The Wingham Advance Times, 1934-12-20, Page 2•
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Thursday, Dec. ZOth, 1934
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Not all her grandmother's silences
and evasions could keep Bernice from
asking her question again and again;:
and finally Mrs. Melding had to an -
"I don't know when it'll be Christ-
mas. I'll have to look at the calendar,
Anyway, it's a long while yet."
She went tothe wall by the ;gas
range and made a busy show of turn-
ing the wide calendar ages, staring
at dates. Wednesday, December 19,
seemed written in living letters.
"It's a long while yet," she mumb-
led vaguely.
"But when?"
"Oh—a good many reels. Now
don't bother 'me any more. I've got
to be getting out."
She went into •the other little room
that 'was all their house held beside
the kitchen. Over her housedress she.
pulled a heavywaollen skirt that sag-
ged close about her ankles, The shoes
she drew on might have fitted ,more
comfortably if. they had always been
her own; but at least they were
sturdy, - even if scarred, and would
keep out the damp..
Next there ,wasa tight -clinging
faded sweater, darned at the elbows
but growing ragged there in spite of
darning, and .her costume for the
street was compacted by a rust -col-
ored hat .that had been rained on so
often that its brim bung down des-
pairingly against her crisp gray hair.
When she was at the door Bernice
called to her; "Look in the stores,
wont' you. Grandma, and see .if they
have any Christmas trees yet?
"Oh, you and your Christmas
trees!"
She tried to make it sound like
gay chiding but she was shaking her
head unhappily as she went around
the back of the house to get her lit-
tle wagon.
Mrs. Meldingwas known in the nei-
ghborhod as the Bottle Woman.
Dragging' her• low -wheeled child's
wagon with the high built-up sides,
she went up and down the alleys col-
lecting what •tihe could find that
might have a value even if it were
being thrown 'away. It wasn't so
wholly unlpleasant a task as one anight
think. The city's system required
householders to set aside from the
garbage their old papers and bottles
and such -like things. Barrels and
boxes held them, waiting for remov-
al, all along the alleys that intersect-
ed every block.
Mrs. Melding gathered up stacks of
newspapers and there were bottles
and jars of a most amazing variety.
And often there were • delightful dis-
coveries of usuable clothing or things
knees an rvr tciiednes5 would la`' a Ilea hand' the child know that this was Christ -
so
l c. a Y
het .t )
so w:tt a Christmas tree! clutn t she? And what could she do car her skirt to cru. ti
•
'h°v were coin to' have one at but this whether people approved of get at the sodden laces of .her shoes, on her once she sank back in her Inas Day,
7, t. going ,
school, She (tad- seen some of the it or not? she sneezed -several times. chair, tuid she .must be ready for the
" � hadnote r "There!" she said; "If I get sick days that blight come before 'tire
ornaments for it. These grew 'bright- "Che cottage been rented
er and larger gayly and more • •colored for five 'Months now. Everywhere too, we will be in a fix, won't tee?" heavy hand Was lifted again.
s
Mrs: •s. M. l ing went about the Another difficulty' came in a day or She-tnade her purchases carefully in
in lies. I'A'. CCi11eC. tact Tl' until t1tC tree she that 1 t. C 1 ,y,
s Letsign: in the two when ll3ernice heard the children the little shu'p. With the paper bag
dreanied- of at bottle was a supe( ,a- , streets, she saw To signs
s and playing in the vacant lot across the of groceries already in her arms, she
tirely glorious thing,''. :And every time rr•dndorvs, Its a ..nice little house l playrni, w
Grandma carne in she wanted -to somebody will conte along" she kept street. picked out two bright red apple; end
the ' they herself. "Why aren't they , at school?" she a chocolate bar,
know .about tl e tI ce. , Weren't t t ,_ telling
fol- salein the stores yet? • It was harder. The wind wanted to know at once, "Something for P,ernice for Christ -
blew
raining
the wet about her ankles in
spite of the long clinging skirt, But
she wouldn't have to be out long.
Mrs. 14te1ding waited at the curb
Until no more flying wheels came
flinging water •and then she hurried
"I guess it'sSaturday—or"Sunday:" Inas,".sate -explained apologetically to
"You told me tonorr w would be the grocer, .for her usual shopping
ou It ct a .�
Saturday." never included anything like this.
Two days later, she was able to be
out of bed. They sat side by side in
their chairs before the kitchen stove
and :lierniee patted her hands and
said:
"I'm awful glad, Grandma, that you,
got well again before Christmas."
The .next day, Mrs. Melding warn=
ed to be out on her rounds again, but
it was raining and she didn't dare,
For two days its rained. There was
her wagon across the puddles of the
street. From the other side she could
see the fruit store at the corner.oRank
after rank of Christmas trees. Her
throat tightened. She .rias grooving
very' weary of having -to lie to the
child,
I -Sometimes she thought she must
"My
tree—my tree," she was whispering as she came slowly toward it.
