LETTERS FROM LITTLE FOLKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1916, 10 August 1888, Page 34

LETTERS FROM LITTLE FOLKS.

Dear Dot, — I live in Gabriel's Gully, near.the Elue Spur. Our house in ab the head of the gully, aud a little way from it is a large lagoon, which in winter is frozon over, and we have great fun sliding on the ice. Igo to school, and am in the Fourth Standard. Our examination is soon coming off, and I hope I shall pass.— - Yours truly, Maria Spiers (aged 12 years). Peach Terrace, Blue Spur. Dkar Dot,— At the head of Gabriel's Gully there is a large bush, and it is so nice to hear the birds singing among the trees. I have such a lot of fowls to feed, and when they see mo coming home they all come running to meet me. I go to school, and am in the Fourth Standard. The inspectors will soon be round to examine us. There is a skating rink iv Lawrence, and I go to it sometimes. I have had one or two falls, but it is fine f uu skating — Yours truly, Susan Campbell (aged 12 years). Dear Dot, — I do not live in New Zealand, but in South Gippsland, Victoria. My uncle sends us tho Witness, and I read the littlra folks' letters, and I like them very much. I have not been to school for 18 months, as there is no school here to go to. We have one cow called Joan Lowrio, after a tale which appeared in the Witness I have a lot of cousins in New Zealand, but I have not seen a letter from any of them. I hope they will write to you, Dot. I would like very much to see thin letter in print. This is a very nice place. I will tell you about it another time. I never had a doll to tell you about, but I have two cat 3. ' Their names are Topsy and Eva. Wo have such a pretty little calf, just a few weeks old. Would you mind n» calling it Dot ? I have a snake story, Dot. May I write again and tell you about it. — Yours truly, Lizzie Cookson (aged 11 years). Caliignee, South Gippsiand, Victoria, June 20. [Here is an example for Lizzie's New Zealand cousins ! If they can onjy write half as good a letter as their little relative in Victoria I shall be very glad indeed to hear from them. Of course I have no objection to your calling the calf Dot ; lam only too glad to think that oar column giv£S you so much pleasure as to induce you to do so. Do write and tell us all about the place you live in, and don't forget the snake story. Although we have no snakes here lam sure we shall all be interested in it. — Dot.] Dear Dot, — I am going to tell you about* new kitten I have got. It is a pretty l» fctle thing ; it is grey and white, and it has a very nice smooth sleek skin. It is very fat, and almost as round as a ball. I have \ named » Topsy, after one that died. A swamp^hen usea t:> come about our place, and ifc was quite tan l6 ' bu^. a man who came round with a covered cars took out his gun and hbot it. We were) co sorry about the poor little thing.— Yours truly, Edith IbWIH. July 30. - / Dear Dot,— l have two little pups, j I a^J" get one for looking after the other/ for "- Pringle. The snow is about lOin deep / bore LJn is deeper in some of the cuttings, and)*? 6^. could not pass through yesterday, bujb « etm

for M here. ?* the tram ■ it c««»«

this morning, and the cowcatcher was covered with snow. Ifc passed very slowly. It was raining all night. The rivers are very high. —Yours truly, W. COUPER.

Albury, July 27.

Dear Dot, — I was 11 years old about; two or three weeks ago, and I got a birthday book as a present. It is bound with morocco, and it is very pretty. My old doll, who is six years old, I call Granny, because I have had her so long. My best doll I call Fairy, and my china one I simply call "My china doll." There was an eclipse of the moon last Monday night, and one of my brothers saw it. I have eight brothers and three sisters. My sister and I have a doll's house between us. There are two rooms ifc ifc — one a bedroom and the ofcjber a drawing room. The drawing room furniture is very pretty — white shells on the two chairs and armchair, all neatly gummed on, and on the double sofa, all round the top edge, are pretty pink and white. The lifctle round table is also covered with green satin, and prefcfcy white shells, and a green fringe hangs round the edge. There are two beds in the bedroom ; one of thorn is mine, the other is my sister's. — Yours truly, Isa Macdonald (aged 11 years). Invercargill, July 26.

[I think the poor china doll should have a name as well as the others. You have a fairy ; why not have a princess also ? Sara means princess, so I thiuk you might call fche china doll Princess Sara. — Dor.]

