| Show Jt IO OTi tl 3 i A ACho A Christmas Ill ris e Yeas t k Snowstorm l 11 By Sarah Jane Clark sJ st it HR EE hours late the snowbound snowbound snow- snow Bbl t bound train tram reached Chicago nary s1 Jary Lou gathered her baggage to- to ther ether and took the bus across to 4 he I other station to find her con- con 1 train had left on schedule schedule nhe he folks folles would drive in to town to set the train unless she could head hend Hem oft oIT Meet Her message put through Mary Maryt t iou ou sank down on one of the benches wI collect her thoughts and make per er er t plans until train time Five lock clock and no train until 9 30 the ext ext morning Going out soon a cheery voice sear fear her asked She looked up to nd fid the chief usher standing beside fir er A middle-aged middle friendly look- look Kg ng fellow Mary Lou told him of her pissed connections Here Edd Eddie e look at this a red ap interrupted her story He was wasl l ading fading a year three-year-old child a n alear pear lear ar little girl with big blue eyes nd d yellow curls What are you doing with the kid If s she lost Eddie asked sharply iJ turning away from Mary Lou Might as well weIl be She came in rom Denver in charge of the stew stew- dess They missed the train tram north X nd d the stewardess is celebrating b by having her appendix f ut t emergency case They told me JE ID turn the kid over to you the oy y grinned as ns he handed her over to toe tolie lie he e chief usher u lt r. r 1 Eddie took look her clumsily See fjere ere what can cnn a bachelor like me ilo j J o J with th a kid like this He looked appealingly ij at nt Mary Lou i Mary Lous Lou's eyes filled with tears filen hen she held out her arms toward e youngster What U is your name f dear al' al she asked Annette Pollard I am three mAnnette frears years ars old and I am going from Cheyne Chey- Chey rine ne tc to Rio Wisconsin to my granda grand grand- Ana a Pollard My daddy is there It jp as Peas as a lesson she had been taught Mary Lou held her close I had I little Ie g girl i almost s as old as Annette t t t. t tr Y INA Y IL I Ii t a 1 i h V N Nh Ni h i MAC a z j Mary Lou heard the voice of An- An inette's father she died she said brokenly ao 1 6 Eddie Let me keep the child night and take her to her home missed the same train she did I Eddie studied her face What he saw aw satisfied him Still he hesitated or a moment That sounds good goodo o me But Id I'd better get the conductor conductor con con- ductor to authorize it k tT T WAS soon decided that Mary MaryLou MaryLou Lou should keep her But she must not leave the station It wont won't b be e very comfortable for you maam ma'am it b ut the kid can curl up on a bench nere ere and be dead to the world in inno 1 no ho time There are some rocking Chairs hairs in the far room there Why of f course there are some cots there and nd baby beds We ought to telephone the childs child's Mary Lou suggested q Of course we should Here is the he address and telephone number You do it for me will you please maam ma'am Ive I've got my last minute d shopping hopping to do Im I'm mighty glad you Pu came in on this train take the kid while you telephone to toRio Rio io and the conductor was off after turning over the childs child's money to Mary Lou But not until Ma MaLou Mary Lou had made him promise to send senda 1 a a big doll back for the childs child's Christmas B n i A A i e 11 u let III Annette say suy hello to 10 to ii her r daddy herself if f she wants to Mary ary Lou exclaimed And so it was done Mary Lou heard the voice of Anisettes Annette's father tense with concern and d then joyful as be re realized where I this pis his baby was and heard her childish treble over the phone Her mothers mother's moth moth- her ers er's rs r's s 's parents sent her back here to av ave Christmas with me Her mother moth moth- er died two years ago he added f R I The sun was shining dazzlingly fj t right bright the next morning when the strain tram airi stopped a at 1 Rio tie The red-haired red man an who was waiting expectantly on m the platform had only time tune to i thank Mary Lou an and d get her address ad I I dress before the tram train pulled u out t leaving him holding Annette as she I raved waved a n good-by good to Mary Lou ft But Dut the trip home was much II r ier er r Mary Lou forgot the burning I pain at the loss of her own wn little daughter all the aching loneliness since I her own husbands husband's death as ns she i remembered the soft soC kiss of the I aby ilLy lips of the motherless chit child Who hu had been in her charge the I night before And the look in the theace theace face ace of Annette's Anisettes daddy made her sure she would see Annette tI soon Iuro |
