Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-24

exchanging a facetious snowball,- bet
| ter natured missile far than many
wordy jest,-laug.h heartily IL it
went wrong. The poulterers' shops
were still half open, and the fruiterers
were radiant in their glory. There
were great, round, pot-bellfed baskets
of ehestnuts shaped like the Waistcoats
| of jolly old gentlemen, lolling az the
doors, and tumbIing out into the street
| in their apoplectic opulence There
were rudy, brown-faced, broad
girthed Spanfshed onions, shining in the
fairness of their growth like Spanish
| friars, and winking from their shelves
| in Wanton slyness at the girls as they
went by, and glanced demurely at the
| flung-up mistletoe. There were pears
and apples, clustered high in blooming
pyramids; there were punches OF
gra pes, made,~in the shopkeepers' be-
| nevolence to dangle from conspicuous
hooks, that peoples mouths might
water gratis as they passed; there were
piles of flberts, messy ana brown, re-
calling, in their fragrance, ancient
walks among the woods, and pleasant
shuffiings ankle deep thru Withered
leaves; there were Norfolk bifhns,
squad and swarthy, setting off the yell
low of the oranges and lemons, and, in
the great compactnesS of their juicy
persons, urgently entreating and be-
seeching to be carried home in paper
bags and eaten after dianer. The very
gold and silver fish, set forth among
these choice fruits in bowl, tho mem
beers of a dull and stagnant-blooded
race, appeared to know that there was
something going on; and. to fish, went
gasping round and round their little
world in slow and passionless excite
ment.
The grocers'! oh. the grocers'! nearly
closed, with perhaps two shutters down,
or one; but thru those gaps such
glimpses! 1t was not alone that the
scales descending on the counter made
a merry sound, or that the twine and
roller parted company SO briskly or
that the canisters We're ratified up and
down like juggling tricks, or even that
the blended scents of tea and coffee
were SO grateful to the nose, or even
that the raisins were 50 plentiful and
rare, the almonds so extremely white,
the sticks of cinnamon SO long and
straight, the other spices so delicious,
the candied fruits so caked and spotted
with molten sugar as to make the cold-
est lockers on feel faint, and subse
quently bilious. Nor was 1t that the
figs were moist and pulpy, or that the
French plums blushed in modest TART
ness from their highly decorated boxes.
or that everything was good to eat and
in its Christmas dress; but the Gus
toners We're all so hurried and SO eager
in the hopeful promise of the day. that
they tumbled up against each other at
the door, crashing their wicker baskets
wildly, and left their purchases upon
the counter, and came running back TO
fetch them, and committed hundreds OF
the like mistakes, in the best hunor
possible; while the grocer and his peo-
ple were SO frank and fresh that the
polished hearts with which they fas-
tened their aprons behind might have
been their own, worn outside for gem
eral inspection, and for Christmas davis
to peck at, If they chose.
But soon the steeples called good peo-
pie all to church and chapel, and away
they came, f1ocking thru the streets IN
their best clothes, and with their gayest
faces. And at the same time there
emerged from scores of by-streets,
lanes, and nameless turnings innumer-
able people, carrying their dinners to
the bakers shops. The sight of these
poor jewellers appeared 10 Interest the
Spirit very much, for he stood. with
Scrooge beside him, In a bakers doors
way, and, taking off the covers as their
bearers passed, sprinkled incense on
their dinners from his torch. And II
| was a very uncommon kind OF torch,
| for once or twice when there were
angry words between some dinner-car-
riers who had jostled each other, ne
shed a few drops of water on them
from 1t, and their good humor was re-
stored directly. For they said, it was
shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day.
And so it was! God love it. so 1t was.
In time the bells ceased, and the
bakers We're shut up; and yet there was
genial shadowing forth of all these
dinners, and the progress Of their cook
ing, in the thawed blotch of wet above
each bakers oven, where the pavement
smoked as If it's stones were cooking
too.
IS there peculiar flavor In what you
sprinkle from your torch?" asked
Scrooge.
There is. My son.
Would it apply to any kind OF dinner
On this day." asked Scrooge.
"To any kindly given. To poor
one most
why to poor one most?" asked
Scrooge.
Because it needs it most"
Spirit said Scrooge, after q mo-
ment's thought, II wonder you, OF all
the beings in the many worlds about us,
should desire to cramp these peoples
opportunities of innocent enjoyment.
1T" cried the Spirit.
"You would deprive them OF thetl
means of dining every seventh day, of
ten the only day on which they can be
said to dine at ALL" said Scrooge:
wouldn't you?"
ct" cried the Spirit.
"You seek to close these places on the
seventh day. said Scrooge. And II
comes to the same thing"
81 seek!" exclaimed the Spirit.
Forgive me If I am wrong. 1t has
been done in your name, or at least in
that of your family" said Scrooge.
"There are some upon this earth OF
yours" returned the Spirit, who lay
claim to know us, and who do their
deeds of passion, pride, ill-will. hatred,
envy, bigotry, and selfishness In our
name, who are as strange to us, and all
our kith and kin, as If they had never
lived. Remember that, and charge tneif
doings on themselves, not on u.s..
Scrooge promised that he would; and