Various

“ A host of boys set up shrill yells. Joe and Elsie were twitched into place by energetic Mr. Hill, and ordered to hold up their heads and keep time to the music.
"Isn't it fun?" thought Elsie, stepping briskly along, and grasping her torch with both hands.
If one hundred torches were "fun," what could be said when they reached Market Square, where the grand procession was to form, and where there was a blaze of light such as Elsie had never imagined! Bands were playing, horses were prancing; some one set fire to a sort of powder, and, lo! the whole street was rosy red. ”

“ The house was tastefully dressed with flowers, which always grew to perfection in Mrs. Mallow's garden, and the lady of the house knew just how to use them to the best advantage. Benny and his sister received the guests; and although Benny was barely twelve years old that day, and rather small for his age, he appeared quite graceful and manly in his new Sunday suit, which had not, like the new suits of most of the Laketon boys, been cut with a view to his growing within the year. ”

“ The boy who wears the dressing-gown or old dress-coat should also have a palette, brush, a piece of chalk, and some other artistic implements with which to decorate the room, which can be very prettily arranged if for a public performance. The most conspicuous object is a large blackboard, standing on the floor at the rear of the room, behind which another boy is concealed, and upon which all the mystery depends. The artist is discovered walking around the room in a nervous manner, as if expecting a pupil. ”

“ I have no doubt that many of the readers of Young People are stamp collectors, and that many more are ready to become stamp collectors if they are started properly. Little difficulty is experienced at the present day in getting a good assortment of stamps, because the great spread of the postal system, and the resulting increase of correspondence, bring the stamps of every foreign country into the business houses of New York. ”

“ A knock is heard, and he admits the lady, who salutes him with an old-fashioned bow in response to those with which he greets her. She leads in the boy by the hand, who hangs back, as if very bashful. She puts her hand behind the boy's head, and compels him to bow to the artist, of whom he seems afraid. ”

“ The Japanese people are very fond of pets. It is very rare to find a house entirely destitute of some favorite animal, from the costly chin (King Charles spaniel) to the bob-tailed cat that purrs near the tea-kettle on the hibachi, or fire-box. Canary-birds are quite common, and in place of something more rare, tiny bantam fowls are caressed and petted. Even a "rain-frog," or tree-toad, has been made a child's darling, while the little water turtles with fringed tails are prized as rare objects of delight. ”

“ Every reader of Young People has friends who have a correspondence more or less extensive, and whose desks are, therefore, store-houses of postage stamps. Requests for these stamps will seldom be denied, and in a very little while the beginner will have enough to make a start. Look over the specimens, pick out those that are the cleanest, and put aside as useless those that are torn or much defaced. Remove any superfluous paper from the back of the stamps selected for use by carefully touching the backs with warm water, when the adhering paper can easily be peeled off. ”

“ If I was a woman I wouldn't be so dreadfully suspicious as to keep everything locked up. When I got back up stairs again the baby was awake and was howling like he was full of pins. So I gave him the first thing that came handy to keep him quiet. It happened to be a bottle of French polish with a sponge in it on the end of a wire that Sue uses to black her shoes, because girls are too lazy to use a regular blacking-brush.
The baby stopped crying as soon as I gave him the bottle and I sat down to read the Young People. ”

“ I once saw a life-and-death struggle between two apparently very unequal opponents—a frog and a beetle. As I was standing near the cellar window, which was below-ground, and protected by an iron grating, I noticed in the area below it a large frog, which, at regular intervals of one or two minutes, leaped from one side of the little inclosure to the other. I looked more closely, and saw that it was each time followed by a black beetle, that walked backward and forward, not seeming at all discouraged when the frog, every time it reached it, jumped back over its head, and so escaped. ”

“ The city has many lovely promenades and parks. The Zoological Garden is a gem, and wild and tame animals of all kinds may be seen there. Very often queer people, such as Esquimaux, Indians, Nubians, and Hindoos, come to Dresden, and have an exhibition, and many strangers may be seen in the streets. To-day the Chevalier Blondin, the celebrated tight-rope walker, created a great sensation, and many people attended his daring performance, rewarding his dangerous and difficult feats with enthusiastic applause.
I like Young People very much. The new serial, "Who was Paul Grayson?" ”

“ It soon learns to run about the house, and stand on its hind-legs to nibble bits of radish or lumps of boiled rice from the children's hands.
Sometimes the farmers find bigger game in their snares, such as badgers and foxes. If the badger is young, or if the boys can find an old mother badger's nest, the little cubs can be easily tamed. If kindly treated, kept from dogs, and not provoked, they are quite harmless. ”

“ On the 11th of September, 1777, Lafayette saw his first battle. The English had landed at the Capes of the Delaware, and marched on Philadelphia. Washington was deceived by bad scouts, and before he knew it the British had got past his army; and though the Americans fought bravely, they were obliged to give way. In trying to rally them, Lafayette was badly wounded by a musket-ball in the leg. For some time, in his zeal, he did not notice the wound, until an aide-de-camp saw the blood, which had filled his boot, and was running over the top. ”

“ I am very hard to tame, though gentle and timid, yet I submit to being pulled, tied, cut, dressed, burned, without rebelling; in fact, I might be called inanimate, though I never cease growing; but the truth is, in a year I attain my full growth. ”

“ I have a great many dolls, and I have a pet parrot that is very fond of me. He can not talk very much, but he will learn. I had a pet cat, but it got lost.
Grace D. C.
Collamer, New York.
I am taking Young People, and I am delighted with it.
I have two pet cats, and I have some house plants. This summer there were some small insects at work on their roots. I wish some one could tell me what they were.
I am taking music lessons, and like to practice very much.
I have quite a large collection of birds' eggs.
Bertha G. M.
Preakness, New Jersey. ”

