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Speaker 1: Christmas on Wheels by Willis Boyd Allen One. A railroad

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station in a large city is hardly an inviting spot

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at its best. But at the close of a cheerless,

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blustering December day, when biting drafts of wind comes scurrying

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in at every open door, filling the air with a

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gray compound of dust and fine snow, When passengers tramp

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up and down the long platform waiting impatiently for their trains,

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When newsboys wander about with disconsolate red faces, hands in pockets,

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and bundles of unsold papers under their ragged and shivering arms,

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When in general human kind presents itself as altogether a frozen, forlorn,

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discouraged and hopeless race, condemned to be swept about on

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the nipping, dusty wind like Francesca and her lover at

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the rate of thirty miles an hour, then the station

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becomes positively unendurable, So thought Bob Estebook, as he paced

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to and fro in the Boston and Albany Depot, traveling

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bag in hand, on just such a night, as I

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had described. Beside him, locomotives puffed and plunged and backed

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on the shining rails, as if they too felt compelled

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to trot up and down to keep themselves warm and

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an even tolerably good humor. Just my luck, growled Bob

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with a misanthropic glare at a loud voiced family who

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were passing Christmas coming two jolly brighton parties and an

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oratorio thrown up. And here I am, I fired off

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to San Francisco. So much for being junior member of

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a law firm. Wonder what here? The ruffled current of

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his meditations ran plump against a rock, and as suddenly

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diverged from its former course, the rock was no less

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than a young person, who at that moment approached with

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a gray haired man and inquired the way to the

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ticket office just beyond the waiting room on the right,

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replied Bob, pointing to the office and lifting his hat

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courteously in response to the lady's question. He watched them

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with growing interest as they followed his directions and stood

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before the lighted window. The two silhouettes were decidedly out

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of the common. The voice, whose delicate tones still lingered

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pleasantly about mister Robert Esterbrook's fastidious ears, was an individual

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voice as distinguishable from any other, he remembered, as was

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the owner's bright face, the little fur collar beneath it,

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the daintily gloved hands, and the pretty brown traveling suit.

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Dignified old fellow, mused bob irrelevantly, as the couple moved

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toward the train gates. Probably her father, perhaps s loo

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by George. They're going on my car, with which breath

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of summer in his winter of discontent. The young man

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proceeded to finish his cigar, consult his watch, and as

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the last warning bell rang, step upon the platform of

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the already moving pullman. It must be admitted that as

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he entered, he gave an expectant glance down the aisle

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of the car, but the somber curtains hanging from ceiling

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to floor told no tales. Too sleepy to speculate, and

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too learned in the marvelous acoustic properties of a sleeping

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car to engage the porter in conversation on the subject,

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he found his berth, arranged himself for the night with

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the nonchalance of an old traveler, and, laying his head

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upon his vibrating atom of a pillow, was soon plunged

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into a dream. At least fifty miles long. Two it

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was snowing, and snowing hard. Moreover, it had been snowing

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all night and all the afternoon before. The wind rioted

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furiously over the broad Missouri Plains, alternately building up huge

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castles of snow and throwing them down again, like a

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fretful child, overtaking the belated teamster on his homeward journey,

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clutching him with its icy hand, and leaving him buried

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in a tomb, spotless as the fairest marble, howling, shrieking,

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racing madly to and fro never out of breath, always

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the same, tireless, pitiless, awful power. Rocks, fields, sometimes even forests,

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were blotted out of the landscape. A mere hyphen upon

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the broad white page lay the western bound train, held

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fast by the soft but firm hand. The fires in

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the locomotion motives there were two of them, had been

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suffered to go out. The fuel in the tenders was exhausted,

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and the great creatures waited silently together, left alone in

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the storm, while the snow drifted higher and higher upon

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their patient backs. When Bob had waked that morning to

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find the tempest more furious than ever, and the train

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stuck fast in a huge snow bank. His first thought

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was of dismay at the possible detention in the narrow

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limits of the pullman, which seemed much colder than it

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had before. His next was to wonder how the change

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of fortune would affect Gertrude Raymond. Of course, he had

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long ago become acquainted with the brown traveling suit and

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fur collar. Of course, there had been numerous little services

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for him to perform for her, and the old gentleman

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who had indeed proved to be her father, Bob, had

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already begun to dread the end of the journey. He

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had gone to his berth the night before wishing that

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San Francisco were ten days from Boston instead of six.

