The Christmas Story from David Harum

out, and she was back in the days of her girlhood. Ah, yes! how well she remembered him as he looked that very day-so handsome, so sp

that Billy P. give me, but he wouldn't let me buy nothin'; an' when the gingerbread man come along he says, 'Air ye hungry, Dave? (I'd told him my name), air ye hungry?' Wa'al, I was a growin' boy, an' I was hungry putty much all the time. He boug

ght he was jes' made o' money! An' I remember how we talked about all the doin's; the ridin', an' jumpin', an' summersettin', an' all-fer he'd got all the shyniss out of me for the time-an' once I looked up

ike that. Oh, my! Oh, my! David," she added solemnly, while two tears rolled slowly down her wrink

e, which operation kept his face out of her sight and was prolonged rather undu

pshot was that I lost sight o' Billy P., an' couldn't make out to ketch a glimpse of him nowhere. An' then I kind o' come down to earth, kerchug! It was five o'clock, an' I had better 'n four mile to walk-mostly up hill-an' if

ch?" inquired Mrs.

se to try the back door, an' he took me by the ear-most pulled it off-an' marched me off to the barn shed without a

the villag

up to down th

ys, thinkin' I might 's wel

u git the mon

om took me

money somewheres, an' I'll trounce i

fore he was. Fact was, he overdone it a little, an' he had to throw water in my face 'fore he got through; an' he done that as thorough as the other thing.

laimed Mrs. Cullom sympathetic

n' I hain't never fergot it. I got over the lickin' in course of time, but I've ben enjoyin' that cirkis fer forty year. The' wa'n't but one thing to hender, an' that

t?" asked

with what duds I c'd git together, an' as much grub 's I could pack in that tin pail; an'

and stood with his back to the fire. The widow looked up anx

have a little confab on your matters, seem' 't I've got you 'way up here such a mornin' 's this. I gen'

heir identity, and then held them in one hand, tapping them softly upon the palm of the other, as if at a loss how to begin

ose the matter up, an' seem' 't you're here an' come fer that purpose, I guess we

e as you say," said the

e got ahead some, it's got to be second nature, an' I can't seem to help it. 'Bus'nis is bus'nis' ain't part of the golden rule, I allow, but the way it gen'ally runs, fur 's I've found out, is, 'Do unto the other feller the way

gin the day o' wrath. I can't pay the int'rist now without starvin', an

I may say that I'm the only person that ever was really knowin' to it. It was before you was married, an' I'm sure he never told ye, fer I don't doubt he fergot all about it, but your husband, Billy P. Cullom, that was, made a small investment once on a time, yes, ma'am, h

Harum,

in the cirkis bus'nis, an' the rest on't-the cap'tal, an' all the cash cap'tal that I started in bus'nis with-was the ten cents your husband give me that day, an' here," said David, striking the papers in his left hand with the back of his right, "here

's true! You ain't foolin' me, air ye, Dave? You wouldn't fool a poor old woman that never done ye no harm, nor said a mean word agin ye, would ye? Is it true? an' is my place clear? an' I don't owe nobody anythin'-I mean, no money? Tell it agin. Oh, tell it agin

his hands on her shoulders and gently pushing her back into her chair. "Set r

who sat wiping her eyes

n't ye? than I'd-jerk a hoss," he asseverated. "Your place is clear now, an' by this time to-morro' the' wo

he widow, "I s'pose ye k

to know. I'm payin' off an old score, an' gettin' off cheap, too. That's what I'm doin'! I thought I'd h

d in his trousers pocket, and holding in the other the

Harum,

me, nor a day's fun. Your husband, Billy P. Cullom, was the fust man that ever treated me human up to that time. He give me the only enjoy'ble time 't I'd ever had, an' I don't know 't anythin' 's ever equaled it since. He spent money on me, an' he give me money to spend-that had never had a cent to call my own-an', Mis' Cullom, he took me by the hand, an' he talked to me, an' he gin me the fust notion 't I'd ever had that mebbe I wa'n't only the scum o' the earth, as I'd

Dave," said Mrs

" assented Davi

ter-I don't know how-but I'll pray fer ye night an' mornin' 's long 's I got breath. An

and then exclaimed, "Oh, it don't seem

n' to draw on me fer any balance he needed to move him. I've got somethin' in my eye

ow, rising to her feet, "yo

," he added, "'s we've got through 'th our bus'nis, s'pose you step over to the house an' see Polly. She's expectin' ye to dinner. Oh, yes," replying to the look of deprec

ike ter," sai

e ye later. Oh, by the way," he exclaimed, "the's somethin' I fergot. I want to make you a pro

d, an' you ast for it, I'd give ye any

's you got the int'rist of that investment we ben talkin' about, you

im with a puzzled expre

it, extracted something enveloped in a much faded brown paper. Unfolding t

he cap'tal