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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls,
+Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, 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, October 1878, No. 12
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2006 [EBook #17466]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, LM Bornath, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE NOON ENCAMPMENT. [See Violin Village.]]
+
+
+
+
+ST. NICHOLAS.
+
+VOL. V.
+OCTOBER, 1878.
+No. 12.
+
+[Copyright, 1878, by Scribner & Co.]
+
+
+
+
+THE VIOLIN VILLAGE.
+
+By Edith Hawkins.
+
+
+On the borders of the Tyrol and the lovely district known as the
+"Bavarian Highlands," there is a quaint little village called
+"Mittenwald," which at first sight appears shut in by lofty mountains as
+by some great and insurmountable barrier. The villagers are a simple,
+industrious people, chiefly occupied in the manufacture of stringed
+musical instruments, the drying of which, on fine days, presents a very
+droll appearance. The gardens seem to have blossomed out in the most
+eccentric manner; for there, dangling from lines like clothes, hang
+zithers, guitars, and violins, by hundreds, from the big bass to the
+little "kit," and the child's toy.
+
+In this valley, one clear morning in August, as the church clock struck
+five, a lad issued from the arched entrance of one of the pretty gabled
+houses along the main street. He was not more than twelve years of age,
+yet an expression of thoughtfulness in his clear, blue eyes, gave and
+added an older look to his otherwise boyish face. His costume was a gray
+suit of coarse cloth, trimmed with green; his knees and feet were bare,
+but he wore knitted leggings of green worsted. A high-crowned hat of
+green felt, adorned with some glossy black cock's feathers, a whip and a
+small brass horn slung by a cord from his shoulder completed the outfit
+of the village goatherd. He hastened along by the green-bordered brook
+crossed by planks, over one of which Stephan--for that was our hero's
+name--leaped as he came up to the simple wooden fountain, which, as in
+most Bavarian villages, stood in the middle of the road.
+
+A piece of black bread and a long draught from the fountain was
+Stephan's breakfast, which being speedily finished, he broke the morning
+stillness with repeated blasts from the horn, which seemed to awake the
+valley as by magic; for scarcely had the more distant mountains echoed
+the summons, than from almost every door-way scampered one or more
+goats. All hurried in the direction of the water-tank, where they stood
+on their hind legs to drink, jostled one another or frisked about in the
+highest spirits, till fully two hundred were assembled, rendering the
+street impassable. A peculiar cry from the boy and a sharp crack of the
+whip were the signals for a general move. Away they skipped
+helter-skelter through the town, along the accustomed road, high up the
+rocky mountain-side. The little animals were hungry, so stopped every
+now and then to nibble the attractive grassy tufts, long before the
+allotted feeding ground was reached. There was, however, little fear of
+losing them, as each wore a tiny bell round the neck, which, tinkling at
+every movement, warned the boy of the straggler; a call invariably
+brought it back, though often by a circuitous route, enabling the animal
+to keep beyond the reach of the whip, which Stephan lashed about with
+boyish enjoyment.
+
+Noon found the goats encamped under the shade of some tall pine-trees,
+and Stephan Reindel was busily arranging a bunch of bright red
+cranberries at the side of his hat, when a shot arrested his attention.
+He jumped up, and with boyish curiosity explored the pine wood; but
+fearing to go too far on account of his flock, he was returning, when a
+second shot followed by a sharp cry, convinced him it was some hunter
+who had driven his game much lower down than was at all usual. The
+second report had sounded so near that he continued his fruitless search
+till it was time to go home, when, as usual, he drove his flock back by
+five o'clock.
+
+Directly they entered the village, each goat trotted off to its own
+abode, and Stephan to his, where, after eating his supper of black bread
+and cheese, he sat listlessly watching his mother varnish violins, by
+which she earned a trifle every week. This was due to the kindness of
+the chief manufacturer in the village, who, since her husband's death,
+had supplied her regularly with some of the light work usually performed
+by women, and to which she was well accustomed, having frequently
+assisted her husband, who had been one of Herr Dahn's best workmen, and
+whose death had left her entirely dependent on her own exertions for the
+support of herself and child; for the last two years, however, Stephan
+had bravely earned his mite by taking daily care of the goats belonging
+to the whole valley. He was now discussing with his mother the
+possibility of his ever being able to maintain them both by following
+his father's trade of making guitars and violins, when a loud knock put
+the future to flight, and caused Stephan to open the door so suddenly
+that a very excited old woman came tumbling into the room.
+
+"Oh! Bridgetta, how could you lean against the door?" said Frau Reindel,
+hastening to her assistance. "I hope you are not hurt, and do pray
+remember, in future, that our door opens inside, and that you must step
+down into the room. Sit down, neighbor," she added, placing a stool for
+the old woman, who was, however, far too angry to notice it; but turning
+toward Stephan, whom she unfortunately caught smiling, she pointed to
+her large fur cap, that had rolled some distance across the floor,
+saying: "Pick it up, boy, and don't stand grinning like that, especially
+as you must know why I have come here so late in the evening." Then
+snatching it from him, without heeding his apologies, she added: "Yes,
+indeed, you have more cause to cry than laugh. A pretty herd-boy you
+are, to come home without people's goats! sitting here as contentedly as
+if you had done your day's duty! You had better be more careful or you
+will certainly lose your work, if I have a voice in the village!"
+
+Stephan and his mother stood aghast at this angry tirade, and it was
+only after repeated questions, sulkily answered, that they finally
+understood that her own goat was really missing. She had, as usual, gone
+into the stable to milk it, and after waiting in vain till past seven
+o'clock, she had come to tell Stephan he must at once seek for it among
+the neighbors' goats. He was quite willing, nay, anxious to do so, being
+unable to account in any way for its absence; for he could not remember
+having noticed the little gray goat with the white face since the early
+part of the morning. There was consequently nothing left to be done that
+night but to make an immediate inquiry at every house in the village. He
+did not return till past nine o'clock,--a very late hour in that
+primitive spot, where people usually rise at four or five and go to bed
+at eight. No one had seen the goat, but almost all blamed his
+carelessness, so that he was too unhappy to sleep, especially as he
+could not forget how distressed his poor mother looked, knowing, as she
+did, that somehow or other she must pay the value of the goat, though
+how such a sum was to be earned was beyond guessing.
+
+A week passed, nothing was heard of the strayed one; Stephan had
+searched every possible spot up the mountain, and inquired of every
+person he met coming from the neighboring villages or beyond the
+frontier of the Tyrol,--but all in vain. A report had spread in the
+valley that he had lamed the goat with a stone, and so caused it to fall
+over a precipice. Many people believed this, which greatly increased the
+unhappiness of Stephan and his mother, though he had denied the charge
+most positively.
+
+"I, at least, believe you, my son," said his mother, one day, when
+Bridgetta was present. "You never told me a lie, and I thank God for my
+truthful child, more than for all else."
+
+"You can believe what you like," said Bridgetta, angrily; "but, as your
+boy has lost my goat, and as I am poor, and have already waited longer
+than I can afford, I must ask you to pay me by to-morrow evening, so
+that I may buy another, for you forget that I have done without milk all
+these days."
+
+"No, I do not forget," said the widow, sadly. "I will do my best to get
+the money for you. It is right you should have your own, and you know I
+would have paid you at once had it been in my power. I will, however,
+see what I can do by to-morrow, so good-night."
+
+As they walked home, they discussed for the hundredth time the
+impossibility of getting five florins; they could not save that sum in
+six months. "There is nothing to be done unless Herr Dahn would lend it
+to us," suggested Stephan. "We could pay him by degrees, and he is so
+rich that I dare say he would be satisfied with that."
+
+"I have thought of asking him," replied the mother, "and, even if he
+refuses, he will do so kindly."
+
+As she spoke, they saw the important little gentleman coming out of a
+house, and hastened to overtake him. He greeted them with the extreme
+politeness so noticeable among all classes in Bavaria, even in the
+remote villages. After hearing the widow's request, he stood musing a
+minute, looked up and down the street, took off his hat, and polished
+his bald head, ejaculating the usual "So! so!" then, as if a bright
+thought had cleared up all doubts, he said: "Now, don't you think it
+would be pleasanter and more independent if you gave something in
+exchange for the five florins? Something that can be of no use to
+yourself--your husband's tools, for instance? I will give you a fair
+price,--enough to pay for this unlucky goat, and something over for a
+rainy day. But, my good woman, what's the matter?" he added, seeing
+tears in her eyes and Stephan eagerly clutching her arm, as if to get
+her away.
+
+"Nothing, sir, nothing; you are quite right; I had forgotten the tools
+would bring money; but you must excuse me if I do not decide till
+to-morrow, for my boy here has set his heart on being a guitar and
+zither maker, like his poor father, and always fancies he would work
+better with those tools."
+
+"What! Stephan make violins? How is he ever to do that, when he spends
+all his days up the mountains? Have you not told me yourself that you
+cannot manage without his earnings?"
+
+"Neither do I think we could, sir, or I should have tried it long ago,
+for it is hard for him to be minding goats, when he might be earning
+something to help him on in life."
+
+"Can he do anything? Has he any taste for the work?"
+
+"Yes, I think so; he generally works at it in the evening, and has made
+several small violins for Christmas gifts to the neighbors' children.
+But they are toys. Perhaps you would allow me to bring one to show you
+to-morrow," she ventured to add.
+
+"Certainly, neighbor, but I don't promise anything, mind, except about
+the tools. I shall be at the warehouse at six o'clock. Be punctual.
+Good-evening."
+
+"O, mother! Don't give him the tools. Give him anything else. There's my
+new green hat--my best jacket--I can easily do with the one I have on,"
+said Stephan, anxiously, as he watched the receding figure of the rich
+man of the village.
+
+"My dear child! of what use could your clothes be to the gentleman? He
+wants the tools. I am very sorry, but there is really nothing else of
+any value, and we have no right to borrow money when we can obtain it by
+the sacrifice of something we should like to keep. We must never
+hesitate to perform a plain duty, however disagreeable. So, now show
+yourself a brave boy, and help me to do this one cheerfully."
+
+The next day, Stephan began his day's work with a determination to look
+on the bright side of his troubles. His goats, however, had in some way
+become a greater charge than he had ever felt them before. He feared to
+lose sight of one for an instant; so, what with racing after the
+stragglers and searching, as was now his habit, for the lost one, he was
+so tired and worn out by noonday, that instead of eating his dinner, he
+threw himself on the ground and cried bitterly. The goats sniffed round
+and round him, as if puzzled at the unwonted sounds. He often sang and
+whistled as he sat among them carving some rough semblance of animals
+with his pocket-knife, but these unmusical sounds were new to them and
+seemed to make them uneasy. A sudden pause in the monotonous tinkle of
+the little bells caused Stephan to raise his head, and he encountered
+the amused gaze of two gentlemen in the Bavarian hunting costume of
+coarse gray cloth and green facings; thick boots studded with huge nails
+and clamps to prevent slipping in the dangerous ascent after game;
+high-crowned hats, with little tufts of chamois beard as decoration and
+proof of former success; the younger of the two having, in addition, a
+bunch of pink Alpen-rose showing he must have climbed high up the
+mountains.
+
+"What sort of music do you call that?" asked the latter, resting his
+gun-stock on the ground. "If you howl in that way, there will be no use
+hunting in your neighborhood for a month; you would frighten the tamest
+game over the frontier in five minutes. A little more of this music and
+there wont be a chamois for miles round. But what's the matter? Have you
+had a fight with your goats and got the worst of it? How many horns have
+been run through your body, and where are the wounds?"
+
+Stephan had fancied that his goats were his only auditors, so felt
+thoroughly ashamed of himself, but jumping up, he answered with some
+spirit:
+
+"I have not any wounds, sir, and should never cry if I had. I lost a
+goat some days ago and now my mother has to pay for it by giving up the
+only valuable thing she has in the world."
+
+"That can't be yourself, then," said the young man, laughing; "for such
+a careless little chap would not be of much value, I should think. But
+tell us the story. When did you lose it?"
+
+After listening to Stephan's account, the hunters spoke apart with each
+other for some minutes, and then the young one took out his purse and
+gave the astonished boy six florins--about ten English shillings.
+
+"There, you can get a very good goat for that, but remember, no more
+howling, and if you ever find your own again, I shall expect you to
+repay me this money."
+
+"That I will, indeed, gentlemen, and I thank you heartily," said the
+boy, so earnestly that both laughed, as, nodding him an adieu, they
+began descending the mountain, and were soon lost among the trees.
+
+Stephan threw his hat into the air with a joyous cheer, and the echoes
+repeated his gleeful shout.
+
+The day appeared very long, and glad enough he was when the sinking sun
+warned him that it was time to return. He found his mother dusting the
+tools, and looking sadder than he had ever seen her since his father
+died.
+
+"We wont sell them, dear mother," he cried exultingly, dancing round the
+table and shaking the florins in his hat. "See what luck your blessing
+brought me this morning!" and he related his adventure with the hunters.
+
+They at once started off to pay Bridgetta the five florins, and, as
+compensation for the loss of the milk for so many days, they offered her
+the extra florin, which she coldly and decidedly refused, asking no
+questions, and appearing very anxious to get rid of them. As they walked
+home, they entered the church for a few minutes, and, after reverently
+kneeling at one of the side altars, the widow dropped the remaining
+florin into the poor-box. It was the largest thank-offering she had ever
+been able to make in her life. The warehouse was at the corner of the
+street on the south side of the church, and as the clock struck six they
+hurried up the stairs of the long, low building, and entered a small
+room fitted up as an office. Herr Dahn was busily writing in a large
+ledger, but quitting it as they entered, he said approvingly:
+
+"So here you are! That's right; business people should be
+punctual--never get on otherwise! But where are the tools?"
+
+The widow told him all about the six florins, and then placing a toy
+violin on the counter, she asked him to give his opinion of it. He
+twisted the little instrument about, carefully examining the workmanship
+while he talked, and finally declared that it was a very fair specimen
+for a self-taught lad. He evidently thought more of it than he chose to
+say, for after some conversation with his foreman, to whom he showed the
+violin, he greatly astonished the poor woman by offering to take Stephan
+at once and place him under one of his best workmen if she could do
+without his earnings for a time, as of course the goats must be given
+up. Then, noticing the boy's delight and the mother's anxious, undecided
+countenance, he added before she could reply:
+
+"Perhaps, if Stephan is steady and careful enough, I can trust him here
+alone every morning to sweep and dust the warehouses, for which I will
+pay him thirty kreutzers a week (nearly a shilling). I suppose he gets
+little more than that for tending the goats."
+
+"Oh! thank you, sir," said the boy eagerly, anticipating his mother's
+reply, "I will, indeed, be careful and steady."
+
+"Gently, boy, your mother is to decide."
+
+"I cannot thank you enough, sir," she quickly answered. "Your offer is
+more than we had ever hoped for, and I trust my child's conduct will
+prove how grateful we both feel. He would like to begin at once, I know,
+but must, of course, wait a few days till another boy is found to take
+his place as herd-boy."
+
+Herr Dahn nodded approvingly, and told them to let him know as soon as a
+substitute was found. How thankful they were that evening as they talked
+over the happy termination of their troubles, and still more so when a
+neighbor came in to tell them that Bridgetta and some others of the
+village had voted against Stephan continuing his post as herd, alleging
+that they feared to trust him any longer with their goats. This was, of
+course, very unpleasant news, for it was a sort of disgrace to be thus
+displaced, however undeserved. It also explained the cause of
+Bridgetta's extreme coolness and indifference as to how they had
+obtained the money. No wonder she was unfriendly after her action,
+which, but for the fresh turn affairs had taken, would have seriously
+injured them.
+
+However, Stephan was now free to begin his new work the next day, when
+all arrangements were made, and he was introduced as an apprentice to
+his new master, Heinrich Brand.
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+
+Stephan had been with the violin-maker about six weeks, when one day the
+little Gretchen, his master's daughter, rushed in to tell them the cows
+were coming down from the Alp.
+
+It is the custom in the Bavarian Tyrol to send the cows to small
+pastures high up among the mountains where the grass is green and
+plentiful, being watered by the dews and mists, and less exposed to the
+scorching sun. Here the cows remain all the summer under the care of two
+or three men, called "senner," or women, called "sennerinnen," who are
+always busily engaged making butter and cheese, and rarely come down to
+the valley, even for a day, till the season is over, when, collecting
+their tubs, milk-pans, and other dairy utensils, they descend the
+mountain with great rejoicings and consider the day a festival.
+
+This return is an event of importance in every village. Brand, like his
+neighbors, hastened out with his little daughter, and told Stephan to
+follow them. The gay procession wound slowly along the main road,
+accompanied by a band of music playing a cheerful Tyrolese air. The cows
+came trooping along, decorated with garlands of wild flowers, preceded
+by peasants in their gayest costumes, carrying blue and white flags. The
+"sennerinnen" wore their brightest neckerchiefs and gowns, and seemed
+quite rejoiced to be down among their friends again.
+
+Stephan joined his mother in the crowd, and they were in the full
+enjoyment of the scene when he suddenly exclaimed: "See, mother, there's
+the lost goat!" and sure enough there it was, limping along by the side
+of a "sennerin." One leg was evidently broken or severely injured, but
+otherwise the little animal looked well and fat.
+
+Old Bridgetta had likewise seen it, and the three hastened to question
+the "sennerin," who seemed very glad to find the owner, and told them it
+had been brought to the Alp by a peasant, who gave her a florin to take
+care of it and bring it down to the village as soon as she could. He did
+not tell her where he had found it, or indeed any particulars, so she
+supposed the poor little thing had fallen over some precipice and broken
+its leg, which was, however, nearly well.
+
+[Illustration: STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN. [SEE PAGE
+775.]]
+
+"Goats don't often fall in that way,--stones are much more likely to
+have caused the mischief," said Bridgetta, with a meaning look at
+Stephan, which was, however, only noticed by his mother, who replied:
+
+"Well, Bridgetta, if you still think so badly of my boy, you can keep
+the money as a recompense for the damage done to your goat, though I am
+quite convinced he has had nothing to do with it Some day we shall hear
+the truth of the whole affair, and of that I make no doubt."
+
+"I don't want your money," said the old woman, testily, "and shall
+return it as soon as I have sold the other goat;"--whereupon, she took
+the leading-string from the "sennerin" and hobbled off with her
+new-found property, apparently as little pleased as possible.
+
+The next day, the five florins were sent back, and then Stephan told his
+mother, for the first time, how he had promised to return the money if
+he ever found the goat again. This now seemed impossible, for he knew
+neither the name nor address of the gentleman. The money was, therefore,
+put away safely, and the savings of a few months soon made up the
+original sum of six florins, but still nothing could be heard of the
+giver.
+
+Time wore on, and the boy was rapidly becoming an expert workman. He had
+regularly swept the warehouse for three years, then finding he could
+earn more by violin-making during the time so occupied, he resigned in
+favor of a boy as poor as he had been. Brand had pronounced him quite
+worthy of regular work, having often tested his ability by leaving to
+him the most difficult parts of the instruments. He had made himself a
+zither, and could play all those national airs so peculiarly the
+property of the mountaineers, and which are so suited to the plaintive
+sweetness of that instrument.
+
+Before Stephan was eighteen, his fame as a zither-player had spread far
+and wide; no marriage, or festival of any kind, was complete without his
+well-looking, good-humored face.
+
+One day, Stephan was putting away his tools when he was sent for by a
+nobleman, who had stopped overnight at the village, and he soon came
+back with the news the Baron Liszt had engaged him to act as guide to
+the Krotten Kopf mountain the next day, and Brand was also wanted to
+help to carry the wraps and needful provisions.
+
+Early in the morning the party started. The Baroness accompanied her
+husband, and there were one or two gentlemen with their wives. Stephan
+and Brand, laden with shawls, umbrellas, and knapsacks, then led the way
+with the slow, steady pace always adopted by the mountaineers, who know
+that speed avails nothing when great heights have to be climbed, as it
+cannot possibly be kept up, and only exhausts the strength at the onset.
+After climbing two hours, a turn in a very steep portion of the path
+brought them suddenly upon a green plateau, walled in, as it were, by
+mountain peaks, which looked of no particular height till the ascent
+began. Though the sun had scarcely set, yet, at such an elevation, the
+air was more than chilly, and as the Baroness put on a warm shawl she
+said, one could easily account for the fresh looks of the "sennerinnen,"
+who spend the intensely hot months in so cool and healthful an
+atmosphere; for the Alps are never scorched and dried up as elsewhere
+during the summer. The Esterberg Alp, as it is called, consists of two
+large tracts of rich meadow, green and fresh as in our own fertile land,
+with a border of underwood straggling some distance up the mountain, and
+whence at midday issue the clear sounds of the musical cow-bells, the
+only signs of life in that wild, solitary spot.
+
+They soon came in sight of a long low house, one-half of which was
+devoted to the cows and the hay. The earth around was trodden down and
+bare; a few flowers grew against the house-wall, and some milk-pans were
+ranged along it to dry. The door was opened by a wild-looking man devoid
+of shoes and coat; his long, shaggy hair looked as if it had never
+experienced the kindly influence of a comb or brush. He had evidently
+been roused from a heavy sleep, but soon understanding that they wished
+to spend the night in the hut, he told them, in a most singular German
+dialect, that the "oberschweizer," or chief, was away, but that he alone
+could arrange all that was needful; for he was accustomed to attend to
+the visitors who came there in the warm weather.
+
+The "senner" prepared the meal, consisting of a large bowl full of a
+dark chopped pancake called "schmarren," often the only food of the
+cowherds for weeks together.
+
+The next consideration was a resting-place. They had been warned that
+they would get nothing but hay, so it was no surprise when the "senner"
+led the ladies out to one side of the house, where, mounting a short
+ladder, he placed his lantern in the center of a large hay-loft, one
+side of which was open to the free air of heaven, which blew in, fresh
+and cool, as also it did from numerous chinks in the roof, through which
+the clear moonbeams shone, rendering the lantern a matter of form. The
+man proceeded to arrange the hay in heaps, so that each person could
+recline or sit, as most conducive to rest. Only those accustomed (as,
+indeed, most mountain climbers in Bavaria are) to spending a night
+half-buried in hay, can sleep. The hours of the night were spent by the
+ladies in laughing at one another and discussing the absurdity of
+spending a night ranged against the sides of a hay-loft, with heads tied
+up in handkerchiefs, like wounded soldiers in a hospital.
+
+Meantime, the gentlemen sat outside enjoying their cigars by moonlight,
+and relating their hunting adventures. "Ah," said the Baron, after one
+of the stories, "that reminds me of a northern friend of mine who was
+staying with us some years ago. He was very short-sighted, but
+passionately fond of a hunt, so we made up several parties, at which he
+appeared in spectacles, to the great amusement of us all. He took our
+jokes in good part, and enjoyed himself without doing any mischief for a
+time. One unlucky day, however, I missed our path, and had to descend
+the mountain in search of some landmark from which to start afresh.
+Suddenly, with the exclamation: 'Hush! a chamois!' he leveled his rifle,
+and before I could say one word he had shot----a goat! He was too much
+vexed to laugh, so I had it all to myself, and it was some minutes
+before I could assist him to raise the little animal, whose leg was
+broken. The flock was not far off, and the herd-boy was evidently
+searching the wood, having heard the shot. Now it never would have done
+to let such an unsportsmanlike event get wind, so we carried the goat to
+some distance, when, meeting a peasant, we paid him to leave it at a hut
+on a neighboring Alp, and request it should be taken down to the valley
+at the first opportunity. I never mentioned the subject to any one but
+my brother Heinrich. Some time after, he was hunting in the same
+locality, and came upon a lad who was crying, with a regular mountain
+voice, for the loss of that very goat, for which it seemed his mother
+had to pay. I must confess, the consequence of kidnapping the animal for
+a time had never struck me, and I was therefore glad to know that my
+brother had given the lad money enough to pay all damages. But come, it
+is time we tried our hay-berths, for if we can't sleep we can rest."
+
+Stephan, who had been eagerly listening, exclaimed: "Oh, please sir,
+wait a moment. I was that boy to whom the gentleman gave the money, and
+he told me he should expect it returned if I ever found the goat. Some
+time afterward I did find it, and I have always carried the money sewn
+into my coat-pocket in case I should meet the gentleman again when I am
+away from home, but I never did so; perhaps, sir, you will be kind
+enough to give it to him," he added, beginning to unfasten the little
+packet from the lining of his side-pocket.
+
+Turning to Brand, the Baron asked if he knew anything of this romantic
+goat story.
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir, and so does every one in the village, for the boy got
+into trouble with the neighbors, who all thought he had been throwing
+stones at the animal, and they even turned him out of his situation,
+but, as luck would have it, something else was offered the same day, so
+that it did not hurt him or his mother either."
+
+"It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had always wished to
+make violins and zithers, and owing to that accident I got my wish,"
+said Stephan, in reply to the Baron's expressions of regret.
+
+"As to the money," said the Baron, "we will make an exchange; you shall
+have my purse, which contains about ten florins, and I will take your
+little bag, just as it is, as a proof of Bavarian honesty and honor. We
+shall see more of one another," he added; "meantime, don't forget that
+we must be off by four in the morning. Good-night!"
+
+The moon still shone when the travelers commenced their mountain
+journey. Slowly they wound their way round the ever-ascending path.
+About half-way up they came to a small rocky plain, where some young
+cattle were grazing. Their alarmed wild movements proved how rarely
+human beings passed their high-walled prison. From this point their
+climbing became a real labor, but before long they arrived at the
+summit, where, amidst much laughter and want of breath, they all threw
+themselves on the ground and gave vent to their satisfaction at being
+nearly 7,000 feet above the sea, and to their admiration of the glorious
+view.
+
+But their stay on the summit was short, as they wished to make the
+descent of the mountain in one day. They did not reach Partenkirchen
+till nearly midnight, nor Mittenwald till the following day, where, of
+course, their adventures were related, and Stephan's story was soon the
+talk of the village. He became a perfect hero for the time, and many a
+neighbor shook hands and hoped he would forgive the doubt cast upon his
+word, although years had since passed and the goat of contention had
+been gathered to its fathers.
+
+Some time after, a letter came to the Post Inn for Stephan, causing much
+curiosity in the village, as it was the first he had ever received. It
+came from the Baron, who offered him an excellent situation on his
+estate, under the forester, who, being childless and old, would not only
+instruct Stephan in his duties, but would soon leave the management in a
+great measure to him; moreover, he himself might hope to succeed as
+Forester, if he found the life suited to his taste. A week was given him
+for consideration. He did not at all like the idea of leaving his native
+place, to which he was attached with that intensity of feeling said to
+be peculiar to the mountaineers; but so good an offer was not to be
+refused, especially as Herr Dahn and Brand both approved of his going.
+So the letter was written to tell the Baron he would come in a few
+weeks, as requested. Meantime his old master gave him an order for a
+zither of the best quality, to be made of handsome wood, inlaid with
+mother-of-pearl, and as the price was of no consequence, he was to make
+it quite a specimen instrument, to show how well he could work. Stephan
+was very much pleased with the commission, and when, at the end of three
+weeks, it was finished, his delight was great when Herr Dahn pronounced
+it "One of the very best he had ever had in his warehouse, and quite fit
+for the king." The day came for Stephan's departure, but it was not a
+sad one, as everything was arranged for him to return in three months to
+fetch Gretchen, his old master's daughter, who had promised to marry
+him, and Stephan's mother was to live with them.
+
+Stephan's letters were most satisfactory. He liked the new life and the
+old Forester, and was sure Gretchen would admire the pretty houses, the
+large balcony, along the rails of which he was growing some of the
+beautiful dark carnations she was so fond of, and he knew she would
+rejoice to see the glowing mountain-peaks rising from the dark pine
+woods at sunset.
+
+The wedding-day arrived at last, and in the course of the second
+evening,--for the festivities lasted two days,--some strangers staying
+in the village came up to see the dancing, which took place in a very
+large room in the inn. Among them was the Baron Liszt, who, after
+dancing the last waltz with Gretchen, requested the visitors would
+remain a few minutes, as he had something to show them.
+
+A box was then brought in by the hostess, dressed in her best costume
+and fur cap. She placed it with much solemnity before the Baron, who
+lifted the lid, took out the beautiful zither that Stephan had made with
+such care, and handing it to the pretty, blushing Gretchen, he said he
+could offer her nothing better as a wedding gift than this specimen of
+her husband's talent, which he hoped she would always keep and use as a
+token of his respect and admiration for Bavarian honesty and truth.
+Then, shaking hands with them both, he took leave amidst loud
+acclamations and waving of hats; and so ended the wedding of Stephan and
+Gretchen.
+
+
+
+
+TROUBLES IN HIGH LIFE.
+
+BY MRS. J. G. BURNETT.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  Two miniature mothers at play on the floor
+    Their wearisome cares were debating,
+  How Dora and Arabelle, children no more,
+  Were twice as much trouble as ever before,
+  And the causes each had her own cares to deplore
+    Were, really, well worth my relating.
+
+  Said one little mother: "You really don't know
+    What a burden my life is with Bella!
+  Her stravagant habits I hope she'll outgrow.
+  She buys her kid gloves by the dozen, you know,
+  Sits for _cartes de visites_ every fortnight or so,
+    And don't do a thing that I tell her!"
+
+  Those stylish young ladies (the dollies, you know)
+    Had complexions soft, pearly and waxen,
+  With arms, neck and forehead, as white as the snow,
+  Golden hair sweeping down to the waist and below,
+  Eyes blue as the sky, cheeks with youth's ruddy glow,--
+    Of a beauty pure Grecian and Saxon.
+
+  "Indeed!" said the other, "that's sad to be sure;
+    But, ah," with a sigh, "no one guesses
+  The cares and anxieties mothers endure.
+  For though Dora appears so sedate and demure,
+  She spends all the money that I can secure
+    On her cloaks and her bonnets and dresses."
+
+  Then followed such prattle of fashion and style
+    I smiled as I listened and wondered,
+  And I thought, had I tried to repeat it erewhile,
+  How these fair little Israelites, without guile,
+  Would mock at my lack of their knowledge, and smile
+    At the way I had stumbled and blundered.
+
+  And I thought, too, when each youthful mother had conned
+    Her startling and touching narration,
+  Of the dolls of which I in my childhood was fond,
+  How with Dora and Arabelle they'd correspond,
+  And how far dolls and children to-day are beyond
+    Those we had in the last generation!
+
+
+
+
+A TALE OF MANY TAILS.
+
+BY KATHARINE B. FOOT.
+
+
+Carry stood in the door-way with her dolly on one arm and her kitten
+hanging over the other. Kitty didn't look comfortable, but she bore up
+bravely, only once in a while giving a plaintive mew. Carry gazed into
+the bright white sunshine.
+
+"It's melting hot," she said. "I guess, grandma, I'll take my doll and
+Friskarina out to the wash-house and have a party."
+
+"Well," said grandma, looking over her spectacles, "I've no objection;
+only there's a black cloud coming up, and you may get caught out there
+in a thunder storm."
+
+"If I do, can Jake come for me with an umbrella, and can I take off my
+shoes and stockings and come home barefoot?"
+
+"Yes; I don't believe it would hurt you."
+
+"Then I'll go;" and Carry picked up a box with a little tea-set in it,
+and started off, saying: "Do you believe it'll rain cats and dogs and
+pitchforks, grandma? That's what Jake says."
+
+"No, my dear. You'd better ask him if he ever saw such a rain."
+
+"So I will," and away went Carry through the sunshine. And she said to
+herself: "Wouldn't it be funny if it did rain so? I guess grandma
+wouldn't like it much if cats rained down, 'cause she says five cats are
+too many now."
+
+The tea-party on an old chair without a back wasn't much of an affair,
+after all; for, although the doll--Miss Rose de Lorme--was propped up
+against a starch-box more than half a dozen times, she would keep on
+sliding feet first until she came down flat on her back and thumped her
+head. The kitten went to sleep in the corner just as Carry put her down.
+
+"Oh, dear!" sighed the little girl. "It's so lonely with cats and dolls
+and things that can't talk!" And then she sat down in a corner by the
+old wash-boiler, where she could see out of the open door, and took
+Kitty into her lap.
+
+The great fluffy clouds banked up higher and higher, and from being
+white and dazzling they began to grow black at the edges; and the black
+masses rolled up and up, until the sun was all hidden and the sky was
+dark. Then came the rain, gently at first, in drops far apart, but soon
+it fell faster and faster, and the little leaves on the currant-bushes
+jumped up and down and seemed to enjoy the shower-bath. To Carry's great
+delight, little streams began to creep over the path, now in separate
+little trickles, and presently with sudden little darts into one
+another, as they came to uneven places in the walk. She watched it all
+with great wide eyes, and felt quiet and cool just to smell the damp
+earth.
+
+But soon the drops grew bigger, and all at once they weren't drops of
+rain at all!
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Carry. "Kittens,--little blind kittens! It'll
+rain dogs next, I suppose!"
+
+That's exactly what did happen; for down came puppies along with the
+kittens. They squirmed and mewed and hissed and yelped, and all the time
+kept growing bigger and bigger. Some came head first pawing the air as
+they fell; some tail first, looking scared to death; but most miserable
+of all were those that came down tumbling over and over. It made them so
+dizzy to come down in that whirligig fashion, that they staggered about
+when they tried to stand. Carry felt truly sorry for them, and yet she
+couldn't help laughing. And the cats and dogs who had come first laughed
+too.
+
+"Dear me! That's sort of funny, isn't it?" she thought; but the surprise
+didn't last long, for, in the midst of a tremendous shower, down came
+two most remarkable figures, and, with them, what at first sight
+appeared to be several long sticks; but, on looking again, Carry saw
+these were pitchforks!
+
+"Oh!" said she, "I thought they'd come."
+
+Then she stared for a minute at the two odd figures, and cried: "Why!
+it's Mother Hubbard's dog and Puss in Boots!" And sure enough, so it
+was!
+
+Puss had a blue velvet cloak on his shoulders, large boots, and a velvet
+cap with a long plume. He turned toward Carry and made her a low bow,
+gracefully doffing his hat.
+
+"You are right, Mademoiselle," said he. "I am that renowned personage,
+and your humble servant. Permit me to add, Mademoiselle, that my eyes
+have not beheld a fairer damsel than they now rest upon, since last I
+saw my beloved mistress, the charming Marquise de Carabas."
+
+Mother Hubbard's dog was dressed in a suit of fine old-fashioned
+clothes, and held tightly between his teeth a very short stemmed pipe
+from which he puffed great clouds of smoke.
+
+He came up beside Puss, and said, without removing his pipe: "Stuff and
+nonsense! We don't talk so stupidly in our village. Don't waste your
+time in silly yarns, but let's settle this fight at once."
+
+Puss turned away and, addressing Carry, said:
+
+"Mademoiselle, this plebeian does not understand the language of court
+circles, to which I have been used for many years. Mademoiselle will
+pardon his ignorance." And here Puss rolled up his eyes and placed his
+hand upon his heart and bowed so low that he was actually standing on
+his head before he had finished. But he turned a graceful somersault and
+came right side up again in half a second, without looking at all
+disturbed.
+
+"Sir!" said the dog, with dignity, "this matter should be settled at
+once, or the sun will be out, and then----" he stopped short and winked
+at Puss in a very knowing manner.
+
+"Ah! that is true," replied the cat, "I had forgotten. Shall it be a
+general or a single combat?"
+
+"Well," said the dog, gravely, sitting down on a large flower-pot
+nearby, "I think, as we have been wanting to fight this out for some
+time,--indeed, I may say, almost since time began,--we had better allow
+every one to have a tooth and a claw in it. Then, perhaps, this matter
+will be settled forever."
+
+"Quite my opinion," responded Puss. "But first the ladies, infants, and
+weak and wounded, must be removed from the field."
+
+"All right!" said the dog. "But look here. You first stop that, will
+you?" and he pointed to a fine gray cat that was rubbing herself against
+a large, comfortable-looking Newfoundland.
+
+"Immediately," said Puss, and he bawled in a loud voice: "There is to be
+no friendly intercourse between soldiers of the two armies. It is in the
+highest degree detrimental to military discipline."
+
+And the dog shouted: "Stop being pleasant to each other, right off. I
+can't have it. You always have fought, and you've got to fight now."
+
+The big Newfoundland at once made a snap at the gray cat, and she put up
+her back, spit and clawed at him, and ran off as fast as she could.
+
+Then Puss waved his handkerchief, as a flag of truce, and said in a loud
+voice, "There will be a cessation of hostilities for five minutes, until
+the non-combatants are removed."
+
+The able-bodied cats arranged themselves in rows, and the dogs did the
+same. The two generals stepped grandly in front of the lines, and the
+battle seemed about to begin, when a young and frisky cat, at the far
+end of the front rank, took advantage of a dog opposite who had turned
+his head, and jumped upon his back, clawing him in so cruel a way that
+he howled dreadfully.
+
+At this, Mother Hubbard's dog advanced angrily, and taking the cat by
+the nape of the neck, threw her among the cat army, saying: "The trumpet
+hasn't sounded, and we haven't begun yet. That was a real sneaky trick,
+just like a cat."
+
+"Sir!" cried Puss in Boots, loftily, "Do you mean to insinuate that I am
+a sneak?"
+
+"I didn't say so precisely," returned the dog. "But if you want me to, I
+will." Then he added, in a taunting tone, "You are a sneak!"
+
+Puss trembled with rage at this insult, and drew the little sword he
+wore at his side.
+
+"Prove it!" he cried, brandishing his blade.
+
+"Didn't you sneak yourself and your master into a castle and fine
+clothes that you had no right to?"
+
+"Didn't you pretend to be dead once and frighten your poor mistress
+nearly out of her wits? Take _that_, sir!" and he made a furious cut at
+him.
+
+But the dog dodged the weapon, and, with a cutlass suddenly pulled from
+behind him, made a fierce blow at the cat. Puss leaped nimbly away, with
+a scream of triumph and defiance. Then they set to with all their skill
+and hate and cunning.
+
+Presently Puss fell, apparently dead, and Sir John Hubbard, the victor,
+was leaning on his cutlass, looking sorry, when suddenly Puss jumped up,
+grasped his sword and made a savage lunge at the dog. "That was only one
+of _my_ lives!" he screamed. "I have eight left. Cats have nine lives,
+but you--you miserable dog--have only one."
+
+Then they fought worse than ever, and neither seemed willing to yield.
+
+[Illustration: RAINING CATS AND DOGS.]
+
+But the fight ended in a strange way. Just as the dog again laid Puss
+low, a tremendous shower of pitchforks fell, beating on everything with
+dreadful effect. Sir John saved himself by getting under a tree, but
+poor Puss couldn't move to a shelter, and his remaining seven lives were
+being rapidly knocked out of him, when the brave dog rushed out into the
+storm and proved himself a generous foe by shielding Puss from the
+pitchforks with his own body.
+
+"You are a dear good dog!" cried Carry. "I always loved you the best!"
+But even as she was speaking there came a terrific clap of thunder, and
+her own cat, who had been trembling with fear, sprang to her shoulder
+and buried her claws there and as Carry shrieked with fright and pain,
+Jake was holding her in his arms.
+
+"Were you frightened, out here all alone?" said he. "I was busy and I
+didn't think you'd mind the rain; but when the thunder began I came out
+quick."
+
+"Rain?" said Carry, "I don't mind rain, Jake; but I don't like it to
+rain cats and dogs when they fight. Why, where are they?" She lifted her
+face from Jake's shoulder, and looked about her amazed, for not a cat
+was to be seen nor a dog, but only the steady rain, pouring straight
+down.
+
+"Cats and dogs!" said Jake, laughing.
+
+"And pitchforks, too, Jake,--yes, really!"
+
+"Well," said Jake; "if you aint the most _curious_ little gal!"
+
+But Carry don't think she is half as curious as other people are who
+wont believe what she saw with her own eyes.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WE CAME,--WE SAW,]
+
+[Illustration: WE LEFT.]
+
+
+
+
+UNDER THE LILACS.
+
+BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SOMEBODY COMES.
+
+
+Bab and Betty had been playing in the avenue all the afternoon, several
+weeks later, but as the shadows began to lengthen both agreed to sit
+upon the gate and rest while waiting for Ben, who had gone nutting with
+a party of boys. When they played house, Bab was always the father, and
+went hunting or fishing with great energy and success, bringing home all
+sorts of game, from elephants and crocodiles to humming-birds and
+minnows. Betty was the mother, and a most notable little housewife,
+always mixing up imaginary delicacies with sand and dirt in old pans and
+broken china, which she baked in an oven of her own construction.
+
+Both had worked hard that day, and were glad to retire to their favorite
+lounging-place, where Bab was happy trying to walk across the wide top
+bar without falling off, and Betty enjoyed slow, luxurious swings while
+her sister was recovering from her tumbles. On this occasion, having
+indulged their respective tastes, they paused for a brief interval of
+conversation, sitting side by side on the gate like a pair of plump gray
+chickens gone to roost.
+
+"Don't you hope Ben will get his bag full? We shall have such fun eating
+nuts evenings," observed Bab, wrapping her arms in her apron, for it was
+October now, and the air was growing keen.
+
+"Yes, and Ma says we may boil some in our little kettles. Ben promised
+we should have half," answered Betty, still intent on her cookery.
+
+"I shall save some of mine for Thorny."
+
+"I shall keep lots of mine for Miss Celia."
+
+"Doesn't it seem more than two weeks since she went away?"
+
+"I wonder what she'll bring us."
+
+Before Bab could conjecture, the sound of a step and a familiar whistle
+made both look expectantly toward the turn in the road, all ready to cry
+out with one voice, "How many have you got?" Neither spoke a word,
+however, for the figure which presently appeared was not Ben, but a
+stranger,--a man who stopped whistling, and came slowly on, dusting his
+shoes in the way-side grass, and brushing the sleeves of his shabby
+velveteen coat as if anxious to freshen himself up a bit.
+
+"It's a tramp, let's run away," whispered Betty, after a hasty look.
+
+"I aint afraid," and Bab was about to assume her boldest look when a
+sneeze spoiled it, and made her clutch the gate to hold on.
+
+At that unexpected sound the man looked up, showing a thin, dark face,
+with a pair of sharp, black eyes, which surveyed the little girls so
+steadily that Betty quaked, and Bab began to wish she had at least
+jumped down inside the gate.
+
+"How are you?" said the man with a good-natured nod and smile, as if to
+re-assure the round-eyed children staring at him.
+
+"Pretty well, thank you, sir," responded Bab, politely nodding back at
+him.
+
+"Folks at home?" asked the man, looking over their heads toward the
+house.
+
+"Only Ma; all the rest are gone to be married."
+
+"That sounds lively. At the other place all the folks had gone to a
+funeral," and the man laughed as he glanced at the big house on the
+hill.
+
+"Why, do you know the Squire?" exclaimed Bab, much surprised and
+re-assured.
+
+"Come on purpose to see him. Just strolling round till he gets back,"
+with an impatient sort of sigh.
+
+"Betty thought you was a tramp, but I wasn't afraid. I like tramps ever
+since Ben came," explained Bab, with her usual candor.
+
+"Who's Ben?" and the man came nearer so quickly that Betty nearly fell
+backward. "Don't you be scared, Sissy. I like little girls, so you set
+easy and tell me about Ben," he added, in a persuasive tone, as he
+leaned on the gate, so near that both could see what a friendly face he
+had in spite of its eager, anxious look.
+
+"Ben is Miss Celia's boy. We found him almost starved in the
+coach-house, and he's been living near here ever since," answered Bab,
+comprehensively.
+
+"Tell me all about it. I like tramps too," and the man looked as if he
+did, very much, as Bab told the little story in a few childish words
+that were better than a much more elegant account.
+
+"You were very good to the little feller," was all the man said when she
+ended her somewhat confused tale, in which she had jumbled the old coach
+and Miss Celia, dinner-pails and nutting, Sancho and circuses.
+
+"Course we were! He's a nice boy and we are fond of him, and he likes
+us," said Bab, heartily.
+
+"'Specially me," put in Betty, quite at ease now, for the black eyes had
+softened wonderfully, and the brown face was smiling all over.
+
+"Don't wonder a mite. You are the nicest pair of little girls I've seen
+this long time," and the man put a hand on either side of them, as if he
+wanted to hug the chubby children. But he didn't do it; he merely rubbed
+his hands and stood there asking questions till the two chatter-boxes
+had told him everything there was to tell, in the most confiding manner,
+for he very soon ceased to seem like a stranger, and looked so familiar
+that Bab, growing inquisitive in her turn, suddenly said:
+
+"Haven't you ever been here before? It seems as if I'd seen you."
+
+"Never in my life. Guess you've seen somebody that looks like me," and
+the black eyes twinkled for a minute as they looked into the puzzled
+little faces before him. Then he said, soberly:
+
+"I'm looking round for a likely boy; don't you think this Ben would suit
+me? I want just such a lively sort of chap."
+
+"Are you a circus man?" asked Bab, quickly.
+
+"Well, no, not now. I'm in better business."
+
+"I'm glad of it--_we_ don't approve of 'em; but I do think they're
+splendid!"
+
+Bab began by gravely quoting Miss Celia, and ended with an irrepressible
+burst of admiration which contrasted drolly with her first remark.
+
+Betty added anxiously, "We can't let Ben go, any way. I know he wouldn't
+want to, and Miss Celia would feel bad. Please don't ask him."
+
+"He can do as he likes, I suppose. He hasn't got any folks of his own,
+has he?"
+
+"No, his father died in California, and Ben felt so bad he cried, and we
+were real sorry, and gave him a piece of Ma, 'cause he was so lonesome,"
+answered Betty, in her tender little voice, with a pleading look which
+made the man stroke her smooth cheek and say, quite softly:
+
+"Bless your heart for that! I wont take him away, child, or do a thing
+to trouble anybody that's been good to him."
+
+"He's coming now. I hear Sanch barking at the squirrels!" cried Bab,
+standing up to get a good look down the road.
+
+The man turned quickly, and Betty saw that he breathed fast as he
+watched the spot where the low sunshine lay warmly on the red maple at
+the corner. Into this glow came unconscious Ben, whistling "Rory
+O'Moore," loud and clear, as he trudged along with a heavy bag of nuts
+over his shoulder and the light full on his contented face. Sancho
+trotted before and saw the stranger first, for the sun in Ben's eyes
+dazzled him. Since his sad loss Sancho cherished a strong dislike to
+tramps, and now he paused to growl and show his teeth, evidently
+intending to warn this one off the premises.
+
+"He wont hurt you----" began Bab, encouragingly; but before she could
+add a chiding word to the dog, Sanch gave an excited howl, and flew at
+the man's throat as if about to throttle him.
+
+Betty screamed, and Bab was about to go to the rescue when both
+perceived that the dog was licking the stranger's face in an ecstasy of
+joy, and heard the man say as he hugged the curly beast:
+
+"Good old Sanch! I knew he wouldn't forget master, and he doesn't."
+
+"What's the matter?" called Ben, coming up briskly, with a strong grip
+of his stout stick.
+
+There was no need of any answer, for, as he came into the shadow, he saw
+the man, and stood looking at him as if he were a ghost.
+
+"It's father, Benny; don't you know me?" asked the man, with an odd sort
+of choke in his voice as he thrust the dog away, and held out both hands
+to the boy.
+
+Down dropped the nuts, and crying, "Oh, Daddy, Daddy!" Ben cast himself
+into the arms of the shabby velveteen coat, while poor Sanch tore round
+them in distracted circles, barking wildly, as if that was the only way
+in which he could vent his rapture.
+
+What happened next, Bab and Betty never stopped to see, but, dropping
+from their roost, they went flying home like startled Chicken Littles
+with the astounding news that "Ben's father has come alive, and Sancho
+knew him right away!"
+
+Mrs. Moss had just got her cleaning done up, and was resting a minute
+before setting the table, but she flew out of her old rocking-chair when
+the excited children told the wonderful tale, exclaiming as they ended:
+
+"Where is he? Go bring him here. I declare it fairly takes my breath
+away!"
+
+Before Bab could obey, or her mother compose herself, Sancho bounced in
+and spun round like an insane top, trying to stand on his head, walk
+upright, waltz and bark all at once, for the good old fellow had so lost
+his head that he forgot the loss of his tail.
+
+"They are coming! they are coming! See, Ma, what a nice man he is," said
+Bab, hopping about on one foot as she watched the slowly approaching
+pair.
+
+"My patience, don't they look alike! I should know he was Ben's Pa
+anywhere!" said Mrs. Moss, running to the door in a hurry.
+
+They certainly did resemble one another, and it was almost comical to
+see the same curve in the legs, the same wide-awake style of wearing the
+hat, the same sparkle of the eye, good-natured smile and agile motion of
+every limb. Old Ben carried the bag in one hand while young Ben held the
+other fast, looking a little shame-faced at his own emotion now, for
+there were marks of tears on his cheeks, but too glad to repress the
+delight he felt that he had really found Daddy this side heaven.
+
+Mrs. Moss unconsciously made a pretty little picture of herself as she
+stood at the door with her honest face shining and both hands out,
+saying in a hearty tone, which was a welcome in itself:
+
+"I'm _real_ glad to see you safe and well, Mr. Brown! Come right in and
+make yourself to home. I guess there isn't a happier boy living than Ben
+is to-night."
+
+"And I _know_ there isn't a gratefuler man living than I am for your
+kindness to my poor forsaken little feller," answered Mr. Brown,
+dropping both his burdens to give the comely woman's hands a hard shake.
+
+"Now don't say a word about it, but sit down and rest, and we'll have
+tea in less 'n no time. Ben must be tired and hungry, though he's so
+happy I don't believe he knows it," laughed Mrs. Moss, bustling away to
+hide the tears in her eyes, anxious to make things sociable and easy all
+round.
+
+With this end in view she set forth her best china, and covered the
+table with food enough for a dozen, thanking her stars that it was
+baking day, and everything had turned out well. Ben and his father sat
+talking by the window till they were bidden to "draw up and help
+themselves" with such hospitable warmth that everything had an extra
+relish to the hungry pair.
+
+Ben paused occasionally to stroke the rusty coat-sleeve with
+bread-and-buttery fingers to convince himself that "Daddy" had really
+come, and his father disposed of various inconvenient emotions by eating
+as if food was unknown in California. Mrs. Moss beamed on every one from
+behind the big tea-pot like a mild full moon, while Bab and Betty kept
+interrupting one another in their eagerness to tell something new about
+Ben and how Sanch lost his tail.
+
+"Now you let Mr. Brown talk a little; we all want to hear how he 'came
+alive,' as you call it," said Mrs. Moss, as they drew round the fire in
+the "settin'-room," leaving the tea-things to take care of themselves.
+
+It was not a long story, but a very interesting one to this circle of
+listeners: all about the wild life on the plains, trading for mustangs,
+the terrible blow that nearly killed Ben, senior, the long months of
+unconsciousness in the California hospital, the slow recovery, the
+journey back, Mr. Smithers's tale of the boy's disappearance, and then
+the anxious trip to find out from Squire Allen where he now was.
+
+"I asked the hospital folks to write and tell you as soon as I knew
+whether I was on my head or my heels, and they promised; but they
+didn't; so I came off the minute I could, and worked my way back,
+expecting to find you at the old place. I was afraid you'd have worn out
+your welcome here and gone off again, for you are as fond of traveling
+as your father."
+
+[Illustration: MRS. MOSS WELCOMES BEN'S FATHER.]
+
+"I wanted to, sometimes, but the folks here were so dreadful good to me
+I _couldn't_," confessed Ben, secretly surprised to find that the
+prospect of going off with Daddy even cost him a pang of regret, for the
+boy had taken root in the friendly soil, and was no longer a wandering
+thistle-down, tossed about by every wind that blew.
+
+"I know what I owe 'em, and you and me will work out that debt before we
+die, or our name isn't B.B.," said Mr. Brown, with an emphatic slap on
+his knee, which Ben imitated half unconsciously as he exclaimed
+heartily:
+
+"That's _so!_" adding, more quietly, "What are you going to do now? Go
+back to Smithers and the old work?"
+
+"Not likely, after the way he treated you, Sonny. I've had it out with
+him, and he wont want to see _me_ again in a hurry," answered Mr. Brown,
+with a sudden kindling of the eye that reminded Bab of Ben's face when
+he shook her after losing Sancho.
+
+"There's more circuses than his in the world; but I'll have to limber
+out ever so much before I'm good for much in that line," said the boy,
+stretching his stout arms and legs with a curious mixture of
+satisfaction and regret.
+
+"You've been living in clover and got fat, you rascal," and his father
+gave him a poke here and there, as Mr. Squeers did the plump Wackford,
+when displaying him as a specimen of the fine diet at Do-the-boys Hall.
+"Don't believe I could put you up now if I tried, for I haven't got my
+strength back yet, and we are both out of practice. It's just as well,
+for I've about made up my mind to quit the business and settle down
+somewhere for a spell, if I can get anything to do," continued the
+rider, folding his arms and gazing thoughtfully into the fire.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder a mite if you could right here, for Mr. Towne has a
+great boarding-stable over yonder, and he's always wanting men," said
+Mrs. Moss, eagerly, for she dreaded to have Ben go, and no one could
+forbid it if his father chose to take him away.
+
+"That sounds likely. Thanky, ma'am. I'll look up the concern and try my
+chance. Would you call it too great a come-down to have father an
+'ostler after being first rider in the 'Great Golden Menagerie, Circus,
+and Colosseum,' hey Ben?" asked Mr. Brown, quoting the well-remembered
+show-bill with a laugh.
+
+"No, I shouldn't; it's real jolly up there when the big barn is full and
+eighty horses have to be taken care of. I love to go and see 'em. Mr.
+Towne asked me to come and be stable-boy when I rode the kicking gray
+the rest were afraid of. I hankered to go, but Miss Celia had just got
+my new books, and I knew she'd feel bad if I gave up going to school.
+Now I'm glad I didn't, for I get on first rate and like it."
+
+"You done right, boy, and I'm pleased with you. Don't you ever be
+ungrateful to them that befriended you, if you want to prosper. I'll
+tackle the stable business a Monday and see what's to be done. Now I
+ought to be walking, but I'll be round in the morning, ma'am, if you can
+spare Ben for a spell to-morrow. We'd like to have a good Sunday tramp
+and talk; wouldn't we, Sonny?" and Mr. Brown rose to go, with his hand
+on Ben's shoulder, as if loth to leave him even for the night.
+
+Mrs. Moss saw the longing in his face, and forgetting that he was an
+utter stranger, spoke right out of her hospitable heart.
+
+"It is a long piece to the tavern, and my little back bed-room is always
+ready. It wont make a mite of trouble if you don't mind a plain place,
+and you are heartily welcome."
+
+Mr. Brown looked pleased, but hesitated to accept any further favor from
+the good soul who had already done so much for him and his. Ben gave him
+no time to speak, however, for running to a door he flung it open and
+beckoned, saying, eagerly:
+
+"Do stay, father; it will be so nice to have you. This is a tip-top
+room; I slept here the night I came, and that bed was just splendid
+after bare ground for a fortnight."
+
+"I'll stop, and as I'm pretty well done up, I guess we may as well turn
+in now," answered the new guest; then, as if the memory of that homeless
+little lad so kindly cherished made his heart overflow in spite of him,
+Mr. Brown paused at the door to say hastily, with his hands on Bab and
+Betty's heads, as if his promise was a very earnest one:
+
+"I don't forget, ma'am, and these children shall never want a friend
+while Ben Brown's alive;" then he shut the door so quickly that the
+other Ben's prompt "Hear, hear!" was cut short in the middle.
+
+"I s'pose he means that we shall have a piece of Ben's father, because
+we gave Ben a piece of our mother," said Betty, softly.
+
+"Of course he does, and it's all fair," answered Bab, decidedly. "Isn't
+he a nice man, Ma?"
+
+"Go to bed, children," was all the answer she got; but when they were
+gone, Mrs. Moss, as she washed up her dishes, more than once glanced at
+a certain nail where a man's hat had not hung for five years, and
+thought with a sigh what a natural, protecting air that slouched felt
+had.
+
+If one wedding were not quite enough for a child's story, we might here
+hint what no one dreamed of then, that before the year came round again
+Ben had found a mother, Bab and Betty a father, and Mr. Brown's hat was
+quite at home behind the kitchen door. But, on the whole, it is best not
+to say a word about it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE GREAT GATE IS OPENED.
+
+
+The Browns were up and out so early next morning that Bab and Betty were
+sure they had run away in the night. But on looking for them, they were
+discovered in the coach-house criticising Lita, both with their hands in
+their pockets, both chewing straws, and looking as much alike as a big
+elephant and a small one.
+
+"That's as pretty a little span as I've seen for a long time," said the
+elder Ben, as the children came trotting down the path hand in hand,
+with the four blue bows at the ends of their braids bobbing briskly up
+and down.
+
+"The nigh one is my favorite, but the off one is the best goer, though
+she's dreadfully hard bitted," answered Ben the younger, with such a
+comical assumption of a jockey's important air that his father laughed
+as he said in an undertone:
+
+"Come, boy, we must drop the old slang since we've given up the old
+business. These good folks are making a gentleman of you, and I wont be
+the one to spoil their work. Hold on, my dears, and I'll show you how
+they say good-morning in California," he added, beckoning to the little
+girls, who now came up rosy and smiling.
+
+"Breakfast is ready, sir," said Betty, looking much relieved to find
+them.
+
+"We thought you'd run away from us," explained Bab, as both put out
+their hands to shake those extended to them.
+
+"That would be a mean trick. But I'm going to run away _with_ you," and
+Mr. Brown whisked a little girl to either shoulder before they knew what
+had happened, while Ben, remembering the day, with difficulty restrained
+himself from turning a series of triumphant somersaults before them all
+the way to the door, where Mrs. Moss stood waiting for them.
+
+After breakfast, Ben disappeared for a short time, and returned in his
+Sunday suit, looking so neat and fresh that his father surveyed him with
+surprise and pride as he came in full of boyish satisfaction in his trim
+array.
+
+"Here's a smart young chap! Did you take all that trouble just to go to
+walk with old Daddy?" asked Mr. Brown, stroking the smooth head, for
+they were alone just then, Mrs. Moss and the children being upstairs
+preparing for church.
+
+"I thought may be you'd like to go to meeting first," answered Ben,
+looking up at him with such a happy face that it was hard to refuse
+anything.
+
+"I'm too shabby, Sonny, else I'd go in a minute to please you."
+
+"Miss Celia said God didn't mind poor clothes, and she took me when I
+looked worse than you do. I always go in the morning; she likes to have
+me," said Ben, turning his hat about as if not quite sure what he ought
+to do.
+
+"Do you want to go?" asked his father in a tone of surprise.
+
+"I want to please her, if you don't mind. We could have our tramp this
+afternoon."
+
+"I haven't been to meeting since mother died, and it don't seem to come
+easy, though I know I ought to, seeing I'm alive and here," and Mr.
+Brown looked soberly out at the lovely autumn-world as if glad to be in
+it after his late danger and pain.
+
+"Miss Celia said church was a good place to take our troubles, and to be
+thankful in. I went when I thought you were dead, and now I'd love to go
+when I've got my Daddy safe again."
+
+No one saw him, so Ben could not resist giving his father a sudden hug,
+which was warmly returned as the man said earnestly:
+
+"I'll go, and thank the Lord hearty for giving me back my boy better'n I
+left him!"
+
+For a minute, nothing was heard but the loud tick of the old clock and a
+mournful whine from Sancho, shut up in the shed lest he should go to
+church without an invitation.
+
+Then, as steps were heard on the stairs, Mr. Brown caught up his hat,
+saying hastily:
+
+"I ain't fit to go with them, you tell 'em, and I'll slip into a back
+seat after folks are in. I know the way." And, before Ben could reply,
+he was gone.
+
+[Illustration: BEN AND HIS FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE.]
+
+Nothing was seen of him along the way, but he saw the little party, and
+rejoiced again over his boy, changed so greatly for the better; for Ben
+was the one thing which had kept his heart soft through all the trials
+and temptations of a rough life.
+
+"I promised Mary I'd do my best for the poor baby she had to leave, and
+I tried, but I guess a better friend than I am has been raised up for
+him when he needed her most. It wont hurt me to follow him in this
+road," thought Mr. Brown as he came out into the highway from his stroll
+"across lots," feeling that it would be good for him to stay in this
+quiet place for his own as well as for his son's sake.
+
+The bell had done ringing when he reached the green, but a single boy
+sat on the steps and ran to meet him, saying with a reproachful look:
+
+"I wasn't going to let you be alone and have folks think I was ashamed
+of my father. Come, Daddy, we'll sit together."
+
+So Ben led his father straight to the Squire's pew, and sat beside him
+with a face so full of innocent pride and joy that people would have
+suspected the truth if he had not already told many of them. Mr. Brown,
+painfully conscious of his shabby coat, was rather "taken aback," as he
+expressed it, but the Squire's shake of the hand and Mrs. Allen's
+gracious nod enabled him to face the eyes of the interested
+congregation, the younger portion of which stared steadily at him all
+sermon time, in spite of paternal frowns and maternal tweakings in the
+rear.
+
+But the crowning glory of the day came after church, when the Squire
+said to Ben, and Sam heard him:
+
+"I've got a letter for you from Miss Celia. Come home with me and bring
+your father. I want to talk to him."
+
+The boy proudly escorted his parent to the old carry-all, and tucking
+himself in behind with Mrs. Allen, had the satisfaction of seeing the
+slouched felt hat side by side with the Squire's Sunday beaver in front,
+as they drove off at such an unusually smart pace that, it was evident,
+Duke knew there was a critical eye upon him. The interest taken in the
+father was owing to the son at first, but, by the time the story was
+told, old Ben had won friends for himself, not only because of the
+misfortunes which he had evidently borne in a manly way, but because of
+his delight in the boy's improvement, and the desire he felt to turn his
+hand to any honest work, that he might keep Ben happy and contented in
+this good home.
+
+"I'll give you a line to Towne. Smithers spoke well of you, and your own
+ability will be the best recommendation," said the Squire, as he parted
+from them at his door, having given Ben the letter.
+
+Miss Celia had been gone a fortnight, and every one was longing to have
+her back. The first week brought Ben a newspaper, with a crinkly line
+drawn round the "marriages" to attract attention to that spot, and one
+was marked by a black frame with a large hand pointing at it from the
+margin. Thorny sent that, but the next week came a parcel for Mrs. Moss,
+and in it was discovered a box of wedding-cake for every member of the
+family, including Sancho, who ate his at one gulp and chewed up the lace
+paper which covered it. This was the third week, and as if there could
+not be happiness enough crowded into it for Ben, the letter he read on
+his way home told him that his dear mistress was coming back on the
+following Saturday. One passage particularly pleased him:
+
+"I want the great gate opened, so that the new master may go in that
+way. Will you see that it is done, and all made neat afterward. Ronda
+will give you the key, and you may have out all your flags if you like,
+for the old place cannot look too gay for this home-coming."
+
+Sunday though it was, Ben could not help waving the letter over his head
+as he ran in to tell Mrs. Moss the glad news, and begin at once to plan
+the welcome they would give Miss Celia, for he never called her anything
+else.
+
+During their afternoon stroll in the mellow sunshine, Ben continued to
+talk of her, never tired of telling about his happy summer under her
+roof. And Mr. Brown was never weary of hearing, for every hour showed
+him more plainly what a lovely miracle her gentle words had wrought, and
+every hour increased his gratitude, his desire to return the kindness in
+some humble way. He had his wish, and did his part handsomely when he
+least expected to have a chance.
+
+On Monday he saw Mr. Towne, and, thanks to the Squire's good word, was
+engaged for a month on trial, making himself so useful that it was soon
+evident he was the right man in the right place. He lived on the hill,
+but managed to get down to the little brown house in the evening for a
+word with Ben, who just now was as full of business as if the President
+and his Cabinet were coming.
+
+Everything was put in apple-pie order in and about the old house; the
+great gate, with much creaking of rusty hinges and some clearing away of
+rubbish, was set wide open, and the first creature who entered it was
+Sancho, solemnly dragging the dead mullein which long ago had grown
+above the top of it. October frosts seemed to have spared some of the
+brightest leaves for this especial occasion, and on Saturday the
+gate-way was decorated with gay wreaths, red and yellow sprays strewed
+the flags, and the porch was a blaze of color with the red woodbine,
+that was in its glory when the honeysuckle was leafless.
+
+Fortunately, it was a half-holiday, so the children could trim and
+chatter to their hearts' content, and the little girls ran about
+sticking funny decorations where no one would ever think of looking for
+them. Ben was absorbed in his flags, which were sprinkled all down the
+avenue with a lavish display, suggesting several Fourth-of-Julys rolled
+into one. Mr. Brown had come down to lend a hand, and did so most
+energetically, for the break-neck things he did with his son during the
+decoration fever would have terrified Mrs. Moss out of her wits if she
+had not been in the house giving last touches to every room, while Ronda
+and Katy set forth a sumptuous tea.
+
+All was going well, and the train would be due in an hour, when luckless
+Bab nearly turned the rejoicing into mourning, the feast into ashes. She
+heard her mother say to Ronda, "There ought to be a fire in every room,
+it looks so cheerful, and the air is chilly spite of the sunshine," and
+never waiting to hear the reply that some of the long-unused chimneys
+were not safe till cleaned, off went Bab with an apron full of old
+shingles and made a roaring blaze in the front room fire-place, which
+was of all others the one to be let alone, as the flue was out of order.
+Charmed with the brilliant light and the crackle of the tindery fuel,
+Miss Bab refilled her apron and fed the fire till the chimney began to
+rumble ominously, sparks to fly out at the top, and soot and swallows'
+nests to come tumbling down upon the hearth. Then, scared at what she
+had done, the little mischief-maker hastily buried her fire, swept up
+the rubbish, and ran off, thinking no one would discover her prank if
+she never told.
+
+Everybody was very busy, and the big chimney blazed and rumbled
+unnoticed till the cloud of smoke caught Ben's eye as he festooned his
+last effort in the flag line, part of an old sheet with the words
+"Father has come!" in red cambric letters, half a foot long, sewed upon
+it.
+
+"Hullo, I do believe they've got up a bonfire without asking my leave!
+Miss Celia never would let us, because the sheds and roofs are so old
+and dry; I must see about it. Catch me, Daddy, I'm coming down!" cried
+Ben, dropping out of the elm with no more thought of where he might
+alight than a squirrel swinging from bough to bough.
+
+His father caught him, and followed in haste as his nimble-footed son
+raced up the avenue, to stop in the gate-way, frightened at the prospect
+before him, for falling sparks had already kindled the roof here and
+there, and the chimney smoked and roared like a small volcano, while
+Katy's wails and Ronda's cries for water came from within.
+
+"Up there, with wet blankets, while I get out the hose!" cried Mr.
+Brown, as he saw at a glance what the danger was.
+
+Ben vanished, and, before his father got the garden hose rigged, he was
+on the roof with a dripping blanket over the worst spot. Mrs. Moss had
+her wits about her in a minute, and ran to put in the fire-board and
+stop the draught. Then, stationing Ronda to watch that the falling
+cinders did no harm inside, she hurried off to help Mr. Brown, who might
+not know where things were. But he had roughed it so long that he was
+the man for emergencies, and seemed to lay his hand on whatever was
+needed, by a sort of instinct. Finding that the hose was too short to
+reach the upper part of the roof, he was on the roof in a jiffy with two
+pails of water, and quenched the most dangerous flames before much harm
+was done. This he kept up till the chimney burned itself out, while Ben
+dodged about among the gables with a watering-pot, lest some stray
+sparks should be overlooked and break out afresh.
+
+While they worked there, Betty ran to and fro with a dipper of water
+trying to help, and Sancho barked violently, as if he objected to this
+sort of illumination. But where was Bab, who reveled in flurries? No one
+missed her till the fire was out, and the tired, sooty people met to
+talk over the danger just escaped.
+
+"Poor Miss Celia wouldn't have had a roof over her head if it hadn't
+been for you, Mr. Brown," said Mrs. Moss, sinking into a kitchen chair,
+pale with the excitement.
+
+"It would have burnt lively, but I guess it's all right now. Keep an eye
+on the roof, Ben, and I'll step up garret and see if all's safe there.
+Didn't you know that chimney was foul, ma'am?" asked the man, as he
+wiped the perspiration off his grimy face.
+
+"Ronda said it was, and I'm surprised she made a fire there," began Mrs.
+Moss, looking at the maid, who just then came in with a pan full of
+soot.
+
+"Bless you, ma'am, I never thought of such a thing, nor Katy neither.
+That naughty Bab must have done it, and so don't dar'st to show
+herself," answered the irate Ronda, whose nice room was in a mess.
+
+"Where is the child?" asked her mother, and a hunt was immediately
+instituted by Betty and Sancho, while the elders cleared up.
+
+Anxious Betty searched high and low, called and cried, but all in vain,
+and was about to sit down in despair, when Sancho made a bolt into his
+new kennel and brought out a shoe with a foot in it, while a doleful
+squeal came from the straw within.
+
+"Oh, Bab, how could you do it? Ma was frightened dreadfully," said
+Betty, gently tugging at the striped leg, as Sancho poked his head in
+for another shoe.
+
+"Is it _all_ burnt up!" demanded a smothered voice from the recesses of
+the kennel.
+
+"Only pieces of the roof. Ben and his father put it out, and _I_
+helped," answered Betty, cheering up a little as she recalled her noble
+exertions.
+
+"What do they do to folks who set houses afire?" asked the voice again.
+
+"I don't know; but you needn't be afraid; there isn't much harm done, I
+guess, and Miss Celia will forgive you, she's so good."
+
+"Thorny wont; he calls me a 'botheration,' and I guess I am," mourned
+the unseen culprit, with sincere contrition.
+
+"I'll ask him; he is always good to me. They will be here pretty soon,
+so you'd better come out and be made tidy," suggested the comforter.
+
+"I never can come out, for every one will hate me," sobbed Bab among the
+straw; and she pulled in her foot, as if retiring forever from an
+outraged world.
+
+"Ma wont, she's too busy cleaning up; so it's a good time to come. Let's
+run home, wash our hands, and be all nice when they see us. I'll love
+you, no matter what anybody else does," said Betty, consoling the poor
+little sinner, and proposing the sort of repentance most likely to find
+favor in the eyes of the agitated elders.
+
+"P'r'aps I'd better go home, for Sanch will want his bed," and Bab
+gladly availed herself of that excuse to back out of her refuge, a very
+crumpled, dusty young lady, with a dejected face, and much straw
+sticking in her hair.
+
+Betty led her sadly away, for she still protested that she never should
+dare to meet the offended public again; but in fifteen minutes both
+appeared in fine order and good spirits, and naughty Bab escaped a
+lecture for the time being, as the train would soon be due.
+
+At the first sound of the car whistle every one turned good-natured as
+if by magic, and flew to the gate, smiling as if all mishaps were
+forgiven and forgotten. Mrs. Moss, however, slipped quietly away, and
+was the first to greet Miss Celia as the carriage stopped at the
+entrance of the avenue, so that the luggage might go in by way of the
+lodge.
+
+"We will walk up and you shall tell us the news as we go, for I see you
+have some," said the young lady, in her friendly manner, when Mrs. Moss
+had given her welcome and paid her respects to the gentleman, who shook
+hands in a way that convinced her he was indeed what Thorny called him,
+"regularly jolly," though he was a minister.
+
+That being exactly what she came for, the good woman told her tidings as
+rapidly as possible, and the new-comers were so glad to hear of Ben's
+happiness they made very light of Bab's bonfire, though it had come near
+burning their house down.
+
+"We wont say a word about it, for every one must be happy to-day," said
+Mr. George, so kindly that Mrs. Moss felt a load taken off her heart at
+once.
+
+"Bab was always teasing me for fire-works, but I guess she has had
+enough for the present." laughed Thorny, who was gallantly escorting
+Bab's mother up the avenue.
+
+"Every one is so kind! Teacher was out with the children to cheer us as
+we passed, and here you all are making things pretty for me," said Miss
+Celia, smiling with tears in her eyes, as they drew near the great gate,
+which certainly did present an animated if not an imposing appearance.
+
+Ronda and Katy stood on one side, all in their best, bobbing delighted
+courtesies; Mr. Brown, half hidden behind the gate on the other side,
+was keeping Sancho erect, so that he might present arms promptly when
+the bride appeared. As flowers were scarce, on either post stood a rosy
+little girl clapping her hands, while out from the thicket of red and
+yellow boughs, which made a grand bouquet in the lantern frame, came
+Ben's head and shoulders, as he waved his grandest flag with its gold
+paper "Welcome Home!" on a blue ground.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful!" cried Miss Celia, throwing kisses to the children,
+shaking hands with her maids, and glancing brightly at the stranger who
+was keeping Sanch quiet.
+
+"Most people adorn their gate-posts with stone balls, vases, or
+griffins; your living images are a great improvement, love, especially
+the happy boy in the middle," said Mr. George, eying Ben with interest,
+as he nearly tumbled overboard, top-heavy with his banner.
+
+"You must finish what I have only begun," answered Miss Celia, adding
+gayly, as Sancho broke loose and came to offer both his paw and his
+congratulations, "Sanch, introduce your master, that I may thank him for
+coming back in time to save my old house."
+
+"If I'd saved a dozen it wouldn't have half paid for all you've done for
+my boy, ma'am," answered Mr. Brown, bursting out from behind the gate
+quite red with gratitude and pleasure.
+
+"I loved to do it, so please remember that this is still his home till
+you make one for him. Thank God, he is no longer fatherless!" and Miss
+Celia's sweet face said even more than her words, as the white hand
+cordially shook the brown one with a burn across the back.
+
+"Come on, sister. I see the tea-table all ready, and I'm awfully
+hungry," interrupted Thorny, who had not a ray of sentiment about him,
+though very glad Ben had got his father back again.
+
+"Come over, by and by, little friends, and let me thank you for your
+pretty welcome,--it certainly is a warm one;" and Miss Celia glanced
+merrily from the three bright faces above her to the old chimney, which
+still smoked sullenly.
+
+"Oh, don't!" cried Bab, hiding her face.
+
+"She didn't mean to," added Betty, pleadingly.
+
+"Three cheers for the bride!" roared Ben, dipping his flag, as leaning
+on her husband's arm his dear mistress passed through the gay party,
+along the leaf-strewn walk, over the threshold of the house which was to
+be her happy home for many years.
+
+The closed gate where the lonely little wanderer once lay was always to
+stand open now, and the path where children played before was free to
+all comers, for a hospitable welcome henceforth awaited rich and poor,
+young and old, sad and gay, Under the Lilacs.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY.
+
+BY E. M�LLER.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  Happy little Froggy, he
+    Was proud enough
+  Of his trousers and his coat,
+    Green and buff.
+
+  Came and caught him Rob and Bess,
+    Quick as flash,
+  Dressed him up in Dolly's dress,
+    And her sash.
+
+  Froggy gave a frantic leap,
+    And in three springs
+  Took into the water deep
+    All Dolly's things.
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO KEEP A JOURNAL.
+
+BY W. S. JEROME.
+
+
+Autumn is as good a time as any for a boy or girl to begin to keep a
+journal. Too many have the idea that it is a hard and unprofitable task
+to keep a journal, and especially is this the case with those who have
+begun, but soon gave up the experiment. They think it is a waste of
+time, and that no good results from it. But that depends upon the kind
+of journal that you keep. Everybody has heard of the boy who thought he
+would try to keep a diary. He bought a book, and wrote in it, for the
+first day, "Decided to keep a journal." The next day he wrote, "Got up,
+washed, and went to bed." The day after, he wrote the same thing, and no
+wonder that at the end of a week he wrote, "Decided not to keep a
+journal," and gave up the experiment. It is such attempts as this, by
+persons who have no idea of what a journal is, or how to keep it, that
+discourage others from beginning. But it is not hard to keep a journal
+if you begin in the right way, and will use a little perseverance and
+patience. The time spent in writing in a journal is not wasted, by any
+means. It may be the best employed hour of any in the day, and a
+well-kept journal is a source of pleasure and advantage which more than
+repays the writer for the time and trouble spent upon it.
+
+The first thing to do in beginning a journal, is to resolve to stick to
+it. Don't begin, and let the poor journal die in a week. A journal, or
+diary, should be written in _every day_, if possible. Now, don't be
+frightened at this, for you do a great many things every day, and this
+isn't a very awful condition. The time spent may be longer or shorter,
+according to the matter to be written up; but try and write, at least a
+little, every day. "_Nulla dies sine linea_"--no day without a line--is
+a good motto. It is a great deal easier to write a little every day,
+than to write up several days in one.
+
+Do not get for a journal a book with the dates already printed in it.
+That kind will do very well for a merchant's note-book, but not for the
+young man or woman who wants to keep a live, cheerful account of a happy
+and pleasant life. Sometimes you will have a picnic or excursion to
+write about, and will want to fill more space than the printed page
+allows. Buy a substantially bound blank-book, made of good paper; write
+your name and address plainly on the fly-leaf, and, if you choose, paste
+a calendar inside the cover. Set down the date at the head of the first
+page, thus: "Tuesday, October 1, 1878." Then begin the record of the
+day, endeavoring as far as possible to mention the events in the correct
+order of time,--morning, afternoon and evening. When this is done, write
+in the middle of the page, "Wednesday, October 2," and you are ready for
+the record of the next day. It is well to set down the year at the top
+of each page.
+
+But what are you to write about? First, the weather. Don't forget this.
+Write, "Cold and windy," or "Warm and bright," as the case may be. It
+takes but a moment, and in a few years you will have a complete record
+of the weather, which will be found not only curious, but useful.
+
+Then put down the letters you have received or written, and, if you
+wish, any money paid or received. The day of beginning or leaving
+school; the studies you pursue; visits from or to your friends; picnics
+or sleigh-rides; the books you have read; and all such items of interest
+should be noted. Write anything that you want to remember. After trying
+this plan a short time, you will be surprised at the many things
+constantly occurring which you used to overlook, but which now form
+pleasant paragraphs in your book. But don't try to write something when
+there is nothing to write. If there is only a line to be written, write
+that, and begin again next day.
+
+Do not set down about people anything which you would not wish them to
+see. It is not likely that any one will ever see your writing, but it is
+possible, so, always be careful about what you write. The Chinese say of
+a spoken word, that once let fall, it cannot be brought back by a
+chariot and six horses. Much more is this true of written words, and
+once out of your possession, there is no telling where they will go, or
+who will see them.
+
+The best time to write in a journal is in the evening. Keep the book in
+your table-drawer, or on your desk, and, after supper, when the lamps
+are lighted, sit down and write your plain account of the day. Don't try
+to write an able and eloquent article, but simply give a statement of
+what you have seen or done during the day. For the first week or two
+after beginning a journal, the novelty of the thing will keep up your
+interest, and you will be anxious for the time to come when you can
+write your journal. But, after a while, it becomes tedious. Then is the
+time when you must persevere. Write something every day, and before long
+you will find that you are becoming so accustomed to it, that you would
+not willingly forego it. After that, the way is plain, and the longer
+you live the more valuable and indispensable your journal will become.
+
+But some practical young person asks: What is the good of a journal?
+There is very much. In the first place, it teaches habits of order and
+regularity. The boy or girl who every evening arranges the proceedings
+of the day in systematic order, and regularly writes them out, is not
+likely to be careless in other matters. It helps the memory. A person
+who keeps a journal naturally tries during the day to remember things he
+sees, until he can write them down. Then the act of writing helps to
+still further fix the facts in his memory. The journal is a first-class
+teacher of penmanship. All boys and girls should take pride in having
+the pages of their journals as neat and handsome as possible. Compare
+one day's writing with that of the one before, and try to improve every
+day. Keeping a journal cultivates habits of observation, correct and
+concise expression, and gives capital practice in composition, spelling,
+punctuation, and all the little things which go to make up a good
+letter-writer. So, one who keeps a journal is all the while learning to
+be a better penman, and a better composer, with the advantage of writing
+original, historical, and descriptive articles, instead of copying the
+printed letters and sentences of a writing-book.
+
+But, best of all, a well-kept journal furnishes a continuous and
+complete family history, which is always interesting, and often very
+useful. It is sometimes very convenient to have a daily record of the
+year, and the young journalist will often have occasion to refer to his
+account of things gone by. Perhaps, some evening, when the family are
+sitting and talking together, some one will ask, "What kind of weather
+did we have last winter?" or, "When was the picnic you were speaking
+of?" and the journal is referred to. But the pleasure of keeping a
+journal is itself no small reward. It is pleasant to exercise the
+faculty of writing history, and to think that you are taking the first
+step toward writing newspapers and books. The writer can practice on
+different kinds of style, and can make his journal a record, not only of
+events, but of his own progress as a thinker and writer.
+
+
+
+
+SIMPLE SIMON.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  "Simple Simon went a-fishing,
+    For to catch a whale,
+  And all the water that he had,
+    Was in his mother's pail."
+
+
+
+
+PRINCE CUCURBITA.
+
+BY EDITH A. EDWARDS.
+
+
+[Illustration: PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS.]
+
+Prince Cucurbita was very unhappy. His smooth, shiny face was all
+puckered up into little wrinkles, every now and then a big sob shook his
+jolly little person till you really felt like crying yourself at the
+sight of him. Here was a prince living in a lovely garden full of birds
+and flowers, surrounded by a large family of brothers and sisters, and
+always dressed in a pretty green jacket, which could not get soiled or
+torn. In spite of all this, he was not happy, for Queen Cucurbita, in
+order to keep her children out of harm's way, had hoisted them all up on
+a high trellis, and would never let them get down.
+
+You may think the Prince might have been smart enough, or naughty
+enough, to have jumped down when his mother's back was turned, but,
+alas! how could he? for she held tightly to the tassel of his cap, and
+his cap fitted so closely to his head that no effort of his was ever
+able to get it off. Across the way lived another big family, the
+Filberts. They were just the merriest set that ever was seen, nodding
+gayly to Cucu now and then when they could spare the time from their own
+fun, and telling stories to each other, which must have been very
+amusing; for sometimes they all laughed together till they nearly fell
+out of bed, and their mother was obliged to shake them all round. One
+day, there was a great commotion among the Filberts. The eldest brother
+had determined to go out into the world and seek his fortune, so he
+climbed out of bed and quietly dropped to the ground.
+
+"Oh, dear me!" cried Cucu; "it is too mean that I should have to stay up
+on this old trellis."
+
+"Naughty boy!" scolded his mother. "What are you talking about? That
+ever I should be afflicted with such a fractious child; 'tis enough to
+turn me yellow;" and she spread out her pretty green apron, and waved
+her ribbons in the air, while she took a firmer hold upon the poor
+little Prince's cap.
+
+"Don't you know that if I were to let go, off you would fall flat on
+your back upon the nasty wet ground, and very likely lie there all the
+rest of your life, growing wrinkled and yellow and sickly, while great
+ugly worms crawled over you, and everybody blamed me for a careless
+parent? No! no! I shall take good care you don't get away from me, you
+may be sure."
+
+So, Cucu had to accept his fate as best he might, and amused himself
+watching his neighbors. Every day, now, one or more of them left home
+and disappeared among the grass and flowers below. Cucu imagined them as
+traveling off around the garden, but if he had seen them lying half
+buried in the earth, their bright brown faces dirty and streaked with
+tears, their merry little hearts nearly broken with woe, he would not
+have envied them so much.
+
+Day after day passed, and the month of October came with its clear and
+cool nights. Queen Cucurbita did not relish this at all, and, every
+morning, when the sun peeped at her, he wondered how he ever could have
+admired such a dried-up yellow old creature. Cucu's heart, on the
+contrary, grew happier all the time, he lifted up his heavy head that
+seemed to be lighter each day, and when the wind blew, he rattled
+against the trellis and wondered how it was he could move so easily.
+"Poor Prince!" the Cat-bird whistled, as she perched above him, "your
+face is getting as brown and shining as one of those little Filberts,
+your cap is no longer green and pretty, and you look so light that a
+breath might blow you away."
+
+"I don't care," returned Cucu, "for I feel delighted, and so long as I
+can't see my own face, what's the odds?"
+
+The next night was clear and very cold. The people to whom the garden
+belonged brought out sheets and covered over the tender heliotropes and
+other flowers they valued, but they couldn't have cared much for Queen
+Cucurbita, for they never gave her a thought. When Cucu woke up bright
+and early and said good-morning to his mother, she did not reply. He
+turned his head to look at her. Oh, frightful sight! she hung to the
+trellis wilted and dead; her green dress was brown and torn, but her
+hard and wrinkled hand still grasped poor Cucu's cap.
+
+After the sun had been up some hours, a lady came into the garden and
+approached the home of the Cucurbita family.
+
+"Oh, you beauty!" she cried, "what a lovely basket I shall make of you!"
+and, placing a hand on each of Cucu's cheeks, she gave him a slight
+twist,--his mother's fingers let go; he was free. The lady put him in
+her basket, and now he was really setting off on his travels.
