut +and made within the city walls. + +The little ones of the outskirts of the city are generally independent +and self-reliant youngsters, and sometimes, before they are quite +steady on their feet, we meet them already doing the family errands, +trudging along, hugging a loaf of bread taller than themselves. But the +rosy plumpness of the fields is wanting; for children are like +chameleons, and partake of the color of the locality they inhabit, so +these poor little ones are toned down by the smoke and dust of the +workshops. Their play-ground is under the dusty, dingy trees of the +wide avenues; but they have the same games of romps their peasant +mothers brought from their country homes, and above the noise of the +passing vehicles we often hear their voices as they dance round in a +circle, and sing verses of some old provincial song. + +[Illustration: THE VETERAN AND HIS CHARGE.] + +The delightful hours spent in boyhood, going to and from school, are +unknown in the gay French capital to children of well-to-do parents. +Instead of starting early and lingering on the way, they watch from the +window until a black one-horse omnibus arrives, when a sub-master takes +charge of the pupil, and the omnibus goes from house to house, +collecting all the scholars, who are brought home in the same manner, +the sub-master sitting next the door, giving no chance to slip out to +ride on top, or to beg the driver to trust a fellow with the reins; and +as it is the custom to obey all in authority, the master is respected. +Girls are either sent to boarding-school or go to a day-school; in the +latter case, always accompanied by one of their parents or a trusty +servant. But the parents, if their means will not permit them to send +their boys to schools that support a one-horse omnibus, or if they have +not a servant to go with them, perform that task themselves. In the +schools for the poorer classes, when teaching is over, the children +file out, two by two, the older children being appointed monitors, and +the little processions disappear in different directions; the teachers +standing at the gate until they are lost from sight, for they have not +far to go, as there is a free school in each quarter. + +[Illustration: THE ENEMY.] + +But I pity the charity-school girls. Although always neatly and cleanly +dressed, they are all alike, with white caps, and dresses which might +have been cut from the same piece. They file through the streets or +public gardens, under the charge of the "good sisters," and perhaps +they stop to play or rest sometimes, but I never saw them do so. +Perhaps there is no real reason to pity these charity-children, boys or +girls; but I remember my own free and happy school-days in America, and +so I pity them. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE PETERKINS ARE OBLIGED TO MOVE. + +BY LUCRETIA P. HALE. + + +Agamemnon had long felt it an impropriety to live in a house that was +called a "semi-detached" house, when there was no other "semi" to it. +It had always remained wholly detached as the owner had never built the +other half. Mrs. Peterkin felt this was not a sufficient reason for +undertaking the terrible process of a move to another house, when they +were fully satisfied with the one they were in. + +But a more powerful reason forced them to go. The track of a new +railroad had to be carried directly through the place, and a station +was to be built on that very spot. + +Mrs. Peterkin so much dreaded moving that she questioned whether they +could not continue to live in the upper part of the house and give up +the lower part to the station. They could then dine at the restaurant, +and it would be very convenient about traveling, as there would be no +danger of missing the train, if one were sure of the direction. + +But when the track was actually laid by the side of the house, and the +steam-engine of the construction train puffed and screamed under the +dining-room windows, and the engineer calmly looked in to see what the +family had for dinner, she felt indeed that they must move. + +But where should they go? It was difficult to find a house that +satisfied the whole family. One was too far off, and looked into a +tan-pit, another was too much in the middle of the town, next door to +a machine shop. Elizabeth Eliza wanted a porch covered with vines, that +should face the sunset, while Mr. Peterkin thought it would not be +convenient to sit there looking toward the west in the late afternoon, +(which was his only leisure time) for the sun would shine in his face. +The little boys wanted a house with a great many doors, so that they +could go in and out often. But Mr. Peterkin did not like so much +slamming, and felt there was more danger of burglars with so many +doors. Agamemnon wanted an observatory, and Solomon John a shed for a +workshop. If he could have carpenters' tools and a work-bench, he could +build an observatory, if it were wanted. + +But it was necessary to decide upon something, for they must leave +their house directly. So they were obliged to take Mr. Finch's at the +Corners. It satisfied none of the family. The porch was a piazza, and +was opposite a barn. There were three other doors,--too many to please +Mr. Peterkin, and not enough for the little boys. There was no +observatory, and nothing to observe, if there were one, as the house +was too low, and some high trees shut out any view. Elizabeth Eliza had +hoped for a view, but Mr. Peterkin consoled her by deciding it was more +healthy to have to walk for a view, and Mrs. Peterkin agreed that they +might get tired of the same every day. + +And everybody was glad a selection was made, and the little boys +carried their India rubber boots the very first afternoon. + +Elizabeth Eliza wanted to have some system in the moving, and spent the +evening in drawing up a plan. It would be easy to arrange everything +beforehand, so that there should not be the confusion that her mother +dreaded, and the discomfort they had in their last move. Mrs. Peterkin +shook her head, she did not think it possible to move with any comfort. +Agamemnon said a great deal could be done with a list and a programme. + +Elizabeth Eliza declared if all were well arranged a programme would +make it perfectly easy. They were to have new parlor carpets, which +could be put down in the new house the first thing. Then the parlor +furniture could be moved in, and there would be two comfortable rooms, +in which Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin could sit, while the rest of the move +went on. Then the old parlor carpets could be taken up for the new +dining-room and the down-stairs bedroom, and the family could meanwhile +dine at the old house. Mr. Peterkin did not object to this, though the +distance was considerable, as he felt exercise would be good for them +all. Elizabeth Eliza's programme then arranged that the dining-room +furniture could be moved the third day, by which time one of the old +parlor carpets would be down in the new dining-room, and they could +still sleep in the old house. Thus there would always be a quiet, +comfortable place in one house or the other. Each night when Mr. +Peterkin came home, he would find some place for quiet thought and +rest, and each day there should be moved only the furniture needed for +a certain room. Great confusion would be avoided and nothing misplaced. +Elizabeth Eliza wrote these last words at the head of her +programme--"Misplace nothing." And Agamemnon made a copy of the +programme for each member of the family. + +The first thing to be done was to buy the parlor carpets. Elizabeth +Eliza had already looked at some in Boston, and the next morning she +went by an early train, with her father, Agamemnon, and Solomon John, +to decide upon them. + +They got home about eleven o'clock, and when they reached the house +were dismayed to find two furniture wagons, in front of the gate, +already partly filled! Mrs. Peterkin was walking in and out of the open +door, a large book in one hand, and a duster in the other, and she came +to meet them in an agony of anxiety. What should they do? The furniture +carts had appeared soon after the rest had left for Boston, and the men +had insisted upon beginning to move the things. In vain had she shown +Elizabeth Eliza's programme, in vain had she insisted they must take +only the parlor furniture. They had declared they must put the heavy +pieces in the bottom of the cart, and the lighter furniture on top. So +she had seen them go into every room in the house, and select one piece +of furniture after the other, without even looking at Elizabeth Eliza's +programme; she doubted if they could have read it, if they had looked +at it. + +Mr. Peterkin had ordered the carters to come, but he had no idea they +would come so early, and supposed it would take them a long time to +fill the carts. + +But they had taken the dining-room sideboard first,--a heavy piece of +furniture,--and all its contents were now on the dining-room tables. +Then, indeed, they selected the parlor book-case, but had set every +book on the floor. The men had told Mrs. Peterkin they would put the +books in the bottom of the cart, very much in the order they were taken +from the shelves. But by this time Mrs. Peterkin was considering the +carters as natural enemies, and dared not trust them; besides, the +books ought all to be dusted. So she was now holding one of the volumes +of Agamemnon's Encyclopedia, with difficulty in one hand, while she was +dusting it with the other. Elizabeth Eliza was in dismay. At this +moment, four men were bringing down a large chest of drawers from her +father's room and they called to her to stand out of the way. The +parlors were a scene of confusion. In dusting the books, Mrs. Peterkin +neglected to restore them to the careful rows in which they were left +by the men, and they lay in hopeless masses in different parts of the +room. Elizabeth Eliza sunk in despair upon the end of a sofa. + +"It would have been better to buy the red and blue carpet," said +Solomon John. + +"Is not the carpet bought?" exclaimed Mrs. Peterkin. And then they were +obliged to confess they had been unable to decide upon one, and had +come back to consult Mrs. Peterkin. + +"What shall we do?" asked Mrs. Peterkin. + +Elizabeth Eliza rose from the sofa and went to the door, saying, "I +shall be back in a moment." + +Agamemnon slowly passed round the room, collecting the scattered +volumes of his Encyclopedia. Mr. Peterkin offered a helping hand to a +man lifting a wardrobe. + +Elizabeth Eliza soon returned. "I did not like to go and ask her. But I +felt that I must in such an emergency. I explained to her the whole +matter and she thinks we should take the carpet at Makillan's." + +"Makillan's" was a store in the village, and the carpet was the only +one all the family had liked without any doubt; but they had supposed +they might prefer one from Boston. + +The moment was a critical one. Solomon John was sent directly to +Makillan's to order the carpet to be put down that very day. But where +should they dine? where should they have their supper? where was Mr. +Peterkin's "quiet hour?" Elizabeth Eliza, was frantic--the dining-room +floor and table were covered with things. + +It was decided that Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin should dine at the +Bromwiches, who had been most neighborly in their offers, and the rest +should get something to eat at the baker's. + +Agamemnon and Elizabeth Eliza hastened away to be ready to receive the +carts at the other house, and direct the furniture as they could. After +all, there was something exhilarating in this opening of the new house, +and in deciding where things should go. Gayly Elizabeth Eliza stepped +down the front garden of the new home, and across the piazza, and to +the door. But it was locked, and she had no keys! + +"Agamemnon, did you bring the keys?" she exclaimed. + +No, he had not seen them since the morning--when--ah--yes, the little +boys were allowed to go to the house for their India rubber boots, as +there was a threatening of rain. Perhaps they had left some door +unfastened--perhaps they had put the keys under the door-mat. No, each +door, each window was solidly closed, and there was no mat! + +"I shall have to go to the school to see if they took the keys with +them," said Agamemnon; "or else go home to see if they left them +there." The school was in a different direction from the house, and far +at the other end of the town for Mr. Peterkin had not yet changed the +boys' school, as he proposed to do, after their move. + +"That will be the only way," said Elizabeth Eliza; for it had been +arranged that the little boys should take their lunch to school and not +come home at noon. + +She sat down on the steps to wait, but only for a moment, for the carts +soon appeared turning the corner. What should be done with the +furniture? Of course, the carters must wait for the keys, as she should +need them to set the furniture up in the right places. But they could +not stop for this. They put it down upon the piazza, on the steps, in +the garden, and Elizabeth Eliza saw how incongruous it was! There was +something from every room in the house! even the large family chest, +which had proved too heavy for them to travel with, had come down from +the attic, and stood against the front door. + +And Solomon John appeared with the carpet woman, and a boy with a +wheelbarrow bringing the new carpet. And all stood and waited. Some +opposite neighbors appeared to offer advice, and look on, and Elizabeth +Eliza groaned inwardly that only the shabbiest of their furniture +appeared to be standing full in view. + +It seemed ages before Agamemnon returned, and no wonder; for he had +been to the house, then to the school, then back to the house, for one +of the little boys had left at home the keys, in the pocket of his +clothes. Meanwhile, the carpet woman had waited, and the boy with the +wheelbarrow had waited, and when they got in they found the parlor must +be swept and cleaned. So the carpet woman went off in dudgeon, for she +was sure there would not be time enough to do anything. + +And one of the carts came again, and in their hurry the men set the +furniture down anywhere. Elizabeth Eliza was hoping to make a little +place in the dining-room where they might have their supper and go home +to sleep. But she looked out, and there were the carters bringing the +bedsteads, and proceeding to carry them upstairs. + +In despair Elizabeth Eliza went back to the old house. If she had been +there she might have prevented this. She found Mrs. Peterkin in an +agony about the entry oil-cloth. It had been made in the house, and how +could it be taken out of the house? Agamemnon made measurements; it +certainly could not go out of the front door! He suggested it might be +left till the house was pulled down, when it could easily be moved out +of one side. But Elizabeth Eliza reminded him that the whole house was +to be moved without being taken apart. Perhaps it could be cut in +strips narrow enough to go out. One of the men loading the remaining +cart disposed of the question by coming in and rolling up the oil-cloth +and carrying it off on top of his wagon. + +Elizabeth Eliza felt she must hurry back to the new house. But what +should they do?--no beds here, no carpets there! The dining-room table +and sideboard were at the other house, the plates and forks and spoons +here. In vain she looked at her programme. It was all reversed, +everything was misplaced. Mr. Peterkin would suppose they were to eat +there and sleep here, and what had become of the little boys? + +Meanwhile, the man with the first cart had returned. They fell to +packing the dining-room china. They were up in the attic, they were +down in the cellar. Even one of them suggested to take the tacks out of +the parlor carpets, as they should want to take them next. Mrs. +Peterkin sunk upon a kitchen chair. + +"Oh, I wish we had decided to stay and be moved in the house!" she +exclaimed. + +Solomon John urged his mother to go to the new house, for Mr. Peterkin +would be there for his "quiet hour." And when the carters at last +appeared carrying the parlor carpets on their shoulders she sighed and +said, "There is nothing left," and meekly consented to be led away. + +They reached the new house to find Mr. Peterkin sitting calmly in a +rocking-chair on the piazza, watching the oxen coming into the opposite +barn. He was waiting for the keys, which Solomon John had taken back +with him. The little boys were in a horse-chestnut tree, at the side of +the house. + +Agamemnon opened the door. The passages were crowded with furniture, +the floors were strewn with books, the bureau was upstairs that was to +stand in a lower bedroom, there was not a place to lay a table, there +was nothing to lay upon it; for the knives and plates and spoons had +not come, and although the tables were there, they were covered with +chairs and boxes. + +At this moment came a covered basket from the lady from Philadelphia. +It contained a choice supper, and forks and spoons, and at the same +moment appeared a pot of hot tea from an opposite neighbor. They placed +all this on the back of a book-case lying upset, and sat around it. +Solomon John came rushing from the gate: + +"The last load is coming. We are all moved!" he exclaimed, and the +little boys joined in a chorus, "We are moved, we are moved!" + +Mrs. Peterkin looked sadly round; the kitchen utensils were lying on +the parlor lounge, and an old family gun on Elizabeth Eliza's hat-box. +The parlor clock stood on a barrel; some coal-scuttles had been placed +on the parlor table, a bust of Washington stood in the door-way, and +the looking-glasses leaned against the pillars of the piazza. But they +were moved! Mrs. Peterkin felt indeed that they were very much moved. + + + + +[Illustration: GET UP!] + +[Illustration: GOT DOWN!] + + + + +THE SING-AWAY BIRD. + +BY LUCY LARCOM. + + +[Illustration] + + + O Say, have you heard of the sing-away bird, + That sings where the Runaway River + Runs down with its rills from the bald-headed hills + That stand in the sunshine and shiver? + "O sing! sing-away! sing-away!" + How the pines and the birches are stirred + By the trill of the sing-away bird! + + And the bald-headed hills, with their rocks and their rills, + To the tune of his rapture are ringing. + And their faces grow young, all their gray mists among, + While the forests break forth into singing, + "O sing! sing-away! sing-away!" + And the river runs singing along; + And the flying winds catch up the song. + + It was nothing but--hush! a wild white-throated thrush, + That emptied his musical quiver + With a charm and a spell over valley and dell + On the banks of the Runaway River. + "O sing! sing-away! sing-away!" + Yet the song of the wild singer had + The sound of a soul that is glad. + + And, beneath the glad sun, may a glad-hearted one + Set the world to the tune of his gladness. + The rivers shall sing it, the breezes shall wing it, + Till life shall forget its long sadness. + "O sing! sing-away! sing-away!" + Sing, spirit, who knowest joy's Giver,-- + Sing on, by time's Runaway River! + + + + +OLD SOUP + +BY MRS. E.W. LATIMER. + + +The following curious anecdote is from a book about elephants, written +by a French gentleman, named Jacolliot, and we will let the author tell +his own story: + +In the autumn of 1876 I was living in the interior of Bengal, and I +went to spend Christmas with my friend, Major Daly. The major's +bungalow was on the banks of the Ganges near Cawnpore. He had lived +there a good many years, being chief of the quartermaster's department +at that station, and had a great many natives, elephants, +bullock-carts, and soldiers under his command. + +On the morning after my arrival, after a cup of early tea (often taken +before daylight in India), I sat smoking with my friend in the veranda +of his bungalow, looking out upon the windings of the sacred river. +And, directly, I asked the major about his children (a boy and a girl), +whom I had not yet seen, and begged to know when I should see them. + +"Soupramany has taken them out fishing," said their father. + +"Why, isn't Soupramany your great war-elephant?" I cried. + +"Exactly so. You cannot have forgotten Soupramany!" + +"Of course not. I was here, you know, when he had that fight with the +elephant who went mad while loading a transport with bags of rice down +yonder. I saw the mad elephant when he suddenly began to fling the rice +into the river. His 'mahout' tried to stop him, and he killed the +mahout. The native sailors ran away to hide themselves, and the mad +elephant, trumpeting, charged into this inclosure. Old Soupramany was +here, and so were Jim and Bessy. When he saw the mad animal, he threw +himself between him and the children. The little ones and their nurses +had just time to get into the house when the fight commenced." + +"Yes," said the major. "Old Soup was a hundred years old. He had been +trained to war, and to fight with the rhinoceros, but he was too old to +hunt then." + +"And yet," said I, becoming animated by the recollections of that day, +"what a gallant fight it was! Do you remember how we all stood on this +porch and watched it, not daring to fire a shot lest we should hit Old +Soupramany? Do you remember too, his look when he drew off, after +fighting an hour and a half, leaving his adversary dying in the dust, +and walked straight to the 'corral,' shaking his great ears which had +been badly torn, with his head bruised, and a great piece broken from +one of his tusks?" + +"Yes, indeed," said the major. "Well, since then, he is more devoted to +my dear little ones than ever. He takes them out whole days, and I am +perfectly content to have them under his charge. I don't like trusting +Christian children to the care of natives; but with Old Soup I know +they can come to no harm." + +[Illustration: "BESIDE THE CHILDREN STOOD OLD SOUP WITH A LARGE BAMBOO +ROD IN HIS TRUNK."] + +"What! you trust children under ten years of age to Soup, without any +other protection?" + +"I do," replied the major. "Come along with me, if you doubt, and we +will surprise them at their fishing." + +I followed Major Daly, and, after walking half a mile along the wooded +banks of the river, we came upon the little group. The two +children--Jim, the elder, being about ten--both sat still and silent, +for a wonder, each holding a rod, with line, cork, hook and bait, +anxiously watching the gay corks bobbing in the water. Beside them +stood Old Soup with an extremely large bamboo rod in his trunk, with +line, hook, bait, and cork, like the children's. I need not say I took +small notice of the children, but turned all my attention to their big +companion. I had not watched him long before he had a bite; for, as the +religion of the Hindoos forbids them to take life, the river swarms +with fishes. + +The old fellow did not stir; his little eyes watched his line eagerly; +he was no novice in "the gentle craft." He was waiting till it was time +to draw in his prize. + +At the end of his line, as he drew it up, was dangling one of those +golden tench so abundant in the Ganges. + +When Soupramany perceived what a fine fish he had caught, he uttered +one of those long, low gurgling notes of satisfaction by which an +elephant expresses joy; and he waited patiently, expecting Jim to take +his prize off the hook and put on some more bait for him. But Jim, the +little rascal, sometimes liked to plague Old Soup. He nodded at us, as +much as to say, "Look out, and you'll see fun, now!" Then he took off +the fish, which he threw into a water-jar placed there for the purpose, +and went back to his place without putting any bait on Old Soup's +hook. The intelligent animal did not attempt to throw his line into the +water. He tried to move Jim by low, pleading cries. It was curious to +see what tender tones he seemed to try to give his voice. + +Seeing that Jim paid no attention to his calls, but sat and laughed as +he handled his own line, Old Soup went up to him, and with his trunk +tried to turn his head in the direction of the bait-box. At last, when +he found that all he could do would not induce his willful friend to +help him, he turned round as if struck by a sudden thought, and, +snatching up in his trunk the box that held the bait, came and laid it +down at the major's feet; then picking up his rod, he held it out to +his master. + +"What do you want me to do with this, Old Soup?" said the major. + +The creature lifted one great foot after the other, and again began to +utter his plaintive cry. Out of mischief, I took Jimmy's part, and, +picking up the bait-box, pretended to run with it. The elephant was not +going to be teased by _me_. He dipped his trunk into the Ganges, and in +an instant squirted a stream of water over me with all the force and +precision of a fire-engine, to the immense amusement of the children. + +The major at once made Soup a sign to stop, and, to make my peace with +the fine old fellow, I baited his hook myself. Quivering with joy, as a +baby does when it gets hold at last of a plaything some one has taken +from it, Old Soupramany hardly paused to thank me by a soft note of joy +for baiting his line for him, before he went back to his place, and was +again watching his cork as it trembled in the ripples of the river. + + + + + Four little houses, blue and round, + Hidden away from sight and sound. + What is in them? The leaves never tell, + But they know the secret very well. + The daisies know, and the clover knows; + So does the pretty, sweet wild rose. + Don't be impatient, only wait + Just outside, at the leafy gate; + Soon a fairy will open the door, + And let out birdies--one, two, three, four! + + + + +UNDER THE LILACS. + +BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GOOD TIMES. + + +Every one was very kind to Ben when his loss was known. The Squire +wrote to Mr. Smithers the boy had found friends and would stay where he +was. Mrs. Moss consoled him in her way, and the little girls did their +very best to "be good to poor Benny." But Miss Celia was his truest +comforter and completely won his heart, not only by the friendly words +she said and the pleasant things she did, but by the unspoken sympathy +which showed itself, just at the right minute, in a look, a touch, a +smile, more helpful than any amount of condolence. She called him "my +man," and Ben tried to be one, bearing his trouble so bravely that she +respected him, although he was only a little boy, because it promised +well for the future. + +Then she was so happy herself, it was impossible for those about her to +be sad, and Ben soon