I am making a collection of birds" eggs, and if any correspondent will send me some plainly marked, I will send some in return. I am also collecting postmarks, and if any one is doing the same, I would be happy to exchange.
JAMES A. SNEDEKER, 60 Asylum Street, New Haven, Connecticut.
I would like to exchange postage stamps with Sidney St. W. if he will send me his full name, and a list of what stamps he would like. I live at No 26 West Nineteenth Street, New York city, but during the summer my address is,
JOHN RICE BLAKE, Old Cliff House, Newport, Rhode Island.
I am making a collection of pens. I have seventy-seven different kinds, and if any little boys or girls have any strange or rare specimens of pens they do not wish to keep, I wish they would kindly send them to me.
R. COMFORT, Franklin Avenue, near 169th Street, New York City.
I think YOUNG PEOPLE is a real nice paper for girls and boys.
Whenever it comes I always read all the letters in the Post-office Box, and I thought I would write too, and tell you about our pet colt. It follows papa all round, and once it went after him clear up in town, and into a store. When it was born its mother died, so papa has to raise it the best way he can. One time he let it run round for a little exercise, and when he wanted to put it in the stable, the colt put its fore-feet on the gate and tried to jump over, but its hind-foot caught, and it turned a comical somersault in the air.
I would like to exchange pressed leaves with any of the correspondents of Our Post-office Box.
WILLIE HUGHES, P. O. Box 301, Greenville, Ohio.
ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.
I am always very glad when my HARPER"S YOUNG PEOPLE comes.
I have a little dog named Pompey, and he is a very cunning little dog. I have had him ever since he was a little puppy. We have splendid races over the lawn together. Some time I will tell you more about him. I am nine years old. From your affectionate little reader,
BLANCHE T.
H. SUTHERLAND.--The engraving of "A Little Miser," in YOUNG PEOPLE No.
33, is after an oil-painting by Adrien Marie, a French artist.
I. O.--There is a very good swimming school at the Battery, New York city.
JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY.
I was interested in the article about the "New York Prison-Ships,"
and I think that many of the correspondents who live far away would be interested to know what has been done in New York in commemoration of the Old Sugar-house Revolutionary martyrs. Not long ago I was walking past Trinity Church yard with my father, when the largest and most beautiful monument attracted my attention, and I asked papa to take me in the church-yard to see it. When I got close to it I saw that it was a ma.s.sive structure with Gothic openings. It is fully sixty-feet high and twenty feet square, with fine carvings, and of beautiful workmanship. On one side is an inscription stating that the monument was erected in memory of the patriots who suffered as prisoners and died in the Old Sugar-House. It was paid for by private subscription. If any correspondents from a distance visit New York, they will be interested to see this monument in Trinity Church yard, for the sake of the n.o.ble heroes to whose memory it was erected.
EDDIE A. L.
Correspondents will also be interested to know that the ashes of the prison-ship martyrs now rest in a handsome tomb built in the hill-side of Fort Greene, Brooklyn--a pretty gra.s.sy spot, now known as Washington Park. As these brave men died, they were taken ash.o.r.e and buried in the swampy land forming the sh.o.r.e of Wallabout Bay. There they lay until 1808, when they were removed to a vault near the Brooklyn Navy-yard. In time this vault became very much dilapidated, and was almost forgotten, until in 1855 the question of removing the remains to a more suitable resting-place began to be agitated by the citizens of Brooklyn. Nothing, however, was done for some years, when finally the Legislature of New York appropriated a sum for the building of the tomb on Fort Greene, to which place the coffins were removed in the spring of 1873.
ISABELLA S. R.--In preparing ferns for skeleton-leaf bouquets it is not necessary to place them in the macerating bowl before bleaching, as the texture of the fern is so delicate as to be ruined by maceration. Before bleaching, the fern should be pressed, and as it becomes dry and brittle, more care is required in the bleaching process than for skeleton leaves. Hang your sprays in the jar, and fill gently with warm water. Then pour in the bleaching solution in the proportion of half a tea-cupful to a pint of water. Allow the jar, which must be covered tightly, to stand in a warm place about twenty-four hours. The liquid should then be renewed. It will take several days for the ferns to begin to whiten. They must then be watched carefully, and each spray removed as soon as it attains the required whiteness. The spray must then be washed carefully in a basin of clean warm water, and floated on to a sheet of paper, after the manner followed in pressing sea-weeds. It should then be kept under pressure away from the air until you are ready to make your bouquet, as otherwise it has a tendency to curl. Do not be discouraged if you fail in your first attempts, as much experience is needed to render the bleaching of ferns a success.
W. D. V.--In the outer wall of St. Mark"s Church, Stuyvesant Street, New York, is the original tablet from the tomb of Peter Stuyvesant, who was buried in the family vault within the old church which formerly stood on the site of the present edifice. On this tablet is inscribed the fact that Petrus Stuyvesant died in August, 1682, aged eighty years.
JASPER B.--The insect called the death-watch is a small beetle that perforates the small round holes often seen in old furniture or in the panelling of old houses. If one of these beetles be concealed in a panel, it will reveal itself by ticking in answer to any gentle tapping on the wood-work.
Favors are acknowledged from F. K. Reasoner, Eva and Ella, Carter Colquitt, Harry B. McGraw, Johnny R. Glen, Mabel Lowell, Julian Gresham, Alma Hoffman, Claire B., Mantie Miller, Millie Etta Martin.
Correct answers to puzzles are received from Cora Frost, Graham B., Beryl Abbott, Charles F. Crane, Harry Starr Kealhofer, George W.
Raymond, Marion E. Norcross, Eddie S. Hequembourg, Dora Williams, Albert E. Seibert, George Volckhausen, Eddie A. Leet.
PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.
No. 1.
DECAPITATION.
My whole is a fish, but if you behead An exclamation will be left instead.
Behead again, and you will behold A craft that was famous in days of old.
A. H. E.
No. 2.
ENIGMA.
My first is in odor, but not in scent.
My second is in strike, but not in dent.
My third is in man, but not in boy.