Al ple mes Co., ing ory, ari- this con= -oal, eap- ited. ome his lid— burn upid cool calm suf- ff ‘Is and, ched the ap- omo- lose- auto hetie that it in eant new ear- new gear back nner ving ry. it and w if sup- inch dis- 3." ds a mall city 's of min- vitae arty use. 3 9 um- d as hoid * Translated From the ho Jenny Brown <P ON the hill, a short dis- + tange from the hut stood a lonely pine tree, that fath- er had premised to cut down on Christmas eve. It was 50 beautiful, where it stood, and stretched its dark green branches out over the white snow. Hans walked round and round it and looked at it from all sides. It had grown so even, and was just high enough-to tind room under the low roof of the hut. In his imagination the little six-year-old saw it in all. its beauty, with gilt paper stars, “ginger bread hearts, rosy- cheeked apples and lighted candles. “Poor as I am, Hans” father had said, “you shall have a Christmas tree, and fine it shall be, that I promise you.” And Low the little child’s heart palpi- tated with pleasure and expectation! I ather had gone into town and was not expected to return before noon. Would he be long in bringing back all the beautiful things he was to” buy at the same time he was * getting’ the other - Christmas things for mother? Time and again Hans went out on the doorsteps and looked down the long. snowy road. At length father was seen in the distance. Hans started to meet him, and was permitted to carry the package father said was his. But how tired and pale father looked. He did not feel well, he said, but Hans must not worry over that. It was only a result of the hard labor that he now began to feel. It would soon pass away. And Hans believed that, too. “Mother, father has come,” cried Hans, and pushed the door wide open. The noonday meal was ready. But father could not eat anything. and laid himself down on the wooden bench and complained of pains in his chest. Mother laid aside the bag of rice and the coffee and sugar father had brought home. Father was ill! He had to admit it; he was suffering more pain than he would tell. Mother com- pelied him to go to bed and prepared a flannel saturated with turpentine that she spread on the chest. It was too bad that he should be taken sick, and on Chrisumas eve, but there was 1.8 help for ir. the beautiful things for the Christmas tree, little Hans for a few moments did not think of father. But when he fooked to tne bed where father was lying, moaning with pain, Hans did as mother had done. He pushed aside the beautiful Christmas tree things and knelt down by the bed. _“Peor father!” and with his little nands he stroked the bearded cheeks. “Don’t worry. my boy; yon shall have your Christmas tree. Speak to Neighbor Jerker, and he: will help you.” : “his was all well and good, but father was ill, and he Christmas pleas- ure spoiled. And such a Christmas that they had expected! last year they lad no means to provide for au Christmas tree or any extra pleasure. “14 any going to the “doctor.” id mother, as she tied the shawl over her fiend. “You stay with father, Hans; I will hurry back soon.” The doctor did not live very far away. He did not like to be disturbed on Christmas eve, but he wrote out a prescription after finding out from the : LZ A gy - i rtd ra on fa iy, 4 3 Sen i *Twas the Habt before Christmas, In each little house The children were waiting As still as a mouse To hear the puff ps And the pish, yugg and squeal Of good old St. Nicholas’ Automot ile! "OPTS _INustrated Bita. ‘what remarks would he made. In his rejoicing over | woman what the symptoms were. To visit the sick man was not to be ex- pected of the doctor on Christinas eve. “Give him this every two hours and the pain will soon pass ‘away. “ H'm, well, as it is Christmas eve, I will only charge fifty ore”—he had fhe right to demand a crown, but he felt charit- able, and, the poor- woman's last sil- ver piece landed in the doctor's pock- et. He did not inquire if she had any money left for the medicine, and she did not care to tell him that it was her last piece of mioney. and ‘that-father had spent his last crown for the-things to decorate ttle Hans’ Christmas, tiee. She. also had her pride, and she knew Ppor men's children have 10 right to pleas- ure or {uxuries.” The gingerbread and sangies and appleswoitld ‘be considered an awful waste ard extravagance. To the doctor's s «children it would have looked a poor pleasure, hut for her on little boy it was a sinful luxury. How different God