1802 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
] 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Here is Our Page where we 
time, telling each other for 
meet for the fourteenth 
what we are thankful. 
Gobble! Gobble! 
teach me what is right and wrong; for 
my big sister, with whom I can spend 
many happy hours; for my kind teacher 
at school, and for my good friends and 
playmates. These are only a few of the 
many things for which I am thankful. 
Best wishes to you for a happy Thanks¬ 
giving. 
Your 10-year-old friend, 
New York. Gladys f. 
I have lots of things to be thankful for 
this year. I am glad and thankful es¬ 
pecially that the great war is over, and 
our neighbor boys who were soldiers from 
near here all got home safe. I am thank¬ 
ful. too, that I am well and can go to school 
and play. I am thankful we live on a 
farm, and that I have so many cats, dogs, 
chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and colts for 
pets. And then I am thankful T can read 
the papers like The Rural New-Yorker. 
Youth's Companion, and others I like to 
read. 
From your 11-year-old friend. 
Pennsylvania. elinor d. 
Another 11 -year-old girl. Jewel .T., New 
York, brought out a new point in her let¬ 
ter when she said : "I am also thankful 
for the good schools, banks, parks and 
other things which add to the welfare of 
the people and help to make our country 
prosperous.” 
ing the ideal occupation—one which has 
the sanction of God himself. 
I think a great deal of Our Page. I 
greatly enjoyed the poem entitled ‘Nut¬ 
ting’’ on our last page; also the stories 
about the picture'of the pony cart. Now 
I must tell you “why I am thankful for 
thisyear.” 
I have many things to be thankful for 
this year. First of all, I am thankful to 
God for the opportunity during the last 
year to enjoy life, health and strength, 
for many, it is to be remembered, have 
not been so blessed. I am thankful, too, 
for the privilege of attending high school, 
though I have thought more than once 
that because of pressing circumstances I 
could not continue my schooling. I am 
thankful for the privilege of having en¬ 
joyed, during July and August, the occu¬ 
pation of my forefathers—that of farm¬ 
ing. Having lived all my life in a city, I 
am sincerely thankful for being permitted 
to enjoy the farm life, and to learn some¬ 
thing of that o’dest of life pursuits, even 
though it was for so short a time. I am 
thankful for the prohibition amendment 
and the encouraging results through its 
enforcement, shown in the fact that crime 
has been greatly reduced, while our jails 
are, for the most, part, almost empty. I 
am thankful for the fact that I am an 
American, and as an American a free 
person—not a slave. I am thankful that 
there is such a paper as The Rurai, 
New-Yorker, and that there are such 
men as its editors, who stand boldly for 
truth and the right. Last, but not least, 
I am thankful for Our Page, something 
for which I look eagerly each month. 
If I may add to the list. I might say I 
am thankful for sanity, daily food, oppor¬ 
tunity to work, happiness, peace, law and 
order, and for a purnose in life. 
I must close now, for I think my letter 
long enough. 
Your friend, 
Connecticut. russell P. 
Thanksgiving Song 
For flowers that bloom about our feet; 
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet; 
For song of bird and hum of bee; 
For all things fair we hear or see— 
Father, in heaven, we thank Thee! 
* * * * * * * 
For mother love and father care. 
For brothers strong and sisters fair; 
For love at home and school each day; 
For guidance lest we go astray— 
Father, in heaven, we thank Thee! 
—SELECTED. 
A happy Thanksgiving to you. my 
friends! I hope that you will have a fine 
dinner, with turkey and pumpkin pie 
and all the good things that go along 
with them. If you live on a farm, much 
of the Thanksgiving food will be home¬ 
grown. Count up as you eat dinner and 
see how much of the meal has come from 
the farm and how much has been bought. 
Thanksgiving Day is very specially a 
home day. We like to gather in a big 
family group under one roof, and count 
our blessings. It is a joyful day for 
boys and girls who love the bustle and 
excitement, the hearty meal, with all so 
merry at table, and the afternoon and 
evening of games and songs and fun of 
all kinds. Rut you hoys and girls under¬ 
stand, too, the deeper message that the 
day brings. The letters below show that 
this is so. I want to thank all of you 
who wrote. Most of the letters were 
from girls between 10 and 15 years of 
age. I have chosen the best of these. 
