1281 
7h* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
kind of entertainment Mary Heller wants. 
She says she likes to have a place to go 
where it is enjoyable. Aren’t parties, 
picnics and festivals enjoyable? From 
what I have heard I should think they 
would be better for boys and girls than 
most city attractions would be. 
Do you want “thankful letters” this 
year? ' If you do, perhaps I will try a 
hand at it this year. I didn’t last year. 
My mother and I both thought that 
what you wrote about stealing melons 
was very good. I think you will be glad 
to know that I would not take melons like 
that. 
I think the answer to Nina Sharp s na¬ 
ture puzzle is a porcupine. I think they 
'are the same kind of animals that are 
called hedgehogs around here, aren’t 
they, Mr. Tuttle? They are not very 
common, though one is found occasional¬ 
ly. I have never seen one, but I have 
read about them. I might not have 
guessed the right answer if it had not 
been for one of my books, “The Adven¬ 
tures of Prickly Porky,” by Thornton W. 
Burgess. I would like to ask Nina Sharp 
if porcupines curl 'themselves tip into 
balls and roll down hill like “Prickly 
Porky” did in the story? 
Well I will close now as this letter is 
getting long again. Sincerely your friend. 
Vermont. warren g. brown. 
Warren is the only one who has men¬ 
tioned our birthday, though no doubt 
many of you have thought about it. This 
number begins the third year of Our 
Page. How many of you have all 24 of 
the past numbers made into a book? 
I have told you that often I have to 
keep letters or pictures or other things 
for some time before there is just the 
right chance to use them. If you have 
These are dolls of long ago, 
More than forty years or so 
been sending helps to Our Page you may 
find them in any time. 
Warren took me at my exact word 
about the school bells, and that is all 
right. I am not at all offended. To be 
sure, it depends on the bell and on the 
distance and on the wind and on the lay 
of the land and on other things. I am a 
mile away, too, but I hear our bell be¬ 
cause it is a big bell and the country is 
flat. What I meant to do was to help 
you to picture this great country of ours 
with public schoolhouses so thickly dot¬ 
ted over it that every child in the land 
can have an education without serious 
trouble. That is a great thought. 
You can add what Warren says about 
Mary Heller to the other letters. 
“Yes, indeed, I would like to have 
some "thankful letters” to print next 
month. I am glad Warren mentioned 
them. It is always good to stop once in 
a while and quietly count our blessings. 
You remember what fine letters we had a 
year ago. Let’s have some more on Why 
I am thankful this year. 
As long as Warren mentions the nature 
puzzle we had better take that next. As 
he says, the animal was 
A Porcupine 
At the very start, I hope our readers 
will not make the common mistake of 
calling these animals hedgehogs. There 
are no hedgehogs in America. Here is 
what a scientist, Edward W. Nelson, 
chief of the United States Biological Sur¬ 
vey, has to say on the question: “All 
porcupines are true rodents, and the name 
hedgehog is erroneously used when ap¬ 
plied to any of them. Hedgehogs are 
small Old World insect-eating mammals, 
which have their backs covered with por¬ 
cupine-like spines, but are in no way re¬ 
lated to the porcupines.” 
It is the hedgehogs that roll up into 
ball . F icmcmber that “Alice 
in Wonderland” used them for her 
strange game of croquet with—let me 
see—what did she use for a mallet? 
I am still hoping that some of our 
readers who have had real experiences 
with porcupines will write and tell us 
about the American species. In the.mean¬ 
time here is a list of those who sent cor¬ 
rect answers: 
New York: George Benedict, Viola 
Corron, Sarah Bull, Orvilla Oult, Ruth 
R. Orr, Rosa Rosenthal, Eldeen P., Helen 
Barton, Dorothy Mackey, Helen Green, 
Alice M. Beebe, Gladys Feldberg. 
Pennsylvania: Carl M. Brossman, 
Donald Fraser, Genevieve Bock, Frances 
V. Johnson, Ella C., Morton A. 
New Jersey: Gertrude Wrege, Edgar 
Burgh ardt. 
Ohio: Esther K. Bowman, Julianna 
Fitch. 
Massachusetts: Carolyn Lively, Paul 
Vaughan. 
Connecticut: Harry Anderson. 
Vermont: Warren G. Brown. 
Ontario: Matilda Peltier. 
What Is It? 
It is a bird about OVt inches long. The 
body is slate-colored with a white breast. 
It has a white or pinkish bill. These 
birds are very common about houses or in 
the edges of woods or pine groves. Their 
song is a sweet, simple trill. The nest is 
built on the ground, and is made of 
grasses. It is usually well concealed. 
They lay three or four whitish eggs, 
sprinkled with reddish brown. 
This puzzle was sent by Lorene Bes- 
sev, of Maine, who will not mind if I 
add a few more facts about the bird. 
Most of us, except those living in the 
very northern sections of the United 
States and in Canada, rarely see this 
bird in Summer, and never find its nest. 
But now it has come south and will be 
with us all Winter if we encourage it to 
stay. This is one of the most common 
birds at our feeding stations, and a flock 
of them will visit us regularly several 
times a day. Have you a station? If 
not, don’t you think you could make one 
now? One of the most noticeable fea¬ 
tures about this bird is that, the outer 
edges of its tail are white and show 
plainly when it flies. Who will write us 
of some interesting experience with the 
-? 
