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Show TRli T H . ALICES LETTER. nfitrtS.Jeft m?urnlnK- It means people really grieve over our going more than mere words can ?ay; ,In a sense- - H makes the depar-heiJes- s Rad' he future prospect 0n the ther hand, how splendid it is to be alive, even if we are only flies caught in the inextricable web of human motive. If we sucked up in that black hole in are the hy, a?d by; what matter? the game, weve WoS i played blessed the ?nd looked and laughed and sunshine, wondered, jerked up endless little wires and heard the tinkle of far-of- f bells; weve f1,eardwb weep if we never the bells themselves? Our ten hold digits dust hut the scientist never lived who could tell us where the hearing comes from or where it goes. And besides its a mighty fascinating web, dew silvered, with r3tbmic in motion, let us not send that sharp cry across the silence at our inability to get free. No, no, let us wait in patience and the end may be more wonderful than wo dream. .4 4 And so Herbert Spencer is dead. They call him the last thinker of the Victorian age. Ingreat I see fancy him, a little, old, shrunken man with a ponderous head, sitting alone In the gathering shadows, on the top of a huge mountain. The sun is sinking, but the clouds obscure its beauty! - Dec. 12th, 1903. My Dear John: And. alone? I must pass Christmas How dreary! I thought you so-- . would certainly be home before that time, and now you tell me that you will try and reach here by New Years day. It makes me very, lonely to think about it, for of all the times when one should be jolly' and surrounded by friends "the most important is Christmas Day: I thought last night how I n at such a pitied the must Wounds seem to bleed time. afresh in ' the ' consciousness of universal happiness. We would not have others less happy, but O, we would not be quite forgotten, would we? Sometimes I wonder' if that is not one reason why men strive to be famous the wish! to leave' some monument which shall make their fellows remember. And yet, the things wte strive for are so often not worth being remembered by. It looks almost as if the r best justice, love, were sadly neglected, as if, indeed, they could-nattract of themselves. The scientist, the explorer, the engineer write their names high for men to read, and strive to make a notch beneath, yet they may go down to their graves alone, with no tender hand to wipe the death dew from their faces, with no anguished : grief-stricke- : things,--kindnes- s, ot gold-barre- d . The snow fall yesterday reminded us of the. near approach of Christmas. Only a .few days more in which to pick out gifts for those you intend remembering. We sell books. We have more books to sell than.' any house between. New York and the. Pacific coast. We can sell you any book ever printed at prices ranging from a nickel upward. Of; course at this season of the year the cheap, trashy novel is not desired. Good, clean, healthy literature is what is wanted. "Gordon Keith," by Thomas Nelson Page, is the book of the year. It is the- cleanest, sweetest and best of all his works. Just the. book for a Christ-- . mas gift-Then there is "Tfce Grey Cloak, 'McGrath, which is also a splendid suggestion for this season of the year. "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come" has had such-aintroduction to the public that- - it needs no commendation: at: our hands. If you have not read :it get-it- . If your-frienhas not read it; buy it for him. toe by-Haro- ld a reading. We have Mark Twain cheaper than the installment houses sell him. Mark is always welcome. We are the only house on earth, out1 side the parent one, handling the books. Better call on us and look them over: They are simply immense. In addition to these we have all the old reliable authors: Dickens, Thack-ery- , Burns, Byron, Scott, Lytton, Hugo, Dumas and the others, single ' or in Rgy-croft- sets. . We have an immense lot of standard books which we are going to sell at 65 cents per volume. Call and see us. Examine the stock; that, is what it is there for. After you have examined it, we have no fears as to results. . world-famou- - rade we have secured a decided bargain in 20uO volumes of the1 most popular copyrighted novels of the year; all originally published at 1.50. About 60 titles, such The Cardinals Snuff Box, Henry Harland. The Helmet of Navarre, Bertha Runkle. If I Were King, Justin H. McCarthy. None But the Brave, Hamblen Sears. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Janice Meredith, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Tales of the Wolfville Days, Alfred Hbnry Lewis. The Quest of the Golden Girl; Le Gallienne. Tristram of Blent, . Quisante, . .. profusdy illustrated! design. We offer these Paul Leicester Ford. Ex-Tank- s, Clarence Louis Cullen. The Coast of Bohemia, The Great Stone of Sardis, Frank R. Stockton. For Love or Crown, Marchmont. The Houseboat on the Styx, John Kendrick Bangs A" Anthony Hope. Anthony Hope. A. Conan Doyle. an- - other volume called Cherry. It is a splendid story and would make a valuable gift to any one who delights in ar-gume- nt about The Scarlet Letter" and debated this: Did Dimmesdale atone for his unspeakable selfishness at the end? You should have us. Our tea cooled and the roomheard was cold before we emerged from the war of words, both exhausted but each feeling triumphant, though whether we were so because of our or because of our linguistic decisionsI ability leave you to imagine. Next wo summoned Maggie and Phillip from The Mill on the Floss," and when wo dismissed them they wero so chagrined at the treatment George Eliot gavo them that they insist upon our writing a book for their especial benefit in order that they may have another try at life. It was quito dark when we awoke to the fact that wo were hungry, and then what a dinner wo prepared. A salad to make a s chef green with envy, oysters and sweet potatoes, and ever so many things beside. After dinner wo talked no more, but Iflsme very appropriately played Beethovens Sonata Pathetique. .4 v4 How I abominate peoplo who clip theTu A. Conan Doyle. d has written i ce - Booth Tarkington wide-archin- west, and lo, the ensanguined mountain glows with It! We look again for Herbert Spencer, but the little old, shrunken creature to whom we gave the name is gone.. Where we know not, but to extinction never! That splendid mind which, despite the limitations of a weak body, yet gave to the world its greatest study of evolution, which faithfully interpreted for man what God had written on rock and tree and hill, think you it is extinct? You dare not so stultify your own Intelligence! t4 4 Well, John, you will be surprised to know that Esme Strange is here again. She spent yesterday with md and wo had one of our good long talks. I dont know that either of us said anything, but it was a good deal to chatter away about what I and to say, "You understand, thought and to hear her answer, "Thats just it." When she went away, I hugged her good and said, Esme, I dont know what Id do if we couldnt have an unburdening like this once in a while What do you think she said? O, she Popular Copyrighted Novels at Less Than Half-Pri- - 1 And he says, softly to himself, as he just laughed and answered very indid a year ago, but bravely despite elegantly, but forcibly nevertheless, the shadows, I have life Same given my to thought and research, and I see no here, Pete! The funny pirt reason to believe that man exists af- of. it is, we never gossip. Individter death!" Hut see, even as he uals never bother us, people take up speaks, the clouds break apart, a glory ail our thought, peoplo In books, on the stage, in life. Wo got into an of color floods the g w Dean Howells. Quincy Adams Sawyer Ilenerhassettfha8;FeUOnPld8ln-Chas- . Felton Pidgin. tvlan SSSiZStf? V 65c Per Volume, Two For $1.25. CALLAHANS 66 99 74 West Second South Street. Look over our bltf line of 125 Juvenile Books. Our holiday prlco 65o Per Volume. Telephone 1484- -: |