Show “I wonder who Is coming for us?” cried Tom Martin in vexation The five friends were gathered on the steps watching the others go "Somebody must come before long The kids said ladles picked them out or they picked out ladies they liked I wish I had a chance to choose” “Don’t mind Tom” said Alice consolingly "Mrs Brown the cook promised to let us play in the kitchen and have candles and hang up stockingns We can live with her till the others come back" “I should' like a truly home to to play “And you know What night” said Tom had a with the which house I’d pick out if ' Miss Anne’s Christmas Visitors By Lena M McCauley (Copyright) 'HO IS willing Santa Claus shall we do children?” This being chance" the final chairman of the board sat down to wait for an answer St ElizaChristbeth's orphanage was facing mas without festivities owing to the marriage of the matron and a disabled heating plant An interval of silence followed Mrs Blunt’s appeal though every one of the motherly hearts of the women present overflowed with sympathy for the 45 homeless boys and girls without prospect of Christmas cheer They had come prepared with check books and the usual offerings of cake and confections for the holiday but the personal entertainment of 45 shivering children was something they had not looked for Little Mrs Thompson confessing a brood of six boys and girls of her owr was the first to speak "Suppose we invite the orphans I know home with us many townsfolk would be glad to help us out It will be a treat to them I can take two” “Bravo!” said the chairman clap"I will take ping her gloved hands two little girls myself” “Of course they will have their company manners on I will take a boy with curls Mr Jones dotes on boys and we have only girls but I must be permitted to pick him out” cried the secretary Joining in “I’d rather have a child choose me I’ll So into the school room and ask those who would like to visit me to leave their names on the desk If they choose me I am sure they will I can take four Just as well like me as two Our house is so large” said Mrs Cliff the Lady Bountiful of the village When the chorus had quieted 20 children were provided for and there was every reason to believe that all question the of managers “Of Course I Want You” in homes be settled would before That afternoon a score of hosnight pitable villagers visited the orphanage and it proved that there were more invitations than were needed As the children were checked off from the monthly school room list it happened that a group of five quarantined in the attic hospital for the mumps It may be that the were overlooked doctor had omitted their names or that some villager had hesitated but the days slipped on towards Christmas and they received no invitations Up in the sunny attic Alice Martin and her brother Tom had long since and said lessons and recovered with played games In the Smith and little John Bell Jane Mary Moore who had been held on suspicion and who remembered too late that they had had the mumps years before They relieved the loneliness of the nurse who had become attached to the happy group and she was in no hurry to send them downThe morning of Christmas stairs eve came and the five were permitted to take breakfast In the big dining hall The nurse herself was going home for Christmas They heard the The great news for the first time three girls and two boys realized that they had nothing in view’ but youth Is hopeful and they argued that the next hour might bring an innvltation St Elizabeth’s had never known so All the orphans gay an occasion were dressed in their best and one by one they were bundled into sleighs and carried away the last going at sunset Midnight’s Mistletoe Bough Miss know Willoughby — you de one Ah mean — Miss Helen Willoughby— not dat sister — she come Tong dla ebenin’ an’ dough Bhe smilin an happy like Ah know she mus’ git it too — dat mus’ be why she ain’t wa’k down de street wid you t’day an’ yes tlddy" Deltna Marteen Eugones Mist’ Robert! Fine Christmas weather sah! Fine Chris— fine —” Cameron bluntly ignored the cheerful greeting and the newspaper which Midheld out night the colored newsboy for him and walked on briskly down the street his gaze directed toward the pavement Midlnght tumbled back against his a queer expression of bewilderment and sadness spreading over his face “Dat’s de firs’ time dat Mist Cam’ron evah done buy a papah from else" he soliloquized a somebody ‘‘Dat’s lump gathering in his throat de firs’ time he evah pass mah place widout say in’ ‘Good mawnin’’ He ain’t nevah got no kick an’ no