A Bachelor's Christmas

"I bate lioliilays," said Bachelor Blufl' to me, wiili sciiiic litde Irritatioo, 011 a Chriatmii u few jnuí ago. "I m a bachelor; I un without kin lamín aplace that did not know me at birtli. And so, wbeo holiilays oome around, there la no place anywliere for me. 1 have frlends, oí oourse; I don't think I lmvc been a vefy sulky, shut-in, retlcent f alto w; aud there U many a board tliit has a place for ino - but not at Christmas time. At Chñstmaa, the dinner i family gHt bering: and I've no family. There issuch a gathering of klndred on this occasion, such a reunión of family folk, that there is no place for a frieud, veu il' the friend he liked. "Don't tell me," he cried, stopping the word that wason my lipg; "Itellyou 1 líate holidays. The shops look merry, do they, with their bright toys and their green branches? The pantomime is crowded with merry nearts, i-i Itr The circus and the sliow are brlmlul of fun and laughter, ai e ibeyf Well, they all make me nn-i-rable. I bavcn't any pretty-faced girls or biiglit .veil boys to tuke to the circus or tlie show, and all the nlcegirkand rine boy of my ac((uainlahee liave their uncles or their grand-dads or their cousin.s to take thein to those places: so, if I go, I must ro alone. But 1 doii't go. The tact is, I've nothing to do but to hate bolldays. But will you dine with me?'' Of course, I had to plead engagement with my own family circle. and 1 Oouldu't iuite invite .Mr. Bluff home that day, w Iimi cousin Charles and his wil'e, and sister Susan and her dauglitor, and tkree of my wife"s -kin, h id come in trom the country, all to make a merry Christmas with us. 1 lelt sorry, but it was quite impossible; so I wished Mr. Bluff a "merry Curlstmaa," and bar ried home Aard through the cold and nipping air. I did not meet Bachelor Blaff&galn until a week after Christinas of the next year, wlieu I learned sonie -trange particulars of wh.it occurred to him after our partiug on the occasion just described. I will let Bachelor Bluft' teil his adventure lor himgelf: 'I went to clnirch," said bc, "and was as sad there ai everywbere else. Nobody was ulone but me, so I canie away hatinjr holidays worse than ever. Tl. en I went to the play, and sat down in a box all alone by myself'. Everybody scemcd on the bot of ternu with everybody else, and jokes and banier patead from one to mot her with the maat good-natured freedom. Eyarybodv bul uu: was in a llttle group of frienda. 'I waa the only person in the whole theatre that was alone, and I hated holidays infinitely worse thau ever. "By live o'clock the boliday became so intolerable that I said IM go and get a dinner. The best dinner the town could provlde. A siiinptiioiis dinner. A sumptuous dinuer for one. A dinner with inaHy COOraes. with wines of the Milest brands, with bright lijrlits. withachcerful lire with eveiy conilition of comfort - and I'd sec if I couldii't for once extract a litlle pleasure out of a holidayl 'The bandsome dininr-room at the club looked brlght, but it was empty. Who dines at the club on Christin as lint lonely bachelors? There was a llutterof gurprUa when I ordered dinner, and the few attendanti wei e, no doubt, g+ad of something to break the monotony of the hours. "My diuner was well served. The spacious room looked lonely; but the white, snowy cloths, the rich wlndow-haDglagf, the wurm tiuts of the wallg, the sparUle of the fire in the steel grate, gave the room an air ofsieganoe and cheeriulness; and then the table at whicli I dined was close to the window, and tbrough the partly drawn curtains were visible pictures of lonely, cold streets, with hright lights from many a window, it is truc, but there was ¦ storm, mul snow bcif" "l'linnK Cfirough the street. I iet my Imaginattoil paint the streets as cold and dreary as it would, just to extract a little pleasure by way of contrast to the brilliant room of which 1 was apparently sole matter. "I dined well, and recalled In fancy old, youthful Cliristiniises, and pledged meutally many an old frieud, and my melancholy was mellowlng tdto a low, sad undertone, when, just 08 I was raiinj; a glaSS Of wine to my lipt, I was start led by a picture at the window-panc, It was a pule, wild haggard face, in a great cloud of black halr, prewed agaiiiHt the glass. As I looked, it vanishcd. 1 lini.-hed the wine and set down the glass. It was, of cour.-e, only i beggargirl who had crept tii to the window and stole a gianoe at the bright scène within; but still the pale face troulileil me ;i little. and threw a l'resh shadow on my heart. I il lied my elass once inore with wine, and was agaln aboot to drink, when the reáppeared at the window. It was so white, SO til i il. with cyc so larc. w ild, and hungry looking, and the black, iinkempt halr, into whieh the snow had drifted, forined o stranoe and weird ¦ frame (o the picture, that I was fairly Start led. Keplacin, uiilasteil, the Uquor on the tablc, I rose and went Close to the palle. Tile face hadvallIshed, and I could see no object within nianv feet Of the window. The sloriii had lucre ased, and the sumv was drivinji in wild j;iists through the streets, which were empty, save here and there a burryillg waytarer. "At last, in no very anilable mood, I got tip, put on my wr.ippers, aud went out; and the tirst tlllngi 'u vM to run aainst a sinall Sglire Crouchlng in the (loorway. A tace looked np quickly at the rmili eiicoimter, and I s;uv the' p.ilc tcalurcs of the window-panc. Well, it was very abMird, but I did liclieve the fTrriS story - the old Story, you know, of privatiou, and snlteiing. and all that - and just Ihought I'd go home with the brat and see if u hal ihfl BHKl was all truc. And then I reinembered that all the shops were closed, and not a purchase could be mnde. I went hack, and persuaded the stcward to put up Ibr me a hainper of provi-ion. uliich the half-wild little younnter helped me to carry throngh the snow, dmcing with deli-rht all the way. A wiiliiw witi childrcn in great Deed, that waswhat I found : and thev hada feist that night, and a little inoney to buy them a loaf aud a garnient or two the next day; and they were all ho brijfht, and so merry, and so thanklul, andOgpod, that, when 1 gol home that Dlgbt, I was mihtily amazed that, Instead of geing to bed sour at holidays, I was in a state of greal eonieiitineiit iu regard to holidtys. In tact, I was really mei ry. I whistled. 1 sang. I do bellere I cutacaper. The poorwretchesl bad lefl had heen so nierry over their unlooked for ('hristmas baniiuétthat their spirits iilccted mine." Happlness ia Justas cheap a couimodlty as misery. What maiiitaiiis one vico would priiir 1 1 j two children. Want of care does us more damagc t tuin want of kaowledge. To twit a mini of hU fimlts is to expose a grcater t.mlt of your mm. Half tlic ills we houid iu our Itearta are IN UrraiiNC we hoard them. The power to do irreal t hins MneralW :ii i-cs trom tho williiigiifs to do suiall (IlillS. As time is money, many people believe that au hour spent iu Sabballi devotli.n will pay the Interest on vix full dayb'B Iu.