I only wish we had had such chances fifty years ago; for, if our older friends had not made presents of such things to us,--as no doubt many oldsters will to your young folks this coming Christmas,--we'd have saved up our pocket money and gone ahead alone. I know that I made all my own electrical apparatus; but there was good fun in doing it, and it worked well, and made splendid times for our circle of young folks on cozy winter evenings. I hope you will read this letter through, although it is as long as most old men's memories.--Yours still affectionately, GRAN'THER HORTON. * * * * * Jamaica, L.I. DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I read Jack-in-the-Pulpit's inquiry in the August number about the "Fiery Tears of St. Lawrence." Yesterday I was reading a book, and in it there was an article headed "Showers of Stars." I read it, and at the end of it was a piece which seemed to be an answer to Jack's question. I copied word for word from the book. Here it is: "Another writer suggests the theory that a stream or group of innumerable bodies, comparatively small, but of various dimensions, is sweeping around the solar focus in an orbit, which periodically cuts the orbit of the earth, thus explaining the actual cause of shooting stars, aerolites, and meteoric showers." This is all I have been able to find out, and I hope it is correct.--Believe me to be yours very truly, C.A.R. C.A.R., and others who wish to know more of this subject, will find all the latest information in "Appleton's Cyclopaedia," under the items "Aerolite" and "Meteor," where admirably clear and condensed accounts are given of all that is known about these bodies. C.A.R.'s extract states the theory most generally held. * * * * * TABLEAUX FROM ST. NICHOLAS PICTURES. Brooklyn, November, 1877. DEAR OLD ST. NICHOLAS: My little sisters and my brother love you, and so do I, for your monthly visits make our house brighter and pleasanter to us all. I am fifteen, not yet too old to be one of your children, you see. What I want to tell you is how easily some of your pictures can be turned into _tableaux-vivants,_ or even acted. There was "Pattikin's House;" I am sure we had the greatest fun with those pictures, we being so many girls: and "The man all tattered and torn that married the maiden all forlorn;" that was on p. 652 of the volume for 1876: "The Minuet," in January, 1877: "Hagar in the Desert," in June, 1877; my aunty did that, and it was lovely: the little girl in "The Owl That Stared," in November, 1876; and "Leap-Year," in the same number. All these we had at our own home, but there are lots of others that might suit some folks better than they would suit us.