grew cheerful again in spite of the very tender +memory of his father laid quietly away in the safest corner of his +heart. He would have been a very unboyish boy if he had _not_ been +happy, for the new place was such a pleasant one, he soon felt as if +for the first time he really had a home. + +No more grubbing now, but daily tasks which never grew tiresome, they +were so varied and so light. No more cross Pats to try his temper, but +the sweetest mistress that ever was, since praise was oftener on her +lips than blame, and gratitude made willing service a delight. + +At first it seemed as if there was going to be trouble between the two +boys, for Thorny was naturally masterful, and illness had left him weak +and nervous, so he was often both domineering and petulant. Ben had +been taught instant obedience to those older than himself, and if +Thorny had been a man Ben would have made no complaint; but it _was_ +hard to be "ordered round" by a boy, and an unreasonable one into the +bargain. + +A word from Miss Celia blew away the threatening cloud, however, and +for her sake her brother promised to try to be patient; for her sake +Ben declared he never would "get mad" if Mr. Thorny did fidget, and +both very soon forgot all about master and man and lived together like +two friendly lads, taking each other's ups and downs good-naturedly, +and finding mutual pleasure and profit in the new companionship. + +The only point on which they never _could_ agree was legs, and many a +hearty laugh did they give Miss Celia by their warm and serious +discussion of this vexed question. Thorny insisted that Ben was +bow-legged; Ben resented the epithet, and declared that the legs of all +good horsemen must have a slight curve, and any one who knew anything +about the matter would acknowledge both its necessity and its beauty. +Then Thorny would observe that it might be all very well in the saddle, +but it made a man waddle like a duck when afoot; whereat Ben would +retort that for his part he would rather waddle like a duck than tumble +about like a horse with the staggers. He had his opponent there, for +poor Thorny did look very like a weak-kneed colt when he tried to walk; +but he would never own it, and came down upon Ben with crushing +allusions to centaurs, or the Greeks and Romans, who were famous both +for their horsemanship and fine limbs. Ben could not answer that, +except by proudly referring to the chariot-races copied from the +ancients in which _he_ had borne a part, which was more than _some +folks_ with long legs could say. Gentlemen never did that sort of +thing, nor did they twit their best friends with their misfortunes, +Thorny would remark, casting a pensive glance at his thin hands, +longing the while to give Ben a good shaking. This hint would remind +the other of his young master's late sufferings and all he owed his +dear mistress, and he usually ended the controversy by turning a few +lively somersaults as a vent for his swelling wrath, and come up with +his temper all right again. Or, if Thorny happened to be in the wheeled +chair, he would trot him round the garden at a pace which nearly took +his breath away, thereby proving that if "bow-legs" were not beautiful +to some benighted being, they _were_ "good to go." + +Thorny liked that, and would drop the subject for the time by politely +introducing some more agreeable topic; so the impending quarrel would +end in a laugh over some boyish joke, and the word "legs" be avoided by +mutual consent till accident brought it up again. + +The spirit of rivalry is hidden in the best of us, and is a helpful and +inspiring power if we know how to use it. Miss Celia knew this, and +tried to make the lads help one another by means of it,--not in +boastful or ungenerous comparison of each other's gifts, but by +interchanging them, giving and taking freely, kindly, and being glad to +love what was admirable wherever they found it. Thorny admired Ben's +strength, activity, and independence; Ben envied Thorny's learning, +good manners, and comfortable surroundings; and, when a wise word had +set the matter rightly before them, both enjoyed the feeling that there +was a certain equality between them, since money could not buy health; +and practical knowledge was as useful as any that can be found in +books. So they interchanged their small experiences, accomplishments, +and pleasures, and both were the better, as well as the happier, for +it, because in this way only can we truly love our neighbor as ourself +and get the real sweetness out of life. + +There was no end to the new and pleasant things Ben had to do, from +keeping paths and flower-beds neat, feeding the pets, and running +errands, to waiting on Thorny and being right-hand man to Miss Celia. +He had a little room in the old house, newly papered with hunting +scenes, which he was never tired of admiring. In the closet hung +several out-grown suits of Thorny's, made over for his valet, and, what +Ben valued infinitely more, a pair of boots, well blacked and ready for +grand occasions when he rode abroad, with one old spur, found in the +attic, brightened up and merely worn for show, since nothing would have +induced him to prick beloved Lita with it. + +Many pictures, cut from illustrated papers, of races, animals and +birds, were stuck round the room, giving it rather the air of a circus +and menagerie. This, however, made it only the more home-like to its +present owner, who felt exceedingly rich and respectable as he surveyed +his premises; almost like a retired showman who still fondly remembers +past successes, though now happy in the more private walks of life. + +In one drawer of the quaint little bureau which he used, were kept the +relics of his father; very few and poor, and of no interest to any one +but himself,--only the letter telling of his death, a worn-out +watch-chain, and a photograph of Señor José Montebello, with his +youthful son standing on his head, both airily attired, and both +smiling with the calmly superior expression which gentlemen of their +profession usually wear in public. Ben's other treasures had been +stolen with his bundle; but these he cherished and often looked at when +he went to bed, wondering what heaven was like, since it was lovelier +than California, and usually fell asleep with a dreamy impression that +it must be something like America when Columbus found it,--"a pleasant +land, where were gay flowers and tall trees, with leaves and fruit such +as they had never seen before." And through this happy hunting-ground +"father" was forever riding on a beautiful white horse with wings, like +the one of which Miss Celia had a picture. + +Nice times Ben had in his little room poring over his books, for he +soon had several of his own; but his favorites were Hammerton's +"Animals" and "Our Dumb Friends," both full of interesting pictures and +anecdotes such as boys love. Still nicer times working about the house, +helping get things in order; and best of all were the daily drives with +Miss Celia and Thorny, when weather permitted, or solitary rides to +town through the heaviest rain, for certain letters _must_ go and come, +no matter how the elements raged. The neighbors soon got used to the +"antics of that boy," but Ben knew that he was an object of interest as +he careered down the main street in a way that made old ladies cry out +and brought people flying to the window, sure that some one was being +run away with. Lita enjoyed the fun as much as he, and apparently did +her best to send him heels over head, having rapidly learned to +understand the signs he gave her by the touch of hand and foot, or the +tones of his voice. + +These performances caused the boys to regard Ben Brown with intense +admiration, the girls with timid awe, all but Bab, who burned to +imitate him, and tried her best whenever she got a chance, much to the +anguish and dismay of poor Jack, for that long-suffering animal was the +only steed she was allowed to ride. Fortunately, neither she nor Betty +had much time for play just now, as school was about to close for the +long vacation, and all the little people were busy finishing up, that +they might go to play with free minds. So the "lilac-parties," as they +called them, were deferred till later, and the lads amused themselves +in their own way, with Miss Celia to suggest and advise. + +It took Thorny a long time to arrange his possessions, for he could +only direct while Ben unpacked, wondering and admiring as he worked, +because he had never seen so many boyish treasures before. The little +printing-press was his especial delight, and leaving everything else in +confusion, Thorny taught him its use and planned a newspaper on the +spot, with Ben for printer, himself for editor, and "Sister" for chief +contributor, while Bab should be carrier and Betty office-boy. Next +came a postage-stamp book, and a rainy day was happily spent in pasting +a new collection where each particular one belonged, with copious +explanations from Thorny as they went along. Ben did not feel any great +interest in this amusement after one trial of it, but when a book +containing patterns of the flags of all nations turned up, he was +seized with a desire to copy them _all_, so that the house could be +fitly decorated on gala occasions. Finding that it amused her brother, +Miss Celia generously opened her piece-drawer and rag-bag, and as the +mania grew till her resources were exhausted, she bought bits of gay +cambric and many-colored papers, and startled the storekeeper by +purchasing several bottles of mucilage at once. Bab and Betty were +invited to sew the bright strips or stars, and pricked their little +fingers assiduously, finding this sort of needle-work much more +attractive than piecing bed-quilts. + +Such a snipping and pasting, planning and stitching as went on in the +big back room, which was given up to them, and such a noble array of +banners and pennons as soon decorated its walls, would have caused the +dullest eye to brighten with amusement, if not with admiration. Of +course, the Stars and Stripes hung highest, with the English lion +ramping on the royal standard close by; then followed a regular +picture-gallery, for there was the white elephant of Siam, the splendid +peacock of Burmah, the double-headed Russian eagle and black dragon of +China, the winged lion of Venice, and the prancing pair on the red, +white and blue flag of Holland. The keys and miter of the Papal States +were a hard job, but up they went at last, with the yellow crescent of +Turkey on one side and the red full moon of Japan on the other; the +pretty blue and white flag of Greece hung below and the cross of free +Switzerland above. If materials had held out, the flags of all the +United States would have followed; but paste and patience were +exhausted, so the busy workers rested awhile before they "flung their +banner to the breeze," as the newspapers have it. + +A spell of ship building and rigging followed the flag fit; for Thorny, +feeling too old now for such toys, made over his whole fleet to "the +children," condescending, however, to superintend a thorough repairing +of the same before he disposed of all but the big man-of-war, which +continued to ornament his own room, with all sail set and a little red +officer perpetually waving his sword on the quarter-deck. + +These gifts led to out-of-door water-works, for the brook had to be +dammed up, that a shallow ocean might be made, where Ben's piratical +"Red Rover," with the black flag, might chase and capture Bab's smart +frigate, "Queen," while the "Bounding Betsey," laden with lumber, +safely sailed from Kennebunkport to Massachusetts Bay. Thorny, from his +chair, was chief-engineer, and directed his gang of one how to dig the +basin, throw up the embankment, and finally let in the water till the +mimic ocean was full; then regulate the little water-gate, lest it +should overflow and wreck the pretty squadron of ships, boats, canoes, +and rafts, which soon rode at anchor there. + +Digging and paddling in mud and water proved such a delightful pastime +that the boys kept it up, till a series of water-wheels, little mills +and cataracts made the once quiet brook look as if a manufacturing +town was about to spring up where hitherto minnows had played in peace +and the retiring frog had chanted his serenade unmolested. + +Miss Celia liked all this, for anything which would keep Thorny happy +out-of-doors in the sweet June weather found favor in her eyes, and +when the novelty had worn off from home affairs, she planned a series +of exploring expeditions which filled their boyish souls with delight. +As none of them knew much about the place, it really was quite exciting +to start off on a bright morning with a roll of wraps and cushions, +lunch, books, and drawing materials packed into the phaeton, and drive +at random about the shady roads and lanes, pausing when and where they +liked. Wonderful discoveries were made, pretty places were named, plans +were drawn, and all sorts of merry adventures befell the pilgrims. + +Each day they camped in a new spot, and while Lita nibbled the fresh +grass at her ease, Miss Celia sketched under the big umbrella, Thorny +read or lounged or slept on his rubber blanket, and Ben made himself +generally useful. Unloading, filling the artist's water-bottle, piling +the invalid's cushions, setting out the lunch, running to and fro for a +flower or a butterfly, climbing a tree to report the view, reading, +chatting, or frolicking with Sancho,--any sort of duty was in Ben's +line, and he did them all well, for an out-of-door life was natural to +him and he liked it. + +"Ben, I want an amanuensis," said Thorny, dropping book and pencil one +day, after a brief interval of silence, broken only by the whisper of +the young leaves overhead and the soft babble of the brook close by. + +"A what?" asked Ben, pushing back his hat with such an air of amazement +that Thorny rather loftily inquired: + +"Don't you know what an amanuensis is?" + +"Well, no; not unless it's some relation to an anaconda. Shouldn't +think you'd want one of them, anyway." + +Thorny rolled over with a hoot of derision, and his sister, who sat +close by, sketching an old gate, looked up to see what was going on. + +"Well, you needn't laugh at a feller. _You_ didn't know what a wombat +was when I asked you, and _I_ didn't roar," said Ben, giving his hat a +slap, as nothing else was handy. + +"The idea of wanting an anaconda tickled me so, I couldn't help it. I +dare say you'd have got me one if I _had_ asked for it, you are such an +obliging chap." + +"Of course I would if I could. Shouldn't be surprised if you did some +day, you want such funny things," answered Ben, appeased by the +compliment. + +"I'll try the amanuensis first. It's only some one to write for me; I +get so tired doing it without a table. You write well enough, and it +will be good for you to know something about botany. I intend to teach +you, Ben," said Thorny, as if conferring a great favor. + +"It looks pretty hard," muttered Ben, with a doleful glance at the book +laid open upon a strew of torn leaves and flowers. + +"No, it isn't; it's regularly jolly, and you'd be no end of a help if +you only knew a little. Now suppose I say, 'Bring me a "ranunculus +bulbosus,"' how would you know what I wanted?" demanded Thorny, waving +his microscope with a learned air. + +"Shouldn't." + +"There are quantities of them all round us, and I want to analyze one. +See if you can't guess." + +Ben stared vaguely from earth to sky, and was about to give it up, when +a buttercup fell at his feet, and he caught sight of Miss Celia smiling +at him from behind her brother, who did not see the flower. + +"S'pose you mean this? _I_ don't call 'em rhinocerus bulburses, so I +wasn't sure." And taking the hint as quickly as it was given, Ben +presented the buttercup as if he knew all about it. + +"You guessed that remarkably well. Now bring me a 'leontodon +taraxacum,'" said Thorny, charmed with the quickness of his pupil and +glad to display his learning. + +Again Ben gazed, but the field was full of early flowers, and if a long +pencil had not pointed to a dandelion close by he would have been lost. + +"Here you are, sir," he answered with a chuckle, and Thorny took his +turn at being astonished now. + +"How the dickens did you know that?" + +"Try it again, and may be you'll find out," laughed Ben. + +Diving hap-hazard into his book, Thorny demanded a "trifolium +pratense." + +The clever pencil pointed, and Ben brought a red clover, mightily +enjoying the joke, and thinking that _this_ kind of botany wasn't bad +fun. + +"Look here, no fooling!" and Thorny sat up to investigate the matter, +so quickly that his sister had not time to sober down. "Ah, I've caught +you! Not fair to tell, Celia. Now, Ben, you've _got_ to learn all about +this buttercup, to pay for cheating." + +"Werry good, sir; bring on your rhinoceriouses," answered Ben, who +couldn't help imitating his old friend the clown when he felt +particularly jolly. + +"Sit there and write what I tell you," ordered Thorny, with all the +severity of a strict schoolmaster. + +Perching himself on the mossy stump, Ben obediently floundered through +the following analysis, with constant help in the spelling and much +private wonder what would come of it: + +"Phænogamous. Exogenous. Angiosperm. Polypetalous. Stamens, more than +ten. Stamens on the receptacle. Pistils, more than one and separate. +Leaves without stipules. Crowfoot family. Genus ranunculus. Botanical +name, Ranunculus bulbosus." + +"Jerusalem, what a flower! Pistols and crows' feet, and Polly put the +kettles on, and Angy sperms and all the rest of 'em! If that's your +botany I wont take any more, thank you," said Ben, as he paused as hot +and red as if he had been running a race. + +"Yes, you will; you'll learn that all by heart, and then I shall give +you a dandelion to do. You'll like that, because it means _dent de +lion_ or lion's teeth, and I'll show them to you through my glass. +You've no idea how interesting it is, and what heaps of pretty things +you'll see," answered Thorny, who had already discovered how charming +the study was, and had found great satisfaction in it since he had been +forbidden more active pleasures. + +"What's the good of it, any way?" asked Ben, who would rather have been +set to mowing the big field than to the task before him. + +"It tells all about it in my book here--'Gray's Botany for Young +People.' But I can tell you what use it is to _us_," continued Thorny, +crossing his legs in the air and preparing to argue the matter, +comfortably lying flat on his back. "_We_ are a Scientific Exploration +Society, and we must keep an account of all the plants, animals, +minerals and so on, as we come across them. Then suppose we get lost +and have to hunt for food, how are we to know what is safe and what +isn't? Come, now, do you know the difference between a toad-stool and a +mushroom?" + +"No, I don't." + +"Then I'll teach you some day. There is sweet flag and poisonous flag, +and all sorts of berries and things, and you'd better look out when you +are in the woods or you'll touch ivy and dogwood, and have a horrid +time if you don't know your botany." + +"Thorny learned much of his by sad experience and you will be wise to +take his advice," said Miss Celia, recalling her brother's various +mishaps before the new fancy came on. + +"Didn't I have a time of it, though, when I had to go round for a week +with plantain leaves and cream stuck all over my face! Just picked some +pretty red dogwood, Ben, and then I was a regular guy, with a face like +a lobster and my eyes swelled out of sight. Come along and learn right +away, and never get into scrapes like most fellows." + +Impressed by this warning, and attracted by Thorny's enthusiasm, Ben +cast himself down upon the blanket, and for an hour the two heads +bobbed to and fro from microscope to book, the teacher airing his small +knowledge, the pupil more and more interested in the new and curious +things he saw or heard,--though it must be confessed that Ben +infinitely preferred to watch ants and bugs, queer little worms and +gauzy-winged flies, rather than "putter" over plants with long names. +He did not dare to say so, however, but when Thorny asked him if it +wasn't capital fun, he dodged cleverly by proposing to hunt up the +flowers for his master to study, offering to learn about the dangerous +ones, but pleading want of time to investigate this pleasing science +very deeply. + +As Thorny had talked himself hoarse, he was very ready to dismiss his +class of one to fish the milk-bottle out of the brook, and recess was +prolonged till next day. But both boys found a new pleasure in the +pretty pastime they made of it, for active Ben ranged the woods and +fields with a tin box slung over his shoulder, and feeble Thorny had a +little room fitted up for his own use where he pressed flowers in +newspaper books, dried herbs on the walls, had bottles and cups, pans +and platters for his treasures, and made as much litter as he liked. + +Presently, Ben brought such lively accounts of the green nooks where +jacks-in-the-pulpit preached their little sermons, brooks beside which +grew blue violets and lovely ferns, rocks round which danced the +columbines like rosy elves, or the trees where birds built, squirrels +chattered and woodchucks burrowed, that Thorny was seized with a desire +to go and see these beauties for himself. So Jack was saddled and went, +plodding, scrambling and wandering into all manner of pleasant places, +always bringing home a stronger, browner rider than he carried away. + +This delighted Miss Celia, and she gladly saw them ramble off together, +leaving her time to stitch happily at certain dainty bits of sewing, +write voluminous letters, or dream over others quite as long, swinging +in her hammock under the lilacs. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOMEBODY RUNS AWAY. + + + "School is done, + Now we'll have fun," + +sung Bab and Betty, slamming down their books as if they never meant to +take them up again, when they came home on the last day of June. + +Tired teacher had dismissed them for eight whole weeks and gone away to +rest; the little school-house was shut up, lessons were over, spirits +rising fast, and vacation had begun. The quiet town seemed suddenly +inundated with children all in such a rampant state that busy mothers +wondered how they ever should be able to keep their frisky darlings out +of mischief; thrifty fathers planned how they could bribe the idle +hands to pick berries or rake hay; and the old folks, while wishing the +young folks well, secretly blessed the man who invented schools. + +The girls immediately began to talk about picnics, and have them, too; +for little hats sprung up in the fields like a new sort of +mushroom,--every hill-side bloomed with gay gowns, looking as if the +flowers had gone out for a walk, and the woods were full of featherless +birds chirping away as blithely as the thrushes, robins, and wrens. + +The boys took to base-ball like ducks to water, and the common was the +scene of tremendous battles waged with much tumult but little +bloodshed. To the uninitiated it appeared as if these young men had +lost their wits; for no matter how warm it was, there they were, +tearing about in the maddest manner, jackets off, sleeves rolled up, +queer caps flung on anyway, all batting shabby leather balls and +catching the same as if their lives depended on it. Every one talking +in his gruffest tone, bawling at the top of his voice, squabbling over +every point of the game, and seeming to enjoy himself immensely in +spite of the heat, dust, uproar, and imminent danger of getting eyes or +teeth knocked out. + +Thorny was an excellent player, but not being strong enough to show his +prowess, he made Ben his proxy, and, sitting on the fence, acted as +umpire to his heart's content. Ben was a promising pupil and made rapid +progress, for eye, foot, and hand had been so well trained that they +did him good service now, and Brown was considered a first-rate +"catcher." + +Sancho distinguished himself by his skill in hunting up stray balls, +and guarding jackets when not needed, with the air of one of the Old +Guard on duty at the tomb of Napoleon. Bab also longed to join in the +fun, which suited her better than "stupid picnics" or "fussing over +dolls;" but her heroes would not have her at any price, and she was +obliged to content herself with sitting by Thorny, and watching with +breathless interest the varying fortunes of "our side." + +A grand match was planned for the Fourth of July; but when the club +met, things were found to be unpropitious. Thorny had gone out of town +with his sister to pass the day, two of the best players did not +appear, and the others were somewhat exhausted by the festivities, +which began at sunrise for them. So they lay about on the grass in the +shade of the big elm, languidly discussing their various wrongs and +disappointments. + +"It's the meanest Fourth I ever saw. Can't have no crackers, because +somebody's horse got scared last year," growled Sam Kitteridge, +bitterly resenting the stern edict which forbade free-born citizens to +burn as much gunpowder as they liked on that glorious day. + +"Last year Jimmy got his arm blown off when they fired the old cannon. +Didn't we have a lively time going for the doctors and getting him +home?" asked another boy, looking as if he felt defrauded of the most +interesting part of the anniversary, because no accident had occurred. + +"Ain't going to be fire-works either, unless somebody's barn burns up. +Don't I just wish there would," gloomily responded another youth who +had so rashly indulged in pyrotechnics on a former occasion that a +neighbor's cow had been roasted whole. + +"I wouldn't give two cents for such a slow old place as this. Why, last +Fourth at this time, I was rumbling through Boston streets up top of +our big car, all in my best toggery. Hot as pepper, but good fun +looking in at the upper windows and hearing the women scream when the +old thing waggled round and I made believe I was going to tumble off," +said Ben, leaning on his bat with the air of a man who had seen the +world and felt some natural regret at descending from so lofty a +sphere. + +"Catch me cutting away if I had such a chance as that!" answered Sam, +trying to balance _his_ bat on his chin and getting a smart rap across +the nose as he failed to perform the feat. + +"Much you know about it, old chap. It's hard work, I can tell you, and +that wouldn't suit such a lazy bones. Then you are too big to begin, +though you might do for a fat boy if Smithers