HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Star, 1925-12-17, Page 15rer
A
w
•
r
t
t ' , •••'"
" • s
. _
Orr
1
iA0-9il•thter •
By ANN VV CilkTELE, Goder4ph
Dainty flalses'of snow were falling on this Eye of Christ.
Mas, not the great tasty flakes peculiar to that season, but little
fluffy flakes that were whfeed against Patsy's cheek Iike a ca-
ress. At least, that is how it would have seemed to Patsy had
. she been in the habit of receiving caresses, but as she was not, ,S
she thought of the breezy flakes, as being sprinkled deem from
the hands of a Gods dressed in red, with long wititeWhiskers. '
She had heard of God font a settlement worker and she had -
seen Santa Claus SPrinkling artificial snow over a. Christmas.
Tree in a store window once when she •was a very little girl. , •
Hence the coneteetion in her childish mind.
. It seemed so long since Santa had food Patsy and her
crippled brother out I To be sure, there was only the stove-
pipe ie theft tenement and Santa could not possibly squeeze
down it., Still, it did seem too had.
"Oh well," said Patsy, hitching up hersshoulders withsa
jerk and a shudder. "I'm a big girl now, and:maybe heettfiiiks
.we're not good enough." • .
The child turned into an alley.Way between two unpleas-
ant looking buildings. Alsove her head flapped frozen, grey-
ish garments, eerily suggestive of east -off bodies too.meagre to
even house a soul..
There was no one in sight, and Patsy entered one of. the
forbidding edifices and began to ascend three flights of stairs to
their "flat" on the top floor. Half sway up, she encountered
Mr. Ives, the rag-and-bone man, sprawled across the stairs and
snoring sonorously. -Beside him reposed a bottle of poisonous
smelling whisky. .• I
Patsy stepped carefully across his prostrate body ad pro-
ceeded on her upward climb. Reaching the top, she opened a:
door and saw her aunt sitting by the bedside of her father and
spatchleg together the remnants of Jack's sleeping suit. Un-
der the window, Jack, the little" cripple, was busy s building
blocks. .
Patsy tiptoed into the room and deposited her purchase, a
bottle of medicine, in her aunt's lap.. Jack whined imperious-
ly for her to come and play.
The children .amused themselves until Patsy grew tired
then she lay down at full length on the floor and watched the
snow forming' in rifts around the window frame. .
"It's an awful clingy kind of snow, Aunt," she said.
"Don't you 'spose Santa's toys will all get wet ? " '
, "They'll likely all be spoiled; but you should worry.
You'll not get any 1" remarked Aunty succinctly. ,r "I've told
. you so often that Santa only comes .to folks thee etioueh
already, or if so be he comes to folks that haven't,sthen he is
sent by some charity." eses
Chatty ! That odious word 1 Patsy knew that if Charity
knocked, she must shut the door tight and, if Charity should
speak to her on the street she must always sas "I do not need
a penny, thank you;" and hasten on. This latter decree frotn
Aunty was galling to Patsy, because even if she didn't need a
penny, Daddy did. He had to have medicine, and sometimes
there were not enough pennies, so poor Daddy had to wait un-
til Aunty got some more washing or sewing to do.
•
rr,
to buy, what she could te make their Christmas happier
Dimly, through a mist of sleep', tsy heardmusic. tioiSe.
was not uncommon in that district but music such as this—,s--s„
in a moment the little girl was out of bed and at the window. .
Between the bbildings marched a dozen, men from 'the
.Salvation Arm,y Temple. They were headed by en impromptu -
band and were 'singing, "Caeol, Sweetly Carol." .
Patsy was fired to the depths of her being. She must
march through.the night to that thritling tune, too It took
her some ntoittents to don her gerfrielits and speed do•westairs
,ttad out,' • • •
, The last Strait's had died, away in the distance, but Patev
ran on and on, dominated by that irresistible impulse to .march
with hands swinging by her sides, chest out, head up and drink.
ing in that heavenly musicwith all her soul. Then she heard
, the faint echo of "Holy Night," drifting on the night air, as.
soft as the snow itself. Tired and breathless, she. followed but
always that elusive mazec seemed just out of reach. At last it
disappeared altogether and Patsy cane out of her trance and
looked• around her. She WAS 4n an unfamiliar street, lined .on A
either side by prosperous -looking homes.
• Par up the street a policeman paced his heat, stamping
and clapping to keep himself Warm.
In nearly all the houses the lights shone out invitingly,
and Patsy, without knowittg why, crept ento the verandah ot
.one whose- lights glowed ruddily through the gloom. She
peered through the window.
- In a easy living room stood a Christmas tree, resplendent
with glass and tinsel balls ornaments. A man and a wont -
an were busy putting the finishing touches to it, and even as
Patsy watched, the man pressed a switch and the tree became
a living thing. Little colored lights and candles twinkled out
and to the fascinated child it seemed as if the very Spirit ut
Christmas hovered round and made of that tree a hallowed
thing, too mystical for mortal eyes. • • •
• Ah, the utter wistfulness on the face of the child at etas
window
Even as she stood, the policeman reached the house, saw
her sharply silhouetted against the light and approached. The
child, startled, screamed. The man heard the outcry, and
opened the door lust as the policeman began to question the
terrified Patsy. On being made cognizant of the situation, h.:
took the child at anu sent the policeman away. .
"A child from the .slum, ' he Jold his wife." "Suppose I
give her some money ? "
s Patsy drew herself up. "I don't need a penny, thank
you:" she informed hint haughtily.
"nsybu, my child!" the woman said. `Tell me your
na ad why you were on our verandah just now."
infinite pathos and simplicity, patsy told theft it
biddy and Jack; of hew she had followed the
herself in a strange part of the city and the aurae -
felt towards their rosy lights.
please, might I see the tree close before I go? ''she
ins( the. mother's heart was touched.
th4 sake of our own little ones, John:" she said, "and
all for the .ake of another Child who brought the
e t '1141S:Ilithae7elifIttil4ei;;sn°e.sloalls3liti)refo'sur4gCcthytils'ittl;t'ats'Yu' think
•
Or
For a while the child lay on the board floor, then, as dusk
drew on, the woman prepared supper, after which the children
*ere etowed AWay in their bed. She attended to the
sick maa, (pert taking what little money there was, went out
Or
t
ir