The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1911-01-05

But they didn't devote the whole
evening 10 music After awhile they
played at forfeits. for It is good to he
children sometimes and never better
than at Christmas. when its mighty
Founder was a child himself Stop,
There was first n game at blind mans
buff. OF course there was And 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 : toge's
nephew and that the GhoS Of Christ
mas Present knew It, The way he
went after that plump sister In the
lace tucker was an outrage on the
credulity of human nature knocking
down the fire irons, tumhling over the
chairs, humping up against the piano
smothering 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 I'D
against him, as some Of them did, and
stood there he would have made a
feint of cndeavoTing to seize you.
which would have been an affront to
your understanding. and would instant
~ have sided off In the direction Of
the plump sister. She often cried out
that 1t wasn't fair, and it really was
not. But when at last he caught her
when, in spite of all her Silken rus
things and her rapid futterings past
him, he got her into a corner whence
there was no eScape-then his CON
duct was the most eXecrable, for his
pretending not to know her, his pre-
tending that it was necessary to touch
her heaGdress and, further. to assure
himself of her identity by pressing a
certain ring upon her finger and a
certain chain about her neck, was vie,
mOnstrOus! No doubt she told him her
opinion of it when, another blind man
being in office. they were so very con-
fdential together behind the curtains.
Then they played game called yes
and no, where Scrooges nephew had
to think OF something and the rest
must find out what, he only answer
ing to their questions Yes or no. rs
the case was. The brisk fire Of cues
tioning to which he was exposed elicit
ed from him that he was thinking Of
an animal, live animal, rather a dis
| agreeable animal, a savage animal,
an animal that growlCd and grunted
| sometimes and talked sometimes. and
| lived in London. and walked about
! the streets, and wasn't made show
| Of, and wasn't led by anybody. and
| didn't live in a menagerie, and was
never killed in market, and was not
horse, or an ass. or a COW, or bull.
or tiger, or dog, or pig, Or a cat,
or a bear At every fresh question
that was put to him this nephew
burst into fresh roar of laughter and
was so inexpressibly tickIed that he
was obliged to get up off the sofa and
stamp. At last the plump sister, fall
ing into similar state, cried out:
II have found it out, l know what
it is, Fred! l know what it isl"
'What IS it?" cried Fred
| ITS your Uncle Scro-o-o-o-ogew
| Which 1t certainly was. Admiration
was the universal sentiment, though
some objected that the reply to "Is it a
bearW ought to have been "Yes," in
asmuch as an answer in the negative
was sufficient to have diverted their
| thoughts from Mr. Scrooge, supposing
they had ever had any tendency that
way.
''He has given US plenty Of merri-
ment, ] am sure" said Fred. land it