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[Page i]HEALD

CHILD’S WAY

Sept. - Oct.

dedicated to children everywhere

BAHÁ’Í YEAR 127 [Page ii]dedicated to children everywhere BAHÁ’Í YEAR 127

CHILD’S WAY

Vol. 2, No. 5

1. The Adventures of Dewey-conclusion

by James Nelson

4. Kampala House of Worship 5. Flowers of the Garden

by Mrs. Jerald Day

6. The Science Corner: Secret Ink 7. Prayer for Health 8. Calendar Poem 9. Chuckles 10. Calendar 11. Doug’s Diary: Second Installment 16. Mixed Media 17. Poem 18. Noontime Prayer 19. Haiku

by Mark Benson

20. Bahá’í Feast Name Puzzle

by Mrs. Nella Gustafson

21. Mike and Joe

by Barbara Rodgers

24. Terrariums 25. Color is Only Skin Deep

by Peggy Versalle

Advisory Board: Carole Allen, Ray Johnson, LaNelma Johnson, Maxine Rossman, Mark Rossman, Helen Sousa, Donald Streets

Contributing Editors: Barbara Cook, Robert Hart, Molly King, David Lepard, James Nelson

Art Illustrator and Consultant: Diane Paquet

Subscription Service: Gloria Kohls

Managing Editors: David Lepard

CHILD’S WAY is published bi-monthly in January, March, May, July, September and November in Amherst, Massachusetts. Manuscripts, editorial correspondence and subscriptions should be addressed to: CHILD’S WAY Magazine, Box 551, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002.

Subscriptions: Second Class mail USA, $4.50; Foreign, $5.00. Single copy, $ .75.

Editor’s Note

Dear Friends of CHILD’S WAY,

We are most pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs. Gloria Kohls as Manager of the Subscription Service. Mrs. LaNelma Johnson is preparing, with her family, for an important pioneering post in India. We extend our sincere appreciation and thanks to the Johnsons for their yeoman’s service to the magazine and pray for their continued success in the years to come.

We are also pleased to announce that Mrs. Helen Sousa will be assuming the responsible task of General Editor and will be inviting you to send her your articles and ideas. Mr. Mark Rossman will be taking on the important position of Publicity and Special Information Services. Our sincere appreciation to them both in advance for their services.

These crucial appointments come at a time when we wish to remind many of you that it is time to consider resubscribing to CHILD’S WAY. We look forward to being able to serve you better and thank you for your faithful support.

Sincerely,

THE MANAGING EDITOR [Page 1]

The Adventures of Dewey

by James Nilion

Dewey was certain that he would never see the light of day again. He was being shaken and stirred in a pitch-dark vat of syrupy stuff that kept grabbing at him and pulling away parts of his orange jewel coating. "Why did I ever have to leave the ocean?" asked Dewey, but no one answered and he knew that the other drops around him were just as homesick as he.

Soon it began to get very hot around Dewey in the vat, and it was apparent that someone had started to heat the sticky liquid. In fact, it soon became so hot that several drops near the top of the vat were boiled loose from the syrup and had begun to dance about looking for a way to escape. "We're loose!" Dewey heard one of them shout. "Now let's show them what a little steam pressure can do!" With that millions of other drops jumped free of the stuff boiling in the vat, and, together, they all began to push. They pushed up and down and out until the tightly covered vat began to bulge with the pressure within. Dewey, who was too far down toward the bottom to jump free, felt as though he were being squeezed of all life. He struggled to keep himself together, and as he struggled, he noticed that he was changing from one mixture into another. He was being pulled away from the sticky orange goo and absorbed by a fresh new liquid, light and smooth. [Page 2]

Dewey

All at once a valve was opened at the top of the vat. The water droplets at the top hissed wildly in their joy as they escaped up the tube and into the air. The liquid that remained was being led through a dark pipe to another place. Then in an instant, it was Dewey's turn to be drawn into the pipe. He noticed that the sticky stuff from which he had been taken did not run through the pipe at all, but stayed behind in the bottom of the vat. He also noticed as he ran along the pipe that he was being cooled almost as much as when he had turned to ice in the pond. But even though he was very, very cold he did not even start to harden. It felt very strange.

