Show r II A J f fI I r Dr By LUCILL in o journal Journ l o 1 le gleaming 81 ins whirs and nl tl opts en n E Earth breath bu Counties mother mOtu r rapt pl and Lull their l gabs bu to 0 ru rests Enri th IX Cri Chill in Each Ecla E cla l ir flo I face For the ft X b l f who iv smiling slumber L Holy lull biu o io Iv 01 0 strain rain Injure through tX 1 the 1 dS age For the l neu- neu lioJA may map fhe X Spirit lip A Tim its ill unroll r Ay h fj t 4 m WIll Y OFT HE UE big house on the hill was I wasI full of Christmas In every ery nI I room festoons of greenery poinsettias and holly wreaths wreathe wr vied with wIlh candles bells and tinsel to make more radiant the festive scene and in mv In 1 J crease crese the Christmas spirit There were two great cedar trees In the hall one on either side of the mantel and both were deco decoo decorated decorated rated and overburdened o with a har har- harvest harvest vest est of Christmas cheer The last one of fifty expected boys had just fifty arrived arrived fifty boys whose ages ranged r ed from nine to thirteen years They scarcely looked the and ease The trag- trag tragedy trag tragedy edy of o struggle was deeply graven on every ery countenance and greatly over over- over aged aged their opp appearance rance They were clothed In a nondescript array army of worn long lon long long- worn garments each article of which had been divorced from a former suit and handed down from a former own own- owner owner owner er Patches tatters and rags covered ered faded oversized o shirts on and constituted their full dress for the occasion The They were from the back streets and alleys and from bedrooms in woodsheds warehouses and basements base base- basements basements ments They were happy today Each looked around upon the resplendent luxury with pop-eyed pop astonishment It was all unreal and new to them Down from the mantel behind trees came candy and nuts nuts and It was all for tor them There was a pair of or warm mIttens for each boy a cap and a pair of shoes with warm wool stockings for each one Santa Claus distrIbuted fifty new ne crisp two-dollar two bills one oneto oneto oneto to each boy and everybody was happy happy happy for once A long table stretched through the dining room and the library white covered ered and weighted down with a dInner that looked like the tho flare tIare or of heaven to the hungry boys There were twenty-five twenty chairs on each side of the tho table and one placed at the head bead to be occupied by the young hoste hostess s The young oung hostess was Miss GeorgIa Cadwell eighteen years of age She was the Ule daughter of the late George Cadwell and possessed to full meas measure ure Ule his bis generous nerous spirit and keen leen alert alert- alertness alertness alertness ness Her ner father was born bom on Christ Christ- Christmas Christmas mas and two years ago he had dIed on Christmas One year ear ago she and J I pf h 4 7 1 n iI I They Fell Upon the tha Greatest Dinner They Had Ever Seen her mother had bad given ghen a dinner like this to the same number of homeless Perhaps ten of those present boys today had bad been present a year ugo Dinner was announced A scram scram- scramble scramble ble for the chairs followed Net schooled In the ways of polite society check by super manners or or held in ellch boy secured a chair and but for forthe forthe forthe the clanging of U bell 1 ill 1 the tho grabbing would have e started Miss Misa Georg Geor n 1 for a mo mo- mo moment ii o-ment o to stand up asked the b boys b'S S 'S meat ment behind their chairs When he n order or- or order der was restored she t bowed her head bead and In a n clear ringing voice said said- wart wert once a K boy y we Thou Dear Jesus Jesu I and with us So n lS come today 9 t cb er anil joy feast t st of i joy the tare fare And d we shan more Then the boys boy fell feU Into their chairs II time timo fell teU upon the end about the same ama I greatest dinner they had hul ever seen Bowls owls of steaming soup disappeared The waiters walters piled their plates with turkey and cranberry jelly hot buns Luns brown gravy avy roast meats and nay kind of o vegetable desired Tills This was followed by hy courses of plum puddIng mince pie fruit cake cako and Ice ico Mints and nuts nuta apples anti and oranges climbed out of or the baskets and slipped into grimy pockets for future refer refer- reference reference enc ence Appetites begun to slow v up Stomachs never before eCore guilty of over oyer- Inflation began to show distention and assume rotundity Expressions such as Gee Im I'm full and Golly I wIsh I could eat cat some more came with real sincerity from the stuffed diners MI Miss