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VOL. 2. | HOW OLD | SANTA CLAUS | REFORMED. | $ ; By Peter McArthur, s jj “Get out of here I" said Santa Claus. “Pick up your grips and walk! I don’t intend to buy from you And haven’t time to talk." He chased the drummers from his house, And then with bang and din He turned the keys and shot the boIt9 As he went grumbling in. .JL, The telephone receiv¬ er next Down from ils hook he dropped. Then said to Mrs. Santa Claus: j®* ‘‘It’s time this j* thing was stop¬ ped. "They’ve fairly made - * a fool of me For twenty years n or more, But when they came 4*4 with aeroplanes I showed them to the door. "With automobiles and such 'trash “GET OCT OF UERk:" And bicycles I’m through; My reindeer sled is good enough For what I’m going to do. "I’ve just made up my mind for keeps To start the century right; So take all that newfangled stuff And hide it from my sight. l a -H r=OT<L ClL! ■ sz,*iS Bjfecy 1 my. ^5 4 mwJ> 1111 fill ifII ■I C"? “MV REINDEER SLED IS GOOD ENOUGH.” “The thingumbobs and ourlycuea That silly folks contrive I’ll never give away again As long as I’m alive. •Til give no phonographic dolla, Hut ones of rag instead; I'll let the little giris have fun. Just as their grannies had. “To little boys I’ll give hut tilings m That they can % pound and smash; LM )n no more toys mechanical I’ll waste my Christmas cash. ‘So, missus, put the kettle on And make molacscs Ki* hot, .nd taffy candy we will make. Such as their dad¬ dies got. C i aius V Bring all the nuts i* and raisins out, The bullscye sweets^ and sticks, nd in the good old AND THEN IIF. HITCHED fashioned way HIS REINDEER TEAM. rheir stickings I will fix." And then he hitched his reindeer team, Took up his mighty pack. Tucked in the robes, shook out the reins And gave his whip a crack. To all his little friends he gave Big Noah’s arks and such Instead of pretty, dinky toys That "Baby mustn’t touch." r a Nu mum _jBJ Km I UjEED cicd a ir m si N C jrr any A f AN l\ . / m r r* 1 • Y 1 » V u IP IV c* o/K' THIS SIGN WILL meet your ky*. And there never was a Christmas day Siru-e grandmammas were young When ohildren with such happy hearts Their Christmas carols sung. And if you visit Santa Claus This sign will meet your eye: “No drummers with newfangled stuff Need any more apply.” Tlie Toy Trust. One gigantic monopoly there Is free from attack, and tlmt is the toy trust kept a going by one Mr. Santa Claus, aid'd by about 400.000.0UO lusty sliout ers ra nud uia and uncle may buy Christmas glineracks from Smith, Jones or Brown, but they won’t go down In the stocking nor up the cbltn ney tine until S. C. puts his trademark on them. Call It patent right or copy right or vested right, the grand old fel¬ low holds It in perpetuity. True, he ioesn t charge a cash foe for the use of ols name, but lie Is a stickler for all tbe (dory there Is In it, and lie gets It in full measure. Everybody plays Into the hands of this trust. The eonsuiV ers must have the real thing, nnd the dealers and middlemen conspire to meet the demand. The Bulloch Herald INTUITION. How does it know-this tiny hidden thing— Within its wilderness of tangled grass, The hour when summer’s languid footsteps past And southward flying birds are on the wing, While earth is dumb with August’s silencing? How does it know the time for purplish haze Or guess the wondrous transformation scene Which 6ets the field and forpst all ablaze? let, in shrill notes, from drowsy ways of Breaking the spell that passing summer sways, The cricket first proclaims the autumn days. Henry Cleveland Wood in Alnslee’s Magazine. FREAKS IN LUNCH Waiter CalU Attention to tlie tive Haliit Among Patron,. One of the amusing things to be no ticed at the lunch counters is the habit of iynitation. If the mam on the studies the bill of fare and then or ders a ham sandwich, punipkiu pie and a glass of milk, all his neighbors likely to duplicate his order, and soon there will be a whole row eating actly the same things. Sometimes similarity of appetite causes embarrassment. This is invariably case If the occupants of the high shift about the same time and the on the end have numerous chances set examples for 20 or 30 patrons. the pumpkin pie or sandwiches sure to give out before the noon hour past. “It’s funny how lazy people are," said one of the waiters at a down town lunch place. “There nre lots men who won’t look at a bill of fare, and they just stare over the and ask for anything that comes into their heads if they don’t happen to see another fellow eating just wliat they want. If we have something sort of out of the ordinary, like fried oysters, something that can be written on the card in ink, so it will make a good im¬ pression on the public, It’s a losing in¬ vestment if the fellow ou the end near the door happens to pick it out. Then every one that passes him sees the oysters, and soon there is a regular chorus of yells for oysters. There ain’t a patron that wants corn beef hash or cold cabbage. * “People are just like sheep or geese. They like to follow a leader if it’s in nothing but eating. I’ve seen big word¬ ed articles about thoughts and ideas being catching or contagious. Any philosopher who has a chance to wait on a lunch counter would believe in that theory. Ideas are as catching as tlie measles, and donlt you forget It.”