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http://www.archive.org/details/birdschristmasca00wigg2
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THE
"1
"•^-illiil*
"k
SEEN
ALL
FAMILY
SAID THEY
HAD
NEVER
SO
MUCH HAPPINESS IN
THE
SPACE
OF
THREE HOURS
THE U'^W YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
U.
COPYRIGHT, lSS6, BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
COPYRIGHT, lS8S, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, I912, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
F/iblis/ieJ Si-ptemher iqi2
LO
To
The Three Dearest Children in the World
BERTHA, LUCY, AND HORATIO
Prefatory Letter
To my Dear First Book :
Here you are on my desk again after more
than a quarter of a century, in an altogether
new dress ; a much liner one than you wore, long
ago, when you and I began our literary life to-
gether. I was young then, taking my first timid
steps into an unknown land, and you were the
fragile staff on which I leaned. Now we face
each other once more at the end of the long
journey. I remember so well the beginning of
it! The house was on the top of a "heaven-
kissing hill." On a clear day, looking far, far
down and off, the eye caught the blue glimmer
of the Golden Gate and the low green slopes
of the Marin shore. It was a smiling, glistening
vii
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
country ; bathed in sunshine, swept clean by
fresh winds, forever bursting into a tumultuous
profusion of bloom, on wayside or hillside, in
garden or hedgerow. Our part of the world was
making ready for a green California Christmas,
and though many of its familiar outward accom-
paniments were missing, the Spirit of the Star
was abroad in every heart, and some of it, I
hope, crept into the book.
The room in which I wrote was a wonderful
room ! (It always is!) It was peopled with your
characters, all of them more real to my mind's
eye than I was ever able to make them seem on
paper; and the very air of it breathed phrases
so melodious that my poor pen could never frame
them, nor set dow^n the sentences that should
have flowed in beautiful and lawful order on the
page.
Now, as I write this preface, I can see only
a narrow stream of wintry sky between city
roofs and chimnevs. Youth lies behind me, in
viii
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
a golden haze, but the wonder is still there,
and the afterglow is no less beautiful than the
dawn to the traveller who loves every mile of
the road.
You have been a good friend to me, my book,
—none better! It was you who "eased my
shoulder from the burden," you who "delivered
my hands from making the pots." At the very
first, you earned the wherewithal to take a group
of children out of the confusion and dangers of
squalid streets, and transport them into a place of
sunshine, safety, and gladness. Then you took
my hand and led me into the bigger, crowded
world where the public lives. You brought me
all the new, strange experiences that are so
thrilling to the neophyte. The very sight of your
familiar title brings them back afresh ! — Proof-
sheets in galleys, of which one prated learnedly
to one's awe-stricken family; then the Thing
Itself, in covers, and as one opened them tremb-
lingly, in secret, there pounced from the text
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
some clumsy phrase one never noted before in
all one's weary quest for errors! Then reviews,
mingling praise and blame; then letters from
strangers; then, years after, the story smiling
at one cheerily, pathetically, gratefully, from
patient rows of raised letters printed for blind
eyes ; then, finally, the sight of It translated into
foreign tongues.
You are not a great book, my dear first-born !
Do not think it, or allow your head to be turned
by the good fortune that has waited upon you
ever since your birth. You have really held your
place longer than anyone could have hoped, for
you had not a Dickens to enshrine a Tiny Tim
in the amber of your pages and so make your
Carol live forever! You are only a pleasant, cosy
little story with a likable something in you that
has brought you readers.
Would that I had had more art — even at the
expense of having had less heart — with which
to endoAv you, but I gave you all of both I had
X
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
to give, and one can do no more. In return you
have repaid me in ways tangible and intangible,
ways most rare and beautiful, even to bringing
me friendships in strange lands, where people
have welcomed me for your sake. Then go, little
book, on your second journey into the world.
Here are my thanks, good comrade, and here
my blessing! Hail and farewell!
Kate Douglas Wiggin.
New York, April, 1912.
1\ __ __,.
1
- - - -^
««^.1C1»"»»-'
Contents
I. A LITTLE SNOW BIRD 1
II. DROOPING WINGS 13
III. THE BIRD'S NEST 22
IV. " BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER " . . .31
V. SOME OTHER BIRDS ARE TAUGHT TO FLY ... 45
VI. "WHEN THE PIE WAS OPENED,)
THE BIRDS BEGAN TO SING!") ^^
VII. THE BIRDLING FLIES AWAY 86
Illustrations
HALF TITLE i
THEY HAD NEVER SEEN SO MUCH HAPPINESS . Frontispiece
TITLE-PAGE iii
CONTENTS xiii
Initial Letter 1
HEK TINY HANDS FOREVER OUTSTRETCHED IN GIVING . 7
HER CHEEES AND LIPS WERE RED AS HOLLY BERRIES . 11
Tallpiece 12
Initial Letter 13
CAROL WILL NEVER BE WELL AGAIN 17
LOVE BIRDS AND CANARIES HUNG IN THEIR GOLDEN CAGES 19
Initial Letter 22
EVERY SATURDAY SHE CHOSE TEN BOOKS 25
Tailpiece 30
XV
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Initial Letter 31
PETER RUGGLES CAUGHT HER 35
ON THE ROOF OF OUR CARRIAGE HOUSE 37
Tailpiece 44
Initial Letter 45
SEWED 'EM IN A ROW UP THE FRONT 48
KITTY'S HAIR WAS CURLED IN THIRTY-FOUR RINGLETS . 53
SARAH MAUD SCRUBBED 55
THE DOOR OPENED AND THEY STRAGGLED IN ... 58
PETER G4
Tailpiece 67
Initial Letter 08
INTERTWINED WITH THE UMBRELLAS AND CANES . . 72
THE RUGGLESES NEVER FORGOT IT 76
KITTY'S SMILE WHEN SHE KISSED HER DOLL .... 82
Tailpiece 85
Initial Letter 86
THE BOY SOPRANO 87
Tailpiece 91
The Birds' Christmas Carol
A LITTLE SNOW BIRD
T was very early Christmas
morning, and in the stillness
of the dawn, with the soft
snow falling on the house-
tops, a little child was born
in the Bird household.
They had intended to name
the baby Lucy, if it were a
girl; but they had not ex-
pected her on Christmas
morning, and a real Christmas baby was not to be
lightly named ; the whole family agreed in that.
They were consulting about it in the nursery.
THE BIRDS' CHEISTMAS CAROL
Mr. Bird said that he had assisted in naming the
three boys, and that he shoukl leave this matter
entirely to Mrs. Bird ; Donald wanted the child
called "Dorothy," after a pretty, curly-haired
girl who sat next liim in school ; Paul chose
" Luella," for Luella was the nurse who had been
with him during his w^hole babyhood, up to the
time of his first trousers, and the name suggested
all sorts of comfortable things. Uncle Jack said
that the first girl should always be named for
her mother, no matter how hideous the name
happened to be.
Grandma said that she would prefer not to
take any part in the discussion, and every-
body suddenly remembered that Mrs. Bird had
thought of naming the baby Lucy, for Grandma
herself ; and, while it would be indelicate for her
to favor that name, it would be against human
nature to suggest any other, under the circum-
stances.
Hugh, the hitherto baby, if that is a pos-
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
sible term, sat in one corner and said nothing
about names, feeling, in some mysterious way,
that his nose was out of joint; for there was a
newer baby now, a possibility he had never taken
into consideration; and the first girl, too, — a still
higher development of treason, which made him
actually green with jealousy.
However it was too profound a subject to be
settled then and there, on the spot ; besides,
mother had not been asked, and everybody felt
it rather absurd, after all, to forestall a decree
that was certain to be absolutely wise, just, and
perfect.
The reason that the subject had been brought
up at all so eai'ly in the day lay in the fact that
Mrs. Bird never allowed her babies to go over
night unnamed. She was a person of so great
decision of character that she would have
blushed at such a thing ; she said that to let
blessed babies go dangling and dawdling about
without names, for months and months, was
3
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
enough to ruin them for life. She also said that
if one could not make up one's mind in twenty-
four hours it was a sign that — but I will not
repeat the rest, as it might prejudice you
against the most charming w^oman in the
world.
So Donald took his new velocipede and went
out to ride up and down the stone pavement
and notch the shins of innocent people as they
passed by, while Paul spun his musical top on
the front steps.
But Hugh refused to leave the scene of
action. He seated himself on the top stair
in the hall, banged his head against the rail-
ing a few times, just by way of uncorking
the vials of his wrath, and then subsided into
gloomy silence, waiting to declare war if another
first girl baby w^as thrust uj^on a family already
surfeited with that unnecessary article.
Meanwhile dear Mrs. Bird lay in her room,
weak, but safe and happy, with her sweet girl
4
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROI.
baby by her side and the heaven of motherhood
opening again before her. Nurse was making
gruel in the kitchen, and the room was dim and
quiet. There was a cheerful open lire in the
grate, but though the shutters were closed,
the side windows that looked out on the
Church of Our Saviour, next door, were a little
open.
