1232 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
September  29,  1923 
Boys  and  Girls 
By  Edward  M.  Tuttle 
Vacation  is  over,  and  off  to  school  we  go; 
We  all  should  be  glad  that  we  can  do  so. 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Frances  Sanford  (13  Years),  Xeiv  York 
Memory  Verso 
A  PSALM  OF  LIFE 
Toil  me  not,  in  mournful  numbers, 
Life  is  but  an  empty  dream! 
For  the  soul  is  dead  that  slumbers. 
And  things  are  not  what  they  seem. 
Life  is  real !  Life  is  earnest ! 
And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal ; 
Dust  thou  art.  to  dust  returnest, 
(Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul. 
Not  enjoyment,  and  not  sorrow, 
Is  our  destined  end  or  way ; 
But  to  act,  that  each  tomorrow 
Find  us  farther  than  today. 
*  *  $  #  *  * 
Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us, 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time; 
Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 
Sailing  o’er  life’s  solemn  main. 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother, 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again. 
Let  us.  then,  be  up  and  doing. 
With  a  heart  for  any  fate ; 
Still  achieving,  still  pursuing. 
Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait. 
— By  HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW. 
Here  is  one  of  the  great  poems  written 
by  a  beloved  American  poet.  Many  of 
you  perhaps  know  it  already.  The  verses 
most  often  quoted  are  the  first  and  sec¬ 
ond.  the  third  from  the  last  and  the  last. 
These,  at  least,  every  boy  and  girl  should 
learn.  Better  yet  is  to  know  the  whole 
poem  by  heart.  There  are  three  other 
verses  not  given  above,  but  which  you 
can  easily  find  in  readers  or  collections 
of  American  poetry. .  The  thought  in  this 
poem  is  solemn,  but  not  sad.  Its  mes¬ 
sage  is  one  of  inspiration  and  encourage¬ 
ment  to  us  all  to  make  the  most  of  our 
lives. 
Your  editor  has  been  led  to  put  this 
poem  in  your  hands  by  the  great  events 
that  have  taken  jplace  recently  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  our  country.  A  kindly  man,  our 
chosen  leader,  reached  the  end  of  his  life’s 
journey  and  was  laid  at  rest.  The  whole 
people,  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls, 
mourned  his  passing.  Another  man  has 
taken  his  place,  a  man  whose  simple, 
steadfast  life  should  be  a  lesson  to  us  all. 
To  do  the  work  of  each  day  well,  and  to 
deal  justly  and  without  fear — these  seem 
his  guiding  motives.  If  we  could  all 
learn  to  live  so,  our  own  lives  and  the 
life  of  our  nation  would  be  better  and 
happier  for  it.  After  all,  the  nation's 
life  is  the  sum  of  the  lives  of  its  people, 
and  in  a  very  real  way  every  good  life 
helps  to  build  up  our  country’s  welfare. 
Just  as  truly,  every  life  that  is  mean  or 
selfish  or  unjust  or  idle  tears  that  welfare 
down.  I  believe  that  every  boy  and  girl 
who  reads  Our  Page  will  understand  this. 
The  work  that  most  of  you  have  in  hand 
is  that  of  getting  an  education  by  going 
to  school.  Make  every  day  count  for 
gain.  Then,  in  school  and  out,  you  live 
with  playmates,  teachers,  family  and 
friends.  Make  them  glad  each  day  that 
you  are  there. 
We,  too,  Can  Help 
In  the  study  of  geography  we  learn 
about  a  distant  country  located  on  a 
group  of  islands  off  the  east  coast  of 
Asia — the  country  of  Japan.  But  in  the 
last  few  weeks  we  have  heard  more  of 
these  people  than  ever  before  because  of 
the  great  disaster  that  has  befallen  them. 
Living  in  peace  and  plenty  it  is  hard  for 
us  to  picture  the  ruin  and  terror  into 
which  thousands  of  fellow  human  beings 
were  plunged  so  suddenly,  and  from 
which  it  will  take  them  a  long  time  to 
recover.  But  at  least  we  know  that  there 
is  need  for  help  and  that  each  one  of  us 
can  add  a  bit  to  the  fund  the  Red  Cross 
asks  for  its  relief  work.  I  know  that 
many  pennies  and  nickels  and  dimes  have 
gone  into  that  fund  from  the  boys  and 
girls  of  Our  Page. 
