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MERE are ao more Christ* mas stories to vrrite. Fic? tion Is exhausted; and newspaper Items, the next best. are manufactured by clever young journalists who bare married early and hare an engagingly pessimistic view of life. Therefore, for seasonable diversion, ire are reduced to two very question* able sources?facts and philosophy. We will begin with?-whichever you catenas to call It. CasV.rea are pestilential little ani? mals #lth which ws hare to cope un? der a bewildering variety of condl tkme. Especially when childish sor? rows overwhelm them sre we put to esn* wit's end. We exhaust our paltry store of consolation; and then beat them, sobbing. u> sleep. Then we grovel in the dust of s million years, and ask God why. Thus we call out Of Use rat-trap As for the children, so one understands them except old jaalda, hunchbacks, and shepherd Now come the facts la the case of tao Rag-Doll, the Tatterdemalion, and the Twenty-fifth of December. On the tenth of thst month the Child of the Millionaire lost her rag doll. There were many servants in the Millionaire's palace on the Hud em, and theee ransacked the house and grounds, but without An'ilng the lost treasure. The Child was s girl set five, and one of those perverse lit tie beasts thst often wound che sensi? bilities of wealthy parents by fixing their affections upon some vulgar, In expensive toy Instead of upon dla saond studded automobiles and pony gase st oi a The Child grieved sorely and truly, a thing Inexplicable to the Million? aire, to whom the rag-doll market was about ss Interesting as Bay State Oas; sad to the Lady, the Child's mother, who was all for form?that Is, nearly an, ao you shall saw. The Child cried tncoaoolabry, and grew hollow-eyed, knock kneed, spin a?ag. and oorykllverty In many other respects. The Millionaire smiled end tapped his coffers confidently. The feck of the output of the French and Permsn toymaksrs was rushed by spa seal delivery to the mansion, hut Ra? gs*] refused to be comforted. She was) weepsag for her rag child, and Was for s high protecttve tariff against all foreign foolishness. Then doctors with the finest bedside man gjors sod ?top-wntches were called In. One by one they chattered fuMlety gbont peptoroanganste of Iron and gem voyages and hypo phosphites until their stop-watcbee showed thst BUI Rendered was ui der the wire for show or place. Then, ss men, they advised that the rag doll be found as soon as possible end restored to Its mourning parent. The Child sniffed st thera peutlcs, chewed s thumb, and wilted The Child Grieved Sorely snd Truly. for her Betsy And all this time ca biet. ams ware coming from Santa Class ssylng that he would soon bo here snd enjoining us to show a true Christian spirit snd let up on the poolrooms snd tontine policies and platoon Systems long enough to give him s welcome. Kverywn -re the splr tt of Christines was diffusing Itself The banks were refusing loans, the pawnbrokers had doubled their gnng of helpers, people bumped your shin* OS) the streets with red sleds, Thomas snd Jeremiah bubbled before yon on the bars while you waited on one foot, holly wrea?hs of hospitality were nunc In windows of the stores, they wt| had em wore setting out their f-mi Yon hardly ggjOW which was the best bet In hall? three, high, moth, or snow It ?im no time nt wbleh to lose the rag doll of your heart If DiK-tr r V.'ntion'H lnve<H-?<Hn ? frlen J i.. ' > ? :. cnlh d in to solve tail lt. -I "?' - '?? < i. ? tulg'tt have oh i in *hc Millionaire's * ? ' su Ira,* Th.it Mr. Dunyan It.irvln of Summ, rt< n. would have quickly suggested, by In- j ductlou, "A rag and a bone and a I hank of hair." "Flip,'* a Scotch ter rler, next to the rag-doll In the child's heart, frlaked through the halls. The hank of hair! Aha! X. the unfound quantity, represented the rag-doll. But, the bone? Well, when dogs find bones they- Done! It were an easy aud a fruitful task to examine Flip's fore feet. Look, Watson! Earth ?dried earth between the toes. Of course the dog?but Sherlock was not there. Therefore It devolves. But