Various

“ About an hour afterward the breakfast-bell rang, and the boys went down stairs. There lay the paper by Uncle Budge's plate, which caused so preternaturally solemn an expression to come over their faces that Aunt Budge was quite worried.
"Now I hope you're not getting homesick," she said to Karl; "I know there's not much goin' on for you, as is used to a large family and a good deal of noise; still"—in a more cheerful tone—"we'll think of something after I've done up my work."
An amused smile played about Rick's lips, to hide which he leaned his head on his hand. ”

“ While we were talking, the sculptor's model came in; that is, the man who stands for his figures, so that the artist may catch the proper motion of the body.
I had spent an hour very pleasantly in this queer, mussy place, and as it was growing dark, I was forced to say good-by to Miss Venus, and the Boy in Blue, and my new-found friend the German artist; but I took away with me many pleasant memories, and I hope I have interested my little readers enough for them to turn to the history of the Revolution, and tell me who our hero is. ”

“ That night they brought the tailor the quarter of a dollar. He pocketed the money, made an appointment with them for the next night to go treasure-hunting, and, after they were gone, melted some lead and poured it into a hole in the willow wand for the sake of appearances.
The next night the three met at a paling fence at the foot of Stalcop's lot; the tailor brought his magic wand, Billy Shallcross a lantern, and Ned Springer a crowbar for turning over the stones. ”

“ When the world was comparatively young, and people were contented with legends and myths concerning the wonders of creation, just as children like fairy stories, it was the common belief that mountains were the work of gods and genii, who hurled them down from heaven, and allowed them to fall by chance, or else raised them as mighty pillars destined to bear the vaults of the skies. The Titans, who were not gods, threw down all the mountains of Thessaly in order to use them again for building up the ramparts round Olympus. ”

“ I am not sure that there is for a child like you. Perhaps there may be, and we will think about it; but you must not let such a thought oppress you; it is too much for a sick child to consider. Be happy; try to get well; do all you can to make everybody about you glad that you are here, by pleasant looks and good-nature. ”

“ Both boys burst into a laugh.
"Well," said Billy, "share and share alike anyhow; that's fair."
However, they deducted the quarter-dollar from Tailor Vertz's share. Billy's share was six dollars and twenty-three cents, Ned's six dollars and twenty-two cents, and Tailor Vertz's five dollars and ninety-seven cents, with which he expressed himself perfectly satisfied.
Forever after this adventure Dutch Dolly's husband was more careful about telling the boys of the mysteries of his art; and when he would get on the subject, Billy was apt to slyly remind him of the magic wand. ”

“ You're a great rider, my boy, a great rider, and you'll stand at the head of the profession some day, if you only stick to it."
"Thank you, sir," was all Toby had time to say before old Ben had him by the hand, and the skeleton was pouring out his congratulations in little Miss Ella's ear.
"Toby, my boy, you did well, an' now you'll amount to something if you only remember what I told you last night," said Ben, as he looked upon the boy, whom he had come to think of as his protégé, with pride. "I never seen anybody of your age do any better ”

“ He felt as though it had been taken from his own pocket, and burst out in a sudden torrent of words, scolding and stamping his feet in such a way that the boys stood amazed.
"What's the matter?" they cried.
"Vat's de matter?" shouted the tailor, beating his breast—"vat's de matter? Oh, Vertz! you fool! you fool! Oh, if I'd only known it vas dere!—if I'd only known it vas dere! To go empty it out of my pockets into yours! Bah! I might er had it all myself."
"But didn't you know it was there? Didn't the witch-willow tell you so?" said Billy.
"Vitch-villow! Oh, you yank! ”

“ Then going to the stairs, "Rick and Karl, come down here," he called, with an affected sternness in his voice. "The idea of your daring to make a guy of your old uncle!"
"We haven't made a guy of you," said the boys, rushing down; "and it isn't a mean fool at all, Uncle Budge, for it's really nothing." ”

