Various

“ He had not much choice in the way of a bed, for it was so dark in the woods that it was impossible to collect moss or leaves to make a soft resting-place, and the few leaves and pine boughs which he did gather made his place for sleeping but very little softer.
But during the ten weeks that Toby had been with the circus his bed had seldom been anything softer than the seat of the wagon, and it troubled him very little that he was to sleep with nothing but a few leaves between himself and the earth. ”

“ The pirate was now so near that they could see quite plainly the rabble of gaunt, sinewy Malays, woolly-headed negroes, and sallow, black-haired Portuguese that crowded her decks. A few minutes more, and she ran alongside, and almost before the two vessels had touched, three wild figures leaped from the pirate's rigging upon the merchantman's deck.
But it was a very unlucky jump for all three. The first man spun across the slippery deck as if it had been a skating rink, and went right out into the sea on the other side. ”

“ The giving of an egg as a mark of friendship or love is almost as old as the ark, of which it is a symbol; for the ancients used it as a sign of resurrection, and brought eggs to the altars of their gods as gifts. ”

“ HOW SHALL I MAKE A LIVING?
"What business shall I follow?" is the question every young man and boy asks himself; "how shall I make a living?" and the best answer is, "By learning some useful trade." Nearly all the good men who have succeeded in life have begun in this way. Benjamin Franklin went to Philadelphia from Boston. He was a printer by trade, very skillful and industrious. ”

“ You do not begin to know what good you have done—nobody does; but doing good is very like the big snow-balls that children make in winter—a little ball at first, but as they roll, it grows bigger and bigger, almost of itself, until it is more than one can manage. ”

“ Not only children, but grown people, sad with suffering, have been cheered and benefited. And you too are growing strong: how glad I am to see it! Your cheeks are tinged with just a delicate bloom, and you have grown taller. Ah, the country is the place for you children! I saw one of your sketches in the hospital the other day, hung under a little cross made of moss ”

“ The monkey would jump from his shoulder into the branches above, run along on the trees for a short distance, and then wait until Toby came along, when he would drop down on his shoulder suddenly, and in every other way of displaying monkey delight he showed that he was just as happy as it was possible. ”

“ We have plenty of ice and snow, and the thermometer stays down near zero so much of the time that they do say it has cold feet. Sometimes we do not see any one for a week; but we do not care."
Just then the editor came in, and the office-boy jumped up and said, "Good-morning, sir; nice lot of letters to-day."
Perhaps you don't believe this story: it's true, for all that. At any rate, the last part is true; for every day there comes to Harper's Young People a great pile of letters from boys and girls in all parts of the civilized world. ”

“ I live near our white folks, who have taught us to read and write, and who let us read their copy of Young People. We read the letters in the Post-office Box, and I thought I would ask the little people to send me some of their old books, or anything to help a little girl learn. I am too poor to buy any books, and the ladies can not get them for me. ”

“ I have a little sister seven years old. I am always so glad to get Young People! I watch anxiously for every mail to come, that I may read the new stories.
I have a great many pressed flowers and ferns, which I would like to exchange, with any reader of Young People, for curious flower seeds, Indian arrow-heads, or other curiosities. ”

“ I had the best fun that ever was, all that day and the next day, taking care of that dear little pig. I gave him one of my coats for a bed, and fed him on milk, and took him out of the trunk every little while for exercise. Nobody goes into my room very often, except the girl to make the bed, and when she came I shut up the trunk, and she never suspected anything. I got a whole coal-scuttleful of the very best mud, and put it in the corner of the room for him to play in, and when I heard Bridget coming, I meant to throw the bed-quilt over it, so she wouldn't suspect anything. ”

“ One of the best employments for young men is farming. They may go out to the great West and settle on the rich lands that are offered them by the government, and help to feed the Europeans, or they may take a small farm of a few acres near a city and raise vegetables and fruits. They should first learn how to farm by beginning early to work for some intelligent farmer. ”

“ Toward evening he awoke, and looking up through the opening in the boughs above him into the blue depths of the heavens, he saw descending from the azure vault the [Pg 371] form of a beautiful young man robed in a bright green garment, his head adorned with plumes of green and gold colors. Standing at the door of the lodge, this embodied spirit said:
"Arise, faithful boy, and come forth. Only by wrestling with me can you obtain the coveted blessing which you seek. I am Oneasti [Maize] , a child of the Sun, and a friend of mankind."
The weak youth obeyed. ”

