And he can no more answer it now, I declare, Than he could the old lady with lavender hair, Who used to sit opposite to him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WEE BOY IN CHURCH.--DRAWN BY C. A. NORTHAM.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX.]

SMITH'S HILL, CALIFORNIA.

I live on the east branch of Feather River, in California. I go to school in a school-house made of logs. The scholars are all Germans and Indians. Swallows generally come here in February, but this year we did not see any till the 9th of March. I saw a picture of the snow-flower in YOUNG PEOPLE No. 7. It grows on the hills near my home, and blooms in June. Lupin and larkspur and many other flowers also grow here. I am seven years old.

LOU R. K.

DOWNIEVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

I am twelve years old, and I live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about four thousand feet above the sea-level, with my aunt and uncle. The snow is two feet and a half deep (April 11), and I can not look for willow "p.u.s.s.ies" myself, but this afternoon my uncle was out over the snow, and he found some, which I send you. These are the first I have ever seen. A few days ago there was a flock of robins in our back yard, and they went skipping and hopping about quite happy. I have a pigeon, and his name is Bob. When I hold out my hand to him with wheat in it, he will come and eat, and when he has eaten all the wheat, he will turn around and fight me. Can you tell me why the 1st of April is called All-fools' Day?

MARY A. R.

The origin of April-fools' Day is unknown. If you have YOUNG PEOPLE No.

18, read the answer to Zella T., in the Post-office Box.

COLFAX, CALIFORNIA.

My uncle subscribed to YOUNG PEOPLE for a New-Year's present to me, and I do not believe he could have found a paper I would have liked better if he had hunted all over the United States. But I can not enjoy it alone, so when I get all through reading it, I send it to a little friend. I only moved to California eight months ago. I have twenty-two real dolls, and every one has a change of under-clothing and several dresses. I have one hundred and ten paper dolls. They all have names, and a history, which I know by heart. I send you some pressed California flowers and fern. I am twelve years old.

JEANNIE K. P.

WOBURN, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.

I am ten years old. I have no pets now, but I had a Newfoundland dog named Nero, and a p.u.s.s.y named Major. On the 14th of April I was in the woods, and I found two b.u.t.tercups. They were the first wild flowers I have seen this year.

CLARENCE E. L.

I live in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, on the banks of the Sandusky River. This is a very historical country. It was named after a tribe of Indians called the Wyandottes, who burned Colonel Crawford at the stake on the 11th of June, 1782. In the southern part of this town is a tree called the "Big Sycamore." It is sixteen feet in diameter, and about one hundred and fifty feet high. It has several limbs that are from five to eight feet in diameter. I have some pet ducks I think a great deal of, and a sheep named d.i.c.k, that follows me everywhere.

WILLIE B. G.

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

We have three little canary-birds. They can feed themselves, and mamma has put them in another cage. Their names are Yellowtop, Sport, and Baby. The mother bird has made a new nest, and this morning she has two eggs in it. If Daisy Balch will softly stroke her bird through the wires of the cage every evening at dusk, he will soon allow her to put her finger inside the cage, and will peck at a little sugar on the end of her finger, and will no doubt perch on it. All this will need patience. I like the "Tar Baby"

story so much, and "Mother Goose's May Party."

ETHEL.

NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK.

I live on the Niagara River, three miles and a half above the falls. I go to school at Niagara Falls village, and have walked nearly all winter in all kinds of weather, although it is nearly four miles. I have a little wild rabbit--black, white, and brown.

I had two, but the other ran away. We have a white cat and kitten.

The cat came to us nine years ago, when it was a little bit of a thing. It stands on its hind-legs when it wants something to eat, and never scratches. We have a water-spaniel named Music. He does not like to hear any one play the piano in a minor key.

F. T.

NORWICH, CONNECTICUT.

I am ten years old. I like to read YOUNG PEOPLE. The Post-office Box letters are nice. Katie R. P. says she collects insects. So does my papa. He puts lumps of cyanide of pota.s.sium, bought at the druggist's, in a bottle, and mixes plaster of Paris with water until it is like dough, and then pours it over the pota.s.sium. When it dries, the bottle is ready for use. Five cents' worth lasts a season, and is cheaper than ether, papa says, and works better.

When the b.u.t.terflies are dead, he spreads them on a board to dry, spreading their wings carefully and evenly, and holding them in place with pins. Papa has b.u.t.terflies all the way from China. He has as many as five hundred kinds. He raises them just as people do chickens, right from the egg. He calls the worms his pets--great green ones. I get food for them. They eat lots. He calls worms larvae, which he says means baby b.u.t.terflies.

That b.u.t.terfly Bessie F. had was the Danais, papa thinks.

b.u.t.terflies are all foreigners, and have queer names I don't understand. The worm of the Danais is found on milkweed, papa tells me. It does not spin a coc.o.o.n, but forms a chrysalis--a handsome green sack that looks like an ear-drop, with gold and black spots on it.

WALTER H. P.

It is scarcely safe to recommend the handling of cyanide of pota.s.sium, in any form whatever, to our young readers, as it is one of the most terrible of poisons, and works much mischief and suffering by merely coming in contact with a slight cut on the finger.

GREENSBURG, KENTUCKY.

I live on the top of a cliff almost two hundred feet high. The scenery is beautiful. You can see for a distance of twenty miles in almost every direction. There is an old field on our farm in which papa thinks the Indians fought a battle, because there are so many flint arrow-heads there. My brother and I are saving them, because we like to have them in our room.

I caught seven woodchucks with my dog. I am fourteen years old, and own a horse of my own. I bought her about two years ago. I have a goat that I work in a wagon I made myself. In autumn and winter I go to school, and in spring and summer I work on the farm, which I like pretty well. There are several caves on our farm. In one of them I have been in over a hundred yards. I like to read all of the letters in YOUNG PEOPLE'S Post-office Department.

JOHN H. B.

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

I have been intending to write to the Post-office Box ever since I began to take YOUNG PEOPLE, which papa gave me for a Christmas present. I have a pet cat, which I call Fluff, after the kitty I read about in the Christmas number. My Fluff is very much like that kitty, only she never went to church in her owner's m.u.f.f.

MATTIE J.