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Show o y,;. ,i '3 THE MISTLETOE! TO THEIR CHEEKS THE WARM BLOOD FLIES INTO HER EYES LOOK HIS. BU T THERE ARE OTHER EYES. UNDER AS self-deni- al C REC1NA COELI. AY, did his slstprs wonder what could Joseph see In a mild, silent little maid like thee? And was it awful in that narrow house, ( Ilk 7 i V. ) 1i With God for babe and spouse? Nay, like thy simple, female sort, each ' U I Tba Childlike Mind. Christmas Is not only the mile mark of another year moving us to thought of it is a season, from all its associations, whether domestic or religious, suggesting thoughts of joy. A man dissatisfied with his endeavors is a man tempted to sadness. And in the midst of the winter, when his life runs lowest and he is reminded of the empty chairs of his beloved, it is well he should be condemned to this fashion of the smiling face. Noble are disappointment, noble not to be admired, not even to be parIt Is doned, if they bring bitterness. one thing to enter the Kingdom of Heaven maim; another to maim yourself and stay without. And the Kingdom of Heaven is like the child-likof those who are easy to please, who love and who give pleasure. Mighty men of their hands, the smiters an' the builders and the judges, have lived long and done sternly, and yet preserved this lovely character; and among our carpet interests and twopenny concerns, the shame were indelible If we should lose it. From a Christmas Sermon by Robert Louis Stevenson. w( m one Apt to find Him in Husband and in Son, Nothiug to thee came strange in this, Thy wonder was but wondrous bliss; Wondrous, for though iTrue Virgin lives not but does know i(Howbeit none ever yet confessed) (Tliat God lies really in her breast. Of thine he made his special nest And so, All mothers worship little feet And kiss the very ground they've trod, ,But, ah, thy little Baby Sweet, Who was indeed thy God! Coventry Patmore. HEN Lucien de Hem had seen his note last raked in by the 100-fra- banker and had risen from the roulette table where he had just lost the remains of his small fortune he experienced a sort of vertigo and almost fell. With reeling brain and failing limbs he tottered over to the leather bench that encircled the room and threw himself on It. For some minutes he gazed vaguely about this private gambling hell in which he had wasted the best years of his youth, recognizing one by one the plundered heads of the players in the bold glare of the three great green shades. He heard the soft friction of the gold on the felt and realized his loss, his ruin; but he remembered that at home, in a bureau drawer, there were two army pistols which had been bravely used by his father. General De Hem, In the attack of Zaateha. Then utterly woin out, he slept profoundly. lie awoke with parched throat and glancing at the clock saw that he had barely slept a half hour. An impei ative need to breathe the ; night air came over him. The hands marked a quarter to midnight, and, on rising and stretching his aims, Lucien recollected that it was Christmas eve, and by an Ironical freak of memory he saw himself a little child again putting his shoes in front of the chimney at : bedtime. Just then old Dionski, the Pole, a fixture of the place, in threadbare, hi aided livery, came up to Lucien and mouthed a fe woids in his dirty beard. Lend me five francs, Monsieur. Here are two dajs since I hae been out of the club and 17 has not turned up once. Laugh at me if you will, but you may cut off my fiat if 17 does nut cure out in a few minutes, when the clock strikes midnight." Lucien de Hem shrugged his shoulders; he nad not even the wherewithal in his pocket to pay the tax known by the house habitues as The dole's Pence. He passed into the hail, put on his hat, his coat, then descended the stairs with the haste of a fevered peison. During the four hours he had been in doors heavy snow had fallen and the street, a central one, walled In by high houses, was all white. Multitudes of cold stars shone In the k purged sky. The ruined man walked rapidly, revolving desperate thoughts in his mind, and was more than ever drawn to the pistol box in his dressing case drawer. Suddenly he Btopped. He was cong scene. fronted by a On a stone bench, placed according e to the custom beside the monumental door of a palace, a little girl of 6 or 7, barely covered by a ragged black frock, was sitting in the snow. She had gone to sleep there, in spite of the cold, in a painful attitude of utter weariness, with her poor little head and shoulder propped in an angle of the icy stone. One of her old shoes had fallen from the foot which hung over and lay in the blue-blac- heart-breakin- old-tim- snow. Lucien de Hem felt mechanically for his vest pocket, and was suddenly reminded that a moment before he had not even found a forgotten franc, nor a pourboire for the valet. However, stirred by