ISS ACKERMANN opened her
eyes to the sunshine with a
startled feeling of having
overslept herself, then closed
them again at the sound of the chimes
from the church around the corner,
for it was Christmas day, the one day,
barring Sundays, in the year which
she could really and truly call her own.
She was that overworked individual, a
popular dressmaker, going out by the
day, and she sometimes wished, with
E. P. Roe's old doctor, that people
would send for somebody else some
times and let her rest. On the last
Fourth of July she bad been in the
country sewing for dear life in order
to finish a belated bridal trousseau,
and on thanksgiving she had worked
until dark to accommodate a customer
who wished to outshine her sisters-in
law at a family gathering at the bouse
of her husband's father, but on Christ
mas day not even the most exacting
customer could ask her services.
And yet—was she glad it was Christ
mas? The associations which cluster
around the season make it a sorrowful
one to those who have nothing left of
home excepting its memories, and, sav
ing for one brother. Miss Ackermami
was alone in the world.
Really, Miss Ackermann told herself,
she had no business to be low spirited
she was a very fortunate person think
how many people were starving for
lack of work, and all that, she conclud
ed vaguely as she finished her break
fast. The tea. which she made in her
room, heating the water on a small gas
stov«. was excellent. She was finicky
SHE
FOUND T7ERSKLF FACE TO PACE Willi
A BRONZED AND liHARUED MAN.
