Barbara was apparently following
out some happy train of thought as
she deftly fluted the lace on a pink
satin cushion , for the dimple in her
left cheep deepened with her smile.
"A penny for your thoughts , Bab , "
cried Eglantina ; "that is , If they're
worth it. "
"That's you all over , Teen ; always
got to be sure you'll get your money's
worth ! I won't take advantage of
- you this time , for my thought may
not be worth a penny and then again
it may be worth thousands. "
"I don't mind speculating a little , "
retorted Eglantina , feeling around in
her work basket. Discovering a well-
worn one-cent piece she tossed it into
her sister's lap , saying , "Now let's
have it. "
Barbara laughed. "I was only think
ing what we might do to give Aunt
Mehitable a merry Christmas. She's
lived forty years without experiencing
one Christmasy , peace-on-earth-good-
will-to-men feeling and I'd like to
make her once ; if I could. "
"Hump , If that's your thought it may
be valuable where kind thoughts turn
to rubies and pearls like the good
girl's words in the fairy tale but for
hard cash "
"Oh , Bab , I'm not so mean as to
think of doing anything for anybody's
Christmas in hope of a return ; if my
thought was worth thousands , I didn't
mean thousands to us : and that was
only a kind of second thought anyway
when you spoke of values. ' . '
"Well you'll never get a cent out
of Aunt Mehitable , she's tighter than
a drum.biit your imagination will have
have to be lively if you think of any
way to give a good time to a woman
who is soured on everything. Nothing
In this world will make Aunt Mehit
able happy and it's to be hoped she
won't be disappointed in the next. "
"Teen , I'll tell you something ! When
I was in the garret yesterday looking
lor that yellow silk to line my sofa
pillow I found mother's old diary
wedged in behind the cedar chest ;
mother had written it to within two
weeks before she died. I knew she
wouldn't care , so I sat up half the
night reading. I know more about
Aunt Mehitable than I did. "
"I hope you know something good , "
Eglantina's tone was skeptical.
"I know she has reason to be very
unhappy , " replied Barbara , gravely ,
"for when she was only eighteen she
killed a little boy. "
"Barbara Seabright ! what do you
mean ? "
"Accidentally , of course , and it hap
pened Christmas morning. He was the
only child of her dearest friend just
two years old they were playing on
the landing of a slippery oak staircase
and the mother had twice cautioned
Aunt Mehitable but she didn't think
there was any danger. The baby slip
ped and fell down the long flight he
struck his head somehow and they
picked him up dead. "
"How dreadful ! But I don't see that
aunt exactly killed him , " said Eglan
tina practically.
"Mother said she always felt she
had ; it changed aunt's -whole nature.
-She thinks herself a murderer , and yet
rebels against a force Avhich can per
mit one careless act to spoil a whole
life. "
"She's spoiled her own life so far as
I can' see , " returned Eglantina , "but
feeling as she does I guess it would
take a greater conjurer than you are ,
Bab , to make Christmas a merry fes
tival for Aunt Mehitable ! "
"Yes , I know , " replied Bab , softly
smiling again , "but I've been thinking
and as it's four weeks till Christmas
I'm going to keep thinking. "
"Oh , Aunt Mehitable , I've come over
to find out how you make junket , " ex
claimed Barbara a few days later ,
making her.way . along the narrow
strip of drugget which protected Aunt
Mehitable's sitting room carpet.
"Junket ? Humph ! Anybody sick ? "
asked the angular spinster , with no in
dication of sympathy.
"Oh/dear , no ; I'm just getting ready
for our Christmas dinner. Now you
needn't look so surprised , Aunt Hitty ,
of course I know it's three weeks
before Christmas and that junket isn't
a fruity pudding to be prepared be
forehand. We just want to experiment
with the junket so's to get our hand
in although I'm sure we shall never
equal yours. "
Aunt Mehitable did not soften per
ceptibly under this subtle flattery.
