tree roped on the side of the car and the box of trimmings on Mrs.
Merrill's lap even a big car was pretty full.

Mary Jane felt like a real Santa Claus for sure!

The family they were going to see didn't know they were coming, so when
the car stopped in front of a shabby little house, three puzzled and very
sober faces pressed against the window and looked out. But the sober faces
soon changed. In a few minutes the mother was helping Mrs. Merrill put the
turkey in to roast, the older girl was helping Mr. Merrill set the
Christmas tree in place and Tom and Ellen, the little girl, were helping
the Merrill girls trim the tree.

When the Merrills left the house some two hours later the turkey was
almost cooked, the tree was trimmed, presents unpacked and happiness and
good cheer had settled down in the little house for many a day.

It was a good thing they came away when they did, though, for exactly as
they drove up to their own home, they met an express wagon. And in their
own vestibule they found the driver. "Family of Merrill here?" he asked
them.

"They're us," said Mary Jane eagerly. And whereupon the driver carried
upstairs the biggest, fattest Christmas box Mary Jane had ever seen.

Of course it was from grandma and in it were so many lovely things from
uncles and grandparents and cousins that Mary Jane thought she never would
get everything unpacked!

"Well," said the little girl as some time later the family sat down to
their own belated dinner, "I think for not having any presents, we got a
lot! And I think I like Christmas in Chicago just as much as anywhere, I
do."

A SUMMER HOME--AND A TELEGRAM

"Let's go skating!" called Frances one cold morning as she saw Alice shake
the bath room rug from the balcony.

"Skating?" answered Alice, "where?"

"Down on the Midway," said Frances. "As soon as you get your work done,
you and Mary Jane come around to our front door and Betty and I will be
ready."

"But Mary Jane doesn't know how to skate," said Alice.

"Betty doesn't either," answered Frances, "but they can take their sleds
and coast down the sides of the bank while you and I skate."

Alice promised and then she hurried inside to finish her work. She had
heard about the fine skating on the Midway where the park board flooded
the sunken greens for the benefit of neighborhood children, but thus far
the weather had been too mild for any skating, so she hadn't had a chance
to try it. But a sud