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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1904)
A Child's Letters from a Castle on the Sea hi era r m ra - it " - whi www mourn h. . , fca.i ir, .... WE HAVE TJCT ALL THE CHILDREN ON BOARD OOM13 INTO OUR GAME." i . . . -MiT H ..-..Vv.t.' SO WK BOTH TirOTTOTTT WE WOULD BE KNIGHTS AND GO AND FIND TUB KINO OK THIS CASTLE." HIST Day Out-My Dear Sir Launcelot: I nm coming to Fea. tlio country whore you lived and fought and died. I am very glad I am. I wanted to come luat year, tiut my father Bald I was too youmf and would be too much trouble fur mo'.her and would probably get Hick. That raada me feel very badly, because I was playing that mother was my queen and I wanted to go with her to protect her and I would not have been In the way at all. But I had to stay home and mother went without ma and alio was very sorry afterward, when aim found out how many children did go and what a good time they had. And I was very homesick without her and some times, at night, I cried, and I told father that I wanted to go to protect mother and to have adventures In a strange land and to see Tintngll castle and the Round Table. So he told me that If I'd atop crying and prove my knighthood ho would send me oa tills adventure the next year. And now next year has come, and this la I, and X am on my way to your country I wish Tom and Isobel were going, tool, Tom Is my cousin and he wishes he had been you, and he la sending a letter by ma to leave at your shrine'. Isobel la my cousin, too. Tom and t want Isobel to be Queen Guenever or La. Zlello Isolde, but the says she would rather be Joan of Arc and wear armor and rid a big horso and fight with us; but If she Ifl only Guenever all she could do would ba to sit still and look pretty and have on Kay party and one dinner party and bJ burned at the stake a lot She Is sending a letter to Joan of Aro and ' I have promised to buy her a picture ot the statue I am going to see la Tarls. I hopo you will excuse her for liking Joan of Arc the lent. I think perhaps shai did not know Queen Guenever as well M you and I do. And perhaps If you had known Joan you would have liked her, too, Tom and Isobel begged and cried to come, but their mother said she couldn't think of letting them take such a trip. Mother suld that she wanted me to see) all these wonderful things while I am young and then I'll never forget them, and that the stenmer would be Just like a float ing play houso. I think it Is more like a big Iron castle with a moat around It which nobody could ever swim across. It makes one feol very safe from all one's enemies. Too safe, really, for I don't see where any body could ever have any adventures. I think I'll go now and look for one. Later In the morning. My dear 81r laun celot: I have found a boy who knows all about you, too, and wo have a fine game. I told him about this ship being a great fortress, and he wanted to know who was Us king. I said I was, but he said I couldn't be If I were a knight looking for adventures. Bo we thought we'd both be knights and go and And the king of this castle for our first quest. We found lots of signs, but we couldn't find him. We are on his trail, though, for we found his flag a white star rampant nn a scarlet field. Then we began to look for the man who bore this sign. This was a hard task for, you see. It Is a time of pence In the castle and no one had on his mall or carried his shield. First we went inside and down a great many steps. We thought we khould surely find a dungeon, but In stead we found a big room with great, big, oft chairs, and window seats, and book cases full of books and a piano and a desk And on this desk we found his sign again on every piece of paper and on every en velope. I think he must be a very good king to have such beautiful and comfy things for us. But the other boy says per haps ha Is a very wicked king who has these beautiful things Just to en tic us here. I'll let you know when we And out If he is a wicked king we may have a fight after ail for that boy and I have sworn i if-' i e -r L5 -' W.7 I :; fh : .; i 1 RICHARD WORTHTNQTON, KNIGHT OV THE WHITE STAR, to make Mm give up his prisoners. I think he must be a good king, though, because he has all the King Arthur books In Ills library. We found them and began to read them and forgot our search. Then the boy was called away, so I thought I'd Just let you know what we had found out. Mother says I must go to dinner now, bo good bye. Evening of the same day. My dear Sir Launcelot: See here Is the paper, and the Earth's Hot and Cold Spots TIATfT T ..111 I asked to name the hottest and 1 rf licit nlii(, en mrtVi Iia uirmlil most likely mention Tuma, Ariz., for the former and some spot in the norlhweBt territory for the latter. In such selections he would be some consider able distance out of the way, though' neither has a great deal In the way of climate to recommend It. Tor instance, neither the Biihrlen Islands In the Tcralan gulf nor Takutsk, Sllerla, would be a wise selec tion as place of residence. In It.ihrlen you cook and In Yakutsk you freeze. Buhrlen Is said to be the hnrtnxt place in the world. The thermometer often reg isters between 110 and 120 