complaint t’ make t me Dat’s de firs’ time Ah evah see him go bustin’ by like dat an’ so cogitatin’ he ain’t Dah am sholy lookin’ whar he gwine somethin’ de mattah” All the rest of the day Midnight was In a sort of a trance He watched the elevated stairway from early afternoon for the return of Cameron His fitful vigil was rewarded when the young lawyer walked wearily down the steps Midnight watched his every move Jealously to see whether he purchased an afternoon paper from his rivals Cameron stopped at the little negro’s stand “Good evening Midnight" he said languidly ‘Merry Christmus Mist’ Cam’ron De world am treatin’ me fine as silk an no complaint t’ make an v no one” returned the boy bravely OOD mawnln’ “Yes — I— I— I — guess she must be a little under the weather" feeling said Cameron as he turned away "Dat’s powerful funny” said Mid night when he was alone again “Dey’s somethin’ wrong hyah suah an’ it aln’ no medicine sickness nohow Dat Mist’ Cam’ron am a mighty smaht man but he am sholy a fool pussen t’ be zasperated wid dat lobely Miss Willoughby an’ she so nice an’ pretty AN EXCELLENT REMEDY Will Break Up a Cold In Twenty-Fou- r Hours and Cure Any Cough That Is Curable t The following mixture is often prescribed and is highly recommended for coughs colds and other throat and bronchial trouble Mix two ounces of Glycerine a of Virgin Oil of Pine compound pure and eight ounces of pure Whisky These can be in bought any good drug store and easily mixed together in a large bottle The genuine Virgin Oil of Pine compound pure is prepared only in the laboratories of the Leach Chemical Co Cincinnati and put up for dispensing in vials “I know" said Jane Smith "I know It’s the house with Christmas trees too" in around it and turkey gobblers ex "Merry Christmas Midnight!" the yard" claimed a musical voice at the boy’s el WORM “That’s where Miss Anne lives" bow and the lad almost fell backward said John Bell “It’s a big house as he turned and looked into the smiland I’d think she would get real loneing face of a young girl some with only Peter and Rebecca” eyed and dainty “Is it the house where the lamp ebenin’ Miss "Why — why — good shines like a star all night?” asked Willoughby Merry Christmas Skuse Mary Moore me to’ not seein’ you but ah done I “That’s the very one Ah guess to’ de fo’got my mannahs have an Idea" cried John drawing the time bein’ Ah was jus’ thinkin’ ’bout five together for his secret for he was de fo’ks ob mah fambly always full of plans “Why Midnight you never told us Mrs Brown the cook looked out about your folks as long as you have from her window and saw the conferbeen serving papers at our house Are “Of course nobody wants chilence folks alive? your dren getting over the mumps” she “Jus’ mah ole gran’mammy an’ she said to herself “But I’ll make them lib wid some ole fr’ens ob de fambly I’ll go upstairs have a good time Ah an’ sen’s her de money dat she right away and gather all the candle need t’ lib on Ah aln’ had no daddy ends and then I’ll call them in and an’ no mammy fo’ de longes’ time make candy” 'cause dey bofe froze t’ def in de In the old colonial house surround' what come Tong ’bout six year Ptati of Ohio citt of Toledo Lucas county ed by evergreens lived f Miss Anne ago J Cheney makes oath that he Is senlo Her windows overlooked Armstrong “How did you ever happen to come partner of the Arm of F J Cheney A Co doing business in the City of Toledo and State County the pasture where the children played aforesaid here?” and that said Arm will pay the sum of ONE DOLLARS for each and every beside the orphanage on the hill Miss “Mist’ Cam’ron done brought me case of HUNDRED Catarrh that cannot be cured by the use of Anne was the last of her family She Hall’s Catarrh Cure You see mah mammy been a hyar FRANK J CHENEY ordered her life carefully and saw cook an’ mah mammy’s sister a nurse Sworn to before me and subscribed In my presence that her maid Rebecca kept the house In Mist’ Cam’ron’s fambly fo near 30 this 6th day of December A D A W GLEASON spotless and her man Peter kept the year an’ when Mist’ Cam’ron come Public Notary garden weedless while she knit end hyar mammy ax him t’ git me a Job Hall’s Catarrh Cure Is taken Internally and act less patterns of lace uion the blood and mucous surfaces of the some day an’ den he sen’ fo’ me He directly Send for testimonials free System Christmas was coming she knew by A CO Toledo F J CHENEY try me fo’ a cook but Ah guess Ah’m Sold by all Druggists 75c the calendar and that evening as she a pretty bad cook — ennyway Mist’ Take Halt's Family Pills for