CHRISTMAS IN ALASKA. 
271 
Missions. He made a rule, however, never to encourage 
pauperism by promiscuous alms-giving, and never tried a 
case or gave legal advice for love. Poor people who 
called at his office for assistance always found him unac- 
countably busy, and street beggars had long since learned 
to skip his door on their morning basket-visits. 
To-night Mr. Broadstreet had picked up the Carol " 
in a specially complacent mood. He had spent liberally 
in Christmas gifts for his wife and children, letting him- 
self almost defy his better judgment by purchasing for 
the former an expensive pin she had seen and fancied in 
a shop window the week before. Just as he had com- 
pleted the bargain, a rescript had come down from the 
Supreme Court affirming judgment in his favor, on a case 
which meant at least a five-thousand dollar fee. 
Notwithstanding the memory of this recent good-luck, 
he continued, on this particular evening, of all evenings 
in the year, to knit his brows and give unmistakable evi- 
dence that some emotion or reflection not altogether 
pleasant was stirring him powerfully. 
"Nonsense!" said Mr. Broadstreet, presently, half 
aloud, as if he were addressing some one in the centre of 
the glowing coals. "Nonsense!" he repeated, looking 
hard at a grotesque, carved figure that supported the 
mantel : " I'm not like Scrooge. I give freely, and I spend 
freely. That fire don't look much like the one old Scrooge 
warmed his gruel over, does it now ?" 
The marble figure making no answer to this appeal. 
