Various

“ He alone can take thee to Fairy-Land."
The Princess then kissed the Storks all round, and the Sunbeam kissed her, after which they ran upon their journey, seeking berries, and playing hide-and-seek the whole day long.
At last night came, and Sunnylocks lay down beneath an old oak-tree. Here she slept sweetly until the Sunbeam coaxed a frolicking Breeze Fairy to shake some dew-drops down upon her lovely face. That made her laugh and shake her golden curls, and then she ran a race with them, until she was quite tired out, when they caught and kissed her. ”

“ Changing back to the bowline, Ben then cast off the ends of the foot-rope, while a cheer came faintly up to his ears from the great crowd which had gathered in the square beneath, as they knew the little Yankee—as they called him—had completed his work. Hugging the spindle tightly, Ben drew himself out of the bowline, threw it off from the vane, and slid rapidly down the swaying rod. Down the knotted rope he sped, past Mr. Miles, who began to congratulate him, down by beam and ladder and winding stair, until he reached the solid earth. ”

“ All the play, the running, dodging, leaping, twisting, throwing, is simply to get the ball through the goal. This part of it is easily learned. Of course it requires practice to enable one to handle the crosse well. But any active lad can soon get the hang of that, and once learned, it is doubtful if he will give up lacrosse for base-ball, with its broken fingers and sprained thumbs, or for foot-ball, with its kicked shins and sometimes broken ribs.
But lacrosse is no girls' play. There is sufficient hard work and danger to make it quite exciting enough for anybody ”

“ It was less than half an hour since he had stumbled over it, and yet Steve was already thinking of that ledge as "my mine." It does not take us a great while to acquire a feeling of ownership for anything we take a great liking to.
"Settlement?—work your mine?" exclaimed Murray. "Why, Steve, the people that built those houses were all dead and gone before even the Apaches came here. Nobody knows who they were. Not even the wisest men in the world." ”

“ Steve would willingly have staid to look at all that useless ledge of gold ore, but his friend was on his feet again, now resolutely turning his wrinkled face away from it all, and there was nothing to be gained by mere gazing. A gold mine can not be worked by a person's eyes, even if they are as good and bright a pair as were those of Steve Harrison. ”

“ The party reached their journey's end, and after eating luncheon at Mr. Van Zeilin's comfortable house, started off to explore.
"Good gracious!" cried Tom; "what's that?" In the next breath he recognized the strange object before him as an ostrich, but just at first he was thoroughly amazed. It was hard to realize that any mere bird could be so big. It was as tall—well, its head would be on a level with the top of an ordinary-sized wardrobe. Its legs alone were four or five feet long. Bird, indeed! it looked more like a young camel than anything else ”

“ Lacrosse is a simple game, and easy to understand. A large level piece of ground is required, the smoother the better, but smoothness is not necessary. A goal is simply two poles driven into the ground, so that the tops, where wave little flags, shall be six feet high. The poles are six feet apart. Each side has a goal, designated by the color of the flag. These goals may be any distance apart, just as the players decide.
Now the great thing to do is for one side to throw the ball through the goal of the other side. ”

“ Van Zeilin, distributing the branches he had been cutting to their party of six, "the ostrich is as stupid as he is strong and swift. I will give you two points. In the first place, when you are pursued by an ostrich, if you come to a fence, get over it, and you are safe, even if it is only two feet high. The fellow could get over it with the greatest ease, but he doesn't know it, and I doubt if he ever will."
"What is your other point, sir?" inquired Tom.
"Just this. If an ostrich makes for you, present a forked stick at him—thus—and slowly retreat. It does not occur to him to dodge you. ”

“ To be a good player, one must be able to run well and to run long. It is remarkable what speed and endurance some of the players possess. To have these, they must take good care of their health, and good lacrosse players are careful seldom or never to touch tobacco or strong drink, nor to eat unwholesome food at unnatural hours.
Lacrosse is a good game, because it cultivates courage in a boy, knocks the timidity out of him, gives him confidence and pluck, and teaches him to govern his temper. ”

“ Because we see such things going on to-day all about us. The sea, the ice, the wind, the tides, and the rain are ever at work tearing down and building up. We can see the sea making sand and mud that will one day be solid rock and dry land. Surely these things are worth studying, and you must look about for other rocks, and try to read their story.
Everywhere in New York city, and in many other Eastern cities, you will see a rock that you may be very sure came from the sea. ”

“ And now if you want to know what Fairy-Land looks like, you just ask your baby brother or sister the first time you see them smiling in their sleep, and they will tell you; for only babies and angels have the right words to describe it with.
All I know is that Sunnylocks was led to the palace of the Fairy Queen, which is built of all the lovely actions which are unheeded in this world of ours, and that she dropped upon her knees and said:
"Dear Fairy Queen, the Sunbeam saw my beautiful mamma's picture, and he said she was so lovely that she must have come to Fairy-Land. ”

“ Stork; "and now thou and the Sunbeam will stay and take breakfast with us, and then thou mayst go upon thy journey."
Sunnylocks thanked Mrs. Stork, and after she had eaten her breakfast she inquired the way to Fairy-Land.
"Why, I thought every bird and beast and flower knew the way. But then thou art neither bird nor beast nor flower, consequently thou canst not know the way. Fairy-Land lies on the other side of the moon." ”

“ More and more, as the world becomes highly civilized, and the religion of Christ is spreading from land to land, peace obtains victories, and war goes out of fashion. Nations resort to arbitration about disputed matters, and rulers learn that they can not be allowed to plunge thousands of people into distress and poverty to satisfy their personal ambition. ”