t topography and architecture must in? tervene. The Millionaire's palace occupied a lordly spsce. In front of it was a lawn close-mowed as a South Ireland man's fsce two days after a shave. At one side of it and fronting on an Ho tat Betsy on the Bar and Ad dreeeed Her Loudly and Humor ouely. other street was a pleasaunce trim? med to a leaf, and the garage and stables. The Scotch pup had ravished the rag-doll from the nursery, drag god it to a corner of the lawn, dug a hole, and burled it after the manner of careless undertakers. There you hare the mystery solved, and no j checks to write for the hypodermical , wlsard or fl-pun notes to toss to the setgeaot. Then let's get down to the j heart of the thing, tiresome readers th<< Christmas heart of the thing. Fuzzy was drunk. Not riotously or i helplessly or loquaciously, as you or I might get. but decently, appropriate ly, and Inoffensively, as becomes a gentleman down on his luck. Tuzzy was a soldier of misfortune. Ths road, the haystack, the park bei ch, the kitchen door, the bitter j round of eleemosynary beds-with shower-bath-attachment, the petty pickings and ignobly garnered larg ess?* of groat citites?these forme I the chapters of his history. Fuzzy walked toward the river, down the street that bounded one aulo of the Millionaire's house and gro inds. He saw a leg of Betsy, tho lost rag-doll, protruding, like the clr i to I. Liliputian murder mystery, fro: its untimely grave in a corner of the fence. He dragged forth the maltreat ed Infant, tucked it under his arm, and went on his way crooning a song of his brethren that no doll that has | been brought up to the sheltered life ; should hear. Well for Betsy that she 1 had no ears. And well that she had j no eyes save unseeing circles of h'ark, for the faces of Fuzzy and the Sec cb terrier were those of brothers, j and the heart of no rag-doll could j withstand twice to become the prey ' of such fearsome monsters. Though you may not know it, Oro gan's saloon stands near the river and near the foot of the street down which Fuzzy traveled. In Grogan's, Christmas cheer was already rampant. Fuzzy entered with his doll. He fan cled that as a mummer at the feast of Saturn ho might earn a f3w drops from the WlSOatt cup. He set Bett y on the bar and ad dressed her loudly and humorously, seasoning his speech with exaggerat ed compliments and endearments, as one entertaining his lady friend. The loafers an 1 bibbers around caught the farce of It, and roared. The barton der gave Fuzzy a Irink. Oh, many of us carry rag-dolls. "One for the lady?" suggested Fuz? zy Impudently, and tucked another contribution to Art beneath his waiBt ggdjl lie began to seo possibilities in Itetsy. Ills first night had been a sue Visions of a vai.v!e\lib* riroutl about town dawned upon him. In a group near the stove sat 'Tig urn" McCai.hv, IPack Klley, and "One oar" Mike, well and unfavorably known In the tough ibOS trlU| district that blackened the |af| lank of the rti'er. They aajgggd a B< MrapapeT back and forth among themselves, The ItSSJ that ? ?? i 11 a blunt lor who was In the city W d ? day, re? eigner pointed out was an advertise? ment headed "One Hundred Dollars Reward." To earn It, one must re- > turn the rag-doll lost, strayed, or j stolen from the Millionaire s man- I sion. It seemed that grief still rav? aged, unchecked, in the bosom of the too faithful Child. Flip, the terrier, capered and shook his absurd whis? kers before her, powerless to distract. She walled for her Betsy in the faces of walking, talking, ma-ma-ing, and eye-closing French Mabelles and Vio? lettes. The advertisement wag a last resort. Black Riley came from behind the stove and approached Fuzzy in his one-sided, parabolic way. The Christmas mummer, flushed with success, had tucked Betsy under his arm, and was about to depart to the filling of impromptu dates else? where. "Say, 'Bo," said Black Riley to tim, "where did you cop out dat doll?" j "This doli?" asked Frizzy, touching Betsy with his forefinger to be sure that she was the one referred to. "Why, this doll was presented to me by the Emperor