This was not the time of day for ,
searching barrels and boxes; that was !a
in the early: morning before the city !
j trucks carne gathering things up. Now ! er
site would go . just to a few of the
apartment houses where they saved •
the papers for her: I'l
Mrs. Barstow had alwaysthem
"Then maybe it's . . . 1 guess it's •.
holiday."
Iiernice's wide dark eyes grew rvid-
and darker.
"It isn't Christmas, is it, Grandma? I
"Of course notl lion't.you suppose :i
I tell you when its Christmas?"
The chile( went back to looking out
that come in very handy at home. It take a, handful of those nickels and ; done up in a neat 'I t' d tl the window. She saw nothnig but a
narrow angle of the alley but soiree
how sate seemed closer to the merry
sounds of play when she was looking
outs
"I guess it's vacation because
Christmas is coming," she said
thoughtfully after a while. "I remem-
ber Miss Fallon said we wouldn't
have to, come to school for lots of
days,"
was astonishing, she said again and
again to 13ernice, the things that peo-
ple threw away.
But still they didn't throw away
' to make Mr,s.
nearly ha
if enough
Melding's occupation yield anything
but themost meager t m a r o f returns. For I
,
herself she required very little; even
regular eating didn't seem so vitally
important any more. , But how many
things she wanted for Bernice and
couldn't have!
Bernice had been with her four
years now, ever since' she was two
years Herbeen
old. father had only
a flitting figure whom Mrs. Melding's
daughter had quickly dispensed with.
"Now
Ill have BernieBicall for n y
own," she had said. Within a year
she had died, and Bernice was all
Grandma's.
,r
It was beginning 13e inntn to rain as Mrs.
Melding went out into the alley - a
fine cold wind -driven rain. Well,
what else could one expect of this
time of year? And Bernice listening
so trustfully when she was told it;
was "weeks and weeks!"
Inhese days the child seemed to
t Y
think about nothing at all but Chris-
Inas.
hrisvias. Perhaps it was because she was
shot up there in the little house, with
no companionship and nothing to do
but spell out words in old papers and
find what play she could among her
thoughts.
She had started school when the
fall termbegan and had been very
happy there. But she wasn't well and
strong. She had one cold after an-
other, was absent for long intervals;
and now, since the bad weather be-
gan, she had beet). house•bound with
a persistent' cough.
The last time the was at school,
more than three weeks ago, they were
making holiday decorations for the
oIassroo:tn, She had given up hope
ttow of getting bade to sebool before
Citrignus; Grandma said she must
keep dry and warm .. . but sate raid
dimes from the coffee can on the 1 string. Sometimes she had little ocicls
shelf and spend thein recklessly -for ,and ends that her tenants had thrown
a tree, for ornaments, for lights, for out.
candles and gifts and all the things
that Christmas meant to a child. For
a moment she could feel all the joy
of the full yielding. But then the fear
crept coldly about her again.
That little sunt in the coffee can
was less each. day. The nickels and.
the d going dimes were oin out for food
and the things they couldn't do with-
out. The few that she could add from
the sale of papers and bottles were,.
in these days to keen the
not enoughY ]
e
even. And unless the cottage
,.
were rented arain before long . . .
1,
Her thought always aYs s
to> c1 there;
it
refused to see the last shall coin
drawn out and gone from them.
People said to her, "It must be a
comfort, anyway, to have a place of
your own." And of course in a way
tl
it was. But unless the 'cottage was
rented,. what a meager' comfort the
sense of proprietorship could: give!
The cottage stood on the front of
the deep lot. Far back with its en-
trance on the alley, :was the ; little
house where. Bernice and ,4rs..'.Meld-
ing lived. To Bernice the cottage
seemed a truly splendid house with
its three rooms and a porch in front
and back, And when it was rented
there was a magnificent income of
twenty dollars a tnonthl
People said "How can she do what
she does when she owns a lot and
two hooses?" Mrs, Melding knew
they said it, for sometimes °someone
said it directly to her face. Didn't
they realize that owning a house and
a Tot often meant .little more than
having taxes to pay?
Fven with tate rent Gaining in regu-
lar1y, goodness knew it was little en-
ough. And with no rent corning in
at all what was site to db—sit down
andstarve on her own lot? Nobody
would buy the place now for enough
to give them long security against the
future. She had to dry sotnething,
Ivirs. Barstow was in the basement
at the furnace when Mrs. .Medling:
carne down the stairs.
"Vote oughtn't to be out in this
weather," she said.
"No," Mrs. Melding ;agreed, "I.
ought to be home counting up my
money." Ilut her laugh was merry
and not bitter.
"I guess that's it," her grandmoth-
er agreed. "And I guess they began
When she was going out, with tate having the vacation a long time be -
bundle
of papers held tight against fore Christmas."