Suddenly a sound of music poured out into
the bright air and drifted into the chamber. It
was the boy choir singing Christmas anthems.
Higher and higher rose the clear, fresh voices,
full of hope and cheer, as children's voices al-
ways are. Fuller and fuller grew the burst of
melody as one glad strain fell upon another in
joyful harmony : —
" Carol, brothers, carol,
Carol joyfully,
Carol the good tidings,
Carol merrily !
And pray a gladsome Christmas
For all your fellow-men :
5
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Carol, brothers, carol,
Christmas Day again."
One verse followed another, always with the
same sweet refrain : —
" And i^ray a gladsome Christmas
For all your fellow-men :
Carol, brothers, carol,
Christmas Day again."
Mrs. Bird thought, as the music floated in
upon her gentle sleep, that she had slipped into
heaven with her new baby, and that the angels
were l)idding them welcome. But the tiny bun-
dle by her side stirred a little, and though it was
scarcely more tlian the ruflling of a feather, she
awoke ; for the mother-ear is so near the heart
that it can hear the faintest whisper of a child.
She opened her eyes and drew the baby closer.
It looked like a rose dipped immilk, she thought,
this pink and white blossom of girlhood; or like
a pink cherub, with its halo of j)ale yellow hair,
finer than floss silk.
HER TINY HANDS FOREVER OUTSTRETCHED
IN GIVING. SUCH A GENEROUS LITTLE
CREATURE YOU NEVER* SAW
^™^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
" Carol, brothers, carol,
Carol joyfully,
Carol the good tidings,
Carol merrily ! "
The voices were brimming over with joy.
"Why, my baby," whispered Mrs. Bird in
soft surprise, "I had forgotten what day it
was. You are a little Christmas child, and we
will name you ' Carol ' — mother's Christmas
Carol!"
"What is that?" asked Mr. Bird, coming in
softly and closing the door behind him.
"Why, Donald, don't you think 'Carol' is a
charming name for a Christmas baby ? It came
to me just a moment ago in the singing, as I was
lying here half asleep and half awake."
"I think it is a delightful name, dear, and
sounds just like' you, and I hope that, being a
girl, this baby has some chance of being as
lovely as her mother ; " — at which speech from
the baby's father, Mrs. Bird, though she was as
9
^^^^TIIE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL ^^
weak and tired as she could be, blushed with
happiness.
And so Carol came by her name.
Of course, it was thought foolish by many
people, though Uncle Jack declared laughingly
that it was very strange if a whole family of
Birds could not be indulged in a single Carol ;
and Grandma, who adored the child, thought
the name much prettier than Lucy, but was
glad that people would probably think it short
for Caroline, and so the family would not be
criticised as being over-romantic.
Perhaps because she was born in holiday
time, Carol was a very happy baby. Of course,
she was too tiny to understand the joy of
Christmas-tide, but people say there is every-
thing in a good beginning, and she may have
breathed in unconsciously the fragrance of ever-
greens and holiday dinners, while the peals of
sleigh-bells and the laughter of happy children
may have fallen Tipon her baby ears and wak-
10
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
ened in them a glad surprise at the merry world
she had come to live in.
Her cheeks and lips were as red as holly-
berries ; her hair was for all the world the color
of a Christmas candle-flame; her eyes were
bright as stars ; her laugh like a chime of Christ-
^^ 11
^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
mas-bells, and her tiny hands forever out-
stretched in giving.
Such a generous little creature you never saw !
A spoonful of bread and milk had always to be
taken by mother or nurse before Carol could
enjoy her supper ; whatever bit of cake or sweet-
meat found its way into her pretty lingers was
straightway broken in half to be shared with
Donald, Paul, or Hugh ; and when they made be-
lieve nibble the morsel with affected enjoyment,
she would clap her hands and crow with delight.
" Why does she do it ? " asked Donald thought-
fully. "None of us boys ever did."
"I hardly know," said Mother Bird, catching
her darling to her heart, ' ' except that she is a
little Christmas child, and so she has a tiny share
of the blessedest birthday the world ever knew! "
II
DROOPING WINGS
T was December, ten years
later.
Carol had seen nine
g Christmas trees lighted
on her birthdays, one
after another ; nine
times she had assisted
in the holiday festivi-
ties of the honsehold,
though in her babyhood her share of the g^ye-
ties was somewhat limited.
For live years, certainly, she had hidden pre-
sents for father and mother in their own bureau
drawers, and harbored a number of secrets suf-
ficiently large to burst a baby brain, had it not
been for the relief gained by whispering them
13
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL^f^ ,
all to lier mother, at night when she was in her
crib, a proceeding which did not in the least les-
sen the value of a secret in her innocent mind.
For five years she had heard " 'T was the night
before Christmas," and hung up a scarlet stock-
ing many sizes too large for her, and pinned a
sprig of holly on her little white nightgown, to
show Santa Clans that she was a " truly " Christ-
mas child, and dreamed of fur-coated saints and
toy-packs and reindeer, and wished everybody
a "Merry Christmas" before it was light in the
morning, and lent every one of her new toys to
the neighbors' children before noon, and eaten
turkey and plum-pudding, and gone to bed at
night in a trance of happiness at the day's
pleasures.
Donald was away at college now. Paul and
Hugh were great manly fellows, taller than their
mother. Father Bird had gray hairs in his whisk-
ers; and Grandma, God bless her, had been four
Christmases in heaven.
U
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROlTJH^^
But Christmas in the Birds' Nest was scarcely
as merry now as it used to be in the bygone
years, for the little child, who once brought such
an added blessing to the day, lay month after
month a patient, helpless invalid, in tlie room
where she was born. She had never been very
strong in body, and it was with a pang of terror
that her mother and father noticed, soon after
she was live years old, that she began to limp,
ever so slightly ; to complain too often of w^eari-
ness, and to nestle close to her mother, saying
she "would rather not go out to play, please."
The illness was slight at tirst, and hope was al-
ways stirring in Mrs. Bird's heart. "Carol would
feel stronger in the summer-time"; or, "She
would be better when she had spent a year in the
country" ; or, " She would outgrow it " ; or, "They
would try a new physician"; but by and by it
came to be all too sure that no physician save
One could make Carol strong again, and that no
"summer-time " nor " country air, " unless it were
15
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL , ,^
the everlasting summer-time in a heavenly coun-
try, could bring back the little girl to health.
The cheeks and lips that were once as red as
holly-berries faded to faint pink; the star-like
eyes grew softer, for they often gleamed through
tears ; and the gay child-laugh, that had been
like a chime of Christmas bells, gave place to a
smile so lovely, so touching, so tender and pa-
tient, that it tilled every corner of the house
with a gentle radiance that might have come
from the face of the Christ-child himself.
Love could do nothing; and when we have
said that we have said all, for it is stronger
than anything else in the whole wide world. Mr.
and Mrs. Bird were talking it over one evening,
when all the children were asleep. A famous
physician had visited them that day, and told
them that some time, it might be in one year, it
might be in more, Carol would slip quietly off
into the heaven from whence she came.
"It is no use to close our eyes to it any
16
^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
longer," said Mr. Bird, as he paced up and down
the library floor; "Carol will never be well
again. It seeuis a burden too heavy to be borne
to think of that loveliest child doomed to lie
there day after day, and, what is still more, to
suffer pain that we are helpless to keep away
from her. Merry Christmas, indeed ; it is get-
ting to be the saddest day in the year! " and
17 ''ipgp
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
l)Our Mr. Bird sank into a chair by the table,
and buried his face in his hands to keep his wife
from seeing the tears that would come in spite
of all efforts.
"But, Donald, dear," said Mrs. Bird, with
trembling voice, "Christmas Day may not be
so merry with us as it used, but it is very
happy, and that is better, and very blessed, and
that is better yet. I suffer chiefly for Carol's
sake, but I have almost given up being sorrow-
ful for my own. I am too happy in the child,
and I see too clearly what she has done for us
and the other children. Donald and Paul and
Hugh were three strong, willful, boisterous boys,
but now you seldom see such tenderness, devo-
tion, thought for others, and self-denial, in lads
of their years. A quarrel or a hot word is almost
unknown in this house, and why ? Carol would
hear it, and it would distress her, she is so full
of love and goodness. The boys study with all
their might and main. Why? Partly, at least,
18
LOVE BIRDS AND CANARIES HUNG IN
THEIR GOLDEN CAGES AT
THE WINDOWS
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
because they like to teach Carol, and amuse her
by telling her what they read. When the seam-
stress comes, she likes to sew in Miss Carol's
room, because there she forgets her own troubles,
which, Heaven knows, are sore enough ! And
as for me, Donahl, I am a better woman every
day for Carol's sake ; I have to be her eyes, ears,
feet, hands, — her strength, her liope; and she,
my own little child, is my example! "
"I was wrong, dearest," said Mr. Bird more
cheerfully; "we will try not to repine, but to
rejoice instead, that Ave have an 'angel of the
house.' "
" And as for her future," Mrs. Bird went on,
" I tliink we need not be over-anxious. I feel
as if she did not belong altogether to us, but
that when she has done what God sent her for
He will take her back to Himself — and it may
not be very long!" Here it w^as the mother's
turn to break down, and the father's to com-
fort her.
