t out. As she went into the
yard, what should she see there but her snow-man, all complete! She
turned round to thank Jack, but he was nowhere in sight. Nannie went up
closer to examine the snow-statue, and found a piece of paper on it,
with Mr. Jack Frost written on it in large letters. Under the name was
written with a pencil:--

"Mr. Jack Frost requests of Miss Nannie Merry that she will excuse his
friend Mr. John Merry for his rudeness this morning, as Mr. Frost
assures her that he will behave better next time."

Nannie laughed as she took off the paper, and running into the house,
she soon found Jack standing by the kitchen-fire. Coming up behind him,
without his seeing her, she put her arms round his neck, and kissed him
several times before he could speak. Then laughing, she said,--

"Miss Nannie Merry will excuse Mr. John Merry this time."

Somehow that evening Nannie and Jack were greater friends than ever; and
as they sat together looking at the pictures in some large books that
Nannie couldn't lift alone, Nannie was not sorry she had listened to the
little voice that had troubled her only to make her do right.

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTMAS.

What a beautiful morning it was, that Christmas morning! It seemed as
though the earth, in its pure robe of snow, and the trees, in their
sparkling armour of ice, every twig jewelled and gleaming in the sun,
had clothed themselves in beauty, and with joyful thoughts were giving
thanks to their Creator.

Nannie didn't think all this, but something very much like it was in her
heart, as she stood looking out from the window, as sister Mary set the
last smoking dish on the table.

That morning Dr. Merry read the 116th Psalm, beginning, _"I love the Lord,
because he hath heard my voice."_ Nannie listened very attentively, but
there was one verse she didn't quite understand. It was this: _"I will
offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving."_ She hadn't time after
prayers to ask her father or sister Mary about it, but all the time she
kept thinking of it and trying to understand it. She didn't know that
every time she had looked out upon the snow, and felt thankful to God
for the bright fire within that kept her warm, she had offered the
sacrifice of thanksgiving. She didn't know that when she thought of
Jesus, and her little heart seemed so full of love to him, because he
had died for her, she had offered indeed an acceptable sacrifice of
thanksgiving. She didn'