CHRISTMAS MORNING.
V
OWN the stairs the msld
le,
Dow the polikhed, oakea
(talra,
Lwtm the chamber where
abe sleeia,
Undisturbed by Christina
MM
Down the lUIn the maidea
fen
Wot a doubt baclouda her brow,
Joj'Huly her jrounif voice risf.
"What, baa Santa brotucht me nowP
Down the tulm the maiden c roe pa,
Down the cold and barren atalra,
im the room bj wbtcb abe ele-pa,
nil or chlldlab, Chriatmaa can,
On the stair the maiden stands,
fearing further down to go.
Trembling are her lip ami band,
"Ha Old Santa been below r"
E. 11. tiro.
FOUND AT FIVE POINTS.
CIIRWTMAS STORY OK REAL LIFE, BT
DAVID A. i 1 I111S.
I&awright. 1 WW, by American Pit Association.
T
OTIIE younger gener
ation who know New
York only it it ha
ktM for twenty year
past, growing U-tter
all the time despite the
sneers of iMKtiimiMtH, it
it impossible to realize that only a few
years farther lutrk thero was uch a
place in the center of the city aa the Five j
1'oinU. Nowaday it doc not take un-
1 courage fur u uioderately athletic 1
to walk alone in broad daylight:
through any public street in the city.
Then it wo not safe to do so, and even
policemen rarely ventured alone after
dark into the regiou known by t ho old
name. Now the horse cars run through
the center of it. Broad street have been
eat through, and old buildings replaced
with new. FaOtOf iai and stores stand
where were formerly tumble dow 11 rook
eriee, that had stood sinoo the lust cen
tury, and that were swarming with the
nxwt degraded poor and the most desper
ate criminals. When the ttov. W. C. Van
Meter, with a few friends as earnest and
determined as himself, tint started
Mission school within the border of thil
valley of the shadow of crime, he waa
repeati liv warned by tho police of the
danger he incurred, and it was some
time utter the Murk was started before
he dared to take, even under escort, in
the middle of the day, the ladies who
were anxious to aid by teaching in the
school. It seems now like a storr of a
foreign land and another age, but I saw
ia 1854 or 1853 a party of a dozen ladies
and gentlemen mobbed a they started
homeward f join tin- .school one Sundae
noon, ninfliea Into the street and assailed
with volley of obscene oaths and rotten
vegetable, and so beset by a horde of
half drunken men and women that they
were glad to escape with whole tune
and ruined garment. And the police
teemed powerle to prevent or punish
such outrages, for this was no unusual
occurrence.
The region about what is now Paradise
square, for the distance of a couple of
bracks in every direction, was hooey-
witli ulmd alley and secret pos-
or them running under-
1 I iom uo 1 1.,., to sooUstr, U
was a city of refuge for criminals, and, i
though they warred and preyed upon
one another with entire lawlessness, they
combined as a unit to protect any one
among them from the processes of the
law. Aside from the criminals the pop
ulation consisted almost entirely, if not
quite so. of the poverty stricken, for
dire poverty and desperate crime then,
as very often in history, went hand in
band.
The children, who were coaxed one by
one into the mission schoolroom, were
a crowd of little savages Their ignor
ance was something amazing. It was
not very uncommon to find among tbem
boys and girl of 6 or 7 years old who
did not know their full names, but who
stoutly declared that "Sally" or "Bill"
wa the only name they had, and once
or twice children were found who actu
ally did not know whether they had ever
had father and mothers. Some had no
homes. God only knows how they kept j
alive, for they slept in holes and corners,
and fed like vagrant caU and dogs on j
whatever they could beg, find or steal.
Impossible? Certainly it is, but it is
true, nevertheless.
Among the wildest and shyest of all
who came in was a boy w ho was the
originator of at least one famous joke,
though without intention. The teacher
asked him his name and he said it wa
George. Being asked what his last namo
was lie said that was his last name,
"But you must have another name."