+
+This was, in fact, only the beginning of his career. The lady with a
+sharp knife lifted his cap from his head; then she painted him all over
+a pale green. After the paint was dry, she bored three holes in his
+sides. My! how it hurt! but it was soon over, and she had fastened three
+slender chains through them, and hung the little Prince up in a sunny
+window. "What next?" he wondered. If he had got to hang here all his
+life, it wouldn't be much better than the old trellis. But that wasn't
+the end, for his mistress filled him with nice black earth, and planted
+delicate little ferns and runaway-robins which climbed over and twined
+lovingly round his face. They patted his cheeks with their soft little
+hands, and whispered pretty stories of the woods they had come from.
+
+"Dear Cucu," said they, "how much we love you, and how kind you are to
+hold us all so carefully!" When they said this, he felt so proud and
+happy that he could not contain himself any longer, and sang at the top
+of his voice; but the people in the house did not hear him, for mortal
+ears are not adapted to such music. Only the Cat-bird flying past
+understood and stopped to congratulate him.
+
+"Plenty to do, and plenty to love," she sang; "that is the way to be
+happy. I found it out last spring when it took me from morning till
+night to find food for my four hungry babies. Good-bye! I am going south
+with them to-day. I haven't a bit of time to lose," and away she flew.
+
+[Illustration: CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW.]
+
+And the ferns and the runaway-robins clapped their hands and sang, "Yes,
+that is the secret. Good-bye! Good-bye!"
+
+
+
+
+MRS. PRIMKINS' SURPRISE.
+
+BY OLIVE THORNE.
+
+
+    Our older readers will remember Nimpo, whose "Troubles" interested
+    them in ST. NICHOLAS'S first year. To our newer friends it is only
+    necessary to say, that Nimpo and Rush were boarding with Mrs.
+    Primkins during their mother's absence, by Nimpo's own desire, and
+    were very unhappy under the care of that well-meaning--but very
+    peculiar--person, who was so greatly surprised on the occasion of
+    the Birthday Party.
+
+
+One morning, Mrs. Primkins received a letter. This was a very unusual
+occurrence, and she hastened to wipe her hands out of the dish-water,
+hunt up her "specs," clean them carefully, and, at last, sit down in her
+chintz-covered "Boston rocker," to enjoy at her leisure this very rare
+literary dissipation.
+
+Nimpo, who was boarding with Mrs. Primkins while her mother was off on a
+journey, was engaged in finishing her breakfast, and did not notice
+anything. Having found her scissors, and deliberately cut around the
+old-fashioned seal, Mrs. Primkins opened the sheet and glanced at the
+name at the bottom of the page, then turned her eyes hastily toward
+Nimpo, with a low, significant "Humph!"
+
+But Nimpo, intent only on getting off to school, still did not see her.
+Mrs. Primkins went on to examine more closely, covering with her hands
+something which fell from the first fold, rustling, to her lap. Very
+deliberately, then, as became this staid woman, did she read the letter
+from date to signature, twice over, and, ending as she had begun with a
+significant "Humph!" she refolded the letter, slipped in the inclosure,
+put it into her black silk work-bag which hung on the back of her chair,
+and resumed her dish-washing, for she was a genuine "Yankee housekeeper"
+of the old-fashioned sort, and scorned the assistance of what she called
+"hired help."
+
+Meanwhile, Nimpo finished her breakfast, gathered up her books, and
+hurried off to school, though it was an hour too early, never dreaming
+that the letter had anything to do with her. After the morning work was
+done,--the pans scalded and set in the sun; the house dusted from attic
+to cellar; the vinegar reheated and poured over the walnuts that were
+pickling; the apples drying on the shed roof, turned over; the piece of
+muslin ("bolt," she called it) that was bleaching on the grass,
+thoroughly sprinkled; and, in fact, everything, indoors and out, in Mrs.
+Primkins' domain, put into perfect order, that lady sat down to
+consider. She drew the letter from the bag, and read it over, carefully
+inspecting a ten-dollar bill in her hands, and then leaned back, and
+indulged herself in a very unusual, indeed totally unheard-of, luxury--a
+rest of ten minutes with idle hands!
+
+If Nimpo had chanced to come in, she would have been alarmed at such an
+extraordinary state of things; but she was at that moment in her seat in
+the long school-house, with wrinkled brow, wrestling with sundry
+conundrums in her "Watts on the Mind," little suspecting how her fate
+was hanging in the balance in Mrs. Primkins' kitchen at this moment. At
+last, Mrs. Primkins' thin lips opened. She was alone in the house, and
+she began to talk to herself:
+
+"Wants her to have a birthday-party! Humph! I must say I can't see the
+good of pampering children's folks do nowadays! When _I_ was young, now,
+we had something to think of besides fine clothes, unwholesome food, and
+worldly dissipation! I must say I think Mis' Rievor has some very
+uncommon notions! Hows'ever," she went on, contemplating fondly the bill
+she still held in her hand, "I do' know's I have any call to fret my
+gizzard if she chooses to potter away her money! I don't see my way
+clear to refuse altogether to do what she asks, 's long 's the child's
+on my hands. Ten dollars! Humph! She 'hopes it'll be enough to provide a
+little supper for them!' It's my private opinion that it will, and a
+mite over for--for--other things," she added, resolutely closing her
+lips with a snap. "I aint such a shif'less manager's all that comes to,
+I _do_ hope! 'T wont take no ten dollars to give a birthday-party in
+_my_ house, I bet a cookey!"
+
+That night, when supper was over, Nimpo sat down with the family by the
+table, which held one candle that dimly lighted the room, to finish a
+book she was reading. Not that the kitchen was the only room in the
+house. Mrs. Primkins had plenty of rooms, but they were too choice for
+every-day use. They were always tightly closed, with green paper shades
+down, lest the blessed sunshine should get a peep at her gaudy red and
+green carpets, and put the least mellowing touch an their crude and
+rasping colors. Nimpo thought of the best parlor with a sort of awe
+which she never felt toward any room in her mother's house.
+
+"Nimpo," said Mrs. Primkins at last, when she had held back the news
+till Nimpo had finished her book, and was about to go upstairs, "wait a
+bit. I got a letter from your Ma to-day."
+
+"Did you?" exclaimed Nimpo, alarmed. "Oh! what is the matter?"
+
+"Don't fly into tificks! Nothing is the matter," said Mrs. Primkins.
+
+"Is she coming home?" was the next eager question.
+
+"No, not yet," fell like cold water on her warm hopes. "But she says
+to-morrow's your birthday."
+
+"Why, so it is!" said Nimpo, reflecting. "I never thought of it."
+
+"Wal, she thinks perhaps I'd best let you have a few girls to tea on
+that day, if 't wont be too much of a chore for me," went on Mrs.
+Primkins, deliberately.
+
+Nimpo's face was radiant. "Oh, Mrs. Primkins, if you _will!_" But it
+fell again. "But where could they be?"--for trespassing on the dismal
+glories of the Primkins' parlor had never entered her wildest dreams.
+
+"I've thought of that," said Mrs. Primkins, grimly. "Of course, I
+couldn't abide a pack of young ones tramping up my best parlor carpet,
+and I thought mebbe I'd put a few things up in the second story, and let
+you have 'em there."
+
+The second story was unfurnished.
+
+"Oh, that will be splendid!" said Nimpo, eagerly. "But,--but,"--she
+hesitated,--"could they take tea here?" and she glanced around the
+kitchen, which was parlor, sitting-room, dining-room, and, in fact,
+almost the only really useful room in the house. The front part Mrs.
+Primkins enjoyed as other people enjoy pictures, or other beautiful
+things,--looking at, but not using them.
+
+"No; I shall set the table in the back chamber, and let you play in the
+front chamber. We can put some chairs in, and I'm sure a bare floor is
+more suitable for a pack of young ones."
+
+Mrs. Primkins always spoke of children as wild beasts, which must be
+endured, to be sure, but carefully looked after, like wolves or hyenas.
+
+"Oh yes! We wouldn't be afraid of hurting that. Oh, that'll be
+splendid!" continued Nimpo, as the plan grew on her. "I thank you so
+much, Mrs. Primkins!--and we'll be so careful not to hurt anything!"
+
+"Humph!" said Mrs. Primkins, not thinking it necessary to tell her that
+her mother had sent money to cover the expense. "You're a master hand to
+promise."
+
+"I know I forget sometimes," said Nimpo, penitently. "But I'll try
+really to be careful, this time."
+
+"Wal," said Mrs. Primkins, in conclusion, as she folded her knitting and
+brought out the bed-room candles, "if you don't hector me nigh about to
+death, I'll lose my guess! But as I'm in for 't now, you may's well
+bring the girls when you come home from school to-morrow. Then you'll
+have time to play before supper, for their mothers'll want them home
+before dark."
+
+"Do you care who I invite?" asked Nimpo, pausing with the door open on
+her way to bed.
+
+"No, I do' know's I do. Your intimate friends, your Ma said."
+
+"Oh, goody!" said Nimpo, as she skipped upstairs, two at a time. "Wont
+we have fun! How nice it'll be!"
+
+The next morning she was off, bright and early, and, before the bell
+rang, every girl in the school knew that Nimpo was going to have a
+birthday-party, and was wondering if she would be invited. At recess,
+she issued her invitations, every one of which was promptly accepted;
+and in the afternoon all came in their best dresses, ready to go home
+with Nimpo.
+
+At four o'clock, they were dismissed, and Nimpo marshaled her guests and
+started. Now, the truth was, that the girls had been so very lovely to
+her when she was inviting, that she found it hard to distinguish between
+intimate friends and those not quite so intimate, so she had asked more
+than she realized till she saw them started up the street. However, she
+had not been limited as to numbers, so she gave herself no concern, as
+she gayly led the way.
+
+Meanwhile, the Primkins family had been busy. After the morning work was
+done, Mrs. Primkins and her daughter Augusta made a loaf of plain,
+wholesome cake, a couple of tins of biscuits, and about the same number
+of cookies with caraway-seeds in them. After dinner, they carried a
+table into the back chamber and spread the feast. Nimpo's mother had
+sent, as a birthday-present, a new set of toy dishes. It had arrived by
+stage while Nimpo was at school, and been carefully concealed from her;
+and Augusta, who had not yet forgotten that she was once young (though
+it was many years before), thought it would be nice to serve the tea on
+these dishes. Not being able to think of any serious objection, and
+seeing advantage in the small pieces required to fill them, Mrs.
+Primkins had consented, and Augusta had arranged a very pretty table,
+all with its white and gilt china. The biscuits and cookies were cut
+small to match, and, when ready, it looked very cunning, with tiny
+slices of cake, and one little dish of jelly--from the top shelf in Mrs.
+Primkins' pantry.
+
+During the afternoon, a boy came up from the store (Nimpo's father was a
+country merchant) with a large basket, in which were several pounds of
+nuts and raisins and candy, which her father had ordered by letter.
+
+Everything was prepared, and Mrs. Primkins had put on a clean checked
+apron, to do honor to the occasion, and sat down in her rocker, feeling
+that she had earned her rest, when Augusta's voice sounded from
+upstairs: "Ma, do look down street!"
+
+Mrs. Primkins went to the window that looked toward the village, and was
+struck with horror.
+
+[Illustration: "DO LOOK DOWN STREET!"]
+
+"Goodness gracious! Why, what under the canopy! Did you ever!" came from
+her lips in quick succession, for there was Nimpo, the center of a very
+mob of girls, all in Sunday best, as Mrs. Primkins' experienced eye saw
+at a glance.
+
+"Ma!" exclaimed Augusta, rushing down, "I do believe that young one has
+invited the whole school!"
+
+"The trollop!" was all Mrs. Primkins could get out, in her exasperation.
+
+"I'd send 'em right straight home!" said Augusta, indignantly. "It's a
+burning shame!"
+
+"Mercy on us! This is a pretty kettle of fish!" gasped Mrs. Primkins.
+
+"I wouldn't stand it! So there!" said Augusta, sharply. "I never did see
+such a young one! I'd just send every chick and child home, and let Miss
+Nimpo take her supper in her own room--to pay her off! Things have come
+to a pretty pass, I think!"
+
+"I never did!" ejaculated Mrs. Primkins, not yet recovering her ordinary
+powers of speech.
+
+"Shall I go out and meet them, and send them packing?" asked Augusta.
+
+"No," said her mother, reluctantly, remembering the unbroken bill in her
+"upper drawer." "I do' know's I have a right to send them back. I didn't
+tell her how many, but--mercy on us!--who'd dream of such a raft! If
+there's one, there's forty, I do declare!"
+
+"That's the meaning of those enormous packages of nuts and things from
+the store," said Augusta, "that we thought were enough for an army."
+
+"But the table!" gasped Mrs. Primkins. "For such a crowd! Augusta,"
+hastily, "fly around like a parched pea, and lock the doors of that
+room, till I think what we can do. This is a party with a vengeance!"
+
+Augusta obeyed, and was none too quick, for the girls crowded into the
+front chamber before she had secured the doors.
+
+Being a "party," of course they had to go into the house. But as soon as
+they had thrown off their slat sun-bonnets,--which was in about one
+second,--and began to look around the bare room, to see what they should
+do next, Nimpo was seized with a bright idea.
+
+"Girls, let's go out in the yard, and play till tea-time," she said; and
+the next moment sun-bonnets were resumed, and the whole troop tramped
+down the back stairs, Nimpo not daring, even on this festive occasion,
+to disturb the silence of the solemn front hall, and the gorgeous
+colored stair-carpet. In two minutes, they were deep in the game of
+"Pom-pom-peel-away," and now was Mrs. Primkins' chance.
+
+She hastily sent Augusta out to the neighbors, letting her out slyly by
+the front door, so the "party" shouldn't see her, to beg or borrow
+something to feed the crowd; for, the next day being baking-day, her
+pantry was nearly empty, and there was not such a thing in the village
+as a bakery. As soon as she was gone, Mrs. Primkins cleared the table
+upstairs, hid the small biscuits and minute slices of cake, and brought
+tables from other rooms to lengthen this. She then carried every cup and
+saucer and plate of her own up there, and even made several
+surreptitious visits herself to accommodating friends, to borrow,
+telling the news, and getting their sympathy, so that they freely lent
+their dishes, and even sent their boys to carry them over, and their big
+girls to help arrange.
+
+For an hour, the games went on in the side yard, while a steady stream
+came in by the front door--the grand front door!--and up the august
+stairs, carrying bread, cake, dishes, saucers, etc., etc., till there
+was a tolerable supply, and Mrs. Primkins was in debt numerous loaves of
+bread and cake, and dishes of "preserves."
+
+At five o'clock, they were called in, and, before their sharp young
+appetites, everything disappeared like dew in the sunshine. It was a
+queer meal,--bread of various shapes and kinds, and not a large supply;
+cakes, an equally miscellaneous collection, from cup-cake which old Mrs.
+Kellogg had kept in a jar two months, "in case a body dropped in
+unexpected," to bread-cake fresh from some one else's oven; cookies of a
+dozen kinds; doughnuts and ginger-cakes, and half a dozen dishes of
+sweet-meats, no two alike.
+
+But all deficiencies were forgotten when they came to the nuts and
+candies, for of these there was no lack. Augusta had filled every extra
+dish in the house with these delightful things, and I sadly fear the
+children ate shocking amounts of trash. But they had a good time. The
+entertainment was exactly to their liking,--little bread and butter, and
+plenty of candy and raisins. It was incomparably superior to ordinary
+teas, where bread predominated and candy was limited.
+
+After eating everything on the table, putting the remainder of the candy
+in their pockets, as Nimpo insisted, they flocked into the front room,
+where Mrs. Primkins told them they might play a while, if they would not
+make a noise, as a little sprinkle of rain had come up. To insure quiet,
+each girl took off her shoes, and played in stocking-feet on the bare,
+rough floor, "blind-man's-buff," "hunt the slipper," and other games,
+for an hour more.
+
+Suddenly, Nimpo held up her foot.
+
+"Girls! look there!" Nimpo's tone was tragic.
+
+The soles of her stockings were in awful holes! All eyes were instantly
+turned on her, and forty feet were simultaneously elevated to view. The
+tale was the same,--every stocking sole was black as the ground, and
+worn to rags!
+
+"What will Ma say?" rose in horror to every lip.
+
+This awful thought sobered them at once, and, finding it getting dark,
+shoes were hastily sought out of the pile in the corner, sun-bonnets
+donned, and slowly the long procession moved down the back stairs and
+out again into the street.
+
+Nimpo flung herself on to the little bed in her room, and sighed with
+happiness.
+
+"Oh! wasn't it splendid?--and I know mamma'll forgive my stockings.
+Besides, I'll wash them myself, and darn them."
+
+(While I am about it, I may as well say that every girl who went to
+Nimpo's party had a long and serious task of darning the next week.)
+
+When it was all over, and Mrs. Primkins and Augusta, assisted by two or
+three neighbors, had washed and returned dishes, brought down tables and
+chairs, swept out front hall, and reduced it to its normal condition of
+dismal state, to be seen and not used, and the neighbors had gone, and
+it was nine o'clock at night, Augusta sat down to reckon up debts, while
+Mrs. Primkins "set the bread."
+
+Augusta brought out her account, and read: "Mrs. A., blank loaves of
+bread, ditto cake, one dish preserves; Mrs. B., ditto, ditto; Mrs. C.,
+ditto, ditto."
+
+Mrs. Primkins listened to the whole list, and made a mental calculation
+of how much of the ten-dollar bill it would take to pay up. The result
+must have been satisfactory, for her grim face relaxed almost into a
+smile, as she covered up the "sponge" and washed her hands.
+
+"Wal, don't let your Pa get away in the morning till he has split up a
+good pile of oven-wood. We'll heat the brick oven, and have over Mis'
+Kent's Mary Ann to help. I guess the money'll cover it, and I can pay
+Mary Ann in old clothes."
+
+
+
+
+THE LINNET'S FEE.
+
+BY MRS. ANNIE A. PRESTON.
+
+
+  Once I saw a wee brown linnet
+         Dancing on a tree,
+         Dancing on a tree.
+  How her feet flew every minute
+         As she danced at me-e-e;
+  How her feet flew every minute
+         As she danced at me!
+
+  "Sing a song for me, wee linnet,
+         Sing a song for me,
+         Sing a song for me."
+  "Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,
+         Till my mate I see-e-e;
+  Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,
+         He will sing for thee."
+
+  "Thank you, thank you, wee brown linnet,
+         For amusing me,
+         For amusing me;
+  You have danced for many a minute,
+         You must tired be-e-e,
+  You have sung for many minutes,
+         You must tired be."
+
+  "Thanks would starve us," cried the linnets,--
+         As he sung at me,
+         As she danced at me.
+  "Should you sing like this ten minutes,
+         You would want a fee-e-e;
+  Should you dance like this ten minutes
+         You would want a fee."
+
+  "Pardon me, I pray, dear linnet,
+         Fly down from your tree,
+         Fly down from your tree.
+  I will come back in a minute
+         With some seed for thee-e-e;
+  I will come back in a minute
+         With some seed for thee."
+
+
+
+
+DAB KINZER: A STORY OF A GROWING BOY.
+
+BY WILLIAM O. STODDARD.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the "bay" and
+the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds of
+sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere did
+it show a tree or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster found
+herself getting melancholy as she gazed upon it and thought of how the
+winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain and
+hail, or the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter.
+
+"Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and
+yesterday?"
+
+"Worse here than over our side of the bay, ten times."
+
+"Were there any vessels wrecked?"
+
+"Most likely; but it's too soon to know just where."
+
+At that moment the "Swallow" was running rapidly around a sandy point,
+jutting into the bay from the highest mound on the bar, not half a mile
+from the light-house, and only twice as far from the low, wooden roof of
+the "wrecking station," where, as Dab had explained to his guests, the
+life-boats and other apparatus were kept safely housed. The piles of
+drifted sand had for some time prevented the brightest eyes on board the
+"Swallow" from seeing anything to seaward; but now, as they came around
+the point and a broad level lay before them, Ham Morris sprang to his
+feet in sudden excitement as he exclaimed:
+
+"In the breakers! Why, she must have been a three-master. All up with
+her now."
+
+"Look along the shore!" shouted Dab. "Some of 'em saved, anyhow. The
+coast-men are there, life-boats and all."
+
+So they were, and Ham was right about the vessel, though not a mast was
+left standing in her now. If there had been, indeed, she might have been
+kept off the breakers, as they afterward learned. She had been dismasted
+in the storm, but had not struck until after daylight that morning, and
+help had been close at hand and promptly given. No such thing as saving
+that unfortunate hull. She would beat to pieces just where she lay,
+sooner or later, according to the kind of weather and the waves it
+should bring with it.
+
+The work done by the life-boat men had been a good one, and had not been
+very easy either, for they had brought the crew and passengers from the
+wreck safely to the sandy beach. They had even saved some items of
+baggage. In a few hours, the "coast wrecking tugs" would be on hand to
+look out for the cargo. No chance whatever for the 'longshoremen, good
+or bad, to turn an honest penny without working hard for it. Work and
+wages enough, to be sure, helping to unload, when the sea, now so very
+heavy, should go down a little; but "wages" were not what some of them
+were most hungry for.
+
+Two of them, at all events--one a tall, weather-beaten,
+stoop-shouldered, grizzled old man, in tattered raiment, and the other,
+even more battered, but with no "look of the sea" about him--stood on a
+sand-drift gloomily gazing at the group of shipwrecked people on the
+shore, and the helpless mass of timber and spars out there among the
+beatings of the surf.
+
+"Not more 'n three hunder yards out. She'd break up soon 'f there was no
+one to hender. Wot a show we'd hev."
+
+"I reckon," growled the shorter man. "Is your name Peter?"
+
+"Aye. I belong yer. Allers lived about high-water mark. Whar'd ye come
+from?"
+
+The only answer was a sharp and excited exclamation. Neither of them had
+been paying any attention to the bay side of the bar and, while they
+were gazing at the wreck, a very pretty little yacht had cast anchor,
+close in shore, and then, with the help of a row-boat, quite a party of
+ladies and gentlemen--the latter somewhat young-looking--had made their
+way to the land, and were now hurrying forward. They did not pay the
+slightest attention to Peter and his companion, but, in a few minutes
+more, they were trying to talk to those poor people on the sea-beach.
+Trying, but not succeeding very well, for the wreck had been a Bremen
+bark with an assorted cargo and some fifty passengers, all emigrants.
+German seemed their only tongue, and none of Mrs. Kinzer's
+pleasure-party spoke German.
+
+"Too bad," Ford Foster was saying, when there came a sort of wail from a
+group at a little distance, and it seemed to close with--"pauvre
+enfant."
+
+"French!" he exclaimed. "Why, they look as Dutch as any of the rest.
+Come on, Annie, let's try and speak to them."
+
+The rest followed a good deal like a flock of sheep, and it was a sad
+enough scene which lay before them. No lives had been lost in the wreck,
+though there had been a great deal of suffering among the poor
+passengers, cooped up between-decks with the hatches closed, while the
+storm lasted. Nobody drowned, indeed, but all dreadfully soaked in the
+surf in getting ashore; and among the rest had been the fair-haired
+child, now lying there on his mother's lap, so pinched and blue, and
+seemingly so lifeless.
+
+French, were they? Yes and no; for the father, a tall, stout young man,
+who looked like a farmer, told Ford they were from Alsace, and spoke
+both tongues.
+
+"The child, was it sick?"
+
+Not so much sick as dying of starvation and exposure.
+
+Oh, such a sad, pleading look as the poor mother lifted to the moist
+eyes of Mrs. Kinzer as the portly widow bent over the silent boy. Such a
+pretty child he must have been, and not over two years old; but the salt
+water was in his tangled curls now, and his poor lips were parted in a
+weak, sick way, that spoke of utter exhaustion.
+
+"Can anything be done, mother?"
+
+"Yes, Dabney; you and Ham, and Ford and Frank, go to the yacht, quick as
+you can, and bring the spirit-heater, lamp and all, and bread and milk,
+and every dry napkin and towel you can find. Bring Keziah's shawl."
+
+Such quick time they made across that sand-bar!
+
+And they were none too soon; for, as they came running down to their
+boat, a mean, slouching sort of fellow walked rapidly away from it.
+
+"He was going to steal it."
+
+"Can't go for him now, Dab; but you'll have to mount guard here while we
+go back with the things."
+
+He did so, and Ham and Frank and Ford hurried back to the other beach to
+find that Mrs. Kinzer had taken complete possession of that baby. Every
+rag of his damp things was already stripped off, and now, while Miranda
+lighted the "heater" and made some milk hot in a minute, the good lady
+began to rub the little sufferer as only a mother knows how.
+
+Then there was a warm wrapping up in cloths and shawls, and better
+success than anybody had dreamed of in making the seemingly half-dead
+child eat something.
+
+"That was about all the matter," said Mrs. Kinzer. "Now if we can get
+him and his mother over to the house, we can save both of them. Ford,
+how long did you say it was since they'd eaten anything?"
+
+"About three days, they say."
+
+"Mercy on me! And that cabin of ours holds so little! Glad it's full,
+anyhow. Let's get it out and over here at once."
+
+"The cabin?"
+
+"No, the provisions."
+
+And not a soul among them all thought of their own lunch, any more than
+Mrs. Kinzer herself did; but Joe and Fuz were not just then among them.
+On the contrary, they were over there by the shore, where the "Jenny"
+had been pulled up, trying to get Dab Kinzer to put them on board the
+"Swallow."
+
+"Somebody ought to be on board of her," said Fuz, in as anxious a tone
+as he could, "with so many strange people around."
+
+[Illustration: "WHOM DO YOU THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?"]
+
+"It isn't safe," added Joe.
+
+"Fact," replied Dab; "but then I kind o' like to feel a little unsafe."
+
+And the Hart boys felt, somehow, that Dab knew why they were so anxious
+to go on board, and they were right enough, for he was saying to himself
+at that moment,
+
+"They can wait. They do look hungry, but they'll live through it. There
+aint any cuffs or collars in Ham's locker."
+
+All there was then in the locker, however, was soon out of it when Mrs.
+Kinzer and the rest came, for they brought with them the officers of the
+wrecked bark, and neither Joe nor Fuz had a chance to so much as "help
+distribute" that supply of provisions. Ham went over to make sure it
+should be properly done, while Mrs. Kinzer saw her little patient with
+his father and mother safely stowed on board the "Swallow."
+
+"I'll save that baby, anyhow," she said to Miranda, "and Ford says his
+father's a farmer. We can find plenty for 'em to do. They'll never see a
+thing of their baggage, and I guess they hadn't a great deal."
+
+She was just the woman to guess correctly, but at that moment Dab Kinzer
+said to Annie Foster in a low tone:
+
+"Whom do you think I've seen to-day?"
+
+"I can't guess. Who was it?"
+
+"The tramp!"
+
+"The same one--"
+
+"The very same. There he goes, over the sand-hill yonder, with old
+Peter, the wrecker. We've got to hurry home now, but I'm going to set
+Ham Morris on his track."
+
+"You never'll find him again."
+
+"Do you s'pose old Peter'd befriend a man that did what he did, right on
+the shore of the bay? No, indeed, there isn't a fisherman from here to
+Montauk that wouldn't join to hunt him out. He's safe whenever Ham wants
+him, if we don't scare him now."
+
+"Don't scare him, then," whispered Annie.
+
+The wind was fair and the home sail of the "Swallow" was really a swift
+and short one, but it did seem dreadfully long to her passengers. Mrs.
+Kinzer was anxious to see that poor baby safely in bed. Ham Morris
+wanted to send a whole load of refreshments back to the shipwrecked
+people. Dab Kinzer could not keep his thoughts from that "tramp." And
+then, if the truth must come out, every soul on board the beautiful
+little yacht was getting more and more aware, with every minute that
+passed, that they had had a good deal of sea air and excitement, and a
+splendid sail across the bay and back, but no dinner. Not so much as a
+herring or a cracker.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in such
+matters, but their friends had never before been so near to a genuine,
+out and out shipwreck. Perhaps, too, they had rarely if ever felt so
+very nearly starved. At least Joe and Fuz Hart remarked as much a score
+of times before the "Swallow" slipped through the inlet and made her way
+toward the landing.
+
+"Ham," said Dab Kinzer, "are you going right back again?"
+
+"Course I am, soon as I can get a load of eatables from the house and
+the village. You 'll have to stay here."
+
+"Why can't I go with you?"
+
+"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you
+can't go."
+
+Dab seemed to have expected as much, for he turned to Ford with,
+
+"Then I'll tell you what we must do."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"See about the famine. Can you cook?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his
+cargo ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half."
+
+"Mother wont be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the
+day. Annie knows something."
+
+"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed. Look
+at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut."
+
+Joe and his brother seemed to know, as if by instinct, that the dinner
+question was under discussion; and they were soon taking their share of
+talk. Oh, how they wished it had been a share of something to eat! The
+"Swallow" was moored, now, after discharging her passengers, but Dab did
+not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He even managed to
+detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones, too.
+
+"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart, "let's put for the village.
+We'll starve here."
+
+"A fellow that'd starve here just deserves to, that's all," said Dab.
+"Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're all
+right. One of 'em's a dredger."
+
+Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab was
+not doing any guessing.
+
+"Bill," he exclaimed, as Dick's father pulled within hearing,--"Bill,
+put a lot of your best pan-fish in this basket and then go and fetch us
+some lobsters. There's half a dozen in your pot. Did those others get
+any luck?"
+
+"More clams 'n 'ysters," responded Bill.
+
+"Then we'll take both lots."
+
+The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long Island shore
+began to rise rapidly a few minutes later, for not only was one of Dab's
+baskets promptly provided with "pan-fish," such as porgies, black fish
+and perch, but two others received all the clams and oysters they were
+at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time, Bill Lee
+offered, as an amendment to the lobster question,
+
+"Ye 'r' wrong about the pot, Dab."
+
+"Wrong? Why--"
+
+"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' b'iled every one on 'em an' they
+'re all nice an' cold by this time."
+
+"All right. I never eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them, Dick.
+Bring 'em right over to Ford's house."
+
+Bill Lee would have sent his house and all on a suggestion that the
+Kinzers or Fosters were in need of it, and Dick would have carried it
+over for him.
+
+As for "Gloriana," when her son came running in with his errand, she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem aint good nuff. Dey sha'n't hab 'em. I'll jist
+send de ole man all 'round de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey isn't
+no kin' o' lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't."
+
+Dick insisted, however, and by the time he reached the back door of the
+old Kinzer homestead with his load, that kitchen had become very nearly
+as busy a place as Mrs. Miranda Morris's own, a few rods away.
+
+"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy,
+"what if mother should make a mistake?"
+
+"Make a mistake? How?"
+
+"Cook that baby! It's awful!"
+
+"Why, its mother's there."
+
+"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come the
+lobsters. Now, Ford--"
+
+The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not heard
+by even Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever as
+she busied herself around the kitchen fire. As for the Hart boys, Mrs.
+Foster had invited them to come into the parlor and talk with her till
+dinner should be ready.
+
+Such a frying and broiling!
+
+Before Ham Morris was ready for his second start, and right in the midst
+of his greatest hurry, word came over from Mrs. Foster that "the table
+was waiting for them all."
+
+Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction, for
+there was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then,
+for either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents, and she was beginning
+to worry about her son-in-law, and how she should get him to eat
+something. For Ham Morris had worked himself up into a high state of
+excitement in his benevolent haste, and did not seem to know that he was
+hungry. Miranda had entirely sympathized with her husband until that
+message came from Mrs. Foster.
+
+"Oh, Hamilton, and good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it herself!"
+
+"No," said Ham, thoughtfully; "our Dabney went home with Ford and Annie.
+I can't stay but a minute, but I think we'd better go right over."
+
+Go they did, while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up
+concerning the wreck attended to the completion of the cargo of the
+"Swallow." There would be more than one good boat ready to accompany her
+back across the bay, laden with comforts of all sorts.
+
+Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best man
+in the world, had come waddling down to the landing with a demijohn of
+"old apple brandy," and his gift had been kindly accepted by the special
+advice of the village physician.
+
+"That sort of thing has made plenty of ship-wrecks around here,"
+remarked the man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed
+so much salt-water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em."
+
+May be, the doctor was wrong about it, but the demijohn went over to the
+wreck in the "Swallow."
+
+Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one. There were no large rooms
+in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather around
+the table,--all except Dab and Ford.
+
+"Dab is head cook and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation,
+"and we can't have any women folk a-bothering about our kitchen. Frank
+and the boys are company."
+
+Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee
+was excellent. The fish were done to a turn. The oysters, roasted,
+broiled or stewed, and likewise the clams, were all that could have been
+asked for. Bread there was in abundance, and everything was going finely
+till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face showed itself at
+the kitchen door:
+
+"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables; we're waiting for them."
+
+Dab's face grew still redder, and he came very near dropping a plate he
+had in his hand.
+
+"Vegetables? Oh yes. Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now. I've
+got them all ready."
+
+Annie opened her eyes and looked hard at her brother, for she knew very
+well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their
+preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer, but he marched out,
+white apron and all. A minute or so later, the two boys came in again,
+each bearing aloft a huge platter.
+
+One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table.
+
+"Vegetables?"
+
+"Why, they're lobsters!"
+
+"Oh, Ford, how could you?"
+
+The last exclamation came from Annie Foster as she clapped her hands
+over her face. Bright red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows,
+every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a
+little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders
+were adorned with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while
+every ungainly "flipper" wore a "cuff" which had been manufactured for
+very different uses. Plenty of cuffs and collars, and queer enough the
+lobsters looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and
+linen was variegated with huge black spots and blotches, as if some one
+had begun to wash it in ink.
+
+Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters, and Mrs. Foster's face
+looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal. The
+Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris and
+the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh.
+
+"Joe," said Fuz, half snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got
+the laugh on us this time."
+
+"I?" exclaimed Annie, indignantly. "No, indeed. That's some of Ford's
+work and Dabney's. Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you."
+
+Poor Dab!
+
+He muttered something about "those being all the vegetables he had," and
+retreated to the kitchen. Joe and Fuz were not the sort to take offense
+easily, however, and promptly helped themselves liberally to lobster.
+That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the table; but
+Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete failure. As Ford
+told him afterward,
+
+[Illustration: "VEGETABLES?" "WHY, THEY'RE LOBSTERS!"]
+
+"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam with a pin."
+
+"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," replied Dab.
+"Well, I'll never try anything like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz aint
+comfortable. They ate too many roasted clams and too much lobster."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+Ham Morris did not linger long at the dinner-table, and Dab would have
+given more than ever for the privilege of going with him. Not that he
+felt so very charitable, but that he did not care to prolong his stay at
+Mrs. Foster's, whether as "cook" or otherwise. He had not lost his
+appetite, however, and after he had taken care of that, he slipped away
+"on an errand for his mother," and hurried toward the village. Nearly
+everybody he met had some question or other to ask him about the wreck,
+and it was not to have been expected that Jenny Walters would let her
+old acquaintance pass her without a word or so.
+
+Dab answered as best he could, considering the disturbed state of his
+mind, but he wound up with:
+
+"Jenny, I wish you'd come over to our house by and by."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Oh, I've got something to show you. Something you never saw before."
+
+"Do you mean your new baby,--the one you found on the bar?"
+
+"Yes; but that baby, Jenny!"
+
+"What's wonderful about it?"
+
+"Why, it's only two years old and it can squall in two languages. That's
+more'n you can do."
+
+"They say your friend, Miss Foster, speaks French," retorted Jenny. "Was
+she ever shipwrecked?"
+
+"In French? May be so. But not in German."
+
+"Well, Dabney, I don't propose to squall in anything. Are your folks
+going to burn any more of their barns this year?"
+
+"Not unless Samantha gets married. Jenny, do you know what's the latest
+fashion in lobsters?"
+
+"Changeable green, I suppose."
+
+"No; I mean after they're boiled. It's to have 'em come on the table in
+cuffs and collars. Lace around their necks, you know."
+
+"And gloves?"
+
+"No, not any gloves. We had lobsters to-day at Mrs. Foster's, and you
+ought to have seen 'em."
+
+"Dabney Kinzer, it's time you went to school again."
+
+"I'm going in a few days."
+
+"Going? Do you mean you're going away somewhere?"
+
+"Ever so far. Dick Lee's going with me."
+
+"I heard about him, but I didn't know he meant to take you along. That's
+very kind of Dick. I s'pose you wont speak to common people when you get
+back."
+
+"Now, Jenny----"
+
+"Good afternoon, Dabney. Perhaps I'll come over before you go, if it's
+only to see that shipwrecked baby."
+
+A good many of Mrs. Kinzer's lady friends, young and old, deemed it
+their duty to come and do that very thing within the next few days. Then
+the Sewing Circle took the matter up, and both the baby and its mother
+were provided for as they never had been before. It would have taken
+more languages than two to have expressed the gratitude of the poor
+Alsatians. As for the rest of them, out there on the bar, they were
+speedily taken off and carried "to the city," none of them being much
+the worse for their sufferings, after all. Ham Morris declared that the
+family he had brought ashore "came just in time to help him out with his
+fall work, and he didn't see any charity in it."
+
+Good for Ham! but Dab Kinzer thought otherwise when he saw how tired
+Miranda's husband was on his late return from his second trip across the
+bay. Real charity never cares to see itself too clearly. They were
+pretty tired, both of them; but the "Swallow" was carefully moored in
+her usual berth before they left her. Even then they had a good load of
+baskets and things to carry with them.
+
+"Is everything out of the locker, Dab?" asked Ham Morris.
+
+"All but the jug. I say, did you know it was half full? Would it do any
+hurt to leave it here?"
+
+"The jug? No. Just pour out the rest of the apple-jack, over the side."
+
+"Make the fish drunk."
+
+"Well, it sha'n't bother anybody else if I can help it."
+
+"Then, if it's good for water-soaked people, it wont hurt the fish."
+
+"Empty it, Dab, and come on. The doctor wasn't so far wrong, and I was
+glad to have it with me; but medicine's medicine, and I only wish
+people'd remember it."
+
+The condemned liquor was already gurgling from the mouth of the jug into
+the salt water, and neither fish nor eel came forward to get a share of
+it. When the cork was replaced, the demijohn was set down again in the
+"cabin," with no more danger in it for anybody.
+
+Perhaps that was one reason--that and his weariness--why Ham Morris did
+not take the pains even to lock it up.
+
+Dabney was so tired in mind if not in body, that he postponed until the
+morrow anything he may have had to say about the tramp. He was not at
+all sure whether the latter had recognized him, and at all events the
+matter would have to wait. So it came to pass that all the village and
+the shore was deserted and silent, an hour or so later, when a stoutly
+built "cat-boat" with her one sail lowered, was quietly sculled up the
+inlet. There were two men on board,--a tall one and a short one,--and
+they ran their boat right alongside the "Swallow," as if that were the
+very thing they had come to do.
+
+"Burgin," remarked the tall man, "what ef we don't find anything arter
+all this sailin' and rowin'? Most likely he's kerried it to the house.
+In course he has."
+
+The keenly watchful eyes of Burgin had followed the fortunes of that
+apple-jack from first to last. To tell the truth, he had more than half
+tried to work himself in as one of the "sufferers," but with no manner
+of success. He had not failed, however, to see the coveted treasure
+stowed away, at last, under the half-deck of the "Swallow." That had
+been all the inducement required to get Peter and his boat across the
+bay, and the old "wrecker" was as anxious about the result as the tramp
+himself could be. It was hard to say which of them was first on board
+the "Swallow."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A disappointed and angry pair they were when the empty jug was
+discovered; but Burgin's indignation was loudest and most abusive. Peter
+checked him, at last, with:
+
+"Look a yer, my friend, is this 'ere your boat?"
+
+"No, I didn't say it was, did I?"
+
+"Is that there your jug? I don't know 'at I keer to hev one o' my
+neighbors abused all night jest bekase I've been an' let an entire
+stranger make a fool of me."
+
+"Do you mean me?"
+
+"Well, ef I didn't I wouldn't say it. Don't git mad, now. Jest let's
+take a turn 'round the village."
+
+"You go and I'll wait for ye. 'Pears like I don't keer to walk about
+much."
+
+"Well, then, mind you don't run away with my boat."
+
+"If I want a boat, there's plenty here better'n your'n."
+
+"That's so. I wont be gone a great while."
+
+He was, however, whatever may have been his errand. Old Peter was not
+the man to be at any loss for one, even at that time of night, and his
+present business kept him away from the shore a full hour. When at last
+he returned he found his boat safe enough, and so, apparently were all
+the others; but he looked around in vain for any signs of his late
+companion. Not that he spent much time or took any great pains in
+looking, for he muttered to himself:
+
+"Gone, has he? Well then, a good riddance to bad rubbidge. I aint no
+angel, but he's a long ways wuss than I am."
+
+Whether or not old Peter was right in his estimate of himself or of
+Burgin, in a few moments more he was all alone in his cat-boat, and was
+sculling it rapidly up the crooked inlet.
+
+His search had been indeed a careless one, for he had but glanced over
+the gunwale of the "Swallow." A second look would have shown him the
+form of the tramp, half covered by a loose flap of the sail, deeply and
+heavily sleeping at the bottom of the boat. It was every bit as
+comfortable a bed as he had been used to, and there he was still lying,
+long after the sun looked in upon him, next morning.
+
+But other eyes were to look in upon Burgin's face before he awakened
+from that untimely and imprudent nap.
+
+It was not so very early when Ham Morris and Dabney Kinzer were stirring
+again; but they had both arisen with a strong desire for a "talk," and
+Ham made an opportunity for one by saying:
+
+"Come on, Dab; let's go down and have a look at the 'Swallow.'"
+
+Ham had meant to talk about school and kindred matters; but Dabney's
+first words about the tramp cut off all other subjects.
+
+"You ought to have told me," he said. "I'd have had him tied up in a
+minute."
+
+Dabney explained as well as he could, but, before he had finished, Ham
+suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"There's Dick Lee on board the 'Swallow.' What's he there for?"
+
+"Dick!" shouted Dabney.
+
+"Cap'n Dab, did yo' set dis yer boat to trap somebody?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Well den, you's gone an' cotched um. Jes you come an' see."
+
+The sound of Dick Lee's voice, so near them, reached the dull ears of
+the slumbering tramp and, as Ham and Dabney sprang into a yawl and
+pushed alongside the yacht, his unpleasant face was slowly and sleepily
+lifted above the rail.
+
+"It's the very man!" excitedly shouted Dabney.
+
+"The tramp?"
+
+"Yes, the tramp."
+
+No one would have suspected Ham Morris of so much agility, although his
+broad and well-knit frame promised abundant strength, but he was on
+board the "Swallow" like a flash and Burgin was "pinned" by his iron
+grasp before he could guess what was coming.
+
+It was too late, then, for any such thing as resistance, and he settled
+at once into a dogged, sullen silence, after the ordinary custom of his
+kind when they find themselves cornered. It is a species of brute,
+animal instinct, more than even cunning, seemingly, but not a word did
+Ham and Dabney obtain from their prisoner until they delivered him to
+the safe keeping of the village authorities. That done, they went home
+to breakfast, feeling as if they had made a good morning's work, but
+wondering what the end of it all would be.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+The other boys were very much interested in the story of the tramp, and
+so was Mr. Foster when he came home, but poor Annie was a good deal more
+troubled than pleased.
+
+"Oh, mother," she exclaimed, "do you suppose I'll have to appear in
+court as a witness against him?"
+
+"I hope not, dear. Perhaps your father can manage to prevent it."
+
+It would not have been easy for even so good a lawyer as Mr. Foster, if
+Burgin himself had not saved them all trouble on that score. Long before
+the slow processes of country criminal justice could bring him to actual
+trial, so many misdeeds were brought home to him from here and there,
+that he gave the matter up and freely related not only the manner of the
+barn-burning, but his revengeful motive for it. He made his case so very
+clear that when, in due course of time, he was brought before a judge
+and jury, there was nothing left for him to do but to plead "guilty."
+
+That was some months later, however, and just at that time the manner of
+his capture--for the story of the demijohn leaked out first of all--gave
+the village something new to talk about. It was as good as a temperance
+lecture in spite of old Jock's argument that:
+
+"You see, boys, good liquor don't do no harm. That was real good
+apple-jack, an' it jist toled that chap across the bay and captured him
+without no manner of diffikilty."
+
+There were plenty who could testify to a different kind of "capture."
+
+One effect of the previous day's work, including his adventures as an
+ornamental cook, was that Dab Kinzer conceived himself bound to be
+thenceforth especially polite to Joe and Fuz. The remaining days of
+their visit would have been altogether too few for the various
+entertainments he laid out for them.
+
+They were to catch all that was to be caught in the bay. They were to
+ride everywhere and see everything.
+
+"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good fellow.
+Mother says so."
+
+"Does she?" and Dab evidently felt a good deal better after that.
+
+Dick Lee, when his friends found time to think of him, had almost
+disappeared. Some three days afterward, while all the rest were out in
+the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, "Gloriana"
+made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room with a face that was
+darker than usual with motherly anxiety.
+
+"Miss Kinzer, has you seed my Dick dis week?"
+
+"No, he hasn't been here at all. Anything the matter with him?"
+
+"Dat's de berry question. I doesn't know wot to make ob 'im."
+
+"Why, is he studying too hard?"
+
+"It aint jist de books. I isn't so much afeard ob dem, but it's all
+'long ob dat 'cad'my. I wish you'd jist take a look at 'im, fust chance
+ye git."
+
+"Does he look bad?"
+
+"No, taint jist altogeder his looks. He's de bes' lookin' boy 'long
+shoah. But den de way he's goin' on to talk. 'T aint nateral. He use to
+talk fust rate."
+
+"Can't he talk now?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Kinzer, he kin talk, but den de way he gits out his words.
+Nebber seen sech a t'ing in all my born days. Takes him eber so long
+jist to say good-mornin'. An' den he don't say it like he used ter. I
+wish you'd jist take a good look at 'im."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer promised, and gave her black friend such comfort as she
+could, but Dick Lee's tongue would never again be the free and easy
+thing it had been. Even at home and about his commonest "chores," he was
+all the while struggling with his pronunciation. If he succeeded as well
+with the rest of his "schooling," it was safe to say that it would not
+be thrown away upon him.
+
+Gloriana went her way, and the next to intrude upon Mrs. Kinzer's
+special domain was her son-in-law himself, accompanied by his rosy
+bride.
+
+"We've got a plan!"
+
+"You? A plan? What about?"
+
+"Dab and his friends."
+
+"A party!" exclaimed Dab, when his mother unfolded Ham's plan to him.
+"Ham and Miranda give a party for us boys! Well, now, aren't they right
+down good! But, mother, we'll have to get it up mighty quick."
+
+"I know, but that's easy enough with all the help we'll have. I'll take
+care of that."
+
+"But, mother, what can we do? There's only a few know how to dance. I
+don't, for one."
+
+"You must talk that over with Ford. Perhaps Annie and Frank can help
+you."
+
+Great were the consultations and endless were the plans and
+propositions, till even Mrs. Kinzer found her temper getting a little
+worried over them.
+
+"Miranda," she said, on the morning of the day, "all the invitations are
+sent now, and we must get rid of Dabney and the boys for a few hours."
+
+"Send 'em for some greens to rig the parlor with," suggested Ham. "Let
+'em take the ponies."
+
+"Do you think the ponies are safe to drive just now?"
+
+"Oh, Dab can handle 'em. They're a trifle skittish, that's all. They
+need a little exercise."
+
+So they did, but it was to be doubted if the best way to secure it for
+them was to send them out in a light, two-seated wagon, with a load of
+five lively boys.
+
+"Now, don't you let one of the other boys touch the reins," said Mrs.
+Kinzer.
+
+Dab's promise to that effect was a hard one to keep, for Joe and Fuz
+almost tried to take the reins away from him before they had driven two
+miles from the house. He was firm, however, and they managed to reach
+the strip of woodland, some five miles inland, where they were to gather
+their load, without any disaster, but it was evident to Dab all the way,
+that his ponies were in unusually "high" condition. He took them out of
+the wagon while the rest began to gather their very liberal harvest of
+evergreens, and did not bring them near it again until all was ready for
+the start homeward.
+
+"Now, boys," he said, "you get in. Joe and Ford and Fuz on the back seat
+to hold the greens. Frank, get up there, forward, while I hitch the
+ponies. These fellows are full of mischief."
+
+Very full, certainly, nor did Dab Kinzer know exactly what the matter
+was, for a minute or so after he seized the reins and sprang up beside
+Frank Harley. Then, indeed, as the ponies reared and kicked and plunged,
+it seemed to him he saw something work out from under their collars and
+fall to the ground. An acorn-burr is just the thing to worry a restive
+horse, if put in such a place, but Joe and Fuz had hardly expected their
+"little joke" would be so very successful as it was.
+
+The ponies were off now.
+
+"Joe," shouted Fuz, "let's jump!"
+
+"Don't let 'em, Ford," exclaimed Dab, giving his whole energies to the
+horses. "They'll break their necks if they do. Hold 'em in!"
+
+Ford, who was in the middle, promptly seized an arm of each of his
+panic-stricken cousins, while Frank clambered over the seat to help him.
+They were all down on the the bottom now, serving as a weight to hold
+the branches, as the light wagon bounced and rattled along over the
+smooth, level road.
+
+In vain Dab pulled and pulled at the ponies. Run they did, and all he
+could do was to keep them fairly in the road.
+
+Bracing strongly back, with the reins wound around his tough hands, and
+with a look in his face that should have given courage even to the Hart
+boys, Dab strained at his task as bravely as he had stood at the tiller
+of the "Swallow" in the storm.
+
+No such thing as stopping them.
+
+And now, as they whirled along, even Dab's face paled a little.
+
+"I must reach the bridge before he does. He's just stupid enough to keep
+right on."
+
+And it was very stupid indeed for the driver of that one-horse "truck
+wagon" to try and reach the narrow little unrailed bridge first. It was
+an old, used-up sort of a bridge, at best.
+
+Dab loosened the reins a little, but could not use his whip.
+
+"Why can't he stop!"
+
+It was a moment of breathless anxiety, but the wagoner kept stolidly on.
+There would be barely room to pass him on the road itself; none at all
+on the narrow bridge.
+
+The ponies did it.
+
+They seemed to put on an extra touch of speed, on their own account,
+just then.
+
+There was a rattle, a faint crash, and then, as the wheels of the two
+vehicles almost grazed one another in passing, Ford shouted:
+
+"The bridge is down!"
+
+Such a narrow escape!
+
+One of the rotten girders, never half strong enough, had given way under
+the sudden shock of the hind wheels and that truck wagon would have to
+find its path across the brook as best it could.
+
+There were more wagons to pass as they plunged forward, and rough places
+in the road, for Dabney to look out for, but even Joe and Fuz were now
+getting confidence in their driver. Before long, too, the ponies
+themselves began to feel that they had had nearly enough of it. Then it
+was that Dab used his whip again, and the streets of the village were
+traversed at such a rate as to call for the disapprobation of all
+sober-minded people.
+
+"Here we are, Ham, greens and all."
+
+"Did they run far?" asked Ham, quietly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+The boys had returned a good deal sooner than had been expected, but
+they made no more trouble. As Ford Foster remarked, they were all
+"willing to go slow for a week" after being carried so very fast by Dab
+Kinzer's ponies.
+
+There was a great deal to be said about the runaway, and Mrs. Foster
+longed to see Dab and thank him on Ford's account, but he himself had no
+idea that he had done anything remarkable, and was very busily at work
+decking Miranda's parlors with the "greens."
+
+A very nice appearance they made, all those woven branches and clustered
+sprays, when they were in place, and Samantha declared for them that,
+
+"They had kept Dab out of mischief all the afternoon."
+
+At an early hour after supper, the guests began to arrive, for Mrs.
+Kinzer was a woman of too much sense to have night turned into day when
+she could prevent it. As the stream of visitors steadily poured in, Dab
+remarked to Jenny Walters:
+
+"We shall have to enlarge the house after all."
+
+"If it were only a dress, now?"
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Why, you could just let out the tucks. I've had to do that with mine."
+
+"Jenny, shake hands with me."
+
+"What for, Dabney?"
+
+"I'm so glad to meet somebody else that's outgrowing something."
+
+There was a tinge of color rising in Jenny's face, but, before she could
+say anything, Dab added:
+
+"There! Jenny, there's Mrs. Foster and Annie. Isn't she sweet?"
+
+"One of the nicest old ladies I ever saw----"
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean her mother."
+
+"Never mind. You must introduce me to them."
+
+"So I will. Take my arm."
+
+[Illustration: "MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?"]
+
+Jenny Walters had been unusually kindly and gracious in her manner that
+evening, and her very voice had much less than its accustomed sharpness,
+but her natural disposition broke out a little some minutes later, while
+she was talking with Annie. Said she:
+
+"I've wanted so much to get acquainted with you."
+
+"With me?"
+
+"Yes. I've seen you in church, and I've heard you talked about, and I
+wanted to find out for myself."
+
+"Find out what?" asked Annie a little soberly.
+
+"Why, you see, I don't believe it's possible for any girl to be as sweet
+as you look. I couldn't, I know. I've been trying these two days, and
+I'm nearly worn out."
+
+Annie's eyes opened wide with surprise, and she laughed merrily as she
+answered:
+
+"What can you mean? I'm glad enough if my face doesn't tell tales of
+me."
+
+"But mine does," said Jenny, "and then I'm so sure to tell all the rest
+with my tongue. I wish I knew what were your faults."
+
+"My faults? What for?"
+
+"I don't know. Seems to me if I could think of your faults instead of
+mine, it wouldn't be so hard to look sweet."
+
+Annie saw that there was more earnestness than fun in the queer talk of
+her new acquaintance. The truth was that Jenny had been having almost as
+hard a struggle with her tongue as ever poor Dick Lee with his, though
+not for not the same reason. Before many minutes she had frankly told
+Annie all about it, and she could never have done that if she had not
+somehow felt that Annie's "sweetness" was genuine. The two girls were
+sure friends after that, much to the surprise of Mr. Dabney Kinzer.
+
+He, indeed, had been too much occupied in caring for his guests to pay
+special attention to one of them. His mother had looked after him again
+and again with eyes brimful of pride and of commendation of the way he
+was acquitting himself.
+
+Even Mrs. Foster said to her husband, who had now arrived:
+
+"Do you see that? Who would have expected as much from a raw, green
+country boy?"
+
+"But, my dear, don't you see? The secret of it is that he's not thinking
+of himself at all. He's only anxious his friends should have a good
+time."
+
+"That's it; but then that too is a very rare thing in a boy of his age."
+
+"Dabney!" exclaimed the lawyer in a louder tone of voice.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Foster. I'm glad you've found room. The house isn't
+half large enough."
+
+"I understand your ponies ran away with you to-day?"
+
+"They did come home in a hurry; but nobody was hurt."
+
+"I fear there would have been, but for you. Do you start for Grantley
+with the other boys to-morrow?"
+
+"Of course. Dick Lee and I need some one to take care of us. We never
+traveled so far before."
+
+"On land, you mean. Is Dick here to-night?"
+
+"Came and looked in, sir, but got scared by the crowd and went home."
+
+"Poor fellow! Well, we will do all we can for him."
+
+Poor Dick Lee!
+
+And yet, if Mr. Dabney Kinzer had known his whereabouts at that very
+moment he would half have envied him.
+
+Dick's mother was in the kitchen helping about the supper, but she had
+not left home until she had compelled Dick to dress himself in his
+best,--white shirt, red neck-tie, shining shoes and all,--and she had
+brought him with her almost by force.
+
+"You's good nuff to go to de 'cad'my and leab yer pore mother, an' I
+reckon you's good nuff for de party."
+
+And Dick had actually ventured in from the kitchen through the
+dining-room and as far as the door of the back parlor, where few would
+look.
+
+[Illustration: "PINNED!"]
+
+How his heart did beat as he looked on the merry gathering, a large part
+of whom he had known "all his born days!"
+
+But there was a side door opening from that dining-room on the long
+piazza which Mrs. Kinzer had added to the old Morris mansion, and Dick's
+hand was on the knob of that door almost before he knew it.
+
+Then he was out on the road to the landing, and in five minutes more he
+was vigorously rowing the "Jenny" out through the inlet toward the bay.
+
+His heart was not beating unpleasantly any longer, but as he shot out
+from the narrow passage through the flags and saw the little waves
+laughing in the cool, dim starlight, he suddenly stopped rowing, leaned
+on his oars, gave a sigh of relief, and exclaimed:
+
+"Dar! I's safe now. I aint got to say a word to nobody out yer. Wonder
+'f I'll ebber git back from de 'cad'my an' kitch fish in dis yer bay?
+Sho! Course I will. But goin' away's awful!"
+
+Dab Kinzer thought he had never known Jenny Walters to appear so well as
+she looked that evening; and he must have been right, for good Mrs.
+Foster said to Annie:
+
+"What a pleasant, kindly face your new friend has! You must ask her to
+come and see us. She seems quite a favorite with the Kinzers."
+
+"Have you known Dabney long?" Annie had asked of Jenny a little before
+that.
+
+"Ever since I was a little bit of a girl, and a big boy seven or eight
+years old pushed me into the snow."
+
+"Was it Dabney?"
+
+"No, but Dabney was the boy that pushed him in for doing it, and then
+helped me up. Dab rubbed his face for him with snow till he cried."
+
+"Just like him!" exclaimed Annie with emphasis. "I should think his
+friends here will miss him."
+
+"Indeed they will," replied Jenny, and then she seemed disposed to be
+quiet for a while.
+
+The party could not last forever, pleasant as it was, and by the time
+his duties as "host" were met, Dabney was tired enough to go to bed and
+sleep soundly. His arms were lame and sore from the strain the ponies
+had given them, and that may have been the reason why he dreamed half
+the night that he was driving runaway teams and crashing over rickety
+old bridges.
+
+But why was it that every one of his dream-wagons, no matter who else
+was in it, seemed to have Jenny Walters and Annie Foster smiling at him
+from the back seat?
+
+He rose later than usual next morning, and the house was all in its
+customary order by the time he got down-stairs.
+
+Breakfast was ready also, and, by the time that was over, Dab's great
+new trunk was brought down-stairs by a couple of the farm-hands.
+
+"It's an hour yet to train-time," said Ham Morris; "but we might as well
+get ready. We must be on hand in time."
+
+What a long hour that was, and not even a chance given for Dab to run
+down and take a good-bye look at the "Swallow!"
+
+His mother and Ham and Miranda and the girls seemed to be all made up of
+"good-bye" that morning.
+
+"Mother," said Dab.
+
+"What is it, my dear boy?"
+
+"That's it exactly. If you say 'dear boy' again, Ham Morris 'll have to
+carry me to the cars. I'm all kind o' wilted now."
+
+Then they all laughed, and before they got through laughing, they all
+cried except Ham.
+
+He put his hands in his pockets and drew a long whistle.
+
+The ponies were at the door now. The light wagon had three seats in it,
+but when Dab's trunk was in, there was only room left for the ladies;
+Ham and Dab had to walk to the station.
+
+It was a short walk, however, and a silent one, but as they came in
+sight of the platform, Dab exclaimed:
+
+"There they are, all of them!"
+
+"The whole party?"
+
+"Why, the platform's as crowded as our house was last night."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters were already the center of the crowd of
+young people, and Ford Foster and Frank Harley, with Joe and Fuz Hart
+were asking what had become of Dab, for the train was in sight.
+
+A moment later, as the puffing locomotive drew up by the water-tank, the
+conductor stepped out on the platform, exclaiming:
+
+"Look a here, folks. This aint right. If there was going to be a picnic
+you'd ought to have sent word, and I'd have tacked on an extra car.
+You'll have to pack in, now, best you can."
+
+He seemed much relieved when he found how small a part of the crowd were
+to be his passengers.
+
+"Dab," said Ford, "this is your send-off, not ours. You'll have to make
+a speech."
+
+Dab did want to say something, but he had just kissed his sisters and
+his mother, and half a dozen of his school-girl friends had followed the
+example of Jenny Walters, and then Mrs. Foster had kissed him, and Ham
+Morris had shaken hands with him, and Dab could not have said a loud
+word to have saved his life.
+
+"Speech!" whispered Ford, mischievously, as Dab stepped upon the
+platform; but Dick Lee, who had just escaped from the tremendous hug his
+mother had given him, came to his friend's aid in the nick of time. Dick
+felt that "he must shout, or he should go off," as he afterward told the
+boys, and so at the top of his shrill voice he shouted:
+
+"Hurrah for Cap'n Kinzer! Dar aint no better feller lef' along shore!"
+
+And, amid a chorus of cheers and laughter, and a grand waving of white
+handkerchiefs, the engine gave a deep, hysterical cough, and hurried the
+train away.
+
+The two homesteads by the Long Island shore were a little lonely for a
+while, after the departure of all those noisy, merry young fellows. Mr.
+Foster had enough to do in the city, and Ham Morris had his farm to
+attend to, besides doing more than a little for Mrs. Kinzer. It was much
+the better for both estates that he had that notable manager at his
+elbow. The ladies, however, old and young, had plenty of time to come
+together and wonder how the boys were getting along, even before the
+arrival of the first batch of letters.
+
+"They must be happy," remarked kind Mrs. Foster, after the long, boyish
+epistles had been read, over and over; "and such good letters! Not one
+word of complaint of anything."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer assented somewhat thoughtfully. Dabney had not complained of
+anything; but while he had praised the village, the scenery, the
+academy, the boys, and had covered two full sheets of paper, he had not
+said a word about the table of his boarding-house.
+
+"He is such a growing boy," she said to herself. "I do hope they will
+give him enough to eat."
+
+It went on a good deal in that way, however, for weeks, even till the
+Fosters broke up their summer residence and returned to the city. There
+were plenty of letters, and all his sisters wondered where Dabney had
+learned to write so capitally; but Mrs. Kinzer's doubts were by no means
+removed until Ham Morris showed her a part of a curious epistle Dabney
+had sent to him in a moment of confidence.
+
+"I tell you what, Ham," he wrote, "mother doesn't know what can be done
+with corn. Mrs. Myers does. She raised a pile of it last year, and the
+things she makes with it would drive a cook-book crazy. I've been giving
+them Latin names, and Frank, he turns them into Hindustanee. It's real
+fun, but I sha'n't be the boy I was. I'm getting corned. My hair is
+silkier and my voice is husky. My ears are growing. I'd like some fish
+and clams for a change. A crab would taste wonderfully good. So would
+some oysters. They don't have any up here; but we went fishing, last
+Saturday, and got some perch and cat-fish and sun-fish. They call them
+pumpkin-seeds up here, and they aint much bigger. Don't tell mother we
+don't get enough to eat. There's plenty of it, and you ought to see Mrs.
+Myers smile when she passes the johnny-cake. We are all trying to learn
+that heavenly smile. Ford does it best. I think Dick Lee is getting a
+little pale. Perhaps corn doesn't agree with him. He's learning fast,
+though, and so am I; but we have to work harder than the rest. I guess
+the Hart boys know more than they did when they came here, and they
+didn't get it all out of their books, either. We keep up our French and
+our boxing; but oh, wouldn't I like to go for some blue-fish, just now!
+Has mother made any mince-pies yet? I've almost forgotten how they
+taste. I was going by a house here the other day and I smelt some ham,
+cooking. I was real glad I hadn't forgotten. I knew what it was right
+away. Don't you be afraid about my studying, for I'm at it all the
+while, except when we're playing ball or eating corn. They say they have
+sleighing here earlier than we do, and plenty of skating. Well, now,
+don't say anything to mother about the corn; but wont I eat when I get
+home.--Yours all the while. DABNEY KINZER."
+
+"Why, the poor fellow!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer, and it was not very many
+days after that before young Dabney received a couple of boxes by
+express.
+
+There was a boiled ham in the first one and a great many other things,
+and Dab called in all the other boys to help him get them out.
+
+"Mince-pies!" shouted Ford Foster. "How'd they ever travel so far?"
+
+"They're not much mashed," said Dabney. "There's enough there to start a
+small hotel. Now let's open the other."
+
+"Ice. Sawdust. Fish, I declare. Clams. Oysters. Crabs. There's a
+lobster. Ford, Frank, Dick, do you think we can eat those fellows?"
+
+"After they're cooked," said Ford.
+
+"Well, I s'pose we can; but I feel like shaking hands with 'em, all
+round. They're old friends and neighbors of mine, you know."
+
+"I guess we'd better eat 'em."
+
+"Cap'n Dab," remarked Dick Lee, "dey jest knocks all de correck
+pronounciation clean out of me."
+
+Eaten they were, however, and Mrs Myers was glad enough to have her
+boarders supply such a remarkable "variety" for her table, which, after
+that "hint," began to improve a little.
+
+And so we leave Dab Kinzer, still, in mind and body, as when first we
+saw him, a growing boy.
+
+
+
+
+WHERE?
+
+BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.
+
+
+  Where does the Winter stay?
+  With the little Esquimaux,
+  Where the frost and snow-flake grow?
+  Or where the white bergs first come out,
+  Where icicles make haste to sprout,
+  Where the winds and storms begin,
+  Gathering the crops all in,
+  Among the ice-fields, far away?
+
+  Where does the Summer stay?
+  In distant sunny places,
+  'Midst palms and dusky faces,
+  Where they spin the cocoa thread,
+  Where the generous trees drop bread,
+  Where the lemon-groves give alms,
+  And Nature works her daily charms,
+  Among the rice-fields, far away?
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+PARLOR MAGIC.
+
+_(Pleasing, Harmless, and Inexpensive Experiments, chiefly Chemical, for
+Young People.)_
+
+BY LEO H. GRINDON.
+
+
+This series of experiments is designed for the use of young people who
+are interested in the wonders and the beautiful realities of nature, and
+who delight to observe for themselves how curious are the phenomena
+revealed by scientific knowledge. Simple instructions are given for the
+performance of a number of pretty experiments, all of which are
+perfectly safe, and cost very little money. For "evenings at home," it
+is hoped that these experiments will be found indefinitely amusing and
+recreative, at the same time that they will lead the minds of boys and
+girls to inquiries into the entire fabric of the grand sciences which
+explains the principles on which they are founded. All the materials
+spoken of, and all the needful apparatus, which is of the simplest and
+most inexpensive kind, can be obtained at a good chemist's. It is of the
+highest importance that all the materials be pure and good.
+
+
+PARLOR SUNSHINE.
+
+Obtain a yard of "magnesium tape" or "magnesium wire," sold very cheap
+by most druggists. Cut a length of six or eight inches; bend one
+extremity so as to get a good hold of it with a pair of forceps, or even
+a pair of ordinary scissors, or attach it to the end of a stick or wire.
+Then hold the piece of magnesium vertically in a strong flame, such as
+that of a candle, and in a few seconds it will ignite, burning with the
+splendor of sunshine, and making night seem noonday. As the burning
+proceeds, a quantity of white powder is formed. This is pure magnesia.
+While performing this splendid experiment, the room should be darkened.
+
+
+CADAVEROUS FACES.
+
+This is an amusing contrast to the lighting-up by means of magnesium;
+Again let the room be nearly darkened. Put about a tea-cupful of spirits
+of wine in a strong common dish or saucer, and place the dish in the
+middle of the table. Let every one approach to the distance of about a
+yard. Then ignite the spirit with a match. It will burn with a peculiar
+yellowish-blue flame, and in the light of this the human countenances,
+and all objects of similar color, lose their natural tint, and look
+spectral. The contrast of the wan and ghostly hue with the smiling lips
+and white teeth of those who look on, is most amusing. The effect of
+this experiment is heightened by dissolving some common table-salt in
+the spirit, and still further by putting into it a small quantity of
+saffron. Let the spirit burn itself away.
+
+
+THE BREATH OF LIFE.
+
+[Illustration: THE BREATH OF LIFE.]
+
+Procure a tolerably large bell-glass, such as is used for covering
+clocks and ornaments upon the mantel-piece. It should not be less than
+eighteen inches high, and eight or nine inches in diameter. Provide also
+a common dish, sufficiently large to allow the bell-glass to stand well
+within its raised border. Then procure two little wax candles, three or
+four inches in length, and stand each in a little bottle or other
+temporary candlestick. Place them in the center of the dish and light
+the wicks. Then pour water into the dish to the depth of nearly an inch,
+and finish by placing the bell over the candles, which of course are
+then closely shut in. For a few minutes all goes on properly. The flames
+burn steadily, and seem to laugh at the idea of their being about to
+die. But, presently, they become faint,--first one, then the other; the
+luster and the size of the flames diminish rapidly, and then they go
+out. This is because the burning candles consumed all the oxygen that
+was contained within the volume of atmosphere that was in the bell, and
+were unable, on account of the water, to get new supplies from outside.
+It illustrates, in the most perfect manner, our own need of constant
+supplies of good fresh air. The experiment may be improved, or at all
+events varied, by using candles of different lengths.
+
+
+ROSE-COLOR PRODUCED FROM GREEN.
+
+Obtain a small quantity of roseine,--one of the wonderful products
+obtained from gas-tar, and employed extensively in producing what are
+called by manufacturers the "magenta colors." Roseine exists in the
+shape of minute crystals, resembling those of sugar. They are hard and
+dry, and of the most brilliant emerald green. Drop five or six of these
+little crystals into a large glass of limpid water. They will dissolve;
+but instead of giving a _green_ solution, the product is an exquisite
+crimson-rose color, the color seeming to trickle from the surface of the
+water downward. When the solution has proceeded for a short time, stir
+the water with a glass rod, and the uncolored portion of it will become
+carmine.
+
+
+SOME ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS.
+
+Take a piece of common brown paper, about a foot in length, and half as
+wide. Hold it before the fire till it becomes quite hot. Then draw it
+briskly under your left arm several times, so as to rub it on both
+surfaces against the woolen cloth of your coat. It will now have become
+so powerfully electrified, that if placed against the papered wall of
+the parlor, it will hold on for some time, supported, as it were, by
+nothing.
+
+While the piece of brown paper is thus so strangely clinging to the
+wall, place a small, light, and fleecy feather against it, and this, in
+turn, will cling to the paper.
+
+Now, again, make your piece of brown paper hot by the fire, and draw it,
+as before, several times under the arm. Previously to this, attach a
+string to one corner, so that it may be held up in the air. Several
+feathers, of a fleecy kind, may now be placed against each side of the
+paper, and they will cling to it for several minutes.
+
+Another curious electrical experiment is to take a pane of common glass,
+make it warm by the fire, then lay it upon two books, allowing only the
+edges to touch the books, and rub the upper surface with a piece of
+flannel, or a piece of black silk. Have some bran ready, strew it upon
+the table under the piece of glass, and the particles will dance.
+
+
+TO CUT A PHIAL IN HALF.
+
+Wind round it two bands of paper, corresponding in position to the two
+temperate zones of the earth, leaving a space between, corresponding to
+the equatorial zone. Secure the two bands of paper with thread or fine
+twine. Then wind a long piece of string once around the equatorial
+space. Let an assistant hold one end of the string, and while holding
+the other end yourself, move the phial rapidly to and fro, so that the
+string shall work upon the glass between the two pieces of paper. When
+the glass becomes hot in the equatorial space, pour some cold water upon
+it, and the glass will break as evenly as if cut with a knife.
+
+[Illustration: CUTTING THE PHIAL.]
+
+The principle involved in this curious experiment may be applied to the
+removal of a glass stopper, when too tight in the neck of the bottle for
+the fingers to stir it. All that is necessary is to wind a piece of
+thick string round the neck of the bottle, get an assistant to hold one
+end, and then work the bottle to and fro. The glass of the neck will
+become so warm as to expand, and the stopper will become loosened. It is
+often necessary to continue this friction for some minutes before the
+desired result is attained.
+
+
+THE INVISIBLE RENDERED VISIBLE.
+
+Place a coin in an empty basin, and let the basin be near the edge of
+the table. Ask one of the company to stand beside it, and to retire
+slowly backward until he or she can no longer see the coin. Then pour
+cold, clear water into the basin, and the person, who the moment before
+could not perceive the coin, now will see it quite plainly, though
+without moving a hair's breadth nearer.
+
+[Illustration: THE COIN INVISIBLE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE COIN VISIBLE.]
+
+
+LIGHT FROM SUGAR.
+
+In a dark room, rub smartly one against the other, a couple of lumps of
+white sugar, and light will be evolved. A similar effect is produced by
+rubbing two lumps of borate of soda one against the other.
+
+
+MINIATURE FIRE-SHIPS.
+
+Procure a good-sized lump of camphor. Cut it up into pieces of the size
+of a hazel-nut, and having a large dish filled with cold water in
+readiness, lay the pieces on the surface, where they will float. Then
+ignite each one of them with a match, and they will burn furiously,
+swimming about all the time that the burning is in progress, until at
+last nothing remains but a thin shell, too wet to be consumed.
+
+
+PURPLE AIR.
+
+Obtain an olive-oil flask, the glass of which must be colorless. In
+default of an oil-flask, a large test-tube may be employed. Put into it
+a small quantity of solid iodine (procurable at the chemist's and very
+cheap), then lightly stop the mouth of the flask or test-tube with some
+cotton-wool, but not hermetically, and hold it slantwise over the flame
+of a spirit-lamp. The heat will soon dissolve the iodine, which will
+next turn into a most beautiful violet-colored vapor, completely filling
+the glass, and disappearing again as the glass gets cold.
+
+
+THE TWO EGGS.
+
+Dissolve as much common table-salt in a pint of water as it will take
+up, so as to prepare a strong brine. With this brine half fill a tall
+glass. Then pour in pure water, very carefully. Pour it down the side,
+or put it in with the help of a spoon, so as to break the fall. The pure
+water will then float upon the top of the brine, yet no difference will
+be visible. Next, take another glass of exactly the same kind, and fill
+it with pure water. Now take a common egg, and put it into the vessel of
+pure water, when it will instantly sink to the bottom. Put another egg
+into the first glass, and it will not descend below the surface of the
+brine, seeming to be miraculously suspended in the middle. Of course the
+two glass vessels should be considerably wider than the egg is long.
+
+
+THE MAGIC APERTURE.
+
+Put several lighted candles upon the table, in a straight row and near
+together. Lay upon the table, in front of them, a large piece of smooth,
+white paper. Have ready a piece of pasteboard, large enough to conceal
+the candles, with a small hole cut in it above the middle. Place this so
+as to stand upon its edge between the row of candles and the sheet of
+paper in front, and there will be as many images of flames thrown
+through the hole and upon the paper as there are burning candles.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAGIC APERTURE.]
+
+
+GREEN FIRE.
+
+Obtain some boracic acid, mix it well with a small quantity of spirits
+of wine, or alcohol, place the alcohol in a saucer upon a dish, and then
+ignite it with a match. The flame will be a beautiful green. To see the
+color to perfection, of course, the room should be somewhat darkened.
+
+A green flame may also be produced by using chloride of copper instead
+of boracic acid. And instead of mixing it with the alcohol, a small
+quantity may be imbedded in the wick of a candle.
+
+
+A BEAUTIFUL IMITATION OF HOAR FROST.
+
+Obtain a large bell-glass, with a short neck and cork at the top, such
+as may be seen in the chemists' shops. Then procure a small quantity of
+benzoic acid, which exists in the shape of snowy crystals. Elevate the
+bell-glass upon a little stage made of books or pieces of wood, so as to
+allow a spirit-lamp to be introduced underneath, and a little
+evaporating dish to be held above the flame by means of a ring of wire
+with suitable handle. Place the benzoic acid in the evaporating dish,
+over the flame, and presently the acid will ascend in vapor and fill the
+bell, which must not be quite closed at the top. Before setting up the
+apparatus, introduce into the bell a small branch of foliage, which may
+be hung by a thread from the neck of the bell. The stiffer and more
+delicate this branch, the better. In a short time, it will become
+covered with a soft white deposit of the acid, very closely resembling
+hoar-frost. This makes an extremely pretty ornament for the parlor.
+
+[Illustration: IMITATING HOAR-FROST.]
+
+
+TO BOIL WATER WITHOUT FIRE.
+
+Half fill a common oil-flask with water, and boil it for a few minutes
+over the flame of a spirit-lamp. While boiling, cork up the mouth of the
+flask as quickly as you can, and tie a bit of wet bladder over the cork,
+so as to exclude the air perfectly. The flask being now removed from the
+lamp, the boiling ceases. Pour some cold water upon the upper portion of
+the flask, and the ebullition recommences! Apply hot water, and it
+stops! And thus you may go on as long as you please.
+
+
+TO CONVERT A LIQUID INTO A SOLID.
+
+Dissolve about half a pound of sulphate of soda in a pint of boiling
+water, and after it has stood a few minutes to settle, pour it off into
+a clean glass vessel. Pour a little sweet oil upon the surface, and put
+it to stand where it can get cold, and where no one will touch it. When
+cold, put in a stick, and the fluid, previously clear, will at once
+become opaque, and begin to crystallize, until at length there is a
+solid crystalline mass.
+
+
+ICE ON FIRE.
+
+Make a hole in a block of ice with a hot poker. Pour out the water, and
+fill up the cavity with camphorated spirits of wine. Then ignite the
+spirit with a match, and the lump of ice will seem to be in flames.
+
+
+EXPERIMENTS REQUIRING CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS.
+
+To prepare these solutions, purchase of a druggist a small quantity of
+the solid crystals of the substance needed for the experiment you wish
+to try. Dissolve the crystals in clear pure water, and keep the solution
+in a little bottle, labeled with the name. It is seldom that the
+solutions need be strong. When the crystal is a colored one, enough
+should be used to give the water a light tint, blue, yellow, or what it
+may be. None of these solutions will do any harm to the hands, unless
+there is a cut or a wound of any kind upon the skin. It is well also,
+not to let a drop of any of them fall upon the clothes, or upon
+furniture, for some of them will stain. And none of them should ever be
+tasted, or touched by the lips or tongue, many of them being acrid and
+even poisonous.
+
+With the acids still greater care is needed, the stronger acids being
+corrosive and poisonous. The greater portion of these substances must
+likewise not be smelled, as the fumes or vapors would affect the
+nostrils painfully.
+
+For the proper performance of these experiments with solutions,
+etc.,--at all events for the neatest and most elegant performance of
+them,--there should be obtained from the chemist's shop about a dozen
+test-tubes. These are little glass vessels, manufactured on purpose, and
+very cheap. Do not take glasses that may afterward be used for drinking
+or household purposes. Be careful to have every one of your experiment
+glasses perfectly clean.
+
+
+_To produce a Beautiful Violet-Purple Color._
+
+Take a nearly colorless solution of any salt of copper. The sulphate
+is the cheapest and handiest. Fill the test-tube or other
+experimenting-glass about two-thirds full. Then drop in, slowly, a
+little liquid ammonia. It will cause a beautiful blue to appear, and
+presently a most lovely violet-purple, which, by stirring with a glass
+rod, extends all through the fluid.
+
+If now you drop into this a very little nitric acid, the fluid will
+again become as clear as pure water.
+
+
+_To Make a Splendid Scarlet._
+
+Again take some solution of sulphate of copper. Add to it a little
+solution of bichromate of potash. Then add a little solution of nitrate
+of silver, and there is produced a splendid scarlet color.
+
+
+_To Make a Deep Blue._
+
+Now, take a nearly colorless solution of sulphate of iron, and drop into
+it, slowly, a small quantity of solution of yellow prussiate of potash.
+This will induce a beautiful deep blue, quite different from the blues
+that are produced from copper salts.
+
+
+_To Make a Yellow Color._
+
+Take a solution of acetate of lead, and add a few drops of solution of
+iodide of potassium, and a most lovely canary-yellow color is produced.
+
+
+_Invisible Inks._
+
+Nearly all those experiments which result in the production of color may
+be performed in another way, and be then applied to the purposes of
+secret writing. Thus:
+
+Write with dilute solution of sulphate of copper. The writing will be
+quite invisible, but become blue when held over the vapor of liquid
+ammonia.
+
+Write with the same solution, and wash the paper with solution of yellow
+prussiate of potash, and the writing, previously invisible, will become
+brown. If you choose you may reverse this method, writing with solution
+of the prussiate of potash, and washing the paper with solution of the
+copper salt.
+
+Write with solution of sulphate of iron, and the writing will again be
+invisible. Wash it over with tincture of galls, and it becomes black.
+
+Write with sulphate of iron, and use a wash of yellow prussiate of
+potash, and the writing will come out blue. This experiment may likewise
+be reversed, and with similar result.
+
+
+_How to Copper a Knife-Blade._
+
+Make a rather strong solution of sulphate of copper. Let a clean and
+polished piece of steel or iron, such as the blade of a knife, stand in
+it for a few minutes, and the iron will become covered or encrusted with
+a deposit of pure copper.
+
+
+_To Make Beautiful Crystals._
+
+Dissolve, in different vessels, half an ounce each of the sulphates of
+iron, zinc, copper, soda, alumina, magnesia, and potash. The solutions
+can be made more rapidly by using warm water. When the salts are all
+completely dissolved, pour the whole seven solutions into a large dish,
+stir the mixture with a glass rod, then place it in a warm place, where
+it will not be disturbed. By degrees, the water will evaporate, and then
+the salts will re-crystallize, each kind preserving its own proper form
+and color. Some occur in groups, some as single crystals. If carefully
+protected from dust, these form extremely pretty ornaments for the
+parlor.
+
+
+_Alum Baskets._
+
+These may be prepared by dissolving alum in water in such quantity that
+at last the water can take up no more, and the undissolved alum lies at
+the bottom of the vessel. The solution thus obtained is called a
+saturated one. Then procure a common ornamental wire basket, and suspend
+it in the solution, so as to be well covered in every part. There should
+be twice as much solution as will cover the basket. The wires of the
+basket should be wound with worsted, so that the surface may be rough.
+Leave it undisturbed in the solution, and gradually the crystals will
+form all over the surface. Before putting in the basket, it is best to
+further strengthen the solution by boiling it down to one half, after
+which it should be strained.
+
+
+_The Lead-Tree._
+
+Dissolve half an ounce of acetate of lead in six ounces of water. The
+solution will be turbid, so clarify it with a few drops of acetic acid.
+Now put the solution into a clean phial, nearly filling the phial.
+Suspend in the solution, by means of a thread attached to the cork, a
+piece of clean zinc wire. By degrees, the wire will become covered with
+beautiful metallic spangles, like the foliage of a tree.
+
+
+
+
+UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS.
+
+PAR LAURA CAXTON.
+
+
+[Illustration: A--ANNETTE A UN TR�S JOLI PETIT AGNEAU]
+
+[Illustration: B--BAPTISTE A UNE PAIRE DE GRANDES BOTTES]
+
+[Illustration: C--C�CILE EST CHARM�E DE FAIRE ROULER SON CERCEAU.]
+
+[Illustration: D--DENIS PLEURE PARCEQU'IL A MAL AUX DENTS.]
+
+[Illustration: E--�DOUARD VA GAIEMENT � L'�COLE, AVEC SES LIVRES.]
+
+[Illustration: F--FANCHON FAIT UNE CRAVATE POUR SON FR�RE.]
+
+[Illustration: G--GABRIELLE A �T� GROND�E PAR SON GRAND-P�RE.]
+
+[Illustration: H--HENRI VA PATINER SUR LA GLACE PENDANT L'HIVER.]
+
+[Illustration: I--ISABELLE EST UNE PAUVRE PETITE INVALIDE.]
+
+[Illustration: J--JACQUES S'AMUSE TOUTE LA JOURN�E AVEC SES JOUJOUX.]
+
+[Illustration: K--K EST LA LETTRE QUE JEAN TIENT SOUS LA MAIN.]
+
+[Illustration: L--LOUISE DONNE DES L�GUMES A SES PETITS LAPINS.]
+
+[Illustration: M--MARIE A DES MARGUERITES POUR SA CH�RE MAMAN.]
+
+[Illustration: N--NARCISSE A TROUV� DES OISEAUX DANS UN NID.]
+
+[Illustration: O--OLIVIER, AVEC SON PARAPLUIE, N'A PAS PEUR DE L'ORAGE.]
+
+[Illustration: P--PAULINE A BEAUCOUP DE PLAISIR AVEC SA PETITE POUP�E.]
+
+[Illustration: Q--QUENTIN AIME � JOUER AUX QUILLES DE BOIS.]
+
+[Illustration: R--ROLAND REMPLIT UN POT POUR Y PLANTER SON ROSIER.]
+
+[Illustration: S--SUSETTE A UN MORCEAU DE SUCRE POUR SON SERIN.]
+
+[Illustration: T--TH�RESE EST TRISTE PARCEQUE SON TABLIER EST SALE.]
+
+[Illustration: U--URBAIN A LE DRAPEAU DES �TATS-UNIS.]
+
+[Illustration: V--VIRGINIE ARROSE SES VIOLETTES CHAQUE MATIN ET CHAQUE
+SOIR.]
+
+[Illustration: W--WINIFRED EST AM�RICAINE, ELLE N'EST PAS UNE PETITE
+FRAN�AISE.]
