Astoria High School - Zephyrus Yearbook (Astoria, OR)

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THE ZEPHYRUS 3 All the time we knew that our home and property had been taken from us unjustly, making it much Harder for us. But after two years of toil, things began to pick up, and your father got a good position. Scarcely before the third year had passed away we had all of our rights back. And now we have come after our dear little boy to take him home.” “Mamma, can’t Grandma go, too, for I want her to be with me?” “She certainly shall go, too; for she has been faithful for three long years.” “And I am going to take Sally and the old farm cat, too.” That night there was a Christmas tree, and “Sony” received many more pretty toys. A Christmas Story. With a sigh of relief, Virginia Hil¬ liard opened the door of her room and threw an armful of packages on the bed. It had been a tiresome day, and although it was Christmas Eve, she was too tired to take any interest in the preparations for the next day. All afternoon she had been down town buying Christmas presents for the tree that the colored mission was to have that night. Virginia was an ar¬ dent worker for the Mission, although her aunt had declared that “it was perfect nonsense for a rich girl like Vriginia to waste her time on a lot of ‘niggers,’ when she might be hav¬ ing a good time. But Virginia did not care what her aunt’s opinion might be, for her mother was also much interested in the Mission. She had always felt it her duty to give a present each year to this aunt, Mrs. Whitmore, although there was no love lost between them, and it had always been a hard problem to find a present that would suit the fastidious tastes of that wealthy lady. This year had been no exception to the rule, and Virginia had been unable to find a suitable present for her aunt until this afternoon. After buying the lit¬ tle gifts for the Mission tree, she had ransacked the shops until she had found what she wanted for her aunt. It was a beautiful necklace of pearls, of a delicate pink shade. It was an exquisite present, and Virginia smiled with satisfaction as she peeped at it when she tied up her gifts with tis¬ sue paper and ribbon,and a tiny spray of holly or mistletoe on the top. Virginia always believed that no matter whether the gift was worth ten cenis' or ten dollars, it should be done up daintily, so every one of her presents, for the little colored child¬ ren, even, were treated in the same way. Just then the supper bell bell rang, so Virginia hurriedly slipped her card into each present, and gathering up the dainty packages, ran down the stairs and stuffed them into a bas¬ ket, together with candy and nuts, which were all to go to the Mission tree, leaving out her aunt’s package, however, which she sent over that evening. After supper Virginia and her moth¬ er went down to the Christmas tree to take their presents for the children. They waited until the gifts were dis¬ tributed, to watch the children. The wild screams of delight, the long- drawn “Oh’s,” and the merry chatter were worth hearing. Eliza, one of the little girls, opened

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2 THE ZEPHYRUS boy,” and then he add ed: “Please God tell Santa Claus to come to Grand¬ ma’s.” Grandma sat for hours saying to her¬ self, “Poor little soul, poor little soul, Santy will come, Santy will come.” She went to bed after making the resolution that she would do some¬ thing to make him happy. She would go to town sometime during the next week and get his long desired toys, next week. The days were so long during the next week, especially the day Grand¬ ma went to the city. When she returned she looked so happy, and what a lot of parsels, but “Sonny,” not knowing there was no Santa Claus, supposed that they con¬ tained a store of provisions, otherwise he might have suspected that some of them were for him. Xmas eve he hung up his stocking as he had done for the past three years, but he seemed to have more hope, and a smile lingered on his lips. Why? Nobody knows. On his way to bed, Tabby, the old farm cat, brushed up against him. He coaxed Grandma to let him take her to his room. He went to sleep, hum¬ ming a little tune that his mother had taught him. The next morning he was up bright and early and went pattering to the fireplace, and to his surprise - The little fellow was overjoyed and ran to tell Grandma. “Grandma! Grandma! Wake up; come, quick, for Ganty did come, and my prayers have been answered.” The old lady went to the fireplace with him as quickly as she could hob¬ ble along. “Oh, Grandma! Are all of those for me?” She nodded. “For me? You must have writen a letter to Santy Claus.” Granny controlled herself as long as possible, and then she folded the little fellow in her arms and cried for joy to think that she had made him so happy. Why had she not done this before? But it had been so long since there had been any small children in the house that she had become quite selfish, and thought that they could be happy without toys. That very same day, while he was playing with his toys at the big win¬ dow, at the front of the house, that looked out upon the meadows, and where he could see the road from town, he saw, approaching in the dis¬ tance, a large, black object. He paid very little attention to it, till he heard the rattle of the heavy wagon. It — yes, it — stopped at the foot of the path that led to the front of the house. Not stopping an instant, he ran in search of Grandma, but had not far to go, for she was in the hall, and by the time they had opened the door, the two occupants were on their way up the path. “Grandma, w'ho is it? Is it mamma? It is. It is. I know itt.is, and away he flew. He almost smothered his dear parents in kisses, and then came Grandma’s turn. After they had a warm lunch, and had all become well acquainted again, they went to the sitting-room. “Now, mamma, you must tell me where you have been all the time, while I have been staying with Grand¬ ma.” Well, to begin with, you were sent here to stay with Grandma, for papa had lost all of his possessions and we had to make a living some way. I could not help him. with you to be looked after. Papa worked at odd jobs here and there, while I went out. and did wash¬ ing for the neighbors. We scarcely could pay for our rent and get enough to eat. Besides, some of t he time your father was idle for days and weeks.

