The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 23, 1928, Page 13

THIRD SECTION Chvistmay] Memoriesy . For | Otherr a1 ton hur ! ment st 5 A lun mas shoppers heard these chimes and felt as she did. Thelr faces gave no evidence of emotion; but | neither did hers, Pe herself. Communing with thought ping ex and ar 4 when Bob w roat She won- hurrying Chris and all coming for the holiday festivi. | grandparent two aunts ties to the big brick house little town. Now Bob was twenty- | in the | one, the grandparents had pas:ed | away—Grandmother Walton and Grandmother Pre had gonc Just a short time art the past) summer The two aunts felt a Peggy did, that Christmas memor ies would be less poignant if they didn’t try to have the customa # reunion. And instead of the bi brick house with its cheery fire places, in the friendly little town they lived in an apartment in the city. Not much Christmas atmos phere about an apartment Pegey reflected. But about Christy , for no other seem much 1i s to come hom her and Dad. s Peggy had passed beyond the sound of the chimes, but between shopping ventures her mind dwelt constantly on this Christmas prob- lem and what she could do. Al v omething must be don Bob's sake, if on. It wouldn't hristmas for Bob from college to just Peggy Had Passed Beyond the! Sound of the Chimes their friénds had their own fam.| ilies at Christmas, just as they had theirs until this year. That brought her back again to the little town and the many 4 changes that had taken place even in the short time they had been Sr<gone. Other homes besides theirs would miss the older generation this Christmas. Peggy began enum. erating them in her mind. There was Judge Hatford who had done so much for them when the first break had come and her own father had passed away, and even last summer when her mother | too, had gone, it was Judge Hat. ford who had taken the sting from . »the legal aspects. Yet, it was but a few weeks later that he also » had been laid to rest in the little cemetery on the hill; then there #*Was genial, courtly Mr. Morrow, and Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, separ- ated from each other but a brief month, and Mr. and Mrs. Daw- son—Peggy stopped in her sum- mary. Why hadn’t she thought of the Dawsons before? There was Fred Dawson, and Katherine, and ! “their little boy, Dick, and Kath- arine’s younger sister Mary; they ? too, must be looking forward to Christmas with sorrowful memor- ies, for always they had come from the far-off city to the home | in the little town for the hilidays and now there ‘was no little home to which to come. “It's ‘worse for them than for us. I'll write them at once,” Peggy ¢» decided. “They're just what we need. Mary and Bob will have a » Bood time. We always enjoy Fred and Katharine. And there's liti.e w*Bick, bless his heart; a child is ‘What we want to revive the Chrisi- mas spirit.” Again Peggy found herself with. in hearing of the Christmas chimes: = “Joy to the world” was ringing orth as she approached the de- ‘Partment store on her homeward ay. But there was no lump in er throat this time and her eyes Wwere clear and starry as she gaily tened along, planning for oth- [y “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE JUNEAU, ALASKA, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1928. PAGES THIRTEEN TO TWVENTYA (he Porfeer Christmas Varfha Banning Thomug:, Q 4 i, A %t" 5 & e S ey ,Z"'\‘/// o 4 T LS % ™ AL ol . nRIS T(DAS! W hat goes to make a perfect First, of course there must be a-perfect Christmas eve.\ There should be the windows of all the homes everywhere; and candle \igh;\\\sbining betwee{i\them, and back of that the rosy, laughing faces of children. ;fihs window shades‘*\shofil pulled hi }leo that the joy within can be seen and heard even on the stre e\\ \ \ ‘ : \\ R 5 : ERE should be the silver chiming of bells frcn;:l church s\tcyples shaken out on’ Fh%?it by the wind. i There should be stars—millions and millions of stars glittering in a dark blue sky.” \\\\\ ENY \\\\ \\ \\\i\ caroli—jolly car<\>ls, sweet carols, wistful carols, : f \ v First.Christmas eve. \ 1 N B should be fragrant-smelling pines in every house; trees hu \with g:rlanau;of popcorn, strings red cranberries; green boughs weigh ed down with gifts for everyong, not forgetting Kitty, nor Hec- 77 / ’ t/or, the pup. - \ S en wreaths of holly in all v . ould be people of all ages and kinds singing i 8 /H\ / %’/ HERE should be secrets, vast and num berless secréts whispered behind doors, in coal cellars, in clos- o ets-‘z;r;& behind the barn after dark; secrets to be revealed on Christmas morning. Kpitted mufflers for AT fathers {a few stitches dropped, but what of it?