—Chicago Inter Ocean. Alcohol nnd the Drain. A lecture delivered by Dr. Horsley In England on “The Action of Alcohol on the Brain” showed how fibers connect all parts of the brain so that it acts as a whole. It was desired to find out whether the brain as a whole works as well with alcohol without. One way of testing this was by testing tlie reaction time, the length taken in perceiving a given signal. lie tried a complex experiment, showing a signal with a number on it which was not to he signaled back unless it was above ten. This took longer, involving association of ideas, and the time from tlie very first was prolonged by alcohol. Professor Horsley said that chloro¬ form, ether, nitrous oxide and similar narcotics acted in the same way. Al¬ cohol produced a dissolution of the nerve centers. Kraepelin had tried tlie action of al¬ cohol on muscular power by means Of the pressure dynamometer, which was squeezed nt regular intervals. After a rest alcohol was taken, and at first there was a little increase, soon follow¬ ed by a notable decrease. Under tlie Influence of tea there was no decrease at all. Ho showed a diagram con structed by Dr. Ascliaffenherg repre¬ senting tht? amoiiut of type set up by certain compositors in a quarter of an hour before and after takiug alcohol. The amount was made less by alcohol. —Argonaut. Tlie Stool of Repentance. “Any infraction of the rules at Gi¬ rard college,” says the Philadelphia Record, “is punished with 20 minutes ou a stool of repentance. When the in¬ stitution first adopted this scheme of punishment, one stool was enough. As the college expanded the stools multi¬ plied, and today no less than C4 four legged, painless Instruments of disci¬ pline are in more or less constaut use in a room devoted exclusively to the punishment of those who have trans¬ gressed the rules. There Is absolutely nothing to the disciplining except the order to sit on a comfortable stool for 20 minutes and ‘think it over.’ Any of the lads would sooner take a sound thrashing and have done with It. but the stool of repentance lias proved It¬ self an Ideal punishment, and it has come to stay at Girard college.” Could Take a Hint. It was late, but be still lingered. “I have beeu trying to think,’’ the young woman remarked after a pause In the conversation, "of the motto of the state of Maine.” “ ‘Dirigdf ” said young Spoonamore, reaching for his hat. “and I will go, but It will always be a consolation,” he added, with a profound how, “to know. Miss de Muir, that you once called me ‘dearie!’ ’’—Chicago Tribune. ExerHie Eiionifli, “I thought your wife wns golug to join our physical culture class this year, Mr. Smythers?" “She did Intend to. but we’ve got a girl who has been over from Sweden only six weeks, and my wife has to talk to her by makiug signs.”—Chicago Times-IIerald. Take away my first letter, take away my second letter, take away ail my let ters, and I am still the same. Wliat urn I? The postman, The rose was an emblem of I minor ___ ______ tality among the Syrians, nnd the Chl uese planted It over graves. STATESBORO, GA., FRIDAY, DEC. 28, 1900. TO i§ -J V jsr /■ v; _ ’"'i .1 1 Vi Is tE ilW'i ’Vu mm 'ife II- ,«-rs i -Ji- i 4U* Xh^jAS ri"- - AT -'*'■>*£& THE!-FAR.M. If T HE unmistakable man made signs of Christmas were left behind when I plunged Into the dreary waste of snow beyond the borders of the town for the annual-pilgrimage to uncle’s farm. Only the snow, hid¬ ing bush and fence, the white mantled trees and the cold gave a sug¬ gestion that somewhere beneath the chilling rural surface of things there were joyous groups preparing holiday revels. Winter was too keen, too freezing, not to have a brighter side than that which lay out of doors. As I passed the big barn the sounds of young voices behind the huge doors told me that Cousins Frank and Jim were inside, perhaps mending harness or tools or earing for the live stock. The little door, framed In the huge ones, opened to my hand, and Jim and Frank, one holding open a grain bag and the other emptying a bushel into its