Christmas.

any they see to-day aro lying in their tranquil graves , those whom they once accompanied in the joys of Christmas , and who were the delig ht of all eyes and the love of all hearts . And how many more Christmases remain to them ? This , perhaps , is destined to be their

last . For them Christmas must always draw near with some subduing thoughts and not a few wholesome reminders . And yet how p leasant it is to note the old taking pleasure still in thc . Christinas parties of thc young , to see them grow youthful themselves again amid

tlie influences evoked by youth ' s graceful companionships and youth's fervid happiness . How good it is for us to behold the young , animated and joyous , without a care to darken their brows , without a sense of danger to inspire alarm , going forth , like that fair Hebrew

boy of old , to confront the " Goliath of the world . Happily for them they have not yet learnt to distrust others , nor upon them has fallen the blight of doubt and experience . Nothing has as yet rendered them morbid , or cynical , or unwholesome . They are still young ,

and nowhere docs old age seem to shine so well as when surrounded by youthful devotees . It tempers enthusiasm with prudence , and gives to boisterous and forward youth those lessons of prudence and discretion which are such good helpmates in the battle of life . How

many a happy circle is there still where tlie silver locks of old age contrast so well with the wreathed smiles , the graces , the tumult of youth ? Have we penned these words in too serious a [ strain ? We think not ; we hope not ; for

wc trust that our aim will be appreciated , our thoughts approved of by many indulgent readers of all ages alike . He this as it may , we venture to express the heartfelt trust that we shall be credited with a desire to improve as well as to inform , to edify as well as to amuse , and that our readers , one and all , will

accept from us , whatever their ago or condition may be , the most sincere expression of hope that Christmas for them may indeed convey and confirm in their individual and family , their public and private life , all that affection can ensure , and all that attachment and friendship can impart .

The Christmas Waits.

The Christmas Waits .

—* HCTSBHERE ciune n sound of voices MIWS A S half-dazed awake 1 hiy , J *™ - * ! , And I heard the songs of the Christinas waits / fe » Heralding Christmas Dny .

•" " And memory waking suddenly At the sound of thut wcll-kno wn Mrain , Went , buck with instant energy To the vanished past again .

I had hoard these soups sung often Through many eventful years , So I am not ashamed that awaking My eyes were dim with tears .

Recalling years ol sorrow And shadowing hours of joy ; They took mo back to n " long ago " When I heard them first as a boy .

Now many years havo sped and gone Since first , in the wintry cold I listened to tho humble song Of thoso Christmas waits of old . How many friends nre now at rest .

Since that well remembered dny ; IIow many fair faces nnd dear wann hearts Since then have passed away .

And with tho song resounding ' Kind shadows Koem'd to appear , Pointing in winning tenderness To hours soft , and dear .

now strange ( he tricks whicli fiincy plays , For 1 thought , I plainly could hear Tho voices 1 heard forty years ago At the same time of lhe year .

Yet as I listen , and listen , Pours down the pelting rain , And I yield myself to calm content , And turn over to sleep again W

A Christmas Souveuir.

A Christmas Souveuir .

Wf §\ WAS looking over an old box of letters the feslss other day . and came upon a packet tied up with sifta a piece of faded silk . The letters were dated "J ? forty years ago , and carried me back to a raj" Christmas of my youth , when life was fresh and * v fair , when friends were many and devoted , when

the world itself for me seemed to be surrounded with all that is gracious and fascinating for man as be moves on , amid sublunary cares and earthly trials , his appointed course for good or for evil , in sorrow or in joy , for happiness or misfortune , for " prestige " or forgotfuluess .