She looked at the Calendar behind
the stove, at the little square on it
that said: Friday 21. The whole room
seemed resounding with a loud an-
nouncenient of the date. She eyed
her wet sweater, 14Irs. Barstow called
after her, "I hope you have a happy
Christmas."
And Mrs. Melding blew the rain-
drops from her' mouth to answer,
"The same to you, and many of the child unceiinfortably fora while,
them." ' !watching for some sign that she heard
She had seen<tlte shining tree irr'it too.
the window of 'Mrs. Barstow's apart .It wasn't raising today but it hacl
ment as she sante to the basement
stairs. Mrs. Barstow had a daughter
just about the age of Bernice.
Prob-
ably sC had her presents ts 1ltCad
,
she was a badly spoiled child, She:.
would be sitting at the toot of the
tree inthe waren soft- room, playing
with 'pretty things.
Bernice heard the wagon wheels
scraping; in the alley and she had her
white little face tight to the smudgy
pane of glass in the kitchen door
when Mrs. Melding calm around the
corner of the house,
She even opened the door a tiny
crack and called out, "Diel you see
any Christmas trees anywhere?"
Her grandmother didn't look . up.
from stowing the bundles of papers
away under the lean-to roof.
Site only 'answered; "I`eep that
door shut, now!" But when she was
in the :steamy kitchen she'said "Can't
you think about anything at all except
Christmas trees?"
As she sat before the open oven minute,"
door end drew up the spattered pattered edges She knew
been sharply cold when she_ was. out
for: her early morning round; and
when she went again in the afternoon
a brisk keen wind was blowing, She
Was 'Oita chilled when she got home.
Even the tea that Bernice anxiously
got..ready couldn't ' drive „this ehill
away. ,: Was it possible that she was
really going to be sick? The marc
she worried. the more insistently the;
Cold weight settled upon her.
But the next morning she was out
again soon after light. She'd have to
do what she could. People ntight be
preparing, for the holidays with ex-
tra cooking and there would he snore
titan 'the usual quantity of jars and
bottles castaway But the deep well
of the wagon filled slowly and all the
while the chill of the damp cement
was creeping higher and higher an
(ler legs, up her back and along Iter
ar'Ins,
Whenshe rr,g.of back she. said to
Bernice, "Before I take off my things
I'mg oing around to the grocer's a
a g
that
this searching
It was high time she was getting
home, out of this sharp, damp air.
When she took off her heavy
outdoor things she said to Bernice,
"I think 1'll crawl into bed for a
while, to get warm all .through."
Bernice stared at her anxiously.
• "Yuu..don't feel sick, do you grand-
ma?"
"Of course not! I'm just tired and
cold."
When she drew the covers close
up about her, she couldn't be sure
whether it was her hands that were
exceedingly cold or her face that was
exceedingly hot. Almost at once, she
fell into a doze.
And now she was dragging home
a Christmas tree for Bernice. She
was going out into the woods for it,
tramping through deep snow. She
tore one of the little trees from its
roots and went dragging it slowly
'back, And when she reached home
she found its branches all stripped of
their needles, as frayed and ragged
as the elbows of her sweater, Then
she lead to' go back into the woods
for another tree,
It` happened over and over, Again
and: again and again she dragged the
tree though the snow until she
opened her eyes and Bernice was
looking down into her face and beg-
ging, "Why do you make that' noise,
Grandma?"
"What noise?"
"That noise like yott were crying."
"I guess I was asleep, clear, I'll
get' up now."
But her head was whirling and as
soon as she and Bernice had had their
bowl of soup she was glad to be back
tt bed.
All the next two days, site was alt
bed', . , and it was December twenty-
fourth, And the day • after that, she
was still in bed . . and that was
Christmas Day.
The worst of the tightness in her
chest was gone now. And the fear
was gone.' In a few more days she
would be up and around and feeling
as well as ever.'. .
nut, this was Christmas. And
thereas not tree. Nothing o
w tttg f r .Bet.
trice, Site didn't even give her the
apples and the chocolate bar. She
couldn't find it in her Heart to let
still enough in the cupboard for their
meager wants. Through, the .hours
theysat by the open oven door and
talked,
Bernice told of all the Christmas
joy she had ever heard of, from oth-
er children or at school. She told of
the things she would like to have if
they were were rich. She told of
some other things that she hoped
some day to have even without rich-
es. A pair of skates,now—wouldn't
it be fun to have them, so she could
join the other girls as they went fly-
ing along the sidewalk!
It was the list day of the year
when Mrs. Melding got out again.
The sun was shiningand the air was
soft and warm. In the first block of
her course there was nothing at all
worth salvaging.
Then, in the second block, she saw
something that made her stop short.
It was a,Christmas tree• Lying there
across the topl of a barrel.
