I can see them even by very dim light. Some are rosy and round; some are pale and thin; some are tall; some are short; some are cheerful; some sad; some very good-natured- and how we like to have them about; some very "grouchy," and, indeed, we do not want them about. Then there are the boys and girls who are busy and happy, useful to every one boys and girls who do something for the family each day, making themselves necessary in the home. And still others? Oh, they will wake up soon, for this is no world for selfish, idle folk. Now all who are not among the idle ones will read this Leaflet and follow at least one of the suggestions made for boys and girls living in the country. Are you interested in poultry? Begin this year to make plans to raise some of your own. Father and mother will be glad to help, and you can take your problems to Professor Rice here at the State College and get many helpful suggestions from him. Do you like bird study? Ask your teacher to let you see the September Leaflet for teachers, and read what is said on this subject. All boys and girls in New York State will this year study the following birds: The hen, downy woodpecker, robin, bobolink, redstart, red-eyed vireo, blackbird, marsh wren, turkey, and owl. The older boys and girls should get into the habit of keeping a record of the birds they see. I wish every one of you would try to find some book on birds, either in the school library or in your homes, and read the descriptions of the birds you are to study this year. It will help you in identifying some that are unfamiliar to you. Build a bird house. In the illustration you will see one kind. The birds will like it as well as a very handsome one. They do not approve of fresh paint, and the birds that will build their nests in houses will not care for one in which the doors are too large. The downy woodpecker Things to remember in constructing bird houses.-The houses should be built on poles or buildings in somewhat secluded places, and the majority of birds prefer a house not more than twelve feet from the ground. The size. of the doorway is important. For the wren and the chickadee the opening should be an inch auger hole, and for the other birds that build in houses it should be one and one-half inches. Some birds, such as the martins, tree swallows, and pigeons, like to live near one another. For these birds a little apartment house may be made, allowing floor space six by six inches for each pair. There should be but one door to each compartment. Be sure to build a bird house and have it in place by next February. Are you interested in the weather? In the sky by day or night? In sunlight and in wondering about your shadow as it stays with you while the world is light? In the teachers' Leaflet for September there is a lesson on storms. Ask your teacher to help you to understand what is happening in cloudland when the storms come. I think the study of weather is best of all. I hope that while you are out studying the weather you will begin to wonder about the sky and the hills, the rivers and the far-away mountains, the mystery of the far-away starlight. As soon as you begin to wonder, you will begin to ask questions and to find out something about the outdoor things that have a never-ending interest for thoughtful boys and girls. A bird house We want you to learn to be in tune with the weather. The strong people of the world have loved the rain as well as the sunshine; they have loved the plains as well as the hills; they have been at home in the great outdoors in company with sweeping winds. You, too, must find these real things that, I think, have helped to make men and women great and deep. You will find in this Leaflet a letter that I hope you will answer. Thousands of boys and girls in New York State write to us very often, and since you are not idle you will take advantage of the opportunity to correspond with some one in your State College. This year your letters will be written to the young man who sends a letter to you in this Leaflet. you should come to know him, as you may some day, you will find that he cares very much for the outdoor world and for all that country life gives. He also cares very much for boys and girls and is looking forward to your letters. He may not be able to answer all letters personally, but whenever a Leaflet for boys and girls is sent out you will find in it his letter to you. Address all letters to Mr. Edward M. Tuttle, College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y. Ask your teacher to let you write a letter each month to Mr. Tuttle during your English period. To all who write three letters, we shall send a picture. If What makes the sunset red, the sky blue, the grass green, or the scarlet spot on the blackbird's wing? And why is our shadow with us all day long when the sun shines? These are hard questions; but we live under the blue sky, we see the sunset colors almost every evening, and we never can get away from our shadow while the sun is shining, no matter how fast we run. Would you like to know something about light, shadows, and colors? Some persons think that children cannot understand such things; but let us try. Sunlight has in it every color you can think of except black, which is not a color at all but the absence of all colors; and the strange thing about sunlight is that when all the colors you can think of are mixed together in the right proportion as they are in sunlight, they make white. White is all colors mixed together and black is no color at all. Sunlight comes to us from the sun in little waves or ripples called rays. The finest waves or ripples that we can see are blue, and the coarsest are red. Some of the waves are so fine and some are so coarse that they do not affect the sight nerves in our eyes. The coarse ones are called dark rays, or heat rays. If you drop a stone into a pool of quiet water, you will see the little waves or ripples run out in all directions, forming circles, the center of each being the place where the stone fell; but if you look closer, you will see that each little wave moves away from the center in a straight line. Light waves move away from the sun in all directions in straight lines in just the same way; but when they strike an object, as a tree or a building, they are stopped, and thus on the opposite side of the tree or building we see its shadow. Many harbors along the ocean are closed in by great walls of stone or concrete except for a small gateway through which the ships enter. These walls are called breakwaters, and they stop the waves of water as they roll in from the ocean in much the same way that a building stops the waves of light and casts a shadow. We might call the quiet water behind a breakwater a water shadow. There are some things that do not stop these little light waves, and that therefore do not have any shadow. Can you think of anything that will not cast a shadow when the sunlight falls on it? What about glass? Although glass is hard and rather strong, the little light waves pass right through it. Anything that stops the light waves is called opaque, and anything through which the light waves will pass is called transparent. How many transparent things can you think of? How many that are opaque? If you drop a stone into a pool of quiet water the little waves will run out in circles quite fast; but how fast do you suppose the little light waves run out from the sun? What is the swiftest moving thing you can think of in the world? An express train, perhaps. How far will it go while you count ten? If you count right along it may take you about 5 seconds. Try to count ten in 5 seconds. In that time an express train would travel 500 feet. Do you know of an object about 500 feet from your schoolroom? In the 5 seconds while you count ten and an express train is going 500 feet, the little light waves running out from the sun travel a million miles. How can I help you to think of a million miles? Suppose you were to get on an express train going 60 miles an hour, and you traveled on and on, night and day, month after month, never stopping for coal or water all through this year and nearly eleven months of next year, you would have traveled just a million miles. But the distance you would travel on an express train going 60 miles an hour in one year and eleven months, these little waves of light travel in 5 seconds, just while you count ten. "One morning, very early, before the sun was up, "Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; Blinks but an hour or two; and then, A blood-red orange, sets again." Robert Louis Stevenson |