Show 4 THE RE OLD SHOES by GENEVIEVE ULMAR I H H MH H 44 HH 1 I am sorry to have to ask an immense tavor favor of you mary alary begar began john rice in his clumsy but straight forgard fashion I 1 it if it is ls something that pleases you or does you any good brightly responded his hig patient gentle faced difo dont be sorry john be glad for I 1 am bound to grant it you dear lovable sweetheart enthused john 1 I dont know liow how I 1 I 1 ever came to get you I 1 dont deserve you you have been imposed upon ever since I 1 married you just to think ot of it I 1 calculated that father had enough to carector care car etor for the home brood as long as any of them lived you know how he went out to oregon with all his money bent on buying a big fruit farm arm and moving there you remember how he came home dazed and telling an incoherent story of being beaten in a rough mining town out west we could get no trace of the thirty thousand dollars he had aad taken with him tor for investments it was gone lost father died mother found barely enough left to support her to relieve her you consented to take the children wanted them you mean I 1 was delighted to have the dear little ones to care tor for well I 1 may as well break the final bad news went on john desperately A mothers others Ll millinery venture has failed she can struggle on no longer and hold on where are you going for or mary alary was flitting away fast as she could go where am I 1 going she chirped vivaciously why t to 0 get the spare room ready and comfortable fast as I 1 can of course why by sir do you think I 1 am aia going to have honored company catch me unprepared you angel voiced john rice yoa yell have brought nothing but brightness and blessings to anyone c coming ming near you johns mother was settled in the very best beat room in the house now new life teemed seemed to inspire her with her children restored to her and marys constant cheerful smile brought radiant sunshine to her drooping spirit things were not going well with john A cut in salary made him look serious but mary declared it possible to meet the grocery bill without depriving them of enough to eat the mother contributed a few dollars a month to the household from doing some sewing but john was worried forill tor i it looked vague and dark ahead then came a new surprise and complication and burden the brother of mary was crippled in an accident at the mills where he be had worked the doctor said he would be an invalid tor for about a year harry estes could get around well crough but he could not do the hard work his former position had required harry flarry was cutting away a dangling piece of a shoe sole when old mrs Rice noticed the tact fact why harry your shoes are pretty well gone up arent they she remarked that for some time harry tried to say lightly 1 I was thinking proceeded ceded mrs rice reflectively 1 I have some clothes and such up in the old trunk ot my dead husband yes and I 1 am certain there is a pair of shoes he wore they are not new but certainly better lhnn those you are wearing 1 if aliey ili fit i you they might do wait ill go an and d look them up mrs rice alice proceeded to the tha attics attic she returned shortly with the pair of 0 shoes she had described and handed them to harry why they fit just famously he declared as he tried one on they wnm aa rin an rne tor for six months it if chev 1 bold were patched bp a little i me old shoemaker shoe malcer on central street carry friso in some leather supplies view days since he be told me that made me a free customer in the way ot of repairs I 1 might need ill go and see him now the shoemaker was true to his promise harry sat in his stocking feet as the artisan began work on the shoes i the worker had found the sole of 0 ithe the shoe quite regular and ordinary when he came to the other however it held beirl fast and firm and he had to dig hard to loosen two thin plates ot of steel he drew them out between them lay ay a little package done up in oilskin whoever wore these shoes used this sole for a pocketbook observed the cobbler as he handed the oilskin packet to harry the th latter atter unfolded it within rested a note or a check no a certificate of deposit on an oregon bank fo hirty thousand dollars i harry knew enough ot the history of the rice family to read the oracle promptly he uttered an excited yell then in his stocking feet he made a dash for home the agitated mrs rice insisted on going straight to the local bank to be assured the certificate was good there she left it for collection coll hall half to john and mary she directed it if we taken in the children mother would never have come nor the old shoes reasoned the happy mary and oh john see the grand fortune that has come to us for duty well performed copyright 1915 by tho the mcclure newspaper syndicate |