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Providence having taken him at his word and indicated that

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the journey would be of at least that duration, if

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not more, he was disposed, like no few of his

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fellow mortals, to grumble once more. He became misanthropic. There's

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miss Raymond, now, he growled to himself, knocking his head

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savagely against the upper berth in his attempt to look

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out through the frosty pane. Sitting over against the aisle,

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day after day with her kid gloves and all that.

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Nice enough, of course, recalling one or two spirited conversations

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where ours had slipped by like minutes, but confoundedly useless

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like the rest of them. If she were like mother

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now there'd be no trouble. She'd take care of herself.

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But as it is, the whole car will be turned

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upside down for her to day, for fear she'll freeze

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or starve, or spoil her complexion or something. Here, Bob

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turned an extremely cold shoulder on the window, and, having

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performed a sort of horizontal toilette, emerged from his berth,

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his hair on end, and his face expressive of utter

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defiance to the world in general, and contempt of fashionable

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young ladies in particular. At that moment, Miss Raymond appeared

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in the aisle, sweet and rosy as a June morning,

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her cheeks glowing and her eyes sparkling with fun. Good morning,

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mister Esterbrook, she said, demurely, settling the fur collar about

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her neck. Bob endeavored to look dignified and was conscious

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of failure. Good morning, he replied, with some stiffness and

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a shiver, which took him by surprise. It was cold

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jumping out of that warm berth. I understand we must stay,

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but don't let me detain you, she added, with a

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sly glance at his hair. Bob turned and marched off

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solemnly to the masculine end of the car, washed in

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ice water, completed his toilette, and came back refreshed. Breakfast

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was formerly served as usual, and then a council of

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war was held, conductor engineers and brakemen being consulted and

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inventories taken. It was found that while food was abundant,

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the stock of wood in the bends would not last

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till noon. There were twelve railroad men and thirty five

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passengers on board, some twenty of the latter being immigrants

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in a second class. Behind the two pullmans. The little

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company gathered in the snow bound car looked blankly at

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each other, some of them instinctively drawing their wraps more

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tightly about their shoulders, as if they already felt the

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approaching chill. It was miles to the nearest station in

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eye the direction above below on all sides was the

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white blur of tumultuous wind lashed snow. The silence was

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broken pleasantly once more Bob felt the power of those clear,

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sweet tones. The men must make up a party to

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hunt for wood, she said, while you're gone, we women

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will do what we can for those who are left.

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The necessity for immediate action was evident, and without further words,

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the council broke up to obey her suggestion. A dozen men,

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looking like amateur esquimaux and floundering up to their arm

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pits at the first step, started off through the drifts.

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One of the trainmen, who knew the line of the

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road thoroughly, was sure they must be near a certain

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clump of trees where plenty of wood could be obtained.

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Taking the precaution to move in single line, one of

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the engineers, a broad shouldered, sick footer, leading the way

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and steering by compass. They were soon out of sight

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as they struck off at right angles to the track.

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Bob thought he recognized a face pressed close to the

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pane and watching them anxiously, but he could not be sure.

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Two hours later the men appeared once more, some staggering

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under huge logs, some with axes, some with bundles of

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lighter boughs for kindling. In another five minutes, smoke was

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going up cheerily from the whole line of cars. For

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the trees had proved to be less than a quarter

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of a mile distant, and the supply would be plentiful

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before night. When Bob Esterbrook stamped into his own car,

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hugging up a big armful of wood, he was a

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different looking fellow from the trim young lawyer who was

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wont to stand before the jury seats in the Boston

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court House. He had on a pair of immense blue

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yarn mittens loaned by a kindly brakeman. His face was

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scratched with refractory twigs, his eyebrows were frosted, his mustache

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and icy carete. The average tramp might well have hesitated

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before acknowledging kinship with him. His eyes roved through the

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length of the car, as it had that first night

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in the depot. She was not there. He was as

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anxious as a boy for her praise. Guess I'll take

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it into the next car, he said apologetically to the

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nearest passengers. There's more coming just behind. She was not

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in the second pullman. Of course, she wasn't in the

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baggage car. Was it possible? He entered the third and

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last car recoiling just a bit at the odor of

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crowded and unclean poverty which met him at the door.

