.• * ' /;/ ss j! W : ?, '-■ |ll H I /I i: Nf/ 'L -M ft* jf Jf| fc|| : | :? /f* V 112 U:, ' . ii? ' r ? /§i| g. J | /;|%J - ! | v:v -% i i i J /$ i'?r-. r -'.* £$ ? t ; -1 I * $ % fi ,'T • / >*■ ' -•■ "isf >i : t I I K ! ■: '■ \ls *-#»* /fr? "*Wf? •'? / ; K x ' ! • ■' . i '-. :• - ■■ - :.' I ~*!/.. .;"y : ' ' /p. •*■ 1 xr> . ff - r iU; i « <4 ru\ : s ;y 1 • § ?•• ■ W I ill «*.'■ •f$ '■ :: i:■'. '• S4' :'i 1 2 ;• !'* "; Vi ; ' ! v| . : || \V| jIM . i J # ;-•• iV' ;«. .. .*4 4, H V 1,j;"..., Perfect fitting clothing is particu- I 1 larly essential, for yon should look your If f| best when yon greet Santa Clans. As R i you probably need an new outfit you B I will find at JASPER HARRIS' the B 1 finest line of goods ever shown in Cam- I I eron county. They are irreproachable 1 I in style, being of the very latest design. I f| We guarantee to fit yon perfectly while SJ I the tailoring of the garments make If I marvels of beauty. I Home of Hart, Shaffner & Marx Clothes I Ijasoer Harris,! g The Peopled Clothing House M P Opposite Post Offke, EMPORIUM, PA. |l CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1909. ' OF * ' J BY Virginia L&iSiaWenti copyright, toon tr homer spsaqus^^ "• M 191 ERCI, monsieur!" cried the I\l 8 concierge as lie cheerfully XT 1 took the silver coin. "A happy Noel, monsieur!" Lansing Drake entered tlie little im passe 011 the broad Avenue du Maine shaking hi:! shoulders, for bin back ached. He had been working at the Louvre for five steady hours till the very last fxactlou of light held out. Why not? What part had lie in the festivities of these happy French peo ple? Was not he one of the homeless ones, separated by the width of an ocean from his family? In his studio apartment he threw himself on a divan with a'pipe and a Journal Amusant. Hut the Journal was full of allusions to the season, and somehow he sighed. The eve of Noel —Christinas eve! I: had been the very, host time oi' ill • . • . r cv t there in his' dear southern home. What wore they doing now? the tilings ready for the tre -s, : U I;. I: Up the wreaths of holly with I' d ribbon, and hanging a branch of i:iistle-ok, pshaw, what right had lie to thluif cf such tilings touig!it? A clatter of sabots across the flag stone court—the small daughter of the: concierge fetching water from the! common lap; from the Iloulevard j Montparuasse the toot of a St. Phil- 1 lppine du itoule train and then si-j AM infer- A/F/t I -H\L \ M/ 7 j. 1 \\tk JMML [ I X W\ IF JFFL \ iff V u frt • M l\ /\ PY W) , ! i w LM 1 / WM in 1,/ 1 ' j IF HE ONL* DAEED SPEAK TO HER! Icnce. Drake was picking up Ills pa per again when— The snow lay on the ground; The stars shone bright— Ah, It was the quaint old English j carol, with its liquid, sweet melody,: whieli he'd learned at his mother's knee, and it was the American girl across the court who was singing it: When Christ our Lord was born On Christmas night. No wonder the tears came to his eyes. That particular carol and that particular girl made up a combination to which he was a bit sensitive if the truth had been dragged from him. Just that very morning he had writ- 1 ten home: "There's a little American girl oppo site. I don't even know her name, but the mere sight of her keeps me straight. She's all alone, and she's evidently studying music. As for her singing, she has the most beautiful voice the good God ever saved from a lost violin, a voice to make you pray, little mother, to turn your laugh ter to tears, to turn your tears to laughter." From the day when he had tirst seen her, watering her geraniums on the Bill, the window across the court yon der had become a sort of shrine. And at each new glimpse of her an unform ed prayer qf thanks surged up within £tlm that a creature so lovely had been sent by heaven to keep the word "gentleman" stainless, to make it a thing to strive for and to take a cleanly comfort in. She was a stranger too. It was a bond between them. Tonight perhaps she was suffering like him from home sickness and loneliness. How soon he could make her forget all that! They could have a reveillon of their own and a jolly little supper, laughing to gether in sheer happiness of a