OCR Text |
Show 7 &fA 7? - 'I,W. h ftjKit ', V y- V - Vrl - '! V' n ,r V J . VS., v. l.f . 4f f' I? 4 ;(ilk .. , 1 N 'v a . .. , v ;ie . v t f Vv, X - - , ,p t ' TjSjry J 0! 3t tS40 r ? C J f J- B Nk 'vS r Iw, J" - W' -- ihA'-- TSj good-natur- ed ten-year-- Youve got to watch out fer burnt gers! That sort of cuts into the fun. So, though its a day to be longed fer, I say I know of a dandier one. Thanksgivin, ith spareribs an turkey, Jth pies of about ever kind; Ith its apples to eat an its cider bo sweet. Is a bully old day, to my mind. But about all theres to it is dinner. filled up thats a bore. An when a big dinner at Chrismas, But you getyoure An my! such a lot of things more! Theres presents of toys that are pretty; Of books most delightful to read; Of skates fer to slide, an bicycles to old . M3t? - Vd V - . I V.H , court-martial- ed - r ,i r . 't; -- ! S. Me. -- dozen of us, and all day long we dulged In the hope that the woman's pride might give way on this oso occasion, at least. The day had dragged along until an hour before dusk with everything quiet on our front, when a bushwhacker fired upon and wounded one of our pickets. This brought out a fresh order for vigilance, and a sergeant and his squad beat up the forest and captured two Confcderato soldiers who were trying to enter our lines to visit their families. It was known that a third one had escaped, and Just after dark Corporal OToole was ordered to picket the highway a quarter of a mile from our farm house. When he ha J reached the spot and posted his men be said: In-wou- pr w ld K7 fS 1 b- - . , A ,- Jr ' hlt rxekar ta L Caar. c:t the tirlrc, and the frlgtteorJ chllirrn rswpel out evrUsuttoci of Joy. TLa he placed hi Uvtmtk ca the ui!e ssi tumisg away without a wctJ when the woman row tsp a&l tail: :cp! I ksov jtri. You an the corporal. I I thask jea LlgJiy. but CkrUtmr eve, maam. Iz.cr-rerted the aoMkr, ar.J chUirta are chiUrra the world over. Hut this fool, the fail. I czzttl 'll accept L tacit. Cocfoual H. woman 1 leg your pardon, maam, but deal I know that you havent had a meal for pail? Im to enemy to you and the Ui." Hut you mut take It away." Hut It Chriitmxt tve. woman Its the time to forget a I forgive, You S 5-- are rt and" At that Isitant the dr c;std and a iiranger entered. No, tmt a A Soldier Santa Claus. er. but the huihand and jdr Confederate QUAD. Just outside the lines of the Third lArmy Corps as we went into camp Ivl. $rv a ! rang- filter the furl fh to pai ChrHtmat with, hi f.r. IT. The wlut he wan corporal ijotjr i him la sn tniiant. red Vf-ranyone had mored or jat?n he turned to the womun and U: It Chrlrtnm ev an J 1 jren t you w5;l your huilani an 1 my tul wlihca!" !! lire! to the ether d r and cpoied It an i row ut t r un Into the arms cl Joneu. who tad turtle d up to ray: 'Corporal. Ive nt trah' d sc tf lhm CVnfedt to this hui. and tc f-- u war-wido- ws T ' 'rf Never yon mind, the corporal reply when we guyed him a bit over his failure to soften the mother's Christmas Is coming along, pride. and Ill play Santa Claus In a way to melt her heart. Pride or no pride, she cant stand up agin Christmas. I'll fill the stockings of them kids If I'm nd shot for it next day. Three days before Christmas we got orders on the front to be unusually vigilant, as it wzs known that a number of Confederates whose families lived within our lines had been furloughed to pay a'brief visit. Our picket was doubled, and every post had three men on it, and it was certain that we turned back quite a number. for the winter of 1863-- 4 was a log farm house inhabited by a woman and three children the wife and children of a Virginia farmer who had shouldered his musket and marched away with the Confederates two years before. There were other farm houses further away other farm houses in front of other corps hundreds of other Confederate and helpless children on that neutral ground, and we of the blue used to pity them as the nights came down dark and lonely and the north winds made one shiver and chill. We were not warring against women and children, and yet war had laid a heavy hand on them. Their scant crops had been trampled into the earth their live stock driven off their fences and barns burned little left to satisfy their hunger or cover their nakedness. Many a soldiers rations were divided women and wolfish-lookin- g with gaunt-face- d children, and if it was aiding and comforting the enemy we were Willing to take the chances. The farm house X have especially referred to was not different from many others, but the woman and children were different. We offered again and again, but they would accept no food at our hands. Now and then, the men on picket