of Beloochistan. I have seven hundred others in my country home in Newport This doll-" "Cheese the funny business," said Riley. "You swiped it or picked it up at de house on de hill where?but never mind dat. You want to take fifty cents for de rage, and take it quick. Me brother's kid at home might be wantin' to play wid it Hey ?what?" He produced the coin. Fuzzy laughed a gurgling, insolent, alcoholic laugh In his face. Go to the office of Sarah Bernhardts manager and propose to him that she be re? leased from a night's performance to entertain the Tackytown Lyceum and Literary Coterie. You will hear the duplicate of Fuzzy's lauch. Black Riley gauged Fuzzy quickly with his blueberry eye as a wrestler does. His hand was itching to play the Roman and wrest the rag Sabine from the extemporaneous merry-an drew who was entertaining an angel unaware. But he refrained. Fuzzy was fat and solid and big. Three inches of well-nourished corporeity, defended from the winter winds by dingy linen, intervened between his vest and trousers. Countless small, circular wrinkles running around his coat-sleeves and knees guaranteed the quality of bis bone and muscle. His small, blue eyes, bathed in the moisture of altruism and woozlness, looked upon you kindly yet without abashment. He was whiskerly, whis kyly, fleshlly formidable. So, Black Riley temporized. "Wrot'll you take for it, den?" he asked. "Money," said Fuzzy, with husky firmness, "cannot buy her." He was intoxicated with the artist's first sweet cup of attainment To se' 'Money," Said Fuzzy With Husky Firmness, "Cannot Buy Her." a faded blue, earth-stained rag-doll on a bar, to hold mimic converse with It, and to find his heart leaping with the senso of plaudits earned and his throat scorching with free llbntion? poured in his honor?could base coin buy him from such achievements Von will perceive that Fuzzy had the tomp< rament Fuzzy walked out with the gait of a trained sea lion in search of other rates to conquer. Though the dusk of twilight was hardly yst Apparent, llghta were begin? ning to spangle the city like pop-corn bursting in a deep iklllst Christmas eve, impatiently expsctsd, was pex p lug over ths brink of ths hour. Mil Horn had on pared for its celebration. Town: WOtlld be fainted red. You yourself, huve hoard ths horns snd dodged the capon i 1 ths Baturnallans, "Pigeon" McCarthy, Blsck Riley, ports ha fing t negro man and "One ear" Mike held a hasty con? verse outside Grogan's. They were narrow-chested, pallid striplings, not lighters in the open, but more danger- i ous in their ways of warfare than the I most terrible of Turks. Fuzzy, in a 1 pitched battle, could have eaten the three of them. In a go-as-you-please encounter he was already doomed. They overtook him just as he and Betsy were entering Costigan's Ca? sino. They deflected him, and shoved the newspaper under his nose. Fuzzy could read?and more. "Boys," said he, "you are certaln'.y damn true friends. Give me a week to think it over." The soul of a real artist is quenched with difficulty. The boys carefully pointed out to him that advertisements were soul Fuzzy Entered the Millionaire's Gate and Zigzagged^foward thr Softly Glowing Evidence of the Mansion. less and the deficiencies of the day might not be supplied by the morrow. "A cool hundred," said Fuzzy thoughtfully and mushily. "Boys," said he, "you are true friends. I'll go up and claim the re? ward. TLo allow business is not what it used to be." Nlgfct v-as falling more surely. The three tagged at his sides to the foot of the rise on winch stood the Mil? lionaire's house. There Fuzzy turned upon them acrimoniously. "You are a pack of putty faced bf ugle-hounds," he roared. "Go away." They went away?a little way. In Pigeon McCarthy's pocket was a section of two inch gas-pipe eight j inches long. In one end of it and in ' the middle of it was a lead plug. One-1 i !f of it w as packed tight with solder. \ Riley carried a slung-shot, being a volitional thug. "One-ear" Mike r u] a pair of brass knucks? | an helrlo a in the family. "Why . 1 :h and carry," said ^ack Riley, '*wh< a some one will do U for | ys? Let hiffl bring it. out to us. Hey | ?what." j "We can chuck him in the river," said "Pigeon" McCarthy, "with a stono tied to his feet." "Touse guys make me tired," said "One-car" Mike sadly. "Ain't rog ress ever appealed to none of yez? Sprinkle a little gasoline on In, and drop 'im on the Drive?well?" Fuzzy entered the Millionaire's gate and zigzagged toward the soltly plowing entrance of the mansion. The 1 three goblins came up to the gate and j lingered?one on each side of it, one beyond the roadway. They Angered I tiieir cold metal and leather, confi? dent. Fuzzy rang the door bell, smiling foolishly and dreamily. An atavistic j Instinct prompted him to reach for th< button of his right glove. But he wore no gloves; bo his left hand drop pedi embarrassed. The particular menial whose dut it was to open doors to silks andja< < .? niea at nisi si^ni or mizzy. UUt a 1 j second glance took in his passport, I ' his card of admission, his surety ol welcome?the lost rag-doll of the daughter Of the house dangling under l.is arm. Fuzzy was admitted into a great hall, dim with the glow from unseen lights. The hireling went away and returned with a maid and the Child. The doll was restored to the mourn ing one. sn?- claspe l her i?>sd darling in hei breast; and then, with the In ordinate selfishness and candor of childhood, stamped her foot and whined hatred and fear of the odious b( Ing who had rescued her from the depths ?>f ?.orrow and despair. Puszy wriggled himself Into ar IngTatJatory attitude and essayed the l***otl< sm :md blatter nnll ! pose'- to i "in to for him who has gathered anywher of the young. The Child bawled, and wps C-agged away, hugging her Betsy close. There came the Secretary, pale, poised, polished, gliding in pumps, and worshipping pomp and ceremony. He counted out into Fuzzy's hand ten ten-dollar bills; then dropped his eye upon the door, transferred it to James, its custodian, indicated the obnoxiou.s ?-arner of the reward with the other, and allowed bis pumps to waft him away to secretarial regions. When the money touched Fuzzy's dingy palm his first instinct was to take to his heels; but a second thought restrained him from that blunder of etiquette. It was his; It had been given him. It?and, oh, what an elysium it opened to the gaze of hi" mind's eye! He had tumbled to the foot of the ladder; he was hun? gry, homeless, friendless, ragged, cold, drifting; and he held in his hand the key to a paradise of the mud-honey that he craved. The fairy doll had waved a wand with her rag-stuffed hand; and now wherever he might go j the enchanted palaces with shining foot-rests and magic red fluids inj gleaming glassware would be open to him. He followed James to the door. He paused there as the flunky drew open the great mahogany portal for him to pass into the vestibule. Beyond the wrought-iron gates In the dark highway Black Riley and hla two pals casually strolled, finger in c under their coats the inevitably fatal weapons that were to make the re? ward of the rag-doll theirs. Fuzzy stopped at the Millionaire's door and bet! ought himself. Like lit? tle sprigs of mistletoe on a dead tree, certain living green thoughts and memories began to decorate his con? fused mind. He was qaite drunk, mind you, and the present was begin? ning to fade. Those wreaths and fes? toons of holly with their scarlet bei ries making the great hall gay? where had he seen such things be? fore? Somewhere he had known pol? ished floors and odors of fresh flowers in winter, and?and some one was singing a song in the house that he thought he had heard before. Some one ringing and playing a harp. Of course it was Christmas?Fuzzy thought he must have been pretty drunk to have overlooked that. And then be went out of the pres? ent, and there came back to him out of some Impossible, vanished and ir? revocable past a little, pure-white, transient, forgotten ghost?the spirit of noblesse oblige. Upon a gentleman certain things devolve. James opened the outer door. A stream of light went down the grav? eled walk to the iron gate. .Black Riley, McCarthy and One-ear Mike saw, and carelessly drew their sinister cordon closer about the gate. With a more imperious gesture than James' master had ever used or could ever use, Fuzzy compelled the menial "It Is Cust?customary When a Gen? tleman Calls on Christmas Eve to Pass the Compliments of the Sea? son With the Lady of the House." co clcse the door. Upon a gentleman certain things devolve. Especially at the Christinas season. "It is cust?customary," he said to James, the flustered, "When a gentle? man calls on Christinas eve to pass the compliments of the season with the lady of the l.ouse. You und'stand? 