provided for the people in this world, was the poor woman's thought, as, heavy hearted, she walked heme with the prescription in her in all its beauty already learned” a lesson “tree. hand. Had the ‘peer uo right to have “highly. pleased? RE p ‘about his Christmas tree, and he had promised then that they shouid sée it and splendor on Christmas eve: . Now he .weuld- affect indifference and pretend that he did not. care for ‘a Christmas tree, but would sell it in town.so father could get money for medicine. ‘Jerken, the eldest of the neighbor's children, cut down the tree. Hans was crying, but 'stoutly swallowed his tears and made Jerker promise him to tell his mother that Hans’ iad cone td town to buy a Christmas present: The mother “was very- much surprised. Where could Hans have got the money. She could.not understand it. Jerker did not know. He only. told her what Hans had told Lim, and that fie’ would not return before ‘evening, and they must not ony about ‘him. . ¥ no * » Ba How cold little Hans felt, and how that’ little heart of his felt heaxy and sorrowful. Youig“as ‘he’ was, he had ‘from life's story—the lesson of self-denial. He felt. cold; his‘. coat was short and threadbare, the shoes in poor coudi- tion and his mittens full of holes. But be knew that Christmas eve would bring him a new pair of ‘mittens. From his bed in the hut at night he had seen mother knitting a pair of mittens that were too small for father. So, surely, they must be for him. “or But with all nis sorrow there was a warm glow at his heart. Was he not wealthy? He had sold his Christmas tree, for two large silver crowns. Had bought the. medicine for father and Lad a large silver crown left as a Christmas gift for mother. God had helped him. Had not mother said that Yod watches over little children, and liad he not sent a wealthy laay- that had given nim two large-silver crowns for his tree, been told it was not worth fifty ore? A little golden-haired girl had. met fim in the beautiful richly furnished room where he had brought the tree. ‘1t' was placed ohta table,’ and’ the lit- tle girl was greatly*pledsdd’ over the He wondered 4f the little girl had known why he had soldshis: tree, sand that all of his Christmas pleasure was lost, would she have been just as He folloyved her with os, ! y “Zi ell 7! 2 FN HANS DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS. a heart that could feel and suffer? “The doctor gave me this prescrip- tion,’ said mother, “and the turpen- tine cloth was to remain, and you will soon be well, father.” “Oh, I. don’t believe the medicine will do me any good. and we will just i let it alone.” The mother understood, and she could not keep back her tears. Father had no money left for the medicine. “Don’t ery. mother, don’t cry.’ ex- claimed little Hans, as he tried to pull the mother down to him by her dress. “Father should not have bought the things for the Christmas tree, then he could have got the medicine, 1 under- stand that well enough,” remarked lit- tle Hans, with a precocious mien. “No, no, Hans, it would not have helped me,” interrupted father from his place in the bed. *‘But thank you for your kind heart. You shall have your Christmas tree as I promised you.” Littie Hans went out of the hut and ran to his tree on the hill. He walked around it, and the tears came in his eyes. But he wiped them away with the back of his hand. No, he must not cry; he must noc feel or show any sor- row over the sacrifice that would bring gladness and blessing to the home. He put his hands in his pockets and tried to look glad and free from care when he entered the neighbor’s hut. The children had for weeks heard him brag his eyes as she ran round the large room and clapped her small hands, full of pleasure. She handed him a large sugar cake and filled his pockets with apples and nuts and raisins. She had so much. A table in the room had sev- eral large dishes tilled with more beau- tiful things than he ever had seen be- fore. And the kind lady gave him two shining silver crowns. Bat before he left the room his eyes went back to the tree. He would never see it again. It was as if he had separated from a He ase and tears His mother’s “Poor men’s practice self- dear friend—from a playfellow. sat down on the stair streamed from his eyes. words rang in his ears: children must learn to denial.” * ¥ Ee But now Hans was glad again as he ran through the snow as fast as his little feet could carry him, pulling the sleigh after him. He felt cold and tired. It