1134 
August 30, 1924 
Jh* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Boys and Girls 
By Edward M. Tuttle 
We should all be happy to say, 
“I wrote to Our Paqe today.” 
Memory Verse 
Buttercup nodded and said goodby. 
Clover and daisy went off together, 
But the fragrant water lilies lie 
Yet moored in the golden August 
weather. 
The swallows chatter about their flight. 
The cricket chirps like a rare good 
fellow, 
The asters twinkle in clusters bright, 
While the corn grows ripe and the 
apples mellow. —Celia Thaxter. 
Sent by Jeannette Newhall (12 years). 
Connecticut. 
Another vacation season for our boys 
and girls is almost over. Soon after 
you receive this page, schools will open 
their doors again, and a great army of 
children from six-year-olds up will en¬ 
ter them. For some it will be the first 
year of school; for others it will be the 
last year; for all it will bring added 
fitness for a successful life. How much 
you got out of it depends more on your¬ 
selves than it does on the school build¬ 
ings, or teachers, or books or equipment, 
though all these help, of course, especi¬ 
ally the teachers. My best wishes go 
with each and every reader of Our Page 
for a fine, happy, growing year. Make 
my wishes come true. 
Something for Next Month 
You remember that instead of draw¬ 
ings we are going to use photographs to 
illustrate Our Page for September, as 
we have done twice before this year. This 
will give a chance for pictures and let¬ 
ters on a great variety of things of your 
own choosing, but I suggest that two sub¬ 
jects of special interest to write about 
would be “My Best Vacation Experi¬ 
ence” and “My First Day of School This 
Year” (provided your school opens the 
first week in September). Then we will 
have the Nature Puzzle and the Book 
Puzzle, and the “puzzle puzzle” and a 
good sprinkling of poetry as usual so 
that all together it should be a fine page. 
In sending photographs for your editor to 
consider using, remember that they must 
be clear and distinct in order to be 
printed. If you wish your picture back, 
do not fail to say so and to enclose re¬ 
turn postage, but whenever you own the 
negatives you probably will be glad to 
contribute one print of each to Our Page 
without the extra work of returning 
them. 
Two Walks 
Last week I walked a certain street, 
And met such gloomy folks, 
I made great haste to pass them by, 
And neither smiled nor spoke. 
The giant elms drooped sullen, 
The very sun was dim; 
I met a friend, and said,. “I hope 
I’ve seen the last of him !” 
Today I walked that very street 
And loved the folks I met, 
If business had not made me leave 
I would be talking yet. 
Of course you’ve solved the mystery, 
’Tis very plain to see; 
The dav I met the gloomy folks, 
The gloom was inside me! 
—Author (?) 
Sent by Dorothy Candage (12 years). 
Maine. 
What the Mail Bag Brings 
I thought Our Page was the very best 
ever for last month. My sister and I like 
to play that game which was sent in by 
Martha Horst. We call it “Hangman. 
I think the Nature Puzzle for this 
time is the yellow wood sorrel. It grows 
plentifullv all around my home. We 
like to chew the leaves because of the 
slightly sour taste. I think it is a rather 
pretty plant, because its leaves look like 
shamrock to me. 
Of course, the Book Puzzle is “David 
Copperfield,” by Charles Dickens. Dick¬ 
ens is a favorite author at our home and 
one of our neighbors, an old English lady, 
saw him and tells us about him. I like to 
know how people look ! 
I am sending a heading for August in¬ 
stead of a picture this time. 
New Y’ork. —Ruth Watts. 
It is a pleasure tv> receive letters like 
this. They show such a live interest in 
all that we are doing. A letter need 
not be long to answer the puzzles and 
send something new. 
BURIED ALIVE 
This incident happened one Summer 
when I was somewhat younger than I am 
now. It occurred in a vacant lot just 
back of my house. 
A number of boys and myself were 
digging a cave. It was on the side of 
a banking which was made up of heavy 
sods. We were enjoying ourselves very 
much as it was a lovely day. We had 
made good time and had dug quite a 
cave when the mother of one of the boys 
passed by on her way home from down- 
street. She warned us not to dig the 
cave any bigger. 
You know how children are; well, we 
kept right on digging. I happened to be 
way in digging when suddenly all be¬ 
came black. I tried to scream and move, 
but I could not. Soon help came and I 
was dug out although I thought I was 
lost to the world ! 
So let me tell all children that it pays 
to mind your elders. I am willing to 
admit that I was very, very disobedient. 
—Albert Wilson (16 years). 
New York. 
Albert’s letter tells its own story. 
Older persons do not usually tell boys 
and girls not to do things just to keep 
them from having a good time. They 
have lived longer and have better judg¬ 
ments as to consequences. As Albert Says, 
“it pays to mind.” 
A MYSTERIOUS PET 
One morning when my brother was 
walking along the road, he saw a bird 
about the size of a pigeon standing in the 
road. He picked it up and brought it to 
the house. Its feathers were almost blu¬ 
ish, it had dark eyes and its feet were 
red. After examining it, we found it 
was a turtle, or mourning dove. We fed 
it grain which it eats with the banties 
and at night it roosts with them. After 
we had had it for a few days it got to 
flying out to our large cherry tree. It 
goes in and out of the barn and does not 
seem to want to go away. Every morn¬ 
ing it is waiting on the fence by the barn 
for its breakfast. It makes a very nice 
pet. You can pick it up at any time. 
—Pearl Weston (12 years) 
Pennsylvania. 
Pearl’s story is very interesting and 
rather unusual. The dove had probably 
been stunned in some way and when it 
recovered, it quickly responded to the 
friendly care it received. 
SWALLOWS 
One night when I went after the cows, 
I saw five swallows, the parents and 
three children. The children could fly, 
but they didn’t fly very much. They 
were on the roof of an old pigpen which 
was not used for anything. Tlieir par¬ 
ents were feeding them. W hen their par¬ 
ents flew past they would flutter their 
wings and tweet. One of the little swal¬ 
lows flew up and his mother gave him a 
bug in the air. I called my sister and 
she found it interesting, too. This is a 
true story. —Charles Aker (10 years) 
New York. 
Charles and his sister took advantage 
of an opportunity for a first-hand nature 
study lesson. There are always many 
such awaiting the wideawake country 
boy and girl. 
WIIAT HAPPENED IN CAMP 
Our camp was situated in an ideal 
spot, right on the shore of a lake. It 
was delightfully cool, for all around us 
were the beautiful mountains. A girl 
could sit for hours if she had the time 
and a good pair of field glasses and just 
watch the wild life on those mountains. 
But we seldom had time for that, be¬ 
cause the life in camp kept us busy 
enough. 
I will tell you what happened in camp 
one day, if you like. At 0 :30 when we 
got up,' we had a dip in the lake. Just 
when we were having the most fun of 
all, we heard the bell to come and get 
ready for breakfast. Back we trooped 
to the tents and began to get dressed. It 
was my “tentmate’s” Dot Smith, and my 
turn to help get breakfast, so we hurried 
into our clothes and ran out to help. We 
soon had breakfast ready, and let me 
tell you, those girls were surely ready 
for it! After breakfast we made the 
beds, put the tents in order, and so forth. 
After that, we had drill and then we 
could do as we liked until dinner. 
The girls went fishing, rowing, swim¬ 
ming, and a few went horseback riding. 
Dot and I did the last. When we got 
back dinner was ready. After dinner 
came the rest period. When the hour 
allowed for that was up, the guardian of 
our three tents called to us, “Come on, 
girls! Let’s go for a nature walk.” 
“Good!” cried Dot and I. and ran to 
join the other four girls and the guar¬ 
dian. When we returned about 4:15, 
everything was all packed up ready to 
go on a picnic! 
“Surprise party!” sang out all the 
girls, and then they told us how they 
had planned this picnic for weeks. When 
we got to the place, we saw that it was 
another part of the lake. We could see 
our camp and it certainly did look pretty. 
We went in for a swim and after that 
supper. My, it certainly was a supper! 
I couldn’t begin to tell you what we 
had, but you can easily imagine what 
you would like to have, and likely enough 
that will be just what we did have! 
After we got back we went to bed, and 
for many nights after, we dreamed of 
the happy time we had that day. 
Florida. —Alice Croasdell (11 years). 
Such happy experiences live long in 
“day-dream” memories also, and that 
girl or boy is fortunate who has many 
of them. Nothing is finer than camp 
life under right leadership and in whole¬ 
some surroundings. 
A Call Irresistible 
(An Original Poem) 
I hear you calling me, mountain; 
Your breezes eoft and low 
Whisper of your cooling shades, 
And I do long to go. 
To gaze upon still loveliness, 
And smell the perfumed air; 
To watch your swaying trees, and see 
The wood folk playing there. 
I long once more to stop and drink 
The water from your spring, 
Where ferns grow gracefully tall, 
Where hermit thrushes sing. 
Yes, I heed your calling, mountain; 
Your breezes soft and low 
Have well performed their errand, 
And I am coming now. 
—Lucile Thatcher (16 years). 
New Jersey. 
