Various

“ Here Jenny laughed, and gave such a sharp look at Lizzie, and hitched her little chin, as if her eyes and chin worked together by the pulling of a wire.
"Are you always so busy?" Lizzie asked, looking with wonder at the small fingers cutting, gumming, and stitching so fast.
"Oh, busier," said Jenny, tossing her head. "I'm slack just now. I finished a large order for mourning clothes the day before yesterday. The doll I worked for had lost a canary-bird, and she wanted very deep mourning." She laid down her work, and reached for a crutch that leaned against the bench. ”

“ But suddenly his eye lit up with an unusual fire; he took a fresh hold on the lines, braced his feet, leaned back, and prepared to face the worst.
With a whirl, a rush, and a swaying from side to side, the four-horse runaway neared the steep descent. In an instant the boys toiling up with their sleds gave the cry of warning, and the hill was cleared. Then, with eyes almost starting from their heads, they gaze after the brief vision of Percy Vance driving a four-in-hand at lightning speed. ”

“ Neither of the lads ever forgot Percy's look at that moment. He was sitting by a sad-faced lady, dressed in the deepest mourning, and as Ted and Dan entered the room, his large gray eyes gave them both a brief piercing glance, then instantly dropped toward the floor. ”

“ Lizzie would answer, laying her gentle hand on the bright hair, which grew very long and thick and wavy on the head of the little dolls' dressmaker. Then they would have tea together, Lizzie spreading the cloth on the low work-bench, because Jenny could sit at that more easily than at the table, and while they ate they would talk over the day and its work. After supper, Lizzie would move Jenny, chair and all, so that she could look out over the square and into the evening sky, and then sit down beside her. ”

“ In Holland the races on the ice are regarded as a great festival. Prizes are given, and the winners are heroes for the time. Women sometimes join the men in the races, and not seldom they carry off the prize. Two young women once won a race of thirty miles in two hours, beating several men. Imagine a couple of comely Dutch girls flying along at the speed of a railroad train between short stops, and keeping up the pace for two hours!
And what sport is there to compare with skating on a perfect piece of ice, frozen by a couple of nights' severe cold, and quite free from snow? ”

“ There were mountains in sight of the girls now that helped make it real, and among them were big-horn antelopes as wild as the chamois and with very much the same habits. There were snow-drifts up there, too, for they could see the white peaks glisten in the sinking sun. It was all better than the talk of the braves around the camp-fires, and, besides, there were the pictures of the dogs and of the chamois.
Neither Ni-ha-be nor Dolores uttered a word until Rita had rapidly translated that "story talk" from beginning to end. ”

“ A caprice of fashion for any particular variety of animal or class of pet stock will often run up the price with dealers.
There is no reason why boys should complain of having nothing to do, when there are so many things that can be raised by them for the New York market that yield a fair profit, and often a large one. By clubbing together, some might raise white pigeons, for which there is so steady a demand and high prices paid. Or a pond might be constructed for raising golden carp, or gold-fish, or German carp. ”

“ The art of skating has been brought to such perfection that mere speed is almost despised among our best performers, who devote themselves to that graceful variety of the art known as "figure skating." Among the Northern peoples, however, from whom we originally learned to skate, speed and distance still hold their own. The reason of this is that in those countries skating is necessary for travelling, especially in Holland, which is literally cut up by canals that are frozen for several months every winter. ”

“ In France they attempt to teach people to swim by making them lie across a narrow table, and strike out in the most approved manner. It is not recorded, however, that any one thus taught ever entered the water with any confidence in his ability to swim, and it is probable that a Frenchman thus taught would swim about as well as a boy or girl would skate the first time they went on the ice after reading about it. Skating, indeed, like swimming and many other things, can be learned only by practice, but at the same time a few hints may help the beginner over the most slippery places ”

“ It is a beautiful river, and has mountains on both sides, and on these mountains I counted more than sixty castles. I do not like Paris so well as I do New York city, which is my home. The best treat I have every week is the coming of my Young People. ”

“ Girls should be like daisies, nice and white, with an edge of red if you look close; making the ground bright wherever they are; knowing simply and quietly that they do it, and are meant to do it, and that it would be very wrong if they didn't do it. Not want to be seen, indeed!"
May.—Caoutchouc is obtained from plants which afford a milky juice, white as it flows from the plant, but darkening with exposure to the weather. It is commonly called India rubber, and is so useful and convenient an article that civilized people could hardly get along comfortably without it. ”

“ Lift up the foot that is doing inside edge, and see how far you can go on the other foot alone. When you feel that you are losing your balance, or coming to a stop, put the other foot down, and push off again, repeating the outside edge trick with the other foot. After some practice you will be able to start off on outside edge altogether, and by throwing your weight to the side of the foot you are on, you will soon be able to make circles on the outside edge.
Outside edge is the key to figure skating, and having learned that, you may try the "three." ”

“ When you can do "outside edge," "eight," and "three," the best way to learn more difficult figures is to go to the corner of the pond where the best skaters practice, and, [Pg 187] watch them. You will thus learn more than a whole book can teach you. Practice and attention to a few simple rules are the only roads to success: (1) When skating on one foot keep the other foot well back, with the toes turned out, and the heel close to that of the other foot; (2) keep your head up—there is no need to look down at the ice ”

“ It seemed, too, as if there were more wretched-looking dogs following after this forlorn mule than attended the ponies of any chief's family in the whole band.
"Look, Rita," said Ni-ha-be. "Look at old Too-many-Toes and her mule."
This squaw had a name of her own as well as the others, but it had not been given her for her beauty.
"Isn't she homely?" said Rita. "I wonder where the rest of her children are."
"I guess she's divided them around among her relations. There's enough of them to load another mule. Her husband'll never be rich enough to buy ponies. He's lazy."
"He doesn't beat her." ”