Some  Plans  Ahead 
Your  editor  has  been  looking  at  the  cal¬ 
endar  for  the  next  three  months,  and  has 
made  some  interesting  discoveries.  The 
October  number  of  Our  Page  will  be 
dated  the  27th,  just  a  few  days  before 
Hallowe’en.  That  gives  us  a  chance  to 
make  a  special  Hallowe’en  page  again 
this  year.  Won’t  that  be  fun !  I  have 
always  thought  that  the  one  we  made  last 
year  was  about  the  best  page  we  ever  put 
together,  it  was  so  full  of  variety  and 
interest.  So  set-to  work  now  and  let’s 
see  if  we  can  do  even  better  this  time. 
Send  anything  you  think  will  help  in  the 
way  of  drawings,  verses,  stories  of  Hal¬ 
lowe’en  parties,  suggestions  for  games  or 
good  times  and  the  like.  Be  sure  to  tell 
me  all  about  the  material  you  send, 
whether  you  made  it  up  yourself  or  whose 
it  is,  and  where  you  found  it  if  it  was 
done  by  someone  else.  We  like  best  to 
have  original  work  by  our  readers,  but 
often  someone  runs  across  a  little  verse 
or  picture  that  we  would  all  like  to  Lave 
and  it  is  all  right  to  use  it  if  we  are  very 
careful  to  give  the  proper  credit.  Work 
for  the  Hallowe’en  page  should  be  sent  to 
reach  your  editor  not  later  than  October 
0,  so  you  will  have  to  hurry. 
In  November  Our  Page  will  come  the 
Saturday  before  Thanksgiving,  and  that 
gives  us  another  chance  for  a  special 
page.  You  can  be  thinking  a  little  about 
it,  but  next  month  we  will  plan  for  it 
more  in  detail. 
Then  in  December,  Christmas  comes  on 
a  Tuesday,  and  that  same  week  Our  Page 
will  be  out.  So  I  think  that  even  though 
it  reaches  you  a  few  days  after  Christmas 
we  might  well  plan  this  year  to  make  a 
special  Christmas  page.  Don’t  you  think 
so? 
Let  me  know  what  you  think  of  thfl 
plan  of  having  those  special  Hallowe’en 
Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  pages  this 
Fall.  Of  course  we  will  have  to  give  up 
for  a  time  our  rhyme  drawing  contests 
and  perhaps  some  of  our  other  usual 
items,  but  it  will  be  all  the  more  interest¬ 
ing  to  come  back  to  them  again  in  the 
Winter. 
A  Real  Farm  Girl 
I  have  been  a  reader  of  the  Boys’  and 
Girls’  page  for  a  long  time.  It  is  very 
interesting.  I  am  15  years  old  and  a 
farmer’s  daughter.  I  go  to  high  school. 
During  the  school  vacation  I  help  my 
father  in  hay  harvest.  This  year  we  had 
100  acres  of  hay  to  get  in  the  barn.  My 
father  owns  a  large  tractor  which  I  drive 
all  of  the  time.  We  have  a  hay-loader 
which  we  attach  behind  the  wagon,  and 
i he  tractor  is  attached  to  the  front  of  the 
wagon.  This  is  the  easiest  way  of  draw¬ 
ing  in  hay. 
Besides  driving  the  tractor  I  drive  on 
the  hay  fork  and  run  the  milking  ma¬ 
chines.  We  milk  about  25  cows.  I 
have  a  large  cow  of  my  own  which  father 
gave  to  me. 
I  am  sending  my  picture  running  the 
tractor  to  show  the  boys  and  girls  how 
we  put  the  hay  in.  Your  newly  acquired 
friend.  ruth  fox. 
New  York. 
Ruth’s  picture  is  on  this  page.  She 
found  a  way  to  be  of  great  help  with  a 
big  job.  Probably  many  boys  her  age, 
and  some  men,  would  hesitate  to  take  this 
tractor  in  hand,  but  as  with  everything 
else,  it  is  all  in  knowing  how.  No  doubt 
Ruth  is  doing  just  as  good  a  job  now  with 
her  school  work. 