degrees, night and day, for mouths at a time. This rather beats Fort Yuma, Arlx., which la considered the hottest place In the United States. Yakutsk Is called the coldest city In tho world. The thermometer frequently reg isters 73 degrees below rero. Though Ya kutsk is the coldest city in the world, Verkhoyansk, In northeastern Siberia, claims to be the coldest inhabited pi toe on the globe, the thermometer registering 80 degrees below lero In January. It also claims to be the plaoe possessing the most variable climate, for while It Is 90 degrees below In January, It Is 86 above In the shade In August during the day, with n drop down to freezing every mid summer night. Tho wettont place In the world Is Grey town, Nicaragua, where the annual rainfall Is 20) Inches. Tho dryest place In the world Is probably the ralnles3 coast of northern Chill. They have a shower there about once In every ten years. Nothing grows on this desolute strip of barren coast, and tho dreary towns from which the nitrates and minerals mined In that region aro shipped depend for their subsistence upon food brought to them In the ships from the fertile strips to the north and south of the desert Northern Russia and the shores of the French Congo are said to be the cloudiest places In the world, and for fog there Is no region like the Grand Banks, the south ern coast of Newfoundland and the waters of Nova Scotia. This region is one of fog for a large part of the year, nnd the very home of the fog Is the Island of Grand Manan, at the ontranco of the Bay of Fuudy Chicago Cbroulula, king's flag. I told mother about It and nho said that anybody could have a piece, bo I came right down to get a piece to write to you on. The king keeps it here for all the people in the castle to use. It Is almost time to go to bed, but I must tell you something else about this kini?. He has his coat dt arms on all his dishes, too. I saw them at supper. And ho gives us de-LICIOl'S things to eat. I don't believe that even that party that Queen Guenever gave to the knights was us good as this. And the children have a table all their own and there are two empty seats, Just enough for Tom and Isobel. I Wish they had been here sitting in them. The sunset was very pretty and there ara no houses out here to get In front of It Good night. Sir Launcelot. Very respect fully, RICHARD WORTHINGTON. Second day out My dear Sir Launcelot: This Is evening again. I have been too busy today to write before now. I have been following up our quest. We have lot all the children on board come into our game and they have taken a vow to find this king. Jack he Is the boy I told you about yes terdayand he says that the king is a wicked king for sure, and that this beau tiful castle is a prison. I am afraid he la right, because some of the grown up people were sick today. But maybe it is not the king's fault. I asked mother and sho said It was only the big waves rolling around that made them sick. But none of the children were sick, except two who wera sick when they started, and came to get the sea air to make them well again. They couldn't play with us. We are Borry. Wa brought them the King Arthur books to read so that when they get well they can play too. Most of tho other children al ready know about knights and we told tha others what to do and we showed them the pictures In the books and they ae going to read the stories. Then we mado two bands of knights. Jack led one and I led the other and we all explored the castle and oh I want to tell you what we found. It was almost aa much fun as Aladdin's palace. There are thousands of small rooms Just like the ones mother and I have, all white and clean, with beds and sofas and every thing nice and comfy. We don't know whether they are for friends or prisoners yet nor whether we are friends or pris oners ourselves. We showed the other knights the library we found yesterday and we found several other rooms today with plush and leather chairs and desks and cushions and beautiful lights In them. Then there are great big halls lighted by electric lights and there Is a band which Is always In the castle and which plays beau tiful music. And there really Is a dungeon Jack and I got a man to take us down and show It to us. We went way down ever so far on steps and then little steps and then iron ladders. It Is very black and dark except they can turn, on electric lights anywhere. And wi saw tha mighty engines and wheels that make tha castle move over the water. And there were men down there to make the engines go and great mountains of coal. I hop we can go to the dungeon very often. On the very top of the castle there Is a watch tower of glass and a man stands In It and makes the castle go wherever he wants It to go and he can ring bells which the men way down in the dungeon can here and these bodls tell them when to make the engines go fast or slow. And then there Is a searchlight which can send a bright light ever so far over the water so this man can tell, on the darkest night. Just where he Is going and If anything Is near. I think this castle must be more beautiful and more wonderful than any 'castle yoo ever saw. Don't you think so? Good night Very truly yours, RICHARD WORTHINGTOI4.
