1h*  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
295 
noil,  aud  there  the  end  of  each  one  swells 
to  form-  a  peanut.  Of  course,  peanuts 
are  not  nuts  at  all  in  the  sense  that  chest¬ 
nuts  or  walnuts  or  hickorynuts  are.  They 
are  more  closely  related  to  peas  and 
beans  and  clovers  and  locust  trees  and 
other  members  of  the  great  and  useful 
family  of  legumes. 
What  Is  It? 
We  are  all  waiting  and  watching  for 
this  thing.  It  is  coming  nearer  and 
nearer  to  us  every  day.  We  feel  like  run¬ 
ning  out  into  the  fields  and  woods  and 
searching  for  it.  When  we  do  so,  we  find 
that  it  has  sent  messengers  ahead  to 
cheer  us  and  bid  us  to  be  patient  just  a 
I  ttle  longer.  We  welcome  these  messen¬ 
ger.4  with  joy,  make  note  of  them,  tell 
our  friends  about  them,  and  feel  much 
closer  to  the  thing  we  seek.  Last  year 
we  did  the  same,  and  the  year  before 
that.  We  know  that  every  year  as  long 
as  we  live  and  love  the  world  of  nature 
we  shall  wait  for  and  watch  for  and 
search  for  and  rejoice  over  this  wonder¬ 
ful  thing.  What  is  it  for  which  we  are 
to  eager? 
WRITTEN'  BY  YOUR  EDITOR 
(Just  for  a  change). 
A  Christmas  Carol 
BY  CHARI.ES  DICKENS 
As  you  look  through  the  list  of  contrib¬ 
utors  to  Our  Page  you  will  find  the  sym¬ 
bol  “1”  appearing  a  good  many  times. 
These  are  the  readers  who  correctly 
answered  the  first  book  puzzle  that  was 
published  last  month.  The  true  title  of 
the  story  is  printed  above,  but  if  the 
author's  name  was  given  rightly,  your 
editor  accepted  several  other  titles  be¬ 
cause  parts  of  the  story  have  often  been 
published  in  school  readers  under  such 
headings  fis  "Scrooge’s  Christmas,” 
“Scrooge  and  Marley’s  Ghost,”  and  “Tiny 
Tim.” 
I  am  greatly  pleased  at  the  interest 
shown  in  this  book  puzzle  plan,  and  feel 
sure  that  in  the  months  to  come  we  are 
going  to  have  a  lot  of  good  fun  out  of  it, 
and  learn  much  about  worth-while  books. 
The  letters  printed  below  bring  out  in¬ 
teresting  points  about  this  first  book  puz¬ 
zle,  and  the  idea  in  one  of  them  of  giving 
a  little  sketch  of  the  author’s  life  is  fine 
and  something  we  can  keep  up  in  other 
months. 
In  answer  to  the  first  book  puzzle 
r"  en  on  the  Children’s  Page  for  January 
2”.  1023,  the  name  of  the  book  is  “A 
Christmas  Carol.”  The  author  is  Charles 
rCekens.  We  had  the  play  taken  from 
this  book  in  our  school  at  Christmas,  aud 
I  was  Scrooge.  I  knew  at  once  what 
book  was  meant.  anget.o  k  at  lino 
New  York.  ( 14  years) . 
I  am  sure  the  book  described  in  “What 
Pook  is  This?”  is  “A  Christmas  Carol,” 
by  Charles  Dickens.  I  just  received  the 
hook  last  Christmas  and  1  like  it  very 
much.  As  soon  as  I  could  after  I  saw 
the  puzzle  I  sat  down  to  write  this  letter. 
I  like  the  Boys’  and  Girls’  Page  very 
much  and  always  read  it  as  soon  as  The 
Rural  New-Yorker  comes. 
Pennsylvania.  ruth  coulton 
(12  years). 
The  new  book  puzzle  is  “A  Christmas 
Carol,”  by  Charles  Dickens.  It  is  very 
interesting  and  has  a  good  moral.  Tt  is 
a  pity  that  the  three  ghosts  could  not 
visit  many  people  whom  we  know  and 
transform  them  as  they  did  old  Scrooge. 
