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Christmas. little child comes to my knee, And tugging pleads that he may elimb Into my lap to hear me tell f The Christmas tale he loves so well? A talo my mother told to mo. Beginning "Onco upon a.time." It is a Idle of skies that rang With angel rhapsodies sublime; OF that grout host, serene and white, The shepherd* saw one winter night? And of tho glorious stars that sang An anthem once upon a time. This story of tho hullowod years Tells of the sseriiice sublime Of one who prayed alone and wept While his weuried followers slept? And how bis blood and Mary's tears riAm m i r? rrl oil nnnn tmnn n finiA And now my darling at my side, And eohoefl of the distant ohiuie, Bring that sweet story back to me? Of Bethlehem and Calvary, And of the gentle Christ that Jiud For sinners, onoe upon a time. Th/v #A),1 JL IIU UII^UIJ UvvUO kUUU UlUll IUl*U WVIU , In ponderous tomes ot fluent rhyme, Like misty shadows fadeaway; But this sweet story bides for aye, And, like the stars that sang ot old, We sing ol "Onco upon a time." ?Eugene Field. * A CHRISTMAS GHOST. ? 1 "Do you really care for me one atom?" I asked, bitterly, looking down into the calm face before me. The long, dark lashes lifted themselvs with languid grace, and the beautiful eyes looked up into mine. "At times, periodically, spasmodically." "The spasm is not upon you at present," and the sarcasm of my tone hid its feeling. "It rarely is when you make your- j self disagreeable, which is the case now." "And is there to be 110 end to my patience?" "I have as yet failed to become very familiar with the beginning, you display it in such microscopic proportion." I moved toward the door; 1 could bear no more just then. "Good-bye; it may be some time before we meet" A startled expression flitted over her face, for just one moment, and was gone. "Au revoir," she said, with a care less wave of her fan. "When your bad temper ia over, and a thing of the past, 1 suppose I shall have the exvv..; treme felicity of seeing you again. Suppose you spend Christmas Eve "with me." It was the end of August, and I was in the habit of seeing her daily. "Dead or alive, I will be with you," I answered, and left the room. Why would she, my darling?for'she was my darling in spite of it all ?torment me so ? What demon was it that possessed her? Or why should I, with my hot, jealous disposition, care so madly for a woman who was v , ' not content to relinquish all the world for my sake? She repulsed my ea resses when the mood wa3 on her, broke engagements with me, flirted with other men, and yet had promised to marry me. I loved and hated her, as it were, in the same moment. I would break loose from her, leave her for a time, and see if absence would not work better for me than I could for myself. Or if, perchance, it could cure me of my infatuation. Without allowing myself time to re-fleet, I engaged passage for Europe, and made hasty preparations to be gone some months. I would not see her again; I would not tell her I was v going. I set my teeth at the very V thought of what it would cost me, and it required all the strength of which I J> was master to carry out the determination, but I did it. I placed my business affairs in the bands of a friend, and one thing only remained?to have my will drawn up. "I give and bequeath to Elizabeth Barnwell, my affianced wife" , (ah, Bessie! Bessie!) "all my property, real and personal," etc., with the Enumeration thereof, following. Perhap9? thought I, a little bitterly, if she were to come ever into possession of what bad once been mine, she might have one tender thought to give , i to him Whose ouly thought had been Kg of her. v iv The wreck of the Scotia is an old story now, but a story written in tear8 / and lamentations to those whose dear ?onee were never heard of again, of 5 frightful memories to "the few survivors. We were tossing in mid-ocean in a gale of wind and rata, such as I had never seen or dreamed of on land, ^ wnen the veasel sprang a leak. "Man thfc lifeboats," was the captain's order, ringing out even in < he . midst of the noise of the elements. It was a gallant crew. Swiftly, with wonderful method and discipline, bis command was obeyed. But one was found unseaworthy, and the crowd of terrified passengers more than Ailed the others. One's chance for life "would be slim indeed I Was| 're" ';Y' -V' ' *'' it in the body or the spirit I shouli spend the Christmas E ve I had pro mised with my cruel darling? I helped a few frightened womei into the boat, then