DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I do like you so much, and I wish you would tell me something. I see pictures and read books in which are the names Penelope, Juno, Achilles, Hercules, and so on. The dictionary tells but little about these names, and I want to know all about them. Can you tell me how to find out?--Truly your friend,
You can learn a good deal about the personages you mention from Bulfinch's "Age of Fable," from Alexander S. Murray's "Manual of Mythology," and from Mrs. Clement's "Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art"; but the poems of Homer,--the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey,"--of both of which there are good English translations,--are the chief sources of the information.
MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I send you an Enigma to publish in your magazine. The answer to the Enigma is "Washington."--Yours truly,
My 1, 9, 10, is the same as one. My 8, 1, is two-thirds of two. My 6, 5, 10, is three-fourths of nine. My 10, 9, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, is nothing. My 3, 2, 1, is what my 5 did. My 8, 9, 10, is very heavy; but My 10, 9, 8, is not. My 6, 5, 7, 4, 8, is always somewhere, but not here to-day.
THE BOY ENGINEERS: WHAT THEY DID, AND HOW THEY DID IT, is an illustrated book published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons. It seems to have been written for readers living in England, but young amateur machinists anywhere would find it an entertaining book. It gives good practical hints about the management of tools, and explains how to turn and carve in wood and metal, how to make a clock, an organ, a small house, and how to set up a steam-engine. The type is large, and the style easy and pleasant.
1. A pointed implement of brass or wood. 2. Wrath. 3. Not old.
1. Behead a bird's nest, and leave a lake in North America. 2. Behead a marine map, and leave a wild animal. 3. Behead a sail vessel, and leave a small narrow opening. 4. Behead a plant, and leave space. 5. Behead a basket or hamper, and leave standard or proportion. 6. Behead a sharp bargainer, and leave a company of people. 7. Behead a group of individuals, and leave a country girl. 8. Behead an act of deception, and leave high temperature.
The whole, composed of twelve letters, is a noted character of American fiction.
The 1, 8, 4, 12 is to rend asunder. The 3, 2, 6, 10 is a flower. The 11, 5, 7, 9 is an open, grassy space.