St. Nicholas/Volume 32/Number 1/League
ST. NICHOLAS LEAGUE
Our “Favorite Episode in American History” contest has brought out some interesting facts, as well as some excellent contributions, It has shown, for one thing, that more children are interested in the early history of the nation than in the more recent events; also, that of the old episodes, the battle of Trenton, the Signing of the Declaration, the victory of Paul Jones over the Serapis, and the battles of Lexington and Concord, are the favorites, about in the order named. Indeed, so many of each of these came in, and all so well written, that we have been obliged to omit them, taking it for granted that all the young people of the League are familiar with these chapters in our history, and would not find much interest in reading them again in the department pages.
“Distance," St. Louis water-front. By Hugo Graf, age 17. (Cash Prize.)
For, as we have sail before, we must edit for the readers as well as for the writers, and the incident that is less familiar, even if less picturesque and dramatic, is likely to be of more general interest than the old fireside story we all know, however well re-told; and this hint may perhaps act as a guide to the future. It is not necessary that episodes should be new,—there are very few such,—but only that they should not be the very, very old ones, such as every school Reader for several generations has contained,
We all love to remember the Christmas surprise given to the Hessians at Trenton, the boy who dashed away from the “Signing,” cryiug, “Ring, Grandfather, 
“Distance.” By Dorothy Weiman, age 11. (Gold Badge.) ring!” the cry, “Sir, I have not yet begun to fight!” and, “the shot heard round the world,” but they have all been repeated so often in song and story that we of the League can afford to pass them, though with fond reluctance, for other events and stirring words that it will be well for us to learn, and to teach to others. Of course, one’s favorite episode is his “favorite,” and there is no more to be said. But with a wider reading and research, perhaps others would claim a place as favorites, too, if not the favorite we shall say “A favorite episode” instead of “My favorite episode,” so that the old beloved school-book story may be put aside with a clear conscience.
PRIZE WINNERS, COMPETITION No. 59.
In making the awards, contributors’ ages are considered.
'Verse. Gold badges, Agnes Dorothy Campbell (age 15), Monmouth, Polk Co., Ore, Natalie D. Wurts (age 16), 5219 Morris St., Germantown, Pa., and Caroline Dillard Morton (age 16), 135 Superior St., Providence, R. I
Silver badges, William A. R. Russum (age 14), 946 E. Jersey St., Elizabeth, N. J., Harriet Ruth Fox (age 14), 622 W. 152d St., New York City, and Eleanor Randolph Chapin (age 11), 76 Porter Place, Montclair, N. J.
Prose. Gold badges, Rollin L. Tilton (age 16), 123 Kingston Ave., La Grange, Ill, and Mary E. Pidgeon (age 14), Wadesville, Va.
Silver badges, Emada A. Griswold (age 13), 349 E. 53d St., Chicago, Ill., and Margaret Spahr (age 11), Kingsbridge Terrace, Kingsbridge, New York City.
“Distance.” By Emma W. Horn, age 16. (Silver Badge.) Drawing. Gold badge, Charles E. Venator (age 17), 94 Napier St., Hamilton, Ont.
Silver badges, Helen George (age 13), 572 Benson St., Camden, N. J., and Mildred Eastey (age 14), 200 S. 7th St., San Jose, Cal.
Photography. Cash prize, Hugo Graf (age 17), 4543 N. Market St., Louis, Mo.
Gold badge, Dorothy Weiman (age 11), The Newport, 16th and Spruce Sts., Philadelphia, Pa.
Silver badges, Elsie Wormser (age 13), 2014 Webster St., Francisco, Cal., and Emma W. Horn (age 16), Catasauqua, Pa.
Wild Animal and Bird Photography. First prize, “Adirondack Deer,” Gladys L. Carroll (age 13), Saranac Lake, N. V.
Second prize, “Robin,” Donald Jackson (age 12), 2347 King’s St., Denver, Col.
“Distance.” By Elsie Wormser, age 13. (Silver Badge.) Third prize, “Gull’s Nest,” Dorothy Arnold (age
12), 11 Ten Broeck St., Albany, N.Y.
Puzzle-making, Cash prize, Emerson Sutcliffe (age 13), 47 Allerton St., Plymouth, Mass.
Gold badges, Helen Carter (age 14), Burlington, N. J., and Edith Prindeville (age 16), Box 17, Barington, Ill.
Silver badges, Zeno N. Kent (age 16), Chagrin Falls, O., and Walter L. Dreyfuss (age 16), 1239 Madison Ave., New York City.
Puzzle-answers. Gold badges, Evelyn Goodrich Patch (age 11), Berkshire, New York, and Mary Randell Brown (age 15) 2439 First Ave., S., Minneapolis, Minn.
Silver badges, Elizabeth D. Lord' (age 14), 1214 Elk St., Franklin, Pa., and Zena Parker (age 15), Abingdon, Va.
“A Nature Study.” by Helen George, age 13. (Silver Badge.)
MY FAVORITE EPISODE 1N AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Rollin L. Tilton (age 16).
(Gold Badge.)
One bright morning in the year 1862, a wooden sloop of something over one (howsand tons, fitted with steam-power, dropped down the Mersey and sailed away. She touched in southern England, and after taking on more men, sailed to the Azores. On arriving there she was met by two steamers, which brought supplies and war materials to her.
When these were transhipped, the English flag, which she flew, was replaced by the Confederate flag, and it was announced that she was the Confederate steamer Alabama.
Semmes, for such was the Confederate captain’s name, had orders to destroy all vessels flying the flag of the United States. From that time on, for two years, she destroyed many vessels—in all, about sixty- five.