Only two letters came from boys before I 
had to send this page to the printer. It 
is strange that both the boys who wrote 
were 16 years old. The one not printed 
came from David S., a Pennsylvania lad, 
who is thankful to be recovering from a 
severe attack of .appendicitis. The other 
speaks for itself. 
There is a good deal I would like to 
say about some of the points these letters 
bring up, but I am going, to let you read 
them just as they stand, aiuPthink them 
over for yourselves. So here are the let¬ 
ters on 
Why I am Thankful This Year 
I am a little girl nine years old. I 
have been to school every day this yeai\ 
We are going to make turkeys to decorate 
our schoolroom for Thanksgiving. 
We have many things to be thankful 
for. I am thankful for m.v mother, father 
and brother, my school and teacher, my 
home, good health, and my playmates. 
I always like to read Our Page in The 
Rural New-Yorker. 
Your friend, 
New York. melva o. 
I enjoy the Boys’ and Gjrls’ page more 
every month when it comes. I think the 
poem, “Nutting,” .was very interesting. 
Now I will tell you some of the things 1 
am thankful for. First of all, I am 
thankful for the Roys’ and Girls’ Page 
in The Rural New-Yorker ; for tin- 
good crops of vegetables and fruit; that 
we had a nice Fall, with lovely weather.- 
which lasted till the last week of October; 
that I have good health, plenty to eat and 
a good homo with Christian parents to 
I am thankful for friends, home, 
strength, kind words, happy thoughts; 
for the lovely flowers, songs of birds; for 
beauty in the world: for the soft night 
breezes, hills, trees, streams, sleep, morn¬ 
ing light, stars, sun, food, clothes parents, 
teachers, playmates and relations. 
Michigan. LILLIAN k., 12 years. 
I am thankful this year that I can be 
here to have a nice time on Thanksgiving. 
I am thankful I can remember the two 
hundred and ninety-sixth birthday of 
Thanksgiving.- I am thankful I am not 
like the little children in France. I can 
help them to have good food and clothes 
and homes. I am Had 1 am not an in¬ 
valid. so I could not go to school or play 
in the snow. I love to go to school. I 
am thankful I am one of the healthiest 
girls in New York State. 
Your friend. 
New York. JULIA T„ 13 years. 
You asked us to write down a list for 
what we should be thankful this year. 
Here is my list: I am thankful for liv¬ 
ing ; for not being sick ; for plenty to eat; 
for a good place to live; for a nice Sum¬ 
mer ; for a good mother and father, 
brothers, sisters and teacher : for living on 
a farm ; to be able to go to school; for 
not being deaf, dumb, blind or a cripple; 
for no misfortunes in the family; for 
good neighbors. There are many others, 
but I cannot think of them all. 
Best wishes for Thanksgiving Day 
and a good dinner. I will write again 
next month. 
New York. viola c., 15 years. 
Though I am a city boy, I greatly 
enjoy The Rural New-Yorker, and es¬ 
pecially our Roys’ and Girls’ page. I am 
16 years old, and I am in the third year 
of high school. My sympathies are with 
the farmer, the reason for which can be 
easily seen when it is understood that 
my ancestors have for gouer-’tions back 
been American farmers. I believe farrn- 
A Bunch of Letters 
Here is a real nature puzzle—too hard 
a one to put in as a What is it? 
I was in the kitchen and started to go 
toward the west window when I saw a 
lovely big moth on the screen outside. Its 
description was: 
It is seven inches across. Its main 
color is chocolate brown . Its upper 
wings are mostly brown, with a few cross 
marks of purple and deep gray next to 
the body, which is 1% inches long. Near 
the top of each upper wing is a black 
spot, outlined with yellow and gray. The 
outer edge of both wings is outlined with 
a scallop of dark brown and black. The 
antennae are reddish brown. It is not a 
Cecropia, Polyphemus, or a Prometliea. 
New York. dorotiiy l. 