When the ride through the pipe ended, Dewey was startled by bright light all about him. He and his companions had been deposited in a glass cell, quite small in size, but from which it was possible to see clearly. "Where in the world are we?" asked Dewey of his identical neighbors. But none of them knew, or if they did, they didn't answer. And so, Dewey did not know, even when they pasted a label on his small prison which read: "P-E-R-F-U-M-E O-R-A-N-G-E B-L-O-S-S-O-M"

It was

So it was that Dewey was prepared to serve the human kingdom. It was to be his finest experience. He had already served as home to the fish, as servant of the trees, and now he could become a part of the life of man. But even if Dewey had known all this, he would gladly have given it up if only he could be granted his greatest wish to become once again a part of that great sea from which he had come.

By this time, travel was nothing new to Dewey. He had flown through the sky on the back of a duck. He had been carried through the mysterious roots and veins of the orange tree. He had moved in the basket of the blossom-picker and he had swum through the pipes of the perfume factory. But never before had travel been so delightful as it was now. He sat, snug and secure, inside his glass bottle being sent from one place to another all across Europe. Finally, he came to a most elegant spot. He was surrounded by crystal containers, each comtaining a liquid substance of a different glowing color. He had come to the perfume department of a famous department store.

Each morning Dewey would look out from his comfortable glass house and notice the ladies as they passed the counter where he waited to be selected. Oh, how he longed to be picked to accompany one of them as they went into the great human world. He didn't have to wait long. One afternoon, just as the store was about to close, he was swept off the shelf with a rush, quickly wrapped in stout paper, much too thick to see through, and plunged into a bouncing handbag being carried out of the store. As the pace of his buyer grew faster, he thought he heard her say something about being late for the boat. [Page 3]wow Sure enough, the next day, there he was sitting on top of a cabinet in a cabin aboard a large ship now far at sea. Through a porthole Dewey could see the ocean swell. He could hear the rush of the water as it turned to foam under the ship. He was almost home. Dewey throbbed with sadness that he should be so close to his place of birth and nor be able to get back to it.

It was here that a tiny piece of paper came into Dewey's life and changed it entirely.

Later that evening there was to be a ball aboard the ship and all the ladies were dressing in their finest clothes. Naturally, Dewey's new owner would wear a dash of the fine perfume in which Dewey had his home. But as she went to apply the perfume, some motion of the ship moved her hand and instead of being brushed upon her forehead, Dewey was splashed instead upon the table.

Now, a table is not a very safe place for perfume drops to rest, and if it hadn't been for the piece of paper, Dewey might have just dried up. But the lady moved quickly and took this paper from her bag and wiped Dewey from the table.

It was not very pleasant, of course, for Dewey to be imprisoned in the paper and he struggled to get free. He would not have struggled so hard had he known that this paper was soon to carry him home. for at that moment, the door to the lady's cabin was opened and a rush of air came through. The paper with which Dewey was wrestling was only a half-foot away from the porthole through which Dewey had watched the ocean roll by. The blast of air through the door picked up the piece of paper and whisked it, light as a feather, out the porthole. In an instant Dewey had come home.

Later, as he talked to me from his leafy perch; Dewey explained how the whole cycle of life had begun again. Just as he had once come from the clouds and dropped into the pond, so now he had dropped from other clouds which had taken him from the sea. And there he was upon my lawn.

I really wanted very much to keep him and talk with him more of his adventures, but Dewey was very certain that he should be on his way to more exciting adventure, so, I asked him if he would like to be carried back to the sea.

"No thank you," answered Dewey. "Now that I know what the life of a water droplet is supposed to be, I want to serve everywhere I can before I go home again." And so, I put him back upon the dampened lawn just as I had found him. And that's the last I have seen of Dewey, although sometimes I think I hear his calling. The next time it rains, listen carefully, and look around. I'm sure he'd love to talk with you, too. [Page 4]

HOUSE OF WORSHIP

Kampala

Believing that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process and that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, the Bahá’ís of Africa opened the doors of this beautiful House of Worship to all peoples, races, and religions on January 14, 1961.

