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About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1911)
i MPBmmiaUim'AwMsm ,. - Vs4( J WA Mt.N r-N,Ji .ajv- -fK, v .nt'ff V Jj" J-f -l "M 1Tif-V' 'j imwT$ tff the, Qmoru " h ftwiwr ;r rvutoH yqaSiZn''V1'' Tit ! i? WWW i I Hi fa7'i .' .fo ti , .... f0flljjt Oxory BaaPV I 7 W I HERE are no more Christ- mas stories to write. Fic tion Is exhausted; and newspaper Items, the noxt best, are manufactured by clover young Journalists who have married early and havo an engagingly pessimistic view of life. Thoreforo, for seasonable diversion, wo are reduced to two very question able sources facts and philosophy. Wo will begin with whichever you choose to call It. Children are pestilential little ani mals with which wo linve to copo un der a bewildering variety of condi tions. Especially when childish sor rows overwhelm them are we put to our wit's end. Wo exhaust our paltry store of consolntlon; and then beat them, sobbing, to sleep. Then we grovel In the dust of a million years, and ask God why. Thus we call out of the rat-trnp. As for tho children, no one understands them except old maids, hunchbacks, and shepherd dogs. Now come the facto In the caso of the Rag-Doll, tho Tatterdemalion, and tho Twenty-fifth of December. ' On tho tenth of that month the Child of tho Millionaire lost her rag doll. There were many servants In the Millionaire's palace on the Hud eon, and theso ransacked the house And grounds, but without finding tho lost treasure. Tho Child was a girl of flvo, and one of those perverse lit tin beasts tha often wound the sensi bilities of wealthy parents by fixing tholr affections upon some vulgar, in expensive toy Instead of upon diamond-studded automobiles and pony phaetons. Tho Child grievod sorely and truly, a thing Inexplicable to tho Million aire, to whom tho rag-doll market was about as Interesting. ns Day Stato Gas; and to tho Lady, tho Child's mother, who was all for form that Is, nearly all, as you shall see. Tho Child cried tnconsolably, and "grew hollow-eyed, knock-kneed, spin dling, and corykilverty in many other respects. The Millionaire smiled and tapped his coffers confidently. The pick of the output of the French and German toymakers was rushed by spe cial delivery to the mansion, but Ra chel refused to be comforted. She was weeping for her rag child, and was for a high protective tariff against all foreign foolishness. Then doctors with the finest bedside manv ners and stop-watches were called In. Ono by one they chattered futllely about peptomanganate of Iron and sea voyages and hypophosphltes until their stop-watches showed that Bill Rendered' was under the wire for show or place. Then, as men, they advised that the rag-doll be found as soon as possible and restored to Its mourning parent. The Child sniffed at thera peutics, chewed a thumb, and waited The Child Grieved Sorely and Truly. ror hor Betsy. And all this time ca blegrams wero coming from Santa Claus saying that ho would soon bo here and enjoining us to show a true Christian spirit and let up on -tho , poolrooms and tontine policies and platoon systems long enough to give jiim a welcome. Everywhere tho spir it of Christmas was diffusing Itself Tho banks wero refusing loans,' the pawnbrokers had doubled their gang of helpers, people bumped your shins on tho streets with red sleds, Thomas and Jeremiah bubbled before you on tho bars while you waited on ono foot, holly-wreaths of hospitality wero hung In windows of tho stores, they who had 'em wore getting out their furs, ,You hardly knew which was tho best bet In balls threo, high, moth, or snow. It was no time at which to lose tho rag-doll of your hearty If Doctor Watson's Investigating friend had beeu called In to solve this mysterious disappearance ho might nave obeorvod on the Millionaire's wall a copy of "The Vampire." That would have quickly suggested, by in ductlon, "A rag and a bono and a hank of hair." "Flip," a Scotch ter rier, next to the rag-doll In tho child's heart, frisked through the balls. Tho hank of hatrt Aha! X, the unfound quantity, represented the rag-doll. Hut, the bone? Well, when dogs And bones they Dono! It were an