HERE comes the summer, brimful of flowers and birds and child-folk! And I never felt better in my life. What a world of joy it is!

Well, what shall we begin with this time? I know. You all have slates, and slate-pencils? You have. How pleasant it is to hear a hundred thousand youngsters reply so promptly! And where did these slates and pencils come from?

You bought them, eh? I do not doubt that. But where did they come from originally?

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Oho! Jack can not hear a hundred thousand clear voices this time. There is a mumbled confusion of sounds such as don't know; " "out of the ground;""slate; " "made out of clay; never heard any one say, sir; " but no definite answer. Let your Jack hear from you by letter, one at a time, please. Any day that astonishing Little School-ma'am may ask us where slatepencils come from, and we may as well all be ready with an answer.

Now for

FACTS FROM PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE.

You all may remember that your Jack asked in April if any of you ever had known of a dog over fourteen years of age, or of a horse older than thirty years, a mule older than fifty, or a sheep past nine summers. The Little School-ma'am and I had been informed that these respective ages had sometimes been exceeded, but we were not sure of it, and so we asked for information based on personal knowledge. The deacon, too, wished to get some definite facts on these points.

Many replies have come, and your Jack hereby thanks the writers most truly. Apart from the kindness and painstaking they show, these letters have a practical value; for they answer questions that are often asked by others besides the deacon,

A SCOTCH COLLIE 17 YEARS OLD.

MANCHESTER, Vt. DEAR JACK: In answer to your inquiries relative to the age of animals, I would say that we have a full-blood Scotch collie that will be seventeen (17) years old the coming June. I base my knowledge on my always having known him, and that our ages have always been called the same. I would add that Mr. Slap, as we call him, is hale and healthy. Truly yours,

A MONGREL 16 YEARS OLD.

N. M. C.

PROVIDENCE, R. I. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Mr. Charles H. Collamore, of Warren, R. I., many years ago possessed a spots, which went by the name of Squint. He had small short-legged mongrel dog, white, with yellow raised it from puppyhood; in fact, it was born on his premises and died there. I remember to have seen it myself in its old age. When it died, the local paper deemed the event worthy to be celebrated in verse. The cause of its death was purely old age.

I knew it to have been very, very old; but was not sure of its exact age at the time of its decease. So, yesterday I obtained from Mr. Collamore the necessary information:

Squint died aged 16 years, 4 months, and 10 days.
Yours truly,
GEORGE L. COOKE, JR.

A TERRIER 19 YEARS OLD.

PROVIDENCE, R. I. DEAR JACK: In reply to your query in the April ST. NICHOLAS, here is an instance that I can vouch for: The Rev. S. Brenton Shaw, 142 Broadway, of this city, has in his possession a brown Russian terrier 19 years old. Mrs. Shaw chops his food, and in other ways provides for the animal's comfort. The dog suffers no inconvenience, apparently, from his extreme old age. Mrs. Shaw will not have the dog destroyed. S. F. BLANDIN,

Office Chief Police, City Hall.

P. S.-I take the licenses for dogs in the office of the Chief of Police. I will make some inquiries of dog owners, as they come for their licenses. I license between three and four thousand.

B.

A BLACK-AND-TAN OVER 18 YEARS OLD.
WASHINGTON, D. C.

DEAR JACK: Our next-door neighbor has a dog that was 18 years of age last August. There is no doubt about his age, because he was born in Mr. Morrison's own

house. The name of the dog is Sport. Sport was shot once, and he carried the ball two years, when a gentleman lanced the place and took the ball out. There still remains a lump on Sport's side where the bullet went into his body, though it does not hurt him now. He is a black-and-tan. All the spots that were tan-color are now gray, except the feet, and they are growing gray. Notwithstanding his great age, Sport is still quite active and playful.

I have heard that General Washington's war-horse lived to the age of thirty-six years. When we were in Wisconsin, papa knew of two horses, one twenty-eight years of age and the other twenty-nine, whose owner occasionally drove them to Galena, Ill., a distance of fifty miles, and returned the next day; and he told papa that when he turned them loose into pasture, they would frolic like young colts. My great-grandmother had a horse that lived over thirty-five years. I am ten years HERBERT V. PURMAN.

old.

Yours truly,

A HORSE 33 YEARS OLD.

