miles long. The barracks and homes of the commanders are made principally of stone, also the great shops. A large bridge connects the arsenal to Davenport and a smaller one to Rock Island.

The land around here was the scene of the Black Hawk War. The great chieftain Black Hawk had his watch-tower in a large tree on a high hill, where he saw plainly the movements of his enemies. An inn now stands where the tree used to, and a large part of the land around there is now a pleasure park called "Black Hawk's Watch-Tower."

Your new League member,

MARION MCCABE.

OKLAHOMA, OKLA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for nine years, but have never written to you before. Mother took you when she was my age, and she once had six bound volumes of you. They were all lost in the Galveston flood.

We were living in Galveston when the flood came. My father had to tie me to his back with the windowcurtains and swim.

I have just recovered from a severe illness, and I have not been able to walk for nearly three months, s you are my only entertainment. You can imagine with what eagerness I await your coming.

Thanking you for the great pleasure you give me every month, I remain

Your loving reader and well-wisher,

ELIZABETH D. GARDNER.

I am the eldest of five brothers and sisters. We live in a very pretty part of "la belle Normandie," at the mouth of the river Seine. Our house is quite close to the river, and from the windows we can see the big ships going up and down, to and from Rouen.

Now I must tell you how much I enjoy all your lovely stories. Among my favorites are: "Beatrice of Denewood," "The Lass of the Silver Sword," and its sequel. At the end of each year, I have you bound, and I simply love reading the old stories over and over again.

Every month I await your arrival with great impatience, and I think you are the best magazine any boy or girl could wish to have.

Your faithful and loving reader,

EDMÉE ULLERN (age 16).

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: This is the second year I have taken you, and I certainly enjoy you. I never rest until I have read you through. I want to tell you how much I liked the serial story "Beatrice of Denewood." I love Beatrice, the heroine in it. I also like the short stories. I live a good many miles from where you do, and so it takes a long time for a letter to reach you.

North Dakota is the State I was born in and have lived in all my eleven years. I always wish to live here, too.

Your devoted friend and reader,

JESSIE L. FULLER.

POMONA, CAL.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Although not a subscriber, I am a constant reader. The public library has back numbers of the ST. NICHOLAS bound in volumes, and I like to look at them, but I think ST. NICHOLAS is getting better all the time.

Pomona is a beautiful little town of 15,000 people. It is thirty miles east of Los Angeles, and fifty miles from the ocean. Pomona is called "The Inland City Beautiful."

There are many orange- and lemon-groves here, and for the last few years much land is being devoted to

the raising of sugar-beets. There are nearly a dozen sugar-beet factories in southern California; one is five or six miles from Pomona, and many tons of beet-sugar are turned out each year from this one factory.

My home is near Portland, Oregon, but this is my third trip to California. I have also been in Washington many times, and once to Victoria, British Columbia. Wishing you continued success, I am,

Your devoted reader,

RUTH M. SMITH (age 14). .

SKANEATELES, N. Y. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We were all very glad that you published the play "The Sleeping Beauty." We gave it on our lawn for the benefit of the library, which had

the man, he shot at him, but failed to kill him. The white man, seeing this, laughed and laughed; the red man then became very angry, and fired again, this time killing the white man. He then turned away, and said, "Youghiogheny," which means "Laugh again." That is how the river got its name.

I am a Camp-Fire girl. There are about thirty-five girls in our organization. We go on picnics and have lots of good times. But that is only in the winter-time, as I spend the summer in Pennsylvania. Your interested reader,

JEAN WAGNER (age 12).

BROOKLYN, N. Y.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am a little girl twelve years old, and have taken you for a long time. I am crazy about you. Each month, I read every word of you.

I go to boarding-school, and every girl in my class is always anxious for the fifteenth of the month to come and bring with it ST. NICHOLAS.

Your loving reader,

JOSEPHINE SNYDER.

TAYLORS BRIDGE, DEL.

just given a bazaar. We charged five cents admission, and made thirteen dollars.

We fastened a rope along the house, which, covered with flowers, made a pretty arch for the fairies to enter from, besides a background for the other scenes.

We closed with two folk-dances, after which Summer announced how much money we had made.

Had we known what a success the play was to be, we would have charged more, and believe we would have sold just as many tickets.

Very sincerely yours,

LOUISA R. SHOTWELL.

MOBILE, ALA.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: My sister and I have taken you since 1908, and we like your stories very much.

We have many ducks, and one day we had a gopher, and we let it run around the yard. The ducks could not imagine what it was, and they cornered it up; but every now and then they got scared, and would run a little. In a little while, some of them laid down to watch it. They were a funny sight to see.

Lovingly your reader,

FRANCES SHEPPARD (age 12).

ELKHORN, PA.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for nearly five years, and like you better than any other magazine I ever read. My mother took you when she was little, and we have some numbers bound that were published in 1885.

We live on a farm, and I have a dog, eight cats, and a calf. There is a river near here that is called Youghiogheny. It is said that, a long time ago, a white man was standing on its bank, when an Indian appeared on the opposite side of the bank. When the Indian saw

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you for two years and almost three. I have every copy that has been sent to me, and I enjoy reading them very much.

