PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY [ m MTTBSEB'S BUILDING, Cm—r of Mofn ud Pono Bth> it SI.OO PER ANNUM, IN ADYANCEi Or 9LW if oot paid ta advano*. iecsptslds Currespondeace Ss&com. gTAtfdim ril letters to •MILLHEIM JOURNALS New Tear's, Eye. The old year's almost gone, Sweetheart, He will not see the dawn 5 The wind's weird orr thro the woodland creeps, The patient earth in th' darkness sleeps; Only the glow of onr hearth fire's l'ght— Brightens the mirk o' the dreary night— The old year's almost gone. % Mneh hare we lost in the year, Sweetheart, Treasures precious and dear; There were kindly deeds that we might have done, There were gentle hearts that v. e Aeft nnwon; And fields where might hare growu giain of worth !Lie fallow under the troaen tnrf; Much bare we lost in the year! Whet have we won in the year, Sweetheart, Rich guerdon our hearts to chrer T With p:iin was the pearl of patience boujSht. Has failure clearer insight wrought? Has earnest striving for noble ends Gained ns the strength high purpose lends? What have we won in the year? What have we learned In the year. Sweetheart, Soul troth eternal and cU ar ? That hoarded gold shall be reft, with pain, That what we gave, alone in gain ; That the kindly heart and the open hand Are greater riches than house and land ? What hare we learned in the year ? The New Tear dnwneth clear, Sweetheart. Heaven rest the Oid Teat's bier ! Duller and duller the embers glow. Deeper and brighter your d< ar eyes grow ; Pray, love, for the weul of our ingle fair, For the strength to do and tho grace to bear— For love, than life more dear. —.Mrs. E. M. Qilson. ■■ ■ I.'. J - 1 " RECEIVING CALLS. "I am sixteen," said Alexia Ardell, resolutely, "and I was put into long dresses last month, and I've a right to come down into the parlor and see company on New Year's day ! And I am sure that papa would let me, if he was here, and I will 1" Alexia stood in the middle of the floor, with her fluffy g* lden hair falling over her eves, her cheeks glowing a mild pink, and her whole personells indicative of resolve and determina tion in the extremest degree. Mrs. Arclcll looked at her in despair T!.e two Misses Scarlett, her daughters by a former marriage, and Alexia's net particularly beloved step-sisters, sat as stiff and prim as two carved marble images. "Alexia's temper" was proverbial in the family, and these very proper and precisely behaved young women were wont to affect the rr- at est dismay at its vehement gusts. "Alexia," said Airs. Ardell solemnly, 'in your dear papa's absence it is my doty to enforce his precepts, and ear ly out his discipline. You are a great dral too young to receive visitors on > ew Year's Hay, like Yerena and Er mengarde. You are to go back to boarding-school to-morrow." "But!" cried Alexia, in dismay, "my holidays do not expire until Wednes day." "That is very true," said Mrs. Ar r-ell, compressing her thin lips to a mere slit; consequently, you can see bow far you have abridged your own period of recreation by your ungov ernable will." Alexia, forgetting all about the six teen years, and the long dresses, burst into loud weeping. "Fray, Alexia, don't be so silly," said Verena "One would think," tartly spoke up Ermengarde, "that you were a child of ten years old. Of course, it Is all for your own good—" "Aly own fiddlesticks 1" irreverently Interrupted Alexia, as she fled from the apartment in floods of undignified tears. But numbers are certain to conquer, in the long run ; and so Judge Ar dell's daughter was packed remorsely off to boarding school, and Mrs. Ar dell's two girls returned to their con" sulfations with the dressmaker for the grand gala-day of the year. Verena, a pallid blonde, with cold, watery-blue eyes, and colorless flaxen hair, was to wear blue damask, em broidered around the skirt in palm leaves of seed pearls. Ermengarde, who had a little more bloom, and ventured to call herself a brunette, had chosen pink satin, with cloudlike draperies of black lace ; while the matron herself, no bad exemplifi cation of the poet's idea of "fat, fair and forty," was to wear ruby velvet, riehly trimmed with point aplique lace and a diamond cross, which, in the ab sence of her husband, she had hired from an accommodating jeweler for the occasion. While Alexia—poor, heart-broken child, —was sent ruthlessly to the de pot, where Miss Gardiner, the govern ess, was telegraphed to meet her. But Miss Gardiner, as it chanced, did not receive the message in time, and was not there ; and Mr. Herbert Hel ulh n wax there! Alexia knew him very well. !She bad seen him