Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-12-23

came pack TO the Schemer on the othel
side of the door. Peter will be al
alarmed if 1 hear him"
All right. Mis- Fernald; | JUS
though Ia let o know" and thu
suiieful one vent grinning away.
mere was a long silence in thu
sleeping room. Then, out of the dark.
ness came this little %colloquy:
.Emeline, o aren't getting to sleep
"l--know Pm not, John. I-Christ.
ma eve keeps one awake, somehow. i
always did"
yes l don't D tn,
ctildren realize at all, do they?"
IN, no OH, no. They dom
,ealiZe-they never will, til-they're
mere themselves. It's all right. thinl
II think at least Guy will be down to.
morrow, don't you?"
I guess maybe he will Then afte,
q snort silence. "Mother-you've got
me, You know. You know-you'ye al
ways got me. dear
l., Yes. She would not let him hear
tlle sob in her voice. She crept close
anu spoke cheerfully in his best ear
And you've got me, Johnny Bow"
fhank the Lord, | have!"
80, counting their blessings. they fell
asleep at last. But, even in sleep. one
SET OF iashes was strangely wet.
christopher Jinks, what a drift"
lucky we weren't two hours later
Sh-h-they might near u.s."
Nan, stop laughing. or I'll drop a
SNOWFALL down your neck"
f1efe, Carol, give me your hand g..
IN plough you through. Large bodies
move slowly, of curse, but go elbows
1lrst and you'll get there"
Zee Whiz' Can't you get that door
open? III bet it's frozen fast,
"A light showed inside the kitchen.
Ihe storm door swung open, propelled
by force from inside. A cautious voice
said low; That the Fernald family@Y
A chorus of whispers came back at
Miss Marietta Cooley:
Yes, yes-let us in, We're freezing
You bet were the Fernard family
every man-Jack of us-not one
missing"
oh, Marietta-you dear old thing,"
hurry up-this is their side of the
house."
Carol, your sh-h-ishes would wake
the dead"
Stumbling over their own feet and
bundles in the endeavor to be prefer
naturally quiet, the crew poured into
the warm kitchen. Bearded oliver,
Oldest of the clan; stout Edison. big
Ralph. tall and slender Guy-and the
two daughters of the house, Carolyn,
growing plump and rosy at 80; Nan,
slim and girlish at 24-they We're all
there. Marietta heaved a sigh of con-
tent as she looked them over.
Well, l didn't really think you'd get
here-a1I of you. Thank the Lord, you
have. l s'pose you're tearin' hungry,
bein' past 'leven. If you think you
can eat quiet as cats, FL feed you
up, but if you're goin' to max as much
rumpus as you did comm round the
corner O. the Woodshed In have to pack
o straight off to bed W the back
stairs"
They pleaded for mercy and hot food.
They got it-everything thai could be
had that would diffuse no odor of cook
cry through the house. Smoking clam
broth, a great pot of baked beans, cold
meats and jellies-they had no reason
to complain of their reception. They
ate hungrily with the appetites of win
ter travel.
Say, but this is great exulted
Ralph, the StalWart. consuming a huge
wedge of mince pie with a fine disre-
gard for any consequences that might
overtake him. This alone is worth it.
l haven't eaten such pie in a century.
What a jolly place this old kitchen is:
Let's have a candy pull tomorrow. 1
haven't been home Christmas Inlet
me see-by Jove, I believe it's six
seven years. Look here:
there's been so excuse for me, but
what about you people that live near?
He looked accusingly about. Caro-
Ign got up and came around to him.
Don't talk about it tonight" she
whispered. we haven't any of us
how long it's BEEN"
Wen get off to bed now" Guy de-
clared, rising. Il can't get ove. the
feeling that they ma catch us down
here. II either of them should want
THE dining room doors bolted."
Marietta assured him. but it might
need e~xplainin' If l had to bring 'em
hot water by way of the parlor. Now.
go awful careful up them stairs. They
are pretty near over your mas head,
but I don't dare have you tramp
through the settin' room to the front
ones. Now, remember that seventh
stair creaks like Ned-you've got to
right on the outside edge of it to
keep it quiet. 1 don know but what
you boys better step right up over that
seventh stair without touchin' foot to
it,"
"A1l right-we'll step.''
who's going to fix the bundles? ?"
Carolyn paused to asked as she started
up the stairs.
Marietta" Guy answered. I've la
beled every one. so it'll be easy. If
they hear paper rattle, they'll think it's
the usual presents we've sent on, and
if they come out they'll see Marietta,
SO us ali TlSHL. Qulet, now. Remefn-
Der the seventh stair!'
They crept up, one by one, Zach to
his or her old room. There needed to
be no doubling up for the house was
large, n each room had been left pre-
cisely as it's owner had left it. 1t was
rather ghostly, this stealing silently
about with candles, and. in the neces-
sity for the suppression of speech, the
animation of the party rather suffered
eclipse. 1t was late, and they were be-
ginning to be sleepy, so they We're
soon in bed. But, somehow, once com
posed for slumber, more than one grew
wakeful again.
Guy, lying staring at a patch of win
try moonlight on the odd striped paper
of his wall-it had stoppd showing
since they had come into the house,
and the clouds had broken away, leav-
Ing a brilliant sky-discovered his door
to be softly opening. The glimmer of
a candle filtered through the crack,
voice whispered his name.
Who is it?" he answered under his
breath.
It's Nan. May ] come in?'
of course. What's up?"
Nothing. / wanted to talk a min
ute" She came noiselessly In, wrapped
in a wooily scarlet kimono, scarlet slip
pers on her feet, her brown braids
hanging down her back. The frost