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CUKRBXT XOTKS. In these days of very comi ! political conditions and diversified social phenomena we bear a great deal said with reference to the preachers attitude '.a politics and civic affairs. That be has ome relation* to public <|iieM i. n- is con- ceded on all aides that >>-. become a commonplace of popular oun iction. But just how far the preacher should go. and how far he can go. in any given case is a very nice question. Shall he have hi.s say on all topics of national or local In- terest, or shall be (as far an his public ministry is concerned) remain an in- scrutable sphinx t yui'stiouH of detail SB to political duty can only be decided by the indmdual minister hiiu.x-lt. if not. JU.-.L sellisbly for himself. It is prob- able, however, that a cou-u>us of opin- ion obtains among intelligent Chris- tian people to the effect that it is en- tirely possible for the preacher to be a power in civic affairs without becoming a part i ..iu of thin or thai political en- deavor, or at any rate, without auuounc- L\j r.is pan i .uu=>h:p oifcusively from the aci'eu desk. Perhaps we may charac- terize thU ideal of a preacher's civic op- portunity an an argument, not so much tor politics in the pulpit as for the in- fluence of the pulpit m politics. It IB entirely unnecessary, and quite repugnant to the guapel purpone of scr- mouic audrcas, to bring the pausing prob- lems and uouy dLacvutmoua of the plat- form into the services of the sanctuary, while 11 U not inappropriate, but rather a bounden duty lor the pulpit to make itself felt as a live, telling force in poli- tic* as a practical power which must be reckoned with, because of (and not in spite of) the fact that it is a power which makes not only for a right- oufioeas wuicb in already iu sight aluug tne lower levels of the average politi- cian's vUiuu, but also fur an ideal wun-ti far transfenua humanity's ordinary quest. Can iu puipit be in poliika as a force and peruwsative influence unless politics with iU catch words and party cries be voiced in the pulpit f Certainly , but in order to that reoult tiiu pulpit mual be manned uot merely occupied by tigurebeadtf ; and the gospel that is preached muat be ol that virile, prac- tical type wlii. U anuououea its relations to time a* well a> to elernity, and to earth as well a to heaven. If the author of the pi--ll of Jamea were to occupy any one of our pulpits fur a few tNtbbatua his influence upon the political situation wouiil Us immediately felt, even though he failed to quote the u words or to echo the rallying cries ol any party. In time ot great civic crises there may puaubly be a demand for politics in the pulpit, but during the " off yean" (and through all the year) there is call for the vigorous ex- criiou of the influence of the pulpil ui t U.ics. HUGS IIOAL WAVES. These Thai swti the tout ! < hi.. i Lrn.i Tvlrtt Bvrr? i-*r. Twice a year at each equinox the famous tides of the Tsien-Taug river, that flow* from the borders of Kiangsi, Fuhkien. and Cbekiaug to Hang Chow bay. attain their greatest height, and a bore of sometime* over forty feet in height sweeps irresistibly up its shallow and funnel-shaped estuary. nit en producing trerneudoua havoc to the surrounding country hence its Diiiue, " money-dyke," from the amount upended in successive centuries on its embankment. It is seen at iu best at Hang Chow, the prefeclural city not far from its mouth. Twelve or fourteen minutes before it is visible a dull, distant roar U heard, mouieutarily swelling, until .hat wall of muddy water, tall as the bulwark of the biggest liner, as over- whelming as a glacier, sweeps into light round the bend a mile away Not a boat is to be seen on the lately crowded river; all are hauled up oi, the huge embankment, and moored TJ "V 1 alt wilh <iozen *<it< an ihles. for none but ocean-going steam- ers could stem the current, and even Ih-y would u edskilliul natigation. As the eagre uear.