"I'll tell you how to do it and wel
come , " she said , putting on her glasses
and opening a desk drawer full of
carefully assorted miscellany , "but
vseems to me you must be getting up a
queer sort of dinner. "
"How sharp you are , Aunt Hitty , "
cried Barbara , beaming good natured-
ly. "That's exactly what we are do-
Ing. I wasn't going to tell a soul , but
since you've most guessed it I'll con
fine in you. "
Barbara seated herself in the high
stiff-backed chair , spreading our her
( lounces as complacently as if she had
been urged to stay.
"You see it's no use for Teen and
me to try to have a family dinner
since mother's gone. You , " reproach
fully , "never will come and eat with
us and there's nobody else. Last year
Uncle and Aunt Stone came over from
Hilltop , but I knew they were wishing
all the time that they were home , so
this year we're giving a dinner to
strangers ; covers laidfor twelve and
the oldest isn't quite eleven1 and the
youngest is exactly two ! That's why I
want to try junket , as we're getting up
a dinner which won't hurt' an infant
but which will be a work of art so
for as table decorations , culinary skill
and varied menu ar.e , concerned and
a Christmas tree in the middle ! I do
wish , Aunt Hitty , you'd come over and
watch the children. "
Aunt Mehitable drew her thin lips
together , but answered not a word.
" " Barbara with
"I know , continued
unabated cheerines.s , "you're wonder-
Ing who we're going to have. We've
followed scripture injunction and gone
into the highways and byways. There
are the little orphan. Bents from the
poorhouse and Mrs. O'Flarrety's chil
dren five of them then we've got the
queer Ting child who lives with his
old grandmother and never has any
fun ; and the little Beadles they'll give
tone to the affair ; but our prize and
treasure I do want you to see , Aunt
Hitty , he's such a dear Joe Flint's
baby , poor fellow.
"They say Joe's drunk night and day
and his wife , poor thing , has a dread
ful time of it such a pretty girl as she
used to be. But the boy is an angel.
I wish you could see him won't you
come over , Aunt Hitty ? "
Miss Mehitable had found what she
was looking for. Adjusting her glasses
she jogged her memory as to the pro
per proportion of rennet and curds.
"Here 'tis , " she said , 'but it's tick
lish kind of a thing to make. I can't
come to your party you know I never
go 'round Chrlstmasing but I'll make
the junket if 'twill help out any I
believe I'd like to. ' '
Barbara's eyes shone with pleasure.
It seemed a small concession , but not
to one who knew Aunt Mehitable.
"If you only would , Aunt Hitty , and
shall I send for it ? "
"I guess you better , " snapped Miss
Mehitable.
'How did you get her to offer ? " de
manded Eglantina when Barbara told
her story.
"I didn't get her to , it's only rny
thought working out , " replied Barbara
mysteriously.-
It was just a week before Christmas
when Barbara visited Miss Mehitable
again. This time she did not walk
carefully up the strip of drugget , but
rushed right in without stopping to
wipe her feet or close the front door.
"Oh , Aunt Hitty' , ' she cried , "I'm in
the most awful trouble and I didn't
know who to come to but you. Oh , you
will help me , won't you ? "
Aunt Mehitable looked her niece
over sharply ; then touched by the hon
est look of distress in tne eyes of her
favorite , she said quickly :
"Sit right down , Barbara Seabright ,
and let's hear what is the trouble. " '
"It's Fritz , Aunt Hitty , Joe's boy.
He's awfully sick and I don't know
what to do. "
"Humph , can't see what business
that is of yours , " returned Miss Me
hitable as though her sympathy had
been aroused under false pretenses.
