976 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
This is Our Page. We enjoy reading it more 
and more if we keep helping to make it better. 
Great Fun with a Raft 
Vacation Song 
The next letter comes from the far 
South : 
I have been reading the Boys’ and 
Girls’ Page, and find it very interesting. 
I wonder if you would like to get a letter 
from a girl in Florida for the page? I 
will try and see. 
I am nearly 10 years old and a sopho¬ 
more in high school; just a plain country 
girl who loves school and the things of 
nature. I made a yearly average of 96 in 
school this year. I think every boy and 
girl should want to go to school as long 
as he or she can. An education is a 
great step toward success in life. “The 
secret of success is not in doing what we 
like, hut in liking what we do.” 
We have a mild climate here, with only 
a short cold Winter. It never snows, 
but sometimes freezes a bit in the Win¬ 
ter. 
My father is a truck grower. Two 
crops a year are raised here. Fertilizer 
is used to a great extent, and the ground 
is irrigated. The Winter crop consists 
of celery, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, chic¬ 
ory and other vegetables. The Spring 
crop is of peppers, eggplant, sweet corn, 
tomatoes and cucumbers mostly. These 
are shipped to large Northern cities in 
iced cars. Citrus fruit is also gror/n 
here. There are many negroes here. 
Women and men work on the farms. 
Here is a verse by R. L. Stevenson. It 
would be well for girls and boys to re¬ 
member it: 
“Oive us to awaken with smiles, 
Give us to labor smiling— 
And as the sun lightens the world, 
So may our loving kindness 
Make bright this house of our habita¬ 
tion.” 
July 30, 1921 
year-old Ohio girl who found the stoi’y in 
a book she had and copied it out for us. 
She said: 
I am a constant reader of Our Fage. I 
am answering the nature puzzle, which is 
a lady bug, or ladybird beetle, which be¬ 
longs to a family of small, round-bodied 
beetles that do great service to man. 
Members of the family are easily recog¬ 
nized by their small size and spotted 
coats. They ai*e red or yellow, spotted 
with black, or black, spotted with red or 
yellow. They are found in abundance 
on plants infested with plant lice,' and 
often lay their eggs in the midst of such 
a colony, so that the young larvxe may be 
well provided with food. The different 
species are distinguished by the number 
of spots, as the two-spotte'd, the fifteen- 
spotted, the twice-stabbed, etc. All are of 
great impoi'tanee to fruit and shrub and 
vegetable growers because of the greed 
with which they desti-oy harmful insects. 
Those who kill ladybugs are killing one 
of our best friends. The ladybug larva? 
have long, spiny bodies, generally some¬ 
what spotted with red and yellow. The 
pupae retain the skins of the larvae, but 
wear it as buttons or cushions upon their 
backs. 
Those who sent correct auswei's on the 
ladybug were Sylvia R., Margaret M., 
Carrie P.. Gladys F., Ruth W., Margaret 
G., and Helen II. of Now York State; 
Beatrice I., Roland M. and John F. of 
Massachusetts; Elinor D. and Silva R. 
of Pennsylvania ; Catherine W. of New 
Jersey, Wari'en B. of Vermont, Eleanor 
S. of Ohio, Doimthy M. of Maryland, and 
Florence S. of Connecticut. 
I have closed my books and hidden my slate, 
And thrown my satchel across the gate. 
My school is out for a season of rest. 
And now for the schoolroom I love the best. 
My school bell rings in the rippling sti^eam 
Which hides itself, like a schoolboy’s dream, 
Under the shadow and out of sight, 
But laughing still for its own delight. 
m 
My teacher is patient, and never yet 
A lesson of hers did I once forget, 
For wonderful lore do her lips impart, 
And all her lessons are learned by heart. 
—By KATHARINE LEE BATES. 
