Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-20

did not seem 20 satisfy. Finally, however,
he halted before a new cottage, the occu-
pants OF which were apparently few, to judge
. from It's size, The prospective burglar Sc
. lccted this and AFTER a careful look up and
down the street entered the yard. An eN-
/ animation Of the premises was satisfactory
and the man crouched down before one Of
tho windows on the ground floor and drew a
! few tools from his pockets The window
/ would not give, nor would the next nor the
next but at last one wGs forced. with a
/ revolver in his hand the burglar carefully
dropped into the darkness within.
A match showed John that he was in the
! kitchen of tho cottage, and he carefully
| crept to an open door which led into an
other room. He passed through this mo a
| hallway and then steslthily felt his way up
The stairs to the next floor. the stairs hardly
creaking beneath his footsteps. He felt
| along the wall for a door, found 1t, and
turned the knob. The door opened without
! an effort. He entered and closed the door
| again. He struck one more OF his matches.
Tho flare OF the burning stick lighted the
! room dmly. John saw the vague forms of
! chairs, settees tables and piano and the
bits OF ornamentaton on the mantelpisCe.
/ Everything seemed to be rich and luxurious
and promised well in the way of booty. The
burglar was silently examining the surround
ings when his eye suddenly swept TO the fur
ther end of the room and caught the in
definite outlines OF an unfamiliar object. He
crept up closer and as the flare of the match
| spread IL threw into halo Christmas tree
1t was huge evergreen heavily laden. The
| flash of the light danced upon the many
scntlllating, brilliant-hued balls and strings
| and other gewgaws that draped 1t aud threw
into prominence the heavy gifts with which
| its branches were bent down.
John gaZed at the magnificent tree like a
man transfiXed The match burned unheeded
in his fingers until 1t scorched them. Then
he turned abruptly and lit the gas OF a
OH fl Tr hp iitrht lou hn u.a1l gnl
back to the tree and gazed upon it. Over
come by the thoughts aroused by the sight
! and rendered drOwsy by the heat of the
| room, he dropped into an easy chair near
| by in very unburgarlike manner. His eyes
| remained fixed upon the tree and the OBJ
ject of his visit slowly vanished from his
| rIind.
His mind journeyed back many, many years.
| The beautiful tree before him dwindled into
| a scrubby branch of evergreen stuck into
| a rough chunk of wood. Of itself Ii would
have been a miserable apology for Christ
mas tree, but ii had been dressed up by
loving hands, until with It's gaily cCored
glass balls, its candy figures and strings
of red and white popcorn, dancing in the
| rays of the lighted candles, it made a brave
show. 1t stood upon plain deal table in
| the center of a room that was evidently a
| dining rGom parlor and a kitchen COM
bined Plain wooden chairs, a stove, an
ungainly cupboard, were thrown into dim
tres was a group, father, mother and three
happy children leaping and shouting in their
! joy John himself the youngest.
The burglar smiled as this vision Of a
long past Christmas night arose before his
eyes He looked about as IL to find the
picture in all its details around him.
Il must get out of here or I'll be pinched" q"
he sleepiy muttered and half arose, but he
sank back again, stupiied by the languor
produced by the warm atmosphere of the
room upon his half-frozen limbs.
The memory of many other similar Christ
mas nights passed before his recollection
One came when there was no mother in the
little group. That was when John was a
big schOolboy. Then the glamour OF a
childs Christmas vanished and he remem-
bered his scorn of the existence of Santa
Claus, born out of the wisdom of his 15
years. The following years tumbled past
through his memory, and then once more
| a Christmas night flashed upon him and his
| eyes grew tender
The surroundings were again somewhat
| shabby. The picture once more contained
only deal tables and chairs, uncarpeted floor,
a small stove with a blazing fire showing
| through its chinks. Another little Christmas
| tree glittered and looked pretty in the CEN
ter. A little child leaped and jumped and
| shouted and waved its hands about II. An
| other in the arms of plainly dressed, but
smiling woman, gazed with all its childish
eyes at the strange fascinating sight, clutch
| ing fearfully in the meanwhile with its arms
| about the mothers neck. Beside the woman
was another figure, that of a man, the proud
| and happy husband and father. The man was
| John.
| Another vision OF another Christmas night
| followed, pushing the happy picture away.
| woman, dressed in rags and clutching in
| her arms but one child crouched shivering
| in the corner OF miserably furnished room.
| A little stove yawned cold and empty. The
womans face was drawn and haggard, but
| still pretty. She almost screaming in
| her rage and despair as her tongue attacked
figure that was hudded in another corner
OF the room. 1t was man in rags, with
bloodshot eyes and dirty face, drunk almost
| to insensibility. 1t was John once more.
The burglars face grew black and devilish
| as his mind ineXoraby drew forth the mem
| ories OF those days. He recOllected the loss
| OF his employment during the panic, the
| despair that seized him the savings
| dwindled away and his wife and little ones
| fell into rags, the grief when the little one
! died of starvation. Then he began to drink,
| Not cent for The wife or child did he have.
One day John left the garret and never
| returned. Thereafter he was a drunkard, a
| beggar, q vagrant.
The burglar brushed his forehead. The
| picture of the garret returned again and
| again The haggard faces of the woman and
| he child were full of sadness and pleading.
| The figures sank upon their knees and raised
| their arms to heaven. The lips let fall the
words, Husband" Father"
The burglar abruptly arose. For an in
stant he hestated and glanced about the
rich room. Then he walked slowly through
the door. A few minutes later John the Vag
was walking down the street.
There was happy celebration in humble
little cottage in Omaha on a Christmas
night not long ago, The room in which 1t
was held was small and shabby. and its
furnishings were old and bore secondhand
appearance. A little and rather naked
Christmas tree stood on a table in the CEN
ter. About 1t were three human figures
clad in well-worn clothes-a healthy boy,
laughing and clapping his hands as he
danced about, and man and woman who
looked upon his capers with happy smiles
Suddenly the woman turned to the man,
threw her arms about his neck and raised
her eyes TO heaven. with world of thanks
giving in her voice she whispered:
John" j. p.
ONE OF THE REPORTERS STORIES.