Ill
THE BIRD'S NEST
AlvOL herself knewnotliing of
uiotlieiiy tears and fatherly
anxieties; she lived on
peacefully in the room
where she was born.
But you never would
have known that room ; for
Mr. Bird had a great deal
of money, and though he
felt sometimes as if he wanted to throw it all
into the sea, since it could not buy a strong
body for his little girl, yet he was glad to make
the place she lived in just as beautiful as it
could be.
The room had been extended by the building
of a large addition that hung out over the gar-
9'7
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
den below, and was so filled with windows that
it might have been a conservatory. The ones
on the side were thns still nearer the Church
of Our Saviour than they used to be ; those in
front looked out on the beautiful harbor, and
those in the back commanded a view of nothing
in particular but a narrow alley; nevertheless,
they were pleasantest of all to Carol, for the
Ruggles family lived in the alley, and the nine
little, middle-sized, and big Euggles children
were a source of inexhaustible interest.
The shutters could all be opened and Carol
could take a real sun-bath in this lovely glass
house, or they could all be closed when the
dear head ached or the dear eyes were tired.
The carpet was of soft gray, with clusters of
green bay and holly leaves. The furniture was
of white wood, on which an artist had painted
snow scenes and Christmas trees and groups of
merry children ringing bells and singing carols.
Donald had made a pretty, ]wlished shelf,
23
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
and screwed it on the outside of the foot-board,
and the boys always kept this full of blooming
plants, which they changed from time to time;
the head-board, too, had a bracket on either
side, where there were pots of maiden-hair ferns.
Love-birds and canaries hung in their golden
houses in the windows, and they, poor caged
things, could hop as far from their wooden
perches as Carol could venture from her narrow
white bed.
On one side of the room was a bookcase tilled
Avith hundreds — yes, I mean it — with hun-
dreds and hundreds of books ; books with gay-
colored ' pictures, books without ; books with
black and white outline sketches, books with
none at all ; books with verses, books with
stories; books that made children laugh, and
some, only a few, that made them cry ; books
with words of one syllable for tiny boys and
girls, and books with words of fearful length to
puzzle wise ones.
24
THE BIRDS' (^HRISTMAS CAROL
This was Carol's Cir-
culating Library. Every
Saturday she chose ten
books, jotting their
names down in a diary;
into these she slipped
cards that said: —
Please keep this book
two weeks and read it.
With love,
Carol Bird.
Then Mrs. Bird stepped into her carriage and
took the ten books to the Children's Hospital,
and brought home ten others that she had left
there the fortnight before.
This was a source of great happiness; for
some of the Hospital children that were old
enough to print or write, and were strong enough
to do it, wrote Carol sweet little letters about
25
THP: BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
the books, and she answered them, and they
grew to be friends. (It is very funny, but you
do not always have to see people to love them.
Just think about it, and tell me if it isn't so.)
There was a high wainscoting of wood about
the room, and on top of this, in a narrow gilt
framework, ran a row of illuminated pictures
illustrating fairy tales, all in dull blue and gold
and scarlet and silver. From the door to the
closet there was the story of The Fair One with
Golden Locks ; from closet to bookcase, ran
Puss in Boots ; from bookcase to fireplace was
Jack the Giant-killer ; and on the other side of
the room were Hop o' my Thumb, The Sleei)ing
Beauty, and Cinderella.
Then there was a great closet full of beauti-
ful things to wear, but they were all dressing-
gowns and slippers and shawls ; and there were
drawers full of toys and games, but they were
such as you could play with on your lap. There
were no nine]^ins, nor balls, nor bows and
26
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
arrows, nor bean bags, nor tennis rackets ; but,
after all, other cliikh'en needed these more than
Carol Bird, for she was always happy and con-
tented, whatever she had or whatever she lacked;
and after the room had been made so lovely for
her, on her eighth Christmas, she always called
herself, in fun, a " Bird of Paradise."
On these particular December days she was
happier than usual, for Uncle Jack was com-
ing from England to spend the holidays. Dear,
funny, jolly, loving, wise Uncle Jack, who came
every two or three years, and brought so much
joy with him that the world looked as black as
a thunder-cloud for a week after he went away
again.
The mail had brought this letter : —
LoNDOx, November 28, 188-.
Wish you merry Christmas, you dearest birdlings in
America ! Preen your feathers, and stretch the Birds'
nest a trifle, if you please, and let Uncle Jack in for the
holidays. I am coming with such a trunk full of treas-
27
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL P'.^
ures that you '11 have to borrow the stockings of Bar-
num's Giant and Giantess; I am coming- to squeeze a
certain little lady-bird until she cries for mercy; I am
coming to see if I can find a boy to take care of a black
pony that I bought lately. It 's the strangest thing I ever
knew ; I 've hunted all over Europe, and can't find a boy
to suit me ! I '11 tell you why. I 've set my heart on finding
one with a dimple in his chin, because this pony partic-
ularly likes dimples ! [" Hurrah ! " cried Hugh ; " bless
my dear dimple; I '11 never be ashamed of it again."]
Please drop a note to the clerk of the weather, and
have a good, rousing snow-storm — say on the twenty-
second. None of your meek, gentle, nonsensical, shilly-
shallying snow-storms ; not the sort where the flakes float
lazily down from the sky as if they did n't care whether
they ever got here or not and then melt away as soon as
they touch the earth, but a regular business-like, whizzing,
whirring, blurring, cutting snow-storm, warranted to
freeze and stay on !
I should like rather a LARGE Christmas tree, if it 's
convenient : not one of those sprigs, five or six feet
high, that you used to have three or four years ago,
when the birdlings were not fairly feathered out; but a
tree of some size. Set it up in the garret, if necessary,
and then we can cut a hole in the roof if the tree chances
to be too hiofh for the room.
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Tell Bridget to begin to fatten a turkey. Tell her that
by the twentieth of December that turkey must not be
able to stand on its legs for fat, and then on the next
three days she must allow it to recline easily on its side,
and stuff it to bursting. (One ounce of stuffing before-
hand is worth a pound afterwards.)
The pudding must be unusually huge, and darkly,
deeply, lugubriously blue in color. It must be stuck so
full of plums that the pudding itself will ooze out into
the pan and not be brought on to the table at all. I ex-
pect to be there by the twentieth, to manage these little
things myself, — remembering it is the early Bird that
catches the worm, — but give you the instructions in case
I should be delayed.
And Carol must decide on the size of the tree — she
knows best, she was a Christmas child; and she must
plead for the snow-storm — the Clerk of the Aveather
may pay some attention to her; and she must look up
the boy with the dimple for me — she 's likelier to find
him than I am, this minute. She must advise about the
turkey, and Bridget must bring the pudding to her bed-
side and let her drop every separate plum into it and stir
it once for luck, or I'll not eat a single slice; for Carol
is the dearest part of Christmas to Uncle Jack, and he '11
have none of it without her. She is better than all the tur-
keys and puddings and apples and spare-ribs and wreaths
29
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
and garlands and mistletoe and stockings and chimneys
and sleigh-bells in Christendom ! She is the very sweetest
Christmas Carol that was ever written, said, sung, or
chanted, and I am coming as fast as shi]3s and railway
trains can carry me, to tell her so.
Carol's joy knew no bounds. Mr. and Mrs. Bird
laughed like children and kissed each other for
sheer delight, and when the boys heard it they
simply whooped like wild Indians, until the
Ruggles family, w^hose back yard joined their gar-
den, gathered at the door and wondered what was
going on at the big house.
IV
BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER"
NCLE JACK did really come
on the twentieth. He was not
detained by business, nor did
he get left behind nor snowed
up, as frequently happens in
stories, and in real life too, I
am afraid. The snow-storm
came also ; and the turkey nearly died a nat-
ural and premature death from overeating.
Donald came, too ; Donald, with a line of down
upon his upper lip, and Greek and Latin on liis
tongue, and stores of knowledge in his hand-
some head, and stories — bless me, you could n't
turn over a chip without reminding Donald of
something that happened "at College." One or
the other was always at Carol's bedside, for
31
^^^»^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
they fancied lier paler than she nsed to be, and
they could not bear her out of sight. It was
Uncle Jack, though, who sat beside her in the
winter twilights. The room was quiet, and
almost dark, save for the snow-light outside,
and the flickering flame of the fire, that danced
over the Sleeping Beauty's face and touched
the Fair One's golden locks with ruddier glory.
Carol's hand (all too thin and white these latter
days) lay close clasped in Uncle Jack's, and
they talked together quietly of many, many
things.