"But you don't understand , he's at
our house. Mrs. Flint had a little girl
born dead two days ago and we
brought Fritz home. He was well then
but today he is awfully sick. Eglan
tina's waiting to start for the doctor
and I can't stay with him alone. Oh !
won't you come , Aunt Hitty , and help
me. What should I do if anything
happened ? I never could forgive my
self ! "
"No that you couldn't , " replied Miss
Mehitable huskily , "I'll get my bon
net. "
Miss Mehitable' was wont to say
when forced to an opinion that she
knew nothing about children and cared
less ; but such a statement was grossly
false. For many years she had never
seen a child except to watch it with
eager eyes and study it with a fierce
longing to snatch it to her heart. The
memory of laughing baby eyes , half
hidden by the tousled tawny hair , the
clinging touch of soft baby arms was
ever present with her , pressing upon
an unhealed wound , torturing an ach
ing heart.
With this one ghost child ever at her
side she had reared a ghostly fam
ily , bringing each to noble manhood
in her dreams. No childish disorder
was unknown to her , no garrulous
mother's minute details of baby's ail
ments had wearied her , an unsuspect
ed , sympathetic listener ; though moth
ers often checked their communicative
flow in her presence , chilled by the
stony supercilious immobility of her
face.
"J [ don't see's I'll be much use , " said
Miss Mehitable bitterly as they hufred
across the snow-drifted fields to Bar
bara's home. "It's experience that
tells. "
"It's more common sense , I guess ,
Aunt Hitty , and you've got plenty of
that. Teen usually has , but this has
rattled her dreadfully. There she is
all ready to get into the cutte's kuick
as we get there. "
Miss Mehitable pressed her way si
lently into the cozy sitting room where
on the comfortable lounge lay the ail
ing child. His yellow curls were like
sunlight on the white pillow , his soft
round cheeks were flushed crimson.
As Miss Mehitable laid her hardcold
hand on the burning head the little
fellow opened his great blue eyes and
smiling angelically said :
"Fits so sick you come to make Fits
well 'fore Santa Tause bring Trismas
twoo ? "
With "Tsweet confidence the baby
stretched out his little arms : "You
take Fitz up. " With a fierce gesture
unmindful of Barbara's devouring eye
Aunt Hitty snatched the child and
held him to her heart as if to heal
some illness of her own.
Seating herself with the boy Miss
Mehitable jerked out abrupt questions ,
made curt demands for simple reme
dies and applied them with a decision
little short of marvelous to the aston
ished Barbara.
"Do you think he's going to die ,
Aunt Hitty ? " asked Barbara , her anx
iety seemingly increased by her aunt's
grim silence and absobed activity.
"Die ? " exclaimed Miss .Mehitable
with fe , sniff. "Children don't die of a
little cold and fever ; not if there's
anybody around with sense enough to
take care of 'em. I'll stay till the doc
tor comes , " she added grimly , "you fly
around and clear up the house ; look's
as if it was needed. "
Barbara departed to the kitchen
with cheerful alacrity and a suspicious
observer might have fancied there was
a slight , a very slight , twinkle in her
eye accompanying the emphasized sigh
with which she closed the door.
If she executed a little dance of joy
on the oil cloth before the kitche *
table that was of course because Aunt
Hitty had said Fritz would not die.
*
Miss Mehitable stayed for the doc
tor's instructions. These were brief.
The doctor did not seem to think Fritz'
illness alarming though he looked
grave enough. He brought sad news
and his eyes , hardened to much suf
fering , filled with tears as he regard
ed the handsome little fellow who'was
now motherless.
"Oh , what will become of him"cried
Barbara , sinking to the floor and bury
ing her face in the mass of curls
spread out over Miss Mehitable's right
shoulder.
"Nothing better than the poorhouse , "
suggested Eglantina in a choking
voice.
Miss Mehitable said not a word , but
held the child closer.
"We'll keep him as long as we can-
till after Christmas , anyway , " asserted
Barbara.
Aunt Mehitable did not go home un
til late that night and came back ear
ly the next morning. No one but her
self and the barn cat knew she came
almost before daylight and hid in the
henhouse until an hour when she was
not ashamed to knock at her niece's
door.
She spent the greater part of that
week with Barbara and Eglantina and
made the Christmas junket with their
spice and rennet after all.
