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Ruth's Christmas by Abbe Philip's Walker one. There was just one thing that Ruth

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wanted for Christmas, and that was
a mother. Her father had smiled and

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then had looked sad when she told
him, Daddy, I want a mother

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for a Christmas present. One just
like the children in the next house have.

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She tucks them in bed at night, and she tells them stories.

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I can see her from my window. I hide behind the curtains after nurse

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puts me to bed and watch,
and sometimes when the windows are open,

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I can see her telling them stories. Won't you, please, Daddy,

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dear, give me a mother for
a Christmas present? Mothers are not easy

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to get, her father explained.
But Daddy, you are rich and you

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can buy anything. I heard Nurse
tew COOKI were, said Ruth. Mothers

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can't cost so much for lots of
poor children have them. You'd try and

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think of something else, said her
father. I can't explain, But a

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mother is something you cannot buy,
can't you? Asked Ruth. Then,

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how do children get mothers? Do
they find them? Yes? I think

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they do, said her father,
glad to end the questioning. This,

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however, did not end Ruth's thinking. Or wishing for a mother for her

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Christmas present. And one day,
when the nurse was busy talking with cook

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in the kitchen, Ruth slipped out
of the door to look for a mother.

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A long long distance she walked,
and by and by she came to

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a house with flowers growing in little
brown pots in the window. Ruth stopped

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and opened the gate to the yard
and walked in. She did not see

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a button to push, and as
that was the only kind she knew about,

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made a bell ring, she did
the next best thing. She turned

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the knob of the door. The
door swung open, and then some one

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opened the door in the hall,
and Ruth saw a sweet faced lady standing

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there. She was not quite as
young as Ruth had pictured the mother she

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wanted should be, but still she
liked her face. I haven't any mother,

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I am looking for one, said
Ruth. Between the bites and drinks.

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Daddy said he couldn't buy me one. That children found their mothers.

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The pretty lady laughed, and then
she hugged Ruth closer to her. But

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tell me where you live, dear. Your father will be worried. He

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will think you are lost. She
said, I live in a big house

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very much bigger than this, said
Ruth. But it is not so pretty

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inside. We haven't any flowers growing
in little bowls like yours. Can you

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tell me a story? Yes,
baby, I can tell you a story,

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said the pretty lady. And I
will if you will tell me your

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daddy's name so we can find him. Oh, his name is just daddy,

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said Ruth. But what do other
people call him, asked the lady.

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Nurse calls him sir, and so
does James, said Ruth. Please

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tell me a story. Are you
anybody's mother, she asked, looking alarmed.

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Oh, dear, no, laughed
the pretty lady. Then it is

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all right if you can tell a
story, said Ruth. What is all

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right, dear, asked the pretty
lady. Why you are my Christmas present?

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Said Ruth. You can be my
mother, can't you. You don't

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belong to anybody else. Ruth snuggled
close, and the pretty lady began to

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tell Once upon a Time, and
soon Ruth was sound asleep in the pretty

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lady's arms. When Ruth awoke,
the pretty lady still held her, and,

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for fear it all might be a
dream, Ruth kept her eyes closed

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and lay very still. The pretty
lady was talking to her mother. Don't

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you worry, mother, dear,
She was saying, I'll find work somewhere.

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I know some one must need me, or I would not be in

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need of work. But you will
not have any Christmas at all, my

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dear, and I can't bear to
think that I cannot give you a present

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or cook your Christmas dinner, said
the sweet faced lady. There is just

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one way we can have a dinner. I have the pearl earrings, your

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father's last gift to me, and
I had always thought of you wearing them

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on your wedding day. We will
sell them and then we can have a

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dinner and have some money left.
It can't be done, mother, darling,

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said the pretty lady, and Ruth
felt her sob as she tried to

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keep from crying. There are no
stores open where we could sell them.

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It is too late in the day. Now, don't you worry about me.

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We will have the nicest dinner to
morrow, you ever ate. I'll

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make a salad of what we have, and we will have popcorn, and

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I think we can have some fudge. But mother, we must find the

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father of this baby. And how
are we going about it? She does

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not know where she lives. Ruth
had opened her eyes now, for she

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felt somehow her new friends were in
trouble. Though, why so prettier lady

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should want to find work, Ruth
could not think. I'll show you where

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I live, said Ruth. You
pack your trunk and call for the car

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and we will go home. Now
I have found a mother. We will

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take the trunk. Later, said
the pretty lady, laughing, And I

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am afraid, Ruth, dear,
we will have to walk. You see,

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I have no car. Just then
Ruth looked out of the window.

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Oh there is my daddy, she
cried, running to the door. Daddy,

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Daddy, she called, come in
here. I have found a mother.

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The pretty lady's cheeks grew pink and
then red. Don't tell him about

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that, she said to Ruth.
We'll keep it a secret. Ruth's father

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soon had her in his arms and
was asking how she came to be so

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far from home, And the pretty
lady and her mother told him how Ruth

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had come to the door, and
that they could not find out who she

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was or where she lived. And
so miss Mary and I were going to

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walk home when I saw you,
said Ruth. And she is going to

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bring her trunk after a while.
Oh yes, I had to tell her

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that to satisfy her, explained miss
Mary. She wanted me to come to

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live at her house. Daddy.
They had no car, said Ruth.

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And miss Mary wants to go to
work. Miss Mary's face grew red again,

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and this time the face of the
mother flushed. It is true,

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I do need work, said the
pretty lady, but as yet I have

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not found any one who wanted such
work as I can do. Perhaps I

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can help you, said Ruth's father. What sort of work can you do?

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I thought of office work and bookkeeping. I wanted to teach, but

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there is no opening at present,
said miss Mary. Why not teach Ruth?

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I shall have to look for some
one next here anyway, and you

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too could be getting acquainted before that
time, said Ruth's father. But my

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mother I could not leave her alone. I should I have to go home

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at night, said miss Mary.
Daddy. Miss Mary can tell stories just

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like a mother, said Ruth.
I wanted to tuck me in at night,

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just like the mother in the next
house does. They all laughed at

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this, and Ruth's father said,
I guess we can arrange that by taking

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your mother along too. I need
a housekeeper the very worst way. Before

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Ruth and her father left that afternoon, it was arranged that miss Mary and

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her mother should take Christmas dinner with
them the next day. But before it

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was time for them to come,
a big box was left at the door,

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and in it were two nice coats
with fur collars, gifts from Ruth

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to miss Mary and her mother.
On the way home, Ruth had told

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her father all she had heard when
miss Mary and her mother were talking,

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and about the shabby coat miss Mary
had worn. Although it was hard work

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for miss Mary to keep Ruth from
talking about a mother by making Ruth think

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it was their secret and that she
must not tell. Her father heard only

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of the secret that she and miss
Mary had. But one day he asked

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about this wonderful secret, and Ruth
told him she wanted miss Mary for her

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mother, that she had found her. He told her children found their mothers,

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and why couldn't she have miss Mary
for hers? Go ask her and

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see what she says, said her
father, And so Ruth did, and

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her father came into the room just
as she finished the question, what is

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your answer? Asked Ruth's father.
Miss Mary turned pink and then her cheeks

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grew red, and Ruth said,
you're my mother, aren't you. Miss

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Mary. I found you and Daddy
told me that was the way children got

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them. Please miss Mary say yes, yes, please do Mary, said

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Ruth's father, and Miss Mary said, well as you both urge me,

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so I will say yes. And
then Ruth's father kissed Miss Mary and Ruth

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and Ruth kissed Miss Mary and they
all lived happy ever after. End of

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Ruth's Christmas by Abbe Philip's Walker