Show r 0 O PC r i P y y ss ak I 1 t THANKFUL MILS ae I 1 ana ad A d 1310 bov sho bis cun com a to th clr I 1 nation nat iones fi holiday landai PAULINA TAGE good morning mrs lane said mrs wilson as she stepped bris briskly M along with her ber market basket over her arm good morning replied mrs lane ijane but her ber voice had bad none of the glad ring of the first speak speakers ees and her face was far from cheerful 1 I am going to the market early sw said d mrs wilson so that thai I 1 can have my choice of the turkeys I 1 am always better suited when I 1 pick mine out myself well for my part I 1 wish there were no thanksgiving day this year for I 1 dont see what I 1 have to be thankful for you know the children had the scarlet fever in the summer and we were just paying the last of the doctors bill when my husband took the rheumatism you remember the night the bridge was washed away and the freight train was wrecked well he bo and his bis men worked all night in the rain to rebuild the bridge and have the track cleared for the early morning passenger train Ws its no wonder he be was taken sick but that was seven weeks eago ago and he done a stroke of work since I 1 really dont see what to Is to become ofas of us but think how well the children are now said mrs wilson land and I 1 am sure mr lane is 19 improving I 1 mean to tell you but im planning a little surprise for them tomorrow to morrow try to took look on the bright side for I 1 am sum things will be better soon 1 I suppose you are right but it so easy to look on the bright side when one Is out of money and sees no way of getting any freddier eddies Fr shoes are so bad I 1 send him to school if he be cry to go he is so proud of going to school with the others she looked lovingly after the sturdy little figure trudging up the street with his slate elate and book under his bis arm he was a pretty little fellow with great blue eyes and fair curls pushed back under the soldier cap 1 I always stand here at the gate to see them safely across the tracks the mother said that thai is a dangerous crossing on account of the sharp curve at the end of the street the train is so close before it comes in sight their father often tells them to look both ways before they try to cross but im afraid they might forget hurry up freddie cried the older children stepping quickly over the tracks and leaving the little one to follow as best he be could just then freddie heard a roar and the clang of a bell and looked up to see pee the great engine already around the curve and close upon him he tried to hurry tripped and fell with both short legs legg across the farther rail how the whistle shrieked as the engineer vainly tried to stop his train up the street rushed the mother but she knew she would be too late the little one could not get up but as he struggled he slipped a few feet down the steep embankment on which the track rested and was saved the train thundered on and stopped mighty close call for the little fellow said the engineer as he put the frightened child into his mothers arms and to think of its bein being lanes little chap too my heart stood still when I 1 saw him the mother sat upon the embankment pressing her boy closer and closer to her heart as she caressed the little feet which might never have needed any more new dew shoes she could not speak but mrs wilson looking in her face knew that thanksgiving day had already dawned in her neighbors heart |