The evening times., 1897-12-30
a PHGKHgE
FOR HEAuEN
Little Elsie Wanted to Send
1t to Her Dead Brother.
She Asked for Stamps and the Clerk
at the windowsCriedA I The Child
Greatly Disappointed.

Two pennies dropped on the ledge al
the brass-baucd window. The postalaierk
leaked up. lie was out of sorts. Two holi
days In srccessiun had been too much fo
topping the ledge. -
'weli.'' snapped the clerk.
] He had just opened his window in the
poStoffice yesterday morning, says the
New York World, and eight hours Of
| tho hardest Kind OF work were in sigh.
| The little Giii. wiio had been first in the
line, hesitateda r;iofi.ent. Then She pl.Ick I'd
up courage.
stsmp for this to send it TO my 'itlIe
brother
Ii her hands she held up package
done up in brown PAPER and roughly
tied with IL bit Of coarse twine. 1t was
almost falling apart In her tiny hands.
She held it out to the clerk, who took
it with the same grace that he had
been taking thousands Of packages dur
ing the holidays. z
He looked at the address 70 see whether
1t was foreign or domestic. Then he
looked back at the child. There was a
queer look in his eyes that had not been
there before. Iostoffice clerks see ma n Y
strange paC kages and any quantity Of
then addressed to Santa Claus" But
this one was not for Santa Claus. II
read:
ROBERT McNAUGHTON,
Heaven
For a moment the clerk hesitated. The
the parcel because she had not paid
enough for the postage. Quickly the
tiny hands fumbIed at a little purse.
where two more pennies were in keeping.
These We're on the window ledge in 4 mo
ment with the other two.
There's irnre pennies, sir,''. said .he
little one. Please take IL now. l haven't
any more pennies.''
why, my Child said the clerk who
had ba bies OF his own at home. Il"
"oh, Please broke in the little oi e,
MS for my little brother in hea ven. lie
died last week, 4 nd perhaps he is So strange
il heaven that Gol has forgotten to give
him any Christmas present And he 'dbe so
disappointed"
Tears were In che clerks eyes by This
time. He was thinking o. the little flaxen-
haired one or his own at home. Tears were
Ia the child's eyes too, aud the little lip
wa. quyerinc-
'oh, sir, its all right she insisted This
is my very own to give away. Santa II ius
brought it TO me on Christmas My papa
thesE't know and my mamma .ioasn't
knew. They cried on Christmas Cause
Robbie had gone to live with the au gels
But l want to send something to Robbie
al myself
The little one was crying now. Her sobs
came fast and deep. Her poor little heart
was on she point of breaking.
Robbie went away to God last week.
sh. sohbed. land little Elsie has no one
ler1 10 play with
The clerk blew his nose very hard and
then he explained that the mail did not 70
where her little brother was 50 happy
with the angels. II was not because she
didn I Rave enough pennies to pay for it;
II was because the steam ca RS couldn't 60
there. He was as tender as he could be-
anG enc woman in black WHO La c,me ON
the line that was kept standing there be
Cause of the little ones pleading began to
weep.
50 the clerk handed back the package
10 the child. and she turned away With
tears OF bitter disappointment in her ey.s
Robbie win have no Christmas.'' she
sotbed.
Just then the cover came off her rne-
cioIis pa ckage. 1t held little white lamb,
tel with pink ribbon.
''Gimu ten twos,'' chirped a voice, and
the clerk turned back to the routine o ( his
wcrk. al-.,