Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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-is, (Copyright.) EGINA gazed de spondently out o? the window. A light snow was Jm falling like millions SsaflES^ of sparkling dla y,!!5^. mends and''pearls .. ?D^" yet Regina saw nothing. Her Christmas tree had not come! It mat tered not that the was a won day and that eve of Christ _ mas was close at hand. Nothing mat tered to Regina save the fact that . ?he had promised her Sunday school ?lass a glorious tree and that now there .was no tree for them. Tears "welled slowly into Regina's eyes and Shirred the' glittering landscape. She argued with herself that she Imight ha-e known that the New York ?shops could not be relied upon to send ar. tree to the suburbs at so short a .notice, but that did not help the situa ron. . Regina shrank from facing those Jtwelve little girls whose smiles would jT^nlsh in childish disappointment rwjhen they learned that the tree they "ak? been promised was not to he (theirs. 1 ^The tears brimmed over and fell. jHesina's vision was cleared and in H&e clearing she gazed directly at tho (miniature fir tree in the vacant lot .next door. A sense of keen delight .Wept over Regina. After all, her {Children"would have a tree! Some fifteen minutes later Regina {appeared in outdoor costume. She iBad put on her gymnasium suit, high rubber boots and her father's great top coat. Over a j riot of curls her snug fur cap fitted closely. "You look for all the world as if you deserved your nick-name," expos tulated Regina's mother. "Regina, I do hope no one will see you." "There's no one for miles around," Regina laughed and shouldered an ax. "Unless the people who live in the bungalow turn up-I will have the world to my self." She picked up a big tub with her free hand and "teudgbd off toward the fir tree in the ivacrmt lot. Regina's eyes were too intent on ?er mission to see that a thin curl ?nt smoke was twisting from the chim jcey of the bungalow that rambled in ?tfcje lot beyond the vacant one. Regina drew near the coveted tree and. lier heart expanded lovingly. "What a little beauty!" she ex claimed half aloud. The little tree waa of special origin mst! .stood not much higher than Re ina. Over its branches a veil of toke seemed to linger. After a mo jmjmt spent in admiration, the girl put liaivn her big tub and began to clear jat^cy the light fall of snow from about ??SB roots of the tree. Her cheeks k^re gloriously red and the sparkle BU, her eyes rivaled the. day itself. When the snow was cleared Regina jb#ung the great ax into the frozen '??rth. The ground scarcely responded jt?iJier strength. She swung again. AHey! What are you doing to that jftee!" Regina dropped her ax and gazed j? the direction of the deep, gruff Tflce. A man was standing on the [giinda of the bungalow. - It?gina picked up her ax and with jdf?nity swung it again. "I say there, you-that tree be igs to me!" The man was coming ?ta&'iCrd her. Regina stopped and turned. "This tfct.a vacant lot," she called out with asperity. The approaching male whistled. His hsfeed quickened. He made an invol untary movement to raise a cap that fa his haste he had forgotten to jjict on. *'I beg your pardon," his voice had 2qst. the gruff quality, "I thought you 'were a man-but-that tree is mine. Jtbro?ght It up from my father's gar ?en in the south." David Langhorn js^ofce rapidly. Regina's face was jKtther startling in its beauty and he ?had a desire to cover her embarrasa jment. "I have taken very special care" of that tree." : "Very special," Regina said coldly. have lived here a whole summer iBitd no one-" "I have been away-lately." Th?j rea of har ], strange faces un nerved her, and she felt sick and nau seated but she quietly held out her arms for the poor child who lay groan ing in tho chauffeur's gentle grasp. A tall young man stepped briskly through the crowd, and made his way to her side. "Oh, Doctor Grant-I'm so glad you're here!" exclaimed Paula im pulsively. "More terrified than injured," an nounced the doctor after a hurried ex amination. Then turning to Pau-ia. "I saw it happen from a distance up the street and recognized your car." Assisting Paula into the motor, he made the child comfortable on her l.