New Frize HE Editor of LITTLE FOLKS has much pleasure in laying before his readers a com- I. PATCHWORK QUILTS. [On Page 25 of this number an article on "Patchwork for Little Fingers" appears.] II.-PLAIN NEEDLEWORK, as shown in Cotton and Print Frocks, for Children and Infants in Hospitals. [In this Competition machine sewing is not allowed.] III. SINGLE DOLLS IN COSTUME.-Historical, Military, Naval, representing Nationalities, &c. In each of these four Competitions (I. to IV.) Two Prizes in Books of the respective values of Two GUINEAS and ONE GUINEA will be awarded in the Senior Division; and Two Prizes of the respective values of ONE GUINEA and HALF A GUINEA will also be awarded in the Junior Division; making in all Four Prizes in each Competition of the value of FOUR AND A HALF GUINEAS. N.B.-Competitors who are under the age of fourteen are not at liberty to compete for the Senior Division Prizes in either of these four Competitions. V.-SINGLE DOLLS (including BABY DOLLS), with CREWEL-WORKED DRESSES. [A paper giving hints on making the Crewel-worked Dresses will appear in the February Number.] VI.-AN ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWING. [The subject of the Drawing is to be any incident (to be chosen by the Competitor) illustrative of Kindness to Animals. The size and shape are to be the same as in the full-page illustration on page 17 of this number. Selections from the Prize Drawings, if of sufficiently high merit, will be engraved and printed in LITTLE FOLKS.] In each of these two Competitions (V. and VI.), Three Prizes in Books of the respective values of Two GUINEAS, ONE GUINEA, and HALF A GUINEA will be awarded in the Senior Division only. VII.-WOOL PLAYTHINGS, as shown in Wool Balls, Knitted and Crocheted Reins, &c. ; also DOLLS, made of Wool, with KNITTED and CROCHETED CLOTHING. [A paper descriptive of the method of making Wool Playthings of different kinds will appear in the February Number. This Competition (VII.), in which Three Prizes in Books of the respective values of Two GUINEAS, ONE GUINEA, and HALF A GUINEA will be awarded, is open only to Competitors under the age of Fourteen. VIII. THE NEW "LITTLE FOLKS" COMPETITION BOOK ("STORIES TO WRITE "). [FULL PARTICULARS, with the REGULATIONS of this Competition, which is open to all readers under Eighteen, are given on the opposite page.] In the "Stories to Write" Competition (No. VIII.) the Silver Medal of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour will be awarded with the Money Prizes, while all Prize-winners in the Eight Competitions (other than the Silver Medallist) will receive Bronze Medals constituting them Officers of the Legion. In addition to the Prizes and Medals offered, some of the most deserving Competitors will be included in a Special List of Honour, and will be awarded Members' Medals of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour. All readers of LITTLE FOLKS (if within the stipulated ages), whether Girls or Boys, may compete in any or all of the above Competitions, the full regulations (except for No. VIII., which are given on the opposite page) being as follow: (1) All work to be certified by a parent, magistrate, minister of religion, teacher, or other person in a responsible position, as the sender's own unaided work, including the cutting out of the needlework. The age of each Competitor must be similarly attested. (2) All work to be carefully marked with the Competitor's name, age, and address, and to be sent, accompanied by the Certificate, carefully packed in a box of cardboard or wood, or otherwise, carriage paid, addressed to "The Editor of LITTLE FOLKS, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London, E.C." (3) The work for each competition must be in a separate box or parcel; no two Competitors may send The whole of the work in the Eight Competitions will be distributed among the inmates of the principal Children's Hospitals and kindred institutions throughout the United Kingdom. The "Stories to Write" Competition. Prizes in Money and Books of the value of £75. TORIES TO WRITE," the new Competition Book which has been prepared by the Publishers of LITTLE FOLKS for a SPECIAL PRIZE COMPETITION during the present winter months, is now ready. As already stated, this book contains a series of Pictures of different kinds, which are intended to form the basis of Original Stories (to be written by the Competitors) in which the incidents shown in the pictures themselves are to be introduced and described. The book is interleaved throughout with thick ruled paper on which the Stories are to be written. The Competition is one in which all readers of LITTLE FOLKS under the age of Eighteen can take part; and in order that younger readers may have the same oppor tunities of success as older ones, the Competition is arranged in Two Divisions, Senior and Junior-the former (in which Stories are to be written to all the Pictures in the Book) for those who are of the age of fourteen and under eighteen, and the latter (in which Stories are to be written to a given number only of the Pictures in the Book, as explained below) for those who are under fourteen. In each Division Prizes in Money and Books are offered of exactly the same value and number to those