the milk boil; then stir
in the chocolate very hard; add half a pint of best white sugar, and three
table-spoonfuls of molasses. Boil until very thick, taking care not to
burn it. Pour on buttered tins, and, when nearly cold, cut in squares.

If you think this is a good recipe (which I am sure you will, as I have
tried it many times, and have never known it to fail), please put it in
the "Letter-Box," and oblige, your interested reader,
MARY WHARTON WADSWORTH.

* * *

Butte Creek, Cal.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am ten years old, and live in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, and my papa belongs to a mining company--mining for gold. I
have a hydraulic mine of my own, but I don't get any gold out of it. I
have a dog whose name is Flora, and a wooden sword and dagger, and I play
soldier with her and get cleaned out sometimes.

We have no school here, but I study my lessons every day, and papa hears
me recite at night. I study arithmetic, geography, spelling, U. S.
history, and writing. I may write to you again some time.--Yours truly,
SCOTTIE HANKINS.

* * *

Philadelphia, Pa.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I want to tell you about a girl we had. She was a
German girl, and she asked my father, who is a druggist, for a label. She
wanted to send it to Germany, so her friends could direct the letters. On
the label was printed, "Dr. Siddall, Mantua Drug-store, Tinct. of Myrrh,
No. 3526 Haverford St., W. Phila." She sent this label, and when the
answer came, the direction read, "Care Dr. Siddall, Mantua Drug-store,
Tinct. of Myrrh, No. 3526 Haverford St., W. Phila."

We had a good laugh over it, to think that anybody would put "Tinct. of
Myrrh" on the direction of a letter.

I thought I would send you this to put in the ST. NICHOLAS, so that
everybody who reads this could have a laugh over it.--Very respectfully,
J. R. SIDDALL.

* * *

DORA'S HOUSEKEEPING, by the author of "Six Little Cooks," is a handy
little book that tells about the troubles and triumphs of a girl fifteen
years old, who is left unexpectedly to take charge of a house and provide
daily meals for its six inmates. The story itself is pleasant, and it
intr