-, I he roar become* deafen- ing as a storm at sea, drowning the ex- cited shouts of the thousands who I,,,, the walls, until finally it foams p.isi u, turbid majesty, hurrying toward the heart of China. The Chinese annals tell how, a thou- sand years ago, Prince Wu Shu made daring" archers shoot half a do/rn arrows eacfi at the advancing flood, and then after praying to \Vu Tsi-si (the tutelary deny of the stream and origiu- s.ly an upright Minister, whose body was cast into the river after Wu had pummitted suicide), put the key of the like water gate into an envelope aud threw it into the stream, whereupon the waters retired I But as by that tbey would have flowed back in any case even the Chinese did not regard tlie experiment as very miraculous. A couple of hundred years later the bnperor Kan Tsung had ten iron plates, each weighing about 150 pounds, uuk in the river by way of propitiating the spirits, but the water promptly carried away both charms and embank- ments. Only last century a Haug- l how tea merchant leaped into the river, like another Marcus Curtius, to avert the annual disaster. To Prevent Tool Rust. A good recipe for a preparation to keep tools from rusting is as follows: Dissolve one half ounce of camphor in ne pound of melted lard, take off the scum, and mix it in as much blaok lead or giaphite as will give it an iron-gray color. Smear the tools with this mix- ture, and after 24 hours rub clean with a soft lineii cloth. Christmas Hells. Ring out the merry CliruitmaM chime, Proclaim (lie mestutge far and near, and good will in every clime To rich and poor .swet Christmas cheer. I.i airily pun-lain: o'er land and sea What low- MI me for men did plan. The setting of the captive free, The nobler brotherhood of man. Surcease qf grief to those that mourn. Rest to the weary, heaven to win. A fuller life beyond death's bourne To such as seek to enter in. IV il forth with no uncertain tone That love leaves none beneath the han And they alone are hlpssed that own Their duty to their fellow man. Proclaim as loudly as you can Tlw> tidings glad to old and young, 'artii. good will to man, first by the am--'-l chorists sung Christmas Marriage. Park Village Bast is a quiet street in London, near Regent's Park. The houser are small and old-fashioned, and one or two of them are so overrun with vines that not the slightest glimpse of the masonry of the walls is seen. These houses are small and old-fashioned, and lywood Terraoe," "The Lindens," or "So inner Villa." They are of pictur- esque, whimsical design, and one fancies they muat originally have been jieopled by picturesque, whimsical people. The present occupants of the slreet are musicians, uctresiwa and singers, who ootue and go with amazing rapidity. The denuena of Park Village enjoy al- most absolute stillness, tor t he noise of Ihe ouinibuaes n Albany street does not penetrate hen ; nor does the great traffic of Kentish Town and Camden Town that flows through Hampton Road in any wbte disturb its peace. The milkman who enters this tranquil spot involuntarily "meows" in a lower key, and even that daring light-horseman, (.be butcher boy, reluctantly checks his pace on entering here, when be sees there is nothing to run over. The resident* are of a retiring na- ture, little disposed to trouble them selves wilh their neighbors' affairs. They dig in their gardens and trim their vines without a thought of what is goiug on next door. Hut though the days are quiet, the nights are not. The lights of hansom cabs flash in and out of the winding streets ; they drive up to the bouses at all hours ; people gel ui or get out, and the cabs disappear in the Serpentine Road. The policeman walking his solitary beat thrusts his lantern suspiciously iu the gardens and peers over the walla, tor the neighbor- hood otters every opportunity for thieves. The Albany street police sta- tion chronicles many a thrilling episode that has happened bereabuuta. Be- hind Ihe houses on one side of Ihe slreet llowa the sluggiah waters of the canal, in whose muuuy depths many unforlu- uates have ended t hen wretched lives. In this locality resided Mrs. I 'ol worth, an actress oi much cleverneaa and oon- .