» PREPARING THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING. fi" A Christmas Experience. An Accident In the Life of an Observing Traveler Several winters ago I had arrived at Odessa from Asiatic Turkey. The un- lucky yellow flag, hoisted by command of the visiting surgeon of the port, com- pelled the brig I was in to toss about in the roadstead for a week before it was admitted to the quarantine harbor Then I was required to send my clothes for fumigation, and at the end of an- other week the authorities permitted me to land and take up my quarters in the lazaretto for 14 days more, ‘on sus- picion of plague.” The Odessa lazaretto is built in the form of a quadrangle. Each room is separated from its neighbor by a double wall, between which a sentinel takes his station to see that neighbors hold no communication with each other. There is a small courtyard in front of each room, and a double iron grating— GUARDED BY TWO SOLDIERS. one row of grating a few feet before the other—keeps the prisoners from any personal contact with the outer world, represented by the restaurateur and his aids, the surgeon and the chaplain. In the room adjoining mine were con- fined a Greek and a young woman, whe passed a portion of their time in sing- ing to the music of a guitar and occa- sionally a tambourine. Much of the rest was spent in eating, drinking and sleep- ing, to judge from the long intervals of silence. But there were noisy episodes which conveyed strong proofs that the lady could scold as well as sing, and sometimes the quarrels rose to a terri- ble pitch, a thump, followed by a scream, furnishing the climax. It was Christmas day. The snow fell heavily, deadening the sound of the church bells, which, through a broken pane, remind- ed me of the holy festival. I expected to hear my neighbors sing hymns. My own time was devoted to my books— the only relief to an enforced solitude. Toward evening, while the guard slept, I distinctly heard the voice of the man Greek. He seemed to be growling rather than speaking, and in the inter- vals of his silence I heard the female sob. Not a very ‘‘merry Christmas,” thought I. Sometimes one voice rose above the other. The one was shrill, the other loud and angry. Then there was a scuffle; then all was tranquil. Night had fallen, and I had hoped the parties had gone to sleep. But again the mur- murs, the expostulations, the outbursts, disturbed my quiet. And now the wom- an became voluble, and spasmodic bursts of grief alone interrupted the torrent of her eloquence. Often the man called out what appeared to be *‘Silence!’’ adding a few words, none of which was dis- tinct enough to be caught, in a minatory | tone. Then came another struggle, words, bitter words, stifled cries, a heavy fall, a scream, silence again. I could not sleep. What had been the issue of the last quarrel? Had the ‘‘peace and good will’’ taught by the Redeemer, whose natal day the outer Christian world was celebrating, ulti- mately prevailed, and were the recent antagonists illustrating the Horatian maxim that the falling out of lovers is the renewal of love? Or had the last fall so stunned the feebler of the two individuals as to render the revival of either love or anger temporarily impos- sible? I was uot long in doubt. It was past midnight when I was awakened by dol- orous cries and heavy sobs, vehement protestations and earnest apostrophes in the voice of the man. I knocked loudly at the wall to suggest silence. He evi- dently did not heed the knocking 1 called out in good Italian, *‘Be quiet!” It was of no avail. I roused up the guard and asked him what was the mat- ter with the gentleman. My custodian suggested he was drunk. I could not, however, divest my mind of the idea that a deed of darkness had been perpe- trated. The night wore away. I could not sleep. I no longer heard the voice of the woman. Even the man’s voice was hushed. But instead of the usual sounds my ear was assailed with knockings on the floor and a noise as of a saw or file at work. When the restaurateur came round in the morning to take orders for breakfast, I told him what I had heard and suggested that the lady might be ill and need medical aid. He went next .door, but was sent away with the inti- mation that nothing was wanted. Two or three more days elapsed. The time had arrived for my release. On the very day indeed when I was to be emanci- pated my neighbors were also to be freed. I heard the officers arrive next door. Some words were uttered, follow- ed by an altercation. Then the man cried bitterly. What could be the matter? More officers came. The man was fetter- ed and taken away. Where was the wo- man? He had stabbed her in his anger, and under some absurd notion that her existence would be forgotten by the au- thorities he had taken up two planks and deposited the dead body of the poor girl beneath them. This explained the operations which followed upon the si- lence. When I was released, 1 saw my quondam neighbor sitting in a veranda of the place where I went to reclaim my fumigated apparel, guarded by two sol- diers. He was a little old man of ma- lignant aspect. 