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«f the missing gift aUbougb not vary certain where 872 Elm street East wgs, •r If there were an 872 East or p<* •ratted of any knowledge concerning who lived there. § Now, 872 East la a .little tnmblw down house, or was, well oat Biss street and sotMwhat back from ths thoroughfare. “I femember—there's some old wom an lives here," said one of the party. They all piled oat and fallowed the broken sidewalt up to the dwelling, T ‘‘Come lp,” rnswered si-ebeery bat quavering voles when they knocked. Ko they entered In the duak. It waa a bare room, with a few old-fasbloaed pictures in wi Inut frames ■ on the wulls, some ar rhalc furniturs of the sit me period, and a rag carpet Itself reduced to Its • riglnial material. H ;Not fnr from the window stood the celebrated leather rocker, with a cane close at hand. In the chair sat a little old woman, with her face smiling hap- pily under unke >t gray hair. Her face was white, her wrinkles were many, but her eyes shone with the real Christ- mas light. “I ain’t ask you boys to set down,” she suid, trying to turn toward them, ‘‘because there Isn’t much to set down In except this, and the sofy over there. But I knew you’d come, and I want to Old Father Time The Boys of the Old Town By HARRY IRVING GREENE Calls “Y" Work In German Prison Camp “Life Saver,? While Con- V x 7 flood At Villingen. .1 Jl Christmaiy - By DOUGLAS MALLOCH New York, Feb. ...—-Lieutenant Qeorge Puryear, of Memphis, Tenn., an aviator, was one of a trio of hardy American adventurers who were suc cessful In a wild dash for liberty from (Copyright.) ... j am CHRISTMAS wed- Jn ding Is always a W very charming )I 1 bolly Ieods sucl1 s^y et f MM decorations, JRj and the mistletoe Rf seems so approprl- tw 'ate. Then It fflakeS one present—do vh^re otherwise Ak would have i»k ^ een r, ’i uin ‘ d - A,1<1 anyone who brings £2 rjtfmprsa th ® t ll to K ptt8818 a nt£[ public benefactor. "" r 1 ' This reference to the wedding, of course, right here at the very opening of the story,, really makes the story superfluous, which is Bostonese for “no use." In a story, the wedding is supposed to be the ^ery last thing. Harry was a young architect and engineer who had only Just opened an •Bice In the town. When he came out of college he reached the conclusion that he would do better to set up a business in some small town and grow up with It than to grow old unnoticed That la how he the Villingen prison camp on October 6. Sixteen men made the attempt, but only Puryear, Lieutenant* Harold Willis of Boston, and Naval Lieuten' : . ant Isaacs of Portsmouth, Va., got Word has Just been received- MW# away; at-Yr-M. C. A. headquarter* here oerning . their almost hopeless pads. The mernbrought back remarkable accounts of Y. M. C. A. work even at -VMHigsfri ' • ■ , "The *Y’ sent us book* of all kinds and even sporting goods," said Lieut. Puryear “We played basketball and volley ball incessantly—our space was too small for baseball and football. I tell you, those games were life s to us, and they kept ua in fair 1 cal condition.'* It Is reported that Puryear comrades slipped out of the through a tunnel under the wire. * All but the three named were headed off before they reached the river Rhine, but the Intrepid trio Bwam the river— esca [avers bhysl- ln some older town, came to be here. He met Harriet soon ■ after his arrival and it wasn’t long be- £ tore he was desperately in love with her. 1_1 There really wasn't very much the \ matter with Harry—except Harriet V And there wasn’t anything at all the matter with Harriet—In Harry’s opin ion. 80, after he had got down to business—both at his office and w th Harriet—she said “Yes.” Their mar riage brought them • great deal of happiness, and. what was more pe culiar. a greet deal of happiness to someone who wasn't related to them hi any way. Which Is wbat the story la about This other person not ofrly waa not related to them, bat was ■rarerty known to them. She lived In me other end of town. Elm avenue run* right through the town from east m west At one end. the west end. It Is well named, for It IS bordered by stately elms that shade One residences, and cosy bungalows, like that which Harry had provided for Harriet planned with the architect's MB a terrible feat in itself--and made their way Vr»to Holland. —'^ - c^prrlrht. 