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Our Letter Bag. «ISS ANNIE Z., Bamberg, S. C., sends us correct replies to several puzzles, etc., and anew subscriber. She says : I am satisfied that your paper is just the thing for boys and girls, and I will do all I can to aid you in getting sub- I scribers.” A good brother at Athens writes : “lam pleas ed with your Boys and Giri.s Weekly, and ear nestly pray that you may succeed. I received a sample copy, which seems to me the very thing for our youth.” Thank you, brother K. James Parrish Peeler, Monticello, Fla., says : “All the boys and girls that have seen your pa per are delighted with it. I expect you will get a great many subscribers from this part of the country. I hope to get all the papers, so that. I can have them bound into a book at the end of the year. We all thank you for your kindness in publishing a paper for our benefit. I will try to get as many subscribers as I can, because I think that it is the best paper for boys and girls that I have ever seen. ’ ’ We trust that others will follow James’ example, and save their numbers, so as to have them bound at the close of the volume. They will make a handsome book. Alonzo S. E., Huntsville, Ala., sends us cor rect replies to quite a number of puzzles, etc. He also sends several charades, puzzles, etc., some of which are accepted with thanks. Nos. 1 and 6 are defective. In No. 1 the second syllable of the word is misspelled, while No. 6 does not ex actly come up to the rule. We are under obliga tions to him for his good opinion of our paper, and shall always be glad to hear from him. Miss Laura F., Blakely, Ga., sends us several correct answers to puzzles, etc. She says she likes the Weekly very much, and considers it just the thing for boys and girls. So do we, and are determined that it shall be worthy of their patronage. Here is a letter all the way from Texas. Mary L. K., at Matagorda, writes : “ I am a little Tex as girl, and know not much of other parts of our country. I have heard that Macon is a beautiful city; this my teacher told me. She is a Geor gian, and used to go to the Female College at Ma con, which she says is the oldest college for girls in the world. When I receive your paper I will show it to the girls and boys in town, and think they will become subscribers too. I think you must be a kind-hearted gentleman, to think of giving so much pleasure to the young folks as to publish a paper for them. lam sure they will all be as much obliged to you as I am.” Thank you, Miss Mary. We assure you that it gives us quite as much pleasure to hold our weekly talks with our little readers as it can possibly give them. All we ask is, that our little friends will constantly bear us in mind, and recommend us to their friends. We must have that ten thousand subscribers before the close of the present volume. Mrs. Ford’s School. The little readers of -our Weekly who read Mrs. Ford’s beautiful story —“The Little Woman in Green”—will be glad to learn that her school at Rome, Ga., is likely to be well attended the coming session. We know of no better school for young ladies. —.— — may be added to clubs at any time during the year, at the regular club rates. BURKE’S WEEKLY. “I’LL TRY.” FAULT too common among children is, to com plain of their lessons —to iIM whine and fret over them kdffbT —giving a great deal of Wop unnecessary trouble to their pa rents, and often disturbing the quiet of the whole family. They begin TANARUS/ their task by saying :“ I never can learn it.” How can they with truth say this when they have not tried? It is merely an apology for' laziness. They don’t want the trouble of applying their minds to their lessons. It is a labor, and they have no heart for anything but amuse ment. When a child says, “ I cannot do it,” does that child consider that this is a confession of stupidity and weakness ? Other children—hundreds, thousands of them —have learned the same things. Are you more stupid than they? No ; this way of beginning to learn lessons will never do. “1 never can is almost sure to be followed by “ I never will.” Bea brave boy, or a brave girl, in your lessons, as in everything else. Say : “What others have done, I can do ;” “ I will master this lesson.” If this be the spirit with which you take up your book, you will master it. Here is a picture of a little girl who once had the habit of saying “ I never can.” Her mother showed her how wrong it was to indulge this habit. Lit tle Mary told her mother she would not say this any more, but would do her best to learn the lessons which were.giv en her. On Saturday she had her lesson to prepare for Sunday. Her mother missed her a good while from the house, and went into the garden, and there was Mary, under the shade, learning her catechism. Her mother stood and watched her. The birds were singing in the tree, but Mary seemed not to hear them. Her pet rabbit came and crept softly into her lap, but all she said was: “How, Tip, don’t you disturb me.” After some time she said, for she thought no one heard her : “ There, I think I can say twenty answers from the first without missing a word.” Her success gave her encourage ment; and although her heart was troubled at time's when she took up her books, she gradually overcame the foolish habit of yielding to an indolent spirit. She found an ample reward for all her pains in the approbation of her parents and teacher. As she grows older, and learns how important to any one is a good education, she will be the more thankful that she has been able to substitute a brave “I'll try,” for the old complaint, “ I never can.” “ I dess you fordot me.” A certain minister had promised a lit tle boy of his that he should accompany him to church on the following Sabbath. The little fellow, although not quite four years old, was still old enough to remem ber the promise. But when church time came it happened that he was fast asleep, and his parents went away leaving him in bed. Some time after he awoke, and calling to mind the promise given him, he hurried down stairs only to find his fath er and mother gone. Determined not to be frustrated in this manner, he made his way into the street, and crossing to where the church stood, he entered the open door. The minister at that moment was commencing his sermon. Fixing his eyes upon his father, the little fellow twaddled up the aisle, in his night clothes, until di rectly opposite the pulpit, when he halt ed and looking up at him, called out: “I dess you fordot me !” Time, patience and industry are the three grand masters ol the world — they bring a man to the end of his de sires; whereas an imprudent and turbu lent murmur oftentimes turns him out of the way to his proposed ends. What is the difference between u dispute settled and a column of figures added up? One has been adjusted, and the other just added. 37