as it had
been for good Queen Victoria when she thanked him for preaching her a
sermon in the Royal Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Because his heart was filled with love and sympathy, Phillips Brooks
left the world better and happier than he found it. Now, if every one
who passes his statue at Trinity Church should say: "I really must do
some kind, generous thing myself, each day in the week," there would be
sort of a Christmassy feeling all the year round, and we should keep a
little of the sunshine which the Bishop of Massachusetts shed, still
shining.

SAMUEL CLEMENS Better Known as MARK TWAIN

John Clemens, Samuel's father, was a farmer, merchant, and postmaster in
a Missouri town, called Florida. His wife, Jane Clemens, was a stirring,
busy woman, who liked to get her work out of the way and then have a
real frolic. Her husband did not know what it meant to frolic. He was
not very well to begin with, and when he had any spare time, he sat by
himself figuring away on an invention, year after year. He spent a good
deal of time, too, thinking what fine things he would do for his family
when he sold a great tract of land in Tennessee. He had bought
seventy-five thousand acres of land when he was much younger, for just a
few cents an acre, and when that land went up in price, he expected to
be pointed out as a millionaire, at least. John Clemens was a good man
and something of a scholar, but he was not the least bit merry. His
children never saw him laugh once in his whole life! Think of it!

Mrs. Clemens did not like to have any one around when she was bustling
through the housework, so the six children spent the days roaming
through the country, picking nuts and berries. When it came night and
they had had their supper, they would crowd around the open fire and
coax Jennie, a slave girl, or Uncle Ned, a colored farm-hand, to tell
them stories.

Uncle Ned was a famous story-teller. When he described witches and
goblins, the children would look over their shoulders as if they half
expected to see the queer creatures in the room. All these stories began
"Once 'pon a time," but each one ended differently. One of the children,
Sam Clemens, admired Uncle Ned's stories so that he could hardly wait
for evening to come.

Sam was a delicate child. The neighbors used to shake their heads and
declare he would never live to be a man, and every one always spoke of
him as "little Sam."

When Mr. Clemens moved to another