Various

“ As the young ones grew up they made nests for themselves, but they were never half as wise as their mother, and gave us lots of trouble—filling up a pipe-hole with sticks and straws, gnawing their way into the loft, and tearing into shreds everything their pretty hands could hold or their sharp teeth destroy, and racing over the roof at "peep of day" like a troop of tiny cavalry. ”

“ If you were not a nineteenth-century boy, Robbie, but instead had lived three or four hundred years ago, you would have been terribly afraid of so splendid a comet as the one which we have all been gazing at lately with so much wonder and delight. In the Middle Ages the appearance of a comet was thought to be a sign of some dreadful evil which would shortly come to pass, and old and young were thankful when the mysterious orb was no longer to be seen in the sky. ”

“ How they worked!—worked with set teeth, and scarlet, sweaty faces, because the heavy boat pulled so hard against the stream. But they gained slowly; the line slackened, and coil after coil was twisted about the elm-tree; it was at any rate only a question of time. So the moment came when Clint Parsons, brown-faced and bare-footed, as on that memorable Saturday afternoon, handed the Berry twins out of the bateau, and stepped out after them, and every boy on the bank there stood breathless, and wondered in his heart what Mel would do and say. ”

“ No gifts are more highly prized than those young people make with their own hands. It is so delightful, as one looks at a pretty or a useful thing, to see and feel that weeks and weeks ago a dear and loving child put her own occupations aside that she might give a token of affection to a darling mother or a sweet elder sister. ”

“ The British were still in a position to threaten New Orleans. They had not been driven away, and the rest of their large army, which had not yet come up, was hurrying forward to help them. They had lost a great many more men than Jackson had, but they could spare men better than he could, and they were not whipped by any means. Still, the attack was equal to a victory for the Americans. It is almost certain that if Jackson had waited another day before fighting he would have lost New Orleans, and the whole Southwest would have been overrun. ”

“ But a capital opportunity for a shot presently offered. The young hunter came to a stand-still, and embraced it. The wapiti leaped up, plunged wildly a few feet further into a tangle of furze, and then dashed headlong down into a little ravine which the tangle outlined. Mark sped after, leaped down the precipitous descent in turn, and there found his unhappy victim breathing its last, after a gallant but vain struggle against fate. Mark drew his knife and ended its sufferings. ”

“ Of late years scientific men have been calling our attention to the habits of certain familiar animals and insects, about which we believed we knew all there was to know. We could hardly believe, for instance, that common black ants are a very enlightened and intelligent nation; that they have a queen, who governs them, a body of soldiers who protect the community, nurses whose sole business it is to take care of and feed the little ones, and a class of workers who provide the food and build the dwellings for the ant people. ”

“ But they're not of much consequence compared with Tom. Boys, do you really think he's drowned?"
"Of course he isn't," cried Joe. "We'll find him in a few minutes. He must be somewhere near by, and he's sleeping so sound that he don't hear us. You know how hard it is to wake him up."
"Tom is a first-rate swimmer, and if he has spilled himself out of his canoe, and she has sunk, he has swum ashore," said Charley. "My opinion is that we had better stay just where we are until daylight, and then look for him along the shore. He's worth a dozen drowned fellows, wherever he is." ”

“ He set off over the stones on his bare brown feet, with his fishing-rod across his shoulder, turning as he went a merry brown face back toward the group on the old dam.
"I wouldn't sell my fish," said Mel, shaking his line gently, "but Clint is always thinking of money."
"He has to," returned Eb; "his folks are awful poor since his father died, you know. But I like him, though, first-rate."
"So do I. He's smart as chain-lightning, too, and he's always ready to help a fellow when he gets stuck on one of those doubled-up, mixed-up, complex, compounded, connected-by-the-word-'of' fractions." ”

“ Nothing has gratified the publishers more than their success in satisfying careful parents and teachers who desire to furnish their young folks with wholesome, sprightly, and interesting reading. The private letters which they have received from many sources, as well as the unanimous verdict of the press, encourage them to persevere in making Young People better and better, so that the future may be as brilliant as the past has been promising. ”

“ With this mixed crowd Jackson had to fight the very best troops in the British army. Only about half of his men had ever heard a bullet whistle, and less than half of them were drilled and disciplined; but they were brave men who believed in their General, and they were about to fight for their country as brave men should. ”

“ When all were counted—backwoodsmen, regulars, city volunteers, negroes, Indians, and all—the whole army numbered only 2131 men! But weak as this force was, Jackson had made up his mind to fight with it. He knew that the British were too strong for him, but he knew too that every day would make them stronger, as more and more of their troops should come.
The British camp was nine miles below the city, on a narrow strip of land between the river and a swamp. Jackson sent a gun-boat, the Carolina, down the river, with orders to anchor in front of the camp and pour a fire of grape-shot into it. ”

“ When morning came, his first waking thought was about the dead wapiti. It would be a load that elk, and at least a five-mile tramp over a rough road lay ahead of him. He turned down to the ravine, and followed the tinkling brook. Presently, beyond a little point, the dead animal appeared, but, utterly to Mark's consternation, it lay there in the very act of being most critically examined by a third party—a grizzly bear of splendid size and wonderfully unamiable countenance. ”

