save ourselves and them
from unnecessary trouble. In the first place, the name must be written
very plainly. In some instances we can give only the initials because it
is impossible to read the name, and the initials themselves are often
very doubtful. Then the address must be given in full. If you have no
post-office box, and live in a town too small to have numbered streets,
have your letter addressed to the care of your father, or of some one
through whom you will be sure to receive it.

Do not write to us that it would give you pleasure to exchange with any
particular correspondent whose address has been plainly given in Our
Post-office Box, because we can not make room to print a letter which
should more suitably be written direct to the correspondent with whom
you desire to exchange.

Requests for correspondence, or for exchange of cards or pictures of any
kind, will not be noticed, as we do not consider such exchanges as
leading to any valuable information, and it is only such that we desire
to facilitate. Postmarks, which in themselves are worthless, we consider
calculated to develop a knowledge of geography; for no American boy will
rest content until he knows the exact locality from which his new
postmark comes, and finds out all about it that his geography will tell
him. Postage stamps have the same merit, with the advantage of being
historical as well, as many of them contain heads of kings, queens, or
eminent men, or at least some design typical of the country from which
they come.

We shall never print in the Post-office Box letters from correspondents
desiring to sell stamps, minerals, or any other things.

These observations are not gratuitous on our part, but we are compelled
to make them to save ourselves the labor of reading scores of letters of
which we can make no use whatever.

* * * * *

NEWBERN, VIRGINIA.

We live at the sea-side, and we had never seen mountains before we
came here this summer. I thought they were awfully big when I
first looked at them.

We amuse ourselves in many ways. Sometimes we ride on horseback,
and other times we go to the brook and paddle. We also take lovely
walks, and gather ferns, mosses, and lichens for hanging baskets.
One morning we went to the barn to see them thresh, and Ally found
eight baby mice, and Nora brought them home in her pocket. At the
threshing place there are ten