The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-12-23
THE
BROOMSTICK TREE
ns.ias $3.50 Aiissi-. 10 tAsisssss'
IN, ms. =. wsssssl
On, ms. & wssssl

There IL 10 be = happy ehdihs 70 '.ss
story. 90 DO ono will need To read 'h'
hnish lTsi. Christmas stories ate ssa'
ally 'wIiiien backwards, you know, DC
writer has a bright idea. OF What hs
thinks 10 a bright idea, eosno lhso -
head while walking desn teNh I'm.
morning, That Is the nnish ana ="
has 10 do l. Ia write the reel OF VIC
sfoinei,s and Nick are the little pec,,
ple 10 be written about, Ahd they NNra
in a large but not very good hoesp ~
a smelly mart Of the city, some chile1
N a tenement block. There were many
NOR. people living in the block than
there ought 10 have been. aud toe ae,
Communications were poorer ihah ihs
people, aud that h saving seheihlhE'
In MAS not az all an unintrfrstins plaee'
The railways were dark ANA nAIies
aud the staiTwaYs were hahh's,rli's
for the most part, OWING 70 thn "Aisa
ri,s Of the Kitchen fires, Quite often
som. one would be going up stairs wiih
a nail of coal aud some one else H9uia
h. coming down with the family eloeh
done up III 4 Newspaper on TIE way 70
10 pawubfoker' There would he
eoilision the coal would be spilled aud
,he works Of the clock would Dc dis.
tribui.d on the landing, There Meuli
IL language aud all the neighhots
would rush 90 their hall doofs 10 beat
and see what the inicrnccine war Wa
AN about. The children would scam leI
of into corners for Tear soih', luz
wsnld be ",old on them. Ana thei"
We're other interesting happenings.
pns. a month "A man would come into
the block aud sniff around and say ~
,s.yts Land tome of Nulee s==
This N never do. You must clean
Then ne went away-after collecting
the rent. But nobody CLEANED up.
An Important event in the history oil
the block WAS the coming OF Young
man with camera 90 take pictures o.
the conditions and general ncssl'
ness. The children all wanted TO DE
took, and be did pose loinctte aha
| Nick on "A pile of rubbish IN W.
dark and dank corner, where the pas
tering had dropped away and the
smells were pronounced. lie had TO use
a nashlight for this picture, ana the
tenants all thought the house was ahfe
and began 10 throw things out OF tue
window, but the young man eseapeu
before The fire department arrived ana
missed what was coming 10 him. REQ
ole who saw the pictures aud read the
magazine story about the block sald =
Isn't IL dreadful ana ny
doesn Z somebody do somethlngI
Then they bought another magaAih,s,
with pleasanter stories ana forgot al
about II. -
This hash Z very much 10 do with the
story, except TO ~ frame background,
as the writers say.
The widowed mother is very often IN
the sad Christmas stories, but TINS is
not intended TO be a sad story Tom
cite = mother was not of the weeping,
mournful sort. Her husband had passed
away because of too much activity IN
avoiding work and too little activity IN
keeping temperance pledges, and the
widow 5 cup was mixed with griei ana
low about one part to three-after the
| funeral She knew that cheerful
temper and good spirits would aid her
| in any other matrimonial venture she
might meet.
On Christmas eve she gave TO each
of her children penny and told them
10 90 out and see the pretty shop WIN
dows and have good time. A penny
will buy a splendid time for some emil
dren, when lollypops are selhng TWO
| for cent.
'Toinette and Nick trudged out into
the night, or rather into the early even,
II
swirling the snow around the street
corners. lust as il always does in Christ
mas stories, although the facts are
nearly always oslush. There was
oreat deal to see in the shop windows,
much of color, much of light, and much
of the cheerful green's from the Maine
woods tricked out with dazzling gew,
gaws that by no possible means could
| have grown on them. !.
The children played the old game OF
Choosing each selecting what they
knew they could not get, and were very
hanpy over their imaginary possessions.
Going from one big show to another
they were passing small display IN
the window of n newsdealer and on the
open page of magazine
f.That's us. - exclaimed TOinette
with delight, and Nick agreed that 1t
was "'us'5 for sure. For there was the
picture the fashlight man took, the
children huddled up' in the dlngy cor
ner. Nick recognized the hole IN the
plastering where he watched for the
big rat, and then he was sure that IL
was the right picture.
"Mine s the best, coz youse spres-
sion ain I good, - said Nick, who was
little critical as well as little repro
bate.
Ii occurred to 'Toinette that it would
be a fine thing to have that picture
and she dragged Nick into the store.
DSav, youse. ! want that picture in
the window How mucha"
"That IS fifteen cents, said the boy
behind the counter The magazine was
n "muc kraker.
~ only got one cent, but Nick got
another one.
lizard luck said the boy. "Lem-
me see2 Why. that s youse kids, ain {
It'll. Wot YOU goin ter do with 1T If you
get it,
at s to be Christmas present for
me mother, coz she ain 7 got no PIE
ture of us replied the little girl.
ooh, well, that it. III tell you.
1 II tear out the picture for two cents
and sell the magazine to some one else.
| They II never miss 1t coz they ii never
! know twas there.
Ont came the picture, the two pen
MES were yielded up, and when the
children left the store he salved his con
science by throwing the magazine into
the waste basket. He was a trusted
employee-when he was watched.
"Why,' said Nick sorrowfully, -
thought we should Christmas tree
buy,
| Two cents wouldn t buy the shadow of
one.
'Toinette had schemes, however.
She was built on those lines, and was q
born leader. She would take care of
that tree business all right when she
cot home. So she thought, and so she
did. Once inside the house the wild
owed mother was found to be out, gone
to the moving picture show with a pos
sible future. That suited 'Toinette
exactly.
"Now, Nick, I'll show youse how to
get up a Christmas tree. Trow me de
| broom.
It had been broom once, but now