LETTERS FROM LITTLE FOLKS,

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 35

LETTERS FROM LITTLE FOLKS,

Dear Dot, — I am writing you avery sadletter. On September 25, 1886, a fatal boat accident occurred. Four men, whose names were David Hughan, Samuel Hughan, William Innes, and John Eussell, went out fishing in a boat. The boat was found on the Taieri Beach, with nobody in it, only a few things those who went out in it had with them. A' few weeks afterwards the body of John Eussell was found on the Kuri Beach. He was wrapped up in a horse rug, put into' a Bledgei and carried to the Taieri Beach, where his house was. Mr Carew came' and held an inquest, at which a verdict of " Accidental Death by Drowning" was returned. Sometime after that one of Mr Hughan's sons was found, but there was no inquest held on him. He was just taken to the Taieri Beach and buried there. William Innes was found the other day near the schoolhouse, not far from our place. He was put into a shed near the schoolhouse and left there, till an express came last Monday and took him into Dunedin. There was no inquest held on him, because Mr Carew said it was not necessary, as there had been an inquest held' on one body. Great sympathy is felt for Mrs and Mr Hughan, who have lost their two sons. Dear Dot, you told me in my last letter I wrote to you, for me to look over the small type and see what mistake I had made, I went immediately and got the paper I wrote first on, and saw that I had written on both sides of the paper. Dear Dot, please excuse me for making such an error. —Yours truly, ' Maggie Quill. Kuri Bush, May 27. Dear Dot,— l go to the Ferndale School. I am in the Second Standard. We have got a new school, and also a lady teacher. I have two sisters and two brothers. One sister goes to school with me. Dear Dot, tell me how many brothers and sisters you have. There is a metalled road right down to the school. We have three dogs and one little puppy. Do you think Dot will be a nice name for it? One of my dogs I call Nelly, she is now 10 years old. She is a grand dog at catching rats, and was, before she got so stiff and lame, a good rabbiter. We have got four pretty white ducks. — Yours truly, Willie (aged 9 years). Bodsbeck, Mataura, May 23. ■ Dear Dot, — I am nine years old,. and I am in the Second Standard. We had a holiday to-day because it was the Queen's Birthday. Mamma and my little brothers and I went to the bush to have a picnic. We just had the fire lit when the rain came on, so we made some tea and went home a little while after. We saw some pretty ferns, and heard people shooting. Dear Dot, you would have liked to have seen the pretty ferns and little birds. ! Mamma says she will take us to the bush when summer comes. When I go to Dunedin I will show you my scrap-book ; it has pictures, horses, and birds. — Yours truly, , , J. E. G. Otautau, May 24. Dear Dot, — I go to the Wairekiki School, and am in the Third Eoyal Reader, lam preparing for the Second Standard. lam learning geography and grammar. My father's farm is bounded on the north by the Mimihau stream, eight miles from Wyndham township. ' There are a great many trout in the Mimihau, river, and men come here every season to r fish for them. — Yours truly, " Thomas Eae. Hightofts, Tuturau, May 24. Dear Dot, — Yesterday being the Queen's Birthday, we celebrated it with races through the day and a ball in the evening. The .volunteers fired a salute in honour of her Majesty. In the morning it was beautiful weather, the sun shone out in all its glory, but unfortunately it commenced to rain' in the afternoon, and made the racecourse very unpleasant for everybody. The ball in the evening was a great success; there were over 50 couples present, and dancing was kept up till 5 o'clock in the morning. Prebably there would be plenty of amusements in Dunedin on the 24th. lam sure, dear Dot, you must have very great patience to take such interest in us little folks. It is very kind of you. I will conclude with love to all the little folks, and accept the same yourself. — Yours truly, Tryphena Butler. Arrowtown, May 25. Dear Dot, — I am going to tell you about my new life in the country. Papa brought .me out to Merton for my health, and I think it is doing me good. I have a little playmate out here, her name is Ada Hammond, and she will probably write you a letter soon. I go to school out here, and lam in the Fourth Standard. The lessons were pretty hard at first, 1 but I know how to do them now, and they do not seem so hard as they were. ' I was sorry to leave my friends In Port Chalmers, but I am getting < used to it now. Dear Dot, I will write you soon again.~Yours truly, Nellie Leslie (aged 11 years). . Merton, May 26. Dear Dot, — I am going to tell you about the prize I got for good attendance last year. The name of the bookis " The Luckiest Lad in Libberton." It is a very nice story about a boy who was going to leave school. His father was a storekeeper, and had a very large business. He had only one son and two daughters. The. son was to have a share in the business when he was old enough. So his father thought he would take him into the shop and teach him the trade when he left school. But he was a very naughty boy, and would not be shown how to do anything. I will not say any more about the lad this time. It was very stormy to-day, there was