wanted one," said Ben, +surveying the stout youth with calm contempt. + +"Let's go in swimming, not loaf round here, if we can't play," proposed +a red and shiny boy, panting for a game of leap-frog in Sandy pond. + +"May as well; don't see much else to do," sighed Sam, rising like a +young elephant. + +The others were about to follow, when a shrill "Hi, hi, boys, hold on!" +made them turn about to behold Billy Barton tearing down the street +like a runaway colt, waving a long strip of paper as he ran. + +"Now, then, what's the matter?" demanded Ben, as the other came up +grinning and puffing, but full of great news. + +"Look here, read it! I'm going; come along, the whole of you," panted +Billy, putting the paper into Sam's hand, and surveying the crowd with +a face as beaming as a full moon. + +"Look out for the big show," read Sam. "Van Amburgh & Co.'s New Great +Golden Menagerie, Circus and Colosseum, will exhibit at Berryville, +July 4th, at 1 and 7 precisely. Admission 50 cents, children +half-price. Don't forget day and date. H. Frost, Manager." + +While Sam read, the other boys had been gloating over the enticing +pictures which covered the bill. There was the golden car, filled with +noble beings in helmets, all playing on immense trumpets; the +twenty-four prancing steeds with manes, tails, and feathered heads +tossing in the breeze; the clowns, the tumblers, the strong men, and +the riders flying about in the air as if the laws of gravitation no +longer existed. But, best of all, was the grand conglomeration of +animals where the giraffe appears to stand on the elephant's back, the +zebra to be jumping over the seal, the hippopotamus to be lunching off +a couple of crocodiles, and lions and tigers to be raining down in all +directions with their mouths wide open and their tails as stiff as that +of the famous Northumberland House lion. + +"Cricky! wouldn't I like to see that," said little Cyrus Fay, devoutly +hoping that the cage, in which this pleasing spectacle took place, was +a very strong one. + +"You never would, it's only a picture! That, now, is something like," +and Ben, who had pricked up his ears at the word "circus," laid his +finger on a smaller cut of a man hanging by the back of his neck with a +child in each hand, two men suspended from his feet, and the third +swinging forward to alight on his head. + +"I'm going," said Sam, with calm decision, for this superb array of +unknown pleasures fired his soul and made him forget his weight. + +"How will you fix it?" asked Ben, fingering the bill with a nervous +thrill all through his wiry limbs, just as he used to feel it when his +father caught him up to dash into the ring. + +"Foot it with Billy. It's only four miles, and we've got lots of time, +so we can take it easy. Mother wont care, if I send word by Cy," +answered Sam, producing half a dollar, as if such magnificent sums were +no strangers to his pocket. + +"Come on, Brown; you'll be a first-rate fellow to show us round, as you +know all the dodges," said Billy, anxious to get his money's worth. + +"Well, I don't know," began Ben, longing to go, but afraid Mrs. Moss +would say "No!" if he asked leave. + +"He's afraid," sneered the red-faced boy, who felt bitterly toward all +mankind at that instant, because he knew there was no hope of _his_ +going. + +"Say that again, and I'll knock your head off," and Ben faced round +with a gesture which caused the other to skip out of reach +precipitately. + +"Hasn't got any money, more likely," observed a shabby youth, whose +pockets never had anything in them but a pair of dirty hands. + +Ben calmly produced a dollar bill and waved it defiantly before this +doubter, observing with dignity: + +"I've got money enough to treat the whole crowd, if I choose to, which +I _don't_." + +"Then come along and have a jolly time with Sam and me. We can buy some +dinner and get a ride home, as like as not," said the amiable Billy, +with a slap on the shoulder, and a cordial grin which made it +impossible for Ben to resist. + +"What are you stopping for?" demanded Sam, ready to be off, that they +might "take it easy." + +"Don't know what to do with Sancho. He'll get lost or stolen if I take +him, and it's too far to carry him home if you are in a hurry," began +Ben, persuading himself that this was the true reason for his delay. + +"Let Cy take him back. He'll do it for a cent; wont you, Cy?" proposed +Billy, smoothing away all objections, for he liked Ben, and saw that he +wanted to go. + +"No, I wont; I _don't_ like him. He winks at me, and growls when I +touch him," muttered naughty Cy, remembering how much reason poor Sanch +had to distrust his tormentor. + +"There's Bab; she'll do it. Come here, sissy; Ben wants you," called +Sam, beckoning to a small figure just perching on the fence. + +Down it jumped and came fluttering up, much elated at being summoned by +the captain of the sacred nine. + +"I want you to take Sanch home, and tell your mother I'm going to walk, +and may be wont be back till sundown. Miss Celia said I might do what I +pleased, all day. You remember, now." + +Ben spoke without looking up, and affected to be very busy buckling a +strap into Sanch's collar, for the two were so seldom parted that the +dog always rebelled. It was a mistake on Ben's part, for while his eyes +were on his work, Bab's were devouring the bill, which Sam still held, +and her suspicions were aroused by the boys' faces. + +"Where are you going? Ma will want to know," she said, as curious as a +magpie all at once. + +"Never you mind; girls can't know everything. You just catch hold of +this and run along home. Lock Sanch up for an hour, and tell your +mother I'm all right," answered Ben, bound to assert his manly +supremacy before his mates. + +"He's going to the circus," whispered Fay, hoping to make mischief. + +"Circus! Oh, Ben, _do_ take me!" cried Bab, falling into a state of +great excitement at the mere thought of such delight. + +"You couldn't walk four miles," began Ben. + +"Yes, I could, as easy as not." + +"You haven't got any money." + +"You have; I saw you showing your dollar, and you could pay for me, +and Ma would pay it back." + +"Can't wait for you to get ready." + +"I'll go as I am. I don't care if it is my old hat," and Bab jerked it +on to her head. + +"Your mother wouldn't like it." + +"She wont like your going, either." + +"She isn't my missis now. Miss Celia wouldn't care, and I'm going, +anyway." + +"Do, do take me, Ben! I'll be just as good as ever was, and I'll take +care of Sanch all the way," pleaded Bab, clasping her hands and looking +round for some sign of relenting in the faces of the boys. + +"Don't you bother; we don't want any girls tagging after us," said Sam, +walking off to escape the annoyance. + +"I'll bring you a roll of chickerberry lozengers, if you wont tease," +whispered kind-hearted Billy, with a consoling pat on the crown of the +shabby straw hat. + +"When the circus comes here you shall go, certain sure, and Betty too," +said Ben, feeling mean while he proposed what he knew was a hollow +mockery. + +"They never do come to such little towns; you said so, and I think you +are very cross, and I wont take care of Sanch, so, now!" cried Bab +getting into a passion, yet ready to cry, she was so disappointed. + +"I suppose it wouldn't do--" hinted Billy, with a look from Ben to +the little girl, who stood winking hard to keep the tears back. + +"Of course it wouldn't. I'd like to see _her_ walking eight miles. I +don't mind paying for her; it's getting her there and back. Girls are +such a bother when you want to knock round. No, Bab, you _can't_ go. +Travel right home and don't make a fuss. Come along, boys; it's most +eleven, and we don't want to walk fast." + +Ben spoke very decidedly, and, taking Billy's arm, away they went, +leaving poor Bab and Sanch to watch them out of sight, one sobbing, the +other whining dismally. + +Somehow those two figures seemed to go before Ben all along the +pleasant road, and half spoilt his fun, for though he laughed and +talked, cut canes, and seemed as merry as a grig, he could not help +feeling that he ought to have asked leave to go, and been kinder to +Bab. + +"Perhaps Mrs. Moss would have planned somehow so we could _all_ go, if +I'd told her. I'd like to show her round, and she's been real good to +me. No use now. I'll take the girls a lot of candy and make it all +right." + +He tried to settle it in that way and trudged gayly on, hoping Sancho +wouldn't feel hurt at being left, wondering if any of "Smither's lot" +would be round, and planning to do the honors handsomely to the boys. + +It was very warm, and just outside of the town they passed by a wayside +watering-trough to wash their dusty faces and cool off before plunging +into the excitements of the afternoon. As they stood refreshing +themselves, a baker's cart came jingling by, and Sam proposed a hasty +lunch while they rested. A supply of gingerbread was soon bought, and, +climbing the green bank above, they lay on the grass under a wild +cherry-tree, munching luxuriously while they feasted their eyes at the +same time on the splendors awaiting them, for the great tent, with all +its flags flying, was visible from the hill. + +[Illustration: "THERE STOOD BAB WAITING FOR SANCHO TO LAP HIS FILL OUT +OF THE OVERFLOWING TROUGH."] + +"We'll cut across those fields,--it's shorter than going by the +road,--and then we can look round outside till it's time to go in. I +want to have a good go at everything, especially the lions," said Sam, +beginning on his last cookie. + +"I heard 'em roar just now;" and Billy stood up to gaze with big eyes +at the flapping canvas which hid the king of beasts from his longing +sight. + +"That was a cow mooing. Don't you be a donkey, Bill. When you hear a +real roar, you'll shake in your boots," said Ben, holding up his +handkerchief to dry after it had done double duty as towel and napkin. + +"I wish you'd hurry up, Sam. Folks are going in now. I see 'em;" and +Billy pranced with impatience for this was his first circus, and he +firmly believed that he was going to behold all that the pictures +promised. + +"Hold on a minute while I get one more drink. Buns are dry fodder," +said Sam, rolling over to the edge of the bank and preparing to descend +with as little trouble as possible. + +He nearly went down head first, however, for, as he looked before he +leaped, he beheld a sight which caused him to stare with all his might +for an instant, then turn and beckon, saying in an eager whisper: "Look +here, boys--quick!" + +Ben and Billy peered over, and both suppressed an astonished "Hullo!" +for there stood Bab waiting for Sancho to lap his fill out of the +overflowing trough. + +Such a shabby, tired-looking couple as they were! Bab with a face as +red as a lobster and streaked with tears, shoes white with dust, +play-frock torn at the gathers, something bundled up in her apron, and +one shoe down at the heel as if it hurt her. Sancho lapped eagerly, +with his eyes shut; all his ruffles were gray with dust, and his tail +hung wearily down, the tassel at half-mast, as if in mourning for the +master whom he had come to find. Bab still held the strap, intent on +keeping her charge safe though she lost herself; but her courage seemed +to be giving out, as she looked anxiously up and down the road, seeing +no sign of the three familiar figures she had been following as +steadily as a little Indian on the war-trail. + +"Oh, Sanch, what _shall_ I do if they don't come along? We must have +gone by them somewhere, for I don't see any one that way, and there +isn't any other road to the circus, seems to me." + +Bab spoke as if the dog could understand and answer, and Sancho looked +as if he did both, for he stopped drinking, pricked up his ears, and, +fixing his sharp eyes on the grass above him, gave a suspicious bark. + +"It's only squirrels; don't mind, but come along and be good, for I'm +so tired I don't know what to do!" sighed Bab, trying to pull him after +her as she trudged on, bound to see the outside of that wonderful tent, +even if she never got in. + +But Sancho had heard a soft chirrup, and with a sudden bound twitched +the strap away, sprang up the bank, and landed directly on Ben's back +as he lay peeping over. A peal of laughter greeted him, and having got +the better of his master in more ways than one, he made the most of the +advantage by playfully worrying him as he kept him down, licking his +face in spite of his struggles, burrowing in his neck with a ticklish +nose, snapping at his buttons, and yelping joyfully, as if it was the +best joke in the world to play hide-and-seek for four long miles. + +Before Ben could quiet him, Bab came climbing up the bank with such a +funny mixture of fear, fatigue, determination, and relief in her dirty +little face that the boys could not look awful if they tried. + +"How dared you come after us, miss?" demanded Sam, as she looked calmly +about her and took a seat before she was asked. + +"Sanch _would_ come after Ben; I couldn't make him go home, so I had to +hold on till he was safe here, else he'd be lost, and then Ben would +feel bad." + +The cleverness of that excuse tickled the boys immensely, and Sam tried +again, while Ben was getting the dog down and sitting on him. + +"Now you expect to go to the circus, I suppose." + +"Course I do. Ben said he didn't mind paying if I could get there +without bothering him, and I have, and I'll go home alone. I aint +afraid. Sanch will take care of me, if you wont," answered Bab, +stoutly. + +"What do you suppose your mother will say to you?" asked Ben, feeling +much reproached by her last words. + +"I guess she'll say you led me into mischief," and the sharp child +nodded as if she defied him to deny the truth of that. + +"You'll catch it when you get home, Ben, so you'd better have a good +time while you can," advised Sam, thinking Bab great fun, since none of +the blame of her pranks would fall on him. + +"What would you have done if you _hadn't_ found us?" asked Billy, +forgetting his impatience in his admiration for this plucky young lady. + +"I'd have gone on and seen the circus, and then I'd have gone home +again and told Betty all about it," was the prompt answer. + +"But you haven't any money." + +"Oh, I'd ask somebody to pay for me. I'm so little, it wouldn't be +much." + +"Nobody would do it, so you'd have to stay outside, you see." + +"No, I wouldn't. I thought of that and planned how I'd fix it if I +didn't find Ben. I'd make Sanch do his tricks and get a quarter that +way, so now," answered Bab, undaunted by any obstacle. + +"I do believe she would! You are a smart child, Bab, and if I had +enough I'd take you in myself," said Billy, heartily; for, having +sisters of his own, he kept a soft place in his heart for girls, +especially enterprising ones. + +"I'll take care of her. It was very naughty to come, Bab, but so long +as you did, you needn't worry about anything. I'll see to you, and you +shall have a real good time," said Ben, accepting his responsibilities +without a murmur, and bound to do the handsome thing by his persistent +friend. + +"I thought you would," and Bab folded her arms as if she had nothing +further to do but enjoy herself. + +"Are you hungry?" asked Billy, fishing out several fragments of +gingerbread. + +"Starving!" and Bab ate them with such a relish that Sam added a small +contribution, and Ben caught some water for her in his hand where the +little spring bubbled up beside a stone. + +"Now, you go and wash your face and spat down your hair, and put your +hat on straight, and then we'll go," commanded Ben, giving Sanch a roll +on the grass to clean him. + +Bab scrubbed her face till it shone, and pulling down her apron to wipe +it, scattered a load of treasures collected in her walk. Some of the +dead flowers, bits of moss and green twigs fell near Ben, and one +attracted his attention,--a spray of broad, smooth leaves, with a bunch +of whitish berries on it. + +"Where did you get that?" he asked, poking it with his foot. + +"In a swampy place, coming along. Sanch saw something down there, and I +went with him 'cause I thought may be it was a musk-rat and you'd like +one if we could get him." + +"Was it?" asked the boys all at once and with intense interest. + +"No, only a snake, and I don't care for snakes. I picked some of that, +it was so green and pretty. Thorny likes queer leaves and berries, you +know," answered Bab, "spatting" down her rough locks. + +"Well, he wont like that, nor you either; it's poisonous, and I +shouldn't wonder if you'd got poisoned, Bab. Don't touch it; +swamp-sumach is horrid stuff, Miss Celia said so," and Ben looked +anxiously at Bab, who felt her chubby face all over and examined her +dingy hands with a solemn air, asking eagerly: + +"Will it break out on me 'fore I get to the circus?" + +"Not for a day or so, I guess; but it's bad when it does come." + +"I don't care, if I see the animals first. Come quick and never mind +the old weeds and things," said Bab, much relieved, for present bliss +was all she had room for now in her happy little heart. + +_(To be continued.)_ + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE ITALIAN FLOWER-MERCHANT.] + + + + +FATHER CHIRP. + +BY S.C. STONE. + + + Three little chirping crickets + Came, one night, to our door; + Tried all their keys, + Then tried their knees. + Till they could try no more. + + The biggest of the crickets + Scratched hard his shiny head; + And what to do, + And what to do, + He didn't know, he said. + +[Illustration: "THEN TRIED THEIR KNEES."] + + The door, it would not open + To comers so belated; + Nobody heard, + Nobody stirred, + As still the crickets waited. + + And then, as on a sudden, + By some new impulse bent, + Their voices three + 'Rose shrill and free, + To give their feelings vent! + +[Illustration: "HIGH UPON THEIR TINY LEGS."] + + Then high upon their tiny legs + They stretched, to peep and peer; + While right behind + The window-blind + I crouched, to see and hear. + + Louder the crickets chirped and chirped, + And, as I heard it then, + The tale they sung + In crickets' tongue + I render with my pen. + + The tallest one was Father Chirp; + Here was his early home; + Here lived his mother + And dearest brother, + And hither had he come; + + And with him brought his two brave sons, + Both skipping at his side, + To show to her, + Their grandmother, + With true paternal pride. + + "There used to be," sang Father Chirp, + "A little child about; + And that door there + Was free as air + For going in or out. + + "But days have passed since I lived here,-- + It's like the folks are dead! + My children, oh! + My children, oh! + I'm going to weep," he said. + + And then into his handkerchief + His little head went bobbing, + And his two heirs + They pulled out theirs, + And all three fell to sobbing. + +[Illustration: "ALL THREE FELL TO SOBBING."] + + I lost no time in opening wide + The door that had been fast; + And I could see + Those crickets three + Like dusky ghosts flit past. + + And when I, listening, heard a chirp, + Another, and another, + I knew as well + As words could tell + They'd found the old grandmother! + + + + +WHERE MONEY IS MADE. + +BY M.W. + + +"Ho!" I hear some New York boys say; "no need to tell us that. +Everybody knows that New York is the place to make money. Look at the +men in Wall street." + +Indeed! And what will you say if I tell you that there is not a dollar +of money made in New York; nor in Chicago, neither; though I know my +young friends who live there are eager to speak up and claim the honor. +There are but three cities in all the Union where money is actually +made; that is, where metals are coined. The principal mint of the +United States is in Philadelphia. Here are made all the copper and +nickel coins--one, two and five cent pieces--and a large part of the +gold and silver coins used in the country. There are also branch mints +at San Francisco and Carson City. And at these places gold and silver +coins of every value are coined in great quantities. + +Those of you who have been in Philadelphia will remember, on the north +side of Chestnut street, near Broad, a Grecian building of white +marble, somewhat gray from age, with a tall chimney rising from the +center, and the United States flag flying from the roof. This is the +mint. Let us climb the long flight of steps and enter the building. On +the door is a placard: "Visitors admitted from 9 to 12." The door opens +into a circular entrance hall, with seats around the wall. In a moment +a polite usher, who has grown gray in the service of the institution, +comes to show us all that visitors are allowed to see. He leads us +through a hall into an open court-yard in the middle of the building. +On the left is the weighing-room; and if you owned a gold mine, like +the boy I read of in a late number of ST. NICHOLAS, it is to this room +you would bring your gold to be weighed, so that you might know how +much money the mint must pay you for it. All the gold and silver +received in the mint is weighed in this room. Sometimes the gold is +brought in the form of fine dust; sometimes in the shape of grains from +the size of a pin's head to that of a pea; sometimes in plates and +bars, and sometimes it is old jewelry and table service. Visitors are +not allowed to enter the weighing-room; but, by looking through the +window you can see the scales, large and small, which are balanced with +wonderful delicacy, and the vault on the other side, where the treasure +is kept. + +[Illustration: THE MINT AT PHILADELPHIA.] + +"When the gold has been weighed," says our guide, "it is locked up in +iron boxes, and carried to the melting-room, where it is melted and +poured into molds." + +A small piece is then cut off, and its fineness ascertained by a long +and delicate process called assaying. This decides the value of the +lot. The depositor is then paid, and the metal is handed over to the +melter and refiner, to be entirely freed from its impurities and made +fit for coinage. + +And a hard time it has of it, to be sure. Nothing but pure gold and +silver could ever stand such treatment. It is melted again, dissolved +in nitric acid, squeezed under immense pressure, baked in a hot cellar, +and finally carried to this dingy-looking room, at the left of the +court-yard, where we have stood all this time. The metal is perfectly +pure now, but before the final melting one-tenth of its weight in +copper is added to it, to make it hard enough to bear the rough usage +which it will meet with in traveling about the world. + +The room would be dark but for the fiery glow of the furnaces which +line one end of the place. On these are a number of small pots, filled +with red-hot liquid metal; and while we look, a workman lifts one after +another, with a pair of long tongs, and pours the glowing gold in +streams into narrow iron molds. + +"This piece of gold," says the usher, taking up one of the yellow bars +from a cold mold, "is called an ingot, and is worth about 1,200 +dollars." + +One of the party asks why one end of the ingot is shaped like a wedge. + +"That it may enter easily between the rollers," is the reply. "You will +see the rollers when we go upstairs." + +The guide calls our attention to the curious false floor, made of iron +in a honey-comb pattern, and divided into small sections so that it can +be readily taken up to save the dust. He tells us that the sweepings of +these rooms have sometimes proved to be worth fifty thousand dollars in +a single year. The particles which adhere to the workmen's clothing are +also carefully saved, and there is an arrangement in the chimney for +arresting any light-minded atoms that may try to pass off in the smoke. + +We would gladly remain longer, peering in at the glowing fires and the +swarthy figures of the workmen, but our guide is already half-way +across the court, and we reluctantly follow, stepping aside to make +room for a workman with his burden of silver bars, which he is carrying +to the next process. + +This takes place in the rolling-room, where the short, thick ingots are +pressed between two steel rollers, again and again, till they are +rolled down into long thin ribbons of metal about the thickness of a +coin. + +[Illustration: THE ROLLERS.] + +The next step in the work is to draw the metal ribbons through a +"draw-plate," to bring them down to an exactly uniform thickness. This +pulling through a narrow slit in a steel plate hardens the metal, and +again and again it has to be put in the fire and brought to a light red +to make it soft and pliable. This drawing and annealing brings each +band of metal to just the right thickness and condition, and we may go +on and see the cutting-presses that stamp out the round pieces of metal +called "planchets." A workman takes a ribbon of gold and inserts the +end in the immense jaws of the press, and they bite, bite and bite, and +the round bits of gold drop in a shower into a box below. + +[Illustration: POURING THE MELTED GOLD INTO THE MOLDS.] + +"This press," says the usher, "is cutting double-eagles; and in the +single moment, by the watch, that we have been looking at it, it has +cut forty-five hundred dollars' worth. The same number of cuts would +make only two dollars and twenty cents if made in copper." + +The machine goes on hastily biting out the round planchets to the end +of the ribbon, and then the guide holds up the long strip full of +holes, much as you have seen the dough after the cook has cut out her +ginger-snaps. These perforated bars go back to the furnace to be melted +over. + +"The planchets," says the guide, "after being annealed in those +furnaces which you see at the rear of the room, are taken upstairs and +most carefully weighed." + +None but women are employed in the weighing-room, and so delicate are +the scales that they will move with the weight of a hair. If a planchet +is found too light, it is thrown aside to be remelted; if only slightly +over the proper weight, a tiny particle is filed off from the edge; but +if the weight is much in excess, it is to go back to the furnace. +Nothing but perfection passes here, you see. + +Now, one final washing in acid, then in water, and these much-enduring +bits of metal are admitted to the coining-room, there to receive the +stamp which testifies to their worth. + +In the coining-room the planchets are first given to the +milling-machine. They are laid down flat between two steel rings, and +as the rings move one draws nearer to the other, and the planchets are +squeezed and crowded on every side, and finding no escape they turn up +about the edges and come out at the end of the sorry little journey +with a rim raised around the edges. Beyond the milling-machines stand +the ten coining-presses. These presses are attended by women. Watch +this one near us. At her right hand is a box containing silver +planchets, which are to be coined into fifty-cent pieces. On that round +"die," which you see in the center of the machine, are engraved the +letters and figures which are to appear on the back of the half-dollar. +Directly above the die, on the end of a rod, which works up and down +with the most exquisite accuracy, is the sunken impression of the face. + +[Illustration: THE CUTTING PRESS.] + +The woman gathers up a handful of the planchets and drops them one at a +time into a brass tube, which they just fit. They slip down in the +tube, and as the lowest planchet slides from under the tube, two small +steel arms spring out and grasp it and lay it on the die. At the same +instant, the upper die descends with a quick thump, and the silver +counter, stamped in a twinkling on both sides, falls into a box below. +In an instant, another takes its place, and thus they go on dropping +under the swiftly moving rod, and turning into coins in a flash. + +[Illustration: "THE LONG STRIP FULL OF HOLES."] + +Take up one of the coins and study it carefully. Every mark, letter, +number and bit of decoration is deeply cut in the metal. Even the +"reeding," or roughened edge, is stamped sharply, and we can tell just +what the coin is by feeling of it with the finger, even in the dark. +This last step finishes the work. The money is made, coined and ready +for exchange in the shop and market. Sometimes you may have noticed +that coins, like the nickel five-cent and the silver twenty-cent piece, +have smooth edges. In these coins the reeding is omitted. The dies in +the presses have only the letters and figures of the face and back of +the coin, and when the planchet is caught between them the metal is +squeezed up against the smooth sides of the die, and none of the little +reeding marks on the edge are formed. + +"And now," says our kind conductor, "you have seen all the process of +making money. This next room is the cabinet, and here you can remain as +long as you please." + +But I have not time to tell you half the curious and instructive things +you may see in this apartment. There are coins of all nations and ages. +Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, bearing effigies of forgotten kings and +emperors; curious oblong coins, of very fine workmanship, from China +and Japan, and others of a square shape with a hole in the middle, that +they may be strung on a string, instead of putting them into a purse. +Smallest of all, so small that you might overlook it, if your attention +was not especially drawn to it, is the "widow's mite." Perhaps----who +knows?