At the end of that time, Semmes put in to Cherbourg for repairs, and two days later the United States ship Kearsarge appeared. Semmes, who wished to signalize himself by sinking a large war-ship, asked Captain Winslow of the Keasarge to fight. This challenge was immediately accepted.
On Sunday, June 19, 1864, the Alabama, accompanied by a French ship, to see that they left French waters, steamed out to sea. An English yacht also went out with them to observe that which they expected would be a victory for the Alabama. No two vessels were more evenly matched, although the Kearsarge was the faster.
When they were seven miles from land, the Kearsarge, who was ahead, turned and steamed straight at the Alabama. The Alabama fired a broadside, which went wild, When nine hundred yards away the Kearsarge turned and fired a broadside. It told fearfully. Then the Alabama got a terrible hammering. She tried to close up with the Kearsarge, but the Kearsarge steamed round and round, firing constantly. Shots cleared the Alabama’s decks; they smashed her engines, they core her sides, and broke the masts. Then the Alabama put her bow toward France; but the Kearsarge was ahead of her, and the pounding continued until she struck her colors, and, throwing her bow in the air, disappeared in the sea.
The Kearsarge put out her boats to rescue the crew, and gave the English yacht permission also. In that way Semmes escaped to England, but he brought no more ships out.
RURAL PLEASURES.
By Natalie B. Wurts (age 16).
(Gold Badge.)
In the happy autumn time,
Where the brook flows by, a-dancing
To a mystic, rippling rhyme!
In the water plodding deep,
And the bees still seeking honey
From the flowers, now asleep.
The hazy circles show
A portent of dark days to come,
Amid the blinding snow.
Across the mound of grass
Comes tripping, like a dainty queen,
A pretty peasant lass.
Amid the golden hay;
With care they stack the wagons up,
And homeward wend their way.
That kings and queens would share,
To labor in a world so bright,
And breathe such fragrant air!
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Mary B. Pidgeon (age 14).
(Gold Badge.)
My favorite episode in America history is the first Thanksgiving,
The Pilgrims had a hard voyage over the Atlantic, and when they landed in America it was autumn, and the shores were bleak and desolate.
Think what must have been their feelings as they gazed on this, their future home, and then remember that they had left their own comfortable homes and their dearest friends for the sake of their religion!
Daring the long, hard winter that followed, when they had such poor, unsheltered homes, and when they had few comforts, no luxuries, and often not even the bare necessities of life, half of their number died.
When the summer came, however, and the days were longer, and the air grew warmer, they began to have a much brighter prospect, and they planted wheat, rye, barley, and Indian corn.
The latter grain a friendly Indian, named Squanto, had brought them and told them how to cultivate. Slowly the summer days ripened into autumn, and this time the people were much happier, for they had acres of grain, and the dense forest all around abounded in wild game, and the river was full of fish.
These blessings almost made the people feel that they had been fully repaid for leaving their own country, where they had been so cruelly persecuted.
And in November, the governor, Miles Standish, appointed a time for the people to have a great feast and give thanks for the many blessings of the past year.
So they sent four of their men out into the forest, with their guns, and they spent a whole day in shooting game.
Then they invited Massasoit, the Indian chief, and all his men, who had been very kind to them, to come and partake of their Thanksgiving feast with them.
The Indians, being very much pleased with the invitation, brought with them a present of five deer for the white men.
And the Indians and white men feasted and played games and had a merry time for three days.
This is the origin of our beuatiful custom of setting apart, each year, a Thanksgiving Day.
SUMMER PLEASURES
By Agnes Dorothy Campbell (age 15).
(Gold Badge.)
Stands the haunted harbor-light, unchanged by time and tide,—
Except each year a little more of the sand bluffs slips away,
And the tower ’s more weather-beaten, washed by the winter’s spray.
In the early morn, when the tide is out, and the brown reef-rocks lie bare,
When the fog is thick, or the sun shines bright, often we wander there;
We climb the winding stairs up to the haunted light,
And gaze on the bay and ocean, and the foam of the breakers white.
Looked out from this turret-window, on the hay, stretched blue below,
With never athought of danger more than we have to-day.
What became of her there, with her flying hair? What spirited her away?
Is the deep, dark hole in the turret-room some old-time smugglers’ cave?
Is the cry that we hear but the sea-gull’s call, far out on the ocean wave?
The pleasure is o’er; we finish the tale of the light seen through the dark,
And the passing out, o’er the bar below, of a phantom, nameless bark.
And watch the ships go sailing by, and breathe deep of the ocean air.
But we leave the sea and the summer days, and scatter far and wide,
And our pleasures are a memory, with the ebbing of the tide.
“A Nature Study." By Mildred Eastey, age 14. (Silver Badge.)
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN ORIGINAL AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Emada A. Griswold (age 13).
(Silver Badge.)
The battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, fought April 7, 1862, is my favorite.
My grandfather was the captain of Company A of the Eighth Regiment from Illinois, which was the first one formed in that State.
He and another soldier were called “The Little Captains,” because they were the youngest officers in the Union army.
About the middle of the battle, a bullet struck my grandfather in the thumb of the right hand.
He made his way as best he could through the underbrush, with bullets flying all around him, to a little stream at the back of the ranks, to wash away the blood and see if he was badly hurt.
Before he started for the stream, he made up his mind he would not run. He was not going to be a coward! So afterward he went to one of the generals and asked: "Did you see me go hack, General?”
“Yes,” was the answer, “Well, General,” asked my grandfather, “did I run?” The general answered, slowly: “N-no—not exactly—but you did some of the tallest walking ever I saw a man do!”
My grandfather afterward found that the lead from the bullet had melted and wrapped around his thumb bone. A piece of it, however, was still loose, so he went to one af the soldiers who, he knew, had been a doctor before he entered the army, and had his finger examined to see if the loose piece could not be gotten out, but it was an unsuccessful attempt, for they did not get it out.
