time of night? You'll catch your death o' cold."

"I was all alone," said Dolly, with a piteous bleat.

"Oh, there, there, wife; don't say a word," put in the parson. "Get her
off to bed. Never mind, Dolly, don't you cry;" for Parson Cushing was a
soft-hearted gentleman and couldn't bear the sight of Dolly's quivering
under lip. So Dolly told her little story, how she had been promised a
sugar dog by Nabby if she'd be a good girl and go to sleep, and how she
couldn't go to sleep, and how she just went down to look from the yard,
and how the music drew her right over.

"There, there," said Parson Cushing, "go to bed, Dolly; and if Nabby
don't give you a sugar dog, I will. This Christmas dressing is all
nonsense," he added, "but the child's not to blame--it was natural."

"After all," he said to his wife the last thing after they were settled
for the night, "our little Dolly is an unusual child. There were not
many little girls that would have dared to do that. I shall preach a
sermon right away that will set all this Christmas matter straight,"
said the Doctor. "There is not a shadow of evidence that the first
Christians kept Christmas. It wasn't kept for the first three centuries,
nor was Christ born anywhere near the 25th of December."

* * * * *

The next morning found little Dolly's blue eyes wide open with all the
wondering eagerness of a new idea.

Dolly had her wise thoughts about Christmas. She had been terribly
frightened at first, when she was brought home from the church; but when
her papa kissed her and promised her a sugar dog she was quite sure
that, whatever the unexplained mystery might be, he did not think the
lovely scene of the night before a wicked one. And when Mrs. Cushing
came and covered the little girl up warmly in bed, she only said to her,
"Dolly, you must never get out of bed again at night after you are put
there; you might have caught a dreadful cold and been sick and died, and
then we should have lost our little Dolly." So Dolly promised quite
readily to be good and lie still ever after, no matter what attractions
might be on foot in the community.

Much was gained, however, and it was all clear gain; and forthwith the
little fanciful head proceeded to make the most of it, thinking over
every feature of the wonder. The child had a vibrating, musical
organization, and the sway and rush of the chanting still sounded in her
ears and reminded her of that