Show anta orders I 1 1 2 aft r night and day m in i santa claus tree two youngsters have exciting part in church christ mas celebration by FRANK HERBERT SWEET INT never seen a crisbus A tree naw limp not one aint I 1 told you mugs never been out the city nathla not liin I 1 aint neither but ive seen trees no end in winders front of stores anif an round markets where they stand like ilke like woods an jest its as green an Ansa say yIve ive seen geen dogs mong imong ein barkla like theys bears way back tn la why everywhere long iong Cr ismus course youve seen some tell yon yen I 1 aint guess 1 know uy my street dont have none sides I 1 aint been eoln round till lately so agreed his companion with a sudden change from derision to the deepest sympathy youve had to be a 0 bed kid I 1 kind 61 0 forgot you hoppin round so spry on that crutch throw tile the extra leg away tome sterile day i 11 I 1 will go anywhere you like I 1 guess now abran abram abeln dead bend anywhere own boss never been go long with me to where crisbus trees hang out JI this far out before proudly Y li 4 guess ril ill go BO streets an str time rf say with wt sudan inspiration go long with me to i abere ere Cris trees bang out baldreda an hundreds seen the e dogs ensin ns ln debbe lph LP 9 six or eight blocks ill go slow so you can keep I 1 up atc abc n u ap P y our grannels gran granny nyls 1 scorned albet I 1 can race oil an beat you I 1 mine ame legs gettin so BO I 1 can bend now sure I 1 can beat you j arree iree legs 6 i ajtai la w on then made good time the six bis or nocks but before covering them was As going very slowly and hla his i was as white aik n lie he caught 6 a sight of the trees I 1 fa is pain was waa forgotten and the J IV HT ess b became ec ame a wonderful flush flusa 01 S al 91 t rhems ems trees crisbus trees he be ebed ai ed aint they pret pretty tyl 1 ore you doing there boys areek treek tre fenly demanded the owner of the i bor enoc as tho the two approached near parm figh agh tor for limp to thrust an ecstatic 4 3 janto into the green foliage 11 luil this fellers been in bed most all S ite till lat lately elynn an aint never seen M tree afore afeie explained ps ailes dettla loony over em lit ale ai inan in looked at limp curiously t gaze growing more kindly all ii right go ahead he nodded y belp elp youri yourself elf I 1 think myself y aty enough to go a little loony f bi bier er permitted the boys pushed aps thelt way deep among the evergreens ever greens ethere I There were little ones for table use l and from rom that all the way up to great arees thirty or forty feet high tor for church or large building some of J these big trees had bad open branches one f see bee among while others were here i 0 so o dense that a person a few feet st gnp p the trunk was who wholly ily invisible 3 Vs the boys ot of course chose one of 0 g the dense trees to push their way i up into ten or twelve feet it eug mystery and bears aint it nice an warm in here said bald limp drowsily bileve Bl Bli leve ifould I 1 could to go to sleep I 1 sleep much last night bew so cold go ahead encouraged mugs debbe rii ill join you find a ulcer bacer an warmer place an bew so 0 o thick we t fall down though ta rm coln to fix myself cross legged on the branches with my arms wrapped aped round me too sleepily it was only a little past noon about four several trien men pushed their w way y among the big trees examining a and n d comparing them finally the densely branched one in 0 aa ofa no he dead only fainted from exhaustion which the boys were sleeping was selected workmen quickly appeared to lift it into a truck and only when it was being raised from the ground to the truck did the boys awake at first bewildered wil dered then their arms closed frantically about the trunk with visions of policemen and station houses keeping them silent they would have to wait until the tree stopped shaking with the coast clear below and then sneak down and scud away but it did not clear away below at the church to which the tree was wa carried more people joined the workmen handling the tree and within the church while being set up still other voices many of them ladies rose to the strained strat ned ears of tho the boys have to wait till it grows dark seems whispered mugs muga hoarsely to limp can you hold out course then a bombshell exploded in rather a soft voice guess a few of us would better stay here all night to hang the church greenery and get the tree decorated to be ready for the p presents loin tomorrows tomor grovet rowl ought to have taa E A tu I 1 1 I mft ra commean am cu ruilt aty aws ith kt the U I 1 w committee at the tb e last moment all right we can make a good start tonight and tomorrow therell be a superabundance of help there was so the boys clung to 1 the tree all night and all the next I 1 day while the outer ends of the I 1 branches were covered with many 1 kinds ot of presents and on into the evening when the church filled to overflowing and all the time limps face was growing whiter and whiter it was just when the presents were being removed that the tenacious will faltered and the white laced faced boy went limp and slid from branch to branch end and so to the floor the crutch clattering on ahead I 1 I 1 that was more than mugs could stand lie forgot policemen and station I 1 houses and flung himself down regardless of body and dislodged presents ile he aint dead he sobbed limp aint dead Is her hel men and women gathered about them and listened to mugs rambling disjointed story one man was kneel ing beside limp no he dead he assured mugs only tainted fainted from exhaustion then to those around 1 I had not thought of any present to me and just slipped in to look on OIL but it seems I 1 am having the most important gift of 0 all I 1 am a surgeon and my car Is outside I 1 will take the boy to my hospital at once im coln declared mugs ano no my boy not now you will ro fo with le me to my lay place in the country but I 1 aall take you in to see your friend every day when he gets wil w 11 ll hell come out to join us will he get well no question of it I 1 think and neither ot of you will ever need to get into a christmas christinas tree to get warn warm again Q 1927 IS 27 by western newpher New unto caloa 11 |