246 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
from the gracefully curved leaves there shown, that 
she writes to ask what is the matter. She seems to 
have overlooked the statement in the article, that 
the engraving gave the appearance of a plant “ when 
five or six years old. ” Miss Julie might have found 
an explanation on the page opposite that on which 
was the Date picture. A young bean-plant is 
there shown, the first leaves, or seed-leaves, of which, 
are quite unlike the leaves that appear later. The 
palms belong to the plants with one seed-leaf ; this, 
when the seed starts, does not come to the surface; 
that which appears is the plumule. The Date is .one 
of those plants which do not produce fully develop¬ 
ed leaves until it is several years old. All that Miss 
Julie can do is, to take care of her plant and wait. 
The next leaves will be an improvement upon the 
first, but it will be several years before the leaves 
of the mature plant will appear. Being a very 
long-lived plant, we should be willing to allow it a 
prolonged youth. Be patient, and after a while 
it will “ put away childish things,” aud appear in 
a dress becoming its mature years. 
- ■»•»>- - 
Round Robin. 
Dear Bots and Girls Spring is here at last, 
afterthelong, cold winter; andRound Robin would 
like to hear who has found the earliest flow'ers, 
and who has first seen a blue-bird, which is one of 
•spring’s messengers. Be sure and give the date 
when you first discovered a dandelion, crocus or 
snowdrop popping up it’s bright little head. 
Addie ana Allie Yule, of Eau Claire Co., Wis., 
are little sisters of twelve and nine. They write they 
have several pets, but decline to tell anything about 
them at present.Ora Comp, who lives in Madi¬ 
son Co., Iowa, says:—“ My pa is a farmer, and has a 
good deal of stock. I have a bird, and my bird is 
a canary-bird, and I have two cows. I helped my 
pa to gather corn last fall. It has been awful cold 
weather here. People froze to death, and the stock 
have frozen. I am going to have a nice flower-bed 
next summer, if I live that long.”_Susie L. Baer, 
whose home is in London, Penn., says she has no pet 
To play with, but goes to school, and has fine sport 
playing games. She is twelve years old, and writes: 
—“My studies are reading, writing, spelling, geogra¬ 
phy, grammer and arithmetic. I also go to Sab¬ 
bath-school.” _We have received a charming bud¬ 
get of letters from some little southern girls, who 
live with their grandpa, at Moorland, La. Ella 
Ballio writes:—“Hive nine miles from Alexandria. 
The crawfish are beginning to bite already, and as 
there is a bayou right back of the house, we can 
go out crawfishing every evening. I have six 
white dolls and one servant. They are named 
Eanstine Allan, who is a young lady; Eloise 
Clifford and Clarence Clifford, who are married 
and have three children, Hattie, Fannie, and Bob. 
They all live together, in a large closet on the 
porch.” ... .Jennie Ballio says:—“ My grandpa takes 
your valuable paper, and is very much pleased 
with ic. 1 have four sisters; their names are 
Maude, Ella, Lessie aud Mat. Two little squirrels 
used to stay about the yard, and my grandpa called 
them his pets. He would put acorns and pecans 
on the fence for them. We-have quantities of 
pecans. All of us have seven or eight dolls, and 
we let them go over to see each other. Santa 
Claus brought me a beautiful wax doll, her name 
is Volly.”_Another sister writes :—“I hope you 
will put my letter in print, and not do like the 
Editor of ‘ another paper,’ throw it in the waste 
basket. I am a little girl eight years old. I have 
five dolls. One of my cousins is teaching me. I 
am in geography, grammer, spelling, arithmetic 
and catechism. 1 am iu the Fourth Reader. With 
much love and many kisses, I am as ever, your lit¬ 
tle friend, Lessie Ballio. 
We wish we could print all the nice little letters 
entire, but I fear there would not be room for any¬ 
thing else in the Children’s Department. None, 
however, need be afraid of the waste basket, with¬ 
out some notice from Robin. 
The girls all over the land, seem to have very 
happy times ; but what are the hoys doing? We 
would like to hear from some of them. 
Yours truly, Round Robin. 
Our Puzzle Box. 
Original Contributions for this Department solicited. 
INVERTED PYRAMID. 
Across.—1. A genus of plants. 2. A mineral sub¬ 
stance. 3. A fabulous being. 4. Middle. 5. A letter. 