Later, it began troubling him so much that he went to one of his comrades who had a pair of pincers and finally succeeded in pulling it out.
The part that wrapped around the bone is still there, and he can always tel] when it is going to rain, on account of his finger. It always feels heavy.
“Robin.” By Donald Jackson, age 12.
(Second Prize, “Wild-bird” photograph.)
PLEASURE IN LITTLE THINGS.
By Caroline Millard Morton (age 16)
(Gold Badge.)
A breath of the stirring morning air,
- Untouched by the city’s grime,
But over the salty ocean blown
- From a purer, airier clime.
A glimpse of the mighty ocean,
- With its solemn sweep and roll;
Or the sweet low tones of the Angelus,
- Calling “Listen!” to the soul.
A page or a line from a fine old book
- That strikes a note akin;
Or the beauty of an unfolding mind
- Where wisdom is entering in,
A longed-for letter from a friend,
- Across the wide, deep sea,
Or a glimpse of a strong, congenial face
- Where a future friend may be.
A wee, frail floweret, growing In hidden, lowly nook— All these may worlds of pleasure bring To him who will but look.}}
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Margaret Spahr (age 11)
(Silver Badge.)
It is hard for me to tell which is my favorite episode in American history; but I believe it is the settling of Pennsylvania.
I like the Quakers better than the Puritans, because they remembered how they had been persecuted, and did not persecute those whose religion differed from theirs. The Puritans seemed to forget, for they persecuted the Quakers as fiercely as they were persecuted in England.
The King of England, Charles II, owed a large sum of money to Penn’s father, which he did not like to pay to Penn because he was a Quaker. Instead, he granted him a large tract of land called Pennsylvania from Penn’s sylvia (Penn's woods).
Penn, owning this land, resolved to make it a place of refuge for the
Quakers. Some came soon after, in 1682. Penn himself came a little later.
“Adirondack Deer.” By Gladys L. Carroll, age 13.
(First Prize, “Wild-animal” photograph.)
The Quakers paid the Indians for the land, knowing, and rightly, that the land really belonged to them and not to the King of England. They also let the Indians live on the land they had sold.
At a council with the Indians, Penn said: “I will not call you my children, for fathers sometimes must punish their children. I will not call you ‘Brother,’ for brothers sometimes quarrel. But I will call you the same person as the white man. We are as two parts of the same body.”
That quarrels might he decided without violence, the Indians were to choose six out of their number, and the Quakers six out of theirs. The twelve persons were to meet and settle the quarrel.
No wonder the Indians never troubled the Quakers!
“Gull’s Nest.” By Dorothy Arnold, age 12.
(Third Prize, “Wild-animal” photograph.)
A WISHED-FOR PLEASURE
By Eleanor Randolph Chapin (age 11).
(Silver Badge.)
Then I °d go sailing through the sky.
The little birds would turn with fright,
And flap their wings with all their might;
And I shouldsay: “Ha,ha! He, he.”
Oh, how important I should bet
Don't try that flying stunt again;
And mother ‘d look at me and say:
“Don't fly too high, child, when you play.”
“You need not fear,” I should reply;
“I promise you I ‘ll not go high.”
Would cry: “Oh, gracious ‘sakes alive!
Why, Janey White! Oh, I declare!
Pray tell me how you got up there?”
Then I should say: “‘T was easy, so,”—
And flap my arms, and off I’d go.
To France and Germany, you know;
To London I should go and stay
Perhaps a night or so, and day
Oh! please excuse this little sigh,
But I do wish that I could fly.
“A Nature Study.” By Muriel G. Evans, Honor Member. See note, page 91
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
By Frieda G. Carty (Age 14).
When Washington was preparing to march upon Princeton, there lived, just outside of Trenton, a woman named Jinnie Waglum.
She happened to be visiting a friend at the True American Inn, at which Washington was stopping, when she heard of a great difficulty which stood in the way of the march upon Princeton. Washington and his men could not go by the highways, for if they did they would he observed by the enemy, and no one in the army Was sufficiently familiar with the country to conduct them by any other route. Hearing this, Mrs. Waglum sent to Washington, saying that she knew the country very well, and that she would gladly guide his army. Washington was overjoyed, and accepted her services.
So she mounted her horse, and it was not long before she was at the head of the army, riding toward Princeton, It was a singular sight, the whole army of brave soldiers, headed by the patriotic woman, wending its way through woods and across meadows.
They reached Princeton, and the next day the battle took place.
A MOONLIGHT PLEASURE SAIL.
By Harriet Ruth Fox (age 14).
(Silver Badge.)
And the inky waves were glist’ning in the mystic tranquil light,
While on either side the Highlands, in majestic silence, rose,
And their huge, dark forms seemed sleeping in a calm, serene repose.
To the south the gleaming Archer drew his bow of silver bright,
And the myriad twinkling starlights journeying toward the western sky
Showed the deep black mountains blacker as they passed their summits high,
As the guardian of the highlands, placed his silent watch to keeps
At his feet flowed magic water, and he touched on elfin strand,
For the precinets that he guarded all were those of fairyland.
With the bluebells all a-ringing in the forest and the glade,
And I heard the tiny plashing of the lite culprit fay,
Going forth to do his penance ere the breaking of the day.
For the tiny elf returning from his journey in the sky;
And from out the wooded hillside shone the twinkling spark of light
Of his little flame-wood lantern, kindled by a comet bright.
Lingered for one fleetinginstant, and then vanished from the stream,
All the crickets stopped their chirping, and the bluebells all were still,
And the fairy song was silent as we left th’ enchanted hill.