--this may be the very coin which, dropped into the +trumpet-shaped mouth of the treasury, called forth the commendation of +the Savior upon the poor giver. + +In other cases are the coins of England, France, Germany and other +modern nations; some more beautiful than our own, others far inferior +to them in design and workmanship. The cases around the wall are filled +with beautiful minerals, and, in particular, many fine specimens of +gold in its native state. + +For so long a time have we been using paper money in this country that +it seemed almost useless to have mints to make coins, when ordinary +people never saw any of them, excepting those made of copper or nickel. + +But our merchants, and others dealing with foreign countries, needed +gold, for our paper money could not be sent to Europe, or anywhere out +of the United States, to pay for goods; and so gold eagles and +double-eagles and half-eagles and quarter-eagles and gold dollars were +coined to be sent away, or to be used here to pay duties on imports. +Silver coins also were made, to be used in foreign countries, and among +these was the trade-dollar, which many of you may have seen. + +[Illustration: THE COINING-PRESS.] + +When silver small-change lately came into use again, there were many +boys and girls who had never seen a quarter or a half dollar. When they +spoke of fifty or twenty-five cents, they meant a piece of paper +currency, printed like a bank-note, of no value in itself, but only a +promise to pay. + +But, since Congress has decided that we are to have not only silver +small-change, but also silver dollars, and now that these have became +again a part of the legal currency of the country; all three of our +mints have gone to work and are coining dollars as fast as they can, +for millions of them will be required, if we are all to use them. + +I hope that you and I, dear reader, may be able to get as many of these +new dollars as we actually shall need, though perhaps none of us may +ever have as many of them, or of any other kind of money, as we think +we should like to have. + + + + +A SONG OF SPRING. + +BY CAROLINE A. MASON. + + + O the sweet spring days when the grasses grow. + And the violets blow, + And the lads and the lassies a-maying go! + + When the mosses cling in their velvet sheen, + Like a fringe of green, + To the rocks that o'er the deep pools lean; + + When the brooks wake up with a merry leap + From their winter sleep, + And the frogs in the meadows begin to peep; + + When the robin sings, thro' the long bright hours, + Of his southern bowers, + With a dream in his heart of the coming flowers; + + When the earth is full of delicious smells + From the ferny dells, + And the scent of the breeze quite plainly tells + + He has been with the apple-blooms! They fly + From his kisses sly + Like feathery snow-flakes scurrying by! + + O the saucy pranks of the madcap breeze + In the blossoming trees! + O the sounds that thrill, and the sights that please, + + And the nameless joys that the May days bring + On their glad, glad wing! + O the dear delights of the sweet, sweet spring! + + + + +SAM'S BIRTHDAY. + +BY IRWIN RUSSELL. + + +On the nineteenth day of last month, Sam could and would have +testified, from information and belief, that he was "eight yeahs ol', +gwine on nine;" but on the morning of the twentieth, that interesting +infant of color was informed by his mother, as soon as he awoke, that +he was "nine yeahs ol', gwine on ten." When Aunt Phillis imparted this +surprising intelligence to her son, he was greatly amazed and +confounded; and he immediately began to speculate as to what +extraordinary combination of circumstances could have so suddenly +wrought this remarkable change. + +"Hoo-_ee_!" he cried, "whut a pow'ful while I mus' ha' slep'! Or else I +grows wuss an' dat ar Jonus's gourd you tol' me 'bout, whut wuz only a +_teenchy_ leetle simblin at night, and got big as de hen-house afore +mornin'--early sun-up. Hm! hey! look heah, mammy, is I skipped any +Christmusses?" + +"No, chile," replied his mother; "you aint skipped nuffin. Dis is yo' +buff-day: de 'fects ob which is, dat it's des so many yeahs sence you +wuz fust borned. I don't know how 't 'll be, Sam,--folks is sim'lar to +de cocoa-grass, whut grows up mighty peart, tell 'long come somebody +wid a hoe to slosh it down,--but ef you libs long enough, an' nuffin +happens, you'll keep on habbin a buff-day ebry yeah wunst a yeah till +you dies. An' ebry time you has one, son, you'll be one yeah older." + +"Fine way to git gray-headed," said Sam. + +At this moment a mighty crash resounded from the kitchen, down-stairs, +and Aunt Phillis descended the steps with great precipitation. Then Sam +heard her shouting, angrily: + +"You, Bose! Oh, you _bettah_ git, you mean ole no-'count rascal! I do +'_spise_ a houn'-dog!" + +Sam went on with his toilet, musing, the while, upon the probability of +his ever getting to be as old as Uncle "Afrikin Tommy," who was the +patriarch of the plantation, and popularly supposed to be "cluss onto" +two hundred years of age; and who was wont to aver that when _he_ +arrived in that part of the country, when he was a boy, the squirrels +all had two tails apiece, and the Mississippi River was such a small +stream that people bridged it, on occasion, with a fence-rail. Thus +meditating upon the glorious possibilities of his future, Sam got ready +for breakfast, and went down. It was not until he had absorbed an +enormous quantity of fried pickled-pork and hot corn-cakes, and finally +with reluctance ceased to eat, that his mother told him what had caused +the noise a little while before,--how old Bose, the fox-hound, had with +felonious intent come into the kitchen, and surreptitiously "supped up" +the chicken-soup that had been prepared for Sam's birthday breakfast; +and further, how the said delinquent had added insult to injury, by +contemptuously smashing the bowl that he had emptied. + +"I alluz did 'low," exclaimed Sam, in justifiable wrath, "as dat 'ar +ole houn' Bose wuz de triflin'est meanest dog in de whole State ob +Claiborne County!" + +Sam, however, was too true a philosopher to cry long over spilt +milk--or soup. He reflected that the breakfast he had just taken would +prevent his eating any soup, even if he had it. "I isn't injy-rubber," +said he to himself, with which beautiful and happy thought his frown +was superseded by a smile, the smile developed into his normal grin, +and he began to chant an appropriate stanza from one of his favorite +lyrics: + + "O-o-o-old Uncle John! + A-a-a-aunt Sally Goodin! + When you got enough corn-bread + It's des as good as puddin'." + +The excellent Aunt Phillis was much affected by this saint-like +conduct on the part of her son. She sighed; fearing that the boy was +too good to live. + +"Nemmind, Sam," said she; "you needn't tote no wood to-day, or fetch no +water, or do nuffin. Go down to de quarters, an' git Pumble to play wid +you." + +Pumble was a boy who in age and tastes corresponded closely with Sam, +as he did in complexion. His real name, at full length, was +Pumblechook,--he having been so christened at the instance of Mahs'r +George, in honor of the immortal corn-and-seedsman. Off went Sam in +search of this boy; and he found him at the back of the maternal +mansion splitting up pine-knots for kindlings. Sam approached him with +a very slow, dignified step, and a look of commiseration. + +"Hey, nigger!" said Sam, "dat's all you fit for, is to work. Why don't +you be a gemman like me, whut aint a-gwine to do a lick o' work dis +whole day?" + +"Done runned away, is you?" answered Pumble. "Well, I'll come 'round +dis ebenin, when de ole ooman gibs you a dose ob hickory-tea." + +"Dat'll do, boy;" said Sam. "Let you know dis is my buff-day, an' _I_ +wont work for _no_body, on _my_ buff-day. Go ax yo' mammy kin you come +up an' play wid me; tell her _my_ mammy sont word for you to come." + +Pumble dropped the hatchet, stared ecstatically, and ran in to obtain +the desired permission. It was granted. Then this dialogue occurred: + +"Be a good chile!" + +"Yes'm." + +"Don't forgit yo' manners!" + +"Nome." + +"'Member you's _my_ son!" + +"Yes'm." + +"Don't you git into no mischuf!" + +"Nome." + +"Ef you dose, I'll w'ar you out, sah! Now, go 'long!" + +The boys trotted merrily away together. But they had not gone fifty +rods before they heard Pumble's mother calling him. They stopped to +listen. + +"_Take--keer--ob yo'--clo'es!_" she shouted, and then went back into +her house. + +Under a great pecan-tree, on the lawn before the "big house," Sam and +Pumble sat down to consider and consult, or, as they expressed it, "to +study up whut us gwine to do." + +"Shill I tell a story?" asked Pumble. + +"Does you know a good one?" inquired Sam. + +"Dis story's gwine to be a new one," said Pumble "beakase I'll make it +up as I go 'long." + +"Tell ahead," said Sam. + +"Wunst apon a time--" began Pumble. + +"What time?" interrupted Sam. + +"Shut up! Wunst upon a time. Dey wuz a man. An' dis heah man lighted up +he pipe, an' started out on de big road. An' he went walkin' along. +Right stret along. An' walkin' along, an' walkin' along, _an'_ walkin' +along. An' _walkin'_ along. An' walkin' along, an' walkin' along--" + +"Dat man wuz gwine all de way, wuzn't he?" interjected the listener. + +[Illustration: "THE BOYS TROTTED MERRILY AWAY TOGETHER."] + +"He hadn't got _no_ way, hardly, yit," said Pumble, "but he kep' +a-walkin' along. An' walkin' along, an' walkin' along, an' walkin' +along, an' walkin' along, an' walkin' along, an' walkin' along, an' +walkin' along, an' walkin' along--." + +"Stop dat walkin' now," said Sam, "and tell whut he done when he _got +froo_ walkin'." + +"He come to de place he wuz a-gwine to," said Pumble. + +"Did he, sho' enough?" exclaimed Sam. "I wuz kinder skeered he wudn't +nebber git dar at all. Whut did he don nex'?" + +"De nex' t'ing he done," said Pumble, impressively, "wuz to turn right +'round an' go back whar he come from. An' dat's all!" + +As was his invariable custom when deeply impressed Sam began to sing, +Pumble joining in: + + "Jay-bird a-settin + On a swingin' limb, + He wink at Stephen, + Stephen wink at him; + Stephen pint de gun, + Pull on de trigger, + Off go de load-- + An' down come de nigger!" + +Greatly refreshed and invigorated by the chanting of this touching +ballad, Sam and Pumble returned to the consideration of their day's +programme. A great many amusements were proposed, discussed, and +rejected in their respective turns. Almost any one of them would have +been held entirely satisfactory on any ordinary occasion, but Sam +thought none of them good enough for his birthday. He required +something extraordinary. + +"Kaint you think up nuffin else?" he asked his friend, after a long +pause. + +"I done thinked plumb to de back o' my head a'ready," replied Pumble. + +"Den I tell you what," said Sam; "I heared my pappy say dis: when a +pusson want to think _rale strong_, he mus' lay down on de flat ob his +back and shet his eyes; an' den, putty soon, he kin think anything he +wants to. Let's try it." + +This plan was immediately experimented on. Pumble instantly succeeded +in thinking; but he only thought that he wished he could have a +"buff-day" of his own. Very soon afterward, he ceased to think at all. +As for Sam, _his_ thoughts were for some time very ordinary--of too +commonplace a nature to be here recorded; but they gradually assumed +such an odd and remarkable shape that they may fairly be described as a +vision. It seemed to Sam that the whole country around, as far as one +could see, was transformed into one great field, in a perfect state of +cultivation. But the growing "crop" was not one of cotton, or corn, or +cow-peas, or sorghum, or anything else that he had ever before seen in +such a place. Coming up out of the ground were long rows of very +singular bushes, whereof the stalks were sticks of candy, and the +leaves were blackberry pies, and over the whole field was falling a +drenching rain of molasses. Sam, however, was most astonished at the +curious fruit that the bushes bore. The twigs of some of them supported +jew's-harps and tin trumpets; others bent beneath a wealth of +fire-crackers and Roman candles; others, again, were weighted with his +favorite sardines; and so on in endless variety. It is not at all +surprising that the idea occurred to him that this crop ought to be +"picked." He found himself becoming highly indignant at the negligence +of the planter--whoever he might be--in leaving all these good things +to spoil on the bushes; and he burned with a desire to have them +properly gathered, and to assist in that work himself. Accordingly, he +was just about to reach for a pie and a jew's-harp, by way of +beginning, when he found that this was made impossible, by the fact of +himself having been suddenly and incomprehensibly changed to a huge +water-melon. Over him grew one of the largest bushes, from whose +branches depended seven roasted 'possums. It was some consolation to +look at them, and imagine how good they would taste if he only _could_ +taste them. Presently a little gingerbread bird flew down and began to +peck at him, and say, "Git up, Sam! You Sam! Sam!" + +He woke up, and found that the wonderful field had vanished, and that +he was lying under the old pecan-tree instead of the 'possum-bush; and +there was his mother shouting in his ear: + +"Sam! don't you heah me, you lazy--_S-a-m_! _Git_ up dis minnit an' go to +de well for a bucket ob water, sah, foah I _whoop_ you!" + +Pumble sat up and stared. + +"Why, mammy," said Sam, "you tol' me I needn't do no work, kase it's my +buff-day." + +"I's ben countin' it up ag'in," said Aunt Phillis, "an' foun' out where +I made a mis-figger, de fust time, and tallied wrong altogedder. +'Cordin' to de _c'rect_ calkilation, yo' buff-day was one day _las' +month._ WALK arter dat water!" + + + + +WAIT + +BY DORA READ GOODALE. + + + When the icy snow is deep, + Covering the frozen land, + Do the little flowerets peep + To be crushed by Winter's hand? + + No, they wait for brighter days, + Wait for bees and butterflies; + Then their dainty heads they raise + To the sunny, sunny skies. + + When the cruel north winds sigh, + When 'tis cold with wind and rain, + Do the birdies homeward fly + Only to go back again? + + No, they wait for spring to come, + Wait for gladsome sun and showers; + Then they seek their northern home, + Seek its leafy, fragrant bowers. + + Trustful as the birds and flowers, + Tho' our spring of joy be late, + Tho' we long for brighter hours, + We must ever learn to wait. + + + + +THE STORY OF MAY-DAY. + +BY OLIVE THORNE. + + +Alas, children! the world is growing old. Not that dear old Mother +Earth begins to show her six thousand (more or less) years, by stiff +joints and clumsy movements, by clinging to her winter's rest and her +warm coverlet of snow, forgetting to push up the blue-eyed violets in +the spring, or neglecting to unpack the fresh green robes of the trees. +No, indeed! The blessed mother spins around the sun as gayly as she did +in her first year. She rises from her winter sleep fresh and young as +ever. Every new violet is as exquisitely tinted, as sweetly scented, as +its predecessors of a thousand years ago. Each new maple-leaf opens as +delicate and lovely as the first one that ever came out of its tightly +packed bud in the spring. Mother Nature never grows old. + +But the human race changes in the same way that each one of us does. +The race had its childhood when men and women played the games that are +now left to you youngsters. We can even see the change in our own day. +Some of us--who are not grandmothers, either--can remember when youth +of fourteen and fifteen played many games which, nowadays, an +unfortunate damsel of six years--ruffled, embroidered, and white +gowned, with delicate shoes, and hips in the vice-like grasp of a +modern sash--feels are altogether too young for her. I dare say I shall +live to see the once-beloved dolls abandoned to babies; and I fear the +next generation will find a Latin grammar in the cradle instead of a +rattle-box, and baby cutting his teeth scientifically, with a surgical +instrument, instead of on a rubber ring. + +Well, well! What _do_ you suppose our great-grandchildren will do? + +We must not let these old-fashioned customs be forgotten, and I want to +tell you the story of May-day. A curious tale is told of the beginning +of the May-day celebration, which is of more venerable age than perhaps +you know. You shall hear it, and then you can believe as much as you +choose, as all the rest of the world takes the liberty of doing; for +although the grave old Roman writers put it in their books for truth, +it is very much doubted by our modern wiseheads, because it is so +unreasonable, and so inelegant (as our dainty critic says). As though +the world was always reasonable, forsooth! or undoubted historical +facts did not sometimes lack the important quality of elegance! + +However it may be, here is the story: Many hundred years ago,--about +two hundred before Christ, in fact,--there lived in Rome a beautiful +woman named Flora. Had she lived in these luxurious days, she would +have enjoyed another name or two; but in those simple times she was +plain Flora. + +Being human, this lady had a great dread of being forgotten when she +had left the world. So she devised a plan to keep her memory green. She +made a will giving her large fortune to the city of Rome, on condition +that a festival in her memory should be celebrated every year. + +When the will came before the grave and reverend Roman senators, it +caused serious talk. To decline so rich a gift was not to be thought +of; yet to accept the condition they did not like, for it was a bold +request in Madam Flora, who had, to say the least, done nothing worthy +of celebrating. At last, according to the old story-tellers, a way out +of the difficulty was found, as there generally is; and the city +fathers decided to accept the terms, and make Flora worthy of the honor +by placing her among their minor deities, of which there were no less +than thirty thousand. She took her place as Goddess of Flowers, with a +celebration about the first of May, to be called Floralia, after her. + +This little story may be a fable; but now I shall tell you some facts. +When the Romans came to Britain to live, many hundred years ago, they +brought, of course, their own customs and festivals, among which was +this one in memory of Flora. The heathen--our ancestors, you +know--adopted them with delight, being in the childhood of their race. +They became very popular; and when, some years later, a good priest, +Gregory, came (from Rome also) to convert the natives, he wisely took +advantage of their fondness for festivals, and not trying to suppress +them, he simply altered them from heathen feasts to Christian games, by +substituting the names of saints and martyrs for heathen gods and +goddesses. Thus the Floralia became May-day celebration, and lost none +of its popularity by the change. On the contrary, it was carried on all +over England for ages, till its origin would have been lost but for a +few pains-taking old writers, who "made notes" of everything. + +The Floralia we care nothing for, but the May-day games have lasted +nearly to our day, and some relics of it still survive in our young +country. When you crown a May queen, or go with a May party, you are +simply following a custom that the Romans began, and that our remote +ancestors in England carried to such lengths, that not only ordinary +people, but lords and ladies, and even king and queen, laid aside their +state and went "a-Maying" early in the morning, to wash their faces in +May dew, and bring home fresh boughs and flowers to deck the May-pole, +which reared its flowery crown in every village. + +Great were the doings around the May-pole, for which the tallest and +straightest of trees was selected. It was drawn to its place by as many +as thirty or forty yoke of oxen, their horns decorated with flowers, +followed by all the lads and lassies of the village. The pole was wound +or painted with gay colors, and trimmed with garlands, bright +handkerchiefs, and ribbon streamers, from top to bottom. + +With great ceremonies, and shouts of joy, it was lifted to its place by +ropes and pulleys, and set up firmly in the ground; and then the people +joined hands and danced around it. The whole day was given up to +merriment, every one dressed in holiday clothes, doors and windows were +adorned with green boughs and flowers, the bells rang, processions of +people in grotesque dresses were arranged, and the famous Morris +dancers performed. + +In this dance the people assumed certain characters. There was always +Robin Hood, the great hero of the rustics; Maid Marian, the queen, with +gilt crown on her head; Friar Tuck; a fool, with his fool's-cap and +bells; and, above all, the hobby-horse. This animal was made of +pasteboard, painted a sort of pink color, and propelled by a man +inside, who made him perform various tricks not common to horses, such +as threading a needle and holding a ladle in his mouth for pennies. + +The various characters labored to support their parts. The friar gave +solemn advice, the queen imitated lady-like manners, the fool joked and +made fun, and the horse pranced in true horsey style. + +This Morris dance is supposed to have been brought in early times from +Spain, where the Moors danced it, and where it still survives as the +"fandango." + +All this May-day merriment came to an end when our grim Puritan fathers +had power in England. Dancing around the May-pole looked to them like +heathen adoration of an idol. Parliament made a law against it, and all +the May-poles in the island were laid in the dust. The common people +had their turn, when, a few years later, under a new king, the +prohibitory law was repealed and a new May-pole, the highest ever in +England (one hundred and thirty-four feet), was set up in the Strand, +London, with great pomp. But the English people were fast outgrowing +the sport, and the customs have been dying out ever since. Now, a very +few May-poles in obscure villages are all that can be found. + +Though May-pole and Morris dancing were the most common, there were +other curious customs in different parts of the kingdom. In one place, +the Mayers went out very early to the woods, and gathering green +boughs, decorated every door with one. A house containing a sweetheart +had a branch of birch, the door of a scold was disgraced with alder, +and a slatternly person had the mortification to find a branch of a +nut-tree at hers, while the young people who overslept found their +doors closed by a nail over the latch. + +In other places, wreaths were made on hoops, with a gayly dressed doll +in the middle of each, and carried about by girls, the little owners +singing a ballad which had been sung since the time of Queen Bess,--and +expecting a shower of pennies, of course. + +In Dublin, the youths decorated a bush, four or five feet high, with +candles, which they lighted and danced around till burnt out. They then +lighted a huge bonfire, threw the bush on it, and continued their dance +around that. In other parts of Ireland, the boys had a mischievous +habit of running through the streets with bundles of nettles, with +which they struck the face and hands of every one they met. The sting +of nettle, perhaps you know, is a very uncomfortable pain. The same +people are very superstitious, and they believed that the power of the +Evil Eye was greater on the first of May than at any other time; and +they insured a good supply of milk for the year by putting a green +bough against the house, which is certainly an easy way. In old times, +the Druids drove all the cattle through the fire, to keep them from +diseases, and this custom still survives in parts of Ireland, where +many a peasant who owns a