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Show 4- - 4- 4- ;y JUiss Mkemiam's 'Christmas. 4- .. . , .' ' ' . BY .'MRS. MOSES P. HANDY - ' ' . . 4. Miss Ackei-mann opened her eyes to the sunshine yvith a startled feeling of having overslept herself; then closed them again, at the sound of the chimes from the church around the corner. Fer , it yvas Christmas dy, the one day, ( barring Sundays, in the year yvhich she could really and truly call her own. She waa that overworked Individual, a popular dressmaker, going out by the day, and she sometimes wished, yvith E. P. Roe's old doctor, that people yvould send for somebody else sometimes some-times and let her rest. Ori the last Fourth of July she had been in the country, sewing for dear life, in order to finish a belated bridal trousseau, and the rst of the sfrv;.-e. and then hurried hur-ried bovs.e to ' make a hasty toilet for dinner. There was only a quiet family gathering. gath-ering. The thinee of the oldest daughter, daugh-ter, a traveling salesman in the em. ploy of th" whuies.ile hmis., was the life of the party.'- He was emide:-ed a very bright younr man. and a good talker, lie was 'tit his best to.lay'ar.d kept them all atottsod with stories of his travels. - th.tt Mins Acker'mann had only to listen wtih a sembiam-e of interest. "By the way. Mis Aekermann." he said presently. "I nut an old friend of yours on this last trip: tlst.-n uns the name J. W. Ralston. it was in Idaho. Boise City. Ie is doing well in ! "RALSTON" WAS THE NAJtEE.'' on Thanksgiving she had worked until I dark to accommodate a customer yvho wished to outshine her sisters-in-law at a family gathering at the house of her husband's father, but on Christmas day not even the most exacting customer could ask her services. " ... And yet yvas she glad it was Christmas? Christ-mas? The associations which cluster around the season make it a sorrowful one to those who have nothing left of home excepting its memories and, saving sav-ing for one brother, Miss Aekerrnann was alone in the yvorld. Really, Miss Aekerrnann told herself, she had no business to be low spirited, she was a very fortunate person; think how many people yvere starving for lack of yvork, and all that, she concluded, y-aguely, as she finished her breakfast. The tea, yvhich she made in her room, heating the water on a small gas stove, yvas excellent: she yvas finicky about tea, and she felt better after drinking it. Altogether she was in quite a cheerful cheer-ful 'mood, yvhen the little daughter of her landlord came to wish her a merry Christmas, and bring an nvitation fro.n her mother to eat her Christmas dinner with thorn. Dinner would be at half-past half-past tyvo. Miss Aekerrnann thanked them very much and yvould dine with then? with pleasure. Then she gave the little girl the present she had ready for her, a stylish young lady doll, dressed in the latest fashion, yvith coat and hat complete, a gift which made its recipient radiant, and sent her off to exhibit it at once. The sermon, "God's Christmas Gifts," from the text: "Wait upon the Lord and he shall give thee the desire of thy heart." made her homesick again; the desire of her heart seemed so exceedingly exceed-ingly far off. Miss Aekerrnann yvas not one cf those yvho forget, hard as she ! tried not to remember. She found her thought straying back ten years, to the i seaside, to her old home and Jack. ! Their pare nt3 were neighbors. Her father and mother lived in the little i fishing town and took boarders i the season; his father yvas the farmer who supplied them yvith vegetables and fruit. Jack drove the wagon yvhich brought the daily supply to the cot- itages; they would have knoyvn each other in any case, but the, morning interviews in-terviews over lettuce and strawberries, ; melons and tomatoess brought them closer together. Everyone approved of ! their engagement, and the day was set, ; yvhen a great misfortune happened; her mother and oldest sister yvere killed, in a buggy yvhich they yvere driving, by a train at a railroad crossing. This yvas bad enough, surely, but "troubles hunt in couples," and the blow seemed to affect her father's mind; he became almost childish; took to his bed and ! yvould have no one but her to wait upon him. To complete the roll of dis- ! aster, her brother suddenly brought : home a yvife. a girl yvhom none of hi3 friends yvould have chosen, and the old man would not let his daughter-in-law come near him. To tell the truth she had no desire to help Miss Aekerrnann in her duties; site had married for a etep-up, and saicl plainly that she did net mean to slave, to p'ease anybody. "You see how it Is, Jack," she said, yvith streaming eyes. "I cannot leave father, even for you." "Bring him to our house yvith you," replied Jack, "there is plenty of room, and father and mother yvon't mind." "No, -Jack, thanks ever so much, but that wouldn't do any good. Father wouldn't