The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-12-08

AuthOr Of"A Christmas Ere Reconciliation"
last cottage in the row. The little
| fellow reached up, turned the knob,
pushed open the door, and said,
Tum in" Jury started to go in,
but on the very threshold he stopped
short in stupefied amazement; for
there, before him, in the little, poor
| ly furnished room, stood his quon-
/ dam sweetheart-no less utterly
astonished than he.
g Alice!" he at last found voice
| to say "what-what does this
mean?"
Woman-like, without answering
his question, she exclaimed: why,
/ Fred how-how did you get here?"
"I found this budget in the
/ street." said Fred, closing the door
and advancing into the room; "in
( Hawk street, on the other side of the
| city, and Il" Fred was getting
ashamed of his soft-hearted human
/ ity-'1 have brought him home.
/ But, Alice! you?"
g came this afternoon" she re-
piled. "a widow lives here, with a
daughter of sixteen and that little
| boy. The girl works in papa's fac
tory, you know, and she sent word
/ JudJ uSI lHOLHeI was III lllS week
and she couldn't come to work, and
II blushing at her tender solic-
| itude for those in trouble-'I came
over to see if l could help them.
And while l was here" she hurried
on, 'the baby disappeared and
couldn't be found anywhere, and
Eliza has gone out to look for him,
and / couldn't leave the poor wom-
: an alone, so l stayed. They are very
| poor, Fred. They are in need of
some better food and some more
| fuel, and | think there ought to be
a DOCTOR you know.
Fred put on his hat and turned to
the door.
Why, where are you going?" she
exclaimed
I'm going to get EN-" he re-
piled, and in another moment he
would have been gone; but in that
moment Alice had run to him and
thrown her arms around his neck,
and half whispered, half cried: "Oh,
Fred! how could l ever, ever say
that you were selfish!"
Z" Simply because | said you were
heartless, my dear; and l said an
objectionable falsehood."
They were alone in the room. The
boy had disappeared. There was
sound as of childish explanation, in
another apartment, and a woman's
weak voice in chiding and in sooth-
ing;
Now CO." said Alice, disentang-
ling herself at last from her lovers
arms; and be sure to come back
for me-" He bent down and kissed
her again, and went out into the
night.
1t was still showing, but he felt
that every fake that kissed his
cheek was blessing.
Over across the ravine the lights
of st. Agnes twinkled dreamily
through the mist of snow that dim
med and softened them; and all
along the silent street the high,
white covering of nature hid the
scars and blemishes and dull decay
that man and time had wrought, and
made all things beautiful and pure
as a young girls love. And Jury
wondered that he had never, in all
his life before, seen a fall of snow
that could compare, in lofty beauty
and sweet suggestiveness, with this.
1t might have taken him fifteen min
utes and it might have taken him
two hours, to get to North Pearl
street; he didn't know and he didn't
care. But he hurried with all en-
ergy. He stopped at the grocer's
and he stopped at the Doctors, and
he stopped at the toy store; and
when he went back up the ravine,
he was in a covered sleigh, and it
was so filled with boxes and bundles
, that when they were carried into the
sick woman's house, Eliza, who had
+ returned from an unsuccessful
= search, to find the little truant at
home, didn't really know where to
put them. And the boy who had
found Santa Claus clapped his little
hands in glee, when the painted
= sled was brought in, and shouted
with the sweet persistency of child
hood: ooh, Mither Tanty Tlawth, !
finded YOU, didn't II"
But when the covered sleigh left
the widows door, it bore a more
: precious burden-Oh! a far more
precious burden; a burden which
Attorney Frederick Jury WOULD
: hold in his arms where the gas
lamps were struggling, and call her
J his re-betrothed"
Sweet and mellow, through the
storm, came the single stroke of the
nine o'clock bell. Sweet and tender
: oh! how sweet and tender-came
the goodnight kiss of lovers recon-
ciled.
And the soft snow fell, and the
Christmas Eve grew long, and the
spirit of the Christ Child rested down
upOn the Whitened earth