CHILDREN’S PAGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue II, 12 July 1902, Page 119

CHILDREN’S PAGE.

Cousins’ Badges.

Cousins requiring badges are requested to send an addressed envelope, when the badge will be forwarded by return mail. •fc + + COUSINS’ CORRESPONDENCE. Dear Cousin Kate, —I really feel dreadfully ashamed of myself for not writing before, but what with music and home lessons my time is quite occupied. As it happens to-night my lessons are not so many as usual, so I have time to write you a fairly long letter. I had lovely fun at school this last week. A chum and myself are going to get a camera, if we can afford it, and take snapshots of the teachers. The other day we had for a composition a sermon on “Life is but an empty dream.” ■ It nearly took our breath away, but we got through it somehow’. I went to the World’s Entertainers on Wednesday. I thought the Musical Burglar was lovely. Did you happen to go? The girls all think I’m small-minded because I didn’t like the dancing. School girls seem mad on riddles lately. I’ll give you one for the cousins at the end of my letter. I was going to Mr Maughan Barnett’s concert, but it was so wet mother would not let me go. Cousin Kate, when are you going to announce the names of the winners who went in for “What we are going to be when we are grown up” ? I didn’t go in for it, but Cousin Aileen did. Do you know, Cousin Kate, that I had seven letters to write yesterday, but instead of doing it I went out for the whole of the afternoon, and they are still worrying my mind. Ping-pong seems to have taken hold of Wellington completely; every one is mad on it. We have got the wooden racquets now. I like them far better, though they do not make a pretty sound. On wet afternoons in the winter we are going straight on from one till two, or half-past, and then we will have the rest of the afternoon free. It will be- rather nice, but I wish they would do it on fine afternoons, too. Well, I’ll give you the riddle now. What is the difference between a thought and a donkey? Perhaps some of the cousins will know it. I must really stop now, and I hope you will forgive me for not writing before, and I’ll endeavour to be a better correspondent.—From Cousin Zaidee. [Dear Cousin Zaidee,—This letter has only just turned np. It has no date on, but was evidently written some time ago, as the World’s Entertainers are now in Auckland. I agree with you about the dancing. It is a little too much, I think. Thank you for the riddle. Send me the answer to it noon, will you.—Cousin Kate.] , u

Dear Cousin Kate, —You will think I have forgotten you, but I have not. Were you not sorry to hear of the King’s illness. There was going to be a great turn-out here in Picton; there were seven arches. We have been having lovely weather, have you ? I have got a cold. Please, will you send me a 'badge, as I have never had one? I am so glad the war is over; some of the soldiers returned last night. There were a good many letters in the “Graphic” printed for June 28th. I have had toothache for about a week. Have you ever had it? I have just come home from Sunday school. I must finish off now, with love to you and all the other cousins.—From Cousin Rosie. [Dear Cousin Rosie, —You have never sent me your full name and address, so I have not yet been able to send the badge. The best way is to send a stamped envelope; then I pop the badge in, and the letter goes back by the very next post. I am so glad the King is getting better so quickly. We shall be able to have the Coronation ceremonies soon, after all, I hope. Indeed, I have had toothache, and can feel for you.— Cousin Kate.] •fr + ♦ Dear Cousin Kate,- —What a lot of cousins seem to live in New Plymouth. It must be very niee to live near each other. I don’t know any of the present girl cousins, but one of the old cousins. I cannot go away for my holiday just now, for a cousin of mine, whom I have not seen for six years, is coming out from England. She has been staying in Sydney for a good while, and she cannot stay with us very long as she has to be back in England by October. I had my examination the other day, and I am not quite sure when I will get the result, but I think in September, too. Do you ever wish you were back at school, Cousin Kate, for I ean assure you I am heartily sick of it. I am always getting into rows, and if there is ever anything the matter I usually get the punishment for it. I don't always think the teachers are quite fair sometimes. Have you ever read “Black Rock” and “Glengarry,” by Ralph Connor ? They have not been published long; but I think they are splendid books. Do you like pingpong? I did at first, but now wherever you go there is ping-pong. I like table croquet a great deal better, and only wish people would play it. How very regularly Cousin Alison .writes. I don’t think she has missed once. What a great loss this postponing of the Coronation will be. I think it seems such a pity the King is ill, and hope the Gipsy’s words will not come true. I will close now, with love to yourself and the other cousins.—Cousin Kate. P.S.—I am awfully sorry you so object to putting your photo in the “Graphic.” But I hope I will see you some day. [Dear Cousin, —You have made a mistake, and absent-mindedly signed yourself Cousin Kate, and I have been raking my brains to remember which of my many cousins you are. It is curious that there happens to be nothing in this special letter to remind me. I don't think I long for my school days much, but would love the years from 18 to 25 over again. I have not seen table croquet, but think it may be very good fun. Tell me how you play.—Cousin Kate.] * ♦ * Dear Cousin Kate, —We are all glad to bear the King is getting better, and hope he will soon be well enough for the Coronation to proceed. Our school treat was postponed for one