+
+[Illustration: X--X�NOPHON EST LE G�N�RAL RENOMM� � QUI PAUL CROIT
+RESSEMBLER.]
+
+[Illustration: Y--Y A-T-IL UNE AUTRE PETITE FILLE DE SI JOLIS YEUX?]
+
+[Illustration: Z--Z�NOBIE SAIT COMPTER D'UN JUSQU'� Z�RO.]
+
+
+
+
+A FAIR EXCHANGE.
+
+BY MRS. M. F. BUTTS.
+
+
+  "Oh, Willow, where did you get your fringe,
+    In New York or in Paris?
+  Tell me, and I will get some too,
+    Because I am an heiress;
+  And I buy me everything I want;
+    I have a ring and a feather;
+  I promenade in my white kid boots
+    Each day in pleasant weather."
+
+  "Oh, little one, where did you get the pink,
+    In your pretty, round cheek glowing?
+  And where did you get the yellow curls,
+    Over your shoulders flowing?
+  Perhaps you can tell me how they are made;
+    If you think so, darling, try it;
+  And when you succeed, I'll tell you about
+    My fringe, and where to buy it."
+
+
+
+
+HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE.
+
+(_A Geometrical Jingle._)
+
+BY ROSSITER JOHNSON.
+
+
+  Teddy, Jimmy, Frank, and I
+  Fished all day for smallest fry,
+  And as evening shades drew nigh,
+  Stopped to see if we could buy,
+  At a road-side groce-ry,
+  Anything they called a pie.
+
+  There was one, and only one,
+  Deeply filled and brownly done,
+  Warm from standing in the sun,
+  Flanked on each side by a bun,
+  Since that summer day begun.
+
+  From the window it was brought,
+  With our pennies it was bought;
+  Then a knife was quickly sought--
+  Who would cut it as he ought?
+
+  "Leave it all," says Ted, "to me,"
+  As the knife he flourished free;
+  "I have cut a great ma-ny."
+
+  "But," says Frank, who feared our fate,
+  "Will you cut it fair and straight?"
+  "Straight?" says Ted. "I'll tell you what--
+  Straighter than a rifle-shot:
+  Straighter than the eagle's flight.
+  Straight as any ray of light."
+
+  "I will mark the place," says Jim--
+  Great exactness was his whim--
+  And he measured, on the rim,
+  Starting-points, as guides for him.
+
+  Ted put in the knife with glee;
+  First he cut from A to B!
+  Then he cut from C to D!!
+  Then he took the piece marked E!!!
+
+  Every cut was straight, he said,--
+  He would bet his curly head.
+  Such a perfect, born-and-bred
+  Geometric rogue was Ted.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+"CHAIRS TO MEND!"
+
+BY ALEXANDER WAINWRIGHT.
+
+
+The art of doing small things well has a good illustration in the humble
+chair-mender of the London streets, who is also one of the most
+interesting of out-door tradesmen.
+
+He carries all his implements and materials with him. A very much worn
+chair is thrown over one arm as an advertisement of his occupation, and
+it is needed, for his cry, "Cha-ir-s to men-n-nd," is uttered in a
+melancholy and indistinct, though penetrating, tone. Under the other arm
+he usually has a bundle of cane, split into narrow ribbons.
+
+His look is that of forlorn respectability; his hat is greasy, and
+mapped with so many veins, caused by crushings, that it might have been
+used as a chair or, at least, a foot-stool; around his neck he wears a
+heavy cloth kerchief, and his long coat of by-gone fashion reaches
+nearly to the ankles, which are covered by shabby gaiters. He walks
+along at a very gentle pace and scans the windows of the houses for some
+sign that his services are wanted.
+
+[Illustration: "CHAIRS TO MEND!"]
+
+Perhaps business is dull, but in the neighborhoods where there are
+plenty of children he is pretty sure to find some work. Cane-seated
+chairs are durable, but they will not stand the rough usage of those
+little boys and girls who treat them as step-ladders and stamp upon
+them. It often happens that a neat English house-maid appears at the
+area railings with a chair that has a big, ragged hole in the seat,
+through which Master Tommy has fallen, with his boots on, in an effort
+to reach the gooseberry jam on the pantry shelf.
+
+Master Tommy probably looks on while the repairs are being made, and is
+much interested by the dexterity with which the mender does his work.
+The old and broken canes are cut away, and the new strips are woven into
+a firm fabric, with little eight-sided openings left in it. The
+overlapping ends of the ribbons are trimmed with a sharp knife, and the
+chair-seat is as good as new.
+
+It seems so easy that Tommy thinks he could have done it himself; but
+when he experiments with a slip of cane that the mender gives him, he
+finds that chair-mending is really a trade that must be learned.
+
+Some chair-menders are blind men, and it is still more interesting to
+watch them at their work. The plaiting of the canes is done as
+unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with
+wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of
+basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we
+might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with
+the same cleverness the father shows in handling the canes.
+
+
+
+
+TWO KITTIES.
+
+BY JOY ALLISON.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  Two little kitties
+    Wandered away
+  Into the prairie
+    One summer day.
+  One on two feet,
+    Rosy and fair,
+  Almost a baby,--
+    "Golden Hair."
+
+  Four feet,--useless,
+    Eyes fast closed,
+  Borne in a basket
+    The other dozed.
+  Searching in terror
+    Far and wide,
+  "Golden Hair's" mother
+    Moaned and cried.
+
+  Mother Puss calmly
+    Following slow,
+  Listening,--calling
+    Meoh!--Meoh!--
+  Mother Puss found them,
+    A little heap,
+  Down in the deep grass
+    Fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+"HARE AND HOUNDS."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  "What shall we do?" the children said,
+  By the spirit of frolic and mischief led,
+  Frank and Lulu and Carrie, three
+  As full of nonsense as they could be;
+  Who never were known any fun to stop
+  Until they were just about ready to drop.
+
+  Frank, whose "knowledge-box" surely abounds
+  With games, spoke up for "Hare and Hounds."
+  "Down the cellar, or up the stair,
+  Here and there, and everywhere,
+  You must follow, for I'm the Hare!"
+  Lulu and Carrie gave quick consent,
+  And at cutting their papers and capers went,
+  For the stairs were steep, and they must not fail
+  To have enough for a good long trail.
+          Away went the Hare
+          Right up the stair,
+  And away went the Hounds, a laughing pair;
+          And Tony, who sat
+          Near Kitty, the cat,
+  And was really a dog worth looking at,
+          With a queer grimace
+          Soon joined the race,
+  And followed the game at a lively pace!
+          Then Puss, who knew
+          A thing or two,
+  Prepared to follow the noisy crew,
+  And never before or since, I ween,
+  Was ever beheld such a hunting scene!
+  The Hare was swift; and the papers went
+  This way and that, to confuse the scent;
+  But Tony, keeping his nose in air,
+  In a very few moments betrayed the Hare,
+  Which the children told him was hardly fair.
+
+  I cannot tell you how long they played,
+  Of the fun they had, or the noise they made;
+  For the best of things in this world, I think,
+  Can ne'er be written with pen and ink.
+  But Bridget, who went on her daily rounds,
+  Picking up after the "Hare and Hounds,"
+  Said she didn't mind hearing their lively capers,
+  But her back was broke with the scraps o' papers.
+
+  Carrie, next day, couldn't raise her head;
+  Frank and Lulu were sick in bed;
+  The dog and cat were a used-up pair,
+  And all of them needed the doctor's care.
+  The children themselves can hardly fail
+  To tack a moral upon this trail;
+  And I guess on rather more level grounds
+  They'll play their next game of "Hare and Hounds."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.
+
+
+So, here's October come again. Another pleasant year gone by, another
+lot of sermons done, and nobody the worse! Dear, dear, how time does fly
+in cheerful company, to be sure!
+
+Well, my dears, keep a bright lookout for the new volume, and, meantime,
+don't open your eyes too wide while I bring to your notice
+
+
+THE LARGEST MAN.
+
+    Albany, N.Y.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Perhaps some of your other boys, who, like
+    myself, wish to grow big and strong, would like to hear about the
+    largest human being ever known,--Goliath of Gath,--a person almost
+    large enough to need introduction by installments, but he is so well
+    known that the ceremony is needless.
+
+    As nearly as I can make out, he was between ten and eleven feet
+    high. When he went to battle he wore a coat-of-mail weighing one
+    hundred and fifty-six pounds,--as heavy as a good-sized man; and the
+    rest of his armor amounted to at least one hundred and fifteen
+    pounds more. The head of his spear weighed eighteen pounds,--as
+    heavy as six three-pound cans of preserved fruit,--and this he
+    carried at the end of a long and heavy shaft!
+
+    Think what might happen if a man equally big and strong should live
+    among us now, and insist on taking part in our games and sports? If
+    he joined a boat-club, a curious six-oared crew could be made up,
+    with him at one side and five other men opposite. And just imagine
+    him "booming along" on a velocipede! If he joined the champion Nine,
+    and hit a ball, where would that ball go to? If he called for a
+    "shoulder-high" ball, wouldn't the catcher have to climb a
+    step-ladder to catch behind the giant? And if he threw a ball to a
+    base-man, wouldn't he be apt to throw it clean through him?
+
+    Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are interesting
+    all the same, to yours sincerely,
+
+    R.V.D.
+
+
+CATCHING BIRDS ON THE WING.
+
+As if a man could ever hope to do that, or even to do so much as fly!
+And yet, word has already come to me of a man who has made a machine
+with which he actually has flown, up, down, with the wind, against the
+wind, and, in fact, any way he wished!
+
+The particular machine he used looked, I'm told, rather like a big
+bolster-case blown full of air, and with a light frame-work of hollow
+brass tubes strapped to it underneath. In this frame-work was a seat for
+the man, and near him were two circular fans, which he turned round very
+fast indeed; one of the fans made the machine fly backward or forward,
+and the other made it go up or down, as he liked.
+
+Now, this certainly seems to be a step ahead, or, rather, a flap upward;
+but you needn't expect to be chasing and catching eagles and albatrosses
+on the wing by dropping salt on their tails; at least, not just yet, my
+dears. The time for that sort of fun may come, perhaps; but it would be
+well not to crow too loudly at present.
+
+
+THE BEE AND THE ANEMONE.
+
+    Des Moines, Iowa.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: The bee you told us of in your August
+    sermon did not mistake the anemone for a flower. At least, _I_ think
+    not. No bee ever makes such a mistake as to settle on a poisonous
+    flower, and I believe that this bee went to the anemone for water
+    and not for honey. Bees will settle on pieces of straw afloat in the
+    water, when seeking for water, and I believe they know, even while
+    on the wing, where to find honey. Good-bye.--Your friend. N.E.H.
+
+
+FRANGIPANI SCENT AND PUDDINGS.
+
+"Let's begin with the puddings, and make sure of _them_," as a little
+boy once remarked. Well, then, in former times, Frangipani puddings were
+of broken bread, and their queer name is made from two words,--_frangi_,
+meaning "to break," and _panus_, "bread"; but, after some time, these
+puddings were made with pastry-crust and contained cream and almonds.
+
+Frangipani scent, however, was named after a great marquis who first
+made it, getting it from the jasmine plant. And the marquis got _his_
+name from an ancestor whose duty it had been to break the holy bread or
+wafer in one of the church services, and who on that account was called
+"Frangipani," or "Breaker of Bread."
+
+Now, this way of explaining how words come to be formed, sounds well
+enough, no doubt. But how are we to know, in this case, that the marquis
+didn't invent the pudding as well as the scent? However, I must leave
+you to puzzle out the problem for yourselves, my dears, while I give you
+some information about
+
+
+A SEALED POSTMAN.
+
+You've all heard of sealed letters, of course, and seen some, too, no
+doubt; but did you ever hear of the letter-carrier, also, being sealed?
+Well, a bit of news has come saying that, among the Himalaya Mountains,
+the men who carry the mails on horseback are sealed to their saddles, in
+such a way that while they can ride easily enough they cannot get down
+from their seats; and, what is more, the mail-packages are sealed to the
+men! Once started on the route, the seals are not allowed to be broken,
+except by the postmaster at the next station, and, if they happen to get
+broken otherwise than by accident, the carrier is severely punished.
+
+The result of this sealing is that a mail-carrier who wishes to steal
+the letters in his charge is obliged to steal also the saddle and
+horse,--and himself as well, I suppose.
+
+Nice places these carriers have to ride through, at times! Why, in some
+parts, the road is so steep that, in going down, the rider is kept
+upright by a rope passed under his arms and held in the hands of two men
+who are above him on the mountain. If it were not for this, the rider
+would fall over the head of his horse, or else cause the horse itself to
+go over head first.
+
+Altogether, the postmen of the Himalayas must have a hard time of it.
+
+
+WIND-HARPS.
+
+    East Saginaw, Mich.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Please will you or any of your "chicks"
+    tell me how to make a wind-harp, or Eolian harp?
+
+    Your friend, MINNIE WARNER.
+
+
+Time and again have I heard tell of wind-harps and the sweet music the
+wind coaxes out of them. The sighing and singing of the breezes through
+the tree-tops must be something like it, no doubt. But I never heard a
+wind-harp's song, and of course don't know how to make one. Perhaps,
+some of you know, however, and if so I shall be obliged if you will send
+me word, so that I can pass it on to Minnie and the rest of my chicks.
+
+
+"THE JOY OF THE DESERT."
+
+In Africa is a vast, dreary waste, called the Desert of Sahara. In
+widely scattered spots of this desert there grows a tree that sends its
+roots down to springs far beneath the parched ground. Sometimes these
+springs are so far down that the trees are planted in deep holes,
+something like wells, so that the roots may reach water. Hardly anything
+except this tree can grow in that desert.
+
+The fruit of the tree is delicious food; the long trunk makes poles for
+tents; the leaf-stalks make many kinds of basket and wicker work,
+walking-sticks and fans; the leaves themselves are made into bags and
+mats; and the fibers at the base of the leaf-stalks are twisted into
+cordage for tents and harness. The sap of the tree, drawn from a deep
+cut in the trunk near the top, after standing a few days, becomes a
+sweet and pleasant liquor. Cakes of the fruit pounded and kneaded
+together "so solid as to be cut with a hatchet," are carried by
+travelers going across the terrible desert.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Besides all this, trees of this kind, planted in groups, cast a shade
+which keeps the ground moist, so that other fruit-trees can live beneath
+them.
+
+When the tree is about one hundred years old, it ceases to bear fruit,
+and is cut down for timber; but in its long life it has made its owner
+rich and a great many people comfortable.
+
+The paragram which told me all this said, further, that this tree is the
+date-palm, and is called "The Joy of the Desert." Well may it be so
+called, I should think; though once I heard some of the children of the
+red school-house say they hated "dates." Perhaps they meant "dates" of
+some other kind.
+
+
+BABIES IN BOOTS.
+
+Where do you suppose Tartar mothers carry their little children?
+
+Not on their shoulders, nor on their hips, nor in their arms, nor at
+their backs, nor on their heads.
+
+Well, I'm told they carry them in their boots! These are made of cloth,
+and each is large enough to hold a child five years old!
+
+
+ROOK COURTS AND BLACKBIRD POWWOWS.
+
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: In England, where I come from, I have seen
+    meetings of vast numbers of birds, though never as many of such
+    different kinds as those named by Z.R.B. in the letter which you
+    gave us in July. Sometimes, a great number of rooks gather in a
+    ring, and in the center of it is one lonely, dejected-looking rook,
+    who holds his head down in silence. The other rooks seem to hold a
+    consultation, chattering and cawing back and forth, sometimes one
+    alone and sometimes all together, until they seem to decide what to
+    do.
+
+    Then three or four old, solemn-looking rooks fly upon the lonely one
+    and put him to death, as if he had been found guilty of some
+    dreadful crime.
+
+    In this country, during spring, the blackbirds meet almost daily in
+    the tops of high trees, especially elms and locusts, and there they
+    chatter by the hour. Sometimes a few will fly off, angrily, with
+    quick, sharp notes, to some tree a little way off. After a while,
+    two or three more birds will join them from the large body. Then,
+    perhaps, some of them will go back as "peace commissioners," and
+    after a few more flights back and forth, and endless chatter, the
+    little party may return to the main body; or, increasing in number,
+    may form a second crowd as noisy as the first.
+
+    No doubt you have heard and seen many such powwows, dear Jack. Long
+    may you live to watch the birds and repeat to us their wisdom!
+    Truly your friend,
+
+    C.B.M.
+
+
+AN INTERVAL NOT ON THE PROGRAMME.
+
+I'm told that at Pompeii, Italy, in the year 79, a play was being acted
+in one of the theaters, when a storm of cinders fell, buried the whole
+city, and, of course, put a stop to the play, which has never been
+completed. A few months ago, however, an operatic manager named Languri
+made up his mind to have a new theater just where the old one stood; so,
+he printed in the Italian newspapers a notice that ran something like
+this:
+
+    "After a lapse of eighteen hundred years, the theater of Pompeii
+    will be re-opened, with the opera of 'La Figlia del Reggimento.' I
+    ask the continuation of the favor shown to my predecessor, Marcus
+    Quintus Martius, and beg to assure the public that I shall make
+    every effort to equal the rare qualities he displayed during his
+    management."
+
+If only Marcus Quintus Martius and his actors, and musicians, and the
+ancient audience, could have been at that re-opening of their
+long-buried theater, how they would have stared!
+
+
+
+
+THE LETTER-BOX.
+
+
+Our older boys and girls will find in this number an excellent article
+on "Parlor Magic," in which they are told, by Professor Leo Grindon, one
+of the Faculty of the Royal School of Chemistry in Manchester, England,
+how to perform some very interesting, and in some cases, quite
+astonishing experiments in chemistry, optics, etc. Some of our readers
+may be familiar with a few of these experiments, but the majority of
+them will be found novel to nearly all young people. Occasionally, there
+are materials or ingredients called for, which are somewhat expensive,
+and some of the experiments require a good deal of time and patience.
+But these are the exceptions, for nearly all the experiments described
+in the article can be performed by any careful and intelligent boy or
+girl of fourteen or fifteen, in a short time and at a very small cost.
+
+Of course, in getting up a little "Parlor Magic Entertainment" it will
+not be necessary to try all the experiments described. Choose such as
+you think you can perform without fail, and which will be likely to
+interest the company you expect. Be careful not to try to do too many
+things in one evening, and, if possible, make each experiment in
+private, before you attempt to show your friends how it is done. This
+will not be necessary in every case, but if you make an experiment, for
+the first time, before company, be sure that you know exactly what you
+are going to do and how it ought to be done.
+
+One more thing, the most important of all, we would impress on the mind
+of every reader of ST. NICHOLAS who tries any of these experiments, and
+that is the necessity for great care in handling and disposing of the
+chemical ingredients which may be used. Some of these, although
+perfectly harmless, when used as directed, are very injurious, if
+tasted, or even smelt very closely; and although the performer may
+himself be very prudent and careful with his materials and apparatus, he
+must not give the slightest opportunity to young children, or indeed any
+one who has not studied up the subject, to handle his chemicals.
+
+With careful attention to the directions given in the article, a
+pleasant evening entertainment may easily be had, and if an occasional
+failure should take place, both the performer and the company should
+remember that an _experiment_ is only a trial, and cannot be expected
+always to succeed.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I went over to my uncle's one Saturday lately, to
+    tea, and had baked beans. He never eats vinegar on them, excepting
+    some made in January, 1851, when 40 gallons were frozen in 53 quart
+    bottles. He told me there was no other such vinegar in the United
+    States, and if I could hear of any one who has some prepared like
+    it, and as old, he would give me as handsome a doll as I wanted. My
+    object is to ask you to please publish my letter, and I may receive
+    the doll, which I want very much, and oblige, with many thanks, one
+    of your subscribers.
+
+    L.D.H.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    London, England.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We are traveling in Europe for a short time, and
+    I thought, perhaps, you might like to hear a short account of our
+    journey. First, we went to Chester, one of the oldest cities in
+    England. It is inclosed by a wall two miles around, which was built
+    1800 years ago. The "Rows" of Chester are very strange and
+    interesting. They are rows of stores in the second stories of
+    houses--with a sidewalk in front, supported by pillars and covered
+    overhead. One may walk out on a rainy day and do a great variety of
+    shopping without being at all exposed to the weather. The sidewalks
+    below these rows, and on a level with the middle of the street are
+    dingy and shabby, lined with forlorn looking little places inhabited
+    by the poorer class.
+
+    There is an old house standing in an alley, in the garret of which
+    one of the earls of Derby was hidden for three months.
+
+    A small part of an old church, which was built 200 A. D., still
+    stands, and is one of the curiosities. There is also a tower where
+    King Charles II stood and saw his army defeated, only, that was
+    before he became king. Next we went to Stratford-on-Avon, where we
+    saw Shakespeare's house, and I sat in his chair.
+
+    We lunched at the Red Horse Inn, in the room which Washington Irving
+    had when he was there. I also sat in his chair. In the afternoon we
+    went to Shakespeare's other house and gardens. He had two homes, but
+    he only lived in one until he was seventeen years old.
+
+    We are now in London, and have been to see a few of the principal
+    places. Westminster Abbey is one of the great sights. We saw a
+    sitting figure of a duchess who died from the effects of lock-jaw,
+    caused by pricking her finger with a needle, while at needle work on
+    Sunday.
+
+    We also saw St. Paul's Cathedral, where there is a whispering
+    gallery, so called, because, if you whisper on one side of the
+    gallery, it may be heard on the other side as distinctly as if you
+    were over there.
+
+    The South Kensington Museum contains a great many curiosities, and
+    some of the things which Doctor Schliemann has dug up.
+
+    The National Art Gallery contains a great many beautiful pictures,
+    and one room is devoted to Turner's paintings.
+
+    We have also been to see the Tower, where the little princes were
+    murdered; they do not take you into the room where they stayed; but
+    ST. NICHOLAS gave us a fine picture of that in January of 1874. We
+    shall start for Paris soon.--From your little friend,
+
+    MAMIE CHARLES.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+"MOTHER." Unpainted, strong and really amusing playthings, such as you
+inquire for, are to be found, we think, in almost any large toy-store.
+Animals, wagons, and various amusing things cut out of plain wood,
+abound nowadays, and they can be sent you by express from your nearest
+town. In our experience, however, we have found building blocks of most
+lasting interest to the little folks. Crandall's are the best, for they
+admit of an endless variety of combination.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Washington, D. C.
+
+    MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have a little sister, named Josie, who is
+    six years old. She can read only a little, and she does not like to
+    do it at all. She has plenty of toys, and a nice baby-house, but
+    often she gets tired of playing and then comes to me to know what to
+    do.
+
+    Now, I want to know if you cannot tell me something for her to do
+    that will keep her quiet? I have another sister who is nine years
+    old, but no brother.--Your loving reader,
+
+    ANITA R. NEWCOMB.
+
+Anita may find a satisfactory hint in the answer to "Mother" given
+above. Also, the Kinder Garten games that are now used in many schools
+for very little folks may be of service to Josie.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    London, Eng.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have just arrived in England. When we were
+    fairly out at sea, the first thing I did was to explore the great
+    ship. It was four hundred feet long, made entirely of iron, and sank
+    twenty feet deep in the water. The masts were of hollow iron, and
+    seventy feet high. It took nine furnaces and forty tons of coal a
+    day to keep the ship going. The crew numbered a hundred and
+    thirty-five. It seems very wonderful that a great heavy iron ship
+    should not sink; the reason it does not is that it is lighter than
+    the water it displaces.
+
+    When we were a few days out, a flock of land-birds rested on our
+    ship. We fed them with crumbs, and brought dishes of fresh water on
+    deck for them, but after a day or two they disappeared. A little
+    further on, a hawk alighted on the vessel, and one of the sailors
+    caught it when it was asleep.
+
+    To find out how fast we were going, the sailors threw the "log,"
+    which was no log at all, but a long thin rope with a small
+    three-cornered canvas bag at one end. They throw out the bag, and it
+    catches in the water and keeps the end of the rope steady. The rope
+    runs out as the ship goes. One sailor stands with a time-glass,
+    which holds as much sand as will fall in one minute from one half of
+    it into the other. The glass is turned just when a certain mark on
+    the rope passes over the rail, and, when all the sand has run, the
+    rope is stopped. As the rope has lengths marked on it by bits of
+    colored cloth, the sailors can tell how far the ship has gone in one
+    minute, and can roughly calculate from that its rate of speed by the
+    hour. Formerly a real log of wood was used instead of the bag.
+
+    The greatest event of the voyage was seeing a school of whales.
+    There were dozens of them spouting and showing their backs above
+    water. Another exciting thing was meeting a ship so near that we
+    could salute it, which is done by hoisting and then lowering the
+    flag once or twice. Ships have flags of different kinds, and each
+    has its own meaning. So by hoisting certain flags, the captains of
+    distant ships can exchange news.
+
+    When nearing the Irish coast, a dense fog settled upon us, so that
+    we could hardly see from one end of the ship to the other. All day
+    and all night the great fog-whistle was kept blowing to warn other
+    vessels that might be in our neighborhood. To see a light house or
+    landmark was impossible, but the captain found out where we were by
+    soundings. Every ship has a long piece of lead with a hole in one
+    end which is filled with tallow. The other end is fastened to a
+    rope, and the lead is thrown overboard and sinks to the bottom. When
+    hauled up, some of the sea-bottom is found stuck to the tallow, and
+    from this and the depth of the water, the captain knows where he is,
+    for the kinds of sand and mud at the bottom of the sea, and the
+    varying depths of water, are plainly marked on his charts.
+
+    I cannot describe to you what a welcome sight the land was, after
+    seeing nothing but water for so long. But when we had left the great
+    ship behind, it seemed almost as if we were leaving home, glad
+    though I was to get ashore.
+
+    Your loving reader,
+
+    F. D.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A correspondent sends us the series of "Beheaded Rhymes" which we print
+below. Each of the stanzas contains two examples of this kind of
+rhyming, and, in each example, the first blank is to be filled with a
+word that suits both the sense and the measure. The next blank that
+occurs is filled with all of the chosen word except its first letter;
+and this process goes on until the word can no longer be beheaded and
+yet leave another word. The making of such "Beheaded Rhymes" as these,
+in company, to see who can succeed best, sometimes whiles away very
+pleasantly a long evening of disagreeable weather.
+
+
+A NIGHT'S ADVENTURES.
+
+  It made a most tremendous ----!           (1.)
+  I gave my horse a sudden ----:
+  He threw me full against an ----,
+    And broke my collar-bone.
+  "What can I do in such a ----?            (2.)
+  My horse is gone, I have no ----,"
+    I murmured with a groan.
+
+  I was as wet as any ----;                 (3.)
+  The wind and thunder made a ----,
+  And neither moon nor star was ----;
+    The night was black as sin.
+  The fall had given me such a ----!        (4.)
+  And I was miles from any ----:
+  I floundered on through mud and ----
+    To reach the nearest inn.
+
+  But when I found the wished-for ----,     (5.)
+  And saw through windows dim with ----
+  A fellow holding up an ----,
+    I would have cried with fear.
+  Each seat was filled by such a ----,      (6.)
+  As might have fled from any ----
+    Of thief or buccaneer.
+
+  I strove to overcome my ----,             (7.)
+  And ventured on a traveler's ----
+    To enter boldly there.
+  The porter waved aloft a ----,            (8.)
+  But still I stepped within the ----
+    And took an empty chair.
+
+  The leader gave a fearful ----;           (9.)
+  Sprang up, and overturned the ----.
+  Oh! I could cover half a ----
+    With what I felt that night.
+  He came, and gave me such a ----,        (10.)
+  That I cried out amain, though ----
+    With anguish and affright.
+
+  "Come, will you join our game of ----?   (11.)
+  Or do you choose that I should ----
+  The wretch, who wishes naught but ----
+    To honest men like us?"
+  With that he flung me from the ----,     (12.)
+  And seizing on me by the ----,
+  He drew me forth into the ----
+    And made a dreadful fuss.
+
+  The night had now grown clear and ----.  (13.)
+  I wandered to a distant ----,
+  And thought the cold ground not so ----,
+    As was that fearful spot.
+  But soon there passed a friendly ----,   (14.)
+  Who placed me in his empty ----
+    And took me to his cot.
+
+  M. W.
+
+The solutions are as follows: 1. Clash, lash, ash. 2. Plight, light. 3.
+Trout, rout, out. 4. Strain, train, rain. 5. Place, lace, ace. 6. Scamp,
+camp. 7. Fright, right. 8. Broom, room. 9. Scream, cream, ream. 10.
+Tweak, weak. 11. Skill, kill, ill. 12. Chair, hair, air. 13. Chill,
+hill, ill. 14. Swain, wain.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Pittsburg, Pa.
+
+    DEAR READERS OF "ST. NICHOLAS:" I live in a city of iron and steel
+    manufactories. I will do my best to tell you how an ax is made.
+
+    The works are a beautiful sight at night, with their huge, glowing
+    furnaces and the forms of the brawny workmen, passing between us and
+    the light. In one furnace they are heating pieces of cast-iron,
+    about twelve inches long, four inches wide, and one-half inch thick.
+
+    A workman takes a pair of long pincers, draws from the furnace one
+    of the red-hot pieces of iron, and passes it to another workman.
+    This workman is standing before two large wheels, which revolve
+    slowly, and which have several notches in them. The piece of hot
+    iron is placed between these wheels, with one end in a notch, and
+    the iron is bent double, bringing the two ends together, making it
+    look somewhat like a clothes-pin, except that the clothes-pin should
+    have a hole at the head, like in the piece of iron, for a handle.
+    The ends of the bent iron are next hammered together, after which
+    the coming ax is again heated. It is then taken to the steam
+    hammers. The first hammer joins the parts of the iron firmly
+    together, while the second, having on its face the mold of an ax,
+    gives the iron the same shape. The sides are then made straight and
+    even by a circular saw.
+
+    But an ax in this shape could never be used to much effect, for
+    cast-iron cannot be ground down to a fine enough edge. Steel can be
+    ground, however, and so a piece of steel must be added to our iron
+    ax. Two workmen take hold of the blade with pincers, and while one
+    holds a sharp tool on the broad edge, the other strikes with a
+    sledge. Into this split thus made, a piece of steel is slipped, and
+    a steam hammer joins them firmly.
+
+    After this, the ax is tempered, sharpened and polished; and, when
+    the blade is furnished with a handle, the ax is ready for
+    sale.--Yours truly,
+
+    "THE DOCTOR."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+The following is sent to us as written, without help, by a little girl
+nine years old.
+
+    THE HISTORY OF A CAT.
+
+    I am the family cat. I am not so very pretty, but they all like me
+    very much. I have a pretty baby-kitten, and I have a daughter named
+    Tortoise-shell. She is a pretty and good cat. She also has a
+    baby-kitten prettier than mine. Mine has such big eyes that its
+    little face does not look as cunning as my daughter's baby-kitten's
+    face. My mistress is very good to me sometimes, but sometimes she
+    pulls my tail and makes me mad, and I scratch her and then she slaps
+    me back; but when she is good to me, and pets me, and gives me cake,
+    then I purr to her.
+
+    Once my mistress' brother had a dog given to him. This dog's name
+    was "Captain." I did not like him one bit.
+
+    My mistress' brother's friend tried to set the dog on me, but he
+    would not come near me; so the boy let him alone.
+
+    When my mistress went to get my daughter's baby-kitten, Captain went
+    with her. My mistress did not know that Captain went into the room
+    with her. Tortoise-shell was tending her kitten, but, as soon as she
+    saw the dog, she jumped up and scratched his nose good for him. He
+    did not stay very long. He was given to my mistress' brother on
+    Saturday. The next day, which was Sunday, my mistress and the rest
+    of the family were at church; the dog got out, I don't know how, but
+    when my mistress came home from church she looked all about, but
+    could not find him anywhere. She was very sorry, but I was not sorry
+    one bit; I was glad. So now we've come to the end.
+
+    G.M.M.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Oswego, N. Y.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Please will you tell me where I can find
+    directions how to build a boat?--Yours respectfully,
+
+    HARRY MEAD.
+
+
+    Midland, 1878.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I wish that you would tell me how to make a yatch
+    I have a schooner but she gets beat bad and I should like to know
+    how to make a yatch that will beat them all I think one about 30
+    inches will be long enough.--I remain your constant Reader,
+
+    G.B.J.
+
+
+In ST. NICHOLAS for July, 1875 (Vol. II.), Harry will find full
+directions how to make a serviceable boat at a small cost; and G.B.J.,
+whose letter we print _verbatim_, also may find hints that will enable
+him to build an all-conquering "yatch."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am going to tell you about a game that we play
+    here a good deal. I do not know what it is called. It can be played
+    by any number, though the more the merrier. Each player must have a
+    sheet of paper and a pencil. When all are supplied, each one must
+    write across the top of the sheet a question, taking up as little
+    room on the page as possible, and turning the paper down so as to
+    cover up the writing, as in "Consequences." The paper is then passed
+    to the next neighbor, who is to write a common noun, of any kind,
+    under the question, and turn over in like manner. After the noun has
+    been written, the paper is passed on. Then everybody opens the paper
+    that last came to him, and must answer the question in rhyme,
+    inserting the noun. I will give you an illustration.
+
+        EXAMPLE:
+
+        Question,--"Do you like pigs?"
+        Common noun,--"Peas."
+        Answer, in rhyme,--
+
+        "I love the gentle animals
+          That sport about our home.
+        And all among the peas and corn
+          So happily do roam."
+
+        "Ah! little pigs I'll harm you not,
+          Nor e'en disturb your play,
+        But you shall have your own sweet will,
+        And feed upon the best of swill,
+          Through all the livelong day."
+
+    Will somebody answer thus this question, that was given to me:
+    "Which was the greatest battle of Alexander the Great?"
+
+    Noun: "Toes."
+
+    Yours truly,
+
+    D.J.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you a puzzle, which I hope you will print:
+
+        My first is in your body,
+          Quite useful in its way.
+        My second flows in Italy,
+          And flows by night and day.
+        My third, a thing to cook with, is
+          In every kitchen found.
+        My fourth's a common article,
+          A very simple sound.
+        My fifth folks often get into,--
+          The careless ones, of course.
+        My whole, a clumsy animal,
+          Is partly named for horse.
+
+    R.N.P.
+
+    _Answer_: Hip-Po-pot-a-mus, hippopotamus.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Wilmette, Ills.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have been taking your book two years. I think
+    it is splendid. Some of the stories are so funny. I go to a private
+    school, and I am in the Fourth Reader. The girls play on one side of
+    the grounds and the boys on the other; the cherry-trees are on our
+    side, and I like it the best. We have lots of fun. I am nine years
+    old. I have two little sisters, Belle and Marion, and a little
+    brother, Bobo. When we get big we may write some stories for your
+    book. We are little now, but everybody was little once.--Your
+    friend,
+
+    KITTY GRIFFITHS.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do like you so much, and I wish you would tell
+    me something. I see pictures and read books in which are the names
+    Penelope, Juno, Achilles, Hercules, and so on. The dictionary tells
+    but little about these names, and I want to know all about them. Can
+    you tell me how to find out?--Truly your friend,
+
+    CARRIE H.
+
+You can learn a good deal about the personages you mention from
+Bulfinch's "Age of Fable," from Alexander S. Murray's "Manual of
+Mythology," and from Mrs. Clement's "Handbook of Legendary and
+Mythological Art"; but the poems of Homer,--the "Iliad" and the
+"Odyssey,"--of both of which there are good English translations,--are
+the chief sources of the information.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Chicago, Ills.
+
+    MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you an Enigma to publish in your
+    magazine. The answer to the Enigma is "Washington."--Yours truly,
+
+    WILLIE M.
+
+
+        My 1, 9, 10, is the same as one.
+        My 8, 1, is two-thirds of two.
+        My 6, 5, 10, is three-fourths of nine.
+        My 10, 9, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, is nothing.
+        My 3, 2, 1, is what my 5 did.
+        My 8, 9, 10, is very heavy; but
+        My 10, 9, 8, is not.
+        My 6, 5, 7, 4, 8, is always somewhere, but not here to-day.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE BOY ENGINEERS: WHAT THEY DID, AND HOW THEY DID IT, is an illustrated
+book published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons. It seems to have been
+written for readers living in England, but young amateur machinists
+anywhere would find it an entertaining book. It gives good practical
+hints about the management of tools, and explains how to turn and carve
+in wood and metal, how to make a clock, an organ, a small house, and how
+to set up a steam-engine. The type is large, and the style easy and
+pleasant.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIDDLE-BOX.
+
+
+VERY EASY SQUARE-WORD.
+
+1. A pointed implement of brass or wood. 2. Wrath. 3. Not old.
+
+A.W., AND F.E.D.
+
+
+DECAPITATIONS.
+
+1. Behead a bird's nest, and leave a lake in North America. 2. Behead a
+marine map, and leave a wild animal. 3. Behead a sail vessel, and leave
+a small narrow opening. 4. Behead a plant, and leave space. 5. Behead a
+basket or hamper, and leave standard or proportion. 6. Behead a sharp
+bargainer, and leave a company of people. 7. Behead a group of
+individuals, and leave a country girl. 8. Behead an act of deception,
+and leave high temperature.
+
+ISOLA.
+
+
+NUMERICAL ENIGMA.
+
+The whole, composed of twelve letters, is a noted character of American
+fiction.
+
+The 1, 8, 4, 12 is to rend asunder. The 3, 2, 6, 10 is a flower. The 11,
+5, 7, 9 is an open, grassy space.
+
+C. O.
+
+
+EASY MELANGE.
+
+1. Behead a pavement, and find a planet. 2. Syncopate the pavement, and
+give a shrub. 3. Transpose the planet, and leave the center. 4. Behead
+and transpose the center, and find a weed. 5. Transpose the weed, and
+give degree. 6. Syncopate the center, and leave an animal. 7. Behead the
+animal, and find skill. 8. Curtail the shrub and give excitement. 9.
+Behead and curtail the center, and leave a part of the body. 10. Behead
+and transpose excitement, and find a plant. 11. Syncopate excitement,
+and give an article of clothing. 12. Transpose skill, and leave an
+animal. 13. Reverse the animal, and find a sailor.
+
+
+CABIN PUZZLE.
+
+             .  .  .
+             .  .  .
+       .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+     .   .                 .
+   .       .                 .
+ .           .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+ .           .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+
+
+The dots show where the letters are to be placed. The perpendicular and
+sloping lines of the building are read downward, the horizontals from
+left to right.
+
+The letters that form the foundation, reading from extreme left to
+extreme right, signify (1) a fireside; those of the lower edge of the
+roof spell (2) liable to taxation; those of the ridge-pole mean (3)
+calls for; those of the left-hand corner-post denote (4) the cry of a
+domestic animal; those of the middle corner-post, (5) a free
+entertainment; those of the right-hand corner-post, (6) a large bird of
+prey; those of the left-hand sloping roof-edge, (7) an officer in an
+English university; those of the middle sloping roof-edge, (8) a
+regulated course of food; and those of the right-hand sloping roof-edge,
+(9) withered.
+
+The chimney is a double word-square, and reads, downward, (10) bleared,
+(11) a man's name, (12) a farm-yard inclosure; across, (13) to plunge,
+(14) anger, (15) a playing piece in the game of chess. The door, also,
+is a double word-square: it reads, downward (16) a useful insect, (17) a
+city of Burmah (Farther India), (18) a resinous substance; across, (19)
+a wooden club, (20) a girl's name, (21) a part of the human body.
+
+The left-hand window is a double word-square, and reads, downward (22)
+to bend under weight, (23) a prefix, (24) hitherto; across, (25) a
+secret agent, (26) exist, (27) to procure. The right-hand window, also,
+is a double word-square: it reads, downward, (28) to make brown, (29) a
+kind of poem, (30) angry; across, (31) a nickname for a boy, (32) a
+girl's name, (33) another nickname for a boy.
+
+H.H.D.
+
+
+DROP-LETTER STAIR PUZZLE.
+
+--E E--
+      E
+      E
+      --E E--
+            E
+            E
+            --E E--
+                  E
+                  E
+                  --E E--
+
+Going upstairs, find (reading from right to left): 1. A fish that lives
+in English waters. 2. Full to overflowing. 3. Reward 4. An animal. 5. A
+lively dance. 6. An edible plant. 7. To maintain hold upon.
+
+Going down-stairs, find (reading from left to right): 1. To peep. 2. A
+part of a boat. 3. To look obliquely. 4. An aquatic plant. 5. To esteem.
+6. To gather. 7. The seed of an oriental plant.
+
+H.H.D.
+
+
+PROVERB ENIGMA.
+
+The proverb is composed of twenty-nine letters.
+
+The 5, 13, 26, 19, 2 is a wild animal. The 9, 14, 20, 16, 3, 11 is a
+person employed in the building of houses. The 10, 23, 21, 1 is a common
+reptile. The 13, 4, 21, 7, 29 is a bird of fine plumage. The 25, 17, 6,
+27, 8 is a bird that is attached to the dwellings of men. The 18, 28,
+12, 24 is a swimming and diving bird of the Arctic Regions.
+
+I.T.
+
+
+KNIGHT'S-MOVE PUZZLE.
+
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  lay  |   tle   |   on   |  dom   | braves | still | square | quered|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  ly   | truth   | press  |  day   |  the   | board |   ly   | strike|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| bat-  |  this   |  Per-  |   a    | free-  |  to   |  che-  | from  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  and  | fierce- |  who   | Greeks |  down  | Mar-  |  for   |  on.  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| reads |  hard   |  than  | sian   | youth  |  the  | square | this  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  as   |  right  |  each  | poured |   at   | horde |  ward  | fight |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| long  |   so    | knight |   ly   | thr'gh |  the  |   on   | leaps |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  As   |   on    | life's |  may   |   up   | bold- |  and   |  to   |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+The above puzzle consists of a verse of eight rhyming eight-syllable
+lines; each syllable occupies a square and follows in succession
+according to the knight's move on the chess board.
+
+F.W.
+
+
+EASY HIDDEN FISHES.
+
+In each of the following sentences find, concealed, the name of a
+well-known fish.
+
+1. A Russian soldier, at Toms's, ate a salamander. 2. "Do you spell
+'knob' as she does?" 3. "Where is my badge?" "Ella has it." 4. Francesco
+drew a large prize yesterday. 5. "Have the girls and boys seen Fanny
+Dunbar?" "Belle has." 6. My dolls had the measles last month. 7. Every
+soldier leaves his tent. "Rout the enemy!" is the battle-cry. 8. I
+heard, with regret, that she had lost her ring. 9. I composed a song of
+which the first verse begins something like this: "Hark! 'tis a cricket
+chirping." 10. Wax dolls melt when left too near the fire.
+
+A.E.M.
+
+
+POETICAL REBUS.
+
+A two-line quotation from Cowper.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+RIDDLE.
+
+    Gleaming gayly, flashing light;
+    White as snow, and black as night;
+    Ladies, I'm your slave, your pride,
+    Though in ocean I abide.
+
+    Power have I o'er life and death,--
+    I, a creature without breath!
+    I, so small that you can draw
+    Fifty, like me, through a straw.
+
+R.S.C.
+
+
+SUGGESTED WORD-SQUARE.
+
+In the following rhyme, the words of the Square are suggested by the
+sense, and are to be inserted in the blanks, in order, as the blanks
+occur,--the first word in the first blank, the second word in the second
+blank, and so on.
+
+    To buy a ---- was foolish waste.
+      (I'd no ---- how it would taste!)
+    "I'll just have bread and ----," said Daisy.
+      "Who ---- a fruit like that, is crazy!"
+
+B.
+
+
+ANAGRAMS.
+
+In the following sentence, the words printed in capitals are anagrams of
+the words that should occupy the same places, so as to make sense. Thus:
+BATTLE-SCREENS is a compound-word that takes the place of another to be
+formed of the same letters arranged differently; the right word, in this
+example, being "center-table;" but each of the other collections of
+capitals is an anagram of but a single word.
+
+I saw TENT SUDS by the BATTLE-SCREENS, puzzling over THE MICA MATS, and
+perplexed about MANY ROOTS.
+
+C.T.
+
+
+REBUS.
+
+A two line quotation from Shakspeare.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+COMPLETE DIAMOND.
+
+The centrals of the diamond are each the same word, of five letters,
+spelling the name of a Frenchman who became notorious during the great
+French Revolution. The remainder of the diamond is made of words formed
+from the letters of his name. The diamond incloses a hollow square,
+either of whose perpendiculars or horizontals, read backward or forward,
+will spell a word; and, reading from the middle letter to either end of
+either of the centrals, a word will be spelled, which, when read
+backward, will spell another word. Make the Diamond. TREBONIUS.
+
+
+EASY AMPUTATED QUOTATION.
+
+Two lines from Tennyson. Each word is beheaded and curtailed.
+
+-RU- -EART- -R- -OR- -HA- -ORONET-
+-N- -IMPL- -AIT- -HA- -ORMA- -LOO-
+
+C. L. D.
+
+
+EASY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE.
+
+    My first is in bee, but not in fly;
+    My second in moon, but not in sky;
+    My third is in scare, but not in fright;
+    My fourth is in top, and also in kite;
+    My fifth is in broad, but not in wide;
+    My sixth is in ocean, but not in tide;
+    My whole is all New England's pride.
+
+H. A. S.
+
+
+ANAGRAM WORD-SQUARES.
+
+From the letters composing each of the following four sentences make a
+word-square: 1. Doctor, do Irish histories err? 2. Let their hotel
+gardener grin. 3. Post shall need man's sympathy. 4. Hurrah, Peg has the
+gallant pup! The meaning of the words composing the four squares, in the
+proper order of succession, are as follows:
+
+I. 1. A band of singers. 2. A wandering troop of barbarians. 3. A plant
+with a sweet-smelling root. 4. A simpleton. 5. Is quiet.
+
+II. 1. A spelled number. 2. A lazy person. 3. A dazzling light. 4. A
+marsh bird. 5. A river of England.
+
+III. 1. Profundity. 2. To try. 3. A sacred song. 4. A claw. 5. Poems.
+
+IV. 1. A noise that no animal but man can make. 2. The name of a letter
+of the Greek alphabet. 3. Part of a shoe. 4. A town of Belgium. 5. Deer.
+
+A. + B.
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN SEPTEMBER NUMBER.
+
+
+CLASSICAL DOUBLE ACROSTIC.--Virgil--Horace. 1. VoucH. 2. IagO. 3. RoaR.
+4. GeorgiA. 5. IoniC. 6. LittlE.
+
+NAMES OF AUTHORS ENIGMATICALLY EXPRESSED.--1. Poe. 2. Defoe. 3.
+Hawthorne. 4. Prescott. 5. Hay. 6. Cooper 7. Sparks. 8. Lever. 9. Lover.
+10. Boswell.
+
+ENIGMA.--Bridle.
+
+WHAT IS IT.--A switch.
+
+CHARADE.--Nightingale; night, in(n), gale.
+
+CENTRAL SYNCOPATIONS.--1. Mouth, moth. 2. Carve, cave. 3. Maxim, maim.
+4. Cabin, Cain. 5. Coronet, cornet.
+
+THREE DIAMONDS.--
+
+        T                C                 I
+      G I G            A L I             U N A
+I.  T I B E R   II.  C L O V E   III.  I N D I A
+      G E M            I V Y             A I M
+        R                E                 A
+
+PICTORIAL ANAGRAM.--"Procrastination is the thief of time."
+
+INCOMPLETE SENTENCES.--1. Fair, fare. 2. Rite, right, write. 3. Maid,
+made. 4. Reads, reeds. 5. Beats, beets. 6. Bawl, ball. 7. Mien, mean. 8.
+Fain, feign, fane.
+
+RIDDLE.--River.
+
+POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES.--1. Flat, flatter. 2. Ham, hammer. 3. Gross,
+grocer. 4. Lad, ladder. 5. On, honor. 6. Eye, ire. 7. Poe, pore. 8. Pie,
+pyre. 9. Mart, martyr.
+
+DOUBLE WORD-SQUARE.--G O N E
+                     A V E R
+                     L E E R
+                     E N D S
+
+HIDDEN NAMES.--In each sentence, take the first letter of each word. 1.
+Alma. 2. Helen. 3. Arthur. 4. Mabel. 5. Harry. 6. Ethel. 7. Ernest. 8.
+Edith. 9. Fred. 10. Stella. 11. Edwin. 12. Grace. 13. Frank.
+
+EASY CROSS-WORD ENIGMA.--Dictionary.
+
+REBUS.--"Can storied urn or animated bust
+         Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?"
+
+DOUBLE ACROSTIC.--Victoria-Disraeli. 1. ViviD. 2. I, I. 3. CorpS. 4.
+ToweR. 5. OperA. 6. RarE. 7. IdyL. 8. AlighierI.
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE AUGUST NUMBER were received, before August 20,
+from Eva D., "Patrolman Gillooley," John C. Robertson, "Three Sisters,"
+"So So," Mary C. Warren, May Bleecker, Daisy Briggs, George P. Dravo,
+"Doctor," Louisa F. Riedel, C.A.K., Bessie L. Barnes, Nessie E. Stevens,
+Southwick C. Briggs, Mary Louise Hood, Olive Mecklem, Edwin E. Gan�gues,
+Anna Halliday, Edith McKeever, M.W.C., Lewis G. Davis, Bessie Hard,
+Edith Herkimer, Nina Riker, Marnie Riker; Jerome Buck, Jr.; Nellie
+Emerson, "Soft Soap," Jessie W. Cox, Fleta M. Holman, "Robbie, Irvie,
+and Daisy," Hild Sterling; Edith and Marion W.; Mary H. Bradley, Alice
+L. Booth, Willie Gray, Mamie, "Nantucket" Harry; F.M.J., Jr.; Jennie R.
+Beach, Maud L. Smith, Alice Lanigan, Walter Stockdale, Rowen S. McClure,
+Anita R. Newcomb, Bertie Jackson, M.G.A., Cora Rawson Ryder, "Apelles
+and his Papa," "Fritters," George H. Williams, Richard Weld, Winsor
+Weld, Georgine C. Schnitzspahn, "Rosalind," H.B. Ayers, "Oriole," Fred
+S. Cowperthwait, Benj. W. Mannus, Lizzie Thurber, "The Raven"; Horace
+White and Grant Squires; Neils E. Hansen, "Winnie," Chas. H. Stout,
+Kitty P. Norton, Laurie T. Sanders; "Box 325, St. Thomas," Annie J.
+Buzzard, Harry Bennett, Jennie Kimball, Dycie Warden, Margaret McF.
+Lukens, "Ratie and Katie," "S.G., and P.M.," Ann Hulme Wilson, Eddie
+Vultee, Dolly, Jessie Van Brunt, Willie R.C. Corson, Lincoln Cromwell,
+T.J. De la Hunt, "Stock-broker," Bessie C. Barney, Bessie Taylor, Willie
+F. Floyd, and Louise G. Hinsdale.
+
+Grace Rosevelt, Amy Growly, Ellen Smith, "B.Y.G.H. Caroni and Wife," "V.
+and A.," and O.C. Turner, answered correctly all the puzzles in the
+August number.
+
+Gladys H. Wilkinson, of Manchester, England answered several of the
+puzzles in the July number, but his letter did not come in time for
+adding his name to the July list. The delay was not his fault, so the
+credit due is now given.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and
+Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17466-8.txt or 17466-8.zip *****
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of "St. Nicholas, Vol. V., October, 1878, No. 12, edited by Mary Mapes Dodge.
+    </title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls,
+Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, 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, October 1878, No. 12
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2006 [EBook #17466]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, LM Bornath, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image01" id="image01"><img src="images/image01.jpg" width="366"
+height="500" alt="THE NOON ENCAMPMENT"  title="THE NOON ENCAMPMENT" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE NOON ENCAMPMENT. [See <a href="#violin">Violin
+Village</a>.]</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<h1>ST. NICHOLAS.</h1>
+
+<div class="vlouter">
+<div class="volumeline">
+<div class="volumeleft">VOL. V.</div>
+<div class="volumeright">No. 12.</div>
+<div class="center">OCTOBER, 1878.</div>
+<div class="spacer"><!-- empty for spacing purposes --></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+
+<div class="center">
+<span class="small">[Copyright, 1878, by Scribner &amp; Co.]</span>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div id="toc">
+<br /><br />
+
+<div>TABLE OF CONTENTS &amp; ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
+<ul>
+				<li><a href="#image01">THE NOON ENCAMPMENT.</a> <i>(Illustration)</i></li>
+				<li><a href="#violin">THE VIOLIN VILLAGE.</a> By Edith Hawkins.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image02">STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#troubles">TROUBLES IN HIGH LIFE.</a> By Mrs. J. G. Burnett.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image03">TROUBLES IN HIGH LIFE.</a> </li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#tails">A TALE OF MANY TAILS.</a> By Katharine B. Foot.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image04">RAINING CATS AND DOGS.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#wecame">WE CAME, WE SAW, WE LEFT.</a> <i>(Illustration)</i></li>
+    <li><a href="#lilacs">UNDER THE LILACS.</a> By Louisa M. Alcott.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustrations:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image07">MRS. MOSS WELCOMES BEN'S FATHER.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image08">BEN AND HIS FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image09">BIRD ON A BRANCH.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#froggy">HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY.</a> By E. M�ller.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image10">HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#journal">HOW TO KEEP A JOURNAL.</a> By W. S. Jerome.</li>
+    <li><a href="#simon">SIMPLE SIMON.</a>
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image11">SIMPLE SIMON</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#cucu">PRINCE CUCURBITA.</a> By Edith A. Edwards.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustrations:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image12">PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image13">CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW.</a></li>
+
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#primkins">MRS. PRIMKINS' SURPRISE.</a> By Olive Thorne.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image14">"DO LOOK DOWN STREET!"</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#linnet">THE LINNET'S FEE.</a> By Mrs. Annie A. Preston.</li>
+    <li><a href="#dab">DAB KINZER: A STORY OF A GROWING BOY.</a> By William O. Stoddard.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustrations:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image15">"WHOM DO YOU THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?"</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image16">"VEGETABLES?" "WHY, THEY'RE LOBSTERS!"</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image17">"MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?"</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image18">"PINNED!"</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#where">WHERE?</a> By Mary N. Prescott.</li>
+    <li><a href="#parlor">PARLOR MAGIC.</a> By Leo H. Grindon.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustrations:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image20">THE BREATH OF LIFE.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image21">CUTTING THE PHIAL.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image22">THE COIN INVISIBLE.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image23">THE COIN VISIBLE.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image24">THE MAGIC APERTURE.</a></li>
+            <li><a href="#image25">IMITATING HOAR-FROST.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#alphabet">UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS.</a> Par Laura Caxton. <i>(Illustrated)</i></li>
+    <li><a href="#exchange">A FAIR EXCHANGE.</a> By Mrs. M. F. Butts.</li>
+    <li><a href="#teddy">HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE.</a> By Rossiter Johnson.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image52">PIE.</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#chairs">"CHAIRS TO MEND!"</a> By Alexander Wainwright.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image53">"CHAIRS TO MEND!"</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#kitties">TWO KITTIES.</a> By Joy Allison.
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image54">TWO KITTIES</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#hare">"HARE AND HOUNDS."</a>
+        <ul class="sub">
+        <li class="sub"><i>Illustration:</i>
+            <ul class="sub">
+            <li><a href="#image55">"HARE AND HOUNDS."</a></li>
+            </ul>
+        </li>
+        </ul>
+    </li>
+    <li><a href="#jackinthepulpit">JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#letterbox">THE LETTER-BOX.</a></li>
+    <li><a href="#riddlebox">THE RIDDLE-BOX.</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<div id="all">
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="violin" id="violin">THE VIOLIN VILLAGE.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Edith Hawkins.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p>On the borders of the Tyrol and the lovely district known as the
+"Bavarian Highlands," there is a quaint little village called
+"Mittenwald," which at first sight appears shut in by lofty mountains as
+by some great and insurmountable barrier. The villagers are a simple,
+industrious people, chiefly occupied in the manufacture of stringed
+musical instruments, the drying of which, on fine days, presents a very
+droll appearance. The gardens seem to have blossomed out in the most
+eccentric manner; for there, dangling from lines like clothes, hang
+zithers, guitars, and violins, by hundreds, from the big bass to the
+little "kit," and the child's toy.</p>
+
+<p>In this valley, one clear morning in August, as the church clock
+struck five, a lad issued from the arched entrance of one of the pretty
+gabled houses along the main street. He was not more than twelve years
+of age, yet an expression of thoughtfulness in his clear, blue eyes,
+gave and added an older look to his otherwise boyish face. His costume
+was a gray suit of coarse cloth, trimmed with green; his knees and feet
+were bare, but he wore knitted leggings of green worsted. A high-crowned
+hat of green felt, adorned with some glossy black cock's feathers, a
+whip and a small brass horn slung by a cord from his shoulder completed
+the outfit of the village goatherd. He hastened along by the
+green-bordered brook crossed by planks, over one of which
+Stephan&mdash;for that was our hero's name&mdash;leaped as he came up to
+the simple wooden fountain, which, as in most Bavarian villages, stood
+in the middle of the road.</p>
+
+<p>A piece of black bread and a long draught from the fountain was
+Stephan's breakfast, which being speedily finished, he broke the morning
+stillness with repeated blasts from the horn, which seemed to awake the
+valley as by magic; for scarcely had the more distant mountains echoed
+the summons, than from almost every door-way scampered one or more
+goats. All hurried in the direction of the water-tank, where they stood
+on their hind legs to drink, jostled one another or frisked about in the
+highest spirits, till fully two hundred were assembled, rendering the
+street impassable. A peculiar cry from the boy and a sharp crack of the
+whip were the signals for a general move. Away they skipped
+helter-skelter through the town, along the accustomed road, high up the
+rocky mountain-side. The little animals were hungry, so stopped every
+now and then to nibble the attractive grassy tufts, long before the
+allotted feeding ground was reached. There was, however, little fear of
+losing them, as each wore a tiny bell round the neck, which, tinkling at
+every movement, warned the boy of the straggler; a call invariably
+brought it back, though often by a circuitous route, enabling the animal
+to keep beyond the reach of the whip, which Stephan lashed about with
+boyish enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>Noon found the goats encamped under the shade of some tall
+pine-trees, and Stephan Reindel was busily arranging a bunch of bright
+red cranberries at the side of his hat, when a shot arrested his
+attention. He jumped up, and with boyish curiosity explored the pine
+wood; but fearing to go too far on account of his flock, he was
+returning, when a second shot followed by a sharp cry, convinced him it
+was some hunter who had driven his game much lower down than was at all
+usual. The second report had sounded so near that he continued his
+fruitless search till it was time to go home, when, as usual, he drove
+his flock back by five o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Directly they entered the village, each goat trotted off to its own
+abode, and Stephan to his, where, after eating his supper of black bread
+and cheese, he sat listlessly watching his mother varnish violins, by
+which she earned a trifle every week. This was due to the kindness of
+the chief manufacturer in the village, who, since her husband's death,
+had supplied her regularly with some of the light work usually performed
+by women, and to which she was well accustomed, having frequently
+assisted her husband, who had been one of Herr Dahn's best workmen, and
+whose death had left her entirely dependent on her own exertions for the
+support of herself and child; for the last two years, however, Stephan
+had bravely earned his mite by taking daily care of the goats belonging
+to the whole valley. He was now discussing with his mother the
+possibility of his ever being able to maintain them both by following
+his father's trade of making guitars and violins, when a loud knock put
+the future to flight, and caused Stephan to open the door so suddenly
+that a very excited old woman came tumbling into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Bridgetta, how could you lean against the door?" said Frau
+Reindel, hastening to her assistance. "I hope you are not hurt, and do
+pray remember, in future, that our door opens inside, and that you must
+step down into the room. Sit down, neighbor," she added, placing a stool
+for the old woman, who was, however, far too angry to notice it; but
+turning toward Stephan, whom she unfortunately caught smiling, she
+pointed to her large fur cap, that had rolled some distance across the
+floor, saying: "Pick it up, boy, and don't stand grinning like that,
+especially as you must know why I have come here so late in the
+evening." Then snatching it from him, without heeding his apologies, she
+added: "Yes, indeed, you have more cause to cry than laugh. A pretty
+herd-boy you are, to come home without people's goats! sitting here as
+contentedly as if you had done your day's duty! You had better be more
+careful or you will certainly lose your work, if I have a voice in the
+village!"</p>
+
+<p>Stephan and his mother stood aghast at this angry tirade, and it was
+only after repeated questions, sulkily answered, that they finally
+understood that her own goat was really missing. She had, as usual, gone
+into the stable to milk it, and after waiting in vain till past seven
+o'clock, she had come to tell Stephan he must at once seek for it among
+the neighbors' goats. He was quite willing, nay, anxious to do so, being
+unable to account in any way for its absence; for he could not remember
+having noticed the little gray goat with the white face since the early
+part of the morning. There was consequently nothing left to be done that
+night but to make an immediate inquiry at every house in the village. He
+did not return till past nine o'clock,&mdash;a very late hour in that
+primitive spot, where people usually rise at four or five and go to bed
+at eight. No one had seen the goat, but almost all blamed his
+carelessness, so that he was too unhappy to sleep, especially as he
+could not forget how distressed his poor mother looked, knowing, as she
+did, that somehow or other she must pay the value of the goat, though
+how such a sum was to be earned was beyond guessing.</p>
+
+<p>A week passed, nothing was heard of the strayed one; Stephan had
+searched every possible spot up the mountain, and inquired of every
+person he met coming from the neighboring villages or beyond the
+frontier of the Tyrol,&mdash;but all in vain. A report had spread in the
+valley that he had lamed the goat with a stone, and so caused it to fall
+over a precipice. Many people believed this, which greatly increased the
+unhappiness of Stephan and his mother, though he had denied the charge
+most positively.</p>
+
+<p>"I, at least, believe you, my son," said his mother, one day, when
+Bridgetta was present. "You never told me a lie, and I thank God for my
+truthful child, more than for all else."</p>
+
+<p>"You can believe what you like," said Bridgetta, angrily; "but, as
+your boy has lost my goat, and as I am poor, and have already waited
+longer than I can afford, I must ask you to pay me by to-morrow evening,
+so that I may buy another, for you forget that I have done without milk
+all these days."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not forget," said the widow, sadly. "I will do my best to
+get the money for you. It is right you should have your own, and you
+know I would have paid you at once had it been in my power. I will,
+however, see what I can do by to-morrow, so good-night."</p>
+
+<p>As they walked home, they discussed for the hundredth time the
+impossibility of getting five florins; they could not save that sum in
+six months. "There is nothing to be done unless Herr Dahn would lend it
+to us," suggested Stephan. "We could pay him by degrees, and he is so
+rich that I dare say he would be satisfied with that."</p>
+
+<p>"I have thought of asking him," replied the mother, "and, even if he
+refuses, he will do so kindly."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, they saw the important little gentleman coming out of a
+house, and hastened to overtake him. He greeted them with the extreme
+politeness so noticeable among all classes in Bavaria, even in the
+remote villages. After hearing the widow's request, he stood musing a
+minute, looked up and down the street, took off his hat, and polished
+his bald head, ejaculating the usual "So! so!" then, as if a bright
+thought had cleared up all doubts, he said: "Now, don't you think it
+would be pleasanter and more independent if you gave something in
+exchange for the five florins? Something that can be of no use to
+yourself&mdash;your husband's tools, for instance? I will give you a
+fair price,&mdash;enough to pay for this unlucky goat, and something
+over for a rainy day. But, my good woman, what's the matter?" he added,
+seeing tears in her eyes and Stephan eagerly clutching her arm, as if to
+get her away.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, sir, nothing; you are quite right; I had forgotten the
+tools would bring money; but you must excuse me if I do not decide till
+to-morrow, for my boy here has set his heart on being a guitar and
+zither maker, like his poor father, and always fancies he would work
+better with those tools."</p>
+
+<p>"What! Stephan make violins? How is he ever to do that, when he
+spends all his days up the mountains? Have you not told me yourself that
+you cannot manage without his earnings?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I think we could, sir, or I should have tried it long
+ago, for it is hard for him to be minding goats, when he might be
+earning something to help him on in life."</p>
+
+<p>"Can he do anything? Has he any taste for the work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I think so; he generally works at it in the evening, and has
+made several small violins for Christmas gifts to the neighbors'
+children. But they are toys. Perhaps you would allow me to bring one to
+show you to-morrow," she ventured to add.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, neighbor, but I don't promise anything, mind, except
+about the tools. I shall be at the warehouse at six o'clock. Be
+punctual. Good-evening."</p>
+
+<p>"O, mother! Don't give him the tools. Give him anything else. There's
+my new green hat&mdash;my best jacket&mdash;I can easily do with the one
+I have on," said Stephan, anxiously, as he watched the receding figure
+of the rich man of the village.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child! of what use could your clothes be to the gentleman?
+He wants the tools. I am very sorry, but there is really nothing else of
+any value, and we have no right to borrow money when we can obtain it by
+the sacrifice of something we should like to keep. We must never
+hesitate to perform a plain duty, however disagreeable. So, now show
+yourself a brave boy, and help me to do this one cheerfully."</p>
+
+<p>The next day, Stephan began his day's work with a determination to
+look on the bright side of his troubles. His goats, however, had in some
+way become a greater charge than he had ever felt them before. He feared
+to lose sight of one for an instant; so, what with racing after the
+stragglers and searching, as was now his habit, for the lost one, he was
+so tired and worn out by noonday, that instead of eating his dinner, he
+threw himself on the ground and cried bitterly. The goats sniffed round
+and round him, as if puzzled at the unwonted sounds. He often sang and
+whistled as he sat among them carving some rough semblance of animals
+with his pocket-knife, but these unmusical sounds were new to them and
+seemed to make them uneasy. A sudden pause in the monotonous tinkle of
+the little bells caused Stephan to raise his head, and he encountered
+the amused gaze of two gentlemen in the Bavarian hunting costume of
+coarse gray cloth and green facings; thick boots studded with huge nails
+and clamps to prevent slipping in the dangerous ascent after game;
+high-crowned hats, with little tufts of chamois beard as decoration and
+proof of former success; the younger of the two having, in addition, a
+bunch of pink Alpen-rose showing he must have climbed high up the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of music do you call that?" asked the latter, resting his
+gun-stock on the ground. "If you howl in that way, there will be no use
+hunting in your neighborhood for a month; you would frighten the tamest
+game over the frontier in five minutes. A little more of this music and
+there wont be a chamois for miles round. But what's the matter? Have you
+had a fight with your goats and got the worst of it? How many horns have
+been run through your body, and where are the wounds?"</p>
+
+<p>Stephan had fancied that his goats were his only auditors, so felt
+thoroughly ashamed of himself, but jumping up, he answered with some
+spirit:</p>
+
+<p>"I have not any wounds, sir, and should never cry if I had. I lost a
+goat some days ago and now my mother has to pay for it by giving up the
+only valuable thing she has in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"That can't be yourself, then," said the young man, laughing; "for
+such a careless little chap would not be of much value, I should think.
+But tell us the story. When did you lose it?"</p>
+
+<p>After listening to Stephan's account, the hunters spoke apart with
+each other for some minutes, and then the young one took out his purse
+and gave the astonished boy six florins&mdash;about ten English
+shillings.</p>
+
+<p>"There, you can get a very good goat for that, but remember, no more
+howling, and if you ever find your own again, I shall expect you to
+repay me this money."</p>
+
+<p>"That I will, indeed, gentlemen, and I thank you heartily," said the
+boy, so earnestly that both laughed, as, nodding him an adieu, they
+began descending the mountain, and were soon lost among the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Stephan threw his hat into the air with a joyous cheer, and the
+echoes repeated his gleeful shout.</p>
+
+<p>The day appeared very long, and glad enough he was when the sinking
+sun warned him that it was time to return. He found his mother dusting
+the tools, and looking sadder than he had ever seen her since his father
+died.</p>
+
+<p>"We wont sell them, dear mother," he cried exultingly, dancing round
+the table and shaking the florins in his hat. "See what luck your
+blessing brought me this morning!" and he related his adventure with the
+hunters.</p>
+
+<p>They at once started off to pay Bridgetta the five florins, and, as
+compensation for the loss of the milk for so many days, they offered her
+the extra florin, which she coldly and decidedly refused, asking no
+questions, and appearing very anxious to get rid of them. As they walked
+home, they entered the church for a few minutes, and, after reverently
+kneeling at one of the side altars, the widow dropped the remaining
+florin into the poor-box. It was the largest thank-offering she had ever
+been able to make in her life. The warehouse was at the corner of the
+street on the south side of the church, and as the clock struck six they
+hurried up the stairs of the long, low building, and entered a small
+room fitted up as an office. Herr Dahn was busily writing in a large
+ledger, but quitting it as they entered, he said approvingly:</p>
+
+<p>"So here you are! That's right; business people should be
+punctual&mdash;never get on otherwise! But where are the tools?"</p>
+
+<p>The widow told him all about the six florins, and then placing a toy
+violin on the counter, she asked him to give his opinion of it. He
+twisted the little instrument about, carefully examining the workmanship
+while he talked, and finally declared that it was a very fair specimen
+for a self-taught lad. He evidently thought more of it than he chose to
+say, for after some conversation with his foreman, to whom he showed the
+violin, he greatly astonished the poor woman by offering to take Stephan
+at once and place him under one of his best workmen if she could do
+without his earnings for a time, as of course the goats must be given
+up. Then, noticing the boy's delight and the mother's anxious, undecided
+countenance, he added before she could reply:</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, if Stephan is steady and careful enough, I can trust him
+here alone every morning to sweep and dust the warehouses, for which I
+will pay him thirty kreutzers a week (nearly a shilling). I suppose he
+gets little more than that for tending the goats."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! thank you, sir," said the boy eagerly, anticipating his mother's
+reply, "I will, indeed, be careful and steady."</p>
+
+<p>"Gently, boy, your mother is to decide."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot thank you enough, sir," she quickly answered. "Your offer
+is more than we had ever hoped for, and I trust my child's conduct will
+prove how grateful we both feel. He would like to begin at once, I know,
+but must, of course, wait a few days till another boy is found to take
+his place as herd-boy."</p>
+
+<p>Herr Dahn nodded approvingly, and told them to let him know as soon
+as a substitute was found. How thankful they were that evening as they
+talked over the happy termination of their troubles, and still more so
+when a neighbor came in to tell them that Bridgetta and some others of
+the village had voted against Stephan continuing his post as herd,
+alleging that they feared to trust him any longer with their goats. This
+was, of course, very unpleasant news, for it was a sort of disgrace to
+be thus displaced, however undeserved. It also explained the cause of
+Bridgetta's extreme coolness and indifference as to how they had
+obtained the money. No wonder she was unfriendly after her action,
+which, but for the fresh turn affairs had taken, would have seriously
+injured them.</p>
+
+<p>However, Stephan was now free to begin his new work the next day,
+when all arrangements were made, and he was introduced as an apprentice
+to his new master, Heinrich Brand.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>PART II.</h3>
+
+<p>Stephan had been with the violin-maker about six weeks, when one day
+the little Gretchen, his master's daughter, rushed in to tell them the
+cows were coming down from the Alp.</p>
+
+<p>It is the custom in the Bavarian Tyrol to send the cows to small
+pastures high up among the mountains where the grass is green and
+plentiful, being watered by the dews and mists, and less exposed to the
+scorching sun. Here the cows remain all the summer under the care of two
+or three men, called "senner," or women, called "sennerinnen," who are
+always busily engaged making butter and cheese, and rarely come down to
+the valley, even for a day, till the season is over, when, collecting
+their tubs, milk-pans, and other dairy utensils, they descend the
+mountain with great rejoicings and consider the day a festival.</p>
+
+<p>This return is an event of importance in every village. Brand, like
+his neighbors, hastened out with his little daughter, and told Stephan
+to follow them. The gay procession wound slowly along the main road,
+accompanied by a band of music playing a cheerful Tyrolese air. The cows
+came trooping along, decorated with garlands of wild flowers, preceded
+by peasants in their gayest costumes, carrying blue and white flags. The
+"sennerinnen" wore their brightest neckerchiefs and gowns, and seemed
+quite rejoiced to be down among their friends again.</p>
+
+<p>Stephan joined his mother in the crowd, and they were in the full
+enjoyment of the scene when he suddenly exclaimed: "See, mother, there's
+the lost goat!" and sure enough there it was, limping along by the side
+of a "sennerin." One leg was evidently broken or severely injured, but
+otherwise the little animal looked well and fat.</p>
+
+<p>Old Bridgetta had likewise seen it, and the three hastened to
+question the "sennerin," who seemed very glad to find the owner, and
+told them it had been brought to the Alp by a peasant, who gave her a
+florin to take care of it and bring it down to the village as soon as
+she could. He did not tell her where he had found it, or indeed any
+particulars, so she supposed the poor little thing had fallen over some
+precipice and broken its leg, which was, however, nearly well.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image02" id="image02"><img src="images/image02.jpg" width="400"
+height="398" alt="STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN"
+title="STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN" /></a>
+<p class="caption">STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN. <br />[SEE
+PAGE 775.]</p> </div>
+
+<p>"Goats don't often fall in that way,&mdash;stones are much more
+likely to have caused the mischief," said Bridgetta, with a meaning look
+at Stephan, which was, however, only noticed by his mother, who
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Bridgetta, if you still think so badly of my boy, you can keep
+the money as a recompense for the damage done to your goat, though I am
+quite convinced he has had nothing to do with it Some day we shall hear
+the truth of the whole affair, and of that I make no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want your money," said the old woman, testily, "and shall
+return it as soon as I have sold the other goat;"&mdash;whereupon, she
+took the leading-string from the "sennerin" and hobbled off with her
+new-found property, apparently as little pleased as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, the five florins were sent back, and then Stephan told
+his mother, for the first time, how he had promised to return the money
+if he ever found the goat again. This now seemed impossible, for he knew
+neither the name nor address of the gentleman. The money was, therefore,
+put away safely, and the savings of a few months soon made up the
+original sum of six florins, but still nothing could be heard of the
+giver.</p>
+
+<p>Time wore on, and the boy was rapidly becoming an expert workman. He
+had regularly swept the warehouse for three years, then finding he could
+earn more by violin-making during the time so occupied, he resigned in
+favor of a boy as poor as he had been. Brand had pronounced him quite
+worthy of regular work, having often tested his ability by leaving to
+him the most difficult parts of the instruments. He had made himself a
+zither, and could play all those national airs so peculiarly the
+property of the mountaineers, and which are so suited to the plaintive
+sweetness of that instrument.</p>
+
+<p>Before Stephan was eighteen, his fame as a zither-player had spread
+far and wide; no marriage, or festival of any kind, was complete without
+his well-looking, good-humored face.</p>
+
+<p>One day, Stephan was putting away his tools when he was sent for by a
+nobleman, who had stopped overnight at the village, and he soon came
+back with the news the Baron Liszt had engaged him to act as guide to
+the Krotten Kopf mountain the next day, and Brand was also wanted to
+help to carry the wraps and needful provisions.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning the party started. The Baroness accompanied her
+husband, and there were one or two gentlemen with their wives. Stephan
+and Brand, laden with shawls, umbrellas, and knapsacks, then led the way
+with the slow, steady pace always adopted by the mountaineers, who know
+that speed avails nothing when great heights have to be climbed, as it
+cannot possibly be kept up, and only exhausts the strength at the onset.
+After climbing two hours, a turn in a very steep portion of the path
+brought them suddenly upon a green plateau, walled in, as it were, by
+mountain peaks, which looked of no particular height till the ascent
+began. Though the sun had scarcely set, yet, at such an elevation, the
+air was more than chilly, and as the Baroness put on a warm shawl she
+said, one could easily account for the fresh looks of the "sennerinnen,"
+who spend the intensely hot months in so cool and healthful an
+atmosphere; for the Alps are never scorched and dried up as elsewhere
+during the summer. The Esterberg Alp, as it is called, consists of two
+large tracts of rich meadow, green and fresh as in our own fertile land,
+with a border of underwood straggling some distance up the mountain, and
+whence at midday issue the clear sounds of the musical cow-bells, the
+only signs of life in that wild, solitary spot.</p>
+
+<p>They soon came in sight of a long low house, one-half of which was
+devoted to the cows and the hay. The earth around was trodden down and
+bare; a few flowers grew against the house-wall, and some milk-pans were
+ranged along it to dry. The door was opened by a wild-looking man devoid
+of shoes and coat; his long, shaggy hair looked as if it had never
+experienced the kindly influence of a comb or brush. He had evidently
+been roused from a heavy sleep, but soon understanding that they wished
+to spend the night in the hut, he told them, in a most singular German
+dialect, that the "oberschweizer," or chief, was away, but that he alone
+could arrange all that was needful; for he was accustomed to attend to
+the visitors who came there in the warm weather.</p>
+
+<p>The "senner" prepared the meal, consisting of a large bowl full of a
+dark chopped pancake called "schmarren," often the only food of the
+cowherds for weeks together.</p>
+
+<p>The next consideration was a resting-place. They had been warned that
+they would get nothing but hay, so it was no surprise when the "senner"
+led the ladies out to one side of the house, where, mounting a short
+ladder, he placed his lantern in the center of a large hay-loft, one
+side of which was open to the free air of heaven, which blew in, fresh
+and cool, as also it did from numerous chinks in the roof, through which
+the clear moonbeams shone, rendering the lantern a matter of form. The
+man proceeded to arrange the hay in heaps, so that each person could
+recline or sit, as most conducive to rest. Only those accustomed (as,
+indeed, most mountain climbers in Bavaria are) to spending a night
+half-buried in hay, can sleep. The hours of the night were spent by the
+ladies in laughing at one another and discussing the absurdity of
+spending a night ranged against the sides of a hay-loft, with heads tied
+up in handkerchiefs, like wounded soldiers in a hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, the gentlemen sat outside enjoying their cigars by
+moonlight, and relating their hunting adventures. "Ah," said the Baron,
+after one of the stories, "that reminds me of a northern friend of mine
+who was staying with us some years ago. He was very short-sighted, but
+passionately fond of a hunt, so we made up several parties, at which he
+appeared in spectacles, to the great amusement of us all. He took our
+jokes in good part, and enjoyed himself without doing any mischief for a
+time. One unlucky day, however, I missed our path, and had to descend
+the mountain in search of some landmark from which to start afresh.
+Suddenly, with the exclamation: 'Hush! a chamois!' he leveled his rifle,
+and before I could say one word he had shot&mdash;&mdash;a goat! He was
+too much vexed to laugh, so I had it all to myself, and it was some
+minutes before I could assist him to raise the little animal, whose leg
+was broken. The flock was not far off, and the herd-boy was evidently
+searching the wood, having heard the shot. Now it never would have done
+to let such an unsportsmanlike event get wind, so we carried the goat to
+some distance, when, meeting a peasant, we paid him to leave it at a hut
+on a neighboring Alp, and request it should be taken down to the valley
+at the first opportunity. I never mentioned the subject to any one but
+my brother Heinrich. Some time after, he was hunting in the same
+locality, and came upon a lad who was crying, with a regular mountain
+voice, for the loss of that very goat, for which it seemed his mother
+had to pay. I must confess, the consequence of kidnapping the animal for
+a time had never struck me, and I was therefore glad to know that my
+brother had given the lad money enough to pay all damages. But come, it
+is time we tried our hay-berths, for if we can't sleep we can rest."</p>
+
+<p>Stephan, who had been eagerly listening, exclaimed: "Oh, please sir,
+wait a moment. I was that boy to whom the gentleman gave the money, and
+he told me he should expect it returned if I ever found the goat. Some
+time afterward I did find it, and I have always carried the money sewn
+into my coat-pocket in case I should meet the gentleman again when I am
+away from home, but I never did so; perhaps, sir, you will be kind
+enough to give it to him," he added, beginning to unfasten the little
+packet from the lining of his side-pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Turning to Brand, the Baron asked if he knew anything of this
+romantic goat story.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, sir, and so does every one in the village, for the boy
+got into trouble with the neighbors, who all thought he had been
+throwing stones at the animal, and they even turned him out of his
+situation, but, as luck would have it, something else was offered the
+same day, so that it did not hurt him or his mother either."</p>
+
+<p>"It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had always wished
+to make violins and zithers, and owing to that accident I got my wish,"
+said Stephan, in reply to the Baron's expressions of regret.</p>
+
+<p>"As to the money," said the Baron, "we will make an exchange; you
+shall have my purse, which contains about ten florins, and I will take
+your little bag, just as it is, as a proof of Bavarian honesty and
+honor. We shall see more of one another," he added; "meantime, don't
+forget that we must be off by four in the morning. Good-night!"</p>
+
+<p>The moon still shone when the travelers commenced their mountain
+journey. Slowly they wound their way round the ever-ascending path.
+About half-way up they came to a small rocky plain, where some young
+cattle were grazing. Their alarmed wild movements proved how rarely
+human beings passed their high-walled prison. From this point their
+climbing became a real labor, but before long they arrived at the
+summit, where, amidst much laughter and want of breath, they all threw
+themselves on the ground and gave vent to their satisfaction at being
+nearly 7,000 feet above the sea, and to their admiration of the glorious
+view.</p>
+
+<p>But their stay on the summit was short, as they wished to make the
+descent of the mountain in one day. They did not reach Partenkirchen
+till nearly midnight, nor Mittenwald till the following day, where, of
+course, their adventures were related, and Stephan's story was soon the
+talk of the village. He became a perfect hero for the time, and many a
+neighbor shook hands and hoped he would forgive the doubt cast upon his
+word, although years had since passed and the goat of contention had
+been gathered to its fathers.</p>
+
+<p>Some time after, a letter came to the Post Inn for Stephan, causing
+much curiosity in the village, as it was the first he had ever received.
+It came from the Baron, who offered him an excellent situation on his
+estate, under the forester, who, being childless and old, would not only
+instruct Stephan in his duties, but would soon leave the management in a
+great measure to him; moreover, he himself might hope to succeed as
+Forester, if he found the life suited to his taste. A week was given him
+for consideration. He did not at all like the idea of leaving his native
+place, to which he was attached with that intensity of feeling said to
+be peculiar to the mountaineers; but so good an offer was not to be
+refused, especially as Herr Dahn and Brand both approved of his going.
+So the letter was written to tell the Baron he would come in a few
+weeks, as requested. Meantime his old master gave him an order for a
+zither of the best quality, to be made of handsome wood, inlaid with
+mother-of-pearl, and as the price was of no consequence, he was to make
+it quite a specimen instrument, to show how well he could work. Stephan
+was very much pleased with the commission, and when, at the end of three
+weeks, it was finished, his delight was great when Herr Dahn pronounced
+it "One of the very best he had ever had in his warehouse, and quite fit
+for the king." The day came for Stephan's departure, but it was not a
+sad one, as everything was arranged for him to return in three months to
+fetch Gretchen, his old master's daughter, who had promised to marry
+him, and Stephan's mother was to live with them.</p>
+
+<p>Stephan's letters were most satisfactory. He liked the new life and
+the old Forester, and was sure Gretchen would admire the pretty houses,
+the large balcony, along the rails of which he was growing some of the
+beautiful dark carnations she was so fond of, and he knew she would
+rejoice to see the glowing mountain-peaks rising from the dark pine
+woods at sunset.</p>
+
+<p>The wedding-day arrived at last, and in the course of the second
+evening,&mdash;for the festivities lasted two days,&mdash;some strangers
+staying in the village came up to see the dancing, which took place in a
+very large room in the inn. Among them was the Baron Liszt, who, after
+dancing the last waltz with Gretchen, requested the visitors would
+remain a few minutes, as he had something to show them.</p>
+
+<p>A box was then brought in by the hostess, dressed in her best costume
+and fur cap. She placed it with much solemnity before the Baron, who
+lifted the lid, took out the beautiful zither that Stephan had made with
+such care, and handing it to the pretty, blushing Gretchen, he said he
+could offer her nothing better as a wedding gift than this specimen of
+her husband's talent, which he hoped she would always keep and use as a
+token of his respect and admiration for Bavarian honesty and truth.