“ Lord won't wake us up in the mornin', an' swear at us for not washin' the tumblers," said Toby, in a tone of satisfaction, to the monkey; "an' we won't have to go into the tent to-morrow, an' sell sick lemonade an' poor pea-nuts. But"—and here his tone changed to one of sorrow—"there'll be some there that'll be sorry not to see us in the mornin', Mr. Stubbs, though they'll be glad to know that we got away all right. But won't Mr. Lord swear, an' won't Mr. Castle crack his whip, when they come to look round for us in the mornin', an' find that we hain't there?" ”

“ The egg is then boiled in water containing any colored dye or solution, and the color will not attach itself to the shell in any part which has been covered with grease, and consequently all ornaments will appear white. An egg with a text of Scripture on one side, and the flower that is sacred to Easter-Monday—that is, the star-of-Bethlehem, or marsh-marigold—drawn on the other with tallow, and then dyed purple with logwood, would make a very pretty gift for your Sunday-school teacher. ”

“ He was always fond of farming, and passed his later years in that pursuit. The habits of labor and accuracy he had formed in his youth made him what he was. Had he never learned to be a surveyor, he would probably never have been of use to his fellow-men.
Another of these useful Americans was Robert Fulton. Almost every one travels on steamboats or crosses the ferries; but how few remember who it was that first made the steamboat a common thing. Robert Fulton was its real inventor. He became a mechanic when he was a boy, and was never tired of visiting workshops. ”

“ When you read a letter, does it not tell you something? Anybody can understand everything they say the moment you look them in the face. When the office-boy heard all the letters talking at once, he puckered up his mouth, and tried to whistle, but his lips only made up a round O of surprise. He didn't say a word, but tried to remember what the letters said.
"I came from Chicago, and I want to find a boy or [Pg 377] girl who will trade postage stamps for minerals." ”

“ My brothers and I and the dogs caught fifteen rabbits this winter. There are just lots of them out here.
There is very little timber here, only along the creeks. It is mostly cottonwood and elm. We live between two creeks, ten miles from town, and thirty miles from the railroad. Our school-house is two miles away. It has been very cold here this winter, with deep snow. We have to go three miles for the mail, and I generally go on horseback. We can hardly wait for Tuesday, for that is the day we get Young People.
Robert E. L. N. ”

“ I think that Harper's Young People is the best paper that I ever saw. It is welcomed alike by old and young in our household. We are all very much interested in "Toby Tyler," and we all laugh at the trials and troubles of Jimmy Brown.
My father taught school this winter, and I did not miss a day during the term. Now I am tending a sugar bush with my grandpa. We have a hut made of boards to shelter us when it storms; and it is rare fun to see the sap seethe and hiss in the great square pan which is set over the "arch," as the fire-place is called.
L. C. A. ”

“ A Russian will salute you on Easter morning with "Christ is risen," and offer you his Easter-egg; and what is still stranger, the Mohammedan will do the same. And, my dear little readers, when you break your egg at breakfast, you are doing just what the Greek and Roman boys and girls did centuries ago, for they began the first meal of the day with eggs; and egg-cups resembling ours have been found in Pompeii; only they preferred the egg of the pea-hen or Egyptian goose.
Easter-Monday is the proper time for the presentation of peace eggs, and to prepare them is always a work of love ”

“ I am a Southern girl, and I love Young People as well as any of the Northern children. I live at our country-seat at a place called "Locust Grove." It is very dear to me, and very beautiful. It has been one of the coldest winters we have had in many years. The snow has been more than a foot deep in many places, and it staid on the ground three weeks.
I would like to exchange crochet patterns with some of the many little girls who write to the Post-office Box. I crochet a great deal, and I would like some new patterns.
Lucie E. Foster,
Louisburg, Franklin Co., N. C.
Boston, Massachusetts. ”

“ Large quantities of lead are used for the manufacture of shot and bullets. The smaller kinds of shot are made by pouring the metal from a considerable height, in consequence of which it separates into globular masses of different sizes, which cool during their descent, and in the water into which they fall. ”

