Show their Chris christmas liias surprise HIS year said cartwright firm ly there are go ing to be no christmas a u r arises in my hap py home none ot of t those h 0 s e pleasant little attempts at playing santa claus which be 0 gin with suspense and effort and end in morti fica 41 tion and digap 0 I 1 am 1 going to take my wife down tova tonn and let her I 1 pelt ick out anything she wants within the bilm it of my spending capacity and then I 1 in going to let her take me around ind and fix me up with a pair of embret alered suspenders or gold cuff links or any old thing she likes and that will A make her happy neither ot of us has quite got over the effects of the last holiday season yet S ich a system it seemed to me vou d be far more practical than the miscellaneous guessing we had been joing with such decidedly poor re alts you see we had been married just long enough last christmas to wear out our first installment of fur i tire t ire and most of our wedding shifts things were looking a little sl abby around the house so we both a arced aped that in selecting our little re mem brances for one another we ought t to confine ourselves to something wl ich would be mutually useful and attractive both of us had been se creely longing for a morris chair one of those new mission things with big leather cushions that six swallow allow you ui UL in fit a delirium of comfort mrs C wanted it for the beauty of the library ind and her afternoon siestas and 1 I wanted it tor for evening recreation we ilso also needed new portieres a new rug a lamp globe and dozens of othe things to make our happy home the complete house beautiful but w were ere satisfied always to buy such suel things one at a time and to get what we wanted at any price months before the christmas sea son I 1 begin began putting by a little sum weekly with the morris chair r in mind two weeks before the I 1 went down to a dealers to look at chairs I 1 had been looking casually for week beluie but it was not until I 1 came upon this particular shop that I 1 dis evered what I 1 wanted it was a beauty in the darkest and finest of weathered oak with all attachments aid a id a pair of tat fat greeny brown leath loath ei cushions that fairly felt like pipe daams laced with leather strap pings and tied to the woodwork with thongs the minute I 1 saw the chair I 1 knew it was for me but the price was rather staggering the dealer wanted 95 for it at first and when I 1 had got him down to 80 he acted as though he thought he were giving the thing away I 1 thought it best to hold out a little so I 1 merely requested that he gh gli e me a day days s option on the hall aad paid a small deposit for the privilege meanwhile my wife had been saving enery penny cutting down on the grocery bill and keeping me on cheap meats with christmas in view it beems that she too had a morri morria hair on the brain on the afternoon atter after noci it if the same day yn which I 1 discover d m prize she strolled into the ame shop the first sight of the hair was enough tor for her and she offered to buy it on the spot the lealer was inconsolable he ile had sold 1 e chair he believed at least he had IN 1 en a gentleman an option on it ind the gentleman had paid a deposit sut ut if madam would leave her name something om ething might be done NN when ben my wife spelled out her cog aomen for him ne tie lifted his eyebrows n as ment that was exactly he name ard those were the initials f the eitleman ent leman who had alread for the chair my wife thought C or a morat mor at then she controlled her emotions and merely remarked hat such r incidences ci dences were quite arl walked out without leav ng her add ss next ext da I 1 hied me to the dealers prepared ared to leave my order f r the chair but the dealer did not seem u half so inclined to sell A lad ad had been it biere ere it seems a lady of ny own name narrie with the same initials initia lq odd was it not nota who was willing to g ve the full price for the article then it was my t irn to think on the whole I 1 decided I 1 did not want the cl air after all if ellen wanted to bu buy it I 1 d let her have that pleas uie ule the man seemed glad to give me rue back my deposit and that was the last I 1 i sa v of that morris chair christmas morning we both fussed about the house expectantly I 1 won dered abe e on earth ellen was keep ing iny lily morris chair after breakfast break fas I 1 unloaded a I 1 i air of green portieres I 1 had bo tor for her As the wrapping came off I 1 saw her face tall fall then she went over to a corner and produced an exactly similar bundle and unrolled a other lair of green port portieres leres tor for me 13 b t I 1 stammered I 1 thought yo i bo a morris chair 1 I 0 john didn dian t you t ly iy it after all alp 9 and then in the light of f ur dundei stand ng we e wept on one a another a shoulders |