-iiiei.'iole means. She had lived her grealeal Iriuiuphs, and bad now willed luwri to a lite of retirement, devoting herself to deeds ot charily and kind- ness. Many years before the opening of this story a secret marriage occurred on Christmas Day at tialu. r.ngtand. After the ceremony the young couple issued from ihe church and were annul lo eu- t.er then carriage, when officers of the law arrested the bridegroom tor some petty crime. The la ly thus unceremon- iously separated from her husband, cried a liitle at first ; then, drying her eyes with HIM handkerchief, she slip l'd ihe wciiilm r riii(/ Horn uer finger and relumed h. me. Years passed, and she met a Mi I'olworth, whom she mar- i led, keeping silent about her secret mamage. 1 hey were said to be very ied to each other. i )n the uioruiug of the opening of t IILS tale, Mrs. Polworlh, bent upon charity, cauie down her front, steps, d the pretty garden, and, .stylishly at I lied, stood iu the galexvay She t lame. 1 up and down the winding st.rcei , and then, placing a silver win -.tie be- tween her rosy lips, blew a shrill, loud tone. A cab responded from the head of ihe street. Mrs. Polworlh was uuw i.ieiably past the piime of u.e. her hair was touched with gray, but aa she moved in a sprightly manner her bear- ing did not indicate t hat the burden of nearly fifty years rested on her shoul- ders. X in^s' Road, Chelsea," she said. The cabman lashed his horse and drove along Great Portland Itoad into Oxford Circus, then turning into Bond street, he would have proceeded through a net- work of .small thoroughfares, but Mrs. Polworth called out : " Go down Park Lane." It waa in t he season, and the London social world was driving iu Hyde Park. There was a glittering of harness and carriage wheels, iiiieriuingled with spots of color. Beyond were the dis- tant trees, impalpable and quivering, as if they might vanish at any moment, while the people, too, seemed but crea- tures of a phantasy who might pass away on the lifting of a wand. It waa nut long before she found herself at ihe Chelsea b'jspilal for old soldiers. Mrs. Polworlh left her cab and proceeded on foot down the long, pleasantly shaded road. from the gardens can bo seen the Chelsea barracks, and the old veterans no longer bear the sound of tho trum- pet, save when their failing senses catch the clarion tones that are wafted to them from the neighboring barracks. In six hi ot a present generation of soldiers, a foiuier generation is slowly passing from existence. Day by day the old veterans see their comrades borne from the infirmary to the dead house and then lo old Hrompinn cemetery, where a tract of land U reserved for them. The decadence of the Waterloo veteran is now complete, but there are many d,, soldiers left who tell the tale of Crimea. The lives of those old men by- come almost pastoral. They do not toil. but are here to end their existence an peacefully ao is possible, for men whose bodies ui.' racked by physical ailments. -u m i lie uourt smoking and ,nn :eiiiiiiisceniB ; Ihoy play i , ill the great hall; they work unmethodi- cally in t heir gardens, selling t heir flow- r vegetables to \isiloi.i. and move about the. neighborhood ai will, M.indcring along the embankment, uiig the barges aomet lines even crossing Ihe river and entering Hat torsea Park or gazing Into ihe. .shop windows on King's Road and Sloans MI reel. The artists and sculptors in < frequently employ old men to -.11 u> them as models, and the money thus earned they spend on tobacco and porter. I ne birds were simniiK loudly in the gardens. In the shrubiiery were many .