cow and a bit of straw is careful to do the +same. + +In the Scottish Highlands, in the eighteenth century, the boys had a +curious custom. They would go to the moors outside of the town, make a +round table in the sod, by cutting a trench around it, deep enough for +them to sit down to their grassy table. On this table they would kindle +a fire and cook a custard of eggs and milk, and knead a cake of +oat-meal, which was toasted by the fire. After eating the custard, the +cake was cut into as many parts as there were boys; one piece was made +black with coal, and then all put into a cap. Each boy was in turn +blindfolded, and made to take a piece, and the one who selected the +black one was to be sacrificed to Baal, whose favor they wished to ask +for their harvest. The victim in that day had only to leap through the +fire; but there is little doubt that the whole thing was a survival +from the days when human beings were really sacrificed. + +In the island of Lewis, in the west of Scotland, there prevails a +custom of sending a man very early on May-day to cross a certain river, +believing that if a woman crossed it first the salmon would not come +into the stream for a year. + +May-day festivals were not confined to the British islands. They were +found, with variations suited to the different races, all over Europe. +In France, the day was consecrated to the Virgin, and young girls +celebrated it by dressing the prettiest one in white, crowning, and +decorating her with flowers, and throning her under a canopy of flowers +and greens, built beside the road. There she sat in state, while her +attendants begged of passers-by, for the "Lady of the May," money, +which was used in a feast later in the day. + +In Toulouse, there was an ancient custom of giving a prize of a golden +violet for the best poem. This custom held its place for more than four +centuries. May-poles also flourished in France, and had gilt pendants. + +The Dutch May-pole was still different, being surrounded by trees stuck +into flower-pots, and ornamented with gay-colored flags, and hoops with +garlands and gilt balls hanging. Another sort had wooden dolls made to +represent the figures of peasants, nailed against the pole by their +hands and knees, as though climbing it. There were also figures of +birds and people. In some parts of Germany it was the firm belief of +the common people that certain ill-disposed beings met on a high +mountain on May-day to dance and feast, with no good intentions to +their human neighbors. Accordingly on the day before, every family was +careful to have a thorn of a certain kind, which was stuck into the +door as a protection. + +[Illustration: AN OLD-TIME MAY-DAY IN "MERRIE ENGLAND."] + +The Scandinavians, whose first of May is not very balmy, had of old a +curious fight between Summer and Winter. Winter--or the man +representing him--was dressed in skins, armed with fire-forks, and +threw snow-balls and pieces of ice. Summer was dressed in green leaves +and summer dress. They had a mock fight which was called "Driving away +Winter and welcoming Summer," and in the Isle of Man, where Norwegians +had rule for many years, this custom lingered until very lately. + +But, as the years went on, these merry games died out, and a few years +ago May-day was in London simply the festival of chimney-sweeps and +milk-maids, certainly a falling off from the times of King Henry VIII. +The only traces of the old custom of going a-Maying were the garlands +of the milk-maids and the Jack-in-the-green of the sweeps. The garland +(so called) was made of silver plate, borrowed for the day, and +fastened upon a sort of pyramid. Accompanying this droll garland were +the maids themselves in gay dress, with ribbons and flowers, and +attended by musicians who played for them to dance in the street. +Sometimes a cow was dressed in festive array, with bouquets and ribbons +on her horns, neck and tail, and over her back a net, stuck full of +flowers. Thus highly ornamented, the meek creature was led through the +streets. + +The sweeps brought out the Jack-in-the-green, which was a tall cone +made of green boughs, decorated with flowers, gay streamers and a +flag, and carried by a man inside. Each of these structures was +followed by a band of sweeps who assumed certain characters, the +fashion of which had been handed down from the palmy times of May-day. + +There were always a lord and lady who wore ridiculous imitations of +fashionable dress, and made ludicrous attempts to imitate elegant +manners. Mad Moll and her husband were another pair who flourished in +tawdry, gay-colored rags, and tatters, he brandishing a sweep's broom +and she a ladle. Jim Crow and a fancifully bedizened ballet-dancer in +white muslin, often swelled the ranks, and the rest of the party rigged +out in a profusion of gilt paper, flowers, tinsel and gewgaws, their +faces and legs colored with brick-dust, made up a comical crowd. But +even these mild remains of the great festival are almost entirely +banished to the rural districts, and are almost extinct there. + +Poor Flora! (if there ever was such a person) she has her wish (if that +wish ever existed save in the imagination of the Romans); she is not +forgotten; her story survives in musty books, though her personality be +questioned; various marble statues bear her pretty name, and, after +running this declining scale through the ages, she and her May-day are +softened by time to a fragrant memory. + + + + +WILD GEESE. + +BY CELIA THAXTER. + + + The wind blows, the sun shines, the birds sing loud, + The blue, blue sky is flecked with fleecy dappled cloud, + Over earth's rejoicing fields the children dance and sing, + And the frogs pipe in chorus, "It is spring! it is spring!" + + The grass comes, the flower laughs where lately lay the snow, + O'er the breezy hill-top hoarsely calls the crow, + By the flowing river the alder catkins swing, + And the sweet song-sparrow cries, "Spring! it is spring!" + + Hark, what a clamor goes winging through the sky! + Look, children! Listen to the sound so wild and high! + Like a peal of broken bells,--kling, klang, kling,-- + Far and high the wild geese cry, "Spring! it is spring!" + + Bear the winter off with you, O wild geese dear! + Carry all the cold away, far away from here; + Chase the snow into the north, O strong of heart and wing, + While we share the robin's rapture, crying, "Spring! it is spring!" + + + + +THE CHARCOAL-BURNERS' FIRE; OR, EASTER EVE AMONG THE COSSACKS. + +(_A Russian Legend._) + +BY DAVID KER. + + +"If you want me to tell you any wonderful stories, Barin, such as +_you've_ been telling us," says Ostap Mordenko, shaking his bushy +yellow beard, as he finished his cup of tea, "you're just looking for +corn upon a rock, as the saying is; for _I_ never had an adventure +since the day I was born, except that time when I slipped through a +hole in the ice, last winter. But, perhaps, it will do as well if I +tell you an old tale that I've heard many a time from my grandfather, +that's dead (may the kingdom of heaven be his!), and which will show +you how there may be hope for a man, even when everything seems to be +at the very worst. + +"Many, many years ago, there lived in a village on the Don River, a +poor man. When I say he was poor, I don't mean that he had a few holes +in his coat at times, or that he had to go without a dinner every now +and then, for that's what we've all had to do in our time; but it +fairly seemed as if poverty were his brother, and had come to stay with +him for good and all. Many a cold day his stove was unlighted, because +he couldn't afford to buy wood; and he lived on black bread and cold +water from the New Year to the Nativity--it was no good talking to +_him_ about cabbage soup, or salted cucumber, or tea with lemon in +it.[A] + +"Now, if he had only had himself to be troubled about, it wouldn't have +mattered a kopeck,[B] for a _man_ can always make shift for himself. +But, you see, this man had been married once upon a time, and, although +his wife was gone, his three children were left, and he had _them_ to +care for as well as himself. And, what was worse, instead of being +boys, who might have gone out and earned something for themselves, they +were all girls, who could do nothing but stay at home and cry for food, +and many a time it went to his heart so that he stopped his ears, and +ran out of the house that he mightn't hear them. + +"However, as the saying is, 'Bear up, Cossack, and thou'll be Maman +(chief) some day;' so he struggled on somehow or other, till at last it +came to Easter Eve. And then all the village was up like a fair, some +lighting candles before the pictures of the saints; some baking cakes +and pies, and all sorts of good things; others running about in their +best clothes, greeting their friends and relations; and, as soon as it +came to midnight, such a kissing and embracing, such a shaking of hands +and exchanging of good wishes, as I daresay you've seen many a time in +our villages; and nothing to be heard all over the place but 'Christ is +risen!' 'He is risen indeed!'[C] + +"But, as you may think, our poor Stepka (Stephen) had neither new +clothes nor rejoicings in _his_ hut--nor lighted candles either, for +that matter. The good old priest had left him a few tapers as he +passed, for _he_ was always a kind man to the poor; but he had quote +forgotten that the poor fellow would have nothing to kindle them with, +and so, though the candles were in their places, all ready for +lighting, there was not a glimmer of light to be seen! And that +troubled poor Stepka more than all his other griefs, for he was a true +Russian, and thought it a sore thing that he could not even do honor to +the day on which our Lord had arisen from the dead. Besides, he had +hoped that the sight of the pretty light would amuse his children, and +make them forget their hunger a little; and at the thought of their +disappointment his heart was very sore. + +"However, as the proverb says, 'Sitting still won't make one's corn +grow.' So he got up and went out to beg a light from some of his +neighbors. But the people of the village (it's a pity to have to say +it), were a hard-hearted, cross-grained set, who had not a morsel of +compassion for a man in trouble; for they forgot that the tears of the +poor are God's thunder-bolts, and that every one of them will burn into +a man's soul at last, as good father Arkadi used to tell us. So, when +poor Stepka came up to one door after another, saying humbly, 'Give me +a light for my Easter candles, good neighbors, for the love of Heaven,' +some mocked at him, and others bade him begone, and others asked why he +didn't take better care of his own concerns, instead of coming +bothering _them_; and one or two laughed, and told him there was a fine +bright moon overhead, and all he had to do was to reach up a good long +stick and get as much light as he wanted. So, you see, the poor fellow +didn't get much by _that_ move; and what with the disappointment, and +what with grief at finding himself so shabbily treated by his own +neighbors, just because he happened to be poor, he was ready to go out +of his wits outright. + +"Just then he happened to look down into the plain (for the village +stood on the slope of a hill), and behold! there were ever so many +lights twinkling all over it, as if a regiment were encamped there; and +Stepka thought that this must be a gang of charcoal-burners halting for +the night, as they often did in passing to and fro. So, then the +thought struck him, "Why shouldn't I go and beg a light from _them_; +they can't well be harder upon me than my own neighbors have been. I'll +try, at any rate!" + +"And off he set, down the hill, right toward the encampment. + +"The nearer he came to it, the brighter the fires seemed to burn; and +the sight of the cheery light, and all the people coming and going +around it, all so busy and happy, made him feel comforted without +knowing why. He went right up to the nearest fire, and took off his +cap. + +"'Christ is risen!' said he. + +"'He is risen indeed!' answered one of the black men, in such a clear, +sweet voice, that it sounded to Stepka just like his mother singing him +to sleep when he was a child. + +"'Give me a light for my Easter candles, good people, I pray you.' + +"'You are heartily welcome,' said the other, pointing to the glowing +fire; 'but how are you going to carry it home?' + +[Illustration: STEPKA CARRIES THE FIRE IN HIS CLOAK.] + +"'Oh, dear me!' cried poor Stepka, striking his forehead, 'I never +thought about that!' + +"'Well, that shows that you were very much in earnest, my friend,' said +the other, laughing; 'but never mind; I think we can manage it for you. +Lay down your coat.' + +Stepka pulled off his old patched coat and laid it on the ground, +wondering what was to come next; but what was his amazement when the +man coolly threw two great shovelfuls of blazing wood into the coat, as +coolly as if it were a charcoal bucket! + +"'Hallo! hallo!' cried Stepka, seizing his arm, 'what on earth are you +about, burning my coat that way?' + +"'Your coat will be none the worse, brother,' said the charcoal-burner, +with a curious smile. 'Look and see!' + +"And, sure enough, the fire lay quietly in the hollow of the coat, and +never singed a thread of it! Stepka was so startled, that for a moment +he thought he had to do, not with charcoal-burners, but with something +worse; but, remembering how they had greeted him in the Holy Name, he +became easy again. + +"'Good luck to you, my lad,' said the strange man, as the Cossack took +up his load. 'You'll get it home all right, never fear.' + +"Away went Stepka like one in a dream, and never stopped till he got to +his own house. He lighted all his candles, and then awoke his children +(who had cried themselves to sleep) that they might enjoy the bonny +light; and, when they saw it they clapped their hands and shouted for +joy. + +"Just then Stepka happened to look toward his coat, which he had laid +down on the table, with the burning wood still in it, and started as if +he had been stung. It was choke-full of _gold_--good, solid ducats[D] +as ever were coined, more than he could have counted in a whole hour. +Then he knew that his strange companions were no charcoal-burners, but +God's own angels sent to help him in his need; and he kneeled down and +gave thanks to God for his mercy. + +"Now, just at that moment one of the neighbors happened to be passing, +and, hearing the children hurrahing and clapping their hands, he peeped +through the window, wondering what _they_ could find to be merry about. +But, when he saw the heap of gold on the table, everything else went +clean out of his head, and he opened the door and burst in, like a wolf +flying from the dogs. + +"'I say,' cried he, without even stopping to give Stepka the greeting +of the day, 'where did you get this fine legacy from? It makes one's +eyes blink to look at it!' + +"Now, Stepka was a good-hearted fellow, as I've said, and he never +thought of remembering how badly this very man had treated him an hour +or two before, but just told him the whole story right out, exactly as +I tell it you now. The other hardly waited to hear the end of it, but +set off full speed to find these wonderful charcoal-burners and try if +_he_ couldn't get some gold out of them, too. And, as there had been +more than a few listeners at the door while the tale was being told, it +ended with the whole village running like mad in the same direction. + +"When they got to the burners' camp, the charcoal men looked at them +rather queerly, as well they might, to see such a procession come to +ask for a light all at once. However, they said nothing, but signed to +them to lay their coats on the ground, and served out two shovelfuls of +burning wood to each; and away went the roguish villagers, chuckling at +the thought of getting rich so easily, and thinking what they would do +with their money. + +"But they had hardly gone a quarter of the way home, when the foremost +suddenly gave a terrible howl and let fall his load; and in another +moment all the rest joined in, till there was a chorus that you might +have heard a mile off. And they had good reason; for, although the fire +had lain in Stepka's coat, it wouldn't lie in theirs--it had burned +right through, and their holiday clothes were spoiled, and their hands +famously blistered, and all that was left of their riches was a smoke +and smell like the burning of fifty tar-barrels. And when they turned +to abuse the charcoal-burners, the charcoal-burners were gone; fires, +camp and men had all vanished like a dream! + +"But as for Stepka, _his_ gold stuck by him, and he used it well. And +always, on the day of his visit to the charcoal-burners, he gave a good +dinner to as many poor folk as he could get together, saying that he +must be good to others, even as God had been good to _him_. And that's +the end of my story." + + +[Footnote A: The three great dainties of the Russian peasant.] + +[Footnote B: One third of a penny; one hundred kopecks equal one +rouble.] + +[Footnote C: The Easter greeting, and reply.] + +[Footnote D: The Russian word is "tchervontzi"--gold pieces worth five +dollars each.] + + + + +PARLOR BALLOONING. + +BY L. HOPKINS. + + +[Illustration] + + +There goes the toy balloon man! + +Here, take this ten-cent piece; run after him as hard as ever you can, +and bring me one of those over-grown ripe-cherry-looking things, and I +will show you a few queer tricks the toy balloon can do, which, I'll +venture to say, the inventor of toy balloons himself never thought of. + +Ah! I see you have picked out a fine plump one. Now for a bit of +paper--any kind will do. This, torn from an old newspaper at random, +will serve the purpose admirably. + +Now, I crumple it up at one corner, and tie it to Mr. Balloon's half +yard or so of tail, and turn him loose in the room. He rises slowly for +a little, and then as slowly settles down to the floor. That won't do. +I want to see him exactly balanced between floor and ceiling; so, of +course, the paper must be of exactly the same weight as the balloon +itself. We soon can accomplish that. See! I tear off a bit more. Top +heavy yet? He rises higher this time, and settles down more slowly to +the floor. Tear again. Whew! I took off too much that time. He rises to +the ceiling, bumping his head against it a few times, and finally +remains there in a sullen manner as if determined he will have no more +of our nonsense. + +[Illustration] + +I recapture him, and this time I add to the weight of his tail, by +dividing in two the last bit which I tore off, and twisting it around +the string. + +Now, then, sir, you may go! See! he rises slowly, slowly, until about +midway between floor and ceiling, where he stops and turns slowly +about, as if making up his mind what to do next. + +[Illustration] + +Presto! a current of air strikes him, and he begins dodging about in a +frantic manner, as if to escape from some invisible enemy. Presently he +becomes calmer, and proceeds to explore every nook and corner of the +room; now going up close to the clock on the mantel, as if to ascertain +the time of day; now taking a look at himself in the mirror; then, +turning suddenly away (as if in confusion to find you have caught him +at it), he moves toward the window, and pretends to be interested in +what is going on outside; but, a draught of air coming briskly in, he +hastens away as fast as ever he can, as if in fear of taking cold. +Skimming along close to the floor, he reaches the opposite side of the +room, and, slowly rising again, peers into the canary's cage. The +occupant resents the liberty with erect feathers, and our balloon +quickly descends, and takes refuge under the piano. Recovering his +presence of mind, presently he peeps cautiously out, and begins to +ascend again. Here he comes toward us--slowly, majestically! Strike at +him with a fan, and lo! he retreats in great disorder to a remote +corner of the room, dodging about in most eccentric fashion, when, +recovering his self-possession after a time, he goes about examining +the pictures on the wall with the air of a critic. You lie down on +your back, on the comfortable sofa in the corner, watching the balloon +as it sails slowly about, and wondering what it will do next, +until--until you fall asleep! + +[Illustration] + +You are awakened by something tickling your nose; and, looking up, you +suddenly discover the toy balloon hovering over you, with its tail in +your face, and apparently enjoying your surprise. + +[Illustration] + +All this, and much more indeed, will a toy balloon do, if treated in +the manner I have described. + +Begin with a piece of paper rather heavier than the balloon, and tear +off bit by bit until the two exactly balance. + + + + +DRIFTED INTO PORT. + +BY EDWIN HODDER. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AMONG THE FISHER FOLKS. + + +We cannot follow the holiday party through all their pleasant +wanderings, nor tell of the impressions made upon them by the scenes, +celebrated in history and romance, through which they traveled. + +Their drives in the midday heat, their strolls in the cool evening, +their resting hours as they talked over the events of the day, all were +harmonious and gladsome. + +If there was one part of the trip which gave them greater pleasure than +the rest, it was their visit to the Shetland Isles. + +There was an indescribable pleasure to our young folks in wandering +under cliffs gaunt and bare, and hearing the stories of Vikings, who +fought and fell,--or fought and conquered in these isles. + +Sometimes in their wanderings they would come upon a "fairy-ring," and +as they listened to the strange stories told by the islanders, they +seemed to be really in some bewitched and spell-bound place. Or, +perhaps a "kern," standing solitary upon some hill-top, would call +forth a whole series of Danish and Norwegian legends, which would give +them food for reflection for days. + +Many a pleasant adventure they had as they rode together on their +sure-footed little "shelties," or climbed the crags and rocks to look +down upon the isles, "like so many stars reflected from the sky." And +many a pleasant talk they had with the hospitable inhabitants, who +rehearsed to them some of the dangers which assail the dwellers in +those solitary little islands. The narrow belts of sea, which divide +their ocean-girded homes, have constantly to be ferried across, and +many a boat which has gone out manned with a gallant crew has never +returned or sent a waif to tell its story. + +It was partly to acquire a knowledge of the Shetland character, and to +see some phases of its home-life, that our friends, when they came at +last to one little village by the sea, where they had only intended to +make a flying visit, determined to halt there for a few days. It was a +charming spot; on the one side of the village there were to be seen +some of the finest specimens of the savage grandeur of cliff and crag, +and on the other the smiling, genial face of cultivation and quiet +beauty. + +On the morning our friends arrived at the village they found three +fishermen at work beside their cottage door, on the margin of the sea. +They were brothers--Ole, Maurice, and Eric Hughson; all young men, +handsome, strong and intelligent. Howard and Martin made friends with +them at once, and as the morning was calm and bright, entered into +arrangements with them for their best boat to be launched, so that our +friends might have a long sail, to visit some of the caverns abounding +on the coast, and to see the homes of the wild sea-birds, and the +haunts of the fowlers. + +When the hamper of provisions was safely on board, and the party for +the picnic had followed it, of course the sea air and the fine scenery +set every tongue loose, so that the solitary places rang again with the +merry laughter and the voice of song. And then, when the first +irrepressible pleasure had spent itself a little, the young folks +gathered round the three brothers, and listened with attentive interest +to the yarns they were spinning to Mr. Morton about some of the places +they were passing; for every spot in the Shetlands has its own story. + +Madeleine noticed that beneath the mirth and apparent gayety of the +men, there seemed to be an under-current of deep feeling, probably born +of sorrow, and she determined, if possible, to find her way to the +hearts of the fine manly fellows, in whom she began to be interested. + +It was not long before an opportunity occurred. The boat was steered +round a huge bluff, and before our friends were aware where they were +going, they found themselves in a vast cavern. There was something +awful in the half-darkness into which they passed, and the dreary +stillness, only broken by the splashing of the water against the sides +of the cave, enhanced the feeling. As the boat rested in the midst of +the cavern, they looked up, and saw as it were, stars shining through +the massive roof; they looked around, and the huge rocks seemed like +burnished metal. It was a curious sight, and the sounds were equally +curious for every word they spoke came back again to the speaker, with +a ghostly hollowness. + +Madeleine, with Howard and Martin, sang a song together, which sounded +splendidly within this vaulted cave, with all its wild re-echoings. +When it ended, the boat glided slowly out of the cavern, and although +they had enjoyed the somber magnificence they had left, they were all +glad to be in the fresh air and cheerful sunshine again. + +Madeleine watched her opportunity, and when she saw Eric alone in the +fore part of the boat, she quietly disengaged herself from the rest of +the party, and, sitting down beside him, said: "Eric, I believe you +have seen some great sorrow, though you are so young." + +"I was only twenty-two last birthday, Miss, but I have had sorrow +enough." + +"Would it pain you to tell me your story?" she said. + +"No, Miss, it may do me good to tell it. It is a short and sad one. Two +years ago my two brothers, Robbie and Gideon, both younger than I am, +went away from here on a whaling expedition. There was a fine crew of +fifty, half of them Shetlanders and the rest English. There were one or +two gentlemen's sons amongst the crew, and as nice a set of fellows +altogether as a seaman could wish. They set sail in good spirits, and +it was from the headland yonder that we heard their cheers, as they +sailed out on their whaling expedition. From that day to this no word +has come of them, and we fear that all are lost. It has been a heavy +blow to us. When they went away it seemed as if the light had gone