a hen for dinner on
that occasion, he said there were none to spare for such nonsensical
purposes."

"But you got one anyway, didn't you?" Peace eagerly asked, for she had
learned to love Miss Wayne dearly, and seemed to think that the earnest,
whole-hearted, sympathizing woman was capable of anything.

"No, not from him," the nurse replied, knitting her brows as if the
thought still made her angry. "But his answer got my dander up, and the
children were so disappointed, for I had told them all about our
Thanksgiving Day, that I determined to cook them a sure-enough
Thanksgiving dinner if I could manage it. There was one girl in the
family,--little five-year-old Essie,--and I gave her a half dollar and
sent her over to their nearest neighbor to see if he would sell us a
small turkey. He had already disposed of his turkeys, however, and had
no hens for sale either; but he gave Essie a big duck and a handful of
silver in exchange for the money she had given him, and she came back as
proud as a peacock to display her wares. I saw at once when she passed
me the change that he had not charged her a cent for the duck, so I put
the money back into her little hand and told her that she was to keep
it. At first she was reluctant, though her big, eager eyes showed how
much she really wanted it; and after a while I made her understand that
I actually meant to give it to her for her very own. But when she took
it to her mother, the little woman called me to the bed and explained
that it would do the child no good in that form, because the lazy,
shiftless, good-for-nothing father would take it to buy tobacco. 'The
children can't save a penny,' she said sadly. 'When once he gets his
hands on it, they never see it again. But if you really want Essie to
have the money, won't you take it and buy her a doll? She has never had
one of her own, and it would please her more than anything you could
do.'

"So I put the money back into my purse and promised Essie a doll
instead, which should open and shut its eyes and have real hair.
Christmas was near at hand, and I made up my mind that I would dress the
doll as daintily as possible and send it to her in time for Christmas
Eve, so the mother could put it in her little stocking, for all the
children had expressed a determination to hang up their stockings that
year like the children in the stories I had told them. So, when about a
week before Christmas, I was able to leave the dirty little h