The Press., 1904-12-21

I finnally to see the presents, and the sun shone brightly on the snow out side. and the fire shOne brightly with in on the brass andirons and fender, and after dinner stories were told the children till they were all astonished | by the, number of wonderful things that happen. The boy with the light hair and blue eyes lay In his mothers ] arms, hugging the doll with her breast pressed against his, so that she could I hear his heart beat. and she wondered why there was no such beating in her own heart This was the happiest mo ment she had ever known. She was only a day old, but something told her that nothing in the world could ever make her happier. & t
 When the children went upstairs the l boy insisted on keeping the doll by him till he got into bed, when his mother persuaded him to part with it till morning. She placed it on a chair before the fire where he could see 1t | till he should go to sleep and the first thing on awakening in the morning. When the children were all asleep the doll looked up from the chair at the images on the mantel. She was too happy to go to sleep.
 What lovely day have had" she said.
 "Just wait,' replied the boy image, ''till yoll have been knocked about the world awhile and you'll see" He look cd as wise as an owl.
 ''I think it very nice," said the girl image, ''so long as you are young and pretty, but don't like the idea of get ting old and cracked, perhaps having my arms or legs broken off,"
 The wind was rising without, and suddenly the fire blazed with a cheer full warmth. 1t was very pleasant for too hot. The doll thought she began to feel softening in her feet She didn't know what it meant, but it frightened her. It extended to her legs; then she felt it in her arms and at last in her face and neck. A log of wood fell down on the coals, and the fire blazed higher. hotter than ever. The doll felt herself melting away.
 'You're going" said the boy figure on the mantel. "It's just as well; the world isn't all like this household
 "It's just as well," echoed the girl image. "Your beauty will not have to fade"
 'T don't want to go," cried the doll mOurnfully. II want to stay with my blue eyed boy. The world may be full of sadness, but there must be pleasure as we'll, for 1t is here.''
 There was something so plaintive in her voice that even the images refrain ed from any further remarks. The fire blaZed hotter. and the wax, which had as yet only softened. began to melt Something spattered on the floor. It was drop of melted wax
 Oh, that her little boy would get up and move her back from the fire! But he slept on peacefully, and as she had no voice for real children she couldn't call to him.
 So the doll felt that she was melting away. Drop by drop she fell on the floor. The room, with it's rich hang ings, the children sleeping, the flrelight fickering, the shadows and, above all, the memory of her brief existence-for after all, doll can only exist-seemed to be gradually fading away She sigh ed to think that she couldn't have been born with soul. to be loved and go on loving forever; that she could not grow up like a real child to see the un- folding of all the wonderful things in the world, passing from one existence to another instead of going out alto gether. Then she thought that she might never have been born at all. never have had the one glimpse of the happy household. the one Christmas. the blue eyed boy and her single day N love. So she said: "I can't under stand it. will try not to murmur, but trust that it is all for the best"
 
 And then-and then she awoke! The horror of melting had only been dream. She had fallen asleep before the hot fire, but some kind hand had drawn the chair back, and in a few moments she was again clasped in the fond arms of her blue eyed boy.
 Fight will Be Bitter.
 Those who will persist in closing their