turned to think ol self-preservation. I found a life-pre server, fastened it on, and lashed myself to a loose spar which I thoughl would float. Then came a heavy blov\ on my head, I know not from whence, a sensation of pain and numbness, and the world of sea and sky was blotted out. I knew no more. Moments of partial consciousness followed by lapses into my formei state, are the dim recollections (tha haunt me), of this period. Xor hav< I ever been sure of the time thai passed ere I in good measure recov ered. I opened my eyes on a strang< scene. I was lying on a bundle ol straw, covered with a sheepskin; abov< my head were the rafters of a low loghouse, and in the corner of the room, on a broad, flat stone, smoldered the ashes of a (Ire. I was alone, but in s few moments a fair-haired, blue-eyed girl, in an unfamiliar costume, entered. She utteredj an exclamation wlmn ahn nnnnnntprprl riixr lonlr iinrl hastily ran to the door and called. Ib a moment a woman and two men entered, and stood around me, pleasure evidently painted 01^ their faces, and talking volubly in an unknown tongue Presently the woman brought m coffee in a wooden bowl. The Baltj taste was disagreeable, but the steaming beverage seemed to revive me, and I drank it with avidity. In their humble way, no one could be kinder than these poor people on whose hospitality) I had thus been cast. Weak as 1 wag from long exposure and illness, it took some time for me to realize where 1 was, nor of course have I ever learned the full details of those past weeks* and days. Suffice it to say that I had at last been picked up by a Norwegian fishing-boat, and my name and nationality unknown (I chanced to have uc papers about me, even could any oJ the crew have read them), they had carried me with them, and to the best of their ability nursed me back to life Sewed in the lining of my vest, I had a considerable number of bank-notes, which, incredible as it may seem, and water soaked though they had-been, were yet available. All that was on my person was honestly returned tc me, and this enabled me, though in small measure, to repay the kindness of my hosts ere I parted from them. Returning memory and strength brought back to me all the past in which Bessie was concerned, and I was seized with a wild desire to see her once more and fulfill my promise of spending Christmas Eve with her. Already the winter was upon me, and 1 ift 1A short nt ii miponlo able me to accomplish it. But fortune favored. Once more I stood in the streets of Xew York. I landed the day before Christmas. The gay crowds were thronging the streets; the Christmas bells sounded in the air, as, sadly changed in appearance, and almost overcome with a whirl of feeling, I stood that Christmas Eve upon the familiar steps, and the door yielded to the key which all^ these months had lain in my pocket. I drew slightly aside the portiere which hung before the parlor door, and, myself unseen, gazed into the room. "But, my dear young lady, this surely very unwise, to say the least'* (it was the voice of the lawyer, in whose hands I had left my will), "to refuse such a nice little property like that for a chimera! All lovers have their quarrels, no doubt, but " "I will not touch a penny of it," low but steadily sounded my darling's voice. I could not see her. "He promised to spend this Christmas Eve with me," she added, dreamily, with something like a sob. The lawyer took a turn up and down the room ere he replied: "Far be from me to deprive you of hope, but months have elapsed 3ince the loss of the vessel on which he sailed; no word has come from him. It is not creditable that he has survived. m?_ j &? ? ? xnis property nes at your command, and it was his particular request that if he did nol return (we must all of us provide in such cases for our possible demise) the papers should on this special evening be placed in youc hands." A moment, uml Bessie stood in the middle of the room before me, pale and sad, but more beantiful than ever. How my thirsty soul drank in hei loveliness ! "He said that, living or dead, he would be with me tc-night. If he ie dead, I drove him to it, *nd I will gc to him."^ I could wait no longer; forgetful oi consequencps I sprang into the room. I With a wild cry, she threw up hei arms and fell into mine, extended tc I receive her. We had kept our tryst. &:r.i -: h?.'