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Show Tfie Green M Christmas 1 fill- rfiQirlstopher G. Hazard fc'-i??& Copyright 1922 bv Western Newspapsr Union JTTT WAS not a very cheerful (Sjr-. DO tllal was looking out of U Pxyif the wiudow at what little dirty ice the winter thaw had left upon tbe hill in J front of the house. Through the fine coasting days he hud heard the happy noise of the sledding while the doctor had said that he could not go out and join in It, and now, though he might soon be out of doors again, there was no surety of as good a hill again and small prospect pros-pect of sport It wasn't a very cheerful house, either. Mr. Bondage was a chainmak-er, chainmak-er, and when he came home from ids Iron works he always seemed to bring his business with him. The house of Bondage was big and strong, but It was hard, and still, and dark, and too orderly. From the outside it looked like a fort, and inside, the chairs stood at attention, like soldiers. The parlor par-lor was a solemn place, where the stiff furniture was seldom prevented from looking at itself in the gilded mirror. The dining room didn't get the sun until towards evening, when the motto, "Be Good and You Will Be Happy" could be as plainly seen as the one on the opposite wall, "Children "Chil-dren Should Be Seen but Not Heard." When the boy put on his hated bib there, It exhorted him with, "Don't Eat Too Much." Chained to the front porch was an iron dog, whose fixed and ferocious snarl was a standing insult to all the village dogs that could get through the Iron fence to dispute with him. There was some fun about the place; i it was when a surprised dog retired from the attack with a new respect for the tough guardian of the Bondage interests. in-terests. Even the lron-clnd knight in Ihe front hall seemed to laugh through hi3 visor then. Besides all this, Ishmael had had no Christmas. Mr. Bondage did not believe be-lieve in Christmas; to him Santa Claus was a foolish Imagination and a hurtful superstition. He had joined "The Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving," and was glad to be called a Spug. On December 25th he had presented to his son a picture of himself, standing in front of his office with the scowl upon his face that represented rep-resented his Idea of the expression of greatness, but the only comfort of tbe day for the boy had been tbe sweet contents of the small package that his mother had smuggled into his room just before daylight. But Ishmael Bondage had an Aunt Sarah I And Aunt Sarah had the pleasantest home in the country. It was a low. wide, rambling old house, in the midst of the trees and hugged by the climbing vines that loved It. There wasn't a place in it too good to be used and In its snowy whiteness it seemed to shine out upon the fenceless grounds with an invitation to Ihe hospitality hos-pitality of its gardens and the good mm i :Jj Bull Aunt Sarah Carried Ishmael Off. cheer of its friendly owners. That was tbe bright spot lor Ishtuael. Whiii he went out there his sunt would l an: his l-amilleroy suit up in the closrt and give him a leather suit that could not be torn and tell him to go it. lie could eat without a bib and there was not a motto in si .lit. By the lime that vacation was over he was a real boy. The other boys slopped calling him ".Sissy" and no longer uskod him if his mother knew he wns out. Indeed, he up nnd thrashed a bullying boy who had knocked over one of his conipan ions who was about half h.'s sh-.e. After Af-ter this there was Dotb'ng that he could not have among his crowd. So. every vacation sent a prim but Joyful boy to Aunt .Sarah und clos"d with a more robust but rather dejected one on his way home. But Aunt Sarah also had a nind of her own. She had so much mind that she hud concluded that winter to go (tnd give Benjamin P.ondnge a piece of It. She considered Ishmael's s'ato nnd situation und resolved to give li s fkther "a good tarklng to." When she' appeared Mr. Bondage felt that his time had probably come. When she had finished he knew It had. She told him that he had forgotten that he was ever a boy, if, indeed, he had ever been one, that he had made himself into an lrou man, that he was blind-eyed blind-eyed and hard-hearted, that he seemed determined to fasten all his chains upon up-on Ishmael and make his son as si HI and cold as an icicle. Mrs. Bondage, behind tht door, expected ex-pected her husband to object in loud and aagry tones, but, to her astonishment, astonish-ment, he was silent. He seemed to remember an old motto, "Discretion Is the Better Part of Valor," profitably, and did not interfere, even when Aunt Sarah, flushed, but triumphant, carried Ishmael off. There was some winter play left and to come nt Sweetfield, but Aunt Sarah wasn't satisfied as easily as that, for she had made up the rest of her mind into an idea that Ishmael should have the Christmas that he hadn't had, after af-ter all. It wasn't much of a Christmas day when the belated Christinas tred blossomed and bore fruit, but it was a tine tree. The snow and Ice had disappeared dis-appeared and a warm wind mnde the late winter seem like early spring, but Aunt Sarah said that evergreen trees kept Christmas all the year round, nnd that every day was their day. Cer- "A Wonderful Pocketknife " tainly It was the most Interesting tree that Ishmael had ever seen, from the bundle at the bottom, through all the ornaments, lights and gifts, to the mysterious mys-terious package at the top of It shone with kind and thoughtful love and sparkled with merry wishes and glad promise. They and the children from the neighborhood who had come to share the joy and tbe presents that Auut Sarali had prepared were wondering won-dering what would be found lu that lust parcel at 'the top, until it was taken "down, and then a part of the party, at least, was surprised w hen the wrapping was taken off und a wonderful wonder-ful pocketknife, beside a first-class football, conveyed merry wishes from Mr. Bondage to his son. Aunt Surah, said afterwards that at this she nearly near-ly "went off the handle." When May came it seemed time for Ishmael to go home, but he was not very happy nt the prospect. Indeed, lie was rather unhappy about It. Ha felt something like one on ids way to Jail, and eveu shed tears at tho thought of leaving Sweetfield, so that a squirrel, seeing him wiping bis eyes under a tree, exclaimed "Oh, what a rainy boy I" but tbe day came and Ishmael went. Another surprise awaited him, however, how-ever, for, as he neared home and entered en-tered it, everything seemed changed. The house looked sunny and pleasant in its new colors, the fence hud disappeared, disap-peared, the iron dog had been moved to the barn, and the mailed knight had gone down to the ironworks to be turned into plowshares. When Mr. Bondage went out to Sweetlield to visit his sister and to report upon Ishiiiuel's prog.re.ss. Aunt Suruh had her reward. "It is all your doing, Surah," said lie. "I needed someone to show me up to myself." "W'ell, brother," said Aunt Sarah, "A Stitch In Time Saves Nine." as the proerb lias it. and you cerlainly will be proud of our boy yet, as proud of him as I am of my big, new brolher." When December came blustering around again and brought Kama Clans anil all bis load of love and Jollity, there was no place that more warmly welcomed him than Mount Freedom, as Mr. Bondage's Inane had conie to be called, and of nil the happy Christ, ions parties of Dial year, none was fuller of mirth and rooiI cheer than the one at Mount Freedom. They danced about the tree and under the motto that hung from the top of It with Its message of good w ill to everybody, every-body, the football was kicked all over Ihe floor nnd they shouted in their L'lee. The squeaking toys, (be tooting whistles, the .happy songs, all made the time as merry as it ought always tu In1, while tbe gifts spol;e messages of love. Ishmael had prospered enough In his studies to make a picture of Sweetlield. Sweet-lield. It hung over the n nniel shelf in the living room and under It be had written, "The Home of ihe Green Christinas" When anyone asked him about it he would tell th -m how spring once en-me In n wintry time; he won'd say that while Christmas comes hut once a year, it somet:mes comes twice, and that whenever it cou.es it brings good cheer; but be wns never able to make a picture of his Aunt Sarab that seemed to him good eneneh. |