The Ordway new era., 1913-12-19
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combination to
try his soul. The words. the glances.
the smiles that he felt were meant for
him were being coolly appropriated
by p. Wilmering. Worse than that, p.
Wilmering was able to sip his tea
without allowing the holly to slide to
his shoulder. Nor was the holly tick
ling the wrist of p. Wilmering as 1t
was that Of Rev. Simms- Sinclair. p.
Wilmering acted a. II he might have
slipped tea with both hands cuffed be-
hind him. Rev. SimmszSinclair al
most wished his rival were In that pre-
dicament. and about forty miles away
at the same time. Now, Jones, who
was patiently putting holly and ever
green about the woodwork and pictures
1.-THE three men had graciously come
to help get things ready for the chill,
dren's party)-Jones. we say, was not
bothering Rev. Simms-Sinclair. Jones
was not bothering any one. In the
main. 1t was Ursula Allen who both
cred the reverend young gentleman.
Women-young women-can bother
the, mind of man without intending 80
to do. Ask them. They will assure
you they never have any such inten-
tion. That II exactly what Ursula Al
len would have told you, but she would
not have believed her own statement,
for Ursula was . woman, and she be-
lieved herself to be attractive. This
belief was shared by Rev. Simms-Sin.
clair and p. Wilmering and-but Jones
didn't count.
"Ah." mused Rev. Simms-sinclair.
doing Hermann the Great movement
and capturing his cup before 1t jumped
from the edge Of the saucer, "ah.
what would Christmas be without
the children!" His eyes took on q
mellow look and he gased tenderly at
the two young people before him.
what would Christmas be without
the childrenr'
Were you speaking to me?" asked
Jones, after neither of the others had
supplied Rev. Simms-Sinclair with a
reply. ~ a1rfF
"Er-eh-that is. my remark was
purely . general one" explained the
rector Of st. Paul's.
Kind Of an echo-answers-why prop
osition?" said Delaney.
"Or the children without Christ
mas?" asked Ursula. handing another
bunch Of evergreen to Jones. "one
poor family down In Abbledale alley
has sixteen Children. Sixteen. Think
of that!"
Fellow ought r,ally to think Of six.
teen children in instalments." de-
clared p. Wilmering, earnestly. "If
have to think of oil of them at once
I'd rather think Of an orphans home
and be done with It." f
Rev. Simms-Sinclair saw his oppor-
tunity to watt himself into the wave
of sympathy that was enguifng Ur-
sula. 1t was one of those opportuni-
ties which Rev. Simms was continu-
ally looking for, and few Of which es-
capped him when offered by P. Wilmer
ing. =
What can the father of those little.
ones do?" he inquired. with pathos in
his voice. To hear him. one could con-
jure up pictures of worn, weary
man coming home in the gloomy twi-
Hight. disentangling himself from thir-
ty-two arms and trying to answer six
teen simultaneous requests for penny.
What can the father of those poor
little ones dot" he repeated. at the
same time giving Ursula glance of
yearning affection which that young
lady might. or might not. interpret as
being intended for herself or for the
suffering father of sixteen children.
Write to Roosevelt" suggested
Jones. who was standing on chair
and trying to harmonize q strand of
cypress and holly berries with rubi-
cund visage OF good old Uncle Jethro
Allen. who had fought, bled and died
In the Mexican war-and lived to tell
Of 1t.
OF course Jones had no business
butting In at such time. He was
there to assist only in the work of
decoration. and not to umpire the love
game of the Rev. Simms-Sinclair and
p. Wilmering.
Ursula dimpled. Il want everybody
to be happy on Christmas day. and II
there 10 anything can do or say for
them on Christmas eve. am only
too glad Of II. And 1t II simply noble
OF you men to help 10 much in getting
the house ready" 4Ir
Jones. who was posing - one ng-
ure Of the LAGOON group. with some
ten yards Of green's representing the