I sent Dorothy’s description to a friend 
of mine in the New York State College 
of Agriculture. He wrote men that the 
experts there thought that the moth was 
probably a Itlack Witch, though they 
could not he absolutely sure without see¬ 
ing it. The Black Witch is one of the 
very largest of our night-flying moths. 
It belongs in the West Indies, but speci¬ 
mens sometimes fly north, and have been 
found even in Canada. They are always 
found in late Summer or Autumn. It is 
not known surely that the Black Witch 
breeds in the United States. At any rate, 
it is a rare find for Dorothy. Most of 
us have never seen the Black Witch. 
As I enjoy reading the Boys’ and Girls’ 
Page. I read what you said about 
noticing things in nature. The other 
day my father and brothers were sawing 
wood, when they heard a noise. When 
they looked around they saw a huge snake 
lighting with a squirrel. The squirrel 
had little babies. The snake got one of 
the squirrels, which he was going to eat. 
Several ttiiral Schools Joined to Voice This Exhibit 
November 20, 1020 
The squirrel had her quarters in the fork 
of a tall oak tree. The squirrel fought 
the snake from one limb to another, try¬ 
ing to get her baby, until she made the 
snake drop to the ground. It then ate 
the squirrel. Papa shot the snake, but 
could not rescue the baby squirrel. 
I live in tin- country, and go to high 
school, about 12 miles from home. I am 
15 years old. I walk about five or six 
miles and then catch the car to school. I 
do not walk always, but most of the time. 
It is of great interest to me to study 
nature. The woods are at their best in 
Spring and Autumn to me. There are 
so many pretty flowers and beautiful 
Autumn leaves. I first began noticing 
the beauties of nature when I studied the 
science of botany. 
My brother went to get some wood one 
day, and I went with him. We saw a 
huge rock which we took to be a meteor. 
Tt made a round hole about four feet in 
diameter. We don’t know how far it 
was in the ground, but as much as we 
could see was about two feet high. 
I will try to send something more later. 
Louisiana. eugenie d. 
Eugenie writes to us from the far 
south-central part of our country. That 
was an exciting experience with the 
snake. Of course, it was only after its 
dinner, but there had to be a choice be¬ 
tween the snake and the squirrel. Most, 
of us, I suppose, do not care very much 
for snakes. But there are only a few 
kinds that are really dangerous. These 
occur mostly in the South and West, and 
in rocky regions. Many snakes do much 
good catching insects, mice, moles and 
Iloto Many Pics Would These Make? 
other harmful creatures. For myself I 
almost never kill a snake. They quickly 
get out of your way if you give them a 
chance. 
Perhaps the stone was a meteor. Who 
will tell us what a meteor is, and where 
it comes from? 
This is my first letter to the Boys’ and 
Girls’ Page, but it may not be my last. 
I am a boy 13 years old, and live on 
a farm of 210 acres. I like to live out 
in the "backwoods,” as our farm is one 
mile from school and three miles from a 
village of about 25 houses, or 100 iu- 
ha bitants. 
I go to school and am in the eighth 
grade. At home I have a pet cow trained 
to drive, ride or work. 1 will send you 
a picture of her and myself as soon as 
possible. Also I have as pets one 
Plymouth Rock hen and an old cat with 
five kittens. 
I am the youngest sou of a family of 
seven. 1 have a younger sister 11 years 
old. who is in the sixth "rade. 
At school our principal game that wo 
like to play is'baseball or toss aud catch 
with a baseball made as follows: Take 
a hard rubber ball, and wind twine 
around it until it. is big enough to suit 
for the use you wish. Then lake a darn¬ 
ing needle and leave about three feet of 
string on the end of the ball to sew well 
into the rest of the ball so it will not 
unwind. Our teacher showed us how, so 
that now we have a hall worth more than 
one costing $2.50. One caution in the 
winding is veey necessary-—that is to 
have the twine wound tight, and even. 
Some other time I will mavbe , an¬ 
other something to make for _.e Boys’ 
and Girls’ Page.' eloyd m. 
New York. 
You will enjo~ Floyd’s letter, and we 
all thank him for the description of how 
to make a baseball. Often it is possible 
ior schools to make many playthings 
