"I suppose principally because metal pens are more durable. Quill pens require to be mended often and one who writes much would find it quite a task to make and mend his pens. I should not wonder if we would find a bunch of quills hanging from the rafters in the attic of this old house and I should like to make a quill pen for you that you may write with a pen like the one your grandfather always used. And now, Essie, if you will pay attention to your father's request you shall have a gold pen when we go back home," said mamma, smiling kindly. "You mean about taking pains with my writing?" "Yes; I have sometimes thought that in nothing does culture or want of culture show itself more than in a person's penmanship." MRS. J. H. FOSTER. THE FOX FAMILY. IN 1840 there lived a man in Kinderhook, N. Y., who was a smart politician and his party often put him up for office; somehow he had a way often of being elected, as many popular men do nowadays. He was nominated for the Presidency. Can you guess his name? There was great excitement on both sides. The Whigs had put up General Harrison for their candidate and were singing songs about Log Cabins and Hard Cider, because General Harrison lived in one and drank the other. They said many things against the Kinderhook man. Parties always do say hard things against their opponents. Among other hard names they called him a "Little Fox," and no doubt some voted against him, thinking if he was anything like a fox he was not fit to be President of the United States. [Illustration: A FAMILY OF FOXES.] People are prejudiced against this animal because he is so sly and tricky. Queer stories are told about his smartness. He loves (to eat) fowl. He will swim toward a duck _e. g._ with turf in the mouth, so as to be concealed, then, being near, the unsuspecting duck is "nabbed" for Mr. Fox's dinner. He goes limping with his head down, as if eating clover, till near enough to seize a hare. When caught stealing hens, he will pretend to be dead, though kicked roughly about, till he gets a chance to "up and off." When traps are arranged around his hole, he will stay in for days, hungry, or make a new outlet rather than expose himself to a trap. He knows how to fire off a gun that has been set for him without being hit. In Northern climes he can pull up the fish-line that has been placed by the fisherman over night through a hole in the ice. The man comes early to get a morning fish breakfast but only to find an empty hook lying near the hole and Mr. Fox galloping off in the distance with the game. The above is what "They say." Many more strange things are said about the Fox family. Certain it is they are a shrewd set, smarter in providing delicious repasts for their children than many of their neighbors, the farmers, who treat them as thieves.