<4 and stepped in with her. k "111 report to you later, Peters," he called to the policeman, who immedi ately permitted them to drive away. ?n a few minutes they ware at the j stricken home. A tired, resigned wo-1 man opened the door, and after the j doctor's tactful explanation, she mute- j ly accepted this last blow which un kind fate had seen fit to administer. | While Doctor Grant and the mothor ' were working over the boy, Paula's quick eyes took in every detail of the j bare home. Christmas for the many j little Browns promised to be scanty, i A kind neighbor had taken the other | children to her home, so Paula's pres ence was unnecessary. She slipped ; out of the house, gave the chauffeur a ? few instructions and-^s he drove off i rapidly, she sought a nearby telephone booth and after ten very satisfactory minutes, was back at the house. Her 'phone calls were to certain toy deal ers and caterers, and long before the doctor was ready to go, the chauffeur had shyly dragged baskets and bun dles of all sizes and shapes into the wee kitchen. At last Dr. Grant was ready to leave. "May I ask for a lift, Paula?" he asked wearily. "I have had a hard day. I told Mrs. Brown that you "That's Tim Brown-He Lives In Rose AHey." would be around to see her tomorrow, and also toy watch Tim eat his Christ mas dinner. In a week he will have forgotten what tiappened." As they turned into the brilliantly lighted ave nue, he happened to glance at her eve ning cloak. "Oh, how stupid of me! - to let you go so far out of your way when you are going to the Barhams." "No, I'm going heme. I've had enough for one night," answered Paula with averted face. Now that she remembered her own trouble, she felt a strange shyness with this man who was in the secret of their financial wreck. The silence became awkward-somehow there seemed nothing to say. "Paula," began the doctor abruptly, "I have heard of your misfortune, and now I feel free to ask you to be my wife. I realize-pieaBe don't interrupt until I have finished-I realize that you will take steps to support your self at once, but I need you too much j to allow that." Paula's heart leaped violently, but the elation was brief. The sweetness j speedily turned to bitterest misery. "Why does this occur to you to night of all nights? It would seem as if you were doing this out of char ity," commented Paula coldly. "No, Paula, out of esteem. I am 1 poor, but I have enough for two. You certainly understand why I have not spoken before:-a Paula Mercer could hardly be expected to share a young physician's precarious income." He appropriated her reluctant hand. . "And 60 you allowed your pride to come between us! No, I thank you for the honor. Dr. Grant, but I have some pride, too." "Paula," pleaded the young man miserably, "if you only knew the bat tles there have been between my wretched pride and my love. I need you so much, Paula." "If I were you I'd engage a compe tent housekeeper," Paula remarked sarcastically. But her heart ached as she said it. j "Don't, don't, dear," entreated the doctor. "Those things hurt too much from you! Can't you love me, Paula? Please see how infinitely I worship you." "Why didn't you say that before." Paula whispered unsteadily. "You said esteem, and what girl in her right senses desires esteem when she's yearning for love?" "And I'm yearning for a kiss: well Boon be at your home, but I can't walt until then!" exclaimed the doctor hap> piiy. ld T CHRISM I OME on along, Sandy; I'll treat to dinner at the Metropolitan!" Sandy, a tall girl who didn't look her thirty rears, was busy glan cing over a typewritten sheet and for a mo ment did not answer. Bob stood watching her, taking in the deli cate lines of her face and the beauty of the "sandy" hair, which, when he was alone and forgot that Sandy was a newspaper woman and his "pal," he was pleased to call golden. "Cut that out. Sandy. You'll be back. I have a check and it's Christ mas Eye. I'm for a treat. I say-did you hear me ask you to go to the Metropolitan? You take it as calmly as if I bad asked you to go around to Otto's lunch counter. Deuce take it! Why can't you be a little enthusias tic?" Slowly the girl raised her head. More than a sheet of copy had been holding her attention. But she caught Bob's frown and immediately the mother instinct in her was aroused. She broke into her usual comrade laugh. "All right. Bob. The