Evening star., 1898-12-17
WHY THEY CELEBRATED

| Talking about Christmas" said a young
| Nebraska man who was prominently iden-
| titled with the success of the Omaha ex-
position "ail of the members OF my family
| twelve of us, including myself had our
| Christmas, or the best part of 1t, on the
second day of November. Ante-dated the
Christmas of the ordinary run of people
a little bit, didn't it7 But it's a story, and
l IL have to go back bit to make it clear.
"Of my fathers three brothers, the
| youngest, Frank, developed into rather a
hard proposition. He declined absolutely
to go to school, and he got mixed up with
a bad set from his early boyhood. He was
seventeen years old before he finally tum-
bled to It that he'd have to do something
or other for a living so long he wouldn't
educate himself and he went to work to
learn the trade of a stucco artist-man
you know, that makes these fine curly-cue
things with small plaStererS troWel
Frank got In with tradesman of that
sort in Philadelphia, where my fathers
people lived at that time, and, somehow or
other, he actually learned the trade and
became such a proficient at 1t that he cou4d
readily command an income of from IS to
$40 a day at the trade whenever he was
disposed to work. He took the whisky end
of it, however, and went to pieces rapidly
from the time he achieved his majority
and he broke the old folks UP a heap by
his conduct He'd lose job after Job
through his drinking propensity, and he
got down about as far as a man ever gets
without getting in Jail. He'd sneak into his
peoples house by the alley gate and swipe
the stove lids off the stove to sell 'em for
whisky ana, all in ALL this young man
FRANK was good deal Of a standing sor-
row and a heartbreak to my fathers fami-
ly. remember him he looked when
last saw him then, fifteen years ago-I was
only lad at the time. To look at him
you'd never have thought that he ever had
drink of rum in his life. My grandfather
gave him pretty bad blast finally, and
threatened to have him locked up, and then
Frank lit out. Nobody heard anything
from him for eight years, and my fathers
people mourned him as dead. My grand
mother often hearkened to the bitter wind
of the plains on cold winter nights after
the family outfit moved out to Omaha, and
then, when she fell into a reverie we all
knew that she was wondering If her boy
FRANK was out in the cold of the night, and
suffering
Eight years ago there was ring at my
Iathers door bell about 10 o'clock on
christmas eve, and my father himself went
to the door.
Hello, Frank I heard him say, and
Frank came in. He was drunk and shabby
looking My father .xed him out in a nice
room, logged him out the next day in good
-clothes, CONES and took him around to see their
mother. She was so delighted to see her
youngest son, alive and well, even If he
did wear the signs of dissipation, that she
almost died of the shock. After visiting
ner Tor an hour or so, Frank got away and
telling my father that he had a bit of an
errand to do down town. away he went
again, without giving any Of us a chance to
see hlm again, and without figuring in the
Chrlstmas dinner. He probably felt too
cheap over his career to mix UP with the
family party. and went Off for that reason.
Nothing was heard of Frank for four
more Years. EN-, In the summer of 1895
q inr fro hi,
Melbourne, Australia. The letter simply
stated that he was working as a stucco art
ist on a new public building down there
and that he was well. That was the last
November.
My father came home from his office at
noon on that day. and when we We're all
around the luncheon table he said he had
received letter from Frank. Now, Frank
was somewhat of tabooed subject in the
Iamiiy and none of us asked him what
= = iailh was DONG, where he was, or any
thing about him. We just waited to hear if
there was anything further.
MY father pulled out of his inside breast
pocket bulky envelope, with the Dawson
stamps showing that it had been registered
Inc letter was dated September IA, 1898
md 1t read like this:
When l showed up at your house on
CHRISTMAS eve, four years ago old man l
don't think, looking back to it now, that /
was a very spectacular success from any
point OF View. L felt this at the time, which
is why L was In such hurry to get away
as soon as l found myself in my sober
senses. | won't be able to get home Christ
mas this year and [ am sending this out
by the last mail that leaves here until next
spring. III be home next Christmas-in
lSa1-however. I'm all right. month ago
sold one of my claims for $125. 900 I've
got TWO more running, each of EN- worth
Sl5GO as they stand. and I've got about
SoOoDo in loose dust. I'm going to get out
in the spring, after selling my two Claims
m going home and be a white man I've
cut the whisky out for the past couple of
years, anyhow, and that doesn't bother me
any more. AS | say | won't get lone TO.
Christmas this year. but you'll find with
this few little remembrances for all of
you
My father spread the little remem-
brances out on the table They were
twelve drafts on the Bank of California
each of them for 81 900: draft for every
living member of the family. And a couple
OF hours later when the whole twelve of us
got together, there was premature Christ
mas celebration in my grandfather's house
ho!d, such as you read ABOUT MY grand
mother didn't think about the money at all
though. wv '
"i wonder if Franks got on heavy flan-
nels, she said.