out +of the old home, for they were young and merry and clever. The long +waiting to hear from them has been as bad as the fear that they have +perished." + +"God comfort you, Eric," said Madeleine, tenderly, as she wiped away +her tears. "God comfort you. No words of mine can help to heal this +wound." + +"Thank you, Miss," said Eric. "I see you feel for us, and that +helps--better than words, sometimes." + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN THE STORM. + + +The next morning, as Howard and Martin were coming up from the beach, +where they had been taking a swim, they saw Maurice and Eric standing +on the edge of a cliff looking out seaward, and they had not walked far +before Eric came hastily toward them. + +"You've never seen a Shetland storm, young gentlemen," he said, "but +you may see one to-day and to-morrow, too, for I doubt if you will get +away from here as soon as you expected. I see the ladies coming out; it +might be well to go and tell them." + +"Come along, Madeleine! Hurry, Ethel!" cried Martin; "you will soon see +the sight we have longed for--a storm at sea. Eric says there is one +brewing." + +The ladies looked incredulous, and Mr. Morton put on his double +eye-glasses, and looked around with the air of one who more than half +suspects he is being taken in. + +It was a still, lovely summer morning. The sea was as calm as a village +brook; the waves lazily played upon the shore, and the breeze scarcely +stirred the little flag which Eric had mounted on his boat in honor of +the visitors. + +Presently, however, the dark clouds came up in rapid procession; the +surf began to sigh and moan; the sea-fowls caught the sound, and cried +as they only cry when the ocean is angry. The boats lying out hoisted +sail and scudded away for the nearest haven of shelter. Then a white +line of light rose up sharply against the black bank of clouds, and the +still sea became covered with white-crested waves. The quiet shore rang +again with the booming of waters, as they leapt against the rocks and +broke in foaming spray. + +It was a grand sight. The whole aspect of sea and sky and land had +changed. + +Ole, Maurice and Eric had withdrawn from the party of visitors and were +standing on an eminence, talking earnestly, and looking out to sea with +such evident anxiety, that Howard and Martin clambered up to them to +hear what was the matter. + +"Well, sir, you see that ship out there, we can't make her out," said +Maurice. "We've watched her for an hour, and she hasn't shifted an inch +of sail." + +"I don't see her at all," said Howard. "Do you, Martin?" + +No, Martin could not, because he had not that wonderfully acute sight +which the discipline of constant experience gives to seamen. + +However, with the aid of a glass he saw her clearly, and was seaman +enough to know that she was playing a dangerous game in carrying so +much canvas in such a gale. + +"And what's the strangest part of all is, that she's making straight +for rocks, if she keeps the same course," said Ole. + +"Can't you make out who or what she is?" asked Howard. + +"I should say by her build she was a whaler," answered Maurice, taking +up the glass again and having a long look. Then he hastily passed it to +Ole and Ole to Eric. + +"There's no time to be lost," said Ole, "the storm will be too heavy in +another hour for us to put off. She's in danger, there's no mistake, +and we must get to her. It seems to me there can't be any crew on +board, or if there is, they must be mad. It's the strangest thing I +ever saw." + +In a few moments all was excitement; the news spread through the +village like wild-fire; every cottage was astir; old and young came out +to see and hear and speculate; while half a dozen stalwart fellows, +including the three brothers, made ready for the start. Howard and +Martin were among the first to volunteer to accompany them, but the +fishermen would not hear of it. There was no time to discuss the +matter; all was hurry and bustle. + +See! the crew is ready; all hands are wanted for the launch. It is no +easy matter; the waves are beating in on the shore, and threaten to +swamp the boat almost before she starts on her perilous errand. Hurrah! +she rides! Ole is at the helm; a manly cheer comes to the now silent +watchers on the shore, and the little craft plunges through the waters, +now rising on a crested wave, now sinking into the valley of waters, +but speeding her devious way toward the mysterious ship. + +Madeleine clings to the arm of Howard, pale with the excitement. Ethel +has hardly dared to speak, and Martin has not found it in his heart to +break the intense silence of those anxious moments as they watch the +departure. + +But see! a group has gathered on the spot where Ole, Maurice and Eric +had stood. It is the favorite lookout. The glass is there, and an old +man has taken it in his steady hand, and is reporting the news by +little jerks of speech to the anxious throng around him. It is Ole +Hughson, the father of the three brothers. + +"Can make out one man on board. He sees them. They've tacked again. It +aint so bad as it looked. Sea's quieter there. Hulloa! there goes a +sail to ribbons. They are tacking again. She has slackened sail. Good! +good!" + +But other eyes can now make out the scene, for the ship draws nearer, +and the eyes that have gazed so long seem to have gained strength to +see further. + +The Shetland boat nears the ship; it is near enough for the crew to +catch the cry that comes from the solitary man upon the deck. + +See! the little boat tacks again, and is now close in the wake of the +ship. Good heavens! in that sea, with those waves running, will they +dare to attempt to board her? + +Yes, a rope has been thrown to them. Thank God, it is caught! But the +little boat has sunk! No, she has but gone down in the great valley of +waters, and is riding safe and sound. Look! some one from the Shetland +boat has caught hold of the rudder-chains. He climbs the dangerous way. +He is on board. It is Eric--the brave, dauntless Eric. Another and +another follow, and all reach the ship in safety. + +No sooner had the brave Shetlanders mounted the deck than they were at +work with a desperate will. A glance sufficed to show them that the +management of the vessel depended upon them; and in a moment they were +masters of the situation. Ole established himself at the wheel, and +thundered forth his orders. + +As if by magic, the course of the vessel was altered; dangling spars +were cut away and thrown adrift, sail was taken in, and our friends on +the shore could see that they were endeavoring to bring the ship to +haven in the bay. + +No time was to be lost with those who would witness the arrival and +disembarkation; for, although it would have been a comparatively short +distance if there had been a sea-coast and a calm sea, the haven was +cut off from the village by rugged rocks and headlands, which +necessitated a journey of some miles. + +Howard and Martin, as soon as they saw that the ship was in the hands +of the fishermen, rushed off at the top of their speed to get ready the +first shelties they could lay their hands on, knowing, that in such a +time of excitement, everybody in the place being related, directly or +indirectly, to the six men who were on board, it was vain to put much +trust in the help of others. + +That morning marked an epoch in the life of Mrs. Morton. She had always +been too languid to encounter any excitement of any sort, but she had +watched the events of this day with an interest which was as new to +herself as it was to all who knew her. And when the young folks +declared that they must see the end of the matter, come what might, +nothing could dissuade her, despite the fatigue, from making one of the +party. + +There was a tedious delay in getting the ponies together and saddling +them for the journey. Those who had gone off on foot, and were +accustomed to fatigues, had gained a long march on the visitors, and +Howard had agreed with Martin that it would save time in the end if +they only took four ponies, for the ladies and Mr. Morton, and went +themselves on foot. + +At last all was ready, and the start was made with the best speed +possible in the circumstances. But they labored under one or two great +disadvantages; the first was that they did not know the quickest route, +and the next was that they could not see the vessel, having to make an +inland journey to reach the haven. + +When at last they came to the edge of a cliff, which they rightly +judged must overlook their destination, a scene broke upon their view +which staggered them. + +The ship was at anchor; many people were upon the shore, and in little +knots they were kneeling round the bodies of men stretched upon the +strand, while boats were passing to and fro, freighted, as it would +seem, with the dying and the dead. + +"This is no scene for you, my dears," said Mr. Morton, as he saw the +pallor on the faces of those around him, "we must return at once." + +"Return?" cried Madeleine, "when perhaps the dead can be ministered +to, and the dying cheered. Oh! no, no!" + +It was useless to resist such an appeal, nor was it necessary, for, as +she spoke, a woman, running, drew near to them. + +"Tell me, what does it mean?" cried Howard to her. + +"Near twenty men on board, dead and dying. The ship is half full of +water, and is sinking." + +They urged their way along, passing groups in attendance on the +prostrate ones upon the shore. Howard and Martin led; the others +followed. The whole party gathered about a boat that had just come in, +and from which Eric was trying to lift the apparently lifeless body of +a young man. + +All at once, Mrs. Morton threw up her arms, uttered a piercing cry, and +fell forward to the ground. Then, in quick succession, horror, surprise +and joy filled the hearts of the little group, as they, too, recognized +in Eric's burden the form and features of Digby Morton! + +[IN THE ICE. [SEE PAGE 499.]] + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +A STRANGE STORY. + + +The wind is hushed now. The sea beats no longer with rude shocks +against the echoing cliffs. The sea-birds have gone to their nests, and +the moon, bright and beautiful, is flooding ocean and land with its +calm, clear light. + +Howard and Martin walk together along the grassy way between their +cottage and the sea. + +They look anxiously, from time to time, along the road, for they are +expecting the arrival of the doctor, and they make a start together as +they see a form in the distance. But it is not the doctor; it is Eric. + +"Well, Eric, what news? How are your patients to-night?" + +"Going on well, thank God!" he answered. "Gideon is sitting up in bed, +and has been talking a bit, but not much, for the doctor says it would +be the worst thing he could do. And Robbie is picking up strength, but +it's slowly--slowly, poor Robbie!" + +"We must hope and pray, and use the best means we can. God helps those +who help themselves," said Howard. + +"But He helps those most who cannot help themselves, it seems to me," +said Martin, "when I think of all that has happened during the past few +days." + +"It really does seems so, sir," said Eric; "and to think that Mr. +Digby, that you all thought was dead and gone years ago, should have +sailed in that same ship along with my two brothers whom we had given +up as lost, and that all should come back again together, and their +ship drift into the very port they started from! I feel as if I +couldn't believe it; I'm sure I shouldn't if I read it in a book." + +"It is strange, very strange; yet there are stranger things happening +around us every day, Eric, than any man could invent. But, tell me, has +Gideon yet spoken of Mr. Digby in his talk?" + +"Bless you, sir, he's talked of nothing else! From what I can make out, +Mr. Digby has been the life and soul of the party, and that everybody +loved him you may guess from the fact that almost the first question of +every one that has come to, has been about him. But I beg pardon for +not asking before, sir; how is Mr. Digby, to-night?" + +"Better, we hope. Certainly better than he was yesterday. He has not as +yet shown any gleam of consciousness, but he has been able to take +plenty of nourishment, and it is upon this that we ground a good hope. +But see, yonder comes the doctor, and I hope he will report favorably +of all." Never could a medical man have shown a greater interest in a +patient than Dr. Henderson did in Digby. He had heard portions of his +strange story from others of his patients who had been saved from the +ill-fated ship, and the loving solicitude of all had drawn from him an +answering tenderness. + +"I shall stay with him to-night," said he, "if you will allow me, for I +anticipate a change in him soon, and I am extremely anxious that at +first he should receive enough information to satisfy him, and at the +same time that he should have no clue as to where he is or by whom he +is surrounded. After his intense excitement and the almost superhuman +fatigue he has undergone,--for it was he who was the last to give up, +and then not until the Hughsons were safe aboard the ship,--the least +shock might prove fatal. So, you go away and leave me with him. But +stay," added the doctor to Mr. Morton, who had now joined them; "just +now one of the men gave me this book--a Bible--which he found on the +ship; and as it bears the name of Howard Pemberton in the fly-leaf, I +brought it with me, and with especial interest, for, inclosed in the +cover, is a packet addressed to you, Mr. Morton." + +Mr. Morton took the book with trembling hands, and when he had reached +his own room he sat alone and read with deep emotion the strange story +of his son's life. It ran as follows: + + Baffin's Bay. + + I know not into whose hands this paper will fall, but it is my + earnest, perhaps dying entreaty that it may be placed in the hands + of my parents, my sister, Dr. Brier, or Howard Pemberton, all of + whose addresses will be found elsewhere. + + I write this letter to the man whose name I bear and whom I have + most deeply wronged. + + Much sorrow, and anxiety, my dear father, must have resulted from + my cruel conduct, and I would confess, without a wish to conceal + one single fact, the sins which wrought such mischief and have + brought such strange punishments. I can only do so by telling the + story of how one sin led to another, until all culminated in that + fearful fraud, the pretense of death. + + For the first year that I was at Blackrock school I strove with all + my strength to do and be what Dr. Brier and his kind, good wife + would wish. Their influence over me was kind and gentle and good. I + can never repay the debt of gratitude I owe them. But by degrees I + grew to hate the restraints of school, and I was drifting, + drifting, I knew not whither. + + My best friends at school were Howard Pemberton and Martin + Venables. I loved them at the first with all the enthusiasm a boy + feels when he thinks he has found his ideal friends. They supplied + to me the lack of brothers; they were true, manly, high-minded + friends. But as soon as I began to drift away from the good I had + ceased to strive after, I loosened my hold on them. + + It was about a year before I left Blackrock school when my aversion + to study and to all restraint became almost uncontrollable. During + my holidays I once fell in with a young man, James Williams, who + led a wild, reckless life. He had run away from home, had crossed + the seas, and had raised money in various ways, which enabled him + to indulge freely his wild fancies. His yarns about the sea, and + the adventures he had met and dangers encountered, fired me with a + mania to follow a similar career. The constant reading by stealth + of pernicious books, of which smugglers and pirates were the + heroes, stimulated the desire, and undermined the principle in + which I had been educated; until, at length, when you informed me + that I was to study under Mr. Vickers for the law, I determined to + run away from school and seek my living by adventure. James + Williams fostered the resolve, and often urged me to it; but my + great difficulty was how to obtain money. By an accidental + circumstance, Howard Pemberton became aware of my passion for the + sea, and he upbraided me about it, kindly and honestly, but I could + not brook it; my old friendship with him ceased, and I grew to hate + him. + + About this time, the reception was given at Dr. Brier's of which + you have heard. But you have not heard, and never can know, what + that evening was to me. Satan seemed to have entered into me as he + did into Judas. + + I took the miniature and snuff-box from the cabinet in which they + were placed by Mrs. Brier, and resolved to cast the suspicion of + the theft upon Howard. + + That night I placed the miniature in the hands of Williams, who + gave me twenty pounds for it, and the snuff-box I placed in the + ticking of Howard's bed. + + Need I tell you all the catalogue of wrong? You can almost guess + the rest. Williams procured for me a suit of clothes which would + disguise me, and these were placed ready for me by arrangement with + him. The early morning was very cold, and as I intended to travel + far I thought I would take my great coat. In the hurry and + excitement of the moment, I mistook Howard's for mine. + + I left my clothes upon the river bank, and that afternoon I set + sail for America. + + In America I spent a few months, the remembrance of which I would + gladly blot from my memory. Money came to me fast from gambling, + and as quickly went. All the time I was restless, fearful, ill at + ease and sick at heart. I had never heard one single word of how my + disappearance might have afflicted those I left behind. I knew not + whether you really thought me dead, or whether my secret had oozed + out. At length I determined, with tears of penitence, to return, to + confess all, to purchase back the miniature from Williams with + money I had won. And, with this resolve, I started back to England. + On arriving, I took up a newspaper, and you may judge the terror I + felt as I read the account of Williams's awful death with the + miniature upon him. It staggered me, but it did not melt my heart. + I interpreted it that my plans were frustrated, as I found that Dr. + Brier had obtained possession of the miniature. I dared not remain + in the country, for fear of discovery and of identification with + the crime of Williams; but I could not tear myself away until I had + once more visited the neighborhood of the dear old school-house. + + I cannot think without emotion of that moonlight night when I lay + down beside the marble pillar which tender hearts had caused to be + placed there, "In loving memory of D.M." Oh, my father, how true it + is that "the way of transgressors is hard!" I thought my heart + would break as I lay there on the cold earth and wept the bitterest + tears I ever shed. + + If I could but have caught sight of Dr. Brier, or felt the + motherly touch of Mrs. Brier's hand upon my shoulder,--if I could + but have heard the ring of Howard's or Martin's voice in the + play-ground, I felt as if the evil within me would have taken + flight and I should have risen up a regenerated man. + + But I was alone. Dead! dead! And I went away with my heart cold and + sad, and my future all dark and purposeless. + + A twelvemonth ago I fell in with some Shetlanders who were about to + start on a whaling cruise, and, as the expedition promised plenty + of adventure and excitement, I joined them. + + Three months after we left Shetland, we were fast in the ice. For + nine months and more we have been almost starving, and have had to + endure bodily suffering in other respects of a most severe kind. + + I have written the foregoing part of my story at intervals, and I + would now bring it to a conclusion, for the ice is breaking up, and + we have before us our last chance. + + Literature has been very scarce on board, and I had only brought + one book with me. It was Howard Pemberton's Bible. I found it in + the coat I had taken accidentally on the morning I left Blackrock + school, and I never parted with it, hoping I might be able to + restore it some day, for I found it was a sacred relic given to him + by his father, and bearing in its cover his portrait and a copy of + the dying words he spoke to Howard. + + That book became my friend, and it led me to recognize a friend in + its Divine author. I had striven in vain to save myself from + myself. This book pointed me the way. I should never have read it, + however if it had not been for the kind sympathy of our captain. A + nobler man, or a truer Christian, I never met. + + But our captain died, and my strength gradually failed from + privation. I cannot tell you here all that happened, but I must + refer you to a diary which I have daily kept posted, and that will + explain more fully what I am unable to write now. + + We are free from the ice at last, and are drifting we know not + whither! My strength is well-nigh gone. Not a man on board can move + a hand to touch a sail. Perhaps these will be the last words I + shall ever write. + + I crave from you, my dear father, and from all whom I have wronged, + forgiveness for the sorrow, distress, and injury I have wrought. + Return the Bible, please, if it ever comes into your possession, to + Howard, and tell him how I thank God for its blessed teachings. + + Land is in sight; we fancy it must be the Orkneys. A storm is + gathering. Nine men lie dead upon the deck. There appears to be + certain death for us all. + +As Mr. Morton finished reading the letter, he paced the room to and +fro, while the hot tears fell freely down his face; and his heart was +full of thanksgiving and praise as he cried, "This, my son, was dead +and is alive again; he was lost and is found." + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A FAREWELL. + + +It was a fortnight before Digby was well enough to leave his room, and +then he had to be carried in the strong arms of Howard and Martin. So +weak--so utterly weak was he--that the strong man had become as a +little babe, and Dr. Henderson sometimes feared that he would never +know health again. + +But he was bright and cheerful and happy. The joy he experienced in +finding so many dear ones around him, the relief in having unburdened +his mind, and being assured of a full and complete forgiveness; the +feeling of gratitude for the glad changes which had come to his father +and mother, and for his own happy deliverance from death, made him +think and talk so cheerily, that Ethel's heart rejoiced as she found in +the long-lost one more than her old ideal Digby. + +Howard and Martin had exceeded the time of their leave from business +duties, but, in the circumstances of the case, they had been allowed +longer furlough, and were now waiting for the time when Digby would be +well enough to travel, so that they might superintend his journey home. + +And the last day of the Shetland visit came. It was with a feeling of +sadness that our friends went round on the afternoon of that day to +call upon the cottagers and leave their little presents and say +farewell. + +Not the least memorable event of the visit, was the gathering of the +villagers in the large room of the cottage, where our friends had taken +up their abode. It was the last night in Shetland, and it had been +Digby's earnest wish that, if he could bear it, the Hughsons and their +friends, and as many as were saved from the death-stricken ship, should +meet together to say farewell. Early in the evening, the villagers, in +their best Sunday clothes, began to assemble, and, before very long, +the room and the passage-way and the stair-way were crowded. + +Dr. Henderson was there, too, and he reminded the folks present that +time was flying, and that the strength of his patients must not be +taxed too far. Then Mr. Morton rose. His face was very pale, and at +first his voice was tremulous. + +"Good people all," he said, "a kind Providence brought me and mine to +this friendly island, and here we have seen and heard strange and happy +things. Curious circumstances have brought us all together; and, in +greater or less degree, we have been dependent upon one another; we +have shared suspense, joy and anxiety together; and we have received +mercies from the Great Father of us all more than we can trust our lips +to tell. You, my good sir," pointing to old Mr. Hughson, "have received +from the jaws of death two of your sons. Heaven bless them! You," +pointing to a woman, "once more rest in the love of a husband; you, my +little ones, are rejoicing in a father's return; and I--I have received +safe and sound, my only son, whom I had long mourned as dead. Let us +thank God, all of us." + +A fervent amen was uttered as if by one voice. + +After this, with chat and with song, time stole away, and the happy +meeting would have been continued for an indefinite time, if Dr. +Henderson had not announced it as his opinion that it would be neither +wise nor kind to prolong it. And so with benedictions upon one another +the company separated, and the next morning our friends left the +island. + +And now my story is done. I need only tell you that, after a long +time, Digby regained his strength; that he never studied law with Mr. +Vickers; but, having been started in business by his father, became a +successful merchant, with ships of his own, on which several of the +Hughson brothers found happy and profitable positions. Howard and +Martin grew to be prosperous men, and Madeleine and Ethel not only +rejoiced, but shared in their prosperity; for, of course, these two +young men could find no better wives than these two young women. But I +could not even begin to tell you of the happiness and thankfulness that +filled the heart of every person in this story, when thought arose of +that vessel which was so mercifully drifted into port. + +THE END. + +[Illustration] + + + + +JOHNNY'S LOST BALL. + +BY LLOYD WYMAN. + + +Johnny had a silver dollar. + +Johnny also had a good friend in the schoolmaster who, in various ways, +had so interested the boy in natural philosophy that he desired of all +things to possess a book on the subject, that he might study for +himself. + +Therefore, on the very first spare afternoon Johnny had, he rolled up +his silver dollar in many folds of paper, tucked it snugly away in a +lonesome corner of an old castaway pocket-book, and started for the +village book-store; but, when he found the many nicely bound volumes +too dear for his pocket, he choked, and nearly cried for +disappointment. + +"Hold on!" said the book-seller, as he slipped his