TfiitfIiDVIRGINIA fl@!L
V /A CHRISTMAS REVERIE IN VERSE V J
BY ROBEKTUS LOVE CUPVRUUIHIBOS.BY ROBBPITOM)visSiJ|ii<^
'-•■ • -1 |: v..
Mexico's Christmas Eve
Christmas in Mexico lasts for nine
days, ending with Christmas eve.'
They are described as "the nine days' j
wanderings." being symbolical of the
wanderings of the Virgin Mary and
Joseph in search of shelter prior to
the birth of.l ONUS.
One c ustom is to have nine familes)
of friends or relatives take part in this
quaint observation. I'.ach family en-j
tertains in turn for one evening all
the others. Both adults and children
participate in the wanderings. Arriv
ing at a house, they apply at the door |
of each room for shelter, which is re 1
fused by those within. Finally all are
Admitted to the largest room, where!
refreshment* of ••old meat-, cakes and
wine are served, in many instances
the c hildren are garbed in fanciful
costumes.
The last nishl of the wanderings, i
Christmas eve. means to Mexican chil-!
•K , ,r, if
.
JhCH MIIXDFOIJDKU CHILI) TIMES TO HIT
TUB PINATA.
dreu what the gathering of Christmas
tree fruit means to the children of the
United States, though there is no
Christmas tree. There is instead the
pinata, otherwise a human figure made
of tough paper, suspended from the
ceiling. Sometimes there is an olla or
earthenware pot similarly suspended.
One child is blindfolded, turned
around a few times and invited tec
break the pinata with a cane or rod
Three strokes are permitted, and it
usually happens that the can- hit
only impalpable air After an hour or
«o • 112 failures somebody hits the pinata
a smart blow, and the legs and trunk
of the grotesque figure split open.
'•own to the floor, in scattering con
fusion. fail the Christinas presents
■with which the funny figure was stuff
ed. Then there is a merry scramble
for the "favors." The one who sue- j
• eeds in breaking the pinata or the
olla gets a special present and is
placed in the seat of honor for the
evening.
Almost Qualified.
"Help yon!" seofTed the irate house
wife. "Well, I guess not. I only as
nist invalids."
"Well, mum," responded Beefsteak
Ben as he tried to remove the bulldog i
from his shins, "I'll be an Invalid If I j ;
stay here much longer."
The Poor Milkman Again.
The milkman was boiling over with
Indignation.
"And you mean to say my millc don't ;
look right?" he snapped. "Why, lady, j
this can of milk is a picture!"
"Ah. yes," laughed the keen house
wife: "a fine water color."—Exchange %
R a
Autobiography of
A Christmas Gift
■ u
1 am a Christmas gift, in fact. 1
have always been one. My age Is now
nineteen, though 1 may look older. 1
was made by the dainty hands of Miss'
Susanna Sikes. who at that time was!
just the age I am now. Guess her age
at present? She is still Miss Susanna,
and she still owns me.
Oh, yes. Miss Susanna gave me a way.
Perhaps 1 should explain that 1 am
twins, being a pair of knit slippers.
i Miss Susanna, it
fwas understood,
/ had benevolent
designs upon the
""j. young pastor of
£»' her church, so
| yv v \J s ' ie k' l " me uni^
sent me to the
1 \(J reverend youth.
mas tin l preach
w re
feet. So the i
WLk preacher s si t, . j
SUE SENT ME TO WUS UOt ill all I
HIM. offended.
The next Christmas she sent me to j
her < eld college chum. Mrs. i>e Brown. {
who was a member of tier brother' |
congregation. Next Christmas Mrs. 1)i j
It. sent me to her pastor. The pastor j
grinned when he saw ine again and j
remarked something like "Cast yotii I
bread upon the waters and il will re-1
•urn to you after many days."
