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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1922-12-21, Page 2rb pe T' , YT ff.rJf.,1yTv A Window Into Christmas By L. Paul. Suter In pursuit of his regular calling, -Andy Dugan left home shortly, after xuidnight and began threading a tor- tuous way anion; the alleys and back streets of the city. Ordinarily, he would have spent Christr. Eve in bed, Wee other men, with perhaps a long, enough inter a ption to deek an everg keen tee for the benefit of the younger Duns; but he het not pull- ed oft' a good job for some time and funds. were running low. He had in mind a certain house "They're both boys, Judge," Ancy. declared with brisk finality. The big Santa Claus slink into a chair, his chin on hie hand,and regard- ed „drily deeply, with the expression for *hie hew 5 fanxous=and area," ed—on,. the , bench. Seeing that the burglar did not quail beneath it, ha; rose again with a sudden Mei-Alma- tion, ete •Arimation, "I'll call your bluff, Andy Duugan, if it is a bluff," he said, coldly. "'Bring the dolls and the sled and show ma tr where this house i$;' ,j "You're net geing there with nie?" Andy inquired. lightly as he had entered. Once in and of the skates, be took the fol�nixer, "Bring them?" the alley, rote bite a Wats ', dog -trot h` h brought him rapidly! "That's plenty" he said taking the Andy rhueleled.. « If you get in the way I did, h all heb k t eleas and put the dolls medially upon. it w rc ro�tg+ • Judge, to the magistrate's, three toys in his arms. ,These bids "" He waited a monneut before climb-' won't raise it much and if them other it'll have to he through the winch"-- ing the back fence, to Snake sure that kids don't believe in Santa Claus after ai d, hayoti don't s burglary." ." to show me the no four footed watchmen were about, they get it, I'm no prophet." way, say so," the other snapped'. A few kicks against the boards, in : For the moment, righteous satisfac• Andy pieced up the dills and the imitation of a suppressed scuffle, con- tion had ovonre his usual caution. sled without further comment and fol - Awed him that there were not, Any Had it not been so, he might have lowed his host to the front door•. Once 1 dog, would have responded to such a raised his eyes in time to avert a pain- they were outside he led the way to challenge. So he clambered over and fol surprise. When he did look up, a the back alley and down it to the open made his way quickly to the aide of big man scrod • in the doorway', quietly •window of the mean -looking hoose. toward the suburbs which ire tha¢the sleeping mansion. :regarding bine The man was clad in The Judge was silent throughout and. el:srttitetion, of being a magistrate s.. The kitchen window wee locited,' Santa Claus costume, and his. arms Andyelid not presume to weak. Once The fact that the magistrate lived which, meant that the other windowswere folded on his breast or twice, however, he glanced incredu- there was incidental, though it had a would he lacked, too; but a few skill-. Awly put drawn the toys With treat lonely at the big man in the festive vireJetive ingest for Andy; but a ful prods of Andy's "outsider" brought; suddenness, and drew his revolver. garb walking heskie him, and but for well-defined presumption that the ford a satisfactory click from within.; "UUp with your° hands!" he said, in the toys in his arms he would have household was auteplaed with lete and. was about t< whenohis strength . businesslike fashion. been tempted to rah his eyes to- make ewe:TY was et the highest ii*n- rt -against G instinct told The big luau kept his arias folded. sure that it was not all a fancy of p , He was about to throw dace. Andy figured• that it -ha ha ,scald hien that it he raised it a burgle "Are you going to put 'em up, or the night, offeet an unmbtvsisive entrance, and alarm would go off. ain't you?" Andy demanded. fl In front of the window Andy =a - could wits raw again without being So he went to work on the little "When yea comae before me, ,A.nxdy fully laid down hid burdens. 