1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
135 
The Round Robin. 
Dear Children :—The holidays are oyer, and be¬ 
fore you see this, I ain afraid will be almost for¬ 
gotten ; but we shall recall them again in reading 
the pleasant communications that old Uncle Sam 
has brought us from all over the country. 
One particularly well written letter has come 
from a little Canadian girl, of twelve years ; Flor¬ 
ence Edith Jacobs, who lives up north in the Queen’s 
Canadian dominions. Being an only child, she seems 
to oe her father’s pet, and to have a number of 
pets herself. She says : “I have a doll that weighs 
lib. It has rosy cheeks, blue eyes, auburn hair 
and a bang. I have a tortoise cat, a spotted dog, 
called Leo, and a canary bird that sings all the 
time. Last but not least, I have two chickens, one 
white and one gray, but they do not lay eggs, as 
they belong to the masculine gender. I go to 
school, and take music lessoDs ! ” 
We are much obliged to little Alice for her let¬ 
ter, although she did not give her post office ad¬ 
dress, and should be delighted to have the picture 
of her baby brother when she can spare one. She 
writes: “ We all went up to grandpa’s, I and mamma 
and papa, sister and little baby brother, to spend 
Christmas with them. I got a nice nubia, a pair of 
vases with strawberries on them,and a bottle of per¬ 
fumery.” You will find the answer to the puzzle, 
Alice, in the next number of this paper. 
Our little Quaker friend, Charles Morlan, of Sa¬ 
lem, Ohio, says : “ I have concluded to write a lit¬ 
tle to thee, and tell thee what I am doing. I am a 
reader of the American Agriculturist , much inter¬ 
ested in the Boys’ and Girls’ Columns. We have a 
little calf that is very stubborn, and will not suck 
a person’s finger, at all; but I hope it will get over 
it before long. We had a fine day for Christmas 
here. We made some popcorn balls, and sorghum 
taffy, which are very good. We got a little candy.” 
We think, Charles, that must be a very nice home 
school of yours, and some time would be glad to 
hear more about it. 
We were surprised to receive such a nice letter 
as Lillian Bronson’s from a little girl only sixyears 
old. She writes : “ 1 have a pet lamb, and her name 
is Kate. She will drink milk from a cup, like a 
kitten ; but the sweetest, pet of all is my little 
brother. His name is Orville Eugene. He is six 
months old to-day, and weighs 21 pounds.” 
We are glad to see the children appreciate their 
baby brothers and sisters 'so highly. 
Edith Stoughton, of Cheney, has given us her first 
attempt at writing a letter. She says: “ We have 
taken the paper for a good many years, and like it 
very much, especially the Doctor’s Talks, they are 
very interesting. I have a black pony, his name is 
Don ; I ride a great deal. I have a cow and a dog, 
his name is Bounce. My best wishes to the Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist." The Doctor’s chats are very 
instructive, and Robin trusts you all read and 
enjoy them. Hoping to hear of plenty more fun 
and good times, I am Your friend, 
Round Robin. 
Marble-Time and Marbles. 
There are kite-time, top-time, ball-time, and 
marble-time, and every boy appears to know the 
proper season for each of these sports. What are 
the exact dates of these seasons we do not know; 
but we do know that a boy of proper principles 
would no more be found playing marbles in top¬ 
time than he would be caught in some mean act. 
If we could learn the early history of marbles, we 
should find that they were played by the ancient 
Romans, and it is very likely that boys before the 
Christian Era had their marble-time, just as you do 
now. It is said that marbles are found in the ruins 
of Pompeii, which shows that the game is a very 
old one. In ancient times, the roundest natural 
pebbles that could be found, were used for playing, 
and it is not known when manufactured marbles 
first came into use. It is known that they were 
imported into England from Holland in 1620, and 
they were no doubt made much earlier than that. 
Some very common marbles are made of clay 
and baked, but the best kinds are made of differ¬ 
ent kinds of stone, including marble and agate. 
Holland and Germany are the countries which pro¬ 
duce nearly all the marbles that are used. The 
stone is broken up into pieces as nearly round as 
possible. These are then placed between two mill¬ 
stones, which grind them into shape, but leave 
them rough. To make the rough marbles smooth, 
they are placed in a wooden cask, in which are 
cylinders of hard stone; the cask revolves, and 
the marbles, by rubbing against these stones, and 
against one another, until they become very 
smooth. The dust formed in this operation is then 
taken out, and emery put in, when the cask is 
again made to revolve, and the marbles are polish¬ 
ed. Some marbles, made of a porous stone, are 
dyed, and some very coarse ones are painted. The 
finest kind is made from agate ; these are costly, as 
they are made singly, each being ground by hand 
by holding it against a large grindstone. Marbles 
are divided into “taws,” as the common ones are 
called, and “ alleys ” for the finer ones. Taw is an 
abbreviation of tawney, the color of the common 
marbles, while alley is from alabaster, the stone 
from which the finer kinds are made. 
