Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-12-02

nope ne nave q SOOu appetite loI IL.
MY dear" said Bob, 1.-The children,
Christmas day"
1T should be Christmas day, / am
sure" said she. ION which one drinks
the health Of such an odiOus, stingy,
hard. unfeellng man as Mr.. Scrooge.
You know he is, Robert. Nobody
knows it better than you do, poor fell
low"
my dear" was Bob's mild answer,
christmas day"
"I'll drink his health for your sake
and the days" said Mrs. Cratchit,
mot for his Long life to him. A
merry Christmas and a happy New
Year. He'll be very merry and very
happy, / have no doubt"
The children drank the toast after
her 1t was the first Of their proceed
ings which had no heartiness in 1t.
Tiny Tim drank it last of all, but he
didn't care twopence for 1t. Scrooge
was the ogre of the family. The mem
ton Of his name cast dark shadow
on the party which was not dispelled
for full five minutes.
And now, without a word Of warn
ing from the ghost, they stood upon
a bleak and desert moor, where mon
strous masses of rude stone were cast
about as though it were the burial
place of giants, and water spread It
self wheresoever it listed-or 1t would
have done so but for the frost that
held 1t prisoner-and nothing grew but
moss and furZe and coarse, rank
grass. Down in the west the setting
sur had left a streak Of fiery red,
which glared upon the desolation for
an instant like a sullen eye and. frown-
ing lower, lower. lower yet, was lost
in the thick gloom Of darkest night.
1t was a great surprise to Scrooge
while listening to the moaning or the
wind and thinking what a solemn
thing it was to move on through the
lonely darkness over an unknown
abyss whose depths were secrets as
profound as death. 1t was a great
surprise to Scrooge while thus engaged
to hear a hearty laugh. 1t was
much greater surprise to Scrooge to
recognize 1t as his own nephew's and
to find himself in a bright, dry, gleam-
ing room, with the spirit standing
smiling by his side and looking at that
same nephew with approving affabil-
ity.
He said that Christmas was hum
bug, as l live!" cried Scrooge's neph-
ew. He believed it too"
More shame for him, Fred" said
Scrooge's niece Indignantly. Bless
those women. They never do anything
by halves. They are always In earn
est.
She was very pretty, exceedingly
pretty, with a dimpled, surprised look
ing, capital face, a ripe little mouth
that seemed made to be kissed-as
no doubt it was-all kinds Of good
little dots about her chin that melted
into one another when she laughed
and the sunniest pair of eyes you ever
saw in any little creatures head. Al
together provoking, you know, but
too-oh, perfectly satis-
factory!
Hes a comical old fellow" said
nephew-"thats the truth
and not so pleasant as he might be.
However, his offenses carry their own
and have nothing to say
against him."
"I have no patience with him." OBJ
served Scrooge's niece. Scrooge's
nece's sisters and all the other ladies
the same opinion.
"Oh, l have!" said Scrooge's neph-
ew. II am sorry for him. l couldn't
be angry with him if l tried. Who
suffers by his i'll whims? Himself
always. Here he takes 1t into his
head to dislike us, and he won't come
and dine with us. What's the conse-
quence? He doesn't lose much Of a
dinner"
Indeed, | think ne loses very good
interrupted Scrooge's niece.
Everybody else said the same, and
they must be allowed to have been
judges because they had
just had dinner and, with the dessert
upon the table, were clustered round
the fire by lamplight.
We'll, I am very glad to hear 1t,
said Scrooge's nephew. because
haven't any great faith In these young
What do you say Top
PERI"
Topper had clearly got his eye upon
one Of Scrooge's niece's sisters, for he
that a bachelor was a
wretched outcast who had no right
to express an opinion on the subject,
Scrooge's niece's sister-the
plump one with the lace tucker. not
he one with the roses-blushed.
After tea they had some music, for
they were a musical family and knew
what they were about when they sang
a glee or catch, | can assure you, espe-
cially Topper, who could growl away
In the bass like a good one and never
swell the large veins in his forehead
or get red in the face over 1t.
Scrooge's niece played well upon the
harp and, among other tunes, sim
pie little air Ga mere nothing-you
might learn to whistle 1t In two min
utes) which had been familiar to the
child who fetched Scrooge from the
boarding school, as he had been re-
minded by the Ghost Of Christmas
Past. When the strain Of music
all the things that ghost had
shown him came upon his mind. He
more and more and thought
that If he could have listened to 1t
often years ago he might have culti-
vated the kindnesses of life for his
own happiness with his own hands
without resorting to the sexton's spade
hat buried Jacob Marley.
But they didn't devote the whole
evening to music. After awhile they
played at forfeits, for it is good to be
sometimes and never better
than at Christmas, when its mighty
Founder was a child Himself. Stop!
There was first a game at blind mans
buff. OF course there was. And l no
more believe Topper was really blind
than | believe he had eyes in his
boots. My opinion Is that 1t was a
done thing between him and Scrooge' s
nephew and that the Ghost of Christ
mas Present knew it, The way he
went after that plump sister in the
ACE tucker was an outrage on the
,reduity Of human nature-knocking
lown the fire irons, tumbling over the
chairs, humping up against the piano.
himself among the cur
tains. Wherever she went there went
he. He always knew where the plump
sister was. He wouldn't catch any
body else. If you had fallen upl
against him. as some of them did. and
stood there he would have made a
'eint of endeavoring to seize you,
which would have been an affront to
your understanding, and would in
,tantly have sidled off in the direction
IF the plump sister. She often cried
)ut that it wasn't fair, and II really
was not. But when at last he caught
1er-when. in spite of all her silken
'ustlings and her rapid fiutterings
past him. he got her into a corner
whence there was no eScape-then his
conduct was the most eXecrable, for
MS pretending not to know her, his
that it was necessary to
.Ouch her headdress and, further, to
assure himself of her identity by press
ng a certain ring upon her finger and
1 certain chain about her neck, was
vile. mOnstrous! No doubt she told
him her opinion of 1t when, another
blind man being in office they were