A'MK RIGAN AGEIOtXLTIjBlSI 
1883. j 
who had brought home some work, and received a 
generous gift in addition to the money due her. 
“I wish I could cheer her up a little,” and so 
thinking, came to a standstill before a florist’s 
store, the windows of which were gay with frag¬ 
rant evergreens and briglit-hued flowers. “Oh! 
what pretty holly ! and how Christmaslike it looks ! 
I wish Mrs. Howard could see this, for I know 
she is fond of it.” So, on kind deed intent, the 
girl entered the shop and inquired the price of 
the bunch of holly. It came within her slender 
means, and with a glowing face she hastened back 
to the darkened house, and with a courtesy and a 
“ Pardon me, ma’am, but I have just brought you a 
bit of Christmas,” laid the messenger from the 
pine woods on her lap .—“ Oh 1 thank you, Maggie ; 
this is really beautiful 1 ” said Mrs. Howard ; and, 
glad to see her smile ever so faintly, the girl left 
with a lighter heart. But a moment later, tears 
were falling among the scarlet berries, and spark¬ 
ling like dew-drops on the dark-green leaves, as 
slowly the lady untied the buuch, intending to dec¬ 
orate her children’s portraits with the humble gift. 
Her thoughts had wandered far away into the sad 
land of memory, when suddenly something rust¬ 
ling beneath her fingers brought her back to the 
present, and with surprise she drew forth from its 
green bed and read the little note sent by Katy and 
Phil from their mountain home in New England. 
The holly messenger had done its mission, and 
done it well, for with a new and happier look on 
her face than it had worn for months, Mrs. Howard 
lafd down the letter, exclaiming: “Poor little 
ones ! they shall have a merry Christmas, if I can 
give it them,” and hastily donning hat and cloak, 
she joined the laughing, hurrying throng without. 
On his return home that evening, Mr. Howard 
was both surprised and delighted to find his wife 
bright and interested, busily packing a large box 
with clothing, toys, and sweetmeats, to which she 
even added a little hat and gown that had belonged 
to her own little Helen, who was just the age of 
wee Nelly. The holly had proved a blessing to 
both sender and receiver. 
It was Christmas eve, cold and frosty ; the snow 
falling in large flakes, quietly and gently, around 
the lonely little cottage on the border of the pine 
forest. But, within, it looked quite gay and festal, 
for the children had covered the old cracked walls 
with garlands of green, and stood great hemlock 
branches in the corners, while the pine knots 
burned as though they knew it was Christmas ; 
and close to the chimney hung two little striped 
stockings, fastened up there by Nelly and Nolly, 
who were now fast asleep in an adjoining room, 
“ while visions of sugar-plums danced through 
their heads.” 
“ I am afraid the holly messenger has failed,” 
whispered Phil to Katy, as he carefully shaped a 
small wooden boat he was whittling out for Nolly. 
—“ Yes,” sighed Katy, glancing up from the bag 
she was filling with beans, “ it is getting very late.” 
—“Here is all there is to put in the stockings,” 
said Mrs. Holland, emerging from the cupboard 
with two red apples, a doughnut man and woman, 
and some handfuls of chestnuts. “Poor dots ! I 
am afraid they will he disappointed, not to find 
even a stick of candy.” 
At that moment a thundering rap-tap-tap sound¬ 
ed through the house, and made them all jump. 
“ Who can that be, this time of night?” said the 
mother, starting to open the door; but Katy was be¬ 
fore her, and ushered in a neighboring farmer, cov¬ 
ered with snow, and bearing a huge box, which he 
set down with a thump, saying: “ There, Mrs. Hol¬ 
land, I found that down to the village, directed 
to you, so I jist brought it up.”—“Thank you very 
much, though I dou’t know what it can be.”—“A 
Christmas-box, may be! ” laughed the man; “but 
I must hurry along,” while Phil and Katy seemed 
to have suddenly lost their senses, as they went 
dancing wildly around the room, clapping their 
hands, and crying : “ It’s the holly! the holly ! 
and Christmas has come after all ! ” greatly to the 
mystification of their mother, until, while Phil ran 
for a hatchet, Katy told her of the letter they had 
sent in the barrel of greens. She could hardly be¬ 
lieve her ears, and still less her eyes, when, the 
cover having been knocked off, they drew forth the 
contents of that wonderful Christmas-box. “ Here 
are the skates, and the shoes, and the candy, aud 
the oranges ! everything the children wished for !” 
cried Katy, in ecstacy ; “ and a beautiful hat and 
thick, warm dress for both Nell and Noll. Oh ! 
won’t they be pleased ! ” — “And you older ones are 
not forgotten,” said Mrs. Holland, holding up two 
packages, addressed to “Miss Kate and Master 
Phillip Holland,” and which were found to contain 
the prettiest suits they had ever seen, together with 
various articles dear to the hearts of girls and boys, 
and which they declared to be just what they 
wanted ; while even the mother was not neglected, 
for a warm blanket shawl, and a kind letter en¬ 
closing a ten-dollar bill, sent the grateful tears 
welling to her eyes, as she called down many bless¬ 
ings on the generous lady in her far-off city home, 
who had so liberally responded to the prayer of the 
holly berries. So the stockings were filled, and 
filled to overflowing ; and it was a merry sight that 
the sun peeped in upon next morning, and caught 
two little white-robed figures capering over the 
floor and shouting with delight, as they declared it 
to be the very best Christmas they had ever known; 
UNSUSPECTED LETTER DELIVERY. 
while Katy, in her new plaid dress, and Phil, in his 
natty blue suit, smiled upon the children’s joy. 
