1853.1.35-36

Mr. Merry:—I live in Tewksbury; it is a quiet country village; I have not lived here long, but I have more business to attend to than when we lived in the CITY, and I don’t know but more fun too. I have to take care of the [p. 36 ] horse and cow, besides chickens, ducks, pigeons, &c. I love to roam in the fields, sail on the pond, and set snares for partridges and rabbits. I take time, however, to read Merry’s Museum, and solve the enigmas. I send you the answer to the charade, which is, “St. Petersburg.” The first enigma is, “Electrobiology;” the second is, “If you owe for the Museum, pay up.” This last does not apply to me, as I pay in advance.

Yours, with respect,
H. P. L.

1853.1.66

I got up at 3 o’clock Christmas morning and found lots of presents, and among the rest a dollar bill, which I send for the Museum, or, as my little sister calls it, “Merry’s Amusements.” I do not quite know what my father thought I would do with the money. He told me to use it in a way most in accordance with my judgment of a proper use of it. I thought of nothing that would afford so much amusement and pleasure as the Museum.

E. L. Starr.

1853.1.66-67

Mr. Merry:—I like the Museum very much indeed, and that in which I take most interest is the letters from your juvenile correspondents. I have seen letters from the East, from the West, from the extreme North and South, but none has Old Rip Van Winkle sent. Although our exports remain the same as in old colonial days, yet if you could spend this merry Christmas with us, you would find that our productions are not confined to Pitch, Tar, and Turpentine, for we have fine roast Turkeys, barbacued Pigs, sweet Potatoes, and a rich variety of other eatables. Our soil too is rich in minerals, and in internal improvements we are within sight of other states. Neither are the inhabitants heathen, for though Rip Van Winkle has slept and snored, and snored and slept, we are not so far behind the age in literature, but that we take Merry’s Museum, and have various other sources of moral and mental culture. I hope some of the readers of Merry’s Museum will visit North Carolina, and see for themselves. She will be happy to extend the rights of hospitality to any who will visit her. I derive much pleasure in solving the enigmas which I find in your Museum, and have sent you a charade. I hope that [p. 67 ] you and all the readers of the Museum have spent as merry a Christmas as I have.

Evelina.

1853.1.98a

Burlington, Iowa.

Dear Mr. Merry:—My brother has taken your Museum three years, and I generally read it over two or three times. I like the Adventures of Gilbert Go-ahead very much, but I think that Gilbert Get-into-trouble would be a more appropriate name. I hope you will go all around the world in your Balloon before you stop. I live in the city of Burlington, formerly the capital, and now the metropolis, of Iowa. It is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, and contains between 6 and 7000 inhabitants. Eighteen years ago the Indian wigwam, with its red-skinned tenant, was the only sign of habitation, where now rises the fair city of Burlington. The surrounding country affords an abundant supply of choice fruit. It is thought we excel the older states in apples. At the annual exhibition of our Horticultural Society, in October last, one fruit-grower had seventy specimens of choice apples. The grape is also grown with good success, and in such abundance as not only to furnish a fair supply for the table, but wine is being made in considerable quantities. There was a fire last Sabbath morning, which destroyed the Library, and specimens of the Iowa Historical and Geological Society, a loss that cannot be repaired.

I remain your friend,
Williams.

1853.1.98b

Midway, Ky.

Mr. Merry:—I like the Museum very much. I think that Gilbert Go-ahead has rather a hard time of it. I like the Balloon Travels very well, and I think the king was very wicked in serving Roderick his best friend in the way he did. I live in a pretty little village, situated on the Lexington and Frankfort railroad, half way between the two places, and hence the name Midway is given to it. My father is principal of the Female Orphan School in this place, a home for little orphan girls, where they are clothed, boarded, and educated. We are now making additions to the present building, and when it is finished it will be a beautiful building, about one hundred and twenty-five feet long in front, and will accommodate fifty or sixty persons.

Your friend and subscriber,
T. B. Dawson

1853.1.98c

Milwaukie, Feb. 8.

Mr. Merry:—Would you like to receive a letter from a Wisconsin girl, who lives on the banks of the Kinnekinneck river? It is very cold here; the thermometer was at zero this morning; we have had some snow this winter, and I have had some nice sleigh rides. My brother has taken the Museum a year, and I have had a great deal of pleasure in reading it. The stories of Paul and Virginia, the Galley Slave, and Balloon Travels around the World, are very interesting, but I think that the extracts from Ancient History are better than all.

The music in the August number of last year I play and sing, and I think it is very good. I should be glad if you would publish more. I send you the following conundrum:

Why should the Editor of the Museum be contented and happy?

From your young friend,
Cornelia.

