St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-12-23

/ L mean Itllers-l mean laules ana gen
tlemen-has got lots an lots of play
thin's, an other things too, an you
come here an Civ 'em more vile cross
the way-the back way | mean-is me
an my sisters-all little girls-an' my
brother wOt's got 'nOyin' back an is
sick in his insides' most the time, an
zoe amt got nOthin', an you don't come
near us, nor you don't Civ us nOthin'
at all. We'd been a-loOkin' out of our
winders ever so long at this ere bully
shin-dig; an wen we see you, couldn't
stan it no longer, an so | come round
to Civ you piece of my mind"
How they all laughed when the boy
ceased. AS for Mr.. Santa Claus, he
laughed until he cried. At last, when
there was only a chuckle here and
there, he asked BOb-who couldn't i'm
agine what they were laughing at, but
who, as | have said before, being n
merry little chap himself, in spite of
his gloomy home, had joined in as
heartily as though he had seen the
joke most clearly, - "What is your
name ?"
"My true an fair names Bobby Lin
net," said Bob, "but they mostly calls
me Cheeky Bob I've got lots of
cheek. That's wOt fetched me here to-
night"
Again laugh burst forth, and again
Bob joined in; and then lovely lady,
with jewel sparkling in her dark hair,
which Bob thought a wonderfully
bright piece of glass (she was the
mother of the four children whom the
Linnets had so often watched at play,)
called him to her side. "Tell us all
about yourself, my child" she said, in
the sweetest voice he had ever heard,
"and your father and mother and sis
ters and brothers, and let us know
what you want us to do for you. We
are all your friends here"
His ''friends ~ Those people dress
ed like kings and queens and princes
and princesses such white hands,
such soft voices, and such gentle ways
Bob felt flush of pride rise to his face,
and, with the smile that dimpled his
cheek and chin and wrinkled the bridge
of his nose, he looked up into the lady's
beautiful brown eyes, and began again ::
"My father, he don't do nOthin' but
go way an stay evern-ever so long, an
then come back for little vile, an go
way agin with my mothers money
that's wOt he does. An my mother
she sews shirts, an wen she don't git
'em done, cause she's sick, they says
she's onliable; an she's gone to nuss
my Aunt Hammer, wOt Sanity Claus has
been sich fool mean he ought to
knOw'd better-as to Civ a baby to for
her Christmas, wen she's got more'n
she kin tend to now. An my brother
Johnny fell down stairs one day wen
he was runnin' way from my father,
an cracked somethin' in his back, an
he can't walk; but he can read, an he
amt got no book but a picture nOOse-
paper an a Fairy Tales An our ba-
by-she's sUeet, she is, though she amt
got nothin' Oh but flaming petticOat
an flaming shirt. An my sister
Rachey, if she was fixed up with rib
bings an things, ID look almost as poo
ty as these young 'uns-I mean these
ladies an gentlemen. An so would
Molly too" Here he stopped, fearing
that he had said too much but the
lady's kind look reassured him, and he
went on: can we live right cross the
way-the back way, | mean /; an we've
been lOOkin' over here an Molly, she
said there'd be cake an candy an ice
cream an she likes ice-cream Dick
Fuzzle let her lick out his glass wunst
after he'd had some; that's the way
she knows; an we had nothin' but
bread an water all day, an all yister-
day. So, wen | seen Mr.. Sanity Claus,
| Jess come rOun' to know wy
They didn't laugh aloud this time
when the boy stopped talking, but
everybody began speaking softly to
every body else and i'll few moments
everybody smiled at everybody else,
and then all turned to smile in the di-
rectiOn of the front parlor-doOr and
Bob, turning to smile that way too,
saw standing there, clinging closely to
each other, Johnny, Rachel, Molly, and
Patty, the baby, still in her red flannel
petticoat and shirt.
But it wasn't long, / can tell you, be-
fore those children were dressed nicely,
and feasting on goodies to their hearts
content. And when they went home
that night (Johnny carried in the arms
of the cOlored man, dressed in holiday
dress, buttOn-hOle bouquet and alD the
arms of the crippled boy were full of
books, each of the girls had a doll
wax head, real hair, blue shoes, and
white dress-and in Bob's jacket-pock-
ct, underneath a new handkerchief, lay
a small leather pocket-book with
| twenty ten-cent pieces i'll it.
And Mrs. Linnet, coming home from
Aunt Hannah's the next afternoon
found so different a home from that
which she had left, that she could
scarcely believe she was in the right
house. There was a cunning little
stove, with brand-new tea-kettl6
singing away on it, instead of the
cracked furnace new mattrass OF
top of the old one, and IA new red quill
on top of that five chairs, and a higl
chair for Patty, in place of the box anC
the weak-legged stool Il table where
the wash-bench had been tiny clOcl
ticking away on the shelf, and besid,
it tall glass lamp, all ready for light
ing.
And from that day the people in thu
brown stone were the firm friends o
the people in the third story Mrs. Lin
net was soon thereafter able to rent
the whole f1OOr) of the dingy frame,
house.
And when Bob was a few years older
Mr.. Royal, the gentleman who Gale,
Santa Claus grandfather" gave him
place in his law office; and have M
doubt we shall hear of him some da,
as famous lawyer, for his talents run
most decidedly in that direction, as yOl
must have seen.
A Talk About What All Want
Health is not lost by accident, no
can it be repurchased at the drug store
1t is lost by physiological sins, ant