V.
stands for invented, or designed, and under this are two V's. In
Old-English, V is the same letter as U, and these two V's stand for
double-u, or W--for Walter. Then there is a little picture of a crane. And
so we can easily see that the meaning of the sign is, "Designed by Walter
Crane."

Thus we have shown that this cover tells quite a story, and, if we study
it longer, we may see more in it than is mentioned here.

* * *

Roxbury, Mass.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: We have formed a club for playing battledoor and
shuttlecock. Our highest scores are 5084, 4556, 3545, and 3496. Will you
ask your subscribers, through the "Letter-Box," if they know of any higher
scores?--Yours truly,
THE BROTHERS OF THE BATTLEDOOR.

* * *

Cincinnati, Ohio.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I am very busy now putting pictures on Easter eggs, the
insides of which have been blown out and replaced by very fine
caraway-seed candy, put in through a little hole at one end and then
covered by a picture. The money I get for these eggs is for my Easter
offering. Duck-eggs are the prettiest to use, because they are of such a
lovely greenish-blue tint. May be some of your other readers may like to
make some of these Easter eggs. Mamma says she could scarcely keep house
without the ST. NICHOLAS now, and I think so too.--Your friend,
GEORGE M. A.

* * *

Chicago, Ill.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Will you be so kind as to tell a little Scottish girl
where to find the date when England claimed Scotland, as Mrs. Weiss says,
in her story about the "Arms of Great Britain," in the January number of
your magazine? I cannot find any such date. King Edward I., I know,
claimed it, but Robert the Bruce disputed it so successfully that none
have ever claimed it since--Yours respectfully, AGGIE NICOL.

William the Conqueror, in A. D. 1072, subdued Malcolm III. of Scotland,
and received his homage. This was the first time England claimed, and
exercised, sovereignty over Scotland.

* * *

STELLA C.--Homer is the "Blind Man of Smyrna."

* * *

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: Will you please print this poem? It was written for m