The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1876-01-06
l7The boal Iays I..eyaE- knew .aar0

y
ever so old, and; what was saadest Of
all, as if he were done with Christ
mas forever / toll Jim Of the tree
4 / was to get, and how Christmas day
was kept in thegreat cities. He was
most interested in the-tree, making
1 me tell him again and again about
/ it. But after awhile, as iftired'of it,
he said;
II never saw q tree like that.e I
know about Christmas, though
4About the star andthe shepherdsaind
tthe Christ-child you spoke ofAthat
they had in manger." ss9s
Them you know all TINT alayone
insthis world need ever care 10 knolvr' =
l said. s.s
1t may have been an hour or two
hours, but it seemed but o mfnNte
after this that the boy shook mo
roughly by the shoulder,
fNpe arc to get out here,r he said.
j was very stiff in Ill my joints, but
could ae nnls cliHh out of the
stages and no inos@ Il Iswas d IA j
did not know il; my limbs were
numb, yet otherwise | was comforta-
ble enough. crawled out and fol-
lowed the boy into miserable look
ing shanty by the roadside, in front
of which we had stopped, There was
a rough bar running across the room,
| and n thick. black-haired brawney
looking man behind it, and two or
three kegs of liquor behind him.
There was an iron stove in the mid
die of the room, a bench along the
wall, and that was all. The boy ask
ed for some brandy, drank a glass of
| it, after handing one to' me, which |
drank and felt so much better for
drinking, that | called for another
and drank it; but the boy refused to
take the glass | offered him; saying
that he had enough.
We were going out when the land
lord opened the door beforeus. Look
ing out into the storm he asked in
Credulously:
"Are you going on?"
Eyes" said the boy, 81 was told to
drive this gentleman to llium to-
night, aud I'm going to do it"
"If you get there at all it will be
nights sure enough" the landlord said.
"I will get there all the same" was
the boys reply,
'Lct US stop here tonight" Il said;
eve can go on in the morning" :,
IL would rather take you on sir
There's no danger. Ican't put my
horse up'here, and my master would
kill me If anything happened to
him"
That decided me to 90 on. Besides,
did not care to talk. | was begin
ming to feel cold again standing in
the wind, so we got into the st1gS.'-
1t was not showing any faster then
than before, simply because n could
not. But the roads were heavier, and
when we,tried to start the jaded horse
baked and struggled through the
drift, for the stage had frozen fast
where it stood.
It was three O'Clock now; the light
in the west was growing DINNER and
DINNER, and the gloom of the noun
tains and the bare woods coming nea-
rcr to US, making their meaning felt
in our souls-flling mine with an
awful dread Of the snow-covered road
beyond. Ten miles to go yet, the
night coming quickly on, the cold
growing more intense, the road
roughcr, more precipitous, and the
horse evidently giving out. But the
boy took up the lines, the bright,
frank smile upon his face, the CHEEKY
word upon his tongue.
Goodbye" said the boy, to the
man in the doorway.
The man stood for an instant in
the doorway looking afterus. Good
bye" he said.
We went along the road that from
the beginning of time it was ordain-
ed we were to go. l crcpt back into
my corner.
''Do not go to sleep" the pleasant
voice warned me from the front.
Thank you," replied, checred
and warmed by its hearty glow. Il
won't go to sleep"
Then followed a long silence, in
which Ihad views of the falling snow,
the white hills above us, the white
hills below us, in which l heard
sounds from creaking, grooming BRAN
ches, from the wind sweeping saw
agely past us. Then unconquerable
drowsiuess, fast coming darkness
then night.
felt hand on my face, then on
my shoulder, shaking me roughly;
sweet, cheering voice in my ears,
calling me back to life.
"If you go to sleep now, you won't
wake up again." it said,
woke with a sudden start, for an
instant, to a full consciousness of
time and place l was not cold, only
81 am quite awake" l replied
"Have we far to goY"
Five miles"
The voice was still the same chee-
rv voice that | heard from the first