once at her stepmother's, lie owned a brown stone house, front- DEININGER & BUMILLER, Editors and Proprietors ! VOL. LVII. ing on the Central Park, and a place near Lake George, called Ilelullyn Ilall. He drove a pair of superb, high-step ping horses, and owned a privato pic ture-gallery; and Ermengarde Scarlett had selected him as the special target for the arrows of her hazel eyes, this season. Air. Helullvn recognized Alexia at once. "Miss Scarlett's little sister, isn't it?" said he. Alexia furtively whisked away her tears, and answered: "Yes." "Is anything the matter ?" said Air. Helullvn. "Can Ibe of service ? Prnv command me, if—" "If you could please take me home!" said eager Alexia. "Very slyly indeed, mind !—because l'v e been sent back to boarding-school before the holidays are out, just because Yerena, Ermengarde, and mamma consider me too little to see company on New Year's day." "This is serious trouble indeed 1" said Mr. Ilelullyn, laughing. "Oh, it is, indeed 1" sighed Alexia. "I am sixteen, you know, and I should so like to be a young lady, like Verena and Ermengarde! but you see," re turning to the subject. "Miss Gardiner is not here to receive me, and if you would please take me back in your carriage, 1 would creep in by the area gate, and perhaps—perhaps, I shall be 'at home' on New Year's day, after all—But," her large, dark eyes sudden ly blazing into indignation, "you are laughing at me!" "Not laughing at you, Miss Ardell," he hastened to explain—"only with vou 1" "Mias Ardell!" Alexia's heart leaped at this delic ious tribute to her young ladyhood. She felt prouder still when Mr. Helullvn helped her into his carriage and they drove away. "Leave me at the corner of the street, please," said Alexia. "It would never do for mamma and the girls to see me in your carriage ! And Ermen garde would be so vexed !" And so the little wild gipsy stole in at the area-gate; and bribed the cook with a kiss and a string of amber beads, not to betxay her surreptitious re-entrance into the family circle, while Mr. Ile lullyn went home to wonder what there was so facinating in Alexia Ardell's round, dimpled face and liquid, dark ayes. "A child indeed !" he said to him self. "She is a woman, and a danger ously lovely woman, too—only she doesn't know it! Eyes like pools of deep garnet brown ; hair all glistening like tangles of sunshine. Little Alex ia, if you could only see yourself as others see you, you might be tempted to be vain !. 1 shall make a point of calling at Judge Ardell's house on New Year's day, and if Aiiss Alexia is not there, I shall certainiv inquire for her !" The pink satin dress vindicated Aime. Chaussa's fame as an artistic dress maker ; the blue damask came home in time to be tried on and pronounced "perfect," on Saturday night ; and on Monday, the Alise s Scarlett dressed themselves with judicious care, and many lavings with rose water and cautious applications <>f pearl-cream and blush-pink. The drawing-rooms, decorated with hot-house flowers, and illuminated, not with vulgar gas, but with the white lustre of many wax candles in myriad branched candelabra, had been person ally inspected by Mrs. Ardell before she went to make her toilet, and the little room at the back, where the judge ordinarily kept his boots, and overcoats, and Turkish pipes, had been transformed into a smilax-garlanded bower, where faint lights glowed through shades of Nile-green glass, and the most elegant and {esthetic refresh ments weie arranged in deisonne en amelled ware, trays of repoussee silver, and baskets of Dresden China. And, just at the time when Ermen garde was saying to her sister "How do I look, dear ?" and Verena was twisting herself into the shape of a letter S, to see the back of her false pugs and plaitings in the mirror, little Alexia was enthusiastically tossing about the contents of an old cedar chest in the store-room, which con tained the long forgotten wardrobe of the first Mrs. Judge Ardell. "Oh," she cried, this is beautiful !" and she unfolded a scented robe of long China crape, crimped like the shingly bars of the finest sea-sand, and embroidered in fantastic figures of scarlet silk. "I'll wear this. " "But it's so odd and old-fashioned, miss," said Louisa, the maid. "That is the very charm of it!" pro nounced Alexia "Oh, do make baste, Louisa, with my hair ! Are you sure you can do it like the plate in the fash ion book 1" Mrs. Ardell was arranging the folds of the point lace over her shoulders, when Miss Y ra la rushed up stairs. "Mamma, Ermengarde!" she cried, "who is the lady down stairs MILLIIEIM, l'A., THURSDAY,DECEMBER 20, 1883. "The lady down stairs !