The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-12-22

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WT same time he twisted
In his small body into
rMaM&W graceful curves.
l"W H~ Say, pop" he in
L0IE@ quired, indifferently,
RI0 while still in that atti-
tude, give me some
A Christmas money, will
you? I got to have
some, you know"
His father, the senior Boggs, looked
at him severely. How much dye
want?" he inquired.
"'Bout ten dollars" responded the
youth.
What" yelled the old man, "ten
dollars? A boy like you? Never! Here,
take this and run along. That's all
you can have"
Boggs, junior, bit it to see if it was
good, expectorated upon it slightly for
luck, and secreted it somewhere in his
clothes. Then, with a vicious kick at
the legs of the table he made his exit.
Five minutes later he stood in Coop
er's Alley interviewing bosom friend
of his, whose euphonious name was
Mickey Flynn.
Mickey Flynn was clothed in rags
from head to foot, he was the real
thing in the rag line. "Say, SPORT"
began Mr.. Boggs genially. "I'm doin'
a turn, understand. want yer clothes.
How'll you trader"
Mickey surveyed the clothes worn by
the youthful Boggs with critical air,
and his face broadened into smile.
Gee! Quince!" he returned. "Tll
trade. Yours is as good as new. Sure!
Here goes!"
It was cold, bleak day. Half an
hour later a ragged, shivering urChin
stood alone, with staring eyes and gap
ing mouth, drinking in all the glory
of new sleds as they were effectively
displayed in the windows of depart
ment store.
Gee, it's rotten cold!" exclaimed
this youngster to himself. Wonder
how long got to keep this up?"
Not long, for at that moment car
riage drawn by pair Of richly capari-
soned horses drew up at the curb. At
the window of the carriage appeared
the face of a woman of wealth. The
footman jumped down, and in response
to her signal approached the boy. The
boy, holding his rags together, fol-
lowed the footman to the carriage.
He looked with wistful, soulful eyes
in the eyes, of the woman.
"Gee!" he thought to himself as he
looked at her. For he knew her. She
was Mrs. John Y. Pierson, friend of
his mothers and woman well known
for her charitable deeds. But she did
not know him. She was saying some
thing about Santa Claus.
"Yes'm," he found himself replying,
for he was a bit ratified; ''yes'm, I've
heard of him. In foreign countries"
he added, as though quoting from
| book, ''he's called sometimes st. Nicho-
las and sometimes Kriss Kringle. He's
the patron saint of children"
And then he stopped, for he had
overreached himself. "Why-why," in
quired the woman, "do you go to
school?"
"Well, ma'am," he returned, curing
his unfortunate slip, 81 do when have
| clothes to wear and-and when I've
had something to eat. l don't know
as can now, though, fer the man wot
owns our room is going to put us out
they's only my sister and myself" he
added, to round the thing out. The
woman looked at the angelic face and
the ragged clothes, and then her heart
overflowed-and her purse also, which
is more to the purpose.
81 can't be bothered going around to
his home-a dirty place, likely. Ill
just give the money to the boy him
SELF" she thought to herself 81 guess
I can trust him" If she had said this
aloud, Boggs Junior would have as
sured her that she could. AS It was,
he took the money, thrust it deep in
his pocket, touched his hat, and strobe,
shivering, toward-home? Oh, no,
merely toward large shop around the
corner Once there, he examined the
bill which the woman had given him.
1t was a ten-dollar one.
And so Boggs Junior went from store
to store, always the same poor. shiv-
ering, angelic specimen of humanity,
perfect Christmas carol, an idyll in
rags, so to speak. But there was one
thing he was careful about. He kept
a wary eye on the police.
Christmas morning at the Boggses.
All the family and several relatives
congregated about huge tree in the
! library.
"Where's Quincy?" they all asked.
They were soon answered, for immedi-
ately there burst into the room a very
small boy graphing with huge pyra-
mid Of paper bundles, which he
dropped upon the floor.
"Here, pop" he began, handing that
gentleman one of the packages. "this
is for you, and this for nom, and here's
something for the cook. and here's
and so on, ad infnltum. In other
words, he was the hero and benefactor
! of the occasion.
"Why, where did you get the money
for all these things?" they gasped
Boggs Junior smiled Worked for II. -
he replied.
"You must have worked hard" they
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