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Show A Child's Thanksgiving. ! By Im Sclle Whitmorc. Udltnr'H Note Thl tory, "A ClilWn ThankBllnir." nppwim In tlie ; Deeemlier numlier of the Carbon, which will b off The Hun prow thH week. t It won thn ticnutlful uold niplal rwcntb nwardml by the fnrlKHi county , oomwlldatcd nclionl lioard for the bent ThnnkigUlnB utory. Jnne was just six nnd couldn't be expected to know much about ; Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving to Jane meant merely the gorging . of a charity furnished dinner, of which turkey comprised the , greater part. She did know, however, that that occasion was jUBt ; three days off and that she could hardly wait for its arrival. Jane . was a bright eyed, happy little creature who was everywhere at , once nnd never in the same place long. Nobody seemed to notice ; her, but that is not n thing to be wondered nt she was so sninll Jane didn't want to be noticed. All her small efforts were spent n , keeping her family at home, safe nnd well. Home to Jane s family , was behind the big woodbox nnd under the kitchen cuplward. Her ; family consisted of "Dorothy Pconn," a small one-eyed doll with -Btringy yellow hair, which was always down with cither measles , or whooping cough, and a later addition, n bedraggled looking ; black nnd white kitten. Here Jane held undisputed swny over her ; little realm. , lt ; The house where Jane and her mother lived stood alone on the , outskirts of a great city. Hero she hnd been born and here she ; hnd stayed. Ever since Jnne could remember her mother had ; taken in washing nnd sewing to cam their scanty living, nnd living . was a dull mnttcr in the little cottage at times. ', Juno loved the long golden summers because it wns then she ; moved her residence from behind the woodbox to tho shad side -I of the house. But now winter wns drawing near and prospects ', (were worse than they had ever been before. Tor the pnst three ; I days tho mother, wenkened by toil hnd hardly stirred from her -rude bed, and medical aid was out of tho question. There had been ; i no fire and now the meager supply of food hnd vanished. lane hnd borne tho trinli of cold and fear bravely enough while food lasted, j .but now that hunger hnd crept In, she broke down nnd sobbed. '. JHcr doll nnd kitten could not imke her forget the pangs of the ; ihungry little body, as they had made her warm in previous trlnls. Child though she was, she was being made to suffer as many : grownups have never suffered in their entire lives. Dawn wns slowly creeping into the eastern sky in tints of rose ; nnd gold. The ground wns white with frost and the sting of the morning wind grew sharper as the sun lifted Itself above tho horizon. As soon as the light entered her window, Jnno arose. It ; was bitterly cold in the house and tho bare floor numbed her feet ; as she entered her mother's room. Something in the icy quietness . made her stop short. Why did her mother lie so still and silent? ', Softly sho tiptoed to the bed and lifted the coverlet from tho quiet ; face. Why wero those careworn features so pale and the dark eyes so glazed 7 The childish fingers wero Inld caressingly upon ' the mother's cold forehead, but still she did not stir. "Mama, Mnma, wake up. Jane's told. Jnno wants her break- ; fast," tho childish voice pleaded, and yet the silent figure did not move, for the poor woman had passed to her last reward. Death hnd never entered tho child's uneventful life before, nnd ' alio looked upon it with horror nnd dread. How could she know j that her mother had left all her suffering and pain behind nnd . wns now in the Great Unknown? All the child's mind could grasp , was that her Another would not waken nnd thnt upon her face was an expression of restful peace which Jane had never seen there ' before. In her utter helplessnoss to combat this strange thing ' thnt had crept into her life she could not weep, so heavy was the load that hung upon her heart. I All that morning Jnno entered nnd left her mother's room, I each ttmo thinking that hur mother would wake upon the next, until at last from sheer exhaustion, she dropped upon tho floor and slept. I The early afternoon sun woko hor, nR it stronmed through the .window upon thu floor where she lay. At first she could remember remem-ber nothing of tho morning's events. Like n flash they came to I her, and with a cry, half pain nnd hnlf sorrow, sho tried ngaln to j waken her mother. A few moments later tho little figure loft the house and trudged slowly across the fields toward a neighboring farmhouse. ! Ah she doubtfully entered the big barnyard, she saw a pleasant j faced woman throwing com to what seemed to Jnno like thousands ,of chickens, turkeys and geeso, which clucked, gobbled and quacked ns they scrambled for their feed. Tho joy of life was in the air, anil ns a particularly proud turkey gobbler strutted past her, Jane forgot her troubles and actually laughed with glee. Tho woman looked up and ns sho saw the childish figure, sho felt a sudden pang, remembering nnothcr little face which had been denr to her. How much this little stranger reminded her of her own dend child! Jnne looked at her with eyes that filled with tears as sho remembered her mother's face. As their gaze met, tho child's was ono of tenderness nnd love, tho womnn's of yearning and desire. de-sire. The child fell into the outstretched arms and wns pressed to the woman's hungry bosom. I Hnlf an hour later, when Jano hnd drunk the warm milk given I her, sho told her new found friends a story that brought tears to ; their eyes. Tho farmer had been called from tho bnm and ns ho i listened, he turned away to brush two big tears from his swarthy , cheeks. "Lot's keep hero here, Joe, for tho sako of ours that's gone." 1 But tho man could only nod, so heartfelt was his sympathy. This was Jane's first Thanksgiving, and one long remembered. Thnt afternoon Jnno snt at a big table covered with snowy linen nnd fairly creaking with dellcncies sho hnd never seen before. "Dorothy Peona" hnd been restored to her and her happiness wns comploto. That night after she had been put in bed, in her childish child-ish way, sho gnvo thanks to Him who had guided her. ! I , . |