| Show air A story wilh a Blem blessing irig aws by PHOEBE GRAY t Copy copyright daht by scull maynain company SYNOPSIS 9 title trundling the clean ashing washing up apper per mar mary V A alice f ice brown li in me et up ell by some v ous boy boys wh who af pf pill 1 washing into the dirt she Is el ed taken to hr her homo home in calvert treet street francis willett a galahad k knight n h t ill is punished by hr her drunken father t for 0 r rot without the wash money mary alace e wanders away from home takes a trelley ley ride into the country a and n d impend the night at the farmhouse of S bun xin V thorn h en n W in the morning she he meets little char thomae h a cripple S sam taken mary brwn ado A e home horn and fende that he and mrs brown wn are old acquaintance acquaintances sam takes her and mary alice to his HI h hoine ome for vii t while lem brown the drunken ta fa ajor as I 1 serving eel vine a workhouse sentence nen tence charlie rile la Is made a galahad knight iran fran eba ailts the farm and ie Is waved laved from drowning nanc by mary aar alice lm lern drown brown i out of br jail ail a an and I 1 roe goes to work for sam taomas mae a aa hired man franci francis willett to sent nt away to preparatory school mary alice e gets a job in a department etore store 1 11 F father fathers it and mother mothers too 0 o 0 f 0 arget r e sometimes that t they h y nay ay y do thing things which causa cause u th t heir h lr children to blush w with it hame th it Is one of the great at responsibilities of parenthood nod for f 0 or tj the father and mother r to keep kp beep burning as a trong strong bright highl flame the faith falth of th their ir ittle ones in them consider isider low now mary alices case z y CHAPTER VI continued fabey bey did their best to spell spoil him he be was i the son at of the biggest man in ffield they wondered at his friend aw i for the demure little bundle girl lowb ahoe ois this charlie you and fran Ml Il lette letts always about y alice they would query ats the mat matter I 1 er with him ie is he I 1 what cant walk poor little rl lee les go out and see hini him some day could we mary alice hey ey did it too martha made ice im again and charlie had a heaven afternoon the girls bubbled and aled bcd lcd and exclaimed over bis his lovely ion on hair and his shining blue ayea mary lary alice told me nil all about i charlie I 1 you re grace und re sadie and youre minute minniel t ary alice bad introduced them air a i corrigan and and miss lowd you know dear they used mary lary alice ehe she ascribed bed you she you know another friend 0 mine iles francia francis AN billett fou ou bet we do hot hes a mary alices dy arlle looked puzzled puzzle dt mary blary alice bed cut ut it out min warned grace ats he be know about toadies steadies back to town on the trolley BlIn minnie rile turned to miry ce e clarell mean by tie tae boss lem I 1 guels the boss la Is his fils tn fa r but who lena leral lary ary alice choked on nothing feted her feat seat and opened her ith nth to answer juet just as surely as lived the meant to say iles he my er but it come out tried three times no use then said lem oh ob lem why mr thomas hired man did not salve mary alices connee to reflect that ehe she had bad told the c t truth she lay awake that night ag ng ti to square things with herself her in the dark floated tho the jakl of an ln indolent dolen injured ft angel ngel aed in a billowing border of ot ehin kl priceless gold and the eyes were M F gal sad d and surprised and accusing A alice lice b hid ld her faw face lt ij the pillow promised herself and charlie that I 1 would tell the girls in the morning let really was bo so ehe she went to op p quite easy in her mind lit yoc TOL know you cant borochow somehow md d up in a sort of pulpit like an acted ed fortress above d 1 and shout down that your father farmers hired man it would be ird rd mary alice post postponed pored the elation indefinitely yon you must rember that mary alice wag was after all y a little girl leu aa than thirteen rs sold old ne day the floorwalker brought ry alice a letter it was wag add addressed addres reseed frd pencil aud all the wo ae I 1 were very id nd and the loop of the 1 I rather ral the lower part of the it smaller than the second etory story part the punctuation not unoriginal ie de from these minor detail it va iras wd letter ob h mary uary alices got a e letter 1 cried girla chos it from honey boner I 1 tet let a cooky let me d I 1 it wont you mary alice bee sea e saye says anything about me in to it he tend send ui us bis his lore 1 fary ary alice open the letter ducted it in her apron pocket and gi git pouted and benm she he was a an n old thine thing the fo anoon went tingly p in the girls reat rest room at tho the ch h hc mary