> of green. Amid the tremor of delicate leaves stood a single great evergreen, whose branches hung mo- ii'iiiles* and heavy, its life of a more somber sort than the nervous vitalit v of the lighter foliage. Seated alone on a bench was an old man clad m ihe cus- tomary blue coat, of the pensioner. He hail a abort white beard anil his deep- ly-wrinkled face was pitted with the (jiiallpox. He hail lived thirty years in Airica and, strange to say. it .seemed as if the character of his face had been af- fected by his residence there. The wings >f his nose had become flattened and his lips were thick like a negro's. His face bore an expression of suffering and resignation. The lady had distributed her crowns and half-crowns plentifully among the old soldiers, and was about to return when her glance fell upon the aged sol- dier. Then a vale wa torn from the pasl. The secret marriage again came to her ; she heard the words of the cler- gyman in the country church, and mur- muring "My husband I" she turned and fled from the pathetic, lonely figure. She almost ran past the little gardens decorated with cockle-shells, and. white aid agitated, re-entered her cab. The week that followed was like a dreain ; her youth and romaiioe came to her as a bright vision and all that inter- vened vanished and faded away. All London wan asleep on that morn- ing preoeding Hospital Sunday. Along the embankment everything was hush- ed and the mighty : iver going out with the tide made no apparent sound as it w ashed against the solid si one bulwarks. In the east waa indicated the breaking of day. The color changed on the face of the water and the houses along i he riverside assumed a more vivid outline The gas jets which followed the wind- ing line of the embankment now be- gan to grow pal*. Suddenly from Uattersea Park a bird's note was beard, rising clear and penetrating out of the silence. Other songsters caught up the note until t he whole park was filled with music. These sounds were wafted across the still water and then the birds in the Chelsea Hospital gardens resounded. As the light became more apparent in the east the melodies arose louder and louder, ringing out Nature's song in the very heart of London redemption for all mankind. The first beams of the rising sun louche. I the housetops. Then the birds abruptly ceased losing. The overture waa done. To-day the drama to be enacted by London is "Hospital Sunday." It ap- peals to everyone, for it is suffering that makes the whole world kin. Mrs. Polworth entered the gardens. Every old man stood near his small square of ground. " Ob," said a visitor, "look at this garden with a pretty windmill." Mrs. Polworth trembled as an old man handed her a bunch of flowers. " Thank you." she said In a low voice. At. the sound ot her voice he started. " Carrie," he said in a bewildered way. The flowers fell to the ground. " Tom," she responded. "You know me f" His lips moved as if about tos|)eak. when suddenly be pressed his hand to bus heart, and without a groan sank t the ground. Mrs. Polworth fell upon her knees by his side and then all the fervor of a nature that had been re- pressed for years burst, its bonds. She wept and pressed her lips to the old man's brow. The doctor wan summon ed, but his services could ! of no avail. Toward nightfall a IKMI-IOIICI who had been an old comrade of Tom's made hi-, way toward the dead-house. The 'l.-oi was locked, but standing on tip toe. he |>eered t hrough the window A mo- tionless form was lying on the bier and the aged face was as white as marble ('or Tom was a-oold !" Two days Inter the pensioners follow- ed the body to the grave, after their fashion when one ot their number pass- es away. In the cemetery was t he act- ress and celebrated woman. The grave was covered with flowers and when the pensioners filed sadly away, she alone remained on her knees. ISOME QUEER HAPPENINGS ODD THINGS THAT HAVE RECENTLY OCCURRED. Wrallhr rruplr or itrliuln-l n|>lll PUB Ulimrnl In itrrrla Ihr PrUonir itn-i ibi Ju>lr Prirolruin I'mrr for Hnakr tlllr linliaii Woman Trrrllilr > vt-KKe W*mB> Ui-in. In liuiiiin llr Ktllrnixl nrrTlrr, .!.. Blr. CHRISTMAS EVE IN PARIS. orr< nil. I r<irul>. i. ! < iom- l|kl NHU ! Ikr tnm.lt Kiipi,, r. On Christmas eve in the homos of Paris. when t he obildren are fast asleep, wit h the bonnes to watch over them, I h older ones and the parents go to the hT.'tnd high mass. lasting from 10 o'clock till midnight. Tliis i a very solemn service and is sung with great ceremo- ny and with row ii|'ii row of white veiled nuns, whose narrow Imltsof blue, orange or red show their peculiar or- der, Kneeling in the transe.nl.. .liiMi at midnight. the niaas