ensy and a fruitful task to examine Flip's fore feet. Look, Watson I Earth dried earth betwoen tho toes.. Of courso tho dog but Sherlock was not thero. Therefore It devolves. But topography and architecture must In tervene. The Millionaire's palace occupied a lordly space. In front of It was a lawn close-mowed as a South Ireland man's face two days after a shavo. At one sldo of It and fronting on an- ns Iij-sS He 8at Betsy on the Bar and Ad dressed Her Loudly and Humor ously. other street was a plcasaunce trim med to a leaf, and the garage and stables. The Scotch pup bad ravished the rag-doll from the nursery, drag god it to a corner of the lawn, dug a hole, and burled it aftor the manner of careless undertakers. There you have the mystery solved, and no checks to write for tho bypodermlcal wizard or fl-pun'notos to toss to the Bergeant. Then let's get down to the heart of the thing, tiresome readers the ChrlBtmas heart of tho thing. Fuzzy waB drunk. Not riotously or helplessly or loquaciously, as you or I might get, but decently, appropriate ly, and Inoffensively, as becomes a gentleman down on his luck. Fuzzy was a soldier of misfortune. The road, tho haystack, tho park bench, the kitchen door, the bitter round of eleemosynary beds-wlth-shower-bath-attachment, the petty pickings and ignobly garnered larg esse of great cltltes these formed the chapters of his nlBtory. Fuzzy walked toward the river, down tho street that bounded ono 6ldof tho Millionaire's house and grounds. Ho saw a log of Betsy, the lost rag-doll, protruding, like the cluo to a LUIputlnn murder mystery, from Its untimely grave In a cornor of tho fence. He dragged forth the maltreat ed Infant," tucked it under his arm, and went on his way crooning a song of his brethren that no doll that has been brought up to the sheltered llfo should hear. Well for Betsy that sho had no oars. And wqll that the had no eyes save unseeing, circles of black; for the faces of Fuzzy and tho Scotch terrier wero those of brothers, and the heart of no rag-doll could withstand twice to become the prey of Buch foarsome monsters. Though you may not know It, Gro gan's saloon stands near the river and near the foot of the stroet down which Fuzzy travoled. In Qrogan's, ChrlBtmas cheer was already rampant. Fuzzy entered with his doll. He fan cied that as a mummer at tho feast of Saturn -he might earn a few drops from tho wassail cup. He set- Betsy on the bar and ad dronscd hor loudly and humorously, seasoning his speech with exaggerat ed compliments and endearments, as one entertaining his lady friend. The loafers and bibbers around caught tho farce of it, and roared. The barten der gave Fuzzy a drink. "Oh, many of us carry rag-dolls. "Ono for the lady?" suggested Fuz zy impudently, and tucked another contribution to Art beneath his waist coat Ho began to see possibilities in Betsy. Ills first-night, bad been a suc cess. Visions of a vaudeville circuit about town dawned upon him. In a group near tho stovo sat "Pig eon" McCarthy, Black RHoy, and "Ono-oar" Mike, well and unfavorably known In the tough shoestring district that blackened tbo left bank of tho rlvor. They passed a newspaper back and forth among thomselves. The Hem that each solid and blunt for 'Svtr Srvi4 V3 eigner pointed out was an advertise ment headed "Ono Hundred Dollars Reward." To earn It, ono must re turn tho rag-doll lost, strayed, or .stolon from tho Millionaire'!) man sion. It seemed that grlof still rav aged, uncheckod, In tho bosom of the too faithful Child. Flip, the terrier, capered and shook his absurd whis kers before her, powerless to distract. Sho walled for her Betsy In tho faces of walking, talking, mn-ma-ing, and eye-closing French Mnhcllcs and Vlo lettcs. The advertisement was a last resort. Black Riley came from behind tho stovo and approached Fuzzy In his ono-sldod, parabolic wny. Tho Christmas mummer, flushed with success, had tucked Betsy under his arm, and was about to depart to the filling of Impromptu dates else where. "Say, 'Bo," snld Black Riley to him, "whore did you cop out dat doll?" "This doll?" asked Fu.zy, touching Botsy with his forefinger to bo sure that she was tho ono referred to. "Why, this