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*^y» ~ VOL. I. KNOWEESVILLE, tf. Y., SATUE^Y, BECEMBEE 20, 1884. . „. .•.;.-« _ . _ _ '*•$•' . 22. MERRY CHRISTMA.S. Merry voices, have your way ; Thrill us, lovely, laughing eyes ; Turn December into May Underneath these frosty skies. Laugh, ye grown-up children, too! What, though sober in your glee, Sweet old memories glimmer turouga Of tho days that used to bo. Ring the joy bells all around, Hail the sacred Christmas moriij For the peace of life is found, And the hope of heaven is born. Peace for every weary heart: Hope, for every struggling soul; Joy, that never can depart; Love, to consecrate -the -whole*. — William Winter. angel of mercy and a constant savior-froni the worst of evils. There were poor, down-trodden crea- tures who could have-to]d- how many of Miss Bridget's hours were dispensed.* But she held conversation between her right and her left hand on such topics to be a vanity and unworthy, and there- fore these acts of hers'passed in the di- vine record unknown of men. That she was ever amiable, kindly, and generous, was a general reputation which she had achieved by the mere force of her personality; but those who. so believedher would have been at a loss \for details to^attest its truth. Meanwhile there were none who did not esteem her happy, above most, for that she was tranquil and uncomplain- ing. And these would have marveled had they read her heart, and known that hers had been a life of .bitter disap- pointnzenfy .ad^weiCas, of-. entd&fse£t*-3bbc- gation; yet such it was. The intuition which grasps at truth, even unknowingly, had seized the secret of her heart in its furtive decision on the merits of the hidden miniature romance. Twenty years before, Miss Bridget had loved and been loved by the curly-headed young man whose portrait she preserved; and the separation of the threads of their ought to have been woven AFTER TWENTY YEAHS. * X CHRISTMAS STORY. Miss Bridget was an old maid; that is, she had been so long recognized and known as \Miss Bridget\ that her friends and neighbors would have scout- ed the idea of her ever being called by any other name. There had been, to be sure, vague rumors of an early fondness j ^ s ' lyi _ „ „„ _ uccll , VUICI1 on her part for some curly-headed youth; together perpetually, hadbeen sysad. sore but whether that fondness had been re-! episode whi6h had chastened %nd f sad-' ciprocated or not was a question only set 1 a ene a a spirit full of bright enjoyment at rest by the general opinion that no an a capacity for the perfection of earth- one could ever know Miss Bridget with- ] y happiness. He had been poor, and out loving her K so it was generously con- j sie ijai been ric h.. and their story, like ceded that the cany-headed youth, had ! most sa d ones, was a short one gone to sea, and been shipwrecked and j A. few months of constant association- drowned, and that Miss Bridget had ! an a o f growing love and then sickening \wm-n tb* Tallow\ fl™™;,,™ n «fl ,™,,i* • di sap p O intment of blighted hopes, and the young man had donned the blue jacket in which the artist nainted him, and had departed across seas, and they had never met since. Even correspondence was forbidden them by her parents—who loved their only child with that ignorant love that does not foresee; and as she was dutiful and he was proud, the thread had been cut, and they had drifted widely asun- der. It had been in the autumn that he had gone away from her; and ever since, and now, when the season had returned, and the brown leaves pattered on the stone walks in the garden, she had felt the-sad- aess of her crushed-out longings and ^turningandseeingher.&adethreelMEREY CHBISTMAl TIME fctenfl Ann trtnlf TiAr in hja ni*ma oVid Kolrl ^^s? steps and took her in his arms, and held her so close to his breast that if he had not the curling brownhair, and the large 1)lu6 eyes, and the frank openface of ths minature we wot of, we should have deemed it sti tinge, believing as Miss •Bridget had, that he was buried in the a.ea, and had sent his jacket home as a token—a most foolish supposition truly for ! 'dead men. tell no tales.\ And so Miss Bridget did change her name after all, and in spite of the confi- dent prognostications of her frieads. But she never could quite forgive her sailor- -husband for the shock and the dreadful grief she experienced when she discoverd the contents of his Christmas-box.^ Harper's Monthly. A Veteran's Story. _' 3: was in Washington in 1812 r and whue visiting over in Alexandria in that year I saw the first troops called out to fight the British as they entered Washington to be armed. I remember it as well as if it had been yesterday, for I stood on the street as the boys marched by with beating drums and flying banners. Washington was a straggling little village then, and Alex-. the willow\ ever since, and would, always continue to do so, for his sweet sake. The only reason for this sad and catas- trophieal supposition rested in the known possession, by Miss Bridget, of a minia- ture representing a young man having large blue eyes and curling light hair, and clad in a blue jacket;, yet on this slender, hypothesis was erected a com- plete seafaring..romance, which the younger of Miss Bridget's' friends de- lighted in rehearsing for her