-.--"
THE HAPPY NEW YEAR.
HE chill air Is crisp,
for the frost king
(Uncloses
Ills tiny ice spears,
. which he hangs
on the trees.
No fragrance of sum
mer, no petal of
roses.
To brush as we
pass; we Ree only
dead leaves.
Now, dear merry
OhristmHS has
swiftly departed.
A New Year stands
scanning the
ghosts of the
past.
We gaze o'er his
shoulders and
feel heavy-hearted
To think months and seasons are fading
so fast.
See, whirled In midair are white snowflakes
descending!
Each flake seems a spirit dropped down
from above.
As though for the New Year to earth they
come, lending
A promise of purity, blessing Slid love.
The tall trumpet creeper, whose scarlet
tinged Bowers
Last summer made gay Its beautiful dress,
Stood yesterday drooping and leafless for
hours.
Now, snowclad. It gleams in renewed love
liness. t
How they pile, how they gather, the snows
In their whiteness.
Led onward by silence, who moves with
out sound!
Their feet shod In crystal and sparkling In
brightness,
They drape frosted venture o'er tree, bush
and ground.
We thought with the summer all beauty was
dying;
We thought with the old year all joy flown
away, ,
But spirits of snow to our shorn world came
flying.
And the New Year has blessings perhaps
for each day.
Hark! Wild beware Ejnglng! Yes, Joy bells
. are flinging '
Out welcomes of glee to another New Year.
May each moment be crowded with laughter
and singing,
And during Its stay may no sorrow draw
near.
Elng on, New Year-bells! Let thy ringing
mean gladness!
Elng all ills away, but ring love's warmth
within! ,
Though the old year Just died, and we saw
It with sadness,
Yet happy may prove the New Year we
begin!
Christian Intelligencer.
1 A CHKISTMAS I
5 REUNION;
i
T was Nell who
thought of it first.
But about all of the
clever ideas in our
family had their ori
gin in Nell's fertile
imagination. Brother
Tom often told her
fthat she ought to put
a card in the window
and in the pa.persj of
fering "Ideas , for
Sale." Nell was
grandfather's, favor
ite and she was very
'fond of him. One
day she evolved this idea and laid it on
the family altar at a discussion we were
having regarding the approaching Christ
mas festivities:
"I've just thought out the loveliest
scheme forrandpu's enjoyment. You
know that he. hasn't seen one, of his
brothers for along time, and it' r twenty
years since he suw our Uncle. Henry.
Now, can't we get up a great family re
union as a surprise for grandpa? Uncle
Henry could come here in a day."
"He's nearly 80," I said.
"I know, but he is stronger than most
men of 70. Uncle Harvey, who is only
73, could come in a day and a night, and
Uncle Joel could come in ten hours. I
" THBY'BB AL.L COMING, TOM.'
think that it would be just lovely to see
those four dear old souls, all over 70, to
gether, and to hear them tell tales of their
childhood and boyhood."
. After imposing solemn vows of secrecy
on all of us, Nell ran off to her writing
desk to write letters to grandpa's three
old brothers and to Lis sister Ann. A
week later she met me at the door when
I went home to dinner and said gleefully:
, "They're all coming, Tom! I've had let
ters to-day from every one of them! And
grandpa said at luncheon that he'd give
a good deal to see 'the boys,' as he called
them. He wanted to know if I'd go with
him if he went to visit them all in the
spring. I could just hug myself for think
ing up the whole scheme."
- Each of my great uncles arrived on the
day before Christmas, and grandpa's sur
prise was complete. He showed no signs
of needing Nell's-smelling salts, although
he was visibly affected when his aged
brother Henry aTrived and they clasped
hands after a separation of twenty years.
"You've grown old, Hiram," quavered
out Uncle Henry. '"Seems to me ye look
'bout as old as I do."
"Oh, I guess not, Henry; I guess not,"
aald grandpa, a trifle stiffly, for he was
sensitive regarding his age.
"Don't he, boys?" said Uncle Henry,
appealing to his two white-haired broth
ers. "I bet I could fetch ye to the ground
first in a resale, that is if ye rassled fair,
which ye didn't used to do when we was
all boys together. Why, I'm hanged if
Hiram don't part his hair, or what he's
got left of it, in the middle yit. I reckon
ed you'd git over that when ye came to
bavin' one foot iu the grave and t'other
one no bizness out."
Grandpa flushed and said coldly:
"The combing of one's hair is simply a
matter of individual taste, Henry."