doll was presented to me by tho Emperor of Boloochlstan. I havo seven hundred others In my country homo In Newport. This doll " "Cheese the funny business," snld Riley. "You swiped It or picked it up at de houso on do hill whore but never mind dat. Ybu want to take fifty cents for dn rnga. and take it quick. Mo brother's kid at home might be wantin' to play wld It Hey what?" He produced tho coin. Fuzzy laughed a gurgling, insolent, alcoholic laugh In his faces Go to the ofllco of Sarah Bernhardt'H mnnngor and proposo to him that sho be re leased from a night's performance to entertain the Tackytown Lyceum and Literary Coterie. You will hoar the duplicate of Fuzzy's laugh. Black Riley gauged Fuzzy quickly with his blueberry cyo as a wrestler does. His hand was Itching to play tho Roman and wrest tho rag Sabine from the extemporaneous racrryan drew who was entertaining an angel unaware. But he refrained. Fuzzy was fat and solid and big. Three Inches of well-nourished corporeity, defended from the winter winds by dingy linen, intervened between bis vest and trousers. Countless small, circular wrinkles running around his coat-aleeveB and knees guaranteed the quality of his bone and muscle. His small, blue eyes, bathed in the moisture of altruism and woozlness, looked upon you kindly yet without abashment. He was whlskerly, whis kyly, fleshlly formidable. So, Black Riley temporlzod. "Wot'll you take 'for it, denf he asked. "Money," said Fuzzy, with husky firmness, "cannot buy her." He was intoxicated with the artist's first sweet cup of attainment To set ismm? "Money," 8ald Fuzzy With Husky Firmness, "Cannot Buy Her." a faded-bluo, carth-staluod rag-doll on a bar, to hold mimic converse with It, and to find his heart leaping with tho sense of plaudits earned and his throat scorching with free libations poured In bis honor could baeo coin buy him from such achievements. You will perceive that Fuzzy had tho temporamont. Fuzzy walked out with the gait of a trained sea-lion in search of other cafes to conquer. Though the dusk of twilight was hardly yot apparent, lights were begin ning to spangle the city like pop-corn but sting In a deep skillot. Christmas eve, Impatiently expocted, was peep ing over tho brink of tho hour. Mil lions had prepared for Its celebration. Towns would bo painted red. You, yourself, havo hoard tho horns and dodged tho capets of tho SnturnnllanH. "Pigeon" McCarthy, Black Riley, and "One-ear" Mlko held a hasty con verso outsldo Qrogan's. They were narrow-chested, pallid striplings, not fighters In tho open, but moro danger ous In their ways of wnrfaro than the most tcrrlblo of Turks. Fuzzy, In a pitched r-nttlo, could have eaten the threo of them. In a go-ns-you-plcnso encounter hn was already doomed. They ovortook htm Just ns he and BotBy wero entering Costlgnn's Ca sino. They deflected him, and shoved tho newspaper under his nose. Fuzzy could read and more. "IJoyB," said he, "you nro certainly damn truo friends. Give mo a week to think it over." Tho soul of a real artist Is quenched with dlfllculty. The boys carefully pointed out to him that advertisements wero soul- j&3tsacacais5ffiigiiLVIwr. iJpiHi jM T , 1 1 Villi t-BBBBJBJrcr EhrrSfX v ' o -1-1- Srr EuV - mi i 5 EUfTTrTBl Fuzzy Entered the Millionaire's Gate and Zigzagged Toward the Softly Glowing Evldenoe of the Mansion. less and the deficiencies of the day might not be supplied by the morrow. "A cool hundred," said Fuzzy thoughtfully and mushlly. "Boys," said he, "you are truo friends. I'll go up and claim the re ward. Tho show business is not what It used to be." Night was falling more surely. Tho three tagged at his sides to the foot of the rise on which stood the Mil lionaire's houso. There Fuzzy turned upon them acrimoniously. "Yon are a pack of putty-faced beagle-hounds," he roared. "Go away." They wont away a little way. In Pigeon McCarthy's pocket was n section of two-inch gas-plpo eight inches long. In one end of It and In the middle of it was a lead plug. One half of it was packed tight with solder. Black Riley carried a slung-shot, being u conventional thug. "One-ear" Mlko relied upon a pair of brass knucks an 'heirloom In tho family. "Why fetch