edification whenever they felt in a peculiarly tan- talizing humor—delighted chiefly be- cause of the perfectly charming \blush the story brought to Miss Bridget's cheeks and the marvelously tender smile with which it softened the rather ! hopes press heavily upon her. sad Knes of her mouth. STow, when the shrill blasts Were wail- Miss Bridget lived in a large old stone ; ing mournfully outside, and the Christ- house in a street which had once been in > mas tide—which promised to be green the suburbs of the great city, and where i that year—was only a day off, the de- residences had been sparsely scattered j pression of her spirits seemed almost be- about and were of a more substantial yond the control of her aearly bought character than those usually erected. se lf command. But the great, city in its progress had It was toward dusk on Christmas-eve, caught up with this street,.Jined it with and she sat alone by the bright lire in blocks of flaring red brick houses, anct rushed onward, far out into the country. Miss Bridget could have disposed of her property at a very high figure if she had been so inclined: but she did not, ~8fid: m? inducements could change her opinions on this question; so she con- tinued t& 7 \We -there,.- isolated, though in the midst-of a.eonstantly changing crowd of inHabitants, and her dwelling stood out from among its modern neighoors— among them, but not of them. It was a stately, solid, square-built man- sion, wjth a home-like and comforting look, not shared with any of \those others.\ It sto^a in th{ center of several lots of groundjjvwas possessed of a lawn and. fine old shadfeirees infront, and aflower and fruit garden-: -Behind, and was shut in from the outside world,'and all noise and confusion, by a high stone-wall and a strong.oaken gate, studded with big iron nailheads. From the polished iron mastiffs that guarded, the portal, to the brass knobs and the brass knocker of the front door, all was shiny and in order. The interior of the house was a marvel of neatness and comfort. The massive furniture, darkened by age and daily friction, though.' unfashionable and out of date, was stately and comfortable. The bright cannel coal fire m the sit- ting-room, that flashed in the large open grate as soon as the brown leaves in the garden began to fall, was a charm in it- self. The polished brass fire- dogs and fen- ders—more for ornament than use—re- minded one of the stability and security of olden times. And when Miss Bridget the sitting-room, and that she might for once accept the painful pleasure of rem- iniscence she let her memory carry her back to those halcyon days twenty years gone. She had been surrounded by a gEQirj) of young and happy beauties allthe after- noon; but they had dropped away and left her all alone; and so she sat, deep in thought, when a loud rap of the knocker startled her for a moment, and slie came out of her reverie, thinking it might be the return of one of her late visitors, or a new one; and so her face, which had for a few moments become hard with lines of unrest, softened into its usual placidity. The door of the sitting-room opened, and the butler appeared, bearing a small, rough looking box. \It's a box, marm, just left here by a sailor chap, who said he was sent by the captain of a ship and told to leave it, and no answer. Will I bring it in here, marm?\ \Yes Joseph,\ said Miss Bridget. \You may place it here at my feet, and bring something to open it.\ The butler placed it on the rug at her feet and left the room. Miss Bridget examined the direction curiously. It read thus: \To Miss BRIDGET CTTLYEB, • No. 2 —- Street, Y It was bound with hoops of iron, and bore the appearance of having traveled; | but the outside gave no clue to its • source. The butler returned, and after some trouble removed the lid, and retired. The contents of the box were wrapped could be seen sitting in front of the fire i in a covering of oil sills:; end Miss Brid- at dusk, with some of her yeung friends ' ' \ \ ' \\ -•- about her, the scene of home comfort and quie.tude was complete. Miss Bridget's household was orderly through a system which had been fol- lowed for forty years—in fact, ever since she wa3 a baby, and a beautiful- young inpther and a strong, manly father'sai in th6 room she now occupied. The same highly respectable butler;— white-haired and time-worn- waited at get removed this, and found beneath—a worn-out and faded blue jacket, a sailor's hat, and knife, and, wrapped in a bit of the same silk, the companion- picture of the miniature of the curly- headed young man—a portrait of a beautiful girl, apparently about twenty years of age. Miss Bridget held these things for a moment in her hands; then she folded them slowly together, and rising from table; the same fat and equally respect- her knees, watked quietly -wi. i i .1 i.._ .