The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-12-27

by the question.
"What are you going to buy for your
boy, Mrs. Finn"
AKIN yer pardon, it's a saycret. Il
you wouldn't moind I'll not tell We till
the day afther Christmas"
When Mrs. Finn left the house of her
rich patron her bosom was as full of
chuckles as an egg is of meat.
"Oh, dear; oh, dear; won't Mickey be
d~eloighted whin he folnds fwhat Sanity
Claws brings till him." she muttered to
herself as she hurried homeward.
The possession Of such a profound secret
lent a charm to Mrs. Firms existence such
as she had never felt before. This secret
was continually coming up to her lips and
trying to escape, and her struggles to keep
it locked in her bosom were desperate in
deed. Another cause of anxiety to the
good woman was the question which Mr..
Finn asked daily as to why a fresh egg
was not served with his breakfast. It was
only by the most ingenious white lies that
Mrs. Finn persuaded her husband that the
hens had stopped laying, or that some
vandal muskrat from Browns Pond had
robbed the nest in the coop. At least once
a week Mrs. Finn went down into the vii
lage to look at the present she intended to
buy for her boy, as it lay respondent in
the jewelers. window.
October passed swiftly away, elbowed
ont of existence, as it were, by chill Nov
ember. December, With its SHOWS and chilly
winds, stripped the gorgeous plumage from
Lindsley's Wood and kept Mrs. Finn's
chickens in the coop, for there were no
pickings now in the back yard, covered as
it was with snow.
Mickey Finn had gone to sleep on Christ
mas Eve with a vague feeling that some
thing important was going TO happen on
the morrow. He was awakened at about
- o'clock by the sound Of the firing of
guns and ringing of bells to welcome the
birth of another Christ day, and before he
fell asleep again be heard a soft step in the
room. He closed his eyes and feigned to
sleep. There was no light in the room and
as he lay there in the darkness his heart
beat with anticipation. He felt a warm
breath upon his cheek and then a hand
was slid under his pillow and carefully
Withdrawn. Then came a kiss as light as
thistledown upon his cheek. The door
opened and shut and he was alone. A
thrill of anticipation ran through him; he
knew that Santa Claus had come to him in
the guise of his mother, but he waited,
wondering vaguely what the glad Christ
mastide had swept up to him. And as he
lay there with open eyes he heard a soft
metallic sound under his pillow. His
sense of hearing was quickened until, to
his excited fancy, the sound seemed to ring
through the room like a clarion. With
trembling fingers he reached under the pill
low and clasped a round object smooth to
the touch and with a glass face. He lifted
it gingerly to his ear and the regular tick,
tick, tick, told him that Santa Claus had
oIoHgHl MIN q DeduIiiui atefDGfy WabcH.
The next morning when Mickey came
out of his bedroom his mother was build
ing the fire. As she looked at her boy with
shining eyes she said:
mickey, cad We tell me fshat tonne is
il, I dunnos9"
There was a suspicion of moisture upon
the boys's cheeks as he placed his hands
upon his mothers shoulders and replied:
"It's half past five, mother. But this is
the first tonne liver thought Sandy Claws
wore petticoats. "-Earnest darrod in Jeso-
elers' Weekly.