Fortnightly Competition.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue XVI, 19 April 1902, Page 766

Fortnightly Competition.

I will give a nice little prize to the cousin who sends me the nicest letter on the subject: “WHAT 1 WOULD LIKE TO BE WHEN T GROW UP.” Letters about this must reach me on or before May Ist.—Cousin Kate. LETTERS CRUSHED OUT. There is not room this week for all the letters. We shall soon have to have a third page. Betters from Cousins Walton. Alan Dutnie, Gwendoline and Ila are unavoidably held over till next week. COUSINS’ CORRESPONDENCE. Dear Cousin Kate, —Please do not think T nm going to offer any excuses for my (what shall I call it?) laziness. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself, and will do my best to make it up in this letter by making it as interesting as I can. T am afraid it is rather late to describe my Easter holidays, but as I have hardly anything to say I will try and tell yon about one of them. A friend of mine very kindly asked me to go out with her). and her people, in a steamlaunch. We left the Railway Wharf, not having decided where we were going, but in the end, after a lovely trip, we landed at Brown’s Island. Have you ever been there? It is not so pretty as some places, but all the same I could not have enjoyed myself more at a prettier place. Well, at about twelve o’clock we had lunch beside a very shady tree, and rockAt about a-quarter to two a few girls and myself went around some rocks and up the mountain. On our way up we found six or seven mushrooms, and intended to take them to town, only we forgot. We were

very hot when we reached the top of the mountain, and rested for a while. After a few minutes we thought to run from the top of the mountain would be lovely, so one of our party ran down before us, and as the hill was very steep she could not stop herself, but turned a somersault, striking her head against the ground. We rushed down to Her, but she was laughing, and apparently not hurt. We reached the bottom of the hill safely, and soon joined the others. We had tea shortly after, and arrived in town at about half-past six, after a very pleasant day. Now, dear Cousin Kate, 1 must conclude, hoping this letter is not very late. —- I remain, Cousin Ruth[Dear Cousin Ruth, — Never mind about not writing in the past. We are all going to start fresh now, I hope. Your description of the picnic is verv amusing. I should like to have been there. I have passed Brown’s Island, quite close too, several times, but never landed. From the sea it looks rather desolate, but is no doubt better when you land. It was lucky your friend who fell did not hurt herself seriously. Once at Clifton, in England, I was running down a steep hill (I was about 12), and I fell and cut my forehead terribly; the scar is there yet, but not very noticeable. Mind you remember the competitions—Cousin Kate.] * + ♦ Dear Cousin Kate, —I have been going to write to you for a long time, but kept putting It off, because I have not much news to tell you. I must thank you for the badge, for it it a very pretty one. We were picking fruit yesterday; we have such a lot this year, and there Is not much sale for them. I have two nieces and two nephews, Lawrence, Mervyn, Of a and Dulcie. It was our Sunday School concert last Thursday night; it was a great success. 1 took part in two songs and two choruses; my nephew, Lawrence, took part in three songs and one chorus. It is his birthday on 28th of this month. He got two prizes, one for the best marks for the year and one for the Scripture examination on Gopd Friday, and I got one for the examination too. 1 think. this is all I have to ie±± you this time-—From Cousin Helen. [Dear Cousin Helen,- —Will you please send me your full name and age next week? 1 wish to put you on the new register, and find I have not your full name in the old one. Are you fond of singing? 1 am so fond of hearing it, but have no voice. 1 ou seem to have done splendidly at the examination, aud so does Lawrence. Try and get him to write as a cousin.—Cousin Kate.] -a- -*- Dear Cousin Kate, —It is a grand idea to have a letter competition, and I will write as regularly as I can, but it is rather hard to find anything to say every week. Still 1 will try and get something to write about. I must ask you if the cousins are supposed to wear the badges, Decause 1 don't know. Don’t you think some of Edna Lyell s books are good? 1 haven’t read many, but "Donovan” is interesting, especially Dot’s story in it. It is rather sad, too. “Scottish Chiefs,” by J. Porter, is one of the most interesting historical books I have read. It shows up Wallace so well, because a contrast is formed by some bad characters. It isn’t exactly a sad