+Then, shaking hands with them both, he took leave amidst loud
+acclamations and waving of hats; and so ended the wedding of Stephan and
+Gretchen.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="troubles" id="troubles">TROUBLES IN HIGH LIFE.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Mrs. J. G. Burnett.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="imgcenter"> <a name="image03" id="image03"><img
+  src="images/image03.jpg" width="378" height="400" alt="TROUBLES IN
+  HIGH LIFE" /></a> </div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Two miniature mothers at play on the floor</div>
+    <div class="in1">Their wearisome cares were debating,</div>
+    <div>How Dora and Arabelle, children no more,</div>
+    <div>Were twice as much trouble as ever before,</div>
+    <div>And the causes each had her own cares to deplore</div>
+    <div class="in1">Were, really, well worth my relating.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Said one little mother: "You really don't know</div>
+    <div class="in1">What a burden my life is with Bella!</div>
+    <div>Her stravagant habits I hope she'll outgrow.</div>
+    <div>She buys her kid gloves by the dozen, you know,</div>
+    <div>Sits for <i>cartes de visites</i> every fortnight or so,</div>
+    <div class="in1">And don't do a thing that I tell her!"</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Those stylish young ladies (the dollies, you know)</div>
+    <div class="in1">Had complexions soft, pearly and waxen,</div>
+    <div>With arms, neck and forehead, as white as the snow,</div>
+    <div>Golden hair sweeping down to the waist and below,</div>
+    <div>Eyes blue as the sky, cheeks with youth's ruddy glow,&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">Of a beauty pure Grecian and Saxon.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"Indeed!" said the other, "that's sad to be sure;</div>
+    <div class="in1">But, ah," with a sigh, "no one guesses</div>
+    <div>The cares and anxieties mothers endure.</div>
+    <div>For though Dora appears so sedate and demure,</div>
+    <div>She spends all the money that I can secure</div>
+    <div class="in1">On her cloaks and her bonnets and dresses."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Then followed such prattle of fashion and style</div>
+    <div class="in1">I smiled as I listened and wondered,</div>
+    <div>And I thought, had I tried to repeat it erewhile,</div>
+    <div>How these fair little Israelites, without guile,</div>
+    <div>Would mock at my lack of their knowledge, and smile</div>
+    <div class="in1">At the way I had stumbled and blundered.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>And I thought, too, when each youthful mother had conned</div>
+    <div class="in1">Her startling and touching narration,</div>
+    <div>Of the dolls of which I in my childhood was fond,</div>
+    <div>How with Dora and Arabelle they'd correspond,</div>
+    <div>And how far dolls and children to-day are beyond</div>
+    <div class="in1">Those we had in the last generation!</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="tails" id="tails">A TALE OF MANY TAILS.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Katharine B. Foot.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p>Carry stood in the door-way with her dolly on one arm and her kitten
+hanging over the other. Kitty didn't look comfortable, but she bore up
+bravely, only once in a while giving a plaintive mew. Carry gazed into
+the bright white sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>"It's melting hot," she said. "I guess, grandma, I'll take my doll
+and Friskarina out to the wash-house and have a party."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said grandma, looking over her spectacles, "I've no
+objection; only there's a black cloud coming up, and you may get caught
+out there in a thunder storm."</p>
+
+<p>"If I do, can Jake come for me with an umbrella, and can I take off
+my shoes and stockings and come home barefoot?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I don't believe it would hurt you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll go;" and Carry picked up a box with a little tea-set in
+it, and started off, saying: "Do you believe it'll rain cats and dogs
+and pitchforks, grandma? That's what Jake says."</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear. You'd better ask him if he ever saw such a rain."</p>
+
+<p>"So I will," and away went Carry through the sunshine. And she said
+to herself: "Wouldn't it be funny if it did rain so? I guess grandma
+wouldn't like it much if cats rained down, 'cause she says five cats are
+too many now."</p>
+
+<p>The tea-party on an old chair without a back wasn't much of an
+affair, after all; for, although the doll&mdash;Miss Rose de
+Lorme&mdash;was propped up against a starch-box more than half a dozen
+times, she would keep on sliding feet first until she came down flat on
+her back and thumped her head. The kitten went to sleep in the corner
+just as Carry put her down.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed the little girl. "It's so lonely with cats and
+dolls and things that can't talk!" And then she sat down in a corner by
+the old wash-boiler, where she could see out of the open door, and took
+Kitty into her lap.</p>
+
+<p>The great fluffy clouds banked up higher and higher, and from being
+white and dazzling they began to grow black at the edges; and the black
+masses rolled up and up, until the sun was all hidden and the sky was
+dark. Then came the rain, gently at first, in drops far apart, but soon
+it fell faster and faster, and the little leaves on the currant-bushes
+jumped up and down and seemed to enjoy the shower-bath. To Carry's great
+delight, little streams began to creep over the path, now in separate
+little trickles, and presently with sudden little darts into one
+another, as they came to uneven places in the walk. She watched it all
+with great wide eyes, and felt quiet and cool just to smell the damp
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>But soon the drops grew bigger, and all at once they weren't drops of
+rain at all!</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious!" cried Carry. "Kittens,&mdash;little blind kittens!
+It'll rain dogs next, I suppose!"</p>
+
+<p>That's exactly what did happen; for down came puppies along with the
+kittens. They squirmed and mewed and hissed and yelped, and all the time
+kept growing bigger and bigger. Some came head first pawing the air as
+they fell; some tail first, looking scared to death; but most miserable
+of all were those that came down tumbling over and over. It made them so
+dizzy to come down in that whirligig fashion, that they staggered about
+when they tried to stand. Carry felt truly sorry for them, and yet she
+couldn't help laughing. And the cats and dogs who had come first laughed
+too.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! That's sort of funny, isn't it?" she thought; but the
+surprise didn't last long, for, in the midst of a tremendous shower,
+down came two most remarkable figures, and, with them, what at first
+sight appeared to be several long sticks; but, on looking again, Carry
+saw these were pitchforks!</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said she, "I thought they'd come."</p>
+
+<p>Then she stared for a minute at the two odd figures, and cried: "Why!
+it's Mother Hubbard's dog and Puss in Boots!" And sure enough, so it
+was!</p>
+
+<p>Puss had a blue velvet cloak on his shoulders, large boots, and a
+velvet cap with a long plume. He turned toward Carry and made her a low
+bow, gracefully doffing his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Mademoiselle," said he. "I am that renowned
+personage, and your humble servant. Permit me to add, Mademoiselle, that
+my eyes have not beheld a fairer damsel than they now rest upon, since
+last I saw my beloved mistress, the charming Marquise de Carabas."</p>
+
+<p>Mother Hubbard's dog was dressed in a suit of fine old-fashioned
+clothes, and held tightly between his teeth a very short stemmed pipe
+from which he puffed great clouds of smoke.</p>
+
+<p>He came up beside Puss, and said, without removing his pipe: "Stuff
+and nonsense! We don't talk so stupidly in our village. Don't waste your
+time in silly yarns, but let's settle this fight at once."</p>
+
+<p>Puss turned away and, addressing Carry, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, this plebeian does not understand the language of
+court circles, to which I have been used for many years. Mademoiselle
+will pardon his ignorance." And here Puss rolled up his eyes and placed
+his hand upon his heart and bowed so low that he was actually standing
+on his head before he had finished. But he turned a graceful somersault
+and came right side up again in half a second, without looking at all
+disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" said the dog, with dignity, "this matter should be settled at
+once, or the sun will be out, and then&mdash;&mdash;" he stopped short
+and winked at Puss in a very knowing manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! that is true," replied the cat, "I had forgotten. Shall it be a
+general or a single combat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the dog, gravely, sitting down on a large flower-pot
+nearby, "I think, as we have been wanting to fight this out for some
+time,&mdash;indeed, I may say, almost since time began,&mdash;we had
+better allow every one to have a tooth and a claw in it. Then, perhaps,
+this matter will be settled forever."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite my opinion," responded Puss. "But first the ladies, infants,
+and weak and wounded, must be removed from the field."</p>
+
+<p>"All right!" said the dog. "But look here. You first stop that, will
+you?" and he pointed to a fine gray cat that was rubbing herself against
+a large, comfortable-looking Newfoundland.</p>
+
+<p>"Immediately," said Puss, and he bawled in a loud voice: "There is to
+be no friendly intercourse between soldiers of the two armies. It is in
+the highest degree detrimental to military discipline."</p>
+
+<p>And the dog shouted: "Stop being pleasant to each other, right off. I
+can't have it. You always have fought, and you've got to fight now."</p>
+
+<p>The big Newfoundland at once made a snap at the gray cat, and she put
+up her back, spit and clawed at him, and ran off as fast as she
+could.</p>
+
+<p>Then Puss waved his handkerchief, as a flag of truce, and said in a
+loud voice, "There will be a cessation of hostilities for five minutes,
+until the non-combatants are removed."</p>
+
+<p>The able-bodied cats arranged themselves in rows, and the dogs did
+the same. The two generals stepped grandly in front of the lines, and
+the battle seemed about to begin, when a young and frisky cat, at the
+far end of the front rank, took advantage of a dog opposite who had
+turned his head, and jumped upon his back, clawing him in so cruel a way
+that he howled dreadfully.</p>
+
+<p>At this, Mother Hubbard's dog advanced angrily, and taking the cat by
+the nape of the neck, threw her among the cat army, saying: "The trumpet
+hasn't sounded, and we haven't begun yet. That was a real sneaky trick,
+just like a cat."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir!" cried Puss in Boots, loftily, "Do you mean to insinuate that I
+am a sneak?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say so precisely," returned the dog. "But if you want me
+to, I will." Then he added, in a taunting tone, "You are a sneak!"</p>
+
+<p>Puss trembled with rage at this insult, and drew the little sword he
+wore at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Prove it!" he cried, brandishing his blade.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you sneak yourself and your master into a castle and fine
+clothes that you had no right to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you pretend to be dead once and frighten your poor mistress
+nearly out of her wits? Take <i>that</i>, sir!" and he made a furious
+cut at him.</p>
+
+<p>But the dog dodged the weapon, and, with a cutlass suddenly pulled
+from behind him, made a fierce blow at the cat. Puss leaped nimbly away,
+with a scream of triumph and defiance. Then they set to with all their
+skill and hate and cunning.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Puss fell, apparently dead, and Sir John Hubbard, the
+victor, was leaning on his cutlass, looking sorry, when suddenly Puss
+jumped up, grasped his sword and made a savage lunge at the dog. "That
+was only one of <i>my</i> lives!" he screamed. "I have eight left. Cats
+have nine lives, but you&mdash;you miserable dog&mdash;have only
+one."</p>
+
+<p>Then they fought worse than ever, and neither seemed willing to
+yield.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image04" id="image04"><img src="images/image04.jpg" width="333"
+height="499" alt="RAINING CATS AND DOGS" title="RAINING CATS AND DOGS" /></a>
+<p class="caption">RAINING CATS AND DOGS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But the fight ended in a strange way. Just as the dog again laid Puss
+low, a tremendous shower of pitchforks fell, beating on everything with
+dreadful effect. Sir John saved himself by getting under a tree, but
+poor Puss couldn't move to a shelter, and his remaining seven lives were
+being rapidly knocked out of him, when the brave dog rushed out into the
+storm and proved himself a generous foe by shielding Puss from the
+pitchforks with his own body.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a dear good dog!" cried Carry. "I always loved you the
+best!" But even as she was speaking there came a terrific clap of
+thunder, and her own cat, who had been trembling with fear, sprang to
+her shoulder and buried her claws there and as Carry shrieked with
+fright and pain, Jake was holding her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you frightened, out here all alone?" said he. "I was busy and I
+didn't think you'd mind the rain; but when the thunder began I came out
+quick."</p>
+
+<p>"Rain?" said Carry, "I don't mind rain, Jake; but I don't like it to
+rain cats and dogs when they fight. Why, where are they?" She lifted her
+face from Jake's shoulder, and looked about her amazed, for not a cat
+was to be seen nor a dog, but only the steady rain, pouring straight
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"Cats and dogs!" said Jake, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"And pitchforks, too, Jake,&mdash;yes, really!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Jake; "if you aint the most <i>curious</i> little gal!"</p>
+
+<p>But Carry don't think she is half as curious as other people are who
+wont believe what she saw with her own eyes.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<a name="wecame" id="wecame"></a>
+<table summary="Illustrated story" width="98%">
+<tr>
+  <td><img src="images/image05.jpg" width="297" height="300"
+  alt="WE CAME,&mdash;WE SAW" title="WE CAME,&mdash;WE SAW" />
+  <p class="caption">WE CAME,&mdash;WE SAW,</p></td>
+  <td><img src="images/image06.jpg" width="315" height="300" alt="WE LEFT."
+  title="WE LEFT." />
+  <p class="caption">WE LEFT.</p></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="lilacs" id="lilacs">UNDER THE LILACS.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Louisa M. Alcott.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3>
+
+<h4>SOMEBODY COMES.</h4>
+
+<p>Bab and Betty had been playing in the avenue all the afternoon,
+several weeks later, but as the shadows began to lengthen both agreed to
+sit upon the gate and rest while waiting for Ben, who had gone nutting
+with a party of boys. When they played house, Bab was always the father,
+and went hunting or fishing with great energy and success, bringing home
+all sorts of game, from elephants and crocodiles to humming-birds and
+minnows. Betty was the mother, and a most notable little housewife,
+always mixing up imaginary delicacies with sand and dirt in old pans and
+broken china, which she baked in an oven of her own construction.</p>
+
+<p>Both had worked hard that day, and were glad to retire to their
+favorite lounging-place, where Bab was happy trying to walk across the
+wide top bar without falling off, and Betty enjoyed slow, luxurious
+swings while her sister was recovering from her tumbles. On this
+occasion, having indulged their respective tastes, they paused for a
+brief interval of conversation, sitting side by side on the gate like a
+pair of plump gray chickens gone to roost.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you hope Ben will get his bag full? We shall have such fun
+eating nuts evenings," observed Bab, wrapping her arms in her apron, for
+it was October now, and the air was growing keen.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and Ma says we may boil some in our little kettles. Ben
+promised we should have half," answered Betty, still intent on her
+cookery.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall save some of mine for Thorny."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall keep lots of mine for Miss Celia."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't it seem more than two weeks since she went away?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what she'll bring us."</p>
+
+<p>Before Bab could conjecture, the sound of a step and a familiar
+whistle made both look expectantly toward the turn in the road, all
+ready to cry out with one voice, "How many have you got?" Neither spoke
+a word, however, for the figure which presently appeared was not Ben,
+but a stranger,&mdash;a man who stopped whistling, and came slowly on,
+dusting his shoes in the way-side grass, and brushing the sleeves of his
+shabby velveteen coat as if anxious to freshen himself up a bit.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a tramp, let's run away," whispered Betty, after a hasty
+look.</p>
+
+<p>"I aint afraid," and Bab was about to assume her boldest look when a
+sneeze spoiled it, and made her clutch the gate to hold on.</p>
+
+<p>At that unexpected sound the man looked up, showing a thin, dark
+face, with a pair of sharp, black eyes, which surveyed the little girls
+so steadily that Betty quaked, and Bab began to wish she had at least
+jumped down inside the gate.</p>
+
+<p>"How are you?" said the man with a good-natured nod and smile, as if
+to re-assure the round-eyed children staring at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty well, thank you, sir," responded Bab, politely nodding back
+at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Folks at home?" asked the man, looking over their heads toward the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Only Ma; all the rest are gone to be married."</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds lively. At the other place all the folks had gone to a
+funeral," and the man laughed as he glanced at the big house on the
+hill.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, do you know the Squire?" exclaimed Bab, much surprised and
+re-assured.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on purpose to see him. Just strolling round till he gets back,"
+with an impatient sort of sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty thought you was a tramp, but I wasn't afraid. I like tramps
+ever since Ben came," explained Bab, with her usual candor.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's Ben?" and the man came nearer so quickly that Betty nearly
+fell backward. "Don't you be scared, Sissy. I like little girls, so you
+set easy and tell me about Ben," he added, in a persuasive tone, as he
+leaned on the gate, so near that both could see what a friendly face he
+had in spite of its eager, anxious look.</p>
+
+<p>"Ben is Miss Celia's boy. We found him almost starved in the
+coach-house, and he's been living near here ever since," answered Bab,
+comprehensively.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all about it. I like tramps too," and the man looked as if
+he did, very much, as Bab told the little story in a few childish words
+that were better than a much more elegant account.</p>
+
+<p>"You were very good to the little feller," was all the man said when
+she ended her somewhat confused tale, in which she had jumbled the old
+coach and Miss Celia, dinner-pails and nutting, Sancho and circuses.</p>
+
+<p>"Course we were! He's a nice boy and we are fond of him, and he likes
+us," said Bab, heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"'Specially me," put in Betty, quite at ease now, for the black eyes
+had softened wonderfully, and the brown face was smiling all over.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't wonder a mite. You are the nicest pair of little girls I've
+seen this long time," and the man put a hand on either side of them, as
+if he wanted to hug the chubby children. But he didn't do it; he merely
+rubbed his hands and stood there asking questions till the two
+chatter-boxes had told him everything there was to tell, in the most
+confiding manner, for he very soon ceased to seem like a stranger, and
+looked so familiar that Bab, growing inquisitive in her turn, suddenly
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you ever been here before? It seems as if I'd seen you."</p>
+
+<p>"Never in my life. Guess you've seen somebody that looks like me,"
+and the black eyes twinkled for a minute as they looked into the puzzled
+little faces before him. Then he said, soberly:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm looking round for a likely boy; don't you think this Ben would
+suit me? I want just such a lively sort of chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a circus man?" asked Bab, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, not now. I'm in better business."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad of it&mdash;<i>we</i> don't approve of 'em; but I do think
+they're splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>Bab began by gravely quoting Miss Celia, and ended with an
+irrepressible burst of admiration which contrasted drolly with her first
+remark.</p>
+
+<p>Betty added anxiously, "We can't let Ben go, any way. I know he
+wouldn't want to, and Miss Celia would feel bad. Please don't ask
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"He can do as he likes, I suppose. He hasn't got any folks of his
+own, has he?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, his father died in California, and Ben felt so bad he cried, and
+we were real sorry, and gave him a piece of Ma, 'cause he was so
+lonesome," answered Betty, in her tender little voice, with a pleading
+look which made the man stroke her smooth cheek and say, quite
+softly:</p>
+
+<p>"Bless your heart for that! I wont take him away, child, or do a
+thing to trouble anybody that's been good to him."</p>
+
+<p>"He's coming now. I hear Sanch barking at the squirrels!" cried Bab,
+standing up to get a good look down the road.</p>
+
+<p>The man turned quickly, and Betty saw that he breathed fast as he
+watched the spot where the low sunshine lay warmly on the red maple at
+the corner. Into this glow came unconscious Ben, whistling "Rory
+O'Moore," loud and clear, as he trudged along with a heavy bag of nuts
+over his shoulder and the light full on his contented face. Sancho
+trotted before and saw the stranger first, for the sun in Ben's eyes
+dazzled him. Since his sad loss Sancho cherished a strong dislike to
+tramps, and now he paused to growl and show his teeth, evidently
+intending to warn this one off the premises.</p>
+
+<p>"He wont hurt you&mdash;&mdash;" began Bab, encouragingly; but before
+she could add a chiding word to the dog, Sanch gave an excited howl, and
+flew at the man's throat as if about to throttle him.</p>
+
+<p>Betty screamed, and Bab was about to go to the rescue when both
+perceived that the dog was licking the stranger's face in an ecstasy of
+joy, and heard the man say as he hugged the curly beast:</p>
+
+<p>"Good old Sanch! I knew he wouldn't forget master, and he
+doesn't."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" called Ben, coming up briskly, with a strong
+grip of his stout stick.</p>
+
+<p>There was no need of any answer, for, as he came into the shadow, he
+saw the man, and stood looking at him as if he were a ghost.</p>
+
+<p>"It's father, Benny; don't you know me?" asked the man, with an odd
+sort of choke in his voice as he thrust the dog away, and held out both
+hands to the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Down dropped the nuts, and crying, "Oh, Daddy, Daddy!" Ben cast
+himself into the arms of the shabby velveteen coat, while poor Sanch
+tore round them in distracted circles, barking wildly, as if that was
+the only way in which he could vent his rapture.</p>
+
+<p>What happened next, Bab and Betty never stopped to see, but, dropping
+from their roost, they went flying home like startled Chicken Littles
+with the astounding news that "Ben's father has come alive, and Sancho
+knew him right away!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Moss had just got her cleaning done up, and was resting a minute
+before setting the table, but she flew out of her old rocking-chair when
+the excited children told the wonderful tale, exclaiming as they
+ended:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he? Go bring him here. I declare it fairly takes my breath
+away!"</p>
+
+<p>Before Bab could obey, or her mother compose herself, Sancho bounced
+in and spun round like an insane top, trying to stand on his head, walk
+upright, waltz and bark all at once, for the good old fellow had so lost
+his head that he forgot the loss of his tail.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming! they are coming! See, Ma, what a nice man he is,"
+said Bab, hopping about on one foot as she watched the slowly
+approaching pair.</p>
+
+<p>"My patience, don't they look alike! I should know he was Ben's Pa
+anywhere!" said Mrs. Moss, running to the door in a hurry.</p>
+
+<p>They certainly did resemble one another, and it was almost comical to
+see the same curve in the legs, the same wide-awake style of wearing the
+hat, the same sparkle of the eye, good-natured smile and agile motion of
+every limb. Old Ben carried the bag in one hand while young Ben held the
+other fast, looking a little shame-faced at his own emotion now, for
+there were marks of tears on his cheeks, but too glad to repress the
+delight he felt that he had really found Daddy this side heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Moss unconsciously made a pretty little picture of herself as
+she stood at the door with her honest face shining and both hands out,
+saying in a hearty tone, which was a welcome in itself:</p>
+
+<p>"I'm <i>real</i> glad to see you safe and well, Mr. Brown! Come right
+in and make yourself to home. I guess there isn't a happier boy living
+than Ben is to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"And I <i>know</i> there isn't a gratefuler man living than I am for
+your kindness to my poor forsaken little feller," answered Mr. Brown,
+dropping both his burdens to give the comely woman's hands a hard
+shake.</p>
+
+<p>"Now don't say a word about it, but sit down and rest, and we'll have
+tea in less 'n no time. Ben must be tired and hungry, though he's so
+happy I don't believe he knows it," laughed Mrs. Moss, bustling away to
+hide the tears in her eyes, anxious to make things sociable and easy all
+round.</p>
+
+<p>With this end in view she set forth her best china, and covered the
+table with food enough for a dozen, thanking her stars that it was
+baking day, and everything had turned out well. Ben and his father sat
+talking by the window till they were bidden to "draw up and help
+themselves" with such hospitable warmth that everything had an extra
+relish to the hungry pair.</p>
+
+<p>Ben paused occasionally to stroke the rusty coat-sleeve with
+bread-and-buttery fingers to convince himself that "Daddy" had really
+come, and his father disposed of various inconvenient emotions by eating
+as if food was unknown in California. Mrs. Moss beamed on every one from
+behind the big tea-pot like a mild full moon, while Bab and Betty kept
+interrupting one another in their eagerness to tell something new about
+Ben and how Sanch lost his tail.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you let Mr. Brown talk a little; we all want to hear how he
+'came alive,' as you call it," said Mrs. Moss, as they drew round the
+fire in the "settin'-room," leaving the tea-things to take care of
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It was not a long story, but a very interesting one to this circle of
+listeners: all about the wild life on the plains, trading for mustangs,
+the terrible blow that nearly killed Ben, senior, the long months of
+unconsciousness in the California hospital, the slow recovery, the
+journey back, Mr. Smithers's tale of the boy's disappearance, and then
+the anxious trip to find out from Squire Allen where he now was.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked the hospital folks to write and tell you as soon as I knew
+whether I was on my head or my heels, and they promised; but they
+didn't; so I came off the minute I could, and worked my way back,
+expecting to find you at the old place. I was afraid you'd have worn out
+your welcome here and gone off again, for you are as fond of traveling
+as your father."</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image07" id="image07"><img src="images/image07.jpg" width="309"
+height="400" alt="MRS. MOSS WELCOMES BEN'S FATHER" title="MRS. MOSS WELCOMES
+BEN'S FATHER" /></a>
+<p class="caption">MRS. MOSS WELCOMES BEN'S FATHER.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I wanted to, sometimes, but the folks here were so dreadful good to
+me I <i>couldn't</i>," confessed Ben, secretly surprised to find that
+the prospect of going off with Daddy even cost him a pang of regret, for
+the boy had taken root in the friendly soil, and was no longer a
+wandering thistle-down, tossed about by every wind that blew.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what I owe 'em, and you and me will work out that debt before
+we die, or our name isn't B.B.," said Mr. Brown, with an emphatic slap
+on his knee, which Ben imitated half unconsciously as he exclaimed
+heartily:</p>
+
+<p>"That's <i>so!</i>" adding, more quietly, "What are you going to do
+now? Go back to Smithers and the old work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not likely, after the way he treated you, Sonny. I've had it out
+with him, and he wont want to see <i>me</i> again in a hurry," answered
+Mr. Brown, with a sudden kindling of the eye that reminded Bab of Ben's
+face when he shook her after losing Sancho.</p>
+
+<p>"There's more circuses than his in the world; but I'll have to limber
+out ever so much before I'm good for much in that line," said the boy,
+stretching his stout arms and legs with a curious mixture of
+satisfaction and regret.</p>
+
+<p>"You've been living in clover and got fat, you rascal," and his
+father gave him a poke here and there, as Mr. Squeers did the plump
+Wackford, when displaying him as a specimen of the fine diet at
+Do-the-boys Hall. "Don't believe I could put you up now if I tried, for
+I haven't got my strength back yet, and we are both out of practice.
+It's just as well, for I've about made up my mind to quit the business
+and settle down somewhere for a spell, if I can get anything to do,"
+continued the rider, folding his arms and gazing thoughtfully into the
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't wonder a mite if you could right here, for Mr. Towne has
+a great boarding-stable over yonder, and he's always wanting men," said
+Mrs. Moss, eagerly, for she dreaded to have Ben go, and no one could
+forbid it if his father chose to take him away.</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds likely. Thanky, ma'am. I'll look up the concern and try
+my chance. Would you call it too great a come-down to have father an
+'ostler after being first rider in the 'Great Golden Menagerie, Circus,
+and Colosseum,' hey Ben?" asked Mr. Brown, quoting the well-remembered
+show-bill with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I shouldn't; it's real jolly up there when the big barn is full
+and eighty horses have to be taken care of. I love to go and see 'em.
+Mr. Towne asked me to come and be stable-boy when I rode the kicking
+gray the rest were afraid of. I hankered to go, but Miss Celia had just
+got my new books, and I knew she'd feel bad if I gave up going to
+school. Now I'm glad I didn't, for I get on first rate and like it."</p>
+
+<p>"You done right, boy, and I'm pleased with you. Don't you ever be
+ungrateful to them that befriended you, if you want to prosper. I'll
+tackle the stable business a Monday and see what's to be done. Now I
+ought to be walking, but I'll be round in the morning, ma'am, if you can
+spare Ben for a spell to-morrow. We'd like to have a good Sunday tramp
+and talk; wouldn't we, Sonny?" and Mr. Brown rose to go, with his hand
+on Ben's shoulder, as if loth to leave him even for the night.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Moss saw the longing in his face, and forgetting that he was an
+utter stranger, spoke right out of her hospitable heart.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a long piece to the tavern, and my little back bed-room is
+always ready. It wont make a mite of trouble if you don't mind a plain
+place, and you are heartily welcome."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brown looked pleased, but hesitated to accept any further favor
+from the good soul who had already done so much for him and his. Ben
+gave him no time to speak, however, for running to a door he flung it
+open and beckoned, saying, eagerly:</p>
+
+<p>"Do stay, father; it will be so nice to have you. This is a tip-top
+room; I slept here the night I came, and that bed was just splendid
+after bare ground for a fortnight."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll stop, and as I'm pretty well done up, I guess we may as well
+turn in now," answered the new guest; then, as if the memory of that
+homeless little lad so kindly cherished made his heart overflow in spite
+of him, Mr. Brown paused at the door to say hastily, with his hands on
+Bab and Betty's heads, as if his promise was a very earnest one:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't forget, ma'am, and these children shall never want a friend
+while Ben Brown's alive;" then he shut the door so quickly that the
+other Ben's prompt "Hear, hear!" was cut short in the middle.</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose he means that we shall have a piece of Ben's father,
+because we gave Ben a piece of our mother," said Betty, softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he does, and it's all fair," answered Bab, decidedly.
+"Isn't he a nice man, Ma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go to bed, children," was all the answer she got; but when they were
+gone, Mrs. Moss, as she washed up her dishes, more than once glanced at
+a certain nail where a man's hat had not hung for five years, and
+thought with a sigh what a natural, protecting air that slouched felt
+had.</p>
+
+<p>If one wedding were not quite enough for a child's story, we might
+here hint what no one dreamed of then, that before the year came round
+again Ben had found a mother, Bab and Betty a father, and Mr. Brown's
+hat was quite at home behind the kitchen door. But, on the whole, it is
+best not to say a word about it.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3>
+
+<h4>THE GREAT GATE IS OPENED.</h4>
+
+<p>The Browns were up and out so early next morning that Bab and Betty
+were sure they had run away in the night. But on looking for them, they
+were discovered in the coach-house criticising Lita, both with their
+hands in their pockets, both chewing straws, and looking as much alike
+as a big elephant and a small one.</p>
+
+<p>"That's as pretty a little span as I've seen for a long time," said
+the elder Ben, as the children came trotting down the path hand in hand,
+with the four blue bows at the ends of their braids bobbing briskly up
+and down.</p>
+
+<p>"The nigh one is my favorite, but the off one is the best goer,
+though she's dreadfully hard bitted," answered Ben the younger, with
+such a comical assumption of a jockey's important air that his father
+laughed as he said in an undertone:</p>
+
+<p>"Come, boy, we must drop the old slang since we've given up the old
+business. These good folks are making a gentleman of you, and I wont be
+the one to spoil their work. Hold on, my dears, and I'll show you how
+they say good-morning in California," he added, beckoning to the little
+girls, who now came up rosy and smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Breakfast is ready, sir," said Betty, looking much relieved to find
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"We thought you'd run away from us," explained Bab, as both put out
+their hands to shake those extended to them.</p>
+
+<p>"That would be a mean trick. But I'm going to run away <i>with</i>
+you," and Mr. Brown whisked a little girl to either shoulder before they
+knew what had happened, while Ben, remembering the day, with difficulty
+restrained himself from turning a series of triumphant somersaults
+before them all the way to the door, where Mrs. Moss stood waiting for
+them.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast, Ben disappeared for a short time, and returned in
+his Sunday suit, looking so neat and fresh that his father surveyed him
+with surprise and pride as he came in full of boyish satisfaction in his
+trim array.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a smart young chap! Did you take all that trouble just to go
+to walk with old Daddy?" asked Mr. Brown, stroking the smooth head, for
+they were alone just then, Mrs. Moss and the children being upstairs
+preparing for church.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought may be you'd like to go to meeting first," answered Ben,
+looking up at him with such a happy face that it was hard to refuse
+anything.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm too shabby, Sonny, else I'd go in a minute to please you."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Celia said God didn't mind poor clothes, and she took me when I
+looked worse than you do. I always go in the morning; she likes to have
+me," said Ben, turning his hat about as if not quite sure what he ought
+to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to go?" asked his father in a tone of surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to please her, if you don't mind. We could have our tramp
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't been to meeting since mother died, and it don't seem to
+come easy, though I know I ought to, seeing I'm alive and here," and Mr.
+Brown looked soberly out at the lovely autumn-world as if glad to be in
+it after his late danger and pain.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Celia said church was a good place to take our troubles, and to
+be thankful in. I went when I thought you were dead, and now I'd love to
+go when I've got my Daddy safe again."</p>
+
+<p>No one saw him, so Ben could not resist giving his father a sudden
+hug, which was warmly returned as the man said earnestly:</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go, and thank the Lord hearty for giving me back my boy
+better'n I left him!"</p>
+
+<p>For a minute, nothing was heard but the loud tick of the old clock
+and a mournful whine from Sancho, shut up in the shed lest he should go
+to church without an invitation.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as steps were heard on the stairs, Mr. Brown caught up his hat,
+saying hastily:</p>
+
+<p>"I ain't fit to go with them, you tell 'em, and I'll slip into a back
+seat after folks are in. I know the way." And, before Ben could reply,
+he was gone.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image08" id="image08"><img src="images/image08.jpg" width="499"
+height="336" alt="BEN AND HIS FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE" title="BEN AND HIS
+FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE" /></a>
+<p class="caption">BEN AND HIS FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Nothing was seen of him along the way, but he saw the little party,
+and rejoiced again over his boy, changed so greatly for the better; for
+Ben was the one thing which had kept his heart soft through all the
+trials and temptations of a rough life.</p>
+
+<p>"I promised Mary I'd do my best for the poor baby she had to leave,
+and I tried, but I guess a better friend than I am has been raised up
+for him when he needed her most. It wont hurt me to follow him in this
+road," thought Mr. Brown as he came out into the highway from his stroll
+"across lots," feeling that it would be good for him to stay in this
+quiet place for his own as well as for his son's sake.</p>
+
+<p>The bell had done ringing when he reached the green, but a single boy
+sat on the steps and ran to meet him, saying with a reproachful
+look:</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't going to let you be alone and have folks think I was
+ashamed of my father. Come, Daddy, we'll sit together."</p>
+
+<p>So Ben led his father straight to the Squire's pew, and sat beside
+him with a face so full of innocent pride and joy that people would have
+suspected the truth if he had not already told many of them. Mr. Brown,
+painfully conscious of his shabby coat, was rather "taken aback," as he
+expressed it, but the Squire's shake of the hand and Mrs. Allen's
+gracious nod enabled him to face the eyes of the interested
+congregation, the younger portion of which stared steadily at him all
+sermon time, in spite of paternal frowns and maternal tweakings in the
+rear.</p>
+
+<p>But the crowning glory of the day came after church, when the Squire
+said to Ben, and Sam heard him:</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a letter for you from Miss Celia. Come home with me and
+bring your father. I want to talk to him."</p>
+
+<p>The boy proudly escorted his parent to the old carry-all, and tucking
+himself in behind with Mrs. Allen, had the satisfaction of seeing the
+slouched felt hat side by side with the Squire's Sunday beaver in front,
+as they drove off at such an unusually smart pace that, it was evident,
+Duke knew there was a critical eye upon him. The interest taken in the
+father was owing to the son at first, but, by the time the story was
+told, old Ben had won friends for himself, not only because of the
+misfortunes which he had evidently borne in a manly way, but because of
+his delight in the boy's improvement, and the desire he felt to turn his
+hand to any honest work, that he might keep Ben happy and contented in
+this good home.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you a line to Towne. Smithers spoke well of you, and your
+own ability will be the best recommendation," said the Squire, as he
+parted from them at his door, having given Ben the letter.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Celia had been gone a fortnight, and every one was longing to
+have her back. The first week brought Ben a newspaper, with a crinkly
+line drawn round the "marriages" to attract attention to that spot, and
+one was marked by a black frame with a large hand pointing at it from
+the margin. Thorny sent that, but the next week came a parcel for Mrs.
+Moss, and in it was discovered a box of wedding-cake for every member of
+the family, including Sancho, who ate his at one gulp and chewed up the
+lace paper which covered it. This was the third week, and as if there
+could not be happiness enough crowded into it for Ben, the letter he
+read on his way home told him that his dear mistress was coming back on
+the following Saturday. One passage particularly pleased him:</p>
+
+<p>"I want the great gate opened, so that the new master may go in that
+way. Will you see that it is done, and all made neat afterward. Ronda
+will give you the key, and you may have out all your flags if you like,
+for the old place cannot look too gay for this home-coming."</p>
+
+<p>Sunday though it was, Ben could not help waving the letter over his
+head as he ran in to tell Mrs. Moss the glad news, and begin at once to
+plan the welcome they would give Miss Celia, for he never called her
+anything else.</p>
+
+<p>During their afternoon stroll in the mellow sunshine, Ben continued
+to talk of her, never tired of telling about his happy summer under her
+roof. And Mr. Brown was never weary of hearing, for every hour showed
+him more plainly what a lovely miracle her gentle words had wrought, and
+every hour increased his gratitude, his desire to return the kindness in
+some humble way. He had his wish, and did his part handsomely when he
+least expected to have a chance.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday he saw Mr. Towne, and, thanks to the Squire's good word,
+was engaged for a month on trial, making himself so useful that it was
+soon evident he was the right man in the right place. He lived on the
+hill, but managed to get down to the little brown house in the evening
+for a word with Ben, who just now was as full of business as if the
+President and his Cabinet were coming.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was put in apple-pie order in and about the old house; the
+great gate, with much creaking of rusty hinges and some clearing away of
+rubbish, was set wide open, and the first creature who entered it was
+Sancho, solemnly dragging the dead mullein which long ago had grown
+above the top of it. October frosts seemed to have spared some of the
+brightest leaves for this especial occasion, and on Saturday the
+gate-way was decorated with gay wreaths, red and yellow sprays strewed
+the flags, and the porch was a blaze of color with the red woodbine,
+that was in its glory when the honeysuckle was leafless.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, it was a half-holiday, so the children could trim and
+chatter to their hearts' content, and the little girls ran about
+sticking funny decorations where no one would ever think of looking for
+them. Ben was absorbed in his flags, which were sprinkled all down the
+avenue with a lavish display, suggesting several Fourth-of-Julys rolled
+into one. Mr. Brown had come down to lend a hand, and did so most
+energetically, for the break-neck things he did with his son during the
+decoration fever would have terrified Mrs. Moss out of her wits if she
+had not been in the house giving last touches to every room, while Ronda
+and Katy set forth a sumptuous tea.</p>
+
+<p>All was going well, and the train would be due in an hour, when
+luckless Bab nearly turned the rejoicing into mourning, the feast into
+ashes. She heard her mother say to Ronda, "There ought to be a fire in
+every room, it looks so cheerful, and the air is chilly spite of the
+sunshine," and never waiting to hear the reply that some of the
+long-unused chimneys were not safe till cleaned, off went Bab with an
+apron full of old shingles and made a roaring blaze in the front room
+fire-place, which was of all others the one to be let alone, as the flue
+was out of order. Charmed with the brilliant light and the crackle of
+the tindery fuel, Miss Bab refilled her apron and fed the fire till the
+chimney began to rumble ominously, sparks to fly out at the top, and
+soot and swallows' nests to come tumbling down upon the hearth. Then,
+scared at what she had done, the little mischief-maker hastily buried
+her fire, swept up the rubbish, and ran off, thinking no one would
+discover her prank if she never told.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was very busy, and the big chimney blazed and rumbled
+unnoticed till the cloud of smoke caught Ben's eye as he festooned his
+last effort in the flag line, part of an old sheet with the words
+"Father has come!" in red cambric letters, half a foot long, sewed upon
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo, I do believe they've got up a bonfire without asking my
+leave! Miss Celia never would let us, because the sheds and roofs are so
+old and dry; I must see about it. Catch me, Daddy, I'm coming down!"
+cried Ben, dropping out of the elm with no more thought of where he
+might alight than a squirrel swinging from bough to bough.</p>
+
+<p>His father caught him, and followed in haste as his nimble-footed son
+raced up the avenue, to stop in the gate-way, frightened at the prospect
+before him, for falling sparks had already kindled the roof here and
+there, and the chimney smoked and roared like a small volcano, while
+Katy's wails and Ronda's cries for water came from within.</p>
+
+<p>"Up there, with wet blankets, while I get out the hose!" cried Mr.
+Brown, as he saw at a glance what the danger was.</p>
+
+<p>Ben vanished, and, before his father got the garden hose rigged, he
+was on the roof with a dripping blanket over the worst spot. Mrs. Moss
+had her wits about her in a minute, and ran to put in the fire-board and
+stop the draught. Then, stationing Ronda to watch that the falling
+cinders did no harm inside, she hurried off to help Mr. Brown, who might
+not know where things were. But he had roughed it so long that he was
+the man for emergencies, and seemed to lay his hand on whatever was
+needed, by a sort of instinct. Finding that the hose was too short to
+reach the upper part of the roof, he was on the roof in a jiffy with two
+pails of water, and quenched the most dangerous flames before much harm
+was done. This he kept up till the chimney burned itself out, while Ben
+dodged about among the gables with a watering-pot, lest some stray
+sparks should be overlooked and break out afresh.</p>
+
+<p>While they worked there, Betty ran to and fro with a dipper of water
+trying to help, and Sancho barked violently, as if he objected to this
+sort of illumination. But where was Bab, who reveled in flurries? No one
+missed her till the fire was out, and the tired, sooty people met to
+talk over the danger just escaped.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Miss Celia wouldn't have had a roof over her head if it hadn't
+been for you, Mr. Brown," said Mrs. Moss, sinking into a kitchen chair,
+pale with the excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"It would have burnt lively, but I guess it's all right now. Keep an
+eye on the roof, Ben, and I'll step up garret and see if all's safe
+there. Didn't you know that chimney was foul, ma'am?" asked the man, as
+he wiped the perspiration off his grimy face.</p>
+
+<p>"Ronda said it was, and I'm surprised she made a fire there," began
+Mrs. Moss, looking at the maid, who just then came in with a pan full of
+soot.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you, ma'am, I never thought of such a thing, nor Katy neither.
+That naughty Bab must have done it, and so don't dar'st to show
+herself," answered the irate Ronda, whose nice room was in a mess.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the child?" asked her mother, and a hunt was immediately
+instituted by Betty and Sancho, while the elders cleared up.</p>
+
+<p>Anxious Betty searched high and low, called and cried, but all in
+vain, and was about to sit down in despair, when Sancho made a bolt into
+his new kennel and brought out a shoe with a foot in it, while a doleful
+squeal came from the straw within.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Bab, how could you do it? Ma was frightened dreadfully," said
+Betty, gently tugging at the striped leg, as Sancho poked his head in
+for another shoe.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it <i>all</i> burnt up!" demanded a smothered voice from the
+recesses of the kennel.</p>
+
+<p>"Only pieces of the roof. Ben and his father put it out, and <i>I</i>
+helped," answered Betty, cheering up a little as she recalled her noble
+exertions.</p>
+
+<p>"What do they do to folks who set houses afire?" asked the voice
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; but you needn't be afraid; there isn't much harm done,
+I guess, and Miss Celia will forgive you, she's so good."</p>
+
+<p>"Thorny wont; he calls me a 'botheration,' and I guess I am," mourned
+the unseen culprit, with sincere contrition.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll ask him; he is always good to me. They will be here pretty
+soon, so you'd better come out and be made tidy," suggested the
+comforter.</p>
+
+<p>"I never can come out, for every one will hate me," sobbed Bab among
+the straw; and she pulled in her foot, as if retiring forever from an
+outraged world.</p>
+
+<p>"Ma wont, she's too busy cleaning up; so it's a good time to come.
+Let's run home, wash our hands, and be all nice when they see us. I'll
+love you, no matter what anybody else does," said Betty, consoling the
+poor little sinner, and proposing the sort of repentance most likely to
+find favor in the eyes of the agitated elders.</p>
+
+<p>"P'r'aps I'd better go home, for Sanch will want his bed," and Bab
+gladly availed herself of that excuse to back out of her refuge, a very
+crumpled, dusty young lady, with a dejected face, and much straw
+sticking in her hair.</p>
+
+<p>Betty led her sadly away, for she still protested that she never
+should dare to meet the offended public again; but in fifteen minutes
+both appeared in fine order and good spirits, and naughty Bab escaped a
+lecture for the time being, as the train would soon be due.</p>
+
+<p>At the first sound of the car whistle every one turned good-natured
+as if by magic, and flew to the gate, smiling as if all mishaps were
+forgiven and forgotten. Mrs. Moss, however, slipped quietly away, and
+was the first to greet Miss Celia as the carriage stopped at the
+entrance of the avenue, so that the luggage might go in by way of the
+lodge.</p>
+
+<p>"We will walk up and you shall tell us the news as we go, for I see
+you have some," said the young lady, in her friendly manner, when Mrs.
+Moss had given her welcome and paid her respects to the gentleman, who
+shook hands in a way that convinced her he was indeed what Thorny called
+him, "regularly jolly," though he was a minister.</p>
+
+<p>That being exactly what she came for, the good woman told her tidings
+as rapidly as possible, and the new-comers were so glad to hear of Ben's
+happiness they made very light of Bab's bonfire, though it had come near
+burning their house down.</p>
+
+<p>"We wont say a word about it, for every one must be happy to-day,"
+said Mr. George, so kindly that Mrs. Moss felt a load taken off her
+heart at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Bab was always teasing me for fire-works, but I guess she has had
+enough for the present." laughed Thorny, who was gallantly escorting
+Bab's mother up the avenue.</p>
+
+<p>"Every one is so kind! Teacher was out with the children to cheer us
+as we passed, and here you all are making things pretty for me," said
+Miss Celia, smiling with tears in her eyes, as they drew near the great
+gate, which certainly did present an animated if not an imposing
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Ronda and Katy stood on one side, all in their best, bobbing
+delighted courtesies; Mr. Brown, half hidden behind the gate on the
+other side, was keeping Sancho erect, so that he might present arms
+promptly when the bride appeared. As flowers were scarce, on either post
+stood a rosy little girl clapping her hands, while out from the thicket
+of red and yellow boughs, which made a grand bouquet in the lantern
+frame, came Ben's head and shoulders, as he waved his grandest flag with
+its gold paper "Welcome Home!" on a blue ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it beautiful!" cried Miss Celia, throwing kisses to the
+children, shaking hands with her maids, and glancing brightly at the
+stranger who was keeping Sanch quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"Most people adorn their gate-posts with stone balls, vases, or
+griffins; your living images are a great improvement, love, especially
+the happy boy in the middle," said Mr. George, eying Ben with interest,
+as he nearly tumbled overboard, top-heavy with his banner.</p>
+
+<p>"You must finish what I have only begun," answered Miss Celia, adding
+gayly, as Sancho broke loose and came to offer both his paw and his
+congratulations, "Sanch, introduce your master, that I may thank him for
+coming back in time to save my old house."</p>
+
+<p>"If I'd saved a dozen it wouldn't have half paid for all you've done
+for my boy, ma'am," answered Mr. Brown, bursting out from behind the
+gate quite red with gratitude and pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"I loved to do it, so please remember that this is still his home
+till you make one for him. Thank God, he is no longer fatherless!" and
+Miss Celia's sweet face said even more than her words, as the white hand
+cordially shook the brown one with a burn across the back.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, sister. I see the tea-table all ready, and I'm awfully
+hungry," interrupted Thorny, who had not a ray of sentiment about him,
+though very glad Ben had got his father back again.</p>
+
+<p>"Come over, by and by, little friends, and let me thank you for your
+pretty welcome,&mdash;it certainly is a warm one;" and Miss Celia
+glanced merrily from the three bright faces above her to the old
+chimney, which still smoked sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't!" cried Bab, hiding her face.</p>
+
+<p>"She didn't mean to," added Betty, pleadingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Three cheers for the bride!" roared Ben, dipping his flag, as
+leaning on her husband's arm his dear mistress passed through the gay
+party, along the leaf-strewn walk, over the threshold of the house which
+was to be her happy home for many years.</p>
+
+<p>The closed gate where the lonely little wanderer once lay was always
+to stand open now, and the path where children played before was free to
+all comers, for a hospitable welcome henceforth awaited rich and poor,
+young and old, sad and gay, Under the Lilacs.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image09" id="image09"><img src="images/image09.jpg" width="499"
+height="137" alt="BIRD ON A BRANCH" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="froggy" id="froggy">HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By E. M�ller.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image10" id="image10"><img src="images/image10.png" width="400"
+height="363" alt="HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Happy little Froggy, he</div>
+    <div class="in1">Was proud enough</div>
+    <div>Of his trousers and his coat,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Green and buff.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Came and caught him Rob and Bess,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Quick as flash,</div>
+    <div>Dressed him up in Dolly's dress,</div>
+    <div class="in1">And her sash.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Froggy gave a frantic leap,</div>
+    <div class="in1">And in three springs</div>
+    <div>Took into the water deep</div>
+    <div class="in1">All Dolly's things.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="journal" id="journal">HOW TO KEEP A JOURNAL.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By W. S. Jerome.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p>Autumn is as good a time as any for a boy or girl to begin to keep a
+journal. Too many have the idea that it is a hard and unprofitable task
+to keep a journal, and especially is this the case with those who have
+begun, but soon gave up the experiment. They think it is a waste of
+time, and that no good results from it. But that depends upon the kind
+of journal that you keep. Everybody has heard of the boy who thought he
+would try to keep a diary. He bought a book, and wrote in it, for the
+first day, "Decided to keep a journal." The next day he wrote, "Got up,
+washed, and went to bed." The day after, he wrote the same thing, and no
+wonder that at the end of a week he wrote, "Decided not to keep a
+journal," and gave up the experiment. It is such attempts as this, by
+persons who have no idea of what a journal is, or how to keep it, that
+discourage others from beginning. But it is not hard to keep a journal
+if you begin in the right way, and will use a little perseverance and
+patience. The time spent in writing in a journal is not wasted, by any
+means. It may be the best employed hour of any in the day, and a
+well-kept journal is a source of pleasure and advantage which more than
+repays the writer for the time and trouble spent upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to do in beginning a journal, is to resolve to stick
+to it. Don't begin, and let the poor journal die in a week. A journal,
+or diary, should be written in <i>every day</i>, if possible. Now, don't
+be frightened at this, for you do a great many things every day, and
+this isn't a very awful condition. The time spent may be longer or
+shorter, according to the matter to be written up; but try and write, at
+least a little, every day. "<i>Nulla dies sine linea</i>"&mdash;no day
+without a line&mdash;is a good motto. It is a great deal easier to write
+a little every day, than to write up several days in one.</p>
+
+<p>Do not get for a journal a book with the dates already printed in it.
+That kind will do very well for a merchant's note-book, but not for the
+young man or woman who wants to keep a live, cheerful account of a happy
+and pleasant life. Sometimes you will have a picnic or excursion to
+write about, and will want to fill more space than the printed page
+allows. Buy a substantially bound blank-book, made of good paper; write
+your name and address plainly on the fly-leaf, and, if you choose, paste
+a calendar inside the cover. Set down the date at the head of the first
+page, thus: "Tuesday, October 1, 1878." Then begin the record of the
+day, endeavoring as far as possible to mention the events in the correct
+order of time,&mdash;morning, afternoon and evening. When this is done,
+write in the middle of the page, "Wednesday, October 2," and you are
+ready for the record of the next day. It is well to set down the year at
+the top of each page.</p>
+
+<p>But what are you to write about? First, the weather. Don't forget
+this. Write, "Cold and windy," or "Warm and bright," as the case may be.
+It takes but a moment, and in a few years you will have a complete
+record of the weather, which will be found not only curious, but
+useful.</p>
+
+<p>Then put down the letters you have received or written, and, if you
+wish, any money paid or received. The day of beginning or leaving
+school; the studies you pursue; visits from or to your friends; picnics
+or sleigh-rides; the books you have read; and all such items of interest
+should be noted. Write anything that you want to remember. After trying
+this plan a short time, you will be surprised at the many things
+constantly occurring which you used to overlook, but which now form
+pleasant paragraphs in your book. But don't try to write something when
+there is nothing to write. If there is only a line to be written, write
+that, and begin again next day.</p>
+
+<p>Do not set down about people anything which you would not wish them
+to see. It is not likely that any one will ever see your writing, but it
+is possible, so, always be careful about what you write. The Chinese say
+of a spoken word, that once let fall, it cannot be brought back by a
+chariot and six horses. Much more is this true of written words, and
+once out of your possession, there is no telling where they will go, or
+who will see them.</p>
+
+<p>The best time to write in a journal is in the evening. Keep the book
+in your table-drawer, or on your desk, and, after supper, when the lamps
+are lighted, sit down and write your plain account of the day. Don't try
+to write an able and eloquent article, but simply give a statement of
+what you have seen or done during the day. For the first week or two
+after beginning a journal, the novelty of the thing will keep up your
+interest, and you will be anxious for the time to come when you can
+write your journal. But, after a while, it becomes tedious. Then is the
+time when you must persevere. Write something every day, and before long
+you will find that you are becoming so accustomed to it, that you would
+not willingly forego it. After that, the way is plain, and the longer
+you live the more valuable and indispensable your journal will
+become.</p>
+
+<p>But some practical young person asks: What is the good of a journal?
+There is very much. In the first place, it teaches habits of order and
+regularity. The boy or girl who every evening arranges the proceedings
+of the day in systematic order, and regularly writes them out, is not
+likely to be careless in other matters. It helps the memory. A person
+who keeps a journal naturally tries during the day to remember things he
+sees, until he can write them down. Then the act of writing helps to
+still further fix the facts in his memory. The journal is a first-class
+teacher of penmanship. All boys and girls should take pride in having
+the pages of their journals as neat and handsome as possible. Compare
+one day's writing with that of the one before, and try to improve every
+day. Keeping a journal cultivates habits of observation, correct and
+concise expression, and gives capital practice in composition, spelling,
+punctuation, and all the little things which go to make up a good
+letter-writer. So, one who keeps a journal is all the while learning to
+be a better penman, and a better composer, with the advantage of writing
+original, historical, and descriptive articles, instead of copying the
+printed letters and sentences of a writing-book.</p>
+
+<p>But, best of all, a well-kept journal furnishes a continuous and
+complete family history, which is always interesting, and often very
+useful. It is sometimes very convenient to have a daily record of the
+year, and the young journalist will often have occasion to refer to his
+account of things gone by. Perhaps, some evening, when the family are
+sitting and talking together, some one will ask, "What kind of weather
+did we have last winter?" or, "When was the picnic you were speaking
+of?" and the journal is referred to. But the pleasure of keeping a
+journal is itself no small reward. It is pleasant to exercise the
+faculty of writing history, and to think that you are taking the first
+step toward writing newspapers and books. The writer can practice on
+different kinds of style, and can make his journal a record, not only of
+events, but of his own progress as a thinker and writer.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="simon" id="simon">SIMPLE SIMON.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image11" id="image11"><img src="images/image11.jpg" width="400"
+height="299" alt="SIMPLE SIMON" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Simple Simon went a-fishing,</div>
+    <div class="in1">For to catch a whale,</div>
+    <div>And all the water that he had,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Was in his mother's pail."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="cucu" id="cucu">PRINCE CUCURBITA.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Edith A. Edwards.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image12" id="image12"><img src="images/image12.jpg" width="400"
+height="340" alt="PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS" title="PRINCE CUCURBITA ON
+THE TRELLIS" /></a>
+<p class="caption">PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Prince Cucurbita was very unhappy. His smooth, shiny face was all
+puckered up into little wrinkles, every now and then a big sob shook his
+jolly little person till you really felt like crying yourself at the
+sight of him. Here was a prince living in a lovely garden full of birds
+and flowers, surrounded by a large family of brothers and sisters, and
+always dressed in a pretty green jacket, which could not get soiled or
+torn. In spite of all this, he was not happy, for Queen Cucurbita, in
+order to keep her children out of harm's way, had hoisted them all up on
+a high trellis, and would never let them get down.</p>
+
+<p>You may think the Prince might have been smart enough, or naughty
+enough, to have jumped down when his mother's back was turned, but,
+alas! how could he? for she held tightly to the tassel of his cap, and
+his cap fitted so closely to his head that no effort of his was ever
+able to get it off. Across the way lived another big family, the
+Filberts. They were just the merriest set that ever was seen, nodding
+gayly to Cucu now and then when they could spare the time from their own
+fun, and telling stories to each other, which must have been very
+amusing; for sometimes they all laughed together till they nearly fell
+out of bed, and their mother was obliged to shake them all round. One
+day, there was a great commotion among the Filberts. The eldest brother
+had determined to go out into the world and seek his fortune, so he
+climbed out of bed and quietly dropped to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear me!" cried Cucu; "it is too mean that I should have to stay
+up on this old trellis."</p>
+
+<p>"Naughty boy!" scolded his mother. "What are you talking about? That
+ever I should be afflicted with such a fractious child; 'tis enough to
+turn me yellow;" and she spread out her pretty green apron, and waved
+her ribbons in the air, while she took a firmer hold upon the poor
+little Prince's cap.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know that if I were to let go, off you would fall flat on
+your back upon the nasty wet ground, and very likely lie there all the
+rest of your life, growing wrinkled and yellow and sickly, while great
+ugly worms crawled over you, and everybody blamed me for a careless
+parent? No! no! I shall take good care you don't get away from me, you
+may be sure."</p>
+
+<p>So, Cucu had to accept his fate as best he might, and amused himself
+watching his neighbors. Every day, now, one or more of them left home
+and disappeared among the grass and flowers below. Cucu imagined them as
+traveling off around the garden, but if he had seen them lying half
+buried in the earth, their bright brown faces dirty and streaked with
+tears, their merry little hearts nearly broken with woe, he would not
+have envied them so much.</p>
+
+<p>Day after day passed, and the month of October came with its clear
+and cool nights. Queen Cucurbita did not relish this at all, and, every
+morning, when the sun peeped at her, he wondered how he ever could have
+admired such a dried-up yellow old creature. Cucu's heart, on the
+contrary, grew happier all the time, he lifted up his heavy head that
+seemed to be lighter each day, and when the wind blew, he rattled
+against the trellis and wondered how it was he could move so easily.
+"Poor Prince!" the Cat-bird whistled, as she perched above him, "your
+face is getting as brown and shining as one of those little Filberts,
+your cap is no longer green and pretty, and you look so light that a
+breath might blow you away."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," returned Cucu, "for I feel delighted, and so long as
+I can't see my own face, what's the odds?"</p>
+
+<p>The next night was clear and very cold. The people to whom the garden
+belonged brought out sheets and covered over the tender heliotropes and
+other flowers they valued, but they couldn't have cared much for Queen
+Cucurbita, for they never gave her a thought. When Cucu woke up bright
+and early and said good-morning to his mother, she did not reply. He
+turned his head to look at her. Oh, frightful sight! she hung to the
+trellis wilted and dead; her green dress was brown and torn, but her
+hard and wrinkled hand still grasped poor Cucu's cap.</p>
+
+<p>After the sun had been up some hours, a lady came into the garden and
+approached the home of the Cucurbita family.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you beauty!" she cried, "what a lovely basket I shall make of
+you!" and, placing a hand on each of Cucu's cheeks, she gave him a
+slight twist,&mdash;his mother's fingers let go; he was free. The lady
+put him in her basket, and now he was really setting off on his
+travels.</p>
+
+<p>This was, in fact, only the beginning of his career. The lady with a
+sharp knife lifted his cap from his head; then she painted him all over
+a pale green. After the paint was dry, she bored three holes in his
+sides. My! how it hurt! but it was soon over, and she had fastened three
+slender chains through them, and hung the little Prince up in a sunny
+window. "What next?" he wondered. If he had got to hang here all his
+life, it wouldn't be much better than the old trellis. But that wasn't
+the end, for his mistress filled him with nice black earth, and planted
+delicate little ferns and runaway-robins which climbed over and twined
+lovingly round his face. They patted his cheeks with their soft little
+hands, and whispered pretty stories of the woods they had come from.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Cucu," said they, "how much we love you, and how kind you are
+to hold us all so carefully!" When they said this, he felt so proud and
+happy that he could not contain himself any longer, and sang at the top
+of his voice; but the people in the house did not hear him, for mortal
+ears are not adapted to such music. Only the Cat-bird flying past
+understood and stopped to congratulate him.</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty to do, and plenty to love," she sang; "that is the way to be
+happy. I found it out last spring when it took me from morning till
+night to find food for my four hungry babies. Good-bye! I am going south
+with them to-day. I haven't a bit of time to lose," and away she
+flew.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image13" id="image13"><img src="images/image13.jpg" width="339"
+height="400" alt="CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW" title="CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW" /></a>
+<p class="caption">CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>And the ferns and the runaway-robins clapped their hands and sang,
+"Yes, that is the secret. Good-bye! Good-bye!"</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="primkins" id="primkins">MRS. PRIMKINS' SURPRISE.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Olive Thorne.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<blockquote> <p>Our older readers will remember Nimpo, whose "Troubles"
+ interested them in <span class="sc">St. Nicholas's</span> first year.
+ To our newer friends it is only necessary to say, that Nimpo and Rush
+ were boarding with Mrs. Primkins during their mother's absence, by
+ Nimpo's own desire, and were very unhappy under the care of that
+ well-meaning&mdash;but very peculiar&mdash;person, who was so greatly
+ surprised on the occasion of the Birthday Party.</p> </blockquote>
+
+<br />
+
+<p>One morning, Mrs. Primkins received a letter. This was a very unusual
+occurrence, and she hastened to wipe her hands out of the dish-water,
+hunt up her "specs," clean them carefully, and, at last, sit down in her
+chintz-covered "Boston rocker," to enjoy at her leisure this very rare
+literary dissipation.</p>
+
+<p>Nimpo, who was boarding with Mrs. Primkins while her mother was off
+on a journey, was engaged in finishing her breakfast, and did not notice
+anything. Having found her scissors, and deliberately cut around the
+old-fashioned seal, Mrs. Primkins opened the sheet and glanced at the
+name at the bottom of the page, then turned her eyes hastily toward
+Nimpo, with a low, significant "Humph!"</p>
+
+<p>But Nimpo, intent only on getting off to school, still did not see
+her. Mrs. Primkins went on to examine more closely, covering with her
+hands something which fell from the first fold, rustling, to her lap.
+Very deliberately, then, as became this staid woman, did she read the
+letter from date to signature, twice over, and, ending as she had begun
+with a significant "Humph!" she refolded the letter, slipped in the
+inclosure, put it into her black silk work-bag which hung on the back of
+her chair, and resumed her dish-washing, for she was a genuine "Yankee
+housekeeper" of the old-fashioned sort, and scorned the assistance of
+what she called "hired help."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Nimpo finished her breakfast, gathered up her books, and
+hurried off to school, though it was an hour too early, never dreaming
+that the letter had anything to do with her. After the morning work was
+done,&mdash;the pans scalded and set in the sun; the house dusted from
+attic to cellar; the vinegar reheated and poured over the walnuts that
+were pickling; the apples drying on the shed roof, turned over; the
+piece of muslin ("bolt," she called it) that was bleaching on the grass,
+thoroughly sprinkled; and, in fact, everything, indoors and out, in Mrs.
+Primkins' domain, put into perfect order, that lady sat down to
+consider. She drew the letter from the bag, and read it over, carefully
+inspecting a ten-dollar bill in her hands, and then leaned back, and
+indulged herself in a very unusual, indeed totally unheard-of,
+luxury&mdash;a rest of ten minutes with idle hands!</p>
+
+<p>If Nimpo had chanced to come in, she would have been alarmed at such
+an extraordinary state of things; but she was at that moment in her seat
+in the long school-house, with wrinkled brow, wrestling with sundry
+conundrums in her "Watts on the Mind," little suspecting how her fate
+was hanging in the balance in Mrs. Primkins' kitchen at this moment. At
+last, Mrs. Primkins' thin lips opened. She was alone in the house, and
+she began to talk to herself:</p>
+
+<p>"Wants her to have a birthday-party! Humph! I must say I can't see
+the good of pampering children's folks do nowadays! When <i>I</i> was
+young, now, we had something to think of besides fine clothes,
+unwholesome food, and worldly dissipation! I must say I think Mis'
+Rievor has some very uncommon notions! Hows'ever," she went on,
+contemplating fondly the bill she still held in her hand, "I do' know's
+I have any call to fret my gizzard if she chooses to potter away her
+money! I don't see my way clear to refuse altogether to do what she
+asks, 's long 's the child's on my hands. Ten dollars! Humph! She 'hopes
+it'll be enough to provide a little supper for them!' It's my private
+opinion that it will, and a mite over for&mdash;for&mdash;other things,"
+she added, resolutely closing her lips with a snap. "I aint such a
+shif'less manager's all that comes to, I <i>do</i> hope! 'T wont take no
+ten dollars to give a birthday-party in <i>my</i> house, I bet a
+cookey!"</p>
+
+<p>That night, when supper was over, Nimpo sat down with the family by
+the table, which held one candle that dimly lighted the room, to finish
+a book she was reading. Not that the kitchen was the only room in the
+house. Mrs. Primkins had plenty of rooms, but they were too choice for
+every-day use. They were always tightly closed, with green paper shades
+down, lest the blessed sunshine should get a peep at her gaudy red and
+green carpets, and put the least mellowing touch an their crude and
+rasping colors. Nimpo thought of the best parlor with a sort of awe
+which she never felt toward any room in her mother's house.</p>
+
+<p>"Nimpo," said Mrs. Primkins at last, when she had held back the news
+till Nimpo had finished her book, and was about to go upstairs, "wait a
+bit. I got a letter from your Ma to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" exclaimed Nimpo, alarmed. "Oh! what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't fly into tificks! Nothing is the matter," said Mrs.
+Primkins.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she coming home?" was the next eager question.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not yet," fell like cold water on her warm hopes. "But she says
+to-morrow's your birthday."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, so it is!" said Nimpo, reflecting. "I never thought of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wal, she thinks perhaps I'd best let you have a few girls to tea on
+that day, if 't wont be too much of a chore for me," went on Mrs.
+Primkins, deliberately.</p>
+
+<p>Nimpo's face was radiant. "Oh, Mrs. Primkins, if you <i>will!</i>"
+But it fell again. "But where could they be?"&mdash;for trespassing on
+the dismal glories of the Primkins' parlor had never entered her wildest
+dreams.</p>
+
+<p>"I've thought of that," said Mrs. Primkins, grimly. "Of course, I
+couldn't abide a pack of young ones tramping up my best parlor carpet,
+and I thought mebbe I'd put a few things up in the second story, and let
+you have 'em there."</p>
+
+<p>The second story was unfurnished.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will be splendid!" said Nimpo, eagerly.
+"But,&mdash;but,"&mdash;she hesitated,&mdash;"could they take tea here?"
+and she glanced around the kitchen, which was parlor, sitting-room,
+dining-room, and, in fact, almost the only really useful room in the
+house. The front part Mrs. Primkins enjoyed as other people enjoy
+pictures, or other beautiful things,&mdash;looking at, but not using
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I shall set the table in the back chamber, and let you play in
+the front chamber. We can put some chairs in, and I'm sure a bare floor
+is more suitable for a pack of young ones."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Primkins always spoke of children as wild beasts, which must be
+endured, to be sure, but carefully looked after, like wolves or
+hyenas.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes! We wouldn't be afraid of hurting that. Oh, that'll be
+splendid!" continued Nimpo, as the plan grew on her. "I thank you so
+much, Mrs. Primkins!&mdash;and we'll be so careful not to hurt
+anything!"</p>
+
+<p>"Humph!" said Mrs. Primkins, not thinking it necessary to tell her
+that her mother had sent money to cover the expense. "You're a master
+hand to promise."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I forget sometimes," said Nimpo, penitently. "But I'll try
+really to be careful, this time."</p>
+
+<p>"Wal," said Mrs. Primkins, in conclusion, as she folded her knitting
+and brought out the bed-room candles, "if you don't hector me nigh about
+to death, I'll lose my guess! But as I'm in for 't now, you may's well
+bring the girls when you come home from school to-morrow. Then you'll
+have time to play before supper, for their mothers'll want them home
+before dark."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you care who I invite?" asked Nimpo, pausing with the door open
+on her way to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do' know's I do. Your intimate friends, your Ma said."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, goody!" said Nimpo, as she skipped upstairs, two at a time.
+"Wont we have fun! How nice it'll be!"</p>
+
+<p>The next morning she was off, bright and early, and, before the bell
+rang, every girl in the school knew that Nimpo was going to have a
+birthday-party, and was wondering if she would be invited. At recess,
+she issued her invitations, every one of which was promptly accepted;
+and in the afternoon all came in their best dresses, ready to go home
+with Nimpo.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock, they were dismissed, and Nimpo marshaled her guests
+and started. Now, the truth was, that the girls had been so very lovely
+to her when she was inviting, that she found it hard to distinguish
+between intimate friends and those not quite so intimate, so she had
+asked more than she realized till she saw them started up the street.
+However, she had not been limited as to numbers, so she gave herself no
+concern, as she gayly led the way.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the Primkins family had been busy. After the morning work
+was done, Mrs. Primkins and her daughter Augusta made a loaf of plain,
+wholesome cake, a couple of tins of biscuits, and about the same number
+of cookies with caraway-seeds in them. After dinner, they carried a
+table into the back chamber and spread the feast. Nimpo's mother had
+sent, as a birthday-present, a new set of toy dishes. It had arrived by
+stage while Nimpo was at school, and been carefully concealed from her;
+and Augusta, who had not yet forgotten that she was once young (though
+it was many years before), thought it would be nice to serve the tea on
+these dishes. Not being able to think of any serious objection, and
+seeing advantage in the small pieces required to fill them, Mrs.
+Primkins had consented, and Augusta had arranged a very pretty table,
+all with its white and gilt china. The biscuits and cookies were cut
+small to match, and, when ready, it looked very cunning, with tiny
+slices of cake, and one little dish of jelly&mdash;from the top shelf in
+Mrs. Primkins' pantry.</p>
+
+<p>During the afternoon, a boy came up from the store (Nimpo's father
+was a country merchant) with a large basket, in which were several
+pounds of nuts and raisins and candy, which her father had ordered by
+letter.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was prepared, and Mrs. Primkins had put on a clean checked
+apron, to do honor to the occasion, and sat down in her rocker, feeling
+that she had earned her rest, when Augusta's voice sounded from
+upstairs: "Ma, do look down street!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Primkins went to the window that looked toward the village, and
+was struck with horror.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image14" id="image14"><img src="images/image14.jpg" width="400"
+height="292" alt="DO LOOK DOWN STREET!" title="DO LOOK DOWN STREET!" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"DO LOOK DOWN STREET!"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Goodness gracious! Why, what under the canopy! Did you ever!" came
+from her lips in quick succession, for there was Nimpo, the center of a
+very mob of girls, all in Sunday best, as Mrs. Primkins' experienced eye
+saw at a glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Ma!" exclaimed Augusta, rushing down, "I do believe that young one
+has invited the whole school!"</p>
+
+<p>"The trollop!" was all Mrs. Primkins could get out, in her
+exasperation.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd send 'em right straight home!" said Augusta, indignantly. "It's
+a burning shame!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on us! This is a pretty kettle of fish!" gasped Mrs.
+Primkins.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't stand it! So there!" said Augusta, sharply. "I never did
+see such a young one! I'd just send every chick and child home, and let
+Miss Nimpo take her supper in her own room&mdash;to pay her off! Things
+have come to a pretty pass, I think!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never did!" ejaculated Mrs. Primkins, not yet recovering her
+ordinary powers of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I go out and meet them, and send them packing?" asked
+Augusta.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said her mother, reluctantly, remembering the unbroken bill in
+her "upper drawer." "I do' know's I have a right to send them back. I
+didn't tell her how many, but&mdash;mercy on us!&mdash;who'd dream of
+such a raft! If there's one, there's forty, I do declare!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the meaning of those enormous packages of nuts and things
+from the store," said Augusta, "that we thought were enough for an
+army."</p>
+
+<p>"But the table!" gasped Mrs. Primkins. "For such a crowd! Augusta,"
+hastily, "fly around like a parched pea, and lock the doors of that
+room, till I think what we can do. This is a party with a
+vengeance!"</p>
+
+<p>Augusta obeyed, and was none too quick, for the girls crowded into
+the front chamber before she had secured the doors.</p>
+
+<p>Being a "party," of course they had to go into the house. But as soon
+as they had thrown off their slat sun-bonnets,&mdash;which was in about
+one second,&mdash;and began to look around the bare room, to see what
+they should do next, Nimpo was seized with a bright idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, let's go out in the yard, and play till tea-time," she said;
+and the next moment sun-bonnets were resumed, and the whole troop
+tramped down the back stairs, Nimpo not daring, even on this festive
+occasion, to disturb the silence of the solemn front hall, and the
+gorgeous colored stair-carpet. In two minutes, they were deep in the
+game of "Pom-pom-peel-away," and now was Mrs. Primkins' chance.</p>
+
+<p>She hastily sent Augusta out to the neighbors, letting her out slyly
+by the front door, so the "party" shouldn't see her, to beg or borrow
+something to feed the crowd; for, the next day being baking-day, her
+pantry was nearly empty, and there was not such a thing in the village
+as a bakery. As soon as she was gone, Mrs. Primkins cleared the table
+upstairs, hid the small biscuits and minute slices of cake, and brought
+tables from other rooms to lengthen this. She then carried every cup and
+saucer and plate of her own up there, and even made several
+surreptitious visits herself to accommodating friends, to borrow,
+telling the news, and getting their sympathy, so that they freely lent
+their dishes, and even sent their boys to carry them over, and their big
+girls to help arrange.</p>
+
+<p>For an hour, the games went on in the side yard, while a steady
+stream came in by the front door&mdash;the grand front door!&mdash;and
+up the august stairs, carrying bread, cake, dishes, saucers, etc., etc.,
+till there was a tolerable supply, and Mrs. Primkins was in debt
+numerous loaves of bread and cake, and dishes of "preserves."</p>
+
+<p>At five o'clock, they were called in, and, before their sharp young
+appetites, everything disappeared like dew in the sunshine. It was a
+queer meal,&mdash;bread of various shapes and kinds, and not a large
+supply; cakes, an equally miscellaneous collection, from cup-cake which
+old Mrs. Kellogg had kept in a jar two months, "in case a body dropped
+in unexpected," to bread-cake fresh from some one else's oven; cookies
+of a dozen kinds; doughnuts and ginger-cakes, and half a dozen dishes of
+sweet-meats, no two alike.</p>
+
+<p>But all deficiencies were forgotten when they came to the nuts and
+candies, for of these there was no lack. Augusta had filled every extra
+dish in the house with these delightful things, and I sadly fear the
+children ate shocking amounts of trash. But they had a good time. The
+entertainment was exactly to their liking,&mdash;little bread and
+butter, and plenty of candy and raisins. It was incomparably superior to
+ordinary teas, where bread predominated and candy was limited.</p>
+
+<p>After eating everything on the table, putting the remainder of the
+candy in their pockets, as Nimpo insisted, they flocked into the front
+room, where Mrs. Primkins told them they might play a while, if they
+would not make a noise, as a little sprinkle of rain had come up. To
+insure quiet, each girl took off her shoes, and played in stocking-feet
+on the bare, rough floor, "blind-man's-buff," "hunt the slipper," and
+other games, for an hour more.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, Nimpo held up her foot.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls! look there!" Nimpo's tone was tragic.</p>
+
+<p>The soles of her stockings were in awful holes! All eyes were
+instantly turned on her, and forty feet were simultaneously elevated to
+view. The tale was the same,&mdash;every stocking sole was black as the
+ground, and worn to rags!</p>
+
+<p>"What will Ma say?" rose in horror to every lip.</p>
+
+<p>This awful thought sobered them at once, and, finding it getting
+dark, shoes were hastily sought out of the pile in the corner,
+sun-bonnets donned, and slowly the long procession moved down the back
+stairs and out again into the street.</p>
+
+<p>Nimpo flung herself on to the little bed in her room, and sighed with
+happiness.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! wasn't it splendid?&mdash;and I know mamma'll forgive my
+stockings. Besides, I'll wash them myself, and darn them."</p>
+
+<p>(While I am about it, I may as well say that every girl who went to
+Nimpo's party had a long and serious task of darning the next week.)</p>
+
+<p>When it was all over, and Mrs. Primkins and Augusta, assisted by two
+or three neighbors, had washed and returned dishes, brought down tables
+and chairs, swept out front hall, and reduced it to its normal condition
+of dismal state, to be seen and not used, and the neighbors had gone,
+and it was nine o'clock at night, Augusta sat down to reckon up debts,
+while Mrs. Primkins "set the bread."</p>
+
+<p>Augusta brought out her account, and read: "Mrs. A., blank loaves of
+bread, ditto cake, one dish preserves; Mrs. B., ditto, ditto; Mrs. C.,
+ditto, ditto."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Primkins listened to the whole list, and made a mental
+calculation of how much of the ten-dollar bill it would take to pay up.
+The result must have been satisfactory, for her grim face relaxed almost
+into a smile, as she covered up the "sponge" and washed her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Wal, don't let your Pa get away in the morning till he has split up
+a good pile of oven-wood. We'll heat the brick oven, and have over Mis'
+Kent's Mary Ann to help. I guess the money'll cover it, and I can pay
+Mary Ann in old clothes."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="linnet" id="linnet">THE LINNET'S FEE.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Mrs. Annie A. Preston.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Once I saw a wee brown linnet</div>
+           <div class="in3">Dancing on a tree,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Dancing on a tree.</div>
+    <div>How her feet flew every minute</div>
+           <div class="in3">As she danced at me-e-e;</div>
+    <div>How her feet flew every minute</div>
+           <div class="in3">As she danced at me!</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Sing a song for me, wee linnet,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Sing a song for me,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Sing a song for me."</div>
+    <div class="quote">"Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Till my mate I see-e-e;</div>
+    <div>Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,</div>
+           <div class="in3">He will sing for thee."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Thank you, thank you, wee brown linnet,</div>
+           <div class="in3">For amusing me,</div>
+           <div class="in3">For amusing me;</div>
+    <div>You have danced for many a minute,</div>
+           <div class="in3">You must tired be-e-e,</div>
+    <div>You have sung for many minutes,</div>
+           <div class="in3">You must tired be."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Thanks would starve us," cried the linnets,&mdash;</div>
+           <div class="in3">As he sung at me,</div>
+           <div class="in3">As she danced at me.</div>
+    <div class="quote">"Should you sing like this ten minutes,</div>
+           <div class="in3">You would want a fee-e-e;</div>
+    <div>Should you dance like this ten minutes</div>
+           <div class="in3">You would want a fee."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Pardon me, I pray, dear linnet,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Fly down from your tree,</div>
+           <div class="in3">Fly down from your tree.</div>
+    <div>I will come back in a minute</div>
+           <div class="in3">With some seed for thee-e-e;</div>
+    <div>I will come back in a minute</div>
+           <div class="in3">With some seed for thee."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="dab" id="dab">DAB KINZER: A STORY OF A GROWING BOY.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By William O. Stoddard.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<p>Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the "bay"
+and the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds
+of sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere
+did it show a tree or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster
+found herself getting melancholy as she gazed upon it and thought of how
+the winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain
+and hail, or the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter.</p>
+
+<p>"Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and
+yesterday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Worse here than over our side of the bay, ten times."</p>
+
+<p>"Were there any vessels wrecked?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most likely; but it's too soon to know just where."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the "Swallow" was running rapidly around a sandy
+point, jutting into the bay from the highest mound on the bar, not half
+a mile from the light-house, and only twice as far from the low, wooden
+roof of the "wrecking station," where, as Dab had explained to his
+guests, the life-boats and other apparatus were kept safely housed. The
+piles of drifted sand had for some time prevented the brightest eyes on
+board the "Swallow" from seeing anything to seaward; but now, as they
+came around the point and a broad level lay before them, Ham Morris
+sprang to his feet in sudden excitement as he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"In the breakers! Why, she must have been a three-master. All up with
+her now."</p>
+
+<p>"Look along the shore!" shouted Dab. "Some of 'em saved, anyhow. The
+coast-men are there, life-boats and all."</p>
+
+<p>So they were, and Ham was right about the vessel, though not a mast
+was left standing in her now. If there had been, indeed, she might have
+been kept off the breakers, as they afterward learned. She had been
+dismasted in the storm, but had not struck until after daylight that
+morning, and help had been close at hand and promptly given. No such
+thing as saving that unfortunate hull. She would beat to pieces just
+where she lay, sooner or later, according to the kind of weather and the
+waves it should bring with it.</p>
+
+<p>The work done by the life-boat men had been a good one, and had not
+been very easy either, for they had brought the crew and passengers from
+the wreck safely to the sandy beach. They had even saved some items of
+baggage. In a few hours, the "coast wrecking tugs" would be on hand to
+look out for the cargo. No chance whatever for the 'longshoremen, good
+or bad, to turn an honest penny without working hard for it. Work and
+wages enough, to be sure, helping to unload, when the sea, now so very
+heavy, should go down a little; but "wages" were not what some of them
+were most hungry for.</p>
+
+<p>Two of them, at all events&mdash;one a tall, weather-beaten,
+stoop-shouldered, grizzled old man, in tattered raiment, and the other,
+even more battered, but with no "look of the sea" about him&mdash;stood
+on a sand-drift gloomily gazing at the group of shipwrecked people on
+the shore, and the helpless mass of timber and spars out there among the
+beatings of the surf.</p>
+
+<p>"Not more 'n three hunder yards out. She'd break up soon 'f there was
+no one to hender. Wot a show we'd hev."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon," growled the shorter man. "Is your name Peter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye. I belong yer. Allers lived about high-water mark. Whar'd ye
+come from?"</p>
+
+<p>The only answer was a sharp and excited exclamation. Neither of them
+had been paying any attention to the bay side of the bar and, while they
+were gazing at the wreck, a very pretty little yacht had cast anchor,
+close in shore, and then, with the help of a row-boat, quite a party of
+ladies and gentlemen&mdash;the latter somewhat young-looking&mdash;had
+made their way to the land, and were now hurrying forward. They did not
+pay the slightest attention to Peter and his companion, but, in a few
+minutes more, they were trying to talk to those poor people on the
+sea-beach. Trying, but not succeeding very well, for the wreck had been
+a Bremen bark with an assorted cargo and some fifty passengers, all
+emigrants. German seemed their only tongue, and none of Mrs. Kinzer's
+pleasure-party spoke German.</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad," Ford Foster was saying, when there came a sort of wail
+from a group at a little distance, and it seemed to close
+with&mdash;"pauvre enfant."</p>
+
+<p>"French!" he exclaimed. "Why, they look as Dutch as any of the rest.
+Come on, Annie, let's try and speak to them."</p>
+
+<p>The rest followed a good deal like a flock of sheep, and it was a sad
+enough scene which lay before them. No lives had been lost in the wreck,
+though there had been a great deal of suffering among the poor
+passengers, cooped up between-decks with the hatches closed, while the
+storm lasted. Nobody drowned, indeed, but all dreadfully soaked in the
+surf in getting ashore; and among the rest had been the fair-haired
+child, now lying there on his mother's lap, so pinched and blue, and
+seemingly so lifeless.</p>
+
+<p>French, were they? Yes and no; for the father, a tall, stout young
+man, who looked like a farmer, told Ford they were from Alsace, and
+spoke both tongues.</p>
+
+<p>"The child, was it sick?"</p>
+
+<p>Not so much sick as dying of starvation and exposure.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, such a sad, pleading look as the poor mother lifted to the moist
+eyes of Mrs. Kinzer as the portly widow bent over the silent boy. Such a
+pretty child he must have been, and not over two years old; but the salt
+water was in his tangled curls now, and his poor lips were parted in a
+weak, sick way, that spoke of utter exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>"Can anything be done, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Dabney; you and Ham, and Ford and Frank, go to the yacht, quick
+as you can, and bring the spirit-heater, lamp and all, and bread and
+milk, and every dry napkin and towel you can find. Bring Keziah's
+shawl."</p>
+
+<p>Such quick time they made across that sand-bar!</p>
+
+<p>And they were none too soon; for, as they came running down to their
+boat, a mean, slouching sort of fellow walked rapidly away from it.</p>
+
+<p>"He was going to steal it."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't go for him now, Dab; but you'll have to mount guard here while
+we go back with the things."</p>
+
+<p>He did so, and Ham and Frank and Ford hurried back to the other beach
+to find that Mrs. Kinzer had taken complete possession of that baby.
+Every rag of his damp things was already stripped off, and now, while
+Miranda lighted the "heater" and made some milk hot in a minute, the
+good lady began to rub the little sufferer as only a mother knows
+how.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was a warm wrapping up in cloths and shawls, and better
+success than anybody had dreamed of in making the seemingly half-dead
+child eat something.</p>
+
+<p>"That was about all the matter," said Mrs. Kinzer. "Now if we can get
+him and his mother over to the house, we can save both of them. Ford,
+how long did you say it was since they'd eaten anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"About three days, they say."</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy on me! And that cabin of ours holds so little! Glad it's full,
+anyhow. Let's get it out and over here at once."</p>
+
+<p>"The cabin?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, the provisions."</p>
+
+<p>And not a soul among them all thought of their own lunch, any more
+than Mrs. Kinzer herself did; but Joe and Fuz were not just then among
+them. On the contrary, they were over there by the shore, where the
+"Jenny" had been pulled up, trying to get Dab Kinzer to put them on
+board the "Swallow."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody ought to be on board of her," said Fuz, in as anxious a
+tone as he could, "with so many strange people around."</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image15" id="image15"><img src="images/image15.jpg" width="400"
+height="371" alt="WHOM DO YOU THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?" title="WHOM DO YOU
+THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"WHOM DO YOU THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"It isn't safe," added Joe.</p>
+
+<p>"Fact," replied Dab; "but then I kind o' like to feel a little
+unsafe."</p>
+
+<p>And the Hart boys felt, somehow, that Dab knew why they were so
+anxious to go on board, and they were right enough, for he was saying to
+himself at that moment,</p>
+
+<p>"They can wait. They do look hungry, but they'll live through it.