and carry," said Black Riley, "when some one will do it for y? Let him bring it out to us. Hey what" "We can chuck him In tho river," said "Pigeon" McCarthy, "with a stone tied to his feet." "Youse guys maka mo tired," said "One-ear" Mike sadly. "Ain't prog ress ever appoaled to none of yez? Sprinkle a ltttlo gasoline on Mm, and drop 'lm on the Drive well?" Fuzzy entered the Millionaire's gato and zigzagged toward tbo softly glowing entrance of the mansion. The threo goblins catno up to tbo gate and lingered one on each side of It, ono beyond tho roadway. They flngored their cold metal and leather, confi dent. Fuzzy rang the door-boll, smiling foolishly and dreamily. An atavistic Instinct prompted him to reach for the button of bis right glove. But ho wore no gloves; so his left band drop ped, embarrassed. The particular menial whoso duty it was to open doors to cllku and laces rfiicd at first sight of Fuzzy. But a 'second glance took In his passport, his card of admission, his surety of wolcomc the lost rag-doll of tho daughter of tho houso dangling under his arm. Fuzzy was admitted Into n great hall, dim with tho glow from unseen lights.. Tho hireling wont away and returned with a maid and the Child. The doll was restored to the mourn ing one. 8no clnspod her lost darling to her breast; and then, with tho in ordinate selfishness and candor of childhood, stamped hor foot and whined hatred and foar of the odious being "who had rescued her from the depths of sorrow and despair. Fuzzy wrlgglo.1 hlmsolflnto an ingratlotory attitude and oBsnycd the (("otic smile nnd blattering small talk that Is sup posed to charm the budding intellect of the young. The Child bawled, and wns dragged away, hugging hor Betsy close. Thero camo the Secretary, palo, poised, polished, gliding In pumps, and worshipping pomp and ceremony. He counted out Into Fuzzy's hand ten ten-dollar bills; then dropped his eye upon tho door, transferred It to James, Its custodian, Indicated the obnoxious taruor of tho reward with tho other, and allowed his pumps to waft htm nway to secretarial regions. When iho money touched Fuzzy's dingy palm his first Instinct was to tako to his heols; but a second thought restrained him from that blunder of etiquette. It was his; It had boen glvon him. It and, oh, what an elystum It opened to tho gaze of hln mind's eye! Ho hnd tumbled to tho foot of the ladder; ho was hun gry, homeless, frlondlcss, ragged, cold, drifting; and ho hold In his hand tho key to a paradise of tho mud-honey that he craved. Tho fairy doll had waved a wand with her rag-stuffed hand; and now wherever ho might go the enchanted palaces with shining foot-rests nnd magic red fluids inl glenmlng glnsswnre would be open to hint. . Ho followed James to tho door. He paused thero as tho flunky drew open tho great mahogany portal for him to pass Into tho vestibule. Beyond tho wrought-lron gates In tho dark highway Black RUcy and his two pnls casually strolled, fingering under their coats the inevitably fatal weapons that wero to mako the re ward of tho rag-doll theirs. Furzy stopped at tho Millionaire's door and botl ought hlmsolf. Llko lit tlo Bprlgs of mistletoe on a dead trco, certain living green thoughts and memories began to decorato his con fused mind. He was qulto drunk, mind you, and the present was begin ning to fade. Thoso wreaths and fes toons of holly with their scarlet bet rles making the great ball gay whore had he seen such things bo foro? Somewhere ho had known pol ished floors and odorB of fresh flowers In winter, and and some one wns singing a song In tho house that he thought he bad heard before. Some ono singing and playing a harp. Of courso it was Christmas Fuzzy thought he must have been pretty drunk to have overlooked that. And then he went out of the pres ent, and there came back to him out of eome impossible, vanished and ir revocable past a little, pure-white, transient, forgotten ghost the spirit of noblesse oblige. Upon a gentleman certain things devolve. James opened the outer door. A stream of light went down the grav eled walk to the iron gate. Black Riley, McCarthy and One-ear Mike saw, and carelessly drew their sinister cordon closer