was dark and the stars shone in the heavens. He knew them all. Father had told him all about them, and he thought of the littie Christ child, and how the whole Christian world celebrated Christmas with trees and candles and Christmas gifts. But little Hans had neither the one nor the other. True, the forest was full of Christmas trees, but.it was not his, the one that had grown on the hill near his home, and over which he had re- joiced so much. But it was gone; an- notwithstanding bre ihe, 3 other child bad his tree. He thought of his tree asa living being, and that it felt the separation as much as he. Christmas present for father.” “You? Where didiyoun get it? Have you money, Hans?" inquired the moth- the bottle of Anedicine on ‘the fatife. “Wher ‘didsyes got it, hoy?” Hans inclined: his head. .and smiling- ly pushed bis.mother toward the win- dow. He drew away the curtain, and pointed to the.hill. Mother could look out in the starlight, night. and at once noticed that the tree was gone. Yes, she saw plainly that little Hans’ Christmas tree pvas not:-theve... She un- derstood it all: big blue eyes that sparkled wip toward her. She lifted the child in her arms and pressed him ‘toward her, too deep- ly moved’ to finds words for her feel- ings. But she felt so happy. so proud that this was. her child, and the poor mother in all her: poverty and humil- ity would not have exchanged her lot for a queen's coronet, “Mother, I have a Christmas present for you also,’ whispered Hans, and placed the silver crown in: her hand. Hans had renounced much, had de- nied himself ail, and therefore his gift was above ordinary value. CHRISTMAS IN DAWSON CITY. ‘Klondiker Ie" ¥¥ot did yer find in yer stoekin’ this mernin’?V . \ Chilkoot Pete—‘Irost-bitten oes.” ’ A ‘Funny Dream. I had, a funny dream last gd, As strange as strange could be I dreamed that 1 was Santa Claus And Santa Claus was me, And when I'came to Santa's house,’ (Witere we live now, you know) 1 foak out near a hundred things "And laid them in a row; A bicycle with bevel-gear, A gun that shoots real shot; A pair of skates, a new canoe, Vere some things that 1 brought. And then I said, "For fear I’ve missed A little thing or two I'll leave this pocketbook w ‘ell filled, That's just what 1 will do.” Of course it only was a dream, But still I think ’twould be Just great if I was Santa Claus And Santa Claus was me. —Johnstone Murray. » A Christmas Cross. No fir-tree in the forest dark But humbly bears its cross No human heart in God’s ie world But mourns its bitter loss. Yet Christmas-tide can clothe the fir In splendors all unguesse And bring to every suffering heart Its joy, its peace, its rest. God rest you, then, my gentle friend, And take your cross away, Or clothe it with a radiance new, On this glad Christmas Day. —Willis Boyd Allen, in Youth’s Compan- ion. CHRISTMAS GIFT. AN ARTISTIC PLANT STAND. Gran’mother’s Talk. Gran’mother says, while she’s sittin’ there, At the ide, in her old armchair: : 1y C hristmas now, my dear, i hen I was gir! there was more of light An’ song in the world a Christmas night; The are en just bios somed over the white In the Christmas long ago.” talks that way, ‘cause know, a her hair is whiter than whitest snow, An’ she thinks that her time is come to go "To a Christmas in the skies. But my arms ar ound her neck I throw, An’ say: “Gran’mother, in the long ago, Did you hav anybody to love you So?” An’ she smiles, an’ wipes her eyes. _T. L. Stanton, in Atlanta Constitution. She she’s old, you y YRS, TS An EASY. LF. Owls ONLY fas Woex ance A “ran But now _ he, was home. Father slept and mother was at the hearth preparing the evening meal. neta . “Hans, where. have you been?” in- quired mother. “Into town, mother, and I have a er in her astonishment as Hans placed - she could read it in the. AN ELOQUENT DISCCURSE ENT -minis unknowable. Canst | fection? } turies. A SERMON FOR-SUNDAY ITLED “KNOWING. THE TRUTH.” Or The Rev. Cornelins Woelfkin, Dwells on the Comlition.of Learning Spiritual Truth as Laid Down by Jesus—Open- Mindedagss is the First Qualification BROOK N —In the Gireene Aves nue Bg ? day morning the : Cornelius’ “Woe: it; apts i Beri on. Mr, W oalfkin’s tex was from. Deuteronomy xxix:26: The se- cret things belong unto the Lord; our God, but the things that are pevealed belong un- to us and £0 our chil dren, that wetmay do all the words of this law. 1d A noted: astronomer once. sa Th searched the Stars, but 1 find no God.’ a noted philesopher said, “If