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Show SOUTH CACHE COURIER, HYRUM, UTAH t Jhe Minister and 5 the "Vamp" S By Mwy Grsham Bonner Lv.V.'.'AW.WWAVJ'X' Unton.) eatera 19-- w Newspaper . jOV the minister was young and enthusiastic and eager. He loved He loved dis work, he loved the parish. too talkawere bit a the people. They did telling enjoy times. They at tive should preach and him just how he was all act and think and do. But it him. to failed it annoy jo well meaning The minister was extremely attractive. Every woman in the parish knew ministthat. Every man admired the most was a His engaging too. er, personality. things became a trifle awkward it appeared as though the minister could not talk to any one of the opposite sex for more than ten minutes without arousing observations. And how weary he did get of being told he mustnt take the last piece of cake in a dish. It was so tiresome a witticism. bit of He realized that it might be difficult for a minister to be permitted to choose a wife for himself. He somehow had a new admiration for ministers who appeared to have done their own matrimonial choosing. He feared that one might even take almost anyone to dodge the constant comments and chatter on matrimony which an unmarried man seemed to But when NEWSPAPER UNION I922.VESTERN ORACE had always loved In the old days Hilda. had written letters to they Santa Claus together. For they had been children together and Hilda was only eleven when Horace first proposed to her. Hilda promised to marry Horace when she grew up If hed give her plenty of hot buttered popcorn and Christmas candy elephants in the meantime. It was a strain on Horaces slender allowance and it was not always easy to get candy elephants, but he succeeded on the whole. There was something so nice about Hilda. She never made remarks as some girls did, and men too, for that matter, which were so annoying. When she rang up on the telephone she did not say Guess whos talking, and disguise her now. just guess, voice. She always considered whether a person might not very easily be encounter. And then the minister fell in love! Oh, madly and rapturously in love. whom And with a girl from people said was not the type for a ministers wife, at all, at all. And the minister had said he hadnt looked for a type, he had picked out the one he out-of-to- had cared for. He even heard the word 'vamp. people whispering A vamp who had Had Written Santa Letters Together. Came Into the Chapel and Told of His Engagement. ensnared him, someone said. He inquired the various definitions of the word vamp. He almost failed to be amused; he became so angry. And this was the joyous Christmas season when love and good will should have been in the hearts of his people! A man told him a vamp was a dangerous delight. A woman told him a vamp was a woman without principle. A young boy told him a vamp was a misunderstood, innocent lady with sense enough to appreciate that men of seventeen were not children. An oculist told him that a vamp was an adept at the possible uses of the eye muscles. An old man said a vamp was a dear little girl. And a mother told him a vamp was a dangerous creature from whom every mother should keep a son as from a deadly poison. They were making the Christmas decorations for the church when the minister came into the chapel and told them all of his engagement. The wedding is to be on Christmas eve, he said. Everyone stopped winding ground pine and looked amazed. They muttered congratulations, and then the future wife appeared and worked with them. And then they all begaa to feel better. For while they had been gossiping and quarreling pettily as they had worked, the future wife of the minister brought with her the spirit of the Christmas season. Perhaps she wasn't a typical wife for a minister they concluded, but she was an Ideal wife for a minister. For she lived and breathed goodwill and cheer and her gaiety freshened the very atmosphere of the place and gave them new Incentive. The minister called her his vamp! Ii8 definition of one was: A Merry Christmas in real life! He Though Hilda did not, or had not a? yet agreed to, marry him, and he had asked her many a time. The second time Horace had proposed had been when Hilda was sixteen and they were sitting out the supper dance at one of the Christmas holiday parties. Horace was two years older than Hilda. I couldnt marry you, Hilda had said, as you are really nothing but a child. I need a man more my own mental equal. But youre two years younger than I am, Horace had protested. True, Hilda had admitted, but a woman is always so much older than a man. Hilda called herself a woman from the time she was sixteen until she was twenty-one- . Again and again Horace proposed. Hilda always put him off, but she always seemed to come back to him after each worrisome flirtation. Persistency and devotion were Horaces strong points, and every Christmas as he took her thj yellow rosebuds, which was his choice of a Christmas bouquet, he proposed anew. It was Horaces annual declaration! Hilda loved the flowers the rosebuds were always so pretty and Horace had so much taste. Always in the center was a spray of holly, and they were tied with gay red ribbon. And Hilda cared for Horace, too. But not enough, not quite enough. When Hilda was twenty-fivshe almost yielded. Someone had that day asked