ends, and the altar boys snuff the tall candles. Then the family returns, and there is the rcveillion, or the supper of wuking the one meal of the year at which are gathered the brothers and sisters i.i the Dome of the oldest. married child. Them are places for the grandparents. two. and, if a child baa been lately born to swell the family circle, a seat of honor or next the grandiue.iurc. for il.s mother, who is queen of the feast. The "supper" is a great dinner, at wlin-h good will is i.h order, where are drunk innumerable glasses of harm- less, utiintoxicat.ing grape wine, and where toasts are offered to every con- ceivable good luck, past, and to come. At the roveillion are discussed all the affairs of the family. If during the year the relations lict.wevn two of its mem- bers have become strained, all is often forgiven and forgotten in this family love feast. So wit h toast and rally and story the hours creep by until it is far into the .--in. ill hours, when the party breaks up. The Best He Could Promise. "Papa," said Benny EUoobumpar, "I want, a big brass drum for Christmas." "I'm afrai'l ."ii can't have that," re- plied Mr Bloobumper, "i>ut you may have a big turkey drumstick." A special edict lately issued by the police at Stuttgart. Germany, prohibits bicyclists from put ting their lega on the handle bars while riding. Li-Hung-Cbang, Viceroy of China, maintains a private army of 10,000 sol- diers. In Great Britain sixty persons have each an annual income exceeding 98* HJ. (KM. 2.IKIO wore receive from 940.000 t< i'lO.Otm an<l 3.0IM) others can upend from 925,000 to 9 :<)..< 01 every year. In Siam there is a species of small lilack ant officered by mounted " gen- erals." Among the working troops move at regular intervals monster anta ele- phants as compared to the others and on each of these sits or rides one of the small ants, evidently in command. I m- Japanese evidently mean to profit by their understauding of Western civ- ilization. In Kobe and Osaka rare pos- tage stamps are now counterfeited to perfection and readily disposed of to unsuspecting European!. A slight change in the inscription saves the counterfeiters from conflict with the law. Four years ago a Hungarian judge named Mori/ Revai married a very beautiful girl. The alliance proved a failure. Two months ago they parted in anger, the wife taking with her a $. r >,(MKl insurance policy on her husband's life, llevai then committed suicide, avowedly out of spite, because thereby, under the clearly expressed conditions of the policy, the insurance company was released from all liability. In Servia capital punishment is by shooting. In the near future Slang N'ihuilov iclia. a woman who killed her son witli an axe while he was asleep, will be riddled with bullets according to law. She is the first woman sentenced to death under the reign of King Alex- ander. A writer in the Chronik der JSelt says that in India snakes are not as plenti- ful as is generally supposed ; but aim. -t in the same breath he mentions that in 1886 the Government paid 9H.UOO in per- miums on 417.590 snake.* killed or cap Hired. He does not deny that death from cobra bite is almost inntantam ,m- and he admits that boas fifteen and twenty feet long are not at all rare In i h<- Indian jungles. The institution of life insurance in Kranoe atwins to be a tempter every- where. From Hoilmezo-Varaarbely. Hungary. conuvt the news of the arrest of Mrsr. Jaeger-Szalai, a midwife nf that place, on the charge of having fur ni bed the poison with wl'i h t n poisons whose lives were insured by herself u>.l others had been sent to the grave. The terrible woman has confessed that Hbe sold " suitable" doses of poison at 9-'" It sometimes happens that violent prisoners fire missies at their Judges. Rafaello Giagnuni. who lately stood t fore the bar at Pistoza. Italy, can lay claim to originality in this line. When sentenced to several months' imprison ment he quickly pulled off one of his hoots an I hurled it at the magistrate'.* head. He hit him. too, and i- now suf- fering for it. Near Luga, Russia, the police dis- . 