Office of ST. NICHOLAS LEAGUE,
353 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

Rachel L. Carson
Dear Prize Winner:

March 15 1919

It is with pleasure that we send herewith the ... gold ... badge awarded to you as a prize, in the League Competition No. 228 ... for excellence in ... prose ...

Kindly acknowledge its receipt.
We shall be glad if it pleases you, and we trust that this success will

give you and added interest in the League and encourage you to still further
and higher achievements.
Thanking you for your earnest and intelligent appreciation,
We remain, faithfully yours,
Editor The St. Nicholas League.
c

1-17-500

Oct 2nd 1916

Miss Rachel L. Carlson.
Dear Prize Winner:

It is with pleasure that we send herewith the ... Silver badge awarded to you as a prize, in the League Competition No. 223 ... for excellence in ... prose ...

give you an added interest in the League and encourage you to still further
and higher achievements.
Thanking you for your earnest and intelligent appreciation,
We remain, faithfully yours,
Editor The St. Nicholas League.
c

1-17-500

## League Membership Buttons

TO any reader of ST. NICHOLAS, whether a subscriber or not, or to any one desiring to become a reader of the magazine, the club membership button will be mailed free upon receipt of written request, accompanied by a three-cent stamp for postage. This button, with the League emblem in colors, is beautiful in design and workmanship.

A ST. NICHOLAS LEAGUE HEADING DRAWN BY A LEAGUE MEMBER IN A REGULAR COMPETITION

## Gold and Silver Prize Badges

SILVER badges will be awarded each month (and gold badges to winning competitors who have previously won silver badges) as prizes for the following achievements in the varied competitions offered by the League:

The best drawings in pen and ink—india, or very black, ink on white paper.

The best poems of not over twenty-four lines each.

The best prose composition of not over three hundred words each.

The best amateur photographs—any size.

The best puzzles (any sort) and

The best and neatest answers to all ST. NICHOLAS puzzles of the current issue.

All written contributions should be in ink.

Thus talent, patience, and ingenuity all have an opportunity, and the prize badges are beautiful tokens of merit and distinction.

Cash prizes also are awarded from time to time for special accomplishments and for photographs of wild animals or birds in their native homes (not in captivity, nor even in large game preserves), thus encouraging the pursuit of these unoffending creatures with a camera instead of with firearms.

CHAPTERS or subordinate clubs may be formed by boys and girls in any neighborhood, and a president and secretary be elected. Such chapters should be reported at once by the secretary, with names and addresses of members and officers. Applications for Chapter membership must comply with these rules.

## Chapters

The members of such chapters should meet at regular times, and they may assess local dues for current expenses if they desire to do so. In this case they may elect a treasurer, or the secretary may act in that capacity. Chapters may be of great benefit to their members, and become the means of real advancement, by discussing at the meetings stories, poems, drawings, puzzles, etc., of the previous month's magazine.

A chapter must include at least five persons. To teachers desiring them for their pupils, League buttons and instruction leaflets will be sent free of charge.

A LEAGUE membership button and instruction leaflet will be sent to any reader of ST. NICHOLAS, whether a regular subscriber or not, or to any one desiring to become a reader of the magazine, upon receipt of application, accompanied by a three-cent stamp for postage.

Readers of an age not under six nor over seventeen may become members of the ST. NICHOLAS League, but no one eighteen years of age or over may contribute to the department.

All contributions of whatever sort must be strictly original, and must be known to be such by the author's parent, teacher, or guardian, who must so endorse them. Contributions not so endorsed cannot be considered. Contributions must also bear the sender's name, age, and address in full, and be written or drawn on one side of the paper only.

Drawings must be made with india ink or very black writing-ink, and only upon white paper. The paper should not be smaller than the size of a ST. NICHOLAS page nor larger than 9 by 15 inches.

## League Rules and Suggestions

SOME SAMPLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO A PHOTOGRAPHER COMPETITION, THE SUBJECT BEING: "COMRADES"

Photographs and drawings, in addition to the endorsement, should have the name and address of the contributor on the face or back of the contribution and not on a letter or slip accompanying them. Letters accompanying contributions are unnecessary, and young photographers need not print and develop their pictures themselves.

Poems must not exceed twenty-four lines in length, and prose contributions must not contain more than three hundred words. The number of lines of verse or words of prose should be written with the address on an upper corner of the first page of the MS.

Write and draw what you see and know—in line with the announced subject; do it well and simply. If you fail the first time, try again.

Other contributions besides the prize-winners' will be used wholly or in part each month. There will also be a Roll of Honor, which will be a list of contributors whose work, though meritorious, has been, for one reason and another, found not quite worthy of a prize or available for publication in the League Department.

No one should send more than one contribution in any one month—not one of each kind, but one only. This, however, does not include "Answers to Puzzles," or competitions in the advertising pages.

No unused contributions can be returned by us unless accompanied by a self-addressed and stamped envelop; in case of drawing, the envelop to be of a size to take the contribution without folding. Members need not compete every month unless they desire to.

The list of subjects for each month will be found on the last page of the League Department in each issue of ST. NICHOLAS. Contributions cannot be heard from for four months after being sent in.

No one member will be awarded more than one prize badge of one value. A member may win another prize of different value, however, as soon as his or her work warrants this award. A prize-winner may contribute regularly, and a contribution of unusual excellence is likely at any time to be accepted for use by the League or in the body of the magazine.

Prize announcements are made in the League Department of ST. NICHOLAS, which is issued on the first of each month. Competitions close on the 24th of the month following, except for European members, and those living in the far Western States, whose contributions will be admitted until the end of that month. Work received after that time may be selected for publication, but *cannot compete for prizes*.

*Secure your membership button* and then decide what you wish to do first as a member of the League. Whatever you undertake, do it as well as you possibly can. Careful work and perseverance mean success. Haste and indifference mean failure.

Read all the rules carefully, and see that your work is properly prepared and endorsed before sending it. Then put your name, age, and address upon it, fold it neatly (never roll it, unless it is a drawing), and address it to
THE ST. NICHOLAS LEAGUE, 353 Fourth Ave., New York City.

# ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE
## For Boys and Girls

Without seeing a copy, no one can realize what an interesting magazine ST. NICHOLAS is and how exquisitely it is illustrated. It is a surprise to young and old. Within the past few years many improvements have been made, and to-day the magazine stands alone as the only periodical of its class in the world. Of literature it contains the choicest, and in art it has never been surpassed by any grown folks' periodical.

The price of ST. NICHOLAS is $3.00 a year. New subscriptions may begin at any time. Every boy and girl who reads ST. NICHOLAS should be a member of the ST. NICHOLAS League, and take part in the competitions

THE CENTURY CO.

353 FOURTH AVE.

NEW YORK CITY