I urged the teacher. "Is it George Smith.
or Oeorge Johnson, or George WMtfT
"Nope," he said, shortly. "Taint
George What, nor George Nothin', it's
George. 1 hain't got no oder name,"
But the joke came when the teacher,
wishing to know whether he had learned
anything at all, asked him, "Do you
know who made you?"
At the same Instant a boy behind him
stuck a pin into George. Such trick
were very common among the little sav
age, but it did not hurt any the less be
cause it was not unusual. George jumped
from his seat and shouted at the top of
his voice "Goddemitey."
"Well, that's right," said the teacher,
who had not noticed the trick. "But
don't shout so." The story was told
afterwards, with enlargements, until it
became a "chestnut" many years ago.
It was a long time some months be- 1
fore the teachers could learn much about I
the boy, for he was distrustful to the ,
last degree. He kicked the He. Mr.
Van .Meter on tho shins very violently,
and twisted himself away like an eel 1
when that gentleman, according to his '
habit, laid his hand affectionately on the
boy's shoulder. George thought he was
iruine to be beaten, and took his usual .
precaution of eluding the preliminary
hold. He had, it seemed, never known
what it was to liave anybody take hold
of him in kindness, and was no more to
bo handled than a young bird or a snuir- '
rel. There was hardly anything, in fact,
that he did know, as tho good mission
people reckoned knowledge. He knew
how to swear fluently, as his acci-
dentally correct answer as to his
Maker indicated, but he did not ,
know, and it was a long time be- 1
fore he could be made to understand,
that swearing was wrong. In fact, he
did not know what wrong was. So far
as his experience of life went, every
body did precisely what seemed at the
moment desirable to do, unless pre- ,
vented by superior physical force, or by '
bodily fear. Stealing was to him a per
fectly legitimate mode of acquiring any-!
thing that he might happen to want,
and the only reason why it should be
done secretly was that too much osten- 1
tation about the act was apt to provoke
interference on the part of the owner,
who might and probably would want
the article himself. Lying was simply j
the easiest way of concealing anything I
that he did not care to reveal, and the j
only inkling he bad of the objectionable
character of the act was that anybody
to whom lie told a lie would beat him
savagely if be did not lie cleverly
enough to escape detection. As to the
Sabbath, the first knowledge he had of
the difference between one day and an
other came from his noticing that once
in a while these tieople who had whole
clothes on anil who spoke gently came
in'.o the neighborhood and opened the
little mission room and tried to get the
children to go into it.
George wa among those who were
coaxed in with much difficulty, but after
going once he went regularly. The room
was clean and pleasant, and as the au
tumn days came on thero was a stove
put in and a lire made it warm. That
was a novelty to him being allowed to
sit undisturU-d in a warm room. The
story the good teacher obtained from
him after winning hi confidence was
appalling by its very alwence of detail:
but it was only one of many like stories,
and she could do very little to alleviate
the misery that was all around her.
George lived with a woman whom he
had MM taught to call Aunt Sally.
Whether she was his aunt, who hi
aVJasW -tauT-VJi-
1
hristma5 bells are riixcjmg
1&ravttefavior"5 bori-
Way all lfouqfie 07 saoiJ.
reaKourii jqj, of qlaiR.
. m H&DDV, Happv nwrv
II' J -V
iiir-"""""'""' ""
11 ifti x ' -, 1 t u 1 7 m v j
however, much of the time. She let him
sleep in her room, and when she had
food she gave him some. When she wa
drinking heavily she did not bother
about eating, and George had learned, as
young as he was. to keep away from her,
and get his food for himself. How or
when he got it, only God's ravens could
have told. Such cases are not as common
in New York as they were twenty-five or
thirty years ago, but they are found now
and again, even in these days. Who Aunt
Sally was, or why she took any interest
whatever in him, he knew nothing about
She was a fact, and her interest, faint
though it was, was a fact, and he had
not come to the age of reasoning about
facts. He only recognized them.
