The Newtown bee., 1900-01-12

steady ana capaDIe man, put bne pEocoss of evolution Is never without struggle, and do the best he could ,the interest was all he could pay. Even for that, what with the cold coming suddenly on and his nestful of young ones being uncom- monly hungry and hard oA their clothes after their summer out doors, the family resources were strained to the utmost. Della aRd Henri contributed their sav- ings, the parlor that was to be was shut up, and they all came down to pretty strict diet of pudding and milk. It was poor outlook for Christmas, for ahead of them loomed up more interest and other payments, besides the continuous outgo for their living.
 "I don't know but I've undertaken too much," Jean Aubert said soberlys "lt costs more over here than it did on the street. If we don't save more this winter than we have since we came, we shall have to move back" and in the melan- Choly silence that followed Mamma Au- bert gave up her chickens and COW. Della saw her dream of muslin curtains and an organ vanish in air, and the chil- dren suffered that depression of spirits which is always induced by verdict ad- verse to Christmas.
 Fortune has & way of experimenting with full cups to see how much more they can hold after they are apparently brimming. The Auberts thought they had all the mouths they could feed and all the cares they could compass consis- tent with the ambition, which they were not yet prepared to reiinquish, of owning their house, when the very next day after the family council knock came at their humble door and Madame Aubert opened it on aD old man, who asked if Jean Aubert lived there.
 s'I come to see him from Canada," 1" said be.
 It was o'clock in the afternoon, but Madame Aubert made the visitor comfort able by the fire. He was old and poorly dressed, and had with him shabby car petbag.
 
 off his coat and prepared to make himself at home. "No? An, Jean remember. His father my old eighbor-frien'-up in Chateau-grand."
 Madame Aubert went about her work, the little AuDerts resumed their play, the older children came stamping in from school. The questions they all enter taIned in respectful silence about the stranger who sat dozing by the fire-Whc was he? Had he come to stayP What should they do with him P--waited till Jean should come. That evening they all sat up and listen ed to the fine old story of the Boy who went to seek his Fortune,-or was 1t thu Prod1gal Son? It was told in French with many gestures and much dramatic effect, ,-and Pierre Demarest, it's hero and narrator, was assisted by the smileI and tears and enthusiastic applause of al the Auberts, from Jean Aubert down. In the seignory in Canada where thu !. Auberts lived the Demsrests had beer their neighbors. Old Demarest had beer , 8 father to Jean's father, ,and Pierre Dem arest had been his dearest friend. Btu !, Pierre had chosen to wander, and while young Aubert settled and married ant ! became farmer on the land adioininf old Demarest's, Pierre went West anG disappeared. No word came from him } and except in Aubert's stories to hi children of the friendship he and Pierr' had had together in the days when Au bert was stranger and Father Dema } rest had taken him in, the very memor, of Pierre Demarest seemed to have died Gone 30 yearsl His audience gathered that he had first drifted beyond the pail of civilization in company with partl of railroad engineers; that he had been guide and hunter in the Rocky mountains l that he had had some experience il mining, and that he had been to Alaska He talked of Indians and bears with familiarity that made the Aubert boys ! hearts burn within them. But he dwel