“ From the foundry I went up to the sculptor's studio on the third floor, in the front of the building. Now, children, this is a real place, and if any of you ever come to New York, you can go and see it, for the artist is a very good-natured man, and is always glad to see pleasant company. ”

“ But not so with the Barnes boys. Gold pieces were not so plenty with them that they would be apt to let such an offer pass in one ear and out of the other. Already seats at the circus, fishing-rods, and skates were in wild confusion in their brains.
"A whole year to think up something!" said Rick.
"I don't believe there's a bit of use in trying," answered Karl. "We've come to the conclusion no end of times that we can't fool Uncle Budge, and we can't. That's all there is about it." ”

“ While wandering over the surface of the globe, and carefully observing its natural phenomena, we see that mountains are the slow growth of ages. When an insular or continental mass some hundreds or thousands of yards high receives rain in abundance, its slopes gradually become indented with ravines, dales, valleys; the uniform surface of the plateau is cut into peaks, ridges, pyramids; scooped out into amphitheatres, basins, precipices; systems of mountains appear by degrees wherever the level ground has rolled down to any enormous extent. ”

“ When I saw the picture of Niagara in Young People No. 70, I thought I would write and tell the little readers that I was born in a house on the Canada side of the river, in February of a very cold winter, when an ice mound like the one in the picture reached as high as the falls, and did not melt, entirely away that year until the 2d of July. There was an ice bridge, too, so that people crossed from one shore to the other.
I have a nice collection of postage stamps, and I have the autograph of Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria.
S. P. S.
Palatka, Florida. ”

“ I am seven years old. I wanted to write and tell Charlie C. how sorry I am for him because his little sister Annie died and left him all alone. And I am very sorry, too, for Harry D. S., whose papa was shot by the Mexicans.
I liked Jennie Anderson's letter about the flood. Mamma cried when she read it to me.
I have just been to visit my cousin in Chicago, and I saw a monkey in the park there that I thought must be Mr. Stubbs. I was so sorry for Toby, and I hope old Ben will help him to get some more money.
Mabel R. T.
Halifax, Massachusetts. ”

“ It was some time before she would unloose him from her motherly embrace, and when she did, the skeleton grasped him by the hand, and said, in the most pompous and effective manner:
"Mr. Tyler, we're proud of you, and when we saw that costume of yours that my Lilly embroidered with her own hands, we was both proud of it and what it contained. ”

“ We have had a long, cold winter here. To-day there is a regular "blizzard," and we have had a great many already. We live on the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, but have not seen a train since January 29, because the cuts are all filled with snow, and as fast as they are cleared out, another "blizzard" comes and fills them up again. I don't get Young People very regularly, only when the stage brings the mail, and then I get several numbers at once. The drifts are very high, and we walk on them over the tops of the fences. One drift is twelve feet deep.
Scottie O. ”

“ There, that is a little sermon which you hardly need, dear, for you are blessed with a sweet and patient temper, and are far less troublesome than many a well child."
"I suppose I do not deserve any praise if I was made so," said Phil, laughing.
"No, not a bit; the poor cross little things who fret and tease and worry are the ones who should be praised when they make an effort not to be disagreeable. But I am not going to preach any more. I am going down stairs to make some sponge-cake for the picnic you and Lisa and I are going to have to-morrow." ”

“ It fell clanking on the stones, and with it fell the stone he was loosening. The groan, and the noise of the falling of the crowbar and the stone, frightened Ned so that he dropped the lantern; and the boys, leaping over the pile of stones, fled up the road like frightened deer, closely followed by the tailor, who was scarcely less frightened than they were. At length they stopped, and stood panting about a hundred yards up the road.
"Ach! mein Himmel!" cried Tailor Vertz, stamping his foot, "what you speak for? You have shpoilt all de magic of de vitch-villow. ”

“ Strange as are these stories, they are no more wonderful than the actual fact that, under the direction of the Creator, the two great giants Fire and Water have been and still are at work constructing mountains, slowly, it is true, and not by any sudden upheaval, as the lovers of the marvellous would have it to be, but none the less surely. ”

