lad of fourteen, living with my parents in Kamayut. My father is a "second grade pleader," and I am a student of the Baptist Cushing High School, Rangoon. Every month I go to the book-stall and get you from there. I am much interested in the STAMP PAGES, the LETTER-BOX, and the LEAGUE. I am an amateur photographer, and by joining the LEAGUE and communicating with the members, I think I shall gain some knowledge of photography. So, seeing that by joining the LEAGUE I shall gain some knowledge of both photography and English, I write you to enroll my name in the membership register and to send me your LEAGUE badge and leaflet. I shall hereafter write some articles on our land, Burma. Thanking you for your return, MAUNG AUNG SAN. ORONO, MAINE. DEAREST ST. NICHOLAS: I look for you every month. I read the stories in you that are not continued, but I like the LETTER-BOX best of all; I read it every month. I have been abroad twice, and have visited Switzerland, England, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Belgium. I liked Holland and Switzerland best of all. We saw the Dutch children, and I took hold of a little girl's hand and had my picture taken with her. In Middleburg, Holland, we saw a lot of costumes and we took a lot of pictures. In St. Moritz, Switzerland, we made snowballs in July. When we left Jena all the people in the pension gave us something. There was a little girl in Jena who could speak English quite well, and we played with her. I did not like it over there very well, but I liked it on the boat. I would rather go to the seashore in Maine than go to Europe. I learned to swim this summer. I have a twin sister; her name is Elizabeth. I have been out of school a week, and so I have a lot of time to read you. Sincerely yours, PAULINE DRUMMOND (AGE 10). JACKSON, MINNESOTA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for two or three years now, and I've liked you better every month. I enjoyed "Treasure-Trove," "The Shadow on the Dial," "Twinkle, Little Movie Star," and, in fact, everything-especially THE LETTER-BOX and THE LEAGUE. Since there are few letters from Minnesota, I will tell you a little about it. I live in the southern part of western Minnesota. It is very beautiful here. Any number of tourists come here. If you were a tourist coming in on one of the roads leading into Jackson, you would, I am sure, notice the beauty of the hills all around our town. They are covered with dark, green trees, here and there a light green relieving the stately curves. From one of the high hills you could see for miles. Before you would stretch great, golden fields of grain and corn, and wooded hills, while here and there a road winds. From an airplane it is yet more lovely; lakes and ponds can be distinguished, looking like sapphires set in gold and emerald. If you should happen to love flowers, hidden by the roadside, you would find roses, sweet-peas, and bluebells, all wild, and, therefore, soon wilting. In winter, all is covered with cool, silent snow, and at night, with the stars and snow bringing serious thoughts, it is divine. I love to write stories, but better like to read-so you can understand why I like you, ST. NICK. In you I can find all that I like. I expect soon to contribute to THE LEAGUE. Yours truly, BETTY SCHROEDER (AGE 12). ASSIUT, EGYPT. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have been reading you for three years and am very much interested in THE LEAGUE. Since I live so far from America, I cannot get my contributions in in time, so I am sending a picture I took a few days ago, thinking it might be of interest to you. We live very close to the Nile River, and every fall the overflow comes up right near our house and the College Compound. In Upper Egypt there is practically no rain, so this overflow, which stays on the land about six weeks, is the only water that the fields get at all, except as they are watered by the irrigation ditches. This is a picture of one of my three brothers, a neighbor's boy, and the servant who plays with my youngest brother. My father is head of the English Department here in the Mission College. There are twenty-five American children in our station, twenty of whom are in a little American school, with an American teacher; we also have a real French teacher. We follow the Illinois school-system, and like it very much. I am in the eighth grade. My oldest brother has work in the college that will probably let him into second year high-school in the United States. I have one brother in the fourth grade, one that is four years old, and also a baby sister. The school has a large playground, with swings, a sand-box, a football field with goals, and a basket-ball field. We six oldest boys play baseball with the students in the college two afternoons a week. The other afternoons we usually play tennis with our fathers or the young American teachers in the college. It is very nice out here, and we have a good time, but in six more months our family will go on its furlough to America, and I shall be glad to see snow and ice again. A FISHING-PARTY IN ASSIUT, EGYPT I am typewriting this letter on my brother's typewriter. Your friend, PORTLAND, OREGON. