Frank Merriwell's Limit

APPLAUSE.

I have been selected to write you in behalf of an orchestra and club which the boys and girls have formed, to thank you for the beautiful and interesting tales which Mr. Standish pictures in the Tip Top Weekly, the king of papers. Our club is composed of G. Hartshorn, L. Morris, L. Guttine, M. Ruftner, M. Asbury, E. Barroll, V. Conway and myself. We have read all your publications. Please give our very best regards to Mr. Standish, we wish a long life to Frank. Can we get all the back numbers by writing you? The true friend of Tip Top.

Our best wishes for your club. Yes, all back numbers are in print.

We are constant readers of the Tip Top Weekly, and we think it is the best weekly in existence. We have read nearly every number, and we know they can't be beat,

Thank you. All success to your club.

Having not seen many letters from this part of the state, I thought I would write to you. I have read all the Tip Tops from No. 35, and have had all the back numbers except the first five, which I will soon send for. I have read many other novels, but the Tip Top is ahead of all of them, and it is on the tip top, too. Is Frank moving to Boston? If he is I will be with him all the time he is here. I'll be a stanch friend of his, even if I am only eleven years old. Among Frank's friends I like Bart Hodge and Bruce Browning, because they are so ready to help him. Are we going to hear about Martin Brattle and Sport Harris again? I shall not be surprised to hear that Buck Badger will be a stanch friend of Frank's. Frank was pretty spunky to play Rugby the time he was hurt. He ought not to marry yet. When he does Elsie will be a bride for him. Long live Frank, his chums, Mr. Standish and Street & Smith. Hurrah for the Tip Top!

Go on reading the Tip Top and you will learn all that you desire to know. It would scarcely be fair to anticipate. We are pleased that you are Frank's friend.

I am equally indignant as some of the other readers of Tip Top are that any one should assume a fictitious name and try to imitate Tip Top by his infamous writings. But I am straying from my object in writing this letter. I am an ardent admirer of Frank and his friends and I think that the stories in connection with Yale College are the best. I hope that Buck Badger, although Frank's enemy, will reform from his fast ways and become a friend of Frank's, for one with such courage and determination as the writer has pictured would make a stanch friend. I don't think that Frank should think of marriage for some time to come, because that would end all our brilliant college stories and the youthful life of our hero. But when the time does come, Elsie is the girl for Frank. I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Standish and the publishers who illustrate his brilliant works for the benefit, pleasure and noble example which has been set before me in the Tip Top Weekly.

Wait a little. Mr. Standish will bring all things right in the end. We welcome you as a contributor to our correspondence column.

To express my entire appreciation of the Tip Top would be impossible. In various ways have I attempted it, but in nowise have I succeeded in doing justice to the subject. Mr. Burt L. Standish-God bless him-is doing one of the greatest services for the American youth that man can perform, that of teaching us how to act on all occasions, and also that honesty is the best policy, by practical example. I know many Tip Top readers, and find them all good fellows, upon who the influence of the Tip Top has had its effect. I would like to know more readers, and if any of the St. Louis boys would write or call upon me I should be greatly pleased. I also want to hear from the St. Louis Tip Top Clubs, of which I know there are a few. Address me at 3940 Florissant avenues, and you letters will be gladly welcomed, as all friends of Frank Merriwell are my friends. As to the base imitation to which the Tip Top is subjected to, I will say that as long as the Tip Top has no worthier rival, there is no danger of its place being usurped. This imitator contains the most foolish stuff that it has ever been my misfortune to run against. The "hero" is a wretched example for the American youth, who is given to boasting and bragging in a manner, causing a more of this degrading sheet, suffice it to say that the average American boy knows better than to continue reading it long. The Tip Top is the only paper, despite its imitators, and these same imitators only serve to make our own paper more popular. In closing I wish continued success to the Tip Top and long life to its author, Burt L. Standish!

We are glad to know that the Tip Top is popular, and is doing good among the boys of St. Louis. In regard to our imitators, you but voice the opinion of thousands.

