140 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



else. Just look for it, 'Seek ye 

 and ye shall find,' says the gospel." 



"Really another present? I 

 have so much already, where shall 

 I put it all?" 



"Oh, you will find some corner 

 for this present. The last one and 

 that you know, is always the best,'' 

 replied his mother with a roguish 

 twinkle and yet a trembling voice. 

 She pointed to the dividing cur- 

 tains between the parlor and her 

 boudoir. 



"That's so," said Bruno, "that 

 always was the holy of holies." 



Smiling but almost wearied he 

 approached the door and drew the 

 curtain "Oh God!" he exclaimed. 

 There stood Regina in her plain, 

 woolen gown, her rich hair 

 werathed in myrtle, at her corsage 

 were fastened myrtle and orange 

 blossoms. With beaming eyes she 

 looked at her lover, then slowly 

 raised her arms toward him. 



And now all was forgotten! 

 The father's hardness, Regina's 

 sad youth, the mother's years of 

 suffering all everything. The 

 whole house was full of kindness 

 and joy. Even Herr Kaunitz had 

 a joyful smile on his lips. He, too 

 had received a novel Christmas 

 joy; he felt for the first time in his 

 life, what he had never known 

 before, the consciousness of having 

 made somebody happy. 



"And that is not such a bad 

 feeling after all," he thought. 



"I am the happiest here any- 

 way," thought little Frau Kaunitz, 

 for only a mother can be so happy. 

 Regina's mother knows it and 

 now, even Amalie knows it and I 



hope, Regina will learn it also." 



Bruno led his beloved to the 

 instrument and put his hands on 

 the keys and like a happy sob 

 the old Christmas carol broke forth. 

 "Oh thou happy, oh thou merry, 

 grace-inviting Christmas tide." 



The stately Herr Kaunitz even 

 could not restrain his lips from 

 forming a sort of a pout and softly 

 humming the air, while he walked 

 slowly up and down the room, his 

 hands on his back. Frau Kaunitz 

 looked at him in amazement and 

 for the first time in her life she 

 had to laugh at her husband. 



NEXT .STAGES OF MAN'S DE- 

 VELOPMENT. 



BY ERNEST MAECKEL. 

 The first stages of the development of 

 mankind will be mostly mental, the evo- 

 lution of a better and finer brain. When 

 man's brain begins to develop rapidly 

 there is no further nee'! for great changes 

 in his body. And yet some physical 

 changes are still going on. Man will prob- 

 ably lose some of his teeth, there being 

 not the use for them that there was, and 

 there are signs that the little toes will also 

 disappear, leaving man a four toed animal. 



But these changes are of small signifi- 

 cance compared with our mental develop- 

 ment. There are, however, tremendous 

 influence at work in developing mankind- 

 a vast and fasinating field of stndy. Man 

 being a product of natural evolution and 

 development, his institutions must necess- 

 arily be a like product, and the application 

 of the theory to political and social econ- 

 omy, statecraft, and education offers the 

 most hopeful fields of work for future 

 thinkers. 



Life was never more complex than it is 

 today, and there is no prophesying the 

 exact lines of future development. Man 

 at present seems to be developing or retro- 