->_ . - . leaving able housekeeper managed\ her domestic concerns who had managed them for her mother -before her. The life in the stone^house was, in fact, one of the last relics' of the life'of a half century before, when it was a hope and a joy to have lived at all, instead of a disease and in- sanity as it is nowadays. Miss Bridget formed, in truth, a con- necting 5 linK between the old and the new. Her recollections were of the past and of the old—but rather by tradition than by actual experience, jor she was only forty—while her associations seemed ever with the. young. With old people she did not assimi- late ; .and almost daily she would be found surrounded by young, charming, and gaudy creatures—-butterflies of tha fashionable world—who sought in Miss Bridget's society anameless charm which seemed ito soothe the feverish excitement under which they lived, and to remind them of an existence more beautiful if less brilliant, and tender and swestin its every element of orderly repose and re- Jnement. Miss Bridget was possessed of a'.competence, and of competent ser- vantsf*honest withal, to dispense it; therefore her domestic avocations were few. ft' of her friends wondered how occupied her time, since she was ne/er seen with crochet or Berlin-wool in b.ej£' ipinds. True, she read much, and of the newest; and her music was some- thing to be remembered, as of the utter- « ance'ot an harmonious soul through sym- pathetic fingers. Still, the greater por- tion of her time was unaccounted for to the curious. Meanwhile there was wretchedness and sorrow-Slid starvation in the by ways of out trie of the empty room and up-stairs, box on the floor. \ - \- When the maid knocked at her bed- room door, half an hour later, to call her for tea, Miss Bridget answered that she was ill, and desired not to be dis- turbed until morning. That Christmas eve the winds mounted higher and higher, and whistled more and more' drearily about the old stone house, and rattled the window-panes, and banged the blinds of the flaring brick houses in the neigborhood,and Was altogether wild and uncomfortable and pitiless. •\ • At about midnight there came up a terrific snow storm, and at once anni- hilated all the possibilities of a \green Christmas,\ which according to ancient superstition, \makes a fat church- yard. And on the Christmas morrow the snow lay heavily upon the trees, and was banked up in drifts all about the stone fence;\but the sun shone merrily,, and flashed brilliantly on the bright\ crystals; and eaily sleigh-bells awoke Miss Bridget, where she had thjpwn herself in her clothes, on the coud her bedroom, with her head resting on the old, torn, and weather-stained blue jacket, and the two minatures clasped in her hand. And late she rose and made her toilet, and went down to • eat her lonely Christmas breakfast; and on the stairs she was met by the maid, who said there was a gentleman in the sitting room who insisted on see- ing ber. And so Miss Bridget, who, though in trouble herself, Would incon- venience-no one else entered the sitting- room and saw by the window a tall gen- tl il thikV li b\ hi andria 'was one Of the great cities of the country.\ * The speaker was Colonel S. D. Bet- ton, now of Cuthbert, Georgia, but re- cently of Butler county, Alabama. He stood and talked to a reporter for an hour at the Union depot Sunday night, and his conversation was most inter- esting. Betton is seventy-nine years old, and is still hale and hearty, as spry as a boy of \twenty.-.. \I went with Lafayette to France in 1825,\- continued the old gentleman. \How well I remember it. We sailed in the frigate Brandywine from the mouth of the Potomac river September 11, 1825. There were forty-two offi- cers on board, and I can tell you their names and their fate—what became of each of them. Oh, we had a big time then. • \In riding on horseback from Mil- ledgeville, Georgia, to Hartford, Con? necticut, once I traveled sixty^five miles in pne day and stopped at a big wed- ding, where-we daaced all night. I went tc school in Miiledgcville in 1817 with 168 boys and girls, and of that number only three are living to-day. I can give you the names of all the people living in Milledgeville at that time, dis» tinguishing between males and females.\ Colonel Betton was a stockholder in the first railroad enterprise ever inaugur- ated in this country--—the Baltimore and Ohio, in 1827. He was then in Wash- ington, and subscribed for stock at the very outset of the enterprise. Now there are 125,000 miles of railroad in the Uni- ted States. Colonel Betton was an officer in the United States Navy some fifty odd years ago. He is a wonderfully weil preserved old gentlemani He says: \I never had, •aitty-pains at all-.?€-am perfectly well, and have worked like a slave all the year.' r And with that he held up his hands to show that they had become horny from work. He is just as jolly and full of fun as any boy, and bids fair to live to be a hundred years old.-^ Montgomery {Ala.) Advertiser. '• • Throwing Dowa tie. jEJaantlet. From time immemorial throwing down the gauntlet has been a symbol of de- fiance, a challenge to battle both in real contests and in the mimic warfare of tournaments. Yirgil, in the fifth, book of the JEneid. as we have seen, repre- sents Entellus as casting a gauntlet on the ground before entering the lists with Dares. In the Middle Ages, when the leaders of opposing armies challenged each other to single combat, a herald, bearing a glove, was sent with the mes- sage. Shakespeare makes- Henry the Fifth, when he engages under an in- cognito in a wordy dispute with one of his soldiers on the eve of the battle of Agineourt, exchanges gloves with him ^s a p*roof that if they both, survive the battle the quarrel shall be settled with blows. Among the Highlanders the custom, of employing the glove as a sign of challenge given or vengeance .tobe taken lingered long. \Did one of them break faith? The surest remedy was for the injured person to. appear at the next meeting place, bearing a glove upon the point of a lance, and proclaim the perfidy. The symbol aroused so keen i sense of right, so fervently appealed ;o their rough justice, the offender Was often slain by his own clan to wipe out the disgrace brought \ipon them.