mealy, gaping mouth, smiled a welcome. Without looking up, Uncle David “struck off’ another heaped up measure of grain and marked it down on the score. “I thought it was about time,” said he, and I then knew that my social status at the farm had not changed since the last visit. The horses in their stalls stopped nosing the hay and pricked up their eare for a minute, tlie cattle held their cuds lazily and stared; then the atmosphere - -- resumed its throbbing stillness S until the load of bags had been tied and set In rows. Only this P ; and nothing more by way of u -p— ceremony in receiving a Christ¬ iFJfePr / mas guest. I.ater came inqui¬ CTt ries newest after doings “the in folks” town. and the While uncle cast a satisfied m glance at the bursting haymows, the sleek horses and cattle and the rows of bags Jim and Frank & challenged me to guesses at the remaining contents of the bins. “You will all have another guess,” chimed in my uncle, “and now let’s go and see what’s going on in tlie kitchen.” I no¬ ticed for the first time that his linen was very fresh for a farm ———— - er at work and that the boys each had on a brnnd new suit from wool raised on the farm. These trifles were the only evidence of a holiday, for not a word of Christmas had been spoken. We entered the strung out, rambling line of buildings constituting the farmhouse, through a wood shed, into the washroom, then past a storeroom having a faint suggestion of holding supplies that were toothsome. Next came a summer kitchen with a positive odor of newly peeled apples, doughnuts and spiced mince meat. Uncle led the way out upon the porch to ovoid the crowd¬ ed main kitchen, through the open door of which came hot and heavily laden air from ample ovens and steaming kettles and pans. Cousin Martha, the unplucked flower of a group of seven girls, rushed for¬ ward to give the first effusive greeting, and Cousin Ilattie, with Cousin Mar¬ vin’s wife, Jennie, followed suit Egp In Aunt enough might make Harriet, sit to wish down believe looking that to Sll girlishness. the generous creation feast, i* iISFft jr. -_4 p & whose stages of preparation Wf were shown by stains and flour patches extending from her eyes to the hem of her apron, said in kindly reproval, “You’re here, r -5r K V but alone, ns usual.” y it-' From tlie porch we went in¬ j to tlie family sitting room, nnd uncle seemed to cut loose from ii i his following as he sat down be¬ side Cousin Tildy, whose fresh F7 widow's weeds lent a somber key to the occasion. Jim and '/Ah Frank gave a find in choking silence to their mourning sister, and I wanted to, hut had to answer for the city aunt and cousins. Two father¬ less little ones rushed In with six other sets of happy grandchildren, and som¬ berness fled from the farmhouse, for the rest of that day at least. Cousin Marion started in to cheek her brood, but her childless sister Kath¬ erine said; “Let the young ones go it. Time enough to he sober when they get old.” Then uncle got down on the floor and turned himself Into a horse play¬ ing granddaddy until the racket made the old house shake. My cousins stole out and hurried nervously to the enrriage house, on the side of tlie farm, opposite the big barn. There was life and hustle there, for sleighbells gavP fitful melodies as they were taken off and hung up; horses stamped and were told, with sounding slaps, to “Get over!” Cousin Marvin was acting the host to the hrothers-in-law from tlie hill farms. He lived on a section of land set off from the homestead and was uncle’s right band man. WJ m SM There was a word or two of re¬ gret from the older ones for the lamented Samuel, who had been h r there last Christmas; then the o group marched single file be¬ ^ ) > / i i hind the narrow the stalwart snow Marvin path to over the house. ^rr yard Floating up babel from of the voices, front came a tv -\F> nnd Ralph, the oldest grandson, O, a fat, hearty lad, shouted to us k. boys, “Come and see our Christ nins!” As we rounded the cor¬ <v ner of the house the same tones i A cried out, “Ready, aim, fire!” * . and n dozen hulls whisked past our heads from a snow fort manned by a troop of boys nnd girls in mufflers aud mittens. After this reception the garrison scattered and began placing great rolls upon the parapet to build it higher. A snow man as big as a giant and a rabbit the size of a Saint Bernard were patched up with a nose and an ear, and we were asked to review the sights of the frosty Christmas museum. The call to dinner led to a real charge through every door of the mansion, and when we got a glimpse of tlie dining room, as the women seated the little ones, it presented a jumble of happy, red faces and beups of cooked