Fritz was quite well in time for
Santa Claus's visit , and not one of the
eleven enjoyed the dinner more than
he.
he.Of
Of course Aunt Mehitable was there
she hardly went away now and
after the eleven had disappeared she
sat by the stove in the gloaming with
Fritz cuddled up in her lap while Bar
bara and Eglantina , "did the dishes"
out in the kitchen.
"Did the kids enjoy themselves , " said
Eglantina , "your Christmas dinner was
a howling success , Bab. "
Barbara was silent.
"Come why don't you acknowledge
the compliment. What are you think
ing ? "
"Oh , excuse me , Teen , I was think
ing of my Christmas thought. "
Eglantina's eyes twinkled. "I guess
that's been a success , too , " she whis
pered. "Do you know she , " ( meaning
Aunt Mehitable ) "went to see Lawyer
Weight today and Bert says his father
told him it's all fixed up. She's going ;
to adopt him the father's willing. "
"Going to adopt who Bert ? inquired
Bab with an exaggerated assumption
of innocence. "And Lawyer Weight's
willing ? I didn't suppose you'd be
willing to let her have Bert. "
"Don't try to be so funny , Bab. You
know well enough what I mean. Aunt
Hit'ty's going to keep Fritz. Bert's
going to bring round the papers all
signed tonight. "
"Listen ! " said Bab.
Tiptoeing to the half-closed door the
girls peeped through. There in the
soft moonlight which was flooding
through the casement window sat old
Aunt Mehitable looking almost young
again. In her arms cozily snuggled the
sleepy boy , one dimpled hand patting
lovingly the furrowed , sallow cheek ,
while in a cracked long-unused voice
Aunt Hitty , as she gently rocked ,
crooned an old , old nursery song.
"There , " said Barbara with shining
eyes , "you see what thinking does ! No
one could say this isn't the happiest
Christmas of Aunt Kitty's life. "
"You're a trump , Bab ! I always said
so and it was a thousand-dollar
thought , even if unworthy Joe Flint
gets the.thousand dollars and the babe
gets the rest. "
"Oh , Teen , you're just as glad as I
am you know you are , " cried BaY-
bara.
And Eglantina kissed her sister , say
ing , "Of course I am , you blessed
goose ; and so's Bert. " Isabel Winslow
Bates in Table Talk , a Monthly Mag
azine.
A pretty Cherokee girl of 20 years ,
known among her tribespeople as
"Lost Bird" and among the whites as
Miss Ora V. Eddleman , is the editor
and proprietor of Twin Territories , an
illustrated magazine published in In
dian Territory and devoted to the in
terests of that territory and Oklahoma.
"Lost Bird's" father is of German de
scent , her mother a full-blooded Cher
okee. She speaks the Cherokee lan
guage with fluency ; she speaks Ger
man , too , but English better than eith
er. English is the language spoken in
her home. Miss Eddleman says of
herself : "I hardly know Avhere I was
educated , but I think it was in a
printing office no bad university.
When I was about 14 my father bought
the only daily newspaper published
here. I was in school at the time and
that is where I should have stayed ,
but 3 , didn't. I wanted to help run
that newspaper and it wasn't long be
fore I was on the reportorial force. One
day I became city editor a proud day
for me. " Miss Eddleman fills her
magazine'with illustrations and scenes
photographed in the Indian's habitat
scenes dear to them , for the Indian is
proud of his country and holds it first
in his heart.
i3C ' A Song of Home. +
The heart is singing home again the
heart is singing home ,
Wherever up and down the world the
restless feet may roam.
"When comes the time of holly leaves ,
of fellowship and mirth , ,
That marks the glory of the day the
Christ child came to 'earth
Then all about and all around , on
mountain , plain and foam ,
The heart is singing home again the
heart is singing home.