'overall that a sect holding its IIHWI iivs there had for some time past been sacri- ficing children. The bodies of many children, apparently two to four years old, were round in a vault under the churi-h. Forty five persons of both sex- es are now in prison accused of murder- ing these innocents. A German, for many years a resident of Brazil, affirms that petroleum is an infallible cure for snake bite. The bent plan is to bathe the wound in the liquid, or rags soaked with petroleum may be laid over it . His nephew and his son-in- law were thus saved lit- mi'iitioim sev- eral instances wherein persons were bit- ten far out in t he wood*, far awny from the remedy, but even then relief was immediate a-*> soon as the petroleum was applied. It has been known for centuries that oil poii re. I upon the angry bosom of t lie enraged ocean instantly allays Its tem- pestuous heaving. Improving on the old method of applying the oil near the ship, a European genius lias introduced a storm cannon. Mihdumg t lie :m, . waves to a long distance. The |n< tile is hollow and filled with oil. During its flight from the ca, moil's mouth the soothing fluid is scattered through <un able orifices, thus opening a srnoot h road through the agitated coalers . A woman in Catania Italy, lost her two little children by death, and some- how came to believe that they died through witchcraft. To revenge her- self on tboM' whom she believed guilty of I his witchery, she decoyed their children, by promises of sweets and toys. to Iver house ; there she gave them wine of phosphorus to drink, causing un- speakable tortures, ending in death- In this manner she poisoned twenty-t bree little ones. Whenever a Seine steamboat happen to sound its whistle little longer than usual, near the Jardin des I'lant.-s. Paris, the jackals moping there set up their dismal howl. The compass and pitch of the jackal's voice is truly awful a jackal solo equalling a chorus of six drunken women and a howling dervish. The whi.slle and jackal concert is so hor- rible i lull at last many Parisians are al- so howling for relief. A little more and there'll be another revolution. Hiiunah is the country of woman's rich's par excellence. In that happy land law and religion and custom com- bine in placing a woman on a level with a man. A husband has no power over his wife. Divorce is easily obtainable, but there is not one divorce to one hun- dred marriages. Married or single. from her sixteenth or seventeenth year nearly every female has some occupa- besides her household affairs; for iiistauoe, the retail trade of Buriaau is ilmuHt wholly in the hunds of women, o^est ot all. despite their absolute smauoi nation the Burmese womnu are iimiii.'.,i. ,-! t ne iiiibit uiuulv on earth. -.. highest degree the nntei. .us winch enthrall man. Not long ago a four-year-old girl wha> was leaning out of a window in the third story of a house at Lausanne, Switzerland, lost her balance and fell, apparently to certain death, on the cou- OIIB pavement. Hut fortunately the .shutters of a window directly un- derneath happened to be half open. aua the child's dress caught thereon. The flimsy garment did not support her weight long ; but when she fell again she tumbled into the arms of a man who bravely ran to the nwcue, and es- caped without the alighted injury. The railroad service in AMU Miner Is as romantic as the unspeakable Turk. The Broussi " Official" relates that a short time since one of the trains run- ning between lirounsa and Mondanis .-topiwd on reaching an extensive vine- yard , the conductor and engineer then went to cutting grapes, filling tin can after tin can. and desisted uuly after a long altercation with the guard at the place. It is further said that at on* time a train stopixtd to let a brmkeman pick up his tobacco pouch ; at anothev time, to let a passenger run back and "cover bis hat. WINTER WRINKLES. Hoax What makes your son yell and shout about the house that way t Joaz lie's getting in training to enter col- lege next year. Uncle 'Rastua- I dons won dat turkei at de raffle lo-ui^ht. Aunt Dinah Ve^ wan lucky, eh I V as, I was po'ful lucky. While de res' waa shkm' dice I 'soused myse'f. Judge Itefendant, can you advanc* anything more towards your defense! Defendant No, your honor. I bad only 91 and 1 have thready given that to my lawyer. liaoon That lawyer you recommend ! noi a man of his word. Egbert Why not ', lie told me 1 could talk freely to him, and look at the mil he's sent me I 1 can't see why it is. said Itooby, that when little boys are onus, to Iks any they are naughty ; and when papas and mammas are crow, folks say tbey are nervous. 