The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1883-12-14

HOW santa ClauS AppeaEtu " A0S
ter Joe and Miss Sis on Christmas
Eve,
1t was Christmas Eve and crowds of
busy buyers and pleasure-seekers
thronged Avenue A, Among them
might have been seen q boy Of perhaps
ten years and q girl some three years
his Junior, who were evidently bent up
on q very important GRAND, if n
could Judge by the numbers of tunes
they paused and consulted, the look of
earnestness deepening in their faces.
Good faces they were, too, if little
soiled. The boys frank and honest,
with a merry twinkle in each dark eye,
whilst the girls blue mes wore an in
nocent, wistful expression. She would
have been quite pretty If it had not
been for the sickly color Of her skin
want Of proper no%urishment) and the
matted locks, which only needed soap
and water to render them soft and gold
en-. 4 straw bonnet, a portion Of the
brim missing, on account OF its being
several sizes too large, gave the child
constant employment trying to keep it
or. Its counterpart in the shape Of a
hat covered the curly head of her COM
panion, whose pants could have easily
held another boy,
Presently they paused before a large
store with Its window filed with cakes.
Square cakes, round cakes, frosted cakes,
cakes with snow-white towers and cum
ming sugar cupids, cakes large and small,
yellow with eggs or black with fruit. AS
the children stood gazing at the rich dis
play an old gentleman passed, turned
and retraced his steps and also took his
stand before the cake window. Ever
and anon his kindly face was lit up by q
smile as some remark OF the children's
reached his ears.
At last the important question seemed
decided, for the boy, witha nod and the
words, "You jess wait here. Sis" made
his way into the store, 1t was crowded,
so he had to wait his turn, while the girl
pressed her eager little face tightly
against the window pane, ~tiptoeing on
her small, bare toes in her excitement.
There was quite a pretty flush on the
child's delicate cheeks when the boy re-
appeared with a small parcel in his
MANU-, anu Snc cACldlulSu, cdRtFly'
"Did you get it,"
"You betl" was the answer, followed
by q long.drawn-out ''0hl" from the lit
tie girl as thew made their way along the
avenue, the old gentleman close behind
them. After a while they turned into a
side street and bent their steps toward
a vacant lot, half shut in by a brick wall
and Uttered over with old packing-cases,
bits Of ~tarpaulin and refuse.
SIS it a nice place where you live?"
questioned the girl, az her companioa
plotted her over barrel hoops and old
crockery. A saucy look twinkled in the
boys eyes as he answered:
well, sis, II amt exactly what you'd
call q brown stone front; it's more on
the Oscar Wilde style"
What's that?' and the little girls
eyes opened to their widest extent.
That's a kinder style as is made up
OF old things as was chucked away as no
good to nobody" Then he added:
Here we are; Jess hold on a minute till
i light the chandelier, or you might
knock your head against the ~frescoing.''
A smell ofsulphur, then the faint glim-
mer Of candle showed the outline of a
large packing case, partially covered
with pieces OF tarpaulin. Drawing one
OF these pieces aside, the boy babe his
companion enter, adding:
sit down, sis, till / git the fire a-going;
you're company, you know
Obeying orders, sis seated herself on
an upturned butter-tub and razed in
quiringly around. The packing case
within which she sat stood lengthwise,
q hole In its side being concealed by q
curtain Of sail cloth, the other side sal
and . part Of front were composed Of
pieces Of ~tarpaulin, propped 40 by the
old broom handles and one bent iroI
staple. at the rear stood q high bricI
wall. Adjoining the packing cases sideI
were q part OF 8 circus poster. a Sunday
school card aud q colored Autograph o
Tony Pastor.
By the time sis had finished her Ia
spections the FIRE, which consisted o
charred coal, and odds and ends Q
wood, was liz. II was built upon th'
ground, under 9 convenient air-hole, 3
the smoke was not so bad IS x Nigh
have been. Then sis produced O bundl
that she had Rugged carefully under be
arm surlng the long walk. Unrolling tn