alice stole off in a 11 er and eagerly silt slit the envelope i a hairpin pils nis Is what she be read stint 11 school lak lake valley ear amt alice veil well liere here I 1 am at t in a prep arp chool school it li Is a dandy place there art ar mot most two too hundred bundred fellow fellows and we ws art ar alt all colet 1 to the anae same lots re ill ell I X thought I 1 would writ write you uary alice about a verr very particular matter on account of it Is t so 10 near christmas I 1 have a well swell idea first chance you get you go to the art department tt of our tore store and pick out nice drawing I 1 thought of f it in our drawing class 1 how etwas U wae jut just the th thine to give charlie thomaa thomas it would amuse him I 1 can jost imagine him sit it tine there mere poor folle he lie and I 1 are 1 I low Oala galahad so 0 o I 1 want to be remembered to him and ou must have a hare share in it we give it to him together put a card on it from lady mary alice and sir francis W Il allett lett greetings brother knight I 1 guess it will tickle him I 1 would not bother you but wt I 1 wont be home chrtt mas I X am invited to walrus farquhar Farqu hara house tor for the holiday holidays and mother and a father ray ay I 1 can fo go so go that fj in ail all from your devoted air lr knitht knight F WILLE TT P S beuther BF father uther eari says uncle billy jackion jackson li 3 com comin ing home right after new tear year second P 8 sa s1 1 forgot tou you can have thra them charce charge the drawing outfit to father CHAPTER VII the deftest christmas christmas at the thomas farm wae was alwaes charlies day this year be he was ivas a year older and ani a year wiser somewhere in the course of twelve months charlie had discovered con the thing that can make every ono one of three hundred and sixty ore dye days a christmas perhaps it bad been between the covers of bis his beloved story of bir sir galahad on that first day mary alice bad had read it to him christmas at the farm bud meant a little love feast with three to par take now it meant something more the open door of hospitality the abar tag ing of ones blessing blessings charlie with 31 martha arthas help bent sent out bis his invitations will you cleame come to our party on christinas christmas eight might a are to ha have a tree and a turkey it weigh weighs seventeen seventeen pound pounds at sit alx lx clock very respectfully youre yours CHARLES D THOMAS sam and martha bad had some misgivings ir about the willetts 1 I know what to do to en on tertale them swells eald said martha still if charlie wants em ill do my I 1 0 c A Rp ava reels called the Pin thera eye beat best mr willetts Wll lelta tine I 1 mind him eo so much but mrs willett if different shed embarrass me to feces oh I 1 dont know eald said sam trying to be encouraging goods good a them willett was poor ern I 1 am once yet it was with distinct relief that the read hrs ll lette gracious aad and cordial answer to Ch charlies artles invitation they vere to spend christ with mrs willetts a people if francia were to be at home it U be different be he would have been delighted she regretted very much and so forth and so to on thank goodness said sald martha then rhen be just us and the drowns browns sam gare gave charlie five dollars to shop with and the battle boy very deprecating and apologetic declined to take anyone bat but mary alice into bis his confidence regarding dinc his purchase purchases and to 0 o the teat rent night finally came As modern Chist mases go the er and the lr tr tont of enow snow were quite cp tip to specifications the fine cleao clean enow snow lay in gentle billowing drifts sparkling in the rays of a whacking big we mono monn and the air bit ind and tingled oh ch it was some christmas in tha bitting sitting room the table was all set the bright coals in the heater beater owel through the bagares of mica and oo 00 its top apples la in a pan sputtered and sizzled filling the room with a sugary odor don t the lamp juet just yet mom mum nc nice aid said charlie 1 I 1 cant see out the window if you do bo so her he sat looking down the snowy I 1 road alt all patched and an shadow barred la im the slant moonlight to martha it seemed as it 11 her boy there in the pale glow from the window were surround ed and glorified by the soft aura from bis ill nolden bead head she went into the kitt n and basted the turkey which crackled and popped in its own cavort ce cese came the tar thin clinging clanging cf of a gong the trolley approach loz tax the end of the line slid loto into view with rectangle it of light rock ing and dipping then it stopp topped 41 and aud I 1 charlie knew that mat passenger passengers wen wore stepping down into the now snow in firt minutes mary alice and mn mrs brown and daby