+There aint any cuffs or collars in Ham's locker."</p>
+
+<p>All there was then in the locker, however, was soon out of it when
+Mrs. Kinzer and the rest came, for they brought with them the officers
+of the wrecked bark, and neither Joe nor Fuz had a chance to so much as
+"help distribute" that supply of provisions. Ham went over to make sure
+it should be properly done, while Mrs. Kinzer saw her little patient
+with his father and mother safely stowed on board the "Swallow."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll save that baby, anyhow," she said to Miranda, "and Ford says
+his father's a farmer. We can find plenty for 'em to do. They'll never
+see a thing of their baggage, and I guess they hadn't a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>She was just the woman to guess correctly, but at that moment Dab
+Kinzer said to Annie Foster in a low tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Whom do you think I've seen to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't guess. Who was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The tramp!"</p>
+
+<p>"The same one&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The very same. There he goes, over the sand-hill yonder, with old
+Peter, the wrecker. We've got to hurry home now, but I'm going to set
+Ham Morris on his track."</p>
+
+<p>"You never'll find him again."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you s'pose old Peter'd befriend a man that did what he did, right
+on the shore of the bay? No, indeed, there isn't a fisherman from here
+to Montauk that wouldn't join to hunt him out. He's safe whenever Ham
+wants him, if we don't scare him now."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't scare him, then," whispered Annie.</p>
+
+<p>The wind was fair and the home sail of the "Swallow" was really a
+swift and short one, but it did seem dreadfully long to her passengers.
+Mrs. Kinzer was anxious to see that poor baby safely in bed. Ham Morris
+wanted to send a whole load of refreshments back to the shipwrecked
+people. Dab Kinzer could not keep his thoughts from that "tramp." And
+then, if the truth must come out, every soul on board the beautiful
+little yacht was getting more and more aware, with every minute that
+passed, that they had had a good deal of sea air and excitement, and a
+splendid sail across the bay and back, but no dinner. Not so much as a
+herring or a cracker.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<p>As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in
+such matters, but their friends had never before been so near to a
+genuine, out and out shipwreck. Perhaps, too, they had rarely if ever
+felt so very nearly starved. At least Joe and Fuz Hart remarked as much
+a score of times before the "Swallow" slipped through the inlet and made
+her way toward the landing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ham," said Dab Kinzer, "are you going right back again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Course I am, soon as I can get a load of eatables from the house and
+the village. You 'll have to stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't I go with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you
+can't go."</p>
+
+<p>Dab seemed to have expected as much, for he turned to Ford with,</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll tell you what we must do."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"See about the famine.  Can you cook?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his
+cargo ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother wont be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the
+day. Annie knows something."</p>
+
+<p>"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed.
+Look at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut."</p>
+
+<p>Joe and his brother seemed to know, as if by instinct, that the
+dinner question was under discussion; and they were soon taking their
+share of talk. Oh, how they wished it had been a share of something to
+eat! The "Swallow" was moored, now, after discharging her passengers,
+but Dab did not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He
+even managed to detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart, "let's put for the village.
+We'll starve here."</p>
+
+<p>"A fellow that'd starve here just deserves to, that's all," said Dab.
+"Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're all
+right. One of 'em's a dredger."</p>
+
+<p>Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab
+was not doing any guessing.</p>
+
+<p>"Bill," he exclaimed, as Dick's father pulled within
+hearing,&mdash;"Bill, put a lot of your best pan-fish in this basket and
+then go and fetch us some lobsters. There's half a dozen in your pot.
+Did those others get any luck?"</p>
+
+<p>"More clams 'n 'ysters," responded Bill.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll take both lots."</p>
+
+<p>The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long Island
+shore began to rise rapidly a few minutes later, for not only was one of
+Dab's baskets promptly provided with "pan-fish," such as porgies, black
+fish and perch, but two others received all the clams and oysters they
+were at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time, Bill Lee
+offered, as an amendment to the lobster question,</p>
+
+<p>"Ye 'r' wrong about the pot, Dab."</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong? Why&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' b'iled every one on 'em an'
+they 're all nice an' cold by this time."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. I never eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them,
+Dick. Bring 'em right over to Ford's house."</p>
+
+<p>Bill Lee would have sent his house and all on a suggestion that the
+Kinzers or Fosters were in need of it, and Dick would have carried it
+over for him.</p>
+
+<p>As for "Gloriana," when her son came running in with his errand, she
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem aint good nuff. Dey sha'n't hab 'em. I'll
+jist send de ole man all 'round de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey
+isn't no kin' o' lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't."</p>
+
+<p>Dick insisted, however, and by the time he reached the back door of
+the old Kinzer homestead with his load, that kitchen had become very
+nearly as busy a place as Mrs. Miranda Morris's own, a few rods
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy,
+"what if mother should make a mistake?"</p>
+
+<p>"Make a mistake? How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cook that baby! It's awful!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, its mother's there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come
+the lobsters. Now, Ford&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not
+heard by even Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever
+as she busied herself around the kitchen fire. As for the Hart boys,
+Mrs. Foster had invited them to come into the parlor and talk with her
+till dinner should be ready.</p>
+
+<p>Such a frying and broiling!</p>
+
+<p>Before Ham Morris was ready for his second start, and right in the
+midst of his greatest hurry, word came over from Mrs. Foster that "the
+table was waiting for them all."</p>
+
+<p>Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction, for
+there was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then,
+for either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents, and she was beginning
+to worry about her son-in-law, and how she should get him to eat
+something. For Ham Morris had worked himself up into a high state of
+excitement in his benevolent haste, and did not seem to know that he was
+hungry. Miranda had entirely sympathized with her husband until that
+message came from Mrs. Foster.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hamilton, and good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it herself!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Ham, thoughtfully; "our Dabney went home with Ford and
+Annie. I can't stay but a minute, but I think we'd better go right
+over."</p>
+
+<p>Go they did, while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up
+concerning the wreck attended to the completion of the cargo of the
+"Swallow." There would be more than one good boat ready to accompany her
+back across the bay, laden with comforts of all sorts.</p>
+
+<p>Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best
+man in the world, had come waddling down to the landing with a demijohn
+of "old apple brandy," and his gift had been kindly accepted by the
+special advice of the village physician.</p>
+
+<p>"That sort of thing has made plenty of ship-wrecks around here,"
+remarked the man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed
+so much salt-water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em."</p>
+
+<p>May be, the doctor was wrong about it, but the demijohn went over to
+the wreck in the "Swallow."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one. There were no large
+rooms in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather
+around the table,&mdash;all except Dab and Ford.</p>
+
+<p>"Dab is head cook and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation,
+"and we can't have any women folk a-bothering about our kitchen. Frank
+and the boys are company."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee
+was excellent. The fish were done to a turn. The oysters, roasted,
+broiled or stewed, and likewise the clams, were all that could have been
+asked for. Bread there was in abundance, and everything was going finely
+till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face showed itself at
+the kitchen door:</p>
+
+<p>"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables; we're waiting for
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Dab's face grew still redder, and he came very near dropping a plate
+he had in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Vegetables? Oh yes. Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now.
+I've got them all ready."</p>
+
+<p>Annie opened her eyes and looked hard at her brother, for she knew
+very well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their
+preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer, but he marched out,
+white apron and all. A minute or so later, the two boys came in again,
+each bearing aloft a huge platter.</p>
+
+<p>One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Vegetables?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they're lobsters!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Ford, how could you?"</p>
+
+<p>The last exclamation came from Annie Foster as she clapped her hands
+over her face. Bright red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows,
+every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a
+little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders
+were adorned with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while
+every ungainly "flipper" wore a "cuff" which had been manufactured for
+very different uses. Plenty of cuffs and collars, and queer enough the
+lobsters looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and
+linen was variegated with huge black spots and blotches, as if some one
+had begun to wash it in ink.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters, and Mrs. Foster's
+face looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal.
+The Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris
+and the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe," said Fuz, half snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got
+the laugh on us this time."</p>
+
+<p>"I?" exclaimed Annie, indignantly. "No, indeed. That's some of Ford's
+work and Dabney's. Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Dab!</p>
+
+<p>He muttered something about "those being all the vegetables he had,"
+and retreated to the kitchen. Joe and Fuz were not the sort to take
+offense easily, however, and promptly helped themselves liberally to
+lobster. That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the
+table; but Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete
+failure. As Ford told him afterward,</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image16" id="image16"><img src="images/image16.jpg" width="401"
+height="186" alt="VEGETABLES? WHY, THEY'RE LOBSTERS!" title="VEGETABLES? WHY,
+THEY'RE LOBSTERS!" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"VEGETABLES?" "WHY, THEY'RE LOBSTERS!"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam with a
+pin."</p>
+
+<p>"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," replied Dab.
+"Well, I'll never try anything like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz aint
+comfortable. They ate too many roasted clams and too much lobster."</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<p>Ham Morris did not linger long at the dinner-table, and Dab would
+have given more than ever for the privilege of going with him. Not that
+he felt so very charitable, but that he did not care to prolong his stay
+at Mrs. Foster's, whether as "cook" or otherwise. He had not lost his
+appetite, however, and after he had taken care of that, he slipped away
+"on an errand for his mother," and hurried toward the village. Nearly
+everybody he met had some question or other to ask him about the wreck,
+and it was not to have been expected that Jenny Walters would let her
+old acquaintance pass her without a word or so.</p>
+
+<p>Dab answered as best he could, considering the disturbed state of his
+mind, but he wound up with:</p>
+
+<p>"Jenny, I wish you'd come over to our house by and by."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I've got something to show you. Something you never saw
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean your new baby,&mdash;the one you found on the bar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but that baby, Jenny!"</p>
+
+<p>"What's wonderful about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it's only two years old and it can squall in two languages.
+That's more'n you can do."</p>
+
+<p>"They say your friend, Miss Foster, speaks French," retorted Jenny.
+"Was she ever shipwrecked?"</p>
+
+<p>"In French? May be so. But not in German."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Dabney, I don't propose to squall in anything. Are your folks
+going to burn any more of their barns this year?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not unless Samantha gets married. Jenny, do you know what's the
+latest fashion in lobsters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Changeable green, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I mean after they're boiled. It's to have 'em come on the table
+in cuffs and collars. Lace around their necks, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"And gloves?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not any gloves. We had lobsters to-day at Mrs. Foster's, and you
+ought to have seen 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Dabney Kinzer, it's time you went to school again."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going in a few days."</p>
+
+<p>"Going? Do you mean you're going away somewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ever so far. Dick Lee's going with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard about him, but I didn't know he meant to take you along.
+That's very kind of Dick. I s'pose you wont speak to common people when
+you get back."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Jenny&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good afternoon, Dabney. Perhaps I'll come over before you go, if
+it's only to see that shipwrecked baby."</p>
+
+<p>A good many of Mrs. Kinzer's lady friends, young and old, deemed it
+their duty to come and do that very thing within the next few days. Then
+the Sewing Circle took the matter up, and both the baby and its mother
+were provided for as they never had been before. It would have taken
+more languages than two to have expressed the gratitude of the poor
+Alsatians. As for the rest of them, out there on the bar, they were
+speedily taken off and carried "to the city," none of them being much
+the worse for their sufferings, after all. Ham Morris declared that the
+family he had brought ashore "came just in time to help him out with his
+fall work, and he didn't see any charity in it."</p>
+
+<p>Good for Ham! but Dab Kinzer thought otherwise when he saw how tired
+Miranda's husband was on his late return from his second trip across the
+bay. Real charity never cares to see itself too clearly. They were
+pretty tired, both of them; but the "Swallow" was carefully moored in
+her usual berth before they left her. Even then they had a good load of
+baskets and things to carry with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Is everything out of the locker, Dab?" asked Ham Morris.</p>
+
+<p>"All but the jug. I say, did you know it was half full? Would it do
+any hurt to leave it here?"</p>
+
+<p>"The jug? No. Just pour out the rest of the apple-jack, over the
+side."</p>
+
+<p>"Make the fish drunk."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it sha'n't bother anybody else if I can help it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, if it's good for water-soaked people, it wont hurt the
+fish."</p>
+
+<p>"Empty it, Dab, and come on. The doctor wasn't so far wrong, and I
+was glad to have it with me; but medicine's medicine, and I only wish
+people'd remember it."</p>
+
+<p>The condemned liquor was already gurgling from the mouth of the jug
+into the salt water, and neither fish nor eel came forward to get a
+share of it. When the cork was replaced, the demijohn was set down again
+in the "cabin," with no more danger in it for anybody.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps that was one reason&mdash;that and his weariness&mdash;why
+Ham Morris did not take the pains even to lock it up.</p>
+
+<p>Dabney was so tired in mind if not in body, that he postponed until
+the morrow anything he may have had to say about the tramp. He was not
+at all sure whether the latter had recognized him, and at all events the
+matter would have to wait. So it came to pass that all the village and
+the shore was deserted and silent, an hour or so later, when a stoutly
+built "cat-boat" with her one sail lowered, was quietly sculled up the
+inlet. There were two men on board,&mdash;a tall one and a short
+one,&mdash;and they ran their boat right alongside the "Swallow," as if
+that were the very thing they had come to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Burgin," remarked the tall man, "what ef we don't find anything
+arter all this sailin' and rowin'? Most likely he's kerried it to the
+house. In course he has."</p>
+
+<p>The keenly watchful eyes of Burgin had followed the fortunes of that
+apple-jack from first to last. To tell the truth, he had more than half
+tried to work himself in as one of the "sufferers," but with no manner
+of success. He had not failed, however, to see the coveted treasure
+stowed away, at last, under the half-deck of the "Swallow." That had
+been all the inducement required to get Peter and his boat across the
+bay, and the old "wrecker" was as anxious about the result as the tramp
+himself could be. It was hard to say which of them was first on board
+the "Swallow."</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>A disappointed and angry pair they were when the empty jug was
+discovered; but Burgin's indignation was loudest and most abusive. Peter
+checked him, at last, with:</p>
+
+<p>"Look a yer, my friend, is this 'ere your boat?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't say it was, did I?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that there your jug? I don't know 'at I keer to hev one o' my
+neighbors abused all night jest bekase I've been an' let an entire
+stranger make a fool of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, ef I didn't I wouldn't say it. Don't git mad, now. Jest let's
+take a turn 'round the village."</p>
+
+<p>"You go and I'll wait for ye. 'Pears like I don't keer to walk about
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, mind you don't run away with my boat."</p>
+
+<p>"If I want a boat, there's plenty here better'n your'n."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so.  I wont be gone a great while."</p>
+
+<p>He was, however, whatever may have been his errand. Old Peter was not
+the man to be at any loss for one, even at that time of night, and his
+present business kept him away from the shore a full hour. When at last
+he returned he found his boat safe enough, and so, apparently were all
+the others; but he looked around in vain for any signs of his late
+companion. Not that he spent much time or took any great pains in
+looking, for he muttered to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Gone, has he? Well then, a good riddance to bad rubbidge. I aint no
+angel, but he's a long ways wuss than I am."</p>
+
+<p>Whether or not old Peter was right in his estimate of himself or of
+Burgin, in a few moments more he was all alone in his cat-boat, and was
+sculling it rapidly up the crooked inlet.</p>
+
+<p>His search had been indeed a careless one, for he had but glanced
+over the gunwale of the "Swallow." A second look would have shown him
+the form of the tramp, half covered by a loose flap of the sail, deeply
+and heavily sleeping at the bottom of the boat. It was every bit as
+comfortable a bed as he had been used to, and there he was still lying,
+long after the sun looked in upon him, next morning.</p>
+
+<p>But other eyes were to look in upon Burgin's face before he awakened
+from that untimely and imprudent nap.</p>
+
+<p>It was not so very early when Ham Morris and Dabney Kinzer were
+stirring again; but they had both arisen with a strong desire for a
+"talk," and Ham made an opportunity for one by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Dab; let's go down and have a look at the 'Swallow.'"</p>
+
+<p>Ham had meant to talk about school and kindred matters; but Dabney's
+first words about the tramp cut off all other subjects.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to have told me," he said. "I'd have had him tied up in a
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>Dabney explained as well as he could, but, before he had finished,
+Ham suddenly exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"There's Dick Lee on board the 'Swallow.' What's he there for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dick!" shouted Dabney.</p>
+
+<p>"Cap'n Dab, did yo' set dis yer boat to trap somebody?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well den, you's gone an' cotched um. Jes you come an' see."</p>
+
+<p>The sound of Dick Lee's voice, so near them, reached the dull ears of
+the slumbering tramp and, as Ham and Dabney sprang into a yawl and
+pushed alongside the yacht, his unpleasant face was slowly and sleepily
+lifted above the rail.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the very man!" excitedly shouted Dabney.</p>
+
+<p>"The tramp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the tramp."</p>
+
+<p>No one would have suspected Ham Morris of so much agility, although
+his broad and well-knit frame promised abundant strength, but he was on
+board the "Swallow" like a flash and Burgin was "pinned" by his iron
+grasp before he could guess what was coming.</p>
+
+<p>It was too late, then, for any such thing as resistance, and he
+settled at once into a dogged, sullen silence, after the ordinary custom
+of his kind when they find themselves cornered. It is a species of
+brute, animal instinct, more than even cunning, seemingly, but not a
+word did Ham and Dabney obtain from their prisoner until they delivered
+him to the safe keeping of the village authorities. That done, they went
+home to breakfast, feeling as if they had made a good morning's work,
+but wondering what the end of it all would be.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3>
+
+<p>The other boys were very much interested in the story of the tramp,
+and so was Mr. Foster when he came home, but poor Annie was a good deal
+more troubled than pleased.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother," she exclaimed, "do you suppose I'll have to appear in
+court as a witness against him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not, dear. Perhaps your father can manage to prevent it."</p>
+
+<p>It would not have been easy for even so good a lawyer as Mr. Foster,
+if Burgin himself had not saved them all trouble on that score. Long
+before the slow processes of country criminal justice could bring him to
+actual trial, so many misdeeds were brought home to him from here and
+there, that he gave the matter up and freely related not only the manner
+of the barn-burning, but his revengeful motive for it. He made his case
+so very clear that when, in due course of time, he was brought before a
+judge and jury, there was nothing left for him to do but to plead
+"guilty."</p>
+
+<p>That was some months later, however, and just at that time the manner
+of his capture&mdash;for the story of the demijohn leaked out first of
+all&mdash;gave the village something new to talk about. It was as good
+as a temperance lecture in spite of old Jock's argument that:</p>
+
+<p>"You see, boys, good liquor don't do no harm. That was real good
+apple-jack, an' it jist toled that chap across the bay and captured him
+without no manner of diffikilty."</p>
+
+<p>There were plenty who could testify to a different kind of
+"capture."</p>
+
+<p>One effect of the previous day's work, including his adventures as an
+ornamental cook, was that Dab Kinzer conceived himself bound to be
+thenceforth especially polite to Joe and Fuz. The remaining days of
+their visit would have been altogether too few for the various
+entertainments he laid out for them.</p>
+
+<p>They were to catch all that was to be caught in the bay. They were to
+ride everywhere and see everything.</p>
+
+<p>"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good
+fellow. Mother says so."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she?" and Dab evidently felt a good deal better after that.</p>
+
+<p>Dick Lee, when his friends found time to think of him, had almost
+disappeared. Some three days afterward, while all the rest were out in
+the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, "Gloriana"
+made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room with a face that was
+darker than usual with motherly anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Kinzer, has you seed my Dick dis week?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he hasn't been here at all. Anything the matter with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dat's de berry question. I doesn't know wot to make ob 'im."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, is he studying too hard?"</p>
+
+<p>"It aint jist de books. I isn't so much afeard ob dem, but it's all
+'long ob dat 'cad'my. I wish you'd jist take a look at 'im, fust chance
+ye git."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he look bad?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, taint jist altogeder his looks. He's de bes' lookin' boy 'long
+shoah. But den de way he's goin' on to talk. 'T aint nateral. He use to
+talk fust rate."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't he talk now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Kinzer, he kin talk, but den de way he gits out his words.
+Nebber seen sech a t'ing in all my born days. Takes him eber so long
+jist to say good-mornin'. An' den he don't say it like he used ter. I
+wish you'd jist take a good look at 'im."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Kinzer promised, and gave her black friend such comfort as she
+could, but Dick Lee's tongue would never again be the free and easy
+thing it had been. Even at home and about his commonest "chores," he was
+all the while struggling with his pronunciation. If he succeeded as well
+with the rest of his "schooling," it was safe to say that it would not
+be thrown away upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Gloriana went her way, and the next to intrude upon Mrs. Kinzer's
+special domain was her son-in-law himself, accompanied by his rosy
+bride.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got a plan!"</p>
+
+<p>"You? A plan? What about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dab and his friends."</p>
+
+<p>"A party!" exclaimed Dab, when his mother unfolded Ham's plan to him.
+"Ham and Miranda give a party for us boys! Well, now, aren't they right
+down good! But, mother, we'll have to get it up mighty quick."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, but that's easy enough with all the help we'll have. I'll
+take care of that."</p>
+
+<p>"But, mother, what can we do? There's only a few know how to dance. I
+don't, for one."</p>
+
+<p>"You must talk that over with Ford. Perhaps Annie and Frank can help
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Great were the consultations and endless were the plans and
+propositions, till even Mrs. Kinzer found her temper getting a little
+worried over them.</p>
+
+<p>"Miranda," she said, on the morning of the day, "all the invitations
+are sent now, and we must get rid of Dabney and the boys for a few
+hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Send 'em for some greens to rig the parlor with," suggested Ham.
+"Let 'em take the ponies."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think the ponies are safe to drive just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Dab can handle 'em. They're a trifle skittish, that's all. They
+need a little exercise."</p>
+
+<p>So they did, but it was to be doubted if the best way to secure it
+for them was to send them out in a light, two-seated wagon, with a load
+of five lively boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, don't you let one of the other boys touch the reins," said Mrs.
+Kinzer.</p>
+
+<p>Dab's promise to that effect was a hard one to keep, for Joe and Fuz
+almost tried to take the reins away from him before they had driven two
+miles from the house. He was firm, however, and they managed to reach
+the strip of woodland, some five miles inland, where they were to gather
+their load, without any disaster, but it was evident to Dab all the way,
+that his ponies were in unusually "high" condition.  He took them out of
+the wagon while the rest began to gather their very liberal harvest of
+evergreens, and did not bring them near it again until all was ready for
+the start homeward.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, boys," he said, "you get in. Joe and Ford and Fuz on the back
+seat to hold the greens. Frank, get up there, forward, while I hitch the
+ponies. These fellows are full of mischief."</p>
+
+<p>Very full, certainly, nor did Dab Kinzer know exactly what the matter
+was, for a minute or so after he seized the reins and sprang up beside
+Frank Harley. Then, indeed, as the ponies reared and kicked and plunged,
+it seemed to him he saw something work out from under their collars and
+fall to the ground. An acorn-burr is just the thing to worry a restive
+horse, if put in such a place, but Joe and Fuz had hardly expected their
+"little joke" would be so very successful as it was.</p>
+
+<p>The ponies were off now.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe," shouted Fuz, "let's jump!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let 'em, Ford," exclaimed Dab, giving his whole energies to
+the horses. "They'll break their necks if they do. Hold 'em in!"</p>
+
+<p>Ford, who was in the middle, promptly seized an arm of each of his
+panic-stricken cousins, while Frank clambered over the seat to help him.
+They were all down on the the bottom now, serving as a weight to hold
+the branches, as the light wagon bounced and rattled along over the
+smooth, level road.</p>
+
+<p>In vain Dab pulled and pulled at the ponies. Run they did, and all he
+could do was to keep them fairly in the road.</p>
+
+<p>Bracing strongly back, with the reins wound around his tough hands,
+and with a look in his face that should have given courage even to the
+Hart boys, Dab strained at his task as bravely as he had stood at the
+tiller of the "Swallow" in the storm.</p>
+
+<p>No such thing as stopping them.</p>
+
+<p>And now, as they whirled along, even Dab's face paled a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I must reach the bridge before he does. He's just stupid enough to
+keep right on."</p>
+
+<p>And it was very stupid indeed for the driver of that one-horse "truck
+wagon" to try and reach the narrow little unrailed bridge first. It was
+an old, used-up sort of a bridge, at best.</p>
+
+<p>Dab loosened the reins a little, but could not use his whip.</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't he stop!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a moment of breathless anxiety, but the wagoner kept stolidly
+on. There would be barely room to pass him on the road itself; none at
+all on the narrow bridge.</p>
+
+<p>The ponies did it.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed to put on an extra touch of speed, on their own account,
+just then.</p>
+
+<p>There was a rattle, a faint crash, and then, as the wheels of the two
+vehicles almost grazed one another in passing, Ford shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"The bridge is down!"</p>
+
+<p>Such a narrow escape!</p>
+
+<p>One of the rotten girders, never half strong enough, had given way
+under the sudden shock of the hind wheels and that truck wagon would
+have to find its path across the brook as best it could.</p>
+
+<p>There were more wagons to pass as they plunged forward, and rough
+places in the road, for Dabney to look out for, but even Joe and Fuz
+were now getting confidence in their driver. Before long, too, the
+ponies themselves began to feel that they had had nearly enough of it.
+Then it was that Dab used his whip again, and the streets of the village
+were traversed at such a rate as to call for the disapprobation of all
+sober-minded people.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are, Ham, greens and all."</p>
+
+<p>"Did they run far?" asked Ham, quietly.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIV</h3>
+
+<p>The boys had returned a good deal sooner than had been expected, but
+they made no more trouble. As Ford Foster remarked, they were all
+"willing to go slow for a week" after being carried so very fast by Dab
+Kinzer's ponies.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great deal to be said about the runaway, and Mrs. Foster
+longed to see Dab and thank him on Ford's account, but he himself had no
+idea that he had done anything remarkable, and was very busily at work
+decking Miranda's parlors with the "greens."</p>
+
+<p>A very nice appearance they made, all those woven branches and
+clustered sprays, when they were in place, and Samantha declared for
+them that,</p>
+
+<p>"They had kept Dab out of mischief all the afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>At an early hour after supper, the guests began to arrive, for Mrs.
+Kinzer was a woman of too much sense to have night turned into day when
+she could prevent it. As the stream of visitors steadily poured in, Dab
+remarked to Jenny Walters:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to enlarge the house after all."</p>
+
+<p>"If it were only a dress, now?"</p>
+
+<p>"What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you could just let out the tucks. I've had to do that with
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Jenny, shake hands with me."</p>
+
+<p>"What for, Dabney?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad to meet somebody else that's outgrowing something."</p>
+
+<p>There was a tinge of color rising in Jenny's face, but, before she
+could say anything, Dab added:</p>
+
+<p>"There! Jenny, there's Mrs. Foster and Annie. Isn't she sweet?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of the nicest old ladies I ever saw&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I didn't mean her mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. You must introduce me to them."</p>
+
+<p>"So I will. Take my arm."</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image17" id="image17"><img src="images/image17.jpg" width="400"
+height="391" alt="MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?" title="MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Jenny Walters had been unusually kindly and gracious in her manner
+that evening, and her very voice had much less than its accustomed
+sharpness, but her natural disposition broke out a little some minutes
+later, while she was talking with Annie. Said she:</p>
+
+<p>"I've wanted so much to get acquainted with you."</p>
+
+<p>"With me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I've seen you in church, and I've heard you talked about, and I
+wanted to find out for myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Find out what?" asked Annie a little soberly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you see, I don't believe it's possible for any girl to be as
+sweet as you look. I couldn't, I know. I've been trying these two days,
+and I'm nearly worn out."</p>
+
+<p>Annie's eyes opened wide with surprise, and she laughed merrily as
+she answered:</p>
+
+<p>"What can you mean? I'm glad enough if my face doesn't tell tales of
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"But mine does," said Jenny, "and then I'm so sure to tell all the
+rest with my tongue. I wish I knew what were your faults."</p>
+
+<p>"My faults? What for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Seems to me if I could think of your faults instead of
+mine, it wouldn't be so hard to look sweet."</p>
+
+<p>Annie saw that there was more earnestness than fun in the queer talk
+of her new acquaintance. The truth was that Jenny had been having almost
+as hard a struggle with her tongue as ever poor Dick Lee with his,
+though not for not the same reason. Before many minutes she had frankly
+told Annie all about it, and she could never have done that if she had
+not somehow felt that Annie's "sweetness" was genuine. The two girls
+were sure friends after that, much to the surprise of Mr. Dabney
+Kinzer.</p>
+
+<p>He, indeed, had been too much occupied in caring for his guests to
+pay special attention to one of them.  His mother had looked after him
+again and again with eyes brimful of pride and of commendation of the
+way he was acquitting himself.</p>
+
+<p>Even Mrs. Foster said to her husband, who had now arrived:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you see that? Who would have expected as much from a raw, green
+country boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear, don't you see? The secret of it is that he's not
+thinking of himself at all. He's only anxious his friends should have a
+good time."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it; but then that too is a very rare thing in a boy of his
+age."</p>
+
+<p>"Dabney!" exclaimed the lawyer in a louder tone of voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, Mr. Foster. I'm glad you've found room. The house
+isn't half large enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand your ponies ran away with you to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"They did come home in a hurry; but nobody was hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear there would have been, but for you. Do you start for Grantley
+with the other boys to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. Dick Lee and I need some one to take care of us. We never
+traveled so far before."</p>
+
+<p>"On land, you mean.  Is Dick here to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Came and looked in, sir, but got scared by the crowd and went
+home."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow! Well, we will do all we can for him."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Dick Lee!</p>
+
+<p>And yet, if Mr. Dabney Kinzer had known his whereabouts at that very
+moment he would half have envied him.</p>
+
+<p>Dick's mother was in the kitchen helping about the supper, but she
+had not left home until she had compelled Dick to dress himself in his
+best,&mdash;white shirt, red neck-tie, shining shoes and all,&mdash;and
+she had brought him with her almost by force.</p>
+
+<p>"You's good nuff to go to de 'cad'my and leab yer pore mother, an' I
+reckon you's good nuff for de party."</p>
+
+<p>And Dick had actually ventured in from the kitchen through the
+dining-room and as far as the door of the back parlor, where few would
+look.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image18" id="image18"><img src="images/image18.jpg" width="400"
+height="254" alt="PINNED!" title="PINNED!" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"PINNED!"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>How his heart did beat as he looked on the merry gathering, a large
+part of whom he had known "all his born days!"</p>
+
+<p>But there was a side door opening from that dining-room on the long
+piazza which Mrs. Kinzer had added to the old Morris mansion, and Dick's
+hand was on the knob of that door almost before he knew it.</p>
+
+<p>Then he was out on the road to the landing, and in five minutes more
+he was vigorously rowing the "Jenny" out through the inlet toward the
+bay.</p>
+
+<p>His heart was not beating unpleasantly any longer, but as he shot out
+from the narrow passage through the flags and saw the little waves
+laughing in the cool, dim starlight, he suddenly stopped rowing, leaned
+on his oars, gave a sigh of relief, and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Dar! I's safe now. I aint got to say a word to nobody out yer.
+Wonder 'f I'll ebber git back from de 'cad'my an' kitch fish in dis yer
+bay? Sho! Course I will. But goin' away's awful!"</p>
+
+<p>Dab Kinzer thought he had never known Jenny Walters to appear so well
+as she looked that evening; and he must have been right, for good Mrs.
+Foster said to Annie:</p>
+
+<p>"What a pleasant, kindly face your new friend has! You must ask her
+to come and see us. She seems quite a favorite with the Kinzers."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you known Dabney long?" Annie had asked of Jenny a little
+before that.</p>
+
+<p>"Ever since I was a little bit of a girl, and a big boy seven or
+eight years old pushed me into the snow."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it Dabney?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but Dabney was the boy that pushed him in for doing it, and then
+helped me up. Dab rubbed his face for him with snow till he cried."</p>
+
+<p>"Just like him!" exclaimed Annie with emphasis. "I should think his
+friends here will miss him."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed they will," replied Jenny, and then she seemed disposed to be
+quiet for a while.</p>
+
+<p>The party could not last forever, pleasant as it was, and by the time
+his duties as "host" were met, Dabney was tired enough to go to bed and
+sleep soundly. His arms were lame and sore from the strain the ponies
+had given them, and that may have been the reason why he dreamed half
+the night that he was driving runaway teams and crashing over rickety
+old bridges.</p>
+
+<p>But why was it that every one of his dream-wagons, no matter who else
+was in it, seemed to have Jenny Walters and Annie Foster smiling at him
+from the back seat?</p>
+
+<p>He rose later than usual next morning, and the house was all in its
+customary order by the time he got down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast was ready also, and, by the time that was over, Dab's great
+new trunk was brought down-stairs by a couple of the farm-hands.</p>
+
+<p>"It's an hour yet to train-time," said Ham Morris; "but we might as
+well get ready. We must be on hand in time."</p>
+
+<p>What a long hour that was, and not even a chance given for Dab to run
+down and take a good-bye look at the "Swallow!"</p>
+
+<p>His mother and Ham and Miranda and the girls seemed to be all made up
+of "good-bye" that morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Dab.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, my dear boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it exactly. If you say 'dear boy' again, Ham Morris'll have
+to carry me to the cars. I'm all kind o' wilted now."</p>
+
+<p>Then they all laughed, and before they got through laughing, they all
+cried except Ham.</p>
+
+<p>He put his hands in his pockets and drew a long whistle.</p>
+
+<p>The ponies were at the door now. The light wagon had three seats in
+it, but when Dab's trunk was in, there was only room left for the
+ladies; Ham and Dab had to walk to the station.</p>
+
+<p>It was a short walk, however, and a silent one, but as they came in
+sight of the platform, Dab exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"There they are, all of them!"</p>
+
+<p>"The whole party?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the platform's as crowded as our house was last night."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters were already the center of the crowd of
+young people, and Ford Foster and Frank Harley, with Joe and Fuz Hart
+were asking what had become of Dab, for the train was in sight.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later, as the puffing locomotive drew up by the water-tank,
+the conductor stepped out on the platform, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Look a here, folks. This aint right. If there was going to be a
+picnic you'd ought to have sent word, and I'd have tacked on an extra
+car. You'll have to pack in, now, best you can."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed much relieved when he found how small a part of the crowd
+were to be his passengers.</p>
+
+<p>"Dab," said Ford, "this is your send-off, not ours. You'll have to
+make a speech."</p>
+
+<p>Dab did want to say something, but he had just kissed his sisters and
+his mother, and half a dozen of his school-girl friends had followed the
+example of Jenny Walters, and then Mrs. Foster had kissed him, and Ham
+Morris had shaken hands with him, and Dab could not have said a loud
+word to have saved his life.</p>
+
+<p>"Speech!" whispered Ford, mischievously, as Dab stepped upon the
+platform; but Dick Lee, who had just escaped from the tremendous hug his
+mother had given him, came to his friend's aid in the nick of time. Dick
+felt that "he must shout, or he should go off," as he afterward told the
+boys, and so at the top of his shrill voice he shouted:</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for Cap'n Kinzer! Dar aint no better feller lef' along
+shore!"</p>
+
+<p>And, amid a chorus of cheers and laughter, and a grand waving of
+white handkerchiefs, the engine gave a deep, hysterical cough, and
+hurried the train away.</p>
+
+<p>The two homesteads by the Long Island shore were a little lonely for
+a while, after the departure of all those noisy, merry young fellows.
+Mr. Foster had enough to do in the city, and Ham Morris had his farm to
+attend to, besides doing more than a little for Mrs. Kinzer. It was much
+the better for both estates that he had that notable manager at his
+elbow. The ladies, however, old and young, had plenty of time to come
+together and wonder how the boys were getting along, even before the
+arrival of the first batch of letters.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be happy," remarked kind Mrs. Foster, after the long,
+boyish epistles had been read, over and over; "and such good letters!
+Not one word of complaint of anything."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Kinzer assented somewhat thoughtfully. Dabney had not complained
+of anything; but while he had praised the village, the scenery, the
+academy, the boys, and had covered two full sheets of paper, he had not
+said a word about the table of his boarding-house.</p>
+
+<p>"He is such a growing boy," she said to herself. "I do hope they will
+give him enough to eat."</p>
+
+<p>It went on a good deal in that way, however, for weeks, even till the
+Fosters broke up their summer residence and returned to the city. There
+were plenty of letters, and all his sisters wondered where Dabney had
+learned to write so capitally; but Mrs. Kinzer's doubts were by no means
+removed until Ham Morris showed her a part of a curious epistle Dabney
+had sent to him in a moment of confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what, Ham," he wrote, "mother doesn't know what can be
+done with corn. Mrs. Myers does. She raised a pile of it last year, and
+the things she makes with it would drive a cook-book crazy. I've been
+giving them Latin names, and Frank, he turns them into Hindustanee. It's
+real fun, but I sha'n't be the boy I was. I'm getting corned. My hair is
+silkier and my voice is husky. My ears are growing. I'd like some fish
+and clams for a change. A crab would taste wonderfully good.  So would
+some oysters.  They don't have any up here; but we went fishing, last
+Saturday, and got some perch and cat-fish and sun-fish. They call them
+pumpkin-seeds up here, and they aint much bigger. Don't tell mother we
+don't get enough to eat. There's plenty of it, and you ought to see Mrs.
+Myers smile when she passes the johnny-cake.  We are all trying to learn
+that heavenly smile. Ford does it best. I think Dick Lee is getting a
+little pale. Perhaps corn doesn't agree with him. He's learning fast,
+though, and so am I; but we have to work harder than the rest. I guess
+the Hart boys know more than they did when they came here, and they
+didn't get it all out of their books, either. We keep up our French and
+our boxing; but oh, wouldn't I like to go for some blue-fish, just now!
+Has mother made any mince-pies yet? I've almost forgotten how they
+taste. I was going by a house here the other day and I smelt some ham,
+cooking. I was real glad I hadn't forgotten. I knew what it was right
+away. Don't you be afraid about my studying, for I'm at it all the
+while, except when we're playing ball or eating corn. They say they have
+sleighing here earlier than we do, and plenty of skating. Well, now,
+don't say anything to mother about the corn; but wont I eat when I get
+home.&mdash;Yours all the while. <span class="sc">Dabney
+ Kinzer</span>."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the poor fellow!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer, and it was not very
+many days after that before young Dabney received a couple of boxes by
+express.</p>
+
+<p>There was a boiled ham in the first one and a great many other
+things, and Dab called in all the other boys to help him get them
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"Mince-pies!" shouted Ford Foster. "How'd they ever travel so
+far?"</p>
+
+<p>"They're not much mashed," said Dabney. "There's enough there to
+start a small hotel. Now let's open the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Ice. Sawdust. Fish, I declare. Clams. Oysters. Crabs. There's a
+lobster. Ford, Frank, Dick, do you think we can eat those fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"After they're cooked," said Ford.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I s'pose we can; but I feel like shaking hands with 'em, all
+round. They're old friends and neighbors of mine, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'd better eat 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Cap'n Dab," remarked Dick Lee, "dey jest knocks all de correck
+pronounciation clean out of me."</p>
+
+<p>Eaten they were, however, and Mrs Myers was glad enough to have her
+boarders supply such a remarkable "variety" for her table, which, after
+that "hint," began to improve a little.</p>
+
+<p>And so we leave Dab Kinzer, still, in mind and body, as when first we
+saw him, a growing boy.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="where" id="where">WHERE?</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Mary N. Prescott.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Where does the Winter stay?</div>
+    <div>With the little Esquimaux,</div>
+    <div>Where the frost and snow-flake grow?</div>
+    <div>Or where the white bergs first come out,</div>
+    <div>Where icicles make haste to sprout,</div>
+    <div>Where the winds and storms begin,</div>
+    <div>Gathering the crops all in,</div>
+    <div>Among the ice-fields, far away?</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Where does the Summer stay?</div>
+    <div>In distant sunny places,</div>
+    <div>'Midst palms and dusky faces,</div>
+    <div>Where they spin the cocoa thread,</div>
+    <div>Where the generous trees drop bread,</div>
+    <div>Where the lemon-groves give alms,</div>
+    <div>And Nature works her daily charms,</div>
+    <div>Among the rice-fields, far away?</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="imgcenter"><a name="image19" id="image19"><img src="images/image19.jpg" width="400" height="102" alt="Decorative" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="parlor" id="parlor">PARLOR MAGIC.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="center"><i>(Pleasing, Harmless, and Inexpensive Experiments,
+  chiefly Chemical, for Young People.)</i></div>
+
+<br />
+<div class="author">By Leo H. Grindon.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p>This series of experiments is designed for the use of young people
+who are interested in the wonders and the beautiful realities of nature,
+and who delight to observe for themselves how curious are the phenomena
+revealed by scientific knowledge. Simple instructions are given for the
+performance of a number of pretty experiments, all of which are
+perfectly safe, and cost very little money. For "evenings at home," it
+is hoped that these experiments will be found indefinitely amusing and
+recreative, at the same time that they will lead the minds of boys and
+girls to inquiries into the entire fabric of the grand sciences which
+explains the principles on which they are founded. All the materials
+spoken of, and all the needful apparatus, which is of the simplest and
+most inexpensive kind, can be obtained at a good chemist's. It is of the
+highest importance that all the materials be pure and good.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Parlor Sunshine.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Obtain a yard of "magnesium tape" or "magnesium wire," sold very
+cheap by most druggists. Cut a length of six or eight inches; bend one
+extremity so as to get a good hold of it with a pair of forceps, or even
+a pair of ordinary scissors, or attach it to the end of a stick or wire.
+Then hold the piece of magnesium vertically in a strong flame, such as
+that of a candle, and in a few seconds it will ignite, burning with the
+splendor of sunshine, and making night seem noonday. As the burning
+proceeds, a quantity of white powder is formed. This is pure magnesia.
+While performing this splendid experiment, the room should be
+darkened.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Cadaverous Faces.</span></h3>
+
+<p>This is an amusing contrast to the lighting-up by means of magnesium;
+Again let the room be nearly darkened. Put about a tea-cupful of spirits
+of wine in a strong common dish or saucer, and place the dish in the
+middle of the table. Let every one approach to the distance of about a
+yard. Then ignite the spirit with a match. It will burn with a peculiar
+yellowish-blue flame, and in the light of this the human countenances,
+and all objects of similar color, lose their natural tint, and look
+spectral. The contrast of the wan and ghostly hue with the smiling lips
+and white teeth of those who look on, is most amusing. The effect of
+this experiment is heightened by dissolving some common table-salt in
+the spirit, and still further by putting into it a small quantity of
+saffron. Let the spirit burn itself away.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">The Breath of Life.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image20" id="image20"><img src="images/image20.jpg" width="400"
+height="371" alt="THE BREATH OF LIFE" title="THE BREATH OF LIFE" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE BREATH OF LIFE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Procure a tolerably large bell-glass, such as is used for covering
+clocks and ornaments upon the mantel-piece. It should not be less than
+eighteen inches high, and eight or nine inches in diameter. Provide also
+a common dish, sufficiently large to allow the bell-glass to stand well
+within its raised border. Then procure two little wax candles, three or
+four inches in length, and stand each in a little bottle or other
+temporary candlestick. Place them in the center of the dish and light
+the wicks. Then pour water into the dish to the depth of nearly an inch,
+and finish by placing the bell over the candles, which of course are
+then closely shut in. For a few minutes all goes on properly. The flames
+burn steadily, and seem to laugh at the idea of their being about to
+die. But, presently, they become faint,&mdash;first one, then the other;
+the luster and the size of the flames diminish rapidly, and then they go
+out. This is because the burning candles consumed all the oxygen that
+was contained within the volume of atmosphere that was in the bell, and
+were unable, on account of the water, to get new supplies from outside.
+It illustrates, in the most perfect manner, our own need of constant
+supplies of good fresh air. The experiment may be improved, or at all
+events varied, by using candles of different lengths.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Rose-Color Produced from Green.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Obtain a small quantity of roseine,&mdash;one of the wonderful
+products obtained from gas-tar, and employed extensively in producing
+what are called by manufacturers the "magenta colors."  Roseine exists
+in the shape of minute crystals, resembling those of sugar. They are
+hard and dry, and of the most brilliant emerald green. Drop five or six
+of these little crystals into a large glass of limpid water. They will
+dissolve; but instead of giving a <i>green</i> solution, the product is
+an exquisite crimson-rose color, the color seeming to trickle from the
+surface of the water downward. When the solution has proceeded for a
+short time, stir the water with a glass rod, and the uncolored portion
+of it will become carmine.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Some Electrical Experiments.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Take a piece of common brown paper, about a foot in length, and half
+as wide. Hold it before the fire till it becomes quite hot. Then draw it
+briskly under your left arm several times, so as to rub it on both
+surfaces against the woolen cloth of your coat. It will now have become
+so powerfully electrified, that if placed against the papered wall of
+the parlor, it will hold on for some time, supported, as it were, by
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>While the piece of brown paper is thus so strangely clinging to the
+wall, place a small, light, and fleecy feather against it, and this, in
+turn, will cling to the paper.</p>
+
+<p>Now, again, make your piece of brown paper hot by the fire, and draw
+it, as before, several times under the arm. Previously to this, attach a
+string to one corner, so that it may be held up in the air. Several
+feathers, of a fleecy kind, may now be placed against each side of the
+paper, and they will cling to it for several minutes.</p>
+
+<p>Another curious electrical experiment is to take a pane of common
+glass, make it warm by the fire, then lay it upon two books, allowing
+only the edges to touch the books, and rub the upper surface with a
+piece of flannel, or a piece of black silk. Have some bran ready, strew
+it upon the table under the piece of glass, and the particles will
+dance.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">To Cut a Phial in Half.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Wind round it two bands of paper, corresponding in position to the
+two temperate zones of the earth, leaving a space between, corresponding
+to the equatorial zone. Secure the two bands of paper with thread or
+fine twine. Then wind a long piece of string once around the equatorial
+space. Let an assistant hold one end of the string, and while holding
+the other end yourself, move the phial rapidly to and fro, so that the
+string shall work upon the glass between the two pieces of paper. When
+the glass becomes hot in the equatorial space, pour some cold water upon
+it, and the glass will break as evenly as if cut with a knife.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image21" id="image21"><img src="images/image21.jpg" width="295"
+height="400" alt="CUTTING THE PHIAL" title="CUTTING THE PHIAL" /></a>
+<p class="caption">CUTTING THE PHIAL.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The principle involved in this curious experiment may be applied to
+the removal of a glass stopper, when too tight in the neck of the bottle
+for the fingers to stir it. All that is necessary is to wind a piece of
+thick string round the neck of the bottle, get an assistant to hold one
+end, and then work the bottle to and fro. The glass of the neck will
+become so warm as to expand, and the stopper will become loosened. It is
+often necessary to continue this friction for some minutes before the
+desired result is attained.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">The Invisible rendered Visible.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Place a coin in an empty basin, and let the basin be near the edge of
+the table. Ask one of the company to stand beside it, and to retire
+slowly backward until he or she can no longer see the coin. Then pour
+cold, clear water into the basin, and the person, who the moment before
+could not perceive the coin, now will see it quite plainly, though
+without moving a hair's breadth nearer.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image22" id="image22"><img src="images/image22.jpg" width="301"
+height="178" alt="THE COIN INVISIBLE"  title="THE COIN INVISIBLE" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE COIN INVISIBLE.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image23" id="image23"><img src="images/image23.jpg" width="299"
+height="192" alt="THE COIN VISIBLE"  title="THE COIN VISIBLE" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE COIN VISIBLE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Light from Sugar.</span></h3>
+
+<p>In a dark room, rub smartly one against the other, a couple of lumps
+of white sugar, and light will be evolved. A similar effect is produced
+by rubbing two lumps of borate of soda one against the other.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Miniature Fire-ships.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Procure a good-sized lump of camphor. Cut it up into pieces of the
+size of a hazel-nut, and having a large dish filled with cold water in
+readiness, lay the pieces on the surface, where they will float. Then
+ignite each one of them with a match, and they will burn furiously,
+swimming about all the time that the burning is in progress, until at
+last nothing remains but a thin shell, too wet to be consumed.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Purple Air.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Obtain an olive-oil flask, the glass of which must be colorless. In
+default of an oil-flask, a large test-tube may be employed. Put into it
+a small quantity of solid iodine (procurable at the chemist's and very
+cheap), then lightly stop the mouth of the flask or test-tube with some
+cotton-wool, but not hermetically, and hold it slantwise over the flame
+of a spirit-lamp. The heat will soon dissolve the iodine, which will
+next turn into a most beautiful violet-colored vapor, completely filling
+the glass, and disappearing again as the glass gets cold.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">The Two Eggs.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Dissolve as much common table-salt in a pint of water as it will take
+up, so as to prepare a strong brine. With this brine half fill a tall
+glass. Then pour in pure water, very carefully. Pour it down the side,
+or put it in with the help of a spoon, so as to break the fall. The pure
+water will then float upon the top of the brine, yet no difference will
+be visible. Next, take another glass of exactly the same kind, and fill
+it with pure water. Now take a common egg, and put it into the vessel of
+pure water, when it will instantly sink to the bottom. Put another egg
+into the first glass, and it will not descend below the surface of the
+brine, seeming to be miraculously suspended in the middle. Of course the
+two glass vessels should be considerably wider than the egg is long.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">The Magic Aperture.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Put several lighted candles upon the table, in a straight row and
+near together. Lay upon the table, in front of them, a large piece of
+smooth, white paper. Have ready a piece of pasteboard, large enough to
+conceal the candles, with a small hole cut in it above the middle. Place
+this so as to stand upon its edge between the row of candles and the
+sheet of paper in front, and there will be as many images of flames
+thrown through the hole and upon the paper as there are burning
+candles.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image24" id="image24"><img src="images/image24.jpg" width="400"
+height="307" alt="THE MAGIC APERTURE" title="THE MAGIC APERTURE" /></a>
+<p class="caption">THE MAGIC APERTURE.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Green Fire.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Obtain some boracic acid, mix it well with a small quantity of
+spirits of wine, or alcohol, place the alcohol in a saucer upon a dish,
+and then ignite it with a match. The flame will be a beautiful green. To
+see the color to perfection, of course, the room should be somewhat
+darkened.</p>
+
+<p>A green flame may also be produced by using chloride of copper
+instead of boracic acid. And instead of mixing it with the alcohol, a
+small quantity may be imbedded in the wick of a candle.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">A Beautiful Imitation of Hoar Frost.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Obtain a large bell-glass, with a short neck and cork at the top,
+such as may be seen in the chemists' shops. Then procure a small
+quantity of benzoic acid, which exists in the shape of snowy crystals.
+Elevate the bell-glass upon a little stage made of books or pieces of
+wood, so as to allow a spirit-lamp to be introduced underneath, and a
+little evaporating dish to be held above the flame by means of a ring of
+wire with suitable handle. Place the benzoic acid in the evaporating
+dish, over the flame, and presently the acid will ascend in vapor and
+fill the bell, which must not be quite closed at the top. Before setting
+up the apparatus, introduce into the bell a small branch of foliage,
+which may be hung by a thread from the neck of the bell. The stiffer and
+more delicate this branch, the better. In a short time, it will become
+covered with a soft white deposit of the acid, very closely resembling
+hoar-frost. This makes an extremely pretty ornament for the parlor.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image25" id="image25"><img src="images/image25.jpg" width="400"
+height="332" alt="IMITATING HOAR-FROST" title="IMITATING HOAR-FROST" /></a>
+<p class="caption">IMITATING HOAR-FROST.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">To Boil Water Without Fire.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Half fill a common oil-flask with water, and boil it for a few
+minutes over the flame of a spirit-lamp. While boiling, cork up the
+mouth of the flask as quickly as you can, and tie a bit of wet bladder
+over the cork, so as to exclude the air perfectly. The flask being now
+removed from the lamp, the boiling ceases. Pour some cold water upon the
+upper portion of the flask, and the ebullition recommences! Apply hot
+water, and it stops! And thus you may go on as long as you please.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">to Convert a Liquid into a Solid.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Dissolve about half a pound of sulphate of soda in a pint of boiling
+water, and after it has stood a few minutes to settle, pour it off into
+a clean glass vessel. Pour a little sweet oil upon the surface, and put
+it to stand where it can get cold, and where no one will touch it. When
+cold, put in a stick, and the fluid, previously clear, will at once
+become opaque, and begin to crystallize, until at length there is a
+solid crystalline mass.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Ice on Fire.</span></h3>
+
+<p>Make a hole in a block of ice with a hot poker. Pour out the water,
+and fill up the cavity with camphorated spirits of wine. Then ignite the
+spirit with a match, and the lump of ice will seem to be in flames.</p>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">Experiments Requiring Chemical Solutions.</span></h3>
+
+<p>To prepare these solutions, purchase of a druggist a small quantity
+of the solid crystals of the substance needed for the experiment you
+wish to try. Dissolve the crystals in clear pure water, and keep the
+solution in a little bottle, labeled with the name. It is seldom that
+the solutions need be strong. When the crystal is a colored one, enough
+should be used to give the water a light tint, blue, yellow, or what it
+may be. None of these solutions will do any harm to the hands, unless
+there is a cut or a wound of any kind upon the skin. It is well also,
+not to let a drop of any of them fall upon the clothes, or upon
+furniture, for some of them will stain. And none of them should ever be
+tasted, or touched by the lips or tongue, many of them being acrid and
+even poisonous.</p>
+
+<p>With the acids still greater care is needed, the stronger acids being
+corrosive and poisonous. The greater portion of these substances must
+likewise not be smelled, as the fumes or vapors would affect the
+nostrils painfully.</p>
+
+<p>For the proper performance of these experiments with solutions,
+etc.,&mdash;at all events for the neatest and most elegant performance
+of them,&mdash;there should be obtained from the chemist's shop about a
+dozen test-tubes. These are little glass vessels, manufactured on
+purpose, and very cheap. Do not take glasses that may afterward be used
+for drinking or household purposes. Be careful to have every one of your
+experiment glasses perfectly clean.</p>
+
+<h4><i>To produce a Beautiful Violet-Purple Color.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Take a nearly colorless solution of any salt of copper. The sulphate
+is the cheapest and handiest. Fill the test-tube or other
+experimenting-glass about two-thirds full. Then drop in, slowly, a
+little liquid ammonia. It will cause a beautiful blue to appear, and
+presently a most lovely violet-purple, which, by stirring with a glass
+rod, extends all through the fluid.</p>
+
+<p>If now you drop into this a very little nitric acid, the fluid will
+again become as clear as pure water.</p>
+
+<h4><i>To Make a Splendid Scarlet.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Again take some solution of sulphate of copper. Add to it a little
+solution of bichromate of potash. Then add a little solution of nitrate
+of silver, and there is produced a splendid scarlet color.</p>
+
+<h4><i>To Make a Deep Blue.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Now, take a nearly colorless solution of sulphate of iron, and drop
+into it, slowly, a small quantity of solution of yellow prussiate of
+potash. This will induce a beautiful deep blue, quite different from the
+blues that are produced from copper salts.</p>
+
+<h4><i>To Make a Yellow Color.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Take a solution of acetate of lead, and add a few drops of solution
+of iodide of potassium, and a most lovely canary-yellow color is
+produced.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Invisible Inks.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Nearly all those experiments which result in the production of color
+may be performed in another way, and be then applied to the purposes of
+secret writing. Thus:</p>
+
+<p>Write with dilute solution of sulphate of copper. The writing will be
+quite invisible, but become blue when held over the vapor of liquid
+ammonia.</p>
+
+<p>Write with the same solution, and wash the paper with solution of
+yellow prussiate of potash, and the writing, previously invisible, will
+become brown. If you choose you may reverse this method, writing with
+solution of the prussiate of potash, and washing the paper with solution
+of the copper salt.</p>
+
+<p>Write with solution of sulphate of iron, and the writing will again
+be invisible. Wash it over with tincture of galls, and it becomes
+black.</p>
+
+<p>Write with sulphate of iron, and use a wash of yellow prussiate of
+potash, and the writing will come out blue. This experiment may likewise
+be reversed, and with similar result.</p>
+
+<h4><i>How to Copper a Knife-Blade.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Make a rather strong solution of sulphate of copper. Let a clean and
+polished piece of steel or iron, such as the blade of a knife, stand in
+it for a few minutes, and the iron will become covered or encrusted with
+a deposit of pure copper.</p>
+
+<h4><i>To Make Beautiful Crystals.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Dissolve, in different vessels, half an ounce each of the sulphates
+of iron, zinc, copper, soda, alumina, magnesia, and potash. The
+solutions can be made more rapidly by using warm water. When the salts
+are all completely dissolved, pour the whole seven solutions into a
+large dish, stir the mixture with a glass rod, then place it in a warm
+place, where it will not be disturbed. By degrees, the water will
+evaporate, and then the salts will re-crystallize, each kind preserving
+its own proper form and color. Some occur in groups, some as single
+crystals. If carefully protected from dust, these form extremely pretty
+ornaments for the parlor.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Alum Baskets.</i></h4>
+
+<p>These may be prepared by dissolving alum in water in such quantity
+that at last the water can take up no more, and the undissolved alum
+lies at the bottom of the vessel. The solution thus obtained is called a
+saturated one. Then procure a common ornamental wire basket, and suspend
+it in the solution, so as to be well covered in every part. There should
+be twice as much solution as will cover the basket. The wires of the
+basket should be wound with worsted, so that the surface may be rough.
+Leave it undisturbed in the solution, and gradually the crystals will
+form all over the surface. Before putting in the basket, it is best to
+further strengthen the solution by boiling it down to one half, after
+which it should be strained.</p>
+
+<h4><i>The Lead-Tree.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Dissolve half an ounce of acetate of lead in six ounces of water. The
+solution will be turbid, so clarify it with a few drops of acetic acid.
+Now put the solution into a clean phial, nearly filling the phial.
+Suspend in the solution, by means of a thread attached to the cork, a
+piece of clean zinc wire. By degrees, the wire will become covered with
+beautiful metallic spangles, like the foliage of a tree.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="alphabet" id="alphabet">UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">Par Laura Caxton.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<table summary="UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS" width="98%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image26.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="A" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image27.jpg" width="296" height="349" alt="B" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">A</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;annette a un tr�s joli petit agneau.</td>
+	<td class="large">B</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;baptiste a une paire de grandes bottes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image28.jpg" width="294" height="350" alt="C" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image29.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="D" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">C</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;c�cile est charm�e de faire rouler<br /> son cerceau.</td>
+	<td class="large">D</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;denis pleure parcequ'il a mal aux dents.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image30.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="E" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image31.jpg" width="294" height="350" alt="F" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">E</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;�douard va gaiement � l'�cole,<br /> avec ses livres.</td>
+	<td class="large">F</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;fanchon fait une cravate pour son fr�re.
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image32.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="G" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image33.jpg" width="296" height="351" alt="H" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">G</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;gabrielle a �t� grond�e par<br /> son grand-p�re.</td>
+	<td class="large">H</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;henri va patiner sur la glace<br /> pendant l'hiver.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image34.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="I" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image35.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="J" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">I</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;isabelle est une pauvre petite invalide.</td>
+	<td class="large">J</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;jacques s'amuse toute la journ�e<br /> avec ses joujoux.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image36.jpg" width="293" height="350" alt="K" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image37.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="L" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">K</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;k est la lettre que jean tient<br /> sous la main.</td>
+	<td class="large">L</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;louise donne des l�gumes<br /> a ses petits lapins.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image38.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="M" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image39.jpg" width="297" height="350" alt="N" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">M</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;marie a des marguerites pour sa<br /> ch�re maman.</td>
+	<td class="large">N</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;narcisse a trouv� des oiseaux<br /> dans un nid.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image40.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="O" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image41.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="P" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">O</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;olivier, avec son parapluie,<br /> n'a pas peur de l'orage.</td>
+	<td class="large">P</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;pauline a beaucoup de plaisir<br /> avec sa petite poup�e.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image42.jpg" width="297" height="350" alt="Q" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image43.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="R" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">Q</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;quentin aime � jouer aux quilles<br /> de bois.</td>
+	<td class="large">R</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;roland remplit un  pot pour y<br /> planter son rosier.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image44.jpg" width="297" height="350" alt="S" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image45.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="T" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">S</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;susette a un morceau de sucre<br /> pour son serin.</td>
+	<td class="large">T</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;th�rese est triste parceque<br /> son tablier est sale.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image46.jpg" width="296" height="349" alt="U" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image47.jpg" width="293" height="349" alt="V" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">U</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;urbain a le drapeau des �tats-unis.</td>
+	<td class="large">V</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;virginie arrose ses violettes chaque<br /> matin et chaque soir.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image48.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="W" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image49.jpg" width="296" height="350" alt="X" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">W</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;winifred est am�ricaine,<br /> elle n'est pas une petite fran�aise.</td>
+	<td class="large">X</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;x�nophon est le g�n�ral renomm� �<br /> qui paul croit ressembler.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="4">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image50.jpg" width="295" height="350" alt="Y" /></td>
+	<td colspan="2"><img src="images/image51.jpg" width="300" height="350" alt="Z" /></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+	<td class="large">Y</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;y a-t-il une autre petite fille<br /> de si jolis yeux?</td>
+	<td class="large">Z</td>
+	<td class="sc">&mdash;z�nobie sait compter d'un jusqu'� z�ro.</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="exchange" id="exchange">A FAIR EXCHANGE.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Mrs. M. F. Butts.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Oh, Willow, where did you get your fringe,</div>
+    <div class="in1">In New York or in Paris?</div>
+    <div>Tell me, and I will get some too,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Because I am an heiress;</div>
+    <div>And I buy me everything I want;</div>
+    <div class="in1">I have a ring and a feather;</div>
+    <div>I promenade in my white kid boots</div>
+    <div class="in1">Each day in pleasant weather."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Oh, little one, where did you get the pink,</div>
+    <div class="in1">In your pretty, round cheek glowing?</div>
+    <div>And where did you get the yellow curls,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Over your shoulders flowing?</div>
+    <div>Perhaps you can tell me how they are made;</div>
+    <div class="in1">If you think so, darling, try it;</div>
+    <div>And when you succeed, I'll tell you about</div>
+    <div class="in1">My fringe, and where to buy it."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="teddy" id="teddy">HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE.</a></h2>
+
+<div class="center">(<i>A Geometrical Jingle.</i>)</div>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Rossiter Johnson.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Teddy, Jimmy, Frank, and I</div>
+    <div>Fished all day for smallest fry,</div>
+    <div>And as evening shades drew nigh,</div>
+    <div>Stopped to see if we could buy,</div>
+    <div>At a road-side groce-ry,</div>
+    <div>Anything they called a pie.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>There was one, and only one,</div>
+    <div>Deeply filled and brownly done,</div>
+    <div>Warm from standing in the sun,</div>
+    <div>Flanked on each side by a bun,</div>
+    <div>Since that summer day begun.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>From the window it was brought,</div>
+    <div>With our pennies it was bought;</div>
+    <div>Then a knife was quickly sought&mdash;</div>
+    <div>Who would cut it as he ought?</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"Leave it all," says Ted, "to me,"</div>
+    <div>As the knife he flourished free;</div>
+    <div>"I have cut a great ma-ny."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"But," says Frank, who feared our fate,</div>
+    <div>"Will you cut it fair and straight?"</div>
+    <div>"Straight?" says Ted. "I'll tell you what&mdash;</div>
+    <div>Straighter than a rifle-shot:</div>
+    <div>Straighter than the eagle's flight.</div>
+    <div>Straight as any ray of light."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"I will mark the place," says Jim&mdash;</div>
+    <div>Great exactness was his whim&mdash;</div>
+    <div>And he measured, on the rim,</div>
+    <div>Starting-points, as guides for him.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Ted put in the knife with glee;</div>
+    <div>First he cut from <span class="sc">a</span> to <span class="sc">b</span>!</div>
+    <div>Then he cut from <span class="sc">c</span> to <span class="sc">d</span>!!</div>
+    <div>Then he took the piece marked <span class="sc">e</span>!!!</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Every cut was straight, he said,&mdash;</div>
+    <div>He would bet his curly head.</div>
+    <div>Such a perfect, born-and-bred</div>
+    <div>Geometric rogue was Ted.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image52" id="image52"><img src="images/image52.jpg" width="400"
+height="386" alt="Pie" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chairs" id="chairs">"CHAIRS TO MEND!"</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Alexander Wainwright.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<p>The art of doing small things well has a good illustration in the
+humble chair-mender of the London streets, who is also one of the most
+interesting of out-door tradesmen.</p>
+
+<p>He carries all his implements and materials with him. A very much
+worn chair is thrown over one arm as an advertisement of his occupation,
+and it is needed, for his cry, "Cha&ndash;ir&ndash;s to
+men&ndash;n&ndash;nd," is uttered in a melancholy and indistinct, though
+penetrating, tone. Under the other arm he usually has a bundle of cane,
+split into narrow ribbons.</p>
+
+<p>His look is that of forlorn respectability; his hat is greasy, and
+mapped with so many veins, caused by crushings, that it might have been
+used as a chair or, at least, a foot-stool; around his neck he wears a
+heavy cloth kerchief, and his long coat of by-gone fashion reaches
+nearly to the ankles, which are covered by shabby gaiters. He walks
+along at a very gentle pace and scans the windows of the houses for some
+sign that his services are wanted.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image53" id="image53"><img src="images/image53.jpg" width="246"
+height="400" alt="CHAIRS TO MEND!" title="CHAIRS TO MEND!" /></a>
+<p class="caption">"CHAIRS TO MEND!"</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Perhaps business is dull, but in the neighborhoods where there are
+plenty of children he is pretty sure to find some work. Cane-seated
+chairs are durable, but they will not stand the rough usage of those
+little boys and girls who treat them as step-ladders and stamp upon
+them. It often happens that a neat English house-maid appears at the
+area railings with a chair that has a big, ragged hole in the seat,
+through which Master Tommy has fallen, with his boots on, in an effort
+to reach the gooseberry jam on the pantry shelf.</p>
+
+<p>Master Tommy probably looks on while the repairs are being made, and
+is much interested by the dexterity with which the mender does his work.
+The old and broken canes are cut away, and the new strips are woven into
+a firm fabric, with little eight-sided openings left in it. The
+overlapping ends of the ribbons are trimmed with a sharp knife, and the
+chair-seat is as good as new.</p>
+
+<p>It seems so easy that Tommy thinks he could have done it himself; but
+when he experiments with a slip of cane that the mender gives him, he
+finds that chair-mending is really a trade that must be learned.</p>
+
+<p>Some chair-menders are blind men, and it is still more interesting to
+watch them at their work. The plaiting of the canes is done as
+unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with
+wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of
+basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we
+might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with
+the same cleverness the father shows in handling the canes.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="kitties" id="kitties">TWO KITTIES.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<div class="author">By Joy Allison.</div>
+<hr class="tiny" />
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image54" id="image54"><img src="images/image54.jpg" width="500"
+height="226" alt="TWO KITTIES" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza2">
+    <div>Two little kitties</div>
+    <div class="in1">Wandered away</div>
+    <div>Into the prairie</div>
+    <div class="in1">One summer day.</div>
+    <div>One on two feet,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Rosy and fair,</div>
+    <div>Almost a baby,&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">"Golden Hair."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza2">
+    <div>Four feet,&mdash;useless,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Eyes fast closed,</div>
+    <div>Borne in a basket</div>
+    <div class="in1">The other dozed.</div>
+    <div>Searching in terror</div>
+    <div class="in1">Far and wide,</div>
+    <div class="quote">"Golden Hair's" mother</div>
+    <div class="in1">Moaned and cried.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza2">
+    <div>Mother Puss calmly</div>
+    <div class="in1">Following slow,</div>
+    <div>Listening,&mdash;calling</div>
+    <div class="in1">Meoh!&mdash;Meoh!&mdash;</div>
+    <div>Mother Puss found them,</div>
+    <div class="in1">A little heap,</div>
+    <div>Down in the deep grass</div>
+    <div class="in1">Fast asleep.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="hare" id="hare">"HARE AND HOUNDS."</a></h2>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image55" id="image55"><img src="images/image55.jpg" width="349"
+height="500" alt="HARE AND HOUNDS" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"What shall we do?" the children said,</div>
+    <div>By the spirit of frolic and mischief led,</div>
+    <div>Frank and Lulu and Carrie, three</div>
+    <div>As full of nonsense as they could be;</div>
+    <div>Who never were known any fun to stop</div>
+    <div>Until they were just about ready to drop.</div>
+    <div>Frank, whose "knowledge-box" surely abounds</div>
+    <div>With games, spoke up for "Hare and Hounds."</div>
+    <div class="quote">"Down the cellar, or up the stair,</div>
+    <div>Here and there, and everywhere,</div>
+    <div>You must follow, for I'm the Hare!"</div>
+    <div>Lulu and Carrie gave quick consent,</div>
+    <div>And at cutting their papers and capers went,</div>
+    <div>For the stairs were steep, and they must not fail</div>
+    <div>To have enough for a good long trail.</div>
+    <div class="in5">Away went the Hare</div>
+    <div class="in5">Right up the stair,</div>
+    <div>And away went the Hounds, a laughing pair;</div>
+    <div class="in5">And Tony, who sat</div>
+    <div class="in5">Near Kitty, the cat,</div>
+    <div>And was really a dog worth looking at,</div>
+    <div class="in5">With a queer grimace</div>
+    <div class="in5">Soon joined the race,</div>
+    <div>And followed the game at a lively pace!</div>
+    <div class="in5">Then Puss, who knew</div>
+    <div class="in5">A thing or two,</div>
+    <div>Prepared to follow the noisy crew,</div>
+    <div>And never before or since, I ween,</div>
+    <div>Was ever beheld such a hunting scene!</div>
+    <div>The Hare was swift; and the papers went</div>
+    <div>This way and that, to confuse the scent;</div>
+    <div>But Tony, keeping his nose in air,</div>
+    <div>In a very few moments betrayed the Hare,</div>
+    <div>Which the children told him was hardly fair.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>I cannot tell you how long they played,</div>
+    <div>Of the fun they had, or the noise they made;</div>
+    <div>For the best of things in this world, I think,</div>
+    <div>Can ne'er be written with pen and ink.</div>
+    <div>But Bridget, who went on her daily rounds,</div>
+    <div>Picking up after the "Hare and Hounds,"</div>
+    <div>Said she didn't mind hearing their lively capers,</div>
+    <div>But her back was broke with the scraps o' papers.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Carrie, next day, couldn't raise her head;</div>
+    <div>Frank and Lulu were sick in bed;</div>
+    <div>The dog and cat were a used-up pair,</div>
+    <div>And all of them needed the doctor's care.</div>
+    <div>The children themselves can hardly fail</div>
+    <div>To tack a moral upon this trail;</div>
+    <div>And I guess on rather more level grounds</div>
+    <div>They'll play their next game of "Hare and Hounds."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="center">
+<a name="image56" id="image56"><img src="images/image56.png" width="340"
+height="400" alt="JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<h2 style="margin-top:-1.5em; padding-left:2em;"><a
+name="jackinthepulpit" id="jackinthepulpit">JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" />
+<br />
+
+<p>So, here's October come again. Another pleasant year gone by, another
+lot of sermons done, and nobody the worse! Dear, dear, how time does fly
+in cheerful company, to be sure!</p>
+
+<p>Well, my dears, keep a bright lookout for the new volume, and,
+meantime, don't open your eyes too wide while I bring to your notice</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>THE LARGEST MAN.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Albany, N.Y.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit</span>: Perhaps some of your
+other boys, who, like myself, wish to grow big and strong, would like to
+hear about the largest human being ever known,&mdash;Goliath of
+Gath,&mdash;a person almost large enough to need introduction by
+installments, but he is so well known that the ceremony is needless.</p>
+
+<p>As nearly as I can make out, he was between ten and eleven feet high.
+When he went to battle he wore a coat-of-mail weighing one hundred and
+fifty-six pounds,&mdash;as heavy as a good-sized man; and the rest of
+his armor amounted to at least one hundred and fifteen pounds more. The
+head of his spear weighed eighteen pounds,&mdash;as heavy as six
+three-pound cans of preserved fruit,&mdash;and this he carried at the
+end of a long and heavy shaft!</p>
+
+<p>Think what might happen if a man equally big and strong should live
+among us now, and insist on taking part in our games and sports? If he
+joined a boat-club, a curious six-oared crew could be made up, with him
+at one side and five other men opposite. And just imagine him "booming
+along" on a velocipede! If he joined the champion Nine, and hit a ball,
+where would that ball go to? If he called for a "shoulder-high" ball,
+wouldn't the catcher have to climb a step-ladder to catch behind the
+giant? And if he threw a ball to a base-man, wouldn't he be apt to throw
+it clean through him?</p>
+
+<p>Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are interesting
+all the same, to yours sincerely,</p>
+
+<div class="right">R.V.D.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>CATCHING BIRDS ON THE WING.</h3>
+
+<p>As if a man could ever hope to do that, or even to do so much as fly!
+And yet, word has already come to me of a man who has made a machine
+with which he actually has flown, up, down, with the wind, against the
+wind, and, in fact, any way he wished!</p>
+
+<p>The particular machine he used looked, I'm told, rather like a big
+bolster-case blown full of air, and with a light frame-work of hollow
+brass tubes strapped to it underneath. In this frame-work was a seat for
+the man, and near him were two circular fans, which he turned round very
+fast indeed; one of the fans made the machine fly backward or forward,
+and the other made it go up or down, as he liked.</p>
+
+<p>Now, this certainly seems to be a step ahead, or, rather, a flap
+upward; but you needn't expect to be chasing and catching eagles and
+albatrosses on the wing by dropping salt on their tails; at least, not
+just yet, my dears. The time for that sort of fun may come, perhaps; but
+it would be well not to crow too loudly at present.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>THE BEE AND THE ANEMONE.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Des Moines, Iowa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit</span>: The bee you told us
+of in your August sermon did not mistake the anemone for a flower. At
+least, <i>I</i> think not. No bee ever makes such a mistake as to settle
+on a poisonous flower, and I believe that this bee went to the anemone
+for water and not for honey. Bees will settle on pieces of straw afloat
+in the water, when seeking for water, and I believe they know, even
+while on the wing, where to find honey. Good-bye.&mdash;Your friend.</p>
+
+<div class="right">N.E.H.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>FRANGIPANI SCENT AND PUDDINGS.</h3>
+
+<p>"Let's begin with the puddings, and make sure of <i>them</i>," as a
+little boy once remarked. Well, then, in former times, Frangipani
+puddings were of broken bread, and their queer name is made from two
+words,&mdash;<i>frangi</i>, meaning "to break," and <i>panus</i>,
+"bread"; but, after some time, these puddings were made with
+pastry-crust and contained cream and almonds.</p>
+
+<p>Frangipani scent, however, was named after a great marquis who first
+made it, getting it from the jasmine plant. And the marquis got
+<i>his</i> name from an ancestor whose duty it had been to break the
+holy bread or wafer in one of the church services, and who on that
+account was called "Frangipani," or "Breaker of Bread."</p>
+
+<p>Now, this way of explaining how words come to be formed, sounds well
+enough, no doubt. But how are we to know, in this case, that the marquis
+didn't invent the pudding as well as the scent? However, I must leave
+you to puzzle out the problem for yourselves, my dears, while I give you
+some information about</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>A SEALED POSTMAN.</h3>
+
+<p>You've all heard of sealed letters, of course, and seen some, too, no
+doubt; but did you ever hear of the letter-carrier, also, being sealed?
+Well, a bit of news has come saying that, among the Himalaya Mountains,
+the men who carry the mails on horseback are sealed to their saddles, in
+such a way that while they can ride easily enough they cannot get down
+from their seats; and, what is more, the mail-packages are sealed to the
+men! Once started on the route, the seals are not allowed to be broken,
+except by the postmaster at the next station, and, if they happen to get
+broken otherwise than by accident, the carrier is severely punished.</p>
+
+<p>The result of this sealing is that a mail-carrier who wishes to steal
+the letters in his charge is obliged to steal also the saddle and
+horse,&mdash;and himself as well, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p>Nice places these carriers have to ride through, at times! Why, in
+some parts, the road is so steep that, in going down, the rider is kept
+upright by a rope passed under his arms and held in the hands of two men
+who are above him on the mountain. If it were not for this, the rider
+would fall over the head of his horse, or else cause the horse itself to
+go over head first.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether, the postmen of the Himalayas must have a hard time of
+it.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>WIND-HARPS.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">East Saginaw, Mich.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit:</span> Please will you or any of your
+"chicks" tell me how to make a wind-harp, or Eolian harp?</p>
+
+<div class="right">Your friend,  <span class="sc">Minnie Warner.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Time and again have I heard tell of wind-harps and the sweet music
+the wind coaxes out of them. The sighing and singing of the breezes
+through the tree-tops must be something like it, no doubt. But I never
+heard a wind-harp's song, and of course don't know how to make one.
+Perhaps, some of you know, however, and if so I shall be obliged if you
+will send me word, so that I can pass it on to Minnie and the rest of my
+chicks.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>"THE JOY OF THE DESERT."</h3>
+
+<p>In Africa is a vast, dreary waste, called the Desert of Sahara. In
+widely scattered spots of this desert there grows a tree that sends its
+roots down to springs far beneath the parched ground. Sometimes these
+springs are so far down that the trees are planted in deep holes,
+something like wells, so that the roots may reach water. Hardly anything
+except this tree can grow in that desert.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit of the tree is delicious food; the long trunk makes poles
+for tents; the leaf-stalks make many kinds of basket and wicker work,
+walking-sticks and fans; the leaves themselves are made into bags and
+mats; and the fibers at the base of the leaf-stalks are twisted into
+cordage for tents and harness. The sap of the tree, drawn from a deep
+cut in the trunk near the top, after standing a few days, becomes a
+sweet and pleasant liquor. Cakes of the fruit pounded and kneaded
+together "so solid as to be cut with a hatchet," are carried by
+travelers going across the terrible desert.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<a name="image57" id="image57"><img src="images/image57.jpg" width="399" height="195" alt="Desert" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p>Besides all this, trees of this kind, planted in groups, cast a shade
+which keeps the ground moist, so that other fruit-trees can live beneath
+them.</p>
+
+<p>When the tree is about one hundred years old, it ceases to bear
+fruit, and is cut down for timber; but in its long life it has made its
+owner rich and a great many people comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>The paragram which told me all this said, further, that this tree is
+the date-palm, and is called "The Joy of the Desert." Well may it be so
+called, I should think; though once I heard some of the children of the
+red school-house say they hated "dates." Perhaps they meant "dates" of
+some other kind.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>BABIES IN BOOTS.</h3>
+
+<p>Where do you suppose Tartar mothers carry their little children?</p>
+
+<p>Not on their shoulders, nor on their hips, nor in their arms, nor at
+their backs, nor on their heads.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I'm told they carry them in their boots! These are made of
+cloth, and each is large enough to hold a child five years old!</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>ROOK COURTS AND BLACKBIRD POWWOWS.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear Jack-in-the-Pulpit:</span> In England, where I
+come from, I have seen meetings of vast numbers of birds, though never
+as many of such different kinds as those named by Z.R.B. in the letter
+which you gave us in July. Sometimes, a great number of rooks gather in
+a ring, and in the center of it is one lonely, dejected-looking rook,
+who holds his head down in silence. The other rooks seem to hold a
+consultation, chattering and cawing back and forth, sometimes one alone
+and sometimes all together, until they seem to decide what to do.</p>
+
+<p>Then three or four old, solemn-looking rooks fly upon the lonely one
+and put him to death, as if he had been found guilty of some dreadful
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>In this country, during spring, the blackbirds meet almost daily in
+the tops of high trees, especially elms and locusts, and there they
+chatter by the hour. Sometimes a few will fly off, angrily, with quick,
+sharp notes, to some tree a little way off. After a while, two or three
+more birds will join them from the large body. Then, perhaps, some of
+them will go back as "peace commissioners," and after a few more flights
+back and forth, and endless chatter, the little party may return to the
+main body; or, increasing in number, may form a second crowd as noisy as
+the first.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt you have heard and seen many such powwows, dear Jack. Long
+may you live to watch the birds and repeat to us their wisdom! Truly
+your friend,</p>
+
+<div class="right">C.B.M.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>AN INTERVAL NOT ON THE PROGRAMME.</h3>
+
+<p>I'm told that at Pompeii, Italy, in the year 79, a play was being
+acted in one of the theaters, when a storm of cinders fell, buried the
+whole city, and, of course, put a stop to the play, which has never been
+completed. A few months ago, however, an operatic manager named Languri
+made up his mind to have a new theater just where the old one stood; so,
+he printed in the Italian newspapers a notice that ran something like
+this:</p>
+
+<blockquote> <p>"After a lapse of eighteen hundred years, the theater of
+ Pompeii will be re-opened, with the opera of 'La Figlia del
+ Reggimento.' I ask the continuation of the favor shown to my
+ predecessor, Marcus Quintus Martius, and beg to assure the public that
+ I shall make every effort to equal the rare qualities he displayed
+ during his management."</p> </blockquote>
+
+<p>If only Marcus Quintus Martius and his actors, and musicians, and the
+ancient audience, could have been at that re-opening of their
+long-buried theater, how they would have stared!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="letterbox" id="letterbox">THE LETTER-BOX.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p>Our older boys and girls will find in this number an excellent
+article on "Parlor Magic," in which they are told, by Professor Leo
+Grindon, one of the Faculty of the Royal School of Chemistry in
+Manchester, England, how to perform some very interesting, and in some
+cases, quite astonishing experiments in chemistry, optics, etc. Some of
+our readers may be familiar with a few of these experiments, but the
+majority of them will be found novel to nearly all young people.
+Occasionally, there are materials or ingredients called for, which are
+somewhat expensive, and some of the experiments require a good deal of
+time and patience. But these are the exceptions, for nearly all the
+experiments described in the article can be performed by any careful and
+intelligent boy or girl of fourteen or fifteen, in a short time and at a
+very small cost.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, in getting up a little "Parlor Magic Entertainment" it
+will not be necessary to try all the experiments described. Choose such
+as you think you can perform without fail, and which will be likely to
+interest the company you expect. Be careful not to try to do too many
+things in one evening, and, if possible, make each experiment in
+private, before you attempt to show your friends how it is done. This
+will not be necessary in every case, but if you make an experiment, for
+the first time, before company, be sure that you know exactly what you
+are going to do and how it ought to be done.</p>
+
+<p>One more thing, the most important of all, we would impress on the
+mind of every reader of <span class="sc">St. Nicholas</span> who tries
+any of these experiments, and that is the necessity for great care in
+handling and disposing of the chemical ingredients which may be used.
+Some of these, although perfectly harmless, when used as directed, are
+very injurious, if tasted, or even smelt very closely; and although the
+performer may himself be very prudent and careful with his materials and
+apparatus, he must not give the slightest opportunity to young children,
+or indeed any one who has not studied up the subject, to handle his
+chemicals.</p>
+
+<p>With careful attention to the directions given in the article, a
+pleasant evening entertainment may easily be had, and if an occasional
+failure should take place, both the performer and the company should
+remember that an <i>experiment</i> is only a trial, and cannot be
+expected always to succeed.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I went over to my uncle's
+one Saturday lately, to tea, and had baked beans. He never eats vinegar
+on them, excepting some made in January, 1851, when 40 gallons were
+frozen in 53 quart bottles. He told me there was no other such vinegar
+in the United States, and if I could hear of any one who has some
+prepared like it, and as old, he would give me as handsome a doll as I
+wanted. My object is to ask you to please publish my letter, and I may
+receive the doll, which I want very much, and oblige, with many thanks,
+one of your subscribers.</p>
+
+<div class="right">L.D.H.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">London, England.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: We are traveling in Europe
+for a short time, and I thought, perhaps, you might like to hear a short
+account of our journey. First, we went to Chester, one of the oldest
+cities in England. It is inclosed by a wall two miles around, which was
+built 1800 years ago. The "Rows" of Chester are very strange and
+interesting. They are rows of stores in the second stories of
+houses&mdash;with a sidewalk in front, supported by pillars and covered
+overhead. One may walk out on a rainy day and do a great variety of
+shopping without being at all exposed to the weather. The sidewalks
+below these rows, and on a level with the middle of the street are dingy
+and shabby, lined with forlorn looking little places inhabited by the
+poorer class.</p>
+
+<p>There is an old house standing in an alley, in the garret of which
+one of the earls of Derby was hidden for three months.</p>
+
+<p>A small part of an old church, which was built 200 A. D., still
+stands, and is one of the curiosities. There is also a tower where King
+Charles II stood and saw his army defeated, only, that was before he
+became king. Next we went to Stratford-on-Avon, where we saw
+Shakespeare's house, and I sat in his chair.</p>
+
+<p>We lunched at the Red Horse Inn, in the room which Washington Irving
+had when he was there. I also sat in his chair. In the afternoon we went
+to Shakespeare's other house and gardens. He had two homes, but he only
+lived in one until he was seventeen years old.</p>
+
+<p>We are now in London, and have been to see a few of the principal
+places. Westminster Abbey is one of the great sights. We saw a sitting
+figure of a duchess who died from the effects of lock-jaw, caused by
+pricking her finger with a needle, while at needle work on Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>We also saw St. Paul's Cathedral, where there is a whispering
+gallery, so called, because, if you whisper on one side of the gallery,
+it may be heard on the other side as distinctly as if you were over
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The South Kensington Museum contains a great many curiosities, and
+some of the things which Doctor Schliemann has dug up.</p>
+
+<p>The National Art Gallery contains a great many beautiful pictures,
+and one room is devoted to Turner's paintings.</p>
+
+<p>We have also been to see the Tower, where the little princes were
+murdered; they do not take you into the room where they stayed; but
+<span class="sc">St. Nicholas</span> gave us a fine picture of that in
+January of 1874. We shall start for Paris soon.&mdash;From your little
+friend,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Mamie Charles.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p>"<span class="sc">Mother</span>." Unpainted, strong and really
+amusing playthings, such as you inquire for, are to be found, we think,
+in almost any large toy-store. Animals, wagons, and various amusing
+things cut out of plain wood, abound nowadays, and they can be sent you
+by express from your nearest town. In our experience, however, we have
+found building blocks of most lasting interest to the little folks.
