The Log They Cut. This is the yule of the long ago, The log they cut in the woods, ho! hol The yule log old that gave its glow At the Christmas hearth in the olden timo When the bells rang mad with their golden chime. | ay Ji wn m— IN OLDAS W00D.§ How Old Father Christmas Was Dorn-The German Legend of Kriss Kringle. S330 3020200 RY ESTHER FINGLETON. Soo HRISTOPHER was greatly dissat- isfied with his home. He wasan imaginative lad, entirely out of tune with his surround- ings. He lived in a little wooden cottage, curiously carved, that gave him some delight when the shadows of uight deepened and drew dark forms and shapes under the long roof which sloped nearly to the ground. It was not pleasant to return from a land of dreams to the hard facts of life and to the plait and weave the long, green willow wands into baskets at his uncle's command and to hear the scolding tongue of his aunt busy with her household duties. Finally he determined that he would run away and seek a life for himself; P\ Toul, > antu comeg, Wii dolly and drug, / Rua rything tht fe gqueaks ov gems, Hellmake NO’ W0iGe y hew with his toys, H. fills the hose of “girl and boys but the day never came until he had completed his fifteenth birthday, which was uncelebrated. It was upon a Christmas Eve that he decided to. break away. His aunt had been un- usually ill-tempered and as his mind | was sure the proper time had arrived | for his step into the world, not even | the cold of approaching night dis. | couraged him, 1. - Kriss was not altogether free of blame, for he had been a discordant note in the household. He was neither cheerful nor amiable, nor un- selfish, but then he had never been shown the way towards a loving and grateful disposition. He had become sullen and hardened. As he crept stealthily into the street the twilight was throwing her gray draperies around the little German village. Down the deserted road he passed, on, and up the hill, where he turned to bid farewell to the only home he bad ever known, and betook his way into | the dark forest that seemed to call him ! into its depths, How many voices were there— , sweet ones, too, unlike any he had ever heard! The wind blew off his cep by way ol a joke, and, touching him with icy fingers, said, ‘‘Come! Come! Come, Kriss! There is much warmth in the forest and joy. Come!” The pine-bow hummed huskily, yet softly: ‘‘Come, Kriss, come! It is true; the wind knows. Come! Come!” Ir. As Kriss passed into the forest he felt, although he could not se» the mysterious spirits. Kriss stood still wondering what would ocour next, when a young tree about his own height, vain of her beauty and patron- izing in her manner, said: “Sit by me, Kriss,” and he obeyed, still watching and listening to the voices of the mys- terious spirits of the winter night, “comm! coMm! AND SEE THE WIND- SPIRITS DANCE WITH THE syow!" which had gradually become visible, busily preparing for the celebration of their Christmas feast, vs Iv, - Strange to say, he was not cold though resting on the velvety snow; nor was he homesick. A gay proces- sion entertained him, issuing out of the black hollow of a great oak, that glittered in ita armor of ice. First came the children of the Winter-Wind, all fierce-eyed and # of feature, ~ dressed in tunics of white and gray flowing mantles. Then followed the oh ! t(hristmas belle, 4 gyons, old | ov od bavve L Tey to 000 LY a emerald velvet with a big bunch of | snowdrops at her breast, and a crown | of oak leaves like a Dryad. Her flaxen | bair was bound witha strand of pearls, her eyes were blue as summer rivers, her lips as pomegranates, and neck as white as the falling flakes, that, touching her, turned int showers of creamy roses, “Why have youn come hither? asked. As he was speechless Trees and Snowflakes said in their soft choronus: ‘‘The Wind brought ’ she Christmastide and cried ‘Come! Come! Come!" “Unless you come selfishly,” she asked, ‘‘what have you brought to us? The birds give their voices, the flowers their perfume, the Trees their shelter, the Wind his mausie, Snow-children their service, the Sea- sons their beauties and their boun- ties, and I, to grant all wishes, What do you bring to the Christmas Ravels?” Christopher hung his head. He fell to her feet and kissing her dress with emotion, exclaimed: “I have brought nothing but myself. Do with me as you will.” “So be it,” replied Holda, shall give yourself. of the greatest Spirits of the hal- lowed season.” The Queen of Christmastide clapped her hands and bade the Revels be- gin. When all the enjoyment was at its height, Queen Holda clapped her white hands and four and twenty Wish-Maidens bowed before her and, then facing the strange multitade, promised to bring to every ome in tHolda's realm his and her desire, Bowing low to Holda they took their leave, soon retnroing. Each one now held