" I want to tell you all about my plans for
Christmas this year, Uncle Jack," said Carol,
on the first evening of his visit, " because it will
be the loveliest one I ever had. The boys laugh
at me for caring so much about it ; but it is n't
altogether because it is Christmas, nor because
it is my birthday ; but long, long ago, when I
first began to be ill, I nsed to think, the first
thing when I waked on Christmas morning, 'To-
32 ^"^
XBk
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
day is Christ's birthday — and mine! ' I did n't
put the words close together, you know, because
that made it seem too bold ; but I tirst said,
'Christ's birthday,' out loud, and then, in a
minute, softly to myself — ' and mine ! ' ' Christ's
birthday — and mine ! ' And so I don't quite
feel about Christmas as other girls do. Mother
says she supposes that ever so many other chil-
dren have been born on that day. I often won-
der where they are, Uncle Jack, and whether it
is a dear thought to them, too, or whether I am
so much in bed, and so often alone, that it means
more to me. Oh, I do hope that none of them
are poor, or cold, or hungry; and I wish, I wish
they were all as ha|)py as I, because they are
really my little brothers and sisters. Now, Uncle
Jack dear, I am going to try and make some-
body happy every single Christmas that I live,
and this year it is to be the Ruggleses in the
rear."
'' That large and interesting brood of children
'vis^^^i,^
TPIE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROlTpBt^^
in the little house at the end of the back
garden? "
"Yes ; is n't it nice to see so many together?
— and, Uncle Jack, why do the big families al-
ways live in the small houses, and the small
families in the big houses? We ought to call
them the Ruggles children, of course; but Do-
nald began talking of them as the ' Enggleses
in the rear,' and father and mother took it up,
and now we cannot seem to help it. The house
was built for Mr. Carter's coachman, but Mr.
Carter lives in Europe, and the gentleman who
rents his place for him does n't care what hap-
pens to it, and so this poor family came to live
there. When they first moved in, 1 used to sit
in my window and watch them play in their
back yard ; they are so strong, and jolly, and
good-natured ; and then, one day, I had a worse
headache than usual, and Donald asked them if
they would please not scream quite so loud, and
they explained that they were having a game
34
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
of circus, but that they would
change and play 'Deaf and
Dumb Asylum ' all the after-
noon."
''Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Un-
cle Jack, "what an obliging
family, to be sure!"
" Yes, we all thought it very
funny, and I smiled at them
from the window when I was
well enough to be up again.
Now, Sarah Maud comes to her
door when the children come
home from school, and if mother
nods her head, ' Yes,' that means ' Carol is very
well,' and then you ought to hear the little
Ruggieses yell, — I believe they try to see how
much noise they can make ; but if mother shakes
her head, 'No,' they always play at quiet games.
Then, one day, 'Gary,' my pet canary, flew out
of her cage, and Peter Ruggles caught her and
35
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL _
— ■ — -^
brought her back and I had him up here in my
room to thank him."
"Is Peter the oklest?"
" No ; Sarah Maud is the oldest — she helps do
the washing; and Peter is the next. He is a
dressmaker's boy."
"And which is the pretty little red-haired
girl?"
"That's Kitty."
"And the fat youngster?"
"Baby Larry."
"And that — most freckled one?"
"Now, don't laugh — that's Peoria."
"Carol, you are joking."
"No, really. Uncle dear. She was born in Pe-
oria, Illinois; that's all."
"And is the next boy Oshkosli?"
"No," laughed Carol, "the others are Susan,
and Clement, and Eily, and Cornelius ; they all
look exactly alike, except that some of them
have more freckles than the others."
36
THP] BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
" How did you ever learn all their names?"
"Why, I have what 1 call a 'window-school.'
It is too cold now ; but in warm weather I am
wheeled out on my balcony, and the Ruggleses
climb up and walk along our garden fence, and
sit down on the roof of our carriage-house. That
brings them quite near, and I tell them stories.
On Thanksgiving Day they came up for a few
minutes, — it was quite warm at eleven o'clock,
— and we told each other what we had to be
thankful for ; but they gave such queer answers
that Elfrida had to run away for fear of laughing;
37
^JjaCTHE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAKOL Jjq|[^
and even I could n't understand them veiy well.
Susan was thankful for 'trunks,' of all things in
the world ; Cornelius, for ' horse-cars ' ; Kitty, for
' pork steak ' ; Avhile Clem, avIio is very quiet,
brightened uj) when I came to him, and said he
-was thankful for ' Ids lame pi^ppy-^ Was n't that
pretty?"
" It might teach some of us a lesson, might n't
it, little girl?"
^'That's what mother said. Now I'm going
to give this whole Christmas to the Ruggleses ;
and. Uncle Jack, I earned part of the money
myself."
"You, my bird; how?"
"Well; you see, it could not be my OAvn, owu
Christmas if father gave me all the money, and 1
thought to really keep Christ's birthday I ought
to do something of my very own ; and so I talked
with mother. Of course she thought of some-
thing beautiful ; she always does : her head is
just brimming over with lovely thoughts, — all
38
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
I have to do is ask, and out pops the very one
I want. This thought was to let her write down,
just as I told her, a description of how a little
girl lived in her own room for three years, and
what she did to amuse herself ; and we sent it
to a magazine and got twenty-tive dollars for it.
Just think!"
"Well, well," cried Uncle Jack, "my own
niece a real author ! And what are you going to
do w^ith this wonderful money of yours? "
" I shall give the nine Ruggleses a grand
Christmas dinner here in this very room — that
will be father's contribution, — and afterwards
a beautiful Christmas tree, fairly blooming with
presents — that will be my part ; for I have an-
other way of adding to my twenty-five dollars,
so that I can buy nearly anything I choose. I
should like it very much if you would sit at the
head of the table. Uncle Jack, for nobody could
ever be frightened of you, you dearest, dearest,
dearest thing that ever was ! Mother is going to
39
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL . ^,
help us, but father and the boys are going to eat
together downstairs for fear of making the little
Kuggleses shy; and after we've had a merry
time with the tree we can open my window and
all listen together to the music at the evening
church-service, if the singing begins before the
children go. I have written a letter to the organ-
ist, and asked him if I might have the two songs
I like best. Will you see if it is all right?"
Birds' Nest, December 21, 188-.
Dear Mr. Wilkie, — I am the little girl who lives
next door to the church, and, as I seldom go out, the
music on practice days and Sundays is one o£ my great-
est pleasures.
I want to know if you can have " Carol, brothers,
carol," on Christmas night, and if the boy who sings
" My ain countree" so beautifully may please sing that
too. I think it is the loveliest thing in the world, but it
always makes me cry ; does n't it you ?
If it isn't too much trouble, I hope they can sing
them both quite early, as after ten o'clock I may be
asleep. Yours respectfully,
Carol Bird.
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
P. S. — The reason I like " Carol, brothers, carol," is
because the choir-boys sang it eleven years ago, the
morning I was born, and put it into mother's head to
call me Carol. She did n't remember then that my other
name would be Bird, because she was half asleep, and
could only think o£ one thing at a time. Donald says if
I had been born on the Fourth of July they would have
named me " Independence," or if on the twenty-second
of February, "Georgina," or even " Cherry," like Cherry
in "Martin Chuzzlewit"; but I like my own name and
birthday best. Yours truly,
Carol Bird.
Uncle Jack tliouglit the letter quite right, and
did not even smile at her telling the organist so
many family items.
The days flew by as they always fly in holiday
time, and it was Christmas Eve before anybody
knew it. The family festival was quiet and very
pleasant, but almost overshadowed by the
grander preparations for the next day. Carol
and Elfrida, her pretty German nurse, had ran-
sacked books, and introduced so many plans,
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
and plays, and customs, and meny-uiakings
from Germany, and Holland, and England, and
a dozen other countries, that you would scarcely
have known how or where you were keeping
Christmas. Even the dog and the cat had en-
joyed their celebration under Carol's direction.
Each had a tiny table with a lighted candle in
the centre, and a bit of Bologna sausage placed
very near it; and everybody laughed till the
tears stood in their eyes to see Villikins and
Dinah struggle to nibble the sausages, and at
the same time to evade the candle flame. Vil-
likins barked, and sniffed, and howled in impa-
tience, and after many vain attempts succeeded
in dragging off the prize, though he singed his
nose in doing it. Dinah, meanwhile, watched
him placidly, her delicate nostrils quivering
with expectation, and, after all excitement had
subsided, walked with dignity to the table, her
beautiful gray satin trail sweeping behind her,
and calmly putting up one velvet paw, drew
42
^. THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROI. ^^^^
the sausage gently down, and walked out of the
room without turning a hair, so to speak. El-
frida had scattered handfuls of seed over the
snow in the garden, that the wikl birds might
have a comfortable breakfast next morning, and
liad stuffed bundles of dry grasses in the tire-
places, so that the reindeer of Santa Clans could
refresh themselves after their long gallops across
country. This was really only done for fun, but
it pleased Carol.
