tter was opened, the letter was read,
There were very few tearless eyes;
The reader looked round on the silent group,
And then, with a nod, he cries:

"Now, boys, there is something in this that I like--
It's nature right straight up to win,
And we've all of us got to be lords right here--
So here is my dot to begin."
The dollars flew down on the table like snow,
They came from the crowd's great heart,
A letter was written by proxy and signed,
The proposer to play the part.

And so it came off upon one winter night
That there happened this strange affair;
A tapping came soft at Mamie's door,
And a very old man stood there;
He was clad from his head to his feet so warm,
And his beard it was long and white.
"Good-even!" he said, as he pushed in a box
Then vanished quite out of their sight.

They were speechless, and only could stare at the box
Directed to Mamie St. Clair,
From "The Lord in Heaven." What did it all mean?
And a letter beside was there--
A letter from heaven read: "Be a good girl,
And never do anything ill;
Love mamma as well as you do to-day."
And a fifty-dollar bill.

If I wrote from now till the crack of doom,
I could tell no more than this.
It was all packed down in that wonderful box,
And the dolly--oh, gracious! what bliss!
And in time that letter to heaven direct
Sent many and many a friend,
And perhaps a new papa--who knows?--may be sent
By heaven itself, in the end.

Striking out for Themselves.

BY F. H. SWEET.

"Reckon we'll get 'em burned out by Tuesday week, Tom, and be ready for
Pylant's oranges. Suppose the old fellow will want us to take pay in
town lots, though."

"He'll get left if he does;" and the lad by the fire removed the skillet
of fried bacon from the coals and put the coffee-pot in its place. "I'm
willing to work out a five-acre lot, but don't want any towns. Say,
Dave, what do you think of the party going to Punta Rassa?" he added, as
he thrust a stick into the bean-pot to see what prospect there was for
an early supper.

"Well, from what I hear, I fancy there is plenty of good land to be
homesteaded in that section, and if we didn't have a good job here, I'd
be for joining them. I begin to feel a little anxious to have some land
where we can be starting trees of our own."

"Same here; but the land will come in good time