According to the tapes, my father, then about as run-of-the-mill as Joe Blow himself, didn't want to see the thing.

The morning was as dark and cold as city snow could make it--a dingy whirl at the window; a smoky gust through the fire-place; a shadow black as a bear's cave under the table. Nothing in all the cavernous room, loomed really warm or familiar except a glass of stale water, and a vapid, half-eaten grape-fruit.

Christopher Carson, whose renown as Kit Carson has reached almost every ear in the country was born in Madison county, Kentucky, on the 24th of December, 1809.

Obeying an inalienable law, things grew, spreading riotous and strange in their instinct for growth.

To stretch his legs between consultations, Maclean escorted his last patient to Baker Street station.

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.