Mabel's Christmas Prayer,
"Twas Clirisimas eve, and iittic Mabel,
Kneeling for her evening prayer,
Thinking only of Kriss-Kingle,
And of what would be her share, -
Casting glances at the chimney,
And her stocking hanging there,
Sleepy, tired littie Mabel,
Thus began her evening prayer;
“Now. 1 lay me down to sleep,
Auntie, 1 hear him now,
Coming wight down our shimly
Making such a dwead{nl wow,
“I pway the Lord my soul to teep
Just listen Auntie, do.
I's sure 1 hears the sleigh-bells
And the hobby horses, too
“11 1 strould die before I'wate, —
Auntie just tell Kwiss Kingle
Fo hwing me a pitty wag -dollle,
Wis hair all banged and shingled,
IL pway the Lord my soul to tate, —
1 hope he'll bwing some tandy,
Now when I hears him tuming
Shall I wate you up, Auntie?
¢' ‘Dod bless Mamma-—and good Kwiss-Kingle
And Papa—is my stocken wight?
And little bwothers.—oh! ['se so tired;
I hope I'l] get some cakes to-night.
“And little sister, oh! dear, 1'sé seepy,
Auntie Just tell him "se done to seep
ease tell him not to fordet my stocken,
And Hetle Mabe! was fast asleep.
KNOXIY GRANGE.
cnr
“She is certainly a very pretty gill”
sald Elbridge Root, decidedly, to his
friend, Mr. Berry.
“Yes,” assented his friend, “but it
strikes me that for a young lady
brought up in the splendor which, ac-
cording to her own account, surrounds
her, she is rather Jacking in reflnement
and elegance of manner.”
“Do vou think said Root,
somewhat uneasily. ‘Wall, perhaps
her manuers are a trifle onginal, but
she Is pretty and graceful. And upon
the whole, Frank, I have about made
up my mind to ask her to marry me.”
“Oh, you have, eh? Then there is
no use in discussing the matter any
further. Loves blind, they say, and
1 eertainly shall not make an attempt
to rémove the bondage from his eyes,
Yes, Miss Knoxie is sweet and win-
ning; buat have you ever reflected El,
how your mother, whose manners
wouid grace a court, and your sister,
who leads society in New York, would
welcome such an alllance?’’
“From all that 1 hear, Kknoxle
Grange and its surroundings must be
more than equal to the Root estates,”
laughed Elbridge. ‘‘And--"
But here conversation was inter-
rupted by the appearance of a third
person, and the subject was abandoned,
= » - - & “ ®
Le ad
“Yes,” Golden Knoxie was saying
indifferently, *‘I suppose it’s all very
grand at Root; but our establishment
at the Grange 13 on such a large scale,
Mamma couldn’ exist without a
French maid, and the cook would
think herself abused if she didn’t have
at least two assistants,’
petty Berry opened her pretty brown
eyes very wide.
“I should like to see the Grange.”
she sald, innocently,
“Yes, to be sure you would,”
plied Golden, rather hurriedly. “There
is the picture gallery, and the billiard-
room, and the bowling alley —I assure
you, my dear, it is on the old castle
style?”
“But didn’t you think the cotlage
where the pretty young school teacher
picturesque?”
“Picturesque? Yes, 1 suppose so;
hut you see I am accustomed to things
go entirely different;’”’ was the reply.
“How glad you will be to get home!"
“Ah!” sighed Miss Knooxle, as she
paused in packing her trunk, ‘‘there
are so few places like my home!”
“(ood-by, Mr. Root,” said Golden,
pausing on ber way down stairs and
holding out her hand,
*Good-by, Golden,” he said softly,
He held her band in a tight clasp for
a moment. She was standing on the
steps above him, and her lovely, be-
witching face was dangerously close to
his,
oot sudden'y raised his dark, hand
some face and kissed the sweet young
lips, and Golden ran laughing ana
blushing down the stairs,
- » - - * » .
“Well, puss,” said Frank Barry to
his sister that night, *'so your grand
friend has returned to ber ancestral
hala?”
Miss Knoxie bas gone home-—yes »
answered Betty, arching her eyebrows.
“Do you miss her?”’
“Well, no, 1 don’t, Frank. I Lad
become rather tired of her boasting.