Down. —1. A letter, 2. An abbreviation. 3. A vehi¬ 
cle. 4. A separate particular. 5. A membrane. 0. 
Among. 7. The side opposite the wind. 8. A preposi¬ 
tion. 9. A letter. 
REVERSED RHOMBOID. 
Across. —1. A male name. 2. A small tufted monkey. 
3. A beggar. 4. A plant of the genus caldium. 5. A 
city of Maine. 6. Herbs. 
Down. —1. A letter. 2. A suffix. 3. Equal value. 4. 
To bespangle. 5. Star-wort. 6. Younger. 7. The 
scratch or itch on cattle. 8. Slang. 9. Cloth made from 
the fibre of Corcho/us olitorius, so called in India. 10. 
A verb. 11. A letter. 
combination square, 
Containing a five letter diamond aDd a three-letter 
square: 1. A famous poet. 2. A bird. 3. To suppose. 
4. Serves. 5 A ringlet. 
Enclosed Diamond.—1. A letter. 2. An animal. 3. To 
judge. 4 Close. 5. A letter. 
Enclosed Square. — 1. An animal. 2. To unite. 3. To 
cease. 
COMPOUND ACROSTIC. 
1. Certain fish. 2. A bird of the Hoopoe family. 3. A 
genus of plants. 4. Certain fish. 5. A female name. 
0. A male name. 7. Furious. 
Primals .—A piece of defensive armor. 
Finals .—A plant of the genus Sinapsis. 
Combined.—A. genus of small perennial hispid plants. 
SQUARE. 
1. A female name. 2. A mountain of Bible history. 
3. A Turkish fortress. 4. To mock. 5. A well-known 
oarsman. 6. To serve. 
HALF SQUARE. 
1. A daughter of Nereus. 2. Conclusion. 3. To com¬ 
prehend. 4. To cease 5. A pronoun. 0. A letter. 
OCTAGON. 
1. A gull. 2. A tree of the genus Asimina. 3. Per¬ 
taining to a husband. 4. Foreign. 5. Sprinkled. 0. 
Declined. 7. Plural of lead. 
DIAMOND. 
1. A letter. 2. To handle coarsely. 3. Increasing ten¬ 
sion. 4. Situated near one of the poles. 5. A genus of 
strong-scented plants. 6. A snare of woven wire. 7. 
Summoned. S. A groove. 9. A letter. 
HIDDEN FISH. 
1. A cow on a sand bar bellowed loudly. 2. I like a 
bon-bon. it opens my appetite. 3. Where is that 10- 
calihre American rifle of mine? 4. We feel very bad 
about your troubles. 5. Ida celebrated her 15th birthday 
yesterday. 6. We adore every part of her, she is so 
nice. 7. Did you see her go by in that carriage? 8. 
While we lingered, she sang for us. 9. Why did you 
whip Ike so soundly? 10. We placed ten chairs in a 
row, and Tom jumped over them all. 
The May Queen. 
BY ISABEL SMITHSON. 
Such delightful goings-on liad never been thought 
of before in the little hamlet of Fairview. There 
was to be real ice-cream (made by the minister’s 
wife), and cake and jelly and sandwiches and 
lemonade, all in the cedar-grove. The boys had 
spent their spare time in putting up a May-pole, and 
making the most beautiful throne with soft cush¬ 
ions ; they had fixed a canopy of ever-green boughs 
over an old gig, and decorated the whole with flags 
and ribbons, and in this royal chariot the queen of 
May was to be drawn round by farmer Bronson’s 
snow-white heifer. The school-children had been 
for weeks practising a May-chorus, and some of 
them were to “speak pieces”; then there were to 
be games of every kind, and a dance on the grass. 
The minister’s wife and Miss Payton, the school¬ 
teacher, had planned it all, but not even they 
knew who the queen would be. That was to be 
decided by the childrens’ votes on May-day before 
the games and feasting began. The grown-up 
people were invited to come and look on, but the 
only one who could vote was the school-teacher, 
and her vote was to count as three! 
“It will be the loveliest fun we have ever had,” 
eaid the children. 
