The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1885-12-24
A CHRISTMAS STORY.

"Here, Nora, throw these branches
out OF the street, we must not litter
the room," and Mrs. Loring handed
Nora, her upper servant and faithful
friend, two small branches which had
been cut off the great Sunday-school
Christmas tree which they were trim
ming.
Nora was a kind and loving soul,
and when Mrs. Loring handed her the
branches of pine she raj down the
stairs and out on the sidewalk, think
ing that it was a pity to throw those
beautiful branches away.
A ragged, dirty girl was standing at
the chapel door, looking curiously in;
she had a hardened, wicked look, and
when Nora appeared in her pretty,
dark dress and apron trimmed with
rick-rack, the girl made a face at her.
But Nora saw below the dirt and ugli-
ness, below the hard crust of hateful
rebellion, into the heart which God
loved and for which Christ died.
"Would you like these branches for
a Christmas tree?" she said. "Here is
a quarter to buy something to trim
them with" 1t was her last quarter
till after Christmas, but Nora did not
mind that then.
The girls face hardly changed; she
did not hold out her hands for the
green's, but seized the quarter wolfishly
and Nora sighed as she ran back.
Nance looked at the quarter hun
grily, turning it V to be sure sit
warn't filled in," and then stopped
and picked up the branches which
Nora had dropped.
'Dick shall have EN- and the money
too," she muttered, "but | must be
flynn round, or Sal 'ull beat me again
tonight. Christmas! If they'd ha'
let me into that church last Sunday, 1
might ha' found out for Dick what it's
all about, but the gal said as how no
new ones would be lowed till next
Sunday, and then it'll be over! Well,
I'll hide these and be off"
The girl ran up an alley and showed
her branches behind a barrel, which
al frozen fast in a corner, and then
she hurried off to the junction of
Broadway and Fifth avenue, where
she begged from passers-by. 1t was a
lucky day for Nance; people are in
clined to be liberal just before Christ
mas, and ladies with their arms full of
bundles dropped pennies into her hand,
some of them with a thought of what
their own girls might be but for Gods
goodness, some merely to relieve their
purses OF cumbersome coppers. None
really cared for the girl, for she was
pot by my means attractive. None?
les; n woman did care.
Late In the afternoon, as Nance was
rattling her pennies and thinking she
might treat herself to a stale bun and
a cup of coffee, she saw a lady coming
toward her with a little boy on each
side. Nance was shrewd enough never
to let a woman with a child 60 by, for
she had learned that, from some cause
or another, such an one seldom re-
fused her a copper.
"Please, ma'amI" she whined as the
lady and her boys passed. The oldest
boy pressed his mothers arm and
looked up in her face.
tMay | give her my ten cents?" he
asked.
The mother looked at the hardened,
dirty face and "No" rose to her lips,
but some God given impulse changed
it to eyes," and she added, "You two
boys may run on to the shop window
while | speak to the girl"
Rob handed Nance his dime and
then Mrs. Haring said gently:
Couldn't you earn a living instead
of begging? I'd buy you a broom if
you would sweep a crossing. Then,