+Crandall's are the best, for they admit of an endless variety of
+combination.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Washington, D. C.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">My Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have a little sister,
+named Josie, who is six years old. She can read only a little, and she
+does not like to do it at all. She has plenty of toys, and a nice
+baby-house, but often she gets tired of playing and then comes to me to
+know what to do.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I want to know if you cannot tell me something for her to do
+that will keep her quiet? I have another sister who is nine years old,
+but no brother.&mdash;Your loving reader,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Anita R. Newcomb.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Anita may find a satisfactory hint in the answer to "Mother" given
+above. Also, the Kinder Garten games that are now used in many schools
+for very little folks may be of service to Josie.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">London, Eng.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have just arrived in
+England. When we were fairly out at sea, the first thing I did was to
+explore the great ship. It was four hundred feet long, made entirely of
+iron, and sank twenty feet deep in the water. The masts were of hollow
+iron, and seventy feet high. It took nine furnaces and forty tons of
+coal a day to keep the ship going. The crew numbered a hundred and
+thirty-five. It seems very wonderful that a great heavy iron ship should
+not sink; the reason it does not is that it is lighter than the water it
+displaces.</p>
+
+<p>When we were a few days out, a flock of land-birds rested on our
+ship. We fed them with crumbs, and brought dishes of fresh water on deck
+for them, but after a day or two they disappeared. A little further on,
+a hawk alighted on the vessel, and one of the sailors caught it when it
+was asleep.</p>
+
+<p>To find out how fast we were going, the sailors threw the "log,"
+which was no log at all, but a long thin rope with a small
+three-cornered canvas bag at one end. They throw out the bag, and it
+catches in the water and keeps the end of the rope steady. The rope runs
+out as the ship goes. One sailor stands with a time-glass, which holds
+as much sand as will fall in one minute from one half of it into the
+other. The glass is turned just when a certain mark on the rope passes
+over the rail, and, when all the sand has run, the rope is stopped. As
+the rope has lengths marked on it by bits of colored cloth, the sailors
+can tell how far the ship has gone in one minute, and can roughly
+calculate from that its rate of speed by the hour. Formerly a real log
+of wood was used instead of the bag.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest event of the voyage was seeing a school of whales. There
+were dozens of them spouting and showing their backs above water.
+Another exciting thing was meeting a ship so near that we could salute
+it, which is done by hoisting and then lowering the flag once or twice.
+Ships have flags of different kinds, and each has its own meaning. So by
+hoisting certain flags, the captains of distant ships can exchange
+news.</p>
+
+<p>When nearing the Irish coast, a dense fog settled upon us, so that we
+could hardly see from one end of the ship to the other. All day and all
+night the great fog-whistle was kept blowing to warn other vessels that
+might be in our neighborhood. To see a light house or landmark was
+impossible, but the captain found out where we were by soundings. Every
+ship has a long piece of lead with a hole in one end which is filled
+with tallow. The other end is fastened to a rope, and the lead is thrown
+overboard and sinks to the bottom. When hauled up, some of the
+sea-bottom is found stuck to the tallow, and from this and the depth of
+the water, the captain knows where he is, for the kinds of sand and mud
+at the bottom of the sea, and the varying depths of water, are plainly
+marked on his charts.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot describe to you what a welcome sight the land was, after
+seeing nothing but water for so long. But when we had left the great
+ship behind, it seemed almost as if we were leaving home, glad though I
+was to get ashore.</p>
+
+<div class="right">Your loving reader, F. D.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p>A correspondent sends us the series of "Beheaded Rhymes" which we
+print below. Each of the stanzas contains two examples of this kind of
+rhyming, and, in each example, the first blank is to be filled with a
+word that suits both the sense and the measure. The next blank that
+occurs is filled with all of the chosen word except its first letter;
+and this process goes on until the word can no longer be beheaded and
+yet leave another word. The making of such "Beheaded Rhymes" as these,
+in company, to see who can succeed best, sometimes whiles away very
+pleasantly a long evening of disagreeable weather.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="sc">A Night's Adventures.</span></h4>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>It made a most tremendous &mdash;&mdash;!<span class="linenum">(1.)</span></div>
+    <div>I gave my horse a sudden &mdash;&mdash;:</div>
+    <div>He threw me full against an &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div class="in1">And broke my collar-bone.</div>
+    <div>"What can I do in such a &mdash;&mdash;?<span class="linenum">(2.)</span></div>
+    <div>My horse is gone, I have no &mdash;&mdash;,"</div>
+    <div class="in1">I murmured with a groan.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>I was as wet as any &mdash;&mdash;;<span class="linenum">(3.)</span></div>
+    <div>The wind and thunder made a &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div>And neither moon nor star was &mdash;&mdash;;</div>
+    <div class="in1">The night was black as sin.</div>
+    <div>The fall had given me such a &mdash;&mdash;!<span class="linenum">(4.)</span></div>
+    <div>And I was miles from any &mdash;&mdash;:</div>
+    <div>I floundered on through mud and &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">To reach the nearest inn.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>But when I found the wished-for &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(5.)</span></div>
+    <div>And saw through windows dim with &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div>A fellow holding up an &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div class="in1">I would have cried with fear.</div>
+    <div>Each seat was filled by such a &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(6.)</span></div>
+    <div>As might have fled from any &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">Of thief or buccaneer.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>I strove to overcome my &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(7.)</span></div>
+    <div>And ventured on a traveler's &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">To enter boldly there.</div>
+    <div>The porter waved aloft a &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(8.)</span></div>
+    <div>But still I stepped within the &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">And took an empty chair.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>The leader gave a fearful &mdash;&mdash;;<span class="linenum">(9.)</span></div>
+    <div>Sprang up, and overturned the &mdash;&mdash;.</div>
+    <div>Oh! I could cover half a &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">With what I felt that night.</div>
+    <div>He came, and gave me such a &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(10.)</span></div>
+    <div>That I cried out amain, though &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">With anguish and affright.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"Come, will you join our game of &mdash;&mdash;?<span class="linenum">(11.)</span></div>
+    <div>Or do you choose that I should &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div>The wretch, who wishes naught but &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">To honest men like us?"</div>
+    <div>With that he flung me from the &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(12.)</span></div>
+    <div>And seizing on me by the &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div>He drew me forth into the &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">And made a dreadful fuss.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>The night had now grown clear and &mdash;&mdash;.<span class="linenum">(13.)</span></div>
+    <div>I wandered to a distant &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div>And thought the cold ground not so &mdash;&mdash;,</div>
+    <div class="in1">As was that fearful spot.</div>
+    <div>But soon there passed a friendly &mdash;&mdash;,<span class="linenum">(14.)</span></div>
+    <div>Who placed me in his empty &mdash;&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">And took me to his cot.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="right">M. W.</div>
+<br />
+
+<p>The solutions are as follows: 1. Clash, lash, ash. 2. Plight, light.
+3. Trout, rout, out. 4. Strain, train, rain. 5. Place, lace, ace. 6.
+Scamp, camp. 7. Fright, right. 8. Broom, room. 9. Scream, cream, ream.
+10. Tweak, weak. 11. Skill, kill, ill. 12. Chair, hair, air. 13. Chill,
+hill, ill. 14. Swain, wain.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Pittsburg, Pa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear Readers of "St. Nicholas:"</span> I live in a
+city of iron and steel manufactories. I will do my best to tell you how
+an ax is made.</p>
+
+<p>The works are a beautiful sight at night, with their huge, glowing
+furnaces and the forms of the brawny workmen, passing between us and the
+light. In one furnace they are heating pieces of cast-iron, about twelve
+inches long, four inches wide, and one-half inch thick.</p>
+
+<p>A workman takes a pair of long pincers, draws from the furnace one of
+the red-hot pieces of iron, and passes it to another workman. This
+workman is standing before two large wheels, which revolve slowly, and
+which have several notches in them. The piece of hot iron is placed
+between these wheels, with one end in a notch, and the iron is bent
+double, bringing the two ends together, making it look somewhat like a
+clothes-pin, except that the clothes-pin should have a hole at the head,
+like in the piece of iron, for a handle. The ends of the bent iron are
+next hammered together, after which the coming ax is again heated. It is
+then taken to the steam hammers. The first hammer joins the parts of the
+iron firmly together, while the second, having on its face the mold of
+an ax, gives the iron the same shape. The sides are then made straight
+and even by a circular saw.</p>
+
+<p>But an ax in this shape could never be used to much effect, for
+cast-iron cannot be ground down to a fine enough edge. Steel can be
+ground, however, and so a piece of steel must be added to our iron ax.
+Two workmen take hold of the blade with pincers, and while one holds a
+sharp tool on the broad edge, the other strikes with a sledge. Into this
+split thus made, a piece of steel is slipped, and a steam hammer joins
+them firmly.</p>
+
+<p>After this, the ax is tempered, sharpened and polished; and, when the
+blade is furnished with a handle, the ax is ready for sale.&mdash;Yours
+truly,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">"The Doctor."</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p>The following is sent to us as written, without help, by a little
+girl nine years old.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<h4><span class="sc">The History of a Cat.</span></h4>
+
+<p>I am the family cat. I am not so very pretty, but they all like me
+very much. I have a pretty baby-kitten, and I have a daughter named
+Tortoise-shell. She is a pretty and good cat. She also has a baby-kitten
+prettier than mine. Mine has such big eyes that its little face does not
+look as cunning as my daughter's baby-kitten's face. My mistress is very
+good to me sometimes, but sometimes she pulls my tail and makes me mad,
+and I scratch her and then she slaps me back; but when she is good to
+me, and pets me, and gives me cake, then I purr to her.</p>
+
+<p>Once my mistress' brother had a dog given to him. This dog's name was
+"Captain." I did not like him one bit.</p>
+
+<p>My mistress' brother's friend tried to set the dog on me, but he
+would not come near me; so the boy let him alone.</p>
+
+<p>When my mistress went to get my daughter's baby-kitten, Captain went
+with her. My mistress did not know that Captain went into the room with
+her. Tortoise-shell was tending her kitten, but, as soon as she saw the
+dog, she jumped up and scratched his nose good for him. He did not stay
+very long. He was given to my mistress' brother on Saturday. The next
+day, which was Sunday, my mistress and the rest of the family were at
+church; the dog got out, I don't know how, but when my mistress came
+home from church she looked all about, but could not find him anywhere.
+She was very sorry, but I was not sorry one bit; I was glad. So now
+we've come to the end.</p>
+
+<div class="right">G.M.M.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Oswego, N. Y.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: Please will you tell me
+where I can find directions how to build a boat?&mdash;Yours
+respectfully,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Harry Mead.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Midland, 1878.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I wish that you would tell
+me how to make a yatch I have a schooner but she gets beat bad and I
+should like to know how to make a yatch that will beat them all I think
+one about 30 inches will be long enough.&mdash;I remain your constant
+Reader,</p>
+
+<div class="right">G.B.J.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>In <span class="sc">St. Nicholas</span> for July, 1875 (Vol. II.),
+Harry will find full directions how to make a serviceable boat at a
+small cost; and G.B.J., whose letter we print <i>verbatim</i>, also may
+find hints that will enable him to build an all-conquering "yatch."</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Milwaukee, Wis.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I am going to tell you
+about a game that we play here a good deal. I do not know what it is
+called. It can be played by any number, though the more the merrier.
+Each player must have a sheet of paper and a pencil. When all are
+supplied, each one must write across the top of the sheet a question,
+taking up as little room on the page as possible, and turning the paper
+down so as to cover up the writing, as in "Consequences." The paper is
+then passed to the next neighbor, who is to write a common noun, of any
+kind, under the question, and turn over in like manner. After the noun
+has been written, the paper is passed on. Then everybody opens the paper
+that last came to him, and must answer the question in rhyme, inserting
+the noun. I will give you an illustration.</p>
+
+<h4>EXAMPLE:</h4>
+
+<p class="noindent">Question,&mdash;"Do you like pigs?"<br />
+Common noun,&mdash;"Peas."<br />
+Answer, in rhyme,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"I love the gentle animals</div>
+    <div class="in1">That sport about our home.</div>
+    <div>And all among the peas and corn</div>
+    <div class="in1">So happily do roam."</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>"Ah! little pigs I'll harm you not,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Nor e'en disturb your play,</div>
+    <div>But you shall have your own sweet will,</div>
+    <div>And feed upon the best of swill,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Through all the livelong day."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Will somebody answer thus this question, that was given to me:</p>
+
+<p>"Which was the greatest battle of Alexander the Great?"</p>
+
+<p>Noun: "Toes."</p>
+
+<div class="right">Yours truly,    D.J.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I send you a puzzle, which I hope you will
+print:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>My first is in your body,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Quite useful in its way.</div>
+    <div>My second flows in Italy,</div>
+    <div class="in1">And flows by night and day.</div>
+    <div>My third, a thing to cook with, is</div>
+    <div class="in1">In every kitchen found.</div>
+    <div>My fourth's a common article,</div>
+    <div class="in1">A very simple sound.</div>
+    <div>My fifth folks often get into,&mdash;</div>
+    <div class="in1">The careless ones, of course.</div>
+    <div>My whole, a clumsy animal,</div>
+    <div class="in1">Is partly named for horse.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="right">R.N.P.</div>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>: Hip-Po-pot-a-mus, hippopotamus.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Wilmette, Ills.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I have been taking your
+book two years. I think it is splendid. Some of the stories are so
+funny. I go to a private school, and I am in the Fourth Reader. The
+girls play on one side of the grounds and the boys on the other; the
+cherry-trees are on our side, and I like it the best. We have lots of
+fun. I am nine years old. I have two little sisters, Belle and Marion,
+and a little brother, Bobo. When we get big we may write some stories
+for your book. We are little now, but everybody was little
+once.&mdash;Your friend,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Kitty Griffiths.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Philadelphia, Pa.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I do like you so much, and
+I wish you would tell me something. I see pictures and read books in
+which are the names Penelope, Juno, Achilles, Hercules, and so on. The
+dictionary tells but little about these names, and I want to know all
+about them. Can you tell me how to find out?&mdash;Truly your
+friend,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Carrie H.</span></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>You can learn a good deal about the personages you mention from
+Bulfinch's "Age of Fable," from Alexander S. Murray's "Manual of
+Mythology," and from Mrs. Clement's "Handbook of Legendary and
+Mythological Art"; but the poems of Homer,&mdash;the "Iliad" and the
+"Odyssey,"&mdash;of both of which there are good English
+translations,&mdash;are the chief sources of the information.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="right">Chicago, Ills.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">My Dear St. Nicholas</span>: I send you an Enigma to
+publish in your magazine. The answer to the Enigma is
+"Washington."&mdash;Yours truly,</p>
+
+<div class="right"><span class="sc">Willie M.</span></div>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>My 1, 9, 10, is the same as one.</div>
+    <div>My 8, 1, is two-thirds of two.</div>
+    <div>My 6, 5, 10, is three-fourths of nine.</div>
+    <div>My 10, 9, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, is nothing.</div>
+    <div>My 3, 2, 1, is what my 5 did.</div>
+    <div>My 8, 9, 10, is very heavy; but</div>
+    <div>My 10, 9, 8, is not.</div>
+    <div>My 6, 5, 7, 4, 8, is always somewhere, but not here to-day.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p><span class="sc">The Boy Engineers: What They Did, and How They Did
+ it,</span> is an illustrated book published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's
+Sons. It seems to have been written for readers living in England, but
+young amateur machinists anywhere would find it an entertaining book. It
+gives good practical hints about the management of tools, and explains
+how to turn and carve in wood and metal, how to make a clock, an organ,
+a small house, and how to set up a steam-engine. The type is large, and
+the style easy and pleasant.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div id="puzzles">
+
+<h2><a name="riddlebox" id="riddlebox">THE RIDDLE-BOX.</a></h2>
+
+<hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>VERY EASY SQUARE-WORD.</h3>
+
+<p>1. A pointed implement of brass or wood. 2. Wrath. 3. Not old.</p>
+
+<div class="right">A.W., AND F.E.D.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>DECAPITATIONS.</h3>
+
+<p>1. Behead a bird's nest, and leave a lake in North America. 2. Behead
+a marine map, and leave a wild animal. 3. Behead a sail vessel, and
+leave a small narrow opening. 4. Behead a plant, and leave space.  5.
+Behead a basket or hamper, and leave standard or proportion. 6. Behead a
+sharp bargainer, and leave a company of people. 7. Behead a group of
+individuals, and leave a country girl. 8. Behead an act of deception,
+and leave high temperature.</p>
+
+<div class="right">ISOLA.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>NUMERICAL ENIGMA.</h3>
+
+<p>The whole, composed of twelve letters, is a noted character of
+American fiction.</p>
+
+<p>The 1, 8, 4, 12 is to rend asunder. The 3, 2, 6, 10 is a flower. The
+11, 5, 7, 9 is an open, grassy space.</p>
+
+<div class="right">C. O.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>EASY MELANGE.</h3>
+
+<p>1. Behead a pavement, and find a planet. 2. Syncopate the pavement,
+and give a shrub. 3. Transpose the planet, and leave the center. 4.
+Behead and transpose the center, and find a weed. 5. Transpose the weed,
+and give degree. 6. Syncopate the center, and leave an animal. 7. Behead
+the animal, and find skill. 8. Curtail the shrub and give excitement. 9.
+Behead and curtail the center, and leave a part of the body. 10. Behead
+and transpose excitement, and find a plant. 11. Syncopate excitement,
+and give an article of clothing. 12. Transpose skill, and leave an
+animal. 13. Reverse the animal, and find a sailor.</p>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>CABIN PUZZLE.</h3>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<img src="images/image58.png" width="499" height="372" alt="CABIN PUZZLE" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The dots show where the letters are to be placed. The perpendicular
+and sloping lines of the building are read downward, the horizontals
+from left to right.</p>
+
+<p>The letters that form the foundation, reading from extreme left to
+extreme right, signify (1) a fireside; those of the lower edge of the
+roof spell (2) liable to taxation; those of the ridge-pole mean (3)
+calls for; those of the left-hand corner-post denote (4) the cry of a
+domestic animal; those of the middle corner-post, (5) a free
+entertainment; those of the right-hand corner-post, (6) a large bird of
+prey; those of the left-hand sloping roof-edge, (7) an officer in an
+English university; those of the middle sloping roof-edge, (8) a
+regulated course of food; and those of the right-hand sloping roof-edge,
+(9) withered.</p>
+
+<p>The chimney is a double word-square, and reads, downward, (10)
+bleared, (11) a man's name, (12) a farm-yard inclosure; across, (13) to
+plunge, (14) anger, (15) a playing piece in the game of chess. The door,
+also, is a double word-square: it reads, downward (16) a useful insect,
+(17) a city of Burmah (Farther India), (18) a resinous substance;
+across, (19) a wooden club, (20) a girl's name, (21) a part of the human
+body.</p>
+
+<p>The left-hand window is a double word-square, and reads, downward
+(22) to bend under weight, (23) a prefix, (24) hitherto; across, (25) a
+secret agent, (26) exist, (27) to procure. The right-hand window, also,
+is a double word-square: it reads, downward, (28) to make brown, (29) a
+kind of poem, (30) angry; across, (31) a nickname for a boy, (32) a
+girl's name, (33) another nickname for a boy.</p>
+
+<div class="right">H.H.D.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>DROP-LETTER STAIR PUZZLE.</h3>
+
+<pre>
+--E E--
+      E
+      E
+      --E E--
+            E
+            E
+            --E E--
+                  E
+                  E
+                  --E E--
+</pre>
+
+<p>Going upstairs, find (reading from right to left): 1. A fish that
+lives in English waters. 2. Full to overflowing. 3. Reward 4. An animal.
+5. A lively dance. 6. An edible plant. 7. To maintain hold upon.</p>
+
+<p>Going down-stairs, find (reading from left to right): 1. To peep. 2.
+A part of a boat. 3. To look obliquely. 4. An aquatic plant. 5. To
+esteem. 6. To gather. 7. The seed of an oriental plant.</p>
+
+<div class="right">H.H.D.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>PROVERB ENIGMA.</h3>
+
+<p>The proverb is composed of twenty-nine letters.</p>
+
+<p>The 5, 13, 26, 19, 2 is a wild animal. The 9, 14, 20, 16, 3, 11 is a
+person employed in the building of houses. The 10, 23, 21, 1 is a common
+reptile. The 13, 4, 21, 7, 29 is a bird of fine plumage. The 25, 17, 6,
+27, 8 is a bird that is attached to the dwellings of men. The 18, 28,
+12, 24 is a swimming and diving bird of the Arctic Regions.</p>
+
+<div class="right">I.T.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>KNIGHT'S-MOVE PUZZLE.</h3>
+
+<div class="center">
+<pre>
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  lay  |   tle   |   on   |  dom   | braves | still | square | quered|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  ly   | truth   | press  |  day   |  the   | board |   ly   | strike|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| bat-  |  this   |  Per-  |   a    | free-  |  to   |  che-  | from  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  and  | fierce- |  who   | Greeks |  down  | Mar-  |  for   |  on.  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| reads |  hard   |  than  | sian   | youth  |  the  | square | this  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  as   |  right  |  each  | poured |   at   | horde |  ward  | fight |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| long  |   so    | knight |   ly   | thr'gh |  the  |   on   | leaps |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  As   |   on    | life's |  may   |   up   | bold- |  and   |  to   |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>The above puzzle consists of a verse of eight rhyming eight-syllable
+lines; each syllable occupies a square and follows in succession
+according to the knight's move on the chess board.</p>
+
+<div class="right">F.W.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>EASY HIDDEN FISHES.</h3>
+
+<p>In each of the following sentences find, concealed, the name of a
+well-known fish.</p>
+
+<p>1. A Russian soldier, at Toms's, ate a salamander. 2. "Do you spell
+'knob' as she does?" 3. "Where is my badge?" "Ella has it." 4. Francesco
+drew a large prize yesterday. 5. "Have the girls and boys seen Fanny
+Dunbar?" "Belle has." 6. My dolls had the measles last month. 7. Every
+soldier leaves his tent. "Rout the enemy!" is the battle-cry. 8. I
+heard, with regret, that she had lost her ring. 9. I composed a song of
+which the first verse begins something like this: "Hark! 'tis a cricket
+chirping." 10. Wax dolls melt when left too near the fire.</p>
+
+<div class="right">A.E.M.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>POETICAL REBUS.</h3>
+
+<p>A two-line quotation from Cowper.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<img src="images/image59.jpg" width="500" height="488" alt="POETICAL REBUS" />
+</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>RIDDLE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Gleaming gayly, flashing light;</div>
+    <div>White as snow, and black as night;</div>
+    <div>Ladies, I'm your slave, your pride,</div>
+    <div>Though in ocean I abide.</div>
+</div>
+<br />
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>Power have I o'er life and death,&mdash;</div>
+    <div>I, a creature without breath!</div>
+    <div>I, so small that you can draw</div>
+    <div>Fifty, like me, through a straw.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="right">R.S.C.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>SUGGESTED WORD-SQUARE.</h3>
+
+<p>In the following rhyme, the words of the Square are suggested by the
+sense, and are to be inserted in the blanks, in order, as the blanks
+occur,&mdash;the first word in the first blank, the second word in the
+second blank, and so on.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>To buy a &mdash;&mdash; was foolish waste.</div>
+    <div class="in1">(I'd no&mdash;&mdash; how it would taste!)</div>
+    <div>"I'll just have bread and &mdash;&mdash;," said Daisy.</div>
+    <div class="in1">"Who &mdash;&mdash; a fruit like that, is crazy!"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="right">B.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>ANAGRAMS.</h3>
+
+<p>In the following sentence, the words printed in capitals are anagrams
+of the words that should occupy the same places, so as to make sense.
+Thus: <span class="sc">battle-screens</span> is a compound-word that
+takes the place of another to be formed of the same letters arranged
+differently; the right word, in this example, being "center-table;" but
+each of the other collections of capitals is an anagram of but a single
+word.</p>
+
+<p>I saw <span class="sc">tent suds</span> by the <span
+ class="sc">battle-screens</span>, puzzling over <span class="sc">the
+ mica mats</span>, and perplexed about <span class="sc">many
+ roots</span>.</p>
+
+<div class="right">C.T.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>REBUS.</h3>
+
+<p>A two line quotation from Shakspeare.</p>
+
+<div class="imgcenter">
+<img src="images/image60.jpg" width="500" height="480" alt="REBUS" />
+</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>COMPLETE DIAMOND.</h3>
+
+<p>The centrals of the diamond are each the same word, of five letters,
+spelling the name of a Frenchman who became notorious during the great
+French Revolution. The remainder of the diamond is made of words formed
+from the letters of his name. The diamond incloses a hollow square,
+either of whose perpendiculars or horizontals, read backward or forward,
+will spell a word; and, reading from the middle letter to either end of
+either of the centrals, a word will be spelled, which, when read
+backward, will spell another word. Make the Diamond.</p>
+
+<div class="right">TREBONIUS.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>EASY AMPUTATED QUOTATION.</h3>
+
+<p>Two lines from Tennyson. Each word is beheaded and curtailed.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;RU&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;EART&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;R&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;OR&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;HA&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;ORONET&mdash;<br />
+&mdash;N&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;IMPL&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;AIT&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;HA&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;ORMA&mdash;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&mdash;LOO&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="right">C. L. D.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>EASY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div>My first is in bee, but not in fly;</div>
+    <div>My second in moon, but not in sky;</div>
+    <div>My third is in scare, but not in fright;</div>
+    <div>My fourth is in top, and also in kite;</div>
+    <div>My fifth is in broad, but not in wide;</div>
+    <div>My sixth is in ocean, but not in tide;</div>
+    <div>My whole is all New England's pride.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="right">H. A. S.</div>
+
+<br /><hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<h3>ANAGRAM WORD-SQUARES.</h3>
+
+<p>From the letters composing each of the following four sentences make
+a word-square: 1. Doctor, do Irish histories err? 2. Let their hotel
+gardener grin. 3. Post shall need man's sympathy. 4. Hurrah, Peg has the
+gallant pup! The meaning of the words composing the four squares, in the
+proper order of succession, are as follows:</p>
+
+<p>I. 1. A band of singers. 2. A wandering troop of barbarians. 3. A
+plant with a sweet-smelling root. 4. A simpleton. 5. Is quiet.</p>
+
+<p>II. 1. A spelled number. 2. A lazy person. 3. A dazzling light. 4. A
+marsh bird. 5. A river of England.</p>
+
+<p>III. 1. Profundity. 2. To try. 3. A sacred song. 4. A claw. 5.
+Poems.</p>
+
+<p>IV. 1. A noise that no animal but man can make. 2. The name of a
+letter of the Greek alphabet. 3. Part of a shoe. 4. A town of Belgium.
+5. Deer.</p>
+
+<div class="right">A. + B.</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN SEPTEMBER NUMBER.</h3>
+
+<hr class="tiny" /><br />
+
+<p><span class="sc">Classical Double
+ Acrostic</span>.&mdash;Virgil&mdash;Horace. 1. VoucH. 2. IagO. 3. RoaR.
+4. GeorgiA. 5. IoniC. 6. LittlE.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Names of Authors Enigmatically
+ Expressed</span>.&mdash;1. Poe. 2. Defoe. 3. Hawthorne. 4. Prescott. 5.
+Hay. 6. Cooper 7. Sparks. 8. Lever. 9. Lover. 10. Boswell.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Enigma</span>.&mdash;Bridle.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">What Is It</span>.&mdash;A switch.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Charade</span>.&mdash;Nightingale; night, in(n),
+gale.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Central Syncopations</span>.&mdash;1. Mouth, moth.
+2. Carve, cave. 3. Maxim, maim. 4. Cabin, Cain. 5. Coronet, cornet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Three Diamonds</span>.&mdash;</p>
+
+<pre>
+        T                C                 I
+      G I G            A L I             U N A
+I.  T I B E R   II.  C L O V E   III.  I N D I A
+      G E M            I V Y             A I M
+        R                E                 A
+</pre>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Pictorial Anagram</span>.&mdash;"Procrastination is
+the thief of time."</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Incomplete Sentences</span>.&mdash;1. Fair, fare. 2.
+Rite, right, write. 3. Maid, made.  4. Reads, reeds.  5. Beats, beets.
+6. Bawl, ball. 7. Mien, mean. 8. Fain, feign, fane.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Riddle</span>.&mdash;River.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Positives and Comparatives</span>.&mdash;1. Flat,
+flatter. 2. Ham, hammer. 3. Gross, grocer. 4. Lad, ladder. 5. On, honor.
+6. Eye, ire. 7. Poe, pore. 8. Pie, pyre. 9. Mart, martyr.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Double Word-square.</span>&mdash;</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<pre>
+G O N E
+A V E R
+L E E R
+E N D S
+</pre>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Hidden Names</span>.&mdash;In each sentence, take
+the first letter of each word. 1. Alma. 2. Helen. 3. Arthur. 4. Mabel.
+5. Harry. 6. Ethel. 7. Ernest. 8. Edith. 9. Fred. 10. Stella. 11. Edwin.
+12. Grace. 13. Frank.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Easy Cross-Word Enigma</span>.&mdash;Dictionary.</p>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Rebus</span>.&mdash;</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+    <div class="quote">"Can storied urn or animated bust</div>
+    <div>Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="sc">Double Acrostic</span>.&mdash;Victoria-Disraeli. 1.
+ViviD. 2. I, I. 3. CorpS. 4. ToweR. 5. OperA. 6. RarE. 7. IdyL. 8.
+AlighierI.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<p><span class="sc">Answers to Puzzles in the August Number</span> were
+received, before August 20, from Eva D., "Patrolman Gillooley," John C.
+Robertson, "Three Sisters," "So So," Mary C. Warren, May Bleecker, Daisy
+Briggs, George P. Dravo, "Doctor," Louisa F. Riedel, C.A.K., Bessie L.
+Barnes, Nessie E. Stevens, Southwick C. Briggs, Mary Louise Hood, Olive
+Mecklem, Edwin E. Gan�gues, Anna Halliday, Edith McKeever, M.W.C., Lewis
+G. Davis, Bessie Hard, Edith Herkimer, Nina Riker, Marnie Riker; Jerome
+Buck, Jr.; Nellie Emerson, "Soft Soap," Jessie W. Cox, Fleta M. Holman,
+"Robbie, Irvie, and Daisy," Hild Sterling; Edith and Marion W.; Mary H.
+Bradley, Alice L. Booth, Willie Gray, Mamie, "Nantucket" Harry; F.M.J.,
+Jr.; Jennie R. Beach, Maud L. Smith, Alice Lanigan, Walter Stockdale,
+Rowen S. McClure, Anita R. Newcomb, Bertie Jackson, M.G.A., Cora Rawson
+Ryder, "Apelles and his Papa," "Fritters," George H. Williams, Richard
+Weld, Winsor Weld, Georgine C. Schnitzspahn, "Rosalind," H.B. Ayers,
+"Oriole," Fred S. Cowperthwait, Benj. W. Mannus, Lizzie Thurber, "The
+Raven"; Horace White and Grant Squires; Neils E. Hansen, "Winnie," Chas.
+H. Stout, Kitty P. Norton, Laurie T. Sanders; "Box 325, St. Thomas,"
+Annie J. Buzzard, Harry Bennett, Jennie Kimball, Dycie Warden, Margaret
+McF. Lukens, "Ratie and Katie," "S.G., and P.M.," Ann Hulme Wilson,
+Eddie Vultee, Dolly, Jessie Van Brunt, Willie R.C. Corson, Lincoln
+Cromwell, T.J. De la Hunt, "Stock-broker," Bessie C. Barney, Bessie
+Taylor, Willie F. Floyd, and Louise G. Hinsdale.</p>
+
+<p>Grace Rosevelt, Amy Growly, Ellen Smith, "B.Y.G.H. Caroni and Wife,"
+"V. and A.," and O.C. Turner, answered correctly all the puzzles in the
+August number.</p>
+
+<p>Gladys H. Wilkinson, of Manchester, England answered several of the
+puzzles in the July number, but his letter did not come in time for
+adding his name to the July list. The delay was not his fault, so the
+credit due is now given.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and
+Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls,
+Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, 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, October 1878, No. 12
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mary Mapes Dodge
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2006 [EBook #17466]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, LM Bornath, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE NOON ENCAMPMENT. [See Violin Village.]]
+
+
+
+
+ST. NICHOLAS.
+
+VOL. V.
+OCTOBER, 1878.
+No. 12.
+
+[Copyright, 1878, by Scribner & Co.]
+
+
+
+
+THE VIOLIN VILLAGE.
+
+By Edith Hawkins.
+
+
+On the borders of the Tyrol and the lovely district known as the
+"Bavarian Highlands," there is a quaint little village called
+"Mittenwald," which at first sight appears shut in by lofty mountains as
+by some great and insurmountable barrier. The villagers are a simple,
+industrious people, chiefly occupied in the manufacture of stringed
+musical instruments, the drying of which, on fine days, presents a very
+droll appearance. The gardens seem to have blossomed out in the most
+eccentric manner; for there, dangling from lines like clothes, hang
+zithers, guitars, and violins, by hundreds, from the big bass to the
+little "kit," and the child's toy.
+
+In this valley, one clear morning in August, as the church clock struck
+five, a lad issued from the arched entrance of one of the pretty gabled
+houses along the main street. He was not more than twelve years of age,
+yet an expression of thoughtfulness in his clear, blue eyes, gave and
+added an older look to his otherwise boyish face. His costume was a gray
+suit of coarse cloth, trimmed with green; his knees and feet were bare,
+but he wore knitted leggings of green worsted. A high-crowned hat of
+green felt, adorned with some glossy black cock's feathers, a whip and a
+small brass horn slung by a cord from his shoulder completed the outfit
+of the village goatherd. He hastened along by the green-bordered brook
+crossed by planks, over one of which Stephan--for that was our hero's
+name--leaped as he came up to the simple wooden fountain, which, as in
+most Bavarian villages, stood in the middle of the road.
+
+A piece of black bread and a long draught from the fountain was
+Stephan's breakfast, which being speedily finished, he broke the morning
+stillness with repeated blasts from the horn, which seemed to awake the
+valley as by magic; for scarcely had the more distant mountains echoed
+the summons, than from almost every door-way scampered one or more
+goats. All hurried in the direction of the water-tank, where they stood
+on their hind legs to drink, jostled one another or frisked about in the
+highest spirits, till fully two hundred were assembled, rendering the
+street impassable. A peculiar cry from the boy and a sharp crack of the
+whip were the signals for a general move. Away they skipped
+helter-skelter through the town, along the accustomed road, high up the
+rocky mountain-side. The little animals were hungry, so stopped every
+now and then to nibble the attractive grassy tufts, long before the
+allotted feeding ground was reached. There was, however, little fear of
+losing them, as each wore a tiny bell round the neck, which, tinkling at
+every movement, warned the boy of the straggler; a call invariably
+brought it back, though often by a circuitous route, enabling the animal
+to keep beyond the reach of the whip, which Stephan lashed about with
+boyish enjoyment.
+
+Noon found the goats encamped under the shade of some tall pine-trees,
+and Stephan Reindel was busily arranging a bunch of bright red
+cranberries at the side of his hat, when a shot arrested his attention.
+He jumped up, and with boyish curiosity explored the pine wood; but
+fearing to go too far on account of his flock, he was returning, when a
+second shot followed by a sharp cry, convinced him it was some hunter
+who had driven his game much lower down than was at all usual. The
+second report had sounded so near that he continued his fruitless search
+till it was time to go home, when, as usual, he drove his flock back by
+five o'clock.
+
+Directly they entered the village, each goat trotted off to its own
+abode, and Stephan to his, where, after eating his supper of black bread
+and cheese, he sat listlessly watching his mother varnish violins, by
+which she earned a trifle every week. This was due to the kindness of
+the chief manufacturer in the village, who, since her husband's death,
+had supplied her regularly with some of the light work usually performed
+by women, and to which she was well accustomed, having frequently
+assisted her husband, who had been one of Herr Dahn's best workmen, and
+whose death had left her entirely dependent on her own exertions for the
+support of herself and child; for the last two years, however, Stephan
+had bravely earned his mite by taking daily care of the goats belonging
+to the whole valley. He was now discussing with his mother the
+possibility of his ever being able to maintain them both by following
+his father's trade of making guitars and violins, when a loud knock put
+the future to flight, and caused Stephan to open the door so suddenly
+that a very excited old woman came tumbling into the room.
+
+"Oh! Bridgetta, how could you lean against the door?" said Frau Reindel,
+hastening to her assistance. "I hope you are not hurt, and do pray
+remember, in future, that our door opens inside, and that you must step
+down into the room. Sit down, neighbor," she added, placing a stool for
+the old woman, who was, however, far too angry to notice it; but turning
+toward Stephan, whom she unfortunately caught smiling, she pointed to
+her large fur cap, that had rolled some distance across the floor,
+saying: "Pick it up, boy, and don't stand grinning like that, especially
+as you must know why I have come here so late in the evening." Then
+snatching it from him, without heeding his apologies, she added: "Yes,
+indeed, you have more cause to cry than laugh. A pretty herd-boy you
+are, to come home without people's goats! sitting here as contentedly as
+if you had done your day's duty! You had better be more careful or you
+will certainly lose your work, if I have a voice in the village!"
+
+Stephan and his mother stood aghast at this angry tirade, and it was
+only after repeated questions, sulkily answered, that they finally
+understood that her own goat was really missing. She had, as usual, gone
+into the stable to milk it, and after waiting in vain till past seven
+o'clock, she had come to tell Stephan he must at once seek for it among
+the neighbors' goats. He was quite willing, nay, anxious to do so, being
+unable to account in any way for its absence; for he could not remember
+having noticed the little gray goat with the white face since the early
+part of the morning. There was consequently nothing left to be done that
+night but to make an immediate inquiry at every house in the village. He
+did not return till past nine o'clock,--a very late hour in that
+primitive spot, where people usually rise at four or five and go to bed
+at eight. No one had seen the goat, but almost all blamed his
+carelessness, so that he was too unhappy to sleep, especially as he
+could not forget how distressed his poor mother looked, knowing, as she
+did, that somehow or other she must pay the value of the goat, though
+how such a sum was to be earned was beyond guessing.
+
+A week passed, nothing was heard of the strayed one; Stephan had
+searched every possible spot up the mountain, and inquired of every
+person he met coming from the neighboring villages or beyond the
+frontier of the Tyrol,--but all in vain. A report had spread in the
+valley that he had lamed the goat with a stone, and so caused it to fall
+over a precipice. Many people believed this, which greatly increased the
+unhappiness of Stephan and his mother, though he had denied the charge
+most positively.
+
+"I, at least, believe you, my son," said his mother, one day, when
+Bridgetta was present. "You never told me a lie, and I thank God for my
+truthful child, more than for all else."
+
+"You can believe what you like," said Bridgetta, angrily; "but, as your
+boy has lost my goat, and as I am poor, and have already waited longer
+than I can afford, I must ask you to pay me by to-morrow evening, so
+that I may buy another, for you forget that I have done without milk all
+these days."
+
+"No, I do not forget," said the widow, sadly. "I will do my best to get
+the money for you. It is right you should have your own, and you know I
+would have paid you at once had it been in my power. I will, however,
+see what I can do by to-morrow, so good-night."
+
+As they walked home, they discussed for the hundredth time the
+impossibility of getting five florins; they could not save that sum in
+six months. "There is nothing to be done unless Herr Dahn would lend it
+to us," suggested Stephan. "We could pay him by degrees, and he is so
+rich that I dare say he would be satisfied with that."
+
+"I have thought of asking him," replied the mother, "and, even if he
+refuses, he will do so kindly."
+
+As she spoke, they saw the important little gentleman coming out of a
+house, and hastened to overtake him. He greeted them with the extreme
+politeness so noticeable among all classes in Bavaria, even in the
+remote villages. After hearing the widow's request, he stood musing a
+minute, looked up and down the street, took off his hat, and polished
+his bald head, ejaculating the usual "So! so!" then, as if a bright
+thought had cleared up all doubts, he said: "Now, don't you think it
+would be pleasanter and more independent if you gave something in
+exchange for the five florins? Something that can be of no use to
+yourself--your husband's tools, for instance? I will give you a fair
+price,--enough to pay for this unlucky goat, and something over for a
+rainy day. But, my good woman, what's the matter?" he added, seeing
+tears in her eyes and Stephan eagerly clutching her arm, as if to get
+her away.
+
+"Nothing, sir, nothing; you are quite right; I had forgotten the tools
+would bring money; but you must excuse me if I do not decide till
+to-morrow, for my boy here has set his heart on being a guitar and
+zither maker, like his poor father, and always fancies he would work
+better with those tools."
+
+"What! Stephan make violins? How is he ever to do that, when he spends
+all his days up the mountains? Have you not told me yourself that you
+cannot manage without his earnings?"
+
+"Neither do I think we could, sir, or I should have tried it long ago,
+for it is hard for him to be minding goats, when he might be earning
+something to help him on in life."
+
+"Can he do anything? Has he any taste for the work?"
+
+"Yes, I think so; he generally works at it in the evening, and has made
+several small violins for Christmas gifts to the neighbors' children.
+But they are toys. Perhaps you would allow me to bring one to show you
+to-morrow," she ventured to add.
+
+"Certainly, neighbor, but I don't promise anything, mind, except about
+the tools. I shall be at the warehouse at six o'clock. Be punctual.
+Good-evening."
+
+"O, mother! Don't give him the tools. Give him anything else. There's my
+new green hat--my best jacket--I can easily do with the one I have on,"
+said Stephan, anxiously, as he watched the receding figure of the rich
+man of the village.
+
+"My dear child! of what use could your clothes be to the gentleman? He
+wants the tools. I am very sorry, but there is really nothing else of
+any value, and we have no right to borrow money when we can obtain it by
+the sacrifice of something we should like to keep. We must never
+hesitate to perform a plain duty, however disagreeable. So, now show
+yourself a brave boy, and help me to do this one cheerfully."
+
+The next day, Stephan began his day's work with a determination to look
+on the bright side of his troubles. His goats, however, had in some way
+become a greater charge than he had ever felt them before. He feared to
+lose sight of one for an instant; so, what with racing after the
+stragglers and searching, as was now his habit, for the lost one, he was
+so tired and worn out by noonday, that instead of eating his dinner, he
+threw himself on the ground and cried bitterly. The goats sniffed round
+and round him, as if puzzled at the unwonted sounds. He often sang and
+whistled as he sat among them carving some rough semblance of animals
+with his pocket-knife, but these unmusical sounds were new to them and
+seemed to make them uneasy. A sudden pause in the monotonous tinkle of
+the little bells caused Stephan to raise his head, and he encountered
+the amused gaze of two gentlemen in the Bavarian hunting costume of
+coarse gray cloth and green facings; thick boots studded with huge nails
+and clamps to prevent slipping in the dangerous ascent after game;
+high-crowned hats, with little tufts of chamois beard as decoration and
+proof of former success; the younger of the two having, in addition, a
+bunch of pink Alpen-rose showing he must have climbed high up the
+mountains.
+
+"What sort of music do you call that?" asked the latter, resting his
+gun-stock on the ground. "If you howl in that way, there will be no use
+hunting in your neighborhood for a month; you would frighten the tamest
+game over the frontier in five minutes. A little more of this music and
+there wont be a chamois for miles round. But what's the matter? Have you
+had a fight with your goats and got the worst of it? How many horns have
+been run through your body, and where are the wounds?"
+
+Stephan had fancied that his goats were his only auditors, so felt
+thoroughly ashamed of himself, but jumping up, he answered with some
+spirit:
+
+"I have not any wounds, sir, and should never cry if I had. I lost a
+goat some days ago and now my mother has to pay for it by giving up the
+only valuable thing she has in the world."
+
+"That can't be yourself, then," said the young man, laughing; "for such
+a careless little chap would not be of much value, I should think. But
+tell us the story. When did you lose it?"
+
+After listening to Stephan's account, the hunters spoke apart with each
+other for some minutes, and then the young one took out his purse and
+gave the astonished boy six florins--about ten English shillings.
+
+"There, you can get a very good goat for that, but remember, no more
+howling, and if you ever find your own again, I shall expect you to
+repay me this money."
+
+"That I will, indeed, gentlemen, and I thank you heartily," said the
+boy, so earnestly that both laughed, as, nodding him an adieu, they
+began descending the mountain, and were soon lost among the trees.
+
+Stephan threw his hat into the air with a joyous cheer, and the echoes
+repeated his gleeful shout.
+
+The day appeared very long, and glad enough he was when the sinking sun
+warned him that it was time to return. He found his mother dusting the
+tools, and looking sadder than he had ever seen her since his father
+died.
+
+"We wont sell them, dear mother," he cried exultingly, dancing round the
+table and shaking the florins in his hat. "See what luck your blessing
+brought me this morning!" and he related his adventure with the hunters.
+
+They at once started off to pay Bridgetta the five florins, and, as
+compensation for the loss of the milk for so many days, they offered her
+the extra florin, which she coldly and decidedly refused, asking no
+questions, and appearing very anxious to get rid of them. As they walked
+home, they entered the church for a few minutes, and, after reverently
+kneeling at one of the side altars, the widow dropped the remaining
+florin into the poor-box. It was the largest thank-offering she had ever
+been able to make in her life. The warehouse was at the corner of the
+street on the south side of the church, and as the clock struck six they
+hurried up the stairs of the long, low building, and entered a small
+room fitted up as an office. Herr Dahn was busily writing in a large
+ledger, but quitting it as they entered, he said approvingly:
+
+"So here you are! That's right; business people should be
+punctual--never get on otherwise! But where are the tools?"
+
+The widow told him all about the six florins, and then placing a toy
+violin on the counter, she asked him to give his opinion of it. He
+twisted the little instrument about, carefully examining the workmanship
+while he talked, and finally declared that it was a very fair specimen
+for a self-taught lad. He evidently thought more of it than he chose to
+say, for after some conversation with his foreman, to whom he showed the
+violin, he greatly astonished the poor woman by offering to take Stephan
+at once and place him under one of his best workmen if she could do
+without his earnings for a time, as of course the goats must be given
+up. Then, noticing the boy's delight and the mother's anxious, undecided
+countenance, he added before she could reply:
+
+"Perhaps, if Stephan is steady and careful enough, I can trust him here
+alone every morning to sweep and dust the warehouses, for which I will
+pay him thirty kreutzers a week (nearly a shilling). I suppose he gets
+little more than that for tending the goats."
+
+"Oh! thank you, sir," said the boy eagerly, anticipating his mother's
+reply, "I will, indeed, be careful and steady."
+
+"Gently, boy, your mother is to decide."
+
+"I cannot thank you enough, sir," she quickly answered. "Your offer is
+more than we had ever hoped for, and I trust my child's conduct will
+prove how grateful we both feel. He would like to begin at once, I know,
+but must, of course, wait a few days till another boy is found to take
+his place as herd-boy."
+
+Herr Dahn nodded approvingly, and told them to let him know as soon as a
+substitute was found. How thankful they were that evening as they talked
+over the happy termination of their troubles, and still more so when a
+neighbor came in to tell them that Bridgetta and some others of the
+village had voted against Stephan continuing his post as herd, alleging
+that they feared to trust him any longer with their goats. This was, of
+course, very unpleasant news, for it was a sort of disgrace to be thus
+displaced, however undeserved. It also explained the cause of
+Bridgetta's extreme coolness and indifference as to how they had
+obtained the money. No wonder she was unfriendly after her action,
+which, but for the fresh turn affairs had taken, would have seriously
+injured them.
+
+However, Stephan was now free to begin his new work the next day, when
+all arrangements were made, and he was introduced as an apprentice to
+his new master, Heinrich Brand.
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+
+Stephan had been with the violin-maker about six weeks, when one day the
+little Gretchen, his master's daughter, rushed in to tell them the cows
+were coming down from the Alp.
+
+It is the custom in the Bavarian Tyrol to send the cows to small
+pastures high up among the mountains where the grass is green and
+plentiful, being watered by the dews and mists, and less exposed to the
+scorching sun. Here the cows remain all the summer under the care of two
+or three men, called "senner," or women, called "sennerinnen," who are
+always busily engaged making butter and cheese, and rarely come down to
+the valley, even for a day, till the season is over, when, collecting
+their tubs, milk-pans, and other dairy utensils, they descend the
+mountain with great rejoicings and consider the day a festival.
+
+This return is an event of importance in every village. Brand, like his
+neighbors, hastened out with his little daughter, and told Stephan to
+follow them. The gay procession wound slowly along the main road,
+accompanied by a band of music playing a cheerful Tyrolese air. The cows
+came trooping along, decorated with garlands of wild flowers, preceded
+by peasants in their gayest costumes, carrying blue and white flags. The
+"sennerinnen" wore their brightest neckerchiefs and gowns, and seemed
+quite rejoiced to be down among their friends again.
+
+Stephan joined his mother in the crowd, and they were in the full
+enjoyment of the scene when he suddenly exclaimed: "See, mother, there's
+the lost goat!" and sure enough there it was, limping along by the side
+of a "sennerin." One leg was evidently broken or severely injured, but
+otherwise the little animal looked well and fat.
+
+Old Bridgetta had likewise seen it, and the three hastened to question
+the "sennerin," who seemed very glad to find the owner, and told them it
+had been brought to the Alp by a peasant, who gave her a florin to take
+care of it and bring it down to the village as soon as she could. He did
+not tell her where he had found it, or indeed any particulars, so she
+supposed the poor little thing had fallen over some precipice and broken
+its leg, which was, however, nearly well.
+
+[Illustration: STEPHAN SHOWS THE BARON'S LETTER TO GRETCHEN. [SEE PAGE
+775.]]
+
+"Goats don't often fall in that way,--stones are much more likely to
+have caused the mischief," said Bridgetta, with a meaning look at
+Stephan, which was, however, only noticed by his mother, who replied:
+
+"Well, Bridgetta, if you still think so badly of my boy, you can keep
+the money as a recompense for the damage done to your goat, though I am
+quite convinced he has had nothing to do with it Some day we shall hear
+the truth of the whole affair, and of that I make no doubt."
+
+"I don't want your money," said the old woman, testily, "and shall
+return it as soon as I have sold the other goat;"--whereupon, she took
+the leading-string from the "sennerin" and hobbled off with her
+new-found property, apparently as little pleased as possible.
+
+The next day, the five florins were sent back, and then Stephan told his
+mother, for the first time, how he had promised to return the money if
+he ever found the goat again. This now seemed impossible, for he knew
+neither the name nor address of the gentleman. The money was, therefore,
+put away safely, and the savings of a few months soon made up the
+original sum of six florins, but still nothing could be heard of the
+giver.
+
+Time wore on, and the boy was rapidly becoming an expert workman. He had
+regularly swept the warehouse for three years, then finding he could
+earn more by violin-making during the time so occupied, he resigned in
+favor of a boy as poor as he had been. Brand had pronounced him quite
+worthy of regular work, having often tested his ability by leaving to
+him the most difficult parts of the instruments. He had made himself a
+zither, and could play all those national airs so peculiarly the
+property of the mountaineers, and which are so suited to the plaintive
+sweetness of that instrument.
+
+Before Stephan was eighteen, his fame as a zither-player had spread far
+and wide; no marriage, or festival of any kind, was complete without his
+well-looking, good-humored face.
+
+One day, Stephan was putting away his tools when he was sent for by a
+nobleman, who had stopped overnight at the village, and he soon came
+back with the news the Baron Liszt had engaged him to act as guide to
+the Krotten Kopf mountain the next day, and Brand was also wanted to
+help to carry the wraps and needful provisions.
+
+Early in the morning the party started. The Baroness accompanied her
+husband, and there were one or two gentlemen with their wives. Stephan
+and Brand, laden with shawls, umbrellas, and knapsacks, then led the way
+with the slow, steady pace always adopted by the mountaineers, who know
+that speed avails nothing when great heights have to be climbed, as it
+cannot possibly be kept up, and only exhausts the strength at the onset.
+After climbing two hours, a turn in a very steep portion of the path
+brought them suddenly upon a green plateau, walled in, as it were, by
+mountain peaks, which looked of no particular height till the ascent
+began. Though the sun had scarcely set, yet, at such an elevation, the
+air was more than chilly, and as the Baroness put on a warm shawl she
+said, one could easily account for the fresh looks of the "sennerinnen,"
+who spend the intensely hot months in so cool and healthful an
+atmosphere; for the Alps are never scorched and dried up as elsewhere
+during the summer. The Esterberg Alp, as it is called, consists of two
+large tracts of rich meadow, green and fresh as in our own fertile land,
+with a border of underwood straggling some distance up the mountain, and
+whence at midday issue the clear sounds of the musical cow-bells, the
+only signs of life in that wild, solitary spot.
+
+They soon came in sight of a long low house, one-half of which was
+devoted to the cows and the hay. The earth around was trodden down and
+bare; a few flowers grew against the house-wall, and some milk-pans were
+ranged along it to dry. The door was opened by a wild-looking man devoid
+of shoes and coat; his long, shaggy hair looked as if it had never
+experienced the kindly influence of a comb or brush. He had evidently
+been roused from a heavy sleep, but soon understanding that they wished
+to spend the night in the hut, he told them, in a most singular German
+dialect, that the "oberschweizer," or chief, was away, but that he alone
+could arrange all that was needful; for he was accustomed to attend to
+the visitors who came there in the warm weather.
+
+The "senner" prepared the meal, consisting of a large bowl full of a
+dark chopped pancake called "schmarren," often the only food of the
+cowherds for weeks together.
+
+The next consideration was a resting-place. They had been warned that
+they would get nothing but hay, so it was no surprise when the "senner"
+led the ladies out to one side of the house, where, mounting a short
+ladder, he placed his lantern in the center of a large hay-loft, one
+side of which was open to the free air of heaven, which blew in, fresh
+and cool, as also it did from numerous chinks in the roof, through which
+the clear moonbeams shone, rendering the lantern a matter of form. The
+man proceeded to arrange the hay in heaps, so that each person could
+recline or sit, as most conducive to rest. Only those accustomed (as,
+indeed, most mountain climbers in Bavaria are) to spending a night
+half-buried in hay, can sleep. The hours of the night were spent by the
+ladies in laughing at one another and discussing the absurdity of
+spending a night ranged against the sides of a hay-loft, with heads tied
+up in handkerchiefs, like wounded soldiers in a hospital.
+
+Meantime, the gentlemen sat outside enjoying their cigars by moonlight,
+and relating their hunting adventures. "Ah," said the Baron, after one
+of the stories, "that reminds me of a northern friend of mine who was
+staying with us some years ago. He was very short-sighted, but
+passionately fond of a hunt, so we made up several parties, at which he
+appeared in spectacles, to the great amusement of us all. He took our
+jokes in good part, and enjoyed himself without doing any mischief for a
+time. One unlucky day, however, I missed our path, and had to descend
+the mountain in search of some landmark from which to start afresh.
+Suddenly, with the exclamation: 'Hush! a chamois!' he leveled his rifle,
+and before I could say one word he had shot----a goat! He was too much
+vexed to laugh, so I had it all to myself, and it was some minutes
+before I could assist him to raise the little animal, whose leg was
+broken. The flock was not far off, and the herd-boy was evidently
+searching the wood, having heard the shot. Now it never would have done
+to let such an unsportsmanlike event get wind, so we carried the goat to
+some distance, when, meeting a peasant, we paid him to leave it at a hut
+on a neighboring Alp, and request it should be taken down to the valley
+at the first opportunity. I never mentioned the subject to any one but
+my brother Heinrich. Some time after, he was hunting in the same
+locality, and came upon a lad who was crying, with a regular mountain
+voice, for the loss of that very goat, for which it seemed his mother
+had to pay. I must confess, the consequence of kidnapping the animal for
+a time had never struck me, and I was therefore glad to know that my
+brother had given the lad money enough to pay all damages. But come, it
+is time we tried our hay-berths, for if we can't sleep we can rest."
+
+Stephan, who had been eagerly listening, exclaimed: "Oh, please sir,
+wait a moment. I was that boy to whom the gentleman gave the money, and
+he told me he should expect it returned if I ever found the goat. Some
+time afterward I did find it, and I have always carried the money sewn
+into my coat-pocket in case I should meet the gentleman again when I am
+away from home, but I never did so; perhaps, sir, you will be kind
+enough to give it to him," he added, beginning to unfasten the little
+packet from the lining of his side-pocket.
+
+Turning to Brand, the Baron asked if he knew anything of this romantic
+goat story.
+
+"Yes, indeed, sir, and so does every one in the village, for the boy got
+into trouble with the neighbors, who all thought he had been throwing
+stones at the animal, and they even turned him out of his situation,
+but, as luck would have it, something else was offered the same day, so
+that it did not hurt him or his mother either."
+
+"It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had always wished to
+make violins and zithers, and owing to that accident I got my wish,"
+said Stephan, in reply to the Baron's expressions of regret.
+
+"As to the money," said the Baron, "we will make an exchange; you shall
+have my purse, which contains about ten florins, and I will take your
+little bag, just as it is, as a proof of Bavarian honesty and honor. We
+shall see more of one another," he added; "meantime, don't forget that
+we must be off by four in the morning. Good-night!"
+
+The moon still shone when the travelers commenced their mountain
+journey. Slowly they wound their way round the ever-ascending path.
+About half-way up they came to a small rocky plain, where some young
+cattle were grazing. Their alarmed wild movements proved how rarely
+human beings passed their high-walled prison. From this point their
+climbing became a real labor, but before long they arrived at the
+summit, where, amidst much laughter and want of breath, they all threw
+themselves on the ground and gave vent to their satisfaction at being
+nearly 7,000 feet above the sea, and to their admiration of the glorious
+view.
+
+But their stay on the summit was short, as they wished to make the
+descent of the mountain in one day. They did not reach Partenkirchen
+till nearly midnight, nor Mittenwald till the following day, where, of
+course, their adventures were related, and Stephan's story was soon the
+talk of the village. He became a perfect hero for the time, and many a
+neighbor shook hands and hoped he would forgive the doubt cast upon his
+word, although years had since passed and the goat of contention had
+been gathered to its fathers.
+
+Some time after, a letter came to the Post Inn for Stephan, causing much
+curiosity in the village, as it was the first he had ever received. It
+came from the Baron, who offered him an excellent situation on his
+estate, under the forester, who, being childless and old, would not only
+instruct Stephan in his duties, but would soon leave the management in a
+great measure to him; moreover, he himself might hope to succeed as
+Forester, if he found the life suited to his taste. A week was given him
+for consideration. He did not at all like the idea of leaving his native
+place, to which he was attached with that intensity of feeling said to
+be peculiar to the mountaineers; but so good an offer was not to be
+refused, especially as Herr Dahn and Brand both approved of his going.
+So the letter was written to tell the Baron he would come in a few
+weeks, as requested. Meantime his old master gave him an order for a
+zither of the best quality, to be made of handsome wood, inlaid with
+mother-of-pearl, and as the price was of no consequence, he was to make
+it quite a specimen instrument, to show how well he could work. Stephan
+was very much pleased with the commission, and when, at the end of three
+weeks, it was finished, his delight was great when Herr Dahn pronounced
+it "One of the very best he had ever had in his warehouse, and quite fit
+for the king." The day came for Stephan's departure, but it was not a
+sad one, as everything was arranged for him to return in three months to
+fetch Gretchen, his old master's daughter, who had promised to marry
+him, and Stephan's mother was to live with them.
+
+Stephan's letters were most satisfactory. He liked the new life and the
+old Forester, and was sure Gretchen would admire the pretty houses, the
+large balcony, along the rails of which he was growing some of the
+beautiful dark carnations she was so fond of, and he knew she would
+rejoice to see the glowing mountain-peaks rising from the dark pine
+woods at sunset.
+
+The wedding-day arrived at last, and in the course of the second
+evening,--for the festivities lasted two days,--some strangers staying
+in the village came up to see the dancing, which took place in a very
+large room in the inn. Among them was the Baron Liszt, who, after
+dancing the last waltz with Gretchen, requested the visitors would
+remain a few minutes, as he had something to show them.
+
+A box was then brought in by the hostess, dressed in her best costume
+and fur cap. She placed it with much solemnity before the Baron, who
+lifted the lid, took out the beautiful zither that Stephan had made with
+such care, and handing it to the pretty, blushing Gretchen, he said he
+could offer her nothing better as a wedding gift than this specimen of
+her husband's talent, which he hoped she would always keep and use as a
+token of his respect and admiration for Bavarian honesty and truth.
+Then, shaking hands with them both, he took leave amidst loud
+acclamations and waving of hats; and so ended the wedding of Stephan and
+Gretchen.
+
+
+
+
+TROUBLES IN HIGH LIFE.
+
+BY MRS. J. G. BURNETT.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  Two miniature mothers at play on the floor
+    Their wearisome cares were debating,
+  How Dora and Arabelle, children no more,
+  Were twice as much trouble as ever before,
+  And the causes each had her own cares to deplore
+    Were, really, well worth my relating.
+
+  Said one little mother: "You really don't know
+    What a burden my life is with Bella!
+  Her stravagant habits I hope she'll outgrow.
+  She buys her kid gloves by the dozen, you know,
+  Sits for _cartes de visites_ every fortnight or so,
+    And don't do a thing that I tell her!"
+
+  Those stylish young ladies (the dollies, you know)
+    Had complexions soft, pearly and waxen,
+  With arms, neck and forehead, as white as the snow,
+  Golden hair sweeping down to the waist and below,
+  Eyes blue as the sky, cheeks with youth's ruddy glow,--
+    Of a beauty pure Grecian and Saxon.
+
+  "Indeed!" said the other, "that's sad to be sure;
+    But, ah," with a sigh, "no one guesses
+  The cares and anxieties mothers endure.
+  For though Dora appears so sedate and demure,
+  She spends all the money that I can secure
+    On her cloaks and her bonnets and dresses."
+
+  Then followed such prattle of fashion and style
+    I smiled as I listened and wondered,
+  And I thought, had I tried to repeat it erewhile,
+  How these fair little Israelites, without guile,
+  Would mock at my lack of their knowledge, and smile
+    At the way I had stumbled and blundered.
+
+  And I thought, too, when each youthful mother had conned
+    Her startling and touching narration,
+  Of the dolls of which I in my childhood was fond,
+  How with Dora and Arabelle they'd correspond,
+  And how far dolls and children to-day are beyond
+    Those we had in the last generation!
+
+
+
+
+A TALE OF MANY TAILS.
+
+BY KATHARINE B. FOOT.
+
+
+Carry stood in the door-way with her dolly on one arm and her kitten
+hanging over the other. Kitty didn't look comfortable, but she bore up
+bravely, only once in a while giving a plaintive mew. Carry gazed into
+the bright white sunshine.
+
+"It's melting hot," she said. "I guess, grandma, I'll take my doll and
+Friskarina out to the wash-house and have a party."
+
+"Well," said grandma, looking over her spectacles, "I've no objection;
+only there's a black cloud coming up, and you may get caught out there
+in a thunder storm."
+
+"If I do, can Jake come for me with an umbrella, and can I take off my
+shoes and stockings and come home barefoot?"
+
+"Yes; I don't believe it would hurt you."
+
+"Then I'll go;" and Carry picked up a box with a little tea-set in it,
+and started off, saying: "Do you believe it'll rain cats and dogs and
+pitchforks, grandma? That's what Jake says."
+
+"No, my dear. You'd better ask him if he ever saw such a rain."
+
+"So I will," and away went Carry through the sunshine. And she said to
+herself: "Wouldn't it be funny if it did rain so? I guess grandma
+wouldn't like it much if cats rained down, 'cause she says five cats are
+too many now."
+
+The tea-party on an old chair without a back wasn't much of an affair,
+after all; for, although the doll--Miss Rose de Lorme--was propped up
+against a starch-box more than half a dozen times, she would keep on
+sliding feet first until she came down flat on her back and thumped her
+head. The kitten went to sleep in the corner just as Carry put her down.
+
+"Oh, dear!" sighed the little girl. "It's so lonely with cats and dolls
+and things that can't talk!" And then she sat down in a corner by the
+old wash-boiler, where she could see out of the open door, and took
+Kitty into her lap.
+
+The great fluffy clouds banked up higher and higher, and from being
+white and dazzling they began to grow black at the edges; and the black
+masses rolled up and up, until the sun was all hidden and the sky was
+dark. Then came the rain, gently at first, in drops far apart, but soon
+it fell faster and faster, and the little leaves on the currant-bushes
+jumped up and down and seemed to enjoy the shower-bath. To Carry's great
+delight, little streams began to creep over the path, now in separate
+little trickles, and presently with sudden little darts into one
+another, as they came to uneven places in the walk. She watched it all
+with great wide eyes, and felt quiet and cool just to smell the damp
+earth.
+
+But soon the drops grew bigger, and all at once they weren't drops of
+rain at all!
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Carry. "Kittens,--little blind kittens! It'll
+rain dogs next, I suppose!"
+
+That's exactly what did happen; for down came puppies along with the
+kittens. They squirmed and mewed and hissed and yelped, and all the time
+kept growing bigger and bigger. Some came head first pawing the air as
+they fell; some tail first, looking scared to death; but most miserable
+of all were those that came down tumbling over and over. It made them so
+dizzy to come down in that whirligig fashion, that they staggered about
+when they tried to stand. Carry felt truly sorry for them, and yet she
+couldn't help laughing. And the cats and dogs who had come first laughed
+too.
+
+"Dear me! That's sort of funny, isn't it?" she thought; but the surprise
+didn't last long, for, in the midst of a tremendous shower, down came
+two most remarkable figures, and, with them, what at first sight
+appeared to be several long sticks; but, on looking again, Carry saw
+these were pitchforks!
+
+"Oh!" said she, "I thought they'd come."
+
+Then she stared for a minute at the two odd figures, and cried: "Why!
+it's Mother Hubbard's dog and Puss in Boots!" And sure enough, so it
+was!
+
+Puss had a blue velvet cloak on his shoulders, large boots, and a velvet
+cap with a long plume. He turned toward Carry and made her a low bow,
+gracefully doffing his hat.
+
+"You are right, Mademoiselle," said he. "I am that renowned personage,
+and your humble servant. Permit me to add, Mademoiselle, that my eyes
+have not beheld a fairer damsel than they now rest upon, since last I
+saw my beloved mistress, the charming Marquise de Carabas."
+
+Mother Hubbard's dog was dressed in a suit of fine old-fashioned
+clothes, and held tightly between his teeth a very short stemmed pipe
+from which he puffed great clouds of smoke.
+
+He came up beside Puss, and said, without removing his pipe: "Stuff and
+nonsense! We don't talk so stupidly in our village. Don't waste your
+time in silly yarns, but let's settle this fight at once."
+
+Puss turned away and, addressing Carry, said:
+
+"Mademoiselle, this plebeian does not understand the language of court
+circles, to which I have been used for many years. Mademoiselle will
+pardon his ignorance." And here Puss rolled up his eyes and placed his
+hand upon his heart and bowed so low that he was actually standing on
+his head before he had finished. But he turned a graceful somersault and
+came right side up again in half a second, without looking at all
+disturbed.
+
+"Sir!" said the dog, with dignity, "this matter should be settled at
+once, or the sun will be out, and then----" he stopped short and winked
+at Puss in a very knowing manner.
+
+"Ah! that is true," replied the cat, "I had forgotten. Shall it be a
+general or a single combat?"
+
+"Well," said the dog, gravely, sitting down on a large flower-pot
+nearby, "I think, as we have been wanting to fight this out for some
+time,--indeed, I may say, almost since time began,--we had better allow
+every one to have a tooth and a claw in it. Then, perhaps, this matter
+will be settled forever."
+
+"Quite my opinion," responded Puss. "But first the ladies, infants, and
+weak and wounded, must be removed from the field."
+
+"All right!" said the dog. "But look here. You first stop that, will
+you?" and he pointed to a fine gray cat that was rubbing herself against
+a large, comfortable-looking Newfoundland.
+
+"Immediately," said Puss, and he bawled in a loud voice: "There is to be
+no friendly intercourse between soldiers of the two armies. It is in the
+highest degree detrimental to military discipline."
+
+And the dog shouted: "Stop being pleasant to each other, right off. I
+can't have it. You always have fought, and you've got to fight now."
+
+The big Newfoundland at once made a snap at the gray cat, and she put up
+her back, spit and clawed at him, and ran off as fast as she could.
+
+Then Puss waved his handkerchief, as a flag of truce, and said in a loud
+voice, "There will be a cessation of hostilities for five minutes, until
+the non-combatants are removed."
+
+The able-bodied cats arranged themselves in rows, and the dogs did the
+same. The two generals stepped grandly in front of the lines, and the
+battle seemed about to begin, when a young and frisky cat, at the far
+end of the front rank, took advantage of a dog opposite who had turned
+his head, and jumped upon his back, clawing him in so cruel a way that
+he howled dreadfully.
+
+At this, Mother Hubbard's dog advanced angrily, and taking the cat by
+the nape of the neck, threw her among the cat army, saying: "The trumpet
+hasn't sounded, and we haven't begun yet. That was a real sneaky trick,
+just like a cat."
+
+"Sir!" cried Puss in Boots, loftily, "Do you mean to insinuate that I am
+a sneak?"
+
+"I didn't say so precisely," returned the dog. "But if you want me to, I
+will." Then he added, in a taunting tone, "You are a sneak!"
+
+Puss trembled with rage at this insult, and drew the little sword he
+wore at his side.
+
+"Prove it!" he cried, brandishing his blade.
+
+"Didn't you sneak yourself and your master into a castle and fine
+clothes that you had no right to?"
+
+"Didn't you pretend to be dead once and frighten your poor mistress
+nearly out of her wits? Take _that_, sir!" and he made a furious cut at
+him.
+
+But the dog dodged the weapon, and, with a cutlass suddenly pulled from
+behind him, made a fierce blow at the cat. Puss leaped nimbly away, with
+a scream of triumph and defiance. Then they set to with all their skill
+and hate and cunning.
+
+Presently Puss fell, apparently dead, and Sir John Hubbard, the victor,
+was leaning on his cutlass, looking sorry, when suddenly Puss jumped up,
+grasped his sword and made a savage lunge at the dog. "That was only one
+of _my_ lives!" he screamed. "I have eight left. Cats have nine lives,
+but you--you miserable dog--have only one."
+
+Then they fought worse than ever, and neither seemed willing to yield.
+
+[Illustration: RAINING CATS AND DOGS.]
+
+But the fight ended in a strange way. Just as the dog again laid Puss
+low, a tremendous shower of pitchforks fell, beating on everything with
+dreadful effect. Sir John saved himself by getting under a tree, but
+poor Puss couldn't move to a shelter, and his remaining seven lives were
+being rapidly knocked out of him, when the brave dog rushed out into the
+storm and proved himself a generous foe by shielding Puss from the
+pitchforks with his own body.
+
+"You are a dear good dog!" cried Carry. "I always loved you the best!"
+But even as she was speaking there came a terrific clap of thunder, and
+her own cat, who had been trembling with fear, sprang to her shoulder
+and buried her claws there and as Carry shrieked with fright and pain,
+Jake was holding her in his arms.
+
+"Were you frightened, out here all alone?" said he. "I was busy and I
+didn't think you'd mind the rain; but when the thunder began I came out
+quick."
+
+"Rain?" said Carry, "I don't mind rain, Jake; but I don't like it to
+rain cats and dogs when they fight. Why, where are they?" She lifted her
+face from Jake's shoulder, and looked about her amazed, for not a cat
+was to be seen nor a dog, but only the steady rain, pouring straight
+down.
+
+"Cats and dogs!" said Jake, laughing.
+
+"And pitchforks, too, Jake,--yes, really!"
+
+"Well," said Jake; "if you aint the most _curious_ little gal!"
+
+But Carry don't think she is half as curious as other people are who
+wont believe what she saw with her own eyes.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WE CAME,--WE SAW,]
+
+[Illustration: WE LEFT.]
+
+
+
+
+UNDER THE LILACS.
+
+BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SOMEBODY COMES.
+
+
+Bab and Betty had been playing in the avenue all the afternoon, several
+weeks later, but as the shadows began to lengthen both agreed to sit
+upon the gate and rest while waiting for Ben, who had gone nutting with
+a party of boys. When they played house, Bab was always the father, and
+went hunting or fishing with great energy and success, bringing home all
+sorts of game, from elephants and crocodiles to humming-birds and
+minnows. Betty was the mother, and a most notable little housewife,
+always mixing up imaginary delicacies with sand and dirt in old pans and
+broken china, which she baked in an oven of her own construction.
+
+Both had worked hard that day, and were glad to retire to their favorite
+lounging-place, where Bab was happy trying to walk across the wide top
+bar without falling off, and Betty enjoyed slow, luxurious swings while
+her sister was recovering from her tumbles. On this occasion, having
+indulged their respective tastes, they paused for a brief interval of
+conversation, sitting side by side on the gate like a pair of plump gray
+chickens gone to roost.
+
+"Don't you hope Ben will get his bag full? We shall have such fun eating
+nuts evenings," observed Bab, wrapping her arms in her apron, for it was
+October now, and the air was growing keen.
+
+"Yes, and Ma says we may boil some in our little kettles. Ben promised
+we should have half," answered Betty, still intent on her cookery.
+
+"I shall save some of mine for Thorny."
+
+"I shall keep lots of mine for Miss Celia."
+
+"Doesn't it seem more than two weeks since she went away?"
+
+"I wonder what she'll bring us."
+
+Before Bab could conjecture, the sound of a step and a familiar whistle
+made both look expectantly toward the turn in the road, all ready to cry
+out with one voice, "How many have you got?" Neither spoke a word,
+however, for the figure which presently appeared was not Ben, but a
+stranger,--a man who stopped whistling, and came slowly on, dusting his
+shoes in the way-side grass, and brushing the sleeves of his shabby
+velveteen coat as if anxious to freshen himself up a bit.
+
+"It's a tramp, let's run away," whispered Betty, after a hasty look.
+
+"I aint afraid," and Bab was about to assume her boldest look when a
+sneeze spoiled it, and made her clutch the gate to hold on.
+
+At that unexpected sound the man looked up, showing a thin, dark face,
+with a pair of sharp, black eyes, which surveyed the little girls so
+steadily that Betty quaked, and Bab began to wish she had at least
+jumped down inside the gate.
+
+"How are you?" said the man with a good-natured nod and smile, as if to
+re-assure the round-eyed children staring at him.
+
+"Pretty well, thank you, sir," responded Bab, politely nodding back at
+him.
+
+"Folks at home?" asked the man, looking over their heads toward the
+house.
+
+"Only Ma; all the rest are gone to be married."
+
+"That sounds lively. At the other place all the folks had gone to a
+funeral," and the man laughed as he glanced at the big house on the
+hill.
+
+"Why, do you know the Squire?" exclaimed Bab, much surprised and
+re-assured.
+
+"Come on purpose to see him. Just strolling round till he gets back,"
+with an impatient sort of sigh.
+
+"Betty thought you was a tramp, but I wasn't afraid. I like tramps ever
+since Ben came," explained Bab, with her usual candor.
+
+"Who's Ben?" and the man came nearer so quickly that Betty nearly fell
+backward. "Don't you be scared, Sissy. I like little girls, so you set
+easy and tell me about Ben," he added, in a persuasive tone, as he
+leaned on the gate, so near that both could see what a friendly face he
+had in spite of its eager, anxious look.
+
+"Ben is Miss Celia's boy. We found him almost starved in the
+coach-house, and he's been living near here ever since," answered Bab,
+comprehensively.
+
+"Tell me all about it. I like tramps too," and the man looked as if he
+did, very much, as Bab told the little story in a few childish words
+that were better than a much more elegant account.
+
+"You were very good to the little feller," was all the man said when she
+ended her somewhat confused tale, in which she had jumbled the old coach
+and Miss Celia, dinner-pails and nutting, Sancho and circuses.
+
+"Course we were! He's a nice boy and we are fond of him, and he likes
+us," said Bab, heartily.
+
+"'Specially me," put in Betty, quite at ease now, for the black eyes had
+softened wonderfully, and the brown face was smiling all over.
+
+"Don't wonder a mite. You are the nicest pair of little girls I've seen
+this long time," and the man put a hand on either side of them, as if he
+wanted to hug the chubby children. But he didn't do it; he merely rubbed
+his hands and stood there asking questions till the two chatter-boxes
+had told him everything there was to tell, in the most confiding manner,
+for he very soon ceased to seem like a stranger, and looked so familiar
+that Bab, growing inquisitive in her turn, suddenly said:
+
+"Haven't you ever been here before? It seems as if I'd seen you."
+
+"Never in my life. Guess you've seen somebody that looks like me," and
+the black eyes twinkled for a minute as they looked into the puzzled
+little faces before him. Then he said, soberly:
+
+"I'm looking round for a likely boy; don't you think this Ben would suit
+me? I want just such a lively sort of chap."
+
+"Are you a circus man?" asked Bab, quickly.
+
+"Well, no, not now. I'm in better business."
+
+"I'm glad of it--_we_ don't approve of 'em; but I do think they're
+splendid!"
+
+Bab began by gravely quoting Miss Celia, and ended with an irrepressible
+burst of admiration which contrasted drolly with her first remark.
+
+Betty added anxiously, "We can't let Ben go, any way. I know he wouldn't
+want to, and Miss Celia would feel bad. Please don't ask him."
+
+"He can do as he likes, I suppose. He hasn't got any folks of his own,
+has he?"
+
+"No, his father died in California, and Ben felt so bad he cried, and we
+were real sorry, and gave him a piece of Ma, 'cause he was so lonesome,"
+answered Betty, in her tender little voice, with a pleading look which
+made the man stroke her smooth cheek and say, quite softly:
+
+"Bless your heart for that! I wont take him away, child, or do a thing
+to trouble anybody that's been good to him."
+
+"He's coming now. I hear Sanch barking at the squirrels!" cried Bab,
+standing up to get a good look down the road.
+
+The man turned quickly, and Betty saw that he breathed fast as he
+watched the spot where the low sunshine lay warmly on the red maple at
+the corner. Into this glow came unconscious Ben, whistling "Rory
+O'Moore," loud and clear, as he trudged along with a heavy bag of nuts
+over his shoulder and the light full on his contented face. Sancho
+trotted before and saw the stranger first, for the sun in Ben's eyes
+dazzled him. Since his sad loss Sancho cherished a strong dislike to
+tramps, and now he paused to growl and show his teeth, evidently
+intending to warn this one off the premises.
+
+"He wont hurt you----" began Bab, encouragingly; but before she could
+add a chiding word to the dog, Sanch gave an excited howl, and flew at
+the man's throat as if about to throttle him.
+
+Betty screamed, and Bab was about to go to the rescue when both
+perceived that the dog was licking the stranger's face in an ecstasy of
+joy, and heard the man say as he hugged the curly beast:
+
+"Good old Sanch! I knew he wouldn't forget master, and he doesn't."
+
+"What's the matter?" called Ben, coming up briskly, with a strong grip
+of his stout stick.
+
+There was no need of any answer, for, as he came into the shadow, he saw
+the man, and stood looking at him as if he were a ghost.
+
+"It's father, Benny; don't you know me?" asked the man, with an odd sort
+of choke in his voice as he thrust the dog away, and held out both hands
+to the boy.
+
+Down dropped the nuts, and crying, "Oh, Daddy, Daddy!" Ben cast himself
+into the arms of the shabby velveteen coat, while poor Sanch tore round
+them in distracted circles, barking wildly, as if that was the only way
+in which he could vent his rapture.
+
+What happened next, Bab and Betty never stopped to see, but, dropping
+from their roost, they went flying home like startled Chicken Littles
+with the astounding news that "Ben's father has come alive, and Sancho
+knew him right away!"
+
+Mrs. Moss had just got her cleaning done up, and was resting a minute
+before setting the table, but she flew out of her old rocking-chair when
+the excited children told the wonderful tale, exclaiming as they ended:
+
+"Where is he? Go bring him here. I declare it fairly takes my breath
+away!"
+
+Before Bab could obey, or her mother compose herself, Sancho bounced in
+and spun round like an insane top, trying to stand on his head, walk
+upright, waltz and bark all at once, for the good old fellow had so lost
+his head that he forgot the loss of his tail.
+
+"They are coming! they are coming! See, Ma, what a nice man he is," said
+Bab, hopping about on one foot as she watched the slowly approaching
+pair.
+
+"My patience, don't they look alike! I should know he was Ben's Pa
+anywhere!" said Mrs. Moss, running to the door in a hurry.
+
+They certainly did resemble one another, and it was almost comical to
+see the same curve in the legs, the same wide-awake style of wearing the
+hat, the same sparkle of the eye, good-natured smile and agile motion of
+every limb. Old Ben carried the bag in one hand while young Ben held the
+other fast, looking a little shame-faced at his own emotion now, for
+there were marks of tears on his cheeks, but too glad to repress the
+delight he felt that he had really found Daddy this side heaven.
+
+Mrs. Moss unconsciously made a pretty little picture of herself as she
+stood at the door with her honest face shining and both hands out,
+saying in a hearty tone, which was a welcome in itself:
+
+"I'm _real_ glad to see you safe and well, Mr. Brown! Come right in and
+make yourself to home. I guess there isn't a happier boy living than Ben
+is to-night."
+
+"And I _know_ there isn't a gratefuler man living than I am for your
+kindness to my poor forsaken little feller," answered Mr. Brown,
+dropping both his burdens to give the comely woman's hands a hard shake.
+
+"Now don't say a word about it, but sit down and rest, and we'll have
+tea in less 'n no time. Ben must be tired and hungry, though he's so
+happy I don't believe he knows it," laughed Mrs. Moss, bustling away to
+hide the tears in her eyes, anxious to make things sociable and easy all
+round.
+
+With this end in view she set forth her best china, and covered the
+table with food enough for a dozen, thanking her stars that it was
+baking day, and everything had turned out well. Ben and his father sat
+talking by the window till they were bidden to "draw up and help
+themselves" with such hospitable warmth that everything had an extra
+relish to the hungry pair.
+
+Ben paused occasionally to stroke the rusty coat-sleeve with
+bread-and-buttery fingers to convince himself that "Daddy" had really
+come, and his father disposed of various inconvenient emotions by eating
+as if food was unknown in California. Mrs. Moss beamed on every one from
+behind the big tea-pot like a mild full moon, while Bab and Betty kept
+interrupting one another in their eagerness to tell something new about
+Ben and how Sanch lost his tail.
+
+"Now you let Mr. Brown talk a little; we all want to hear how he 'came
+alive,' as you call it," said Mrs. Moss, as they drew round the fire in
+the "settin'-room," leaving the tea-things to take care of themselves.
+
+It was not a long story, but a very interesting one to this circle of
+listeners: all about the wild life on the plains, trading for mustangs,
+the terrible blow that nearly killed Ben, senior, the long months of
+unconsciousness in the California hospital, the slow recovery, the
+journey back, Mr. Smithers's tale of the boy's disappearance, and then
+the anxious trip to find out from Squire Allen where he now was.
+
+"I asked the hospital folks to write and tell you as soon as I knew
+whether I was on my head or my heels, and they promised; but they
+didn't; so I came off the minute I could, and worked my way back,
+expecting to find you at the old place. I was afraid you'd have worn out
+your welcome here and gone off again, for you are as fond of traveling
+as your father."
+
+[Illustration: MRS. MOSS WELCOMES BEN'S FATHER.]
+
+"I wanted to, sometimes, but the folks here were so dreadful good to me
+I _couldn't_," confessed Ben, secretly surprised to find that the
+prospect of going off with Daddy even cost him a pang of regret, for the
+boy had taken root in the friendly soil, and was no longer a wandering
+thistle-down, tossed about by every wind that blew.
+
+"I know what I owe 'em, and you and me will work out that debt before we
+die, or our name isn't B.B.," said Mr. Brown, with an emphatic slap on
+his knee, which Ben imitated half unconsciously as he exclaimed
+heartily:
+
+"That's _so!_" adding, more quietly, "What are you going to do now? Go
+back to Smithers and the old work?"