-' ' . V V , 'MAKING WOODEN IMAGES. ~ i One of New York's Peculiar i Industries. I A Studio Where Many Statues of Native Americans are Made. I In Canal street, between the Bowery , and Broadway, there is a low, dingy , building with a wide door. The intei rior, as seen through this opening, suggest a masquerade ball. Figures in all conceiyablo styles of gaudy cosi tumes are crowded together; some I ranged demurely along the wall, others i standing nose to nose and smirking in I each other's faces as though talking in a low tone and maliciously criticising i their neighbors, while occasionally I there is seen standing with dignity ' Apart an imposing swell, with his drapery wrapped majestically about his shoulders. Peeping around him at a simpering dude, with hat on the back a.i t i a i i ?a. xi I jl buo iichu miu nana up at me niue lowny yellow moustache, may be seen % wickedly roguish young lady, with utterly unpermissible bangs, and attirI ed in raiment whereof the astounding i variety of brilliant colors would, by comparison, have made Joseph's gorgeous attire quite a sombre garment. The variety of costume among these people is only equalled by the variety of emotions which seem to be inspiring them. Sotne are in a towering rage, with arms uplifted threateningly, I while others are mischievous, or seilate, or chipper, but the majority seem to be either cheerfully or sadly idiotic. They fill nearly all the standing space in the little room, and even swarm out upon the sidewalk, where people gather to stare at them curiously from time to time. Though nearly all these queer speci mens differ in complexion and costume, they all bad a common origin in the butt end of ships-' masts, and their common mission in life is to stand in i front of shops and perpetually offer bogus cigars to passing multitudes. A jolly young gentleman was in an inner room of this tobacco image menagerie, and whistled softly as he with gentle I touches put a perfect blaze of crimson blushes upon the cheeks of a young lady who was brazenly flirting and smoking a cigarette as she did it "The image business in New York," , he said, "is not quite what it was a few years ago, because we have lost ( old Daddy Brooks. Ah, old Daddy was the boss carver, and he taught about all the carvers we have here. That's why we call him Daddy. He U3ed to be down in West Broadway , somewhere. Now he is in Chicago, and he took a lot of the boys out with him?that is, he took three or four. ' There never was over a dozen carvers here In New York at one time. There ire not over six here now. They are ill Yankees. The foreigners don't 3atch on, somehow, but the Yankees lake to chopping out wooden images just as they do to whittling a pine shingle. "\Ve go down to the ship yards and buy the butt ends of mascs. Some are iix or seven feet long, and some not 1 jver two or three, and we make big Qgures or little figures accordingly. Hnf nf Q antrnr* v/uu v?. ? ovj t uu j.auu anutv. jfuu urtii gtJl? a good $40 figure. We take the stick out in that back room first, where we bave a dirt floor. Here we hew them into something like a general outline. Then we hoist them up stairs, where ' we chip them down until we get to 1 the fine touches and sand-paper; then 1 they come down to me and I fix them ' Dut with a stunning coat of colors on their wooden clothes, put them on rol- i !ers and trundle them out among the rest of the gang out there, where they wait until they make a mash and are sarried away. I also take battered and weathered-stained figures, and put :>n an ear here and a nose there, or paint a blind eye into life again, rig them out in a brand new suit of slothes, and there they are. I get anywhere from $10 to $40 for the images ?rarely over $40. There are only ;wo or three other shops, and we send Images all over the country. "Oh, of course styles change, but the genuine old roving redskin with a bad eye and an ugly looking tomahawk in his hand is the stand-by?that is, in i the maioritv of the Eastern and Mid. lie States. When you get way out West, there is quite a run of just such , flash Bowery girls as I am painting up here now. Dudes had quite ago for a | while. 1 have got fully twenty-five | Judes planted around in Brooklyn and New York even now, though dudes . lire on the wane; and Fucks, that were 'jo popular a few years ago, are now so t much dead wood on your hands. The ( Scotchman has gone for good, I guesp, > though I hear he is still all the go in England. But the plain old warh whoop savage of the plains is the only chap you can bank on as steadily | trustworthy.' Indian maidens do very well, hut not so well us the fine old r gore-drinking warriors, with feathers and meat axes. I ; - \ * "We prefer to sell direct to retui dealers, though the big wholesale mei try to buy of us quite often. But, yoi see, they want to give away the ima ges as premiums to heavy customers and so they want to get them for nex to nothing. "It takes about three days for a car ver to make a line big image, and h makus $4 or $5 a day at it, accordinj to the quality of his work."