l the children were glancing questioningly at her and nudging
one another.

The neighbor woman's daughter, who had often shared the generous fruit
of the annual tree at the farm-house, took secret satisfaction in the
unlooked-for fall of the little girl's pride, and leaned to all sides to
whisper. She even stretched in front of the little girl to tell it to a
boy beyond. Not daring to speak plainly, she resorted to pig-Latin.
"Seegry," she cried, pulling at his coat, "shegry ain'tgry gotgry agry
thinggry." But when the little girl, who knew pig-Latin in all its
various dialects, turned angry, scornful eyes upon her, the neighbor
woman's daughter sat up and her smile faded to a sickly blankness.

Santa Claus was now almost at the end of his resources. The floor was
bare about the churn, and there remained only three or four parcels in
his arms. The teacher was despoiling the tree of its pop-corn festoons
and tossing them gaily about. Already there was a sound of crunching in
the room, as the candy, nuts, and fruit met their destined fate.

But all at once, with the last package, a long, thick one, held up
before his jovial face, Santa Claus started, looked a second time at the
writing upon it, and then, with a jubilant laugh, called out the little
girl's name!

The children about her hushed on the instant, and all eyes were turned
upon her. The pitying expression on her mother's face changed to one of
joy, and the eldest and the youngest brothers slid off the coal-bins as
if they were possessed. The Swede boy and the cattleman, who had each
been busy blaming himself for something worse than forgetfulness or
negligence, fairly beamed at the back of the little girl's curly head.

Very deliberately she got up and stepped to the platform. A smile curved
her mouth, and she carried her pink chin high. As she received her
gift, she paused for one moment to drop a dainty curtsy and to thank
Santa Claus, a proceeding which filled all the other girls with envy,
since they had omitted it. Then she proudly took her seat, the long,
thick package in one hand. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with
white string.

The little girl did not open the package; instead, she sat quietly with
it across her knee, displaying, as if unconsciously, her name printed in
full across it in large letters that strayed upward, and that were
headed by a "Miss" entirely of capitals. Under her name, in glowing red
ink, was written "Merry Christmas