mistletoe.
A IIB poet-son! can see
" rou. dear.
Lost In the maze of
one abort year,
Twining the mistle
toe there.
Penslveand still hope
ful and true,
While memory sweet
ly sings to you,
Soft and low as a
vesper prayer.
And one away on
life's strong sea,
Where manhood's ship
rides high and free.
Peers out across the surging tide,
And hears the same sweet song, my dear,
That comes to you adown the year
Looks out to you, bis star and guide.
He sees you In the brilliant glow
Of Christmas, 'neath the mistletoe,
And breathes the perfume of your hair;
He loves you as he loved you when
He told you so, and kissed you then
He gees you sitting, pensive there.
Then do not sigh again, my dear,
He loves you truly; never fear
That aught may wile his heart from yon.
He'll come with one more Christmas duy
And kiss your anxious tears away
As sunshine does the dew. '
?rom.ont the half-light almost gloom
hat trays the presence of your room, '
He'll bring the light of long ago.
And with your head upon his breast,
In love's delight, and peace, and rest, .
He'H kiss you 'neath the mistletoe.
Woman's Home Companion.
THE XMAS STAGE.
HE weather was bit-
'terly cold. Not such
cold as the East la
ments when the ther
mometer sinks to
zero, when the cable
curs are chilly, and
the ' furnace-heated
houses not quite ,so
overwarm as is their
wont. But such cold as the NorthweBt
encounters on the prairie, when the ther
mometer has frozen at forty degrees below
zero, and men cease to. reckon the in
creased iclness of the atmosphere.
The Bismarck stage; during the winter
season that long-ago year, made but one
weekly journey to Zenith City, and was
due at its destination on Christmas Eve.
Connor, the driver, possessed an endur
ance admired through ail the frontier, and
a reverence for certain ancient customs
unsuspected by his closest intimates.
Among the dugouts of the yearling town,
and the infant Fort Fletcher, Its neighbor,
he knew that his arrival was anticipated
with the sick longing that exiles feel for
tokens from tho distant homes where they
fain would be. And he Intended to arrive
promptly for the sake of a package tucked
into his safest pocket A package on
which an old lady down In Vermont had
written shakily:
"To be opened on Christmas morning."
' But to the ranchman, his host of the
previous night, who prophesied a blizzard,
be uttered this intention, minus sentiment:
"There will be no blizzard unless the
wind changes," he said decisively. "We've
got no passengers to Jclck about freezing
their noses. Me and Morris have con
tracted to deliver our goods to-night, and
If we don't do it you may look for us in a
THE STAGS WAS TUAPI'KD,
rift somewhere between hero and the
town when the job takes your fancy."
Morris, tho express messenger, who was
new to the frontier, grinned an enthusias
tic assent. The ranchman declared
gruffly that Connor trusted too much in
his luck, and pressed upon them the loan
of an extra buffalo robe each.
They set forth. The road was not bad,
Judged by prairie midwinter standards.
The sky was a flawless sapphire, and the
Icy air, which whitened the flesh like hot
Iron where it touched, was forbidden ac
cess to any feature of these professional
voyagers, except their well-trained eyes.
They bad a Journey of six hours before
them, without change of horses, but Con-
Dor opined that, with his cattle feeling as
prime as they did, he might cut the record
down to five.
Upon which Morris exclaimed that it
would be a pity to shorten such a glorious
rule.
Connor, however, vouchsafed no rcrtlv
to this ignorant hardihood, except a glance
which it was fortuuste that his fur collar
Intercepted, as It conveyed a rebuke yet
more scathing to youthful high spirits
than Talleyrand's famous "point de sele."
They had been three hours on the way
When, about noon, the messenger sug
gested that he would walk half a mile to
warm himself a bit.
"Waste time, and the wind Is chang
ing," Connor answered briefly, and Mor
ris was aware of a sudden thump at his
heart. But he sought mutely to disre
gard it by thumping his chill hands.
An hour later Morris produced a flask.
which his companion briskly snatched
from Uls grasp.
"Not If 1 know It." he said grimly.
. "I am near frozen!"