She never saw anything handsome
without declaring that at her home
things were twice as elegant. One gets
wearied at that siyie of conversation,
you know. Is Elbridge Root really
smitten with her pretty face, Frank?’
“I'm afraid he 18."
Betty burst into « merry, ringing
but, oh, so conceited!”
“I am going out to Mordaunt county
with EY pext week,
range and play the part ‘of a faitkful
friend while he proposes the eventfu!
tell me all about the glories of the
up to a lonely little mountain nn,
which nestled close to the tall gate aus
if for companionship,
“Can you tell me, my friend, if we are
far from Knoxie Grange?” said Root,
hailing a little old man who sat on the
piazza steps apparently half asleep.
*Knoxie Grange! Knoxie Grange!”
repeated the old man, with a puzzled
look. “I don’t know as I ever heern
tell of sich a place hereabout.”
“That is strange.” Fibridge,
turning to Derry, *‘1 supposed it must
have been the show place of the coun-
try.”
‘But I can tell you where Widow
Kunoxie lives,” interposed the old man
with a sudden accession of intelligence,
“Mrs, Hugh Knoxle?”
“Yes. It's down a piece by the
swamp. It’s a yaler house with a barn
opposite, two wiles beyond the plauk
road.”
Thank you,’”* said Elbruige, touch-
ing up his horse, “*A yellow house with
a barn opposite! What a curious idea
the-e country aborigines must have of
architecture!”
The two miles were soon passed. The
swamp followed in due succession.
Then a tumbled down, one-story house,
painted a dingy cream color. The win-
dows were stuffed with old hats, and a
plg was promenading the front yard in
a wilderness of plantain and nettles,
Just across the road an unpainted barn
was falling to decay.
“Hold on—what are you driving past
for?’ exclaimed Frank Berry, laying
his hand upon the reins,
““This cannot be the placel’
“Why not? Isn’t ita yellow house
with a barn opposite?”
said
’
claimed Elbridge scornfully.
“Stikl, it may be just as well to in-
quire before going further.”
“Does Mrs, Hugh Knoxie
here?"
*“Yes, but she ain’t home.”’
“Where is she?"
and Wednesdays she to
Pond’s.”’
Elbridge Root sat aghast,
Berry pursued the question,
“Is Miss Knoxie at Home?"
“Gelden? No; she’s hired
Widow Brown's doing housework.
you Golden's beau from York?”
Neither of the young men thought it
goes
up to
tion.
journey. Berry sat silently beside him
until they had driven about a mile.
“xo that is Knoxie Grange!’ he ejac-
ulated at last. “El, what a lucky thing
you did not propose in New York!"
“She has deceived me from begin.
believed in and loved
I would not marry her
all Goleonda’'s
“And |
3 fey
mines.
Betty Berry was highly amused by
“There always was Loo much pre
about young woman,'' she
“But, oh, Frask, how glad 1
that El discovered
it was too late.
the
am
fore
>
Sardines in China.
I have read a curious little para-
in China—I fear this prefatory refnark
will remind some people of
cannot help it—where the little fish are
highly appreciated. It appears that
their introduction to Celestial palates
was a matter of pure accident, It ap-
pears that the Chinese import from
England a large quantity of the color
called smalt, for painting blue figures
on their pottery.
don agent of a Chinese firm received
a very serous quantity,
ne. The word smalt was so badly
conclusion that “smelts” were meant,
and went about to consult fish dealers
as to the best way to procure and cure
these dainty little fish, Naturally, he
was told that such a thing had never
been attempted, and he was advised to
try sardines, as the approximation to
them. ‘‘Sardines are cheap just now,”
said the dealer, “and I'm sure they'll
meet the dificuity;’’ so the bargain was
struck, the sardines were bought,
and shipped off to China, On the ar-
rival of the cargo a dispute arose. John
Chinaman avowed that he had ord-
ered a blue pigmenk, not fish, whether
smells or sardines; and John Chinaman
seemed to have thes right of it in law;
#0 he shrugged his shoulders and left
the boxes of the oily little fish on the
hands of the merchant, Some British
as a slight alleviation of the trouble;
but one consignment was a big one,
and, with the kindest intentions in the
world, they could not consume any ap-
preciable quantity, At last the happy
thought occurred to somebody of pre-
senting some to a Chinese epicure for
his gracious opinion. He tasted them
and pronounced them good, spread their
fame among his friends, and very soon
the lot went off apace. Now the sar-
‘dines a hulle are quite a popular Chi-
nese institution,
Jy things to love--courage,
a ie bo gentle.