“ Miss Jenny Wren, Dolls' Dressmaker. Dolls attended at their own residences.
"I hope it's a good business," said Lizzie, smiling at the little creature.
"No. Poorly paid," said Jenny. "And I'm often pressed for time. I had a doll married last week, and was obliged to work all night to get her ready in time, and it's not good for me, on account of my back being so bad and my legs so queer. And they don't take care of their clothes, and they want new fashions every month. One doll I work for has three daughters. Bless you! she's enough to ruin her husband." ”

“ The valuation of pet stock also varies according to the age, shape, color, and purity of breed, and the amount of intelligence or training possessed by the animal. The supply and demand also regulate the market price, as, for instance, I have known gold-fish of best size and color to be disposed of to dealers as low as two dollars per hundred in the months of June, July, and August, but during the months of October, November, and December the same quality of fish rose in price to ten and fifteen dollars per hundred. ”

“ When we children played in the grove, laughing and shouting, he would come out of the hole in the side of the old oak-tree, and listen as if he were wondering what all the noise was about. When we moved back here last spring, the little owl was gone. A family of pretty little red squirrels had taken his place, and I guess they drove him out to seek a home somewhere else. The little usurpers seem very happy in their new home. We often see them playing and skipping about, and as we never molest them, they have grown quite tame, but we all wish the little owl would come back too. ”

“ At six years old he—or it may be she, for the girls are treated in just the same manner—is probably an expert skater, and for the rest of his life steel runners are to him almost as familiar a means of getting about as his own feet. The Frieslander, we are told, goes to market on skates, goes to church on skates, and goes love-making on skates, and when he has won his bride the newly wedded couple are escorted to their home by a gay torch-light procession of steel-shod neighbors. ”

“ None of the lads had ever seen him run, and as for playing games, Ted Harley affirmed that he "didn't know a marble from a top."
But there was something the new-comer did know, and [Pg 178] that was his lessons; so it was not long before he stood at the head of several classes.
"He must study straight along from the time school's out till supper, and I say it isn't fair," Dan Tregwin was wont to complain; "for a fellow who wants to have some fun now and then don't stand any chance at all." ”

“ If young ladies really do not want to be seen, they should take care not to let their eyes flash when they dislike what people say; and more than that, it is all nonsense, from beginning to end, about not wanting to be seen. ”

“ Silent and submissive as are all Indian women in the presence of braves or of white men, they make up for it all in the liberty they give their tongues among themselves. They can talk wonderfully fast, and say as many sharp things as may be necessary.
"Now, Rita, see if you can make the leaves tell you anything about Knotted Cord." ”

“ He is now a large antelope, and when you touch him he will turn and run after you, and if you don't get on the fence or behind a tree, he will butt you. Sometimes the dogs come in and get after him, and then he will run up to the window and make a noise, so that we will come out and drive the dogs away. When we are at dinner he will come up to the window and lick it and ask to be fed. His tongue is black, and his horns are two inches long, but they hurt when they hit you. His color is a grayish-brown. He sheds his hair every year, and it gets thicker, so that he will be warm for winter. ”

“ In making up this report I have avoided the very high selling prices, and often the very low prices paid by dealers, but have taken the figures of dealers who are satisfied with a fair profit. Purchasers of pet stock will do well to bear in mind that prices vary greatly according to the season of the year, as, for instance, a month previous to the holidays the prices range the highest. During the hot midsummer months, when the young folks are in the country, the demand falls off greatly, so that dealers are forced to reduce the amount of stock on hand and the prices to the lowest figures. ”

“ The turn in the middle of the "three" is not easy to describe, but it is not difficult to do. If you think of the shape of the figure, you will soon get the knack of changing from one edge of the skate to the other, and you will never forget it. ”

“ He learned to like books, and to want knowledge; and when a boy gets really hungry and thirsty for knowledge, it is not easy to keep him ignorant. When some of the neighbors joined in setting up a little circulating library, young Webster read every book in it two or three times, and even committed to memory a large part of the best of them. It was this eagerness for education on his part that led his father afterward to send him to Exeter to school, and later to put him in Dartmouth College.
There are not many boys in our time who have not declaimed parts of Webster's great speeches ”

“ I don't know any more tiresome flower in the borders than your especially 'modest' snow-drop, which one always has to stoop down and take all sorts of tiresome trouble with, and nearly break its poor little head off, before you can see it ”

“ The girls looked at one another, but there was nothing to be gained by rebellion.
"Ni-ha-be," said Rita, "we can keep close together. They won't go fast, and we can look at the leaves all the way."
On an ordinary march a good many of the squaws would have had to go on foot and carry their pappooses, and perhaps heavy loads besides, but the orders of Many Bears prevented that this time. The poorest brave in camp had a pony provided for his wife and children, and as many more as were needed for his baggage, for the chief was in a hurry, and there was to be no straggling. ”

“ Robinson Crusoe, two sets of Fairy Tales, The Little Female Academy, and Æsop's Fables formed the entire juvenile library. They used to take Robinson Crusoe, and seat themselves at the bottom of the wide staircase, the two heads bent over the page together. Whenever they turned a leaf, they ascended a step, until they reached the top, and then they began to go down again.
Little Marten was not very persevering with his Latin, so, although it was not then the fashion for girls, Mary's mother decided that she should begin the study in order to encourage him. ”