bo • , as Wallace’s death is not so sad the way it is described there, although it is sad in history. The death of Marlon, his wife, was dreadful, because it was so cruel. I will have to tell you a little about our school lessons, etc., Cousin Kate. I like poetry and compositions very much, but I can’t do arithmetic. It is grand, when we are given a good subject for a composition, to think it out and put as much as we like down, but we are not allowed to write long ones now. Men’s lives are horribly uninteresting. Ones like “Patriotism,” or “The Uses of Books”; in fact, anything that there is a lot to write about, but need no facts or dates, like men’s lives, are nice. I have come to the end of my scrap of news or whatever it may be called, so I will stop. With love from Cousin Alison. [Dear Cousin Alison, —You will find it easy to write regularly once you get into the way of it. I like all of Edna Lyell’s books. “We Two” is even better than “Donovan,” and “In the Golden Days” is very nice too. Have you read “Romola,” or “The Mill on the Floss”—George Eliot’s most famous novels? As you are 15 I should think you would enjoy them, and understand their beauty and power. Marion Crawford’s novels are some of them excellent. If you can get “Sant Ilario” I think you would enjoy it. As I have told several of the cousins before, I always disliked arithmetic, and do still. Composition I always liked, but 1 write a shocking hand, and (whisper it) my spelling never was (or is) over sure.— Cousin Kate.] + + + My Dear Cousin Kate, —We got the “Graphics” yesterday afternoon. Thank you so much for your letters, which I enjoyed very much. I have read some of the “Graphics,” and I do enjoy “Jungle Jinks” so much, as well as the cousins’ letters. You said, Cousin Kate, in one of your letters, how could my brothers swim on bamboos? Well, you know a bamboo is very long, round and hollow, and all jointed. It is only about as round as a cup, but it is very, very long. The bamboo tree is a lovely tree. Well, the bamboos that we take in to swim on are a nice, clean, light-brown colour, and when you get on they hold you up. You can put your arm round the bamboo, or you can sit on it. They are grand things to learn to swim on. My cousins have gone to King’s College, and they write saying that they like it very much. We have been playing a lot of ping-pong and croquet lately. I like them very much. I think they are both nice games, don't you? We are having a nice tennis court made, and it will soon be ready for us to play on. 1 have two eucharis lilies out in my garden. They are lovely white lilies, with pale green centres. They are the first I have had in my garden. I don’t think 1 have any other flowers out just now though. I have just been in for a lovely bath in the river, and we has 1 a long bamboo, which we sat on. You can have such fun. I wish you could try one, Cousin Kate. It is rather a dull afternoon here. It seems so funny to hear the cousins speak of the change in the weather, and to hear you answer it, for of course I forget you live in the same place. I think you live in different places, and then I think how strange you feeling it. We are just over our hot season, and are so glad we have got through

