9. Write down all you don't know about any mortal subject you are most ignorant of, provided it has nothing to do with the English language and literature. *** "In spite of all temptation," MARCUS WARD & CO. remain true Englishmen, and have had their dainty Christmas cards, and other delightful novelties, "not printed in Germany." The support of the loyal British shopper should be their _re-Ward_. But C. W. FAULKNER & CO. evidently think that a foreign name is more attractive, and have christened their new table-game "Malletino." It hardly requires a deep knowledge of Italian to discover that it is played with mallets, and is amusing. Their cards and calendars are quite "up to date"--at least the latter will be next year. *** EXCEPTION.--Pleasant Christmas Bills: Bills of Fare. * * * * * THE NEW HEROINE. (_A Scene from the Drama of To-morrow._) _Edwin._ And do you really love me? _Angelina._ With all my heart and soul; and yet---- _Edwin._ Yet what? ANGELINA, why do you look so strangely at me? There is something on your mind, something you have not the courage to tell me. [Illustration] _Angelina._ EDWIN, I can hide nothing from you. Even though it should wreck both our lives, you have the right to know the truth. _Edwin._ My own darling, what is in your heart? _Angelina._ Can you bear to hear it? Don't look at me, or I shall not have the courage to say what must be said. EDWIN, I have never lived a disreputable life. _Edwin_ (_burying his face in his hands_). Great Heaven! and I believed in you so utterly. (_Then rising, with a desperate effort to control his emotion._) Good-bye. _Angelina_ (_falling on her knees, and clinging to him_). Ah, no, you shall not go. Think of it, EDWIN, of the temptations to virtue that surrounded me, of the examples of simple girlhood that poisoned my youth. If I have lived a life of spotless innocence, remember, at least, that I knew no better. What else could I do? Brought up from earliest infancy by a mother of unblemished reputation? _Edwin_ (_with a gesture of horror_). Your mother, too? ANGELINA, our marriage is impossible. _Angelina._ How hard you men are. Is your sex alone to have the monopoly of innocence? Must there always be one law for women and another for dramatic authors? Oh, it is cruel! cruel! But you will not leave me. Remember, I am still young: it is never too late to err. And is it because I am a woman that I am to be denied the chance of retrieving the innocence of a mis-spent youth by the indiscretions of a riper womanhood? Besides, are there not cases, cases known to us both where a wife has lived down the terrible reproach of a blameless girlhood? Why, even Mr. JONES'S latest heroine, and there is nothing later than that, could not absolutely prove she had gone wrong, and yet her husband took her back! But you are so proud, so relentless. You have no pity in your heart.