The building has been built entirely of concrete and steel. It has no wood other than that of its doors. The building is considered to be unusually beautiful and is one of the finest built structures in East Africa. With nine huge columns supporting the great dome, the building is 127 ft. high, eighty-four feet in diameter and seats over 600 worshipers.

The inside of the dome is pale blue The rotunda, into which are set nine gigantic windows filled with green, amber, and pale blue glass, is a brilliant white. The columns and the lower walls are a pale green. These colors all add to the effect of lightness and airiness which is intensified by the large green and amber glass-filled grilles on either side of the nine entrances."

The outside of the building has a green and stone-color effect. The dome is covered with sparkling light green ceramic mosaic tiles imported from Italy. This is the first such Bahá’í structure on the African continent Do you remember where other Bahá’í Houses of Worship are located? [Page 5]

flowers of the garden

Words and Music: Mrs. Jerald Day

We are the flow-ers of God’s gar-den, Bright as the mor-ning, Fresh as the dawn. Love-ly in diff’ren-ces, var-ied in love-li-ness. We are the flow-ers of hu-man-i-ty. [Page 6]

THE SCIENCE CORNER

How did your rain gauge and your barometer work out? We have heard from several young scientists who have conducted some very successful experiments with theirs. The experiment in this issue is easy and fun to do. It has to do with writing and reading secret messages.

Squeeze the juice from a fresh lemon into a cup or glass.

Using a tooth pick, write or print a few words on a piece of clean white paper.

When the juice dries, hold the words you wrote on the paper near an electric light bulb.

It may take a few moments for you to tell, but what happened?

Now that you can write secret things, why don’t you see if you can make up some good games for people to play. I can think of many really fun things to do for holiday games and parties, can’t you? [Page 7]

Prayer For Health

Thy Name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Bahá’u’lláh [Page 8]

BAHÁ’Í CALENDAR

The Bahá’í calendar is one of praise

With ‎ninteen nineteen‎ months of ‎ninteen nineteen‎ days.

Splendor starts the New Year right,

Glory, Beauty, Grandeur, Light

Belong to God, Who o’er all reigns

With Mercy, Words, Perfection, Names.

Might, Will, Knowledge follow through

To Power, Speech and Questions, too.

Honor, Sovereignty, Dominion dwell

With Loftiness, God’s Names to tell.

Intercalary days are four;

Each four years there is one more. [Page 9]

CHUCKLES

Why is hay like a mouse? Because the Cat’ll (cattle) eat it!	Why are ‎romors rumors‎ like badly built houses? Because their stories are without a foundation!
Why is a blow like a hat? Because it is felt!	When is a house like a bird? When it has two wings!
Why is a greedy boy like a boy with a bad memory? Because he’s always for getting (forgetting)	Why is it impossible to starve in the desert? Because of all the sand which is (sandwiches) there

[Page 10]

Bahá’í ‎Calender Calendar‎

‘Izzat	MIGHT	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	1OCT.	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15

[Page 11]

Doug’s Diary

A Teaching Trip to India

Friday Dec. 12. Today during the morning Denny and I stayed at the hotel and looked around in some of the shops near the hotel. At about 12:00 noon Ferris Ahmad came to see Dad and although Dad did not come for quite some time, we had a very interesting conversation with him. In the afternoon we went to several newspaper offices where Dad was interviewed by the editors of each newspaper. Later we paid a “courtesy visit” to one of the government officials residing in New Delhi. On that same day Denny and I got a bird book to identify the many birds that we had seen during the course of our Trip.

Saturday, Dec. 13. Denny and I got our first real teaching experience today when we shared a program with our dad. I spoke to them on “Life in the United States” and Denny spoke to them on “‎United State United States‎ Schools” and dad spoke to them on “The Brotherhood of Man.” After our talks we were literally mobbed by the students who wished our autographs and addresses. It was very gratifying for we were sure that they had ‎genuinly genuinely‎ enjoyed our presentation.

