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"'opyrltfht.) KOINA Kasod d<* epondently out of tbl wi&dov A l^ght Know wa?j falling like. inlllloiu of ^ptuUlIng dia mond# and pearl* yet KeKliiu t Hftw nOiblOIi II ?? r ChriHtniuo tree hud not como! It mat tered not that the duy wuh a won der flay and that the cVo of Chrlnt mas wan close at hand. Nothing that torea to ticglnu nave tho fact that she had promised her Sunday school class a glorious treo and that now I hero wbb no troe for them. Tears welled Klowly Into Regina's ey?B and blurred the glittering landscape. Bho nrr.'uod with herself that she might ha vcr known that tho, New Yorl< lllOPf cvvAil not be; relied upon to send a treo- to the suburbs at ko short ? notice, but that did not help tho situa tion, u< iglhg KhranU from facing tho?? twelve lit! io gli |?4 whoso smiles would vanish in childish disappointment whonvtho/ learned that the treo they bad been promised was not to be Uiolru. The teur? brimmed over and fell. Region's \ i*lon was cleared and In the clearing sho gazed directly at the miniature fir treo in the vacant lot next door. A sense of kben delight swept over ilegitia. After all, ? her children would havo a tree! Bomo fifteen minutes later Ileglnu appeared in outdoor costume. She Had put SB Kfif gymnasium Bult, hlgb rubber boots and her father's groat top coat. Over n riot of curls her snug fur cap fitted closely, "You look for all the world as If you deserved your nlck-amme," expo? tulated Reglna's mother. "Regfna, I do hope no one will see you." "There's no one for inlles around," Heglna laughed and shouldered an ax. "llnleHH the pooplo who live In the bungalow turn up ? I will have the world to my self.*' She picked up a big tub with her free hand and trudged off toward the flr tree in the vacant lot. Roglna's eyes wore too Intent on hor mission to Bee that a thin curl of Binoko was twisting from the chim ney of tho bungalow tnat rambled in (ho lot beyond the vacant one. Regina drew near tho coveted tree and her heart expanded lovingly. "What a little beauty!" she ex? claimed half aloud. Tho little tree was of special origin and stood not much higher than He glna. Over its branches a voil of smoke seemed to linger. After a mo mont spent In admiration, the girl put down her hlg tub and began to clear away tho light fall of snow from about the roots of the, tree. Her clucks wero gloriously red and the sparkle In her eyes rivaled the day Itself. When tho snow was cleared Regina swung the great a\ into tho frozen earth. The ground scarcely responded to hor sirength. She swung again. "Hey! What are you doing to that tree!" Regina dropped hor ax and gazed 1n the direction of the deep, gruff voice. A man was standing on the :>;;.xcranda of the hunjralow. - . Regina picked up her ax. and with dignity 8\\i..K it again. . ? "I say there, you? that 7 tree be longs to me! * The man was coming toward her. Regina stoj>{?<'d and turned. "This is a vacant lot." she called out with asperity. The approaching male whistled. Ilia -speed quickened, lie made an invol .:_untary movement to raifcp a cap that in his haste he had forgotten to put on. "I bes your pardon." his voice had lost tho gruff quality. "1 thought you were a man? but ? that tree is mine. 1 brought it up from my father's gar den in the south." David Langhorn spoke rapidly, Jtegina's face was rather startling in Jts beauty a nO ne had a desire to cover her embarrass ment. "I have take* very special care of that tree." "Very special," Regina 'fiaid coldly. "I have lived here a whole summer and no one--" "I have been away- ? lately." t 'iwe. why leave youi poo*' HUW fRfes around In vacant k>t?." Kc^lna put In hurriedly because she full like qrytag, *M>w that ber prccjjpui trAe wan tafcea from her ^Tnlg l* d?, li>^" Irfngborit ?toM heK "it ?you haid chop pod town-"-'' . "I wasn't chopping It down!'* He glim cried indignantly. "1 was going to put It very carefully into this tub." Bbe atumbled over her word*. but de termined tp tell tbU very good looking man wf tit the red hajr that ?be waa not a Ooorge WaHhlng ton. "I or da red i Cbriitfl&ta trt < hy exprc'tta an<! It didn't come. My B u it <1 a y achool claoe- twelve lit tle glii?