Cousin Kate’s Correspondents.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 26, 26 June 1912, Page 57

Cousin Kate’s Correspondents.

TO OCR YOUNG READERS. Our young readers are cordially Ca. cited to enter our wide circle of Cousins, by writing to COUSIN KATE, " The Weekly Graphic," Shortland Street, Auckland. Cousin Kate is particularly desirous that those boys and girls who write should tell her whatever it interests them to tell, about their games, their pets, their holidays, or their studies. Their letters and Cousin Kate’s replies will appear in the “ Weekly Graphic,” on the Children’s Pages. All Cousins under the age of fourteen are accounted Junior Cousins, ail above that age Senior Cousins. Cousins may continue writing until quite grown up, and after, if they wish to do so; for we are proud to number among our Cousins tome who have passed out of their teens. A Badge icill be sent to each new Cousin on the receipt of an addressed envelope. LETTERS AND REPLIES. Rockville. /TX EAR COUSIN KATE,—I hope you I A will forgive me for not writing I ■ for so long, but I have had no _l f time. We have had a good deal fA / of wet weather lately, and the X— S roads are very muddy, so I am very glad that *we have not far to go to school. I am in the third standard at school, and will be 12 years of age on July 6 next. 1 have a pretty little doll; she has blue eyes and golden curls. Will you give me a name for her? I am reading a book called “Anne Hereford,” toy Mrs Henry Wood. I fthink it a very nice book. My favourite books are “East Dynne,** by Mrs Henry Wood, and “Pickwick Papers,’* by Charles Dickens. Have you ever read them? I have a box of paints, and like nothing (better than to get a piece of board or paper and paint on it. My sister has some crayons tout I like the paints best. I will end with e riddle. Why is an illiterate schoolmaster like a man with his eyes shut? —Cousin IR T S. (Dear Cousin Iris,—l am very pleased to hear from you again. Have you far to walk to school? I think a good name for your pretty dolly would toe Bluebelle. You surely- are a very little girl to have read “Pickwick Papers.’' I think it is a very deflightful book; a great contrast to “East Lynne, which one has to be very young to enjoy.- I can’t guess the riddle.—Cousin Kate.] 4- * * Ohaupo. Dear Cousin Kate,—l am just writing a few lines again. My brother is starting to learn music. There are such a lot of people about here with the mumps and influenza. We had our term examination last week. I am going to enter at the show for (two things: writing and sewing.—From DEDCTE. [Dear Cousin Delcie, —I was pleased to get your little letter. I hope you don’t get either mumps or influenza, both horrid (things. What show are you going to enter for?—Coufini Kate.] 4? * *TA - 1 Dannevirke. Dear Cousin Kate, —Will you excuse me toeing ®o long in writing, as wc have a big anilk run in iMnnevirke, and besides 1 have to go to school every day, I have only nniissed one day so far. At our school we have got a good hockey team, and I am one of the head ones of the team. I am (learning painting, and I have done three mice pictures. We have had our exam., find 1. think I have passed in everything except geography. I forgot it was your birthday on the 7th of May. It is mine on the sth of June, and I will be 14 years. Where is Uncle Mun and Dot now? I am fin ( the sixth standard, and in our exam, we had to write a composition on the titanic., Wasn’t it nn awful accident? On Saturday night at Dannevirke there was a man run over by the 8 o’clock train, his IJI au d being cut off.—Cousin I Dear Cousin Lily,—l am gind to hear from you at any time. 1 know you miw*t be a very busy cousin, and you must be working bard at You are a senior cousin now. What a dreadful accident. J’here was an account of such a sad accident to a school boy who had tooth hla Jirmo cut off; so dreadful, I think; poor Uncle Mun and Dot ©“uted for a time.—Cousin Kale.]

FOR THE YOUNG FOLK. THE FRIEND OF THE BIRDS. “Oh! There’s - a horrid boy peeping into the hedge! He will tear out our nest. Whatever shall we do!” So exclaimed a mother-thrush as she sat hatching her eggs. “Do not be afraid, iny dear,” said the father-thrush; “this little boy will do us no harm. He goes about the woods and hedges watching all the nests to see how we build them, and what colour our eggs are. You might just let him have a look.

So the mother-thrush, very glad there

was no cause for alarm, hopped upon a branch above the mud-lined nest, while Florian pushed his way into the bush and. counted five large blue eggs.

