The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1453 
’Tis  then  we  go  to  Grandmais  house  way 
back  down  on  the  farm, 
Away  from  city’s  din  an’  noise,  away 
from  care  an’  harm. 
We  gather  ’round  the  fireplace  that  sends 
a  cheerful  glow, 
An’  makes  funny  little  shadows,  dancing 
to  and  fro. 
Then  we  are  called  to  dinner  an’  Grandpa 
gives  the  blessin’, 
Our  plates  are  filled  with  turkey,  taters, 
onions  an’  nice  dressin’, 
Then  comes  the  cracker  puddin’,  pump¬ 
kin  pie  and  frosted  cake. 
An’  they  have  a  special  flavor  that  no  one 
but  Gram  can  make. 
After  dinner’s  over  an’  the  dishes  cleared 
away, 
Grandpa  brings  the  Bible  an’  says, 
“Come,  folks,  let  us  pray.” 
Before  we  start  for  home  Gramp  slips 
some  apples  in  my  blouse. 
It  seems  the  day  just  fairly  flies  wheu 
I’m  at  Grajidma’s  house. 
Thanksgivin’  Day  ends  all  too  soon  to 
suit  us  girls,  I  fear, 
An’  if  I  was  only  President,  I’d  have  it 
twice  a  year. 
Maine.  By  Virginia  anderson. 
The  Mud  Dauber  Wasp 
you  to  guess  the  answer,  but  I  wish  when 
you  write  you  would  tell  us  some  other 
interesting  facts  about  this  very  impor¬ 
tant  thing. 
what  is  IT? 
This  substance  is  a  plain  color  and 
Clear.  It  is  good  to  use,  and  no  person 
can  do  without  it ;  not  even  animals  can. 
The  most  of  it  is  used  during  hot  weather. 
It  can  be  divided,  and  yet  we  cannot  see 
where  it  has  been  divided. 
FLORENCE  SCHRADER 
New  York.  (16  years). 
'Without  it  we  couldn’t  live,  or  any¬ 
thing  else,  such  as  plants  or  animals.  It 
runs  in  or  on  all  kinds  of  places.  It 
sparkles  and  shines  one  day,  and  the  next 
it  will  look  treacherous  and  stormy.  It 
is  a  very  necessary  substance.  It  comes 
in  all  kinds  of  ways,  but  it  turns  to  this 
same  substance  just  the  same. 
ROSE  RYDER 
New  York.  (12  years). 
Fly  Away,  Little  Birds 
Fly  away,  little  birds, 
'Tis  your  season  to  go ; 
The  Winter  is  coming, 
With  cold  winds  and  snow. 
Drawn  in  Pencil  by  Iva  McClatchie 
(14  Years),  New  York 
The  very  complete  description  of  an 
insect  that  Carrie  Phillips  gave  us  last 
month  for  a  Nature  Puzzle  brought  a 
good  many  answers  and  more  letters  than 
usual  telling  of  personal  experiences  and 
observations.  This  is  what  we  like.  Here 
are  a  few : 
I  think  the  answer  to  the  Nature  Puz¬ 
zle  is  a  mud  wasp.  I  have  noticed  when 
a  mud  wasp  will  get  into  your  house  it 
will  not  sting  you  if  you  leave  it  alone  ; 
it  will  only  pick  up  the  spiders  so  as  to 
take  them  to  its  nest.  In  the  warm 
weather  we  see  them  getting  mud  around 
our  pump  or  drain.  It  is  very  interesting 
to  watch  the  mud  wasp  build  its  nest  out 
of  mud.  The  wasp  rolls  the  mud  with 
its  fore  feet,  seizes  it  with  its  jaws  and 
flies  away.  Elizabeth  turck 
New  York.  ( 12  years) . 
The  flowers  have  gone 
From  the  meadows  around, 
To  sleep  in  their  seeds 
And  their  roots  underground. 
But  come  back  in  the  Spring 
When  the  weather  is  fair, 
And  sing  your  sweet  songs 
In  the  warm  gentle  air. 
— Author? 
Sent  by  dorotiiy  denton 
New  York.  (12  years). 