10ereeeivod, the empty coffers ofthe cellar .1.indow in trout of halm. It was Dugan, I'll give you five years for this "This is more in my line than Dugan faint& would be well on * ,he's scarcely Large enough to admit a WM;jobi" WS, the reply. `‘A, manis get- yours, Judge," he ventures: timidly. Way toward replenishment. of average size, even with squeezing, tang down to pretty small potatoes "You'll abetter let are boost you inside Strange what trifling te':nptationa but Andy was eonsideralxly below the -when he steals toys from children's and hand up the sled and dells, then come to thwart one's plansl. Andy i'verage, Perhaps. its narrowness had # stodngs " I'l�" oliow afte' was nearly at his destination. ;tln•- led#the designer of the burglar alarm, Andy replaced the revolver in Ids' As you say," tha Judge returned other square, which bad a e nveui nt to consider it beneath his attention, pocket -with an air of resignation, ,i curtly; dopey " dopey running through it, would have At any mate, no alarm responded. I might have known you, Judge: Andy made a sten" with his clasp - taken him there.. But instead of coni- Andy watted, to assure himself that be said sadly. "I've seen you often ed hands and the. Judge scrambled up 'seting the distance, he stoppedno deeayod buzz was coming; then, enough, but not in that rig. You say without emelt noise, .He tools the two i.racl a cerpartrative y mean and iii- with a sudden effort, opened the win- you're going to give me five years; as quietly and put forth a hand to �igxiifi ant looking house, merely be- dow to its full extent anti shut the then 'maybe you won't give ue any help Andy over the windowsill. cause the window' was open. rays of his flashlight rright and left more for speaking out and saying that Andy delayed Ricking up his bur - Open windows bad a faseixn--tion for throw h Atte basemen to pac ou a e t k t if euybodv's getting down to small pc- Cons to turn the flasixlight on the ,A.udy. They were the signs and sym- land - 'ng place, , tatoes it's ^ yourself wren yon have sleeping children for the Judge's bene- cAnd turned Tried uncertainly toward his "Once, A Titan gave me a Sob, and hole of his calx -:g; Perhaps a brother ; presents like these far your own kids !'t, then piloted his guest to the W. ompa an. operator was et work within. Perhaps tat seeks a e - s wi iiia a oc a ou ga c en s ye, w rc was ixovx co th the 'list w^ --a highly sate �'. There was a pile of petato sac - you let on to him that I was a crook. rid l t duds block f h to which Veld and 'Row about the five years, :Fudge?" Then I was tired. I was going to rxtl ,ltts wasthe thought whrch . , with. neat to nothing. You tenth 1 dead, Mere he pBleed the light so that he risked, with anxiety. when I. got that berth, but k - un erred tiv- . n : gswear oft warmed his heart the window hacl himself y crnndhtton.,A,ndy ;squeezed wast king 'hero things far myself, it would chino full on the three stack- There was same moonlight new, to I lost it so sudden it took niy nerve been carelessly left open, and ainti--• laimse";" throhemh andWWhlile noise, Well, I wasn't." lugs and waited in silence for the reflect upon the harvlened snow, and aw<a , mum of amort the secure son-syeeernl le_sIy ";ion them, Wln-xe hti The big man stepped up fearlessly Jud to examine them, the could see each other plainly. The, Yon have said enough, If I get well worth the trouble. The second trig off the sacra, tool of question and stood in front cif Andy. 7J m revgibmty was worth testing anyway. question - ale uses fell from his pocket, but he :#Y-ou'rs not dxunl. he id I tell you a 'straight story, Ju ge looked thoughtfully at Andy for You. helloed; employment, end -" said with Judge?" he risked presently. Tie thecae bath hands en the wait.- caught it ,neatly, in 'time to prevent i.. some time before he spoke. antee that your previous record shall a keen glance. ""Are you crazy? if The fudge nodded. Ile had pulled. up ".Andy Dugan," he said, softly, xtt not tell a . ins' you, v«*ill -ou't lee it?" dew sill, raised himself will: the ease its cHatterin to the floor so, now is Aire time to prove it:, It a kitchen chair and put the two delis length. ""How does it eome that a "I eviil, "Judge,' Anoy nus aveyred, cif muscles king trained to that sort a The door wading^ up front the cel- mal sac a you 't11114); lied 'y ssi-tonoe." upon '' rrnfh fneat car¢ that They x x- like yoxz should follazv such a �'prazxiptly. Idy wife has be n prying ro ziixig, and lax:d+ed quietly in the tk was leletd baet a brief nranilauila- "=I'nc neitdier the one nor the other." should. not roll off .and bo clawaged, calling^?" 