there is an int i nite, personal God, He is’ unknowable Materialistic science and’ rational 5 osophy have formulated the creed of ag- nosticism; viz.: that God is unknown and it sounds conservative, mod- est and wise. But, it is. not.xeally -mew. ne of. the ancients wrote in the long ago, *Canst thou, by searching, find out God? thou know the Ahnighty unto per- Zophar, the Naamathite, was a clever agnostic. The Hebrew law giver writes, . ~The ‘secret things belong nto the Lord our God.” 1f God be the Infinite, Eternal and Abs | solute, it is impossible .to comprehend and explain Him. There must always be di- mensions of mystery unknown and un- knowable in Him. "he astronomer never, expects to find the v-ails of the universe. There is always the unknown beyond. If space and time stagger the imagination, can we ever hope to bring the eternal God completely * within ‘the range of human conception? We are all agnostics. Even Christians worship at the altar of the su- per knowable God. It is no discredit to the theist that he cannot tell the day of Godis birth. We need not distress our- selves because we cannot walk about God and know His diameter and circumference. He is unknowable. Sut because we cannot know un, shall we’ rest content: to know nothing? a sciéntist is aware that he can never ow it all. Does, he therefore break his‘instru- ments-and’ fontent himself to abide! in ig- norance”? He knows ‘in. pari. He will know more; though he never knows it all. So, concerning God, there are things-<that may be known. The myste vy of the un- known. is the very charm of eternity. The ages will ever clothe themselves with new garments of my: stery. #How - may we know God? - God 'i§ a spirit and must be spiritually knotvn. Soh Fiske. speaking of the :spectrosgopes. -calls it "an addition to our senses.” All our inventions are extensions to our senses. There is auto-seeing; auto-hearing, auto- feeling. Tyndale said, ‘‘The silence of the forest at noonday:‘is agitated with sound, if we could only hear it.” There are some things Feleszopically discerned, others, microscopically "and spectroscopi- cally. Without these they are mot dis- cerned at ail.. “Why does one man only glance another will study it by the hour? Why will some peopie leave the music hall, while others are. held spellbound by the symphony? Because some things are art- jstically discerned and others musically. There must be the subjective faculty to appreciate objective genius. Why do some men go through iife with: out any sense of reverence, worship and prayer, while others bow in humility and adoration to one whom they call God? Be- cause: God is spiritually discerned. The natural man receiveth not the things of God. neither can he know them. He is lacking the soul's telescope, microscope, spectroscope, etc. san] devices cannot discover a spiritual God The study of man himself presents a faints analogy of this truth. Science stud- jes the human body; articulates the skele- ton; knows the nervous system; explains organization. But does the anatomist dis- cover the v ~ole man? Toes he find that ne Ns will, the magistrate—the conscience, the artist—the imagination, the orchestra—tne emotions, the librarian—the They are all there, but the ia- memory ? struments of physical dissection do not discover them. “hey are mentally dis- cerned. When spiritual men, as such, pronounce upon phy sical science, they be- come fools. And when materialists. as such, promounce upon spiritual things they likewise turn out folly. One qualii- cation cognot constitut: authority upon all.things. It is sometines said that religion speaks in a language of its own—a foreizn tongue. This must be so in the nature of the case. Every new idea demands the garment of a new word or phrase. Everv science cre- ates its: own nomenclature. We ‘might find a hundred volumes written in our na- tive tongue and yet not understand what is written. Spiritual realities must ex- press themselves in spiritual terminelocy. Lastead of quarreling with the introduc: tion of new terms, we should as true stu- dents learn their meaning and so widen our nil cnaione. The condition of learning spiritual truth is laid down by Jesus. “He that willeth to do His will shail know the teaching.” There must be Tight attitude first, and then the cxperiment of action. Open- nindedness 1s the first qua icat for apprehension. Prejudice tor and blinds t the judgment. It is the chief factor in our Notts ations. It is the handicap unon honest examination