--Wiiile I stand hailing you, fair New ¥ _Year!~ so a fr flere I stand wait- ing to bid you! good-speed, What wilk you, bring me of all that I need? Change our good wishes to blessings Change them for us into roses, I pray, tato violets of April and daisies of May. Ghange them for all into harvests of peace, into hope's fruition and joy's increaee; Deal with gi tenderly, crown us with chee Bless us, Re ess only, O gracious New Year! "a NEW YEAR WEDDING. > HIS is a charming ~ spot--for two,' ha said, seating him- self comfortabiy at her side. "We are lucky to find it unoccu- picd," she e6aid, "especially at one of Mrs. Gurdon's garden - parties, £he will be pleas- | {kamal affair of. | | plted, in the same tone. Only, iene | it was as well that he was not studying her eyes very intenily at that moment. "He held a fort somewhere on the fron- diceter for a fortnight against a couple of d tribesmen, with only a Euro- pean sergeant and fifty Sikhs under trim; pnd he was reduced to thirty rounds of ammunition and no provis- fons before he was relieved. It is quite a common'thing cut there. He told me so himself." ' "He is modest--as well as lucky." --seid---Holland.--'You-and- he are okt friends. Miss Lindsay?" Tewe were brought up together." ;"Like brother and sister?" ' eBxactly, We quarrelquite as sini, least." ."And make 't up, I dare say? But I am sure the quarrels are not serious, Apropos, am I forgiven?" "Was there a crime, Mr. Holland? Really, I have forgotten," "We were discussing----"" eo "George Meredith, was it not?" "Then I am not forgiven for that un- fortunate fault of my youth? You are very hard, Miss Lindsay. ou have taught me the error of my ways, and yet you refuse to credit the conver- tion! How can I convince you? I am quite serious----" "Oh, I hope not," she said, "It is too Warm for anything but frivolity." Ho reddened a little, and nervously pluck- ed the grass round him. Miss Lindsay watched him with some curiosity out of the corners of her eyes; the symp- toms were not unknown to her. "Thero is a green thing on your coat, Mr. Hol- land," she went on. "Thanks." He fiicked the insect off. *"T have something to say, Miss Lind- gay--a kind of confession. It is stupid; ed, I don't be- lieve there is a equare inch of the lawn to be seen." ""The whole world is here. I know, Miss Lindsay; 1 have shaken hands prith it." "It is one fo the perulties of being @ great auth "Or of bale "notorious?" "You are too modest, Mr. Holland. Wave you not shared the honors of the efternoon with the Prince and tho latest lion--just imported from South Africa, was it not?" + "And felt Hike a martyr all the time, But there you have the prcof, Miss Lindsay. Don't think I am complain- ing. Fame and notoriety mean the same--in London. And in this"--he in- dicated the screen of shrubbery which cut off the little nook from the rest of the garden, but did not shut out the strains of the Blue Hungarians or the hum of many voices--'in this I have my rewsrd. I forgive the lion-hunters," + "It is a relief to be out of it," she dd- mitted. "Do you know, Mr. Holland, that these nooks--yes, there are more of them-- are a pet idea of Mrs. Gur- @on's?" } "I must thank her, She is a woman of genius." ' | She laughed merrily. "Oh, no, she fs only an incorrigible match-maker-- | and finds them useful." { "So ehe, at least, believes in love?" | he asked, picking up the thread of @ , former conversation. ) "Or in marrjage. the same thing, is it?' | F a sbould be," he replied, with an ain | 'ot the deepest conviction. He was: looking up into her eyes. { + "What does somebody say?--that in | svoman love ig a disease; in men it is RD episode." ae "I seem to recollect that," he ald | "But it is nansense; love Aannot be summed up in an epigram." ( | a Again she laughed. "I am afraid you | have a very bad memory, Mr. Holland, Gs it another of the penalties of--noto~ risty?" It is not always } "In my case Iam afraid so. Is Mere- @ith the culprit?" } "I must leave that to your conscience, . The sentiment appears in a bril-, jant study of society, entitled 'Provi- | ence and Mrs. Grundy,' for which, if the title-page is to be trustei----" + "Ah! I remember now. Please spare me, Miss Lindsay. You don't know the effects of phrase-making--it saps ® man's morals until he has not even modding acquaintance with the truth, fAnd you have taken your revenge." * "But, really, Mr. Holland, I trusted to your--your knowledge of human na- Sure, shall I say? I was glad, for my own sake----" oily what, if I may ask?" 'In man it was an episode.' [6 makes | life so much easier to believe ad *"You ig: let me retract in sackcloth) iss Lindsay? Honestly, f oi sone reason to do so. It is threo years since I wroie that miserable k. Can you guess my excuse?" +} "It seems to infer a compliment somewhere," she said, rather -doubt- fully. ' ¥ "T am very much in earnest," he gaid, getting up and standing above her; and he looked it. "I didn't know ~ you then. If I had, the thing--call it an epigram if you Hke--wouki neven have been written. How could it, when---- | Here the bushes were parted, and @ anned, handsome, open faces was, alpen just now the expression was not too pleacant--showed in the interstices, Miss Lindsay nodded tt] brightly. "Come in, Ralph," she said. 4 "Very sorry, I'm sure," said the new- tomer. "I dan't know, Nell----" Then be disappeare®. \ Miss Lindsay smiled. sorts," remarked her companion, sitting down again. | "Probably he is looking for my mo*her," said she. "I told him to at- tend to her." "He is a owpital fellow," he eaid in- ch ething in In| oe "It 6 s0m but I don't quite know how to say it." it necessary?" she asked inno- cently. "I don't Hike confessions, rM. Holland. We are Low Church people." "Tt means a lot to me," he continued, and again there was silence. Then ho rose for the second time, perhaps feel- ing that an upright position conduces _ to a proper dignity. She perceived her opening, and roso also. "It ts time we were returning," Bhe remarked. "Don't go just yet, Misa Lindsay, "ho pleaded, putting out a hand to detain her. "] want you to listen tome for a mo- ment. I won't keep you if---- But already she was half-hidden by the shrubbery, and her only answer was a bewildering smile. He had per- force to follow. "It seems more crowded than ever," she said as they picked their way through the throng. "Ah! there are my mother and Capt. Havelock. Shall we join them?--I hope you are attend- ing to your duties, Ralph? Mr. Hol- tand and I have been discussing Mere- dith--and things. Tired, mother? Ohf you must be. Mr. Holland, will you find my mother a-seat somewhere-- near the band, if you can? The Hun- garians are so good." "Delighted," ze replied. Then lower? "IT may see you again before you go, Miss Lindsay?" "If you can," she repeated. She watched them until they were fost in the crowd, and then deliberate- ly led Capt. Havelcvk back to the lit- tle nook. Some g:ris have no origi- nality. But it was still empty. "Better sit down, Ralph," she said, taking her old place. "Thanks; I prefer to stand," he said otifiy. "It is a matter of .taste--or of com- fort." She gave him a ewilft glance. "Not up to Simla, is it?" "I'm sick of it. Beastly sick. I haven't had a chance of speaking to you all afternoon, Nell." "Philanthropy is its own reward," she said, "It's not that--Mrs. Lindsay is all right. But there's that scribbling fei- low who's always dangling after you." "He is very amusing--and clever." "Is he? He doesn't know one end of 2 gun from the other, and I suppose he thinks that horses were inverted ta drag vhe Chelsea 'Lus--or wherever he piays." . "Why, dear boy,.to be a groom ts not man's chief end. And you are very rude, Mr. Holand speaks very nicely of you." "Confound his impudence!" and, by. way of relief, he proceeded to kick a bole in Mrs. Gurdon's turf, " k here, Nell," he sa.d presently; "I'm going off to Egypt." "Indeed! I thought winter was the Proper season, Won't it be rather warm there just now?" "That is, if they'll have me," he con- tinued, paying no heed. "I've volun- teered for Dongola. Kitthener is going up to ore in the autumn--at least in Cionik's état What fun" 4 will be--for Fuzzy and the der- erase For Id me?" sh "Dent you" ity Fg it is ratlier e, Capt. Havelock?" But she 'was Bet looking at him, being ergaged in. ing fancy patteras on the grass. Not that it would have mattered; for |: be, on 'his part, was also regarding the point of, the sunshade with apparent fiteriee "Oh, I dare eay that writing chap mayn't come back, "So that is why seh mean-to-marry-the- i His De name is Holiand," she suggest- "y know that. You can see his por- trait in any illustrated paper for a six. pence. It's in them all." "Which is really no reason why he shouldn't be addressed properly, is it? [ have some idea that I have seen an- other portrait in the same places, with the letters D.S.0. after the name." "You need not get nasty. Besides,' oe t told me if you are engaged. to "Well, you see'--here she ventured, another slance--""he hasn't asked me yet." "I supposé you will marry sist -- * he persisted: "It's natural enough, perhaps--he's a genius and all that--and of course I'm not. Wait a minute, Nell! I can't stand thie any longer, and I'm bound to 'have it out for good. You were always cleverer than I was; but you know what I've wished for ever since I was.an unlick- ed cub at Eton. I wasn't afraid to tell you then. You remember, Nell?" "I remember thinking that those lickings--which you did not get--might have done you good." "Well, you didn't say so! And all the time I was stewing in India it was the same; and when | was down with fever in the plains 1 kept shouting one aame--so the doctor told me," ; "It was in very bad taste," she mur- mured, ' "Oh! Then that fort on the frontier, with the Waziris howling round--and not five minutes' sleep on end for fean they shouid rush us--and the grub funning out--and the only idea in my head was to see it through somehow, and get home to ask you to marry me! There, Nell, it's out at last!" She was looking at him now, but there was a world of reproach--and perhaps something else--ja her eyes. "You haven't asked me yet!" she cried. "But, Nell--good heavens!--you don't Mean to say-----" ' And then--well, in some mysterious fashion 'he managed to gain possession of her hands, and to say the rest with. out words. As fcr her: "You might have seen it, you -- iboy!" she said. ' And that was all. Except that, a little later, she met Mr. Holland, "IT have been looking for you, Miss Lindsay," he said; "I have something to say. Nat going already, surely? may call to-night, then? I need not tell you what it is--perhaps you can guess--I--I hope so." "I think ii would be better not to come, Mr. Holland," she replied, giving thim her hand. "I am sorry, but--will you oblige me by considering the epi- sode as closed? I am engaged to Capt, Havelock, and the wedding is set for New Year's Day. Cd y Holidays in Dixie, The Holidays among the old timo "down Souch ulggers" was by no mezns what weare familiar with at the North, where frosty air, evergreen wreaths, comfur tubiy elud-business mea, Sltgunt. ly dressed ladies and anxious and lalf- famishbed tramps abound. In the Scuth, of which we speak, the observance of the Holiday of roses and to the poorest and the raggedest '"'cul- Jerd pusson' on the plantation. Your Southern darkey is a supreme lover of the Holidays. To him it mat- ters little what the occasion is which calls him to cease from labor. A wed- ding, a baptism or a funeral, or a New 'Years dinner are alike to him in their Satisfying character, so long as his emotions are stirred, his sympathy awakened and his body refreshed with- out his making the usual exertion, It is the materialistic phase of the mid- winter festival which has made it the most popular of the plantation 'boli- days Visions of bountifully spréad tatiine, gifts for the "lil' chaps, " visits from would have done it better," he said pak "It's his trade. I suppose Nel?" FT suneshine and plenty of joyous dancing} ---in short, a season of supreme delight sounds, nearer and nearer. annual en din patching wad the Simeon | Of &super- atition that.a thrifty ending of tiie ec year,was absolutely necessary in to avoid ie various assortment -"hoodoos" that otherwise were "prepara, * 'ed to descend upon the plantation dur-' ing 'the ore year. If before the dawn of Year's Day the. cabins | were serial iegi Clean and every gar- ment washed and patched, no power of | evil' could re them; even the eight | ~of l-heart-or-a tiny cloth * human figure, stuck full of needles and ; laced on the very doorsill, need no | longer bring terror to their hearts. | This general undoing of the hoodoos | Was usually followed by the decorations , of the cabins. Great branches of fruit trees were broughtsin, which wére dip- ! ped in water and sprinkled with flour | and glittering powder, and then plactd | over the door and windows and over the chimney-place. A touch of color | "was given the garniture by the huge! 'bunches of mistletoe, which, although | with negroes it has lost its osculatory . significance, is still a signal for much ° romping and shouting among ths young folks. i The New Years Caller. "TI didn't want to keep you waiting, ! ir, Westend, so 1 came down just as | I -was,"' said Miss spe a a sweetly, as she entered the par "Oh, what a whonperi" exclaimed ' her smal! brother. "You know you' only had on----" j And then Tommy was violently Rus | "e out of the room. Saturated. . Van Ishe--Well, old man, did you greet the New Year withthe proper epirit in vour heart? Ten Broke--Yes, the doctor said if had soaked in almost everywhere. ; oO ----™"=== : | NEW YEAR. ERRY, Merry psa panes | "Happy, Happy old, = "'. * shout to- Bape, Happy Old Year, nevermore Shall we taste the pleasure past and o'er. Gleaming on the hill-side, shining right, Comes the New Year sunshine, go light, When the happy seasons pass awk y; May there be for us no darker da ee et -- straying, here' ad Cantlee | py greetings ev'rywhere, There is no repining, all is cheer, Shout aloud to hail the glad New Year. 'TWO LITTLE REBELS, was the last night of the dying year, and "Ole Sherman's" Yankees were but a few miles from our home in Georgia. . We heard the beat- ing of the-drums, the prancing horses and . booming of cannon, I sat up in bed, and Tubbed _ my eyes. rhere on the floor lay our black Mam- my Venus, wrapped in her patchwork quit, and beside me lay little sister; it was no dream, for through the open window, along with the perfume of the orange 'blossoms, came those strangs Mammy's black head advanced from ander her quilt like a cautious terrapin. "What is it, mammy?" I asked, and I began totremble. . my honeys!" cried mammy, taking little sister and me both into the shelter of the patchwork counter- e, "don't git skeered nohow; no Yankees, not Marse Lincoln he-seilf, kin tek yo' f'dm yo' mammy, an' yo' mam- my f'um yo'." "The Yankees!" I gasped; "have they come really and truly?" and immedi- ately I began to wonder if I dared tip- toe to the window to get a peep at the terrible and interesting creatures. "Would that noise kill me if I look- ed out of the window, mammy?" I ask~ jthe generous, young "mistis," and 'dreams of singing and dancing in the/ long twilight, rather than any deep re-/ ligious significance of the festival, have} appealed to the negro imagination and caused to be anticipated with unbound-/ ed joy and prepared for with unwonted | diligence, | an The joyous preparations for the mid-! winter festival were never confined to the Great House: "Unec' Mose, am yoh cabin all epic) an' span?" "Lindy, hab yoh done fin- ish all yoah patchin'?" were familiar ings. among the darkies on any bidet pir plantation. And they wera. But you might have the de- ereotings possessing a significance be- ed at last, # "To be course it would," answered lttle sister, shuddering. "Well!" said mammy, " "pears to me like you better not; it's right resky foolin' wid Marse Sherman, and dat's him, fo' shore. I steddy, an' I steddy, an' 'pears like I can't mek it out no-+ how. Talk "Dout, free! "pears like des Yankees can't know dat nuttin' is so a as a free Wawn nigger." "A band!" I cried; and forgetting our fears all three rushed pell-mell to the windows. As the tramp, tramp, tramp, came nearer, and the front ranks