mutual understanding of the Christmas spirit abroad. Unchaperoned? What would they need of a chaperon, they two two tollers for the sake of art, com rades in arms made equal In rank by the blessed chance of being both strangers in this wonderful old Paris? There was a moving gleam of some thing behind the geraniums yonder. The cheesecloth curtains stirred, anil then the window was lifted. She threw out some crumbs to some eoid looking sparrows. The last rays of the winter sun touched the line, white parting that separated the burnished waves of hair. If he o lly dared speak to her! She might misjudge him before ho had a chance to show iiis Intentions. But be would do it. He would seize the mo ment while this tit of madness lasted and speak to her. In saner mood his courage might be unequal to it. lie hurried orit of the room an i stood, hat in hand, In the court close to her win dow. "i.*> 1:1 your neighbor across the way, madeinoisCr! 1 "." he said. "It is a month since i jlrst saw you, and I've been wanting to know you so much, so much. I have 110 means of obtain ing an Introduction, and at the risk of your di p' uro and your worn I have ventured to speak to you tonight, to tell you how the little Christ mar carol yo i sang just now somehow flew str.il lit to a fellow's heart and made Ir • think of home and all tiio old familiar joys of the reason." ITe held oat a card. H' hand shook a triiie. nut the ghl did not. notice. She was looking at hini steadily, after the first start of surprise, the color coming and going lu her cheeks. But In her eyes wn: no fear, 110 displeas- lire, rather the expectancy of an ex plorer who, venturing far, finds the present good, though that to come be unknown. Presently they went out and hailed a fiacre. "Where shall it be?" asked Drake. "Laure's? Yoisiu's? Peter's? No, I have it. Murguery's." So they drove to Marguery's, and Drake ordered a bouiliebaisse < ty> be quite seasonable) and a lungouste mayonnaise and n bird and some sweets. They had a very jolly little supper indeed and no end of amusement watching the merry looking French people at the tables, all devouring bouiliebaisse and other nice things. "And to think," cried the girl as the clock struck it, shivering with pre tended alarm, "that I'm sitting here at this hour, unchaperoned, In a French restaurant—with a man who hasn't even been conventionally Intro duced!" "Don't!"' cried Drake abruptly. "Come! Wo must be going home. It Is a bit late." She was silent while they left Mar guery's and hailed a fiacre. Then she broke out i i a queer little voice that was low and tremulous: "I think you must have a sister. You take such good care of a girl." The fiacre rolled Into the glare of an overhead arc light, and he saw her looking at him with a half mysterious, half divine gratitude. "Please don't do that." he answered in a hushed voice. Something In. Ule him was pounding furiously. Some thing at his temples beat an I throbbed. "Don't do what?" "Look like that." She not (niv looked like that. Ltd more so. "Young man, young man." laughe! she. with mock warning. "I fear ' • out, his penl-up passion of dr> . rushing to his lips now that the ii-.r rier fell. "Don't you see it's b • I—ell. I'd hoped to piss the c 1 wlthot yon that I h'ved . o 1- tbatV v.t ivs.y hurrying you Ii I told you a little while ago It was your friendship I wanted. I was wrong." She made no answer, but stretched out her little gloved hand to him, then drew it back quickly unnoticed, a singular smile on her lips. "You've known me for a few hours only," ho went on in a steady voice, "and I understand what you think of me for speaking like this. If I had known you for years and had waited and had the right to speak and keep your respect"— liis steadiness did not carry him to the end of his sen tence. Then she laughed joyously, deli ciousiy. "You are mistaken," she said. "I have known you for years. I used to chum with your sister Gertrude at School, and you used to come down from your university, and we'd take walks. And we went up to all the meets to sec you run, and you used to win. You called her your 'kid sister' and me 'the other kid,' and you kissed