- -are et* peetiug a tree to night In my bouse and now-?" Worda failed lt?glua. 8ho hit her Up and looked appeallngly up Ut l.anghorn The man laugh < <1 Ix'caUHO It wa? the *afe#t thing to do for the present. "And I have brought down twelv? little settlement boys with tho sum? promise ? knd nary a treo have I got. J reckoned on getting one In the village/' ltegina laughed and the whole worh! to cjcho thfii laugh. "I have tried evtm the department utore!" She gazed Into David Lang horn's eyes. "1 am sorry fOr tho pool little souls whom wo are disappointing ? my class worked bo faithfully al) luHt Bummor," "JJy Jove," David said. "I read onde of some people who had a Christmas tree out of doors! Tliey had great bonfires and the tree was lit by o thousand candles as well as the stars and a Santa Claus drove up over the real snow! Couldn't we do something like that?" "With this treo! JIow perfectly glorious!" Ilegina, beside herself with Joy, began to shovel away a greatei clearing. David took the shovel away from her, "My kiddles -will do that ? it will be tho treat of their lives." David looked seriously at Reglna. "Now go home and get warmed up. This afternoon 1 will call properly an^ln tho evening ? Christmas Eve ? " He did not finish with words for the hearts of both David and Reglna wore overflowing with good tidings of great Joy. That evening Santa Claus drove ujj through the crisp snow and opened htp great bags before the little tree. It was a wonder tree there In the vacant lot and It was hung with a hundred electric bulbs. Six bonfires reared their flames skyward and around and about danced and capered twenty-four Joyous children. And when the moon was high In me ncavens and the spirit of Christ mas had entered into each heart David and Regine drew the band oJ children about them and led the young voices in carols. Still later when one tiny girl had cuddled herself in to Regina's arms and two more had fallen asleep in David's there wae only a duet of voices. David and Hegina sang all the old English carols until twenty little kiddies had fallen into a happy sleep. "For unto you is born this day. "In tho city of David, A Savior!" The voices of David and Kegina trailed Into alienee and they only looked at each other. Kegina was tho first to speak, the mother Instinct prompting her. " "Perhaps we had hotter waken them now ? the fires might got low." David was silent a long moment, then he said slowly and reverently, "The fires will ?never burn low ? Ke gina. This Is the night when the Great Spirit of Love was born into our world." BEST TOYS FOR CHRISTMAS They Should Suggest Action and Sol the Mind of the Child at Work. In selecting toys for tho children'! j Christmas, remember they should be ! such as to suggoat action, and bring the imagination into pl&y, as it is the child who plays, not the toy, and Imagination is the soul of the play. Tho boat toys are those which set tho mind to work, and give the little brain scope for expansion. This la one of tho strongest recommendations for tho simpler toys.. The wonderful mochanical toys sold In the shops are complete In themselves, and leave the child nothing to do but to wind them up and start them going. In this case, It ,1s tho toy that plays, not the child. Children soon weary of hay ing nothing fo do, and. losing interest in fche monotonous repetitions, the lit tle Inquisitive mind sets about Id vestigatlng the Internal mechanism, , greatly to tho damage of the toy, ! which la noon ruined and thrown away, while the child turns for amuse, ment to tho old toys that are bo hopelensly undone that everything thoy are supposed to do must com? : from the plnv-splrlt in tho child. Femlnlno Diplomacy. "Y?h, I finally not rid of him," win fluid, "without having to tell htm In no many words that I never could learn to love blm. I didn't want to do that, because he's an awfully nice fel low, und 1 should have beeu very sorry to pause hi in pain/' "How^did you. manago it?" v bar friend Mked. "Why, you see, he'? subject to hay fever, ho I decorated the bouse with golden rod whenever ho sent word that he was coming." An Explanation. The steamboat came splashing along her course, at full speed, and the llrut thing the passengers knew had crashed head-on into the pier. "Mercy." cried a passenger, as the bow crashed and the splinters flew. "I wonder what is the matter?" "NothlnV said Pat. one &f the deck hands. "Nothln', ma'am ? ut looks to me as tf tho captain just forgot that we shtop here." ? Harper's Weekly. He Begins to 8ee. "When I flrst hit town," remarked Farmer lleck, "I ustei* stand on a corner and wonder how all these