Various

“ Dodging fearlessly past the huge gaunt camels which almost block the narrow street as they go slouching past with their long, noiseless stride, roped together in single file like beads on a string, a tiny figure stands upon the threshold, looking down at Selim from under its party-colored hood, with a great show of white teeth and laughing black eyes.
"Aha!" cries the old slipper merchant, springing up with wonderful briskness for a Mussulman. ”

“ Crowds gathered around the tree all day, and at night the effigies were cut down and carried in a great procession through the streets, while the people cried out, "Liberty and prosperity forever! No stamps! No taxation without our consent!" Four months after that, the people made Andrew Oliver go under Liberty Tree and publicly read his resignation. This famous elm of liberty was cut down in 1775 by the British soldiers, exactly ten years to the month after the Sons of Liberty had decorated its branches with the pictures of Andrew Oliver and Lord Bute. ”

“ She turned up the light, which fell upon the words:
"Oh, Susie! the portrait has come, and it's Bessie herself! She has come to Maplewood to live. I'm the happiest girl on earth. Bessie says she is, and we owe it all to God through you."
"I am happier than either," said Susie, a great joy lighting up her face. "Isn't it like a story, Sadie?"
"Yes," said Sadie, excitedly. "I was there when she came. The Squire came to Florence's door and asked, 'Shall I bring in the portrait?' We looked around, and there stood Bessie. ”

“ A player who clears the centre line at one knock can play again, and if he hits the circle with one knock more, his side wins the game. Great judgment is thus required in the force applied to each stroke, especially when many balls are in the mall, as the player runs the risk of knocking off friends and adversaries alike. To gain force for the blow each has the choice of running along the mall from the starting-point. ”

“ The wind blew very hard, and the Ghost began to pitch uneasily.
"It's a good job we've got such a lot of cable," said Charley. "When I saw that the Ghost had fifty feet of inch rope coiled up on her deck, I couldn't help laughing, and wondering if Harry expected to anchor in fifty feet of water; but, after all, a long cable is a handy thing to have, and we needn't have the least fear that we shall drag our anchor or part our cable."
"This canvas cabin works splendidly," remarked Harry. "Tom, you deserve all our thanks for inventing it. Why, it's fairly dry on the inside." ”

“ If taken very young, weasels may be tamed, and a whole army of cats will not free a house so quickly of rats and mice as will one little weasel. Pussy must sit patiently by the rat's hole and wait until the mischievous beast ventures forth; but where a rat can go, the weasel can follow. Weasels and ferrets are often kept on board of ships, and are petted by the sailors, for a ship with a weasel as passenger is always free from rats. ”

“ In ancient times, when people were more superstitious than they are now, it was believed that bells which had been consecrated had the power to drive away evil spirits; and so, when any one was supposed to be dying, the church bell was rung to scare away the wicked demons which were supposed to be waiting at the foot of the bed, ready to seize the "passing" soul. ”

“ As the first stroke is important, it is determined by placing all the balls on the circle in front of the starting-place, and allowing each player to knock his ball; and the one whose ball goes farthest along the mall has the precedence, and the next one in order has the second choice. These two players then choose sides in turn, and direct the game. The object is to hit the white circle of the goal, with the fewest strokes, without sending the ball outside of the mall. ”

“ I don't know what we children would do without Young People. We can hardly wait for Tuesday night, when papa brings it home.
H. C. L.
Bethlehem, New York.
I want to tell Young People about my guinea-fowls. I wish all the little readers could see them. They have such lovely spotted feathers, and such cunning little heads, and they make such a funny, screeching noise that they frighten away the chicken-hawks. I wish I could send all the little girls some of their pretty feathers.
I am eleven years old, and my music teacher says I can play the piano very well.
I. L. K.
Burlington, Vermont. ”

“ There are many pretty stories told of tame weasels, and of the affection they manifest toward those who care for them. A lady who received a present of a very small and very young weasel fed it with milk, which it drank from her hand. ”

“ We are bound by our by-laws to relate once a fortnight some story or incident which we have heard or read, in a natural manner, and in our own language, and subject to the fiercest criticism from the rest of the class, who pounce upon us like little tigers as soon as we are done. ”

“ From the form of the simple implements preserved in the picture, Pall Mall may certainly be considered as the ancestor of Croquet, for the idea of a ball driven by a mallet was doubtless derived from it.
The best mall for this game is a hard concrete or gravel walk seven feet in width and forty feet in length. Doubtless after this game becomes widely known through the great circulation of Harper's Young People, malls for this purpose will be made on many pleasure-grounds ”

“ As summer dries up the moist paths and lawns, the boys are eager for new out-of-door games, and we will hunt for them, where most good things come from—in the distant past, the games of which are the new ones of to-day. ”

“ We have a little mule named Kit, that is very little and gentle, and we ride it nearly every day. Kit just suits these mountain roads. The mountains are very high and beautiful. A great many people come here with their little boys and girls, so I always have playmates. ”

“ Just now the mountains are covered with flowers. There are azalias, kalmias, rhododendrons, wild phlox, and other flowers, and many trees are blooming. Mamma says she never saw so many flowers in her life. When you look up the mountain from below, it looks like the made pyramids of flowers we have at home in the city, only so much bigger. I wish everybody could see. Papa sends me Young People, and I am delighted with it.
Fred J. T. ”

“ The defenseless hares and rabbits are bitterly persecuted by the weasel, which springs upon them, and with wonderful instinct knows exactly where to fasten its sharp teeth. The unfortunate hare may scamper away as fast as it can, but its enemy clings to its neck, and the poor little animal must soon fall, faint and dying, from loss of blood. ”

