17th, 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. Mama 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
even the boys, with their India-rubber stomachs, would be just as
hungry the day after the dinner-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'
Peter, can't you spread up the beds, so't I can git ter cuttin'
out Larry's new suit? I ain't satisfied with his close, an' I
thought in the night of a way to make him a dress out of my old
plaid shawl--kind o' Scotch style, yer know.
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