Show HER LADYSHIPS PAPA A CHRISTMAS STORY I 1 BY BT GEORGE R n SIMS I 1 author of lights to 0 o london tales of today dramas of life 19 etc I 1 pretty maggie elmore saw what wa wai i 11 the matter with her father directly he came in A V stranger would riot not have had to look at him ion ions g to it but maggie bad had a 0 good many years experience to assist her in coming to an instantaneous decision waggle maggie had bad como come back from rom the shop at the west end of 0 london where she was employed as a sewing machino machine girl tired out with D a lot long ig days work and shii she would have leavo been very glad to drop into a chair and have tier her tea still and forget her troubles which were many and included tom davis her young man the elio fore forewoman at the shop who wai s continually down on oil her I 1 anti and the terrible discovery which she had made that morning that a new pair or of boots only recently purchased had bad completely belied the character g given iven them by the vendor cud and begun to go all to pieces and let in the wet net before they were a week old you tou can only appreciate the trouble that may come with boots when you have I 1 to odress dress decently and bring something home on twelve shillings a w week e e k and walk to anti anil front from your place of business in lilt all kinds of 0 weather boots ate aie a serious item to many a family and to the very poor they are a source of 0 constant anxiety magpie maggle had been looking ruefully tit at her split boot nil lilt tit alio way home and now she was fretting about the conduct of tom in not coming near tier her tor for a week and wondering if it were true that lie he bad been seen peen in the green lanes on sunday with that red haired polly Mi biggles ggles whose brother lodged with toms mother rind between the boots anil tom rem she elie had be comel comei so low spirita that when nhen she fihe got home and found tier her mother and tile the ire alre out her little brother and sister ell engaged in a alereo lerco dispute accompanied by blows over a a bit of rope which they had found in the street treet li rina the baba screaming IL alp e if black in the face on the floor door she felt but one desire to a sit it down and go afe on into hysterics she knew that her father might come back from his work at I 1 lay any moment and she knew what hat would happen it if he was war in one of his bla bad moods when he found nor wife and no lie tea so instead of sitting down and letting her overwrought nervous system find relief in a good goed cry she bustled about and tried to light tho the fire alre a gain again by which to boll tho the kettle but the ore fire lind had a fit it of and obstinately refused to do anything but smoke for a minute or two and then so go out again and jairt its as the she was wag down on her hands and knees blowing between the bars all the broth brath left jn in her body she alit heard a heavy step on the threshold and had only just time lime to groan out an involuntary oh and in came father one look was sufficient for maggle maggie to take in the situation and on look was wag also sufficient aum clont for jim elmore to do the slime same chiq hl tea was not ready whores wheres your mother he exclaimed fiercely gairing around at tho the untidy room the equalling squal ling children and the ell cheerless ce rl ss grate 1 I dont know father I 1 expect shell bo be in directly mrs elmore more justified macales Mac expectation pec tation by walking in at that very moment mrs elmore was a tall thin woman with an all aggravating face and an aggravating voice and isicc all of eves eres family bhe had her little weaknesses III one of them was a habit of gossiping with tier her neighbors and accepting the proffered ered hospitality of a glass hero here and there when she mile ought to have been attending to tho the claims of her domestic interior directly she came into the room her husband turned upon her fiercely and wanted an led to know in strong language where she had been and why site she hid bad not made the place decent and got his tea ready by 7 tit in the evening it was not that mr elmore had any great partiality to tea but he liked it to be ready the non of tea ls IR one pt of the most frequent causes of w wordy strife between men and their wives and it Is frequently anell cloned by the husband to the sitting magistrate as tho the lesson leason for the discoloration of tho the eye of his better halt half N when hen she appears in tho the witness box to make complaint mrs ulinor instead of 0 apologizing proceeded to make numerous remarks of 0 an irritating nature and mr bir elmore having picked up JL a chair with which to emphasize his remark haggle mado made one rush for tho elio baby and taking her in tier her arms executed a strategic movement into the back room when father began to throw things about Ma haggles Mag gies ggles first thoughts were for the the baby which had bad not been in the family long ions enough to acquire tho the art of dodging tho the furniture when it began to fly around its As a rulo rule mr elmoro elmore after he had had S several everal more or less effective shots with fill chairs and fare iro arons n at his hl better halt half treating her as an a sympathetic neighbor once remarked more as it she nho were three shies a penny than a christian won woman lan he would go out to the public house and spend the rest of the evening there soothing lils nerves from a big porter pot but on the present occasion mrs elmoro elmore failed billed to display Y her usual adroitness in dodging the missiles and a heavy windsor chair corning coming in contact with her head she ehe fell heavily to the ground maggie heard the tall fall put the baby on the bed and rushed in to find her mother senseless and bleeding and her father sobered by the result of his athletic exercises bending over tier her head with a terrified face oh eatherl fath irl crl gasped maggie youve killed herl her go for a doctor said jim elmore hoar moly ly and maggie needing no second bidding rushed out barL bareheaded headed and white while of 0 face and sped aped aw away ay to tile the dispensary in tho the high street where a medical man populate ly known as old darcy proscribed prescribed for Ms his poorer brethren at tho the lowest professional fess ional remuneration dr champion had riot not always been known as 03 old dogey cogey tie ile had lard an excellent excella nt practice in A 0 thriving suburban neighborhood but domestic trouble had driven him to evil courses and one night white under tile tho influx ence enca an in hla his surgery end and ble blew v himself up with something in a jar and when hot ho was ablo able to set get about again lost one eye and had bad a ghastly sear car on his face aco va which aich mado made hint him but a ant object to look upon ula his career in that neighborhood was wag at an n end and and so ho he went through the bankruptcy court and ho be was heard of 0 again lie he was the proprietor of r Cham champions medrial hall in a poor but densely populates lateA in ell the 1 bast ast und ot of the poor olka folks wore were grateful lor hta fila skill kill and conald reil that chiq moderate rno derato for ills hla lack of aronal charms charma and in his hie new nev work and new surroundings dr Cham champion plon found re arl 1 t f fam hip hi cars without having such auch frequent ra courso course tot to the brandy lottle lottie maggie maffle burst banit into the th shop hop jut just an i the doctor wan waa explaining ll 11 1 till to a non lion asil stant the necess necessity ica ity ty 1 of 1 r l 41 zin t one a yo on the lill all agod the other on his on th baca shelves thel voa and the assistant was wag liow how the doctor managed the teat feat himself seeing that tie hail had only one eye available vall ablo for or business purposes pur pones ft oil oh doctor gasped will you vou aliw come at once adula to ita it a a an accident f let me wo said the noctor doctor run fling his ey rapidly over magla foa tures lures youre El elmorea elmores Elmo mores girl arent you yes I 1 sir IG 16 boll court and do come a at t once plo teasel esel all lit right you cut on oil home and say im iii coming ill ijo be there as soon na as you aro are what is a it burns or a taint faint or a cut 1 1 A fall all I 1 think sir ashes cut tier her head open n a chair ond and elios ren senseless soles a maggie ran back as fast as tile bho could knowing that old bagey always ke kept pt his word ta when hen she got homo home she found oubri that eliat her father had carried her mother into the back room and laid hild her on the bed dut but lie he himself was nowhere to be seen seem she went to her mothers side and spoke to tier her hut but ro clivel no answer then she phe got some cold water and began to bathe her mothers 0 ravn revn head hoping that would revive iv e her ond and at that moment tho the doctor canie came in he in looked at the wo woman and then asked maggie how it had happened and maggie resting tea line that any deviation front the truth might lead to 0 w wrong 7 on 9 treatment told tc ld him in all the circumstances as tar far as she knew them she thought her fattier father had hung flung a chair and it had accidentally knocked her mother down humph said ald old bogey where Is your father 1 I 1 I think he must have gone out sir ali ah well my dear the best beet thins thing I 1 carl can do la Is to have your mother taken to the hospital it will be better tor for everybody ill see to that you 11 stay here and look after the children for ive an idea your father wont como 0 me back three days later sirs mrs elmore lied died in tho the hospital never having recovered consciousness after the fatal blow and her gustand was arrested by the police in a common lodging house where he had taken refuge at tile the trial it was proved by the neighbors that mr elmore had frequently assaulted hla big wife before his daughter BlaIr manglo gle elmore was called as a witness but failed to an answer and it transpired that maggie herself had disappeared 0 a few cw days after the occurrence and the children having no friends lenda fr had been sent to the workhouse A sympathetic neighbor a lady ne next net t door who inho took in mangling threw some light on the cause of maggie elmoris Elmo 9 flight tit the girl had an idea that tier father would be tried for murder and that her evidence would hang him it she kept away there was waa no one to prove that tit the chair had been flung deliberately that there had been a drunken quarrel the children who were in the room