1for it, over since I maimed her; rocixn,� '��•,�'ts h tairned on Inia #lash- axon sufficed t<x opsn it, In a Sew m'Gn- g put u 'hand. light and paused to look around, utes bo stood in the darkened kite It was evidently a bedroom. The ellen, beyond which all was clear wlndew lull been left open for air, in :ailing, spite oi' tine alnarlaneaxs ef" the night. It was an axiom with Andy, born of The ray} of light, traveling to and fro, king experience in MS profession, that g e nehi for a moment upon white bed safety should never be taken for eeothea at the other end of the room. granted. Observin it now, he deter - Andy thereupon strut it off entirely nrine[d to inspect the aittire ground and proceeded to investigate the floor of the house before getting down sl , with eyes wideh had sore-; to business. He could have secured bee f a cat's faculty of seeing in the plate from the sideboard, but some late member of the family, sitting up Hae stepped to the side of the bed, ' in the drawing -room or elsewhere, without making any sound. There , might have heard the chink and have were two children in it --two little investigated, with unpleasant results. lee. They had kicked off' the cover- Therefore, he contented himself' --, which lay in. a heap pertly at , with a hasty examination of the plate, feet of the bed and partly"on the and proceeded into the hall. A broad our, and they were shivering in their, etaireaze went up from his feet, sur mounted by- a gigantic moose head. "Catching their death o' cold tao " The ray of light revealed a little Andy growled tot avel W ow nice Andyle statue contemplated thewithrhurxied which mother blowing they must Window open predation. He glanced into two or ap- and 1.<lorrang down their spines Tike a mew„ three rooms leading from the hall, to, Be laid the flashlight down fora fad, hem cametoedeserted e tedt d. silent, Fin - moment and pput the bed clothing back the drawing -room, ntly where it belonged, then passed out The flicker of a fire in this room into the hallway. He was taking note, meanwhile, that the furniture shone plainly on the polished floor of • and eerpets were not of the costliest. the hallway, so lee peeped cautiously Tilts might be near the magistrate's around the doorpost before -venturing house in distaaee, but it was a long within. No one was inside. The way from it in wealth. The hall had flicker tame from a huge fireplace at no carpet of any kind. He had to tip- the other side of the room, in which toe with elaborate eautior. to avoid a log was still burning. A very faint making too much noise. It was doubt- aroma of cigar smoke tickled the nos- fut. whether tie visit would be worth trils, but it would hardly have been . while, after all, but Andy made a' perceptible to one not in search of ' rule of seeing his jobs through. Some such traces. Andy considered it times unlikely places held out a good scarcely strong enough to be of real reward to the diligent worker. importance. The smoker must have lie had expected to find the grown. Ieft for bed fully an hour before. folks' bedrooms next that of the dell- He chuckled, however;, art sight of dren. Instead, he blundered into the three stockings hanging above the ktechen. The remains of a meal were - fireplace. They were well -made stoek- lying on the table, which in itself was ings, of fine texture, and they swung a bad omen for the wealth of the stiffly with an air of comfortable full - glace. In the stove at the farther side ness, almost es if their wearers were some coals were still smoldering. inside them. Andy set himself to Andy's quick eye caught three 1ong, examine them with more interest than slender objects suspended beneath such things usually would have ex - the chimney hole; and his flash brought eltey in hem. back to him with a start the fact that None of the stockings seemed large it was Christmas Eve. The slender enough to contain all the presents objects were stoekings. Two of them which their possessors were to receive. belonged, evidently, to the little girls Two of them had each a pair of large be had just covered in their sleep; the dolls lying en leather -covered chairs other to another child whom he had beneath—dolls which could not, to the not seen—probably a boy, grossest imagination, have suggested Andy recognized the.importance of a five -and -ten -cent store. Beside them