a rosy ribbon attached to a sil- ver car, which they drew along and upon which what appeared to Chris- topher the most wonderful! thing he had ever beheld- -a glittering tree, Yi, Queen Holda gave to each one pres- ent gifts from the Wishing-Tree, and then she said impressively: “We have one more gift, Kriss has given him- self. He is to go ont into the world and carry the blessings of our Revels,” Then she called her Snow-Children and, speaking to them in her snow language, which none but herself and her little people can understand, or even hear--s0 low, so soft, so melodi- ous is it-—bade them prapare Christo- pher for his long journ First they murmur ‘into his ear w drowsy and fell aslosy, ‘you until he grew and when he slumbered th around him rich, red robesand a man- tle bordered with ermine, and on his head a tall around it a - - they fastened a long white beard tc his chin and above his lips a gentle carling mustache. Then they called the Wind and all the other Snow Chil and they took hands and danced Kringle, Father Christmas.” Awakiog at the merry pealsoflangh and jollity, Christopher stood amazed, Queen Holds expl Christmas,” she said, ‘‘you have slept hundred years in my enchanted Youn came into my forest a hard You have seen ons ined it. ‘Father you gave yourself to us, While you slept my Snow-Children robed yon, and now I send you as my representa for I must ever within the limits and haunts of Elf. land. Yon shall travel far and wide at the happy season of the year. Your Wishing-Trees shall never fail when you carry Christmas greetings to the children with the message of ‘Peace or earth, good will to men.’" I cannot go, Christmas Dishes in Various Nations, Each country has its distinetive Christmas dishes, The holly dinner of England if too much like our own to need description, although we are apt to have turkey and mince pie in. stead of roast beef aud plum pudding. In France, the Christmas dinner in- cludes a chicken roasted and garnished a gonly the French ean do it, and liver pudding, rich with truffles and season- ing. In Spain, they are fond at holiday time of asoup made of sweet almonds, cream and a fish first roasted before the fire and basted with lemon, garlic and oil, In Germany, they have a fat goose stuffed with chestnuts, pork boiled with saner kraut, sausages, beef with sour sauce, black pudding, smoked goose and baked appl 2s, In Switzerland, also, the goose is the leading dish, and there will like- wise be found on the table confection ery, cakes, fruits, nut punding. Cen. eva fritters—the national dish—a paste made of fruits, marmalade, spices and eggs. Russia serves its national soup of beef, boiled cabbage, sour cream and fermented beet juice, and it is ready to be eaten at any time during the day. A huge roast pig served with boiled buckwheat, cooked with liver and the heart of the Rig. } 18 the prinei. pal dish at dinner, this is eaten a cheese creamed with butter, » and raisins, and evlored eggs grace the board. Understood. “Well, did you kiss her?” ssked O long ago of a verses ters the ning, “ "Twas the night be. fore Christmas, when all through the house un creature centnry Not a mousse," n the Troy Sentinel of December 23, 1823. As published then it mmonymous, but it was prophetical of ts coming popularity that even that day, unfavorable as it pewspaper illustration, it was accom his rounds. In the time it has become known avery man, woman America, has spread and child lence to the S— BURNING RAILWAY TRACK. 4 Car Equipped with Apparatus Which Fires Them with Blazing Kerosene. The law in most States requires that railroad companies shall keep thelr rizht of way cleared of weeds apd other growth which might prove harmful to agricultural interests by becoming propagating beds for nox fous plants, and it is a common sight along the rallroads of this part of the country gangs of men oi work during the growing cutting | down the grass and the | railroad tr raking and | oying then. Gg sep SeUson weeds beside aes, these up On some of the Western raliroads a | 0 I ix in used device economical for { roughly effective work which { recent much more purpose and tl and machinery do the are employed for elsewhere. A petrolenm oil, which 13% # gallon, is the material used, enr is fitted up with a drives It chain running | all | which Is this Fire crude CONE A small mining by means of of the speed that box engine, which along i a sprocket axles, which is peeded, gives it An upright and within | and engine, | rear boiler the sieam baller From supplies the itles the of oil iW Car proj od In a etal shi ear, bes thie end id rang an 1 he HR shicld is ten | Western roads grrr ETON race, has been translated into language of every nation that has a Santa Claus, and is little, world. For yearsit was an feature of all American news; Then, in 1844, it by its learned