Show am ww ya A frozen santa bu harm boehme W 1 I was in a cheat mountain camp last christmas eve when someone mentioned the name nama of 0 billie burke there was an instant stillness in the cabin the boys dropped their cards and the words poor billie were on almost every lip I 1 was some somewhat Ahat puzzled who was billie burke I 1 inquired for a moment no one answered one of the boys called on old sam uncle sam they called him you tell him sam you knew billie longer than any of us the boys all drew their chairs near the fire and sam told the story yes I 1 billie from the time he was a wee shaver me and him used to pelt each other with stones tree coons and steal whisky together you kno know w bill and his pop were in the business before the revenue officers copped it A bad cuss was that young billie burke before he was sent to the reform school but what chances did he have lie ile knowel no better the whole blooming family were in that one roomed log house the old lady digging ginseng in the summer to get enough to buy the winters supply of snuff and chewing toba tobacco cco and the old man running his still in the ravine using the corn tor for whisky that should have made pone cakes for tho the kiddies wal sir air I 1 never seen such a change in a youngster as billie when he came back he read he wrote he wore good clothes and fine shoes and he was a gentleman his people know him at first then billie said bald he was going to meet it on the square 11 while ho he was at home the last time he met the schoolmarm of 0 the red sulphur spring school and he tell fell in love I 1 suppose though he never said anything to no one but me he said it to me real earnestly any gal would have been proud to have billie ballie a straight strong clean and boy why the presidents daughter say no to him 11 11 1 I can see him yet as he left this camp the last day I 1 ever seed him A I 1 done told him hid Z 10 to wait tor for the log train that went at noon but he wait he started over the shortcut short cut trail to durbin a six mile tramp there was something in the air I 1 thought it was snow there seemed a terrible silence over the whole woods when billie left at dawn that was the last time I 1 seed him alive goodby good by uncle sam he shouted from the hill as he waved his hia hand and a merry christmas to you and dont get drunk be sure to make good resolutions for the new year goodby good by 1 he stopped at the widow jones house on his bis way to durbin and she made him drink a cup of hot coffee which she and the kiddies were having at breakfast then he told her about the Chiist christmas mas he expected to spend at home he was just bubbling over with joy and the widow started to cry at christmas she said the thoughts of the ones that are departed are green in ones memory as the holly leaves that grow on the holly tree and like a circle of holly leaves are they entwined in a wreath of memory then billie tried to comfort her and asked her why she was crying she said that her kiddies wanted to know about santa claus because the paxson children who went sledding on the hill told them what santa was going to bring them and they asked their thear maw when santa was coming to them she told them that he coming there going to be any christmas tor for them because they were poor that stuck in billies crew craw and he said lie ho would go to durbin and get something forem tor em and could still make no 9 train jn in the afternoon for home that trail Is 13 bad enough in summer to say 4 Y nothing about it in winter one trip a day over that cheat mountain slope is enough for any man I 1 dont see how could have been so thoughtless of himself when he always was so thoughtful of others wal sir air when he got to durbin it was high noon they say it was on snowing ow hard and he was covered with the soft flakes ile he never tarried but as s soon as ho he could got get a sack full of dolls drums candy oranges and a sled he started for the hills it was snowing hard when he came into town and drifting under a light wind when he turned back and it got awfully cold 30 degrees below you know the rest they found him at the toot foot of the precipice leaning smiling with the sack on his back no more than a quarter of a mile from the widders home I 1 believe as the parson read insomuch as ye have done it unto one of these I 1 the lumberjacks lumber jacks are not much tor for sentiment but let me tell you when old sam had finished his story you could see that it had affected every one of them Phil philadelphia adelphis north american |