December, 1916 
63 
ST. NICHOLAS 
THE BEST LOVED GIFT IN THE WORLD 
You could not select a more enjoyable Christmas gift for your 
child than ST. NICHOLAS. It will be appreciated more than 
anything else. A toy or a book will soon be laid aside and 
forgotten. ST. NICHOLAS will renew each month, twelve times 
a year, the joy of Christmas morning. Not only will ST. NICHO¬ 
LAS be a twelve-fold pleasure for your child but it will be of 
untold benefit-for, after all, that is the big idea behind 
ST. NICHOLAS -to give the child of six to sixteen the kind of 
reading matter that will not only be highly entertaining but 
will develop its character along the right lines. That youngster 
of yours will “just love” ST. NICHOLAS. And, after you see 
the good influence it will exert, you will like ST. NICHOLAS 
yourself. 
WHAT THE YOUNGSTER WILL ENJOY 
to the brim with irresistible humor 
and keen characterization. 
“THE GREAT UPHEAVAL” — by 
Albert Bigelow Paine, relates the 
author’s experience while in Switzer¬ 
land at the time the Great War began. 
“HEROES OF TODAY” and “HERO¬ 
INES OF SERVICE’’—brief, crisp 
narratives of the successful careers 
of prominent men and women of 
today. 
“THE WATCH TOWER”—a depart¬ 
ment of current history. 
The Nature and Science Department, 
The Book Reading Department and 
The “St. Nicholas League” with its 
monthly competitions in prose- 
writing, verse, photography, drawing 
and puzzles. 
SEND YOUR ORDER AT ONCE 
Christmas will be here before we know it. Send your order for your 
gift subscription now, so we will have plenty of time to properly enter 
the subscription, make out the Christmas card and mail it. If it is 
inconvenient right now to secure a money order or if your check book 
is not handy, send your order anyway and we will enter the subscrip¬ 
tions and send you a bill. 
Desk H G 
ST. NICHOLAS 3 n 53 e fo w urt ? S ve r nu £ 
“UNDERSTOOD BETSY” by Dorothy 
Canfield—a serial story of American 
life from which young folks and grown¬ 
ups may learn many things. 
“UNDER BOY SCOUT COLORS” 
by Joseph Ames—a delightful serial 
telling of the actual aims and methods 
of the Great Boy Scout Organization. 
“THE GIRL NEXT STORE”—a new 
mystery story by Augusta Huiell Sea¬ 
man, the author of “The Boarded-up 
House” and “The Sapphire Signet. 
“BETTY’S BEST CHRISTMAS”—a 
two-part story by Alice Hegan Rice, 
author of “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage 
Patch” and other world-famous 
stories. 
“THE ORIGIN OF A PROVERB”— 
by Ralph Henry Barbour—a story filled 
■111 
“Mother Always Gives Us the Best Christmas Present” 
“He rastled with my finger 
—the d - - - d little cuss!” 
About 50 years ago an unknown young man wrote a story. 
In a flash it made him famous. The story was “The Luck 
of Roaring Camp.” The author was Bret Harte; then an 
impressionable young man, fresh from the mining camps of 
California. 
“The Luck of Roaring Camp” would have beaten a path to the 
door of any writer. It won with its common humanity as the Luck 
won the sin-blackened hearts of Roaring Camp. Roaring Camp was 
a rough mining town at the foot of the Sierras. A woman of the town 
dies in her travail and her soul climbs “that rugged road that led 
to the stars, and so passed out of Roaring Camp, its sin and shame 
forever.” Her baby lives. The male contingent of the camp answers 
its new born wail. And little baby fingers clutch rough hearts with 
surprising results. 
Maybe you have read this famous 
story; maybe you have finished it with 
tears in your eyes, and your heart 
pounding? Maybe you promised your¬ 
self sometime—some day—you would 
get the rest of Bret Harte’s great 
stories, “M’liss,” “The Out¬ 
cast of Poker Flat,” 
“Salomy Jane’s Kiss," 
and a host of others. 
Well, here you have 
your chance! The 
Metropolitan has just 
completed arrange¬ 
ments with the 
Houghton Mifflin 
Company of Bos¬ 
ton, Bret Harte’s 
authorized publish¬ 
ers, for a special 4- 
volume edition of 
Bret Harte’s Selected 
Stories—the ones that 
stood the test of time. 
They are in four hand¬ 
some green cloth bindings_ 
—60 wonderful short stories. 
As you read each story you will 
lay down the volume and say, “Well, 
he can’t possibly beat that one”— 
Presto! The next is even more thrill¬ 
ing, closing with a bang—leaving you 
laughing and sometimes blinking your 
eyes rather suspiciously. 
Bret Harte’s stories are of the Far 
West and the days of ’49. They picture 
for Americans of to-day the courageous 
souls and times of a great nation in 
the making. 
The lure of gold had attracted from 
all parts of the country the intrepid 
men and women that have always made 
the world’s pioneers. They came from 
hamlet and town, good and bad, with 
the rough virtues and vices of 
a young people in a new' 
country. 
Bret Harte loved them 
—all of them. And if 
they had collided with 
a few man-made laws 
or dallied on the 
primrose path he 
gave them his affec¬ 
tion the quicker. He 
loved them for their 
weaknesses because 
their sins brought 
them closer to the 
understanding of his 
great heart. 
Learned critics In later 
years, have solemnly 
praised Harte’s stories and 
promised to them the immor¬ 
tality of genius. But before them and 
greater than their praise was a gen¬ 
eration of Americans—the great army 
—of common folk—the people of Lin¬ 
coln—who took Bret Harte to their 
own, who laughed and cried over his 
stories; whose hearts were touched 
with his tenderness, whose sympathy / 
and love for men and women, / 
good and bad, was broadened / 
and deepened by the brain and / 
heart of a great writer. 
A H&G 1 
Here Is How You Can Get / 12-16 1 
The Four Volumes, FREE / Metropolitan §§ 
f 11 1,1 “—■■■"■* > ■ / 432 Fourth J 
/ Ave. New n 
Send ten cents with the coupon on this page — coin or stamps / York.N. Y. i 
will do. On receipt of your coupon the four Bret Harte / 
volumes will be shipped you carriage charges prepaid. / I enclose 10 cents, a 
Your name will be entered for an 18 months’ subscription ' T 1 e as e send me jj 
for Metropolitan and also McClure’s. (Subscriptions may '' S ar fniir ■ 
be either new or renewal.) / umes carriage charges ■ 
Then you pay $1.00 a month for four months — $4.00 / prepaid. Also enter my 1 
— that’s all! This pays for your magazines and you / subscription for Metro- g 
pay less than newsstand prices. / politan and McClure’s each jg 
The books are yours, free. If you prefer to pay / for J?n£ lontlls ' * Kree » t0 1 
all at once-send only $3.75. ’ / „Sh!!'^fch m r ,, i„tt I 
Christmas is Coming / bSSS ar°e r „un e e f r gazines - The I 
with its perplexing gift problems. Let this page solve / 
at least two of your gift worries. The 4 Books or / Name 
the Metropolitan or the McClure subscription may / .. = 
be sent to a different address (or 3 different ad-' ' 
dresses), and at your request we will mail a / Street .|g 
pretty Christmas Card announcing your gift, / 
which will be received on Christmas morning. / City and State. M 
This service la free. Send only $3.75 if you prefer to make only jj 
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4.52 Lourth Ave., New i ork / business card or references with your order. 
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