Harper's Young People, November 2, 1880

I have almost forgotten dear Gretchen. She is not the little Dutch Gretchen who sat in the kitchen eating her cold sour-krout, but is a cousin to the Misses French. Her trousseau came in the box with her; and such queer satin and white Swiss dresses, funny little aprons, quaint slippers, fine stockings, and dear little hats you never saw, unless you have been in Switzerland. Her hair is light, and braided in two long plaits. I tell you she is a beauty; and although she is the youngest of all the dolls, except the baby, she is as tall as any of them.

Then there is Ho Shen Chee, the Chinaman. He is the only boy in the whole family. Mamma picked him up at the Centennial. He looked so forlorn and lonesome that mamma felt sorry for him, and brought him home. We do everything to make him happy, but he still has that same sad look, and his head wobbles awfully. His clothes are a great trouble to us, for we can never make any like those he had on when he came.

The French girls have everything elegant. Their Saratoga trunk is filled with lovely dresses, shoes, bonnets, fans, stockings, gloves, jewelry, parasols, hats, dressing-cases and travelling bags, writing-paper and desk, watches, perfumery bottles, books, and everything that young ladies need. Their furniture is very handsome, too. Their bedstead was made to order, and has a mattress, pillows, shams, and everything. They have a large bureau, a lounge, tables, chairs, and a cabinet filled with bric-à-brac. They have a small work-basket, with little scissors that open and shut, thimble, needles, and all other work-box necessities.

Olive, or Aunt Olive, as the dollies call her, is the very smallest, but the beauty of the family, and the richest. She lives in a large house with her adopted daughter Pussy, and a great many servants. Her house has five rooms – parlor, dining-room, bedroom, kitchen, and bath-room, where real water runs from a faucet. All these rooms are furnished too lovely for anything. The windows have real glass and curtains; the doors have curtains too. We have a large barn (when I say we, I mean my brother Jack and myself, for he loves dolls as well as I do), which has horses and a dog-cart, in which Olive rides. We have a Park phaeton too. We build our farm-yard in one corner of the room, and our fort in another; these are the summer resorts. We move the things on Jack's big dray and cart. We play the figures in the carpet are lakes, rivers, and ponds. The dolls ride on these in our boats, which go on wheels. Away off in another part of the room we put up the tents. We build the railroad, and the dollies go out to the camp. When we want to take them to amusement, we build our theatre, which plays Cinderella. When they get tired of that we take them to the dog show, which is Jack's collection of beautiful china dogs. We have a race track, where the dolls go to the races on the elevated railroad which we set up. When they get hungry we put the cooking stove on the fender, with the pipe up the chimney, and make a fire, and really cook. Of course we do the eating, using our pretty blue and gilt dishes.

We only know one other little girl in New York, and she does not care to play with dolls; so Jack and I get in a room all by ourselves, and put up all these things, and I tell you we have a splendid time. When we get tired we put the dollies to bed, and get out their wash-tubs, boards, and irons, which we heat on the little stove, and wash and iron their little clothes.

Next to reading Harper's Young People, this is the best fun we have.

Bessy Guyton.

Favors are acknowledged from Percy Schuchardt, L. P. Wilson, Willie E. Billings, W. L. Bradley, Belle Sisson, Cass K. Shelby, A. G. Norris, John Moody T., Daisy May B., Annie Quinn, Bertha A. F., Frank A. Harmony, Abbie Parkhurst, Jessie De L., Hattie Cohen.

Correct answers to puzzles are received from Bessie C. Morris, Florence Nightingale, Isabel L. Jacob, Clara B. Kelso, Lizzie, "Freeport, Illinois."

The following names are of those who sent answers to Wiggle No. 14 too late for acknowledgment with the others: Maggie and Harvey Crockett, Lucy P. W., Estelle R. Moshberger, Jackson, Bertie, Helen C. Edwards.

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORSNo. 1ST. ANDREW'S CROSS OF COMBINED DIAMONDS

Central. – In Westmoreland. A margin. A despicable person. Bipeds. In Ireland.

Upper Right Hand. – In game. Obscure. One of a class of laborers. A sea-fowl. In sport.

Upper Left Hand. – In grapes. Devoured. Something dreaded by sailors. To blunder. In melons.

Lower Right Hand. – In general. At present. A bird. Humor. In captain.

Lower Left Hand. – In amethyst. A tropical vegetable. A nobleman's house and lands. A tumultuous crowd. In emerald.

Owlet.