One day and it chanced to be Christ
mas eve a lady and gentleman appeared
m the little room as visitors. They had
read of the mission work, the gentleman
explained, and had come from their
borne in a nearby city to see it and to
give what little help aj in their power.
There was a story lac'; of it, hut this
tory was not told till ifterward. Their
nauie was not Harrison, so I may call
tlieiu tii.it.
VS9
km
lsTasM". -I
a. r- mmm i
oroRnr ji-mted nto ms seat.
mother or father was, whether they
were alive, or whether, indeed, he had
ever had a mother or a father, were
matters concerning which he absolutely
knew nothing, even by hearsay. Aunt
Sally was negatively good to him, it ap
peared. She did not brat him. except
in; when ah was druuk, which wa
GEORGE UVED WITH AUNT PALLY.
"My wife." said Mr. Harrison, "is
painfully, almost morbidly, anxious to
do everything she can for ioor children,
especially for orphans. And about
Christmas time she seems esiecially
nervous alsmt it. There is a story about
it, of course, but it is too long and too
painful to tell now." This to Mr. Van
Meter, whose earnestness in his chosen
work made him rejoice in every new
found friend, and whose enthusiasm was
contagious.
Before long tho story was known.
Mrs. Harrison's father was a wealthy
manufacturer, whose two daughters
were tho children of different mothers,
and develojied as they grew to woman
hood strikingly different characteristics.
The elder one, Sarah, was the daughter
of hi first wife, who had deserted him
and her infant child to run away with
one of his clerk. He knew little of her
story after her flight, but in the course
of a year and a half he learned that she
had been forsaken by her lover and had
plunged into such a terrible course of
dissipation that death had been merci
fully speedy in overtaking her. A year
later he married the second time.
Again a daughter was born to him,
and as tho two children grew up they
were treated, as nearly as possible, ex
actly alike. Everything that money
could buy, or affection dictate, was at
their command, and every influence of
refinement and education was exerted to
fit them for a high place in society, but
whether it was some taint in the blood,
or a morbid brooding over a mother's
in and shame, something led the elder
daughter to turn away from good and
seek evil from her early youth. The
father sought in every way possible to
avert the misery which he foresaw for
himself and for her, but it was of no
avail. A wayward youth was followed
by utter recklessness; as the unhappy
irl became a woman. She still mad
ber father's house her home, and would
ipend a large portion of her lime there;
but there wen- prolonged absences which
the family strove in every way to con
Mai. and into which they dared not
inquire d'- ly for fear of shameful dis
closures. The climax came in a pecu
liarly painful wav. Among the gentle
men who visited at the house wa Mr.
Harrison, and it happened that, while the
younger daughter w as the one he sought
in marriage, both the girls fell in love
with him. Sarah's passion was none
the less violent because of its lawless
character and its utter hopelessness, and
when she learned that her sister was to
marry the man she herself loved, she left
home finally, after a terrible scene in
which she wore vengeance, defied all
authority, and spurned the love of her
father, mother and sister.
For. three veari. nothing was heard of
her. Her father, old before his time
with sorrow, mourned for her truly, and
would at any time have received hei
back with open arms, but no word came,
and he knew too well the futility ol
trying to track her or to lure her home
again. At last one evening she present
herself and demanded an interview,
which was readily granted.
It was belli:. 1 closed doors, and no one
but the father ever knew just what
passed lietween tlieut. He told his wife
and daughter, however, the substance of
it, Sarah had demanded a portion of hit
fortune, and had offered for it to hide
herself from him forever, to Dike anothei
name and lead her own life in her own
way.
"I told her," said the sorrowing man,
"that she should always have a home
with me, no matter when she came to
claim it. and that I would never see hei
want for anything if she would come
back to me. but that, if she persisted in
the life she plainly said she pnqiosed to
live, 1 would do nothing for her before
or after my death. And then she left
me, saying it was forever, and cursing
me cursing me, her father, who even
now would die for her if need be."
For a time after this nothing Mas heard
of the prodigal. Then one Christmas
eve she wreaked her hate, or vengeance,
as she chose to call it, in an awful crime.
