Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-12-20
PROF. wENSEL
Lectures
Tuesday, Dec. IA, and Thursday,
Dec. 16, on
PSYCHIC MEANING OF
CHRISTMAS.


.,.......... ............... .....'.. $500.
"well!" they all exclaimed, what
does he mean by that?"
1T seems to me easy enough" said
Penelope ut Is having the spirit or soul
Of the season within. 1 used to think
Of these things once, but Christmas
seems q dead season now. Funny, too"
she laughed, when 1 have here under
my arm Is proof sheets of Atoms new
| Christmas story, which / am to correct
this very night.
"And l." said Estella, never cele-
brate the day now; though I am teach
Ing six new Christmas carols to my pu-
pills, and have an anthem In my music
| roll to practice for Christmas service
In our little church."
And l." puffed Urania, "have ten
pounds OF dried fruits for the Christ
mas mince pies. 1t all goes to those
greedy boarderS Of mine, and l am too
tired to know what Christmas mean
In these days. 1t is a dead anniversary
and practical people have outgrown it,"
A fare from the electric lamp sent q
light over the three keen, intelligent
old faces, and revealed three hands
clasped closely and sympathetically.
They were all well over 60, and their
faces bore marks of sorrow, courage
and well-fought battles.
! Penelope and UTrania were what the
world calls "old maids 0oving friends
would AVE another name.) In youth
Penelope had had family, home, wealth
md ease; now all these had passed from
her. She was merely a book
when 1.-The firm" required her services,
or q stenogropher or proof-reader
when that sort of work pressed. Her
home" was a back room in a shabby
house, on q dull street in the sleepy old
city; her only relative, a brother, re-
NAMED. He, alas, was hopelessly in
sane; yet the brave woman supported
him, always spoke of him as my weak
minded brother" visited him on every
holiday, and strove with owe and gifts
to recall the poor wandering mind. In
this duty she never failed; remaining
as Loyalty true to him as to her young
lover who had been drowned at sea 45
years ago.
Urania had been an only child,
motherless from birth. Her noble old
father had laid down his life for his
country on the battlefield of Gettys-
burg, and, after mourning him so sin
| cerely many years assisted by numer-
Gus i~mpecunious relatives), she awak-
ened to the fact that her money was
spent, her house mortgaged, and she
| was on the verge of ruin through their
care and sympathy" She plucked up
| courage, swept her house of kinsfolk,
and went practically into the business
at which she had played too long. She
was plump, rosy and motherly, with
| great soft hands, a tender heart and a
kindly spirit-a great contrast to the
pale, ethereal Penelope n the slight,
nervous Estella, but her very dissimil-
arity was IN attraction to the others,
their different characteristics serving
| to draw out the best side of their ma
lures.
Estella had lately returned to the old
town where all had lived in their early
| girlhood, and she brought a spirit that
| stirred to life many tender memories.
She had had her sorrows. Widowed and
made childless in the SECOND year of
marriage, she had to face the world
and turn the art that she adored into
a packhorse to sustain her life and
| carry her over hard bridges.
Now the three had met, and-well,
they felt young again, and acted so.
Three old pieces Of driftwood tough
ened by tide" said Estella. TOO old to
celebrate anything, even a day antique
| as Christmas"
II have heard that driftwood makes
a beautiful fire for warmth and color
said Penelope, softly.
Yes" added Urania, land an open
fire is so comforting. Three logs and a
pair Of we'll polished andirons-'
An unexpected laugh ang out; Es-
| tella was certainly forgetting nerves,
and cold, age and infirmity.
do you remember" sal she, "that
| awful Christmas we were forced to
spend at Miss Verplanck's boarding
school? Bless me, girls 1T will be fifty
years this Christmas! Surely you re-
member it?"
well, / guess we do" chimed In
Penelope. Il was exiled because of scar
let fever at home; you because your
mother and father were called to Lon
don, n dear Urania, here, stayed lest
we should be unhappy; bless hertz
Yes" added Urania, with a slight
flush, and do o remember the feast
In Estella's room? How you knitted
something soft and white, and Estella
played minor things on the piano, till
q tear dropped on one Of the apples /
was roasting for supper and how you
stuck your knitting needle in the apple.
so that / should swallow my own tear.
Ihen how we danced the Highland
schottische, till little Miss Verplanck
put her head in the door, and said. with