Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-12-20

III sat In the library of his
Aome, and his hair was tossed into dis
order by the combing of his nervous fin
gers. His dull eyes gazed into the red
depths of a great fire, but read no Grim
son pictures there.
This was the man the world had called
"complacent John Howard"
Eight years before, when he married,
people expected a change in his habits,
but they were disappointed. He had
merely added another part to his ma
ehinery. He had carefully chosen the
kind of woman who would helplessly be-
come part of machine.
When children came they, too, were
compelled to become parts Of the order
II, silent machine controlled by John
Howard. Meek little mites they were.
No one suspected that they were chill
dren.
There were three of them: Mary, girl
of seven; Anna, a girl of five, and John,
q boy of four. By direction of John
Howard, good, plain names were given to
them, names that would wear. Meek
Mrs. Howard would have chosen differ
sntly, but she was not consulted.
When the children came, John How
ard laid down the rules for their con-
duct and keeping: and never afterward
bothered himself about them. If he saw
them once a day it was by accident. One
of his rules, conditions, was that he was
aevsr to hear them, save when he wish
cd. As a result John Howard was a
father without children-and the chill
aren had a living father, but were faith
arless.
All this would have continued but for
enc, inevitable little incident in life called
"death"-for death, after all, Is part
Of life, and dying very often the main
part of living. The entrance of Mrs.
Howard into the life Of her husband had
made no perceptible change in it. Her
death had thrown every part of it out of
gear There were three waits in his
house who came at his bidding and look
ed at him in a frightened sort of way.
"How was he to win the love of his
children?'
How John Howard longed to enter that
play room! But he never dared. He
was afraid his entrance would drive them
forth, and he realized that this room was
their own little world. Sometimes, in
agony, he listened at the door, and learn
cd how different they were from other
children.
How he longed for them to ask him
for somethingl What Joy he would take
sn granting them any wish! But they
lad been brought up to ask for nothing,
10 expect nothing, save on one day in the
year. That day was Christmas.
On that day they could expect wonder
ful new presents, they knew, from n mys-
FERROUS person called Santa Claus. The
late Mrs. Howard had cultivated this one
dear delusion in them, and so perfectly
that they never dreamed that either she
Or their father had anything to do with
the annual midnight visit of the good
little fat man. OF him they talked
months before he came and months after
he left. And with the presents he left
they played from one Christmas until
the next, patiently waiting for the new
anes and carefully guarding the old.
Discouraged at his failure to win even
ne confidence of his children, John How
ard hired that hopeless substitute for q
mother, q nurse, to take care of them.
With business acumen and lack of or
binary common sense he secured a grim
Nav England school teacher for this deli
cate position; and In less than q week
she succeeded, BIZ perseverance and In
Sustry, In casting more of a shadow over
hfSs VA hA~ tnTS WdAAs Indn ever
John Howard hs4. But the waits had
been taught not 10 complain, and John
Howard knew nothing about It.
One lingering hope remained In his
breast Could he make the coming
Christmas so happy for his children that
he could win their lover He resolved
that he would take charge of the holiday
himself. and the preparations he made
Tor 1t were extravagant. The presents
purchased for all the preceding Christ
mas celebrations at bis house were as
nothing compared to the array that stood
before him on the floor, on tables and on
chairs, this Christmas eve when he sat 40
broken In heart before his CRATE Are.
Something had happened. A mistake
had bean made. The New England school