about arc all the utensils one finds in a hard¬ 
ware store, only in miniature. This costs 
tivc dollars. Here is a place where dead 
game is sold, chickens, turkeys, ducks, snipe, 
partridges, etc., hanging by their feet, with 
their leathers on. This establishment costs 
ten dollars. Here is a “warehouse” for a 
boy with a sturdy business head. It is three 
stories high, with a box and barrel swinging 
from the top story, and boxes all around. 
This coats six dollars and fifty cents. But I 
cannot dally in the “ shops ” longer, and will 
take you to the 
Darn- Vard. 
The first, thing we look at is this stable of 
horses, three, four, five of them, eating hay. 
The groom stands behind (Item with a brush 
and pail of water, four dollars. Here is a 
“ goat shed” for seven dollars and fifty cents, 
with a man and a maid to milk the goats. 
A stable full of cows, in stalls, costs just the 
same. Yonder is a “menagerie” three 
stories high, with it grated front, behind 
which we see all sorts of wild animals, sav¬ 
age and fierce. This costs six dollars. 
Housekeeping: Department. 
A girl may love her doll to distraction, or 
destruction, as she often docs, but what 
would she do with this house to keep? It 
lias a kitchen all furnished, and there’s a 
hull with stairs, and a parlor and a chamber, 
and curtains at the window which she can 
open, and real chairs and furniture all over 
the house. Then the “ toilette sets,” dress¬ 
ing bureau, marble topped, with a little mir¬ 
ror, and drawers; wash-stand with bowl and 
pitcher; tiny coinha and brushes; bedsteads 
and bedding; chairs to match. Moreover, 
the housekeeping things. Sets of China, of 
pewter, of tin; dinner sets with the victuals 
all on the dishes; liny knives and forks, and 
spoons and napkins; then die little sofas, 
pianos, hook-cases, etageres, easy chairs, 
stools, and, Oh! ’tla enough to make even 
grown people long to go to housekeeping. 
I didn’t wonder that ail old bachelor drew 
a long sigh the other day and exclaimed 
sadly “ I wish I knew a little child, so I 
could give it a Christmas gift." 
OainllCH. 
It is a most hopeful sign that buying con¬ 
fectionery for children lias very greatly di¬ 
minished within the past lew years. Buy 
fruits and nuts if you like, but by no means 
be persuaded into purchasing any of the 
gaudy or glittering a (fairs that attract ig¬ 
norant eyes in candy shops. Such stuff 
may do to look at, but if once luken home 
is quite apt to tempt the taste, and if eaten, 
produces dire effects. Parents who create 
in their children a love for candies, and 
foster that taste, do not only a foolish but a 
wicked thing. 
Jnpnnem* (HhmIh. 
For novelties, odd, curious and cheap, look 
at Japanese goods. There’s jugglery about 
them all. Camphor wood box inlaid with 
it hundred pieces, and opening all sorts of 
ways, costs forty cents. A. curious box for 
pencils, with the top sliding open and rolling 
itself out of sight at one end ; a magic egg, 
an egg within an egg, until as small as that 
of a humming bird, which you open, and 
out falls a tiny top which spins around like 
a fairy, all for fifty cents. A package of dry 
looking things, called “ magic llowers,” costs 
twenty-five cents. A basin (white china 
dish is best) of warm water will develop 
happy results, If you drop thorn in it.; (low¬ 
ers bloom, mountains rise, blind doctors 
grope their way, and many other curious 
forms and colors appear. A magic top, 
wound up and spun by a string, Is a hollow 
thing, for out drops top after top, until seven 
other tops spin around'it; others drop only 
three ; these cost from seventy-five cents to 
one dollar and fifty cents. 
The“ parlor fireworks " sell in packages for 
twelve cents. They look something like the 
string, or fuse, of a fire-cracker. After being 
lighted, the conflagration rolls into a ball of 
fire, which at length develops into geometri¬ 
cal forms. They are said to be perfectly 
harmless, the flush, or burning, having no 
power to burn or affect external objects. 