“ His messmates thought him a nice boy, and called him "Little Boy Blue."
"Ostrich farming is a new thing, is it not?" asked Tom's father, Captain Fairweather, of Mr. Van Zeilin, the owner of the farm they were going to visit, and who, as his name showed, came of the early Dutch settlers of the colony.
"Yes; the attempt was first made only about twenty years ago." (Tom thought twenty years made a very old thing of it.) "We have been fairly successful; our only profit is in the feathers, as you doubtless know."
"Don't you sell the eggs, sir?" asked Tom. ”

“ I saw in Young People lately some anecdotes of cats, and I thought that I would like to describe a very strange cat owned by a friend of mine. This gentleman calls her a rabbit-cat, and she is very much like a rabbit. She has a "bob" tail, and her hind-legs are much longer than her fore-legs, so that she seems to tip forward as she runs.
She runs like a rabbit, and is very wild. ”

“ Basil Hall, Catlin, and Lanman, who have written some of the best books about Indians, tell how the Creeks of Alabama, the Cherokees of North Carolina, and other tribes, played the game years ago, and their accounts show that then it was a fierce, hard game to play, in which the young Indians displayed wonderful skill and strength and pluck, and where broken bones were no rare thing. ”

“ The little webs which you refer to as stretched from one blade of grass to another in dry weather are made by spiders, whose instinct teaches them to spin their webs when there is little probability that the rain will destroy them.
Inquirer.—If you have read the story of Ariadne, you will remember that after she had married Theseus, and had been deserted by him on the island of Naxos, she was found and comforted by the young god Dionysus, or Bacchus. Venus herself had come to her, checked her weeping, and told her she should become the wife of a god. ”

“ The camel appears to be wholly passive—without doubt or fear, emotions or opinions of any kind—to be in all things a willing slave to destiny. He has none of the dash and brilliancy of the horse; that looking about with erect neck, fiery eye, cocked ears, and inflated nostrils; that readiness to dash along a race-course, follow the hounds across country, or charge the enemy ”

“ It is a pretty game. It is very interesting to watch twenty-four players, especially if they are wearing tasteful uniforms, all rushing, leaping, dodging, over the green grass, each side intent upon driving that little black ball through the goal.
There have been games of lacrosse that were not so pretty. History tells of one that ended in a fearful tragedy. It was played over one hundred years ago, in 1763. One of the British chain of forts in the North was Fort Michilimackinac. ”

“ A GAME OF LACROSSE AT THE POLO -GROUND, NEW YORK CITY, OCTOBER 24, 1881.—Drawn by W. St. John Harper.
[Pg 26]
LACROSSE. BY BRAINARD G. SMITH.
Lacrosse is becoming very popular among the young men and lads of the United States, and very properly, too, for it is a fine game, and one that is thoroughly American. Years ago, how many no one knows, it was played by American Indians, who called it "Baggataway." ”

“ Some great wars have sent scholars and artisans into exile, and thus learning and useful arts have been carried to new lands, and mankind has been benefited in the end. Peace gives time for the growth of that which is best in the life of nations. ”

“ So expert do some players become that they will throw the ball straight and swiftly from goal to goal. Mr. Lally, of the Shamrock Club, is able to throw the ball four hundred and fifty feet. The ball is of India rubber sponge, not less than eight nor more than nine inches in circumference. As the game is now played, twelve players are on each side, placed according to the best judgment of their captains for working the ball toward the opposite goal, or keeping it from going through their own goal. ”

“ Many of you can not visit New York, so I carried my camera to the place, and took a photograph of the rocky wall. The engraver has made a picture from [Pg 20] my photograph, and here you can see it. At the left you can look down Seventieth Street, and see part of the rocky hill on the next block. On top is an old shanty, a tree or two, and a tumble-down fence. Directly in front is the solid wall of stone, just as it has lain there for perhaps tens of thousands of years. In the foreground are the broken fragments of rock that have been torn down by the blasts. ”

“ He knew his rifle was a good one, however, for it was a seven-shooting repeater of the latest and best pattern, and had been selected for him by Murray [Pg 19] himself out of a lot the Lipans had brought in, nobody knew from where.
"Steady, Steve. Think of the deer, not of the gold mine."
"I'll aim at him as if he were a gold mine," replied Steve, as he raised his rifle. ”

“ My teacher is, besides being thorough and efficient, a real Christian lady, and we all love her very much. Should you chance to be in Bridgeport some Friday morning, come in and see us. There are a great many who take Harper's Young People among our scholars, and they would be delighted to see the editor. Papa and mamma take me occasionally to your beautiful city, and next time I go papa says he will show me where Young People is published; but I will not write more, for fear my letter may be too long.
Clinton T. P.
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. ”

“ Not long ago I saw some men at work in a stone quarry on Second Avenue, at the corner of Seventieth Street, New York. In this part of the city there are many empty lots not yet built upon. These vacant squares are in some places covered with great masses of rough rocks, that must be cleared away before the houses can be built. ”

“ It needs a very wise Postmistress indeed to decide which has done the most for the world, peace or war; and to answer the question decidedly, we would have to be familiar with all the histories that have ever been written, and all the systems of political economy which have governed different nations and countries in ancient and modern times. ”

“ The American panther, or, as Murray called him, cougar, is not so common among the mountains as he is in some parts of the forest-covered lowlands, but the vicinity of the table-land above, with its herds of deer, might account for this one. There he was now, at all events, preparing to take possession of the game on the top of that bowlder without asking leave of anybody. ”

“ Ben Buttles was a real mother boy; that is, he was in his sixteenth year, yet did not think himself too old to love and obey his mother, or care for her comfort. It is always a bad sign when a boy begins to outgrow one or both of his parents. ”