New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-12-02

fomblsd in her purse. Three, four, ave
pennies she found and ran across the
street and dropped them in the slot
machine and gained her own door be-
fore the children came She stood at
her dark threshold and listened. She
had not reckoned in vain. One of the
children pushed down on the rod in the
child's eternal hope of magic. and
when magic came and three, four. five
chocolates dropped obediently in their
hands Mary listened to what they said.
1t was not much, and it was not very
coherent, but it was wholly Ineligible
Look at" shrieked Bennett. who
had made the magic.
did it," cried Gussie and repeated
the operation.
''It-it-it never" said Tab Winslow
at the third.
Make 1t again; make it again.
cried little Emily, and they did.
Cory" observed Pep in ecstasy.
When it would give no more they
divided with the other children and
ran on, their red mittens and muflers
flaming In the: snow. Mary stood star
ing after them for a moment; then she
closed her door.
II wonder what made me do that" "
she thought.
In her dining room she mended the
fire without taking of her hat. 1t
was curions. she reflected. Here was
this room looking the way it looked,
and away or there was the little fei-
low who had never seen the room,
and in little while he would be call.
ing this room home and looking for
his books and his mittens aud know.
ing 1t better than any other place in
the world. And there was Jenny with
that bottom drawerful, and pretty sOo1,
somebody that now was not. would
be, and would be wearing the drawer
full and calling Jenny mother and
would know her better than any one
else in the world. Mary could not
imagine that little boy of Lily's get
ting used to her-Mary-and calling
her-well. what would he call her?
She hadn't thought Of that
Bother thought Mary Chavah.
there's going to be forty nuisances
about it that l s'pose l haven't even
thought of yet
She stood by the window. She had
not lighted the lamp, so the world
showed white. not black. Snow makes
outdoors look big. she thought. But
it was big-what long journey 1t
was to Idaho. Suppose something
happened to the man he was to travel
with? John Blood was only boy; he
would probably put the child's name
and her address in the little travellers
pocket. and these would be lost. The
Child was hardly old enough to renlem-
Der what to do. He would go astray.
and none Of them would ever know
what had become Of him and what
would become of him? She saw him
and his bundle OF clothes alone in the
station in the city. -
She turned from the window and
mechanically mended the fire again.
She drew down the window shade and
went to the coat closet to hang away
her wraps. THEN abruptly she took
up her purse. counted ont the money
in the freight and went out the door
and down the street in the dusk and
into the pOst0fiice. which was also the
telegraph Office, oResWhich the little
town owed to Ebenezer Rule and it a
rival to the other telegraph office at tho
station.
"How much does it cost to send q
telegram" she demanded. Idaho"
she answered the mans question.
flushing at her omission.
While the man. After by name. la
boriOusly looked it up, covering in
credible little dirty figures with an in
credibly big dirty forefnger. Mary
stood staring at the list of names
tackled below the dog cared Christmas
notice. She remembered that she had
not yet signed it herself. She asked
for pencil. causing confusion to the
tttle figures and delay to the big fin
ger. and. while she waited. wrote her
name. "A good. sensible move" she
thought as she signed.
When After gave her the rate. thrust
ing finger and figures Jointly beneath
the bars, solicitous of his own accu-
racy. Mary filed her message. 1t was
to John Blood and it read:
BE sure you tie his tag on him
good
Ebenezer Rule had meant to 60 to
the city before cold weather came. He
had there small and decent steam
warmed dat. where he boiled his own
eggs and made his own coffee. read
HIS newspapers and kept his counsel.
descending nightly to the ground door
cafe to dine OH ambiguous dishes at
tables Of other bank swallows who
nested In the same cliff. But as the
days went by he found himself sta ying
on in Old Trail Town. with this excuse
and that. offered by himself to him
self. AS. for example. that in the fac
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