day to see if the King was getting better, and so we had it on Friday, instead of Thursday, but, of course, it was not the same. We did not decorate the hall. We just met and had tea and some games. There was a nice lot of cakes and tarts, which we had for our tea, and after that we had a lot of different games until it was time for supper, when we had the same, only a lot of oranges, and after that we had some more games until it was time to go home. We are going to have the real Coronation treat when the King is crowned. I was rather amused at Cousin Clare asking you if you were a man or a woman. Well, you can take it from me, Cousin Clare, Cousin Kate is a lady, and a very nice one, too. I have met her, so I ought to know. Cousin Kate objects to havq her photograph in the “Graphic.” I will Udi you what she is like. She is tall, fair, and her age—well, I could not guess that, but she is quite young.. Dear Cousin Kate, I am going to tell you about a very sad accident that happened here last Thursday night, that day which was to have been Coronation Day. In the evening there'was a ball in the hall, and one young man that was going home lived over at the other side of the harbour. He was walking down the wharf to get into his boat, when, all at once, he thought he was at. the end of the rail, and that the steps were close by, but he was mistaken, and instead of putting his foot on the steps he went clean over the w’harf and hit the side of the steps, and then bounced into his boat, some little distance away. When he was picked up he was found to be terribly cut about. He was taken at once to the hotel, and on Sunday he was taken away to the hospital in a schooner. On one side he is completely. paralysed, and can’t move his legs, and his head and shoulder is very much cut. The weather is keeping lovely we had a few showers today, but nothing to speak of. We are having our mid-winter holidays now. Good-bye, Cousin Kate.—Your loving Cousin Ila. [Dear Cousin Ila, —What a dreadful accident that was. Your letters are always most interesting, and I quite look forward to getting them. I hope all the cousins will not stop writing directly the competition closes. Of course, I don’t expect a letter every week of the year, but it makes it much nicer if they write a little regularly.—Cousin Kate.] + + + i)ear Cousin Knte, —Please let me know in your answer to my letter who won the prize for the competition for the most regular cousin. We were very sorry to hear that King Edward VII. was ill. We all went to Rawene on the 26th of last month, and enjoyed ourselves very much. There was another Maori got htirt at the Koutu mill to-day. I suppose it will be a long time before the Coronation comes off. When are there going to be any more puzzles in the “New Zealand Graphic?” We are having very good weather here now. Now I must close thia short note.— With love to yourself and all the rest of the cousina, I remain, yours truly, Cousin Newton. [Dear Cousin Newton, —The competition is not yet closed. Cousin Alison, Cousin Ila and you are all very regular, and so has Cousin Ruth

been. I am trying to gat some puzzles now, but have ta wait for the answers.—Cousin Kate.] ♦ ♦ ♦ Dear Cousin Kate, — How cold the weather is getting now, isn’t it? Have you had any frosts in Auckland yet? W’e have had several, and last Saturday we had a shower of hail. There was hot very much, but the hailstones were pretty big, and it was horribly cold, too. We always have a lot more rain up here than there is in Auckland. I think boeauae it comes up all along the hills. Isn’t it a great pity the King is so ill, and what a lot of preparations for the Coronation will be upset by it too. The Ohaeawui school children were going to have some, entertainments to celebrate Coronation Ilay. and so not to disappoint them they were changed into peace celebrations There was dinner given them in the hall, and afterwards they ran races for prizes. Then they had tea, and after that there were fireworks, all sorts of games, and music and singing, ending up with supper, and they all enjoyed themselves immensely. 1 ran in one of the races and got second prize, which was a box of blocks for building a house with. I must stop now.—With love to you and all the cousins, I remain. Cousin Nellie. [Dear Cousin Nellie, —I am glad the children up your way were not disappointed. There is good news about the King every day now. 1 hope it will keep up and then we may soon have real Coronation rejoicings after all.—Cousin Kate.] + tr + Dear Cousin Kate, —-I am very sorry that I could not continue writing, but you know my cause. As the exam, is over now, 1 will try and write regularly. 1 was very sorry I could not try for the last puzzle, as I was on the Thames at my theory. We are having very bad weather lately. It was very disappointing at the postponing of the Coronation. It was very pleasing to hear that peace was proclaimed. I am very pleased with that book, “Vera’s Trust”; it is most interesting. 1 just finished reading it the other day, so 1 am going to put it away to remind me of you. We have got a set of ping-pong. I think it is a very nice game for the wihter. I suppose you go to plenty of pingpong parties. There is another new game just out. I suppose you can play it. I forget the name of it, but it is not unlike ping-pong. 1 will not know till September whether I have passed my exam. AH the school children of this village hud bags of cakes and lollies sent down from the Thames. The schoolmaster sent one to me. I see by this week’s “Graplnc” that there are a great number of new cousins. Now I must conclude, with love to you and all the cousins. — I remain, your loving cousin, Millie. [Dear Cousin Millie, —I do hope you have passed the exam. I am sure you deserved to do so, for you certainly worked very, very hard. It was very pleasant to hear from you again, and I hope now you have more time often to have a letter from you.—Cousin Kate.] ♦ + + Dear Cousin Kate, —We have not got our “Graphic” yet. so as I am trying for the regular cousin, I do not want to miss. How cold it is now in the mornings. It is winter now, all right. I have not been to any picnics or parties for a good while, so I have no news to tell you. I am going to a social in a fortnight, and I hope to be able to tell you about it. The competition ends ou the 15th July, does it not? That is not very far off. Has any cousin won the prize for the best letter on “What 1 should like to be when I grow up”? Well, dear Cousin Kate, I must close now, as it is time this was posted.— I remain, your loving cousin, Ruth. [Dear Cousin Ruth, —I explained in the “Graphic” some time ago that so very few (only two or three altogether) answered the competition about "What I would like to be when I grow up,” so that it was impossible to give a prize. Perhaps I will try it again sometime, and the cousins wiV answer better.—Cousin Kate.]