+
+"Not likely, after the way he treated you, Sonny. I've had it out with
+him, and he wont want to see _me_ again in a hurry," answered Mr. Brown,
+with a sudden kindling of the eye that reminded Bab of Ben's face when
+he shook her after losing Sancho.
+
+"There's more circuses than his in the world; but I'll have to limber
+out ever so much before I'm good for much in that line," said the boy,
+stretching his stout arms and legs with a curious mixture of
+satisfaction and regret.
+
+"You've been living in clover and got fat, you rascal," and his father
+gave him a poke here and there, as Mr. Squeers did the plump Wackford,
+when displaying him as a specimen of the fine diet at Do-the-boys Hall.
+"Don't believe I could put you up now if I tried, for I haven't got my
+strength back yet, and we are both out of practice. It's just as well,
+for I've about made up my mind to quit the business and settle down
+somewhere for a spell, if I can get anything to do," continued the
+rider, folding his arms and gazing thoughtfully into the fire.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder a mite if you could right here, for Mr. Towne has a
+great boarding-stable over yonder, and he's always wanting men," said
+Mrs. Moss, eagerly, for she dreaded to have Ben go, and no one could
+forbid it if his father chose to take him away.
+
+"That sounds likely. Thanky, ma'am. I'll look up the concern and try my
+chance. Would you call it too great a come-down to have father an
+'ostler after being first rider in the 'Great Golden Menagerie, Circus,
+and Colosseum,' hey Ben?" asked Mr. Brown, quoting the well-remembered
+show-bill with a laugh.
+
+"No, I shouldn't; it's real jolly up there when the big barn is full and
+eighty horses have to be taken care of. I love to go and see 'em. Mr.
+Towne asked me to come and be stable-boy when I rode the kicking gray
+the rest were afraid of. I hankered to go, but Miss Celia had just got
+my new books, and I knew she'd feel bad if I gave up going to school.
+Now I'm glad I didn't, for I get on first rate and like it."
+
+"You done right, boy, and I'm pleased with you. Don't you ever be
+ungrateful to them that befriended you, if you want to prosper. I'll
+tackle the stable business a Monday and see what's to be done. Now I
+ought to be walking, but I'll be round in the morning, ma'am, if you can
+spare Ben for a spell to-morrow. We'd like to have a good Sunday tramp
+and talk; wouldn't we, Sonny?" and Mr. Brown rose to go, with his hand
+on Ben's shoulder, as if loth to leave him even for the night.
+
+Mrs. Moss saw the longing in his face, and forgetting that he was an
+utter stranger, spoke right out of her hospitable heart.
+
+"It is a long piece to the tavern, and my little back bed-room is always
+ready. It wont make a mite of trouble if you don't mind a plain place,
+and you are heartily welcome."
+
+Mr. Brown looked pleased, but hesitated to accept any further favor from
+the good soul who had already done so much for him and his. Ben gave him
+no time to speak, however, for running to a door he flung it open and
+beckoned, saying, eagerly:
+
+"Do stay, father; it will be so nice to have you. This is a tip-top
+room; I slept here the night I came, and that bed was just splendid
+after bare ground for a fortnight."
+
+"I'll stop, and as I'm pretty well done up, I guess we may as well turn
+in now," answered the new guest; then, as if the memory of that homeless
+little lad so kindly cherished made his heart overflow in spite of him,
+Mr. Brown paused at the door to say hastily, with his hands on Bab and
+Betty's heads, as if his promise was a very earnest one:
+
+"I don't forget, ma'am, and these children shall never want a friend
+while Ben Brown's alive;" then he shut the door so quickly that the
+other Ben's prompt "Hear, hear!" was cut short in the middle.
+
+"I s'pose he means that we shall have a piece of Ben's father, because
+we gave Ben a piece of our mother," said Betty, softly.
+
+"Of course he does, and it's all fair," answered Bab, decidedly. "Isn't
+he a nice man, Ma?"
+
+"Go to bed, children," was all the answer she got; but when they were
+gone, Mrs. Moss, as she washed up her dishes, more than once glanced at
+a certain nail where a man's hat had not hung for five years, and
+thought with a sigh what a natural, protecting air that slouched felt
+had.
+
+If one wedding were not quite enough for a child's story, we might here
+hint what no one dreamed of then, that before the year came round again
+Ben had found a mother, Bab and Betty a father, and Mr. Brown's hat was
+quite at home behind the kitchen door. But, on the whole, it is best not
+to say a word about it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE GREAT GATE IS OPENED.
+
+
+The Browns were up and out so early next morning that Bab and Betty were
+sure they had run away in the night. But on looking for them, they were
+discovered in the coach-house criticising Lita, both with their hands in
+their pockets, both chewing straws, and looking as much alike as a big
+elephant and a small one.
+
+"That's as pretty a little span as I've seen for a long time," said the
+elder Ben, as the children came trotting down the path hand in hand,
+with the four blue bows at the ends of their braids bobbing briskly up
+and down.
+
+"The nigh one is my favorite, but the off one is the best goer, though
+she's dreadfully hard bitted," answered Ben the younger, with such a
+comical assumption of a jockey's important air that his father laughed
+as he said in an undertone:
+
+"Come, boy, we must drop the old slang since we've given up the old
+business. These good folks are making a gentleman of you, and I wont be
+the one to spoil their work. Hold on, my dears, and I'll show you how
+they say good-morning in California," he added, beckoning to the little
+girls, who now came up rosy and smiling.
+
+"Breakfast is ready, sir," said Betty, looking much relieved to find
+them.
+
+"We thought you'd run away from us," explained Bab, as both put out
+their hands to shake those extended to them.
+
+"That would be a mean trick. But I'm going to run away _with_ you," and
+Mr. Brown whisked a little girl to either shoulder before they knew what
+had happened, while Ben, remembering the day, with difficulty restrained
+himself from turning a series of triumphant somersaults before them all
+the way to the door, where Mrs. Moss stood waiting for them.
+
+After breakfast, Ben disappeared for a short time, and returned in his
+Sunday suit, looking so neat and fresh that his father surveyed him with
+surprise and pride as he came in full of boyish satisfaction in his trim
+array.
+
+"Here's a smart young chap! Did you take all that trouble just to go to
+walk with old Daddy?" asked Mr. Brown, stroking the smooth head, for
+they were alone just then, Mrs. Moss and the children being upstairs
+preparing for church.
+
+"I thought may be you'd like to go to meeting first," answered Ben,
+looking up at him with such a happy face that it was hard to refuse
+anything.
+
+"I'm too shabby, Sonny, else I'd go in a minute to please you."
+
+"Miss Celia said God didn't mind poor clothes, and she took me when I
+looked worse than you do. I always go in the morning; she likes to have
+me," said Ben, turning his hat about as if not quite sure what he ought
+to do.
+
+"Do you want to go?" asked his father in a tone of surprise.
+
+"I want to please her, if you don't mind. We could have our tramp this
+afternoon."
+
+"I haven't been to meeting since mother died, and it don't seem to come
+easy, though I know I ought to, seeing I'm alive and here," and Mr.
+Brown looked soberly out at the lovely autumn-world as if glad to be in
+it after his late danger and pain.
+
+"Miss Celia said church was a good place to take our troubles, and to be
+thankful in. I went when I thought you were dead, and now I'd love to go
+when I've got my Daddy safe again."
+
+No one saw him, so Ben could not resist giving his father a sudden hug,
+which was warmly returned as the man said earnestly:
+
+"I'll go, and thank the Lord hearty for giving me back my boy better'n I
+left him!"
+
+For a minute, nothing was heard but the loud tick of the old clock and a
+mournful whine from Sancho, shut up in the shed lest he should go to
+church without an invitation.
+
+Then, as steps were heard on the stairs, Mr. Brown caught up his hat,
+saying hastily:
+
+"I ain't fit to go with them, you tell 'em, and I'll slip into a back
+seat after folks are in. I know the way." And, before Ben could reply,
+he was gone.
+
+[Illustration: BEN AND HIS FATHER OPEN THE GREAT GATE.]
+
+Nothing was seen of him along the way, but he saw the little party, and
+rejoiced again over his boy, changed so greatly for the better; for Ben
+was the one thing which had kept his heart soft through all the trials
+and temptations of a rough life.
+
+"I promised Mary I'd do my best for the poor baby she had to leave, and
+I tried, but I guess a better friend than I am has been raised up for
+him when he needed her most. It wont hurt me to follow him in this
+road," thought Mr. Brown as he came out into the highway from his stroll
+"across lots," feeling that it would be good for him to stay in this
+quiet place for his own as well as for his son's sake.
+
+The bell had done ringing when he reached the green, but a single boy
+sat on the steps and ran to meet him, saying with a reproachful look:
+
+"I wasn't going to let you be alone and have folks think I was ashamed
+of my father. Come, Daddy, we'll sit together."
+
+So Ben led his father straight to the Squire's pew, and sat beside him
+with a face so full of innocent pride and joy that people would have
+suspected the truth if he had not already told many of them. Mr. Brown,
+painfully conscious of his shabby coat, was rather "taken aback," as he
+expressed it, but the Squire's shake of the hand and Mrs. Allen's
+gracious nod enabled him to face the eyes of the interested
+congregation, the younger portion of which stared steadily at him all
+sermon time, in spite of paternal frowns and maternal tweakings in the
+rear.
+
+But the crowning glory of the day came after church, when the Squire
+said to Ben, and Sam heard him:
+
+"I've got a letter for you from Miss Celia. Come home with me and bring
+your father. I want to talk to him."
+
+The boy proudly escorted his parent to the old carry-all, and tucking
+himself in behind with Mrs. Allen, had the satisfaction of seeing the
+slouched felt hat side by side with the Squire's Sunday beaver in front,
+as they drove off at such an unusually smart pace that, it was evident,
+Duke knew there was a critical eye upon him. The interest taken in the
+father was owing to the son at first, but, by the time the story was
+told, old Ben had won friends for himself, not only because of the
+misfortunes which he had evidently borne in a manly way, but because of
+his delight in the boy's improvement, and the desire he felt to turn his
+hand to any honest work, that he might keep Ben happy and contented in
+this good home.
+
+"I'll give you a line to Towne. Smithers spoke well of you, and your own
+ability will be the best recommendation," said the Squire, as he parted
+from them at his door, having given Ben the letter.
+
+Miss Celia had been gone a fortnight, and every one was longing to have
+her back. The first week brought Ben a newspaper, with a crinkly line
+drawn round the "marriages" to attract attention to that spot, and one
+was marked by a black frame with a large hand pointing at it from the
+margin. Thorny sent that, but the next week came a parcel for Mrs. Moss,
+and in it was discovered a box of wedding-cake for every member of the
+family, including Sancho, who ate his at one gulp and chewed up the lace
+paper which covered it. This was the third week, and as if there could
+not be happiness enough crowded into it for Ben, the letter he read on
+his way home told him that his dear mistress was coming back on the
+following Saturday. One passage particularly pleased him:
+
+"I want the great gate opened, so that the new master may go in that
+way. Will you see that it is done, and all made neat afterward. Ronda
+will give you the key, and you may have out all your flags if you like,
+for the old place cannot look too gay for this home-coming."
+
+Sunday though it was, Ben could not help waving the letter over his head
+as he ran in to tell Mrs. Moss the glad news, and begin at once to plan
+the welcome they would give Miss Celia, for he never called her anything
+else.
+
+During their afternoon stroll in the mellow sunshine, Ben continued to
+talk of her, never tired of telling about his happy summer under her
+roof. And Mr. Brown was never weary of hearing, for every hour showed
+him more plainly what a lovely miracle her gentle words had wrought, and
+every hour increased his gratitude, his desire to return the kindness in
+some humble way. He had his wish, and did his part handsomely when he
+least expected to have a chance.
+
+On Monday he saw Mr. Towne, and, thanks to the Squire's good word, was
+engaged for a month on trial, making himself so useful that it was soon
+evident he was the right man in the right place. He lived on the hill,
+but managed to get down to the little brown house in the evening for a
+word with Ben, who just now was as full of business as if the President
+and his Cabinet were coming.
+
+Everything was put in apple-pie order in and about the old house; the
+great gate, with much creaking of rusty hinges and some clearing away of
+rubbish, was set wide open, and the first creature who entered it was
+Sancho, solemnly dragging the dead mullein which long ago had grown
+above the top of it. October frosts seemed to have spared some of the
+brightest leaves for this especial occasion, and on Saturday the
+gate-way was decorated with gay wreaths, red and yellow sprays strewed
+the flags, and the porch was a blaze of color with the red woodbine,
+that was in its glory when the honeysuckle was leafless.
+
+Fortunately, it was a half-holiday, so the children could trim and
+chatter to their hearts' content, and the little girls ran about
+sticking funny decorations where no one would ever think of looking for
+them. Ben was absorbed in his flags, which were sprinkled all down the
+avenue with a lavish display, suggesting several Fourth-of-Julys rolled
+into one. Mr. Brown had come down to lend a hand, and did so most
+energetically, for the break-neck things he did with his son during the
+decoration fever would have terrified Mrs. Moss out of her wits if she
+had not been in the house giving last touches to every room, while Ronda
+and Katy set forth a sumptuous tea.
+
+All was going well, and the train would be due in an hour, when luckless
+Bab nearly turned the rejoicing into mourning, the feast into ashes. She
+heard her mother say to Ronda, "There ought to be a fire in every room,
+it looks so cheerful, and the air is chilly spite of the sunshine," and
+never waiting to hear the reply that some of the long-unused chimneys
+were not safe till cleaned, off went Bab with an apron full of old
+shingles and made a roaring blaze in the front room fire-place, which
+was of all others the one to be let alone, as the flue was out of order.
+Charmed with the brilliant light and the crackle of the tindery fuel,
+Miss Bab refilled her apron and fed the fire till the chimney began to
+rumble ominously, sparks to fly out at the top, and soot and swallows'
+nests to come tumbling down upon the hearth. Then, scared at what she
+had done, the little mischief-maker hastily buried her fire, swept up
+the rubbish, and ran off, thinking no one would discover her prank if
+she never told.
+
+Everybody was very busy, and the big chimney blazed and rumbled
+unnoticed till the cloud of smoke caught Ben's eye as he festooned his
+last effort in the flag line, part of an old sheet with the words
+"Father has come!" in red cambric letters, half a foot long, sewed upon
+it.
+
+"Hullo, I do believe they've got up a bonfire without asking my leave!
+Miss Celia never would let us, because the sheds and roofs are so old
+and dry; I must see about it. Catch me, Daddy, I'm coming down!" cried
+Ben, dropping out of the elm with no more thought of where he might
+alight than a squirrel swinging from bough to bough.
+
+His father caught him, and followed in haste as his nimble-footed son
+raced up the avenue, to stop in the gate-way, frightened at the prospect
+before him, for falling sparks had already kindled the roof here and
+there, and the chimney smoked and roared like a small volcano, while
+Katy's wails and Ronda's cries for water came from within.
+
+"Up there, with wet blankets, while I get out the hose!" cried Mr.
+Brown, as he saw at a glance what the danger was.
+
+Ben vanished, and, before his father got the garden hose rigged, he was
+on the roof with a dripping blanket over the worst spot. Mrs. Moss had
+her wits about her in a minute, and ran to put in the fire-board and
+stop the draught. Then, stationing Ronda to watch that the falling
+cinders did no harm inside, she hurried off to help Mr. Brown, who might
+not know where things were. But he had roughed it so long that he was
+the man for emergencies, and seemed to lay his hand on whatever was
+needed, by a sort of instinct. Finding that the hose was too short to
+reach the upper part of the roof, he was on the roof in a jiffy with two
+pails of water, and quenched the most dangerous flames before much harm
+was done. This he kept up till the chimney burned itself out, while Ben
+dodged about among the gables with a watering-pot, lest some stray
+sparks should be overlooked and break out afresh.
+
+While they worked there, Betty ran to and fro with a dipper of water
+trying to help, and Sancho barked violently, as if he objected to this
+sort of illumination. But where was Bab, who reveled in flurries? No one
+missed her till the fire was out, and the tired, sooty people met to
+talk over the danger just escaped.
+
+"Poor Miss Celia wouldn't have had a roof over her head if it hadn't
+been for you, Mr. Brown," said Mrs. Moss, sinking into a kitchen chair,
+pale with the excitement.
+
+"It would have burnt lively, but I guess it's all right now. Keep an eye
+on the roof, Ben, and I'll step up garret and see if all's safe there.
+Didn't you know that chimney was foul, ma'am?" asked the man, as he
+wiped the perspiration off his grimy face.
+
+"Ronda said it was, and I'm surprised she made a fire there," began Mrs.
+Moss, looking at the maid, who just then came in with a pan full of
+soot.
+
+"Bless you, ma'am, I never thought of such a thing, nor Katy neither.
+That naughty Bab must have done it, and so don't dar'st to show
+herself," answered the irate Ronda, whose nice room was in a mess.
+
+"Where is the child?" asked her mother, and a hunt was immediately
+instituted by Betty and Sancho, while the elders cleared up.
+
+Anxious Betty searched high and low, called and cried, but all in vain,
+and was about to sit down in despair, when Sancho made a bolt into his
+new kennel and brought out a shoe with a foot in it, while a doleful
+squeal came from the straw within.
+
+"Oh, Bab, how could you do it? Ma was frightened dreadfully," said
+Betty, gently tugging at the striped leg, as Sancho poked his head in
+for another shoe.
+
+"Is it _all_ burnt up!" demanded a smothered voice from the recesses of
+the kennel.
+
+"Only pieces of the roof. Ben and his father put it out, and _I_
+helped," answered Betty, cheering up a little as she recalled her noble
+exertions.
+
+"What do they do to folks who set houses afire?" asked the voice again.
+
+"I don't know; but you needn't be afraid; there isn't much harm done, I
+guess, and Miss Celia will forgive you, she's so good."
+
+"Thorny wont; he calls me a 'botheration,' and I guess I am," mourned
+the unseen culprit, with sincere contrition.
+
+"I'll ask him; he is always good to me. They will be here pretty soon,
+so you'd better come out and be made tidy," suggested the comforter.
+
+"I never can come out, for every one will hate me," sobbed Bab among the
+straw; and she pulled in her foot, as if retiring forever from an
+outraged world.
+
+"Ma wont, she's too busy cleaning up; so it's a good time to come. Let's
+run home, wash our hands, and be all nice when they see us. I'll love
+you, no matter what anybody else does," said Betty, consoling the poor
+little sinner, and proposing the sort of repentance most likely to find
+favor in the eyes of the agitated elders.
+
+"P'r'aps I'd better go home, for Sanch will want his bed," and Bab
+gladly availed herself of that excuse to back out of her refuge, a very
+crumpled, dusty young lady, with a dejected face, and much straw
+sticking in her hair.
+
+Betty led her sadly away, for she still protested that she never should
+dare to meet the offended public again; but in fifteen minutes both
+appeared in fine order and good spirits, and naughty Bab escaped a
+lecture for the time being, as the train would soon be due.
+
+At the first sound of the car whistle every one turned good-natured as
+if by magic, and flew to the gate, smiling as if all mishaps were
+forgiven and forgotten. Mrs. Moss, however, slipped quietly away, and
+was the first to greet Miss Celia as the carriage stopped at the
+entrance of the avenue, so that the luggage might go in by way of the
+lodge.
+
+"We will walk up and you shall tell us the news as we go, for I see you
+have some," said the young lady, in her friendly manner, when Mrs. Moss
+had given her welcome and paid her respects to the gentleman, who shook
+hands in a way that convinced her he was indeed what Thorny called him,
+"regularly jolly," though he was a minister.
+
+That being exactly what she came for, the good woman told her tidings as
+rapidly as possible, and the new-comers were so glad to hear of Ben's
+happiness they made very light of Bab's bonfire, though it had come near
+burning their house down.
+
+"We wont say a word about it, for every one must be happy to-day," said
+Mr. George, so kindly that Mrs. Moss felt a load taken off her heart at
+once.
+
+"Bab was always teasing me for fire-works, but I guess she has had
+enough for the present." laughed Thorny, who was gallantly escorting
+Bab's mother up the avenue.
+
+"Every one is so kind! Teacher was out with the children to cheer us as
+we passed, and here you all are making things pretty for me," said Miss
+Celia, smiling with tears in her eyes, as they drew near the great gate,
+which certainly did present an animated if not an imposing appearance.
+
+Ronda and Katy stood on one side, all in their best, bobbing delighted
+courtesies; Mr. Brown, half hidden behind the gate on the other side,
+was keeping Sancho erect, so that he might present arms promptly when
+the bride appeared. As flowers were scarce, on either post stood a rosy
+little girl clapping her hands, while out from the thicket of red and
+yellow boughs, which made a grand bouquet in the lantern frame, came
+Ben's head and shoulders, as he waved his grandest flag with its gold
+paper "Welcome Home!" on a blue ground.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful!" cried Miss Celia, throwing kisses to the children,
+shaking hands with her maids, and glancing brightly at the stranger who
+was keeping Sanch quiet.
+
+"Most people adorn their gate-posts with stone balls, vases, or
+griffins; your living images are a great improvement, love, especially
+the happy boy in the middle," said Mr. George, eying Ben with interest,
+as he nearly tumbled overboard, top-heavy with his banner.
+
+"You must finish what I have only begun," answered Miss Celia, adding
+gayly, as Sancho broke loose and came to offer both his paw and his
+congratulations, "Sanch, introduce your master, that I may thank him for
+coming back in time to save my old house."
+
+"If I'd saved a dozen it wouldn't have half paid for all you've done for
+my boy, ma'am," answered Mr. Brown, bursting out from behind the gate
+quite red with gratitude and pleasure.
+
+"I loved to do it, so please remember that this is still his home till
+you make one for him. Thank God, he is no longer fatherless!" and Miss
+Celia's sweet face said even more than her words, as the white hand
+cordially shook the brown one with a burn across the back.
+
+"Come on, sister. I see the tea-table all ready, and I'm awfully
+hungry," interrupted Thorny, who had not a ray of sentiment about him,
+though very glad Ben had got his father back again.
+
+"Come over, by and by, little friends, and let me thank you for your
+pretty welcome,--it certainly is a warm one;" and Miss Celia glanced
+merrily from the three bright faces above her to the old chimney, which
+still smoked sullenly.
+
+"Oh, don't!" cried Bab, hiding her face.
+
+"She didn't mean to," added Betty, pleadingly.
+
+"Three cheers for the bride!" roared Ben, dipping his flag, as leaning
+on her husband's arm his dear mistress passed through the gay party,
+along the leaf-strewn walk, over the threshold of the house which was to
+be her happy home for many years.
+
+The closed gate where the lonely little wanderer once lay was always to
+stand open now, and the path where children played before was free to
+all comers, for a hospitable welcome henceforth awaited rich and poor,
+young and old, sad and gay, Under the Lilacs.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+HAPPY LITTLE FROGGY.
+
+BY E. MUeLLER.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  Happy little Froggy, he
+    Was proud enough
+  Of his trousers and his coat,
+    Green and buff.
+
+  Came and caught him Rob and Bess,
+    Quick as flash,
+  Dressed him up in Dolly's dress,
+    And her sash.
+
+  Froggy gave a frantic leap,
+    And in three springs
+  Took into the water deep
+    All Dolly's things.
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO KEEP A JOURNAL.
+
+BY W. S. JEROME.
+
+
+Autumn is as good a time as any for a boy or girl to begin to keep a
+journal. Too many have the idea that it is a hard and unprofitable task
+to keep a journal, and especially is this the case with those who have
+begun, but soon gave up the experiment. They think it is a waste of
+time, and that no good results from it. But that depends upon the kind
+of journal that you keep. Everybody has heard of the boy who thought he
+would try to keep a diary. He bought a book, and wrote in it, for the
+first day, "Decided to keep a journal." The next day he wrote, "Got up,
+washed, and went to bed." The day after, he wrote the same thing, and no
+wonder that at the end of a week he wrote, "Decided not to keep a
+journal," and gave up the experiment. It is such attempts as this, by
+persons who have no idea of what a journal is, or how to keep it, that
+discourage others from beginning. But it is not hard to keep a journal
+if you begin in the right way, and will use a little perseverance and
+patience. The time spent in writing in a journal is not wasted, by any
+means. It may be the best employed hour of any in the day, and a
+well-kept journal is a source of pleasure and advantage which more than
+repays the writer for the time and trouble spent upon it.
+
+The first thing to do in beginning a journal, is to resolve to stick to
+it. Don't begin, and let the poor journal die in a week. A journal, or
+diary, should be written in _every day_, if possible. Now, don't be
+frightened at this, for you do a great many things every day, and this
+isn't a very awful condition. The time spent may be longer or shorter,
+according to the matter to be written up; but try and write, at least a
+little, every day. "_Nulla dies sine linea_"--no day without a line--is
+a good motto. It is a great deal easier to write a little every day,
+than to write up several days in one.
+
+Do not get for a journal a book with the dates already printed in it.
+That kind will do very well for a merchant's note-book, but not for the
+young man or woman who wants to keep a live, cheerful account of a happy
+and pleasant life. Sometimes you will have a picnic or excursion to
+write about, and will want to fill more space than the printed page
+allows. Buy a substantially bound blank-book, made of good paper; write
+your name and address plainly on the fly-leaf, and, if you choose, paste
+a calendar inside the cover. Set down the date at the head of the first
+page, thus: "Tuesday, October 1, 1878." Then begin the record of the
+day, endeavoring as far as possible to mention the events in the correct
+order of time,--morning, afternoon and evening. When this is done, write
+in the middle of the page, "Wednesday, October 2," and you are ready for
+the record of the next day. It is well to set down the year at the top
+of each page.
+
+But what are you to write about? First, the weather. Don't forget this.
+Write, "Cold and windy," or "Warm and bright," as the case may be. It
+takes but a moment, and in a few years you will have a complete record
+of the weather, which will be found not only curious, but useful.
+
+Then put down the letters you have received or written, and, if you
+wish, any money paid or received. The day of beginning or leaving
+school; the studies you pursue; visits from or to your friends; picnics
+or sleigh-rides; the books you have read; and all such items of interest
+should be noted. Write anything that you want to remember. After trying
+this plan a short time, you will be surprised at the many things
+constantly occurring which you used to overlook, but which now form
+pleasant paragraphs in your book. But don't try to write something when
+there is nothing to write. If there is only a line to be written, write
+that, and begin again next day.
+
+Do not set down about people anything which you would not wish them to
+see. It is not likely that any one will ever see your writing, but it is
+possible, so, always be careful about what you write. The Chinese say of
+a spoken word, that once let fall, it cannot be brought back by a
+chariot and six horses. Much more is this true of written words, and
+once out of your possession, there is no telling where they will go, or
+who will see them.
+
+The best time to write in a journal is in the evening. Keep the book in
+your table-drawer, or on your desk, and, after supper, when the lamps
+are lighted, sit down and write your plain account of the day. Don't try
+to write an able and eloquent article, but simply give a statement of
+what you have seen or done during the day. For the first week or two
+after beginning a journal, the novelty of the thing will keep up your
+interest, and you will be anxious for the time to come when you can
+write your journal. But, after a while, it becomes tedious. Then is the
+time when you must persevere. Write something every day, and before long
+you will find that you are becoming so accustomed to it, that you would
+not willingly forego it. After that, the way is plain, and the longer
+you live the more valuable and indispensable your journal will become.
+
+But some practical young person asks: What is the good of a journal?
+There is very much. In the first place, it teaches habits of order and
+regularity. The boy or girl who every evening arranges the proceedings
+of the day in systematic order, and regularly writes them out, is not
+likely to be careless in other matters. It helps the memory. A person
+who keeps a journal naturally tries during the day to remember things he
+sees, until he can write them down. Then the act of writing helps to
+still further fix the facts in his memory. The journal is a first-class
+teacher of penmanship. All boys and girls should take pride in having
+the pages of their journals as neat and handsome as possible. Compare
+one day's writing with that of the one before, and try to improve every
+day. Keeping a journal cultivates habits of observation, correct and
+concise expression, and gives capital practice in composition, spelling,
+punctuation, and all the little things which go to make up a good
+letter-writer. So, one who keeps a journal is all the while learning to
+be a better penman, and a better composer, with the advantage of writing
+original, historical, and descriptive articles, instead of copying the
+printed letters and sentences of a writing-book.
+
+But, best of all, a well-kept journal furnishes a continuous and
+complete family history, which is always interesting, and often very
+useful. It is sometimes very convenient to have a daily record of the
+year, and the young journalist will often have occasion to refer to his
+account of things gone by. Perhaps, some evening, when the family are
+sitting and talking together, some one will ask, "What kind of weather
+did we have last winter?" or, "When was the picnic you were speaking
+of?" and the journal is referred to. But the pleasure of keeping a
+journal is itself no small reward. It is pleasant to exercise the
+faculty of writing history, and to think that you are taking the first
+step toward writing newspapers and books. The writer can practice on
+different kinds of style, and can make his journal a record, not only of
+events, but of his own progress as a thinker and writer.
+
+
+
+
+SIMPLE SIMON.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+  "Simple Simon went a-fishing,
+    For to catch a whale,
+  And all the water that he had,
+    Was in his mother's pail."
+
+
+
+
+PRINCE CUCURBITA.
+
+BY EDITH A. EDWARDS.
+
+
+[Illustration: PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS.]
+
+Prince Cucurbita was very unhappy. His smooth, shiny face was all
+puckered up into little wrinkles, every now and then a big sob shook his
+jolly little person till you really felt like crying yourself at the
+sight of him. Here was a prince living in a lovely garden full of birds
+and flowers, surrounded by a large family of brothers and sisters, and
+always dressed in a pretty green jacket, which could not get soiled or
+torn. In spite of all this, he was not happy, for Queen Cucurbita, in
+order to keep her children out of harm's way, had hoisted them all up on
+a high trellis, and would never let them get down.
+
+You may think the Prince might have been smart enough, or naughty
+enough, to have jumped down when his mother's back was turned, but,
+alas! how could he? for she held tightly to the tassel of his cap, and
+his cap fitted so closely to his head that no effort of his was ever
+able to get it off. Across the way lived another big family, the
+Filberts. They were just the merriest set that ever was seen, nodding
+gayly to Cucu now and then when they could spare the time from their own
+fun, and telling stories to each other, which must have been very
+amusing; for sometimes they all laughed together till they nearly fell
+out of bed, and their mother was obliged to shake them all round. One
+day, there was a great commotion among the Filberts. The eldest brother
+had determined to go out into the world and seek his fortune, so he
+climbed out of bed and quietly dropped to the ground.
+
+"Oh, dear me!" cried Cucu; "it is too mean that I should have to stay up
+on this old trellis."
+
+"Naughty boy!" scolded his mother. "What are you talking about? That
+ever I should be afflicted with such a fractious child; 'tis enough to
+turn me yellow;" and she spread out her pretty green apron, and waved
+her ribbons in the air, while she took a firmer hold upon the poor
+little Prince's cap.
+
+"Don't you know that if I were to let go, off you would fall flat on
+your back upon the nasty wet ground, and very likely lie there all the
+rest of your life, growing wrinkled and yellow and sickly, while great
+ugly worms crawled over you, and everybody blamed me for a careless
+parent? No! no! I shall take good care you don't get away from me, you
+may be sure."
+
+So, Cucu had to accept his fate as best he might, and amused himself
+watching his neighbors. Every day, now, one or more of them left home
+and disappeared among the grass and flowers below. Cucu imagined them as
+traveling off around the garden, but if he had seen them lying half
+buried in the earth, their bright brown faces dirty and streaked with
+tears, their merry little hearts nearly broken with woe, he would not
+have envied them so much.
+
+Day after day passed, and the month of October came with its clear and
+cool nights. Queen Cucurbita did not relish this at all, and, every
+morning, when the sun peeped at her, he wondered how he ever could have
+admired such a dried-up yellow old creature. Cucu's heart, on the
+contrary, grew happier all the time, he lifted up his heavy head that
+seemed to be lighter each day, and when the wind blew, he rattled
+against the trellis and wondered how it was he could move so easily.
+"Poor Prince!" the Cat-bird whistled, as she perched above him, "your
+face is getting as brown and shining as one of those little Filberts,
+your cap is no longer green and pretty, and you look so light that a
+breath might blow you away."
+
+"I don't care," returned Cucu, "for I feel delighted, and so long as I
+can't see my own face, what's the odds?"
+
+The next night was clear and very cold. The people to whom the garden
+belonged brought out sheets and covered over the tender heliotropes and
+other flowers they valued, but they couldn't have cared much for Queen
+Cucurbita, for they never gave her a thought. When Cucu woke up bright
+and early and said good-morning to his mother, she did not reply. He
+turned his head to look at her. Oh, frightful sight! she hung to the
+trellis wilted and dead; her green dress was brown and torn, but her
+hard and wrinkled hand still grasped poor Cucu's cap.
+
+After the sun had been up some hours, a lady came into the garden and
+approached the home of the Cucurbita family.
+
+"Oh, you beauty!" she cried, "what a lovely basket I shall make of you!"
+and, placing a hand on each of Cucu's cheeks, she gave him a slight
+twist,--his mother's fingers let go; he was free. The lady put him in
+her basket, and now he was really setting off on his travels.
+
+This was, in fact, only the beginning of his career. The lady with a
+sharp knife lifted his cap from his head; then she painted him all over
+a pale green. After the paint was dry, she bored three holes in his
+sides. My! how it hurt! but it was soon over, and she had fastened three
+slender chains through them, and hung the little Prince up in a sunny
+window. "What next?" he wondered. If he had got to hang here all his
+life, it wouldn't be much better than the old trellis. But that wasn't
+the end, for his mistress filled him with nice black earth, and planted
+delicate little ferns and runaway-robins which climbed over and twined
+lovingly round his face. They patted his cheeks with their soft little
+hands, and whispered pretty stories of the woods they had come from.
+
+"Dear Cucu," said they, "how much we love you, and how kind you are to
+hold us all so carefully!" When they said this, he felt so proud and
+happy that he could not contain himself any longer, and sang at the top
+of his voice; but the people in the house did not hear him, for mortal
+ears are not adapted to such music. Only the Cat-bird flying past
+understood and stopped to congratulate him.
+
+"Plenty to do, and plenty to love," she sang; "that is the way to be
+happy. I found it out last spring when it took me from morning till
+night to find food for my four hungry babies. Good-bye! I am going south
+with them to-day. I haven't a bit of time to lose," and away she flew.
+
+[Illustration: CUCURBITA IN THE WINDOW.]
+
+And the ferns and the runaway-robins clapped their hands and sang, "Yes,
+that is the secret. Good-bye! Good-bye!"
+
+
+
+
+MRS. PRIMKINS' SURPRISE.
+
+BY OLIVE THORNE.
+
+
+    Our older readers will remember Nimpo, whose "Troubles" interested
+    them in ST. NICHOLAS'S first year. To our newer friends it is only
+    necessary to say, that Nimpo and Rush were boarding with Mrs.
+    Primkins during their mother's absence, by Nimpo's own desire, and
+    were very unhappy under the care of that well-meaning--but very
+    peculiar--person, who was so greatly surprised on the occasion of
+    the Birthday Party.
+
+
+One morning, Mrs. Primkins received a letter. This was a very unusual
+occurrence, and she hastened to wipe her hands out of the dish-water,
+hunt up her "specs," clean them carefully, and, at last, sit down in her
+chintz-covered "Boston rocker," to enjoy at her leisure this very rare
+literary dissipation.
+
+Nimpo, who was boarding with Mrs. Primkins while her mother was off on a
+journey, was engaged in finishing her breakfast, and did not notice
+anything. Having found her scissors, and deliberately cut around the
+old-fashioned seal, Mrs. Primkins opened the sheet and glanced at the
+name at the bottom of the page, then turned her eyes hastily toward
+Nimpo, with a low, significant "Humph!"
+
+But Nimpo, intent only on getting off to school, still did not see her.
+Mrs. Primkins went on to examine more closely, covering with her hands
+something which fell from the first fold, rustling, to her lap. Very
+deliberately, then, as became this staid woman, did she read the letter
+from date to signature, twice over, and, ending as she had begun with a
+significant "Humph!" she refolded the letter, slipped in the inclosure,
+put it into her black silk work-bag which hung on the back of her chair,
+and resumed her dish-washing, for she was a genuine "Yankee housekeeper"
+of the old-fashioned sort, and scorned the assistance of what she called
+"hired help."
+
+Meanwhile, Nimpo finished her breakfast, gathered up her books, and
+hurried off to school, though it was an hour too early, never dreaming
+that the letter had anything to do with her. After the morning work was
+done,--the pans scalded and set in the sun; the house dusted from attic
+to cellar; the vinegar reheated and poured over the walnuts that were
+pickling; the apples drying on the shed roof, turned over; the piece of
+muslin ("bolt," she called it) that was bleaching on the grass,
+thoroughly sprinkled; and, in fact, everything, indoors and out, in Mrs.
+Primkins' domain, put into perfect order, that lady sat down to
+consider. She drew the letter from the bag, and read it over, carefully
+inspecting a ten-dollar bill in her hands, and then leaned back, and
+indulged herself in a very unusual, indeed totally unheard-of, luxury--a
+rest of ten minutes with idle hands!
+
+If Nimpo had chanced to come in, she would have been alarmed at such an
+extraordinary state of things; but she was at that moment in her seat in
+the long school-house, with wrinkled brow, wrestling with sundry
+conundrums in her "Watts on the Mind," little suspecting how her fate
+was hanging in the balance in Mrs. Primkins' kitchen at this moment. At
+last, Mrs. Primkins' thin lips opened. She was alone in the house, and
+she began to talk to herself:
+
+"Wants her to have a birthday-party! Humph! I must say I can't see the
+good of pampering children's folks do nowadays! When _I_ was young, now,
+we had something to think of besides fine clothes, unwholesome food, and
+worldly dissipation! I must say I think Mis' Rievor has some very
+uncommon notions! Hows'ever," she went on, contemplating fondly the bill
+she still held in her hand, "I do' know's I have any call to fret my
+gizzard if she chooses to potter away her money! I don't see my way
+clear to refuse altogether to do what she asks, 's long 's the child's
+on my hands. Ten dollars! Humph! She 'hopes it'll be enough to provide a
+little supper for them!' It's my private opinion that it will, and a
+mite over for--for--other things," she added, resolutely closing her
+lips with a snap. "I aint such a shif'less manager's all that comes to,
+I _do_ hope! 'T wont take no ten dollars to give a birthday-party in
+_my_ house, I bet a cookey!"
+
+That night, when supper was over, Nimpo sat down with the family by the
+table, which held one candle that dimly lighted the room, to finish a
+book she was reading. Not that the kitchen was the only room in the
+house. Mrs. Primkins had plenty of rooms, but they were too choice for
+every-day use. They were always tightly closed, with green paper shades
+down, lest the blessed sunshine should get a peep at her gaudy red and
+green carpets, and put the least mellowing touch an their crude and
+rasping colors. Nimpo thought of the best parlor with a sort of awe
+which she never felt toward any room in her mother's house.
+
+"Nimpo," said Mrs. Primkins at last, when she had held back the news
+till Nimpo had finished her book, and was about to go upstairs, "wait a
+bit. I got a letter from your Ma to-day."
+
+"Did you?" exclaimed Nimpo, alarmed. "Oh! what is the matter?"
+
+"Don't fly into tificks! Nothing is the matter," said Mrs. Primkins.
+
+"Is she coming home?" was the next eager question.
+
+"No, not yet," fell like cold water on her warm hopes. "But she says
+to-morrow's your birthday."
+
+"Why, so it is!" said Nimpo, reflecting. "I never thought of it."
+
+"Wal, she thinks perhaps I'd best let you have a few girls to tea on
+that day, if 't wont be too much of a chore for me," went on Mrs.
+Primkins, deliberately.
+
+Nimpo's face was radiant. "Oh, Mrs. Primkins, if you _will!_" But it
+fell again. "But where could they be?"--for trespassing on the dismal
+glories of the Primkins' parlor had never entered her wildest dreams.
+
+"I've thought of that," said Mrs. Primkins, grimly. "Of course, I
+couldn't abide a pack of young ones tramping up my best parlor carpet,
+and I thought mebbe I'd put a few things up in the second story, and let
+you have 'em there."
+
+The second story was unfurnished.
+
+"Oh, that will be splendid!" said Nimpo, eagerly. "But,--but,"--she
+hesitated,--"could they take tea here?" and she glanced around the
+kitchen, which was parlor, sitting-room, dining-room, and, in fact,
+almost the only really useful room in the house. The front part Mrs.
+Primkins enjoyed as other people enjoy pictures, or other beautiful
+things,--looking at, but not using them.
+
+"No; I shall set the table in the back chamber, and let you play in the
+front chamber. We can put some chairs in, and I'm sure a bare floor is
+more suitable for a pack of young ones."
+
+Mrs. Primkins always spoke of children as wild beasts, which must be
+endured, to be sure, but carefully looked after, like wolves or hyenas.
+
+"Oh yes! We wouldn't be afraid of hurting that. Oh, that'll be
+splendid!" continued Nimpo, as the plan grew on her. "I thank you so
+much, Mrs. Primkins!--and we'll be so careful not to hurt anything!"
+
+"Humph!" said Mrs. Primkins, not thinking it necessary to tell her that
+her mother had sent money to cover the expense. "You're a master hand to
+promise."
+
+"I know I forget sometimes," said Nimpo, penitently. "But I'll try
+really to be careful, this time."
+
+"Wal," said Mrs. Primkins, in conclusion, as she folded her knitting and
+brought out the bed-room candles, "if you don't hector me nigh about to
+death, I'll lose my guess! But as I'm in for 't now, you may's well
+bring the girls when you come home from school to-morrow. Then you'll
+have time to play before supper, for their mothers'll want them home
+before dark."
+
+"Do you care who I invite?" asked Nimpo, pausing with the door open on
+her way to bed.
+
+"No, I do' know's I do. Your intimate friends, your Ma said."
+
+"Oh, goody!" said Nimpo, as she skipped upstairs, two at a time. "Wont
+we have fun! How nice it'll be!"
+
+The next morning she was off, bright and early, and, before the bell
+rang, every girl in the school knew that Nimpo was going to have a
+birthday-party, and was wondering if she would be invited. At recess,
+she issued her invitations, every one of which was promptly accepted;
+and in the afternoon all came in their best dresses, ready to go home
+with Nimpo.
+
+At four o'clock, they were dismissed, and Nimpo marshaled her guests and
+started. Now, the truth was, that the girls had been so very lovely to
+her when she was inviting, that she found it hard to distinguish between
+intimate friends and those not quite so intimate, so she had asked more
+than she realized till she saw them started up the street. However, she
+had not been limited as to numbers, so she gave herself no concern, as
+she gayly led the way.
+
+Meanwhile, the Primkins family had been busy. After the morning work was
+done, Mrs. Primkins and her daughter Augusta made a loaf of plain,
+wholesome cake, a couple of tins of biscuits, and about the same number
+of cookies with caraway-seeds in them. After dinner, they carried a
+table into the back chamber and spread the feast. Nimpo's mother had
+sent, as a birthday-present, a new set of toy dishes. It had arrived by
+stage while Nimpo was at school, and been carefully concealed from her;
+and Augusta, who had not yet forgotten that she was once young (though
+it was many years before), thought it would be nice to serve the tea on
+these dishes. Not being able to think of any serious objection, and
+seeing advantage in the small pieces required to fill them, Mrs.
+Primkins had consented, and Augusta had arranged a very pretty table,
+all with its white and gilt china. The biscuits and cookies were cut
+small to match, and, when ready, it looked very cunning, with tiny
+slices of cake, and one little dish of jelly--from the top shelf in Mrs.
+Primkins' pantry.
+
+During the afternoon, a boy came up from the store (Nimpo's father was a
+country merchant) with a large basket, in which were several pounds of
+nuts and raisins and candy, which her father had ordered by letter.
+
+Everything was prepared, and Mrs. Primkins had put on a clean checked
+apron, to do honor to the occasion, and sat down in her rocker, feeling
+that she had earned her rest, when Augusta's voice sounded from
+upstairs: "Ma, do look down street!"
+
+Mrs. Primkins went to the window that looked toward the village, and was
+struck with horror.
+
+[Illustration: "DO LOOK DOWN STREET!"]
+
+"Goodness gracious! Why, what under the canopy! Did you ever!" came from
+her lips in quick succession, for there was Nimpo, the center of a very
+mob of girls, all in Sunday best, as Mrs. Primkins' experienced eye saw
+at a glance.
+
+"Ma!" exclaimed Augusta, rushing down, "I do believe that young one has
+invited the whole school!"
+
+"The trollop!" was all Mrs. Primkins could get out, in her exasperation.
+
+"I'd send 'em right straight home!" said Augusta, indignantly. "It's a
+burning shame!"
+
+"Mercy on us! This is a pretty kettle of fish!" gasped Mrs. Primkins.
+
+"I wouldn't stand it! So there!" said Augusta, sharply. "I never did see
+such a young one! I'd just send every chick and child home, and let Miss
+Nimpo take her supper in her own room--to pay her off! Things have come
+to a pretty pass, I think!"
+
+"I never did!" ejaculated Mrs. Primkins, not yet recovering her ordinary
+powers of speech.
+
+"Shall I go out and meet them, and send them packing?" asked Augusta.
+
+"No," said her mother, reluctantly, remembering the unbroken bill in her
+"upper drawer." "I do' know's I have a right to send them back. I didn't
+tell her how many, but--mercy on us!--who'd dream of such a raft! If
+there's one, there's forty, I do declare!"
+
+"That's the meaning of those enormous packages of nuts and things from
+the store," said Augusta, "that we thought were enough for an army."
+
+"But the table!" gasped Mrs. Primkins. "For such a crowd! Augusta,"
+hastily, "fly around like a parched pea, and lock the doors of that
+room, till I think what we can do. This is a party with a vengeance!"
+
+Augusta obeyed, and was none too quick, for the girls crowded into the
+front chamber before she had secured the doors.
+
+Being a "party," of course they had to go into the house. But as soon as
+they had thrown off their slat sun-bonnets,--which was in about one
+second,--and began to look around the bare room, to see what they should
+do next, Nimpo was seized with a bright idea.
+
+"Girls, let's go out in the yard, and play till tea-time," she said; and
+the next moment sun-bonnets were resumed, and the whole troop tramped
+down the back stairs, Nimpo not daring, even on this festive occasion,
+to disturb the silence of the solemn front hall, and the gorgeous
+colored stair-carpet. In two minutes, they were deep in the game of
+"Pom-pom-peel-away," and now was Mrs. Primkins' chance.
+
+She hastily sent Augusta out to the neighbors, letting her out slyly by
+the front door, so the "party" shouldn't see her, to beg or borrow
+something to feed the crowd; for, the next day being baking-day, her
+pantry was nearly empty, and there was not such a thing in the village
+as a bakery. As soon as she was gone, Mrs. Primkins cleared the table
+upstairs, hid the small biscuits and minute slices of cake, and brought
+tables from other rooms to lengthen this. She then carried every cup and
+saucer and plate of her own up there, and even made several
+surreptitious visits herself to accommodating friends, to borrow,
+telling the news, and getting their sympathy, so that they freely lent
+their dishes, and even sent their boys to carry them over, and their big
+girls to help arrange.
+
+For an hour, the games went on in the side yard, while a steady stream
+came in by the front door--the grand front door!--and up the august
+stairs, carrying bread, cake, dishes, saucers, etc., etc., till there
+was a tolerable supply, and Mrs. Primkins was in debt numerous loaves of
+bread and cake, and dishes of "preserves."
+
+At five o'clock, they were called in, and, before their sharp young
+appetites, everything disappeared like dew in the sunshine. It was a
+queer meal,--bread of various shapes and kinds, and not a large supply;
+cakes, an equally miscellaneous collection, from cup-cake which old Mrs.
+Kellogg had kept in a jar two months, "in case a body dropped in
+unexpected," to bread-cake fresh from some one else's oven; cookies of a
+dozen kinds; doughnuts and ginger-cakes, and half a dozen dishes of
+sweet-meats, no two alike.
+
+But all deficiencies were forgotten when they came to the nuts and
+candies, for of these there was no lack. Augusta had filled every extra
+dish in the house with these delightful things, and I sadly fear the
+children ate shocking amounts of trash. But they had a good time. The
+entertainment was exactly to their liking,--little bread and butter, and
+plenty of candy and raisins. It was incomparably superior to ordinary
+teas, where bread predominated and candy was limited.
+
+After eating everything on the table, putting the remainder of the candy
+in their pockets, as Nimpo insisted, they flocked into the front room,
+where Mrs. Primkins told them they might play a while, if they would not
+make a noise, as a little sprinkle of rain had come up. To insure quiet,
+each girl took off her shoes, and played in stocking-feet on the bare,
+rough floor, "blind-man's-buff," "hunt the slipper," and other games,
+for an hour more.
+
+Suddenly, Nimpo held up her foot.
+
+"Girls! look there!" Nimpo's tone was tragic.
+
+The soles of her stockings were in awful holes! All eyes were instantly
+turned on her, and forty feet were simultaneously elevated to view. The
+tale was the same,--every stocking sole was black as the ground, and
+worn to rags!
+
+"What will Ma say?" rose in horror to every lip.
+
+This awful thought sobered them at once, and, finding it getting dark,
+shoes were hastily sought out of the pile in the corner, sun-bonnets
+donned, and slowly the long procession moved down the back stairs and
+out again into the street.
+
+Nimpo flung herself on to the little bed in her room, and sighed with
+happiness.
+
+"Oh! wasn't it splendid?--and I know mamma'll forgive my stockings.
+Besides, I'll wash them myself, and darn them."
+
+(While I am about it, I may as well say that every girl who went to
+Nimpo's party had a long and serious task of darning the next week.)
+
+When it was all over, and Mrs. Primkins and Augusta, assisted by two or
+three neighbors, had washed and returned dishes, brought down tables and
+chairs, swept out front hall, and reduced it to its normal condition of
+dismal state, to be seen and not used, and the neighbors had gone, and
+it was nine o'clock at night, Augusta sat down to reckon up debts, while
+Mrs. Primkins "set the bread."
+
+Augusta brought out her account, and read: "Mrs. A., blank loaves of
+bread, ditto cake, one dish preserves; Mrs. B., ditto, ditto; Mrs. C.,
+ditto, ditto."
+
+Mrs. Primkins listened to the whole list, and made a mental calculation
+of how much of the ten-dollar bill it would take to pay up. The result
+must have been satisfactory, for her grim face relaxed almost into a
+smile, as she covered up the "sponge" and washed her hands.
+
+"Wal, don't let your Pa get away in the morning till he has split up a
+good pile of oven-wood. We'll heat the brick oven, and have over Mis'
+Kent's Mary Ann to help. I guess the money'll cover it, and I can pay
+Mary Ann in old clothes."
+
+
+
+
+THE LINNET'S FEE.
+
+BY MRS. ANNIE A. PRESTON.
+
+
+  Once I saw a wee brown linnet
+         Dancing on a tree,
+         Dancing on a tree.
+  How her feet flew every minute
+         As she danced at me-e-e;
+  How her feet flew every minute
+         As she danced at me!
+
+  "Sing a song for me, wee linnet,
+         Sing a song for me,
+         Sing a song for me."
+  "Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,
+         Till my mate I see-e-e;
+  Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute,
+         He will sing for thee."
+
+  "Thank you, thank you, wee brown linnet,
+         For amusing me,
+         For amusing me;
+  You have danced for many a minute,
+         You must tired be-e-e,
+  You have sung for many minutes,
+         You must tired be."
+
+  "Thanks would starve us," cried the linnets,--
+         As he sung at me,
+         As she danced at me.
+  "Should you sing like this ten minutes,
+         You would want a fee-e-e;
+  Should you dance like this ten minutes
+         You would want a fee."
+
+  "Pardon me, I pray, dear linnet,
+         Fly down from your tree,
+         Fly down from your tree.
+  I will come back in a minute
+         With some seed for thee-e-e;
+  I will come back in a minute
+         With some seed for thee."
+
+
+
+
+DAB KINZER: A STORY OF A GROWING BOY.
+
+BY WILLIAM O. STODDARD.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the "bay" and
+the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds of
+sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere did
+it show a tree or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster found
+herself getting melancholy as she gazed upon it and thought of how the
+winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain and
+hail, or the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter.
+
+"Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and
+yesterday?"
+
+"Worse here than over our side of the bay, ten times."
+
+"Were there any vessels wrecked?"
+
+"Most likely; but it's too soon to know just where."
+
+At that moment the "Swallow" was running rapidly around a sandy point,
+jutting into the bay from the highest mound on the bar, not half a mile
+from the light-house, and only twice as far from the low, wooden roof of
+the "wrecking station," where, as Dab had explained to his guests, the
+life-boats and other apparatus were kept safely housed. The piles of
+drifted sand had for some time prevented the brightest eyes on board the
+"Swallow" from seeing anything to seaward; but now, as they came around
+the point and a broad level lay before them, Ham Morris sprang to his
+feet in sudden excitement as he exclaimed:
+
+"In the breakers! Why, she must have been a three-master. All up with
+her now."
+
+"Look along the shore!" shouted Dab. "Some of 'em saved, anyhow. The
+coast-men are there, life-boats and all."
+
+So they were, and Ham was right about the vessel, though not a mast was
+left standing in her now. If there had been, indeed, she might have been
+kept off the breakers, as they afterward learned. She had been dismasted
+in the storm, but had not struck until after daylight that morning, and
+help had been close at hand and promptly given. No such thing as saving
+that unfortunate hull. She would beat to pieces just where she lay,
+sooner or later, according to the kind of weather and the waves it
+should bring with it.
+
+The work done by the life-boat men had been a good one, and had not been
+very easy either, for they had brought the crew and passengers from the
+wreck safely to the sandy beach. They had even saved some items of
+baggage. In a few hours, the "coast wrecking tugs" would be on hand to
+look out for the cargo. No chance whatever for the 'longshoremen, good
+or bad, to turn an honest penny without working hard for it. Work and
+wages enough, to be sure, helping to unload, when the sea, now so very
+heavy, should go down a little; but "wages" were not what some of them
+were most hungry for.
+
+Two of them, at all events--one a tall, weather-beaten,
+stoop-shouldered, grizzled old man, in tattered raiment, and the other,
+even more battered, but with no "look of the sea" about him--stood on a
+sand-drift gloomily gazing at the group of shipwrecked people on the
+shore, and the helpless mass of timber and spars out there among the
+beatings of the surf.
+
+"Not more 'n three hunder yards out. She'd break up soon 'f there was no
+one to hender. Wot a show we'd hev."
+
+"I reckon," growled the shorter man. "Is your name Peter?"
+
+"Aye. I belong yer. Allers lived about high-water mark. Whar'd ye come
+from?"
+
+The only answer was a sharp and excited exclamation. Neither of them had
+been paying any attention to the bay side of the bar and, while they
+were gazing at the wreck, a very pretty little yacht had cast anchor,
+close in shore, and then, with the help of a row-boat, quite a party of
+ladies and gentlemen--the latter somewhat young-looking--had made their
+way to the land, and were now hurrying forward. They did not pay the
+slightest attention to Peter and his companion, but, in a few minutes
+more, they were trying to talk to those poor people on the sea-beach.
+Trying, but not succeeding very well, for the wreck had been a Bremen
+bark with an assorted cargo and some fifty passengers, all emigrants.
+German seemed their only tongue, and none of Mrs. Kinzer's
+pleasure-party spoke German.
+
+"Too bad," Ford Foster was saying, when there came a sort of wail from a
+group at a little distance, and it seemed to close with--"pauvre
+enfant."
+
+"French!" he exclaimed. "Why, they look as Dutch as any of the rest.
+Come on, Annie, let's try and speak to them."
+
+The rest followed a good deal like a flock of sheep, and it was a sad
+enough scene which lay before them. No lives had been lost in the wreck,
+though there had been a great deal of suffering among the poor
+passengers, cooped up between-decks with the hatches closed, while the
+storm lasted. Nobody drowned, indeed, but all dreadfully soaked in the
+surf in getting ashore; and among the rest had been the fair-haired
+child, now lying there on his mother's lap, so pinched and blue, and
+seemingly so lifeless.
+
+French, were they? Yes and no; for the father, a tall, stout young man,
+who looked like a farmer, told Ford they were from Alsace, and spoke
+both tongues.
+
+"The child, was it sick?"
+
+Not so much sick as dying of starvation and exposure.
+
+Oh, such a sad, pleading look as the poor mother lifted to the moist
+eyes of Mrs. Kinzer as the portly widow bent over the silent boy. Such a
+pretty child he must have been, and not over two years old; but the salt
+water was in his tangled curls now, and his poor lips were parted in a
+weak, sick way, that spoke of utter exhaustion.
+
+"Can anything be done, mother?"
+
+"Yes, Dabney; you and Ham, and Ford and Frank, go to the yacht, quick as
+you can, and bring the spirit-heater, lamp and all, and bread and milk,
+and every dry napkin and towel you can find. Bring Keziah's shawl."
+
+Such quick time they made across that sand-bar!
+
+And they were none too soon; for, as they came running down to their
+boat, a mean, slouching sort of fellow walked rapidly away from it.
+
+"He was going to steal it."
+
+"Can't go for him now, Dab; but you'll have to mount guard here while we
+go back with the things."
+
+He did so, and Ham and Frank and Ford hurried back to the other beach to
+find that Mrs. Kinzer had taken complete possession of that baby. Every
+rag of his damp things was already stripped off, and now, while Miranda
+lighted the "heater" and made some milk hot in a minute, the good lady
+began to rub the little sufferer as only a mother knows how.
+
+Then there was a warm wrapping up in cloths and shawls, and better
+success than anybody had dreamed of in making the seemingly half-dead
+child eat something.
+
+"That was about all the matter," said Mrs. Kinzer. "Now if we can get
+him and his mother over to the house, we can save both of them. Ford,
+how long did you say it was since they'd eaten anything?"
+
+"About three days, they say."
+
+"Mercy on me! And that cabin of ours holds so little! Glad it's full,
+anyhow. Let's get it out and over here at once."
+
+"The cabin?"
+
+"No, the provisions."
+
+And not a soul among them all thought of their own lunch, any more than
+Mrs. Kinzer herself did; but Joe and Fuz were not just then among them.
+On the contrary, they were over there by the shore, where the "Jenny"
+had been pulled up, trying to get Dab Kinzer to put them on board the
+"Swallow."
+
+"Somebody ought to be on board of her," said Fuz, in as anxious a tone
+as he could, "with so many strange people around."
+
+[Illustration: "WHOM DO YOU THINK I'VE SEEN TO-DAY?"]
+
+"It isn't safe," added Joe.
+
+"Fact," replied Dab; "but then I kind o' like to feel a little unsafe."
+
+And the Hart boys felt, somehow, that Dab knew why they were so anxious
+to go on board, and they were right enough, for he was saying to himself
+at that moment,
+
+"They can wait. They do look hungry, but they'll live through it. There
+aint any cuffs or collars in Ham's locker."
+
+All there was then in the locker, however, was soon out of it when Mrs.
+Kinzer and the rest came, for they brought with them the officers of the
+wrecked bark, and neither Joe nor Fuz had a chance to so much as "help
+distribute" that supply of provisions. Ham went over to make sure it
+should be properly done, while Mrs. Kinzer saw her little patient with
+his father and mother safely stowed on board the "Swallow."
+
+"I'll save that baby, anyhow," she said to Miranda, "and Ford says his
+father's a farmer. We can find plenty for 'em to do. They'll never see a
+thing of their baggage, and I guess they hadn't a great deal."
+
+She was just the woman to guess correctly, but at that moment Dab Kinzer
+said to Annie Foster in a low tone:
+
+"Whom do you think I've seen to-day?"
+
+"I can't guess. Who was it?"
+
+"The tramp!"
+
+"The same one--"
+
+"The very same. There he goes, over the sand-hill yonder, with old
+Peter, the wrecker. We've got to hurry home now, but I'm going to set
+Ham Morris on his track."
+
+"You never'll find him again."
+
+"Do you s'pose old Peter'd befriend a man that did what he did, right on
+the shore of the bay? No, indeed, there isn't a fisherman from here to
+Montauk that wouldn't join to hunt him out. He's safe whenever Ham wants
+him, if we don't scare him now."
+
+"Don't scare him, then," whispered Annie.
+
+The wind was fair and the home sail of the "Swallow" was really a swift
+and short one, but it did seem dreadfully long to her passengers. Mrs.
+Kinzer was anxious to see that poor baby safely in bed. Ham Morris
+wanted to send a whole load of refreshments back to the shipwrecked
+people. Dab Kinzer could not keep his thoughts from that "tramp." And
+then, if the truth must come out, every soul on board the beautiful
+little yacht was getting more and more aware, with every minute that
+passed, that they had had a good deal of sea air and excitement, and a
+splendid sail across the bay and back, but no dinner. Not so much as a
+herring or a cracker.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in such
+matters, but their friends had never before been so near to a genuine,
+out and out shipwreck. Perhaps, too, they had rarely if ever felt so
+very nearly starved. At least Joe and Fuz Hart remarked as much a score
+of times before the "Swallow" slipped through the inlet and made her way
+toward the landing.
+
+"Ham," said Dab Kinzer, "are you going right back again?"
+
+"Course I am, soon as I can get a load of eatables from the house and
+the village. You 'll have to stay here."
+
+"Why can't I go with you?"
+
+"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you
+can't go."
+
+Dab seemed to have expected as much, for he turned to Ford with,
+
+"Then I'll tell you what we must do."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"See about the famine. Can you cook?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his
+cargo ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half."
+
+"Mother wont be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the
+day. Annie knows something."
+
+"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed. Look
+at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut."
+
+Joe and his brother seemed to know, as if by instinct, that the dinner
+question was under discussion; and they were soon taking their share of
+talk. Oh, how they wished it had been a share of something to eat! The
+"Swallow" was moored, now, after discharging her passengers, but Dab did
+not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He even managed to
+detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones, too.
+
+"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart, "let's put for the village.
+We'll starve here."
+
+"A fellow that'd starve here just deserves to, that's all," said Dab.
+"Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're all
+right. One of 'em's a dredger."
+
+Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab was
+not doing any guessing.
+
+"Bill," he exclaimed, as Dick's father pulled within hearing,--"Bill,
+put a lot of your best pan-fish in this basket and then go and fetch us
+some lobsters. There's half a dozen in your pot. Did those others get
+any luck?"
+
+"More clams 'n 'ysters," responded Bill.
+
+"Then we'll take both lots."
+
+The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long Island shore
+began to rise rapidly a few minutes later, for not only was one of Dab's
+baskets promptly provided with "pan-fish," such as porgies, black fish
+and perch, but two others received all the clams and oysters they were
+at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time, Bill Lee
+offered, as an amendment to the lobster question,
+
+"Ye 'r' wrong about the pot, Dab."
+
+"Wrong? Why--"
+
+"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' b'iled every one on 'em an' they
+'re all nice an' cold by this time."
+
+"All right. I never eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them, Dick.
+Bring 'em right over to Ford's house."
+
+Bill Lee would have sent his house and all on a suggestion that the
+Kinzers or Fosters were in need of it, and Dick would have carried it
+over for him.
+
+As for "Gloriana," when her son came running in with his errand, she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem aint good nuff. Dey sha'n't hab 'em. I'll jist
+send de ole man all 'round de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey isn't
+no kin' o' lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't."
+
+Dick insisted, however, and by the time he reached the back door of the
+old Kinzer homestead with his load, that kitchen had become very nearly
+as busy a place as Mrs. Miranda Morris's own, a few rods away.
+
+"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy,
+"what if mother should make a mistake?"
+
+"Make a mistake? How?"
+
+"Cook that baby! It's awful!"
+
+"Why, its mother's there."
+
+"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come the
+lobsters. Now, Ford--"
+
+The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not heard
+by even Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever as
+she busied herself around the kitchen fire. As for the Hart boys, Mrs.
+Foster had invited them to come into the parlor and talk with her till
+dinner should be ready.
+
+Such a frying and broiling!
+
+Before Ham Morris was ready for his second start, and right in the midst
+of his greatest hurry, word came over from Mrs. Foster that "the table
+was waiting for them all."
+
+Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction, for
+there was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then,
+for either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents, and she was beginning
+to worry about her son-in-law, and how she should get him to eat
+something. For Ham Morris had worked himself up into a high state of
+excitement in his benevolent haste, and did not seem to know that he was
+hungry. Miranda had entirely sympathized with her husband until that
+message came from Mrs. Foster.
+
+"Oh, Hamilton, and good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it herself!"
+
+"No," said Ham, thoughtfully; "our Dabney went home with Ford and Annie.
+I can't stay but a minute, but I think we'd better go right over."
+
+Go they did, while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up
+concerning the wreck attended to the completion of the cargo of the
+"Swallow." There would be more than one good boat ready to accompany her
+back across the bay, laden with comforts of all sorts.
+
+Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best man
+in the world, had come waddling down to the landing with a demijohn of
+"old apple brandy," and his gift had been kindly accepted by the special
+advice of the village physician.
+
+"That sort of thing has made plenty of ship-wrecks around here,"
+remarked the man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed
+so much salt-water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em."
+
+May be, the doctor was wrong about it, but the demijohn went over to the
+wreck in the "Swallow."
+
+Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one. There were no large rooms
+in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather around
+the table,--all except Dab and Ford.
+
+"Dab is head cook and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation,
+"and we can't have any women folk a-bothering about our kitchen. Frank
+and the boys are company."
+
+Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee
+was excellent. The fish were done to a turn. The oysters, roasted,
+broiled or stewed, and likewise the clams, were all that could have been
+asked for. Bread there was in abundance, and everything was going finely
+till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face showed itself at
+the kitchen door:
+
+"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables; we're waiting for them."
+
+Dab's face grew still redder, and he came very near dropping a plate he
+had in his hand.
+
+"Vegetables? Oh yes. Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now. I've
+got them all ready."
+
+Annie opened her eyes and looked hard at her brother, for she knew very
+well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their
+preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer, but he marched out,
+white apron and all. A minute or so later, the two boys came in again,
+each bearing aloft a huge platter.
+
+One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table.
+
+"Vegetables?"
+
+"Why, they're lobsters!"
+
+"Oh, Ford, how could you?"
+
+The last exclamation came from Annie Foster as she clapped her hands
+over her face. Bright red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows,
+every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a
+little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders
+were adorned with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while
+every ungainly "flipper" wore a "cuff" which had been manufactured for
+very different uses. Plenty of cuffs and collars, and queer enough the
+lobsters looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and
+linen was variegated with huge black spots and blotches, as if some one
+had begun to wash it in ink.
+
+Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters, and Mrs. Foster's face
+looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal. The
+Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris and
+the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh.
+
+"Joe," said Fuz, half snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got
+the laugh on us this time."
+
+"I?" exclaimed Annie, indignantly. "No, indeed. That's some of Ford's
+work and Dabney's. Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you."
+
+Poor Dab!
+
+He muttered something about "those being all the vegetables he had," and
+retreated to the kitchen. Joe and Fuz were not the sort to take offense
+easily, however, and promptly helped themselves liberally to lobster.
+That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the table; but
+Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete failure. As Ford
+told him afterward,
+
+[Illustration: "VEGETABLES?" "WHY, THEY'RE LOBSTERS!"]
+
+"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam with a pin."
+
+"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," replied Dab.
+"Well, I'll never try anything like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz aint
+comfortable. They ate too many roasted clams and too much lobster."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+Ham Morris did not linger long at the dinner-table, and Dab would have
+given more than ever for the privilege of going with him. Not that he
+felt so very charitable, but that he did not care to prolong his stay at
+Mrs. Foster's, whether as "cook" or otherwise. He had not lost his
+appetite, however, and after he had taken care of that, he slipped away
+"on an errand for his mother," and hurried toward the village. Nearly
+everybody he met had some question or other to ask him about the wreck,
+and it was not to have been expected that Jenny Walters would let her
+old acquaintance pass her without a word or so.
+
+Dab answered as best he could, considering the disturbed state of his
+mind, but he wound up with:
+
+"Jenny, I wish you'd come over to our house by and by."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Oh, I've got something to show you. Something you never saw before."
+
+"Do you mean your new baby,--the one you found on the bar?"
+
+"Yes; but that baby, Jenny!"
+
+"What's wonderful about it?"
+
+"Why, it's only two years old and it can squall in two languages. That's
+more'n you can do."
+
+"They say your friend, Miss Foster, speaks French," retorted Jenny. "Was
+she ever shipwrecked?"
+
+"In French? May be so. But not in German."
+
+"Well, Dabney, I don't propose to squall in anything. Are your folks
+going to burn any more of their barns this year?"
+
+"Not unless Samantha gets married. Jenny, do you know what's the latest
+fashion in lobsters?"
+
+"Changeable green, I suppose."
+
+"No; I mean after they're boiled. It's to have 'em come on the table in
+cuffs and collars. Lace around their necks, you know."
+
+"And gloves?"
+
+"No, not any gloves. We had lobsters to-day at Mrs. Foster's, and you
+ought to have seen 'em."
+
+"Dabney Kinzer, it's time you went to school again."
+
+"I'm going in a few days."
+
+"Going? Do you mean you're going away somewhere?"
+
+"Ever so far. Dick Lee's going with me."
+
+"I heard about him, but I didn't know he meant to take you along. That's
+very kind of Dick. I s'pose you wont speak to common people when you get
+back."
+
+"Now, Jenny----"
+
+"Good afternoon, Dabney. Perhaps I'll come over before you go, if it's
+only to see that shipwrecked baby."
+
+A good many of Mrs. Kinzer's lady friends, young and old, deemed it
+their duty to come and do that very thing within the next few days. Then
+the Sewing Circle took the matter up, and both the baby and its mother
+were provided for as they never had been before. It would have taken
+more languages than two to have expressed the gratitude of the poor
+Alsatians. As for the rest of them, out there on the bar, they were
+speedily taken off and carried "to the city," none of them being much
+the worse for their sufferings, after all. Ham Morris declared that the
+family he had brought ashore "came just in time to help him out with his
+fall work, and he didn't see any charity in it."
+
+Good for Ham! but Dab Kinzer thought otherwise when he saw how tired
+Miranda's husband was on his late return from his second trip across the
+bay. Real charity never cares to see itself too clearly. They were
+pretty tired, both of them; but the "Swallow" was carefully moored in
+her usual berth before they left her. Even then they had a good load of
+baskets and things to carry with them.
+
+"Is everything out of the locker, Dab?" asked Ham Morris.
+
+"All but the jug. I say, did you know it was half full? Would it do any
+hurt to leave it here?"
+
+"The jug? No. Just pour out the rest of the apple-jack, over the side."
+
+"Make the fish drunk."
+
+"Well, it sha'n't bother anybody else if I can help it."
+
+"Then, if it's good for water-soaked people, it wont hurt the fish."
+
+"Empty it, Dab, and come on. The doctor wasn't so far wrong, and I was
+glad to have it with me; but medicine's medicine, and I only wish
+people'd remember it."
+
+The condemned liquor was already gurgling from the mouth of the jug into
+the salt water, and neither fish nor eel came forward to get a share of
+it. When the cork was replaced, the demijohn was set down again in the
+"cabin," with no more danger in it for anybody.
+
+Perhaps that was one reason--that and his weariness--why Ham Morris did
+not take the pains even to lock it up.
+
+Dabney was so tired in mind if not in body, that he postponed until the
+morrow anything he may have had to say about the tramp. He was not at
+all sure whether the latter had recognized him, and at all events the
+matter would have to wait. So it came to pass that all the village and
+the shore was deserted and silent, an hour or so later, when a stoutly
+built "cat-boat" with her one sail lowered, was quietly sculled up the
+inlet. There were two men on board,--a tall one and a short one,--and
+they ran their boat right alongside the "Swallow," as if that were the
+very thing they had come to do.
+
+"Burgin," remarked the tall man, "what ef we don't find anything arter
+all this sailin' and rowin'? Most likely he's kerried it to the house.
+In course he has."
+
+The keenly watchful eyes of Burgin had followed the fortunes of that
+apple-jack from first to last. To tell the truth, he had more than half
+tried to work himself in as one of the "sufferers," but with no manner
+of success. He had not failed, however, to see the coveted treasure
+stowed away, at last, under the half-deck of the "Swallow." That had
+been all the inducement required to get Peter and his boat across the
+bay, and the old "wrecker" was as anxious about the result as the tramp
+himself could be. It was hard to say which of them was first on board
+the "Swallow."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A disappointed and angry pair they were when the empty jug was
+discovered; but Burgin's indignation was loudest and most abusive. Peter
+checked him, at last, with:
+
+"Look a yer, my friend, is this 'ere your boat?"
+
+"No, I didn't say it was, did I?"
+
+"Is that there your jug? I don't know 'at I keer to hev one o' my
+neighbors abused all night jest bekase I've been an' let an entire
+stranger make a fool of me."
+
+"Do you mean me?"
+
+"Well, ef I didn't I wouldn't say it. Don't git mad, now. Jest let's
+take a turn 'round the village."
+
+"You go and I'll wait for ye. 'Pears like I don't keer to walk about
+much."
+
+"Well, then, mind you don't run away with my boat."
+
+"If I want a boat, there's plenty here better'n your'n."
+
+"That's so. I wont be gone a great while."
+
+He was, however, whatever may have been his errand. Old Peter was not
+the man to be at any loss for one, even at that time of night, and his
+present business kept him away from the shore a full hour. When at last
+he returned he found his boat safe enough, and so, apparently were all
+the others; but he looked around in vain for any signs of his late
+companion. Not that he spent much time or took any great pains in
+looking, for he muttered to himself:
+
+"Gone, has he? Well then, a good riddance to bad rubbidge. I aint no
+angel, but he's a long ways wuss than I am."
+
+Whether or not old Peter was right in his estimate of himself or of
+Burgin, in a few moments more he was all alone in his cat-boat, and was
+sculling it rapidly up the crooked inlet.
+
+His search had been indeed a careless one, for he had but glanced over
+the gunwale of the "Swallow." A second look would have shown him the
+form of the tramp, half covered by a loose flap of the sail, deeply and
+heavily sleeping at the bottom of the boat. It was every bit as
+comfortable a bed as he had been used to, and there he was still lying,
+long after the sun looked in upon him, next morning.
+
+But other eyes were to look in upon Burgin's face before he awakened
+from that untimely and imprudent nap.
+
+It was not so very early when Ham Morris and Dabney Kinzer were stirring
+again; but they had both arisen with a strong desire for a "talk," and
+Ham made an opportunity for one by saying:
+
+"Come on, Dab; let's go down and have a look at the 'Swallow.'"
+
+Ham had meant to talk about school and kindred matters; but Dabney's
+first words about the tramp cut off all other subjects.
+
+"You ought to have told me," he said. "I'd have had him tied up in a
+minute."
+
+Dabney explained as well as he could, but, before he had finished, Ham
+suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"There's Dick Lee on board the 'Swallow.' What's he there for?"
+
+"Dick!" shouted Dabney.
+
+"Cap'n Dab, did yo' set dis yer boat to trap somebody?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Well den, you's gone an' cotched um. Jes you come an' see."
+
+The sound of Dick Lee's voice, so near them, reached the dull ears of
+the slumbering tramp and, as Ham and Dabney sprang into a yawl and
+pushed alongside the yacht, his unpleasant face was slowly and sleepily
+lifted above the rail.
+
+"It's the very man!" excitedly shouted Dabney.
+
+"The tramp?"
+
+"Yes, the tramp."
+
+No one would have suspected Ham Morris of so much agility, although his
+broad and well-knit frame promised abundant strength, but he was on
+board the "Swallow" like a flash and Burgin was "pinned" by his iron
+grasp before he could guess what was coming.
+
+It was too late, then, for any such thing as resistance, and he settled
+at once into a dogged, sullen silence, after the ordinary custom of his
+kind when they find themselves cornered. It is a species of brute,
+animal instinct, more than even cunning, seemingly, but not a word did
+Ham and Dabney obtain from their prisoner until they delivered him to
+the safe keeping of the village authorities. That done, they went home
+to breakfast, feeling as if they had made a good morning's work, but
+wondering what the end of it all would be.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+The other boys were very much interested in the story of the tramp, and
+so was Mr. Foster when he came home, but poor Annie was a good deal more
+troubled than pleased.
+
+"Oh, mother," she exclaimed, "do you suppose I'll have to appear in
+court as a witness against him?"
+
+"I hope not, dear. Perhaps your father can manage to prevent it."
+
+It would not have been easy for even so good a lawyer as Mr. Foster, if
+Burgin himself had not saved them all trouble on that score. Long before
+the slow processes of country criminal justice could bring him to actual
+trial, so many misdeeds were brought home to him from here and there,
+that he gave the matter up and freely related not only the manner of the
+barn-burning, but his revengeful motive for it. He made his case so very
+clear that when, in due course of time, he was brought before a judge
+and jury, there was nothing left for him to do but to plead "guilty."
+
+That was some months later, however, and just at that time the manner of
+his capture--for the story of the demijohn leaked out first of all--gave
+the village something new to talk about. It was as good as a temperance
+lecture in spite of old Jock's argument that:
+
+"You see, boys, good liquor don't do no harm. That was real good
+apple-jack, an' it jist toled that chap across the bay and captured him
+without no manner of diffikilty."
+
+There were plenty who could testify to a different kind of "capture."
+
+One effect of the previous day's work, including his adventures as an
+ornamental cook, was that Dab Kinzer conceived himself bound to be
+thenceforth especially polite to Joe and Fuz. The remaining days of
+their visit would have been altogether too few for the various
+entertainments he laid out for them.
+
+They were to catch all that was to be caught in the bay. They were to
+ride everywhere and see everything.
+
+"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good fellow.
+Mother says so."
+
+"Does she?" and Dab evidently felt a good deal better after that.
+
+Dick Lee, when his friends found time to think of him, had almost
+disappeared. Some three days afterward, while all the rest were out in
+the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, "Gloriana"
+made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room with a face that was
+darker than usual with motherly anxiety.
+
+"Miss Kinzer, has you seed my Dick dis week?"
+
+"No, he hasn't been here at all. Anything the matter with him?"
+
+"Dat's de berry question. I doesn't know wot to make ob 'im."
+
+"Why, is he studying too hard?"
+
+"It aint jist de books. I isn't so much afeard ob dem, but it's all
+'long ob dat 'cad'my. I wish you'd jist take a look at 'im, fust chance
+ye git."
+
+"Does he look bad?"
+
+"No, taint jist altogeder his looks. He's de bes' lookin' boy 'long
+shoah. But den de way he's goin' on to talk. 'T aint nateral. He use to
+talk fust rate."
+
+"Can't he talk now?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Kinzer, he kin talk, but den de way he gits out his words.
+Nebber seen sech a t'ing in all my born days. Takes him eber so long
+jist to say good-mornin'. An' den he don't say it like he used ter. I
+wish you'd jist take a good look at 'im."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer promised, and gave her black friend such comfort as she
+could, but Dick Lee's tongue would never again be the free and easy
+thing it had been. Even at home and about his commonest "chores," he was
+all the while struggling with his pronunciation. If he succeeded as well
+with the rest of his "schooling," it was safe to say that it would not
+be thrown away upon him.
+
+Gloriana went her way, and the next to intrude upon Mrs. Kinzer's
+special domain was her son-in-law himself, accompanied by his rosy
+bride.
+
+"We've got a plan!"
+
+"You? A plan? What about?"
+
+"Dab and his friends."
+
+"A party!" exclaimed Dab, when his mother unfolded Ham's plan to him.
+"Ham and Miranda give a party for us boys! Well, now, aren't they right
+down good! But, mother, we'll have to get it up mighty quick."
+
+"I know, but that's easy enough with all the help we'll have. I'll take
+care of that."
+
+"But, mother, what can we do? There's only a few know how to dance. I
+don't, for one."
+
+"You must talk that over with Ford. Perhaps Annie and Frank can help
+you."
+
+Great were the consultations and endless were the plans and
+propositions, till even Mrs. Kinzer found her temper getting a little
+worried over them.
+
+"Miranda," she said, on the morning of the day, "all the invitations are
+sent now, and we must get rid of Dabney and the boys for a few hours."
+
+"Send 'em for some greens to rig the parlor with," suggested Ham. "Let
+'em take the ponies."
+
+"Do you think the ponies are safe to drive just now?"
+
+"Oh, Dab can handle 'em. They're a trifle skittish, that's all. They
+need a little exercise."
+
+So they did, but it was to be doubted if the best way to secure it for
+them was to send them out in a light, two-seated wagon, with a load of
+five lively boys.
+
+"Now, don't you let one of the other boys touch the reins," said Mrs.
+Kinzer.
+
+Dab's promise to that effect was a hard one to keep, for Joe and Fuz
+almost tried to take the reins away from him before they had driven two
+miles from the house. He was firm, however, and they managed to reach
+the strip of woodland, some five miles inland, where they were to gather
+their load, without any disaster, but it was evident to Dab all the way,
+that his ponies were in unusually "high" condition. He took them out of
+the wagon while the rest began to gather their very liberal harvest of
+evergreens, and did not bring them near it again until all was ready for
+the start homeward.
+
+"Now, boys," he said, "you get in. Joe and Ford and Fuz on the back seat
+to hold the greens. Frank, get up there, forward, while I hitch the
+ponies. These fellows are full of mischief."
+
+Very full, certainly, nor did Dab Kinzer know exactly what the matter
+was, for a minute or so after he seized the reins and sprang up beside
+Frank Harley. Then, indeed, as the ponies reared and kicked and plunged,
+it seemed to him he saw something work out from under their collars and
+fall to the ground. An acorn-burr is just the thing to worry a restive
+horse, if put in such a place, but Joe and Fuz had hardly expected their
+"little joke" would be so very successful as it was.
+
+The ponies were off now.
+
+"Joe," shouted Fuz, "let's jump!"
+
+"Don't let 'em, Ford," exclaimed Dab, giving his whole energies to the
+horses. "They'll break their necks if they do. Hold 'em in!"
+
+Ford, who was in the middle, promptly seized an arm of each of his
+panic-stricken cousins, while Frank clambered over the seat to help him.
+They were all down on the the bottom now, serving as a weight to hold
+the branches, as the light wagon bounced and rattled along over the
+smooth, level road.
+
+In vain Dab pulled and pulled at the ponies. Run they did, and all he
+could do was to keep them fairly in the road.
+
+Bracing strongly back, with the reins wound around his tough hands, and
+with a look in his face that should have given courage even to the Hart
+boys, Dab strained at his task as bravely as he had stood at the tiller
+of the "Swallow" in the storm.
+
+No such thing as stopping them.
+
+And now, as they whirled along, even Dab's face paled a little.
+
+"I must reach the bridge before he does. He's just stupid enough to keep
+right on."
+
+And it was very stupid indeed for the driver of that one-horse "truck
+wagon" to try and reach the narrow little unrailed bridge first. It was
+an old, used-up sort of a bridge, at best.
+
+Dab loosened the reins a little, but could not use his whip.
+
+"Why can't he stop!"
+
+It was a moment of breathless anxiety, but the wagoner kept stolidly on.
+There would be barely room to pass him on the road itself; none at all
+on the narrow bridge.
+
+The ponies did it.
+
+They seemed to put on an extra touch of speed, on their own account,
+just then.
+
+There was a rattle, a faint crash, and then, as the wheels of the two
+vehicles almost grazed one another in passing, Ford shouted:
+
+"The bridge is down!"
+
+Such a narrow escape!
+
+One of the rotten girders, never half strong enough, had given way under
+the sudden shock of the hind wheels and that truck wagon would have to
+find its path across the brook as best it could.
+
+There were more wagons to pass as they plunged forward, and rough places
+in the road, for Dabney to look out for, but even Joe and Fuz were now
+getting confidence in their driver. Before long, too, the ponies
+themselves began to feel that they had had nearly enough of it. Then it
+was that Dab used his whip again, and the streets of the village were
+traversed at such a rate as to call for the disapprobation of all
+sober-minded people.
+
+"Here we are, Ham, greens and all."
+
+"Did they run far?" asked Ham, quietly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+The boys had returned a good deal sooner than had been expected, but
+they made no more trouble. As Ford Foster remarked, they were all
+"willing to go slow for a week" after being carried so very fast by Dab
+Kinzer's ponies.
+
+There was a great deal to be said about the runaway, and Mrs. Foster
+longed to see Dab and thank him on Ford's account, but he himself had no
+idea that he had done anything remarkable, and was very busily at work
+decking Miranda's parlors with the "greens."
+
+A very nice appearance they made, all those woven branches and clustered
+sprays, when they were in place, and Samantha declared for them that,
+
+"They had kept Dab out of mischief all the afternoon."
+
+At an early hour after supper, the guests began to arrive, for Mrs.
+Kinzer was a woman of too much sense to have night turned into day when
+she could prevent it. As the stream of visitors steadily poured in, Dab
+remarked to Jenny Walters:
+
+"We shall have to enlarge the house after all."