Mrs. Harrison's only child, a boy not
quite three years old, was in one of the
public parks of the cily, in charge of a
nurse. when Sarah approached, and, by
pretending a violent fancy for the child,
threw the careless servant off her guard.
Whether she bribed the girl, or really
succeeded in tricking her, was nevet
known, but it was two hours later when
that frightened individual reported tc
Mrs. Harrison that her boy had been
stolen.
It would lie impossible to describe the
agony of the parents, and useless to de
tail all the circumstances of tho search
that was made. The servant gave a suf
ficiently accurate description of the
strange woman, whom she had nevet
seen before, for the family to know who
SUCH A CHRISTMAS,
the kidnapper was, but Sarah had had
a sufficient start to get on a train for
New York, and all effort to trace her
were ineffectual. Had the newspaper,
even at that lime learned the particular!
of the story it would have become aa fa
mous a the Charlie Boas case, but tho
family shrank from the exposure that
would have been inevitable, and though
all the detective skill that could be pro
cured was employed, no publication waa
made in the press.
Six years had passed from the day the
hoy was stolen when Mr. and Mrs. Har
rison entered the little mission school in
the Five Pointa It was her own Iota
that bad made ber to peculiarlv anxious
to benefit poor children: but, though she
was forever searching for her own little
one. both she and her husband had al
most given up the hope of ever finding
him. While Mr. Harrison talking
with Mr. Van Meter, however, her eager
eyes were scanning the faces of ail the
boys in the room.
Suddenly she turned pale "Oh.
GeorgeP' she mid, or gasped, rather, and
without another word she flew rather
than ran to the other end of the room
Dropping on her knees in front of the
poor little waif who bad drifted in so
strangely, she seized him with both hands
and looked eagerly, almost wildly, into
his eyes.
"What is your name?" she said to the
startled child
"George." he said.
"George what?"
"I dunno," he answered, beginning to
cry, for he had developed a sensitiveness
about his lack of a proper compliment
of names, and, moreover, he was half
frightened by the now frantic woman's
strange behavior.
Suddenly she tore open his jacket and
the poor, ragged shirt he had on, and
looking on his breast found the birth
mark she sought. Then, quick as a flash
the whole thing happened so quickly
that it was over before her husband
reached her ide she gathered him into
her arms. dirt, rags and all, and kissed
him until it seemed as if she were trying
to devour him. Then, of course, she
fainted
It did not take long, though, for the
other ladies in tho room to bring her
back to consciousness, and then such a
scene as is rarely witnessed in tills world
put an end to anything like the usual
otder of exercises. Mr. Harrison was
naturally a little slower than his wife to
recognize the child, but only a little, and
the bewildered boy was shortly em
braced and kissed as few children in this
world ever have been.
Such a prayer as Mr. Van Meter utter
ed, while the tears streamed down his
cheeks and every person in the room
dropped on his knees, has seldom been
heard even from his eloquent lips, and
in a few more minutes Mr. Harrison pro
posed to leave. It was obvious enough
10 him that he had to take his child
home, but the good missionary was too
well acquainted with the neighborhood
to let him go unattended.
"You uould he mobbed before you had
gone a block, if the people saw you car
rying away the child," he said, and it
was presently arranged that a policeman
6hould be summoned to escort the party
up to Broad ay, and a carriage should
be taken there.
This M as done as quickly as possible,
for there was real danger of trouble if
the news had been spread through the
neighborhood liefore they got a Way, As
it hapened, however, ail passed off
quietly, and little George had seensucha
Christmas as he had never dreamed of.
"Aunt Sally" was found, and every
effort M as made to induce her to reform.
She consented to go home, but whether
she remained there or not I do not
know.
Sensational as anything in fiction, is it
not? Yet, excepting in some few details,
it is a true story.
ow B. Wsl7ga
son Mu
ll
A Moneyless Christmas.
A Christmas without spending money!