Dad gave several more lectures that day and then we went to have dinner at a Bahá’ís home. Unfortunately it lasted quite late, so we were sure that 5:30 would come very early the next morning.

Sunday Dec. 14. As predicted 5:30 a.m. did come very early this morning but we got up anyway because we had to catch a plane in less than an hour. The taxi that took us to the airport was a rather pokey one and we were worried we would miss the plane. To top it all off the driver stopped for gas and then we were really worried. But actually we got there with a couple minutes to spare and our flight hadn’t even been called yet. After we arrived in Gwalior we were met by some Bahá’ís who lived there and were taken to our hotel we would stay in. We slept for a couple of hours to catch up on some sleep. The hotel we stayed in was formerly the home of a full fledged maharaja and had later been converted into a hotel. It was old fashioned but certainly nice and also very clean. Denny and I stayed there during the morning to catch up on our diaries etc. And then we went over to attend the press conference at Bombay Bakery (the residence of the Bahá’ís who picked us up at the airport). The rest of the day went very nicely by with several speeches to colleges etc. for dad. [Page 12]Monday Dec. 15. Today in the morning we went around to several colleges while dad gave speeches to them. We saw several new birds today and now have over 25 new birds to our bird lists although I am still 15-20 behind a friend of mine in Massachusetts. I hope to overtake him by the end of the trip. Later on after lunch Denny, dad and I went to the Rabbani school where we spoke to the children there on the Bahá’í Faith. The Rabbani school is totally run by Bahá’ís and the school itself was built by Bahá’ís. The schools’ pupils come from mainly around Gwalior but there are some students who come from remote parts of Asia. After an hour there we had to leave in order to make another appointment later on that day. That night we had dinner at Bombay Bakery.

Tuesday Dec. 16 Although we had planned to go out to Rabbani school again today, we were unable to for we went out to another village in the morning and had several things to do in the afternoon. Dennis wasn’t feeling well, so he went to the hotel to sleep. Dad and I stayed at Bombay Bakery for lunch and then found out that Dad’s thing had been cancelled so we also went to the hotel. Who do we find goofing around on the porch? Dennis! He hadn’t been able to open the door because it was locked and he, of course, hasn’t enough sense to go down and ask for the key! Silly Dennis! This evening we tried to go to sleep early for we had to get up early the next morning to catch our plane to Bombay.

Wednesday Dec. 17 We are now in Bombay after an uneventful but pleasant flight. Shirin Boman is now with us and will also accompany us to Indore and Ujjain for purposes of translation. We are staying at the Taj Mahal hotel where we will stay for 3 nights. We are told that it is Bombay’s finest hotel. We went to a tailor’s store and ordered several coats. Hopefully they will be ready by the time we leave Bombay on Saturday afternoon.

This afternoon we visited the USIS center here in Bombay. We met a very pleasant man who has been working for USIS for 18 years. He will accompany us around to all dad’s education lectures. This evening dad spoke to the Bahá’ís in Bombay. He spoke for about an hour and a half. Then Denny spoke for about 5 minutes and then I spoke for about ten minutes. We then went back to the [Page 13]"Taj" where we had a marvelous dinner at a restaurant called the Rendezvous.

Thursday. Dec 18 we had a very nice sleep last night. This morning Dennis and I went to a ‎Hindee Hindi‎ movie with one of the Bahá’í youths. Since the movie was in Hindi Dennis and I could not, of course, understand a word of what was said, but we still got the general plot. It seems that it is easier to understand a movie if you understand the language in which it is spoken. This afternoon we went around with dad while he gave some lectures and although they were very good ones I feel they don’t compare to one he gave yesterday, for I feel it is the best so far.

