The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, December 22, 1916, Image 16
(Elfriutmaii
? By i ?,
Charles Frcdcric
(Copyright)
I
T HAH H1CNN my
observation tliu t
Ituint of the troubl^
that muny men get
Into coined from
doing thin km for
other people. A
man who inukoit a
note Kitnernlly
meets It; and, if ho Indorses one,
often meet* that. too. At u plc
?Ic It Is (ho man who offers to carry
the water who gets bin feet wet, or
Kits down In the squash pie. It la the
cood-natured man who lias the moBt
?eed of good nature, for ho Is always
getting Into trouble thut Ih properly
the property of Homebody else. Christ
mas. especially, offers many golden
opportunlUeH to the follow who Ih
willing to oblige.
There was the cu?e of Henry Onr
ruth.'rs, for efcutnple. MFlne!" said
Henry, when ho received an Invitation
?to epeml Christina* with the JonescN at
a suburban villa In a suburban vil
lage. Jones hud been an office mate
?f: h^S. Then he married and, hav
ing made u little money, some say by
tho rnariiage, he retired to the subur*
bun villa aforesaid. Cnrruthers re
mained a bnehelor, a toller, and n city
dweller. Hut be would have been will
ing to change at least two ??f tlioHe
conditions if lie had dared to think
that Jones' sister, Miss Abigail, would
be willing to change her title from
"Jones" t? the somewhat classier one
#f "Cnrruthers."
"Come up and spend Christmas with
u??," wrote Jones. "It will bo rather
n qutet C irlstmas, but Abigail will be
heft; nnd wo shall try to And some
thing to keep your time and your mind
oceapled."
A (pilot CbrlHtmas had no terrors for
Henry. And thero was Abigail. So he
wired a day letter, the substnnce of
wlilch was "Yes."
The train was on time, and so ^as
Henry. They whizzed him out to the
hungle-oh In the dusk and a wheezy
car. Abigail, looking lovely, met them [
on tlui poroh,
"Welcome to our city," she said. '
"Hut I'm afraid vou will t'md it t'rlj-ht- 1
I
fully quiet here."
"Not when you are present," replied
Henry gallantly ? followed by n sudden
realization that maybe that dlU'i't
Sound as gallant as be had! intended.
At the dlrther table Jones unfolded
the great plan. "We've fixed up the
JolllfSt wltewe," he rfectnred with en
thunlnsm, "and you are just the fellow
to put It over for u?!"
"Just the follow!" echoed Abigail.
"You soo the WilUiiinKes live on the
other m| do of the *<iuure. Their buck
lot bm'kM rijfht up tooura. with Just
the alley between. Now, they don't
know you from Aduiu. Of course, wo
told thoiu ubout you, and they want
to moot you, hut tiioy don't know you
aro coming down. The WIIIIuiunoh, you
I 'I '
Abigail Herself Led the Rescue Expe
dition.
hop, are our closest friends, and wo
ha vo lots of fun with each other. Now,
wo nro goiiu: to put something over
on thein^-somethlng nice, you under
stand, and we want you to help. The
Wllliamsos are the only people wo
give presents to, outside the family,
except yourself, of course, and a few
others. Well, the girls have u lot of
Jlmcrocks fixed uo for them. We are
going to have you take them over ? "
"Hut I have never met ? "
"Oh, thnt's nil rljsht. I've got some
Santa Cluus fixings here, and we are
going to doll you up as Santa ? and
they don't know your voice or any
thing, and It sure will surprise them I"
"1 see," said Henry weakly, with
.00,'J per cent enthusiasm. "I Just go
up and ring, and walk In ? "
"Oh, no, hotter than that! Come
here and I'll show you." The victim
followed him to the window. "You
see that window, that basement win
dow, or Is It too dark? Yeh, that's
the one. You Just sneak over quiet
ly, drop tn, walk upstairs and Just sur
prise them rl^ht In the library, or
wherever they happen to be."
"Hut the window will be locked,"
Kai'l 'leury. seeking an avenue of es
cape.
"So It won't. .Mrs. Williams told
the murium here flmt they bad coal
corning today ? so It will ba opou, for
; Williams won't tMOll ttf lock It Udtt?
[ he go??s down to tlx tl?e furunce fur
| the night. You *ee, that wludow's
where they put the coul In."