\ • To bite the glove was the sure prelude of a quarrel: Stern Rutherford right little said. But bit his glove and shook his head, writes Scott in the \Lay of the Last Minstrel. \—American Queen. TSASXT3OXA& OBSERVANCES TBS SEA80W IS or .. . . _ _ __, room and sw by the window a tall gen the-great-city that recognized in her an j tleman^ witl thickV curling, brown\ \hair Christmas Carols. -In Shakespeare's time carols were sung in the streets during Christmas Sy Waits or watches, who expected to receive gifts for their siaging. Many a writer of olden times and customs refers to the wakeful \ketches of Christmas eve.\ It was after the Keformation that they ceased to sing Latin hymns in the churches and substituted the sweet Christmas carols. For there were two kinds of carols in vogue^-those of a devotional nature, which were sung not only in the churches, but also' through the streets, from house to house upon. Christines • eve, and even after that morning and evening, until the twelfth day. In those times men were able to spare more than one brief day for the celebra- tion of Christmas, and kept up the festi- val for at least twelve days. Other carols were of a livelier nature, and were especially adapted to the revel and the least where the lord of misrule had potent sway: The carols were also called was^ sail songs, and probably originated among the Anglo-Normans, who were of a convivial nature. No Christmas en- tertainment was complete without the joyous singing of carols, and thence came the motto, \No song, no supper,\ for every guest at the table was expected to join in the carol.. One of the rules laid down by the ancient customs Waa that \the ancient master of the revel is, after dinner and supper, to sing a carol, a song, arid to command other gentle- men present to sing With him and the companies.\ Over $80,000,000, in United States greenback notes, were destroyed by the government during, the last \fiscal year. Religions Sentiment* and Populai Superstitions—Carols, Games an Customs. And all the angels in Heaven shall sing, On Christmas Day, on Chykljnas Day; And all tlio bells on earth staiLl-F^ig, On Christmas-Bay in theiiprning. Then let as,all rejoice amain! . On Christmas Day, on Ci5jrismas.Day; Then jet us all rejoice aruainy - ' On Christmas Day in the\jjorning. So sang the waits throughout Merri< England before the \Inlueiie^ of, the re£ ormation changed the - ehaiascter of th< Christmas praise froHtSts jfijgpier- .ballaj: form into the more'spjsflln\'^hj:6^3ii^ iGaf6^es, 1r \aTac1briS8hed : Byiav Lord 6: London,\ in the latter \part of thesis teenth century. The Puritians, carrying their zeal a step further, denounced \thi singing of carols altogether, and would fain have suppressed the feast of Christ mas itself as pernicious and unscriptural But the many time-honored custom: which clung to the observance of thi day were dear to the hearts of all, am from the re- establishment, of the Stuar; dynasty down to the present time hear of carols being sung both on Christ ntag eve and on the morning of Christ Eii3 Day. Some of these, as Hemek's eiquisit Star Song, are poems of the highest merii and others attractive only from theii uaint simplicity and evident spirit o erotion: Good Christians rise, this is the morn, When Christ the Savior He was born » All in a stabla so lowlea. At Bethlehem in G-alilse. Eejoice! our Savior Ife was born On Christmas day in the morning. Others again are merely doggerel sung by children as they go from hOuss to house, collecting the accustomed Christmas bounty from all. Tfce follow- ing belongs to Yorkshire, and the -little ones were wont to carry with them a Christmas tree as a badge of their mis sion: ,, Well-a-day! well-a-day! ' \ Christmas too soon goes away; For the good times will not stay. We are iiot beggars from door to door, But neighbors' children known before. So gooding pray, We cannot stay, But must away, For tha Christmas will iiot stay. But if the singing of Christmas carols dates back to the very earliest-ages of Christianity, when the bishops'were\ ac- customed to chant them to their assem- bled flocks, other ancient practices 1 longing to the day, as, for instance, the hanging of the mistletoe and the burn- ing of the Yule log, have their origin in Pagan times and are borrowed directly from the Druids and the Scandinavian rites in honor of the Norse god, Thor. The hauling in and burning of the Yule log was one of the most joyous Christ- mas t&reaioineiMrf feudaF~djpj8,\.Hih--- When old wrongs were' forgotVenJ' strife was laid aside and peace and plenty reigned throughout. A portion of, the half-consumed block was carefully laid aside.until the follow- ing Christmas, when it was used to light the new log, and in the meantime it was supposed to be an infallible