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Show r' plates and on which was print-i- this statement: "I have for a long time believed that the people of this town celebrated Christmas, not for the purpose of exhibiting the true Christmas spirit, but simply to outdo one another in making a big show. If you are true to the faith you possess you will forgive me for wbat I have done and thank me for teaching you a valuable lesson. It Is LD NICK BRADSHAW was the richest man in Jonesburg, and tor 80 years he had also been the most hated. There waa a tradition that a girl whom he waa to have married one Christmas day had eloped with another man a few hours before the time set tor the wedding. Whether the story was true or not Old NlcJt, as everybody called him, had become a recluse. Nobody ever had a kind word tor him. It had long been agreed that the death of Old Nick would be the luckiest think which could happen to Jonesburg, wherefore there was general surprise when it was announced one year that Nicholas Bradshaw intended to hJve a Christmas tree for all ' themselves to keep from freezing, and every little while there were cheers for Mr. Bradshaw.' At last the hands on the courthouse clock indicated that it was 12:30, and then one of Old Nicks hired men appeared with the key to the door of the big hall. With a wild rush and a loud whoop the people crowded Inside and hurried upktalrs. The Christmas tree loomed gloriously before them. Its branches were laden with packages all neatly tied with ribbons and each bearing a card on which was written the name of the person who was to receive it. The' tables were set and There were ready for the feastera. big brown turkeys with drumsticks pointing upward; there were huge cakes, there were filled wineglasses at not what you give or what you receive, but the spirit in which it is given and received. I give you all these things with the heartiest good wishes and with the hope that Joy will be yours In fullest measure. How will you receive them? NICHOLAS BRADSHAW." For a moment there was painful silence. Tbn the Baptist minister mounted rnalr and said: "I tilnk Mr. Bradshaw has, as he ssys. aught us a profitable lesson. We have been drifting away from the true Christion faith. We have made Christmas a time not of Joy but of dread to the people who have to pay the bills. We give not for the Joy of giving, but with the hope of receiving something Just as good in return. 1 propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Bradshaw for opening our eyes." Some of the children and a few of the women were inclined to be sullen, but the vote of thanks waa given with a good deal of enthusiasm, and then Old Nick opened the door of an adjoining room which was filled with real things to eat and fine presents for all the people, and when everybody was seated, and the feast waa at its height he stood up, saying in tones that were rather husky: "Friends, I have for a good many years been a skeptic. I have not believed in God and I have regarded all people as being Inherently mean and selfish. You have shown me that 1 was mistaken. My old faith has come back to me; you have made me the happiest man in the world. God bless you all." Chicago Record-Herald- . . Three Weeks of Merrymaking. . Many unique customs are practiced by the peasantry living In the central mountains of Norway, though masquerading Is not as much indulged In as formerly. There is a legend .of an old man called the Dovregubbe, who was supposed to live in an enchanted castle and drive about on Christmas night, visiting his wrath upon all peasants who failed to place a bowl of rye porridge in his way. Very little shopping or unnecessary work is done in Norway until January 13, the time between that date and Christmas being largely devoted to joyful family and friendly relations. The Swedes and Norwegians of Amer-lea- , who are able to vUIt their native land, always plan to do so at the Christmas season, for it is one of the greatest joys to be at home In time for the heartfelt greeting of "Glaedelig Jul." Brooklyn Eagle. BY CLYDE. ALISON- - MANN CapL Riley was intently watching from his net-lowindow the approach of his biggest fishing tug, the Alice Riley. Even in the Inner harbor she was pitching and rolling in the Decern, ber seas and was sheathed in ice from bobbing timber head to the overhang aft. "Not a boxful, not one," he groaned, seeing the nested fish boxes still lashed to the deckhouse roof. But the boys ll get their pay, somehow; they'll get it. It I have to slap a mortgage on all the outfit." No one. else should know it, but the truth was Christmas cheer was not in CapL Rileys heart as he turned gravely to the twlne-reellnhe had busied himself with since he broke his ankle and Billy Noonan had proudly taken out the Alice Riley, the most powerful tug that fished off Skllligalee in the Straits of Mackinac. The tug tied up to the dock with a bump, there was some shouting, heavy footsteps clumping on the Icy wharf, then up the shaky stairs and the door flew open letting fa a blast of raw north wind and an being in oil skins who presently shed his chrysalis and became a crestfallen skipper, a curly-hairealert young fellow, who almost hugged the roaring stove, for he was drenched and shivering. Not a pound, capn," was his greeting. "Breezed up so we couldnt touch the nets, he added. "Old Michigan must be cuttln up considerable," the old man answered cheerily. "Never mind, boy, yell get 'em next time. But Billy Noonan knew how bad the fishing had been all year, and could figure as well as his employer how bad matters must be. Not a nian of them d " Making Him Work. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of the Woman Suffrage association, was citing diplomatic ways of making children work. A Chicago lady," she said, "has a little boy who hates to practice writing. Last fall she told me that in this matter of writing she could do nothing with the lad. But In December, when I met her again, she said, com- placently: Well, Harry spends quite two hours a day now at his writing regthe plates, and there were many vases ularly. "'How in the world, said I, did with flowers. you bring this miracle to pass? But it was quickly discovered that "The woman winked slightly. the turkeys were made of " 'I told him,' Bhe said, to make out, such as are used in his very best hand, a list of everyin on the the banquets cakes stage; he wanted for Christmas, and were nothing but painted blocks of thing has been at It ever since." he wood, the wineglasses contained only vinegar, and the flowers were artificial. 8ure Thing. When the packages that had been cut A man doesnt know how many ways from the tree were opened they were there are to be buncoed until he exfound to be filled with sawdust, except changes Christmas presents with a that in each of them was a slip of lot of his young lady friends. Birpaper such as lay beside each of the mingham News. The Christmas Tree Loomed Before Them. the children in the town and that he would on the great day give a dinner to the people. Three weeks before Christmas he began his preparations. He rented the biggest hall In the place, had an immense evergreen tree set up in it, and hired carpenters to fill it with long tables. The people could hardly believe that their eyes did not deceive them when they saw him getting things ready. He made many mysterious visits to the great city in which the Jonesburg merchants bought their goods, and he always returned bearing many boxes and packages. Sometimes they were too big or too numerous to be carried by him, and he hired expressmen to take them to the hall, while the people stood on the sidewalks and made regretful remarks about the way they had wronged Mr. Bradshaw, or insisted that they had suspected all along that beneath a stern exterior he possessed a kind heart After the tree and the tables had .been set up nobody but Old Nick himself was permitted to enter the hall. He explained that he wanted every one to be surprised. He carried the boxes and packages np the stairs alone, and he had the windows carefully curtained, eo that nobody could see from the outside what waa being done within. On the day before Christmas the last assignment of Nicholas Bradshaw's boxes and packages arrived from the city. There was a wagonload of them, and the excitement of the people as they saw them being transferred from the railway station to the hall where the feast was to be held became intense. Old Nick saw the wonder in the faces of the citizens, and he smiled with keen satisfaction. The day was very cold, but he apparently was oblivious of the fact. The people said it waa the warmth of his heart that kept him from feeling the bite of the icy winds. Christmas day dawned clear, and the town was astir earlier than usual. Expectancy was on tiptoe. The hall was to be opened at 12:30 sharp, so that people who wished to go to church could do so and still be In time for the beginning of the ceremonies over which Old Nick was to preside. The crowd began to assemble an hour before the time set for the opening of the doors. People danced on the sidewalk, slapped thulr hands against bright-colore- d papier-mach- pilot-hous- ft g e, make-believ- e Kelly knew what that would mean, at least J400 a day for the old man, and ' be knew the need. Alice Riley had the said Everyone later hours two uncommon crew; an the tug's whistle blew four booming blasts In the darkness "strong ahead and five more that were Billys farewell to Mary If she was awake or eared. She saw from her bedroom window the tug steam through the channel, sparkz flying weirdly In the wind, out to the open lake where no light shone to mark the way for the 30 miles of desperate tussle with waves that how at times burled the very deckhouse roof. Again the five short blasts as the starboard light turned north beyond the pier, then was gone. "Here hopin," growled Billy as he whirled the wheel over. - He was hanging on grimly, for at times the tug stood about on end. A sea smashed windows and one of the he fixed ft as best he could by the dim binnacle light He lashed the wheel to a course two points east of north. In the blackness he could see only the white erests of waves. The panting of the tugs exhanst told him