That was to keep the dear ones
from quarreling all through the year. There were Papa's stout
top boots; Mama'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
the little 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 passed up the deserted street. This done,
she dropped into bed, a rather tired, but very happy Christmas
fairy.
V.
SOME OTHER BIRDS ARE TAUGHT TO FLY.
Before the earliest Ruggles could wake and toot his 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 "childern" invited 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 the invitation, which,
by the way, had been speedily enshrined in an old photograph
frame and hung under the looking-glass in the most prominent
place in the kitchen, where it stared the occasional visitor
directly in the eye, and made him pale with envy:
"BIRDS' NEST, Dec.
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