print it.--Yours truly,

B.

ACROSTIC.

My first has a heart that has ne'er throbbed with pity;
My next has strong arms, but ne'er strikes for the right;
My third has a head, but is not wise or witty;
My fourth, a neat foot, but in country or city
Is never seen walking, by day or by night;
My fifth, with a mouth that is surely capacious
Enough for a lion, is never voracious.
Guess from these five initials my whole, if you can;
'Tis a path ever used, yet untrodden by man.

_Ans._ Orbit. Oak, Reel, Barrel, Iambic, Tunnel.

* * * * *

CITY CHILDREN'S COUNTRY REST.

Brooklyn, E.D.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Here is news to do your heart good. Last summer, a
Brooklyn lady, who herself has been bed-ridden and in pain for many
years, felt very sorry for the children of the tenement houses, who
are unable to get relief or a chance to enjoy the fresh air and bright
sunlight of the country. She longed to help them, and said so to
Mr. P., a clergyman in northern Pennsylvania. He spoke of it to his
congregation, and asked them if they would invite some of the poor
city children to visit their farm-houses and cottages for a week or
so; and they gladly said they would, and told him he might bring along
as many as he could get to come. This generous reply he told to the
lady, and she let others know, and the result was that, although late
in the season, more than sixty children from the poorest neighborhoods
of Brooklyn--pale, deformed, city-worn, and ill-fed--spent a happy
fortnight in the country.

The children were ferreted out, and their parents persuaded. They were
then taken to the railroad depot, and there given in charge of Mr. P.,
who went with them, and sorted them among his people; and, when the
time was up, brought them back, and turned them over to us at the
depot. Then we took them to their homes. The total expense of carrying
all the children there and back in three lots was about $180, and more
money could have been had if it had been wanted. In fact, the minute
the subject was broached every hearer wanted to help. The railroad
company charged only half fares, and the employes got to know Mr. P.
and his batches of children, and did all they could to make things
easy and cheerful for them.

I can fancy how glad you would have been, dear old ST. NICHOLAS, to
see the happy, hearty, bright-eyed boys and girls that came home in
place of the pale-faced, dead-and-a