Harper's Young People, May 11, 1880 Part 6

I wonder if any of the readers of YOUNG PEOPLE have ever seen a tarantula. It is a large hairy spider that lives in the tropics, and its bite is very poisonous. I had one, with its nest. The nest is made in clay, and is long, like a tube. It is closed by a trap-door, and is a skillful piece of workmans.h.i.+p.

A. R. J.

BRANDON, WISCONSIN.

My father and brother commenced seeding the 14th of April, as it had been very warm for several days. The morning of April 16 the ground was covered with snow, and it continued snowing hard all day.

FLORENCE.

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

The other night I took my round in the chicken coop to see that all the chickens were in. Three little chicks, four weeks old, deserted by their mother, were just coming in. They jumped on the first roosting lath, and then on the second, and began to walk toward the rooster. One little chap jumped on his back, and the two others crept under his wings. What surprised me most was that the rooster took it very kindly, and has allowed the chicks to continue their tricks every night.

WALTER C.

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

I have a little kitty that we took with us to the beach last summer. When we went out rowing, she used to come with us in the boat, and if she didn't like it, she would jump into the water and swim ash.o.r.e. When we walked up the beach for sh.e.l.ls, she would always follow us, even if we went two or three miles. I am eleven years old, and my name is

WINIFRED B.

SALINA, KANSAS.

We have had such hard winds in Kansas this spring that the air would be so filled with thick clouds of dust and sand that we could not see a square away for hours at a time, and the air seemed charged with electricity. They were called electric storms, and the telegraph operators could hardly use their batteries at all. Can any one tell me what caused the electricity?

CHARLEY H. G.

DALLAS, PENNSYLVANIA.

I am a lame boy, and can not go to school. I have been taking music lessons, and I can play on the piano and the organ. Papa and mamma are going to send me to the Conservatory of Music. I am eleven years old.

WILLIE H. H.

BELLE PLAINE, IOWA.

We have just found some b.u.t.tercups for the first time this spring (April 15). I want to tell you about my pets. I have a dog named Watch, and I love him ever so much. He is black and white. We have a red and white calf. It b.u.t.ted me once, but I like it all the same.

ARTIE F.

YARMOUTH, NOVA SCOTIA.

I am eight years old. Papa takes YOUNG PEOPLE for me, and I am going to have it bound as mamma has her BAZAR. She did not have it bound last year, for she sent it to Edinburgh to my aunt Annie. I go to school every day, and like to go. One of our large school-houses was burned down the other night. It cost about nine thousand dollars, and nearly three hundred children went to school there. We had a spelling match at my school just before Christmas, and I beat. We have a mare named Nell, and a cow named Maud. We had a pig named Aubrey Percival, but now we call him _Pork_.

CHARLIE P.

ST. JOHNS, MICHIGAN.

I am seven years old. Yesterday (April 14) I saw a b.u.t.terfly in our yard. It was a blue-black with light spots. I tried to catch it, but couldn't. The same day I saw a b.u.mble-bee. I have a shepherd dog named Punch, and when I go anywhere, he always squeals to go too. He is my best playmate, as I have no brothers or sisters. I think the Post-office Box in YOUNG PEOPLE is very interesting.

ROBERT E. C.

NEVADA, MISSOURI.

My father is a harness-maker, and I help him morning and evening, before and after school, and at night I read YOUNG PEOPLE. I saw in No. 24 a little letter from Joseph D. asking how to tame wild rabbits. My brother was out hunting one day, and his dog caught a rabbit by the leg. The leg was broken, so my brother took some pine splinters and cut them into pieces about two inches long and a quarter of an inch wide, and bound them round the leg, and it got well. He tamed the rabbit by reaching his hand into the cage where he kept it, and rubbing it gently. It soon became so tame it would eat out of his hand.

J. L. G. L.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

I read a letter in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 13 from a boy who hatched a little chicken by putting the egg in ashes. I wish he would tell me how he kept the egg warm.

NETTIE M. T.

SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

I have a recipe for Puss Hunter's cooking club: One cup of mola.s.ses; three-quarters of a cup of sugar; one-quarter of a cup of b.u.t.ter; four tea-spoonfuls of vinegar; a little vanilla. It makes very nice candy. I have tried the recipe very often, and have never known it to fail. I would like to be a member of the cooking club.

R. C. W.

HANESVILLE, MARYLAND.

My papa takes YOUNG PEOPLE for us children, and I am very much interested in the stories, especially in "Across the Ocean." My brother likes to sing "I am the lad in the blue and white." I like to go to school. We are going to have a picnic in May, and are learning pretty pieces to sing and speak. I expect we will have a fine time; and if any of the young correspondents of Our Post-office Box would like to hear about it, I will write and tell them what kind of a time we really do have.

ELSIE J. S.