lead-pencil behind +his ear, and stepped briskly to a little shelf of rusty-looking books. + +"Here are some second-hand copies of Comstock, Parker and Steele, any +of which you can have for seventy-five cents,--have your pick for six +shillings. Comstock and Parker are in the best repair, and are finer +print; but for _me_, give me Steele! In buying second-hand books, +always choose the banged-up fellows. Comstock and Parker tell +everything that everybody knows or guesses. Steele biles his'n down. +But do just as you've a mind to: it wont make a bit o' difference to me +one way or the other." + +Johnny took Steele, handed over his dollar, and received twenty-five +cents in change. + +Before the money was fairly stowed away in his wallet his eye fell upon +a beautiful rubber ball, painted in various brilliant colors, which lay +in the show case. The book-seller tossed it upon the clean-swept floor, +and up it bounded to the ceiling. + +"The last of the lot," said he; "filled with air; that's why it bounces +so; been selling at thirty cents; will close this out at twenty-five; +every boy ought to have one; children cry for 'em; just the thing for +'hand-ball,'--what d' y' say?" + +"I'll take it," said Johnny; and he took his book and ball and hurried +home, "dead broke" financially, but happy, nevertheless. + +Being open-hearted, he told his folks about his purchase, and they were +inclined to find fault with him, though I do not know why. He seemed +never to tire of his book and ball, but would change from one to the +other, and for some days was as happy as a king is supposed to be. + +Then came his bad luck. + +He was tossing his ball upon the roof of the house, and catching it as +it came down; but by and by it did not come down--it bounded into the +tin eave-trough and rolled slowly along till it came to the big pipe +that led to the cistern, and into this it dropped, and went whirring +down, and stopped somewhere with a faint plash. + +For once in his life, Johnny felt as if the world had slipped from +under him. + +For a few minutes he was bewildered; then came the joyful assurance +that his Steele would help him out of his trouble, and if Steele +couldn't, there was the schoolmaster. + +The first thing he did was to lift the cover off the cistern, though +he knew well enough the ball was in the pipe, as he well remembered +that it ran nearly to the bottom of the cistern and then made a sharp +bend upward, "so that the water mightn't wear the cement," the mason +told him. + +He found the water quite low, but not low enough to show the mouth of +the pipe. Of course, there was no ball in sight. He closed the cistern +with a groan, and got out his new book on natural philosophy. First he +glanced at optics; but that did not help him to see his way; then at +hydrostatics and hydraulics. + +It was of no use; nothing seemed to hit the case. Then he gave it up, +put his book away, and went to consult the school-master. Johnny found +him among his books, and told him all about it. + +"Have you tried to fish it out with a hook and line?" + +Johnny's face brightened. "No, sir, I never thought of that." + +"All right; you couldn't do it. Besides, if you could, it wouldn't be +scientific," said the school-master. "Now, go home, take a ten-foot +pole, and measure the distance from the eaves to the water in the +cistern, then find the diameter of the pipe, and on my way to school +to-morrow morning I will tell you the three things necessary for +recovering your ball." + +Johnny fairly flew home, got a pole, measured the distance from eaves +to water and found it to be twelve feet; measured the pipe and found it +to be two inches and one-half. Then he put away the pole, did his +chores, ate a hearty supper, and went to bed. + +He was up bright and early next morning, and got quickly through his +chores, so that when the school-master stopped, on his way to school, +he was ready to see about the ball. + +"Good morning, Johnny! Glad to see you on hand. How long's the pipe?" + +"Twelve feet, sir." + +"Diameter?" + +"Two inches and a half, sir." + +"Ah! 2-1/2 square multiplied by .0034, and that product by twelve feet, +which is--" + +"144 inches," Johnny quickly suggested. + +"Will give the contents of the pipe in gallons," added the +schoolmaster. "You're quick at figures, tell me the answer." + +Johnny groped among the odds and ends of his jacket pocket for a +minute, and then fished out a stubby lead-pencil, much chewed at one +end, and picking up a piece of smooth board, ciphered away swiftly and +carefully a few moments. + +"3.06 is what I make it, sir." + +"Very well; we'll call that right; that would be a little over a +pailful--say a pailful and a half. Now get a ladder to go up to the +roof with." + +Johnny brought one in a jiffy. + +"All right. Now, the three things necessary to get back your ball are, +a pailful and a half of water, a plug, and pluck." + +Johnny looked as if he didn't quite understand. + +"What sort of a plug, sir?" he asked. + +"Oh, this will do," answered the school-master, picking up a pine stick +and beginning to whittle away vigorously. The plug was soon made. The +school-master lifted the plank cover from the cistern put the ladder +down, and said to Johnny: "Have you any pluck?" + +"Lots of it," Johnny told him. + +"Well, then, take this plug and stick it into the mouth of the pipe, +_snug_." + +Johnny took the plug, went down the ladder into the cistern till he +reached the water, and then began feeling around for the pipe. By and +by he found it, and, inserting the plug in the opening, pushed it down +and screwed it firmly in place. + +"All right!" he called out, and presently he came up the ladder. + +"Now let's have the water--in two pails," the schoolmaster said, and he +saw by Johnny's face that he at last understood how the ball was to be +got out. Johnny ran to the barn, and soon came back with two pails of +water and a funnel. + +"But what's the funnel for?" asked the schoolmaster as he drew the +ladder from the cistern and leaned it against the eaves. + +"To pour the water into the pipe," answered Johnny, in a tone that +showed that he thought he had, for once, caught the school-master +napping. + +"Ah, indeed! so you always put the funnel in when it rains?" + +Johnny blushed, and did not attempt any answer. + +"Now mount the ladder, and I'll hand you the water," said the +school-master. + +Johnny ran up the ladder, and, when the school-master handed him the +pails, he said nothing about the funnel, but boldly dashed the water +upon the roof. When the flood began pouring into the cave-trough and +gurgling down the pipe, Johnny fixed his eyes upon the hole through +which his ball had taken its unlucky leap, and stared with anxious +expectation. The gurgle in the pipe crept steadily upward, the tone all +the while growing higher and clearer, till whish! came a dash of water +over the trough, nearly drenching the schoolmaster while the ball +bounded airily upon the eaves for an instant, before Johnny caught it +and cried out: + +"Here she is!" + +"Put things in shape, Johnny; I must hurry to the school-house," said +the school-master, going. + + + + +[Illustration: THE KING AND THE HARD BREAD.] + + +THE KING AND THE HARD BREAD. + +BY J.L. + + +"When you want a thing done well, do it yourself," is an old saying, +and a very good one; but it is not always possible or desirable to +carry out this advice. Therefore it is sometimes better to adopt an +amendment to this proverb, and make it read thus: "When you want a +thing done well, do it yourself, or see it done." + +So thought Louis IX. of France, sometimes called St. Louis, because he +was considered to be rather better than most people. + +Among his good qualities was kindness to the poor. He would go about, +very plainly dressed, and attended by two or three courtiers, and visit +poor people in their houses. He took an interest in their personal +affairs, and when they were very needy, he would order bread and other +food to be supplied to them. Of course, this made him a great favorite +with the poorer classes of his subjects, and they were glad not only to +receive his bounty, but also to talk with him and tell him about their +many troubles. + +One day, when he was making one of his customary rounds, an old woman, +leaning on a cane, and holding a loaf of bread in her hand, came out of +a door in a wall which led into a collection of wretched dwellings. + +As this old woman stood awaiting his approach, the king could not help +feeling a little surprised. He did not often feel surprised at anything +he saw among these poor people. He had just been talking to a group of +strong, hearty fellows, who preferred sitting lazily about wherever +they could find a shelter from the rain and sun, and trusting in chance +charity for food and lodging, to working for an honest living; but he +was not surprised at them. Such men have always existed, and probably +always will exist. + +He had seen all sorts of strange things among his poor people. He had +seen some who seemed to prefer to be poor; he had seen others who had +been rich, but who appeared to be happier now than when they had plenty +of money,--and perhaps plenty of anxiety with it; he had seen others +who were poor and did not know it; but this was the first time that he +had ever seen any one of them offer him bread or anything else to eat. +No wonder he was surprised when this old woman held out to him the loaf +of bread! + +She did not wait for him to ask her what she meant, but immediately +commenced to explain. She told him that she and her sick old husband +were among those to whom he had ordered food to be furnished, but that +for some time all that his agents had given them was bread such as the +loaf in her hand; bread so hard that it was almost impossible for old +people to eat it, and yet they must eat it or starve. + +The king listened with attention to her story, and then he took the +loaf in his hands, and broke off a small piece of it. + +"It is rather hard bread," he said, thoughtfully, while his attendants +bent over to look at it, as if it were a matter of the greatest +interest to them, although it is probable that they did not care a snap +of their fingers whether or not the old woman ever had any bread. + +"Yes," said the king, "it _is_ hard bread." And then he stood thinking +about it. The old woman thought he was thinking of the trouble she and +her husband had in eating it, but she was very much mistaken. + +He was thinking that he had ordered that these people be well fed; that +he had supplied the money to buy them good and nourishing food. Now, if +his poor pensioners received nothing but dry bread, and very stale, +hard bread at that, while he paid for good food for them, somebody must +be making money out of him, to whom he had no idea of being charitable +in this way. + +Therefore he thought that if he wanted a thing well done, he must do it +himself, or see it done. In this case he determined to see it done. + +He went into the old woman's house, and he talked to her sick husband +and herself, and examined into their condition. The old people thought +he was very good to say so much about their hard fare, and so he was; +but if they could have heard what he said afterward to his dishonest +agents, when he went home to his palace, they might have been surprised +to know what an important thing a piece of hard bread may sometimes +become. + +And they might have thought, too, that it was a good thing for them, as +well as for other poor people, that their bread had been so _very_ hard +that they were forced to complain of it to the king. + + + + +DISCONTENTED POLLY. + + +Polly ought to have been a very happy little girl, but she was not, +because she hadn't a doll. She had everything else: a beautiful +kitchen, a stove with everything to use on it, some pretty china +dishes, a table to put them on, and a neat little wicker chair to match +the table. + +Only a little while ago she had three lovely dolls; but there was +another D to Polly's name--Destructive Polly; and now there was not a +bit of a dolly left, and mamma had determined to let her wait till she +wanted one so very much that when it did come she would be sure to take +care of it. But Aunt Alice said, one day, "That child shall have a doll +to-morrow." And sure enough! the next morning, in the little wicker +chair, Polly found the most beautiful doll she had ever seen. + +It had fluffy, golden hair, and bright blue eyes, and a dress just like +Polly's best one with puffed sleeves. It could say "papa" and "mamma" +quite plainly, and could move its eyes. + +Of course, the first thing to be done was to find a name for the new +treasure, and that made Polly discontented again. She wanted to call it +after herself, but she said, "Polly is such an every-day name, it would +never do; my doll must have a 'company' name." So she called her doll +"Rosalinda." + +The next day, mamma said there might be a party in honor of the new +doll; so Polly carried Rosalinda into the play-room, put her in the +little chair, and began to get ready for the party. Rosalinda looked as +though she would like to help; so Polly filled one of her prettiest +cups with milk, and put it in the dolly's lap, while she went out for +three lumps of sugar. + +Just then a dreadful thing happened. Puss, who had been hidden under a +chair, came out, jumped to Rosalinda's lap, and began to drink the milk +as fast as he could. Before it was half gone he heard Polly coming, so +he jumped down again in a hurry, and out of the window. But one hind +paw caught the cup by the handle, spilled the milk on dolly's dress, +dashed the cup to the floor, and broke it all to bits! + +When Polly came in and saw this, what do you think she did? She just +looked at Rosalinda a moment, then she took her out of the chair and +shook her--shook her so hard, and sat her down again with such a bounce +that the pretty blue eyes shut up tight, and wouldn't come open. + +Polly didn't mind that at first. She said, "Yes! you'd better shut +your eyes, you naughty thing! Don't tell me it was 'a accidence.' You +did it yourself, I know, and I don't love you one bit. You don't look +fit to be seen, and the party will be here before I'm ready. Oh, dear! +just open your eyes, and see what you've done." + +But poor Rosalinda's eyes wouldn't open, and the more Polly shook her, +the tighter shut they stayed, till she ran, crying, to mamma, to ask +for help. Mamma had seen it all; so now she took Polly and Rosalinda +both on her lap, and gave what Polly called "a little preach." + +[Illustration: "JUST OPEN YOUR EYES, AND SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE."] + +It did her good, real good, and at last she said: "Dear mamma, if +Rosalinda will only open her eyes once more and look at me, I believe I +will never be so naughty again." + +So mamma found a way to open the pretty blue eyes, and Polly kissed +them both, and then kissed mamma for helping her. + +By the time the party came, everything was ready. Polly was very good, +and let the girls play with her beautiful Rosalinda the whole time. I +do not know how long the good will last. I hope till every one forgets +to call her Discontented Polly, and learns to call her Darling Polly +instead. + + + + +[Illustration] + +JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. + + +Well, my dears, spring is here at last, and it is very pleasant to see +the buds and flowers again. I begin to hear the voices of the children +more often, too; and now and then I catch a glimpse of bright faces and +new dresses. + +By the way, talking of dresses puts me in mind of a paragram that came +the other day, about + + +TRIMMINGS FOR COWS. + +Something quite new to you, I dare say, for which of you ever heard of +trimming cows with their own horns and ears? How should you like to see +a cow with her ears--poor thing!--cut to the shape of a leaf with +notched edges, and horns trained in some queer shape, twisted into +curls, or divided into four, with two meeting overhead, and two turned +down toward the ground? It would be a dreadful sight to me, I am sure; +but the Africans admire such things. They consider this trimming of +cows a sort of fine art. You don't see how they manage the horns? Well, +they begin when the horns are young; divide each into two, or more, and +gradually train them, while growing, in any way they choose. Of course +it must hurt the poor cows, and take a great deal of time; but the +people who train cows' horns have not very tender feelings, and they +are richer in spare time than in anything else. Besides, they do not +have to trim their own clothes much--they're savages. + + +FEET AND WINGS. + +I have been told that flies have suckers on their feet, and climb up +window-panes by using them, much as boys lift smooth stones with a +piece of soaked leather and a string. Is this so, little folks? + +By the way, while you are thinking of flies, I once heard some +schoolma'ams (I'm sure our _little_ one was not among them) disputing +about the number of wings that a house-fly ought to have. And they +said, though it's hard to believe, that over the door of the Masonic +Temple at Boston there are bees, cut in the stone, each with only wings +enough for a fly! + +Perhaps the sculptor had been reading Virgil before carving those bees, +for, as I've heard, that ancient poet in one of his writings made a +mistake as to the number of a bee's wings. + + +CETUS, NOT CYGNUS. + +One of my sharp eyed chicks, S.E.S., of Canandaigua, sends word that +the star Mira, of which I told you last month, is in the star-group +Cetus (the Whale), not in Cygnus (the Swan). S.E.S. is right, I find, +and I'm much obliged to her. + + +PRSVRYPRFCTMN +VRKPTHSPRCPTSTN. + +Deacon Green says that these letters were found on a wall in a church +in Wales, painted, like a text, above an inscription of the ten +commandments. + +Some of you may have seen it before, he thinks; but, if not, it will be +good fun for you to find out what it means. He adds that there is but +one letter of the alphabet wanting, to make sense; this is used over +and over, and, if you put it into the right places, the text will turn +into a rhymed couplet. + + +A REMEDY FOR HARD TIMES. + +I have a message from a bird on the Sea Islands off the coast of South +Carolina. + +"Here," says my friend, "I lately found a remedy for hard times. +Looking for food one day, I came close to the home of a silk-spider who +was about to make a new web. Now, what do you think I saw him doing? +Why, he was eating up the old web, so as to turn it into thread again, +and use it a second time! Another curious thing that I found out about +this economical old fellow is that, although he has a great many eyes, +he can see only just well enough to tell light from darkness." + +Now, what in the world can be the use of that spider's eyes, I'd like +to know, if he can't see the things around him? + + +A QUEER CHURN. + + New Haven, Conn. + + Dear Jack: Last year in April you gave us a picture of a very small + doll-churn that a little girl had made, and I thought it was very + 'cute. But I read the other day of another churn quite as odd. It + is simply the skin of a goat, hung by a rope from the roof. It is + used in Persia, and, when they want to churn, they fill the + goat-skin with milk, and swing it forward and backward until the + butter comes. The children do the swinging, and I think it must be + better fun than turning a crank or working a plunger.--Yours + affectionately, O.T. + + +CATS IN SPAIN. + +Cats have a nice time in Spain, I hear. No dismal moonlight prowlings +over fences and back sheds for them! They have the roofs of the whole +country for their walks, and need never touch the ground unless they +choose. I'll tell you why. Grain is stored in the attics of Spain, +because they are too hot for anything else. But rats and mice delight +in attics, as well as in grain. So each owner cuts a small door from +the roof, big enough for puss, and any homeless cat is welcome to her +warm home, in return for which she keeps away rats. In a sudden rain +it must be funny to see dozens of cats scampering over the roofs to +their homes among the grain-bags. + + +"SINCERE" STATUES. + + Cambridge, Mass. + + DEAR LITTLE SCHOOLMA'AM: In ST. NICHOLAS for December, 1877, + Jack-in-the-Pulpit says that "sincere" is made of the words + _sine-cera_, meaning "honey without wax." I have been told that it + refers also to the Greeks, who, when they found a crack in a + statue, would sometimes fill the flaw with wax; and that hence a + "sincere" statue, one "without wax," would have no flaw, but be a + true and honest statue. + + I have not been able to find any authority for this, otherwise I + should have written sooner.--Yours sincerely, F.B.J. + + +[Illustration: FOOLS'-CAPS FOR CROWS.] + +FOOLS'-CAPS FOR CROWS. + +My acquaintances the crows are very fond of corn, and have a way of +picking it out of the ground with their bills just after it has been +planted. So the farmers try all sorts of plans to keep them away. One +of these plans is shown in the picture. + +Paper cones are set point downward in the ground, and baited with a few +corn kernels; then some bird-lime is smeared around the insides. When a +crow reaches down for the corn, the paper cone sticks to him, looking +rather like a fool's-cap, and he does not get rid of it in a hurry. I'm +told that it takes only a few of these cones to keep off a whole flock +of crows. They are afraid of making themselves ridiculous, I suppose. + + +ANCIENTS AND MODERNS. + +Now then, my dears, here's a capital chance to show your knowledge of +history. Who can answer this question? + + Boston, Mass. + + DEAR JACK: Will you please ask some of your chicks to tell me when + the ancients left off, and the moderns began?--and you will greatly + oblige. F. + + +LUMBER AND TIMBER, AGAIN. + +The Little Schoolma'am says that "timber" generally means "felled +trees," but is used sometimes to describe trees that are yet standing +and growing; "lumber" means timber that has been made ready for use, by +sawing, splitting, and so forth. + +E.M. Ferguson, J. Harry Townsend, Lillie Stone, J. Dutton Steele, Jr., +and N.Y.Z. all sent correct answers; but Virginia Waldo, G.V.D.F., and +"Max" were only almost right in their replies. + + + + +THE LETTER-BOX. + + +The answers to Mr. Cranch's poetical charades, published on page 406 of +the April number, are as follows: I., Carpet, car-pet. II., Bargain, +bar-gain. III., Pic-nic, pick-Nick. IV., Nightmare, night-mare. + + + * * * * * + + +A large number of correspondents kindly point out that the poem +entitled "The Nightingale's Mistake," printed in the March +"Letter-Box," is also called "The Singing-Lesson," and was written by +Jean Ingelow. + + + * * * * * + + + Clayton, Iowa. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I thought I would write to you to tell you about + our little town of Clayton. It is a beautiful little place, of + about three hundred and eighty inhabitants, situated on the + Mississippi River. There are two large flouring-mills, two + saw-mills, and a large hoop factory here, where all kinds of straps + and hoops are manufactured by machinery. First, the poles are sawed + into certain lengths; then they are taken to the splitters, to be + split. They are then taken to the planers. After going through this + process, they are bunched into bunches of fifty each. Then they are + ready for shipment. They are made of hickory, white oak, and birch. + + It is very pleasant to take a boat-ride on a summer eve, with the + banks on either side of you covered with long green grass, and + flowers of nearly all descriptions bending down into the water, + while in the woods all kinds of birds are cluttering and + chattering, and the ducks are quacking around you, all of which + makes it very pleasant.--Your constant reader, + + H.R. + + + * * * * * + + + Baltimore, Md. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I would like to know why it is that the wife of + General George Washington is called Lady Washington? I do not think + that we have ever had any lords or ladies in our country; so if you + know the reason why, I would like to know. + + E.M. + +Can any of our boys and girls answer this question? + + + * * * * * + + + Somerville, N.J. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: As I wish to contribute a little to the + "Letter-Box," I will send you a little poem written by my sister + Allie when she was nine years old. + + OUR BABY. + + Little Bertha is my sister, + And she is two years old,-- + A cunning little darling, + Whom I love to hold. + + You ask her whom she loves best, + And she'll say "Papa Lou." + You ask her whom she loves next, + And p'r'aps she will say "You." + + You ask her what her name is, + And she'll say "Bertie Lou." + But then, she's sometimes naughty, + And sometimes so are you. + + Little Bertha is my sister, + And she's as cunning as she can be; + With a dimple in each cheek, + And a dimple in each knee. + + And I guess most people love her, + For she's as cunning as she can be; + But then, sometimes she is naughty, + And that's the way with you and me. + + My darling little sister + Always sleeps at night with me; + And, as I said before, + She's as cunning as she can be. + + A.C.H. + + + * * * * * + + + Roseville, N.J. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We thought perhaps you would like to hear about + our pet sparrow "Bob." We have had him since last July, and he is + just as cunning as he can be. He was so young at first, he could + not fly, and slept in a little box, with a piece of flannel over + him; but now he roosts on a nail in the sitting-room bay-window. We + do not keep him in a cage, but he goes all over the house, and does + just as he pleases. He has had plenty of chances to fly out, but + seems to be happy and contented, and makes himself perfectly at + home. When we are eating, he helps himself to anything he wants, + and is not a bit bashful. He loves honey, and will eat all he + wants, and then wipe his bill on any one's dress or on the + table-cloth. He will jump on papa's whiskers, and pull mamma's + hair-pins out of her hair, steal her needle, and do many other + mischievous things. He has chosen one of the gas-globes for a + nesting-place, and carries bits of cloth, strings, or any such + thing that he can find, and puts them there. He tries to sing, and + has learned several of the canary's notes. We catch him sometimes, + and put him under a hat, to tease him. He then gets angry, pecks + the hat, and scolds at the top of his voice. We have a rabbit and a + guinea-pig, too; but if they come into the room where Bob is, he + will fly at them and peck them till they run out. Every one who + sees him thinks he is a wonderful bird, and we should feel very + sorry if anything should happen to him.