The wander-love ! It leads us on be
neath the dreaming star ;
It beckons us with tempting hands
from many lands afar ;
It lures us where the lotos dream is
filled with rare delight ;
It guides us where the silent snows
gleam through the endless night ;
But now , to all who wander far be
neath the sky's broad dome ,
The heart is singing home again the
heart is singing home. i
To every man in every place there
comes the haunting song ;
It rises like a glory chant , in cadence
full and strong ,
To him who sleeps upon his arms be
fore the tireless foe ;
And he who bends above his desk the
coaxing strains must know ;
For , sweeter than the clover-tang that
drips from honeycomb
The heart is singing home again the
heart is singing home.
It brings a picture of the past a pic
ture fair and free
A picture of the good old home
wherever it may be ;
And o'er the waves it sings to us ;
across the hill and plain ;
Until the soul within us seems to
echo the refrain.
Wherever up and down the world the
restless feet may roam ,
The heart is singing home again the
heart is singing home.
The Failure of a Skunk Farm ,
skunk farm Is a failure. The
THE of riches in skunks has be
come a nightmare. The skunk
kills its progeny rather than raise it
In captivity , and the skunk farmer
holds up his hands and cries :
"Skunked ! "
Such is the announcement of M. L.
Michael , a skunk farmer , who , with
three associates , has just abandoned
in Monroe county , Pennsylvania , a
skunk farm in which they lost $25,000.
Mr. Michael and associates organ
ized the Monroe Farming Co. , Limited.
They proposed to raise skunks. They
estimated that 200 female skunks in
two years would increase to 1,228,800.
They bought a farm and stocked it at
once with 200 skunks at $2.50-and $3
each. They began in the fall of 1891
and stuck to the sinking ship ten years.
It finally went'down , and Mr. Michael
is now relating his experience in re
creation , as follows :
We bought a farm in Monroe county ,
Pennsylvania , for the experss purpose
of experimenting in skunk raising. We
paid $6,500 for the farm. We obtained
a charter from the state , and in Octo
ber , 1891 , opened an office near the
farm for the purpose of purchasing
our skunks. We found this no small
matter , and only succeeding after do
ing a great deal of advertising and
sending expert trappers into regions
where the animals were numerous. We
bought one male to ten females , pay
ing usually from $2.50 to $3 for fine
black specimens. A black skunk is one
which has not white back of the shoul
der excepting the tip of the tail.
A temporary pen 80x100 feet was
constructed to keep the skunks until
spring. Early in the next April a three
foot trench was dug around a 20-acre
or June in this latitude. A warm win
ter will , bring them about 30 days ear
lier. The young of mature skunks
have finer and better fur than the
progeny of the younger animals , and
their pelts are larger and more valu
able. The females have one litter a
year , numbering from six to sixteen.
Seventy to 80 per cent of these are fe
males. In buying our stock from trap
pers this average also held , although
we had not specified the proportions
desired.
The first year brought no Increase in
our stock , but rather a falling off , due
to natural deaths. This was entirely
unexpected. We looked for 2,000 skunks
in 1892. No reason could be assigned
for our disappointment , but we deter
mined to keep a strict watch In the
spring of 1893. This revealed to us
that the skunk is a cannibal. Though
we kept the animals supplied with an
abundance of the choicest food an-1
conducted water to their dens through
iron pipes from a cold mountain spring ,
we found that they destroyed the
young as fast as they .were born , the
males being the chief offenders.
We/saw many surprising and start
ling proofs that the skunks were do
ing in captivity what they were never
known to do in the wild state. We
several times saw a mother rush from
one of the dens with a kitten in her
mouth , a cannibalistic pack in pursuit.
Our hopes of gathering a fortune by
raising this valuable little animal in
captivity had received a sore blow by
this discovery , but the more sanguine
members had plans to set this obstacle
aside.
It was certain that the males were
the chief destroyers of the young. Why
not separate them from the females
piece of hillside land , sloping to the
sun. In this ditch we set posts eight' '
feet apart , and to this we stapled gal
vanized iron wire netting eight feet
high , with a one-inch mesh. This made
a tight fence five feet below the sur
face. The trench was then filled and
tramped hard. Then a 12-inch hemlock
board was strung along he tops of the
posts inside and out. This was to
keep the skunks in and other animals
out. Then we turned to the making of
dens.