"You would be past thawing when we
get to the town If I let you swallow this
stuff now, lad!" Connor added with a gi
gantic slap on the messenger's bowed
shoulders; "I don't propose to drlvs into
Zenith City sitting beside a corpse it
would kind of spoil my Christmas dinner,"
Connor asserted, and Morris was silent
A silence which the other euded by
Shaking him roughly.
"Wake up!" he exclaimed. "Yon are
forgetting my last remark."
There was only an Indistinct murmur,
Connor drew In his horses.
"Git down, you young fool!" he roared
"You are bound to have that tramp any
how."
Then as Morris scrambled to his feet
WHY DO
- -Cy Wb lor CMrtMs ring?-'- Ksfc
MWM. - M $jfo ' Why do little chlldreq sing? ;
W Y . fJ- ' Once a lovely, shining star, jj 11 tffl '
t( v Q'yC l ' ' Seen by shePherds ,rom afar o'K'W
v- v V v$l ml I 0ently moved untH ,ts ,ight ' ' f-
ifjl-r if itil I There a darting baby lay
f !l1l1illiSW 'I Plowed soft upon the hay, ' ' K 'jWSL W$p7 i
Ww4Lh - And Its mother sung and smiled: ' rfffM
( 1HW JMM "This is Christ, the holy child!" . ' S
d4i J0Ptk Therefore bells for Christmas ring. C'lgPfr " M
r M&TS Therefore little children sing. 1 wl' w
half asleep he ordered htm again to de
scend. "Hun a hundred yards or so, as if you
was sprinting," he commanded.
Stumbllngly Morris obeyed nt first, but
as the stagnant blood stirred in his veins
with the enforced motion his pace in
creased. A quarter of a mile further on
he overtook the stage at racing speed.
"That is better," Connor said cheerily,
as Morris prepared to climb back to his
place. "No, you don't come up here, I'm
tired keeping one eye on yon when I want
both for the scenery I Just take these
robes of yours, and crawl inside among
them mall bags. You will need more than
an hour to freeze stiff under cover, and I
reckon on getting to town within that
limit"
A stage driver Is as absolute a sovereign
as a ship's captain, and travel was re
sumed upon these prescribed conditions.
Some time elapsed. A mass of clouds
had risen lu the west, through which the
sun gleamed a fiery ball that mocked the
cold, while a fitful wind promised fulfill
ment of the ranchman's prophesied bliz
zard. The ponderous vehicle scraped and
creaked to the top of a slight ascent
which dipped into a "coolie whose fur
ther side rose higher and steeper. Down
the first declivity the horses rushed, and
midway Connor set his teeth with a
mighty oath.
There, In the narrow bottom of the
coolie" on either side of a space worn
between snowdrifts and called the road,
stood two tall figures holding leveled pis
tols.
The stage was trapped, and Connor
pulled up his horses promptly.
ion chose your day luckier than seem-
ed probable from the weather," he said.
gazing keenly at what little was visible of
his much-mufilcd assailants, as they drew
nearer. "I'm rather prejudiced against
killing a fellow creature on Christmas
Eve, if I can any ways avoid It"
THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.
BELLS FOR CHRISTMAS
Something that sounded like a derisive
laugh issued from the fur collar of one of
the highwaymen.
"You planned the killing to be on your
side, eh?"
Connor continued slowly:
"Well, I'm a dead shot at longer range
than most chaps, and, though you have the
drop on me, you couldn't hit me when I
first saw you, jiin Gwynne."
"I'm not " broke forth a hoarse, as
tonished voice,
."Oh, yes, you are Tittle boys shouldn't
tell fibs," Connor asserted. "But you
don't want to shoot me no more than 1
hanker to put a hole through you or the
job would be done by now."
"That's so!" came in chorus from either
side the road.
"But we mean business," one added,
and the other exclaimed:
"Starving men don't count costs, and
we intend to have your load!"
"There are two ways of looking at this
matter. Hear mine," Connor began au
thoritatively. "And speak lower when
you answer, for my express messenger is
asleep inside, and he might take things
less peaceable than I, if he wakes."
Again there was a sound of laughter,
and this time It came from both figures,
though their pistols yet covered the stage
driver.
"You're a queer lot!" the taller fellow
said.