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY—LINCOLN-AND-DOUGLAS DEBATE.
By Maude King (age 13).
Probably the most important historical event of the nineteenth century was the Civil War, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the Lincoln-and-Donglas debate did more than any other agency to mark the way for the “subversion of slavery.” It consisted of a series of discussions, beginning at Chicago in July, and lasting until late in October. In our great daily newspapers these speeches were printed, and were so widely read that the whole American people were in a state of excitement.
It was a grand spectacle to see these speakers addressing from five to ten thousand people in the open air.
Each was conscious that he was not speaking to his hearers alone, but to the whole nation, There was no hall in Illinois large enough to welcome the vast crowds which gathered. Nature alone could afford 
“The Yosemite.” By Jennie Kinkead, age 13.sufficient space, and so the people assembled in the groves and prairies.
At first Sight, the average spectator would probably sympathize with Douglas, commonly called “the little giant,” he being the smaller man, but would likely change his mind before the close, seeing that Lincoln was so just and so courteous, while Douglas was at times irritable, and not even courteous.
Lincoln had several advantages over Douglas. He had the right side, and the people were coming to realize it. He had a better temper—always good-humored, His wit and illustrations were also an immense advantage. He was speaking for our country and for freedom. At times he rose to such a climax that the very words he uttered seemed to be kindled with fire. He must win, and win he would.
Yet we must respect Douglas. He was a mighty man, with a massive brain, and of a bold, resolute, fearless nature, He was very attractive, and everywhere popular, but his greatest blows did not annoy Lincoln in the least. Perhaps Douglas was saluted with the londest cheers; but when Lincoln closed, the people seemed serious and thoughtful, and could be heard all through the crowd discussing the topics on which he had spoken.
These men have now passed away, but their names resound all over the world, and to those who had the opportunity of hearing these debates there will spring up in their minds a picture of the two champions who fought side by side in this great contest for the Union.
“Distance.” By Eugenie Root, age 13.
MY PLEASURE
By William A. R. Russum (age 14),
(Silver Badge.)
For in the height of my elation
Something always comes to break
The harmony of the occasion.
I e’en forgot to doff my cap;
And, when I ‘d spilt the apple sauce,
I broke my boiled egg in my lap,
I ran into a trolley-car,
And when I gained my feet again,
I found I ’d smashed the handle-bar.
I went to shoot the birds that soar;
A shot into a hot-house sped,
And now I see my gun no more.
With rudder true and timber sound,
But, when ’t was launched upon the lake,
The boat, it sunk; I nearly drowned.
Are fraught with woe and tribulation,
For something always comes to break
The harmony of the occasion.
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Mary Temberton Nourse (age 13).
My favorite episode in the history of our great country is its first discovery by Leif, the son of Eric, who was the first settler, and, at that time, the King of Greenland.
As many interesting episodes as there are in our history I do not know why I should prefer this one. It may he because of the golden cloud of mystery hanging about it, which attracts and holds my mind in delightful speculation,
‘Long ago, in the last year of the tenth centary, Leif the Trucky was sent By his beloved friend, King Olaf of Norway, to carry the Gospel to his father and all the people of Greenland.
Dur Eee tie Rel war one of Thor's mos) cane worshipers, and rather than accept the Christian religion, he disowned Leif, his pride in his hospitality alone keeping him from ordering his son from the kingdom.
Leif, who held his mission dearer than life, was resolved to convert his father at any cost, and so sought to please him by some great deed,
On a beautful day early in the eleventh century “The Lucky One” set oat with his little crew of thirty-five men to discover a new country, of which an old sailor, who had been blown far out to sea, told many tales.
After many days of sailing, and after he had touched at many points of unknown land, Leif came in sight of a country more beautiful than any he had yet seen. This land was our own continent.
Soon the viking ship was sailing in the waters of the Narragansett Bay. The Northmen landed on what is now the Massachusetts shore, built huts, and stayed in this sunny land for one year.
What we know now as Massachusetts was at that time called Vinland by the request of Leif’s foster-father, because of the quantities of grapes found there.
Although Leif made many more voyages to this land, the news of his discovery never went farther than Norway, and Columbus has the glory of being the first discoverer of our land.
“A Beaver House.” By Everett Street, age 8.
PLEASURES.
By Grace Leslie Johnson (age 11).
It ’s a pleasure to see the green grass;
It ’s a pleasure to feel the cool breezes,
And see the big ships as they pass.
And the birds, and the flowers, and stream,
We can fancy we see the cold autumn,
And November is there in our dream,
It looks chilly, and winter draws near;
But when it comes—skating and sledding!
I ’m glad that November is here.
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Elsie F. Welt (age 15).
Before the surrender of Lee, the Confederate army was on the verge of starvation, because of the exhausted condition of the Southern States, and, owing to the blockade formed by the Federal fleet, little food could be smuggled into the South.
But no sooner had Lee surrendered than the stalwart soldiers of the Union showed their generosity and good will. They laid aside all their previous animosities, and shared their rations with their tattered and half-starved brethren, against whom they were fighting in a life-and-death struggle a few short days before.
“Yankee” and “Johnny boy” sat down by the same camp-fire, and drank coffee out of one tin cup, friends again after four long, bitter years.
This may not he in itself an important event in our history, but it makes me proud of the fact that I am an American, that I can claim descent from one of those brave soldiers who took the initiative step m welcoming back the South into the Union.
“A Nature Study.” By Margery Bradshaw, Honor Member. (See Note, page 91
PLEASURE.
By Elizabeth Burrage (age 10).
I love to dig in the sand,
And I love to hear the big waves roar,
As they dash in on the land,
And see the waves and the spray,
And when 1 hear the wind blow,
Then my heart is happy and gay.