Friday Dec. 19 This morning Dennis and I went on a tour to take in the many sights that Bombay has to offer. Bombay is the most cosmopolitan city in India. It has some 5,000,000 people in it and its technological advances are many, and tall impressive apartment and office buildings are numerous. Bombay is as clean as any large city in the United States and is also a booming port. In Bombay is the famed Gateway to India. It was built sometime ago to commemorate the arrival of a king of Spain. Even today if a ruler of another country arrives in India by boat the same ‎ceremoney ceremony‎ is performed. That night a friend of ours took us to a movie (this time in English thank goodness)

Saturday Dec. 20. After dad attended several meetings and appointments we packed to leave for the airport by 11:30 P.M. The drive to the airport is about a 45 minute trip from the Taj Mahal hotel so we had to leave an hour and a quarter before the plane left. We got to the airport with ample time to spare so we were able to visit with the people that had come to see us off. After about an hour’s flight we landed in Indore and that is where the chain reaction of amusing ‎calomities calamities‎ started popping. To start off, we had to get 8 pieces of luggage and four people into that itty bitty car owned by Mr. Vajdi. Although thoroughly uncomfortable no one complained because it was the best we could do,.. or was it 10 minutes [Page 14]and three miles later, in the center of Indore the car threw the gear box (the load was just too much for such a little car). Luckily the other car ‎come came‎ back for us after Sherin Boman noticed we were not behind them and after they had waited several minutes she insisted on coming back to see if we had some kind of problem and it is lucky she insisted on it for if they had gone on to their destination (Ujjain) without waiting for us we would have had a large wait ahead of us for the drive to Ujjain was about an hour and a half drive. Luckily we finally got there and were shown to the hotel in Ujjain (I say ‘the hotel’ in Ujjain because it is indeed the only hotel in Ujjain). Dad gave a short talk on education and we went back to our hotel for dinner and a relaxing evening.

Sunday Dec. 21 Today we got acquainted with another one of Mr. Vajdi’s TTH’s (Traveling Trash Heaps). This one was a run down jeep and it was much more faithful than his itty bitty car. Please don’t get me wrong though, for if it was satisfactory I’m sure I would have needed an electronic microscope to find it. To put it mildly the jeep was ‎mudelized {{{2}}}‎. But as I said before, a more faithful jeep or vehicle could not be found in the whole world (as Mr. Vajdi so said). By the time we had taken a few trips in it we became fond of it too and named it Blue Steel. Anyway getting back to the scene at hand we took a 2 hour drive out to a village that vaguely had heard of the Bahá’í Faith. After an hour speech that dad and I gave, we had 49 ‎declaration declarations‎! During this time however Dennis hadn’t been idle either. He had gone in the jeep with Mr. Vajdi and came back with about 20-30 kids in one normal size jeep. When they started climbing out it was just like the clown act in the circus, one after another in a never ending flow of a human race! When we started back we found our battery was dead so we couldn’t use the lights, necessitating the fast trip home to beat the sun. This trouble brought to mind other problems that had amused us earlier in the day. First a loose wire threatened the cancellation of the trip. Then the horn went on the blink so we couldn’t honk at the cattle and ‎bycyles bicycles‎.

An exciting day? Maybe but if you hear about what happened to us the next day you wouldn’t think this was exciting at all!

See you in the next issue of Child’s Way! [Page 15]

		‘Ilm	KNOWLEDGE	16	17
18	19	20 BIRTH OF THE ‎BAB Báb‎	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
1 NOV.	2	3

mashiyyat

WILL

Cut out TAPE Calendar to your wall

fold on line between the Arabic name of the month and the translation- TAPE and all the months will fit! [Page 16]MIXED MEDIA is using lots of different materials. On one drawing you may use crayon, pen and ink, pencil, paper, chalk, newspaper and twigs, paint and MORE!

Start with a large piece of paper. See if you can get a really BIG piece. Paste some pieces of torn paper on it. Then crayon areas or paint or draw or pen and ink OR all of them! Paste twigs and pebbles on it. Do MORE! MORE!

MIXED MEDIA

[Page 17]Bright green leaves in the sunshine; Ruffled edges of the leaves catching sunshine; Making shadows of themselves in the sunshine; So I see them by my head and my feet. [Page 18]

Noon-time Prayer

I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my ‎powerlessnes powerlessness‎ and to thy might, to my poverty and to thy wealth.