“ But the man was not quite so exasperating as Harry imagined. After looking at the Ghost with some admiration, and expressing the opinion that she was "a tidy boat," he condescended to answer Charley's questions about the channel.
"Channel? Why, bless you, you can't find the channel to save your life. It jest winds in among the islands, and runs every which way. You've got to be brung up on this bay before you can ever learn the channel."
"But we can find it if we keep searching for it, can't we?" inquired Charley.
"You'll be growed up before you do," answered the man. ”

“ A leaf can be obtained from the Washington Elm, Peekskill Oak, New Haven Elms, Salem Oak, and the Mitchell Cork-trees, as they are still standing, and a blade of grass or a flower can be easily got from the place where most of the others grew. ”

“ I don't egzactly rekillect what it was, all of it; somethin' about 'Alice, beloved wife of Timothy Thompson,' but I knowed that he said down to the foot that she hed two kinds of courage, and I guess she hed, and I knew that hump-backed Phil has hed courage, several kinds of 'em, and so he looks all right to me," said Slack.
THE WEASEL.
The weasel is one of the prettiest and most graceful little creatures that can be imagined. It lives in all cool countries, and makes its home in hollow trees, in stone heaps, or in any convenient hole where it can find shelter. ”

“ Any number of players can join, each one being provided with one ball and mallet. The best ball for the purpose is the smallest size of those used in bowling-alleys, made of hard heavy wood, four inches in diameter. Each player must be able to identify his ball at once among a crowd, for which purpose each should be marked with a spot of different color. ”

“ Now there are a great many of you watching every paper for your exchange. You are sure you wrote it clearly, and in every number you see others asking for the same thing you asked for, so you know your exchange was not against the rules. You can not understand why it is not printed. It never will be printed, because you forgot to give your name and address; and if you wish to exchange your stamps or other things, you must write again, and be more careful than before.
I have no more arrow-heads, but I hope to have some soon, and will send them to correspondents who have written to me. ”

“ I study part of the day, then I play, and have a good time. Strawberries are ripe now, and peaches will be ripe in June on the mountains in what they call the thermal belt, where the frost has not killed them as it has in other places this year. ”

“ Rats and mice, squirrels, moles, frogs, and birds of all kinds are hunted by the weasel, and it may often be seen twisting itself in and out of stone heaps or walls in the vicinity of barn-yards, where it watches for chickens, doves, and other domestic fowls. ”

“ The mallet must be made of oak, with a head nine inches long and four inches thick, through which a very strong handle is securely fastened, projecting three feet at least. It is well to have the handles of these mallets of various lengths, to accommodate tall or short players, as the ball should be hit without stooping, and on the run.
Upon the mall lines are made with white lime, flour, or plaster; one for the starting-point, one in the centre, one at the goal, and one six feet from the starting-point. ”

“ Two years ago he sent me here to my grandpa's, and I like it very much. I am nine years old. I have saved money enough to take Young People all myself.
Harry L McM.
I have no more arrow-heads to exchange, but I will exchange moss from the mountain cliffs, ore, periwinkles, and mussel shells from the river; or flints that will strike fire, for ocean shells, a piece of lava, or foreign postage stamps.
C. D. Mansfield, Merville, Powell Co., Ky.
I would like to exchange coins, minerals, stamps, shells, postmarks, woods, butterflies, and other curiosities, for foreign stamps. ”

“ This little creature is much hunted by man, and large numbers are caught in traps, it being a general impression that they do more harm than good; but although a weasel may now and then carry off a chicken from the farm-yard, it does much good by freeing barns and corn fields of mice and other small destructive animals.
[Pg 485]
[Begun in No. 80 of Harper's Young People, May 10.] THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." BY W. L. ALDEN, Author of "The Moral Pirates," etc.
Chapter IV.
"How do all the boats that go through the inlet manage, I wonder?" asked Tom. ”

“ But there was a man named Hardwick up to the 'cademy, an' he was a whacker. The boys called him Hardwhack, and I guess that kinder described him. Seems though he tuk a great dislike to Phil, cos he outspelled and outrecited everybody. He give him some terrible lickings, and I tell you didn't Alice Thompson riz right out of a sick-bed, and go down to the 'cademy, and give it to Hardwhack jest, you bet, before the hull school, for licking them boys, and she tuk Phil away. Sez she, 'Mr. Hardwick, I have been a teacher, an' I know that cruelty is not necessary. ”

“ Takes a bigger-sized man,' sez I, 'to commit a murder than a man as whops boys and burns up children. He's a white-livered coward, sez I.'
"'Oh, yes, he did, Slack,' sez he. 'Circumstantial evidence,'sez he.
[Pg 483]
"Wa'al, naow here's where the story comes in," said Slack, laying down the water-level, and rising to the occasion. "Philip he got to be a good-sized lump of a boy, and he tended saw-mill fust rate. Timothy Thompson he hed to go off up to the quarry, and some days Phil was there all alone, and Alice she used to come out and sit in the sun. ”

“ Sent on to have Bessie's portrait painted, and I'm to have it for my room."
"The tears are for joy," continued Florence, in answer to Susie's earnest, "Oh, this is enough! don't tell me any more."
"Uncle grew more and more kind. He seemed to enjoy planning for the May party, and you'll see this afternoon some of the arrangements he has made. It has given him something to think of, which Dr. Folger said yesterday was the best thing in the world for one of his melancholy disposition. Uncle has said again and again, 'I'm glad you take an interest in your studies ”

“ It is no larger than a good-sized rat, but has longer legs. It has a long, lithe, slender body, long neck, and dainty little head, with small round ears and bright eyes. It is covered with smooth, sleek hair, of a brown color on its back, and white below. ”