"I've heard the same before," Connor
agreed. "Being queer, boys, yon will not
be so surprised if I ask you to listen to a
Christmas sermon?"
"Quit fooling."
"It's too d d cold for joking.''
"Yon will hear my sermon, or I'll chance
a shot from each of you while I get my
'gun' Into play," Connor declared with
curious convincingness. .
"Silence gives consent, eh? Well, I ain't
a long-winded preacher, and I'll skip the
text.
"Three or four miles away there are two
RING?
camps full of hard-worked, ill-fed, half-
frozen men. In one camp they are mostly
roughs, like you and me, or worse. In
the other they are soldiers who live clean
because they must "nd a pack of officers
who grin and bear it I guess, for the same
reason. There ain't much resemblance
between the disorder in Zenith City and
the order nt Fort Fletcher, but they are
alike in cold and hunger. Yes, sir, and
In one thing more! They both remember
a lesson they learned when they were
kids, that, hundreds of years ago the world
got a Christmas gift it ain't never forgot
ten, though It makes a big pretense of
forgetting! And for the sake of that gift,
they, poor souls, expect to get to-morrow,
this feller one kind of present, and that
feller another, from some woman who
loves him far off beyond these prairies.
Those presents I have here in this stage
and nothing else! There is money in many
of them, I've seen the messenger's receipt
book. There is a diamond ring and a
couple of diamond pins for the lieutenants.
and If I live half an hour they will get
tnem presents, tsoys, you are at your
wits' ends, I know, but you were honest
men until no work and gambling sent you
to the devil I guess you ain't goin' to in
terfere with them other chaps' Christmas,
enr
The leveled pistols sank simultaneous
ly.
Connor!" Jim Gwynne said, and his
voice sounded youthful and piteous. "This
is our last chance. We haven't eaten
square meal in a week. These fur coats
we stand up in are pledged for day after
to-morrow. Let us have only "
"Not a penny! But see here" Connor
leaned forward eagerly "you follow me
to town, and I'll treat to the best supper
Zenith Uity can spread. I ll swear you
shall not starve on ChriBtmas Day and
1 11 drive you back to Bismarck next trip,
wnere, it our company aon t offer you
well-paid work, you can shoot me for a
d d liar!"
He held out a huge fur-gloved hand on
either side. "Shake on that!" he cried
cheerfully.
Half an hour later the rabble gathered
In unusual numbers at Zenith City, to wit
ness the unloading of the stage which had
brought the Christmas mails. Morris, the
messenger, sleepily emerged from within
its hnge bnlk, when Connor called him,
"I had a sort of nightmare awhile ago,"
he exclaimed, with a langh, as Connor
beat himself about the chest to restore
circulation. "I thought the stage stopped,
snd that you were talking of shooting!
But I knew it was a dream, so I went to
sleep again, w
"Best you could have done," Connor
agreed. "Here, Jim Gwynne," he added
to a tall fellow who lounged near, "lend a
hand, will you? There comes the gen
eral s orderly from Fletcher for them
Christmas gifts." Waverley Magazine,
XMAS CARDS OLD AND NEW.
Origin of tbe Remembrance and Some
of Their Fads and Fancies.
Thirty years ago in Berlin a lady of
noble birth painted the first Christmas
card. It grew out of a strong desire to
send a simple remembrance to a cousin of
hers, who was In the diplomatic service of
William I., then King of Prussia and af
terward Emperor of Germany. Thejady
had loved and been loved by this cousin.
but a strange misunderstanding had part
ed them. During a convalescence she
painted a spray of forget-me-nots on
fancy card and inscribed a few words in
gold letters, the translation of which was
"May the Christ child rest on your heart
and bring yon peace and happiness." This
she dispatched on Christmas eve to the
court by a trusted friend, who managed
matters so adroitly that the lovers were
aenln reconciled and ever after happy,
The following year they told their story
to some Intimate friends at court " The
nobility then adopted this method tor
ending best wishes and polite greetings
daring the holiday season.
