764 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 28, 3921 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Here is Our Page. We meet each month, telling of the good 
times we have at school and about the things of Nature 
Farm. Friends 
May-time, and hoys and girls are hap¬ 
py ! Many lovely poems have been writ¬ 
ten alanit the month of May. You have 
been sending me some of them to use on 
Our Page this time. Twelve-year-old 
Jeanette L. of New York gives the one 
by Nora Perry called “The Coming of the 
Spring.” which begins, 
There’s something in the air 
That's new and sweet and rare— 
A scent of Summer things, 
A whir as if of wings, 
and ends: 
Once more, and yet once more, 
Returning as before. 
We see tin* bloom of birth 
Make young again the earth. 
Then Aaron G. of Pennsylvania quotes 
from “The Sister Months,” by Lucy Lar- 
com : 
When April stops aside for May, 
Like diamonds all the raindrops glisten ; 
Fresh violets open every day ; 
To some new bird each hour we listen. 
lidding .T. of Maine sends the following 
poem, which is familiar, but I cannot 
seem to find the name of the author right 
this minute. Can anyone tell us? 
WHO TOLD THE NEWS? 
Oh, the sunshine told the bluebird, 
And the bluebird told the brook. 
That the dandelions were peeping 
From the woodland's sheltered nook ; 
So the brook was blithe and happy, 
And it babbled all the way, 
As it ran to tell the river 
Of the coming of the May. 
So the May days are passing. A few 
more and we will swing into June, that 
month of “rare days.” School will soon 
be over and you will face the long vaca¬ 
tion. What are you going to do with it? 
1 hope it will be a growing time for you? 
Grow strong in body, keen of senses, 
quick of mind, skilled of hand. Learn the 
ways of Nature. Play in the out of doors 
and take long walks through fields and 
woods. Have some work of your own to 
do and do it faithfully and well. Keep 
cheerful, bright and happy. Re a friend 
and you will have many friends. 
What Do You Think, Girls 
Your editor has received two letters 
lately that have given him a lot to think 
about. lie is going to print a paragraph 
out of each one and then say a word 
about them. They are both from girls. 
The first says: “I am 13 years old and 
am more or less of a tomboy. Ho you 
think it not nice to be a romp?” 
The other says: “I read Elsie J. s let¬ 
ter in the January 20 page, and I would 
like such a girl for a friend. She has 
.iust the right spirit. The girls around 
here are always thinking about fellows 
and beaus too much. They make me 
tired.” 
What do 1 think? Well, here are a 
few of the things that are in my mind. 
Take a dictionary and look up the words 
“tomboy” and “romp.” They are not very 
nice words, are they? Nevertheless, I 
would much rather have a girl in her 
’teens active in out-of-door sports, even 
though she was a bit too noisy and rude 
at times, than to have her the silly senti¬ 
mental kind. But these two paragraphs 
give too extreme pictures, don’t they girls? 
The ideal is somewhere in between. Every 
one of us has a picture in mind of a hap¬ 
py, wholesome, joyous girl who is yet lov¬ 
ing, tender and thoughtful of others. She 
works hard, plays hard, lives true, keeps 
clean in body and mind, is interested in 
every worthwhile thing, has good health, 
good spirits, a quick laugh, a ready smile, 
a helping hand, and a quiet self-respect 
that makes her loved and admired as com¬ 
rade, schoolmate, friend. It is poor pol- 
A Swarm of Bees in May is Worth — 
•J 
icy to gain the reputation of being either 
a “romp” or “flirt.” Just be a natural, 
warm-hearted, active girl. 
A Few Letters 
I have been reading the Boys’ and 
Girls’ page lately and am interested. I 
am 11 years old and am in the fifth grade. 
I live "two and a half miles from school 
and town. 1 have four sheep and one 
black lamb. Her name is Beth. The 
sheeps’ names are Bertha, Minnie, Phyllis 
and Sister. My father gave me a sheep 
four years ago. I got the money for my 
wool. Last year we had some of our wool 
made into blankets. 
I am very glad that I live on a farm. 
Our farm is named “Woodside Farm.” 
At school we find flowers and our teacher 
reads to us about them. I am sending 
four pictures of our sheep. In one I am 
on the end with our dog. lucilla m. 
Connecticut. 
Lucilla was very generous in her help 
for our page and we thank her. Two of 
the pictures are used this month, “Farm 
Friends” and “A Young Shepherd.” 
I am a girl 15 years old. but I am in¬ 
terested in the Boys’ and Girls’ Page. 
While reading it over I noticed that one 
of the girls—Mildred C.—has asked to 
know more about nitrogen. I can give a 
little information, which I think may 
help her. 
Nitrogen is a gaseous chemical, consti¬ 
tuting about four-fifths of the atmosphere. 
It is an essential constituent of various 
animal and vegetable tissues. Nitrogen 
was first isolated in 3772. and was found 
to be a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. 
It produces many combinations. Com¬ 
bined with oxygen it forms nitric oxide 
and nitrous oxide (also called laughing 
gas), nitrogen peroxide and two other 
compounds of less importance. It is a 
very inert gas. and will neither burn nor 
support combustion. The greatest useful¬ 
ness of nitrogen compounds is in contrib¬ 
uting to the support of plant life. It is 
this element, chiefly drawn from the soil 
by living plants, that manures are put on 
to replace. 
I hope that, the Boys’ and Girls’ Page 
will always be kept up. Your friend. 
New Jersey. margaretha h. 
