and see whether you belong to the ravens or the nightingales.

A NEW WORD-GAME.

But

HERE is something a little out of my line. as the Little School-ma'am hands it in, and begs me to show it to you, I can only say, "Certainly I will!" The little lady says it will amuse you and your elders, in or out of doors, and that it comes to her from a friend of ST. NICHOLAS, Mr. George B. Bartlett.

Here it is; but don't all play it at once, my chicks, or my birds will think there's a battle raging between the crows and the katydids. It is called by a big name, too; but the Little Schoolma'am assures me that it is perfectly harmless. Let me know how you like it, please.

THE nightingale by moonlight clear
So sweetly sang, all came to hear.
The raven said: "I'd like to see
So many listening to me,
And when the nightingale is through
I'll show the world what I can do."
The nightingale was hardly done,
Before the raven had begun,
But as the people heard his lay,
They stopped their ears and ran away.

The raven slowly shook his head;
"O nightingale," he sadly said,
"The difference I can not see,-
They list to you; they run from me.
I wish I knew the reason why!
You sang your song, and so did I."
The nightingale made soft reply:
"Was anybody listening there?

I did not know; I do not care.
My mate is sitting on her nest
To guard the eggs beneath her breast;
As in the thicket she must hide,
She can not see the moon outside.
To her I sing with all my might
The beauty of the glorious night,
And can not tell it half, although
I love it so! I love it so!"

This pretty song-story by Selma W. Paine, a friend of my birds, is as true of people as it is of birds. There are raven-folk and nightingale folk among young and old, Deacon Green says, and you meet them every day, in one way or another.

Think about it, each one of you, dearly beloveds,

MENTAL WORD CULTURE.

At last, by a change of rule and method, the good old game of wordmaking can be played without printed cards or letters, by the summer moonlight or winter fireside. The memory will be greatly strengthened by this new and fascinating amusement, which will also cultivate correct spelling and bring to notice many curious words. Any number of players may join. The first in line mentions any word of two or three letters, and the one who sits next makes another word of it by adding one or more letters. The third player does the same in his turn; and so on, until a word is made to which no one can add; and this completed word belongs to the player who finished it. This player then starts another, which goes on in the same way until finished, and the player who first secures five words wins the game, which is subject to the following rules:

No proper names can be used.

No word can be changed unless at least one letter is added, and the new word is of different meaning from the one before it. No plural or change of tense can be used to make a word. Before starting a new word, the player must call out in order the words he has already secured, which can be taken away at this time by any player who can add to any of them, or combine any of them into other words by adding one or more letters.

If any player discovers an error of spelling in any word given out, he can claim it for his own by giving the correct spelling.

Any player may call on another for the definition of any of his words, and if the spelling be not correct for the word of that meaning, he can claim it, although correctly spelled for another meaning.

No unreasonable delay is permitted, as the player next in turn can play if he has waited three minutes, which he can compute by counting slowly the numbers to one hundred and eighty.

Here are a few specimen words and changes:

Am, ram, ream, cream, scream.

At, cat, cart, cater, canter, decanter.

Wig, twig, twinge.

He, hem, helm, helmet.

WHAT NOISE DOES THE BEAVER MAKE P

SEVERAL months ago, I'm told, ST. NICHOLAS asked you this question, and out of many letters of reply that came, only a few were based on actual observation by the writers. These answers you shall hear now:

Bertha M. S. describes a pet beaver that had been given to a member of her family. She says the noise it made was exactly like the cry of a very young baby in distress.

John T. McS. says, "It's a soft splash, that you hear only once, just as the beaver turns from the dam it is building."

in Urbana, Ohio, writes: "I want to tell you And Edgar G. B., a twelve-year-old boy, living about the noise the beaver makes. He makes it with his tail, in using it as a trowel when he builds his dam. It sounds like clapping your hand on a board or piece of hard earth."

A CRAB-BAROMETER.

WELL, what shall I hear next? This very day, I have heard somebody tell the dear Little Schoolma'am about a kind of crab that is used by the natives of the Chiloe Islands as a natural barometer. It appears that the shell of this sensitive little kicker is nearly white in dry weather, but whenever it is exposed to moisture, little red spots appear. These deepen and thicken according to the degree of dampness to which the shell is exposed, until finally, in the rainy season, it becomes red all over.

Have any of you been to the Chiloe Islands, and have you ever seen this particular sort of crab? Is it a land-crab? I suppose it is; for a water-crab, sensitive to dampness, would n't make a very satisfactory barometer, I fancy. Or is it only a sort of posthumous crab, whose real life of usefulness, so to speak, begins after his death? Who knows?

WHY TUMBLER.

VINCENTOWN, July 2d. DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I think I have found an answer to your July question: Certain drinking-vessels, one or two centuries ago, were called tumblers, because they had a pointed or round base, and could not be set down with any liquor in them, thus compelling the drinker to finish his measure. Hoping this may be the correct answer, I remain your constant reader, EMMA CARMAN.

Other young friends write that, according to some dictionaries, a tumbler is a drinking-vessel without

a foot; and one grown-up correspondent, curiously enough, says that a tumbler should be called stumbler, for it takes its name from the word stumble, as it is "a glass without a foot," which could only be set down empty, as it was sure to spill any fluid left in it.

A little maiden of Birmingham, England, after explaining that tumblers originally were made pointed, so writes:

"I really think that ST. NICHOLAS is the nicest magazine that was ever printed. Miss Alcott deserves a vote of thanks for her delightful Spinning-wheel Stories.' I am also very much interested in Historic Boys, and was so pleased to see our Prince Harry of Monmouth among the number.

"I have in preparation a salt tumbler' (such as you described in July), and I hope it will turn out a success.

"I do not see many letters from English girls, but several of my little friends take your beautiful magazine, and love it dearly. "Now, good-bye. With love to Deacon Green' and the Little School-ma'am,' I am, your little friend, "ADA."

THOSE AGED ANIMALS!

THERE, our time is up for this month, and I have not shown you, as I intended to do, more of the many interesting letters that have been coming in ever since I asked for facts from personal knowledge about the ages of horses and dogs. But you shall see them some time; and, by the way, here is something quite appropriate: