324 
Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 2.°,, 1924 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
Though our homes are distant, here 
In mind and heart we still are near. 
finger swelled to an enormous size. 
On another occasion we heard some 
chickens screaming and, looking in the di¬ 
rection from which the noise came, we 
saw a weasel carrying off a baby chick. 
Behind the chicken coop we discovered a 
board under which the weasel had lined 
up in a straight row eight little white 
Leghorn chicks which he had killed. 
anna weber (12 years). 
New Jersey. 
Memory Verse 
FREAKS OF JACK FROST 
The frost looked forth on a clear still night. 
And whispered, “Now, I shall be out of sight. 
So through the valley and over the height 
In silence I'll take my way. 
I will not go on like that blustering train— 
The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain— 
That make such a bustle and noise in vain ; 
But I'll be as busy as they.” 
So he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest; 
He lit on the trees and their boughs he dressed 
With diamonds and pearls; and over the breast 
Of thejquivery lake he spread 
A coat of mail, that it need not fear 
The glittering point of many a spear 
Which he hung on its margin, far and.near, 
Where a rock could rear its head. 
He went to the windows of those who slept, 
And over each pane, like a fairy, crept; 
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stepped. 
By the morning light were seen 
Most beautiful things ; there were flowers and trees, 
There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees; 
There were cities, and temples, and towers; and these 
All pictured in silver sheen. 
But he did one thing that was hardly fair: 
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there 
That all had forgotten for him to prepare— 
“Now, just to set them a thinking, 
I’ll bite this basket of fruit,” said he, 
“This costly pitcher I’ll burst in three; 
And the glass of water they’ve left for me 
Shall ‘tchick !’ to tell them I’m drinking.” 
—By Hannah Flagg Gould. 
(Sent by Maria Eskola, Ohio.) 
Weasels 
Last month’s Nature Puzzle certainly 
brought a big response. It must be that 
weasels are exceedingly common, for so 
many readers told of personal experiences 
with them that it was hard to choose the 
half dozen printed below. It is interest¬ 
ing to know that weasels in America are 
divided into two groups: the large weas¬ 
els, or stoats, which may be 16 inches 
long, and the small weasels which are 
less than a foot in length, often much less. 
In Winter their brown coats commonly 
change to white except for the black tip 
of the tail, and this white fur is much 
prized as ermine. But in the South where 
there is no snow the brown coat never 
changes color. A number of readers sent 
drawings, and one is printed, showing 
both Summer and Winter appearance. 
Here are the letters: 
The animal which was described in 
January’s Nature Puzzle is a weasel. 
Mother once had an experience with one 
of these rascals. Once, as we were having 
a quiet chat on the front porch, a scream 
was heard. Mother hurried out and was 
amazed to see a weasel chasing a chicken. 
The weasel soon overtook the chicken and 
mother was just going to pull it off the 
chicken's back when, unexpectedly, the 
weasel turned its head and bit mother’s 
finger. It was a terrible pain and the 
There is so much good material waiting 
to be used this month that, with one ex¬ 
ception, your editor is not going to take 
any space himself, but will give it all to 
our contributors to whom we owe so much 
for making possible such a fine page. 
Woodrow Wilson 
This page has been prepared in those 
sad days between the death of ex-Presi- 
dent Woodrow Wilson and his funeral. 
It is right that we should say a word 
here about this tragic event in the life 
of our country. Every strong, manly boy 
and sweet, womanly girl who reads Our 
Page shares in the general sorrow at his 
passing and seeks to grasp the lessons 
it may teach, so that some day our chil¬ 
dren and our children’s children may 
learn from our own lips, as well as from 
their history books, how it happened and 
what it meant. 
Beyond question Woodrow M ilson will 
take rank with the greatest men America 
has produced. As the years go by we 
shall see more clearly how fine an ideal he 
had for the world of which we are a part, 
I have seen many weasels. One day I 
was walking along the road when I saw 
two small animals, one chasing the other. 
The first one was a chipmunk and the sec¬ 
ond a weasel who was thirsty for his 
blood. The chipmunk came up close to 
me and stopped by my feet as though he 
wanted me to save him from danger. I 
picked him up and drove the weasel away. 
As soon as the weasel was gone I set the 
chipmunk free. Chester Roberts. 
New York. 
One Summer my father and I were 
working. I saw a weasel fighting a rat. 
As I did not know then what it was I 
picked it up with the rat and called my 
father. He yelled to me to drop it, that 
it would bite. I dropped it and it ran in 
the brush nearby. As the rat was dead 
we went on with our work. The weasel 
came for the rat and my father threw a 
stone at it, but missed it. It ran away 
again. My father held a stone ready in 
his hand. In a few minutes it came 
again. My father threw the stone and 
killed it. It was a big brown one as it 
was Summer. Walter rapp 
New York. (11 years). 
One day I awoke and on coming down 
stairs heard father telling about finding 
a dead chicken in the coop with a wound 
in its neck, but he thought it was caused 
by rats. So he set several traps around 
the coop, but failed to catch anything for 
a couple of days, and was thinking of 
giving up when one morning he showed 
me a funny-looking animal, answering to 
the description in the Nature Puzzle. 
This was probably the only weasel 
around, as we have not had any trouble 
since. iiarold updaw (8 years) 
New York. 