I live near where the Delaware River and bay meet. There is a marble shaft to mark the place.

I sometimes get lonesome, because I have no brothers or sisters. But then I get out my old ST. NICHOLASES and read them again. They are just as good as when I received them.

Your loving reader,

EDNA H. WOODKEEPER (age 12).

LIRHANDA, B. E. AFRICA. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I enjoy your stories very much. I like "The Lucky Sixpence" and "Beatrice of Denewood" the best of all.

I am the daughter of missionaries in Africa. We live near Victoria Nyanza, the largest lake in Africa. We are thirty miles from the terminus of the Uganda Railway, and near the equator.

One day, we had a picnic on what we call "Equator Hill." There is a little notch where the equator passes over it. Father says that perhaps (?) the equator has made the notch when the wind shakes it. Your sincere reader,

LEONA MAY HOLE (age 11).

LAPEER, MICH.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I have taken you about one year. I think you are the most interesting magazine I ever read. The League is especially interesting. I am working hard to get a badge.

I have never seen a letter from Lapeer in your Letter-box.

My mother took you when she was a little girl. I can amuse myself looking at her old ones.

I thought the letter in the May number from Aoyama, Tokio, Japan, was very interesting. I am sick, but I can sit up in bed and write. You amuse me such a lot that I don't have to have my mother at all. Your interested reader,

CHESTER VAIL (age 9).

tence which reads the same backward or forward. The quotation spelled by the initials is a fine example of such a sentence.

United States.

CROSS-WORDS (of equal length): 1. A famous writer of very short stories. 2. A preparation from cocoaseeds. 3. To mark with a name. 4. Listlessness. 5. To arouse. 6. To improve. 7. Flavor. 8. One of the 9. A name associated with an annual race in England. 10. A river of Europe. nine name. 12. A great country of Asia. 13. A long. narrow piece of leather. 14. A name borne by two of the Bahama Islands. 15. Part of a wagon. national bird. 17. A place of restraint.

ery. flinch. plete.

7. A familiar bird. 8. To

9. Rhythm. 10. ComII. To let down. 12. The edible production of certain vegetable growths. 13. To distrust. 14. A large spoon. Nap. 16. Supports.

WYLLYS P. AMES (age 15).

CONNECTING WORDS

(Silver Badge, St. Nicholas League Competition)

15.

EACH of the words described contains four letters. Use the last two letters of the first word for the first two of the second word, and so on.

1. To burn to a cinder. 2. Parched. labor. 4. A famous king. 5. To curve. 7. Quadrumanous animals. 8. To discern. be burned. 10. To depend on.

3. Averse to 6. To crack. 9. A pile to ALVIN E. BLOMQUIST (age 16).

CROSS-WORD ENIGMA

My first is in moon, but not in earth;
My second in death, but not in birth;
My third is in tack, but not in nail;
My fourth is in robin, but not in quail;
My fifth is in cent, but not in dollar;
My sixth is in shirt, but not in collar;
My seventh 's in night, but not in day;
My whole is the name of a famous play.
MARIAN HAYNES (age 12), League Member.

DOUBLE ACROSTIC

(Silver Badge, St. Nicholas League Competition) WHEN the following nineteen words have been rightly guessed and written one below another, the initials will spell a quotation. Whose words they are, is told by the final letters of the last nine words; and the final letters of the first ten words will spell the name given to a sen

11. A femi

16. Our 18. The area

19. A collection of maps. VERNITA C. HAYNES (age 13).

NUMERICAL ENIGMA

I AM composed of fifty-five letters, and form a quotation from Plato.

My 50-17 is not out. My 35-28-8 is a pronoun. My 38-30-20-11 is to exhibit. My 4-26-23-48 is a small bird. My 21-9-41-49 is an order of knighthood. My 24-32-53-15 is to survey. My 55-47-33-43 is celebrity. My 27-2-12-19-7 is destitute of color. My 45-31-3642-46 is an Egyptian divinity. My 13-5-29-1-54-40 is diminutive. My 34-37-10-18-3-44 is a season. My 16-52-6-22-51-39-14-25 is to gather together.

MATILDA VAN SICLEN (age 15), League Member.

QUINTUPLE BEHEADINGS AND QUADRUPLE CURTAILINGS

(Gold Badge. Silver Badge won November, 1911) EXAMPLE: Quintuply behead and quadruply curtail modest, and leave a number. Answer, unpre-ten-ding. In the same way behead and curtail :

1. Essentials, and leave "children of a larger growth." 2. Bountifully, and leave a cold substance.

3. Disputes, and leave a domestic animal.

4. Explainable, and leave a pronoun.

5. Excessively, and leave epoch.

6. Relating to mythology, and leave an unhewed piece of wood.

7. Uncontrollable, and leave to grow old.

8. The office of governor, and leave a conjunction. 9. Incomprehensible, and leave a machine invented by Eli Whitney.

10. Freedom from control, and leave finish. II. Inundations, and leave abject.

12. The act of foreboding, and leave a dignified poem. When all the words have been rightly guessed, the initials of the twelve three-letter words will spell the name of a very famous artist who was born in March. MARGARET SPAULDING (age 12).