Homehowj this statement did not add
to Henry's pleasure. Hut when Aid'
gull asked If It wouldn't he great, the
foolish niun said that It would.
lluir an hour Inter, In the durkncss,
u stranger might have been seen ap
proaching, hldd n l?y the shrubbery,
the rear basement window Of the WU
Hams domicile, evidently with burglari
ous Intent. An old overcoat of Jones'
mutlled about hlin concealed u red cos
tume of some sort, and a bag. The
hag contained sundry packages with
sundry nhurp corner*, but this was
known oidy to the mysterious stranger.
lie found the window unlocked, ac
cording to specifications, but to his as
tonishment It opened outward instead
of Inward. He also made a horrify
ing discovery* He had expected to
drop lightly to th? basement floor, find
his way to the stulrWay, whose loca
tion had been described to hlin, and
make his way upstulrs to surprise the
family. Hut Jones had said nothing
about a coal chute. Yet her? wue a
chute with sides that wero unsur
mountable. A dicker of flame shin
lug through the mica of the furnace
showed that the way was dear. Hut
what would a coal chute do to his
Santa Claus outfit? To chute or not
to chute, that was the question.
Fate decided him. lie distinctly
heard the click of the back gnte.
"flood gosh!" thought llcury, "hern
comes . somebody I" And, without
"Good Gosh! Here Comes Somebody!" j
pause for further thought, he seized
the hag and shot the chute ^into tho
unknown.
He landed in a coal bin nearly
empty of coal, but plentifully gar
nished with dust. A. minute inter nn
^ ^ - ? ~-T? ? - ? . ? V
Interior door opened from the region
above, excited voice* were he?r& and
a ray of light shot toft ffwftjrfBEt
of tlie bttiemcnt Th* chute teemed
to offer the only projection. Back
into It he climbed and' lay there qui
etly.
"Oh, It's Just tho man with tho coal,"
Hnld ft female voice above. And the
door cloned ay ?ln.
poor Henry now pondered what to
do, Ho couldn't go up- In the Mtate he
whs. lie hud never seen any pictures
or St. Nicholas represented as un Kthi
oplan. Anyway, his perils were over
for tho moment. Were they? There
wan u footstep outside and Into tho
chute cnmo pouring a bagful of mixed
nut. and egg. Henry Jwd quite for
gotten about tho mysterious cllek of
(he gate, the coal man and all, and had
no way of knowing, of course, that the
holiday rush had made that coal mau
lato.
There was no tlmo or way to escape
or dodge. The coal, sliding merrily
on Its way, came with Just enough
force to give him 40 kinds of head
ache In 40 different parts of his
head, and brought a, long with It
enough dust to finish tho ethnological
transformation. It also carried him '
hack Into the bin. He picked him- i
self up, found. the comer of the bin
most removed, and witnessed, as best
he could In the dark, tho rather un
interesting ceremony of putting In a
ton of coal, lie wanted to sneeze, but
would not permit himself the luxury.
He had to cough, but luckily timed It
to coincide with tho passage of a bag
ful of coal down the chute, lie won
dered when the coalman would reach
the last bagful. When ho reached It,
Henry Immediately knew, for the ac
commodating coalman carefully hooked
tho window, on the outside, and
snapped tho padlock.
Meanwhile the fun-loving Jones fam
ily anxiously awaited tho return of
Mr. Henry Carruthers, alias Santa
Clans. Half an hour. "They must be
having a Jolly time." Forty-five min
utes. No remarks. An hour. "Some
body run over. No, we'll all go."
In the Williams' household nothing
unusual seemed to have happened.
They were delighted to see the
Joneses, of course. After five min
utes, n happy Idea sent Jones home to
see If he had locked the 4<v>r. Ills
Investigation really concerned the Wil
liams house Instead. The back win
dow was securely locked ? on .the out
side. There was no sign of Henry in
the neighborhood.
Half an hour later Jones made a
clear breast of It. Ablgull herself led
the rescue expedition.'' Henry would
have preferred to see anybody else.
An hour In the bathroom, and a suit
ot Williams', and Mr. Carruthers was
presented. It was really a v?-ry merry
party that Christmas eve. nfttr all ? al
logenic- ( . >o merry, for Henry.
Yet. hnu Henry i.nly known It, sym
pathy Is often the Joining of Jove.
There are various brands 9# this much souirh*
article. The vain person fijids it in display, t?
praved person finds it in dissipation. But the ne
good common sense finds it in the solid comfort^
good cheer of himself and his family. Chief ^
this cheer is ? lu*
A Tempting Christmas Dinner
? 4; ? ? ; ? " """
When you go to prepare it Come to Us for "the
ings, For instance
All kinds of Nuts and
Celery, Cranberries
Everything You Can U*.