Which  reminds  us  that  there  are  some 
birds,  luckily  for  us,  whose  habit  it  is  to 
stay  instead  of  leave  even  though  Winter 
is  coming.  But  they  have  no  easy  time 
of  it  with  the  “cold  winds  and  snow,” 
and  are  grateful  for  such  food  and  shelter 
as  boys  and  girls  can  give  them.  Have 
you  a  feeding  station  ready? 
The  answer  to  the  Nature  Puzzle  is  a 
wasp.  We  have  an  old  corncrib  and 
there  is  a  big  wasp  nest  in  there.  I  have 
seen  a  wasp  sting  a  yellow  spider  and 
bring  it  into  the  nest,  martiia  hodge 
Connecticut.  (12  years). 
I  will  try  my  luck  answering  the  Na¬ 
ture  Puzzle.  I  will  say  it  is  a  mud  wasp. 
There  have  been  many  nests  made  in  our 
Betsy  Hull’s  Wedding 
or 
The  Pine-tree  Shillings 
BY  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 
Many  more  of  you  than  I  expected  were 
able  to  send  the  correct  answer  to  last 
month’s  Book  Puzzle.  The  story  is  an 
Plenty  of  Pumpkins  for  Pies.  Picture  sent  by  Miss  Cora  Sheppard, 
a  New  York  State  Teacher 
woodhouse  this  year.  It  is  very  interest¬ 
ing  to  watch  them  build  their  nests,  as 
thev  work  so  hard  to  make  their  nests. 
HELEN  THRALL 
Connecticut.  (13  years). 
The  answer  to  the  Nature  Puzzle  is  a 
kind  of  wasp.  We  call  it  mud  dauber  on 
account ’of  its  nest  They  build  on  the 
end  of  our  house,  which  is  protected  by 
the  norch  We  often  watch  them  carry¬ 
ing  their  mud.  They  roll  it  up  into  a 
MAERETA  HERSHY. 
Pennsylvania. 
A  New  Nature  Puzzle 
Below  you  will  find  two  puzzles  on  the 
same  subject.  It  will  not  be  hard  for 
interesting  and  familiar  one,  but  not  all 
who  have  read  or  heard  it  could  have 
told  the  title  and  the  author’s  name.  A 
dozen  or  more  sent  write-ups  of  Haw¬ 
thorne’s  life,  while  Ruth  Dudley  (15)  of 
Connecticut  and  Glenwood  Gates  (11) 
and  Margarethe  Schroeder  (13)  of  New 
York  sent  drawings  of  which  I  have 
chosen  Ruth’s  for  you  to  see.  The  most 
complete  answer  received  was  the  follow¬ 
ing  letter : 
The  answer  to  the  Book  Puzzle  is  “The 
Pine  Tree  Shillings,”  which  is  selected 
from  “Grandfather’s  Chair,”  a  book  by 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 
Massachusetts  was  the  first  colony  to 
mint  money.  John  Hull  coined  this  cur¬ 
rency,  which  has  ever  since  been  called 
the  pine  tree  shillings,  because  of  the  pine 
tree  on  each  silver  piece.  For  many 
years  the  colony  paid  John  Hull  one 
shilling  for  every  20  that  he  coined,  and 
he  became  quite  a  rich  man. 
Now  there  was  a  young  man  by  the 
name  of  Samuel  Sewall  who  wished  very 
much  to  marry  Miss  Betsy  Hull,  the 
daughter  of  the  old  mint  master.  As  the 
young  man  was  'industrious,  of  a  good 
character  and  a  church  member.  Miss 
Betsy’s  father  very  readily  gave  his  con¬ 
sent. 
After  the  wedding  ceremonies  the 
blushing  bride  was  ordered  by  her  father 
into  one  side  of  a  great  pair  of  scales, 
while  the  other  side  was  filled  with  heap¬ 
ing  handfuls  of  coins  from  the  treasure 
chest  of  Honest  John  Hull  until  the 
plump  young  lady  was  fairly  weighed 
from  the  floor. 
“There,  son  Sewall,”  cried  the  honest 
mint  master,  “take  these  shillings  for 
my  daughter’s  portion.  Use  her  kindly, 
and  thank  Heaven  for  her.  It’s  not  every 
wife  that’s  worth  her  weight  in  silver  !” 
