Show eaven b me sa S ers by ae J H roc ell VISTER 14 UNION and there were shepherds abiding ir in the field keeping watch over their flock by night light and to lo the angel of the lord came upon them and the glory of the lord shone round about ham und and they were sore afraid anil and the angel of th fLord said unto them fear not for behold I 1 wing bring you good tidings of oveat VY joy which shall be ba to io all people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a saviour which is christ the lord and suddenly there was with 14 the i angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men ND so down through two thousand years heavenly messengers have been going to and fro in the earth carrying good tidings of 0 great joy sometimes of course there are messages of sorrow but in the christmas time the messages are messages t that hat carry comfort and gladness th that at bring peace and good will but there are heavenly messengers wh who are always speeding somewhere not only at christmas time but all the time tor for that matter and so this story has to do only with the small red chocked checked boys of the post postoffice office special delivery service who go and come far into the night on christmas eye eve darkness had fallen and shifting crowds of people hurried good natu through the packed shopping district of a large western wester city on one of the great lakes the crowd flowed like a human river with cur A house loomed up before him rents eddying oft off into the side elde streets and alleys in the stores could be heard the crisp wrapping of paper the con conlinn tinn ous blare of horns and tinkling of toy pianos and weary shop girls serving patrons equally weary outside was wind and snow and jostling people loaded down with bales and bundles of christmas purchases rn in the post postoffice office the wheels were turning fast while a steady stream of letters and packages poured in through the mailing chutes on every hand clerks at the various windows weri were t ansy ausy handing banding out stamps weighing lne bundles and making change in the center of the room a man was pushing ng EL a long horizontal row of let tern teris along a table into a cancelling machine three others were steadily pounding packages with a rubber stamp still another roan man nervous ant anc working under pressure stood just within a horseshoe hoise shoe railing of iron pipe on which hung canvas mall mail sacks with swift trained hands lie he toss tossed ed letters and packages from his central position in the horseshoe into the open mall mail sacks with unerring certainty suddenly scooping up a small handful of letters a clerk called out special 1 A small boy arose aroi n pile of mall mail sacks with a jump ru kuh bing the sleep out of his eyes 05 cs he went across the room and entered the addresses of the in lita hook gee but my feet hurt he confided to one of the clerks it was an oft re heated story to the clerk but he stopped his hurried work and regarded the boy with kindly eyes as he said last trip won non it to s after ten now and if anything should shoud come in later we will hold it until morning I 1 know how it la is used to carry them myself the boy went out into the night and made his way towards the outskirts of the town where there were no street cars where the way was often dark and the sidewalks worn and broken it was waa the negro quarters teri where broken window panes were stuffed with old rags raga and the window curtains were of paper dirty muslin or pieces of faded red tablecloth table doth the heavenly messenger plodded down a side street stamping his feet to keep the snow from caking on his shoes hoes ile he came out of tile the lark dark under the rustling trees whose ice covered limbs creaked and crackled in the wind dolefully past an electric light dimi ried by millions of swirling white teka then LAW the dark atala 4 |