Show T WAS three weeks before christmas but already the atmosphere of the holiday season seemed to cover the city paul rainer felt it as he boarded the street carl car that took him home each evening already men and women were loaded down with packages that had all the earmarks of yuletide Yule tlde sifts gifts there was something about christinas M as that always thrilled paul lie he even liked to repeat the name over and over to himself ile he often wished that I 1 he might he be selling toys and things at C christmas instead of being office boy at the big lumber concern where he worked worked gee mo mother therl 1 lie he yelled as he went in the door the dally daily mirror Is giving prizes for the best decorated homes at christmas it be great it if we could win one of them hut but paul mrs mis rainer spoke as it if she s he hated bated to throw cold water on his ard enthusiasm you know we cant afford to do anyta anything aing of that kind 1 I 1 I only wish we could for your sake she add ed maybe next year paul looked around the sparsely furnished room before replying g never mind mother he said for the time I 1 forgot about things darn dam money anyway why doe docs 9 it always have to block the way when we want to do something we likel like I 1 it it always block the way paul in fact most of the time the absence of it Is an incentive to do big things lings ti if everybody had bad money many of the great deeds that have thrilled the world never would have been accomplished complis hed and and paul dont you think we have hae been fairly happy without a lot of it she looked anxiously into his face aj she put the question paul was his old happy self when he replied bet your life we have why all the fellows say rather come to our house than anywhere else and and mother if dad had lived we could have hae been as well off as the rest of them in the hours that followed paul seemingly forgot about the newspaper prize but his mother did not that tha t niklis after he be had retired she sat down in the little living room and pondered the matter over was there any way that she could help him to carry out his desire what a happiness it would be to give him the joy of competing in the contest coni estl 1 suddenly she started from her chair and a smile came over her face her thoughts had drifted back through the years back to childhood days she remembered out on the farm how her mother had taught her to fashion many beautiful christmas decorations out ot of scraps of tinfoil and colored paper always there had been a box bos in the attle attic where everything of this sort had been stored away and and as Is often the case the things we do in childhood stay with us so s she lie herself had continued to save sae bits of paper and other things as her mother had and now there was a huge box of it stacked away in the closet perhaps out of it she could fashion something that would enable paul to enter the contest for a whole week two busy persons worked across the table from each other every evening evelln carefully small rolls of tinfoil and rolls of green and red paper were smoothed out and fashioned into christmas decorations out of the discarded pieces of silver 7 j IV cz had the earmarks of yuletide gifts paper and tinfoil a great gleam gleaming lAg star began to take shape a star that seemed to fill the whole room with ita it 8 radiance for from the moment that mother and son began working upon it it seemed to them ns as if tho the star that led the wise men was shining again from the love and care they had put into its making it seemed to be taking on real life and nil all unconsciously ly their voices grew low and hushed as they worked upon it and slowly from the red and green paper letters were ware formed hugo huge letters along simple lines that told the message that the angels sang in the long ago mother its going to be great 1 paul would say every now and then in his en enthusiasm t husla sm there be anything adyth ng better than this why why tills star seems as it if it were really alive I 1 but mrs balner knew of the many lavish laush and expensive decorations that wore were going up all over town the simple things that they were fashioning would probably show up very small beside such display but she tried to keep faith with the faith of her sou som and even though tho ugh they should not get a prize tills work that they were doing was bringing them a great amount of happiness a deeper and finer spirituality than they ever had known before they seemed to have caught the very spirit of christmas each day seemed to bo be bringing them nearer to bethlehem in a week the decorations were finished and paul took a ladder and set to work across the high side wall of the house that faced the street he placed the letters that had been woven from scraps of paper when completed they read glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men above this he placed the sliver silver star which had grown 1 to be so real with long extension cords and three reflecting lights that they had been able to hire from a nearby electrician for a small sum the fighting system was complete paul could scarcely wait until darkness fell to turn on file he current ills hands trembled with excitement when mother its going to be reaal finally the moment came and his heart almost stood st still illas as he looked up and saw tile the message that has bas thrilled the world for nearly 2000 years stand out in bold relief above it the silver star gleamed brightly to paul it seemed more alive than ever through the tha days that followed mother and son thrilled as they noticed the many people who stopped oil outside aside cars card from all over the city drove by each night and the comments and praise that they heard beard was as music mus ic to their ears paul do you think we could have got as much happiness out of tills this if we had lots of money and could have bought anything we wished 11 mrs M rs rainer inquired of her son one evening no mother i 1 dont paul answered very quietly there have been halt half the fun in it that there has been I 1 just dont care now w whether hether we win a prize or not T to 0 see how much beauty we have been able to make out of so little has been reward leward enough and it has taught me a lesson I 1 will never forget oh mother erl 1 his voice grew excited you are just wonderful you are arel I 1 who but you would have thought of such a thing but paul did win a prize to the surprise of his mother and himself he won the biggest prize the paper had offered the simplicity of the tha de design r ign the artistic skill that love and care had woven into it the contrast between it and other elaborate decorations entered and the evident spirituality of the message all lent their influence toward the final decision three times the judges drove by to see it and each time they grew more impressed there seemed to be a strange radiance about this particular exhibit that they could not account for they could not know that it came from all that had been put there by loving bands but all were unanimous in deciding that it merited the fiatt and best prize it Is doubtful lf it any two ever spent a more wonderful and joyous chilst mas than paul and his mother they could scarcely credit the fact that their work had been counted the best in the whole city and the prize meant much to two who had to scrimp and save for so many years to them was a very large amount it would buy many needed things but over and above tills this was the thought that the thing they had fashioned from almost nothing but faith and love e had been considered worthy of it a prize and gs as they stood in front of the modest little home after the judges hid had left and looked up toward the great glistening star that seemed to smile down at them they were both filled with the deepest and most wonderful happiness that even christmas can bring love and faith had once again found a way I 1 its star was shin ing brightly for the grateful pairl pair I 1 0 1131 1032 western New newspaper aDer union |