The Democratic advocate., 1908-12-11
!. A Christmas
Restoration
By FRANK H. SWEET.
Copyright, 1908, by American Press
Association.


the brain-so John LOTUS told himself
"a trick of the memory, a way it had
of dropping into that old rut and go
ing over and over again the same aw-
full road of misery and desolation.
What be saw was rocky hillside
pasture, with myriads of canada this
ties and a barefooted boy picking his
way among them at the heels of
struggling little line Of home going
COWS.
"O-u-u-oo, but L can feel those this
ties vet. How like sin they did punish
my bare, brown feet! Mother was not
feeling we'll when l went after the
cows-my blessed, darling mamma.
She had heart trouble, l heard one
neighbor tell another, and would go
suddenly some day when we least eX-
pected it. l had hardly let her out OF
nv sight after that, although in the
misery of my poor, bursting heart
could never tell her what l had heard
How | raced down the hill that night!
And at the foot of the pasture, just at
the end Of the village street, l stopped
to put up the bars.
Gas | turned there stood that-that-
vision. Blessed if l did not think II
was a fairy. I had never seen the ike
before. For q moment l forgot even
nv anxiety about my dearest mamma.
Oh, can see her now-the folds OF
her filmy white dress, the little blue
slippers with the straps over the an
kles, the long golden curls and the
pitying violet eyes. And the poor little
devil of a kid in a faded shirt and
blue ieans-how he WINGED and felt
ashamed!
"And then the vision spoke She
came to me shyly and held out rose.
"T wish you would take this she
said, holding it out, far out, and /
saw then that tears were running
down her pink cheeks. / did not take
the rose, but the birch switch dropped
from my hand, and my heart turned
to ice. Poor little kid! Poor kid!
"'My mamma sent me to meet you,'
she said and sobbed, brushing the
palm Of her hand across the track Of
her tears. I wish you'd take the rose.
1 came to stay all day wifi you. May
be 1 can stay all day tomorrow. L
I've got a white kittie. We brought it
from our former charge. Pm the new
minister's little girl, you see, and you
may have my kittie, and-and l know
how to string red berries into booful
strings of beads, and-and'-
"She pushed the rose into my hand
and then turned away, and l saw her
bare white shoulders toss up and down
in a tumult of sobbing.
"What awful, horrible hurts there
can be in this little life of ours! 1
knew, l knew.
81 threw the rose as far as l could
dash it and flung myself into the sand
by the roadway.
81 did not cry out. l beat the earth
with my clinched fists and my bare
face. The sand filed my mouth and
blinded my wet eyes, and the blood
bing temples.
'"Then people came and wiped away
the sand and the blood, and the shak-
ing voice of q woman kept saying.
Poor boy, poor little boy!'
GA team drove along the road and
crept out into the grass in order to
pass me. Then l heard neighbor say:
Let me take the little shaver into the
waggin. Poor little feller! 1t is dret-
full student for i'm, but still Mis- Lof-
tus haz he'd the heart disorder fur 4
good spell back
cob, yes, I knew. | knew the awful
truth as soon as | saw the tears in
the eyes of the little strange girl. The
dreadful blow had fallen.
''They carried me into the house.
full now Of sad faced, whispering Wo-
men, that very room where l had
kissed my mother a merry goodby not
more than half an hour ago. Away in
the darkened bedroom they had laid
her and spread a white sheet over her
face. Mother!
"But the great wheel of the years
kept turning. The old life was q
thing of the past. The boy was home
less, friendless. But the years did
not stop, and as they turned 1 grew
out of my blue jeans and no longer
went barefoot. And now 1 was in
love with the minister's daughter,
just the same angel that stood that
night at the bars, the beautiful vision
with a woman's tender heart And
then came ambition, that great
swelling sea that swallows up all
else of life"
He swept his hands out and in the
gesture included all the magnifcence
that wealth could give, all that his
surroundings implied.
"TH give YOU my white kittie.'
Dear little heart, what was she not
ready to sacrifice for me always?
And l, brute, the beast of selfishness
md ambition clothed over with the
garments Of man, I-yes, it was the
old story. In my selfish sorrow l
threw her rose in the dust. At first
l said: There is not enough for two.
l can have just what want at the
club If | am alone l broke her
heart and drifted away from her.
waiting till 1 should have enough for
two to live in the style l desired.
ooh, never for an instant did in
tend to lose her. only just to make
ner wait till we could begin life in
the style that would give us just the
social position l desired.
81 did not think she realized my