Omaha daily bee., 1884-12-20
EXTRA GOOD"
A Christmas Story for the Little Ones.
BY MARGARET EYTINGE.

BY MARGARET EYTINGE.
Twelve o'clock at night-a bleak, cold
s~tarless December highland as the Las
stroke of the big city hall clock tellin
the hour died away the chimes in tn
neighboring church struck up a joyfn
peal. Christmas is here once more
they proclaimed far and wide. "Christ
mas, merry, merry Christmas, is here
is here once more!"
Two children dressed, or rather half
dressed, in scanty ragged clothing, whc
were shiverlng behind a pile of lumbe,
on the wharf at the foot of a shabby
street, listened intently until they hat
ceased ringing, and then the elder, a boy
of some eleven years, began to speak,
while his companion, a girl of eight,
nestled closer to his side. "Wot lots an
let's OF folks II have a hooroar time ter.
morrer," he said. "Theyll be er.laugh.
in an er.singin' an er.eatin'. Ny eye.
won't they be er eatin'. You bet they'll
be or eatin' If ell the things 1 seen in
Their market ter-day is er.goin' ter be de.
woured. Turks! wy 1 b'lieve if them
turks had-er been put In er.row they'd.er
stretched ali roun' this ward, an this
wards n OF the biggest wards In Their
city, an the fightiest. An Their chick
ings, an sassengers, an roast beef, an
iysters, an apples, an vegetables, an
sob! stop, Tommy, do" begged his
sister, clapping her dirty little hands. 81
can't bear ter hear you go on 80. You
make me 80 very, very orful hungry"
"That's jlst wot l was or comm ter,
Cad," said Tommy. "Lots an lots OF
folkes II have lots an lots of grub the
VERY fust thing wen they gets up, but
we III have ter 60 or feelin' like or smash
ed penny balloon till we gets our dinner
ter Their Mission"
"Wotu they give us fur our dinner to,
Their Missionq" asked Caddie.
IVY mostly Their same as Their swells
has In Their nobby res-i-denc. es. es-turk
and stutfin-my eye! amt stufin' good?
You bet, 1 don't know which Is ther
gooderest, Their turk or Their stnffin'.
guess both-an' oranges, an sal'ry, an
pie AMI"
"Wot makes dem Missioners SO good
to us on Chrissmussl" suddenly inter
rupted the girl.
y, ~'cause-'oause Chrissmuas is
Christmas is-'cause everybody is extry
good Chrismuss."
"Wot fur?' persisted Caddie.
20, cause. Wot q gal you are ter ask
questions, Caddie-'cause there was
wunst er baby horned one Christmas day
wot was there beyuterfullest baby ever
seen, an He's in heaven now-that place
that has thersky fur or floor an ware
there's lots an lots of angels er flynn
roun'-an' He tole yer folkses that they
must be good an then by an by they'd
ter heaven an be angels, too, with
nothin' ter do but fly aroun' an sing,
An'-an' Christmas is His birthday, an
everybody tries ter be extry good ter
everybody. But they'll tell you all about
1t at the Mission ter. morrer ware we'll
git tibet turk, an Their sal'ry, an Their
pie, Their oranges an apple tarts. O.,
my eye-ther turk and Their"
so, Tommy, Tommy" again entrested
the little girl. "Seems though l couldn't
stan it, Their more you cay them words
over an over agin Their huner'er and
hungr'er | gets. An | hope they won't
tell us nothin' ter.morrer till us is full,
fur bad as | wants ter hear about that
beyutiful baby. 1 know I'd die havin' ter
listen with the v~ictuals erfore my eyes,
Oh! how cold it LIS er. gettin'. Say, Tom
my, don't you wished us lived somew are
and didn't have to knock about from one
place to ernother an sometimes have to
In Their streets like ter night Then
us could hang up our stockin's. The
pigs foot woman's gal told me ter day
or nice gal, she is-she give me er
pigs foot with only two bites outer it this
told me she was er goin' to
hang up hern, an er old gentleman was
er.comin to put sumpin' orful nice inter
It,"
"Hang up our stockin's ?" repeated the
boy with a sort of snort. "W'y we amt
got lone. But We might have, may be,
we'd or father an er mother an or
reel home with er fire an or bed to sleep
in am"
"Didn't we never have no father or no
2" again interrupted Caddie.
"Course We did," was the reply.
''They's dead, both of EN-. You was or
little shaver od'y five years ole wen they
went away an then Aunt Caddie let us
stay by her till she up an died too. An
we've had pooty hard lines since then,
an don't you forget 1t. But if thai
thief of er beggsr boy hadn't hooked all
ter money | earnt ter-day er runnin' ar.
rants, we wouldn't er been er squattin'
here ter.night. We'd err been In Hot
Cake JohnnY's err snorln' erway after
eatin' stude trips with inionS inter it, an
ouckw'eat cakes with lasses onter EN-
an"
Tommy; oh! dear Tommy" exclAim.
ed poor Caddis.
"Blamed II | don't forget all Their time,
ais. You see Is useter ter bein' hungry
than wot you's Is. But l say, Cad, s'pose
se make b'lieye vera or hayin' err Hun