auth ina lit le volume of Thin lished in New York. Thence slusion in school BPErs, Was being included its In 1859 the edition that first attained wide distribution was issued, with the pleasant illus- trations made by Felix O. C. Darley, of a short time. any number of persons now crawling relactantly into middle life. It will be a surprise to learn that *“The Night Before Ci mas” was written by the erudite doe- tor of laws who prepared the first He. brew dictionary ever published America. He was Clement C, Moore, a descendant of a famous family in the history of the Episcopal Church, and himself of its most notable benefactors, Clement Clarke Moore was born on July 15, 1781, in New York City, and died at his summer Newport yn July 10, 1863 The poem which has greater fame than all his learning ane benefactions was written as a pasti and given his children as a Christmas ITiat. one aoe in given foe it at the time, He thought little of oF Inter, never have become known world at all had not the eld ter of the Rev. David Butler, rector of St. Paul's in Troy, seen the lines during a York the year after they wore com posed, and publishec d them in per mentioned without their consent. It is said that nothin the speedy popularity the verses tained procured Miss Butler's giveness, to th est daugh- D. N. X. visit to at for- Gaod Deeds For the Day. poor, Give the children a bushel of hap- piness and they'll share it with you. Raise the preacher’ 5 not so high that be can’t reach it. Make the Christmas tree a green spot in memory. Don't lose sight of the fact that yon were a boy yourself in the early years of ‘the century. Don’t let the tin horn blast your happiness. Christmas will soon blow over, Make somebody happy, even if yon have to settle an old bill to do it. Arranging the Christmas Menu. The menu for the Christmas dinner may be as follows: Oysters on the Halt Shell Clear Soup Custard and Spinach Bloeks Olives Calery Dexiled Bpaghetti Poasted Turkey, Chestnut Stufling Cranberry Jolly Sweet Potato Crogquettes Pons Served in Turnip Cups Ginger Sherbet Lettuce Salad Cheese Balis Tonsted Crackers Pum Pudding, Hard Sauce Coffes Bonbons Almonds ~qok® on Long f slip in New Jers States were il some © treated sitet is xprin roadbed car made § SO Eastern used {8 a cheap. heavy pr and it and the purpose tiie tracks sp inki it Laat I and on each for tis ng 168es Ain gatlons of oil ie of track for after that a A Year or so is firs wl pn id ghter sprinkling once to he all that Is necessary and but oll does fate Hn holds the down help the life f the Now mak in; Sun. fio Ye by thst walerproot Th Setting an Example. ablie 10 rece it ned in oa park ye § fa pers Happe iarge man failed from t tires siyd angry a bit be throng of He ith a woman, and a small of a man who had for a pleasure or at home, path the boy tending the air with disproportionate to The woman rau to pick him and sooth him, ile the man sank | upon an adjacent seat, entirely | small placard tacked proceeded deliver a lengthy lecture to the boy upon the s«vils of running away anywhere and in the park in particular. The child's clothes were somewhat dusty from contact with the gravel pathway, and mother vainly reached for her handkerchief to re move the traces of his mishap. Pinal | ly she asked timidiy: “James, will you lend me your hand. | kerchief to dust off Robbie's clothes? | I am afraid 1 have lost mine” “That's right,” retorted the father, | ag be fished out the article and threw | it at her: “throw them away; I can | pay for more. Money's no object. | Look at me; do 1 ever lose anything? Now, do IY” “No, James,” ly, “but” “But there's no but stick to things, and" “Yes, dear,” sald his wife, meekly, as she contemplated her task and rose to her feet: “1 know you stick to things, and, perhaps” her voice grew still mecker—~"perhaps that is why you sat down in that freshly painted peat” <Cassol's Saturday Journal. What European War Would Cost. According to M. Bloikh, a Roman writer, it was a compmtation of what a European war would cost that large. Iy influenced the Crar to issue his peace manifesto. It is estimated that Europe poys yearly for the mainten- ance of us fleets and armies the sum of $1,125.000000, and nearly as much again in the guise of interest on debis contracted for the prosecution of for. wars, The daily expenditure needed for a conflict in which the five great comtinental powers were engag- el would amount to £20087.000, Al together, the annual cost of this Eun ropean war, exclusive of indirect losses, would, according to the calcu. | lations of M. Blolkh, reach the fantas. 