who shall send in copies of the Book containing the best Original Stories; and the following is the list :-THREE MONEY PRIZES OF £5, £3, AND £2 RESPECTIVELY; TEN BOOKS OF THE VALUE OF ONE GUINEA EACH; TEN OF THE VALUE OF HALF A GUINEA EACH; FIFTEEN OF THE VALUE OF SEVEN SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE EACH; AND TWENTY-FIVE OF THE VALUE OF FIVE SHILLINGS EACH; THUS MAKING IN ALL SIX MONEY PRIZES OF THE TOTAL VALUE OF £20, AND ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY BOOK PRIZES OF THE TOTAL VALUE of £55. Each Money Prize will be accompanied with the Silver Medal of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour, and Bronze Medals (in proportion to the number of books sent in) will be awarded to all winners of Book Prizes and also to all Competitors deserving of Honourable Mention. REGULATIONS. For the guidance of Competitors it should be stated that "STORIES TO WRITE" is divided into Five Sections, comprising a series of Pictures, illustrative respectively of (1) a Home Story; (2) a Winter Story; (3) a Sea Story; (4) a Country-life Story; and (5) a Seaside Story; in addition to which there are Two Groups of Small Pictures (occupying three pages), illustrative respectively of a Story of a Dog and a Story of a Duck. The Frontispiece must be introduced into the Seaside Story. In the Preface to the book hints are given as to the mode in which the Pictures may be introduced and described, and an indication is also given of the average number of words which should be written on each page of ruled paper. In the SENIOR DIVISION (for Competitors of the age of fourteen and under eighteen), an Original Story in prose, in which all the incidents in the pictures shall be introduced and described, is to be written to each of the Five Sections; in addition to which a short description, in verse, is to be given of each of the two groups of small pictures (pages 16, and 43, 44). In the JUNIOR DIVISION (for Competitors under the age of fourteen), an Original Story, in prose, in which all the incidents in the pictures in one section only of the book shall be introduced and described, is to be written; and it may (at the discretion of the competitor) be either the Home Story (commencing on page 8 and ending on page 15), or the Sea Story (commencing on page 26 and ending on page 32); in addition to which a short description, in prose, is to be given of the group of small pictures (the Story of a Dog) on page 16. In both divisions the complete book must be forwarded; that is to say, the portion written by the Junior Competitors is not to be cut out and sent in. The Stories in each book or portion of it must be certified by a magistrate, minister of religion, teacher, or other person in a responsible position, as being strictly original and the sender's own unaided work. The age of each Competitor must be similarly attested. Books which are the joint production of two or more persons will be disqualified. Competitors in the Junior Division may also compete in the Senior Division, in which case the volume containing the smaller number of Stories and the complete volume of Stories must both be forwarded. Only one book in each Division may, however, be forwarded by each person. The Competition will close on Friday, the 31st March, 1882, after which date no book will be received. N.B. "STORIES TO WRITE," in Coloured Wrapper, price One Shilling, may now be obtained through any Bookseller; or, on receipt of 14 stamps, it will be forwarded direct by the Publishers, Messrs. Cassell, Petter, ĜALPIN & Co., La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London, E.C. N accordance with the notice given in the December Number, the Editor has now the pleasure to give below a list of the Prizes which he offers for Solutions of Puzzles, together with the regulations for the guidance of Competitors. There will be a Senior Division for girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 16 (inclusive), and a Junior Division for those under 14 years of age. The following is a List of PRIZES that will be awarded at the end of every three months in each division, viz. :— A First Prize of a Guinea Volume; a Second Prize of a Half-Guinea Volume; a Third Prize of a Seven Shilling and Sixpenny Volume; and a Fourth Prize of a Five Shilling Volume. There will also be awards of Bronze Medals of the LITTLE FOLKS Legion of Honour to the three next highest of the Competitors following the prizewinners. directions, as unless their letters are marked "Answers to Puzzles," there will probably be considerable delay in acknowledging their Solutions. 2. Solutions to Puzzles must be accompanied by certificates from a parent, teacher, or other responsible person, stating that they are the sole and unaided work of the competitor. No assistance must be given by any other person. 3. Competitors will be credited for every light guessed correctly. Thus the total number of marks obtainable for the Puzzle in the Junior Division this month is 12 (10 for the lights, 2 for the proem). Supposing a competitor guess the proem and seven of the lights correctly, he will be credited with 9 marks. 4. The Prizes will be awarded to those Competitors who gain the largest number of marks during each quarter. 