“ They look fat and lazy, and appear to regard the ants very much as real cows do human beings.
You may perhaps be fortunate enough to see a fight between ants. I say fortunate, because you may watch an ant-hill a whole day and not perceive a single dispute between the inhabitants. Ants, though very brave, are, like all brave people, not quarrelsome. They never seem jealous or ill-tempered, and it must be some very grave cause which sets two ants of the same tribe fighting. A fight with them is a very serious matter, since it always means death to one or both parties. ”

“ It affords the children an opportunity to see and hear how life is conducted in different places. To older eyes it presents captivating pictures of child life, and of the delights of children everywhere—in the city, on the farm, abroad, in school, on the lonely outpost in the far West, and around the mother's knee in the happy home. ”

“ While Joe sailed up and down along the shore, the two other boys paddled close to the rocks, and searched every foot of space where it would have been possible for a canoe to land, or a canoeist to keep a footing above the water. They had searched the shore for a full mile above the sand-spit, and had paddled back nearly half the way, when they were suddenly hailed; and looking up, saw Tom standing on a ledge of rock ten feet above the water. ”

“ The name made Mrs. Rupert's heart jump. Beverley was the town in which Nan's grandfather had lived and died. Surely this meant something; just what, Mrs. Rupert hardly knew.
"Well, Nan Rolf!" she said, as soon as the lady had departed. "There's fortune in the wind for you; just you wait and see."
"Oh, Aunt Lydia!" exclaimed Nan. "I wonder what it can be?" But Mrs. Rupert could say no more; she could only look wise and shake her head, while Nan darted away to give Marian and Philip her wonderful piece of news. ”

“ We have many good things in store, and we shall spare neither pains nor expense to make Harper's Young People the leading weekly periodical in the world for English-speaking children.
The price—$1.50 per year—places it within the means of all. We hope our present subscribers will try to obtain new ones. Boys and girls can do this by simply showing the paper to their friends. Our list is a very long one now, but we wish to make it longer, for the larger the number of subscribers, the fuller of entertainment and instruction, of beauty and fun, can we afford to make Young People. ”

“ It is sometimes very pleasant for the boys and girls in a family to form a little club, and adding what money they have, join together in making a nice present to papa or mamma. Remember, dears, it is not the cost of a gift that makes people value it; it is the love it shows on the part of the giver. ”

“ All these facts any child may learn with very little trouble; and there is hardly any more interesting occupation than watching a hill of these active little people, taking care not to disturb them. Among other experiments, place a small piece of cake a short distance from the hill, and observe what follows. First, one ant, who appears to be exploring the neighborhood, comes upon the cake. He will stop, approach it more closely, touch it with his feelers, and after he has satisfied himself that it is fit for use, bite off as large a piece as he can carry. ”

“ So he passed it by and kept the secret; and so time went on, bringing the long summer vacation to a close.
"We ought to do something out of common to-morrow to end up with," said Mel, who, with a baker's dozen of his chums, was eating early apples on the shady side of Mr. Gerry's orchard wall. "What shall it be?"
"We might go fishing," said somebody.
"Mel won't; he's afraid of losing his biggest trout."
"No, I'm not," said Mel, quite soberly. "I say, fellows, what if Clint Parsons didn't take that fish after all?" ”

“ It is always a good plan to find out what people would like or are in need of. If you listen, you may some morning hear mamma say, "How I wish I had a pretty breakfast cap or a little shawl to throw over my shoulders." Perhaps papa will wish, as he is cutting the leaves of his magazine with his pen-knife, that he had a proper paper-knife. Grandma may be in want of a work-basket to hold her knitting. ”

“ As long as the water continued to be smooth Tom could be carried in either Harry's or Charley's canoe, but in case the wind and sea should rise it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to keep the canoe right side up with two persons in her. Quebec was still at least twenty-five miles distant, and it would take nearly a whole day of very hard work to paddle a heavy canoe, with two boys in her, only one of whom was furnished with a paddle, twenty-five miles, even in the most favorable circumstances. ”

“ The British were completely surprised, but they were cool-headed old soldiers, who were not to be scared by a surprise. They quickly formed a line on the bank, and, bringing up some cannon, gave battle to the saucy gun-boat.
For ten minutes this fight went on between the Americans on the river and the British on shore, then Jackson ordered his troops to advance. His columns rushed forward and fell upon the enemy, again surprising them, and forcing them to fight on two sides at once. ”

“ Ants in their battles use legs and jaws. The latter are enormously powerful for the size of the creature; as powerful in proportion as if a man were provided with a pair of steam shears, and could cut off iron bars two inches thick. They grasp each other with their jaws, pulling and hauling with all their strength. Once having taken hold they never let go. The end of the fight is generally the gradual exhaustion and death of both rivals. Often, however, one of the ants will pull the other apart, that is, tear off his head, which he bears triumphantly away with him. ”

“ Such racing and chasing across the lawn, and over the fences, and up in the trees, springing from branch to branch, and sitting up so cunningly, to eat their treasures of nuts and seeds! They, were very naughty too, and would peep into the nests of the robins, and the old birds would chase them, and whip them with their wings. ”