Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-04-11
CHAPTER XII.
Continued.

The colored Christmas candles.
which were fixed in every safe and
convenient spot, the flags, the holly
and mistletoe, to say nothing OF the
GOOD cheer which warmed the
children's miserable little bodies, con-
verted this room OH the first floor into
q very palace of enchantment.
Then when dinner was cleared away
there were games; then there was a
huge Christmas tree; then marched In
a fiddle and harp-with mortal
bodies attached to them, of course,
though the red-nosed man who played
the fiddle and the moon-faced man
who played the harp might really have
been regarded as superhuities. for on
such a night the harp snd the fiddle
would certainly have played of them
selves if they had been allowed.
Then there was dancing. Such daoc-
ing!
1t required to be seen to be believed.
and even then the observer might rea-
sonably have doubted the evidence Of
his senses.
The wild steps, the eccentric steps,
the jig steps, the double shuttle steps,
the solemn way in which some Went
round and round and did nothing else
all the time the music played, and
sometimes when it didn't, the ecstatic
way in which some kept their eyes
fixed upon the ceiling, the extraordi.
nary way in which they got mixed and
the extraordinary efforts which had to
be made to disentangle them, the airs
that some gave themselves In 1mita-
ton of their betters-truly it had to
be see to be believed.
Then there We're tea and cake, then
there was more dancing. then there
were lemonade and more cake, then
there was distribution Of toys-and
then it was ten o'clock at night, and
time to break up.
But before they broke up there was
a surprise At one end of the room
there was row of candles which had
not been lighted all the night, and be-
hind this row of candles was a long
strip of green calico stretching down.
ward about a foot from the ceiling.
Walter and Thomas Dexter, standing
on chairs, lighted the candles, and dex-
terously whisked away the strip Of
green calico, and there, in letters cut
out of golden paper, was revealed the
legend, God Bless Our Dear Little
Make Believe"
She trembied all over when she saw
1t, and covered her face with her
hands, but she could not hide her
emotion, for her full heart forced the
tears through her fingers.
And when Mr.. Deepdale went up to
her and kissed her, and when Thomas
Dexter did the same, and when Walter
kissed her and held her hand in his,
and when Saranne threw her arms
around the faithful girls neck and
sobbed on her shoulder, and when the
children-very few of whom could
read, but all of whom knew that she
was the one whom they had chiefly
to thank for the happy night they had
spent-clung to her frock, and looked
wistfully up into her tearstained face,
and pulled her down to her knees SO
that they might embrace her too-it
needed all her self-control to prevent
her passion of thankfulness from be-
coming hysterical.
But she knew that that would spoil
all and that some of the children
might suppose her heart was filled
with pain instead of joy; so, thinking
as she had ever done-of others, and
not of herself, she looked round, her
lips quivering with smiles, and kissed
this one and that one, murmuring as
she did so:
"Oh, how good you are to me! How
good you are to me!'