1 thall not move shtep till I pass com pl'menta season with lady the house. Und'stand?" There was an argument. James lost. Fuzzy raised his voted and sent It through the house unpleasantly. 1 did not say he was a gentleman. He was simply a tramp being visited by a ghost \ 1 liver I 'arg .lames ; \ ng Fuzzy from 850 to 150 pounda of cotton 10 the hall. Jamea explained some? where to some one. Then ne came and conducted Fuzzy ; into the library. The lady entered a moment later. I She was more beautiful and holy than any picture that Fuzzy had seen. She smiled, and said something about a doU. Fuzzy didn't understand that; i he remembered nothing at all about j a doli. I A footman brought in two small I glasses o" sparkling wine on a stamped sterling-silver waiter. The lady took one. The other was handed to Fuzzy. As his fingers closed on the slender glass stem his disabilities dropped from him for one brief moment. He straightened himself; and Time, so disobliging to most of us, turnea back? ward for a moment to accommodate Fuzzy. I Forgotten Christmas ghosts whiter I than the false beards of the most epu lent Kriss Kringle were rising in the fumes of Grogan's whisky. What had I "Comp'ments Sheason With Lady Thf House." the millionaire's mansion to do with a 1 long, wainscoted Virginia hall, where the riders were grouped around a ail* ver punch bowl, drinking the ancient toast of the house? And why should the patter of the cab horses' hoofs on the frozen street be in any wise re? lated to the sound of the saddled hunt* ers stamping under the shelter of the west veranda? And what had Fuzzy to do wit'.i any-of it? 1 The lady, looking at him over her glass, let her condescending smile fade away like a false dawn. Her eyes turned serious. She saw some? thing beneath the rags and Scotch tor* I rier whiskers that she did not under* I stand. But it did not matter. j Fuzzy lifted his glass and smiled , vacantly. "P-pardon, lady," he said, "but i couldn't leave without exchangin' comp'ments sheason with lady th* house. 'Gainst principles gen'leman do sho." I And then he began the ancient salu* I tation that was a tradition in the ! house when men wore lace ruffles and powder. ? I "The?the blessings of another year?" Fuzzy's memory failed him. The lady prompted: "?Be upon this hearth." "?The guest?" stammered Fuz*y, "?And upon her who?" continued the lady, with a leading smile. "Oh, cut it out," said Fuziy, ill uianneredly. "I can't remember. Drink hearty." Fuzzy had shot his arrow. They drank. The lady smiled again the j smile of her caste. James enveloped Fuzzy and re-conducted him toward I the front door. The harp music still I softly drifted through the house. Outside, Black Riley breathed on j his cold hands and hugged the gate. I Cold though he was, he did not think ot deserting his post while Fuzzy re* 1 n:allied inside. j "I wonder," said the lady to herself, musing, "who?but there were so many who came. I wonder whether memory is a curse or a blessing to thom alter they have fallen so low." Fuzzy and his escort were nearly at the door when the lady called: "James!" Jam-s stalked back obsequiously, leaving Fuzzy waiting unsteadily, with his brU I Spark of the divine tire en? tire ly gone. - Outside, Black Riley stamped his cold feel and got a tinner grip on his section of gas ripe. ? You will conduct this gentleman." said the lady, "down-stairs. Then tell Louis to get out the Mercedes and take him to whatever place he wishes to go." ov< ry good day that he p < ked>