Show A christmas st token ok 0 n one day late ate in ill on mm e I 1 it group of five fire or six p people e opt e h had a d passed a q ld through h the high iv i h a and n d g gloomy pa 0 y state pr prison ison as sightseers sight seers among them was a maiden in lauds was a rose a aidee lose she he had plucked aloin a vine vice trailing ing over the thick high wall near the entrance ga gate t e there had been hundreds of on that vine but elie ehe had plucked the laet I 1 one it was tier her caprice cat irice she cared bothi nothing ng for it is she walk walked d up and down and twirled it in her dainty f finger S sli lie saw cas of convicts roen men in stripes who su sulked llad and glowered and guined away from tier her she saw faw hundreds of cells little prisons where the be convicts were locked up at night 0 to curse and weep neep and sleep the doors of all stood open into some streamed the sunlight others were full of dark shadows 9 some convicts had made homes of their cells others had bad no DO raie cale to make them cheerful at the far end of the corridor co where the shadows fell and the sightseers felt a chill abill upon them the maiden flung the rose into in to an open ci arll 11 she S he instinctively felt that the occupant of that cell was morose and sullen eullen and disobedient and that the keepers feared him and were prompt to find fult and ad punish with a swift hope that the finding of the ros rose e might bring him better thoughts for the moment she ehe tossed it in and passed her way and anav may bap the incident never returned lo 10 to her mind the days dragged their weary length along to the men within the walls one deputy remarked that no 1666 was growing better natured another raid gaid the man had evidently decided to make the ll 11 0 1 the situation A third added d e lat t that h at lie he might be planning an escape and advised that his cell be searched there was no more punishment for no he did nothing to deserve even mands hip hi keepers wondered over this as for three years he had been the worst man of the lot and his fellow convicts sneered and too 1 ak na ft lie 0 chaplain h a ns tul and a aa 1 die the man changed mentally there came a chanze change as we well ile he grew thin and haggard and by b and by bv lie he could to do no more work they would have bave sent him bini to the hos bos pital but lie he only asked to remain in in his bis cell and be with himself summer passed to autumn to winter and as christmas drew near the men began to prepare for the festivities always held a day in which there was no work for any one a sermon in the chapel and a n d a dinner with extras As the holiday drew nearer the men became more childish each one was a boy again and there was talk of santa claus and hanging stockings I 1 and other oilier and better days by and by christmas morning came the keepers allowed the men to shout merry christ mas to each other from their cells and to bandy jokes about christmas gifts and each and every one had bad something to say except the man in the corner corner cell convict no they called to him but there was no answer some said that lie was in the sulks again others wondered if he be were not ill by and by a keeper unlocked the cell door to invests investigate ate 11 well jim how bow is it if he be asked 01 of the jhb form on the cot there was no answer it s christmas morning mor you know the boys are calling to you no answer and the keeper went nearer and bent over the form convict no 1666 11 ilg was dead and cold his hands bands were folded across his breast and his stiffened fingers held beld a rose the faded I 1 dithered rose the maiden had tossed into his cell so many weeks before how did lie he get it whispered the keeper was that what changed and softened him only a rose whispered another keeper but it must have bare been some gentle hand which bucked and gave it to him and ho be loved it and his heart was made tender and it is is his christmas gift a dead clead rose in a dead mans fingers c A B LETIS in world |