1853.1.99a

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Merry—Dear Sir:—A few days since, a little sister of mine, in looking over the library, found an old copy of your Magazine. She became much interested in the many “nice stories,” and coming to me, said, “Sister, I am not too little to take a Magazine, am I?[”] Upon telling her she was not, she said, “I must get the money right away—’tis such a nice book.” She has just raised the amount required, and now comes to me, and with her large eyes, as dark as midnight, beaming upon me, says, “Sister, you are not too sick to write me a note, are you?” I cannot resist the appeal, and I sit down to write you.

Six or seven years ago, when I was a “little girl,” I took the Museum, and I can remember how I perused its interesting pages with ever fresh delight, and it is with joy that I find my little sister so eager to have it. I am very sorry that I have so long forgotten the book which was to me in days of yore an inexhaustible source of amusement and instruction.

I remain your old friend,
Charlotte’s Sister.

1853.1.99b

Jericho, Vt.

Mr. Merry:—Mother commenced taking the ——, but we did not fancy it much, and we requested her to exchange and take the Museum for us, which she did, and I assure you we gave it a hearty welcome. I do not think she will exchange it again for any other Magazine very soon. I am happy to know that Gilbert Go-ahead still continues his Adventures. I think he wished that he never had seen the baby when he had so much trouble with it.

I send you the following puzzle:

Edward S. Whitcomb, Jr.

1853.1.99-100

Dear Mr. Merry:—The Museum is always a welcome visitor in our family. We are all very fond of reading about Gilbert Go-ahead, and hope his letters will be long continued. They will always be read with pleasure by us as long as he keeps his stories within the bounds of probability. Now, Mr. Merry, when I say this, I do not mean to cast any slur upon Gilbert’s character, and hope, if he should ever see this, he will not be offended; but I really do think some of his “yarns” are rather fine spun, [p. 100 ] for instance, his ride on the hippopotamus, and adventure with Grin. Another feature of the Museum which we all admire is, the Monthly Chat with your Young Friends. I have always had my doubts whether the letters you publish are really the productions of your young correspondents, or of your own fanciful brain. I enclose an

Yours truly,
R. N. John.

1853.1.130-131

New York, March 12.

Mr. Merry:—One of your correspondents in the March number seems to think that the boys are rather remiss in contributing to the Museum. If he will look at the list of those who sent puzzles and answers, I think he will find a goodly portion of them boys. They have redeemed themselves fairly in my estimation. The answer to Charade in the last number is the Dog. To E. S. W.’s puzzle, heroine. To R. N. John’s, Spark. To Willis’s, “Captain Forbes and his forces, went to the West Indies.” I send you a Charade, which you may publish, or not, as you please.

I must tell you an anecdote, Mr. Merry. A physician in this city employs a negro boy, named Jim, to take care of his horse, and do sundry jobs around the house. The other day the doctor’s little girl observed him chasing a kitten around the yard, and from there over the fence into the neighbor’s. Fearing that it was her pet kitten, she asked him whether it was all of one color. “Why, yes, sorter all of one color,” he [p. 131 ] replied, “de tail was different, and de rest was all striped.”

Yours affectionately,
Willie H. Coleman.

1853.1.131

New Orleans, Feb. 1853.

Dear Mr. Merry:—I have been wishing a year to take Merry’s Museum, having seen it in the Public School Library of this place. I see that you have a monthly chat with your little friends, and I will write you a letter. I like to read about Gilbert Go-ahead and his clocks, and the history of Little Muck, and to get the answers to the Enigmas. This is a very large city, extending six or eight miles along the river, and from one to two miles back towards the lake, and is also spreading in every direction. The population of New Orleans in the winter is 150,000. There are a great many languages spoken here, the German, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Italian. Even little children under four years run about talking French and English. The streets run down from the Mississippi river on a gradual descent towards lake Ponchartrain, five miles off, so that when it rains, those streets that run at right angles with the river are flooded, but the draining machines drain them off quickly. There is a road here made of muscle-shells, which you would call a turnpike in your State. It leads through the cypress swamp to the lake. There are groves of orange trees, on which oranges grow as large as the Cuba oranges. A few Chinese live here, who make kites in the shape of butterflies and sell them to the boys.

Yours truly,
R. W. North.

1853.1.162

The town in which I live is Damariscotta, named from the river upon which it stands. The river, I believe, was so called from an Indian chief of that name. The town is noted for the great number of fine ships that are built here. I am ten years old, and I have a little sister five weeks old. When she gets old enough I shall read to her stories out of the Museum.

Marietta.

1853.2.31

New Bedford, April 29th, 1853.