T.
Affecting Story of a Little Newsboy
Who Lost $10,
A business man of Detroit, whose of-
fice is en Woodward avenue, relates
this singular experience in the Fy
Press:
“I wanted a $19 bill changed, and
as I was alone 1 stepped to the door
{ and called a little ne wsboy whom I had
frequently employed to run errands,
and told him to carry it to the nearest
store and get it changed, I then went
inside and waited, My partner came
in and ridiculed me for what I had
done,
*You will never see the boy or the
change again,’’ he sald,
**I must say his prophecy looked pos-
sibie when as hours went by the boy
did not return; still I trusted him. I
could easler believe that he had been
run over or made away with than that
he had stolen the money.
week had passed, I did not know where
he lived or who his associates were,
and no newsboy seemed to be missing,
The second week was nearly gone,
when a woman came into my office one
day. She was erying.
** Are you Mr, ——?' she asked.
“lam, madam. What can I do for
you?’
**Then she told me that her little
boy was dying; that he had been ill
nearly two weeks, and kept constantly
calling my name, 1 went with her and
found my missing newsboy. As soon as
| he saw me he began to rave.
*“*I lost it! I lost it!’ was the burden
of his ery, but 1 alone knew what he
referred to. He had lost the $10 note,
{ and it had preyed on his mind, causing
brain fever.
| conscious that 1 had trusted him
the very first, and that I would
’
from
have
i not a doubt that he either lost it or had
nature kept him from telling the truth,
and be gave his life up in the struggle. ”’
-_——
of the Voice.
Evolution
Darwin seems inclined to believe
| that, as women have sweeler voices
than men, they were the first to acquire
; other sex, by which I suppose he means
| that the feminine voice owes its greater
sweelness lo more persevering culture
for purposes of flirtation, I do not know
whether the ladies of the present day
will own this soft impeachment, or
whether they will be flattered by the
suggestion that their remote ancestres.
ses lived in a perpetual leap-year of
courtship. Other emotions, however,
| besides the master passion of Jove had
| to be expressed, joy, anger, fear,
| pain had all to find utterance, and the
| mervous centers excited by these
and
Vari.
i ons stimuli threw the whole muscular
| system {nto violent contractions, which
in the case of the muscles moving the
| chest the vocal
| produced sound-—that is to say, voice,
These movements, at first accidental
and purposeless, in Um? became insep-
arably associated with the emotional
state giving rise to them, 20 as to coin-
| cide with it, and thus serve as an index
i or expression thereof, From this to
| the voluntary emission of vocal sounds
is an easy step, and It is probable
enough that the character of those
sounds was primarily due to the *“imi-
{tation and modification of different
natural sounds, the voices of other ani-
and cords naturally
C—O 53
Slept in a Churchyard,
A writer in the Chamber's Journal
tion of the last 10 years of his life by
| his wife's grave. ‘‘He went to the
cemetery in the early morning, and
‘after rewoving any microscopic weed
{ that might have showed itself since
| the previous evening, would light his
the
{ pipe and solemnly contemplate
| stones in his vicinity,
| regularly to his meals, and as regu-
larly took bis afternoon nap on the
grass by the graveside, Shortly before
his last visit to the cherished spot he
requested me to decipber for him the
dates upon several of the gravestones;
and we conversed about many whom
we had known in life, and who had
passed away, [1 remarked that the
churchyard was a very pretty place,
and his face lighted up as he rejoined:
‘Al, mwester, I've always thought I
should like to be buried here, for,’
looking around, ‘you see there's such a
splendid view from here.’ This was
uttered in good faith, until the old man
seemed convinced that neither coffin
11d nor churchyard clods would ob-
struct his view. Perhaps they don’t!