I will write a few lines to let you know how I like the Tip Top Weekly. I think it is the best paper I ever read. I hope Frank and Elsie will meet soon. I hope Frank, his friends, and publishers will have success.

Thank you.

I have read the Tip Top Weekly since No. 103, and like them very much. I am captain of the second football team here. Our centre is James Winkett, and Fullback, Chester Birchfield. We have played three games, and have not lost any yet. We play again in two weeks.

We hope you will continue to win. See correspondence.

We, the ardent admirers of the Tip Top Weekly, with to express our feelings toward Frank Merriwell and his chums. We think it is the best publication of its kind in America. We have a Tip Top Club, and look forward to Friday with great pleasure, as it is the day on which we get this ideal magazine.

Thank you. Good luck to your club.

I am a constant reader of the Tip Top Weekly, and enjoy it very much, and I do not think there is a weekly in the country equal to it. I do not wish to criticise your weekly, but I would like to make a suggestion. Would it not be a good idea, as there are so many young ladies who patronize the Tip Top, to have Elsie and Inza, who are such favorites, mentioned a little oftener, as it is now several weeks since they have been mentioned, and almost months since Elsie has been spoken of. Although without a doubt the different kind of sports are of great interest to the young gentlemen readers, it would not be any the less interesting to them to have these two characters above mentioned referred to a little oftener, and would serve to make the weekly much more interesting to the Ladies.

Elsie and Inza are by no means dropped out of the stories. You will hear plenty of them later on. At present, Yale, his studies and athletics are naturally occupying all of Frank's attention.

I have read you Tip Top Weekly for the last six months and find it the best weekly any boy can get to read. Hoping you will have success every week.

Thank you.

Being ardent admirers of the Tip Top Weekly, we take the liberty to congratulate you on the success of you paper. We have read many papers, but none equal to the Tip Top Weekly. A friend loaned my brother two or three papers, and we almost took a fit laughing at Hans. Next to Frank I like Bart Hodge and my sister likes Bruce Browning. My brother gets the paper on Friday and brings them home on Sunday. Begging your pardon for taking so much of your time. True as steel.

We are always delighted to know that the young ladies enjoy the Tip Top. You need not apologize. We are indebted to you for writing.

I have long been a reader of the Tip Top, and think it is one of the grandest books I have ever read. My brother came home from military school and had his uniform and sword, and was also armed with the Tip Top Weekly. I read one of them and it did not take me long to find out that it was a boy's best friend. I think Mr. Standish has done more for the boys than any writer in America. Here are a few lines I have written:

I take my pen with a silent smile
To see if it is worth my while
To try and write something new
About what our hero cannot do.

But first let me his name disclose
But then what's the use, for every boy knows
Frank Merriwell to be the duck
That is possessed with wonderful luck.

Frank is a dandy, any one could tell,
Jack is a darling, as you all know very well;
Bruce is a cracker-jack, Dannie is not slow,
Elsie is a little peach, Inza is a flower,
Burt Standish is a gentleman above all others' power.

Buck Badger is a little wild but Frank will calm him down.
Frank downs his enemies one by one,
Does noble deeds from sun to sun;
Lifts up the fallen, one and all
So noble a boy can never fall
Encourages nobleness all the time,
And mounts the hills that are hard to climb.

Thank you for both letter and verses. Our regards to yourself and your brother.

I have taken the Tip Top from No. 1 up to the present issue, and it certainly is an ideal publication for the American youth. One day, being without anything to read, I borrowed a book from my cousin that somewhat resembled the Tip Top, but before I had half read it I threw it down in disgust. The author, whoever he is, reminds me of Bertrand Defarge, who is seeking notoriety by trying to injure one who is loved by all. His hero (?) is a very poor imitation of Frank and enough to disgust any one who knows what makes the gentleman. His publishers also say that the Tip Top is imitating them. How could that be when the first Tip Top was published nearly four years ago, and the other book not a year? Who is the imitator? The hero's (?) fast friend is a wretched imitation of Bart, while the two girls make a very poor Elsie and Inza. The publishers are doing themselves a great deal of harm in giving to the public such trash. I do not care whether this is published or not, but I see the other friends of Frank are expressing their opinions of this weak author, and I thought I would, too. I am naturally hot-headed, and I have given black eyes and taken some, too, over this same thing with admirers of the other book. Always a friend of Frank's.