( 
THE  LIFE  OF  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 
Hawthorne  was  born  in  Salem  in  1804, 
before  that  city  was  outrivaled  by  the 
city  of  Boston.  His  father,  a  sea  captain, 
was  lost  at  sea  while  Nathaniel  and  his 
two  sisters' were  still  small.  The  family 
then  went  to  live  in  Maine  with  Mr.  Man¬ 
ning,  Mrs.  Hawthorne’s  brother. 
Hawthorne  and  Longfellow  were  in  the 
same  class  at  Bowdoin  College,  while 
Franklin  Pierce  was  only  one  class  ahead 
of  them. 
After  12  years  of  diligent  research, 
“Twice-told  Tales”  appeared,  and  soon 
afterwards  “Grandfather’s  Chair.”  from 
which  “The  Pine  Tree  Shillings”  is  select¬ 
ed.  In  the  meantime  Hawthorne  served 
as  weigher  for  the  customs  house  at  Bos¬ 
ton  and  farmed  at  Brook  Farm,  where  a 
colony  of  writers  resided. 
After  his  marriage  to  Sophia  Peabody 
the  Hawthornes  lived  at  Concord  in  an 
old  Colonial  house  called  “The  Manse,” 
which  is  just  a  short  distance  from  the 
Concord  Bridge.  “The  Scarlet  Letter” 
and  “Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse”  were 
written  at  this  time.  He  had  been  ap¬ 
pointed  surveyor  of  the  Port  of  Salem 
and  when  his  term  expired  he  took  his 
family  out  to  the  Berkshire  Hills.  Out 
Drawn  by  Charlotte  Booth  (15  Years), 
New  York 
there  among  the  mountains  Hawthorne 
wrote  “The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables” 
and  “The  'Wonderbook.”  Back  in  Con¬ 
cord  again,  he  wrote  “Tanglewood  Tales.” 
Soon  after  this  he  was  appointed  con¬ 
sul  to  Liverpool,  England,  by  President 
Pierce.  lie  wrote  a  book  about  England 
which  he  called  “Our  Old  Home.” 
His  last  years  were  spent  in  Concord 
at  “The  Wayside,”  which  he  had  bought 
from  Mr.  Alcott.  The  Alcotts.  Emerson, 
Thoreau,  Holmes,  Whittier.  Longfellow 
and  Lowell  were  all  his  neighbors  in  and 
near  Concord.  He  died  in  May,  1864, 
while  on  a  trip  to  the  White  Mountains 
with  his  friend  Pierce.  A  plain  blue 
stone  marks  his  resting  place  in  the 
■Sleepy  Hollow  Cemetery  at  Concord. 
ANNA  GRAHAM 
Illinois.  ,  (14  years). 
What  Book  is  This? 
A  little  Swiss  girl  whose  parents  were 
dead  was  taken  at  the  age  of  five  years  to 
her  grandfather  in  the  Alps  Mountains. 
He  lived  alone  except  for  his  two  goats. 
The  people  in  the  village  below  were 
afraid  of  him.  He  was  kind  to  the  little 
girl,  however,  and  she  enjoyed  her  life  on 
the  mountain.  She  also  helped  to  bring 
joy  into  the  life  of  a  blind  old  lady  who 
lived  in  an  old  house  part  way  down  the 
mountain  with  her  daughter  and  grand¬ 
son.  who  herded  the  goats  for  the  village, 
and  also  the  little  girl’s  grandfather’s 
goats.  At  the  age  of  eight  the  little  girl 
was  taken  to  Frankfurt,  Germany,  to  the 
home  of  a  wealthy  merchant,  to  be  a 
companion  for  his  12-year-old  daughter, 
Klara,  who  could  not  walk.  The  little 
Swiss  girl  fell  in  love  with  Klara,  but  did 
not  like  the  woman  who  had  charge  of  the 
household,  for  Klara’s  mother  was  dead 
and  her  father  was  away  most  of  the 
time.  Klara’s  grandmother  visited  them 
and  the  little  girl  came  to  love  her.  too. 
But  the  little  girl  became  so  homesick  for 
her  grandfather  and  the  free  life  of  the 
mountains  that  after  .  Klara’s  grand¬ 
mother  had  gone  she  became  ill  and  had 
to  go  back  there.  She  became  well  again 
and  was  able  to  bring  joy  into  the  goat¬ 
herd’s  blind  grandmother’s  heart  again. 