be satisfied; besides, he take3 up so much cf my time that I couldn't do my duty to you." And Jack had to submit with the best grace he could muster. Unfortunately, he consulted the doc-to doc-to yvho attended Mr. Aekerrnann as to the probable duration oj the old man's illness. The doctor assured him that the trouble trou-ble was-chiefly hypochondria, and that he might live for years in the. sama state, or might possibly recover as suddenly sud-denly as he had collapsed; at all events, the patient yvas in no immediate danger. dan-ger. The inquiry yvould have done no harm, had it not been that the doctor had a talking yvife, to whom he told everything; so before long the yvhole neighborhood yvas saying that Jack Ralston had been asking hoyv long old man Aekerrnann could live. Of course the story 'came to Miss Ackermann's ears, to her Intense Indignation and still greater grief. Jack could not deny it in oto. and short of positive denial she yvould listen to no explanation. There yvas a quarrel, a broken engagement, engage-ment, and Jack Ralston went west, leaving his sweetheart yvell nigh broken hearted, with only duty to console her and sometimes duty is the best consolation conso-lation one can have. If he had been less impatient, there wouldS have been no trouble. Dr. Eland did not understand the effect yvhich a broken heart sometimes produces upon the body. Mr. Aekerrnann died before the winter was over. Jack Ralston Rals-ton came home as soon as he heard the news, but Miss Aekerrnann had gone to the city with a cousin of her mother, and yvas obdurate; her filial affection found satisfaction in refusing to forgive for-give the lover who had desired father's death. She yvould r.ot even see him and so the affair ended. - .---'' '' IL Well, it was too late now.' and she was a fool to be dreaming of it. The sermon yvas ended and the music, of the organ, roused her to the consciousness conscious-ness of . things present and to come; she took part with the congregation in ' mines out there and is quite chummy with one of my best customers, who has some money in his business. Tho two were together at my rooms in the hotel, and he saw Min's picture mi tho bureau; I always carry it around to keep me out of temptation guardian angel business you know. Min: and he saw it. You know people say you two look alike and the likeness comes out strong in that photo. It struck him all of a heap. 'Excuse me,' ho said, 'but yvill you t-Ml me yvhose picture pic-ture that is? It looks very much like some one I knew ten years ago.' " 'Certainly.' said I. 'that is my best girl. She is- thought very much like a lady yvho lives in the samt' house. Miss Aekerrnann, from New Jersey.' Well, it turned out to be the very same. He asked lots of questions about you, especially es-pecially whether you vere married. I gave you a good character, and I guess you'll be hearing from him before long. Ross says he's a bachelor." Miss Aekerrnann. controlled hers:lf sufficiently suf-ficiently to smile. "Thank you, wt. yvere fri!nda and neighbors yvhen I was a girl," she replied, and in a moment more they yvere laughing at a comical anecdote which the drummer yvas telling tell-ing in his best style; it was no v.onder he sold good3. III. When the dinner -yvas over the hostess host-ess excused herself soon, toon plea of domestic duties, leaving I-.iiss Aekerrnann Aeker-rnann yvith the young peopl?. so knowing know-ing herself de trop. she lingered but a few minutes. Back in her room sle gave yvay, and took refuge in that last sola e a of her sex, a good cry; her overwrought nerves demanded relief, and would not be denied. She yvas still huddled, a disconsolate heap, on the lounge when there came, a tap at - the door, yvhich she recognized as that of her little friend. She sat up 'jrmi .;aq pouaiqiJtBJis .iipoij.inq p intrusting in-trusting that in the dim light of the fast falling twilight the child would notice nothing amiss, sharp as she yvas. "Come in," she called, as the knock yvas repeated. "Here's a gentleman to see you." the ,, child said, yvith the air of a person yvho confers a favor. "He says he in an old friend, so I brought him right up." Miss Aekerrnann remembered that it being Christmas day. the maid yvould be out, and that, consequently, the little lit-tle girl yvould answer the- door. "Thank you." she said, "you may go." Then she found herself face to face yvith a bronze and bearded man, yvhose eyes only were familiar. "Well. Annie." ho said, in the voicw she kneyv so yvell, "here I am unca more." I She held out both hands, yvith ark ' I eagor gesture. "Oh, Jack, Jack," sho I cried. f A moment more and she yvas sob- bing on his shoulder, while his arms held her as though they would never j let her go. And noyv when Mr. Ralston j wishes "to tease his yvife. he tells his I friends that, after making him wait ten ;. J years, she helped him at last yvith the j 1 courting. I I |