and place a cutting or
a seed in this moss: it will succeed admirably, especially with plants
destined to ornament a drawing-room. In such a situation plants grown in
moss will thrive better than in garden mould, and possess the very great
advantage of not causing dirt by the earth washing out of them when
watered. The explanation of the practice seems to be this: that moss
rammed into a pot, and subjected to continual watering, is soon brought
into a state of decomposition, when it becomes a very pure vegetable
mould; and it is well known that very pure vegetable mould is the most
proper of all materials for the growth of almost all kinds of plants.
The moss would also not retain more moisture than precisely the quantity
best adapted to the absorbent powers of the root--a condition which can
scarcely be obtained with any certainty by the use of earth.

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=The Advantages of Foreign Tongues.=--In the _Letters of Charles
Dickens_, recently published, occurs this pleasant child's story: "I
heard of a little fellow the other day whose mamma had been telling him
that a French governess was coming over to him from Paris, and had been
expatiating on the blessings and advantages of having foreign tongues.
After leaning his plump little cheek against the window glass in a
dreary little way for some minutes, he looked round, and inquired in a
general way, and not as if it had any special application, whether she
didn't think 'that the tower of Babel was a great mistake altogether.'"

[Illustration: OUR POST-OFFICE BOX]

VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

Mamma takes the _Bazar_, papa the _Weekly_ and _Magazine_. I have
the first and second numbers of _Young People_. I like it very
much, but I like "The Brave Swiss Boy" the best. I am ten years
old. I saw in your letter to us that you wanted us to write to your
paper. I think it must have been very funny to come across the
plains in a wagon. I came across from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (where
I was born), in the cars, and not in the long trains of wagons.

Oro Brown read "Two Ways of Putting It," from the first number of
_Young People_, in school last Friday.

The pets I have are gray and Maltese kittens. I did once have a
chicken that would come and eat wheat out of my hand, and fly into
my arms.

JULIA B.

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I live