Dear Dot, — You asked me to write and tell you how the young salmon are fed. All young salmon and troufc are fed on liver, grated very fine, and then sprinkled in the boxes where the fish are kept. The water is always running through the boxes, and as the little pieces float past they dark at it, and after getting a small piece they go to the bottom again. Mr Deans came up, and he and father caught all fche young salmon, and liberated them in the Waiwera river. There-were 40,000 of them. The boxes are now full of fishes' eggs, and the little fish are beginning to hatch oufc. Lots of people come to see them. We had two buggy loads last Sunday. They all like to see the large salmon and the Loch Leven trout. They are kept in large ponds, and you should come up aud bee them. — Yours truly, Johnny Bort (aged 11 years). Salmon Pouds, Clinton, July 30.

Dear Dot, — I live in Waikouaiti. II is a very pretty place. I go to school, and am iv the "Infant Reader." I livewiiihmyaunfc. I love her very much. I call her mamma, as my mother died when I was 10 days old and I am seven years now. — Yours truly,

Mary Jane Violet Chaw ord.

Dear Dot, — I live with my father and my uncle John. _ I have only one pet to tell you about — that is our dog, Don. I go out rabbiting wifch my uncle, who has a horse which he calls Sally. He gives me a ride on ifc sometimes. My father gave me a pound as a birthday present fehree years ago, aud I have six shillings left yet. Igo to school, and I like our teacher, Mr Macpherson, very much. — Yours truly, John Shennan (aged 10 years). Berwick, July 30.

Dear Dot, — Have you ever been oufc to Tomahawk? Perhaps you do not know where itis. Well, it is a mile and a-half from Andersou's Bay, on the ocean side. 'If you ever come oufc here you should go to the beach. To your right is Lawyer's Head, a rocky promontory on which are placed big guns. Ou Sabuidays when men, come out to practice firing we can hear the noise a long way off. The windows in our houses shake with the shock. I must tell you about these guns. One weighs seven tonß and carries the cannon balls a distance of three miles. Another large gnu has just arrived weighing 14 tons. It carries the ball a distance of 12 miles, So you see, Dot, that we are ready for any eaemy that may comedo New Zealand. Are we not ? — Yours truly, Mary (aged 11 years and 9 mouths). Tomahawk, July 24. [Yes, bub I sincerely hope ifc may never be necessary to use these powerful weapons. — Dot. Dbar Dot, — We have a lake with a boat on it. There are three black swans, and they come up to the boat to be fed. We h;we an old horse called Black Jack. My sister, has a grey-and-white cockatoo, and ifc is very tame. I was &fc the rink on Saturday evening. We had some guinea pigs, but the rats killed them.— Yours truly, David Grey. Tapanui, July 24.. Dear Dot, — Since I wrote to you last we have had our midwinter holidays. The weather was live here, but I read in the newspaper that you had had some rough weather and heavy floods in Dunedin during that week. The nearest township to our place is Mataura. It is abont five miles from here. I often >go there on Saturdays, and sometimes I go to see the football matches. I went to Gore wifch my two sisters one day during the holidays; ib was a beautiful day. We went up by train, and my father drove us back. We enjoyed ourselves very much. I should very much like to see Dunedin. I was there when I was about a year old. My father tells me that there is a very nice museum there.— Yours truly, Wili-ik Williams (aged 10 years). Schoolhouse, Tuturau, July 24. Dear Dot, — This is the first time I have written to you, and I hope fche subject which I take will please you. I am going to tell you about incubators — in other words, machines for hatching eggs artificially. We have four of them, and have reared a lot of bens, ducks, and geese. Here is the description of one: — It is a square wooden bos standing on legs. In this box is placed a drawer of eggs, sometimes containing from 100 to 120 eggs. Above this drawer is a tank of water heated by steam from a boiler which stands in the middle of the room. Surrounding the tank is sawdust, to keep in the keat. The temperature must bs kept between lO2deg and 106deg, so each drawei has a thermometer in ifc. Of course the heat has to he kept up day and night. At the end of a week the eggs are tested, and the bad ones are thrown away. From the time of setting till the time of hatching the 'eggs are turned twice a " a yi just as fche hen would do. Hens' eggs require three weeks to hatch ; ducks, turkeys, and geese four weeks. It is a very strange B'gb.fc indeed to see a drawer full of the little creatures, some hopping about, others struggling w> get out of the shell. If you were to see ifc you would never forget ifc.— Yours truly,m Allan (aged 11 years 8 months). The Lakes, July 26. [Thank you, Allan, for your very interesting fleaenption of fche incubator. I hope you will ttuuk of other things to write about, as I am sure all the little folks would like fco year from you often.— Dot.] Dbar Dot,— You have never heard from our quarter before, so a few of us thought we would writo to you. Now as I know my companions we describing the place, I will tell you abo it wie picnic we have yearly ou the 9fch of November. All the school children go there with the teacher. We have our picnic on the beach, and c e J]?y it very much. We make a large fire boii our tea. After we have our tea we wade in the sea, and play at aU Jrituis of games.