Every one was to be at the grove at ten o’clock, 
so there was no school that day ; the boys were busy 
brushing their clothes, and the girls crimping their 
hair and putting on clean dresses. Some of them 
even had new ones on purpose, prettily printed 
cambrics or light ginghams with ruffles and frills. 
Lulu Lane got up at dawn of day, and looked out 
to see if the clouds that worried every one yester¬ 
day were really gone. A lovely clear sky smiled 
down at her, and she ran to her mother in delight. 
“ It isn’t going to rain at all” she cried, “ it will 
be a beautiful day. Oh, Mamma,—please give me my 
pink-dress, I want to get ready now,” and 6he be¬ 
gan singing the first Ime of the May-chorus, 
“May-day, May-day, brightly breaking!’’ 
“I am sorry dear, that your dress is so faded” 
said her mother regretfully, “ and there is a patch 
on each elbow. 1 have made it look as neat as I 
could, hut—” 
“Oh never mind the patches,” said Lulu. “I 
don’t care about them. What does it matter, if 
the dress is neat and clean ? That’s what you al¬ 
ways say, Mamma. I’d rather wear my oldest calico 
than miss the May-party. Mamie Dale thinks she 
is sure to be the queen, because she’s been at the 
head of the class for a week, but Bob Fisher said 
yesterday, ‘not one of the boys will vote for a girl 
who always laughs when a fellow gets ‘down 
foot,’ and lots of the girls are going to vote for 
me ; they told me so. You must be sure to be 
down at the grove in*timeto see the crowning.” 
At half past eight Mrs. Lane said to Lulu, “ I am 
going to the village now, and shall not come home 
until the party is over, so lock the door when you 
leave. You’ll find me down in the grove.” 
“Very well, Mamma,” said Lulu, a little later 
she smoothed her hair, put on her sun-bonnet, and 
after locking the house-door, turned her steps 
towards the cedar-grove, singing as she went. 
She had only reached the first cross-roads, how¬ 
ever, when a young man came rattling aloDg in a 
gig, and stopped when he saw her, to say : 
“ Are you Widow Lane’s little girl ?” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ Then I am glad I met you. Here’s a letter for 
old Mrs. Deane who lives some where on the hill. 
It’s from her grandson Charley that she thought 
was lost at sea. I saw him iu town yesterday and 
lie’s coming up here to-day. He gave me this note 
and begged me to send it by one of the neighbors 
to his grandmother, for he is afraid that the news of 
his death will kill her. He said that perhaps 
Widow Lane’s little girl would carry it, if I could 
bring it as far as here. Here’s the letter, you will 
go at once ?” 
Poor Lulu ! She knew the way very well to 
Granny Deane’s, it was a good two hours’ walk. 
It would be at least two o’clock before she could 
get down to the grove, and by that time the May- 
party would be over. Should she go ? Was there 
no one else to carry the letter ? No, indeed, not 
one, for grown up people were too busy, and not 
a child could be found on May-day to go such a 
distance. 
“Won’t you take it?” said the young man, for 
she had not answered his last question, but stood 
looking straight before her, wishing her mother 
were there to tell her what to do. She remem¬ 
bered how the poor old woman had fainted away 
when the bad news came, and how every one 
had said that she would not live very long, for 
Charley was the only relative she had on earth. 
“ Think how glad old Mrs. Deane will be to hear 
that her grandson is not dead,” said the young 
man earnestly. “ There’s a good girl,” he added 
as Lulu took the letter and turned away quickly, 
“but you will take it at once—you promise ? ” 
“ Yes, I promise,” said the little girl, and then 
she knew that there was no May-party for liei this 
year. 
Up the road she went, running as fast as she 
could, hoping that if she ran “every step of the 
way there and back,” she might still be in time to see 
a little of the fun. But oh, how tired she was when 
she reached the top of the first hill! How she 
pauted and gasped and wondered whether she 
should ever be able to get her breath again. It 
was not a bit of use to run, for now she was obliged 
to sit down on a big rock to rest, and taking off 
her sun-bonnet she began fanning her hot face 'and 
brushing her hair back from her forehead. From 
where she sat she could see over the valley for 
miles around, could even make out the May-pole 
down by the cedar-grove, and see crowds and 
crowds of people going along the roads. 
“ It must be after ten o’clock,” she thought to 
herself, “ what will they say to my not being 
there ? And oh, what will Miss Payton think, 