Shortly afterward printed cards appear
ed, and it became a trade. The folding
card, with happy surprises In sentiment
hidden under flowers, was a conception of
the French in 1871. The trade still grows
in significance, especially since the evolu
tion of the card to the calendar, -
The most beautiful cards still come
from Germany. They are in a bewilder
ing multitude of chaste designs, including
all sorts of natural flowers, with senti
ments engraved In silver or gold under
the leaves. England produces the most
artistic ecclesiastical cards of any coun
try, yet she does not confine herself to
this styie exclusively. There are many
genteel poor people in London who main
tain themselves In comfort by writing
verses for Christmas and New Year's
cards, and their work is done early In the
year. The custom of sending Christmas
cards in America was first noticeable in
1870. They were then made on a very
small scale by a firm in Boston. The
trade grew in importance until now, when
it is at its culminating point and the
Christmas calendar bids fair to supersede
the card, , -.
A NOVEL IDEA.
One Bright Girl's Highly Original
!. Christmas Method.
In large families of daughters Christ,
mas is almost a calamity; there are so
many presents to be bought, and bo many
different varieties of secrecy to be main
tained. Recently Anne, the second daugh
ter In a bevy of eight issued an original
edict: ""I've' made up my i mind," said
Anne, "that all this Christmas secrecy is
unwholesome and foolish; the strain on
the brain and thenerves in a large fam
ily like ours, is exhausting and dangerous.
I nf not going to have any more Christmas
secrets; all: this, skurrylng bundles into the
house and .out of sight is going to stop
so far as Tm concerned. What I make,
I'm going to make in full view of all the
family; and what I buy I shall put on the
table in my room anybody that chooses
may open my bundles and look at the con
tents." AH the other girls were astounded
such an idea! It would ruin Christmas
Anne is simply crazy.
Aiine has stood her ground, however,
and her Christmas work is still going on;
she embroiders beautiful dollies, pin-cush-lons
and stand-covers, in full view of the
other girls even asking their advice as to
shades In silk and designs. On her table
are many Interesting presents books, pic
tures, bric-a-brac, boxes of candy and
other desirable articles. With the display
of her presents, however, Anne's frank
ness has ended; and the great family all
the seven other girls have decided that
this is by far the most exciting and enter
taining Christmas time they have ever ex
perienced. Two thrilling problems two
profound mysteries still exist to agitate
pleasantly the household pulse: Is Anne
going to let us each choose our own pres
ents, or is Anne herself going to choose
a gift for each one? Anne, the sphinx,
embroiders on silently, and the answer is
yet unknown.
CHRISTMAS IN CUBA.
Uncle 8am Has Presented the Island
a Great Gift of Liberty.
UBANS stockings
undoubtedly have
some holes in them
this Christmas, but
out of these has rnn
a vast deal of equiv
ocal misrule "bene
fits" which another
Ynlctlme will make
a mere memory. The
home church has
kept the universal
anniversary pretty
green in the hearts
of Spanish devotees,
even through the years of disorder and
disruption, but the patriot of the soil has
been left out In the cold forced Jo eat his
Christmas dinner in fear and trembling
of a domiciliary visitation from Spanish
agents," or having none at all, lurking,
menaced and fugitives behind trocha, in
swamp, or under the thatch of some iso
lated mountain hnt
This year all is changed. For the isl
and entire there is Uncle Sam's great gift
of Liberty. Reviving to Its influences, a
general sunburst of prosperity is presaged
in da-wiling gleams of promise and glory,
and the hunted and homeless have taken
heart The rapacious Spanish soldier is
dining at his home board, living on his
career of "glory" his sympathizing
friends still resident in Havana are pru
dently "reconciled" to events that have an
unmistakable trend In the direction of
toleration and fairness.
Individually, the Cuban Is sure of a
personal gift Uncle Sam has filled, is
filling, his larder with generous contribu
tions until the next season of plantation
proceeds places him on a self-sustaining
level.' There are ruined homes to recoup,
parted families and friends, there are
many lost never to return, but these are
the fortunes of war, and the victory has
been won.
The fairest morn that ever dawned for
Cuba marks this Christmas day, when the
blood, the tears, the hopes of the suffering,
struggling patriots of half a century, un
der the Watch and ward of Columbia's
star of destiny, from the blessed altar of
fruition proclaim for generations yet to
be a glowing cycle of merry, happy Christ-
mases!