* repeated both mother and daughter in amaze ment* "Receiving Mr. Ilelullyn in our drawing-room Y cried breathless Ye rena. "In the loveliest dead-white dress, brocaded ia scarlet silk, and long golden hair braided with antique Ro man pearls." "My dear," said Mrs. Ardell, "you must be crazy J" And botfl aiid Ermengarde hur ried down stairs, just in time to see the beautiful young intruder courtesy a gracious greeting to two of the jwu nesso doree of Now York. "Ah !" said Alexia, with the utmost self-possession, "hero is mamma now, and my sisters. Don't move, Mr. He lnllyn," site added in a lower tone, "I'm quite safe now. Mamma won't dare to scold me before company." And Mrs. Ardell and the Misses Scar lett. were farced to digest their rago and mortification as best they could. For Alexia outshone them as a real, crimson-heart AI rose outshines the mil liner's false presentiment -as the dia araond outshines the wretched paste ornament—and they knew it but too well. But success excuses everything, and Mrs. Ardell could, not but perceive that the quaint young beauty, in the an tique dress, was suc cess. "Alexia," she cried, when there was a temporary lull in the stream of call ers, how dared you play us such a trick ?" "I did it for fun, mamma," said Al exia. "And if you scold me, 1 shall tell Mr. Ilelullyn. It was he that brought me back from the depot, and he is my friend. " "I never heard nnvthing so insolent in my life !" cried Ermengarde Scar lett, turning pale with anger. "She ought to be locked up for a week on bread and water," said Ye rena, passionately. But Alexia only aflched her eyebrows and smiled. During that New Year's day the child had bloomed out into a woman. Alexia had discovered her own talis man of power. They could none of them ever scold or tyrannise over her again. She had no more fears of being sent back to boarding-school. But Aiiss Ermengarde Scarlett could hardly conoeal her sjiite the next day when Mr. Helullvn came to ask Al exia out to drive, nor when bouquets with cards attached, kept arriving for Alexia. "Mamma," she said, "what Is to bi done ?" "Nothing, that I can see," said Airs. Ardell, drily. "The child can't help being a beauty, I suppose." "She will have to go everywhere with us now," said Yerena, plaintively. "1 tried my best to keep her back," sighed Mrs. Ardell; but she has pre cipitated herself into society." And pretty Alexia Ardell reigned the belle of the season, and in the spring Mr. Helnllyn asked her father for her hand in marriage. The judge, honest man, stared in amazement. "I—l thought it was Ermengarde you fancied !" said he. "I knew she liked yon I" "I am too much honored," said Mr. Helnllyn, without changing a feature; "but 1 have never aspired to that hon or. It's Alexia, and Alexia only, that I love 1" "Oh 1" said the judge. "Well, suit yourself—suit yourself!" And so before she was quite seven teen, Alexia Ardell was married, and Ermengarde and Verena had the draw ing-room all to themselves upon the next New Year' day. But they were not satisfied, after all. Pome people never are satisfied. Biting Horses. A foreign journal avers that horses ae successfully cured of this vice by putting a piece of hard wood, an inch and a half square, in the animal's mouth, about the same length as an ordinary snaflle bit. It may bo fast ened by a thong of leather passed through two holes in the ends of the wood, and secured to the bridle. It must be used in addition to the bit, but in no way to impede the working of the bit. Harey adopted the plan with the zebra in the Zoo, which was a terri ble brute at biting. Mr Rarey suc ceeded, however, in taming and train - ing him to * harness, and drove him through the streets of London. Ani - mals with this vice should be treated kindly in the stable and not abused with pitehfolk handles, whips, etc. An apple, crust of bread, a piece of beef, etc, and a kind pat, but firm, watchful hand and eye, with the use of the above wooden bit, will cure the most inveterate biter. The fact that he cannot shut his mouth or grip any thing soon dawns upon him, and then ho is conquered. Thirty-eight different nationalities are ruled by the czar of Russia. A PAPcR FOR THE HOME CIRCLE. CHILDREN'S COLUMN. A Blossom Lost. Oh, tell me, have you seen her, My cunning, bright-eye I pet? She ran away this morning; I haven't found her yet. I've called, and kept on oalllngt She doesn't oome to me. My darling little Blossom; Oh, dear, where can she be? You'll know her if yon see her, Her hair's so soft and fine; She's not a common kitten, That