The daily Alaskan., 1915-01-05
A Mothers Christmas Plan
 sGla After All 1t Was Not a New Departure.
By F. A. MITCHEI.

| it, that such course Is necessary But it costs money, and money have not. Indeed, l nm afraid this Euro pean trouble is going to throw me out of business"
 The words were spoken by the hus' hand and father at the breakfast table shortly before Christmas. He had served an apprenticeship with a pub fishing firm, saving his money, In which he was assisted by q frugal wife. until he had accumulated S1O,OOO. This he had used to set himself up in business. relying for success upon an idea he had conceived that he pos sessed q faculty for discerning those qualities in novel which are calcu. lated to please the public. In this he was disappointed. The public did not seem to fancy the books he published and he lost most of his capital. Then came the war, and no one had money to buy books The prospect looked very gloomy.
 "I am perfectly willing, Ernest. re- piled his wife. ito do anything you deem necessary"
 "I know you will, my drar It's the disappointment to the ch! drrn that troubles me.
 'I will see that the children are sat isfed with what we may be able to do for them"
 The husband made no further re- mark, turning over the pages of the morning paper listleSsly. He did not hurry to go to business. for there was little to do when he got there. Final ly his eye struck an advertisement and he threw down the paper with groan.
 That novel. "A Mystery of a Mir ror,' has reached a sale of 100000 cop ies. It was offered to me, and l de- clined it. There's not a particle of lit erarv merit in the whole book. Whats q publisher to do. I'd like to know, when the public will take in such rot as that and won't read real itera- ture?"
 "The critics say that "A Mystery of a Mirror is ingenious" said his wife.
 whats ingenuity to do with litera- ture? tell you there's no literary taste any more"
 The wife was thOughtfuIly silent for awhile, then said:
 eve have for centuries been judging literature by the same old standard and I am beginning to think that we are partly wrong. According to this standard, there is no merit in the work of q detective story writer who has made a great reputation and fortune besides Our literary magnates say that there is no literary merit in these sto- ries. l once thought so myself, but l am beginning to doubt it."
 "Theres money in them-that is, in some of them-at least for the author. Whoever wrote "A Mystery of Mir TOT has made a small fortune. It's a dollar book, and 10 per cent royalty on a hundred thousand copies is SlO,OOO. If I had accepted the rotten stun l might have made that out of it my self
 "Never mind, dear Better luck next time. I think myself that publishing Il novel is like buying ticket in lot terv. If you succeed in tiding over the present trouble I hope you will put your money into something that isn't so risky"
 Warfeld made no reply. but rose from the table with sigh, kissed his wife and children and went to his busi- ness. AS soon as he had gone the wife and mother gathered her children about her and taking them into her conti- dcnce. told them that papa had lost money in his business and had request cd that they ignore the coming Christ mas. Sue had plan that she thought would make the anniversary just as plcaSant as usual. She didn't say what it was. but pledged every child to make no mention of Christmas till Christmas came. They were all agoS to know what the plan was. but she would not tell them. Nevertheless all agreed that, on papa's account, they would do just what their mother wished. " llaItNtG tlltl''tl 'lli'Il' Apl C''AA@N mas Mrs. Warfcld made she kept her own counsel. If gifts came into the house in advance she contrived to re ceive them herself and hide them. But. whether they came or not, her hus- hand and children were ignorant of the fact The husband being absent dur ing the day and the children at school there was ample opportunity to take in articles without their knowing any thing about it. The children reposing every confidence in their mother, made no complaint at not receiving funds tc spend for gifts for each other, for mann. ma had told them that she would provide presents for each to give.
 When Christmas eve came the younger children insisted on hanging up their stockings. Their mother made no objection to their doing so, for she had told her husband that she had pro yidcd a few inexpensive toys to i'll them. After the youngsters were In bed she brought out the packages. Her husband could not see that they were inexpensive. but made no comment. If his wife was keeping a secret from him he was keeping one from her. He