No. 2ENIGMAMy first is in mat, but not in rug.My second in wasp, but not in bug.My third is in red, but not in blue.My fourth is in false, but not in true.My fifth is in wren, but not in owl.My sixth is in bird, but not in fowl.My seventh is in calm, but not in rough.My eighth is in shawl, but not in muff.My ninth is in poem, but not in ditty.My whole is a European city.Mamie.No. 3EASY NUMERICAL CHARADES

1. My whole is a beautiful sheet of water composed of 13 letters.

My 8, 13, 5, 3, 9 is a river in Europe.

My 6, 2, 11 is a domestic animal.

My 4, 10, 7, 8, 12 often wakes the baby.

My 3, 13, 1 is always fresh.

Little Sister.

2. My whole is composed of 12 letters, and is always in motion.

My 11, 2, 9, 6 can never be trusted.

My 4, 7, 12 is a fluid.

My 10, 3 is a musical term.

My 8, 5, 1 is much used by the Japanese.

Julian.ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN NO. 50No. 1No. 2No. 3Wood-boxNo. 41. Mustard seed. 2. RhinocerosNo. 5Boston

NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

To the hosts of young readers who bade Dr. Bronson and his nephews Fred and Frank good-by in Hong-Kong at the end of Part First of The Boy Travellers in the Far East1 the announcement that, by the appearance of Part Second of this fascinating narrative, they may once more journey into strange lands with their young friends, will be a welcome one. Starting from Hong-Kong, the boys continue their travels down the coast to Singapore, stopping by the way in Cochin China, Anam, Cambodia, and Siam. From Singapore they sail through the Malayan Archipelago to Batavia, in doing which they cross the equator. From Batavia they take long excursions into the interior of the island of Java, and here the reader has again to leave them for a time while they make preparations for further explorations of the wonderful lands of the Far East.

The book is filled with tales of adventure by land and sea with pirates and wild animals, curious bits of history, accurate descriptions of strange people and queer customs, animals, birds, and plants. In it the author has so artfully blended instruction with amusement that the young reader is taught in spite of himself, and finds the driest facts interesting when presented in this charming form. The letter-press is supplemented by copious illustrations that appear upon nearly every page. The binding is very handsome, and the book bids fair to prove one of the notable attractions of this year's holiday season.

Most books of foreign travel are written with the view of cramming the minds of their readers with the greatest possible amount of information, and the result is apt to be a fit of mental indigestion from which the victim does not readily recover. In Harry Ascott Abroad,2 however, the author has carefully avoided the text-book plan, and has confined himself to the simple relation of an American boy's every-day experience during a year's residence in Germany, and while travelling in Switzerland and France. The story is told in the boy's own language, and is made up of just such facts as will interest other boys, and at the same time teach them what to expect, and what mistakes to guard against, if they happen to find themselves in a position similar to that of Harry Ascott.

Mrs. Cochran (Sidney Dayre) has earned so enviable a reputation as a writer of short stories for children that while the "young readers" feel sure that anything from her pen must be interesting, their parents are equally confident that the tone of the story will be healthy and pure. The Queer Little Wooden Captain3 and The Little Lost Girl, the two stories contained in the present volume, are Christmas tales, both of which, without moralizing, teach how much greater are the joys of giving than those of receiving.

HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE

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HARPER & BROTHERS, Franklin Square, N. Y.

THE PEG-TOP

Spin away, spin away, round and round —The hum of the top has a merry sound;The peg-top's journey is just beginning,Ever so long it will go on spinning.Up in my hand, or down on the ground,Still the peg-top goes round and round.Baby looks on with eyes so bright —Isn't top spinning a wonderful sight?

BREAD AND MILK

Bread and milk, bread and milk, fit for a king,Plenty of sugar has been put in;Mix it up well with a silver spoon,Wait till it cools, and don't eat it too soon!Milk and bread, milk and bread, isn't it nice?Why! the whole basinful's gone in a trice!Oh! there is many a poor little boyTo whom bread and milk would be a great joy.

FLYING THE KITE

Fly away, fly away, comical kite,Up in the sky to a terrible height;When you come back, tell us where you have been,Where do the stars live, and what have you seen?

MAYING

Oh! who loves May, so sweet and gay?A long, long way I've been to-day,Over the fields and down the lane,Into the copse, and back again;Such a ramble, such a scramble,Catching my dress on a blackberry bramble.All the merry brown bees were humming,And all the birdies sang, "Who's coming?"And the butterflies came to my branch of May,For I've been Queen of the Woods to-day.

1

The Boy Travellers in the Far East. Part Second: Adventures of two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java, with Descriptions of Cochin China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the Malay Archipelago. By Thomas W. Knox. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 446. New York: Harper & Brothers.

2

Harry Ascott Abroad. By Matthew White, Jun. 16mo, pp. 94. New York: The Authors' Publishing Company.

3

The Queer Little Wooden Captain. By Sidney Dayre. 16mo, pp. 152. Illustrated. New York: The Authors' Publishing Company.