The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-12-22
MY NEIGHBOURS SHOES.
A CHRISTMAS SKETCH

The children were put to bed at last.
Six of them, with unquenchable spirits,
full of the fun and noise of the time,
but riotous and mutinous now. No
stockings to be hung upland this,
Christmas Eve. Well, then, a Christmas
tree on the morrow
"No; we are beggars," | had said
with a sort of savage pleasure in max
ing them as miserable as myself, "and
beggars don't have Christmas trees"
And little Meg had burst into pas
sion of tears. "A beggarl And must
she go out with basket and eat potato
peelings and stale crusts. Oh, oh ~
l quieted the storm had raised as
we'll as | could. After all, it was poor
satisfaction to have made them I'M
happy Ny head ached and my heart
ached worse as | went down stairs. My
work was not over although had no
festive preparations for tomorrow, no
turkey waiting to be stuffed, no plum
pudding to concoct There were piles
of little garments to be overlooked and
mended. How sick it made me to see
the rents and symptoms of wearing out
in them. What would become of us
all? felt dull despair coming over
me. 1t was no use working, trying to
stem the tide of misfortune that was
setting in. No use
| went to the window and looked out.
A clear, star-lit sky cleaned above; a
frosty road, white and glittering, below,
save where the gay sleds, with tinkling
bells and rich robes and laughing freight,
had cut path for themselves. What a
joyful time All the world seemed to
be happy. Fathers were hurrying
along, with odd, bulgy bundles and
dainty colored cornucopias. Mothers,
who had come out at the last moment
for stuff to fill the little stockings, went
by, with secret Joy illuminating their
faces. | could catch glimpse of the
great store at the corner-all one blaze
of light. | knew how the polished, red
apples were set out there, and the great
baskets of brown nuts and the punches
of white grapes, transparent in the
light, golden with other suns than ours,
and the boxes of raisins, in rich clus-
tiers and the jars of lucent honey or
ruby jelly knew them all, and how
they looked this night.
Strange, how such trihes haunt us in
the presence of real sorrow. Real want
tared US in the face; yet the bitterest
rop in the cup seemed to be the fact
that | could not make this one day fes-
tive for the children. John had lost
his situation; not from incompetence
or fault on his part, but times were dull
and the master had too many hands.
We had too many hands, too, and too
many mouths to feed, but could not
turn them off because the times were
dull.
| stood looking out into the bright,
frosty night with rebellious heart.
Three tall houses rose in front of me,
lit in every costly plate-glass window.
Elegant brown stone houses they were,
with lace and damask curtains, and
glimpses, sometimes, Of satin-covered
chairs, or buhl cabinets, or Chinese
monsters, in porcelain, or Sevres vases.
Further than these glimpses | did not
know my neighbors' houses. My
neighbors | had seen as they came out
in their elegant silks and stepped into
their splendid carriages. There was
Mrs. Terhune, the bankers wife Mrs.
Ray, the prim, elderly looking person,
who had only been married a year to
the handsome, young husband-had
bought him with her money, people
said, and Mrs. Crosswell, the fat plebe.
ian, whose husband had made fortune
in the war, in the manufacture of ropes,
and whose elegant daughter and son
outran fashion in their attire.
] looked obviously at these stately
mansions now. How unequally things
were divided in this world, | thought,
with bitterness, and wondered how
could ever have been happy in the
mean, miserable way in which we lived,
at best. What fool | had been to
dream Of love and limited income to-
gether? What a drag? What "dem-
milton grind" as Mr.. Mantlini says,
'life had been,' to be sure. | laughed
bitterly AS | thought of it. John was
all kindness, it is true, but what time
did we have, even to ENJOY one an
others society. Work, work, work =
grim-faced god or devil-holding us
apart. Then | remembered that we
would have plenty of time now to be
together, and starvel
g wish / were only in my neighbor's
Shoes" ! cried, aloud, in dull despair
as dropped the curtain and went over
to the pile of worn little garments. All
me If ! could change places
What allied the light? 1t was only a
common candle at first, but it seemed
to lift itself up and branch off into a
great chandelier, and out into white
lilies in each cup was golden spike
of flame. rubbed my eyes and looked
around What a room The carpet
lay soft and green as moss under my
feet-golden-green moss, with pink
roses and blue forget-menots and May
lilies strewn over it, and curtains Of