This all happened a week ago, and now nobody is seasick, and we have perfectly elegant times every single minute. There is a band on board, and they play splendid things every day when we are at dinner, and every evening on deck; and sometimes we dance, and it is just like a garden party or a picnic all the time. To-morrow is the Captain's birthday, and we're going to have a real Thanksgiving dinner, and a concert in the evening, and a ball at the end of it, and we children are going to dance as well as the grown-up people. If I can, I will write you about it afterward, but must say good-by for to-day, my sweet child. It is such a comfort to me to be able to trust all the other dolls to you. I _know_ you will take good care of them. Be sure to have an eye to Mopsy with her broken arm, and Jack with his cracked nose. Above all, _don't_ let Leonora snub Chloe--poor little black Chloe, who is just as dear to me as Leonora with her lily-white hands and rosy cheeks. _See_ that she lets her alone, won't you, Clytie? Give my love to them all.
Your affectionate and anxious mamma, BESSIE MAYNARD.
During the long winter evenings our readers may find some of these simple tricks amusing to themselves and their friends:
TO MAKE A CIRCLE OUT OF WHICH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO JUMP.
Take a piece of chalk, and ask, if you make a circle, whether any boy standing in it thinks he can jump out of it. As soon as one proposes to do so, bring him into the centre of the room, draw a circle with the chalk around his jacket, and say, "Now jump out of it!"
Ask one young lady in the company whether she thinks, if she clasped her hands, she could walk out of the room. On her saying she could, request her to pass her arm round the leg of the table or piano, join her hands, and walk away.
Fill a small glass with water, cover it with a hat, and profess your readiness to drink it without touching the hat. Put your head under the table, make a noise as if drinking, rise, and wipe your lips. The company thinking you have drunk the water, one of them will certainly take up the hat to see. As soon as the hat is removed, take up the glass and drink its contents. "There!" say you, "you see I have not touched the hat."