The next Christmas the pastor sent
me to his old college chum, who was
sweet on Miss Susanna. There was
every prospect of a match, since Miss
Susanna had despaired of winning the'
preacher, who was known to be en
gaged to another lady. Bui the ver\ '
next Christmas the preae fiT'r's college
chum sent me to Miss Susanna with a
perfumed note praising her dainty lit
tie feet. This broke ofT the match, of
course.
Well, next Christmas Miss Susanna
mailed me to a friend of hers eh ir
across the continent. Miss Susanna'.-
udr 's on the corner of the box in
wlii h I was mailed got rubbed off or j
route, and her friend didn't know win i
sent me.
So the very next Christmas 1 re-1
turned to Miss Susanna. Oh. I wa.-i
hard to lose! I was not made to wear !
1 was made to circulate. I am a good
thing, and so everybody pas -, me
along.
Oh, so you recognize me now? Ye«. I
I spent a year with you. Well, time I
slips, and I must be going This is
Christmas eve, you know.
T. SAP!*, JR.
They Were Not Encouraged.
"1 don't see why that young man
doesn't propose."
"I think, pa, that the chances of his
doing it would be fully as good if you
wouldn't leave your boxing gloves
r.round where he cau see them."—Bo
hemian Magazine.
Of course everybody likes and re
spects self made men. It Is a great
deal better to be made In that way
than not to be made at all.—O. W.
riolmes.
It Is the wise head that makes the
■till tongue.—Lucas. '
Santa In Gnss Valley
One town in the United States has a
practical and apparently perpetual
Sauta Clans. In Grass Valley, Cal..
everybody gets Christmas gifts. There
is no child so poor as to be disap
pointed when Santa passes his boun
i ties around, and, for that matter, no
grown person either. Twenty-five years
| ago Mrs. Hansen »( Crass Valley was
an Invalid, confined to her chair at the
window of her cottage. She watched
the school children troop by. Some of
them were scantily clad and looked
ill nourished. The good woman for
got her own misfortune in her com
passion for the unfortunate little ones.
She suggested that on the last day
of school before the Christmas holi
days each child should bring to school
something to give away to others. It
need not be anything big or costly—
just whatever the child could spare.
A committee was to distribute the
things where they were most needed
So many little ones and their parents
were made happy the first Christmas
that Grass Valley adopted the idea per
manently. Now for a quarter of a
century Mrs. Hansen's improved Santa
! Clans system has bce-n in working or
dor. though long ago tin- good womau
herself was released from her chair of
pain and laid to rest in the town ceme
i tory.
I When the last day of SIIK.OI in the
I old year arrives -called donation day
In Grass Valley—every child ef the
' more than I,(XKI In the- s hoi N is seen
I trudging teacherward with an offering.
, Later the town's brass band heads the
: procession, dispensing appropriate tun
HKItE AND TIIEIIE A BOY HKAIIB A I.IYi-
CHICKEN.
nlc. Some of the children carry stick.-'
of wood as big as themselves; other
hold only il fat potato in their chtibb;
lingers. Here and there a boy bears
aloft, a live chicken, cackling and strug
gllng. At tlie rear of the walkers fol
lows a line eef wagons laden with good
things donated by the merchants ant 1
other well to do citizens. Suppose it
rains? Well, that doesn't matter. The
children march, rain or shine. Santi
Clans is not deterred by inciemen
weather—not in Grass Valley.
Inpenicus Ponies.
A rather curious habit has been de
veloped by Mexican ponies in connec
tion with the cactus thorns. When
these creatures are thirsty it is said
that before attempting to put their
mouths to the prickly plant they will
first of all stand and kick at the cactus
with their heels. By this means the
thorns are broken and the leathery skin
bruised, and so the ponies can drink
their fill of the cool juice without in
jury.—Strand Magazine.
Frugality is a fair fortune and habits
of industry a rood estate.—Franklin
AIM OF THE PIED PlKt|
\ yßriHCMßDSfcftSffiS. V caPYjutrffT
caPYjutrffT Mfo/t a*' «s. fc«>i
[Being a Christmas story of the biscuit shooter's revenge, which is offered with apologies to the shade of Henry
for infringing on his particular style of blank verse and at the samo time h'lsting one to the memory of tha old boy
who had everybody else beaten to a pulp and three ways from the jack at this sort of thing.]
