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Show Waif Zed Finds Out About Love and Sells Jewel to Buy a Mother By DOROTHEA WAITZMANN Once upon a time a homeless waif was adopted by a band of Nomads No-mads who plundered caravans traveling trav-eling the highways of Judea. We shall call the waif Zed. His story was written by Mrs. Perry, j. , . f - v- ; ! l - ' r 1 - i Santa may miss some this year. who made him the central character charac-ter of her Christmas story "The Jewel." Although we have forgotten the proper names of the characters charac-ters and lost trace of our friend Mrs. Perry, "The Jewel" has become as traditional with us as Dickens' "Christmas Carol." Zed was useful to the Nomads, so they did not abuse him too much. In those days, when everyone was ordered by Caesar's decree to go unto un-to his native city to be enrolled for taxation, Zed was sent scouting among the travelers the bandits awaiting his report on who was worth robbing. The boy "fell in" with Eleazar and his family. The family was a happy household in comfortable circumstances. cir-cumstances. Surrounded by her own children, the mother embraced the ragged child and, for the first time in his life, Zed realized the existance of love and kindness. Zed did not dare to remain in this new found paradise too long, lest his masters think he was awaiting an opportunity to assist them in plunder. Returning to the Nomad camp, he reported Eleazar's outfit to be poverty pov-erty stricken; then he slipped away and sought "his tree" within whose hollow crook he had secreted a jewel held out from a previous robbery. rob-bery. Zed fondled the precious stone. He knew what he would do; he was going go-ing to run away to Jerusalem and there, having sold his jewel, he would buy himself a mother. |
