1901 
875 
Ruggle’s Christmas Tree. 
Randolph P. Ruggle was a remarkable 
man—a very remarkable man. Every¬ 
thing considered, I believe he was the 
most remarkable man I ever knew. He 
was a New Englander, born in Connecti¬ 
cut, and was of the best Puritan stock. 
He was always proud of the fact that 
most of his male ancestors had been 
clergymen, or at least teachers. At the 
time of which I am speaking he was 
middle-aged, or somewhat past, tall, 
tnin, long-whiskered and with a won¬ 
derfully magnetic eye. He was, in fact, 
something of a mystic in feeling, but 
strictly practical in his actions and fully 
conversant with the ways of the world. 
He was resourceful, full of energy and 
never lacking the courage oi his con¬ 
victions; all of which made him a 
leader of men. 
It was early in the year ’48, or it may 
have been ’49 or ’50—^the exact date 
doesn’t matter—that Ruggle formed a 
colony to go to California. I was among 
the first to join. There were some 60 or 
70 families, making, counting the chil¬ 
dren, over 200 souls. We arrived early 
in the Spring, in time to plant our crops, 
which Ruggle did not fail to see includ¬ 
ed plenty of beans, pumpkins and other 
New England luxuries. He had a strong 
love for everything pertaining to the 
region of his birth, and his dream was to 
build up a community which should be 
a slice cut out of the Connecticut River 
Valley, Tobacco culture, however, he 
barred, as well as the m3,nufacture of 
New England rum. But he brought 
along a quantity of turkey eggs, mind¬ 
ful of the Thanksgiving season, and 
these he set under blue jays, one egg to 
each jay. Strange as it may seem, he 
had very good luck with this rather odd 
form of incubation, since he seemed to 
have the same mysterious influence over 
the brute creatures that he had over 
men. 
The efforts of Randolph P. Ruggle to 
establish a little New England were 
pretty successful, not withstanding that 
we were in a perfect wilderness and with 
no communication with the outside 
world. Our colony included a Congrega¬ 
tional minister named Snow, and one of 
the first buildings erected was a church 
—meeting house Ruggle preferred to 
call it. This we used also for a school 
room on week-days, the oldest Ruggle 
girl assuming the position of school 
ma’am. Ruggle established town meet¬ 
ings, and we met and elected road over¬ 
seers, though there were no roads, and 
a justice of the peace, though there 
wasn’t any crime, and selectmen, though 
they had precious little to do. In fact, 
about the only thing we missed was the 
New England weather, or, rather, 
weather served in the New England 
style, samples of all the different kinds 
in one day; and sometimes we thought 
Ruggle was thinking about introducing 
that, as he spent a good deal of time 
gazing at the sky. But if this was his 
idea nothing came of it, and we had to 
get along with the regular native cli¬ 
mate. 
Thanksgiving Day was a great event 
with us, and we couldn’t have seen it 
through in better shape if we’a been liv¬ 
ing at East Upper Puddleford Center, 
Conn. Early morning services in the 
church, and later pie of all kinds, not 
and cold, with and without upper crusts, 
and those blue-jay turkeys. It ran on 
till shortly before Christmas, when we 
noticed that Ruggle was getting very 
much worried over something. We 
thought it was about his wife’s Christ¬ 
mas present. He set great store by his 
wife, and they were a most devotea cou¬ 
ple—used to wander about hand in 
hand, presenting an impressive sight, 
he measuring about six feet four and she 
being somewhere in the neighborhood 
of the four-foot-six class. You see, he 
had always made it a practice to give 
her a Christmas present which nobody 
else ever got, and it rather stumpefl him 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
to come at such a gift out there in the 
wilderness. He was about this just as 
he was about everything else—bound to 
be original. Once he’d given her a new 
sidewalk in front of the house, and an¬ 
other time he cut down a tree and gave 
her a view she wanted, and on still an¬ 
other occasion he had cleaned out the 
kitchen chimney and called the im¬ 
proved draft her Christmas present. But 
this time he couldn’t seem to hit on 
anything, though we soon saw that this 
wasn’t ali that was worrying him. At 
last we found out that he had got his 
heart set on having a Christmas tree— 
about the most absurd notion that he 
could have got into his head. But that’s 
the way he was—the greater the diffi¬ 
culties the more determined it made 
him. 
