The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1889-12-26

''Oh, SNipasy!~ seIa sac ElrA
Thuro Ea- :. can q cookei co~n t-cf AMI a
httie box Of GSz
Pretty SON the others beSan 10 clrr.s, In.
There was Mickey with h'tlo pack ( II
coffee, some sugar, aud y. ila. luuk5 soars
cabbage that t4le apVls wozn.u ~ the corner
bad cooked and given him Wiz big tears In
her honest, Irish eyes when he tod hsr about
the diEre-.
1T aint much, Mickey" she said, but
may the gooG saints mako IL taste rs rolishin'
as IL twas as big q barn and cooked La q
gowd skillet"
There were five charter rnernhers Of ths
dinner party, 50 10 speak. Rocks" 90
named from his manner Of defending himself
IN his frequent ''scraps1 came In o the room
next. he too had little bundle which was
undono with due oereInony. Y ben Piper
came In he stopped a minute Just Inside the
threshold, and held the door open weilo be
beskoned 70 some one ON the outside.
Ipmon in," said be. The feilers Il Be
glad ser see yer"
Then there entered little fellow not rnors
than years old He was very much czn-
barrased, and held his finger to his Hus
Piper. by way of introduction, said.
'Fellers-and Suze-this 'ere little cove
thirteen years, and being the oldest member
Of the dinner party lis comm to our Cris-
muss. He's just gone into the paper sellin'
big, an he amt got no Doodle. I'm takin'
care o him till he gifts started Seer'
For a minute an embarrassed silence hung
over the little group. Thcn tho little people
opened their Lelrts 10 the newoonler (lad
they were big hearts for such very small
bodiesl, and he was one of the dinner party,
Piper explained TO him:
"You see," said Piper "wo fellers aud
Sue had heard n lot bout Crismuss We
dom know 'gzac1y what 1t is, but we do know
that everybody, wot is anybody, has a Girls
muss dinner. So we les' Clipped in, and
and" twaving his hand around the room,
''here y are."
'But l amt Clipped in," said the new.
conner
"Wel, wot if y amt Y'can nex' time.
So that was settled.
Suze In the meantime had produced a pai
from somewhere, and an old stew pan from
somewhere else, and some broken crockery
| from still another place
"Youzm make the coffee and warm the
cabbage and meat, darlint," said Mickey.
"Yez are the only woman here.n
So Suse went at 1t.
1t wasn't long before everything wa
| ready, and they gathered around the box,
| The savory odor from the coffee pot ant
| stew pan had tickled the twelve little nostrils
| and the six mouths were as eager to taste the
| poor little dinner as ever yours was to pici
your succulent Christmas turkey bones.
They fell to at once
I'm fraid the coffee amt very good, saiG
| Sue. But she smiled the satisfied smile that
every housewife smiles while decrying he,
own dainties, and was as pleased as you eve,
were, my fine lady, in similar circumstances
when Rocks exclaimed in answer:
"Finer'n Delmonicos, I'll bet."
Before very long the dinner had beer
eaten. They sat around and talked fol
awhile, and the little 6-year-old fell asleer
with his head on Sues knees, and her fingers
passed lovingly over the little fellows dirty
forehead, and by-and-by she leaned over ant
kissed him
The tallow candle burned low In its greer
bottle candlestick and when Piper rose ane
queried:
''WeI, feIlers-and .Suze-has VIC had .
merry Crismussr' 4 fervent "You betr
went from tie mouths of every one but th,
6-year-old, and he smiled in his sleep.
The dinner party ives over. D. E NJ