?Net York Sun. "Band-Box Johnnie." An old soldier tells the followinj story in the Chicago Inter-Ocean "^Tine-tenths of the men in our regi ment conceived a dislike for our adju tant simply because they regarded hin as a fop. He was a handsome fellow, i little proud perhaps of his clear com plex on, fine features, and shapely form and given to extreme nicety in dress He discarded the ordinary frock coa and the blouse, and had made to orde a roundabout or jacket, on which wa placed all the gold-lace ornamentatioi that good taste would allow. "His whole make-up, taking in cap jacket, and trousers, was jaunty, i not fantastic. The boys marked hin 3 11 ^ J lLl T> 1 I uunu tt iup nuu uiuieu mm Donu-uo: Johnnie. In due time he was trans ferred to brigade headquarters as adju tant general, and the men of the brig ade came to share the distrust of hi own regiment, but at Stone Rive there came to all these men a revela tion in character. At the crisis of th battle in the Cedars, when the cente was about to be overwhelmed by ai actack on the flank and in front, th regiment wavered. "Everything was in confusion, ma jor generals and brigadiers lost thei heads, batteries of artillerv to escan the Confederate charge drove pellmel through and over Union regiments officers and men were lo?ing their grip and what had been a furious figh seemed about to end in a tumultuou: panic. At this juncture theie cam into the terrible confusion a man oi horseback and bareheaded, who, witl sword in one hand and revolver in th other, guided his galloping horse witl his feet, went dashing hither and thithe pleading with the men to follow hin to the front. This was Band-bo] Johnnie, and where a dozen officer bad had their horses shot under then he rode as if he had a charmed life. "The boys turned in amazement t< regard his movements, and as he rod< with a sort of forlorn hope into th< very faces of the now hesitating Con fmlprnf.n linA tho lirirrorlo nlnn/?o/1 ? -.?Vf -"V. Vkt^uuu UU^VU 1UI ward. They were driven back, bul they made a fight for it, and all alone the line of retreat the man who ha( been regarded as a fop did as muct sound fighting as any man with a rifle This prepared the boys for what cain< lat?r. Three days afterward a coun ter charge was made, and out of tlx very whirpool of the clashing column, came the old Adjutant with the cap tured Confederate flag. As he rod< like wild up and down the lines th< men gave him cheer after cheer. The] had learned their lesson. A mar could dress well and still be a soldier Siege Guns Bnilt of Wire. Siege guns built of wire are th< newest description of ordnanco for th? British national service. A verj tough steel wire is used, having j breaking strength of one hundred ton: to the square inch, which is wounc over a steel tube as tape may be woum on a reel, being frequently fastened of to secure its cohesion, and so neatb put together as to looH precisely lik< solid metal. An experimental howitzei has been made upon this principle and passed a satisfactory proof at th< royal arsenal, "Woolwich. It has i caliber of ten inches, but weighs onlj oV.s>.it 1 AAA DUUUll I ,UUU JJUUI1U3. In its trial this howitzer threw a shei of 360 pounds with a charge of twen ty-eight pounds, and attained a veloci ty of 1,000 feet per second?a resul whtch may be compared with tw< guns of a similar weight whict are at present in the service One of these is the eight-inch howit zer which tires a shell of just half th< weight?namely, 180 pounds?with i velocity of 950 feet, and the other I the 100-pounder gun of 6.6 caliber which, with its light shot of one hun dred pounds, manages to reach a ve locity of 1,390 feet per second. Th trial weapon seems in no way ira paired by the strain to which it ha Deen suojecteu.?unicago journal. He Tumbled too tyiickly. Little Johnny Fizzletop got a scold ing for tearing his new pants. H fell while running and split them a the knee. "Oh, you bad boy," said his mothe angrily, "how did you come to be a careless as to tear your pants?" "I couldn't help it, ma. I fells quick that I didn't have time to t?k them off,1' replied Johnnie.?Bosto Globe, V.- ,'Vv*v.'