But there is more in the way of Japanese 
workmanship for grown people than for 
young ones; and many of the elaborately in¬ 
laid boxes, or desks, conclude, after a time, 
to come to a separation. But if you want 
the ugliest toys and images in the wide 
world, patronize the Japanese. Nothing can 
exceed thorn, except their landscapes, or 
crape portraits on canvas. 
Last year the little girls were delighted 
with the Walking Dolls, and the boys with 
the “ vclocipodist.” These will be new to 
many this holiday season, and either is 
enough to make the possessor put on “airs.” 
From my heart I wish all a Merry Christ¬ 
mas, and hope the rich will remember the 
poor in kindness ever as did Christ, 
SEWING MACHINE PROGRESS 
fabballf ftabing 
an nets 
We suppose the following, which we find 
in an exchange, will interest our lady friends; 
The eye of the needle at the point—an 
idea conceived by Elias Howe— made the 
sewing machine possible. But it takes six¬ 
teen seconds to thread the needle, a loss of 
time and labor which could not be afforded. 
A woman is exhibiting in San Francisco, as 
her contribution to mechanical progress, a 
needle that can be threaded in less than a 
second — threaded without looking at it; 
threaded in the dark! Two years had 
elapsed from the conception to the practical 
application of the idea, during which time 
many experts were consulted. Finally a sou 
of Asia applied the. idea, and we have the 
open-eyed needle of Airs. Suptee, which is 
to the machine of the future what Howe’s 
was to the machine of the past. Time is 
precious; seven hundred stitches a minute 
is not enough. Progress is ameliorating. The 
physical effects, the fatigue of the treddle 
must be abated. Stevens hears the cry, 
touches the lever with electricity, and, quick¬ 
er than thought, twelve hundred stitches a 
minute respond. Feet unoccupied, treddle 
dispensed with. This open - eyed needle, 
driven by the subtile fluid, with its music of 
twelve hundred stitches a minute, is Cali¬ 
fornia’s reply to Hood’s Song of the Shirt. 
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN 
HOLIDAY GOSSIP. 
Santa Claus aud tlie Children. 
BABY DREAMING, 
Due a mi vo, as she lies asleep 
In the mother’s tender keep; 
Starry eyes in soft eclipse. 
Rut with light below each lid. 
As if truant rivjs had slid 
Downward to the parted lips. 
Where u smile Is sweetly dwelling; 
Dreaming, but no secret telling. 
Dreaming, so the bsiby lies; 
Vailed soul and vailed eyes; 
And her low hrr.itb ebbs and flows 
Like tiie rippling of a kiss; 
Rut we only fathom tills— 
That she lies in soft repose— 
That her lips in rosy sweetness 
Smile as if in joy'- completeness. 
Dreaming! (I! if baity sleep 
Might our oliler senses steep— 
(If tiie hally’s -ini ss dreams, 
To our misty souls might come. 
And i event thetr meaning dumb, 
Making real all that seems, 
Then might huiiioo sight he clearer. 
And the things of lieavcn nearer. 
BV MINTWOOD. 
Blessed arc they tlmt monru I” 
Ah ! many there be then, blest! 
No day its beauties complete hast worn 
Till evening lighted the West. 
Some hour grows dark with woe 
Though bright soever the dawn, 
Some bitter regret each heart must know 
For treasures too early gone. 
I am sure, if I lyid been but six years old 
to-day and walked down Broadway as I did, 
peering into the shop windows, full of holi¬ 
day goods, but especially standing and 
gazing at t he wonders in toy shops, I should 
have gone wild—downright beside myself! 
It is a great misfortune to have been born 
before 1870! 
How these coming holidays carry me back 
to Hilldale—that we now call “ The Old 
Home!”—because ours no longer, and we 
have only memories of it. And how long it 
seemed before Christmas came, and what 
implicit faith we had in a veritable Santa 
Claus. Wo knew he must have a close, 
smutty time getting down the chimney, 
through the stove pipe, and out through the 
stove doors. But lie always came, and al¬ 
though ail lie left behind him could have 
been bought for half a dollar, It made us 
happy as we need to lie, crowning the day 
the happiest of all the year. There was al¬ 
ways a great fascination about those things 
wrapped in so many different papers, and 
each wrapper a different color And how 
we hurried to get our stocking finished, so 
that Santa Claus would find it, and appre¬ 
ciating our industry, leave us more than lie 
intended to. 
