Through the "Holy Days." Glad the light of Christmas comes, Merry is iho Christmas feast. Through a thousand happy homos, North and South anil West and East; Blithe the song the traveler sings. Blithe tho wish the reveler says. Lifting hearts to happier things Through the Christmas holidays. Other dear desires woro oiim, Few folUllo.l and many lost— Though wo catch, in rarer hours. That which wo have longed for most; Life hath found a fuller measure, When we tri ad forgotten ways, In the sudden streaa of pleasure, Through the Christmas holidays. In tho future wo shall see Murh to promise anil forget- There are tendencies that be Which wc cannot'fathom yet; Still a song tho traveler sings, Still a toaat tho reveler save, Trifling with familiar things, Through tho Christmas holidays. for a (tOtxlsiU. Mrs. Chester's Mistake. A CHRISTMAS STOUT. "Now, Bertha, road over the list,and tell me if I have omitted any friend whom ycu particularly wish to honor." " I should say not. judging from the depth and thickness of that formi dable pile of missives !" laughed pretty Mrs. Chester from hor coxy arm-chair, drawn up close to the fire in the library of e most charming house. It . as within a week of Christmas, and snow was falling from a leaden sky on tho lawn and wooded park that sur rounded Cheater ball. But tho gloom without only served to heighten tho luxurious comfort within. Tho fire light danced and played upon the rows of gay-looking volnmes that lined the walls- upon the stately busts of bygone poets aud authors of high repute that appropriately filled the corners—upon the bright-colored silks that had fallen from Mrs. Chester's work-basket on to the rug of valuable tiger-skin—lastly upon tho fair faces of the two ladies who were bonding ovor the writing table. In the center was a capacious card tray, which had been emptied of its contents; and the elder of the two began to call over the namos, referring at the same time to the pile of written notes, a proceeding mnch retarded by the comments passed npon them. "Melvilles, Greys, Hnnts, Agnes Lester—" "Star, that note will have to be' burnt. It is no use to ask Agnes. She has declined all invitations for the last two vears, nntil people grew so certain of refnsal that they let her alone." "You surprise me I" returned Mrs. Harding. "I used to hear of her as the liveliest girl of your set, always ready for a frolic, and devotedly fond of dancing. What can have changed her so T* "So one has any idea ; but it is a great pity, for sho is just as charming and as beautiful as ever." "I must take her in hand myself and alter snch a state of things," rejoined the kindly widow, resuming her task. "Boyds, Pridhams, Macleans, and here is a name I am unacquainted with, and lai 1 aside as 'doubtful.' Who is Hose Davenant?" i| "Oh! please o suc ceeded by a clear starlit night. Rose Davenant drew aside the heavy curtains when she roe from the dinner table and looked ont. For a wonder aho was free from any engagement, neither ront nor concert claimed her that evening, and she contemplated de voting it to the fulfillment cf a duty that of late scant leisure had obliged her to defer, not that it was by any means a duty devoid of pleasure, for a visit to Mr,. Allen, the dear old invalid lady tl at lived so near them, was al ways a source of delight to her. Whenever her round of engagm->enta allowed her an hour to spare, she spent it with her elderly friend; and in the amiable, unaffected girl, listening so seiiouaiy to the anecdotes and stories of a long past youth, seasoned with many a homely adage of counsel and sdvice, none would have recognized tbe brilliant, sparkling coquette, whose sarcastic speec.es hsd sometimes a point too keen for her admirers wholly to relish. It was not too far for her to ventnro alone; so, wrapping a fur-lined cloak tightly ronnd her, the ample hood pro tecting her head, she stepped ont into the still winter night. The keen air bronght tbe roses to her cheeks and the brightness lo her eyes, and never had she looked more beauti ful than when she stood in the doorway of her friend's tiny drawing-room. Her usual gentle tap had remained unanswered; and dazzled by the sud den blaze of light, sbe did not at first discover that Mrs. Allen was absent. The easy chair by the fire was vacant, but leaning against the mantelpiece, apparently in deep thought, was a gen tleman. Ilia back was turned toward the door nntil the sonnd of some one entering canned him to look round. For a moment they gazed at each other speechless snd spellbound; then summoning all her presence of mind, Rose grcstod him with a dignified how, a vivid flush of crimson dyeing her cheek the while. It was met by an an swering look of psin on the part of the stranger, who held out his hand, ex claiming; "Is this all the greeting yon can be. stow n pon me, Rose T Yon need not be afraid. I have forgiven the suffering your fckleness has caused me, although tbo scars will remain fornvi r. It is the penalty he must pay who loves but once, and that too well I" " I do not understand you," murmured Rose, scarcely heeding what the said. "Itis I who have to forgive; I, whose love you won, and then threw