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Donald Gibson (age 15).
It was in 1804 that France sold to the United States the region vaguely known as Louisiana, and as President Jefferson was determined to learn something of this vast territory, he asked Congress for an appropriation to explore the Northwest by way of the Missouri River The result wan the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, which was commenced in May, 1804.
Captain Meriwether Lewis (Jefferson’s secretary) and his friend Captain William Clarke, with their escort, launched their boats in Wood River, opposite St. Louis. They reached the Mandan Indian village, sixteen hundred miles above St. Louis, in October, and, finding the Indians friendly, stayed there all winter.
On April 7 the journey was continued through an unknown country. The Little Missouri having been passed, the river became so narrow that it was difficult to tell the main stream from the tributary.
Captain Lewis went in advance to find the true course, and suddenly heard the voice of many waters. He hurried forward, and saw a sheet of water falling over a precipice eighty-seven feet, the Great Falls of the Missouri. The party camped at the site of the city of Great Falls for a month.
They entered the mountains on the 9th of July. At the forks of the Missouri it became absolutely necessary to use horses for crossing the Rocky Mountains, and these were purchased of the Indians.
The journey down the Columbia was long and hard, but they reached the Pacific Ocean in November, 1805, and built Fort Clatsop, where they remained until the spring of 1806.
Then began the homeward journey. When they had crossed the mountains, the party separated into three divisions, two of which were to go east by the Yellowstone River and one under Captain Lewis to go by the Missouri.
After quite an uneventful voyage the entire force was reunited below the Yellowstone, August 12. The people at a settlement above St. Louis were surprised to see thirty ragged, bronze-faced men pass down the river. Some, however,remembered who they were and welcomed them heartily.
On September 23, 1806, the ships came slowly into the water-front_of St. Louis and the great Lewis and Clarke Expedition was at an end.
“A Nature Study.” By Shirley Willis, age 13, Honor Member. (See note, page 91.)
PLEASURES.
By Margaret B. Dornin (age 11).
A beautiful time I had,
For pleasures they were plentiful,
And nothing there was sad,
I climbed the apple-tree,
I watched the boats go in and out
Of the harbor by the sea.
Was nothing but pure white;
For lilies grew there in the open air,
And closed themselves at night.
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Mary Thornton (age 13).
During the War for Independence the Americans fought under a great many disadvantages. One of the greatest of these was the lack of proper clothing. Good uniforms were practically unknown. Men who procured enough clothes to keep out the weather were accounted lucky, and envied by their less fortunate comrades.
To winter the suffering was intense. With half-clothed bodies, bare feet, and half starved in addition, is it my wonder that the patriots died of cold and sickness on every side?
No. It is to be wondered at that more did not die. One cold night in December, when the snow lay thick upon the ground, Lafayette lay in his tent. He was thinking of his family far away in France. For a moment he was back in the old château, talking and laughing with his sisters, and making great dog leap over a stick held high in the air.
He was roused from his, reverie by the footsteps of the sentry as he paced to and fro outside the tent. Suddenly the footsteps ceased. Going to the door to see what the matter was, Lafayette saw the man kneeling down in the snow. trying to arrange the bloody cloths tied around his feet—for he had no shoes.
“Poor fellow!” thought the marquis, “he is cold. I am cold from standing here for just a minute, and what must he, with so few clothes, be? I will give him my blanket.”
He wrapped the blanket 
“Heading.” By Wesley R. De Lappe, age 17, Honor Member
“You are cold,” he said. ‘Is it not so? Here, take my blanket.”
“But, sir,” answered the soldier, although he eyed the blanket longingly, "I can't deprive you of your blanket.”
“It does not deprive,” returned the marquis, ‘for I have another.”
And, putting the blanket into the soldier's hands, he went buck into the tent, to lie shivering until morning.
“It may be, and is, wrong to tell lies,” he murmured as he lay down, “but it is worse to let a human being freeze to death almost before your very eyes.”
Now this little story may not be true, but I think it is very like the gallant young Frenchman who left home and country, wealth and friends, that he might do what he thought was right.
YOUTH’S PLEASURE IN AUTUMN.
By Marguerite M. Jacque (age 13).
Dons her very darkest gown,
And the winds moan mournfully through the glen;
While the leaves, so brown and sear,
Rustle sadly on the ear,
For now November reigns supreme again,
Flitting like a summer breeze,
Making light the gloom and shadow as they fly?
’T is a host of little hoods
In these drear autumnal woods,
Now a-nutting ‘neath this chill November sky.
Changing dreariness to cheer,
As the alchemists did clay transform to gold!
Oh, how sweet is sunny Youth
In its innocence and truth,
As it reaps the Old World’s harvests hundredfold!
To this weary world a treasure,
As children are a light to somber fall!
How we love her blithe caresses,
And how lavishly she blesses
The faces of these children, one and all!
MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Charlotte St. George Nourse (age 9).
I don’t know a great deal about history, but I think my favorite episode in American history is the time that the Narragansett Indians sent the snake-skin filled with arrows to Plymouth, to say that they were going to make war against the people in Plymouth. The people in Plymouth filled the snake-skin with bullets, and sent it back to the Indians, as if to say: “Shoot your arrows at us, and we will kill you with our bullets.” And the Narragansetts were so afraid that they sent the snake-skin back again, and there was no war.
I don’t know why this is my favorite episode in American history; perhaps it is that it shows the cowardliness of the Indians,
“A Nature Study.” By Charlotte |
NOTICE. The St. Nicholas League is an organization formed of St. Nicholas readers, Every reader of the magazine, whether a subscriber or not, is entitled to a badge and instruction leaflet on application.
PLEASURE.