“ There were still some pleasant things to look forward to, though: court would sit in the first week of September, and then the counterfeiter would be tried, while on the very first day of September would come Benny Mallow's birthday party—an affair that every year was looked forward to with pleasure, for Benny's mother, although far from rich, was very proud of her children, and always made their little companies as pleasant as any ever given in Laketon for young people. ”

“ They must borrow their grandfather's and grandmother's clothes, if possible, but the boy can wear an old dressing-gown, and the girl a long skirt trained over her own dress, looped up at the sides with bows of ribbon; she should have an old-fashioned bonnet, or a broad hat tied down to resemble one, a kerchief, and a cane. The boy should borrow a suit of a smaller boy that is too short and tight for him, and should brush his hair down over his eyes, and wear a paper ruffle around his neck. ”

“ The right leg then kicks out violently, the other does the same toward the left, the arms go up and down, and the chalk man thus appears to be alive, and to be dancing a jig, as the movements of the legs and arms increase in speed, although they can only swing up and down on the board. The mother and son hold up their hands as if struck with horror, and the former rushes out of the room, pulling the boy by the arm. The artist follows, demanding more money, and the curtain falls.
The blackboard is made of any smooth board painted ”

“ The pantomime requires an old man, an old woman, and a stupid boy—the latter it is often easy to find in any family. The old parts can be assumed by young people, as they can be made venerable by powdering their hair with flour. ”

“ Captain Hollowboy had taken away his great red bandana handkerchief to look around him, and Deacon Whitney was holding up both his hands.
"What is the matter, Captain?"
"Hornets, Deacon, hornets. The most pernicious and ungrateful of all insects. I have applied aqueously saturated alluvium, but I want some ammonia."
"Slapped on some mud first, and now you want to try some hartshorn? That's right. I'll get you some quick."
He was getting behind the counter very fast for so fat a man, but Steve shouted, "Hurrah, Andy! let's go for the Captain's nest." ”

“ When you've been called a murdering little villain and an unnatural son it will wrinkle in your heart for ages. After what they said to me I didn't even seem to mind about father but went up stairs with him almost as if I was going to church or something that wouldn't hurt much. ”

“ The boy goes on with his work, and finishes the body, with the arms extended, and the artist then demands, more money, which the mother refuses, when the arms which have just been drawn move up and down with violent gestures, and the mother becomes so much alarmed that she pays him, and the arms then remain still. The boy goes on with his work, and draws the two legs of the figure, which is supposed to be facing the audience. ”

“ Congress was greatly pleased, and passed a vote asking Washington to give Lafayette command of a division, which was done. Scarcely turned twenty, the young soldier found himself at the head of a body of picked men, mostly Virginians, whom he tried hard to make the flower of the army in activity, discipline, and courage. He shared all the hardships and miseries of the terrible winter at Valley Forge, where the army underwent untold sufferings. From 18,000 men it was reduced to 5000.
The British lay well housed and idle in Philadelphia. ”

“ I enjoy Young People very much indeed. The stories I have liked the most are "Photogen and Nycteris," the series by "Jimmy Brown," Bessie Maynard's long-worded letters to her doll, and "Who was Paul Grayson?"
Bersia.
I have a collection of twelve hundred and fifty postage and revenue stamps, and I would like to exchange with readers of Young People residing in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, or in any part of Canada. Correspondents will please give the number of stamps in their collection. ”

“ Men hunt and persecute me, yet they do not like to be without me, and are very apt to feel when I leave them that it is a sign of age. I can belong to people in two ways—either by inheritance or by purchase ”

“ Hill says to me, 'You be on hand, Joe, you and Jack Stone, and you may go to Portland along of the "Continentals," and march each side of the flag, and wear white rubber capes, and carry a torch apiece if you like.' It's to be the biggest show of the season, and—"
"I can't go," burst in Elsie. "Just because I'm a girl I can never go anywhere or see anything."
"Of course not," assented Joe, cheerfully. "Girls never can. I go because father's in Ohio, and I'm the man of the family. ”

“ I am white, I am black, I am all colors save blue, green, and purple, and all lengths, yet when I am grown I am of uniform size. I run with great swiftness, but have no motion of my own; am carried round by my possessor, and worn according to the taste of my owner. ”

“ I have three old rabbits and two young ones. I used to have twenty-six, but I sold some and lost some. Rabbits have very interesting habits. Sometimes they sit up on their hind-feet and wash their faces with their fore-feet. ”

“ All it can do is to cry and pull hair and kick. It hasn't half the sense of my dog, and it can't even chase a cat. Mother and Sue wouldn't have a dog in the house, but they are always going on about the baby and saying "ain't it perfectly sweet!" ”

“ I have three kittens, and a canary which is very tame. I go to school, and am taking drawing lessons.
I will exchange postage stamps with any of the correspondents of Young People. I am ten years old. ”

“ The boy may make the figure of the man in any style, taking care only to match it to the limbs, the outline of which he draws on the edges of the pasteboard profiles. A little practice will enable the performers to arrange animals and other figures on the same plan, to the delight of themselves and their friends. ”

“ Then there are the fairy-books of Laboulaye and Macé, Puss-Cat Mew, Queer Folks, Tales at Tea-Time, and other books by Knatchbull-Hugessen. Alice in Wonderland is also very entertaining; for although it is the most absurd nonsense ever written, we pity the person too old to enjoy it. ”

“ As a consequence, collectors are turning to specialties. Some devote themselves to postal adhesives, others to revenue stamps; some to stamped envelopes and wrappers, others to postal cards; and some, again, collect nothing but the private die proprietary stamps of the United States. Each of these is a field large enough in [Pg 20] itself to be covered properly, and the one who attempts to cover all, or even several, will require a very long purse, and more time than can be spared in this busy age. ”