"A HEADING FOR DECEMBER." BY BEATRIX BUEL, AGE 16. A LOG FIRE. BY HÉLÈNE MABEL SAWYER (AGE 13). HE lies a fallen monarch at my feet, Taken by man a captive in the strife, While o'er his form the creeping red flames meet, And spring aloft in glowing, noisy life. Somewhere amidst a thousand other trees He lived his peaceful life and reigned as king; Among his branches crept the wand'ring breeze, There also came the feathered folk to sing. Brightly the sun shone on his waving crest, To quench his thirst the clouds shed many a tear, Perhaps upon the turf beneath his shade, Such was his life; then came th' all-conq'ring hand Of man, and 'neath its mighty strokes he fell. Resistless pow'r encompassed all the land, The tow'ring mountain and the wooded dell. And as I gaze upon its shrunken form, And, as 't were struggling in a mighty storm, A QUEER PET. (SILVER BADGE.) BY JOHN C. HADDOCK, JR. (AGE II). BUGGINS was a peanut-bug from Brazil, and was a very queer-looking thing too, as he looked just like a peanut. He was not a bit cross, and one of his favorite pastimes was to try to bite my finger as I drew it around the top of the tea-table. One day a cross old lady came to stay a month, so I gave her my room. When she went to bed that night she screamed and then fainted, for on the pillow was Buggins, who slept with me nights and had not heard of the change. The old lady left in the morning. THE FARMER'S LOG FIRE. BY MARION CLEVELAND (AGE 10). ALL through the crisp December days And often when he wakes at morn And how good it seems to his children To stand before that fire, And to feel the warmth it gives them As the mounting flames leap higher. They think of fun they soon will have On their bob-sled called "Flyer"; And as they think of that happy time They are by his great log-fire. A QUEER PET. (A True Story.) BY MARY BERDAN BUCKINGHAM (AGE 13). ALTHOUGH to some it would seem that this story does not come under the head of " A Queer Pet," I think it does; for it was a pet, and the thing I am going to tell about it is certainly very queer. One day two little sisters, who were very fond of pets, heard that a parrot was for sale at some place in town, and they decided to buy it. So after going to see it, and finding everything satisfactory, they brought it home in a cage. The bird was a bright green in color, but the man had told them it was too young to talk yet. The next day they tried to teach it something, but it obstinately refused to learn. Days went by, and yet it learned nothing, in spite of all the efforts the girls had made, and at last they gave it up. After a while, during which time the parrot was left to its own devices, it began to act queerly, and at last its owners decided it was sick; and Mrs. the girls' mother, said she thought it prob ably needed a bath, and that she would undertake the job. So that afternoon she took the parrot and started to give it a most vigorous scrubbing, when, to her amazement, the green rubbed off entirely, and she found that she was washing a crow! No wonder it would not talk, and that it acted very peculiarly, with a thick layer of paint over it! Do you think so? A LOG FIRE. BY HELEN COPELAND COOMBS (AGE 14). (Honor Member.) SNAPPING, crackling, hissing, While the wind outside is wailing, Sometimes roaring, sometimes shrieking, Sometimes moaning long and low: A log fire is a living thing, Of many moods and changes, Laughing, dancing, glancing, Sometimes leaping, sometimes crawling, Talking, sighing, whispering, THE LOG FIRE. BY FRANCES L. ROSS (AGE 14). The cold north wind blows strong and loud; The flames leap up right merrily, And in them we can see Strange pictures of the days gone by And days that are to be. Gray castles rise before our eyes, And then we see ourselves when we, But, ah, we are not yet full-grown! AROUND A LOG FIRE. BY ISOBEL DEBORAH WEAVER (AGE 10). 'T Is Christmas eve; The fire 's piled high With Yule-logs blazing merrily. The Christmas-tree Is loaded down A LOG FIRE. BY ELIZABETH P. JAMES (AGE 10). WE all sat round the big log fire, Jany and Bobby and I, While mother sang songs and played on the lyre, While father sat smoking near by. We all sat round the fire and thought We all sat there and listened to mother, And were thankful for everything: For sister and brother and one another, And summer and winter and spring. LEAGUE LETTERS. ST. PAUL, MINN. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am a member of the St. Nicholas League, and I inclose a picture of a bear for your wild-animal photograph contest. This picture was taken by me in Yellowstone Park. We were having lunch by the roadside when this bear (a cinnamon) came out of the woods and calmly took possession. We gathered up the lunch and retreated to the wagon, leaving him to enjoy the scraps. The picture shows him cleaning out a can of Yours most sincerely, PHILIP W. ALLISON (AGE 16). chicken. "A HEADING FOR DECEMBER." BY MARJORIE BRIDGMAN, AGE 11. (silver badge.) FLINT, MICHIGAN. MY DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: If you only knew or could imagine what joy you brought to one girl to-day, you would feel repaid, I think, for the bother of sending my beautiful badge and five dollars. I have worked hard on several competitions in two years, but have n't even seen my name on the honor-roll until August. Then I was just crazy-now I am still more so. Will you answer this question beneath my letter? May I try, and have the right to try for the Cash Prize? Thanking you so very much, I will remain, Ever your interested reader, JOYCE M. SLOCUM. Yes, you are allowed to compete for a Cash Prize after winning any of the "Wild Animal" awards.- EDITOR. OTHER_valued letters have been received from Phyllis Sargent, Michael R. H. Murray, Jean L. Holcombe, Elizabeth C. Solis, Seargent P. Wild, Muriel Bush, Benita Rosalind Guggenheim, Helen H. Newby, Helen Stieren Schorneck, Mary E. S. Root, Caro B. Sarmiento, Eleanor Johnson, Theobald Forstall, Helen Semple, Ethel Hastings, Harriet D. Day, Eleanor L. Halpin, Marjory Ward, Harriet E. Fitts, Katharine A. Robertson, Ida Klein, Margaret Reeve, Mary Louise Chancellor, Gladys L'Estrange Moore, Dorothy Norwood, Mary E. [Askew, Marta Cardenal, J. Frances Mitchell, Joseph S. G. Bolton, Harold Fowler Gerrard. Jean Russell Susan Warren Wilbur Mary E. Swenson Maud Dudley Shackel ford Elsie F. Weil Maude H. Brisse Hazel L. Raybold Mary Yeula Westcott Florence Hanawalt Marjorie R. Peck VERSE 2. Lucile Delight Wood- Olive L. Jenkens Marie Todd PROSE 1. Tanetta E. Vander- Helen Margaret Lewis Margaret E. Webb Edith Barber Yandell Boatner Kathryn Sprague Harriet Inman McKee Clara Shanafelt Lillie Menary Corona Williams Elliot Q. Adams Mary Elizabeth Mair Elizabeth V. R. Limont Marjory Caroline Todd Horace G. Stewart Alice Lorraine Andrews Anna H. Denniston Olive Winifred Leigh ton Laura Houghteling Freda Eisenberg Forest Kiester Flora Wiggins PROSE 2. Louise V. Prussing Dorothy Williams ren Richard Allen PHOTOGRAPHS 1. Marian C. Rowe Katharine D. Williams Ruth Seeley Frederic C. Smith Hazel E. Blake Arthur M. McClure Elizabeth H. Webster Aline Jean Macdonald J. Parsons Greenleaf Mary Cornelia Mallett Elsie Wormser Grace Cutter Stone Robert Edmand Jones Constance 1. How ton Charlotte Waugh Ethel Irwin Washington C. Huyler Kathleen Buchanan Edith F. Cornell Gertrude Harrison Helen L. K. Porter Alice Wangenheim PHOTOGRAPHS 2. Dorothy Cross Susan J. Appleton Dorothy Wormser Madison Parker Dyer Norris Elizabeth Spahr Margaret A. Brownlee PUZZLES 2. Marianna Kroehle William Ellis Keysor Marguerite Agnes Pressprich Morton L. Mitchell Gertrude F. Hussey Marie B. Townsend Competition No. 75 will close December 20 (for foreign members December 25). The awards will be announced and prize contributions published in ST. NICH. OLAS for March. Verse. To contain not more than twenty-four lines. Title to contain the word "Mountain" or "Mountains." Prose. Story or article of not more than four hundred words. Subject," The Story of a Word" (giving the history of its origin and meaning). Photograph. Any size, interior or exterior, mounted or unmounted; no blue prints or negatives. Subject, "The Midwinter Hills." CHRISTMAS Jay. " Drawing. India ink, very black writing-ink, or wash (not color). Two subjects, "Study of a Child and a Heading or Tailpiece for March. "A HEADING FOR DECEMBER.' BY EVERARD A. MCAVOY, AGE 14. LEAGUE NOTES, ETC. MISS DOROTHEA DAPONTE WILLIAMS, of Shepherd's Bush, London, England, should send a better address, as letters forwarded to the above have been returned, undelivered. In answer to a request for suggestions for a novel entertainment suitable to high-school students, we could do no better than to refer our correspondent and other readers to page 156 and following pages of this number. A really remarkable series of Christmas tableaux is there given, tableaux that may be produced without scenery and with only such costumes as may easily be made in the house. A feature of the entertainment might be the reading of the quaint old English verse which is printed with each tableau; or other appropriate quotations or selections might be read while the curtain is up. Charlotte E. Clay may obtain a book of ST. NICHOLAS plays for her entertainment this winter, by sending a request, and agreeing to return the book when the entertainment is over. NEW CHAPTERS. No. 843. Merwyn Linton, Secretary, six members. Address, 311 N. Byers St., Joplin, Mo. No. 844- 66 'Just the Girls." Ruth Hayner, President; Edith Ross, Secretary; six members. Address, 542 Main St., Stevens Point, Wis. (No. 844 would like to correspond with foreign chapters.) No. 845. "South Dakota Chapter." Paul F. Sherman, President: Grattan Fitz Gibbons, Secretary: twelve members. Address, 315 N. Summit Ave., Sioux Falls, South Dakota. No. 846. George Keating, President; fourteen members. Address, 342 W. 31st St., New York City. No. 