kettle never simmers on the hearth stone any more, have given up the sacred frexide; ¢ kitten never sccpw before the back log on the floor, he spnning wheel has stopped grandma died; Pst, In hi his fancy, sees the “lam. ¥ circle” yet blithely sings the glory of His While toa hile the artist takes his pencil and in rat BY, to forget fireside has given way to steam. : The oiier. and the furnace are in no de ; sublime : The rata hard refudes ts seanoble them : mn rhyme, ~ And the artist never turns With his brash to suth concerns: have spoiled the family circle of “the splendid olden time.” st, the he prescher gr gravely proaches of the resi : Forge that Io fong since it eonsed ree Hhat the people he is preaching Forgetting 1h Where janitors are lords of all they see! TAL, the fireside is only & blind mantel on the wall The logs that used to erackie blare ne more; No more fantastic shadows over old rag carpets fall, : The hearthatione’s but a grating in the floor. The good old ways are ended and the | charm of them has fled, No “fHremide” remaing Lo jure bs Bow: No more, alas! does father have to clam. | ber out of hed To bait the logs while mether tells him hover Little Willie doesn’t hare fo carry billets in at night, . eAviling chop kindling nowadays Stay! bat bat the steam pipe hump ing~"tix no time for fight wr fright We have given ap the old poetic ways. Oh, a fancy sereen is standing as sn orna. ment before The walled and plssterad place that was the fireside of yore The wind ie howling “Wanannt® Bot no flames leap np the five, And the hearibeione’s just a grating in the Sonor —~8. FE. Kiger, in Chicago Recerd Herald, = ney #5 ie minister's Ss ter eames into the litle back meeting room off the main the church, where the members 2 Something wax going on. In through “half open door could be beard n | and an expert in soch | buzz of people, mattore, if Le lind passed by and even Hy looked within, would have known that a chureh fair was in pro- t was, ifiiesd, the annual church «held ur der the auspices bd the sinister’ dsughter Was in charge of proceedings. Her father, away in fils varstion, had called her into his study before his departure and ap peated to her very strongly to “do her | are.” And so she had suddenly an ved her determination to take an e part. much to the surprise of EVETyone, as up to the present time she had been more Interested In playing golf than io spiritual matters, and bad even been called a “regular tomboy” | by ceriain feesicitrant belugs in old fashioned bonnets. “She will make a failure of It™ an. nounced Mrs. Miotby, the official critic ; e minister's family. “That girl balrbrained, and besides. what does know about such matters? Bhe uldn’t be seen in church half the me If common decency didn’t make Af That's #0,” assented Mrs. Dickster. All she cares about are the toen and yutdoor sports, anyhow.” And now when the fair was half over | 1 began to seem ax if these predictions were to be fulfilled. The booths com. biped had taken in barely $30, and to send those poor children away for the r-for the minister's daughter, with a fine scorn of foreign missions, bad insisted that charity should begin me—~aeemed a desperate chance, and at this particolar moment it ed as if nothing short of a miracle tloneer. up. Don't Jet anyone else get it, to the ihoit of your wad—understand? I'll le tiyere in time” The boy, fresh and fair and innocent looking—~as the run of boys in “gilded | bells” are apt to be—was off in a trice, and in ten minutes more had added his individual unit to the circle around the main centre of osculatory interest. It is highly probable that if such a really seandalons proceeding as this auction had been premeditated and ad. vertised beforehand it would Yiave been promptly squashed by the pillars of the church. But the saddentiess of §¢ took the critics off their feet, and 11 was well io band and “going on” be. fore anyone bad tite to take hreath, The misigter % daughter was the sue: A bamboo cane, with a strip of red bunting on it, was her wand of service. Tall and stately and beanti- ful, her eyes flashing with the fun, she stood by the chair and waved her flag “Now, ladies and gentlemen” she cried, “liere Is Miss Kitty Jones. How ‘much am 1 offered for a sweet kisp? What! Only $2? For shame! Do you appreciate what you are getting? Five, did you gay? Now make it six. Six it is. Beven from the gentleman on the right. Seven, seven, seven -— eight, eight-will some one make It nines? That's right. You'll never regret it, Nine, nive. Now ten. That's better | Ten it