Evening star., 1923-12-30
AROUND THE CITY
By Mamie Lancaster.

ioping by on a stick with a horses
nsad TO IL, that the woman decided
sae ene would like to find out II he
he au IA a k(ndly voice to match. And
ne mad, Tor when she asked how that
pafl or the city was behaving itself
on Christmas eve, he smiled lust as
nicely as If she also were a tacker
on a stick;
nst NO troubles. at ala poor fellow
met met with an accident UP the sfreat
Sua ne Is being well cared for at the
hospital This is a Iaw-ahi,,t,aer
neighborhood--lively, right now ~
ooo, arst, out mostly youngsters-
everybody Industrious and doing the
right thing, "''"s lhe
me woman told him she was glad
so,,n 70 near such good account of her
Ieiiow beings. seeing she read 81
inang aob OF IT the Others in print.
to deal S,tS we nave many evil folks
more more good ones-and that's a great
tnlhg to be thankful for. In this
seclioh most families make UP Christ 4
nta mas BASKETS for poor people, and I
am going to help my daugbtars
they belong to a high sc3nnI
ganization-to take around baskets
tonight" DdsAets
10 Know crime well enough to risk
,i iide IN tracking 1t down, and yet to
general run of men and womenr
you couldn't ask anything finer of an
H1heer; iiKs 6e,ceu could you? Not if he was
HhhE Is a little old lady in this
town who earns almost enough
70 Keep body and soul together, And
she must have a daughter becsusa
there are some small grandchildren
Aio' OF course, the little old lady
Ghris, ne!p them to have a happy
IA an Is mas. seeing that Santa conId
uo SO little in the way of TOYS 81
every week she would sneak feT.
peHnies from herself and buv a no,,,d
on sugar And, as she started before
even the Shop early" ads came outs
she hoped to have enough 1o oLS oL
every Kind of candy. and ginperbreadt
papIes and cakes like there u.ed ~
ar wnen she was young. Every week
IN an mooia i add the pound to the Others
th, an oIo trunk which was the onIys
lhins she owned that had a lock and
NY not only to keep the sugar from
sne cnildren but also to hide n from
uer own self-because you know oeen
tar, SouI own heart 1t is a great
temptation to put sugar in youT tea
II you know there is any around bTt
anyhow ooho, put
When the night before Christmas ave
esie esIf ,,st.; sne mad great time all 10 her
making after the children had haer Ms
10 ped, but it was great time thai
only lasted until she took the s,,gar
rom the trunk You see, it was the
trunk that she had packed her wintan
coat in all summer.with moth hnfis
ana the only thing to do with sugar
orenched with the fumes Of moth halls
is to throw it away.
And if you don't know what a tra,,a1,,
tnat meant to the little old lady II is
because you have never failed in 4
sacrifice made for those you love II
Is tragedy known only to poverty
and to the weakening of memnry nou,a,.
that made little old lady forest ohn,,,-
the moth balls
THIS is one foolish little yarn. but.
if you have a good memory for
trif1es, here goes:
Months ago there were two gay little
china ducks that lived in one corner
OF jewelers. window. And there was
a plain soul who used to look at them
every day because they reminded her of
a 'way-back childhood that was bereft
of toys. And if you don't have what
you want at the right time you never
stop wanting. She had no youngsters
TO give her an excuse for buying them
and, OF course, she mustns get them
for herself. because, my goodness, what
would people say?
Hat WDuiu nave pefn all tnere. was
to 1t. except that, to her bewilderment
some unknown giver sent the ducks TO
her desk. That was wonderful. but
unsatisfactory. She put the ducks in
drawer until she could find the donor.
and the first thing she knew, some
other anonymous being had taken the
ducks away.
And as she didn't know the name of
the giver. and didn't want to know the
name of the one who swiped them, she
let it go with bushels of past enigmas.
and that was that-until Christmas
came-and--
Please goodness. Santa found the
ducks swimming in the basin, and now
she has them back. And while you
might think il the foolishest thing, she
would rather have those belovedly gay
little quackers than any other treasure
the jeweled window can show.
Aren't some people queer?