847. Lorraine Grimm, President; Esther Bienfang, Secretary; six members. Address, Jefferson, Wis. No. 848. "Six Jolly Good Timers." Aileen Monahan, Secretary; six members. Address, 808 11th St., Greeley, Colo. No. 849. "Die Lustigen Madchen." Edna L. Moore, President; Bertha G. Stone, Secretary; seven members. Address, 7 Central St., Somerville, Mass. Puzzle. Any sort, but must be accompanied by the answer in full, and must be indorsed. Subjects. A silver badge will be given for the best list of subjects. Wild Animal or Bird Photograph. To encourage the pursuing of game with a camera instead of a gun. For the best photograph of a wild animal or bird taken in its natural home: First Prize, five dollars and League gold badge. Second Prize, three dollars and League gold badge. Third Prize, League gold badge. RULES. ANY reader of ST. NICHOLAS, whether a subscriber or not, is entitled to League membership, and a League badge and leaflet, which will be sent free. as Every contribution, of whatever kind, must bear the name, age, and address of the sender, and be indorsed original" by parent, teacher, or guardian, who must be convinced beyond doubt that the contribution is not copied, but wholly the work and idea of the sender. If prose, the number of words should also be added. These things must not be on a separate sheet, but on the contribution itself-if a manuscript, on the upper margin; if a picture, on the margin or back. Write or draw on one side of the paper only. A contributor may send but one contribution a month -not one of each kind, but one only. Address: The St. Nicholas League, A LITERARY DIARY. BOOKS AND READING. THERE are the quiet and methodical boys and girls who like to keep things in order as well as their noisier brothers and sisters. Both sorts have their work to do in the world, and each sort should respect the good qualities of the other. which is the Christmas spirit, by the way. The quieter ones may be glad of the suggestion that they keep a little diary in which to jot down references to books and articles appropriate to certain seasons or holidays. The pleasure of celebrating red-letter days is greatly increased by the knowledge of their past history, and this we find either in books or in the magazine articles clever writers have composed with much study. This holiday season is an excellent time to make a beginning. FORGET THE A WISE teacher says, " In PRINT. reading one ought to be as little conscious of the printed page as possible. If one can read a description in Scott, and see the picture as if it were a painting or an actual scene, without consciousness of the printed page, he does his best reading." If it be found that an author does not succeed in giving you food for your imagination, he is likely to be a poor story-teller, though he may have other qualities that are valuable. The great writers are usually distinguished by their power of setting the reader's mind to the active making of images, though they may do this in some other way than by long descriptions. READING AND It adds greatly to the inCOMPARING. terest of a book to compare one's impressions with those of a friend; but this is usually done in a careless way it may be in a brief conversation. Both the value and the interest of the comparison would be increased by making notes during your reading of some book, and then letting a friend read the same book and make notes without seeing yours. When the written accounts are brought together, both readers will profit by the comparison. But, in order that you and your friend may not take widely different points of view, it would be best to agree upon a few headings under which to group the notes you make. For instance, you might each tell what incidents pleased you both; the order in which you rank the main characters; qualities in which the book excels; those in which it is lacking; what book it reminds you of; and so on. AUTHORS' TWO SIDES. Most of us mean to be acquainted with the great writers of the English language, at least, and it is only fair to them and to ourselves to begin our acquaintance as pleasantly as possible. For that reason it is wise to ask advice of some older person who is fond of the author we mean to read. Often an author will have written in several differing styles. Some writings we may like; others may offend us, and prevent us from inquiring further. No author has written always well; and there is trash published under all great names. Remember, too, that there are books to tell us which reading is best, and what are the best works of any author. POEM BY KING WHATEVER We may not CANUTE. know about the early history of England, we are all likely to remember King Canute and his rebuke to his courtiers, as told in Thackeray's ballad. Henry Morley in his "Sketch of English Literature" gives a poem that is said to have been composed by this king while rowing by a monastery on the banks of the river. Here is a part of it: |