The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-18

None at al" said Elizabeth, and she
tried hard to not look grieved. my
mother cannot go into the forest and get
one and she cannot buy one either. But
/ have few little lights and / shall 90
out on the street and see all the beautiful
bright windows; they are lovely"
Now it made Heiner sorrowful, that
Elizabeth should have no tree, and yet he
did not knew how he could help it, II he
had wished to be generous and give
Elizabeth his own tree, he knew we'll that
his father would rot allow it and he feared
also that the other children would laugh
at him.
There came to Henry at night a clever
thought; he, at least, thought il amazingly
clever, and he could hardly wait until he
could announce it in the morning to the
boys at school.
''Listen," he began, tomorrow is
Christmas eve."
$50, ali, that is news" laughingly said
Jacob, the son of the shoemaker; what new
things Heiner finds outl'
Listen" continued Henry cheerfully;
1--WE all have Christmas trees, think; but
Elizabeth yonder has none, because her
mother cannot get any,"
81 cannot help it" said Jacob, 81 can
not fetch her any; the fir trees grow only
deep in the forest"
Listen" Henry began again with
cunning face, at is not very cold; we will
go out to-day and ask from the old Poppel
the fir tree which stands before his little
house for Christmas tree"
ASK it?-from the old Poppel?" cried
the other boys in the highest astonish-
time Henry's boldness had truly excited
wonder; the rest would as yet not under
take it,
ooh, he is not so bad as he pretends,"
said Henry ''and il he is wild and cries
and jumps at us, he has never done any
thing to us yet, and it is such fun to spring
away from him. Who will go with me?"
81, /, Il" cried all. They were all ready
when there was mischief going; even the
girls came running there and wished to
go. 1t seemed so pleasant for so many to
go together. ''You 90 with us too,
Elizabeth" said the wild Minnie. "You
will get the tree, therefore you must not
always be the good one. See, how beauti-
fully the sun shines"
Elizabeth agreed. although the thing
seemed to her only half right. "0nly be
certain" directed the others, that the
schoolmaster marks nothing; he would
not allow it, he is good friend to the old
man." And so they agreed in the greatest
secrecy that they would come together for
an hour in the afternoon and go out to the
old Poppel The most of them feared
secretly, but there was certain comfort
even in terror.
eyes, but listen" said Elizabeth
thoughtfully, "he will become very
angry"
Oh, what of it, he does nothing to us,
and We can all run better than he and it
is nothing bad for us to want the tree from
the old man, who does not use it.
Now all had a secret Joy in the advent
ure with the mysterious old man, even if
they feared little, even Elizabeth, often
called by the others 1.-The clever Else"
And SO they went onward happily.
1t did not seem joyous out In the forest,
where. in a narrow little valley, hill rose,
upon which the poor hut of the old Poppel
stood. No one could think there would
ever be feast day there, and that soon
the happy Christmas bells would sound
from the village into this sorrowful abode.
The green fir tree before the door was
the only thing that did not appear wholly
bad and joyless there; but even it had
grown crooked and stretched out one OF
branches like a threatening arm. The
old Poppel himself, with his bristly gray
faded clothing out of his slovenly hut was
the most sorrowful of all. He appeared as
ii he had not had a Joy in his whole life;
and if children were not so mischievous,
often cruel, they would have felt pity for
the Joyless old man, rather than pleasure
in teasing him.
But pity did not stir in the breast of the
wild Heiner, as he at the head OF his little
troop came in the narrow road toward the
hill, upon which the feared Popped lived.
The six delegates who were to present the
request were already chosen. Elizabeth
was among them. She went forward
somewhat hesitatingly, and asked gently
what shall we say?"
~ know" Henry called out saucily; but
he continued with them, as on a sudden
the old man stood before him and cried
out angrily: "What do you want, you
young ones?'
eff you do not take it i'll, old Mr.. Pop
pei" Heiner began seriously, "we would
like very much the tree there before your
door. You do not use it at ALL"
"For Christmas tree" said Elizabeth,
excusingly, who, full of anxiety, noticed
the angry face of the old man.
eve will cut it ourselves, we have an AK
with us" called cut those behind; but
lucy cdlu IL III biSiI ulRuls 1OI Tue
old man swung his stick angrily and
cried: "You mob, you wish to make
sport of mel l will teach you TO cut my
tree. will beat your bonesl" and down
from the hill sprang the little wild army,
the old man after it with fierce cries
They feared him yet and ran as fast as
they could; the last in the train, who
could not run so swiftly, began to cry,
until one of them turned his head and
cried triumphantly: go he has fallen
DOWN. "That serves him right" cried
the others rejoicingly" "Now beat our
bones, old Poppel, will your"
Elizabeth also heard the cry and looked
around, 80 listen" she cried out; ''the old
man lies so sadly on the ground, perhaps
he has broken his foot; we must help
him."
'HelpW cried out the boys; mo, not
we; he would strike us dead if we went to
him. Let him lie there; he will soon stand
up again; he has plenty of time for it. +"
And all went quickly homeward; one
with rude laughter, another with bad
wishes, because they felt it was not right
to leave the old man lying so, but all were
too rude or too frightened to go near him,
and so they ran away.
Only Elizabeth staid she could not run
away, although she was very much afraid
of the wicked old man, who now certainly
would be doubly fierce, and she stepped
nearer very timidly.
Yes, it was very sad, and in a moment
the old man was not feared. The stick
had fallen from hia hand. he Law there