protection against fire. The Yule candle^ an enor- mous light, shed unwonted brilliancy over the scene. Analagous to the ceremony of the Yule log was the burning of the ashton, -or ashen fagot. While the huge bundle Was blazing on the hearth jollity reigned supreme in hall and kitchen, master and servant alike joining in the games, which were apt to be of an arduous and trying character, jumping in sacks and diving for apples being among the most popular. Every time one of the bands snapped asunder the host Was required by a time- honored custom to furnish his guests with a fresh bowl of liquor; nor was the demand unheeded. Indeed on so large a scale WJU; the hospitality of \ashen faggot night,\ enjoyed in the capacious farm-house kitchens, that all thrifty Devonshire housewives took especial care that their chimneys were Well swept in preparation, lest the huge blaze of the Christmas logs should result in a disas- trous fire. . . In Cheshire it is the almost universal habit of farm servants to hire themselves fro-m New Year's Eve to Christmas Day, thus securing a^'eek of absolute free- dom. On the morning after Ghristmas they throng the streets of Chester and the adjacent towns, dressed in their gay- est clothes, spending their wages liber- ally, enjoying their holiday to the ut- most and leaving their masters and mis- tresses at home to take care of themselves and their work as well as they are able. The Various games and diversions proper to Christinas Eve are many of them of great antiquity, and have been handed down from generation to gener- ation with little apparent change. Snap- dragon, one of the most popular sports in England, is of ancient and respected pedigree. The raisins are put in a broad, shallow bowl^ . or dish, and covered with brandy, Which is then ignited, and the guests\ endeavor to secure their portion by plunging their hands into the burning fluid. Flapdrjagon, a popular game in the western-counties of England, required stili greater heroism, the guest being expected to try and drink the contents of a can.of ale or cider in which a burn- ing candle had been put with a view to singeing his face and beard. As for the \mummers their-popu- larity has held good from the time the loyal citizens of London entertained Prince Richard, son of the ^la.ck Prince, with a splendid \mummeries\\ in the year 1377. Henry IT., we* are\ told, came near being murdered by a party of ' conspirators who were -to\ -be disguised as Twelfth Night mum- mers, and Henry YITf, waged open war against all masqiieraders, punishing them with imprisonment and fines. But the amusement of so many years was not to be lightly expelled front the affections of the people, and down to the presed-t day, in quiet country places, the mummers have gone their rounds, fantastically attired to represent Father Christmas, St. George, the dragon, the doctor, the grand Turk .and Oliver Cromwell. Their rhymes are rude doggerel; interspersed with absurd jokes wJiieh n^ver fail to please the ears of their uncritical audi- ence. As a sample we -quote the speech of the Protector as he appears in a Welsh mumming itranvt acted .throughout, the town of Yenly for some three weeks at Christmas time: Here come I, Oliver Cromwell, As you may suppose ; Many nations I have conquered With my copper nose. I made the French to tremble, And the Spaniards for to quake •. I fought tho \jolly Dutchmen, And made their hearts to ache. St George and the Turlc have several combats, the saint coming off victoriousj and the doctor employing himself in healing all the wounds, whilo the play winds up with the following gentle hint as to the purpose of their visit: Five or six shillings wili do us no harm,\ Silver or copper or gold if you can. But not by sports alone >did • our an-, cestors-keep the Christmas of olden time., Strife9,;were fo'rgptten during this holy sessog:spFnospitality rergne.S gyefy-i Where, while Christmas charities were liberally extended to all the poor and suffering. Even the beasts \were not forgotten, it being customary to carry an extra allowance of food to every an- imal on the farm, so that sven the dumb creatures might share in the uni- versal good cheer. The custom of decking house and church with Christmas evergreens can be traced back to the fourteenth, century, and probably much earlier, and in times past even the streets of London Were thus adorned. Ivy and mistleoe being rejected for the decoration of churches on ac- count of their Pagan associations,' and cypress being manifestly unfitted from its connection with the tomb, holly be- came the favorite plant for this purpose and has always retained its popularity. An old song indeed warns us against re- jecting this favored green, under the following dismal penalties: Whoever against holly do cry, In a rope shall be hung full high; Whosoever against holly do sing, He may weep andhis hands wring. . Finally, a venerable superstition sets forth the necessity of removing all Christmas • decorations before the ap- proach of Candlemas day, as to retain them after the \2d of February Was con- sidered to bring evil luck upon a house- hold. Herrick, who has lent his vivac- ious pen to so many Christmas themes, jives also a final word of advice as to he proper closing of this happy season: Down with the rosemary,'and