is. Come, gentlemen, tid vp.” The excitement ran high, Deacon Bradbury Simpkins, forgetting what fate awalted him at howe, Hid £10 on Susie Perkins, whom Lis good wife Yuu ones designated as “sassy.” Rodd Cas teton, the best golf player in town, was a great help in “bidding up.” and #0 #lso were Jack Clnblerly and Billy Sparks, The ninth and last girl wax none other than the minister's danjthter her self. On the table by ber side lay a collection box, holding over 200, the proceeds of this unoscal trafic. Per haps the consciousness that she hind succeeded, that those poor little “tots” would got thelr outing, was eucugh to swell the receipts for the Dext ¥ make her oblivion of borsslf, minister's danghter stepped to rhere the chalrminn usually ~ There was a sudden hush. looked over her anditors a moment | 8 calm, penetrating gaze. is,” she sald, “we have got to be ar chorus of “O's” and feminine % and protests was her answer. ‘bere is no belp for it,” she contin. ied. “We must raise a lot of money before this night {8 over. Now, my ian is this: We will all stand up and Now, girls, don't Remember, a io a a hand was & Was a panse: +1 tau and then another. : "his None Lady Will Be Kissed at Auction. ‘How Much ; win You Give? 1 would probably be difficult, not to possible, to explain why this startling and sensational news should | #0 rapidly through a whole par- hat such was the case is n 1! act. Young men, {dling away “time at the club, knew it in fifteen nd started in a body for the sone A we we Xe snded of the volunteer fre rtmient. It spread even as far as | Dady’ s gambling establishment, eaused that astute individual to prick up bis ears in an unusual degree for one intived to that sort of stolelsm he rouistte table fosters. And fo as a klssing game going on at he chureh, led hy the minister's daugh- 1 herself. Here was a fine chance to At apy rate, she was calin and bean. tifully collected ax she steppmd on the chair, disdaining the helping band tha: a speitator held ont to her. “Ladies and gentiemen,™ she sald “with your kind permission I will be my own auctioneer, and 1 will spare you the usual compliment. 1 am bore to raise all the money 1 can for the poor children, and 1 am solling a kiss to the highest bidder. How wuch am I offered s “Twenty-five dollars” “The first bid, indies and gen is $25. Who will raske ft thir ty. it is, thirty. thirty thirty five, thir. ty-five. Is thirty-five the Lighest but? The tall, innocent youth new stepped to the front. It is bat festies in the boys from the ciub to say they did not recognize bm, “11 make it forty,” he sald. The auctioneer wis unmoved “I am offered £2." she sald. “Gen. tlemen, bid up, Forty, forty, forty going at {forty — golng, prolong gone, Young man, the kiss is yours at $40." There was a slight pause, a flutter of interest. This nice-looking, gentleman iy appearing boy, with $40 to bid for a single kKiss—who was he? AV any rate, it didn’t matter much, he was only a boy. “What a rellef” whispered one of the committee, “to think ber reputation has been saved by a youag thing like that. Why, it doesn’t mean anything to be kissed by him. An act of provi dence, I verily bolleve Almost as if in reply the boy turned half around, as the figure of Mike Dady slowly forced {ts way through the circle, “1 was bidding for some one else” | sald the boy, holding out the woney. “Yes,” sald Mike, his cool, insolent eyes sweeping the crowd. “He was bidding for me. He was my—what do you call it?-proxy. I'll take the kiss, if you please” A dead sllence—an awfnl panse, For the first time that evening a flush spread over the face of the min. istor's daughter--a flush that made iis way from her firmly rounded throat up over her checks to the line of fair hair on her forehead. She leoked around the crowd almost | appealingiy. Was there no one to help i her in this dilemma? Suddenly her eye tlemen, ty? Thir- cenled fram view-—a short, squat figure of Lo us handing —~and there came to her voice a ring of RO over t the | triumph, | 3 “You shall be paid,” she sald. “The a, money, pleases ning through & windfall gloney curves of fur ovr] over logs that le piled on ench | boundless confusion firip to the woods, while for fioves the rifle ag I do. more sweet kiss, push wn front’ and bid Romans, | lighted on a figure that stood half con- | Bilis Ia the hos Then she 1orned to the ff witness “de provesdin’s” “Come bere, mummy,” she whispered, and drawing her close her, she kissed the Bleck somnniing smack, Then she turned to the gambler, “And here” she sald Take your pay, zine, sir "