New  York.  eon  a  wilfert 
(15  years) . 
T  have  been  a  reader  of  our  Boys’  and 
Girls’  Page  for  some  time,  and  I  agree 
with  Dorothy  Story  about  spending  a 
Winter’s  evening. 
I  especially  enjoy  reading  books,  and 
it  was  very  easy  to  guess  the  first  book 
puzzle.  Yes.  sir,  it  will  be  a  long  while 
before  anybody  trips  yours  truly  on 
Dickens!  Why.  I  read  every  book  of  his 
before  I  reached  my  eleventh  birthday.  I 
dearly  love  all  his  works,  and  when  I 
finish  reading  Carlyle  and  Bulwer  I  shall 
read  them  again.  The  answer  to  the  puz¬ 
zle  is  “A  Christmas  Carol.”  written  by- 
Charles  Dickens.  marie  kf.egan. 
New  York. 
The  answer  to  “What  Book  is  This?” 
is  “A  Christmas  Carol,”  by  Charles 
Dickens.  Here  is  the  life  of 
CHARLES  DICKENS 
Charles  Dickens  was  a  great  English 
author.  He  was  born  at  Eandport.  near 
Portsmouth.  February  7.  1812,  and  died 
r-  Gads  Hill,  near  Rochester,  England. 
June  ft.  1X70.  When  he  was  nine  years 
o’d  his  family  moved  to  the  poorest 
u'lnrters  in  London.  Tlis  father  was  ar¬ 
rested  for  debt  and  Charles  was  placed 
in  a  blacking  factory.  Soon  his  father 
Across  the  meadow  at  eaily  dawn 
Came  a  mother  deer  and  her  little  fawn; 
And  stopping  there  by  the  forest  green 
Made  as  pretty  a  picture  as  ever  was  seen. 
Drawn  hy  Warren  Wyllie  (10  Years ) 
North  Carolina 
Dran  >i  in  Pencil  hy  ...  ildred  French 
New  Hampshire 
Drawn  in  Pencil  hy  Anna  Larson  (1.1 
Years ) ,  Pen  n  sylra  n ia 
1J 
raicn  hy  Bertha  <  ' adding  ton  (17  Years) 
New  York 
-  *9  *•*  '*■' 
Drawn  hy  Michael  Goldberg  (l)  Years ) 
Connecticut 
Drawn  by  Maurice  B chock  (13  Years ) 
Pennsylvania 
Dra  wn  hy  Charlotte,  Booth  (Ilf  Years ) 
New  York 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Esther  Baxter  ( Hi 
Years),  New  York 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  William  Gates  (15 
Years),  New  York 
was  released  and  Charles  was  sent  to 
school  again,  where  he  stayed  for  three 
or  four  years.  He  became  a  reporter  on 
a  London  paper  when  he  was  21  years  of 
age.  He  then  began  to  write  for  maga¬ 
zines  and  newspapers,  lie  always  liked 
drama  and  often  acted  in  plays.  He 
wrote  “David  Copperfield,”  “A  Tale  of 
Two  Cities,”  “Nicholas  Nickleby,”  “The 
Did  Curiosity  Shop.”  “Little  Dorrit,” 
“Our  Mutual  Friend,”  aud  lots  of  other 
books.  He  visited  America  twice. 
Massachusetts.  evet.yn  haskell 
(13  years). 
What  Book  Is  This? 
At  the  foot  of  the  Catskill  Mountains 
is  a  village.  The  houses  arc  of  yellow- 
brick  brought  from  Holland.  In  the  vil¬ 
lage  there  was  a  good-natured  man  whom 
all  the  children  loved,  as  he  always  had 
a  story  for  them.  lie  was  not  at  all  in¬ 
clined  to  labor,  but  was  fond  of  hunting 
aud  fishing.  lie  had  a  dog  whose  name 
was  “Wolf.” 
Due  day  he  went  hunting  with  Wolf. 
After  tasting  some  liquor  which  some 
strange  men  offered  him  he  fell  asleep. 