Dumas the younger talks of a letter , Dans son ccritnro line , parlant a tout votre etre nne langne divine" — " A letter of graceful hand and cunning ] hie , speaking to your whole being in tongue divine " ; but I do not propose to be so sentimental , or touch upon a topic both fascinating and dangerous . I would l-nther speak of these old letters of affection

and friendship , which , though I believe so profitless to keep , are often so affecting to read . Thackeray , in Vanitij Fair , 'thus touches happily on the subject : — " Perhaps in Vanity Fair there are no better satires than letters . Take a bundle of your friend ' s of ten years back , your dear friend whom you hale now . Look

at a pile of your sisters '; how you cling to each other till yon quarrelled about , the twenty pound legacy . Get down the round-hand scrawls of your son who has half-broken your heart wilh selfish undutifulness since , or a parcel nf your own , breathing coldness , ardour , and lovo eternal , whicli were sent back by your mistress when she married the nabob : your mistress for whom

yon now care no more than for Queen Klizabeth . Vows , love , promises , confidences , gratitude ; how ( pieerly they read after a . while ! There ought tn be a law in Vanity Fair ordering the destruction _ > V every written document ( except receipted bills ) after a certain brief and proper interval . "

And though we may , some cf us , think the satirist too cynical and severe , yet , " lr . y masters , " he is not , far from the mark . His arrow flies very straight , and , as a general rule , the keeping of old letters is a great weakness , a greater mistake , and yet it is ( mortal like ) a weakness and u mistake in which most of us , readers as well as writer , habitually fall . Hut to return .

As I looked over these old letters , they carried me back in tender and touching recollections to a far-oil day , to a distant scene , to parted friends . How happy we all were then . How hearty , and cheery , and pleasant our Christmas was in that old year of grace and light . I can even see to-day the fih'iiftuit fares nnd ( lie graceful forms , can hear the

gay voices ot children who shouted at our Christmas Tree . Alas I Of that pleasant assembly how lew now , very few , remain . The old hearth-stone is broken up ; thai family is scattered for aye . Those who gave lustre to the scene , and added pleasantness to the meeting ; those who were the " life and soul " of that laughing

and joyous party , have long since been committed to the grave . Their place knows them no more . The smile that only beamed in loyal friendship and affection ; the head and the heart , so fair , and firm , and warm , and true , are long since cold nnd still . Others rule where they bore sway , and even of the youngest of lhat party but very few linger here and there , middle-aged men and women , who have long since

exchanged their spriglnlhicss anil their love of fun , their wild shrieks anil their noisy romps , for the cold dull cares of sedater life , and are now dear , kind , cold , composed , perhaps , most respectable , but slightly stupid , members of society . How disappointing is life . IInw bright often its beginning ; how dreary it meridian ; how dark its close .

As I write to-day in fraternal goodwill for Hro . Kenning ' s Christmas Fi mason , the little room where 1 pen these hasty lines seems tilled again with that dear , kind company . (! o « l bless them all I Those very laughing " ghosts " of forty years ago come hopping in jauntily and demurely , Idling my dusty den with fragrant souvenirs and brightest rays .

All seems changed us by magic , and lights , and songs , and jokes , and shouts , and faces , and Christmas gifts seem to lie before me in reality and abundance , in all the honest sincerity of " liking and being liked , " of warm , good , dear , true hearts , sincere friendship , unbonght affection , nil which marked so vividly , and so sacredly , mid so entirely lhat Christ mus gathering forty

years ago . And then , as if in a moment , all again is still . I hear nothing but the clock ticking on the mantelpiece , and thc rumbling in the street . All has passed away like a "dissolving view . " I listen in vain for those echoes which were so dear and so pleasant , and look in vain for those " wreathed smiles , " ( bose bright , kindly tender faces which make such a "

sunshine for rnn out ol the varied past . I do not know myself anything more affecting in this life of ours us this " passing away as a dream when one nwtiketh , " of nil we cling to tbe most , and count the dearest here below ; this realization , as time

hurries on with each passing year , of the utter " nihilism , " unreality , and short-lived duration of the truest treasures that earth affords- friendship , sympathy , affection . Hut yet so it is , so it ever must be now ; and it is one of tbe great , arguments for the futurity of our being ,

A Christmas Souveuir.

that with our capacities for happiness , our sense of sympathy , our tenderness of affection , our clinging to all that constitutes the "inner being" of human existence , the good and merciful Creator of ns all , T . G . A . O . T . U ., would not , in His infinite wisdom , love , and pity , ever have created us poor , frail creatures

of a few suffering hours , with decaying frames and limited faculties , in His own eternal foreknowledge , and his unchanging compassion , Had he not intended lis also to dcvelope in another and better life all that is kindly , and gracious , and affectionate , and attached ; all that elevates , ennobles , purifies , and sanctifies our own fallen humanity on earth .

