Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-12-31

looking up with forced smile. "Y eS
1t will be enough-more than / had ex
pected, but feel so wicked to ask you
for money when / know you have SC
little to spare me-"
Yes, debt was the skeleton which
danced, not only in the closet but all
over the house, in this humble home, and
Mary went back to her work, her face
drawn up thoughtfully as she calculated
just how many pennies could be spared
for this or that, and balanced the differ
ences between the strictly useful and
the more childlike but less material
gifts. Two dollars after all was such a
little drop in the bucket of necessities,
to say nothing of the ornamental or the
beautiful. 1t was not debt of careless
ness or of extravaganza, she could scarce
ly have borne the self-reproach and the
shame of it If it had been, but was the
natural result of long years Of sickness
and reverse. Lionel Webb in his young
er days had just escaped with his life
from An attack of spinal meningitis
which had resulted in partial dlsabil-
| ity for life. He was very ambitious, and
though obliged TO accept work which
had as little Of manual labor in it as
possible, still he did it often when
stronger men would have been in bed
with physician in attendance, did it
in such bodily torture that he hardly re-
allied what he was doing.
! Mary had her share of sickness, too;
the anxiety and care attendant on
Lionel's disability was enough to break
woman of iron, which she was not, and
| IN oA1 70 oil Do III,
| dren had sickened and died.
Lionel had secured new situation Of
late-he was growing better with years
and could now take up different class
of work, and his present employer was
man of large wealth, employing many
clerks in his great business.
All this day Lionel worked in a maze
Of perplexity and regret. Mary's face,
with the tears on it, was ever before him.
Tonight was Christmas eve, and all day
long q procession of richly dressed
mothers and fathers thronged the store
buying, buying, from full purses, while
Mary, his true, faithful wife, whose
seventeen years of married life had been
one long struggle with toll and care, had
only pitiful two dollars with which to
do her Christmas shopping, and it
grieved him to the very hearts core.
The rush was over now, and in a half
hour more the great establishment
would be closed, when an errand bow
touched his arm. 'Mr. Dale would like
to see you in the private office, SIR" he
said respectfully.
Lionel's heart sank in his bosom like
lend ho fhs,f ~, Ia L 4:
other r1isfortunes he was going to lose
his situation? This engagementhad
been provisionary, and his employer had
made no sign as to whether his service
was acceptable. He crawIed rather
than walked to the Office in his
nervous dread, for the past had
been so persistently unkind to him
that he was coming to dread the future.
''Sit down. Sit down, sir" said Mr..
Dale, cheerfully.
Lionel took a seat near the prosper
Gus business man, who noticed, as he
did so, the look of care and detection on
his employees thin face.
ut has been my custom, sir, for some
years to make my employees a little
present on Christmas eve," he proceed
ed genially, as he took bill from his
desk drawer and laid it in Lionel's
hand. 81 presume you can find a use
for 1t; or if you can not, no doubt the
good wife can, ehr'
Lionel looked at the bill in dumb as
tonlshment; if an angel had come in and
clapped him on the shoulder he would
not have been more surprised, for it was
a 1fty-dollar bill.
But, SIR" he stammered, SCI have
been with you so short a time, have
not merited such consideration"
That's all right, sir. You'll have
ample opportunity to make it up in your
future years of service, for do not in
tend to part with so faithful an assist
ant"
There was more in the manner than
In the kind deed itself, and Lioneps
heart bounded up with gratitude. He
thought of Mary and of the many, many
uses the money could be put to, warm
blankets, the winter cloak Mary had
needed for years, and-but his face
fell There was a dunning letter in his
pocket at that moment which he had
concealed from Mary-from the holder
Of note against him for fifty dollars
and peremptorily demanding payment
No, no, it would be wrong to appro-
pirate one dollar of the gift for personal
needs. Mr.. Dale was a shrewd reader of
faces, and LionePs thin, anxious face
had appealed to his sympathies strongly
since he had entered the Office, and he
noted the change of expression.
'!What is 1t, Webb?" he said, kindly.
''You look depressed and troubled"
AS Lionel heard the kind voice and
looked into the kind face an impulse
came to him to tell this man his troubles.
It was so hard to bear it alone and to
wear smiling face over heart so filled
with anxious care, and hardly knowing
what he said, he poured out his story of
the past, of Mary and of her pitiful
shopping to-day. "It hurts me so, Mr..
Dale" he said, in conclusion, ''that 1
can not use even dollar of your gener-
Gus gift for her"
Glow much now would cover this en-
tire indebtednessY' asked Mr.. Dale.
He was drumming thoughfully GA mis-
desk and looking keenly at Lionel, not
in blame or in doubt of the truth Of his
story, but in making an effort to put
himself in another's place.
"Fifteen hundred dollars would pay
every dollar.n
Mr.. Dale refiected-in the light of his
millions the sum seemed a very tribe;
yet here was a man whose strength and
happiness were being wasted for the
lack of it. What would you say, then,
if should loan you this money and let
you work it out gradually as you can
afford it?"
"Ssy, sir ! should work on wings, 1t
would make my heart SO light.g
Then put on your WINGS" returned
Mr.. Dale, smiling, ''for we'I have the
matter arranged at an early date. And
now go home and spend this money for
Mary and the children with clear con-
science"
Mary Uad H1finor f1,a okoo1x;rr-o 49,