The dens were made of heavy oak
planks , or of stone , of various patterns
and styles , but the prevailing size was
4x10 feet , just below the frost line. A
hall ran the whole length of the den ,
with openings into rooms 2x2x2 feet.
Each den had leading to it a tunnel
12 feet long and 12 inches square , so
inclined as to give gravity drainage
to the interior.
Over the mouth of each tunnel , as
cold weather approached , was placed a
thick cloth to exclude the cold ; and
many other minor matters looking to
the comfort and safety of the inmates
received our attention.
April 20 the park received its fra
grant population of about 200 kunks.
We had discovered them partial to a
meat diet , especially poultry. Beef ,
lamb or pork would be cast aside at
any time for chicken. Fish were also
popular food. Occasionally thawed fro
zen apples would be lightly eaten dur
ing the winter , and now and then in
summer a dessert of berries or wild
plums. Bugs , crickets and grubs of
all kinds were delicacies for themand
In search of these they kept , th"e 20-acre'
'
park as thoroughly plowed as any ,
farm Implement could have turned , it ?
As a rooter the skunk equals the p'lg.
He will spend the whole night" over
turning flat stones , chips , bark , rooting
in toughest sods , and digging in old
logs for insects and larvae. He Is
strictly a nocturnal animal , and if seen
abroad in daytime there1 Is generally
argent need.
The young skunks are born In May
after breeding ? The suggestion was so
reasonable that it was adopted. March
2 , 1894 , the females were segregated in
a spacious inclosure especially prepar
ed for them. In due time the'young
were born. Then the females ate each
other's children. One had been placed
by herself , and she successfully reared
nine young. We estimated the cost or
raising this single brood at $30. , /
Skunks are not especially quarrel
some. We never knew one to use his
scent except In self-defense. When
two of them 'fight the battle is on the
General De Wet plan a rear action
and the location of the battlefield can
be determined by the direction of the
wind. The removal of the scent sack
did not appreciably affect the growth
of the animal , but seemed fatal to
many , and beyond a doubt affected un
favorably the general appearance , the
furring .and consequently the value.
So that In skunk culture the unwhole
some scent gland Is quite necessary.
During cold weather the skunk lies
dormant in a burrow below the frost
line , several usually living together.
The mother skunk will sometimes
move her young to a nev. ' burrow , do-
Ing this at night. I made an estimate
of the distance covered by one mother
in moving a family of seven , and I
found she had traveled nine miles ,
half the . .time with a kitten in her
mouth.
Skunks cannot be raised in captivity.
It cost us $25,000" to find this out , but
we are convinced.
Mrs. John W. Mackay , who now
lives abroad nearly all the time , and
most of the time in London , has a pair
of matched pearl earrings which are
said to be worth $50,000. . She , also has
a chain of diamonds nearly two yards
long , besides many other exceedingly
"
valuable jewels.
Nearly a million turkeys were roast
ed this year as a Thanksgiving offer
on the altar of prosperity. The bird
is a feast and the feast is a bird.
{ PAYING THE MORTGAGE.
We've done a lot of scrlmpln' an' a-
llvin' hand-to-mouth
- - ,
We've dreaded , too , wet weather an *
we've worried over drouth ,
For the thing kept drawln * interest
whether crops were good or bad.
An' raisin' much or little , seemed it
swallowed all we had.
The women folks were savin * and there
ain't a bit of doubt
But that things they really needed lota
of times they done without.
So we're breathln' somewhat easy , an *
we're feelln * less afraid.
Of Providence's workln's , since we cot
the mortgage paid.
I wish I'd kept a record of the things
that mortgage ate.
In principal an' int'rest from beglnnln *
down to date !
A hundred dozen chickens , likely fowl
with yellow legs ,
A thousand pound of butter an * twelve
hundred dozen eggs.
Some four or five good wheat crops.an"
at least one crop of corn.