A Christmas tree was nice, but never 
equal to shoes and stockings, and getting 
downstairs first to shout “ Merry Christmas” 
and know what Santa Claus had brought 
us, Jird ! I remember being the envy of the 
whole neighborhood of little folks because 1 
had a wax doll with flaxen hair and a pink 
silk dress with a lace over-dross. But what 
1 saw to-day would have sent them all into 
convulsions. 
There was quite a flock of little folks 
standing before the great toy store, hoys 
looking at dolls ns well as girls, and telling 
which dolly they liked best, and the one 
with the pretty clothes was Invariably the 
coveted dolly. Many a live doll wins the 
big boys In the same way, I thought. Of 
course, the dolls Were dressed in the fashion, 
with rulfles and flounces and over-skirts and 
tunics and sashes and tmrnour* and trails ; 
and some had great yellow chignons with 
frizzes and curls. One young miss was In 
the sleigh to vide, and she had on a scarlet 
cloak and hood and an ermine fur for her 
neck aud her hands in a muff. Another was 
in bridal costume with a great trailing dress 
of white satin, the over skirt, looped with 
orange flowers, and a wreath of them hold¬ 
ing on the gauzy veil. Hhc had on white 
kid gloves, a bouquet of o ranee flowers in 
one hand and the other resting on the arm of 
—such a swell! with pants so very tight and 
moustache so waxen. Some trundling hoops 
were hanging without, the new kind, with 
bells that sound an they are driven — very 
nice for hoys and girls out of doors. A 
mature-faced lad, of seven years perhaps, 
was handling them in a critical manner, 
when I asked him if they were “ awful nice 
for boys.” 
“Oh! they’re very good playthings for 
children !" he said, as if he was about forty 
years old. 
After I had seen all I could on the outside 
I went within, and then 1 didn’t know where 
to begin to look first. My eye caught the 
sight of some pipe#—such as loafers put in 
their mouths, and 1 said outright, " Oh, but 
you don’t sell these to children !” “ Yes in¬ 
deed,” replied the shop girl, “ let me show 
you,” and she pulled the handle out, and it 
was a pen, and out of one end of the pen 
she pulled a pencil, and the bowl of the pipe 
was the case for an ink bottle. Near by 
were horses and mules, more than a foot 
high, all “ bridled and saddled, all ready to 
start,” and milkmen with cart, and horse and 
cans, and omnibusses and drivers, and 
horses, and sleighs, and ships all rigged, with 
black hulks and white spreading sails, stars 
and stripes at the mast head, enough to make 
a sailor boy shout “ ship ahoy 1” And then 
look at these little 
Shops 
a foot and a half high and two feet long. 
This one is a “ grocerywith a brisk young 
fellow behind the counter, weighing sugar 
in the scales. There are drawers for spices 
and barrels for sugar. Next came a “ butch¬ 
er’s stall,” with a big, red-faced man weigh¬ 
ing meat, and all about him hung legs and 
shoulders, and “ quarters,” and spare-ribs— 
or something that looks like them. You may 
buy him out, body and soul, shop, meat and 
nil for five dollars. Here we have a “ basket 
store,” with an old woman in cap and spec¬ 
tacles, reading a newspaper, as she waits for 
customers. Such tiny little baskets are hang¬ 
ing about on hooks in every conceivable 
corner, that you feel quite like buying her 
out, for ten dollars. Next comes a “ hard¬ 
ware store.” There is a cooking range, with 
pots and kettles, and hanging and standing 
We sorrmv, nlns imw much ! 
Owrejren i.Ti.itv weary of tours 
As puin •-vino* eloser with ernol touch 
Thrnuffli nil tiu> pitiless yeniD. 