little oat of mine. Hark, now! 1 thought I heard her; Why, there she is, you see! You naughty, naughty kitten! Come right straight hereto mel Little Hum Hum was a dear little humming bird. Grandma found him one cold, wet morning under the grape-vine by the back porch. She brought him into the warm sitting-room and gave him some hot milk to drink. Soon he opened his little bright eyes and looked around, but he did not stir, lie lay in grandma's hand as if dead> and soon she put him in the bay window among the flowers. Then ho came to life pretty quick, I can tell you. Alay put some sweet ened water in a saucer under the big geranium, and he soon began to sip it just as be got the honey out of the bright flowers—darting his little tongue in and out so quickly we could hardly see it. He soon learned that we were his friends, and was as happy as could be, flitting about among grandma's flow ers in the sunny window. All through the cold winter he lived there, and amused us with Lis quaint little ways; but when spring came he grew uneasy, and one day, when a beautiful little green-and-gold hum ming bird was flitting about in the garden, we let him go free and they went away together. He liked the free life the best, for we never saw him again, although we watched among the flowers in the gar den all through the long summer days. •1 Cau and Will." A writer in the Evangelist tells of a boy who was wise enough to decline the assistance which would have weak ened him mentally and injured his self-reliance. The story, which con veys its moral, is as follows: 1 know a bov who was prepared to enter the junior class of the New York University. lie was studying trigo nometry, and I gave him three exam ples for his next lesson. The following day he came into my room to demonstrate his problems. Two of them lie understood, but the third—a very difficult one—he had not performed. 1 said to him, "Shall I help you?" "No, sir! I can and will do it if you give me time." 1 said, "I will give you all the time you wish." The next day he came into my room to recite a lesson in the same study. "Well, Simon, have you worked that example?" "No, sir," he answered; "but 1 can and will do it, if you give me a little more time." "Certainly, you shall have ail the time you desire." 1 always like these boys who are determined to do their own work, for they make our best scholars, and men too. The third morning you should have seen Simon enter my room. I knew he had it, for his whole face told the story of his success. Yes, he had it, notwithstanding it had cost him many hours of the sever est mental labor. Not only had he solved the problem, but, what was of infinitely greater importance to him, ho had begun to develop mathematical powers, which f under the inspiration of "I can and will," lie lias continued to cultivate, until to-day be is professor of mathe matics in one of our largest colleges, and one of the ablest mathematicians of his years in our country. _ ' .... JT Millions for Defense. An lowa paper is responsible for the following, which evidently refers to the Rev. 0. ('lute, of lowa City. He must have been troubled with chick en thieves last summer : An lowa city clergyman has 153 hives of bees, which are arranged around his hen house, and when he hears a thief fooling round that estab lishment in the darkness, he just lies still and waits to hear a hive upset, and then laughs at the sound of wild yells gradually dying away in the dis tance. — Practical Farmer. Not Enough Line. There are fish, scientific authorities tell us, that live in the ocean, at a depth of 2,000 feet below the surface. There, we always knew there was some reason why we never caught any fish. We told the last skipper we fished with that 800 feet of line wasn't enough.— Hawkeye. THE BPOOPEKDYKEB. A ltnmpua ft n tar it About the Lou of a Nwallnw-Tulled Coat. "My dear," said Airs. Ppoopendyke, backing away from her refreshment table and regarding the effect with her head very much on one side; "my dear, what are you going to wear when you make calls on now year's?" "Clothes, I suppose, returned Mr. Spoopendyke, looking up from his pa per. "Why, has the fashion changed recently about wearing clothes?" and Mr. Spoopendyke regarded his wife with an anxious look of inquiry. "But you should wear your swallow tail coat by all means," continued Airs. Spoodendyke. "All the gentle men wear swallowtail coats on new year's day now. "Well, If you think you are going to strap me up in a two tined coat and start me around this town looking like the head waiter of a dollar-and-a-half summer resort, you're