and experiment. Prejudive shut the theologians out of nat- ital: science for years. Prejudice is shut- _— the mate tsout of religious ience to-day. The w hole universe is governe by law. Let a man obey the laws of na- 1 11 unfold its mysteries xn put himself in align- itual realitie and the cover itself to him. > God must believe that is the rew arder of them Him. tion, the test of cz peri- mumbling block. Men have their own wills and hesitate and halt at doing the will of God. The chief diffi- cuities concerning religion do not rise out of intellectual embarrassment so much as a failure in attitude and action. Yet with- out these men cannot know. The means of knowing are twofold. St. John says, “That which we have heard, that which we have seen and handled with our hands declare we unto you.” There is ge of tradition—that which ard. There is tradition in Some things have been worked They are accepted as axiomatic by the consensus of all stu- dents. Who thinks to question the round- ness of the earth or its motion round the sun? Few of us have proved it; we accept it on scientific tradition. We do the same in all scientific study. Tradition is the forndation already laid, and wc build thereon. To exclude the authority of tra- dition would check all progress. So relig- ion has its traditions. Some things come to us with the “sterling” mark of thc cen- He who discredits all religious tra- dition ignores the past and begins anew. This makes the difference between the man of faith and thc skeptic. The man of faith receives what has been proven and builds thereon. The skeptic only exam- ines the foundations, sometimes without even laying new ones. But there must be personal experience also. When Morse asked Congress for an appropriation of $30,000 for his telegraph venture the ¢ nitteeman having the de- ciding vote w undecided. Mr. Morse took him to his hotel; showed him some miles of wire. He bade him go into a dis- tant room and there experiment with the instrument according to the code. He re- turned and voted for the appropriation, saying, “I have seen—I have handled the n that diligently seek Chere must be a ment. science. out, tested and proven at a picture, and, pass on, W hile nei instrument. and it wiil do what is claimed for it.” And any man may experiment with the realities of our religion and test its claims to comfort, wisdom. peace, rest, hope, love, prayer. etc. And only when we thus know will we be effective wit- nesses of truth. Jesus said. “We sneak that we do know and testifv that we have "With such knosrledge the known seen. becomes the kev of the unknown and leads “Phe purpose to obtain the the astronomer. life eterr after ms fell upon his kne ani Thee. O God. that I am. thinking Thy thoughts over ‘after Thee.” - This e] edge made him partrer with the t of the eterhal God. So every truth e imentallv discerned puts us into na ship with God. We Tearn to i His though to will His will; to 7 is love; fo live His life. And I ‘eternal. Therefore Jesus says Thee the ontv true: God: and .T 2 whom Thou hast sent, this is life eterna The range of things ‘thns kndéwable is _wide., Ouly, a few of them may be zzested. We may know the forgiveness of our sins. We are made conscious of our sinfulness through the exercise of our conscience and our inability to overtake what we knosv to be the ideal. . But when we accept the overtures of divine oigrare and vield to the incoming and inworking of God’s Holy Snirit, we experience a peace and nower whnich are the subjective evi- dences of onr being lonsed fram our sins. This is the first thing in Christian knowl- edge. Next ‘we nw that we have passed from death unto life” Such a transition is made on all planes of life. - A new cii- mate helps some men to pass from death to life in bod Education enables men fo pass from death to life mentailv. Society sometimes causes men’ to Dass from death to life morally. The ey elopment of latenk geniitls mak men s from death nnio life. So the! toueh of God’s Dns awakens new ideals. affections and nossibilities, and the ove of a spiritual soriety cvidences a passage from death unto life. “We know that all things work tovether for good to them that love God.” - This is not self-evident. as we take a narrow view of mortal life. But when we see the wider 1 ranges we learn it is’sn.” There may be ex- perienced which darken the scene and piunge the judgment «into panic. Josephs while being led a slave to Fazynt could not understard this. Nor could Moses. Dan; in the day of trial: afterward they saw it to be so. The sswwhich Moses saw was. not some lus form, but rather that alle the past history was transfigured with God's: pres ence and favor. It is_the backward look ‘that gives us this assurance. “We know that if our earthly house of this bodv ba dissolved we have a building of God * * 2 eternal in the heavens.’ ‘hat is, we know as ive haye an immortal destiny of eter: nal life. Subiectively we know that every appetite has its satisfaction. rests food and thirst argues for water. If God creates a fin on the fish He makes an element for it to swim in. If He fashions a wing, He supplies the air for it to fly in: Surely these lower appetites are not grati fied only that the deeper and nobler may he disappointed. And objectively, “Christ hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” His resurrection sat: es our desires and becomes prophetic of our destinv. Let us study earnestly the trivth of Cod with a view to doing His will, and we shall know in part now and more perfectly by and by. iel and the provhet ‘But is Preachers Must Deliver God’s Messaga. Some rec ent events have led to a revive al of the ‘broad Church” plea that a preacher should speak out all that he be: lieves to be the truth, without fear of the congregation, and unfettered by doxy or heterodory. This freak suj pposed to be warranted by Paul’: ‘as of sincerity * *iwe speak.” ortho: who'e emphasis is put upon ‘‘sincerity. But the first emphasis should not ba pla ced there. Sincerity is, of cou absolutely essential thing In a but fidelity is a prime essential. may o and his mis: consequence’ be sincerely mistaken, é may have far-reaching of ll for others. The first essential is fidelity to trust. The first business of a Christian teacher is to receive His message, and then, cerely, to transmit it. The Fundamentals of that are permanently fixed— they ave cal—and no plea of “sin cerity’’ must be allowed to interfere with them. If the chief emphasis be placed i subjective sincerity, the door 1s eas pened to every heresy and every fad: , in fact, is what has happened timed hout number. It 1s sometimes “churches gre empty’ not believe in the bound to object to nat true.” Bt itis, that many “occupants of the nuves™” are in a sis of amazement atthe. po contradiction between: the tril nounced week by week 1 the Ca the denials of these truths, or the waterin down of them by many who'live by them. The in any I asserted that the > because people will miraculous. We ard the statement: it 1g unfortunately, trud crux of the whole question is not detail concerning miracle, but in this: Is God Master in His own world, or 1s He not? And has’ He interiered or not with its order for the purpos: ing ren? If -the answer is ‘no,’ is a man cntitled to call hunself a believer at 11? But if God has intervened in the n of Jesus Christ to save the word, came from Him to reveal ething out of the ordinary 1 ened. Lord either commenced His exis. for tha first time at Bethiehem, or ne from ‘the other side’’ into our If the former, then He 5 3 simp- :» member of our race, and 3 ere incarnation. If the lat 1s .mot simply possible, i y demanded. A true incaru: in exceptional entrance into a jtional exit from our world. = matter comes to this: Have w y es or 3 yrom- i and impo ble. g the ntatter 1s preachers wh eliminated from S1 1 etherealized as to be hd of all historic siznaficance. They have no reasons save their disl for ethe pernatural. But their neare Sppians *h to a reason is the fact of the silence of the Gospels concerning these great nono. Qur lord, it is said, never Sa mentions His own miraculous birth; some evangelists omit the story. St. Paul new- er mentioned it, and this is said to be “evidence to the contrary.” Evidence! It is playin vith words. They testifiec to the u to truth which included it. And that is the great thing after all. Did not our Lord say repeatedly that He had come down from heaven? Did not John speak of Him as come from the bosom of the Father, and as being in the beginning with God? Did not Paul speak of His pre-existence with God? It is not just to omit reference to these things. “What, l becomes of this vaunted ‘‘argument from silence?”’—London Christian, A Comforting Assurance, _ This instantaneous return at Christ's ding of the widow's son into the 1} had vacated might well be assurance to the be $reg ved for tions of the absolut ones in their Demons almost @
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers