Most children have seen a Christmas tree, and many know that the pretty and pleasant custom of hanging gifts on its boughs comes from Germany; but perhaps few have heard or read the story that is told to little German children, respecting the origin of this custom. The story is called “The Little Stranger,” and […]

Mrs. Olcott called her boys, and bade them go to the pine woods and get the finest, handsomest young hemlock tree that they could find. “Get one that is straight and tall, with well-boughed branches on it, and put it where you can draw it under the wood-shed after dark,” she added. The boys went […]

From “The Revelations of a Spirit Medium”–a book out of existence now, since the plates and all copies were bought up by “spiritualists” and destroyed. The following is given by courtesy of Mr. Hereward Carrington: Reader, have you ever attended a “seance” for “full-form materialization?” Have you ever thought you had met your dead relative’s […]

THE AMERICAN GOLIAH A Wonderful Geological Discovery A PETRIFIED GIANT Ten And One-Half Feet High Discovered In Onondaga County, N.Y. [[Wood Cut Here]] History of the discovery on October 16, 1869, of an image of stone, the same being a perfectly formed and well developed man, descriptions of the petrification, with the opinions of scientific […]

I It was with a little alarm and a good deal of pleasurable excitement that I looked forward to my first grown-up visit to Mervyn Grange. I had been there several times as a child, but never since I was twelve years old, and now I was over eighteen. We were all of us very […]

I AT A TABLE D’HOTE At the close of February, 1848, I was in Nuremberg. My original intention had been to pass a couple of days there on my way to Munich, that being, I thought, as much time as could reasonably be spared for so small a city, beckoned as my footsteps were to […]

Once in Royal David’s city Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for His bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ that little child. He came down to earth from Heaven, Who is God and Lord of all. And his shelter was a stable, And his cradle […]

Written in the Chapel of the Manger, in the Convent Church of Bethlehem, Palestine: In the fields where, long ago, Dropping tears, amid the leaves, Ruth’s young feet went to and fro, Binding up the scattered sheaves, In the field that heard the voice Of Judea’s shepherd King, Still the gleaners may rejoice, Still the […]

The Second Charles of England Rode forth one Christmas tide, To hunt a gallant stag of ten, Of Chingford woods the pride. The winds blew keen, the snow fell fast, And made for earth a pall, As tired steeds and wearied men Returned to Friday Hall. The blazing logs, piled on the dogs, Were pleasant […]

God rest you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay; Not even the dyspeptic plats Through which you’ll eat your way; Nor yet the heavy Christmas bills The season bids you pay; No, nor the ever tiresome need Of being to order gay; Nor yet the shocking cold you’ll catch If fog and slush hold sway; […]

St. Bernard is the name of one of the high mountains of the Alps. The deep snow hangs so loosely on the sides of these mountains, that great masses often fall into the plains below, with a noise like thunder. Wild snow storms also come on, and the passes in the mountains become so blocked […]

Of all the superstitions prevalent amongst the natives of Ireland at any period, past or present, there is none so grand or fanciful, none which has been so universally assented to or so cordially cherished, as the belief in the existence of the banshee. There are very few, however remotely acquainted with Irish life or […]

Little bird! you had better let that cannon alone; I am afraid you will soon fall by its side. But what are you firing at? You don?t mean to let us see; never mind?only be sure that you don?t kill yourself, nor any body else. Can it be that you are doing all that for […]

What is that? A bird?s funeral? So it seems, for the bird in the wheelbarrow certainly appears to be dead, and another one is wheeling him to the grave; or perhaps he found him dead, and is going now to carry him home. But what is that bird, with a cap on, doing? Did he […]

But, what kind of a horse is that? Oh! it is a dog! Just hear Fred talk to him.?Go along, Bright, he says. Bright must be a smart dog, to carry a boy six years old, all over the farm. Freddy?s father owns that house. You see a large green in front?a fine playground for […]

Little Amelia was told, one beautiful spring morning, that she might take her bird into the yard. She had not been out of doors for a long time, so that she was very much delighted with the prospect of playing freely in the open air. She had no brother, or sisters, but she loved this […]

Speak, if you want it; you won?t get it till you do. Why don?t you mind me? Speak, I say. So said Joseph Mecklem to his dog, which he keeps all the while chained to his kennel. Growler is a fine hunter, and a good watch-dog. His master is giving him lessons every day; he […]

Those dogs both live in one house, and have the same master, who is very fond of them, and has trained them to work together; and, when one is sent on an errand, the other always goes too. They are now standing at the door of the school-room, waiting for their master?s children to come […]

I?d never hurt my little dog, But stroke and pat his head; I like to see the joy he shows, I like to see him fed. Poor little dog?he?s very good, And very useful, too, I?ll never vex or tease him, then, As children sometimes do. But I will give him milk to drink, A […]

The Indians were formerly lords of the soil we now occupy, and obtained a subsistence principally by hunting and fishing. They generally lived in villages, containing from fifty to five hundred families. Their houses, called wigwams, were usually constructed of poles, one end being driven into the ground, and the other bent over so as […]