Ina few brief weeks he came to his
favorite haunt to stay. ‘Poor old Wil
liam,’ the flowers upon your grave have
run wild long ago, and no one seems to
remember you ss they pass by,’’ :
A Famous Indian Chief,
“
. Chief Joseph, the famous chief of the
Nez Perces Indians, who defiled the
United btates a few years ago, is fully
six feet in his mocassina, and weighs
200 pounds, His features are fine and
denote decided character; his forehead
is broad and high, slightly sloping
| from a pair. of heavy, beetling eye-
brows, above a pair of piercing black
eyes. His hair black and straight, is
remarkably fine for an Indian's, and is
glossy without any bear's grease,
A —— ———
THE PASSIONATE POET.
Swinburne Dispensing Lollipops to
Children.
How very conservative Mr. Swin-
burne is in his daily habits, Ie gener-
ally takes an afternoon walk from Put-
ney over to Wimbledon, where he ‘puts
up” for a quarter of an hour at the
house he is fond of visiting. He never
carries a walking stick or an umbrella,
though 1 have ton very good au-
thority that he is not above lining his
pockets at a confectioner’s rhop with
sweets and biscuits, and dispensing
them freely to youngsters who he meets
on the road. The other day Wimble-
don was deluged, and the Common es-
pecially was a place to be avoided, but
when the downpour wns heaviest
about 4 o’clock—1 saw Mr. Swinburne
calmly marching along toward his usual
resting place, and he was protected
against the ungentle rain from beaven
He was wet through, From his large
brimmed felt hat rills of rain randown
upon his garments, his face was shin-
ing as if anointed with oil, his long
white cuffs were in a miserable state,
The number of stories,
which are told at Wimbledon about the
poet, whom every culld in the village
knows and admires, (the admiration
| love), 1s quite endless,
Mr. Swinburne honors with custom,
| was who had just left her shop,
| yes," she replied at once, ‘‘that’s Mr.
private gentleman,
hie
Swinburne, a
{he lsn't quite right in his bead;
what they call 2 poet, I’m told,” When
is walking his roldlerly
| fashion, Mr. Swinburne never takes his
he along In
eves off the ground, and evideutly does
The
sald to me in
Servers, other day a charming
young lady
admiration: ‘If 1 only dared,
I like to have the hono
with D il
The sternness, however,
their play-
the
children at play or being wheelad about
their perambulators, And if yon
“‘eatch’ Mr, Swinburne at »
an ecstacy of
wouldn't
Ho
Van
{ hands him.
| stern,’
ishes altogether when, on
ground on the Common, he sees
in
ich a moe
ment, you no longer marvel that this is
the great poet who wrole “Atalanta”
His face is transfigured his
eyes there shines a light which is not of
the earth,
i ——— A A ——
¥ 2 fy :
ana irom
Franklin B, Gowen
Was a
useful member
Convention of 1875.
then conducting
business enterprises
canspicuou
of the
one
of the w
found or made time to attend
the
jong as he «
and when
tine work to be done,
was not the kind of a
office and neglect his dulies,
the sessions of the Convention he would
bring his moming’s mail to the hall
open it and answer letters with
hand while he was jotting down noles
Convention
still be
there was
sions of
Foe
i
one
was fully acquainted with the proceed.
ings of the body and the speeches of
members, and ready for discussion with
{the best of them, He took an active
part in framing the sections of the
| Constitution bearing upon railroad cor-
porations, and did not hesitate to advo-
cate radical restrictive measures, pro-
vided they accorded with the principles
of law,
; ———————
‘ A Victim of Greed.
i
3
novel way a few days since. He had
| started ous early in the morning for
fdsh but his quest was unsuccessful,
Looking closely, be
fin
was the cause of
He approached as
very shallow spot,
saw that a large bass, with dorsal
above the surface,
| troubling the water,
to shoot the fish, when he discovered
that it seemed somewhat disabled, In-
vestigation showed, when the game
had been scooped in with a net, that
the greediness of the bass was the
cause, In his mouth was found a sun-
fish weigh ng almost a pound.
The Leper Question In India.
