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I (Oiirisfoms If JourneV I .&gj. Graham I -L.J J)onner Kb c,li: hn(1 uo cIil,Jrcn' At it nvwfir cllrlsll,n,, t,mo b,i ospe flu Mft5i clnl'y seemed to feel tho f 3E ncctl ot UlcI11, II seemed ' , rf&nwfr na tl'oB'1 ovcry tlmo B,1 B "niT" turned nround alio should B 1 boo n daughter or a son fa f or n small chubby child of 31 ' 4 J lcr own on( of those rIm II hud dreamed of and who had never II stepped outaldo of her 'dreams. M Veal She, Ocrtrudo Harding, was n II "born raollier" to whom no children I had been born. jS Hut this year sho hnd forgotten It something moat Important to be done. I And It was only soveftil days before Christmas. i Sho went down town, mado her pur- 1 chaso after qullo a delay and left tho II shop. 1 1 Outsldo were three small children, Iff their faces closo against tho window I j pane, their eyes glenmtng, their small 1 Ill-clad bodies tenso and quivering with emotion, ' I "Aw, gee, look at It stop at tho staff' sta-ff' tlons I There, she's off tho track now 1 ' i No, tho ain't. Blio's back on again." I The second child was reading n sign. I "They says that In this hero shop DH that It's tho land wlicro tho dreams ot Ml children como true D'yo suppose U they's klddlnT ' I Tho third child, a llttlo girl, who mk was clutching what onco had been a mi doll was looking nt ono In tho shop's Hn window. H "If I could Jcs' touch her hair," sho j sighed. L " "Would you llko to go Insldo tho V; shop!" Ocrtrudo tlnrdlng aBked tho children. B They looked at bor abruptly. "D'yn mean It?" H I And through tho shop, straight to J ) tho children's department olio took I i them. It was a revelation to her to realize tho Joy that was derived by these children from tho Intlmata contact w with toys thoy knew they could never j own. H I They had gono Insldo ono of tho big J shops and had been treated as well ns ! anybody; they had not been afraid. They bad looked to tholr heart's con- tent. "It's true what thoy'o said," tho children agreed afterward, "In thoro It Is the laud all right, wlicro children's (Iron ins conic true." For tho reality of Fairyland had been expressed by tho marvelous and magical toys and games j and gay decorations of tho Christmas H shop, J If, Gcrtrudo Ilnrdlng told herself J nftcnvnrd, theso children had so loved n trip Into tho gaycty of n children's shop, wero thcro not others who would llko to Journey forth Into tho world of PJ toys, too? B Sho thought' It over. And did not PJ1S'V stop thcro. Sho rang up n certain RB number nnd asked for tho matron. PH "You'ro tho matron of tho Children's- PJ! hnxpltnl, aren't you? Well, I won- HH dcrcd If nny of your children would pHJ caro to go with mo tomorrow nnd tnko pBJ n trip through tho children's toy shops? PJPJ Thoy'ro most attrncMvoly fixed up this BJ year nnd soma of them hnvo special attractions, a Santa Claus nnd many other wondrous features 1" Bj So Ocrtrudo Ilnrdlng called for tho pVI children. Thcro wero ID who wero H' nblo to go and of that 15 tho majority BB wero motherless. IB Such nn afternoon as Ocrtrudo Bj Ilardlng had. And such nn aftornoon Bj ns tho children had. iff Thoso In tho shops seemed especial fl; ly anxious to do what they could for bH tho children who wero so obviously ' from a homo or hospltnl. Tho median El; leal toys oven seemed to put moro In, , spirit Into their performances Qor- Mg trudo Ilnrdlng thought. if As they wero coming homo several M llttlo hands found their way Into both of Ocrtrudo Hanllng's hands. Ono a clutched a llttlo linger, another had BJ ' bold of .her thumb; so It Went if "Sirs.," ono of them ventured, "let's t pretend wo'ro all children from n kin- U dcrgnrtcn nnd that you'ro our tench- BH cr. Don't let's protend wo'ro from a HJBJ hospital, eh?" njn "Yea, let's pretend Unit," she an- KM swered them. "Or how would It do to Rjl pretend that 1 was your mother and H that you wero all ray children?" Bm "Would you honest would you BUI pretend that?" ono asked and tbo oth- Hi ers looked nt her eagerly, hoping, hop It Ing, hoping sho' would not refuse. IjEJ "That would bo the best pretend' BB k of all," sho smiled at them. Bf So thoy "pretended" and so they IBM went back very happily from their IBB Christmas shopping trip. IBff Once again sho took them, on tho H day beforo Christmas. It was hard HP getting through tho crowds, but It was Ut, worth every effort Hff In ono of tho shops n gayly dressed LIB clown led tho children In a proces- vfjt elon. Onco In a whllo ho turned and 1B winked at them as though to enyi MB "Wo