5. Competitors can be credited only under their own name. 6. The decision of the Editor of LITTLE FOLKS on all matters must be considered final. 7. The names and addresses of Prize and Medal winners will be duly published in LITTLE FOLKS. 8. The names of the solvers of the Puzzles issued in this number will be published in the MARCH issue of LITTLE FOLKS. [Our In council and in field; To none in worth or fame Will it be found to yield. "Little Folks' Own Puzzles" will-in addition to the Prize Puzzles-be continued as usual after this month.] As most of our readers are aware, it is the middle letter which gives the key to the above puzzle. OUR LITTLE FOLKS' OWN PAGE. ANSWER TO NATURAL HISTORY WANTING WORDS (VOL. XIV., p. 320). FIRST PRIZE ANSWER. N page 320 the birds represented are rheas, the only representatives of the ostrich family in the New World. The birds in the picture seem to have chosen their nest in a sheltered spot, surrounded by rocks and shrubs, and while one of them is looking after the young the other keeps guard. They seem to be in ignorance of the deadly foe which is crouching in the bushes beyond. No doubt he is a puma, one of the fiercest and most dreaded animals of South America. Nothing comes amiss to him, he will eat anything that comes in his way, and such is his strength and power that he is termed the lion of the New World. The rhea is found only on the Pampas plains of the La Plata river, where it wanders about generally in pairs, but sometimes in flocks of twenty or thirty, feeding on the herbs, roots, and grasses it finds there, and occasionally taking a little animal food in the way of small fish which have been stranded in the river mud. The eggs are considered a great delicacy. They are laid like those of the ostrich, in a hole in the ground, sometimes as many as twenty-four together. The Guachos, or natives, affirm that several birds lay in one nest, and that the cock bird hatches the eggs. Scattered eggs, called huachos, sometimes as many as twenty in number, are found lying around the nest, and are said to be for the young to feed upon. The cock accompanies the little ones for some time after they are hatched, and is very fierce and brave when danger threatens them; he will even attack a man on horseback, and by biting and kicking inflict many a severe wound. The average height of the rhea is five feet. The neck and legs are very long. It has three toes, each furnished with a claw, and the beak is short and thick. There are three species of rhea-the Common Rhea (Rhea americana), Darwin's Rhea (Rhea darwini), and the Long-billed Rhea (Rhea macrorhyncha). In the firstmentioned the plumage is grey, darker above and lighter below; in the second one the feathers have a brownish tint, and each one is tipped with white; and all three species of the rhea are furnished with the beautiful white wing-plumes that are so much valued. The young birds are very lively, and rather prettily coloured, the general colour being grey, with black stripes down the back, each stripe having a cream-coloured line down the centre. The male bird is rather larger and darker-coloured than the female. He makes a sort of hollow, hissing sound, which greatly alarms travellers, who take it for the cry of some wild beast, for it is impossible to tell whence the sound comes, or how far away it is. The rhea is a wary bird, but when surprised it is easily taken, for it becomes confused, and runs about without knowing which way to turn. It is like the ostrich in many ways, for it has a habit of swallowing hard substances, such as pieces of wood, iron, and pebbles which it finds about, and spreading out its wings like sails when running. It has indeed by many people been taken for an ostrich, so perhaps it would be as well for me to point out the difference between them. The chief point by which they may be distinguished is the foot, for the ostrich has only two toes; the rhea has three. The beak aiso of the former is longer and more pointed than that of the latter, and altogether the ostrich is a larger and more formidable-looking bird. Now we must leave the pretty rheas, hoping they will find out the danger which threatens them in time to avert it, and that the valour of the parent birds may avail in saving their young from the terrible end which appears to await them. EDITH MARIAN CORBETT. (Aged 151.) Thame Vicarage, Oxon. LIST OF HONOUR. First Prize (One Guinea Book), with Officer's Medal of the " Little Folks" Legion of Honour:-EDITH M. CORBETT (15), Thame Vicarage, Oxon. Second Prize (Seven-andSixpenny Book), with Officer's Medal:-S. N. GOODCHILD, (13), 5, St. George's Square, Worcester. Honourable Mention, with Member's Medal:-JULIET ROBERTSON, (15), William Street, Kilkenny, Ireland; MARGARET F. EVANS (14), 26, Annesley Grove, Nottingham; MARY E. DE BUISSERET (15). Château de Termaie, Par Willebroek, Belgium; ETHEL M. HENDLEY (12), 91, High Street, Thame, Oxon; ADA PALMER (14), 6, Middle New Street, Fleet Street, London, E.C. [A very large number of those who have taken part in this Competition have been mistaken in their descriptions of the picture of the Rhea; and the Editor regrets that in consequence the List of Honour which is given above is rather smaller this month than usual.] |