St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12Various
General
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, October 1878, No. 12
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals; Children's periodicals, American
Now, this certainly seems to be a step ahead, or, rather, a flap upward;
but you needn't expect to be chasing and catching eagles and albatrosses
on the wing by dropping salt on their tails; at least, not just yet, my
dears. The time for that sort of fun may come, perhaps; but it would be
well not to crow too loudly at present.
THE BEE AND THE ANEMONE.
Des Moines, Iowa.
DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: The bee you told us of in your August
sermon did not mistake the anemone for a flower. At least, _I_ think
not. No bee ever makes such a mistake as to settle on a poisonous
flower, and I believe that this bee went to the anemone for water
and not for honey. Bees will settle on pieces of straw afloat in the
water, when seeking for water, and I believe they know, even while
on the wing, where to find honey. Good-bye.--Your friend. N.E.H.
FRANGIPANI SCENT AND PUDDINGS.
"Let's begin with the puddings, and make sure of _them_," as a little
boy once remarked. Well, then, in former times, Frangipani puddings were
of broken bread, and their queer name is made from two words,--_frangi_,
meaning "to break," and _panus_, "bread"; but, after some time, these
puddings were made with pastry-crust and contained cream and almonds.
Frangipani scent, however, was named after a great marquis who first
made it, getting it from the jasmine plant. And the marquis got _his_
name from an ancestor whose duty it had been to break the holy bread or
wafer in one of the church services, and who on that account was called
"Frangipani," or "Breaker of Bread."
Now, this way of explaining how words come to be formed, sounds well
enough, no doubt. But how are we to know, in this case, that the marquis
didn't invent the pudding as well as the scent? However, I must leave
you to puzzle out the problem for yourselves, my dears, while I give you
some information about
A SEALED POSTMAN.
You've all heard of sealed letters, of course, and seen some, too, no
doubt; but did you ever hear of the letter-carrier, also, being sealed?
Well, a bit of news has come saying that, among the Himalaya Mountains,
the men who carry the mails on horseback are sealed to their saddles, in
such a way that while they can ride easily enough they cannot get down
from their seats; and, what is more, the mail-packages are sealed to the
men! Once started on the route, the seals are not allowed to be broken,
except by the postmaster at the next station, and, if they happen to get
broken otherwise than by accident, the carrier is severely punished.
The result of this sealing is that a mail-carrier who wishes to steal
the letters in his charge is obliged to steal also the saddle and
horse,--and himself as well, I suppose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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