{mL * A FRESHING with the pots and kettieg, imV V /
Wm \ \J\I Shooting biscuits like a ranger ffwuf
I If If With an aim that was unerring, uPJf
«L A Swiftly dealing out the ham-and, A J
WW "l/lVjli Also beefsteak tough as leather, f\ \l /!IK
EBs&lm Labored daily Minnie Harhar, 112 / I
Fiwßl*llrr Sometimes known as Laughing Waiter, 112 II /iMh
Jerking sinkers from the cuisine t j L~ J J
"IflJ To the grill room for the hungry, \ ( ' ■'•j
«r Working for a measly stipend
V Of two-fifty, coming weekly.
One day to that cobwebbed kitchen
Came a young man cold and hungry.
- - \ He was walking on his uppe->
a%B_. T "^T In the storms of wintry wear,
*!§«& | \<?z"*C r And k* s f ar h was built fort umeT,
Qr / T"'. j Hanging on him loose and 112 by,
l ']]^yStc* i S= agaa^ i^Lluwi ■ ' Like a hide hung on a fencepost.
Any cop he might have met then
Cr-rzrrr.T'; .. Would have run him in and vagged him.
Minnie Harhar taw the stranger, /" \ KHIZES A TRAV >O<U W.NT N WOIUT."
Saw that he was weak and weary; L J
Took him in and filled him quickly /rn /y^~)
With the leavings from the tables. SN
It was in the time of Christmas— * f"/-
Time of cheer and time of plenty. \r mi.
Then she sought the boss and told him /*\ „. n t * lo Granger seized a tray and
Of the stranger in the kitchen— , Went to work with Minnie Harhar,
Told him of the weary walking Dodging cops until she helped him
All the way from Kansas City. Get a more befitting raiment.
Where the stranger had been fired from And the philanthropic movement
Just because he had got jagged and back J ust seven-fifty.
Could not work at biscuit shooting. T j" 5 £1 a » s | ia^ e
And a bottle of loud perfume.
fThus equipped to make a conquest, ———^mmmmwmmmm,
He threw googoo eyes at Minnie— >«»-,
Threw them hard and threw them often
jfiPCclf
In his arms and hugged and kissed her.
He was hers and she was his'n
For a week OT ten days, maybe,
Until he had met another *■
Out upon the publio highway— And a smile that put him bughouse.
Met a gazelle with a light step She was working in a chop joint
, Farther down toward the river,
And his footsteps turned he often
ajnspi ZJP mm Joyfully in that direction.
SKEAK Just as soon as work was over
It J&.J f£\ With the gazelle he would wander.
' i /ifriiiiiifcy * r) They were fairly glued together
rAiRLv «kii«> As they walked and chinned each other,
An nnknown tQ Minnie Harhar.
And they'd take their beer quite often
In the wine room at O'Kelley's. -»mwi|||jr TsrvmgE^ fmm:rm ''' '"A T 112 P' 1 "V r "A*- n.n".w«fg i w , '\
Christmas days were soon forgotten, his \ \ I 1" V/
And the loan he'd got from Minnie
From his memory fast was fading. /»vntlv
tOne day Minnie Harhar saw them Sure, she could have bawled him out then,
Sauntering along together. And the gazelle would have shared it,
And the air was fairly reeking But would that have helped to get her
With the stickiness of love talk. Any of the seven-fifty
Minnie caught on very quickly. She'd invested in his* raiment?
Saw which way the wind was blowing. Minnie Harhar pondered deeply,
But refrained from taking action. Made a sneak and held her temper.
Saying he must dig up quickly Minnie saw he not coming
sovrn hmm Or she'd put him out of business. Through with any sum of money
TMEkfAix-Fim Waiting then for half a minute. In the use of the invective
Minnie Harhar was not slouchy.