an instinctive pity, he approached the little girl, and would perhaps have carried her in his arms to give her a night shelter, had he not seen something shining in the old shoe as it lay in the snow. He bent over. It was a gold louis. Some chaiitable person, a woman, doubtless, in passing by this Christmas eve had seen the shoe in front of the sleeping child, and had remembered the touching legend. This generous alms had been given so that the little one might believe in the gifts of the holy child, and in spite of her distress retain some hope in the goodness of Providence. A louis! It meant many days of plenty for the beggar, and Lucien was about to waken ard tell her so, when he heard a voice in his ear, a drawling, thick voice, mumbling: Here are two dajs since I have been out of the club. You can cut off my fist if 17 does not come out when the clock strikes midnight. Then the young man of 23, coming of honest stock with a magnificent military record, never failing in honor, this young man suddenly conceived a dreadful thought, fell prey to a wild, hjsteric.il, monstrous desire. Assuring himself with one glance that the street was deserted he swiftly stooped, advanced a trembling hand, and stole the louis from the old shoe. With a wild rush he reached the c.ub again, cleared the stairs n one impetuous rush, flung open the door of the reeking hall, and threw the gold piece on the green, just a Die clock chimed the first stroke of midnight. "All on 17! Seventeen won. With a turn of his hand he shoved the 3G louis on red. Red won. He left 72 louis on the same color. Again it appeared. Three times he put up the doubled stakes with the same luck. There was now a great heap of gold and bank notes in front of him, and he began frantically to sow them broadcast over the table. Eery combination favored him. The little Ivory ball jumping about the divisions of the roulette seemed to be magnetized by the gambler's gaze, and obeyed it. In 10 plays he had recovered the few thousand francs, his last resource, that he had lost early in the evening. By punting 200 or 3u0 loins at once he would soon have far moie than the heritage he had fuoh d away. In his haste to pUy he had kept On his heavy coat, and the gieat pockets were already crammed with roils of bank notes and go'd i ices. He now had to stuff them lilo Lis inside pockets, his vest ami tiouser pockets, his his har.dken. hief, and rj cigar ca-.thing that could hold them. He still plajed. He sul .on; like a lunatic, like a diunhtn rrn! He threw the gold anywhere on the table with disdainful certainty. In his heart a redhot iron was burning; he thought only of the child asleep in the sjo.v ; of the little beggar he had robbed. She is still there, of course; certainly, she must le there! In a minute, when it strikes I I swear it I e, ev-c- will leave here and carry her home sleeping in my arms. 1 will bring her up, love her as my own child, and care for her always, always. The clock struck 1, the quarter, the and Lucien half, the still sat at the table. A minute before 2 the banker rose abruptly and said in a sharp voice: Enough for the day, gentlemen; the three-quarter- bank s, is closed. Lucien leaped to his feet. Roughly he pushed the players aside as they lingered about, eyeing him with envious admiration; hurriedly he cleared the stairs and ran to the stone bench. Thank God! he cried; she is still there! He seized her hand. "Ah! how cold she is, poor little one! As he lifted her in h!s arms the child's head fell back limp, and she did not waken. How children sleep, he thought, pressing her to his breast for warmth; and, vaguely anxious, he was about to kiss her lids to draw her from this heavy slumber, when he saw with terror that the childs eyes wee half open, showing glassy pupils, extinguished and motionless. With terrible suspicion Lucien brushed her little lips with his own, and no breath came from them. While Lucien had been winning a fortune with the louis stolen from her, this little beggar had died of cold. His throat contracted in awful agony, and In he tried to cry out the effort he awoke fiom a nightmare on the bench at the club, where he had fallen asleep before midnight, and had been left undisturbed by the kindness of the old valet, wrho had gone off last of all at 5 o'clock. His heart had been touched by the poor bankrupt. A noisy December dawn was peering through the panes. Lucien went out, pawned his watch, bathed, breakfasted, then went to the recruiting office, where he enlisted in the First African Chasseurs. Lucien de Hem is now a lieutenant, he lives on his small pay and never touches a card. It appears that he saves something, too, for not long ago, in Algiers, ho was seen by a brother officer who was walking behind him in a winding street ofthe Kasha giving alms to a little Span- Christmas In the country forty years ago was a different affair from