To stroll beside a sunny brook, And read in a secluded nook, Or in some shady woods to stray, From the fierce heat of a summer day; To gather berries in a pail, Or on the waters clear to sail; To ride on loads of fragrant hay, And in a spacious barn to play; To watch the firefly’s matchless light As it illuminates the night; To gather pebbles on the shore; To do all these and many things more— is pleasure. |
“Heading.” By Margaret Drew, age 9.
The Roll of Honor.
No. 1. A list of those whose work would have been used had space permitted.
No. 2. A list of those whose work entitles them to honorable mention and to encouragement.
VERSE 1
- Augustus Me Adam
- Sarah Davis
- Dorothy Walker
- Helen Lombaert Scobey
- Enza Alton Zellar
- Mabel Fletcher
- Harold Norris
- May Henderson Ryan
- Robert E. Dunelon
- Mary Travis Howard
- Mary V. Springer
- Elsa Clark
- Roscoe H. Vining
- Doris Francklyn
- Margaret Minaker
- Anne Atwood
- Marguerite Stuart
- Marguerite Borden
- Julia Ford Fiebeger
- Nannette F. Hamburger
- Marguerite Eugénie Stephens
- Marion E. Jane
- Marie C. Wennerberg
- Frances Paine
- Nannie Clark Barr
- Marie Armstrong
- Arthur Pening Heward
- Frances Miner
- Hilda Kohn
VERSE 2.
- Mary E. Osgood
- Jessie Lee Riall
- Franees Benedict
- Ivy Varian Walshe
- Blanche Leeming
- Mary Elisabeth Mair
- Louisa F. Spear
- Jessica Quicey Dobson
- Carolyn Coit Stevens
- Marjorie Macy
- Elisabeth Chapin
- Eleanor Eunice Moody
- Gladys M. Cornish
- Katharine Shortall
- Frances Lubbe Ross
- Florence Isabel Miller
- Edith J. Minaker
- Erma Bertha Mixon
- Joseph B Cumming, Jr.
- Dorothy Douglas
- Margaret Lowry Beers
- Margaret Lyon Smith
- Edith Sletzer
- Theodor Bolton
- Emmeline Bradshaw
- Louise S. Miller
- Jessie Freeman Foster
- Mary Yeula Westcott
- Hope A. Conant
- Irene Weil
- Anna Hunt Denniston
- Mary Blossom Bloss
- Adelaide Nichols
- Elizabeth C. Beale
- Isabel Deborah Weaver
- Ina Allen
- Susan W. Wilbur
- Katherine E. Gordon
- Maurice Caplin Pollard
- Kathryn Macy
- Dorothy Smith
PROSE 1.
- Francis Marion Miller
- Olive H. Lovett
- Chadoste Baylies
- Josephine Buchanan
- Southworth Lancaster
- Alice Os Bird
- Philip A. Orme
- Mary Elsie Newton
- Iola Dailey
- Vance Ewing
- Lucille Raymond Byrne
- Richardde Charms, Jr.
- Roy J. Chamapitt
- Elizabeth White
- Dorothy Kuhns
- Helen L. Follansbee
- Mary G. Bonner
- Gwendolen Haste
- Dorothy Cooke
- May Thomas
- Theodore Bronson
- Mildred Ockert
- Marjorie M. Sawyer
- Katharine Marble Sherwood
- Elizabeth F. Yardley
- Mabel L. Smith
- Gladys Manchester
- Helen E. Patten
- Margaret Albert
- Cal Olsen
- Ella L. Wood
- Morris Mendelsohn
- Paul Ockert
- Paul S. Arnold
- Louis Everit De Forest
- Ralph Blackledge
PROSE 2.
- Ethel Steinhilber
- Alice Braunlich
- Alma Wiesner
- Sara A. Parker
- Martin. Janowitz
- E. F. Andrews
- Grace Boynton
- Vida J. Gaffga
- Gladys Lisle Brown
- Helen R. Schlesinger
- Alexander D. Marks
- Frederick A. Coates
- Jack Kirkpatrick
- L. Elsa Loeber
- George Switzer
- Elsie Nathan
- Elizabeth R. Marvin
- Douglas Lindsey Dunbar
- Gladys Degan Adams
- Eleanor Widger
- Sarah Brown
- Elizabeth Toof
- Dorothy Wharton
- Dorothea Thompson
- Abigail E. Jenner
- Edith Brooks Hunt
- Jessie B. Coit
- Alice du Pont
- Frederic Kilner
- Carl H. Weston
- Dana 6. Munro
- Marguerite B. Hill
- Edith Dorothy Grady
- Mary G. Collins
- Marguerite Vail
- Gilbert M. Proxell
- Helen Janeway
- Rose Marie Wise
- Reeta C. Plant
- Helen W. Irvin
- Catherine H. Straker
- Emmet Russell
- Dorothea B. Jones
- Mark H. W. Ruprecht
- Emily N. Stewart
- Ruth Hayner
- Elizabeth Hirsh
- Katharine Nora Steinthal
- Muriel Ives
DRAWINGS 1.
- John A. Ross
- Ella E. Preston
- Paul R. Lieder
- Frances Micthell
- Helen E. Jacoby
- Everett Wiliamson
- Stanislaus F. McNeill
- Ethel Messervy
- Helen Mertzanoff
- Verna Mac Tyler
- Alice Delano
- Vera Demens
- A. Brooks Lister
DRAWINGS 1.
