Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-20

The drink was MIXED.
The burglar drank his quickly. nerv-
ouSIy
Thank YOU lady" he said Il once
had home of my OWL just like this.
and my own whisky and soda. and my
own kids. and orr ChriStmaSses and"
HIS voice broke and he buried his face
deeper in the muffier concealins his
Textures He seemed TO he soboinc
quietly.
''Oh. YOU poor man Mrs Nelson con-
soled with a meaning glance Al her hus-
band aside. you poo man | am 50
sorry for YOU. Tell about il. WHY
are you a-wily haven't YOU goa it now
The burglar glanced up furtively.
It's an old story lady" he replied. AN
old story. haven't thought about it for
a year. It's hard business I'm in.
maam a hard one and we have no time
for thoughts of things as they used to
he. It's no heart and all strong arm and
big fist
Tell us about il. please Nelly sooth-
ed. elevatng her eyebrows slightly. sig
nficantiy. al her husband ard receiving
yelled nod OF understanding N return
The burglar started suddenly from lis
deep revere and sighed pitiab bly,
You see. lady he began. ''it was like
this: | was once in bank-a receiving
teller No matte: where the bank is-,t
isn't in this city. l was married TO the
sweetest woman God ever put on this
eartll-tieien was her name She han,
hair as black as the fog over the river al
nisht-a wealth of tia fortune in itself
Ana her eyeS-dark and big and-blIt
that's foolish. Cut il, Well as | was
saying. We were married And we had
the most comfortable little fat ever
wasn't making much at the bank and it
was mighty tight squeeze. I can tell
YOU. But Helen was a good manager
and the kids. somehow made everything
worth while. en-. wien il seemed that
! couldn't hold out a day longer. the
feel of those kids arms around my neck
and the long evenings at home roaming
and playing with them on the floor and
Helen sewing by the table and-shucks,
I'm getting weoZy and batty in the head.
but YOU understand. don't vou?''
Yes, | UNDERSTANDING I'm sorry.'
Nelly consoled
And. then-Christmas times. What
happy Christmasses we did have. We
dIdn have much money for presents but
what We did have We always tried 10
spend so it would make everything seem
Christmasy. You know. From the first
we always had Il tree. even if i. was only
little broken one tfat the market men
were almost willing to give away. And
on CHRISTMAS eve Helen and | would
work ike beavers getting things ready
for the kids in the morning. always
liked to trim the Christmas tree. Weeks
before Helen would begin making little
tree ornaments out of tinSeled paper
and then We would buy as many as We
could afford. Christmas was always the
biggest day in the year for lis. It's the
kids that make Christmas. and without
them-T haven't had a Christmas for Sc
long that I didn't even know this is
Christmas eve until ] came in here t.
night. came TO ron you-bu, those kids
OF yours and the Christmas talk has just
about finished ne
The paste Nelson murmurcd rs il
SO black. them
BLACK" Black the burglar reiterated
Il should say it is! TIE only thing
haven't done is to commit murder. Wher
l think OF what used to he and what
am now. 1t isn't often I do. but when
do
How did it happen" Mrs. Nelson