ADDIE CHAMBERS.
OLD WESTBURY, LONG ISLAND.
This morning I made cake from Puss Hunter"s recipe in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 19. Mamma measured the things; but I made it all myself, and it was lovely. I hope some other little girl will try it. I baked it in two saucers. One cake we ate, and the other I cut in two, and sent a piece to each of my grandmothers. I have a little brother Sam. He is six years old, and the dearest little fellow in the world. He and I have a nice dog. He is a pointer, and his name is Perie. He is very handsome, but he is very naughty to cats. He chases and kills them, so we can not have a kitty. I have six dolls--three are French, and three are wax.
NELLIE T. WILLETS (8 years).
FORT PREBLE, PORTLAND, MAINE.
I thought you might be interested to hear about some Indians who were confined in the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Florida, when I was there. They were sent from the West, as disturbers of the friendly relations between us and their tribes. When they first came they looked very wild and savage, with their red blankets, and long black hair, of which the men were very proud: but when they went away their hair was short; they wore shoes and collars and neck-ties, and the United States uniform. They behaved so well that they were allowed to post their own sentinels, were drilled by the officer in charge of them, and made a very respectable company. Many of them learned to read and write, and a large number are now at school in Pennsylvania.
CAMPBELL HAMILTON.
GROESBECK, OHIO.
My cousin Harry and I found some pepper-and-salt (or erigenia, as my big sister calls it) on the east side of a hill in our woods on the 28th of February. We also found spring-beauties and pepper-root in bud. I never found wild flowers so early before.
Last year we found the first on the 11th of March.
HAZIE POOLE.
GALLIPOLIS, OHIO.
I am seven and a half years old, and I go to school. I had a canary named Sweet. It died, and I buried it under the kitchen window. I take YOUNG PEOPLE, and like the Post-office best of all.
My cousin Lizzie made me a fire-fly out of pasteboard, and it flies nicely.
HERBERT H. HENKING.
TOPEKA, KANSAS.
I am a subscriber to YOUNG PEOPLE. I think it is a very nice paper. I have a little pet antelope, and we feed it out of a bottle.
HENRY BLAKESLEY.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
When I was four years old we had a young mule. The day it was born my brother and I were going to see a little friend who lived near us. I asked mamma if the mule could not go too, because it looked very anxious to go. After that we always called it the anxious mule.
WALTER H. C. (9 years).
ELDRED, NEW YORK, _March 10_.
The picture of a little girl pulling the Chinaman"s pigtail, and asking if it would ring, amused us very much, for it reminded us of something that happened to my little brother. He went with papa and mamma to the Centennial Exhibition. At first he was very shy of the life-size groups dressed in the costumes of different countries; but when he found they were not alive, he would go and examine them very closely. When he visited the Chinese Department, a gentleman stood there in full Chinese costume. The little fellow ran up and touched his dress, thinking he was a figure like the others, and was frightened almost to death when the supposed figure stooped down and patted his cheek. Willow "p.u.s.s.ies" were here two weeks ago.
ELIZABETH E. BECK (10 years).
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.
I like YOUNG PEOPLE very much. My father is a clergyman, and he says it is a good paper for boys and girls. I like to make "Wiggles." I made a big pig from No. 9, but it was very crooked, and looked like a calf. When I get to be a man, I will learn to print newspapers, and I will put in lots of "Wiggles." I like the new story, "Across the Ocean," very much.
THEO. F. JOHN.
HASTINGS, MINNESOTA.
In our school we use HARPER"S YOUNG PEOPLE for a reader, and we all like it so much. We had a lesson to-day about "Tracking a buried River." On Sat.u.r.day before Washington"s Birthday our teacher let us have a school party. He bought candy and oranges for us, and the boys and girls brought pies and cake. Some of the teachers from the other schools came, and we set a table, and made tea.
LUCY A. T.
XENIA, OHIO, _March. 8, 1880_.
I have been to a sugar camp, and I saw how maple sugar is made.
When I did not want to stay in the camp, I ran over the hills, and I went with the boys on the sled to gather sap, and I found some pretty moss and flowers. When they made sugar, one of the boys made me a little wooden ladle to eat it with.
JESSA HOOVEN.
FORT CONCHO, TEXAS.
I wish that every boy and girl would read HARPER"S YOUNG PEOPLE, for I like it very much. I like the puzzle part best of all. I have read Bertie Brown"s letter. I live at an army post too, but there are no Indians here. We have prairie-dogs, all kinds of cactus, and mesquite-trees. I have seen some big tarantulas, too.
I go to the post school every day. We have good times out here. I am a little over ten years old.
ARTHUR W. DUNBAR.
NEW YORK CITY.
I would like to inquire if the pupils of a big school, of which I am one, each send a short story, essay, poem, or a drawing to YOUNG PEOPLE, if the one the editors think the best would be published, with the name of the author.