We sorrow, it ml weakly trust 
Through sorrow wo tuny prow strong, 
Yot sorrowing pray to (lie Good and .lust- 
“ IIow long, O, our Lord, how long I” 
There comes to our human cry 
Response that la nil divine, 
And whether wo heed It, or pass It by, 
’Ti* equally yours and mine. 
As sweet tui u psalm of peace 
It echoes tvloug the air, 
And grief Inis over Its full Hurcotuo 
In this one answer to prayer. 
Dreaming! nil nnrdays, perhaps, 
May be hut ft dreaming lapse, 
All this world of ours n trance, 
Making dumb our sleeping breath. 
Till the morning-lights of death 
Wake us unto life's expanse, 
Aud above all misty seeming, 
Rack we look on mortal dreaming. 
[A. J . H . Duoanne . 
How long shall wo mourn? Alas ! 
The answer has naught or this. 
The night of our sorrow may quickly pass, 
Soon pain may bo turned to bliss. 
Or never may come the dawn, 
Ami peace to the. throbbing breast. 
Wo never may chance on the gladness gone, 
But they that do mourn are bleat l 
SCOLDING WIVES AGAIN. 
AN EMPRESS EN ROUTE, 
This, this Is tile answer heard 
In response to our human cry , 
God breathe* no tenderer holding word 
To hearts that, must hear or die 
Though sorrow lius crushing weight. 
And leaves us bleeding ami torn, 
Reward for tears will be sweet aud great, 
For " Blessed are they that mourn 1” 
So Mr. Tirry has seen fit to reply to my 
late* letter to you, liaa ho? A pretty mess 
he has made of it, too! I am perfectly 
ashamed to see Socrates Tippy’s name 
signed to any production so utterly pointless. 
In my next Caudle lecture 1 shall just tell 
him if lie will get into the papers, I hope, for 
pity’s sake, he will do it in such a way ns 
shall not disgrace his children. 
1 thought his talk sounded foolish enough 
when addressed to me, but it looks tenfold, 
worse in print. The idea ! that a man mar¬ 
ries a woman simply to get rid of all do¬ 
mestic care! He ought to he whipped who 
says it. And to think Mr. Tippy’s mind 
“takes higher range” titan mine! Am I 
not as capable of reaching high planes of 
thought as he is, I should like to know ? 
Wouldn’t T like to get above the low, grov¬ 
eling level of cooking, washing, mending, 
mending, washing, cooking, and rise to a 
lofty philosophy? Wouldn’t I rcirlin that 
strange freedom front perplexities growing 
out of the question “ Wliot shall wo eat and 
wherewithal shall we be clothed?” 
I say it’s enough, Mr. Editor, thnt a wo¬ 
man must diahwash and mcml eternally, 
without, her being compelled to provide for 
the family. Her part in domestic economy 
lies within the house,—not without it. The 
man should bring in, and she should take 
care of. The wife is more tlian the man’s 
companion, or the mother of his children. 
She is the guardian of all which is brought 
into her home. The husband is what, tell 
me? The Jiouseband ,—tlmt, was the meaning 
of the word originally. The househand is to 
bind the house, the family, together. I should 
like to know how lie could accomplish this 
by idling about town continually, and taking 
no thought for the welfare of his family? 
And I should he glad to learn if studying 
philosophy or literature will of itself bind 
any very close bands around the house? 
It’s a perfect libel on the meaning of words 
to call Socrates of old, or his namesake Mr. 
Tippy, a husband. I know the law says 
Mr. Tippy is my husband, Mr. Editor; Pm 
very painfully conscious of that; but the law 
docs pervert, the truth most wretchedly, 
sometimes. The truth in the present case is 
that I’m Mr, Tippy’s slave. Pm the market 
woman, and the cook, and the nurse, and the 
hired girl. Hired, is it? Wliat does he pay 
me, I waul, to know ? A new dress once a 
a year, may be, and—not another thing. 
When I ask for something more, and begin 
to tell why I think I ought to have it, lie in¬ 
variably tries to silence me by repeating, 
“ There, there, Mrs. Tippy, don’t scold.” 
