Show Itil eSiG astory bahm blessin g PHOEBE G RAY HL w copyright by small company SYNOPSIS 9 while trundling the clean clea n washing up C liper clipper p hill mary alice brown la is setup set up on by some mischievous boys who spill the washing ashing w into the dirt she is Wres i rescued cued and taken to her home in calvert Cal verti street by francis willett a galahad knight she Is punished by her drunken father for returning ret urn ng without the wash money mary A alice ce wanders away from ho home rn e takes a tr trolley 0 ride into the country and spends the iler night n at the f of sam thomas themas in the morning she meets little charlie liw thomas a cripple sam takes mary alice home and finds that he and mrs brown br own are old 0 acl acquaintances sam sa in takes he her r and mary alice to his ho home me for a V visit sit while lem brown thed the drunken father th Is serving a workhouse sentence oen tence charlie C ha Is s made a galahad knight francis visits the farm and is saved from drowning by mary alice lem iem brown gets out of jail and goes to work tor for sam thomas as hired man francis willett Is sent ent away to preparatory school mary alary alice gets a job in a department store stole Q ens a sa aaela B enata fafa faette E E Fat fathers fiers and smothers tos to pa forget forga sometimes that they may do things which cause V their children to blush with shame it la Is one of the great n responsibilities of parenthood for the father and mother to 5 keep burning as a strong 5 bright flame thie the faith of their A little ones in them consider i now mary alices case 37 CHAPTER VI continued I 1 tb they ey did their best to spoil him be was the son eon of the biggest man in sheffield they wondered at his friendship top the demure little bundle girl chos this charlie you and francis willetts always about mary alice they would query the matter with him Is he be sick what cant walk poor little feller les go gb out and see him some gome sunday girls could we mary alice they did it too martha made ice cream again and charlie had a heavenly y afternoon the girls bubbled and gurgled and exclaimed over his bis lovely golden goiden hair and his shining blue eyes mary alice told me all about you said charlie arile youre grace and youre sadie gadle and youre minnie maty mary alice had introduced them as I 1 miss corrigan and miss tifft Tiff tand and miss Stern helm howd you know dear they chorused mary alice she scribed ascribed bed you she says pays you know another friend 0 mine too hes francis willett Wll lett IY you ou bet wedo we do hes bes mary alicea alacca dyl charlie looked puzzled mary alice blushed cut it out alin warned grace he be know about steadies going back to town on the trolley ear car minnie suddenly turned to mary alice charlie mean by the boss and lem ilem I 1 guess the boss Is his father abut chwa lem mary alice choked on nothing clutched lier her seat and opened her fiert mouth to answer just as surely as she lived she meant to say hes my father but it come out she tried three times no use then the n she said lem oh lem why hes mr thomas hired man 1 it did not salve mary alices alice I 1 s conscience to reflect that she had bad told the exact truth she lay awake that night trying to square things with herself before her in the dark floated floa ted the face of an indolent injured angel framed in al a billowing border of shining priceless gold and the eyes were very sid sad and surprised and accusing mary alice hid her face in the pillow and promised herself and charlie that she would tell the girls in the morning who lem really was was so she went to sleep quite easy in her mind but you know you cant somehow stand up in a sort of pulpit like an armed fortress above head bead and shout down that your father Is a farmers hired man it would lie he absurd mary alice postponed the revelation indefinitely you must remember that mary alice was after all only a little girl less than thirteen years old gnp on day the floorwalker brought mary alice a letter it was addressed in pencil and all the as als were very rould and the loop of the T 1 rather liberal the lower part of the B was smaller than the second story part and the punctuation not unoriginal aside from these minor details it was a good shipshape letter oh ob mary alices got a letter cried the girls chos it from honey francis ls I 1 bet a cooky let ms me read it wont you mary alice see if he says anything about me in it IL does he be send us his love mary alice open the letter but bucl calt in her apron pocket and ue the girls pouted and said bald she was a mean old thing the forenoon went bal haltingly Y up la in the girls rest room