other; there were many of
them, and some of the little ones were still hanging on the tree.

Gordon's father came from Scotland, and he had read to Gordon many
stories of the old days in Scotland, when the great generals and the
noble lords lived in strong castles set high up on the mountains, so
that the soldiers could not get near them. Now among Gordon's Christmas
presents was a tiny castle just like the ones he had seen in the books
his father read the stories from; and with this castle came a lot of
soldiers.

So this day Gordon got out his castle and soldiers and began to play
with them. First he got a chair and put a big, thick rug over it to make
it look like a steep hill; then he set the castle on top of the hill and
stood the soldiers on the ground at the bottom of the hill--all in a
row. He was making believe that the soldiers were trying to get up to
the castle. Then he dropped some beautiful colored glass marbles, that
his Uncle George had given him, down on the floor of the castle. The
marbles rolled out of the front door of the castle and down the rug to
the bottom of the hill, and bang! they would bump right against the tall
soldiers and tumble them down. One after another Gordon would roll the
marbles down until by and by every one of the soldiers would be knocked
over, and as they were only wooden soldiers, of course they couldn't get
up by themselves. Then Gordon would stand them all up in a row again and
roll the marbles down the hill until not a single soldier was standing.
It was lots of fun for Gordon, for you know it really didn't hurt the
soldiers a bit, for they were only made of wood and their uniforms were
just red and blue paint.

The next day Gordon's mother took down the tree, and packed up the
beautiful things that were on it, and put them away until next
Christmas.

[Illustration: GORDON'S MAKE-BELIEVE CASTLE ON THE HILL.]

HANS THE INNOCENT

WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY M. I. WOOD

Once upon a time there was a woman called Mrs. Stockchen and she had a
son named Hans. They lived together in a little cottage and they had a
hen and a cow.

One morning Mrs. Stockchen said to her son: "Hans, my dear, will you
take Cowslip, the cow, to pasture, and remember not to be late for
supper." "Very well," said Hans, and he took up his stick and started
for the field.

The sun was very hot when he got there, and seeing a row of five shady
trees, he lay down underneath them and fell aslee