You might think, of course, that, situ¬ 
ated as we were, a Christmas tree would 
have been right in our line and easier 
than hanging up our stockings, but you 
would be wrong. Every tree within 
reach was in the neighborhood of 400 
feet high and from 75 to 100 in circum¬ 
ference. Any man in the world except 
Randolph P. Ruggle would have seen 
the hopelessness of the thing. But he 
just kept the outer corner of one eye 
cocked up at those ridiculous redwoods 
and went on thinking. Most self-suffi¬ 
cient man I ever knew, Randolph P. 
Ruggle was. 
One day, a week before Christmas, 
Ruggle happened to meet me near his 
house, and says he: 
“Well, we’re going to have a Christ¬ 
mas tree—^that’s one thing settled and 
off my mind.” 
“But, Mr. Ruggle,” I answered, “I 
can’t see how it’s possible. The trees 
around here average 350 feet high 
and-” 
“Never mind their -average,” he broke 
in. “We aren’t going to use the whole 
grove. I’ve found one over a quarter of 
a mile from here which is no size at all 
—a mere bush.” 
“How high is it?” 
“Oh, not over 265 feet—just a dwarf. 
Perhaps 15 feet in diameter at the base.” 
“But the church isn’t over 18 feet to 
the ridgepole. I don’t see how we can 
get in even such a little sprig as that,” 
I returned—pretty sarcastic. I’m afraid. 
“I’ve been guessing myself that it 
would stretch the edifice somewhat,” he 
answered, just as cool as when he first 
spoke. “Do you happen to Know of any 
law against a Christmas tree sticking 
up a little mite through the roof?” 
“No,” I replied. 
“That’s what ours is going to do.” 
“But it seems to me that the job of 
moving this shrub that you’re talking 
about is going to be something of a 
staggerer.” 
“I didn’t say that we were going to 
move it. Did you ever hear of Moham¬ 
med and the mountain?” 
“Yes.” 
“Precisely. Mohammed was all right 
in many ways, if he was a foreigner. 
W'e shall move that church over to the 
tree, take off the rear end, cut a 15-foot 
scallop in the floor and roof, back it up 
around the tree and then clap on the 
end; and there you are. I don’t see what 
more any reasonable person could want. 
We’re in a new country and we’ve got to 
make the' best of things. It won’t stick 
up but 247 feet, anyhow.” 
Well, of course when Randolph P. 
Ruggle made up his mind to a thing that 
settled it, and in three days everything 
was arranged as he had planned. 
“There!” said Randolph P. Ruggle; 
“there you are. The children won’t 
have to go without their Christmas tree. 
Only a little over 160 feet to the first 
branches and plenty of room for the 
presents. A man can put on a house 
and lot or an ocean steamer if he wants 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adr. 
to. No crowding of the wax candles 
and setting thing afire. Beats one of 
those little house trees all hollow. 
Everything shut off from the view of 
the audience and the element of surprise 
introduced.” 
But Ruggle couldn’t get over his in¬ 
ability to think of something to give 
his wife. When people began to fetch 
things to put on the tree the last after¬ 
noon it brought this to his mind more 
than ever. “She’ll be expecting some¬ 
thing, and she’ll be the only person who 
won’t get anything,” he said. “But I’ll 
let her go without before I’ll give her 
some commonplace gimcrack.” 
