The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-12-30
S From Woos, Household Magazine.
OUR CHRISTMAS STORY.

forest. or scattered hither and thither
through pleasure grounds. The air, was
keealy cold, but very clear. No danger
of any storm this morning. The smoke
from the chimneys rose in upright feathery
columns, the side next the sun being gild-
ed by his rays. Every thing wore holi,
day look: A sense of peaceful gladness
prevailed out doors and in, this happy
dawn. 81
: But long before old aSol" with his
bright beams, OF Bridget and her shafts
of smoke were up, the children at the
house on the hill were wide awake. The
eyes so.sleepy on other cold mornings re.
fused to sleep 5en this, and no bounds of
patience,or of prudence controlled them
in: bed. In their white night dresses they
found their wayinto the warm, cozy sit
ting room where the night before they had
hung their stockings in certain expecta-
tion5 that Santa Claus, who had never for
gotten them on any previous Christmas
Eve excursion, would remember them on
this. Trembling with anticipation their
litfte bare feet and wee fingers confident
dy approached the plump mysterious
stockings ahung' by the chimney with
care.,", Nor were. they disappointed, the
pasran saint of school boys and children
had generously and Discriminatory be
slowed upon each Just what she most de-
sired, andssuPreme coHtent filed the little
boson,s. No fear of their taking cold this
morning. Excitement would hare Tor
them: :thesefect,, that pride often has for
children of larger growth. - e.i4zs.sii,
After asioyfai half hour had been spent
in the contemplation of their treasures,
the latter were carefully replaced in the
traditional repository aud conveyed tobed
with their happy owners for further and
closer inspection. Ne. more sleep for
Gertrude and Minnie, but a long series of
talks, interspersed with numerous chuck
lings and violent .commotions of bed
clothes, as housekeeping with the new
dinner set and dolls was Immediately in
stituted. They did not saspect, that when
ilathe sitting room, they were silently
looked in upon by two or three of Santa
Claus agents-mania, aunt Margaret and
big sisterJennie, who ionged to witness
the sweet faith of the little innoconts.
After while the household was astir
and halls and bed room doors echoed to
a Merry Christmas greetings. Santa,
the bountiful, had visited every room,
Mr.. and Mrs. Ambrose, aunt Margaret,
Jennie, Grandfather, even Bridget and
black Lilly were appropriately remem-
bered.
The cheerful breakfast room was filled
with the pleasant fragrance of flowers,
joyous salutations, and ordinations of
pleasure and surprise, as each displayed
gift, secretly wished for, row unexpected-
" possessed. o, marvellous Santa many
thine eyes and large thy heart
"Christmas comes but once a year :"
sagely announced Mr.. Ambrose, and each
seemed bent ON making the most of the
allowance Was ever happier family
circle, or pleasanter, breakfast, sparkling
with merriment and lively sallies, want
ing nothing to complete its pleasures.
Nething I all, it is not Heaven yet; in
spite of all the blue sky, there was a
cloud. Robert, the eldest and dearest,
was absent, and absent from choice. Of
late barrier had formed between'tather
and son. Years before, when Mr.. Am
brose was school boy, aniniosity had
arisen between him and Joseph Suther-
land, prompted by jealousy on one side
and stimulated by pride on the other In
college the discord was undiminished and
when the young men left :their Alma Ma
ter and entered the arena of business life,
Joseph Sutherland carried his opposition
to Arthur Ambrose into every affair
a. Nd Mr
brose had never seen fit to make a concili-
atory overture.
Three years. before our story opens,
Robert the son of Arthur Ambrose, and
Alice, the only child of Joseph Sutherland
had met 1by chance-the usual way"
and in utter disregard of the hereditary
right they possessed to make each uncom-
Portable, had gone to the other extreme
and we're as anxious to unite their inter-
ests, as their respective parents were to
divide theirs.
Robert would have left father and
mother to cleave only unto her who held
the highest place in his heart, but Alice
gentler nature refused to give pain to the
parent who had lavished upon her the
whole of his affections, and who, however
rough and selfish toward others, had ever
been kind and gentle to her, and sedalons-
Iy endeavored to be to his motherless
child in the place of her, so dear to both.
This charge he had admirably fulfilled.
Alice never saw the dark spots of his dis
position: to her was always turned the
sunny side. No wonder then, that while
her heart crowned Robert Ambrose as it's
king, she was unwilling to grieve him who
had until recently been all the world to
her. Three years had passed, and neither
the Ambrose granite nor the Sutherland
flint had shown any token OF yielding an
atom. Robert had grown grave and
care-worn, and still worse, was becoming
irritable. Alice, too, looked pale and un-
happy. She was no longer the light