Various

“ The Arabs were completely taken aback. They had seen men look pale, and try to run away from them; and they had seen men look fierce, and rush at them pistol in hand; but a man who paid no attention to them at all, and who hardly seemed to know whether they were there or not, was a thing which they had never seen before, and they did not know what to make of it. In fact, like most men of their class, the moment they encountered a man whom they could not frighten, they at once began to be frightened themselves. ”

“ You all know that it is a plant. The leaves, which are green, are first placed under heavy pressure, and then steeped from ten to fifteen hours in immense vats, so large that they contain 2000 cubic feet of water. In very hot weather this water swells until the surface becomes a frothing liquid, and should a match be applied, it would cause a loud report, and the flames would leap from vat to vat, like the will-o'-wisp flitting over marshes. ”

“ Even in the best-behaved and happiest group of young people, little quarrels arise if each wants his or her own way, and if there is no rule by which to decide questions of whose right or whose turn it is. ”

“ He was in high spirits at having successfully run a rapid in the dark, and he paddled so carelessly that just as he was within a yard of the shore the canoe ran upon a sunken log, spilled her captain into the water, and then, floated off in the darkness, and disappeared.
Charley had no difficulty in getting ashore, but he was wet to the skin, and his dry clothes and all his property, except his paddle, had gone on a cruise without him. There was nothing for him to do but to make his way back along the bank to the other boys. This proved to be a tiresome task. ”

“ We can't go canoeing unless we are ready to take risks occasionally. If nobody is ever to take a risk, there ought not to be any canoes, or ships, or railroads."
"That Sherbrooke postmaster isn't afraid to take risks," observed Joe. "If he keeps on telling canoeists that there are no rapids in this river, some of these days he'll have an accident with a large canoeist and a heavy paddle. We've run seven rapids already, and have another one ahead of us. If we ever get to Sherbrooke, I think it will be our duty to consider whether that postmaster ought to be allowed to live any longer." ”

“ Why, there isn't anything but rapids in it."
"There's something else just ahead of us worse than rapids," said Charley. "Look at that smoke."
Just a little distance below the fleet the river was completely hidden by a dense cloud of smoke that rested on the water, and rose like a heavy fog-bank above the tops of the highest trees. It was caused by a fire in the woods—probably the very fire which the boys had started on the previous night. How far down the river the smoke extended, and whether any one could breathe while in it, were questions of great importance to the canoeists. ”

“ That is what a humming-bird does, and it is not strange that they are counted so wonderful, [Pg 745] especially when you add to it all the fact that their colors are almost always very brilliant. Even our own little ruby-throat, which comes so far to the north, flashes like a fiery coal when he brings his red throat to glance in the sunlight. ”

“ Sherbrooke was coming rapidly into sight as the fleet paddled down the stream, and in the course of half an hour the boys landed in the village, near a dam which converted the swift Magog into a lazy little pond. ”

“ When morning dawned, the canoeists, feeling extremely cramped and stiff, cast their canoes loose, and started down the river, intending, if possible, to find Charley's canoe, and then go ashore for breakfast and a good long sleep. The rapid had been run so easily by Charley in the night that they rightly imagined they would find no difficulty in running it by daylight. Tom took Charley in the Twilight, and the fleet, with Harry leading the way, passed through the rapid without accident. ”

“ As the blue deepens the coolie's exertions increase. Every muscle is strained, his head is thrown back, his chest expanded, and his long black hair drips with the white foam, still he keeps up the measured beat, and his cries pierce the morning air. ”

“ Only one species, the ruby-throat, will you find east of the Mississippi, except that the Mango humming-bird comes over from Cuba into Florida, and then follows a little way further up the coast. But if you have ever seen one, you are not likely to forget it. There is no family of birds which attracts more attention, or which deserves more. Their size and their movements make them really objects of wonder. They are the smallest of all flying things, except insects, and in truth some of them are decidedly smaller than many of the large insects. ”

“ They found the animal on the right bank of the Lena, near the Arctic Ocean, on a small peninsula called Tamud, but it was by this time in a bad condition. Polar bears, wolves, and foxes had eaten the flesh, and the people of that desolate region had fed their dogs upon it, although of the skeleton itself only one fore-foot was missing.
You may think how the eyes of the naturalist sparkled when they fell upon this colossal ruin. A mammoth, you know, is what is called the elephant of the ages before the Flood. ”

“ As it is, she teaches us at home. There are so many of us to play together that we do not care much for pets. Our dog Tip is one year old now. He was named for Tip in Young People. He is a real smart dog, although he is so small. He wants to go with us wherever we go, but mamma wants him to stay at home, so now whenever the "Jersey" is hitched up he hides himself under the back seat so that we will not notice him. We have a great many things I would love to tell you about, but I have not time now. My little brother Charlie will want to write before long.
Luddie M. B. ”

“ I am ten years old, and have taken Harper's Young People ever since the first number came out. I have every one except No. 142, and that papa left in the ferry-boat. In winter we live in Brooklyn, but in summer we come to my grandpa's farm. It is very pleasant here; it is thirty-six miles from Brooklyn. I have two sisters and one brother, all younger than myself. One of my sisters is a baby, and I am her godmother. She is so cunning! We had four squirrels, but my brother's and baby sister's died, and I gave mine to brother, so that I have no pets now. We have four cats. ”

“ They have a time-keeper, who is called "gunta-paree"; he watches the process closely, and at the proper moment lets the steeped liquor run into another vessel, called the beating vat. And now comes the funniest part of it. They put a gang of coolies into the vats, each one having a long stick with a disk at the end. The coolies immediately plant themselves in two rows, facing each other; then they commence throwing up the liquor, which, meeting in mid-air, the two jets fall confusedly together. This they continue until the excitement grows intense. ”