city poople managed to live." "Well?" "Well, seeing as they have got $38 out of me in four days, it ain't such a mystery, after all." ?. ? Borrowed Fame. "I see that a New York editor !e accused of insisting on attaching Mb name to poems that were written by paid contributors." "What of it? I know a rich corBot maker who puts his name on a corset that was invented by another man." SOME DIFFERENCE. Mr. Sapliead-? I certainly admire an athletic girl. Miss Pert ? But you married just the opposite. Mr. Saphcad? Oh! I didn't say I'd marry an athletic girl. Vindictive. Tho comical boarder Is fond of his Joke; Ills landlady hopes, In her heart, he will choKew Lesson From the Past. Tho nymph Egerla, on learning that King Numa Pompilius was dead, melt ed away in tears and was changed into a fountain. "This is better," she said ? or the fountain murmured ? "than committing hara-kiri!" Would Miss Himself So. "It does a man good to get away from himself occasionally." "Every nan, perhaps, except a pro found egotist. He never gots away from himself because he knows that if he ever did he would die of lone liness." Serious Accident "What's the matter, Tommy?" "Jack fall into the water when ho went to buy bomo candles." "\Vell, never mind; he got out all right." "Yes, but without the candles."-? Pele Mele. In Plunkville. "Bill, why on earth did you want to buy that second-hand fire escape?" "Oh, I 'bought mebbe I could get somebody Jo build a hotel to fit it, or perhaps open an opery house." Enjoyable. Miss Quiz/. ? Have you ridden in Charley '8 new auto? Mrs. Malaprop ? :Tes; 4t was lovely. There was some osculation, but it didn't bother me a bit. ? ?The Cause. "I saw Jennie in a violent fit yes terday." "Good gracious! What caused it?" "Her effort to get into a skin-tight waist." BOBBOWINQ AS A FINE ART Prtof That Thla Bad Habit la Impoa ?Ibla to Eradicate In Borne People. Day by day, as Mrs. Worth's bouse hold and kitchen furniture and grocer les slowly disappeared, she saw that the moment approached when a Anal stand must be made. One morn lug, when Jimmy, sou of the borrower, ap peared at the back door with the stato. qui lit, "Ma wahts the wash-boiler, " Mrs. Worth determined to act. "You tell your ma that when she brings back what she has already bor rowed, 1 will lend her the boiler." In a little while Jimmy reappeared. "Ma wants to know what she bor rowed." "There U a quart of flour," began Mrt?. Worth, "a pi ck or potatoes, a CUp of sugar, a can of coffee, a half-pound of lard, some onions, and butter and apices; the screw driver, the hatchet, a pair of scissors"- -she paused, recol looting three spools of thread, a pa per of needles, and ? " Hut Jimmy was gone. Presently he rapped on the back door again. "Ma ?ays for you to writo 'em down, I forgot some of 'em." Mrs, Worth eat down with pencil and patlet^Uy made an alphabetical list of all the articles she could reihefh her. Jimmy took the list and disappeared. A half-hour later he once more reap peared at the back door and an nounced: "Ma ways if you'll lend her tho wash boiler to carry 'em In, she'll bring 'em home." ? Youth's Companion. POETRY IN PAGAN LEGEND According to This, Woman Is Made Up of a Compound of Many Contradictory Thlnfl?. "Our fable of the creation of worn* au its more poetical than your Chris tian one, which forms woman out of a man's rib," said a Hindu. "Listen, and see if you don't agree with me. "Twnshtri, at tho beginning of time, created tho universe and man, but when he came to create woman he found that he had exhaustod his ma terials and no solid elements re mained. i "Twashtri mused a while. Then an idea came to him, and in order to mako the first woman ho took moon light and the undulations of the ser pent, flie slenderness of reeds and tho soft movement in the wind, the tears of a raincloud, the velvet of flower petals, tho grace of a roe, the tremor of grasses, the vanity of the peacock, the softness of the down on a dove's breast, tiie hardness of dia monds and the sweetness of honey, the cruelty of the tiger and the warmth of Are, the cold of ^now, the chatter of a Jay and the coo of a dove ? and out of these things Twash tri creatcd woman." Glass Over Paintings. ? Yielding to the criticism of artists and art experts, the authorities at I tho galleries of the Louvre have re moved the glass that covered and was ' supposed tg protect some famous pic ! tures. A few, however, are yet