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have read much about THE LEAGUE and would like very much to be a member. If you will send me a pin I will be pleased. I am twelve years old and go to Richmond School. In our school we have a mayor, four commissioners, and one clerk; they are elected by our "citizens," as we all call ourselves; then as minor officers we have, lieutenant, sergeant, and captain. We have court once a month and those who disobey "our laws" are sentenced by the judge. This year I ran for commissioner, was defeated, but got court clerk. Sincerely yours, MARGARET MARRINAN. LONG BEACH, L. I. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am a subscriber to you since December 1926, and think you are the best magazine out for girls and boys. I am in the third term highschool and intend to be a biology teacher, so you do not know how much I appreciate your Nature and Science pages. I like THE LETTER-BOX very much and love to read what girls and boys, far away from New York, write. Long Beach is a popular summer resort. I go swimming every day, rain or shine, and love to play tennis. But above everything else I love to read. I read many books but I like you better than any of them. Your devoted reader, LEILA WALDMAN (AGE 12). CHEWELAH, WASHINGTON. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Words alone cannot express my appreciation of you. I was given you as a Christmas present in 1925, and when my subscription ran out I renewed it immediately, and certainly expect to renew it again. Of the continued stories "The Secret of Tate's Beach" and "Dorothea's Double" have had my interest unfailingly. "The Shadow on the Dial" and "TreasureTrove" are holding my attention now. THE LEAGUE is so interesting. Every year the Red Cross, with the help of the citizens of our town, puts on a "Swim Week" in which you can win a Beginner's Badge, Swimmer's Badge, or Junior Life-Saving Badge and Pin according to your ability. You cannot win a Senior Life-Saving Badge until you are over seventeen years of age. I won my Junior Life-Saving Badge last year, and as one of your stories was about swimming and life-saving, you can imagine how interested I was in that story. The story entitled "The Greater Part" in the August number, was on the same order and just as interesting, as it shows that life-saving ability is better than fancy diving ability, if you really want to do some good in the world. Both of them would certainly be a wonderful advertisement for our future "Swim Weeks." With lots of love and good luck, TULSA, OKLAHOMA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: My Christmas present from my aunt in 1925 was ST. NICHOLAS, the nicest present she could have given me. I lived in Noblesville, Indiana, then, but I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, now. You don't get very many (Continued on page 424) Englanders. 7. To balance. 8. To pollute. 9. Loss of voice. 10. To feed so as to promote growth. 11. Pertaining to Spain and Portugal. 12. Things to be added. When these words have been rightly guessed, the initial letters (indicated by stars) will spell the name of a State. The letters represented by the figures from 1 to 10 will spell the capital of the State; from 11 to 18, the nickname of the State; and from 19 to 46, its motto. WALTER GUTMANN (AGE 13) CENTRAL ACROSTIC All the words described contain the same number of letters. When rightly guessed and written one below another, the central letters will spell the name of a certain holiday. CROSS-WORDS: 1. To try the flavor of. 2. To mend. 3. The father of Charlemagne. 4. An exclamation of re gret. 5. To provide food. 6. To clean vigorously with a brush. 7. Dexterity. 8. Bags. 9. Often eaten with luncheon. 10. A shallow vessel. 11. More advanced in years. 12. A framework of slats for transporting fruits. 13. Craftily. FLORA FREIRICH (AGE 15). CONNECTED SQUARES * I. UPPER LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. Dexterity. 2. A series. 3. A number. II. UPPER RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. Part of the foot. 2. A propeller. Epoch. 3. III. MIDDLE SQUARE: 1. A yellow dye. 2. Fetter. 3. To visit persistently. 4. To cleanse lightly. 5. To penetrate. IV. LOWER LEFT-HAND SQUARE: 1. Grief. 2. A pronoun. 3. Before. V. LOWER RIGHT-HAND SQUARE: 1. A small deer. 2. To be indebted. 3. A curious fish. K. A. ADAMS (AGE 17). A MISSING SYLLABLE What syllable of two letters may be prefixed to all of the following words? Quite, quire, search, sent, serve, sort, sound, store, strain, tire, trace, trench, vamp, veal, union. MARGARET P. YALLALEE (AGE 11). A CLASSICAL CROSS-WORD ENIGMA My first is in Leander but not in Aristides; My second, in Aristides but not in Antony; My third is in Antony but not in Pindar; My fourth is in Pindar but not in Vergil; My fifth is in Vergil but not in Demosthenes; My sixth is in Demosthenes but not in Atlanta; My seventh, in Atlanta but not in Xerxes; My eighth is in Xerxes but not in Arion. My whole was a noble Spartan king. CONSTANCE R. PULTZ (AGE 13). NUMERICAL ENIGMA I am composed of thirty-four letters and form a useful little motto. My 29-15-21-23 is to weary. My 13-25-8-2 forms the framework of the body. My 31-7-16-27 is uttered melodious sounds. My 17-28-19-12-32 is an apparition. My 3-10-24-5-22 is a small English coin. RALPH UNDERHILL (AGE 15). ZIGZAG All of the words described contain the same number of letters. When rightly guessed and written one below another, the zigzag, beginning at the upper, lefthand letter, will spell the surname of an American author. CROSS-WORDS: 1. A common quadruped. 