I THE TWO sJ
| SOLDIERS ** "" |
J?A C'optrriy/it. ISW*. by Edwin /.. Salnn $
6-o*o*o-0-0-\;-o—O-O—O-O-O-C—O^-o-C—o—o-^
Iwas a brilliant holiday store,
<•-'<* windows anil the shelves and
the eases ablaze with filigree
and thronged with dolls and
dishes and engines and trains and
tkates and sleds, and hobbyhorses
hat galloped, and cows that mooed,
and mice that ran, and—and every
thing, absolutely everything, that ever
enters the most rapturous Christinas
dream.
In the center of the large show win
dows. fronting upon the gay street,
stood two soldiers. They were by all
odds the finest soldiers in the store,
much superior to the personnel com
posing the different troops and regi
ments and companies stationed here
and there along the aisles. The pair
were made of tin, to be sure; but they
were of heroic stature, eight inches
tall, richly uniformed in black and
yellow, and could be wound up so tb-it
they would present arms several times
In succession.
The other soldiers, poor things, were
compelled to remain the whole time at
a "carry" or a "right shoulder" with
out relief.
Naturally these two soldiers were
proud and of aspirations reaching be
*— HL J"*"
"on, TO Gnx AWAY PROM Tins ETKIIKAL
GtTAIID MOUNT!"
yond their present narrow quarters.
They pined for a wider sphere. As
they stood and stared with stern, fixed
gaze through the plate glass into the
gay street they talked together in toy
language, and none, not even the most
versatile linguists among the people
passing and repassing, knew that thev
talked.
"Oh, to get away from this eternal
guard mount over a lot of frippery!"
sighed the one.
"W itli all uiy heart!" agreed the
other. "The monotony is frightful."
"I'd give half my solder to receive
orders to report to some little hoy,"
continued the ilrst. "Oh, for a change!"
"But the majority of little boys are
so rough and careless," responded the
second. "I understand they scratch
you and bend you and otherwise mal
treat you without cause, and soon
you're done for. I prefer duty of a
more quiet, instructive nature, where
1 may teach by means of my deport
ment rather than by violent action."
"Well, I should enjoy a hard drill
and a tussle, I believe," asserted the
first.
"Our organism is too tine for such
active service, my lad," indulgently
corrected the second. "What—scratches
and dents? No, no. (Jive me a post of
more elegance, where my uniform will
he treated as it deserves."
•*»••••
Christmas day had been over and
gone a month when after their separa
tion the two soldiers again encounter
ed one another, but this time in a great
heap of rubbish at the city dump,
where the dump man had unwittingly
thrown them out.
"Hurrah! Hello, old chap!" exclaim
ed the first soldier delightedly.
"Hello!" returned the second, with
rather more reserve. "(loudness! Iteen
through the Seven Years' war?"
Well might he put this query. The
nther soldier was a perfect wreck. He
had lost an arm and a foot, his head
was sharply Inclined forward upon his
best, lie had only one eye, his body
was twisted askew, his gun was bro
ken, his cup was missing, his features
were battered and distorted, and as for
his uniform of black and yellow there
was hardly a spot of paint oil him!
"J I've been having my tussle," an
nounced the (li st, with a cracked laugh.
"lint you why, you evidently found
lust what you were looking for."
"Yes," explained the second. "I fell
Into an excellent post. It was the
b.mils of a little t»o), sure enough, but
be witnii'l allowed to hurt we See, I
haven't a murk on uie." And lie ex- (
bibited himself proudly.
True, he was nidi in dress parade .
condition
"Thunder and Mar*!"' chuckled the
lirst. "And look at uie! I»o you mean
to »u,V til lit you liescr Were Stepped
"Oh, lio," replied the Second "I
didn't lie around oil I lie fttxtr 1 wa*
put away Just «a mnmi as he was done
playing with me Ills mother had
Mo ) oi| licit r Nlu.ved out Mil Ul|(ht
dier.
"And did he shoot at you with his
rubber gun ever?"
"Never," said the spick and span sol
dier.
"And be didn't bite you to see how
soft you were?"
"Never." said the spick and span sol
dier.
"Or drag you about among the chairs
with a string?"
"Never," said the spick and span sol- j
dier.
"Or sick the terrier 011 you?"
"Never."
"Or lake you to bed with hkn and
roll 011 you?"
"Never. I was always placed on the
shelf in the closet."
"Or kick you or whack you or throw
you?"
"Never. Watch—l can present arma
as well as ever."
"Or kiss you and hug you with all !
his might and cry for you when he
was sick through eating too muck
candy?"
"Never. He used to forget me en
tirely for days and days. Did your
'joy really do all that to you?"
"Yes, all that and more," answered
| the battered soldier softly.
"And did he kiss you, yon say?"
I asked the spick and span soldier a bit
| wistfully.
"\es; he kicked me and he kissed
| me," laughed the lirst.
"And did you enjoy it?" pursued the
I aecond curiously.
"I had the time of my life," declared
| the other. "How did you iind things
up to your expectations?"
The spick and span soldier hesitated;
then ><e replied:
"Possibly. 1 can't complain. But—
but somehow I grew dreadfully en
nuied. I almost longed at times for
more excitement, more energy. We
got tired of one another. After a day
or so we exhausted all our programme
of proper exercises, and he was so cau
tious of wearing me out that I was
laid aside, and—and. Anally, here 1
am. I don't suppose he even knows
UNDER THE MISTLETOE. |||
9 Pyrography Work, - - ®
112 W. <i. HA IK. §
nN'oSITK n \\K, KMI'I ikii'M, IW. IMB
ARTIST AND ART (jtM)DS DIvU.KK jKr
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY DECEMBER 25, 1902.
> that I'm k'>hp."
, "Dour me!" mused the other. "I'm
S?lnd my little boy was not like yours.
Of course there are the knocks; but,
thk vktkuans meet. ,
011, our companionship was sweet! I I
bet he's crying for me at this Instant,
poor chum! Still, it is as well'that I
am carted to the dump. I am old and
disfigured and a back number, and I
wanted togo before he would cease to
miss me."
The spick and span soldier was si
lent.
"Ili, yl!" soliloquized the veteran, j
; with a sigh and with a chuckle, stiffly
rolling over on his back. "I'm past re
pairs. but it was sweet—aye, it was
, worth it! I—have—hud—the—time—of
! —my—life."
And with his one eye he gazed
through a chink in the debris up at the |
stars.
Fflieltoua.
Barber—How's tin.' razor, sir?
Customer—Didn't know I was being |
shaved.
Barber (fluttered)-Very glad. I'm
liure, sir.
Customer—l thought I was being
rand papered.—London Piok-Me-Up.
rSnnunl From ll«-r Kormcr State.
"She's not us pensive as she was be
fore you married her."
"No; she's expensive now."—lndian
apolis News.
With the exception of the British
parliament, the Swedish riksdag is the i '
Dldest of the existing legislative bodies. |
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and a dissatisfied customer is ;
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L. TAGGART,
imiGuisi.
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\ Tito Phut to Ituy Cliosij)
N IH AT ?
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112 Christmas !
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FREE
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