Harper's Young People

“ I'm sure I wish there wasn't any Fourth of July."
"Oh, Harp, you ninny!" cried his brother Joe. "There wasn't any Fourth at all till George Washington made it."
"You better study up," said Aunt Nancy, coming to her senses, as Harper, very much confused, stopped the rattling. "You don't begin to realize what the guns and the fire-crackers and the torpedoes, and all the other dreadful things that blow up people and knock off boys' fingers and toes, are for. It would be a great deal better if boys had more history in their heads and less money in their pockets. ”

“ Although you appear to have anticipated our Young People's Natural History Society, we will be pleased to have you become a branch of it, if you wish to do so. Your rule with regard to girls seems to us rather arbitrary. Girls make good working members of such societies, and their presence adds much animation to the meetings.
It may perhaps be interesting for your readers to know with how much pleasure Harper's Young People is welcomed in far-away countries such as Holland, and how even a Dutch girl is interested in its pretty stories and engravings. ”

“ She wouldn't believe that I had tried to do my best, and didn't mean any harm. Father took her part, and said I ought to eat some of the ice-cream, since I made it; but I said I'd rather go up stairs with him. So I went.
Some of these days people will begin to understand that they are just wasting and throwing away a boy who always tries to do his best, and perhaps they'll be sorry when it is too late.
[Pg 830]
At the end of its second volume, Harper's Young People counts its little friends in every quarter of the globe. ”

“ I take Harper's Young People to school with me, and my pupils enjoy it very much.
I have the oldest children in the building, and they can understand all of the pieces. I read them the articles as a reward for good behavior and well-learned lessons, and let them copy and work out the puzzles. ”

“ I think that Harper's Young People is the best paper that I ever saw. It is welcomed alike by old and young in our household. We are all very much interested in "Toby Tyler," and we all laugh at the trials and troubles of Jimmy Brown.
My father taught school this winter, and I did not miss a day during the term. Now I am tending a sugar bush with my grandpa. We have a hut made of boards to shelter us when it storms; and it is rare fun to see the sap seethe and hiss in the great square pan which is set over the "arch," as the fire-place is called.
L. C. A. ”

“ George C. McI.—The supply of bound volumes of Harper's Young People for 1880 is exhausted.
We do not care to so much as mention the initials of one correspondent who sent a very dictatorial letter to the Post-office Box the other day, complaining because we had not published his exchange. Exchangers usually understand that the convenience we give them in Young People is a favor, and not a right ”

“ He dislikes citizens, and any stranger not in uniform arouses his suspicions at once, and he watches him closely till satisfied he is a friend of ours; but did he wear uniform, it would be all right at first.
Paul is now at Fort Omaha on the "retired list," and valued for "the good he has done." He is getting as fat as a seal, and has the gout—my sister says the go-out. But he's a good old fellow. My grandpa takes Harper's Young People for me, and I like it so much I thought I would like to tell you about my dog. ”

“ Harper,—I'm in an awful situation that a boy by the name of Bellew got me into. He is one of the boys that writes stories and makes pictures for Young People, and I think you ought to know what kind of a boy he is. A little while ago he had a story in the Young People about imitation screw-heads, and how he used to make them, and what fun he had pasting them on his aunt's bureau. ”

“ Then Uncle Daniel actually kissed the boy, as he told him to go to bed and go to sleep. Toby went to bed as he was commanded, though it seemed impossible he should sleep while Abner might be dying.
[to be continued.] THE BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS.
Boys and girls who can buy Harper's Young People every week for four cents, and other periodicals and books almost as cheap, can have very little notion of the difficulty that little folk had seventy or eighty years ago in getting something to read. ”

“ I have been out to-day, and got a large bunch of trailing arbutus for mamma to take to the city with her. Mamma has sent me Harper's Young People over a year. I think "Toby Tyler," "Tim and Tip," and "Cruise of the 'Ghost'" are splendid, but the letters in Our Post-office Box from the little boys and girls I do love so much! I don't see many from Rhode Island, and I do hope our dear Postmistress will publish mine. I hope it is not too long. Good-by.
Eva T. P.
How glad I am that the dear old people have a bright little granddaughter to live with them, and be their sunbeam! ”

“ Then there is Paul Grayson. I can hardly wait to know more about him.
Last night, after ten o'clock, a company of boys passed our house making a great deal of noise and talking very improperly. I wished they had Harper's Young People, so that they might find more pleasure in staying at home to read than they could find on the street.
Minnie E. M.
I am making a collection of postage stamps, and would like to exchange with the readers of Young People. ”

“ I am seven years old. I live in a town which was named for the Harper Brothers, and as I was the first child born here, I was named Harper. I thank you for Young People. My papa says the Harper Brothers have done a great deal of good for the American people, and I guess he knows, for he reads a great deal. I have two brothers and a sister older than I am, and we all have great fun with the Wiggles and Misfits.
Harper R.
Lykens, Pennsylvania. ”

“ Hello, it's ten o'clock. Come, off to bed every one of you," added Uncle Harry, looking at his watch.
"You didn't save the skin of that panther, did you, Uncle Harry?" said Charlie, as he left the room.
[Begun in Harper's Young People No. 94, August 16.] PENELOPE. BY MRS. JOHN LILLIE. Chapter II.
To any one unaccustomed to serving in a shop the duties seem very perplexing. Left alone, Nora sat down behind the counter feeling decidedly confused by the novelty of her position. ”

“ I've come from Marietta, Ohio, and I'll exchange it for real Indian arrow-heads."
"Here I've come all the way from Strasburg, in Alsace, with a new puzzle. I'm sure nobody can read it."
"Yes, they can. It's in English."
"We take Harper's Young People in Germany. I'm nine years old."
"How can you talk about travelling? I've been shut up in four different mail-bags for nearly two months. I came all the way from Samarang, Java."
"I thought there was a dreadful [Pg 378] smell of coffee in the mail-bag," said a letter from Buffalo. ”

“ HOW JONATHAN BEWITCHED THE CHICKENS. BY MARY HICKS.
"Hurrah! hurrah! Now for a long play-day; the school-master's a witch, and we are free;" and some twenty boys came flocking and tumbling out of the school-house door, and went swarming up the street. Not much like the boys of to-day, except for the noise, were these twenty youngsters of nearly two centuries ago, who skipped and ran up the streets of Boston, dressed in their long square-skirted coats, small-clothes, long stockings, and low shoes with their cherished buckles of silver or brass. ”

“ Toward evening he awoke, and looking up through the opening in the boughs above him into the blue depths of the heavens, he saw descending from the azure vault the [Pg 371] form of a beautiful young man robed in a bright green garment, his head adorned with plumes of green and gold colors. Standing at the door of the lodge, this embodied spirit said:
"Arise, faithful boy, and come forth. Only by wrestling with me can you obtain the coveted blessing which you seek. I am Oneasti [Maize] , a child of the Sun, and a friend of mankind."
The weak youth obeyed. ”