The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-12-21
awaiting his mailing, one addressed ITO the

awaiting his mailing, one addressed ITO the
richest man in this CITY,"
"Ho! hol ho!" laughed the collector, as he
beheld the strange superscription. "Now,
that's a good joke that is! Who's the richest
man in town? Why, Mr.. -, to be sure.
I'll just carry out the joke and cave it at his
door. l wish I knew what it says, but-they
were nice children, though, if they were
shabbily dressed"
So it happened that while Bob AMI Sis
were getting some Cruel made Tor mamma,
the all-important letter was being carried by
the good-natured letter-man (who had chill
dren of his own. by-the-way) to the hand
some residence Of Mr.. -
Now, the route belonged TO a differ
emit postman, but, you see, Bobby's letter
was minus the necessary stamp which the
post-ofice would nave required, and, besides,
Collector Brown was afraid something would
go wrong with the poor little missive if he
trusted it to other than his own hands, so he
hurried time a little and finally delivered
Bobby's letter to the smiling maid at the
kitchen door OF Mr.. rs house, making
her promise to see that her master had it
after he had eaten a hearty breakfast.
"These rich ones are somehow better-na-
tured when %they'vea full stomach, you
know" he said, as he touched his cap to
Betty, and fastened away.
And, by and-by, when Mr.. - leaned
back in his chair to read the paper, and digest
the incest breakfast in the world, the letter
was put into his hands, and with a laugh he
opened it, wondering much what it could
near, and not averse at being deemed worthy
the title and address Bobby had given.
Reading, his face saddened, and at last
came the low-uOicad exclamation.
"Poor children! Too bad! too bad"
"Do read it aloud, my dear" suggested the
gentleman's wife, a tender hearted lady,
whose blue eyes looked through glasses which
everybody declared must be Of an invisible
rose color, since she, the wearer, always saw
things in their sweetest and tenderest light.
So Mr.. - began, and thus ran the let
ter which Bobby had toiled over the night
before:
"Plese, Mr.. Rich Man, wharever you are,
Sis and l are writing bekause we can't help
it things are SO bad with us. Our deer
mamma IS sick and koffs the whole time. We
haven't got any papa for he is in heaven.
We never had any Crismus bekause Sanity
Claws never seems TO know WHARF we live.
But we don't kare for that SO much as for
mamma to be warm and stop koffing, and we
don't know any one to help us, and mamma
won't let us be begging for money less l ern
it doing errands. So something has put it
into me to ask some rich man, who has Girls
muses. at his house every year, if he will spare
us a little, just enuff to keep us warm and
help mamma get we'll. It won't take much
money, l guess, only 2 dollars maybe. That
would seem a CRATE deel bekause we never
have more than some money mamma ems
soing. Please don't say no in yure hart, but
yes, and if you will help US ptea,e come to
lumber 10 Bleak Street, and up stares to the
toppest landing, and thare's our dore. And
when I say my praers, l and Sis. too, we will
say God bless the rich man for Crismus sake.
"BOBBY MOORE"
The rich man wife turned her head aside,
and wiped some tears from behind her glasses.
The rich man himself coughed a little, wink
ed his eyes a little, and loosened his cravat
because his throat somehow seemed too large
for it.
Then he and she lo.'ed at each other. The
smiling maid behind her icdv's chair re-
solved to watch for the postman We left the
letter, and tell him all about what it Sid.
And finally Mr.. - said:
"Get your things on, dear, and: Betty, tell
John l want the carriage"
Well, there isn't much more to tell except
that the rich man found Bobby's home, and
his wife found the sick mothers heart. And
when the Christmas bells were ringing their
loudest, Santa Claus left right at the door of
the "toppest landing" the biggest kind Of a
Christmas for all the Moore family, and
many of just such things as had tempted and
Knocked at poor little Sis from The shop-win-
dow on that frosty night.
"There now, Bobby, you see it was some
use to look at those things and make b'lieve
they were ours, cause now we've got 'em we
can think a fairy heard us wishing that night,
and fairies are sometimes out of story-books,
you know. Mamma says So" was Sissie's
speech, after she had quieted down, and could
hold her dolly without squeezing its life-saw-
dust out.
EYES," was Bobby's reply. "But think
the fairy wouldn't have done much good if
God hadn't let her, 'cause he loved dear
mamma SO much. Anyway, we've got a
Christmas at last, and I don't mean to forget
my promise to the kind rich man, either"