1*1*. Western NVwapeper Union I came with Space, and hand m hand, We two sat here alone, As two twin Kings of equal might Sit side by side athrone While eons came, and eons went In ceaseless passing flight And ail was still as dungeons deep. OsugKbeya “Cleaned Pockets'* fer Heme Folks, When Return From Fight Was Uncertain. Y. M. C. A. Has Delivered Millions ef Dollars Fer Amea. Her Eyes Shone With the Real Christ- mas Light thank you. I want to thank you all. and every one of you. for the lovely present you sent me. and for remem berin’ an otd woman like me. When It come, and I read tha card. ‘From the boys of the old town.’ the boys of the boys I need to know, for 1 guess I knew •11 your fathers, I told them to put It here, and -I would set In It and wait until you come. Ais’t von Will StearnsT” “Yea," stammered the chairman, quite undecided what to aay or do. "I thought ao. My. how you favor yobc father! And I waa at your eheinteoin*. I guess that waa about *ho last time I was anywhere when ny rtlcumaHz got so bad. And your father would been proud of you this day. If he coold known what you wum goin’ to do for alt old friend of his, God rest him !" At the mention of big* father, the chairman was astonished to find his hat still on his bead. lie pulled It off, hurriedly, ashuined. . Then through thut head went flitting first a quick memory of his father and then tbs moat astonishing thing In the world—■ his carefully-prepared speech, to ths bride, lie bad said it over so many times to himself In secret that after noon, to make sure he would not break down when the moment came, that now everything else .seemed to ha vs van ished. Then an even more astonishing And black as moonless night The steady unsel fishness of the American spldlec. shown by the way he “cleaned his Then age by age—a million years We watched the Sun take form. While through the void in endless count The Stars were being born. And then from out unfathomed Space, We saw the world appear. 1 shook my glass—and from It fell. A Sand of Time—the first New Year. pockots* of moat) before going Into action, to be sent home if he didn't come back. Is told by W J Baker of Portchenter. N. Y, who served eleven months ns a Y. M C. A worker with the 2<tb Division. Ht* particular charge was the third battalion of the 103rd infantry. Ka Joined that ualt on the Rt Mlhlel front, went with them to Chateau Thierry, and later was la the famous St Mlhlel clean-up and the drive before Verdun “It was Just before that action be gan.” said Baker, “that I saw the finest example of the characteristic unselfish ness of the boys They 'cleaned their pockets' for the folks at home They kaew they were going up against the real thing, and.they wanted all their money to go home In case they never osir« hark In all. I was entrusted with 8.000.000 francs — upwards of •fl.BwStO® — before that attack. We handled auch funds through the regu lar Y M C\A. service established for sendtna monev from soldier* to rela- It bad been arranged that they were to be married at high noon on Christ mas day at Harriet s old home. Then mere was to be a quiet family dinner there, followed by a reception to their friends at Harriet's new home, where •pen house was to be kept In honor of the day and the event There their friends gathered in the afternoon, and there the presentation was to occur. For Harry's young men friends, of whom there were a few despite hi* short renidence in the town, and Har riet's. of whom there were more, had derided to give them. In addition to all the “little stuff." one practical gift «f larger proportions. So they had "chipped In" and bought them a mag nificent leather rocker, one of the big, comfortable kind; and that was to be The Years! 1 watched them come and go, Till 1 could count no more, The Old—the New—like falling rain. Or sands upon a shore. Through age of Mist, and age cf storm. And agevOf sweeping Flame. Till last Man came with gift of speech. And gave to me my Name Old Father Time, he calls me now, As close 1 glean my tithe. 