constlpaUoo walked home from the postoffice she Cara’ron he say one day why not staht had witnessed the reception of ora an' he give me de money Perhaps So — an’ dat’s all de hist’ry what is ’bout phans at more than one house of her “Your wife does not appear to be Even Widow Simpacquaintance me — but Miss Willoughby Ah’m glad satisfied” kins the washerwoman had taken a “She ’cause Ah got ought to be she always has you come long little boy who asked to visit her Jolly a Chrismus present fo’ you — some her own way Oughtn’t she be satisyoung family nrht!etoe a fine big branch what mah fied when I always let her have her “Dear me I feel left out" said Miss granmammy sen’s up from Marylan’ — own way without opposition?" Anne as she saw the young strangers "She’d be better satisfied with it if git it otfen de trees right in de taken in the door “I wonder if anyAh wan’s she had to fight for it” swamp back o’ de shanty one would have elected to go with me t’ ax you ef yo’ will please be so good if I had gone to the Important to Mothers an’ kin’ as t’ come ’roun’ in nde orphanage Examine carefully every bottle of j must send Mrs Simpkins some red mawnin’ an’ buy de firs’ paper ’cause CASTORIA a Bafe and sure remedy for Jonathans for the children” it means good luck you know” infants and children and see that it1 Miss Anne saw the big flame of her Hardly had' the Christmas 'horns Bears the blown their first greetings of the day astral lamp blaze in her window like a when Midnight saw two figures com- Signature of star sending its light across the snowy fields to the group on the orphanage ing down the street from different dl la Use For Over SO Years The Kind You Have Always Bought rectlons One was Cameron walking stepsi Then she met Rebecca at the door and seated herself beside her slowly along the main thoroughfare “Soft and Nice” and the other was Miss Willoughby bountiful testable She — George dear’do you love me? Merry Chrismus!” called Midnight “I do not believe that I shall have He — Yes darling very much even before the young lawyer had a single visitor this Christmas” sighed She — Say something soft and nice to reached the stand- “Ah hopes you is Miss Anne a feeling of loneliness me feelin’ bettah dis mawnin’” “But why should creeping over her He — Oh custard pie! — Judge “Thank I feel all you of Midnight me when I do not anyone think think of others as I should” right Here hurry up with that misDyola Is the Best Dye have ever used It makes a nice color tletoe and give me that first paper At that moment there was a clatter on any kind of goods cotton wool or you wanted me to buy” he added of feet on the porch and the brass mixed as he glanced up the street goods So Mrs Corbett writes quickly knocker dropped with a resounding If and saw Miss Willoughby approach- 10 cents per package at dealers It startled Rebecca and Peter clang not in stock send 10 cents to Dyola ing briskly in the kitchen and both rushed into Ah — Ah — Ah — doan know Jes’ wha’ Burlington Vt Mention color desired the hallway we will send you same with color and — Rebecca drew the bolt and turned Half Unconsciously the Two Young Ah did wid dat mistlemtoe aln’ Ah one card and direction book fool niggah? Ah put it right hyar unthe knob of the door which the wind Persons Reached for the Bough der dls shelf’ Jes two minutes ago The Strategic Point tore from her grasp letting in a "General we are outgeneraled” concealing the anxiety that had been but Ah can’t find it” he replied rumwhirl of snowflakes and five children him all day "Caramba! maging nervously among a pile of pa But how is that?” hand in hand They went straight to overshadowing underneath the shelf "Yas sah” said the lad aloud to pers “The other side has beaten us to top Miss Anne at the table before the himself after Cameron had passed on the cable office” “Merry Christmas!” called another blazing fire and his head "We’ve come to spend Christmas toward his home— "dah am sholy some- voice smiled Midnight raised A Rare Good Thing into the face of Miss Wiland thin’ de mattah but it ain’t me!” with you We choose your house be“Am Allen’s and can Midnight closed his shop that night loughby who stood at the other end truly sayusing cause you have lots of room and it I would not have been without of stand not to the In great taking wan-haPPY a pains frame of mind It and so had 1 known the relief it would long has Christmas traps all nrnnnd it ni Uee was who Cameron feet off give my homethink I striving equally dered toward hIs it a rare good aching whistling because you are kind” said Tnhn'nll thing