“ The little readers of Young People are very lavish with their offers of kindness to this unfortunate boy. A great many homes are proffered to him, and no end of pennies and other comforts.
Indeed, no story that we remember has excited so much interest in its readers as that of "Toby Tyler." We could fill the Post-office Box with the letters received from our young correspondents, expressing their sympathy and delight. ”

“ One of the most interesting features in the study of mountains is the discovery of fossils, by which the naturalist accurately determines the age of rocks. Millions of these remains of animal and vegetable life have been preserved. Of course the tissues of flesh and drops of blood or sap are gone, but in their stead are particles of stone which have kept the form, and sometimes even the color, of the creature destroyed. ”

“ On that stormy afternoon, after the lamb had been made as comfortable as possible, the children gathered about the artist, and asked him so many questions about sheep, that they finally gained from him the following information.
"Sheep—that is, common domestic sheep—are certainly dull and uninteresting animals, but this is partly because we do not usually see them to advantage. Sheep are naturally mountainous animals; if left to themselves, they always prefer hills and rocky mountains to plains and low-lying pasture, and are as active in climbing as goats. ”

“ A Reader, Syracuse.—Skins of woodchucks and other small animals are often prepared by country boys without the use of any chemicals. The skin, fur side down, is stretched as tight as possible on a board, and is exposed to the sun and air until thoroughly dry. It must never be left out at night, nor allowed to get damp, as this makes it liable to crack and mould. ”

“ This is the first appearance of these daring young riders together since their separation in Europe last season, and their performance in this town will have a new and novel interest. See
MADEMOISELLE JEANNETTE AND MONSIEUR AJAX.
"Look there!" said Toby to Ben, as he pointed out the poster, which was printed in very large letters with gorgeous coloring, and surmounted by a picture of two very small people performing all kinds of impossible feats on horseback. "They've got some one else to ride with Ella to-day. I wonder who it can be?" ”

“ In the current series, all except the 5-cent are treated similarly to the 3-cent, head in oval to left. The 5-cent is blue. All these are the regular postage stamps for the use of the public.
E. S. R.—There are no books on the subject about which you inquire which are of use to beginners. The best thing you can do is to take a few lessons from some practical workman.
Johnny S.—If by "round" stamps you mean those cut from stamped envelopes, they are good for exchange, with the exception that they are very easily obtained. You must always cut them square, as they are better to paste in an album. ”

“ In addition to these external causes which change plateaus into mountains, slow transformations in the interior of the earth are also being accomplished, bringing about vast excavations. Those hard-working men who, hammer in hand, go about for many years among the mountains in order to study their form and structure, observe in the lower beds of marine formation, which constitute the non-crystalline portion of the mountains, gigantic rents or fissures extending thousands of yards in length. ”

“ In future we shall print no offer of exchange unless it comes to us very clearly expressed, for there is no space in the Post-office Box for the correction of mistakes.
I wish to say to those correspondents who have sent me used United States stamps that I only want new, unused stamps, as my foreign stamps are half unused.
John Lewis Caspar,
P. O. Box 3, China Grove, Rowan County, N. C.
We publish the above statement for the benefit of those who may be sending stamps to the writer ”

“ You don't s'pose the boss would let any one that rides in the ring stand behind Job Lord's counter, do you? You can do just as you have a mind to, my boy, an' I say to you, let's go out an' see the town. ”

“ And he drew forth a slender osier twig that he had cut and peeled the day before.
"Then you'll be rich, won't you?" said Ned Springer, excitedly. "All you've got to do is to walk around and to find treasure."
Tailor Vertz shook his head sadly. "I am like many creat mens," said he; "I haf foundt creat tings, but I lack von tings."
"What's that?"
"Money. If I had von quarter of a tollar, I vas all right. I must coot a leetle hole into de vitch-villow, and melt some silfer and bour into it, and den it is magics."
"Why don't you get somebody to lend you a quarter?" said Billy. ”