OCR Text |
Show CHRISTMAS EVE HOME-COMING Jfcf &MARY I rihjl$rf GRAHAM 3T WAS so cheerful when the unknown un-known crowds were left behind and the known ones appeared. That was on the last part of the journey. Dexter Lyons had been traveling all day and now it was dark and the lamps' on the little branch line train we're lighted and all the home-comers. from all directions had met. Everyone knew everyone else on this train and the conductor knew them all. The stove at the end of the train was burning almost too warmly. The train . . joggled along. The WM car was filled with &Vf people, bags, sult- cases, packages of Js? "'1' 41 all shapes and ' C M slzes- Theconduc- ' C7 tor took tlie tlck" jai it ets only as a sec- V'V ondary considera- 1' H if 1 tion. His first In- nixw - terestwaslnhenr- lliff I ; 4 Ing how everyone had been, what y,l they had been do- L-1"" illl fit or collpe hegan l Siinf fl after the holidays, yaSSjjJlH when the business folk must be back r finMMd ln tne cltles. To ent honies tvhere Hot Suppera Were spread out upon cnndle-llt tables and where ruddy fires radiated their glow of cheer. Pexter was surrounded by ht family. fam-ily. And besides there was Nancy. That made the horae-comlng perfect. For It gave him the hope, the unspoken unspo-ken promise that he would hare his own, own home-coming before long. Nancy would never have Joined this family gathering on Chrtstma K.o ,when Dexter was Just home, If li had not decided that certain matters he had taken up with her In letters were to be answered by assent I "Oh, Nnncy," he told her later, "It dors, It does mean that you pay 'yes,' doesn't It?" And Nnncy said that It did I (?), 1928, Weatorn Newspaper Union.) everyone he wished a merry Christmas. Christ-mas. They had hurried so to make connections, con-nections, they had scrambled and pushed through the great holiday crowds. But now they were all sure they would get home on Christmas Eve. After they got on this train there could be no missing of connections connec-tions and the conductor had promised tliem they would be on time. Out of the windows occasional lights could be seen In the farmhouses they passed and in the streets of very small villages. But every house, no matter 1 how separated and alone, was deco- J rated. Christmas reached everywhere. It penetrated the traffic of cities and reached out to the most remote places. There was a general chatter going on, a renewing of friendships, a talk between some who only saw each other at this time of the year, who had different dif-ferent Interests and occupations and lived In different places but who en-Joyed en-Joyed this annual little talk. And then the engine gave a long, long, long whistle. It was not the ordinary or-dinary whistle of an engine. It was the way the engine always whistled on Christmas Eve, so as to carry word to the waiting families and friends at the little station at the end of the line that the train was dojng Its part to wish' them a merry Christmas by bringing Its load of people. Dexter was out on the station platform. plat-form. Oh, such greetings as there were. And then a rush to the dilTiT- |