andalized woman with charming accent,
"Ah, zat is ze Christ's birthday!"

"I was very wicked," murmured Tabitha, humbly. "I didn't stop to think
how we happen to have that holiday. I was mourning because I have not as
much to spend for pretty things as the other girls have."

"Oh, but zat is very wrong!" protested her companion, shaking her head
in a disapproving fashion. "You Americans sink only of how much money
you spend for Christmas and if your gift to your friend cost as much as
ze one she give you. Zat isn't _gift_! Zat is exchange. One should give
only from ze happiness of ze heart. If ze pocketbook is flat, zen pick a
little flower, write a little letter, give a merry smile. All true
friends like zat better zan silk dresses or gold watches. Do you forget
one of your great poets has said:

'Not what we give but what we share,
For ze gift without ze giver is bare.'"

"I see what you mean, Madame," said Tabitha slowly. "Folks think too
much about the cost of their gifts, instead of the spirit in which they
are given. But wouldn't you feel badly if you knew that fifteen or
twenty girls were planning splendid things for you and there was only
five dollars to buy remembrances for all of them, besides the other
friends? Cassandra told me yesterday that Bertha Peck is embroidering a
silk scarf for me, and here I haven't a thing for her!"

Madame smiled indulgently at the tragic tones, and gently shook the
slender maid, as she answered, "Wie, I understand some how you feel,
Tabitha; but it isn't worth fretting about. A little handkerchief, a
card maybe--"

"One can't get a really nice handkerchief for even two bits, and it
would take my whole five dollars for just the girls alone. I would have
nothing left for Tom or the rest."

The little French woman was silent for a moment, and a deep frown
wrinkled her usually placid brow; then she impulsively caught Tabitha's
brown hands in her own and skipped joyfully as if she, too, were a girl
in her teens, exclaiming excitedly, "I have it--zat what you say? You
crochet. I have seen you sometimes when you study and I wonder how you
count ze stitches and learn, too, but you always have your lessons
well."

Tabitha's face flushed with pleasure at this unexpected praise, and she
laughingly replied, "Oh, I can't always. It is just when I am
memorizing something or learning French conjugations. Now with algebra,
I have to use my hands as well as my brains."

"Sly