Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-16

called Dave. But their gay voices came
! back - her on the eddy Of the wind mat
puffed out her light as she held tha door
oPen: You go right in. ma! You'll ketch
cold. Jimmy shouted back
And 1 guess that's all pau ketch,"
tommy added, walking backward.
Sht watched them a moment in the tu-t-
| light trudging on with the wind bgatrd
tAtfn. ScUilrg Tho snow. pushing one an
other tunbliHg down and rolling over ana
! ur again. and filling the air with Their
| happy cutlery. And she caught a title of
/ tEeir jolGty, as she shut the door and r.Iit
! h"r lamp and went about her tasks
But the joliity presently grew faint H.
!"ftaihlE orl=r be IN now" she said. go
| ing again and again 70 the window, where
| under her shading hand the fakes whirIei
ana scared and fell and slanted by Ht.
sparks of fire. Il do no. I declare I'm
main friEhtened. l never felt jes' SO
| Snaky an limp in my life" she said oh.
| Joe. Joe if You don't come back"
She went into the bed room DrasentTy- ia
IlIII me St"Chlnss, and as she darned
/ small hole she thought of Sis up at St
| faG! :, among the green bOughs and fiji
httie awe as she saw her helping at the
| last wreaths about the chancei win The
| Old aisles like the aisles Of some dim sweet
wood all green and dark and spicy y
guess know how mothers feel Wen their
sons are priests she said And then sud
| denly the bell rang out, the old cracked
bell giving glad. rolling peal on the lulI
/ Of the gale. That's my Jimmy" sh.s
| thought. He's jes' maxim that bell nraiSe
Cod My! It jes' takes me right infer
cnNrch' I'm the hemlock boughs and all
the woody. cool green thin's there.'
and then another bell, one much more
| close at hand, rang out like a roaring echo,
| ITS the ola South she exclaimed 81
YUM, / believe them boys have elm the
Old South belfry in spite o me: Myi NV,
that's the North church-no. it's the Old
town-Iny soul to gracious. It's both of
them! That's my Johnny then. And mats
pave. l suppose the sexon's let en- an
PreciseN that had happened. For when
the sexton Of St PauTs began to tell JIM
my what 10 do, the other boys crowded
round Jostiins and pushing, and Jimmy
gave Johnny kick, and Johnny trans
ferred 1t 70 Dave, and Dave hit out all
round, and a scuffie and scramble followed
mat would have ended in open disgrace II
the Sexton had not ordered them all o,,t
anu away without benefit of clergy.
And at this Jimmy remembering that
'.Iele were other bells in town, had in
SldliIF organized several rival beli-rins.inE
parties and they started at full run 10 get
mo the meeting houses the best Way they
could. and make the berries rock and
drown out ST. Pauls by all the superior
metal OF the bigger bells: and when one of
the lads heard the peal of the other sound
out like the boom OF fire bells and answer
| ed Il with the peal from his own steenle
| tossing out upon the dark. their hearts
We're almost bursting with the delight in
the clash and Chang and roar beating ont
the air about them.
i wisht their father was hearin' of EN-
the mother said again pressing her face
against the cold glass, While the snow
drove by something less furiously
Iwould RELY tickle him. It's mighty
pretty music. Jes hear the echoes, Oh
ice. where be ye,'' And as the bells pealed
on she was walking UP and down ne little
house. stopping at every turn % peer
through the pane. 10 open the door end feel
the blast, more than once to cry Q 4 with
a voice that the wind pressed back sound
less, making her feel her heIplessness he
fore the great forces of nature which be-
numb and destroy, shutting the door and
walking up and down again as she wrung
her hands. and pausing at every shudder
OF sash and door to listen. "0h, what sort
| OF a Christmas eve is this?" she cried. oh
Joe, Joe, joel"
But even while the bells were ringing II
seemed as if the wind were falling Jimmy
said it was Jest a spit" she murmured.
+ raps he's right. One o. them quick
squalls o snow. But one o. them can
founder a ship taken unawares. And oh,
| II must have took him unexpected or he'd
be homer
| WHAT a long, interminable hour It was
| before the great, glad uproar of the bells
was over! And then presently she was
| sure It was time the boys and Sis were at
home, and without staying to imagine they
were plunging. and slipping ana rolling
| and snowballing together on the way. the
wind having abated as suddenly as h had
arisen, she felt that everything had come
to an end, and husband and children alike