The state herald., 1907-12-20

to the window farthest from the sick
mother and placed the lamp upon It.
Then she got out her precious, dimin-
ishing store of letter paper that had to
be brought to her from 6 miles away,
like the rest of the supplies. and the
clumsy shears, and began to make
paper dolls.
Clip. clip, went the big shears. That
and the rustic of the paper were the
only sounds to be heard. Gradually she
realized that the bowling of the wind
had ceased and the blizzard had gone
down.
Lilies words kept repeating them.
selves sleepily in her tired brain. "A
light load" Surely this Christmas
gift would be light enough for Santa
Claus to take anywhere. Clip, clip,
went the shears, and wonderful crea-
tions fell from liattie's hands. There
was a father with miniature news
paper spread out before him. There
was mother with u baby In her arms
and another in tiny paper cradle at
her feet. There were brothers and
sisters.
Snip-snip-Her hands went slower
and slower until the last of the paper
family trailed OFF into aimless cut.
ting. Then Hattie's weary head sank
down Oh the table and Hattie was
asleep. Asleep and dreaming of Mark.
In the daytime she could keep the
thought of him away from her with
fierce determination. In the night 1t
would come. She was dreaming and
she knew It, She had dreamed Of
him too often not to know. And in
her dream the door burst open and
Mark stood before her. or course It
could not be real. Or. rather, 1t WAS
dream of Marks ghost all deathfy
white. But even Marks ghost was
welcome. There could not be any
harm in embracing ghost in a
dream. She threw her arms around his
neck
But this was no dream. II was too
solid and 1t was too cold. 1t was a
real man who stood before her, be-
numbed with cold. and covered with
snow from head to foot.
In a flash she came out of her
dream. II was well for Mark that
she was Just what she was. and that
she knew what TO do. She brought
the great tub of melting snow.water.
cut on the frozen footwear and nit
tens and plunged his feet and hands
In II. She rubbed his face with snow.
She made hot coffee-blessing the
forethoueht that had kept the kettle
filled with boiling water for the sick
woman's use-and forced him to drink
1t. Little by little life and strength
came back to him and incoherent
words
'Started-with Craver. He wanted
to see-his wife. wanted-to see
you. Blizzard came up. Lost our
way. Dug a hole In the snow and
stayed two night. Went long while
and came to Smiths farm. Craver-
too badly frozen-to go on. WIN be
all right-nfier awhile. but couldn't go
on then. Wanted to like fury. Smith
had TO hold him back. Good thing.
He couldn't have come on his frozen
i''h= bOt lDSt
again. Been lost all day. Pretty near
gave out. Thought I'D have-to
give up. So dark and cold. Saw
your light when wind went down.
Came to-you."
The words might be ierky and dis.
ioInted. but Hattie understood II and
never words sounded sweeter.
Santa Claus did come In the night, :"
chIrruped Lille Il saw him. lie was
all white. And he brought me this"
She held M the precious paper doll
family.
Aren't they lubbly. fought he
could get froo with light load"
Then another thought came to her.
"Bu. he didn't bring anything to
you. Hattie. That's too bad"
NO. no. It's ms good IN Il could be-"
Hattie laughed out In pur. Joy. He
brought me the one thing wanted
most In the world. And shall be
thankful to him every day live: for
II had not kept my lamp burning In
the window while | was working
! mean waiting for him-Mark would
nnt have found tho wuN"