What a great and beautiful schoolroom 
it is in which you country boys and girls 
find yourselves now—.the schoolroom of the 
Out-of-doors. Mother Nature is the teach¬ 
er, and many are the wonder lessons she 
teaches to those who have eyes that really 
see, ears that really hear, and hearts and 
minds that learn to love and to under¬ 
stand. I have just come in from doing 
the chores. An hour ago I stepped into 
this “schoolroom” of ours. It is never 
twice alike, is it? This early morning 
here on Bong Island there is a heavy fog 
from the sea, and everything is dripping 
wet. Drops hang from each leaf, each 
blade of grass. The hundi-eds of spider 
webs that usually we do not notice are 
strung with beads of moisture until each 
thread is outlined. The robins like the 
dampness and are caroling merrily ; they 
know there will be worms coming to the 
surface in the lawn grass. The clear call 
of an oriole has just rung out. It has a 
nest in a tree close by the house. A lit¬ 
tle breeze now stirs the leaves and there 
is a drip, drip, dripping as though it 
rained. Mother Nature is softly washing 
herself. To be sure it is not good haying 
weather, and haying should be done. But 
the farmer has to be patient, too. He 
must take the weather as it comes, and 
plan his work to fit the best he can. 
Above all, he must not grumble. Our 
grumbling does not change the weather 
and only makes us unhappy, and all those 
about us. 
I hope that more and more we shall 
find ways to bring our two great schools 
together—the School of Nature and the 
School of Books. Both are a part of our 
lives and from both we can learn much. 
Each needs the other. Each can help the 
other. So I think the idea of teaching 
nature study and agriculture in the 
schools is a good one. 1 hope these things 
will not be taught from books alone, but 
mostly from the birds and flowers and ' 
trees and weeds and insects and crops 
and animals themselves. And I hope that 
the out-of-doors and home things which 
are so much a part of our lives every day 
may be used to make reading and writing 
and arithmetic more interesting and use¬ 
ful. Do you think this could be done? 
Tell me how you think our two schools 
can come closer together for our own 
good and happiness. 
Now then we must see what some of 
the letters are about that have been com¬ 
ing to me. 
In the Mail 
Ilei-e is one from the boy who sent two 
of the pictures used this month : 
I am 13 years of age and will be pro¬ 
moted into the seventh grade in Septem¬ 
ber. I like school very much. I walk a 
mile and a half to school. Last year we 
had warm lunches and about 50 children 
stayed for them. There were three moth¬ 
ers furnishing our dinners. A mother 
chose someone to sweep the floor after we 
were finished. 
I have five Swiss goats, and two of 
them give four quarts of milk a day. I 
am sending you pictures of me and my 
pets. One’s name is Billy and the othex , ’s 
name is Bessie. I feed them every morn¬ 
ing, afternoon and evening. I have 100 
chickens and 17 rabbits to feed every 
morning and evening. In Summer I take 
the goats out in the grass plot. We plant 
kale and rape so I can feed my stock 
every day. At dinnertime I take water to 
the goats and give them different places 
to eat. When evening comes I bring them 
home, milk them and give them hay and 
water. Charles s. 
New York. 
Charles has a good many animals to 
take care of, and we can see that he does 
it well. I hope all of you who own 
This Must Be Billy 
calves or ponies or pigs or lambs or goats 
or rabbits or any other animals are al¬ 
ways careful to feed and water them reg¬ 
ularly. They cannot wait on themselves. 
They depend on us, and we must be 
faithful or we are not worthy to have 
charge of these dumb creatures. If we 
take good care of them they soon learn to 
know us and to do our bidding. Thank 
you for the pictures, Charles. 
Your sincere friend, 
Florida. Annabel s. 
Annabel writes a good letter, that tells 
us something of farm life in her State, 
gives us a bit of advice about sticking to 
school and a quotation from a great au¬ 
thor which is worth learning. 
On the June page you asked why the 
plant on your desk grew towards the win¬ 
dow. It did that so that the new sprouts 
coming out on the plant would get all the 
more sun which comes through the win¬ 
dow. Now that you have turned it around 
it will grow r the other way until it is 
again bending towards the sunlight. The 
beans climbing the poles in the garden al¬ 
ways follow the sun. Your friend, 
New York. GLADYS F. 
