El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-23

for my age and looked no more than
10. There were four of us. 1 was
the eldest. Then there were girl of
10, one of S1a and a boy of Z. In Oc-
tober we had moved to the house on
the shore of Lonesome lake, which was
very lonesome indeed. 1t was a soil
tary little sheet of water on the top of
q hill, almost a mountain. There were
no neighbors nearer than a mile. Fa-
ther had moved to this farm on Lone
some lake because his father had died
that fall, and the property had to be
divided between him and his brother,
Uncle William. Uncle William was
not married, though he was older than
father, and he and father and grand
father had always lived together and
worked the home farm, sharing the
profits.
After grandfather's death father and
Uncle William had some difference.
never knew what it was about. One
night after I had gone to bed 1 heard
them talking loud, and the next morn
ing father and Uncle William looked
very sober at breakfast, and mother
had been crying. That afternoon she
told US that we were going to move
because the property was to be divid-
ed, and we were to have the farm on
Lonesome lake, near Lebanon. Leb-
anon is a little village about ten miles
from Wareville, where we were living
then. Mother said she was sorry to go
away because she had lived there SO
long, and she was afraid she would be
pretty lonesome in the new home, but
she said we must make the best of it.
Uncle William was the eldest son and
had a right to the first choice of the
property, and of course since he was
bachelor it would be very hard for
him to go to live at Lonesome lake.
We children rather liked the idea of
moving and began packing at once.
,F'lory and Janey had their dolls and
their wardrobeS all packed within an
hour. Flory was the sister next to
me, and 1 thought her rather old to
play with dolls. l had given up dolls
long before 1 was as old as she.
Two weeks after grandfather died
we were all moved and nearly settled
in our new home. There had been no
one living in the house for several
years, except when father and Uncle
william went up there every year in
haying time to cut and make hay. Ev-
erything seemed pretty damp and dis
NAL at first, but when we got, our
furniture set up and the fires started it
looked more cheerful. The house was
large, with two front rooms looking
on the lake, which was only about 20
feet distant. One of these rooms was
our sitting room; the other was our
parlor. Back Of these rooms was a
very large one, which was our kitchen
and dining room. There were a dark
bedroom in the middle of the house, a
bedroom out of the kitchen, one where
father and mother slept, out Of the
sitting room, and four chambers.
! Thanksgiving came about a week
after we had moved, and we had a
rather forlorn day. We all missed
grandfather and Uncle William. 1 am
sure mother cried little before we sat
down to the table, and father looked |
sober.
When Thanksgiving was over, we
began to think about Christmas.
Mother had promised US a Christmas |
tree. The year before we had all had |
the measles and been disappointed
about going to the tree at the Sunday |
school, and mother had said, Next |
year you shall have a tree of your |
own if nothing happens" OF course |
something had happened. Poor grand |
father had died, and we had moved, |
and we wondered If that would put
stop to the tree. Mother looked lit
tie troubled at first when we spoke Of |
1t. Then she said If we would not be |
If we did not have many
presents and the tree did not have
much on it except popcorn and apples
she would see what she could do.
Then we children began to be full of
little secrecies. Mysterious bits of
wool and silk and colored paper and
cardboard were scattered about the
house, and we were always shutting
doors and jumping and hiding things
when a door was opened. Each of US
was making something for father and
mother, even Charles Henry. He was
working a worsted motto, "God Bless
Our Home" Then, of course, we were
all making presents for one another.
1t was a week and one day before
Christmas. We had our presents al
most done, and mother had promised
to take two of US the very next day
and go down to the village to do some
had been saving money
all the year for some boughten pres
ents-when the news about Uncle VIII
liam came. A man rode over from
Wareville quite late at night and
brought word that Uncle William was
dangerously sick and father and moth
er must come at once if they wanted
to see him alive. Mother said there
was nothing for it but they must go.
She said If they had not come away
just as they had, with hard words be-
tween father and Uncle William, she
would have Let father go alone and