* nto s * ie threw it swiftly,
<? ' C Like the hot soup l'rcni the ladle.
(/«CJ ° Ie choicest chophouse language
\ ( VO Minnie then addressed the piker—
Said he was a chump and wclsher,
Also cheap screw, phony, moocher:
' Called him two spot, bloke an.l v/uzzer,
' Said he was a yap from Yapville
And a skate from down the river. 1,,,..
Minnie also shied utensils, Pans and plates were flying wildly,
Using them for punctuation; Walls were spattered with their oontents, 112 \
Hurled a plate with such precision While the boss had taken refuge vsV, 1
. That it spoiled his face forever; In a corner, with a table 112 | I
Slammed a stove lid on his stomach. Upturned there to shield and hide him. ( 't , M
Pot of beans against his bosom; And the piker, he was hiking 21—* Ji
Hit him with the mashed potatoes Fast around the room and dodging,
And a fricassee of chicken. But at every throw was getting V
All the time the guests were dodging All that could be coming to him.
Round the tables in the grill room. Everything was thrown by Minnie, J
l| >-*s. wL-jivu- -i L ))
« alx ' ux - Atat vnjzaro
Jt X >> * Wfliw: M*»
fcJ -<* 'its I CATC** nuwufcM
All that she could lay her hands on. Until he had eaten through it.
Nothing else was there remaining Then outside the door he ambled—
But a pie; 'twas made of oustard. Exit pie and farewell piker.
This she seized without a tremor. In the art of roughhouse making
With a ory she sent it hurtling Minnie Harhar cleans the platter.
Through the air, and safe it landed Trifling some with her affections
the visage of the piker. Is not now considered healthful.
With his face all plastered over, And the piker who has tried itt
Surely he was out of business It is best that he be nameless.
Her Assistant.
The authoress of whom F1 legend*' j
Blatter tells had said that she was
▼ery happy In her married life.
"X And my husband such a help!"
she added fervently.
"Indeed!" said her friend. "Does he
cook or write?"
Thought of Him.
Papa—Are you sure that you ami
mamma thought of me while you wcro
away? Grace— Yes; we heard a man
kicking up a great row about his
breakfast at the hotel, and uianuun
said. "That's lust like papa"
Different In Books.
In the books this is the way they
say it:
"Outside the wind moaned unceasing
ly, its voice now that of a child which
sobs with Itself in the night, now that
of a woman who suffers her great pain
alone, as women have suffered since
life began, as women must suffer till
life wears to its weary end. And min
gled with the wailing of wind rain fell
—fell heavily, Intermittently, like team
wrung from souls of strong men."
Outside the books we say:
"It's raining."—Atchison Glooe.
The Girl cf the Period.
Having greater liberty, greater self
reliance, better health, larger < i>p >r
tunities, the girl of the period, with -ill
her drawbacks, is .1 liner and a better
creature than either her mother or her
grandmother.- T. 1* O'Connor in I.ou
don M. A. r.
Comprehensive.
"TTubliv. I>s niy li it on straight?"
"Well. If y.-.i: • h.it Is. your hair isn't,
and If your in r Is, then there's some
thi:iff nskew sbnit your hat."—New
York Journal.
FINE LAND FGR FARMS
Hundreds of Home Seekers Flock
ing to Sun River Valley.
FERTILE REGION IN MONTANA
Soil la Capable of Yielding Big Crops
of Wheat, Oats, Sugar Beets and
Other Products—Ma/ Prove Excel
lent Dairy Country.
One of Montana's most beautiful
I agricultural valleys is now the scent)
I of unusual activity, as hundreds of
j home seekers from all parts of the
United States are going there to take
up their new homes.
I The Sun river valley, which is a lit
tle west of the center of the state, on
| the eastern slope of the Itocky moun
tains and near the city of Great Falls,
I was selected several years ago by the
J reclamation service as a choice area
I for the construction of a stupendous
I irrigation work. The work has pro
| pressed rapidly, and several farms
I have been thrown open to settlers on
j liberal terms.