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Sure enough, there she sat, his idle, fashionable type of inutility,

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with one frowsy child upon the sad seat beside her,

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two very rumpled looking boys in front, and a baby

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with terra cotta hair in her arms. Somehow, the baby's

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hair against the fur collar didn't look so badly as

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you would expect either. She seemed to be singing it

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to sleep, and kept on with her soft crooning as

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she glanced up over the tangled red locks at snowy

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Bob and his armful of wood, with a look in

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her eyes that would have sent him cheerfully to Alaska

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for more, had there been need. A few seats off,

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I ought to say. Her father was talking kindly and

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earnestly to a rough looking man and his wife, the

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latter of whom wore the dear old gentleman's cloak. Fathers

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and daughters are apt to be pretty much alike in

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these things. You see three with the cheerful heat of

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the fires, the kind offices of nearly all the well

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dressed people to the poorer ones, For they were not

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slow these gloved pullman passengers to follow Miss Raymond's example.

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The day wore on quietly and not unpleasantly toward its close.

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Then someone suddenly remembered that it was Christmas Eve. Dear me,

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cried Miss Raymond, delightedly, reaching round the baby to clap

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her hands. Let's have a Christmas party. A few sighed

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and shook their heads as they thought of their own

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home firesides. One or two smiled indulgently on the small enthusiast.

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Several chimed in at once. Conductor and baggage master were consulted,

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and the spacious baggage car specially engaged for the occasion.

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The originator of this scheme triumphantly announced. Preparations commenced without delay.

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All the young people put their heads together in one corner,

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and many were the explosions of laughter. As the program grew,

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trunks were visited by their owners, and small articles abstracted

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their rum to serve as gifts for the emigrants and trainmen,

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to whose particular entertainment the evening was by common consent

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to be devoted. Just as the lamps were lighted in

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the train, our hero, who had disappeared early in the afternoon, returned,

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dragging after him a small stunted pine tree, which seemed

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to have strayed away from its native forest on purpose

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for the celebration on being admitted to the Grand Hall.

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Bob further added to the decorations a few strings of

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a queer mossy sort of evergreen. Hereupon, a very young

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man with light eyebrows, who had hitherto been inconspicuous, suddenly

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appeared from the depths of a battered trunk, over the

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edge of which he had for some time been bent

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like a siphon, and with a beaming face, produced a

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box of veritable tiny wax candles. He was on the road,

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he explained, for a large hole sale toy shop, and

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these were samples. He guessed he could make it all

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right with the firm. Of course, the affair was a

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great success. I have no space to tell of the

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sheltered walk that Bob constructed of rugs from car to car,

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of the beautified interior of the old baggage car, draped

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with shawls and brightened with bits of ribbon, of the

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mute wonder of the poor immigrants, a number of whom

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had but just arrived from Germany, and could not speak

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a word of English, of their unbounded delight when the

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glistening tree was disclosed, and the cries of via Nusbaum,

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Vinucksbaum from their rumpled children, whose faces waked into a

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glow of blissful recollection at the sight, Ah, if you

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could have seen the pretty gifts, the brave little pine,

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which all the managers agreed couldn't possibly have been used

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had it been an inch taller. The improvised tableaux, wherein

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Bob successively personated an organ grinder, a pug dog, and hamlet,

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amid thunders of applause from the brakemen and engineers. Then

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the passenger sang a simple Christmas Carol, Miss Raymond leading

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with her pure soprano, and Bob chiming in like the

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diapaesan of an organ. Just as the last words died away,

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a sudden hutch came over the audience. Could it be

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an illusion or did they hear the muffled but sweet

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notes of a church bell, faintly sounding without tears came

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into the eyes of some of the roughest of the

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immigrants as they listened and thought of a wee belfry

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somewhere in the fatherland, where the Christmas bells were calling

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to prayers that night. The sound of the bells ceased,

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and the merriment went on, while the young man, with

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eyebrows lighter than ever but with radiant faith, let himself

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quietly into the car. Unnoticed, it had been his own

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thought to creep out into the storm, clear away the

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snow from the nearest locomotive bell, and ring it while

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the gaiety was at its height. All this, indeed there was,

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and more but to Bob the joy and sweetness of

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the evening centered in one bright face. What mattered it

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if the wind roared and moaned about the lonely, snow

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drifted train, while he could look into those brown eyes

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and listen to that voice, for whose every tone he

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was fast learning to watch well. The blockade was raised,

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and the long railroad trip finished at last, but two

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of its passengers at least have agreed to enter upon

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a still longer journey. Four. She says, it all began

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when he came staggering in with his armful of wood

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and his blue mittens, and he he doesn't care at

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all when it began. He only realizes the joy that

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has come to him, and believes that after a certain

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day next May, it will be Christmas for him all

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the year round, and of Christmas on wheels by Willis

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Boyd Allen