boy on a mule and sent him around with an invitation to certain of his friends, requesting them to do him the honor of eating their Christmas dinner with him. This invitation was prepared with great care by Mrs. Rivers, who was a schoolma'am from Connecticut when the colonel married her. It was beautifully written on the inside of a sheet of foolscap, and this sheet was tacked to a piece of card-board, by means of a deftly made true-lover's-knot of blue ribbon. The card-board was placed in a satchel, and the satchel was arranged to swing over the shoulders of the negro, so that there was no danger of losing it. There was only one invitation, and it was to be carried from one of the colonel's friends to the other until all had been notified of his hospitable desires.
The colonel added an oral postscript as he gave the negro a stiff dram. "Ding 'em," he exclaimed, "tell 'em to bring their dogs. Mind now! tell 'em to bring their dogs."
Mrs. Rivers enjoyed Christmas as heartily as anybody, but in beginning preparations for the festival she always had her misgivings. Her father, Dr. Joshua Penniman, had been a Puritan among Puritans, and some-