“ A Queer Darkey.” 
Among the many invented dolls, I have seen none 
more original and grotesque, than the one here 
shown. The frame 
(fig. 1) is a chicken’s 
“wish-bone.” The 
head is made of black 
sealing-wax, which, 
when warm, is easily 
modelled into shape. 
The mouth and lips 
are fashioned of red 
wax. Two small white 
beads are used for 
eyes, and when in¬ 
serted, should be pres¬ 
sed down, so that the 
black wax will fill the 
holes. The feet are 
'•> made of black wax, 
Fig. 1.— tuf. frame. and can be turned in 
any direction ; when, 
as in fig. 2, the doll has the appearance of walking. 
The clothing consists of a pair of black flannel 
pants, a scarlet flannel skirt and circular cape, 
trimmed with a band of black velvet. The cape is 
finished at the neck with long pointed paper collar, 
and yellow silk neck-tie. A cap is then finished 
with yellow silk tassel, and attached to the head 
with mucilage. Aunt Ida. 
Be Careful Youngsters.- It is such fun to 
skate, to throw snow balls and to make snow men, 
that you may sometime, in your enjoyment of these 
winter sports, forget how cold it is. Most painful 
troubles often follow frosted feet and ears. The 
old fashioned skates, put on with tight straps, are 
very bad. They stop the circulation, and a foot 
may get frosted before one knows it. On a very 
cold day look to your ears ; if one loses feeling, at 
once rub it with snow until feeling or color is re¬ 
stored. If a foot becomes numb, do not delay, 
but take off skates, shoes and stockings, and rub 
the foot with scow until it feels warm again. Do 
not allow the sport to make you neglect these mat¬ 
ters. It is not often that the feet, etc., are actually 
frozen, but they get so cold that the circulation of 
the blood is stopped. When the foot has no feel¬ 
ing, there is danger. Avoid freezing your limbs 
now, and much future pain will be saved. 
Eating the Candle. 
It is quite curious to notice how some very old 
things are often given as new. I was looking at a 
paper the other day, and found in the young peo¬ 
ple’s column, a trick, given as new, that I used to 
play when I was a boy. In those days candles 
were in common use, and the trick could be play¬ 
ed more readily than now. Cut from a large ap¬ 
ple, or from a white turnip, a round piece, the size 
of a candle, and place it in a candlestick. Then 
cut from an almond meat a little piece to represent 
the wick, and stick this within the end of your 
vegetable candle. Light the wick, let it burn for a 
few seconds and blow it out, and you will have an 
excellent imitation of the end left after a candle has 
been nearly burned out. You can introduce some 
talk about Russia, or the Esquimaux, saying that 
you have read that those people are so fond of fat, 
that they will even eat tallow candles. You may 
remark that “ this is not very strange, as candles 
are very good eating,” that you “ like to lunch on 
them occasionally ” yourself. You may say that 
you “ do not like your candles cold, but when hot, 
and burning, they are really very nice.” You can 
light your almond candle-wick, and much surprise 
your friends by popping the candle end into your 
mouth, and eating it, taking care, of course, to 
blow out the flame before it goes into your mouth. 
If well done, the triek is a great success. 
The Doctor. 
Our Puzzle Box. 
CONUNDRUMS. 
When did the farmer’s wife complain that there was 
no end to her pork ? 
When the butcher threw awav the pig’s tail. 
Wbat is the color of the grass when covered with 
snow ? 
Invisible green. 
What is the best age for a parson? 
Parsonage. 
BLANK RHYMES. 
I stood upon the shore 
And gazed upon a-; 
Then o v er the rocks went daintily, 
Fearful-lest I should-. 
And then I crossed a field, 
And saw the young lambs-, 
And watched the old sheep lazily 
The fresh, green herbage- 
A briar caught my flounce, 
And from it tore a-, 
At that I was so much annoyed, 
I had to bite my-. 
But then I sought a spring, 
That in it I might- 
My little shell, and by its use 
The sparkling water-. 
EASY RIDDLE. 
A four-footed Throne. 
A savage knows it not, 
’Twas hand of art that wrought. 
Nor would we ever choose. 
The gift, once known, to lose. 
’Tis chiefly made of wood, 
E’en rustic one's are good. 
While some are rich and grand 
In princely hall to stand ! 
’Tis welcome in each place 
Where weary mortals taste 
The bliss of sweet repose 
Whioi toilsome moments close. 
And when at we 1 spread hoard, 
With viands rich out-poured, 
A boy seems as a king 
When lie’s enthroned therein, 
Compared with savage, that 
Is crouched upon low mat! 
A quadruped’s that throne: 
• And when the King’s thereon, 
It surely should not fall; 
There are six legs in all. Wm. Hennessy. 
