lunches, and told of a visit to the new Normal school of
Philadelphia; he said that in the lunch hall there is a long table
on which there was nothing but cakes of all sorts. Now, being a
member of the school, I was a little hurt at the injustice done to
our school. I know there is something else but cake,--fruit, milk,
soup, sandwiches, etc., being among the other things that are
spread on the lunch-table, provided by the janitor, and sold to the
girls at very low rates. So you see I had reason to be a little
indignant at the discredit done to our school, and set about
repairing it as far as possible; and you, too, can help repair the
harm done to this fine public school by kindly printing this note.
But I must close, for my letter is getting too long.

--Your true friend,

A MEMBER OF THE MODEL CLASSES PRIMARY DEPARTMENT. (Aged eleven
years.)

* * * * *

SCIENCE AT HOME.

Brooklyn.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am an old boy, but not too old to be one of
your most delighted readers; and I am glad of the present chance to
send you my good wishes, and say my say. Here it is:

Be sure and tell your youngsters to bear in mind that opportunities
for home study on their own accounts are multiplying around them
day by day, and that in taking advantage of them they will not only
find great enjoyment and add to their stock of knowledge, but also
will come upon hundreds of ways in which to amuse their friends,
both old and young.

Here, for instance, come Professor Mayer, and your frequent
contributor, Mr. Charles Barnard, with a little book about "Light."
They are not content with merely telling the dry facts about their
subject, but, with pictures and plain speech, they explain how
almost any boy or girl may, at small cost, make his or her own
apparatus, and with it verify by actual trial what the book says.
Some of the experiments are positively beautiful, and the hardest
is not _very_ difficult.

Then, too, Professor Tyndall has written out his lectures to young
people, given before the Royal Institution at London during
1875-76, in a little work called "Lessons in Electricity,"--most
interesting and beautiful of scientific studies,--in which he tells
how to make the instruments and conduct the experiments yourself.
And, as if that w