“ There is no occupation pleasanter than this if well understood, and none that produces a more certain profit. Manufactures of different kinds also offer a sure employment for the young and strong, and stores and counting-houses are everywhere open.
Among the famous inventors are Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney, all of whom were brought up in workshops. Arkwright invented a machine for spinning cotton; he was a poor workman, laboring at his trade, and at first all his efforts to complete his invention failed. ”

“ But it was only the Clermont, Fulton's first steamboat, that had begun its trips between Albany and New York. The first voyage was made in about a day and a half; the sloops sometimes spent a week or two in getting to Hudson.
The advantage of a trade is that it exercises the body and makes the mind active. It produces a sound mind in a sound body. ”

“ I shall see those poor wizened little things as long as I live. I am going to sell all my pets this fall, and give the money to St. Luke's Hospital, and I shall sell every egg my chickens lay, for the same purpose."
After that Phil asked no more questions, but worked harder than ever at his drawings, and as the season advanced, and flowers and fruit grew more abundant, they were able to dispatch a basket twice a week.
Every day was filled with new life and pleasure. ”

“ Some of the larger boys have ponies, to which they attach heavier poles in the same way that the light ones are fastened to the dogs, and on which they can carry as much as a barrel of water at a time. ”

“ Stubbs," he said, exultantly, to the monkey—"home to Uncle Dan'l an' the boys, an' won't you have a good time when we get there? You can run all over the barn, an' up in the trees, an' do just what you want to, an' there'll be plenty of fellers to play with you. You don't know half how good a place Guilford is, Mr. Stubbs."
The monkey chattered away as if he were anticipating lots of fun on his arrival at Toby's home, and the boy chattered back, his spirits rising at every step which took him further away from the collection of tents where he had spent so many wretched hours. ”

“ The uses of lead are numerous: it is employed in making the fine kinds of glass, enabling them to bear the sudden changes of heat and cold better; also to give glass a proper degree of weight, and render it more easy to be cut without breaking. Lead gives to glass a greater power of refracting the rays of light, and confers upon it a higher polish. ”

“ These dogs look more like wolves than the dogs to which we are accustomed, and to strangers or those whom they regard as enemies they are very savage, but with their little Indian masters they are very patient, and from them will bear any amount of abuse. ”

“ There are about three thousand Indians around here. It is quite a show to see them dance. They have a large drum made of skin, and they paint and dress very queer. They are beginning now to come in after their annuities. ”

“ I've come from Marietta, Ohio, and I'll exchange it for real Indian arrow-heads."
"Here I've come all the way from Strasburg, in Alsace, with a new puzzle. I'm sure nobody can read it."
"Yes, they can. It's in English."
"We take Harper's Young People in Germany. I'm nine years old."
"How can you talk about travelling? I've been shut up in four different mail-bags for nearly two months. I came all the way from Samarang, Java."
"I thought there was a dreadful [Pg 378] smell of coffee in the mail-bag," said a letter from Buffalo. ”

“ Oneasti then vanished, but the next morning he stood at the door of the lodge, and again summoned the young prince to combat. Long they contended. In the struggle the strength of the youth continually increased, until he threw Oneasti on the ground. ”

“ I think "Phil's Fairies" is just beautiful.
I went to the mountains in North Carolina last summer, and mamma and I went to a mica mine and got some specimens. They are very beautiful. I heard the explosion, and I saw the mica and rock come up in a barrel, which was hoisted by a windlass worked by a donkey.
Besides the thin transparent pieces of mica, we gathered some specimens of white and green rock with little shreds of mica glistening in them. They are lovely. I am seven years old.
Claire F. H.
I find Young People so interesting that I can not do without it. ”

“ Then when they are real dry, I put them in my album.
Among the flowers in my album I have some potato blossoms, and they are very handsome. They keep their bright colors when dry. I think a great deal of my leaf album, and it is much admired by every one.
I will exchange pressed leaves and flowers, for pressed flowers from other States, and especially from foreign countries.
To go safely through the mails they should be placed between two thicknesses of card or paste board. I also have some foreign postage stamps, and I will give ten for ten department stamps ”

“ In this work they call to their aid their playmates, the dogs, always plentiful in Indian villages. To the collars of the dogs are fastened two long light poles, one on each side, that drag on the ground some distance behind them. On these poles, about half way to the ground, is fixed the kettle or earthen jar that is to be filled with water, and then the dogs are driven down to the river. ”