One by one all the birds got to know Florian, and were not afraid of him. They found that they need not wait till he had gone away, but could fly to and from their nests while he was near, and go on with their building or bringing food to the young birds. So, of course, Florian was able to find many more nests than boys do who make the birds afraid. He could watch the wren popping in and out of her ball-of a-nest made of dead leaves and moss. It amused him to see the plump little bird go through the

tiny doorway of her house. As he sat under a bramble bush he could see the white-throat lining her pretty home with horse-hair. In the orchard he watched the chaffinch fixing lichens all over the outside of her nest, so that it should look like the trunk of the apple tree. And up on the hills the lapwing found that she need not pretend to be lame, aud' limp off to some other place to draw Florian away from where her eggs lay in a rut on the field.

Florian was able to persuade many of the other children not to harm nests; and all the birds in the district became much more happy, and called Florian the Friend of the Birds.

It was winter time, and the birds had hard work to find enough food, searching along the sheltered valley and by the stream. When the ground was not frozen they could still get worms and grubs; and there were, a few berries on the hedges here and there—.but they took a lot of finding. One cold and cloudy day, while all the birds were specially busy hunting for food, a skylark came flying

through the valley with the message that the Friend of the Birds was lost on the Downs.

Florian had been wandering high up in lonely places far away from bouses and roads. < When it began to get dark he turned to go home, but he found that he did not in the least know .which way to go. All the hilltops looked alike. Then the wind blew harder, and down came the snow. Soon the Downs were quite covered with white, and he could not have seen a path even if- he had come.to one. For a long time he hurried on, thio way and that; but it was of no use. At length he was tired out, and very cold. So he lay down in the shelter

of m large boulder, and was airaid hi was going to die.

As he lay there one of the larks who knew him saw him, and this was the bird who carried the message down the valley. And from every field and hedge and wood all the birds flocked together and flew off to the rescue of their kindly friend. There were thousands and thousands of them, and when they got to the Boulder up on the Downs where poor Florian was just shivering, every bird, big and little, plucked of! some of its feathers and spread them over him. Soon he was quite covered, except his face, with the warm, downy covering. Quite comfortable, he thanked the great flock of birds, and sent them off to roost in places sheltered from the snow. Then he fell asleep. Early next morning his father found him, safe and snug; and when they got back to their cottage how happy everyone was! And more than ever after that wonderful adventure Florian wes the Friend of the Birds.

THE LITTLE BROWN CRAB. A little brown crab was running up and down on the shore. The tide wi.a out, and the sand was hard and firm. “It's splendid,” said the little crab, and he tried how fast he could run from tto pool where he lived to the big white stone and back again. “■Better and better,” he said to himself as he scrambled back into the pool, and buried himself in the. damp sand. “Now if any of those Humans called Boys come along I shall be able to get away before they can catch me. I don't believe even a Human could run faster than I did just now. The Red Rock

says that lots of them come about in the Hummer. Well, let them eorae. I’m ready for them.’’

Next day Dick arrived at Weston for the holidays. It was a tiny little place, where very few people came. So when Diek took oil’ his shoes to paddle he thought it was quite safe to leave them on the shore. He put them neatly together, elose to the white stone, and then lie splashed into the water. By-and-'by the little erab came out and set off for his usual run. lite did it even faster than the day before, but when he got to the white stone he stood still at the sight of Dick’s shoes. Whatever were they? Were they alive? And if so. " hat kind of creatures could they be?

He walked round them, trving to find out as much as he could. They did not move, so he began to get bolder. He

climbed on to the outside of one, then he walked up it, till suddenly he tumbled inside. This gave him a bad fright, but, ’once there, he meant to go on, and he went in further.

"It’s a eave,’’ he said. “A great, big, dark eave! What a pity the bottom isn’t sandy! It would do so nicely for me to live in.”

He had got as far as the toe, and he. •was thinking of turning back when he felt the eave swing in the air. Dick had come back, and caught up his shoes by the laces.

“Oh, dear," thought the little erab. “Whatever has happened?” and he peeped out.

Dick did not see him, and so they went on till they were by the pool. Here Dick stopped. He washed the sand off his feet, and them he tried to pull on hie shoe.

This was too much for the little erab, and he rushed out. Diek let his shoe drop, and the little crab darted into the pool. Diek iried hard to catch him, but the little erab was too quick. Under the damp sand he went, far out of reach. • Not till Dick had put on his shoes and gone off did the little erab dare to come out again, and even then it was a long time before he left the poo). One fright like this was enough for a lifetime, and he made up his mind he would never again go into strange caves.