+
+"If it were only a dress, now?"
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Why, you could just let out the tucks. I've had to do that with mine."
+
+"Jenny, shake hands with me."
+
+"What for, Dabney?"
+
+"I'm so glad to meet somebody else that's outgrowing something."
+
+There was a tinge of color rising in Jenny's face, but, before she could
+say anything, Dab added:
+
+"There! Jenny, there's Mrs. Foster and Annie. Isn't she sweet?"
+
+"One of the nicest old ladies I ever saw----"
+
+"Oh, I didn't mean her mother."
+
+"Never mind. You must introduce me to them."
+
+"So I will. Take my arm."
+
+[Illustration: "MAY I HAVE THE HONOR?"]
+
+Jenny Walters had been unusually kindly and gracious in her manner that
+evening, and her very voice had much less than its accustomed sharpness,
+but her natural disposition broke out a little some minutes later, while
+she was talking with Annie. Said she:
+
+"I've wanted so much to get acquainted with you."
+
+"With me?"
+
+"Yes. I've seen you in church, and I've heard you talked about, and I
+wanted to find out for myself."
+
+"Find out what?" asked Annie a little soberly.
+
+"Why, you see, I don't believe it's possible for any girl to be as sweet
+as you look. I couldn't, I know. I've been trying these two days, and
+I'm nearly worn out."
+
+Annie's eyes opened wide with surprise, and she laughed merrily as she
+answered:
+
+"What can you mean? I'm glad enough if my face doesn't tell tales of
+me."
+
+"But mine does," said Jenny, "and then I'm so sure to tell all the rest
+with my tongue. I wish I knew what were your faults."
+
+"My faults? What for?"
+
+"I don't know. Seems to me if I could think of your faults instead of
+mine, it wouldn't be so hard to look sweet."
+
+Annie saw that there was more earnestness than fun in the queer talk of
+her new acquaintance. The truth was that Jenny had been having almost as
+hard a struggle with her tongue as ever poor Dick Lee with his, though
+not for not the same reason. Before many minutes she had frankly told
+Annie all about it, and she could never have done that if she had not
+somehow felt that Annie's "sweetness" was genuine. The two girls were
+sure friends after that, much to the surprise of Mr. Dabney Kinzer.
+
+He, indeed, had been too much occupied in caring for his guests to pay
+special attention to one of them. His mother had looked after him again
+and again with eyes brimful of pride and of commendation of the way he
+was acquitting himself.
+
+Even Mrs. Foster said to her husband, who had now arrived:
+
+"Do you see that? Who would have expected as much from a raw, green
+country boy?"
+
+"But, my dear, don't you see? The secret of it is that he's not thinking
+of himself at all. He's only anxious his friends should have a good
+time."
+
+"That's it; but then that too is a very rare thing in a boy of his age."
+
+"Dabney!" exclaimed the lawyer in a louder tone of voice.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Foster. I'm glad you've found room. The house isn't
+half large enough."
+
+"I understand your ponies ran away with you to-day?"
+
+"They did come home in a hurry; but nobody was hurt."
+
+"I fear there would have been, but for you. Do you start for Grantley
+with the other boys to-morrow?"
+
+"Of course. Dick Lee and I need some one to take care of us. We never
+traveled so far before."
+
+"On land, you mean. Is Dick here to-night?"
+
+"Came and looked in, sir, but got scared by the crowd and went home."
+
+"Poor fellow! Well, we will do all we can for him."
+
+Poor Dick Lee!
+
+And yet, if Mr. Dabney Kinzer had known his whereabouts at that very
+moment he would half have envied him.
+
+Dick's mother was in the kitchen helping about the supper, but she had
+not left home until she had compelled Dick to dress himself in his
+best,--white shirt, red neck-tie, shining shoes and all,--and she had
+brought him with her almost by force.
+
+"You's good nuff to go to de 'cad'my and leab yer pore mother, an' I
+reckon you's good nuff for de party."
+
+And Dick had actually ventured in from the kitchen through the
+dining-room and as far as the door of the back parlor, where few would
+look.
+
+[Illustration: "PINNED!"]
+
+How his heart did beat as he looked on the merry gathering, a large part
+of whom he had known "all his born days!"
+
+But there was a side door opening from that dining-room on the long
+piazza which Mrs. Kinzer had added to the old Morris mansion, and Dick's
+hand was on the knob of that door almost before he knew it.
+
+Then he was out on the road to the landing, and in five minutes more he
+was vigorously rowing the "Jenny" out through the inlet toward the bay.
+
+His heart was not beating unpleasantly any longer, but as he shot out
+from the narrow passage through the flags and saw the little waves
+laughing in the cool, dim starlight, he suddenly stopped rowing, leaned
+on his oars, gave a sigh of relief, and exclaimed:
+
+"Dar! I's safe now. I aint got to say a word to nobody out yer. Wonder
+'f I'll ebber git back from de 'cad'my an' kitch fish in dis yer bay?
+Sho! Course I will. But goin' away's awful!"
+
+Dab Kinzer thought he had never known Jenny Walters to appear so well as
+she looked that evening; and he must have been right, for good Mrs.
+Foster said to Annie:
+
+"What a pleasant, kindly face your new friend has! You must ask her to
+come and see us. She seems quite a favorite with the Kinzers."
+
+"Have you known Dabney long?" Annie had asked of Jenny a little before
+that.
+
+"Ever since I was a little bit of a girl, and a big boy seven or eight
+years old pushed me into the snow."
+
+"Was it Dabney?"
+
+"No, but Dabney was the boy that pushed him in for doing it, and then
+helped me up. Dab rubbed his face for him with snow till he cried."
+
+"Just like him!" exclaimed Annie with emphasis. "I should think his
+friends here will miss him."
+
+"Indeed they will," replied Jenny, and then she seemed disposed to be
+quiet for a while.
+
+The party could not last forever, pleasant as it was, and by the time
+his duties as "host" were met, Dabney was tired enough to go to bed and
+sleep soundly. His arms were lame and sore from the strain the ponies
+had given them, and that may have been the reason why he dreamed half
+the night that he was driving runaway teams and crashing over rickety
+old bridges.
+
+But why was it that every one of his dream-wagons, no matter who else
+was in it, seemed to have Jenny Walters and Annie Foster smiling at him
+from the back seat?
+
+He rose later than usual next morning, and the house was all in its
+customary order by the time he got down-stairs.
+
+Breakfast was ready also, and, by the time that was over, Dab's great
+new trunk was brought down-stairs by a couple of the farm-hands.
+
+"It's an hour yet to train-time," said Ham Morris; "but we might as well
+get ready. We must be on hand in time."
+
+What a long hour that was, and not even a chance given for Dab to run
+down and take a good-bye look at the "Swallow!"
+
+His mother and Ham and Miranda and the girls seemed to be all made up of
+"good-bye" that morning.
+
+"Mother," said Dab.
+
+"What is it, my dear boy?"
+
+"That's it exactly. If you say 'dear boy' again, Ham Morris 'll have to
+carry me to the cars. I'm all kind o' wilted now."
+
+Then they all laughed, and before they got through laughing, they all
+cried except Ham.
+
+He put his hands in his pockets and drew a long whistle.
+
+The ponies were at the door now. The light wagon had three seats in it,
+but when Dab's trunk was in, there was only room left for the ladies;
+Ham and Dab had to walk to the station.
+
+It was a short walk, however, and a silent one, but as they came in
+sight of the platform, Dab exclaimed:
+
+"There they are, all of them!"
+
+"The whole party?"
+
+"Why, the platform's as crowded as our house was last night."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters were already the center of the crowd of
+young people, and Ford Foster and Frank Harley, with Joe and Fuz Hart
+were asking what had become of Dab, for the train was in sight.
+
+A moment later, as the puffing locomotive drew up by the water-tank, the
+conductor stepped out on the platform, exclaiming:
+
+"Look a here, folks. This aint right. If there was going to be a picnic
+you'd ought to have sent word, and I'd have tacked on an extra car.
+You'll have to pack in, now, best you can."
+
+He seemed much relieved when he found how small a part of the crowd were
+to be his passengers.
+
+"Dab," said Ford, "this is your send-off, not ours. You'll have to make
+a speech."
+
+Dab did want to say something, but he had just kissed his sisters and
+his mother, and half a dozen of his school-girl friends had followed the
+example of Jenny Walters, and then Mrs. Foster had kissed him, and Ham
+Morris had shaken hands with him, and Dab could not have said a loud
+word to have saved his life.
+
+"Speech!" whispered Ford, mischievously, as Dab stepped upon the
+platform; but Dick Lee, who had just escaped from the tremendous hug his
+mother had given him, came to his friend's aid in the nick of time. Dick
+felt that "he must shout, or he should go off," as he afterward told the
+boys, and so at the top of his shrill voice he shouted:
+
+"Hurrah for Cap'n Kinzer! Dar aint no better feller lef' along shore!"
+
+And, amid a chorus of cheers and laughter, and a grand waving of white
+handkerchiefs, the engine gave a deep, hysterical cough, and hurried the
+train away.
+
+The two homesteads by the Long Island shore were a little lonely for a
+while, after the departure of all those noisy, merry young fellows. Mr.
+Foster had enough to do in the city, and Ham Morris had his farm to
+attend to, besides doing more than a little for Mrs. Kinzer. It was much
+the better for both estates that he had that notable manager at his
+elbow. The ladies, however, old and young, had plenty of time to come
+together and wonder how the boys were getting along, even before the
+arrival of the first batch of letters.
+
+"They must be happy," remarked kind Mrs. Foster, after the long, boyish
+epistles had been read, over and over; "and such good letters! Not one
+word of complaint of anything."
+
+Mrs. Kinzer assented somewhat thoughtfully. Dabney had not complained of
+anything; but while he had praised the village, the scenery, the
+academy, the boys, and had covered two full sheets of paper, he had not
+said a word about the table of his boarding-house.
+
+"He is such a growing boy," she said to herself. "I do hope they will
+give him enough to eat."
+
+It went on a good deal in that way, however, for weeks, even till the
+Fosters broke up their summer residence and returned to the city. There
+were plenty of letters, and all his sisters wondered where Dabney had
+learned to write so capitally; but Mrs. Kinzer's doubts were by no means
+removed until Ham Morris showed her a part of a curious epistle Dabney
+had sent to him in a moment of confidence.
+
+"I tell you what, Ham," he wrote, "mother doesn't know what can be done
+with corn. Mrs. Myers does. She raised a pile of it last year, and the
+things she makes with it would drive a cook-book crazy. I've been giving
+them Latin names, and Frank, he turns them into Hindustanee. It's real
+fun, but I sha'n't be the boy I was. I'm getting corned. My hair is
+silkier and my voice is husky. My ears are growing. I'd like some fish
+and clams for a change. A crab would taste wonderfully good. So would
+some oysters. They don't have any up here; but we went fishing, last
+Saturday, and got some perch and cat-fish and sun-fish. They call them
+pumpkin-seeds up here, and they aint much bigger. Don't tell mother we
+don't get enough to eat. There's plenty of it, and you ought to see Mrs.
+Myers smile when she passes the johnny-cake. We are all trying to learn
+that heavenly smile. Ford does it best. I think Dick Lee is getting a
+little pale. Perhaps corn doesn't agree with him. He's learning fast,
+though, and so am I; but we have to work harder than the rest. I guess
+the Hart boys know more than they did when they came here, and they
+didn't get it all out of their books, either. We keep up our French and
+our boxing; but oh, wouldn't I like to go for some blue-fish, just now!
+Has mother made any mince-pies yet? I've almost forgotten how they
+taste. I was going by a house here the other day and I smelt some ham,
+cooking. I was real glad I hadn't forgotten. I knew what it was right
+away. Don't you be afraid about my studying, for I'm at it all the
+while, except when we're playing ball or eating corn. They say they have
+sleighing here earlier than we do, and plenty of skating. Well, now,
+don't say anything to mother about the corn; but wont I eat when I get
+home.--Yours all the while. DABNEY KINZER."
+
+"Why, the poor fellow!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer, and it was not very many
+days after that before young Dabney received a couple of boxes by
+express.
+
+There was a boiled ham in the first one and a great many other things,
+and Dab called in all the other boys to help him get them out.
+
+"Mince-pies!" shouted Ford Foster. "How'd they ever travel so far?"
+
+"They're not much mashed," said Dabney. "There's enough there to start a
+small hotel. Now let's open the other."
+
+"Ice. Sawdust. Fish, I declare. Clams. Oysters. Crabs. There's a
+lobster. Ford, Frank, Dick, do you think we can eat those fellows?"
+
+"After they're cooked," said Ford.
+
+"Well, I s'pose we can; but I feel like shaking hands with 'em, all
+round. They're old friends and neighbors of mine, you know."
+
+"I guess we'd better eat 'em."
+
+"Cap'n Dab," remarked Dick Lee, "dey jest knocks all de correck
+pronounciation clean out of me."
+
+Eaten they were, however, and Mrs Myers was glad enough to have her
+boarders supply such a remarkable "variety" for her table, which, after
+that "hint," began to improve a little.
+
+And so we leave Dab Kinzer, still, in mind and body, as when first we
+saw him, a growing boy.
+
+
+
+
+WHERE?
+
+BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.
+
+
+  Where does the Winter stay?
+  With the little Esquimaux,
+  Where the frost and snow-flake grow?
+  Or where the white bergs first come out,
+  Where icicles make haste to sprout,
+  Where the winds and storms begin,
+  Gathering the crops all in,
+  Among the ice-fields, far away?
+
+  Where does the Summer stay?
+  In distant sunny places,
+  'Midst palms and dusky faces,
+  Where they spin the cocoa thread,
+  Where the generous trees drop bread,
+  Where the lemon-groves give alms,
+  And Nature works her daily charms,
+  Among the rice-fields, far away?
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+PARLOR MAGIC.
+
+_(Pleasing, Harmless, and Inexpensive Experiments, chiefly Chemical, for
+Young People.)_
+
+BY LEO H. GRINDON.
+
+
+This series of experiments is designed for the use of young people who
+are interested in the wonders and the beautiful realities of nature, and
+who delight to observe for themselves how curious are the phenomena
+revealed by scientific knowledge. Simple instructions are given for the
+performance of a number of pretty experiments, all of which are
+perfectly safe, and cost very little money. For "evenings at home," it
+is hoped that these experiments will be found indefinitely amusing and
+recreative, at the same time that they will lead the minds of boys and
+girls to inquiries into the entire fabric of the grand sciences which
+explains the principles on which they are founded. All the materials
+spoken of, and all the needful apparatus, which is of the simplest and
+most inexpensive kind, can be obtained at a good chemist's. It is of the
+highest importance that all the materials be pure and good.
+
+
+PARLOR SUNSHINE.
+
+Obtain a yard of "magnesium tape" or "magnesium wire," sold very cheap
+by most druggists. Cut a length of six or eight inches; bend one
+extremity so as to get a good hold of it with a pair of forceps, or even
+a pair of ordinary scissors, or attach it to the end of a stick or wire.
+Then hold the piece of magnesium vertically in a strong flame, such as
+that of a candle, and in a few seconds it will ignite, burning with the
+splendor of sunshine, and making night seem noonday. As the burning
+proceeds, a quantity of white powder is formed. This is pure magnesia.
+While performing this splendid experiment, the room should be darkened.
+
+
+CADAVEROUS FACES.
+
+This is an amusing contrast to the lighting-up by means of magnesium;
+Again let the room be nearly darkened. Put about a tea-cupful of spirits
+of wine in a strong common dish or saucer, and place the dish in the
+middle of the table. Let every one approach to the distance of about a
+yard. Then ignite the spirit with a match. It will burn with a peculiar
+yellowish-blue flame, and in the light of this the human countenances,
+and all objects of similar color, lose their natural tint, and look
+spectral. The contrast of the wan and ghostly hue with the smiling lips
+and white teeth of those who look on, is most amusing. The effect of
+this experiment is heightened by dissolving some common table-salt in
+the spirit, and still further by putting into it a small quantity of
+saffron. Let the spirit burn itself away.
+
+
+THE BREATH OF LIFE.
+
+[Illustration: THE BREATH OF LIFE.]
+
+Procure a tolerably large bell-glass, such as is used for covering
+clocks and ornaments upon the mantel-piece. It should not be less than
+eighteen inches high, and eight or nine inches in diameter. Provide also
+a common dish, sufficiently large to allow the bell-glass to stand well
+within its raised border. Then procure two little wax candles, three or
+four inches in length, and stand each in a little bottle or other
+temporary candlestick. Place them in the center of the dish and light
+the wicks. Then pour water into the dish to the depth of nearly an inch,
+and finish by placing the bell over the candles, which of course are
+then closely shut in. For a few minutes all goes on properly. The flames
+burn steadily, and seem to laugh at the idea of their being about to
+die. But, presently, they become faint,--first one, then the other; the
+luster and the size of the flames diminish rapidly, and then they go
+out. This is because the burning candles consumed all the oxygen that
+was contained within the volume of atmosphere that was in the bell, and
+were unable, on account of the water, to get new supplies from outside.
+It illustrates, in the most perfect manner, our own need of constant
+supplies of good fresh air. The experiment may be improved, or at all
+events varied, by using candles of different lengths.
+
+
+ROSE-COLOR PRODUCED FROM GREEN.
+
+Obtain a small quantity of roseine,--one of the wonderful products
+obtained from gas-tar, and employed extensively in producing what are
+called by manufacturers the "magenta colors." Roseine exists in the
+shape of minute crystals, resembling those of sugar. They are hard and
+dry, and of the most brilliant emerald green. Drop five or six of these
+little crystals into a large glass of limpid water. They will dissolve;
+but instead of giving a _green_ solution, the product is an exquisite
+crimson-rose color, the color seeming to trickle from the surface of the
+water downward. When the solution has proceeded for a short time, stir
+the water with a glass rod, and the uncolored portion of it will become
+carmine.
+
+
+SOME ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTS.
+
+Take a piece of common brown paper, about a foot in length, and half as
+wide. Hold it before the fire till it becomes quite hot. Then draw it
+briskly under your left arm several times, so as to rub it on both
+surfaces against the woolen cloth of your coat. It will now have become
+so powerfully electrified, that if placed against the papered wall of
+the parlor, it will hold on for some time, supported, as it were, by
+nothing.
+
+While the piece of brown paper is thus so strangely clinging to the
+wall, place a small, light, and fleecy feather against it, and this, in
+turn, will cling to the paper.
+
+Now, again, make your piece of brown paper hot by the fire, and draw it,
+as before, several times under the arm. Previously to this, attach a
+string to one corner, so that it may be held up in the air. Several
+feathers, of a fleecy kind, may now be placed against each side of the
+paper, and they will cling to it for several minutes.
+
+Another curious electrical experiment is to take a pane of common glass,
+make it warm by the fire, then lay it upon two books, allowing only the
+edges to touch the books, and rub the upper surface with a piece of
+flannel, or a piece of black silk. Have some bran ready, strew it upon
+the table under the piece of glass, and the particles will dance.
+
+
+TO CUT A PHIAL IN HALF.
+
+Wind round it two bands of paper, corresponding in position to the two
+temperate zones of the earth, leaving a space between, corresponding to
+the equatorial zone. Secure the two bands of paper with thread or fine
+twine. Then wind a long piece of string once around the equatorial
+space. Let an assistant hold one end of the string, and while holding
+the other end yourself, move the phial rapidly to and fro, so that the
+string shall work upon the glass between the two pieces of paper. When
+the glass becomes hot in the equatorial space, pour some cold water upon
+it, and the glass will break as evenly as if cut with a knife.
+
+[Illustration: CUTTING THE PHIAL.]
+
+The principle involved in this curious experiment may be applied to the
+removal of a glass stopper, when too tight in the neck of the bottle for
+the fingers to stir it. All that is necessary is to wind a piece of
+thick string round the neck of the bottle, get an assistant to hold one
+end, and then work the bottle to and fro. The glass of the neck will
+become so warm as to expand, and the stopper will become loosened. It is
+often necessary to continue this friction for some minutes before the
+desired result is attained.
+
+
+THE INVISIBLE RENDERED VISIBLE.
+
+Place a coin in an empty basin, and let the basin be near the edge of
+the table. Ask one of the company to stand beside it, and to retire
+slowly backward until he or she can no longer see the coin. Then pour
+cold, clear water into the basin, and the person, who the moment before
+could not perceive the coin, now will see it quite plainly, though
+without moving a hair's breadth nearer.
+
+[Illustration: THE COIN INVISIBLE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE COIN VISIBLE.]
+
+
+LIGHT FROM SUGAR.
+
+In a dark room, rub smartly one against the other, a couple of lumps of
+white sugar, and light will be evolved. A similar effect is produced by
+rubbing two lumps of borate of soda one against the other.
+
+
+MINIATURE FIRE-SHIPS.
+
+Procure a good-sized lump of camphor. Cut it up into pieces of the size
+of a hazel-nut, and having a large dish filled with cold water in
+readiness, lay the pieces on the surface, where they will float. Then
+ignite each one of them with a match, and they will burn furiously,
+swimming about all the time that the burning is in progress, until at
+last nothing remains but a thin shell, too wet to be consumed.
+
+
+PURPLE AIR.
+
+Obtain an olive-oil flask, the glass of which must be colorless. In
+default of an oil-flask, a large test-tube may be employed. Put into it
+a small quantity of solid iodine (procurable at the chemist's and very
+cheap), then lightly stop the mouth of the flask or test-tube with some
+cotton-wool, but not hermetically, and hold it slantwise over the flame
+of a spirit-lamp. The heat will soon dissolve the iodine, which will
+next turn into a most beautiful violet-colored vapor, completely filling
+the glass, and disappearing again as the glass gets cold.
+
+
+THE TWO EGGS.
+
+Dissolve as much common table-salt in a pint of water as it will take
+up, so as to prepare a strong brine. With this brine half fill a tall
+glass. Then pour in pure water, very carefully. Pour it down the side,
+or put it in with the help of a spoon, so as to break the fall. The pure
+water will then float upon the top of the brine, yet no difference will
+be visible. Next, take another glass of exactly the same kind, and fill
+it with pure water. Now take a common egg, and put it into the vessel of
+pure water, when it will instantly sink to the bottom. Put another egg
+into the first glass, and it will not descend below the surface of the
+brine, seeming to be miraculously suspended in the middle. Of course the
+two glass vessels should be considerably wider than the egg is long.
+
+
+THE MAGIC APERTURE.
+
+Put several lighted candles upon the table, in a straight row and near
+together. Lay upon the table, in front of them, a large piece of smooth,
+white paper. Have ready a piece of pasteboard, large enough to conceal
+the candles, with a small hole cut in it above the middle. Place this so
+as to stand upon its edge between the row of candles and the sheet of
+paper in front, and there will be as many images of flames thrown
+through the hole and upon the paper as there are burning candles.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAGIC APERTURE.]
+
+
+GREEN FIRE.
+
+Obtain some boracic acid, mix it well with a small quantity of spirits
+of wine, or alcohol, place the alcohol in a saucer upon a dish, and then
+ignite it with a match. The flame will be a beautiful green. To see the
+color to perfection, of course, the room should be somewhat darkened.
+
+A green flame may also be produced by using chloride of copper instead
+of boracic acid. And instead of mixing it with the alcohol, a small
+quantity may be imbedded in the wick of a candle.
+
+
+A BEAUTIFUL IMITATION OF HOAR FROST.
+
+Obtain a large bell-glass, with a short neck and cork at the top, such
+as may be seen in the chemists' shops. Then procure a small quantity of
+benzoic acid, which exists in the shape of snowy crystals. Elevate the
+bell-glass upon a little stage made of books or pieces of wood, so as to
+allow a spirit-lamp to be introduced underneath, and a little
+evaporating dish to be held above the flame by means of a ring of wire
+with suitable handle. Place the benzoic acid in the evaporating dish,
+over the flame, and presently the acid will ascend in vapor and fill the
+bell, which must not be quite closed at the top. Before setting up the
+apparatus, introduce into the bell a small branch of foliage, which may
+be hung by a thread from the neck of the bell. The stiffer and more
+delicate this branch, the better. In a short time, it will become
+covered with a soft white deposit of the acid, very closely resembling
+hoar-frost. This makes an extremely pretty ornament for the parlor.
+
+[Illustration: IMITATING HOAR-FROST.]
+
+
+TO BOIL WATER WITHOUT FIRE.
+
+Half fill a common oil-flask with water, and boil it for a few minutes
+over the flame of a spirit-lamp. While boiling, cork up the mouth of the
+flask as quickly as you can, and tie a bit of wet bladder over the cork,
+so as to exclude the air perfectly. The flask being now removed from the
+lamp, the boiling ceases. Pour some cold water upon the upper portion of
+the flask, and the ebullition recommences! Apply hot water, and it
+stops! And thus you may go on as long as you please.
+
+
+TO CONVERT A LIQUID INTO A SOLID.
+
+Dissolve about half a pound of sulphate of soda in a pint of boiling
+water, and after it has stood a few minutes to settle, pour it off into
+a clean glass vessel. Pour a little sweet oil upon the surface, and put
+it to stand where it can get cold, and where no one will touch it. When
+cold, put in a stick, and the fluid, previously clear, will at once
+become opaque, and begin to crystallize, until at length there is a
+solid crystalline mass.
+
+
+ICE ON FIRE.
+
+Make a hole in a block of ice with a hot poker. Pour out the water, and
+fill up the cavity with camphorated spirits of wine. Then ignite the
+spirit with a match, and the lump of ice will seem to be in flames.
+
+
+EXPERIMENTS REQUIRING CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS.
+
+To prepare these solutions, purchase of a druggist a small quantity of
+the solid crystals of the substance needed for the experiment you wish
+to try. Dissolve the crystals in clear pure water, and keep the solution
+in a little bottle, labeled with the name. It is seldom that the
+solutions need be strong. When the crystal is a colored one, enough
+should be used to give the water a light tint, blue, yellow, or what it
+may be. None of these solutions will do any harm to the hands, unless
+there is a cut or a wound of any kind upon the skin. It is well also,
+not to let a drop of any of them fall upon the clothes, or upon
+furniture, for some of them will stain. And none of them should ever be
+tasted, or touched by the lips or tongue, many of them being acrid and
+even poisonous.
+
+With the acids still greater care is needed, the stronger acids being
+corrosive and poisonous. The greater portion of these substances must
+likewise not be smelled, as the fumes or vapors would affect the
+nostrils painfully.
+
+For the proper performance of these experiments with solutions,
+etc.,--at all events for the neatest and most elegant performance of
+them,--there should be obtained from the chemist's shop about a dozen
+test-tubes. These are little glass vessels, manufactured on purpose, and
+very cheap. Do not take glasses that may afterward be used for drinking
+or household purposes. Be careful to have every one of your experiment
+glasses perfectly clean.
+
+
+_To produce a Beautiful Violet-Purple Color._
+
+Take a nearly colorless solution of any salt of copper. The sulphate
+is the cheapest and handiest. Fill the test-tube or other
+experimenting-glass about two-thirds full. Then drop in, slowly, a
+little liquid ammonia. It will cause a beautiful blue to appear, and
+presently a most lovely violet-purple, which, by stirring with a glass
+rod, extends all through the fluid.
+
+If now you drop into this a very little nitric acid, the fluid will
+again become as clear as pure water.
+
+
+_To Make a Splendid Scarlet._
+
+Again take some solution of sulphate of copper. Add to it a little
+solution of bichromate of potash. Then add a little solution of nitrate
+of silver, and there is produced a splendid scarlet color.
+
+
+_To Make a Deep Blue._
+
+Now, take a nearly colorless solution of sulphate of iron, and drop into
+it, slowly, a small quantity of solution of yellow prussiate of potash.
+This will induce a beautiful deep blue, quite different from the blues
+that are produced from copper salts.
+
+
+_To Make a Yellow Color._
+
+Take a solution of acetate of lead, and add a few drops of solution of
+iodide of potassium, and a most lovely canary-yellow color is produced.
+
+
+_Invisible Inks._
+
+Nearly all those experiments which result in the production of color may
+be performed in another way, and be then applied to the purposes of
+secret writing. Thus:
+
+Write with dilute solution of sulphate of copper. The writing will be
+quite invisible, but become blue when held over the vapor of liquid
+ammonia.
+
+Write with the same solution, and wash the paper with solution of yellow
+prussiate of potash, and the writing, previously invisible, will become
+brown. If you choose you may reverse this method, writing with solution
+of the prussiate of potash, and washing the paper with solution of the
+copper salt.
+
+Write with solution of sulphate of iron, and the writing will again be
+invisible. Wash it over with tincture of galls, and it becomes black.
+
+Write with sulphate of iron, and use a wash of yellow prussiate of
+potash, and the writing will come out blue. This experiment may likewise
+be reversed, and with similar result.
+
+
+_How to Copper a Knife-Blade._
+
+Make a rather strong solution of sulphate of copper. Let a clean and
+polished piece of steel or iron, such as the blade of a knife, stand in
+it for a few minutes, and the iron will become covered or encrusted with
+a deposit of pure copper.
+
+
+_To Make Beautiful Crystals._
+
+Dissolve, in different vessels, half an ounce each of the sulphates of
+iron, zinc, copper, soda, alumina, magnesia, and potash. The solutions
+can be made more rapidly by using warm water. When the salts are all
+completely dissolved, pour the whole seven solutions into a large dish,
+stir the mixture with a glass rod, then place it in a warm place, where
+it will not be disturbed. By degrees, the water will evaporate, and then
+the salts will re-crystallize, each kind preserving its own proper form
+and color. Some occur in groups, some as single crystals. If carefully
+protected from dust, these form extremely pretty ornaments for the
+parlor.
+
+
+_Alum Baskets._
+
+These may be prepared by dissolving alum in water in such quantity that
+at last the water can take up no more, and the undissolved alum lies at
+the bottom of the vessel. The solution thus obtained is called a
+saturated one. Then procure a common ornamental wire basket, and suspend
+it in the solution, so as to be well covered in every part. There should
+be twice as much solution as will cover the basket. The wires of the
+basket should be wound with worsted, so that the surface may be rough.
+Leave it undisturbed in the solution, and gradually the crystals will
+form all over the surface. Before putting in the basket, it is best to
+further strengthen the solution by boiling it down to one half, after
+which it should be strained.
+
+
+_The Lead-Tree._
+
+Dissolve half an ounce of acetate of lead in six ounces of water. The
+solution will be turbid, so clarify it with a few drops of acetic acid.
+Now put the solution into a clean phial, nearly filling the phial.
+Suspend in the solution, by means of a thread attached to the cork, a
+piece of clean zinc wire. By degrees, the wire will become covered with
+beautiful metallic spangles, like the foliage of a tree.
+
+
+
+
+UN ALPHABET FRANCAIS.
+
+PAR LAURA CAXTON.
+
+
+[Illustration: A--ANNETTE A UN TRES JOLI PETIT AGNEAU]
+
+[Illustration: B--BAPTISTE A UNE PAIRE DE GRANDES BOTTES]
+
+[Illustration: C--CECILE EST CHARMEE DE FAIRE ROULER SON CERCEAU.]
+
+[Illustration: D--DENIS PLEURE PARCEQU'IL A MAL AUX DENTS.]
+
+[Illustration: E--EDOUARD VA GAIEMENT A L'ECOLE, AVEC SES LIVRES.]
+
+[Illustration: F--FANCHON FAIT UNE CRAVATE POUR SON FRERE.]
+
+[Illustration: G--GABRIELLE A ETE GRONDEE PAR SON GRAND-PERE.]
+
+[Illustration: H--HENRI VA PATINER SUR LA GLACE PENDANT L'HIVER.]
+
+[Illustration: I--ISABELLE EST UNE PAUVRE PETITE INVALIDE.]
+
+[Illustration: J--JACQUES S'AMUSE TOUTE LA JOURNEE AVEC SES JOUJOUX.]
+
+[Illustration: K--K EST LA LETTRE QUE JEAN TIENT SOUS LA MAIN.]
+
+[Illustration: L--LOUISE DONNE DES LEGUMES A SES PETITS LAPINS.]
+
+[Illustration: M--MARIE A DES MARGUERITES POUR SA CHERE MAMAN.]
+
+[Illustration: N--NARCISSE A TROUVE DES OISEAUX DANS UN NID.]
+
+[Illustration: O--OLIVIER, AVEC SON PARAPLUIE, N'A PAS PEUR DE L'ORAGE.]
+
+[Illustration: P--PAULINE A BEAUCOUP DE PLAISIR AVEC SA PETITE POUPEE.]
+
+[Illustration: Q--QUENTIN AIME A JOUER AUX QUILLES DE BOIS.]
+
+[Illustration: R--ROLAND REMPLIT UN POT POUR Y PLANTER SON ROSIER.]
+
+[Illustration: S--SUSETTE A UN MORCEAU DE SUCRE POUR SON SERIN.]
+
+[Illustration: T--THERESE EST TRISTE PARCEQUE SON TABLIER EST SALE.]
+
+[Illustration: U--URBAIN A LE DRAPEAU DES ETATS-UNIS.]
+
+[Illustration: V--VIRGINIE ARROSE SES VIOLETTES CHAQUE MATIN ET CHAQUE
+SOIR.]
+
+[Illustration: W--WINIFRED EST AMERICAINE, ELLE N'EST PAS UNE PETITE
+FRANCAISE.]
+
+[Illustration: X--XENOPHON EST LE GENERAL RENOMME A QUI PAUL CROIT
+RESSEMBLER.]
+
+[Illustration: Y--Y A-T-IL UNE AUTRE PETITE FILLE DE SI JOLIS YEUX?]
+
+[Illustration: Z--ZENOBIE SAIT COMPTER D'UN JUSQU'A ZERO.]
+
+
+
+
+A FAIR EXCHANGE.
+
+BY MRS. M. F. BUTTS.
+
+
+  "Oh, Willow, where did you get your fringe,
+    In New York or in Paris?
+  Tell me, and I will get some too,
+    Because I am an heiress;
+  And I buy me everything I want;
+    I have a ring and a feather;
+  I promenade in my white kid boots
+    Each day in pleasant weather."
+
+  "Oh, little one, where did you get the pink,
+    In your pretty, round cheek glowing?
+  And where did you get the yellow curls,
+    Over your shoulders flowing?
+  Perhaps you can tell me how they are made;
+    If you think so, darling, try it;
+  And when you succeed, I'll tell you about
+    My fringe, and where to buy it."
+
+
+
+
+HOW TEDDY CUT THE PIE.
+
+(_A Geometrical Jingle._)
+
+BY ROSSITER JOHNSON.
+
+
+  Teddy, Jimmy, Frank, and I
+  Fished all day for smallest fry,
+  And as evening shades drew nigh,
+  Stopped to see if we could buy,
+  At a road-side groce-ry,
+  Anything they called a pie.
+
+  There was one, and only one,
+  Deeply filled and brownly done,
+  Warm from standing in the sun,
+  Flanked on each side by a bun,
+  Since that summer day begun.
+
+  From the window it was brought,
+  With our pennies it was bought;
+  Then a knife was quickly sought--
+  Who would cut it as he ought?
+
+  "Leave it all," says Ted, "to me,"
+  As the knife he flourished free;
+  "I have cut a great ma-ny."
+
+  "But," says Frank, who feared our fate,
+  "Will you cut it fair and straight?"
+  "Straight?" says Ted. "I'll tell you what--
+  Straighter than a rifle-shot:
+  Straighter than the eagle's flight.
+  Straight as any ray of light."
+
+  "I will mark the place," says Jim--
+  Great exactness was his whim--
+  And he measured, on the rim,
+  Starting-points, as guides for him.
+
+  Ted put in the knife with glee;
+  First he cut from A to B!
+  Then he cut from C to D!!
+  Then he took the piece marked E!!!
+
+  Every cut was straight, he said,--
+  He would bet his curly head.
+  Such a perfect, born-and-bred
+  Geometric rogue was Ted.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+"CHAIRS TO MEND!"
+
+BY ALEXANDER WAINWRIGHT.
+
+
+The art of doing small things well has a good illustration in the humble
+chair-mender of the London streets, who is also one of the most
+interesting of out-door tradesmen.
+
+He carries all his implements and materials with him. A very much worn
+chair is thrown over one arm as an advertisement of his occupation, and
+it is needed, for his cry, "Cha-ir-s to men-n-nd," is uttered in a
+melancholy and indistinct, though penetrating, tone. Under the other arm
+he usually has a bundle of cane, split into narrow ribbons.
+
+His look is that of forlorn respectability; his hat is greasy, and
+mapped with so many veins, caused by crushings, that it might have been
+used as a chair or, at least, a foot-stool; around his neck he wears a
+heavy cloth kerchief, and his long coat of by-gone fashion reaches
+nearly to the ankles, which are covered by shabby gaiters. He walks
+along at a very gentle pace and scans the windows of the houses for some
+sign that his services are wanted.
+
+[Illustration: "CHAIRS TO MEND!"]
+
+Perhaps business is dull, but in the neighborhoods where there are
+plenty of children he is pretty sure to find some work. Cane-seated
+chairs are durable, but they will not stand the rough usage of those
+little boys and girls who treat them as step-ladders and stamp upon
+them. It often happens that a neat English house-maid appears at the
+area railings with a chair that has a big, ragged hole in the seat,
+through which Master Tommy has fallen, with his boots on, in an effort
+to reach the gooseberry jam on the pantry shelf.
+
+Master Tommy probably looks on while the repairs are being made, and is
+much interested by the dexterity with which the mender does his work.
+The old and broken canes are cut away, and the new strips are woven into
+a firm fabric, with little eight-sided openings left in it. The
+overlapping ends of the ribbons are trimmed with a sharp knife, and the
+chair-seat is as good as new.
+
+It seems so easy that Tommy thinks he could have done it himself; but
+when he experiments with a slip of cane that the mender gives him, he
+finds that chair-mending is really a trade that must be learned.
+
+Some chair-menders are blind men, and it is still more interesting to
+watch them at their work. The plaiting of the canes is done as
+unerringly by their unseeing fingers as by the men who can see, and with
+wonderful quickness. Occasionally the business is combined with that of
+basket-making, and should we follow poor old "Chairs-to-mend" home, we
+might discover his family busy weaving reeds and willowy branches with
+the same cleverness the father shows in handling the canes.
+
+
+
+
+TWO KITTIES.
+
+BY JOY ALLISON.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  Two little kitties
+    Wandered away
+  Into the prairie
+    One summer day.
+  One on two feet,
+    Rosy and fair,
+  Almost a baby,--
+    "Golden Hair."
+
+  Four feet,--useless,
+    Eyes fast closed,
+  Borne in a basket
+    The other dozed.
+  Searching in terror
+    Far and wide,
+  "Golden Hair's" mother
+    Moaned and cried.
+
+  Mother Puss calmly
+    Following slow,
+  Listening,--calling
+    Meoh!--Meoh!--
+  Mother Puss found them,
+    A little heap,
+  Down in the deep grass
+    Fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+"HARE AND HOUNDS."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+  "What shall we do?" the children said,
+  By the spirit of frolic and mischief led,
+  Frank and Lulu and Carrie, three
+  As full of nonsense as they could be;
+  Who never were known any fun to stop
+  Until they were just about ready to drop.
+
+  Frank, whose "knowledge-box" surely abounds
+  With games, spoke up for "Hare and Hounds."
+  "Down the cellar, or up the stair,
+  Here and there, and everywhere,
+  You must follow, for I'm the Hare!"
+  Lulu and Carrie gave quick consent,
+  And at cutting their papers and capers went,
+  For the stairs were steep, and they must not fail
+  To have enough for a good long trail.
+          Away went the Hare
+          Right up the stair,
+  And away went the Hounds, a laughing pair;
+          And Tony, who sat
+          Near Kitty, the cat,
+  And was really a dog worth looking at,
+          With a queer grimace
+          Soon joined the race,
+  And followed the game at a lively pace!
+          Then Puss, who knew
+          A thing or two,
+  Prepared to follow the noisy crew,
+  And never before or since, I ween,
+  Was ever beheld such a hunting scene!
+  The Hare was swift; and the papers went
+  This way and that, to confuse the scent;
+  But Tony, keeping his nose in air,
+  In a very few moments betrayed the Hare,
+  Which the children told him was hardly fair.
+
+  I cannot tell you how long they played,
+  Of the fun they had, or the noise they made;
+  For the best of things in this world, I think,
+  Can ne'er be written with pen and ink.
+  But Bridget, who went on her daily rounds,
+  Picking up after the "Hare and Hounds,"
+  Said she didn't mind hearing their lively capers,
+  But her back was broke with the scraps o' papers.
+
+  Carrie, next day, couldn't raise her head;
+  Frank and Lulu were sick in bed;
+  The dog and cat were a used-up pair,
+  And all of them needed the doctor's care.
+  The children themselves can hardly fail
+  To tack a moral upon this trail;
+  And I guess on rather more level grounds
+  They'll play their next game of "Hare and Hounds."
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.
+
+
+So, here's October come again. Another pleasant year gone by, another
+lot of sermons done, and nobody the worse! Dear, dear, how time does fly
+in cheerful company, to be sure!
+
+Well, my dears, keep a bright lookout for the new volume, and, meantime,
+don't open your eyes too wide while I bring to your notice
+
+
+THE LARGEST MAN.
+
+    Albany, N.Y.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Perhaps some of your other boys, who, like
+    myself, wish to grow big and strong, would like to hear about the
+    largest human being ever known,--Goliath of Gath,--a person almost
+    large enough to need introduction by installments, but he is so well
+    known that the ceremony is needless.
+
+    As nearly as I can make out, he was between ten and eleven feet
+    high. When he went to battle he wore a coat-of-mail weighing one
+    hundred and fifty-six pounds,--as heavy as a good-sized man; and the
+    rest of his armor amounted to at least one hundred and fifteen
+    pounds more. The head of his spear weighed eighteen pounds,--as
+    heavy as six three-pound cans of preserved fruit,--and this he
+    carried at the end of a long and heavy shaft!
+
+    Think what might happen if a man equally big and strong should live
+    among us now, and insist on taking part in our games and sports? If
+    he joined a boat-club, a curious six-oared crew could be made up,
+    with him at one side and five other men opposite. And just imagine
+    him "booming along" on a velocipede! If he joined the champion Nine,
+    and hit a ball, where would that ball go to? If he called for a
+    "shoulder-high" ball, wouldn't the catcher have to climb a
+    step-ladder to catch behind the giant? And if he threw a ball to a
+    base-man, wouldn't he be apt to throw it clean through him?
+
+    Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are interesting
+    all the same, to yours sincerely,
+
+    R.V.D.
+
+
+CATCHING BIRDS ON THE WING.
+
+As if a man could ever hope to do that, or even to do so much as fly!
+And yet, word has already come to me of a man who has made a machine
+with which he actually has flown, up, down, with the wind, against the
+wind, and, in fact, any way he wished!
+
+The particular machine he used looked, I'm told, rather like a big
+bolster-case blown full of air, and with a light frame-work of hollow
+brass tubes strapped to it underneath. In this frame-work was a seat for
+the man, and near him were two circular fans, which he turned round very
+fast indeed; one of the fans made the machine fly backward or forward,
+and the other made it go up or down, as he liked.
+
+Now, this certainly seems to be a step ahead, or, rather, a flap upward;
+but you needn't expect to be chasing and catching eagles and albatrosses
+on the wing by dropping salt on their tails; at least, not just yet, my
+dears. The time for that sort of fun may come, perhaps; but it would be
+well not to crow too loudly at present.
+
+
+THE BEE AND THE ANEMONE.
+
+    Des Moines, Iowa.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: The bee you told us of in your August
+    sermon did not mistake the anemone for a flower. At least, _I_ think
+    not. No bee ever makes such a mistake as to settle on a poisonous
+    flower, and I believe that this bee went to the anemone for water
+    and not for honey. Bees will settle on pieces of straw afloat in the
+    water, when seeking for water, and I believe they know, even while
+    on the wing, where to find honey. Good-bye.--Your friend. N.E.H.
+
+
+FRANGIPANI SCENT AND PUDDINGS.
+
+"Let's begin with the puddings, and make sure of _them_," as a little
+boy once remarked. Well, then, in former times, Frangipani puddings were
+of broken bread, and their queer name is made from two words,--_frangi_,
+meaning "to break," and _panus_, "bread"; but, after some time, these
+puddings were made with pastry-crust and contained cream and almonds.
+
+Frangipani scent, however, was named after a great marquis who first
+made it, getting it from the jasmine plant. And the marquis got _his_
+name from an ancestor whose duty it had been to break the holy bread or
+wafer in one of the church services, and who on that account was called
+"Frangipani," or "Breaker of Bread."
+
+Now, this way of explaining how words come to be formed, sounds well
+enough, no doubt. But how are we to know, in this case, that the marquis
+didn't invent the pudding as well as the scent? However, I must leave
+you to puzzle out the problem for yourselves, my dears, while I give you
+some information about
+
+
+A SEALED POSTMAN.
+
+You've all heard of sealed letters, of course, and seen some, too, no
+doubt; but did you ever hear of the letter-carrier, also, being sealed?
+Well, a bit of news has come saying that, among the Himalaya Mountains,
+the men who carry the mails on horseback are sealed to their saddles, in
+such a way that while they can ride easily enough they cannot get down
+from their seats; and, what is more, the mail-packages are sealed to the
+men! Once started on the route, the seals are not allowed to be broken,
+except by the postmaster at the next station, and, if they happen to get
+broken otherwise than by accident, the carrier is severely punished.
+
+The result of this sealing is that a mail-carrier who wishes to steal
+the letters in his charge is obliged to steal also the saddle and
+horse,--and himself as well, I suppose.
+
+Nice places these carriers have to ride through, at times! Why, in some
+parts, the road is so steep that, in going down, the rider is kept
+upright by a rope passed under his arms and held in the hands of two men
+who are above him on the mountain. If it were not for this, the rider
+would fall over the head of his horse, or else cause the horse itself to
+go over head first.
+
+Altogether, the postmen of the Himalayas must have a hard time of it.
+
+
+WIND-HARPS.
+
+    East Saginaw, Mich.
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Please will you or any of your "chicks"
+    tell me how to make a wind-harp, or Eolian harp?
+
+    Your friend, MINNIE WARNER.
+
+
+Time and again have I heard tell of wind-harps and the sweet music the
+wind coaxes out of them. The sighing and singing of the breezes through
+the tree-tops must be something like it, no doubt. But I never heard a
+wind-harp's song, and of course don't know how to make one. Perhaps,
+some of you know, however, and if so I shall be obliged if you will send
+me word, so that I can pass it on to Minnie and the rest of my chicks.
+
+
+"THE JOY OF THE DESERT."
+
+In Africa is a vast, dreary waste, called the Desert of Sahara. In
+widely scattered spots of this desert there grows a tree that sends its
+roots down to springs far beneath the parched ground. Sometimes these
+springs are so far down that the trees are planted in deep holes,
+something like wells, so that the roots may reach water. Hardly anything
+except this tree can grow in that desert.
+
+The fruit of the tree is delicious food; the long trunk makes poles for
+tents; the leaf-stalks make many kinds of basket and wicker work,
+walking-sticks and fans; the leaves themselves are made into bags and
+mats; and the fibers at the base of the leaf-stalks are twisted into
+cordage for tents and harness. The sap of the tree, drawn from a deep
+cut in the trunk near the top, after standing a few days, becomes a
+sweet and pleasant liquor. Cakes of the fruit pounded and kneaded
+together "so solid as to be cut with a hatchet," are carried by
+travelers going across the terrible desert.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Besides all this, trees of this kind, planted in groups, cast a shade
+which keeps the ground moist, so that other fruit-trees can live beneath
+them.
+
+When the tree is about one hundred years old, it ceases to bear fruit,
+and is cut down for timber; but in its long life it has made its owner
+rich and a great many people comfortable.
+
+The paragram which told me all this said, further, that this tree is the
+date-palm, and is called "The Joy of the Desert." Well may it be so
+called, I should think; though once I heard some of the children of the
+red school-house say they hated "dates." Perhaps they meant "dates" of
+some other kind.
+
+
+BABIES IN BOOTS.
+
+Where do you suppose Tartar mothers carry their little children?
+
+Not on their shoulders, nor on their hips, nor in their arms, nor at
+their backs, nor on their heads.
+
+Well, I'm told they carry them in their boots! These are made of cloth,
+and each is large enough to hold a child five years old!
+
+
+ROOK COURTS AND BLACKBIRD POWWOWS.
+
+
+    DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: In England, where I come from, I have seen
+    meetings of vast numbers of birds, though never as many of such
+    different kinds as those named by Z.R.B. in the letter which you
+    gave us in July. Sometimes, a great number of rooks gather in a
+    ring, and in the center of it is one lonely, dejected-looking rook,
+    who holds his head down in silence. The other rooks seem to hold a
+    consultation, chattering and cawing back and forth, sometimes one
+    alone and sometimes all together, until they seem to decide what to
+    do.
+
+    Then three or four old, solemn-looking rooks fly upon the lonely one
+    and put him to death, as if he had been found guilty of some
+    dreadful crime.
+
+    In this country, during spring, the blackbirds meet almost daily in
+    the tops of high trees, especially elms and locusts, and there they
+    chatter by the hour. Sometimes a few will fly off, angrily, with
+    quick, sharp notes, to some tree a little way off. After a while,
+    two or three more birds will join them from the large body. Then,
+    perhaps, some of them will go back as "peace commissioners," and
+    after a few more flights back and forth, and endless chatter, the
+    little party may return to the main body; or, increasing in number,
+    may form a second crowd as noisy as the first.
+
+    No doubt you have heard and seen many such powwows, dear Jack. Long
+    may you live to watch the birds and repeat to us their wisdom!
+    Truly your friend,
+
+    C.B.M.
+
+
+AN INTERVAL NOT ON THE PROGRAMME.
+
+I'm told that at Pompeii, Italy, in the year 79, a play was being acted
+in one of the theaters, when a storm of cinders fell, buried the whole
+city, and, of course, put a stop to the play, which has never been
+completed. A few months ago, however, an operatic manager named Languri
+made up his mind to have a new theater just where the old one stood; so,
+he printed in the Italian newspapers a notice that ran something like
+this:
+
+    "After a lapse of eighteen hundred years, the theater of Pompeii
+    will be re-opened, with the opera of 'La Figlia del Reggimento.' I
+    ask the continuation of the favor shown to my predecessor, Marcus
+    Quintus Martius, and beg to assure the public that I shall make
+    every effort to equal the rare qualities he displayed during his
+    management."
+
+If only Marcus Quintus Martius and his actors, and musicians, and the
+ancient audience, could have been at that re-opening of their
+long-buried theater, how they would have stared!
+
+
+
+
+THE LETTER-BOX.
+
+
+Our older boys and girls will find in this number an excellent article
+on "Parlor Magic," in which they are told, by Professor Leo Grindon, one
+of the Faculty of the Royal School of Chemistry in Manchester, England,
+how to perform some very interesting, and in some cases, quite
+astonishing experiments in chemistry, optics, etc. Some of our readers
+may be familiar with a few of these experiments, but the majority of
+them will be found novel to nearly all young people. Occasionally, there
+are materials or ingredients called for, which are somewhat expensive,
+and some of the experiments require a good deal of time and patience.
+But these are the exceptions, for nearly all the experiments described
+in the article can be performed by any careful and intelligent boy or
+girl of fourteen or fifteen, in a short time and at a very small cost.
+
+Of course, in getting up a little "Parlor Magic Entertainment" it will
+not be necessary to try all the experiments described. Choose such as
+you think you can perform without fail, and which will be likely to
+interest the company you expect. Be careful not to try to do too many
+things in one evening, and, if possible, make each experiment in
+private, before you attempt to show your friends how it is done. This
+will not be necessary in every case, but if you make an experiment, for
+the first time, before company, be sure that you know exactly what you
+are going to do and how it ought to be done.
+
+One more thing, the most important of all, we would impress on the mind
+of every reader of ST. NICHOLAS who tries any of these experiments, and
+that is the necessity for great care in handling and disposing of the
+chemical ingredients which may be used. Some of these, although
+perfectly harmless, when used as directed, are very injurious, if
+tasted, or even smelt very closely; and although the performer may
+himself be very prudent and careful with his materials and apparatus, he
+must not give the slightest opportunity to young children, or indeed any
+one who has not studied up the subject, to handle his chemicals.
+
+With careful attention to the directions given in the article, a
+pleasant evening entertainment may easily be had, and if an occasional
+failure should take place, both the performer and the company should
+remember that an _experiment_ is only a trial, and cannot be expected
+always to succeed.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I went over to my uncle's one Saturday lately, to
+    tea, and had baked beans. He never eats vinegar on them, excepting
+    some made in January, 1851, when 40 gallons were frozen in 53 quart
+    bottles. He told me there was no other such vinegar in the United
+    States, and if I could hear of any one who has some prepared like
+    it, and as old, he would give me as handsome a doll as I wanted. My
+    object is to ask you to please publish my letter, and I may receive
+    the doll, which I want very much, and oblige, with many thanks, one
+    of your subscribers.
+
+    L.D.H.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    London, England.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We are traveling in Europe for a short time, and
+    I thought, perhaps, you might like to hear a short account of our
+    journey. First, we went to Chester, one of the oldest cities in
+    England. It is inclosed by a wall two miles around, which was built
+    1800 years ago. The "Rows" of Chester are very strange and
+    interesting. They are rows of stores in the second stories of
+    houses--with a sidewalk in front, supported by pillars and covered
+    overhead. One may walk out on a rainy day and do a great variety of
+    shopping without being at all exposed to the weather. The sidewalks
+    below these rows, and on a level with the middle of the street are
+    dingy and shabby, lined with forlorn looking little places inhabited
+    by the poorer class.
+
+    There is an old house standing in an alley, in the garret of which
+    one of the earls of Derby was hidden for three months.
+
+    A small part of an old church, which was built 200 A. D., still
+    stands, and is one of the curiosities. There is also a tower where
+    King Charles II stood and saw his army defeated, only, that was
+    before he became king. Next we went to Stratford-on-Avon, where we
+    saw Shakespeare's house, and I sat in his chair.
+
+    We lunched at the Red Horse Inn, in the room which Washington Irving
+    had when he was there. I also sat in his chair. In the afternoon we
+    went to Shakespeare's other house and gardens. He had two homes, but
+    he only lived in one until he was seventeen years old.
+
+    We are now in London, and have been to see a few of the principal
+    places. Westminster Abbey is one of the great sights. We saw a
+    sitting figure of a duchess who died from the effects of lock-jaw,
+    caused by pricking her finger with a needle, while at needle work on
+    Sunday.
+
+    We also saw St. Paul's Cathedral, where there is a whispering
+    gallery, so called, because, if you whisper on one side of the
+    gallery, it may be heard on the other side as distinctly as if you
+    were over there.
+
+    The South Kensington Museum contains a great many curiosities, and
+    some of the things which Doctor Schliemann has dug up.
+
+    The National Art Gallery contains a great many beautiful pictures,
+    and one room is devoted to Turner's paintings.
+
+    We have also been to see the Tower, where the little princes were
+    murdered; they do not take you into the room where they stayed; but
+    ST. NICHOLAS gave us a fine picture of that in January of 1874. We
+    shall start for Paris soon.--From your little friend,
+
+    MAMIE CHARLES.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+"MOTHER." Unpainted, strong and really amusing playthings, such as you
+inquire for, are to be found, we think, in almost any large toy-store.
+Animals, wagons, and various amusing things cut out of plain wood,
+abound nowadays, and they can be sent you by express from your nearest
+town. In our experience, however, we have found building blocks of most
+lasting interest to the little folks. Crandall's are the best, for they
+admit of an endless variety of combination.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Washington, D. C.
+
+    MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have a little sister, named Josie, who is
+    six years old. She can read only a little, and she does not like to
+    do it at all. She has plenty of toys, and a nice baby-house, but
+    often she gets tired of playing and then comes to me to know what to
+    do.
+
+    Now, I want to know if you cannot tell me something for her to do
+    that will keep her quiet? I have another sister who is nine years
+    old, but no brother.--Your loving reader,
+
+    ANITA R. NEWCOMB.
+
+Anita may find a satisfactory hint in the answer to "Mother" given
+above. Also, the Kinder Garten games that are now used in many schools
+for very little folks may be of service to Josie.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    London, Eng.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have just arrived in England. When we were
+    fairly out at sea, the first thing I did was to explore the great
+    ship. It was four hundred feet long, made entirely of iron, and sank
+    twenty feet deep in the water. The masts were of hollow iron, and
+    seventy feet high. It took nine furnaces and forty tons of coal a
+    day to keep the ship going. The crew numbered a hundred and
+    thirty-five. It seems very wonderful that a great heavy iron ship
+    should not sink; the reason it does not is that it is lighter than
+    the water it displaces.
+
+    When we were a few days out, a flock of land-birds rested on our
+    ship. We fed them with crumbs, and brought dishes of fresh water on
+    deck for them, but after a day or two they disappeared. A little
+    further on, a hawk alighted on the vessel, and one of the sailors
+    caught it when it was asleep.
+
+    To find out how fast we were going, the sailors threw the "log,"
+    which was no log at all, but a long thin rope with a small
+    three-cornered canvas bag at one end. They throw out the bag, and it
+    catches in the water and keeps the end of the rope steady. The rope
+    runs out as the ship goes. One sailor stands with a time-glass,
+    which holds as much sand as will fall in one minute from one half of
+    it into the other. The glass is turned just when a certain mark on
+    the rope passes over the rail, and, when all the sand has run, the
+    rope is stopped. As the rope has lengths marked on it by bits of
+    colored cloth, the sailors can tell how far the ship has gone in one
+    minute, and can roughly calculate from that its rate of speed by the
+    hour. Formerly a real log of wood was used instead of the bag.
+
+    The greatest event of the voyage was seeing a school of whales.
+    There were dozens of them spouting and showing their backs above
+    water. Another exciting thing was meeting a ship so near that we
+    could salute it, which is done by hoisting and then lowering the
+    flag once or twice. Ships have flags of different kinds, and each
+    has its own meaning. So by hoisting certain flags, the captains of
+    distant ships can exchange news.
+
+    When nearing the Irish coast, a dense fog settled upon us, so that
+    we could hardly see from one end of the ship to the other. All day
+    and all night the great fog-whistle was kept blowing to warn other
+    vessels that might be in our neighborhood. To see a light house or
+    landmark was impossible, but the captain found out where we were by
+    soundings. Every ship has a long piece of lead with a hole in one
+    end which is filled with tallow. The other end is fastened to a
+    rope, and the lead is thrown overboard and sinks to the bottom. When
+    hauled up, some of the sea-bottom is found stuck to the tallow, and
+    from this and the depth of the water, the captain knows where he is,
+    for the kinds of sand and mud at the bottom of the sea, and the
+    varying depths of water, are plainly marked on his charts.
+
+    I cannot describe to you what a welcome sight the land was, after
+    seeing nothing but water for so long. But when we had left the great
+    ship behind, it seemed almost as if we were leaving home, glad
+    though I was to get ashore.
+
+    Your loving reader,
+
+    F. D.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A correspondent sends us the series of "Beheaded Rhymes" which we print
+below. Each of the stanzas contains two examples of this kind of
+rhyming, and, in each example, the first blank is to be filled with a
+word that suits both the sense and the measure. The next blank that
+occurs is filled with all of the chosen word except its first letter;
+and this process goes on until the word can no longer be beheaded and
+yet leave another word. The making of such "Beheaded Rhymes" as these,
+in company, to see who can succeed best, sometimes whiles away very
+pleasantly a long evening of disagreeable weather.
+
+
+A NIGHT'S ADVENTURES.
+
+  It made a most tremendous ----!           (1.)
+  I gave my horse a sudden ----:
+  He threw me full against an ----,
+    And broke my collar-bone.
+  "What can I do in such a ----?            (2.)
+  My horse is gone, I have no ----,"
+    I murmured with a groan.
+
+  I was as wet as any ----;                 (3.)
+  The wind and thunder made a ----,
+  And neither moon nor star was ----;
+    The night was black as sin.
+  The fall had given me such a ----!        (4.)
+  And I was miles from any ----:
+  I floundered on through mud and ----
+    To reach the nearest inn.
+
+  But when I found the wished-for ----,     (5.)
+  And saw through windows dim with ----
+  A fellow holding up an ----,
+    I would have cried with fear.
+  Each seat was filled by such a ----,      (6.)
+  As might have fled from any ----
+    Of thief or buccaneer.
+
+  I strove to overcome my ----,             (7.)
+  And ventured on a traveler's ----
+    To enter boldly there.
+  The porter waved aloft a ----,            (8.)
+  But still I stepped within the ----
+    And took an empty chair.
+
+  The leader gave a fearful ----;           (9.)
+  Sprang up, and overturned the ----.
+  Oh! I could cover half a ----
+    With what I felt that night.
+  He came, and gave me such a ----,        (10.)
+  That I cried out amain, though ----
+    With anguish and affright.
+
+  "Come, will you join our game of ----?   (11.)
+  Or do you choose that I should ----
+  The wretch, who wishes naught but ----
+    To honest men like us?"
+  With that he flung me from the ----,     (12.)
+  And seizing on me by the ----,
+  He drew me forth into the ----
+    And made a dreadful fuss.
+
+  The night had now grown clear and ----.  (13.)
+  I wandered to a distant ----,
+  And thought the cold ground not so ----,
+    As was that fearful spot.
+  But soon there passed a friendly ----,   (14.)
+  Who placed me in his empty ----
+    And took me to his cot.
+
+  M. W.
+
+The solutions are as follows: 1. Clash, lash, ash. 2. Plight, light. 3.
+Trout, rout, out. 4. Strain, train, rain. 5. Place, lace, ace. 6. Scamp,
+camp. 7. Fright, right. 8. Broom, room. 9. Scream, cream, ream. 10.
+Tweak, weak. 11. Skill, kill, ill. 12. Chair, hair, air. 13. Chill,
+hill, ill. 14. Swain, wain.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Pittsburg, Pa.
+
+    DEAR READERS OF "ST. NICHOLAS:" I live in a city of iron and steel
+    manufactories. I will do my best to tell you how an ax is made.
+
+    The works are a beautiful sight at night, with their huge, glowing
+    furnaces and the forms of the brawny workmen, passing between us and
+    the light. In one furnace they are heating pieces of cast-iron,
+    about twelve inches long, four inches wide, and one-half inch thick.
+
+    A workman takes a pair of long pincers, draws from the furnace one
+    of the red-hot pieces of iron, and passes it to another workman.
+    This workman is standing before two large wheels, which revolve
+    slowly, and which have several notches in them. The piece of hot
+    iron is placed between these wheels, with one end in a notch, and
+    the iron is bent double, bringing the two ends together, making it
+    look somewhat like a clothes-pin, except that the clothes-pin should
+    have a hole at the head, like in the piece of iron, for a handle.
+    The ends of the bent iron are next hammered together, after which
+    the coming ax is again heated. It is then taken to the steam
+    hammers. The first hammer joins the parts of the iron firmly
+    together, while the second, having on its face the mold of an ax,
+    gives the iron the same shape. The sides are then made straight and
+    even by a circular saw.
+
+    But an ax in this shape could never be used to much effect, for
+    cast-iron cannot be ground down to a fine enough edge. Steel can be
+    ground, however, and so a piece of steel must be added to our iron
+    ax. Two workmen take hold of the blade with pincers, and while one
+    holds a sharp tool on the broad edge, the other strikes with a
+    sledge. Into this split thus made, a piece of steel is slipped, and
+    a steam hammer joins them firmly.
+
+    After this, the ax is tempered, sharpened and polished; and, when
+    the blade is furnished with a handle, the ax is ready for
+    sale.--Yours truly,
+
+    "THE DOCTOR."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+The following is sent to us as written, without help, by a little girl
+nine years old.
+
+    THE HISTORY OF A CAT.
+
+    I am the family cat. I am not so very pretty, but they all like me
+    very much. I have a pretty baby-kitten, and I have a daughter named
+    Tortoise-shell. She is a pretty and good cat. She also has a
+    baby-kitten prettier than mine. Mine has such big eyes that its
+    little face does not look as cunning as my daughter's baby-kitten's
+    face. My mistress is very good to me sometimes, but sometimes she
+    pulls my tail and makes me mad, and I scratch her and then she slaps
+    me back; but when she is good to me, and pets me, and gives me cake,
+    then I purr to her.
+
+    Once my mistress' brother had a dog given to him. This dog's name
+    was "Captain." I did not like him one bit.
+
+    My mistress' brother's friend tried to set the dog on me, but he
+    would not come near me; so the boy let him alone.
+
+    When my mistress went to get my daughter's baby-kitten, Captain went
+    with her. My mistress did not know that Captain went into the room
+    with her. Tortoise-shell was tending her kitten, but, as soon as she
+    saw the dog, she jumped up and scratched his nose good for him. He
+    did not stay very long. He was given to my mistress' brother on
+    Saturday. The next day, which was Sunday, my mistress and the rest
+    of the family were at church; the dog got out, I don't know how, but
+    when my mistress came home from church she looked all about, but
+    could not find him anywhere. She was very sorry, but I was not sorry
+    one bit; I was glad. So now we've come to the end.
+
+    G.M.M.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Oswego, N. Y.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Please will you tell me where I can find
+    directions how to build a boat?--Yours respectfully,
+
+    HARRY MEAD.
+
+
+    Midland, 1878.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I wish that you would tell me how to make a yatch
+    I have a schooner but she gets beat bad and I should like to know
+    how to make a yatch that will beat them all I think one about 30
+    inches will be long enough.--I remain your constant Reader,
+
+    G.B.J.
+
+
+In ST. NICHOLAS for July, 1875 (Vol. II.), Harry will find full
+directions how to make a serviceable boat at a small cost; and G.B.J.,
+whose letter we print _verbatim_, also may find hints that will enable
+him to build an all-conquering "yatch."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am going to tell you about a game that we play
+    here a good deal. I do not know what it is called. It can be played
+    by any number, though the more the merrier. Each player must have a
+    sheet of paper and a pencil. When all are supplied, each one must
+    write across the top of the sheet a question, taking up as little
+    room on the page as possible, and turning the paper down so as to
+    cover up the writing, as in "Consequences." The paper is then passed
+    to the next neighbor, who is to write a common noun, of any kind,
+    under the question, and turn over in like manner. After the noun has
+    been written, the paper is passed on. Then everybody opens the paper
+    that last came to him, and must answer the question in rhyme,
+    inserting the noun. I will give you an illustration.
+
+        EXAMPLE:
+
+        Question,--"Do you like pigs?"
+        Common noun,--"Peas."
+        Answer, in rhyme,--
+
+        "I love the gentle animals
+          That sport about our home.
+        And all among the peas and corn
+          So happily do roam."
+
+        "Ah! little pigs I'll harm you not,
+          Nor e'en disturb your play,
+        But you shall have your own sweet will,
+        And feed upon the best of swill,
+          Through all the livelong day."
+
+    Will somebody answer thus this question, that was given to me:
+    "Which was the greatest battle of Alexander the Great?"
+
+    Noun: "Toes."
+
+    Yours truly,
+
+    D.J.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you a puzzle, which I hope you will print:
+
+        My first is in your body,
+          Quite useful in its way.
+        My second flows in Italy,
+          And flows by night and day.
+        My third, a thing to cook with, is
+          In every kitchen found.
+        My fourth's a common article,
+          A very simple sound.
+        My fifth folks often get into,--
+          The careless ones, of course.
+        My whole, a clumsy animal,
+          Is partly named for horse.
+
+    R.N.P.
+
+    _Answer_: Hip-Po-pot-a-mus, hippopotamus.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Wilmette, Ills.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have been taking your book two years. I think
+    it is splendid. Some of the stories are so funny. I go to a private
+    school, and I am in the Fourth Reader. The girls play on one side of
+    the grounds and the boys on the other; the cherry-trees are on our
+    side, and I like it the best. We have lots of fun. I am nine years
+    old. I have two little sisters, Belle and Marion, and a little
+    brother, Bobo. When we get big we may write some stories for your
+    book. We are little now, but everybody was little once.--Your
+    friend,
+
+    KITTY GRIFFITHS.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+    DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do like you so much, and I wish you would tell
+    me something. I see pictures and read books in which are the names
+    Penelope, Juno, Achilles, Hercules, and so on. The dictionary tells
+    but little about these names, and I want to know all about them. Can
+    you tell me how to find out?--Truly your friend,
+
+    CARRIE H.
+
+You can learn a good deal about the personages you mention from
+Bulfinch's "Age of Fable," from Alexander S. Murray's "Manual of
+Mythology," and from Mrs. Clement's "Handbook of Legendary and
+Mythological Art"; but the poems of Homer,--the "Iliad" and the
+"Odyssey,"--of both of which there are good English translations,--are
+the chief sources of the information.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    Chicago, Ills.
+
+    MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you an Enigma to publish in your
+    magazine. The answer to the Enigma is "Washington."--Yours truly,
+
+    WILLIE M.
+
+
+        My 1, 9, 10, is the same as one.
+        My 8, 1, is two-thirds of two.
+        My 6, 5, 10, is three-fourths of nine.
+        My 10, 9, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, is nothing.
+        My 3, 2, 1, is what my 5 did.
+        My 8, 9, 10, is very heavy; but
+        My 10, 9, 8, is not.
+        My 6, 5, 7, 4, 8, is always somewhere, but not here to-day.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE BOY ENGINEERS: WHAT THEY DID, AND HOW THEY DID IT, is an illustrated
+book published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons. It seems to have been
+written for readers living in England, but young amateur machinists
+anywhere would find it an entertaining book. It gives good practical
+hints about the management of tools, and explains how to turn and carve
+in wood and metal, how to make a clock, an organ, a small house, and how
+to set up a steam-engine. The type is large, and the style easy and
+pleasant.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIDDLE-BOX.
+
+
+VERY EASY SQUARE-WORD.
+
+1. A pointed implement of brass or wood. 2. Wrath. 3. Not old.
+
+A.W., AND F.E.D.
+
+
+DECAPITATIONS.
+
+1. Behead a bird's nest, and leave a lake in North America. 2. Behead a
+marine map, and leave a wild animal. 3. Behead a sail vessel, and leave
+a small narrow opening. 4. Behead a plant, and leave space. 5. Behead a
+basket or hamper, and leave standard or proportion. 6. Behead a sharp
+bargainer, and leave a company of people. 7. Behead a group of
+individuals, and leave a country girl. 8. Behead an act of deception,
+and leave high temperature.
+
+ISOLA.
+
+
+NUMERICAL ENIGMA.
+
+The whole, composed of twelve letters, is a noted character of American
+fiction.
+
+The 1, 8, 4, 12 is to rend asunder. The 3, 2, 6, 10 is a flower. The 11,
+5, 7, 9 is an open, grassy space.
+
+C. O.
+
+
+EASY MELANGE.
+
+1. Behead a pavement, and find a planet. 2. Syncopate the pavement, and
+give a shrub. 3. Transpose the planet, and leave the center. 4. Behead
+and transpose the center, and find a weed. 5. Transpose the weed, and
+give degree. 6. Syncopate the center, and leave an animal. 7. Behead the
+animal, and find skill. 8. Curtail the shrub and give excitement. 9.
+Behead and curtail the center, and leave a part of the body. 10. Behead
+and transpose excitement, and find a plant. 11. Syncopate excitement,
+and give an article of clothing. 12. Transpose skill, and leave an
+animal. 13. Reverse the animal, and find a sailor.
+
+
+CABIN PUZZLE.
+
+             .  .  .
+             .  .  .
+       .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+     .   .                 .
+   .       .                 .
+ .           .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+ .           .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .   ...     ...   .
+ .    ...    .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+
+
+The dots show where the letters are to be placed. The perpendicular and
+sloping lines of the building are read downward, the horizontals from
+left to right.
+
+The letters that form the foundation, reading from extreme left to
+extreme right, signify (1) a fireside; those of the lower edge of the
+roof spell (2) liable to taxation; those of the ridge-pole mean (3)
+calls for; those of the left-hand corner-post denote (4) the cry of a
+domestic animal; those of the middle corner-post, (5) a free
+entertainment; those of the right-hand corner-post, (6) a large bird of
+prey; those of the left-hand sloping roof-edge, (7) an officer in an
+English university; those of the middle sloping roof-edge, (8) a
+regulated course of food; and those of the right-hand sloping roof-edge,
+(9) withered.
+
+The chimney is a double word-square, and reads, downward, (10) bleared,
+(11) a man's name, (12) a farm-yard inclosure; across, (13) to plunge,
+(14) anger, (15) a playing piece in the game of chess. The door, also,
+is a double word-square: it reads, downward (16) a useful insect, (17) a
+city of Burmah (Farther India), (18) a resinous substance; across, (19)
+a wooden club, (20) a girl's name, (21) a part of the human body.
+
+The left-hand window is a double word-square, and reads, downward (22)
+to bend under weight, (23) a prefix, (24) hitherto; across, (25) a
+secret agent, (26) exist, (27) to procure. The right-hand window, also,
+is a double word-square: it reads, downward, (28) to make brown, (29) a
+kind of poem, (30) angry; across, (31) a nickname for a boy, (32) a
+girl's name, (33) another nickname for a boy.
+
+H.H.D.
+
+
+DROP-LETTER STAIR PUZZLE.
+
+--E E--
+      E
+      E
+      --E E--
+            E
+            E
+            --E E--
+                  E
+                  E
+                  --E E--
+
+Going upstairs, find (reading from right to left): 1. A fish that lives
+in English waters. 2. Full to overflowing. 3. Reward 4. An animal. 5. A
+lively dance. 6. An edible plant. 7. To maintain hold upon.
+
+Going down-stairs, find (reading from left to right): 1. To peep. 2. A
+part of a boat. 3. To look obliquely. 4. An aquatic plant. 5. To esteem.
+6. To gather. 7. The seed of an oriental plant.
+
+H.H.D.
+
+
+PROVERB ENIGMA.
+
+The proverb is composed of twenty-nine letters.
+
+The 5, 13, 26, 19, 2 is a wild animal. The 9, 14, 20, 16, 3, 11 is a
+person employed in the building of houses. The 10, 23, 21, 1 is a common
+reptile. The 13, 4, 21, 7, 29 is a bird of fine plumage. The 25, 17, 6,
+27, 8 is a bird that is attached to the dwellings of men. The 18, 28,
+12, 24 is a swimming and diving bird of the Arctic Regions.
+
+I.T.
+
+
+KNIGHT'S-MOVE PUZZLE.
+
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  lay  |   tle   |   on   |  dom   | braves | still | square | quered|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  ly   | truth   | press  |  day   |  the   | board |   ly   | strike|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| bat-  |  this   |  Per-  |   a    | free-  |  to   |  che-  | from  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  and  | fierce- |  who   | Greeks |  down  | Mar-  |  for   |  on.  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| reads |  hard   |  than  | sian   | youth  |  the  | square | this  |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  as   |  right  |  each  | poured |   at   | horde |  ward  | fight |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+| long  |   so    | knight |   ly   | thr'gh |  the  |   on   | leaps |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+|  As   |   on    | life's |  may   |   up   | bold- |  and   |  to   |
+|       |         |        |        |        |       |        |       |
+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+The above puzzle consists of a verse of eight rhyming eight-syllable
+lines; each syllable occupies a square and follows in succession
+according to the knight's move on the chess board.
+
+F.W.
+
+
+EASY HIDDEN FISHES.
+
+In each of the following sentences find, concealed, the name of a
+well-known fish.
+
+1. A Russian soldier, at Toms's, ate a salamander. 2. "Do you spell
+'knob' as she does?" 3. "Where is my badge?" "Ella has it." 4. Francesco
+drew a large prize yesterday. 5. "Have the girls and boys seen Fanny
+Dunbar?" "Belle has." 6. My dolls had the measles last month. 7. Every
+soldier leaves his tent. "Rout the enemy!" is the battle-cry. 8. I
+heard, with regret, that she had lost her ring. 9. I composed a song of
+which the first verse begins something like this: "Hark! 'tis a cricket
+chirping." 10. Wax dolls melt when left too near the fire.
+
+A.E.M.
+
+
+POETICAL REBUS.
+
+A two-line quotation from Cowper.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+RIDDLE.
+
+    Gleaming gayly, flashing light;
+    White as snow, and black as night;
+    Ladies, I'm your slave, your pride,
+    Though in ocean I abide.
+
+    Power have I o'er life and death,--
+    I, a creature without breath!
+    I, so small that you can draw
+    Fifty, like me, through a straw.
+
+R.S.C.
+
+
+SUGGESTED WORD-SQUARE.
+
+In the following rhyme, the words of the Square are suggested by the
+sense, and are to be inserted in the blanks, in order, as the blanks
+occur,--the first word in the first blank, the second word in the second
+blank, and so on.
+
+    To buy a ---- was foolish waste.
+      (I'd no ---- how it would taste!)
+    "I'll just have bread and ----," said Daisy.
+      "Who ---- a fruit like that, is crazy!"
+
+B.
+
+
+ANAGRAMS.
+
+In the following sentence, the words printed in capitals are anagrams of
+the words that should occupy the same places, so as to make sense. Thus:
+BATTLE-SCREENS is a compound-word that takes the place of another to be
+formed of the same letters arranged differently; the right word, in this
+example, being "center-table;" but each of the other collections of
+capitals is an anagram of but a single word.
+
+I saw TENT SUDS by the BATTLE-SCREENS, puzzling over THE MICA MATS, and
+perplexed about MANY ROOTS.
+
+C.T.
+
+
+REBUS.
+
+A two line quotation from Shakspeare.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+COMPLETE DIAMOND.
+
+The centrals of the diamond are each the same word, of five letters,
+spelling the name of a Frenchman who became notorious during the great
+French Revolution. The remainder of the diamond is made of words formed
+from the letters of his name. The diamond incloses a hollow square,
+either of whose perpendiculars or horizontals, read backward or forward,
+will spell a word; and, reading from the middle letter to either end of
+either of the centrals, a word will be spelled, which, when read
+backward, will spell another word. Make the Diamond. TREBONIUS.
+
+
+EASY AMPUTATED QUOTATION.
+
+Two lines from Tennyson. Each word is beheaded and curtailed.
+
+-RU- -EART- -R- -OR- -HA- -ORONET-
+-N- -IMPL- -AIT- -HA- -ORMA- -LOO-
+
+C. L. D.
+
+
+EASY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE.
+
+    My first is in bee, but not in fly;
+    My second in moon, but not in sky;
+    My third is in scare, but not in fright;
+    My fourth is in top, and also in kite;
+    My fifth is in broad, but not in wide;
+    My sixth is in ocean, but not in tide;
+    My whole is all New England's pride.
+
+H. A. S.
+
+
+ANAGRAM WORD-SQUARES.
+
+From the letters composing each of the following four sentences make a
+word-square: 1. Doctor, do Irish histories err? 2. Let their hotel
+gardener grin. 3. Post shall need man's sympathy. 4. Hurrah, Peg has the
+gallant pup! The meaning of the words composing the four squares, in the
+proper order of succession, are as follows:
+
+I. 1. A band of singers. 2. A wandering troop of barbarians. 3. A plant
+with a sweet-smelling root. 4. A simpleton. 5. Is quiet.
+
+II. 1. A spelled number. 2. A lazy person. 3. A dazzling light. 4. A
+marsh bird. 5. A river of England.
+
+III. 1. Profundity. 2. To try. 3. A sacred song. 4. A claw. 5. Poems.
+
+IV. 1. A noise that no animal but man can make. 2. The name of a letter
+of the Greek alphabet. 3. Part of a shoe. 4. A town of Belgium. 5. Deer.
+
+A. + B.
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN SEPTEMBER NUMBER.
+
+
+CLASSICAL DOUBLE ACROSTIC.--Virgil--Horace. 1. VoucH. 2. IagO. 3. RoaR.
+4. GeorgiA. 5. IoniC. 6. LittlE.
+
+NAMES OF AUTHORS ENIGMATICALLY EXPRESSED.--1. Poe. 2. Defoe. 3.
+Hawthorne. 4. Prescott. 5. Hay. 6. Cooper 7. Sparks. 8. Lever. 9. Lover.
+10. Boswell.
+
+ENIGMA.--Bridle.
+
+WHAT IS IT.--A switch.
+
+CHARADE.--Nightingale; night, in(n), gale.
+
+CENTRAL SYNCOPATIONS.--1. Mouth, moth. 2. Carve, cave. 3. Maxim, maim.
+4. Cabin, Cain. 5. Coronet, cornet.
+
+THREE DIAMONDS.--
+
+        T                C                 I
+      G I G            A L I             U N A
+I.  T I B E R   II.  C L O V E   III.  I N D I A
+      G E M            I V Y             A I M
+        R                E                 A
+
+PICTORIAL ANAGRAM.--"Procrastination is the thief of time."
+
+INCOMPLETE SENTENCES.--1. Fair, fare. 2. Rite, right, write. 3. Maid,
+made. 4. Reads, reeds. 5. Beats, beets. 6. Bawl, ball. 7. Mien, mean. 8.
+Fain, feign, fane.
+
+RIDDLE.--River.
+
+POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES.--1. Flat, flatter. 2. Ham, hammer. 3. Gross,
+grocer. 4. Lad, ladder. 5. On, honor. 6. Eye, ire. 7. Poe, pore. 8. Pie,
+pyre. 9. Mart, martyr.
+
+DOUBLE WORD-SQUARE.--G O N E
+                     A V E R
+                     L E E R
+                     E N D S
+
+HIDDEN NAMES.--In each sentence, take the first letter of each word. 1.
+Alma. 2. Helen. 3. Arthur. 4. Mabel. 5. Harry. 6. Ethel. 7. Ernest. 8.
+Edith. 9. Fred. 10. Stella. 11. Edwin. 12. Grace. 13. Frank.
+
+EASY CROSS-WORD ENIGMA.--Dictionary.
+
+REBUS.--"Can storied urn or animated bust
+         Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?"
+
+DOUBLE ACROSTIC.--Victoria-Disraeli. 1. ViviD. 2. I, I. 3. CorpS. 4.
+ToweR. 5. OperA. 6. RarE. 7. IdyL. 8. AlighierI.
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE AUGUST NUMBER were received, before August 20,
+from Eva D., "Patrolman Gillooley," John C. Robertson, "Three Sisters,"
+"So So," Mary C. Warren, May Bleecker, Daisy Briggs, George P. Dravo,
+"Doctor," Louisa F. Riedel, C.A.K., Bessie L. Barnes, Nessie E. Stevens,
+Southwick C. Briggs, Mary Louise Hood, Olive Mecklem, Edwin E. Ganegues,
+Anna Halliday, Edith McKeever, M.W.C., Lewis G. Davis, Bessie Hard,
+Edith Herkimer, Nina Riker, Marnie Riker; Jerome Buck, Jr.; Nellie
+Emerson, "Soft Soap," Jessie W. Cox, Fleta M. Holman, "Robbie, Irvie,
+and Daisy," Hild Sterling; Edith and Marion W.; Mary H. Bradley, Alice
+L. Booth, Willie Gray, Mamie, "Nantucket" Harry; F.M.J., Jr.; Jennie R.
+Beach, Maud L. Smith, Alice Lanigan, Walter Stockdale, Rowen S. McClure,
+Anita R. Newcomb, Bertie Jackson, M.G.A., Cora Rawson Ryder, "Apelles
+and his Papa," "Fritters," George H. Williams, Richard Weld, Winsor
+Weld, Georgine C. Schnitzspahn, "Rosalind," H.B. Ayers, "Oriole," Fred
+S. Cowperthwait, Benj. W. Mannus, Lizzie Thurber, "The Raven"; Horace
+White and Grant Squires; Neils E. Hansen, "Winnie," Chas. H. Stout,
+Kitty P. Norton, Laurie T. Sanders; "Box 325, St. Thomas," Annie J.
+Buzzard, Harry Bennett, Jennie Kimball, Dycie Warden, Margaret McF.
+Lukens, "Ratie and Katie," "S.G., and P.M.," Ann Hulme Wilson, Eddie
+Vultee, Dolly, Jessie Van Brunt, Willie R.C. Corson, Lincoln Cromwell,
+T.J. De la Hunt, "Stock-broker," Bessie C. Barney, Bessie Taylor, Willie
+F. Floyd, and Louise G. Hinsdale.
+
+Grace Rosevelt, Amy Growly, Ellen Smith, "B.Y.G.H. Caroni and Wife," "V.
+and A.," and O.C. Turner, answered correctly all the puzzles in the
+August number.
+
+Gladys H. Wilkinson, of Manchester, England answered several of the
+puzzles in the July number, but his letter did not come in time for
+adding his name to the July list. The delay was not his fault, so the
+credit due is now given.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and
+Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17466.txt or 17466.zip *****
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 04:51:12 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 04:51:12 -0700
commit	ed32600852db00d06eb1586289399b0029ac3c50 (patch)
tree	d077b696fe03b18ade6729ec1c0f0c4ae4ef8ffe