735,000,0001--Ne of sympathy who w the soene, was walking =» pretty evidently hi boy, | and be had his family and left b ng slong and fell entirely Huuni shirieks is sige, wh back upon it, and ww his replied his wife meek: about it. 1 Ale. total of $8; Journal, PATHETIC, YET LUDICROUS. S——— A Deaf and Dumb Father's Peaishment of a Bad Boy. “I witnessed something the other day that made me feel bad, and at the same time there was a laughable phase to the affair,” remarked a Den- ver resident, “Out a few doors from where 1 live, a deaf and dumb couple have been living for several years, ahd seem to get along with their neighbors better than any of us. The husband has good employment and the wife is a frugal and pradent woman; taking verything consideration, they gotten a nice little home money ahead, one thing that is not and that thing Is in great Overgrown “vi wo, into quite jut they have shape of a big, that is one of the meanest wees of humanity earth. if bie 1s not checked, the hangman will get him, but that bas nothing to do with the story. “I was passing by the day morning, and I noticed man was angry at the Now, Intter can talk and hear ell as anybody, and rather seems to enjoy getting a crowd of boys to- gether and then cursing the old man, other boy 8 will laugh . This old man was mad, allow his way- Just nue £4] hand from t what on Some house yester- that the bey, the w as 1st so the ime, however, the 10 ind did not propose ward boy to have his own way. was he motioned stop, and then ulling his brought to PRT gran ligh style as a newly Then 1 knew e fun, and [ Wel Lie as large as 1, sir, tliat boy, jeri and The language nearly > was, ght ted him into a half vpri then 1 lay on the and any father position wean ing leather, boy began to swear that would shock but of course the hear a word of It. “The father quit ond, and then over to where 1 was stan a ng. and paper and two to tell wrote out as I heard words as 1 wrote fairly the I dghborhood, nO a seq coming took out his pencil line son said. 1 words just ed me in a or what the SWeRr He read the down, and t 3 rage, ret hen, shaking rned t and t * Wo! boy It was fully ten Was conquer : was ae *YerT k. in you finis Was present, ulated him taking in Here Is what a glip of paper when they suggested sive 1 Slow fore nan “aw the old : 2 lnlfl « and hoy him iad bed, Th of the neighborhood the he wrote congrat on hand. ot th anks to him: ‘I know he is a b Lord has so 1 you ean but he Marin like a neigh that mother. bunished him for. when you hear him say bad words and help me man Denver ad boy, the with these made me wut cannot know 1 got this yer ie things letter from morning a an 1g bad words about his what 1 me savi he sald That "lease tell in to make a i Times, of him.” Concerlag Ears and School Rooms. Defect] quently ive hearing om fre 1m sped yin about is a sympt seen in the schoolrod teachers yald 'upils sometimes consider ed backward and swopid, whose worst fanit This is not as common, probably. as defective sighs, but i ite as apt noeglee and 40 lead to disastrous results. Head colds, diesased conditions of the pha rynx and tonsils, and discharges from the external ear are all common with in this climate, and all sources of permanent deaf which sh know thing. Soe are ig their deafpess, $4 z tnd is qu to be tend ny prolifie fess, The teacher is in a position to detect this symptom early. apd should inves tigate every case of apparent inatten- tion and stupidity, especially if is noticed that this is accompanied with persistent mouth breathing. The teach- er can easily inform herself about a child's hearing, and quite accurately; a child should be able to hear a clear, low voice and should be able tick three feet from Children of defective hear ing should, of course, be seated near teacher's desk. She Drove Sixty Miles to Vote, An Hlustration of the determination ' of 1dabo women who have a volee in it it the record made by Mrs, BF. Jeffers of Halley. She has a ranch at Soldier, thirty miles from Hailey, and regis. tered in that precinct. Later she re moved to Halley and took a transfer to that place, but neglected to record it. At noon on election day she found she could not vote at Halley, and at once secured a team and started for Soldier. It was cold on that high prairie, but the courageous woman faced the wind and urged the team along in order to reach the voting place before the polis closed, This was accomplished and she voted, though several men insisted she had lost Ler right to vote there, Mra, Joffere then drove back to Halley the same night, the total distance covered being sixty miles ~Si Louis Globe. Democrat, Largest Grower of Cotton. James R. Richardson, who died re. cently on one of his plantations in Missiesippl, was not only the largesg individual grower of cotton in the world, but alse the owner of one of the best appointed plantations in the country. There is in operation on one of his places in Mississippi a complete rallrosd, devoted exclosively to the service of the plantation. He ctploye
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers