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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1909)
-- -__ - „ -r-- _l (Copsiigiii ) \ • j III-: GREAT hall clock, si i t toned opposite (he fool of the stairs, struck two. From his bed the Littlest Hoy listened with a sense of awe. Never before had he heard it strike so late an hour. Once, Indeed, he had heard it strike ten, but usually it had struck eight— and when next he was awake it was striking six and morning had come. The Littlest Hoy lay and listened The house was Impressively still. The only sounds audible were the stately ticking of the monitor clock below, and the regular breathing of the Big gest Hoy and the Biggest Girl in the room adjoining. The Littlest Boy's eyes were wide opcu and paring Into the velvet black ness close above bis face. When he had gone to bed It had been Christ mas eve. He was not fully certain as to the line of demarkatlon, but it oc curred to him that now It was Christ inas duy! Then he began to blink and think He wondered If Santa Claus had come yet. Before the grate-lire, down In the library, were ranged three chairs; a rocking chair for the Biggest Girl, a straight backed, ordinary chair for the Biggest Boy. and a huge, roomy arm chair for himself. In addition, he had hung up his stockings to the mantel He tried to picture to himself how, If Santa Claus had been and gone, that chair and those stockings must "Hello!” Said Santa Claus. look. At Intervals, as some particu larly alluring fancy stood out before hint, he gave an ecstatic wriggle and a few blinks extra. Oh. the red wagon! And the silver napkin-ring! Supposing he got them both! It did not seem to him pos sible that he could exist without eith er, and yet—and yet he mustn’t ex act too much. If he might take one peep Into the library Just one tiny peep -to Unit out whether or not Santa Claus had been. He felt that lie ought not to yield to this temptation; and he sighed hard and twisted. Hut even in the midst of his struggle he did yield, for first his disobedient right foot stole from beneath the blue coverlet, and next his disobedient left foot; and in a moment ail of him. enveloped in bis long, pink-flannel night-gown, wus moving resolutely towards the door way. At the lauding the stairs turned sharply. The Littlest Hoy also turned with them to continue his journey. Now there ahead of him was (he mon itor clock, staring him in the face, and ticking loud reproval. From the library, off the hall, came the reminis cent glow of the grate-tire with which the Christmas eve had been cele brated. Down sped the Littlest Hoy, boldly Ignoring the astonished clock, down the remaining flight, and across the square hall, whose rugs were soli and comforting On the threshold of the library lie stopped short, frightened at what he had done. He had caught Santa Claus! Aye. there was Santa Claus, bend ing over the big chair, which, the Littlest Hoy glimpsed, was overflow ing with packages and things. 1 do not know but that the Littlest Boy would have heat courteous re treat (although, of course, his farther curiosity w as simply tremendous) had not Santa Claus suddenly glanced up and descried him—a small, pink tig ure, made still pinker by the glowing coals, framed, wide eyed, in the library door-case. “Hello!” said Santa Claus, not mov ing. "Hello!" responded the Littlest Hoy. "I didn't know you were here." “Didn't you?” remarked Santa Claus, straightening up and slowly stepping backward. “No,” assured the Littlest Hoy. “Did you get in through the chimley?” During his w hole life—that Is, ever sinew he could talk—the Littlest Boy 'rid been trying to say ‘'chimney;” but, somehow, that "1,” being so slim and h:.ti h> ‘ f,ii etl, nlo,iis nluibly slitne-d in and elbowed out the "n " "Old I get in through the cblni bley! ' repeated Santa Claus; and then lie opened ins mouth fin a silent laugh. "Yes, I dumb down the chilli tdey," he said. "You say ehlnibley' and I say 'chim iey; but my father says—says ch— eh ehimnoley is right," informed the j Mttlest Hoy. "You don't mean it!" returned Santa Claus, who, having backed to the win dow looking upon the side porch, now, j with his hand behind him, was deftly | sliding it up. Please don't go, Santa Claus," be sought the Mttlest Hoy. We’ll talk real low, so nobody'll heur. That is, if you're not in loo big a hurry to slay,” he added, politely. "Sure,” responded Santa Claus. "It's almost empty, isn’t it!" assert ed the Mttlest Hoy. “But I s'pose you've lots more up in the balloon Had you got ail through with me? My chair Is the middle one there, and these are my stockings