Aud not only to the Holland family did the bunch 
of holly bring a merry Christmas, for many a poor 
city home was made glad and cheery that day, by 
the visits and gifts of the sad-eyed lady, who, hav¬ 
ing once tasted the joy of giving, was not willing 
to stop, but scattered her bounties far and wide, 
becoming herself much happier in so doing. 
From amidst rich wreaths of glossy holly shone 
the sweet, pictured faces of the little lost Helen 
and Robbie Howard ; but the Christmas angels of 
Charity and Good-will reigned in the saddened 
home, and the mother’s heart was comforted. 
Diminutive Cows.— While in Georgia we 
recently saw a breed of cows not much larger than 
goats. People said they were fair milkers, and one 
“ole aunty” made butter “ fo’ de sto’,” from 
which it was inferred that she made from her two 
cows butter for her own use and some to sell. 
Children have a natural fondness for diminutive 
things, as Bantam chickens, ponies and little don¬ 
keys. Little breeds of cows too have their fanciers. 
Kerry’s, when well formed, and of recently im¬ 
ported blood, are attractive as well as useful, aud 
Brittany’s are still more so, being much smaller. 
There is many 9 , village lot on which one might be 
stabled, and tethered, to the advantage of the 
household, and the comfort of the children. 
577 
The Doctor's Correspondence. 
I am glad that cooler days bring more letters 
from my young friends. They have celebrated the 
Fourth of July, have gone through the hot days 
of August, and are now ready to plan for winter’s 
study and amusement. Send along your letters, 
boys aud girls, and I will reply to them as soon as 
I can. If I seem to be late with my answers, it is 
because we are obliged to have this part of the 
paper ready a good ways ahead, for it takes the 
printer a long time to print nicely the engravings, 
etc., for the multitude of young and old readers. 
THE LINN JEAN SOCIETY. 
Now here is a letter that takes me right back to 
my boy days. Oh, how long ago it seems ! It is 
from Master E. J. Wheeloek, in Philadelphia, and 
gives an interesting account of the formation of 
“The Linnaean Society.” The boys meet every 
Thursday, and its members give lectures on va¬ 
rious natural history subjects. The boys go out 
on collecting excursions, and report to the meet¬ 
ing what they have seen. They appoint commit¬ 
tees to report on such matters as they do not un¬ 
derstand, and are going to try and get one of the 
American Agriculturist Microscopes to study with. 
I am especially pleased with the ending of “ E. J. 
W.’s ” letter, as he says: “I think that country- 
boys and girls could easily organize such a society, 
which would be of great use to them.”—Of course 
it would. Country boys and girls live so far apart 
that they are almost strangers to one another. 
Such a society brings them together, aud does 
much good. Let us have more societies like the 
“ Linnsean,” of Philadelphia. Some of my happiest, 
most profitable days in youth were passed in 
just such a society as my young friend describes. 
CAPILLARY ATTRACTION, 
Here is a neat letter from Miss Pauline E. P., 
Port Chester, N. Y., who cannot understand why, 
if water seeks its level, it rises in a lump of sugar 
when the lower edge is wet. If Miss Pauline 
had a glass tube with a very fine bore to it, ar.d 
should place its lower end in water, it would rise 
in the tube. This was first noticed in very' small 
tubes, and was called capillary attraction, from the 
Latin word capillus , a hair, the tubes having a very 
small, hair-like bore. A better name would be 
“surface attraction.” If she will take two pieces 
of window-glass, of equal size, and put them to¬ 
gether so that the edges touch at one side, and those 
at the other side are very slightly separated, and 
then place the lower part in a plate of water (all 
the better if colored with a little ink, that it may 
be seen more plainly), the liquid will rise between 
the glasses. The nearer they are together the 
higher will the liquid rise. The surfaces of the 
glass in this experiment attract the liquid and 
causes it to rise above its level, just as the inner 
surface of the small tube does. Now a lump of 
sugar, though it looks solid, is made up of very 
small crystals, the surfaces of which act just like 
the surfaces of the plates of glass, and cause the 
liquid to rise. In the same way the soil particles 
bring water up from below to supply moisture or 
sap to the roots of plants in dry weather. 
FEEDING FISHES, ETC., IN AN AQUARIUM. 
My young friend, A. E. Wright, Framingham, 
Mass., has an aquarium in which are fishes and tur¬ 
tles, and, being desirous of feeding them in win¬ 
ter, wishes to know how he can preserve grass¬ 
hoppers and worms for that season. It would be 
difficult, if not impossible, to keep grasshoppers; 
but worms (I suppose he means angle worms) can 
easily be kept. Fill a box or keg with soil and 
place the worms on it, and they will soon burrow 
out of sight. Keep the box or keg in the cellar, 
or where it will not freeze, and worms can be taken 
out when wanted, I think my young friend will 
find that lean beef, pulled apart into fine shreds, 
will answer for food, and is not near so trouble¬ 
some as to preserve worms. All fishes do not re¬ 
quire animal food, in fact some of them do not eat 
it at all. Try those that refuse meat with pellets 
of bread; remove from the water all food not eaten. 
