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Show SKIS Wr xr kittle WONDERFUL iSmmSl!f' dRy tho four-v four-v 1 1 ISii tccnth of Fcuru- JsMmr dorful that it Sr spreads Its charm iver tho preceding weok and tho reek that comes after. For daya and Hays tho Small Person sneaks Into tho houso with unnatural, unhealthy and suspicious quiet, holding queer shaped bulging pnekagea under her coat or smuggled away In tho Innermost caverns cav-erns of her absurd llttlo muff. Tho pasto pot appears evcrywhoro In tho houso. Tho pnsto brush disappears entirely nnd Is dually round in a stnto of sulcldo nnd tho Ink-bottle. You see something on tho floor that looks llko a cherry. You pick It up and it is a rod paper heart. Whllo you aro looking look-ing nt It tho Small Person trota Into tho room, gives you ono mysterious Blanco, Immediately soparntes you from your treasuro and scampers away to a hiding plnco under tho din-lngroom din-lngroom tnblo, whero bIio sits for threo straight hours In a billowy pool of whlto paper luce, big white onvelopes and numberless samples of scissors. Then, nftcr thoso charming hours of mysterious preparation, tho great day approaches. Thu mull man la tho Krla Krlnglo, tho Santa Clnua, tho good fairy. With bonded shoulders ho plods down tho street, while tho Small Porson has her noso glued so tightly to tho window pano that thoro Is considerable con-siderable question whothor or not It will detach Itsolf without tho aid of r paper knife. At last! Hooray!, Tho boll rings. I At imminent risk of catching everything every-thing from a cold to a spanking the Small Porson dashes out of tho front door und fairly leaps into tho mall bag. She emerges looking llko a young i stationery establishment, nothing but j onvelopes, big, llttlo and mlddlo sized, j With a squeal and a scurry alio blows ! back Into tho houso nnd opons up her trenail! es. Thero nro paper trees filled I with brilliant papor roses, and bo-I bo-I neath tho forest trees sit llttlo cuplda . "without no clg'a on at nil," Just ns I If It wero not Fobrunry und chilly. Great big, beautiful whlto swan cars ! moro beautiful ovon than n now au-tomobllo au-tomobllo aro dragged out of their whlto casings, mid Io! when you touch a llttlo spring somewhero tho swnn cars aro tilled with flowers and nil sorts of wondorful, exquisite, beautiful things, llko birds and Jewels nnd loving lov-ing hcnrtB. Oh, it Is vory, vory do-llghttul, do-llghttul, being n child on St. Valentino' Valen-tino' dny. Whllo all this cxcltomcnt Is beating tho qulot homo atmosphere Into quivers quiv-ers you alt down In a fnr-nwny corner cor-ner nnd think of tho tlmo when you wero n llttlo girl. Porhaps you didn't have ns much attention as thp Small Person; perhaps things . didn't somehow some-how como your wny and porhaps It's bccauRo you had so llttlo that you aro ready to make any sacrifice so that tho Small Person shall havo much. It is from deprivations that you learn what good things mean and how much they mean. Somehow your mind goes way back, bo tar you wouldn't daro tell tho yeaib. You wouldn't evon guess them. It Booms so long ago that it must havo been another world, or nnyway an-othor an-othor llfo. You sco a dingy old schoolroom, school-room, whero tho bonches wero frightfully fright-fully hard and whero tho clock was so lazy It novcr movod Its hands at all. Tho daya wero vory long for a little tiny child who should havo boon romping and playing out of doors. ' Ono day thoro came strango whisperings whis-perings about St. Valentino. You wondered won-dered If ho woro tho man who came to trim tho trees in tho orchard. It was all very new to you, because everything was new, and you had so much to got acquainted with in a big strango world, Tho other children talked knowingly knowing-ly about a St. Valentino's box. Next day they filed In one aftor another, aud Into a blc woodon box thoy dropped whlto envelopes. When school was nbout tn bo dismissed tho Beautiful Lady who took care of all tho children opened up tho mysterious affair and took out tho envelopes ono by one, calling the namo of the llttlo boy or girl. You hold your breath. When would yours come? Ah! exquisite moment of anticipation! Your heart such a tiny llttlo silly, lovnblo heart, too fairly ceased to beat, for every mo-jnont mo-jnont you oxpectcd that your nnmo would bo spoken. The other childron wero busy showing their whlto lace valentines, nnd novcr noticed tho wistful wist-ful llttlo faco In n far-back sent. It was all over. Tho box was empty. Tho Heautlful Lady closed hor desk. Tho childron ran for their hats and coats. You placed two soiled fat llttlo llt-tlo hands to two very molsty-mlsty oyes nnd folt your first great sorrow. You did, didn't you? Well, if you didn't. I did. The heart of a child Is so sensitive a flower. A thought will crush It a tear will hrulso It. |