at the lunch baar mary alice stole off in a corner and eagerly slit silt the envelope with a hairpin ImIr pIn this la Is what she read I 1 saint michaels school lake valley dear mary alice well here I 1 wn am at hast in prep school it la Is amandy a dandy place land and there are arc most two hundred fellows abere me bare and wo we are all going to tho same college col leeo b lwell well I 1 thought 1 I would write yo you u mary alice Allce about ia fa very particular matter on ion account so annear anear christmas I 1 have a swell idea first chanco chance you get you go to the art Artil department of your store and pick out anice a nice dra drawing outfit I 1 thought or of ir it in our ur drawing class hohlt was just the thing to give charlie thomas it would amuse him I 1 can ca just imagine him sitting there poor fellow ile he and I 1 lare are fellow Gala hads so I 1 want wan t to be remembered to him and you must have a share in it we will give it to him together put a card on it from lady mary alice and sir francis willett greetings brother knight I 1 guess buesa it will wilf tickle him I 1 would not bother you but I 1 wont be home christmas christinas I 1 am invited to walrus farquharso Farqu hars house forthe for the holidays and mother and father say I 1 can go so that Is all from your devoted sir knight IF WILLETT P S father says uncle billy jackson Is coming home right after new year second ap P SI forgot you can have them charge tho drawing outfit to father CHAPTER vil VII the bertest christmas at the thomas farm was always a charlies day this year he be was a year older land and a year wiser somewhere the course of twelve months charlie had discovered consciously ly the athing that can make every one off three hundred and sixty five days a christmas perhaps it had bad been between the covers of his beloved story of sir galahad on that first day mary alice had bad read it to him christmas at the farm had meant a little love feast with three to partake p a r now ailt meant something more the open dobrof door of hospitality the sharing of ones Ves blessings sings charlie with marthas help sent out his bis invitations will you please come to our party on christmas night we are going to have a tree and a turkey it weighs seventeen pounds commences at six very respectfully yours CHARLES CHARLE S B THOMAS sam and martha had some misgivings about the willetts letts 1 I know what to do to entertain them swells said martha still if charlie wants em ill do my A five beela called the panthers eye best mr willetts fine I 1 mind him so much but mrs N willetts lil letts different shed embarrass me to pieces oh I 1 dont know said sam trying to be encouraging goods them willett was poor ern I 1 am once yet it was with distinct relief that the read mrs willetts Wll letta gracious and cordial answer to charlies invitation they were to sp spend end christmas with mrs Wille willetts tVs people if F francis were to be at home it would be different he would have been delighted she regretted very much and so forth and so on OIL thank goodness said martha then be just us and the browns br owns sam gave charlie five dollars to shop ath and the little boy very deprecating and apologetic declined to take anyone but mary alice into hla his conal dence regarding his purchases and so eo the great night finally came As modern Christ christmases mases go the weather and the amount of snow were quite up to specifications the flue fine clean snow lay in gentle billowing drifts sparkling in the rays of a whacking big moon and the air bit and tingled oh it was some christmas Christ masl in the sitting room the table was all set the bright coals in the heater beiter glowed through the squares square s of mica and on lid its top apples in a pan sputtered and sizzled fill filling ing the room with a sugary odor dont light the lamp just yet mum mee said charlie 1 I cant see out the window if you do so be sat looking down the snowy road all patched d and shadow barred in the slant moonlight to martha it seemed as it if her boy there in the pate pale glow from the window were surrounded and glo glorified rifled by the soft aura from his bis golden head she went into the kitchen and basted tho turkey which crackled and popped in its own came the far thin clanging of a gong the sheffield trolley approaching the end of the line slid into view with shining rectangles of light rocking and dipping then it and chaale knew that wasse we wore stepping down tato abe snow in fly idary abuce and mrs brown browm and aind maby baby bick dick would cover the dla din taxi ceto to the maryalyce Mary alice Allce would be gher brother tucked vl vp we warmly ay U lna