The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1898-12-22
concealed while Mr.. Jones donned

| concealed while Mr.. Jones donned some
old clothes, and then disappeared into
the basement. Two hands proved bet
ter than one, and when main strength
had dug out lot of impacted clinkors,
the furnace CRATE swung easily on its
pivot and old Hans face was lit up with
pleasure. In little time the furnace
began TO glow and pleasant warmth
| to diffuse itself through the house.
| Bridget was instructed not to worry
| trying to make fire in the kitchen
stove, as Mr.. Jones expressed the in
tention of having a new one before
noon if a suitable one could be bought
in Jonesville. With a bright face she
had gone upstairs and informed her
mistress of Mr.. Jones' intentions in
regard to the stove and the pump, and
had said that she would like to with
draw her warning"
The comfortable glow of the doctored
| furnace was, however, a small circum-
stance compared with the comfortable
glow of the household atmosphere when
Mr.. Jones again appeared in his wife's
room. What transformation from
the chill, petulant, isery-begetting do
nestle atmosphere of the early morn
ing. Robbie with the sweet forgive
ness of childhood held up his little face
for kiss and asked about the sleigh
ride. The baby, soothed by the warmth,
had dropped off asleep, and Mrs. Jones
cheeks grew pink and her eyes bright
under the genial looks and conduct of
Mr.. Jones.
ITS good thing for a man to stay
at home once in awhile" said Mr.. Jones,
"and find out the things that need his
attention. ! declare, wife, don't know
how Bridget has gotten along with
that stove at all. And poor old Hans!
he was not strong enough TO move
that furnace CRATE. But it's all right
now. And as to the sleigh-ride, pro-
pose, wife, to go and get a sleigh and
take you down to the village 10 see If we
can't buy new stove FOR the kitchen" D."
"And the pump" said Mrs. Jones,
"can we have that fixed, too?"
Certainly we can. I'll devote the
day to things. Now Robbie, be ready
in half an hour and papa will be here
with sleigh and bells"
Half an hour later saw Mr.. Jones
and his wife and Robbie wrapped in
turs and dashing through the snow
as gayly as his good neighbor had done
in the morning. The stove was found
in the only little hardware store in the
village, and the check that Mr.. Jones
gave the careworn-lookng man who
kept the store caused Frightening
of his countenance to a degree that
attracted the attention of beth Mr.. and
Mrs. Jones. How easy after all to
spread happiness! What simple acts
will procure and dispense that which
money alone can never buy. And since
his thoughts had been turned in that
direction, Mr.. Jones thought ii would
be good thing to buy snow shovel
and give poor old Hans a job of clean
ing the walks, thus enabling him TO put
L special Christmas dollar in his poor
old pockets. And SO by noon the new
stove was set up, and Bridget sur
passed herself in the lunch she pre-
pared by its help. Such delicate fiaky
biscuits, such deftly broiled ham and
such perfectly baked potatoes had
never been seen under the regime of
the old stove. And as Mr.. and Mrs.
Jones fingered over the cheerful table,
Mrs. Jones said;
"Oh, what burden is lifted from
my heart. Day after tomorrow is
Christmas, and this morning looked
forward to II not only with no pleasure,
but with dread. What a transforma-
ton, dear, has your being at home to-
day and your loving thoughtfulness
wrought in every surrounding of our
home. We were cold and inconveni-
enced and cross; now we are warm,