Show TJ N C 1 I E G 0 DP DF R E YV YN 1 RECTORY etwas it was thie the day before christmas day and the rev hir mr latimer was busy finishing ishin his christmas sermon or rather if we must 0 confess it liea bieu an old one the reverend 0 gentleman had just settled the coal club accounts and that excellent work of charity had warmed his heart and made him at peael with all the tho i world the frost was feathering the win win dow panes in the ruts of Tod morten lanes the ice lay like fragments of shivered plate glass the twigs of tile the laurel bushes at the rectory window were furred with crystals robin puffing out his little crimson breast till it looked like all an aldermans ader alder mans mauls waistcoat sat on the standard ro at tile the study window watching I 1 with interest mr latimer as he put the new piece piece into the old garment the sermon completed mr latimer went licad headforemost foremost into the blanket club accounts and soon discovered the pleasing in 0 fact that there was an of seven pound ten all this conduced to make the worthy young rector extremely cheerful and in a proper christmas frame of mind ile he hummed a carol to himself and prepared to go out to superintend the clerk who was busy decorating the church with holly but young rectors with large families if they have their pleasures have also their alloys the monthly wash had bad just begun and a it large screen of steaming i sheets is by no means a conductor of heat especially when placed between yourself and the fire nor does the necessity of turning b these square acres of linen line en abt ting b intervals conduce to the concentration of mind that accounts require A cook must have unceasing 0 pleasure in ill tile the savory chemistry of h his bis is profession but to watch a large t sauce pj pm it and stir its continued on page continued from PI page e 41 45 intents every quarter of an hour under pairron pain eaid ayour cifes indignation is not con sini ilni with any steady steade mental labor yet all an these small annoyances the rev rey frederick erick edick latimer bore borc like liked a christian and a lamb iamb for he be was a good kindhearted kind hearted domestic man who respected the saving 0 of the family jamily wash and knew know that the kitchen firo fire ewas fully occupied and that what he did was no work of supererogation 1 1 9 that slapping and shaking noise in the kitchen was lle ile lie he knew mrs latimer folding and that anat sound portended a busy day and in that buy aty day he was willing to make mal e himi himl useful the children were on out oui sliding 0 9 getting etting 1 urey firey red by tumbling 0 on the back of their headds heads ardd arid performing 0 the cobblers knock knoek 0 ch on the ibe village pond they had bad been busy cutting P holly boughs for the church that morning r and the sliding 0 was ikas their reward jane jane my dear cried the rev mr latimer to his wife as he put on his greatcoat and hat and seized his blackthorn stick im just going t to see old martha hacker aa and then I 1 s shall hall step up to the church andlee and see how payne gets on with the decora decorations ions lons I 1 shall bo be back to lunch at one the sheets in my study are quite dry ana the saucepan sauce pan has been 6 on the boil ten minutes j sto stop p a moment fred cried mrs latimer 1 I 1 want to speak to you before you go buu ll 11 i mr latimer was ruffled ruffied well now what is I 1 cannot stop now I 1 must be os off mrs appeared and remonstrated why fred how impatient you are all I 1 want to ask you is if you wrote your usual invitation to uncle godfrey for christmas of couise coarse fee eee he fie wont come but still we to forget him yes I 1 4 wrote od on Mo monday inday did I 1 ever forget to write to him bim the old selfish hunks good goodbye bye darlin darling 0 end down for the children if they are not in in half an trin hour it isnow is now just ele eie eleven venn I 1 1 II 11 THE ellven ELEVEN FORTY TRAIN Tod morten was a pretty village in dor L it lay in a little valley surround cd ed by wooded hills and sloping Z fields and was intersected by a railway the eleven forty train out of odthe the distance and sto stopped wed ned W puffs of s mok MOL ce aj the station it took lip ii its load ad and slid of off again with mill jerks of white weite vapo vapor and disappeared in the direction of poole the station graw grew again 0 lonely and the only sounds the rattling of the tho tight 0 cords of the signal post ost and the murmur of the wind against 0 the telegraph w wires ires aten ten after the solitary arrival adf aiford bid alth with J jdith a gaeu pa eu leg st stamped ped slowly ap f lini the butcher batcher saw him the grocer saw him the blacksmith saw him the guests at thet thel bar p parlor arlor of the peal nal of bells beaw taw him and dud discussed him one and all aronou pronounced need him kim M to be a rp regular gular old guy evidently dom com by the