Harper's Young People, October 12, 1880 Part 6

WHEATLAND, NEW YORK.

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

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

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

LAURA M.

WINONA, MINNESOTA.

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

BELLA M.

SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA.

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

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

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

H. E. R.

CANANDAIGUA, NEW YORK.

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

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

He is nineteen months old.

ADA E.

LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS.

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

EMMA H.

SCOTTSVILLE, NEW YORK.

I am five and a half years old. I can not read, but I can write letters, although mamma says n.o.body can read them, so she is writing this for me. Mamma and sister read me the stories in YOUNG PEOPLE. I liked "The Moral Pirates" best of all, but I was afraid Jim would get shot when he took the borrowed boat back.

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

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

I go fis.h.i.+ng with papa, and have caught a good many fish.

MILTON B.

XENIA, OHIO.

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

ROSCOE E. E.

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

GEORGIE F.

BUFFALO PAPER MILL, NORTH CAROLINA.

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

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

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

MARY T.

WARSAW, INDIANA.

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

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