Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-21

|
J officers cabin, whereupon Mr. Lee, the frs
lieutenant, sent for Duke White and, when b
came. said: Duke. how would you like to pla,
Cinderella this Christmas night? You don
know what that is? Well, I'll explain. 1under
stand that you didn't go to the ball because yol
didn't have boiled shirt Now, / propose t
mt you ont with a complete party costume, 81
that you can 60 and play Cinderella on th'
Iurkey-creek plantation. Here is n shirt.
nice velveteen coat, a good dress waistcoat tina
lngs, pair of patent-leather pumps, my sec
ond best, collar, cuffs, celluloid studs-all yor
need, in fact, to be a bowling swell. / make
you present of the whole outfit. Go ant
dress up, and let Us see you again before yor
go of; then you can take the dingy and row
| yourself ashore
| Twenty minutes later Duke reappeared, in
condition of gorgeousness the like of which
had never been seen before in those parts. He
| grinned from ear to ear as he turned around to
departure in the boat The sensation he
! created, upon his arrival at the ball. was i'm
mense, as / subsequently learned. He was the
beau OF the occasion, quite cut out all the other
fellows, and made his first impression on the
| heart of o young lady Of color, who played the
prince TO his Cinderella, and whom he married
in the following July on the banks Of that same
Turkey creek. But, after all, that was Duke
Whites Christmas rather than mine.
Mr.. Nicholas Biddle's Remarkable
Christmas.
1.-THE most remarkable Christmas of my life, ~
said Mr.. Nicholas Biddle OF New York, grand
nephew of the gentleman once in charge Of the
United States bank, twas spent in the wilds of
Texas had gone out there as a boy to seek
my fortune with companion about my own
age. Our dreams Of the wealth to be acquired
there rather faded soon after our arrival, and
when our money was gone was glad to get a
job at sweeping out a roundhouse, while my
friend secured employment as what was tech
nically called hash singer in a primitive
sort of boarding house patronized by railway
hands mostly. Acting in that capacity he
would warn me each day while carrying around
the dishes against those which he knew to con-
tain doubtful ingredients. But, to get on with
my story, after awhile was promoted from the
roundhouse to position Of trust, my work be-
ing to carry money from what was then the
terminus OF the road to pay the men who were
engaged. some miles away, in cutting through
hill for u contemplated branch. The country
through which had to make my trips was
very sparsely settled, and it was my custom to
under hill. which served me as
halfway house. While on one OF
these weekly journeys, was taken with what
subsequently learned must have been scarlet
fever. / barely managed to drag myself into
the shanty. where l lay for three days unat-
=
by gang OF men going to the distant camp
| and they supplied me with pie. They could dc
no more; but they sent others back from the
camp, who brought more pie. Of course there
was no doctor aud there was nothing else they
could think OF to do for me. l heard one OF
them say: 'Pardners, it's my opinion that when
cuss is too far gone ter eat pie that cuss il
| Soin ter climb the golden stair
''Finally-it was Christmas day. they told me
| "a deputation was sent from the camp to my
] o1oynt
| honest fellows as ever stood in boots, flied in
| solem1ly and stood in a line by the bed looking
| at me as | lay there.
| "'Pardner.' the spokesman said. we thought
as how 1t was the proper thing, before you
passed in your checks to come and AK YOU
| what you wanted done with your remains. II
you would like to have them sent east to your
family, expense is no object: don't you,think OF
what it will cost, pard; the boys will make it ur
| among en-
Il was too weak to say anything in reply
| though, as a matter of fact, the crisis of the
| disease had passed and was booked to get
| well. So the men filed out sorrowfully from
| the shanty. as they had come in; did not see
them again until two days later, when they
| came along with an improvised bier and found
me sitting up in bed, eating one of the doZeC
/ pies that were strewn around me with the
utmost gusto. But it was not pleasant Christ
! mas"
MIR. Cannon's Christmas with Uncle
| John.
A STAR reporter was talking Of Christmas
experiences with Representative Cannon just a
few days before the tidings came Of the death
| Of his wife, making this the sadest Christmas
of his life. The Illinois Congressman then
in one OF the happiest OF his genial moods, and
as he counted back over the many Christmases
he hid spent. his sentimental spirit conjured
up the picture of a cottage in the Wabash valley
! on Christmas eve many years ago.
You want me to tell you what Christmas !
best remember? Well. III do it. 1t was in
| 1852, on the Wabash in Indiana. Ny mo Their
was widow. We lived in cottage-it was
pretty big house in those days-which my
| father had built, chiefly with his own labor
| That Christmas l was fifteen years old, but
was very green boy; had never been any
! where and was pleased at small things that
! boy OF half that age would not consider nova
| days. l was child We lived in the back
woods there in our own simple way. 1t was
| my last year at school. My brother, older thar
myself, had gone to the great city Of New Yorl
! to study medicine and there came to me from
him the day before Christmas little paper
| covered book full of pictures, called Christ.
mas with Uncle John As think OF it now. il
was very cheap and no-account affair, but te
me then it appeared very fine. That picture
book that had come all the way from New York
was a great thing for me.
/
! year younger than 1 was and 1 thought she
| was just the sweetest and prettiest girl In the
| world. We used to walk to school together
| and l would carry her books. Well, that
| Christmas eve mother had an old Spanish sill
! yer quarter, which she laid out in New Orleans
| sugar, and that night little Mary was invited
| over and we sat in front of the big fireplace,
where large logs were burning bright driving
| the shadows away back into the corners, anC
we looked at Christmas with Uncle John,
| while mother cooked the taffy. Then we pulled
tatfy and had a nice time-Mary and land L
yes, / kissed her. 1t was the first time haG
ever kissed girl in my life"
| The statesmans eyes sparkled and his voice
grew soft as the picture came before him. Fo,
| o moment he stood looking into the contracted
| wood fireplace in his committee room as il
| the whole picture were there.
1T was not like that" he continued. 81
was . big fireplace, half as wide Us this room
We had happy time pulling tatfy and lookIn,
at the pictures in Christmas with Uncle John
| 1.-THE next morning, Christmas, / had to e
to school had to walk a long way through
| the snow and had to start early. / got up t,
! dress, and there was q suit of clothes made O
jeans that my mother had woven, dyed Will
husks of butternuts and made up. And Their,
| were pair Of boots she had had made for me
by some crossroads shoemaker. It was tn.
first pair of boots had ever possessed She
had had them made without my knowing it
| the shoemaker getting my measure by pretend
ing that he wanted to settle bet as to who haS
| the biggest foot, his boy or me- In those day.
We usually had about one pair Of shoes a year
and those boots and that suit seemed mighty
fine to me. Mary and walked to school tina
| Christmas morning, and had on my boots anc
| I,tf to,,if G,x-av 4