L Nell hurried Uncle Henry off to show
Mm
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him his room and grandpa said to Uncle
Joel: .
"You bear your years well, Joel. One
would hardly guess you to be six years
older than I."
"No, Hiram, they wouldn't. One thing,
I'm a good deal fleshier 'n you. I'm kind
o' s'prised to see you so kind o' all skin
and bone." .
"Come, now, I ain't quite that, Joel.
I weigh 130."
"Is that all; why, Hi, I weigh 178
and " .
"Come, Uncle Joel, I want to show you
some of the family portraits in the par
lor," said Madge, noting grandpa's rising
color. This left Uncle Harvey and grana
pa together. '
"Joel and Henry were always unneces
sarily blunt in their speech," said grand
pn. "Yes, but they gen'ally hit the nail on
the head," said Uncle Harvey. "You do
look as if the wind would blow you away,
Hiram, and I notice you've a kind of limp
in your gait."
"I've no-thing of the sort, Harvey My
ler, and I ain't more than two-thirds as
bald as you are and not half so gray."
"Oh, you ain't; I'll count gray hairs with
you any time, and I'll bet you a jews-
harp that "
"Come, Uncle Harvey," I said, "let us
go to the stable. I want you to give me
your opinion of a horse I've just bought."
The combined efforts of Madge and Nell
and I sufficed to maintain peace at the
dinner tuble. We kept up such a rattling
fire of conversation that the four broth
ers had hardly a chance to speak to each
other. We saw grandpa wince when Un
cle Henry ate his mashed potatoes with
his knife, and we knew the full extent of
our grandsire's agony when Uncle Joel
poured his coffee into his saucer and blew
it before drinking it. Uncle Harvey spoke
but once, but that was once too often, for
he said, explosively:
"Oh, I say, boys, do you remember that
Sary Jane Skimmerhorn Hi used to be
so sweet on when we all went to the Hop
vine school? You 'member how he used
to kiss 'er there at the end of the lane?
Well, she's livin' yit, an' I'd give a deal
to see Hi kiss 'er now. She weighs 329
pounds and has a beard that Tom here
might be proud of, an' she's had fifteen
children an' they're all livin'. I was jest
thinkin' what if Hi had married 'er as he
used to swear he would! Eh, Hi?"
Uncle Henry and Joel . roared with
laughter and Joel choked on a mouthful
of coffee. Grandpa turned pale and it re
quired all of Nell's cleverness to prevent
a scene.
All of the cousins and uncles and aunts
in the city had -been invited to come in
that evening to enjoy a Christmas eve
reunion of the family and to be entertain
ed with family reminiscences by the four
old and reunited brothers. At 8 o'clock
we gathered around a great open fire to
hear our aged relatives "reuunis,
Madge mischievously put it.
"Tell us all about when you were bays
together," said Cousin Ned Drayton. "I
guess there wasn't much time nor money
wasted celebrating Christmas when you
were boys."
"Well, I guess there wa'n't," said Uncle
Joel. . "I guess O, say, boys, do you re
member that Christmas we four boys
went bear hunting back there in the
Maine woods when we wa'n't none of us
fully grown?" .
"I remember it as well as if it was yes
terday," said Uncle Henry. "I remem
ber jist how that b'ar squealed when I
shot 'im."
"You still stick to it that you shot 'im,
Henry," snid Uncle Joel, "an' I am as
sure as. I'm livin' that it was my shot that
fetched 'im."
"In a horn it was!" said Uncle Henry,
testily. "Your bullet went clar over the
b'ar and lodged in that big pine we found
with a bullet hole in it."
"There's no use in Henry an' Joel spat
tin' so about which killed that b'ar," put
in Uncle Harvey, "for I've an idee the
beast would have got up an' walked off
with both your bullets. It was my knife
thrust that finished the beast."
"Yes, it was!" sneered Joel. "Oh, yes;
to be sure it was," snorted Uncle Henry.
"I guess that the blows I rained down
on the beast's head with the club I car
ried, had something to do with finishing
him," said grandpa, calmly.
"Well, ye ain't got over drawin' on your
imagination for facts, hev ye, Hi?" said
Uncle Henry. "The rest of us kin re
member how ye hid in the bresh tremblin'
an' bellerin' until we was almost ready
to skin the bear an' then you come out
with your little club and give the beast a
whack or two."
"Henry Myler, that is not true!"
"If it ain't I'll eat my hat!"
"I clubbed the life out of him," said
grandpa.
"I tell ye I killed that b?ar myself!" ,
"Ye didn't!"