And when, after dinner, the whole family
had gone to church to see the Christmas deco-
rations, Carol limped out on her slender crutches,
and with Elfrida's help, placed all the family
shoes in a row in the upper hall. That was to
keep the dear ones from quarreling all through
the year. There were father's stout top boots ;
mother's pretty buttoned shoes next ; then
Uncle Jack's, Donald's, Paul's, and Hugh's;
and at the end of the line her own little white
worsted slippers. Last, and sweetest of all, like
43
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
the children in Austria, she put a lighted candle
in her window to guide the dear Christ-child,
lest he should stumble in the dark night as he
I)assed up the deserted street. This done, she
dropped into hed, a rather tired, but very happy
Christmas fairy.
SOME OTHER BIRDS ARE TAUGHT TO FLY
EFORE the earliest Euggles
could wake and toot liis five-cent
tin horn, Mrs. Ruggles was up
and stirring about the house, for
it was a gala day in the family.
Gala day ! I should think so !
Were not her nine children in-
^<^ vited to a dinner-party at the
great house, and weren't they going to sit
down free and equal with the mightiest in the
land? She had been preparing for this grand
occasion ever since the receipt of Carol Bird's
invitation, which, by the way, had been speedily
enshrined in an old photograph frame and
hung under the looking-glass in the most pro-
minent place in the kitchen, where it stared the
45
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
occasional visitor directly in the eye, and made
him livid with envy : —
Birds' Nest, December 17, 188-.
Dear Mrs. Ruggles, — I am going to have a dinner-
party on Christmas Day, and would like to have all
your children come. I want them every one, please,
from Sarah Maud to Baby Larry, Mother says dinner
will be at half-past five, and the Christmas tree at seven ;
so you may expect them home at nine o'clock. Wishing
you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I am
Yours truly,
Carol Bird.
Breakfast was on the table promptly at seven
o'clock, and there was very little of it, too; for
it was an excellent day for short rations, though
Mrs. Ruggles heaved a sigh as she reflected
that the boys, with their India-rubber stomachs,
would be just as hungry the day after the din-
ner-party as if they had never had any at all.
As soon as the scanty meal was over, she
announced the plan of the campaign: "Now,
Susan, you an' Kitty wash up the dishes ; an'
46
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAKOL
Peter, can't yer spread up the beds, so 't 1 can
git ter cuttin' out Larry's new suit? I ain't sat-
isfied with his clo'es, an' I thought in the night
of a way to make him a dress out o' my old red
plaid shawl — kind o' Scotch style, yer know,
with the fringe 't the bottom. . . . Eily, you go
find the comb and take the snarls out the fringe,
that 's a lady ! You little young ones clear out
from underfoot! Clem, you and Con hop into
bed with Larry while 1 wash yer underfiannins ;
't won't take long to dry 'em. — Yes, 1 know it 's
bothersome, but yer can't go int' s'ciety 'thout
takin' some trouble, 'n' anyhow I couldn't git
round to 'em last night. . . . Sarah Maud, I think 't
would be perfeckly han'some if you ripped them
brass buttons off yer uncle's /j>oliceman's coat
'n' sewed 'em in a row up the front o' yer green
skirt. Susan, you must iron out yours 'n' Kitty's
apurns; 'n' there, I come mighty near forgettin'
Peory's stockin's ! I counted the whole lot last
night when I was washin' of 'em, 'n' there aint
47
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
but nineteen anyhow yer fix 'em, 'n' no nine
pairs mates nohow ; 'n' I ain't goin' ter have my
chiklren wear odd stockin's to a dinner-comp'ny,
fetched up as I was ! — Eily, can't you run out
and ask Mis' Cullen ter lend me a pair o' stock-
in's for Peory, 'n' tell her if she will, Peory '11
48
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL g
give her Jim half her candy when she gets home.
Won't yer, Peory?"
Peoria was young and greedy, and thought
the remedy so out of all proportion to the dis-
ease, that she set up a deafening howl at the
projected bargain — a howl so rebellious and so
entirely out of season that her mother started
in her direction with Hashing eye and uplifted
hand ; but she let it fall suddenly, saying, " No,
I vow I Avon't lick ye Christmas Day, if yer drive
me crazy ; but speak up smart, now, 'n' say
whether yer 'd ruther give Jim Cullen half yer
candy or go bare-legged ter the party V ' ' The
matter being put so plainly, Peoria collected her
faculties, dried her tears, and chose the lesser
evil, Clem having hastened the decision by an
affectionate wink, that meant he'd go halves
with her on his candy.
" That 's a lady ! " cried her mother. " Now,
you young ones that ain't doin' nothin', play all
yer want ter before noontime, for after ye git
49
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
through eatin' at twelve o'clock me 'n' Sarah
Maud's goiii' ter give yer sech a washin' 'n'
combm' 'n' dressin' as yer never had before 'n'
never will agin likely, 'n' then I 'ni goin' to set
yer down 'n' give yer two solid hours trainin' in
manners; 'n' 't won't be no foolin' neither."
" All we 've got ter do 's go eat ! " grumbled
Peter.
" Well, that 's enough," responded his mother;
" there 's more 'n one way of eatin', let me tell
yer, 'n' you 've got a heap ter learn about it,
Peter Ruggles. Land sakes, I wish you childern
could see the way I was fetched up to eat. I
never took a meal o' vittles in the kitchen be-
fore I married Ruggles ; but yer can't keep up
that style w^th nine young ones 'n' yer Pa
always off ter sea."
The big Ruggleses worked so well, and the
little Ruggleses kept from "under foot" so
successfully, that by one o'clock nine complete
toilets were laid out in solemn grandeur on the
50
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
beds. 1 say "complete"; but I do not know
whether they would be called so in the best so-
ciety. The law of compensation had been well
applied : he that had necktie had no cuffs ; she
that had sash had no handkerchief, and vice
versa; but they all had shoes and a certain
amount of clothing, such as it was, the outside
layer being in every case quite above criticism.
"Now, Sarah Maud," said Mrs. Ruggles, her
face shining with excitement, "everything's
red up an' we can begin. I 've got a boiler 'n'
a kettle 'n' a pot o' hot water. Peter, you go
into the back bedroom, 'n' I '11 take Susan, Kitty,
Peory, 'n' Cornelius ; 'n' Sarah Maud, you take
Clem, 'n' Eily, 'n' Larry, one to a time. Scrub
'em 'n' rinse 'em, or 't any rate git 's fur 's yer
can with 'em, and then I '11 finish 'em off while
you do yerself."
Sarah Maud could n't have scrubbed with
any more decision and force if she had been
doing floors, and the little Ruggleses bore it
51
^^^^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
bravely, not from natural heroism, but for the
joy that was set before them. Not being satis-
lied, however, with the tone of their complex-
ions, and feeling that the number of freckles
to the square inch was too many to be tolerated
in the highest social circles, she wound up op-
erations by applying a little Bristol brick from
the knife-board, which served as the proverbial
"last straw," from under which the little Rug-
gleses issued rather red and raw and out of
temper. When the clock struck four they were
all clothed, and most of them in their right
minds, ready for those last touches that always
take the most time.
Kitty's red hair was curled in thirty-four ring-
lets, Sarah Maud's was braided in one pig-tail, and
Susan's and Eily's in two braids apiece, while
Peoria's resisted all advances in the shape of
hair oils and stuck out straight on all sides, like
that of the Circassian girl of the circus, so
Clem said ; and he w^as sent into the bedroom
'v^ 52
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
for it, too, from whence he was dragged oat for-
givingly, by Peoria herself, live minutes later.
Then, exciting moment, came linen collars for
some and neckties and bows for others ; a mag-
nificent green glass breastpin was sewed into
Peter's purple necktie, and Eureka! the Rug-
gleses were dressed, and Solomon in all his
glory was never arrayed like one of these !
A row of seats was then formed directly
through the middle of the kitchen. Of course
there Avere not quite chairs enough for ten, since
53
THP: BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
the family had rarely wanted to sit down all at
once, somebody always being out or in bed, or
otherwise engaged, but the woodbox and the
coal-hod finished out the line nicely, and no-
body thought of grumbling. The children took
their places according to age, Sarah Maud at
the head and Larry on the coal-hod, and Mrs.
Ruggles seated herself in front, surveying them
proudly as she Aviped the sweat of honest toil
from her brow.
"Well," she exclaimed, "if I do say so as
shouldn't, I never see a cleaner, more stylish
mess o' childern in my life ! 1 do wish Ruggles
could look at ye for a minute ! — Larry Ruggles,
how many times have I got ter tell yer not ter
keep pullin' at yer sash? Haven't I told yer if
it comes ontied, yer waist 'n' skirt '11 part com-
p'ny in the middle, 'n' then Avhere '11 yer be? —
Now look me in the eye, all of yer ! I 've of 'en
told yer w^hat kind of a family the McGrills w^as.
I 've got reason to be proud, goodness knows !
54 ^^^^P
f^
J
SARAH MAUD COULD N T HAVE SCRUBBED
WITH ANY MORE DECISION AND FORCE
IF SHE HAD BEEN DOING THE FLOORS
^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Your uncle is on the police force o' New York
city ; you can take up the paper most any day
an' see his name printed right out — James
McGrill, — 'n' I can't have my children fetched
up common, like some folks' ; when they go out
they 've got to have clo'es, and learn to act de-
cent ! Now I want ter see how yer goin' to be-
have when yer git there to-night. 'T ain't so
awful easy as you think 't is. Let 's start in at
the beginnin' 'n' act out the whole business.