Midwinter holidays without dolls or pic
ture books, tops, toy cannon or jumping
jacks, colored candies or any "store
presents" of any kind whatsoevet!
Christ's nativity celebrated without a
Christmas tree or a Christmas carol or a
gathering of the children no evergreen
shrub sparkling with glass, no Santa
Clans and no pantomime. Could such a
thing lie in a Christian land?
Yea. verily.
And it is not so very long ago that
just such a Christmas was the rule in
three-fourths of the United Stales nay,
it is the rule now in considerable sec
tions where there are no large towns.
So easily do we get accustomed to what
ia, and ... naturally do children believe
that the system they first noticed has al
ways beat) the system, that most people
do not know, and even the older ones
are forgetting that the Christmas of to
day is comparatively a new thing.
But what was the old time Christmas,
and with what sights and souuds was it
ushered in? Well, in the first place, it
was in all the rural regions at any rate
a time when no money could be
"wasted." Children must have thoir
fun without extra expense, save as each
child had carefully saved his pennies.
As to deliberately handing out a half
dollar to a boy for Christmas the aver
age father would as soon have thought
of giving him a deed for the farm. It
wo a season for rabbit hunting and sled
ding if there was snow enough, and for
sliding if there was ice, for a good din
ner and an extra piece of pie, and then,
perhaps, for some home made presents.
A little later toys began to come in
say about 1830 in the central west, and
such toys! Blocky horses, square cor
nered cows, dogs made of clay and burnt
black in the fire, and so forth and so
forth; a collection of them now would
throw a group of children into convul
sions of laughter. Be it remembered
that less than tifty years ago Cincinnati.
Louisville and St. Louis were the only
cities really known to the great mass of
people living west of Ohio and north of
Tennessee, and nine-tenths of the people
under 20 years of age had never seen a
city of 10.000 inhabitants And in those
days rural America celebrated Christmas
literally without money nd without
(cash) price.
Plenty of people who do not like to be
called old can recall the time when, in
all the book store of the rural regions,
only two or three kind of "story book)''
could be found, and aa to holiday books
and holiday goods a such well, they
could be found iu the cities, probably,
but uot one child in a hundred, taking
the country through, aver saw one of
litem
Mrs. Smitem (to hr
ou ratner have for fH
Robbie, a uair of .k.t.
Robbie Can't I have both:
Mrs. Smitem-No.Idon'tthiji
Claus would consent to that.
Robbie-Then give iue the
tommy aumsons got a
lick him. 1
BUROETTE'S PHILOSOPHY,
WE CAST DAVE EVMTTSn6
" riuulnn. i l T ..
11 i Kiupoiin
, gratefully took from lb ooutrtu.
; ui on- -uuiiui isrs-e. mow iUb
, mottled like Mexican envx. rout T
i with heavy Incrustation, of 1t. S3
hiive Mi-ii ! . :-. t ,1 . k - . .. ?t
u, Jusl a, ;
. uiui-r peopi, bad an.
rafll1jl r,,r ii..r r.,i.lf A . .
ulentlj, and be. engulfing the pie n
hnil.lv ti has ih AisL. . .
i ":" ""iu an agoumnii I
and paing on. wa never again a
THE PATIENCE or Linns
A man ought to bai t some rewnj j.
"i euuigs. i si be qir
proverb But be tuisn t. That. .
make a householder as howling mad ,
u KrDnnger, wno nas twrn ten dap,
uiS in siurs ui a uan unlrunu. i
nis reproof by wiving that Ronw J
duiii in aiiay.' It waat built bill
man ... I . . T"l. .. f - .
umu, Diiuri iuu iaLb ma, a everufcj
proves that.
HEN HAD TO WALE TBI PUNK roi
iounn l-ortniasl, ho badal
ship three dav before he commi-tel
act of insuliordination. for whkb tin
tain gave Uim ail awful doeof thin
end, said the old man bight wu vonti
bis barque.
HARD ON THE NERVE.
