The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-12-17

csTE D1r@ ~ = .zxs y - g :
=. 49,. =. Christnass story.
miss 9@e@ Ton ALLEN was a miserable old miser
s5s @ Nobody doubted that, for everybody said
SO, and what everybody says must be
.sft@a s@* So; and then everybody called him Ql0
Allen instead of Mr.. Alien, or plain
Tom Allen; and who ever heard Of old
Smith or Brown or Jones, or old any
--~-- -- body else that was not miserable or
smiscrly which means the same thing;
--e-.-~.- and, besides, Old Tom Allen, or Old AL
egvfaI len as he was called behind his back,
'~lAA was cross, crusty and sugy toevery one.
ss1s The children were afraid of him; even
.~sys. sss the yerydogs and cats disliked him, and
I'll fI = that's enough to condemn any man; and
- SO Old Alen was feared and Stunned by
s1a~ all except those poor mortals who were
sn : compelled to borrow money now and
them and hard enough it went with
them, 1 trew, when they were forced to
apply to Old Allen for loan, for he,
like most msers, rich and owned
blocks of houses in the city, and broad
srg acres in the country, and Government
stock, and railroad Stock and canal
: - stock, and all other kinds of stock, and
report said had thousands in gold locked
= upin his iron safe, - 8AsAs&
I Yet he never spent cent when he
could help it; he lived miseraby he
dressed miserably and was miserable to
his hearts content. But he did not
know it, and all the time tried to think
he was happy, and all the time kept try
ing to make himself happier by making
himself and everybody else more mser-
able; and this was Old Allen.
Now Old Allen had two brothers and
a sister, all poor enoughssany one could
% - sec that, but strange to say they APP
peared to be almost always happy, and
this fact also added to Old Aliens mis-
Ae' cry. Not that he ever went to see them
far from it--but he could not help meet
ing them once in while, and occasion
ally would hear others speak kindly of
-f9 them, thing he never did-in truth he
used to say
"Now, there's my brother Ben, he had
to go and marry milk faced girl; they
nGs1r havea half 8 dozen squalling brats, and
now he must work his life out of him to
avs. keep them from starving, SO I'll have
nothing to do with him.
~ "Then there's Will must needs set him
self up for an artist and goes round
without his dinner daubing over canvas
with bristles and lamp-black I'll have
nothing to do with him.
"Thcn there's Mary, worse than all,
e.s5 married poor printer-has bumped
back boy-faith, I'll have nothing, to do
with them, for sure" ~
Now this was the way Old Allen talked
as he tucked himself in his miserable
-s.df bed, after eating miserable supper off
s0s1s miserable plate, which sat on a miser-
able table in his dark, cold, miserable.
room; for he was too stingy to have a
candle even warm himself by a fire
when he could go to bed and keep him
self warm that way
Out of doors all things looked, and
were different for IT was Christmas Fvo
The streets, and pavements, and houses
were covered with new-fallen snow, and
for the matter of that it Was then SNOW
ing, and tie gas-lght from the corner
lamps and the gas light from the, shop
LIZ windows strean,ed out over the white
snow, like great clouds of gold and silver
and diamonds, as though they, too, had
just dropped down from the heavens
and the shop windows were full of all
sorts, kinds and descriptions of toys, and
cakes and candies, and presents for
everybody, and everybody seemed to be
out getting them
Big men carrying bigger baskets, with.
turkeylegs sticking out from under the
cover With bundles in their greatcoat
pockets, aud bundles in their arms; and
little men with, If anything, larger bas-
= = kets and longer-legged turkeys, and more
bundles and all sorts of women with all
$500 sorts OF bundles; and no end of children,
with foretastes of nuts and candies in
their hands and mouths, and great ex
pectations in their eyes; and all were
laughing, and talking and Misunderstanding
together, and all 50 busy and so
happy; and all this was what had driven
Old Allen SO early to his miserable bed
in his miserable room, and made him so
extra miserable on this particular Christ
mas Eve. u SA1@#s a@t <
After Old Allen had laid in his miser-
able bed, IN his miserable room awhile
and had partially warmed his miserable
body, he dropped off to sleep, and then
he had for him, a most wonderful dream
/ &c dreamed that he by some means.
was picked up, miserable bed and ALL
ard in the twinkle of an eye sat down
just as he was in his brother Bens house.
How he knew it to be his brother Bcrrs
he could not tell, for surely he had never
been there before, but for all that he
was sure he was there now; and more
for there before the fire sat Ben and his
Wlle, and the poor printer and his wife
and VIII, the artist, was there slso and
all the children, even his sister MaIYS1
little humped-backed boy, or "IIumpy.'s3
as some called him. F@
And they We're all eating apples and
drinking cider, and trying to be happy,
ana were happy, even If the fire was
poor, for Goals were scarce with Ben as
scarce as money with all Of them, and
their clothes were old and patched here
and there, and they spoke of hard times
and the long, cold winter, and the little
work and the less pay; vet still they
ate their apples and drank their cider
and tried to be happy, and were happy;
and they spoke Of Old Allen, but they
did not call him Old Allen but brother
Tom, and wished !" he only would come
and join them once snore on Christmas
Eve, andaf lloast tksy hoped he was
happy anyhow, Yfrg t.Fs @tg
This made Old Allen vince a little. but
ne made up his mind that he didn't or
wouldn't care .ssssf --
ny and by the apples were all ate up,
ana the cider all drank up and the chill
dren were getting sleepy; in fact, the
baby was asleep; they pinned up a
stocking for each one on the.mantel
piece not forgetting even the babv.' anal
then Ben took down an old. weil-vorni|
family Bible that Old Allen aid recoc'
nze for it had once been his mother's
and they read of the Chfist-child Iof
Bethlehem and then one and al .knelt in
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