My sister lead the Boys’ and Girls’ 
Tage to me. I thought I would like to 
send you a letter, too. I only went to 
school one year, so I can’t write this my¬ 
self. My sister is writing while I tell 
her what to write. 
I have lots of pets. I have a big tame 
rabbit. I let it out for grass sometimes. 
I have two mamma cats and each has 
three dear little kittens. I have a nice 
dog whose name is Carlo, and a big goat. 
Its name is Billy. My two sisters and I 
hitch Billy up in my wagon and we have 
nice times. 
My work is to feed my rabbit and cats 
and dog and goat. I bring wood and cobs 
in the house to make fires. I am six 
years old and I like to live on a farm. 
Fi-om a new little friend, PAUL V. 
Pennsylvania. 
We are delighted to have a letter from 
The puzzle for next month comes from 
Floyd M.. a Central New York boy. It 
will be easy for most of you to guess, but 
And this is Bessie, with Her Master, 
Charles 
when you send the answer try to tell some 
personal experience that you have had 
with this 
What Is It? 
Paul, and it was kind of sister to write 
it after leading Our Page to him. This 
may be a suggestion for others. 
As I was looking through some maga¬ 
zines I found The Rural New-Yorker, 
and while looking through it I found the 
Boys’ and Girls’ Page and started to read 
it, and when I finished reading it I 
looked for them all and read every one of 
them, and I certainly think they are 
wonderful. You are doing a wonderful 
work, Mr. Tuttle, and I know every boy 
and girl appi-eciates it. I am a city girl, 
but I am visiting my aunt and uncle on 
the farm and I love it out here, and wish 
I could live in the country all the time. 
As this letter is getting long I guess I 
will close and you can surely look for an¬ 
other letter from me. editii r. 
Ohio. 
We are glad to know that Our Page is 
so much enjoyed. But it is not my work, 
Edith ; it is our work, all of us together. 
The page would not be half so “wonder¬ 
ful” if I tried to do it alone. It is won¬ 
derful because there are so many helping 
to keep it full of honest, earnest, happy 
talk of work and play. 
The June Nature Puzzle was the 
Ladybug 
The more connect name is. ladybird 
beetle, for this insect is not a “bug” at 
all. I am very glad that nearly all of 
you xvho sent answers said that you know 
the ladybug was a useful insect and 
should not be destroyed. I wonder -wheth¬ 
er all our readers know that. Anyway, 
you know it now, and I hope you will 
study these interesting beetles and find 
out all you can about them. A good de¬ 
scription comes from Eleanor S., a nine- 
This animal lives in a deep hole dug in 
the ground. It is about the size of a rab¬ 
bit, only more chunky and heavier. It is 
a very destructive animal. It likes to 
eat young bean plants or cabbage or 
beets, or most any vegetable, and grass. 
When feeding in a field evex-y once in a 
while it will sit up and look around to 
see if any danger is near. The farther 
from its hole it goes the oftener it will 
sit up and look. It is hard to see if you 
are very far away, as it is the color of the 
ground. If you corner this animal it is 
a great fighter, but if it sees you coming 
it will run for its hole and wait until 
you ai*e quite close, then dive down into 
it. It will wait until it thinks you have 
gone by and then will reappear. 
Kitty’s Bath 
What fun you have had with this 
rhyme! I need hardly say much about 
it. The drawings speak better than 
words. There were 07 drawings in all. 
Think of that! You can imagine that 1 
have had a great time choosing between 
them. They came from seventeen dif¬ 
ferent States, as you will see, from Maine 
to California, and from Iowa to Louisi¬ 
ana. Twenty-one boys sent drawings 
and 46 girls. It looks as though the girls 
find it easier to draw than the boys. Is 
that so? 
The drawings on the next page are well 
worth studying. Each is different. Each 
has special points of interest. Which do 
you think carries- out the idea of the 
rhyme best? Which is the funniest? 
Which do you like best? Why? 