?' ' ' 7i SCIENTIFIC SCBAPSl ~ j 3 I A scientific journal in England eeti1 mates that it would take a capital of '* $5,000,000,000 to successfully divert ' the vast power of Niagara Falls to use* : ful purposes. j A gigantic stone spear-head has i ! been unearthed in northern Italy. It is too large to have been used in war, ? and archaeologists conjecture that the j j primitive people of the stone age em- i ployed it as a religious emblem. i The favorite cosmetic of the Japan- ' a ; ese, according to a report by F. Sak; ! aye, consists chiefiy of carbonate of - i lead and rice-powder starch, which j - J compound has been used by women? a ( apparently without poisonous effects b ; ?since early in the eighth century. Helmholtz declared that should he i .dceive an optical instrument of man's making with so many defects t as the eye, he would be justified in ret t.nrnincr it. fn t.hn munn rimf nropo onH ! s | it may be further said that the arti- ! 3 ; ficial eye of science?the photographic | camera?is able to see farther, and to 't see quicker, than the human organ of * vision. 3 . The expression of the eyes of per1 sons killed by violence is considered an important matter in criminal jurisprudence, but its value has been greatly lessened by reason ot its eva8 nescent nature. A French scientist r has found a means of restoring the life-like expression. It consists in e applying a few drops of glycerine and r water to the cornea. i There is abundant reason for bee lieving that the earth's crust is very thin. Jissert.s Mr. .T Sfnplfin fJnrrlnor r and it seems not impossible that some I means may be devised for utilizing the j intense heat of the molten mass be( low. This is already being done, in ' fact, to some extent, an artesian well ^ having been bored at Pesth to obtain 3 warm water for public baths, etc. B From a depth of about 3000 feet a a large quantity of water heated to 161? ' F. pours forth, and the boring is to be continued until water at 178? is 1 yielded. r The dreaded common bacillus, the j germ of cholera, has proven to be c quite a tender organism, which is 3 quickly killed by drying by a heat of 1 140 degrees, and by many alkalies and acids. The process of putrefaction 5 also destroys it in a few hours. In the B human body the bacillus lives, on the 3 average, only six days after the attack; . in moist earth it survives from four. teen to sixteen days; in distilled water, twenty days; in sea water, sixty-four j to eighty-one days, and in the bilge 1 water of an iron shin, thirtv-two dsivs. i After these intervals the danger of cons, tagion.ceases. In common with other 9 disease germs, the bacillus appears to . have a remarkable power of enduring a oi I. 3 Wakeful Sleepers. 3 "You have heard of cats and foxes 5 sleeping with one eye open, haven't j you?" said the cop on the corner to a x reporter. "Of course you have. Well, I just want you to look at this Italian ' bd';k here. I've been watching him for several weeks, and he sleeps with 9 one eye open as sure as guns. Look , at him. lie is asleep, with his head 7 resting against the wall of the build ^ ing, but see that right eye. It is just 3 a bit open. For years and years this 1 man has been sitting there from six1 teen to eighteen hours a day, Sundays f and all, attending to his business. j While awake he watches the eyes of 9 passers-by, and if one of them r glances at the fruit kind o' wist-i ^ fully like, up jumps Mr. Italy, 9 ready to sell him a 'nana, or a pound of i grapes, or a pear. lie has been doing j that so long that now when he falls asleep his right eye?he is right-eyed, 4 just as 3*ou are right-handed?his eye . goes right along 'tending to business . just as if nothing had happened. I've t watched him rcuoo out of sleep dozens > of times a day just because some man i I had looked at his fruit as he passed bv. ? a ? ' . an' that without the man saying a . word. He actually sleeps with one a eye open. % " Some of these Italians can sleep 3 and have both their eyes and ears'tend ; shop for 'era while they snooze, jump. ing up as quick as a cat K a man !nk quires the price of the apples or pears, e But this chap's ear has never been edui. cated up to it, an' ho depends entirely s upon hiB eye. But he rarely gets left.'' ?Chicago Herald. A VildAr DnflnlMftit t Lawyer?Now you know tho man e Isn't veracious, do you not? t Witness?I ?\ on)'.n't like to say so. *ir. r Lawyer?Why not? A milder way 0 of staging it would suit you better perhaps? . . 