These farms will be obtainable un
. der the homestead law subject to the
| charges of actual cost of water upon
| the number of acres actually supplied
i with miter from the system. This
I charge has been fixed at S3O an acre,
! divided into not less than live nor
j more than ten annual payments, says
j a Washington correspondent of the
! Chicago News. The sum of $3.50 will
[ lie due and payable at the time of
making entry. The second Installment
! will lie payable March i. 1010, thus
j allowing early settlers nearly two
■ years before second payment is due
1 In this period any industrious settler
; can get his land into shape to earn its
( own repayment of the charges.
An interesting and unique feature in
! connection with the project is the pro
! posed establishment of model rural
villages every six miles, in all there
j will be twenty of these, so that no
| farm will be more than three miles
from a postofflee and school.
All the crops which can be grown in
I northern countries can be raised in
I the Sun river valley. It is probable
' that the principal crops raised wi'l b >
' alfalfa, sugar beets and potatoes, f'.iu
| ally three cuttings of alfalfa are made
j annually. Some have cut only t w<»
crops, and others have cut four, bub
I the average is three and ttie "i'u;e
yield about five tons an acre. TUe
I present price varies from $5 to sls
; ton in the stack, according to location
: and demand. It Is not probable that
| the average price will drop below $5
| for many years. The cost of putting
j the hay into the stack Is about ft,25 *
j tou.
The average yields an acre are: Po
tatoes, 228 bushels; wheat, 28 bushels;
! oats, (JO bushels; sugar beets, -0 tons.
; All garden truck Is easy to raise ex
i cept tomatoes and some kinds easily
affected by frost, though these with
* j care may be grown sufficiently for
J family use. An ordinary ranch garden
I about two miles from Simms in 1905
j produced a net profit of $225 an acre
| from the following kinds of vegeta
: bies: Cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes,
squash, oi.: . pumpkins, carrots, tur
i nips, bee:' mI parsnips.
The sugar beets grown In the vicin
ity have analyzed 23 per cent sugar.
| The beet industry promises great
things, aud a sugar factory Is assured
, upon the completion of the works nec
! essary to irrigate an area large enough
; to guarantee five year contracts on
i 5,000 acres of beets. Past experiments
j prove that the farmer should average
i a net profit of S4O an acre on sugar
! beets.
It is probable that the Sun river val
\ ley will prove an excellent dairy conn-
I try. A creamery was completed in Au
i gusta in January, 1907, and the three
or four others already in operation in
i neighboring towns show that the in
. dustry is profitable and will be pernia
j nent and growing. Four and a third
| million pounds of butter are now ini
| ported annually from other states.
J This means that over $1,000,000 ought
to be kept in Montana each year for
1 butter.
Full details relating to terms, size of
farm units and other information re
i garding the methods of securing lands
, may be obtained on application to S.
Is. Ilobbins. engineer United states
reclamation service. Fort Shaw, Mont.,
or statistician, reclamation service,
Washington.
The Modern Husbf.nd.
Mrs. Knicker We are to have a thou
satid foot skyscraper. Mrs. Mocker
suppose that means that Henry will bt
detained at the office 500 feet later.
Harper's Weekly.
Jr.ded.
The Lady i.ittle boy. don't you know
I smoking will shorten your life? Tli
Kid—Shucks! Wot do I care? I've
seen everyt'iug dere is.—Boston Trav
eler.
i l*ut a little more in th in you take
! out. and your purse will s. on fill.
;lil SEW!!
A Reliable
TD SHOP
Tor all kind of Tin Roofing,
Spouting And Csnsral
Job Work.
Stoves, Heaters, Ran«ss,
Furnaces, sto.
PRICES 188 LOWEST!
PUTT TDE BEST!
JOHN IIIXSON
Ha 1W a FBOKT BT.