Pile into the bedroom, there, every last one o' ye,
'n' show me how yer goin' to go int' the parlor.
This '11 be the parlor, an I '11 be Mis' Bird."
The youngsters hustled into the next room in
high glee, and Mrs. Buggies drew herself up in
the chair with an infinitely haughty and purse-
proud expression that much better suited a de-
scendant of the McGrills than modest Mrs. Bird.
The bedroom was small, and there presently
ensued such a clatter that you would have
thought a herd of wild cattle had broken loose.
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
^-^i^/
f'u '
The door opened, and they straggled in, all the
younger ones giggling, with Sarah Maud at the
head, looking as if she had been caught in the act
of stealing sheep ; while Larry, being last in
58
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
line, seemed to think the door a sort of gate of
heaven which would be shut in his face if he
did n't get there in time ; accordingly he strug-
gled ahead of his elders and disgraced himself
by tumbling in head foremost.
Mrs. Ruggles looked severe. " There, I knew
yer 'd do it in some sech fool way ! Now go in
there and try it over again, every last one o' ye,
'n' if Larry can't come in on two legs he can
stay ter home, — d'yer hear? "
The matter began to assume a graver aspect ;
the little Ruggleses stopped giggling and backed
into the bedroom, issuing presently with lock
step, Indian file, a scared and hunted expres-
sion on every countenance.
"No, no, no! " cried Mrs. Ruggles, in despair.
"That's worse yet; yer look for all the world
like a gang o' pris'ners ! There ain't no style ter
that : spread out more, can't yer, 'n' act kind o'
careless-like! Nobody's goin' ter kill ye; that
ain't what a dinner-party is ! "
59
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
The third time brought deserved success, and
the pupils took their seats in a row.
" Now, yer know," said Mrs. Ruggles impres-
sively, "there ain't enough decent hats to go
round, 'n' if there was I don' know 's I 'd let yer
wear 'em, for the boys would never think to take
'em off when they got inside, for they never do
— but anyhoAv, there ain't enough good ones.
Now, look me in the eye. You 're only goin' jest
round the corner ; you need n't wear no hats,
none of yer, 'n' when yer get int' the parlor, 'n'
they shouldn't take notice o' your heads, an' ask
yer ter lay off yer hats, Sarah Maud must speak
up 'n' say it was sech a pleasant evenin' 'n'
sech a short walk that yer left yer hats to
home. Now, can yer remember?"
All the little Ruggleses shouted, "Yes,
marm ! " in chorus.
"What have you got ter do with it?" de-
manded their mother: "did I tell you to say
it? Warn't T talkin' ter Sarah Maud?"
60
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
The little Riiggleses hung their diminished
heads. "Yes marm," they piped, more dis-
creetly.
"Now we won't leave nothin' to chance; git
up, all of ye, an' try it. — Speak up, Sarah
Maud."
Sarah Maud's tongue clove to the roof of her
mouth.
"Quick!"
" Ma thought — it was — sech a pleasant hat
that we 'd — we 'd better leave our short walk
to home," recited Sarah Maud, in an agony of
mental effort.
This was too much for the boys. An earth-
quake of suppressed giggles swept all along the
line.
" Oh, whatever shall I do with yer? " moaned
the unhappy mother ; " I s'pose I 've got to learn
it to yer!" — ^ which she did, word for word,
until Sarah Maud thought she could stand on
her head and sav it backwards.
61
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
'' Now, Cornelius, what are you goin' ter say
ter make yerself good comp'ny? "
" Do ? Me ? Dunno ! " said Cornelius, turning
pale with unexpected responsibility.
" Well, ye ain't goin' to set there like a bump
on a log 'thout sayin' a word ter pay for yer
vittles, air ye ? Ask Mis' Bird how she 's feelin'
this evenin', or if Mr. Bird 's hevin' a busy sea-
son, or how this kind o' weather agrees with
him, or somethin' like that. — Now we '11 make
b'lieve we 've got ter the dinner, — that won't
be so hard, 'cause yer '11 have somethin' to do
— it's awful bothersome to stan' round an'
act stylish. . . . If they have napkins, Sarah Maud
down to Peory may put 'em in their laps, 'n'
the rest of ye can tuck 'em in yer necks. Don't
eat with yer lingers, don't grab no vittles off
one 'nother's plates ; don't reach out for nothin',
but wait till yer asked, 'n' if you never fjit
asked don't git up and grab it. . . . Don't spill
nothin' on the tablecloth, or like's not Mis'
62
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Bird '11 send yer away from the table — 'n' I
hope she will if yer do ! . . . Susan ! keep your
handkerchief in your lap where Peory can borry
it if she needs it, 'n' I hope she '11 know when
she does need it, though I don't expect it. . . .
Now we '11 try a few things ter see how they '11
go ! Mr. Clement, do you eat cramb'ry sarse? "
"Bet yer life! " cried Clem, who in the ex-
citement of the moment had not taken in the
idea exactly and had mistaken this for an ordi-
nary bosom-of-the-family question.
"Clement McGrill Ruggies, do you mean to
tell me that you 'd say that to a dinner-party ?
I '11 give ye one more chance. Mr. Clement, will
you take some of the cramb'ry?"
"Yes, marm, thank ye kindly, if you happen
ter have any handy."
" Very good, indeed ! But they won't give yer
two tries to-night, just remember thatl . . .
Miss Peory , do you speak for white or dark meat ? ' '
" I ain't perticler as ter color, anything that
63
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
nobody else wants will suit me," answered Peoiy
with her best air.
"First-rate! Nobody could speak more gen-
teel than that ! Miss Kitty, will you have hard
or soft sarse with your pudden?"
"Hard or soft? Oh! A little of both, if you
please, an' I'm much obliged," said Kitty,
bowing with decided ease and grace ; at which
all the other Kuggleses pointed the finger of
shame at her, and Peter grunted expressively,
that their meaning might not be mistaken.
-2>.r'
Q^
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
*' You just stop your gruntin', Peter Euggles;
that warn't greedy, that was all right. I wish I
could git it inter your heads that it ain't so much
what yer say, as the way you say it. And don't
keep starin' cross-eyed at your necktie pin, or
I vow I '11 take it out o' you 'n' sew it on to Clem
or Cornelius; Sarah Maud '11 keep her eye on it,
'n' if it turns broken side out she '11 tell yer.
Gracious ! I should n't think you 'd ever seen
nor worn no jool'ry in your life. . . . Eily, you
an' Larry 's too little to ti'ain, so you just
look at the rest an' do 's they do, 'n' the Lord
have mercy on ye 'n' help ye to act decent!
Now, is there anything more ye'd like to
practice?"
"If yer tell me one more thing, I can't set up
an' eat," said Peter gloomily ; " I 'm so cram full
o' manners now I 'm ready ter bust, 'thout no
dinner at all."
"Me too," chimed in Cornelius.
"Well, I'm sorry for yer both," rejoined
H5
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Mrs. Ruggles sarcastically; "if the 'mount o'
manners yer 've got on hand now troubles ye,
you 're dreadful easy hurt ! Now, Sarah Maud,
after dinner, about once in so often, you must
git up 'n' say, ' I guess we 'd better be goin' ; '
'n' if they say, ' Oh, no, set a while longer,' yer
can set; but if they don't say nothin' you've
got ter get up 'n' go. Hev yer got that int' yer
head?"
" About once in so often ! " Could any words in
the language be fraught with more terrible and
wearing uncertainty?
"Well," answered Sarah Maud mournfully,
"seems as if this whole dinner-party set right
square on top o' me ! Mebbe I could manage my
own manners, but to manage nine mannerses is
worse 'n staying to home!"
" Oh, don't fret," said her mother, good-na-
tm-edly, now that the lesson was over ; " I guess
you '11 git along. T would n't mind if folks would
only say, 'Oh, childern will be childern ' ; but
m
ry
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
they won't. They '11 say, ' Land o' Goodness, who
fetched them childern up?' . . . It's quarter
past live, 'n' yer can go now : — remember 'bout
the hats, . . . don't all talk ter once. . . .
Susan, lend yer han'k'chief terPeory, . . . Peter,
don't keep screwin' yer scarf-pin, . . . Corne-
lius, hold yer head up straight, . . . Sarah
Maud, don't take yer eyes off o' Larry, 'n' Larry
you keep holt o' Sarah Maud 'n' do jest as she
says, — 'n' whatever you do, all of yer, never
forgit for one second that yer mother was a
McGrill!"
