through an opera-glass.  When I got into the carriage I thanked him for his kindness, and you may imagine my surprise when he asked me for fifty cents:  of course I had to give it to him, but it was all I had.  Papa and mamma laughed at me all the way home, but papa gave me the half dollar back afterward.  We spent a week at St. Catherine’s Wells, visited Toronto, Belleville, Napanee and Kingston, and went over on a lake steamer to spend the Fourth of July at Oswego, such a pretty town in New York on Lake Ontario.  Cobourg is a pretty little town, too, right on the lake, and the Arlington Hotel, where we are staying, is very nice, with nice shade-trees and lawns.  Do you know, dear St. Nicholas, I always thought of you as an old gray-bearded man, like the pictures of Santa Claus; but now that I know you and have talked to you, I shall enjoy St. Nicholas more than ever.—­Your friend and constant reader,

    CALVERT WILSON.

* * * * *

    New York.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS:  I thought I would tell you about some people I heard of who like to talk to each other, and everything they say begins with the same letter.  How queer it must sound.  I send you a sentence:  Sarah said she saw Susy sewing small shoes swiftly.  I wish some of your scholars would try it, and see who could send you a sentence with the words beginning with Z.—­I remain, your loving

    MAUD.

* * * * *

    Albany, N.Y.

DEAR ST. NICHOLAS:  Perhaps some of your other boys, who, like myself, wish to grow big and strong, would like to hear about the largest human being ever known,—­Goliath of Gath,—­a person almost large enough to need introduction by installments, but he is so well known that the ceremony is needless.

As nearly as I can make out, he was between ten and eleven feet high.  When he went to battle he wore a coat-of-mail weighing one hundred and fifty-six pounds,—­as heavy as a good-sized man; and the rest of his armor amounted to at least one hundred and fifteen pounds more.  The head of his spear weighed eighteen pounds,—­as heavy as six three-pound cans of preserved fruit,—­and this he carried at the end of a long and heavy shaft!

Think what might happen if a man equally big and strong should live among us now, and insist on taking part in our games and sports!  If he joined a boat-club, a curious six-oared crew could be made up, with him at one side and five other men opposite.  And just imagine him “booming along” on a velocipede!  If he joined the champion Nine, and hit a ball, where would that ball go to?  If he called for a “shoulder-high” ball, wouldn’t the catcher have to climb a stepladder to catch behind the giant?  And if he threw a ball to a baseman, wouldn’t he be apt to throw it clean through him?

    Probably no one can answer these questions, but they are
    interesting, all the same, to yours sincerely,