came into.sight, litile sister set up a dismal wail: "Dey is only men, and not real and true Yankees at all," she said. "They are real enough," said poor 3 mina aie | behind ane me saying: % here isa yo fous tose, 'Ole Sherman ' "T detlare, mamma, f aida say + L began, tremblin ling 'like an aspen leafy "'twasimammy or little sister----' "No! no! Feross my heart I never did," sobbed littls atelier miserably, i Our dreadful visitor looked from one culprit to the other, from under his bushy eyebrows, an He took pretty "little sister on his knee, and kissed her, and said he had letters in his pocket for mamma, and. wsked for some sugar for us, to cheer us ap a bit. There was no sugar, nor had there been any fgr many months; so Seneral Sherman téid us to come to his headquarters next day and he would give us all we could eat. 'We got our sugar (brown by choice), m nice pasteboard boxes marked "Col. sate's Scap," and what else do you hink we got? . A' New Year's box, perhaps. it came ttralght from aus, a week ate, whom General -Sne:man met-om his *March to the a else how could lie have got it for | As we skipped dasfally home we said with conviction "You seé, mammy, you were all wrong. 'Ole' Sherman' fs not a 'Yane kee,' after all."--E, G. Parker, in Wide Awake, Bus baa 5 4 Ww Swearing Of, | New Year. _ coming year Bew w or it will be only, Renew td my faith thy promises, and renew my - Quicken within me the consciousness of thy presence. Let thy Spirit of great joy drive from my sou! its oldtime fears. They shalb not dwell with me to befoul this sweet new year. Through its days I will car- ry, dear Father, the eturdy bearing of one upheld by the Infinite. I will walk straigh® onward, thy hand leading me, I will look men frankly in the face, thine eyes seeing me. I will sing, I will laugh, I will rejoice through the year, the joy of the Lord being my; strength. Draw clse about me, if it be thy pleasure, the curtain of the future, eo that I may not see beyond the en- compassing day. It is thy future, and behind those dense fokis are thine up- holding arms, It will draw back before mé as I move courageously onward, dis-. closing at each step new proofs of thy wisdom and love. No evil will befall me, for thou wilt befall me. I do not esk thee for more light, or more strength or more joy; I ask thee boldly for thyself. Father, through whom the mew year comes, O come through It to me. My spirit burns within me for the vision of thee. I long to be freed from the frets of worldliness into the liberty of the world, the mastery of sense an@ of time that thou canst give. I long to know thee, that I may know my- self and others. Live thou in me, bless' ed Lord. Then alone shall I st live in thy new year. 3 Make thi me, biessed Fath On it's Holiday Vacation. Friend--I suppose your house wifl wontain plenty of evergreen to i: the new year. Paterfamilias--Don't know. All I'm sure of is that it will not contain much Jong green . yaad Looking for Him. Farmer Hittem strode up to the ne ero cabin with a whip in his hand and @ scowl! on his brow. mamma, who had come hurrying in, and she made us close all the ee on. the table. and although she let us peep throug the blinds, she would not look ra even when we entreated he out "Ole Sherman." "Yes," snifled mammy, "dey is a Play- in' 'When dis cruel wah is over,' and dey is a-doin' it dey-self all de time!" As we sat around the drawing room} fire that afternoon, the door wasthiown Cyrus an- "Ginerail Sherman, Miesus!" My mother went forward to greet her us lon visitor, with youngsters clingiog in! 4; | the uncirviliz: to her gown, for that Dame was more frightful to us than "Riuebeard," or "Hop-o'-my-Thumb's" "Where'd you git that air turkey?" he demanded, pointing to one that lay I knows," volunteered ee George done Washingt Snowball. r to point! prought hit." "Huh!" grunted the farmer, grasping al the whip more firmly. "He's just the tuan I want to see. In Making Resolutions Remember Tho Married peonle live longer than the unmarried, th. temperate and industri- - Tall persons enjoy a vify than short ones. ' Genera,