Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-12-18

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N-EN NE ulInO VI q NAAAAA ~ -
III IL tai images, unrelated
kaleidoscope of men,
and ~curiously un-
Ia stable; a patch
nV, \ work of things
"a \NLS heard and seen
II II TX and only half I'M
- ~ derstood. Eunice
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NRGGM was six; too young
MN@ to grasp the mean
% NwM ing of much that
GAM" she heard, but old
NJ enough to remem-
WH Der. All day she
" pla yed happily
with her dolls in the shabby furnished
room which was her mothers bed
room. The door was locked, and
Mrs. Holmes, the landlady, was under
instructions to look in from time to
time to see what Eunice was doing;
but since Eunice was doing
anything except playing with her
dolls the good wOman's visits became
less and less frequent.
"She's the most contented little
body in the world, ma'am," said the
old Scotch woman to Hilda Groves,
Eunicc'S mother. Mrs. Groves was
also called Marian Fay, but that was
when she stood behind the footlights
and cnraptured her audience with her
girlish charm and ingenue manner By
day she was Hilda Groves, wife of
John Groves, an unsuccessful writer,
and the charming ingenue was a very
tired woman with a discontinued
droop to her mouth.
I'm glad she's keeping out of mis-
chief" answered Eunice's mother
coldly.
Its a wonder" s~oliloquized Mrs.
Holmes, pausing in the act of taking
a pair of sheets out of a closet and
looking at the closed door, its a
wonder that sort of parents has them
kind of children"
The good woman disapproved of
Mrs. Groves, whom she thought hard
and unmaternal. AS for John Groves,
Eunice's father, who worked all day,
humping upon his typewriter in the
little half empty hack room, two
stories up, whenever he met Eunice
he experienced a curious sense of en-
barrassment and shame.
When her mother entered the room
Eunice would experience much the
same feeling of embarrassment that
she occasioned her father. Though
she had never been told that moth
ers ought to love and cares their
children. Eunice wondered dimly at the
cold formality of her mothers kiss.
and felt chilled and repressed.
One snowy night in late December
John Groves came slowly downstairs
and dismissed Mrs. Holmes, who was
making Eunice ready for bed.
Congratulate me-, daughter" he
said. 81 have an offer of a position
on the staff of the Manhattanite."
Eunice looked up vaguely.
How would you like to celebrate
the occasion with me, child?" inquired
her father, addressing Eunice banter
ingly, because he did not quite know
what to say to her.
"'Es," said Eunice, slipping her
chubby hand into his own.
"The motion is carried" said John
Groves. I'VE are to go, then, to see
Mamma transformed into a b%ene1cent
fairy. AS you are doubtless aware,
she takes the part of the Fairy God
mother in the Christmas play now
running at the Hudsonian."
That was the first time John Groves
and Eunice had ever been out to-
gether, except for an occasional stroll
round the block to the newspapers
man or the corner grocery. To
Groves the sensation was as aston
ishing as it was unexpected. Here he
had been creating his dream men and
women all his life, while there was a
live child, his own, waiting to be
discovered, and full of the most amaz-
ing touches of what he would have
called, in his jargon, human inter
est" But as for Eunice, she was
in wonderland, and it far transcribed
doll-land. She had never imagined
anything so heavenly as the lights
the people, and. then the mystery OF
the tunnel-like approach to the thea
ter, the gloomy aisle, and the wal
behind the row of little lamps thai
went up into the roof and disclosed
Mother!
"O-oh!' cried Eunfce, leaping VI
out of her chair. And nobody scoldet
or even frowned, because this was 1
Christmas play and the spirit o
Christmas was upon everyone.
There was her Mamma, all color
and shining things, standing in tn
fairy garden, while her god-childrel
grouped themselves around her. An
such a transformed Mother! HOY
happy they all were! She was laugh
ing as Eunice had never heard he
laugh in Mrs. Holmes boardin
house, and she kissed the chlldre
and gave them the most wonderfr
toys.
do you know who that old fello'
is, Eunice?" inquired her father, h
dicating a Christmas characte
That's Santa Claus"
"Thanta Clauth," repeated Eunis
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