1 remembered having seen him at the harbor with a handsome young Greek whom I supposed to be his child, No one knew exactly what their relative position was. It was enough that he had shed her blood on Christmas night. ! W. A. GILCRIST. The Treating Habit. It was Pope Telesphorus, who died before the year 160 A. D., who insti- tuted Christmas as a festival, though for some time it was irregularly held in December, April and May. But for cen- turies before there had been a feast of Yule among the northern nations whose great enjoyment was in drinking the wassail bowl or cup. Nothing gave them so much delight as indulgence in ‘‘carousing ale,’’ especially at the sea- son of short days when fighting was ended. It was likewise their custom at all their feasts ‘‘for the master of the house to fill a large bowl or pitcher, to drink out of it first himself, and then give to him that sat next, and so it went around. >’ This may have been the origin of that popular American custom known as ‘“‘treating. *’ It is certain that upon our Christian observance of this glorious day have been ingrafted habits taken from rude and barbarous people. The Difference. First Goose—What’s the difference between a Christmas turkey and a Christmas girl? i Second (oose—I dunno. | First Goose— Why, one is dressed to kill, and the other is killed to dress. ‘ Reminder of an Old Custom. Hundreds of old country people, espe- cially of Irish birth, will remember the Christmas candle which is lighted and placed in the window at midnight of Christmaseve and allowed to burn there on the successive nights until it is all consumed. It is one of the most inter- esting of all the customs associated with the religious celebration of the Christian festival. It issymbolic, of course, of the *‘Light of the World, ’’ but some hold that with the mistletoe, the holly and the festive practices of the season it goes back to Druid or pagan origin and is derived from some olden symbolism of the returning warmth of the sun. How- ever this may be, it is not generally known that the custom has been pre- served in Canada to this day by a few old country people, comparatively speak- ing, to whom Christmas would not bear its holy message without the tall wax candle shining in their window. Christ Child Legends. Beasts and Birds Have a Prominent Place In Christ- mas Lore. ‘rne story of the hunting of the wren in the isle of Man every Christmas is well known. She is known as Our La- dy’s nen, God’s chicken, Christ’s bird, because she was present at Christ's birth, brought moss and feathers to cover the Holy Babe and made a nest in his cradle. Ta France the cuckoo was believed to have flown from a Christmas log. A Latin poem of the middle ages tells that the crossbill hatches her eggs at Christmas and her young birds fly off in their full plumage at Easter. The Mohammedans have many leg- ends of Isa, or Jesus. One tells that when he was 7 years old he and his companions made birds and beasts of clay, and Isa proved his superiority by making his fly and walk as he com- manded. In the Tyrol they say the ravens used to have snow white plumage, but one day Jesus wanted to drink at a stream, .and they splashed and so befouled the water that he could not, so he said, ‘‘Ungrateful birds, you are proud of your snow white feathers, but they shall become black and remain so until the judgment day.’ A Russian legend tells that the horse flesh is considered unclean because when Christ lay in his manger the horse ate the hay from under his bed, but the ox would not and brought back on his horns to replace what the h ,rse ate. The Britons believe that the ox and the ass talk together between 11 and 12 o’clock every Christmas eve. In Germany the cattle kneel in their stalls at that hour. Another version says they stand up. The ass and the cow are sacred be- cause they breathed upon the Holy Babe in his stall. The ass is the most sure footed of ani- mals because he carried the holy fami- ly to Egypt by night. He has had a cross on his back ever since. Old women used to sprinkle holy wa- ter on the ass and the cow to drive away disease. Bees are said to buzz in their hives at the exact hour of our Saviour’s birth. In north Germany the version of the man in the moon is thus told: One Christmas eve a peasant greatly desired cabbage, but as he had none in his own garden he stole from his neighbor. Just as he filled his basket the Christ Child rode by on his white horse and said, ‘‘Because thou has stolen on Christmas eve thou shalt sit in the moon with thy cabbage basket.’’ And there he still sits.—Philadelphia Ledg- er. Christmas Giving. A Custom That Comes From the Three Wise Men Who Followed the Star. Ot course you need not be told of the origin of presenting gifts at this season of the year. The three wise men who followed the star until it remained sta- tionary over the stable in Bethlehem, and who, entering the hovel wherein were the cow and the ass, knelt down before the beautiful Babe insthe manger, placed before him presents of myrrh, frankincense and. gold. Their example is the example that you follow today, 1,895 years after the Magi made obei- | m= sance to the Child Jesus, and when you place presents before the little ones who are made in the image of the Divine Babe you are doing what was done by the eastern kings, but remember that to carry out their example to the full the babes in the mangers, the little ones in hovels, must not be forgotten. Most of our Christmas customs come from the German. Kris Kringle is a legendary myth whose origin is involv- ed in much doubt. Formerly in the small villages of Germany the presents made by all the parents were sent to some one person, who, in high buskins, a white robe, a mask and an enormous flax wig, and known as Knecht Rupert, went from house to house. He was re- ceived by the parents with great rever- ence, and, calling for the children, pre- sented the gifts to them according to the accounts of their conduct received from the parents. It appears as highly probable that this custom gave rise to our present innumerable legends about Santa Claus.—Philadelphia Times. Christmas Weather. In a note following some quotations regarding Christmas and winter weather the author of an old London publication says, ‘‘These prognostics of weather, etc., I look upon as altogether uncer- tain, and were they narrowly observed would as often miss as hit.’’ Besides being quoted as above the proverb is varied asfollows: ‘‘A hot May makes a fat churchyard’’ and ‘‘A green winter makes a fat churchyard.’’ To the latter proverb is added this note, ‘“This prov- erb was sufficiently confuted in the year 1667, when the winter was very mild, and yet no mortality or epidem- ical disease ensued the summer or au- tumn following. ’’—Philadelphia Ledg- er. Christmas. Heap on more wood. The wind is chill, But, let it whistle as it will, We'll keep our merry Christmas still. —Walter Scott. Lo!, now is come our joyful’st feast! Let every man be jolly. Each room with ivy leaves is drest And every post with holly. —Withers. For little children everywhere A joyous season still we make. We bring our precious gifts to them, Even for the dear child Jesus’ sake. —Pheebe Cary. Blow, bugles of battle, the marches of peace! East, west, north and south let the long quar- rel cease. Bing the song of great joy that the angels be- gan. Bing of glory tc God and of good will to man. | —Whittier. . Again at Christmas did we weave The holly round tho Christmas hearth. The silent snow posseased the earth. ~Tennyson. Merchant Tailors. Fine Groceries Prospectuses. DWARD McGUINESS, TAILOR. Second floor Lyon & Co., Store Building, Allegheny St. 4 Full Line of Fall and Winter Suit- ings is Now Being Shown to Purchasers of Fine Clothing. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. 42-5-1y A Plumbing etc. IF YOU PAY MORE ' than we charge for Plumb- ing or Heating, you pay too much; for money can- not buy, hereabouts, better materials or more skillful labor than we put into such - jobs. If you pay less than we charge, you're pretty sure to get less, in material, or labor, or both. R. J. SCHAD & BRO. No. 6 N. 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David Turpie; Eastern Siberia and the Pacific, by Stephen Bonsal; The Commercial Importance of an Isthmian Canal, by Worthington C. Ford: The Development of our Pa- cific Domain, by Charles F. Lummis. RODEN’S CORNER—THE NOVEL OF THE YEAR. by Henry Seton Merriman, author of “The Sowers.” Striking novelties in short fiction will be contributed by such anthors as W. D. Howells, Richard Harding Davis, Brander Matthews, Frederic Rem ngfon, Ruth Me- Enery Stuart, and others. There will be a series of articles on The Progress of Science, Europe, Political and Social, Art and the Dra- ma, Armies and Navies, Studies in American Society, American Character Sketches. Postage free to all subscribers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Sub. $4 a year. Send for free prospectus. Address HARPER & BROTHERS, Pub's. 44 46. N. Y. City. HARPER'S BAZAR. A thoroughly up-to-date periodical for women, will enter upon its thirty-first volume in 1898. During the