so Down with the baies and misietoa; Down with the holly, ivy, all Wherewith ye dresfc tha Christmas hall. That so the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind: For look, how many leaves there be Neglected there, maids trust to me, So many goblins you shall sea. —Philadelphia Times. ' Snperstitions About the Blinii. The superstitions about blind people are so many and so queer as to seem\ to belong to the sixteenth rather than to the nineteenth century, says the principal of the Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind. Many well-educated persons suppose-that the blind can see in the dark^ -, and that they can hear to a supernatural extent,\ and some who are not paSKicularly learned profess to believe that they exert an evil nfluence over children. It is a theory that the pleasure of smoking depends on the satisfaction derived from seeing the smoke and the fife. As a matter of fact, we have inmates who enjoy nothing so much as tobacc.Oi In some cases we have had trouble in curing patients ad- dicted to the use of the weed, and, alto- jether, I think there is sufficient evidence to disprove the fire and smoke idea; People acquire the art of smoking after the eyesight has been destroyed.. The general make-up of the blind and hose that can see is the same. A great number of blind people have lost the use of their eyes before they ..were.three ears old. When they grow up they de- elop characteristics that one might sup- pose would only come from the ability to see and compare. The little blind girls, who have not much recollection of what hings in the worid look like, get some- where or other a love of dress,, and they display all the vanity of the every-day child, Who can see and admire itself in he looking-glass. They learn to know what colors suit them, and insist on being at their best. You will, perhaps, think it, strange that they who'cannot ee appreciate the existence in others of ight Which, to them, must be inexpli- cable and inconceivable, but it is so, and I cannot pretend toiaccount for it. ' You would think that on their appearance in a public place they would imperfectly realize that other people could know what they were doing without touching them. Yet when our pupils give exhi- bitions of calisthenics and gymnastics they display before going before the spectators every system of stage-fright, ft is a mistake to suppose- that nature 3ompensates for blindness by making the jthef senses more acute. There is a su- perstition ttlat a blind man can attain a nicer sense of hearing and of touch than a man who is blessed with the use of his There have been many pretty Cannibalisfu. There is a certain weird attractiveness about the subject of cannibalism, a grim fascination in its grisly horrors, that is not easily to be. explained, but which, although few of us will admit it, most of us have experienced. Perhaps it is ia subjective cannibalism alone that this uncanny attraction exists; objective can- nibalism may not possess the same eerie eharrn. But the very fact that cannibal- ism either exists now, \or ever existed, is, however, denied by some skeptical per- sons—mostly strict and rigid vegetar- ians, one would think—who; argue that wild and natural races of men can not and do not lust for flesh. The fact re- mains the same. • * - It seems that this time-honored prac- tice—crime, many, unthinking and unju- dicial people would call it, whose opin- ions have been formed' without consider- iitibnSoI the* relation of* crime£ojcHstpi& -^-has, at different times, existed in al- most every part of the earth. It seems to have lingered longest in the most beautiful regions of it—in Polynesia,, namely, where the writer of this, but for a fortunate and timely warning, would himself have fallen a victim to the? cus- tom for which he has a feeling of respect, if not exactly of affection. Our remote, possible forefathers them- • selves, the prehistoric cavemen of Eu- rope in the Quaternary period, were ad- dicted to this habit, which a pious feel- ing of respect for our ancestry should alone prevent us from characterizing as a crime. Evidence of their occasional little anthrophagistic failings, in the shape of scraped and chipped human bones which, beside being cooked* are broken in a manner too scientific and skillful to be the work of animals, tfre not infrequent, though it is believed by paleontologists that the custom was more of an exception than a rule. Ani- mal food being plentiful at that time in these cold northern latitudes, the great- est incentive to cannibalism was wanting and the very practice of it shows a ten- dency to'epicurean indulgence and lux-' ury that already (from a very long way off) pointed to the future extinction of their race. The ancient Irish, too; in more recent than Quaternary times ate their own dead; and our own Saxon forefathers must have possessed a knowledge of the custom if they did not in early times actually'practice it, as is shown by the Saxon word inanteta, which occurs not infrequently in their littuP/l Science Montlily. THE YEAR IS OLD—SO OtDf Tho year is old—so old! The nights are long and dark and dreary; The fretting,winds areneY^wsaty; .. They fret against the window pane, The burden of tbeicsadrefraiE, The year is old—so old! The year is old—so old! The