The Mosquito Story 
I have never written to Our Page be¬ 
fore, but read it every time from beinning 
to end, and enjoy it very much. I no¬ 
ticed your question asking who would 
write the best sto”y about the mosquito 
and thought I would try. 
There are two common kinds of mos¬ 
quitoes, Culex and Anopheles. Culex is 
only a nuisance, but Anopheles carries 
maiaria. The two kinds of mosqpuitoes 
are distinguished from each other by the 
position taken when at rest. Anopheles 
rests with head pointing down, while 
Culex rests with head on the same level 
as the rest of its body. Culex lays eggs 
in tiny rafts of 100 or more eggs on 
standing water. Anopheles does not lay 
its eggs in rafts. The larvae of mosquitoes 
are called wrigglers. They breathe 
through a tube at the hind end of the 
body. They may be recognized by their 
peculiar movements when on their way 
to the surface to breathe. 
In warm countries another mosquito, 
called Stegom.via spreads yellow fever. 
■, : . .. ’ moth «' f < unadhg 
mosquitoes are: By pouring oil on the 
surface of the water w 7 here they breed; 
by draining swamps or low land which 
holds water after a rain; by introducing 
minnows, goldfish and other small fish, 
which feed upon the larva; in the water. 
Now I will close, with best wishes 
from an interested 15-year-old reader, 
New York. lttcile freemantle. 
In Memory of John Burroughs 
A group of big-hearted men and women 
who were friends of John Burroughs, the 
great naturalist who died last April, have 
formed The John Burroughs Memorial 
.1; social ion. Their plan is to obtain 
money to buy and keep in good order the 
places where John Burroughs lived and 
wrote during much of his long life, and 
where he now lies buried. These places 
are in Ulster and Delaware counties, 
New York, and go by the names of >Slab- 
sides, Riverby, Woodchuck Lodge and 
Memorial Field. 
It would bo easy for this association 
to go to a few wealthy persons and secure 
the money. But they feel that the many 
people who loved John Burroughs and 
believed in the things he stood for should 
have a chance to share in the good work 
So they have said that “the child’s penny 
and the banker’s four-figure check are 
equally welcome.” 
The world needs more men like John 
Burroughs, and it needs to keep bright 
the memory of those who have lived and 
passed on, leaving a better world behind 
them. I have thought that the boys and 
girls who read Our Page should know of 
this movement. Perhaps you will feel 
that you want to be one of those who help 
to keep these places beautiful and inter¬ 
esting spots for all time to come. Your 
parents may want to join with you. It 
may be that as a school or other group 
you will raise a few cents or a few dol¬ 
lars to send. I think you will always be 
glad if you do. Then some day you will 
visit those memorial places and will take 
pride in saying, “I helped to save them for 
all to enjoy in memory of the man who 
loved and understood the world of nature 
and his fellow men—John Burroughs. 
The John Burroughs Memorial Asiocia- 
tion has an office at 15 West 81st Street, 
New York City, where money should be 
About the Pictures 
The little drawing came from Ruth 
Broadbent, a 14-year-old Massachusetts 
girl. I was delighted ‘to have it, and 
know 7 you will all agree that it adds a lot 
to Our Page. We could use more such 
drawings. 
The picture of the two little girls feed¬ 
ing their chickens was sent by Miss Mar¬ 
gie Wilson, a Northern New York teacher. 
Forest and Gordon Walkden of Ohio, 
aged G and 3%, got their father to write 
a letter for them and enclose the pony 
picture. 
Isabella Rhodes, a Pennsylvania reader, 
sent the picture of her brothers, Newton 
and Leroy, and their goat. 
The picture of the three boys trying to 
make the ducks “look pleasant” tvas sent 
by their father, W. C. Parry of Connecti¬ 
cut. I think it. is time we had a few 
more picture stories, and here is a good 
chance. Try to imagine how these boys 
live, what they do and how they came to 
have their pictures taken. Let’s have 
some fine stories. 
The picture of the old-fashioned dolls 
was sent by our friend Miss Jennie 
Young, a New York teacher, who also 
gave us the “Stubbie” pictures last year. 
She said in her letter: “The very young¬ 
est doll in the picture is over 40 years 
old.” 
The dollies of today come from little 
Margaret Ballou of New York, 4 years 
old, who asked her mother to write and 
send the picture. We guess that is Mar- 
These are “dollies” of today, 
Such as you, have for your play 
garet with her dolls and Teddy bears, and 
w T e believe we see a real live kitten, too. 
Doris Roberts, a New York reader, 
loved old Dick. From the time she could 
walk she petted him. At six years of age 
she climbed onto his back with the aid of 
a step-ladder. Later she drove him every¬ 
where. So it was hard to part with him 
when he got old and feeble and had to be 
killed. 
A Last Word 
Julia W., a Virginia girl, sent the 
words in the “box.” They are good and 
true. 
I haven’t said a word about Hallowe’en, 
not because I forgot, but because there is 
no room. If you could only see all I’ve 
had to leave out. I hope you’ll be happy 
at the party. 
I shall be looking for your letters soon. 
Send them right along to Edward M. Tut¬ 
tle, in care The Rural New-Yorker, 333 
West 30th Street, New York City. 
sent. 
No wonder, you'll say, that it broke Doris' heart 
When she and her coma de, old Dick, had to part 
These three boys are having fun; 
You could never doubt it. 
Won’t you please to sit right down 
And write a story ’bout it. 