Kelly was stoking like a fiend and that ONeil was squeezing the last ounce out of his big engine, 1C square. Ahead was blackness, the maddened waters and the Infrequent flash of rockets. It was still dark when Billy saw, as the tug topped s great wave, a ship's light ahead twinkle a moment where the whitecaps marked White Shoals. At dawn he had a line to the derelict hauser was and the great seven-incgoing to her overside; an hour later they were fast by the forward towing post It would be easy in such a sea to trip on the bauser and "turn turtle, or to be snatched by a great wave and have the hauser break. The barge on the shoal was an ore freighter loaded to the waters edge, a heavy tow. With his band on the bell cord to signal to ONeil, Billy muttered: uHeres for Mary and better" He rang, the engines started, then, crash! Billys Christmas wishes were cut short; the tow post was gone and water poured Into the hole In torrents. It was hours later when they got that hauser again, when the tugs hoarse whistle roared, All right, and the bellow of the stranded barge replied. It was dreary work and Billy and the crew were gaunt with hunger and weariness. Again slowly In the teeth of the wind they went ahead, jerked tremendously at Intervals when the waves snatched the tow. When they were getting Into deeper water O'Neil's engines suddenly stopped, and ten minutes later the barge had drifted back to the shoal. The eccentric had slipped; the tug was but driftwood; bad business in such a sea. Billy Noonan and ONeil kept her afloat someway, and all the time Billy, still clutching the wheel, was muttering of Mary and Christmas; he had strange vagaries, but was still sane as a skipper. When at last the frantic hammering In the engine room ceased, near evening of the next day, they were still near to the barge that was pounding on the shoals. The sun broke through the clouds, a red sun near to setting beyond the tossing waters, the sunset of Christmas eve. It was never clear how they got the slow steel barge to move so fast once they got her pff again. But In the midnight hours when St. Nick, Kris Krlngel and all the Christmas fairies were abroad on land, when the last embers of the yule logs smouldered cozlly under lines of stockings In many, many homes, the Alice Rileys deep whistle sounded off the Charlevoix pier. CapL Riley still sat before his fireplace, waiting hopefully as was his nature. But for the hundredth time he looked about the room at Marys pitiful efforts at Christmas decorations. Suddenly he heard, faint but unmistakable, the baBs call of tne Alice Riley. Instantly he picked up his crutch and rapped on the door of Marys room. So quickly did she appear, suspiciously but smiling, she must have been awake, too. Listen. he cried, holding up his hand. . Got a Line to Her. all but loved the grizzled old man, and marveled at him, for he knew the lake bottom from Point Betsie to the great log rollway that scarred the bluffs north of Waugoshance light, as most men know dry land. Billy Noonan, however, also loved the old captains daughter, Mary, and had hoped how he had hoped! to bring in a big catch of whiteflsh when he was given the big tug to lift the last nets of the year. Now a lean Christmas, a very lean Christmas, seemed certain In the Riley borne a home for all homeless lads whw felts 7 ri at Christmas time. Marys laugh had faint, the whistle sounded, That means a Christmas been Infrequent of late and her merrius. Mary, In spite of the fist ment had been forced. Then there came a succ Here she waa herself In the doorshort, sharp toots and th way as the crew clumped In. Billy stared perplexed. With a Noonan," she called, "dont you know to Mary. youll swamp the tug with the fish Do you know what tha Jammed to the gunwalls, eo?" There was a note in her raillery that cut him Mary?" he asked. She flushed crimson, but t to the quick. How queenly she was, her arms about her fa put blue-eyethis straight, brunette, wrap- a that he understood st ped in the captains oilskins, flushed herhug answer from the bow win from facing the storm! a lamp. The captain, smlil Billy Noonan lay awake that night, long time sat looking at a pk notwithstanding the long day at the the mantel, the picture of he wheel of the lurching tug. Through "Merry Christmas." he said i his window he stared out at the blackture, ness, and he listened to the walling come."very softly. "I knew It seemed to him, comwind; walling, plaint at the year of misfortunes and pitiful catches of fish, wailing complaint at the wages and prices of fish Rileys. When at last he rol fixed by the union that made the lot with Kelly, the fireman would 1 Joke-- be called It "Mary Chris of CapL Riley so hard in an "off" year. 1907 Copyright. by Wright A p Far out on the Charlevoix pier no white light shone, up and down the angry lake the lighthouses and lightships were nowhere else on watch, the fog signals were silent, although belated barges still stumbled up and down the lake. Suddenly a flash In the north, and another and another, the flash of rockets, brought him out of bed. "This side o Waugoshance, about White Shoals," he calculated. "Bad place with this wind. He shook his bed fellow, Kelly, the An Old English Cl fireman, and finally roused him. The old country "Get out Kell, someones in trouble Englk nils near the straits and maybe the Alice New to un bar his door t Ycur's eve ttJ j Rtlev can get a line to her first." out and the new year lu. d 4 t V , A New Line of Alb 0 the .in Leather Goods horse loot b Has just arrived, and while the quality is the very finest the prices are about the same asked for inferior goods. Shopping bags the tfn the p flooi Ige idge w ,e bank on the k bysi atly to and purses for ladies; wallets and. bill books for gentle men. 1 see Indeei iry tell ye se 1 1 B ddy e1 B ute, at dn. him blan my Ev e h red-eye- .