without a hurricane, and that we have all the cool months before us. I must close now, dear Cousin Kate, with fondest love to you and all the cousins.—From Cousin Lorna. [Dear Cousin Lorna,—l wish I could tell you how much pleasure your long and most interesting letter gave me. and how it will delight all the cousins. I was deeply interested in hearing of how you swim on the bamboos. wish I could see you or get a photo for the “Graphic” of it. King’s College is a very nice school. A great friend of mine is a master there, and he is a really capital fellow with boys. They all like him. Are your brothers in the Cadet Corps? There was a picture of it in the “Graphic” some time ago. T am thankful for your sakes you had no hurricane. I wonder if you will see the cable ship. She left here for Fiji about a week ago. I will enter your let’ rs for the best-letter competition. I fear you will not be able to enter for the other. Please enter for the prize for saying “What I would like to be when T am grown up.”—Cousin Kate.] Dear Cousin Kate, —I am afraid it is still the same old excuse—that I hadn’t got time. Since last time I wrote we have had our swimming sports, and. would you believe it, I won the big girls’ race? My prize was a lovely cut glass bottle with silver top. There is really not very much news, as Wellington seems a little slow for girls just now. There is to be a big wedding, and all the girls belonging to the “League” at school are asked. Won’t it be nice? We will have the whole of Tuesday at Easter time, and a little piece of Wednesday afternoon. School is just as nice as usual, but rather quiet, as no one seems to be naughty. Cousin Aileen has just come back from Wanganui, and has enjoyed herself so much. The principals of our school have asked us to “A Salmagundi Evening,” but they won’t tell us what it is. I wonder if you know what it is. Cousin Kate? It is a Latin name, as you will see, and means something mixed, so I expect it will be great fun. I suppose Cousin Roie will be about half way now, and I suppose she will be enjoying herself very much. I am sorry my letter is rather shorter than usual, but really there is nothing to say. So with much love to the'cousins and yourself I must stop, hoping that you will forgive me for not writing before. —Cousin Zaidee. [Dear Cousin Zaidee, —Will you please send me next week your full name and age for the new register of cousins. Please do not forget, as it is important. I cannot understand where this letter got delayed. You have not dated it, but you speak of Easter as if it were in the future, so it must have been written before the holidays. It has, however, only just reached me. Will you ask Cousin Aileen to write again and send her age? I have her full name and address. I wonder how the Salmagundi part went off? Did they give you any of the dish from which these mixed entertainments derive that name? It is a mixture of mixed veal or turkey, anchovies, pickled herrings, onions and shallots, all chopped up together and served with oil. It is called after Salmagundi, one of the ladies of the Court of Catherine de Medicis, wife of King Henry IV. of France. She invented the dish, and it went by her name. It sounds nasty I think, don’t you?—Cousin Kate.] Dear Cousin Kate, —I should so much like to become one of your cousins. I enjoy reading the cousins’ letters in the “Graphic” very much. Last Friday I went to the top of Mount Eden, one of Auckland’s most picturesque spots. It was a lovely day, and I enjoyed myself very much. I am just fourteen and have left school for a time. I have passed the Sixth Standard. I hope they will soon finish Queen-street, as it is very muddy, and the wet weather is making it far worse. I shall try to write every week to you. We keep a shop in town, and I am kept very busy. I have a very niae garden, and I have

a lovely lot ot chysanthemums and dahlias out. I do not expect you will find this letter very interesting, but I shall write a better one next week. I am sending you an addressed envelope for a badge. I do not think I have any more news this time, so I conclude with love to all the cousins. —I remain, your loving Cousin May. [Dear Cousin May,—l am, of course, delighted to welcome you as a cousin, and hope you will write regularly. 1 know jour place in Queen-street very well and pass the door very often. I wonder if I shall ever see you there? I hope you got the Itadge and note safely. Tell me next week. Cousin Kate.] Dear Cousin Kate, —I am really going to write. 1 would have written before, only I was sick, and when the holidays eame on I seemed to be tired when I came home at nights. I did start to write on Tuesday, only I lost I he run of my letter. When I went in to tea I saw it tacked upon the wall, and of course I pulled it down. My brother- had put it there for everybody to read. With all his faults I want to give him a birthday present. I have given him a book twice now, and 1 don't know what else to give him this time. Could you suggest anything for me, please? He is sixteen this month. Cousin Hastings Senior wanted some silkworms, so I will send some to you and you can |M>st them on if you don’t mind, for I don’t know where he lives. I have only got some eggs, though, not any silkworms now. I will tell you about the silkworms I had last season. There were about one thousand eggs that my brother had. and he did not want all those silkworms, so he said I could have as many as I wanted. Of course, I was very greedy and wanted a lot of silk, so I took about two hundred eggs. At first they were no bother at all, and only ate about two mulberry leaves in four or five hours. But they began to grow and then they needed more food. I had enough food for a little while, but when it began to get scarce I wished 1 had not got any. But for all my wishing it did not make matters better. At last I had to go and ask everybody if they would give me some mulberry leaves for I could not let them starve. After a while some of them began fo spin, and that was a great help. But when they had all spun my troubles began again, for I could not wind the silk fast enough. Somebody lent me a little spinning machine, and eventually I got rid of all my silkworms, and I was very glad, for they had been such a nuisance. I am going to keep some this season, but certainly not quite so many. I went for a drive out to Mangere this afternoon. It was raining very hard, but still I think that made the drive more enjoyable. As we passed the Mangere school I could not help thinking how pretty all those flowers in front of it looked. I am going to enter for that letter writing competition you offered, and 1 think I shall have to carry a little notebook around in my pocket and put down anything I am going to say