There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

Bahá’u’lláh [Page 19]

A Letter from a friend...

Mark Benson Age 11 Post Office Box 3397 Agana, Guam 96910

Haiku

Over 700 years ago, Japanese poets began writing a special form ‎or of‎ poetry called haiku (hī-kū). A haiku is a brief poem containing a vivid word picture of a scene from nature.

Japanese like odd numbers, so a haiku has a certain set pattern: the first and third lines must have 5 syllables in them; and the second line must have 7.

Here is a haiku I wrote:

Trees tossing wildly Against a pearly white sky. Typhoon time again.

We certainly want to thank Mark for sending in his poem and the interesting background for haiku. Do you think you can write some haiku, too? [Page 20]

Bahá’í Feast Names Puzzle?

Here is a puzzle that will fool you if you’re not careful. The nineteen Feasts can be found among the letters below. They can be read forward, backward, up, down, or diagonally. Draw a line around each and then check off on the list below. One example has been done for you. Good luck! Why don’t you time yourself and then test a friend with another copy. Our thanks to Mrs. Nella Gustafson from Laconia, New Hampshire for this one.

S	L	E	G	D	E	L	W	O	N	K	U
N	O	I	T	C	E	F	R	E	P	V	K
O	F	V	A	S	P	L	E	N	‎K D‎	O	R
I	T	O	E	D	O	M	I	N	I	O	N
T	I	P	G	R	A	N	D	E	U	R	A
S	N	Y	O	O	E	P	M	A	L	B	M
E	E	R	N	W	K	I	I	H	T	E	E
U	S	O	M	I	E	R	G	O	L	A	S
Q	S	L	O	L	Y	R	H	N	A	U	M
T	H	G	I	L	C	E	T	O	T	T	I
H	C	E	E	P	S	M	E	R	C	Y	N

1. SPLENDOR	6. MERCY	11. WILL	16. HONOR
2. GLORY	7. WORDS	12. KNOWLEDGE	17. SOVEREIGNTY
3. BEAUTY	8. PERFECTION	13. POWER	18. DOMINION
4. GRANDEUR	9. NAMES	14. SPEECH	19. LOFTINESS
5. LIGHT	10. MIGHT	15. QUESTIONS

[Page 21]

MIKE and JOE

by Barbara Rodgers

It blew in his face and made his eyelashes and stray red hairs wet... and cold! The snow danced before Mike's eyes, so that he almost didn't see Joe coming towards him, down the sidewalk!

"Hi, Mike!"

"Hi, Joe!"

"Gee, you sure have a lot of freckles, Mike!"

"Gee, you sure have big feet, Joe! Say how can you possibly see my freckles, with snowflakes pouring down in front of my face? Maybe I don't have so many freckles anymore...!"

"Well, how can you see my feet when they're deep in a snowdrift? Maybe they SHRANK!"

Both boys laughed. They always greeted each other the same way, snow or no snow; Mike's freckles and Joe's big feet were a neighborhood joke.

"What d' you want to do today?" Joe wondered. The problem wouldn't be finding something to do - there was PUH-LENTY to do when it snowed! - the problem would be deciding among all the possibilities!

continued on page 22 [Page 22]"Well, first let’s..." Mike started out rapidly, then stopped. "Gee, I don’t know what to do first! Let’s walk, huh."

Mike turned and bent down, and before Joe knew what was happening - WHAP! - he had a ‎snowbalī snowball‎ - soft enough, but mighty cold! - dripping down the back of his neck.

"All right, freckle-face," Joe said good-naturedly. "I see you knew what you wanted to do first all along! Are you really ready to walk now?"

The two pals scuffed along in the snow, with time out for snowball-throwing--at trees and fences, fire hydrants and telephone poles--along the way. The balls splatted out on the things they hit, leaving white patches of coldness.

"Did you know that no two snowflakes are alike?" Joe asked. "And that each one has six sides?"