“Scold?” Who wouldn’t scold ? 1 only 
wonder that some time I don’t take the 
broomstick to him literally. He deserves it. 
“Yours Phlegmatically” is he? I should 
think fie was. He has been mine “phleg¬ 
matically” these ten years, and it’s high time 
lie were roused to a different state. When I 
ask him to send some coal home, he “ phleg¬ 
matically”—don’t do it. If I remind him 
that Hour is an essential to bread, he “phleg¬ 
matically”—forgets it. If I suggest meekly 
that I must have some money to buy clothes 
for the children, he “ phlegmatically”—fails 
to hear me. Does any person chance to 
broach the fact that woman is man’s equal, 
don't believe it. If I 
The Empress Eugenie is now on a grand 
tour from Paris to Egypt, and is traveling in 
splendid state. Of course her convenience is 
Studied in every possible way; lor the Em¬ 
press of nil the French must be made as 
comfortable ns mortal woman can be made. 
The latest, tiling wo hear of as gotten up ex¬ 
pressly for her sake is a toilet car whereon 
her whole dress may he changed without 
inconvenience or loss of time. Thus, on her 
arrival at Lyons, after having passed by the 
last, station in a plain traveling costume of a 
little black straw lmt and wreaths of flowers, 
a tight black tunic, and dark blue skirt, she 
appeared at. the pare of Lyons, where the 
aut horities were waiting to see her, in a mag¬ 
nificent, court, dress of a sea-green satin, with 
a long train of the same fastened on each 
shoulder with a dark red rose, a splendid 
pearl necklace clasped with rubies, and a 
coiffure of water lily and ruby studs, to tiie 
immense admiration of the bourgeois of the 
place, who felt the compliment and acknowl¬ 
edged it accordingly. 
THE CHRISTIAN’S EXAMPLE, 
In Alexander Clark’s “Gospel in the 
Trees,” we find the follow lug very true esti¬ 
mate of Christian influence and example: 
The fragrance of the myrtle is not In blos¬ 
soms that open, g’ovv for a little season, and 
t hen fade away; but, in the evergreen leaves. 
It is fragrant all the year, yielding its sweet 
odors through winter’s rough blasts, as 
well as through the showers and sunshine of 
summer time. And the more the leaves are 
tossed, the more richly do they exhale their 
delicious aroma; and when bruised, they 
are most fragrant of nil, diffusing, as they 
are crushed, the same delightful odors as 
long as a fragment of leaf remains. 
So the Christian's example is unconscious 
and perpetual. His temper is even, his 
patience unbroken, bis enjoyments unfail¬ 
ing, bis grace like a river, sparkling and 
singing evermore. His is not the mere in¬ 
fluence of word, of promise, of sunny sum¬ 
mer time. There is no set time for show, or 
glitter, or display. There is no rehearsal of 
piety for great occasions. There are no pro¬ 
grammed scenes to be unrolled according to 
chronometer and audience in the panorama, 
of his life, and accompanied by phrascly 
word and tinkling music set to the exhibi¬ 
tion. 
The believer’s influence is like the fra¬ 
grance of the myrtle tree — an inseparable 
sweetness of life, gracious as it is undying; 
and it breathes through storms of adversity 
and bereavement as freely as in mornings of 
dewy joy. And when most severely tried, 
troubled and persecuted, then is Ids example 
the most Cliristly in forbearance and love 
Like the myrtle leaf, bruised and lorn, the 
saint of God, in the time of his sorest afflic¬ 
tion, exhales the most heavenly spirit all 
abroad, as if the airs and blooms of Para¬ 
dise should vet make Eden of this wilderness. 