^v
VI
"WHEN THE PIE WAS OPENED,
THE BIRDS BEGAN TO SING ! "
r^ HE children went out of the back
door quietly, and were presently
lost to sight, Sarah Maud slip-
> ping and stumbling along absent-
mindedly, as she recited rapidly
under her breath, " Itwassucha
pleasantevenin'n'suchashortwalk,
thatwethoughtwe'dleaveourhatstohome. Itwas
such a pleasante venin'n'such a short walk, that we
thoughtwe'dleaveourhatstohome. "
Peter rang the door-bell, and presently a ser-
vant admitted them, and, whispering something
in Sarah's ear, drew her downstairs into the
kitchen. The other Ruggleses stood in horror-
stricken groups as the door closed l)ehind their
68
rSf-
THE BIEDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
commanding officer ; but there was no time for
reflection for a voice from above was heard,
saying, "Come right upstairs, please!"
" Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why.
Theirs but to do or die."
Accordingly they walked upstairs, and El-
frida, the nurse, ushered them into a room more
splendid than anything they had ever seen.
But, oh woe ! where was Sarah Maud! and was
it Fate that Mrs. Bird should say, at once, " Did
you leave your hats in the hall ? " Peter felt him-
self elected by circumstance the head of the
family, and, casting one imploring look at
tongue-tied Susan, standing next him, said
huskily, "It was so very pleasant — -that —
that " — " That we had n't good hats enough to
go 'round," put in little Susan, bravely, to help
him out, and then froze Avith horror that the
ill-fated words had slipped off her tongue.
However, Mrs. Bird said, pleasantly, " Of
69
'^^^'-^^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
course you wouldn't wear hats such a short
distance, I quite forgot when I asked. Now will
you come right in to Miss Cai'ol's room? She is
so anxious to see you."
Just then Sarah Maud came u]^ tlie back
stairs, so radiant with joy from ]iei' secret in-
terview with the cook that Peter could have
pinched her with a clear conscience ; and Carol
gave them a joyful welcome. " But where is
Baby Larry ? " she cried, looking over the group
with searching eye. '^ Did n't he come? "
" Larry ! Larry ! " Good gracious, where was
Larry ? They were all sure that he had come in
with them, for Susan remembered scolding him
for tripping over the door-mat. tJncle Jack
went into convulsions of laughter. "Are you
sure there were nine of you when you left home ? "
he asked, merrily.
"I think so, sir," said Peoria, timidly; "but
anyhow, there was Larry; " and she showed signs
of weeping.
'^^^ 70
^
THE BIKDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
" Oh, well, cheer up ! " cried Uncle Jack.
*' Probably he's not lost, only mislaid. I'll go
and find him before you can say Jack Robin-
son!"
"I'll go, too, if you please, sir," said Sarah
Maud, "for it was my place to mind him, an' if
he 's lost I can't relish my vittles ! "
The other Ruggleses stood rooted to the floor.
Was this a dinner-party, forsooth; and if so,
why were such things ever spoken of as festive
occasions ?
Sarah Maud went out through the hall, call-
ing, "Larry ! Larry ! " and without any interval
of suspense a thin voice piped up from below,
"Here I be ! "
The truth was that Larry, being deserted by
his natural guardian, dropped behind the rest,
and wriggled into the hat-tree to wait for her,
having no notion of walking unprotected into
the jaws of a fashionable entertainment. Find-
ing that she did not come, he tried to crawl
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
from his refuge and call somebody, when,
dark and dreadful ending to a tragic day, he
found that he was too much intertwined with
umbrellas and canes to move a single step. He
was afraid to yell — when I have said this of
Larry Ruggles I have pictured a state of help-
less terror that ought to wring tears from every
eye — and the sound of Sarah Maud's beloved
voice, some seconds later, was like a strain of
angel music in his ears. Uncle Jack dried his
tears, carried him upstairs, and soon had him
72
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
in breathless tits of laughter, while Carol so
made the other Ruggleses forget themselves that
they were presently talking like accomplished
diners-out.
Carol's bed had been moved into the farthest
corner of the room, and she was lying on the
outside, dressed in a wonderful dressing-gown
that looked like a fleecy cloud. Her golden hair
fell in fluffy curls over her white forehead and
neck, her cheeks flushed delicately, her eyes
beamed with joy, and the children told their
mother, afterwards, that she looked as beautiful
as the angels in the picture books.
There was a great bustle behind a huge screen
in another part of the room, and at half past five
this was taken away, and the Christmas dinner-
table stood revealed. What a wonderful sight it
was to the poor little Ruggles children, who ate
their sometimes scanty meals on the kitchen
table! It blazed witli tall colored candles, it
gleamed with glass and silver, it blushed with
78
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
flowers, it groaned with good things to eat ; so
it was not strange that the Ruggleses, forgetting
altogether that their mother was a McGrill,
shrieked in admiration of the fairy spectacle.
But Larry's behavior was the most disgraceful,
for he stood not upon the order of his going, but
went at once for a high chair that pointed un-
mistakably to him, climbed up like a squirrel,
gave a comprehensive look at the turkey, clapped
his hands in ecstasy, rested his fat arms on the
table, and cried with joy, " I beat the hull lot
o' yer ! " Carol laughed until she cried, giving
orders, meanwhile: "Uncle Jack, please sit
at the head, Sarah Maud at the foot, and that
will leave four on each side; mother is going
to help Elfrida, so that the children need not
look after one another, but just have a good time."
A sprig of holly lay by each plate, and noth-
ing Avould do but each little Euggles must leave
his seat and have it pinned on by Carol, and as
each course was served, one of them pleaded to
74 ^^^^P
^ THE BIRDS* CHRISTMAS CAROL
take something to her. There was hurrying to
and fro, I can assure you, for it is quite a dif-
ficult matter to serve a Christmas dinner on the
thii'd floor of a great city house; but if it had
been necessary to carry every dish up a rope
ladder tlie servants would gladly have done so.
There were turkey and chicken, with delicious
gravy and stuffing, and there were half a dozen
vegetables, with cranberry jelly, and celery, and
pickles ; and as for the way these delicacies were
served, the Ruggieses never forgot it as long as
they lived.
Peter nudged Kitty, who sat next to him, and
said, " Look, will yer, ev'ry feller's got his own
partic'lar butter; I s'pose that's to show you
can eat that 'n' no more. No, it ain't either,
for that pig of a Peory 's just gettin' another
helpin'!"
"Yes," whispered Kitty, " an' the napkins is
marked Avith big red letters ! I wonder if that 's
so nobody '11 ni]) 'em ; an' oh, Peter, look at the
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
pictures stickin' right on ter the dishes I Did
yer ever?"
"The phiuis is all took out o' my cramb'ry
sarse an' it 's friz to a stiff jell' ! " whispered
Peoria, in wild excitement.
''Hi — yah ! I got the wish-bone ! " sang Larry,
fff^,. ^ ,^„f^ ^^
regardless of Sarah Maud's frown ; after wliich
she asked to have his seat changed, giving as
excuse that he "gen'ally set beside her, an'
would feel strange " ; the true reason being that
she desired to kick him gently, under the table,
whenever he passed what might be termed " the
McGrill line."
^" 76
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
" I declare to goodness," murmured Susan,
on the other side, " there 's so much to look at
I can't scarcely eat no thin' ! "
"Bet yer life I can!" said Peter, who had
kept one servant busily employed ever since he
sat down ; for, luckily, no one was asked by
Uncle Jack whether he would have a second
helping, but the dishes were quietly passed
under their noses, and not a single Ruggles re-
fused anything that was offered him, even unto
the seventh time.
Then, when Carol and Uncle Jack perceived
that more turkey was a physical impossibility,
the meats were taken off and the dessert was
brought in, a dessert that would have fright-
ened a strong man after such a dinner as had
preceded it. Not so the Ruggleses, for a strong
man is nothing to a small boy, and they kin-
dled to the dessert as if the turkey had been a
dream and the six vegetables an optical delu-
sion. There were plum-pudding, mince-pie, and
77
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
ice-cream ; and there were nuts, and raisins,
and oranges. Kitty chose ice-cream, explaining
that she knew it " by sight, though she had n't
never tasted none " ; but all the rest took the
entire variety, without any regard to conse-
quences.
"My dear child," whispered Uncle Jack, as
he took Carol an orange, "there is no doubt
about the necessity of this feast, but I do advise
you after this to have them twice a year, or
quarterly perhaps, for the way these children
eat is positively dangerous ; I assure you I
tremble for that terrible Peoria. I 'm going to
run races with her after dinner."
"Never mind," laughed Carol; "let them
have enough for once; it does my heart good to
see them, and they shall come oftener next
year."
The feast being over, the Ruggleses lay back
in their chairs languidly, like little gorged boa-
consti'ictors. and the table was cleared in a trice.
7S
c>^^ THE BIKDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
Then a door was opened into the next room,
and there, in a corner facing Carol's bed, which
had been wheeled as close as possible, stood
the brilliantly lighted Christmas tree, glittering
with gilded walnuts and tiny silver balloons,
and wreathed with snowy chains of pop-corn.
The presents had been bought mostly with
Carol's story-money, and were selected after
long consultations with Mrs. Bird. Each girl
had a blue knitted hood, and each boy a red
crocheted comforter, all made by Mrs. Bird, Carol,
and Elfrida. ("Because if you buy everything,
it doesn't show so much love," said Carol.)
