The Christmas Story from David Harum

corner of the fire, and David

t made ye liable to no disorderly co

Dave Harum, if you did send me this here note-but I s'pose ye know your own bus'nis," she added with a sigh of resignation. "I ben fearin' fer a good while 't I couldn't

ithout further delay' (John's eye caught the little white stocking which still lay on his desk)-'wa'al, yes, that's about what I told Mr. Lenox to say fur's the bus'nis part's concerned-I migh

there was a hiss in the open fire. Mr

et, let alone the int'rist, an' it's ben simply a question o' time, an' who'd git the prop'ty in the long run fer some years. I reckoned, same as you did, that Charley 'd mebbe come to the front-but he hain't done

feeble admission that s

t myself or not, I didn't cal'late he sh'd git it anyway. He put a spoke in my wheel once, an' I hain't forgot it. But that hain't neither here nor there

d, so fur," said

pell longer if I c'd see any use in't. But the' ain't, an' so I ast ye to come up this mornin' so 't we c'd settle the thing up without no fuss, nor trouble, nor lawyer's f

poor woman in a tone of hopeless discouragement, "an' I m

before we git down to bus'nis an' signin' papers, an' in order to set myself

's I know of," acquiesc

ever got raised 's more 'n I c'n tell ye. My sister Polly was 'sponsible more 'n any one, I guess, an' the only one o' the whole lot that ever gin me a decent word. Small farmin' ain't cal'lated to fetch out the best traits of human nature-an' keep 'em out-an' it seems to me sometimes that when the old man wa'n't cuffin' my ears he was lickin' me with a rawhide or a strap. Fur 's that was concerned, all his boys used to ketch it putty reg'lar till they got too big. One on 'em up an' licked him one night, an' lit out next day. I s'pose the old man's disposition was sp'iled by what some feller said farmin' was, 'workin' all day, an' doin' cho

walk to git there. As fur 's clo'es was concerned, any old thing that 'd hang together was good enough fer me; but by the time the older boys had outgrowed their duds, an' they was passed on to me, the' wa'n't much left on 'em. A pair of old cowhide boots that leaked in more snow an' water 'n the

of the fire, and then discovering to his apparent surprise that his

ullom with an air of being expected to ma

es shirked onto me. That was the reg'lar order o' things; but I remember I never did git used to never pleasin' nobody. Course I didn't expect nothin' f'm my step-marm, an' the only way I ever knowed I'd done my stent fur 's father was concerned, was that he didn't say nothin'. But sometimes the older one's 'd git settin' 'round, talkin' an' laughin', havin' pop corn an' apples, an' that, an' I'

ty blasts, whirling the drift against the windows, a wintry g

Harum,

tle most on us gits o' them. I hain't ben to meetin' fer a long spell 'cause I hain't had no fit clo'es, but I remember most of the preachin' I've set under either dwelt on the wrath to come, or else on the Lord's doin' a

oft prevail,' as the hymnbook says, an' I reckon it's a sight easier to have faith on meat an' pota

, but nobody 'd suppose to see ye now that ye w

er twelve, at cetery, an' so forth. Wa'al, I hadn't no more idee o' goin' to that cirkis 'n I had o' flyin' to the moon, but the night before the show somethin' waked me 'bout twelve o'clock. I don't know how 't was. I'd ben helpin' mend fence all day, an' gen'ally I never knowed nothin' after my head struck the bed till mornin'. But that night, anyhow, somethin' waked me, an' I went an' looked out the windo', an' there was the hull thing goin' by the house. The' was more or less moon, an' I see the el'phant, an' the big wagins-the drivers kind o' noddin' over the dashboards-an' the chariots with canvas covers-I don't know how many of 'em-an' the cages of the tigers an' lions, an' all. Wa'al, I got up the next mornin' at sun-up an' done my chores; an' after breakfust I set off fer the ten-acre lot where I was mendin' fence. The ten-acre was the farth

oon the percession hove in sight, an' the' was a reg'lar stampede among the boys, an' when it got by, I run an' ketched up with it agin, an' walked alongside the el'phant, tin pail an' all, till they fetched up inside the tent. Then I went off to one side-it must 'a' ben about 'leven or half-past, an' eat my dinner-I had a devourin' appetite-an' thought I'd jes' walk round a spell, an' then light out fer home. But the' was so many things to see an' hear-all the side-show pictures of Fat Women, an' Livin' Skel

s jes' thinkin' of a circus I went to

an' watchin' the folks git their tickets, when all of a suddin I felt a twitch at my hair-it had a way of workin' out of the holes in my old chip straw hat-an' somebody says to me, 'Wa'al, sonny, what you thinkin' of?'

g. The woman started forward facing him, and claspi

tons, an' a double-breasted plaid velvet vest, an' pearl-gray pants, strapped down over his boots, which was of shiny leather, an' a h

e broke out breathlessly, "Oh, yes! Oh, yes! David, he wore them very same clo'es, an' he took me to that very same show that very sa

ke the silence. As David had conjectured, she was interested at

"ain't ye goin' on? W

he said, 'What be you thinkin' about, sonny?' I looked up at him, an' looked away quick. 'I dunno,' I says, diggin' my big toe into the dust; an' then, I

in' to the cir

I says, rubbin' the dusty toes o' one foot

'why don't you craw

t go in same 's other folks, I'll stay out,' I says, lookin' square at him fer the fust tim

I can remember that look; jest as if he was laughin' at ye

ympathy, and rubbed his bald

nterjected

I dunno,' I says. But I guess he seen in my face what my feelin's was, fer he kind o' laughed an' pulled out half-a-dollar an' says: 'D' you think you could git a couple o' tickits in that crowd? If you kin, I think I'll go myself, but I don't want to git my boots all dust,' he says. I allowed I c'd try; an' I guess them bare feet o' mine tore up the dust some gettin' over to the wagin. Wa'al, I had another scare gettin' the tickits, fer fear some one that knowed

n' with yo

an' gold pin, an' thought of my ragged ole shirt, an' cotton pants, an' ole chip hat with the brim most gone, an' my tin pail an' all. 'I ain't fit to,' I says, ready to cry-an'-wa'al, he jes'

hat was!" said

am, I reckon it was,"

le, an' we two seen the hull show, I tell ye. We walked 'round the cages, an' we fed the el'phant-that is, he bought the stuff an' I fed