Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-05-29

L Wlnu III WIN unls lovely little brass
keys?
And be very sure you don't lose
the key" said her mother. For care
lessness is m of your faults, as well
as unpunctuality."
I'll be very careful" promised Phil
lis, retreating with her little clock in
one hand and it's key in the other.
For Patty, the scholar of the fam.
lily, there was a fine new. diary-book,
with gilt edges and a tiny socket to
keep its accompanying pencil from
straying away.
"Oh, how NIGEL" said Patty. "In
write down in the pages rat night
everything that has happened during
the day, and when Uncle Eric comes
back, I'll read it all aloud to him."
Poor Uncle Eric!" said Nathan.
Perhaps he'll think he had better
have been shipwrecked first, or eaten
up by the cannibals."
Fol- Sam, last of all, there was a lit
tie brown-leather pocketbook, some
what worn, lined with cherry silk.
with an especial space for postage
stamps.
He looked at it with rather a disap.
pointed expression of countenance,
"Only this!" said he. Goodness
me! Uncle Eric must surely have
meant to play a joke upon me, be-
cause l never have any money to put
into a pocketbook!" He turned away
on his heel. IF Uncle Eric had meant
to remember me-" he grimbled, "why
couldn't he have given me that pretty
little ship OF his that the old French
sailor made for him? or the magnet
or the music-box inside the
weight? / don't think much of an
old leather pocketbook."
The more he thought about it., the
less he was pleased with Uncle Eric's
remembrance of him; and at last he
wrought himself up to such a condi-
ton of mind that he pulled the pock-
etbook out of his pocket and flung it
out into the row of leaaess currant-
bushes that skirted the garden fence.
And then he went about his business
and studies, feeling relieved.
This was in the morning. When the
long afternoon shadows began to lie
on the snowy ground, Sam drove to
the railway depot with the horse and
cutter, to meet his father, who went
daily to the city.
Father, said he, IT wish you would
give me a dollar"
Mr.. B%uddington looked grave.
"A dollar" said he. "What' do you
want OF a dollar? Don't you know
that dollars are not picked up, like
butternuts, under the trees?"
Il want a new sled awful bad" said
Sam. "I've tinkered mine up, and
tinkered it up, until it won't hold to-
gether another day. And Lew Peck
is going to have a new one, and he'll
sell me his old Eagle for a dollar and
a half, and take out the half-dollar in
my pocketknife with the corkscrew
blade"
THAT is the arrangement, is it?"
satd his father, half smiling.
Eyes, sir" Sam answered. "And the
Eagles an out-and-out beauty. All
she needs is q set Of new steel run
ners."
"Well," said Mr.. Buddington, "Ill
think Of it, and if there's a dollar to
be spared. I'll try to help you through
with this bargain"
Father" said Sam, II wish we were
rich. I wish l had all the money that
l wanted to spend"
"And how much would that be?"
asked Mr.. Buddington, amused at the
lads earnestness.
"Oh, / don't know" replied Sam.
Five dollars, l think-or perhaps ten.
Ten, / guess, father. Oh, l could get
whatever l wanted for ten dollars!"
"Well, you r about as likely to
get ten as five for all | can see," OBJ
served his father. There's Jake. You
had better 60 around to the barn with
him, and see that Sorrel is quickly un-
hitched and well blanketed."
Jake, the little colored boy who
helped around the barn and poultry
yard, was in great excitement.
Il done found you's pocketbook,
Mr.. SAM" he whispered, m~ysteriously,
as they were unbuckling the traces,
"outen in de curran' bushes. Here it
is! Wild a bright, new cent into it!"F
"A cent. Jake"
"Clar in de inside" said Jake. II
found it outen in de curran' bushes"
LET me see," said Sam, dropping
his part of the harness.
Sorrel, who was by this time sufi-
GENTLY detached from the sleigh,
shook himself, and walked deliberate
ly into the stable, and Jake grinning-
ly handed the pocketbook to his
young master.
He was right. In the very inner
most pocket-one which, in his haste
and displeasure, Sam had neglected
to inyestigate-was, not a bright, new
penny, but . gold eagle-A shining
treasure.
This, then, was what Uncle Eric had
meant by the gift of the worn pocket
book, which had 20 sadly wounded
Sans spirits and mortified his pride.
Il always knew I was Uncle Eric's
favorite." he cried, joyfully, as he set
off on a full run up to the house, to
disclose his good luck to the rest OF
the family. "A
"Aha, Sam!" said his father, when
he had learned the story, "let this be
a lesson to you, never hereafter to
judge by appearances"
But no one ever knew whether 1t
was Or not, for Sam belonged to the
numerous class Of boys who never
read the morals to their fables, and
who never learn any lessons by ex-
p~eriencs.
AMI ho,r do &hAx exnncf 70 1ain