At 0 o'clock we return home, after a happy day. We are anxiously waiting for the next picnic. — Yours truly, Lillias (aged 13 years and 4 months). Tomahawk, July 23.

[I should think so. Life afc Tomahawk in summer time must be very pleasant indeed. — Dot.]

Dear Dot, — I wonder if ynu would like to bear about our little school. It is situated on a hill overlooking the sea, so you can imagine how fresh and healthy ifc is. There are generally about 30 scholars attending ifc, although some of them are nob very regular. There is a belfc of trees surrounding the school, which gives ifc a prefcfcy appearance. We girls have little garden plots which do not look very pretty just now after the last heavy rain fall, but in spring, when our bulbs and spring flowers come out, they will look bright and cherry. The ground is divided into two play grounds — one for the boys and one for fche girls. In winter at fche lunch time tea is made for us by our teacher. — Yours truly, Madeline Maudb (aged 10 years and 2 months). Tomahawk, July 20.

[Yes ; I certainly should. — Dot.]

Dear Dot, — You have no idaa what a pretty place Tomahawk is. There are two large sheets of water called lagoons, which in Bummer look lovely with the shadows of the trees, hills, houses, and animals thrown upon them. One of fche settlers has a pretty little boat called the Water Lily, painted white and blue; ifc has also a sail, and when there is wind ifc glides along swiftly. On the first fine day our teacher is going to take'a few of us in ifc. Won't that be nice ?— Yours truly, Emily (aged 10 years). Tomahawk, July 25.

Dear Dot, — Don'b you think this world of ours is very beautiful ? This wee corner of it is at auy rate. In the first place there is the beautiful sea with its everchanging colours. On a calm sunny day itis a beautiful dark blue, with scarcely a ripple on its surface. Then on a fine windy day it is of a pretty blue, covered all over with flecks of white. When ifc is very stormy the water is of a sea green. I think it is prettiest on a stormy day when the dazzling white foam is dashing agninst the dark rock of Bird Island. Dot, did you ever hear of those boys who were left on Bird Island ? On a dull day, when it is neither sunny nor windy, the sea has a greyish tint which is not very pretty, I think. — Yours truly, Em.ie (aged 13 years). Tomahawk, July 20. [Yes ; I remember all about them, but; I think there are many of our little folks who have forgotten, and others who never heard about them, so if you would write again, and tell the little folks all you kuow about the incident, I shall be very glad. — Dot.] Dear Dot, — We have had very rough and cold weather up here. The creeks and river have been very high. We have not been able to go to school for a week. I thiuk ifc is goiug to be fine again though, and we will be able to go to 6chool once more. We have to cross the viaduct. When the creek is high, Dot, I would like you to see it. It is a long time since I was iv Dunedin. Mother says she is going to town some day and I am going too. I used to live i« Dunedin about five years ago. I like to live up here very much. We have a little baby boy, His name is Davie. He is a fine little fellow when he does not cry. He is crying now, and I must go and take him up, so I must say goodnight. — Yours truly, Robina Thompson (aged 11 years). Dear Dot, — I live at Skippers. Ifc is a very cold place. There is about 18in of snow on the ground at present, and ib freezes every night and isi very cold going to school. I have about two miles to go to school from our place. We live on a little terrace wifch a large range of hills behind, ou the road to the Branches. In the front is a pond of water, and below that in the Shofcover river. My best school friends are Helen Murray and Helen Olsen. The former is in the same standard as I am (the Third), and fche latter is in the Sixth Standard. I have two brothers, James and Alfred,-and three sisters, Minnie, Violet, and Sophia. — Yours truly, Emma Smith (aged 12 years and 9 months). Skippers Point, July 30. Dear Dot, — We live in fcho country, and have three miles to go to school. We had a pet dog named Nell. She had two pups, and when fcbey were nine days old she got drowned in the flood. We had to feed fche pups wifch a spoon. We gave one away. The one we kept grew nicely till it was nearly a month old. It was such a little pet, and grew so fat, but ifc took ill on Friday and died in an hour. The pup we gave away is growing very nicely. I have seven sisters and two brothers. — Yours truly, Annie Hicks (aged 9 years). July 29.