YOUNG FOLKS MAGAZINE VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 1902 MARCH _An_ ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY JOURNAL _for_ BOYS & GIRLS The Penn Publishing Company Philadelphia CONTENTS FOR MARCH PAGE WITH WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE (Serial) W. Bert Foster 1 Illustrated by F. A. Carter AT THE BEND OF THE TRAIL Otis T. Merrill 11 TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW (Verse) Mackay 13 A DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST (Serial) Evelyn Raymond 14 Illustrated by Ida Waugh MARCH (Poem) Bayard Taylor 22 WOOD-FOLK TALK J. Allison Atwood 23 Illustrated by the Author LITTLE POLLY PRENTISS (Serial) Elizabeth Lincoln Gould 25 Illustrated by Ida Waugh A RAMBLE IN EARLY SPRING Julia McNair Wright 31 WITH THE EDITOR 32 EVENT AND COMMENT 33 IN-DOORS (Parlor Magic) Ellis Stanyon 34 THE OLD TRUNK 36 WITH THE PUBLISHER 37 YOUNG FOLKS MAGAZINE _An Illustrated Monthly Journal for Boys and Girls_ SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 Sent postpaid to any address Subscriptions can begin at any time and must be paid in advance Remittances may be made in the way most convenient to the sender, and should be sent to THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY 923 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Copyright 1902 by The Penn Publishing Company Young Folks Magazine VOL. I MARCH 1902 No. 1 WITH WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE By W. Bert Foster CHAPTER I Unwelcome Guests at the Three Oaks Inn All day the strident whistle of the locust had declared for a continuation of the parching heat. The meadows lay brown under the glare of the August sun; the roads were deep in powdery yellow dust. The cattle stood with sweating flanks in the shade of the oaks which bordered the stage track, and although the sun was now declining toward the summits of the distant mountains, all nature continued in the somnolence of a summer day. A huddle of sheep under a wagon shed and the lolling form of a big collie dog in the barnyard were the only signs of life about the Three Oaks Inn. Mistress and maids, as well as the guests now sheltered by its moss-grown roof, had retired to the cooler chambers, and Jonas Benson, the portly landlord, snored loudly in his armchair in the hall. Out of this hall, with its exposed beams of time-blackened oak and its high fanlight over the entrance, opened the main room, its floor sanded in an intricate pattern that very morning by one of the maids. Across the hall was the closed door of the darkened parlor.