in | closed in glass, and among these are : l'Antiope of Corrogglo, the Laura Dl antl of Titian and the Concert Cham i petro of Giorgio. It is held that tor : all purposes of art, for study, for i admiration, the canvasses should bo ; naked, as under glass all the fine qual ities of these great paintings are lost, i Examination of the paintings from ; which tho glass has been removed shows that a number of them, among | which is Titian's famous Man With ? the Torn Glove, have been injured by I moisture that formed under the glass; i others are the Antiope of Correggio, the Country Concert of Giorgio and ? the Virgin oji the Rocks, of Leonardo , da Vinci. "All these deteriorations," i says a critic, "have been wothout ; doubt accelerated by moisture inclosed ' by glass." In Simple Language. Beware of the habit of using big ; words. Like other habits, It grows i upon its victim. A horrible example | is instanced by the Philadelphia Pub He Ledger. The "superintendent of a Sunday school in Philadelphia recently called upon a visitor to "say a few words" ; to the school, the members of which J are mostly children of tender age. The visitor, a speaker well known ! for his verbose and circumlocutory | manner of speech, began his address as follows : ! "This morning, children, I purpose ?( to offer you an epitome of the life of Saint Paul. It may be, perhaps, that 1 there aro among you some too young to grasp the meaning of .tho word 'epitome.' 'Epitomo,' children, iB In its signification synonymous with synopsis." Bite of a Centipede. Jeff Fitch has had about the closest j call of his life the last few days. About [ one week ago, while sleeping in his bachelor quarters, ho felt something ' bite him and after applying some tur : pentlne he thought no more of it. A day or two later the wound began I' to swell and in a short time Pitch was !' a very sick man. Pie was removed to tho home of Chris Powell, where for a | time It was feared he would not re | oover. A search of the room where Fitch had been sleeping revealed a dead centipede upon the floor back ol the bed. where It. had fallen when the half awakened man had crushed hiE ? tormentor. Fitch is now said to bf out of -danger, although far from recov ered. ? Arizona Hepubllcan. K..r Hal* or Rout: 8 room bou.e on I,yUletou rtrefft (tw. ?ncrly occupied by T. 0. DuBom) lot 100,1 j"60; Uar? ??4 ,u. "" rl> terms; price on application. i.ww g? ^|tT on cbe.tnut .treet (between Heel how a Dr 8 C Zen?P'? residence.) N? Om lot on Fair .treet, 100*250, a bargain for quick ttW. 1 1 1 acres of land on Adams MHJ road 7 milt* Kant of i Two horse farm open aud under cultivation, balance ? r:,u": .. ZJZ" ??&? ?*? ? ^ ??? ??*> b?uw.. ,*? ?<>? mm* 31 ?? o((*r tbli ?? ? W?W? -a .?? of 1?>"1 ? ?'Uo" ?ou'bea?t 01 0wn4,n ?? ??? Jill . niibllo roud; 54 B acre* open and under cultlw DnrllMtOT P{ lQn| abort leaf timber, balm,.-,, i? wood ' ' <m(? rtw?ning, barn and .table.; good ryuta, ",hr,;;,Ki. ?? ? good ?mu farm ?* ??? * bought for $1500. 1&5 acre, ot IMtf ' m,leB <rom Cttm<)<m ou ""rllu?>?? Camden road, 30 acre. op?B and under cultivation. U?Un? ta woo4 plnw timber. 12 acre. I* pa.turo, .under ?l?. & "tablc"' ?I"0 ,mfll cotto? hOUM. 1'r'ce ??-00 por MM. ? f t ti and 8. H.' Truesdale, U mllei north ot Farm of J. u,lu ; i B c This tract contain* 131 acres; 75 acres open SSiifr ' 4'ro"'" s '"w<1 <>f water. REAL ESTATE i' 'v ?; . '? SELL Do You Want to \ loan BORROW ^ May ttclp You. LAURENS T. MILLS, CAMDEN, S. C. To My Friends: ? .."? : J" J ? ' ? --.x.. ? ?. .?? ?.Mil ?'.....: V. .v - _ r\ ? i hrjiM I wish to announce that I havo enlarged my stables on 1 Ilutledge street, by having quite an extension and addition < for the ' accommodation of my stock of buggies and wagons. " ; . ? - ?' :i. -V' '* . ' ?' '' ?? ' S " ::'v; I I ' 1 ->,..1 I Want Your Business in this line as well as In ?he stock line. I am handling a number of well known Buggies and Wagons im u ~~Si I call your attention to the "Virginia" and "Roland" Bug- j .gies which I handle. Also* the famous "Studebaker" and < 'Louisburg" Wagons. These are the best grades on tho ( market. ? -rM ? ? ? y4',: -^sjy ?????avZ. An Up- to- Date Stock of rtarness^j / ? ? ? - * U When in tbe market for a good buggy, a good wagon> | or for horses and myles be sure and see rae. I ?m ^ ing to the needs of the public,' and watot you for a co?W^|jj mer. ? - ? v Jri Call and see me, "* W. C. MOORE