"I know I did!"
"My club counted for more than "
"Your club! Pooh!"
"Now, Henry, I won't stand it to "
"I'd like to see ye help yourself."
"Shet up, all of ye, for I " ,
"Don't ye tell me to shet up!"
The dispute waxed hot and hotter un
til Madge got Uncle Henry off to his room,
and Nell had done the same service for
Uncle Harvey, while I dragged Uncle Joel
away for a smoke with me in my own
room, where he berated his brothers fear
fully. Grandpa stalked off to his own
room.
We managed to keep the four old hot
heads from getting into a row on Christ
mas, but Uncle Henry and grandpa did
DISCUSSING TUB BKAK QUESTION.
not speak to each other all day, and to
tell the unvarnished truth there was great
inward rejoicing when our three dear old
uncles departed. Uncle Henry thrust his
head out of the carriage door and screech
ed out at the last second:
"I .did kill that bear!"
"You never!' called out grandpa, sharp
ly from the stoop, and they never saw
each other again. -
vi lli m
K.U ML. Wlrtr iff fctfWSLf flflr WTi&W&A A YAW
THE event which Christmas commemorates possesses for humanity the
deepest meaning. Compared with its profound importance all other events,
or indeed the sum of all other events, sink into insignificance, and the great
institution of which that event is the foundation-stone has from a very early date
observed it with ceremonies of fitting stateliness and reverence, But the note of
even the sacred celebration of the birthday of the Saviour has for centuries been
one of joyfulness and glad praise. It is the one day of all the year when the whole
Christian world puts into practice the cardinal law of Christ. The sternest, hard
est and most worldly . man pauses in his planning and grinding, and for a day
at least allows his thoughts to dwell on projects for making other people glad. The ,
Christmas-tide festival is the special season for renewing the . manifestation of
those family affections -that are not dead but merely dulled by routine and fa
miliarity. The head of the household, who spends hundreds of dollars in providing
the necessaries of life for his flock without an emotion other than an occasional
thought of what a tax upon his income it is, has his whole being stirred up as the
result of the expenditure of a few dollars in rattles and trinkets. A sense of
his blessings thrusts itself on his attention. A realization of the patient heroic
performance from day to day, year in and year out, of the unheroic, uneventful,
tedious and multiplied duties of the helpmeet and mother rushes on his mind, to
gether with an uneasy knowledge of his frequent forgetfulness of it, She is
the angel of his threshold, and he turns to the heaven that seems so faT away in
his business hours, but now seems so near and powerful, as he asks for its bless
ing on the little brood that clusters about her knee.
For Christmas is essentially the children's day. Its specially religious signifi
cance can of course never be lost, but it is doubtful if its spiritual influence woUid
be so widespread but for the myth of Kris Kringle., With its dawning faculties
the child learns of the wonderful little man with the queer, tufty coat and rubi
cund face, whose advent on one particular night in the year is the most extraor
dinary event iu existence, and when the revolution of many yuletides has turned
reaJity into myth the disillusioned one enjoy at least half his earlier delights in
witnessing another generation of Kris Kringle's little subjects enjoying that mon
arch's senson of blissful lordship. In millions of homes the same picture is seen. '
Day breaking through the frosted pane, and on the dim stairs tiny white-robed
figures stealing down the creaking steps. Eyes are dancing with anticipation'
and apprehension, for there is something uncanny about this dear old king of
theirs, and mother has to take up the rear in similar white-robed dishabille to
inspire confidence in those little throbbing hearts. And when the chimney-nook
is safely gained, what clamor, what pounding of drums and blowing of horns;
what joy that the funny, fat, good-natured old gentleman is still alive and looking
after his own. May every home in Christendom see this picture.
"I admit that my dear little scheme
failed," said Nell, when we were alone
together. "The next time I bring four
old gentlemen together for a Christmas
reunion I'll select deaf and dumb men, or
men who haven't quite so much dynamite
and chain lightning and undimmed pugi
listic vigor in their make-up. I positive
ly believe that Uncle Henry would have
troanced grandpa if he'd stayed another
day." Utica. Globe.
Puppets Made o' Gingerbread.