1 wonder if that diamond Mudge has is of the first water I I doubt it. It baa Iwen soaked so many times that it must be of the tenth or eleveula water by this time. See bow oleau of anow Brown side- walk is and louk at Jaoobaon's next door. Yea, but you don't understand. What f I saw Brown liorrow Jacobson's snow shovel two hours ago. See. here, waiter I Those eggs are not cooked properly. I know it, sir'- but fou said they were for your wife, and knew if the lady was your wife she couldn't lie very particular. Mr. Henpvct (anxiously i Can 1 i ring proceeding ill court. Mr. lilat-kslone, to set aaide my wife's will ' Lawyer- Why, your wife isn't dead, man is abet Mr. Hmpeet No ; that's just the trou- ble. ilrs. .^noggs (who was a school teach- er Iwfore her marriage) The scientific name of Turkey is Melragris Gallops vo. Mr. Suaggs We will abbreviate that name to ' Dennis " for the time being. Father, said the small boy, what umktu piano-players wear their hair long t iJon t iKitlier me, Johnny Hut, fa.uer, I wish to know. Oh it's so IDS public won't be alile to see how uiuoh their beads have swelled. Are you going to give any Christmas in-'-M'iits f asked a friend of mincer. Well, said Selh, thoughtfully, 1 should like t" give the man next door, who is learning t lie lime, six mouths m the bouse of correction. lie pinned upon his overcoat That sneering Johnny Power A ni;_' chrysanthemum and said: " 1 bat's what 1 cauliflower." What on earth have you I wen doing, my child I exclaimed ! mime's mot her ai the little girl came inio the room with her hair all awry and her dress torn i a dozen places. Playin' shoppin', ma'am I was the reply. Youth (wilh incipient. l-ard. I want a bottle of face lotion. Druggist Do you want somethinij H inei shav- lllg f 'loinh icoiil iiicni iall> i \<>' N ou see I'm raising a beard, and I want the face lotion for my fiancee. You are worth your weight in gold to me, darling I he mummied. I hen do go home early, <;< "ive, dear, she icplied, iiy, I've l<*<i ten pounds Miice w liecame engaged, ju.st silting up with you. We can't afford such extrava- gance. Dad of 10 I say. pa, what is the meaning of these, uumlxtrs at the IH>I- lom of every picture.' Look at this one; Slnikspcaie. I.i.'t. Perplexed Katber (who has never been in a gallery Ix-fore) Ol ah ! 1 expect that is his telephone nuinlr. I love to boar you talk, my desr, wild Mr. Hickers to his wife, when she paused to lake breath at Hie end of the second column of a curtain-lecture, but MUM voliilnliiy is really a ivilcciion on my wi.-dom. ilow so t llecau.se a word to the wise is sufficient. An Early liitiiuai ion Johnny, said the boy's father, ' 1 suppose thai you are going to hang up your storking next Christinas. No. I'm not. was the reply after some thought. \Vhv not! liecaiiae, he answered, looking bis fa- ther si might, in t ho eye, you couldn't put a bicycle in my stocking. Yes, said Dicky Stalate with a satis- fied .-mile, that young woman is very fond of me. How do you knowt I was calling on her yesterday evening and do you know she was so Ihoughlful of my comfort that (lie worried foi 'we. hours for tear I would iniss the last oar. THK TURKEY- Although you are this Urae of t-he year The theme of many a roast I- 1 ..in lips ot those who love you dear, You also get a Christmas Thoughts. Christina* is almost in sight, and .stockings are much longer than they were last. year. A prcBSMWortkj Christinas decoration lining the pocket.* of the poor with ld ami .silver. I 'hi ist mas comes but once a year, and v\ he'i it does it sneaJis up on ovcif OQS unawares.