invitation overwhelmed me. The Metropolitan? But I couldn't. Bobby dear. My shirtwaist is soil ed and you your self said there was a hole in my beautiful brown coat." "Oh, come along! only You'd outshine -- all the women at the Metropolitan if you went there in a khaki suit. I wish you had a little more vanity. Women are awfuly tame when they haven't." "Come, now, you know I'm vain of the fact that I haven't any vanity. Don't call me tame. I won't go to the Metropolitan with you if you do. Somehow I feel-" "FiddlestiCiifl! Get on your hat. I'm going. The idea of a newspaper woman's feeling! Cut it out! I was iH joking. - IO The Metropolitan was filled with the "vulgar rich" in holiday attire; but Sandy and Bob were happy in true bohemian style as they sat at their little table chatting and joking like two boys. Sandy never would play the woman-that was the only objection Bob had to her. "I say, Sandy, I bet you've no plans for tomorrow and I'm coming to take" you out. i've a great plan. Put on that brown silk and play you're a woman for once." "Yes, a sweet, young, clinging femi nine creature with my heart on my sleeve! 'Twill be charming, of course. Do you really think I could play the part?" "Stop joking. Sandy. You never will take me seriously. You will go, won't you?" "I'd like to please you, Bobby, but I really must be home tomorrow. I have work that must he done, and besides I have a feeling that I ought not to go." "Feeling be darned! If you y .?r^? had fewer 'feelings' r^r?f^X and more feeling *gg??$i& for a poor fei. low- What's the matter, Sandy?" The girl had '* ?\ f \ cast a Slance over the room and had grown suddenly pale. She closed her eyes for a mo ment. Bob had caught the pallor. "Oh. nothing. I had a little twinge of that old neuralgia. Thus the chasm was bridged and the dinner ended happily. If any thing, Sandy was gayer than usual. Four o'clock the next day Sandy's heart was beating loud. Her "studio," as she was pleased to call it, wore its very best attire. Even the inevitable typewriter was out of sight. She was older, older by six years, than when he had last seen her, but happiness made her wondrously beau tiful. Bobby would have lost his wits. If he should not come! But he would come. If he should come and the dream could not be realized! But he would not come unless he could. A rap at the door! "M?BS, there's a shentleman a-askin' for ye. Should I send him in?" "Yes, Mary." The tones were per fectly calm. Six years of patient waiting had not been without theil power. "Margaret!" "John!" "I knew you would come. I saw you last evening. I knew you would find me. Oh, John, I am so happy!" She rested ber head on his shoulder to hide the tears. "Mj Margaret, now and forever!" "And Constance?" "Constance is gone-and she wish ed it to be." A long silence. "Sit down, John. There ls youi chair. How often have I pictured you in it. Let rae think. Let me get nj breath. I knew you would come. J wonder what Bobby will say! He thinks I have no heart. But-it wai to be."-New York Mail. GOT AHEAD OF THE PAPERS Height of Wisdom Exhibited by Mr. Tobe Sagg on His Periodical Visit to Kansan City. ? "Whenever I am in Kansas City," stated Mr. Tobe Sagg, of Goshkonong. "and feel stealm go'er me a low, feb rile yearning to put myself ia the clutches of a total stranger, ramble 'round In apocryphal places and fill my system with aqua fortis and dog feed, to be found next morning by the pious monks of St. Bernard, groping dazedly and ready to burble to the po lice my real name and address and the customary lie that I have been trimmed of $3,752 in cash and notes well, when I feel any such microbes gnawing at my I erder up to my room in the hotel a pitcher of ice water and lock the door, clink the Ice awhile, look through the bottom of the empty tumbler 46 consecutive times, and then go to bed with my $25.15 under my pillow, to make next morning serene ly content in the knowledge that I bave deprived the newspapers of an interesting item and cheated the folks at home out of a r4ory that would have been told on mb *into the third and fourth generations of them that hate me."