the find. What the children wore .get- were sets of dill's furniture, complete, ting for Christmas would tell him one for each of the first two stockings. pretty well whether it was worth A mammoth bob sled, "knocked dovin, while to go on with the job. lay partly in front of all the chairs. The first stocking had a little pop-; There was a smaller sled, too, beneath corn in its toe, as he could tel by feel- I the third stocking, with a pair of ing, and a little• candy atop of that. !racing skates atop of it. Above the candy was a brown -eyed I i Anand spec slowl the e.with phi- ay - dell, which he drew out carefully and ; ty, up replaced. weather-beaten features. "Five -and -ten -cent store," was his "I'm not the man to rob a kid's verdict. 1 stocking, he said to himself. "But The next stocking was like the first,; it strikes me that when these .kids except that the doll's eyes were blue. hove ell that pile of stuff, and them The third, which Andy had sized up ; other kids ain't got nothing but ten - as belonging to a boy, bore out his cent dells and a five -cent tee, there's surmise. It contained ` popcorn and'r'obbn'y going. on somewhere. For two candy, like the other two, but in place bits I'd •de something that Providence I of the doirl there was a top, seems to have overlooked, and throw. , "A five -center," Andy appraised it,; the rest of the job over.. with easy skill. "Twenty-three -for' He hesitated, and peered into the , mei This ain't the place where Adam ! stockings themselves. ,. Worth stole the Gainsborough. "Here's a fountain pen," he said; He crept back through the hallway,1 "and •a stiekliin--solid gold ---and an - paused again by the bedside of ,the other pen. And this ones got a -two i two little girls to ascertain that they bladed knife, with' •a saw and screw - were stilt sleeping and .covered, then. dr ver and a nail passer—I wouldn't ' dropped out of the open window" as ;mind having that,•myself, but the. kid ain't going to lose it through me. And �'" P11 be pine'hed, here's pen number three. They're . jealous kids, nvayl: and if one gets a pen, they've all got , to have it. I .d.in't grudging thein. a thing, but it don't seem right. Damn.' it, it ain't right," he concluded. "Here i goes! . I'm not feeling for the other, jolb to -night, anyw�ay.'4 With a sigh of relief, he:set himself to the.task of selection. A Boil„from each of the two+airs .gas set. aside, ; leaving one apiece beneath -those j stockings; and after judging gravely Andy retorted, looking him in the He had also felt hi the pocket's of his Andy shifted his flashlight from ons face. ‘'If I was, I wouldn't be trying trousers and underneath the Santa hand to the other and remained sheet. this sort of thing. Maybe I'm a fool - Claus costume and had slipped some- " don't you answer?" because I didn't go off With your plate thin therefrom into each of the "Iftold you ;.the truth, it'd hurt when I had the chance. This is niy sidings. '„ your feelings, Judge." second job to -night, Judge. I didn't "Is this the house next the corner? "`Tell me the truth,"the Judge re - et nothing at the first house, because' he inquired in a. whisper. plied, earnestly. there wasn't nothing to got.- From all, Andy nodded. Andy wavered a moment , Ionger; I saw there wasn't enough to eat, let, "Then these people are tenants of but something in the others torte, alone to steal. They're neighbors of aline." rather' than in hiss words, told him ours. They live in the same square. "Let are ask you, Judge." said Andy that it was safe to speak, here's three kids, two girls and a eagerly, "what kind of a woman is boy just like yours—but it's mighty, the mother?" little Christmas them kids are going "There is no mother." to get. flocked into their stockings, Andy drew a long breath. They're ,getting two fifteen-eent dolls "That's wliy the two kids had kick - "I'm a crook, Judge," he began slowly; ""because I fell down, and after that everybody held me down. I was sent up, and when. I got out, they pinched me again on suspicion. and a five -cent top, with some popcorn cd their bedclothes off. Poor little You know how that goes, Judge, I and a, little candy throwetl in for good imps!" didn't have a chance to do anything measure. That's what they're getting. " Their bedclothes? They were coy out of the way, but,I got thirty days, I was going to