The Calcutta Public Health »oclety
has reported strongly in favor of leper
legisintion, and urges that the provisions
of the bill already drafted should be
strengthened and extended so as to
prohibit the employment of lepers In
washing clothes, preparing food snd
similar ocoupations, Native opimon
is, however, generally averse to legisia-
lion going beyond pauper lepers, on the
ground that the contagious character
of the disease is not sufficiently estab
lished, . The papers here are asking
what has become of the Damien Com.
mittee’s proposal to send out a com-
mission of inquiry. This would be
useful, and would strengthen the hands
of the Government in educating the
native public to the necessity of such
Inrinlation
FLOWERS IN HISTORY.
Like the holly, the Mistletoe ( Viscuin
torical flowers being employed at the
winter festival time-honoured and
dear to us all. It is somewhat diffienit
to record any circumstances respecting
its history with which the reader 1s not
already acquainted; vet, perhaps, the
origin of the primitive fashion of kis
ing under the white
may be known to comparatively
Bo
few
very early ages in the history of north
Beandinavian mythology. Baldr, the
beautiful (the northern Appollu), the
son of Odin, had a potent foe in the evil
spirit, Loki; and this latter endeavour-
ed to compass his destruction by the
hands of the blind god, Hodr. 80 he
made an arrow out of the wood of the
mistletoe (suppused to proceed from
one of the elements), and placing it in
hig hands, directed it to Baldr, who fell
to the earth—a catastrophe which by no
other weapon conld have been affected,
as his mother Frigga (or Freyja), had
rendered him proof against harm from
any of the four elements. This outrage
displeased the gods, and they restored
Baldr to life, and as they dedicated to
Frigga the only instrument by which
her son could be harmed, she took the
precantion of having it placed out of
touch of the earth, and thus beyond
the jurisdiction of Loki. From this
old fable the practice of hanging bunch-
es of mistletoe from the ceilings and
tops of the doorways has arisen, snd
the “kiss of peace” beneath them fol-
lowed in natural sequence. The
formation
not-
hung aloft;
80 long as
assurance of good
the Ring was
and harmony.
The of the mistletoe in
en sacrificial rites of the Druids
well is
known They regarded it 4
every disease,
un
Ti50
needs
110 “0p
comment the
s i cure for
antidote to all poise
and a talisman sgainst witcheraft in all
spiritual ew i { i
taining
in France, an
ties But it 1s
on the
ai IR,
influences, s
thie Cre
Faroj
among ek
CAI Dati
FAK
teemed
ills the
and whe
branch on
it derives
0H
and thus compasses it
brittle twigs which we fi
might well
posed unsai able for the construction o
the shaft that transfixed the besutifa
Baldr, but the stem, if left to attain its
full growth, 1s upwards of
au inch in diameter, d subdivides
into a fork, thus lending itself naturally
to the form of an arrow More mistle-
t found on the apple tree than
any other, but it grows the haw-
thorn, lime, yuntain ash, pop-
lar, larch " Though
propagated Sootland, it
18 not a here
are only examples
in Engl caring oaks.
it is said that the specituen is
one at Bredward :
5
stead decorations
OR Bre
maple,
DEAT
p § y
in Ireland and
native of those countries
about ten or a dozen
ud of nis wh IH
the Himalay AS On
» of Si
id mie ign 4
wise 'Baldr's money” was
to Baldr, and the “may weed
is stall saad to be
ledicated
Anthe
fair
v4 huge
other
cotula;
brow of
‘Baldr, the beautiful,
God of the summer sun,
Fairest of all the gods.”
of whose story Longfellow sang
sweet a lay. No earlier of the
time-honoured custom of “kissing under
FFL As
the
notice
than abont the middle of the
The Small Screw.
A screw in the crank of an engine of
an express train at full speed thus ad-
chinery:
*1'm very small, butexceedingly im-
portant; without me the whole fabric
would come to grief. Upon me depends
the successful working of the whole
you observe how
and then without
ket, involving the whole train in hope-
less wreckage,
MorAL,—Do not parade your own
importance at the expense of others
A Graceful Tribute.
Among tne gems possessed by Mr
Prince Leopold, the late Duke of Al-
bany. She says, ‘I met him at & draw-
ing room and passing through a hall-
way my dress canght on a cactus plant
the gunzy stuff was badly torn. The
young prince eame to my aid, snatched
a jewel that secured a decoration on his
shoulder and pinned up the torn breadth
of my train,
SE —————————
Hard on the Travelers.