"Sure, sure," Mike retorted. "You aren’t the only person in Mr. Young’s science class, you know! Look, though; catch some snow on your gloves and look - it IS pretty, isn’t it? I think I’ll get out my magnifying glass when I get home and take a closer look. And a dark cloth to catch the flakes on would help, too. ’Think that’s a good first thing to do today?"

Joe must have thought it was a good idea. "We’d better stay outside," he advised, "so the snow won’t melt before we look at it."

About face! and the freckled-face, big-footed twosome headed for Mike’s house.

"¡Hola!" a voice called. There was Juan, walking slowly through the deepest piles of snow along the edge of the sidewalk. He had a big grin on his face as he lifted his legs high and set his heavy boots down in the drifts. " Hola, amigos, isn’t it wonderful? I mean the snow, isn’t it wonderful?"

Juan was from Puerto Rico, and there in the tropics he had never seen snow! "I wish all my friends in Mayagüez could have a city full of snow to play in - for a day, at least - it IS wonderful!" [Page 23]Juan picked up some snow and rubbed it on his face! Mike and Joe had to laugh at this. "Come on, amigo," Joe invited. "Come to Mike's house with us, and we'll show you more about snow."

Now, three red-nosed, snow-sprinkled friends trudged down the walk together. A snowplow crept down the street and passed them, clearing ‎thw the‎ way for cars and ‎trocks trucks‎. A chickadee flew in front of them, to a wire suet-holder attached to a tree by someone who knew snowy days like this were coming.

"Ooof!" Mike complained as he plopped on his front steps shortly. "Walking in that stuff makes me tired. 'Need to rest!..."

"What a sissy," Joe teased.

"Sissy?" Juan repeated questioningly. With a laugh, Mike explained what a sissy was...and made Joe tell Juan he had been kidding. Mike didn't like being called a sissy!

The afternoon went quickly as Mike, Joe, and Juan enjoyed the snow. The magnifying glass revealed to them amazing six-sided patterns of icy beauty... and the shovels Mike's mother stuck in their hands showed them that snow can mean hard work!

But Mom's loud call, "Boys!" after they'd cleared the steps and walks - and were just about all done in - took them running to the kitchen door. "Snow ice cream for an industrious team!"

"Hey, my Mom's a poet!" Mike teased, and his mother laughed. She handed each boy a dish of sweet snow; she had mixed it with sugar, milk, and a little vanilla, to make a special treat.

...And the dishes were emptied almost as fast as the sun melts the first snow of the year! Juan smacked his lips and repeated, for the umpteenth time, "It sure is wonderful!" [Page 24]

Terrariums gardens under glass

A terrarium is a garden grown in glass. You can use plants that you find in the woods (be sure that you dont use plants that are poisonous or plants that will give you a rash! In some states it is illegal to pick certain plants that are growing scarce.

Use a large jar, fish ‎boawl bowl‎ or an ‎ald old‎ aquarium. Sprinkle an inch of pebbles on the bottom of your container, then cover the pebbles with two inches of fine soil. Now you can plant. Make an interesting arrangement of the small plants that you’ve found. Be sure that all your plants come from the same climate. (A plant that grows in full sun combined with one that grows in full shade ‎is is is‎ not a good combination — one will have to suffer in order for the other to survive in your Terrarium.

now sprinkle lightly with water. Put a sheet of glass on the top of your container.

Put your Terrarium in partial sun. You dont have to water it often. Every six months should do! [Page 25]

COLOR IS ONLY SKIN DEEP

by Peggy Versalle

Grade 9

Do you recall the day he was born, On that magical Monday morn?

His mother held him so tight, Partly of happiness, partly of fright.

She was happy for each child That came to earth.

She was scared just to think What his life would be worth.

She remembered her past life Of hardship and pain, Would her child have to go Through it all again?

Her reflection was tearful, Tender and mild, As she looked at her beautiful, Tiny black child.

The child seemed to sense As he whimpered in his sleep, His mother whispered to herself, "It's only skin deep."

This poem was entered in a Negro History Week competition at a local junior high school in Muskegon, Michigan by a fourteen year old white Bahá’í student. She was awarded first place in the poetry division. Thank you Peggy. [Page 26]--BLANK--