--Yours truly, + + ELLA AND EDWIN H. + + + * * * * * + + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have a little sister named Pet, because we + love her so. A few days ago our papa had a narrow escape from being + burned, and Pet asked me if I thanked God for taking care of him. I + said, "Yes." "And did God say, 'You're welcome'?" asked Pet. + + Now, don't you think that was a funny idea?--Your affectionate + reader, + + R.L.P. + + + * * * * * + + +GULLIVER'S TRAVELS AND THE MOONS OF MARS.--A correspondent writes that +in Gulliver's "Voyage to Laputa," an imaginary flying island, Dean +Swift, the author, describes some over-wise philosophers, and, among +other things, says: + + "They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, + which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the + center of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and + the outer-most, five; the former revolves in the space of ten + hours, and the latter in twenty-one and a half; so that the squares + of their periodical times are very nearly in proportion with the + cubes of their distance from the center of Mars." + +Now, these two satellites were not discovered really until August 16th, +1877, but Dean Swift's book appeared it 1726, more than one hundred and +fifty years before! But, although the Dean's guesswork is not exactly +correct, he comes very near the truth when he states the time taken by +each moon in going around the primary. This you will see by comparing +his words with the following letter, which we have received from +Professor Asaph Hall, the actual discoverer of the moons: + + Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., + March 4th, 1878. + + EDITOR ST. NICHOLAS: The periods (of revolution) of the satellites + of Mars are as follows,--Deimus being the outer satellite, and + Phobus the inner one: + + Period of Deimus, 30 hours, 18 minutes, 0 seconds. + " " Phobus, 7 " 39 " 16 " + + These values are very nearly correct, and will be changed in the + final calculation only a few seconds, if at all.--Yours truly, + + A. HALL. + + + * * * * * + + +The following are extracts from the letters of a young girl now +traveling in Europe: + + Berlin, 1877. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We were in the Auer Cathedral, Munich, looking + down the long nave, when troops of little children, boys and girls, + each with a little knapsack strapped between the shoulders, leaving + the hands and arms free for play, came hastening in by twos and + threes, till the whole church seemed full. They all knelt down, + whispered a few words of prayer, and remained for a brief space, + silent and motionless, bowed down in devotion; then they quietly + arose and went out. I shall not soon forget Auer Cathedral with its + little worshipers. + + We have been settled at Berlin for a month. Being the residence of + the Emperor and Court, it is very gay with balls, theaters, etc., + and the streets are bright and lively with fine uniforms, prancing + horses, and carriages full of richly dressed ladies, their escorts + riding on horseback at the side. It presents a lively contrast with + Munich in these respects, but, as to sunlight, it is a gloomy + place. Thus far we have had only four pleasant days, and on those + the sun set between three and four in the afternoon. Some days we + thought it did not rise at all! We realize now, for the first time, + how far north Germany is. + + We improved one of our pleasant days by a trip to Potsdam, where is + the summer palace of the kings of Prussia. Here are the rooms of + Frederick the Great, just as he arranged them. His library is + chiefly of French books, and fills the shelves, which are + everywhere, from floor to ceiling--upon the doors, even, so that, + when they are shut, one feels imprisoned in books! + + At the opposite end of the palace are the rooms once occupied by + Voltaire. The walls are covered with painted wood carvings of cats, + dogs, parrots, and peacocks, which Frederick caused to be placed + there after his quarrel with Voltaire, to express his opinion of + the Frenchman's traits of character. + + Directly under the walls of the palace stands an idle windmill, now + owned by the Emperor. The noise of this windmill used to annoy the + queen, so Frederick sent for the miller and said to him: + + "We two cannot live so near each other. One of us must buy the + property of the other. Now, will you buy my palace?" + + "But my leige, I have not the money," replied the miller. + + "Then I must buy your mill," said the king. + + "You also have not money enough; I will not sell," was the miller's + reply. + + When the king hinted his power to take possession by force, the + sturdy miller said he could and would sue the king. + + "Well," said the monarch, "since you have so high an opinion of the + justice to be found in my courts of law, I will not molest you." + + So the windmill continued to creak and whirr in the ears of the + royal family for a long time. + + ADA. + + + * * * * * + + +HERBERT J.--In answer to your request, we give a copy of the poem +entitled "The Little Boy who Went Out to Swim," published first in ST. +NICHOLAS for September, 1874. Several of our readers have asked to see +the poem printed, without its pictures, in the "Letter-Box," as the +interweaving of the illustrations with the text, as they first +appeared, hindered the meaning and beauty of the verses from being +fully understood. + + THE LITTLE BOY WHO WENT OUT TO SWIM. + + BY HENRY HOWLAND. + + + A little boy went out to swim, + One pleasant day in June, + And the fish all came to talk to him, + That summer afternoon. + + "Come down, dear little boy," they said, + "And let us show to you + The homes of fish, merman and maid. + Under the waters blue. + + "We'll show you where the naiads sleep, + And where the tritons dwell; + The treasures of the unknown deep, + The coral and the shell. + + "The siren's song shall charm your ears, + And lull you into rest; + No monster shall arouse your fears, + Or agitate your breast." + + The little boy was glad to go; + And all the company + Of fish escorted him below,-- + A pageant brave to see! + + The pilot-fish swam on ahead, + The shark was at his heels; + The dolphin a procession led + Of porpoise, whale, and eels. + + The trout, all brave in red and gold, + Many a caper cut; + And after them came crowds untold + Of cod and halibut. + + The blue-fish with the black-fish swam; + Who knows the joy each felt? + The perch was escort to the clam, + The oyster to the smelt. + + The muscalonge, from northern lake, + That leaps the harbor bar, + Swam closely in the sturgeon's wake, + Famous for caviar! + + The haddock floated side by side + With carp from foreign shore, + And with them, through the seething tide, + Went scollops by the score. + + The sword-fish, like a soldier brave, + His saber flashing bare, + Went o'er the swelling ocean wave, + With bold and martial air. + + The jelly-fish went trembling down; + The star-fish mildly beamed; + And through the waves, like diamonds thrown, + The sun-fish glanced and gleamed. + + The sea-bass, black-bass, pike and dace + Went dashing on like mad; + The sheep's-head, with his lamb-like face, + Swam by the graceful shad. + + The pickerel leaped and danced along; + The frog-fish puffed and blew; + The herring in a countless throng + Swam by, a merry crew. + + The turtles sailed a Dutch-built fleet, + On port and starboard tack, + While through their ranks, with caution meet, + Darted the stickleback. + + The shrimp and lobster clawed along + With others of their kin, + And in their company a throng + Of lively terrapin. + + The bull-pouts, dressed in black and drab, + With horns and visage grim, + Preceded the meandering crab; + The mackerel followed him. + + Sea-spiders, in their coats of mail; + Shiners, with silver vest; + White-fish and weak-fish at their tail, + Swam on with all the rest. + + The royal turbot, true and tried, + Subject of England's queen, + Sailed on in regal pump and pride, + With whitebait and sardine. + + The knightly salmon, king of fish, + Without reproach or fear, + The noblest fish a man could wish, + Came bringing up the rear. + + And thus they reached the mermaid's cave. + Who, with a heart-felt joy, + To her bright home beneath the wave, + Welcomed the little boy! + + + * * * * * + + +Here is a letter which we print just as it was written by the little +one who sent it to us: + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS I send you a little story to put in the letter + Box. + + Once there was a little Boy His Name was Harry He lived with His + Mother in a humble little Cottage) His Mothers Name was Mrs Jones + she was a Widow) she and Harry lived all alone) one day Harry came + Home from school and faced the Doctor at the Door young man said + the Dr to the Boy your Mother is very sick) she was doing what you + ought to of done for her) what is that sir said Harry choping Wood + Bringing in Coal and all such work as that) she straned her self + and is very ill) poor Harry hung down His head for His Mother had + asked Him to chop the wood this Morning when He was mending his + Ball) He said I will be there in a moment Mother) and like all Boy + He forgot) oh how poor Harry felt When He thought of this) but + Harry took good care of His Mother ever after) a Friend of Harries + got Him a good Situation and Made a man of Him and He allways did + what His Mother asked Him) ever after Harry said to the Dr one day) + Dr I can take care of Mother now and I allways will + + So we hope Harry will take care of His Widow Mother, all the) rest + of His days) + + M.J.W. + + + * * * * * + + +Here is a nice letter that a little girl wrote to her mother nearly +thirty-three years ago. The little girl was away from her town home on +a visit to the country for the sake of her health; and all that she +wrote in the letter was true. + + Mr. McDonald's, October 1st, 1845. + + MY DEAR MOTHER: I wish my arms were long enough to reach two miles, + I want to give you a good hug, I am so glad you let me come out + here. I was a little bit afraid last night, the horse was so high, + and it was so dark. I never rode on a horse in the dark before, you + know. It was so dark in the woods I could not see anything, but my + eyes would stay so wide open they hurt me. I held as tight to Mr. + George as I could; I felt as though some big thing was just going + to snatch me off the horse, all the time; my fingers felt like they + were full of pins when I let go. Everything does taste so good out + here, and the air is so clean. I stretched out my arms to it this + morning, it felt so good. We have a play-house on the rocks; it has + two fire-places. They are made out of flat stones, and inside of + the big stones we set up two smaller stones, and lay a flat one + across, and there we do our cooking. We are going to have a party + to-night, and have been busy all day getting ready. All the good + things are cooked, waiting till night, when Mac will be home. We + have three splendid baked apples, and three eggs roasted in the + ashes, but we have only two pies. We could only find two + blacking-box lids, and as these are our pie-pans, we have only two + pies. We washed and scoured the black all off, and they looked as + nice as Sophia's tins, which she will never let us touch at home. + Our biscuits are not as nice quite as hers, it was so hard to make + them round, and our range don't bake on both sides, so we had to + turn them over to get both sides cooked. Our things all look very + good, and I am real hungry for them, but you know it would not do + to eat the party before Mac comes. We have made wreaths of + maple-leaves, to wear on our heads to-night, one for Mac, too. We + thought it would do for a boy to wear a wreath as long as there are + so few of us, and the leaves are so pretty; and as it is my + birthday, I have some leaves basted all around my blue dress, and + it looks lovely. + + I must stop now. Give my love to all. Take good care of Fideli, and + kiss all around for your loving daughter, + + JULIA. + + + * * * * * + + + Clifton, Iroquois County, Ill. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We want to tell the little boys and girls that + read ST. NICHOLAS, how a greedy rooster got caught in a trap. We + set the trap to catch rabbits, but didn't get any; so the corn was + left, and the chickens were all walking around, and saw it, and + tried to get in to eat it; but the selfish old rooster drove them + all away, and crowded in himself, and began to eat the corn, when + down came the trap, and he was fast, but all the others were + free.--Yours truly, + + ARTHUR AND BROWNIE S. + + + * * * * * + + + South Boston, Mass. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I read the "Letter-Box" every month with much + interest, and have often seen puzzles and "such things" in it, so I + send you one, and hope that somebody will find it out: + + There was somebody born in England, on the 16th of July, 1723. He + was the son of a clergyman, and his father was rather strict with + him. He made a drawing of his father's school with so much accuracy + of outline, and in such correct perspective, that the grave + clergyman could no longer maintain his severity. He saw that his + son would be a painter, and resolved to aid him. An anecdote + related of the artist runs thus: One day, a man called to see some + of his pictures, and asked him what he mixed his colors with. The + painter answered, "With brains, sir--with brains!"--Yours, + + FRANK R.M. + + + * * * * * + + + Columbia, S.C. + + DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Our schoolma'am told us the other day that it is + generally best to use short words instead of long words in writing + or speaking, and she gave us a verse to copy as a specimen. She + said that it was written by a man who was perfect master of seven + languages, knew six others very well, was at home with another + eight, and read with a lexicon four more,--in all twenty-five + different languages; and although he could use tremendously long + words when he chose, yet he made a point of using short ones, even + though they were old and odd and not in common use. I send you a + copy of the verse, and I think he might have done much better if he + had used longer and more forcible words.--Yours truly, + + STELLA G. + + "Think not that strength lies in the big round word, + Or that the brief and plain must needs be weak. + To whom can this be true that once has heard + The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak + When want or woe or fear is in the throat, + So that each word gasped forth is like a shriek + Pressed from the sore heart, or a strange wild note + Sung by some foe or fiend. There is a strength + Which dies if stretched too far or spun too fine, + Which has more height than depth, more breadth than length. + Let but this force of thought and speech be mine, + And he that will may take the sleek fat phrase, + Which glows and burns not, though it gleam and shine-- + Light but not heat--a flash, but not a blaze!" + +Long words are not always the most "forcible," Stella,--nor, on the +other hand, are they always to be avoided. Sometimes the best word for +expressing our meaning may be long to spell, but easy to understand; +and, again, a word may be short and yet fail to tell exactly what we +wish to say. The verse you copy is not a convincing example of the +power of short words, although it shows that much may be done with +them. Frequently a word is chosen for its rhythmic quality--the +pleasantness and ease with which its sound fits in with the +context--rather than because it is long or short. Mr. Longfellow's +poem, "The Three Kings" published in the last Christmas number of ST. +NICHOLAS, is an example of a fine poem in simple and rhythmical +language, the study of which will improve your style of writing more +than any number of rules that we might give you. + + + + +THE RIDDLE-BOX. + + +HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE. + +The central letters, read downward, name a fashionable and beautiful +pet. + +1. A large reptile. 2. Idolizing. 3. A foe. 4. To stain. 5. A consonant. +6. A dandy. 7. To baffle. 8. Good news. 9. Capable of being made better. + +G.H.W. + + +BLANK APOCOPES. + +In each of the following sentences, the second blank is to be filled +with the first syllable of the word used in the first blank. + +1. From some ---- we made a portion of our ----. 2. The ---- was +extinguished when we made a ---- for the door. 3. On the second shelf +of the ---- you will find some ----. 4. It was of a bright ---- color, +the ---- that he had. + +C.D. + + +EASY BEHEADINGS. + +1. Behead to strike, and leave what all must do. 2. Behead what +children like, and leave a man's nickname. 3. Behead two pronouns, and +leave two other pronouns. 4. Behead an article of furniture, and leave +capable. 5. Behead a color, and leave a writing material. 6. Behead +something belonging to flowers, and leave a coin. 7. Behead a part of +the head, and leave what comes from the clouds. 8. Behead another +color, and leave a kind of stove. 9. Behead a sport, and leave a girl's +name. 10. Behead a part of a ship, and leave a tree. 11. Behead a kind +of bird, and leave disturbance. 12. Behead an article of food, and +leave a kind of tree. 13. Behead a table utensil, and leave a bird. 14. +Behead to frighten, and leave anxiety. 15. Behead a toilet article, and +leave to crowd. + +A.D.L. AND S.W. + + +EASY TRIPLE ACROSTIC. + +The primals, read downward, name a bird; the centrals, an animal; +the finals, an insect. + +1. Disentangling. 2. Echo. 3. A city in a Western State. 4. Can't +be worse. + +ESOR. + + +FRAME PUZZLE. + + * * + * * + * * * * * * * * + * * + * * + * * * * * * * * + * * + * * + + +Make the frame of four words of eight letters each, so that the letter +A shall come at each of the four corners where the words intersect. The +words mean: Sweet-smelling, to make a scale, a fillet, an ecclesiastic. + +BESSIE AND HER COUSIN. + + +HIDDEN FRENCH SENTENCE. + +Find in the following sentence the French words with which the Emperor +Alexander of Russia once described St. Petersburg: + +Give him a good anvil, let him deal sound blows on the irons for the +pier, repeated and strong, and the work will last. + +B. + + +PICTORIAL ANAGRAM PROVERB PUZZLE. + +[Illustration] + +The answer is a proverb of eight words. Each numeral beneath the +pictures represents a letter in that word of the proverb which is +indicated by that numeral--5 showing that the letter it designates +belongs to the fifth word of the proverb, 3 to the third word, and so +on. + +Find a word that describes each picture and contains as many letters as +there are numerals beneath the picture itself. This is the first +process. Then put down, some distance apart, the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, +6, 7, 8, to correspond with the words of the proverb. Group beneath +figure 6 all the letters designated by the numeral 6 in the numbering +beneath the pictures. You will thus have in a group all the letters +contained by the sixth word of the proverb, and you will then have only +to transpose those letters in order to form the word itself. Follow the +same process of grouping and transposition in forming each of the +remaining words of the proverb. Of course, the transposition need not +be begun until all the letters have been set apart in their proper +groups. + +S.R. + + +THREE EASY SQUARE-WORDS. + + I.--1. A bard of fame. + 2. From mines I came. + 3. A fish's name. + + II.--1. The mountain's fringe. + 2. I make slaves cringe. + 3. A ruddy tinge. + + III.--1. What bad men hate. + 2. I blanch the pate. + 3. To join or mate. + +N. AND VIOLET. + + +EASY ENIGMA. + + My first is in dark, but not in light; + My second in girl, but not in boy; + My third is in peace, but not in fight; + My fourth in mourning, not in joy; + My fifth is in flowers, but not in weeds; + My sixth in kind, but not in cruel; + My seventh is in drives, and also in leads; + And my whole is a beautiful jewel. + +N.K.K. + + +REVERSIBLE DOUBLE DIAMOND AND CONCEALED WORD-SQUARE. + + - + - E - + - E - E - + - E - + - + +Fill the vacant places with letters to form a reversible double diamond +which shall inclose a reversible word-square.--Centrals: Perpendicular, +to make merry; horizontal, a mechanical power. Word-square: 1, a +number; 2, part of the day; 3, to knit. + +H.H.D. + + +EASY SYNCOPATIONS. + +1. Syncopate a composite metal, and leave a fish. 2. Syncopate an +article of food, and leave an ornament. 3. Syncopate a map, and +leave a vehicle. 4. Syncopate a pungent spice, and leave a small bay. +5. Syncopate a wading bird, and leave a reed. 6. Syncopate a short, +ludicrous play, and leave a part of the body. 7. Syncopate another part +of the body, and leave a wild animal. 8. Syncopate a domestic animal, +and leave articles of clothing. 9. Syncopate a small animal, and leave +to ponder. 10. Syncopate a flower, and leave a domestic animal. + +ISOLA. + + +PICTORIAL TRANSPOSITION PUZZLES. + +To solve these five puzzles: Find for each picture a word, or words, +that will correctly describe it, and then transpose the letters of the +descriptive word or words so as to form another word, which will answer +to the definition given below the picture. + +B. + +[Illustration: 1. Gives right 10.] + +[Illustration: 2. A prince of Hindustan.] + +[Illustration: 3. A token of victory.] + +[Illustration: 4. A sylvan deity.] + +[Illustration: 5. A creator.] + + +EASY SQUARE-WORD. + +1. Soothing ointment. 2. A bitter-tasting plant. 3. Knowledge gained +from reading or study. 4. Mild of temper. + +K. + + +EASY DIAMOND. + +1. A consonant. 2. A lively animal. 3. To moisten or irrigate. +4. A jewel. 5. A consonant. + +ISOLA. + + + + +ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN APRIL NUMBER. + +NUMERICAL ENIGMA.--Victor Emanuel. 1. Rome; 2. Turin; 3. Venice; +4. Milan. + +EASY DIAMOND PUZZLE.--G, bEt, GeNoa, tOe, A. + +WORD SYNCOPATIONS.--1. Parsonage--arson, page. 2. Noticeable--ice, +notable. 3. Bewilder--wild, beer. 4. Devotee--vote, Dee. +5. Decanter--cant, deer. + +ANAGRAMS.--1. Annoyance. 2. Combinations. 3. Conversion. 4. Dangerous. +5. Ceremonial. 6. Madrigal. 7. Unalterable. 8. Disengage. + +DROP-LETTER PUZZLE.--"He doth much who doth well what he hath to do." + +EASY RHOMBOID PUZZLE.--C A R E + N E A T + D R O P + L E A P + +PICTORIAL ANAGRAM PUZZLE.--Frigates. Feast, stag, gate, seat, rats, +air, fist, tars, safe, stage. + +SEXTUPLE WORD-CROSS.--Full perpendicular: Bobolink. Full horizontal: +Bayonet. Top limb: Bob. Bottom limb: Link. Left arm: Bay. Right arm: +Net. + +PRESIDENTIAL DISCOVERIES.--1. Ant. 2. Washing. 3. Martin, tailor +(Taylor). 4. Ruth. 5. Birch (_Barch_ard). 6. Abraham, Zachary. +7. John, James, Andrew, Thomas. 8. Tin. 9. Lard, ham. 10. Mil. 11. Ton. +12. Frank. 13. Andre. 14. Rank. 15. Pier. 16. Aft. 17. Ford, dams. +18. Roe. 19. Ayes. 20. Franklin. 21. Ulysses. 22. Ash. 23. William Henry. +24. Grant. 25. Mi, la, re. 26. I Am. 27. Jam. 28. Hen. 29. Ada. 30. More. +31. Son. + +EASY DOUBLE ACROSTIC.--America, England. 1. AgreeablE. 2. Main. 3. EgG. +4. RaiL. 5. IdeA. 6, ClaN. 7. AmuseD. + +NUMERICAL PUZZLE--Madagascar. Dam, sag, car. + + S C + D A M + R G + +A PROVERB AMONG PROVERBS.--"Love can neither be bought nor sold; its +only price is love." + +A MEDLEY.---Scrape, crape, rape, ape. Capers, cape, cap. Pacers, pace, +ace. Casper, asp. + +HALF WORD-SQUARE.--S E N A T O R + E X O G E N + N O V E L + A G E S + T E L + O R + R + + +Answers to puzzles in the March number were received, before March 18, +from R.T. McKeever, Eddie Vultee, Charles M. Jones, George J. Fiske, +Esther L. Fiske, "Guesser," Milly and Maude Adams, Jay B. Benton, Chas. +G. Todd, M.A. Newlands, "Mione and White Fawn," Leonie Giraud; +Unsigned, Philadelphia; Fred M. Pease, Katie Burnett, Mary C. Warren, +Jennie Dillingham and Frances V. Lord, M.W. Collet, Catherine Cowl, +Allie Bertram, Julia F. Allen, T.J. De la Hunt, G.L., Carrie Speiden +and Mary F. Speiden, "Bessie and her Cousin," Nettie I.G., Xerxes J. +Booren, "Nettie 722," "Queen Bess," E.C. Moss, Nellie Baker, A.L.S. and +L.R.P., Otto Dreier, "Prebo," "Prebo's Ma," Mary Belle Giddings, Nellie +Kellogg, Lillie Stone, Grace C. Raymond, J. Harty Townsend, C. Lothrop, +Robin Nelson, Ben Merrill, Bessie Cary, Edith Claypole Ewing, Nellie +Wooster, Rufus Clark, Nellie C. Graham, Harriet H. Doyle, Bertie E. +Bailey, May Odell, "Thorndale," Louie G. Hinsdale and Arnold Guyot +Cameron, Robert P. Christian, Belle W. Brown, Dellie Wilmarth, Emily +Morison, Frank Bowman, Fred Worthington, Walter Stockdale, Carroll B. +Carr, Eddie F. Worcester, Charley W. Sprague, Nellie Emerson; "Winnie," +Brookline; Josie Morris Brown, Mary W. Ovington, Allie Armstrong, +Sidney S. Conger, Nellie J. Hutchings, S.N. Knapp, F. Armington, Austin +D. Mabie, Carrie and Sharlie King, Willie B. Deas, Bessie B. Whiting, +Nettie A. Ives, Richard Emmins, A. Gunther, H.B. Ayers, Frances Hunter, +Alice B. Moore, Percy Crenshaw, "Robin Redbreast," John V.L. Pierson, +Mattie S.J. Swallow, Gertrude V. Sharp, Harriet Etting, Mary H. +Stickney, Maggie J. Gemmill, Georgie B., B. McVay Allison, Jennie +Beach; Nellie T. Dozier and Julia T. Gardiner; Everett B. Clark, R.H. +Marr, Jr., Jennie O. Smith, Lillie Singich, Georgine C. Schnitzspahn, +F.D., Anna E. Mathewson, Edward C. Niles, R.W. Abert, Mollie W. Morris, +Sam V. Gilbert, Mary H. Bradley, William H. Atkinson, Alice N. Dunn, +Philip Cary, Fred Whittlesey, Bessie L. Barnes, "Nightingale," Grant +Squires, E.C., L.C.L.; Unsigned, Seymour, Conn.; Lafla Whitaker, Edna +C. Lewis, Jennie R. McClure, "Eagle;" Sadie Duffield and Constance +Grand-Pierre; Barton Longacre, Eva Doeblin, Belle M. Grier, +"Minnehaha," Emmie O. Johnson, "Sister Lizzie," Harry Haskell, Addison +F. Hunis; Kittie Hamilton Chapman and Carrie R. Heller; and Elmer +Dwiggins. Gladys H. Wilkinson and John P. Brewin, both of England, also +sent answers. + +Correct answers to all puzzles were received From "King Wompster." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and +Girls, Vol. 5, May, 1878, No. 7., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE *** + +***** This file should be named 16173-8.txt or 16173-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/7/16173/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lynn Bornath and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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