Well, now, it seems to me that my lost foot is really where it used to be; and the worst of it is this, that, when it itches, I can’t scratch it! It does no good to apply my fingers to the wooden stick, you know; this only reminds me of my misfortune, and brings on a fit of the blues. But there is one thing to be considered--there is medicine, if a person will seek it, for almost all diseases, whether real or fanciful; and, thanks to my young friends who write me letters, I find these very letters a pretty certain cure for the fidgets which I spoke of. When I sit down to read them, and find them full of kind and pleasant feelings, I readily forget the cares, the vexations--the dark weather of life, that beset even such a humble career as mine. So much for the introduction--and now to business. The following letter is very welcome. Can Harriet venture to tell us who the author of this capital riddle really is? _Newport, March 28, 1842._ FRIEND MERRY: In looking over, a few days since, some old papers belonging to my father, I found the following riddle. My father informs me that it was written many years ago, by a school-boy of his, then about fifteen years old, and who now occupies a prominent place in the literary and scientific world. If you think it will serve to amuse your many black-eyed and blue-eyed readers, you will, by giving it a place in the Museum, much oblige a blue-eyed subscriber to, and a constant reader of, your valuable and interesting Magazine. HARRIET. RIDDLE. Take a word that’s much used,--’tis a masculine name, That backward or forward doth spell just the same; Then a verb used for dodging--a right it will claim That backward or forward it spells just the same; The form of an adjective, none can exclaim That backward or forward it spells not the same; Then a chief Turkish officer’s title or name, That backward or forward doth spell just the same; The name of a liquor, its friends all will claim That backward or forward is still just the same; Then a word used for jest, or doth triumph proclaim, That backward or forward still spells just the same; Then a verb in the imperfect, which also doth claim That backward or forward it spells just the same; The name of a place which geographers fame, That backward or forward doth still spell the same; Then a very queer word, ’t is a Spanish ship’s name, That backward or forward doth spell just the same; Then a verb that’s well known, I refer to the same, That, backward or forward spelt, makes but one name; Then a name that is given to many a dame That backward or forward still spells just the same.