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. V PAGE FOUR THE NEWBERRY SUN, NEWBERRY, SOUTH CAROLINA THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1963 m m Wl m lonntless blessiip to yon at Christmas ODORLESS CLEANERS Phone 276-0605 Newberry, S. C. g * JTA % <• Mmm Mi! •. >•- I-': S-SA iK:: A •• AV.%*.«•■• ■•■•'•'•■•>■•'• . . * '-»>' v y , *' , '0<i*»VVV<NVV*Jv*AVWAV‘VV%% Hk, <if. •*4 '••••>• ^Sf v HI, AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS! , We hope your home and heart will be filled with laughter, joy and good will this glad Holiday season. i H. M. HENTZ & SON PULPWOOD DEALERS Newberry, S. C. BY RENA DOHERTY H ARRY ADAMS had always be lieved in taking the things he wanted in life. On more than one occasion, it had cost him; so many times, in fact, that he figured about half his lifetime had been spent behind bars, more counting foster homes. Getting caught was just an occu pational hazard as far as Harry was concerned. If the State wanted to house and feed him for a few more years, well, it beat working for a living. Harry was hungry at the mo ment. He stopped in front of the Minit Cafe, hands in pockets, idly fingering the last dollar bill he owned. A crudely-lettered sign in the window read: Christmas Special Turkey Potatoes-Gravy 75* Harry looked inside. Only a cook and one waitress, both old and harmless. He could go in, order a meal, wait till he was ready and then get himself some Christmas spending money. He felt his coat pocket. The gun was still there. It m o-Xfei., He paused to read the sign in the window of the Minit Cafe. wasn’t much of a gun. Probably wouldn’t even fire. But the sight of a gun did things to most people —made them do whatever you told them. Harry was on his second cup of coffee when the w r oman closed the door behind the cook, pulled down the shade and put a “Closed” sign in the window. This is too easy, he thought to himself. Well, no need to rush it now. “Gimme another cup of coffee.” “Sure thing. How about some more turkey. We got plenty and we won’t be open tomorrow.” “Naw, no more of that. Just coffee.” The woman placed the coffee on the table. “Oh, well, it won’t be wasted. That’s why we’re closing early. Henry, that just left, he’s my husband. Every year we take stuff up to the children’s home on Christmas Eve. Been doing it for years. We don’t make much here, just a living. But it’s enough to let us do something. We manage to get a present for all the children.” Harry almost choked on his coffee. The woman looked at him, strangely. “Coffee to hot?” “Naw, naw. Not too hot. Just went down wrong. Had enough anyway.” He stood up slowly, his hand moving cautiously toward his pocket. The woman had walked to the corner of the room, her back to him, taking down a weather-worn coat from a timeless rack. She turned slowly to face him. “You just keep your money, mister. Our treat. Complimer ts or the Minit Cafe.” She opened the door, letting in a cool blast of icy wind. >.t was an effort to Harry to move. When lie did, he blundered ; her, compelled by the urge to gat.outside, out of this place for- t .rr. He slipped down on the snow-covered sidewalk, sprawling dice an eagle in Right. Strong arms lifted him to a sit ting position and the woman knelt beside him. “Are you hurt? Did >ou hurt yourself?” Harry crushed her aside, angri ly, and regained his feet. Some thing in her eyes stopped him as he turned to walk away. She was still kneeling there in the snow. Second Thought Tenderly now, Harry reached down and helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry. Forgive me. Good night. And a Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Norton.” Around the corner and into the night, Harry Adams walked to ward Christmas. He hadn’t meant to call her by name. He’d been stupid enough to pass up the chance at the money, but he shouldn’t have called her by name! He stopped under a corner street light, just standing there for a long time, looking at nothing. Then he took it from his pocket. It wasn’t much of a knife. Prob ably cost only a dollar. You could tell it was old, so old that the in scription on the side was almost worn away. But you could see it. If you held it just right in the light it said, •'Merry Christmas, Harry, from your friends, Mr. and Mrs. Norton.” ENGLISH CUSTOM In England, ash fagots often are burned for good luck on Christmas and a common custom is for each of a group of girls to mark one fagot as her own. The girl whose fagot first takes fire is supposed to be the first to marry. HEARTS GO HOME A m Christmas is that time of the year when most every heart turns homeward. The blinking lights of a Christmas tree in the . low or the jingle jangle of Christmas bells is enough to send o^es thoughts winging across the years and over the mountains and seas to that “one best Christmas of all” so long, long ago. The sounds and the smells of Christmas are so easily cap tured . . . freshly-cut evergreen, a basket of fruits and nuts, cookies and pies, turkey roasting in the oven, the pop-pop-popping sound of logs burning low in a hearth fire. How easy today for the crunching sound of boots in the snow to bring the memory of long ago when young hearts trudged across the crusty fields toward the light that beckoned through the church window, a haven of warmth and peaceful reverence in the near-dawn of a Christmas morn. How easy to recall the sight of a family gathering about the tree, first for a moment of prayer and thanksgiving, and then the merry sounds, the laughter, as one by one, each opened a gift from beneath the tree. This is a part of the Christmas, this turning homeward. If time and distance make the “real” trip home impossible, the next-best thing is a trip down memory lane. A ' ✓ Vi v:<: r u • '1 ISCf mi L: ■ . 1 .<1 ? 1 m Zl* *• i vett v/.>Vv;v ;«:♦> ilri l ■ ■ “ _ v „. ' - ^ ' . , , : : I : i 1 s i 1212 MAIN ST. • • PHONE 2ib-64l * * ‘ §3' ■ ' ■ i ■» 1! 1 .5 . a iii ^ 0 .*«VA*.* • • ri 1 S i : '■$•??•:* ' V-”' ’ . ; ^ s < W # \ . wmm W r > • S I && tTT 9 c^r'-vX 'i L: M •> - ^ 1 wm r | iw.ssi .■*•'•?& ■ ..x- • ni^ft f '.. * ' .y&t .v’’ mm'W:: .s. v mm mm M L a . .•>•$ mm • - mm mk v! X These happy holidays come but once a year... and in the midst of all their flurry, scurry, fun and frolic, all of us here want to pause and wish each and every one of you a world of good cheer, along with our sincere hope that it will last throughout the coming year! A very Merry Christinas! Prosperity Lumber Company [ I Rough and Dressed Lumber Telephone 364-2606 Prosperity, Soul (■MM