just as badly left as a one armed man at a church sup per ! I may be dod gasted ass enough to hop around to the various old hen roosts, wishing the contents a happy new year, but when you melt me into a clothespin jacket it'll be when reason no longer holds her seat in this dod gasted brain !" with which application of a trite quotation Air. Spoopendyke settled himself back and contemplated his wife with a lofty glance of supe riority. "Of course, if you don't want to," replied Mrs. Spoopendyke, soothingly, "there won't be any great objection raised to your business suit. Besides, now that I think of it, the moths got into your dress coat, and I don't think it is fit to be seen," and she put a few finishing touches on her table, and ad mired it from another standpoint. "Let's see it!" demanded Mr. Spoo pendyke, springing from his chair and making for his closet, closely followed by his wife. "What's the matter with it? What's the moth got to do with it? Who put moths in it?" and Air. Spoopendyke rummaged around and tired his clothing in all directions in his vain search for the particular gar ment "Where is it?" he howled, scat tering his wardrobe broadcast "Have the measly moths eaten it :ill up? Didn't they leave even a button hole? Show me my coat! Bring out the split in the tails I If there's nothing else left, give me one last, fond glance at the arm holes 1" and Air. Spoopen dyke kicked his best trousers to the ceiling, followed them with a vest, which he supplemented with a pair of boots. "Show me the great North American moth fodder ! Fetch forth unparalleled diet for the measly moth ! Are we a nation ?" yelled Air. Spoopen dyke, jamming his thumb in the door and hopping around the room with the injured digit in his mouth. "Dod gast the door 1" he howled, bringing it a prodigious kick that bent his leg up under him like a school girl's. "Did you hurt yourself, dear?" asked Mrs. Spoopendyke, dodging the flying boots and clothing. "Does it look BS if I'd hurt the door any?" demanded Mr. Spoopendyke, jamming his thumb in his armpit, and bending double with the pain. "Does that door give the impression of hav ing smashed ihs thumb anywhere? Why didn't the moths eat the door? Iloist 'em out and give 'em a feed !" And Mr. Spoopendyke taught the of fending wicket by the knobs and tugged until he was out of breath. "Perhaps it isn't so bad after all," murmured Mrs. Spoopendyke, follow ing him around the room in a fruitless effort to catch up with him. •Pr'haps it ain't !" roared Mr. Spoo pendyke, holding his thumb out at arms length. "Pr'aps you've got some scheme for making it worse ! Oh, go ahead 1 Don't mind me i Take the thumb, friend, and do your worst 1" And Mr. Spoopendyke dropped into his chair and groaned with wrath. "It's a good thing for this family that I can control myself I" he howled. "If I was like most men the lot on which this house stands would be a good place to build 1" with which solemn prophecy Mr. Spoopendyke sprang to his feet, kicked the chair into the ob noxious closet and snorted aloud. "I didn't mean your thumb, dear," explained Mrs. Spoopendyke. "I was talking about the coat. May be the coat isn't in such a bad condition as I supposed it was at first." "Think they left a pocket any where?" inquired Mr. Spoopendyke, with a grimace, half pain and half anger. Or pr'aps you thing that since the moths eat the coat I can wear the moths! Bring them out! Hold 'em up while 1 climb into the sleeves ! That's your idea? That's the notion that's been bothering you so long?" "I don't know but what you can wear the coat, anyway?" chirped Mrs. Spoopendyke, loooking up cheerfully, and opening the door of her closet, where she had carefully hung the coat after sponging it that very day. "You oan look at it, anyhow," and she Terms, SI.OO Per Year in Advance brought It out, looking as new an J fresh as when ho bought it." "Then there's something you don't know?'' he grumbled, eyeing his reju venated garment with a critical eye. "If all you don't know could only be dumped in together, what an Idiot asy lum it would make for some young and growing territory. Taking you all in all, you only want an air pump and a glass side to be a dod gasted vacuum. Gimme the coat," and Mr. Spoopendyke grasped his garment, and threw it over his wife's work basket for safe keeping, and went to bed wrapped in a cloud of growls.