2. An allegory. 3. A gem. 4. Condition. 5. To observe steadily. 6. Partial darkness. 7. Primal. 8. A serpent. 9. To choose. CHARLES MORRIS RICH (AGE 12). KING'S MOVE PUZZLE (Gold Badge, ST. NICHOLAS LEAGUE Competition) PŘŠŠNÍ HPR 6 7 8 NTT 17 19 20 21 22 23 24 Begin at a certain square and move to an adjoining square (up, down, or diagWhen the moves have been rightly made, onally) as in the king's move in chess. there may be spelled out the names of an Italian painter, an American inventor, a German composer, a Florentine painter, a Flemish painter, an English essayist, an English scientist, an Italian poet, and a Venetian painter. The initials of these nine names will spell a famous Dutch painter. The path from one word to another is continuous. My 20-11-6-14 is a ceremony. My ELLEN M. BALLIET (AGE 13). UFFE THE SILENT (Continued from page 376) shield, twisting this way and that to meet them, for he did not dare to try Skrep unless he could deal a death blow with it. Vermund could hear that Uffe was not striking, and he rose from his litter, and walked to the river brim, so that his red robe trailed in the water, for he thought that Uffe did not know how to wield his sword. Then Uffe shouted, "Come at me, Saxon, and show why your prince chose you to help him fight! Don't skulk behind." At this the Saxon fighter, wishing to be worthy of his trust, rushed at Uffe alone. Then Skrep sang through the air, and dealt him a blow that hewed him in twain. "That was Skrep," said Vermund, "where did it fall?" Then Vermund moved away from the water, and was now as eager to live as he had been to die. Once more Uffe shouted in a loud voice, "Come forward, Saxon, avenge the man who died for you!" Now these two sons of kings did not mingle their blows as if they had been churls, but struck in turn, as high-born fighters did in the olden days. The Saxon prince had lost a man, so he struck first. Uffe might not flinch from the blow, nor try to turn it, but stood, and let him strike. The blade crashed on the woven mail, the trusted coat of rusty armor, and the links held, so it could not bite through. Now it was Uffe's turn. Uffe turned Skrep in his hands, as he was not sure which side was sharper, and lifted it high over his head, bringing it whistling down. The Saxon prince fell in two pieces on the ground. "That was Skrep again," said Vermund, "how fares my son?" "His foes are dead," came the answer, "and he has loosed his boat, and is coming in it to your side." Then Vermund wept, and groped his way toward the shore until his hand felt the hard limbs of Uffe. The Germans in shame and sorrow rowed to the island, and took away their dead, and Saxony came again under the Danish crown, but in the lofty hall of the Danes that night, there were feasting and singing enough, and praising of Uffe. Uffe sat silent through the singing, for there was no need for him to speak, and Vermund's hand lay ever on his arm. "BETTINA," said Kay Landor, "you and I have charge of the commissary for the hike tomorrow. Can you come shopping with me now?" "Willingly," said Bettina, smiling at Kay, who in two short months had become (for obvious reasons) the most popular girl in Lansing High School. "Can I charge my share of the things at Gray's, do you suppose? I foolishly spent my all on a new beauty cream today, so I'm temporarily penniless.' today, so I'm temporarily penniless." "As for me, I'm temporarily a millionaire," laughed Kay. "So come along, and don't worry.' 99 She was thoughtful as they walked down the street. Suddenly she linked her arm through Bettina's. "Darling, let me tell you a secret. Last year at this time, I was spending my allowance, week after week, on beauty creams and new kinds of soap, and simply praying for a good complexion. Sometimes I even went without lunch so that I could buy some newly recommended beautifier." "Sounds just like me," said Bettina ruefully."But Kay, you have a lovely skin-the envy of us all! Don't tell me you haven't always had it.” Kay laughed. "My dear, anyone in my old home town will tell you I was simply pathetic. Last spring, when cousin Jack came to live with us, he felt sorry for me. He's really a famous athlete, you know. He said all I needed was training; and he laid down some simple rules and made me stick to them. There's nothing very startling about the rules either. Justplenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, and the right things to eat at the right time. I drink lots of milk, and no tea or coffee-because one of the important rules is, no artificial stimulants." "Oh dear! I detest milk," wailed Bettina. "You won't the way I drink it most of the time," laughed Kay, "in Postum-made-with-hot-milk. It's delicious-and easier than anything to make! I was planning it for the hike tomorrow-what do you think?" "Fine!" said Bettina. "There's not a girl in the crowd who won't want to try your recipe forgood looks, right away." Wouldn't YOU like to try Kay wasn't naturally beautiful. She had made herself so. With vivid health, bright eyes and lovely skin any girl is good-looking. "The Garden Where Good Looks Grow," an casy-to-read little book that is