The record-union., 1892-07-09

to Its field of work in the plains below.
Inc Judge was gravely smoking his
large pipe and seemed to be far away i'll
dreamland-he was looking out through
an opening IN the trees on the wide prai-
re twenty miles away, and more than
/ ten thousand feet below. Just over his
shoulder the Peak" lifted its snowy face,
Inc trees parting TO let it complete the
picture. A woodpecker piled his noisy
/ trade overhead. Two small birds flew
Irom a thicket across the stream and
perched Iearlessly on a stump near the
children; they seemed to be waiting for
/ an invitation to join the happy little
party. Only the laughter of the children,
tne rlppIes OF the stream, and the tapping
OF the woodpecker broke the solemn still
! ness OF the woods. The soft air was
heaVy With the odOr of the pines. The
tops OF the trees interlacipg far above
smut out the bright sunshine, making the
long alsles OF pine trees look weird and
strange IN the half-light Of the woods;
the earth, warm with the breath of sum-
iner, seemed throbbing with life. Over
come by all these influences fell asleep;
When awoke, an hour later, the Judge
ana his party had gone back to camp.
After this l never was surprised to see
the Judge bring home an empty basket;
neither did wonder that time with him
seemed to stand still, nor that years in
! passing traced no wrinkles OH his kindly
| face.
| One of the many boys in camp who
knew the Judge and loved him, was an
old gambler by the name of Shaw. Be
Iore he came to Caribou he had won a
pretty bad name, not because he played a
SKIN game-no one ever accused him of
that-but he had an ugly way of handling
his gun" lie seldom used it twice on
the same man; it was unnecessary. One
saturday night the market was crowded
with people. DAILY, drunken old brute,
| got into quarrel with his wife; mad
| dened by some remark, he gathered a
long steak knife and made a spring at
her. Shaw was standing by; he hadn't
time to draw his gun, but quick as
thought he leaped between them and
| grasped the glittering bit of steel in his
naked hand as it descended. His hand
broke the force of the blow a little, but
he received an ugly cut in the side; one
that made him prisoner in his cabin all
| winter. l shall never forget the scene
the woman crouching, white as death,
| the man livid with passion, the long,
Keen blade of steel glittering for mo-
ment, then the panther like spring of
that brave outcast who held his life as
! nothing against the life of an unprotected
woman.
During his life of adventure Shaw had
! won ana lost two fortunes, but as luck
would have it, this sickness found him
| poor, but the Judge found a way to make
| Things easy for him. Every few days he
| would climb up the mountain to Shaw'S
| cabin, get out his old faro bank and deal
the cards until the wounded gambler had
won few dollars. Then he would blus-
ter around the room a few moments,
blurtlng out host of old maxims regard
ing the evil of gambling, burst into a
heaVy laugh, and go home chuckling over
the success OF his scheme, to pull the
wool over the gamblers eyes. Il can't
give him money" said the Judge one
night al dinner; lit would hurt the ras-
cars self-respect. / don't; l simply at
ford him an opportunity to earn an hon
est penny" Of course the Judge deceived
no one but himself by his wonderful
strategy, still we loved him all the more,
because he was so careful OF other peo-
pies feelings.
1t was Christmas Eve, and all of the
boys III camp found their minds wander
Ing back to far away homes, and living
over IN fancy other and brighter Christ
mas Ewes in the past. Under the weight
OF old memories supper at the Caribou
passed of quietly; even when, later on
we gathered around the fire, the old spirit
OF fun was absent. Even the Judge
seemed to feel the shadow, and although
he tried manfully to keep up our spirits,
hO INNLlh ~ pOSSlDlc. Inc
| snow bad been falling all day, the wind
was now rising, drifting the dry snow in
every direction and burying some of the
smaller cabins out of sight. The talk
around the fire having ended, we sat
watching through the window opposite
Christmas service in the little church
across the street.
The church was on lower level than
the Caribou house, and from our place
| by the fire, we could see all over the
church. 1t wasn't a very cheerful thing
to watch, only "a few of the congregation
had yentured out in the storm to wish
their little parson MERRY Christmas
They were huddled in one corner OF the
barren room, trying to find comfort by
the small fire. a feeble attempt at Christ
mas decoration, in the shape of a few
green Wreaths and pine cones, only
served to emphasize the cherries aspect
of the place. A pair Of slippers, a fancy
lamp-shade and few other worthless
tribes were laid on the pulpit, the Christ
mas offerings of the congregation to their
pastor. Two hymns were sung, prayer
offered, then they shook hands with the
parson and one by one sneaked out of the
| door. At last the pastor of the flock
stood alone. CHANGING around the room
to see that no one remained, he dropped
his head upon his clasped hands and
stood leaning against the pulpit, the
picture of discouraged, disappointed
man. At last, reused perhaps by the
thought of wife and child at home. he
gathered up the few useless gifts and,
turning out the lamp, started sadly for
his little home.
Its a shame" broke out the Judge.
"a shame the way they treat that little
| chap. He works early and late for his
people and they half-starve him, although
every scoundrel in the congregation has
made barrel of money this summer. |
don't believe the boy has enough at home
for a square meal on Christmas. Boys,
let's club in, make up a good Jackpot
and give the little gospel chap a Christmas
blowout"
1t didn't take two minutes to make up
| a good round sum; we all entered heartily
into the scheme, and few minutes later
we were tramping through the snow, each
bound in different direction; for in or
| der to save time, we divided up the work
of buying the different articles. We
! were all to meet at the Caribou" and GO
down to the parsons house together.
Twenty minutes later we filed slowly out
of the hotel, each man loaded down with
| bundles or baskets. The Judge led the
procession, big turkey swung jauntily
! over his right shoulder, two bundles of
celery springing from his overcoat pock-
! cts. Plunging along through the drifts of
snow almost to the shoulder, we at last
| reached the parsons cabin. The Judge
knocked; we saw the light move inside
and then the door was cautiously opened
and the little preacher stood before u.s..
Seeing crowd of men he started to
close the door, but The Judge stepped
forward saying:
"Parson, we just dropped down to
wish You merry Christmas; we don't
mean any harm; it's Billy Woods and
| his crowd from the Caribou House."
| A moment later we were all gathered
| in the kitchen, the only room large
enough to hold our party. Our burdens