Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-12-21
BY JOHN w. RYAN
~oo-o-~-~-~-~~~~~~

1t was the night before Christmas,
and he was coming home. From the
far West he telegraphed that he would
come East to see the Yule log blaze
and the festival candle burn.
'Let me have some of that potato
cake that Bridget used to make" he put
at the end Of his dispatch, and the
old family servant when this was read
to her said:
"Faith, and he ought to have some
body better nor that, the crachture,
after being out for year among those
Philippines, who live in the swamps
and ait rice six days in the week,
besides Sunday"
$50 he shall, Bridget" replied the
home-mother, Mrs. Thurston. well
have a little surprise party for him,
and have all his relations and intimate
friends within call to welcome him."
"That'l be foine intirely, ma'am, and
I'll have to begin me cooking right off,
so that there'll be lashins' of every
thing to ait and drink"
"You can save your strength for the
Christmas dinner, Bridget, but for the
Christmas-eve gathering We'll have a
caterer, and that will save you a great
deal of trouble
at wouldn't be the laist Trouble in
the world anything 1 could do for Mas
ter Samuel, but let the caterer bring his
ice CRANES and his sherbits, and his
swale-cakes, and I'll give the boy
something fit to ait the next day, some
thing substantial that'll make him for
get he was ever hungry among thin
yaller dwarfs that he whit out to
tache."
And now the night had come when
his arrival was anXiOusly expected.
The guests had all assembled, and ct
every passing footstep there was a
shout, "There he isl but as the sound
passed and died away in the distance,
there were little signs Of disappOint-
ment from brothers, sisters and cousins,
and the company returned to their
somewhat forced merriment, hoping
that the next ten or fifteen minutes
would bring welcome ring of the door
bell. Nine o'clock came, and the eX-
pected prodigal' son, as some one SO
loosely called him, did not appear.
ooh, these Western trains are al
ways late the night before a holiday,
said Uncle Arthur, who had been q
great traveller and knew all about the
haps and mishaps Of railroad manage
ment.
$50 they are, so they are" echoed
Sans father, who had never been a
hundred miles from his native city, and
could no more decipher a timetable
than he could read hieroglyphics on a
pyramid.
And $50 they are, so they are" muir
INJURED every one else, though the fes-
tivities in which they were engaged
seemed like the play of Hamlet with
the Danish prince left out.
Ten o'clock struck and still the alb
sent one had not returned.
"Perhaps he won't come until morn
ing" remarked Mrs. Moulton. "Of
course he did not know you would all
be here, and he may have stayed over
in New York to see some old college
chums."
"That wouldn't be a bit like Sam,
returned his father. Hes a good deal
like me. When he says he'll do a thing,
he does it."
eyes, he's chip Of the old block, =
whispered one Of Sans sisters. though
father did promise to mail a letter for
me last month, and kept it in his pocket
for a week"
"Weu," asked Sans younger brother
Tom, "why can't we begin on the eat
ables? The ice cream has been dished
up this half hour, and it will be only
fit to drink if we wait much longer.