The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-12-23

duuOuuCCu, PlOuuly. We ~ AoF~ q
big turkey dinner, with wine, all by
ourselves.
80 we will !" Maude answered,
gaily. "It will be SO much nicer than
having to cook it myself"
HOW Mr.. GRUBELEsoN EAsED his CON-
SCIENCE.
From his desk in the big, light,
corner room on the second floor Mr..
Grubbleson could see the Salvation
Army girl, who stood across the
street, holding up papier mache
turkey. She was not, unfortunately,
the most beautiful creature he had
ever beheld. She was just plain
young woman, whose appearance was
not improved by the uniform she wore.
Mr.. Grubbleson' IS gaze fell upon her
every time he swung around in his
big ssasy chair Not that he looked
for her, but there seemed to be some
peculiar power at work which placed
her directly in his line of vision
hundred times day.
There she stood, with the snow
fakes whirling around her. She was
on duty when he reached his Office in
the morning and she was there still
when he went away in the evening.
Mr.. Grubbleson developed a curiosity
concerning the amount of her col
lections. He wondered how many
people stopped in the course of a day
to drop nickel or dime or quar-
ter into the make believe turkey
which she held up for the purpose Of
reminding people that the poor would
have appetites on Christmas. Ere
quently he would forget his work and
sit counting the people who stopped
to contribute, wondering as he saw
them drop their money into the tur-
key how much they gave.
One day it occurred to him that he
had never done anything for those
who were less fortunate than he. He
sat up straight in his chair and won
dered if the Lord might not have
given him greater prosperity than he
enjoyed if he had been properly
charitable. He was what most peo-
pie would regard as a rich man, but
he was not as wealthy by any means
as he wished to be. As he sat there
in his luxurious Office, gazing at the
brave little soldier with her turkey,
he said to himself
when ! go out to lunch today
I'll slip a SIS bill into that turkey.
No one shall know how much / give,
but S. will make many poor person
happy on Christmas, and though they
will never guess that am their ben
efactor, the Lord will see.'
When he put on his overcoat at
noon he took a crisp bill from his
wallet and carefully doubled it up.
Suddenly, however, his conscience
began to whisper to him.
"John Grubbleson," it said, ''you
are trying to deceive yourself. You
are not thinking of the good you may
do for the poor. You are thinking
of the big deal you have on. You
hope that by being charitable now
the Lord will see fit to let this mat
ter in which you are so deeply inter-
ested go through and bring you the
profits you are SO anxious for. You
are trying to bribe Cod"
He put the money back into his
pocket.
1T won't do" he thought. 'I'm
guilty. There's no use trying to hide
the fact from myself. I'll wait till
after this deal has gone through.
Then 1 will be able to contribute
without selfish desire to have the
Lord give me profits in return"
So he passed the Salvation girl on
the corner without helping to fill her
turkey. But day after day as he
looked across the street he saw her
and day after day he said to himself
that he would do something splendid
for the poor as soon as his deal was
out Of the way, SO that he might con-
tribute with clear conscience.
At last he received the word for
which he had been so anxiously
waiting. His venture had proved
success, and he was richer by many
thousands of dollars than he had
been before. He whirled around in
his big easy chair to look at the lit
tie woman across the street. Fine
flakes of snow were being flung
around her by the angry wind, and
he noticed that she had her shoulders
drawn up, as if to ward off the cold
blasts.
Mr.. Grubbleson remembered a new
$40 bill that he had in one of his
pockets, and he began feeling for
it. When he had found it he doubled
it up carefully and then turned once
more to his desk. At noon he put
on mis- overcoat and went to the win
dow to see if the Salvation Army
girl were still at her post. Yes,
there she was, with snow whirlng
about her and the people hurrying
past, appearsntly oblivious of her ex-
istence. He took out the bill that he
had so carefully folded and looked at
it. Suddedly his conscience began to
whisper to him again.
"John Grubbleson," it said, 'are
you giving this money because OF
your love and your sympath for your
fellow man, or is it merely trihe
that you are offering in return for the
success of your selfish scheming |?
You are still trying to deceive your
self. You think God let your deal go
through because you had promised to
give in case of your success. If the
Lord has seen fit to let you succeed,
He has surely not done SO merely for
the money you think of giving now. "
Mr.. Grubbleson slipped the bill
back into his pocket, and when he
returned from his luncheon at the
club he looked across at the Salvation
Army girl again and wondered why
she didn't take her turkey and hunt