.

So Harry and Kate went down to the old woman's cabin that afternoon,
after school, and asked her.

Aunt Matilda did not hesitate an instant.

"Ef you chil'en is really a-goin' to give me a present, there ain't
nothin' I'd rather have than a Chrismis tree."

"A Christmas tree!" cried Harry and Kate both bursting out laughing.

"Yes, indeed, chil'en. Ef ye give me anything, give me a good big fiery
Chrismis tree like you all had, year 'fore las'."

Two years before, Harry and Kate had had their last Christmas tree.
There were no younger children, and these two were now considered to
have outgrown that method of celebrating Christmas. But they had missed
their tree last year--missed it very much.

And now Aunt Matilda wanted one. It was the very thing!

"Hurrah!" cried Harry; "you shall have it. Hurrah for Aunt Matilda's
Christmas tree!"

"Hurrah!" cried Kate; "won't it be splendid? Hurrah!"

"Hurrah!" said Uncle Braddock, who was just coming up to the cabin door,
but he did not shout very loud, and nobody heard him.

"Hurrah! I wonder what dey's all hurrahin' about?" he said to himself.

Harry and Kate had started off to run home with the news, but Aunt
Matilda told the old man all about it, and when he heard there was to be
a Christmas tree, he was just as glad as anybody.

When it became generally known that Aunt Matilda was to have a Christmas
tree, the people of the neighborhood took a great interest in the
matter. John Walker and Dick Ford, two colored men of the vicinity,
volunteered to get the tree. But when they went out into the woods to
cut it, eighteen other colored people, big and little, followed them,
some to help and some to give advice.

A very fine tree was selected. It was a pine, ten feet high, and when
they brought it into Aunt Matilda's cabin, they could not stand it
upright, for her ceiling was rather low.

When Harry and Kate came home from school they were rather surprised to
see so big a tree, but it was such a fine one that they thought they
must have it. After some consideration it was determined to erect it in
a deserted cabin, near by, which had no upper floor, and was high enough
to allow the tree to stand up satisfactorily. This was, indeed, an
excellent arrangement, for it was better to keep the decoration of the
Christmas tree a secret from Aunt Matilda until all was completed.

The next day was a holiday, and Harry and Kate went earnestly to work. A
hole was dug in t