T have made something that T think 
will interest the girls and boys. It is a 
“glory wigwam.” As most of you probab¬ 
ly have never heard of such a thing I will 
tell you how I made it. 
I took a stout pole and stuck it where 
I wanted to have my wigwam. Then I 
took other poles and fixed them around it. 
wigwam fashion, leaving a small opening 
for a door. Then I strung string parallel 
with the poles, and at the base of each 
pole and string I planted morning glories. 
When these grow up they will twist 
around the poles and strings and make the 
wigwam very pretty. 
I was not fortunate enough to have an 
old-fashioned, three-legged iron kettle, so 
I took a box and planted vetch in it. 
This I put at one side of the wigwam 
near the opening. Around the wigwam I 
planted other flowers which I had brought 
from the woods. 
I am sending a verse for Our Page: 
Such a starved bank of moss 
Till, that May morn. 
Blue ran the flash across: 
Violets were born ! 
—Browning. 
I passed third highest in a class of 48 
in the eighth grade finals. 
With good luck to Our Page. I am, 
Your friend, louise f. 
Pennsylvania. 
Since last month two letters have come 
About John Burroughs 
I have not written you before, but just 
the same I have been reading Our Page. 
I always wish it were longer, but. all the 
same I am satisfied with it. 
As you asked for someone to Avrite 
about John Burroughs I shall make a try. 
I only had a glimpse of him once, and 
that was when he passed my friend and 
me in a car which was going fast. I have 
read some of his books about his life and 
about Nature. 
I live about four and a half miles away 
from his Woodchuck Lodge. I did not at¬ 
tend the burial, but heard all about it 
from my friends. About three days ago 
I saw his grave, Avhieh is beside a rock 
on which he played when a child. It is 
on a little knoll behind the house in 
which he lived. 
I am 32 years old and in the seventh 
grade. A very interested friend of Our 
T*n£C. EH A F. 
New York. 
This week’s Rural New-Yorker ar¬ 
rived this morning (April 20). and while 
reading the article on John Burroughs I 
was reminded of his visit to Colonel 
RooseA'elt’s grave, which I volunteered to 
guard until complete arrangements were 
made. 1 guarded it for eight months, 32 
hours a day, and naturally met. many 
people of prominence.. 
It was a great pleasure for me to shake 
his hand and listen to the tribute John 
Burroughs made to the late Colonel. To 
use his words, and many are the people 
who heard them through me while stand¬ 
ing guard : “There lies a man who A\ - as 
not afraid of the fiercest tiger, the largest, 
elephant, or the worst politician. ’ 
Nassau Co., N. Y.. c. THOMAS R. 
The Nature Puzzle 
I think the answer to the puzzle sent 
in bv Katharine T. is wild ginger. The 
botanical name is Asarura canadense. It 
grows , in the woods around here. The 
flower cup is composed of sepals or lobes, 
not petals. beryls. 
Pennsylvania. 
The plant described under the title 
“What is it?” on the Boys’ and Girls’ 
Page of April 30 I think is wild ginger. 
The points on the flower cup are lobes. 
The wild ginger is very numerous in this 
section. It grows on side hills mostly. 
I also wish to mention that I have 
also started a wild-flower garden this 
(Spring. It contains Trillium, star 
flower. .Tack-in-the-pulpit, violets, etc. I 
am going to put some flowers in it every 
month so as to have wild flowers handy 
all year round. .toiin t. 
Massachusetts. 
Dorothy O. of Virginia also sent a leaf 
and flower of the Southern species of wild 
ginger which she called heart-leaf. These 
were the only correct answers received. 
Several of you guessed Jack-in-the-pulpit, 
which was a very good try. Now I hope 
all of you will be on the watch for this 
interesting plant. It may grow near you 
and you have never known it. Katharine 
has promised to try to make a drawing 
of it for us some time. 
Well, that was a hard puzzle, but I am 
A Young Shepherd 
glad someone knew it and more will 
learn to know it. The next one will prob¬ 
ably be easier. It comes from Simon S., a 
Pennsylvania boy: 
What Is It? 
One morning as I was going to school 
I heard something “holler.” I have never 
heard one before in the daytime, but have 
often heard them at night. A few days 
later I heard it again. I avus determined 
to find out where it was staying. I 
searched one old hollow apple tree and 
could not find it. Then I went to the 
next one and climbed it and there I found 
it. It is staying in the hollow of an up¬ 
right limb. It makes a fine home for 
a •-. 
Tt didn’t seem to mind having me look 
at it. It had its eyes partly open when 3 
looked in at first, but closed them again 
before I left. It is white and gray in 
color and has ears like a mouse. It is 
about as large as a common pigeon. 
A few years ago I had one penned up 
in a box. I fed it mice and corn. It 
liked the mice lx>st. 
Signs of Spring 
Those who sent signs of Spring lists in 
time to have them looked over before this 
month’s page was written were: Dorothy 
L. and Morna M. of New York; Helen G.. 
Pennsylvania : Dorothy G., New Jersey; 
Etta C., Massachusetts, and Thomas F. 
Vermont. There is only space to print 
one list, and I have chosen that sent by 
Morna M., but want to say that every 
list was very good. They showed much 
closer observation than a year ago. 
I have read the Boys’ and Girls’ Page 
for some time and find it very interesting. 
I like Spring best of any season. it 
seems as if the world was awakening 
after a long Winter nap. Nature is cloth¬ 
ing her trees with green, and scattering 
flowers here and there. The birds are 
coming, * too, cheering us all by their 
