The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-13
NUTS FOR OLD
 SANTA TO CRACK

From Judge.
 The twentieth century youngster care fully placed a new ribbon in his type writer. oiled the machine thoroughly, and began:
 Dear Santa Claus: I have about every thing need or want this Christmas, and in lieu of a collection of gifts l wish you would deliver the answers to a number of questions which have bewildered me all most from my infancy:
 How can you possibly get down our chimney. when I experienced great diffl- culty in convincing sisters pet poodle that the trip could be made successfully?
 Why do you give many presents to those who have money to buy them and so few to those who cannot spare tho money?
 How do you manage to sail over moun- tians, oceans and housetops, when nat ural history is suspiciously silent on the subject of reindeers' wings?
 What excuse can you offer for bringing father something for mothers house and presenting mother with gift for her personal use only?
 Why do you stack your collection of toys in the stores thus allowing the chill dren to see them long before the holi- days?
 How is it that you can appear simulta- neousy in the toy sections of the various department stores?
 Why do you live at the north pole when it Is an accepted fact that the best toys are made in Germany?
 Don't you feel silly, sleighing in Flori- da, where there isn't any snow?
 And as the final question, but not neces- sarily the most unimportant one, why do you keep your clothes and whiskers In that old trunk in our storeroom? Anx- iously yours, Chalmot Gunson, Jr.
 
 when the matter was proposed to both, everything was arranged. Marguerite didn't love Henry then; she only entered into the scheme to help mamma and brother Charles, who wished to get a lick at those heretics, the aforesaid Hu- guenots.
 The marriage took place as most not all pre-arranged ceremonies of that kind do But
 Marguerite fell in love with Henry now that she was married to him, and she didn't of course now care to see her husbands friends killed and then, too, Henry was a little busy himself keep ing his own head on straight
 Henry was saved, but history tells us how the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place. In this book, one of the most dramatic situations is that place where 1t Is described how Catherine wormed out of King Charles permission for the massacre.
 Of course all along in the book, first Henry would doubt MarguIfte then when he felt sure that he had been wrong in his doubts, Marguerite would begin to do a little doubting on Henry. And so 1t continued but in the reading of this most pleasing book one will be interested from the beginning to the end of the story.
 It Is stated that this book is being dramatized, that In London Julia Neil son and Fred Terry, to whom this book Is dedicated, will present the same on the stage early in the coming year. , My Lady of the Fog" by Ralph Henry Barbour. c. r. Lippincott & Co) This Is an ideal Christmas book gotten up most handsomely with artistic color decorations and every page decorated also. Geographically the book is splen- didly done The book is in line with the same authors Holly" published some time ago.
 The slight story is all right; 1t wouldn't matter much if 1t hadn't been. There was a delightful young lady who was loved by two men; one rich and the other, the nice one, poor, of course. What makes all the nice young men poor? When these scientific men get through solving the negro question, why not let them take up something really worth while deciding, to repeat: Why is the nice attractive lover always poor2 That Is a question; a real man-sized ono.
 This charming young lady of the fog got lost up on the American coast of the Atlantic ocean. She landed in a fog; she was all turned around mentally and physically and paradoxically as it may seem. This fog was what cleared the pur- sued n-young-lady's mind as to which lover to accept.
 The rich young man. with his mines and money galore, was given his-hat-what s. your-hurry; tho other deserving young creature won the prize. How nice it is to read things like that in a book? You know all the time that in life the girl in a fog or out of it. would have thought good long time before she turned loose that rich man, but 1t is nice to read about the deserving lover winning out in books, now, isn't 1t? A kind of balm in Gilead, isn't it?' Surel
 This book would do excellently for some poor young fellow, deserving, if there is i any, who could present this volume to the i beloved one with suggestions to read, mark and inv'ardly digest. likewise act = | love matter.
 "Tamam," by Charles Chiffon Moore. (Neale Publishing Co.) The title to this story, which is un- usual Is from Omar Khayyam and means the end oblivion" This is the end that has been reached by the author in the lives of his principal characters. It Is not a sa atisfying finale for the ordi- nary novel-reader, but there Is a depth or discernment in the pages fascinat- ing mystery of the inner soul that will probably hold any one who would appre- ciate something more substantial and solid than the ordinary happy ending story of this day and generation.
 It is the story, life symphony so the author says, of strong man who loves a beautiful girl, although they say nothing about 1t and her coquetry keeps them apart She believes that the man will re- turn to her, but mastering his love in his pride the lover maintains silence that ends in 'Tamam."
 There are five parts or chapters, Forest Retreat" Arlington 'The Potter's Field" "The Sea" and "Oblivion," each s,,peestive of the somewhat introspec-