Putnam patriot., 1909-04-30
AChristmas
 Restoration
By FRANK H. SWEET
CoYyright. 1918. by American Press
 Association.


 ir- over and over again the same aw fu3 road ef misery and desolation.
 What he saw was a rocky hillside ,asmre. with myriads of Canada this ,les and q barefeeted boy picking his wav among them at the heels of a s,raqeling little line of home going cows.
 .o-u-u-oo. but can feel those this lies yet. How like sin they did punish ,nx hare brown feet. Mother was not fa4liug we'll when l went after the eows-my blessed. darling mamma. She had heart trouble. I heard one neiehbor tell another. and would go suddenly some day when we least ex- p,.eted it 1 had hardly let her out of my sight after that. although in the misery of my poor. bursting heart I could never tell her what l had heard. How 1 raced down the hill that night. And at the foot of the pasture, just at The end of the village street. stopped to put up the bars.
 AS 1 turned there stood that-that- vision. Blessed if l did not think 1t WAS a fairy l had never seen the like before. For a moment I forgot even ulv anxiety about my dearest mamma. oh. can see her now-the folds of her fimy white dress. the little blue slippers with the straps over the an- kles. the long golden curls and the nitviug violet eyes. And the poor little devil of kid in a faded shirt and hIue ieans-how he winced and felt ashamed.
 And then the vision spoke. She came to me shyly and held out a rose.
 "I wish you would take this, she said. holding it out, far out. and saw then that tears were running down her pink cheeks. I did not take the rose. but the birch switch dropped from py hand. and my heart turned fo 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 came to stay all day wifi you. May he l can stay all day tomorrow. L. I've got white kittie. We brought 1t from our former charge. I'm the new minister's little girl. you see, and you may have my kittie. and-aud 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 tumuit of sobbing.
 What awful. horrible hurts there can be in this little life of ours knew. knew.
 T threw the rose as far as I could dash It and flung myself into the sand hy the roadway.
 "I did not cry out. 1 beat the earth with my clinched fists and my bare face The sand filled my mouth and blinded my wet eyes, and the blood oozed out and clotted across my throb- bing temples.
 Then people came and wiped away the sand and the blood. and the shak- ing voice of woman kept saying. Poor boy. poor little boy.'
 "A team drove along the road and crept out into the grass in order to pass me. Then heard a neighbor say: Let me take the little shaver into the waggin. Poor little feller. It is dret- ful student for i'm. but still Mis- Lof- tus haz he'd the heart disorder fur a good spell back
 'Oh, yes. l knew. l knew the awful truth as soon as l saw the tears in the eyes of the little strange girl. The dreadful blow had fallen.
 They carried ne into the house. full now of sad faced. whispering wo- men that very room where I 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 a thing of tue 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 I was in love with the minister's daughter. just the same angel that stood that night at the bars. the beautiful vision With a weman'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 magnifieence that wealth could give. all that his surroundings implied.
 Tn 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 garments of man. Ives. II was the old story. Tn my selfish sorrow l threw her rose In the dust. At first | said: There Is not enough for two. l can have just what I want at the club If l am alone l broke her heart and drifted away from her. waiting till I should have enough for f~o to live h the style I desired
 Oh. never for an instant did I in- lend to lose her only just to make Der walt i'll We could begin life in 'he style that would give us just the social position I desired
 did not think she realized my ss''shnesS. did not myself And tesa fhe unexpected happened Her 'sfiasr died and she took q position ss eenpanIon for I wealthy invalid, and lher went to Europe.
 Ste may be married for all l sevE md have forgotten me. and r. ve aal perfe ily bappy. am s-r. aa.....l if Ertesr what has