Up in the vicinity of Schoodie lak
a man who had anew road to sell fa
to make satisfactory term with the
town, and so, on the theory, “no pay,
no road,” felled trees across the way
until toe town should pay bim for open-
ing it, Travelers who recently
through that region think the innocent
passenger gets the worst of the con.
Lroversy,
A Striking Resemblance.—A mone
than middle aged bachelor marvied a
young girl,
When a son
the family, the nurse was wont to show
the new comer to visitors, with the
‘Looks like hig pa, doesn’t he?’
routy old gentieman®
5
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Three thing to hate —
gance and ingratitude,
srueily,
Sito
Three things to delight in-—Dbeauty,
Three things toadmire
Three {or -
things 0 w
Three things to lbe-—cordiality,
Three things to avold —idle
juacity and flippant jesting.
Three things Ww cultivate -goon
books, good friends and good Lamor:
Three things to contend for - honor,
country and friends,
“Live above a dam?”
word of the hour.
the wateh-
A true friend is one who is not afraid
to tell us of our faults,
There is nothing so natural as to he,
and then dodge beliind it
There are but few people that vou
can praise without flattering them.
Life 18 not so short but that there is
always thine enough for courtesy
People who slander themselves
not expect other people to extol
“le
lien,
Take the lie out of the world and the
We seldom learn the true want of
discovered we
Where faith and love go not togethe:
wanting:
dead if once divided,
the are both
One {it and earnest word carrie
weight than does a whole yard
flown eloguent ©,
NOT
day, Lut
of a m
thie vi Vise 4 1}
the humbug has all
DUgs are creatures mer
a £
WEAN 3 JOT
Noe man has yet li
this world to doubt
iis judgment,
Don’t
formed in
well,
Vu]
the
Wns
count much on
bey never
af
ain,
The man w has sworn
worst
not
sath
¥iq
ad
6
It may be difficult to decide which
sernrivy
AREriY, Imlerest
A man who has a cent left after all
his debts are paid is like a theatrical
| When you walk, pray once; when you
| 0 to sea, pray twice; when you go
gel married, pray three times,
It is no vaulty for a man lo prid
himself upon what be has honestly
and prudently uses,
Inconsistency between words and ac-
tions is generally fatal to the x
plishment of
A
and
f
i
good
good action is never thrown away
thai is why so few of them are
ound lying around loose,
People who make it their business to
run other people’s business, never re-
ceive any cash dividends,
The silent
often of
YOu
of
i
or
FOO
pressure the
hand
nore vital }
than a whole
of good counsel,
Ie
voull
NO man ever regretted that
nest in his
1.11 “ 5
idle companions
virtuous and bh
kept aloof fro:
It 1s easter to find six men
tell exactly how a thing ough
done than to find one that will do
There is a great deal of poetry
no doubt, but it takes the
It is the person who talks most
ing the performance that alwas
To acquire great wealth shows reat
wiOn
to use it well is a virtue and an
Genius is like a barrel on the top of a
hill; it will not indeed move unless
pushed, but once pushed it goes of
self,
The best application for the improve.
a mixture
of equal parts of serenity and cheerful
ness,
If we are ever in doubt what
it is a good rule to ask ourselves
it~
to do,
what
had done.
The heart may leap for a Sime un-
gown, but the sight of a
gown yet finer puts an end to rap-
in {the
requir.
happi-
It is in the purpose itself and
ed toearry it out that the chief
ness of life is found,
He alone is able to attend impartially
to virtue and execute her commands,
without besitation, who has reduced
his senses to obedience,
Run, if you like, but Gry lo keep
your breath, Work like a man, but
don’t be worked to death.
When a man disagrees with you it is
often best to let him alone. ihe same
is true of rich food.
Work calmly in the presence of God,
Are you sad and ? Call upon
him. Are you anxious? Turn to Him
for a moment, and ever confinue your
work.
God han pot given strength and
energy wo souls; there mre some
which He has only made good. Ave
there not flowers which are only in-
tended to give perfume?
1t 15 to the a
ing the he of the family .
peace of fasai pre-
serving in it that sweet jay which
| makes it like wu reflection of Leaves.
“1 have remarked,” says Lacor-