For several minutes, Mrs. Melding
looked at it from a distance; then she
went hurrying to it. It was a beau-
tiful little tree, trim and shapely. The
needles were still greenand springy.
She gazed at the tree a long time
and then site po'laped it into the deep.
well of her wagon and looked about
guiltily. The tree had been thrown
away; nobody wanted it; it was hers
for the taking- but just to think of,
it, a real Christmas tree!
At first she .felt impelled to turn.
back home at once, but she decided
it might be. as well to look farther.
Not ,a hundred yards farther on,
was another Christmas tree jammed
into a wide box, It wasn't nearly
such a fine tree as the first one; but
its brancheswerestill hung with tin-
sel of all colors; and Mrs. Melding
laughed aloud as she began to strip
off the gay streamers.
A tree and its adornment! Oh,
Christmas had come at. last!
She was ready for anything now,
She was not at all surprised waled
she rooked beneath trampled news --
papers in the next block and found a
pair of skates. Some child had been
given a new pair, very likely, and
here were the old ones. They were
rusty but ,the wheels went spinning
busily tinder Mrs. Melding's eager
touch.
ftp
pCIC]
octrtr
�irrrr �
This was enough. - It wouldn't do
to ,press miracles too far. The tree
in the wagon was crying out to be
taken home. She swung the wagon
about and went back' rapidly --- until
a thought' came that halted her alto-
gether,,
How could the tree be brought be-
fore Bernice adorned and glorious?
How could the surprise be prepared
and the revelation made in its full'
splendor in their two narrow rooms?
In a moment she began to chuckle.
They had other rooms, hadn't they?
What about the cottage? Mrs, Meld-
ing leaned forward and gave the wa-
gon a sudden tug.
She drew it around into the front
street and left it there while she went
back for the cottage keys.
"I'm going to light the fires for
a while," she told Bernice. Often she
did this through the winter months
so that the cottage rooms `wouldn't
seem tog danip to arty possible pros- ,
pective tenant,
The little tree still had , its stand
fastened about the trunk, She set it
on 'a box and in a very few ntinntes
she had the bright tinsel strung from
the branches. It shone and glittered
in the sunlight that came through the
uncurtained window.
But still it needed something.
What? Why, lights of course!
Site hesitated only a few moments.
This miracle tree must have its full
adornment. The coffee can must yield
up enough of its nickels and dimes
to complete the glory.
At the drug store on the corner
she found a string of lights that was
not so expensive as she had feared.
Growing more excited every minute
she told the druggist:
"Bernice hasn't been well and I'm
just. leaving the tree for her tonight."
The gray-haired druggist knew her
well,
Could you use any of these
things?" he askecl her. He had just
been taking his Christmas display out
of the window. There were as many
as a dozen large red shining balls
and a whole handful of smaller silver
ones. "There's no use my packing.
them up; they'd all get broken by
next year anyway." •
So now the tree had lights and
glowing globes like fairy fruit, When
the last of these were hung with -ex-
treme deliberation and care, Mrs.
Melding snapped the plug •into the
socket and for just a moment let the
lights gleam forth..
Oh, it took one's breath. No won-
der Bernice had wanted a tree.
She was too nervous; to sit in the
house this afternoon. So she set out
with her wagon on another round,
Mrs. Barstow heard her wagon
coming in from the alley and was out
to meet her.
"Well, where have you been keep-
ing yourself all these days?"
"Oh, I had a little sick spell.
"There's a whole lot of papers
downstairs. And here's something
I've been wanting to give you, : for
Bernice. My youngster got a fine new
coat for Christmas, from her grand-
father; and I 'thought Bernice might
just as well have this old one. It's.
almost as good as new, but of course
I can't get Leila to wear anything
but the new one. I tied. it up in a
Christmas package, I thought surely
I'd` beseeing you long before this."
"It's just the very right time," Mrs.
Melding . told her happily. "We've
been waiting till' I got well and we're
Having our Christmas tree tonight,"
In her hurry to get home, she for-
got the, stack of papers in the base
ment, It was almost evening. And
there was still so much to do!
Froth the back porch of the cot-
tage she brought another box andset
it on the floor beside the tree, On it
she set Mrs. Barstow's package, and
the skates, and the two apples and
the chocolate bar.
When, she and Bernice had had
their s,ttpper and all the dishes were
washed acid wiped, she saidt
"There's a surprise forY o, u Ber-
nice. 'What do you think it is?"
"Christmas!" And all of the child's
eagerness and yearnittg was in her
cry.
"Yes; it's Christmas today'."
"Today, Grandma?"
"Yes; did you think it was never
coming. Now put on your sweater.
Grandma's going over to the cottage
for a few minutes, and when she com-
es to the back door and calls, you be
all
,
ready to run over fast."
As
she went across to the ,back
(qattintted on 'Page Seven)