CHRISTMAS. 
451 
those cheaper gifts of hers which are yet incalculable in their 
value. They tell of aid to the needy, of comfort to the prisoner, of 
shelter to the houseless, of care for the sick and helpless ; they 
tell of protection to the feeble, to women, to children ; they tell 
of eveiy natural affection purified and strengthened ; they tell of 
kinder parents, of children more dutiful, of husbands more gener- 
ous and constant, of Avives more faithful and true, of the high 
bond of brotherhood more closely knit ; they tell of milder gov- 
ernments, of laws more just, of moral education ; they tell of a 
worship holy and pure. “ The fear of the Lord maketh a merry 
heart,” says the wise son of Sirach. 
Tuesday, 26th . — Cold ; but the lake is still open. It has often 
beautiful moments at this season, and we watch it with increasing 
interest as we count the days ere its icy mask will creep over it. 
Wednesday, 21 th. — This evening’s papers tell us of a panther 
actually killed on the Mohawk, immediately to the northward of 
our own position, within the last Aveek ! The animal Avas shot near 
the river by the captain of a Syracuse canal boat, and there seems 
very good reason to believe that it is the same creature Avho passed 
some Aveeks among' our OAvn hills. According to the reports 
brought into the village, the panther, Avhen in our neighborhood, 
was taking a northerly course ; during the last fortnight or three 
Aveeks nothing has been heard of him ; and now we hear of an 
animal of the same kind recently killed about twenty miles to the 
nortliAvard of us, upon ground Avhere it excited as much Avonder 
as in our OAvn valley. 
It is rather mortifying that he should not have been killed in 
this county, Avhere he chose to show himself repeatedly ; but in 
fact, our sportsmen were too much afraid of being hoaxed to go 
