Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-24
THE FIRST DAY

your nTSL udy at SCHOOls Coh
IL you recall how hard it was not
to speak out loud whenever the thought
occurred to you, how long the morning
was, and how uncomfortable the seats?
Perhaps some of you started in the de-
lightful kindergartens which are now
so easy an introduction to the routine
of school life and consequently cannot
remember much of those eventful first
days.
But there is some one first day
which you all remember, I am sure.
Possibly it was when you first saw
the ocean and stood for long minutes
gazing at the great Pacific and then
made haste to get your shoes and
stockings off that you might wade in
and feel The waves against your flesh.
Then there were those first days on
the farm, getting acquainted with the
cows, and the pigs, and all the chick
ems, and turkeys, and other delightful
members of the barnyard family. If
YOU are to write about the first day at
grandmas you will recall the many
quaint old-fashioned pieces of fur
nlIuTe,
the middle of which one wanted to
Jump kerflop, and the curious woven
and braided rugs which were all about
on the floor. There were wonderful
quilts, too, of pieces of silk, and 9TH
ers made from dresses mother wore
when she was little girl. These and
many more things are memories of our
that every member of The Herald
Junior band can recall some particu-
larly important first day which he or
she will be glad to tell about for the
entertainment of the rest of the Ju-
niors.
want to hear about a great many
of these first days, and 1 wish that
every boy or girl who has ever had
letter published in the Junior would
write me something on this topic, for 1t
is an easy subject, with thousand
stories that can be told.
Many of the Junior boys and girls
have one idea concerning these let
ters and stories to me which I must
try to explain away. They think that
the entire article must be written upon
one page. The idea is that only one
side of each page may be used, but
there is no limit to the number OF
pages.
1t is the number of words alone
which count.
It is not quite clear to me why you
all take great pains with your let
ters, and then when you start on an
unfinished story just throw it to-
gether any how, with such slap-dash
speed that it comes here to me look
ing as though the pen and ink had
written it of their own accord, with
no regard for the fact that it must be
read by some one eventually.
suppose that several of the boys
and girls will miss their stories from
the paper today and wonder why
well. the waste-paper basket could tell
them the reason, and there will be
more in the same place next week un-
less there is a decided Improvement in
the work.
I am glad to help those who are III
experienced, and who show any need
for my help, but boys and girls who
have been writing for weeks and
many of them months, for the Junior,
know, or at least ought to know better
bv this time, than to send in such un-
tidy papers.
The stories themselves, regardless of
the manner in which they were
written, were all very good. Don't
forget to write about the four things
that make you happy as kings. I want
some good letters on that topic.
Please do not think, my dear
friends, that I am too cross, for I do
not mean to be that, but believe that
this work will do you great good If
you put your best efforts into it, and
it will be practically worthless to you
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