Tbe Difference-
First Goose What's the difference be
tween a Christmas turkey and a Christ
mas girl?
Second Goose i innno.
First Goose Why, one Is dressed to kill
and the other Is killed to dress.
A Contingency.
Mr. Cumso I have not yet decided
whether or not I shall buy my wife a pres
ent this Christmas.
Mr. Cawker Why this Indecision?
Mr. Cumso I am waiting to see wheth
er I shall have any money left after she
has bought my present
It is time now to begin to remember not
to spell it "Xmas.
SONG OF THE WHEEL.
OW I'm consigned
to garret grim,
Where cobwebs
from the rafters
sway,
Where risks of corn
depend from
pegs,
Where mice run
to and fro all
day.
My strands vibrate when winds caress
Ah I then I spin my mazy song;
But no one lists my music soft
Through days so short and nights so long.
These ancient garbs of other days
Are peopled with the ghosts of old;
These peaked bats and bonnets quaint
Old-fiiBhloned faces seem to hold;
Then trooping out from corners dim,
They come to tread the minuet
No fleck of dust arises where
Their tripping feet perchance to stray.
Like harp eollan I spin
My strains to lend the dancers zest
Who bow sedate, elate and prim,
Who come with tread of ghostly guest
The buckled swain bestows his hand
To slippered Miss Prlscllla fair; r
I only see the frolic gay -,
They know not of below the stair.
The wind subsides, no longer turn
My strands; the dancers swiftly go'
Back to their places in the gloom.
To hnng from pegs In motley row.
And this my song on Christmas day,
Whose merry frolic ends when I
No longer spin my ghostly lay t
, To eullven thosewho lived to die.
-H. S. Keller, i , ':U ,ui
THE BOAR'S HEAD.
Was the First Dish Bronght to Our
Forefathers' Table on Christmas. .
"Aside from its religious observance and
signification Christmas has always been
a time of feasting and Jollification. This
temperament has descended to us from
the days of the old Germanic and Beam!-'
navian nations, when the time was set
aside for rejoicing and pleasure prior to
the Christian era, but even as late as the',
seventeenth century in England and
throughout continental Europe the de
lights of the table were paramount. With
our forefathers a soused boar's head was
borne to the principal table In the hall
ma boab's hkad.
with grent state and solemnity as the first
dish on Christmas day. In the book of
"Christmasse Carollcs," printed by Wyn
kyn de Worde in 1521, are the words sung
at this auspicious moment:
The bore's bead In hande bring I
With garlandes gay and rosemary.
I pray you all synge inerrely
Qui estls in convivlo.
The bore's hend 1 tinderstande
is tne cnere servyce m cms lanae.
Loke wherever It be faude.
Servtte cum cantlco.
Chaucer alludes to this custom In the
following passage of the "Frankleln'a
Tale":
James slttsth by the fire with double berd.
And be drlnketn of his bugle borne tbe wine.
Before blm standeth the braune of the
tusked swine.
Under tho Mistletoe.
Christmas Gifts of Money.
"Jt thinking ttr o .!.
- , ...... l,"."8 v. U lUUg UUJC, JU
cannot decide tvhat she (my poor girl
friend) would like best," writes Ruth Ash
more, in advising girls as to their Christ
mis giving in the Ladies' Home Journal,
"and you know her well enough to leave to
her the choice of th eft. then enil hnn
the money that she may spend it for her
self. But make this money look more
like a chosen gift, and less like that which
is so hardly earned by her; trouble your
self to go to the bank aud put It in gold,
or at least In a new bank note, and In
close It in a tiny little purse."
A Memorable New Veer.
New Year's day, 1859, is of hlstorle
Importance. At the reception held at the
Louvre on that day the few words ad
dressed by Napoleon III. to the'Auntrian
embassador resulted In the famous war of
the summer of that year which chauged
the map of Europe.
Kven Fp.
Crawford The new woman shonld
make Christmas easier for the married
man to bear.
Grimshaw I don't see It. A bike and
set of bloomers cost about as much as a
sealskin saeque. Judge.
The Dnn.
This bagsboo of New Tsar's day
Seems quite bereft of reason.
Unsatisfied If yon but pty
Tbe compliments of tht season.