ince."

After a little pause Mrs. Croly said: "Now that I have answered your
question I must tell you something else. Thirty years after I had
assumed my _nom-de-plume_ a gray-haired stranger called at my house
one day and asked to see me. The name he gave recalled no one I had
ever known, and in meeting there was no recognition on either side.
But he proceeded in a straightforward way to explain the object of his
visit: 'For the last thirty years,' he said, 'since my removal from
this city, I have lived in the West; naturally, I have been a constant
reader of Eastern papers, and particularly have I read every article I
have ever seen bearing the signature of "Jenny June." I have made many
efforts, but always without success, to ascertain who she was, and
whether the name was real or fictitious. Somehow I have never
forgotten the little girl I knew before I went West, and to whom I
gave a little volume of poems with something written on a page that
contained a stanza that I greatly admired about "Jenny June." I have
wondered if she had become the famous writer, and upon my return to my
native city, after so long an absence, I have sought you simply to ask
if you are that little girl.'"

The Fairies' Gifts

_By Ellen M. Staples_

To an English home one bright Yuletide
While Christmas bells rang loud and wide

Came a babe with the gentle eyes of a dove
And a face as fair as a thought of love.

"Now, God be thanked," the old nurse cried,
"That the child is born at Christmas-tide;

"For the blessed sake of Mary's Son
God's benison falls on lives begun

"When Christmas music fills the air
And men are joyful everywhere.

"And as to Him came Wise Men three
Offering gifts on bended knee

"So to one born at the Holy Time
On land or sea, in every clime,

"Come three Good Fairies, and each one bears
A gift to brighten the coming years."

The pallid mother gently smiled
And looked upon her tender child.

"Good nurse, the legend is full sweet;
And I lay my babe at His dear feet

"Whose human Sonhood is aware
Of the painful bliss that mothers bear.

"I can well believe that heaven may
Send gifts to the child of Christmas Day."

Tired by her flight from Paradise
The baby shut her wondering eyes,

Nor knew that 'round the cradle stood,
To bless the babe, three Fairies good.

The First bent over the cradle head;
"These are my gifts to her,