train and bound to the neigh lang oring village s lac 1 1 ashe V he children from he rectory window shim for the rectory was on a hill aikeo anu ano commanded thie th evil villa lage 0 e and marvel marvel ella edla edbis na his bis wooden leg 13 JT T E eldest girl dora cofar goldau go ida tda a fleece I 1 hair tossing in the air ran to de seni senn bhim him to mrs latimer 0 mamma bhe she cried there is such a funny man com eom coming ingup ap pp ap the hill hes hes bes got a wooden egl ill george says he be moves it as it was a compass and he was drabin drawing C a circle ob Ons one mgt mel uch fun do come and S see ee Mrlja mrija timer allowed herself to be drao drag gerin the p parlor arlor by dora george nd looked th through rou g h the window the rhoden wooden gooden legged d man was only thirty yards oft off she had no sooner seen him than she gike gibe gave a hysterical scream and exclaim exclaimed led idd V VaU ccle godfrey ran dora and tell cook to go and take the sheets out of the du y and the saucepan and aud george go foaud aud and tell susan to put oh on a clean apron a and d go to the front door dear me how bow unfortunate papa papa not being in I 1 the next moment there was a strange sound on the rectory gravel walk and a sharp curt the door susan was a lon lod long time answering tho the door whom she did so she received a rebuke that she did not soon forget young woman said the old gentleman furiously is this the way you are taught to attend to your masters visitors nice weather to be kept in the cold tygh it bites ones nose off lucky you are not in my service for go this day month Is mr latimer in nasty cross old thing 7 thought in susan as she replied no sir dvir latimer is out in the parish who cares where he be is if hes not in n wheres your missus upstairs very very well then tell her to come down stairs i what name if you pl please dase t godfrey Dod dodson sofi susan swept out of the room she never saw such across a cross unmannerly old oid thin thing in the whole course of her life and so she told ellen the cook uncle godfrey was a short irra little mani mauf man mau who wore a brown spencer a low crowned hat of the old hour glass shape popular some gome twenty years ago and long drab gaiters he was an old bachelor recluse who lived in the adelphi tn in rooms which he never allowed anybody to enter and which were stuffed full fult of pictures etchings buhl cabinets snuff boxes and old china early in life he had lied beena been a in liverpool and since then had devoted himself laboriously lo 10 doing nothing and exciting 0 the expects eions of his poorer relations mrs laii lali mer had only seen her uncle on once ce pi ince she was married godfrey dodson was one of those old ola I 1 connoisseurs who are to be seen any morn ing in the show rooms of christie and manson examining etchings suspiciously through huge glasses opening and shutting with half deli dell delight aih t half distrust remarkable agate 0 snuffboxes snuff boses boxes walking J backwards from spurious open 1 imy 0 and shutting ag ug the drawers of ini inlaid kid hid cab cabinets ibets and looking for the tho ma makers kors name and date of lustrous majolica plates plat piat es they kno know the very year every picture was painted and where the orif original 0 rinal of f it is and shat what it fetched they know ow ev ery pry alteration that hogarth Ho gartl garti made chis J en eni 1 gratings grav ings and fall into raptures ov over er what other people would think a defect they TACY eve eye J the auctioneer with a magpie look of expectancy and cunning and the dealers glances ola gla e es of hostility and distrust they 1110 illo hoard rd and accumulate wit hilie craft of ravens and the industry of ants and enjoy the pleasant reflection that when til they C y die the sale Oft of belr their effects will be held heid inthe in the same room as that in which they have spent so much of their thel teme time nd and will give extreme delight deligh tto to a great many collectors their the irold loid lold rivals during lifa life ilfe for the finest is bif after ter all like a heap of leaves scattered in a field that roust sooner oi or later be blown apart and scat seat ereda 9 the four winds still stall no doubt in in sp spite f itol itoi of this unpleasant reflection tb there 6 is is great pleasure in amassing and there will be collectors like uncle godfrey as long as the world goes on spinning uncle godfrey had bad a lean learl gwizd wiz face cold keen suspicious eyes short stubbly white hair overhanging eyebrows and a project projecting lii iti 0 lower lip that expressed a sour contempt for all he be heard and saw he wore w re the frilled shirt front of a past age and the little scarlet under waistcoat with just the edge showing 0 such as wa the fashion forty years arro ago altogether ones impression of him was that he was a shrewd cynical old hunks bunks eccentric dogmatic rich and arbitrary TO BE |