Klara  and  her  grandmother  visited  her  on 
the  mountain  and  Klara  became  able  to 
walk.  WARREN  BROWN. 
Vermont. 
In  sending  this  Book  Puzzle,  Warren 
wrote  that  the  book  described  is  the  best 
one  he  ever  read,  and  I  feel  sure  it  must 
be  one  that  is  familiar  to  many  of  you 
because  I  have  received  puzzles  on  the 
same  book  from  Evelyn  Wolfe  of  Mary¬ 
land  and  Ruth  Moore  of  Connecticut.  In 
answering,  give  the  title  and  author’s 
name  and  any  facts  you  can  about  the 
story  or  the  author. 
Plans  for  Our  Christmas  Page 
We  have  never  really  had  a  Christmas 
Page  before,  and  I  hope  many  readers 
will  feel  interested  to  do  a  bit  to  help 
make  it  a  very,  very  good  one.  While 
Christmas  Day  itself  will  be  past  be¬ 
fore  you  receive  Our  Page  for  December, 
it  will  reach  you  that  same  week,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  holiday  and  vacation  sea¬ 
son.  So  let  us  have  drawings  and  poems 
and  stories  and  letters  that  will  carry  the 
Christmas  spirit  'and  make  us  feel  the 
minute  we  see  Our  Page  that  it  is  full  of 
beauty  and  interest  and  happiness.  Espe¬ 
cially  I  think  wTe  would  all  enjoy  sug¬ 
gestions  for  things  that  boys  and  girls  in 
the  country  can  do  during  Christmas 
week.  You  have  plenty  of  time  to  think 
about  this  and  prepare  your  contribu¬ 
tions,  do  not  put  it  off  till,  the  last  mo¬ 
ment.  Mail  all  letters  to  reach  your  edi¬ 
tor  not  later  than  December  8. 
Puzzle 
Many  of  you  solved  last  month’s  Cross¬ 
word  Enigma  and  found  that  the  answer 
was  W-i-n-t-e-r.  A  number  made  up  and 
sent  in  other  excellent  puzzles  of  this 
kind,  of  which  the  following  is  one  which 
fits  in  with  the  spirit  of  Our  Page  this 
month : 
My  first  is  in  fight,  but  not  in  gun, 
My  second  in  race,  but  not  in  run, 
My  third  in  apple,  but  not  in  fruit, 
My  fourth  in  stem,  but  not  in  root, 
My  fifth  in  halibut,  not  in  shad, 
My  wrhole  the  Pilgrim  fathers  had. 
LOUISE  JUDGE 
Rhode  Island.  ( 11  years ) . 
Notes 
Louise  Judge,  who  furnished  the  enig¬ 
ma,  also  sent  the  words  for  the  Box.  My 
dictionary  tells  me  that  spirit  used  in  this 
sense  means  “energy,  vivacity,  ardor,  en¬ 
thusiasm,  courage,  etc.”  These  are  all 
good  qualities,  and  we  could  add  others 
in  place  of  the  “etc.,”  such  as  friend¬ 
liness,  cheerfulness,  loyalty,  happiness, 
interest,  imagination,  kindness,  persever¬ 
ance,  honesty,  patriotism,  reverence,  sym¬ 
pathy,  truthfulness,  unselfishness  and 
wholesomeness,  all  of  which  are  more 
Drawn  by  Ruth  Dudley  (15  Years), 
Connecticut 
than  just  big  words  to  us — they  stand 
for  what  Our  Page  means  and  how  we 
feel  about  it. 
We  have  on  this  Thanksgiving  page 
more  poetry  and  verse  than  we  have  ever 
used  before,  and  I  would  be  glad  to  hear 
how  you  like  it.  Some  of  the  pieces  are 
by  well-known  poets  and  may  be  more  or 
less  familiar  to  many  of  you.  But  they 
are  well  worth  reading  over  again  at  this 
season,  and  perhaps  committing  a  few 
lines  to  memory.  Other  verses  are  by  our 
own  readers,  and  are  interesting  for  that 
reason,  in  addition  to  what  they  have  to 
tell. 
Your  editor  wants  to  know  whether 
you  would  like  to  continue  the  Book  Puz- 
