Ready for banquet and for bowl, No. 80. My second filled Cleopatra, She shook her stately head; CARL. And thus she died unwept for, She ever did my whole. ILLUSTRATED REBUS.-No. 81. ODDO OSSETT. SAR HERE ends the fourth year of intercourse which we have held together through the pages of our Magazine, dear children and friends. That intercourse we have enjoyed most heartily, although we may have now and then grown a little weary with the constant thought and exertion necessary to prepare the numbers which succeed each other so rapidly, and which must be ever watched that they may be worthy of your regard and confidence. You too have been happy with us, as your almost innumerable letters have told us, and you have wished us from month to month more prosperity and length of days than are wont to fall to the lot of any in this world, where life and usefulness and happiness are only prepared for, or, at the most, are only begun. For all your interest and good-will we thank you; and we are sure that you will believe us when we tell you again, as we have told you before, that our chief pleasure in our work, and our chief reward for it, spring from your enjoyment and benefit in the result of our labors. Our fifth volume, which begins with the next number, will be undoubtedly the best of all; and we shall expect to find you all gathering again about us, and bringing into the circle those of your friends with whom we are not yet acquainted. In this place we cannot enter into the full particulars of the Prospectus for 1869, but we can give you an idea of the principal features. To begin with, Mr. Aldrich will tell you "The Story of a Bad Boy." Not an "awfully bad boy," you know, but a boy like so many of our nephews and godsons, -with every-day faults, and every-day virtues too, who learns to work his way through naughtiness to goodness, and who comes, through some trouble and some scrapes," to an honest and esteemed youth. We believe that this will be the first time that such a real boy has been put into a story, and we are sure that you will all be delighted with him. For the girls we have a story too, the companion to "Farming for Boys," a tale written by the daughter of the gentleman who wrote that most popular narrative, and who will give his attention and advice to the preparation of "Gardening for Girls." The declaimers among you will find themselves well provided for in Mr. Kellogg's Declamations, and the Dialogues of Mr. Epes Sargent; while for evenings at home, or for any exhibitions at school or elsewhere, there will be the Acting Charades of Miss S. Annie Frost. Instruction and information will be supplied you in the articles upon American History by Mr. Bone, Mr. Parton's stories of some of the world's great navigators, in Mr. Shanks's tales of man's strange occupations by land or sea, in the articles by different hands about the wonders of nature and the marvels of foreign lands, and in accounts of trades and manufactures by Mr. Trowbridge and others. Lighter reading will not be forgotten, of course, and stories and poems by your favorites and by new writers will form a part of every number; so that with music, pictures, and your own departments, "Round the Evening Lamp" and the "Letter Box," - there will be something within our covers for every day and hour. And now that we have thus hastily sketched the outline of our plans for the next year, we must leave you to read the full Prospectus, and to get up your clubs (which we hope will be larger than ever), while we resume the regular course of our duties, wishing you, as we turn back to our desks, the merriest of Christmas-tides, the happiest and best of New Years, and the brightest, noblest, and most honorable of futures! Your friends, THE EDITORS. G. V. R. desires us to call attention to a misspelling in puzzle No. 62; the third single answer should read Wodan, not Woden. — He also thinks that we should have laid more stress upon Jo's correction to M. B. B.'s puzzle (No. 43), than we did, when we printed it in our September number. But it is to be borne in mind that the difficulty arises simply from an imperfection in M. B. B.'s statement. If he were to except from his challenge all sums ending with o or 9, he could make it good, according to our understanding, and Jo could only trip him up in just such a case. We therefore did not- and do not consider it necessary to under value M. B. B.'s puzzle because he omitted to specify the one exception to it. -This paragraph of G. V. R.'s tells its own story: "Enigma No. 46 makes Cromwell the celebrated man who figured conspicuously in the time of the Reformation.' The Reformation was first set on foot by John Wickliffe in 1370, and was completed by Edward VI. in 1547. Lutheranism was introduced into Sweden in 1544, and established in Germany in 1625. Cromwell figured from 1643 to 1658, but never in the time of The Reformation.' T. C. P.'s chronology is out of tune." A. G. W., Russite Rye, Laura, Alice E. B., Clara A. H., H. P. & C. G., Lotie, Karl Thautful, Bessie W., Bennie, Katydid, M. C. D., Zobie, F. G. DuB, thank you, although we cannot use your favors. R. T. "would like the job of writeing peases for yong Folks." He had best undertake a little "job" with the spelling-book. F. O. N. We do not know. "Ruth and Birdie are very much interested in know when it will be continued. The people in the story of the Peterkin Family, and want to Canada who have read the story hope that the Lady from Philadelphia has not yet succeeded in making the Peterkin Family sensible.” The tale of the Peterkins is all told, and we can only hope that our readers may learn from their mishaps to use their own wits seasonably. A. S. The verse you quote is from "The Bugle Song" in Tennyson's "Princess." Mary & Lizzie. If a lady and gentleman are making a call, the lady gives the hint for leaving. - In a formal introduction, there is no need of shaking hands, for that act is an informality of itself. Tommy. Your drawing is not a rebus; it is only a little sketch of some objects. Earl N. Y. The subject shall be considered. Mary Ella C. Please to send us your address, and we will write to you by mail. May F. Planchette is well enough for fun, provided you don't believe any of the nonsense, or apparent sense, that is written by means of it. Alice L. E. sent us, from Chicago, these words Charly Wilder G. Send on the names and get for the "Evening Prayer," which was published the premium. George A. S. If you had read the contents-page of your Magazine, you would have found out what you now ask us to tell you. Edith E. H. Your verses are very good. You have tried to do a little too much in some of them, however, and so there is an occasional confusion of images. You have a good command of language and a clear sense of rhythm. Penelope T. We never begin correspondences between our subscribers. The Girls. Mr. Whittier was himself one of the three friends in "The Tent on the Beach," and Bayard Taylor, the traveller, was another. Hickety Pickety. The puzzles are not quite up to our mark, we are sorry to say. in our musical department last winter. They will be found to fit exactly, and now the "Prayer" can be sung as well as played : — "As in the Shepherd's bosom So fold me, Heavenly Father, Alone in the darkness, Father dear!" Many Letters remain to be answered in our next volume. THE explanation of last month's picture is, "See how she leans her cheek upon her hand." This month we give you, not a problem, but a puzzle; for our little picture is a contradiction, and we are half inclined to think that only the very shrewdest of you will guess it, although you will all say that it is a first-rate "catch," when you know the answer. |