Morris tribune., 1882-09-21
CHATTER FOR CHILDREN.
Rainy DAYS.

Rainy Days.
Since began to tell you what to do, have
spent an evening in room that you would all
like to see.
The owner lives out of doors in the summer,
and has canoe that he keeps in this room in
winter.
Around tho walls are horns Of deer, pictures
of fsh, poles and lines, a collection of stones,
such as l shall perhaps tell you how to make
when you are little older, head of beaver,
with long, brown teeth, stuffed birds and
many other things that would please you all.
On one Of the walls hangs little gilt frame,
with some pressed flowers under glass;
When the owner of the pretty room was not
much older than you he began to collect and
press flowers from the garden.
Then when he was growing up he used to
stuff birds.
At about the came time the war that you
have heard Of began, and he cut from the
newspapers everything that he could find
about it for four years, and made scrap-books.
He has kept, too, wha tever he saw i'll the pa
pers about anv famous man, like Gen. Grant or
Gen. Garfield.
Now, perhaps, you can begin this summer to
make in rainy days scrap-book that will be
always useful.
You can't all read very well, but if you see
anything about flowers, or birds, or strange
animals, spell it out and keep it if no one else
wants it.
You may find pictures of animals or flowers
lOF your DOOh. LII lew mOQtnS you Will Dc
surprised to see how many cuttings you have.
You may not need them all. but look them
over and decide what you will keep Then
paste them into book some rainy afternoon
when you don't know what to do, when you
can't go out of doors, and it is too hot to make
melasses candy.
Before long you will have book all your
own, like nobody else, that will be useful to
you all your life.
If anybody asks you what you want at
Christmas, perhaps you will say. ga book for
next summer about flowers or insects or the
seashore."
There is very good one, The Young Folks
Encyclopedias of Common Things, that will
help you great deal, and the older you grow
the better you will like it
Another, Ocean Wonders, will tell you Of
many things on the seashore of which 1 have
not spoken.
You will find in such books pictures of what
ever you pick up in your walks
If you are away from bouks you must use
your eyes all you can. A very good way
to spend rainy morning is to look at the
things that you have collected and see how
the birds nests are made, into how many parts
the insects bodies are divided, whether .
caterpillar has more or fewer divisions than
butterfly, or the difference between 3 rose
and lily.
Perhaps somebody will tell you the names
of the part of flower, just what an insect is,
or teach you something about shells.
Ii
door things, go on using your own eyes, and
you Will learn more than if you had only books,
| and no real things to study.
have seen little room that a boy had for his
own use. He had put up some neat shelves
for tho 200 or 800 birds that he had stuffed.
The lowest shelf. just above the floor, was
covered with sand, aud on it he had placed Q
turtle, star fish, some fishes eggs and shells
The birds were arranged above. come with
spread wings and nests, others with their wings
tightly pressed to their sides, to take up as lit
tie room as possible.
On the other side of the room were great
boxes of eggs, such as you are not old enough
to collect without hurting nests and treating
birds cruelty.
Just below the eggs were. pieces of many
different kinds of wood, all of the same size,
and large book of pressed plants
The boy who owned them all had learned to
draw pictures of birds and to paint them after
ward, although he had had no drawing master
in school, as many of you have
Perhaps if you begin to make your collec-
tons this summer, in few yea rslyou will have
as many things as he has.
Even if you have, at the end of vacation, only
three or four butterflies, few leaves and o
piece or two of dry moss, you will be ready to
try again next year to get something really
worth keeping aud to take good care of it