Am I becoming too serious ? Well , perhaps my readers will excuse , if , as I tell my little tale ( with nothing in it ) and dcvelope my little essay 1 naturally fall into a somewhat pensive mood , with the memories and associations prevailing with and pressing on me which that old , dusty , faded packet of letters brought so vividly and overpoweringly before me .

Such , at least , is my " Christmas Souvenir , " which I venture to send to the Christmas Freemason . May it be accepted in the spirit in which it is tendered—love for Freemasonry , goodwill to its readers , and kindly feelings to all " children of the dust . " Ar . this genial season , wo naturally , if we are wise ( especially at the time of life the writer has reached ) ,

look back on the past . I do not wish to seem to strike a key note out of harmony with our Christinas carols . T do not desire to . seem to young people , to cheerful "Christniasscrs , " to be morbid , mooning , or melancholy . Hut 1 do venture , in all good feeling , to conclude with this little remark . Sometimes it seems to me we make Christmas only an earthly feast , a civilized

" saturnalia , nnd wish to shut out , annu the gay songs , bland festivities of the hour , those homely and moving recollections which tell ns of the past , which summon back the missing and the lost , which repeople our Christmas festival with those who once were " all in all " to us , which throw over the most

gay and glittering scenes of Christinas the controlling remembrance of other days , the chastening and salutary moments that , all these things at , the very best are but , ephemeral and failing anticipations ; yes , only anticipations of a day and a rejoicing which shall know no diminution and see no end . » W .

" Old Pyramid's" Christmas Day In The Drsert.

" Old Pyramid's" Christmas Day in the Drsert .

( Continual from lust i ji'iir ' s I'ltrislma . s ixivmh ' )' . ) GlfiCVislO sat underneath the palm trees adjoining tho Hlrj [ Sl wooden dwelling of our hospitable host , en . ii _ t ' " 3 J ° y ' . K om' tchabouks with a plentiful supply / S ^> * . of a cheering beverage close nt . band . i I The owner of the factory being u Christian , ¦ r » all hands had a holiday , and the usual noise of the cotton gins was hushed .

Naked children resembling animated lumps of india . rubber kept hovering rimnd us and sci'oa ' ming out " Hakshiesli . " Arab men were sipiafting outside their miserable mud huts , and like ourselves smoking tchabouks . Native women , veiled , and carrying on thoil heads huge waterjugs , passed by us . The stooping figure of a once strong man emerged

from the engine-shed and came creeping towards us , and was invited by our host to join us ; flu ' s , our host , told us , was Hill , his fireman . " And , " said he , aside , " I never met with such a morose old grillin inniy life . " Ho also tuld us bo fountl him wandering in tho streets in Alexandria , quile friendless , and out of pity engaged him , and that , be had tried to learn something of his

past history , but beyond eliciting the fact that he bad lived in Australia he had failed in his endeavours . The old man threw somo bagging ou tho sand and joined our circle , when our host banded him atelmbonk , and as ihe smoke curled therefrom he seemed to relax a little . As wc had been drinking to the health of our friends

far away , it , was suggested that each une of us should spin a yarn ; and as the suggestion was made by our host it , was unanimously agreed thai be should commence , but a limit was placed upon the length of each yarn , so that thoy might bc got through before wo should be compelled to leave for our homes ; so we all sat ready for

Ouii HOST ' S YAKN . WKLI . boys , as you all wish it , I suppose I must make a start , though I ' m afraid I shall prove but a poor band at yarning . j must tell you that all my life I have refused to believe in spiritualism or apparitions , but what 1 am now going to relate has somewhat shaken my want of belief

in them . When I was a lending hand in an engineering shop in Lancashire , 1 had placed under my care au apprentice , and n more mischievous young monkey than Harry Denbigh never stood before a lathe ; but with all his faults he was a general favourite in the shop . Ho was

well connected , and had been well educated , and many of onr men wondered why be had chosen to be a mechanic instead of following thc profession in which he told us his parents desired to place him , but he explained to me that lie always had a wish to sec the world , and be thought that with a mechanical trade in