tilings In brown, white, pink and yellow. All Christmas dinners are alike in one thing—under any nnd all circum¬ stances the guests are ravenously hungry and boisterously happy,and neither old nor young can observe the rule of not talking with the mouth full; other¬ wise tlie feast would he silent, and with 35 mouths enjoying Aunt Harriet’* bounteous spread that dinner was not at nil quiet. Moreover,'I didn’t regret having turned my hack upon town celebrations for a Christmas at the farm. G. Kenneth Gilmer. (< I * ) (\ (A S,» s> kt* Li V' o i I THE HEAD ANIMAL MAN’S XMAS. By J. H. Connelly. COPYRIGHT, 1000, BY J. B. CONNKLLT. ! I He prayeth but who loveth be«t All things, both great and small; For the dear God, who loveth us, He made and loveth all. When the show reached winter quar¬ ters In Cincinnati, the proprietors were In haste to get away—Mr. King to New York and Mr. Lake to his Michigan farm. The former, who was "boss,” said to me; "Bill Crlpps, you’ve been our bend animal man only one season, but that’s enough for me to know and trust you, so I’m going away with my mind easy, leaving you In entire charge of the menagerie. Keep the bills down, draw on me when you want money, and—that’s all.” I said I’d do my best and meant It. The circus outfit I had nothing to do with. The menagerie was well housed nilr jtv HE * It//? m I w Jjm nflw 4iLll> WB HAD A LOT OF VISITORS. in a huge barn away out on Western which seemed to have been built fit it. A good big room was parti¬ off for me In one front corner. cages were ranged along the side with n runway behind them, and box stalls across the farther end the zebra, the elephant, the cam¬ and tlie sacred cow. A monster red stove stood in the middle of tlie space, with a large bunch light It. Altogether it was as warm, bright, clean nnd cheery a place as you’d want to see, as everybody said who saw It, nnd we bad n good many visitors. Caged animals become restless If left alone, nnd I never went out more than an hour or two at a time, but even at that 1 took a good many long walks for exercise nnd to see tlie city, leaving black Sam—my helper—and the two cage cleaners for the animals to look at. Tlut ns time ran along to tioar Christmas I seemed to lose heart for going out much. Something Iu the air made me feel myself, more than ever before, a hopelessly lonesome, total stranger. The stores were brighter and gayer than I had ever noticed their being before; the streets full of happy fnced people carrying bundles of Christmas presents; tlie windows of homes adorn¬ with evergreen festoons and Christ¬ mas wreaths; the shopmen’s wagons busy delivering good things for Christ¬ mas dinners and Christmas trees. The Lord knows I didn't begrudge anybody’s linppincss. hut It all made me feel unutterably sad. In all the world I knew of no one whose eyes would brighten or Ups smile a welcome for my coming. As for sharing in the general joy of the Christmas season, I might as well have been that ornary camel—the meanest dlsposltloned beast alive, to my thinking—as a man with a heart to feel his loneliness. Every other man had friends, even poor old black Sam. And what made it harder to hear was that home and love belonged In my past and I could not forget them. When 1 enme back to New York after a winter engagement with “Bentley’s Aggregation” In the West Indies and South America, I found my dear wife Lizzie had been run down by a Broad¬ stage and killed. And wliat had become of my sweet little baby girl only 4 years old, nobody could me. That was a dozen years hack, but never since have 1 felt any less heartsick and lonely than when my grief was fresh, and In tlie winter, about Christmas, I always feel It most The animals, as 1 sat brooding by the stove, seemed to know 1 was In trou¬ ble iiml feel sorry for me. They would still a long time looking nt me. tlie elephant. I’m sure, tried to ask. ills little squeals, what was the rrint Only that mean camel screwed his nose scorufullike, as if he didn’t a cuss who felt bud. which he eer didn’t. Friday morning, the third day before Jack Henderson, a young dropped in. ns he often did. happened to remark: “It seems to he imprisoned for life without oocnslotml happy day to vary the Caged animals ought to holidays." That set uie thinking after he was and 1 made up my mind the men agerte under my charge Bbould, for o*ee anyway, have a Christmas. I con¬ sidered what every bird nnd beast In the lot liked best and mostly never got. and all those things I meant they should have on Christmas day 1 bat afternoon I went out buying and laugh #d to myself when l thought 1 was ac tftially purchasing Christmas presents tw a lot of folks who would he sure to npjireclnte