in my letter, so that I won’t forget it. Have you ever read “The Last Days of Pompeii?” It is a very nice book. I like “The Last of the Barons,” too. lam just reading “Westward Ho!” and I will tell you what I think of that when I have finished. With much love to yourself and all the other cousins. T will close. T remain, your loving Cousin Beth. [Dear Cousin Beth. —Your long letter is most interesting, and will, I am sure, please all the cousins as much as it did me. T used to keep silkworms long, long ago, but never so many- T will send the eggs on to Cousin Hastings and he will. I am sure, thank you much for them. 1 do so also. It is very, very hard to think of birthday presents. T suppose he has a really good pocketknife. Books are always nice, because one is never exactly like another. It just depends, too, how much you have to spend. If not too late, tell me this, and what sort of things your brother does. I won’t print them, and will answer by post. —Cousin Kate.] Dear Cousin Kate, — I have the pleasure of writing you a few lines again- I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I enjoyed mine very much, although I did not go anywhere for them. Our school begins again tomorrow, and I am sorry, although I never get into any rows at school. I suppose you saw the Contingent leaving Auckland. I did not see them, although I heard there were a crowd of people there. I hope you were able to get a grand view of them. I am going to enter for the competitions. T always like competitions, although I very seldom go in for them. You asked me bow many cows we have milking. Well, we have eighteen- That Is a very few for us, as Other years we have had a great many more. But we are letting our cows go dry, as we are all going to Auckland for a fortnight for our holidays. We ‘have ahjout thirty fowls, and we send away about five dozen eggs a week. We have all kinds of fowls, but I think the Brown Leghorns are the best layers. I must now conclude. — From Cousin Bertha. [Dear Cousin Bertha, —I am glad you are going in for the competitions, for I always look forward to your letters. Please tell me your age next time you write. I want it for the new register. Eighteen cows seems a lot to me, but of course it is different in the country. Milking one after another must be very tiring, I should say. Are your fowls laying well now? Most people’s have stopped now. Eggs are 1/6 a dozen at my grocer’s.—Cousin Kate.]

Dear Cousin Kate, —We cut down two plum trees to-day; we are taking away the branches, which is the worst part of the job- We had Good Friday, Monday and Tuesday for our Easter holidays. We have got two pigeons and a seagull, the pigeons got out the other day. We have also 6 doves; the doves got out on a verywet morning. 1 saw a white thing flying down from a tree, and when

1 saw it plainly 1 saw that It was a dove, and I told my brother, and when he came we saw every one of them. and Norman put on his coat and went and caught them. One o f them went up a tree, and he had to climb up and get it; and we could not find one of them; we hunted al' over the plaee, and at last we found it. so good-bye.—l remain, your affectionate friend, Keith Duthie,

| Dear Cousin Keith, —I was very pleased to see you had commenced writing again. It was lucky you caught all the doves. 1 like fantail pigeons and tumblers very much. The tumblers go up and up and up. and then fall over and over till near the ground. Try and write once every week or so. there is a good chap. I like to get your letters. Cousin Kate.]