x soap box on a cebirt sled out in the kitchen rose the boss voice loud and hearty hullo there zem lea old all dolled up say youve got a moie nose aint ye 7 gosh ciol its that red necktie you sure me how long ye ben home I 1 see nee ye drive into the yard bring a papery shucks I 1 forgot course they aint to no evenin papers on a holl holiday dayi set down well go long in if rather hes ate h in out down th tb 0 road for the folks lem had bad been to town that afternoon alone sam haq let him take the horse and sleigh elelah so far in the tb matter of trusting his bis hired man he be had not heretofore gone it was tc sams way of thinking the supreme test if lem lein could on this day of jl all 11 others run the gantlet of bright and beckoning windows dodging the sinister hospitality that despite the gentler influx encee can turn christmas into a milestone of bitterness and r regret e and return to the farm clear eyed and clean breathed sam would feel that a great measure ceasur of success had been won nobody but sam knew kaev with what misgivings he be had bad permitted the experiment to lem least of all had bad he voiced the faintest di distrust lem knew heavy sluggish stol stoical cil lem was wai no fool he was just a big hulking appy boy placed on his honor to sam the safe r return of le lem marked ibises this as the great christmas of ses he had bad made a man out of little nore more than the dust duit of the road ile he wo wondered in all intended reverence ilithe if the creator feel something of the same warm exultation when aben he be saw clean limbed young Adam rise and salute his maker there might be presents and presents bl cycles and bullion but sams gift gif was greater than all lie he had given back to manhood a foundered soul hullo charlie boy said lem HP he pulled a chair close and sat down by the little boy in the dusk how hoare re you feelen feell feel ln nl great said charlie fr afir g goodness sakes lem wherever have you been all afternoon sheffield 11 what for the stores aren arent t open you buy thata all right I 1 bad a putty good time all the same tell me lem give e a guess gues 91 charlie thought hard then he be laughed triumphantly aw gosh leml lem I 1 knowl know A pitcher show kee recal cried lem it was waa a bird too seen a rip I 1 five reels name nameon of it was the panthers eye it was a bird 1 oh lern lem I 1 wisht I 1 could see a pitcher show ne mind I 1 will pretty suon soon I 1 had a dream adream last night it was another one about me bein well its chinin true too gods got some kinder plan I 1 dont know what it la is but I 1 bet its goin to work say lem tell me bout that tiger eye pitcher i show aint got time said lem hurriedly rising look chos comin lem tramped out and charlie saw him bareheaded and cont coatless less meet mrs brown and mary alice and pick up his son from the soap box lem lems s changed a terrible lot thought charlie 1 I wonder what nias was the matter with him when he first come here even with such an unusually delightful host as charlie the christmas dinner was not essentially unlike other contemporary affairs of the same kind everybody ate too much and talked and laughed and jot joked ed and ate some more little dick fin finished shed his bottle and was brought out to sit in a borrowed high chair and test some now new dental equipment on a colossal drumstick and then three things happened that suddenly lifted this christmas out of the category of common or garden and set it up apart and distinct just as its own turkey jutted butted mountainously up out of the foothills of surrounding vegetables A loud volley of startling explosions tn in the yard made everybody jump wheels ground squeakily squeak lly upon hard packed snow sam went to the side door parleyed parl eyed in muffled tones cried thanks good night and returned beturne d with a great flattish packing case sam and lem strewed the sitting room carpet with excelsior escel and paper anil and strings until martha smartha was quite put out at the muss for goodness sake all them tools and things demanded the boss gosh ma 1 this big board d be fl first rate to roll your butter on oni them little lickers look at the lead ead pencils 1 I know I 1 know cried C charlie barite ecstatically 1 tail cally its a dra wrIn outfit who do you spose MJ when grownups grown ups with their ii S aches and selfishness and dis V 9 appointments and appetites fors rt H get that human beings are only ohly it V a small part of a very great al verse and lose their faith in the 0 cea creator r to there remains to us who i know some of them the beamut be aut III I 1 iu ful trust of little little children in god i and his love TO BE CONTINUED |