1 walk the Earth with silent thread. Yet ever sweep my Scythe. Forever old, yet doomed to live, I’d rest—but none is here. Again 1 raise my Class and pour Another Sand—a new, New Year vaw lively time* thing happened. It astonished him. Division." as It was calrafl, was kepi on the fighting front almost contiad oust/,- . \ and It quite paralyzed the other young men. That presentation speech, altered by but a word here and there aa he stum bled and steered away fhun the Inap propriate phrase, came falling from his lips’. “And for many a year," he finished, “may you sit by your own flreskle as the shadows of life lengthen, with this chair to give you comfort and to re mind you of the boys of the old town." There was nothing for the rest to do but applaud that speech, to wish “Merry Christmas!” over and over, to bend the head for that venerable “God bless you!” and to go quietly away. The car was turned westward again before any man spoke a ftord. Then it was Will Stearns: “Well, what do you know about that?" ‘— ~ “There’s nothing for them now, but we am scare up something tomorrow said an- Wbat optimist a generation ago Here’s a Real Santa Claus would have thought that backward Chira would have a hand in the-settle- nent of a world war? But China is having a very important role in the great war that is just being brought to a close. Not as soldiers—fighting qien—but as laborers benind the front lied troops have been released for other duties Practically one hundred and fifty' thousand, of these coolies have been transported by way of the yu*v, to France. This work has been done under the direction of the British Government and Church Missionaries. Among these missionaries are many of the Methodist EpiseopalChurch, South, which is j.ust-finishing the details of Its campaign May 18-35 to secure $35,- 000.00*i to fhrther work of the kind that is being done in France and other places *"* ... •‘I Can’t See What Has Happened—" duly presented' at the hour of its ar rival that afternoon. It had been ar ranged that it was to be delivered while all the young folks were there, as a sort of surprise extra offering. But, as the afternoon wore on, the face of the chairman of the delegation, who was to* make the presentation speech, grew longer and longer. “I can’t see what has happened," he said in confidence to a group of the fellows, when an opportunity for con fidences arrived, “and why that darned chair doesn’t come.** “Are you sure you gave them the right number, and everything?" some- •ne asked. . — “Sure—87 Elm street West That’s simple enough.’’ It must have been five o’clock when one of the hoys had an inspiration. “Do you supi*>s$ by any chance that chair wus delivered to H72 Elm street East?*' he usked. . a, At last here waa a due; and the chalrpu'i, a airman without a chair, tutu a Mif-appointed research commit- tee .U loaded themselves Inti a rr, .tt*T making uobsllevabla as- t„ «:,¥ brida and groom, and and say nothing about tills, But someone told one of the girls who knew all about the chair, and at the collation the whole story came out. Will Stearns was evfen made to stand up and give that speech. And the bride declared, and, bless her dear heart! everybody believed her, that she waa glad it had turned out just the way it did. Somebody remembered the old lady’s name, and then somebody else remem bered that it.was said that her father was the man who planted those elma on Elm street In the early da’ys ( ’f the town. The bride announced /that she was going over* to see the dear old rouI. 1 She did go, and often, aui^ her nurs ing did much to ease that rheumatis. When llarry arid Harriet moved lots the Mg house they Dow occupy, n paper circulated among the old resident* bought the bungalow at a bargals price.. There the pioneer was moved by "the boys of tbs old town," * her* she could b# under tbs shads of the slnu fv father planted. There, fas was a .w««adrrfslls spry s.d tody BANDING TOGETHER TO SPREAD GOSPEL Nashville, Tenn—Oae hundred and ._ forty thousand Southern Methodists have signified jtheir determination to oray for the success of the missionary work'of the M E. Church.-South, and for the spread of Christianity through out the world. These people have not Cnly decided to do this, but have band ed together in a league known as ths Fellowship of inter esslon. each sign ing a small card which it is thought will ruake the cause for which they prnv more definite-in the minds of the signers of 'he card*. ‘ ,Dr. S. A Neh’ctt. secretary of the • Department Intercession of the de.- rtatM to a reporter that *■*» *vfv in «V !i the praver cafds r p'e tST’t.h ~ •* an inspiration * Mr mmSJr llMF, - i:^SWS* - 1^gS■