Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-12-21

resumed his climb Of the stairs, the
button buttoned; "Das daryin' yittle
| gentleman!"
He shook the knob. Waited, Jug
ging on the toes of him and discours-
Ing to Nicodemus.
| The door remained closed.
Two fat palms smote it wrathfully.
Open he commanded: "pease
open dis door,"
Nobody answered.
Poor yittle boy" he wheedled at
keyhole: "zere amt nobody loves
i'm"
Nlcodemus yapped and made feints
at desert1on when a dog barked cut
side Fawned back, and licked the
fingers where bread and honey aroma
fingered. Sat up and waved an affable
paw at him.
He sat down on the floor and gath
| cred his yellow dog into his pinafOre
and Rugged.
"'Cept Nitodemus an myssef," he
said.
Great-grand came up the hall.
rs you been bad boy, dreat-dran ?"
he said. rs you all shutted out?"
Great-grand sighed
Seems like this horse just will run
away" in doleful tone, "and I've got
bone In my foot and l can't run after
him.
In wink he was after the rampant
steed. Captured and mounted, rode
it lordily hither and yon, and when
at last he came back from the breath
less miles we had slipped down the
back way and at stairfoot waited.
Slowly, with dignity, he dismounted,
put his steed in stall, came back to
stair-head, and, legs astride and head
thrown back, surveyed us from. the
heights of remembered injury! Be-
side him, perky, tongue lolling out,
Nicodemus squatted.
Long legs gathered to his chin,
great-grand ranged himself on the top
step and twinkled
"Yes, sirs,'' quoth great-grand:
"shutted us all Quit"
Our baby nodded confirmation and
Nicodemus yawned in our faces.
Men mys Nitodemus an mys dreat-
dran,' he said. can mys dreat-dran
is dot bone in his foot an I needed
to kiss mys muvver."
But for three long days the library
ddoor remained locked.
And regularly, after each mornings
breakfast, he mounted the stairs and
tried the knob and cogitated to Nico-
demus, and poked broom straws under
the door.
Christmas eve we sat about a great
open fire. Great-grand loved to dig
and delve in the red-charred logs and
imprison the swarms of rosy bees.
Fascinated, / would watch the swirl
ing upfed sparks, wondering what
phantasms of youth he saw allLbeauti-
full in them, what faces went past in
that rosy mirage that his own should
wear so tender an answering look
into eyes he alone was seeing. Some
times our baby would come to stand
between his knees, head leaned
against his shoulder, and from within
the encircling arms watch. Sometimes
he would straddle one old knee and
snug his head under the down-leaning
old chin, gold hair and white hair COM
mingled, and hand over the old hand,
help the poker that prodded and piled
the embers And the wide eyes seemed
to be seeing with the old mans vision
ing, SO united he would sit.
Christmas eve we sat about the
great open fireplace. Great-grand sort
ed and piled his red-charred logs.
Grandmother was watching, lost in
idleness. Grand father had gone down
cellar for apples and in my lap nv
baby was telling me secrets. We
listened beyond the singings of the
flames; beyond the delicatc soft sing
ing and the signing and the daughters
of them the wind in the chimney.
From the end of the new backlog the
saDs distilled, all the summers rains
and dews and green growings in their
whicker-whicker. We had hated to
shut out the skies, SO divinely near
they closed in upon earth, with their
starry strands garlanding the rim Of
hills Our baby had seen his first me-
teor-a feathered trail of ethereal fire
and soundless splendor as the me-
teor burst and biggened into a globe
of slysian azure. and went out And
the black violet skies seemed vet
deeplier black with that blue glory
memoried against them, and the stars
pallid and cold. And my baby won
dered II there might not be another
Christmas baby, in that blue glory. He
wondered whether, if we'd go out we
might not find few boys and girls
and babies that got left over, when
God forgot who had asked to have
some left at their houses. He wished
he'd been there that night at the OK
ems inn. to see the little child. Sos
he could have brought 1t home to his
own SETS house. He wanted a baby
so bad And even his sweets-freighted