(tixrkat ie 170 SALT LAKE TREES OTX LACI UTAH hyzlc Forn PLANTS. SENDS Rmt IrMmttlo. Intrrnl bnnJrtl. 1 Colo. uvr, Hum Agent ith For the Cogy Corner. An elderly man from the country intent on purchasing gome furniture to the to proceeded city put hli kni Jc for bargaining to the test On enter)"' tag an old curiosity" (hop he found himself confronted by the proprietor After turning over the stock the old man purchased n chair. A few days later the purchaser returned to the shop again with the chair In about half a dozen pieces. The proprietor looked at them very gravely and examined them all over, then suddenly exclaimed: Ah, my friend, I what la the matter; somebody been sitting on It!" n hai Tit-Bit- Entertains, and Instructs the Boys. Rob the Ranger" and On the Trail of the Arabs, two books by Herbert Strong, the celebrated English wTlter, recently published by l the company, of Indianapolis, Ind., are two stories of adventure that are bound to prove fascinating and instructive to tbe average boy, the kind of clean, whole some youth who has a longing for adventures of all kinds. Mr. Strang is a writer whose stories have attracted the attention of thousands of persons interested in providing boyi with reading that is at once wholesome and entertaining, and whose information is accurate and whose one. ec ears s ones J Bobbs-Merril- h is above reproach. While both Btorles are entertaining enough to tit the most fidgety little fellow to the hearth-sid- e during its perusal, each has an instructive and educational turn that is truly delightful and con mendable. Flowers as a Cult One of the most practical plans for Inculcating among the masses a tasts for plants and flowers has been hit upon by the city fathers of the little Mrs Hessian town of Alzey, where each hat n girl In the public elementary schools Cha receives every spring two plants to Fear care for. Inspectors at tbe end of tha ron't season make their report, which Is Invariably good.- AC The Pepper Family. met Five Little Peppers In the Little Ihe c Brown House, by Margaret Sidney, lay t author of the famous Pepper books, which have gladdened the hearts of pay 0 many thousands of Juvenile readers, ondt has recently been Issued from tbs Mm presses of the Lothrop, Lee & ShepIn ard Oo., Boston. By the art of tha Mea author, "Margaret Sidney," In private talk life Mrs. Daniel Lothrop. who lives in Concord, Mass., )n "The Wayside." lit v made famous as the reul lcnce of Na- ferno thaniel Hawthorne, the Irrepressible ralle Pepper children with their many hu- rant man and lovable qualities have be- Bund come familiar acquaintances, and the presentation of situations U so genuSli inely humorous that alt ages are entertained. The recent addition to ths tuet Pepper family la equaiy as good as lam i 1 its predecessors. "F To Have No Trouble. One way to avoid trouble Is to make It impossible before It appears. On the day of the Sunday school picnic the trolley car stopped to take a bright-eyed- , middle-agewoman with six hatless boys. "Yes, were going to the picnic," she chirped. In response to the conductor's query, "but you wont have to stop to pick np any loit headgear. I'm perfectly willing to take care of six boys; but there Isn't money enough to tempt me to look after elx boys and six hats." ayi (levs How to Invest Your Savings. There is perhaps no more universal desire than that to acquire money, and for this reason peculiar Interest attaches to "How to Invest Your Savings," by Isaao F. Marcosson. which has Just been published by the Henry of Philadelphia. Altemus company, This book has many qualities which make It distinct among books of It kind. Mr. Marcosson'a book la written in the interest of the average on or woman with aavlnge or funds to and its sole purpose is to furnish accurate facta and knowledge essential to safe and conservative invest T I Doc ! d mont ' Perfectly Lovely. The most consoling pleasure of old age, looking out of the windows of hope, la tbe sweet eense of the heart and soul that you have spread the flowers c Ilfs about the rugged rota of humanity Instead of the nettles of contention. Baltimore American. Revive Ammonia Victim. When a person la overcome by n tnonla fumes a good stiff d.lnk of acvinegar will help to counteract the ' tion of the ammonia, revive the conscious, and In many cases save life Ind piKhi "1 linn ktli plou feet rhe Pen T moi It I II pzit tui j and |