yours for the asking, tells all about the rules that Kay followed for health and beauty. They're simple to follow-really fun, in fact! A thirty-day test of Postum showed Kay how much she liked it and how much better it was for her than harmful caffein beverages. (Postum, you know, is simply whole wheat and bran, slightly sweetened and well roasted. When made with hot, not boiled, milk instead of the usual boiling water, it's really a champion health drink, as well as a delicious one.) We'll start you on the same test, if you like, with a week's supply of Instant Postum, sending it with your booklet. Fill in the coupon today, and don't forget to send it right away! A WINTER SOJOURN IN ICELAND the country to another, from the coast towns to the most remote farms and settlements in the interior. On these journeys, we usually had a string of six or eight additional packponies, each of them loaded with two large boxes of mail. We traveled from fifteen to twenty miles a day, the length of the journey depending on the state of the trails and the condition of the weather. Now and then we would ride all day through a heavy snow-storm with the wind blowing straight from the north, and then we were fortunate if we covered as much as ten miles. The days grew shorter and shorter, of course, as the winter advanced, and our journeys were shortened accordingly. By three or half-past three in the afternoon, our ponies would be stabled and fed, and we sitting in the dagstofa, or living-room, at some lonely farmhouse, eagerly awaiting an early supper. Iceland food was really something to write home about, and I did write home about it on more than one occasion during that winter. I don't think I have ever, either before or since, enjoyed eating so much as I did there. Horseback riding wonderfully whets the appetite, and I ate everything set before me with huge zest. Often in the summer-time the principal dish would be delicious broiled or baked fresh salmon or trout; in the autumn and winter it was usually a joint of roast beef or mutton. There was never any great variety of food, but always an abundance of it, prepared in any number of appetizing ways. But in my opinion the most sumptuous of all dishes in the Icelandic cuisine is skyr. This is made of the curds of milk beaten to a smooth, thick, creamy consistency and eaten with fresh cream and sugar. But there must be something more to its preparation than this. There must be some deep secret about making a dish so wonderfully delicious as skyr. Fortunately there was no secret about eating and liking it. The mere thought of skyr makes me hungry even at this distance of time and place. One Icelandic custom with respect to food I liked very much-that of being served with coffee and cakes the first thing in the morning, while you are still in bed. Perhaps it isn't so pleasant for the one who has to rise early and make the coffee, but a guest, of course, never has to do this. At the very crack of dawn there is a knock at your door. and then there (Continued from page 348) is placed on the little table beside your ourselves. Icelanders are fortunate, I think, in the isolated position of their country, for they are nothing like so dependent upon the more artificial kinds of amusement. They are passionate lovers of outdoor life, and in winter there is glorious skiing to be had on the mountains, and skating on the lakes and fiords. Their indoor amusements are largely books and chess. I know of no other country It may be asked what the Iceland- where chess may be said to be the ers do during their long winters, and national amusement as it is in Icehow they amuse themselves. Some land. Once many years ago, an people might think their lives very American, Professor Fiske of Cornell dull and lonely, and it is true that University, was traveling by steamer most of their amusements they must around the north coast of Iceland. devise for themselves. But few of The steamer passed close to the little them are provided with phonographs island of Grimsey, which lies about or radio outfits, and they have no twenty miles off the coast, and ProSunday newspapers, in fact almost fessor Fiske asked what the people none of the so-called necessities of did to amuse themselves in so lonely modern life,--but in so far as I could a place. He was told that all the judge they did not suffer from the lack Grimsey folk were chess-players, and of them. Icelandic life appealed to Professor Fiske, himself a great lover me precisely because it was so homely of the game, later presented every and simple and old-fashioned. On family on the island with a chessthe farms the women still spin their board and a set of chessmen. And wool on spinning-wheels, and make at his death he bequeathed to the the clothing for the family. The men public library in Reykjavik, one of are their own blacksmiths and car- the finest libraries on chess to be penters and harness-makers, and the found in Europe. There are few boys learn from their fathers not only benefactors of Iceland held in more how to use tools, but how to make grateful remembrance than Professor them as well. There is much to be Fiske. said for this kind of independence. In these days, in many parts of the world, life has become so modernized and specialized that most of us are compelled to live a