mountains toll it to the river, Their sides deep rent by seam and shiver; The rivers, sobbing as they flow, Repeat it in the vales below. The wild sea waves take up the strain, And oceaD. bears it back again, The year is old—so oldl The year is old—so old! Ob; voices of.the drearynight! Oh, sleepless watchers for the light! Oh, hills that lift your hoary heads Above the ice-bound river-beds! !0hj -winds that \wail round nameless grayee! Oh, sobbing, sighing, wild sea waves! The year is old—so old! The year is old—so old! Oh, hearts that breathe and eyes that weep O'er buried hopes that treasures keep I Prepare tho shroud and winding sheefc Jar And softly walk with reverent feotl The year is old—so\ old! HUMOR OF THE BAY. Mistletoe at Christmas-Tide. The hanging of the mistletoe is a cause of much frolic and laughter in the house. It is the rule that whoever is passing under the mistletoe bough must submit to being kissed then and there by who- ever choses to take that liberty. As a bough usually hangs from the center, of the ceiling, spreading over a large space. : it follows .that there is much dodging or much kissing; I am inclined to think that there are both. ^ The origin of this use of \the>mistletpe _is%6ykrfswn; but'we 'do know {hat more than, eighteen .hundred years'ago, when the glad stars sang together over the manger in BethEhem, and wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to a young Child in the peasant mother's arms, England was a chill, mist-covered island inhabited only by savages, who wore garments of skins and lived in huts of mud and stone. Among these savage Britons there were pagan priests called Druids. These priests, were a mysterious folk, who lived -in woods, far away from other men and who, in the gloomy solitudes of the forest, per- formed strange secret ceremonies. The \sacred groves,\ as they are called, were of oak, for the oak was a divine tree ac- cording to the Druidical .religion. Within these sacred groves, the priests, it is recorded in history, offered their sacrifices, and in some manner, not now known, they employed the mistletoe.. But all mistletoe was not sacred to the Druids. They would have none but that Which clung to the sap of the divine oak. To them the apple-tres mistletoe, which modern England uses so freely in her holiday festivities, would be a worth- less and common thing. • '• When, in the latter centuries,- England was taught the Christian religion, the people retained many of their heathen rite3 and customs, changed from their original meaning and purpose. At any rate from the Druids had come the modern usage of' the mistletoe-bough, strangely preserved in festivities whicn. commemorate the birth of Him whose pure worship destroys all heathen super- stitions.— Christian at Work. A leading question—Disputes as to who goes first. Large ears are said to .denote gener- osity. The mule is very generous with his heels.— Call. A descriptive writer said of a pompous ous man that he looked as if he knew so much that it made him unhappy. One of the latest recipes: If you step on a dude's boot you are likely to make calf's foot jelly.— San Francisco Post. \My poor fellow,\ asked a man of the living skeleton at the Dime Museum, \where have youbeen boarding.\— Pica-, ;hihgs said about the beneficence of a System that diyided the energy that be- : pnged to a lost sense among the senses . ;hat remained. It is true that a blind : person learns to' tell a good deal that is going on by his sense of hearing. He can tell people by their footsteps, but my one can learn to do this if he will . take the trouble that a blind man is willing to take in acquiring it. I have tried it myself and have succeeded. At me time, after I had devoted some at- . ention to the matter, I could tell a large number of the pupils' by their knocsk at my door, and even now I recognize the taps of many of them..—Philadelphia' The District of Columbia. The District of Columbia, ift which the iational capital is sitiiated,is a species of lopographical mystery to most peoole. j [t is not a State, it is not a Territory;\ it is. directly under the control of Congress, i Cpngress'has exclusive power over all' districts, not exceeding ten miles square, : as may be ceded and accepted for ;overnmentalor national purposes. The State of Maryland ceded to Congress the District of Columbia fqr the establish- ment of the seat of government. Conse- quently Congress has exclusive jurisdic- tion over it. The District had a inunci- ipal organization, but it oecame cor- rupt, and. so,-in-the interest of purity,it was abolished, and, by-way of providing for perfect honesty j, the District is now governed directly by a committee of Congress; —Chicago Times* j The Bologna Sausage. A correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle, who has been investigating .the sausage, writes as follows from Bologna: I had noticed that there were few pastures on the plains of Lombardy,-- and reason taught me that with few pas-, tures there could be but little beef. As for sheep and pigs, I had seen even fewer than of cattle\. The questions to be de- termined was: Where did the sausages come from? 1 had seen figs pressed into boxes and grapes crushed in wine-vats by the dirty feet of the peasants; I had seen wine packed into pig-skins and rats skihjied for gloves, and I was prepared for anything, but I must ask my .readers to permit me to leave Bologna without saying another Word about its sausages. The details, as the story-book says, are too horrible for mention. I can only ad- vise them to eschew the tempting dish, and if they, must have sausages, to make them at home. The Percy anecdotes re- late the story of a-barber who used to cut his customers throats and drop their bodies into a pit, whence they were con- veyed next door to the baker, who had become so famous for his \mutton pies.