Mr. Merry:—Dear Sir,—You cannot imagine with what joy I greet the arrival of your interesting Museum and peruse its pages. I have taken it a long time; I have a little sister seven years of age, who also likes the stories very much. I am eleven years old. I see letters from little boys and girls from all parts of the Union, some younger and some older than I. I have paid for the Museum in advance, and take more pleasure in reading it and in solving the enigmas and conundrums when I think I do not owe for it. My father gave me fifty cents at Christmas, and I saved that and my New Year’s money to pay for the Museum another year.

Grace Maria Linton.

1853.2.127a

Wood Lawn, July 20th, 1853.

Dear Mr. Merry:—I suppose you think little Bessie is rather late in sending her dollar; but I think if all your subscribers had to earn their money as I do, you would be all the time complaining. My mother gives me a dollar a month to see that the servant keeps the parlor nice and clean, and pays me every six months, so you now see why I have not written until July. I have received all my numbers but the one for March, will you please send it to me? In your next trip in your balloon, please call and take me with you. I imagine Ellen must be very happy up there in the air. Good bye, dear, good Mr. Merry; don’t send your excellent Museum any longer to Elizabeth, but to

Miss Bessie Harris.

1853.2.127b

New Haven, Conn., August 17th, 1853.

Dear Mr. Merry:—I have been wishing to write to you for a long time, but I never knew exactly what to write about. I saw Peter Parley four or five years ago. He came to see us. All I recollect of him is that my sister and I gave him each a splendid golden pippin. He put them in his pocket and told them to lie still. I send you a few Anagrams, which if you think worthy, I wish you would publish for Willie Coleman to solve.

These are not original.—Now, dear Mr. Merry, hoping to see this published, I subscribe myself, your affectionate friend,

Florence S.

1853.2.127c

Buffalo, September, 1853.

Dear Mr. Merry:—I live in the city of Buffalo. Last New Year’s night, when my father came home, he called me to him and gave me a package, I took it, and what was my delight, upon opening it, to find that it was the January number of Merry’s Museum. He informed me that he had subscribed for it for one year. I was so glad I hardly knew what to do. And now as each succeeding month rolls around, it is one of my greatest pleasures to go down and get my number, and then read it through. I like the stories very much, especially that one of Gilbert Go-ahead, but I think that I had rather look over the Monthly Chat, than all the stories.

Yours, truly,
Mary A. Clark.

1853.2.187a

Washington, D. C., Nov. 20, 1853.

Respected Sir:—I have had the pleasure of reading some numbers of Merry’s Museum that you kindly sent to our school in Washington, D. C.

I have read with delight an account of Isabella, Queen of Spain, who aided Columbus in getting his outfit for the discovery of America. I have also read “The Balloon Travels,” and “The Little Boy that wanted to be a Hermit.” When his mother consented, he went away to live alone; but when the storm arose and night came on, he thought of his quiet home, and the cheerful fireside, and gladly returned home. This shows us how our minds, if not properly controlled, will lead us to do many things that are foolish.

Since I have been reading Merry’s Museum, it has increased my fondness for reading. I did not like to read before, but now I like to read every thing that helps me to think rightly. God has blessed us by sending kind friends to teach us to read, and we thank you for sending the Museum each month to bless us with its light, love, and knowledge.

Yours truly,
Nancy Haugh.

1853.2.187b

Woodville, Miss., Nov. 1st, 1853.

Dear Mr. Merry:—I have been a delighted reader of your magazine ever since I was a little child; and now that I am in my teens, I am not willing to give it up. I saw Peter Parley in New Orleans seven years ago, and heard him address the children in Mr. Clapp’s church. I did not know then that Peter Parley and Mr. Merry were the same person; but I have since found out that they and Mr. Goodrich are all the same. I have often thought of writing to you, just to see if you would publish my letter; for I half suspect you write most of the letters yourself. When I saw you in New Orleans, and they told me you were Peter Parley, I said you did not look like the old man I had seen on the picture books. I live in the vicinity of Woodville, and would like very much to have one of the bound volumes you offer for a new subscriber; but as the yellow fever is in town, I cannot go there to see any of my friends, to ask them to subscribe; but, Mr. Merry, I have preserved with a great deal of care, all the numbers I have received, and wish to have them bound; and will be much obliged to you if you will send me the missing numbers, of which I send the list. I have paid for the Museum up to July, 1854, and I send in this letter a gold dollar to pay for the missing numbers, and four postage stamps to pay the postage of the package. If you cannot send the missing numbers of the Museum, please take the dollar and send me the Mother’s Magazine, and a bound volume of the Museum for 1853, according to your proposal; though I would much rather have the odd numbers of the Museum. I amuse myself very much in solving the puzzles and enigmas, and now send the answer to the enigma in the Oct. No. It is “The World’s Fair.”

From your friend and subscriber,
C. T. B.