All our readers will agree with you. We look with contempt upon the weak imitators of Frank Merriwell and the Tip Top.

I am a constant reader of the Tip Top Weekly ever since its existence, and I wish to express my appreciation to Mr. Burt Standish. Tip Top is the best weekly published in the United States, as it instills in the minds of the American youth honest, manliness and right. I am a president of a gramophone club, and I would be ever so glad to have all the Tip Top reader of New Jersey and Pennsylvania to join our social. We give entertainment with our 'phone to all our members. Long life to Frank Merriwell and Mr. Burt Standish.

We thank you in the name of the boys of Pennsylvania and New Jersey for your invitation, and in our own name for your kind words of appreciation.

We are in a far-off corner of the United States, but we are still in civilization, as we always get the Tip Top every week. I have seen no applause from our town, so I thought that it was time for some one from her to write out appreciation of Frank Merriwell and his friends. We think that there is no paper published that is more instructive and beneficial for the American youth than Tip Top.

We have many friends in California, all of whom we are proud of. All success to the Merriwell Reading Club!

Being and ardent reader of your Tip Top, I thought I would add to the many Springfield letters. The stories are O. K., and that's no mistake, either. The characters are carefully and strongly drawn, true to everyday life. In fact, the Tip Top is great, and may it live long and prosper. Buck Badger is great. Harry Rattleton and Bruce Browning are my favorites. I wish Mr. Standish would introduce Wat Snell and Ralph Harlow; do, please. I was very much surprised in Ned Hastings. Wishing you a long and successful career.

Mr. Standish studies his characters from real life. That is one reason of their naturalness. Thank you.

I have read most all of your books and think they can't be beat by any living author. Frank can't be beat by any one. His friends are the same. We receive a lot here, but not enough. Some of the boys have to borrow them here. When will we hear from Elsie and the rest together?

You will hear of Elsie again before long. We are gratified that you think so highly of the Tip Top.

We having been constant readers of the Tip Top Weekly for the past two years, feel it our duty to congratulate you on the wisdom you have shown in publishing the life of one so worthy of admiration of Frank Merriwell. We will close, with the assurance that we are constant readers and loyal friends o Frank Merriwell, Mr. Standish and the publishers.

We hope you will continue to read an enjoy the Tip Top for many years to come. Out best wished to you all.

I have got up a club of seven as follows: Lem Singarty, president: Lem Parish, John Beverly, Luke Langford, Frank McCaughrey, Lucius Reynolds and myself. We have a nice club-room. We have at last succeeded in getting out newsdealer to take Tip Top. We buy it every week, and the boys wait with impatience for it to come. We are perfectly willing to leave whom Frank will marry with Mr. Standish. He as made a big success of so far, an we will be willing to bet it will end a big success. If Frank should marry, Elsie would be my choice. What is the price of your Tip Top badges? Wishing Mr. Standish, the publisher and Frank a long life, Tip Top reader forever.

Our kindest regards to yourself and the rest of the boys. You can obtain a badge for ten cents and two coupons. See notice on last page.

I have read your Tip Top books from No. 1 to date, and think that there is no book that can beat them. I like Frank best abroad or in the West. Hoping your library will always continue.

Thank you. May you always read the Tip Top.

I am a constant reader of the Tip Top Weekly, and think it the best weekly published. It has the best moral of any one I have ever read. The characters are excellent, but Frank is the life and soul of the stories. I think the American youth ought to take him for a model. My best regards to author and publishers. I inclose coupons and money for a badge.

Yes, Frank is an excellent model. We are confident that you will like the badge.

