a picture of a very small
doll-churn that a little girl had made, and I thought it was very
'cute. But I read the other day of another churn quite as odd. It
is simply the skin of a goat, hung by a rope from the roof. It is
used in Persia, and, when they want to churn, they fill the
goat-skin with milk, and swing it forward and backward until the
butter comes. The children do the swinging, and I think it must be
better fun than turning a crank or working a plunger.--Yours
affectionately, O.T.

CATS IN SPAIN.

Cats have a nice time in Spain, I hear. No dismal moonlight prowlings
over fences and back sheds for them! They have the roofs of the whole
country for their walks, and need never touch the ground unless they
choose. I'll tell you why. Grain is stored in the attics of Spain,
because they are too hot for anything else. But rats and mice delight
in attics, as well as in grain. So each owner cuts a small door from
the roof, big enough for puss, and any homeless cat is welcome to her
warm home, in return for which she keeps away rats. In a sudden rain
it must be funny to see dozens of cats scampering over the roofs to
their homes among the grain-bags.

"SINCERE" STATUES.

Cambridge, Mass.

DEAR LITTLE SCHOOLMA'AM: In ST. NICHOLAS for December, 1877,
Jack-in-the-Pulpit says that "sincere" is made of the words
_sine-cera_, meaning "honey without wax." I have been told that it
refers also to the Greeks, who, when they found a crack in a
statue, would sometimes fill the flaw with wax; and that hence a
"sincere" statue, one "without wax," would have no flaw, but be a
true and honest statue.

I have not been able to find any authority for this, otherwise I
should have written sooner.--Yours sincerely, F.B.J.

[Illustration: FOOLS'-CAPS FOR CROWS.]

FOOLS'-CAPS FOR CROWS.

My acquaintances the crows are very fond of corn, and have a way of
picking it out of the ground with their bills just after it has been
planted. So the farmers try all sorts of plans to keep them away. One
of these plans is shown in the picture.

Paper cones are set point downward in the ground, and baited with a few
corn kernels; then some bird-lime is smeared around the insides. When a
crow reaches down for the corn, the paper cone sticks to him, looking
rather like a fool's-cap, and he does not get rid of it in a hurry. I'm
told that it takes only a few of these