play Santa Clime for eretl well enema when I looked at just the same, After that 1 was ewe, once in my Iife and take 'em some- then-, just now," the Judge returned; and I pulled off a job. Yost gave me thing worth whale when you came in." suspiciously. a year for it. That's how it has been "Do you mean to say you were tak- "So they were;" replied Andy cheer ever since ixr and out. Nobody wants ing those things for someone else?" fully. "You don't think I'd see them to give me an honest job, and here am the Judge demanded. shivering and not cover them up? I've I with a wife and two kids to keep, "Far them kids, Judge, s'Itelp me. What would I be wanting with two dolls and a sled?" ""Your ehildeen might play with them." , For Christmas the weather should be of that Pickwickian kind in which the grass is "crisp and frosty," the air has a "fine,, dry•, bracing coldness, and the day is' one "that 'night induce -a couple of elderly gentlemen iii, a lonely field to take. off their greatcoyts and play at. leapfrog -- in pure lightness of heart, and gayety.'" got kid, myself, Judge." The Judge turned toward the door. "We must go before any one catch- es us," he whispered nervously. When they were in the alley again, What else can I do? I leave it to you, Judge. I'd rather work days, if they'd let me." "Have you ever tried honest work?" the Judge inquired. between the desirability cf,,.the sled EARLY CHRISTMAS MORNING. The Judge out his "Then I promise to find it for you; and. I :promise not to misunderstand my neighbor, after this, for want of the will to get; ftecluaintel with him. Now, if you will return with are, we will talk over another matter—yott have children, too." They turned to go, in the moonlight just preceding down; but before they had Bono far, Andy grasped his come panion'sarm and motioned him to silence. "Listen, Judge," be whispered. From within the house they had just left cane the sound: of childish laughter, breathless and hysterical; such laughter as comes only en Christmas mora -ting, and then not to every child in the city. Mingled with it, presently, was the deep, half-sob- bine- laugh of a roan. the "kids" had found their stock.. ings. Chrastnaas andlel ght. A group of g�rly nettled osily round the fire were putting the finishing touches to the Christmas gifts that they were making. One girl who had. brought no workbag spoke in answer to a question: "Last year I made a new friend in the town where I spent the fall. When. I left for home just before Christmas, Anne carie to say good-bye and hronpht me a tall red candle lettered in. gold with a Christmas blessing that she herself had written. Then then told nee that it was an ancient custom to light a vatic le on Christmas Eve just, before 3nid ri ,ht . to say a prayer and to open the house door wide to welcome -the Chriet Child as He went through the world looking foe open. heruee and hearts that were truly wel- coming. •, "At home on Christmas Eve the family assembled to .light Anne's candle, We opened the hall door so that the light shone out into the star- light tarlight as we said our prayer in silence and waited for the •church chimes to strike rid tight. As the last shake died away we wished one another a merry Christmas an the first moment of Christmas Day, and we felt as if th&at_lit`le ceremony shared by ue all had •given us a sort of right and fresh mood about Christmas—which means in spirit, doesn't it, the most welcom- ing, warm-hearted day of the whole year? So for this Christmas I'm -go- .ing to give everyone .of you a reed candle._ I've put Anne's Christmas verse- on each, and you'll know that I am giving you her idea for Christmas." This stanza was lettered on the crirnsan aandtle athat came on the day before Christmas: As in the blessed Christ Child's name This eacred wax shall feed the -flame, So let my heart its firers begin And light the Heavenly Pilgrim in.. My Hand in Thine. When baby eyes tai• mother's eyes `1`hen heaven found; When:baby feet first followed hers In joyful round; - When baby lips from hers did learn My Naine divrrie;— How •tenderly my mother placed My hand in Pbinel ----Jessie Colby. Joys of December. Iovd the :blealt`December, In elute of his rime amd.snoi , For 'then I well' re iienrber Comes the cheat of the ingler glow. The gleam of holly ember And the rite of the mistletoe: —Arch Cr;otrnW$.