A dog down iu Pennsylvaniitwillo-J
babys rattle the other day It uaW
MM Hie iloj; MnOMty, but awful i
ing on tho people of the hmse. Erenj
tho dog moves it aouad at t i.ouxb a r
tuake was after you, and the result u j
about two-thirds of the time ererttnjifl
the bouse Is either climbing upon icbvJ
jumpiug Uuwu from oue.
OCT ON n.T.
"George, I called to see you this una
and the maid said you were out'
uncle, 1 nni sorrv that I was.' "Bj
were not, for I saw you sitting at tbtiaM
aa I eaino away. "less that's just, fcl
maid did not specify, she only tun il
Out. Sometime 1 am staving out
time walking out and Minietimeslootajal
bue was stupid uot to say which.
DEPRAVITY I.N H1GB PLACES.
Queen Marguerite of Italy play thevi
cello. By the most desperate cipediaiia
constant vmlauceon the part of the i
family the matter baa been kept secret II
long time, but it has leaked out at Ian I
account of the respectability of the qan
connections we suppress ber last nan
A L'OITRANCE
"I see," said tho man itu tbetwmntH
"that a French journalist has ben kiUl
a duel. " "At lust (" exclaimed themtiM
lug the time card. "Yes, died of oUf
waiting for tlieolher fellow to come."
tho Fieiicli are terrible fighters stnM
mako a business of itr
EXPATRIATED.
Particular Boarder This fish.
Truthful Waiter (promptly!-WaikilWi
morning. Particular flearder lappnmaj
You did rieht to kill it. Truthful KH
(inauiriuclvi Yes. sir. Particular i
(firmlvl-Because it had been ashore am
it bail forgot how to swim, and wooil I
drowned if ever it went to sea again.
THAT'S ALL THAT SAVES THE WEB
The "elocutiouist" lias hid huligtitii
bushel as lone as ho cau. He is no4
mined to let his light shine, to UftH
vtiiiM, mill mire not and to
for all it is worth and toot his horn ill
doesn't sell n clam A Chicago ekxniu
Hi-iissiiii- the elements of asUCOsstal'
tiou. speaks of "other pieces like 'SlotheJ
Poet,' "The Raven,' and like nrodutaM
no great literary ment that produce naj
ous effects when well reuuen-u.
wondered what kept those mediocre f
.hv. lone when some of my 011
o(T.,rt n-orihr to po rincini; ilon u
ing aisles of the copv dummy, straoW
MltlllY ISMCII Ol iuo
If tho rendiiic" that has reneJ
n i i., fr. tlw. insatiate n
DJOVlllll alio ou .
that relentless monster. U. R Li1!
Robert J. Burdette in Brooklyn tg
Lenxina of Eiperlrne
Anximu MotherMy aw, tw
lady you admire knows nothing W'
work.
Son-Well, mother, you kno
either. , . .
t- ..... r,,thjrl
"true, my son. io" ""7.
however, married a girl bo
. i...a.i in nai
money she saveu waa ui . n
and tbey are now living in sore
palace." 4 J
"Oh, well, his fortune coui-
coinu iroiii tuou tntf'
"Maybe not, maybe not; but yw
and 1 are living in a rented bouse, u
our old servant girl own it
o Incorrect Disss"1
, ,r of t
A business man aim imam- ,
rank In Boston U DS1
occasionally rorgets w f "71
customary hour for this meat- i
members it is J ummum ksl,
quite absorbed in business, b
ly on until 4 o'clock, and tnen W
a quite natural ene of empty
ing in his stomach. ,
"Dear me, na sw, Jtl
the flat of hi. band WhBp
der what I ate for dinner that our
ujel" Boston Transcript.
S-.1L
Where mr,
Caller lata potogrspu wg
grand picture of the cenKWU1P"
face perfect. a m
Photographer (P'
atautaneous picim
march-best 1 toot
CaUer-Ye. vrv idoUoo r 4
. . . I-,-.- IIWI
been csugnt. u -- wB
what r the, blurred spot
and' , km.1