debased, artificial kind of existence whether we like it or not, and we have become so accustomed to having our amusements and distractions provided for us, that we have all but forgotten how to amuse ICELAND PONIES SWIMMING A RIVER As for the other diversion, books, what could be pleasanter than long winter evenings spent in reading? Whenever I think of Iceland, the picture that comes oftenest to mind is of a lamplit room-often a candle-lit room-with a long table in the center of it, and the family seated around it each with his book, and the room so quiet that nothing was to be heard but the ticking of the clock and the fluttering of a turned page. I sat at many such a table during that winter, reading English translations of the ancient Icelandic sagas. If any boy of fourteen or more who may chance to see this article, has not yet read one of those old tales of early Iceland, let me urge him to do so. Two of the best of them, "The Story of Burnt Njal" and "The Saga of Grettir the Strong," are to be had in the Everyman Library. Not only are they fascinating considered merely as stories, but they are tales of actual events and of actual people who lived in the Iceland of a thousand years ago. This gives them an interest which no fictitious tale can ever have. I left Iceland early in the spring, and precisely one month later I was again in the South Seas, on the same island and at the same village from which I had set out for my northern journey. And there was Manara, the wife of the old chief, on the riverbank washing clothes, as though she had never left off during all the months I had been away. The same evening I told the family of my experiencesof ice-skating, skiing, and snowshoeing. I described a typical Icelandic farm, and told them how the houses were built and how the people lived. When I had finished there was a long silence, and at length the old chief said: "Éahahoia!" This is a Polynesian expression of mingled surprise and incredulity which might be translated, "You don't say so!" But from his manner of saying it I am sure that what he meant was, "I don't believe a word of it!" As a matter of fact, as I looked out from his little thatched-roofed dwelling toward the lagoon beach where the broad leaves of the banana plants and the fronds of the cocoanut-palms were glistening in the moonlight, I hardly believed it myself. IN THOMAS HARDY'S WORLD (Continued from page 358) "a sinister scene' So strange, unhomelike, hungry, mean; When the butcher wins, and he's driven from the place." AND last this beautiful bit: AN AUGUST MIDNIGHT "A shaded lamp and a waving blind, And the beat of a clock from a distant floor; On this scene enter-winged, horned, and spined A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore; While 'mid my page there idly stands A sleepy fly that rubs its hands. "Then meet we five, in this still place, At this point in time, at this point in space. -My guests parade my new-penned ink, Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink. 'God's humblest, they!' I muse. Yet why? They know Earth-secrets that know not I." "Just the book educators and parents have long needed,” CHILD By SMILEY BLANTON, M. D., and THIS HIS admirable handbook for parents, study groups, and all who are interested in the correct way of bringing up children deals clearly and frankly with all phases of training normal children from birth to adolescence. It is a thoroughly up-to-date and practical manual. "Of especial value," says the Journal of the American Medical Association, "are the sections on discipline, on education concerning matters of sex, and on personal study of the child, all of which are discussed in a most interesting and delightful manner." "It is a real contribution to rational genetic psychology - while its intensely practical nature should place it in the curriculum of every medical student who may be called upon to deal with problems of infancy and childhood, and would make it the preferred reference of the physician to expectant parents and to those who are doing badly in handling their children, there are none of us who try to build up the complete exposition of human personality who can afford to deny himself familiarity with the facts which these authors have incorporated in their book.' Harry Stack Sullivan, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. says Miss Miriam B. Huber of the Institute of Educational Re search, Teachers Col lege, New York City. "The most important contribution to the literature of practical child guidance which has yet appeared, says Professor Donald G. Patterson, University of Minnesota. Parents, teachers, and groups engaged in child study will find in CHILD GUIDANCE much helpful and practical suggestion in the common problems of child care and training," says Children Magazine. "It is an excellent addition to the library of parenthood,' says the Chicago Daily News. "A splendid book to read and study," says the New York Parent-Teacher Bulletin. "Cram full of sound advice, well written, and excellently illustrated with numerous case examples," says Iago Galdston, M.D., in the Medical Review of Reviews. "One should possess it and read it. It is by far one of the best works of its kind that has appeared on the reviewers' table," says the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. |