PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
I am a little girl seven years old. I go to a lovely place on the sea-sh.o.r.e in summer. Crabbing is the best fun you can have there.
It is best to go on a rainy day. You take a crab-net, which is a long pole with an iron ring at one end, and a net dropping from it. Another person takes a line with some meat on it, and lets it down into the water. When the crab comes to eat, you catch it with the net. I went crabbing with my nurse one day, and we caught a peach-basketful of crabs.
N. D.
GREENVILLE, OHIO.
I want to tell you about some Punch-and-Judy figures I made myself. I give a Punch-and-Judy show every Sat.u.r.day, and I make from five to ten cents each time. The boys tease me to play it all the time. I am eleven years old, and I can play Punch and Judy very well.
WILLIE G. H.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
I was very much interested in Gertrude Balch"s letter in No. 17, because her name is the same as my own. I have a little brother, who asks every day if that is not the day for YOUNG PEOPLE to come. At grandma"s, where I am visiting, there are two cats, named Nancy and John, and my aunt has an Esquimaux dog that is very large and handsome. He sleeps under my bed every night. I wish some little girl would please tell me how I can tame birds.
DAISIE BALCH.
I thought, perhaps, you would like a letter from Tallahoma, Tennessee; and I want to tell you that YOUNG PEOPLE is a very welcome visitor at our house. The story "Across the Ocean" is just splendid. Spring is here. Peach-trees were in bloom before the middle of March, and now we have a great many flowers.
ROBERT H. D.
BROOKSIDE FARM, MISSOURI, _March 30, 1880_.
I heard a whip-poor-will this morning for the first time this year, and would be very glad if others would inform me if they have heard the bird this spring. I heard a cat-bird trilling its notes about a week ago, and bluebirds, martins, and other birds have made their appearance. Pewits are building their nests.
Brother Le Verne gets YOUNG PEOPLE, and we have all the numbers published. We all like it very much. I like the articles on natural history best, and as I have seen some of the animals described, it makes it more interesting to me.
WROTON K.
CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.
I am very fond of reading; and when I go to my father"s office every Wednesday evening to get YOUNG PEOPLE, the first thing I look at is the Post-office Department. Nearly all of your correspondents have pets. I have a dear little dog named Sport. He is very playful and mischievous, and is exceedingly fond of taffy and pea-nuts.
EMMA M.
ANGELS CAMP, CALIFORNIA.
We like YOUNG PEOPLE ever so much. Mamma reads us the stories. I read the letters, and try to find out the puzzles. I have a pet dog named Rover. He plays hide-and-seek with me; and he will eat corn like a dog I read about in the Post-office of No. 18. My little sister has a pet hen named Tansie, and a boy who lives next door has two guinea-pigs.
WILLIE H. C.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.
I was nine years old last October. Papa subscribed for YOUNG PEOPLE for my New-Year"s gift for 1880, and I like it so much! The puzzles are very interesting, and make many a pleasant evening for us children. I think the story of "A Boy"s First Voyage" is grand.
I have had two pets this winter--a beautiful English rabbit and a very handsome kitty. Kitty can open any of the doors in the house that has a latch, and walk in as independent as you please. Bunny was very jealous of her, and would chase her and tease her so that I gave him to Cousin Georgie, for kitty had the oldest right. Now she has three of the fattest little baby kittens you ever saw.
When they begin to run around, they will make lots of sport for us. Old kitty has to give them several boxings a day with her paw.
STIMMIE H. C.
FAIRFIELD, NEW YORK.
I am eight years old. My sister Fannie and I have a pet cat. We were all at tea one evening, when we heard the piano in the other room. We ran in there, and kitty was sitting on the stool playing her best piece.
JESSIE V. W.
FARMINGTON, MAINE.
I am a little girl eleven years old. I have a cat named P. T.
Barnum. He always knows when the meat-man comes. Even if he is asleep, he will wake up, and begin to cry until he gets a piece of meat. He is a very handsome Maltese. I call him P. T.
MABEL S.
EDGEWOOD PLANTATION, LOUISIANA.
I am a little girl eight years old, and I live on the banks of the Mississippi River. My mamma takes YOUNG PEOPLE for me. I ride a pony to school every day. I wanted to tell you about my pets, and my dolls too, but I must not make my first letter too long.
LIZZIE C. M.
The two following communications were written in big capitals:
NEW YORK CITY.
There was a little girl who had four dolls. One of them was French; the other three were wax. There was a parrot in the house where the little girl lived. This little girl had a nurse she loved very much. The little girl had a brother whose name was Harry. He had a little boat that went by steam. He sailed it in the bath-tub.
BESSIE HYDE.