Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-25
IN SEARCH OF SUNSHINE
Bx KATE WOODBRIDGE MICHAELIs
A Christmas Story

| sarcastic, and she wrote herself that
she was tired of everything and every
body, and that if she cruld only be-
lievr things she'd be a Roman CsthO-
lie aud go into convent"
ssh looks like 4 nun now, doesn't
she" MI Graham calculated. pulling
his wife close to him that they might
| look together out of the window at
! Esther, crossing the lawn with five
men. her hands full OF flowers, her soft
| laugh freightcd with youth, life and
| enjoyment, Heaven pity the father
| confessor of such a religeuse! Molly.
why isn't that girl married. she must
have had dozens of offers
II don't know Mary answered, "the
last year at school, when she came
back in the fall, ] thought there was
sor- one. she was so much, so very
much gaycr and prettier. but after the
Christmas HOLIDAYS she had that hard
look there was on her face when we
watched the boat coming in. before
she saw us. Don't you remember
how the ice broke when She smiled?
she's been thawing steadily ever since,
she knows ii herself and she says it's
the sunshine Tom she's q perfect
magnet. the men just pour in, l never
knew there We're so many in tn" whole
of jamaica. It's great fun, I'm hav-
ing as good a time as she is-hut-I do
wish she were as happy as am"
To which Tom gave an appropriate
answer
ESTHER" Molly began on tn" morn
ng before Christmas as her guest came
ntO the breakfast room, pinning some
'oseS on her dress, you said you want
ID to see everything there was to Sec?'
II did
"Then yOu'll have to be walked to-
morrow morning at hair past three, for
he DenniSonS sent over an hour ago
Q ask all of us to an gg-punch party
1T four O'Clock"
"Not in the morning?'
eyes, in the morning."
"Why in the world should they have
it at such an unhOly hour, and what IS
it never heard of such a thing:'
''Until last year it was confined to
the poorer white people, they have it
always, before or just at sunrise,
Christmas morning. The punch is mace
Of eggs whipped up with some sort OF
extract and sugar-and r1ilk-of
course, no wine or brandy! 1t is a
harmless beverage, rather nice-and
everybody asks everybody else IN to
drink it with them. Last year the
Wiliamsons and some other tngllsh
people took it up. and this year 1t IS
1uite popular. we didn't come until
after Christmas-well after Christmas,
YOU remember. so we've never been to
me, but they say the early walk is
charming and the whole thing very
simple and pretty, and We'll see all the
people we know. Mother refuses posi-
lively to 60. and your mother backs her
10. but if YOU like. we will. The men
rom the barracks can stay here ali
hight, and when we come back well 60
% bed right after breakfast, so as 10
,e fresh for the dinner and bail IN the
.Vening."
Il wish | could go to bed now, ana
wake up when Christmas was thing
If the long past.''
esther"
.J do 7 hate Christmas-I came here
% get away from it all, it is the day
hate most in all the year. I thought
hat here. far away from holly and
nisletoe and all that. | would forget.
nut--On, MGllN, uo ~ "N"''
stop staring at me-.
"Why Essie, dearest, what IS 'he
matter"
"Nothing-just that I'm a 1901,
motley fool Yes, I'll go, 1t Will lii''he
yerv little difference, I suppose. iheFe II
he no frost to sparkle or snow |"
crunch under ones feet, and one can
forget that it is Christmas. 1t is true.
Molly, 7 came here. not IN seafth "i
sunshine as l pretended. but JUST |"
get away from Christmas. How many
lines have told YOU l hated to b2
.issed for as she spoke, with a pas
,ionate rerressed pain in her voice
Mary bent over her, rumpIns tne
hrioht hair no one else would dare
ouch. and pressed her lips to the 10"
White brow.
GAS many in the past as in the pos
sible future" Mary whispered. as Si'e
oepeated the pleasant operation ho'
YOU see. l know you and know 1ha'
YOU are not such an ogre as you pre-
end to be. Who was 1t. ESsle!
esther turned suddenly. burying her
ace in her friends shoulder.
Howard Grant
"That last year at school?
"y-es Mother didn't like it i'll the
summer because the girls were down
N him Sarah talked and talked ana
alked And when l told Ruth II was
nv affair it hurt her feelings and shc
aried-gallons! And it upset me, 100
% when he asked met was IN the
morning, Christmas, l just laughed ana
would pay no attention, and that
hight I came down first to the pail
.oom. and he tried to kiss me uhoer
the mistletoe-and then l got angry
and said things! ] didn't mean then'
and he should have known | didn't put
he lust went away. saying that he
would come back another CHRISTMAS
and kiss me, under the mlstletoe, and
without it. and I'd be glad too. Mary
for three years I expected him. ana ne
/ never came, ] just hung about aho
/ waited for him, and last year, Just as
if it were nothing. Mamma happenea
to mention that Ruth wrote tha'
| Sarah had told her that he was mar
| :rcd and settled in st. Petersburg. 80
4 have my excuse for hating Christ
mas. That's the end. don't speak OF