about the gate. With a more Imperious geBturo than James' master had ever used or could ever use, Fuzzy compelled the mental "It la Cust customary When a Gen tleman Calls on Christmas Eve to Pass the Compliments of the Sea son With the Lady of the House." to closo tho door. Upon a gentleman certain things devolve, Especially at the ChrlBtmas season. "It Is cust customary," he said to James, tbo flustered, "when a gentle man calls on Christmas eve to pass the compliments of the season with tho lndy of the house. You und'standT I chall not move Bhtop till I pass com pl'ments season with lady tho houso. Und'stand?" Thoro was an argument James lost Fuzzy raised bis volco and sent it through the houso unploasantly. I did not say he was a geutloman. Ho was simply a tramp being visited by a ghost. A sterling silver bell rang. James went back to answer it leaving Fuzzy wmUb f 2wV Iv i iVIjjv: k'swbbt SLsmmi m fpl A BiwH il lVfcx j. HI l- r tJ-)'SZ V a. I BB i v bHsj2iS Ji In the hall. James explained some whero to somo one. Thon ho camo and conducted Fuzzy Into tho library. Tho lady entered a momont later. Sho was moro beautiful and holy than any picture that Fuzzy had seen. Sho smiled, and sold something about a doll. Fuzzy didn't understand that; he remembered nothing at nil about a doll. A footman brought in two small glasses o! sparkling wine on a stamped sterling-silver waiter. Tho lady took one. Tho other was handed to Fuzzy. As his fingers closed on tho slender glass stem his disabilities dropped from him for one brief moment. He straightened hlmsolf; and Time, so disobliging to most of us, turned back ward for a moment to accommodnto Fuzzy. Forgotten Christmas ghosts whiter than tho false beards or tho most opu lent Krlfls Krlnglo wero rising in the fumes of Qrogan's whisky. What had WTm tfCSBBBm -"iL'i irf "Comp'mente Sheason With Lady Th' Houet." the millionaire's mansion to do with a long, wainscoted Virginia hall, whero the riders were grouped around a sil ver punch-bowl, drinking the ancient toast of the house? And why should the patter of the cab horses' hoofs on tho frozon street be in any wise re lated to tho sound of the saddled hunt ers stamping under the shelter of tho west veranda? And what had Fuzzy to do with any of it? The lady, looking at him over her glass, let her condescending smile fade away like a false dawn. Her eyes turned serious. She saw some thing beneath tho rags and Scotch ter rier whiskers that she did not under stand. But it did not matter. Fuzzy lifted hla glass and smiled vacantly. "P-pardon, lady," he said, "but couldn't leave without excbangln' comp'tnents Bheason with lady th' house. 'Gainst prlnc'ples gen'leman do sho." And then ho began the ancient salu tation that was a tradition in tho house when men wore lace ruffles and powder. "The the blessings of another year" Fuzzy's memory failed him- The lady prompted: " Bo upon this hearth." "Tho guest" stammered Fuzzy, "And upon her who" continued the lady, with a leading smile. "Oh, cut it out" said Fuzzy, ill uiannerodly. "I can't remember. Drink hearty." Fuzzy had shot his arrow. They drank. The lady smiled again tho smile of her caste. James envelopod Fuzzy and re-conducted him toward the front door. The harp muslo still softly drifted through the house. Outside, Black Riley br-athed on his cold bands and bugged the gate Cold though he was, he did not think of dosortlng his post while Fuzzy re mained inside. "I wonder," said the lady to herself, musing, "who but there were bo many who came. I wonder whether memory Is a curse or a blessing to them after they have fallen so low." Fuzzy and bis escort wero nearly at the door when the lady called; "James!" James stalked back obsequiously, leaving Fuzzy waiting unsteadily,, with his brief spark of the dlvlno lire en tirely gone. Outside, Black Riley stamped his cold feot and got a firmer grip on his section of gas-plpo. "You will conduct this gentleman," said the lady, "down-stairs. 'Then tell Louis to get out the Mercedes and take him to whatever place he wlsbe to go." i 8 HI i i fl . rv f n ' & M jx: !i, & mm ?nj ' - . ,-vP. , I. . jSftl I Y' aMK&ifeaft X".' &'. ,s pi B 2 ' J t-V r fcV K . La STrTrn