I have trapped to quite an extent for 
a few years, but have succeeded in 
catching only three weasels. Here is a 
little incident that happened one Summer 
day as I was taking a walk. I had pro¬ 
ceeded some distance in the woods when I 
heard a loud rustling in the leaves by an 
old stump. Further investigation showed 
the cause to be a conflict between a 
weasel and a large red squirrel. Now. a 
red squirred is a good fighter and I thought 
that the fight would be long and close. 
By means of quick and numerous dodges 
the weasel succeeded in forcing the squir¬ 
rel info a corner formed by the roots of 
the stump. After a short time the weasel 
succeeded in getting a throat-hold on the 
squirrel, which soon finished him. Then 
the weasel began to suck the blood from 
the squirrel. I took a step nearer the 
stump, hoping to frighten him away from 
his kill. As soon as he realized that I 
was near him, he growled deep in his 
throat and started away dragging the 
squirrel with him. I make a quick dash 
at him which frightened him so that he 
ran into a hole nearby. Although I 
waited for some time he did not appear, 
so I went on my way. 
New York. george Benedict. 
The weasel generally works at night 
but if it is real hungry it will attempt 
to enter a henhouse in the daytime. It 
is known to be very destructive. A 
weasel usually attacks the fowl by the 
throat and draws the blood, and then at¬ 
tacks another, leaving the first one be¬ 
hind. I know one of our neighbors had 
75 prize-winning pullets of which he was 
very proud. One night a weasel entered 
the pen and killed every one. The farmer 
was very angry and declared he would get 
that weasel if it took him a month. He 
watched day and night. On the tenth 
day he was rewarded for all his careful 
watching for he captured the weasel. 
The hide now hangs on the side of the 
henhouse where the weasel had once en¬ 
joyed himself by having an undisturbed 
chicken dinner. Dorothy frylinck 
New Jersey. (14 years). 
What Is It. 
This bird is about six inches in length 
and how truly he sacrificed himself for his 
belief. And probably we shall find that 
he did not sacrifice in vain, but that on 
his foundation will slowly but surely be 
built the way to end bloody war, to settle 
disputes among nations by just and law¬ 
ful means and to secure a real peace on 
earth. In any case, here is one <inore 
noble exa'mple of a life of service from 
which to draw inspiration and determina¬ 
tion and courage to live our own lives 
truly and to make the most we can of 
them whatever may be our work or 
station. 
Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us, 
Footprints on the sands of time. 
The Weasel in Summer and Winter Dress—Drawn by Henry Kiernle (16 Years) 
Neto York 
Its back is bluish-gray with some white 
in the tail. The top of its head is black, 
and it has a white throat and belly. Its 
nest is built in a hole in a tree quite a 
distance from the ground. It is lined 
with leaves and feathers. Its call sounds 
like “Yank, yank.” It stays around the 
house and orchard, and often comes to 
feeding stations. It eats the worms and 
eggs it finds in the bark of trees, and 
nearly always hunts with its head point¬ 
ing toward the ground. What is it? 
New Jersey. dorotiiy Gardner. 
The Secret Garden 
BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT 
A surprisingly large number of our 
readers wrote of having read and en¬ 
joyed this book which was described in 
last month’s Book Puzzle. Those who 
have not read it have a treat in store 'o 
be grasped at the first opportunity. Fol¬ 
lowing are some letters telling more of 
the story and something of the author’s 
life, and we also have a’drawing of Mary, 
as you see: 
On Our Page in January I saw a de¬ 
scription of a book that I have just got 
through reading. The name is “The 
Secret Garden,” by Frances Hodgson 
Burnett. This is a most beautiful and 
inspiring story, full of tenderness and 
ri&r y- 
Dratvn by Elizabeth Wheeler (15 Years ) 
Michigan 
charm. There is “magic” in it—the 
magic of love, the magic of growth, the 
magic of the joy of living. The secret 
garden, walled in and locked up for 10 
years, is also a character in the story. 
Then there are Dickon, who can make 
anything grow and is loved by all living 
things; dear, wise Mother Sowerby; 
Colin, the invalid boy ; the wilful Mary : 
Ben Weatherstaff. the gardener, and by 
no means least, the joyous little robin 
who also plays his part. MIRIAM SNELL 
New York. (14 years). 
I think that the answer to the Book 
Puzzle is “The Secret Garden.” It was 
written by Frances H. Burnett. When 
Daddy read this book to me I thought it 
was the best book I ever heard. In the 
story a robin helped the little girl to find 
the key to the secret garden. She took 
a little lame boy out there in a wheel¬ 
chair and the boy learned to walk. 
I have had the whooping-cough and 
cannot go to school yet. so I am having 
my lessons at home. This letter is my 
English lesson for today. 
New York. jane townsend 
(10 years). 
The answer to the Book Puzzle is 
“Secret Garden,” by F. H. Burnett. It 
is a very nice book to read. The last 
teacher I had had the book and she used 
to read to us every Friday. The girl’s 
name was Mary and after she went to 
England from India she had a nurse. The 
nurse’s name was Martha. After Mary 
was acquainted she went about the gar¬ 
dens and found the key to the secret 
garden. It was after she found the key 
that she heard the cry in the night. One 
rainy day she followed the cry and found 
the boy whose name was Colin. She was 
also acquainted with her nurse’s brother. 
His name was Dickon. He and Mary 
took Colin in his wheel-chair to the gar¬ 
den and there he practiced walking every 
day till he could walk. His father. 
Mary’s uncle, was traveling for his health 
and was expected home. Colin wanted to 
surprise his father, so when he came to 
the door of the garden he was surprised 
to see Colin walking toward him with 
Mary and Dickson after him. When he 
