The Arkansaw traveler., 1882-12-31
eayiy to each other, bu. still he rushed

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 All the fiimsy excuses of prejudice and conscientious scruples were in that mo- ment brushed away, and his shamed soul stood. naked and shivering, before his eyes-
 He saw himself as others saw him, as through long years of penny-saving, Of mise1iy meanness, he had become.
 When he entered his home the first sound he heard was Bndget's loud sob ping the first person he saw was the doctor, grave. pitiful.
 ..lt is all oyer," he said, with a com passionate nod toward a halEopen door.
 He entered. unnoticed his wife, pale, silent, lay upon her bed, not bruised or in any way dis6gured, only fallen asleep. with the white seal of eternal silence on brow and cheek.
 A neighbor and faithful Bridget stood beside her; little Alice lay sobbing on the floor.
 .1 suppose that now she IS dead, Abim- eiech Badger will buy her a fine casket, and that she will go to her grave, poor for years.' said the neighbor.
 With warning finger, Bridget pointed toward the sobbing child. Whist !. there,r said she, -my mistress would not want such words said before the girl.
 You are right was the answer. She loved him always. and yet think he sent her to her death; had not her eyes been tear-blinded, she need never have lain here
 The child upon the floor looked up.
 My mamma went out to find Christ mas." said she: "per.,aps she had far to go, for she had no money to buy one ~rish perhaps she has just gone 10 God to ask him for one, and will soon be back"
 The unseen listener in the doorway threw up his hands with a sharp, sudden cry Of anguish.
 The room faded. grew indistinct, mellow light fell about him. a. blessed consciousness overwhelmed him of ,he unreality of this fearful dream. He arose and went out quickly into the twilight.
 Lights flashed in z hundred windows. merry faces crowded past him. but little he needed them. Into one shop he dashed, and out again, only 10 hurry into another, aud ye; another.
 He began to assume gigantic and un- gainiy proportions, and in time became SO covered and enveloped in bundles of all kinds as to be hardly recognizable :: and as he staggered along, bearing his unaccustomed burden. he felt that the strong bonds of an evil habit were broken. His very ssul seemed to expand in q new and blessed freedom.
 There were no welcoming lights in the windows Of his home. nc hin; Of Christ mas lolli,y in its dark halls. He went up stairs to little room al the further end of the house. that Alice claimed as her own.
 He opened the door noiselessly and looked in.
 The room was brightly lighted and gay with evergreens. ;! His wife. in a low rocking chair. with her little daughters arms about her, was telling over and over again, the sweet. and wonderful story of the blessed Christ child.
 ] Noiselessly as he came, he stole away i Bridget was called from the kitchen. i The parlor was warmed and lighted.
 Within it. great tree grew, blossomed and bore costly fruit. i After all. there was time 10 make one more hurried dive into the street for nuts, candy. oranges, and such like things, for which he felt a sudden childish, unac- countable and irresistible desire. There was even time for the purchase Of a wonderful brocaded dress for Bridget: time to send a iive-dollar bill to that inn pudently good-natured office boy; time , to order a bird of mammoth proportions sent to the house Of the Rev. Peleg rossieshwait.
 Then he came back. and waited Tn the cheerful parioT, impatien, as any child.
 By-and-by a soft rustle, then the quick ened footsteps of his wife, as she saw the light streaming from the open door.
 She entered the room, looked about with quick amazement, and caught her husbands eyes. She was wise woman, and one of few words, so she only went forward with a beaming face. placed her hands upon his shoulders, and ifted her lips for kiss He gave il heartily, gratefully, and with his whole soul. That evening was a revelation to Abimelech Badger; in all his long years Of toiling, stinting, saving, he had never known one such hour of pure and perfect happiness.
 What folic they had over that richly fruited tree how the color came and went in Hattie's pretty cheeks, when she buttoned herself inside a sealslxin cloak three inches longer than Mrs. Georges l; how her eyer sparkled when her husband wrapped the heavy, lustrous folds of a new garnet silk about hu shoulders how Alice bcbbed about, screaming and chuckling with incessant laughter. By-and-by the child fell asleep, and Hattie came and sat down quietly by his side.
 q don't undezstand.- said she. q don't understand this at all but thank you, dear, thank you, with listle burst of happy tears. AbimelecA Badker dsew his vie inso his slmA close b his bsease, snd kissed her.
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