what it is now. I never think of Christmas in those days without thinking of a lovely winter day, bright with sunshine, and snow everywhere; large drifts, through which the horses floundered a3 they drew the stout sled, on filled with which was the wagon-be- d and hay, and covered with blankets buffalo-robe- s, where we cuddled down, as we rode merrily away to spend Christmas at grandpas. We could hardly wait till the horses stopped, so eager were we to wish grandpa a merry Christmas; but he was generally ahead of us with his greeting of That entitled him "Christmas gift. to a present instead of ns; but a kiss al! around was usually tne way we paid off our indebtedness, while some striped sticks of peppermint candy, laid up for the occasion, were given us. Our aunts, uncle3 and cousins came next for their share of good wishes and merry jokes. A bright fire burned in the fireplace, and there, suspended by a stout string from the ceiling, was a great turkey packed full of dressing, and sending forth a most delicious odor as it turned round and, round, gradually browning before the fire, the juice dripping into a great pan on the brick hearth; and from this pan grandma occasionally dipped the juice with a huge iron spoon and poured it over the crisp sides of the turkey. Other preparations were going on meanwhile in the kitchen, where a cooking stove held the place were very of honor, as cooking-stove- s rare in those days. The neighbors had come miles to see it, and express their fears as to the probability of its blowThis however, ing up. was not equal to cooking such a large turkey in its small oven. A coffee-boilsent out an odor of coffee strong cook-stov- e, er HRISTMAS tells are ringing. e Ringing glad and gay, Voites sweet are singing of Christr Songs mas Day. Heart, what joyous music. For thy part dost bring? Hast thou filled sad places With loves carolling? Christmas bells are ringing. Heart, what gift of thine Marks the days sweet meaning Purposes divine? How dost tell the story Of the heavenly birth With its streaming glory Filling all the earth? Christmas bells are ringing Ringing joyfully. Heart, a holy helpei Thou thyself must be; Thou must follow, follow Him who Is the way Be loves advent angel Bringing Christmas Day. LEGEND OF THE MAGI. The legend of the Wise Men of the East, or as they are styled in the original Greek, the three Magi, became, under monkish Influence, one of the most popular during the middle ages. The Scripture nowhere informs us that these individuals were kings, or their number restricted to three. The legend converts the magi into kings.gives their names and a minute account of their stature and the nature of their gifts. Melchior, we are thus told, was king of Nubie, the smallest man of the triad, and he gave the Savior a gift of gold. Balthazar was king of Chaldea, and he offered incense; he was a man of ordinary stature. But the third, Jasper, king of Tarshish, was of high Btature, "a black Ethiope, and he gave myrrh. All came with many rich ornaments belonging to kings array, and with a multitude of people to do homage to the Savior, then a little child 13 days old. The barbaric pomp involved In this legend made it a favorite with artists during the middle ages. The picture of The Offering of the Magi, which we publish, is from a circular plate of silver chased in high relief and partly gilt, which is supposed to have formed From every spire on Christmas eve, The Christmas bells ring clearly out the center of a morse or large brooch, Their message of good will and peace, used to fasten the decorated cope of an ecclesiastic in the latter part of the With many a call and silver shout. fourteenth century. For faithful hearts, the angels song The Empress Helena, mother of ConStill echoes in the frosty air. stantine the Great, found what she conAnd by the altar low they bow sidered the burial place of the three In adoration and in prayer. kings, and their remains were removed to Constantinople and interred in the A thousand blessed throng, church of St. Sophia. Later they were The stars are holy signs to them. removed to the Cathedral of Milan, and And from the eyes of every child Looks forth the Babe of Bethlehem. in the twelfth century to Cologne.where they still lie, in a magnificent reliquary, But there are others, not like these. Whose brows are sad, whose hopes enriched with gems and enamels. These relics are enveloped in velvet and dec- are crossed. To whom the season brings no cheer, And lifes most gracious charm is lost. e, s To whom that story, old and sweet. Is but a fable at the best; The Christmas music mocks their ears, And life has naught of joy or rest Oh! for an angels voice to pierce The clouds of grief that oer them rise. The mists of doubt and unbelief That veil the blue of Christmas skiet That they, at last, may see the light Which shines from Bethlehem and unfolds For