\ This is a delicate story compared to some that I heard in Bologna. . Let the vail of an impenetrable mystery hang over the ever-dubious Bologna sausage. Mine shall not be the rash hand to raise it. Mittenwald, a little town in Bavaria, which, as its name indicates, is situated in the midst of forests, has for over two hundred years been given over to the single industry of violin making. The very best of material is found right at their very doors, and in every yard in the place are seen violins suspended from ropes and poles to drj. All kinds of stringed instruments, violins, guitars and even banjos are manufactured there, and sent all over the world. There is said to be no certainty about • the fishing in Labrador. This does not differ materially from anywhere else.— Lowell Courier. Ethel—\Oh mamma, I've got such a pain!\ Mother—\Where dear?\ Ethel (a refine.d child)—\In my sash, mamma.'' — London Judy. Goat is a favorite dish in San Fran- cisco,\says a correspondent, but we see nothing unusual in that, as nearly every- body eats butter.— Merchant-Traveler. Mother, is my chignon perfect? Shape my panniers, fix iny sash; Johnny's coming in the gloaming; And I want to make a -niash. — Chicago Sim Mother, to three-year-old out for a' walk after tea: \See the full-' moon, • Mabelf\ Mabel, suffering from satiation: \Has the moon had supper, too?\— Chi- cago Current. \Have you corns?\ blan&ly asked the corn plaster pedler at the busy man's slbow. \Yes; I am supplied,\ auswered She. busy man wiiQiout looking tip.— Jtfos-.^ ton Transcrt.pt. ' ' There's nothing half so sweet in life as • fcr f£e ambitious lover to serenade his ? air one and learn on the following day that she has been away visiting for three days.— Boston Times. The New York (fraphic -says that in the play of a \Wooden Spoon,\.a young man makes love to four beautiful young ' lady actresses. We should call that a \brass\ spoon.— Norristown Herald. An exchange has an elaborate account of the newest wrinkle in stockings. 'It omits, however, .to mention the original wrinkle, which still continues to carry on business at the old • stand under the heel.— Burlington Free Press. • \Is salt necessary?\ queries an agricul- tural writer.- Well it is no.-use. to ask the hired girl this question. Sometimes she thinks*it is and sometimes\ she thinks it isn't. Anyway, she always-differs from the views ot those who have to eat the victuals.— RocMand Courier. SHAKP SHOOTING. i : Tis now the hunter •with his gun - Over the woodland rambles, ' And beards the rabbit in his den ' Among the brakes and'brambles. The crisp invigorating air Pills him -with vague delight, And sharpens each and every sense, Particularly his sight. . Aha ! at last the game is roused—•. Bouncing big rabbit, very fat! Bang, bang!'Tis his! Is it' Why no— ! Tis the neighboring farmer's cat! ! — Judge. The National Festival of Wales.\ The Eisteddfod is the great national festival of Wales, which had the com-.-- mencement of its history in the remote past. It was established .in the infancy of civilization and knowledge in the British Isles. The Eisteddfod has been the nursery of the bards and bardism in Wales, and in the absence of any other educational facilities it was the instruc- tor of the people from time immemorial. : According to an old Welsh trial \there are three artifices of poetry and record ^nong the nation of the Kymry: (Welsh) Gwyddon Ganhebon, who first in the world invented vocal song; Hu the Mighty, who first invented the means of recording and preserving vocal song; and Tydan, the Father of the Muse, who first gave rules to vocal song and a system of recording. \ From what these three men effected, bards and bardism originated, the. dignities and customs pertaining to which were arranged systematically by the three original bards, 'Plenydd, 'A!on,' and 'Gwron.' Three ranks of OHJeis constituted what was called Bar das or Bardism: That of bard or poet, that of Ovydd or philosopher, and that, of Druid or instructor. The motto of this institution was and is to this day: \Y Gwir yn erbyn y byd\—(The Truth Against the World), from which it would appear that the Eisteddfod or Bardism was instituted for the purpose of propag- ating truth. Thy Eisteddfod was the fount of in- struction, moral and religious, at the time of the ancient Druids. The vehicle . by which instruction, or, as it wa3 prob- ably termed, \Truth was propagated was poetry. The Bard wrought the phi- losophy of the Ovydd into song, and the Druid or instructor, who. was also rninis^ ter of such religion as the Celtic Cymry possessed, communicated to his pupils the result of the Bard and Ovydd. The Druidical verses then probably constitute the most ancient pastry of Britain,— Denver Tribune. \