CLOSTER, N. J. MR. JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: We had an old family horse that my father had used twenty-eight years. The horse was five years old when purchased, in 1855. This animal died last August, aged thirty-three years and four months, to the regret and grief of us all, having been remarkable for his intelligence and speed up to the last few months of his existence. Alas, poor Meteor," for he seemed like one of the family! How we missed his familiar neigh when we went in the stable! Father had taught this horse to perform a splendid trick act—he would take a flag in his mouth and wave it and trot around waving it, then he would take a snap whip, and when father was running from him, would try to whip him when he got within a few feet. Meteor would get down and pull father's boot off, as much as to say: "You can not go to bed with your boots on." Then the horse would lie perfectly still while the whip was snapped and switched violently over him, and not get up till he was told his oats were ready for him, when he would spring to his feet and shake his head up and down to express his satisfaction. Then he would stand on a box about a foot and a half high and turn around to the right and left, holding one foot up extended, and change his feet when he reversed the movement. He also would keep time to music. We drove him out every day for exercise, and he would trot real fast for a short distance and then subside into a walk. In conclusion, I would state that I have driven this horse since I was eight years old, being at times all alone in the carriage. J. T.

ANOTHER HORSE 33 YEARS OLD; AND CAT 14 YEARS OLD. WASHINGTON, D. C. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: My grandfather owned two horses, one of which lived to be thirty, the other thirty-three years of age. I also owned a cat which lived to the age of fourteen. Although I never heard of a dog as old as that, I thought that I would write and tell you what I know personally concerning "the ages of animals." Yours, MARY R. CHURCH.

jump a three-rail fence, and seemed to enjoy her dust bath as much as her son Harry does. He is twentyone,- just eight years older than I. The Moorestown Chronicle had a paragraph lately referring to old Nelly:

Jonathan Pettit is the owner of a Mayday mare which has arrived at the respectable age of thirty-eight years, twenty-two of which have been spent while in his possession. Though not so spry as she used to be, the animal did plenty of good hard work only last summer, but is used now only as a carriage horse.

I have heard that there is a white mule, now being taken care of at one of our army posts in Texas, which served through the Mexican War, and is now a pensioner of the U. S. Government. Is it true? Faithfully yours,

A MARE 40 YEARS OLD.

JENNY H. M.

NEAR BOUND BROOK, N. J. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: Seeing in the ST. NICHOLAS that you wanted to hear about a horse over thirty, or a dog over fourteen, I will write you of both. We have here at our home a mare which is forty years old. She was bought when she was three years old, for my uncle to ride when he was a little boy. She has been in the family thirty-seven years. She is too old now to ride, but I drive her. I will be happy to show her to any one who would like to see her. My father owned a dog that lived to be fourteen. It was born in his printing-ink factory in 1855 and died there in 1872. Your young reader, GEORGE MATHER.

A MULE 63 YEARS OLD.

NEWARK, N. J. DEAR JACK: The late Professor Mapes had on his farm, in New Jersey, a mule named Kitty,— a hardy, willing worker,-famous throughout the neighborhood for having gone beyond her fiftieth year, and for being quite able to compete with mules not half that age. Kitty Mule, as we called her, lived to be sixty-three years old, and she was in working order up to within one week of her death. Her history was well known. I saw her daily for twenty-seven years. P. T. Q.

A HORSE 37 YEARS OLD.

NEWTON, Iowa.

DEAR JACK: I can tell you about a horse that lived to be thirty-seven years old! He was owned by a Mr. Steele, in Derby, Vt. When he was about thirty years old, Mr. Steele gave him to a gentleman in Barton, Vt., requiring him to sign a contract that he should be well kept and kindly cared for while he lived, and when he died should be well buried in a coffin made of two-inch pine plank. A few years after another friend of the fine old horse took him to Glover, Vt., to live with him, and, according to contract, took the best of care of him; giving him hay-tea to drink and pudding and milk to eat. One day he received a visit from another friend, who, thinking (perhaps) that a change of air would be pleas

ant for the old fellow, took him home with him to Northfield, Vt., where he soon after died, aged thirty-seven years, several months, and some days. His beautiful dark bay coat was taken off, made to look as natural as life, and placed in the Museum at the Capitol in Montpelier. He and all his family were noted for their beauty, lofty style, and great intelligence. My papa has owned several of them, and we have a picture of one. I have taken the ST. NICHOLAS since I was ten years old, am now thirteen, and think, with ST. NICHOLAS to read and a good horse to ride, a boy ought to be all right. Your friend, FRED K. EMERSON.