The little girls who have china dolls might make very cunning pen-wipers by taking eight pieces of gay flannel or merino--from mother's piece-bag again--cutting them into a circular shape, and folding twice, stitch them around Miss Dolly, who will then look precisely like a fairy in fluted petticoats.
You have asked the children to tell of their amusements, so we send you a game called "Genteel Lady." You must have a number of twisted papers made to represent horns. For each mistake that a player may make, a horn is stuck in the hair. The game begins by one of the party saying to her neighbor on the right hand, "Good-morning, genteel lady, always genteel. I, a genteel lady always, come from that genteel lady always genteel" (pointing to the person on her left hand) "to tell you that she has an eagle with a golden beak." This is repeated by the next girl, who must add something to the last phrase, but must keep strictly to the formal introduction. It is quite likely that she will make a mistake, and if she does, she is immediately to receive a horn. After this she will be called "the one-horned lady, always one-horned," until she shall receive another horn, when she will be called "the two-horned," etc. Each person who repeats what has been last said without making a mistake must add something--as silver claws, diamond eyes, raven plumage, or whatever else she chooses--to the description of the eagle. At the end the horns, which are regarded as forfeits, are all ransomed.
We like the stories in YOUNG PEOPLE very much indeed.
I have written before to your paper, and shall be very much disappointed if this goes into that dreadful waste-basket into which my first letter must have gone, for I have heard nothing from it. I have taken YOUNG PEOPLE for nearly a year, and think it is a splendid paper. I spent my vacation this summer at Hempstead, Long Island. I caught several turtles. I visited Garden City, and saw the cathedral and other noted buildings. I am very fond of animals. I have a black cat named Ned. I had a greyhound named Golden, but he died in a fit while I was away this summer. I have also a gold-fish. I read the account of President Garfield's boyhood in YOUNG PEOPLE. I hope we boys will profit by his example.