Year: 1877

vanished, growing taller and more fear
ful as he disappeared.


In moment, the collier hurried up
the stairs.


In the name of God," said he, rush
ing into the room, "what have you
been doing to our house-spirit?''


"House-spirit!" said Berthold, like
one in dream. "What do you mean P"


He has just gone out of the house, :"
said the collier, perfectly monstrous
In his size, and infamed with fury!"
But the collier saw that the merchant
did not understand him, and he en-
treated him to 60 down into the COM
mon apartment where all of the family,
aroused by the report of the pistol, had
now met. The children shrunk away
from him as he entered the room, and
the collier wife was in tears.


"And now," said the good woman,
"we must live all those years over
again.


"This may all seem strange to you,"
said the collier to the merchant; "but
when my wife and 1 first came to the
cottage to live, we found it haunted by
terrible specter, such as |
have just seen disappear. But
| said to myself, I will not fear
him, for if am truly Christian man
no power of evil can harm me. will
overcome him with good life, and he
shall not overcome me. So, in the
name of God, | remained. Red Man
tle-for such is his name-appeared to
us continually, but we ceased to fear
him. | brought up my little ones to be-
lleve that nothing could harm them
while they trusted in God; and that any
specter would grow less and less who
dwell in a family who had loving hearts
and lived pure lives. So Red Mantle
at last became my little ones playmate.
We restrained our dispositions, we
guarded our thoughts, we loved each
other. We prayed together much, and
the specter began to grow more gentle
and to shrink in size, year by year, un-
til he became the dwarf you saw when
he came in the evening to pray
ers. All evil disappeared from his
face, and we all loved him as
meek and harmless house
spirit, and expected that he would soon
be released from this troubled state
ana VANISH forever"


The next morning, the merchant left
the cottage. Years passed away; he
travelled from city to city, and into
countries remote from Germany, but he
never forgot the experiences of that
night.


One afternoon, near sunset, he found
himself ON the borders of the same
forest as before, and he resolved again
to strike down the defile and see what
had become of the good collier family.


1t was somewhat late when the cot
tage appeared before him. He dis
mounted and entered. They were sing
ing, " Now all the woods are sleeping"
1t was the hour of prayer!


The merchant knelt down beside the
white haired old man, expecting
every moment the house spirit would
re-appear. But the little old man did
not come. Only soft light was shed
abroad amid the shadows of the room,
and a sweet, low melody arose, like
the touch of the most delicate fingers
on finely attuned musical-glasses.


It was all that remained of the house.
spirit, for the collier and his family
had all these years lived pure and holy
lives.


"That was once our house-spirit,"
said the collier, "but it can only now
make its presence known to us as
gentle light and a strain of music,
sweet and low. We have subdued him
by innocence and prayer"


o ye who read this untrue, true story
by the light of the winter ireside, does
the new year open with some specter
in your hearts and homes? Unriddle
the story of the collier family.-St.
Nicholas.