- Leonie Nathan
- Hugh Spencer
- Elizabeth Leonard
- Cordner H. Smith
- Rush Felt
- Josephine Arnold Bonny
- Muriel R, Ivimey
- Raymond Rohm
- Carrie Vehlen
- Elma Jeffrion
- Philip C. Holden
- Fannie E. Luton
- Elizabeth Stockton
- Richard F. Babcock
- Bessie Townley Griffith
- Edythe Mary Crombie
- Edna Lilian Gillis
- Emily W, Browne
- Robert G, McBlair
- Winifred G. Smith
- Elizabeth Wilcox Pardee
- Margaret A. Dobson
- Mary Hazeltine Fewsmith
- Harriette Barney Burt
- Margaret Wrong
- Margaret S. Goodwin
- Frances Lichten
- Margaret Nicholson
- Jacob D. Bacon
- Margaret McKeon
- Annette Brown
- Elizbeth G. Freedley
- Lester J. Ross
- Bertha V. Emmerson
- Charles M. Foulke, Jr.
- Elsie Furbish
- Henry Olen
- Bessie B. Styron
- Marie Atkinson
- Jemette McAlpin
- Marcia Gardner
- Frances Kathleen Crisp
- Joan Spencer Smith
- Anna Zollars
- Florence Gardiner
- Anne Furman Gold
- Irene Fuller
- Ruth Wheclock Tolman
- Olive Garrrison
- Lea G. FitzHugh
- Eliabeth McCormick
- Margaret P. Merrill
- Margorie Sibyl Heck
- Mary W. Ball
- Katharine L. Havens
- Rosamond Coney
- Frances Varrell
- Helen I. Messiam
- Georgina Wood
- Jean Wolverton
- Margaret Lantz Daniell
- Clara Bucher Shanafelt
- Hilda Rowena Bronson
- Eliza Seely
- Dwight P. Ely
- Katharine Thompson
- Rebert Edmand Jones
- Elise H. Kinkead
- Margaret Hardee
- Catherine Goddard Bronson
PHOTOGRAPHS 1.
- Emily Sibley
- Ruth Hopper
- Emily B. Randall
- L. J. Gamble
- Marian F. Butler
- Margaret Armour
- Helen J. K. Porter
- Alice Wangenheim
- M. Sumarokow Elston
- Frederick B. Cross
- Alice Moore
- Fulvia Varvaro
- Julia M. Addison
- Gertrude M. Howland
- Frederic C. Smith
- Mary H. Cunningham
- Eleanor Park
- Mary Weston Woodman
- Elwin Chadbourne
- Sidney D. Gamble
- Hugo Graf
PHOTOGRAPHS 2.
- Rosella Woodruff
- Evelyn Tyson
- Davenport Hayward
- Anna M. McKechnie
- Margaret B. Ross
- F. Catharine Douglas
- Faith Sampkins
- H. S. Tickney
- Richard Dana Skinner
- Clarence E. Simonson
- Alma H. Hess
- Elizabeth L. Marshall
- Kendall Bushnell
- Mabel Tenney
- W. Caldwell Webb
- Fairfield Eager Raymond
- Enerd Voorhees
- George Grady, Jr.
- Bradley L. Caley
- Elizabeth Henry
- Jacky Hayne
- Albert L. Scheff
- Gladys E. Chamberlain
- Hilda C. Foster
- Alice Nielsen
- H. Ernest Bell
- Herbert H. Bell
- Dorothea Hulden
- Arthur Drummond
- Willis E, Crocker
- Cora Edith Wellman
- Alice Garland
- Carlota Glasgow
- Leona W. Furbish
- Ettabelle Cone
- Joseph Wharton Lippincott
- Margaret E. Gifford
- William Rothhulz
- Elain Pendleton
- Isadore Doubglas
- Stevens Crouse
- Carlotta Welles
- Donald McConaughy
- Margaret Fabian
- Dorothy C. Cross
- Alexander B. Morris
- Rohert Brust
- Mary Agnes Goldthwaite
- Carl Stein
- Earle H. Ballou
- Joseph S. Webb
- Helen Wing
- Constance Helen Parmely
- May H. Peabody
- Harold G. Simpson
- Robert B. Fithian
- Olive Mudie Cooke
- Amy Peabody
- Alfred M. Watts
- Carola Hess
- G. H, Kaemmerling
- Arthur Howe
PUZZLES 1.
- Mery Enid Hatcly
- Vera A. Fueslein
- Margaret W. Mandell
- E. Adelaide Hahn
- Doris Hackbusch
- Allene Gates
- Jannette T. Kissel
- Rebbecca Chilcott
- Helen Loveland Patch
- Francis M. Weston, Jr.
- Elinor Colby
- Dorothy Hawkins
- Harry W. Hazard, Jr.
- Volant V. Ballard
- Florence Alvarez
- Margaret McKnight
PUZZLES 2.
- Frieda H. Christie
- Pauline Mueller
- R. Maurice Elliott
- Helen Dean Fish
- Julia Musser
- Marian Elizabeth Case
- Helen Hiowtnan
- Augustus Heyne
- Dorothy Carr
- Leah Louise Stock
- Roger Williams
- Carrie Noel Scott
“Hollyhocks.” By Elizabeth Otis, age 16,
Honor Member.
LEAGUE LETTERS AND NOTES.
We regret to say that “A Heading for September“ by Isador Levitt in the September number was a copy from a picture in “Collier’s Weekly” by B. Cory Kilvert. The silver badge was not sent.
In future, the winners of gold or cash prizes will be designated as Honor Members.
Point Pleasant, N. J.
Dear St. Nicholas: I and a whole lot of other fellows went camping down on Barnegat Bay for one week. The mosquitos were awful. The night we were there we could n't sleep.
We caught fifty weakfish one day. They are great sport. Some of them were two or three pounds apiece. We all fished light fly-rod, and you can imagine what sport it was.
I remain your loving reader,
W. G. Schauffler, Jr.
Springdale, N. C.
