and
thoughtfully drawn, is meant to express. The girl or boy who will take the
trouble to study the meaning of the many distinct parts of which the
design is composed, will see that pretty much every subject that ST.
NICHOLAS thinks it well to talk about, is, in some way, symbolized in the
smaller pictures.

The department "For Very Little Folks" is represented by a baby in a
cradle, with a youthful nurse reading to it. Below this scene,
"Jack-in-the-Pulpit" holding forth to his hearers; and, in the next
picture, the poetry of the magazine is personified by a boy mounted on
Pegasus, the fabled winged horse that poets ride. A young hunter, who
shakes hands with a friendly gorilla, indicates that stories of travel, in
strange and distant countries, are to be found within.

In the upper picture, on the other side, two youngsters with telescope and
globe show that scientific subjects may be treated of in such a way as to
interest boys and girls; and a young artist, hard at work, illustrates how
industriously and earnestly our artists work to make good pictures for the
magazine. Sports and games are represented by the little fellow playing
cricket, which, as well as base-ball, is an excellent game, and often
played in this country, though not to so great an extent as in England,
where Walter Crane lives. The young sailor in his canoe, starting out on
the wide ocean in search of adventure, gives a good idea of how the
readers of ST. NICHOLAS go all over the world and see strange sights, in
company with the writers of our stories of fun and adventure.

There are still other things to be noticed on this cover. At the very top,
you will see a figure of young Time, probably the son of old Tempus, who
holds out a tablet to let us know what month the number is for; and, at
the bottom, are two round faces, like young worlds, which show that
children, in both the eastern and western hemispheres, are always on the
lookout for the coming of ST. NICHOLAS.

At the top are the muses of Literature and Art, who see to it that we have
plenty of good articles and pictures; while at the bottom are the two
griffins, who keep out everything that is bad.

In the center is St. Nicholas himself, the good old patron of girls and
boys.

Down at the bottom of this central picture, in the left-hand corner, just
behind the girl's foot, there is a curious little design. That is the
artist's distinctive mark, which he often puts on his pictures. IN