them. of cholct g ;got for the birds nil sorts fi'UHs, nice seeds, uuts’ eggs, meal worms, nnd so on, according to tfieli levenal tastes, aud for the lore flue fruit, fig paste, candy nut kernels. For the cat animals I engaged plei ty of tender. juicy, fresh beef Instead of tough old horse, ordinary diet. There wusti t much be done for the bay enters beyond un¬ accustomed oats, apples and bran mashes, but for the elephant I got a basket of fine oranges and bad baked a lot of patty cakes, such as he used to enjoy at borne iu India. The camel didn’t really deserve any Christmas, but 1 bought a hatful of dates for him anyway. I was getting the stuff In on Satur¬ day afternoon when Jack came around agniu with a bunch of good cigars for my Christmas, and it brought my heart up In my throat that the kind fellow lmd thought of me so. for no one else had since Lizzie died. He asked what the things were for. and I told him. Maybe 1 said more than 1 meant to, for my heart was full nt the time, and I had no Idea of Ills putting anythlug lu the paper about the menagerie’s Christ¬ ians. But he did, and really when 1 read on Christinas morning the story he got up I was surprised. Cat animals nre never fed on Sun¬ days and as we let all go shy of break¬ fast Monday the menagerie’s appetite for a Christmas dinner at noon was sure to be good. Before that time came we had a lot of visitors, nice peo¬ ple who had seen Jack’s story, and among them were a tine white headed old gentleman who Introduced himself as Dr. Illram Bid well, and his adopted daughter—a splendid looking girl. Luckily we were In good shape to re¬ ceive them. Sam wore a new suit I had given him. The cage cleaners were so washed and draped up they hardly recognized each other and I was up with as much «tyle ns a ringmaster myself. Precisely nt uoon we sprung our glad surprise on the animals. If you Imnglne those birds and beasts didn’t notice any change In their bill of fare, you are wrong. • You never saw such Joyous excitement among feathers and fur. They jabbered, chattered, shriek¬ ed and ronred their delight in nil their various modes of speech. The mon¬ keys seemed half crazy, and even the sedate elephant danced, flapped his ears like Inns and squealed. Only that mean camel was indifferent and ate his fancy dates with a sneering twist of his nose, ns If he meant to say, “You can’t soft sawder me.” The sight of the general happiness gladdened everybody and none more than Dr. Bldwell and Ills daughter, who staid until all the other visitors were gone, talking with me about the animnls and. as I afterward remem¬ bered. a good deal more about myself. Near dark, just when I was thinking of going out to a restaurant for my dinner. Dr. Bldwell ennie back, and nothing would do but I must go with him to get n glass of eggnog. We were not gone more than half an hour, hut by the time we returned a transformation had been worked In my room. In the center a big table was set with dinner for four—the best dinner I ever saw, with a wftiole tur¬ key, bottles of wine and all sorts of nice things—and when I raised my eyes from it they took iu a “Merry Christmas,” in evergreen letters, on the wall, and Iu a holly frame, facing me. B WM m f ft - m ' -sm A v ' Sf hM wmk m W / i n M\ % m < “WHATl” I CRIED, TAKING HER IN’ MV ARMS. a life size painted portrait of my dear, lost Lizzie. I’d never lmd the eonsola tlou of a likeness of her. and seeing her face, wearing the gentle, kindly smile I knew and loved so well, gave me sueli a turu that a faintness overcame me, and 1 dropped on a chair, trem¬ bling nnd with my eyes full of tears. Then that splendid girl, who had been standing behind mo, put her arms around my neck and snid, “You shall never be alone In the world any more, dear father!" “Wlmt,” 1 cried, taking her Iu my arms, “you—you, ray little Jennie! Oh, is God really and truly so good to uie after all Y” It seemed Impossible, hut was true. When I had grown calmer, they told me how Dr. Bldwell, then practicing in New York, was with my dear wife when she died and. at her request, took charge of her little daughter. He and bis good wife adopted her. but always hoped to find me some time, for her child heart never forgot or ceased to love me, nnd they were too good to wish us kept apart, and at lust Jack’s story told them where I was. s * « Still 1 go my way each tenting sea¬ son. old os 1 am, for show life gets Into the blood and Irresistibly draws one who lias lived It so many yenrs as 1; but, wherever I may lie. never more am 1 lonely or uuhnppy, for winter al¬ ways brings me hack to my dear Jen n j R ^ n( j no f e this—that none of this g ren t happiness would have come to me ^, aL | | not given the animals a Christmas. A Sort of EaSlni Cksls.