baby dick would cover the die lance to the houie house mary alice would be hauling her brother tacked tucked up warmly in A it soap box on a fifty cent sled oat out in the kitchen rose the doss boss voice loud and hearty Il hullo lullo there lem old all dolled up say youve got a nosebleed aint ye gosh not no its that red necktie you sure me we now ilow long ye ben bon home I 1 eee see ye drive into the yard bring a paper shucks I 1 forgot course they ain aln I 1 no evenin papers on a holiday set down IN el ell go long in f rather uee ues wat batchin chin out down tbt the road for the folks lorn low bad lad been to town that afternoon alone sam had let him tak take the horse and sleigh so far in tb th e matter of trusting his hi hired man be had not heretofore gone it waa was tc sams way of thinking the supreme test if lem could on this day of all otherl run the gantlet of bright and beckoning windows dodging the ein sin ister hospitality that despite the gen tier influences can turn christina C brist mas into a it milestone of bitterness and regret and return to the farm clear eyed and clean breathed sam barn would feel that a great me asur of success had been ben won but sam knew with what mir misgivings gIvIngs be he had permit ted the experiment to lem least of all bad he be voled the faintest lem knew aleavy sluggish stoical lem was no foot he lie was just a big bulking boy placed on his honor to sam the safe return of lem marked this as the great christmas 0 ot ire bad had made a man out cut of little mo e than the dust of the road ile wondered in all intended rever ente if the creator eel leel some thing of the same warm exultation when he saw clean limbed young adam rise and salute his maker there might be presents and presents bl bi cycles and bullion but sams gift was greiter than all be had given lack tack to manhood a foundered soul hullo charlie boy wild w ild rm 1 lie pulled a chair close and eat ant down by the little boy in the dusk flowre lowre i you fe feelen feel elin ln great eald said charlie IF fr I 1 r good ness takes sakes lem wherever have you iwen been all afternoon sheffield 11 what for the tores stores arent open you buy anything any thin all right I 1 had bad a putty gach time ull the same tell irell me lem give a duoss charlie thought hard then he laughed triumphantly aw gosh leril I 1 know knowl A pitcher show kee cried lem it was a e bird too seen a rip live reel reels name of it was the panthers eye it was a bird oh lem I 1 wisht I 1 could see bee a pitcher show ne nel minal I 1 will pretty soon I 1 bad a dream last night it was another one about me beta well its it comin true too god gode is got some kerder plan I 1 dont know what it Is a but I 1 bet it its a coln to work say lem tell me bout that tiger eye pitcher show aint got time ume eald said lem hurried ly rising look colln 11 lem tramped out and CL charlie arile saw him bareheaded and coatless coat con leks tleta meet mra mrs brown and blary alice and pick up bis his son from the soap box lems changed a terrible lot thought chaille Clia ille 1 I wonder what wa war the matter with him when be he ma come here even with such an unusually delightful host as its charlie the christmas dinner was not unlike other contemporary affairs of the same kind everybody ate too much and slid talked and laughed and joked and ate some more little dick finished bis bottle and was brought rong ht out to sit in a borrowed high chair and test some new equipment oo 00 a colossal drumstick drum sUck and then thed three than thing s happened that suddenly lifted this christmas out of the category of common or garden christmases and set it op up apart and distinct just as its own turkey jutted mot up out of chev fooL LIlls ot of surrounding vegetables A load loud of startling tart ling explosion it ao 10 the yard made everio ly jumps jump wheels ground upon bard hard packed snow sam went to the ille ole door parleyed in muffled tones arted thank good night and re tuned with a great flattish pack itil case sam and lim strewed the sitting room carpet with excelsior and paper and strings until martha was quite put out at fit the muss for goodness sake sakes all them tools and things thing sr demanded the doss boss goh gosh mal mat this big board d be first rate to roll your butter on what them little du dickers look at the lead pencils 1 I krow I 1 know cried charlie ec stater ily ite its a dra wrin outfit aho do you spose poa 1 when g own up ups with their ache aches and selfishness and disia appointments and appetites for get that human being are re only ont a small part of a very great uni i vene verse and loo their faith falth in the M creator there remains to us aiho ho know some of them the y ful trust of little children in god and his love TO BE CONTINUED |
