tricks.
One of them would go on a tight cord, in the centre of which was
fastened a pan of bird seed, holding on by his tail all the time.
Another would go up an inclined plane, and then down a string to
get bird seed. I could tell many other funny tricks they did, but
I am afraid my letter would be too long.

JOHN R. B.

* * * * *

PORT BYRON, ILLINOIS.

I am seven years old, and I live on the east bank of the
Mississippi. My papa owns a raft steamer, which is busy towing
rafts from the foot of Lake Pepin to Hannibal and St. Louis. Every
summer my mamma and I take a trip with papa up or down the river.
We are gone a week or more. Oh, I just have jolly times! The men
on the rafts make me whistles and little boats. The cook gives me
dough every time he bakes. I make fried cakes, biscuits, and pies
all out of the same piece of dough. I am not as particular as the
little girls who send recipes to the Post-office Box.

My grandma in Wisconsin subscribed for YOUNG PEOPLE for me, and I
enjoy it more than any present she ever gave me, because it is
something new every week.

FREDDIE J. B.

* * * * *

ALBION, NEW YORK.

I live with my mamma and grandpa and grandma. I am four years old,
but I am going to be five in October.

I have a little brother named Judson, but he calls himself "B." He
is three years old. He had a birthday cake with three candles on
it--a red one, a green one, and a white one. At breakfast a pair
of little oxen stood at his plate with a load of candy and a
little doll driver. He was so good he gave me more candy than he
kept himself, and the dolly too.

"B" likes "The Moral Pirates" because it is about boats. We are
too little to guess the puzzles, but we like the letters in the
Post-office Box ever so much.

"LITTLE PEARL."

* * * * *

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

I think the "worm" described by Maggie P. B. is the caterpillar of
the willow sphinx moth. I have found several of them on the
willow-trees, and I kept them and fed them every day. In the fall
they turned into chrysalides, which I kept all the winter. In the
spring beautiful moths, nearly six inches across the wings, came
out of them. I am collecting butterflies a