The Snyder signal. (Snyder, Tex.) 1887-????, 1914-12-18
BY LILLIAN DUcEY


Into her elder sisters room, intent
upon tissue paper and seals and all tho
other necessities for making beautiful
Christmas bundles,
What Calista saw there made her
freeze In her tracks, as II the high
wind OF Destiny. which had borne her
thus far. had suddenly become a dead
calm. Margaret. her beautiful. lovely
Margaret was standing with frightened
lips that twitched aud qulvered. In
her hand. which hastily dropped to
her side. but not before Callsta had
seen. was clutched n photograph. And
the whispered words on her lips re-
peated themselves over and oye- In
Calista's mind. while amaIement held
her dumb. 1T grows worse, the ache
worse as the days 20 by" Not until
Callsta had interpreted the meaning
Of those words did she nnd her voice;
then she said blandly:
Il came for I'm wrapping up my
Christmas bundles" Seeing what sho
wanted lying on Margarei's desk. she
went for them.
Meanwhile, a brave control touched
the quiyerlng lips Of the elder girl. She
was indeed fortunate, she thought
that II was only Calista who had dis
covered her momentary alteration
For that was what II was How could
II be anything eise7 What girl with
any pride would allow herself to
No. she hadn't cried The man did
not live who could make her weep
for him.
You'll return what you don't need
Callsta. dear7" she said, sweetly.
yes" answered Callsta briefly. and
went.
And then. Just to prove to herself
that she had regaIned her sanity. Mar
garet Wesley looked again at that pic
ture In her hand-looked, and felt a
quick contraction Of the throat. a sud
den piercing sting upon her eyeballs.
And down upon the picture dropped
tear.
Calista. on the other side Of the door.
was saying to herself:
she was going to cry. Her eyes
were teary. II was Jaspers picture
she was trying to hide" And then
childlike. In spite OF her surprise the
gathering forces Of her sympathy were
completely overwhelmed TO the de-
mands OF Christmas. And why not?
After all, Callsta'a mind was too youth
fui to be deeply concerned about
lovers quarrels and broken engage
ments and such things And she had
made such marvellous purchases.
Indeed as they lay spread out on the
bed II did seem as II only genius or
n little girl could have reached such
decisions There was really lovely
boz OF handkerohiets. embellished
With the plnkest OF pink PAPER for
mother. That gift had put a tremen-
dous hole In her pocketbook And a
pair Of suspenders for daddy, These
two presents were the hrst purchased,
anu Mullt AuihAA NAAAN NtAA AN' A'aAN
IN her fancy. Afterward. let the sad
truth be revealed at orce lbut then
Calista was such a little girl. how
could she be expected TO prove bigger
minded and stronger than growuupsfl.
she succumbed to this intoxlcailon Of
Fllttering cleaning. glowing displayed
wares.
For brother Jim-that nice green
tie" Calista hummed softly to herself
"A tune lmprovised for the occasion.
For sister Nell-that story book !
hope she reads Il all TO me And
baby boy can have that rattle Uncle
Fred that nice glass pitcher" She
paused and added soto voce; 7 got
Il In the beautiful Ten Cent store.
And he's going 10 be married. 90 he
can use IT, Then the song went on-
and Auntle Mrdge that box Of
soap" That was from the Ten Cent
store also. but then each cake was
done up In shiny red paper. and there
we're three cakes In a box And ais
ter Kate a string Of beads. Once more
the song reverted to everyday speech
Maybe shen lend them to me once
IN a while cause gave them to her"
-And linler >sraret-" Calig.a