as hurrying to and fro, I can assure you, for it is quite a
difficult matter to serve a Christmas dinner on the third floor of a
great city house; but if every dish had had to be carried up a rope
ladder the servants would gladly have done so. There was turkey and
chicken, with delicious gravy and stuffing, and there were half-a-dozen
vegetables, with cranberry jelly, and celery, and pickles; and as for
the way these delicacies were served, the Ruggleses never forgot it as
long as they lived.

Peter nudged Kitty, who sat next him, and said, "Look, will yer, ev'ry
feller's got his own partic'lar butter; I suppose that's to show yer
can eat that much 'n no more. No, it ain't neither, for that pig of a
Peory's just gittin' another helpin'!" "Yes," whispered Kitty, "an'
the napkins is marked with big red letters. I wonder if that's so
nobody 'll nip 'em; an' oh, Peter, look at the pictures painted right
on ter the dishes. Did yer ever!"

"The plums is all took out o' my cramb'ry sarse, an' it's friz to a
stiff jell!" shouted Peoria, in wild excitement.

"Hi--yah! I got a wish-bone!" sung Larry, regardless of Sarah Maud's
frown; after which she asked to have his seat changed, giving as excuse
that he gen'ally set beside her, an' would "feel strange;" the true
reason being that she desired to kick him gently, under the table,
whenever he passed what might be termed "the McGrill line."

"I declare to goodness," murmured Susan, on the other side, "there's so
much to look at I can't scarcely eat nothin!"

"Bet yer life I can!" said Peter, who had kept one servant busily
employed ever since he sat down; for, luckily, no one was asked by
Uncle Jack whether he would have a second helping, but the dishes were
quietly passed under their noses, and not a single Ruggles refused
anything that was offered him, even unto the seventh time. Then, when
Carol and Uncle Jack perceived that more turkey was a physical
impossibility, the meats were taken off and the dessert was brought
in--a dessert that would have frightened a strong man after such a
dinner as had preceded it. Not so the Ruggleses--for a strong man is
nothing to a small boy--and they kindled to the dessert as if the
turkey had been a dream and the six vegetables an optical delusion.
There was plum-pudding, mince-pie, and ice-cream, and there were nuts,
and raisins, and oranges. Kitty chose ice-cream, explaining that she
knew it "by sight," but hadn't never tasted n