The Portland daily press., 1883-12-25

uanceu ABOUT the fireplace, jumped upon the
mantel-piece and seated himself with his
chin IN his paws, waiting for Paolina tt
awake The jingle of his bell as he jumped
, up to the shelf awoke Paolina. Her frs
thought as she saw the plumply filled stock
ing, the red and blue letters, the little crea
ture on the mantelpiece, was that Santa
! Claus had come indeed. But she INSTANTLY
} recognized her little friend, and the whole
} scene struck her as so comical that she
laughed aloud. That awoke the babies, and
they cried Mrs. Belletti with Valerie in
her arms, and Mr.. Belletti with Carmelins
in his arms, came in haste to see what Pao-
lima found to laugh at so late at night. Mrs.
Belletti took in the situation at once She
laid Valerie somewhat suddenly upon the
bed for Paolina to quiet him if she could
caught the monkey by the skirt of his coat
and spoke to him in good round Italian as
he merited:
"Ah disgraced," said Mrs. Belletti, ''we
are an honest family, if poor, and you would
rob our benefactors! Auimalp'
The twins stopped crying, they were SO
much impressed by their mammals elo-
quence.
"These things" Mrs. Belletti went on to
say, "were for two children, little celestial
angels that they are-and thou-beholdv'
He did not wish to be wicked, he has
brought them for gift for me; he thinks he
is Santo Cloz," interrupted Paolina.
II To &Io A
impiousr' cried Mrs. Belletti, shaking Giu-
oco till his bells jingled.
i Then as she lifted her eyes to deprecate
the exceeding sinfulness of the monkey, she
saw the vivid lettering of RoUGH ON RATS
Immediately her anger melted at the sight
of the words. She patted Giuoco and SET
him up again on the shelf
Il "Ah the poor little BEAST" she sighed
she, too, has fine sentiment. and I be-
u lieve he has good heartn
i Mr.. Belletti, who could read English, and
Paolina, who enjoyed the advantages of an
American public school, smiled at each
other. But their smiles were brief, fol
Mrs. Belletti turned around upon Paolins
with determination.
my daughter" she commanded, ssto
morrow morning we will go to Mrs. Morris
We will confound ourselves in accusation Of
this little beast, and ask pardon for his sc
great crime. He is a robber, an migrate
ful--but the poor thing has nevertheless
!, good heart"
J Soon after breakfast the next morning
} Mrs. Belletti and Paolina, carrying the sto
} len gifts neatly wrapped in paper, and fol
lowed by the impenitent monkey, set forth
for the house of Mrs. Morris. They told
| their story, Mrs. Belletti with tears and ges
lures and much Italian speech which Pao
lima interpreted. keeping up as well as she
could with her mothers speed. Minnie anG
Dora assured Paolina that they did not miss
a few out Of the many sugarp,ums ant
toys they had received an. begged her to keer
them. They also gave her pretty doll and
work basket nicely furnished with thimble
scissors, threads and needles, and dainty
little white ruffied apron, with red bows or
the pockets. Giuoco was forgiven and had
some nuts. Mrs. Belletti was consoled
but it took SO long to do that thoroughly
that Mr. Belletti, who had been left at home
: with the twins, sang Luisella and the Carl
baldi Hymn to innumerable and imperative
encores, and calculated that in the same
time and with less work he could
have made centre-piece for library cell
ing, with acanthus leaves and hole in the
centre for the gas pipe.
4 All this happened last year; and this year
if the little readers of the PRESS should
meet Mrs. Belletti walking with her daugh
ter, she will not say to them with her pretty
Italian smile, "RoUGH ON RATS but has
learned enough English to say, as Atlanta
says to them now,
i A MERRY CHRISTMAS!