Evening journal., 1903-12-22

~ Ohm BAsCOM was about to sit
down TO his Christmas din
ner.
There isn't anything partic-
|AH ularly novel in that statement,
of course, since about eighty
millions OF his countrymen
ere preparing to do the same
hing. but there were certain features
the affair that were not exactly or
nary.
A turkey was baking in the oven, and
/ Chinaman. sam Lee, was basting II.
hat is not startling either, but wait
minute on a rude slab sawed from
| lAdwood tree now serving the purpose
q dresser, stood a plate Of fresh to-
otoes, dish Of strawberries and a
ywl filled with figs fresh from the
Zee. and finally. there was a water
elon, so you viii understand that this
las not to be a New England Christ
as dinner.
sam Lee had thrown the doors open
let i'm the crisp cool air FOR a fire Of
-ease wood roots IS not to be endued
ith the mercury at sixty-five degrees.
It was not a pretentious abode. Red
God slabs supporting a roof there was
floor Of planks and a chimney made
it Of terra Gotta pipes, this was the
sidence that John Bascom had built,
'ld which he called "home.'
To crafty his aesthetic sense John
i'd tackled sheets Of muslin along the
all. not to keep out the cold, but to
We the interior a sense Of decoration,
st as another might have hung up
-iceless tapestries.
While the meal was being prepared
ie proprietor was stfiding bare-head-
II up and down the path that led
ON the door to the road beyond. And
hen he paused his eye rested on the
|hoW-ho0ded crest Of 'Old Badly" who
e year round persisted IN Haunting
s white banners.
IIHe sighed, and a keen observer would
ave said: another homesiok New
'1alsal,dors' l-
And in part he would have been
SHIT. John loved his palms, his orange
rove and his olives. There was a
armth and geniality about the coun-
y that stimulated and attracted him.
was something to hear the bees hum
ing while preparing for his Christ
as dinner, but the snow on the noun
in top sent "a. thrill through his
,aft, and he Sighed again.
|lt was five years ago that he had
sne TO this spot, his brain in q whirl
: frame emaciatsd and hope gone
he had wandered aimlessly along
e rough mountain trail he had caught
E glimpse Of the sea twenty miles away
inning like steel through a cleft in the
rs. Then there was the mountain
i'm it's cap of snow, and that settled
he matter.
It didn't take long to find the Mexi-
IAN owner and to strike a bargain, and
1hn Bascom found himself in a land
vner. True. that land had never been
oxen by the plowshare; its two crops
lnsisted in cactus and sage brush
at it offered to John q home, and
Amething TO do.
He had gone 10 work. At first there
as a tent to shelter him. and in this
mt he lay hour-after hour while his
)ugh raclzed him. and despair gripped
{ his heart
At night the coyotes would come
osing around in search of discarded
,raps Of food, and John felt that in
lem he had found his natural com.
anions. for they too were outcast and
omeless.
Then there came change; the cougl
rev less troublesome and then disap
cared, and his labor grew easier. Th'
lnnel and reservoir We're nearly com.
leted and his orange trees had dis
laced a large acreage Of cacrl1s. Hi
Enthusiasm grew with his increasing
trength. for In his toll We're swallowed
p his memories and disappointments
Among these memories were two tha'
,ere insistent, subordinating all thl
est He could not Danish the events
4 one Christmas night, star-iit and si
mt. when he had driven through thl
now Of New England with Kitty Mel
on beside him, snugly tucked in unde
be warm robes. He remembered Ger
ain words that he had said that nigh
nd OF her silence The jingle Of tn,
ellsfwas still I'm his ears. and he seem
d to be yet waiting for her reply. HI
lad not said al, and for this he ha,
ieen thankful every hour.
There was another memory: the Wis