near the house saw the children searching In the frozen ground for potatoes, or the woman digging roots and wandering afar for stray ears of corn, but when coffee, were ofbacon, sugar and hard-tac- k fered them in kindliness they turned . away their heads. Even if left on the door-ste- p the food was not taken in. We were their enemies. They were hungry and cold and ragged, but they could not conscientiously accept aid at And you must let mo gather some our hands. It was only when Comwood and supply you with food, he B of the Tenth took its turn pany on outpost duty near the house that replied. we got a word from woman or chil- No, sir. I can accept nothing from your hands. But the children, maam. They must suffer with me, sir. The corporal came out to the post and crammed a haversack full of food and returned and begged the woman to accept it, but she was firm. She even chided the children for the hungry look in their eyes. The woman had softened a bit, however, at least towards one of us, and from that day on little Susie was permitted to speak and walk with the corporal, and she did not hide from the rest of us as before. Kindness had converted her. y V. ride Geared up to a wonderful speed. An then there are bags full of candy. An sugar plums 'long ith the rest! So, of all holidays that you long fer an thinkin that Chrismas is best. Impraise Arthur J. Burdick. BY r ' 1 -. -- j-?S.- r. ., , J . Then It was Corporal OToole, and always wearing a smile on his face, who broke down the womanly reserve of the little girl. He found her half a mile from home one day and she was so overcome ?ith the cold that she made no resistance when he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the house. When he kissed the frozen tears from her cheeks and said he had left a kid of her age back In the North who was motherless, the child reached up and put her arms around neck. The corporal had conquered his THE BEST HOLIDAY. the child, but not the mother. Theres a Fourth o July ith its fireworks It is kind of you, sir, she said as An crackers, an rockets that hiss; a in old its way, ItsA glorious noisy day the soldier entered the house with his day that is fine all but this: burden. findren. big, Sl ' pjr'1 ii t r- - V' sjia? u y V r ' SI V i: wIi Hsl'lwL &&Si' v ;V 4 now indder Jcn! rtrprral as tie cThey oare a cnfous led liar!" cell j " Hut I tell jeu I mw And jou are sut, blind! You havent ern a Johnny fer tlx months, exclaimed the he laid hU t!g fol apaind an 1 If you or WU5!am or line ran ay that you have I'll lam the three f ye within an Inch ct ytr litct! Da you tumble to me or noT Oh. well; If old Sinl Claus pul It that way If net fer the Hie of me to dlipute him." rr;!ld Jcne. Thats letter -- heap I titer!" cLuh!d OToole, and tow by the right fank forward, mirth!" And four days later little furl came out to the corporal and shjly put her hand In his and whispered: Its thank you. and tna thanks you, and we all thank you. and j a ni away last tight and m says It was the best cfl" Copyright, IK1 ) The festival cf the twelfth tuculh Is not, as the name would Inlkat. exclusively a. Christmas holiday. It was celebrated la much the same fashion as It I now eu!ur1-- before the Christian era. the early Homan It was Its all happened Just right. Now celebrated By a the saturnalia, cr festiI'll rig up and play the Santa Claus val to Saturn, and was marked by the act, and youll sec me lack here with- prevalence cf merry-makin- g among in half an hoar. Keep your eye all clams, rich, poor, c!d and young. peeled, and If theres anything suspicious send Jones along to notify me. With the long, gray hair cf his wig tossing In the wind, h!s venerable whiskers lying on his breast, his fur cap on his head, and a score cf bells tinkling as he walked, the corporal passed up the road amidst the whirling snow with his packages ca his hack. Ho entered the farm house without knocking. The wife rat hovered over the poor fire, and the children sat on the floor quarreling over a bit of food. Santa Clans swung f though our hearts were not in the work. As Corporal OToole said one night when ho turned out to head the midnight relief: Its our duty to obey orders, and well be shot if we dont, but this turning back a poor soldier who hasnt bad sight of his wife or kids for a couple of years, and who wants nothing now except to pass a Christmas with em, is no work for a soldier. The day before Christmas the corporal made up a haversack of food, brought out a few simple toys and a box of candy he had sent up to Washington for, and he put on a wig and false whiskers and showed himself off as a pretty good Santa Claus. He had the help and encouragement of a IS ! |