me once. You've forgotten the little girl who stood silent in corners and looked at you with wide eyes. But I couldn't forget. I used to have Ger trude write mo all about you till she married that missionary and went to live In China. And then I had your photograph -the one hi your track suit. "Anil just to think for a whole month now you've been living opposite to me. across the court, and I never knew it! Ah, Lanse, I've felt for year you would come to me, and when I saw you tonight my lirst impulse was to stretch out both hands and be so glad, so glad. At once, though, 1 saw you'd f< rgotten, I determined not to tell you v. ho I was. I wanted you to recall. When I spake of your having wsisier just now I tried to make you recall, but I'm glad you didn't, be cause U'ls in:', all me, as. I am, that you love, n::d it's so good that way." AHi 11-'* later lb: • • •'» t'i • frosty air the midnight bells of N-cl rang out clear. Then at the last, very softly, from a drkened r mi across the court, Lam ing Drat heard a verse of the old Christina carol he had sung at his mother's knee: Tin? riwi.v 1 <'"■ the".round; The stars Ehono bright— ITe bowed hk; ho:u! in hi.: hands for the great gift that had come to him— Whon Christ our Lord was born On Christ mas r.i *lif. Mother's Coronation Day. Thai fir t Cliristm wa : the moth er's coronation day. Each recurring Christinas perpetuates the memory of her great glory. In public and in pri vate celebrations of it hers should be the central figure. Solemn gladness akin to th- Creator'!: satisfaction In his "very good" work should fill her Goal. In Mr. Harrison S. Morris' beautiful poem, "I rivition," we read how a laborer, laden wifh "a tray of tools, a timbered frame," walked in the sun shine through a clly street— Nor knew tli ' out of myriads ono E. • hi 1 y v a f> uJov.' ran That c". • ! the c .. .uri 3 in its shade. • « « * • « * But, like a loving : ;,h'!t, there, In even footfall at his Ski \ A shadow walk* d the pavement wide With bend dhi 11 mSnbumble pride And engird ( r">Ha aslant the air. It w. 3 as if the dateless sun Forgot the years, the far abode, And, 10, upon the sordid road The cross worn Nazarean trode, Holding the journey never done. Every mother who holds her baby In her arms repeats, unconsciously or eon sclotisly, the story of the Incarnation. Tlie blended shadow "clasps the centu ries," past, present and to come, and eternity itself "in its shade.**—Marion Harland in Independent. The Navy's Christmas. Christmas in the regular navy !s ob served as one of the big holidays of the year. Starting off with a grand dinner in the middle of the day, discipline is from then on relaxed, and the fun is fast and furious till sundown, and of ten the evening Is enlivened by amateur theatricals. The vessel is gayly deco rated with bunting, and at each mast head and at the bow and stern green trees are lashed if procurable. Self Help. Dashaway—Well, Uncle Jasper, how are you getting on with your Christ mas dinner? Uncle Jasper—Fust rate, sah. Colo nel Wlnterblossom done guv me a present of a fine fat turkey, sah. Dashaway—That's very strange. I Just left the colonel, and he didn't say anything about It. Uncle Jasper—No, sah. He's got to count dem turkeys fust. When Mistletoe Was Banned. Because of Its association with pa gan rites the mistletoe was for centu ries forbidden a place In English church decorations at ('hrlstmastide, and it was not even mentioned in old rhymes until the seventeenth century, in Herrlck's time, nlthoiigh the holly gnd Ivy had for two centuries previous been the subjects of various poetical effusions. Circumstances Alter Cases. Crawford—l thought you were per fectly delighted with the Christmas present your wife gave you. Crabsliaw—At that time I didn't know she'd had it charged. Hew It Was Done. She The idea! And we weren't even standing under the mistletoe! He—No. I did that sub rosa!— Brooklyn Eagle. In Christmas Land. Mistletoe Just overhead— Touch one spray above! Holly berries Just as rod As the lips of Love. Christmas skies of blue and gray, Heaven In bright view, And the sweetest gift today Just the lips of you! Full colds are