The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-12-20
"IT is NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND.'

periodical diSSensOnS. would set their rOyat
blood boiling by some cool. smiling. sai-
castle comparison of their excited condition
to that of Elizabeth. their royal relative,
on some similar occasion. He made such a
telling comparison one time. that his eldest
daughter whom it hit. SO far forgot herself
as to throw her slipper in his face: but It
did not ruff1e his temper in the leaSt-lt
only suggested another mOle striking simile.
The old man was well read in the history OF
their royal house. Whenever it became
too warm in the ''castle" grandfather and
would retreat to the old house at the back
of the grounds. If in the winter time, we
would build fire in the old fireplace and
parch corn. HIS teeth were too poor to eat
the corn in the kernel so would grind his
portion in an old cotfeemill; then we would
sit down and he would tell good stories.
Grandfather was too old to do much
toward supporting the home. the son
was dude. so the burden of providing for
the family fell upon the two daughters.
They conducted store for the sale OF books.
musical instruments toys, etc.
One evening, few weeks before Christ
mas. aunt said to me; Tommy. if you will
do something for me will make you nice
present, Christmas. If you will 90 down
to the store every morning and build fire.
carry in wood and sweep out. I'll put
something real nice on the Christmas tree
that is to be at the church." l agreed to
her proposition and began the work the
next morning.
/ began early to speculate as to what exs
tent aunt's generosity would enter into the
prospective gift. Now. the wish of my
heart was for a pair of skates, and l had
often expressed my wish in her presence.
felt pretty certain that pair Of skates
would be the present.
The stock in the store Included skates.
and while doing my morning chores l
selected a pair that l thought would just
about suit me. l took occasion to admire
them in aunt's presence and say how much
l would be pleased to have a pair like them.
She was very conservative, but l thought
could detect look of brnevOlence in her
eyes. l confded my fond expectation to
grandfather; but he seemed unwilling to
anticipate the result of aunt'S generosity.
At last the afternoon of the long wished
for day arrived. l made an excuse to visit
the store. The skates were gone. That
settled it. l went out and informed all my
young friends that was going to get pair
of skates off of the Christmas tree. went
around to the church to see how matters
were progressing; but the good people
would not let me inside So went round
| to the side and climbed up board and had
peep through window. Everything
looked promising.
| At the proper time aunt and l were
mingling with the merry crowd OF old and
young in the beauttied church.
| There. attracting all eyes, stood the beau
| tiful tree-the little wax tapers twinkling
amidst it's dark bOughS like midnight stars
in the dark vault of heaven. Good feeling.
peace, good will toward man, could be read
on every face there. l felt, for the first
time, like throwing my arms about dear
old aunt and giving her loving embrace;
but prudence forbade.
During the opening exercises, we chill
dren were all impatience. Finally old Santa
| Claus made his appearance amid the well
coming shouts OF the merry children, and
the distribution of gifts began. l could see
several pairs of skates and felt sure one
pair was for me. AS each name was called,
the lucky one ran forward and received his
present. l thought my turn would never
come; but while was turned about looking
at another boys prize, [ Tommy
Gallop." | sprang out of my seat, and as
l rushed forward, old Santa was holding
high big jumping jack, making him dance
to the merry shouts of old and young.
took one look at it and my heart sank. the
blood rushed to my head, the whole
aspect of things changed. and what
had been merry laughter now sounded like
mockery; for recognized it as the identical
old jack that l had often seen hanging on a
string in aunt'S snowy window. Here you
are my little man," said Santa, and l took