Then every girl had a pretty plaid dress of a
different color, and every boy a warm coat of
the right size. Here the useful presents stopped,
and they were quite enough; but Carol had
pleaded to give them something "for fun." "I
know they need the clothes," she had said,
when they were talking over the matter just
after Thanksgiving, "but they don't care much
71)
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
for them, alter all. Now, father, won't you. please
let me go without part of my presents this year,
and give me the money they would cost, to buy
something to amuse the RugglesesV "
" You can have both, " said Mr. Bird, promptly;
" is there any need of my little girl's going with-
out her own Christmas, I should like to know ?
Spend all the money you like."
''But that isn't the thing," objected Carol,
nestling close to her father; ''it wouldn't be
mine. What is the use ? Have n't I almost every-
thing already, and am I not the happiest girl
in the world this year, with Uncle Jack and
Donald at home? You know very well it is more
blessed to give than to receive ; so why won't
you let me do it ? You never look half as happy
when you are getting your presents as when
you are giving us ours. Noav, father, submit, or
I shall have to be very firm and disagreeable
with you! "
"Very well, your Highness. 1 surrender."
80
^^"^ V. THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
''That's a dear! Now what were you going
to give me ? Confess ! "
" A bronze tigure of Santa Glaus; and in the
' little round belly that shakes when he laughs
like a bowlful of jelly,' is a wonderful clock; oh,
you would never give it up if you could see it ! "
"Nonsense," laughed Carol; "as 1 never get
up to breakfast, nor go to bed, nor catch trains,
I think my old clock will do very well ! Now,
mother, what were you going to give me?"
"Oh, I had n't decided. A few more books,
and a gold thimble, and a smelling-bottle, and
a music-box, j)erhaps."
" Poor Carol," laughed the child, merrily, " she
can afford to give u]) these lovely things, for
there will still be left Uncle Jack, and Donald,
and Paul, and Hugh and Uncle Rob, and Aunt
Elsie, and a dozen other people to fill her Christ-
mas stocking! "
So Carol had her way, as she generally did ;
but it was usuallv a sood wav, which was fortu-
81
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
nate under the circumstances ; and Sarah Maud
had a set of Miss Alcott's books, and Peter a
modest silver watch, Cor-
nelius a tool-chest, Clement
a dog-house for his lame
puppy, Larry a magnificent
Noah's ark, and each of the
younger girls a beautiful
doll.
You can well believe
that everybody was very
merry and very thankful.
All the family, from Mr.
Bird down to the cook,
said that they had never seen so much happi-
ness in the space of three hours ; but it had to
end, as all things do. The candles flickered and
went out, the tree was left alone with its gilded
ornaments, and Mrs. Bird sent the children
downstairs at half past eight, thinking that
Carol looked tired.
82
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
" Now, my darling, you have done quite
enough for one day," said Mrs. Bird, getting Carol
into her nightgown. " I 'm afraid you will feel
worse to-morrow, and that would be a sad end-
ing to such a charming evening."
" Oh, wasn't it a lovely, lovely time," sighed
Carol. " From lirst to last, everything was just
right. I shall never forget Larry's face when he
looked at the turkey ; nor Peter's when he saw
his watch ; nor that sweet, sweet Kitty's smile
when she kissed her dolly ; nor the tears in poor,
dull Sarah Maud's eyes when she thanked me
for her books; nor — "
"But we mustn't talk any longer about it
to-night," said Mrs. Bird, anxiously; "you are
too tired, dear."
" I am not tired, mother. I have felt well all
day ; not a bit of pain anywhere. Perhaps this
has done me good."
" Perhaps ; I hope so. There was no noise or
confusion; it was just a merry time. Now, may
88
THE BIKDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
I close the door and leave you alone, dear ? Fa-
ther and I will steal in softly by and by to see if
you are all right; but I think you need to be
very quiet."
" Oh, I 'ni willing to stay by myself ; but I am
riot sleepy yet, and I am going to hear the music,
you know."
" Yes, I have opened the window a little, and
put the screen in front of it, so that you won't
feel the air."
"Can I have the shutters open? and won't
you turn my bed, please ? This morning I woke
ever so early, and one bright, beautiful star
shone in that eastern window. 1 never noticed
it before, and I thought of the Star in the East,
that guided the wise men to the i)lace where
the baby Jesus was born. Good-night, mother.
Such a happy, happy day!"
" Good-night, my precious Christmas Carol —
mother's blessed Christmas child."
"Bend your head a minute, before you go,"
84
THE BIKD8' CHRISTMAS CAROL
whispered Carol. "Mother, dear, I do think that
we have kept Christ's birthday this time just as
He would like it. Don't you? "
"I am sure of it," said Mrs. 13ird, softly.
/= i V
(t
A
.xiLii
VII
THE BIRDLING FLIES AWAY
HE Ruggleses had finished a
last romp in the library with
Paul and Hugh, and Uncle
Jack had taken them home
and stayed a while to chat
with Mrs. Ruggles, who
opened the door for them,
her face all aglow with excitement and delight.
When Kitty and Clem showed her the oranges
and nuts that they had kept for her, she aston-
ished them by saying that at six o'clock Mrs.
Bird had sent her in the finest dinner she had
ever seen in her life; and not only that, but
a piece of dress-goods that must have cost a
dollar a yard if it cost a cent.
As Uncle Jack went down the rickety steps
86
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
he looked back for a last glimi)se of the family
as the children gathered about their mother,
showing their beautiful presents again and
again, and then upward to
a window in the great house
yonder. " A little child shall
lead them," he thought.
"Well, if — if anything ever
happens to Carol, I Avill take ,
the Ruggleses under my
wing."
J
"Softly, Uncle Jack,"
whispered the boys, as lie
walked into the library a
while later. "We are listen-
ing to the music in the
church. The choir has sung 'Carol, brothers,
carol,' and now we think the organist is begin-
ning to play 'My ain countree' for Carol."
"I hope she hears it," said Mrs. Bird; "but
87
THE BIRDS' CHKISTMAS CAKOL
they are very late to-night, and 1 dare not speak
to her lest she should be asleep. It is almost
ten o'clock."
The boy soprano, clad in white surplice,
stood in the organ loft. The light shone full
u]Kui his crown of fair hair, and his pale face,
with its serious blue eyes, looked paler than
usual. Perhaps it was something in the tender
thrill of the voice, or in the sweet words, but
there were tears in many eyes both in the
church and in the great house next door.
" 1 am far frae my lianit',
I am weary aften whiles
For the langed-for hame-bringin',
An' my Faether's welcome smiles ;
An' I '11 ne'er be fu' content,
Until my e'en do see
The gowden gates o' heaven
In my ain countree.
" The earth is decked wi' flow'rs,
Mony tinted, fresh an' gay,
An' the birdies warble blythely,
For nvy Faether made them sae ;
88
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
But these sights an' tliese soun's
Will as naething be to me,
When I hear the angels singin'
In my ain countree.
*' Like a bairn to its mither,
A wee birdie to its nest,
I fain would be gangiu' noo
Unto my Faether's breast
For he gathers in His arms
Helpless, worthless lambs like me,
An' carries them Himsel'
To his ain countree."
There were tears in many eyes, but not in
Carol's. The loving heart had quietly ceased to
beat, and the "wee birdie" in the great house
had flown to its " home nest." Carol had fallen
asleep ! But as to the song, I think ])erhaps, 1
cannot say, she heard it after all !
So sad an ending to a happy day ! Perhaps,
to those who were left ; and yet Carol's mother,
even in the freshness of her grief, was glad that
her beloved child had sli]^])ed away on the
89
r?f CPt r\ >^
^^^^*^ THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
brightest day of her life, out of its glad content,
into everlasting peace.
She was glad that she had gone as she had
come, on the wings of song, when all the world
was brimming over with joy ; glad of every grate-
ful smile, of every joyous burst of laughter, of
every loving thought and word and deed the
dear last day had brought.
Sadness reigned, it is true, in the little house
behind the garden ; and one day poor Sarah
Maud, with a courage born of despair, threw on
her hood and shawl, walked straight to a certain
house a mile away, up the marble steps into
good Dr. Bartol's office, falling at his feet as she
cried, " Oh, sir, it was me an' our children that
went to Miss Carol's last dinner-party, an' if
we made her worse we can't never be happy
again ! " Then the kind old gentleman took her
rough hand in his and told her to dry her tears,
for neither she nor any of her flock had hastened
Carol's flight; indeed, he said that had it not
90
THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL
been for the strong hopes and wishes that tilled
her tired heart, she could not have stayed long
enough to keep that last merry Christmas with
her dear ones.
And so the old years, fraught with memories,
die, one after another, and the new years, bright
with hopes, are born to take their places ; but
Carol lives again in every chime of Christmas
bells that peal glad tidings, and in every Christ-
mas anthem sung by childish voices.
THE END'
CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S . A