aside, when it was no longer a living presence near you. Not a word 1" she gasped. " Not a line I although I hungered for it night and day 1" " Rose I come to me, my darling I I see it all now, and tho blame ia mine I The lettera from home told me of a lover always st your ride, of s titled suitor those name was linked with yotirx, and without (tiring yon a chance of vindicating yonrself, in my hasty prido I gavo you up to the rival whom, aa I believed, you preferred to me. I lost all trace of you, and in my blind tieHH hoped never to ace you more 1 Roae, dearest 1 forgive me; the fate that haa brought us together to night waa aurely meant to unite oa 1" Ho hod folded her in his artna during this impassioned appeal—her whole being seemed to vibrate to hia elo quence; and when, shortly afterward, Mrs. Allen entered Lor amall drawing room, she found it tenanted by a pair of betrothed lovers. Chester hall was brilliantly lighted, tho pretty hostess and her sister were standing in tho principal reception room awaiting tho arrival of the guests; bnt the fair face of tho former was clouded and gloomy. With all her clever scheming she foresaw that the evening was destined to bo a ooraplote iuiltire. True, the expected travelers had arrived; but ber plans for her brother's welfare hail been set at nought. Ho had left word with the butler,rising from the dinner-table, that he had gone to visit a friend, and shonld let himself in quietly and retire to his room. His sister had abataiui'xl from mentioning the expected assem blage, knowing her brother's recluse turn of mind, and Mr. Chester could render no further information of his whereabouts, reducing his wife to tho verge of tears. The sonnd of carriage-wheels, how ever, compelled her to wreathe her face in smiles. The rooms wore filling fast, when uinid tho ripple of langhter and conversation came a slight burst of ad miration. "Who is thit lovely girl, Bertha, who has just entered ? What an exquis ite toilet!" exclaimed the widow, wav ing her hand toward the last comer. Mrs. Chester glanced in tho direction of the door, and her countenance as sumed a look of tho greatest consterna tion. " Why, that is Agnes fleeter! lam delighted to see her; bnt, oh I Clara, whose note of invitation could I hare burned ? It is quite im possible to tell, bnt Bomo one will be hopelessly of fended. How could I have l>een so stnpid as t. burn any note !" she ssid, ready to cry with vexation. Her brother's friend, Captain Colston —Jack Colston, as he was familiarly called—a handsomo man in the uniform of a naval officer, was standing near the door as Agavn ontorwl un perceived by him. She turned pale, and for a momcn her heart stood still Could the dead come to life again?—was it a spirit standing beside her ? She mnst speak, if only to assure herself that she is not dreaming. "Jack !" she said, softly. Ho tnrned with a start. ••Agio* r Their eyes met, and their hands were clasped in |>erfect rapture of bliss and contentment. In the tnidst of a crowded room, with a gay company round them, it was neither place nor opportunity for anything beyond that ope brief excla mation ; but shortly afterward, when leaning upon his arm, she entered a dimly-lit ante-room that rot even a stray oonple had as yet eva>Kd, he said, tenderly: "It was my consin Jack's death that was announced in the TVeasa. He dfcd in his chambers in London; and on looking over bis papers a few days since I discovered the two laat letters I wrote him. the inclosures to you still in them snd unposted, snd strangely enough I failed to connect the eirenm stance with year sadden silence. It was a fatality altogether, and was well nigh ending in the wreck of two lives. When yon ceased to write, I ceased to hope, and resolved henceforth to live for my profession. To morrow I should have set sail for the East, and I tremble to think that we might never have met again." " And I lisve grieved in secret for yonr death, till life itself seemed hard to liear. My very yonth bad passed away. Am I altered ?" she asked, ex changing her tone of sadnens for one of pla.vfnl banter. " Yes; I left a pretty girl. I come back and find a beautiful woman I" At this juncture their quietude was broken by the entry of several guests, so the reunited lovers wended their way again toward the lighted rooms. .s• s s • "And to think that, after all, my un lucky mistake in bnrning Hose Dsven ant's invitation instead of Agnes Les ter's should have produced such delight ful results!" exclaimed Mra. Chester the day after. " Fonr people made happy for life by a chance—a mere chance? But,"she added, aerionsly, "is it not something more than just a lucky chance?" " Yea," exclaimed her brother, who happened to overhear the remark as he and Rose entered the room together; "I shall never believe in what the world is plessed to call 'chance' again. It could have been nothing lees than a kind Provideaoe that prompted yon to make suoh a kcky mistake 1" TOPICS OP THE tfAT. Henry Clay's grandson, Henry Clay, who went out with an Arctic expedition a year ago and waa grounded on the ieeberga by Howgate a failure, concluded to go np and find the pole himaelf, but after travoling