The city of Amsterdam claims St. Nich
olas as its patron saint, and during the
first week of December confectioners'
shops throughout, the city display one
special delicacy, called "St. Nicholas
cake," of which large quantities are sold
at this season. "Men" and "women"
made of this crisp, brown cake, or gin
gerbread, can be bought in different sizes
and at ajljtjjjrjes. These sweet creatures
are ofte.ca'lJed "sweethearts" ("vrijers"
we say "in Dutch), and the girls receive a
"man," the boys a "woman." t remem
ber quite well what fun it used to be to
GRANDMOTHER UNDER THE MISTLETOE.
hear the servant come in with: "If you
please, ma'am, here is Miss Annie's
sweetheart" and hand a gingerbread
man to my mother.
Christmas Gifts for Men.
It is a great relief to note that some
philanthropic writers throughout the
country are engaged in telling what sort
of Christinas gifts men would like. The
writers are not all successful, and they
reveal frequently the inspiration of wom
an's ideas, man's innate modesty and self
effacement precluding him from speaking
for himself. . .
But somebody should speak for him be
fore another Christmas has elapsed. It
is recorded in the seventh chapter of "The
Autobiography of Pharaoh I." that the
monarch's wife gave him for a Christmas
present a necktie which he could not wear
without inviting insurrections in all
Egypt. That's where tlje'Christmas neck
tie joke, began, the Cijjstmas cigar joke
following it,-, when Sir' Walter Kaleigh
first amazed, England by pujiing tobacco
fumes. The jokes have, endured, but the
joke has not not if the man knows it. He
may have an incorrigible passion for neck
ties, but to have his own wife go out and
pay out his own money for a tie w hich he
will wear only on dark nights and when
his coat collar is turned up is what he ob
jects to. The trouble being; probably,
that a woman buying something for a man
sees it merely as it looks on the counters,
while the man sees it in its relation to
himself and to the uses to which it must
be put. ,
What is needed is a Wives' Information
bureau, where husbands can leave a list
of the presents they would find accepta
ble, with details concerning size,, color
and weight. The wife would simply have
to join the bureau's, subscribers, find her
husband's list, borrow the money- from
him and give him a happy surprise on
Christmas.- This scheme is worth consid
ering. It ought to take a great burden off
the ladies' minds, anyhow. . ... , ,
Thrice Happy. ,
He was a little ragged waif living in a
village of southern Kentucky. A stran
ger to actual comfort, it is not to be sup
posed that he was very familiarwith the
pleasures of life. One Christmas eve he
was standing before a shop window with
his lean little face pressed against the
pane, devouring with hungry eyes the
beautiful display within.
There was a lady in the shop, deeply
engaged in' purchasing gifts for her small
nieces and nephews. She saw the waif at
the window ragged, half-clad, and with
out donbt half-starved as well.
"Prudence," said she, in speaking of the
matter afterward, "might have suggested
food and clothes. Biit another idea had
taken possession of me. I determined
then and there that that boy should know
the blessedness of happy childhood for one
Christinas at all events."
On the impulse she called him in. Toys,
a wagon, an iron horse with a flying driv
er madly sounding a fire alarm, a drum
with gilded sticks, a tin horn, a pack of
firecrackers, things which his poverty
blinded eyes had never before looked upon
in the light of real possession, were put
into his hands.
"There was a kind of awe in his solemn,
earnest eyes," said the lady, "as though
the joy of possession had stricken him
dumb.
"It was the day after Christmas that I
came upon him again, hanging about the
streets with that same old look of a beg
gar about him. That is, in all but his
eyes; they, I think, were never quite the
same again. They fairly shone when he
lifted them to. my face in recognition.
'Good morning, Joe,' said I. 'What have
you done with your toys?'
"Imagine my surprise when he said, 'I
give 'em to Jack Parker, the colored boy,
over yonder to Scruff Town.'
" 'What?' said I, 'you have given them
all away? All your beautiful toys?' He
was silent a moment, and then his ragged
little face glowed as he replied:
" 'I had 'em; I had 'em a whole day. I
ain't got 'em any more, but I had 'em, any.
how.'"
He was the proud possessor of three
pleasures; that of receiving, of giving, and
the ever blessed pleasure of a happy mem
pry. Youth's Companion.
A Warning.
Rhymes on the mistletoe
Are all very well, y' know;
But In mistletoe season .
The promptings of reason
Are toward the adagio;
The gallant had better go slow.
For kisses at times rlng woe;
To the doubting young Thomas
May come brea oh of promise
By way of the mistletoe!
What Sru. Bought Him. i
"No," said Mrs. Cumsp to Mrs. Caw
ker; "I know .well" .en'qjjgh' not to buy
cigars for my husb'and's''Ch"ris-tmas pres
ent." , "What did you:tgef him?" "I
bought him a razor fbnofl 'it do the bar
gain counter and got it-for ninety-eight
cent8."Judge, -,,
BROADACRE'S CHRISTMAS.
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Chrisl mas comes but once a year.
Old Uhynie.
titusi .mas comes
but once a year."
Well, gosh all fish
hooks! who
'At has the Christmas
bills to pay 'Id ever
ask fer two
Or three or four, or
any more 'an what
we have to-day?
There may be some,
but say, by gum! I
aiut built that-a-way.
I've got to git a sled fer Ned and buy a doll
fer Nan,
And books and toys and lots of Joys fer lit
tle crippled Dan,
Fer he can't go about, you know, like other
boys, and run,
And that Is why we all must try to help him
have his fun.
And 'Liza how these girls come up! she
don't want dolls no more
She's got a beau It can't be so! a-clerkln'
in a store;
But after all, she's "bout as tall as was her
mother when
We fell In love we're In It yet lots deeper
now than then. . . ,
And so a year 'at didn't bring a Christmas,
seems to me, -'Ld
be about the saddest thing a mortal .man
could see,
Fer who would miss the Christmas bliss be
cause there's bills to pay?
There may be some, but soy, by gum! I
ain't built that-a-way.
Nixon Waterman.
ACROSS THE STREET.
The Change that Came with Another
Christmas Time,
A S T Christmas
the house across
the street from
mine was the
brightest and gay
est of any in the
block. There were
beautiful Christ
mas wreaths in
every window and
the whole house
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was aglow. The shades were thrown up
high and the soft lace curtains parted
wide. The tree in the great parlor of the
house across the street was larger and it
had costlier presents on it than any other
tree in the town. And most of the pres
ents were for the little girl in the white
dress and the big pink sash who could be
seen from the street dancing around the
tice, the happiest, sweetest little maiden
in all the world and the light and life and
joy of the house across the street.
This Christmas time all is dark and
silent and gloomy in the great house
across the street. There are no Christ
mas wreaths in the windows, no ray of
light comes from behind the closely
drawn blinds, no childish voice is heard
within the house. There is no bright and
b:"autiful tiee, but on the spot on which
the tree stood last year there is some
thing white and as beautiful in its s:ik
and satin and velvet finish as the skill and
wealth of man can make it. But the sight
of it brought a chill to the hearts of those
who saw it carried into the house on
Christinas eve, and when the eyes of the
mother and father fell upon it their hearts
bled anew. .
The passersby who saw the bands of
white fluttering from the knob of the door
of the house across the street went on to
their own humbler houses thanking God
that their own little ones were left to
them, no matter how little of wealth or
beauty there might be in their homes.
The poorest house in which there was
the laugh of childien was so mnch less
desolate than ihe great mansion across
the street in which the child's laugh was
forever still. It added to the melody of
Paradise that Christmas morningi It
rang out clear and sweet across the jas
per sea. It had gone through the Gate
Beautiful and into a house not made witb
hands eternal in the heavens.
Christmas Carols.
Christmas gifts of coal and flour are
in order all this month. Philadelphia
Ledger.
That man never lived who had any in
fluence over his wife the week before
Christmas. Atchison Globe.
Small boys with an eye to the future
are willing to wear stockings many sizes
too big for them. Philadelphia Record.
People with bad habits might ease up
on them a little before New Year's for
the purpose of learning whether it vill
pay to swear off. Cedar Rapids Gazette.
If you want to give a man a Christinas
present that will please him give him the
right to act as he pleases about the holi
day. Nine men out of ten are blackmail
ed into buying Christmas piesents, in one
way or another. Atchison Globe.
"What shall I order for' dinner to-day,
love?" asked Eve, as she absently pluck
ed a green apple. "Oh, any old thing,"
retorted Adam, wearily, "as long as it
isn't a spare rib. I'm sick of spnre rib!"
He savagely swatted a rock at a garter
snake. New York Press.
Wife I think I will surprise you with
the purchase Of a watch to wear Christ
mas. .Husband It will be an acceptable
gift, and I shall wear it with pleasure.
Wife Oh, but the one I shall buy would
be a lady's watch, suitable for me to
carry. Boston Budget.
Her father had said it could never be.
They both sat in the parlor also in tears.
After long searching and a desperate ef
fort she found her voice. Then, in de
spairing tones, she cried: "Oh, Charley!
If we must part, let us wait till after
Christmas!" Philadelphia North Ameri
can ' .
Christmas Eve on the Reservation.
VII
Banta Claus of the Tepee.
Willis
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