I
- "V' ward which an
aged white-haired
man .Is wending his -way at short inter
vals he stops suddenly, gazing over the
hedge side, where the moon is shining
through the leafless snow-covered trees
advancing a few paces he stops once
more before a ruined tower, fast crum
bling to decay.
"God bless the dear old landmarks," ho
murmured, "many and many a time have
I stood beside you in my dreams when
the great ocean rolled between us at
last, like the load-stone that attracts the
needle, you have brought the wanderer
back. Oh, sweet Inisfail, the smallest
blade of grass that grows in your green
dells is a million times more precious to
me than all the wealth and grandeur I
have seen on foreign shores."
Having reached the cottage, he was
met at the door by a tall.well-built, ven
erable looking man.
"Can you give me shelter for a short
time?" asked the stranger.
"I can, or for a long time, If you need
It though not very long, now I come to
remember, for in a few weeks I won't
be able to call this house my own. Isn't
that the truth, Mary?" he added, looking
at his wife, busily plying her needle near
a bright turf fire.
"It is indeed the bitter truth may
God in his mercy protect us," said his
wife.
"And how long have yon lived in this
cosy cottage?" asked the stranger.
"Fifty years, sir. My father built it. I
in it. I reared a big family in it, but
Jy-- they're scattered far away from us now.
( f Some of them, I'm afreerd, I'll never nee
I again. Our oldest boy I've not heard
from in ten years. He was sent into
the 'rising' of 07."
"What was his name?"
"Redmond O'Hara. But in troth if I
go on In this way I'll be disgracing the
proud owld name of our family. Here,
take a whiff o' this owld dhudeen; 'twill
help to banish sad thoughts."
"Before I light my pipe," said the
stranger, "I wish you would tell me why
it is that you will be compelled to leave
this cottage in a few weeks?"
"The answer is simple," replied his
host. "I am only a small farmer, and
cannot afford to pay Lord Leech the
heavy taxes that are yearly imposed on
my own time and money without a hap
orth of help from his lordship. That's the
whole of it in a nutshell."
"And so you are to be evicted?"
"That's It exactly," replied the host.
"Not if I can save you," said the stran
ger. "Saltpeter couldn't save us."
"There is something more potent than
saltpeter."
"Maybe ye mane dynamite," said his
host.
"What I have reference to is more pow
erful than even dynamite," replied the
traveler, "although it Is not so noisy.
What I allude to is the power of gold!"
During the foregoing the farmer s wife
1IW H
Rnntn flnna tt maat flmot Gnnl
L" LV ..i. wuii
nrmament congress had borne fruit!
countrymen. I soon amassed great
wealth. You would scarcely imagine me.
as I appear at present in these tattered
garments, to be a rich man, but, to prove
the truth of my assertion, here Is a bag
containing a thousand sovereigns. Take
it. Keep it. It is yours. I present it
to you as a Christmas box."
"A bag o' sovereigns," cried the farm
er. "Oh, sir, you must be one o' the
good fairies in disguise."
"If this happened in America," said the
stranger, "you would undoubtedly call
me Santa Claus."
"Whoever you are," cried the farmer's
wife, "you must be something not nat
ural to be tantalizing poor people with
the sight of a heap o' gold like that."
"I give you my word I am neither
ghost nor hobgoblin, but real flesh and
blood," said the stranger, throwing off
his white wig and beard and standing
erect at his full height. "Now examine
my features well and toll me if they bear
any resemblance to Redmond O'Hara,
your convict son!"
"Oh! Redmond! our own gra bawn!"
exclaimed his father and mother simul
taneously. "Yes, it is," said the mother,
caressing him, "he hns the same auburn
hair." "And the same proud light in his
manly blue eyes," cried his father, grasp
ing his son's hands. "Oh, Redmond,
Redmond, this sudden joy is almost more
than we can bear."
"Now, spare me this hugging and kiss
ing and hand-shaking," cried their son,
"if you don't wish to kill me with too
much kindness. You can both snap your
fingers at Lord Leech to-morrow. We'll
have our own home, our own land and
our own cattle as well' as his lordship.
And to-morrow we'll fill the table with
turkey, geese, lamb, ham and every lux
ury in season and out of season that
money can purchase. In short, my dear
father and mother, it won't be your own
Redmond's fault if you don't say it is the
merriest Christmas day you ever enjoy
ed." Thoughts of Christmas.
We want good things fer Christmas thes
all 'at we ktu get
Drums, an' dolls, an' trumpets, an' a tor
china set;
An' Jumpln'-jacks, an' packs an' packs of
firecrackers, too.
An' elephants, an' Hons that never growl
at you.
We want good things ftr Christmas thes
all the house kin hold!
An' we hopes It will be snowln', an' the
weather frcezln' cold.
(Snow's mighty fin? at Christmas time
an' so Is everything;
So we're waltln' thes a-waitln fer the
Christmas bells to ring!)
Atlanta Constitution.
T T ... Mm T . ! i J 1
iiwn out 1 cia guiug ui n uuwu uiesc
not worth giving thanks for." Except
for its boughs, which were used in house
banking, and its sticky aromatic balsam,
which is employed in medicine, the Maine
fir had no mission on earth until every
body discovered that it made a beautiful
Christmas tree. As the cities grew larg
er and Christmas began to take the place
of Thanksgiving as a feast day, the de
mand for Christmas trees grew. Twenty
years ago a carload from the Androscog
gin valley and two or three deckloads
on schooners sailing from Bucksport or
Castine comprised all the Christmas
trees sent out from Maine. Finding there
was money in the business, the farmers
and owners of waste land sought to en
large their market, and succeeded so well
that in December, 1893, more than 100.-
000 fir trees were sent from Maine by
rail, to say nothing of those that went
by steamboats and sailing vessels. The
prices went up with the increased de
mand. In 1878 no farmer thought of
asking more than 25 cents for a big tree
delivered at the cars. Twenty years lat
er the same kind of a tree sells for SI,
and the old hands at the business are
holding back hoping to get more.