0 Witness?,?ust so. I wouldn't like e to declJe aa to his veracity, hut I n enow tn*t i<e i3 Jftdoly snKUiorical1 -Call ! -J . r ; ;' V v ' ' '"1 ^ .V, . ' Yvj9S2HHnH)&& ZteZtewKAWry CLIPPINGS FOR THE CURIOUS. Roman letters are used by Christian nations except the Germans, Danes and Russians. Salmon are so thick in Columbia River, Oregon, that boatmen kill them with oars and clubs. While a Piute youth was asleep under a tall tree in the Eel river region, California, a huge nut fell with such force straight down on his upturned temnle as to kill him. Scorpions, spiders and various Insects have been observed to remain motionless if any person blows strongly upon them in a vertical direction. Queen Victoria keeps a swanherd* whose duty it is to brand the birds on the bill. Masses of deep-sea cor.il, many torn in weight, which were torn from their ocean bed by the volcanic explosion in Sunda Straits two years ago, may now be seen two or three miles inland, whither thev were homo l>v thn t.idai wave. A French scientific authority state^ that hens, ducks and geese having dark plumage lay earlier and more frequently than those of a light coloi * ?this difference only holding good,, however, when the birds live in the open air and are freely exposed to the sun. The first English monarch who re* fused to touch f?? the king's evil, 01 scrofula, was Wiiliatn III., but the practice was resumed by Queen Anne who officially announced in the London Gazette her royal intention to receive patients affiicted with the malady in question. It was probablj about that time that Johnson was touched by her majesty, upon the re commendation of the celebrated physical, Sir John Floyer, of-Litchfield. A curious bird found in the jungles of Australia is described by a travel ler in that country. He says: "It if called the ballador, or dancer, from it' jumping action. Two of them wen . seen together and carefully studied ^ As soon as one bird alighted the other bird jumped up, the time being lik< clockwork in its regularity, and eacl in turn uttering a note sounding lilu to-le-do,* uttering the syllable 'to' af he crouched to spring, *le' while in th< air, and 'do* as he alighted?a regubu song and dance performance." A Crnzy King's Sleigh. A Continental newspaper gives an in teresting account of three sledges be longing to the King of Bavaria, whict. are employed by him in his night excursion during the winter in the Ba varian highlands. One is a magnifi cent vehicle, of colossal dimensions capable of being usecl either as carriage or sledge and quite too large for transport by rail. It is a closed vehicle, most richly gilt and upholstered in blue velvet. A group of genii sup port a sort of canopy composed ol golden crowns. The others are smaller. ^ designed by Munich artists in th? Louis Quatorze style. The ornamenta tion is so profuse that only three smal! spaces were left on the panels, whicl have been filled by delicate mythological pictures painted by Von Pechmann of Munich. The front of Ihe oldest sledge,(which is, however, only twelve years old), is formed by a gigantic shell, supported by Tritons, while lit tie Cupids, sehted on Its edge, carrj back wreaths to the royal occupant The sledges are drawn by four horses having postillions. It will easily b< understood that such beautiful anc delicate pieces of workmanship must suiter considerably in their night drive; over rough mountain roads, covered with deep ice and snow. And so thej have to be sent regularly to Munich every summer for repair. On the last occasion it was the wish of the King that they should be all fitted with tin electric light But this was not possiIlia 4n MlO naOA ftf fKo larnaaf alaJnn KSAV/ WMU - HOV Vfc VUW A(*i for tbe want ot means to place a sufficient amount of accumulators. It is a strange fancy that forbids all ordinary eyes to see these remarkable vehicles, wfcich are reserved to dazzle the peasants of the Bavarrian Alps as they flash past in the late winter nights like some of the phantoms of Germar legends.?Sunday Times. Why Hunters Miss Game* A correspondent of the Atnericatr Field says that "most of the rifles now turned out 01 tne raotones nave a front sight upon which the brightest point will shift, from side to side and from base to tip. In all quick - shots this must have some influence, whether you are aware of it or not. Take u rifle so sighted out In the sun, and with your eye on the sights swing the rifle all around the horizon, watch the I change of light upon it, and see - how j you may be deceived when in a hurry. 1 Then point it up hill and dowh hill. with the sun behind you and ahead of ?oii, and see if you can discover how you ever missed any game."