m California, Cuba, and other places; and other things I
have no room to mention. Can any one tell me how I can obtain some
really good specimens of minerals? And is the whale that arrived
at the New York Aquarium last summer alive yet?

L. H. N.

Are any correspondents informed about the health and present condition
of the whale?

* * * * *

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA.

I write to tell you about my collection of minerals. I am now ten
years old. I commenced to collect when I was nine. My minerals are
very fine, and I took the three-dollar premium for them at the
fair.

WILLIAM L. BETTON.

* * * * *

CINCINNATI, OHIO.

I am a little girl thirteen years old. I live in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, but I am spending the winter in Cincinnati. I take YOUNG
PEOPLE, and like it very much. I am collecting curiosities, but I
have no Proteus.

GRACE D. HALL.

* * * * *

MACON, GEORGIA.

I will write and tell you what a warm winter we have had. There
were strawberries and peach blossoms in January, and now we have
many kinds of flowers blooming in the gardens. I am writing St.
Valentine's Day, and I and my two sisters, Bessie and Kate, have
had several pretty valentines.

LAURA C. PARMELEE (9 years).

* * * * *

"BAY CLIFF," LONG ISLAND.

I am a little boy ten years old, and live by the water. I have a
nice little row-boat named _Broadbill_, with patent oars. I have a
Shetland pony named Fanny. She is about three feet high, and is
very kind and gentle, and I can ride or drive her. My guinea-pig
is also a pet. I feed it cabbage leaves, carrots, boiled potatoes,
and lettuce.

E. T. I.

* * * * *

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

My most cunning pet is a guinea-pig named Tip, who creeps under my
arm and goes to sleep. I put cabbage and celery in a train of cars
and run across the floor; Tip gallops after and steals the leaves,
stops to munch them, and then races for more.

ARTHUR A. CRANDELL.

* * * * *

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

I have had experience with guinea-pigs, and I thought I would tell
Mark Francis what mine eat. They like all kinds of green
vegetables, such as lettuc