several daya by dog team, concluded that the pole ia well enough when* it ia, and came home. The Amcricun Palace hotel to be erected on the Victoria embankment of the Thamea in London, between the river und the palace of Whitehall, ia to be nine ntcrion high, accommodate 1,300 guest*, be managed by Lei and, of the Delcvan house, Albany, the waiter* and barkeepers American, the capital 18,000000 or 1400,000, furnished by Englishmen with whom the idea, sug gested by their liking hotels in this country, originated. It will not be rnn for American travelers exclusively, but it ia expected that Englishmen will patronize it. The San Antonia (Texas) Erpre** re ports a remarkable mortality among a drove of sheep. Mr. Sawyer, who is a large sheep-owner in Medina county, drove a flock of 4,500 sheep out of Pleasanton in apparently good con dition. Tho drove had hardly got thirteen miles from town before 1,915 died almost inntantly. Whether they wer>- maliciously poisoned or not is a question of doubt, but certainly the vultures that devoured the carrion dropped dead on the ground. Homo argue that the sheep fd on the deadly senna berry, but this is mere conjecture. Governor Neal, of Idaho, says with reference to Mormoniem that the gov ernment mnst go right at it now and cat it ont by the roots. If not it will have to be put down at the end ortbe bay onet He says: " Already tney think they can defy tho United State*, and 1 have seen a mob of 20,000 Mormons in Utah march by the Federal court when it was in session, and hoot in derision of its authority. I have seen the flag borne covered with insulting mottoes, and I have seen it dragged in the dirt. We mnst meet this thing now or it wi'l cost bloodshed to put it down." The fnnd for the monument to Gar- Held at Cleveland may very likely reach $lOO,OOO in time. It is now abont $72,- 000, of which Ohio has given nearly $•10,000 and the rest,of the Union abont $12,000; auil of Ohio's portion about $50,000 was contributed by Cleveland. Expectations are rairt-d that the relics oons'.rncted from the wood, cloth snd other material nscd aronnd the cata falque will net s handsome sum for the bnilding fund, to which tho proceed* are to be devoted. These relics have lately appeared in several cities, inclneen to an English man of the time of Klizaneth. Capturing a Huge Cuttle Fifth. In an article on thin monitor of the 00-an a New York paper earn: It i only occasionally that these monsters venture to attack fishermen, hut Mr Harvey tays that on the second of November, 18711, Stephen Hherring, a fisherman residing in Thimble Tickle, was ont in a boat with two others; not far from the shore they observed some bulky object, and supposing it might bo a portion of a wreck rowed toward it, and to their horror foand themselves close to a huge fish having large glassy eyes, which was making desperate efforts to or raj* , and churning the water into foam by the mo tion of its immense arrnn and tail. It was nground, and the tide was ebbing. From the funnel at the back of its head it was e ecting large volume* of water this being its method of moving back ward. the force of the stream by the re of the surrounding medium driv ! ing it in the required direction; at tim* the water from the siphon was as black as ink. Finding the monster partially disabled, the fishermen plucked up courage and venture.! near enough to throw the grapm 1 of their l*at, the sharp fluke* of which, having barbed points, sank into the soft body. To the grapnal they had attached a stont rope which they carried ashore and fastened to a tree ao as to pre | vent the fish from going out with the tide. It was a happy thought, for the devil-Ash found himself effectually moor# 1 to fhe shore. His struggles were terrific at he flung his lea arms about in dying agony. The fishermen took goo.! care to keep at a respectful distance from the long tentacles which ; ever and anon darted out like great tonguei from the central mass. At length it became exhausted, and as the water went out it died. It was the largest specimen ever taken, the body alone measuring twenty feet from the b*k to the extremity of the tail; one of the long arms was thirty-five feet in length, and the whole animal was twice as large at the one exhibited at the New York aquarium. From these ac oonnts it would soo that the maximum length of these giants of the sea, as far ( ae known, is from fifty-five to sixty feet, i but there is no reason to doubt that they , greatly cxeeod this living in tlie groatei depth of the ocean. A great number of species are known, but most of them are extremely small when compared to the giant squid of the NorthAtlantie, many of tbam being hardly overt foot in length, but in gen eral appearance they resemble their huge relative. Their power of throwing ink and water from the siphon must be great; the writer has observed a small squid throw a stream three feet from the water with dire effect upon an en t h Ohi utic naturalist. The black staring eye, nearly as large as a plate in the large ones, presents a striking appear ance, resembling greatly that organ in vertebrate animals, bat the resemblance la superficial, as the eye of the aqnid is