Hilda her age. She had candidly admitted she was twenty-UvLater in the afternoon she had heard that if Hilda admitted to twenty-five she must at least be thirty-two- . Hilda felt old then, discouraged. But she didnt quite accept Horace. From then on Hildas age was very uncertain. Horace was fearful, lest at first Hilda drop a year every year. She could never claim eighteen, or even twenty, even though she was very young in appearance, bafflingiy so. Hilda had been thirty for the past three years now, and still Horace was around, admiring her, loving her, more and more all the time. But the strain had almost been too much. Horace had loved Hilda a very long time. Hilda had taken a long time alone to become thirty. He would ask her once more to marry him, then he would go away, never to return he told himself dramatically. Hilda, he said to her as he gave her the Christmas bouquet for the well, he wouldnt keep track of the number of times even in his mind Ive told you how it is. I must know finally, tonight. I cant bear this any longer. Wont you marry me, my darling? Right away, without any more waiting? Cant we start out the new year together? Cant we my darling? And at last Horace knew bliss. Shyly, sweetly, clingingly, and with such slow yielding awakening Hilda was In his arms, and as she lifted her lips to his she murmured: And youll take care of me, wont you, Horace? And always be good to me? For Im only a child, Horace dear, and I mustnt, I mustnt ever be disillusioned. And Horace was filled with Christmas charity. He did not tell her of the time a good many years back now when she had told him he was too young for her! For one thing, he was too happy. And for another he didnt think ages amounted to anything anyway. Everyone was as old or as young as they wanted to be! Besides, at last Hilda had consented to marry him. He could afford Christmas charity. For he was filled with Christmas cheer and a great and wonderful e e. busy, and so did not have what some considered a little joke. There were some kinds of people Horace couldnt endure. There were If the those who said, for example: to strike its is you, going lightning going to strike you. Its absurd to say youre afraid of it. Then there were those who would say in answer to a query about the temperature of the ocean and its condition for swimming: The water? Why, the waters wet. And then expected him to laugh. There were those who would say How come, and expected to be put in a bright class, as though theyd said something startlingly original. Then there were those who sent picture postcards of foreign places when they really posted them from New York and Chicago and Seattle and Hohokus, New Jersey, and hoped that they could fool the receiver of the postcards that these cards had not been at one time gifts to them. And he did dislike those who would say to him after he had had his last years suit nicely sponged and pressed, How that has worn It has certaindone and it doesnt you good service, ly look bad at that! But especially he disliked and felt as though he could almost choke those who were given to telling others to count their blessings, while they moaned and groaned and whined and whimpered themselves at all times Chicken Fat Improves Flavor. and about all things. These were his special aversions, If chicken fat is added to the lard but Hilda was different. Hilda never for frying doughnuts the flavor will be jarred. Hilda was always sweet. improved. ! SANTAS SPECIAL DELIVERY SERVICE flaflBBseggeHBgBgBegBsgggae (, Uncle Samta Claus THE CHRISTMAS PICNIC By Christopher G. Hazard By Mary Graham Bonner 19:22, fcSgfelNtetelglitlNlsIalfaignugEaiglalaiantFHigialilf Western Newspaper Union.) tt'T'ELL us a story, Uncle Peter," said the children, as they climbed over their kindly relative one Christmas eve. A story ! repeated Uncle Peter, affecting surprise, but willing to draw upon his inexhaustible stock; well, have you ever heard of Uncle Samta Claus? Oh, you mean Uncle Santa Claus! exclaimed Jack. I No, I dont, said Uncle Peter; mean the old man with the plug hat, the blue swallowtail coat, the striped breeches; the old man with eyes like stars and a smile that never conies off excepting when somebody is treading on somebody else; the old man with the striped flag, whose headquarters is up in Alaska; the biggest Santa Claus there Is. All right, then, answered the children, tell us about him. said Uncle Peter, he has Well, his hands full just now and is doing all he can to fill the hands of others. The air is so noisy with wireless cries and clamors, there are so many hands reaciiing out over the seas, that he is almost distracted. lie is working hard at his task of making America truly American, a sober, industrious, enlightened, presperous, happy, Christ-mas- y nation. I'm glad Im one of his American said Agnes, when Uncle children, Peter had concluded; with which sentiment all the rest agreed. A little cloud of doubt had arisen on the Christmas sky, however, as Im Glad Im One," Said Agnes. Uncle Peter had spoken of Uncle Samtas lavishness in far countries. Edith voiced it when she wanted to know if it would be of any use for them to expect anything that Christmas, whether or not they were to hang Youll put your up their stockings. foot in it if you do, said George. No, she wont, said Uncle Peter; I have had a special delivery letter