M erry C h ristm a s
Nappy INew
Gloverdale Mercantile Go
A C H R IST M A S D USK
Continued from psge.four.
If T would say, “ Mabel, why do yon
perinlt that end to I k * dancing attend­
ance upon you?” she would reply:
“ Why, I think lie’s very nice. Do you
know any reason why 1 shouldn’t” —
“ Marry him? Certainly I do. He Is
not the tuan for you at all.”
Then she would walk away apparent
ly miffed, and then* would be no trou­
ble between us (111 the next fellow
came buzzing about her.
Occasionally Mabel would say to me,
“ Have you purchased my gloves yet?"
and I would reply, "N o; there Is plan
ty o f time for that,” whereupon she
would tell me what color she preferred.
Impressing upon me the exact shades
and showing me certain articles of
dress she wished to be matched.
1
was rather amused than interested, for
I could see that, despite her apparent
confidence, sin* suffered some trepida*
Ion for fear I might In some unforeseen
way succeed.
A piece of good or bad luck, as the
case may be. gave me an advantage.
Mabel and 1 rod«* horselvack together,
and one day when w*> were passing
through a wood I Jumped my horse
ov«>r a log that was rather higher than
those we had be«*n accustomed to take,
i cleared it. and Mab«*l irit'd to d«> so
tot*. She rals«*d her animal too soon,
and he came down with his belly on
the log
Mabel f«*lI on the other side,
and I picked her up
I noticed that the chain to which
her d«*sk key was nttavlmd had parted
ami lay on th<* ground l*esl«lr her. hut
I was loo much concerned nln'iit her i
to do more than pick it up. unseen by
h«*r. and put It In my pocket
She Insisted that she was not hurt
and mounted her horse. Fortunately
we were not far from born«* and had
no ditilculty in reaching it. She did
not miss her chain and key. and 1 said
nothing about them. The chain I re­
turned tlie next day, but insisted on
keeping the key till after Christmas.
Mabel declared that It was unfair to
take advantage «>f an accident, but this
did not move me.
I determined, now that 1 had the
key, to effect an entrance to Mabel’s
room when no «me was there and pos­
sess myself «*f her secret. Hut 1 must
us«> strategy
I was invited to spend
Christmas, as the year before, at my
aunt's and on Christmas eve went to
the house provided with the glove for­
feit and admitted to Mattel that having
no Imp«* «>f winning 1 had provided
them. This threw her completely off
h«*r guard.
The next morning I remained in ray
ro«*tii till I heard her go downstairs,
then slipped Into her room, opened th«>
desk and apt>Jl«*d the key to the little
drawer.
And what did I find there? The stir
prls«* o f my life
There was a small
«•aril photograph o f myself taken when
I was tw elve years «>l«l. a tiny china
doll I had given her one Christmas
when she was tint s iv a misspelled
letter I had written h«>r and several nr
tides o f no more Intrinsic value than
those. hut eVldene«»s o f how dear they
w«*re to h«*r. Kepla. lug them. 1 l«H*k«*d
the drawer, closed the «leak and went
dow nstalrs
When It rntnc my turn t<* give my
Christmas present* I handed the plov« s
to Mabel and a ten pound box o f candy
besides. On op«*ning tile box she saw
the key to her desk drawer.
“ I knew you would not succeed in
that matter.” she said, and 1 did not
tell her that I had succeeded. But on
Christmas night, when the others had
gone to bed. I sat with her before an
open tin* and after certain skirmish­
ing I (old her something else, to which
she responded in a manner that was
to my heart’s content
To tliis» day she doesn't know that I
found her treasures.
Nevertheless tin* Christmas «lesk is
an object o f Int«*i'«*st with tne. My
wife has given it up for a receptacle
of househohl matter, and 1 have sev
«>ral pigeonholes and drawers in which
l keep receipts and other such papers
I never sit down h«*fore tin* desk to
write a letter, draw a check or tile a
receipted bill that I «1*» not think of
tin* Christmas morning when I discov­
ers! that which has given me such de
light
W h e re D o lla rs O rig in a te d .
Joachlmstnhl. near Carlsbad, Is tits
toric as the birthplace of the origins’
dollar
This was the stiver gulden
groschen. eoln«*d tu 1519 by order of
Count S« bllck from the metal of a
r«»eently opened mine, and It became
known ns the jonchiinsthnler. or "ttia
ler” alone for short. Before 1000 the
nimble Knglish language had already
made "dollar” o f this Thereafter this
name w h s loosely used of all manner
of coins, varying in value from 75
tents to $1 .’o and belonging to all man­
ner of countries, from Sweden to Ja
I an
it was from the prevalence of
the Spanish “ dollar’' In the Britlsb-
Amertcan colonies at the time o f their
revolt that the modern “ almighty dol­
lar" was derived, while in modern
English very recent slang has given
the name to the crown piece.
Star Sight.
B j all the rules of the game o f na­
ture we should not be able to see a
star at all. for it appears from the
earth as a geometrical point, a thing
without dimensions, and cannot be
measured eveu in the most powerful
telescope. A star appears in a tele­
scope just as ft does to the naked eye.
Now the question naturally comes up
as to why we can perceive a star, u
tiling with no dimensions.
We cer­
tainly cannot see so small a thing un­
der tlie inieroseope. The whole answer
is a peculiarity o f the human eye and.
In fact, of all optical instruments, call
e«l diffraction. A lens does not focus
parallel rays o f light to a geometrical
point, even though they come from a
point, and so a small disk is printesl
on the retina by a star, and the star is
perceive«!
IJememtier. though, that
only the star's effect is perceived with
the eye. A planet o f course Is differ
ent. ns It is comparatively close to us.
and its actual disk may be seen and
mensure«l in the telescope, just ns that
of the moon can be seen with the uak-
e«i eye»—Chicago Herald.
Other Men’s Eyes.
We can only <«*** a very little bit at a
tin:, and we nm«t. I think, learn to
v that ««til. r ni n <**«■ tiits o f truth
as v;|) as o u r -elves. Drummond.