The Forrest City times., 1898-12-23

now. And as to the sleigh ride. pro
pose, wife, to 60 and get a sleigh and
take you down to the village to see If we
can't buy new stove for the kitchen"
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
furs 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-looking man who
kept the store caused Frightening
of his countenance to a degree that
attracted the attention of both 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 IL would
be good thing to buy a snow shovel
and give poor old Hans job of clean
Ing the walks, thus enabling him to put
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 it 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.
rich in conveniences and comfort, and
happy. That was a beautiful snow
storm, but its best beauty for us was
Keeping you home day. l feel now
as II l wanted to get up a splendid
Christmas dinner and share 1t and our
happiness with some one else who is
less fortunate than we are"
Mr.. Jones smiled. He, too. had
thought few days before that they
ought to share their Christmas with
friends, but he had checked the i'm
pulse with the thought that with the
babies and Bridget's incompetence II
was no use to try; it wouldn't paw.
But with the new spirit and atmos-
phere that had begun to develop in his
home his heart went out in generous
feelings towards others; so true is it
that happy homes are the seed-bed of
kindness for the world
There is your cousin John with his
wife and two children, and my cousin
Will with his little ones. Both of them
are struggling along with small sal
aries and ! suppose the last thing they
would think of would be an invitation
from us to dinner. Shall we invite
them? II so, l will go to the city this
afternoon if there is train, and invite
them and lay in a special stock of good
things for the OCCASION"
AS it proved, there was train about
three o'clock and the man who went
to the city on it, bound on his errand
of kindness, was an entirely different
man from the petulant, moody, dis
gruntled one who had missed it in the
| morning. And the final outcome of the
whole matter was the happiest and
best Christmas that the Jones family
had ever known.-Helen E. Starrett, in
Chicago Interior.