THE QUEEN’S SPINNING WHEEL 
Tiie spinning wheel which the Duchess 
of Athol presented to Her Majesty the 
Queen of Great Britain, some years ago, lias 
just boon repaired and dispatched to Edin¬ 
burgh, whence it is to be conveyed to Bal¬ 
moral. The wheel is fully three feet in 
length, including the stand, which measures 
about twenty inches, and the diameter of the 
wheel is seventeen inches. Round the brim 
of tlm wheel are transferred the engravings 
of Balmoral Castle, Dunkchl Town and Ca¬ 
thedral, Tnymoutli Castle, and other Scot¬ 
tish views; while on the lid of the band- 
box there is a representation of Burns’ Mon¬ 
ument. The Queen complained of the 
noise made by the wheel while in motion, 
but various alterations and improvements 
have now been effected on it, so that the 
whole machinery revolves at the greatest 
speed necessary with scarcely the slightest 
noise. 
GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS 
OUR PRAYERS HEREAFTER 
The Queen of England keeps sixty cows, 
from which butter is made and sold in the 
London market. 
Tiie jealous man is always hunting for 
something he don’t expect to find, and after 
he lias found it he is mad because he lias, 
lie is always happy just in proportion as he 
is miserable. 
“IIow do you like me now?” asked a 
belle of her spouse, as she sailed into the 
room with a sweeping train of muslin fol¬ 
lowing her. “Well,” said he, “to tell you 
the truth, it is impossible for me to like you 
any longer.” 
Fanny Fern thinks “there is no man 
who would not rather be shaved by a woman 
than to have a great, lumbering man pawing 
about bis jugular vein, and poking him in 
the ribs to get up when another man’s turn 
turn came. I don’t say how his wife might 
like it, but I am very sure lie would, and as 
to bis wife, why—she could shave some other 
man, couldn’t she ?” 
Appleton’s Journal laments the change 
in fashion in which the modest green veil 
formerly worn by shop-girls and working- 
women in the street has given way to the 
bold face and the pert jockey hat. It sus¬ 
pects that it is a chip on the surface showing 
which way womanhood is tending under 
the auspices of its new doctrines and leaders. 
It adds: “ It is gratifying to know that most 
young women are gentle, modest and pure ; 
but it would he added satisfaction if they 
would only seem so.” 
In eternity it will be a terrible thing for 
many a man to meet his own prayers. Their 
very language will condemn him; for lie 
knew his duly and did it not. The fervent 
prayers which the good man has labored to 
make effectual will lie “shining ones” in 
white raiment to conduct their author into 
the banqueting-houseof the Great King. But 
the falsehood uttered at the throne of grace 
will liv.e again as a tormenting scorpion in 
the day of the Lord’s appearing. “ Be not 
rash with thy mouth, nor let thy heart be 
hasty to utter anything before God,” is an 
objection tlmt forbids more than irreverence 
in prayer. It forbids us, by implication, to 
ask for that which we do not sincerely de¬ 
sire. Above all, it forbids the asking from 
God those blessings which we are hindering 
by our neglect, or thwarting by our selfish¬ 
ness and unbelief. 
The Wish of tiie Heart— A little deaf 
and dumb girl was once asked by a lady, 
who wrote the question on a slate:—“ What 
is prayer?” The little girl took the pencil 
and wrote the reply; “ Prayer is the wish of 
the heart.” So it is. Fine words and beau¬ 
tiful verses said to God do not make real 
prayer without the sincere wish of the heart. 
he “ phlegmatically 
J lived in Indiana I should earnestly pray to 
^ be delivered from the man who signed him- 
7^ self “yours phlegmatically!” 
a' Yours spiritedly, X. Ann Tippy. 
Memorializing. — Inscriptions on tomb¬ 
stones diffei widely in style and taste. It is 
stated that in a church-yard in Ulster is the 
following epitaph, which is as indefinite as 
affectionate:—■“ Erected to the memory of 
John Phillips, accidentally shot as a mark 
of affection by his brothers.” 
A foppish fellow advised a friend not to 
marry a poor girl, as he would find matri¬ 
mony with poverty “ up-hill work.” “Good,” 
said his friend, “ I would rather go up hill 
than down any time.” 
It is easier to go six miles to hear a ser¬ 
mon, than to spend one quarter of an hour 
meditating on it when 1 come*home.— Philip 
Henry. 