Christ the treasures of their hearts Richer than spicery or gold. OFFERING OF THE MAGIS. Hope of the ages, draw Thou near. Till all the earth shall own Thy sway. And when Thou reignst In every heart, orated with embroidery and jewels, so that only the upper part of each skull ii It will indeed be Christmas day. seen. Eleanor A. Hunter. HE APPROACHED THE LITTLE GIRL. ish beggar asleep under a doorway. The officer had the Indiscretion to look at the money which Lucien had given to poverty. He had put a gold louis in the childs hand. The King (smiled. King Rooster "Kedeomb! Redcomb Yes, sire. K. R. What is the cause of this un? usual excitement in the court?" A BRIGHT FIRE BURNED, R. Tis the preparations for the and fragrant, while a long tabie cover- usual Christmas feast, sire. K. R. "The annual feast? ed with snowy linen (the work of R. Yes, sire. grandma's own hands) stood at the farAre we in any K. R. (anxiously) ther end of the long kitchen. immediate danger? As soon as the turkey was proR. "No, sire. It is only the females nounced done and the gravy made in the chairs were plac- and young males. the dripping-paAnd those K. R. hens ed near the table and we were called to dinner. No one was left to wait, who have been the pest of the court and such a merry time! After grandpa lately with their attempts to imitate had asked a blessing on the food, he me, are they included? R. All, sire. carved the turkey and supplied our Excellent! K. R. Perhaps this with any waiting plates bountifully teach them that they only to serve may piece we wished, together with all deceive themselves by their egotism; manner of good things in the way of no matter how loud they crow, the that A rice with pudding plenvegetables. O. world still regards them as hens. ty of raisins, pumpkin pies and rosy-che- A. C. ed apples served for dessert, and our only sorrow was that we could eat Reliable Data About California. so little. After dinner we children An American gtogiaphy printed in plajed games in the kitchen, around 1S12 contains this interesting informathe fireplace that was used when there tion: California is a wild and almost was no fire in the cook stove. Here unknown land, covered throughout the we popped corn, cracked nuts, told year by dense fogs, as damp as they are unhealthy'. On the northern shores fairy stones and plajed blind-man- s in live anthropophagi and in the interior buff while the older ones visited until the time eame are active volcanoes and vast plains of the keepin-rooto return home. shifting snowr, which sometimes shoot up columns to inconceivable heights. You must dislike Newcomb The book adds that some of these Bizzley I hate him a3 statements would seem incredible were Grizzljvery much. fiercely as a barber hates a bald headed they not so well authenticated by trustman with a full beard.-Tru- th. worthy travelers. n, In Ficfluls Gloria, (A hymn dating from the 13th cen- tury.) Christ is born of maiden fair; Hark! the heralds in the air! Thus adoring hear them there, In excclsts gloria! Shepherds saw those angels bright. Carolling in glorious light; God, His Son, is born tonight. In excelsis gloria! is come to save mankind. As in holy page we find. Therefore sing with reverent mind. In excelais gloria! Christ A I'rlnre an Prince Victor Emmanuel of Naples is said to be an expert electrician. Ho experiments on all its appluaiions to light, sound, motive power, and photography, and was one of the first persons in Italy to investigate the Roentgen rajs. e! m THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. One of the greatest blessings that Christmastide brings to us is the Christmas spirit the fulfilment to the letter of the Christian law embodied in the Golden Rule. This is not Invariably the case, Dut it Is fortunately the rule in a great number of cases. For a little while a month during the Christmas season, we are turned away from all spirit ot avarice and selfishness. From the tiny toddler, who has for the first time begun to realize her responsibilities as a member of the family, to the grandmother In her snowy kerchief and cap we are all plotting and planning for others. Going to the greatest pains ta conceal all our doings in order that oa' gifts may be genuine surprises. If we are members of Christian churches, we have the poor with us at this season, as at no other. We think out their needs. It has been the rule itj Christian churches of late years to devote the offerings of the Christmas fee to the mission school. Loving hands of Kings Daughters go about and gather all manner of gifts for those who ara less fortunate, for those to whom Christmas otherwise brings only empty larders and threadbare clothing. Tns most sordid among us, like Old Scrooge, Is sure finally to have an awakening of his better nature, to find a drawing at his heart strings more powerful than the tight drawn strings od the moaj bag3. |