know what fun nil this Is, 111 don't we? We'ro In tbo secret of tho jBjB fun that children can have at Christ- till tnas tlmo that th yrown-ups how RJLl J,BJBBBBBt "'liin!!iiLi tllhlii j'l'Wft. BBfif wSBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBsl nothing of. They must Just let us go along and sunro our secret .together, eh?" And then the clown bent upon his drum and tho children all marched stiffly behind. When - n magnificent Santo Claus naked the children to sing with him j nnd the voices of the hospital children sang out with the rest Gertrude Harding Hard-ing felt herself swelling with pride. Later when Sntito Claus perceled Hint one of the hospltnl children hnd an unusually lovely voice ho naked hlnvto sing alone. And (hero In the shop he snug, snug with the , thrill of happiness that a bird sings' with when first ho feels the warmth nnd sweet frngrnnco of the spring. lie hnd never been n sited to sing before be-fore like this In n big shop where pcnplo wero nnd wlicro peoplo listened to him, not because ho was being visited vis-ited In n hospltnl nnd must do tils pnrt to entertain the visitors, but becntiso somehow or other they liked his voice. It rang out truo nnd strong. Ho shifted the crutch which ho had never been without and which ho would never nev-er bo without to tho end of his days, nnd then ho was asked to sing nn encore. en-core. Ills faco wns flushed with tho pleas-uro pleas-uro of doing something which wns liked In this big outsldo world. Mo looked at Santa Claus and bentned. Mo had already sung n popular Bong which ho hod learned from tho squeaking squeak-ing talking mnchlno which someone had given tho hospital when It was no longer fit for tho home, nnd now ho thought ho would sing something hotter. hot-ter. Somehow ho felt It would bo proper, nnd vaguely perhaps he felt It would show a gratitude for Christmas that went deeper. Dimly ho thought theso things. Somcono had taught them n hymn In tho hospital, n hymn which he had always loved. It tnado ono feel better, bet-ter, stronger, happier somehow. It was a very glorious hymn ho had always al-ways thought. And ho sang; "It cams upon tho midnight clear, That glorious song of old. From nngels bonding near the earth To touch tholr harps of gold: Peace on the earth, good wilt to men, From heaven's all-gracious king; The world In solemn stillness lay To hear the angels sing." night to tho end of tho hymn ho sang and the peoplo thanked him nnd Santa Claus told him It had been lovely love-ly and gavo him a man-llko clap on tho back. Ocrtrudo Mardlng hnd felt n lump In her throat nnd had smiled with eyes that wero misty. So tho angels did bend near the earth even In theso days and oven over hospltnls wlicro crippled nnd 111 children wero. It was tho humans, not tho angels, who forgot and who went through Ufo not thinking! Hack to tho hospital sho took tho children Inte, Into, that afternoon. Tho hospital was Jn s'cml-darkncss. Chll- Their Day of Dreamed. of Pleasure. drcn who had been too recently operated op-erated upon or who. could not leave tholr beds sat up as I they could to hear of the nows or tho outsldo world. Llttlo whlto-clad figures listened to tho glowing accounts brought to them of tho great Ufa which went on beyond tho ward. And for ovcry llttlo child who had to stny in tho hoBpltnl, Ocrtrudo Harding Hard-ing had brought n Binall present, only a trilling one, but a remembrance from tho great world. Then tho hospital rules which hnd been lifted for n fow minutes nfter tho ones who had been out so lato had ramu back, were In order again, and thcro' was sllcnco In tho ward, nnd soon there would como sleep. When sho got homo Umt evening, tired but very, very happy, she said to herself: "There aro born mothers, yes I And thcro aro born children, tool Children Chil-dren who need to bo loved as much ns women. who need children to love. And though there Is n difference between thoso of one's very own, nnd thoso who are not. It seems as though no ono who Is n "born mother" should go through life, walking blindly by tho many motherless children. "For every childless mother thoro Is a motherless child to whom ono can glvo some of bo lovo and Interest and tho pride which would otherwise go to waste." In her sleep she seemed to hear tho Christmas carol which tho hospital lad hnd sung and she know what had been revealed to her Sho hnd traveled Into tho land of children at Christmas tlmo and bad smiled the smile that can bo smllisj when one gets a look at the heart of 'a child I 16, 1111, WtaUra Niwipsp UdIoo |