year it will be as heretofore A MIRROR OF FASHION. Paris and New York Fashions A Colored Fashion Supplement Cut Paper Patterns A Bi-Weekly Pattern Sheet. Each issue will contain carefully prepared drawings of the advance fashions of Paris and New York. Once a month the Bazar will issue, free, a colored fashion supple- ment. Cut paper patterns of certain gowns in each number will be made a feature. These will be sold in connection with each issue at a uniform price. The Bazar will also publish bi-weekly, free, an outline pattern sheet. LONG SERIALS AND SHORT STORIES. Two famous authors will contribute long serial stories to the Bazar in 1898. The first deals with Scotch and Continental scenes, Wild Eelen, by William Black. The second is a story of a young girl, versatile, and typically American. Ragged Lady, by W. D. Howells, Mary E. Wilkins, Octave Thanet, H.P. Spoferd, M. 8. Briscoe, These and a score of other equally promi- nent writers will contribute short stories to the Bazar in 1898, making the paper especially rich in fiction. DEPARTMENTS AND : SPECIAL ARTICLES. Our Paris Letter, by Katharine DeForest ; Club Women, by "Margaret H. Welch ; The London Letter, by Mrs. Poultney Bigelow; Club Women, by Margaret Welch; Humor, by John Kendrick Bangs. There will be a series of articles on Eti uette, Music, the Voice, Art, the Play, Women and Men, Leaders amons Women, Gardening, Housekeep- ing, Life and Health, Indoor Details, ete. 10c. a Copy (Send for Free Prospectus) Sub. $4 a year. Postage free in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Address HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, 44-46. New York City. HARPER'S WEEKLY. A JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION. during 1898 will present to its readers a faithful pictorial representation of the world’s most interesting and important, news. THE NEWS THAT BECOMES TORY. National and International Politics Social and Economic Questions Industrial Enterprise, Art and Literature. The Weekly will continue to anticipate in the great political events of our country. It will treat of the social and economic questions, and of the development of the middle west." Its special correspondent in the Klondyke region will trace the story of the great gold discoveries. LONG SERIALS AND SHORT STORIES. Two long serials will appear during the year, contributed by authors of interna- tional fame, and will be illustrated. The Red Axe, by S. R. Crockett. The Associated Hermits, by Frank R. Stockton. Owen Wistar, Howard Pyle, John Ken- drick Bangs, Mary E. Wilkins. These and a score of equally prominent writers will contribute short stories to the Weekly in 1898, making the paper especially rich in fiction. Other features are the DEPARTMENTS AND SPECIAL ARTICLES, This Busy World, by ES. Martin; Let- ters from London by Arnold White; For- eign Notes by Poultney Bigelow ; Ama- teur Sport by Caspar Whitney. A SPORTING PILGRIMAGE AROUND THE WORLD. In the interest of the Weekly, Casper Whitne, ison his way around the world. He will visit Siam in search of big game, making his principal hunt from Bangkok. He will visit India and then proceed to Europe to prepare articles on the sports of Germany and France. 10c. a copy (send for free prospectus). Subseription $4.00 a year. Postage free in the Untied States, Canada and Mexico. Address HARPER & BROTHERS, Pub, 44-46. New York City. HIS- JJARPERS ROUND TABLE. SOME OF THE STRIKING FEATURES FOR 1848. THREE SERIAL STORIES. The Adventures by H. B. Marriott Watson isa thrilling story of a fight for a treasure concealed in an old eastle in the mountains of Wales. Four for a Fortune, by Albert Lee is a stirring narrative of four companions who have located a long lost fortune. The Copper Princess, by Kirk Munroe, itis in the bowels of the earth where the hero has his ad- ventures, and from where he res- cues the Princess. SHORT FICTION. In addition to the three long serial stories, the publication of which will continue during the en- tire year, there will be short stories of every kind of EN it is only possible to mention a few titles here. Hunt, the Owler, by Stanley J. Weyman: The Flunking of Watkins’ Ghost, oy John Kendrick Bangs: The Blockaders, by James Barnes; A Great Haul, by Sophie Swett; A Harbor Mystery, by John R. Spears; A Creature of Circumstances, by Morgan Robertson. ARTICLES ON SPORT, TRAVEL, ETC. Elephant Hunting in Africa, by Sydney Brooks; First Lessons in Tiller and Sheet, by Dudley D. F. Parker; An Amer- ican Explorer in Africa, by Cyrus C. Ad- ams ; laying Out a Golf Course, by W. G. Van Tassel Sutphen. DEPARTMENTS. Editor's Table, Stamps and Coins, Photography. PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 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