When  he  awoke  In*  went  to  his  house, 
which  was  decayed  beyond  repair.  New 
people  were  on  the  streets.  He  ap¬ 
proached  the  inn  where  on  the  sign,  in¬ 
stead  of  the  face  of  King  George  was 
that  of  General  Washington.  “Does  any¬ 
one  know  me?”  he  said,  using  his  name. 
ITe  found  his  daughter  in  the  throng  and 
she  took  him  home  to  live  with  her. 
New  York.  iielen  cameron 
(11  years). 
Remember  that  the  author’s  name  as 
well  as  the  title  of  the  story  must  be 
given  to  receive  credit  on  the  list  of  con¬ 
tributors.  Here  is  a  chance  for  some  in¬ 
teresting  letters  because  a  very  famous — 
but  there,  the  first  thing  I  know  I’ll  be 
telljng  too  much  ! 
Our  Artists 
Each  month  the  rhyme  drawings  are 
increasing  in  number  and  their  quality  as 
a  \\  hole  shows  steady  improvement  It  is 
hard  to  select  a  few  to  print  from  the 
many  that  come.  In  addition  to  the  10 
used  this  month,  the  following  were  con¬ 
sidered  in  the  final  selection  and  deserve 
Honorable  Mention:  Janet  Ingersoll  (71. 
Carolyn  Veach  (8),  Edna  Dawley  (9), 
Margaret  Schroeder  (12),  Alice  Staats 
(13) ,  Nancy  McLintock  (15),  Lewis 
Wangerin  (14)  and  Grace  Benton  (17) 
of  New  York;  Bertha  Hollenbeck  (11). 
Llizabeth  Muller  (12)  and  Florence 
Bowne  (14)  of  New  Jersey;  Herbert 
Wyllie  (9)  aud  Alfred  Wyllie  (13)  of 
North  Carolina;  Joseph  Laportc  (10)  of 
Vermont;  Martha  Albert  (II)  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania;  John  Shimek  (18)  of  Ohio, 
and  Hilda  Meyer  (15)  of  Missouri. 
A  New  Rhyme  to  Draw 
About  50  readers  tried  their  hand  at 
making  a  rhyme  with  a  kite  in  it.  Your 
editor  finally  narrowed  down  to  four,  by 
Julia  Danforth  (10)  and  Esther  Adams 
(14)  of  New  York;  Lucille  Perry  (12) 
ol:  Connecticut,  and  Rebecca  Spencer 
(12)  of  Maine.  After  more  study,  first 
place  was  finally  given  to  Rebecca’s 
rhyme  as  likely  to  produce  the  best  draw¬ 
ings,  and  here  it  is  : 
Johnny  went  outdoors  to  play. 
One  chilly,  windy,  wild  March  day. 
Off  went  his  hat;  away  flew  his  kite, 
Now  draw  him  in  his  awful  plight. 
The  suggestion  for  next  month’s  rhyme 
is  to  make  it  have  something  to  do  with 
poultry  raising. 
Notes 
The  two-line  couplet  in  the  Box  this 
month  was  written  by  Elsie  Schneider, 
an  18-year-old  New  Jersey  reader.  Speak¬ 
ing  of  age,  our  list  of  contributors  on 
pages  300-301  shows  that  we  have  read¬ 
ers  and  helpers  from  six  to  19  years  old. 
There  is  something  for  all. 
All  work  for  the  March  page  should 
be  sent  to  reach  your  editor  not  later 
than  March  10. 
Florence  Schrader  (10  years),  New 
York,  has  sent  a  new  riddle  that  fits  in 
well  with  our  next  drawings:  “What  :s 
the  best  material  for  kites?” 
Your  editor  thinks  it  would  be  nice  to 
have  some  drawings  of  well-made  bird 
boxes  next  month.  They  will  give  us  all 
ideas,  and  March  is  just  the  time  for  this 
good  work. 
When  writing  your  letters  be  sure  that, 
you  give  your  name,  post  office  address. 
State,  and,  if  you  wish,  your  age.  On 
the  envelope  write  Edward  M.  Tuttle,  in 
care  The  Rural  New-Yorker,  383  West 
50th  Street,  New  York  City. 