** “Christmas comes hut once a year." "Glad you think so. Wliat with sis¬ ters and cousins aud aunts ii has come to me four butidred and forty-eleven times already with wnlters, bootblacks, barbers and office boys to hear from.” NO. 48. | THE FIRST WEST I XMAS. ooBy F. A. Ober.oo It may or may not be generally known, but the first Christmas celebration In America took place in the West Indies and in the very year that America was discovered. There was not much fes¬ tivity about It, to be sure, for the first anniversary of the Nativity In the new world found the participants In a state of mind not conducive to merry¬ making or cheerful entertainment. The great navigator, C’histopher Co¬ lumbus, who showed the civilized world the way across the Atlantic, was master of ceremonies, and he had lit¬ tle reason for rejoicing, for on Christ¬ mas eve. 141)2, he had lost his flag¬ ship, ilic Santa Maria, which had run on a reef on the north coast of Haiti. Fortunately for him and his crew, the native Indians of the island were friendly, and they not only came to his rescue, hut saved all tlie wreckage of his vessel, which they piled up on'the beach at Guarleo, near the present city of Capo Haitian. The Indian cacique did all he could to allay the grief qt the Spaniards and ou Christmas day spread a banquet to which they were invited and at which many of his peo¬ ple acted In the capacity of servants. This was the first Christmas dinner In America, nnd at this aboriginal “spread” so many new and struugc ar¬ ticles of food were offered the Span¬ iards that Columbus made a note of them, so we are enabled to state exact¬ ly wlmt they were. In the first place, there was maize, or Indian corn, which tlie Europeans may have seen in the Bahamas, but which they had not eat¬ en before. In fnet, the golden kernels carried back to Spain by Columbus from this first voyage to America were tlie first that ever reached the old world, and it was many years after that before brown bread and “Injun became at all common on the tables of European royalty. One of the curious tubers offered the Spaniards..that day by the Indian chief¬ In Haiti was the manioc, or cas from which the aborigines made dully bread. They were the orig¬ inators also of tlie cassnreep, or West Indian pepper pot. made by throwing places of meat of nil kinds into an Mf ~L~Tj A gfVpM* pi-41 "•ft ■ M' '-I • I - * W *3 ji STJ & y u ! _ i£> A. nu ©b. *'■ J T O- FVfft FIRST CHRISTMAS DINNER IN AMERICA. earthen vessel, where it was preserved for any length of time by the antiseptic properties of the manioc. Christopher was so taken with the pepper pot, according to a local tradi¬ tion. that he begged the recipe from tlie native chef and took it homo to Queen Isabella, but whether she appreciated the article or not has not been record¬ ed. Another tuber, the yam, was also served up after roasting in the ashes, hut it is doubtful if the potato was oil the festal hoard, though it may as well have been found in the highlands of Haiti as in South America, where it Is said to have been discovered long aft¬ er. Anyway, there were several new fruits, all tropical, such as the guava, Apple, sapota mid pineapple, ami In meats there was a great varie¬ for the Indians shot and trapped wild parrot, pigeon, doves, agouti, Iguana and the utia. the three last named being animals Indigenous to the island. There was one function at that ban¬ quet which Columbus may have In¬ dulged iD. though he has left no record of having been suddenly Indisposed, aud that Is tobacco smoking. He had seen Indiaus on the const of Cuba roll up dry leaves of a plant unknown to him and after lighting one end of the roll Inhale and puff out the smoke thereof with evident enjoyment. But at this banquet he was astonished to see the chief and his big men cram portions of tlie weed into a curious pipe, with a branched stein shaped like the letter Y and after Inserting a stem Into each nostril proceed to fuddle themselves with the narcotic, to the great disgust of the Spaniards, who had a few vices of their own. even then, but did not smoke. It was ouly because they did not know bow. hut Co¬ lumbus lost nu opportunity for adding another laurel to Ids immortal wreath, and left to Sir Walter Raleigh the In¬ troduction of smoking into Europe n century later. The main object of this article Is to point out that down in the West In¬ dies, where dwell our nearest foreign neighbors, nnd where we have n tidy little island of our own Iu Porto Rico, the first Christinas anniversary in America was celebrated and the first dinner eaten with aboriginal Indiana as the hosts. ■.* * *■*•-% ■»*•»,*