The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-12-20
SANTA CLAUS CAME.
"If you please, sir"
sch? What noW?"

Iu6 CTuSJy OH g5IJl6Ludu tuIuol
suddenly and sharply and glared from
beneath his shaggy eyebrows at thu
little figure before him. The figure wa!
that of a girl years old perhaps, but
small and frail. She wore an enormous
sunbonnet that might have been made
for the wife of the giant Blunderbore
so out of proportion was it is the di
minutiVe Wearer, and out of its depth:
peered a thin, little face, with big
frightened brown eyes. Her clothing
was so clean and neat that one scarcely
noticed how very poor it was, and a.
she stared up into the terrible fact
above her one of the little feet wiggleC
uneasily in the depths of the costly rug
"lf you please, sir, mother said to tel
you that she couldn't come up today
because she's sick"
The childish treble was a little shaker
this time, for the shaggy eyebrows were
very close to her, and they gave the
old gentlemen look that was terrible
beyond belief.
He was in a dreadful temper, thi;
crusty old gentleman, and nothing
made him angFier than for poor people
to get into his house. He hated the
sight of poverty, and all his servants
had special orders to guard the doors
and gates and see that no moan of woe
or want ever reached his ears. And
yet, after all, this little beggar had
slipped past the bolts and bar into bis
very study, where his servants scarcely
dared to enter.
I don't know what dreadful thing
might have happened if it had not been
for that one little word mother" in the
child's futtering speech. Children SO
seldom speak the word nowadays that
it gave a shock of surprise. Instantly
he found himself looking beyond the
child, at an old, forgotten scene-a
little cabin, with a white country road
winding past it and an awkward boy
going down the road, stopping at the
last curve to wave his hand to his
mother, who stood in the door watch
ing him go out into the world.
Then he remembered himself and
asked sharply:
sand who is your mother, pray, and
why should she come here?"
"Please, sir" said the quivering little
voice, mothers the dust woman"
"The what?" calculated the old gen
tleman, with another dreadful frown.
"She comes up once a week and dusts
the -brack," explained the child.
"The housekeeper hired her. She says
she doesn't feel equal to it herself, and
mother does it so nicely"
"Ahal" muttered the old gentleman
with an angry CLEAN in the eyes under
those fearful brows. $50 Mrs. Murray
brings outsiders into my house when
my back is turned, does she? They're
all alike, pack of cheats and robbersl
I'll teach her to violate my confidence
and fill my house with irresponsible
people! You may stay in this room till
Mrs. Murray comes. Do you hear? And
then I shall have a message to send to
your mother"
He rang the bell violently and order
ed that Mrs. Murray be sent to him as
soon as she returned. Having made
this satisfactory arrangement, he took
up his paper again and ignored the
little figure in the sunbonnet.
But before he had read a dozen lines
there was a slight touch on his arm
and the brown eyes we're looking up
into his.
'Please, sir, may look out out of the
window while we're waiting?"
He was so astonished that he could
not reply for a moment, but did finally
give a seornful grunt of assent.
There was silence in the room for a
long time. Not a clock licked, for old
Mr.. Roberts could not endure the tick
ing Of clocks. Not a leaf stirred, nor 3
cricket chirped. The stiffness disturb
ed him at last, and he looked up. Her
bonnet had fallen of, and the sunlight,
falling on the mass of brown hair, wove
it full Of CLEANS Of gold.
Another touch on his arm-there she
was again-trembled with some new
emotion, and her eyes shone with a
strange Light.
ut must be nice to live on q hill"
was what she said.
The old gentleman in the arm chair
had never been more sstounded in his
life. He stared at her and forgot to
say anything.
Il have always wanted to live on a
hill, " she vent on. sour house is away
down yonder, and you antses nothing
but the houses across the street. But