Show P What Christmas Brought to Him By Dy LAURA ELAINE CAMERON Old s WALTER i 1 MANNERS n N i It s Job 1 the Old S JODine J stumbled out Present t 3 of Clarksons Clarkson's Walter Manners store he felt ChrIstmas was Needed Most Indeed going to be q His Cu Cup Was a 11 dreary dreary time for tor P him and his tam tam- Full to Over- Over ily Ills I h hantis a and a d s a flowing With were ell clenched n c 11 e d Yuletide Joy tightly as ho lie canto carfo out Into the glare of winter sunshine and aOI his Ills face showed a dull red the red the hue which creeps over a mans man's face when Insult or humiliation has come to him For twenty years of service to old Clarkson twenty years wherein he had bad given the best that was In him tl to a man who was reputed to be the I most tempered Ill man In all aU Washburn Wash Wash- burn burn he he had Just been told that from now on his services would be dispensed dispensed dis dis- dis with and all because of a n small mistake that had been made which Clarkson In the blind rage which had bad taken hold of ot him lead laid on the shoulders of ot Manners It was hard bard he told told himself as he walked along that a aman man who had given glyen the best of his I life life In service could be cast away like Uke an old glove It must be that he was not as competent competent com as other men he told him self For hurt of dismissal had sunk Its Iron deeper Into Walter Man ners ner's soul than It would have done dono In Inthe Inthe inthe the case ease of another man for always alwa's he ho had been possessed of ot the feeling that he was not quite as capable as other men Something within him always always al ways tried to belittle him to himself and although he had often orten fought with this feeling and had tried to assure himself that he did as good or eVen even better work than some In spite of ot himself It came every now and then to torture him Now In the face of ot his recent dismissal It came with added force and he told himself over and over again that he was a failure or else old Clarkson would not have let him out lIe He never stopped to think that perhaps It was the long association with a man of ot Clarksons Clarkson's type that had bad made him so diffident I about his own wn worth I He dreaded the thought of ot going home and t telling his family the bad bac news lIe He reproached himself that ho he had not broken away from old Clarkson Clark Clark- son ten years before when he had an offer orear from young Peters who had just then come to Washburn and who had hat since made mode such a success But Dut then as al always the tho fear tear of ot himself kept kep him from accepting and he be had bad stayed on and find borne the temper Ill temper of ot ohman old oh man Clarkson since Ills forty years hung heavily upon him as ho he hoC hot t C k went on and he looked with dread to the future for tor his family was just a athe at atthe atthe the age when a steady Income was an absolute necessity He lie shuddered now v as he thought o of Christmas when only a few hours ago he be had been living In happy an of the day lIe He had planned so many things so many little surprises surprises sur that would bring Joy to hi his loved lo ones but now that was all over for tor how could he enter Into the spIrit of ot Christmas weighed down do with care and dread of the future as he was now Walter Manners had always been a aman aman aman man who set a great stress upon duty and as he went along wong now the thought though came to him that a nal real duty to hi his family lay before hIm For he felt fel that he be would be inflicting a grea great I wrong upon them were he to go to them hem now with the story of or his failure and to spoil their Christmas What of ot his own feelings surely feelings surely he could be e man enough to hide them for tor n a few v days for tor the sake of ot those he loved I IAtter After Atter Christmas there would be time enough to tell them the dread news news- to o let them know what n miserable failure allure he was I lIe He decided then that he be would not go jo home until his usual homecoming hour lour lest it might create suspicion so soto soto soto to kill time he wandered aimlessly around towa town lIe He stopped to gaze In Peters' Peters window as he passed lIe He admitted to himself lt that there therm was a avast aRst avast vast difference between the appearance appearance appear appear- appearance ance of ot tills this store and Clarksons Here lIere everything e was up date and attractive the window arrangement such as might make anyone pause to look Once he had broached this subject to old Clarkson but had been met by such an outburst of wrath that he had never nefer dared to open the sub jest again So engrossed was he with his thoughts that he never noticed that Clyde Peters was standing Inside the window and gazing straight at him lIe He flushed a n dull red again as the thought came to him that surely Peters would suspect something to see him wandering aimlessly around at what was Us usually the busiest time of ot the day dRY at Clarksons Rut nut he nodded as pleasantly as as he hI could to Peters and walked on Somehow ho he got through the evening evening evening eve eve- ning without his fatally suspecting that thai there thero was vas Anything amiss lie He joined In the general gayety and helped with the decorations and various other little Jobs but all the while the heart hear within him hm was sick with misery Buthe But Dut Buthe Duthe he knew that the burden was his to bear alone and the thought that he was saving his family from the truth for tor a few tew days gave him a little feeling feeling feel teel ing of ot comfort I At Lit ten o'clock after atter the smallest ol ot of the he children had b been n put to bed and the Christmas tree had ball received all Its trimmings the door bell rang with witha a loud peal Walter Manners opened It thinking It was a neighbor or pos possibly possibly Os sibly a Christmas gift gUt of ot some kind but Instead the tall figure of Peters stood in the doorway In Ia a few tew minutes he told what he wanted wanted seeing seeing Manners standing outside out side his store Etora that afternoon and suspecting BUS sus from his attitude that some- some was wro wrong he be had bad made In and found he had left Clarksons Clark Clarksons sons Whereupon upon he had come to td ask him if Lt he would consider a pos post lon tion with him and when he named the salary Walter 1 Manners gasped as it was nearly twice the figure he hi hilad had lad been getting And when because of ot his high sense at of duty that was waa his ills he told Peters that Clarkson had let him out out Peters only laughed aloud and said As It If that would make any difference ce The wonder to all in Washburn has bc bon n how you could have stood him so long After that It did not take Walter Walter- Manners long to give consent to the theolIer offer olIer and Ms ls cup of ot Joy seemed full tuU fullas fullas as he be bid night goodnight and good wishes to Peters at the door But Dut It was full tull to overflowing a few tew minutes later when old Clarkson came puffing t to the tile door and told him he could have his old job buck back again with a small increase In ase In salary For although he never wanted to see Clark Clark- eons eon's store again y yet t the feeling that he was wanted back in the old place added to the offer which he had Just accepted pave gave him the confidence In himself It which he had always been lacking and that Christmas Walter Manners really came Into his own he had gotten the gift which he needed needed need need- ed most of ot all aU I Western N Newspaper Union rUnion |