New Britain herald., 1928-10-01
1m HAS HAPPENED

&&80 H86e8 &1<8A . s<@sSA4S
 aShtl TheFns, bride of two weeks sstuFua from . honeymoon in Ha. vana with the dreadful secret of her marriass locked tight in her heart. Only Mabel Blake. her dear friend. and Mabels fiance. Jack Meors, know of that wretched TO- nance with Richard Eustis. SybiI met him on shipboard and married Tim after . wild courtship. Almost immediately he began to drink and then-after learaing of his unbe- lievable infidelity-Sybil left him and returned to her mother in Bos- ton.
 Before meeting Eustis she was engaged. in an informal sort of way, to Craig Newhall. Now New hall. sensing something wrong. de- cides that Sybil never really loved him, and effaces himself completely. Desperately lonely and unhappy, Sybil tries to tell him of her mar riaee. but Craig thinks she is joking and she gets no further with her confidence.
 Months drag on. Sybil. alone with her ailing mother, grows morose. There has never been any word from Richard Eustis, and Sybil be- gins to feel secure of her secret. Then she learns that she is going to have . child. She tells no one but Mabel Blake.
 NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY -sI CHAPTER XXVIII
 It was the week before Christi mas. Sybii, at the Settlement House, was helping Mabel tie up Christmas packages for the children. They had strung popcorn and cranberries for the tree. and Sybil had fashion, ed for the top branch an angel with a cotton batting robe and tinseled wings.
 Craig had promised to be Santa Claus, and now Mabel was putting the finishing touches on his de- mountablc beard.
 Over . lap of wool she glanced surreptitiously at Sybil.
 Honestly, dear. I think you ought to tell them. The longer you wait. the harder 1t will be-"
 Not until after Christmas. Nab. It's going to be hard enough to get through the day as it is-our first Christmas without daddy. Poor mother - don't want to make thinHS any worse for her."
 They sewed for a while in silence. The little bells that Mabel stitched on Santa's bright red jacket tinkled nerrily. sybil put Ter angel down, aAd hemmed pink silk skirt for . flaxen-haired doll.
 "Damn Christmas apyhow!"
 Mabel bit thread with her teeth, and smoothed the scarlet coat across her knees.
 Y hate to hear you talk that way. sybil. It's like blasphemy. Christmas is such happy sea- son-really. And the sadder you are. the more it warns your soul.
 ''Take Wester House here. Half our children are Jewish. That means we cannot talk to them, as we might to little Christians. abe ut Gods birthday. But we try to fill their hearts with the spirit of g!v- ing. We tell them that Christmas is . time when everybody tries, as hard as they can. to make every body else happy. And you should see their faces glow, and their eyes sparkle!
 You're selfish, Sib. and you've rot to snap out of it. dragged you down here today to give you something pleasant to think about and here you 50 damning Christ mss. If you think you're abused, you ought to see some of the poor souls who come in here
 "One woman today-she's got |. band Lord knows what we're going to do with her. Five children and another coming. Husband dead. Poor as poverty. Babies all mal- nourished. Oldest little girl has pernicious anaemia. She's an un- usually intelligent woman, too. Above the ordinary run of clinic cases. Thirty years old-and lifes all over for her.
 "Dr. Kline gave her the diag- nosis. and when he'd finished, she wiped her eyes with her decent lit- tie handkerchief and said. God have mercy on the children!' YOU think you're to be pitied. Lord, you make me sick!"
 Savagely Mabel bit another