Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1896-12-22
THE CHRISTMAS CALF,
By EMILY MEREDITH AWKWARD,
copyright, 1893, by the Author,1

By EMILY MEREDITH AWKWARD.
Copyright, 1893. by the Author.1
!"Suppose," said Miss Gascoigne, draw
Ing up her slight, erect figure and laying
down her coffee cup with an air of solu-
ton, 1--WE give the calf to the Wil]ough-
bya"
"Suppose, said Jack Percy, "we put a
rope round the neck of our dear darling
Christmas right here and not prolong her
life to needless torture. She'll die vio-
lent death in the end"
Jack" said Miss Gascoigne reproving-
1y, "you've evidently forgotten what the
Willoughby children are like. You might
know, ut all events, that when I propose
giving them the calf they must love ami
mails. They simply adore them. To hint
anything else is simply bad taste when you
know how am wrapped up in that calf.
thought liked Thanksgiving-shew was
q beauty-but now really think I like
Christmas better. wouldn't see her given
away to any one but the Willoughbys, be-
cause they are the only people I know as
enthusiastic about animals as am myself.
Those children went wild over Thanksgiv-
sng. What will they say when they find
Christmas at the door on Xmas morning2
just week old; all their own property"
'They won't say much. They'll II proceed
to make merry with her. Oh what a
merrymaking there will be with that ten
der weakling of a calf She'll sleep on
Xmas night after lively day. But don't
look blue, Cousin Minna. She may stand
week of it.
my son." interposed Mr.. Percy grave
~, but suhduing smile which flickered
round the corners of his mouth, "you real
ly ought not to talk that way even in fun.
You know Cousin Minna doesn't like it.
Besides I am fully of the opinion that the
calf will be made great pet. We don't
need her here, and she will give so much
pleasure to those children. Why, saw lit.
tie Helen and Grace only the other day in
the paddock petting Jane Burns, tho moth
or, in the gentlest way"
"And in the end they could hardly be
got away from her. continued Miss Min
ma, land said that of all presents in the
world they would like calf best. They
haven't single animal now but the bull
pup, and they have such q nice house for
calf. Mr.. and Mrs. Willoughby will be de-
lighted; the children will be in ecstasies.
It's perfectly charming arrangement all
round''
"Golly," murmured Jack, thrusting out
his long 17-year-old legs and taking his
last bite of pear at gobble. :'Won't the
calf and the bull pup have bully timer
Philkins, dear, retract. The death won't
be violent. It'll be nervous prostitution
after race. Won't it be bully to see the
calf at $40 gait round tho Willoughby
lot with tho bull pup in chaser We can
see 1t, if we stretch, across the lawn from
my window"
slack, you talk too much" put in
Philip Greville, the one guest at the table.
1t was pretty we'll understood that Greville
had a decidedly tender regard for Miss
Gascoigne; that eight years agone he had
proposed to her and been refused; that in
or about the same time she had given her
heart into somebody's keeping who had
played with it and bruised it and given it
back to her when along had come a maid
en- with a larger dover. Now she held it
in proud reticence, and the glimmer of
warmth with her was rare. The eye that
probed deep could see in her deep capac-
ity for affection, but her tender side was
not the one shown to the world. The
nearest to it was when moved, as now,
over the possible woes of an animal, and
the smallest disclosure of sympathy on any
score lent light to her eye which famed
high the steady flame in Greville's breast.
She was still q pretty woman, in the late
twenties, with q self reliant charm and
dignity which made her decided social
success. Her observation and wit were
keen and her speech ready and well
enough chosen to obtain the reputation of
brilliancy. Her sense of humor was un-
failing in anything and everything which
did not pertain to q member of the brute
creation. When it came to joke at an
animals expense, Miss Minna couldn't
see it and resented 1t with an air of
prinked up severity which savored a little
of the old maid.
"But, after ALL" thought Greville, elf
she is a bit silly on this score, It's the one
thing silly about her. It's her ono hobby
In everything else who is like her? She is
80 susceptible to the touch Of comedy or
pathos. More attractive than ever''-he
realized with a lonely sense of longing
"animal fads Notwithstanding
"The calf" he said cheerily, twill be
we'll looked out for at the Willoughbys.
You are quite right, Miss Gascoigne Will
loughby wouldn't have q fly suffer on his