Mr. Pout was too full for words (_honi soit qui mal y pense_), but he managed to express his hearty thanks for the splendid support and co-operation he had received from the entire staff during the Christmas rush, also for the kind thought which prompted the giving of such a beautiful gift. The coffee pot was one of those long narrow "prohibition" coffee pots that you are unable to tell what is inside of until you taste the contents. Tom Harrison struck up "He's a Jolly Good Fellow." "Arry" thought it was "Auld Lang Syne" and started off on his own, while James Henderson, in an endeavour to put them both right, commenced "Will You No Come Back Again." When the company broke up, those three were still at it, and nobody could tell which was winning.--_R.W._ * * * * * Miss Cridland, treasurer of our Sisters' Sewing Circle, has been absent from the meeting several week. We were surprised to see her at the last meeting. She says her absence has been due to the fact that she had to attend "prayer meetings." We have since learned that a certain young man's "tin Lizzie" is being overhauled. May it take all winter--so Gladys will be at every meeting. * * * * * Miss Phillys Ripley, the girl with the sparkling eyes, assisted for several weeks in the hardware department but is back once again at her old stand tying bows for the kiddies. Her eyes still sparkle and there are many beaus waiting for her to cast her spell on one of them so that two may be tied into one bow. "Wonderful how popular some men are," said Watson, when he heard what happened Christmas Eve. The girls in the dry goods department placed mistletoe on the light over Mr. Andrews' desk--and not one missed him, even Mabel had hers. Nuff sed. Mr. Tom Bone, assistant manager of the grocery department, the staff poet, has changed his vocation and now spends his evenings making musical instruments. We wonder if it will be jazz or operatic music. We are glad to learn that Mrs. Griffin, wife of C. Griffin of the men's department, is home once again after being confined to the Hospital several weeks with typhoid fever. We all wish her a speedy recovery. Vernon, Gem of the Okanagan --_and the H.B.C. Store, One of Its Institutions_ Thirty years ago, there were only two stores in Vernon, The Hudson's Bay Company and W.F. Cameron, both firms carrying a general line of merchandise. The only other stores in the Okanagan Valley, at this period, were one at Enderby, Landsdowne, Okanagan Mission and Penticton, so that these stores supplied the necessities of life practically to the whole of the Okanagan Valley, reaching from Sicamous to fifty miles beyond Penticton and from Grand Prairie to the White Valley district. The towns of Armstrong and Kelowna, at this period, were not in existence.