New-York tribune., 1905-12-17

| he'd gone out. OF course | couldn't
Efoller him in my ht-clothes-wou1dn't
j of looked purity tryin' it7 So / just
Hay there ownin' up that Puffer had
Ebeaten me for once, and rehectin' on
Ethe uncomfortable feeIin' that I'd never
be likely to know a thing about where
them things had went to. / knew they
hadn't gone far. for it was only a little
while before / heerd Puffer rattlin'
dishes in the pantry, so l knew he was
in there gittin' somethin' to eat, and
presently he come to bed. What do
you think O that"
"l am sure that / cannot throw any
light on the matter, Mrs Puffer"
Il reckon not; but some one did all
the same. Puffer KEEP mum about it
next mornin', and so did l, and we was
settin' there eatin' breakfast when some
one raped, and l said Come in!' and
who should walk in but Ellen MacI<y,
the widow of poor Tom MacBy who got
killed last month by fa1lin' from the fifth
story of new building he was at work
on. He left poor Ellen with five small
Children and not penny O. life in
surance; but lodge o some kind that
he belonged to buried him for her, and
her neighbors made up a purse and got
her a ton O. coal and barrel o flour. 1t
takes the poor to be good to the poor
anyhow, but Of course they couldn't keep
it up, and Ellen has had a mighty hard
time. She puts the three youngest. in
the day nursery while she goes to work,
and the two oldest go to school because
they are too small to work yet. But
it's all Ellen can do to git 'em bread and
butter and keep a roof over EN-
We'll, as | say, we was eatin' break
fast when there come this rap on the door,
and in comes Ellen with her baby in
her arms and two o the other Children
with her, and if them youngsters didn't
have in their hands some o the very
toys I'd seen in Pufferis bureau drawer,
and Ellen says with tears in her eyes:
"'Oh, Mrs. Pufer, l ran in to tell you
how awfully good some one has been to
us. Long after we was all in bed last
night some one raped on my door, and |
when / got up and opened it there was
no one there, but hangin' from the knob
was a bag full of all sorts O. nice things /
for my Children and a five-dol1ar bill
III dLl SllNSlops JAoG hIcPPSd NO"h
on my knees and thanked the Lord and
asked Him to bless the person that had
been so good to me and to my babies. |
We'd almost nothing to eat in the house, |
and I'd cried myself to sleep because
I'd nothing but a ten cents worth o.
cheap candy to put in the childern's |
stockin's. Wasn't it beautifu1-just |
beautiful of some one to remember us in
this way? And | haven't the least idee |
who it was. God bless him or heri' |
We'll, now, if Puffer didn't set there
just like a mummy and never give sign |
that he even heerd what poor Ellen was
sayin'. But when she had went out he
kind o. grunted and says, says he:
"'Humph! more Christmas tomfoolery-
Better got her ton o coal Std O all
that rubbishl'
Then l says, says I: 'Mebbe so, but
see here, Puffer, what do you say to us
havin' Ellen and the Children come in
here to dinner with us? We can't eat
a third o. that turkey you brought home
las night, and I've plenty of other
things cooked up and to cook. Just
saw the word and I'll run right up and
no l1a her still hammer bV aSkin' her