In front of It." "Well, I was kinder foolin' around when you come in,” confessed Santa Claus; "But I reckon I'm through Them other chairs are your ma’s au' pa’s, I take it?” "Yes; mamma's is the rocker and papa's is the other," Informed the Mt tlest Hoy, hurriedly. "Did you bring me a red wagon and a silver napkin ring?'' "Aren't they there?" queried Santa Claus. "May I look?” asked the Mttlest Hoy, eagerly. "Sure," grunted Santa Claus, with Ills favorite word The Mttlest Hoy was not slow in taking advantage of that permission. In a twinkling he was at the chair, and, oblivious lo the rustling that he was producing, was burrowing amidst its contests. ilo did not have to burrow to And the red wagon. Its two front wheels wore sticking straight up against the chairs back! "Oooo-ee!" jubilated the Littlest Roy, turning with sparkling eyes. "Will its sides fold over?” "You bet!" nssured Santa Claus. Must bushels and bushels of thanks, Santa Claus,” purled the Uttlest Roy, rapturously. "I hope It's bigger than my Cousin James’ is! Is it?” "Sure'" said Santa Claus, "Now, about tlu> ring? Ain't it there?" ”1 don't see It?" replied the Llttlest Roy, rummaging. "Mebbe It's in the stockin's," sug gested Santa Claus. And It was!—a beautiful, shiny, sil ver napkin ring, all done up in tissue paper! "Ooooooeee!" gurgled the Littlest Roy, unwrapped It. ”F bet It's the very solides' ktnd!" "Lemme see," demanded Santa Claus. "That’s what 1 Intended it to be, anyhow, an' I hope l ain't made no mistake." ' Yes, It's solid, all right enough." he said, weighing It in his hand, while tlie Littlest Roy watched him, anx iously. "Rut don't you think that that there wagon an' this hero ring, both together, arc too much fur a kid like you?” "I don't know," responded the Llt tlest Roy, abashed. "I’ve tried to he awful good. I've picked up kindlin' and went on errands and brushed my teeth and and gone down cellar after dark, and and—and I've hardly ever eried when 1 got hurt!" ‘Still, seems to me,” persisted Santa Claus, gazing at the shiny ring in Ills Angers, "that a wagon alone Is good enough for one kid, besides all them other things you've got in yon chair and socks. I dunno but what I'll take this an' give It sora'ers else." ‘Well,” agreed the Idttlest Roy, gravely, "ir—If you can find some lit tle hoy who ought to have it more’n me, then you can—can take it; and p’raps next Christmas—” "God!" roared the Biggest Roy, like an angry lion, leaping through the li brary doorway. With a slam up sped the window; with an oath, out whirled Santa Claus. "You've scared Santa Claus! You’ve scared Santa Claus!” walled the Lit tlest Roy, in despair. "1 have, have 1!" exclaimed the Rig gest Roy. gathering the waller into his HI'IUM. "Ami ho took my ling, farther la mented the Littlest Hoy He did, did he!” repeated the lion — that Is. the Biggest Boy—in a com miserating grow 1. “Never mind; we'll get another." “But I told him he might. If there's some other little boy who’d ought to have it more," explained the Littlest Boy, truthfully. "Maybe he'll bring me one next Christmas." Here the Biggest Boy shut the ! treacherous window; and with the Big I gest Girl, who by this time had ar rived and was hugging and kissing the Littlest Boy's two rosy feet, as they hung down Inside the Biggest Boy’s arms, close accompanying, car ried him upstairs to bed. What do you think! Evidently Santa Claus repented, or else he had only been joking, or else he could find no other little boy who was more worthy; for, after all. at daylight there was discovered, lying on the mat before ! the side-door, that very same ring— wrapped, it is true, not in fine tissue paper, but in coarse brown paper. However, upon the paper was scrawled, in ragged but unmistakable lines: „ “for the kid "SANTY CLAWS.” Happiness is increased not by the enlargement of the possessions, but of the heart John Ruskin. 1 1.7— The Church’s Christmas Present Cv BYRON WILLIAMS 1 !-'. (Copyriitl'M Harrison Honeywell Hid. >n, de votee of .Michigan avenue, worshiper at tlie tlironp of stardRnapolis and favorite at Fash ion's shrine, aw oke one morning in tiie hustle and the whirl of Chicago with a headache Through the aeri al window of his club the clash and clamor of city din smote his throb bing temples. Smoke and soot drifted familiarly in, and upon the indolent draughts a faint, fetid smell rode truculently. "It a h , t h o s e stockyards!” sniff ed Harrison Hon eywell Hickson, grirplng his tem ples and striving to reach oblivion by burying his nose and ears in the downy pillow. ' Always the smell and the noise and the clatter. Day and night it is the same noises, the same smells, the same wines, almost the same women ami no song at all worth hearing. 1 have a mind lo chuck It all and go out Into (lod'a country, out Into the sub urbs." W ith Hickson to think was to act— and this is how it happened that the good people of Horton Hollow were curious almost to a crucial point of the the antecedents and personality of the dapper young society man who came among them so reservedly to superin tend the construction of a pretty Queen Anne cottage on Lake Shadows. That lie was a veritable catch was soon agreed upon by the spisters, but how to break his reserve and teaeh him to worship at the feet of Aphro dite was a difficult problem. For, be sides admitting to Amos Squires, the 'busman, that he was not, married, Hickson had met the persevering ad vances of the natives with a stern frigidity. "There ain’t a blessed woman that kin git within gun shot o’ him,” com plained Mirandy Hodges, "exceptin' Marty Brown an’ she ain’t Interested in nothin' but raisin' money fer a new parsonage fer that new preacher an’ his stuck-up wife." At last the cottage was finished and Hickson selected his furniture and fittings. On the 20th of Dooemb'r it was ready. With it glad heart he rode gayly homeward from the city, and slipping the key into the lock, stepped Into (lie nest that was to be the heart of his simple life. The evening was spent in gloating over his new toy and even though it did seem strange ly quiet and lonely, Hickson's spirits were so light the joy bulb stood high in the glass tube of pleasure. But solitude wears on the best of us after a time, and to Harrison Honeywell Hickson, inured to clatter and bang and the busy whirl of sooie ty, the continued silence fell like a pall. "Of course, I could get married," sighed Hickson, as he sat on the edge of his bed and pondered. "That would help some and—no," shaking his head determinedly, “no laces and tantrums for mine!" Satisfied in Ills decision, he lay down to sleep. Then, all at once there entered that vacuum of stillness, strange and sin ister, the cracking of a veneered joint, the settling of a beam. As Hick son sat holt upright in bed. he dis tinctly heard a sound as of running water. Hashing madly down the stairs he found a leaking water pipe and what was worse, he discovered ' that the hot-water plant was simply boiling i(s head off. The servants had not yet arrived, but Hickson managed to mock the turtiace and turn oft the | water. Then he'returned to bed Suddenly a hoot-owl set up his weird call, the soughing wind whistled with sepulchral meaning, a misguided cock mistaking the bright moonlight for morning awoke and set up an unearth ly din. while a pair of stray cats meeting in sanguinary combat under the west window, added to the hor rible intensity of the night. When lie bounded out of bed. Hick son was a determined man. He looked at his watch and then at his time table. Thirty minutes later a dark form scurried through the shadows of the shaded street and dashed madly up to the three o'clock train as it puffed and snorted at Horton Hollow The next day, Martha Brown, sweet, white-haired, motherly Martha Brown, received a letter. It said: Mv dear Miss Brown: I have deckled i,. surprise you by making your church Christmas present of my Queen \i - - cottage. My man will deliver the keys to-morrow. It Is furnished complete and I hope that sweet-faced little wife of the preacher will not And an old bachelor's tastes too broad for her sanction. 1 hate always wanted to do some good in the world—and by presenting the cottage l am tneremly gratifying myself. Please accept the gift without demonstration 1 beg to remain humbly yours. HAItRlSON' HONEYWELL HICKSON That night on State street Hickson, a howling swell, walked gaily in the glare of the lights, in the heart of the din, and was glad! Davies & Owens Reliable Jewelers and Opticians Wc Welcome You Whether you come as an intending purchaser or as a visitor. We welcome the stranger, as well as the regular patron, and any and every article we offer you will be just as represented. Following is a few of the many things we have to offer. They will bear the closest inspection. Diamonds $5 to $250 I We have a very fine line of Diamonds in all the desirable sizes, at prices ranging from $5.00 to $250. Nothing is more appropriate and nothing more appreciated than a fine Diamond Ring. Elegant Line of Watches All Standard Makes and Sizes Ladies’ O size, with Ely in or Waltham works; 7 jewels, in 20-year ^1 A g/V guaranteed yold tilled ease.. 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