An * oats , an * rye It swallowed In Its
lifetime , sure's you're born.
Besides the work an' worry , ere Its %
appetite was stayed !
So we're feelin * more contented , since
we got the mortgage paid.
We've reached a point , I reckon.where
we've got a right to rest ,
An' loaf around an' visit , wear our go-
to-meetin' best
Neglectln' nothin' urgent , understand ,
about the place.
But simply slowin' down a bit , an *
restin' in the race !
In time I'll get the windmill I've been
wantin' , I suppose ;
The girls can have their organs , an *
we'll all wear better clothes.
For we always pulled together , while
we saved an' scrimped an'prayed.
An' It seems there's more to work for
since we got the mortgage paid.
American Agriculturist.
'
FRILLS OF FASHION , - : -
Green Is a favored color for coats for
little girls , particularly in velvet. An
*
ecru lace collar , beaver fur or ermine
forms the trimming.
Velvet ribbons are now seen with
velvet on both sides. The center is In
solid color with striped edges combin
ing the center color and white.
Chantilly ring net In white or deep
cream tints is a greatly favored ma
terial for dressy high-cut gowns an4
those for full dress evening wear.
The most fashionable hat for small
girls is a big flat silky haired beaver ,
trimmed with feather pompons and
immense bows with long streamers.
For table use Venetian glass is en
joying special favor just now and spec
imens of this exquisite crystal ara
day gifts.
The modish hatpin Is topped with a
pear-shaped pearl or round topaz or
amethyst framed In gun metal. Crys
tal beads with selling of gun metal
are used for some of the longchalns ,
for which there is a decided liking just
now.
Some very youthful and pretty shoul
der capes for matinees , concerts , after
noon receptions , etc. , are made of plain
velvet lined with gay pompadour bro
cade , and trimmed with ermine or ot
ter fur and narrow gold gimps , or
rather showy buttons and jeweled
neck clasps.
The newest belts are fastened with
a button in .gold , silver or gem , such
as turquoise. Gun metal belts are a
novelty and the snake belt is one of
the fancies of the moment. The lat
ter come in gold and silver and their
effectiveness is enhanced if worn over
velvet.
The boa pin the handsomer the bet
ter is an essential possession of the
woman who would keep in touch with
fashion's whims. Some of the designs
in these fasteners are particularly
handsome , one in silver set with rhine-
stones and black pearls being an ex
ample.
Every woman who has ever burnetl
her fingers , spotted her gown or ruf
fled her temper trying to manipulate
sealing wax will appreciate the In
genious little contrivance that is now
Included in the collection of desk ap
pointments. The sealing wax is run
Into a glass tube which is held slant-
Ing upward over the flame until the
required amount of wax is heated and
then slightly tipped to allow a small
quantity to fall on the envelope flap
of each epistle. The wax does not cool
so quickly as with the older fashioned
method and therefore there Is less need
for hurry.
BLASTS FROM RAM'S HORN.
A passive church soon passes away.
Fretfulness is the cause of fearful-
ness.
The heart that sings wings itself to
heaven.
The gloomy church preaches a sun
less heaven.
No man finds his worli till he loses
himself in it.
Some churches make very success
ful burial clubs.
No duty is too small to embrace the
sublimest principles.
Holiness is never under the necessity
of advertising itself.
The true furniture of life Is made la
the factory of drudgery.
When the pulpit is a pedestal for
pride It cannot be a power for God.
Nothing would suprise some people
more than to have their prayers an
swered.
It will not help ot pray for heavenly
illumination after you have blown out
the candle of sense.
It makes all the difference In the'
world whether our religion is an inner
force or an outer fashion.
Baltimore American : A minister in.
New Jersey has had the moral courage
to protest against the movement , in.
which prominent women are interest
ed , to obtain the release of a woman
murdered from prison. The advice he
gave the women interested not to let
their sympathies run away with their
common sense is wofully needed just
now , and some progress might be made
in fighting crome were it more gener
ally taken ;
