Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-04-17
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3 Copyright, 1901, by III. L. Avary
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The expressman iugged in a great
bundle of burlap.' The girls cut 1t
open, and out tumbled boughs of noun
tain laurel, plumes of pine and hem
lock and gay punches of bittersweet
berries.
"Ah. how it smells of the woods at
homer cried Anne, her face bright
with smiles and tears.
The little brothers and sisters in the
New England village where she lived
before she came to make her living as
a stenographer in New York bad gath
cred it.
"Ole virginny nebber tire! shouted
Margaret as the expressman numbered
in again, bearing a big box.
1t was crammed with holly, running
cedar = greenwood lace" Margaret
called it-and pajstletoe.
..Oh, love to touch it, Mammals
dear hands put it in." And Margaret
sang:
''The mistletoe hung in the castle hail.
| The holly branch shone on the old oak wall,
| And the barons retainers blithe and gay,
| Keeping their Christmas holiday.
| Oh, the mistletoe bough! Oh, the mistletoe
| bought
The girls bad lots of fun decorating
the house from iop to bottom.
They made their den q bower of
green and scarlet. Then they festooned
the doors of every boarder in the house.
| Nobody was too old or new or glum
or ugly to be thus prettily reminded
that the merry girls up stairs, whose
antics kept them awake O. nights and
made them swear under and above
their breath, were full of the spirit of
good will to men. The landlady's apart
mept was invaded while she was in the
kitchen seeing to it that meals went
into the dining room properly. When
she came up stairs tired and cross, lol
| the smell of the forest and the CLINT of
red berries greeted and seothed her.
The little sewing girl who had recent
ly taken the room next to the den came
timidly to the door to voice her thanks.
SIT makes me think of Santa Claus
times" she said, with eyes suspicious
ly bright. 1T was ever so nice for you
to do it for perfect stranger
"Oh, but you aren't a strangerv said
| jolly Margaret "You are our nearest
neighbor, you know. Come right in
and have a cup of tea. We're just
brewing"
So Prue sat down among them and
listened while they talked away about
the folks at home. She watched them
doing up small packages in white tis-
sue paper with red and green ribbons.
"These are belated offerings" they
said. 1--WE were up till | last night
tying up things. Hope we didn't dis
turb you. We do jabber SO. It's such
fun to make up the presents-lots of
crinkly paper and gay ribbons, you
see, and not much else. We can't give
anything that costs over 10 or 10 cents.
SO we have to make the magnifcence
of the parcel countegbalance the hui
mility of the gift. 1t looks like sin to
sepd such trash. but it reminds kinfolk
and friends that we think lovingly of
them Besides. if folks didn't buy
trash, what would become Of the stores
and the salesladies and cashboys they
empIoyy Where would their Christmas
be if all of US were too wise to buy
foolishly?"
The little needlewoman turned to and
helped with the parcels and waxed al
most merry When all the fluffy affairs
xroro, ;pooood In naato nf brown rln rlap
she helped Margaret carry them to the
corner drugstore to mail.
"Good night" said Margaret at
Prue's door, But wait minute. I'm
going to stick a bundle of mistletoe
over your door just for luck, you know.
And-who knows?-Lord Lovel may
walk beneath it and find you herew
She took spray out of the bowl Of
leftovers and. climbing on her steplad-
der chair, fastened it into the running
cedar
eve have some over our door," she
said, laughing.
"Your prince will be sure to come"
said Prue.
Margaret's engagement to bank
clerk and Anne's to budding railroad
magnate were matters of common talk
in the house.
Prue's room was in reality slice cut
off the den by thin partition, against
which Margaret's and Anne's folding
bed stood on one side and Prue's cot
on the other. In the night Anne shook
Margaret. "Listen!" she whispered.
Through the wall came the sound Of
weeping.
For a time the girls lay quite still,
but presently Margaret whispered:
II can't stand it any longer. #
sounds as if her heart were breaking.
Let's go to her."
In a few minutes they were in the
tiny room kneeling by the narrow bed.
"Oh," sobbed Prue, Il haven't any
body to send anything to-if had any
thing to send! And there's nobody to
send anything to mel"
"You poor little thingp' said they.
'There, there; you can have us. Well
take you right in.''
They took her round to the social set
tlement and whispered word to the
head worker, and the head worker ask
ed her to dress a doll. She brought it
into the den and had great fun prink-
ing Miss Dolly out in gay attire. The
head worker was much pleased with
Miss Dolly's appearance and with the
way the tire woman helped about the
Christmas tree and the children. So
also were the deaconess and the curate.
1t took only a day or two for Prue to
find a lot of people to love. No young
woman who visited the settlement had
so many people to love her in so short
time. The deaconess made her use
full In the mission. She had recog-