formed njon the same plan as that of the snails; the bills resemble those of a parrot, onlv larger, and ths upper one fits into the tower. Btrange to say the pen that supports the body of the giant aqnid is extremely fragile, while in the small sepia of the Mediterranean sea it is formed of limestone and familiar as the "cattle-fish bone" of commerce. A book with a loose leaf should be bound over to keep the piece. for Oyster*. The oyster fishery to these locsliii® - i* carried on in two ways .either by "tong-J ing" or "dredging." The first method, j being confined to email area* and to a J limited number of fisherman, and nns oeptible of use but in aboal water, need not be considered. The seeond method of taking the oyster ia as fol lows: The implement naed ia called a dredge or scrape, and resembles a large iron claw, the nails representing the teeth of tbo'redge. To the back*- this claw, or the dredge, ia fastened a bag of iron mesh work, largo enough to bold two or thr< e bushels. When the dredge ia dragged along the bottom the toeth or claws dig up the oyster* and shells, which pass between them and into the network behind. The action is somewhat like that of a bar row. The dredges vary greatly in sixe, being from two to five feet acroaa the mouth, and of greater or less weight, according to the depth of the water ill which it ia intended to use them. The dredging vessels vary in size from five to thirty tons, and all uso two dredges. When on the oyster ground the dredges are dropped, one from each side, and a sufficient amount of line paid out to in sure the "taking" of the teeth ; the ves sel is then kept under easy sail and at a moderate spaed until the dredges are full, that being indicated by the strain on the dredging line and by other signs known to the fishermen The instru ment is then hauled in bv means of a small winch, the contents emptied on the deck and the dredges put over again. This is continued until the ves sel is near the edge of the bed, when the dredges are recovered, the vessel put about, and dredging resumed in an opposite course. While tho dredges are in the water the mud, sand, sponge, grass or other debris brought up, are separated from the oysters, and together with all oysters unfit for market, thrown ba-k into the water. The limits of the dredging ground ar<- not accurately de fined, and the vessels frequently drag large numbers of shells and oysters be yond the bonndary of the beds. The dredge, especially when full, acts as a scrape and carries before it much that would be collected in the network at tached to it had that receptacle been open. After "calling" the oysters, or separating them from the old shells, those shells-arc thrown back again, and with them many young oysters.—/'n;**- lar Scirnot Monthly. Stuffed Kittens in Fat or. In Boston a lady has been quite ex tensively engaged in preparing kittens for ths art market. She is studying for the medical profession, and while de riving profit from her present pnrsuit, learns something from her work in pre paring the little animals for ituffing. The first stuffed kitten that she saw was imported from Italy, and as an ex periment she essayed the work. A gentleman friend contrived a machine which choke* six kittens at onoe, and he is so tender-hearted that be tnrns his bead during their dying struggles. The lady prefers to leave this part of : he work to others than herself. She recently stated that a single firm had purchased from her 381 stuffed kittens and that she had prepared over 500 in all for the market. At times kittens of desirable sixe become so scarce that 1 it is difficult to fill orders without a' systematic canvass of the cat popula tion of the section in which she lives. The favorite colors are Maltese, gray, and black and white, but ail colors ap pear to find admirers. It is a curious business for a lady, but it pays, and her work is apprecisted by those who are in search of pretty novelties. An Fninteiitional Thief. A tourist was standing the other even ing in one of the shadowy area U-s of the Oolisenm at Rome, when he was somewhat brusquely hustled ing figure. With a quick insnHt he clapped his band to his wstch pocket. His watch was gone I He darted after the thief, who turned sharply round, at the same time clutching a wstch. "Give me that wstch 1" A dash—the stolen property was recovered. The startled robber disappeared and the gen tleman went home to boast of his ad venture and his prowenft. What was his consternation, on entering his bed fot m, to find his own wstch, which he had forgotten to put on, staring him in the face from the mantelpiece 1 He had been the thief, and %he other wretched man had stumbled over him in the dark, and when overtaken and stopped was merely clutching his own watch, which he had not the nerve to rescue froni the tourist. That tourist is ' now known to an admiring circle of friends as the Bandit of the Coliseum, Weight 0 r a Million Dollar-. In round number* the following table represents the weight of a million dol or* in the coins named: Description of coin. Ton ft. Standard gold ootn tk dUn lsrd •lircr coin *•; HuWtiarr silver c0in........ 34 Minor seia, tve-emt nickel MS