Various

“ Even boys who did not care particularly for the sport had been told by Mr. Morton that about the only diversion of the wretched men in the jail was to look out the window while ball-playing was going on; and as Mr. Morton had begun to attain special popularity through his work among the prisoners, the boys who liked him, as most of them did, were glad to help him to the small extent they were able. ”

“ If pupils have only the heart and the will and the intellect of a sparrow, they will remain sparrows in spite of all their teachers may do to help them on and to encourage them. Study and will are the magicians that help them to maintain their promotion, and the public examination is the great magician that assigns them their advanced positions. ”

“ The danger that hung over the marvellous infant passed away, and he grew up healthy and strong. His mother, Mary Arden, inherited a large farm at Wilmecote, a mile from Stratford; and his father, John Shakespeare, who held several other pieces of land, was probably an active farmer, raising sheep, and perhaps cattle. The house in which it is said Shakespeare was born is still shown in Henley Street, Stratford—a plain building of timber and plaster, covered with the names of those who have come from every part of the world to visit the dark, narrow room made memorable by the poet's birth. ”

“ There was once an Indian maiden who wanted to marry a young brave, but the other Indians were not willing. One day she went to the top of a high rock, as high as the bluffs on the shore of Lake Pepin. ”

“ Many Dutch galliots now sailed leisurely over from old Amsterdam to the new. New York Island was covered with rich farms. In 1679 peaches were so plenty that they were fed to the swine; strawberries covered the ground in rare profusion. Sheltered within the protecting arm of Sandy Hook, the little city nourished and grew great. ”

“ Morton, he rapidly made his way among the more solid citizens. He was willing to work, whether his services were required by church, Sunday-school, or society, and he did not care to hold office of any sort, so his sincerity was cheerfully admitted by all. When, however, he had one day, soon after his arrival, asked several prominent men why the town had no society or even person to visit the very poor and the persons who might be in prison, he ran some risk of being considered meddlesome.
"We know our own people best," said Sam Wardwell's father. ”

“ The world over, sparrow-hearted people are getting into eagles' nests, but keen-eyed public opinion is the great magician who says, 'Go back to the thicket and to the grass-plot again! You have only the heart and the brain of a sparrow ”

“ The only people here who suffer from poverty are those who won't work, while the few people who get into our jail are hard cases; half of them wouldn't listen to you if you talked to them, and the others would listen only to have an excuse to beg tobacco or something. There's a man in the jail now for passing counterfeit money ”

“ Here is a simple little thing of my own invention, from which I have derived a good deal of fun from time to time, and from which the readers of Young People may extract some amusement. It is an imitation of the common screw-head, and is made in this wise: Take a piece of common tin-foil, and mark on it with a pair of compasses or a small thimble a number of circles ”

“ He went for several years to the grammar school at Stratford, and was then perhaps employed on his father's farm. Like Virgil, Horace, Burns, and many other poets, he grew up in the country. Nothing is certainly known of his youth. He was fond of rural sports, and amidst his early labors went no doubt to the country fairs, joined in the Christmas games and May-day dances, and probably when the Earl of Leicester gave the magnificent reception to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, described in Scott's novel, Shakespeare was there among the spectators. ”

“ Bessie, to be sure. He says he thinks it is an "awfully jolly" name for a ship, or for a girl either.
Well, the wind blew just the right way for a splendid launch. I held the cord, letting it out as fast as he told me to, and he gave it a push, and off it sailed, straight and lovely as a duck. I was so delighted I couldn't possibly help clapping my hands, and, oh, Clytie! I dropped the cord, and away it went, up and down over the waves as if it was alive. Randolph muttered something that sounded like, "Bother! that's just like a girl!" ”

“ I am eleven years old. I like Young People very much. I often go out to the Spanish fort. There is a band of music there every evening, and every Saturday it is there all day. There are two cannon which have been in the fort ever since 1718. I have two pet kittens that follow me everywhere.
Charlie N. W.
I have a collection of stamps, and would gladly exchange with some of the readers of Young People. ”

“ My dear mahogany grandmother's bureau all knocked to pieces, and patched together with big screws. Such a sight!"
As soon as my aunt left the room I seized a wet towel, and quickly removed all the appearance of damage, so that when she returned with her husband, and with averted face, bade him look upon the wreck, the mild old gentleman, after putting on his specs, and making a careful examination, reported that he could see nothing the matter.
"For pity's sake!—the man must be getting blind and foolish," cried my aunt. "It's as plain as Charley Meeker's nose on his face." ”

“ Morton found Sheriff Towler quite a pleasant man to talk to, and perfectly willing to have his prisoners improve in body and mind by any method except that of getting out of jail before their respective terms of imprisonment had expired, or before they were by superior authority ordered to some other place of confinement, as he, the sheriff, wished might at once be the case with John Doe, the man who was awaiting trial for passing bad bank-notes. ”

“ Then we have lots of pigs, goats, calves, chickens, and pigeons, and each of my five brothers has a colt.
Mary T.
Warsaw, Indiana.
I have no father nor mother. I live with my uncle and aunt, who are very good to me. In vacation I work in uncle's printing-office, and when there is school I go.
My uncle takes Harper's Weekly, and my aunt takes the Bazar, and I take Young People. I think it is one of the best papers published.
I have a pet chicken named Mary. She will walk a rope, and swing in a little swing I made for her.
Alfred J. H.
Paxton, Illinois. ”

“ The only trouble with him is that he can't see very well and keeps running against things. If he starts to run out of the gate he is just as likely to run head first into the fence, and when he chases a cat round a corner he will sometimes mistake a stick of wood, or the lawn-mower for the cat and try to shake it to death. This was the way he came to get me into trouble with Mr. Martin. ”

“ Martin was at that identicular [Pg 739] moment going up the steps of the piazza and Sitting Bull mistaking one of his legs for the cat jumped for it and had it in his teeth before I could say a word.
When that dog once gets hold of a thing there is no use in reasoning with him, for he won't listen to anything. Mr. Martin howled and said "Take him off my gracious the dog's mad," and I said "Come here sir. Good dog. Leave him alone" but Sitting Bull hung on to the leg as if he was deaf and Mr. Martin hung on to the railing of the piazza and made twice as much noise as the dog. ”

“ I am a little boy only six years old, and can not write very well, but I want to say how much I like Young People. My mamma and papa have taken Harper's Weekly and Harper's Monthly more years than I can remember. ”

“ I am eleven years old. I have not any pets now, but I had two. One was a little dog named Fanny. It would draw a little sleigh with a milk-pail on it, and pull me on the ice when I had my skates on. The other was a little kitten that would jump and take a piece of meat out of my hand when I held it over my head.
George W. L.
New Orleans, Louisiana. ”

“ I want to tell you about some fun I had the other day. We have a barrel sunk in the yard with water-lilies in it. There was a lizard in it too. I made a noose and caught it, and put it into mamma's big dish pan, which I filled with water. Then I caught two little toads; one was a little brown fellow about an inch long, and the other a little larger. I put a little piece of board in the water, and fastened it to the end of the string that was round the lizard's neck. Then I put the little toads on the board, and the lizard drew them all around.
Emma H.
Scottsville, New York. ”

“ I would like to exchange postage stamps with any correspondent.
R. L. Preston,
P. O. Box 327, Lynchburg, Virginia.
Louise.—Your question, "Is the mosquito of any use in the great economy of nature?" has often been asked by many older and wiser than you, for it is not generally known that in their larval state mosquitoes form an important branch of nature's army of tiny scavengers. The larvæ live in the water of stagnant pools and marshes, and feed upon particles of decaying matter, and as their number is so very large, the amount they devour is considerable. ”

“ So the magician, still thinking to make something of the timorsome little bird which was his pet, now changed her into a pigeon-hawk. [Pg 736]
"Immediately she cast affrighted glances at the big gray owl that lived in a hollow tree farther back toward the edge of the forest, and who came out on a dead branch at night-fall, and hooted until the hill-side rang again with the unearthly screeches, and all the smaller birds tucked their heads under their wings, and put their claws over their ears to shut out the sound. ”

“ Herbert likes to play in the water, and throw stones in it. One day he crawled right in, and got all wet. He does not like to ride in the boat, because he has to sit still. He wants to be in mischief all the time, and he is a little wide-awake, and will not go to sleep when he can help it. ”

“ The dog never made a mistake but once. A man came to the house who had lost his pilate and couldn't speak plain, and the dog thought he was speaking Chinese and so he had his regular fit and bit the man worse than he had ever bit anybody before. ”

“ Of course the promise of a story from the popular new master, and the fact that he had recently returned from extensive travels, called the children and young people all out, and this is what they heard:
"It is said that years ago a beautiful little brown sparrow made her home in the garden of a certain great and renowned magician. She built her nest in the grass, and was content to hop and chirp about in the rose thicket, and to keep very near the ground indeed. ”

“ They resemble so exactly the head of a real screw as to deceive the most acute observer. Once I made a box for conjuring tricks, with a side swung on hinges, and fixed the sides of the box with these screw-heads in such a way as to impress the spectator with the idea that it was a piece of workmanship that could not be trifled with. ”

“ So off to the farm I cantered.
I hitched my horse to a post by the farm-house door, and walked out where the chickens were picking up a breakfast. I looked them all over, and—and—well, Coachy was not there.
Seeing a man coming down the path, and feeling quite [Pg 731] sure it was Mr. Beck, I waited. A narrow-faced, fair-haired, frail-looking man—not at all like a farmer, I thought.
"Good-morning, Mr. Beck," said I.
"Morning," said Mr. Beck, looking puzzled.
"My name is Rathbun. I was just looking around for a hen I brought up from my brother's house yesterday. ”

“ He had several younger brothers—Gilbert, Richard, Edmund, and a sister Joan—all of whom he aided in his [Pg 738] prosperity. The family in Henley Street was a happy one; and the young Shakespeares and their sister probably wandered in the flowery fields around the Avon, or lived on the farm at Wilmecote, saw the cows milked, and the cattle pastured, and all the changes of rural life. Shakespeare lived among the flowers he describes so well ”

“ Wardwell could have felt that grasp and seen the prisoner's face, he might have greatly changed his opinion of smart prisoners in general.
Somehow John Doe preferred to restrict his remarks to whispers, and for some reason Mr. Morton humored him. The interview lasted but a few moments, and ended with a plea and a promise that another call should be made. Meanwhile, Mr. Wardwell had stood on a corner that commanded the jail, and when the teacher re-appeared the merchant asked, "Well?"
"They are a sad set," Mr. Morton admitted. ”

“ In the course of the morning Frankie and Abe manufactured a sow with seven little pigs, two cows, a mule, and a horse.
It had stopped raining, so the boys asked if I would not like to go out and see their farms. Under a shed in the yard were these two farms, arranged as nearly as possible like Frankie's father's. Barns, stables, wagon-houses, and pig-pens were made of bricks on a very small scale, and inhabited by corn-stalk cattle. ”

“ Paul seemed in no particular hurry to start, and as Benny never seemed to imagine that Paul could see himself safely home from any place, he remained too.
"Benny," said Paul, suddenly, "did you ever see any one in jail?"
"No," said Benny, "I never did."
"Neither did I," said Paul, "but I'm curious to do so now. You needn't go with me; the sight might pain you too much."
"What? Just to go to the jail, and look up at the windows? Oh no; that won't hurt me. I've done that lots of times."
"Very well," said Paul, moving toward the jail. He looked up at the windows as he walked ”

“ Uncle John stooped down, held aside the grass, and read, "Coachy," and "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us."
BAPTIZING COPTIC BABIES. BY SARA KEABLES HUNT.
You have often witnessed the ceremony of infant baptism, when some sweet baby friend of yours has been brought forward to be christened, and have thought it a beautiful sight, as it indeed is; but the babies that I am going to tell you about now were less fortunate in their birth, for they were born of Egyptian parents—children of the Nile. ”