a "little' snow, ' and* it' waff • very ""cold.— YouiS " truly, f\ ' ~\* I^A^eSwlGSalwtoed. Fassifern, May 26. ' ' ' ' •**■*'-' Dear Dot,— -I take great interest increasing* all' the little -folks' letters/ One day, 1 when we lived in a house with upstairs in it, I thought' I would practice putting the children out of the' window just as if the house was on 'fire,* so I got all the, sheets tied together and started (putting 'the children, out of the window.;/ I always managed' without them,, but one day when there was np one in but baby, and I, thought I would put. baby ou^ 'the l wind,o;w, baby , being such a little fellow, I thought he would, not require such a long rope. *,So. I 'shortened it, but when Fgot poor baby three 'parts out of the window I could not get him either up nor down, and I: had to wait nearly a quarter of an ' hour before anyone saw me, when • a ' man who was building a house caught sight of me holding' the baby. ; Dear Dot, you should have heard that man swear. I nearly dropped the .baby with 1 f right, I never put anyone out of the window again. Dear Dot, I had a dog and a cat ; they used to quarrel dreadfully. I never saw a cat, hate'a dog so much in my life. Our cat got four, kittens', J so one day when no one was in I lifted the kittens out of the box and put the dog in, I then called pussy, and— oh, dear, 1 me— l'll never forget the fright I got. ' I never saw a cat fight ao much in my life. I tried to'knock-her. away with the broom, but could not manage it, but I put the broom handle through the lookingglass instead. Ob, dear Dot, you should, have seen the crack in the glass. -My, I was frightened. I tried to show pussy her kittens, but she 'was too mad to look, so I managed at last to push pussy out ; but just as' I thought I had got.over my troubles, pussy met my little brother. ' ' I don't know whether she thought he looked like a dog or not, but she flew at him and bit him dreadfully. My mamma thought she 1 was mad, so she got. a big bag and put' poor pussy into it and drowned her. I* was 1 awfully sorry, but I could not say, any thing,, so poor puss had to go and her little kittens with he>\ i I have no pets now, but I am learning to knit, and I like it very much. Dear Dot, may, I write again. — Yours truly, Pollt (aged 12 years). May 26. [Yes, write again.— Dot.] . Dear Dot, — My brothers went up the river \ to a place called Fipiriki about two months ago, j and they brought a beautiful lizard back with them, it was gold and black. It lived for a month and then died; it did not eat anything' all the time we had it ; we put flies into its box, but it would not look at them. We have, a very large place, we have 1275 acres. I like living in the country very much. Last summer my sister and father, and two other girls and myself, went up to the far end, of our place, called Kanihinihi, and stopped all night. We slept in a wooden partucka, but our bed' was rather hard; we made a bed of fern, but the fern sticks were sticking in our eyes and pulling out our hair, and we could not sleep because the dog was barking all the night. One ' of the girls we had with us was frightened at 1 first. She thought the Maoris were coming. But the dog was only barking at the rapid river running by. In the morning my mother and sisters, and brother, and two gentlemen came up for us and the quinces, which we came for. The Maoris wanted to steal them, but we got there before them. They got out of temper when they saw I us picking the fruit. My brother arid one of the young gentlemen stopped that'night and finished picking the fruif, and, we went up the. next morning to fetch it away. The Maoris'generally pick the fruit off our trees and come down to our house to sell it. They think mamma a doctor. .If they have anything the matter with' them they come to her for medicine. Some of them come right down from the river to .her Ift they are ill. There is a man living at Kaiwhaiki , called Tomity, he is very stout., I have never seen, a man so stout as he is, he was nearly dead \ when mamma gave him someinedicine'and food. —Yours truly, Ja>ie B. Lockett. Mara Mara, Totara, May 27.' - ' ' i Dear Dot, — I was born at Naseby. I was at Treyeldra Farm, where I saw the cows and horses, and pigs, and fowls. One day I went to the coalpit. My mother is dead, and a friend of j hers came to live with me, and she has a boy and girl named Willie and Nellie. Willie' is the ( same age as lam Nellie is very fond of dolls,' and she is always dressing them up. < I enjoyed my holidays, which I spent down at the f arm.— Yours truly, , Willie, (aged 10 years), j Naseby, May 24., • „ Dear Dot, — I was born at Naseby. When I was about two year's old I went' to Catlins River. I liked the place very much. We lived in a house in the bush, and we kept a post office. There was a kind man there who gave me a toy bucket, full of fruit and lollies. I liked him very much because he was so. kind to me. After I was four years old I went to Auckland where we lived ' for some time. While we were there I went to the museum, and saw a lot of strange things. — Yours truly, Willie (aged 9 years and 7 months), Naseby May 24. Dear Dot, — All my brothers and sisters were born in New Zealand, but I was born in England, and am sometimes called British Betty. About six months ago I went to stay at a station whnre I a friend of mine called Bell lives, she has a dark brown horse named Tarki, and she also has* some dogs, four of which are used 'for hunting. While there I went to some limestone caves, : 'which have beautiful stalactites hanging from the roof. | Many of these have been distroyed, which I think j a great shame. . I and my sister Molly have j been staying away from home. < When I was J away from home I went out rabbiting, I' rode a horse called Folly, on a man's saddle, as I liked it better than a side-saddle. A pig was killed while we were there, and we had nothing to eat after it .was killed but pork. — Yours truly, ' ' . ! .' ' Betty (aged 11 years and 11 months). , ( ' Avondale, Nightcaps, May 28. ' . ' , Dbab Dot, — I read all ,the letters in the [Witness Little Folks. , page, and I like them very much. As you like to hear about our little pets,, I am going to tell you , about mine, although I have not very many. I have two pet cats and a j very pretty doll: The cats' names are Topsy j and Toss, but will you be so kind,' dear Dot, as to ; give me a nice name for my doll ?' She is very fair, and has pretty blue eyes.' One day my brother brought me home a pretty little goldfinch, which I called Dicky. We had it for a long .time, and it was beginning' to sing" so beautifully, when one day .Topsy .caught it and'i ran out the window with it. We were very sorry for it. Every time Dicky saw us coming with his food he would come to" meet us, and eat out of our hands ; sometimes he w'oulcfstand on his. little perch and look at us, as if <to say : " I know every one of you." Dear Dot, what do you think I should have done to Topsy? — Yours truly, , Agnes, Wetherstones, May 28. \ ' [Call the doll Tilly.— Dot.] Dear Dot, — I have not written to you for a long time, but I meant to write before about