Puzzle 
Last month’s puzzle was very clever, 
but a good many readers were able to 
work it out. Here is the correct solu¬ 
tion : 
F 
L 
O 
u 
R 
F 
L 
o 
o 
R 
r 
L 
o 
o 
D 
B 
L 
0 
o 
D 
B 
R 
o 
o 
D 
B 
R 
o 
A 
D 
B 
■R 
E 
A 
D 
One or two others of a similar nature 
were sent in and I will use them some¬ 
time. This month you may try another 
cross-word enigma, and when you have 
solved it you will find the answer some¬ 
thing very appropriate for this season 
of the year. Here it is: 
My first is in pie, but not in cake, 
My second in cook, but not in bake, 
My third is in June, but not in May, 
My fourth in clover, but not in hay, 
My fifth is in red, but not in blue, 
My sixth in mew, but not in moo, 
My seventh in lane, but not in street, 
My eighth in smell, but not in sweet. 
My whole is something we like to eat. 
—Ruth Dudley (16 years). 
Connecticut. 
Yellow Wood Sorrel 
There was good response to last 
month’s Nature Puzzle to which the title 
given above is the most correct answer. 
Many readers showed themselves familiar 
with this common, weedy plant bearing 
its sweet, yellow flowers and clover-like, 
pleasantly-sour leaves. A great variety 
of other names were sent in, however, 
and your editor kept track of them with 
the following result: Sour grass; lady’s 
sorrel; sheep sorrel; wild oxalis; yel¬ 
low shamrock ; sour clover; rabbit clov¬ 
er ; sheepshire ; bird’s-eye ; bird’s-bread ; 
bird sorrel. Some of these names are 
recognized in books on weeds, especially 
the first three; the others are probably 
very local. Drawings of the yellow 
wood sorrel were sent in by Elinor Wil¬ 
lis (12) of Connecticut; Edith Dean 
(12) of New Jersey; Dorothy Parkhurst 
(12), Gladys Feldburg (13), and Ellen 
Rickard (16) of New York. I selected 
Elinor’s to print and also the following 
letter which gives some interesting facts 
about the plant from first-hand obser¬ 
vation. 
I think the answer to the Nature 
Puzzle for July is yellow wood sorrel 
(Oxalis corniculata). This species 
grows commonly in our State, New Jer¬ 
sey. and is often considered a weed. It 
grows along roadsides and in gardens, 
dooryards and fields. The leaves are 
very sensitive, and, if handled roughly, 
The Yellow Wood Sorrel 
will close. I picked a blossom to look 
at, a few minutes ago, and now, as I 
glance at it, it is tightly closed. The 
leaves are very acid and children often 
chew them, for, to some, the taste has 
an agreeable tang. The flowers are very 
fragrant and open only in the bright 
sunlight. After the blossom has faded, 
it forms a little, erect, pointed seed pod. 
The stem is thick and rather haioL I 
thought Sara’s description very accur¬ 
ate. —Edith Dean (12 years). 
New Jersey. 
It appears that botanists recognize 
several different species of yellow wood 
sorrel, all quite closely alike, but differ¬ 
ing in minor details. They are trouble¬ 
some weeds because they spread not only 
by seeds but by creeping on underground 
stems. 
A New Nature Puzzle 
I have been reading the Boys’ and 
Girls’ page of The R. N.-Y. for some¬ 
time, and have enjoyed it so much that 
at last I have got courage to write, too. 
I am 13 years old, and, live on a farm 
of about 300 acres. My father spec¬ 
ializes in the growing of apples. I am 
greatly interested in the nature puzzles, 
and also in the artists. I have been look¬ 
ing over the nature puzzles that have 
been solved by a good many boys and 
girls in past months, and I think they 
are certainly a fine lot. 
I don’t know whether you will think 
this description is very good, but if 
you do, I would like to have it used for 
Our Page : 
What Bird Is This? 
It is a little brownish olive bird, about 
the size of an English sparrow, but with 
a speckled, thrush-like breast, and a dull 
orange, Y-shaped patch bordered by 
black lines on the top of its head. It 
builds its nest on the ground among the 
dry, brown oak leaves and wild geran¬ 
iums. Its commonest call is, “Teacher! 
Teacher!” 
—Meribeth Sleight (13 years). 
New York. 
Two Active Games 
Perhaps most of you are familiar with 
the games described below by two of our 
readers, but it will do no harm to print 
them here to recall them to your minds. 
They would be good games to play often 
this Fall during the school recess. In 
all your games, try to keep the rules and 
to play fair. Play for all you are worth 
but always think of your playmates as 
well as of yourself. *n this way every¬ 
one has a good time and you grow to 
have real skill in the games. 
THREE DEEP 
First the players form in twos and 
make a big circle, with good space be¬ 
tween each couple. All face the center, 
but in each couple, one person is behind 
the other. Two players are left out. One 
of the two chases the other and the one 
who is being chased can run and stand 
in front of any of the couples that are 
forming the circle and say, “three deep!” 
Then the one on the end, the third man, 
has to run out for the chaser to catch. 
Whenever a chaser catches a runner, 
they change about and the runner be¬ 
comes the chaser. 
—Yera Bushnell (13 years). 
New York. 
