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Show 1 i o-ooooooooooooooooc 0? ; l The H ! X! Christmas j ! l Goose jX o: 1 io By CEL1A E. CHUTE I 9 L....................... .................... ........... .... oxxxxxxxxxoooo (Copyright, 1919, McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) OI.O.MON. the Caruthers' 4bM S"ose, had growu so 08tr ' plump mid so pompous SKJl)-'St lllat il see"le1 s If he lgf? must he aware that k'rwit thin were ex-Peeted ex-Peeted .if him at the holiday dinner, and was I ) ''"'"E bis best to ful- Mg-P fill expectations. "Sol- l ffrA J union is almost as much G4S of a responsibility as Johnnie," Mrs. Caruthers Caruth-ers said one day, when her husband was extricating Solomon from a tight place Ln the poultry yard fence. "I begin to be afraid that having him so much on our minds and in our company com-pany may affect our appetites for our Christmas dinner. As the holiday approached the whole yard began to look small for Solomou. Carrie Caruthers, coming in one day from a walk, complained that he had strenuously objected to making way for her on the walk. "Really, mother, it makes me feel as If we oughtn't to eat him," she said, coloring a little. "He seems too human." "Dear me, child!" said Mrs. Caruthers Caruth-ers hurriedly. "Don't mention that before be-fore Johnnie." The next afternoon Johnnie came running into the house in great excitement. excite-ment. "The Leonard dog is chasing Solomon," he wept. "Muvver, come and make him go home!" Mrs. Caruthers looked out. Solomon was certainly having a perilous adven- 1 ture. The Leonard dog was circling about him, making vicious charges. Nothing but the spreading of Solomon's Solo-mon's formidable wings and his harsh outcries saved him. "My I what a dreadful dog!" exclaimed Mrs. Caruthers, Caruth-ers, hurrying to the rescue. There was ear-splitting squawking from the terrified goose. . "Muvver! Muvver!" cried Johnnie, bursting into heartrending wails. Mrs. Caruthers picked up a stick and made a motion of throwing it. "Go home!" she commanded sternly. The dog spread his feet and shook his head. "Bow-wow !" he returned impudently. She threw the stick. It seemed to be the only thing she could do. The Leonard dog whirled around in an anguish of pain and astonishment. Then, realizing that he had been worsted, he departed on three legs for his kennel. "You hit him, muvver! 3Tou hit him !" exulted Johnnie. The frightened goose sat hunched under a tree, his head buried in his back. Some of -the feathers were gone from his tail, and patches of fluffy down were blowing about the yard. "Blest if I can see what there is about that goose to fascinate an entire en-tire family." said Mr.. Cam! hers, ap- pouring suddenly behind lliem. "If you don't look out, Lucy, you'll be refusing re-fusing your favorite hip slice when Christmas comes." Uip slice! Solomon's hip slice! Mrs. Caruthers could scarcely restrain a shudder as she glanced at the heap of feathers huddled in a corner. What a cannibalistic vision! "Oh, please, Austin, don't speak of it!" she begged. "Tell father what happened, dear." Johnnie, incoherent from agitation, told the story of the attack and res- "Go Home!" She Commanded Sternly. cue. "Muvver frew a stick at him," he ended, smiles breaking out at the entrancing en-trancing recollection. "It hurt his leg. He could only run on free legs. He went home awful fast, didn't he, muvver?" muv-ver?" Just then Carrie Caruthers and a young man came around the corner of the house and came to join them. Johnnie observed young Doctor Arnold with interest. The day before he had heard his Aunt Eunice call the doctor a "foregone conclusion." He watched him narrowly, trying to discover how a "foregone conclusion" differed from other men. He thought, onthe whole, that It would be rather nice to be on friendly terms with a "foregone conclusion," con-clusion," so he moved nearer and timidly tim-idly announced that Solomon was a Christmas goose. "He's a splendid big fellow," said the young doctor heartily. "How much of him dv you think you can eat?" |