Douglas Island news., 1917-12-21
A Christmas Story for Children


 sisted Of a forty-acre farm which was SO run down and poor that Q disturbance could not bc raised on Iit. u fact. the only thing that could be raised on it were umbrellas. | Mir. Jones was tho champion lazy man of Che country ho lived in and that was why he was called "Rust- Her." la addition Co his forty acres of land he also had a wife, likewise Icight children First came four girls: then arrived on one cold and |blcak day thc hero ot this story. sorctoc Jones. who. n turn. was followed by three more girls. Sore toc took after his mother in that hc was a worker. The seven girls took after their father, who had no more ambition than an alligator.
 The spring artcr sorctoc was 10 Inc called his father into che wood shed one day and sprung this on |him:
 "I do not mind helping mother Co support herself and my three young est sisters. but am weary Of sluving myself Go frazzlc Go support you and my four older sisters Alaska lis a great country; suppose you try Iit. There must be lots of work in you. for you have never gotten any Of it out of your system Hike, for | ! am tired Of feeding you. Say noth- ! ing Co mother about your going but just slip away tomorrow before day flight. l know enough about women Co know that they change ;hcir minds four times or more in two minutes or In walking fifteen feet. and. while mother nags at you an | |the time and. believe me, sir, you |havc it coming she might not want you Co SO when Che time for your departure arrived. SO just scoot."
 The next morning when the Jones family awokc che cot in the hall on which Hustler" had slept for the pas, zen years was empty The rest of che family wondered what had become or him. but Sorctoo kept his own council. spit on his hands and went Co it iu his efforts Co support thc family which he did by working | for Che ucighborinE farmers iu day flight and working on tho home place at night in his efforts Co grow a crop of beans.
 The next three years were lean ones for the "Jonesics" But Sore toe never faltcred until che third |fall. when rheumatism overlook him and put him on the mat. In the meantime his four older sisters had married and taken their husbands home Go live and Che house was SO Hull Ol squalls that our hero. in the meantime. had moved his cot Co the |baru. But it was a summer barn and whom cold weather came ou he, being thin from hard work and en- | forced conservation of food. almost frozc and that is what gave him Rheumatism.
 It was thc day before Christmas and Sorctoc felt none Of Che Christ mas spirit How could he whom hc. Che only support of a family of scv- entccu. four oi whom lived on milk at 70 cents per quart, was an crip- pied up with rheumatism
 ! Painfully making his way along Che road Co Che house Of a noighbor who owed him 60 cents for work. ! thc only money with which Co rcgale . those dependent upon him with . Christmas cheer. he met a we'll dressed and prosperous appearing stranger who asked Soretoe if he lived i'm that ncighborhood. Being answered in the affirmative the stranger continued:
 'I once lived in this locality my self. but left several years ago Sit down. my lad. and ! will tell you something about myself that Is usu- ally found only in books. It is this:
 -Four years ago ! had never turn ed up anything Up to that time ! was constitutional chair warmer. ! had a large family or seven daugh-
 ters and one son. Che latter being the only live one in tho family. That boy practically canned me and sent me out In the world and made a man ot me
 "I rode brakoboams nearly two
 thousand miles and until ! reached
 Seattle. where I shipped as a deck
 hand on a steamer bound for Alaska.
 Leaving the ship at a place called
 Douglas, swam across a narrow but
 deep channel and delyed Into the interior a distance Of several hundred miles and began prospecting The second hole ! put to bedrock showed mo that I had struck gold and by the time ! had worked six months had 400 pounds of dust. An this
 time ! lived on grouse. rabbits and scenery, but the fact that ] was get
 ting the gold buoyed me up. Just
 before the freczeup fin Che late fall
 I built a raft and started to float down Co salt water with my cargo of gold dust It was a swift stream and the result was that my raft was t.,ty,.- ., f.st ,t.I,,y, .t-,..r. ..ft