The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-12-22

! y. 1t Aunt Hetty" had not been so
soundly sleeping. dreaming OF the happy
days when Rob, the baby, made his first
appearance on the family stage. Again
''big sister Hetty'' carried the rosy cheri
10 in her arms. rocked him asleep and
worsh:ped him awake. She saw him un.
fold once more like lovely flower, all
grace and dew and sweetness, and then
she saw with unspeakable anguish how
easily breath of sin blasted his beauty.
Once more she re-lived those terrible
hours when Robert; her idol, was proven
to, the ! be >veriest clay. Again she saw
him erring, falling, falling deeper and
deeper in the abyss of sin, day by dav.
Once more she saw her talented, beautl.
| full boy arrested for hcinous crime, com.
mitted~, under the bestializing influence
Of wine, and heard his cry of 'sLost! lost!
forever lost!'' Then she awoke and re-
membered that it was on Christmas Eve
he went away, and again her PRESENT.
n,ent returned, that Christmas the tender,
merciful, forgiving, reconciling time,
would restore him in her arms. And so,
praying and hoping, fell fast asleep again,
and in blisstul dream saw the wretched
outcast transferred to shining saint.
As for ''rny ladies" they were busily
engaged in putting on the ''final touches
hanging gifts upon the wonderful Christ
mas tree; ; adjusting the curtains so that
only the artistic ray Of sunlight be al
lowed to enter. They overlooked the
dinner preparations, and dressed the
children in holiday attire, all
the while chatting Of the expect
ed guest. All! would he come at last
He would have story.to relate that would
harrow up their souls If they hal tears
they would reserve them for his woes
for,deSpite the disgraceful stain he had left
upon their hitherto immaculate Dudley
escutcheon, he was we'll beloved in that
Dudley mansion: and while they sat in
hopeful expectation Of his happy return,
the poor pale.faced little pleader went
sadly away to her garnet without even as
much as kind word from them to re
live. 'poor papa's woes!
Old Katie, alone, kept the child in re.
membrancc. Bother the face iv her!"
she said, gossip: ng!over her;tea with Rosa.
'I'm blisscd if she didn't look the picter
iv master Robert at tin! And thin, the
name iv her! Hetty Just as Robert
used to call Miss Mehitable! and did she
say it was her fayther sint her and
would she be aflher wantin' to live with
me ladies faith an' its Miss Hetty ought
to know, an its mesilf ought to NV called
her to sphake wild the child if the ghoust
iv Bloody Mary had stood at the door If
the brat proves to be Roberts gerrul, and
he shtarvin wild could this Christmas
Eve, one of THIN as is MAXIM so merry
above our bids III niver see sunshine
again."
"Perhaps she'll 60 to Aunt Hetty's Christ.
mas Feast" suggested Rosa. ''Igaye her q
ticket, and I've got her address on slip
of paper in my pocket
"Och! the darlint! May the Howly
Virgin bliss yez fur that! I'll bestir my.
self IL the mornin' an see if can find
the place; an if liver I sit my eyes on
that child agin it's mcsilf IL know who S
fayther iv her, and lnayhap bring him
home to thin as love him like their hearts
bloodr'
Now, Aunt Hetty was an old maid as
you must know; and although she was
rather ''down" on childr IN, as class,
once or twice year she liked to gather
a perfect swarm of little ones about her
to satisfy the maternity within by the
lump. as she used to say, land have it
done with" About the time Roberts
exile was over, and when they became
convinced he would not of his own accord
come home, Aunt Hetty bought house -
not handsome or grand house, not in a
''first-class location" by any means for
into such. a house she could never have
gathered the children she wished to find,
but it was house where "the poor, the
manned, the lame, and the blind" could
find shelter and sustenance. In fact it
was haven into which she hoped poor
Bob and his wretched family might
drift some day and he restored to her
arms.
In this house of Hetty's was an immense
room with long tables running through it,
and here was yearly spread her Christ.
mas feast, to which came swarming a
myriad of hungry children-some pretty
large children among them to be sure, but
:of SUCH even the full grown ones are
the kingdom of Heaven
| 1t was a strange assemblage which
gathered yearly in that room. There
were children from the dens offilth where
soap and water and whole clothing were
unknown; from the hiding places of sin
where no ray Of Gods light ever seemed to
to come; from streets and sheds, from the
bitter cold of that Winters day they
hocked in, crowding the room, the pass
ages, the door step and the pavement,
clamoring for bread. Such hideous,
hungry faces, such bleared eyes, prcma-
turely wrinkled cheeks, sin-destortcd
mouths and brutal, vicious chins such
dirty, naked breasts, Scared here