Georgia arose and said Tow Now boys If i you OU will Ill iii be he quiet a n moment I have hl a story to tell you ou I think that ten of ot you were here a n year ago today and will remember the story but I will tell It again and hope to tell It again and again on each re- re returning re returning turning Christmas for years to come Up until two years ago ogo when my father died dietl I had hall never known any any- anything anything thing but a happy Christmas But ut it was not so with my father He lIe was wag often cold and hungry and Santa Claus brought him no pr presents lIe He never remembered his father and his mother was very poor and when she sho died daddy had no home and no friends to help him He lie found a place lace II to sleep in the back shed shell of nn an old warehouse and a kind old mar man gave O him a n quilt and a n blanket that that were little better belter titan than rags ra s lie ran errands er errands er- er errands rands and did odd Jobs for which he got a n few nickels and pennies Ills llis name was George but most mosio of those who knew him never heard his name because he was generally called the alley alle kid The alley kid knew that there was a Christmas for formost formost most boys and girls but he had never had one The Tho day he ho was ag ten years year old was Christmas It was a cold day and daddy had no presents and no breakfast Everything In the garbage cans was frozen lie lle wandered about in the cold and watched the happy crowds go by but they brought noth noth- nothing noth- noth nothing nothing ing for him He lie was cold and hungry hun hun- hungry hungry gry sometimes tears teara came Into hIs eyes ees but hut he brushed them away les lest somebody should see them In the afternoon a little girl came down the tho street carrying a basket of little boxes filled with vIOl candy and nuts for poor children In that section of the city She saw him and gave sae him bur A i i I I II H Ha He Was Wo Wa Generally Called the tho Alley Kid a box of candy Childlike she asked him what he bo got for Christmas the I didn't get set replied shivering boy I never had no Christ Christ- Christmas Christmas mas Did you have e a n Christmas din dIn- dinner dInner ner tier asked the little girl I aint had today You can cnn come como to my house antI and my mamma will ill give you some some dinner suiting action to the invitation she pulled polled at his arm and ond George fol followed fol- fol followed followed lowed her rather reluctantly Into n a better part of the city and Into a n Li big warm home George was soon eating enUng the first Christmas dinner he had ever er had The little girls girl's papa talked I kIndly to George and that night he was given glnn a bath a new lot of clothes clothe and for the tho first time since he could remember be slept In a clean a n warm bed The rest of the story Is soon told George never ne er went hack back to the old alley to live e or sleep That little girl sirl I was my mamma Her ner papa gave gaye I George a chance to work and let Jet hIm hImI I so go to school IIo grew grey to be a fine I boy lie He was taught to tell the truth to be honest bon est and Industrious lie He be became be- be beI became I came a smart business man On OnI I Christmas day when he was twenty twenty- twenty one i one years old there was n a big wedding I in the home bome where be he bad had had his first Christmas dinner and he be was married marriell i ito to the little girl Ue lie worked hard bard and was honest and every ery Christmas he and my mamma used to carry a basket of ot food and nice things to the tho poor people In the part of or the city where daddy used usell to live lI Daddy worked until he got to be resident of the big bank where be first began to work Before etore he died lie he told the me methIs thethis methis thIs story and said he wanted anted mamma and me to help poor boys who had no homes to have a good So 81 daddy was born on Christmas Chr found his first friend on Christmas ate bis first good dinner on Christmas was married on Christmas and died on Christmas When be Le had money of his own he made mado a happy Christmas for as many as he be could coull With each returning Christmas mamma and I will do what we can to carry out daddys daddy's plan to make a Ii hop hap happy py Christmas for homeless boys We want you boys to grow up to be bo hon hon- honest honest honest est men to be successful In busIness and In turn to Dl make ke a happy Christ Christ- Christmas thus mas for other poor boys If It nothing happens there will be another dinner dimmer here nest nert ChrIstmas and nil all of or you OU are welcome to come comen n nw 0 C 1121 t wp p r |