Show Jiv A RAGGED CHRISTMAS HERO u i T q IYro BY FRANCIS A SCHNEIDER I I M JJl4 Kid OGrady wrapping his tattered little jacket about him and holding it together over his chest for It was guiltless guilt-less of buttons j and the night air was raw and penetrating scurried down I Crooked alley and out Into the big thoroughfare upon which it opens lie did not wish to remain at home for It being Christmas Eve ZIr and Mrs OGrady were engaged In a celebration of more thnn usual magnitude As the hours crept on the crowds In the streets thinned the lights In the shop windows were lowered and Kid I after hunting diligently found a place to sleep In a less frequented quarter of the town 1 As the night waned a chill wind arose and Kid awoke shivering He looked at the stars and at the red crescent cres-cent moon appearing over the tops ot the houses and then he stepped softly Into the street and set oft at a brisk run to get warm Away along silent streets where the lamps blinked sleepily sleep-ily at him and the patter of his little ragged shoes awoke mysterious echoes I such ao arc never heard In daylight He was quite out of breath when he reached a large enclosure separated from the street by a high iron fence Aa he reached the Iron gate that led Into the garden he Idly gave It a little shove and being unlatched It yielded to his touch and swung open Kid paused for a moment and then moved by an uncontrollable Impulse to ace what lay within he passed through It and along the wide path that led to the house At the foot of the wide steps he hesitated but the four French I windows with their closed Venetian 1 shutters seemed to lure him on and he crept up on the piazza and going to I one of them softly turned the slate and looked eagerly Into the great room beyond It was dimly lighted by a low turned gas jet and the remains of a log fire that smouldered on the hearth but Kid could distinguish nearly all the objects In It and that hlch particularly par-ticularly attracted him was a splendid Christmas tree on which hung all manner of beautiful toys and bright balls and tinsel that gleamed softly In the dim light Something very unusual was happening hap-pening In the nursery of the big stuccoed stuc-coed house through whore library window win-dow Kid gazed to eagerly Arthur aged 6 son and heir of the IIouso of Rankin had arisen from his crib In the gray dawn and was tiptoeing across the rooms looking back warily from time to time at his sleeping nurse Wofs acomln 7 Inquired Kid to himself his eyes growing bigger He saw tho apparition pause before the tree and look at it long and delightedly delighted-ly He saw It loving finger the toys on the lower branches He saw It Jilt I from place to place and stand on tiptoe to get a better view oC what was higher high-er upon the tree Its lips moved continually con-tinually as If It were talking though Kid could not hear a word Then he saw It drag a chair to the mantelpiece take something from a box on the shelf and lean over the hearth all unconscious uncon-scious of the tiny flame that crept up Its gown By Jimmy Itll be burnt exclaimed Kid Forgetting everything but the little creature now running hither and thither thith-er too terrified even to cry out Kid began to batter on the window pane with all his might It yielded at last i with a crash It was an easy matter I then to break away more of the glass nnd through the aperture thus made he squeezed his little body heedless < ot his cut and bleeding hands and arms Once a long time before Kid had seen a policeman rush to the rescue of his mother who had upset a kerosene lamp over herself and wrapping her In a piece of old carpet smothered the finmcn Thinking to try the same experiment ex-periment he caught up the hearthrug and threw It about the child who at this Instant found Its voice and uttered I a piercing shriek Dont be flittered its only me Kid OGrady Ill put yer out cried the boyAn Instant later Mr Rankln hurrying hurry-ing Into the room came upon a strange > > flight A ragged little boy covered I with blood was rolling Arthur vigorously I i vigor-ously In he I hearth rug There was smoke In the room and the chilly dawn peeped through the broken windowpane window-pane Under the Impression that the Kid was abusing his son he sprang upon that young boy and caught him roughly by the coat collar He set hiself afire an Im puttln him out gasped the Kid lifting a startled face I Mr and Mrs OGrady had a swell I visitor that Christmas day They were neither of them in a mood for visitors 1 1 but at the solicitation of a policeman who accompanied him graciously accorded ac-corded Mr Rankin an interview On this occasion they for a consideration signed an agreement relinquishing all future claims to their only son Kid otherwise Thomas OGrady And Kid who by the way Is now known by a far more dignified title has become a happy prosperous man |