The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Practical Joke, by Anonymous

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Title: The Practical Joke
The Christmas Story of Uncle Ned

Author: Anonymous

Illustrator: W. Howland

Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32430]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE PRACTICAL JOKE;

OR THE CHRISTMAS STORY OF UNCLE NED.

[Illustration]

NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY J. S. REDFIELD,
CLINTON HALL.

THE PRACTICAL JOKE.

Welcome, merry Christmas and New-Year! prized by children above all
other days in the year. Ye are associated with pleasant recollections of
old Santa Claus and sugar-plums--with bright visions of a cheerful
fireside, merry games, pleasant stories, and happy, smiling faces. First
comes Christmas Eve, when each young face beams with eager curiosity and
delightful anticipation--all wondering and guessing what they shall find
in their stockings next morning; while the eldest sister, with looks of
mystery and of importance, shares her mother's councils, and helps to
distribute the precious stores. Soon they are in bed, anxious to sleep
off the long hours, dreaming of rocking-horses and doll-babies,
tea-sets, wooden soldiers, and all the other delights of the toy-shop.

I never heard of a lazy child on a Christmas morning. The idle and the
industrious are all up, "bright and early." The well-filled stockings
are eagerly inspected, good wishes and pretty or useful presents given
and received, and various plans proposed for the day's amusement. Night
comes too soon for the tireless lovers of fun, who go unwillingly to
bed, consoling themselves that one week more will bring New-Year.

[Illustration: Kind little Girls relieving the Poor.]

Dear children, long may such innocent delights crown the year; and, in
the midst of all, forget not the children of the famishing poor, who
have no Christmas pleasures to look forward to; whose parent