were only three and tour four years old and her father could not be convicted on the evidence of bables babies she had talked tile the matter over with ad ac in their cobit and had been persuaded to keep out of f tile the way top for tier but ebe the circumstantial evidence was quite strong enough without maggle maggie and jim elmore was waa sentenced to five years imprisonment 0 A maggie in spite spit e of 0 her firm conviction that her fathers fal hera life depended upon her ali absence pence from the trial had bad had a hard struggle before she could make up her mind to leave tile the chit children but what could she do for them if t she stayed silo sha could only earn 12 shillings a week and with that how was she to keep keel herself pay the rent and some one to look after th them ern while M she was away alayu al work she k knew new that was impossible rind and after oil all they would be clothed cloth fil rind fed and L educated ducA ted by the parl parish sh so she gave up toni tom and everybody she cared for and loved in the world and went out into it a pretty amiable girl of IS 18 to fight the battle ot of life alone firmly convinced that by so doing she was saving her father from the gallows she told nobody where she bhe was vas going she was avas afraid it might leak out and she might be brought back and to give evidence 1 she had her little scheme and luck would have it it succeeded A friend ot of hers at the workshop had a mother who was stewardess ateward eBS ess do an australian liner and there was a vacancy for an assistant steward stewardess esq on board a girl who was quiet quick mth tier her needle and could make herself useful to the ladles ladies the stewardess had seen maggie once or twice when alien she was homo home with her daughter and had taken it a fancy to her she told moggie that it she elio liked to make one voyage out that she could manage it tor for heithe hei hep the selection of the assistant was wai left to tier her maggle maggie hat had made up tier her holud to go the day that tom had been seen with polly AlI ggles lit in the green lanes and had told ahn stewardess that she would accept but she told her fattier father and mother she was a little afraid of 0 both and she dint know how the information would be received but the day her mothers case was as pronounced hopeless she he wont went down to the docks and saw the the stewardess tile the ship was aras sailing billing in a couple coupie of 0 days ill come said maggie but what am I 1 to do about clothes oil oh ill manage that ill let you have some money on account and you get what want ti t I and so BO Blag maggie gle elmoro elmore went quietly on board and while her father was taking ills his trial she was on her woy way to australia I 1 0 jim elmore stood at the corner of lant street borough looking tho the picture of misery ills his hands were thrust deep into the rockets pockets of his ragged corduroys and ills ila stubby chin was bent low against a chest which showed a almost bare through the bit of torn rough shirt that a dirty belcher hand bond kercheff ker chelf if tailed failed to cover it was bitterly cold and the wind cut like iko a knife and every now slid and then the man shivered and ami stamped his big feet to stir its frozen blood again nine years had made anade a great difference in jim elmore ito ho looked old rind haggard and his unkempt beard and hair were troll iron kray gray after his release front from prison ho he had mado made up lip his mind to keep clear of 0 the tha drink for or tho the rest of ills hla life the death of ills his wife by III hit 9 own hand had made ado a impression on him when lie he came out through the influence of 0 the prisoners aid society ho he succeeded at obtaining work at lila its old trado trade and by living steadily and half starving himself ho he was ablo able to tako take ills his children from the workhouse arid keep a couple of decent rooms for them the laby had died during his imprisonment on ent so there were only lottle and charlie ile ho took them out of 0 tile tho workhouse as some sort of atonement for their dead mother he had all tho the rent renulfo itne horror of the house and lie he swore that with gods help hla his cifes catill broin should not bo be brought up as p aper up brats but lie he had bad to tor be away at his work all day long mill find the children wanted looking after and bo lit an many a poor workingman working man similarly situated has hid to do he marbled man led avail for the childrens sake flake hl coad wife was ft A widow a decent vort of bonann fjodor and indium trinus but not strong irons and very soon after they were martlow sho she botan baran to all but if she could not do she ahe kirt the children boorin c nan and tile tha broems tidy iwa and jim to worry his head beat about the when ho he was at worp work ile he wondered loma times what had become of 0 mangle maggie but he supposed she was in service memo aher and wanted to p clear of it father who lied had been in prison fw for kill ang her mother that wai wa natural enough ant and he hoped ito he was doing aall I 1 bilings hi had anne on ol pretty well for thi hr ya Y yar a bar tho continued ailing of oc his wife if which had kept him front putting by anything for a rainy day but lately a great |