The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-12-16
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
Home for Christmas.
BY n. LOUIS ahYsoL1.
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
Sawananer Syndicate.)

'tf BY H. LOUIS akTsoL6.
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
4 sewspaper syndicate.)
IN HoTHER CLARK Sat In her
,slM rocker by the geranlum- filled
tkV4 window and fingered curiously
The unopened letter in her lap. long
ng, aud yet hesltating, to discover
lis contents. Last year John had not
.ome home for Christmas. Was 1t
! % be the same this year? With fin
gers which trembled she tore open
The envelope.
4 Dear Mother
Expect yours truly Christmas
Eve. Have a little surprise in
store. Am bringing somebody
with me. In haste,
"a JOHN"
Mother jumped up as quickly as her
,ixty.oTid years would allow, her read
ing spectacles tumbling OF in her ex.
element. "oh, Father-oh, Mary!
she cried, John is coming home'
John is coming home!"
The day before Johns arrival, Mrs
Clark and Mary, Johns sister, ana
Janet Thornton, from down the road,
were engaged in the honey intimacy
! If making pies. They had been spec
Mating as to Just what was his sur
prise and which OF his friends ne was
bringing home with him.
+ Suddenly Mary paused in the act
OF fluting the edge of .flaky struc-
lure generously filled with taWney
gold pumpkin. Mother! she crnsu
John is married. That is his sur
prise, and 1t is his wife who Is COM
Ing with him!"
one whose heart lost beat at these
words. Not that Mrs. Clark did not
want John to get married. Quite
the contrary. 1t began TO look as II
Mary never would, never having met
;fhe right man. A married John
i, might find it pleasant to come home
oftener. and some day bring little
Johns to patter about the old farm
house, tease the chickens and find
the cookie jar. It was the sadden%
ness which upset her. =.
AS for Janet-well, Janet found 1t
convenient, in order to hide trem,
bling of her lips, TO invent an errand
into the pantry. Janet was Mary's
dearest friend and, having no mother
Of her own-only an elderly aunt
who always visited elderly relatives
on Christmas day = Janet often
sought an excuse to go up 10 the
,,Iorks, This wear she had promised
20 spend the holidays with them.
Father Clark always called her
,Is second daughter. In fact, both
he and his wife had had hope
hat some day she might become SO
n reality. She had been the very
irst girl in whom John ever showed
inv interest. He had carried her
looks ON the way to the little white
tchool house, had asked her to go
with him on every church picnic,
and the year before he left home had
called pretty regularly on Wednes-
day evenings and read and talked
with Janet as she sat sewing in -heL
aunts drab little parlor.
Then John had gone to the city
to take a position with a wholesale
.sdrug house, an opportunity secured
through his fathers half-brother,
who had done we'll" AT first his
letters to Janet had come regularly:
But for the last year she had hearo
less often and she knew that his
mother had more than once bitten
her lin over a few unsatisfactory
lines, telling briefly Of a raise in sal
ary. a theatre party with his pretty
cousins, an automobile trip with
athe crowd" but limiting Of no yearn-
ing for home and the homo folks.
Consequently, Janet, with an ache
in her heart, told herself that she
aad no business now to let the news
# Johns marriage disturb her. Pres
.sntly, sober eyed, she slipped away
bone. :,
stead wore its most festive and
ehriStmassy air. Great wreaths OF
Creeping Jenny twisted by mothers
patient fingers hung in the small
named windows and outside on the
big front door. Within, masses Of
red -berried holly covered the mantle
and thanked the fireplace, in which
fblazed a huge fire Of seasoned logs.
& Outdoors, the weather man had
: evidently consplred with old Santa
CLAUS himself to produce the most
!seasonable effect possible. A white
blanket OF snow lay everywhere,
jheaping in drifts over the old stone
walls and undulating in billoWy
waves across meadow and pasture.
; Father Clark, bundled up in muf-
.fler and big coat, had gone in the
aleigh to the station to meet his son
and the one who was coming with
him, vhile at home waited the three
women. Mrs. Clark and Mary how
cred here and there, putting a last
finishing touch where everything
seemed already perfect, each won
derlng how It would seem to have
d stranger enter their little circle.
q Janet, quieter than usual, sat in
a deep chair. before the fire, one
trinity shod foot resting on the old
andirons. The freight touched on
her plquant beauty, the richness OF
her complexion, the wealth Of her