The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1911-12-15

W TO "cuSS" and the temptation was
about to overcome him, when the
figure at the table stirred, and he
made for the door as If he were a
criminal, AID disappeared down the
road. He would have entered his
own house quietly, but the sight Of
Sam brought on the habit and soon
the air was filed with the sulphureous
CALCULATIONS. His wife hearing the
noise outside retired from sight and
neither, she nor Sam ventured any
questions, when the old man rode of
few minutes later in the wagon to-
wards town.
When the old man returned Christ
mas ewes night, with the wagon full
of packages, Mrs. Jones could hardly
believe her eyes and when he un-
wrapped large doll to see that it
was not broken, her next move was
to gasp for breath, while at the same
the door, so that if he should prove
to be crazy she would not have far
to go before she reached an opening.
The old man was so interested In
his task that he forgot the rest Of the
party, but his examination over, he
turned and finding the others gazing
at him with startled eyes, yelled at
his wife and threw the wrapping pa
per from the package in Sans face
and incidentally in his mouth, for
Sam was so struck with excitement
that he had lost control of his facial
muscles and consequently there was a
yawning gap midway his face.
Sam" growled old man Jones,
do you know that little cedar behind
the barn?"
"Yessir," answered Sam in wonder
ment.
well, don't take so long to answer.
want that tree here in five minutes"
Sam made for the door and in less
than five minutes the tree was lying
before the fire.
What are you waiting for? Haven't
you any sense at all? Don't you see
l want box, hammer, nails and some
sand?"
San. hurried out the door while
Mrs Jones began to scramble in the
chest for the nails and hammer Soon
biANJ VOAO al IUO1OJ anu WlLnOuI q
word from any one the tree was soon
substantially installed in its box of
sand. When the packages were I'm.
wrapped, Sam and Mrs. Jones began
to gasp again. There were silver de-
corations for the tree and everything
that boy and girl could possibly
need. There were two pairs or
women's shoes, of which Mrs. Jones
secretly hoped that one pair would
be hers, and two pairs of mems shoes
of which Sam knew one pair would
be his because of their enormous size
When only one pair of the men shoes
went on the tree, Mrs Jones heaved
sigh Of relief, and when the largest
pair Of mems shoes was left Sam
again let his lips drop Neither
Mrs. Jones nor Sam felt privileged TO
help dress the tree without an invi-
tation, and yet they did not know
how it would take for them 10 sand
and see the old man do all the work,
so every time he would turn his face
in their direction, each would make a
move to get out of sight.
Finally Mr.. Jones realized that he
was at work. and the others idle. He
turned with a glare on his wife and
that lady Immediately began dress
| ing the tree with the bright tlnsel
while Sam knowing that he would not
be needed in that direction but at
the same time knowing that some
thing was expected Of him, fell to
his knees and began smoothing the
sand with his hands. Assured that
all we're at work as we'll as himself,
Mr. Jones finished putting the gifts
on the tree. When the work of dress
ing the tree was over there was
tense silence in the room, while Mr..
Jones surveyed it from side to side.
Neither Mrs. Jones or Sam dared sit
down, lest something would be re-
quired of them, yet they knew that
they were not supposed to venture
any remark concerning its beauty, so
they stood in their places trying as
best they could to look as the old man
would have them look:
Finally ne went to the fire, and
drawing up his chair began to smoke
his pipe. The other two knew that
the gifts not on the tree were for
them, and yet they did not dare take
them without being hidden, still they
knew that to allow them to remain
on the table would anger the old
man. After minute, Mrs. Jones
picked up what she thought rightly
belonged to her and approaching her
husband was about to thank him,
when he looked at her so fiercely that
she almost fell over a chair, while
Sam, utterly disconnected, made for
his room, raking of the table what
he thought might belong to him.
Mrs. Jones did not appear again
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