“ Amongst these were itinerant cobblers—not shoe-makers, but shoe-menders—who used to travel from place to place with their tools on their backs.
Some little time after Nipper was settled in his country home, old Isaac Firth, an itinerant cobbler known to all the country-side, made his appearance at the kitchen door of the farm. The dog was sole housekeeper, and was stretched full length just within the threshold.
Nipper and Isaac Firth were old acquaintances, so the old dog welcomed the cobbler with a wag of his tail, and permitted him to enter. The day was warm. ”

“ Each man home counts one point, and the inning lasts till all are out, when the total is made up, and the other side go in, the highest score, of course, winning. When a man finds he can not get home, he may get the ball back to his den, and then wait his next inning, but without counting anything for his "failed inning." None of the in side may help the man in; one minute is given to the out side to get ready between each man, and three minutes between each inning. ”

“ We have a horse whose name is Silly. There are five girls in our family and two boys. My baby brother is three months old, and we think he is the dearest baby in the world. He laughs right out loud sometimes. I have been trying to learn something else besides what I find in my books at school, but all that I have yet learned to do well is to darn stockings and make biscuits.
Dora D. E.
If you can make good biscuits, light and sweet, and darn stockings well, you are quite a little housekeeper already.
Gallipolis, Ohio.
I have not been taking Young People very long. ”

“ I suppose his body will be found some time, unless the bears get at him."
"That's all rubbish, Joe," said Charley. "We wouldn't have had half the fun we've had if there hadn't been any rapids in the river. We're none the worse for getting a little wet."
"We might have had less fun, but then I'd have had more trousers if it hadn't been for that dam. I like fun as well as anybody, but I can't land at Sherbrooke with these trousers." ”

“ Their canoes frequently struck on sunken rocks; but as they were loaded so as to draw more water aft than they did forward, they usually struck aft of midships, and did not swing around broadside to the current. When a canoe struck in this way, her captain unjointed his paddle, and taking a blade in each hand, generally succeeded in lifting her clear of the rock by pushing with both blades against the bottom of the river. In the next rapid Joe's canoe ran so high on a rock that was in the full force of the current that he could not get her afloat without getting out of her. ”

“ My auntie, living in Washington, sends Young People to me. I like it very much. I can hardly wait a week for it to come, because the continued stories all leave off in such interesting places. All the little boys and girls who write letters tell about their pets. I have not any. I have neither brother nor sister. I am eleven years old. I go to a French college, where there are twelve hundred boys. ”

“ There can't be a rapid of any consequence within the next quarter of a mile."
"Then I'll tell you what I'll do, with the Commodore's permission," continued Charley. "There is no use in staying here all day, for that smoke may last for any length of time. I'll tie a wet handkerchief around my mouth and nose, and take the chances of paddling through the smoke. It isn't as thick close to the water as it looks to be, and I haven't the least doubt that I can run through it all right."
"But suppose you get choked with smoke, or get into a dangerous rapid?" suggested Tom. ”

“ The fleet stopped just before reaching the smoke, and the boys backed water gently with their paddles while they discussed what they had better do. It was of no use to go ashore with the hope of finding how far the smoke extended, for it would have been as difficult to breathe on shore as on the water.
"There's one good thing about it," said Charley; "the smoke blows right across the river, so the chances are that it does not extend very far down stream."
"We can't hear the noise of any rapid," said Harry, "and that's another good thing. ”

“ I have not many pets, but my grandmother, who lives next door to us, has a fountain about eighteen feet round, and she has some gold-fish. They are the largest that were ever seen in this city. They are about ten or twelve inches long, and they will jump out of the water for something to eat if you hold it in your fingers. ”

“ OLD NIPPER AND THE COBBLER. BY RUTH LAMB.
Old Nipper was, for a time, my grandfather's dog, an accomplished mastiff, and rather too good a watch-dog, for he sometimes got his owner into trouble. Leave him in the house with the injunction, "Look out, Nipper, and don't stir," and the dwelling was as safe as if guarded by a detachment of policemen. ”

“ You see one hovering over a flower, but you can not tell how he hovers, for he moves his wings so rapidly that you can not see them; there he hangs in the air, making all the time a low hum, from which he takes his name, and which is caused by the flapping of his wings. ”

“ And all of a sudden we heard a thundering racket a good deal nearer than the procession—a dreadful rattling and humping and thumping, and somebody away behind singing out "Whoa!"
"It's Mr. Pressy's old roan!" yelled Guy, all on fire in a minute. "He's running away with the gingerbread 'n' stuff, I do believe."
Then we heard a screech—a regular ear-splitter. And a girl ran out of a little Hollander house across the road and down a ways. And she put her hands over her eyes, [Pg 748] and tumbled right on her knees, and screeched and screeched. ”

“ Brother is almost nine, and we have a fat little brother just five. Our baby sister is almost two years old, and she is so cute and sweet! We all like the paper very much indeed, and think the pictures beautiful. We have an aunt eight years old, two little cousins, and brother Willie and myself who take it, so we have a nice time talking about the pieces when we are all together. Our papa has a new hay-press. We love to watch them bale the hay. I think we boys who live in the country have fine times, there is so much to see and to do, and we have so much nice fruit. ”

“ The usual rules as to umpires, etc., will hold good, and the man in may not run into his opponents' ground or out of bounds, or he is out, and if he unintentionally run into his own den he counts a "failed inning" as above. ”