- Stan ley Huntley. Why January 1 Is New Year. Every one knows that January 1 is the beginning of the year, but not every one knows why it is so. It marks no natural division of time nor any event in the world's history which would give it Buch distinction. The winter solstice—that is, the period when the sun appears to reach its greatest southern declension, or fur thest point south of the equator, occurs December 22, nine days before the new year begins. The summer solstice, another natural division of time, occurs on June 22, a point nearly as far removed from the new year as the calendar permits. The natural divis ions of time which suggest themselves at once to the practical observer are the winter and summer solstices and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, periods at which the days anil nights have equal length or their greatest difference. These having been neglect ed, the moon's phases would seem to have been most likely to be fixed upon. But imperial Ciesar, who in 46 B. C. gave us our new year, governed by caprice or reasons of the most tempo rary duration, departed from the former Boman system of reckoning the year lrom the winter solstice and made the commencement on January 1 for no better reason than the desire to inaugurate his reform with a new moon. The Cesarean system, devised by the aid of Losigenes, constituted the ordinary )ear of 365 days and the j fourth or extraordinary year of 366. The subdivision of the year into months was similar to the present sys tem. This division of time, though imperfect, is still practiced in Russia. | The error was in giving the year 365 1-4 days, which is too much by about eleven minutes. Pope Gregory XIII ordered October 5, 1582, to be called the 15th, and that all centurial years which are not multiples of 400 should not be leap years, which omis sion of three leap years in every 400 years gives the civil year an average length of 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds, which still exceeds tbe true solar year by a fraction of a sec ' ond, which amounts to a day only in | 3,866 years. The present, or Gregori an, system is used by all Christendom, except Russia. It was adopted by England in 1752 and by France in 1564. Prior to the reformation of the cal endar by Julius Ca\sar, and many cen turies afterward, the methods of divid ing time were various, complicated and imperfect. The moon was tho planet which influenced and governed most nations, and gave rise to universal variance between the natural and civil year. The religious feasts of the Christian church are still regulated by the moon. The Council of Nice pro vided that Easter, the central point by which all other days in the church cal endar are fixed, should fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon oc curring on or after March 21. The complex method of making these lunar periods correspond with the civil year is evidence enougti of the difficulty of arranging any system for the computa tion of time by the "inconstant moon." Our week and month are not natural divisions of time, though some in genious efforts have been made to trace some connection between natural phenomena and the period of seven days. • Superstition About Hair. The ideas of savages and of our compatriots about the mysterious con nection which is supposed to exist "be tween the cut lock of hair and person to whom it belonged," are shown to be often identical. It seems that in Ire land "it is held that human hair should never be buried, because at the resurrection the former owner of the hair will come to seek itand that it ought not to be lost, "lest some bird should find it and carry it off, causing the owner's head to ache all the time the bird wits busy working the hair into its nest." A somewhat similar belief lies at the root of a cure for whooping cough current in North amptonshire and Devonshire. A hair of the patient's head is placed between two slices of buttered bread and given to a dog. "The dog will get the cough and the patient lose it," NEWSPAPER LAWS. If subscribers order the discontinuation of newspapers, the publishers may continue to I soik! them until all arrearages are paid. 1 If subscribers refuse or neglect to take their ; newspapers Irotn the office to whioh they are ' sent, they are held responsible until thgr have settled the bills and ordered them dis continued. i If subscribers move to other places with out informing the publisher, ana the newe- Snpers are sent to the former plaoe of rssi enee, they are then responsible. | . AfiVßßTffifNG RATES; I ' 1 wk. t rao. ISnif*. I <*. fl JJ I sqaftie #IOO $S 10 8 I W I t • • W column *OO 400 | SOu 10 00 f 1* ®t 3 Solum*:::::::: *< iI uwi i g r column 800 1* 001 001 *TPI ff 00 I in oh mmkw A •quor*. Administrator* ftnd B*. rcutorn' Notices $3.50. Transient ndvorttawnnnW *a