from Uncle Samta, saying that he has had his eye on this house for the last twelvemonth, and that this will be one of his stopping places because from it so much of service for others has been going out. He says that you are his gardeners, and that you have planted so many seeds of kindness that a lot of beautiful tilings will he sure to come up. That is always the way, lie says; in fact, it is the way in which he got rich himself. This was a very pleasant assurance for the children. It made thorn think of a happy mistake that one of them had made when they were having war gardens ail over the town: A certain Mr. Rose had been appointed by the mayor as inspector of gardens for the whole place, and one day Betty pointed him out to a friend with whom she There goes Mr. Rose, was walking. she said ; he's an expecter of gardens When the children had been reminded of Mr. Rose they also remembered what Betty had done at their last Christmas party; stalking heavily and pompously down the room, she had said: Im Mr. Atlas, who holds So one of them stood up the world. on tiptoe, threw back her head and threw out her arms and said : Im Uncle Samta Claus, .vho holds up the Well 'one! cried Uncle world. ! Peter; thats just it! There wasn't any disappointment in the house the next morning. Did you asked get all that you wanted? Uncle Peter. said Mary. Yes, Were you at all disappointed? When Mary said No, said Mary. her mother said, You Goodness, Grashouldnt say goodness, Mary. cious! said Mary. But Mary was too excited to have a care for her expressions. In describing the situation afterwarus she said: I was in a perfect stupor of excitement. Uncle Peter had a present, too. After all the lest had been made happy Agnes brought out a parcel, atod when Uncle Peter opened it there were too big books that told over again the story of all that America had stood for and accomplished. This made him very glad indeed, and he asked them to write his name on the fly leaf and to say that it was from his Young Americans. young people were going to THE give a Christmas picnic on the They had all day after Christmas. decided that it would be no end of fun to take their skates and have a long day of skating, and to have their dinner out of doors. They felt It would be particularly good for them, too, to get away from the sweets and holiday food they would constantly be nibbling at if they were home. So on the day after Christmas they went on the Christmas picnic and skating party. They all had so much enthusiasm. Everyone was going to take part. Everyone was going to help and assist and work. But when It came time for dinner everyone seemed hungry but helpless, and somehow the cold seemed to have glowed In their cheeks and hearts as they skated, but to have numbed them as the work of the picnic loomed In view. The gay and debonair young man who called himself the life of the party and who had come garbed in knickerbockers and sport sweater was suddenly quiet. He said he .was not much good at making a firij. Instead, he seemed to admire himself and his handsome legs and to ignore the opening of the baskets. To be sure, he looked well and his attitude said quite plainly : The man who Invented knickerbockers, without a doubt had good looking legs himself, and perhaps an enemy with particularly jgly ones, but he certainly didn't get the better of me. But Jerry, who was always a good fire builder and upon whom the work always rested, despite previous protests that it would not this time, was the one now who built the fire. And the rest of the typical picnic people did the usual things. There was the man who' talked about building the fire so as to keep the smoke from blowing In the faces of everyone present. There was the girl who spoke from time to time in alarmed, sudden sentences, wondering in turn if the salt, pepper, bacon, sugar, milk or coffee pot had been forgotten. There was the girl who was obviously helpless. There was the girl who kept asking what she could do to help, who would have received any suggestions with a very bad grace. And there was Milly, who really undid the packages and cooked the bacon and saw that everyone had enough to eat. The man who said most about not being hungry inquired with more than an academic as to what the filling of the sandwiches might st be. And there was the man present v ho spoke from time to time of the good things that could have been brought if only he had nought of them sooner. . But Jerry and saw that Milly the picnic was a real picnic, while the others gave their eating services. And after the picnic was over and Jerry was helping Milly as she washed off the dishes in the boiling water Jerry had saved in the old big kettle, he said : Milly, youre the most unselfish girl Ive ever known. Different from everyone. Ive always thought so. And dont you think wed make a good team not only on a picnic but through life? And Milly answered : Thats very much the way Ive thought about you, Jerry. So that you see, Milly and Jerry werent Oo much cheated at that picnic as you might have thought. In fact, they had a very merry Christmas oicnic ! i Trees and Stockings. The use of the Christmas tree comes primarily from Germany, and the hanging of stockings from early England, which also first included the burning of the yule log and the hanging of mistletoe as parts of its Christmas celebration |