Dear Cousin Kate, —What terrible news we had about the King. I hope he will soon get better. I could hardly believe it, when I saw it in the “Star.” One of my pigeons did the yery same thing as one of the cousins’ —it fell down the chimney, and we did not find it till about three or four days after, and then, when we did, the poor little thing was nearly dead. I do not play ping-pong very much, hut I like it very much. I won’t know whether 1 have passed my examination till September, and that seems such a long time to wait. The windows down town look lovely, all decorated up, but I suppose they will all have to be taken down. I am very fond of reading fairy tales. I have the Yellow, Pink, and Grey Fairy Books. There are a lot of new cousins, are there not? Have you heard the new German band that plays in the streets here? I think they play beautifully; it is a pleasure to sit and listen to them. I must conclude now. —With love from Cousin Mary. P.S. —Do you collect post-cards?

[Dear Cousin Mary,—No, 1 do not collect post-cards. Do you, and if so, what do you do with them? Is it the same as stamp collecting? I took some children down to see the circus last Saturday. They did like it so much. How sad about your pigeon. Did you save its life after ail? It seems an awfully long- time to wait till September. Quite a lot of cousins were up for the same musie exam., were they not?—Cousin Kate.]

Dear Cousin Kate, —What a sad week this has been, and the King’s illness makes it sadder. It did seem dreadful that the Coronation had to be put oft, because people did not think the King was so ill. I haven’t read any of the books you spqjre of in your last letter, or even heard of them. Tam reading “Through Darkness to Dawn."’ It is about Nero's time, and the early Christians. I suppose you have read it, though. What do the cousins mean about the cot, Cousin Kate? I would like to have a

collecting-card, too, when they are ready, but I don’t know what it is for. I went to a party last night, and had some good fun. The girls were all from our school, so we knew each other, and we played all kinds of games, ping-pong included. We just played anything we liked, and had a really good time (also supper). Don't you think it would be nice to have a motto, or do you think most of the cousins are too young yet to understand one? I wonder how many cousins like gardening. I am fond of it, and sometimes some of the schoolgirls give me plants, or slips of different things. One promised me some white forget-me-not, but although I gave her a slip of paper telling her to remember them written on it, which -she put in her book, she always forgot. At last she did really bring them, so I put them in a cool place, and, of course, forgot to take them home. The next day was Saturday, but it was too wet to go for them, and I am hoping they won’t be quite dead on Monday. I used to have a vegetable garden, but nothing would grow except broad beans, so I had to give it up, although I sold the beans to mother for threepence a dish, and might have made my fortune in time. We are thinking of getting up a school magazine, and everyone who will is to contribute something- to it by half-term. I am sure there is nothing 1 can do for it, hut it will bo grand if we get anything worth printing. I have plenty of spare time to write a long letter in, but nothing to say, so will have to stop now.—With love from Cousin Alison.

[Dear Cousin Alison,—l will tell you about our new arrangements for the cot very soon, and when they are complete I will certainly send you a card. At present I do not wish to collect more money, but presently may want a lot. I am very fond of gardening, but get so little time now•days. Forget-me-not grows very easily, so I expect yours will live.— Cousin Kate.)