SOME

OME of Our Boys and Girls are very inquisitive, especially I. N. Quisitive, impetuous youth, who wants to know the name of our assistant editor." His name is "legion," comprising every subscriber, every reader, every one who writes us a letter, or sends us a kind word. Our army of "assistants" is great, and continually greater; and the bright ideas, capital suggestions, and sharp thoughts that come pouring into our room, and cover our table as snow-flakes cover the ground, all these are reckoned as co-workers. So keep on, all ye young editors; the number never will be so large that we shall not wish it larger. But, very privately, we will say, that there is one who thinks he works for the boys and girls almost as hard as Oliver Optic, but he is so modest that he shrinks from public gaze.

Junius, you must have pity on our eyes; we don't want to be considered old, but your rebuses in pencil-marks are too dim. - Venango bas his hands full; he reads all the juvenile agazines published, wants to try authorship, to correspond with Downsey, Specs, Monsieur, Alert, Quiz, &c., &c.; is getting up a "rousing club" (will shake hands with him on that), and shows his good sense by thinking our Magazine the best in the world. We and Hannah wink at each other, as much as to say, "That boy knows what's what!" Arizona sends us some verses on the names that appear in the Letter Bag. We have made worse ourselves; so he may feel encouraged. Empire State has errands for us to do in Europe: we will present his regards to the commodore, if we hail the "Academy Ship;" but Napoleon will not want to spare us a lock of his hair, nor one of his teeth; he needs all he has of each, although he would gratify us as soon as any one; at least, he has not told us to the contrary. F. R. Allen may send his "club" to our publishers, Lee & Shepard; they will take the most clubbing with the least ado of any men we know. We have no arrangement for clubbing with the New York Weekly.

The whole tribe of jackasses bray for a respite, for the rebus-makers have used the poor creatures so much lately, that they appeal to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.-Tommy Toots, your uncle is proud of you. How many other boys will send a club of sixteen? Warsaw will find a letter for him in the post-office. - Brewer's Oology of North America is out of print. We recommend Samuels' Birds of New England. - Violet's double acrostic charade is ingenious, and we may find room for it.-Joseph A. Bailey, of Waterbury, Ct., earned the money with which to pay for our Magazine, and he will therefore prize it the more. How many other boys will go and do likewise "?

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Specs & Dexter have some puzzles laid by for use. - Pen Holder will find it a good rule always to do his best. Send us the best in your collection, and not, as you say, "the poorest." - Hurricane can blow us another rebus. - Fred Brown's rebus is very neatly drawn, but is rather too easy for Our Boys and Girls. The fact is, it takes a pretty difficult puzzle to puzzle them. Keep on trying, Fred, and you will yet succeed? you know we and our readers know no such word as fail.

Middy is good, but not hard enough. We have written thus far, and, to our sorrow, come upon several letters and puzzles in pencil. No use, young friends; pencil marks are so easily erased or blurred, that we have been obliged to make a rule not to accept them. - Phol D. Rolle is on the right track, and will, ere long, merit a place in print. James A. Wolf sends word to Bob Barry that he will beat him next time in answering prize puzzles. Isabella Whitney's puzzle is so neatly drawn, that, although easy, we must use it.

WISH CORRESPONDENTS. Junius, Station A, Boston. H. Sargent, Haverhill, Mass. (birds' eggs). - Venango, Box 438, Meadville, Pa. -F. E. Mead (Arizona) wants to exchange autographs; address 26 Charlton Street, N. Y. - Post M. Aster, Box 300, Oneonta, N. Y. Cochituate, Newtonville, Mass., Box 55. O. O., Jr., Box 8, Bergen City, N. J.-C. Van Kewren, Box 23, Bergen City, N. J. E. W. Vreeland, Box 8, Bergen City, N. J. — Don Quixote, 1629 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, wants letters from young artists. - Ned Nevins (E. G. Traubd) wants letters from amateur printers and publishers. Samson, Marion, Marion County, O., Box 25. Tommy Toppleton (F. N. Banker, Fayetteville, Texas). Harry Howard, Drawer 79, Oberlin, O.Charlie Robins, Toledo, O.

OUR BOYS GIRLS

THE

OLIVER OPTIC, Editor.

TWO RICH MEN.

HE rich men among the ancients could hardly be compared, in the nominal amount of their wealth, with many of our modern millionnaires. But if we count by the amount of other things which their money | would purchase, a part of this difference disappears.

It would be difficult to say who was the wealthiest of all the ancients, but we have the names of two men who must have taken high rank among this class of men.

The second in extent of the great empires of antiquity was that of the Persians under Darius Hystaspes (B. C. 521-485), and Xerxes, his successor. Now, when Xerxes had made his immense preparations to invade Greece, and had marched his army as far as Celænæ, a city of Phrygia, he and his whole army were entertained there in a most magnificent fashion by a certain Pythius, a Lydian, who lived in that city. Pythius offered at the same time to give the king a sum of money for the Xerxes, upon the mention of money, turned to the Persians who stood by, and asked of them, "Who is this Pythius, and what wealth has he, that he should venture on such an offer as this?" They answered him, "This is the man, O king, who gave thy father Darius the golden plane tree and likewise the goiden vine, and he is still the wealthiest man we know of in all the world excepting thee."

war.

then, must have been the expense of a "magnificent" entertainment for the whole army?

Of the wealthy Romans, Marcus Licinius Crassus is the best known. It was with this Crassus that Cæsar and Pompey formed the political combination known as the first triumvirate. His name became, in after times, proverbial among his countrymen as the richest of the Romans. He, too, gave an entertainment; he fed the poor of Rome at ten thousand tables, and at each table were twelve persons. Besides this, he fed the citizens of that city, the most populous of ancient cities, at free cost for three months.

Crassus makes a larger figure than Pythius, with considerably less money. Pliny gives Crassus between eight and nine millions of our money, but forgets to say whether these figures are only for the gold and silver, or include slaves, houses, and lands.

SOME of our most trivial customs are remains of old superstitions, and we now and then follow a custom without knowing the reason for it. For example, we sometimes see men, when about to strike a blow, or to use strong exertion, spit, or make as if spitting, in their hands. If we go back eighteen hundred years, we find a reason for this custom. "What we are going to say is marvellous,” says Pliny, "but it may easily be tested by experiment. If a person repents of a blow given to another, either by the hand or with a missile, he has nothing to do but to spit at once into the palm of the hand that inflicted the blow, and all feelings of resentment will be instantly alleviated in the person struck. Some persons, however, before making an effort, spit in the hand in the manner above stated, in order to make the blow heavier."

Herodotus reckons the Asiatic portion of the land forces, counting fighting men only, at one million eight hundred thousand men; the noncombatants were also numerous; and much the larger part of this army must have been at Celænæ.

But a dinner for the king and his fifteen thousand attendants cost four hundred talents, or near half a million of our money. What,

ten thousand pounds of copper, which either indicates a high price for horses or a low price for copper. The Greek Alcibiades had a dog of uncommon size and beauty, whose tail he cut off, to give the Athenians something to talk about. This dog cost him some twelve hundred dollars.

A ROMAN lady named Fabiola, in the fourth century, founded at Rome, as an act of penance, the first public hospital; and the charity planted by that woman's hand overspread the world, and will alleviate to the end of time the darkest anguish of humanity. ✔