Dear St. Nicholas: The June St. Nicholas came several days ago, and I was both pleased and surprised to find my name on the roll of honor in the League. It encouraged me in hoping that my last contribution might be printed, so I want to tell you something about the subject of my study from animal life.
The little chipmunk was rescued from a watery grave. He was found floating down a mill-race.
Poor, wet, cold, scared little beastie! We made him a nice home, with “modern conveniences,” in a large wire bird-cage. For days and days he would have nothing whatever to do with as.
My little sister named him Dan, because he reminded her of “Mrs. Jo‘s” poor prodigal in his prison cell. Our Dan, however, did not serve out his term quietly and patiently, but took every opportunity to escape, always announcing that he was “out” by a loud chirp, or whistle, like a bird‘s note, In one of his escapades, our cat, Elijah, chased him into the fire; his whiskers and tail were singed, and his poor little paws badly burnt. His tail had not grown out entirely when I drew his picture.
One morning last winter, when I went to feed him, Dan was lolling about on the floor of his cage, looking very much like he might be drunk. At first I thought he must be very sick, but when I found him in the same stupor morning after morning, I realized that he was only taking his winter‘s sleep. I guess poor Dan thought he was hibernating under difficulties.
All winter long-we kept him, and he grew very gentle; but when spring cane it seemed cruel to keep him_away from the woods. So one day not long ago, we went to find him a new home. We carried Dan‘s cage with us, and the minute he smelled the woods he was out of his den and rushing wildly around his cage, trying to find a loose bar. We found a nice hollow tree, put in a store of corn, and opened the door of his cage. He sniffed around a minute, stepped cautiously out on the dead leaves, and in the “twinkling of an eye” disappeared in the dark hole of the tree. Though we have visited his home, we have never seen him since. I hope, however, that his family recognized him after his long absence, and welcomed him back to his old happy life in the woods.
Hoping that Dan‘s story may interest some League member, I am,
Your sincere friend,
Minnie Gwyn.
Honolulu, H. I.
Dear St. Nicholas: I will cell you about camping on the island of Oahu.
After a ride of about twenty-five miles, both in train and stage, over a very interesting part of the island, I arrived at my destination, which was Wahiaua,
I was greeted by a flock of girls, who were very delighted at my
“A Study.” By Emma Moore,
age 7. coming, and took me away to the gulch, where, seated on trees and
rocks, we talked and ate sugarcane. Finally, after we had talked
and talked,—you know how girls talk, —the dinner-bell rang, and we gladly answered it.
The bowls of poi and raw salmon, fixed with different sorts of vegetables, looked most inviting and were eaten with great relish by a hungry traveler like myself. Then came cocoanut pudding and many other Hawaiian dishes, which were very delicious.
After our feast, or luan, we sang songs and then retired, as our saying was: “Early to bed and early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
My bed was in a tent under a lahua-tree covered with red blossoms, and sharing it with me were three other girls. I slept on a straw mattress on the ground, with a similar pillow, and one blanket to keep me warm, covered with a mosquito-net. I went to sleep sucking a stick of candy.
I woke before the sun was up, and finding all but one girl slumbering, we dressed, secured a can, and started off to get the milk.
After a hearty breakfast we went for a swim in a fresh-water pool, which to reach one had to nearly roll down a very steep ravine.
After this refreshing bath a trip up the mountains was decided on. The carriage toke us for some distance, but then we had co leave it, and took the rest of the journey on foot.
On the way back we chopped a good deal of sandalwood, the fragrance of which was delightful, and we also saw a flock of pheaants. And this is the way I spent two weeks of my vacation, living among the mountains and enjoying nature to its fullest extent.
Dorothy Elizabeth True.
PRIZE COMPETITION NO. 62.
The St. Nicholas League awards gold and silver badges each month for the best poems, stories, drawings, photographs, puzzles, and puzzle-answers. Also cash prizes of five dollars each to gold-badge winners who shall again win first place. This does not include “Wild Animal and Bird Photograph” prize-winners.
Competition No. 62 will close November 20 (for foreign members November 25). The
“November.” By Dorothy Longstreet, age 14. awards will be announced and prize contributions published in St. Nicholas for January,
Verse. To contain not more than twenty-four lines. Title: to contain the word “Pleasure."
Prose. Article or story of not more than four hundred words to relate some episode in French history,
Photograph. Any size, interior or exterior, mounted or unmounted; no blue prints or negatives. Subject, “Distance.”
Drawing. India ink, very black writing-ink, or wash (not color), interior or exterior, Two subjects, “A Study from Nature,” and a Heading or Tailpiece for February.
Puzzle. Any sort, but must be accompanied by the answer in full, and must be indorsed.
Puzzle-answers. Best, neatest, and most complete set of answers to puzzles in this issue of St. Nicholas Must be indorsed.
Wild Animal or Bird Photograph. To encourage the pursuing of game with a camera instead of a gun. For the best photograph of a wild animal or bird taken in its natural home: First Prize, five dollars and League gold badge. Second Prize, three dollars and League gold badge. Third Prize, League gold badge.
RULES.
Any reader of St. Nicholas, whether a subscriber or not, is entitled to League membership, and a League badge and leaflet, which will be sent on application.
Every contribution, of whatever kind, must bear the name, age, and address of the sender, and be indorsed as “original” by parent, teacher, or guardian, who must be convinced beyond doubt that the contribution is not copied, but wholly the work and idea of the sender. If prose, the number of words should also be added. These things must not be on a separate sheet, but on the contribution itself—if a manuscript, on the upper margin; if a picture, on the margin or back. Write or draw on one side of the paper only. A contributor may send but one contribution a month—not one of each kind, but one only. Address:
The St. Nicholas League,
Union Square,
New York.