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4 THE ZEPHYRUS her present slowly, as if enjoying the suspense, and then a startled, but happy “Oh,” brought a flock of chil¬ dren over to inspect the present. El¬ iza was a little waiting maid of Mrs. Whitmore’s, and Virginia had obtain¬ ed permission from Mrs. Whitmore for Eliza to come to the Mission, only after frequent urgings, as Mrs. Whit¬ more asserted that Eliza would come back full of fancy notions that had no business to be in a darkey’s brain; but Virginia had finally won. Now Virginia watched Eliza with interest, as the group of curly heads bent over her wonderful gift. Present¬ ly the whole class was grouped about Eliza, who was plainly sensible of her popularity; for she had adopted a lit¬ tle patronizing air, and was warning the “chilluns” not to touch it with their grimy fingers. “What did I give that child, any¬ how, that could cause such excite¬ ment?” thought Virginia. “Let me see. Wasn’t it a box of those awful shades of ribbon that I got at the bar¬ gain counter? Yes I’m sure it was,” she continued. “Anyhow, it seems to have made a great hit, and I’ll have to tell the teachers about it for next Christmas.” After wishing them all a “Merry Christmas,” Virginia and her mother got into their carriage and drove home. Christmas morning, Mrs. Whitmore sat at her desk opening the dainty packages with which it was covered. “I’ll open Virginia Hilliard’s present first,” she said to herself, “for al¬ though I do not approve of a great many things that that girl does, still I must admit that she always sends me lovely presents.” She untied the ribbon, took off the tissue paper, and saw a plain white box which gave no hint as to what it contained. She lift¬ ed the lid gingerly, gave one look and sank back with an exclamation of horror. The box contained an assort¬ ment of colored ribbons, the brightest, most intense, and strangest shades the elegant Mrs. Whit more had ever laid eyes on. The colors ranged from bright orange to a deep purple with glaring yellow polka dots, and a few striped ribbons which made one’s eyes ache. “What can it mean?” gasped Mrs. Whitmore weakly, as she involuntar¬ ily shaded her eyes with ther hand. Then she caught sight of a card amongst the ribbons, and hastily picked it up. “Wishing you a merry Christmas. FromVirginia Hilliard, who hopes she may often see you wearing these.” “The audacity of that girl! ’’cried Mrs. Whitmore. “I remember now that she once asked me why I never wore any color but steel grey, and I suppose she has sent me these to brighten up my costumes. She’ll soon find, however, her little scheme has failed! The idea! I can hardly be¬ lieve my eyes, (which, by the way, are very much dazzled by those awful things)”, and Mrs. Whitmore glanced with a great shudder at the motley pile. “I’ll just write her a little note and tell her what I think of a trick like this.” and Mrs. Whitmore caught up a pen and wrote furiously for a few minutes. Then she rang for Eliza to take the note over to Mrs. Hilliard’s. Eliza came in, looking very con¬ scious, with a white satin box clasped tightly in her grimy hands. “See, Mrs. Whitmore, what Miss Virginny done guv me at the Chiss- muss tree las’ night.” Eliza care¬ fully pressed the spring, and the lid flew open, displaying to the aston¬ ished lady a dainty necklace of pearls. “Eliza!” gasped Mrs. Whitmore, “did my niece give you that?” “She sho’ly did, ma’am.”