-Kansas City Star. Arctic Bounty. The account of the four years' stay of Viljalmar Stefan3sen and Dr. An derson in the Arctic regions of Amer ica, during which they made long journeys alone with nothing to de pend upon for a living but the hospi tality of the natives and their riflee, furnishes a new illustration of the TC markable productiveness of the far north. Persons are likely to suppose that it Is the tropics which are most spontaneous in the production of food for human beings. The fact is that the contrast between equatorial and Arctic regions ls not so very great in thic regard. Early explorers of the region of the upper Amazon found they must carry supplies or starve to death. There is game there, but it cannot be reached in the jungles. This was the experience of James Or ton, the American traveler, and in his work on the Amazon he recalls the fate of the mighty Pizarro, whc tried to penetrate that country, but retreated from lt upon a diet of liz ards, dogs, saddle leather and sword belts just in time to save his life. Similar experiences are to be encoun tered in much of tropical Africa. It is true that some tropical islands give their inhabitants a free but monoto nous living, but, then, so will the ice bound country around the mouth ol the Mackenzie. Generous Offer Declined. Dr. Portal, the favorite medical at tendant of Louis XVIII, of France was offered an unusual reward for his services. Having cured Vestris of a revere illness, the famous dancing master said to him, "My dear doctor I should never dream of offering you money. Between artists there can be [ no dealings except those of grati tude. To demonstrate mine, I will give you a valuable hint as to your deportment. I have often noticed that you have a most ungraceful way of carrying yourself. I can remedy that in a few lessons, and teach you how to enter a sick room in such a way as to please the most exacting patient. We can begin now if you like." Much to the amazement of Vestris, Portal declined this offer, and so lost the esteem of his illustrious natient No. 666. This is a prescription prepared espe cially for Chills and Fever. Five or six doses will break any case of Chills and Fever, and if taken chen as a tonic the Fever will not return. It acts on the liver better than Calomel and does not gripe or sicken. 25c. Beginnin inst., we only on Tuesdays Please be Beaver Dam THE FARMERS BANK of Edgefield, S. C. STATE, COUNTY AND TOWN DEPOSITORY Capital arid Surplus Earnings $110,000.00 Total Resources over 350,000.00 When you sell cotton the first thing you need is a safe de pository for your mone>-be the amount large or small That sase depository is the Farmers Bank, and don't stop until y?m get there. The average man or woman is not in position to invest a lit tle surplus money so as to get this money just when it might be needed. You can invest in our interest bearing certificates for 6 or \-? monthsand be sure to get your money just when you need it, and too, your money is safe. We act as adminis trators, guardians and trustees. All business handled with promptness and liberality. Loans made on approved security. DIRECTORS-Thos. H. Rainsford, Dr. C. P DeVore, W. B. Penn, E. H. Folk, S. B. May9, C. A. Wells, J. Wm. Thurmond, W. H. Hading, A. E. Padgett. ?O YOU DRIVE TO TOWN? __L-MUM -* Tkla laraaar waat ta narkal And find the rm unfavorable for your produce? The farmer ?vho has a telephone in his home can telephone first. The useless trips thus saved are worth the cost of service. Under the plan of the Bell System the sei vice costs but a trifle; the farmer owns the instrument and the equipment. Write to nearest Bell Telephone M anager for pamphlet, or address Farmers' Line Department SOUTHERN BEIL TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CO SOUTH PRYOR STREET, ATLANTA GA, Round Trip Christmas Holiday Fares -VIA Southern Railway Account of Christmas botidaps, the Southern Railway announces low round trip fares, tickets on sale December 13, 14, 17, 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 1912 and Jamiary 1, 1913 with final limit to roach oriiriual starting point not later than midnight January U, li? 13. Tor detailed infor mation, call on nearest Southern Railway ticket agent, or A II Acker, TPA., Augusta, Ga., W. E. McGhee, AGFA., II. F. Cary, GPA., Washington, D. C., S II. Hardwick, PTM., Washing ton, D. C. g with Monday, 16th will operate our gins two days each week, , and Fridays, j governed accordingly i Cotton Mills Co. i Plant