how I srferilfmy Christmas holidays. _We all went of Qhriltißas i'Day *WM) Kaik.^diwe took off "our boots'lind stockings and had great fun" in the water. On New Year's Day, father took'us 1 out in the and 'we went down as far 'as Mr Macandrew's. 'We 1 Went ashore .and lit afire in the bush, and made some tea. On coining home we saw a lot of Chinese fishing i, with a net. — Yours truly, ' ' . " ■ '■ ' Gebty (aged 8 years). The Glen, May 29. • ,;, ; DsAii'DoT,— A good many people come to Broad Bay in the summer for the bathing, and says it* is a very pretty 'place:' We | live close to the' Harbour Cone and Larnach's castle." We are just opposite Port Chalmers, | and can see all the steamers that go to Dunedin.: 'We. have a church, a store, a bootmaker's shop, | post .office, i and a school, I got > two prizes at •school— the one for passing, my standard, the !> other for singing. One of thein,is,a very pretty 'Chinese cabinet, lam in the Third Standard, r and we like our teacher very much. We have' four cows, two pig's, ■ more fowls than I can count, and a cat and kitten. "The lastnamed I like better than any of them. We have an organ in .the churph, and I sing in the choir. I have four sisters and a brother. The brother is' the youngest. He has had a horse given him called Doctor but we- 1 can't ride' him ..because he's not kept at homo. — Yours, truly, ' , 1([ , < • Flossie. Broad Bay, May 29. Deab Dot, — I suppose you think I have quite forgotten you, but I and all my sisters and brothers have been bad with the whooping cough. My sister has, sent you a little card, for she is not able to,' write yet, but -when she gets old enough she will write. We have got a little pony called Dot, and my sister and I often go for rides on it. We have also got a little side-saddle of our own, which we bought with the money we saved up in our money-box. ' The school is to be closed for a fortnight on account of the whooping cough, and we will • have grand fun in the holidays.— Yonrs truly, , Maria C. Olive (aged 9J years). Strath-Taieri, May 29. DOT TO, THE LITTLE FOLKS. So many letters have been received this week ,that I have been unable to find room for them, all. Those held over will appear in next week's paper if possible. — Dot.