Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1913-01-02

the day before Christmas. and then IL
nothing had come to slip quietly down
town and buy something that they
would be likely to send.
Father" she said that night, re.
joicing in the new happiness Of be-
ing able to talk about the boy
whose name had laid so long like a
guilty secret between them, I'VE
haven't heard from Fred and Neelie
for q couple Of weeks. and she's been
so good about writing. The last time
she said she wasn't feeling SO very
well. I thought perhaps Just
thought Of it-hadn't we better send
them a Christmas gift?"
why. yes. mother. you get and
send something"
You. too. father"
81 wouldn't know what to get.
They've probably got everything they
need. Young people do somehow.
And I wouldn't know what they want.
Better send them a check and let
them buy what they please"
20. father" she beamed at him,
and the grace that is Gods gift to
mothers kept her from saying, you
owe 1t to him-you owe 1t to him:
he's your boy, you know he's never
had what the other boys have had"
Instead she began talking about
Neelie.
"Fred's little girl wife! I know
she's just dear, father. and do you
know. / think it is because her own
people are all dead that she was so
anxious to know US. l think 1t was
sweet Of her to write that first let
ter. 1t takes women to hold families
together"
The days raced by like telegraph
poles past a car window. The post
man came and went, leaving pack.
ages, but none from the far west. She
wavered In her intention of
buying a gift II lone came. At first
1t seemed dreadful to sully the pure
white Christmas time with a lie. Her
New England conscience never let
her call 1t anything else. But the re-
membrance Of Martha's crucial ques-
tons nerved her. She didn't care for
herself, but she wasn't going to have
Fred and Neelie weighed in the fam
lily balance and found wanting.
Mindful Of the warning of the con-
sumers' league. she did her Christmas
shopping early. So, apparently. III
everyone else. The crush bewildered
her. Everybody was buying madly.
Everybody seemed so rich.
Late in the afternoon Of the day
before Christmas after the last mail
delivery, she went down to buy the
present that had not come. Her n
little gift from Neelie had been a
d~aintily embroidered towel sent n
the middle of the year, just because
she wanted to.
She stood at the counter, hard to
please. Everything was so overdone.
She thought she would buy a scarf for
the dresser in Fred's room. the room
they would have when they came
home. How could the weary sales
woman know that she was trying -
find something that looked as II
Neelie had done it? She had n
narrow escape. While she was wait
ing for her package Martha came by.
well for two women who did their
Christmas shopping early!" said Mar
that. "But of course there's always
some last thin that one forgets. I'd
forgotten to get anything for Eileen
Atkins baby. And John its god
father. She would never have for
given me. That's what brought me
down"
Mother was less communicative.
She merely said she was sorry she
had had to come down. and how was
Eileen's baby, and would John and
Martha be sure and come to breakfast
on time in the morning; 8 o'clock
seemed late to father. And then
she hurried home guilty through the
early dark with her secret.
II saw mother downtown tonight,
John, at Untermeyer's. She looked