I write to tell you what I think of Mr. Burt L. Standish and the Tip Top Weekly. It is a fine paper-the best one I ever read. Mr. Standish must be a very smart man to write such good stories. Inclosed please find picture of the warship New York. I drew this without copying from the right one, but I saw the ship twice. Please write and tell me what you think of it.

Thank you. Your drawing is extremely good, showing evidence of talent. Are you taking lessons?

Words cannot express my appreciation of the Tip Top Weekly. I read them as fast as they are published-that is, where reading them does not interfere with my stage work. I have as yet seen no applause from the actors' world, and I venture to let you know that we are not behind the times. Frank Merriwell is all right, but I hope he will go on the stage again. I wish Merry every success, if he does.

We are much pleased to hear from you. During the stage series we had many valued letters from the profession.

I thought I would write and let you know how I like the Tip Top. This weekly is the best book for boys or young men that is published. It is clean, useful and moral-making. I hope that Mr. Standish will keep up his good work as long as I can live to read them.

Mr. Standish thanks you and sends you his best wishes.

We wish to state that the Tip Top is the best weekly paper in existence, having read all of you Tip Tops from No. 1 up to date. We know that they are first class. We have started a club of twelve members, who all read them every week.

We hope your club will meet with all success.

Seeing so many letters of appreciation from readers of the Tip Top, and being one myself, I thought I would try and express myself in praise of them. They certainly provoke admiration from any reader, and I can say that without and an exception they are the best that I have ever read, the characters being simple Americans, as in the daily life of the world. Mr. Standish can't be praised too much for his efforts in giving the boys of America something worth reading-something that is doing a great deal toward upbuilding the American youth. I wish the old characters at Yale would be introduced- Tom Thornton, Fred Flemming, Robt. Ditson and New Billings; also Rolf Harlow, the gambler, and oh, please, Wat Snell! I think Snell is one of the most interesting characters of the Fardale series. Also Frank promised Kent Carson, of Denver, that he would look up his son, Berlin Carson, when he returned. Let him not forget. Not being a versatile writer, I will not attempt any poetry. I wish frank would revisit Fardale on his vacation; also for Mr. Standish to introduce the Christmas holidays. I hope you will pardon me for advancing so many ideas as to the running of the paper, but they are from an enthusiastic reader.

There is nothing to pardon. We are very glad indeed to receive your views, and will submit them to Mr. Standish.

I have noticed many letters in the Tip Top Weekly about the imitations of Tip Top, and would like to call attention to another feeble attempt by the same publisher, every line of which bears evidence of being copied from Tip Top. Its attempts in the first number of trying to copy were very laughable, and the description of the "stop-drop" ball was ludicrous in the extreme. Wishing Frank and his friends a long life.

You are quite right. But there is a jury to decide the matter-the boys of America-and we have no fear as to their verdict.

I have read many weeklies, but I find Tip Top is the best.

I sent for a badge the other day, and I find it very fine. I hope Frank will have one of those polo teams. I think the Frank Merriwell stories are getting better every week. I think Bart Hodge is Frank's best friend.

It gratifies us that you like the badge. Thank you.

This is my second letter to you, and I write to tell you how I like the Tip Top. The author, Mr. Standish, cannot be beat. I read about Frank having a broken rib, but the same thing happened here this Thanksgiving. Captain Murphy, of Stanford, had a rib broken in practice a few days before the game, but, like Frank, he went in to help the cardinal along. He was forced to retire in the first half, when he got the ball and ran but fell, when a Berkeley man jumped on him and laid the plucky captain out. Berkeley won the game, 30 to 0.

Your statement has interesting us greatly, as we are sure it will all of our readers.

We print you verses with pleasure.

As I have never seen any applause from this place, I thought I would write and tell you what I think of the Tip Top. I think it is the best story paper I ever read. Hodge is my favorite after Frank, and then Bruce. I like Jack, but he is too hot-headed.

We are pleased to hear from you. Jack will probably calm down under Frank's influence and as he grows older.