}. Pincushions for mothers {just a little bit lopsided, but very strong!] and a great many hand-made calendars, sewing bags and boxes for'other members ND\then after Christmas eve c\o}nes Christmas day! Merry cousins and uncles and aunts arriving iy ¥ from all directions to share the dinnét W\Th the family. There should be a twinkling-eyed grandfather. and a grandmother with a tremendous reputation for doughnuts, HERE should be puddings, thousands upon thousands of puddings spread in steaming invitation on tables from one end of the country to the other. There should be turkey and roast goose and mince pies and raisins and fruit. And humble blessings said with bowed heads. LL these things go to make a perfect Christmas. But if we canthave only a lew of them, or even none of them, we can have a new peace in our_hearts; and prayers_that the children of the lgnd may be loved and cared for even as the Christ:Child wastloved and}cared .for by His mother Mary, that night long, lgng ago when He lay.in a manger;in‘Bethlehem! 0 hristmas cheer' not forgotten or merc kes, do come £ and drag so!" Mrs jerk the arm of her | reluctast son who was craning his neck to look into three shop windows at once. “We have only {half an hour before the boat | leaves, and I've got a lot of er- | rands to do yet.” There's a man waving at you, said the small boy comin’ down the street. He s to speak to you." i “Don't pay auy acuention to | nim, Jce! I haven't time to be bothered with him. Just some jone who wants me (o take a mes- |sage over to his folks across the bay, probably.” But the man was coming rap- idly nearer. His face was alight | with smiles. His hand was out before he wa of Mrs, Casey within five yards “Mamma have to stop!” Joe hissed, “you'll | And indeed the man had no ntention of letting her pass him. his hand wa de my h again, Mrs. Casey.” The woman frowned. Who was Why did he bother when she was in such a hurry? There would be no other | chance for Christmas shopping after today. She had come across | the in a small boat; it would | be leaving for the return trip in | twenty - five minutes “You don’t | remember me?" smiled the man He looked down eagerly at the 20 woman a8 twenty vears ago on Christmas that I first saw you, And I'll never [P\ forget it as \ long as I live.” [J Mrs. Casey i clutehed her} £hopping bag more closely to _/ her breast and stared. “I had a brother,” man, his face ory. “He w .. . a little s | { | this man? her sald the aglow with mem- younger than I wer when you ave us our first d I'll never for- I live.” inked rapidly sev- ie art of a smile be- {gan to flicker around her lips. {She peered up into the man's face, “You sent your husband down |to the little shack where we liv- ed,” continued the man, “and he wrapped us up warm in mufflers and coats he had brought. He drove us in a sleigh to your house. Our mother had died a ‘few months before and we were lonely and miserable, We had moved to the village just that week and knew mno one. Our father had no work and we were nd unhappy!" . y laughed the ‘I know you now. My woman, land, how big you've grown!" “And you gave us a fine, big turkey, mince pie,” volce was softened and his eyes dinner, cranberry sauce, said the man. His Jmisty with, tears. “It was the Jgreatest day of my life. 1 have never forgotten it. You gave us ,a_memory of hap | lasted all these years on forever. It was the true spirit |of Christmas cheer, and my | brother and I have tried to spread it around as far as we can ever |since. You see what you started. Grd hless yon!" He hent swiftly he | Casey “Well, if that don’'t beat jall! My, my, my! Those two |little boys men grown now!" With beaming face she tugged at Joe's sleeve. “Hurry up now! va must catch that boat.” “Aw, mamma . . . let me just | peek into that window . . . " But { was thinking of that Christmas, and the man | Who had reminded her of it. —— e A YULE FANCY Love that glows in Christmas shopping, 3 Love in Christmas cheer and toys, ‘Tis a mine whose bright ou cropping s Is the gold of childi ; | r | | i |