Mince Meet
Raisins and Currants
3auces of all Kinds
II Will be a Fine Christmas dinner if you use eur
Bruce's Pure Food Stoi
FUSSY- AUNT SALLY.
(he is One of Those Wha Always Find
n T Undone.
Otir Aunt Sully always bus Olie or
two more things t<> do at nl;jht before
she can i.o i?> boil. NVe were at her
uoiuo a few weeks ago, and all qf
lis sat up until late. Ai about 11
o'clock I'nele lUuktum gave a juffii,
and In thirty minutes everybody wus
under the cover listening to tlio ruin?
everybody except Aunt tartly. She do
lided that while everything was quiet
fcbo would sew the buttons on the ne\v
trousers she was making for Butkfum. v
When this was tlnlshed she started to
bed. but she remembered that she
hadn't set her yeast. She went back
into the kitchen and worked for about
twenty minutes, and then it seemed
that she was through with everything
for the night.
We were almost asleep when she
brought in another quilt. She said It
might turn cold -during the night and
that we could pull It up if we needed
it. She weu.t Lxick to her Yxiom uad
stood perfectly still for a few seconds.
Evidently she was trying to think of
something eNe to do be. ore going to
bed. and she thought of it. She decld- I
eJ she -had best tprlukle down her
clothes ho rboy would iron better next
day. \\ hen ilii.s \.as finished she Cold v.-,
?>d the rouvh d' iod piocoi* ?nd put them
uvi'uy. ?
Ac last the house
ruin was pourhig; doWl
over for a ^ooJ sloop. AllttljIfcIS
wo wore facing the Lam, id
Aunt Sully out there wftb W;
muunvjcU to keep the lump4iy,||
a few minutes It weut out. V
later we heard her enter the
and while feeling for a place to lt
lamp she said: "1 declare that !
heu hasn't auy sense, I put her i
*djX.,|^ce and ebe wotiWat j
seems determined to I
;bt to let her do It,
better go back sod ml
her.*? Fort Wortb Btar-Teiegraa ]
? ? r ? . 1 lr" riw'i
Largo Power Earily Controllidl
In some caees a 1,000 ton or 1 Ml|
: press may be controlled by onel
upon tho clutch lever, so that the i
will rise one-eighth of an incji;
at a time. Mqro often, howeri
press Is set so4baHfce rain-wtir?ll
stop at the top of Its strotejjaa^
control Of (Ms condition lsVM
made by a foot treadle, although M
times with a handle also or wKj
handle alone. Generally suc.b prei
are arranged for continuous-', runii
Thl3 Is often^ practicable wftli k
slow strokes. "-Oberlin Bmltb la B
neeriag Ifagarln*
*
Of all the precious metals, gold has not advanced in price. Not diminished, in
fulness. This year you can make gifts of jewelry, without placing a war p
gift, for of all merchandise appropriate for the holiday remembrance, jewelry
vanced in price because of the war. And what is more cherished, more
than an exquisite piece of jewelry? Our display is now brilliant with
superb designs; and the stock offers an immense choice and price range.
A Few Suggestions:
CAMEO BROOCHES
JEWELRY BOXES
BRACELET WATCHES
STUDS
HAT PINS
CHARMS
COAT CHAINS
PICTURE FRAMES ?
RINGS ? EVERY KIND
BROOCHES ? ALL KINDS
AND PRICE
TIE CLASPS
VEST CHAINS
BIB HOLDERS
SOLID SILVER SETS
COLLAR BUTTONS
WALDEMAR CHAINS
SCARF PINS
SILVER and GOLD
WATCHES ? ALL KINDS
AND PRICE
SILVERWARE? IN SU
PERB DESIGNS
POCKET KNIVES
Open Evenings Until Christmas
Jewelry
A Few Suggestions:
CAMEO RINGS
SILVER AND GOLD
THIMBLES
CARD CASES
TOILET SETS, COMB,
BRUSH AND MlftROR
CLOTHES BRUSHES
LINK BUTTONS
MANICURE SETS
SILVER PLATED
CIGARETTE
MERCANTILE F<
PENS
- 1 -S
Parisian Ivory
"5;. SETS
ROPE CHAINS
HAIR BRUSHES
UMBRELLAS, GOLD FILUSILVER AND P'
ED and STERLING SIl^ IVORY MILITARY
VER BRUSHES
VfTTr";
Bracelet ^Watches are extremely popular this
We have*a big assortment from $3.CQ-to $50.
PHONE
69
G.L.
CAMDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA
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