VIS CHRISTMAS ANGEL

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 41 (Supplement)

VIS CHRISTMAS ANGEL

A STORY FOR THE WITNESS LITTLE FOLK. By the Author of "Santa Clans ami C 0.," etc. (Sp<rt(M<l wnttrn fur tin- tt'itin".- Xnin- Aniiunl „t V»>l.)

1. S^^^^-i^j^-' LONG day in Detember was fading quickly to J^^'^fl^mmm^y * ts enc^ ** * iatl ceil one °^ tnose " vvaim days 'WtS^B^UAj full °f llfe anc^ plea&me which one expects in f/^^fliilftt tne vlLinlt > oi Chii^tmats. -winch was then but */y/J;Ms\^ \\_ a few days- oft A very beautiful sunset it was — ■^S^TT^^^X^- the setting of a sun resplendent in all its <;^^^ V -^-= S::: 55 = — ' summei glory. And as all the gorgeous colours, of the sun's canopy were tiaiisiornied giadiuLy to those cf softer and more subdued tints, a -übtle gladness -eemed to come with the twilight, a joyou«ness that seemed to make all nature hush n ecstasy.

There was one to whom this part of the da\ wa- especially pleasing. She was a little invalid girl who had been lair] a-i!e from the games and pastime-, that ate so congenial to a girl of ten mmmers Poor little Vi was a great sufferer as well as a brave one. A g.il naturalh sensitive, she had become very old for her years; a\d though she had not always been a cripple, yet the days when she had nut (bunt Ike other girls seemed to have been a very long time ag >.

■■Those were happy days," she reflected, as she looked thiough the window at the (betting sun. Mother hid tixul hei bed so that she could see him during most of the daytim. 1 and when he set in the evening; and in the long summer tw llight, it was hei custom to look out at the fair landscape and muse on the pa^-t da\- — da\ s when -he had lived in a finer hou«e than the little cottage she now clw elt in ; days w hen father had been alive, and she had had all her heait could sigh for.

She wondered vaguely if she would have a. Clnistmas this year, as she had had in the past. Instinctively, by some intuitive reasoning which I cannot explain, she Lame to the conclu- on that she would not; but that she was wrong in this, what folows will show.

And still the grey eye* of the little ,nvahd looked through her window out upon the darkening landscape A veiy pretty picture she made, had she but known it, as .-lie peeied forth as though to pry into the future; perhaps gloomy withal, tor hei eyes were filled with unshed tears, which perhaps only enhanced her prettiness. It was seldom she was so melancholy as to-night ; but the long warm day hai tired her out, and maybe the pro>pect of no Christmas had something to do with it.