for anyone having sore or tired feet He was around bright and early the to avod aer—Mrs Matilda Providence R confidently ” Sold by all Iloltwert 20c “Where is that mistletoe you want next day and when Cameron came Ask Druggists "Well I never" said Rebecca tc to I You me have ed see on Midnight? office his to his made way Peter “What do you think of that? along It The Way it a Happened point to see that he was got up verjr early to he the first one Come girls let me take off youi not particular Maude— Blgsby literally fell at my here and you know you promised it overlooked wraps” feet ‘Mawnin’ Mist’ Cam’ron Ah hopes to me“Don't you want us?” asked Tom Belle — Aeroplane or intoxication? “Well ef dat aln’ de funnies' th?ng" “Alice said this was a really home" replied Midnight laughing mischievPome people suffer continually Then Miss Anne found her voice with "Ah sholy had two fine pieces ously tiled aching and swollen feet Little do She rose from her chair and putting ob dat mislemtoe right hyar but Ah they know how soothing is Hamlins Wizher arm around the shivering boy ard Oil Rub it in at night and have can’t fin’ ’em t’ save mah soul Ah said: “Of course I want you I’m t’ you dls done promise Miss thankful happy feet in the morning Peter shall find you glad you came Willoughby an’ deed Ah done promise Wanted to Know a Christmas tree” it t’ you Mist’ Cam’ron fo’ yo’ motha Father— Well? A little later when she looked at the an’ Ah sholy doan know what t' do Tommy — Will I be a monoplane or circle of happy faces around her 'bout it Ah can’t bus’ it in two” table and the passing plates of cake Half unconsciously the two young biplane angel? and marmalade she said to herself: persons reached for the bough then Worth Its Weight In Gold T have visitors after all and I shall hesitated PETTIT’S EYE SALVE strengthens old keep them always In a really home’ Why of course let Mr Cameron eyes tonic for eye strain weak watery eyes world he Little Mary Moore having finished People were flying past have it for his mother" spoke up Druggists or Howard Bros Buffalo N Y her supper slipped from her chair their arms laden with presents and Miss Willoughby It worries a modest girl if a man and climbed on Miss Anne’s lap That As he stood all anxious to be home “Give it to Miss Willoughby” said tries to kiss her — and it worries a In a sheltered not corner of his booth Cameron see did the orphanage ging lady "Perhaps you will find the young widow if he doesn’t ham and the clipped hair she onl) counting up his profits of the day he other piece after awhile” saw the divine palled to Cameron: hope of childhood “Ah’ll give it t’ Miss Willoughby ef when DO NOT ACCEPT A RCH8TITCTE want Perry Davis' I’ainkiller as nothin She drew Mary into her arms and hei ‘Mist’ Cam’ron Ah got a Chris’mus Mist’ Cam’ron’ll tote it homefo’’ de Is as you Rood for rhoumallHm neuralgia and similar troubles Ah wan’s t' vanished years in constant use 25c 35c and 60o for present fo’ yo’ motha feeling of loneliness lady ever ax you ef you will come ’roun’ in de at Cameron In and The girl glanced Did anybody ever ask the weeping "Tell me little one why you came mawnin’ an’ be de firs’ pussen t’ buy another moment the young couple willow why it does it? to my house?” a Chrls’mas paper — it’s good luck to’ were walking away from the stand Mary looked up into the kind face me you know Why Mist’ Cam’ron!" carrying the bunch of mistletoe befruli orate stomach liver and bowels and said:' “I came because you were suddenly exclaimed the lad as the tween them Mldnignt grinned as he tiny granules easy to take as candy all alone and your lamp shone like a young man came under the light “am leaned against his stand and comA good guesser always boasts of guiding star” yon sick? Yo’ face am white as a mented: Peter sawing at an evergreen in ghos’ an’ you wa’k like you done git Ah guess Ah’ll take dls otha piece his intuition the yard looked in at the window He dls grip what ev’ryone ta’kin’ bout right straight up t’ Mrs Cam’ron Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup Mist’ Brown ’cross de street hyar he self ’cause Ah know dat piece ob Tor children teething softens the gums reduces his eyes and shook his hoary animation 25c a bottle allays pain cures wind collu Baying: “They picked us our git it Mist’ Simpkins up at de cor- - tlemtoe aln’ nevah gwine t’ leave Miss for themselves nah Lordy he git de misery so he Willoughby’s house ef Mist’ Cam’ron Don't worry and you’ll have nothing Who would hav in de house an’ dat lobely kin he’p it' to worry you Btay thought it?” 77 a |