Touch-me-not 
The  Nature  Puzzle  last  month  was  one 
of  the  most  interesting  we  have  had. 
though  your  editor  was  surprised  that, 
more  did  not  guess  the  answer.  Surely 
every  country  boy  and  girl  who  lives  near 
ponds  or  swampy  places  has  found  this 
plant  and  played  with  it.  A  half  dozen 
readers  sent  drawings,  and  I  have  printed 
the  one  that  shows  the  leaves  and  flowers 
and  seed  pods  best.  In  addition,  here  are 
a  couple  of  letters : 
I  know  the  answer  to  the  Nature  Puz¬ 
zle  so  I  am  writing  to  tell  you  what  it  is. 
I  found  this  plant  down  by  the  pond.  It 
has  bright  green  leaves  with  silver  under¬ 
neath.  When  you  put  the  leaves  in  water 
they  shine  like  silver.  It  has  orange 
blossoms  which  look  like  dwarf’s  golden 
the  silver  color  shows  up  more.  When 
the  seed  pods  become  ripe  they  fly  open 
quickly,  and  this  is  referred  to  in  the 
poem  by  “As  I  grow  old  my  temper’s  not 
nice,  I  fly  to  pieces  in  a  trice.” 
Connecticut.  dorothy  smith 
(15  years). 
Those  of  you  who  do  not  know  this 
plant  should  look  for  it.  There  are  two 
kinds:  the  pale  touch-me-not  with  yellow 
flowers,  and  the  spotted  touch-me-not 
with  orange  flowers  spotted  with  reddish 
brown.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that 
the  jewelweed  is  related  to  the  garden 
balsam,  whose  seed  pods  have  the  same 
habit  when  ripe  of  flying  to  pieces  at  a 
touch ;  also  to  the  Sultana,  which  is  a 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Lynwood  Hoxce 
(13  Years),  New  York 
common  house  plant.  These  plants  have 
the  scientific  name  Impatiens,  which  is 
easy  to  remember  when  we  think  how 
“impatient”  they  are. 
A  New  Nalure  Puzzle 
This  is  a  bird,  12  or  13  in.  long.  Its 
upper  parts  are  bluish  gray.  Its  wide, 
stubby  tail  is  dotted  with  white  spots.  It 
has  a  crest  on  its  head.  Its  underparts 
are  white,  with  a  band  of  bluish  gray 
across  the  breast.  Its  long,  sharp  bill  is 
used  to  catch  minnows  and  other  fish. 
The  bird  is  found  around  ponds,  streams 
or  lakes.  It  excavates  a  hole  in  the  bank 
and  makes  its  nest  where  from  six  to 
eight  eggs  are  laid.  What  bird  is  it? 
New  Yrork.  emilie  skidmore 
(14  years). 
Robin  Hood 
It  was  no  trouble  at  all  for  those  who 
have  ever  read  any  of  “The  Adventures 
of  Robin  Hood”  to  guess  last  month’s 
Book  Puzzle.  All  boys  and  most  girls  en¬ 
joy  the  stories  of  this  gallant  outlaw  who 
had  so  many  fine  and  manly  qualities  and 
such  a  sense  of  justice  among  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  his  own  band.  His  amazing  skill 
with  the  bow  and  arrow  is  also  something 
to  marvel  at,  now  that  this  weapon  has 
long  since  given  way  to  others  much  less 
difficult,  though  far  more  deadly.  On  the 
Ruth  Runs  the  Tractor — Picture  Sent 
caps.  I  call  it  silverleaf,  but  the  right 
name  is  jewelweed.  Its  seeds  are  in  pods. 
When  you  press  the  pods  the  seeds  spring 
out.  marguerite  keck 
New  York.  (11  years). 
I  think  the  answer  to  the  “New  Nature 
Puzzle”  is  pale  jewelweed,  in  some  places 
known  as  touch-me-not,  also  silverleaf. 
The  meaning  of  the  rhyme  is  that  the 
color  of  the  flowrer  is  gold  ;  the  leaves  are 
green  or  emerald  ;  underneath  the  leaves 
are  silver,  but  when  placed  under  water 
by  Ruth  Fox  (15  Years),  New  York 
whole,  there  are  lessons  to  learn  from 
Robin  Hood  as  well  as  the  pleasure  of  a 
good  story,  so  that  few  of  us  grow  up 
without  making  his  acquaintance  along 
with  that  of  King  Arthur  and  other  leg¬ 
endary  heroes. 
A  number  of  readers  tried  their  hands 
at  making  sketches  of  Robin  Hood,  one 
of  which  you  will  find  printed  here,  and 
several  sent  short  accounts  of  the  book : 
That  Book  Puzzle  poem  was  clever, 