. i
Ingredients Three pounds raisins,
three pounds currants, one pound mixed
peel, one and one-half pounds broad
crumbs, one and one-half pounds suet,
sixteen eggs, two wineglassfuls brandy,
one nutmeg, one teaspoonful salt, one
fourth pound almonds, chopped fine.
Stone and cut the raisins in halves,
but do not chop them; wash, pick and
dry the currants, and mince the suet fine
ly: cut the candied peel into thin fine
crumbs. When all these dry ingredients
are prepared, mix them well together;
then moisten the mixture with the eggs,
which should be well beaten, and tbe
brandy; grate in the nutmeg. Stir well,
that everything may be well blended, and
thoroughly press the pudding into a but
tered mold, tie it down tightly with a
well-floured cloth and boil for five or six
hours. It may be boiled in a cloth wlth-
a s. ) -1 . 1 i 1
tuiiiiiiLys I VJll, lUIll ine jzar S (118-
cigarette boxes as to deceive even an in
veterate smoker are made of chocolate
or peppermint. Big, business-looking
pens, pencils and paperweights are made
of sugar-paste and paper, and the most
artful of spectacles, opera glasses and
cases are made of isinglass, tinsel and
candy-filled wood.
A medicine case of coarse brown linen
is bordered with a puffing of pink silk
ribbon. The vials are held in place by a
band of garter elastic covered with puffed
silk and divided into spaces large or small
enough to accommodate the bottles. One
end of the linen case turns in and ir,
tucked to form two pockets that are to
contain court plaster, a tiny scissors,
antiseptic cotton and a roll of soft linen.
The little bottles are labeled with famil
iar names ammonia, arnica, quinine, gin
ger, camphor and other household stand
bys. The Christmas Stocking.
There is a German story about the
origin of a Christmas stocking. It tells
how a poor woninn with bleeding feet
came to the hut of a little peasant boy
and begged for aid. He took off his shoes
and gave, them to her; he had no stock
ings. In the morning he found the shoes
filled with thalers tied to the door latch.
Some say the little old woman was a
fairy, others of more serious mind claim
that she was the Virgin Mary; whoever
she was, she wrote on parchment: "Du
liebes kind," and this is still kept as a
relic in a small church in Bavaria.
First Celebration of Christmas.
Christmas was first celebrated in the
year 98, but it was forty years later be
fore it was officially adopted as a Chris
tian festival; nor was it until about the
Fifth century that the day of its celebra
tion because permanently fixed on the
2th of December. .Up to that time it
had been irregularly observed at various
times of the year in December, in April
and in May, but most frequently in Jan
uary. Ladies' Home Journal.
Tbo Christmas Girl.
The snow has drifted to her brow,
The holly bud has dyed her cheek,
Her eyes, like stars on Christmas eve,
Shine out with glances coyly meek.
There's Christmas radiance everywhere
In wreaths of green and berries red;
But, best of all, I gladly note
There's mistletoe above her head.
Life.
- Easily Pleased.
"Well, little Jim, what do you want
for Christmas?"
"I'll take anything I kin get, pa. but
you better not gimme anything I don't
like."
V
solved Iii nn insuiuL livery fmmly must
consider it from Its own standpoint. Hap
piness is not, even at this season, to be
put in a great sack labeled "caudy and
toys." We should study our children and
find out what particular thing they are
counting upon. Especially where Christ
mas is the great gift-making epoch of the
year, p.nd the children look to it for their
annua! store of games and toys. But
only half our duty toward them will be
done if we have not taught them the
pleasure of making gifts to others. I say
taupht advisedly, for the moral nature of
a child is not conferred upon him at
birth; it exists then only in the germ,
and it has to be cultivated just as his
faculty for . intellectual work has to be
cultivated. But the great difference be
tween moral and intellectual training is,
that whereas in the last one may attack
the understanding and lead on to desire,
in the first all our approaches must be
made to the heart. No restraint upon
conduct is of any account unless we suc
ceed in getting the child to want to be
good. lie will then try to be good un
der all circumstances, when he is away
from us as well as when he is in our
sight. Harper's Bazar.
A Midnight Encounter.
Santa Claus (vigorously) Welt, that's
the last house I'll go into till I find out
whether they keep a dog. Harleui Life.
One Is Enough.
"Eph, I wnnt to give you a nice fat tur
key for Christmas," said Col. Hawker.
"Dat's berry kin', cunnel, but I'd 'fer a
$2 bill ef's all de same to you. Kris Krin
gle alius 'pears to leab a tuhkey at my
house de night nfoh Chris'mas."
Sensible Jlmmio.
"Jimmie," asked his mother, "why are
you so persistent about going to your
Uncle John's for Christmas?"
"'Cause he hain't got none of them
smoke consumers on his chimblcys. Santa
Claus kin git inter his house."
Not Distributing Gifts.
Nopurse I proposed to Miss Many
millions Christinas eve.
Gotbills Shall I congratulate you?
Nopurse I don't know. She told me
she wasn't Santa Claus, and that's all
she said. Truth.
m