Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-11-24

sK- Il was in November and only the
day before Thanksgiving. On the
morrow aunts, uncles, cousins,
- grandparents and all relations
would come and spend the day with
Mr.. and Mrs. Churchwell and little
Florence. Mrs. Churchwell was the
oldest daughter of Grandma Grey, and
for that reason all the relatives spent
the eventful day at her house.
Florence was a sweet little girl,
much loved by all, and 10Y that she
had only one day to wait before the
reunion of the family she was in great
excitement. OF course 1t was Florence
who, on the following day, had to help
Nora set the table, and it was Flor
ence who had to taste the candy to see
If it was sweet enough.
AT 10 O'Clock the next morning the
family started to arrive and kept on
coming until noon. Florence all this
time was much fondled and petted,
and Cousin Ned declared that there
would be no Florence left If the hug
ging did not stop.
Games were played, songs were
sung. and all was fun and merriment.
"Oh, look" said Cousin Alice, sit is
showing" And, sure enough, the snow
was coming down in big flakes. The
children all gathered around the win
dow to watch the storm, when Cousin
May saw a poor little girl trying to
walk against the wind. She was shiv-
ering with cold, and her only wrap was
a thin cotton shaw wi.
"Call her in and give her something
warm to eat" said grandma, who had
gone to the window when she heard
the children's EXPLANATIONS of pity.
EYES," said Mrs. Churchwell, annie,
call her In"
The maid addressed went to the door
half frozen little girl. Meanwhile,
Florence had gained permission not
only to wait on the little girl herself,
but also gave her the dollar she haG
saved for Christmas presents. Flor
ence went out In the hall to meet her
and led her into the breakfast room,
where before her she put all kinds of
goodies. Mrs. Churchwell said that she
had warm clothes for her, and grand
ma said she would inquire into her
story and see what she could do.
Aunts. uncles and cousins all deter
mined to help In some way. After eat
ing a warm dinner Florence took Edith,
for that was her name, into the parlor,
where she was piled with questions.
She told Mrs. Churchwell that her
name was Edith Greyton and that she
lived in an alley right in the middle OF
the next square; she also said she had
two brothers and one sister, all of
whom were younger than herself. Her
father was sick, and her mother had
to wash to earn a living. After hear
ing the narrative and taking down her
address, Mrs. Churchwell and Grand
ma Grey took her upstairs, where they
dressed her in warm clothing and
promised to call and see her mother.
In the playroom that afternoon Flor
ence sat surrounded by her cousins, to
whom she was telling an idea. 1t
would be less than a month till Christ
mas, and why couldn't they all try to
a some money and take Edith a
Christmas basket? This was voted on
unanimously, and eight little children
went to their homes thinking of what
they could do. That night, after the
snow had stopped falling and the moon
and stars had come out to play, the
moon gazed down on the two happy
children, one happy thinking of the
good she had done and the other happy
thinking of the good that had been
done for her, and the moon smiled to
himself and said, For those two tots
this has been a happy Thanksgiving"
Buffalo Express.