Of course the trimming of the tree 
and the putting on of the presents fell 
to Randolph P. Ruggle. We thought he 
was going to find it difficult to get up, 
but he didn't. The bark was pi’etty 
rough and he went up, like a cat, driving 
m spikes occasionally where the trunk 
was too smooth to afford a foothold. 
Before he started he tied the end of a 
ball of twine to the tail of his long blue 
coat, with the brass buttons, which he 
always wore; and when he reached the 
top he drew up a rope with the string 
and hoisted the other things with the 
rope. Trimmed it all up with festoons 
of popcorn and red apples, and tinsel, 
and candles, and it blazed and sparkled 
like a skyrocket just as it explodes. 
When it came time for the exercises 
Randolph P. Ruggle went up in the tree 
again and let the presents down with his 
rope, a dozen at a time, and we passed 
them through the window of the church, 
where Rev. Mr. Snow distributed them 
to the congregation with chirpy and 
good-natured little humorous remarks. 
When the last present was off Randolph 
P. Ruggle started to let himself down 
by tying one end of the rope around his 
body under his arms and then throwing 
the rope over a branch, taking it in both 
hands and paying it out as he descended. 
But he had miscalculated its length and 
he reached the other end while still 30 
feet from the ground. Here he remained 
suspended, and the prospect looked 
pretty dark for Randolph P. Ruggle, as 
he wasn’t able to pull himself back up. 
But finally we reached up with a long 
pole which had a hook on the end of it, 
and, getting the hook through the back 
of his blue coat, began lowering him. 
Somebody called out: “Pass him 
through the window for his wife’s 
Christmas present,” and this we did, 
Mr. Snow making appropriate remarks 
as we laid Randolph P. Ruggle down in 
front of the lady. 
A very remarkable man was Randolph 
P. Ruggle—very remarkable—and I 
shall never see a Christmas tree or a 
blue jay either, for that matter, without 
thinking of him.—Harper’s Magazine. 
THtRc IS A CLASS OF PEOPLE 
Who are injured by the use of coffee. Recently there 
has been placed in all the grocery stores a new i)re' 
paratlou called GUAIN-O, made of pure grains, that 
ekes the place of coffee. The most delicate stomach 
receives it without distress, and but few can tell It 
from coffee. It does not cost over H as much. 
Children may drink it with great benefit. 15c. and 
25c. per package. Try it. Ask for GRAIN-0 
— V 
^ In eJl 
limes 
at all 
Times 
its accurate 
adjustment 
makes the 
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most reliable. Factory- 
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.\n Klgin Watcdi always 
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engmved on the works. 
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eigiu. III. 
Who wrote 
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My name on every one. 
If you’ll send your address, I’ll send you 
the Index to Lamps and tlieir Chimneys, to 
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Macbeth, Pittsburgh. 
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SPECIAL OFFER 
High-Grade Watclie.s. 
WALTHAM AND ELGIN ONLY. 
Orders will be filled by return mail 
for Christmas and New Year’s presents. 
We now offer some extra fine watches. 
Every watch offered is stem wind and 
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The “P. S. Bartlett” Waltham and the 
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Men’s Size Watches. 
“P. S. BARTLETT’’ OR “G. M. WHEELER.” 
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in sterling silver case, open face.13.88 
In sterling silver case, 3 oz. case, open 
face or hunting. 16.15 
In 25-year gold filled case, open face.. 18.56 
In 25-year gold filled case, hunting.... 21.37 
No. 7. Ladies’ Waltham or Elgin 
Watch. 
14-K. GOLD-FILLED CASE. 
FULL 15-JEWELED WORKS. 
No. 7 is a lady’s full 15-jeweled hunt¬ 
ing case watch. The works Waltham or 
Elgin. The case is 14-Kt. gold filled, 
guaranteed to 25 years. Price delivered 
in good running order, $14.50. 
All watches are fully guaranteed. 
Money returned if not satisfied. The 
watches are sold only to subscribers. 
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Addre.ss 
THK RURAL NBW-YORER, NEW YORK. 
